More Second Edition

I picked up a set of 2nd edition 40K on eBay this week.  I wanted to be able to get some more models and ruins (can't have enough ruins!) and I wanted to start working Imperial Fists into my 2nd edition game.

I already own a 2nd edition Predator and Dreadnought that are part of my Imperial Fists army as well as a Rhino.  I'm working on some characters from that era as well. 

The box didn't have all the models but it had *most* of them.  15 marines, 17 orks, and 38 gretchin.  Add that to the full set I got a few years back and it's a lot of models.  The Marines from that box are already earmarked for Blood Angels (to match the box art).

This also gives me a good option for creating an ork army, too.   I have around 78 gretchin, 37 orks, a few characters I've picked up here and there and a 2nd ed Ork Dreadnought.

No Peace Among 2nd Edition...

Peter and I have recently decided that 2nd edition is a better way to play Warhammer currently.  As more of a "Middlehammer" game it's somewhat easier to obtain models and rules for the game.

My Crimson Fists translate well to the new edition and there are some relaxation of list requirements, such as only needing one Techmarine, which are welcome.

We've played a couple games so far with Peter's Orks versus my Eldar.  The Eldar are a solid army in 2nd Edition.  It's likely the best version of that army in all editions of the game, in fact.  The Orks are a bit rough and require a lot of optimism to be effective, though as Peter plays more he's getting more out of them.

I'd quite forgotten all the extras that Games Workshop had included in White Dwarf during this time.  It was a treat to go through my collection and harvest things like the extra missions, Battle Bunker, Wargear cards, Strategy Cards, and the like.

Our first two outings were only 1000 points, Peter has worked up to 1500 points of fully painted Orks and we hope to soon move to 2000 which I think is the optimal value for the game, giving players a lot of options without bogging down the game too terribly much.

Since my Crimson Fists and Eldar were already fully painted I undertook a few projects while Peter worked on his orks.

I realized that I didn't have any Shining Spears, one of several units in the Eldar Codex in 2nd Edition that didn't have corresponding models until (I believe) 3rd Edition.  I had some old Guardians on Jetbikes but not enough to make a full squad.  I also decided that I wanted my Shining Spears to look different so I decided to convert the unit rather than to field the actual sculpts.

Here are the finished models.  I used plastic shields to build up the armor on the front as well as to create the base for the Laser Lances which I incorporated into the jetbikes themselves.  I added a full body shield to each rider as well to help reflect the better armor save of the Shining Spears.

I decided to also go with silver rather than white, which I feel looks better and is easier to paint.

After our second game I started looking at my old Imperial Guard Codex and began work on a small Imperial Guard army which could stand alone or be added as support to my Crimson Fists (because who doesn't want cheap Lascannons that can re-roll missed shots?).

I only owned 17 or so of the RT Era Guardsmen (originally used as a stand-in Blood Bowl team!) so I had to settle for two Heavy Weapon Squads and a Regimental HQ Command Squad.  I decided to paint them up as the 8th Necromunda Spiders and used the box art as inspiration.  I also felt that by using the Necromunda's most famous regiment that would let me sneak in a Van Saar Underhive gang as a squad of Stormtrooper equivalents.  I had plenty of those models as Van Saar was my favorite gang back when Necromunda debuted and I bought a lot of them. Here the Van Saar "Silver Spiders" are ready to support the rest of their platoon.

In reality this army is not enough points to currently field at even 1500 points.  I need some tanks to bulk it out.  Thankfully the Chimera and Leman Russ are the same kits that debuted back in 2nd edition so I can just buy a couple of those and plug them into this list.

I envision this unit as being seconded to an Inquisitor who is hunting daemons who (unbeknownst to them!) have lurk in the minds of enemy psykers.

The goal is to field a unified force of Crimson Fists and Imperial Guard with Grey Knights, Inquisitors, and an assassin.  I feel that would be an interesting army to see on the table.

Enemy sighted, enemy met

This weekend was the fruition of a great deal of preparation and planning.  My good friends Jason Woodburn, Eric O'Dell, and Peter Franke were all able to participate in the staging of the skirmishes on Rynn's World.

We waged the Battle at the Farm and the Battle for Jadeberry Hill.  We used the rules found only within Warhammer 40,000 Rogue Trader (Space Marines, for instance, were still Toughness 3).

While both scenarios were a bit wonky, they were loads of fun to play.  Thrugg was beaten down by a wounded Pedro Kantor, and the Space Marines survived the encounter with heavy losses.  Pedro Kantor went on to reach New Rynn City where he led the defense of the last zoomway into the city.  Pedro was able to pull back into the city with five of his marines, the rest fell to heavy fire from wave after wave of orks.

In non-scenario play we tested out the vehicle rules as well as the psyker rules.  In keeping with the scenarios, we didn't really follow a point value, we just played with a vehicle for each player to get the hang out of how they worked.

Both vehicles and psykers made for some very interesting skirmishes, and their rules are likewise a bit strange.

Things I'd forgotten about:

Scattering Area shots *before* actually rolling to hit.
Push Backs in Close Combat (you know, where you fall back before you fall back).
Power Fields and Power Field Syncrhonizers.

Eldar!

I've gotten some work done on my Eldar, here are some pics!

They are done!  I've finished the Crimson Fists and have moved on to working on my Eldar.  Here are some pics.  There is one Modern Crimson Fist pictured here: Pedro Kantor.  The rest, over 100 marines and vehicles, are all 1st Edition models.

 Here's the army about 2/3 finished.  Note the Grey Knights, Inquisitor, and Assassin.

Imperial Assassin.

The complete army, without Grey Knights.

 I configured two squads to work as Tactical Squads in 1st Edition or as Sternguard Squads in modern play.  They are at either end of the front block of models, one squad is featured here just to the left of the Terminator Assault Squad.

 Terminators, Chaplains, and Librarians.

The converted Whirlwinds along with the original Land Speeder and Furibundus Dreadnought are what make this army special.

That's a Devastator Squad with the original Space Marine Missile Launcher and Lascannon sculpts.  Just behind them is a squad of Scouts.  Sadly there were no rules for Scout Squads until 2nd Edition.

The backbone of the army are the Tactical Squads and their rhinos.  While I can't field all of these squads in 1st Edition without house rules, I had a blast painting these guys up.  It was a challenge building squads that satisfy both 1st Edition and modern rules.

Recent Developments

I've started painting Eldar and Crimson Fists in earnest.  I also started dabbling in 6th Edition.  It's about what I expected, so I will probably stop playing modern 40K again in about two years when 7th comes out and ruins everything again (as all odd numbered editions have done since 3rd, really).

But in the mean time I'm working hard on my Rogue Trader Era stuff.  I recently found around 15 or so RTE Space Marines to add to my Crimson Fists, all single piece models with Bolt Guns, one with a Heavy Bolter, and two Multi-Meltas.  I inadvertently destroyed their backpacks while stripping them, but was lucky enough to score a large set of RTE backpacks on Ebay, among other things.

What other things?  Well, a Space Marine RTE Land Speeder for one.  Also got 5 RTE Grey Knight Terminators, who along with my Inquisitor model will make a great Ally force for the Crimson Fists while still keeping it RTE appropriate.  I also got four more Striking Scorpions so that I can have two squads of them in either format of play.

I did pick up a Wraithknight recently to supplement my 6th Edition Eldar.  I only own a few models that don't translate back to the Aspect Warriors Army List from WD #127, so I don't feel too terrible about adding them in.

I've really been enjoying the modeling and painting of the old models quite a bit.  My next project is to have both copies of Rogue Trader spiral bound.  The hardcover edition I have is in pretty bad shape, and the softcover version is getting worse.f

This summer it looks like I'll be getting to play against some Imperial Guard as Jason Woodburn has agreed to try out 1st Edition with me again.  Still have to expand the House Rules Agreement so that we aren't casting "Temporal Distort" on each other over and over again...

Painting Log

Here's a list of models that I've painted thus far for this project:

Crimson Fists:
All completely painted




Eldar:

Avatar of Khaine (the original version)
Warlock with Singing Spear
Karandras (2nd Edition)
Asurmen (2nd Edition)
Jain Zar (2nd Edition)
Baharroth
Fuegan
Maugan Ra

3 Dark Reapers
Dark Reaper Exarch

7 Fire Dragons
Fire Dragon Exarch

9 Swooping Hawks
Swooping Hawk Exarch (conversion)

6 Dire Avengers
Dire Avenger Exarch

5 Howling Banshees

6 Striking Scorpions
Striking Scorpion Exarch

5 Eldar Scouts (counting them as Guardians with Lasguns)