The Daemon's Claw

We have been in Level 4 response to the Covid 19 pandemic for a week now. I imagine it is having a real impact on those extroverts who enjoy socialising with crowds of people. Most wargamers seem to be putting on a brave face and seeking the "stay at home" mandate as an opportunity to get so good hobbying done. Richard, Alan and I set up a video hang out so we could talk while we painted and modeled. Here is a snapshot of what I am working on: Here is my Lamanters Kill team. This is part of my collection of Badab War Kill teams. The Lamenters us the Blood Angel rules. The Yellow goes up from Ivory to Light Rust with a coat of Casadora Yellow to tie all the colours together and make them more vibrant. I am making up a party for Rangers of Shadow Deep. Its a solo or cooperative game based on the Frostgrave gameplay. I could play this myself, host a video game or even play with Luke. These are the Ranger figures. In the middle is my Ranger. He is Arzad the Bugbear s...

Back from the Committee meeting Richard and I set up a second game. We decided to try 150 points and an outdoors setting. Having a larger kill team allowed me to fit in some extra models, it also means that the there are a lot more models than just the specialists. We were playing the narrative rescue mission, we  decided that this meant that someone with information about Huron's whereabouts wanted to defect to the Imperium. The Star Phantoms want this information so they can find an kill Huron and a squad of Astral Claws were trying to get the information back. I chose to divide the table into halves longways because this gave me the best use of the buildings. Here are my kill team deployed across the table both on the ground and with elevated position for fire support. Richard's Astral Claws deployed opposite, he was using a couple of models with jump packs. Richard went first and the jump marines raced forwards, My Medic stimm packed the Zealot who charged ...

With the Palace of Thorns under attack by the forces of the Imperium, the Star Phantoms were leading the attack on Huron's head quarters. While major battles raged all round, deep in the sub levels of the palace teams of special operatives fought and died in the dark. I made a Kill Team board out of Necromunda tiles and the wall set I got from Death Ray Designs. 6 necromunda tiles make a great board. Here is my WIP kill team of the Star Phantoms. As befitting their doctrine I have a mix of melee and shooting weapons so I can deliver death in all manner of ways. I am trying out some new specialists, I have a Comms and a Medic, a leader and a Zealot. I have ordered some shoulder pads from Chapter Customiser, on the site they are called the Space Ghosts. Unfortunately the shoulder pads have not yet arrived. Because this represents a sub level we played with At Close quarters and no scouting phase. We played the Sweep and Clear mission. Here are my kill team doing...

We will hopefully be doing some more Kill Team at the Club this weekend. The idea is to get a number of different people to play Kill Team missions based on the events of the Badab War. Kill Team is an easy game to get into, all you need is the equivalent of a squad box and you would have the ability to make a viable team. Marines are tough to kill with basic weapons. Here is a Youtube report from Ash and Owen, showing just how much effort it takes to kill a marine with basic weapons.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bX35NdCls3M&t=0s This matches my experience playing Alan last time. Almost all the casualties were caused by power fists or plasma guns. Because you only need to build and paint a few models to play Kill Team, its easy to get into the game and the opportunities to buy some models that interest you convert and paint them and then get into the game are plentiful. Its also way less commitment than to building a full scale 40k army. Here are some more mod...

I enjoyed the game of Kill Team with Alan and got inspired. This is always dangerous. It might be cool to run a kill team campaign on a space hulk with Denizens against boarders. My tiger heads arrived from Shapeways so I can add the chapter symbol to their pads. I also got some more Blakes 7 ship models. I also bought a new tactical squad and some push fit marines from Mighty Ape. This gives me enough models to make another team. After looking over the colour schemes I ordered some Star Phantoms shoulder pads from Chapter Customiser. Alan is running a Zombie game on Halloween. So I am building a new gang. This may be the start of a campaign because Ask Barkers supplement for his Last Days game will out by then. I got the post Apocalypse Scooby Doo gang from Hasslefree. The now all have weapons. It looks like Fred went to Japan and studied sword fighting, under Hondo Hatori. Velma enlisted in the army and did a couple of tours in military intelligence. Shaggy and Scooby joined...

Emerging from the Warp thousands of light years away from their expected location years and after detecting the external duration of their time in the warp hand lasted several hundred years, the marines about the strike cruiser Shadowclaw sent down a small reconnaissance team.  An Imperial installation marked in the ships cogitator database now appeared to be in ruins and the recon team was send down to gather information and determine what had happened. While exploring the ruins of the Imperial Installation the teams auspex sensons bleeped and detected movement and life signs. The team took up defensive positions until the identity of the newcomers could be determined. Taking cover in a ruined data archive the team noted several sinister grey clad figures moving through the ruins towards them. The team leader and a scout with heavy bolter.  These figures in grey and back mottled armour were stalking through the ruins. Other members on the ground floor wa...

With the upcoming Badab War campaign I got excited about making another Kill Team. Its rather addictive. One a mad crazy impulse I bought a box of Grey Hunters and a box of scouts from Mighty Ape. With a 15% sale the price differential wasn't too bad. They arrived in a couple of days which I can't get from the UK. Ordering a Tactical box makes for a Kill Team and a whole number of alternatives and spares. So I now have a decent number of models to make up a Tiger Claws kill team. Using the Space Wolf models gives the team a rather barbaric look with a large number of totems and strings of claws. These could just as easily be a feline totem animal trophy rather than a canine one. I made some bases using the roller I got from Scott Bowman so I have some cobbled texture. I mixed in some spare standard marine parts (who doesn't have plenty of those?) to make them look a bit less wolfy. Looking at the photo makes me realise how much barrel drilling out I need to do. ...