Exemplum: NOVA Open 2011 Team Tournament

For your viewing pleasure some pics from the NOVA Open Team Tournament:

NOVA Team Tournament Photo Album

Exemplum: Hospitaller Knight

A Knight Hostpitaller from the Infinity PanOceania line. He was a test miniature used to help me figure out how I wanted to paint the knights' armor. I am not 100% happy with the way he came out, specifically the interstitial joints on the arms. I will probably go back over the arms with a Vallejo light grey and some watered down black washes.

Exemplum: Order Sergeant

The picture is a little dark, but here is the first Infinity mini that I have painted. She is an Order Sergeant and comes strapped with a combi-rifle.

This model exemplifies the Infinity line viz female models. She is clearly a "she" but does not have the overly-endowed fan service that many other lines seem dedicated to, at least for their female miniatures.

Exemplum: Lo Pan's Yu Jing Imperial Service Army

As a way to inspire myself to get painting (and a way to keep the pressure on Lo Pan), I have posted some WIP images sent to be by Lo Pan of his burgeoning Yu Jing army.

So far he has all the makings of a strong Imperial Service sectorial army. The Imperial Service lets him field Celestial Guard and Kuang Shi to his little heart's content. The latter of course being the enemies of the state who come strapped with explosives and ready to rumble (literally) the battlefield.

Here is the complete set, based and primered. The models in the initial image have been basecoated and built up to some highlighting and are now just waiting for a wash. To get started, LP picked up the Infinity box sets for the Yu Jing Imperial Sevice and the Kuang Shi.(4 kuang shi in the set). This is a good way to start a small, strong list and keep costs down until he gets a better feel for what he wants to play in Yu Jing.

If you want to see more of Lo Pan's stuff check out his webzone Cinema Fictions.

Exemplum: Painting Infinity Knights

This post is more just a reminder to myself where to find the color palette that was used to paint the knights in Corvus Belli's Military Order starter set.

Studio Giraldez has done some amazing work for CB (and other miniature companies). The direct link to the knights color palette is here.

A big Thanks to Angel Giraldez for making this valuable information available through his blog!

By the way, this is what he considers to be fast painting... I can only hope to get as good as his "fast" painting.

Exemplum: Journey to Infinity

After demoing Infinity at Adepticon, I knew I was hooked.  Shatter Hands and I started playing a couple of weeks ago and he is pimping the game over here. First off, you need terrain and a fair amount of it. So to start things off, here is a link to Toposolitario for some amazing printable terrain. Seen above is his Industrial Complex battlemat and his series of IKUBE containers. The latter require no glue and can be assembled in only a few minutes.

It looks like the Ash Waste nomads have invaded the universe of Infinity. I should be getting some of the Teutonic knights from Infinity soon, but until then some Necromunda minis will have to do.

Here is another shot of Topo's amazing terrain. A few more containers and I will be able to set up corridors and fire lanes cross the entire board.

For more information on Infinity click here.

Exemplum: Calling down the Nightmare

The new Grey Knight codex presents a new spin on a very old concept - the orbital bombardment. The legacy Daemonhunters book presented these attacks as a separate Heavy support choice that essentially bombed one piece of terrain for almost the entire game. Great concept; poor execution.

The new book provides a great new way to deliver this payload in the form of the orbital strike relay. Offered as a 50 point option on the grand master, brother captain, and the techmarine as well as included in Karamazov's cost. Giving the relay to either the grand master or brother captain is frankly a waste as these guys will always be moving and the relay requires a stationary model to use.

However, the techmarine offers the most affordable choice and he doesn't eat up a valuable HQ choice. Karamazov effectively becomes 150 points and is a perfect choice for a firebase, regardless.

The simplest way to run this list is to take Karamazov with a bunch of monkeys parked in a piece of terrain bolstered by the relay techmarine. The techmarine literally hides out of line of sight, picking out a separate target, while the man in the yellow hat and his curious monkeys target their armor of choice.

At the end of the day this is not a "competitive" choice (little on my blog really is) but I think this would be a fun and effective way to bring a little mini-exterminatus to a tabletop near you!

Exemplum: Necromunda Enforcers as a Warband

With the new Grey Knights book on the horizon, I have been exploring some options to create an Inquisitorial warband that mixes elements from all the henchmen without being too spammy or too ineffective. As a devout Necromunda player, I have long been a fan of the Enforcer models but have never really wanted to run them as a gang. In taking another look recently at what you get in the Enforcers box, I realized this it was an excellent starting point for an Arbites inquisition unit.

For a reference to the contents of the box, check out the lead-in image as well Waggerz excellent post on Eastern Fringe (special thanks to Waggerz for the image and the thread). First off, none of the models come with weapons molded on. This is a rarity for any metal line and makes this box an excellent starting point. Furthermore, the weapon options and models are almost spot on for what a warband can run.

Here is a sample warband made from the Enforcers box:
Arcoflagellent - cyber mastiff
Crusader - Arbiter with shield and maul
Acolyte w/boltgun x2 - Arbiters w/ boltgun
Acolyte w/laspistol + ccw - Arbiter sergeant
Acolyte w/special weapon x 3 - Arbiters w/ plasma pistol, flamer, plasmagun

So that's eight guys that translate right out of the box into a reasonable warband. However, because none of the weapons are molded on, you can easily convert from whatever bits you have lying around.

For my warband, I would arm all three special weapon acolytes with meltaguns (the metal bits version work just fine) and would like swap the maul for a power sword to be closer to the crusader's actual look. Other than that, I would run them as-is.

Certainly this is not a "competitive" load-out for a warband, but I do feel like it well represents an Arbite squad without sacrificing too many extra points. I would consider playing the mastiff as an assassin to represent it's speed and agility or if I needed the points, to just drop it down to a basic acolyte.