Ultramarines Centurion Devastators

A new year and new projects. The first project this year was to finish my 3 "Devastator Centurions".

I was not very impressed by the first pictures of these models, but they have “grown on me”, and I am now looking forward to fielding them. The only downside with these models, as far as I am concerned, was all the mould lines (felt as I was back in time…). But the details on them are very nice.

Fist out my standard build with Hurricane Bolters, Grav Cannons and Grav Amps:

As you might notice I skipped the “cables”. The reason for this was that different weapons have different cable connection points; so in order to fix alternative weapons I skipped them all together. Using magnets, my second build is Lascannons:

Next project in 2014 will be a model that has been stored away in its box fare to long – a Storm Raven Gunship. 

Cheers,

Ørnulv

'Games Played' logging tool

It's time for another community service here from the northernmost TSB bunker.

One of the more common Hobby New Year's Resolutions I see is to play more games than last year. That's all well and good, but it can be a bit of a hassle to keep track of exactly how many games you've played. Lots of gamers have found their own solutions, be it a piece of paper on a noteboard, a simple text-file, spreadsheet or database.

As our second entry in the Download-section of our blog, I give you my chosen solution. This Excel spreadsheet will let you record up to fifty games, and will generate some simple statistics for you as the year progresses.

Bug reports, wishes for further development, general comments, etc. is welcomed, as always.

Chaos Warhound Titan - Auctorem Fidei

It's done... Almost two years since I got it, and close to a year in the making. There's a few more smaller things I might do, but isn't there always?

This is where I usually go on a bit about the whys and the hows, but I believe I've covered most of those in earlier posts. The 'glow'effects on the weapons are obviously airbrushed, but I was so focused on the task at hand when I painted them that I totally forgot to take any WIP pictures. Let's just finish this of with a few pics instead...

Actually... Perhaps I should write a few words about the name I've chosen. As far as I can ascertain, Auctorem Fidei translates to Faith's Pathfinder. Rather fitting for a Scout Titan attached to the Word Bearers Legion, no?

I do wonder what its partner would be called...


JørnN

Another year in the books...

Very nearly so, anyway. During the week between Christmas and New Year's eve I usually try to find a little time in-between all the parties and dinners. Time to have a look at the waning year, and a few of the events from it.

Field trips... We didn't manage quite as many as last year but by now we have made pretty much all the necessary arrangements for Adepticon 2014. We also managed a record attendance at Invasion. Five of us made the trip down to play through the five games of the tournament. We all want to go back again next year, RL permitting of course. We're also hoping to increase our numbers to six for next year's.

Ørn also arranged for a set of clothes with the Team StormBolter logo and our names on them. We didn't get them in time for the Nottingham trip, but we did get to go to Kristiansand with our 'colours' on.

...and while we're on the subject of Ørn. I'll never quite understand what it is that possessed him to re-do his entire Ultramarine army - again. That aside though... The end result is fantastic. As he says himself. 'They finally look like they've managed to get off of the parade ground and into the field.' Before he even started on that project, he built and painted no less than three gorgeous new gaming tables and not a few pieces of terrain to go on them as well.

The rest of us haven't been entirely idle either. The monthly hobby challenges we ran for a few months saw the rise of new Aspiring Champions for my CSM squads, a pair of Hell Blade fighters, two old metal Chaos Spawn, a small squad of Noise Marines, a Forge Fiend, a Great Unclean one and a squad each of Plague Bearers and Nurglings, a pair of Heldrakes and I finished my Chaos Warhound Titan a couple of days ago too. (It'll be featured in my first article next year!)

Linus produced a fantastic looking squad of Chosen and a matching Helbr Chaos Dreadnought, an imposing Heldrake and there are rumours of lots of new Daemon models having been built. Hopefully we'll be seeing those on the table in 2014.

The newest member of our group; Tom-Erik completed two Triarch Stalkers, Immortals, Deathmarks and a handful of nice terrain pieces too before getting lured by the new Heresy line of Death Guard models from Forge World.

A new Autarch did show up early this year, didn't it, but Trond's been putting most of his building/painting efforts into the Revenant Titan he bought in Nottingham. I'm not quite sure if he's been able to finish it or not...

- + - + -

So... Last year's resolutions...

Linus resolved...
...to finish painting (all) the chaos models he had unpainted/unassembled, from the Baneblade to the Heldrake, the Forgefiend and a couple of Forge World items.
...to have a good learning curve on airbrush painting.
...to contribute more on the Team StormBolter blog.
...to see you TS friends much more, maybe in a year I manage around 10 games and a tournament. I will be pleased with that.

Ørnulv resolved...
...to finish 2 new themed gaming tables with updated and new terrain.
...to decide if Tau or IG will be his next army project.
...to host 2 "Hunker in the Bunker".
...to attend at least one tournament.
...to play at least 25 40K games.

Jørn resolved...
...to finish the Basilica de Veteris.
...to finish another 1500 point of Traitor Guard, to bring them to at least 2000 points.
...to play 40 games of 40K.
...to finish the Chaos Warhound Titan, and play at least one game of Apocalypse with it.

Trond resolved...
...to perhaps start a New army?
...to play at least 40 games, not including tournaments.
...to build his new Titan.
...to make some Eldar terrain.
...to attend Invasion, and also perhaps Strategikon.

Some goals easier to measure than others there, guys. Let's hear how you feel you've done, if I've missed anything above and what you've got planned for next year. (Even if you didn't pledge anything for this year.)

Ultramarines “Stormtalon Gunship conversion”

Thought it appropriate to end the hobby activities in 2013 with a post presenting the last of my two finished models-

In a somewhat desperate attempt to challenge the Helldrakes out there, I decided to give the Stormtalon Gunship a go. But there was one major problem. I did not like the GW model at al (we named it “the shrimp”)! During a gaming event at my flat back in April Linus and Jørn suggested that I looked at the Dark Angles Nephilim Jetfighter. Now that’s a fighter/gunship with clear design coherence with the Forge World "Imperial models" (my opinion anyway).

I of course had to ”convert” it a little. First I had to cut/sand away all the dark Angels markings. Then I decided to alter the antenna array a little, and to add, ”belly thrusts to the engines making them longer and more potent, but the biggest problem was the weapons. I did not want to end up with a ”shrimp” looking nose with wings, it was the slim lines I liked, so I had to compromise. Since the missile housing is an integrated part of the wings I decided to use them as either the Typhoon missile launcher or the Skyhammer missile launcher. So far so good. What about the nose and standard twin linked assault cannons? Well, the original model has various armaments in the nose, but I could not fit two Assault Cannons in it, so I decided to use a vent/fan from an old Vindicator set. I then mounted the Assault Cannons where the Heavy Bolters where mounted on the original models. To make them more flexible, I added two Lascannons under the wings. All guns are magnetized, so I can now field all current weapons configurations (when using the Lascannons I must tell my opponent to ignore the missiles).

Enough said, this is how the model turned out with all weapons mounted:

Both of them:

 

Gaming wise, as it turned out, they where both absolutely rubbish when facing several Helldrakes, but still cool models and effective against other targets (I think...)!

2013 is coming to an end! As I looked back at 2013 I am pretty satisfied with my hobby activities. First of all I have finished two gaming boards with new woods, a temple, new craters, tank traps, a bridge and a large building. Second I have finished a 3500p Warriors of Chaos Army. Thirdly I have given my Ultramarines a major Makeover and I have added three new units. I have also added three new units to my High Elves. When it comes to gaming I had a goal of playing a game every second week. I think I played approximately 25 games of 40K including a tournament (not counting several Fantasy battles), so that is ok. In the tournament I came 6, and I managed to win best painted army with my Dark Eldar:) I have also hosted a private gaming event and tried to be helpful toward fellow team members where I could contribute. My gaming results in 2013 are not as good as in 2011 ore 2012. I have way more losses and draws than before. But as I stated in my pledge for 2013, new gaming boards and hobby activities (Fantasy) would claim a lot of my resources, so I guess it was inevitable. With this in mind; Al in al I am happy with 2013 and look forward to more gaming and hobby activities in 2014!

Finally I would like to wish you all a happy new year!

Cheers,

Ørnulv