Chaos Rhinos With Combi-Meltas

More progress on the Chaos front. I finished sculpting the greenstuff on the combi melta conversions and glued them on to the Chaos rhinos. I also added pintle combi bolters.

The two new editions to the fleet of Chaos Space Marine rhinos.

Here is a close view of the finished combi-melta. The one thing I really like about having a combi-melta is the fear you can put into your opponent from a rhino rush. It only has one chance to get off a meltagun shot, that will most likely miss but people will put mass amounts of fire on a combi-melta armed rhino to avoid that one shot.

A view of the business end. Behind the combi-melta is my combi bolter conversions. It is real simple, just take a couple old style bolters,cut off the handles, trim down the sides and glue them together. Then take a length of sprue and cut a piece the width of the glued together bolters. Glue this piece to the rear end of the bolters were the handles were. Set it aside and let everything cure. Once it is solid, use a pin vice and drill a hole in the bottom of the sprue and a hole in the top of the turrent. Use a piece of wire to pin everything together.

There are snazzier ways to build a combi bolter but these are easy and there is no mistaking what they are from across the table.

ColKG

Plaguemarine Rhino

Hello everybody, I managed to get some hobby time in. I have been working on adding to my fleet of Chaos rhinos. I plan to use it as a transport for a Plaguemarine squad. I normally keep my Rhinos pretty generic so I can use them across several Chaos Space Marine armies but this one is Nurgle all the way. The latest additions are the doors, hatches and spikey bits. I decided to go with an exposed pintle gunner to match the Deathguard vindicator I built a while back.
There is allot of story behind this tank from where I picked it up and it progress to now.

I originally bought this tank from a kid at a now closed game store for five or ten bucks.. It was very poorly assembled as a vindicator. The metal parts still had chunks of flash on them and the whole model seemed to be covered in super glue to hold it all together. I took it home broke off all the metal parts and started trying to get the superglue off, that was easier said than done. I not sure what kind of glue it was but it wasn't super glue. I scraped, gouged, filed and used solvent but couldn't get the glue off with out destroying the model. I ended up using the metal vindicator bits on another rhino and filed the parts of this one in a bits box.
Later I was looking for something else and found the parts of the old battered rhino. It still had the hull and both sides, so I figured what the hell and glued then back together. It was beat up bad and I filled some of the worst gouges with contour putty. A bunch of battle damage just adds character to a Chaos Rhino. This is about the time I decided to star adding the greenstuff to make it a Nurgle rhino.
Everybody who has used greenstuff has had leftovers. I started adding my leftover greenstuff to the rhino and slowly building the layer of corrosion up. The exhaust stacks had been too torn up to use so I made some more out of styrene tube and glued them on the sides. Later I started covering them in greenstuff to add more nurgle goodness. Now with the doors and everything else back on the rhino it is beginning to look ready to return to the table.
I haven't decided on which inlet pintle combi-bolter to add to the gunner. I am leaning toward either a Combi-plasma gun or a Combi-melta. Both have their uses and I already have a couple combi-melta armed rhinos in the works but I will put some more thought into the selection. This is a slow burn project and I will probably cover alot more of the rhino with greenstuff in time.

ColKG

Eureka ZANLA models painted

In a possible new record I have finished painting the Eureka ZANLA I received barely a month ago. They will be on the table for Chuckaroo's Operation Barras game he is putting on for the Catawba Gamers this weekend.


Here are all the lads ready for the table, including a TAG African Warlord with SVD rifle I have had waiting to be painted for years.

A close up of the ZANLA commander, point the way forward.

The African Warlord figure from The Assault Group. This is one of their freebies model that is only available if you buy a bunch of models from them. I received it when I purchased a bunch of African militia models from The Assault group.

Saturday will be their baptism of Fire.

ColKG

Rogue Trader Cleanses Genestealer Cult

Once again gaming returned to Casa De Killgore. This time we dusted off the old Rogue Trader books and played a game using the classic rules and quite a few classic figures. It was Chuckaroobob playing his Rogue Trader with a detachment of the Eighth Imperial Shock Assault Legion better know as "The Imperial Dicks" space marines and some Imperial army support. While Big Roy and myself commanded the Genestealer Cult forces.

The basic scenario is, The Genestaeler cult has revealed itself and the planet is in chaos. The Capital city is firmly in the Cult's hands but they have a weakness. The Capital's only water supply is a massive cistern in the mountains lightly held by Cultists. The Rogue trader has directed a detachment of his forces to capture or destroy the wellhead, eliminating any resistance.
As the Imperials mobilize the local Magus sends out a telepathic signal and dozens of cultist and mutants rally to defend the wellhead.

The Rogue Trader Detachment. Two Dreadnoughts, Two Imperial Dick marine squads and a Heavy weapon squad, a Rapier laser destroyer, two thudd guns, two Imperial army squads and a Squat close combat specialist squad. This is just above a Two Thousand point army. One note on the marine heavy weapon squad is that every marine but one has a heavy weapon, a big difference from the more modern devastator squad.

Chuckaroo also brought his gunship conversion but it didn't participate in the battle.

These are the three versions of the Chainsaw Warrior figure for the game Chainsaw Warrior from way back in the day, just a few of the classic figures in Chuckaroo's force.

Here is the two thousand or so point Genestaeler Chaos Cult force. The genestealer Coven includes the Patriarch, a Psychic mastery Level Four Magus, five hybrids and four purestrain genestealers and two Coven Limos for them to ride in. I picked Slaanesh as their Chaos patron so all the cultists and mutants are in six man squads. Thirty mutants with hand weapon and shield, twenty four mutants with two hand weapons and sixty brood brothers with stub guns and swords. I also had three Rogue Psykers, four mutant bombs and the Deodorant Hover tank. I only had four heavy weapons in the army, a heavy plasma gun, Missile launcher and multi melta carried by the hybrids and a multi laser on the hover tank. All the beastmen had frenzon dispensers so the plan was to get them into close combat and watch the magic happen.

Chuckaroo deploys the Imperial forces. Slowly advancing on the wellhead settlement.

The Magus is on the hill working the masses into a killing frenzy. The Rogue Psykers are attached to squads of brood brothers and stand back as the beastmen get excited.

The Magus Preaches to the faithful.

The thump of a thudd gun opens the Imperial attack. Killing one Brood brother from the sentry squad.

A second Thudd gun fires indiscriminately into the cultist horde.

A Rogue Psyker directs the Brood brothers toward the Imperial interlopers.

The hover tank moves out of the ruins to unmask its multilaser and open fire on the Marine Heavy weapon squad.

The Squat close combat specialists march toward the Cultists.

The Imperials advance into the settlement.

The Thud gun fires again and scatters badly. Unfortunately the scatter lands the template on my Magus and kills him. Along with him goes the controllers or all the frenzon dispensers and the controllers for the mutant bomb's bomb harnesses.

Chuckaroo's dice rolling hot once again, much to my detriment.

Three beastmen finally make it into hand to hand.

The frenzied Brood brother charge into the Marine heavy weapon squad.

The Hover Tank claims the first Imperial casualty. At this time I was down about twenty or so models including all of my heavy weapon hybrids.

The first combat is resolved and the surviving beastman runs for the hills.

After some rereading of the vehicle damage rules the first limo is destroyed instead of shrugging off repeated hits of muiti melta fire. Knowing their time is short the Patriarch and pure breed genestealer get out and charge the dreadnought. They proceed to bounce all their attacks off of its power field.

More Beastmen join in the assault with the frenzied Brood brothers.

A thudd gun scatters wild and misses everyone.

The Patriarch and stealer down the power field and damage the Dreadnought but in return it kills several genestealers.

Two frenzied brood brother charge into the marines and are burnt down by the flamer.

Chuckaroo's dice start to cool down but it is probably too late for the Cultists.

The Beastmen charge into the center Marine squad.

Fresh Brood brothers and a rogue psyker charge into the combat against the marines. It he background the mutant bombs run by the combat trying for the squat squad behind. The Rogue Psyker burn up some psi point to power his force sword and chops down some marines.

The second Dreadnought moves over to support his stricken comrade.

The imperial turn the rapier on one of the mutant bombs and detonates its bomb harness. It throws out the max of six secondary charges and detonates the other two nearby mutant
bombs. This is the most 1 1/2 inch radius templates Chuckaroo and I have ever seen used at one time.

The second mutant bomb goes off and throws several secondary blasts. A couple scatter off of the table but one lands in the combat but fails to kill anybody.

The Third mutant bomb goes off in a good fireworks display but causes no more collateral damage.

The thudd gun makes a square with its scatter but doesn't hit anyone.

The center marine squad finishes off the surviving beastman.

The Patriarch and last stealer down the dreadnought and then prepare to be boltered down.

This is when we called the game. Ninety percent of the Cultist were dead and only a had full of the Imperial had been struck down. The surviving cultist fled into the woods to start rebuilding again. The Hover tank survived the battle and was last seen heading into the sunset as fast as it could fly.

I think everybody had a fun time and look forward to playing another Rogue trader game. For my part of the game I think the real turning point for the Cult was when the Magus was killed. Not only did I lose the controller for the frenzon and bombs but I also lost one hundred and sixty points of psychic powers and a force weapon. The second blunder was charging the Dreadnought with the patriarch and steeler brood. If I would have charged any other Imperial unit the Patriarch and steeler brood would have made short work of them. Another "if" goes with that, if the Patriarch and brood would have survived the bolter fire to get into combat to begin with.

It was a Great game and I think a rematch may be in order.

ColKG

Old Style Rhinos repurposed

I have been working on a couple additions to my 40k Chaos armies. I recently picked up two old style Rhino tanks. They were painted for Blood angels but I went to work on them to chaos them up a bit. I removed all the Imperial decals, cut the remaining exhaust stacks off, removed the old smoke launchers and removed the one of the hatches from both.





I used some brass wire and pinned some styrene rod to make new exhaust stacks. I took the cupola from the new chaos vehicle sprue and glued it on over the open hatch hole. I then trimmed down the hatch I removed and reglued it into the cupola. I added different smoke launchers , front rams, chaos spikes and chaos plates. I have added a combi bolter to both but only one has it mounted in the picture.





I am going to have a combi bolter and a combi meltagun on both, so I have to make a couple combi meltaguns.

I started with the combi flamer from the new sprue and trimmed off the nozzle, hose and the details from the fuel tank. Then glued a couple pieces of styrene tube and rod to form the barrel of the melta gun. Then used some brass wire to pin the barrel to the receiver. I still need to get some green stuff and add some details.

My plan is to put combi meltas on both rhinos and maybe go back and add combi meltas it my other chaos rhinos.

The master plan is to build a fleet of Chaos Rhinos. I read on a blog (Which I have conveniently now lost the link too) about the author's plan to make the new Chaos Space marine Codex competitive. His plan was to go with a pile of Chaos marines in a fleet of rhinos. I have some difference of opinion of a few of his selections but I think the plan has merit. I has broken out my old Iron Warriors army and started figuring what models I will need to add. The major hold up in the plan is collecting enough rhinos to field the army. The bad thing is I have enough rhinos but I would have to mix old style and new and I don't want to do that. So I have been picking them up and only need five more till the army is ready for the field.

ColKG

A Glimpse of Things to Come

A blast from the past, back in the hallowed days of 1990 and I was just starting to play 40k. Rogue Trader was the king of the battlefield and few people had vehicles. But in the book was a picture that inspired many players to imagine what you could do with what you had.

And the famous Deodorant can hover tank came to be. It inspired many including myself. At the time the nearest gaming shop was almost two hours drive away and not well stocked with Warhammer kits, but I wanted a tank, not a rhino but a real tank.

My version of the deodorant can tank. I found it recently while looking for some other old models and decided to fix it back up. One of the fins, a bolter, the sensor dish and a couple other bits were broken off. After having to cut a tube to replace one bit and some careful regluing, it was rebuilt. It had taken a few bad knocks and needed some paint touch ups, so i broke out the codex grey and went to work. A little too quickly.

The new codex grey is much darker than 22 year old codex grey and it looked bad. So I spent a while mixing colors to get closer to the old shade but instead ended up repainting most of the tank. I still might go back abd do some retouching to the paint job but It was good enough for the table.

Coming soon the Hover tank rides to Glory after a twenty year hiatus.

2011 in Review and 2012 speculation

Another year has gone into the record books and I want to look back at my hobby year. The one thing I could use to sum up the year is Historicals. On top is Disposable Heroes, my most played game this year. The game are divided between Pulp/Interwar era with my Warlord Chinese troops and Modern era using the SOCWAD supplement. Next in historicals would be Napoleonic games using the Black Powder and Warhammer Historical Waterloo. Other games played were French Foreign Legion on Venus with TSATF rules, a game of General Quarters III, a game of Chasepot and Needle gun and several games of Memoir 44 played with miniatures.
Painting, I had a much better year than 2010 with a total of 108 figures painted. The Majority consist of my first full strength platoon of Warlord Chinese Infantry and four Japanese WWII 81mm mortars. The rest of the count is made up of the remainder of the Ratling Snipers I used to form my Ratling Legion Platoon for 40k.
Next would be Warhammer 40k. I played in two Apocalypse battles this year. The first in January as part of the worldwide Apocalypse game and the second in November for the Heroes Headquarters Charity Apocalypse game. My latest projects have been to get my Imperial guard fully painted to Apocalypse size points and expanding my World Eaters to Apocalypse size to participate in the Apoc-Eclipse First War for Armageddon Apocalypse sized game later in 2012.
I also took part in the GameOnGw 40k Escalation League. I originally planned to build up my Preatorians and play them but switched over to my Catachans for the league. I did good in the league winning more than I lost but a case of real life made me miss too amny games to be in the running. It did motivate me to scratchbuild two hydra turrets, that I almost have painted.
Some other modeling projects I worked on were six bombards to use as lizardmen cannons in TSATF, the start of two scratchbuilt Ork Battle fortresses and more work on the Nurgle Contagions.
I didn't play any Warhammer Fantasy in 2011 but I worked on several armies. I started the year with dark Elves, then switched and worked on chaos warriors and finished the year working on Ogre Kingdoms after their new armybook was released. Maybe this year I might get a game of 8th edition in.
One new project was 1/900 scale Napoleonic Naval gaming. I received a game it forward gift of 1/900 scale ships from J Womack of Scattergun Gamer. I have since picked up the ruleset Heart of Oak to use the ships with but I have yet to finish the ships and run a game.
I made the GameOnGw Gameday again this year and had a great time. I look forward to to one in 2012.
My plans for the new year are to try and beat my painting totals of last year, get in more gaming and finish some of the too long work in progress projects I have laying around.

ColKG