2013 down, 37,987 to go...

"Change is the only constant" certainly applies to the Warhammer hobby at the moment, and my experience is no different.

This time last year I was starting to think about a 'counts as' Vulkan figure to lead my small force of Howling Griffons and give them more of a chance against armies like Space Wolves and the new Chaos codex.

Since then of course we do not just have a new Space Marines codex, in which Vulkan is now purely a Salamanders character, but Marines are now much more interesting and even competitive.  I can now field a full Devastator Company and more of Howling Griffons.  Other armies have also moved up the pecking order- Tau especially.

And it's not just the range of armies that has evolved, but Stronghold Assault and Escalation have further mixed things up, just before the Tyranids arrive in the New Year.

With the expense of Christmas and my traditional winter modelling lull, I haven't bought much in the way of new models recently, apart from the Adeptus Astartes Stormwing,  which was completely irresistible.  With so many changes, the old certainties about the 'best' units have gone, so there is much more variety around.  There is almost too much choice about, as GW seems intent on releasing more expensive kits to squeeze our wallets.  Equally, I will not be starting any major projects very soon, as things will have moved on again by the time I get it finished!

With no Invasions any more and having been a bit jaded with GW since Armies on Parade, I need to regain my hobby mojo. Perhaps the School League will help here, although I won't be playing personally.

In the meantime, I did get the X-Wing game for Christmas and am looking forward to playing that for a bit of a change.

I hope 2013 has been good for your army and that 2014 is even better.

Thanks for reading and Happy Gaming.

No more Invasion events at Warhammer World

I see that Warhammer World have put on their Facebook page that there will be no more Invasion competitions or store visits happening.  Apparently they are not the "right thing" for GW customers.

This is disappointing news for me.  I have really looked forward to those trips and always had fun there, whatever the result.

My hobby interest always wanes over the winter, with work and dark nights combining to limit my painting time.  Luckily I still get to play most weeks and still seem to buy some models, but never get things completed until the Spring.  Easter Invasions always gave me impetus to crack on in the new year, but I guess that won't happen in 2014.

Like my annoyance with Armies on Parade this year, these are times when I (and many other players, certainly online) lose all enthusiasm for GW.

Here's hoping they have a pleasant surprise lined up as an alternative.

40K School League heats

The team from my school club entered the first set of heats at GW Newbury against two other teams (both from another school) and have qualified for the Regionals at Warhammer World in March.  The lads were delighted of course, as was I.

The result was extremely close, but we emerged victorious by 61.5 to 61 points.  It all came down to the sportsmanship point I made sure one of my team was awarded for pointing out that his opponent's warlord could not claim an objective on his own before the game ended, giving him the chance to move a scoring unit closer.  Our margin of victory would have been slightly bigger otherwise, as the game was then a draw, instead of a victory for us.

We lost points on the painting scores, as most of our team are relatively new to the hobby and did not, for example, have the six objectives needed to gain points for markers.  (When does any game need 12 markers anyway?)  I will make sure we do better on this score in March.

We had 2 Yr 7s (aka first years), a Yr8 and a Yr9. Our opponents were fielding kids from Yr10-11.  Even so, we got a 9-1-2 gaming record, against 7 wins from the second-placed team.

Our team played Chaos, DA (both mainly from Dark Vengeance, although there was a land raider), GK and Tau (the cheesiest army with 2 riptides).

We are hoping to enter another team for more heats in February.

I just need to ask my Head now if he is happy to pay for a minibus again to get us to Nottingham.

Howling Griffons bikers

My latest project is just about finished.  It's a squad of 5 bikers with a Power Fist and 2 Meltaguns.  The Meltaguns were spare parts from my Centurions and are mounted on the front wheel, a bit like the FW Legion Outriders.

My original idea was to give my Master of the Forge some protection, but I'm now planning a biker Captain as well to make them troops.  A mounted Command Squad with an Apothecary and Storm Shields is also very tempting due to its survivability,  if expensive.

At the moment I can't quite decide on what chapter to do any more bikers.  Whilst Storm Lords allies would look good with my Griffons, and are White Scars successors, a homebrew chapter would be useful.  I could choose any doctrine I needed and so this would be more flexible.  For now I may well just stick with my Griffons and just get a couple of decent bike squads, probably with more grav weapons to hunt MCs.

My Games Day UK 2013

First thing to say is that GW ran no games at Games Day. There were Warhammer-related card and computer games to try, but not the core games. In downsizing from the NEC to the NIA (still in Birmingham) the participation games and make-and-takes have gone. Well over half the floor area of the main arena was taken up by sales.  To be fair, that is where most people headed first into some still fairly lengthy queues. Probably quicker than last year though.

Forge World had a few new models on show. Ferrus had been announced before, but Lorgar was also in the cabinets. I was most impressed with the new Assault pod, which also caused a bit of a stir.

I resisted the temptation of buying Ferrus, but did go for the new Iron Hands Contemptor.  I did want to get the IH Legion squad, but they had sold out by the time I got through the queue.  There was a big display board of the Iron Hands vs Emperor's Children and Iron Warriors, which was very well done.

Both the Armies on Parade and Golden Demon competitions were held in the sports hall downstairs. As always, looking at the best models there takes a lot of luck and patience amid the crowds.  I am still convinced that my parade board was better than many of the store winners. The overall parade winner featured a running waterfall and surprised many people. I would also like to see the Golden Demon winners close up too.

The highlight of the day for me was chatting to Robin Cruddace again. He is a fellow Howling Griffons player and we discussed our armies.  He even signed my Space Marines codex with a nice note for me. I am a fan!

Armies on Parade 2013 Howling Griffons

It was finally time for GW Newbury's annual competition today.  My board came fourth in a very close race.

Unfortunately,  I couldn't get any of the new models ready in time.  After spending so long on the armour, I should also have been a little more careful with the unit markings, which ended up a bit messy.  Oh well, maybe next year.

Well done to George, who won with his Iron Warriors.

My first thoughts on Space Marines 2013 codex

I grabbed my book as soon as GW Newbury opened this morning.  I also picked up a Tactical Squad and some Centurions and will try to add some new models to my Devastator Company for Armies on Parade next week.  I still have most of the scenery and the Storm Eagle to finish painting.  Both sets of sprues look vey good, although I will need a quiet few minutes to build the Centurions.

A couple of rules points I have noticed so far:

Asssult Squad sergeants can no longer take a Storm Shield, so I will either have to count mine as a Combat Shield or play them as the much cheaper elite-slot Vanguard Vetetans instead, until I get the new models.

The Centurions are Slow and Purposeful, so can't overwatch.  Not sure about using them with Grav-Cannons now, which only have 24" Salvo 3/5 range.  A shortish range defensive infantry unit that can't overwatch seems a handicap.

My recent 600pt list for Invasion now comes to 570 points, so is 5% cheaper.  A special weapon and another marine are the obvious additions and will still fit in the Razorback.  Of course I will also work out some brand new lists too!

Finally for now, I'm a little disappointed I have only found a couple of worn Howling Griffons references so far in the codex, especially when Robin Cruddace is  HG player.  I had hoped for more.

Space Marines Battle Company (and new Space Marines incoming)

Having been working on my Howling Griffons all summer I now have enough figures to field a full company.  Not only that, I can either field a standard Battle Company (6 Tacticals, 2 Assault and 2 Devastator) or a full Devastator Company (10 Devastator).

As I'm saving all the devs for Armies on Parade, I took the Battle Company formation to GW Newbury for an all-day Apocalypse game yesterday.  It was a long day but great fun.  The result was a very close 19-20 loss for my side, which was the only downer.  My partner had a Leman Russ company and one super-heavy.  Our opponents had Wolves, Eldar and Tau and 5 super-heavies.  As new players arrived during the afternoon we were allowed to recycle units to keep things balanced.  One plucky marine was all that survived from my original deployment to the end.  He will be getting a promotion soon!

Of course, as a Space Marine player, I'm also looking forward to getting my hands on the new codex.  The Tactical and Sternguard sprues look particularly promising.  I'm even impressed with the Vanguards and all their plastic Thunder Hammers.  However, as I've spent the last few weeks assembling and painting all that power armour, I'm not planning on painting much more in the near future. I may get a Stalker for my Armies on Parade board, but I already have to finish painting the board, scenery and a Storm Eagle (which has taken me a good few days just to assemble...!)

Warhammer World Invasion August 2013

Last Monday was my latest trip to Nottingham with the GW Newbury team, in a 600-pt doubles tournament against six other local stores (Reading, Swindon, Oxford, Aylesbury, High Wycombe and Maidenhead).

I took my Howling Griffons, with 5 Sniper Scouts, minimal Tactical Squad with TLAC Razorback, Master of the Forge on a bike with a conversion beamer, basic Predator and a Stormtalon with Skyhammer.  My team-mate was one of the boys from the store and his Eldar.  He took a Farseer, two units of Rangers, 5 Dark Reapers and two sets of Vaul's Weapons Batteries.

We had a practice game on Saturday against Matt, who basically took the two Dark Vengeance armies together.  Although we thrashed him with the strength of our shooting, I was under no illusions that the armies on the day would be a lot tougher.

Our first game was Scouring with Hammer and Anvil deployment against Orks and Tau.  The Tau had a Commander with a load of gun drones, a mob of Kroot snipers, another Suit, a unit of Fire Warriors, a Piranha and a Sky Ray.  The Orks had a Warboss, two mobs of Boyz, a Deffkopta, a Trukk and a Battlewagon with Deffrolla.  I was worried about the Sky Ray, but in the end the game ended up beingvery slow and we only got to the end of Turn 3 in 90 minutes, in which my Storm Talon never showed up!

We managed to get first blood on the Trukk, but the Invasion tables now have more terrain than previously, so we found ourselves with poor LoS quite often.

We were getting frustrated at the time things were taking and so made a costly mistake as the game was about to end.  We knew the Farseer's psychic power (I forget the name) could fly him 48" across the board for Linebreaker, and this succeeded, although he did have to survive a melta shot from a suit.  Had we moved him to contest the four point objective in the centre, we could have won.  Instead we lost 7-9.

The game after lunch proved to be much better, for us anyway!  This time we were playing Crusade on Dawn of War against Guard and Wolves.  The Wolves had a Rune Priest with the obligatory Jaws and Living Lightning, some Wolf Guard, a Melta-Dread in a Drop Pod and a couple of units of Grey Hunters.  The Guard had a Company Command Squad, two units of Veterans, a Chimera and a Hellhound.

All 3 games we played started with Night Fighting, but I used my Searchlight to illuminate the Hellhound, which the conversion beamer then blew up from across the board (see picture below).  The blast also caught the Chimera, which exploded as well, killing half a squad of Veterans inside it and 3 Grey Hunters next to it.  Not a bad start!

On their first turn the Dreanought came down near the Heavy Weapons, but its Multi-Melta did very little  before it was immobilised (apparently for the second game in a row) and then destroyed.  Again my Stormtalon had declined to turn up on Turn 2, but their Vendetta came on and targetted my Master of the Forge, as they had decided they did not like him.  Despite all the Lascannons, his Jink saved rescued him and he survived on one wound.  Hooray for Toughness 5!  We then managed to hit the Vendetta, putting it into locked velocity, before my Stormtalon finally joined the battle Turn 4 in the rear arc of the Vendetta and blew it up.  It too suffered locked velocity from the Veterans with an Autocannon on a Skyfire objective, although it was still able to pound their infantry afterwards.  This was a fun game against sporting opponents, who got back into the match after a dreadful start for them, although we still had a comfortable 9-4 victory.

The last game was Purge the Alien with Vanguard deployment against Tau and GK.  We faced another Commander plus drones, more Kroot and Fire Warriors, a Riptide and 3 Piranhas, as well as Coatez and 3 HB Servitors in a Chimera, a Rifleman Dread, Purifiers and some Crusaders with Dealt Cult Assassins.  We got first blood again by blowing up the Chimera, but that was about the only success.  We just couldn't kill off Coatez, the Dread or the Piranhas.  Again we were under time pressure, as the game was reduced to just an hour, as things were over-running and coaches from the other stores needed to leave.  Had we focussed fire more, we might have had more success, but it was not a pretty 9-3 loss.

It was a fun day out and with 1 win and 2 losses we came 43/68 (results here), but I really must learn to play for objectives, as this was the second time the four point objective has been crucial for me.

Apart from my spectacular shot in the second game, another highlight for me was arranging a Stormtalon fly-past with Dave's (GW Reading manager) Brazen Claw flyer.

I look forward to the new Space Marine codex, as I am keen to improve my recent record at these tournaments!

Summer madness

As the song says, 'School's Out for Summer!', so I have some decent hobby time ahead.  My wife has even suggested I take some figures away with us when we go for a week in France.  I still can't quite believe that one!

Anyway, there are a couple of events ahead for me.  The first is the next Invasion tournament at Warhammer World on the 19th August.  Matt has been running a practice league and I have updated my list as first detailed here.  The only change is that I have dropped the Landspeeder Storm.  Whilst the Outflanking and ability to move the Scouts about at speed is nice, the multi-melta proved very unreliable at only BS3. Instead I am taking a basic Predator at 60pts (and giving the Tactical sergeant melta-bombs with the spare 5pts), as AV13 should hopefully soak up a bit more fire and give my Master of the Forge something to hide behind when deploying.

Due to its value, the Predator was in my first ever list for the Howling Griffons and I have had one for a while.  Unfortunately, I built it with HB sponsons.  Luckily, I had a Whirlwind kit unmade, which I am now assembling so I can swap weapons with the Predator.  This list has done quite well with various partners, including Tau, Eldar and DA, although I am not totally sure yet who my ally will be, let alone what they will be taking.

The second event I am getting ready for is Armies on Parade on 14th September.  I had thought about dusting off my guard army and doing something involving a Skyshield and Vendetta, but I shall stick with my Howling Griffons again this year, as I'm enjoying them a lot.  Of course, with the rumoured new codex in September, I'm not abandoning them now.

With Apocalypse 2.0 just out, the Space Marine Company formation appealed to me, as I had always wanted to build a whole company, even if it requires 107 marines and 3 Dreadnoughts!  I also couldn't resist the Master of Relics model, so it looks like I'll be doing the 9th Company.  This may be somewhat over-ambitious of me, but would look really cool and put out a lot of firepower.  Not sure how much chance I will get to play them ever, but I'm not worrying about that for now.

On my desk at the moment are six more heavy weapon marines to add to the six I already had.  With bolter marines, I have about enough for three squads so far - seven to go.  I will also have to paint the Captain and another Dreadnought.

It will take quite a bit of time, especially with the quartered colours, and also cost a bit to do, but nowhere near as much as the £448 GW is advertising in their one-click collection.  Obviously, I already have a few of the units, but even if you are starting from scratch, you really don't need 10 Devastator boxes, when the Company (only?) needs 40 heavy weapons.  Four boxes is enough, as each box has five marines, but eight heavy weapons.  Eight Tactical boxes would provide the rest of the marines and eight more heavy weapons. If I have worked this out properly, that would equal three missile squads, one with multi-meltas and two each of plasma cannons, lascannons and heavy bolters.

To carry on the 'useless purchases' theme, the one-click collection includes the boxed commander, rather than the new model anyone making this formation would actually want.  I suppose this comes in at £14 instead of £15!  But, if my maths is correct, you can get the formation for £406 at GW prices, with the new captain.

I don't understand GW's marketing sometimes.  They are trying to promote their products, but making them more than 10% more expensive than they need be.  The old Apocalypse 1.0 boxed formations actually worked out cheaper than buying models separately, which was a first for GW.  It's a shame they now seem to be doing the opposite.

600 pts Space Marines - shooty list

Ever since I started my Howling Griffons, I have always included a combat-oriented jump squad with chaplain.  However, I have recently been experimenting the following list for an Invasion event at Warhammer World in August:

HQ - Master of the Forge with conversion beamer on a bike

Troops - 5 sniper Scouts with camo cloaks
Troops - basic Tactical Squad
Dedicated transport - Razorback with TL assault cannon

Fast Attack - Landspeeder Storm with MM
Fast Attack - Stormtalon with skyhammer

I have played a couple of games on 4 foot tables and either lost or drawn, but on 6 foot tables I have won both games.  This includes tabling a footslogging eldar list yesterday, with a Wraithlord, a Spiritseer, Wraithguard, 3 Jetbikes and 5 Warp Spiders.

Of course, the conversion beamer works best over 42 inches, so it needs the larger table for maximum effect.  Even so, over 18 inches the S8 AP4 blast still caused a good number of casualties.

Razorback turret - middle or rear?

Having got hold of the TL assault cannons I needed, I am just assembling a new Razorback for my Howling Griffons.  I have made both top hatches, so I can make it into a Rhino if needed.  However, whilst playing about with the turret, it occurred to me that it would make more sense to turn the hatch round, so the guns are in the middle of the tank, rather than at the rear.

 Picture 1 - rear position

Picture 2 - middle position.

This is the third Razorback I have made and I don't know why I have never realised this before.  The LCs from the kit are the main bit of the guns, with the barrels from the Ravenwing sprue ACs.  This makes the gun very long.  In the middle position the tip reaches the top of the front panel.  This would gain me about an inch in distance over the original LC in the 'official' position.

Looking around the Internet there seem to be a few Razorbacks out there with a central turret.  Has anyone done the same?  Have any opponents objected?

Howling Griffon Scouts and Landspeeder Storm

A couple of free days have just about allowed me to finish off my latest two units.  There is still a bit of tidying up to do, but I'm pleased with how they have turned out.  Having just glued the scouts into the Storm, I just noticed I had forgotten to do the griffon shoulder pads.  That could now be tricky for a couple of the figures inside!

The army needed a bit of extra mobility, having had some of the new Tau dance all over me in GW Newbury, where they are undefeated since their book came out.  Of course, the new Eldar are now also imminent, so I wonder how they will perform?  I notice a distinct lack of stats in the new White Dwarf.

To continue the mobile theme, I have also built a Master of the Forge on an attack bike, with a conversion beamer.  Whilst he has done quite well so far, he needs a unit to hide in, so I picked up the DA bikes set on Saturday, rather than waiting for the new 3-bike set to come out.  The assault cannon from the Ravenwing sprue is destined for a Razorback.  A Stormtalon will also soon be added to my army.  I think I may have enough fast attack for now!

Invasion 2nd April 2013

An early April Tuesday was my latest trip to Warhammer World with GW Newbury for Invasion - a 3-game 2x600pt doubles tournament.  I took my Howling Griffons with jump chaplain, 5 sniper scouts, a 10-man tactical squad with multi-melta and flamer and a 9-man assault squad with a plasma pistol and my new sergeant.  This squad leader was kitted out with a storm shield and lightning claw.  No pistol unfortunately, but the idea was to use him to soak up / dish out challenges and free up the chaplain to work through the unit and keep the fearless as long as possible.

My partner was one of the boys from school, who took a basic librarian, two tactical squads (one with plasma and the other with a missile) and 5 bikers.  'Look out, Sir!' seemed an appropriate team name for us!

Our store had made a deliberate effort to get more of the younger players along and actively encouraged mixed pairs of an older and a younger player.  Other stores seem to have also been wanting more young players, as two of the three teams we played were both kids, and the other was two brothers, including a young teenager.  That might have had as much to do with our results and with the fact that it was a weekday during the school holidays.  Because of my school club, I am quite used to playing kids anyway.

Our first game was against a nids / DA combo against a nice couple of lads.  The winged Hive Tyrant proved particularly troublesome with Iron Arm meaning we could barely scratch it.  However, we made a few rules mistakes, like letting him zoom across the board on Turn 1.  Very silly!  My biggest error was believing his gaunts on the 4-point objective were fearless, as long as the tyrant was on the board.  It was only in about turn 4 I realised they were actually out of synapse range, when I couldn't do much about them. We lost 8-4.

The second game was probably the most enjoyable, as the elder brother knew the rules, which helps!  They had a Plague Marine / Thousand Sons tag team we played length-ways with two objectives.  It ended up as a draw, as two Thousand Sons managed to keep out of combat on the last turn and got onto their objective. We would have won, if we had made the charge and tied them up.

After a loss and a draw, the last game was a bit of a reversal, but was not the most satisfying victory ever.  We were up against two more kids with GK and DA (a lot of which were unpainted).  The GK player had a Dreadknight, librarian and two small power-armour squads.  The DA player was nowhere to be seen for a few minutes once we started setting up, then he turned up with Sammael, 3 squads of bikers and a razorback.  He was surprised that he couldn't take the razorback without any infantry, as was I that nobody in the first two games had noticed!

We basically stood back and let them advance towards us, with only my jump squad moving to meet the bikes, which they managed to pretty much tie up for most of the game.  He only remembered late on that they had Hit and Run.  The Dreadknight almost managed to make it into combat before being shot up, largely by rapid fire, and then the rest of the GK folded.  It was then just a case of grinding down the DA bikes, including killing Sammael with a lucky snapshot from the MM.  In the end there were only two DA bikes left and most of our army was still intact for a 10-2 win.

With 15 points for a win in the last game and a decent painting score, we ended up 9th, which was a pleasing  standing, especially after our first game!

New Howling Griffons models

A report form last week's Invasion will follow shortly.

Whilst up at Warhammer World I treated myself to a Contemptor Dreadnought.  The Mortis pattern has BS5, Skyfire and Interceptor, so I also got 2 Kheres Assault Cannons - Heavy 6, S6, AP4 to sort out any flyers!

I am also working on a Landspeeder Storm, including the 6 scouts onboard and another unit of BP/CC scouts.  These are proving quite time-consuming, with the quartered colour-scheme, but I'm enjoying myself anyway.

At the weekend I picked up the new Tau codex, as as I might start some battle brother allies to my HG.  I could even be tempted to start a new army.  GW Newbury's new manager Matt (Quinn has been promoted to GW Swansea) has organised a painting competition using the new Cadre Fireblade model.  That is the only Tau model I got at the time, as there wasn't much left in store by the time I got there on Saturday.  

I have been reading the rules and fluff to decide first of all on which sept and colour scheme to go for.  My HG bases have been desert-style, if I want to go for allies, so a brown camo would make sense, but not the standard scheme.  On the other hand, I have a hankering for painting orange for a change - a mix of red and yellow of course!  The Borkan Sotek Green sept seems quite good fluff-wise.

Invasion time again!

Tomorrow will see me off to Warhammer World with GW Newbury again.  My Howling Griffons will finally be getting involved!  I shall be teaming up with one of the lads from school, who is taking Dark Angels with two tac squads and a biggish biker squad.

My troops will be a full tactical squad and 5 sniper scouts, but I can't decide what else to take.  I'm torn between my original jump chaplain with a 9-man assault squad or an assault terminator squad with thunder hammers plus the new termie chaplain I'm just painting.

Then the question would be whether or not to deep-strike with either unit.

I may just roll off to decide when I get there.

I'm back and thinking about 40K characters

It's the time of year now when I can get back to some more serious hobbying.  My dark, cold shed is not the best place for building or painting over the winter months, so my projects tend to get put on hold.  But now that Quinn is recruiting for Invasion at Warhammer World in April again, it's time to get cracking again.

Not that I have been away really, as I have still been playing.  Not only is the School Club live and well, with the kids agitating to get involved in the School League, but Quinn has also set up the Newbury Gaming Club on a Monday Evening at the Royal British Legion.  I have managed to get in a couple of games there, although it clashes with my son's football training.  50p for the food (a buffet of pizza / sandwiches plus chips) is also great value.

I finally got Dark Vengeance for Christmas, and the mini rulebook is very handy.  I haven't made any of the figures yet, but I was flicking through the new Chaos codex and spotted the rules for Plague Zombies.  A Fearless tar-pit unit has many uses, so I have assembled and basecoated 20 so far with a mix of Catachan and Zombie bits.  I am not sure whether to extend my current Chaos army, which was all done in the old Brazen Brass, or start a new one with an new colour scheme or theme.  For the Plague Zombies I of course had to pick up Typhus, so I may do a Nurgle force.  I suppose I could re-use my T6 Nurgle bikers plus Sorceror, which are always fun.

On the other hand, I am currently reading the Word Bearers trilogy, with Marduk and the brilliant Possessed Burias, so that is another interesting idea.  And whilst I have a lot of the new red paints, do I want more to do more red power-armour?

I have never been a great fan of using special characters.  I think this goes back to my Warhammer Fantasy days about 10 years ago, when a ranked up unit always seemed to me to be more useful than a particular character.  However, now with the challenges in 40K, special characters seem to represent much better value than generic HQs.  Indeed, my best gaming success was with one such character at Carnage last year, when I used Chenkov for the Send in the Next Wave rule in my 800pts guard list.

Perhaps this is a natural progression?  I am still not going for the Über one-man-army type character, but rather looking at characters who can bring the best out of other units in the army.

As well as Typhus, I have been looking at the Vulkan rules my Howling Griffons.  Even though my first SM army were Salamanders, I was never a fan of the Vulkan model, which just seemed to me a bit too over-dressed.

So I have now converted my own Howling Griffon version, using the SM Commander model, a GK halberd and bits from a BA flamer pistol for the Gauntlet of the Forge.

Finally on the characters front, I finally found the Games Day Runepriest model I had been looking for at the Call to Arms show in Theale last week.  As always, too many armies, too little time!