Deathwatch Campaign Journal - Part 1, Welcome to Threnos

Here is the first installment of our Deathwatch campaign. I am posting this on behalf of Adeptus-B

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My Deathwatch campaign is set in the Calixis Sector rather than the Jericho Reach (I also GM Dark Heresy, and didn't want to have to keep track of two radically different settings simultaneously). This is the introduction I used to establish the setting- after playing it out with the 'core' group of players in the first session, I have emailed this description to subsequent players who have joined our group after the initial launch to bring them 'up to speed'. I hope other GMs may find something in this that they find useful...

You have been recommended for service in the Deathwatch by one of your Chapter’s Chaplains, due to your evident zeal in combating xenos. You have undergone a series of trials that have proven your worth to the elite alien-fighting organization and been accepted into their exclusive ranks, to serve in a beleaguered Watch post on the outskirts of Segmentum Obscurus.

It’s been a voyage of several months, requiring transfers between a series of voidships until you finally reach the edge of Imperial space: the Calixis Sector. You await the arrival of the ship that will carry you on the final leg of your journey at an Imperial Navy substation orbiting a grimy planet called Fenksworld. Other Astartes from a variety of Chapters also await the transport; undoubtedly these are warriors who will be spilling their blood alongside you in your service to the Deathwatch.

After a few days an ominous black Hunter-class destroyer docks at the substation, and you are summoned aboard. As serfs carry your gear to your quarters, you and the other Astartes are directed to the ship’s chapel. There, you are met by a like number of Marines standing at attention; their armour gleams as if recently repainted in their Chapter colours, and each holds a stylized silver shoulder plate in their hands. One by one, these Battle-Brothers step forward and ask each of your group in turn to place a hand on the shoulder plate’s skull-and-crossbones icon and recite the Oath of Binding, the pledge of loyalty to the Deathwatch and the vow to keep its secrets. This ritual complete, the Space Marines mustering out of Deathwatch service hand off their shoulder plates to their replacements and take their leave.

As the destroyer pulls away from the orbital facility and enters the warp, a staff of armourers aboard ship begins the process of modifying your armour, lacquering it Deathwatch black and adding the silver shoulder plate, electroplating the left arm to match. As this painstaking procedure is being undertaken, you and your Battle-Brothers begin undergoing rounds of hypno-indoctrination in the secrets and tactics of the Deathwatch.

Six months go by as the destroyer plies the warp, although temporal distortion makes it seem as though only a few weeks have passed. Finally, claxons sound to indicate that the ship is transitioning back into realspace. Plasma engines rumble for several hours as the destroyer approaches its destination; during this time, your keen hearing the faint, static-filled sounds of Imperial hymns emanating from vox speakers throughout the ship…

Eventually the unmistakable sounds of docking resound through the vessel, letting you know you have finally reached your destination: Watch Fortress Threnos.

You and your new comrades assemble in the destroyer’s primary airlock, clad in power armour newly bedecked with the iconography of the Deathwatch. As you snap to attention, the airlock door hisses open, revealing a large hanger bay beyond. Within the hanger stand one hundred Chapter Serfs in precise rows, clad in somber robes. As one, the serfs drop to a kneeling position, leaving a single figure standing erect in the hanger. He is a fellow Space Marine, clad in Deathwatch colours and bearing the rank insignia of a Captain. His right shoulder plate displays the symbol of his parent Chapter: the mysterious Dark Angels. He is helmetless, revealing a face that has been horrendously scarred: large areas of flesh have been dissolved down to bare skull. The bone has also been damaged, as attested to by the extensive metal reinforcements embedded into areas of exposed skull. One eye was clearly beyond saving, and has been replaced with a glaring red cybernetic implant. The captain stands silent, clearly awaiting a salute; when it is given he quickly returns it an addresses your group: “Welcome to the Deathwatch, Battle-Brothers,” he growls in a rasping voice, as damaged as his visage. “I’m Captain Korvus. I’ll be overseeing your training. You’ve received preliminary implantation of basic Deathwatch protocols during your voyage- now we will begin implementing that knowledge in the live-fire arenas. But first, the Watch Commander has requested your presence in the Chamber of Vigilance. The serfs will attend to your possessions.”

The Captain leads you through a twisting labyrinth of corridors within the orbiting Watch Fortress, passing a number of serfs, scribes, and technicians along the way, all of whom bow reverently in your presence. After several minutes of walking you arrive at a large arched door of adamantine, its surface inscribed with hundreds of names. “Battle-Brothers who have fallen in service of the Calixis Sector Deathwatch since its founding two thousand years ago,” explains Captain Korvus as he enters his authorization code to open the door. Just before the two halves of the great door hiss open, you notice that there is room for more names to be added to this roll call of the dead, and you can’t help but wonder- will yours be among them…?

The Chamber of Vigilance is a large octagonal room with a cathedral ceiling. Monitors line almost every wall, interspersed with stout support columns sculpted to resemble heroes of the Angevin Crusade. A circular table stands unoccupied in the center of the room. Other than the integral servitors monitoring the data flashing across the many vid-screens, the only one in the Chamber is a Space Marine clad in elaborate Artificer armour, the Deathwatch black accented with numerous silver flourishes. He turns as you enter, hands clasped behind his back, and you see than his face is weathered and lined, but strong. He has long white hair and sharp green eyes; the plate on his right shoulder indicates that he hails from the famed Ultramarines.

“Welcome to Watch Fortress Threnos, sons of the Emperor. I am Commander Ramius, senior officer of the Calixian Deathwatch- a position I have had the honour to hold for four centuries now. Here you will receive specialized training in how best to combat the xeno menace that threatens the Imperium on all sides. And worry not- your tour in the Deathwatch will be no mere academic exercise: you will be afforded a wealth of opportunities to practice what you have learned by smiting the enemies of Mankind, honing your skills while earning honour for yourself and your Chapter.

“The enemies of the Emperor are many and varied here on the very edge of Imperial space. Calixis is a young sector by Imperial standards; it’s been a mere two millennia since the Angevin Crusade brought the Emperor’s light to this benighted region, and there are many indigenous species ripe for extermination. Aboriginal Enoulians, scavenging Morgauth, and sinister Draethi will all be targets of your wrath. Many of the well-known xeno threats that span the galaxy are found here as well: savage Ork warbands and piratical Eldar Kabals also menace the Calixis Sector. And then there are the Q'orl, the Verminthiculians, the mystery of the Maggot Men...

“And our commitment extends beyond the sector border as well- the Calixian Deathwatch is pledged to support the war-torn Spinward Front and the settlement of the Koronus Expanse." As the Watch Commander speaks, a series of star charts flash across the Chamber's largest pictscreen, revealing the daunting size of the watch Fortress' jurisdiction.

“Unfortunately, not all of our enemies are aliens: trade in forbidden xeno artifacts and technology- dubbed the ‘Cold Trade’ by the criminal underground- flourishes within the sector, bringing us into frequent conflict with humans who have betrayed their duty to the Emperor for monetary gain. This disgraceful lust for the tools of damnation dictates the placement of this very Watch Fortress.” Commander Ramius touches a button on a control console, calling up an image of a charred, lifeless planet surface. “This is the world below us, the former capitol of the Chaos-worshiping Yu’Vath empire which ruled this region of space before being cast down by the Angevin Crusade. Orbital bombardment at the climax of the Crusade scoured the planet’s surface, but untold leagues of tunnels still exist deep underground. Adeptus Mechanicus explorator teams are excavating these tunnels and destroying the blasphemous artifacts discovered therein, but they have barely made a dent in the hidden secrets left behind by the Yu’Vath. Hence, Watch Fortress Threnos must remain ever vigilant against those traitors to the Emperor who would plunder the hidden mysteries far below, without regard to the evils they may unleash.

“All these threats and more the Calixian Deathwatch must be prepared to stand against. But first: you must be weary from your long voyage. Undoubtedly you are eager to exercise your battle skills. Captain Korvus can arrange a live-fire exercise in one of the station’s battle arenas.”

-And from there, we ran a few 'training sessions' in the Watch Fortress' combat arenas, with the newly-formed Killteam taking on waves of Combat Servitors (both individual Astartes-grade servitors [based on the stats from the DW Rulebook], and Hordes of 'commercial-grade' gun servitors [from the Dark Heresy Rulebook] armed with twin-linked autoguns with Manstopper rounds); ostensibly intended to get the recruits adjusted to working with their new brethren, these sessions really served the practical purpose of giving everyone (players and GM) an idea of what constitutes a 'legitimate threat' to a mighty Deathwatch Space Marine, before we began playing real missions.

Poll Results: Classic Game Boxes

I posted a poll back in December asking you if it was worth selling my old game boxes. Well, 85% of you thought it was worth it.

So, they will be added to the growing pile of items to be sold on eBay. If any of you are interested, I will entertain any reasonable offers!

Thanks for your feedback!

POLL: Classic Game Boxes

I have a stack of empty game boxes. Many of them are vintage, and most are from expansions or miniatures.

My question is, are they worth selling? I no longer want to keep them, but hesitate to recycle them.

I usually don't keep these boxes--Once I build a model, or cram the expansion into the main game, I toss 'em.

But for various reasons, these boxes have hidden well enough to evade their destined demise.

 I have a feeling the vintage GW boxes could get some attention, but the rest are not worth it.

Please post your opinion below, or click on the poll at the top right of the site.

The Vermilion Codex

Hey- Adeptus-B here. Zorcon has been making references to our Dark Heresy campaign in this blog for some time now. The following is a journal of the campaign- it was originally posted on the FFG Forums, but I've always wanted to go back and include some pictures, so I'm re-posing the 'fancy' version here. 'The Vermilion Codex' is the name of a volume of forbidden lore that lies at the heart of many of the Acolytes adventures. This introductory scenario, which sets down the premise, is titled:

DH assumes that the player characters start out as currently employed agents of an Inquisitor. However, as a fan of 'caper' movies, I've always liked the part where the team of specialists is initially recruited, so I thought it would be fun to try something similar in DH- starting the campaign with the player character's first meeting with their prospective patron. This was fairly risky- there was always a possibility that the recruitment mission would be a failure, or the PCs simply wouldn't come together at the right time to form a party. I tried to allow for enough failsafes to channel things in the right direction if the scenario went off the rails, but you can't allow for every possibility. Still, being a glutton for punishment, I blundered forward...

I didn't assign dates to the events depicted here until after the party had officially formed; I had to keep the timing flexible to ensure that everyone ended up at the right place at the right time...

The PCs names are bolded the first time they appear. Text in [brackets] contain information relevant to the storyline that was unknown to the PCs at the time.

The would-be Inquisitorial Acolytes

301.815.M41. The Inquisitorial Black Ship Nicodemus arrives in orbit of the grimy hive-dominated industrial planet of Fenksworld, to take custody of their current batch of identified psykers, in accordance with Imperial law. The capital hive-city of Nova Castillian is abuzz about the ominous visitor which has arrived nearly a month ahead of schedule.

302.815.M41. [Inquisitor Aurellius Montag of the Ordo Hereticus, travelling on board the Nicodemus fulfilling some bureaucratic obligations to his Ordo, has dinner with his old friend Provost Severis, head of the Nova Castillian Arbites precinct. After dinner, Severus asks Montag for his opinions about a possible Conspiracy that his Arbites have uncovered...]

303.815.M41. Venris, a young noble-born cleric in the service of Nova Castillian's Crown District Cathedral, encounters his down-and-out cousin Pietro after his daily services. When Venris inquires about his disheveled appearance, Peitro tells him that he has fallen in with a very dangerous crowd and become addicted to the drug Obscura. His new 'friends' were using him to make contacts with members of Fenksworld's upper class society, but his drug addiction got out of hand and, now that he is of no more use to them, Pietro is convinced that they will try to 'eliminate' him. Venris agrees to help his cousin and takes him in.

Kaarl, a disciple of the Machine God, begins a gruelling 72-hour workshift deep in the Bowels, the lowest functioning district of Nova Castillian, bordering the abandoned Underhive.


304.815.M41. [While Venris is away at services, Pietro breaks under his withdrawal symptoms and disappears.]

In the Adminisratum Annex of Nova Castillion, an adept named Denathor, newly promoted to Munitorium Quastor, spots a discrepancy on a weapon shipment invoice; being naturally paranoid, he investigates, dragging the signatory of the invoice, Sub-Quastor Akton, to the hanger where the shipment is staged. Denathor checks several of the cases of lasguns, and finds nothing amis. When he begins to pry the lid off of the case with the anomalous tracking number, however, he discovers that the case is filled with scrap metal. In a panic, Akton draws a concealed laspistol. This leads to a near-fatal shoot-out, in which Akton reveals that he is stealing lasguns on behalf of parties unknown; Denathor barely survives, while Akton is killed by a mysterious cloaked figure who promptly disappears- apparently after checking the contents of the case himself.


Arbites Trooper Alaric, on patrol in the Administratum Annex, receives a call about a disturbance at a Munitoruim shipping hanger. Upon arriving at the scene of the firefight, he arrests Denathor; he finds no sign of a 'cloaked figure'. Alaric takes Denathor to his Pricinct and, after Denathor recieves some medical attention, he is brought to an interrogation room. While interrogating Denathor, Alaric's investigation is abruptly taken over by Captain Clovix, an Arbites officer who would normally have no jurisdiction over this particular crime.

Capt. Clovix subjects Denathor to a long and repetitve interrogation; not getting the information he was looking for, Clovix sends Denathor to a holding cell to try again the next day.


Later, back at his desk, Alaric receives a secret communication, apparently from an Inquisitor, ordering him to release Denathor and enter a judgement of 'self-defense' -Clovix having not submitted the paperwork necessary to formally take over the investigation.

Returning to his small hab-unit, Denathor is contacted by the cloaked figure- Inquisition Interrogator Sebastian Rao- who enlists his aid in investigating the missing lasguns.


Down in the rough Hive-Bowels neighborhood of Z-Town, streetwise scummer Varn, fallen on hard times, swallows his pride and seeks employment with local crimelord Grim Largo at his public headquarters, a dive bar called The Spigot, so named for the huge industrial spiggot used as a makeshift buttress on the sagging front wall. Varn uses his drinking buddies within the Hammerjacks gang- who frequently work as hired muscle for Largo- as references.

305.815.M41. After services, Venris is contacted by some low-hive Enforcers, who ask him to identify the body of a murder victim who they believe to be his cousin Pietro.


Capt. Clovix, discovering that 'his' prisoner has been released, chews out Alaric, but can take no official action against him since Clovix never filed the necessary paperwork.

Denathor, recuperating form the previous days' injuries at his hab-unit, receives a servitor-delivered batch of Munitorium shipment logs, courtesy of Interrogator Rao. He settles in for a long day of searching for discrepancies similar to the one that alerted him to the missing lasguns.

When his references check out, Varn is hired by Grim Largo as a secondary driver on a mysterious shipment down into the Lower Bowels, a mission led by Largo's tech-savvy second-in-command, Dullos. After a long drive down to a dark and disused section of the Bowels boardering the Underhive, it is revealed that stolen lasguns are being traded to some offworld smugglers for a supply of the illegal narcotic Obscura. However, since the smugglers know that this will be the last in a series of exchanges, and having heard that Largo is understaffed due to a gang war between the Hammerjacks and the Screaming Skulls, the smugglers decide to betray Grim Largo; they try to kill his men and take the lasguns. Most of Largo's men are wiped out, but Dullos dives into a vehicle and flees; Varn manages to jump into the back. As they narrowly escape from the ambush [unaware that a tracking device has been attached to the vehicle by a hidden figure], shotgun blasts ring out followed by the [apparent] war-cry of the Screaming Skulls. The smugglers flee with most of the lasguns.

Offworld smugglers exchange stolen lasguns in the Underhive

Kaarl, investigating a strange power fluctuation [caused by Dullos overriding a security program to facilitate the rendezvous], comes upon the shoot-out between the smugglers and Largo's men. He is surprised by a hulking 'jungle fighter'-type Guard veteran who identifies himself as Sgt. Thrane, an agent of an Inquisitor [it was he who imitated the Screaming Skulls war-cry to scare off the smugglers]. Kaarl tries to close a hatchway to trap the smugglers, but the hatch closes too slowly and the smugglers get away. After staging the crime scene to look like a Screaming Skulls gang clash [Thrane had a 'run-in' with some Skulls on the way to the rendezvous], and hiding the few remaining lasguns, he takes down Kaarl's cognomen information and tells him that his boss will be in touch.

Sgt. Thrane contacts Kaarl, as Varn flees from the smugglers

Venris arrives at the seedy Bowels-level Enforcer precinct house [at the entrance to Z-Town] to identify his cousin's body and arrange for it to be sent uphive. The enforcers have clearly done little by way of investigating Pietro's death. When he leaves the precinct house, Venris doesn't notice that his servitor-cab is being followed by a battered old limousine; on a deserted stretch of the Arteria, the limousine forces the servitor-cab off the road. Two hulking heavies with guns get out and haul Venris into the limousine. After a short drive, he is dragged into a seedy pub with an enormous industrial spigot buttressing the front wall. Inside, he is taken to an overweight man [Largo] at a private table who asks him why he is snooping after a junkie. Venris says that "he confessed some very disturbing things to me...". Largo is surprised by his honesty and orders his men to take Venris out and 'dispose' of him.

Quintilla, a void-born woman who apprenticed in the art of assassination with a zealous Death Cult, but was expelled from their ranks, wanders the hive Bowels semi-lost, looking for sinners to punish in the name of the Emperor but finding few 'worthy' of her attention. She comes upon some likely candidates roughly dragging a man in the robes of a Ministorium cleric out of a seedy tavern. After a short but heated battle, she and Venris dispatch the thugs, then wipe out Largo's bodyguards inside The Spigot. Largo flees in panic out the back door from what he assumes to be a deliberate assassination attempt. Venris and Quintilla poke around the Spigot trying (unsuccessfully) to get some information, when the Enforcers arrive on the scene. Quintilla is nearly killed, but Venris repays her rescue buy convincing the Enforcers that they are innocent victims who acted in self-defense; confused and scared, the rookie Enforcer shoos them out the back door.

Dullos, driving like a madman, with Varn holding on for dear life, arrives at The Spigot; rounding the corner to the back alley, he slams head-on into Largo's fleeing limousine, sending Varn flying. Dullos jumps into Largo's vehicle and they flee, leaving the injured Varn behind.

Venris and Quintilla, walking down the alley from The Spigot, come upon Varn. Assuming that he may know something useful about the people responsible for his cousin's death, Venris offers to help Varn out. He flags down a servitor-cab and puts Varn and Quintilla up in a rented mid-hive hab unit for the night, then returns to his quarters in the Cathedral.

[As a squad of Enforcers try to make sense of the shootout at The Spigot, a shadowy figure, having tracked Dullos' vehicle to the alleyway, contacts a distant ally via encrypted microbead. He tells him to search servitor-cab records for three people matching the description of the suspects seen fleeing The Spigot; upon finding the address of the cab's destination he orders the information deleted before anyone else finds it...]

Happy Thanksgiving!

Well, this was supposed to be my Halloween post. RL has just been to consuming. So this is now a Day of Thanks post! I really appreciate all my followers and I hope you and yours have a great holiday!

Now, on to the fun stuff!! Below I have a brief synopses of what I have managed to work on over my absence from the world wide web... hope you like it!

My GM requested I make a graveyard
(click on image to enlarge)

My GM ran a special Halloween themed Dark Heresy encounter on the game session just prior to Halloween. Unfortunately, mostly due to my character's actions, the encounter never occurred in the graveyard (it stayed in the crypt below ground), so the terrain was never used! Oh well, it will get used eventually. I will explain how I made this in a later post.

Rel, our new scumer
(click on image to enlarge)

We have recently added a new player to our Dark Heresy game. In a future post, I will show all the conversions to this model, but for now I will say there is a head and weapon swap.

Remote Comm Unit
(click on image to enlarge)

Back in this post, I showed a WiP communications console. Here it is ready to be painted. I will also discuss this piece in more detail in a later post.

Trailer progect
(click on image to enlarge)

I am rally not sure where I am going with this one. I am half inclined to remove the element (an old school transformer toy) from the yellow trailer and just scratch-build a box-trailer. But on the other hand I could build a box trailer without the toy trailer, so why not just keep going to see what I end up with?

Image taken from the internets without permission

Finally, I have a project to complete for my GM--Convert 12 of the above HeroClix models to Rak'gol's for our future Deathwatch games. I have all the bitz (various tyranid arms) ready to go, and just need to find the time.

Risk Reward

Hey guys! It’s been awhile since I have posted and a ton of things have happened. (Note to Ron: This is not an apology!! :P) The most significant change in my life has been moving my mother-in-law in with us. I converted our barely used dining room to my new office (FYI, the family room functions as a dining room), and the old office is my in-laws room now. She has Alzheimer's. It was my suggestion to move her in as the previous situation was just not working. I am now a stay at home care giver *and* dad. At times it is an easy job, at times it is tough. But we are holding strong.

On to lighter news, my Dark Heresy campaign is plodding along at about 1 session a month (the best my group can manage), but I am having a blast!! We are planning to start our next session earlier than usual (by about 2 hours) and to drink less beer (so the last 2 hours is productive!!). We have also added a new player to the mix and I will showcase the work I did on the miniature in a later post.

My 1980 version of Risk with Roman Numeral pieces
(Image taken from BoardGameGeek.com without permission)

The other day, my son and I played his first game of Risk. He is 8 and has ADHD, but did really well for his first game. However, about 3/4's the way through the game, my son looked at me and said "Daddy, I am a boy who plays with soldiers, not a boy who plays with clock numbers." I about fell out of my chair laughing. We finished up the game and I spent the next two weeks researching how I could supply soldiers to my version of risk.

After spending most of my time pouring through what boardgamegeek.com had to offer, I decided to get the pieces from the 1993 version of Risk, and the entire 2008 version of Risk for the new rules and components.

Pieces from the 1993 version of Risk
(Image taken from BoardGameGeek.com without permission)

Pieces from the 2008 version of Risk
(Image taken from BoardGameGeek.com without permission)

The 2008 "revised" version adds major and minor objectives, along with cities and capitals, plus rewards for completing objectives. It has also balanced the reinforcements rules. The only real "down side" is that the armies are simply arrows!?!

After about a week of searching, I found what I was looking for on eBay for a great price. The items arrived, and my son and I have played 2 more games of Risk. However, I found the 1980 2-player rules to be too simplistic, the 1993 version was the same but introduced a neutral ally, and the 2008 version doesn't even have a 2-player option!! Fortunately I was able to download the 2003 version of the rules because it has an extensive active neutral rules set.

I am working on writing up rules essentially blending the ’93 and ’03 2-player variant within the mechanics of the '08 rules set. Once I have it finalized, I will discuss it in a later post. 

My OCD kicked in and I also started working on a new map heavily influenced by the PC game Risk II. When I get further along, I will post it.

Its good to be back in the blogosphere!!

Poll Results

Here are the results to the poll that I ran durring the month of May.

If you were to buy a new set of RPG dice, What would you most likely buy...

• 5% Individual Dice
• 5% In sets of 6
• 20% In sets of 7
• 5% In sets of 10
• 0 A large mixed lot
• 20% All one color
• 20% Sets of colors
• 5% Buy on-line
• 5% Buy at FLGS

Thank you to all who contributed!

Poll: RPG Dice

I just started a new poll. I would like to get a better idea of what people's RPG dice buying habits are. Do you buy them in sets, or individually? Do you buy all one color, or in multiple colors? Would you buy dice on-line or from your FLGS?

Cast your vote now!

Flames of War

Two Panzer IV G tanks take on 3 confused M4 Sherman tanks

Laertes picked up Flames of War last week, and we are planning to play an introductory battle on Friday. He will be taking control of a German force and I will be fumbling my way through with a US force.

We both like big armored machines with guns, so we are opting to play tank companies. Which also works because we don't have any miniatures for Flames of War! Fortunately, I have a small collection of Axis & Allies miniatures, so they will be substituting in for the "real" models. While the A&A figures are less detailed and less historically accurate, they are apparently the same scale as FoW miniatures.

The army lists have been chosen (limited to figures on hand)-- Laertes will have 8 Panzer IV H tanks and I will be sporting 11 M4A1 Sherman tanks. The total points will ring in at 760.

German Panzerkompanie List
1 Company HQ, 190 pts
   2 Panzer IV H

1 Panzer Platoon, 285 pts
   3 Panzer IV H

1 Panzer Platoon, 285 pts
   3 Panzer IV H


US Tank Company List
1 Company HQ, 140 pts
   2 M4A1 Sherman

1 Tank Platoon, 205 pts
   3 M4A1 Sherman

1 Tank Platoon, 205 pts
   3 M4A1 Sherman

1 Tank Platoon, 205 pts
   3 M4A1 Sherman


Wish me luck... I'll need it!

Back on the Bench

Well, 2010 was quite a year! Know one had any idea how long my recovery would take-- but I wont rehash everything here (I'll have links to the posts discussing it at the bottom of this post). I've got a lot to share, so I expect this is going to be a monster post.

The only gaming I have gotten in over the last year is a handful of sessions of Dark Heresy (run by Adeptus-B).  I am playing a Psyker and our group is a few hundred XP into our 4th rank. There are 5 players left after 2 had previously dropped out of the campaign. We play about once a month. Here are a few highlighted encounters.

On a forge world, an abandoned platform about a mile off shore. 
We land in an Aquillia Lander to assault the heretics.

(click on image to enlarge)

On a feral world, we set up an ambush in order to capture the
leader of a small group of poachers. I started a detailed
description of the encounter in this post: Ambush!
(click on image to enlarge)

On a frontier world, we approach a disabled wagon on the side
of the road -- as expected, it was an ambush!
(click on image to enlarge)

 

On the modeling front, I started about 1-2 weeks ago putting in some quantifiable time on the work bench. Nothing really to completion yet... its all WiP. Even more than ever, I have a very short attention span-- I'll paint a mini for a few minutes, then grab a different mini to pin on a arm and hand, then dig through a bitz boxes looking for the right piece for something else, then I'll go back to the original mini and add a little more paint. (all this in between repairing my son's toys and organizing the garage!! :) )

The first images are for a squad of Rough Riders. These were in my "to do" pile for a few years, but Adeptus-B recently asked if I had any cowboys on horses for a future encounter-- this was the best I could come up with. Although, I decided to equip them as a unit of Rough Riders rather than random cowboys... which makes them a little less fitting as cowboys. The reason for that decision is that I would love to complete an IG army representing a small out-world "last stand" planetary defense (ie hodge-podge army).

Rogue Trader era Rough Riders as given to me by Laertes.
(click on image to enlarge)

After some minor conversion work (arm and weapon swaps),
and adding 2 Rogue Trader era IG jet bike riders to horses.
(click on image to enlarge)

In a previous post, I have mentioned my small Adeptus Arbites force here: Adeptus Arbites. I managed to mostly complete one of the counts-as rhinos. Again, this was a request from Adeptus-B for use in Dark Heresy. I still plan on adding badging, some recently acquired eBay bitz, and possibly adjusting the placement of the brush guard.

A Dollar Tree toy with some bitz and paint.
(click on image to enlarge)

I have worked on some minis specifically for our Dark Heresy campaign as well-- Version 2.0 for our adept and my character, and a servo-skull. Nothing of note on the servo-skull, but on the two player character minis, this will be the first time I have temporarily mounted the models on something to make handling easier. I will also be attempting Ron's (from FTW) technique of painting "inside out".

This one is essentially done-- just need to spray with matte clear
cote and then gloss the metal bitz.
(click on image to enlarge)

Our group's psyker mk II (a Dark Age Forsaken Leader) and
adept mk II (a Games Workshop Master of Ordinance)
(click image to enlarge)

Well, I think that covers most of it. I did score some OOP Space Fleet minis on ebay to add to my Battlefleet Gothic fleets, but I'll cover that in a later post.

If you want to read more about what Ive gone through, Ive mentioned it in these posts: Going on Hiatus, Back on my Feet... Sort of, Recovery Round 3, and Still Here!

Still Here!

I'm still around, but lately not very active in the modeling/gaming hobby. About a month ago I started getting double vision. My docs are still working to find the cause and hopefully it is not the tumor returning.

I have a building project that I have been trying to finish up for a Dark Heresy encounter run by Adeptus-B, but i get fatigued quickly and sometimes get headaches too. Needles to say it is not done yet.

In the mean time, Adeptus-B has finished compiling the story to date for our Dark Heresy campaign. It turned out to be very long, so after he breaks it up into a few smaller chapters, I will take some photos of re-staged encounters and post everything here.

Zorcon

Red Heads Win!

 I'm Baa'ack!!

In the beginning of my gaming experience, I was a roleplayer (D&D), then I became a wargamer (WH40K), and eventually I fell to the darkside and became a [collectible] card-player (MtG). The time I spend playing these games ebbs and flows. But whatever game is on the playing table, the hobby of painting miniatures has always occupied part of my spare time..

Now, being well into my recovery, the last 2+ weeks have been fantastic! However, I just have not been able to put together enough stamina and/or motivation together long enough to get back to the worktable and work on anything of note.

My son Marcus with a hermit crab in hand.

What I *have* done over the last few weeks is spend time with the family. In particular a 2 night stay at the beach. I have also gotten back into Magic the Gathering after a 10 year absence from the game - Spurred on by Laertes, although it did not take much coercing.

I never played in a WH40K tournament... and I never even played a single game at my FLGS. However I have played MtG at my FLGS, at tournaments, and even took 8th in state. As I re-learn the game with slightly different rules and completely different cards, I came back to a familiar deck type - Red Deck Wins.

The deck type Red Deck Wins is an aggro-style deck that has remained popular and dominant in various forms and at various times in Standard format tournaments. The basic concept is simply to play the most aggressive creatures and most efficient burn spells to win as quick as possible.

My current deck looks like this:

Lands
14 Mountain
4 Arid Mesa
4 Scalding Tarn

Creatures
4 Goblin Guide
4 Hellspark Elemental
3 Plated Geopede
4 Ball Lightning
4 Hell's Thunder   

Instants
4 Burst Lightning
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Searing Blaze

Sorceries
3 Elemental Appeal
4 Earthquake

This is a recent incarnation. Most noteworthy, I added the pay 1 life lands, although the sideboard is still in flux. I'm not ready for it yet, but after some more playtesting with Laertes, Ill try this puppy out at a local tournament.

Back on my Feet... sort of

Well its been a week since I came back from the hospital, and I finally had the strength to get out to the workbench last night. I've spent 3.5 weeks on my back after 2 surgeries (there is a chance I am going back for a third next week), so I'm a little week in the legs right now.

I spent a few hours last night and a few hours today painting. I didn't worry too much about completing any challenges or working on armies... I just painted what caught my eye.

The first thing I worked on was a small unit of RT era Penal Legion troops. The sergeant and 3 of the troops were acquired in the 80's and I recently picked up the other 2 troops from Laertes. They will perform double duty as Dark Heresy NPC's and members of a Rag Tag IG army I've been brewing up.

These guys were painted with a base coat, 3 layers of washes (2x Devlan Mud, 1x Badab Black), and then "highlighted" with the base coat.


I also worked a little bit on the wholesale repainting of my BFG Space Marine fleet by repainting a squadron of Hunter class destroyers, and painting 2 Grey Knight Strike Cruisers. I ordered the cruisers from Forge World about 2-3 years ago and I never got around to assembling them. The destroyers were ordered from GW around the same time, along with a pack of Gladius and Nova frigates and all three squadrons were painted straight away.