ITEN: Rapturous Beasts Ascending

So my buddy Stu saw my post on Reaper's mutant and got a burr in his saddle to play some In The Emperor's Name (ITEN).  If you have not heard of it, it's a mainly fan-made skirmish system for doing Abnett-style Inquisitorial games in the 40K universe. I had the good fortune to nose my way into the process a few years ago and add some cool stuff to the 2nd ed. I know there is a 3rd ed. in the works, but we'll be using the 2nd ed. this morning.

Anyway, I dug through my extensive collection of minis suitable for building a warband for this, and decided on an Ordo Xenos Inquisitor and his band. This guy is a bit of a heretic, so he's willing to pal around with aliens to get the job done. Check them out!

Here's the band. 200 pts., 8 models.

Inquisitor Holger Geist (a Cobalt mini).

Ygori, his mutant henchmen.

Greskin, alien psyker (Blue Moon mini).

P'knoc, Kroot tracker.

Imperial Interdiction Team.

I'll stat the Interdiction Team up as Guardsmen with shotguns. The alien psyker will be made up using the standard psyker rules and profile. Ygori the mutant will be a standard Inquisitorial agent with some sort of minor special ability. I'll include the Kroot using the Strange Ally rules that allows one model from another list.

So yeah, ITEN makes for a great way to dust off the old (or not so old!) minis and get some gaming in!

Thanks for visiting!

--Scott

GW 40K Chaos Plastic Cultist

I was very happy to see GW's release of the $10 plastic Chaos Cultist boxed set.  I've been meaning to get the main 40K boxed set that has all 20 cultists, and I will, but this will tide me over until I do!

These are some of my favorite GW plastic releases in recent memory. Pure skirmish-gaming gold!

Got the first one done today!

I used Army Painter Uniform Gray primer and went from there!  Just stuck with a simple pallet that I will likely follow on all subsequent cultists. These guys will be ideal for In the Emperor's Name skirmish games as well.

The plan is to paint at least two more this week, but we'll see.

Thanks for visiting!

--Scott

ITEN 2.0 Released!

The Forge of War Group (including your own humble blogger) have finished In the Emperor's Name 2.0, and lead author and chief rules wrangler Craig Cartmell has released the rules on his blog.

Here's the new cover contributed by Joe Urban:



Can't wait to give the official revised rules a shot this weekend!

Thanks for visiting!

--Scott

Dark Heresy: Criminal Campaign

My buddy Dan has proposed running a crime-based DH game set deep in some Imperial Underhive. Though not a straight "Necromunda" game, it will have that vibe. As a lover of all things DH, I of course eagerly agreed to play, and last night went to work on a possible model for my character.

I say possible because I may later settle on an Adept (scientist-type) instead of just a thug, so I may change things up. We'll see.

Anyway, this guy will get good use in a few different quarters, including for ITEN, and yes, also in a DH game.











Here's a quick rundown on the parts I used:

Head = Empire Flagellants
Body = Mordheim/Empire Militia
Right Arm = Cadians
Left Arm = Mordheim/Empire Militia
Legs/Lower Torso = Catachans
Big Knife = Kroot
Pouch = Bretonians
Pistol = Heresy Miniatures (metal)

And here's a comp shot with an older conversion (one of my own kit-bashed Stormtroopers):



Thanks for visiting!

--Scott

Kroot Konversion

ITEN spurred me into dusting some of my Kroot off and touching them up, but last night I got an idea to convert a Kroot with a Pulse Carbine. It's not easy carving out the hands so they can properly cradle a Tau Pulse Carbine, but subtle application of a jeweler's saw goes a long way.

I also gave him the royal treatment when it came to the paint job--almost no inks were used. A lot of blending and highlights.















Can't wait to field this guy at the head of my Kroot Recovery Team on Sunday!

Thanks for visiting!

--Scott

ITEN: Servo-Skulls

Craig, principle author of In the Emperor's Name has been kind enough to let me contribute some stuff to the 2nd ed. of the rules as he and his group put them together.

I realized that although the rules covered most of the 40K universe material, a few things were missing. Servo-Skulls were one of them.

Albeit a minor part, they are an evocative aspect of the 40K universe, so I knocked up some rules. And that prompted me to bring out my homemade Servo-Skull from a couple years ago and take some proper shots of him. Here he is!











Thanks for visiting!

--Scott

ITEN: The Kroot Represented

In the Emperor's Name offers a great many warband options, and I was ecstatic to see a Kroot force in there. In response I pulled out the necessary Kroot models and gave them a bit of a polish, adding some additional highlights, jazzing up their bases, and getting the ready for skirmish gaming.

And that's the beauty of games like ITEN, a handful of models and off you go!

Anyway, here they are!











In a game this past Sunday the Kroot faced off against a squad of desperate Vostroyan Imperial Guardsmen. Although the Kroot nearly escaped with a key but of valuable Archaeo-Tech, they ultimately fell under the barrage of lasgun fire from the well drilled IG.

Later this week I'll try to put together another warband, and maybe this weekend I will take some pics and do a proper battle report. In the meantime I am up to my neck (all of a sudden) in merc paint work, so I need to strike while the iron is hot there.

Thanks for visiting the blog!

--Scott

ITEN: Inquisitorial Warband

We managed to play a game or two of In the Emperor's Name (ITEN) this past weekend, and I am very happy to say that it is great! A skirmish game that is free, allows you to dip into your collection of old GW and sci-fi minis, and plays fast? Sign me up!

I built a 120 pt. Inquisitorial warband, and this gave me an excuse to finish my Space Marine Scout models that I use as Stormtroopers. I added my own Sci-Fi Ganger Heads to these guys to give them a neat, individual look. Overall, I am quite pleased!






Above you can see Inquisitor Galesmythe slightly converted from the plastic SM agent included in one of the old 40K boxed sets (Battle for McCragg, I believe). I gave him a power maul.




Above is my Interrogator. I used this guy in a game of Dark Heresy a while back. He's made from parts from Empire Militia and IG plastics.




Here's a close-up shot of one of my favorite heads on one of the plastic scouts:



It's a bit of a kludge in the rules, but I just count the Scouts with Shotguns as Stormtroopers with Hellguns.

I'll try to update this post or follow-up with an actual written up list detailing what these guys have in the game. Later this week I will show off my Kroot warband. Yes, Kroot live in ITEN!

Thanks for visiting!

--Scott

Inquisitorial Skirmish?

Why, In the Emperor's Name, yes! While visiting the Lead Adventure Forum (one of my favorite online haunts), I came across a link to this awesome-looking set of Warhammer 40K skirmish rules. It's a free PDF, and the fine folks at the Forge of War Development Group have done a great job distilling the GW fluff and rules into a simpler skirmish system.

Over the next couple of days I intend to finish up enough new models to make some kind of retinue for this game, and I hope to take it for a test drive on Sunday!

--Scott