Frostgrave: Writhing Fumes

Welcome back to the icy ruins of Felstad my fellow Adventurers!  Frostgrave has taken a back seat to other gaming in 2019 (primarily 40K, I've played an awful lot of 40K this year), and that's a shame as I really enjoy searching for treasure on the Frozen City.

Cornelius; one of the handful of fantasy models I've painted this year

Power Armoured Paint: Primaris Reinforcements

Welcome back the Vault my fellow Frater. This week the Carcharadons Astra return from the depths of the Void having received some new reinforcements.

I've had the luxury of extra hobby time this week and completed two Primaris Space Marine units.  First up is a squad of 5 Stalker Bolter armed Intercessors.

There's nothing particularly sexy about this unit, their job is to provide some mid to back field cover and plink away with their Damage 2 guns.

Fluff and Crunch (Part Two)

Welcome back to the Vault my fellow Venturers.  In mu last post I discussed some "Crunchy" aspects of wargaming; in particular the finer details of the Chapter Approved points changes made to my 40K armies.  

I've also acquired "Perilous Dark", the new Frostgrave source book.  I have managed to play a grand total of zero games of Frostgrave in 2019, not a great statistic really.  And whilst the purchase of Chapter Approved is important to my 40K play group (so we are all on the same page), the addition of Perilous Dark to my gaming library will bother a grand total of no one!

Crunch and Fluff (Part One)

Welcome back to the Vault my fellow Venturers.  I've had a couple of fruitful painting sessions this weekend laying down base colours on two units of Primaris Intercessors, but these models aren't any where near the point of being photographed for the blog.

I've acquired a couple of new books, and I'm enjoying dipping in and out of them; they cross different gaming interests and I thought it would be fun to blog about them.  One book is concerned with  Crunch (rules, unit efficiency) whilst the other is focused on Fluff (story and narrative based play). 

Like many 40K players I've picked up Chapter Approved 2019, the annual supplement with new missions, ways to play, and importantly Points changes for Units and Wargear (the Crunch).

I've sanity checked my current lists and whilst some units have gone up in price, others have gone down. Luckily my rosters remain intact!

Power Armoured Paint: Thunderstruck

I have to admit to being bit of a Luddite when it comes to my hobby tools and in particular I don't own an airbrush (they've always seemed a bit intimidating to use).  This means I prime my models using spray cans, and at this time of the year being subject to the vagaries of the British weather.  

Friday afternoon was both dry and warm enough for priming and so I've got a number of units ready to go!  My painting plan involves alternating troop units with more exotic units but I've already diverted from the schedule by painting up my Thunderfire Cannon and Techmarine Gunner.

(On a side note, please excuse the quality of these pictures; I've been playing with some settings on the camera and the resulting pictures are a little washed out/over exposed).

Power Armoured Paint: In Solitary Contemplation

Hail and welcome my fellow Frater; it's time to enter the Vault once again.  This week I've played a doubles 40K game as the Space Sharks partnered with James's Deathwatch in a training exercise against Dave's Emperor's Spears and Duncan's Space Wolves.

I played a variation on my Carcharodons list and thought it would be useful to capture some notes on the good, and the not so good for future games (my memory is fairly flaky if I'm honest).

James has a Battalion chock full of Veterans and Primaris Marines wielding fearsome anti infantry weaponry, and so I decided to complement his list with a bit more longer range shooting power and dedicated Anti Tank.  This meant leaving the Hellblasters at home and bringing the Lascannon Devestators out to play.

Power Armoured Paint: Completed Aggressors

Greetings Frater, and welcome back to the Vault. Game time this week has been spent playing card games at First Founding; the Batman variant of Love Letter, and Munchkin 40K.  The Kovalik take on 40K visuals is very funny!

Hobby wise I'm glad to say I've finished my Aggressors.  This unit has been a bit of a millstone around my neck; I started it almost 18 months ago before I put the Carcharodons on hiatus and it's taken a level of determination to pick up and complete.  However, I'm rather pleased with the results.

Power Armoured Paint: Aggressors Work in Progress

Welcome back to the Vault dear readers.  I've had a very enjoyable hobby spree this week, managing to fit in both a game of 40K and a painting session.

Painting wise I am working on my large Carcharodons Aggressor squad, and I'm at the point where most of the base colours have been applied.

Power Armoured Paint: Chance Encounters

Welcome back to the Vault once more my fellow Fraters.  I attended First Founding last Friday for an evening of Kill Team shenanigans with Agent Zero.  I haven't played Kill Team in *ages* and decided to play my Primaris Carcharodons Astra list who have all been painted since their last excursion on the table top.

Power Armoured Paint: The Raven's Blade

Welcome to the Vault once again dear Frater.  With Octoberfest disappearing in the rear view mirror I'm looking forward to First Founding's Doubles tournament in the new year.  I've picked up the Space Marines Codex and Raven Guard Supplement and just had my mind blown by the number of cool tricks and options available to my Carcharodons Astra (who I play as Raven Guard Successors).

My aim is to paint a 1000 point principally Primaris-infantry based force for the event, and I want to get plenty of practice games in before the day to refine the army selection.

Regimental Reporting: Octoberfest Debrief

Welcome back to the Officers Mess! I recently attended First Founding's Octoberfest 40K tournament with my Cadian 82nd Imperial Guard army.  I had a great time, but alas did not cover myself in glory, losing (albeit narrowly in some cases) all my games.

Rather than going into full blown battle reports I thought I'd share a few pictures and words from each battle, then some ideas for improving my performance going forward.  Cadia will arise again!

Game 1 was against Andrew's freshly painted Primaris Space Marines in a modified Four Pillars mission:

Regimental Reporting: Octoberfest Intelligence Brief

Welcome back to the Vault! All the lists have been submitted for First Founding's Octoberfest 40K tournament and it's become something of a tradition for me to indulge in some pre-event Chart-Hammer, punditry and fail to predict the event winner.

This year's Mayhem tournament was the Wolf-Time as 4 players mustered their Space Wolves, so what is popular now?  Let's have a look...

Numbers! That Way!

Power Armoured Paint: Special Characters

Welcome back to the Vault!  My hobby time has taken something of an unforeseen turn this week, and it's been rather enjoyable.

One of my fellow First Founding club members fancies a change of pace for Octoberfest and has rather bravely taken up an offer to use my Grey Knights.  I love the Sons of Titan (the Terminators are some of my favourite 40K models), but they struggle somewhat on the table top in the current rule set.

We've bounced some list ideas back and forth and toyed with the idea of using Castellan Crowe; he's a Special Character with some very cool fluff (he keeps a Daemon Blade pacified so it can't corrupt anyone nearby), and is fairly cheap for a Grey Knights HQ (which is good given Octoberfest is limited to 1250 points).

I have the Crowe model but it's languished unloved at the bottom of my figure case for quite some time.  However if the Castellan is going to hit the table top, he would need a lick of paint, so he's pushed in at the front of the paint queue. 

Regimental Reporting: The Octoberfest Offensive

Welcome to the Parade Ground my fellow Officers!  I've finished painting and basing the new units for the upcoming Octoberfest tournament at First Founding, and I thought it would be fun to share a few army pictures.

The list submission deadline is not for a week or so, but I've decided to publish the post with the list early to stop my indecision, second guessing and last minute list changes!

First up are the characters:

Colonel Staysback and friends

Regimental Reporting: The final push

Welcome back to the Vault once more!  The Cadian 82nd have been furiously preparing for the upcoming offensive on Octoberfest, and the muster is nearly complete.

I've finished up the paint jobs on the half a dozen remaining infantry models.  First up is the Tech Priest Enginseer:

Regimental Reporting: On the paint desk

Welcome back to the Officers Mess! I am writing this post later than originally planned, but the delay is worthwhile; I've had a long weekend and indulged myself in a couple of painting session.  The focus has been on the remaining models for my current Guard list, and I'm pleased with the progress.

I have finished the Hell Hound:

Power Armoured Paint: Some times you must look back to go forwards

Welcome back to the Vault once more!  Real life has rather rudely intruded on hobby time this week with a grand total of no games played, models assembled or paint slapped about. 

However, I have been thought-experimenting about how to use my Space Marine armies with the shiny new Codex, and having a thoroughly enjoyable re-read of Robbie MacNiven's Red Tithe.  This book describes the exploits of the Carcharodons Astra as they battle the heretical Night Lords deep inside a prison complex.

Mission Design: Fire Sweep

Welcome back to the Vault once more dear Venturers.  One of the aspects of 40K I like to dabble with is Mission design; I've written a couple of narrative scenarios on the blog (Deathwatch vs Dark Angels and Guard vs Orks) as well as more competitive missions for the Club events (Give No Quarter doubles and Tactical Gambit).

Update; this mission didn't make the cut for Octoberfest, and so has been play tested for the Club's 2020 Doubles event.

The club's Octoberfest Doubles tournament will soon be upon us, and I've been asked by the event organiser to come up with another mission within the following bounds:

• Progressive scoring (so points are earned every turn or Battle Round)
• Troop choices gain a bonus

Grey Knight Terminators are Troops; pretty sure I can't make them good via mission design though!

Regimental Reporting: Unleash the Hounds!

Welcome back to the Officers Mess once again! My hobby eye is firmly upon Octoberfest and I'm using my limited hobby time to finish off my tournament force.  There are still some choices in flux but I am certain I want to take a pair of Hellhounds!

I've had Lucky Lambda painted up for some time, but I have swapped the hull mounted Heavy Flamer for a Heavy Bolter:

Regimental Reporting: Prior Proper Preparation Prevents Pretty Poor Performance

Ahem.  I may have word smith'ed the age old 7Ps military adage for a more friendly version, but it's very true and applies to many situations, 40K included.

Unless you are hiding in the 40K equivalent of a shack in a swamp, you'll no doubt be aware that there has been a new Space Marine codex released.  It's a great book, and a lot of my gaming circle are furiously writing army lists and working out all the fantastic combinations.  I'll do this in due course for *my* Space Marine armies, but for the moment I'm focusing on playing the glorious Cadian 82nd Imperial Guard and killing the afore-mentioned power-armoured warriors.

Pro Tip Number 1: Plasma is still your friend.

Regimental Reporting: Reinforcements on the hobby table

Welcome back to the Officers Mess.  This year's summer excursions began with a trip to Warhammer World and I've finished my vacation with a hobby session building some of the kits I purchased whilst away.

Warhammer World has a lot to offer a 40K enthusiast like myself; wonderful dioramas and models in the exhibition hall, plenty of gaming space, great food and beer from Bugmans, and of course lots and lots of opportunities to buy new toys.

I had decided to reinforce the Cadian 82nd with a few kits from the Direct Only range, the most important being a new Hell Hound to be added to my Octoberfest list:

Regimental Reporting: Last Stand at Glazer's Creek Part 2

Welcome back to the Officers Mess!  I've been preparing for the upcoming Glazer's Creek game by painting some more Cadian models; my labours resulting in a shiny new Infantry Squad.

The Glazer's Creek scenario uses Power Level for the army selections, so it's a great opportunity to make use of some of the more thematic upgrades for units and models. First up is the Missile Launcher Team:

The Spy Game: Action/Espionage RPG fun!

Welcome back to the Vault once more!  Posting is likely to be erratic over the next few weeks as the holiday season descends on Clan Varchilde but I am determined to keep up with some hobby.

Every so often I come across a new game or model that really piques my interest, and recently I came across a Kickstarter for an action/espionage based RPG called The Spy Game.

The Gift: Sessions 9 to 11 Adventure Log

Whoops! It's been a while since I've written a recap post; here's a quick run down of our intrepid adventurers antics.

Sessions 9 & 10: The party engage in discussion with the Lizard Man elder; he explains that there has been a rise of goblinoid activity and worse emanating from the Caves of Chaos some distance to the west. 

These caverns were used many years ago by the servants of Elemental Evil and it seems creatures have returned to their old lairs.  Several Lizard Men hunters were ambushed by dog men, and one taken captive by them; the party agree to scout the Caves and see if they can find the missing tribesman.

The characters are escorted by T'kis, one of the hunters who escaped the ambush, who guides them to a hidden valley lined with many cavern entrances. The party approach the kobold's entrance only to be surprised by several of the cunning dog men hiding in trees! A brief battle ensues and the party deal with the sentries. 

The characters advance into the lair, successfully dealing with the kobold warriors, their traps and guardian creatures.  The fearsome (!) kobold chieftain is defeated in combat, and the party find the missing lizard man and another prison (a human guardsman) within the kobold's larder!.

The soldier explains that he was part of a patrol sent from the Keep on the Borderland to find some Orcs which had been raiding merchant caravans. His patrol was attacked and he was left for dead having taken a blow to the back of the head.  The kobolds came scavenging after the ambush and took him prisoner.

He is concerned as to how the Orcs knew his patrol were coming and where they would be; could there be someone working with the creatures within the Keep?

The party heal the soldier and return him to the edge of the forest so he can make his way back to the Keep; he agrees to get in touch with them at Hearthsholme if he discovers information about evil agents at the Keep.  The characters subsequently return to the Lizard Man village where they are thanked for freeing T'kal the hunter before they return home via the strange stone portals.

Gnomes

The Black Iron Fonts

Hail and welcome to the Vault my fellow Venturers!  Today's post is courtesy of a dig into the Vault's dark recesses for another painting project.  A few years ago I chanced upon a company called Infinity Engine who produce a variety of quirky miniatures and terrain pieces.  I really like their aesthetic and have purchased a few pieces with Frostgrave and D&D in mind.

My first purchase was a set of braziers, intended for use as some scatter terrain or objective markers. I've painted these up as arcane flames:

Regimental Reporting: Making the most of the Cadian kits

Welcome back to the Officers Mess!  The focus of my recent hobby time has been split between slapping paint on some more random fantasy models and readying the next Cadian Infantry Squad for the paint table.

It's very simple to buy a Cadian Infantry Squad kit, build all the 10 men and say "done", but unfortunately you don't necessarily get all the options you want for your squad in that box! In simplistic terms a fully equipped Infantry Squad will contain:

• One Sergeant
• One Vox Operator
• One Special Weapon Trooper
• One Heavy Weapon Team (2 Troopers)
• Five Lasgun Troopers

The Cadian Infantry Squad itself contains 2 sprues which will each build a Sergeant, Vox, Special Weapon (albeit flamer or grenade launcher only), and a varying number of Lasgun Troopers depending on how many of the other options you build.

Sarge, Flamer, Vox

More hobby time with the Contrast paints

Welcome back to the Vault! This week's scant hobby time has been spent playing around with the Contrast paints again. I've been keen both to play around with more colours and textures, and hit some of the back log of fantasy models.

Session 1: a Frostgrave Wizard, built from the new North Star plastic kit:

Regimental Reporting: Last Stand at Glazer's Creek Part 1

Welcome back to the Officers Mess! I've mentioned in previous posts that I'm participating in the "Siege of Falx" 40K campaign at the First Founding club, with my battle hardened Cadian 82nd Regiment.

The campaign organiser (and blogger) Neil is an Ork player and massive 40K fluff fan. Last summer White Dwarf published an updated version of a classic Battle Report, "Last Stand at Glazer's Creek" in which a beleaguered Imperial Guard force fight off wave after wave of assaulting Green Skins; this article was a lot of fun to read and Neil and I have agreed to play the scenario ourselves as part of the campaign.

This is a narrative, power level based game so I've decided to add a couple of units to my collection which are more fluffy than I might usually choose!

Some old Ork Boyz I painted up ages ago playing around with different schemes

Regimental Reporting: Learning From Experience

Time for another well earned visit to the Officers Mess my fellow Commanders.  I've played a few more games with the Cadian 82nd and I thought I'd re-visit my earlier After Action post to add more meat to the bone with regard to lessons learned.

The 40K games have gone well with a number of wins under my belt. However in other gaming news, I have been soundly thrashed in a series of hands of Bananagrams by my family.  Undaunted by the experience I've stolen the Bananagrams tiles and hidden them from the kids. That'll teach em.

And hopefully the following Bananagram-inspired pictures will help me remember useful stuff in future 40K games!

Scrabble Score: 14

Playing with the new Contrast Paints

There is an old adage "Use the right tools for the right job", and this is certainly true when it comes to the modelling and painting aspects of our hobby. My hobby circle has been buzzing for the last few weeks about the new "Contrast Paints" and certainly the Games Workshop PR machine has been in overdrive telling us all about them. 

There has been a repeating marketing theme along the lines of "getting models table top ready in super quick time", and regular readers will know that's something certain to get my attention!  My local store hosted a Contrast Demo day and so I went along to see these paints in action.

My first attempt was applying a grey onto a Space Marine Intercessor. The result was underwhelming; very patchy, and quite thin in places. Apparently the pot wasn't shaken well enough, and the Contrast Paints can pool on flat surfaces. Hmmm, so temperamental and not necessarily suitable for all models.

Contrast Paints are essentially highly pigmented washes, allowing a base coat and shade to be applied in a single coat; the more texture there is on a model, the greater the effect of the "Contrast". Undaunted, I've picked up a few pots to try on a few different models; these definitely aren't Space Marines.

Painting Cornelius the Wizard

Welcome back to the Vault once again my fellow Venturers. I had intended to spend this week's painting time on a couple of half finished Imperial Guard projects, but an alternative model jumped to the front of the paint queue.  My eldest daughter plays in a D&D game with some friends and was looking for a dog/hound miniature to represent an NPC in their latest adventure. Regular readers may remember the Dungeons and Doggies Kickstarter which was added to the Pile of Shame a few months ago, so we cracked open the box and chose a model.

Say hello to Cornelius the Golden Retriever Wizard. 

Regimental Reporting: Enjoying the new Tour of Duty

Welcome back my fellow Commanders, it's time for another visit to the Officers Mess. This week has been very enjoyable hobby wise; I was invited to participate in a mid-week multi-player 40K game so I brought the Cadian 82nd along to take part. Whilst victory was not to be mine, it was great fun and change of pace to the more usual one on one fare.

I'm finding the Imperial Guard army a very different beast to the Kabal of the Sand Viper (the faction I've played most often in 8th edition), and exploring different list builds, tactics and approaches to missions is stretching my gaming brain.

So with a massive 2 games under my belt what have I learnt. First up, people really don't like the Mortar Squads. Secondly I really like Mortar Squads; they are dirt cheap, and whilst not having a massive damage output, the ability to shoot with out Line of Sight is incredibly useful.

(As an aside I've been painting up the Mortar Squads. I had a single Mortar Team completed for 7th edition used as part of a cheapy ObSec Platoon Command Squad and now I have two whole squads. The models are all done bar the basing).

MEEPLE FORCE: The Play Test!

Welcome back to the Vault my fellow gamers! I am very lucky to be part of an active and creative gaming community and Wartorn Games recently hosted a play test session of their forthcoming MEEPLE FORCE game at my local hobby hub, the First Founding Club.

I'm always intrigued to see what the Wartorn Crew are up to and so I jumped right in with a band of fellow heroes to save the Planet!

It's immediately apparent that the basis of the game is a "flick the playing piece" mechanic, much like Subbuteo (football, meh) or Pitch Car (which I love loads).  However, there's a lot more depth to MEEPLE FORCE than simply "push the piece" and there are some very elegant rule mechanics.

Regimental Reporting: Cadia Rises Defiant!

Welcome back to the Officer's Mess! I've been enjoying the lazy Bank Holiday weekend, and that's meant plenty of time to get some games of 40K played. Friday evening started with a slug fest between the Deathwatch and Dave R's completely ridiculous Nemesis Dreadknight / Bane Hammer mash up in which pretty much everything died, followed by a much smaller 1K game where the Cadian 82nd faced off against Paul's Salamander Successors.

Regimental Reporting: Introducing Commander Vasquez

Welcome back to the Regimental Mess my fellow Officers! I'm still riding the post-Mayhem wave of hobby enthusiasm and have been thinking ahead to Octoberfest. I'd like to take one of my other armies to the table top, and I'm realistic enough to know I probably won't paint a whole new force before the event.

I've come up with a cunning strategy; play my Imperial Guard force (the mighty Cadian 82nd) in them mean time as they are pretty much painted, and work on the Space Sharks in slower time. If the Carcharodons Astra get finished then I have another army to choose from!

There is rumour of a 40K campaign starting at First Founding (all the work of Neil @ Table Standard) and the rules pack includes an option for Characters to "level up" using a variation of the Custom Character rules from Chapter Approved 2018).  This was all the excuse I needed to start the Imperial Hobby Machine once more and kit bash a new HQ model.

Commander Vasquez reporting for duty!

Power from Paint: Mayhem 19 Raid Report

Welcome back to the Vault once more! The Kabal of the Sand Viper have raided Real Space once more and returned to Commorragh with a bittersweet mix of Glory and Woe to in equal measure!

Last weekend I attended First Founding's Mayhem 2019 40K tournament (playing my Dark Eldar army) and I thought I'd share a few pictures and thoughts of the event. The day was to be the first table top outing for my newly completed Succubus and I was keen to let her loose on the battle field.

Power from Paint: There are no Wolves on Fenris...

... Because all the Space Wolves are mustering for Mayhem!

It has become something of a tradition once all the factions have been announced for First Founding's 40K tournaments for me to crunch the numbers into Excel for some Chart-Hammer to see what's popular and make a prediction about what will do well.

So how is Mayhem 2019 looking? The most obvious fact is that Logan Grimnar is calling the Great Clans to War with 4 Space Wolf players in attendance!

Thanks to Duncan for the pic of his Space Wolves

Power from Paint: Trouble and Strife

It's time for another visit to the fabled City of Commorragh, sinister heart of the Web Way, and home to the Kabal of the Sand Viper.  Next week my Dark Eldar will raid Real Space once more to seek glory and take slaves at First Founding's Mayhem Tournament.

Mayhem has a somewhat unusual format; 4 games played over a day with 1250 point single Codex lists.  Having spent a couple of weeks painting a unit of Incubi (Ming's Mercs), I've had a change of heart and decided to take a small Wych Cult detachment instead. Which means more painting as I have had to add a HQ choice! Doh!

So head down, brushes out, and here's the fruits of my labour:

Power from Paint: Wych way to go?

Time to burst forth from the Web Way once more my fellow Archons!  The Incubi are now done bar the bases, and I've played a Mayhem practice game against a new Chaos list. After a shaky start the Dizzy and Splinter Cannons of the Kabal of the Sand Viper emerged victorious over the Black Legion!  

My Incubi ultimately weren't needed for combat, but I really appreciated having the option of a dedicated assault unit in the list. In fact I'm considering Wyches (and more on that later in the post).

The joy of a well stocked Bitz Box

Welcome back to the Vault once more! I've been spending some time de-cluttering the house (saying good bye to books long since read and clothes too tatty even for me to wear), and of course this leads me to think about the Hobby Mountain.

I am a self-confessed hoarder of games and models (both painted and unpainted). And especially unused model components. Whilst I'm not ready to bid "bon voyage" to any of my gaming stuff  (although I feel a swell of ruthlessness coming on), I have been assembling some kits and clipping Bitz (components) off the sprue to clear space on the shelves.

When you've been in the war gaming hobby for a while the Bitz Box can get quite deep, and this allows you to pull tricks like this off:

Power from Paint: On a Mission

Mid April is now upon us. And for the local 40K community that means a frenzy of list writing, painting and practice games in advance of Mayhem our club tournament.

I have a few list ideas in mind and whilst I procrastinate through making a final decision, I have started painting a few models which might make it through to the final cut.

I've primed a pimped-up Raider which has been languishing on the pile of Unpainted Stuff for far too long:

Cool Stuff: Dungeons and Doggies

Welcome back to the Vault once more! My pile of Unpainted Stuff continues to grow; mainly models I plan to use for 40K, but there have also been some additions to my fantasy model collection. I usually buy models with a gaming use in mind, but every so often I'll spot something which is just so cool I'll grab it, practical considerations be damned.

Steam Forged Games "Dungeons and Doggies" range definitely falls into the latter category.  This was a Kickstarter I backed in 2018, and which delivered recently; it comprises a number of 28mm scale adventuring dogs (yes really) covering a breadth of classes and breeds.

I'll start with my favourite, Cerysse the Saint Bernard Cleric:

How much healing potion is in that keg?

Power Armoured Paint: Carcharodons Astra Smash Captain

Today we venture deep into the cold, dark void of the 41st Millenium as the Space Sharks receive  further reinforcements, in the form of a Space Marine Captain.  Completing this model is something of an "achievement unlock" for me as it now means I have complete 1000 point Carcharodons Astra Battalion painted and based!

Here's Captain Smashy in all his glory:

The Gift: Session 8 Adventure Log

Having taken some time out to reflect on their victories and experiences the party decide to venture into Hearthsholme to sell some of their freshly acquired loot. 

Sloane's new friend, the recently hatched lizard "Tank" causes something of a stir among the children within the town; "That's a funny looking dog!"

The characters visit Raene's hardware store and soon enter into negotiation with the store's owner; he his happy to buy their mundane goods and offers additional gold if the party if they take their funds in store credit (which they accept).

It seems Raene also trades in more unusual goods, usually selling them on through merchant contacts who trade with the bigger cities in the west. The party inquire if he has anything available; and he shows them an (allegedly) magic dagger, and a small potion pouch containing 3 unidentified potions.

Picture by aquelion (Deviant Art) (Licence: CC BY-NC-ND 3.0)

Officio Assassinorum: Back In Black

Welcome back to the Vault my fellow Imperial Commanders! My hobby time has been practically non-existent this week, although I have managed to find a few minutes to flick through Vigilus Defiant (yes, I am late to the party on this book) and start plotting how to use some of the cool rules with my Space Sharks, and I've drafted a mission for the upcoming Mayhem tournament which should get a play test next week. More on both of those in future posts.

Today I'd like to share a painting tip I'd picked up from an online conversation; "washing in" colours.

Officio Assassinorum: The Killers

Time to Venture into the Vault once more. In today's post I'd like to look at some of the most feared units in Warhammer 40,000; the Imperial Assassins.  The Assassins have received a "mini Codex" in the latest White Dwarf magazine, and the killers have all received a number of buffs! All the Assassins tick the Rule of Cool for aesthetics and theme, but are they good enough Games Rules wise to see time on the table top?

Imperial Players now have an option to select an Assassin to add to their force during deployment for the measly sum of 1 CP and 85 reserve points, using the Operative Requisition Sanctioned Stratagem. This allows a canny player a lot of flexibility as you can now apply a level of tailoring to your opponent's force!

I don't intend to cover every rule and statistic for these models (there are plenty of reviews elsewhere on the interweb, plus go buy White Dwarf), but I thought it would be fun to muse on the rules that stick out to me. So let's have a look at the various Assassins, starting with the master marksman, the Vindicare!

Kill Team: Painting the Arena Terrain

Salutations, my fellow Kill Team Leaders! In this post we'll be visiting the latest Kill Team expansion set; Arena. 

I must confess that when this boxed set was first announced I wasn't really that interested but having watched a couple of review and play through videos on YouTube my curiosity got the better of me and I decided to jump in.

Arena is pitched as a "competitive" variation of the Kill Team game, exchanging the usual 3D terrain  for a more "board game" like experience, with fixed symmetrical board layouts to promote a more balanced play set up (in theory the terrain set up does not favour one player over the other).

Arena contains four boards (representing different Kill Zones) and a number of terrain pieces, which should be built to specific configurations. I figured getting these pieces assembled and painted would be a fun project, and playing my first Arena game on a fully painted board will be a great reward.

Let's open the doors and see what goodies we've got!

The Gift: Session 7 Adventure Log

The session begins with the characters advancing slowly through the long narrow chamber. This room differs from the previous caverns they have explored as it is obviously man made, though long disused. The party surmise it may have been used as a store room long ago.

A door is located in the northern wall; the party open it and advance into another rectangular chamber. There are two doors in the northern wall, a wide alcove to the north east, a set of stairs to the south east and a second set of stairs to the south west.

Of more immediate interest are a set of horrific implements of torture; a rack, brazier, manacles and chains and so on. Footsteps in the dusty floor indicate that something has been moving through the chamber.

Nanny Ogg investigates the south eastern stairs; they descend a short way to a small antechamber and the door to a cell. The wizardess advances to the door only for it to spring open and a horrific undead creature to burst out and attempt to pounce on her!

Power Armoured Paint: Carcharodons Astra Intercessors

The Carcharodons Astra have returned from the depths of the Void to receive welcome reinforcements in their unending war against the Xeno and the Heretic. Today the Space Sharks welcome the first of their Primaris brethren to their numbers.

I've enjoyed some hobby time recently both painting up some of the new Primaris Marines and using them in a Kill Team evening at First Founding.

First up is the Intercessor Sarge: