2015 Year In Review

Not as much happened this year as I would have liked. My family had a move so that cut into a lot of hobby time, but I was still able to work on many projects that I am proud of. So here is a wrap up for the year on the status of my many projects.

Grand Inquisitorial Retinue (Warhammer 40,000 - Inquisition)
I had originally planned for this project to get done in time for the Harvester of Souls Grand Tournament, but the move especially cut into this. I have about 95% of the army assembled, and about 15% painted. This project is officially on back burner status. I think I got burned out on such an ambitious project and bitten off more than I can chew with it. I would like to get back to it at some point because I am especially proud of some of the conversions, like my Lord Inquisitor in terminator armour and the Acolytes with boltguns.

Commander Truestrike's Fi'rios Expedition Cadre (Warhammer 40,000 - Tau Empire)
My original Tau army has expanded some. The new codex brought in some fun additions that I got. I made a set of Breachers and an XV95 Ghostkeel, the latter I really enjoyed on the tabletop. I may even like it better than the Riptide. Plus a few more minor editions. My brother Jarom got me another Devilfish for Christmas. I have some ideas for a different conversion for them, so you may see a few posts on that next year.

Forgesworn Eternals (Warhammer: Age of Sigmar - Stormcast Eternals)
Games Workshop really shook it up with the release of Age of Sigmar. Regardless of all the fuss I love the game and excited to see where it's going from here. The Stormcast Eternals are unique and fun to build and paint, and I got a lot of positive internet feedback on my Lord-Celestant on Dracoth conversion when it was featured on Faeit 212. I don't really plan on adding any more to this army. I have enough for a decent force in a game that plays well with small warbands (one of the many reasons I love AoS) and they are generally meant to ally with my Dwarfs anyway.

Forthammer Clan Throng (Warhammer: Age of Sigmar - Dwarfs)
My original Dwarf army has taken a turn for AoS, with my round basing project pretty much done. I still have a little bit to add to it, but I am going to start fresh with a new paint scheme, and some new fluff, depending on the rumored Duardin Battletome. So we will see where that goes.

Extreme Scythean (Warmachine/Hordes - Legion of Everblight)
This was not my army, but I guess this could be considered my first commission. I had fun doing the project and I enjoyed seeing it received.

Zone Mortalis Project (Warhammer 40,000 - Terrain Project)
This one had to take a break as Christmas came in and took up the bits casting zone. But that will resume soon. I am hoping I can at least have this one built up to 16 tiles before the end of next year.

That sums up the year. Next update will be my goals for 2016.

Grand Inquisitorial Retinue - Acolytes (The Penitent)

Now for the models that will be the most numerous in my army. I already talked about the acolytes in this post. These guys are more of them, but with flak armour instead of carapace. I call them The Penitent.

Their story is they are wash outs or drop outs of the Schola Progenium. Those that couldn't make the cut and become real Tempestus Scions. They are now seeking a second chance. They find it under the Inquisition. While most inquisitors want the best of the best, they find a certain drive and determination from these individuals, and ideal for expendables. Many of these Penitent will do anything to redeem themselves, asking only a second chance.

The basis for these minis are warzone minis. Again, I have used this deal for a lot of my conversions in this army, and it is one hell of a deal.

First off are the assault troopers. 4 pts for an acolyte in flak armour, chainsword, and las pistol. These are the cheapest models in my entire army. They provide ablative wounds and plenty of attacks. This unit will be supported with an inquisitor to provide stubborn, and a ministorum priests to make them absolute beasts in combat.

These are the bolt troopers. 5 pts for an acolyte with boltgun, las pistol, and flak armour. They are distributed throughout various units. One is acting as a sergeant for a squad, with the upturned hat and melta bomb. My goal is every unit in this army will have at least one melta bomb. Each and every single acolyte is capable of taking a melta bomb, but that would be overkill.

Sticking with the plasma spam theme of my army, these are the same acolytes, but I give them all plasma guns and carapace armour for added survivability for when they inevitably injure themselves from overheating.18 pts each.

A couple odd ones in the mix, mostly to even out points. These guys are carrying storm bolters. 7 pts for an acolyte with storm bolter, flak armour, and las pistol.

Grand Inquisitorial Retinue - Jokaero Weaponsmiths

Another completely awesome oddity in the Inquisition codex (there seems to be quite a few of those) are the Jokaero Weaponsmiths. While their points cost is pretty steep at 35 points each, the benefits they bring to any type of squad are pretty big. They can provide a random buff to the unit they are in, which is either:

• Nothing.
• +12" range to all non-template weapons.
• One better armour save (i.e. making flak armour into carapace armour, or carapace armour into power armour FOR FREE!) 
• All shooting weapons gain rending.
• All models in the unit gain a 5+ invulnerable save.
• Or roll twice for 2 of the benefits!

While it is random, when a unit contains more than one of these space monkeys, you add +1 to your roll for each jokaero in the unit. You can generally always count on something useful, even though you may not know what it will be. I am running 1 in one squad, and 2 in another. In the one with 2, I can at least guarantee I wont be rolling nothing, and it increases my chance of getting the bonus benefit.

Even better is these guys have a special hand weapon that is either a lascannon, heavy flamer, or multi-melta, whenever they want! Quasi-obliterators.

• Lascannon for long range sniping.
• Heavy flamer for overwatch, infantry killing, and being on the move.
• Multi-melta for short range tank busting.

Not wanting to use any of GW's models, I found something on line that might work. These guys. I underestimated their size, so they came out pretty big. Pictured is them on 25mm bases. They are a lot bigger and more imposing than GW's Jokaero, but not as goofy looking. This conversion may or may not work, depending on how well I paint them.

Grand Inquisitorial Retinue - Psyker

One thing that surprises me about the Inquisition codex army I am making, is the amount of psyker power I can bring. Outside of Chaos Daemons and Grey Knights, I can command quite a few psychic power dice each turn. Henchmen squads can bring cheap psykers. For 15 points each I get another roll on a table I need and another power point each turn.

My list includes 6 henchmen squads. With the ability to add one psyker to each squad can make your list very dynamic. With the lists four inquisitors (each being psykers themselves), I built a henchmen psyker to fill one of the gaps.

Like a lot of my inquisitorial conversions, this one is made from a hodgepodge of different parts. The torso and legs are from an old warzone mini, shoulder is from the Space Marine Terminators, arms and other accessories are from the Tempestus Scions.

This guy was originally built to be an inquisitor, but I made different ones in favor of different wargear and heavier armour. He may be dressed a bit much for a cheap 15 pts cost, but you may consider sanctioned psykers under an inquisitor's care to be well cared for.

Decorated Miniatures Case (How I did it)

This will be a simple little article detailing a quick and easy way I discovered to making a decorative miniatures case. A lot of time you can get Plano gun cases with pluck foam that hold minis just fine and at an affordable price. If you want to add a bit of flair to those plain black cases, read on.

This is a minis case I got from the Reaper BONES kickstarter.

To start off I put a layer of thick painter's tape on the area I wish to decorate. Then I drew (pencil, pen, marker, it doesn't matter) an outline square showing the boundaries for the emblem I will be making. I wanted things to be fairly centered in the face of the case.

Next using whatever methods you know (be it freehand, rulers, etc) draw the design you want on the case. Make sure it is clear to you the outline you are final with. As you can see I did the initial drawings and areas with pencil, and went over the final markings with marker to easily distinguish them without having to go through and erase the pencil.

Using a hobby knife, I cut out the area I wanted to be painted. Think of this as making a stencil, but because it is already taped to the case you don't have to worry about any free floating pieces or transferring it over.

Prepare the area around the case for painting. I am using spray paints because I wanted a nice even coating without brush strokes. Since spray paints spread, I made sure to cover any area I didn't want any to get on.

Simply paint the area, and when it's dry remove all the tape. Easy.

I can totally see this method being repeated for additional details with other colors. I also spray coated dullcoat just to give it some extra protection against wear.

Grand Inquisitorial Retinue - Ministorum Priests

My retinue was planning on having at least 2 melee oriented squads. One was the big sharp beatstick Ordo Malleus Inquisitor+Death Cult Assassins in a Land Raider deathstar unit. The other is supposed to be a bunch of cheap acolytes (las pistols and chainswords) backed by an Ordo Hereticus Inquisitor. So I needed another Ministorum Priest. These priests excel when put with melee oriented henchmen warbands. Otherwise they are just ok and situational in ranged squads.

You may recognize the one on the left as Father Trubald from this post, the other one is Cantor Hammerfast. A loud and commanding individual, who sings the Emperor's Hymns through his shoulder speaker so they can be heard over the din of battle. His great hammer is his tool in smiting the emperor's foes.

The conversion used the legs of the Greatcoat Troopers, the torso of an old Warzone mini, and big beefy Catachan arms to carry the large hymnal (from the Empire Battle Wizards) and the great hammer (from Dwarf Hammerers). The noggin is of course a screaming head from the Empire Flagellants. An excellent source of fanatical screaming heads.

Storm Trooper Boltguns (How I did it)

Last post I featured some storm troopers I made from the Tempestus Scions kit. While I could run Inquisitorial acolytes with hot-shot lasguns, I find giving them boltguns instead is a cheaper and even better option. However, putting boltguns (especially space marine boltguns, being the most common) on scion models doesn't always look right. They are oversised and the left hands are part of the lasgun bit. I found a simpler solution and it starts with using the stock of the hot-shot lasgun.

For starters cut off the parts that look too lasgun-y.

The red lines show where to cut. Note on this bit, there is a thumb from the left hand on the barrel. Make sure to cut around that.

The next part is optional. The canister in the back could be seen as an extension to the stock, but I think it looks more like a boltgun without it.

This required a little creative shaving to remove it from the stock and forearm.

With the old lasgun stock prepared, we move onto a real boltgun.

This is a spare boltgun from an old Tactical Squad kit. Some have hands already on the underside and grip, but the good thing about this conversion is you only need a few parts of this bit.

Cut along the parts shown in red. This will yield some really small bits so be sure to keep track of them.

The only parts we need from this bit are the magazine, muzzle, and pin that goes under the muzzle. This old boltgun stock can be reused. I have made it into a space marine shotgun of sorts for a friend who needed one for his scouts.

Now going back to the lasgun stock, attach the magazine below where the cable clip was.

After the muzzle and pin are added to the front of the stock, you now have a normal human sized boltgun with a cool scope on top.

It still fits in the scion arms. Pictured is one of the rest of the acolytes I made for my inquisitorial retinue. More on them later. Don't forget to drill out the muzzle once the glue is dried. I did that after taking this picture.

Grand Inquisitorial Retinue - Storm Troopers

The backbone of an inquisitorial army are the acolytes. The many recruits and footmen who serve as the bodyguards and warriors of the inquisitors. They are versatile and can be kitted out to pretty much any role. They are a cheap unit filler which serve as special weapons, ablative wounds, and a huge bargain for what you get out of them.

Here I have the Inquisitorial Storm Troopers. The idea is they have been recruited right out of Schola Progrenium. Instead of the standard issue weapons they usually carry, the inquisitor has given them ones more appropriate to the tasks of their lord's wishes.

First their usual Hot-shot Lasguns have been replaced with boltguns. The inquisitors favor the range and stopping power of these signature weapons. Bolt rounds are more freely available to the inquisition than the Militarum Tempestus. The breakdown for their cost is an Acolyte+Carapace Armour+Boltgun=9 points each. I have a sergeant-like model for each unit that will also be wielding a Melta Bomb for 5 points. The guy in the front with the beret has one at his back. The conversion is still the basic Tempestus Scion, but I found a creative way of converting their lasguns into boltguns. I will do a small tutorial on how I did that later.

In units of acolytes, up to 3 can replace their common weapon with a special weapon. Part of the theme of my army is Plasma Spam! These 3 Inquisitorial Storm Troopers will be of the many wielding the potent and dangerous weapon. Acolyte+Carapace Armour+Plasma Gun=18 points each.

These are my 3 Afriel Strain subjects in my army. I read about the Afriel Strain a while back and knew I had to include them somehow in my grand retinue. While not technically storm troopers, they use a lot of the same parts, mixed with Catachans. I love the look of the exposed arms and gruff 80's-action-hero heads. I look forward to painting these. Acolyte+Carapace Armour+Meltagun=18 points each.

Grand Inquisitorial Retinue - Servo Skulls

One of the coolest pieces of wargear an inquisitor can take are the servo skulls. Not only are they really cool in concept and looks, they have a very functional battlefield role. These things are put on the table after deployment zones are determined but before any models are deployed. Enemy infiltrators can not deploy within 12" of one, and enemy scouts cannot take their scout moves to within 12" of one. Also your blasts that drop within 12" of one, scatter 1d6 less.

The best part is since I am taking 3 inquisitors, and each inquisitor can take 3 skulls each. This gives you a total of 9 skulls. You'd be surprised about the amount of coverage you can get with 9 skulls on a 6'x4' table.

At the time of mocking these, my list only included 8 skulls.

You can essentially shut down some armies' strategies and edges that rely on scouting and infiltration for cheap.

Servo skulls come in a lot of different kits. These ones are from Space Marine Devastators, Tempestus Scions, Grey Knight Paladins, and the Cadian Command Squad.

Grand Inquisitorial Retinue - Death Cult Assassins (The Sisters of Slaughter)

One of the big units in my army is 9 Death Cult Assassins backed by a Ministorum Priest and my Ordo Malleus Inquisitor in terminator armour (more on him in a later post), all hopping out of a land raider.

These girls rock.

The fact they all have power swords and attack at initiative 6 with a weapon skill of 5 and strength of 4 makes them something to be feared even by Terminators. The priest praising hymns to the emperor makes them even more deadly. I could go on what makes these girls so awesome on the tabletop.

So I was able to build 9 of them from some bits I ordered. I think they turned out great. I followed pretty much the same formula for the first 2 I made in a previous post.

Grand Inquisitorial Retinue - Crusaders

Next members of my retinue are the Crusaders.

Crusaders are elites of a secret ecclesiarchal order called the Cardinals Crimson. They are a rare few who wield Storm Shields outside of the Space Marine Terminators. Their role is protection, and they will be protecting one of my Inquisitors. Which one that will be is up to playtesting.

You may recognize the one on the right as being Hagar the Devout. The one of the left is new. Thaddeus the Pure uses about the same parts as Hagar, with the exception to the new cloak. I was particularly proud of the way this one flows around his torso. It is from the Cadre Fireblade plastic kit. The sword is also a standard power sword from the Tempestus Scions kit. It's too late for me to keep Hagar as wysiwyg, but I can at least do it for Thaddeus.

Grand Inquisitorial Retinue - Servitors w/ Plasma Cannons

As I said in a previous post, I plan on making a full Inquisition army. That's 1850 points using 2 Inquisitorial detachments. I think the inquisition army has a lot of strengths, but it would also have a lot of weaknesses. It is true that when reading through the codex, it doesn't seem 'complete', and whatever it is lacking is meant to be filled in with allies, or a main army it's allying with.

My goal with this army is to take it to a grand tournament, and prove they can hold their own... pretty well. This series of posts will outline the different units in my Grand Inquisitorial Army, and my progress for the upcoming tournament, as well as playtesting results.

First are 3 servitors with plasma cannons.

These 3 servitors are cheap for what they bring, but when not grouped with an Inquisitor they have a chance of succumbing to mindlock and freezing the entire unit. But for 20 pts each, they pack quite a punch, toting a plasma cannon, instead of just the regular infantry plasma gun.

The conversion was inspired by something similar I saw on the internet. The legs are made from the Sentinel kit's chainsaw arm. The plasma cannon is from the Leman Russ tank kits. The camera top is a battlesuit target lock. The back unit is from Grey Knights, and the side cabling is from Tempestus Scion cables used for the hot-shot lasguns.