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