[WIP] (H.E.R.C.) - MT/Elysian/Cadian Air Cav Strike Force

[Audemus]

So things are finally to the point that I feel it's time to post up the beginning force of this project, albeit I have a long way to go if I'm going to hit my target.  While reading the Imperial Armour Anphelion Project fluff, I became fascinated with the idea of a Hazardous Environment response team that could be sent in when other troops were not equipped to deal with terrain the enemy was moving through.  I came up with H.E.R.C. as a name for the force (Hazardous Environment Response Cavalry) and decided I would focus things on the Militarum Tempestus with their air cavalry tactics.

 

This proved to be a bigger task than I realized as, up until April of this year with a Skitarii army I made, I had not picked up a paint brush since 1999/2000.  After completing the first Valkyrie and Scions, which received good responses here and on Reddit, I decided to hell with it and went all in.  That was two months ago and I can finally say that the first field worthy group is now ready to be played on the board.

 

The intent has always been for the Scions to form the center piece of the army with their Air Cavalry formation, while using Elysians and Cadians in Hazardous Environment suits to provide avenues to other vehicles and tactics.  For instance, I have a Marauder Destroyer that's currently in the mail and I will be using it with the Cadians once I complete them.  The Elysians have been purchased and I have one squad of them painted so far.

 

I'm not thrilled with this picture but my 2x2 photo tent just cannot hold the number of flying units that are in the preliminary force, so I apologize ahead of time for white sides.  I'll be posting some of my pictures below of the force with close ups and from here on out all of my work on this army will be isolated in this thread as I receive and complete things.  I'll also be discussing tactics and I'm open to advice regarding how to expand things, as I haven't run guard since they were IG and 2nd edition was my rule set.

 

Full Militarum Tempestus Force

 

http://i.imgur.com/yTNuwgj.png

 

 

Commissar (Required for Formation)

 

http://i.imgur.com/FzxYcrS.png

 

 

 

Vulture

 

http://i.imgur.com/Hv50nFY.png

 

 

Valkyrie Example (All Valkyries are Identical sans the Tail Markings)

 

http://i.imgur.com/THrYyup.png

 

 

http://i.imgur.com/YiIzDK3.png

 

 

http://i.imgur.com/hjAKQCQ.png

 

http://i.imgur.com/zDkc4c7.png

 

 

http://i.imgur.com/Emcfd8O.png

 

Command Squad

 

http://i.imgur.com/1EOmtYi.png

 

 

Imperial Knight Crusader (Yes the Bush behind his leg has been trimmed worry not!)

 

http://i.imgur.com/NVsipUi.png

 

 

Smaller Task Force

 

http://i.imgur.com/F0x7Lem.png

 

 

The Marauder Destroyer should be arriving early next week and I'm going to try to chronicle it in this thread, I've read about the model being a pain to build but as much as it costs you better believe it's getting built one way or the other.  If anyone has built one before and has any tips, fire away please!

[WarriorFish]

A great colour scheme very well done, these are fantastic models! :D I like the extra bits you've done such as the head swap on the gunners. You are now required to substantially add to this army and to document your progress as you do so ;)

[BLUESH33P]

Very jealous! How many points is all this worth?

[Audemus]

Very jealous! How many points is all this worth?

Thanks for the compliment! Without the Vulture and the Taurox Prime, I am currently at 1845 pts. That is the Air Cav Formation and the Imperial Knight, whose job it is to soften up the enemy and stay out of trouble until the Valkyries come into play. Thankfully you're able to re-roll the reserve check as part of the formation so that hopefully will keep the Imperial Knight down to one turn of being out on the field by himself.

Once I have the Cadians in, I will be able to change things up for what is holding the board initially. As the entire theme of the force is a Hazardous Environment response unit, I have to outfit the Cadians with the Hostile Environment upper torsos from Forge World but thankfully the plastic parts beyond that can be used as far as I understand. This is the same reason I'm using the Krieg Commissar, ensuring that everyone is buttoned up. The Marauder Destroyer is going to be entered into my GW Stores anniversary competition, required a Lord of War or Super Heavy, so as soon as it is about half way done I'll put in the order for the Cadian torsos and special weapons.

If anyone has any input on super heavy tanks that could potentially fit the force, I'd be interested in hearing them. The Malcador Annihilator has been catching my eye, as I'm lacking in anti-armor weaponry, but I'm open to just about anything. I enjoy painting up the Forge World models because of how they look on the table, so a balance between form and function is perfectly fine.

A great colour scheme very well done, these are fantastic models! I like the extra bits you've done such as the head swap on the gunners. You are now required to substantially add to this army and to document your progress as you do so

There's a ton more pictures in my Hall of Honour thread, starting on page 3 and moving through the rest of it (Prior to that is my Skitarii army). It's chronologically sound and contains all of the angles of multiple models. I did not post the third and fourth Valkyrie as it seemed rather redundant to do so with the first two already present but I'm open to taking pictures of them if anyone is interested.

You can find the thread at this link: Click Here.

The heads of the gunners is one of my favorite things, as I did not like the use of the berets in my actual squads due to there only being one masked beret head in each box of Scions. I ran out of beret heads on the last Valkyrie but I substituted in one of the Scion helmets to ensure that they were all using rebreathers. Unfortunately the wings on the Valkyries really block out the visibility of the gunners themselves. I've been pondering using Blu-Tack to put Tritium Vials (Example) onto the internal grates within the Valkyrie, with the intent of giving the soft glow of combat running lights that would silhouette the gunners. I'm not sure if it will work but it would sure as hell beat wiring LED's into things and worrying about a power source.

That Marauder cannot get here soon enough but in the mean time I have finally come up with a horribly thrown together way of transporting the Valkyries and Knight together. It's not pretty but it will work and as such, I'll be up at my GW Store tomorrow looking to put them into their first game. Nothing like going after a formation like this, I'm to stubborn to field the units until the entire formation is done so I honestly don't know how well things will play out for me. I may bring my camera and then write a battle report here, it really just depends on if I feel up for dragging one more thing into the store. One way or the other, I'll let you guys know if my Imperial Knight can play hot potato long enough to bring the main force out!

[march10k]

ridiculously awesome paint job...they complement the models' paint scheme well enough, but I can't help feeling that the infantry bases would get very low marks in tournament paint judging. My own bases are routinely graded along the lines of "just one kind of flock/gravel in a single color," when the arid soil is actually bi-tone (three paints, actually, but I wouldn't expect them to notice more than two) with sparse clumps (1-3 per base) of mossy vegetation:

I guess if it's not a lush jungle, it's not based properly...

[M@verik115]

Looking very good. Thumbs up from me :) 

[WarriorFish]

If a Guard model is painted it needs presenting to the commissariat for review. Get those Valkyries posted soldier ;)

[elmo]

Welcome to the Guard.

 

I am in shock and awe at your models. Excellent work.

[scatmandoo]

Wow these models look amazing and I cannot wait to see how the Marauder turns out.

[Audemus]

Just a quick note, I'll update with pictures later, but I went into the store today and was able to play a game verse Space Wolves.  A mutually agreed upon end of game on turn 6 brought things to a close and despite absolutely rocket podding an entire objective clean of 14 marines in the last two turns, my scions were cornered summarily cut down by flamethrowers while returning fire as fast as they could.  My Imperial Knight Crusader was an absolute death dealing machine and only one Valkyrie went down in the entire fight, much to both of our amazement.   I will say that I had a better handle on the Valkyries tactically by the end of the game and began orchestrating their position to allow for concentrated fire and exploiting blast markers on buildings full of marines.

 

Highlight of the game for me was the Lord Commissar.  A Rhino was immobilized next to his melta squad and while one melta put a point of damage on his flying dump truck (his description!) the other hit the Rhino and failed to hurt it thanks to a magnificent 1 roll.  The next turn it disgorged a wall of marines who shattered the 5 man squad to a man but not before the Vox Operator could jump in front 4 of 5 wounds hitting his armor save each time and saving the Lord Commissar from joining his brethren.  I looked at him, standing alone on that part of the board, woefully out numbered and looked at the immobilized rhino...it became clear that the 5 point melta-bomb he had up his sleeve was meant for glorious things.  He vaulted the trench, assaulted the back hatch of the rhino, and promptly blew it up along with himself and 2 marines still near the side door.  It was fantastic.

 

Anyways, full battle report will be up tonight and I'll be posting pictures I took throughout the game.

 

...and yes, the Space Wolves won due to points, my opponent stated that I must note this by typing the following: "AYOOOOOOOOOO"

 

Wet dogs, the lot of them!

[Audemus]

Wow these models look amazing and I cannot wait to see how the Marauder turns out.

Thank you very much! I'm excited about the Marauder as well.

Welcome to the Guard.

I am in shock and awe at your models. Excellent work.

Thank you for the warm welcome!

If a Guard model is painted it needs presenting to the commissariat for review. Get those Valkyries posted soldier

The Valkyries will be posted and...well I was weak today, so as if in answer to your wish, I am currently building a Hellhammer to branch off the Cadian Hostile Environment suit miniatures too. Expect Super Heavy Armour in my camo scheme as soon as I can knock it out!

Looking very good. Thumbs up from me

Thank you!

ridiculously awesome paint job...they complement the models' paint scheme well enough, but I can't help feeling that the infantry bases would get very low marks in tournament paint judging. My own bases are routinely graded along the lines of "just one kind of flock/gravel in a single color," when the arid soil is actually bi-tone (three paints, actually, but I wouldn't expect them to notice more than two) with sparse clumps (1-3 per base) of mossy vegetation:

...

I guess if it's not a lush jungle, it's not based properly...

Yeah the only issue with the bases is I pictured them in a barren wasteland of hollowed out cities and radiation/biological contaminants everywhere. Think Mad Max but with more radiation. So the dry baked earth on their bases really fits the theme and it's also why the bushes/trees on the larger model bases are colored as if they are dried out and dead. I'm fine with it but I appreciate the heads up on the tournament rating procedure!

===================================

That being said on to the...

BATTLE REPORT

1850 Points

Spave Wolves vs Militarum Tempestus and an Oathsworn Imperial Knight Crusader

Turn 1 - Imperial Knight Hide and Dakka

http://i.imgur.com/TsvEtoT.png

Well this was the major worry going into the battle for me, I was highly concerned about the Imperial Knight Crusader being left out on his own for an extended period of time. As you can see there was quite a bit openly out to get him from start, which I turned over to my opponent primarily so I could position my Knight in the safest possible way. That ended up being fruitless as the large building you can see in the picture to his left, which I intended to use as cover, had two fast moving Landspeeders with meltas onboard that I did not feel like tangoing with immediately.

I made it through his shooting phase taking two hull points, which in the grand scheme of things wasn't half bad considering the fusillade of fire directed at him, and returned fire without great effect.

Turn 2

http://i.imgur.com/2NL2rAB.png

As my opponent was starting turns, I found myself faced with the Stormfang coming into battle and trying to knock down the Knight. My Knight wasn't having it though and once again he shrugged off the incoming fire. One of the rhinos became immobilized on the trench line as well when attempting to cross it.

Which brings us too...

Turn 2 - Part Deux - When Valkyries Ride

http://i.imgur.com/8tbzRhH.png

I'll be the first to admit that my placement of the scions dropping out of the Valkyries did not go as intended. I ended up stranding my commander, due to the sheer size of the planes making it difficult to position them where I had intended. That being said the two plasma squads punched out on the right side of the board and promptly cut through the assault marines, leaving only 3 of them present, and I was able to damage the razorback with my second teams plasma guns as well. The assault marines would break and run but unfortunately would return later to haunt the remaining scions with their flamers.

The Valkyries were able to fire to some effect but cover saves caused the their kill shots to be cut off.

http://i.imgur.com/n0y8LSi.png

My Imperial Knight also decided to turn and move at the Landspeeders which were making an attempt to sneak up on him. He tore through the first one and manage to blow the meltagun off of the second Landspeeder while damaging it.

Turn 3

http://i.imgur.com/m1gSNVb.png

Turn 3 opened up with my Lord Commissar and his Meltagun bodyguard in an awkward position, caught between the disgorged troops from the Rhino and a pack of angry bikers. The sound of bolters filled their ears and suddenly only the Vox Communication tech and the Lord Commissar were standing...with 5 wounds waiting to be applied. The Vox Communication tech wins the Most Unlikely Hero of the game for me, as he shouted Look Out Sir! and saved 4 of the wounds before being felled by the 5th. This left the Lord Commissar in a bit of a conundrum as he certainly was not going to shoot his way out.

http://i.imgur.com/YyvDK1Q.png

At this point the Lord Commissar knew he had to make his move and assaulted the immobilized Rhino from the rear and Tom Hanks style slapped a Melta Bomb onto the Rhino blowing it up. I misspoke earlier because I forgot that despite the Rhino blowing up and killing two marines, it did not kill the Lord Commissar. He was still standing in the trench line with one wound left.

One of the Valkyries also circled the large wall with the intent to drop in behind the objective and unleash the fury.

One of my Scion teams attempted to hold on to the objective point and for a short moment things were looking good for them. That is until you realize there is a heavy flamer still left on the Landspeeder that got away and it's pointing right at their clustered formation.

The Imperial Knight also snuck up behind the bikers and killed all but the Warlord himself in one terrible alpha strike. If you look closely you can see his base in the door way. Be very wary when Imperial Knights can sneak up on fast moving bikers!

Turn 4

http://i.imgur.com/4rS7140.png

Here we see the Space Wolf Warlord attempting to melta bomb my Knight in glorious battle. He was promptly stepped on. Armor of Fenris won't save you now good wolf!

http://i.imgur.com/aab5c38.png

The above picture is at the end of Turn 4 as I will admit, after playing for almost 3 hours with the large lense camera dangling around my neck, I took it off for a bit. Once again the Stormfang attempted to engage my Knight and was disregarded. To make matters worse my Knight would end up blowing up the primary gun on the Stormfang, neutering the primary weapon. Meanwhile my Valkyries released more Rocket Pod excitement on the objective building killing the heavy weapons marines on top, who had been firing anti-air missiles at them all game, and wiping out all but three marines in a squad hiding in the base of the building as well.

The Imperial Knight also reached out with his Gatling Gun and cut the Razorback in two from rear to front...well just because!

Sadly, the bottom right of the picture tells the tale of the Scions holding the objective as they were cut down to a man leaving me with 3 Valkyries and the Imperial Knight standing.

Turn 5/6 - End Game

http://i.imgur.com/6sCDFRb.png

We were both pretty worn out at this point and at a stale mate so we ended the game after this turn 6, as not much changed between 5 and 6. I managed to kill off the last three marines in the objective tower but magically could not kill off the marines on the objective with my Knight due to the Mysterious Objective bonus giving a cover save of +1 and the fact they had gone to ground. It was like rooting out ticks but I just didn't have the time to do so. That left him with First Blood, Warlord, and the Objective while I had his Warlord but no Objectives.

It was a damn fun game and thank you to my opponent who was patient as this was my first time running Scions and only my second game since 2nd Edition. Sorry if I rambled a bit doing the report, I just enjoy playing things out in my head over recalling exact rolls!

[Truesight]

That is a fantastic looking army, and looks like fun to play on the tabletop too.  Well done!

[WarriorFish]

Sounds like you had a blast, all the better with well painted armies on a pretty table :tu:

[BLUESH33P]

So what would you have done differently? Were they exciting to play?

 

PS - I'm asking from the perspective of someone interested in playing MT, probably with the Airborne formation, so it's exciting to see someone else doing the same!

[Audemus]

That is a fantastic looking army, and looks like fun to play on the tabletop too. Well done!

Thank you! I plan to go back and play another game as soon as I can knock out the Cadians and the Hellhammer I'm working on now.

Sounds like you had a blast, all the better with well painted armies on a pretty table

Yeah, I had a great time playing and learning. The Knight Crusader was even more critical to my success than I imagined.

So what would you have done differently? Were they exciting to play?

PS - I'm asking from the perspective of someone interested in playing MT, probably with the Airborne formation, so it's exciting to see someone else doing the same!

My initial plan was a bit to grand, I split up my Scion squads across the table to engage multiple targets at once and goofed with the Valkyrie carrying my command squad...stranding him in no mans land. He and his men would find themselves wiped out by the Biker Gang as they came around the corner, which caused my ability to issue orders to be lost. If I had brought the bulk of the valkyries in on the right side of the board, instead of diving two of them into the middle, I think that the focused fire of the four birds would have made a large difference. I found late game that even three valkyries focusing on a target building, even if it holds multiple targets, results in mass casualties. This would have allowed me to keep my scions in range of each other so they could advance from the flank rather than split up in individual squads without the ability to support each other.

Also, I was nervous about the missile launchers as his list had them upgraded with anti-air missiles but by the end of the game my opponent concluded he was no longer going to waste points on that upgrade. Four missile launchers per squad and two squads caused only one hull point of damage to my Valkyries over the entire 6 turns. I also lacked any true way of dealing with his Stormfang, which I'm pondering now, as it moved around the board with impunity for most of the game.

Cover was my biggest enemy due to the Mysterious Objective bonuses causing major cover saves that ate up a large number of attacks. Which is why I decided to build the Hellhammer, which I picked up before leaving the store, as I don't see the range issues it has being an issue on our tables and well that huge muzzle break is just awesome looking. Having the ability to roll in and unleash that massive blast with no cover saves as well as str10 ap1 should allow for me to redirect fire on to softer targets without fearing that I'm ignoring some of the dug in ones. I'm unsure on whether I should put flamers or heavy bolters in the sponsons, as the bolters would allow it to engage with more shots from afar than the flamer, but that Landspeeder which escaped managed to wipe out my back Scion squad in one heavy flamer burst. I'm really not sure which is the best choice.

[march10k]

Isn't it amazing how fast those squads of ten melt away under enemy fire? Their offensive potential makes them seem worth the points, but as soon as you factor in their survivability, they start looking overpriced...

[Audemus]

Isn't it amazing how fast those squads of ten melt away under enemy fire? Their offensive potential makes them seem worth the points, but as soon as you factor in their survivability, they start looking overpriced...

 

I'm not sure it's entirely fair to rate them against a rhino dropping 10 marines on the head of a 5 man squad.  My plasma squads took down a razorback to one hull point and stun it,  wipe out a full assault marine squad to three men and break them, and damaged the rhino marine squad.  The issue is more the way flamers ignore terrain, as my objective gave a bonus to terrain coverage as well.  If it had been anything else, I'd have a +3 save for them and with the entire squad entrenched they'd have been able to take most comers.  That Landspeeders heavy flamer ignored terrain and the AP overwhelmed the carapace armor...there simply wasn't anything the squad could do about that.  The men died less because of their stats and more because my perspective is still skewed by second edition where flamers were not a huge concern. 

 

That, coupled with my weak grasp on the rules (there always seems to be a new rule I've never heard of before)  due to this being my second game in 7th edition made things infinitely harder.  My opponent took the time to really explain things to me and even he admitted that my dice rolls were breaking the back of my units; to put this in perspective twice I only hit with 3-4 shots from my Avenger Gatling Gun on the Knight due to sheer overwhelming amount of 1/2 rolls.  I'd have lost an entire squad of Scions at the very beginning due to an 11 inch scatter onto that Razorback putting me under 1 inch from it.  Thankfully the Air Cav formation saved me due to the built in re-roll on men grav-chuting in off the bird and the squad rolled snake eyes the next time around for the scatter.

 

I only wish transportation wasn't such a nightmare with the Valkyries or I'd be in the store a lot more often than I am at this point.  I had the emblem shield on my Knight break this time, despite it being completely cushioned, and have subsequently used ultra gel loctite to literally lock it into place.  It's not going anywhere now.  I'm thinking about getting some of the two Valkyrie foam trays from Battlefoam, I'd have to get 3 of them though if I was going to cover my Vulture as well, and then just socketing them into a large storage tote; I really would like to avoid paying over a hundred dollars for a bag made just to hold the foam! 

[Audemus]

Alright, as I noted after the game I played on Friday, I have been working on building a Hellhammer.  As this is my first Super Heavy tank made of plastic, I was extraordinarily thankful for completing all of those Valkyries as I knew better than to glue everything together immediately.  I've broken it down into three primary pieces - Tracks/Undercarriage, Hull, and Turret.  With the Sponsons and the turrets secondary cannon being left unglued as I was concerned they would be difficult to paint while tilting this mammoth tank around.

 

I'm pledging to have this thing painted before the end of the week, it really should be more like 3-4 days but I'm going to be cautious, and I've even purchased my camo schemes sacrificial dry brush (I kill one of these dry brushes every 1/2 Valkyries, without fail, regardless of brush soap etc.  The pattern is just rough on brushes.) giving me two fresh dry brushes total to tackle the behemoth. 

 

Now the big question that I want to run by you guys, because I'm caught in a bit of a conundrum here, is as follows:

 

The Tank Commander

 

1.  The Desired Solution: I really want to put a Cadian Hostile Environment guy up in the turret but since I have not even ordered them yet and will probably have to wait a week or two, I don't know how realistic that is.

 

2.  The Ironic Solution:  Trench Coat Tank Commander body with an Elysian Hostile Environment head mounted on it.  To be fair, it looks really good visually from my rough holding the head in position checks.  The issue here is Fluff related, as in the Elysians I plan to field are D-99 who cannot use Lords of War...yet this head would look rather odd as the commander of a Hellhammer plowing through the field.  Not to mention the use of big Super Heavy tanks doesn't really fit the Elysian doctrine either.  So this becomes a Fluff vs. Looks issue.

 

3.  The Simple Solution:  Debating PVA glue on the normal hatch and just popping it off upon receiving the Cadians as a potential easy fix, though this does make me mildly nervous that the hatch will get lost in transit at some point.

 

Any input would be awesome!

 

Picture of the monster unpainted in my photo tent for posterity:

 

(Note: No turrets are glued, the LasCannons are loose, the center hull is just resting in there as well.  Although I think I am going to glue the Demolisher cannon because it just really annoys me as it bounces about.)

 

http://i.imgur.com/Tt4RmuX.png

 

 

 

[Ulfast]

Awsome looking army and for not painting for 15 years you are really talented. Really cool project and so far very well done.

[Audemus]

Awsome looking army and for not painting for 15 years you are really talented. Really cool project and so far very well done.

 

Thank you very much for the compliment!

 

=====

 

Update on the WIP Hellhammer - Main Hull Piece Done

 

http://i.imgur.com/783grEb.png

[Audemus]

WIP Status Update!

 

Well, I'm not quite done yet, I still need to add the exhaust pipes/engine covers and touch up a few things but since I'm making an effort to show progress I thought I would post up one picture of the Hellhammer.  I should finish this up tomorrow and hopefully the Marauder will be arrive any day now...the fun never ends!

 

Also, as predicted, I've almost killed the two dry brushes.  So RIP Small GW Dry Brushes, we barely knew ye!

 

http://i.imgur.com/WtSEy2t.png

[librisrouge]

When can we expect a battle report with this beast and some scions?

[Audemus]

When can we expect a battle report with this beast and some scions?

Man, I wish I could say. I'm still new to 7th edition so force rules are a bit confusing to me, especially when they don't appear in the Codex itself. Any input you've got would be welcome, I just don't know if I can use the Air Cav formation and then add the Hellhammer as a Lord of War. If I can, I would be on it being sometime soon, if I cannot then I have to order the Cadian Hostile Environment suits from FW and paint up the combined force troop structure in order to gain access to a Lord of War slot. My Elysian troops would be faster, as I have the models, but the D-99 Elysian drop troops are specifically prohibited from using a Lord of War.

I ran out of primer on the main portion of the Hellhammer you see above, so I have to hand prime the last small things but I should have multi-angle images of the tank completed tonight. I'm really proud of the reliquary/shrine on the back of the tank, as I was able to get the sword, cross guard, and grip all individually colored along with the halo above the robed figure. I'm holding off showing it until the back of the tank has the pipes in place though!

[Audemus]

...and the Beast awakens! Assembled and Painted within 5 days of purchase - Pledge Completed.

H.E.R.C. Strike Force - Hellhammer

http://i.imgur.com/V0EC859.png

H.E.R.C. Strike Force - Hellhammer - Front

http://i.imgur.com/E8GMm1p.png

H.E.R.C. Strike Force - Hellhammer - Top

http://i.imgur.com/Mgr8klz.png

H.E.R.C. Strike Force - Hellhammer - Side 1

http://i.imgur.com/beyuLqx.png

H.E.R.C. Strike Force - Hellhammer - Side 2

http://i.imgur.com/RnfzuWu.png

H.E.R.C. Strike Force - Hellhammer - Back

http://i.imgur.com/ZeM3q6m.png

[Audemus]

New Pledge Time!

 

Arriving in the mail in what can only be described as a package sabotaged by Chaos...

 

http://i.imgur.com/gDeMwKp.png

 

 

I present the Unassembled Marauder Destroyer!

 

http://i.imgur.com/gUV5G4R.png

 

I'm going to be generous and aim for this to be completed by the end of next weekend ( 9/13 ) as I'm thinking I will need to get a special tool to cut the mold blocks off these pieces...the serrated steak knife I used on the Vulture isn't going to work on this many parts!