Veteran Completed

Hey Everyone, Alex Here

I just finished off the first veteran for my second veteran squad. The squad is equipped completely with plasma guns. It should be brutal to use in game.

Using the FW respirator heads (specifically the one here with the targeter), I think this squad will look rather deadly and impersonal: I like that.









Expect another veteran tomorrow and the day after that! These guys have gotta be painted up for the 'Ard Boyz...

New Sergeants

Hey Everyone Alex here

Just thought I would update the blog. I made and painted up two new sergeants so that my army is once again WYSIWYG (no more lasguns on sergeants!)





I will be painting a bit this week getting ready for the 'Ard Boyz tournament. Another update soon!

1000pt Doubles tourney results...

Today Alex and I had a doubles tournament at our local gaming shop Jester's Cap. We both played 500pts each of Guard armies (my Valhallans, his Cadian). Our lists were as follows (light blue is mine, light green is his):

HQ
Primaris Psyker - 70

Company Command Squad - 65
+ Vox-caster, 2x Grenade Launcher

Elites
Guardsman Marbo - 65

Troops
Veteran Squad - 100
+ 3x Melta Gun

Chimera - 55

Platoon Command Squad - 30
Squad A - 60
+ Grenade Launcher, Mortar

Squad B - 60
+ Grenade Launcher, Mortar

Squad C - 60
+ Grenade Launcher, Mortar

Platoon Command Squad - 60
+ Vox-caster, Melta Gun, Power Fist

Squad A - 110
+ Vox-caster, Melta Gun, Commissar w/Plasma Pistol

Squad B - 55
+ Melta Gun

Mortar Squad - 60

Heavy Support
Leman Russ Battle Tank - 150

Our first game we played against Chaos and Orks. We made a few mistakes:
1) We forgot to assault with Alex's PCS and move Marbo which screwed both of them over
2) We targeted a Mega Nob squad instead of a lone boy (we played Victory Points) which would've given us a lot more points.

We only scored about half of the available points that round. Blah.

Second game we played our friends Kishvier and Brother Chaplain Raimo from the Astronomican and Warseer forums. They had a Chaos army and Imperial Guard army respectively. We made a HUGE mistake in combining our squads (Alex had 30 men, I had 20) because we thought we were playing Kill Points for some reason. Because of that a Demon Prince wiped out Alex's 30 man squad (but then got obliterated by Vets and a Primaris Psyker) and a four man Khorne Beserker squad wiped out my infantry. The commissar was amazing though because of stubborn and his leadership of 9. SO, SO, SO, SO useful!! Marbo single-handedly destroyed their CCS which was totally badass too. My mortars just shined this game because they never missed a shot until the end. Absolutely epic. The only thing they had left was the four beserkers (they wouldn't die!) so we won that with almost all the avaliable points for that round.

Our third game was great, we nearly tabled the enemy with minimal loses. We played against Chaos and Eldar and destroyed their Demon Prince with massed Las fire (First Rank, Second Rank for the win!) and a few meltas. The only thing we lost was my PCS and the Leman Russ at the VERY end of the game. The only thing they had left was a Chaos Marine squad and a Rhino on the opposite corner of the board. We, again, won almost all of the avaliable points.

Despite our success in the second two games, we only placed fourth. We missed third by about 20 points (if we killed the ONE ork boy in the first game we would've gotten it) and missed second by about 50 (again, that one ork boy would've made it close). Overall, though, I'm incredibly pleased at how our list functioned. It definitely worked together and not like two seperate lists which was great. However, our stupid mistakes in the first game cost us a chance at some great prizes (though, to be fair, that team won first! In fact, the last team we played won second so I feel pretty good!)

That is all for now. Alex and I should have some updates for you this week and if not, I lied to you! Hope you all are enjoying your summer so far (or winter for you in the Southern Hemisphere!).

Friday FAQ #3

Well it's that time again- another Friday FAQ!

This week we have a question from CyborgTrucker (check out his blog here!). His question:

Can Lesser Demons hold objectives since in the back of the CSM Codex it says:

"Units of Summoned Lesser Demons do not use up any force organization chart selection, but are otherwise treated as a Troops unit."

I don't know or recall where I heard that they can't. For all I know I've been following an urban legend on a ruling that never really occurred or existed. If there is a definitive place that answers this, where is it? I did check the GW CSM FAQ just to be sure I didn't miss an obvious place for an answer.

This is an interesting question. Reading the rules for scoring units in the 5th Edition Rule Book on page 90 it states:

An army's scoring units are all the units that come from its Troops allowance.

As CyborgTrucker mentioned in his question, the entry for Summoned Lesser Demons on page 102 of the Chaos Space Marine codex says:

"Units of Summoned Lesser Demons do not use up any force organization chart selection, but are otherwise treated as a Troops unit."

Looking at both of these entries it would seem the logical answer is no, Summoned Lesser Demons do not count as scoring units since they are not from the Troops allowance because they don't take up a Force Organizational slot. However, this thread on DakkaDakka offers a different and, in our opinion, correct intrepretation. I am quoting user Lord_Mortis here:

[The Scoring Units entry on page 90 of the rulebook] goes on to further state that "other units may deny an objective....but only Troops can control it." The Chaos Codex states that lesser demons "...do not use up any force organisation chart selection, but are otherwise treated as a Troops unit." It uses the big T for troops.

As they don't take up any slots on the FOC, then I may take any number of lesser demons as a Troops choice, and since they are not limited to just 6 slots, then my Troops allowance for them is unlimited, other than being limited by the points of the game being played.

Lesser Demons have therefore satisfied both requirements, being a Troops choice and coming from the Troops allowance (which for them is unlimited), and therefore count as a scoring unit.

Terran Forge Final Opinion: A unit of Summoned Lesser Demons are a Troops Choice for a Chaos Space Marine army but they take up zero out of the six available slots instead of one like a typical Troops Choice. Therefore they count as scoring units and can hold objectives, but do not take up a Force Organizational slot.


This was an interesting question to research, but after finding that thread on Dakka, we feel this is the best and most logical answer. Although it isn't clearly outlined, we definitely feel this is what was intended when written. If you are still unsure just read that thread on Dakka we linked too and form your own opinion and post it here, we'd love to see what you guys think! Thanks to CyborgTrucker for sending this question in and if you have one please send it to us at terranforge@gmail.com!

Indecision, indecision...

I am very indecisive, as the title of the post suggests. Basically, it takes me repainting my army two, maybe three times before I settle on a scheme and my Valhallans are no different. Originally they were white coats with khaki pants. Blegh. Then they were Khaki coats with green pants/armor. Meh. Now they are Grey coats with Blue pants/armor. Niiiiccceeee. I like how it looks a lot and they are fun to paint (and not very time consuming...for me :p)

First, the repaint of the mortar crew....


Now my newly painted CCS. I did some more base experimenting to...well...little success. Some of them basically disentegrated which is disappointing to say the least. I'm still happy with the way they look, but need to perfect my methods still (I used baking powder instead of soda which, reading on the interwebs, is probably my problem. Live and learn!)








And, a little teaser I guess, my commissar who is getting a loving paintjob (possibly in time for July...)

Friday FAQ #2

Hey guys, time for another installment of Friday FAQ! This week we have a very good question from RC of Pick a Damn Army. His question is:

the new imperial guard codex and it says the priest's eviscerator counts as a powerfist that rolls an extra die for armor penetration. Does this mean he get's +1 attack from having it and his laspistol?

Terran Forge Opinion: On page 35 of the Imperial Guard codex under the Eviscerator entry it states:

An eviscerator is a massive two-handed chainsword . . . [and] counts as a power fist, but rolls an additional D6 for armor penetration.

Now, first thoughts are "No. It clearly states the weapon is a two-handed weapon and therefore you can't get the extra attack for 2CCWs." However, sometimes I forget that "two-handed weapons" are no longer in the rules. Curses. Now the next phrase "counts as a powerfist" seems a bit misleading (and is why the question has been raised). On page 42 of the 40k rulebook it states under the Power Fists entry:

A power fist (or 'power claw') is an armored gauntlet surrounded by a disruptive energy field. A power fist is a power weapon, and also doubles the user's Strength. Power Fists, however, are difficult and cumbersome to use, so attacks with a power fist are always delivered at iniative 1.

So this is what an Eviscerator counts as, eh? It doesn't specifically say anything about extra attacks so it looks like the Eviscerator gets that 1 extra attack! If you think we're wrong, you're absolutely right. Take a look immediately to the right of the Power Fist entry under "A normal and a special weapon":

These models gain one additional attack. All of their attacks, including the bonus attack, benefit from the special weapon's bonuses.

Power Fists, Thunder Hammers and Lightning Claws are an exception to this. Only a second Power Fist, Thunder Hammer or Lightning Claw can confer a bonus attack to a model equipped with one of these weapons.

Now, it may not saw Eviscerator in that entry, but if you noticed the blurb at the top of the page:

In terms of rules, [close combat weapons] are al grouped into either of the following two categories

Those categories are normal close combat weapons and Special Close Combat Weapons. The later has 8 different entries titled: "Power Weapons, Lightning Claws, Force Weapons, Poisoned Weapons, Power Fists, Thunder Hammers, Rending Weapons and Witchblades. Go back to that quote under "A normal and a special weapon". Do you see something? All three weapons mentioned are categories of special weapons. Therefore when the category "power fist" is called on saying that no additional attacks are gained for having 2CCWs, anything that falls into that category is included. This means Power Klaws, and Eviscerators as well. (As a side note, the Power Klaw entry in the Ork codex also mentions that is "counts as" a power fist).


Terran Forge final opinion: Models with an Eviscerator do not gain an extra attack for having two close combat weapons.


This was a very interesting question as I've never really looked up those rules and have always just taken them for granted. Again, thanks to RC from Pick a Damn Army for submitting this question and if you have a rules query you'd like answered by one of these weekly segments, just email us at terranforge@gmail.com!

Stop Motion

So yesterday I was very bored and needed a break from painting my guys (update soon-ish!) So I decided to try my hand at filming a short stop motion movie. I ended up turning it into an advert for The Astro Mag mainly because I thought it would be a cool way to reach out to 40k players on youtube that I couldn't normally reach. Anyways, it's my first attempt at something like this, but I'm rather happy with the way it turned out:

Guardsman Marbo: Completed

Hey everyone, Alex here and Guardsman Marbo is finally done and I am pretty happy with the paint job. The blending on the back was especially tough though. It looks good to my eye! I think...

I took lots of pics so that everyone could get a good sense of the 3d model.













Next up is the command squad for the Bell of Lost Souls competition!

Guardsman Marbo Conversion

Alex here.

Just the other day kev's GS skills gave me the confidence to make a conversion of Guardsman Marbo so I could try him out in a game or two. After some minor GS work, plastic and resin cutting, and elbow grease (oh, so much grease) I came up with this model.








I think it is a pretty OK job for only my second time using green stuff. But I could always use improvement (much emphasis on always and improvement).

Obviously the model is missing a head so I thought I would ask the community of bloggers to help me in picking one out. Give suggestions (head from any sprue or model) and I will sort through them and make a poll shortly after. Thanks everyone!

Incoming!

Got the Valhallan Mortars finished. Next up is the Platoon Command Squad!

Friday FAQ

This is going to be a new weekly series where Alex and I scour the web for questions or queries about misleading or unclear rules in 40k and answer them (with both our opinions and the popular answer). Obviously it is a totally unofficial answer, but gives you a bearing on how other people view the question and acts as a second opinion. Hopefully you guys will enjoy this weekly installment!

Now, onto the question (actually, two in one)! I found this posted by Deathboon on Astronomican (the question is not a direct quote, but abridged for clarity):

A drop pod, when the doors are opened, is quite large. When measuring for either explosion or disembarking, do you measure from the extended doors or the base of the drop pod itself?

To make it a bit more clear, here are some pictures. In red we have the doors, in blue the actual base of the drop pod.

Now the problem is whether or not disembarking and any explosions are measured from the red doors or the blue base. The overwhelming opinion in the thread on Astro was that the disembarking is measured from the doors since the marines inside would run down the ramp to disembark but any explosion is measured from the hull (blue) because that's where the center of explosion would come from.

Terran Forge opinion- On page 56 of the rulebook under the header "Vehicles and Measuring Distances" it states

For distances involving a vehicle, measure to or from their hull (ignore gun barrels, dozer blades, antennas, banners and other decorative elements).

Ok, so all measurements are measured from a hull and since the doors are not part of the hull (think in realistic terms here: are the doors on a humvee considered the hull of the vehicle? No. The term "hull" refers to the main chassis of the vehicle, for the most part) that means the explosions are measured from the hull. However, if we look to the Disembarking rules on page 67, it refers to access points rather than the hull. Well what the hell are access points? On page 66 is states (under the heading "Access Points"):

. . . access points . . . are the doors, ramps and hatches that passengers use to get in and out of the vehicle.

That would imply that the giant-ass doors that fall down from the drop pod are indeed where you measure the disembarking move from. However, there is a kicker. On page 69 of the Space Marine Codex, it says:

Once the Drop Pod has landed, the hatches are blown and all passengers must immediately disembark . . . Ince deployed the Drop Pod is no longer a sealed environment . . .

So the hatches are blown meaning, as we see it at least, the so-called ramps actually don't exist on the field anymore and what are falling off the hull are merely decorative items. Not to mention that the Access Points defined in the rulebook clearly state hatches are access points and, since they are blown, the hull is the only thing left to deploy from. Now that is the RAW interpretation of the rules. But I also think it is the intended version as well. Why would GW allow a Dreadnought to effectively deploy 6" (assuming the doors are 4" long) away from where the pod originally dropped? That's absolutely ridiculous if you ask us!

Terran Forge final opinion: Disembarking and explosions are both measured from the hull of the Drop Pod


Obviously, our opinion isn't the end all be all, but I hope you understand why we think this is the best answer and understand how our sources tie in together. As I said earlier, these weekly posts are meant for you to have a second opinion on rare situations that might come up. If you have a question you'd like answered or a weird question with an answer you came up with, just send us an email at terranforge@gmail.com!

Titan Terrain

Last summer I scratch built a Warhound titan for only $30 but at one point I ran out of styrene so I naively thought that cardboard would hold its own. That is, cardboard legs with a styrene torso. Needless to say, the thing was quite top heavy and ended up collapsing on on itself (with a bit of aid from my foot accidentally stepping on it). A lot of hard work for nothing...until now. I decided "Hey! This would make for some great terrain!" so I began work. This is the first piece with the only foot I have remaining. A simple thing but it'll really bring some "pop" to the games Pat, Alex and I play together. I have the whole torso and head still and plan on making a MASSIVE piece out of that soon enough. Need to get some Valhallans done first :)

Before shots:



After shots:

Almost Done...

Hey Everyone,

Got further on my army most recently. I finished up seven troopers with just another two to go (All my sergeants sadly need to be remodeled with las pistol and CCW).


They look odd in this pic, not sure why...must be the lighting?

I also plan on entering Bell of Lost Souls's command squad competition. I began work on them too.



Using some FW bits, some bits from kevin, and a hell of a lot of ammo packs I think I can make these guys look like pro soldiers. I want their bases to mirror my sentinels (with cool looking tiles). Hopefully, they look good when all is said and done: But sadly, I am all out of primer right now.

BTW, kev and I are starting a weekly friday posting that everyone should check out tomorrow.

The Krieg Have Arrived!!

When i opened the mailbox this morning a smile shot across my face as I saw a package addressed to me sitting in there, begging to be opened. What could've have been? My new Death Korps of Krieg platoon command squad for my Valhallans thanks to the awesome contest held by The 25mm Warrior!! Here is a picture of this INCREDIBLY DETAILED addition to my army:



All I need to do to get them "Valhallan-ready" is cut the plasma gun off and replace it with a lasgun and then, obviously, give 'em nice winter bases. Sadly, however, these are not the next things I'll be painting. First up is my Cadian Command squad (which I am in the process of converting) because I want to get them done for the Bell of Lost Souls contest. Ideally, I will have all 500 points painited by then (Alex and I have a doubles tourney on the 27th), but I forgot I'm going to Chicago from the 19th to the 24th for a friend's wedding. But, the order stuff will be painted in is:
- Mortar Squad (over 50% done already. I've been dragging my feet :( )
- Company Command Squad (for BoLS)
- Platoon Command Squad (Yay for Kreig!)
- Sentinel with Multilaser (about 10% painted already)
- Leman Russ Battle Tank (still have to assemble it >_<)
- 20 Infantry (10 converted, 10 still on the sprue. Though, worst case, I just use my casts which I have 10 painted already)

So, as long as I'm not lazy, all of that should be done by June 27th. Wish me luck!

Primaris Psyker WIP

Hey everyone,
Here is that update I promised.

This is a primaris Psyker that I will be using and messing with for a few games. I cannot stand proxying models so I really had to convert and paint one of these guys up. I am not sure what the model is that it is converted fromm, some old inquisition model for sure. If anyone can find a link to a pic of it, that would be great.

Basically, I added a beard, changed the hands, added a staff, GS'd the robes, filed off a big Inquisitional I and replaced it with a skull.



Once again, if anyone can find a pic of the original model or knows where it came from, I would be much obliged.

Also, anyone know how to paint black hair and make it look black? I am still having that dilemma...

Valhallan Mortar Team

My shipment of ProCreate arrived the other day so I began my Cadian conversions. I started off with my Mortar Squad and after converting them (which involved trimming down the shoulder pads and then blending that in with the soft armor plus extending the skirt to make it more like a greatcoat) I started painting them. The first team is done:








Alex and I are going to be in a 1000pt doubles tourney at the end of the month (500pts a side) so I will paint up my force for that in the coming weeks so expect many updates from me! Plus, that Death Korps prize from the 25mm Warrior should be coming in soon so that will be a great update there!

Bell of Lost Souls Alliance

Today marks the three month "birthday" of Terran Forge and our inclusion into the Bell of Lost Souls Alliance. So if anyone is coming from BoLS then we welcome you to our humble blog!

So just a short post for now, but expect something more substantive in the near future (possibly of the Valhallan flavor)