The Children of Asuryan

Yes, it's been a very long time and I have indeed been busy.

Don't think I've rampaged through painting an army this quickly while also testing myself by applying more effort.. Still aways to go to match up to the pro's but am very happy with the result nonetheless.

First up, my favourite models in all of hobbying at the moment, the Swordmasters of Hoeth.

Really love these guys, the sculpts are simply fantastic and game play wise they know how to bring the hurt. Most momentous moment to date is when about 7 of them cut a swath through Hassanal's Bloodletters, pinching a slim win over seemingly overwhelming odds at the time.

Next up, also incredibly nice models but really also getting on my nerves because there's just soo many bloody details to get through, the Seaguard.

As you can see, not quite done yet and to be honest I've moved on to other units for the moment just to break the monotony of things. Very pleasing to look at though and they've been a dependable, albeit fragile, core of line infantry to support the battle-line.


Which brings us on to the Spearmen!

Actually also really like the look and feel of this regiment. The front two ranks have spears forward just waiting to impale any enemy lacking in caution. Incredibly fragile troops who've been totally trampled upon by hard hitting cavalry or heavy infantry in a couple of games... but still one of the units which I'm most pleased with in terms of look and feel. A great big thank you to my lovely Rachel for pointing out that Red IS the only colour I could have painted those shields.

Which brings me to my current line up of Lords and Heroes.

From left to right, Level 1 Mage, Level 4 Arch-Mage, Level 1 Mage and Hero of the Elven Republic.

Need to take some better pictures of these guys. Again, quite pleased with the result of these guys as they are a bit of a new personal best (Simply in terms of attention to details/ Actually shaded the jewels here dammit.) In any case, going to try to push myself even more with...

Puff, the Magic Dragon....

For some reason I forgot to take a close up shot of my finished White Lion Chariot the other night. Also missing from the line-up is my regiment of White Lions (Who have been utterly devastating in battle), and Korhil who's one of, if not the best, Heroes out there. Still a fair bit of progress to go in finishing them up... and the new Tau are providing me with a significant distraction. An incredibly exciting boost with the new Codex.... Blasting three out of three Necron Night Scythes out of the sky... Hallelujah...

Death Dealing Angels

Dusting out the model cabinet and thought I'd start posting up images of the ol 40k troops.

First up, my beloved Fallen (Count As Blood Angels in this case)

Death Company Chaplain - Guy who stirs up stuff so that the Death Company gets pissed off right and proper

Thunder Hammer DC, doubles as the Sarge for one of my non-jump pack assault squads.

Death Dealing Angels flanked by the DC Dred/ Furioso

My preferred can opener/ Marine killer

Sanguinary Guard Champion.. Alas, rarely play the Guard in my list so this guy sometimes doubles as an Assault Squad Sarge with Power Fist. 

It's been a LONG while since I took these boys out for a spin, or touched 40k for that matter but the new Dark Angel marines in Dark Vengeance look mighty fine. Gonna have to be a lot more responsible with the finances these days though so hoping to avoid a massive plastic crack addiction, but will definitely be dusting these boys off for a twirl, once I make the effort to go through the new rules that is :S.

Death and ruin to the enemies of Terra!

Case Yellow:- Training Exercise

Some images from the pre-invasion training the Wehrmacht's been going through. A Mittlere Panzerkompanie attack against Mechanised French attempting a Hold Out mission.

The 88's set up for over watch fire on the objective.

 

The 2 Panzer III Platoons line up ready to charge on to the objective

A Panzer II platoon deploys on the left flank with the 10.5 guns covering them.

Turn I:- Panzer III's roll out towards the objective. Left side platoon swings through the village to scan for ambushes and secure cover. Right side platoon drives straight towards the objective albeit cautiously.

French dummy tanks sit in place covering primary objective on the right flank.

As per pre-war doctrine, Luftwaffe support is called in to handle heavy French armour. Luftwaffe however fails to deliver ordnance on target and are driven off by simulated French anti-aircraft fire.

Turn 2:- Panzer III's blast away at suspected French observer team position, knocking them out. Left flank Panzer III Platoon also secures objective.

Training marshals enforce collateral casualties as predicted for "advancing under fire" situations.

 Luftwaffe support once again brought in to deal with French heavy armour, succeeding in destroying one dummy Char Bi-1.

Smoke bombardment forces remaining Char Bi-1's to advance from their static positions, minimal fire of Panzer III platoon completely ineffective. Return fire from over watch 88s annihilate surviving tanks. With no French forces contesting objective at the end of Turn 2, training marshals declare exercise complete.

Panzerkompanie now ready for Operational Deployment in Case Yellow.

Long live sacred Germany!

Achtung Panzer!

Quick look at two of my favourite tanks of the Wehrmacht. The venerable Panzer IV H and the awesome Jagdpanther Tank Hunter!

Now many a German commander swears by the fear inducing strengths of  the big cat Panthers and Tigers oh my! which are available but my love for the Panzer IV H rests on two key things.

First being the belief that more is better (So more Panzer IV's on the table is better than having a few big cats). Personally feel that the flexibility of the P.IV beats out the uber powers of the big cats, especially considering that the P.IV CAN kill essentially any allied medium tank and even a few of their heavies if you play it right. A boast that not all of the allied mediums can lay a claim to. Second thing is what's in the image below.

Panzer Commander! The actual memoirs of the heroic Hans Von Luck. This book is a must read for anyone who wants some insights into what going into war on the German side must have felt like, and on top of very interesting details regarding his campaigns (The man fought in Poland, France, The East Front, Afrika, France again and then back in The East Front) your also get to delve into the thoughts and sentiments of one of the most remarkable and inspiring individuals that there has ever been. Topping it all off, you get an appreciation for what the P.IV being a workhorse for the Wehrmacht really meant. Truly, words cannot express how excellent that book is so just go out there, get a copy and read it.

Panzer IV H's led by the Company Commander tank

Should have taken some side shots.. oh well next time.

Jagdpanthers led by the indomitable Hauptmann Blitz

Kill rings from the Tank Aces campaign.. Need to paint a couple more on as a matter of fact.

 Great armor, great range, great AT and moves as quick as any medium tank. A very lethal combination that has led to them being instrumental in most of the games in which they feature in. They do cost a bomb though at a whopping 230 points a tank and tend to be fairly overindulgent when facing anything other than tank companies. Still, for sheer fear inducing fun factor they are a great choice to go with.

FoW Mittlere Panzerkompanie

Right, today we'll be looking at the first of the two Medium Panzer companies which I'll be running for the upcoming Case Orange campaign.

Fairly straightforward with half a dozen Panzer III E's (CO, 2iC and a Combat Platoon) at the core of it supported by a Platoon of 3 Panzer II's, a Mixed Panzerspah Platoon of Sdkfz 221's/ 222's, a Luftwaffe battery of 2 88's and a gun battery of 4 of the excellent German 10.5 artillery.

Panzer III's will lead the way with this list giving me a great base of mobile fire to play around with.

A young Leutnant Blitz?

Panzerspah recon leads the way while the Panzer II platoon looks to harass and flank the enemy.

Will try to take pictures under better light and with a better camera next time. Can't seem to find the bleedin charging for the digital cam so relying on the ol iPhone.

Artillery. Indispensable in the Early War period really what with the masses of dug in Tommy and Froggy infantry to be expected, not to mention hordes of tissue paper thin yet up gunned Tanks

The guns are of course a rather expensive option to take on points wise, but am quite confident that they'll recoup the cost with charred corpses and burnt out tanks. 

Pioneers.... Who aren't actually in the list.. Frickin photobombing krauts...

And the wondrous 88s. Yet another rather expensive option, but they're just plain iconic of the Wehrmacht so couldn't have left them out of the line-up/collection, no sir. Also, they're an excellent solution to those damned Matilda's, Char Bi-1's and Somua's which are likely to be running about.

Managed to have a test game with these krauts against Mark and his Tommy Rifle Company already and while there were plenty of painful lessons learnt, had to say that I was rather pleased with how these boys pulled together for the win. Onward now to the Blitzkrieg!

Re-activation

Hopefully won't regressed to rants on life, just looking to have a repository for the wonderful hobbies which I love.

So anyway. About 3 months ago (or less?) I finally got myself into Flames of War.. and have been loving it since. There's nothing more satisfying that being able to relive those childhood exploits born from epic war movies, and FoW fits the bill perfectly in doing that. As it stands I've already gathered near on 3000 points worth of Early and Late War Germans put together and painted up and I dare say the excitement is still rearing up. Which brings me to my just finished, Junkers Ju-87 Stuka dive bomber.

Here's what I was gunning for.

Originally had mixed feelings about this one as my original estimation of Dark Angel green being the right green was quite a far way off. Figured I could dull away the bright green shine by dry brushing the entire DA surface with Catachan green and then washing it with a coat of Badab Black. Appreciate that the pro-painters out there might blanch at the technique but living up to the principle of it's straightforward, simple and on the better side of good enough for gaming I was actually rather pleased with the result. Especially when it means that my Mittlere Panzerkompanie for the upcoming EW Case Orange campaign at Legio is going to have some much welcomed air support.

Mediocrity blows

Ever push yourself to be better than what you are? Ever aspire to attain a level of proficiency in something that was supposedly exemplified by others? Ever throw in every last bit of what you have, struggle to achieve the principles, values, skills of those you aspire to?

Yea?

What happens when you become everything your aspirations told you you had to be, look around, and realize that it was all a fucking sham...

And what happens when you appreciate that you were the one dumb enough to believe that there ever were, or could have been something or someone that was worth aspiring to, with a better set of values, promise what have you?

What happens when you realize your just another fucking mercenary, who bought into another (albeit well constructed) set of lies? and who's shoveling shit just like any other fucking mercenary that there ever was.

Well, you start playing Warhammer 40k again is one thing...