Fleets are Ready to Engage

 It took a while but my chaos fleet is ready for action:

Now I have two fleets and can try to teach my sons how to play.

Visiting the Shipyards

December was crazy, but I'm back! And this post we visit my painting progress on my Battlefleet gothic ships.

My slow, slow, .... slow progress.

Back in August I was finishing up my Heavy Cruiser with its modular weapon bays and had primed the four cruiser that would form the bulk of my fleet. Time for an update!

Here is the four cruisers with their base coat of Cardinal Red paint.

Next we have them with their coat of Nuln Oil which is different than then black wash I used on the heavy cruiser. The oil paints accumulate more in the crevices and corners and give some definition to the model.

Closer look at the effects of the oil.

The next step is to highlight the raised and flat parts with the original base red to give the definition even more pop.

With that done, I moved on to the details of the contrast black markings and weapons.

If I'm lucky I'll have this fleet completed by next August!

Remembering the Paintbrush

After having a good time painting my 3D printed imperial fleet, I decided to get a small Chaos fleet to have something to play against if the twins want to learn to play. I purchased a resin cruiser and battleship from Aliexpress that was a little more expensive but the quality is close or better to Games Workshop orginals, and I went back to my friend Chris for 4 cruisers. 

I then put together the resin cruiser and got to work on a paint scheme. I decided to go with classic dark red and black and since I had all the parts to make any of the cruisers or heavy cruisers, I went hogwild and used small rare earth magnets to make it configurable.

Pictures! First up we have the completed hull of the cruiser beside one of the 3D printed ones (the files from Thingaverse). You can see the launch bays on the table getting ready.

And here we have the completed launch bays and dorsal lances on the hull, held by magnets (which, to be honest, was a pain in the royal ass to get right).

While its not 100% the best work I've ever done and I made some rookie mistake (like spraying the finish on too thick on the launch bays grrr) it still looks fine for what I've got planned. Now to finish all the other weapons platforms so I can make any of the seven base cruisers and heavy cruisers with it!

Then on to the four printed crusiers (no magnets this time thank god).

The Seeker of Truth

I'm happier with the paint job than I am with the pictures, but my first Battlefleet Gothic cruiser is complete. This Lunar class cruiser has been christened the Seeker of Truth.

The model had a lot of burrs and defects not noticeable until the paint was going on and I was not going back to remove them all. They don't jump out too much until I take photos of course. 

I'm happy enough with the result for getting back into the saddle for the first time in 12 years. I'm going to finish the two sister ships and see what we have from there.

Painting the Fleet

Its been over a decade since I picked up a paint brush and tried to paint a miniature. And because I left off at a point where I felt my skills were developing nicely for a casual gamer, I am going back in with a certain degree of expectations. Expectations which I need to temper since my eyes have gotten worse with age and my hands have not gotten steadier.

Fortunately, Battlefleet Gothic ships have an advantage over say Space Marines or Eldar: they are generally big hunks of metal all the say colour except for a few highlights and contrasts. It makes them a good place to begin.

There is one problem though. Most of my paints have not been opened in a decade and a few of them have dried up into solid masses of pigment. I find myself with a more limited palette than I expected, and with the quarantine in full effect no easy way to replenish my stock. Nevertheless, I persevered. 

I have an air brush I got a rarely used years ago, so I broke it out for the base coat of the "chaos" ships, but the imperial cruisers I did not have the right colour for the air brush so it was back to the regular brush for them. I went with a dark green for the imperial cruisers, planning on bringing out the details with lighter drybrushing. The Chaos cruisers I planned to do a dark wash over bright red. I'm trying to remember all the tips and techniques I used to use and its harder than I remember. I forgot how much experimentation there is.

After a couple of coats of the green, I did a dark black wash for the crevasses and than the base green as a drybrush layer followed by a light grey drybrush very gently for the really raised edges.

Now on to the details.

The prow was hardest, getting white to look right without losing the silver contrast.

The engines I tried to make look like a blue to white glow without blending.

I'm now at the point where I need to decide "Am In happy with the result?" Or "Continue on!". I've heard it say that a painted never considers a painting finished and I really know what that means right now. I think I might attempt a bit more before I call this one done.

Getting Back In the Painting Saddle

I talked recently about the Warhammer Itch that has sprouted up under my skin:

Combine all of those alone with playing Armada II and it reminds me of the fun of the tabletop version of the game and has got me asking around about buy a handful of models to try out some games with the kids.

I swear, Mrs Kodachi, its gonna stop at just a couple models! I swear!

Well, my inquiries reached an old Warhammer club friend from back in the day and he offered to print a handful of Battlefleet Gothic models out for me and they arrived this past weekend.

I've got three Imperial cruisers whose prints come in 4 very detailed pieces (Port side, Starboard side, Prow, and Engines) and three light cruisers. I've also got a chaos cruiser and battleship coming in the mail (the Ninveah will live again!). 

Now I just have to remember how to paint miniatures. 

Its funny how this blog is coming full circle back to its Warhammer modelling roots.

Newbs Taste Like Chicken

So I played a game of Battlefleet Gothic last night against Soupcat (Mike?) and his Ork fleet. Being only his second game, it was an unfair advantage to me to be using 1000 pts of Chaos. But hey, its all I got.

I chronicled my standard and plain 1000 pt fleet here, and his fleet consisted of a lot of escort sized ships (around 20) and one Onslaught cruiser whose ten hull points concerned me. Then I remembered that each cruiser I have is equal to 6-8 of his escorts and I relaxed and let my guns do the talking.

And talking they did. My rolling for lances was amazing with a near constant stream of hits that pulverized the ork fleet before they got in range. When they did get in range two of my cruisers were crippled in one turn; the first from a considerable bomber wave and the second from a salvo of 15(!) torpedoes. But the juncture had been passed and my return fire eliminated the major threats.

It would have helped had we remembered brace for impact though. So consider it a training exercise and I expect a rematch in the coming weeks!

Battlefleet Gothic Tonight

I've been trying for three successive weeks to get in a game of BFG and tonight I may finally accomplish it.

Its only 1000 pts against a relative BFG newb, but I love the game and it will have to do. My fleet:

Caligo Eternus - Archeron Heavy Cruiser with Chaos Lord Diomedes
Darknight's Pride - Devastation Cruiser
Dark Viper - Carnage Cruiser
Capricorn Retaliation - Slaughter Cruiser with Chaos Lord Kirith and Marine bodyguard
Cosmic Fire - Slaughter Cruiser

I typically fly in 3 formations: The Archeron and Carnage form a long range firing pair of lances and weapon batteries, the Devastation provides close combat patrol fighters to kill enemy torpedo salvos and bomber wings, and the Slaughters use their speed to bring their awesome short ranged firepower to bear once the enemy is engaged and vulnerable.

Battle report tomorrow!

Outnumbered, Outgunned, but never Outclassed

Yesterday Games-Workshop St Laurent held a Battlefleet Gothic megabattle of all things! And even more surprising, my wife let me attend! On a Sunday! SWEET!

I love BFG, the thought of kilometers-long behemoths firing world-destroying weapons at each other gives me a kind of thrill, so I broke out a 1000 pt Chaos fleet and went to join the action.

Black Storm Hunter Fleet - 1000 pts
Caligo Eternus - Archeron Heavy Cruiser commanded by Lord Diomedes
Dark Viper - Carnage Cruiser
Darknight's Pride - Devastation Cruiser
Capricorn Retaliation - Slaughter Crusier commanded by Lord Kirith and the 6th Company
Cosmic Fire - Slaughter Cruiser

Along with my fleet, there was another Chaos 1000 pt fleet and two ork fleets totaling 1000 pts, all guarding an activated 750 pt Blackstone Fortress.

Out to kill the fortress was 3000 pts of Imperials... and 3000 pts of Eldar.

HOLY CRAP BATMAN!

Badly outnumbered and outgunned, we went to battle with prayers to the Gods of Chaos to support us. It was bloody as the Eldar fleets pounced on the Orks and demolished 75% of their fleet in turn 1 while the Chaos fleets tangled with the Imperial Navy and Ultramarine battlebarge. We took down the battlebarge eventually while taking moderate losses to our ships, but the Eldar fleet ran up and started smashing the Blackstone fortress with repeated volleys despite losing many ships to its fearsome warp cannons.

In the end the huge fortress died as it was destined to do.

My fleet suffered only one causality as the Dark Viper bore the brunt of firepower from three Imperial cruisers. In return my fleet accounted for a space marine Strike Cruiser, some damage on the battlebarge, and crippling of two more Imperial Crusiers that were on the edge of destruction had I one more turn.

A good time, I now have the urge for a one on one game of BFG.