Repost: After Action Report: Skirmish on Qyzylqum XLII

+ + + TRANSMITTED: Ootheca
+ + + RECEIVED: Badab Primaris
+ + + DESTINATION: CLASSIFIED
+ + + DATE: ERROR. Ref. 00-00-0-CHRN/1
+ + + TELEPATHIC DUCT: Zechariah-n008808
+ + + REF: Inq/06048102||0891-40-42/MNRN
+ + + AUTHOR: CLASSIFIED
+ + + SUBJECT: Qyzylqum XLII, Skirmish, 880.41
+ + + METADATA: Mantis Warriors; engagements; Malachi; heretic astartes; renegade astartes...
    Cross-ref extended metadata file 0891-40-42/MNRN-α
+ + + ACCESS GRADE: Sangria

+ + + Thought for the Day: Non vi, sed verbo + + +

+ + + ACCESSING + + +

c.880.M41, the Maelstrom. Nomadic space pirates which had been using the Sinistral Gate to launch raids on Imperial shipping were growing bolder and more savage in their attacks. Intelligence from Ordo Hereticus quisling units among pirate factions report the growing spread of Chaotic influence. Several bands of human and sub-human renegades had fallen under the sway of demagogues spreading the worship of Malachi the Surly, a Daemon Prince of Khorne and Wielder of theBanesword (cf the Cruor Event; the Caedis Incident; Sanguis VII; the Neco City Massacre;
+ + + ERROR: REFERENCE FILE IN EXCESS OF MEMORY
+ + + TERMINATE SERVITOR AND RE-ACCESS + + +

+ + + ACCESSING + + +

After Day Report: Badab War: Battle for the Old City - Galen IV [Part 3/3]

 The last of our coverage of the Battle for the Old City, Galen IV.

Howling Griffons terminators appear in a swirl of octarine

We've been talking about the Badab War day, hosted by Combat Company and organised by the Badab War Reenactment Society. So far, I had one astonishing victory and one crippling loss, with the Secessionists fighting hard for victory - but it was all to play for in the final game of the day. Sweaty, lunch-filled, and tired, we looked over the board.

After Day Report: Badab War: Battle for the Old City - Galen IV [Part 2/3]

 Last time on unjust still...

Niijima and her scouts butcher a heavy weapon squad

Last time, I talked about the Badab War Day on 29 November, with photos from my first game. This was the high water mark for my player skill for the day - but I didn't expect to win any games, so I was having a great day.

At the start of the second round, the Secessionists controlled most of the territories of value, including the Governor's Palace -- but would they continue to hold? Alex's Howling Griffons moved into the Palace, trying to take it from... I forget, but I think it was the all-bike Executioners. In orbit, Mantis Warriors were defeated by Howling Griffons, putting the pressure on the ground war below.

After Day Report: Badab War: Battle for the Old City - Galen IV [Part 1/3]

 That's so many subheadings.

Theatre Map: Galen IV 'Old Town'
Modified by Andrew Legio for the Badab War Reenactment Society, 2025

On Saturday 29 November, a small part of Sydney was transformed into a bloody battlefield, re-enacting a gore-soaked conflict of the Badab War.

One of the more fleshed-out parts of the Warhammer 40,000 background, the Badab War was expanded from a two-page spread in Rogue Trader's Warhammer 40,000 Compendium supplement into a two-book series during Forge World's short-lived Imperial Armour series. These books were the precursors to what became the sprawling Horus Heresy series. They included detailed examinations of the factions involved, maps, art, supplements for then-current game (6th edition), and since have become a firm fan favourite.

a handful of Warriors, painted for a 1st-edition Kill Team

When I came crawling back into the hobby at the tail-end of 7th edition and decided to paint my very first Space Marine, this was the space I joined. I vacillated between a few choices, settled on a Mantis Warrior, and haven't looked back. (I've looked sideways a lot - I have so many projects - but not back.)

III Squad - I think he's one of the guys in the back.

That first Space Marine is still in the army, although he didn't make it to Saturday's game.

The Badab War Reenactment Society has been intending to run game days, campaigns, and other events for years. For once, this community is actually based in Australia and, while I do not live in Sydney, this means that I am more able to attend. (Well, depending on child care responsibilities!) So when an event was announced for November, I jumped at the chance.

1500 points of Mantis Warriors

The rules were simple enough, as mentioned last time. Either bring a Battlefleet Gothic fleet or 1500 points of 28-mm scale warriors. The rules are Heresy 2.0, using custom-built lists - which is great, as it meant that I didn't waste too much money on the Heresy 2.0 rules, given that I played very few games of it. While I do have a BFG fleet, it's not-yet-painted, so ground soldiers it was. I brought together a list of 'neat stuff that everyone in the Facebook group liked' rather than 'good' or 'strong', and away I went.

One of the first Battlefleet engagements; Howling Griffons engage Mantis Warriors 

We weren't told of the day's missions ahead of time, to help reflect the confused state of affairs on the ground, although we did know a) that the space conflict could affect the ground; b) that there would be some kind of map system; c) that it wasn't intended to be competitive, but narrative (although we could bring special characters).

As the final week approached, we were told that each map would have some special features and would start under the control of each faction. These were the Governor's Palace, Industrial Zone, Alpha & Beta Hab Zones, Space Port, Orbital Defense Battery, and Armoury. Controlling a given territory would give advantages - for instance, controlling the Industrial Zone could give one player (in the whole day, not just on that board) It Will Not Die 5+ to any non-AV-14 vehicle to represent improved repair facilities; that entire faction would also gain +1 to Reserves die. A faction had to control the Governor's Palace in order to win the campaign day, otherwise the best to hope for would be a (bloody) draw.

In the end, my Mantis Warriors didn't wind up using any of the map-based advantages, although I heard from the shouts and chaos of other tables that my allies certainly did.

After Action Report: Badab War - Preliminary Action

 The Badab War Reenactment Society is hosting a gaming day in Sydney next weekend. I managed to organise exactly one (1) test game...

typical Imperial settlement on the fringes, with a mix of architectures

Well, actually I organised two, but my car literally died (RIP Tilda) on the way to the first game. I think Musterkrux and I are cursed. We talk a lot of talk about fighting men, but have only ever had one game. Such is life.

The game that did manage to go off, thanks in part to a loaner car, was against regular visitor to this blog, Jimmy. He brought his horrible pre-Angel Blood Angels (so just the Blood) as counts-as Space Sharks. Their stripped-back pale grey, blood spattered wargear makes them very effective as the fan favourite mass murderers, as does their combat doctrine emphasising melee - so very little counts-as in his army, and a good test for the Badab game.

why yes, my keyboard is very dusty

My own 1500-point list is about bringing some of the cooler things I've painted, rather than being a 'good' or 'effective' list - further hampered by my army design focused on fluffiness rather than effectiveness. The Mantis Warriors are poorly supplied, after all, so they have antique gear and not a lot of it.

This is Ahazra Redth, a counts-as Casatferrum dread, 5 Tranquility snipers, 2 x tactical squads, a camo Rhino, Predator, scout bikers, devastators, and a Land Speeder Proteus. (Really, what is the point of a Land Speeder Proteus? - a single multi-melta is not a very effective use of 85 points. It looks sick though.)

Jimmy took Tyberos the Red Wake, 5 x Red Brethren, an apothecary, 10 Tac marines, 10 Siege assault marines (ie despoilers), 6 x siege assault marines, deredeo dread with aiolos launcher and tummy heavy flamer and a Land Raider.

The Badab War guys are using the Heresy 2.0 rules, with custom-build lists (with which I have some issues but it's mostly very good). This was a little weird for Jimmy and I, playing 40k using Heresy rules, but also the last edition of Heresy, which we barely were able to touch -- and our last game was the new Heresy. Real Oldhammer confusion, mostly just meaning that we almost entirely forgot about Reactions, except for a couple Overwatches and one movement from me.

Mantis Warriors Tactical squad #2

After Action Report: The Softness of Gold

..their gold shall not be able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of the Lord.

   - Ezekiel 7:19

ruins of some now-nameless place

Only a few months after being butchered by Camille's gold-clad enforcers of a soon-to-be-dead king, we have a new edition of Horus Heresy and a new opportunity for the sons of Mortarion to show their mettle. Of course, keeping up with the tradition of me not updating the fucking blog, this battle was back in late August and I have forgotten nearly all of it. Oops.

Death Guard tactical marines deploy

This was the first game of the new edition, hot on the heels of playing exactly two games of the old edition this year. Very excellent timing. That said, Camille and I are het* up about the new edition and both immediately bought a lot of new miniatures for it. I even started painting up a new Centurion, who didn't get finished in time for the game but was polished off that night. That's pretty good.

*ironically

After Action Report: Perish in the Pit

 The ruins still gleam in the falselight cast by the engines of the gods, the spacecraft blasting the worldlet's atmosphere with artificial light. It gleams on the ancient temples built above the death-water-from-below, shadows obscuring the ancient, pre-Imperial glyphs and ritualised warnings. Pale-armoured warriors cluster in the dead temple, their plate clicking with the sacred signs that the death-water-from-below always whispers around their gods' wargear. The semi-man hisses a ritual of thanks, his bristling fur colouring with the proximity to the old, old water. The gods war, and death comes. His will be a place of honour once again.

the battlefield. some Death Guard are deployed

Another skirmish last Sunday, a 1000-point game of Horus Heresy against my old friend Camille, last seen in Vicchièneche, one of the chief cities of Saint-Saëns, where their Sisters of Battle were slaughtered by (but defeated!) by the Death Guard. This fight was ten thousand years earlier, with their Adeptus Custodes against my (less mutated) Death Guard.

Death Guard

Siege-Breaker, power axe, combi-flamer, phosphex bombs.
Contemptor with assault cannon, fist, twin-linked bolter
14 Tactical Marines with attached Apothecary
14 Tactical Marines with attached Apothecary
7 Marines with missile launchers

Adeptus Custodes

Helena
Several Squads of Guard
Contemptor with Spear Thingy

We set up the terrain, sort of accidentally creating a ruined temple with several crumbling fortifications and the War creeping in on the grounds. We were joking around that the temple seemed to have once been a nuclear reactor, and the lake and river had formed from the pool - so that's the setting now. Some pre-Dark Age nuclear site that had fallen into ruin and become a place of worship and that civilisation had itself collapsed, and then Compliance and now civil war. 

It's fun making maps and then accidentally creating layers and layers of history to a place.

look at this huge battlefield we don't use (spoiler)

After Action Report: Asphalt and Blood

 A bleak and meaningless skirmish on the edges of a galaxy-spanning civil war...

an abandoned bunker amid the ruins of a worthless city

Early 006.M30. Nomirhast Minor. Nomirhüüs-Б. A crumbling suburb leeching off a nowhere township on a minor worldlet, in a meaningless sector of a self-defeating war. The dust of orbital bombardment and the curling after-effects of rad-phages drift over the sludge-grey ruins. Sergeant Caliel Gloss waves a pale gauntlet through the murk, leading his patrol through the silent rockrete guardians. The traitors are here, red-mouthed revenants in their old colours, loyal to the masters who betrayed their oaths. He will find them.

Across the square, past the empty eyes of an abandoned redoubt, Classya-Lablas licks blood from his athame, witchlights burning in his pale brow.

2024 in Review: Miniature Wargaming

I picked up Midgard: Heroic Battles today, after doing some shopping at CanCon. I now have ideas for about a dozen more projects...

stay focused: this is the current work-in-progress

Every hobbyist struggles with distraction, but the past year has seen the pressure ramp up even more than usual. Two sets of temporary promotions, personal issues - oh, right and my beautiful son, whose eyes glow in the daylight.

bad selfie from last week

Still, let's try to get more thoroughly back into the hobby that I, y'know, love. Let's review 2024.

Tranquility

One of the better things about the Rogue Trader-era of marines was the camouflague.

It gave a real sense that each engagement by a Chapter was its own setting, that every Chapter - while broadly similar - would engage with its enemies in a different way. Some of that is coming across in the modern rules, where each First Founding family has its own codex (/supplement), but a lot of modern stuff makes everything the same. Nearly all equipment is used by every Chapter. Somehow every tiny skirmish involves three Captains and the Chapter Master (and the three Captains all have thunder hammers and jetpacks).

Tranquility Veterans

One of the things I absolutely had to have in my Mantis Warriors project was a squad of snipers in Tranquility Campaign camouflage. They are a mix of different pieces - five Forgeworld Recon Marines, a Vigilator for the sergeant, three kit-bashed snipers, and the Rogue Trader-era Brother Gorshin with his needler.

RT01 Space Marines, from White Dwarf 99 (March 1988)
Courtesy of The Stuff of Legends

I finally got the bits to finish the last member of the squad - actually armed with a combi-grav gun instead of a sniper rifle - a few weeks ago. He's also a member of Kill Team: Renegade.

my painting desk lights are not great

combat shotgun as sidearm

no stripes on this chainblade; just a brutal weapon

die

Kill Team: Renegade

I keep forgetting to update the blog!

Kill Team: Renegade

In my defence, the past couple of months have been crazy.

One thing I have finished is my Mantis Warriors Kill Team, Kill Team: Renegade. In consists of a demi-squad of Rogue Trader miniatures, a few Tranquility snipers, a handful of scouts and several veterans in custom-built armour. I'm also using the models for Lieutenant Commander Gwak Chae'u and Brother-Swordmaster Mifune as their weapons work as relic blades.

the fury of the righteous makes worlds tremble

These four were finished in early March. We have a sternguard gunner with a missile launcher, a company veteran with flamer and chainsword, a veteran sergeant with storm shield, chainsword and storm bolter, and a veteran with bolter and storm shield.

The veteran sergeant is a former member of the Deathwatch, although his shield is the worse for wear.

The basic list for Kill Team is below the cut. It probably has some errors, as I've not actually played a game with these goons.

Tanks for the scenery

Managed to finish off some terrain recently.

yeah take that space sharks

not affiliated with any raiders, at dusk or dawn

More photos of each under the cut...

On Terrain

A hundred years ago, there was a great series of DIY terrain articles in White Dwarf. I forget the name and even the year the articles came out, but if you ask anybody who has been in the hobby since the late '90s, they'll remember them: a bunch of articles on Lizardmen jungle terrain, including a small village, a pond, some ruined temples on the edge of hills, and a giant castle to wrap the whole thing up.

The articles a smooth, easy to read, easy to follow and were at least one clear factor in my hoard of polystyrene nonsense that I collected in the last months of high school and early university, before a succession of moves meant that I scattered them to the four winds.

Now that I'm back in the hobby (and have been for about two years now!), I want to figure out how and what to build to get a similar end result...

A few pieces I finished in 2019, made from... stuff.

Kill Team: Renegade

Kill Team: Renegade, Mantis Warriors chapter. circa 910-930.M41

Over the past couple of years, I've slowly assembled a small handful of Rogue Trader-era marine sculpts that I really liked with the intention of making a little Mantis Warriors kill team. I'd picked up the chap with the shuriken catapult and the brother in customised armour already. I knew I wanted the flamer warrior with one arm bare, and from there it was a matter of deciding to get two more to round the squad to a game-legal five.

The advent of Kill Team also means that I can use this squad as a hardcore team of veterans, where their customised colour patterns and lack of orthodox armour makes more sense. I'm hoping to expand the team, using a combination of miniatures already existing in my Mantis Warriors 'Winds of the Desert' army and converting a couple more with meta-friendly storm shields so that I can use them in the local 'scene'.

Anyway, let's go through the team and look at the inspiration behind their unorthodox armour patterns...

Repost: Abate the Edge of Traitors

The Inquisitor and several of his acolytes, standing before the Mantis Warriors Razorback APC Dao Găm

The Inquisitor held his right hand by his side. Around him the air grew leaden, heavy. The charge that always lay in this place, that quiescent during his mundane works, a thrumming energy in potentia, began to crawl its way toward reality. His fingers arched into a complex pattern, a perfect geometric web. Points of jale light formed across points on his glossy protective gloves.

Behind the Inquisitor, his mortal servants shifted. Leth the Silent’s porcelain mask grew colder as the shadows began to flicker, blending from fuligin to sangoire. Beside him, sparks of dead colour flared on the Dimachaerus’s swords. The Exile ignored the prickling across its scalp, activating a gleaming rune on the deck panel; a holo-projector flared to life, showing a scarred planet.

Their Inquisitor master raised his left hand. Behind the soft gurgling of his rebreathing unit, he was speaking words in a helical tongue. Both hands now moved, exactly mirroring, and the unnatural lights dimmed on the hand; following a binaric chant, they were replicated, exactly, on the false-light sphere which hovered over the command deck.

The shadows returned to black. Lights returned to reds and blues; monitors to healthy green-on-black. Across the desk from the Inquisitor and his people, Lieutenant Commander Gwak Chae'u of the Mantis Warriors cleared his throat.

“I take it those are to be our targets then, Lord Inquisitor?” The distaste for the rank was concealed, to a point.

The Inquisitor’s inhuman eyes flickered. “Yes, Commander. You may inform your master.”

“I - he is uncomfortable…” Gwak’s expression flattened. “That is to say, we have made the error…

The Exile’s pointed ears flickered; some alien expression of amusement, although its oval eyes betrayed no emotion. Behind the Inquisitor, one of his more human minions coughed and shoved a cigar in his too-wide mouth.

"You have rather more recent experience fighting other Astartes than most, Mantis Warrior.” The rebreather unit hissed. “Ergo, you are perfect for this investigation. Dixi.”

Lt. Comm. Gwak held his eyes for a moment and then, bowing, withdrew.

The falselight globe spun lazily above the briefing table, witch-lights gleaming. The scarred world was in turmoil; icons indicating renegade forces blinked in and out of focus, pursued or pursuing their Imperial prosecutors. Here the crossed, sanguine axes of Orkish mercenaries grew brighter as they ravaged a promethium depot; there a white rose collapsed in pixel fire as a cathedral’s defenders changed their allegiance.

The witch-lights followed their targets’ icons, flickering only as the falselight projector’s machine spirit ran the inflow routines. Unlike the turmoil across much else on the map, the sword-and-wings icons remained steady as faith…