Badab War!

As per my teaser from the last post, I am starting on a new project within our game group. The Warhammer 40,000 bug has bitten a few of our club and we talked a lot about the old days of gaming. Inevitably, the old Mk VI beakie marines came up and the old plastic models that were the gateway drug into Warhammer 40,000 all those years ago. Who could forget that iconic art on the box? It's how I got into gaming.

In fits of nostalgia over the years, I have long wanted GW to release updated versions of those old plastic marines. Alas, even on their 25th anniversary, they didn't put out the box set I had always hoped for and felt was perfect for the occasion: 20 plastic Mk VI beakie marines in a box with updated models. They should have listened to me, they would have sold like hot cakes! (what the hell do I know, right?).

But! All was not lost. When I picked up the new Tactical Squad box this past year, I noticed it had four pairs of Mk VI legs, two Mk VI chests (with the iconic chest cables), and two beakie Mk VI helmets. Now, here was something I could work with. Those few bits weren't enough to do whole squads, but they were a start. I began scouring the net, Bitz sites, eBay, and swapping with friends to acquire the parts to do some fully geared Mk VI Marines with the latest model parts. I also found out about many other Space Marine kits that have Mk VI parts (such as the kneeling legs) that will allow for more variety and to really do the project justice. I call it old school/new parts.

So, what am I using it for? The Badab War of course. As outlined and illustrated in one of my favorite GW books of all time (The Compendium), the Badab War was a civil war between several secessionist and loyalist Space Marine chapters. My favorite had always been the Mantis Warriors. I loved the colors and the chapter badge. After painting (badly) Crimson Fists and some Flesh Eaters with my first box of plastic marines, I finally settled on a complete force of Mantis Warriors. Tactical squads, Assault marines, Dreadnought, Devastators, librarians, techmarines, you name it, my force had it.

The cover.

One of my favorite illustrations from the old days.

Mantis Warriors. When Space Marines wore camo...

I've always wanted to recreate that force using the latest GW models. Now I can.

I also really like the idea of pitting marine against marine, brother against brother, with both sides uncorrupted by chaos (except the Astral Claws later on). I can't wait to build and paint these models and game this conflict. Several friends are doing forces as well including the Lamenters, Space Sharks (sorry, Carcharodons), Nova Marines, maybe Salamanders...this is going to be fun.

I might also do some Fire Hawks as well...

I've always loved the helmet markings.

The icon is hand painted, but I want to print my own decals to save time.

Army Group York

Hello again. Now that I have a better phone and camera and all my photos are linked to my Google account, it has been much easier to update the blog with photos from my games and projects. Here I thought I would share some pics of our game club. Army Group York began meeting around 2000 when Chalfant of Miniatures of Wrath fame and I got together to play games of WWII. This is how Iron Ivan Games and the Disposable Heroes system was born. Also out of that came a game club that has been gaming together non stop since then. We have had many members over the years, but the core group of about a half dozen of us have been there all along. We still mainly play historical games, and as per tradition, on Monday evenings. However, now we do it in style! We began our club in the back of the Comic Store West in York, PA. It served us (read: put up with us) for many years, but it was time to move into our own space and get serious.

Thus, the new home was born. We have a wetbar, mini fridge, basement with full storage, 4 gaming tables, deer heads mounted on walls, bookshelves, leather chairs, a bathroom, good lighting, and weapons and militaria adorning the walls, all in an 1840s warehouse in downtown York.

Holy crap, when I type it out like that I can't hardly believe it...

It has been an awesome time gaming here. And here's to many more years with a great group of friends.

Cheers!

Here are some pics. More to come when I take them.

The little corporal oversees our games.

The deer heads which must be saluted upon arrival.

Gaming space.

A game in action and the shelves.

Our last mini convention with a game of Battletech in progress.

A glass of port with your game? Of course.

A light selection of beverages.

Typical Monday night.

Some WWII action.

Poland 1939 and the bar.

Wild gestures during a naval game.

We renovated the place ourselves (mostly).

Copper bar.

Sink going in.

Ceiling.

Working on installing the ceiling tiles was fun...

Paneling.

The outside.

Descent Back Into Madness...

It has been entirely too long since my last blog post. I partly blame Facebook. It has distracted me from posting here due to the ease of posting to various groups I belong to (such as my gaming club) over there. Much of the posting I do on my phone. I apologize for the delay, and I do hope to get back to posting here more regularly. I got a new phone yesterday with a much better camera, so the quality of the photos should improve, if not the quality of their editing.

I have been quiet here, but I have been very busy the past year. Namely, as per the title of this post...I have delved back into a madness of sorts: Warhammer 40,000! I mentioned this in a previous post, but I have spent a lot of time since then painting miniatures and building terrain. I have thoroughly enjoyed this descent into madness and it has kindled anew my love of all things miniatures and wargaming and given me a new sense of enthusiasm that had admittedly been waning in the past year. Not that I don't paint or game historicals mind you. It's just that I have so many historical projects completed that I have not felt much drive to tackle anything new except to finish up a few older projects here and there.

Now, while I may have been delving back into 40k, I have not been using their rules. Myself and a few other friends of mine have been having WAY too much fun using a modified form of Disposable Heroes and Disposable Heroes: Point Blank to play with our 40k forces. It has been a blast. One of the best scenarios we played was the rescue of a downed governor and retinue at a crash site of an Imperial Aquila lander. Beset on all sides by Orks, the Imperial Guardsmen who rushed to the rescue had to survive long enough for Crimson Fists scouts to arrive and set up a teleport homing beacon to port them out. it was a very tense and fun game (pics to follow). It was a lot like a Black Hawk Down of the 41st millenium.

So what have I been painting? ORKS! A bunch of them. And some Marines...and Steel Legion...well, you get the idea.

Here are some pics of my completed forces so far and a teaser for a future project that is very very old.

On to the show:

The Warboss and his Boyz.

Shoota' mob #1

Burna' mob

Slugga' and Choppa' mob

I went old school and added back plates to all my Orks.

Da Warbosses Tribe, the Grimskulls.

The Nobz retinue. More backplates.

These Orks represent the Grimskull tribe of the Deathskulls clan under the WAAAGH of Snagrod the Arch Arsonist of Charadon. I attempted to add in the style and flavor of the old GW Orks as drawn by Paul Bonner in the 80s and 90s. This includes adding one of my favorite elements of the old Ork identity: backplates! These plates showed the Ork's tribal emblem and was his main form of identity and source of pride. A warboss showed his power and might by how many backplates he had on his bosspole, therefore showing how many tribes he had under his command. I plan to make a nob carrying the bosspole festooned with looted gear, trophies, and backplates of the tribes in the warband. I have also enjoyed recreating the color scheme of the old Ork warband I had when I first got into 40k. My warboss back then had a heavy flamer and a personal teleporter I used to love using in second edition with the wargear cards. I might have to try to convert a model of that as well.

Up next for the warband is a group of 3 mega armored nobs, more killa kans, and more boys. I want to add one of the new Gorkanaughts and a Dreadnaught. That will require some scrounging of teef though...

Enough about the boys. How about some Imperial stuff?

Forgeworld mk VI Beakie marines as Crimson Fists

I used these to play the old "Battle at the Farm" scenario from Rogue Trader

Scouts

Silver Skulls because...why not?

Steel Legion.

Some Imperial personalities. The Astropath, Governor, Confessor, etc. 

And...a Blood Raven for when I do some current fluff Marines.

As promised, here are some pics of the rescue the governor game:

The crashed Aquila.

Local Imperial Guardsmen arrive to secure the crash site.

The Orks begin arriving in force.

Guardsmen about to be overrun...but, they actually manage to fight off this wave!

Close combat. An axe to the face followed by a missile to the gut...

The scouts arrive just in time.

More Orks pour in...

WAAAGGH!

Sorry for the quality of those pics, they were taken on my old phone.

Below is a sneak peak of the big project I hope to complete this year...this is taking it back old school to one of my favorite armies from one of my favorite periods of the 40k timeline. Bonus points if you know the chapter and the war. It was the first full army of Marines I painted when I got into 40k.

And that's all for now. I will post more as these projects unfold. Thanks for stopping by!