I'm back, it has been a while, and quite a dry spell for anything gaming for me, but times change and I'm hoping to make a dent in the pile of bare plastic and resin I have piled up.
To that end, here is one of the things I've been working on over the last couple of days.

I bought a Sicaran tank used at the Titan Games flea market a couple of weeks ago. I stripped it, straightened the warped barrels, and puttied a couple of the gaps that needed it.

I wanted to paint it with a lot of gold, got started and then didn't like the way it was turning out, when I showed it to the Chaplain he agreed, so I scrapped what I had done, stripped it again, and tried what he suggested, and I like it so far.  I was inspired by the image of the White Scars Land Raider on the Games Workshop poster from years ago.

I have a few runs to clean up where the paint got under the masking tape and some areas of over spray, but all in all I think it is coming along pretty well.  Next will be some detail work, adding some extra bits and gear, and then some damage and weathering, but that will be another post.
I hope you all will get inspired to work on your own projects, even if you only work on a little bit each day it starts to add up.

Todays Progress on Kor'Sarro Khan riding his bike Moondrakkan

Front of Moondrakkan with Kor'Sarro Khan

I made some more progress today on Kor'Sarro Khan, Moondrakkan and Moonfang.  I popped off all of the winged skulls on the tires, both front and rear, cleaned up the oddballs and tried to reset them all evenly, as tire tread should be.










I took out a tiny drill bit and added vents where they were missing on the Multimelta barrel exhausts on both sides, and I still need to clean that up a bit.

Left side of Kor'Sarro Khan on his bike Moondrakkan

I added the little skulls from on top of the antennae on the marine bike sprues to the ends of the handlebars.  And I can see I forgot to push him all the way down in the saddle so he's holding on, my mistake.

Kor'Sarro Khan on his bike Moondrakkan

And the view from the rear, a good shot of the tire and his cloak, and if you look closely you can see the saddle back I added back on the bike with some green stuff as the original is now long gone.

Rear tire

 In this shot and the next you can see some of the work I did on Moonfang.  I tried to clean up where I had drilled poorly and the pin is exposed on the sword.  I 'sharpened' the blade, making the metal and plastic transition as smooth as I could so hopefully after paint it will be unnoticeable.  Also I filed the remnants of the hand off the hilt and did the wire wrapping.  I didn't think I could sculpt a texture into the hilt of Moonfang and on the right side handlebar of Moondrakkan, as they are both exposed so I got some wire that was really tiny and wrapped it on.  Also you can see the exhaust pipes I added more vents to...

Kor'Sarro Khan on his bike Moondrakkan with Moonfang

Wire wrapping for texture

 




 Also I put green stuff on the base and tracked the tire across, leaving the print of the front tire in the still soft putty.  I hope you can see it in the pics, it may be too hard without paint.

All in all not bad for today's progress, I hope you enjoy it, and maybe give you some ideas for your own versions.

Kor'Sarro Khan riding on Moondrakkan

  Here are some pics of my current Work-In-Progress Kor'Sarro Khan riding on Moondrakkan.

Kor'Sarro Khan with Moonfang riding Moondrakkan right side

Kor'Sarro Khan with Moonfang riding Moondrakkan left side

 I wanted to make my own version of Moondrakkan, since Games Workshop didn't seem like they were in any hurry to put one out of their own.  There were a lot of very nice characters on bikes out there to find pictures of on the internet, but none that I saw and really liked. First off, It's named Moondrakkan, for crying out loud, so my best guess is the 4th Master of the Hunt chopped the head off some great beast and said, "I'm so proud of chopping this things head off that I'm keeping this Mutha!...Artificers! Put this on my new bike!" In my imagination, it needed to be more ornate than a normal bike, and it should at least in part pay homage to the original Bikes from the early days of 40K when I started playing.  It can run in the shooting phase, which to me means it is more of a hot rod than a normal bike, so it would be wider and longer and the engine has more power than a normal bike. I tried to build all that in when I was working on it and as the idea fleshed out.  I'm sorry that some of these pics suck, but you'll get the idea. I started with the bike, a toy dragon and some Kneadatite Green Stuff.

Moondragon Mk1

It looked ok, but then I realized it had no bolters, so off came the front fender...

Moondragon Mk2

...and I added the bolters from an old school Rhino tank.  On the original OOP lead 40k bikes the bolters were mounted on the front wheel, on the current plastic bike they are up high at the handlebars, so I went in between, just under the head.  Since I had ripped the front forks off with the fender, I was attempting to replace them with sprue and tube, so I drilled holes and set bits of wire in, but then, I scrapped that idea entirely for pieces from a Necromunda bulkhead. I added the clipped off and shaved down power blade things from a Chaos biker to the front end and added some horns made of Green Stuff. And there it sat for months, untouched, unloved and abandoned.  I had run out of ideas.

Vroom-Vroom!

   A week ago I ripped it all apart, starting again with a relatively clean bike (it had the back end wrecked). I split it back apart and added plasticard down the middle to widen it slightly and added the bigger tire on the rear that the Chaplain gave me, I saw online where someone made a "Steppenwolf" Akira style bike and I really liked the look of using the top hatches off the old Rhino tank kit as armored plating for the back wheel so I did that too. I added another set of pipes from the engine to the back and changed the exhaust from the standard to MultiMelta barrels, so instead of two on each side it has three, and turned them up slightly for a sportier look.  Later I drilled out the plastic axle and inset the little axle hubs from the biker sprue on both sides.

OH! Think of the speeding tickets!






   I found a chaos backpack reactor that looked a bit like a supercharger intake so I cut that off and mated it on the front end of the engine, Green Stuffing it in.  I set magnets in Kor'Sarro's feet and in the armored plate on the bottom, and also in the front of the bike and the head/front end as well.


 I rebuilt the back end and fender with Green Stuff, plasticard and parts from a model airplane kit. I sawed a MultiMelta in half down the middle and glued that to the bottom to cover the gap between the now widened armored plate and the rear wheel.

Moondrakkan bottom view

Really Bad and Fuzzy Pic of the front end Moondrakkan

  The current Land Raider has an Aquila every so often in the tread and taking another nod to the original bike, which has studs down the middle of the tire, I tried to sculpt Aquila's for the tread pattern.  I failed.  Then I saw all the Marine Sgt. banner poles in my bits box and got an idea.  I sawed one in half down the middle giving me two pretty little winged skulls which I glued to the tire to make the new tread.
The idea for the fangs I got from a combination of the Predator movies and the scary Mammoth things from Lord of the Rings.  I debated building my own Kor'Sarro out of parts, but eventually I caved in and bought Kor'Sarro from the local Bunker.  Man, I was disappointed in the quality of the model. Both feet and the left leg and shoulder had quite a bit of bubbles on the surface and the sword is so plain it doesn't look like anything you would picture in your imagination when someone tells you that the sword is named Moonfang. His left shoulder pad had to be replaced with a look alike from the Space Marine Commander box. I chopped him all up, and repositioned him on the bike, gave him a Green Stuff fur cape and got his back banner pole together last night using the picture in the codex as my guide. As for Moonfang, I was going to use a cobbled together Mephiston sword, but the Chaplain again came to my rescue and  gave me a two handed Blood Angel Relic blade that I modified leaving the repositioned right arm. I wanted to mate up the hilt of the Blood Angel Relic blade to the blade from Mephiston's sword just after the power weapon leads.  Usually I am really good at drilling and pinning things by hand, but this time I drilled crooked for my pilot hole and the drill bit walked out on the wrong side.  You can see the pin as it is exposed on the surface in the top pic.  The Blood drop I shaved off and replaced with a Green Stuff lightning bolt.  In the end it is very similar to the one in the picture in the codex.  It's not the same, but my version of the blade has that crescent shape which to me feels more like a 'Moonfang' than the one from the Finecast model.

How to win at 40k

In order to accomplish your goal of being a victorious player you have to decide the kind of play style that you like and are comfortable with.  Are you a charge across the field and beat face or are you shooty or stealthy.  Once you figure out your style then pick an army that complements that style.  I play space marines.  They are resilient, versatile, and reliable. Space Marines are good at everything,  where most other armies are great at one thing.
    Next, how to build an list.  What you put in your list is not important if you don't have an battle plan in mind.  Or don't know how to use the list.  If you put the best squads from your codex and they don't gel with the list theme, they will die and you will lose.  Do you know the objective/ mission?  Do you know the army you will face?  Are you playing in a comp tournament? These questions will steer the list in an advantage for you.  The best thing you can do is build a list that is good against all comers.  I like to take lots of troops.  I avoid expensive vehicles. If I take an Land Raider, what would I do if it dies on turn 1.  Cry! And maybe lose the game.  Any vehicle that expensive is going to be an target.   I like to keep my vehicles cheep. Remember,  it only takes one shot to destroy a vehicle.  So, expect vehicles to get destroyed.  I lost 5 vehicles (land raider crusader, vindicator, and 3 rhinos)  in one round of shooting during a tournament on turn 3.  That was over 550 points in 5 shots.  If you plan on fielding big squads, just remember they are cumbersome and are often a large blast magnet.  But because of their size you have a better chance of holding an objective or making it to your opponents line. Try to have a theme that flows and also has that unit that compliments your style and delivers an hammer blow.  Currently the sternguard are my choice.  
   Deployment: Regardless of your list if you deploy badly your  goal of victory just got harder.  Simple things like, placing your heavy weapons so they don't need to be moved, putting an hq In a squad,  and don't deploy in the open, are often forgotten when the thrill of playing a game hits.  Take a step back.  Look over the table.  I personally don't like reserving my entire army.  The thought of giving my opponent the advantage of facing only small portions of my army against the whole of theirs is suicide.  Two or three units maybe.  Can your battle plan make reserves useful?  Yes!  Using Drop pods help because you instantly get half, rounded up, first turn. Other armies have similar first turn deep strike potential.  If you got first turn and plan to sit back, choose the deployment zone with more cover in it.  If charging forward choose the one that provides the best line of sight blocking along the way.  If you didn't get to choose, you have to deploy in a way to counter what your opponent did.  I like to refuse flank and deploy to the weaker side of my opponents force.  Making almost half of their army useless until they move into a better position.  So now, I have my whole army only facing about half of theirs.  When I deploy first, I like to place my big guns in the center of my line.  This causes my opponent to split their army and maximizes the usefulness of the big guns.  Deployment is key.  Figure out what works for you and your play style.  
    Play your list alot.  The better you know your list the easier it becomes to know their strengths and avoid it's weaknesses.  If an unit doesn't perform well once, don't swap it out yet.  Give it a couple of games.
       Being a winning 40k player dosen't happen over night.  Keep at it.  And the w's will start to come your way.

How to kill storm shield spam

I am getting ready for a tournament at the end of April. It is a doubles tournament. I am concerned that I will face lots of storm shields. So, I need to create a 1250pts list that 1:works to my play style, 2:is competitive, and 3:compliments my teammate. To deal with terminator armor I need ap 2 or better and lots of it. I came up with a pretty lethal combination that could cripple a 10 man th/ss terminator squad. First start with an epistolary librarian with smite and null zone. Next take a ten man sternguard squad with 2 plasma guns and 8 combi plasma with rhino. Keep the librarian in another squad in a transport that keeps close to the sternguard. Once with in range of the terminators, cast null zone, which causes a re-roll on all successful invulnerable saves. Then jump the sternguard out of their rhino and rapid fire those plasma. I rolled this scenario out many times and I killed an average of 8 ss terminators. This is an one hit wonder squad unfortunately. They more than likely will die being so close to the enemy. Having good supporting units could prolong their life. A vindicator, mass bolter shots, etc... So far, space marines are the only codex I could think of that modifies or causes a re-roll of a invulnerable save. I don't have all of codexes so my knowledge is limited of other armies. How do you deal with the current meta of th/ss terminator spam?

Chaplain Centuris

Miyamoto Musashi and 40k

The Book of Five Rings by Miyamoto Musashi. If you haven't read this yet, you must put it on your next to read list. Once you are finished, read it again, and I am not kidding, you will have a greater understanding of his meanings on the second read through.
I'm going to quote directly from Chapter 1, THE GROUND BOOK;
"Strategy is the craft of the warrior. Commanders must enact the craft,
and troopers should know this Way. There is no warrior in the world
today who really understands the Way of Strategy."
On it's surface it seems pretty straight forward right?... until you realize that what he refers to as 'Strategy' is actually a fight... and when I say a fight, I mean with swords and to the death. And this guy knew a ton about his craft having faced and cut down around 60 guys in 'comparisons of strategy'.
Here is another quote, "As I will explain in the second book, the Water Book, there is no fast way of wielding the long sword. The long sword should be wielded broadly and the companion sword closely." Here he is explaining his reason or method for wielding two swords where most of the duelists of the time only used the long sword. Another way of looking at this is use *ALL* your weapons and when you use them, use them for what they are meant to do. The long sword is long and is best when used farther from you, and the short sword is best when up close and personal. If you are using your short sword as far as you can swing it, and your opponent is using his long sword, you have already lost as your opponent can strike you before you get into range. Run this through a 40k filter and you get, use your units on the battlefield for what they are good at and you will get the best from them. I have compared 40k to the greatest version of Paper, Scissors, Rock I have ever played. Paper beats Rock, but Scissors beat Paper and Rock beats Scissors.
Devastators out shoot everyone else at long range, Tactical wins at middle ranges and Assault wins up close fights. Use *ALL* your weapons (your units) for what they are good at and you will get the best you can from them. Expect a unit to shoot like a Devastator squad, hold their ground like Tactical and assault like an Assault squad and they will fail you.
Every time.

More later...
-Khan
Miyamoto Musashi (c.1584–June 13 (Japanese calendar: May 19), 1645),
also known as Shinmen Takezō, Miyamoto Bennosuke, or by his
Buddhist name Niten Dōraku was a famous Japanese samurai, and is
considered by many to have been one of the most skilled swordsmen in
history. Musashi, as he is often simply known, became legendary
through his outstanding swordsmanship in numerous duels, even from a
very young age. He is the founder of the Hyōhō Niten Ichi-ryū or Nitenryū
style of swordsmanship and the author of The Book of Five Rings, a
book on strategy, tactics, and philosophy that is still studied today.

kill points or victory points

I understand GW is trying to simplify the game.  But, when you are playing in a tournament and you draw a Deathwing army with only 8 kill points and you have 23, you are screwed.  This very thing happened to me.  My opponent only had to kill 9 things to guarantee victory.  Unless I tabled him.  I almost did.  At the end of the game he only had a librarian terminator with one wound left.  I knew what I was getting into with my list.  I expected most of the field to have similar kill points amounts.  If it was victory points I would of had a massacre.  Yes, he killed half of my army but I almost tabled him.  Some tournaments have gone to victory points.  Others use multiple mission objectives.  Which way is right or fair?  That my friends depends on the person playing the game.  If you wanted it 100% even and fair then for every model you kill, you get the points.  IE: kill an Ultramarine space marine and get 16 points.  But some of us are not good at math. And would need an hour to add up what got killed.  I had an idea on how to modify the kill points system.  When you wipe out a unit, you get 1 plus the hundreds value of the unit.  For example, If I wipe out a ten man tactical squad worth 170 points, I would get 2 kill points. 1+1+2.  Or if I took down an ten man Terminator Squad worth 400 points I would get 5 kill points. 4+1=5. A single land speeder(50 points, has no hundreds place) would earn only 1 kill point because 0+1=1.  It still penalizes the many small unit (MSU) armies because of the plus 1.  This is only in theory and I plan to keep a running tally of the win loss difference between regular kill points and my modified kill points.  Or kill points 2.0.