Bullgryns - Are they any Good? - Discussion

I love my Astra Militarum army 'The Emperor's Feth and it is designed to function with maneuverability and firepower in equal measure. However it is really easy to get bogged down and trapped if the enemy can make it in close. There are ways that I combat this but I don't have an attacking counter punch that can really hit back.

Bullgryns

I love the old Ogryn models and have a few of them but in my view Ogryns just don't cut it and I've rarely used them in a game. However, I have admired the Bullgryn models for a while as they look fantastic - great sculpts and very fitting in the way they look. I also have a few transport options that could easily transport them into the places they are needed.

So I have a few questions that need answering:
- Are they any good?
- Are they worth paying £22.42 (Element games) for only 3 models?
- Are they worth the points cost?
- How do they work in a game situation?

Lets delve into these questions (not necessarily in that order!)...

Astra Militarum Hellhound Complete! - Melt & Burn for the Emperor

Following on from part 1 HERE where I got my new Hellhound up to a very clean tabletop standard of painting I have now weathered the heck out of it and I am calling it finished.

Below are some comments about what I did to weather the Hellhound and all of the pictures introducing The Emperor's Feth newly recruited suicide cleanse and burn division...

1.- I absolutely love this model, it was a joy to paint with all of the details and character that is in this kit. I didn't feel I really had to add anything extra to it in the form of add-ons or equipment.

2 - Following the last post I thought that I would try a few new techniques out that I have been recommended to use by the other dads for ages.
Firstly I sponged on some Abaddon black to areas of the model where paint chipping would occur such as edges that may get caught, where handles get used and where guardsmen would climb up and down the vehicle.
I have never done this before but the outcome is super effective and i'm totally going to do it on every model from this point on!

Astra Militarum Hellhound - Burn for the Emperor!

Recently I managed to stumble across an Astra Militarum Hellhound that I must have bought a while ago. I have always loved these vehicles and wanted one in my Emperor's Feth army so, as I am at home with a broken ankle I thought lets get it on!!

I haven't quite finished it so far but got to a point where it just needs weathering. Here is the story...

1. The beginning

This is how I found the hellhound - unloved at the bottom of a box!! I'd obviously settled on a scheme and started painting the barrels and hull. I can't remember any of this though and had no idea where the turret, instructions or if there was a back half to the vehicle!!!

How I found it

 2. Lets get started!

I wanted a change in colour scheme from both what I was painting (White) and what the rest of my army Chimera's and Leman Russ's looked like (Dawnstone Grey). I figured that these guys are the suicide kings and want to be noticed as they fly across the battlefield in their big petrol tank just waiting to be turned into a mushroom cloud! So I settled on Ulthuan Grey which is a very light grey with elements of a blue hue in it.
I quickly painted this up as a basecoat and then Leadbelchered up all of the metal bits before applying a Nuln oil wash to the metal and an Agrax Earthshade wash to all of the recesses in the model.

Throne of Skulls Doubles Tournament Feb 2018 - Part 5 - Best Painted Competitions

Following up from our tournament reports: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 & Part 4. I thought it would be good to write a quick post about the best painted competition for the weekend regarding what happens, what to expect and of course post a few photos of the armies nominated.

We were one of the lucky pairs to be nominated and although we didn't win - we didn't deserve to which you'll understand when you see the other armies involved - it is a very proud moment to see your hard work in the cabinets at the mecca of 40k - Warhammer World.

'The Feth on Parade'

What happens?

During a tournament weekend at Warhammer World there is always a 'Best painted army' competition where the best 6 armies in the room are shortlisted by the organisers and invited to be displayed in the glass cabinets at the front of the gaming hall. During lunchtime on the second day of the tournament everyone in the tournament then votes for their favourite and the army with the best votes wins the title!

Day 2 - Game 5 and Results - Throne of Skulls Doubles Tournament Feb 2018 - Part 4

Sunday - Day 2 - Game 5
During dinner all we could do was sit in silence as we couldn't believe what had just happened in Game 4!! Now it really didn't matter whether we won or lost the last game as the one we just played had been so good!!

We slowly picked ourselves up and wondered if we could still do it though. Could we still win the tournament?

We were slightly delayed in starting our final game as our army was in the cabinets for best painted army and being voted on which didn't help as we were rushing around getting it sorted. Finally we realised we were on Table 14 against a team called 'Twelve inch assault' - so in the top 28 players - not bad!

Army
We found our opponents waiting for us and their army was Salamanders and Ultramarines. We introduced ourselves and had a very lukewarm reception - I'm not sure if this was because we were delayed in getting our army back or whether they were just tired or what but let's just say that the conversation didn't flow. Also when we asked about using the dice app it was a straight refusal with a hint of disgust for suggesting it - fair enough but the game was going to be a lot slower and we had already started late.

Looking at their army they had lots and lots of missiles from elite marines and tanks. They had a grav tank that had loads of missiles, 2 Lascannons and a Gatling Cannon, a Sicarian and a squad of Intercessors that had 39 flamer shots autohitting plus loads of missiles too!
In fact I would hazard a guess to say that once in range they would have more shooting than us. However, we looked at the army and both thought that we had the edge in this game as we outranged their guns and so could possibly do enough damage before they got close. A lot was also going to depend on who got the first turn as both armies could really cripple each other...

Mission
The mission rolled was Resupply Drop
This mission involved 6 objectives of which after the 3rd turn 4 randomly get taken off the table.

Rich and I both quite like this mission as it means that the game is effectively a shooting match with a last minute run for the two objectives - exactly how we like to play!!

Day 2 - Game 4 - Throne of Skulls Doubles Tournament Feb 2018 - Part 3

On Saturday night we had a couple of beers in the oldest Inn in England - Ye Old Trip To Jerusalem underneath Nottingham castle and then moved on to Ludorati which is a board game cafe/bar. I decided to introduce Rich to a really simple but quite tactical game which my daughters and I like to play - Lost Cities. We had a fun time and playing a different game allowed us to wind down a little as all we could think about was Warhammer tactics!

As we walked into Bugmans on Sunday morning and ordered the first of many Lattes we wondered whereabouts in the rankings we might be after our loss. This tournament doesn't just take into account wins and draws but also favourite games and votes for best painted army so, although we thought we might not be able to win, we did believe we could still finish highly. So a good marker would be what table number we would be playing on...

Sunday - Day 2 - Game 4
Table 20 was the result so we knew that at least we were in the top 40 somewhere. Our opponents Jason and Rich duly arrived and we had a good old chat. These guys were playing on the next table to us for the first game of the tournament and so we had already said hello. I had even already said "thakn goodness we're not playing that army"...

Army
Jason and Rich were playing an army called 'Void Rage' which consisted of Dark Eldar and Eldar.
The army consisted of a huge amount of flying or hovering stuff which meant -1 to hit for the flyers and -1 to hit outside of 12" - This was not going to be fun hence my comment of yesterday - Nice to look at though!

Top Gun of the future

Mission and Tactics
The mission was Scorched Earth from the Chapter Approved book.

Throne of Skulls Doubles Tournament Feb 2018 Review - Part 1 - The general experience

As you may know from our Twitter updates or our last post HERE Rich and I (James) attended the Throne of Skulls Doubles tournament at Warhammer World in Feb 2018. It was to be our first tournament since 2012 and seemed like a good one to enter because of the focus on enjoyment, it was in February which is a fairly quiet time for us two dads and that it was at Warhammer World of which I haven't been since it has been refurbished.

Warhammer World Entrance

The build up to the tournament was quite fun and interesting from my point of view as I was like a kid in a sweet shop - just totally giddy for the two weeks prior, not being able to contain my excitement for much of the time! We had decided to reprise 'The Emperor's Feth' our Astra Militarum army from 5th edition and Rich set about making it work in 8th. After a few weeks of Whatsapping lists to each other we finally settled on one (you can see it HERE) and both had to paint up a few new units - 3 sentinels, a Tempestor Prime, a Scions squad and a Taurox Prime. I managed to finish the Taurox on the Friday morning we were due to leave - typical!!!

The Emperor's Feth

Warhammer 40k Throne of Skulls Doubles Tournament - 10/11th Feb 2018

Just after Christmas Rich and I decided to enter the Warhammer 40k Throne of Skulls Doubles Tournament in February. We haven't played competitively since 5th edition back in 2010 & 2011. Since the onset of young children in general our hobby time has been limited but we thought that it was about time for us to compete once again.

Motivation
In previous years we have always focused mainly on painting and trying to win best painted at the event. 4 times we entered and 4 times we were nominated but never won - always the bridesmaid...sigh! This time around however we have decided to be competitive and actually try to win the thing! Even though I have been playing Blood Angels since 8th began and Rich hasn't played many games of 8th due to his focus on his Imperial Fists 30k army we decided to resurrect our first love - The Emperor's Feth Astra Militarum army. Both of us love this army and it has been good for us to have a rest and paint something else over the past few years.

James' half of a previous doubles tournament back in 5th edition

Pulling out the army has brought back many memories of tournament play - getting in the top ten  and then being crippled by our opponent seizing the initiative in the last game, rushing through the last turns to complete a victory with seconds to spare, rolling unbelievably hot with 2 Manticores and destroying an Ork army in one turn (sorry!), etc. etc...

However an army from 5th edition is not one that will suffice now and so we started to do some research...

Taurox Prime - Why I chose it and tips on building it

A Change In Army

A new year and a switch back to 'The Emperor's Feth' my first and favourite army in 40k! After a couple of years getting a Blood Angels army in tabletop condition a change was well needed and I am now ready to return back to my Astra Militarum army which needs a serious update as I haven't played it since 5th Edition!!

Some of The Emperor's Feth

I began my Warhammer 40k experience by total fluke in the week that 5th edition was released and played competitively all through that edition. You can check out the story of how I started in 40k and chose my army here.

Since 5th I played a little in 6th, less in 7th and then have played a lot more since 8th was released. However I have only played with Blood Angels so far in 8th edition and am in need of a change, so back to 'The Feth' I go.

The Emperor's Feth

My army actually still stacks up to some extent from 5th edition, but to compete and achieve a brigade detachment for some juicy command points it definitely needs a couple of additions. If you want to see my current Astra Militarum army and units there are some pics in the Gallery.

To get to a brigade i'm going to need some more elites but mainly troops as I only have 3 troop squads at the moment. I do want a couple of extra standard troop squads but I don't want to start back painting with something so dull. The alternative is to paint some Tempestus Scions which I have always loved the look of but back in the day they were not worth the points. Now however they are resurgent and powerful too for their points cost. With Deep Strike, orders and the ability to take 4 plasmaguns in a squad for 100 - 150 points is fantastic!

The Emperors Feth Astra Militarum Army Part 3 - Troops - Heavy Weapons Squads

This third post in the series continues the tour of my Astra Militarum army 'The Emperors Feth'. You can catch my list and how I got into the army here anwhat my HQ looks like here.

Today I fancied delving into my lone platoon and having a look at what heavy weaponry I have.

He ain't heavy, he's my brother
Every army needs light and heavy vehicle killers and so I chose 9 heavy weapon teams to sit in my platoon as 2 heavy weapon squads and 3 teams distributed across my HQ and 2 troop squads that combine together. I group them as follows:

1 lascannon in the HQ - 1 shot but at bs4.

The Emperor's Feth Astra Militarum Army Part 2 - HQ - Company Command Squad - The Boss!

Continuing from my first post which was an overview of 'The Emperor's Feth', here I am going to talk in more detail about the different sections of the army. What better place to start than with the Boss - my HQ the Company Command Squad.

My CCS has changed in editions of the game. Back in 5th Edition I fielded a lot of long range firepower with elements of mobile infantry and a mobile CCS. 5th Ed. gave us lots of tanks and melta was king. Luckily IG, as it was then, had oodles of melta firing out of every orifice! My CCS was the gold standard though. Drive up in a Chimera, unload my Company Commander along with 4 meltagun toting veterans, issue the order to twin link hits against tanks and watch a land raider go BOOM! Ok I might not survive the retribution but for 90points who cares!!

Now though things have changed. 7th Edition brings in Slay the Warlord, there is more infantry and flyers abound. The Astra Militarum has prevailed and their tactics have changed. Sitting back and using orders while hiding like cowards is now the way forward for our once heroic Commander.

Now the squad is a heavily armed bunker that sits protecting the heavy weapons and objectives in the back lines and consists of:

1 Company Commander (to issue orders to surrounding units)

2 Veterans with Meltaguns (I like to keep these handy, for close encounters)

1 Veteran heavy weapon team with Lascannon (1 shot at BS4 with orders is generally enough to do some damage from range every turn.

1 Astropath (For no in game use whatsoever, I just really love the model and I have painted him ok!)

1 Chimera with Multilaser & Heavy Flamer (For protection and Medium to short range firepower)

Now as you can see the models have also changed. During a tournament at Warhammer World my army was short-listed for Best Painted Army. Unfortunately I didn't win so I asked for some feedback which was that my army was a little too dark and that the models used were very similar (I used Cadians for my troops and my vets, they were just painted a different colour - red for the troops and grey for the vets).

Taking this on board I repainted all of my vets to White and brown, weathered the armour heavily and switched the heads from cadians to some from Pig Iron Productions (this is why I am sad to see them closing down - See my post here). I also changed the lasguns on the lasgun toting veterans but you'll have to wait until another post for that one although here is a close up of some of the veterans here:

I am so glad I did change as I really love my new veteran models now even though it took such a long time to repaint them and model new lasguns. I will include a tutorial on how I did this in a later post when I have taken some better close up pictures.

The only other change that you may notice is my Company Commander. I prefer the old one as I really feel that I painted him well (I just love his face!) but unfortunately at the following tournament at Warhammer World (where I again got nominated for best painted army but never won it even with pimped up veterans) I dropped him and his right arm disappeared into the warp. Since then I have just been using a replacement model until I can be bothered to repaint another arm!

Finally I should mention the Heavy Weapon team. I have only ever bought 1 heavy weapon set (because of the price) but managed to get 9 heavy weapons out of it with a little creativity. The main reason for achieving this is to get the right bases so that the weapon can sit on something other than its normal stand. I looked around on the internet for a 60mm base that was an urban ruin and had enough room for 2 miniatures and a heavy weapon. Luckily I found a company called Black Cat Bases who do some really cool stuff. Check out their website here: http://blackcatbases.com/

I loved the bricks and the black and white checked floor as it just added a little more colour to the army and also a bit of realism of the heavy weapon team finding cover to fire from amidst a raging battle.

So there we have it, my HQ - the Company Command Squad. Quite a long post for only 6 models but I hope you enjoyed it. Please let me know what you think and what your Astra Militarum HQ choice is.

All the best,

James

Pig Iron to shut down

I was saddened to receive an email this week from one of my favourite model production companies Pig Iron. They announced that the company was to be shut down with the following message.
"After much deliberation and soul searching both myself and Lisa have decided to close down Pig Iron at the end of March 2016.

We've been wrestling with this decision for many, many months but the constant pressure of running two businesses at the same time has taken its toll on us both and we feel its time, after nearly fifteen years, to take a step back and live a more 'normal' and relaxed life. On top of the business side of things we’ve both felt the need to explore other areas outside of the gaming industry but the constant 'background noise' of Pig Iron has always taken priority.

Wargaming, sculpting, painting and scenery making will still play an important part of our lives so we’ll be keeping the Facebook site open to keep in touch with the wider gaming world.

Moving forward, it would be a shame for the miniatures to disappear and we’re currently exploring ways of keeping the ranges going with other parties and we’ll keep you updated on any developments over the next month or so. Any suggestions are most welcome so please get in touch on: enquiries@pig-iron-productions.com.

All current and new orders will be fulfilled until we close the webstore down but we won’t be getting any more stock from Griffin Moulds. If you need to get in touch regarding your order please email us at the address above (Don’t forget to check your spam folder for any replies).

The last fifteen years have been an exciting challenge and very rewarding plus we’ve met some great people along the way and hopefully made some cool miniatures for your games.

Sincere thanks to all the people who have purchased our miniatures and supported us in other ways over the years.

Lets not say goodbye, lets say, “Stay in touch…”

Simon and Lisa - Pig Iron."

The heads for my veterans were from Pig Iron

I sincerely wish Simon and Lisa all the best for the future and thank them for some of the models that they have produced. I have purchased many bits from them in the past to personalise my Astra Militarum army the Emperors Feth and their sculpts have always impressed me.


March will be a doffing of the cap to a great company.

James

The Emperor's Feth Astra Militarum Army Part 1 - The beginning & thelist

The Emperor’s Feth

I enjoy hearing about how people started in this hobby, chatting about armies, lists and I absolutely love looking at painted models. With this in mind I thought I would blog about my history with 40k, what I’ve been up to, and introduce my 1^st army The Emperor’s Feth. I hope that you enjoy what I’ve been up to and would love to hear your story and what you think of my army and list. Over this post and more over the next few weeks I’ll showcase this army with my thoughts and how I painted each unit so please read on, enjoy and comment by all means…

The Beginning…

So as The Emperor’s Champion (Rich) says 2009 rolls around and out of curiosity I walk into a Games Workshop in Stockport, Manchester. As it happened, that week 5^th edition was due to be released and 40k was being pushed in the store. I got chatting with the manager and had a good look around before my eyes finally came to rest on an Ogryn model. It looked ace – bigger than the others and full of character. I had no idea of the rules or army, all I wanted was to paint this beast and so I bought it with a few paints and a brush and there was the start of my love affair with the Imperial Guard or as it is now known the Astra Militarum.

Above: The first model!

Tournaments

Over the next few weeks 5^th Edition Imperial Guard was released with a bunch of new models which nicely relieved me of any spare cash I had at the time. As I was building my army Rich had also been getting into Ultramarines which prompted lots of games and new models as were constantly trying to beat each other. Each week would see a new addition that one of us would have to counter with a purchase or a list change of our own – we were having a mini arms-race!! At this time Games Workshop began their 40k Doubles tournaments and Rich and myself decided to enter with Ultramarines and Astra Militarum at our first tournament and then with a Double Astra Militarum force at subsequent tournaments. We had to choose a name for our army and so The Emperor’s Feth was born. The doubles tournaments were amazing, we got to meet loads of people (Dad Dave is one), see Warhammer World, do fairly well in the tournaments and most importantly get nominated 4 times for best painted armies.

Above: The Emperor’s Feth at a tournament at Warhammer World

Above: Under pressure at a tournament at Warhammer World. Not quite sure how we got ourselves into this situation!!

Above: Dad Rich looking a bit geeky at our first trip to Warhammer World back in the day

Hobbying

It was during these tournaments where I saw some beautifully painted models that I decided that I wanted to create not just an army but an army with a theme. At this point I was considering painting a Tyranid army as I love Aliens (who doesn’t) and love the idea of Genestealers and a swarm. I started but after putting together and painting a handful of Genestealers decided it was a bad idea that would take far too long – especially as I still wanted to add to The Emperor’s Feth. So I came about the idea that The Feth would be specialists at fighting Tyranids and began to model Tyranids onto my existing Astra Miltarum figures. I also built the army list to this theme. In order to fight the swarm I have lots of bullets, flamers and some snipers and lascannons for the bigger creatures. This hobby idea is still taking shape so you will see some ideas completed and some more develop as I complete projects this year.

Above: One of The Emperor’s Feth Chimeras

At the current time I am also halfway through painting a 40k Flesh Tearers army – more to come on that in a future post – but I still have lots of Feth to continue with yet. Anyway enough chat, let’s get to it with my current list of all the models that are completely painted:

Company Command Squad

Company Commander

2 Veterans with Meltaguns

1 Lascannon Heavy Weapon Team

1 Astropath

Chimera – Multilaser & Heavy Flamer

Platoon Command Squad

Platoon Commander

4 Troops with Flamers

Chimera – Multilaser & Heavy Flamer

Combined Troop Squad

2 x Troop squads

2 x Flamers

2 x Lascannon Heavy Weapon Teams

Commissar

Heavy Weapon Team

3 x Autocannons

Heavy Weapon Team

3 x Missile Launchers

Veteran Squad

3 Plasma Guns

Camo cloaks and snare mines

Chimera – Multilaser & Heavy Flamer

Ratling Squad

6 x Ratlings

Vendetta

10 man troop squad

Vendetta

Manticore

Heavy Flamer

Leman Russ Punisher

Heavy Bolter Sponsons

Heavy Bolter

Leman Russ Executioner

Plasma Sponsons

Heavy Flamer

Leman Russ Demolisher

Plasma Sponsons

Lascannon

Grand Total – 2000 points

Above: The current 2000pt army in all its glory.

As I said earlier, keep looking out for posts on ‘The Feth’ over the next few weeks where I will post more photos, discuss each unit and include how I painted it in detail.

Let me know what you think in the comments below.

James