Battle Force Challenge Update - FAILURE

Yep. I failed. I thought I could finish my all infantry Deathwing force by the end of June. As it turns out, I had really over-committed myself this time. I did however manage to get the majority of it done, and in all fairness this is more than a 1500 point army! I still need to base coat the flesh and gold areas before I can seal them with gloss varnish and attempt to oil wash them. Here are a few photos of where the army is at today. Maybe this weekend I can get the final base coats finished and get my defense line primed.

Group Shot 1 - Knights, Command Squad, & Sargent Terminators

Group Shot 2 - HQ's, Assualt, Shooty, & Magnetized Terminators

Magnetized Weapons - 5 Terminators are magnetized for weapon options

Converted Belial - Same model from my original Ultra-wing army

Converted Librarian & Chaplain

 I also have been buying a few things here and there for future projects. I picked up one of the larger bits bags from Spikey Bits and just before GW stopped allowing bits to be sold I picked up one of the final huge bags from The War Store. Out of both of these purchases I got a complete Land Raider, 3 Chaos Bikers, a Hellbrute, several plasma cannons and lascannons! Definitely these bits bags were worth the money!

Battle Force Challenge Updates and More

It's been a few months since I lasted posted anything to the blog. In fact, it's been a while for most of us here at The Istvaanians. We wrapped up the Battle for Stones River in the beginning of March, and managed to have 82 players show up this year! The months leading up to this had us busy making new terrain and new tables, while repairing the old terrain. I've also been doing commission work on the side assembling models for a few guys at my FLGS Grand Adventures, and I'm working on changing our blogger site over to WordPress. Once everything was said and done with the Battle for Stones River, I know I was left feeling burnt out and exhausted. With my personal Battle Force Challenge going on, I knew that I wouldn't be able to get anything done in the first three months of this year. Now, we are going on 6 months into the year, and I have less than 30 days to finish my next army, Dark Angels.

My Deathwing sitting next to the boxes of parts for my next commission job, Heresy Era Deathguard.

My Battle Force Deathwing, as of today.

Instead of doing the Ravenwing Battle Force (the only official Dark Angels battle force), I have decided to redo my Ultrawing into a properly painted Deathwing army. In addition to the 1500 pt army for the Battle Force Challenge, I have decided to paint all of my Deathwing terminators for a army of about 2500 - 3000 points. Then I will do a Ravenwing and Greenwing Dark Angels afterwards. All in 30 days.....

My Christmas present from my wife.

I didn't get a chance to post this earlier in the year. These two photos are the "after" photos of my game room. I had looked around for a few months before finding a solution to my storage problems in my game room. While I was on a business trip, I went into Ikea and came out with several catalogs and different ideas for what might possibly work. In the end I settled on set up shown above. I still need to get everything organized, but at least it is in the right area now. Behind the two doors below the file full of old White Dwarfs are the beginnings of at least two Fantasy and two 40K armies. It seems I may have a slight hording problem.

Battle Force Challenge Update #3: Black Templars FINISHED!!

Well, somehow I managed to never post a single update, work in progress shot, or even an army list for this entire project! After completing my Orks at the end of September, I mentioned that I was going to start working my through all of the Warhammer 40K armies in alphabetical order making 1000 point armies for each of them using the models in their battleforces as a basis. Since then however, I have decided to up that value and go for 1500 point armies. For my Orks that was pretty easy as all I had to do was add in Mad Dok, a battlewagon, and 19 'Ard boyz with a nob. And, given that these guys were already finished it was even easier! I decided to raise the point value for two reasons. One, a 1500 point army allows for a decent size game, and two, at that points level I can start adding allies a little bit easier since I have more options to work with.

The only real issue I had with this army was waiting for the Emperors Champion to arrive. The model is now in finecast and had to be ordered at my FLGS. Even with the figure being redone in finecast, I still do not like it. There is nothing that really stands out on the model, and compared to the rest of the figures in the army he seems really basic and plain. I wish I would have converted my own version of him instead. Speaking of conversions, the Marshal was based off of the older 3rd edition captain with a simple arm swap for the storm shield and a little more difficult arm swap for the plastic Black Templar sword arm. I also decided to try magnetizing my terminators. Somehow I managed to reverse two of the lightning claw arms, but I doubt that I will ever run all lightning claws with these guys! Without any w.i.p. photos, or anything else to show, I guess I'll get straight to the finished army.

1500 Point Black Templar Battle Force Challenge List Finished

Marshal, 125 pts (Melta Bombs, Power Sword, Storm Shield, Holy Orb of Antioch)

Emperor's Champion, 140 pts (Vow = Accept Any Challenge...)

Dreadnought, 143 pts (Twin-Linked Lascannon, Missile Launcher, Extra Armor, Smoke Launchers)

Crusader Squad, 211 pts (5 Initiates with Bolt Pistol and CCW, 1 Initiate with Plasmagun, 1 Initiate with Bolt Pistol & Power Fist, 2 Neophyte with Bolt Pistol & CCW, 1 Rhino with Extra Armor & Smoke Launchers)

Crusader Squad, 211 pts (5 Initiates with Bolt Pistol and CCW, 1 Initiate with Plasmagun, 1 Initiate with Bolt Pistol & Power Fist, 2 Neophyte with Bolt Pistol & CCW, 1 Rhino with Extra Armor & Smoke Launchers)

Crusader Squad, 209 pts (3 Initiates with Bolters, 1 Initiate with Plasmagun, 1 Initiate with Lascannon, 1 Neophyte with Shotgun, 1 Razorback with Twin-Linked Lascannon, Extra Armor & Smoke Launchers)

Sword Brethren Terminator Assault Squad, 200 pts (2 Terminator with Lightning Claws, 3 Terminator with Thunder Hammer & Storm Shield)

Land Raider, 258 pts (Extra Armor & Smoke Launchers)

Total Roster Cost: 1497

Now that the holidays are over, several of us here on the blog are getting things ready for the 2013 Battle for Stones River. (Order your tickets now!!!!) This is going to keep us pretty busy for the next couple of months. I also have a couple of other projects going on including building up my Super Dungeon Explore sets and a commission job of building up a Chaos Dwarf army. With all of this in mind, I am going to be diverting from original plan slightly. Instead of going in alphabetical order and doing Blood Angels next, I am going to finish 1500 points of my Ultramarines instead. These guys are already built, primed, and the airbrushing is finished. I should be able to get all of the detail work done by the end of three months!

Battle Force Challenge Update #2: Orks Finished

First things first. The new Ork Flyer is easily one of my all time favorite Games Workshop models to build and paint. Easy to build with a ton of different options, no Ork Flyer should ever look the same.

With that out of the way, I can get back to the point of this post. I have finished my 1000 point Ork Battle Force Challenge army. For those of you that are just joining us, I have decided to challenge myself to build a 1000 point army for every Warhammer 40K Codex using the contents of that armies battle force. For the Codexs without a battle force I will either use the next closest equivalent (Space Marine battle force for Dark Angels, etc.) or buy an approximate equivalent in miniatures.

I started with Orks because I already have around 5000 points of these guys, but not all of it is painted. I also wanted to get one of those new flyers. In the end I actually put two of them in my army list. The thoughts behind these army lists are not to make tournament win at all costs armies. Instead, I want to make lists that become the core of the army. With the Orks finished, I am going to start going through the rest of the Codexs in alphabetical order. The next army, Black Templars. I already have an army list ready, and yesterday I purchased the Space Marine battle force, a Black Templar upgrade kit, a Dreadnought, and I have an Emperors Champion figure on order. Well, enough talking about the armies, and on to the photos and the army list for the Orks.

1000 Points Orks Battle Force Challenge List Finished

HQ: Warboss (1#, 85 pts)
   1 Bad Moonz Warboss Yella Jaw, 85 pts ('Eavy Armour; Bosspole; Cybork Body; Big Choppa)

Troops: Nob Bikers (3#, 210 pts)
   1 Da' Evil Sunz Fastest, 210 pts (Count as Troop Troops; Cybork Body; Warbike)
      1 Painboy (Cybork Body; Warbike)
      1 Nobz (Warbike; Cybork Body; Big Choppa)
      1 Nobz (Warbike; Cybork Body; Power Klaw)

Troops: Boyz (13#, 167 pts)
   11 Evil Suns Shoota Boyz, 167 pts (Shootas; Rokkit Launcha x1)
      1 Boyz Nob ('Eavy Armour; Bosspole; Power Klaw)
      1 Trukk (Reinforced Ram)

Troops: Boyz (12#, 156 pts)
   10 Bad Moonz Shoota Boyz, 156 pts (Shootas; Big Shoota x1)
      1 Boyz Nob ('Eavy Armour; Bosspole; Power Klaw)
      1 Trukk (Reinforced Ram)

Fast Attack: Dakkajet (1#, 130 pts)
   1 Da Blakk Gobbo, 130 pts (Fighta Ace; TL Supa Shoota)

Fast Attack: Burna-bommer (1#, 125 pts)
   1 Burna-bommer, 125 pts

Fast Attack: Deffkoptas (3#, 125 pts)
   3 Deffkoptas, 125 pts (TL Rokkit Launcha x2)

Total Roster Cost: 998

Battle Force Challenge Update #1

Since my previous post I have been busy with several different projects. My commission work has picked up, and I've had to build up two MERC's battle groups, several Necron Warriors, around 60 Tyranid Genestealers and Gaunts. I've also been busy with a Iron Hands army that will hopefully be finished soon and sent off to the painter so he can add his magical touch. That army has been a constant struggle as I am always trying to make sure that everything is perfect. I've also built myself a 1000 point force for a little game called Flames of War, but I haven't forgotten about my Battle Force Challenge. Last post I thought I had a list settled on, but in the end I decided to go a different route with my Orks.

When I was at the FLGS last week, I was going to get 2 boxes of Lootas and a Ork Flyer to finish up my original 1000 point list from my last post. As I stood there looking at the other GW figures thinking of future armies that I will probably never get to, I kept going back to that Ork flyer. I thought about for a while, and decided to go for two flyers instead of the the flyers and lootas! With that in mind, I revisited my original list and made a few changes to incorporate these two new flyers. Basically I dropped the lootas, and looted wagon and added in the second flyer, a burna-bomba, and 3 deff-coptas. I tried taking a few photos, but none of them turned out right. As of now, I have the Warboss, bikers, the Bad Moonz truk, and the two flyers left to paint. Now I'm off to eBay to search for a good deal on a light box!

Orks Battleforce Challenge List

HQ: Warboss (1#, 85 pts)
   1 Bad Moonz Warboss Yella Jaw, 85 pts ('Eavy Armour; Bosspole; Cybork Body; Big Choppa)

Troops: Nob Bikers (3#, 210 pts)
   1 Da' Evil Sunz Fastest, 210 pts (Count as Troop Troops; Cybork Body; Warbike)
      1 Painboy (Cybork Body; Warbike)
      1 Nobz (Warbike; Cybork Body; Big Choppa)
      1 Nobz (Warbike; Cybork Body; Power Klaw)

Troops: Boyz (13#, 167 pts)
   11 Evil Suns Shoota Boyz, 167 pts (Shootas; Rokkit Launcha x1)
      1 Boyz Nob ('Eavy Armour; Bosspole; Power Klaw)
      1 Trukk (Reinforced Ram)

Troops: Boyz (12#, 156 pts)
   10 Bad Moonz Shoota Boyz, 156 pts (Shootas; Big Shoota x1)
      1 Boyz Nob ('Eavy Armour; Bosspole; Power Klaw)
      1 Trukk (Reinforced Ram)

Fast Attack: Dakkajet (1#, 130 pts)
   1 Da Blakk Gobbo, 130 pts (Fighta Ace; TL Supa Shoota)

Fast Attack: Burna-bommer (1#, 125 pts)
   1 Burna-bommer, 125 pts

Fast Attack: Deffkoptas (3#, 125 pts)
   3 Deffkoptas, 125 pts (TL Rokkit Launcha x2)

Total Roster Cost: 998

Introducing the Warhammer 40K Battleforce Challenge

In my last post, I talked about a lack of motivation for 6th edition and 40K in general. Since then I have been thinking about what I like the most about this hobby and what is making Flames of War look so interesting. It occurred to me that I really enjoy the army building and painting process more than I do the actual game. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy rolling dice and watching all those "ones" come up, but for me there is just something about putting together models and seeing what I can come up with. With that in mind, I have decided to revisit an idea I had back around the first of the year. I have long had the idea to make an army for every current race in 40K. Now with the new rules for allies, I think this idea finally has some merit to it. And that might be enough to pull me out of this funk.

I am calling this idea, the "Battleforce Challenge". The goal will be to make a 1000 pt army for each race. With the allies rules, I should be able to combine armies to make a variety of lists from 1500 to 2000 points. For Tyranids, I plan on still making two separate 1000 point armies. I figure between the two lists I should be able to easily make a 2000 point list.

To start this off I am going to go with Orks. I already have about 5000 points of Orks in various stages of completion that I can use. I came up with the list below based on the models from the battleforce and what models I like. I don't play competitively, so I don't try to build lists with that in mind. I'll need to get one of the new flyers, and I'll also need to finally get some Lootas. Up until now I have never even used Lootas! I already have two Trukks painted, but neither of them are in Bad Moonz colors. I am going to give myself 8 weeks, September 30th, to finish this army. Should be do able if I can get everything I currently have built completely finished by the end of August. Then that would give me September to build and paint everything new.

Orks Battleforce Challenge List

HQ: Warboss (1#, 105 pts)
. . Bad Moonz Warboss Yella Jaw, 105 pts ('Eavy Armour; Attack Squig; Bosspole; Cybork Body; Big Choppa; TL Shoota)

Troops: Nob Bikers (3#, 220 pts)
. . Da' Goff Boyz Fastest, 220 pts (Count as Troop Troops; Cybork Body; Warbike)
. . . . Painboy (Cybork Body; Warbike; Grot Orderly)
. . . . Nobz (Warbike; Bosspole; Cybork Body; Big Choppa)
. . . . Nobz (Warbike; Cybork Body; Power Klaw)

Elite: Lootas (10#, 150 pts)
. . 10 of Da Mad Dok'z Bezt Shoota's, 150 pts

Troops: Boyz (13#, 172 pts)
. . 11 Evil Suns Shoota Boyz, 172 pts (Shootas; Rokkit Launcha x1)
. . . . Boyz Nob ('Eavy Armour; Bosspole; Power Klaw)
. . . . Trukk (Armour Plates)

Troops: Boyz (12#, 161 pts)
. . 10 Bad Moonz Shoota Boyz, 161 pts (Shootas; Big Shoota x1)
. . . . Boyz Nob ('Eavy Armour; Bosspole; Power Klaw)
. . . . Trukk (Armour Plates)

Fast Attack: Dakkajet (1#, 130 pts)
. . Da Blakk Gobbo, 130 pts (Fighta Ace; TL Supa Shoota)

Heavy Support: Looted Wagon (1#, 60 pts)
. . Looted Wagon, 60 pts (Skorcha; Armour Plates)

Total Roster Cost: 998