Blackstone Fortress - 2nd Expedition

Rogue Trader Janus Draik, Imperial Navigator Espern Locarno, Eldar ranger Amallyn Shadowguide, and Kroot tracker Dahyak Grekh unite to once again enter the Blackstone Fortress. They are optimistic as they enter the Stygian Aperture, after their first expedition into the fortress had proved quite lucrative, both in archeotech and, perhaps even more valuable, information. There is, however, a nagging feeling, to a greater or lesser degree in each of them, that their initial success might have been a fluke, and that their adventures might prove more dangerous than their previous expedition had led them to believe.

Blackstone Fortress - 1st Expedition

Janus Draik is a Rogue Trader – one of the bold pioneers tasked with expanding the borders of the Imperium. The Blackstone Fortress is one in a long line of claims this explorer has made for the Imperium – and a source of invaluable archeotech and artefacts for future ventures.

The Blackstone Fortress is filled with treasures of ages past – and the Navigator Houses are interested in getting ahold of some of these. Espern Locarno is a sanctioned mutant tasked with rediscovering cargos which belong to his house by ancient right – as well as technologies to refine the ill-understood processes of warp travel.

Hailing originally from the now-shattered Craftworld of Biel-Tan, Amallyn Shadowguide has travelled the webway for centuries. For her, the Blackstone Fortress represents a possible way to save her dying home and to make Biel-Tan whole again through the strange technologies within.

Like many Kroot, Dahyak Grekh is a mercenary, working for the highest bidder. The Kroot mercenary code of honour is key to him – for it is through loyal service that the Kroot may consume new genetic material. Through eating many unfortunate inhabitants of the fortress and thus assuming their memories, Grekh has learned much of the mysteries within…

On Precipice the four explorers find each other and band together, their common cause to explore and plunder the Blackstone Fortress, each for their own reasons. They quickly determine that none of their reasons conflict with each other, and can see that their abilities could complement each other well. Together than plan their first tentative foray into the fortress. Entering through the renowned Stygian Aperture, they disembark their small transport craft and search for one of the maglev transport chambers that run through the fortress.

Warhammer 40,000 Kill Team

Small teams of T'au operatives have managed to sneak onto the surface of the feudal Imperial world of Beresinia, which is currently engulfed in internecine conflict, with some areas even in open rebellion against Imperial rule. Colonel Kutuzov's Rangers, a light infantry regiment in Count Xuvorov's personal army, receive intelligence that a T'au kill team is operating in their area, but it is unknown why they have come to this world or what they are trying to accomplish with their covert activities.

A small team of men from Kutuzov's regiment is assembled and given the task of tracking down the T'au operatives. Their goal will be to capture some of the T'au, so they can be interrogated to gain information about their mission. At the same time, a hand-picked team of the T'au operatives have been chosen to go into the warzone in order to capture any of the native human soldiers they can find, the higher the rank the better. They are not told why they have been given this task, but the ethereal caste does not need to explain themselves, they must simply be obeyed, since their commands are always for the greater good. Before long, the T'au operatives and Kutuzov's men find each other amidst bombed out industrial ruins.

Warhammer 40,000 Kill Team

Colonel Kutuzov's Rangers, a light infantry regiment in Count Xuvorov's personal army, have been detached on covert missions behind enemy lines for some time now. Currently, several companies of the 3rd battalion are operating in the blasted ruins of an industrial district in the city of St. Basilovsk. A squad is performing reconnaissance, marching in tight formation with conscripts to the front, as per regulations. As everyone knows, the best way to find the enemy is to make yourself as conspicuous as possible so the enemy finds you. Luckily, the patrolling squad is about to discover some very useful information concerning enemy dispositions.

Warhammer 40,000 Kill Team - Tyranids vs Astartes/Custodes vs Orks/Tau

I recently took part in a Kill Team gathering with six players. After playing a couple of 1 on 1 games, we wanted to try something multiplayer. We ended up deciding to try paying a game with all six players at the same time, which was probably a bad idea. The way we did it was to form the six players into three teams, and then play one of the multiplayer missions as if we had three kill teams playing. So we played the Take Prisoners mission as if we had three kill teams, but each team was actually two teams controller by two different players working together.

We made teams as best we could with the kill teams we had. We ended up with two Tyranid kill teams working together, an Astartes kill team and Custodes kill team together, and a Tau kill team that tricked an Ork kill team into fighting with them against their common enemies. The objective was to take prisoners by taking an opponent's model out of action with one of your models that had no enemy models within two inches, allowing them time to capture the incapacitated enemy. Capturing an enemy leader was worth three victory points, and each other captured enemy was worth one.

Warhammer 40,000 Kill Team - Heretic Astartes vs Loyalist Astartes

The heretic astartes of the Crusaders chapter are assisting in an uprising on an Imperial world, mostly performing small, covert operations. When a loyalist shuttle is shot down near their base of operations, a squad is sent to investigate and recover any useful intelligence they can find at the crash site. However, almost immediately a unit of primaris space marines arrive to recover or destroy any sensitive information that may have been on the shuttle. Now both sides race to recover as much as the can from the wreck before it is too late.

Warhammer 40,000 Kill Team - Heretic Astartes vs Orks

The heretic astartes of the Crusaders chapter have come to a human world in open rebellion against the Imperium of Man in order to aid the rebels in their uprising. The war torn world has, like many war torn worlds, attracted the attention of rampaging orks drawn by the prospect of violence presented by the conflict. The heretic astartes prepare to enact dark rituals that will call on the powers of the warp to aid the rebels. Unknown to them, a squad of Deathskull orks lead by Grukk Daggafist have been scouting out their positions, and have located a camp that has been hastily assembled by the heretics to house their captives. As the orks prepare to launch their sneak attack on the camp, a single squad of heretic astartes stands ready to defend it.

Beresinia Campaign Game 3 - Disrupt Supply Lines - Tyranids vs Adeptus Astartes

Count Xuvorov's adventurous spirit has led him to travel throughout the Imperium, and even beyond, over the years. Some of these journeys have taken him to forbidden locations and into illegal and heretical contact with vile xenos species. In fact, after Count Xuvorov's successful uprising to overthrow the imperial governor of Beresinia, imperial authorities might have simply looked the other way (provided tithes still were made on schedule) if not for the rumors of the Count's fascination with xenos and his frequent illegal explorations.

Count Xuvarov often returns from his journeys laden with rare xenos artifacts or ancient human archeotech. On one such unsanctioned journey, he returned to Beresinia with more than he bargained for. A small Tyranid organism stowed away on a landing shuttle and was brought aboard the count's ship back to Beresinia, where it made its escape. Alone and bereft of the guiding presence of the Hive Mind, being beyond the reach of the nearest hive fleet, the creature was left to follow its rudimentary instincts.

The creature set about devouring any biomass it could find, while avoiding contact with Beresinia's inhabitants. Eventually it found a suitable nesting location in a long abandoned ruin, and began to hibernate. Over time it metamorphosized into Tyranid warrior, emerging into the ruins of the city of St. Basilovsk, now an active warzone. At night the warrior would creep through the ruins gathering the biomass of stragglers or small groups of refugees. The local populace came to refer to the mysterious monster that hunted them as the Nightmare Slayer.

Beresinia Campaign Game 2 - Assassinate

The unrest on Beresinia has attracted all kinds of unwanted attention to the otherwise pedestrian feudal world. Since the planet has been in open conflict with Imperial authorities, several warbands of heretic astartes are taking advantage of the situation to make trouble for the hated Imperium of Man. One such group is a small warband of Emperor's Children calling themselves the Song of the Primarch. These devout worshippers of Slaanesh have come to Beresinia to fulfil some inscrutable task known only to themselves and their obscene god. In pursuit of their divine goal, aspiring champion Abdelis Thest has lead the kill team of Emperor's Children into one of Beresinia's many active warzones. The heretics are now operating in and around the city of St. Basilovsk, where loyalist forces are currently engaged with some of the Beresinian rebels, including the private army of Count Xuvorov.

Operating within the city deep behind enemy lines, Kutuzov's Rangers have been delayed in their mission to deliver vital intelligence to their army's high command. A kill team of the Adeptus Astartes caught up with them and blocked their path, forcing them to fall back. Having lost some territory to the space marines, the rangers are forced to seek another route to reach their destination. In the meantime, they have discovered the chaos-worshipping heretics of the Emperor's Children operating nearby. Knowing they are too dangerous to leave unchecked in their mysterious mission, Colonel Kutuzov sends Ensign Jimmy's kill team to strike directly at their leader, hoping to disrupt their (presumably) nefarious plans.

Beresinia Campaign Game 1 - Sweep and Clear

The feudal Imperial world of Beresinia is engulfed in war. Rebellious nobles have overthrown the rightful Imperial authorities, and now vie with each other for control of the world. Though the beleaguered Imperium of Man has little manpower to spare, some Imperial forces have arrived to attempt to restore order and reimpose Imperial rule on Beresinia. In one warzone, Count Xuvorov, one of the driving forces and leading conspirators in the rebellion, finds himself engaged with loyalist forces while trying to maintain alliances with other rebellious nobles and even forging relationships with several Xenos forces off-world. One of his army's light infantry regiments, colloquially knows as Kutuzov's Rangers, is currently operating deep behind enemy lines to sow confusion and disorder in the loyalist forces.

Kutuzov's Rangers have been operating in the field so long, sabotaging loyalist installations and ambushing loyalist forces, that they have "gone native". They operate far away from the main body of the Count's forces and have little contact with the rest of the army. Now, Colonel Kutuzov's men have uncovered some critical information about approaching Loyalist reinforcements. The dataslate containing the details of the approaching force must be delivered to Army high command so the best use can be made of this crucial intelligence. Kutuzov has assembled a hand-picked kill team to entrust with this vital mission.

The gung-ho Ensign Jimmy is chosen to lead the team, joined by his equally gung-ho order bellower (comms specialist) Rynsk. Polanski the Pious is chosen for his skills as a scout and brings his flamer. Ivanek is a crack shot (sniper specialist) with his meltagun, and puts his duty to his superiors above all, following every order to the letter. They depart on their mission with three other rangers (tempestus scions) and also five peasant conscripts (infantry squad guardsmen) to sacrifice to distract the enemy as needed.

Little do they know, a heavily armed kill team of Adeptus Astartes of the Salamanders chapter is already on Beresenia assisting the loyalists. The Salamanders have been scouting out the enemy factions, and are now on the trail of Ensign Jimmy's men. In order to get the dataslate of valuable intelligence back to army high command, Jimmy's men will have to fight their way through an active warzone while being hunted by the Adeptus Astartes kill team.

Warhammer 40,000 Kill Team - Renegade Astartes vs Salamanders

I was able to get in a game of the new Warhammer 40,000 Kill Team. I used my very old Chaos Marines, which meant I had very little choice in what to take because I only have one squad painted. I played against a co-works Salamanders Space Marines, with a mix of Primaris and "regular" marines. It was the first game for both of us and neither had managed to read through all the rules, but we wanted to give it a try and learn as we went. We played the basic Cover War mission that is included in the core rules, and skipped rolling on the scouting table. We also left out command points and tactics. Even though they are a big part of the game, for this first game we just wanted to try to get the basic rules down and not slow things down learning the different tactics.

For the Covert War mission, we each place an objective. We then roll for a victory condition. In our case, holding an objective in the enemy deployment zone was worth victory points, but holding your own was not. You hold an objective by having more of your models than enemy models within 2" of it at the end of the 5th battle round. In the event of a tie, the person without the strategic advantage would win a minor victory. I had the strategic advantage (as I won the roll off), so I could choose which side to deploy on.

Tyranid Army

I recently put all of my painted Warhammer 40,000 Tyranids out on the table, packed in as tightly as possible, and snapped a few pictures of my entire painted army. Just like with my Vampire Counts army, the models in this army were painted over a huge time span. The Genestealers were some of the first models I painted. However, even the most recently painted of my Tyranid models (the Trygon/Mawloc and some of the Termagants) were painted almost four years ago at this point. Have a look at the pictures below and let me know what you think.

Chaos Space Marine Apothecary Conversion

I had an old Space Marine Apothecary model that I've converted for use in my Chaos Space Marine army. My Chaos Marines have gone renegade relatively recently, so would probably still have things like apothecaries and techmarines. For the same reason, I didn't do much to make the model look very Chaos influenced, but I do like the sinister implication of the giant meat cleaver, and painting some blood stains on his loin cloth should add to the butcher-like appearance.

Warhammer 40k Space Marines vs Chaos Space Marines battle report

This was only my second game of 6th edition Warhammer 40,000, so we undoubtedly did some things wrong. It was a 1500 point game, me playing Chaos Marines and my opponent playing Space Marines. The goal of the mission was to capture and hold the four objectives, and the deployment was standard long table edges. There wasn't much of a story behind this game. Just Space Marines and Chaos Marines fighting over some random stuff. The objectives were a wounded Space Marine over on the ruined Temple of Skulls, some ammo crates just sitting amongst some rocks, a guy fleeing from a crashed plane, and a piece of the crashed plane.

Warhammer 40k 6th edition Imperial Guard vs Tau Battle Report

This was my first game of 6th Edition Warhammer 40,000. We played a small 500 point game to try learning the new rules. I played my renegade Imperial Guard, and my opponent played Tau. Since it was such a small game, we played on a 4' by 4' board, and set up some ruined buildings for terrain. The mission gave victory points for destroying units. Deployment zones were 12" away from a diagonal center line. The Tau set up first and had the first turn.

The Story
The story behind my renegade guard is still evolving somewhat. Basically, they are the personal army of a nobleman on a very feudal world with a large number of nobles who are constantly struggling against each other for power. This particular nobleman has run afoul of the Imperial authorities because of his peculiar and heretical interest in alien cultures. He has been interacting and trading with Tau, Eldar, and other races of foul xenos, and he even uses some of them as mercenaries in his army.

Tau authorities have discovered that a few of their race have defected and joined this human's army, and they aren't too pleased about it. They have sent a small force to infiltrate the planet and capture or kill their wayward brethren. They discovered a squad of Tau mercenaries in an infantry platoon that was isolated patrolling some city ruins (for some irrelevant reason). Seeing their chance, they set an ambush for the patrolling Imperial Guardsmen.

Painted Pegasus Hobbies Gothic City Terrain

I got around to painting my Pegasus Hobbies Gothic City Terrain pieces. It was a pretty simple and quick paint job. I first primed everything in black. Then I did a heavy drybrush using dark gray craft paint and a cheap 1" wide brush from the hobby store, followed by a lighter drybrush using a lighter gray color. This turned out pretty well, and I just had to paint a few details. The biggest was painting all the window bars and the metal parts on the door (and lantern/torch fixtures) in Tin Bitz followed by a drybrush of Boltgun Metal to give it an old, rusted metal look.  I painted the tops with Burnished Gold, which took a few coats to cover completely. Then there were just a few other details, like the wood of the door and floor supports, the fire on the torches, and the light of the lanterns.  Here are the results.

Painted Renegade Imperial Guard Conscripts

Here are some pictures of my last batch of renegade Imperial Guard Conscripts, converted from Victrix plastic Napoleonic French Imperial Guard.

Still More Painted Renegade Imperial Guard Conscripts

I don't have much to say about these guys. Just more conscripts in the same style as the previous ones. One more batch to do and then I'll have the whole unit finished. Some of these had the washes pool up more than I'd like, probably from me putting it on too thick, so I'll have to be careful about that next time. On the plus side, it just makes them look extra muddy, so it's not a big deal.

Pegasus Hobbies Pre-Painted River Set and Wooden Fences

A while ago I ordered a couple of the pre-painted terrain sets from Pegasus Hobbies. They are pretty inexpensive and save a lot of time in painting and preparation, so they definitely seem worth it. I got two sets of their river pieces, so that I could stretch across the table lengthwise if I wanted, and some of their wooden fences. Here are some pictures of the terrain with some 28mm miniatures for size comparison. This is only showing one of the two river sets. Each set has two long straight pieces, two short straight pieces, and two 45 degree curves.

And here are some pictures with some of my 10mm Civil War miniatures. This makes the terrain pretty versatile, since I can use it as a stream in 28mm games and a river in 10mm games.

The paint job on these is probably just as good as I would have done painting them, if not better.  And the time it saved make these definitely worth getting. If I had bought unpainted terrain, it would still be sitting on the shelf unpainted, but these are ready to use in a game right away.  Pretty good deal if, like me, you have a big backlog of painting projects or just aren't that good at making or painting terrain.

Pegasus Hobbies Gothic City Terrain

A while ago I got a couple of the Gothic City Terrain kits from Pegasus Hobbies to make some Warhammer 40,000 terrain with. I initially was planning on getting one each of the four different gothic city terrain kits they make to combine into one large building, since I don't like buildings on the table that would only be large enough to be an outhouse in 28mm scale. I actually only ended up getting two of the kits, the Gothic City Buildings Small Set #2 and the Gothic City Ruins. The kits are larger than you'd think, so the result from just those two kits ended up pretty large.

The buildings are decent for the price, though I do have a few warnings. First, it does take a lot of effort to assemble these kits, partly because of the tons of mold lines that need to be cleaned, especially in the windows, but also because some of the pieces just don't fit together quite right without some significant filing. It took a huge amount of filing to get flat surfaces where some of the pieces joined.

Second, the kits aren't nearly as modular as they seem to be. There really is one way they are intended to go together, especially with the ruined walls, and if you do it a different way you are going to have problems. For example, with the ruins, as with all the wall pieces, they look different on one side than the other. But they didn't design it so that you could easily choose which side you wanted to be inside and which be outside. With the other building set, you can assemble them with whatever side you want facing inside, but once you choose, you have to do it all that way. Since the pillars are attached to the wall sections, if one wall piece is set up one way, the next one has to be the same way, so you can't switch the inside and outside walls for different parts.

Anyway, I combined the two kits to get a decent sized piece representing just the front part of a ruined church building. I added in some of the pre-painted Pegasus Hobbies Gothic Rubble sets to have some rubble inside the ruins. Here are some pictures of the results, with a few of my converted Imperial Guard figures for scale.

I didn't glue all of the pieces together, which allows me to partially disassemble it. This was mostly to aid in storage, so it can be broken down to take up less space. But it will also allow me some variety in how I set up the building, or allow me to use just a ruined corner or other individual piece if I don't want something so big. Here you can see how it disassembles and an alternate setup.

And here are a couple shots of the whole thing packed together for storage, so the huge building takes up relatively little space in my closet.

Hopefully this has been helpful for those considering the Pegasus Hobbies Gothic City Terrain sets. If you have any of them, I'd love to see what other people have done with them. You can generally get a good deal and free shipping on these from Amazon:


Here is a link to some other Pegasus Hobbies Products