Book Review: The Purging of Kadillus

I just finished the book. It took me only about 3 days. I have read Helsreach and Rynn's World previously and i would say i enjoyed The Purging of Kadillus the most. The beginning of the story is different to the other two Space Marine novels i read, as the Dark Angels appear to be already in the thick of the action against the Orks.

I appreciate the headings of each chapters of the book also gets me ready for the main character who will be featured. I really liked the way the author gave us insight into the feelings, doubts and emotions of each character in each segment.

I especially enjoyed Namaan's tale. It was inspirational. The author also presents an invaluable perspective of how an imperial guardsman views the Astartes.

In addition, the book is replete with interesting quotes from Astartes. The quotes being the things the Dark Angels say at the end of a sentence, which is almost always relating to their faith in The Lion or The Emperor. I thought this gives further insight into their beliefs and how that translates into the Astartes every thought and action. Its also very characterful, although i was not used to it in the beginning.

I also liked it that The Ravenwing and Deathwing were also present and doing what they specialise in during the battle.

There is also a nice map of Kadillus Harbor and Koth Ridge in the book. Also of note is a picture of Brother-Captain Belial in normal power armor in the book. I especially found the hilt of his Sword of Secrets rather....interesting.

I would highly recommend others to give The Purging of Kadillus a read, especially fans of The Unforgiven.

Incoming
I also managed to assemble and prime 6 Ravenwing bikers :) A pity i forgot to bring any Codex Grey and Shadow Grey paint. Will have to get those before i continue lol!


Pictured above are 5 Ravenwing bikers and on the front-right is my Sgt with Power sword on bike.

Okie dokes folks! I wish you all a fruitful and joyous week ahead!

Lunchbox Marines

Back to the land Down Under! And I come with the Angels of Death! And a few wood elves ;)

This is one of the few lunch boxes of olde Space Marine models that I scrounged up from the forgotten realms (my bitz boxes and also from under the table).

I initially wanted to do up a Crimson Fists army but found that I had forgotten to bring along my converted Pedro Kantor. I did bring along some Ravenwing and Deathwing, but they themselves were not sufficient to form an army.

It would fall to the marines from my lunchboxes to bring up the army to a respectable 1500 points :) I have 40 extra marines in various degrees of mutilation heheh, so i'll use 20 to form the Dark Angels Troop choices (i.e 2 Tactical Squads).

Heres my Dark Angels 1500pt fun list:

HQ
1x Master of Deathwing 130pts
Twin Lightning Claws

Elite
Venerable Dreadnought 175pts
TLLC, ML

Troops
5x Deathwing Terminators 275pts
AC/PF, LC, LC, TH/SS, TH/SS (Apoc)

5x Deathwing Terminators 250pts
AC/PF, SB/PF, SB/CF, SB/PW, LC

10x Tactical Marines 205pts
Sgt w/PF, 1 Missile Launcher, 1 Flamer

10x Tactical Marines 220pts
Sgt w/PF, 1 Plasmacannon, 1 Plasmagun

Fast Attack
6 Ravenwing Bikers 245pts
Sgt w/PW, 1 Meltagun

Total: 1500pts

I only brought along Belial as my only HQ. He makes my Deathwing counts as Troops which is great :) But i'll start painting the Tacticals first. Got to paint fast as i'll probably head down to the local GW this weekend.


The 'lunchbox marines' after being primed and mostly painted with Dark Angels green.


Two Tactical Marines are mostly done for tabletop gaming.


Rear view. Just 18 more to go lol!

And to provide some much needed motivation whilst painting, i have received my copy of The Purging of Kadillus by Gav Thorpe.

Am on the second chapter of the book thus far and its looks promising :)

More Angels Incoming!
I have another 20-ish extra marines and will be painting them up as a certain Blood Angels Successor Chapter ;) I'll probably be getting a Storm Raven as well as a Furioso Dreadnought kit. Was inspired by the game i saw crazyrat from Floor Gaming blog played with Krom before i left.

My Flesh Tearer's Fun List at 1750pts:

HQ
1x Librarian 100pts
Blood Lance, Shield of Sanguinius

Elites
1x Chaplain 105pts
Meltabombs

Troops
10x Tactical Marines 200pts
Sgt w/Powerfist, 1 Meltagun, ML

10x Tactical Marines 200pts
Sgt w/Powerfist, 1 Meltagun, ML

10x Scouts 150pts
Sgt w/Powerfist & Meltabombs

5x Scouts 90pts
Camo cloaks, 4 sniper rifles

9x Death Company 220pts
1w/ Powerfist, 1w/Power weapon

1x DC Dreadnought 125pts
with Awesome Talons

Heavy Support
1x Storm Raven 215pts
Twin-linked Multimelta
Extra Armor

1x Storm Raven 215pts
Twin-linked Multimelta
Extra Armor

5x Devastator Marines 130pts
4 Missile Launchers

Grand Total: 1740pts

This list has a bit of flexibility especially with the Storm Ravens. 3 of the Troop choices will be on the Storm Ravens and will hopefully get to the enemy lines at the opportune moment.

I will definitely be placing the Death Company, Chaplain and Dread in a Storm Raven.

The other Storm Raven is more flexible. I could place a Tactical Squad and Librarian in it, OR a 10 man Scout Squad with Librarian. I think there is also the option of placing the DC Dread with the 2nd Storm Raven. This will cause the opponent to have to choose which one to shoot at ;)

The Dev Squad and Tacticals provide some much needed anti-tank. Snipers can shoot at monstrous creatures too if able.

Other options available include replacing the Chaplain and a 5 man Scout squad with Gabriel Seth or even a Furioso Librarian Dreadnought for more fun :))

Blood Strike Missiles
I would also consider hanging the Storm Ravens back in the first turn and firing the Blood Strike missiles at opponent's armor. With the amount of missiles in the army, hopefully they can crack some transports, but the key is stunning enemy transports like Razorbacks and Preds so they can't shoot me planes. Then the rest try to rush in and go for the assault.

Reinforcements
I just need to get me 2 Storm Ravens and the new Furioso Dread kit. I got the rest of the army from my old bitz including the old metal DC marines ;P

A rather promising week to keep myself occupied.

Have a good one all! The weekend doth approaches!

More Space Terrain

Managed to do up a piece of space terrain. This piece is a Specimen/Vat Tank located in the Laboratory or Storage area of the ship.


I marked and cut out the desired shapes. The circles are where the Specimen Tanks are located, while the rectangle area is the control or viewing area.


The two Specimen Tanks are revealed while the third one is seemingly still unactivated and 'undergound'. I used plastic containers with caps for the tanks. The only part of the tank i will undercoat is the cap. Will be painting black and yellow chevrons around it. The upper part of the tank will be kept clear to display the specimen inside. Chevrons also to be painted around the circular edges of the tanks as well as edges of the walkway area.


Another slightly elevated view of the terrain piece. I also plan to put up some railings or barriers around the walkway area to give some cover for infantry units.


A closer view of the Specimen Tank. The specimen used inside is the alien from the Independence Day movie. I may replace him with something else more 40K, maybe a Tyranid organism sample hehe! Also thinking of adding slime or goop inside to make it appear like its floating about.


The other specimen on the left is the skull of a woolly mammoth :)


I got this pack of cord belts from Daiso to make some miniature computer terminals.


Just had to cut off the top of the cord and use the top part.


Here's my computer terminal, used to monitor the vital signs of the specimen. It should look more convincing after application of paint.


A pic of some Salamander Space Marine Scouts approaching the area...

This reminds me of a conversation/quote from Independence Day!

President:I know there is much to learn from each other if we can make a truce. We can find a way to Co-exist. can there be a peace between us? Alien: Peace? NO PEACE! President Whitmore: What is it you want us to do? Captured Alien: Die…die…

LOL! Thats all thus far. Will post updates as i make more progress.

Have a great week ahead everyone ;)

Starship Terrain

Been doing some terrain making lately at Ray's (from Anything But Ones blog). The buildings are slowly but surely taking shape and being based. This has also given me some motivation to do up my own starship terrain. The inspiration is also from the Space Hulk PC game that drew me into the Warhammer 40K universe.

I wanted to make a gaming board out of it, but did not really know how to even start. I collected stuff through the years and decided to do something about it as there is now quite a bit of clutter in my room :P

Deck Plating
I got some stuff that looks like deck plating on a miniature scale.

The above are things that people put at the bottom of plant pots. They have a good deck plate/ iron grills look to them. I got a heap of these things heheh! I got these from Daiso at $2 a pack.


More deck plating stuff. This one is a Plastic Canvas. Got it at ArtFriend for $1.50 each.


This is the board itself. Its a plastic board thing used in art and craft. Can be found at bookshops like Popular. I cut the desired indentations to house the 'deck plating' items.


I then glued one board on top of the other using good ol' PVA.


Then i just slotted in the deck plates and apply more PVA to stick them in place. All thats left is basecoating it black and dry brush boltgun metal+wash. This piece is made to be 2 feet by 2 feet. I have 5 more to make a 6 feet by 4 feet 'gaming surface'.



A Space Marine Captain by his lonesome on the deck.


The Emperor's Finest gettin' a feel of the board. My Terminators are painted, but the Land Raider will soon be stripped and re-painted ;)

I hope to at least get all the 'board pieces' constructed before next week.

Oh yes, i forgot to add. The board is pretty basic and i was not going fully for the Space Hulk look. In Space Hulk, the corridors are all pretty fixed. Sure you could reconfigure the walkways but the models do have to move in a straight line or pathways.

The more open board allows for spaceship terrain placement. For example, plasma generators, crates and even a small shuttle. And all the terrain functions just like terrain on an open board, e.g. Bunker, hill or forest. This makes the board more dynamic and allows for Vehicles to move as per an open board.

The Space Hulk is after all an amalgamation of several derelict Starships, so space should be at a premium anyways.

Well thats all from me for the weekend.

Cheers!

Edited for loads of typos ;P

New Year, New Stuffs

Happy Chinese New Year everyone!

I have officially finished my holiday job and am back to wargaming! And painting!

New year, new projects yeah :)

I have found a goodly amount of Space Marine tacticals (some in pieces) from years of hoarding second hand stuff. I will be starting project that i will name Project Leftovers ;P

Project Leftovers will consist of various badly mauled, painted and some (slightly) melted minis that i will try to form into a (reasonably) cohesive fighting force.

As such, i will be doing up a Crimson Fists army. Below is my version of Pedro Kantor, Chapter Master of the Crimson Fists Space Marines Chapter :)


I was going to be painting up a Space Marine captain for my bud Rongster. But his Captain is Ultramarines, so i tested my mini to see which blue is better. This is the front view of Pedro.


Side view of the Power Fist so representative of the Crimson Fist chapter.


Other view of a kit-bashed special bolter that Pedro carries. This is my version of the Arrow of Dorn. It was made using some Termi bits and two bolt pistols.


Back view of cloak.

Also did some paint stripping for the marines. I think i only managed to get 2-3 out of the 6-7 coats of previous paints off them. But good enough i guess haha!

The incumbent Crimson Fists. Not lookin' like much yet lol! Some are still swimming in the Spring Fresh flavour of Simple Green.


Cthulhu Calls...

And last but not least, I finally got me very own copy of Arkham Horror!

The game board is well made and the Character cards are sweet! Looking forward to learn the rules and have a game. Guys i can bring the game over as well if anyone wants to have a go at it ;))



Take care all! Have a great week ahead!