Saturday, March 28, 2015

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.

Monday, March 23, 2015

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.

Sunday, March 15, 2015

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.

Saturday, March 7, 2015

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.