Iron Angels at a tournament - Fist of Medusa Strike Force.

Didn't take any pictures today but I went to a 1 day 3 round ITC tournament.  I busted out my second Stormtalon in just one day to get ready.

These 2 things happened:

1. I rolled Veil of Time in every game
2. I went first in every game

Despite that I only went 1-2.

Game 1 vs War Convocation  (scouring)

Pretty straitforward war con list with lots of grav.  after seizing on a 5 because of the knight, rolled up veil and started chomping through the army.  Took the knight down with a combination of drop pod melta and Stormtalons.   Didn't get warlord, but 10-1 win.

Game 2 vs Tau (killpoints)

This was killpoints and he just didn't have that many to give up with a lot of points in a single unit of Ghostkeels and a Stormsurge.

This time I seized on a 4 due to the superheavy and rolling +1 to seize warlord trait.

It took about 4 turns to kill everything I had except the deathstar and in that time I was able to take out the Ghostkeels and 1 Riptide.  He made a bunch of 4+ invuls on the Stormsurge vs grav though for sure.  Ended up running away from me and hiding while getting good malestrom rolls.  Tied on secondary, and I got king of the kill resulting in a 3-7 loss

Game 3 vs Gladius + summoning (emperor's will)

Last game I was getting tired but played it out. He used a librarius conclave to summon a heap of deamons.   He let me go first after bunching up Rhinos in the middle.  The deamons didn't do anything and was used mostly to block movement.  After the first turn he started to split up the transports effectively.  As time was running out the game came down to killing the last 2 regular bikes on my objective while my deathstar held his.  The result was a tie on primary, he took secondary and we both had linebreaker.  Another 3-7 loss.


I'm pretty happy with how everything worked. Considering these were just games #2-4 with the list I still have a lot to figure out, mainly how to deal with more MSU armies. I think concentrating the death star on one flank and literally everything else on another will be something I need to try. 

as a refresher my list was:

Fist of Medusa Strike Force

Core: Battle Demi-Company
Captain: Bike, Artificer armor, Gorgon's Chain, Power fist
Command Squad: Bikes, 4x Storm Shields, Apothecary, 3 power weapons, Thunderhammer, 3 meltabombs
Tactical Squadx5: Melta, Combi-Melta, Drop Pod
Tactical Squadx5: Melta, Combi-Melta, Drop Pod
Tactical Squadx5: Grav Cannon, combi-grav, Rhino
Devastator Squad: 2x Grav Cannon
Bike Squad x4: 2x Grav gun, combi-grav

Command: Librarius Conclave
3x Level 2 Librarian, bikes, 1 with Mindforge Stave

Aux: Raptor Wing
2x Storm Talons, TL Lascannon
Land Speeder, MM, Typhoon Missile

Iron Angels take the field!

After months of work I finally put the Iron Angels on the table.

Lacking the 2nd Stormtalon I had to pick another aux choice. I went with Iron Guardians, which is a tactical squad and a dreadnought.  Gave the tactical squad grav and a Rhino, and just a base dread a drop pod.  Had enough points for a 4th libby, giving me a bigger bubble of +1 FNP.

First game against a Necron Decurion.  Sure, not an optimized list but still with the Conoptek Harvest.  Also the player is pretty new to the game as well and his dice were very inconsistent (could not hit in CC, but rarely failed a RP lol) and lastly I rolled pretty much perfect powers with null zone and veil of time.

Didn't lose a single model in the deathstar.  Overall the list was very fun to play and had plenty of firepower and psychic dice.  The 2nd Stormtalon should be on it's way soon!

Quickie: Iron Angels Deathstar

Just a quick post here, while I was putting away the command squad I snapped a pic of the entire deathstar unit.

Captain, command squad and Librarious Conclave. 

Using the Medusa Strike Force, the unit has a 3+ FNP. The command bikes have storm shields for that 3++ as well.  Add in say, invisibility or the re-roll saves power and they are pretty tough. And being on bikes they are hard to ignore.

Just need to save up for another Stormtalon.

Showcase: Iron Angels command squad

After much trial and tribulation, I finally finished my command squad. So happy they are done.

And with the captain:

Now down to a single Stormtalon to finish my list.  Need money first.

I picked up some Black Reach boyz, and I still have my metal nobs to deal with.  More to come!

Next project up: More Iron Angels

I've been really off my hobby game for the last week or so, mainly because I'm lacking any motivation to finish my command squad bikes. I'm already tired of painting BA again, I normally can only take them in small doses but I've been doing a lot. Considering I only have 5 models left too paint it shouldn't be a big deal.  I'm going to be doing just 2 at a time and basically forcing myself. I also need to finish my display board for Saturday. I was hoping to do a frozen river but time and money won't allow it.  Someday.

Also I tried to match the storm shields to my Thunderwolves..and failed miserably...

UGLY BAGS OF MOSTLY WATER!!!  sigh.  Now I can't decide if I want red, black or leadbeltcher.

anyway that's where I'm at. I still need Frostgrave stuff as well.  Hopefully a full day of AoS gaming will solve all my blues...

Showcase: Blood Angels tactical squad, now with Grav!

I'm one step closer to finishing my Medusa Strike Force, with the completion of the 3rd tactical squad.

This is a grav unit that will be in a Rhino.

I even did up a grav pistol!  Might be a viable alternative to a combi-grav.  Not sure yet.

I only got in one pic before the camera batteries died, and I don't feel like waiting for them to recharge..so this is all you get!

I have my command squad bikes built up and getting ready to prime them. I also have my new warband members to work on before next week.

All that's left to buy for my new list is another Stormtalon.  I don't know when I'll be able to get it.

Busy month, actually posted quite a bit. But tomorrow is Luke Cage so I'll be binging after work the next two days!

Quick update: More rebasing.

Finished putting my first Blood Angels tactical squad on 32mm bases. I still have not found any resin lava bases I like, so I might have to start learning how to do my own.

I have a lot more then 10 guys in this unit though, so it was more work then it needed to be. But have 4 heavy weapon options and 2 guys with special weapons. 

32mm bases really makes a huge difference for space marines and it's well worth the work. Slowly over time I'm sure I'll get more and more done.

It's also a good way to spend time when watching football games! Go Ducks!

That's it for now, more hobby to come!

Showcase: Blood Angels Stormtalon

Another step to the Medusa Strike Force is done - the first Stormtalon.

Even if the BA supplement coming out is pretty good, I might still want to run a Raptor Wing because it's just pretty darn good.

It's also magnetized, and done differently then I've seen others do it.

Turned out great, love it.  On to the next project!

Iron Angels Librarius Conclave complete! (Blood Angels/Iron Hands)

Finished off the last librarian for my Conclave.  Relaxed on my day off and got it all done in just a day.

The power maul is from the Ravenwing command box, and that is my Mindforge Stave (force power fist!!)

Love how the progress is going, but cash is going to be very short for the next month so it might be a while before I get the 2nd Stormtalon.

Anyway, off to the hobby table!

Showcase: Blood Angels/Iron Hands captain on bike

Yep slowly getting through the hobby part of the Iron Angels.  Now that the Deathwatch bike box is out I can save quite a bit on the last of the bikes I need for the command squad - next purchase for sure!

Now I can't decide if I want to work on Tacticals or Librarians..

Hobby update, working on my Iron Angels (Blood Angels as Iron hands)

Iron Angels? Sure why not!  Also reminds me of my favorite stupid 80's movie, Iron Eagle lol

anyway I'm having a bit of fun building these guys, going through the bits and making them all BA.

The Tactical squad especially came out great, and recycling backpacks from the Assault Squad turned Dev squad will help.

For painting I decided to start on the Captain.  He's coming along slowly - there is no hurry to get him done so just going along and enjoying it.

Tonight, we dine in hell!

For some reason I really like the tactical sergeant.  The nipple armor and pointing reminds me of 300 lol

I also have the Stormtalon in sub-assemblies, magnetized and primed.

That's the update, having fun in the hobby is what it's all about and right now I'm very much enjoying the pace and models I'm working on.

Moving on from Blood Angels...

The latest Blood Angels codex is lackluster - at best.  It lacks any of the "good" units or weapons (aka Grav Cannons) from the Space Marine book and nothing unique that's also good like Ravenwing or Thunderwolves.   At best it's there to lend FNP to another Imperial unit.

But losing Assault marines as troops was just too much for me.  That is the ENTIRE reason I started BA in the first place..a completely different play style to other Marine armies. That's gone too. So you have an army that's an assault army but isn't any good in assault. 


Since there is little chance of another book anytime soon, I've moved on from Blood Angels.  Not to the point of selling it off entirely, but just to the point of playing them as red Iron Hands or red Ultramarines or similar.  so that means ditching the MSU Assault squads and BA-specific units such as my Baal Preds. Except my Death Company. I'm keeping those.  I did sell off some things already: my DC Rhino, a couple of MSU assault squads and an attack bike.  I'm also converting another MSU squad into Devastators.

Just finished, first step to the new list.

So in that vein I plan on building an Iron Hands Fist of Medusa Strike Force using most of the models I currently have.

I have decided to try this over more Wulfen and Thunderwolves, but the later isn't ruled out completely. 

This is the list I'm building:

Fist of Medusa Strike Force


Core: Battle Demi-Company
Captain: Bike, Artificer armor, Gorgon's Chain, Power fist
Command Squad: Bikes, 4x Storm Shields, Apothecary, 3 power weapons, Thunderhammer
Tactical Squadx5: Melta, Combi-Melta, Drop Pod
Tactical Squadx5: Melta, Combi-Melta, Drop Pod
Tactical Squadx5: Grav Cannon, Rhino
Devastator Squad: 2x Grav Cannon
Bike Squad x4: 2x Grav gun, combi-grav

Command: Librarius Conclave
3x Level 2 Librarian, bikes, 1 with Mindforge Stave

Aux: Raptor Wing
2x Storm Talons, TL Lascannon
Land Speeder, MM, Typhoon Missile

That's a bit short of 1850 so I have some wiggle room. 

Modeling isn't that hard at this point. As I said I'm converting an old Assault Squad to the Grav cannon devs after buying a devastator box, I have 3 of the bikes I need and I have a storm talon on the way from an Amazon gift card bonus at work.  Plus the BA upgrade frame makes for good bits as well.

I still have a lot to get: the command squad bikes, the grav tactical squad and the 2nd storm talon. But it's not an informidable amount of models either.

Superfriends 3.0

I'm finding the more targets I present the better my list does. In that flavor, I've come up with a great way to add an equally deadly yet super aggressive unit to my list. And make the Thunderwolves even better!

Great Wolf Detachment:
HQ: WGBL, Runic armor, thunderwolf, SS, Fist

Elite: 5 Wolf Scouts
Elite: 5 Wulfen, 3xTH/SS 2x Frost Claws

Fast: Drop Pod
Fast: Thunderwolf Cav x5, 5x SS, 1x Fist

Allied Detachment:
HQ: Sanguinary Priest, Bike

Troops: Tactical squad x5, Heavy Flamer, Combi-Melta, Drop Pod

Ravenwing Strike Force:
HQ: Sammael

Fast: Black Knights x5, meltabombs
Fast: Black Knights x5, meltabombs

Elite: Ravenwing Command Squad, Apothecary



So the Wulfen go in the drop pod and come in turn 1.  That gives my opponent a serious problem: Shoot the Wulfen or the Thunderwolves.  Since the Iron Priest got moved to HQ, the scouts become a 70 point tax to give the Thunderwolves WS5 - totally worth it!  I can move the WGBL to the Command squad if I need to hit multiple units in CC, and he'll still get FNP. 

Wulfen are completely bad-ass. For the points they really present a serious threat. 

I've got the models now and I have a lot of work to do before Storm of Silence 4!

Showcase: Blood Angels Tactical Marines

Wow I finished up some models! 5 BA tacticals to replace the unit I sold off a couple months ago because it was the wrong color. I do still have the other 5 but they are fairly low priority.

I really like how the power fist came out.

Next project is painting my Black Knights.  Lots of Black Knights!!

Developing the Thunder star

So I'm having a lot of issues playing my Thunderstar list.  I call it a "superfriends" list even though it really does not follow the common formula for superfriends. 

I am really thinking about dropping the Dark Angels and going with a librarian conclave.  I know it's everywhere but there's a reason for it.

The point of this army is to be competitive in ITC tournaments. 

It really is all about invisibility, and endurance when needed.

I've also though about going with some drop Skitarri for a massive alpha strike. I want to get into admec in general, so that's a good place to start.

Anyway I'm sure I'll make a video too, but just rambling for now.

Blood Angels "fun" list.

You don't see too much pure Blood Angels around, pretty much because most of the book is really underwhelming.  Once you add in some allies they can be a great addition but pure BA is tough.

Since I'm playing in a more "casual" league (that my shooty ork list just dominated) I figured going pure BA would be the way to go.  Mid-tier, not too powerful not too weak.

One of my favorite models I've ever done for my BA is my Captain with dual lightning claws.  So I started with that because he's awesome.

HQ: Captain: The Angel's Wings, 2 LC, artificer armor
HQ: Sanguinary Priest: jump pack, bolt pistol, meltabombs

Troops: 10 Tactical Marines: Melta, combi-melta, heavy flamer, drop pod
Troops: 10 Tactical Marines: Plasma, combi-plasma, lascannon, Las-Plas Razorback

Elites: 10 Death Company: bolters, drop pod
Elites: 10 Sternguard: heavy flamer, 3x combi-plasma, 3x combi-melta, drop pod

Fast: 4 Bikes: combi-grav, 2x grav gun, Attack bikes with MM
Fast: 10 Assault Marines: 2x melta, Vet Sgt, power fist
Fast: 5 Assault Marines, melta, Rhino

LoW: Dante

Lots of power armor, lots of drop pod action and one assault unit. It's fun, sorta aggressive, and damn pretty if I don't say so myself.

Showcase: Death Company

As I draw closer to the end of my quest to complete all my Imperial army stuff, I present to you 5 Death Company.

The backpacks/jump packs are magnetized and 1 guy has 3 each magnetized pistol and ccw options.

These are all the new(er) plastic box and the models are just fantastic.   This gives me 20 of them now, 10 have magnetized jump packs/back packs and 10 are fixed backpacks.  Pretty darn happy with the results.

Now just 4 Grey Hunters left for Power Armor guys.

Quick take: Blood Angels Sternguard group shot

While putting away the 2nd set of Sternguard I got everyone out.

That's the problem with magnets - it makes it so there is so much more to paint!

That's it, more updates soon!

Making the Dante-Thunderwolf deathstar even better..

After the few games I played with my Thunderwolf/Dante deathstar I found several flaws, the most glaring of which is the lack of firepower..not everything can be killed in close combat.

I think I found the best solution..and it even makes the deathstar better!

Building for ITC rules, btw.

CAD: Blood Angels
HQ: Sanguinary Priest, bike, auspex, meltabombs
HQ: Librarian, Lvl2, bike

Troops: 5x Tactical, heavy flamer, combi-melta, drop pod
Troops: 5x Tactical, heavy flamer, combi-plasma, drop pod

LoW: Dante

Allied Detachment: Space Wolves
HQ: Wolf Guard Battle Leader, runic armor, thunderwolf,storm shield. fist

Troop: 5x Grey Hunters, melta, drop pod

Fast: 5x Thunderwolves, 5x Storm shields, 1x power fist

Ravenwing Strike Force (Dark Angels)
HQ: Sammael

Fast: 5x Black Knights
Fast: 5x Black Knights

1850 exactly.

I had to neuter  the infantry units to get it to fit, but really that does not hurt me that much..as they aren't that good to start with.  The best part is the ObSec drop pods to sit on objectives.  I also had to drop the Wolf Lord to a WGBL.

But adding in the 10 Black Knights gives me a ton of plasma firepower, and they are just overall pretty darn awesome..with skilled rider and Ravenwing they can re-roll jink saves allowing them to stick around for quite a while.  Even in close combat they are not bad, with S5 rending hammers. 

Especially with the wolves coming right at you.

Sammael was almost an afterthought..but then I actually read his rules!  By adding him to the deathstar and making him warlord the whole unit is just that much more beastly.  First, he's fearless which is something the rest of the unit lacks.

Second, his warlord trait is rapid maneuvers.   That adds 3" to any run or charge move.  HOLY SHIT!!  That totally counters the loss of fleet by having a mixed unit and gives them an incredible threat range. To top it off he's EW for those S10 shots.

So now I think I'm off to ebay to pick up some Dark Vengeance bikes...

Showcase: Blood Angels Sternguard 2

Finally finished the 5 Sternguard. I have picked up another commission so that's why it took longer then expected.  But that's ok. I still absolutely love the combination of the Sternguard box and the Blood Angels Tactical Squad box.. so much detail on all the bits and they work so well together.

Lots of combi-weapons and the fancy Bolters from the Sternguard box makes jobs like this take so much more time. I'll get a full group shot eventually.

Next up is finishing the commission and starting in on some more of my own power armor stuff. Probably a few Grey Hunters...not sure yet.