Confessions of a 40K Addict

Space Hulk Computer Game

2010-01-16T04:01:00.001-08:00

Space Hulk Computer Game

http://www.teardown.se/index.html

While checking my email, I saw a link to this, an awesome game! While it does not equal the rush you get out of space hulk (how many stealers can you kill/missions/3x broodlords vs 3 assault cannons), it seems to work well, and will be great to play when I don’t have Space Hulk with me.

However, stand by for a painting post about the Terminators from Space Hulk, though I am considering Simple Greening them, since my painting does not do them justice....

Development of a List (Part 2)

2010-01-10T22:25:00.000-08:00

So my list so far:
Shas'el, Airbursting Fragmentation Projector, Cyclonic Ion Blaster, Hardwired Multitracker, 2x Gun Drones=110
--he is designed to really hurt at 18", and then jump away. He has 7 attacks, and a large blast template, so will really hurt any gaunts, or gargoyles

3 Shas'ui, with Missile Pods, Twin Linked Flamers= 129
3 Shas'ui, with Missile Pods, Twin Linked Flamers= 129
3 Shas'ui, with Missile Pods, Twin Linked Flamers=129
--These stay at range, hitting large creatures, with their S7. The Twin Linked flamers will really hurt as well. I am considering upgrading them to Plasma Rifles, but then they would be out of flamer range....they need to be 12" to double tap, but then they can be assaulted....tough decision. In addition, with Plasma rifles, its worth the extra points to be twin linked. Also, not amazing fluff wise, as there is no story with them.

6 Fire Warriors=60
6 Fire Warriors=60
6 Fire Warriors=60
--Lots of scoring units for the objective, and to put fire on many units....S5 is great vs Tyranids.

10 Kroot, 12 Hounds=142
10 Kroot, 11 Hounds=136
--These will be really nasty in forests, as they will have 3+ cover! Also, the 12 hounds are at I5, and 3 attacks each. The whole unit will have 66 attacks on the charge, nothing to scoff at!

3x Broadsides, with Multi Trackers and Twin Linked Plasma Rifles=255
--Expensive, but they can hurt some big bugs!

Sky Ray with Disruption Pods, Target array, and a pair of Burst Cannons=145
Sky Ray with Disruption Pods, Target array, and a pair of Burst Cannons=145
--the Heavy Hitters, with 4 marker lights hitting at BS4, and 12 Missiles, as well as a nice 12 S5 shots a turn. Fluff wise I might go for a Smart Missile System, thoughts? I can just imagine tiny missiles zooming towards gargoyles and punching tiny wholes in their wings....its beautiful!

=1500

I would castle up, and hope to kill everything with the broadsides, and crisis. The kroot would move to the objective, as they ignore difficult terrain. I would use up the seaker missiles quickly, and use the skyray's to tank shock the smaller nids off the objective....

Next Time: Refinement of the list.

Development of a List (Part 1)

2010-01-09T14:00:00.000-08:00

January Army List Challenge

So I decided to walk all my avid readers (or lack there of) to the process I use to create an army list. I saw this post, and immediately started thinking.

The first step is 'what Army?' I have the codexs to old IG, old Chaos, Old Space Marines, Space Marines, Tau and Deamonhunters....Which isn't a lot, but a good sampling. Here I decided to go with Tau, because this was not a deamonhunter scenaria, and I didn't think white scars, or mech marines were appropriate (the two flavors I play). Thus I was left with Tau.

Secondly, I ask myself 'What is the fluff and what is it asking?' Simply put this means, make some fluff (if it doesn't exist), and make a them for the army based on the fluff. I saw flying nids, and thought: Sky Ray....

Next I start surfing through the codex, looking at options that also fit the fluff, or the unit(s) that I am theming the army on. This is a jungle world, so Kroot are appropriate. This is an objective based mission, so transport would be good, but tactically maybe not....The blurb in the codex mentions pathfinders with the sky rays, and in hindsight they are perfect.

Other wargear that looks promising is Airbursting Fragmentation Projector, as that is basically an AA cannon, which ignores cover, Markerlights would be fantastic, as it can knock off the cover that tyranids are always trying to get. Fletchette Discharger doesn't look bad, but the only things assault a tau vehicle will be monstrous, and thus have a low save, so maybe not. Finally I will need a lot of fire warriors for mass of fire, as well as several Plasma rifles, as I need to take out monstrous creatures. Flamers are always strong, as are burst cannons.

Next Time: First Draft, with points.

However, I have one important question: How does pinning effect 'nids, and is it worth buying (like a gun drone squadron with massed markerlights?

Geek Nation Tours

2010-01-08T17:15:00.000-08:00

http://www.geeknationtours.com/index.php

Trully Awesome! I would love to go on one of these....the banter would be incredible! Since I have had a dirth of comments recently: What is the 'coolest' tournament or trip that you have taken or been to? (only geeky stuff applies!)

Everyone, please say!

Bat Rep vs SM

2010-01-06T13:26:00.001-08:00

I played Raphael from Belgium today, with his dual librarian, 15x sternguard list! I used my standard white scars, with a Heavy Flamer on the ironclad.

His list was:

1 Space Marine Librarian @ 100 pts (...in Power Armour; The Avenger; The Gate of Infinity)

1 ...in Power Armour (Frag Grenades; Krak Grenades; Power Armour; Psychic Hood; Bolt Pistol; Force Weapon)

9 Sternguard Veteran Squad @ 335 pts (Frag Grenades; Krak Grenades; Power Armour; Special Issue Ammunition; Bolt Pistol x9; Bolter x3; Combi-Meltagun x4; Heavy Flamer x1; Meltagun x1; Drop Pod)

1 Sergeant (Frag Grenades; Krak Grenades; Power Armour; Special Issue Ammunition; Bolter; Lightning Claw)

1 Drop Pod (Storm Bolter)

1 Space Marine Librarian @ 100 pts (...in Power Armour; The Avenger; The Gate of Infinity)

1 ...in Power Armour (Frag Grenades; Krak Grenades; Power Armour; Psychic Hood; Bolt Pistol; Force Weapon)

4 Sternguard Veteran Squad @ 185 pts (Frag Grenades; Krak Grenades; Power Armour; Special Issue Ammunition; Bolt Pistol x4; Combi-Meltagun x2; Heavy Flamer x1; Meltagun x1; Drop Pod)

1 Sergeant (Frag Grenades; Krak Grenades; Power Armour; Special Issue Ammunition; Bolt Pistol; Bolter)

1 Drop Pod (Storm Bolter)

9 Tactical Squad @ 225 pts (Frag Grenades; Krak Grenades; Power Armour; Bolt Pistol x9; Bolter x7; Meltagun; Plasma Cannon; Drop Pod)

1 Sergeant (Frag Grenades; Krak Grenades; Bolt Pistol; Combi-Meltagun)

1 Drop Pod (Storm Bolter)

1 Land Speeder Storm @ 50 pts (Cerberus Launcher; Jamming Beacon; Heavy Bolter)

4 Scout Squad @ 110 pts (Frag Grenades; Krak Grenades; Scout Armour; Bolt Pistol x4; Combat Blade x4)

1 Sergeant (Frag Grenades; Krak Grenades; Scout Armour; Melta Bombs; Teleport Homer; Bolt Pistol; Power Weapon)

9 Tactical Squad @ 190 pts (Frag Grenades; Krak Grenades; Power Armour; Bolt Pistol x9; Bolter x7; Flamer; Plasma Cannon)

1 Sergeant (Frag Grenades; Krak Grenades; Bolt Pistol; Power Weapon)

1 Land Speeder Squadron @ 90 pts (Heavy Flamer x1; Typhoon Missile Launcher x1)

1 Vindicator @ 115 pts (Searchlight; Smoke Launchers; Demolisher Cannon; Storm Bolter)

Deployment started out with him drop podding a line of marines along his board edge, and two speeders and a squad of sternguard on the far right. I in return put my trust in the drop podding multi-melta in the tac squad, and deployed my bikes on the right, hoping to roll up his flank using the termies and dread to provide cover. However, I forgot we were playing dawn of war, and thus was unable to shoot the vindicare.

In his turn, he dropped the large squad of sternguard in the forest next to me, and shot my bikes. However I only lost three guys, but most of my tac squad. When they had to take leadership checks however, the tac squad ran, and got stuck between the command squad and the sternguard.

In the bottom of T2, I shoot his sternguard with my flamer bike squad, and kill 5!, I then shoot hisother squad with my other two units, killing a few, and they choose to fail their ld. I charge with my command squad whipping out the rest of the sternguard, but am down to the apoth and the captain. He passes his morale check.

T3, he uses gate of infinity to take librarian out of CC, and leave my boys stuck in the woods. He continues to push his guys towards me, leaving me cornered in the far right side. He made a very good decisiop with his librarian, and I lost to many guys due to not knowing the rules for assaulting after shooting (only the squad you shot at, even if they are wiped out!). In other shooting, he attacked my turquoise bike squad, killing the standard biker, a melta and taking a wound off the attack bike.

On my turn, my apothecary died due to a low hanging tree, and my captain and flamer squad ran up the middle. The dread came in, and landed next to the vindicare, but failed to hit it, and the termies spread out to cause pain! The remainder of the turquoise bikes shot the vindicare as well, but a tree stopped the potentially deadly melta beam....You would not guess how strong these trees are! Finally I blew up his drop pod, just to annoy him, as it had killed two marines with its storm bolter already! Currently I had 3 kill points to his 1 (1x Drop Pods, 2x Sternguard vs a command squad). But the next turn would decide all!

The turn started well, with my dreadnought surviving, and one member of the turquoise squad surviving as well. So far KP denial was successful! One librarian had a perils of the warp, and the other hit my terminators with avenger. I lost two terminators against the sternguard. However the stunning moment was the scouts shooting the dread with their bolt pistols and immobilizing it....Not good! However he then assaulted my dread with his scouts and Combat squad. I proceeded to mulch two marines, and force them to flee.

In my turn I flamered his scouts with my dread, and ran the last remaining turquoise biker away to conserve the kill point. The black squad ran in, to get some shooting, and the bikes shot the sternguard, killing two. In the assault phase, I attacked a combat squad with my termis, killing three, and the sternguard and 2 librarians with the captain and bikes. However, I only managed to kill one librarian, leaving a stalemate.

In his turn he was desperate for kill points, as I was up 6-1. He quickly killed my last biker and tac squad, and shot and killed all the remaining black bikers...Things were starting to look even! Then the terminators massacred the last tac marines, and marched to the next tac squad. In the CC with the librarians, captain, bikes and sternguard, the captain killed the librarian, and no other damage was done. However, the Sternguard failed their LD test and were run down. At the end of T5, before my turn, it was 9KP to 4, and Raphael had to leave.

Overall it was a fantastic game, and if I had finished my turn, I could have gained another two or three kill points. The deciding factor was that I was able to concentrate my forces, to wipe out a squad a turn, and to take advantage of easy kill points. In addition, I did not give many up, having only 10 Kill points total, while he had a massive 16, of which I grabbed a lot of. I need to keep working on my tactics, as I made several crucial mistakes, and did not fully read the rules on assault after shooting. He had a nice list that I will remember, and I had a great time!

Terminators WIP

2009-12-28T18:55:00.000-08:00

To prove that I am still alive, here are some (grainy) pictures of my almost completed terminators. I decided to give them red hands, and red heraldry, and of course red eyes....The power fists are a much lighter (lightening) blue, that I will keep working on later, so for now all that is left is to finish off the sergeant, paint purity seals, highlight the fists, and do the small clean up details. And of course base them, but I have yet to decide on a scheme for that, so they will stay unbased for now.

Any comments (please)?

Sun and Moon Pheonix Battle Report

2009-12-22T22:41:00.000-08:00

I forgot to take pictures, but I played a battle on Vassal against 'Mav', who was a great opponent. His list was very fluff based, so I felt a bit bad about using my white scars list, but I needed the practice. His list was weak, as it had little cohesion, but he played it well.

SUN AND MOON PHOENIX REVISED

200- Baharroth

195- Maguan Ra

232- Swooping Hawks X 10

-Exarch: HAwk's Talon

197- Dark REapers X 5

-Exarch: Crack Shot

135- Storm Guardians X 10: X 2 Flamers

-Warlock: Singing Spear, EMbolden

115- Wave Serpent: TL Scatter Lasers

240- Pathfinders X 10

80- Fire Dragons X 5

115- Wave Serpent: TL Scatter Lasers

I ran my white scars, with a melta on the dread, and flamers on the smaller bike squad. We played Dawn of War, and Sieze Ground with three objectives.

Setup wise, I deployed nothing, reserving the termies and drop pods. The tac squad came in T1. However, when moving my bikes in, I lost 4 of them due to dangerous terrain tests....I will never go through buildings again!

In Mav's second turn, he shot and killed the rest of my command squad, leaving the captain. In the Bottom of T2, my terminators arrive, I surround his serpents with my bikes, and place my ironclad to the right of the building, in between a serpent and the pathfinders. Shooting, I first destroyed the Fire Dragon's Serpent, and killed two. Then the Ironclad sent a melta into the rear of the other serpent, blowing it up and killing 8 storm guardians....Things were looking good.

In his turn, he shot and assaulted my termies with maugan rah, killing two. I quickly finished the game, whiping out the path finders (they lost the combat by -6), Fire Dragons and Storm Guardians. At the bottom of T3, Mav conceded, as he only had the dark reapers, baharroth, and the swooping hawks left.

It was a great game, with lots of good banter, with the audience and Mav. I learnt a lot about my list, and need to keep practicing. I made tons of mistakes that I need to work on however!

Inquisitor Kill Team

2009-12-21T06:13:00.000-08:00

Next I have a Deamonhunter Inquisitor. I was reading the fantastic Eisenhorn Trilogy, followed by all three Ravenors. The images of Gregor (or is it Eisenhorn, Gregor seems too soft for such a bad ass!) storming through building, burning heretics, Deamonhosts and all manner of nasties inspired me to make this list.

Firstly we have an Inquisitor and his Acolyte. The Inquisitor is just a standard, but has a Power Weapon, as I think P wep’s are fantastic, and the model I have for the Inquisitor has an awesome one. His hench man has melta bombs: I picture him as a cackling explosives expert, who blows up all the ammunition crates, trucks and buildings.

Secondly we have a Storm Trooper Sergeant, and for troopers with Flamers. These would be even better as Sororitas, but I don’t have the witchhunters codex, so I am staying with Inquistorial guard. The image of them cleansing the tainted tribesmen is so appealing; I take them regardless of effectiveness. However, four flamers are quite good at whipping out brute squads, so it does work!

Finally I have a Death Cult Assassin, who I think was designed for kill team. In so many books the lone assassin goes out alone to take on the entire tainted cell, and the DCA can either support the inquisitor in fighting up the center, or help the Storm Troopers if an assault is eminent.

Inquisitor, Carapace Armour, Power Weapon, Bolt Pistol, Frag Grenades=42

Acolyte, Las Pistol, Chainsword, Melta Bomb=13

Storm Trooper Sergeant, Sword, Hell Pistol=20

Storm Trooper, Flamer=15

Storm Trooper, Flamer=15

Storm Trooper, Flamer=15

Storm Trooper, Flamer=15

Death Cult Assassin=40

I still need a name for the Inquisitor and task force...Ideas? I always like ‘Elariath’ but that is probably too much like Eldar or Elves....Task Force Hegemon seems good. The basic fluff depends on the mission, but involves the inquisitor coming to the planet by civilian transport, undercover. He hears of the taint from the DCA ‘Araballa’, and quickly takes control of a nearby squad of ST, who are cleansing the site of a gang war....

Space Marine Kill Team 2

2009-12-19T15:50:00.000-08:00

I might get a lot of flack for this list, and I doubt it is very effective. The fluff is that scout master Telion has realized that the enemy warboss/munitions dump/important objective is unguarded. The catch is that only 5 men can get in through their mode of transport. As the entire campaign rests upon this objective, he groups the best of the scouts in the entire chapter for a lightening strike.

Telion=73

Scout Sergeant, Melta Bombs=28

Scout Sergeant=23

I have no idea if it would work, but the idea is cool, so I might try it.

I have a more serious list tomorrow....

Space Marine Kill Team 1

2009-12-18T11:48:00.000-08:00

So for the first kill team of the series, I created a themed Space Marine Force, where a group of Vanguard Veterens storm the base, under sniper cover, from a squad of scouts.

Vanguard Veteren, Power Weapon, Bolt Pistol, Frag and Krak Grenades, Melta Bombs=40

Vanguard Veteren, Close Combat Weapon, Bolt Pistol, Frag and Krak Grenades=20

Scout Sergeant, Sniper Rifle=23

Scout, Sniper Rifle=13

Tactically the scouts are pretty weak, as sniper rifles do nothing in Kill Team. However, as a group, we decided that sniper rifles would actually be better, if the target was not alerted, representing the easy head shots. Thus there are no saves for models w/out full helmets (like SM Sargeants), and its 2+ to hit.

The vanguard would march straight up the middle, using their four attacks on the charge to demolish opposition, and capture the objective. The Power Weapon is to represent the sergeant, and the melta-bombs are fluffy and used the last five points I had.....

Kill Team Revisited

2009-12-17T03:47:00.000-08:00

I know I haven’t posted in a while, but that’s because I haven’t held a paintbrush or played a game for 2+ months...Except for a weekend of Space Hulk...More on that later!

So today I have the first in a series of Kill Teams. The rules that I am working with are:

1) Be fun and fluffy...You can break the rules a bit, if it is cool, and makes sense

2) 175 points

3) Use whatever combination of individual units from a single codex.

4) No Strength 8+

5) No 2+ saves

6) Between 4 and 15 models

So basically the idea is either a 175 battle, with a lot of individual independence, or against 3 man ‘brute’ squads, which are quite easy to kill (IG, Tau FW, Orc Boys, but also SM Tac Marines, and Storm Troopers....) Objectives and sabotage are important parts of the game, so melta bombs and krak grenades are encouraged. Same with scouts/elite troops....

In this series I will not be focusing on winning, but on having fun, themed forces. Each force has a story, that can develop over time....If you have ideas to make the list more or less competitive, or add to their story, please post! I don’t have that much time, and I love comments!

White Scars III

2009-10-02T14:50:00.000-07:00

So after playing White Scars for a while, I stopped, and started on my Crimson Fists (my physical army). Playing a moderate mech army forced me to change my play style, and giving me new perspective on playing (badly).

I found that if you just do two-four pieces of armor, it will get massacred, with most modern armies geared towards mech. Instead, bikes, with T5 are very hard to kill, but still die to said anti-tank weapons. Therefore you have three options.

1. Give everyone an invulnerable save (Librarian, ST, speed)

2. Have enough bikes in a small enough area that your opponent cannot mass his fire power, ala Saim Hann

3. Don't go near the enemy. Wait until Assault, or T5+ to go nearby. With 24" last turn move, most objectives are in range.

So my result is a hammer to the face style. I take a small group of TH/SS Terminators, a Command squad, and a Drop Poded Dreadnought, and a Tactical Squad in Drop Pod.

The Tac Squad comes in T1, wherever, to cause a distraction and hold objectives. My Command squad sets up for a charge, with another bike squad shielding it. Once the Terminators or Dreadnought come in, the Command squad also hits, rolling up the opponents line. All Bike squads have 4 bikes, with two meltas, a Power Weapon, and an Attack bike with Multi-Melta.

My current list is below, but as I don’t have the codex with my, I would love some input, especially on the Ironclad, as I don’t know the points. I would like to get some Power Weapons on the sergeant, and command squad, but I have no idea where to get the points from (except dropping half the tac Squad). Advice would be greatly appreciated (as would comments!

Captain, Power Weapon, Bike=150

Command Squad, Bikes, Champion, Apothacary=220

4 Bikes, 2 Melta Guns, MultiMelta Attack Bike=185

4 Bikes, 1 Melta Guns, MultiMelta Attack Bike=175

10 Tactical Marines, Flamer, Multi-Melta, Drop Pod=205

5 Terminators, 4 TH/SS, 1LC/LC=200

1 Ironclad w/ Seismic Hammer, DCCW, Drop Pod=180

Leaving me exactly at 1500.

Tactical Squad Euphorius

2009-09-07T18:03:00.001-07:00

Today I have my finished (except for the mistakes I just found) tactical Squad. These guys have been painted over about 7 days (spread over 4 months). I am moderately happy with them, only wishing that I had a better base coat, as Gesso does not work perfectly (I simple greened a couple of Terminators yesterday), and my Blue color is a cheap, watery, streaky color. I will probably either invest in a airbrush or a couple of cans of spray paint!

Once I took the pictures, I discovered a couple of mistakes, mostly on the sergeant, including his belt, lower right purity seal and his eyes (major crosseyed!)

Fluff

2009-09-03T09:26:00.000-07:00

This is the current paint scheme for my crimson fists, which I am painting very slowly, due to the color I have selected for the blue being a store, cheap paint, that starts out to watery, and is streaky. I will have to create a new paint scheme sometime in the future, but until them, its fluff time!

My marines are part of the 4th company, who have been chasing a remnent of the ork horde, that destroyed Ryan's world. Since they are the only company to go off planet, they have been lent most of the veterens and heavy vehicles of the chapter. In addition, the Dark Angels heard of their plight, and decided to furfill a deabt, incured when Rogal Dorn helped fortify the rock. Thus the combined force is travelling through the empire, chasing down the orks, and looking for perspective bases for the crimson fists.

The current Captain, Leonardus, has split command with captain Morovian of the Dark angels, who have a squad of sternguard and an attack bike (so far...I am going to buy some more from a friend). Their current campaign has lead them to face many of the more obscure of the imperiums enemies.

Vassal 40K (the ending saga)

2009-08-27T14:11:00.001-07:00

Well sadly I have been busy for all of august, to explain the dearth of posts, and since I left on the 27th, I was wondering if anyone knew what happened in the final days of Vassal 40k, and if any other packs were released. So anyone who knows about this, please leave a comment. I am on top of google for vassal 40K which accounts for most of my hits, and anything I can do to make that better, and to create a better resource, would be great.

What I find amazing is that a month after the site closed down, people are still playing vassal 40k. In fact, over 400 played in the last 24 hours! This shows me that it is a fantastic system, which should be valued. I am not sure how one can distribute V40K to new users, except by personal contact, which I continue to do! Again, if anyone knows how one could do this, please comment, and I will update this post.

Finally I have another sad piece of news: TSOALR is no more. It was a fantastic comic (and still is) with over 600 strips (not counting guest strips). Sadly the author has had to stop making them, due to time considerations. The site is still up, and I hope people continue to appreciate the plethora of comics, which cover almost all of the vast range of GW IP!

So to the hobby, which while GW attempts to shut it down, resides strong, on the web!

EDIT: http://www.mininova.org/tor/2862769 aparently works....

Deamonhunters

2009-07-30T06:10:00.000-07:00

So I played a deamon player today, and he very kindly let me use a deamon hunter army!

Now when I started this blog I was not a good player, and I am not a good player now either. But I like to think that I have improved, both with list building and with tactics. The list I designed was this:

Inquisitor Lord, Destroy Deamon, Grimoire of True Names, Deamon Hammer=95

2x Mystics, Familiar, 3 Acolytes with Storm Shields, Close Combat Warrior=101

Chimera with 2 Heavy Flamers=85

10 Grey Knights, inc Justicar and 2 Incinerators=295

10 Storm Troopers with 2 Plasma Guns=120

Well the list was extremely strong, as I castled up on a hill, and demolished a squad a turn. I never got the Inquisitor Lord in Close Combat, but I am sure he would have been devestating, with I5, WS 5, and S8, while his oponents had half their weapon skill. And, he would be rerolling to hit and to wound, due to Destroy Deamon! In addition, the 4+ invulnerable saves, and Power fist would also have helped!

However, to make it an all comers list, I would drop the Deamon hammer, Grimoire, and banishments, and try and fit in some anti-tank, by taking a thunder hammer, and another close combat servitor. the three power fists would munch through tanks, and grey knights, with Strength 6 are no slouchs either. Finally the plasma guns can stop a vehicle in a desperate situation!

Inquisitor, Thunder Hammer=65
2x Mystics, 3 Close Combat Servitors, 2 Acolytes with Storm Shields=127
Chimera, Smoke, Extra Armor, 2 Heavy Flamers=93

10 Grey Knights, Justicar, 2 Incinerators=295
10 Grey Knights, Justicar, 2 Incinerators=295

10 Storm Troopers, 2 Plasma Guns=120

Again, castle until T4, and then run for the objectives, sacrificing the Inquisitor and retinue so the Grey Knights can win assaults, and hold objectives.

Sternguard Veterens

2009-07-29T08:32:00.000-07:00

So in my Crimson Fists army, I need a squad of Sternguard, due to Pedro's special rule, and because they are very cool (if not very strong).

The ideas for them are

1) the box set, which looks cool, but is pretty expensive ($35).

2) The deathwatch conversion kit, which has cool heads, and special bolters w/ scopes, combined with two red hands and a white head will be good enough ($25)

3) Dark Angels Veteren Kit, the bolters are cool, and the robes are awesome. I don't think it will be to obviously Dark Angels, and the extra bits are very useful. It only has five models, so I can't make two squads, but the plus side is that it could also be a command squad, if I need it to be!

4) (edit) Use the Deathwatch Conversion kit, to make actual deathwatch, with count as sternguard! the black will add a nice contrast with the blue and red of the rest of the army. In addition they will look more cohesive with chaplain cassius (or his equivelent).

what do you guys think?

Vassal Maps

2009-07-28T14:42:00.000-07:00

A bit of pumping for Vassal, which has three days left! I created a map pack a while ago, as I was playing with my friends on Vassal, in a Combat Patrol Campaign. So while doing that we had a bit of problem, as we had to create maps, and, knowing each other very well, and being moderatly competative, we never could agree on maps.

The solution is the following map pack, which are not designed to be fair, but fun, as that is what a 1K, 500 and Combat Patrol game is about! The first map I made was 'A walk in the Street'. It is to teach people the basics of the game, and thus is quite open! In that game, we each took a basic troop squad. My friend (playing arbites) decided to ally with me. Together we easily killed the two SM players, however 6 tau easily massacre 3 arbites, when they are 5 inches away!

The second map was made cause I wanted to try out the trenches. Again, not fair, but generally a single shooty army vs two other armies is fair. Or it is a sprint to the center, with whoever gets it first, getting a large fire advantage. However the three hills make the battle open ended! 'Alone in the Desert' is a reference to the inumerable movies where the heroes are stuck alone somewhere, waiting for the inevitable!

'Dark Eldar Hate Industry' was basically an excuse to use the boxes. When I was deciding which race to make the wrecks, I chose DE, cause they fit the field, and because I know several DE players. The hill in the top right is dominant, as the field of fire is very strong. The sides are relativly empty, but inside is harder to reach, balancing out outflanking, which is slightly overpowered in CP (in my opinion).

'Me, Myself and the Nightlords' is probably the best map in the collection. I play that the hills are just above man height, so if you are within 5" of one, you get cover from oposite hill. The hills aren't perfect, but I love the roads. I picked Nightlords cause they look different from all the other options, and blue goes well with snow!

Orkville is another fun map, but very one sided. When my tau deploy on the hills, they win almost every time, actually the large building in the middle, clear story, and general openness make it suprisingly fun! I added some of the battle effects to make it more alive.

Finally 'Wolves Like it Cold'. This map was to make use of the snow covered buildings, one thing I hadn't yet touched on, and to try a different style of map: cluttered sides, open center. The grey splodge inbetween the rhinos is a Space Wolf Dreadnought, as I wanted something other than just rhinos. However, in game it can move, as it is not terrain. I generally like the idea of the tanks hiding behind the hill and the Wolves dying in seconds.

So everyone, which is your favorite? Any comments, or suggestions? Poll is on the right --->

Favorite Blogs

2009-07-23T09:40:00.000-07:00

So being a student, I don't have oodles of time (don't you love that expression?), so I have selectivly chosen 25 (ish) blogs that I have added to my role, and sadly, they are all that I am able to look at. I do not surf the Bell of Lost Souls roll, nor From the Warp's, but I would like to update the list, as there are a few blogs that I am not as happy with (no offense to their respective owners, as they already surpass me, and I know how hard it is to maintain a quality blog!).

Of the blogs on my roll, there are a few that I am really impressed with:

Bell of Lost Souls: Probably the best, most widely read blog on 40K, with several very impressive authors, and generally fantastic. The blog that I read first, before even looking at my blog roll!

From the Warp: Ron is a fantastic person, and his painting is second to only one other blog around, but his speed is stupendous, and very impressive. In addition, he has fantastic collaborative posts (that I need to contribute to more often!) and very impressive convertions. Now that Tim (dezartfox) has joined, FTW may get even better.

Dave Taylor Miniatures: Games Workshop lost a fantastic person, in Dave Taylor, and his prodigious painting, well maintained blog, and very impressive visualisations of Dan Abnett's work!

Admiral Drax: Despite not actually doing anything related to the navy, Drax has a fantastic colection of guard miniatures, despite being a teacher in a tiny cabin (or so he says....) His paint scheme leaves a little to be imagined, but it is still impresive the amount of miniatures he has painted, and the level of organization he adds too the guard. Personally I believe he should be renamed Minitorium advisor Drax...(the four mistakes are intentional)

Jawaballs, Black Mat and Fritz: I group these together as they are so impressive, in similar ways. The mastery of the '5th dimension' is very impressive, and the entire club is full of strong players. Extensive youtube battle reports, and a large following make these blogs very strong, though the layout leaves a little to be desired...

I have missed out a few blogs, but those are the ones that I believe set the standard that all others are judged. However, if anyone wants to suggest other blogs that are worthy of my (humble) blogroll, please comment!

RIP Vassal 40K

2009-07-21T07:04:00.000-07:00

As any person who has read my blog will know, I love vassal, and play it a lot, due to problems getting real games in, and being able to experiment with various builds, against a large variety of opponents, which, combined with extensive blog reading, has allowed me to jump to a decent level of competence, where I can routinely beat my friends, and actually have people listen to my opinion.

Sadly, The End has Come, and there is nothing we can do about it. I think there will probably be a petition, but even if we get 2000 people to sign it (the amount on vassal 40K every week), GW is unlikely to listen. The only thing we can do is continue to play, and distribute the module (5.2b), to everyone, through blogs and personal connections. Stick it on a disk, and donate them to your FLGS or GW or workplace. Create a download link on something like mediafire, and tell the world. Continue to support a valuable part of our hobby.

Of course the on the other hand, GW had to do this. It allows BoLS to continue, as it increases participation, and is even holding a tournament. However, V40K is not actually helping GW, merely helping a small number of people, who would not normally get to play. As the Tau say ‘for the greater good’ that a small number of people get angry, then to allow a large number of rogue sites, harming GW. Most blogs have a disclaimer up (the BoLS one is very extensive, if you want to copy), but they are still a small part of the hobby, where people who have almost no idea of the fluff make up most of the buying power.

What vassal did was to extend the hobby online to more people. The ability to do battle reports and cool pictures has not really been explored, and as a testing ground it is unparalleled (except if you live in upstate NY or Austin, Texas). The sense of community from Vassal is much more than the blogging or forums, and you really got a feeling for the many types of people who play 40k around the world (I played aussies, germans, Canadians, 50+ years olds, and 12 year olds, but had fun with (almost) all of them!).

Anyway, RIP Vassal, may you live your last 10 days well!

OWWWW!

2009-07-13T01:54:00.000-07:00

Yell at me if you want, for going off topic, but right now I am in a lot of pain! I was playing with my friends three man catapult, doing the usual stuff, eg distance, hit the tree, nail the bird nest, launch it up and catch the balloon....normal

Then another friend (number 4) decides to let go of his end of the catapult after it was launched, and it slingshots round, and whacks me in the eye. I sit in a hospital for 4 hours, and now am one eyed for several days!

I guess I should count myself lucky, as if it had hit me a few milimeters down, I could have permenantly damaged my eye....

Paint and Hobby Box

2009-07-11T01:59:00.000-07:00

Today I have my mini painting box, which I use when bored of my room. It has all the paints that I use for that day,

-a palette, simply a piece of plasticard that will be used once completely covered, as it is recycleable, terrain wise
-a water cup (or jar, which works perfectly well, and is a good way to store well painted models
-newspaper to cover a table, as it really sucks to be banned from painting in family area over a tiny bit of spilt paints
-paper towel for cleaning brushes, drybrushing, and general clean up
-gesso for when I am in the mood
-brushes, a large selection, so I always know where they are
-files, as I can do all my hobby work as well
-Minis, in a section, and as long as you don't throw the box, the paper towel and newspaper will protect them
-Hard Wooden Box, extremely secure, and transportable, I also use it for small games, as a Leman Russ can stand (just) in it, and you can fit entire 1000 point armies for short journies.

Easy enough, what do you guys do your your hobby transport?

(almost) Finished Dreadnought

2009-07-04T03:34:00.001-07:00

So today I have my somewhat finished crimson Fist Dreadnought. Things to note are the right, red footplate, that I am putting as a complementary color on all models, fluff wise as the mark of the 3rd company (fluff coming soon), and painting wise to differentiate with Ultramarines, who everyone seems to play.

The army needs some greenstuff, but I was out, when I was assembling the model, so that will have to weight. There are subtle highlights throughout, which can be seen in other pictures, but do not look as good. I am considering buying some additional arms for him, but I am not sure about the best combination....For my mech army, a lascannon and missile would be nice, but assault cannons are also very effective, and the arm makes him much scarier in close combat. I also want to upgrade the storm bolter to a heavy flamer, but I have no idea where to start!

In the beginning of August or end of July, I will post a picture of my entire Space Marine army, as they are not with me now....

Dwarves of Khazad Methal

2009-07-01T13:08:00.000-07:00

Today I have my small(ish) dwarf army, designed pre War of the Ring. Basically it consists of a box of rangers, a box of warriors, Balin's Guard (him and eight khazad Guard, 6 iron guard, some heroes, hobbits and a standard bearer. Overall it comes to around 1250 points according to legions. If I was going to update it (for LotR, not WotR), I would buy a seige bow, another box of warriors, and gandalf, who is really useful in dwarf armies.

I have had several battles with the list, only loosing to elves. Against orcs (or is it Orks?), it does really well, as the high toughness, and better fight value, combined with devestating heroes (Balin, Dain, Gimli, banner) and strong elite units (iron Guard and khazad guard) really destroy orcs. As most of my models will kill their oponents, I am not to worried about loosing fights and being surrounded.

They are known as the dwarves of Khazad Methal, as that is the name I gave them when we did a tournament in my GW store, when it was still open.

My IG Army

2009-06-29T13:56:00.000-07:00

Today, very late, but still happening is my Imperial Guard army. It was my first army, where I learned how to play (badly), basic modelling and painting, and codexs. I bought them on ebay (in unopened boxes) after a friend bought some chaos Marines, and was assembling them. I was immediatly enthralled, and bought a basalisk, Leman Russ, twenty guardsmen, and three heavy weapons teams. However the heavy weapon teams were made into 7 bases, and a large amount of specialists.

The current army is mostly painted to the cadian scheme, but I am slowely converting them to a custom scheme that I have created to go with my Crimson Fists (who are not dead, and will get a post soon!) and my Inquisition. You can see the new scheme in second row of infantry, with red armour on black drybrushed grey fatigues.

The army has not recieved additions for over a year, but is still there, and models are used occasionally. I included my inquisitor, as he always is used with the army. The Leman Russ is my favorite model in the army, with several blood staines, fun highlighting, and generally looking better than the rest of my army, except for my newer models.

The basalisk is missing, having been traded to a friend, but I am going to try and get it back, now that the IG are fun to play again. Who knows, with another squad of infantry, a valkerie (the actual reason for restarting the army), a chimera, and the basalisk, I will have a decent (if ragtag) army again.

Overall it sits in the cupboard until photo time, or I get the urge to try out new techniques or paint schemes! What do you think I should add to finish it?