So Many Voices - What Should I Really Be Painting For 6th Edition Dark Angels?

This mini has been in my case for a while. I actually head swapped a Rogue Trader era Librarian head with Psychic Hood and put it on a normal Tactical Marine body. The Angel on the chest is a 2nd Edition banner pole angel from either one of the Special Characters or the Dark Angels Dreadnought. Regardless it was filed flat and glued to his chest with the Aquila acting perfectly as his wings.  

In my last post I mentioned that I was going to work on a Librarian because maybe with the new powers Librarians might be effective in 6th Edition? Well, the internet is telling me they aren't. Or at least they aren't in comparison to the Librarian options of other armies.

You'll notice he isn't the traditional Ultramarine blue. He actually is being painted a plethora of oop Citadel colors: Deadly Nightshade, Festering Blue, and Hideous Blue. Hopefully when he's done he'll look clearly like a Librarian.

Everywhere I look Deathwing are getting nods for having 2+/5+(+FNP if you throw an Apothecary in there). The huge drawback here is they take forever to paint. I'd love to get a squad completed though. This one is barely even started.

Here's the AoBR Terminator that's on my desk right now. No conversion work on this guy thus far, just a couple extra purity seals. Who know's what will come when I get to adding his arms and chest though?

There are tiny bits of damage scraped into the greaves.  

I was just reading an article about how good Bikes have become, but the article mentioned every SM chapter bike option EXCEPT Ravenwing. (What's with the anti-DA prejudice?) So I wandered over to Bolter And Chainsword to see what people were talking about and indeed people seem to be digging Ravenwing in 6th Edition. The verdict is still out for sure, but they definitely have some perks. I was thinking about it and I think I might actually be able to finish a Ravenwing Squad before I ever got a Terminator squad on the table. Maybe I should work on them next?

I dragged out this bike and started working on it again. Based on the Bubonic Brown on the rider, I started this model a decade ago. He's one of at least 3 that were started.

Another model that's been on the table and I can't seem to stop myself from working on is this baldy pictured on the right. I had started working on him a few months ago and realized that I needed to pop his head off to really get the detail that I wanted. I already have more than enough Tactical Marines but he's so close to completion its hard to ignore him at this stage.

This was what he looked like in May. He had been roughly in the same state since the early 2000's.

First I went in and completed his body which is fully painted and highlighted waiting for his right knee to get its company marking and that's it. The head is all painted and highlighted as well. Finally, I added a sidearm to the model since he will hold a Special Weapon. 

Here are all the pieces of the model. Most of the model is done. If I don't get distracted I should finish him this week.

Finally, there are other partially completed models in my collection that are getting some chatter in 6th are Techmarines and Landspeeders. So many options to try!

A New Day Dawns - My Angels of Absolution in 6th Edition

My recently added 2nd Squad of the 5th Company. Three of the models pictured were actually painted roughly 10 years ago and have had their squad markings or arms changed multiple times over the years.

I've been playing the same main 40K force since 2nd Edition. I had chosen Codex: Angels of Death because I thought the monastic look and the secretive background was cool, but also because I was an Undead player already, and the bone color scheme of the Angels of Absolution was something I already knew how to do. Over the years I've never been able to keep up to date with the latest edition because I paint so slowly - but maybe things have finally come full circle?

Some of my completed models. Some, like the Interrogator-Chaplain and the Rhino in the back left were painted more than a decade ago.

I've been working on the Angels of Absolution for 17 or 18 years. They began their life with 2 Tactical Squads, a Razorback, a Rhino, and an Assault Squad. That has been my backbone ever since. As time went on, the Ravenwing and Deathwing got better, and things like Vindicators and Drop Pods got added to the army books, but I'm still trudging away on the basics like it's still 2nd Edition. Now I have 6 Tactical Squads to work with, 3 Rhinos, a Devastator Combat Squad, 2 Dreadnoughts, a Whirlwind, and an Assault Squad. Anything that would have given me a competitive edge in 3rd, 4th, or 5th Edition has been conspicuously absent.

I played my first game of 6th Edition and I did remarkably well. I always loved the image of my Tactical Marines piling out their Rhinos and just pouring obscene amounts of fire power into the enemy while my Assault Squad leap in led by Interrogator-Chaplain Vitus and spread terror into an already shattered force.

I was so excited to recreate this little snapshot of Space Marine tactics from IA2.

To say I succeeded in recreating that would be an exaggeration, but in my head it came damn close. You can break a Tactical Squad into two Combat Squads before the game and deploy both halves in a Rhino. I couldn't tell you how excited I was to do this. My opponent came in like gang busters into my deployment area on turn 2 and I brought on a Rhino with two Combat Squads in it and piled out like I was carrying out Astartes training as depicted in Imperial Armour 2. My Squads disembarked and rapid fired the crap out of a foul Daemon Prince while my Devastator Squad lit him up and my Assault Squad and Chaplain jumped in to give support and hopefully mop up, not realizing I couldn't charge him while he was swooping or whatever. So we failed to hurt him or ground him, but it felt "right" somehow. Had things gone differently, Hammer of Wrath may have actually made my normally useless Assault Marines useful for the first time in two editions. Being able to fire 24" and being able to Snap Fire my heavy weapons on the move has made my Tactical Squads feel more flexible than ever before - and marine like! Maybe I'll actually win a game against someone other than Scott. ;) Most importantly, at least for a brief instant, I didn't feel like I was just going through the motions playing the game even though I didn't have any of the "competitive" options from my army book. Of course, I wasn't play against someone who spends all day contemplating game breaking combos either.

All of that being said, what's next on the painting table in light of the 6th Edition changes? Well, I've had a Librarian in progress for a while and I want to try out the new Psycher rules, so I'm going to try and finish him up in August and try him out on the table. I've always loved the idea that the Interrogator-Chaplains and Librarians work in unison to undermine the psyche of the enemy, so it'll be cool to drop them both on the table. I had tried it a couple of times right when Codex: Dark Angels came out in 4th Edition, but the Dark Angel Psychic Powers just weren't worth the points. Maybe the new powers will be? Also, I cracked out my Caestus Assault Ram that I bought last year. It'll probably take me another year to complete but I'd like to try out flyers now too. Finally I have a Tactical Marine and a Terminator on my desk because, "why not?" Completing my first squad of Terminators is one of my goals for this year I believe anyhow.

Will this Terminator see action in this edition? No one knows.

-Nick

Adeptus Mechanicus Emblem...

Picked this up a long time ago from ebay... been siting on my wall unpainted for months... finally decided to give it quick paint job... thats it!

Upcoming 6th Edition Feelings and Some Painted Stuff

Its been a while since I've thrown down an op ed column and honestly, there is a lot I've had on my mind lately. The hobby and gaming world is upside down at the moment and its a pretty exciting time. Today I'm going to focus on the coming 6th Edition 40K, and I apologize for jumping around a lot, but bear with me.

Some people are all up in arms about the rumored changes and scream like the sky is falling. I've been playing Dark Angels since 2nd Edition and this will be my 5th changing of editions and all of their successes and failures. In the early 2000's I lived through the "Intractable" rule for Dark Angels. It was 3rd Edition and sometimes we'd decide that the enemy was too close and we'd refuse to advance, regardless of what the objective of the mission was. I still played 40K and I still played my Dark Angels, never cried or "counts as"'ed them. It was just what I had to deal with as a Dark Angels player even if it could be frustrating at times. Its kind of like real life. I have a bad knee and I play in a punk band where I jump around a lot. Sometimes I land funny and my knee hinges a way it shouldn't and I drop like a sack of potatoes. I get up, have a painful couple of days, and then have to take it easy for the next few weeks. Its frustrating, but its just something I have to deal with. Playing 3rd Edition Dark Angels sort of felt like that and I didn't mind too much. Sometimes I'd get a bad break and things didn't go my way. One of the big worries about the next edition is the rumor of "more randomness" like that and universally people seem to be arguing how it ruins the game for everyone whether they are tournament or campaign players. I disagree. Let me share a memory with you...

Tom Smith* and I were playing a game against John Burke** in John's basement. I don't really remember the mission but John was playing Chaos Marines, and Tom was playing his Sons of Midnight Space Marines. Tom and I needed to get to an objective in John's deployment area. It was the last couple turns of the game. Tom's remaining squads were way too far away to be of assistance and I was the only hope. We measured to see if I had to make a check so I could advance and I was unfortunately too close to the enemy. I promptly failed my Intractable roll and couldn't advance. Why would the Imperium's 1st Legion feel it would be better to stand back and pour fire into the enemy rather than advance on the objective? I cursed the dice and the Emperor - but not too loudly, that would be Heresy - but that was my fate. Maybe they had bad intel, or maybe a commander other than myself gave them orders I could not override. Ultimately, they did not do what I wanted them to do and I had to accept that.

It's over 10 years later and I still remember that moment. Tournament players often spend a lot of their army list building time finding ways to limit randomness. I don't necessarily seek it out, but I am the guy who went on a 6 month or so long Ork kick where playing with two Weirdboy Warpheads for my HQ's seemed like great fun. When I lost, I lost big and when I won, I won big. Sometimes those random elements are the things we remember long after the battle has been fought. It can be too much for sure. Back in 2nd Edition I remember seeing entire Imperial Guard armies wiped out before the 1st turn due to a Virus Outbreak card being played and that sort of sucked, but things like that sometimes made for strong memories. I remember when I worked for GW during the end of 2nd Edition and I attended the Staff Tournament outside Toronto, and this guy deployed his entire army in a building. Buildings then were a bit more dangerous, and on the first turn his opponent shot at and destroyed the building killing his entire army in one go. His last name happened to be Murphy so they coined it the Murphy's Luck award and began giving people a prize for their atrocious luck at every tournament thereafter. It wasn't even my game but it went down in the history books anyway. Few things in 4th or 5th Edition 40K (for better or for worse) conjured those sorts of memories except playing my Orks. Getting lucky and having my Weirdboy teleport onto an objective on the last turn of a game is awesome fun - a shot in the dark surprise win. Some would say it doesn't take any skill but you have to constantly adapt to changing circumstances when you have Warphead's in play - its a skill in itself. Then again, I was always a fan of the early version of the Patrol mission when almost your entire army came on as reserves whether you liked it or not. A lot of people hated it but not me. It sometimes gave me the edge I needed when playing the armies that gave me a really hard time. Other times I came in so piecemeal that I got cut to shreds. So be it I say. Those are the breaks.

Tangent time... Did anyone watch Game of Thrones last night? Between the traps laid, the backstabbing, the secret tunnel used for the surprise flank attack, and everything else that went on, the only thing that could be counted on during last night's battle was unpredictability! And in my mind that's kind of cool and sort of how I see things on the wargaming table.

Back to my Dark Angels though. A few years into their 3rd Edition Codex they released a replacement Codex and FAQed 'Intractable' to make it more playable. I was fine with the change. It was never a good rule, it was just something I had to deal with. Then a few years after that they got a whole new book. Then that got FAQed when the newer Space Marine book made some of the wargear rules obsolete. In all likelihood the Dark Angels will get revisited again in the not too distant future and they might get their moment in the sun. Everything is always in flux in the worlds of Games Workshop's games, and if people aren't stoked on the changes to the game or to their favorite army - give it time, because every 4 years or so you're going to see everything turned on its head again, so you might as well get used to it.

Okay, enough about that. Let's look at some of the things I've painted in the last week.

This is the legs and torso of a 2nd Edition plastic Space Marine with a current grenade throwing arm and a bolt pistol arm with a bolter replacing the bolt pistol. The only conversions are heavy rivets added to the knee armor. The base is decorated with painted sand, slate, and static grass.

The shoulder pads and backpack are also 2nd Edition.  I decided to try my hand at adding some battle damage so I drilled and scraped two rents in the armor. They were painted Adeptus Battlegrey and then  washed with subsequent layers of Badab Black and Devlan Mud. Nothing too fancy but it came out pretty well.

Here is one of two craters I finished this week. I had basecoated these almost a decade ago and then left them to collect dust. I never have enough craters for all the vehicle casualties I sustain and I got tired of these taking up valuable space in my terrain pantry sitting unpainted so I finished them up and put them in the display case. Yeah, I said two and there is only one pictured. I was too lazy to pull out and photograph the other one. Its just another crater.

Here's what's on the paint table at the moment. The robed figure will be the Veteran Sergeant for the 2nd Tactical Squad. He's actually the 1st model I have ever magnetized. The Power Fist is glued in place, but I am thinking ahead to the next edition and I figure they'll get more options than bolters and bolt pistols so I magnetized the right arm. I also placed around a dozen heads on the body and narrowed it down to 3, one of which is the head on the model next to the Sergeant. I may just pop that partially painted head off, finish it up, and glue it to the sergeant. We'll see. Finally, that jump pack in the top left is the last bit needed to complete another Assault Marine. I really need to get that done so I can get that Assault Marine in the display case.

Well that's it for today. Thanks for reading!!
-Nick

End Notes:
*Tom Smith - Buffalo, NY gamer. Left the GW hobby around the early 2000's. He played Space Wolves and also developed his own Chapter of Astartes called the Sons of Midnight. He was a fantastic hobbyist and I mourned the day I heard he gave up on the hobby.

**John Burke - Buffalo, NY gamer and maniacal collector. He could have walked right into an Apocalypse game and thrown down 10,000 points including a Gargant in 2000 if Apocalypse existed back then. I recall he moved further east for his job and I don't know if he's still involved in the hobby at all.

Adepticon Constructs Part II, plus...

Hey there, so just finished up my other to Adepticon Constructs, aka AdMech Scout Sentinel's. Here is the newest group shot.

Did a couple more mini conversions... ended up buying IG Sentinel weapon bits, 3x of each available ;) added the missile launchers to the exhaust stack. All the weapons are magnetized and swap out easily.

Also, recently painted up a new Leman Russ, 'Vengeance Divinity'

originally painted some battle damage on this guy, but wasn't really feeling it afterwards, so scrapped the bit of code ;) and went for the shiny, right out the STC floor model look, think these guys just take too much pride in the maintenance of their vehicles. Thats it for today. I haven't anything lined up next and it sucks.. Going to be going through some life changes soon, which involve trying to find a smaller camp trailer to live in.. which means i really need to figure out what the hell to do with all my models. cause along with downsizing, i will be moving back to the midwest for a while and most likely living in the woods for a bit... I might be doing some ebay items too... will post if and when i do. Cheers, Brose

Wreck-Age Mutt

I have no idea what the official name of the Wreck-Age dogs is going to be, they haven't announced these miniatures on their website yet. I do know that this model was sculpted by the same sculptor who sculpted the Pack Boar I presented a few weeks ago. You can order that model from their online store now.

In all honesty, as cool as the idea of Pack Boars is, I liked painting this sculpt way more. Maybe its because I love dogs and have two of my own but I felt like the paws were excellent for the scale and the proportioning of the body and the fur texture were exactly what I'd hope for and expect. This model was a joy to paint.

The actual mold is of a set of 3 models so I have two more to paint but I was really excited with how this silly little model turned out so I wanted to get some pics of it and post them around. I have a couple of other Wreck-Age models on deck so I'm sure you'll see some more of their range on 2ndCityWarzone soon.

-Nick

Spring Cleaning Part II - Some Painted Ebay Listings

A week or so ago I started the process of "cleaning house". I'm out of work and money is tight and I have models laying around that I will never get around to painting or that I painted at some point, but I know full well will never be fleshed out into a functional army any time in the foreseeable future. So the cannibalization of my collection has begun.

So far I've sold off a fair number of out of print items but every time I go into the closet I seem to find more stuff that I am willing to part ways with. This means that if you check at what I have up now, its worth while to check back regularly to see what's different. I'm going to keep putting stuff up until I no longer have to and that could take a while.

I have a few fully painted items up right now that I'd like to liquidate. It seems like fully painted armies and individual characters net the best results and instead I'm putting up solitary units. What can you do? I need to liquidate what's not being used.

First up is a very colorful group of Crypt Ghouls, or as they were known in 1994 when I first started collecting Undead - Ghouls. I credit this unit with teaching me how to paint. Skeletons were where I learned dry brushing but they didn't teach me highlighting. As I dry brushed the earliest Ghouls I learned the basics of where the highlights are supposed to go and as time went on I went from the dirty dusty look of dry brushing to experimenting with painting on the layers for smoother tones. When I moved on to 40K the groundwork was then in place for me to be able to look at how Space Marines were highlighted and try and emulate that style. Anyway, back to these Ghouls. In 1994 I thought Ghouls were one of the coolest things in the Undead army even though they sucked on the battlefield. I also loved the little story about the Ghoul King in the original Undead army book so I eventually converted up a champion and a banner bearer even if I couldn't use them in the game as anything special. As you can tell, there's a lot of memories and back story to this unit so its a shame to see it go, but go it must.

 The next unit was from the same era but didn't have the same evolution. Between completing the back ranks of Ghouls and the front ranks I got sidetracked by the release of Necromunda. Though the Cawdor became my true love in Necromunda (and later became my Redemptors of Golinar Imperial Guard army) I originally painted a few Orlocks out of the boxed game. These models are nothing special I guess but they have been used in multiple stores at multiple demo events over the last 15 years. Not being involved at that end of the hobby anymore has left them gathering dust so they should find a nice home where they can skulk around the Underhive once more.

 Finally (for today) I have these Chaos Space Marines. I love the idea of the Iron Warriors and if I ever did a Chaos Legion it would be them. Somewhere in the early to mid 2000's I wanted to try and increase my speed at painting and decided to try Iron Warriors out. These were done with a couple heavy dry brush layers of Boltgun Metal and Mithril Silver, a black wash, and then a straight Mithril Silver highlight. I then did some quick Burnished Gold accents. Wow, things are hauling now right? So that's when my speed painting attack crapped out. One of the coolest things about Iron Warriors is the contrast created by the caution stripes. So then areas were gone over in two coats of white and then Chaos Black and Golden Yellow stripes that were then fully highlighted. Plus, I can't have marines without hand painted Iron Warriors insignia's right? All told, though faster than my Angels of Absolution they were not "quick" and the idea was shelved. Oh well.

It should be noted that the squad uses a mix of the 2nd Edition Chaos multipart plastics and the 3rd Edition Khorne Berserkers. All of the Khorne iconography has been shaved off. I think they look pretty bad ass. Maybe one day if I start playing regularly again I'll revisit the idea of Iron Warriors.

You can check out my current auctions here: NickxBaran Ebay Auctions