All done

Its taken the best part of a year to convert and paint them all, but ive finally finsihed my army.

ASMOH is a mere 6 days away, so im hoping the new paint job will scare away the bad luck trolls.

almost there

ive been pretty busy of late, which goes someway to explaining my lack of activity on this blog, a truer reason would be to state my degree of laziness ;)

I have however been very busy painting in preparation for a tournament at basingstoke in may, its called "a small matter of honour" and its run by the sad muppet guys (i kid you not) I had alot of fun there last year, and hope this year to do better, my full painting progress can be found here:

http://www.bolterandchainsword.com/index.php?showtopic=214311&st=0

When i first started out with scouts, i fully admit it wasnt becuase i particuarly loved them, in truth it was a challenge. I thought they could be competative, where many others thought i was kidding myself. Obviously since then i have really immersed myself in the tenth and have formed a really in depth appreciation for the little guys. I consider my initial aims to be pretty much complete, i proved they could be competative, however a much bigger challenge is ahead, since the space wolves and blood angel dexes were released ive found difficulties in beating them, its not impossible just alot more difficult than standard space marine forces. Recent experience with the grey knights has further compounded these issues. With servo skulls and shrouding they are proving a tough nut, and seem to have the tools to counter my best punches.

So heres the thing, not one to give up or balk at a challenge, im meeting these new armies head on, i may have to include the odd non-scout unit, but my new goal is to create an army which can combat any other force on the competative circuit, it will mean a few changes in my current list and some definate changes in my combo of tactics, the basics will reamin the same, but i will have to get creative.

Its definately a big ask, he first hurdle for me to conquer is the upcoming tournament. unfortunately i dont have the time to change my list before then, so i will have to rely on sheer luck and sneaky gameplay to get past any GK opponents.

So watch this space, lets see if the noobs can scale the obstacles before them.

Heres my first LSS MK2 scouts, apologies for the poor quality pic.

over the holidays i worked on a few changes to the list including the JP librarian that i mentioned in my last post. I tried him out for a bit and was completely underwhelmed so quickly dropped him again.
what i have done is added another ten man sniper squad and replaced one of my LSS teams with 2 typhoon speeders for extra anti-mech.

its all still theory at the moment, but i hope to have the main block of my army list worked out after this coming weekend, as im off to westbury for a weekend of gaming with the ultramarine guys from the bolterandchainsword site.

heres what im currently running at 1750:

Shrike
10 ccw scouts, fist, combi-melta
10 snipers, Telion, ML
10 snipers, HB
10 bolter scouts, ML, fist
5 ccw scouts, fist, combi-melta
LSS, MM
2 typhoons
thunderfire cannon
thunderfire cannon
10 scout bikes, fist, 3GL

the changes im 'considering' would be to drop the second unit of snipers in favour of another unit type, probably assault scouts.
i can also remove the typhoons and replace them with a melta storm and five scouts as above for exactly the same cost.. so far the typhoons have been a little hit or miss so im not sure if im sticking with them just yet.
If i do change back to the 5 scouts and LSS id probably switch the snipers for another choice, otherwise id be assault scout heavy, so i still have a lot of choices to make, should this list dissapoint.

As of febuary im working hard on getting my MK2 scouts finsihed, ill make sure to post more pics and updates of my work and progress.
if anyone wants to read my recent battle reports you can find them here:
http://www.bolterandchainsword.com/index.php?showtopic=219458

until next time, thanks for reading.

new scenic bases

hi guys.


ive finally finished my unit of bolter scouts and put them on resin bases.
ive started working on my close combat scouts and have totally redesigned my LSS scouts.
Seeing as they are 'special' and my more iconic scout units i wanted them to stand out beyond the normal close combat scouts.
i had originally intended to take shotguns on the storms, but i find after thier initial hit they usually get charged, so ive taken close combat scouts to make sure they are capable of hitting back and causing a wound or two.

anyway i ordered some heads from pig iron productions, i figured the stuanch ultramarines would have some degree of health and safety so the LSS crews are going to have helmets on ;)
ive also given them chainswords over combat blades, really makes the difference.
im not entirely sold on the heads yet, they may be a little small for the larger bodies but nice i get one painted ill be able to see properly.

for a full view of the finished unit use the following link
http://www.bolterandchainsword.com/index.php?showtopic=214311&hl=Mk2+scouts

i havent followed through with my threats of using 20 scout bikers, they just cost way too much, in preparation for the sad muppets tournament in may im going to start trying lists early.
my first list will use a jump pack libby atatched to Shrike, im using him as a epistolary, but if i find hes too expensive for what he brings then ill drop that upgrade and a few other bits and take another 5 scout snipers.. you can never have enough snipers.

im also very pleased with GWs new FAQ stating a model with stealth does grant it to the unit, this saves me 30 points on camo cloaks, im now just waiting to see if they have a stance on whether or not cereberus launchers can be stacked on a single unit.

ill get piccies up of my next units asap, the next big event for me is the ultrameet in january and i want to have most of the work done by then

thanks for tuning in again.

its blog time again, its good to see i have guys following my progress.

when i first started playing with scout armies (shortly after 5th ed release) people were very reluctant to beleive they could work. It took the best part of a year but eventually i proved alot of people wrong.
Its probably the biggest reason why i kept pushing them, playing nothing but scouts for the best part of two years wasnt easy after all.

recently i decided to start a new project, so i went to a new online forum and explained my background. It wasnt long before i got the same comments as i had when i first started my army. People making fun, underestimating my army and my scouts!
For me this wasnt offensive in any way, but it does get my blood pumping to want to disprove them... so here i go on another big push to prove thier worthiness.
although i know they dont need championing it was the spur i needed to keep plugging away, expect to see alot more from my army in the coming months.

as an update on recent battles and plans, i have been running a list with more AP weapons and no special characters, background/fluff has always been important to me and im pleased to say my new lsit has worked incredibly well.. although i have lost a few of my recent games they have stood against some serious competative armies.. that and a few of my losses has been to bad dice rolls..
i have since forced my dice cube to watch whilst i melted an old monopoly die i had.. i feel they have learned thier lesson and will behave from now onwards.

im currently running with two MM LSS (with scouts armed with combi-melta and meltabombs) aswell as a captain and command squad with 4 plasmaguns to bring my AP weapons up a notch.
The command squad have especially performed well and although it smacks of cheese flavoured metagaming i have little other options available.

after a little thought, ive decided to try a second unit of scout bikes, the bolter scouts i use are pretty good but BS3 is a huge loss, scout bikes on the other hand have twin linked bolters and T5, aswell as the option to take grenade launchers, which are just the coolest thing ever.
a second unit of bikes means i have to drop a LSS with MM (aswell as the bolter scouts), which is tough incase i ever face twin raiders but ill cross that bridge when i get to it, that and make sure i have meltabombs spread as liberally as possible.
it will also enable me to run two full squads of snipers, the list looks like this:

captain, relic blade, storm bolter, meltabombs
command squad, 4 plasmaguns
10 scouts, power fist, combi-flamer, ccws
10 scouts, snipers, HB
10 scouts, snipers, telion, ML, cloaks
5 scouts, combi-melta, meltabombs, shotguns
10 scout bikes, power fist, 3 grenade launchers
10 scout bikes, power fist, 3 grenade launchers
land speeder storm with MM
thunderfire cannon
thunderfire cannon

this is probably the lowest number of scouts ive ever run, but with 20 at T5, they should be twice as effective as reguar bolter scouts..
watch this space, i cant run this just yet as im a few bikes short, but ill be buying them in the next week, in the mean time im running the same list minus one unit of bikes, with added LSS and a unit of bolter scouts.

thanks for tuning in.

oh before i forget my LSS has been named the tomb slayer in memory of its infamy for destroyinh a monolith in its first outing at the ultra-meets two years ago
My second (although being retired for a while) is named the indomitable

change of direction

i havent updated in some time but ill briefly highlight my adventures in the last weeks.

I took on my friends deathwing army again.. twice
and lost again.. twice!

Its a strange feeling to be so humbled, considering my success and pretty decent win rate, but fighting massed terminators is like hitting a brick wall.
Scout bikes however killed a squad of five with massed grenade launcher and bolter fire which was impressive.
It has always been a good way to try out new lists and tactics, and although i cant take a huge amount from the games (his list is very unique) its always a challenge to go up against him.

anyway that same week i faced a decent blood angels list, and have come to the conclusion that my army is short on two things:
melta..
high AP weapons.
I shall try and write a list that covers these two points.

Furthermore my aim over the next few months is to create a viable and competative list without using special characters. This should pose to be my biggest challenge yet as scouts have no natural HQ choice.

MK2 scouts:
as a quick footnote, the change of my army to MK2 goes well, a full unit of bolter scouts has been converted and painted, whilst ccw scouts and scout bikers are starting to see the first converisons. I hope to be able to start work on my MK2 land speeder storm crew.
unfortunately im a slow painter which slows my progress somewhat

MK2 scouts

The pics a little blurry, sorry for that..

But this is my new MK2 scout, all my army will be converted to match over time.

im using a standard PA body, or mk8 incase of the sergeants as above, it takes a bit of work to shave down all the necessary bits but it looks alot better tha those blocky scout torsos.

also the larger PA allows me to use space marine bare heads which are alot better than the head sculpts for scouts, fists etc also fit alot better.

the fist in this pic was convetered from a SM commander lightening claw, the bolter arm came from a land speeder storm kit.. the head is from commander culn