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

Shrike hits the table

Well its taken a little longer than i hoped but here he finally is..

I tried out a few lists on the weekend against a very good opponent with a solid deathwing list. Its a good way to see where my list is weakest as scouts always struggle against massed terminators. Anyway with some tweeking im running a true scout horde in the next game to see how they cope:

Shrike

2 x 10 ccw scouts

2 x 10 bolter scouts

10m scout bikers

2 thunderfires

2 typhoon speeders

2 MM/HF speeders

5 snipers with Telion

thunderfire cannons

Ive been using t-fires for quite a while now... To begin with i had a few comments about how they dont suit a fast moving scout force. So i sat down and went to work (with a little help from my friends), after several different ideas were thrown out we settled on the idea of this, based loosely around a WW2 german kettenkrad.
We chopped a bike down and fitted it with plasti-card putting plasticard track covers on also.

Although it has no practical use in game terms, it makes the background more realistic, at least no-one can say it doesnt fit the theme anymore ;)

general update

Hi folks, i hope people are following this blog, otherwise all im doing is talking to myself. I dont really want anyone to know how crazy i am just yet ;)

anyway, i have a few friendly games coming up and will soon be starting work on my shrike and vangaurd squad. its my newest scout list. Its more of an experiment really to see if shrike adds something new and different as opposed to my regular HQ Khan.
im not sold on the vanguard as they are very expensive and may end up swapping them for some more assault scouts.
My current khan list did very well at the sad muppets "a small matter of honour", taking tenth place from 40 players. Im starting to feel that im finding the competative edge that ive long been searching for.
Alot of that success is down to the thunderfire cannons, i currently run two but would love to run a third.

anyway my newest adventure sees me dropping scout bikes in favour of three landspeeder storms, ill have to proxy some scouts as i dont have the shotgunners made up, but it wont be long before i pick up some more scout boxes.
Im keeping the snipers and t-fires as they are brilliant and will always include assault scouts, with the shrike list these bad boys will get a chance for alpha strikes, something which they couldnt achieve in my khan list, relying instead on outflanking every game.

The list looks like this:
Shrike
chaplain
5 vanguard (2Pw and relicblade/hammer)
10 assault scouts with fist
2 x 10 snipers with ML, one has Telion
2 thunderfires
2 LSS with multi-melta
2 5 man scout squads with combi-melta and metlabombs (scouts have shotguns)
1 LSS with heavy flamer
5 assault scouts with fist and combi-flamer.

Fingers crossed this works, i guess my next step would be to use a Khan on bike, i have a model already made up, but i would prfer to run him with a command squad on bikes, a unit that i dont have and would take me a while (and a lot of £££) to make up.
I figure i can get alot of mileage from shrike at the moment so i can get to work on expanding my number of models in the background.
Pics and updates to follow