Legions Imperials: The Start

 It’s taken over a year.

 

Legions Imperials came out in October 2023 and I, like so many others, was super excited. Epic 40,000 and Epic Armageddon were two of my favourite games. I also love Aeronautica Imperialis and Adeptitus Titanicus. So, having all these models in one game themed around the Horus Hersey … what wasn’t there to like?

 

Well … I was pretty shocked, when I wrote my first 3,000pt army, with the amount of stuff you could put onto the battlefield. Compared to Epic Armageddon, I’d need close to three times the amount of infantry. With the board size shrunk, I was getting worried that the game play would lose any aspect of strategic movement it once had. Add to this early supply issues and, the first online battle reports not all being overly positive, I decided to complete a few other painting projects along the way.

 

It has therefore taken over a year to get my army into a position where I can field it and play a game. Note I say ‘army into a position’; it’s not all painted yet. This Christmas I set myself, and completed, a project to base all my painted Legions Infantry which had been on sprues for months. Because I paint infantry on the sprue, I can’t use it in a game until painted hence, why it’s taken so long. So, I only have planes and drop pods left which have been built and sprayed so, can be used.

 

Below is my first attempt at a 3,000pt Word Bearer legions army list (I need to get rid of 4pts). As I have 10,000 points of Titans and knights, I am determined to make sure that these are included in my force … hence why my Legion infantry have bases which match my titans and knights. I also feel that my marine army should be hard hitting and lighting quick, hence why lots of flyers

 

Legion Garrison force (546pts)
Infantry command (25pts)
Rapier battery - Quad launcher (40pts)
tarantula battery - 2 lascannon / 2 air defence (36pts)
Tactical detachment (35pts)
Dreadnought talon (70pts)
Deredo Dreadnought (85pts)
3x Xiphon intercept (255pts)

Legion Aerial assault (770pts)
Infantry command (25pts)
Missile launcher - Storm eagle (140pts)
Tactical detachment - Storm eagle (135pts)
Outrider squad (30pts)
Legion Assault (30pts)
Plasma gun support (35pts)
Thunder hawk (150pts)
3x Xiphon intercept (255pts)

Legion Demi company (612pts)
Infantry command - Rhino (35pts)
Tactical detachment - Rhino (45pts)
Tactical detachment - Rhino (45pts)
Terminator detachment (50pts)
2x Raptors (200pts)
Leviathan Dreadnought - 2 drop pods + palisade (121pts)
Talon Dreadnoughts - 2 drop pods+ palisade (116pts)

Legion Skyhunter (226pts)
Scimitar jet bikes (35pts)
Scimitar jet bikes (35pts)
Outrider squad (30pts)
Javelin squad - 2x extra (66pts)
Landspeeders squad - 2x extra (60pts)

Warlord titan (600pts)

Acastus knight (250pts)

Total 3004pts

 

So next up are the planes and drop pods. After this, I have two boxes of land raiders to paint. The idea then is to have a break from painting legions, and paint up my ‘Old World’ Chaos Dwarfs whilst playing lots of legions. I reckon it’ll take me so long to paint up my Chaos Dwarfs that, I would have had lots of games of legions. Those games will allow me to work out exactly what I would want to paint up next for this game within ‘tranche 2’.

 

Toodle Pip!

And with my Eldar fleet finished, that’s Aeronautica Imperials done for me!

It might amaze you when I say that, with Necromunda (old version), 1^st edition of Aeronautica Imperialis (let’s be honest; 2^nd edition is almost the same as 1^st … just has a board so no guess ranges … which I miss) is my favourite Games Workshop game of all time. It’s simple yet, I feel, really captures the aesthetic of aerial combat without getting bogged down. A friend and I have had many an interesting campaign blowing up VIP convoys, transporting troops into a battlefield and reenacting vicious dog fights in the sky.

 

As mentioned in my Tau post above. I owned a huge old 1^st Edition Tau fleet and painted it to a level I was very happy with. The only mistake I made was that this was the only fleet I owned and so, a part from my regular fleet commander (opponent), I was unable to get in games with anyone else as the game was no longer sold by GW and, I didn’t have a spare fleet. Also, when second edition did come along and I could buy another fleet … surprise, surprise the model scale was vastly different.

 

I therefore sold my old Tau fleet which allowed me to purchase a new 2^nd edition Tau fleet AND an Eldar fleet. I made sure that no previous mistakes were made as I made sure both fleets were a very good size. I am pleased to let you all know that now, both are painted.

 

For the Eldar, I decided to go the classic route of siam-hein (red top and white bottom). I used my new airbrush to do most of the red (Two GW reds; Menphiston and Evil Sunz Scarlet red) as I feel Eldar planes lead themselves nicely to airbrushing. For the gems, I went for a green with a dot of white in the top-right corner. Finally, the pilot’s canopy was white with a thin wash of blue. I feel the combination works … okay-ish. Overall, I did enjoy painting this fleet. I love the Eldar aesthetic in all of Games Workshop’s futuristic systems.

 

Below are some images to feat your eyes upon:

 Matt's Eldar Aeronautica Fleet

 

Whole fleet

 

 

 

2x Nightshade Interceptors - these guys seem redicilously fast

2x Helmlock fighters - I know I haven't played much of second edition however, they seem a little broken with their weapons. If I was my opponent, these boys would be 'target number one'.

1x Vampire Hunter

1x Vampire Raider

3x Phoenix Bombers

6x Nightwings

2x Anti-air platforms and a wraithgate

Right, that's me done for AI now. I am back onto my Legions Imperialis army which seems to never end. I really hope I will have a massive update in time for Christmas however, with two young children ... who knows...

Until next time ... toodle pip

My 2nd Tau fleet complete

 For those will little time

 

Please see photos below of my Tau fleet which I managed to paint within 2 weeks.

 

For those who have a little more time

 

The great thing about paternity leave is that, a new born baby sleeps for most of the day; leaving me time to complete a project.

 

The negative of children is that, it won’t be long before you have no free time at all. I usually like to spend hours on each model I paint, making sure it’s the best I can do. I’ve tried speed painting before and, though the project gets done quickly, a few months later I look at the project, knowing I haven’t done my best, and decide to sell it. This means that, for me, speed painting is usually a waste of time.

 

However … Aeronautical Imperials (1^st edition) is my favourite game of all time but, given the lack of opponents, I only play a minor campaign once or twice a year. I therefore decided to go back to a bit of speed painting as, it just wasn’t worth investing a lot of time and yet, I knew it had to look good.

 

I found a painting technique on YouTube created by Firestorm games. The results looked good and the method was very quick. I got all the necessary equipment prior to the birth of my second child, built my fleet, and undercoated it.

 

This is the second Tau fleet I have painted. The first was the Forge World models which I sold for enough money to buy 2^nd edition Tau and Eldar fleets plus have some money spare. I made a terrible mistake when collecting Aeronautica 1^st edition; I only bought one fleet therefore, difficult for people to play against me. Now with the 2^nd edition models, this issue has been rectified.

 

I had two weeks to complete the below. It took me (painting a couple of hours a day) 2 weeks and a half. Not bad I thought. Below is a list of my complete fleet plus points:

 

Aeronautica Imperialis (1^st edition)

 

12x Barracudas 216pts

2x Tiger Sharks AX 1-0 32pts

1x Tiger Shark AX2-2 12pts

2x Remora Drones 24pts

1x Tiger Shark 20pts

Total 304pts without any additional weapons, pilot rating or upgrades

 

Aeronautica Imperialis (2^nd edition)

 

2x Remora drones 28pts

1x Tiger Shark AX1-0 with Heavy Rail Cannon and additional weapon 31pts

1x Tiger Share AX1-0 with Heavy plasma Accelerators and additional weapon 33pts

1x Tiger Shark AX1-0-2 with Swiftstrike railgun and additional weapon 27pts

1x Tiger shark AX1-0-2 with Iron Cannon and additional weapon 29pts

4x Barracudas with railguns and additional weapon 100pts

4x Barracudas with burst cannons and additional weapon 116pts

4x Barracudas with iron cannon and additional weapon 104pts

Total 468pts without missiles or other upgrades

Almost 6 years to the day, my Death Guard army are finished ... well mostly

6 whole years. I received my first Death Guard models as a 2017 Christmas present, so that I could play Warhammer 40,000 8th edition. Little did I know that I would finally put my brush and 'Death Guard green paint' to one side in January 2024, playing 10th edition.

Well, when I say aside. My aim has always been to have three of each unit. The only reason I don't have three of a below unit is either...

- I don't like the current model

- there is only one current sculpt therefore, I don't want all three (especially characters) looking the same. I have done a few conversions as and where I could.

So here is the whole army. Sorry for the images, I took them inside and the quality of light is poor.

The army list

Characters

Mortarian = 325pts

3x Biologus Putrifers = 150pts

3x Chaos Lords = 195pts

2x Chaos lords in terminator armour = 170pts

1x Demon Prince = 160pts

2x Demon Princes with wings = 390pts

3x Icon bearers = 135pts

1x Sorcerer in Terminator armour = 70pts

2x Foul blightspawns = 100pts

2x Lords of contagion = 160pts

2x Lords of Virulence = 160pts

3x Maligant Plaguecasters = 195pts 

3x Noxious Blight bringers = 150pts

3x Plague Surgeons = 195pts

2x Talleymen = 90pts

1x Typhus = 80pts

Total Characters = 2,725pts

7x Plague marines (champion (plasma), plasma gun, blight launcher, Heavy plague weapon, bubonic weapon, 2 bolters) 125pts

7x Plague marines (champion (plasma), plasma gun, blight launcher, Heavy plague weapon, bubonic weapon, 2 bolters) 125pts

7x Plague marines (champion (plasma), plasma gun, blight launcher, Heavy plague weapon, bubonic weapon, 2 bolters) 125pts

7x Plague marines (champion (plasma), plasma gun, blight launcher, Heavy plague weapon, bubonic weapon, 2 bolters) 125pts

7x Plague marines (champion (bolter), plague belcher, blight launcher, plague spewer, Heavy plague weapon, 2 bolters) 125pts

7x Plague marines (champion (bolter), melta gun, blight launcher, 4 bolters) 125pts

Total 875

4x Rhinos 300pts

10x Blightlord terminators (3 combi weapons, 1 blight launcher, 1 reaper autocannon, 1 plague spewer, 1 flail of corruption, 3 combi bolters) 330pts

10x Blightlord terminators (3 combi weapons, 1 blight launcher, 1 reaper autocannon, 1 plague spewer, 1 flail of corruption, 3 combi bolters) 330pts

10x Blightlord terminators (3 combi weapons, 1 blight launcher, 1 reaper autocannon, 1 plague spewer, 1 flail of corruption, 3 combi bolters) 330pts

2x Chaos spawn 70pts

2x Chaos spawn 70pts

2x Chaos spawn 70pts

2x Chaos spawn 70pts

2x Chaos spawn 70pts

2x Chaos spawn 70pts

2x Chaos spawn 70pts

10x Chaos Cultists 50pts

10x Chaos Cultists 50pts

10x Chaos Cultists 50pts

1x Defiler 190pts

3x Hellbrutes 420pts

3x Land raiders 720pts

3x Predators (can be either annihilators or destructors) 390pts

6x Deathshroud terminators 240pts

6x Deathshroud terminators 240pts

6x Deathshroud terminators 240pts

3x Foetid bloat drones 270pts

3x Miasmic Malignifers 345pts

3x Myphitic Blight-Haulers 300pts

3x Myphitic Blight-Haulers 300pts

3x Myphitic Blight-Haulers 300pts

3x Plagueburst crawlers 540pts

20x poxwalkers 100pts

20x poxwalkers 100pts

20x poxwalkers 100pts

20x poxwalkers 100pts

20x poxwalkers 100pts

20x poxwalkers 100pts

20x poxwalkers 100pts

17x poxwalkers 100pts

Total other stuff 6925

Allies

3x Bases of nurglings 40pts

3x Bases of nurglings 40pts

3x Bases of nurglings 40pts

3x Bases of nurglings 40pts

10x Possessed 280pts

Total allies 440pts

GRAND TOTAL 11,265pts

So where to next? - well I have finished with 40k. I have some Dungeonbowl, Underworlds and Areonautica stuff to finish off. After that it's new games. Legions Imperialis and The Old World.

Will I be doing Death Guard for legions? Well, you'll just have to wait and see.

Toodle Pip!

Death Guard are finished

 Almost 6 years to the day, I have finished my Death Guard army...

... well, as near as any project can be finished. If Games Workshop release a new sculpt for the Defiler; and a different model for the Talleyman and other Death guard characters then, I have some more work to do.

However, as of today, I have no more Death Guard I want to paint. I finished my 12,000pt army with the leader of the Death Guard; Mortarion.

This model is the largest I have ever painted. It took three and a half months to complete. Though I did enjoy tackling something so large, I don't fancy ever painting it again.

I built the main part of the model in full however, I kept the winds, the base and some of the chains off him until painted.

So, for now, the Death Guard are done. I am now back on Dungeonbowl stuff plus, I have started my new Legions Imperialis Word Bearer army ... what not Death Guard? No. I fancied a change