2014 Independent Characters’ Hobby Progress Challenge

For the last three years the Independent Characters have been fighting a war against grey plastic. I joined them in second year of their struggle with my Imperial Guard army. (You can find my thread here) And whilst I completed their challenge with 1850pts of 3 colour models my Imperial Guard is a long way from completion. I feel this will be an ongoing struggle for many months (probably years) to come.

Again in 2014 I will be attempting the Independent Characters’ Hobby Progress Challenge. Although the structure of this year challenge has changed a little I’m aiming to at least hitting their midyear goal of a fully painted 1000pt Zone Mortalis list. To aid me in this endeavour I’ve called upon my home brew Space Marine army “The Burnt” or otherwise known as “my bright orange marines”. I won’t go into too much detail of what I’ve got and why as I’ll be covering that in future posts (I need to save up some content) but needless to say they will make a statement when finished! (Alternatively you can follow my progress here)

If you’re starting an army, or even adding to an army you already have, I’d say hit up the IC forums and read up on this challenge. (Yourcan find the details here) It really helps to keep you on track and you’ll get tons of support from fellow hobbyists. And there is always a chance that you might win a prize… for doing what you’re where going to do anyway!!! The added bonus is that the forum moderator in charge of this year’s challenge is a swell guy.

The short road to Force Z #1

Heading into 2014 I’ve decided to better my playing ability by throwing myself into the deep end! And the first of these baptisms of fire will be the first Force Z of the year in Brisbane on January 18.

Force Z in a series of 4 one day tournaments throughout the year culminating in an invitational only bonanza in December. Each tournament is 750pts no-comp goodness with five 1hr 15min games across the day. It’s brutal, it’s tough, it’s bloody and most of all it’s quick! (For more details hit up Adam at Alpha Hobbies or the Force Z 2014 #1 Facebook page)

As for what I’m taking, well Guard of course! It’s not a particularly competitive list as I don’t actually own anything competitive, like flyers, but it’s what I got and you never know it might do some good in some match ups. The down side is I still have 3 Auto cannon teams and a Devil Dog (Hellhound variant) to paint up from scratch by then.

Here is my untested list:

HQ

Lord Commissar

Troops

Platoon Command Squad: Heavy Weapons Team (missile launcher).

Infantry Squad: Sergeant; Heavy Weapons Team (autocannon).

Infantry Squad: Sergeant; Heavy Weapons Team (autocannon).

Infantry Squad: Sergeant; Heavy Weapons Team (autocannon).

Veteran Squad: Veteran Weapons Team (missile launcher).

Fast

Devil Dog: heavy flamer

Heavy

Leman Russ Battle Tank

Fortifications

Aegis Defence Lines: gun emplacement with quad-gun.

It’s slow, it’s ponderous, it’s vulnerable to Thunderfire cannons but as I said it’s what I got. I’m hoping that limited size of a 4’x4’ board allows me to drop some hurt on armies before they get objectives or at least blow them off objectives if I’m still around to do so. I’ve only got 1hr 15mins of play time so I won’t be moving these suckers anywhere real fast as one thing I’ve found out about guard is they are not the quickest army to play with. I’m hoping by the end of June I will have a painted up Space Marine list that may have a look in but Guard is my first and true army!

Stay tuned as I’ll post up my play testing experiences as I go and my final result after the tournament.

Coming in 2014...

Evening all,

After successfully completing the Independent Characters’ 2013 Hobby Progress Challenge I’ve been inspired to bigger and better things in out 40k community, and as such I’ve started a blog!

Coming in 2014 (only 14 days away) I will be endeavouring to post at minimum 1 post a fortnight. Doesn’t sound like much… well I don’t get up to much… There will be lots of glossy photos and exquisitely painted miniatures (that will help on the old word count).

“So what?” you might say. Well you might be right, but what harm could I do right? You never know I might be good at this thing… 

Coming in 2014 to a computer/smart phone/tablet near you… Yardsman the Blog!