Predator Rescue, Part 01

Well, 6th edition hit and I could no longer deny my lust for GW, yadda, yadda, yadda. More later.

My latest endeavors have been to run solo 40K skirmishes using the Savage Worlds RPG. More on that later.

As such, I have been on a bit of a terrain building jag lately. I will post more about that in the future.

Needless to say my gaming life has continued and involved the stripping and repainting of my Blood Angels (for the third time!). I have also been working some of my back log as well as picking up the Dark Vengeance starter and going ga-ga over those particular miniatures also.

Basically, my self-imposed exile from GW and 40K failed in the most spectacular fashion.

Anyway, I got the bug to get a Predator tank. I have always liked the look of them and there is something about the symmetry/silhouette that I find elegant. Not wanting to pay the $57.75 to pick one up at the local GW, I bought one off of eBay.

Now, I specifically looked to buy a cheap pre-used/assembled/abused model. I have a fair amount of experience stripping models and rebuilding them. So, I was essentially looking for some one else's piece of junk to make a part of my army. I always figured that I could disguise the most egregious abuse as combat damage.

So, after some judicious bidding I ended up owning a destructor-pattern predator with lascannon sponsons. I got this low-mileage and slightly abused item for $30.99. That's ~47% off of the NIB price.

Fully Convertible

From the pictures you can see I got a model that has no tracks, two broken lascannon sponsons, one mis-glued hatch plug, and no apparent filing down of the mold lines. Oh, and it was covered in dust.

One the plus side I will not have to strip the model as the primer job is quite good.

The turret mount is in good shape and has been glued (correctly) in place. No issues there. One of the hatch plugs is upside down and shows the periscope and mounting cross/indention for mounting the HK missile. As this does not interfere with the functioning of the turret I am not going to mess with it. All this part needs is a filing/trim to correct a bit of a tight fit and it is good to go.

The whole shebang!

The turret is missing the cupola hatch and that will be dealt with out of my bits box. The storm bolter mount has cracked but not yet broken. I am going to use a bit of glue to correct that issue. A general filing and trimming will bring the turret up to snuff. The autocannon elevates and depresses a bit too easily. That will either be frictioned up using some white glue or just plain old glued into the correct elevation.

The sponsons/lascannons needs some filing and to be re-glued into place. Magnetization will also happen.

Worse mounting design ever!

The hull needs very little clean up/filing. The interior is clean and the ramp functions nicely. This might be the first Rhino STC with a painted interior, in my army. The exhaust pipes will be drilled out and some greeblies from my bitz box will finish the overall look of the tank.

The sides are glued into place and appear to have the correct spacing. Complete track sides are available for $1.60 per side from The Bitz Barn. I will be placing my order shortly. Luckily, tracks are not needed during the refurbishing/painting of the said tank.

We threw track, Sarge!

What a Day!

I did not attend Adepticon this year. I may never reach a point where I am good enough to justify a four-day trip to Chicago to play 40K.

What I did do on Sat. was take part in my local GW's tournament.

2000 pt Last Man Standing

The rules are simple. No reserves unless they deep strike or outflank. No walking on from your board edge. Three turns or 30 minutes, whichever comes first. If it dies, it does not go into the next game. Same with immobilized or weapon destroyed results, they carry over into the next game. Using a techmarine you can repair damage "in game". Reloads are available for one-shot weapons (combi-, hunter-killer, etc.).

The goal is to be the, "Last Man Standing".

I won't bore you with details except to say, I placed third. I survived the seventh and final game with 522 points of BA intact. Dark Eldar took first with 943 points. Black Templar finished second with 602 points.

Fun was had by all. The F-bomb was dropped on several occasions. Someone got chewed out. Like I said, a great time.

For my troubles I scored a box of Death Company. Using all the bits in the box I intend to kit out a full assault squad and dress up my BA (bone-stock SM miniatures) like proper Angels of Death.

Look for another post soon, with my views on how GW can still pull a win concerning Thunderwolf Cavalry.

Stromraven, Furioso, and Battleforce for preorder

It's true!

Head over to GW's newsletter and check it out!

BA StormRaven unveiled!!!

Warseer posted some text and picture from the GW website.

The image and text have since been taken down...

Dead Killy - Kill Team Tournament

Image totally stolen from Dr. Gabes Miniatures

This tournament will be held on November 7th, 2010 at the Tomball Crossing Games Workshop. Entry fee is $10 and all money goes for prizes. Four prizes will be awarded; 1st place, 2nd place, Best Appearance, and the Booby (last place) prize. Come and get some!


The Dante model was a custom build and I found it on Dr. Gabes Miniatures blog. Impressive isn't he?

Played my 2000 point Dread heavy SM list against the new Dark Eldar last Saturday. For the love of God keep they away from you and shoot them! They are brutal in close combat. The dark lances while plentiful did not really have as much of an effect as the wyches and the Augubriel Beil (or whatever his name is). It was like a bad dream. Power weapons were flying everywhere! Marines are going to need to bring the firepower because very little can whoop up on these guys in hand-to-hand.

I got the gunship blues....

Art used without permission of MKingery

I love dropships/gunships. The idea of screaming down on top of your enemies from orbit gives me the goosebumps.

The BA Stormraven is the latest focus of my gunship love.

Part helicopter, part spaceship, 100% bada$$.

Unfortunately, gunships cost money. Sometimes, lots of money.

So, with wise words from the The Year of Frugal Gaming blog echoing in my ears I have been keeping an eye peeled for easily converted projects.

First up is the Secret Saturday's Griffin plane. This is at first glance a cheap, brightly painted, action figure holding, toy plane. The price however cannot be beat. I found them for $5 each at a Big Lots! store downtown. With some simple conversions and a fresh paintjob this thing will sate my gunship lust. Measuring the exact same length as an IG Valkyrie and only two inches wider, it falls into the correct scale.

Just today my Google-Fu yielded another potential love interest. Ebbles Miniatures publishes several print and assemble cardstock sci-fi vehicles, one of which is a dropship. Cardstock?!? you ask. Yes Virginia, cardstock. Evidently this material is a serious modelling tool. These paper models are high-speed. The engines pivot, there are hot-swappable weapons pods, a working cargo ramp, and stuff to place inside the cargo bay! I am telling you this thing is like the Cadillac of paper models. Jump on over and check them out yourself! The price is $16 USD and once you have the file you can make as many as you want.

Have you seen any inexpensive gunship conversion possibilities?

Blood Angels

I have seen a lot of rumors flying around the blogosphere lately concerning the Blood Angels. Rumors concerning a new codex.

This last weekend GW released a .pdf file of the Blood Angels codex that was presented back in 2007 in White Dwarf. On the front in big letters it proclaims "Fully Updated to 5th Edition rules".

So, why produce a new codex next year when resources were allocated to updating the existing one to 5th edition rules, this year?

I imagine the conversation went something like this....

"Hey, Jim can you update the current Blood Angels codex and get it ready to be a free .pdf downloadable from our website?"

"Uh, yeah. Don't we have the new Blood Angel's codex already written and waiting to go on sell next year?"

"Yeah, forget that. Let's throw the fans a bone on this one."

"Well, couldn't you use my help writing a new codex? Like say the Tau or the Dark Eldar?"

"No, Jim we don't need you help working on new product that we could sell. Get your ass in there and update the existing one so we can give it away for free."

"Ok...."

My call? No Blood Angels codex in 2010.

Successful corporations do not do, double work. They do not split their resources to work on the same project from two different directions.