Battle Report: Ultramarines vs. Orks

Yesterday, I headed down to my local Games Workshop and played a game with Tom, who I met that day. We played 1,000 points because that's all I had finished. You can see my list on the Ultramarines page. I don't remember exactly what he brought because I'm not all that familiar with Orks, but I do remember Snikrot, a Warboss, a squad of Nobz, and a bunch of Kommandos.

I let Tom thumb through my copy of the Battle Missions book and he found the All-Round Defense mission, which neither of us had ever played before. I deployed in the center of the map and he infiltrated two units into the ruins on either side of me.

Ultramarines deployed

Orks push in through the perimeter

 Tom and his Orks went first. He moved his two squads through the ruins and sacrificed his shooting to run them a bit closer.. On my turn, I opened up on them with everything I had in an attempt to keep them outside my perimeter. The Orks stayed their ground, leapt into my perimeter, and assaulted me on Turn 2.

Kill them before they get too close!

This is where my sergeant dies. . .

First Squad lost combat by losing 4 models, one of which was the squad's sergeant. They passed their leadership test and stayed their ground. The rest of the Ultramarines responded by shooting at the other squad and bringing it down to just two kommandos remaining. They also passed their leadership test and stayed in the fight.

First Squad runs!

By now, Tom has brought in the rest of his army from reserves. The Orks assault Second Squad with kommandos in their turn and end up running. In response, I decided to shoot my entire army at the newly arrived Nobz unit. Miraculously, they didn't die. They were, however, under strength and running away.

Warboss leading the Nobz

Turn 4 ended up being the final turn due to time constraints on both sides. In a last-ditch effort, the Warboss and his boyz failed to finish off first squad and the game ended in an Astartes victory. If I had it to do over, I would have definitely made some different decisions because I'm not so sure I would have survived six full turns. Good game, Tom!

New Tutorial: Vehicle Insignia

It's been a long time coming, but I've finally posted up another tutorial. This time, I'll show you how to easily hand paint emblems on your vehicles.

In the future, I plan on making and posting more tutorials up for you to use. If you have any ideas on what you would like me to make a tutorial about, email me at 40khobbiest@gmail.com. Head on over to the How To page and check it out!

Drop Pod: Monotonous Details

After completing my third tactical squad, my plan was to put the Ultramarines down for a while and start working on my 1,000 point Eldar list. I didn't have the Dire Avengers I was supposed to be building, so my wife suggested that I finally finish that drop pod she bought me a few Christmases ago. Right now, her Eldar have been pushed back a bit. I'm going to finish this drop pod before delving into the Eldar once more.

At its current progress, the doors and floor are almost ready to be sealed and glued together. All I have to do is the center section on 4 of the 5 doors and I can start sealing and gluing.

When finished, the other doors will have Ultramarine symbols as well.

The metal lines on the inside of the doors were very monotonous.

Having gotten this far in the painting process, I'm reminded why I like playing troop-heavy armies and why I dislike painting vehicles. Transferring my Ultramarines' painting technique to vehicles means that I had to take extra time putting the black lining into the metal areas of the doors. I paint slow enough as it is, but applying my processes to such a large model is just so monotonous. The benefit, however, is that it should match quite well with the rest of the army and so far I'm really liking the outcome.

If any of my readers here are getting discouraged from painting such repetitive details, keep at it! I just recently got through a very difficult spot on these doors and I'm quite pleased with how it turned out despite how long it took to accomplish it. Looking back at all the repetitive details that I've already accomplished helps keep me motivated to continue. Take a look at what I mean!

Painting repetitive details pays off in the long run!

Another problem I've discovered is in my harness section. This was a section that I put together a long time ago, right when I got the model. When I put it together, I wasn't thinking about how I was going to paint it. Now I'm paying for it.

Add caption

I think it'll look really good after it's completed, sealed, and glued in place. Right now, however, I keep dwelling on the fact that I should not have assembled it as much as I have before painting it. If anyone is reading this and thinking about buying their first drop pod, put together the center section and the five harness sections, then paint them independently. To do it all together is almost more trouble than its worth.

Needless to say, I won't ever be playing a drop pod list. Also, if I ever decide to paint another drop pod, I'll assemble it differently so that its easier to paint. In the end, I think it'll all be worth it. I think this drop pod is going to look pretty sweet when its done.

Have you ever worked on a model with monotonous details? How'd you get through it (or did you)? Have you ever assembled a model in such a way that made it harder to paint? What'd you do?