Dreading the Dread

The other day I found this

All the net is a-twitter about these new images from GW for their 2010 line-up. Speculation is that its the new Ork Dread. The URL for the picture stated as much when they were first released. Now, I am going to start up on my own Waaaaagh here soon and this new pic got me thinking... do the orks really need a new Dread design? Personally, I think not.

Way back in the way back when I picked up Warhammer 40K I chose Orks as my first army ( I miss them so :( ) because they were sloppy. I came into the hobby with no experience and I wanted a scapegoat just in case my first forays were less than desirable. However, after I got further into the Ork culture I found that it wasn't just an artistic choice... its a lifestyle.

Check this out
Now look at this

Which seems more orky to you? Yeah they both look orky but to me the tater titan seems built by orks while the stompa seems to be made to look like it was built by orks.

Going back to my own personal experience, after I built my first few models I realized that I wouldn't have near enough boyz to make a "'roit proppa Waaagh" so I went out and bought Gorkamorka. Within these pages the GW staff had created a plethora of custom buggies. Not a single one was the same. Hell, they didn't even look like the trukks that came in the boxed set. It was then and there that I realized that if you wanted to make orks look orky you have to do it yourself.

Now I will admit that I bought some of the new trukks and a battle wagon. It was a moment of weakness, I wanted to get my army up and running as soon as possible ( Assault on Black Reach anyone?). They look cool, I will give them that, but they just don't feel orky to me. As soon as I can, I am going to whip up some plasticard trukks and I already have a junked up Land Raider that I am going to make into a wagon.

My suggestion, if GW were to ever read this, would be that they give us a frame, some pre cut plasticard squares and a bag of odds and ends. Let us build our own stuff so we can get more of this and less of this

Done done doooooooone!

GLORIOUS DAY! I AM DONE!

After about a years worth of on an off work, starting over and making crap up as I go I am finally done! Bask in the glory of the poor quality picture with me!



Ahhh, quite a stirring site is it not? Its really nice to be able to look at a completed army and think to oneself "I don't have to paint that crap anymore." Don't get me wrong, I loved every bit of it but I am so very glad to be finished.

I would elaborate further but... I don't wanna :D. I have been running on about 3 hours of sleep a night over the Christmas weekend and I just don't have it in me. I WILL say that I made out like a bandit with combined gifts from Chaos Tad, my wife and both sets of parents ( in law and blood ). I am now sitting on 1.5K worth of Chaos Space Marines.

Anyhoo, that's all I got for now. In the coming weeks I am going to go get myself a carrying case for these fellas and one of them there cameras with an OPTICAL zoom. Once I have that taken care of I can really show you what I have done ( unless I steal Lantz's camera phone again )

HERE'S WISHING YOU A HAPPY HOLIDAY AND A SAFE NEW YEAR!

Merry Chaosmas!

Happy Holidays everyone!

It looks like I have finally completed my backslide into heresy. I have been thinking about doing a 3rd and final army of Chaos Space Marines so I can stop getting my can kicked around by 3+ armor save armies. Apparently the ruinous powers overheard me talking about it because Chaos has started to infiltrate my collection.

First, there was the Sorcerer on my birthday ( THANKS BLOOD ANGELS AARON! ):

Today, I got this guy ( THANKS CHAOS TAD! ):

... and for Christmas I am pretty sure I am getting this from my wife and parents.

Needless to say SUPER excited about getting my own traitor legion started. However, I have to temper my enthusiasm as this is intended to be "IT". I want to put all of my accumulated knowledge and experience from the Guard and the Orks into this army. I want to be able to stand back from these guys and say ... "Wow, this is something I can really be proud of," not only as an army but as actual "art".

I am all ready to go when it comes to the look/fluff of this army. They are going to be a band of Imperial Fists that were seduced by Nurgle and keep a similar color scheme with the exception of swapping the red for black. I would also like to use a variant of the Imp. Fist's symbol as well



I plan to find a basic symbol, photo shop it in front of the chaos star, make it look like the fist is throwing the horns and put it on a banner

Of course I have a list in my head for them as well, it goes a little something like this:

Hand of Corruption (1500 pts)

Deamon Prince
- Wings
- Mark of Nurgle
- Sorcerer
- Nurgle's Rot

Chaos Sorcerer
- Mark of Nurgle
- Power Weapon and Bolt Pistol
- Familiar
- Palanquin of Nurgle
- Doom bolt
- Nurgle's Rot

Plague Marine x 6

Chaos Space Marine x 10
- Aspiring Champion
- Power weapon/Bolt pistol
- Melta
- Flamer
- Icon of Nurgle
- Rhino
- Possessed

Chaos Space Marine x 10
- Aspiring Champion
- Power weapon/Bolt pistol
- Melta
- Flamer
- Icon of Nurgle
- Rhino
- Possessed

Terminators x 5
- Twin lightning claws x4
- Reaper Auto Cannon and Power Fist

Obliterator

Obliterator

I think this should be a decent all comers list and at the very least some fluffy fun. I was especially happy to be able to shoehorn the "magic 7" into the plague marines ( the sorcerer will be the "leader" and 7th member). As always comments and criticisms are always appreciated so let me know what you think!

To the RESCUE!

I just had to share this with you guys. Found it on DakkaDakka by a fantastic artist by the name of Kid_Kyoto. If you want to see the original link click here

AAAAND back

Sorry for the lapse of posts there everyone. Had something come up that I was turning into a much bigger deal than it really was. I have since then gotten my head out of my rear and am back up and running again! I haven't been idle either, I have plenty of new things to show you... and will as soon as I get out of Detroit :/

That'll learn me...

Wow, what a weekend
Had a schedule change and as such was able to play an extra night o' Hammer with my friend Sterling. Sterling as of late has been playing imp guard/deamon hunters so something I am familiar with. This time, however, he decided to bring full on Grey Knights. I learned the hard way that this was a VERY different army.

His list (from what I can remember)

1 Squad of Grey Knights w/flamers in a LR ( Heavy Support)
- I believe this is called a Purgation squad
1 Group of Grey Knights on foot w/brother captain in artificer armor
1 Grand Master in terminator armor & psycannon
3 Grey knight terminators
1 Dreadnought w/psycannon and CCW
1 Dreadnought w/TL lascannon and missile launcher

My list

2 Leeman Russes w/heavy bolter sponsons, lascannons, extra armor and dozer blades
1 Leeman Russ Squad
- 1 Punisher with lascannon and heavy flamer sponsons
- 1 Standard Leeman Russ with hull heavy bolter
2 Groups of vets with 2 meltas and 1 flamer a piece in chimeras with pintle stubbers and extra armor
2 Primaris Psykers that rode with aforementioned Vets
1 Group of Vets with Demolitions, shotguns, 2 flamers and 1 heavy flamer in a chimera with a pintle storm bolter and extra armor

We played a 3 games: 2 annihilation and 1 capture and control. I lost 2 and tied one :/. As I am still trying to decide how I want to do batreps on this site I will give you some highlights of each game:

Game 1 - Annihilation (lost):
- Killed the Terminators down to the Brother Captain turn 1 and finished him off turn 3 as he was trying to hide behind a bunker
- Successfully melta'd a Dreadnought hiding in cover on the other end of the board
- Totally underestimated the assault envelope of a Land Raider (20 INCHES!!!!!!!) and got to watch it rip my tank squad apart
- Last turn a Dreadnought routed one of my vet squads w/psyker giving him 2 victory points and the win

Game 2 - Capture and Control (tie):
- Immobilized the LR on the first turn of shooting! Right... in front... of his objective :/
- Decimated the squad inside said LR down to one man
- Did not play aggressive enough and left a unit in reserve so I could not get to the cap point in time

Game 3 - Annihilation (lost):
- WON the steal initiative roll
- Poured 3 turns of Russ fire ( ALL OF THEM ) into the terminator squad and could not kill them
- Totally underestimated the assault envelope of a Land Raider AGAIN and got to watch it rip my flamer vet chimera apart
- Finally got tank shock to work and was able to save said flamer vet squad from complete destruction
- Last turn a Dreadnought routed one of my vet squads w/psyker giving him 2 victory points and the win.... AGAIN!

As you can see there needs to be some finger wagging in my general direction. Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me. I just couldn’t get over how far a LR could move disembark troops out of the front 2 inches and then charge. That coupled with multiple str 6 hits tore me to ribbons. Believe you me, I will not be making that mistake again if I can help it. Also, I need to keep in mind that while my Psykers hang out with my Vets they are NOT PART of the vet squad. Throwing them into hand to hand combat was just adding a free point.

It wasn’t a total loss though. I had a lot of fun and I learned how my army plays by itself. Normally we run team games due to the # of people we have over at any given time. You can really build a good relationship with your fellow players that way but you don’t get a good feel for what you can do as an individual. Now that I have tasted defeat I can start analyzing where I went wrong and make changes to bolster that aspect of my game.

Truffle me baby!

Don't you love it when a plan comes together? How about something that you planned that comes out in a completely different and actually better way than when you planned it? Thats what happened to me today! Also I think I may have found an alternative to the camera problem.

When I first started painting I knew what paint was, lets leave it at that. I primed up one of the Russ models that I had cobbled together and went to town. It was OK for me at the time but now that I have a few models under my belt I think I can do way better.

Anyway, I am working on getting a punisher up and running and thought I would try to get "Alpha Russ" to look at least in the same ballpark as the rest of the army. So I got out my Dark Angels Green and found to my dismay that I was almost out. Looking at the model in its flat Catachan green glory I thought I would try to do a "dry brush" with a watered down version. Yeah, now that I say it out loud a watered down dry brush sounds pretty dumb. HOWEVER, it worked really well! I would load my brush, take 1 or 2 passes at a paper towel, then run it lightly over the model. While it didn't get the highlighted look I was looking for it mixed really well with the base coat and came out almost exactly like my other tanks.

Check it out:

The one on the left is the first Russ. The one on the right is of my "new style". While I know that the picture isn't the best in the world it shows a lot of promise. I think I can actually see a little detail! Much better than my old digital camera could do. Amazing what you can do with a netbook webcam no?

So there you have it. I blundered onto not one but TWO things today. I think that puts me in the running for the "Blind Pig and Truffles" (BPaT) award this month don't you?

Chaos Cookies

Hello all!
The polls are in and ..... one... person ... voted. I guess that teaches me that I should build a stronger viewer base before I go asking for public opinion ;) . The thing is that I know for a fact that the one person who voted is none other than my good friend and gaming group buddy Chaos Tad ( CT from here on out )

CT runs runs a chaos undivided army with a lean towards Tzeentch. He has just come over to the world of 40K and while is still a little short on models to really field what he wants he is making a marked improvement every time that we play.

I have just realized its been a while since I have posted. Quite a bit has happened but I still don't have much of a camera so I am afraid no pics of a decent quality. I am about 2 tanks away from getting my 1500 pt army completely finished. I have the base coat down on my Punisher and am touching up the paint on a Russ that I did a loooooong time ago. Everything else has been quickshaded and Tim has been touched up to actually match my army.

We got together and had a game today too which was good. I am still working on how I want to do my Bat - Reps ( a separate blog on that later ) but here are some highlights:

1) Made a new friend and gaming buddy by the name of Keith
- Keith is going to be our 'Nid player and has a handful of SMs that he ran with today
- He is also very good at making 6+ cover saves
2) We ran a seize ground mission with 5 whole points!
- We usually only see 3... being dead serious. We have been playing for over a year now
3) I am still getting used to the truncated range of the "Heavy" russ
- Just not used to that 24" that you get with the Punisher and Demolisher
4) I am never going to underestimate vets with krak grenades again
5) CT got a new rhino!
- It got blown up first turn!
- Valkyries are very fast :(

And there you have it. Thats about as comprehensive as you are going to get with 3 hours of sleep. I will have more posts to follow in regards to this new heavy russ and a little something on mathhammer

Chaos Poll Dance

Hey Everyone,
I, like most of you out there, have multiple armies. I currently have 2, Ork and Iggys, and am thinking of doing one more. I have a couple of reasons behind this:

1) I am getting a little tired of horde armies
2) I have heard wonderful things about armor saves and am dying to try some
3) I want an army that I can really focus on all that I have learned painting wise from these hordes

Therefore, I have decided to go down the path of Chaos for a couple of reasons:

1) I think the visual styling on this army is just fantastic
2) Plenty of chances for customization / greenstuff work with mutations
3) You cant throw a rock in my gaming group without hitting a space marine

While this is going to be a LONG way away ( I only have one Ork painted ) I want to get the planning done and out of the way so I can hit the ground running. The other day I was reading through my friend Tad's ( a CSM player) codex and was surprised to find out that CSM on the whole worship the Chaos gods equally. I thought you had to pick a god and run with it. This changed things for me quite a bit because originally I was going to run a Nurgle only army.

I like the idea of very tough troops and FNP. However, this would be really expensive to put together. The Plague Marine troops from GW are metal and cost the same as the standard plastic CSMs and you only get 7 with 1 plasma gun. Now I could just get the standard CSM and order the Death Guard resin conversions from Forge World but that would raise the cost exponentially. To get the army that I would want to feild would cost over 400 dollars. Which I understand is part of the hobby but I could spend about 100 dollars less, get the strike force and battle force boxed sets and get so much more in the way of troops and vehicles.

So I am in a pickle. Which army to choose? Should I go with a deity or play vanilla with chunks of deity mixed in? I like the fluff for all of them really so I am not partial ( sorry Grampy Nurgle) .

This is where you come in. You will see on the right that I have swapped out the painting table and added a poll. Please let me know which army you personally run with ( if you have one ) or which ones you had the most fun playing against. This army is going to be created purely for the fun of building, painting and playing so you dont have to factor in the most "Killer Combo". Also, don't feel that you are restricted to that poll. Let me have it! Lets get a good conversation started on this post and hash it out once and for all.

Thank you in advance for your input

How 40K killed video games for me

I think I am finally over video games. I was quite the addict in my younger years. I used to play all the time. Every bit of information, every kernel of rumor, every trailer, article and website I was there.

However, a co-worker asked me what new game I am most looking forward too this Christmas and I couldn't honestly answer. The 360 Space Marine game looks cool and I play the odd game of a Dawn of War and Dawn of War II but I just cant get excited like I used to. Now its all 40k. I check FTW and BoLS daily ( if not hourly) and my co workers and I talk about army lists, character builds and battle reports constantly.

I think the thing that did it for me was the actual models. I LOVE to paint, mod and build and it always gives me a sense of accomplishment regardless of what I've done. You just cant get that in a video game. Yeah, you can beat a game but what do you have to show for it? Its all ephemeral, a one shot of gratification that you can't replicate. You could go back over the game and try to get all of the achievements but still, at the end of the day, you are left with a beaten game. One could argue thats the same feeling you get when painting a model but at the end of the day you have... well... a model. Painted and ready to go "pewpewpew!" at a friends model. Its all beer and skittles from there on out.

Its that staying power that I have been missing from the modern video game. It all looks like the same thing to me anymore. Its like the yearly sports game: just the same thing with new characters, a few bits and bobs and a new paint job. Underneath it all its still just a FPS, RPG or sandbox game. Wash rinse repeat.

Finally, there is the chance to meet all of you. Joining something this widespread was quite the experience. Everyone that I have talked to so far has been the bees knees and have yet to come across a really negative comment/person. Now I may have just been lucky so far and there is some forum troll out there waiting to pee in my Cheerios® but until then heres to you 40K gaming community! May your dice never go round!

Practical AND Waterproof!

Hey Everyone!
Just popping in to say hi and to give you a real quick tip that has helped me out ALOT when it came to hosting games. I don't know about you all but I find that when you first start your gaming career terrain can be one of the most difficult aspects of the hobby. I realize I am probably stressing over something that can easily be represented by egg crates and Pringles cans but, I admit it, I get board envy. All of those great looking pics of epic battlefields made my first attempts with unpainted ice cube trays seep rather paltry.

SOOOOOooooo whats a newbie table top gamer to do? GO TO THE PET STORE! Dont follow? Here I will show you ( Click the words for Links):

Natural cave WITH easy to hide in foliage

Really tall rock ( great for hiding valks behind)

Busted up columns

Natural Rock Formation

These are just a few examples of what I have on my gaming table right now. The great thing is that everything comes painted and to scale. You can pick up quite a chunk of terrain for under 15 bucks too. Even more if you sign up for a preferred shopper card! The only thing that you have to do is come up with a good lie to tell all the little kids that ask you about your pet fish.

Some call me.... Tim

Ron over at FTW asked us bloggers to choose our "Must have units" the one unit you always find a way to squeeze into your army, regardless of how well it does or how points effective it may or may not be.

Well, for me, thats easy: Tim the Somewhat Sanctioned Psyker! As posted earlier Tim was one of the first models that I actually felt I could show to other people. I think I was originally drawn to him game-play wise because in 4th ed you had no control over what power he had which matched my play style perfectly as I had no idea what the hell I was doing.

Now I use him ( and his younger brother Tom) for a portable multilaser battery. Hide him in the back of a Chimera and tack on at least 2 more STR 6 shots. He can also be used as a poor mans smoke launcher and isnt too bad in hand to hand ( for iggys) in a pinch.

Speaking for the actual Mini I don't believe that he was an actual Citadel cast. I cant tell you for certain because I didn't buy him. He was given to me in one big lot 'o Iggys in return for me playing Warhammer ( more on that later) . Unfortunately I don't have any decent pictures of him and he needs a new coat of paint on him now that I am more confident with a brush. Its too bad too because its Tim's look that makes him "Somewhat Sanctioned". Tim's force weapon has a giant eye wreathed in skulls. I really don't think he'd pass inspection if a Commissar got a good look at him but I let it slide due to his loyal service to the god emperor.

So there you have it. My must have is TtSSP! Whats your favorite?

Fluff Fighter Round 2

I am a fluff fanatic. I love the rich back story that GW provides and sometimes it gets me into trouble on the tabletop because I like to put the story before the stats. As an Iggy player I feel that I am fortunate enough to have one of the richest stories in the universe. You can't beat the heroism and bravery of plain 'ol humans going up against an HR Giger nightmare and coming out heroes. However, there are some aspects in the story that just gnaw at me when I read through the codex. Imagine this conversation if you will....

Soldier 1: 500 count ration containers
Soldier 2: Check
Soldier 1: 1000 count Lasgun clip containers
Soldier 2: Check
Soldier 1: 50 tonnes hay
Soldier 2: Che.... wait, what?
Soldier 1: Yeah, for the horses
Soldier 2: Horses?
Soldier 1: Mounted Cavalry, 250th company
Soldier 2: We are taking horses... into space?
Soldier 3: MAKE WAY FOR THE OGRES! OGRES COMING THROUGH!

Now I know that they call them "Ogryns" but you get the idea. In my opinion this stuff just doesn't seem to fit. Horses? Ogres?.... Hobbits? I mean, come on, we have tanks that can spew the 4th state of matter on command and you expect me to ride to battle on a horse? Not to mention the sheer logistics of dragging a bunch of horses through space.

Also, what's up with the Ogres and battle Hobbits? Isnt one of the main tenants of the Imperium:
"Burn the heretic. Kill the mutant. Purge the unclean."
It should read more like this:
"Burn the heretic. Kill the mutant. Purge the unclean.... Unless they are really, really helpful then we should totally recruit them."

I don't know about you but I would file a planet full of giant, brutish ab humans under M for Mutant.

Now I can understand why GW may put these characters in to justify game-play balance but why not just make specialized human troops? Are there no ninjas in the 41st millennium? No stealthy, well trained snipers that we can rely on? Have we no other alternative to a fast reacting close combat unit other than a guy on a horse with a bomb on a stick? They don't seem to have any issues with specialization in other armies. Just look at the Eldar for crying out loud, they have an Exarch for everything from tank busting to dog walking.

I would be fine with it if they wanted to make the Imperial Guard a "Lighter" army with funsy units such as sniper hobbits, ogre commandos and the My Pretty Pony Patrol but if you go that route I believe you should either embrace it or leave it. To go halvsies on a concept like that just comes off feeling flat and cobbled together (Squats, where did you go?).

Those are my two cents, what do you think?

To post or not to post....

That is the question.....

The sad thing is that nothing remarkable has happened in the recent weeks. I did some painting but didn't get anything done that I could really put a post up for. Played some games and took footage for the first bat-rep but found out that I sound like a jabbering dink on video am not putting it out until I do some MAJOR editing. I could try to do a standard battle report but without pictures/diagrams most of the information would be irrelevant.

I did get to spend some quality time with a "heavy" version of the Russ with the Punisher Variant..... man I love that gun. If nothing else its just an excuse to roll 20 dice and then say "Ok thats done, now let me shoot with my other guns,". Word to the wise though, be sure to add some anti tank weapons to your chassis otherwise you are going to be a sitting duck.

Oh, I also made a slight miscalculation. I thought I was almost done with my first ever 1500 painted army but it turns out I am far from that goal. I recently stopped using my command squad in favor of Primaris Psykers which dramatically reduced the point cost :/ Sooooo now I have to come up with a way to make up the cost. I think I am going to stick with the old Latin phrase "Ut in nuto adaugeo magis lacus" Which, according to the translator I found on-line means "When in doubt add more tanks" It looks a little something like this:

HQ:

Primaris Psyker

Troop:

Vet Squad
- Demolitions
- Shotguns
- 2x Flamer
- 1 Heavy Flamer
- Power fist
- Chimera
- Hull Flamer
- Extra Armor
- Pintle Mounted Storm Bolter

Platoon
Plat. Command
- Power Weapon
- 2 x Melta
- 1 x Plasma Gun
- 1x Medic

Squad 1
- Melta
- Chimera
- Hull Flamer
- Extra Armor
- Pintle Mounted Stubber

Squad 2
- Melta
- Chimera
- Hull Flamer
- Extra Armor
- Pintle Mounted Stubber

Heavy:

Leeman Russ
- Battle Cannon
- Hull Mounted Heavy Bolter

Leeman Russ Squadron ( 2 tanks )
- Battle Cannon
- Hull Mounted Lascannon
- Sponson Heavy Bolter
- Dozer Blade
- Extra Armor

Punisher
- Punisher Gatling Cannon
- Hull Mounted Heavy Flamer
- Sponson Multi-Meltas

1500 pts ( If i remember correctly )

Not much subtlety here but I think theres enough to get the job done. The Psyker will hitch a lift with the Vets and as long as I don't have to deal with Runes of Warding every game I should be able to add a few more "Multi Laser" shots out of the back hatch. Everything else is pretty self explanatory. The troops will do what troops do, the tanks do what they do and that tiiiiny little command squad will hide on points and try not to be shot. As always questions and comments are always welcome and greatly appreciated.

Two for Two

Gah! They had me working again! No real time to post but here is the 500 Pt army I was telling you about:

Big Mek w/Shokk Attack Gun
Deff Dread w/2 CC arms and 2 Skorchas -> counts as troop w/Mek
Looted Wagon w/boomgun & 'ard case
24 boyz w/sluggas and choppas
- 1 boy w/big shoota
- 1 Nob with Power Klaw, shoota, heavy armor and bosspole

500 pts. on the nose

Played this army in a 1000 pt team game with Eldar against CSM and Tau and it faired pretty well. However, the deployment was spearhead and I held everything in reserve so my opponents were in prime position for me to strike. Not 100% sure how good it would go on a 1 vs. 1 but its fun none the less. Plenty of strong template action and wacky randomness and even though I took some casualties my boyz got off 51 (FIFTY ONE!) close combat attacks. I will try to get the other army lists and some highlights posted soon

What madness is this?!

I am having to work at work today! What is this world coming to? Its going to be a somewhat skimpy post I am afraid. On a bright note my "weekend" went really well. I got my first Chimera completely finished and the 2nd one is ready for Quickshading. Also, if you check to the right you will see I have somewhat of a gallery. I am still getting all of the kinks worked out but it should be up and running here soon. If I get done in time I will be sure to update again tonight on a funzy 500 pt ork list and some musing on Iggy gun lines

Another Successful Weekend

Hello all!

Just chiming in to say that I had another successful "weekend" in modeling. I finished up some bits on a looted Ork Leman Russ, got my 1st of 3 chimeras done and and tested how the soft tone Quickshade would look on said Chimery and one of my "finished" Iggy minis. Short answer, they look great. Long answer, I am going to spend alot of time coating and re basing my Iggys :s

In other news, I am going to try to set up a gallery or something of the sort for my minis on the blog here. While I couldn't ask for anything more simple to use for blogging it seems that every time I get the photos in reformatting the text can be a real chore. I am rather new to this though so please bear with me.

Finally, check out Lantz's blog for some neat conversions (if he has it posted yet). That guy has some very tiny magnets and knows how to use them

Sour Apple Pie: A Leman Russ Tatcia

Let me say something right off the bat. I will NEVER tell you how to play your army. I just wanted to share some views that I had on one of my favorite units in the game. Every time that I give someone advice and it turns out wrong I feel personally responsible. Also, people play this game for so many different reasons to try and write something that could apply to everyone is well outside of my abilities. Oh, one more thing. For those not in the know, we call the large blast templates "pie plates" due to their relative size in comparison to the other blast template. Our particular set of pie plates are green and see through so we call them sour apple. I guess we could call them Granny Smiths but thats not near manly enough. Now that I got that out of the way lets get to it shall we?

Ah the venerable Leman Russ, the cornerstone to many an Iggy and Inquisitorial mech list. It was dangerous in 4th ed but now its down right deadly. Please keep in mind I am talking about a stock Russ here not those new fangled "heavy" Russes ( Rear armor 11) with all their rock music, multiple cannon variants and acid wash jeans.

When you talk about the Russ amongst us Iggys you often hear this argument: Sponson or not to sponson? Some argue that all you need is a battle cannon and the hull mounted whatever-needs-to-die-the-most gun. Others state that you need to bring a more to the party by throwing some extra guns on the side. I say "Why the heck are you arguing about guns when you can be out driving your tank around?!"

Of the 3 Russes I have 2 have heavy bolter sponsons with a hull mounted lascannon and one with just the battle cannon and hull mounted bolter. I'm kinda stuck with these 2 variants because this was before I knew about rare earth magnets and quite frankly both load outs work just fine. If its not broke don't fix it right?

For me it all boils down to the battle cannon (BC from here on). My gaming group is really afraid of this gun and for good reason. Weighing in at STR 8 AP 3 Large Blast Ordnance it can really do some damage IF it gets a hold of you. The down side, however, is that when you scatter you can REALLY scatter. That BS 3 is going to bring that shot back only on the rarest of occasions. This can be especially hilarious during team games. Think of it this way: it doesn't matter who you get the MVP award from just as long as you get that MVP.

As far as sponsons go you cant really go wrong with adding more guns to something. I realize that sounds Orky but it rings true for the most part. As for what guns you want its pretty much at your own discretion as that battle cannon can back you up for everything else. If you want to kill tanks throw some meltas and a hull mounted lascannon on there the BC will cut a swath through all but the toughest troops. Killing people wholesale more your game? Throw some bolters, flamers, heck even some plasma guns on there and go to town. The BC will back you up on this too because of its ordnance capabilities allow you to roll 2 D6 on your armor penetration rolls and pick the best score. Take THAT land raider!

Now the counter argument to all of these guns is the Lumbering Behemoth rule. This allows you to fire your BC along with any ONE other gun on your tank when you move 6 inches or less. For all intents and purposes it makes your BC a defensive weapon (you can fire that too!). This affords the Leman Russ a very high mobility which makes assaulting it that much harder and allows you to get into a better firing position without having to sacrifice output.

Personally it all comes down to points. Smaller armies usually get the "Econo Russ" bolter and BC combo while with more points I have to toss around I will consider throwing in a fuller bodied Russ, two if I am feeling exceptionally zesty. I like to run both types around the board as well, yeah I'm not getting to fire all of my guns all the time but very few people will willingly stand still while I take pot shots at them anyway. Also, what I lose in firepower per turn I make up for in redundant weapons systems. Heaven forbid that it happens, but your BC CAN and probably WILL be shot off of you. When it happens its nice to know that you have something you can fall back on.

The one downfall of the Russ, as with most tanks, is the rear armor. This makes moving around that much more attractive when it comes to the assault phase. At least now they have to roll a 4+ to hit you. You also have to be mindful of the dreaded butt shot. A mere bolter can bust up your tank from the rear and believe you me thats an embarrassing tale to tell around the water cooler the next day.

The bottom line is that the Russ is a great all around tank that you can't really go wrong with. Keep moving, dont get shot in the butt and keep delivering sour apple pie hot and fresh from the oven!

Flippin awesome!

I just went to my local electronics store and got a Flip HD! I think I can kill two birds with one stone here by giving some bat-rep action as well as taking some photos of my figs so I don't have to keep stealing cameras. I will try to get some stuff up as soon as I get everything charged up and sorted out.

Fighting the Fluff

I get too emotionally involved in my armies. Not so much on a competitive level but on a fluff level. So much so that it gets in the way of my actual playing of the game.

All the "good commanders" know and respect their men. Ibram Gaunt from the Dan Abnett series of books is a good example. He knows his men by name and does whatever he can to help them out. Creed is another fine example, always leading from the front and right in the thick of things. They all paint these great pictures of stalwart leaders and a hard knot of soldiers that share a brotherhood of mutual respect. On the other hand you have the "bad commanders" you can usually tell who these guys are because the "good commanders" spend most of their off battlefield time calling them out for poor tactics and then conversely being double crossed by them. They go through troops like a chain-sword through butter, feeding them into the meat grinder willy nilly.

Unfortunately this causes an issue for me when the dice start to roll. To "win" (where win = having the most points at the end of the game) at 40k your guys have to "die". You cant expect to throw a group of BS3 T3 +5s out there and have them all come back. Yet every time that my troops take a hit, and this happens often, I cringe a little. I know they are just little plastic men but in the back of my head I can just see myself creating little greenstuff letters to send back to their little plastic families on their little plastic home world of Littleplastica V. But to be an Iggy is to lose men. Thats the way of things. Even if you wrap them in a tank they still run the risk of getting it shot out from under them.

For example: Tim the sanctioned psyker. I have had Tim since I got my first lot of Iggys. Tim was the first model that I painted that I wasn't embarrassed to put on the table. Tim killed my first dreadnought for me ( back in 4th ed when you could bust up a tank with a psychic CC attack). We have been through a lot together and I try to get him out there as much as I can. The bad part is, I don't want Tim to die.

Which leads me to this weeks game. My Iggys have gone rogue and are helping out some Chaos (there was a promise of cookies) against a combined force of Tau and Eldar. Unfortunately Lantz has brought out the Runes of Warding as he is wont to do (3d6 for LD test on psyker powers 12+ is perils of the warp). Both my psykers are down to one wound and game is coming to a close with Tim making a tactical retreat off the board. While I think I could get him out alive the Tau commander is directly in my path and its our turn next.

What should I do? Tactically speaking I should take the shot. Tim's going to be gone next turn anyway so there's no reason to keep him around. Its a capture and control game so kill points aren't so much of a factor and this is all happening right next to the bunker that is holding my flag. I guess I better get out the mop and bucket to clean his cranium off the walls and get ready to pen another tiny greenstuff letter.....

Photo Update!

Guess who stole Las One Standing's camera phone at work today!
Oh BTW, he is a really good source for sniper rifles too, you should check it out.

As promised, here is the de-glossed Ork. Just a few hits of the anti shine matte spray and viola!















I tell you what, I couldn't be happier with the outcome. I know the lighting is a little "meh" but you get the general idea. As an added bonus hes got a super crunchy exterior to boot! I think I could use him as a solid slug round and he would keep his paint.

Also, here is one of three Chimeras that I am working on:










































I think I am pretty much done except for a few touch ups and minor details ( going to add some "dirt" effects to the lower part of the tread). I am going to hit this up with the varnish too and see how that matches up with a finished paint job that I have done with just straight up citadel washes.
I apologize for the rather spartan post today but I am running on about 4 hours of sleep :( I will try to get something more substantial up tomorrow.

Too good to be true?

As my recent posts may indicate I think I am falling in love with The Army Painter's Quickshade. This seems to me to be the magic bullet to all of my modeling fine detail woes. Its just too easy. Paint with primary colors, quickshade, base and done. Once I get used to it I should be able to pump out Orks like nobody's business with a pretty high standard of quality.

Its also helping my FLGS. The owner told me that he is seeing more income due to people getting more armies done on time. Why have one army when in half the time as it took you to make your first you can have two? Your fast attack acting a little weedy? Throw together that new squad of jump pack troops, you can have it table top ready by the end of the week. This and other products like it seem to be nothing but helpful to the hobby and the industry.

I wonder, however, if this is all beer and skittles as it appears to be on the surface. In most cases any time that a modernization comes along in the production of a hand made good there is a decrease in overall quality. Will this be the same way for the modern mini? Now that you can get your new army out of the box and on the table relatively quick and easy will you take the time to add that extra detail? I'm not saying that it will be the beginning of the end of the Golden Daemons but I think it will be interesting in the coming years to see how this effects the overall quality of the game. Could this cause a rift between the newbies and the veterans? Will I be looked down upon because I didnt do all of my detailing by hand?

What do you all think? Are products that help the new and untested helpful or hurtful? Should we be willing to sacrifice the artistic quality of the game we play to let more people enjoy our little slice of heaven?

Painting Update

Hello everyone,

Unfortunately I don't have access to a decent camera ATM otherwise I would show you how the Ork came out. Happy to say that it looks great! The dull coat really took the high gloss off and hes ready to hit the field ( still needs some basing work but its good enough for gov't work now ;) )

Also, I have one of my three chimeras pretty much done. Seeing as how well the soft tone worked on the Ork I am going to forgo my normal highlighting/washing and give it a shot. My only concern is how I am going to get the undercarriage taken care of without making a mess. Wish me luck!

The Washed Ork Project

One last picture for today before I get back to Star Trek: TOS and painting Chimeras

















This is an experimental (for me) painting style that I am going to try for my Ork army. I want something quick so I can mow through the hoards of boyz.

What I did:

1) White base coat of Rust-Oleum Specialty Plastic Primer Spray ( FANTASTIC PRODUCT)

2) Colored in the shoulder pads, metals and boots with standard Games Workshop paint

3) Used Citadel Foundation: Tausept Ochre for the leather straps

4) Washed the skin in Citadel Wash: Thrakka Green ( directly on the white primer )

5) Washed the jump suit ( again on the primer ), straps and metals in Citadel Wash: Devlan Mud

6) Coated the whole model in The Army Painter's Quickshade: Soft Tone

Whats really great about this project is that I didn't have to obsess hardly at all over the finer details. I didn't expect the washes to do such a great job at highlighting/shading as they did. Hell, now that this guy has set for a little bit with the Soft Tone he looks as good if not better than my imp guard auxiliaries that I painted by hand! (This cheeses me off to no end BTW)


Anyway, that's all I got for right now. I plan to swing by the FLGS tomorrow and pick up the Anti-Shine Matt Varnish that The Army Painter recommends to take off that super high gloss finish.

Now for a little eye candy

Now that you know a little bit about me let me show you a little of what I do:


Thanks to Lantz over @ Las One Standing for the use of his nifty camera phone

The Econo Russ:














My bare bones Leman Russ, I could never wrap my head around the numbering conventions for the Imperial Guard so I just throw the units value on there so I know exactly how many points of sad I should be when they blow up.


The Assult Squad:

















2 Regular Flamers + 1 Heavy Flamer + Power Fist + Shotguns + Demolitions = explosive short range fun for the whole family! Note that the shotguns are just lasguns with the barrel and sights shaved off of them. Thanks to my friend Sterling for that great idea.



Command Squad Auxiliaries:














These are the guys that I usually run with my command squad. I have used my most "advanced" painting techniques on these guys to help them stand out. I will try to get some more individual shots soon.

Sniper Dave:



















This is Sniper Dave (as seen above). Check out that swanky cammo pattern eh? Too bad we fight on a grey wasteland of a moon so he stands out like a sore thumb :( .

I'm Bloggin Mike! I'M BLOGGIN!

Hey Everyone!
Just wanted to start the ball rolling on this whole "Blogging" thing all the kids are going on about these days. The main purpose of this blog will be to discuss my weekly Warhammer night as well as product reviews and show off my minis. I will try to keep you informed as to how I did what I did ( if you are interested ) and hopefully get some good feedback to better hone my skills. The bottom line though is to have fun and celebrate the cultural phenomena that is Warhammer 40K