Happy New Year from the Vault

 Welcome back to the Vault, and a Happy New Year to you all! 2024 was quiet on the blog front, but busy painting and gaming wise culminating in a Cawdor Gang being painted over the festive period.

I think my model count was something like 70 infantry, 6 bikes and 17 tanks/vehicles completed over 2024, so not a bad total all in all.

2025 is shaping up to be busy for gaming with Necromunda, Badab War themed Boarding Actions and D&D already in the diary.

Here's my Cawdor Gang (the trash collecting Midden Men) to see in the New Year.

First up is the Leader:

Golden Gaming: Adeptus Custodes ready for battle

Welcome back to the Vault! Next weekend is First Founding's Doubles tournament and I will be attending with my shiny Golden Boys aka The Adeptus Custodes.

Work has been hectic this month but I have managed to find the time to finish up this small but lethal force. Let's have a look at the list!

Warsmith's Words: Mayhem! Trophies!

 Welcome back to the Vault. I had a fantastic day at the Mayhem tournament. Gaming wise I placed 13th out of 30 having games against Votann, Iron Hands and a mirror match into a Iron Warriors. 

I won against the Iron Hands, and suffered two losses. Regardless of the results all the games were good fun and I'd love to play against any of my opponents again.  The opposing Iron Warriors list had some interesting unit selections which has got me thinking about what to build and paint next.

Putting the gaming to one side I did take home a trophy. Varchilde's IV legion were awarded Best Painted Army! Absolutely chuffed to have won this, and it now has pride of place on the shelf in the front room.

Warsmith's Words: Mayhem Preparations

Welcome back to the Vault! It's May Day and that means the Mayhem tournament is almost upon us, and I've been slapping paint on my last few models for the event. As I'm still trench-deep in painting Iron Warriors (and loving it!) it was inevitable I'd be taking the IV Legion to war.

Warsmith's Words: March to Victory

 Welcome back to the Vault! I can't believe it's over a month since my last post; time is flying by these days. Whilst the blog has been quiet, my hobby activities have not. I played in First Founding's Doubles Tournament where my Iron Warriors and Lyle's Emperors Children won two out of three games, finishing 8th out of 18 games. As always I enjoyed the day and I'm looking forward to Mayhem where I'll be taking the Iron Warriors to their first singles event.

I've also played some smaller games; a 500 point Boarding Action (a format which has a lot of depth to be explored) and a couple of narrative Kill Team '18 games where my Death Guard have been trying to board an Imperial Cruiser manned by White Scars and Omega Guardians.

I've also been painting Iron Warriors. What feels like a lot of Iron Warriors! So bit of a picture dump next...

First up is the Master of Execution.

Octoberfest 2022 Analysis and Predictions

 Welcome back to the Vault! October is here and that means it will soon be time for Octoberfest; First Founding's annual autumnal 40K tournament. Personal circumstances mean I won't be playing this time round but I have promised to provide the usual pre-event analysis and predictions! So let's indulge in some PunditHammer!

There are 30 attendees who are bringing 20 different factions between them. For the purposes of this analysis I've decided to cover each Space Marine chapter as a different faction since each has a different supplement to provide variety to how they play (and lets face it a Dark Angel is not the same as an Ultramarine).

Pestilential Painting: Planetary Empires Campaign Day

 Welcome back to the Vectorium! Last weekend the mighty Death Guard participated in a narrative campaign day at First Founding; a loose coalition of Chaos and Xenos forces sought to invade the Hive Capital of an important Imperial World. Could the Imperial Defenders repulse the attack?

Nine players participated and were divided 4 and 5 between the Defenders and Attackers. Neil provided a Planetary Empires map; the Imperial Defenders initially held all the tiles but a successful Attacker game result would "flip" a tile to the invaders. If the Attackers could flip an inner defence tile then there was a chance to take the capital itself.

The initial round saw players face off in individual matches as the attackers moved across a broad front, but the later rounds would see forces link up.

I found myself drawn up against Dave's Ad Mech in a 1500 point Tempest of War Game:

Regimental Reporting: First Founding Doubles 22 After Action Report

 Welcome back to the Officers Mess! Yesterday I attended First Founding's Doubles 40K Tournament, and had a fantastic day out! My write up will be briefer than usual; I'm recovering post COVID, and my energy levels are low at the moment. Enthusiasm and copious cups of tea saw me through the day.

I had teamed up with Scott who brought a Genestealer Cult force to run alongside my Guard. The sneaky cultists provided plenty of movement, tricks and close combat to complement the straight forward nature of my heavy guns.

First Founding Doubles 22 Analysis and Predictions

 Welcome back to the Vault! Next weekend will see 40 keen gamers attend the 2022 First Founding Doubles Tournament. Let's have a look at what factions players are bringing and teams have been formed. And then, as has become somewhat of a Vault tradition, I'll indulge in some punditry and make some predictions as to who will do well.

I don't think I've ever predicted the winner, but I've come close a few times!

Let's start by looking at the individual forces:

Regimental Reporting: Parade Ready for Doubles 22

 Welcome back to the Officer's Mess! First Founding's Doubles 40K tournament is almost here, and as today is the deadline for list submissions I've mustered the models to ensure there are no breaks to repair, etc. and take a few pictures.

I'm partnered with Scott and we've gone with a fairly thematic pairing of Genestealer Cult and Imperial Guard. Colonel Staysback seems to have a bit of a strange glassy look in his eyes these days...

Power from Paint: Cronos Parasite Engine

 Welcome back to the Web Way! I've had another productive painting session this weekend and bar basing, completed the Cronos Parasite Engine; a fittingly creepy unit for Halloween!

The Hero Forge: A Haemonculus Awakens

 Welcome back to the Webway! With Octoberfest now behind me it's time to work on some new projects. I've been building some Necron models from the Indomitus box and the various kits arriving with the Imperium magazine, but really decided I needed to knuckle down and begin on The Hero Forge challenge.

As I've mentioned previously this is build/paint challenge that a number of the First Founding members are participating in; it involves creating a new Warlord model, complete with fluff, chosen relic/warlord trait, etc. and then a 1000 point supporting force.

I'm using this as an opportunity to work on a back log of Dark Eldar Coven models. First up is the erstwhile leader: a Haeomonculus.

Octoberfest 2021 After Action Report

 Welcome back to the Vault! Last weekend saw the return of Octoberfest; First Founding's annual autumn 40K tournament. This was the first club 40K event post lockdown, and 28 eager gamers turned up at the hall keen to move models and roll dice.

I piloted my Death Guard Highlander list in a series of three games; all Chapter Approved Missions, but with a twist that each player had to take the (usually optional) mission specific secondary objectives.

I remembered my models, dice, rules and all the gaming gubbins, but forgot my phone! Luckily Duncan had his camera in the car and let me use it to take a some pictures during the day. How did I get on? Well let's see if the Tallyman kept notes...

Octoberfest 2021 Analysis and Predictions

 Welcome back to the Vault! First Founding's annual autumnal 40K tournament will soon be here, and has become something of a tradition it's time for me to indulge in some amateur punditry and pretend I know something about the state of 40K.

We have 28 players with 27 having turned in their army lists. Their factions have been published on the events page so lets see who's turning up.

The Hero Forge: A 40K Hobby Challenge

 Welcome back to the Vault! It's time for the next hobby challenge! It was about this time last year that I participated in the Tale of Four Santas project, and we thought it would be fun to get another project going over the autumn and winter months.

This 40K challenge is entitled "The Hero Forge" and comes in two parts.

Warhammer World Road Trip

Welcome back to the Vault! Last week I joined a band of my fellow 40K enthusiasts from First Founding embarked on a grand adventure to Warhammer World. For the uninformed Warhammer World is basically Euro Disney for 40kers and Sigmarites but with less Roller Coasters and more opportunities to acquire more plastic crack.

I joke! Warhammer World is a large visitors centre attached to GW HQ in Nottingham. There's a fantastic exhibition hall covering a gamut of wonderfully painted models and fantastic dioramas, a hall (with free to use) gaming tables, great food and beer on offer at Bugman's Bar, and a large store.

I spent a good hour and a half perusing the exhibition. Highlights for me were the Rohan Village, and the Horus Heresy-era Thousand Sons collection. The latter were painted in a very sharp metallic red, which I think is Flesh Tearer's contrast over a silver base so I think I'll have to give that a go at some point!

I also enjoyed the quick precis of GW's roots with the classic RPG minis. This display tickled my fancy as I've posted about the elementals (in the background) before. They are still some of my all time favourite models.

Pestilential Painting: The Death Guard hit the table!

Welcome back to the Vectorium and what a week its been! First Founding re-opened on Friday and the I jumped at the opportunity to bring the Death Guard out to play. New recruit VC Firefly brought along Raven Guard successors and we passed an enjoyable few hours acquainting ourselves with the 9th edition rules.

Looking forward to social contact!

 Welcome back to the Vault my fellow Venturers! Every so often I like to take a step back from sharing the pictures of the minis I've been painting, and sharing cool stories from the games I've played to reflect on why we engage in these hobbies.

I had the great fortune to spend some time with Dave G over the weekend, and we caught up on all things 40K related, our latest painting projects and what we are looking forward to in the future. We are scheduling a game of 40K (the first table top outing for my Death Guard), and really looking forward to the opening of First Founding when lockdown finally buggers off.

A Tale of Four Santas: Part Two

 Welcome back to the Vault! I've been making more progress on the Omega Guardians Standard Bearer I've been working on for the Four Santas Challenge.

In this week's hobby session I've managed to complete the Banner itself and applied decals.

A Tale of Four Santas: Part One

 Welcome back to the Vault my little helpers! I've laid down a challenge to the members of one of the group chats I belong to. Whilst we can't meet to play games we are all working on various painting projects and four of us have agreed to build, paint, and gift a model to someone else in the challenge.

An infantry model is ideal (something like a Tactical Marine or Ork Boy), and preferably it should be something the recipient can use as a reinforcement to one of their own forces.

Names were picked out of the hat, and I've drawn Neil from Table Standard. This gives me a great deal of choice in terms of factions to pick from as Neil has a great collection of painted armies including:

• Orks
• Crimson Fists
• Dark Angels
• Crimson Slaughter
• Catachans
• Craftworld Eldar

However I've decided to paint a model for the Omega Guardians! I want to build a character model of some sort so it can fit into an army list regardless of other unit selections.