Inauguration of the Man Cave

Today two friends came by and we played one and a half big games with Imperial Knights vs. Tyranids. 

It was a lot of fun. Thank you Funky_Biber and Captain_Valerius!

Imperial Knights: Armiger Helverin

I painted two newly converted Armiger Helverin this week.

The original heads look weird. Therefore, I swapped them with Warlord Titan heads from Adeptus Titanicus. I don't like the original autocannons of the Helverin variant, either. I get the idea that they're supposed to be reminiscent of knightly tournament lances. But they are to small and the the ammo cases aren't protected against frontal fire.

So I made my own version. The shoulder shields of a Warmaster Titan were the inspiration for this. Hope you like them.

 

 

 

 

Acastus Knight Porphyrion - Done!

And without further ado, here comes the finished Acastus Knight Porphyrion.

I painted the whole thing with regular brushes and acrylic paints. On top followed GW washes, oil washes and pigments. I'm relieved to see it finally done. I don't need to paint such a large model again. Kudos to everyone who approaches titans on this scale.

Now I can finally paint something else again!

Acastus Knight Porphyrion - WIP II

Painting the Knight takes an unexpectedly long time. It's a relativly large model and in terms of points value I am basically painting half an army.

There were also some bumps, or better to say "happy accidents", on the way...

Acastus Knight Porphyrion - WIP

Here are some WIP pictures of my latest project: 

 

The Porphyrion Knight comes without a base from Forgeworld. Therefore, I had one printed and I am very satisfied with the result. The diameter is 20 cm and I really like the supports underneath.

Cerastus Knight-Atrapos - Finished!

I have already finished the Atrapos Knight.

Sure, I could paint a thousand more details on the Knight, but the overall impression would only change a little. Eventually, it is just a model for the gaming table and not for the showcase. I hope you like it.

Here is one final picture for size comparison. An Tech-Priest Enginseer and the Cerastus Knight-Atrapos in all its glory.

Cerastus Knight-Atrapos - WIP

Over the last evenings, I worked on an Atrapos Imperial Knight. This kit was a "small" Christmas gift I made myself. It took me one evening to wash and clean all the parts and another to put the metal skeleton together.

Then I started with the painting of the armour parts. At first, I wasn't sure about what colours to use but decided to go with the colour scheme I used on my first Knight over six years ago. 

1. I wanted some hazard stripes. So, I used small strips of masking tape to mask off some areas.
2. After a coat of light brown, two coats of yellow followed.
3. After peeling off the masking tape, it looked pretty good.
4. The brass colour came on and small highlights at the hazard stripes".
5. Washes! - Agrax Earthshade and Reikland Fleshshade
6. After the application of brown oil wash.

7. Dabbed some of the base colours back on.
8. Painted battle damage and the first cautious weathering effects.
9. Added more weathering, as well as the decals. -> Done!

  10. Rinse and repeat on all the other armour parts.

Imperial Knight Armiger Warglaive No.2

My second Imperial Knight Armiger Warglaive is ready for battle. This time I didn't only changed the face plate but also converted the weapon options. The Armiger has an Executioner-pattern Plasma Destroyer on its right arm and some kind of shock lance on his left arm. Last but not least I went for a rocket launcher on top of the carapace instead of the heavy stubber or the melta gun. Right now there are no rules for the mentioned weapon options, but I hope for some in the coming codex for the Imperial Knights. 

 

Imperial Knight Armiger Warglaive No.1

I painted my Imperial Knight Crusader about three years ago. Since then he fought many battles, but he always alone. Now it's time for his younger brothers to join the fight. The Armiger Warglaive Kit from the Forgebane box is awesome except the heads. I had to do something about it and soon found a fitting solution in some LEGO knights helmets. What do you think?

Tallarn Tank Battle

Everybody loves tank battles! So we created our own scenario and gave it a try.

The Rules

Both players may only take (real) tanks, walkers and Imperial Knights in an unbound list (2000+ points per side). Every vehicle counts as scoring.

Split the table into halves and place three markers along the center line of the battlefield, each 24" apart.

Roll-off to decide who gets to pick his side and deploys his army first. Then roll again to see wo gets the first turn. The winner my choose to go first or second.

You can place your tanks anywhere on your side of the table, as long as they are more than 12" away from the center line.

The game lasts 6 turns.

At the end of the game each captured marker is worth three victory points.

If a vehicle is completely destroyed then it is fully repaired and placed into reserve. To reenact the progress of battle and cut off supply lines, roll a dice for each of your vehicles in reserve and see if it enters the battle again:

Turn 2 = automatically, Turn 3 = 2+, Turn 4 = 3+, Turn 5 = 4+, Turn 6 = 5+ 

No infantry, cavalry and such is allowed in the scenario! 

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All in all it was cool to use so many tanks in one battle and we were able to get through all six turn in just about three hours. However, I do not necessarily have to play this scenario again. Why? Well, I missed the really exciting moments and "real" heroes.Except for the Knight, my army really disappointed me. The Vanquishers for example, where not able to hit once with their main guns the whole game! Later on I have had trouble with my reserves and so the Dark Angels won home with 23 to 16 victory points.Their Leviathan Dreadnought was unquestionably the MVP of this match, because he effortlessly crushed my Baneblade and the Knight  in close combat...