Basing Recipe: Martian Highlands

Above is my latest project, a couple of "Gorgon" terminators (ok not really, but that's what they will be on the table top until I can afford FW resin again). I wanted to tone down the red hues of the Martian Ironcrust basing material (shown on the left), and here is how I did it:

1.) Using a small trowel-like object, I scooped some Martian Ironcrust onto the base
2.) Taking an old brush, I stippled the material to give it some texture and push it up around their feet
3.) After considerable drying time (several hours, at least), I applied Agrax Earthshade to the base
4.) Again after giving it plenty of time to dry, I dry brushed Squig Orange onto the base.
5.) Finally, I used Eldar Flesh dry to accentuate the high points.
6.) Optionally, I cleaned up the base bevel with black

First of the Gorgons

My hammerbearer is done and painted. I may go back and add more extreme highlights later but I have a lot to paint so speed was more important at this point.

Escalation League Report: Nov. 1, 2016

GAME 1- Iron Hands vs Custodes/Assassin (Above)

GAME 2- Iron Hands vs Salamanders (Below)

These small 750 point games are pretty much like Rock/Paper/Scissors. In my first match, I was hoping to hold the upper hand with my Contemptor. The only unit able to reliably hurt my contemptor was killed early on, but the game swung drastically in my opponent's favor when a lucky deepstrike brought a unit of Custodes down directly behind my Contemptor, where the volume of shots managed to glance it to death. His lucky rolling vs. my unlucky rolling equaled one dead dreadnought... After that, his custodes mopped up my units pretty easily. It was the first time I had been wiped off the table in a while! One of my major mistakes was forgetting my It Will Not Die roll on my Captain during the first turn. Another would be having my Contemptor in a position that allowed it to be glanced to death in the rear armor :(

In my second, I was playing against Salamanders. They had a Landraider Crusader that I was originally worried about, but my Grav cannon immobilized it pretty easily. Once immobilized, I was able to keep my Contemptor away from the Multimelta it had, and thus able to blow it up with my Grav cannons pretty much with impunity. Once the Land Raider Crusader was destroyed, his tactical squad was ill-equipped to deal with the Dreadnought, which bullied the unit mercilessly. I held both objectives by game's end. Also of note, my Iron Father (captain) killed the assault squad single-handedly, suffering only one wound, which he subsequently regenerated with his It Will Not Die roll.

Overall, I had a very good time rolling dice with some new opponents. Even when I was losing, I had fun. Thank you to my opponents tonight, I look forward to crossing swords again in the future!

Battlepoints earned for the Escalation Period: 7/8
Painting points earned for the Escalation Period: 3/4
Total Points for the Escalation Period:10/10
Total Points for the League: 10/10
Win/Draw/Loss Record: 1/0/1

Round 1... FIGHT!

Today is the first day of our local group's 40k Escalation League. Since my Prospero stuff is yet unpainted, and my league grants extra points for fielding painted units, I will be showing with my already-painted Iron Hands force. It is a pretty simple force, as you can see. It's hard to pack much into a 750 point list.

Hopefully some other people will show up with fully painted armies too. If so, I will be sure to snap some pictures!

Weekend update: Building a Legion (Part 2)

Finally finished! I ran into a problem when constructing my sisters squad... I found that two of the swords were bent on the sprue! I was mad at first but I decided I could make it work, so I just swapped two of the swords for a couple of flamers. I really hope that they can mix and match weapons in 30k when their rules get released, otherwise I'll be needing another BoP box...

I also made a Support squad of Meltaguns (the especially sharp eyed will notice one of them is a plasmagun in the back... that's because I needed to make one for my other support squad, and I have a meltagun guy in mk IV to replace him).

Lastly, I made a second Heavy Support Squad of Heavy Bolters. I kept the sergeant without the heavy weapon so I could also use it as a devastator squad in 40k if need arises. I finished off the box by making the remaining 10 Legionnaires.

So, out of this box, I now have a total of 20 Legionnaires, 5 Support Squadmembers, 5 Heavy Support Squadmembers, 5 Gorgon terminators, 5 spear-wielding Custodes, and a sisters squad with 2 flamers.

Now I have a pretty solid 30k force, that also can be used in 40k. I am pretty pleased with how my Iron Hands are progressing! Now I just have to paint it all.... -___-