I had a busy weekend but did manage to clean off the work bench of the bits boxes and sprues I've been using to build my custom Epic models, and then break out the paints and brushes.
Deathwheel #1, 3rd Company:
Next on the agenda are these three defilers:
After completing the two Deathwheels and 3 defilers, I moved on to Obliterators last night. I agonized how to make them, toying with the idea of terminators, greenstuff, and plastic but eventually decided to play to my strengths.
Since I know GW is making obliterators in late 2005/2006, I figured I only need something to hold the fort until then. So I used the metal terminators but with no conversion. To differentiate them I put three of them on a 20mmX20mm base instead of a 40mmX10mm. I know some people would cringe but I don't mind.
I'll paint them differently and when I get real obliterators next real I can take them off the base and strip the paint to make them real terminators.
So I created four stands of obliterators last night for this project and played with possible army lists. Here's what I came up with:
Infantry Detachment
8 Marines including Chaos Lord and Icon
3 Defilers
2 Obliterators
= 705 pts
Infantry Detachment
8 Marines including Chaos Lord and Icon
4 Rhinos
1 Landraider
= 455 pts
Infantry Detachment
8 Marines including Chaos Lord and Icon
4 Rhinos
= 370 pts
Deathwheel
= 275 pts
2 Helltalons
= 250 pts
Chosen Detachment
6 Terminators including Chaos Warmaster
2 Obliterators
= 540 pts
Armoured Detachment
8 Predators
= 400 pts
== 2985 pts
I know its only 7 formations but last time I used two formations of 4 predators, I found them to be too vulnerable to breaking. Also, I found myself keeping the initiative a lot in order to bring my firepower to bear quickly anyways.
Alternate List:
Infantry Detachment
10 Marines including Chaos Lord and Icon
2 Obliterators
= 550 pts
Infantry Detachment
12 Marines including Chaos Lord and Icon
6 Rhinos
= 530 pts
Decimator
3 Defilers
= 450 pts
Deathwheel
= 275 pts
2 Helltalons
= 250 pts
Chosen Detachment
6 Terminators including Chaos Warmaster
2 Obliterators
= 540 pts
Armoured Detachment
8 Predators
= 400 pts
== 2995 pts
I got together with Andrew, his brother Pete, and our mutual friend Brian for a game of Twilight Imperium. We had all played previously in a game that Andrew won (grrrr) so we hit the ground running this time. Man what a blast.
If you are into real strategy board games then this game is for you. Talk to me about getting invited to the next tilt, hopefully a weekday in late June.
The Deathwheel minus a bit of green stuff for some spots.
Two defilers with the third on the way.
I completed Deathwheel #1 with the exception of the application of some green stuff to fill a hole or two. I plan to paint it up for a game in two weeks time. Revenge!
I also started a defiler conversion. I was going to start with a leman russ body but switched to a griffon tank because the tracks actually come off and it looks more like the artillery vehicle I want for my formation.
Some pictures to follow next week.
Looking through the Chaos list I figured I wanted more range and anti-tank ability. The two 75cm battlecannons on the Deathwheel with AP4+/AT4+ definitely grabbed my attention. Unfortunately, no model exists for it. Enter conversion time!
There are instructions on how to make one and I'm not following them exactly but the basic idea was stolen from them. Here is the work in progress.
The Deathwheel has two void sheilds and 4 Damage Capacity points. Two battlecannons as described and four reaper autocannons, 4+ Reinforced Armour, CC is 5+ but FF is 3+. All on a platform moving 30cm per move. Nice.
Its 275 pts, does not count towards the flyer/titan limit, and can be taken in formations of 1 to 3 along with Decimators. (For the record, the Decimator is 225 pts)
I plan to make two using the same general design.
I'm buying a bunch of Imperial Guard Epic vehicles from Chris, including 9 old style Leman Russes, a bombard, a manticore, and 3 griffons. They are going to be sacrificial lambs to a conversion project to improve the Chaos forces.
I want a Death Wheel or two. Four Damage Capacity, 2 void shields, 4 reaper autocannons and 2 battlecannons? Yes please! I also want some defilers for artillery support. They also sport battle cannons, so those leman russ tanks will be chopped up in no time. Should be quite the task.
Another unit I need are obliterators, at the very minimum 4 units of them. I bought a blister of marine terminators and I plan to whip up some conversions using green stuff and such to bulk them up.
With these three unit additions, I will fill some range and AA support holes in my list.
My first foray into Epic since playtesting over a year ago and I lost although not as badly as I expected. I made some small errors with my own list, missing that I had two leaders in my marine formations because of the Lord and the Icon bearer both have it, and an obscure mention that chaos formation get a +1 to their initiative when there are no rival chaos factions nearby (i.e. Khorne versus Slannesh worshippers).
I tried some experiments to get a feel for the game. Mostly I found my marines to be very disappointing in terms of shooting and assaults, but maybe that was one bad assault where Adam got a lot of firefight going on when he charged and I failed almost all my around saves. I expected that equal number of guardians and marines would see the marines come out on top but I was sadly mistaken. Got to get them in base against those type of firefight specialists.
I also kept my big formations packed too closely together which allowed Adam's Night Spinners to spank me cruelly. Putting 3-5 blast markers on a formation per salvo really stung. Lesson Learned.
However, despite all the spanking that occurred I felt I could have made a better showing except for two things:
1) 12 marines and 6 rhinos (and one blast marker) within 10 cm of 2 revenant scout titans, my turn to activate first. I try to go for an assault to put those annoying things out of misery and I roll a one. I use the Supreme Commander reroll, ah-HA! Rolls another one. DOH! My shooting is sadly not up to the job and the scout titans slip away next activation to ruin my nearby predator formation. Meanwhile since my marines were packed up tightly from getting out of their rhinos last turn, the Night Spinners make me pay.
2) I teleported six terminators (screw the "Chosen" moniker, they're Terminators! Get over it already!) into cover in turn two. Night Spinners fire and kill two breaking the rest! Man, I roll armour saves in Epic worse than I do in 40K!
It was a great fun game and I think with some practice I can get better. A large degree of my frustration with Chaos right now comes from the fact that there are so many cool units I want that simply have no models: Defilers, Death Wheels, and Obliterators. I did get some ideas to convert defilers though, and I think I can convert up some Oblits and a Deathwheel or two. Need some daemonic beasts too. Man, this game is addictive.
My first game of Epic since Andrew cruelly abandoned me goes down tonight at St Laurent against Adam. I thoroughly expect to get hammered but since its my first game with a new army I don't mind. Learning experience and all that.
When Andrew and I used to play Epic when the rules were under development, he had a chaos army and I had an Eldar army. He left the hobby and I decided to sell my Eldar as Epic was pretty much a dead system in Ottawa and I didn't feel I had time for it. BFG and 40K took all my free time.
The new guy at the time, Adam, bought my Eldar from me and I expanded my BFG collection. However he turned the Epic scene on its head and got people excited about the system and coming out to play. And they were loving it and having a blast (without me!!). I couldn't resist the siren call and decided to complete the trifecta of my Black Storm and get an Epic Chaos army.
I asked Andrew if he still had his Chaos Epic miniatures and lo and behold, he still did. I bought my core force from him and got it ready for action with some additions from Forge World.
Tonight I am using Andrew's old Chaos army to face off against my old Eldar army. How fitting.
Do I regret selling my Eldar in the first place? Not really. Chaos Marines have become my primary army now, my 40K Eldar are merely a footnote to be used once in a while for interest. I like have my Black Storm Marines in three systems, BFG, Epic, and 40K. It will make for some excellent campaign and fluff games.
Expect a battle report tomorrow!
I tried to take some more pictures of the quasi-finished helltalon and decimator and new basing attempt for marines, but I was too shaky and got nothing but crap. I'll try again tonight.
One more Helltalon to finish for my 3000 pt force, so I'm considering alternatives to the titan. Maybe replacing it with 2 more decimators and 200 pts for something else. Hmmm...
I beat Noel pretty bad last night. Details found here for the meantime.
I definitely needed a bit of an ego boost after Dalton slapped me around last couple of weeks. Thanks Noel. ;-)
My Epic army is currently on the hotseat for painting and my goal is to get to 3000 pts for May 18th at the latest. Unlike many other painting deadlines I set for myself, I'm actually well on pace to reach this one.
Here is the 3000 pt chaos army, only the two Helltalons and Decimator super heavy tank needing to be finished. Oh, and the stands I finished yesterday need basing.
The army advances from the faucet toward the enemy!! ;-)
The stands on the far right are ones I purchased. I tried using static grass on my latest painted stands but I'm not sure about the result. Opinions? Comments? Suggestions?
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