Monday, December 31, 2012

Battle Report on the End of the World

Skaven (John) vs Empire(bob)             2000pts

Skaven Queek Headtaker, Grey Seer, Chieftan BSB Linchebone pendant (6+ ward against war machine), Chieftan greatweapon, Warplock Engineer Lvl 1, 30 Clanrats shield full command, 30 clan rats full command shield, 40 clanrats full command, shields and spears, 30 Stormvermin = Queek Upgrade, shields and full command, 2 Rat Ogre Pack master, 15 Night Runners, 3 Jezzails, Warplock Lighting Cannon.

Empire: General Helm of Skaven Slayers, Plate shield lance barded horse talisman of preservation, Captain full plate BSB Wailing Banner, Wizard dispell scroll Lvl 2, Wizard lvl2, Halberdiers 29 full comand, 10 handgunners, 30 Swordsman full command, 30 Spearmen shields and full command, 9 Knights, 20 Greatswords full command, cannon, hellblaster

Empire Deployed first and went first,


Turn One, Empire Maneuver, Magic they Mystify Ogres who lose 3 stats off movement and other stuff, shooting gunners kill 2 NightRunners, Cannon kill 3 stormvermin. 

Skaven Turn One: Army moves foreword en mass. Magic the warlock engineer kills five halberdiers with warp lighting. Shooting jezzails kill a cannon crew member and the warplighting cannon kills a handgunner. 

Empire Turn Two: No movement. No magic to speak of. Regrowth gets dispelled. Shooting handgunners kill 2 more night runners, hellblaster kills 4 clanrats and the cannon killls five stormvermin with grapeshot.

Skaven Turn Two: Movement consists of charges. Nightrunners charge but fail fear test, clanrats 1 fail charge, stormvermin charge great swords, clanrat 2 charge spearmen, clanrat 3 (with spears) charge the knights. Magic: Engineer irresistibly casts warplightning on the hellblaster and no damage is done. Dimensional cascade as miscast result wounds the the engineer. Grey Seer casts Death Frenzy but it is dispelled. Combat: Nightrunners wound the bsb then flee after losing 6, night runners flee through rat ogres, halbrediers run them both down. Queek kills the Greatsword champion in a challenge with two overkill 6 more Greatswords die with 4 stormvermin killed in return and combat continues. Clanrat 2 kills two spearmen with no casualties in return, combat continues. Clanrat 3 manages no kills on the knights with the Empire general killing a clanrat.  

Empire Turn 3. Movement. The Swordsmen in the middle of Bob's army charge the not-so-large-anymore block of stormvermin in the flank, leaving them exposed to clanrat 1, Halbrediers alone on the flank move to get back in the battle. In the magic phase the Stormvermin are Withered dropping their toughness. During Combat the Stormvermin kill all but 2 of the greatswords and only lose 1 to the flanking swordsmen. Clanrat 2 kills 1 spearmen and lose one in return. The large spear wielding Clanrat 3 and the Chieftan kill three knights(booyah) and lose six in return, combat a wash, but looking good for the rats.

Skaven Turn 3. Clanrat 1 charge the swordsmen in the Flank. Magic, continues to contribute a wound or two with Scorch on the Handgunners, and then Death Frenzy on Clanrat 2, giving them +2 attacks but causing them to lose d6 models a turn. Shooting. Warplightning Cannon kills a halbredier with a weak shot, Jezzails kill a handgunner causing them to flee. Combat. Stormvermin and Clanrats force swordsment to flee, stormvermin turn, Clanrat 1 do not catch. Death Frenzied Clanrat 2 win but the Spearmen stay, end up losing 6 to death frenzy. Knights kill 3 clanrats with no losses returned, combat a wash.

End of Turn Three, Skaven Left Flank
End Of Turn Three, Skaven Right Flank

Summary So Far. Empire Sit in one place and suffer as knights don't get charge. Where they do end up moving helps them as the halbrediers and BSB run down both Night Runners and Rat Ogres in one go, leaving them open to do what they want. Magic does little, but ends up mattering a good bit at the end of the battle. Combat goes surprising well for the rats, especially vs the Knights. Queek and his upgraded Stormvermin prove worth their cost again. At this point things look very much in the favor of Rats at the end of three.

Friday, December 28, 2012

Some ruminations

Hey folks Bob here,

I figured I would actually post something for a change (a shock I know). Nothing too drastic, just some thoughts on the state of the hobby and a few ideas for things to come. First off I am sad to say I haven't gotten a whole lot done recently on the hobby front. I bad case of painting malaise has set in over the past few weeks and progress has been slow on project completion. Currently I am working on some Wolf Guard Terminators, Ragnar Blackmane, a Wolf Priest, some Cadian Guard, and Terminator Librarian for my Grey Knights, a Land Raider for the GK as well, and last but not least the limited edition Chaplin from the Dark Vengence box. It is a lot of stuff I know, but I find that having a lot of different projects going at once (when it isn't overwhelming) serves to break up the monotony of painting the same colors over and over again. I have been trying out some new techniques on my Guard to liven up the painting methodology (more on this later).

Also I have been doing a lot of hobby related reading as of late. I have been toying with the idea of doing some book reviews for some of my vast collection of Black Library novels so look for that in the near future. I think I will also start giving my thought to some of the more recent army books for both Warhammer and 40k. These won't be reviews per say, but rather a highlight of what I do and don't like about the books, my experiences with the armies, and what made my buy the book in the first place. Expect this as the first book I will be reviewing.



I also have a back log of historical minis to blather about so expect some Saxon v.s. Viking goodness in the future as well as a discussion of some 28mm scifi soldiers from Defiance Games and Wargames Factory.

 John and I recently played a game of Warhammer Fantasy so expect a battle report for that in the near future. As always happy gaming!

Thursday, December 27, 2012

Reasons any Fantasy gamer should get Warhammer Total War

Honestly lets face it there is one major reason that a lot of people who may normally not get a total war game will get this one. because it is a WARHAMMER game, and I, I mean they, want to see their armies move around. I have seen some crazy &^% models, some that glow, make noise, can change positions/pieces (with help) and some that are just plain beautiful. But this takes it to a whole other level. Related to this is the fact that this will allow the most convenient form of trial and error, should I take this unit or that, is this item worth it and so on. Don't lie to me, you will do this, at least once. Of course then whenever you have sculpted your perfect digital army and translate it to the real world it probably wont work.

There is a couple reasons this won't work. One the computer mechanics can add more variance within the attributes beyond a scale of 1-10, and it will do all the computations that we dont want to take the time to work out in the real world. I love this. a dwarfs attacks have to be delivered with more force than a goblins, yet he has a 3, just like a goblin for strength. Hopefully the comp takes it to the next level dwarf strength =39 while goblin equals 30. The next issue is balancing wont work the same as far as unit selection, I imagine you will be able to field broke as h3ll armies in the computer games, it will happen, and guess what the comp will have at least as broke an army, but it wont be just one, it will have 5 of them roaming. (not counting what they will have if they allow major chaos invasions)

Your hand

Computer's hand

Next the comp will not be able to be a kunning as your opponent, and eventually you and I will figure how to beat the comp easily with weaker and weaker armies. Maybe the last reason is the scale of the unit sizes. most inf blocks in Fantasy are 20ish, but might range up to 40 or beyond, I am looking at you Zombies, Skeletons, Slaves, Goblins, Marauders, while in Warhammer Total War the units will likely range in the 100s. Yes they will let you scale the size within the game, but i wont do this. If I have the comp to run it my units will be as big as I can make them. 
So to wrap up. 1. to see your army scaled in size. 2. to see your army scaled and very beautiful. 3. to see the brokeset army the game will let you come up with. 4. hopefully some built in balancing on performance and attributes to make the fighting more 'realistic or loreistic'. 5. Maybe just maybe you can get the good guys to win one.

Thursday, December 20, 2012

A few 'problems' with Warhammer Total War

Ok as much as I love the idea of this game, I have some problems with it. 
First, this is the first time Creative Assembly has reached out to do something beyond history based games. While the Warhammer Fantasy World has a rich history, vivid maps and many different races this is still different from what the teams at Creative Assembly do. Some things will be quite new to them, magic, magical creatures, magic items and so forth. I hope they get it right.
Secondly, this is the third(or so) major franchise GW has taken part in, and I have to say i am not completely satisfied with the results. Dawn of War started as a true rts with a nice storyline that I really liked, the introduction of all the different units. In the next Dawn of Wars expansions and into the second I liked them less and less as it became an rts/rpg bastardization that failed at both. You no longer built an army, and you gathered up loot and whatnot and your guys leveled, but it never really sold me, and the storyline(s) got lost. A Total War is a completely different beast than Dawn of War and the pure RPG of Space Marine, which brings me to my third point
Thirdly: when is this period of Total War set? Bob and I have pondered this, I think it should be the 'right now' in the Warhammer world that the rule book sets up for, where everybody is preparing for war, and the good guys are organized and have a strong leader, perfect for you to step in and become the Emperor, High King, Phoenix King, Wood King and Duke or whatever Bretonia has. Bob had suggested doing it set in the past, maybe around one of the Big chaos invasions, or after this last big one. Problem I have with this idea is I dont want to get steam rolled as in Medieval 2 Total War, where the Mongols and their elephant cousins the Timrids show up late in the game as an unstoppable juggernaut that oddly always comes straight after you. I dont want the mongols to make an appearance, and this would be way to much of an advantage for someone playing as Chaos, as if they didnt have enough already. 
Fourthly: What are the victory conditions for the races? Is it mere survival for the good guys, as they never really should be able to completely table the bad guys? For the bad guys is it just wiping the Empire off the face of the map, or the Dwarves or the High Elves and so on and so forth? And as everything GW has always been about several players playing together, if several friends get together and do a campaign, even if they are all good guys how do you get their victory conditions to line up?
So to some it up I am worried about how they will balance fun while sticking to the Fantasy Lore?

Tuesday, December 18, 2012

More thoughts on Warhammer Total War

To continue on possibilities for Warhammer Total War, I would really like to see the non playable races in Warhammer the table top game, make a good appearance in Warhammer Total War. Kiev, Norsc, Estalia and Tilea, Araby and the Border Princes. I don't think they will or should be playable races in the game. But I think they should be factions within that influence events, just as there are any number of unplayable factions in the other Total Wars. I would ,however, like to see some more advanced diplomacy with these factions that grant you the ability to recruit some of their units. 

you knew this was coming, and admit it your are not particularly against the idea

Yes bear cavalry from kiev, maybe their snow wizards. Estalia and Tilea pike men and crossbowmen. Araby some scimitar wielding troops, and maybe some heavy cav from the Border Princes. At the least I would like to see these factions in there. Then there are several factions I would like to see as trade points, Ind and Cathay, and then have several trade points for the scattered High Elf empire. 


Monday, December 17, 2012

Warhammer Total War, or as I know it, WARHAMMER TOTAL WAR!!!!!!!!!


So a couple weeks ago two of my favorite companies I love to waste my time and money on decided they are going to get together and have this nerd's dream child. No real details are out, release date, style, details, playable races and so forth, but I am already incredibly jacked. In fact Bob and I have been talking about the need for a Warhammer Total War game. It is already perfectly set up for a Total War, the races are laid out, the map is pretty much worked out, how units perform against each other, and how much they are worth is already set up, Creative Assembly just needs to translate that stuff to the computer. Warhammer Total War could easily be my favorite computer game ever. I have loved pretty much all of the Total Wars, and thanks to Steam I know that I have 588 hours on Empire Total War, I can imagine that I will spend at least this much time on Warhammer Total War whenever it comes out. Even if the game doesn't live up to unrealistic standards I have in my mind, I will buy it.


What I want to see is all the races playable with all the different units Warhammer already has. I wouldn't mind terribly if the first release only held the races considered in the Old World, Empire, Dwarves, Brettonia, Wood Elves, Beastmen, Skaven, Chaos, Orks, Ogre and Vampire Counts. Then they could do DLCs for the other half(ish), hopefully releasing them and their lands all together, Lizardmen, High Elves, Dark Elves, Tomb Kings. I imagine the map system could work largely like it does in Empire Total War, with the main area being the Old World, then separate maps for the New World and Tomb King areas.

Monday, November 19, 2012

More Monday Nonsense

Some Helpful Hints:
1. There is no rule that says you have to march out and go after your enemy. If you have a good position hold it, your battle report will likely not end up in White Dwarf anyway.
2. Try spreading out your elite units, use you general and BSB to boost your basic units, let your killers go out and kill. You can also use them as 'panic breakers' simply line up your elite(r) units every other unit, so that panic will have a more difficult path to take to spread panic to your entire army. Placing characters in basic units will make them more of a panic breaker if you lack in elite units.
3. Don't fight the nature of your army. If it is good at something use it.
4. It is difficult to mess up a simple plan.
5a. Keep up to date on enemy army books, know what they can and can't do.
5b. Don't be afraid to call B.S. If someone calls B.S. on you change whatever it is, If one person says it that means many are thinking it, if several people say it that means everyone is thinking it.
6. Don't be a one trick pony. Everyone loves the zoomygod unit that can roll anything, but if that unit, character hits a snag your whole gameplan is shot. try taking several good units instead, break up the zoomygodyness into several chunks, this gives you more options and people are more likely to enjoy playing against you.
7. There will never be one answer to every question, some questions will never have an answer.

Monday, November 12, 2012

More options for Border Brigands

Some more options for game types that fits under the broad umbrella of my Border Brigand creation.

1. If you have a third player with a big army, you could make the Brigands a substantial force, the size of either army, or only a few hundred points cheaper. The objective would be for the Brigands to hold out, while the attacker and defender are trying to capture as it was set up originally. in this case the defender would not have to wait two turns before showing up. This is another case where the best player/army gets the middle to prove how good they are. Same victory conditions as the original version

2. You could make this a relief force game. Where it is the defenders units holding the Watchtower and camp, and this separated force has to hold out for reinforcements. What used to be the brigand force could be up to 40% of the defending forces whole point total. In this game make the rest of the defending army arrive on turn two. I think this is already a game type, i just add in required terrain features. same victory conditions as the original version.




Walls/Obstacles

Another Monday another post

This week's build you own will likely be the last for a while, i have run out of supplies and money, but this week's build is also the easiest and quickest with the most possibilities



Walls. To start the walls  need to be 6" long, regulation size, and about 3/8" to 1/2" tall. This is again to let you models 'see' over. Then depending on what type of wall you want to build you can do several different things.
I would define three of these as soft cover, the two with the fallen trees and the fence, the stone wall would be hardcover. Walls can be as simple as standing a straight piece of 1/16" on its side for a stone wall, the fallen trees are just the de-cornered wooden dowels laid on top of each other. The fence is two thin strips connected by a lot of small 'posts'. Ta da walls. Some notes, 6" should be large enough to fit a unit of larger bases behind the frontage. And if you want a long wall just place these suckers next to each other. Painting, now that i have done it I would suggest you dont paint. Too much paint, and I didnt impress myself with the results.

Monday, November 5, 2012

Border Brigands part 2

5. Turn: Attacker goes first, brigands second and defender third. For first two turns only Brigands and Attackers exist, for gaming purposes. Then after attacker and brigand third turn the defenders 'appear' this acts as their normal first turn, anything that might have incidentally affected them before this turn doesnt count. Defender may move, shoot, cast spells and fight if they can in their first turn (turn 3) {if no third player simply dont place any brigands and attacker goes first then defender they dont have to wait if there are no brigands}
6. Game Length: 7 turns if there are brigands, 5 + one more on roll of 4+ if no brigands
7. Victory conditions: Victory Points
1pt: first to take Camp(not brigands) with a clear majority of point value
1pt: first to take Watchtower, forcing out or killing anybody in it (if no brigands, no point for this)
1pt: For killing leaders, camp leader, or either general
1pt: for captured Battle Standard
1pt: for capturing more Standards than opponent (battle standard counts towards this)
1pt: for holding the watchtower at game end
2pts: for holding camp at game end, clear majority of point value
1pt: for each unit over 10 models (at end of game) across the enemy's border, not fleeing and not in combat.

If there is a tie, Point Value decides, count brigand kills if they are there. Obviously it is almost impossible for the brigands to win, but if somehow they tie for the lead, they win, well done and bravo

PS. Something I forgot, no warmachines for anybody, the brigands dont have the resources and this is supposed to be reactionary forces for the main army who dont have time to drag warmachines with them

PSS. I havent played this yet so there are probably some balancing issues, and turn length might need to be tweaked for larger games. And the most important thing is always that everybody has fun.

Border Brigands part 1

In another attempt to spice up my gaming, i created a new game type that is really just a variant on Watchtower. I came up with this game type so that you could play with a third, less experienced player, or two inexperienced and one experienced. While it is not particularly fun to be the third person in this particular game it does allow you to learn, or get in a little gaming if you dont have time for a full battle. It also doesnt require a full army to play as the third player.
So Basically this is Watchtower as I said before but this time there are more set pieces and buildings and they are occupied by some Brigands who have been raiding both sides forcing both nations to react thinking it is the other causing the problems.
Setup:
1. Roll to see who is attacker and defender between the two major armies. Winner decides. Defender deploys his entire army on one side of the battle field (normal 4'x6' table playing across the short length) Deployment zone is 12" deep along the full length of table. they may deploy scouts, but no ambushers or vanguard.
2. After Defender deploys the rest of the battlefield is set up. At the half way length (2 feet) there is the border,  Within the border put you watchtower and several other terrain features to represent a make shift camp the type you would expect raiders to build. Maybe a few small buildings, tents, some walls. be sure to leave enough room for units to maneuver. these need only be a few pieces, just enough to define a decently large camp, where you can fit several normal units. You may place the watchtower in or next to the camp.
3. After the border camp is established set up any more terrain you have, try to be fair.
4. Deploying the Brigands, this gets complicated maybe.
 The third player, if there is no third skip this section, If you have a GM you might use him as the third for a fairer game. The brigands are 400pts (in a 2000pt game, make brigands less than a fifth the size of the normal armies) You may spend 75pts on the camp leader, and 75pts on two Sublieutenants  these may be from any army book, just make these selections from the same book. No undead, daemons, monsters or flyers, doesnt make sense for them to be raiders. Then spend the rest of your points on models less than 15pts a model.  These models may be from any army book, but no undead, daemons, monster or flyers. They may take any normal upgrades(this may take them beyond 15pts) normal rules apply units have to equipped the same, you may take champions but no musicians or standard bearers. Units can be 10 models but no bigger. if this conflicts with rules in an army book ignore the army book for sake of the brigands and fun. Place the brigands inside the border, at least one model must be in the Watchtower and one in the camp.
5. Attacker deploys normally.

Watchtower

It is Monday time for another post

For the next bit of self built warhammer stuff, I made a watchtower. It has three levels, two interior one on top. Each one has space for 25 normal bases, and about 16 larger bases. Both the top level and the top interior level are removable. It is about 5"x5" on the base, and about 8" tall. Strictly speaking this is too big for a single unit, so to follow the rules for buildings you might want to make yours about 3-3.5" square at the base and about 7-8" tall. Also i tend to go overboard on buildings, again due to my architecture background, you do not have to put the interior levels in there, or cut the window and door holes. All you really need is a place to put a few models on top so it looks occupied.
To start as usual you need a base larger than the building you are going to build, another sheet of 1/16" is all you need. Then for the four walls 1/16" works just fine. If you arent cutting holes or making interior floors your job is pretty simple. Cut out four walls that are the same height, make two of the widths 1/8" shorter as the other two walls will go on the out side of these. Now when i made mine I imagined putting lots of detail and effort into it so I went beyond this simple level. I cut windows at about half an inch above the floor level, should be low enough for your models to 'see' out of. I made the top windows an inch tall and 3/4" wide, for the lower window they were only about 3/8" wide to make them more defensible. Of course the lowest level is raised more than an inch off the base so I guess the lower windows makes fighting monstrous infantry a level affair. 
For the top level I used another 1/16" for base then added several layers of wooden dowels. the lower two were big 3/8", on the bottom layer i made it several layers deep to make a firing platform, then on the outside i added another 3/8" two deep,  and then a 1/4" for the actual parapet wall. This should work to allow you to models on the firing step then deeper in .


Tuesday, October 30, 2012

TREES!!!! part 2


for further detail i put scrap pieces on the base, doesn't matter what i looks like, could be anything, fallen trees, stones, growth of chaotic moss, just paint accordingly. 
for further detail,if you score the dowels deeply you can add the smallest dowels you have to the trees to make branches, however these break and get in the way of models. the smallest i think you can get are 1/32. so if you add these be prepared to lose some. also if you are really brave use a torn up coffee filter to act as leaves you can either tear into small chunks to put on branches or you can use it like an umbrella cover and just drape it over the main body of your tree. these additions add a lot of time, and probably wont look great the first time you do it, but the more you do the better they get as you learn from mistakes
this process takes little time, if you want to paint go for it, but it eats up citadel paint, and the more detail you add the less you want to paint. i would say each base of trees took an hour to two to make and maybe another two to paint. these are just table top pieces, not supposed to be showcase elements, but they are better than paper forests.
 all this is really cheap, 5 dollars of materials if that, at start buying tools is expensive but once you have them no need to spend, i suggest an exacto knife, some wooden dowel cutters, a metal ruler and a cutting board and of course glue, elmers works just fine. 



TREES!!!!! part1






 Ok i love the game of warhammer and have been playing for more than ten years. i have a sizable collection of models, most of my experience in battles has come against Bob. while the battles are fun there have always been things lacking namely terrain. why? because i prefer spending money on models not stuff. so i make my own. i recently graduated architecture school, its a bitch don't do it, and had a ton of modeling supplies left over, all balsa wood.
so to start; forests. first of course you need a base, make it what ever size you want.for the trees i took square dowels and roughly cut the corners off them, this makes them roundish and gives them a more natural look that a plain circular dowel. then i cut the bases of several trees at angles to make them more natural looking. then a little sobo glue, or elmers, and wahlah! trees. the heights need to vary, but not much taller than 4 inches, they have a tendency to break or get debased if much taller. size of the dowels ranged from 1/2 to 1/8. a sheet of 1/8 serves as the base. glue trees at irregular intervals, leave enough space for skirmish units to squeeze through. leave bases small so you can mix and match to make forest as big or small as needed, makes transport easier too.











Hello internet

hello anybody.
my names John, i am the new guy, so give me some leniency on being a no0b on most things internet
I am a Warhammer fantasy buff, i have several armies (some are full ones), i also have a tendency to reread the rule book for fun, so expect posts on rules and armies, and maybe some pics of MY 'best' painted models
 i have been known to dabble in 40k but don't have an army. also i will probably be posting images and comments on making your own terrain and buildings

Some new(ish) models

Here is some of the stuff I have been working on lately




The Dreadknight has turned into a very interesting project. It is the first model I have used magnets on and I think it turned out fairly well. I will so an article in the near future talking about how the magnetizing conversion went and offer a few things I learned to maybe help others. I am currently working on a large pack of Space Wolf Terminators and a Grey Knights Librarian and a High Elf Dragon Prince and Sword Master so some pics will be incoming.

I'm back

Alright folks I am dusting off the old blog here and getting it back in gear. I will be posting hopefully at least twice a month with some of what I am working on and some of my random thoughts on wargamming in general including some opinions on different company's models. Also I will be adding a new coauthor and long time friend and fellow wargammer so stay tuned!

Thursday, March 22, 2012

PRAISE TO THE DICE GODS!



Oh mighty dice gods, look upon this offering kindly. Grant me high rolls when I need them and low ones when I don't. This offering shall be painted in the colors of my enemies!

Sunday, March 18, 2012

This just in

Hey folks sorry for the lack of new posts this week. I just got back from some Gaming over at Packard's in Morristown, TN and I will be writing up a quick and dirty battle report for it and a game I played Saturday against a Blood Angels army.

Happy Gaming!

Monday, March 12, 2012

my first post here


Hey guys. The names edwin. You can call me madival. I am a new contributer to this page. I will be bringing battle reports to this page. Video reports such as the below. Enjoy. Its the game Edwin Versus theBob. footcrons versus  Deathwing.
 
More reports to come.

Thursday, March 8, 2012

A Cautionary Tale

 


I post these pictures as a cautionary tale to those who may be considering getting in to miniatures gaming. The top picture is but a fraction of the massive pile of  yet to be built 1:72 scale miniatures. The grey sprues are a mixture of line, grenadiers, and skirmishers for the Peninsular War during the Napoleonic Wars. Underneath them are Spainish partisans from the same period (cream colored sprue). Finally we have British line infantry also from the same period. Mixed in is a box of Lord of the Rings Morhul Knights and an Eldar Guardian squad (amongst many other things). This is what happens when you get the hobby fever (there is no known cure). Though I will give credit to my old man who has been dilegently tackling the great yet to be built piles of 1:72 Vikings and Saxons and has made good progress. My old man has been war gaming longer than I have been alive and he has the collection to show it. Many hours have been enjoyed playing with his old Airfix 72s.

The bottom picture is the current pile of uncleaned sprues. This is a hodgepodge of Guard, Wolves, Marines, Tau, and god only knows what else. Typically all bits are stored in sandwich bags according to army. These are just waiting to be cut and stored. The bits box itself is getting rather full these days so it may be time for another wild converting spree (human Chaos infantry for 40k most likely).



Monday, March 5, 2012

Deathwing



In keeping with the previous post's theme of Dark Angels here are some work in progress Deathwing. I haven't worked on them in a week or two as painting all that Bleached Bone makes drives me crazy(er) after awhile

Tuesday, February 28, 2012

First of Many

Well I am finally going to get my lazy butt into gear and post a few army lists that I have come up with. I will start with my 40K armies and go into Fantasy as well. Also next week expect a lot of new pictures and discussion on historical figures in 28mm and 1:72 plus lots of pictures! So without further adieu I present my attempt at a more competitive style of list for my favorite (and very first) army, the Dark Angels


 Belial, Master of the Deathwing: Thunder Hammer and Storm Shield     130pts

Deathwing Squad 1: cyclone missile launcher and 2 chain fists                  250pts

Deathwing Squad 2: assault cannon and 2 chain fists                                   265pts

Deathwing Squad 3: All with Thunder Hammers and Storm Shields           215pts

Deathwing Squad 4: 3 Thunder Hammers and 2 Lightning Claws                215pts

Tactical Squad 1: 10 marines with a Veteran Sargent with melta bombs,
plasma gun, and plasma cannon                                                                      200pts

Tactical Squad 2: 10 marines with a Veteran Sargent with melta bombs,
plasma cannon, and a flamer                                                                            195

Devastator Squad 1: 2 Heavy Bolters, 2 Lascannons and Rhino transport       190/90


Total pts 1750

Feel free to comment and offer constructive advice!


Monday, February 27, 2012

Warhammer 40,000 25th Anniversary Model (minus head)




In all the headless glory

Sad Day



So I recently purchased the Warhammer 40,000 25th anniversary model. I beautiful model sculpted in the new Fine Cast range. I was really looking forward to painting this thing when low and behold, a defect!The head as you can see is off center! After recovering from my disappointment and sorrow I took these pictures and sent an email to Games Workshop customer service and I hope to hear back from them soon. I will upload pictures of the model unpainted and minus the head to show off just how awesome it is

Adding to Technorati

Hi folks just a quick update. I am attempting to get listing on the site Technorati so here is my claim token number for them to check. RDMMR8E9V9YP

New Additions to the Site

Ok so I just added a links section to the site. I included the gaming sites I tend to frequent as well as my friend Madival's blog that I am now a contributor to (and he will be on here soon as well). To give you a break down I have included the main Games Workshop pages including Forge World and The Black Library (for those interested in the fiction of Games Workshop universes) as well as the Warhammer Historical page. The Warhammer Historical systems are an excellent rules set for 28mm war gaming in a variety of time periods (more on this in the near future). I also included an excellent site called Plastic Toy Soldier Review. They have excellent reviews of many products in the 1:72  scale from many different manufacturers. Finally I included a link to the excellent company Warlord Games. They offer a range of 28mm historical models and accessories of their own manufacture as well as products from a host of other companies. I encourage everyone to give these sites a visit and feel free to comment on what you discover! 
Ok so I have to apologize for not getting a video up from my game Friday. My friend forgot to bring the camera (d'oh!). I will get my list up and my friend's list up and provide some info on how the game went and some of my thoughts. Also for any complaints about the lack of video please rage post over at my friend Madival's blog (see link) as he was my opponent and the dude who owns the camera http://lesserofallevils.blogspot.com/

Friday, February 24, 2012

Hey folks just a brief post for the moment. I will be playing a game of 40k with a friend today over at our local Hobby Town and I will likely be posting a video battle report of it in the near future. It is going to be chaos space marines (me) vs necrons so I don't anticipate good things to happen for me.

Monday, February 20, 2012


Here is a front and back shot of the Black Templar's character High Marshal Helbrecht. I really like this model not only for the detail but the resolute forward stride the pose conveys. I am not as finished with him as I am with the other models I have posted (I get distracted and/or frustrated and move to something else).

In other news I will probably be posting a brief discussion of my favorite 40k army, the Dark Angels, later in the week as well as adding some links to other blogs and some manufacturers web sites and maybe a video battle report or two. 

Sunday, February 19, 2012

Space Puppies



A selection of some Space Wolves that are almost complete. I bought a box of these on a whim at my local Hobby Town USA during a sale. I really enjoyed building the models and painting them. I used a really simple paint scheme (which I usually do). Over a Chaos Black undercoat I put a layer of Fenris Grey then dry brushed this with Codex Grey. I liked this style of blue-grey for the wolves so I didn't do anything else to armor. The red on the shoulders is Mechrite Red and the yellow is Iyanden Darksun. The orange hair is a base of Mechrite Red with Blazing Orange dry brushed over it. 

Grey Knights




A selection of some of the Grey Knights I am in the process of finishing up. The two terminators are mostly done except for basing and the power armored Justicar is almost done except for some detailing and basing. All of the photos I will be uploading for the near future will come from my phone so I apologize for the sketchy quality.

Getting Started

Hello Internet!

I am a long time war gamer and all around nerd and after many years I have decided to create a blog and share some of my thoughts and views on the hobby or table top war gaming in the many forms it takes. I am doing this for fun more than anything and I will claim no expertise or grand authority on the subject. For the first posts I intend to show off some of my humble efforts at painting Games Workshop miniatures from both the Fantasy and 40,000 lines from armies I am currently working on as well as posting some general thoughts on the state of both systems. This is my first time doing a blog so be patient as I get used to doing this. Hopefully I will be posting at least one time a week time permitting.

Anywhoo feel free to swing by and check out my ramblings!