Covenant of Antartica Aronnax Class Assault Robot

Hi all.

In this post I bring some pictures of the Aronnax Class Assault Robot that I finished a little while ago now. I really liked these models as soona s they came out. Yes that is an indicator of just how long I've had them sat around waiting to be painted. 

So lets get to some pictures. 

 More after the jump.

Covenant of Antartica: Plato Class Cruisers

Hi all

Today I bring some more pictures of some completed Covenant of Antarctica models. This time its the turn of the Plato Class Cruisers. These came in the starter fleet box but I've only just got round to painting these ones. They are very similar in size, shape and style to the Zeno Class Cruisers that I painted in the first batch of models. The obvious difference is that these ships have a turret at the front and rear of the model rather than one main weapon like the Zeno Class ships. I think the best use of these ships will be to gang up on bigger ships and try to inflict damage at range bands 1 or 2 with lots of linked fire. With a shield generator each they may survive a little longer up close but ultimately I won't expect them to survive the whole game at that range against a bigger ship/s.

To the pictures!

Covenant Of Antarctica: Pericles Class Drone Carrier

Hi all,

Today I bring another completed ship for my Covenant of Antarctica fleet. This time its the turn of the Pericles Class Drone Carrier, the last of the big ships I hadn't painted. I've enjoyed painting this model, though the assembly less so. I do quite like the model. Its quite different to the other carriers in that it doesn't have a big flight deck or anything. Instead it has its racks of drones and just launches them straight up into the air. Not quite sure how I'll go about using it in my fleet given Covenant drones aren't as good as other tiny flyers but I'm sure I'll think of a use for it. 

So on with the pictures.
 

Hobby - Homemade Painting Stands

Hi all

Today I bring a little hobby article (hopefully) for your enjoyment.

Now as some of you may know I've recently been busy painting my Covenant of Antarctica fleet for Dystopian Wars (DW). A game I highly recommend. When it comes to undercoating my miniatures I usually attach them to some cardboard strips with double sided sticky tape  allowing me to hold them without touching the models and making a mess of the undercoat. Now I'm sure most of you out there do this is someway and it works well enough for models with bases. The DW ships aren't a problem as I don't need to undercoat the bottom of them so I can just stick them down too. However the flying models are a bit more of a challenge. There's no where I can hold them without stopping parts been undercoated and they don't stick to cardboard so well.

Now I could just put them on their flying stands and spray them but I don't want to get those all covered in paint. I had thought about buying some more from Sparten Games and use them as 'painting stands' but this requires spending money I'd rather not spend. So I decided to make my own stands for the same purpose.

So here's how I went about it

Covenant of Antarctica: Icarus Class Medium Flyer

Hi all

Today I bring some pictures of a couple more of my Covenant of Antarctica fleet. Today its the turn of the Icarus Class Medium Flyers. These are the first two that I've finished. I still have another two to do but I haven't got round to undercoating them yet and its juts not been the right weather for spray paints.

I like the design of these models. Essentially they're flying ships. They just look like they could equally be at home in the sea as well as the air. I think the thing I like most about them is the huge turbine that forms the core of the flyer and the little gyro type thing in the centre. The gyro reminds me of the gravity drive of the space ship in the film Event Horizon.

Now for some pretty pictures, enjoy!

Covenant of Antarctica: Callimachus Time Dilation Orb (Warterlined)

Hi all

Today I bring you some pictures of my Callimachus Time Dilation Orbs. These were the next set of 'ships' I finished for my fleet. I use the term ships loosely as they're not really ships but versions to be used in support of a naval fleet. I like the models very much and I think they have some quite fun rules. Especially the ability to teleport friendly models around the board. I can see that been very fun indeed teleporting my battleship/crusiers/dreadnought around.

So on with the pictures.

Covenant of Antarctica: Aristotle Class Battleship

Hi all.

Today I bring some pictures of the next of my finished Covenant of Antarctica ships the Aristotle Class Battleship. I really like this model. It's one of the reasons I choose the Covenant as my first fleet for Dystopian Wars. It has a nice design but quite simple and has all those broadside guns! It's just studded with them. I also like that it can submerge and even has a template just to represent it (yes I'm easily pleased lol).

So on with the pictures and see what you think.

Covenant of Antarctica: Plutarch Class Destroyers

Hi all.

Today I continue my run of dystopian wars ships for my Covenant of Antarctica fleet. This time I bring you some pictures of the Plutarch Class Destroyers. I got these at the same time as I bought the fleet box. I didn't know anything about them I just liked the way they looked. Now that I've got them painted I think they look even better.

So on with the pictures and you can judge for yourselves.

Covenant of Antarctica: Thales Class Corvet

Hi all.

Today I bring some pictures of the third set of ships I've finished for my Covenant of Antarctica fleet. These are the Thales Class Corvet. Again they are small ships like the Galen Class Escorts from my previous Covenant of Antarctica post (http://signoftheaquila.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/covenant-of-antarctica-galen-class.html). They're very similar to the Galen Escorts both points wise and stats wise. The main difference is that they can move a lot faster. This will make them very good for closing with the enemy fleet and getting in the way while the rest of my fleet closes and get in to a better range band for firing.

Again I've carried on with the simple colour scheme as mentioned in this post http://signoftheaquila.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/covenant-of-antarctica-zeno-class.html .

So on with the pictures!

Covenant of Antarctica: Galen Class Escorts

Hi all.

Today I bring some pictures of the next of my finished ships for my Covenant of Antarctica fleet.
The next ships that I've finished are the Galen Class Escorts. Essentially they are ships designed, as their name would suggest, to escort other ships. In the case of dystopian wars they would tend to be the escorts of battleships and dreadnoughts. I will probably use them to block line of sight where possible and generally get in the way of the enemy fleet.


Again I've carried on with the simple colour scheme as mentioned in this post http://signoftheaquila.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/covenant-of-antarctica-zeno-class.html .


On with the pictures!

Covenant of Antarctica: Zeno Class Cruisers

Hi all

Today I bring some pictures of the first of my finished ships for my Covenant of Antarctica fleet.
The first ships that I've finished are the Zeno Class Cruisers. Essentially they are ships built around a single weapon, in this case a particle accelerator.

I've decided to go with a fairly simple colour scheme for my ships. A blue grey colour for the hull, in this case gw shadow grey, a brass/bronze type colour for weapons, archimedes screws and the smoke stacks, and just a plain metal for the visible framework.

So here are the pictures, enjoy!

Dystopian Wars comes to Sign of the Aquila

Hi all

Today I bring news that I am taking my first step into a new game outside of GW's systems. And of course from the title of the post that new game is Spartan Games Dystopian Wars. I've been looking at Dystopian Wars for quite a while now and finally decided to give it a go. What finally got me started? Well after actually getting round to assembling my Dreadfleet models (Yes I did buy it though I haven't played it yet)  I decided that I would actually quite like to play a game with ships that was more than just a one off game. Of course Sparten Games also does Uncharted Seas but seen as I had already been looking at Dystopian Wars for a while it was a natural choice. So with that I set out to the independent stores in Sheffield in an effort to find out if any of the stocked the stuff. As luck would have it a new store opened up not long ago called The Outpost and they stock Dystopian Wars stuff. I hadn't been in before so didn't know that at the time. Anyway after going in and finding that they did stock it,  I got the chance to actually have a game as well. I have to say that I had still been a little hesitant about starting Dystopian Wars but after playing that game I knew that it was a game I wanted to get in to.

So with that I had a better look at what they had and went with the force I'd already party settled on, The Covenant of Antarctica (or CoA from this point on). The main reason for this is that after looking at the various forces available I liked the models for the CoA the most. Having said that the Kingdom of Britannia fleet that I played my introduction game with were very nice models that I felt didn't really come across well in the pictures I had looked at. I would definitely consider getting them as a second force in the future.

So after deciding on my starting force all I had to do was buy the stuff. So up next are some pictures of the stuff I've bought so far and a few of my initial thoughts.

First up the core rule book itself. Its a very nicely printed and put together book in my opinion. I've only had a brief look through the rules so far but they seem to be in a fairly logical order with plenty of examples dotted throughout. I know some people have said that some of the rules can come across as more complicated than they actually are but that's something I haven't really come across. In terms of price is is also very reasonable at just £16 which is a lot cheaper than GW's big rulebooks and less than many of the current army books and codex's.