Deathwatch Session 1: tau, spores and the unknown!

Yesterday I got my first taste of RPG'ing in any form since about grade eight! I have been pretty excited to try out the Deathwatch RPG from Fantasy Flight Games.  Who doesn't want to be a Space Marine!  The group was Jason (playing a Blood Angel assault marine, Sepheren) Lorand (playing an Imperial Fist tactical marine, Alexander), Matt (playing a Space Wolf long fang, Baldur) and myself (playing a Flesh Tearer apothecary, Marius - thanks to my fiance for the vampire name to "borrow") and Mike acted as GM.

Marius - Flesh Tearers Apothecary

To start off with, we're playing pretty fast and loose with the rules.  At least to begin with it's easier than trying to apply that whole huge rulebook from the start.  We're all previous GW employees so our GM (Mike of shiftedmatrix) was pretty comfortable avoiding things like demeanours, since Matt knew how to act like a Space Wolf, etc. (aka  Awwooooooooooo) We had 60 points of Requisition (to get equipment) which was spent on a chain-axe for me, heavy bolter suspensors for Matty, an auspex for Lorand (became a running joke all day long) and some special bolter rounds.

The background for this mission was a previous uninhabitable death world "Taros" on the fringe of Imperial space has suddenly spurted life in terms of some heavy vegetation and other life signs being detected through long range scans.  We've been charged with a recon mission to determine what is occurring on this planet.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
+ + + + + + + + | INTERCEPTED MESSAGE FROM TAROS | + + + + + + + +
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

************************************ static ***************** chatter ***********
***** crackle ************* static *************** for the greater good ****

We were dropped for deep strike in a land speeder by Techmarine Aros (one of Mikes old characters) from a Storm Raven gunship and flew in towards the solitary radar ping we'd managed to pick up.  Pretty quickly Baldur was able to smell blood and we found some near mutilated cattle like animals.

So after landing several hundred metres away from the blip we track in on foot to find a tower with a radar dish on top (we actually knew it was a tower before entering the clearing thanks to a slip of the tongue by Mike - lol).  Alexander and Sepheren examined the terminal at the base of the tower, but managed to fail their tech-use attempts so badly that they did nothing but set off the alarm and release 4 gun drones!

investigating the tower, attacked by gun drones

Alexander took some damage from one of the drones while Matty took one out, Sepheren took out a couple in melee and I blasted away ineffectually.  During the scrap the radar started turning to point off into the forest so we decided to book it (not directly but generally in that direction) in case we were about to be ambushed but to ensure some confusion was sown Sepheren decided to jet over the tower and drop a krak grenade on the radar equipment.  Recon mission achieved LOL (We began to use the term "RECON'd" from this point to basically mean blow the crap out of it!)  I also tried to heal Alexander and failed spectacularly (calling into question my ability to tell between my chain axe and the narthecium!)

Through the forest Sepheren was alert enough to spot a huge log trap swinging down in time to easily perform some evasive maneuvers and save our asses.  Regardless of Alexander wanting us to all jump out of the flying land speeder to investigate we decided to hang tight until we came upon a small farming village.

We investigated all the buildings, finding more murdered cows and a dead Tau civilian, finally in the final building we found a power generator which when turned on powered up a computer system of some sort.  Alexander had more luck with this version, finding a projected path for something to land nearby and an actual path along with a countdown showing somewhere between several hours and perhaps up to two days before the object landed.

I'm throwing the map in here to break up all the text.  We landed near the X with the red circle, we almost got ambushed at the small x between there and the red square (the village we investigated) near the circular "danger" area (where we get ambushed!)

map of the newly vegetated area of Taros

When we tried to make our way back to the land speeder, a Tau piranha flew some warning "strafing" runs between us and the speeder.  Alexander tried to take out the engine and only succeeded in convincing the gun drones they should disembark.  Sepheren used his jump pack to scamble for cover.  Matty missed the gun drone he fired at completely and I blasted one out of the sky.  Sepheren then managed to jump and land right on the piranha with a threatening krak grenade and force the Tau to land.

We "negotiated" with the Tau, they were pretty insolent and I wanted to just end them, but in the end we followed them to this area they were too scared to investigate (wussys!!) and promised between ourselves we would go back and xeno-cide those rude cow faces!

They led us to the obviously scary dark area (we could have found it, should have shot them!) and took off like the scaredy cows they are!  Being space marines we weren't worried at all and flew in on the land speeder.

We found these green "cloning" sacs in a large patch, many empty but some appearing full. We couldn't tell much from the outside so I blew one open with my bolt pistol so I could investigate.  I was able to determine there was some similarity to Orks in the spores I found.  At that point a giant cross between a troll and an ork crashed into the clearing howling and slammed into the land speeder.  For the first time I had a really high initiative, so once Sepheren had maneuvered the speeder out of the way I charged in.  Throughout this battle we fought three of these "trollorks" - the first I cleaved a huge chunk out of him before Baldur blasted him to bits.  The second got the drop on Alexander and hurt him pretty bad.  Marius kept showing up Sepheren as I had several headshots with my chain axe causing large amounts of damage and dodged all their attacks back while the assault marine was somewhat ineffective.  The final trollork landed on the speeder causing a bunch of damage to it and sending Baldur flying.  After smacking Sepheren a bit, Baldur and Alexander were able to take it down with combined weight of fire.

strange spore sacs, ambushed by crazy troll/ork hybrids

I then managed to heal Alexander completely and Sepheren flew us outta there back to a clearing in the forest.  Our plan was to head back to the Tau settlement we had found but we called the game there due to the Leafs game starting pretty soon and we didn't want to end in the middle of an encounter.

All in all a very satisfying re-introduction to RPG'ing.  Looking forward to our next session!

ps. I called this Session 1 as it was my first time, but the other three characters had played a bit before - so if any of them ever write anything up I'll link to it and call it Session 0 ;-)

a bunch of Flesh Tearers commission updates

Well, even though I haven't had time to post about it - that doesn't mean that Ric hasn't been hard at work!

Three updates have gone by since my last post about the terminators - time to pimp them a bit!  I have just included a single pic, but each "heading" is a link to his full blog post with multiple pics.

Deathwatch Apothecary

powerfist/standard apothecary backpack configuration

This guy comes with four different right arms (so far!); chain axe, hand flamer, infernus pistol, power fist and both a normal apothecary backpack and a jump pack.  This is beneficial both for my Flesh Tearers army and for games of Deathwatch (which we are supposed to do not this weekend or the next but the one after!)

Space Hulk Dead Terminator on Throne objective

I get the feelin Ric was bored this day ;)

For my Space Hulk objectives I mounted them all on square bases.  I also glued a magnet onto the arm of the  throne so the magnet in the cup would allow the cup to stick to this objective.

Completed Assault Squad (with meltaguns!)

now with 2 meltaguns!

The original five were the first things Ric painted, and just had 4 bolt pistol/ccw marines plus the power fist sergeant - now they are ready to blow up a vehicle first and then tear the occupants to shreds! The hazard stripes really make these guys pop!

Huge thanks to Ric!  He has shipped over the deathwatch apothecary so I can use him for RPGs, but the rest he's going to hold off shipping until we have found/purchased and settled in a house!  He plans to work on a Land Raider: Crusader next - looking forward to it!!!

Raptors: Deathwatch Marine... complete (kinda)

Here's some updated pics of my Raptor Legion deathwatch marine.  I had to get him done quickly last week in order to submit him to The Fallen Princes Badab War character competition.  I figured out how I'm going to do the yellow on my first company Raptors (shoulderpad is much more muted and pastel than the bright yellow of second company - first company will have no camo) and as well I think I will update the rest of the Raptors bases with a little more green wash over the swamp scrub as on this mini.  A little water effects or something and I think they will really start to come together.

love how dynamic his pose came out

I say he's "kinda" finished, since in order to enter him to the competition (ps. voting has commenced - vote here! but not for me, the other entries are so much better!) he was supposed to have a combi-flamer w chain blade attachment.  In the end the chain blade was too much, but I did end up magnetizing a hand flamer from the death company sprue to attach to the bottom of his bolter.  I will probably end up magnetizing an infernus pistol and possibly plasma pistol to give him all three options.

good view of all the raven guard bits

You can see I used a bunch of FW raven guard parts.  I'm ok with it as there's lots of similar iconography on my counts as Shrike.  Even for the chapter shoulderpad - I'll just say he's allowed to use personal icons as a mark of honour for being accepted to the deathwatch - although he still has a small shoulder shield to match the camo colours of the rest of my Raptor Legion second company.  The bird skull and backpack really give him some personality.  I'd like to thank Chris @ Crosser Modeling for giving me a vote - his Laufrey is a better choice based on the criteria at minimum (better paint job and weather too!)

Badab War characters competition WIP pt1

Here is a couple quick pics of one of the models I plan to enter in this competition. I originally built this guy just so I could tie my Raptors in with my other chapters. Once I saw the competition details I started to think about modifying him so he could be submitted.  Here he is as originally built, way back in January - but with some partial paint in the same style as the Raptor Legion Chaplain I finished as my first painting point in 2011.

Raptor Legion deathwatch marine

Here you can see I've magnetized a hand flamer from the new death company box to attach to the underside of his bolter so he can count as "Sternguard Sergeant Laufrey". I need to figure out if I really need to add the "chain attachment" or not.  Also got me thinking maybe I should do a melta attachment from an infernus pistol, might as well right?!? ;)

Counts as "Sternguard Sergeant Laufrey"

Raptors: Deathwatch Marine

I built this guy somewhere in Nov/Dec last year.  I had ordered a pack of the fw raven guard upgrade pack even though it was not built for Raptors as I knew I could use the beakies w laurels for my Space Sharks and the old style backpacks for my (planned  ;-) ) Iron Knights.  Since my Shrike has the RG symbol on him too I figure they won't be too out of place and I can just say it's his own personal heraldry.  He does have a little mini shield on the RG shoulderpad with the same symbol as the decal I used on Shrike, which I think I will do in the camo colours and should help tie them together (to top it all the fw bolter has the same symbol.. =O )

As with all my Deathwatch marines he has a banner that attaches with a simple pin.  This guy will actually be very helpful replacing tactical squad sergeants, or beefing up sternguard squads.  To follow suit with the Raptors stuff I already have, I will be painting him using mostly washes.  Since he will be mostly black I will probably start out priming him grey.  My jump pack equipped chaplain I picked up recently will be painted in the same manner.  His chapter shoulderpad is actually going to be yellow with black detail, as all my first company units will get the non-camo Raptors scheme.

A GREAT CAUSE

Another quick post before I head away for the weekend, I waited a bit before posting so I can say my donation is in (payday was thursday) I may still donate more depending on my finances before the drawing.  The earlier you donate the better as they are having tons of mini-raffles for other great loot!

Wanted to promote the Storm Wardens - Collaborative Army Build Charity Drawing. What a brilliant idea this is, these guys are going to make a certain individual very happy and in the process raise a ton of funds to donate to Doctors without Borders.

The basic premise is a 40K Space Marine army (Storm Wardens chapter from forthcoming Deathwatch RPG by fantasy flight games) built and painted by the pillars of the 40K blogosphere (santa cruz warhammer, from the warp, dave taylor, wynn studios, jawaballs, secret weapon miniatures, mik's minis)

Each dollar donated gets you a "raffle ticket" for when they give away the army. ALL proceeds are going to be donated. Can't lose with this one folks - donate today!

Space Sharks painted - tabletop quality (+17pp)

Well I've finally gotten these guys to tabletop quality, there's still some details and stuff I should pick out, but as this was the first run and it took longer than usual while I sorted out colour schemes, etc. I need a break. I'll probably do the touch ups for these guys when I paint more Space Sharks stuff. Currently my thoughts are to paint a unit of Orcs for the Lo2G at Two Headed Dragon, and then I'm tempted to paint up my Raptors assault marines, since I've completed the test mini using just washes over a white basecoat and it looks great.

Here are some pics, sorry for the lower quality.
Captain


Command Squad

Deathwatch Heavy Bolter

Tactical Squad

Novamarines character details

Filled out some of the details on my captain and deathwatch sergeant. Mostly doing up the power swords, but I did fill in some heraldry on banners & cloaks (forgot to take picture of back - shoot!)

Deathwatch marines photos

As promised here are some pics of some other chapters deathwatch marines.

Iron Knights


Mantis Warriors


Salamanders

Crusade Army... more deathwatch marines

Something else I've been working on as I get the bits delivered is the deathwatch marines for other chapters. These have mostly been done to confirm I like the look of the particular bits I've decided will be standard across the chapter (it's worked so well for the Space Sharks, I wanna continue making really unified looking marine chapters)

Up on the dock (these guys are all nearly complete - will get pics up soon);

• Salamanders marine with Flamer. Uses MK4 helmets. This guy has a forgeworld terminator salamanders shoulder pad (which works for deathwatch in power armour) - as well as a custom converted Nocturne pattern flamer. I figure I can always use an extra flamer in a Sallies army. ;) This guy might need a magnet to allow for a jump pack.
• Iron Knights marine with Power Axe. These guys all have MK8 torsos with the collar and will only use MK3 helmets. Additionally they will all have studded shoulder pads and the chapter symbol on a little terminator shield. (I think the pose I managed on this guy is great!)
• Executioners marine with Plasma Gun. I gave the Executioners the plasma gunner as the old Badab War fluff has their bonus unit being 5 marines with 2 plasma guns. He's very basic right now - as I kinda wanted these guys on the edge of heresy, to be used as either loyalist or heretic marines. I need to figure out what extra kit to give him that I can paint in the same camo pattern so he ties in with chapter. Every Executioner model will have the bare torso with skull (ie. no aquilas) and I plan to remove any purity seals on the models.
• Mantis Warrior marine with Sniper Rifle. I was originally going to give this guy just the standard deathwatch bolter - however the old Badab War fluff has the Mantis Warriors getting a squad of marines with sniper rifles. I know they treat the deathwatch bolter as good enough for sniping, but I can't envision a Kill Team without a sniper?? I can always use this guy as a sergeant for a scout squad with sniper rifle (Telion too!), or use as a 'counts as' Vindicare assassin, or build a whole combat squad of marines with sniper rifles just for fluffiness.
  

More Novamarines.. Tactical Squad and Dreadnought

OK, i'm back with some photos/updates.

Some tactical squad shots.. I tried to use model parts to unify these guys. For eg. all the bolters have either a scope if they go in the ranged/heavy combat squad or straps if they go in the close/special combat squad. Have one extra bolter guy and with the deathwatch sergeant could actually take as 2 5 man squads (no special/heavys).

All (aka options)


Close range (flamer + straps) with DW sgt.


Long range (missile launcher + scopes) w AoBR Sgt.


A painted shot of the deathwatch guy. Still to highlight armour and do power sword plus last bit of heraldry.


Plus a couple pics of the dreadnought. I especially like the crushed tree under his left foot.

Crusade Army second chapter - Space Sharks

Next chapter I started work on was the Space Sharks. I have been itching to do up a Space Sharks army for a while now. I always envisioned them like WW flying aces - lots of kill markings, tooth designs on the sides of vehicles, etc. - and who better to carry the deathwatch heavy bolter than a Space Shark?

These guys won't get any paint until I am done painting my Novamarines - however I wanted a very tight look to the models and began ordering bits when i saw them available eg. torsos are only the one's with tubing - SM or CSM, all with MK6 beakies, all with the older mk7 backpack, etc. And then while waiting for the hobby room in our condo to undercoat the Novamarines I figured I might as well put these guys together. Pretty much all plastics so far.

Here's a pic of my heavy bolter armed deathwatch Space Shark.

Beginnings of a Crusade Army - Novamarines

First new army after starting up again.. Planned to make a crusade army based on chapters linked through deathwatch members.

Was originally planning to keep this army small before starting another chapter (small = AoBR only + deathwatch conversion) - however you need 2 troops selections at least, I lucked out and found one tac marine from the old Battle for Macragge set (so I could technically split into two 5 man bolter only squads using the extra + dw vet as a sergeant) but also bought one of each box of scouts (Scout pics coming when finished modeling extra camo cloaks) and a librarian to be able to round out to 1000 points. (Plus the Novamarines fluff mentions variant psykers so had to have one)

Most everything from AoBR is stock so won't bother with pics until painted. I do however have some pics of my deathwatch conversion (the first of many!).





Uses the dw bolter, helmeted head, metal shoulder pad + Asmodai's power sword arm + plastics.