Warhammer 40k Excellence: White Scars, Kroot Renegades, and Commissions

So here it is. Now it is not quite done yet because every single time I take pictures of my models I see the mistakes that I missed when I had the paint out. It is actually kind of annoying. So it is still a work in progress. I hope you enjoy the work I’ve done on it!

So here is my recently converted hammerhead for my kroot renegades army. I quite simply love this model and how it came out! I used a piranha chassis for the front, devilfish frame for the body, and whirlwind missiles for the smart missile systems.

Also, due to my loathing for clear plastic flying bases that GW gives away with every skimmer vehicle.. I decided to invent something much more suiting for my city fighting renegades. I plan on making similar bases for all of my vehicles so they can finally be properly based for tournament games.

This tank is the embodiment of what Kroot renegades are and I can’t wait to continue working on projects for this army since I have not been working on them that much as of late. Well I hope you enjoy this tank as much as I do and I look forward to hearing comments from you guys.

What do Kroot do when they need a Piranha Counts as???

Loot a Deff Kopta of course

The Missing arm will be glued on once ive painted it, but for the moment this bad boy is ready to go

Well before I begin explaining what Knarlsides are, I have to explain something. I have maintained this website for just over a year, and well even though I have teased at the fact that I do have a Kroot Renegades army, I really don’t have any pictures of them on my page. So in a effort to change that, I want to introduce you all to one of my favorite models in my Kroot Renegades army… the Knarlsides.

Knarlsides are my version of a Broadside battle suit for a standard Tau army. When I went about converting my Kroot Renegades I soon realized that I needed some heavy long ranged firepower. Then I came across these pictures and I thought to myself… this is exactly what the doctor ordered.

So after seeing these pictures on Hive Fleet Moloch I instantly became hooked and decided to convert my own. So below are some more pictures of the creations that I came up with.

Now I have had these bad boys for just over a year and a half now and they have done wonders for my Kroot Renegade army. But with the proliferation of mechanized armies, I am starting to feel as if these two need some company to assist in wrecking house. So I have decided that this is a good place to expand my army in the very near future. So be sure to keep checking back for more details!

Hello All!

As an effort to try to expand Stillfrosty Conversions into new and exciting realms in the 40k universe, I have contacted several artists to do a feature on them as provide artwork for my website. So the first Artist I would like to introduce to all of you goes by the nickname Darius.

His real name is Egoitz Pinto. He currently lives in Spain and graduated with an Art Degree at his local university. He has collaborated in many artistic projects in his country, including character design for computer animation, drawing illustrations for exhibitions, and even making atrezzo (accessories), stage designs, and sets for movies.

He studies japanese, loves heavy metal, wolves, wargames and RPGs, raw meat, crunchy chocolate, and spiked wristbands.

He also maintains a webcomic in spanish called “Que te den” (GTFOff) and recently started a new one in both languages; English and spanish called “EATATAU” about his particular views of “Warjamer 40,000″ (no, that is not incorrect!). Besides doing Web Comics, he does commissions on artwork so if you have a favorite model that you wanted a picture of or a favorite scene you wanted visualized then he is the man to talk to!

I encourage you to check out his website: http://eatatau.smackjeeves.com/ as the comic he has been working on is very hilarious! There is also a link to contact him and to ask for commissions work.

You are surfing the web and on some website that you hardly ever visit has images posted of your models that you have never seen before!  In a way its quite flattering.

More images can be seen at: http://www.dakkadakka.com/gallery/7766-Brandon%20Vallee%20Kroot.html

To be honest, I get the impression the guy who took these photos loves my army as he took 6 pictures of them and of different units. Nothing wrong with the Kroot Renegades getting some love!

Props to that poster!

So after cleaning out my room I found four crisis suits still intact from my old Tau army. Since I don’t play Tau and I have been looking to build a few more suits to expand my Kroot Renegades army, I figured it was time for these to go to the chop shop.

As you can see from the last picture I plan on making at least one more “deathrain” crisis suit or a crisis suit armed with twin linked missile pod and a flamer. However I was reading a tactica on the “heat wave” configuration or a crisis suit with twin linked flamer and a missile pod I might just build 2 of these instead and use the redeemer flame cannons from the new land raider kit. Finally with the last two suits I was considering either building 2 twin linked fusion suits or 2 of the “burning eye” configuration suits which is plasma rifle and fusion blasters. So stay tuned to updates on this project!

Well after a few days of recuperation after this weekend’s tournament at Legion’s Games in Pittsburgh, PA I figured I would give a brief little synapses of my experiences.

Firstly I just want to say it was great fun and getting back into playing in tournaments after 6 months on not playing in one was really refreshing. However, waking up at 7 am after seeing Terminator Salvation and Night at the Museum 2 at a drive in movie theater and not going to bed until 4 am was not a good idea… Secondly, the tournament was for 1750 and not 1850 like the previous post suggests, thankfully I double checked or I would have an illegal list!!! Finally, in an effort to make my army more competitive I added a few units to handle overwhelming amounts of cover situation, so I took a sky ray and a pathfinder team. These units I never used before so it was refreshing to try a new list. So without further ado, the new list:

Shas’el
Twin Missile Pod, Airbusting Fragmentation Projector, Hard wired Multi-Tracker

Shas’el
Plasma rifle, Cyclonic ion blaster, Positional Relay, Hard wired multi-tracker

Crisis Suits (3 man)
3x plasma rifles, 3x missile pods, 2x multi-trackers, team leader, targeting array, hard wired multi-tracker, bonding knife, hard wired drone controller, 2x shield drones

Crisis Suits (2 man)
2x Twin linked Missile pods, 2x flamers

Firewarriors (8 man)

Kroot (10 man)
10x kroot hounds

Kroot (10 man)
10x kroot hounds

Kroot (10 man)

Pafinders (8 man)
Devilfish
Smart Missile system, Targeting array, Multi-tracker, Disruption pod, Flechette Discharger

Broadsides (2 man)
2x Advanced Stabilization Systems, Team leader with bonding knife, Hard wired target lock, hard wired drone controller 2x shield drones

Hammerhead
Rail gun, Smart Missile system, target lock, Multi-tracker, Disruption pod, Flechette Discharger

Skyray
Smart missile system, Multi-tracker, Disruption pod Flechette Discharger, Targeting Array Black Sun filter

Round 1: Corner deployment, 5 objectives, No special deployment rules allowed (no deep strike infiltrate etc)
Army: Infantry heavy guard

Because we weren’t allowed to outflank, infiltrate, or deep strike both of our deployment zones were cramped like no other. Topped with the fact that the table was set up for a city fight didn’t help either. This was going to be a very annoying game because I always utilize deployment special rules, I am not used to marching kroot across the field!

Command Platoon with advisers
Psyker Battle Squad
Infantry Platoon one
Command Section Al’rahem and various weaponry
5x infantry squads with various weaponry
1x Special weapon teams
Infantry Platoon two
Command Section (The Russian Character) various weaponry
5x Infantry Squads with various weaponry
Demolisher
Leman russ
Manticore

This guys list was harder to remember because through out the game he managed to mix up his squads so many times he got confused to which models went where. It wasn’t because he was trying to be deceitful, it was because he had a ton of necromunda models that he wanted to use that all looked alike with no squad markings.

This game was a very long one, we only managed to complete 4 turns because of the massive amounts of models we both had to move. I was at a distinct disadvantage because I could not get my kroot into assault and he had so many scoring units it wasn’t funny. I had all of my kroot in forward positions to attempt to get into assault but it did not go as planned. My broadsides couldn’t kill his tanks and it was truly depressing. On a lighter note, my devilfish took 4 rounds of shooting from his whole army before he could bring it down. I managed to fight my way to contest all of the objectives and hold my own, however with his last shot, he blew up my devilfish contesting the central objective giving him the game. When I measured the range of my closest unit to the objective, I was an inch out from contesting… He took the game from me. Though it was a close match, I honestly feel the lack of deployment options hampered my army and gave him an advantage. Teamed up with the massive amounts of terrain it didn’t help either. Despite the loss, I managed to rack up a few battle points as I controlled more corners then he did, my commander was still alive, and I got a scoring unit into his deployment zone.

8 to 15

Round 2: Capture the Flag, pitched battle Regular deployment options
Army: Imperial guard (again)

Command Platoon various weaponry
Primaris Psyker
3x vet squads with 3x grenade launchers and a lascannon
Platoon Command various weaponry
2x Infantry squads with plasma guns and heavy bolters
2x heavy bolter teams
Valkryie with missile pods, hull heavy bolters
3x Heavy Sentinels with autocannons
2x Medusa
1x Manticore
1x Leman Russ

Yay another guard army… This time with massed amounts of tanks and infantry. Thankfully no stupid deployment restrictions. We rolled off and I went first. I deployed my devilfish with fire warriors, hammerhead, shas’el with twin missiles, afp and a pair of death rains on my right. On the left behind a large building I deployed my “flag” covered by 10 kroot, broadsides, the skyray, and the pathfinders. He placed his objective in the center of his deployment zone in a forest with 2x vet squads, the command platoon, and an infantry squad on the flag. Behind the forest he deployed two medusa. On the left side of the forest he deployed a leman russ, the hell hound, the Valkyrie, then the last vet squad and the command section near the table edge. On the right side he deployed his manticore behind the other large building and sentinels to guard it. The psyker and the last infantry squad deployed in the Valkyrie. It was obvious that he was going to try and hit me hard by focusing his deployment by my objective, so I infiltrated a squad of kroot in a forest to help out on that flank. My other shas’el and crisis team would be deep striking and my last kroot squad were outflanking.

First Turn: I knew what the manticore and the hell hound could do to all of the kroot that I deployed, so i had to knock them out first before anything. So I raced my hammerhead and other units around it to intercept the manticore. The infiltrated kroot squad moved up to become more threatening. Broadsides moved out for a better shot. So the firing began, hammerhead aimed, fired, and blew the manticore into smithereens! The pathfinders marked the hell hound 8 times and fired 4 seeker missiles at it and blew it up. Then the broadsides turned their attention to the Medusa however he passed his cover save. Not a bad first turn.

He moves his Valkyrie up and his sentinels and begins to prepare firing. The Medusa tanks target the broadsides, the first one nails the unit and kills two drones and the team leader, the second scatters wildly and kills 5 pathfinders. Everything else attempts to shoot at the kroot, however being in a forest I manage to pass my cover saves like no tomorrow, but he forces a leadership check. The pathfinders and the broadsides stick around while the kroot run away… go figure.

Turn two: I roll for my reserves and get the kroot unit but the deep striking units fail to come in. I roll to see which side they come in on and they come in on the side where he deployed a vet squad and the command section to close. Its time to start eating! The kroot squad that ran away managed to rally and ran up back to the fight. The hammerhead continued to move up on the right flank to challenge the Medusa. The Crisis team and shas’el line the Valkyrie in their sights. Its time to star shooting! Once again, first shot with the hammerhead, fires, hits, annihilates the Medusa. Caused a massive explosion that went 6 inches! It killed 6 vets and a few guardsmen. The explosion caused the guardsmen unit to run off the table! The Crisis suits line the Valkyrie up and shoot it out of the sky. With an effort of stripping the cover off of the Medusa, the broadside attempts to kill the other one, but with a 6+ cover save the tank survives the shot. The kroot then begin their vicious assault on the vets and command section and before the guardsmen could even react, the hounds slaughtered them before they could swing.

Losing more tanks to the wrath of the hammerhead and fearing another assault, my opponent switches his tactics. He focuses the medusa, the leman russ, and the newly emerged psyker and squad onto the kroot. All of the autocannons and lascannons focus on the hammerhead. After a round of shooting, the hammerhead no longer has a rail run, the kroot are down to 8 guys and the devilfish is immobilized.

Turn three: The crisis suits come in (awesome!) and I actually used the re-rolling deepstrike dice ability thanks to the pathfinder devilfish. The hammerhead moves up a full speed to use smart missiles on the command squad. The crisis suits with missile pods are moved to engage the command squad as well (since it is worth extra points) The deep striking suits move in to kill the sentinels and the psyker with his squad which just wrecked a unit of kroot. Both kroot squads move in to swarm the guardsmen and psyker. The firewarriors get out of the devilfish and run up to rapid fire.

So the pathfinders and skyray once again attempt to guide the broadside to a kill my stripping off the cover of the medusa and this time it works. The tank explodes 3 inches and causes more causalities. The crisis suits fail to hurt the sentinels and the shas’el only kills a few guardsmen because of coversaves. The deathrains and afp shas’el manage to finish off the command platoon. In the assault phase, the remaining 8 kroot charge, however due to not having grenades, the guard strike first and finish of the squad before they even get to fight.

In his turn the psyker branches off to go kill the crisis suit while the guardsmen go to shoot up the other squad of kroot before they are assaulted. In the shooting phase, the leman russ finally kills the broadside with a lucky lascannon shot. They psyker charges my shas’el and sends him into the warp with his force weapon. The sentinels charge my crisis suits and I can’t hurt them because his front armor is 12 but I pass all of my saves, so it was a tied combat.

Turn 4 The hammerhead moves up to contest his objective, the firewarriors move up to rapid fire the vets remaining on the objective. The kroot move up to assault the guardsmen, and the deathrain suits move up to shoot the remaining vets as well. I manage to shoot up all of the veterans except one guy who is currently hugging a tree for dear life on the objective. The kroot tear threw the guardsmen and consolidate behind the hell hound wreckage and the crisis suits move in to lend some support. The sentinel combat is a draw since we can’t hurt each other.

In his turn he moves the psyker to assault the fire warriors, and the leman russ to kill the sky ray. The psyker fires and kills 3 firewarriors but they stand strong. The leman russ fails to do anything to the sky ray. So the psyker assaults the firewarriors and manages not to kill a single one. However with the attacks back I manage to put him down and massacre 6 inches. I was shocked, just because I modelled them to look like kroot, doesn’t mean I expect them to fight like kroot! After that assault time is called and I am contesting his objective with the hammerhead and fire warriors and and he has nothing by mine objective. I got full battle points and managed to achieve all the objectives. He actually lost points due to not keeping his commander alive and failing to get any units into my deployment zone.

18 -3

Round three: Kill points, Dawn of War
Army: Guard (seriously?)

His army:

Command section with various weaponry
Sisters of Battle Commander with retinue
Inquisitor with a small retinue (2 mystics and a veteran)
2x infantry platoons
2x platoon sections with various weaponry
6x infantry squads with plasma and missile launchers
2x heavy weapon teams with lascannons
2x heavy weapon teams with autocannons
Veteran squad with various weaponry
2x Roughrider squads with lances

So we roll off for deployment and I won the roll off and made him deploy first. He merged his infantry squads together into 2 30 man blocks and deployed his sisters’ retinue. I didn’t deploy anything but decided to outflank all my kroot and deep strike my plasma suits and shas’el.

I don’t want to get into too much detail with this mission. He wasn’t too excited to play imperial guard in a kill points mission. So he haphazardly deployed his army and I began to pick off his units one by one. On turn 2 all of my kroot squads came in off the flanks and destroyed over 100 guardsmen in one turn. I think after that he kinda gave up and just began to have fun. Ultimately after the game was over, I killed everything in his army accept his sisters’ commander and a few guardsmen hanging out in the middle of the table. The final kill point total was 13 to 4 in my favor. I lost all three squads of kroot and a unit of broadsides (which was completely pointless in this game). Though he suffered a crippling defeat, he had fun and we were both making fun of the situation, like how I passed 18 lascannon cover saves on my hammerhead. I managed to once again get full battle points and modifiers and he lost points because of how bad the battle went for him

18 – 3

So after all was tallied up including sportsmanship, painting, theme, and battle points I managed to squeeze ahead of the competition and take first place. I think the judges made it a point to make me play the three guard players in the tournament. So I got my fill of killing guardsmen for the next few months! I had a good time and I am looking forward to the next tournament which is 4 weeks.

Here are a pair of pictures the completed commander now updated with a finished base, gear, and a little bit of green stuff detailing. I even gave him a bionic eye… or at least attempted to. Because he is now finished, I am going to add him to my tournament list for a tournament which is tomorrow!

This is the update of my commander. He isn’t quite done yet, as he is still missing various straps, gravel and the base, and gear to make him look more prepared for war, but I think its coming along quite nicely! I can’t wait to start painting him.