Briefspite

Dumaguete, Philiphines 2010

2010-05-19T12:59:00.006+02:00

P5050194
Originally uploaded by Briefspite

We went on our summer holiday to Atlantis Dive Resort in Dumaguete in the Philiphines from Sunday April 25th to Sunday May 10th, and a 6 day stay in Manila from May 10th to May 16th.

The trip was excellent and the diving even more so and this year we had remembered to upgrade our tickets to Economy Comfort. So even with a 13 hour flight from Amsterdam to Manilla it wasnt so bad with the extra legroom.

P4300168
Originally uploaded by Briefspite

The diving was a bit different from the "traditional" coral garden diving, consisting mostly of muck, sand and man made reefs. However it was a macro bonanza with sea horses, ghost pipe fish, nudibranks, sea slugs, sea hairs, scorpion fish, stone fish and loads of other stuff. We did some day trips to Apo Island for more "normal" diving but the shore diving from the hotel was the star of the show. There are plenty of pictures on my Flickr account and pictures say more than words...

P5010110
Originally uploaded by Briefspite

I managed to get a cold on the last dive day, May 9th, and I wasnt well again until May 15th so all our plans in Manilla got changed to me in the hotel room and the wife at the hotel pool. We tried to do some shopping on the 12th but with a fever it wasnt pleasant so I had to retreat the hotel.

On the 15th I felt fine so we went to visit Intramuros, the old Spanish town and the old fortress. The travel guidebook said it was a must see and even though I am a skeptic when it comes to the "must see" in the travel guidebooks we decided to make the trip. It was hot as a baking oven with the temperature at 34 degrees enclosed within stone walls and with no wind. To be totally honest the Intramuos sucked big time, basically it was a heap of rubble or just more of run down Manilla. What the guidebook conveniently left out was that it was blown to bits in 1945 by the Americans and Japanese and that the reconstruction effort consisted mostly of pouring concrete into the holes.

Even with the last 6 days the vacation was very good and I am glad we went to the Philiphines.

New DSLR

2010-05-19T10:52:00.003+02:00

Pear Tree in Spring
Originally uploaded by Briefspite

I have just recently bought a new DSLR, a Canon EOS 7D, its quite an upgrade from my old Canon EOS 10D and last evening I was out in the garden giving it a test run.

The picture quality is just amazing compared to my old camera and I am looking forwards to using it this summer. I will also get a light tent for miniature photography so I can get some decent shots of my miniatures.

Razorback - Nocens

2010-04-15T12:39:00.002+02:00

Razorback - Nocens
Originally uploaded by Briefspite

The first vehicle joins my growing Blood Ravens Space Marine Army, the Razorback Nocens. The colours are a bit too saturated and the highlights and shadows are all gone, out but any picture is better than no picture.

Teaser Picture

2010-04-08T12:18:00.002+02:00

Blood Raven Dreadnought
Originally uploaded by Briefspite

Just a quick snapshot of something I am currently working on.

Slowly coming back to miniature gaming

2010-02-11T10:04:00.005+01:00

After the tournament in Kristiansand and a doubles tournament I never wrote about that my partner and I managed to win I suffered from GW games burnout syndrome.

I have some serious issues with the direction Games Workshop are taking their games and as long as I don't play more than once every two months or so I am usually fine, however played way too much GW games this autumn and as usual it ended with me dropping it totally and reverting back to computer games.

Now I am slowly getting back into the miniature gaming mood but I think I will let the GW miniatures collect dust in their cabinet for a while longer and go back to my real passion, historical miniature gaming. I have a rather large collection of 15 mm WW2 and 15mm Ancients thats all painted and ready to go and I have decided to start a project I have been thinking about for the better part of 15 years, 28mm WW2 skirmish.

I have ordered the Rules of Engagement rules from Great Escape Games, they are a 28mm skirmish rule set that has gotten good reccomendations and hopefully they will suit my needs.

I will collect a German force consisting of infantry mainly from Artizan, Bolt Action, Crusader and Black Tree. Tanks will come from AGN, Waffenkammer and Bolt Action. I have ordered a couple of miniatures from Artizan and I will order one PzKw IVH from Waffenkammer to start with. I need to keep my orders below NOK 200 or it will become very expensive with 25% VAT and customs charges, this encourages a order - paint - order policy and suits me fine.

Once I have a viable German force I will probably pick up either some British or American miniatures.

I am currently considering if I want to paint up my new army as a "summer" force or a "winter" force, I probably wont be able to decide as both appeals.

Repainting the Flyrant

2009-10-02T13:58:00.003+02:00

After Invasion 2009 I decided to update the Flying Tyrant to my new colour scheme. Progress is a bit slow since I am not extremely motivated at the moment but I am getting there one stroke at a time.

I managed to pry loose the wings and the weapon arms without damaging anything so in order to make life easier for myself I am repainting those separately.

I am going to magnetize the wings and the weapons as well to make it easier to transport and so I will be able to swap weapons and have the Tyrant walk if I want to try that.

Invasion 2009

2009-09-14T09:20:00.008+02:00

I went to Invasion 2009 in Kristiansand last weekend, I originally planned on taking the new Death Guard army but after painting up a squad of Plague Marines, 3 Rhinos and a Daemon Prince I found that I had to make compromises in order to finish in time which I am not willing to do.

So I brought my Tyranids instead, I still had to paint up 32 Gaunts, a Lictor, a Screamer Killer Carnifex and a Broodlord to a decent standard and borrow 6 Tyranid Warriors and 6 Genestealers from my friend Xadhoom that also went to the tournament with his Witch Hunters. However I paint Tyranids pretty fast so it was all done in a bit over two weeks.

My List was as follows,

1 Hive Tyrant @ 195 pts (Bio-plasma, Enhanced Senses, Flesh Hooks, Implant Attack, Toxin Sacs, Winged, Twin-linked Devourer x2, Psychic Scream))

1 Broodlord @ 188 pts (Feeder Tendrils, Flesh Hooks, Toxin Sacs)
6 Genestealers (Flesh Hooks)

1 Lictor @ 80 pts

5 Warriors @ 203 pts (Toxin Sacs, Rending Claws, Deathspitter)
1 Warriors (Toxin Sacs, Rending Claws, Barbed Strangler)

1 Carnifex @ 113 pts (Enhanced Senses, Twin-linked Devourer x2)

8 Gaunt Brood @ 72 pts (Fleshborer, Without Number)

8 Gaunt Brood @ 72 pts (Fleshborer, Without Number)

8 Gaunt Brood @ 64 pts (Spinefists, Without Number)

8 Gaunt Brood @ 64 pts (Spinefists, Without Number)

6 Genestealers @ 120 pts (Flesh Hooks, Scuttlers)

6 Genestealers @ 120 pts (Flesh Hooks, Scuttlers)

1 Carnifex @ 155 pts (Enhanced Senses, Flesh Hooks, Toxin Sacs, Barbed Strangler, Venom Cannon)

1 Carnifex @ 155 pts (Enhanced Senses, Flesh Hooks, Toxin Sacs, Barbed Strangler, Venom Cannon)

1 Carnifex @ 148 pts (Adrenal Glands +1 WS, Bio-plasma, Flesh Hooks, Tail Weapon - Scythe, Toxic Miasma, Toxin Sacs, Tusked, Scything Talons x2)

I like to think that the list is competetive but not extremely hard, there are several things I can do to the list to make it "better" (harder) that I didnt do. I also wanted to try out a close combat Carnifex, the Broodlord and a Lictor as well as some Gaunts. The Lictor and especially the Broodlord have gotten some bad rep and I wanted to see if it is deserved or not.

Since I havent really played 40K for over two years and never played 5th Edition my aim for the tournament was in the top 50% and a chance to learn the game again. I quickly read through the rules book on Friday and asked Xadhoom some questions about what had changed, the answer was not much.

Game 1. - Secure and Control vs Black Templars

I played against a Black Templar player, he had some odd things in his army list among other things a Captain with a Powerfist, not exactly optimal.

The game quickly devolved into a shooting match that my army was suited for and his wasnt.

Highlights of the match was the destruction of two of his Venerable dreadnoughts that deepstriked unsupported into my army by the Screamer Killer Carnifex and the Broodlord.

The Lictor managed to catch and destroy a assault cannon armed Land Speeder that was stunned by venom cannon fire.

Scuttling Genestealers secured an objective in his deployment zone and wiped out a squad of 6 BT for no loss while the rest of my army secured another four. However one of his drop pods contested one of the objectives. He had one objective at the end but some decent shooting from my Sniperfexes broke his squad on the objective and when the time ran out it was too far away.

16-8 to me, I played a bit slow and so did he, with 1-2 more turns I could probably have grabbed a 22-0 victory by wiping out his army and grabbing all of the objectives.

Game 2 - Spearhead Attack vs Eldar

An incredibly slow player so while I played faster than the previous game he played like a turtle. He pretty much shot my army to bits while forgetting all about the objectives. I had some decent shooting in return but was unable to do anything about a wraithlord and 5 pathfinders that demolished my Hive Tyrant in one turn of shooting, one AP 1 shot and 3 rending = dead Hive Tyrant.

The Lictor did sterling service by destroying a Falcon sitting on one of the objectives in the last CC phase. I am starting to like Lictors more and more and to be frank I am baffled why people say they are shit. I agree that they are fragile but they are a potent threath that cant be ignored by the opponent and he will modify his game just by knowing that the lictor is there.

However like the previous player he didnt focus on the objectives at all and when the time ran out in turn 4 I had all of the objectives while he had none so I got a 20-1 victory. He got a bit annoyed at me since I refused to play into the break between game 2 and 3. I am a bit baffled that he even asked to play for longer than the alloted 2.5 hours, this was a tournament after all.

Game 3 - Kill them All vs Khorne Chaos Marines

I thought I would get my arse handed to me in this game, 2 Land Raiders, 2 Rhinos and a Vindicator with enough CC goodness to rip apart my army. However a bit of excellent shooting from my sniper fexes and some sterling work by the Lictor and a brood of Genestealers stopped his army in its tracks and turned the game into a shooting match. His Rhinos was reduced to smoking wrecks and the two Land Raiders and the Vindicator was imobilized.

In the last turn I did a serious mistake and went to close with my Screamer Killer Carnifex and my Broodlord, I am unsure what I was thinking since I had a victory allready but in the end they were charged by Khorne Berserkers and a Lord with Lightning Claws. His Lord managed to save 4 S10 hits from the Carnifex and the powerfist Berserker then tore the Carnifex a new one. The game ended in turn 5 on a dice roll.

I think the game was a 14-8 to me but I am a bit unsure, if I hadnt gone forwards I would have gotten a 18-4 or something like that.

Game 4 - Capture and Rescue vs Mechanized Imperial Guard

In this game I played against the hardest army of the tournament that incidentally won the tournament as well.

1 Leman Russ

2 Demolishers

7 Chimmeras

2 Devil Dogs

With enough Melta Guns in his squads to kill anything... twice...

The entire battle was fought under the night fight rules giving me an additional handicap. I decided I couldnt win and placed my objective in a spot that would enable me to keep 3 Carnifexes and the Hive Tyrant out of LOS the entire game. I expended my Broodlord, the Lictor and all of the genestealers as well as the Dakkafex in order to occupy him for several turns. All in all i managed 9 penetrating hits on his vehicles and countless glancing and all I managed was to immobilize one vehicle and remove some weapons, one 4 and the rest 1-3 out of 9 dice.

In the end I managed to get an 9 - 13 which was the best result anyone managed against him in the entire tournament. The army was incredibly boring to play against and I hope its the last time I will see it.

Battle 5 - Double Flank Attack vs Witch Hunters

I played against my friend Xadhoom's Witch Hunters in a strange scenario where we played from the short sides and all the objectives were in the middle. I had to deploy first and basically deployed my army on top of the objectives.

Some lucky cover saves in the first two turns and some Genestealers tearing one of his Exorcists a new one ensured a win for me. My Lictor fluffed in this match but he did a good job in his previous 4 so he is a stayer.

Xadhoom did a turn 5 shennanigan and contested two objectives hoping for an early end, he lucked out and rolled a 2 ending the game early. If he had failed the roll he would have lost by being more or less totally wiped out.

I won 16-8 and it was easily the most enjoyable match of the tournament.

I placed 2nd which I think was pretty good ;).

WIP shots of my Daemon Princes

2009-08-22T16:01:00.007+02:00

Just some shots of my two winged Daemon Princes.

Daemon Prince 1, Front View

Daemon Prince 1 Back View.

Daemon Prince 2 Front View

Daemon Prince 2 back view

Finished Death Guard Champion

2009-08-22T15:58:00.003+02:00

Finished Champion
Originally uploaded by Briefspite

My first finished miniature painted to a decent table top standard. I expect to have the rest of his squad finished tonight. The standard was a compromise between speed and quality, I have a set deadline since I plan to participate in a 40k tournament in around four weeks time. So in order to finish in time this is what I came up with.

I kept the bases simple on purpose, the miniatures themselves are so detailed that a overly detailed base would probably just be too much.

Taking pictures of your miniatures is a good thing, I noticed that the eye lens isnt finished ;), so I will go back and touch up that as well.

1750 pts Death Guard

2009-08-17T08:44:00.008+02:00

This is the first iteration of my Death Guard army, there are a few things I am very unsure about and that is the Chosen and the Great Unclean One. Sure if I am able to pull it off my opponent will have a very angry green blob in their deployment zone that they will have to do something about, if it doesnt work I just lost 200 points that could be better spent somewhere else.

I have looked at a normal squad of CSM to hold my own objective while the Plague Marines assault the other objectives supported by the Daemon Princes and the Defilers. However if I want to have a defensive squad they should ideally have a Lascannon and if I want to pull that off I need 10 CSM in the squad. That would push the cost of the army up to almost 1800 points and that is without a Rhino or an Aspiring Champion for the CSM squad... decisions decisions... ;)

Update:

After some consultation with my friend Xhadoom we came to the conclusion that the CSM squad would be a waste since I cant get what I need and the Chosen + GUO is to fragile. So instead I will include 5 Chaos Terminators for Deep Striking goodness.

1 Daemon Prince @ 175 pts (Wings, Mark of Nurgle, Warptime)

1 Daemon Prince @ 175 pts (Wings, Mark of Nurgle, Warptime)

5 Terminators @ 185 pts (Chain Fist, Combi-melta x2, Heavy Flamer)

6 Plague Marines @ 256 pts (Meltagun x2)
1 Plague Champion (Power Fist)
1 Rhino

6 Plague Marines @ 256 pts (Meltagun x2)
1 Plague Champion (Power Fist)
1 Rhino

6 Plague Marines @ 256 pts (Meltagun x2)
1 Plague Champion (Power Fist)
1 Rhino

1 Defiler @ 150 pts (Close Combat Arm, Twin Linked Heavy Flamer)

1 Defiler @ 150 pts (Close Combat Arm, Twin Linked Heavy Flamer)

2 Obliterators @ 150 pts

Total Cost: 1748

From the Workbench: Death Guard Squad

2009-08-12T10:30:00.006+02:00

Just some quick pictures of some work in progress on my growing Death Guard army. Again the lightning isnt exactly optimal but you will get an idea of how it will look when finished.

Mailorder has arrived

2009-08-04T09:05:00.003+02:00

I ordered the Nurgle Daemon Prince from GW mailorder along with one pair of Zombie Dragon wings and a pair of Dark Pegasus wings. They just arrived and I will assemble and basecoat the Daemon Prince as soon as possible, once that is done I will post some pictures of the process.

Rhino interiors finished

2009-07-30T14:44:00.005+02:00

3 Rhinos
Originally uploaded by Briefspite

I have started painting the interior of my Rhinos. I am experimenting with some weathering techniques that I intend to use on the outsides of my Rhinos as well. I dont know if I like the end result or not but I guess it comes down to practice.

The colours in the picture are washed out due to the lighting conditions and I skipped quite a few steps in the painting process since when you get the roof on you dont see much inside other than the fact that its painted.

But after painting the insides I will most probably not paint the army white, it will take way to long to weather it without it just looking like a mess. So I will revert to "standard" Death Guard colours and paint them in a greenish colour.

A new beginning - Death Guard

2009-07-27T08:56:00.002+02:00

Due to the corrupting influence of my friend Xadhoom I have decided to start playing Warhammer 40k again and in order to do so I need to paint up a new army that will work in 5th edition. After some discussion with Xadhoom I decided to paint up a Death Guard Chaos Space Marine army since the model count is low and the modelling posibilites are infinite.

I will use the original color scheme, white with green trim, and stay away from too much rot and decay since I think it detracts from the look of the miniatures and often lends itself to a sloppy paintjob with too much drybrushing

I have ordered the Death Guard upgrade kits from Forge World and the Death Guard Rhino door kits for additional Bling!. I am hoping that the army will look good on the tabletop and be fun and challenging to paint.

The first iteration of the army will be as follows,

2 Winged Daemon Princes with the Mark of Nurgle
3x 7 Plague Marines with 2 Meltaguns and a Powerfist in Rhinos
2 Defilers
2 Obliterators

Total modelcount: 25 Infantry and 5 Vehicles @ 1500 points

I am currently in the process of assembling and converting the miniatures and once I am done with that I will post some pictures.