Pre-H Iron Hands for Adepticon Massacre Event

[The_Chaplain]

Very excited to see the rest of this army get completed; and a converted tech marine and something as cool as a rapier battery are a nice finish. One quick question- are the rounded tops on those rhinos part of the Deimos kit or did you convert them yourself? They look fabulous with that pop of white.

[OwlandMoonGuy]

Actually those are Whirlwind Scorpius kits w/o the missile turret. So the circular section in back is part of the bit that overlays the top.  The doors I cut down from regular Rhino doors.  It take some doing to hack off the excess plastic and then file them down but it gets you there.

 

Thanks, -OMG

[Knight of the Raven]

These rhinos look original. And good.

I see you prefer the mars-pattern vindicator to the deimos one, like me. Though I don't like it without the siege shield. Still well painted.

[OwlandMoonGuy]

Yeah - the Deimos version doesn't impress me though it was a pain to fit the top on given how the sides overlap the top edges. Put an xacto knife right into my left thumb trimming it down. "Most perturbatory" -Uber Aemos.

I like the dozer blade look as well but that's not how the unit appears in the list so I kept it WYSIWYG. It wouldn't be hard to add it back after the fact. I may just do that one of these days. That is after this event and I can go back to building models for fun.

Cheers, -OMG

[recon0321]

Wow looks great! The battle foam seems like the way to go!

[OwlandMoonGuy]

Here's the 99.5% finished Rapier.  Only have about 1/2 the Techmarine to finish.

 

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v699/OwlandMoonGuy/30K%20Iron%20Hands/IMG_1575_zpsaf46b770.jpg

 

4 days till Adepticon.

 

Cheers, -OMG

[Iron Handed]

This is a fantastic paint scheme. Would you mind if I shamelessly used your paint guide, I mean bring honour to the Tenth?

[OwlandMoonGuy]

I effectively stole it from the FW studio Ferrus Manus model so feel free.

 

Cheers, -OMG

[Iron Handed]

Here, take these honour points. Cheers

[Blissful Brushes]

Some excellent work! Is there going to be more coming once the mad rush of Adepticon is over?

[oldschoolsavant]

Those circular roof hatches on the Rhinos are screaming out for a lovely blue cog design on them, to break up the white. Nice cutaway on the treads though, something I might steal.

 

That's about all I have to offer on such a brilliant force.

[OwlandMoonGuy]

@Blissful Brushes  Well I have to paint up the primarch model and then he’ll need a bit of a retinue (I’ve noticed that the FW Open Day pics have included WIP of the Gorgon Terminators) and then they’ll need a transport so that most likely will lead to a Spartan.  Not to mention that I want to add a squad of Myrmidon Destructors (already ordered) and looks like Extermination is going to include another big expansion of Ad Mech units.  So yes… I’m sure it’ll keep right on going.

 

I recently got an IK model as a gift as well so that might be first on the painting table ahead of this.

 

@oldschoolsoviet  I need to do some custom decals for this army.  I was thinking about a white half-cog on one side and a unit number on the other.  Time is an issue so that might be added after the event but I have 3 days left so you never know.  If I can fit that in I will.

Thanks for the comments.  Cheers, -OMG

[Larkyn]

If I'm not mistaken....

 

 

1:37...that's yours!

 

Congrats sir!

[OwlandMoonGuy]

Thanks for posting this. I saw the guy filming this (hard to miss with his exuberant narration).  The first two armies in this video are by good friends of mine, one who tied for 1st place in the event and the other who came in second.  Sadly it was dismal day for me with a win/loss/tie result - very mediocre showing.  I played against Mark who brought his stunning Alphas to the game, featured on BoLS here: http://www.belloflostsouls.net/2014/03/40k-showcase-alpha-legion-expand.html  He won the players' choice award and certainly took my vote.  I don't recall seeing the guy who won best paint from the judges.

 

Here's the pics of my army on the table:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v699/OwlandMoonGuy/IMG_1583_zps87c3d72a.jpg

 

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v699/OwlandMoonGuy/IMG_1584_zps97476009.jpg

 

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v699/OwlandMoonGuy/IMG_1586_zps3b99b8c4.jpg

 

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v699/OwlandMoonGuy/IMG_1588_zps01f842fa.jpg

 

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v699/OwlandMoonGuy/IMG_1590_zps30cd94ea.jpg

 

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v699/OwlandMoonGuy/IMG_1591_zpsadb3c5a6.jpg

 

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v699/OwlandMoonGuy/IMG_1593_zps4a3a4684.jpg

 

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v699/OwlandMoonGuy/IMG_1595_zpsac43c4c6.jpg

 

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v699/OwlandMoonGuy/IMG_1596_zpsa059388e.jpg

 

I love Adepticon and i'm sure I'll be back again to play 30K but I wasn't thrilled with the organization of this event.  There were some gross errors, (i.e.contradictory instructions,) on the missions and first 2 games were impossible to finish.  They surprised the players by making it a team event.  If you didn't come with a friend you got to find a team mate.  That didn't bother me at all and I give a big shout out to Curt who brought an all Ad Mech army.  Team "Iron Mechanicus" was a great pairing.  In the first 2 games, one player used their 1,850 list and the other their 1,000 point list - the players switching the size selection going into the second game.  With each side bringing 2,850 pts it made for a long setup & long early turns.  We didn't get past turn 2 in the first 2 games.  The 3rd game we both used our 1,850 lists but they at least gave us time to finish - still a huge game for a competitive event.

 

Thankfully the Zone Mortalis games were nothing short of great.  The missions were designed around a tree based narrative with a Loyal boarding action against a traitor position.  The outcomes decided the next missions with the overall winning side being determined by the net results of the games.  I played some great guys with great armies.  The Loyals winning the day.

 

So my thanks to all the great players I met and good luck to those who are playing more today & tomorrow.

 

Cheers all for following along with this thread.  Now - on to the next round.  Cheers, -OMG

[infyrana]

Great shots and a really nice looking army you have there !

 

I would definitely enjoy reading about your battles if you have the time and energy to put up a report please :)

[chaplain mortis]

Fantastic work and so nice to see them all on a gaming board..they really seem to pop against all the terrain.

Well done on a beautiful army.

[marshal seanisi]

Fantastic Army!  And in the end, as long as you had some fun and got to see some great army's!  that's what 30k is all about for me.  I would like to pick your brain a bit about the event,  I plan on going next year and playing 30k, so wanted to get some basic info from you.  I'll PM you if that's ok.

[OwlandMoonGuy]

Thanks all.  I did have a lot of fun playing & I contest that 30K has been the most fun I've had in all my years of 40K gaming.  Quite honestly, the recent changes to 40K at the waxing of 6th edition totally burned me out on 40K.  I pretty well dropped the hobby for many months.  Now that I've given the 30K rules a chance, I'm hooked.  It's totally revitalized the game for me.  I was very happy to play in these events & thoroughly enjoyed painting up the army and look forward to another go next year.

 

@infyrana:  I'll gladly write some up reports.  Not a blow-by-blow but the missions & decisive parts of the games.  Most likely tomorrow or thereabouts.

 

@marshal seanisi:  Happy to answer your questions.  Feel free to post them here if you'd like.  I'm sure others might find it worth reading as well - or PM me - whatever you'd prefer.

 

Note also that I got to spend some time with the collector's edition rules & book III, Extermination.  Not only am I considering a second marine force, the new additions to Ad Mech prompt me to go all out for a standalone army.  Also there are some great edits/update/changes to the core rules - including making Graviton weapons function as they do in 40K.  I'm sure to work up a Tactical Support squad w/all gavitons now!

 

So in the end, GW keeps getting my $'s just from a different vantage point. So be it!

 

Cheers, -OMG

[November]

Congratulations on finishing the force for Adepticon - lovely models and a true inspiration to any 10th legion collectors out there! I'm sure i'm not alone in hoping you continue to add to this force with Extermination on the horizon.

[OwlandMoonGuy]

As stated above, this event was an unannounced team event that required both an 1,850 & 1,000 pt list.

You can pretty well get my army from the models above but here's the quick break down:

Preator, Charnabal saber, refractor field, Rite Head of the Gorgon
*Casterman Orth (assigned to the Sicaran)
*Magos, conversion beamer
Legion mortis Dread, autocannons
Techmarine, conversion beamer
Rapier, laser destroyer
*Tactical squad, Sgt w/combi-plas, Rhino
*Tactical squad, nuncio-vox
Tactical support x10, flamers, Sgt. w/combi-plas, Rhino
*Tactical support x7, volkite claviers
*Castallax, power blades
*Vindicator
Medusa
*Sicaran, las sponsons

The units with the (*) also appeared in my 1,000 point list.

I partnered up with an all Ad Mech army which, IIRC, consisted of:

Arch Magos all tricked out w/Abeyant & everything
2 squads of x3 Castallax at least 2 with darkfire cannons
3x squads of x3 Thallax, I think 3 w/darkfires
2x Primaris Lightning strike fighters I know he had sunfire missiles but not sure what else
2x Fortifications with battlecannons (I'm not sure where the rules are for these)

Mission #1: Break the Line, I had the 1,850 list
Opponent: Team of 2 Alpha Legions, including a Spartan, vindicator, predator, lots of marines, contemptor & an assortment of other things.

Deployment was modified DoW with the attacker get 6" in and the defender getting 18" - we were the defender.
2 Primary objectives: VP's plus "Hold your Ground" There were three objective markers strung evening down the middle of the table with 2 "defensive points" each. Starting on turn 2, if the attacker had an uncontested scoring unit at the marker it would lose a defensive point, if the defender had the same it would increase a defensive point. Any marker reduced to 0 is removed from play. Attacker claims victory if at least 2 of the markers are reduced to 0 by game end. (Personally, I loved this mission and will reuse it my own games.)

All the terrain boards included a number of large buildings. This board had a fortress of Redemption in the middle. For simplicity's sake, we decided that it all counted as Ruins.

The traitors took first turn and deployed evenly across their zone with the Spartan & contemptor on the left vindicator & predator center and lots of marines all around. Quickly conferring w/my teammate, we decided to go heavy center and right flank - and abandon the marker on our left.

Turn 1: The traitors make a bold move forward, running their infantry & had a stellar first round of shooting. The Spartan went for the left marker, a squad of 15 tacticals w/apothecary moved to the center and more foot sloggers & jump troops moved on the right. The Loyal reply was weak in comparison but the big tactical squad in the center came within charge distance of my Castallax who got lucky numbers for a first turn charge. There were low losses among the Alphas but they were locked with my partner's squad of three more Automoata coming up next right behind me.

Turn 2: The traitors kept the pressure high but didn't have quite the same level of success as they did first turn. When reserves came on my vidicator & sicaran were on our left (not the way I planned) and the flamer crew on the right. Still, Casterman Orth did was he does and opened up the Spartan, ripping it down in a single turn of shooting, the vidicator messed up the Contemptor. On the right, my flamer crew made a mess of the advancing Alpha tacticals. When the next three Castallx came charging in it was doom for the bit Alpha unit. My castallx was removed but the squad broke, killing the apothecary along with it.

We ran out of time at that point - and in all due respect for our opponents, it was literally impossible for them to win the 2nd primary objective in only 2 turns. So we won both VP's & Hold Your Ground + a few other secondaries for the win.

Mission #2 Scatter the Weak
Opponent: Mix of Night Lords & Death Guard (Two of my good friends from our local gaming group). They had brutal lists w/a sicaran, 3 scorpius whirlwinds, a land raider full of manreaping terminators, etc.
Deployment was Modified Hammer & Anvil, short table edges with deployment that extended all the way to the center of the board.
The 2 primary objectives were VP's plus "Outlast" - the Attacker gains one point for every unit entirely in the defender's deployment zone and the defender gets one point for every unit completely past 12" from their table edge.

We took first turn and chose the defender's position, we left some units in reserve because I knew the Whirlwinds were going to reap a terrible toll and since they had to move forward, arriving reserves would have ample targets to push back. We deployed fairly evenly and I put my vindicator down front to force our opponents to keep to the cover. They went strong on our right and put the landraider down front to lead the push.

Turn 1: Was ok for the Loyals. A conversion beamer shot immobilized the raider blunting that advance. The vindicator got a shot in on a rhino and a missile crew in cover but didn't do much. My teammate's mechanical army pushed forward. It wasn't a bad first turn but not very good either. The enemy rushed their Rhinos forward and the the Deathguard terminators + Praetor got out of their ride and destroyed the Vindi.

Turn 2: Most, but not all, of our reserves arrived (and therein was our defeat). My beamer destroyed the LR and my tacticals unleashed Fury of the Legion on the teminators. Combined with other shooting only the Praetor remained. The traitors pushed more Rhinos into our deployment zone, they shot down the one arriving Lightning and the game ended. With so many of our units only just arriving they were well within 12" of our table edge so that pretty well screwed us. The units that didn't arrive from reserve were considered destroyed so the traitors easily won VP's for a total loss on our side.

And in true honorable fashion, my friends offered to make it a tie as the time limit was such a critical factor but I refused - the outcome is the outcome and that's how it happened. Besides I was hopping that they would be able to take it all the way in the last game. That proved to be the case as the DG player tied with another player for 1st overall and the Night Lord player took 2nd overall. My congrats to them for the win!

Mission #3 All Hope is Lost
This was the mission were both players used their 1,850 list but there was a twist. The partner you played with in the first 2 games switched with someone from the enemy team - so it was truly a bother against bother match. I applaud the organizers for this as it was in true 30K fashion.
I then teamed up with an Emperor's Children player and my Ad Mech friend joined with the Imperial Fists.
Deployment was Modified DoW with 18" deployment zones along the long table edge.
Primary Objectives were VP's + Head of the Snake - each player had to kill the Warmaster of their former teamate (this was odd as the mission objective didn't say that, it read the side that kills the most HQ's won but the judges dictated otherwise.)

My new teammate had a Fortress of Redemption - which I'd never seen on the table before. I can't even begin to describe the 3,700 pts per side army makeup. Just lots of everything as one might expect from an Apoc game. My former teammate (the Ad Mech player) pushed with almost everything he had up our right flank and I tried to hold him but didn't do well. He crushed through unit after unit as I attempted to at least slow them down. I did kill off all the Thallax but hardly dented the Castallax. He had his Archmagos in the open when Casterman Orth arrived Outflanking nearby and gunned him down. My Praetor was sipping lattes and watching the battle on closed circuit TV in the basement of the fortress as all this was going on.

The EC player pushed for a Spartan vs. Fist landraider battle on the left but the Fists stayed in their ride and fired from cover while the EC made their push. After 6 complete turns neither of them disembarked. In the end, I had the only Headhunter kill but they had the VP's so we tied that game.

So there you have it. In retrospect, I'm very sorry that there were so many points on the table - even the first 2 games were larger than a 'Ard Boyz. I would have really liked to see them play through. The mechanic of switching partners was great in the last game but it seemed endless and hardly fun to "hide" an asset in order to meet a victory condition.

If I have time I may write up the Zone Mortalis games as well as they had a good narrative thread to them & were very fun games.

Cheers all, -OMG

[marshal seanisi]

Hey OMG, Thanks for taking the time to let us all know about your experience at Adepticon. I have a ton of questions for you as I plan on attending next year.

I wanted to start off with just basic transportation questions.

: Did you drive there or fly?. ( reason for the question is Model transportation and display board)

: If you did fly, what did you use to cary and protect your models and how did you transport your display board?.

: If you drove than obviously skip those first two.

Next: Actual gaming questions.

: What do you think is really important to bring with an 1850 point HH army?. More troops than tanks or do you need to make sure you have plenty of fire power?.

: In your oppinion, was there a variety of builds (army lists) or was it a lot of the same thing?.

: Do you think HH will be more popular at next years event?.

: Did you participate in the HH Apoc game?

Thanks for taking the time to answer some of the questions.

MS

[disease]

Can't believe I've only just found this, what an incredible thread!

[OwlandMoonGuy]

Actually, I did drive to the event but I have flown to others, e.g. Las Vegas, etc.  For those trips I checked my luggage and carried-on my army.  First time I figured that the TSA would take issue but it wasn’t a problem.  Just walked right through.  You have to be a bit strategic with the size & shape of the case but there’s a lot more on the market to choose from then there’s ever been.

 

I’ve heard of gamers shipping their armies to their hotel prior to the event but I’d have a hard time trusting that, no matter how well packed they are.  Perhaps others might have better stories to tell around that approach.

 

Competitive games are what they are.  Even in prep for this event I spent a lot of time thinking about what would make for a well optimized army and I think I did well.  30K is not as “out of control” as mainstream 40K so there’s less to account for – and the players are a bit of a different breed as well.  One of the reasons I enjoy these games so much is that there are much fewer blatantly unbalanced units.  Even so 90% of the time you don’t even need to use allies to use those same units yourself.  I think 30K list builds demand an answer to a few common builds:

 

Armor heavy armies
You can tell that the point for vehicles are scaled to encourage their use.  It’s almost hard to picture an army that doesn’t have a good number of them.  Carefully considering your anti-tank options is obvious but it does lead us to…

 

The 1-2 Landraider rush (not dismissing the Spartan) & terminator payloads
Raiders are really common and a favorite for terminator centric armies.  (Only a few armies have access to deep strike or pods so raiders become almost mandatory).  So having weapons that stop them are almost a must.  I’ve been using Conversion Beamers and at range, Rapier with Laser Destroyer and Medusa/Demolisher shots midfield and the Sicaran w/Casterman Orth when all else fails.  There are plenty of other options but that’s working for me.

 

If you can’t stop the rush then you’ll have terminators in your lines and need to be ready for them.  I take the Castallax as my back line defender and he’s performed admirably.  Contemptors can serve this role also but something has to hold your lines if your forward screen fails.  I’ve tried to use Tech-tralls as a “speed bump” unit but they get cast aside too easily (they don’t bog down tough units like grots, kroot or nurglings).

 

Flying tanks – Caestus rams Fire Raptor & the new assortment of killer drop pods
There’s lots of good anti-air options in 30K but I think the Sicaran shows its versatility in this role.  It doesn’t have skyfire but the accelerator autocannon does deny jink saves.  Being twin linked with a high rate of fire means you’re going to hit and if you’re lucky maybe a rend here and there.  It’s not ideal but opponents who aren’t familiar with this can be surprised.

 

Otherwise, the Mortis Contemptor w/assault cannons doesn’t have a good range but has a frightening rate of fire.  Again, versatility wins out here.  Mortis get interceptor and skyfire if they don’t move either in the current or preceding movement phase.  Flyers tend to close quickly so you don’t have to overly anticipate their position.  Keep the dread roughly center or close to the obvious target of choice and 24” won’t be hard to trace.  Even still the net volume of shots does the trick and can mess up a lot of other targets as well.

 

The Ad Mech Castallax wall
I didn’t expect this until I saw one in action but multiple squads of Castellax are hard to stop.  As stated in the last game, 6 of them hit us on the right and kept right on coming.  Even with high strength weapons you have to hit them consistently over multiple turns.  Their Inv save goes a long way to keep a few of them coming even after descent turns of shooting.  Rock hard terminator squads can give them trouble but that’s about it.

 

Some other popular units include:

• Scorpius Whirlwinds – multiple barrage hits on side armor and AP3 makes them excellent anti-tank & anti-infantry.  At their low cost they are hard to pass up.  Sit down field of 2-3 of those and you’ll get the idea.
• Contemptors of almost all varieties (one army even had one with a heavy conversion beamer)
• Volkite weapons shouldn’t be overlooked.  They are not as costly as many options, have longer than average range and the deflagrate wounds add up.  A heavy support squad of only 5 models kicks out a shocking 20 shots.  That adds up to a lot of saves with a good number of failures creating another round of saves.
• Any weapon that’s AP3 or better.  They are thankfully rare.  A game about marines that never get 3+ saves would look a lot like, well, like regular 40K.  It’s inevitable that you’re going to need to put your troops in the open - an weapon that can strike at that moment can trun the game.

 

Sorry for the long winded answer but – you asked.

 

Note that these events excluded Lords of War, including Primarchs so that downgrades the scale significantly.

[infyrana]

I like the long winded answer, thank you!

 

Was Magos the better way to field your Castellax over a Cortex Controller on a Forge Lord?  I'm guessing you enjoyed the Conversion Beamer on Magos.  I see a lot of use of the Darkfire cannon option, did you see what ways people were modelling it?

 

It seems to me that the Castellax is to Space Marines in 30k as the DreadKnight is to Grey Knights in 40k - a Dreadnought/Contemptor with a toughness value.  I'm seriously considering the idea of them, they look like a nice addition to break up the marine monotony.

 

I noticed you have a lot of one off's in your list - single Contemptor, Rapier, Medusa, Vindicator, Sicaran, Castellax - do you think this helped or hindered you in any way?

[OwlandMoonGuy]

Magos vs Forgelord/Cortex controller
I like the Magos for a few reasons, not the least of which is that he makes the Castallax an allied scoring unit, i.e. they are Troop choices for Legio Cybernetica armies.  The need for a cortex controller really isn’t the issue.  If you have enemy models within 12” of your automata you most likely wanted it that way or that’s your most urgent target anyway.  It’s not like the old Rage rule where your only choice was the initial placement of the unit.

 

The more interesting application is the use of the Cybertheurgy powers if you keep your Magos & Automata teamed up.  So the Magos pitches long range fire (either beamer or darkfire) then when the assaults start happening, they can buff the Castallax and make him all the more potent in close combat.  Likewise, if you have enemy automota you can always try to destroy them using the Rite of Dread Castigation.

 

One-off’s vs. Redundancy
The list isn’t fully optimized but there isn’t a lot wasted either.  I know well the value of redundancy and I think the list has good redundant roles that don’t require similar units.

 

Outflanking tanks is really a problem for many armies and one day I need to be rolling with an outflanking Spartan carrying a Primarch & big squad of Gorgons.  (As an aside, I just started putting paint on Ferrus Manus.)  Among the tanks, though it pains me to say, the Medusa is the weakest link.  It’s simply too fragile for the points.  I’m tempted to replace it with another Vindicator or something else.  Not sure about that.

 

There are definitely some other units in this list that I’m rethinking.  I really like my Mortis Dread conversion but he’s not particularly effective.  The autocannons aren’t strong enough to punch airborne armor as needed.  They aren’t bad against infantry but they’re not great either.  Those points are going to be invested elsewhere.

 

The Volkite support squad is great but I’m thinking about replacing them with a squad of 3 Myrmidon Destructors w/Culverins.  They are a bit more points, non-scoring and fewer shots but they have a longer range and are almost guaranteed to hit & wound everything they shoot at so they are much more efficient.  Also, they’re more resilient and the fact that they all have power fists isn’t bad either.  Plus the models rock – I already have them assembled, based & primed.

 

Maybe I’ll move this conversation over to the 30K or Iron Hands forum to have a more centered discussion on where to take this list next.
 

Cheers, -OMG