Run'al

Amera Terrain Unboxing

2011-04-18T21:13:00.000-04:00

See that little circle on the bottom right of the top? That's a quarter...

Hoolllly crap! This is an unbelievable amount of terrain. I am so incredibly pleased with these pieces. The quality is really there. I even like the excess around all the edges. I don't know if it's plasticard, but it cuts like plasticard. It's just enough to be a good boundary, so none of that "Where is the boundary of the ruin?"


I almost couldn't get this all in the frame...


This is a fallen helicopter ship sort of thing	.

This needs to be separated into three pieces.

This needs to be separated into four pieces.

Dreadnought cover save? Ooooh yeah.

Everything in a bag needs to be assembled. They're all medium/large buildings.

I'm soooo excited about all this. More to come after I separate the joined pieces and assemble the buildings. Then...PAINT! Just as a reminder, NOTHING here cost more than about $16. And it all came from this wonderful establishment.

So I bought some terrain...

2011-04-11T21:09:00.001-04:00

...this much terrain.

It's all from Amera Plastic Mouldings. I've been eyeing there stuff for quite some time now. Just the sheer size of it all for the price...Nothing pictured below costs more than 9.95 GBP ($16.23). All those models? They're Space Marine size.

More to come when it arrives sometime towards the end of next week...

Metal Terminators into....Obliterators!!! (Part 1)

2011-04-03T02:14:00.000-04:00

Hello all. A little while ago I got a box of really cheap metal Chaos Terminators on ebay. I was a little disappointed, because I hadn't realized they were metal at the time I bid. I really like metal models, but they're kind of a pain to convert relative to plastic ones.

Now that I've actually gone about it though, I'm kind of happy with the way they're working out. The only exception is the one that looks like a techmarine. It's going to take some clever greenstuffing to fix that...

All that said, this is phase 1. Phase 2 will be green stuff.

Group Shot

How do I make him not a tech marine?

My roommate thinks he looks like a Genestealer.

Bolter rack! 7 for Nurgle! (I actually just happened to have 7 loose bolters)

I'm going to try to model these to be more Plasma Cannon like and less bolter like.The back is going to have to connect to...something.

Some random desktop shots and the Dreadnoughts I'm working on.

I really need to suck it up and do the trim on these guys. It's the only part I hate and the thing holding them back from being finished.

I don't know what to do with the guy on the left :(

I know I promised better pictures of the marines I posted last time, but I primed them and...I can just never get my camera to focus on primed models. Those will come sometime after I finish the second base coat and first wash. I love the guy covered in cables...he's my new favorite model :)

Some TERRIBLE pictures, but a preview of BETTER pictures to come :)

2011-02-21T05:56:00.000-05:00

These pictures are actually a bit of god awful. They were my first round of test pictures with my new camera. Some of these models (especially the one with the cables everywhere) have actually come a long way. I'll get new pictures of those up soon.

Random base for no reason.

Daemon Prince

2011-02-21T05:46:00.000-05:00

Behold! My Daemon Prince is complete!..sort of. I can't figure out how to paint the sword! There was a bit of a "learn the new camera" curve to these pictures, and there was a smudge on the lens for like 70% of these. Can you tell? As usual, click the images for high-res.

Some wing span shots

The Base!!!

Random

These two are by far the clearest.

The sword! (That I have no idea how to paint...)

Work work

2011-01-09T23:55:00.000-05:00

I took over a hundred pictures the other day, and had all kinds of updates lined up. I had three dreadnoughts and a box of metal chaos terminators show up in the mail. I converted some TL-Autocannons (for the dreads).

And I've been unable to share any of this with you guys because I had a deadline that passed about an hour ago and we're still not done. There are a lot of reasons for this, but I'm literally, right now at 11:53pm on a Sunday, after working all weekend (including earlier today), at work right now.

Hopefully I'll get the week off I so strongly long for shortly, and all kinds of happy internet bloggy goodness will follow. In the mean time, did you know they don't turn on the heat on weekends in this building? >.<

The Warhammer Room

2011-01-02T20:21:00.001-05:00

Since me roommate moved out a few months ago, I have lived a dream. A dream of having an entire room, with a door!, dedicated to my plethora of plastic and metal soldiers. I give you...the Warhammer room:

The room


Most of the painting/modeling supplies (that aren't on the table)


This table is periodically very neat and tidy...You can see a lot of things if you click for the high res image.


I got Space Hulk for Christmas!!! Also, I made a light "box".


More storage!

I don't know how possible it is for most of you, but my lovely wife was eager for me to take over this room (to get it out of the rest of her apartment). It really is a magical thing to be able to walk in, shut the door, and enjoy. It's also protection from certain furry things that like to knock things on the floor for certain other furry things to chew on...

I just need to add some shelves so it can be a kept a bit neater. That's an 8'x4' table btw, to give you an idea of the scale.

Because I like to include questions: Does anyone know of a ceiling light, preferably with a fan, fixture that doesn't require cutting into the ceiling for power?

Look! It's a Dreadnought!

2011-01-01T21:06:00.001-05:00

Last night I took around 100 pictures of everything I'm working on. Expect them to appear in the near future. I also have three dreadnoughts and a box of Chaos Terminators in the mail. Christmas is awesome!

This is my roommates dreadnought. He plays Raven Guard, but he isn't much for painting. His poor little dreadnought was...imagine assembling an old Metal dreadnought with hot glue, and then priming it black from exactly one direction (from the top, very slightly to the front). That's what he did to it when he was ~12yrs old. He's 24 now.

I took it upon myself (with his permission) to try to save it. I love dreadnoughts, for many of the same reasons I love Tau battlesuits. They're just awesome. This is where he stands right now:

I obviously still have work to do. He needs iconography, some scribbling on the parchment bits, high lighting all over the place, some washing on the metal bits/cabling, and the base needs some touching up (at least painting the rim).

That said, he's been in pieces for a while now. It's kind of a solid checkpoint that he's on a base and usable again.

Because I love input: I was thinking he needs symbols on the front right torso plate, each weapon arm, and maybe one of the leg armors. Thoughts about what where? That seems like too many to simply free hand the chapter symbol.

So about last night...

2010-12-30T08:50:00.000-05:00

Yesterday I said I was going to post new stuff last night, but I had forgotten I have no internet at home until [hopefully] tonight. It's been out since Tuesday. They're coming to fix it between 2pm-5pm EST today. Here's hoping!

Not happy with this new look...

2010-12-29T14:22:00.002-05:00

I re-did the template layout. I'm not quite happy with it. I'll muck with it some more when I get home from work...after I post some new stuff :)

Real Quick Vote

2010-12-23T13:56:00.001-05:00

The semester is over and I got a new camera. I have actually done a ton of modeling and a bit o' painting in the past few months, but it's all been Nurgley. On a related note: Having actual tools, as opposed to using toothpicks, for Greenstuffing is SO MUCH BETTER! It was actually weird to have so much control...

So the question: Should I make a new blog for my Nurgle adventures, or just post it here? The only bit that really makes me >.> about it is that I stole the name Run'al from the Tau codex. It means hidden bunker. See the url? (Runal is the name of a GURPS derivative and I couldn't have the apostrophe in the url.)

Opinions in the comments....GO!

Also, I apologize in advance for taking exactly zero pictures of my Daemon Prince before I primed him...I got too excited and forgot...

Edit: <3 to 3++ is the new black for linking to my blog that has been dead for over 3 months. Seriously, that blog makes my work days so much better. Good reading.

So...Which weapon? (Modeling Question)

2010-09-13T01:02:00.000-04:00

I had some leftovers from a Chaos Knight sprue. I really kind of wanted all of my Raptors to have scythes, and these are pretty close to that.

So what do you guys think? Small weapon or long weapon?

New Tau next August?

2010-09-09T17:11:00.001-04:00

So this is exciting:
http://www.belloflostsouls.net/2010/09/40k-rumors-tau.html

Terrain Contest

2010-08-23T19:37:00.002-04:00

Games Workshop is having a terrain contest. You have until next Friday, September 3rd, to send in your pictures. It can be something you've already completed. The prize is a finished Citadel Realm of Battle Gameboard.

I don't have anything particularly impressive at the moment, and I would really love that gameboard. I also really enjoy making terrain. To cap it all off, my friend's internship just ended and he moved back to his college apartment. This means I finally have my Warhammer room! There will be more on that later and much more posting to come as I have a place free from my feline nemesis to work in peace.

Now the real point of this post: What do I make?

(As a point of simplification and personal choice, I'm leaving out everything Games Workshop reasonably supplies, like the Temple of Skulls, and anything I just don't have much interest in, like the Altar of Khaine. Good ideas have every chance of swaying me.)

The forests, rivers, marshland, and obstacles are all okay, but very meh to me. I'd be open to it if anyone had any particularly good ideas though.

Anvil of Vaul - This one isn't as simple as it seems if you look into the lore. It would also be a smaller piece, more designed to go on top of a hill. It would essentially end up as a standard hill with a very detailed anvil rising out of the ground. Preferably with ornament showing it's recent use.

Most of the Arcane Architecture stuff seems like it would be very good, but difficult to accomplish in such a limited time frame. There is one exception I'm willing to make atm though...

Charnel Pit - This one is my front runner. I have lots of spare Vampire Counts bits (namely Skeletons and Vampires, and Ghouls) to dress this on up nicely.The idea would be to try to create a scene of a freshly excavated Charnel Pit that some necromancer has dug up in preparation of some rite or maybe even in preparation for an upcoming battle.

Dwarf Brewhouse - I love this one....so much. It's just awesome. I'm not a fan of dwarfs and it's just hilarious and awesome.

Bane Stone - I don't have ideas from this, but it seems cool.

Elven Waystone - This is available from Forgeworld and doesn't leave much room for imagination.

Idol of Gork (or possibly Mork) - I would carve this one out of wood and put it on some kind of totem. It would be fun, but I don't' know about winning with it.

Magic Circle - I have one of these I'm almost done with, but it isn't going to win a competition.

Sinister Statue - This also pretty cool. I don't know what I'd do with it, but I don't think it would be terribly difficult to come up with something.

Sorcerous Portal - This is another one I'm almost done with, but isn't going to win any competitions. I really like this one though.

Wyrding Well - I like this one a lot. I'm not sure if I should go with the constructed well, the natural spring, or some sort of hybrid.

So that's sort of where I stand with all of this. Any feedback, input, or ideas are greatly appreciated.

Ultramarines trailer (The 40k movie, for those who don't know)

2010-08-23T13:50:00.001-04:00

It’s not a great trailer, but it does mean that they’re far enough along to have final takes of some things to put in a trailer.

http://ultramarinesthemovie.com/trailer

Island of Blood: Specific contents revealed!

2010-07-26T12:26:00.001-04:00

From What's New Today on the GW site.

The set contains 74 models:
(As a side-note: ALL of these models snap together without needing glue, though I would use glue anyway. This usually leads to the same flexibility in posing that pining does in terms of trying to get it just right.)

High Elves

1 Prince on Giffon
1 Mage
10 Sea Guard
10 Sword Masters
5 Ellyrian Reavers

Skaven

1 Warlord
1 Warlock Engineer
40 Clanrats
1 Master Moulder
2 Rat Ogres
1 Warpfire Thrower
1 Poisoned Wind Mortar

There is going to be a new post on the GW site, parallel to What's New Today, that is going to catalog two guys combining two Island of Blood sets (one taking all of the Skaven, the other taking all of the High Elves), then upping the armies to 2000, then 3000 points. It should be pretty cool to follow along.

Island of Blood and an 8th Edition Rulebook FAQ

2010-07-23T11:42:00.000-04:00

Today's daily Warhammer post is about the Island of Blood. Unfortunately there is no list of all the models, but the advance order date is apparently August 10th. I e-mailed Andy to see if he'll disclose the models included, but I imagine that, even if he doesn't, we'll find out early next week.

The other gem of the day is an 8th Edition Rulebook FAQ.
There are a few little gems in there, like clarification on "Extra Attack" stacking and how the Purple Sun works. Really I think they were pretty obvious, but they weren't RAW, so it's nice to have it spelled out.

For those who don't know, because it frustrated me for a bit: RAW is "Rules as written" and RAI is "Rules as intended".

I sort of feel better now...sort of: More Daemons!

2010-07-21T11:07:00.000-04:00

The Bloodcrusher and Karios Fateweaver kits have reared their heads finally: More Daemons

I'm still incredibly disappointed at the sheer lack of Nurgley goodness in these new daemons. Ah well...*stares listlessly into a small cauldron of stewing filth, idly swirling the contents with a slowly withering ceramite rod*

NEW VERSION - WFB 8th Edition FAQS v1.1

2010-07-15T14:39:00.002-04:00

Version 1.1 FAQs

New Daemon Kits Up for Pre-order!!!

2010-07-13T15:45:00.000-04:00

http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/content/blogPost.jsp?aId=11500020a

The Daemon Prince, Pink Horrors, Seekers, and Changeling are there. No mention of the Bloodcrushers or Karios though...or a date.

My real excitement here is the Daemon Prince kit...Just look at these wonderful, plastic sprues!

The price is only listed for the Changeling, $16.50USD. I'm already working on ideas on how to extend this kit into two princes. It doesn't look hard...

ALL of the 8th Edition Army FAQs were released this morning!!!

2010-07-09T09:35:00.000-04:00

http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/content/article.jsp?pIndex=1&aId=3000006&start=2

Behold....FAQS!!! (Tyranids and Blood Angels)

2010-06-30T10:11:00.000-04:00

FAQ 2010: Tyranids

FAQ 2010: Blood Angels

Talk about making you re-think your bases...

2010-06-24T13:39:00.000-04:00

I've looked through a number of base sites before, but never seen anything that really struck me. It's normally a bit of rock, lave, snow, crystal, or cityscape.

But look at these!

http://www.darkartstore.darkartminiatures.com/products/Infested-Core-Base-Pack.html

(Image used without permission from the above link)

$15 for the above set! 1x 60mm, 4x40mm, 20x10mm bases. I'm thinking it's well beyond worth the $15 and little bit of effort...

Slime base

2010-06-23T19:37:00.000-04:00

This is the best picture I could get of my Nurgle bases. They were actually pretty awesome until I went that one step too far and did a too heavy brown wash on top, which muted the crap out of the color and made it SO dark. On the Plague Marine, I'm going to try to keep it lighter.

Witch Hunter and Daemonhunters codicies now online!

2010-06-23T13:47:00.000-04:00

Buried at the bottom of today's daily web post on the GW website were two links:
Codex: Witch Hunters
Codex: Daemonhunters

I'm pretty sure there are no new rules in there, they've only taken things out. What this does mean, is that Space Marines and Imperial Guard can't take them as allies anymore! Huzzah? >.>

A bunch of WIP stuff

2010-06-22T15:44:00.000-04:00

It's been a while. I've had some interesting legal troubles with my now ex-friend and ex-roommate. I still have no idea what happened...but anyway, fun stuff!

WFB 8th Edition is on the horizon, and I've been in a fervor to finish as much of my Flesh Reapers as I can so that I can then completely ignore them in favor of my beloved fantasy. Don't get me wrong, 40k rocks, but I'll probably never escape my love of swords and magic.

I have also done a lot of re-thinking of the army structure. I still love raptors and bikes, but they're just...not good enough. The both do the same thing and it's almost all supporting. I'm digressing, PICTURES!!!!

I obviously missed a bit of the track on the back there...OTHER than that, I'm very pleased with how this is going. I haven't decided on how to paint the symbols or "tubes" yet. I really like the exhaust feeding into the smoke launchers. It worked out nicely.

I'm also thinking about spreading the red bloody areas around a bit. Which would be Ogryn Flesh, possibly with some veins of Baal Red.

Here's the process (I don't use a lot of GW paints, so I apologize if the colors are a bit off):

Primed White

Hull:

Base the entire thing in Elf Flesh.
2 Washes of Gryphonne Sepia on the WHOLE thing
Bloody Areas

A heavy wash of Ogryn Flesh
An even coat of Baal Red, staying away from the edges
A light wash of Leviathan Purple, only in the recesses.

I think I'm going to finish it off with a complete wash of Devlan Mud followed by another Sepia Wash, though I might restrict the Delvan Mud to just recessed areas. (This should get it to be the same as the armour on my Plague Marines).

Metal

Based Boltgun
Heavy dry brush of Tin Bitzy
I think I'm going to stipple some orange on there lightly and then dry brush Boltgun over it again.

Details

I obviously need to do all of the details.

The Space Marine helmet is going to be painted like Raven Guard (my roommates Space Marine army).
The Termagaunt head on the other Rhino (pictured below) is going to be painted like my roommates Tyranid army.

This one I haven't started painting yet. I need to get another tube in there for the bolter. Note the Termagaunt head on the back spikes.

Now to change gears to my (still) second WIP Raptor. He's come a long way.

I tried to do a miniature version of the Warband Icon on the Rhinos on his shoulder, but I failed miserably. It's just too tiny! So now his shoulder is rotten in much the same fashion as the Daemon Prince.

The axe needs to be made into a scythe (like a Kama).
I'm going to fill in the lines made by the muscles, possibly also hollowing out the muscles for more rotting, bloody goodness. (It's a Chaos Warrior Marauder arm, btw)
The wings are magnetized.

I decided against trying to make custom bases that tied into each and every Raptor and am going with the flying bases I got when I bought the Gargoyles (for their wings).

Side-note: It is deliciously evil to buy a box of Gargoyles and just use the wings when you live with a Tyranid player!

So that's where I'm at. Happy gaming!

More 40k MMO information...

2010-06-15T16:15:00.000-04:00

...will be coming in August. I'm sad too.

"More details on the game - now known as Warhammer 40K: Dark Millennium Online - will be released at GamesCom later in the year"

GamesCom is August 18th-22nd this year. Need more information!

Warhammer 40k Video Games (MMO Trailer)

2010-06-15T14:25:00.000-04:00

Gametrailers is kind of getting hit hard for bandwidth right now, so be patient. These links are to the HD videos. If you want the SD, there is a button on the bottom left of the video player that says "SD".

Warhammer 40k: Space Marine - PS3 and XBox360. You take control of a 4 man squad (one at a time, when you switch is unclear) consisting of a Tactical Marine, Assault Marine, Devastator Marine, and a Sergeant. (Wikipedia)

Warhammer 40k: Dark Millenium Online - PC. In the video we see players in control of Orks, Chaos Marines, Guardsmen, and Space Marines. Possibly heretics (traitor guard). Multiple different chapters. Players are also shown in control of Deff Coptas and Bikes.

This first taste of the 40k MMO is killing me...it's supposed to be out in 2012. Hopefully we'll more information over the next 2 days on both games. (E3 2010 started today and goes until Thursday)

A ton of basing examples

2010-06-03T09:35:00.000-04:00

I don't know about you guys, but I've been doing a LOT of modeling lately. I haven't been gaming much...mostly because my modeling has completely overthrown the area we would normally setup our table. Anyway, Games Workshop has another really handy daily article today (they're doing 2 a day all week because Tuesday was the 1yr anniversary of their website).

It's all about basing. There are a ton of basing articles out there, but this one is basically a single in depth example, followed by *counts* EIGHTY-TWO (82!) different example bases, with steps to reproduce them!

I don't know about you, but I think that's a pretty awesome reference for inspiration!

SPEARHEAD!!!

2010-05-28T11:52:00.000-04:00

The spearhead formations are out! Though the rules aren't yet...These things are very interesting. They're like cheap apocalypse formations and they make things like your transports (assuming they have the tank rule) a lot more interesting.

The Monstrous Spearhead is a little scary though...You need to login to the Games Workshop site to download it.

Wow...Daemon-gasm!

2010-05-23T12:31:00.000-04:00

This guy is supposed to be plastic!

I feel like I need to just re-do my daemon prince now...

The Karios and Changeling model make me waaaay happy, so does the Daemon Prince. Where's the Nurgle love?

The second wave of daemons is finally coming!!!

2010-05-16T12:44:00.000-04:00

For those of you who don't get the GW newletter:

"A host of incredible new Citadel miniatures for both Warhammer 40,000 Chaos Daemons armies and Warhammer Daemons of Chaos armies will soon be released upon mortal battlefields. All will be revealed in July here on the Games Workshop website and in August's issue of White Dwarf magazine, so keep an eye out for more information."

This is terribly exciting news. A year ago (and more) the second wave was supposed to include the plastic daemon prince, plastic Seekers (mounted daemonettes), and more of the special characters. The real debate was always plastic plaguebearers, horrors, and a generic herald set. /excited!

Chaos vs Loyalists (specifically Blood Angels)

2010-05-14T17:18:00.000-04:00

This is a HUGE wall of text. I apologize, but try to bear with me. It might be one to save for when you've got a minute...

I might edit this later with links and better headings and maybe even break it up...It just sort of happened.

I was bored at work today, and I started debating a loyalist Flesh Reaper chapter. I tooled around with a bunch of different ideas, ultimately deciding I wanted lots and lots of Lightning Claws, because, hey, they're awesome. I would have tried a Raven Guard derivative, but my roommate already has his own Raven Guard force so...it'd be a bit boring :(

Anyway...After a while of indecisiveness, I thought I'd try to simply recreate the same units I had in the Flesh Reaper warband. It was surprisingly easy (Death Company are very similar to Plague Marines), and a little frustrating. I'm a little bit touchy about the raptors and bikes being over priced in CSM, among other things. Mostly because of some pretty epic arguments with my roommate about it. He claims that the increase is fair due to the access to marks. I hold the cost of the marks is in...well in buying the mark! I can understand the "You have to take the whole army into context." idea, but with loyalist vs traitor marines....well it sort of a special case I think.

I'm going to do this specifically from the Blood Angels' codex, because that's the list I have in front of me.

Raptors vs Assault Squad:
(Unit of 7 with a Champion, Power Weapon, and 2 Meltaguns)
CSM: 190
BA: 171
Difference: 19

Differences:
CSM: +1LD
BA: Scoring, Rolls 1D6 scatter (instead of 2D6), re-rolls failed reserve rolls if entering via deep strike, ATSKNF, Combat Squads (kind of irrelevant for this unit of 7), and The Red Thirst
Conclusion: I really think this one is just unfair...Not in the the BAs are OP sense, so much as I think Raptors just got hosed.

Bikes
(Unit of 7 with a Champion, Power Fist, and 2 Flamers)
CSM: 281
BA: 225
Difference: 56

Differences:
CSM: +1LD, Close Combat Weapon (which two are trading in for the flamer)
BA: ATSKNF, Combat Squads, The Red Thirst
Conclusion: This one is a little close to fair, just for the extra attacks, but 56 points is a LOT for 5 extra attacks...especially taking the potential Red Thirst giving Furious Charge and the high likely hood of Sanguinary Priests bestowing Furious Charge on....everyone. (Intentionally ignoring Feel No Pain)

Plague Marines vs Death Company
(This one is not nearly as cut and dry, but still close)
(Unit of 7, Plague Marines have 2x Plasma Gun, Death Company have 2x Power Weapon. Same upgrade Cost)
CSM:191
BA: 155
Difference: 36

Differences:
CSM: Scoring, +1LD, Defensive Grenades, Bolter, access to better ranged weaponry (Meltaguns and Plasma Guns)
BA: Rage, Furious Charge, Relentless, access to better close combat weaponry and jump packs (Intentionally ignoring Lemartes)
Conclusion: Like I said, this one is less cut and dry. The Rage issue is pretty easily solved by a Rhino (which I took in both of my lists), but it's still a disadvantage. Really I think these two fill different roles. The Plague Marine is more of a ranged fighter that can handle close combat. The Death Company is a pretty hardcore assault unit. I do feel like their offensive capability increase is much greater than the Plague Marine defensive increase. They both have a 3+ FNP save, grenades and 2 better guns don't beat Furious Charge. Access to Jump Packs....well how do you feel about a Jump Infantry, Power Weapon squad Furious Charging down your throat with FNP?

Reiteration: They're harder to compare, and their is more opinion involved.

Rhinos
(Just a single Rhino for Plague Marines or Death Company, no jump packs)
(CSM w/Extra Armour, BA w/nothing)
CSM: 50
BA: 50
Difference: 0

Differences:
CSM: Extra Armour, TL-Bolter
BA: Fast, Storm Bolter
Conclusion: I'm going to ignore the bolter difference, because you don't buy a Rhino to shoot with anyway and they're each superior in different circumstances. I bought extra armour on my Rhinos to ensure they can always move towards their destination. Fast does that so much better...Really, I can see the argument for each, because if your Rhino gets hit and can't move, it doesn't matter how fast it is. Fast with extra armour...talk about reliability.

I can see the argument for similarity, but I feel like fast is superior in this instance.

The rest of the army is HQ choices and those are terribly difficult to compare. The short version is Daemon Prince + Sorcerer = 305 (remember, these are all without Mark of Nurgle) vs Captain Tycho + Librarian with a jump pack = 300. I really feel like these are pretty even, in cost and gaming terms, with a slight advantage to Captain Tycho over the Daemon Prince. Tycho can be insta-deathed, but he has a better war save, can join units, and...more. I attribute this to his being a special character. He simply has unique rules, and they're good ones.

So my question: Counts as Blood Angels, or Chaos Space Marines? I would use the same models for both, 1850 points.

CSM vs BA
(This is already a book, so the Lists are at the bottom of the post.)
CSM: 1849(-1)
BA: 1482(-386*)
(*Note: If I allow for the cost of all of the Marks of Nurgle in the BA army, it is still at -196, 195 points cheaper than the CSM army)

So that format is a little weird...but I kind of like it. I think it will work better for the BA list, because it's complicated in terms of which unit is made up of what...

I know the Blood Angels lists kind of lack scoring units, and that might be something I need to fix.

Appendix A: CSM Flesh Reapers

Chaos Space Marine (1849pts)

HQ (175pts)

Daemon Prince

Mark of Nurgle
Wings
Warptime

HQ + Fast Attack (380pts)

Chaos Sorcerer

Mark of Nurgle
Jump Pack
Wind of Chaos
Melta Bombs

6 Raptors

Mark of Nurgle
Champion w/Power Weapon
2x Meltaguns

Fast Attack (240pts)

7 Raptors

Mark of Nurgle
Champion w/Power Weapon
2x Meltaguns

Fast Attack (331)

7 Bikers

Mark of Nurgle
Champion w/Powerfist
2x Flamers

Troops x2 (482)

7 Plague Marines

2x Plasma Guns

Rhino

Extra Armour

Troops (226)

7 Plague Marines

2x Plasma Guns

Rhino

Total: 1849 points

Appendix B:The Blood Angels Comparison List

Blood Angels (1464*) - The Comparison List
(Note* - 1654 if you're allowing for Mark of Nurgle)

HQ (175pts)

Captain Tycho

HQ + Troops (278pts)

Librarian

Unleash Rage
Smite
Jump Pack

6 Assault Marines

Sergeant w/Power Weapon
2x Meltaguns

Fast Attack (225pts)

7 Bikes

Sergeant w/Power Fist
2x Flamers

Troops x3 (615pts)

7 Death Company

2x Power Weapons

Rhino

Total: 1464 points

Appendix C: Blood Angels Flesh Reapers I would play

Blood Angels (1850)

HQ (290pts)

Captain Tycho
Honour Guard

HQ + Troops + Elite/3** (350pts)

Librarian

Unleash Rage
Smite
Jump Pack

Sanguinary Priest

Power Sword
Jump Pack

5 Assault Marines

Sergeant w/Power Weapon
2x Meltaguns

Fast Attack + Elite/3**(305)

Sanguinary Priest

Power Sword
Jump Pack
Melta Bombs

6 Bikes

Sergeant
Powerfist
2x Flamers

Troops + Elite/3**(243)

Sanguinary Priest

Power Sword
Jump Pack

6 Assault Marines

Sergeant w/Power Weapon
2x Meltaguns

Troops x2 (442)

7 Death Company

2x Power Weapons

Rhino

Extra Armour
Searchlight

Troops (220)

7 Death Company

2x Power Weapon

Rhino

Extra Armour

Total: 1850
(*Note: This unit is entirely for to give Tycho some meat. Instant death is bad.)
(**Note: Sanguinary Priests can be taken 1-3 per Elite slot)

Forgeworld Preview: Raven Guard

2010-04-30T16:20:00.000-04:00

I don't know about you guys, but the Games Workshop daily articles are something I look forward to everyday (along with my web comics, blogs, and other internet funnies). These were stolen from today's: http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/content/blogPost.jsp?aId=10500060a

Image used without permission from Games Workshop.

Awesome mini-tank is awesome! Or is it a mini-mini-tank?

I don't think my roommate reads this blog, mostly because he can see and hear it all first hand...everyday :) I'm thinking about grabbing some of these for him for his birthday. Maybe putting them on an assault squad? I'll have to be sneaky and figure out what he still needs. Oh, I'm also going to paint them. Kind of went from maybe to definitely quick huh....I have compulsion issues. I WANT A MINI-MINI-TANK!

Old Shatter Hands: Use this for a Johnny-5 Dreadnought?!?!?! You know it would be epic...

Plague Marine!!!

2010-04-29T23:09:00.000-04:00

I finally got my color scheme down! It didn't take too long once I took a day off from Starcraft 2...well, a couple hours...three total.

I'm still not sure what I'm doing with the sorcerer, the one with the wings from my older posts. He's looking a little undead pale, and more bruised flesh than angry wounds, but I'm okay with that. He looks...squishy. Like if you poked him where it's purple it would go right through...like a big rotten grape. And his flesh looks like it hasn't had any blood in it for years. I'm kind of okay with it, but it's still missing something.

Also, I got some gray stuff and worked out their pose for my Daemon Prince. I'm not sure how I'm going to make them so big, but I'm working it out.

I am no resolved my very next purchase, other than necessities like food, is going to be a decent digital camera. I'm tired of taking pictures of models I'm actually proud of and them looking terri-bad...at least compared to what they look like in real life.

BACK TO THE PAINTING TABLE!!!

Starcraft 2 Beta Keys

2010-04-21T14:41:00.000-04:00

I've had a beta key for a solid 2 months now. It's been fantastic. GameStop is running a deal where pre-ordering gets you a beta key. I feel obligated to pass this information along wherever I can.

Standard Edition
Collector's Edition

Also, my battle.net name is now, and will be (when the game goes live), Dhinanta.dhinanta.

A side note: Blizzard has ripped off Warhammer Fantasy and 40k in every way possible really (Terran = Space Marines, Zerg = Tyranids, Protoss = Eldar). It's fun to think of their games in Warhammer terms sometimes :)

I actually feel compelled to do a full on unit comparison...expect that tonight/tomorrow.

WFB 8th Edition is coming...this July!

2010-04-19T11:04:00.000-04:00

Rumors have been flying wildly for over a month now. It seems it is confirmed. I can't wait! I love fantasy. I enjoy the more simplistic rules and the change up that is 40k, but I just love building Fantasy armies! The variety is just so refreshing. Given some of the more prevalent rumors, hopefully I'll enjoy playing it this time around too :)

For those of you who don't get the GW newsletter:

The Warhammer world is a place riven by relentless warfare and the corrupting power of dark magic. It’s a place where vile creatures and titanic monsters roam the lands, where vast armies of evil warriors unleash slaughter upon their victims and only the unceasing valour of the forces of Order prevent the whole world slipping away into chaos and death.
Amidst this tapestry of conflict and carnage are races fair and foul, warriors chivalrous and brutal. These are the combatants who fight for dominance of the world. From the blasted north come warmongering tribes of Chaos Warriors, armour-clad barbarians who have thrown their lot in with the Dark Gods of Chaos. In the Badlands gather the greenskinned marauders known as the Orcs and Goblins, vicious, brutal creatures whose insatiable lust for war grows almost as quickly as their vast numbers. Beneath the cities of the civilised realms nestle the repulsive ratmen, subhuman creatures whose machinations spread disease and distrust – these are the Skaven and they wish only to destroy and dominate all others. Even the forests of the Old World are not safe, for the trees themselves are things of malign presence and the Beastmen dwell within, the children of Chaos – braying beasts who crave slaughter and the chance to enact their savagery on the civilised races.
The Warhammer world is a place where you must bury your dead deeply, for Necromancers and Vampires raise the legions of undeath in their war against the living. Far away in the south the legendary kings of a long-dead kingdom now awaken, leaving their vast tomb cities to wage war upon all under the sun, their skeletal legions a chilling parody of their once glittering majesty.
All these examples of horror are enough to cause weaker hearts to quail, but there are those who resist the darkness, kingdoms and realms that fight for survival. The Empire, greatest of all the nations of Men musters regiments of brave soldiers. Armed with faith in Sigmar, their warrior god, and with tempered steel and black powder weapons they defend their lands. South and east of the Empire lies Bretonnia, a land of chivalry and noble tradition. There, bold knights harken the call of their mighty king and ride out to crusade against the monsters of the Old World. Dwarfs, in their mountain strongholds, are as unyielding as the stone around them as they battle above and below the ground. Loyal allies, but terrible enemies, the Dwarfs are brave-hearted and steadfast as they protect their once-great realm.
In far-off lands the Elves fight out their bitter blood feud against one another – a mighty civilisation that spanned the continents but is now riven with strife and betrayal. Perhaps the greatest warriors in all the world, their numbers are now few and too many of those that remain are lost each day in the unending war between Ulthuan and Naggaroth.
This is a world where victory and death rest upon a knife-edge and the fate of the world, be it damnation or salvation, will soon be decided.
Warhammer, the Game of Fantasy Battles will be released in July. The preparation for this date has been a time of great excitement here in the Studio as we have lavished detail, care and attention onto the rulebook and the fantastic Citadel miniatures range that it accompanies.
Now is the time to gather your regiments, paint your armies and prepare for a battle like never before. If you have a Warhammer army, dust it off and finish up those last few models. If you’ve always been tempted to collect a force there really has never been a better time to start! Warhammer is coming and it’s going to be great.

More Purple!

2010-04-15T00:05:00.000-04:00

I purpled the red areas a bit. I like it. It looks much more bruised injury. I also put a thin layer of yellow on the wings only. I don't think you can tell in the pictures...Not 100% sure where I'm going from here, but I do think it was a good step :)

RAWR!!!...And I need help with color

2010-04-14T15:23:00.000-04:00

First, the RAWR!

I did a bit more sword work, finished gluing him together, and now he needs wings. I'm still really not at all sure where I'm going with those :( And he's still missing shoulder pads. I'm contemplating leaving them off and/or making it look like they fell off his shoulders (from rot) onto the base.

Now onto the color issues. I like the fleshy armour, but I can't get over how incredibly not Nurgle it all looks. I'm planning on going back over the red areas with some kind of dead flesh. A pale white, maybe with a tinge of green, to try to make it look more like rot and less like bright red doom. I need a different trim color too. That green is just...bad. Overall I'm incredibly un-happy with the colors so far. My big problem is I can't figure out where to go and I keep putting it off in favor of converting new models.

I might end up painting a few tester Plague Marines, or maybe even more converted raptors that aren't so heavily converted. This guy doesn't have much left in the way of power armour that isn't deformed in some way and I think it's throwing me off.

Updated sword

2010-04-11T21:31:00.003-04:00

I re-did the cross guard. I linked the last post to a friend, and he concurred with myself and my roommate that just scaling it up would make it much better. I was a bit worried about it going too far up the blade (to make it more gladius like and less long-sword like).

This one on the left pressed in a bit, but the detail came out much more clearly. This one on the right just barely (we're talking maybe 3mm) into the foam to show the length.What do you think?

Nurgle Daemon Prince

2010-04-11T20:28:00.000-04:00

This is what I've been up to this weekend:

I also assembled the Plague Marines you see in the background (2x7 squads), 2 Rhinos, a Baneblade (I'm really excited about this one once I get into Plaguereapering it), and 4 bikes (no riders yet).

I came to the conclusion I'm not going to be able to all out convert my raptors like I did the first test model. It's just too much. I also think smaller conversions across all 14 will make them more unique and interesting per model.

Back to the prince: I would really like opinions on the sword. I don't like it...I think the symbol of Nurgle might just be too small? Maybe a "disc" looking bit behind it to sort of bulk it out into more of a cross piece?

I'm also not at all sure what to do about wings... Do I make my own? Should the be decayed into a sort of skeletal state with scraps of membrane hanging on? I've seen a lot with full on blood thirster size wings. They look cool, but they just don't feel quite right.

This is probably one of the sexiest models I've ever seen:

It's so cleanly, awesomely painted. I'm not sure what the wings are from but they're pretty sweet and blend well with the back that's already there.

Thoughts?

So eBay is awesome...

2010-03-31T14:52:00.001-04:00

I've been lurking in eBay for a while now. Basically bidding $1.00-$2.00 on everything Warhammer related I might want hoping one day to get lucky. I realized that probably wasn't ever going to happen, so I started upping it to $10.01-15.01 depending on what it was. It has yielded some nice results.

So far I've managed (all with free shipping):

40k

CSM Attack Squad (5 CSM, no special weapons or champion): $5.51 (Normally $20.00)

2x CSM Rhino: $20.01 (Normally $30 each!)

Fantasy

Chaos Warhounds: $10.01 (Normally $22.00)
Nurgle Champion: $2.00 (Normally $15.00)

I'm really happy about one little thing I treated myself to, a Baneblade. $52.25 (including shipping). It's a $99.00 model, so really it's a damn fine deal. I'm going to attempt a Plaguereaper with it! Very exciting!

So the point of all this wasn't really to brag, so much as to inspire you guys to look around. If there is something you know you want, but aren't really concerned with getting it right now or even at all really, eBay is a great place to go. Listings go up for $0.99 everyday. Bidding $5-$10 on a $50 model is just....so satisfying when it comes through. Not to mention the new toy you won :)

Here's hoping this Venerable Dreadnought comes though at $7.51...23hours left! It probably won't. Someone will snipe it up to a good $20 at least, but that's okay. For now my problem is I need to go back to $1-$2 for a month or so. That way I'll actually take me time to do the ones I've won right and avoid spending too much money.

Buying a $99 model for half price is cool, but, if you also spend ~$50 on other models, you still spent $100!

The old Flesh Reaper!

2010-03-31T00:44:00.000-04:00

I realized I hadn't posted pictures of the textured wings! BEHOLD!!!
(As usual, click the images for a closer look)

A new Flesh Reaper!

2010-03-31T00:30:00.000-04:00

This is my first Chaos Marine. I've begun converting him into a Flesh Reaper (Raptor). His feet are rotting away. The left (his left) foot is, ideally, going to end up as an intestine tube looking thing, most likely spewing the same filth the first one had coming from the vents on his pack. The idea is to try to mix up how they're suspended in mid air. I'm also liking the rotting horns, especially the one that's rotting close to the head and almost falling off.

The guts are what he was really a test of, and they came out perfect. I cut into the hollow middle where the body halves met and stuck some rolls of "organ" shaped green stuff in there. Then I drilled some matching holes on the top and bottom, and stuck some green stuffed wire in there. I think for the next one, instead of hollowing it out, I'm just going to cut straight across like he's rotted straight through, his body only held together by some remaining tendrils of flesh, bone, and/or muscle.

Further plans for this one: Bore out some holes going up the leg to sort of show that the leg is rotting all the way up in the armor. Some general texture-ing to make it a bit less smooth and more Nurgley. Still not 100% on what I'm doing with the arms or the backpack. He is going to have a bolt pistol and a hand scythe (think Kama, Wikipedia: Kama (weapon)). I'm also not looking forward to making anymore wings...But I shall carry on!

Coming up next: the first Flesh Reaper....PAINTED! *Gasp!*

Flesh Reaper Test Model: MOAR PICTURES!

2010-03-24T20:51:00.000-04:00

(As usual, much higher res images if you click the images, and I'm sorry all I have is a cell phone to take the pictures with.)
This is my test model for the Flesh Reaper raptors. I don't really like him for a Flesh Reaper just because they're supposed to be rotting and gaunt and I didn't really achieve that. I did build him in completely the wrong order and I'm still not done with him.

There is no work on the backpack at all. The stomach has been carved out and will soon have flaps of flesh hanging down from it.

The streams coming down from vents are ultimately going to be streams of filth, splashing on the base.

I have some regular CSMs coming in the mail in a few days, so I'm trying to do as much with him as I can to be ready for those.

All that said, I do think he's pretty cool :)

About all that Nurgle I've been talking about...

2010-03-19T00:01:00.002-04:00

This is pretty picture heavy, so I apologize if it hurts your computer :) Click them for higher resolutions.

This is the Nurgle Palanquin I've been working on. The idea is Nurgle's favored champions are ocassionally blessed with a great palanquin. They're born on the backs of great plague beasts or mounds of swarming nurglings.

All in all, I'm pretty happy with how it's coming along. The slime beast on the bottom is really a ball of foil I covered in green stuff. I've seen the idea in a couple of places and it's turning out to be a great way to make a base shape. Cheap, and you don't care if you mess it up!

The actual palanquin is just square plasticard made to look like hewn wooden planks. I added some nurgley mounds on top, some little clumps of stuff on the bottom hanging down, etc. The real problem I'm having is trying to differentiate between the wood and the leathery skin. The idea is several planks were laid down in a solid base, then a section of hide, presumably from a great kill, was laid across it, and then the four framing boards were put down in a square to make the border.

My real problem is differentiating the two in color. Any suggestions for leathery hide or wood?

Other than that I'm planning on one big eye on the front, with mouth similar to the beast in the pictures and some tentacle things dragging behind it leaking/spewing/dumping filth behind it. Nurgle's kind of gross like that :)

I really hate the post editor here for trying to layout pictures...

Where do you buy your models, etc. (Also some rambling)

2010-03-09T19:28:00.000-05:00

I've been buying stuff from Games Warehouse (thanks Adam, from Warhammer Tau, for having the Ad on your site) for a few months now. 20% discount and free international shipping, it's hard to beat. Yesterday I got an e-mail from them saying they will no longer be delivering outside of the UK...

Now I have a problem. I really don't want to go back to paying full price. I really feel like the 20% off is where the prices ought to be. A $72 battalion/battle force is just so much easier to justify than $90, and the prices are only going up.

So where do you guys get your models? I've found a few 10% places, but the consistent (not on sale) 15%-20% is proving more difficult to find, though I'm probably just being greedy :)

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

A bit more of an update: I've become Nurgle obsessed lately. I'm working on a complete Warriors of Chaos battalion + Exalted, painting, based, with movement trays, and possibly a custom palanquin (I can't figure out how I want to do the underside). Imbetween that I'm also working on my wife's wood elves. The Dryads are almost done (probably done tonight) and looking quite nice. I'm really happy with them.

All in all I seem to have needed a bit of a 40k reprieve, so it's been a lot of Fantasy lately. I'll post pictures sometime late this week. Probably including my roommates Raven Guard Dreadnought that has been half finished since I took it apart 2 months ago.

Hooray for making goals (and sticking to them so far)!

On a related note: The new Imperial Armour 8 is supposed to feature Raven Guard and Orks. I'm curious to see what all they come out with :)

Has anyone tried Battle Missions?

Sometimes Nurgle speaks to me...(Pictures Part 2)

2010-02-25T11:25:00.000-05:00

I forgot I had been working on a Warband insignia of sorts. I was going for the typical Nurgle symbol + scythes, as they're reapers and all.

I really want to like the symbol on the left mostly because the end points of the hafts could become the 3 circles to make the symbol of Nurgle, with the scythes being the warband's mark, but I couldn't get it rotated and centered the right way. I tried a number of different scythes, but I couldn't make it work. It's also going to be really tricky to model because the should pad insignias are sooooo small...

Sometimes Nurgle speaks to me...(Pictures)

2010-02-25T10:19:00.000-05:00

I've had that Flesh Reaper idea for about a month now, but I forgot what set off the original post: the images I made in photoshop to test the whole "Winged Raptor w/scythe" theory:

I did some with jump packs, some without, varying numbers of wing segments. These obviously have no color or conversion work. The wings are the new plastic gargoyle wings. It's all in photoshop so I can actually turn the various wing segments, jump pack, and scythes on and off. It was pretty sweet.

Sometimes Nurgle speaks to me...

2010-02-24T17:18:00.000-05:00

And everything else falls to the wayside. I have a bit of an obsession with Nurgle. I'm not really sure why. I don't like the Prince of Excess for his lack of self control. Tzeentch mutation bothers me; I don't like anything that corrupts the body. Khorne martial honor and simplistic purpose should appeal to me the most. But for some reason it's Nurgle, kind of corrupting the body...

I like Tau from a tactical and model perspective. I like the lore too, but I feel like it isn't represented well enough in the rules. Putting the rules together with the lore, it's as if the Tau said "Close combat is dishonorable, therefore we won't get into it. It will just simply never happen."

The XV-9 I think is a brilliant representation of "Close combat is dishonorable, and we will do all we can to avoid it, but sometimes it will happen." (They all have "hit and run" and defensive grenades; They can also sacrifice drones to auto-pass the initiative test for "hit and run")

I feel like every single Tau model should have defensive grenades and hit and run OR Combat Tactics. Combat Tactics (you can choose to auto-fail any morale test) makes brilliant sense to me from a Tau perspective. It represents the Space Marine discipline. The Tau fire caste lives for war. It's all they do. Their meaning in life. Their unit is so incredibly important to them that they have a ritual bonding to signify them as literal brothers and the members of the unit are the only ones who can call each other by name. It's like in all that time and training they just completely ignored that melee combat existed.

/EndRant

I'm not saying so much that it's a hole in the use-ability of the army, so much as it's a hole in the fluff-to-rules that bugs the living crap out of me.

I do feel like Nurgle is well represented in the rules though. Most mono-Nurgle armies are tough. Damn tough. And they approach like a slow plague that, once it grips you, drags you into a war of attrition that you're hard pressed to escape.

After writing that I kind of don't want to mention this idea, but /shrug.

I came up with a CSM Warband, the Flesh Reapers...
The idea would be that one of the CSM Sorcerers that knows the secrets of creating Plague Marines is traveling with a Daemon Prince or CSM Lord that is carrying a most interesting creation of Papa Nurgle. This creation is a wasting sickness that kills most, or leaves them begging Nurgle for salvation (for he possesses the cure for all diseases). These the Sorcerer converts to Plague Marines, bloating their bodies back out and outfitting them for battle to die for their "savior".

Those that survive the illness are withered, wretched things. The Sorcerer approaches them and offers them into the family of Father Nurgle. If they refuse, they are gathered up and carried on, kept alive until they their suffering bids them accept the offer. Once accepted, the Sorcerer brings them into Nurgle's love. Their bodies, though they remain withered, are infused with daemonic foulness. Their minds are warped, instilling a devotion to Lord Nurgle before all others. Their flesh rots, continuously, driving them to battle were they can harvest the flesh of their enemies to sustain their own bodies, that they might continue spread the plague Nurgle has bestowed upon them.

Representing this would be a core of Plague Marines, a Sorcerer and lord or daemon prince HQ, and maybe some tanks if I could find a way to like them. Maybe modeled like a carrier of those that haven't yet accepted the offer? I like the idea of modeling one or two tanks with large patches of their armour replaced with the skin of monstrous creatures the warband has taken down)

The real gem of it would be the Raptors and Bikers (rare choices for CSM player, overcosted, but eh).

Raptors: Skeletal, winged, scythe wielding, monstrosities, with patchs of their slain enemies skin stretched across the gaps their disease bores through their power armour.

Bikers: Like the raptors, without wings. The skin would also be stretched across the armour of the bikes, with large containers attached to the back that leave a wake of filth, contaminating the very ground with the creation Nurgle bestowed upon them.

This is mostly for the fluff and modeling challenge, but I would really love to do it. My only real wish is that I could have Nurgle Daemons in the army and that CSM had some notion of Sternguard? Vanguard? whichever Space Marine veteran unit has jump packs... so that I could have more of a degree of freedom in modeling the power level of the various models in the raptor units (Leader, Veterans with power weapons, and normals with normal weapons. I wish there was a rending option, like a lesser power weapon. I don't want much :).

Either way I think this will be almost 100% on hold until their is a new CSM codex or I get the core of my Tau done. By "core" I mean the 1850 army I know I like and I know works. I Need 6 more FW, a Devilfish, 3 Broadsides, a Skyray/Hammerhead, and 4 Crisis Suits. Beyond the core would be things like Piranha's and XV-9s.

I just needed to share :) My roommate isn't big on fluff, so it's all lost on him.

So it's been a few weeks...

2010-02-24T15:24:00.001-05:00

So it's been a little while. The internet seemed to go into a bit of hiding for the past a ~~few weeks~~ month, with everyone coming out of the woodwork squinting into the day light over the past few days. By internet, I mean the community of blogs I, and several others, seem to all read daily.

The primary purpose of this blog is really just for me to ask other people with like interests for feedback, be it on ideas, painting, whatever. I really, really like that sort of verification that I'm not missing something stupid...because I do that...a lot. That being said:

Were do you do your...hobby stuff? Painting, converting, assembly, etc. I started this blog in anticipation of my very own "Warhammer Room". I would've gotten away with it to, if long time friends didn't suddenly need a place to live. Without it I'm finding all of my "WOOT! WARHAMMER TIME!" urges utterly squashed by the thought of pulling everything out, setting it up, doing the stuff I want to do, and then cleaning it up before the cat knocks it onto the floor for the dog to chew on. She doesn't eat the stuff, just chew it so that's it's just mutilated enough to require significant work to fix.

Really though: Where do you do it? How do you keep it organized if you don't have your own place with a door to keep it all? etc.

I hate that cat...

Lack of stuff

2010-01-26T17:24:00.002-05:00

I have a deadline at work on Friday, so that basically means I'm working late every night. I'll be back next week.

Paintbrush Care

2010-01-23T20:01:00.000-05:00

Good people of the internets, I beseech you; How do you keep your brush tips from curling? I have tried drying them like I would a bigger brush, Making sure the tips are formed, and on and on and on. Every guide I've found has failed me.

All of them are curled. After one or two uses, they're done. I've adapted my painting to it. I've even figured out uses for it. What am I doing wrong?

Tau Bastion

2010-01-20T11:31:00.001-05:00

I'm working out the design here, but my friend and I are having trouble deciding on the weapons it should have.

The imperial/chaos bastions have 4 Heavy Bolters and a Lascannon on top (there is some variation, but let's just go with this). These are automated weapons, which means they fire at WS 2 if they aren't manned. For most of our games I imagine we'd ignore the automation and have it be more of a fight to take it over to utilize the weapons, but the automation was part of our dispute.

Heavy Bolter is |36"|S5|AP4| Heavy 3|
Lascannon is |48"|S9|AP2| Heavy 1|

We contemplated a Missle-Pod to replace the Heavy Bolter. Same range, +2S, 1 less shot. It seemed fair enough. The Lascannon seems obvious, Railgun. I liked the idea of the Ion cannon better, which he didn't mind. My thought was mostly on the sub-munition. It doesn't make sense for the Bastion not to house whatever it needs to power the submunition, but it's already flat-out better than a lascannon. I was thinking of doing a complete rules write-up with some options. Eh, I'll do it right now.

*~5 minutes pass*

Okay, so rules aren't that complicated...but here are thoughts:
I like AV13 over 14. Obviously 14 is better, but our Hammerhead is only 13 on it's best side and it just feels more right. I also think our firepower options are going to be a bit better, no matter the combination (there are some that are worse, but I was going for equal to or better than because the worse seems a lot worse and the better seems a bit better)

Weapon Combinations:
4 Long Barrel Burst Cannons (It's a Forgeworld varient; Just a Burst Cannon, but 36" range)
1 Railgun

4 Missle Pods
1 Ion Cannon

3 Missle Pods
1 Railgun

I was also contemplating some of the XV9 weapons, but they're all rather short range, so I'm not sure they make sense.

The problems:
I like the idea of 3 weapons as opposed to 4. It's going to be a round bastion, so they'd all have a wider arc of fire (120º insead of 90º). I also want them Twin-linked. I think it fits for Tau weapons. They're drone controlled (see paragraph about automated weapons in the Planetstrike rulebook). Tau drone technology is supposed to beat out everyone else.

My friend very much argues against the twin-linking. He agrees completely that it makes sense from a "But they're Tau!" perspective, but is "not going to give you a better bastion". The last time we talked about it, the idea of AV 13 hadn't occurred to me.

Now that I've babbled on about it for a bit, I think these configurations are all reasonable:

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Tau Bastion

AV 13 all around.
BS 2, Twin-linked automated weapons. (This means they are not twin-linked if manned, but do get to use the firer's BS.)

3 Long-barreled Burst Cannons
1 Ion Cannon

You can upgrade all three LB-Burst Cannons to Missle Pods for +18pts

You can upgrade the Ion Cannon to a Railgun for +35pts.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

The points were sort of thrown in (difference between TL-BC and TL-MP for a suit and difference between an Ion Cannon and a Railgun). I don't have a points cost for the whole thing, they're free in Planet Strike.../shrug.

I don't know how I feel about losing the TL when the gun is manned. It makes it so a unit of Fire Warriors in the bastion (BS 3) makes it worse, so it makes it only really useful for Stealth Suits to be inside. Maybe the spotter from a Sniper Drone team with the Drones on top firing their own weapons (but then they're vulnerable), but he could only man one gun. (It's probably worth noting that a bastion can be occupied without the guns being manned. If you want to use one of the gun ports as a fire point the gun can't fire as well, but 2 models can shoot through the port.

Basically it works really well as a turret, which I don't necessarily like. I was also going to put walls around the base, about 2" out, with a little "arm" showing that they were pulled in against the hull when it was dropped in. I've been working on it a bit, but I have four walls. If I go with three guns, four walls will look weird...hrm...thoughts?

Inspiration? Forgeworld: Tau Burst Cannon Turret

Skyray

2010-01-20T10:28:00.001-05:00

I has one!

I'm going to need some bigger magnets for the turrets (Railgun, Ion Cannon, Skyray missle's). I'm basically following this guide (it's a 2.42MB pdf), except I'm going to try something a bit different with the three front turrets to make a it a bit easier to switch out weapons, while still being able to glue everything on except the 2 burst cannons, targeting array front piece, and smart missile systems. It will require some extra magents, but only like 6. I figure I got 100 for a couple of dollars, I can spare 6 to make my life easier. I just know I'm going to lose parts if I don't...

The idea is to put two magnets on either side of everything. That means in the holes on either side of the SMS, cutting off the nubs on the inside of the SMS/BC drone mounts and putting 2 magnets where the nubs where, Cutting off the part that the nub goes into on the BC and putting 2 magnets there, attaching something to the back of the targeting array bit to get a magnet on either side of that, and then fitting 2 magets into the bottom...hemisphere thing that has grooves for it.

That all seemed very confusing. I'll take some pictures later and draw on them to show you what I mean. I'd like a bit of "That should work." or "DON'T DO IT! OMG!" before I ruin the only one of these I'm going to have for a little while :)

Tyranid Landing Spores

2010-01-15T19:39:00.001-05:00

Black Matt's Black Legion: Landing Spores

For those who don't know, Tyranids for what is basically a Drop Pod in this latest codex. GW doesn't have a model for it yet. I don't even think FW does. Black Matt has cooked up a pretty good method for making them and is selling them for $20 a piece. They get progressively cheaper as you but them up to 5 at a time ($65/5, or $13 a piece).

He said it cost him $10 to ship three of them to someone, so a good bit of the price is just shipping. They really are worth checking out.

Black Matt's Black Legion: Landing Spores

A List of Projects

2010-01-15T10:45:00.000-05:00

This is mostly me rambling, trying to figure out what I'm doing. I have so many half done projects with even more ideas for new ones. The big one: I really want to make a Tau Bastion. A giant tower with Twin-linked Pulse Rifles on each side and a pintle-mounted Ion Cannon on top? Big crated on the ground where is was dropped in? Some walls that look like the expanded out from the base after it landed?

Anyway...

Tau to paint:

Finish Kroot: They're like 90% done and I'm just being lazy.
Finish Devilfish: ~75% complete, still not happy with the large smooth areas.
3 Crisis Suits: These will probably be the hardest for me to get motivated to do. They're assembled and that makes it kind of not easy to do the inside areas well. Still trying to work out a better way for that.
3 Stealth Suits: These are sort of painted, they need some detailing, but I'm still not happy with them just looking like everything else in my army. They're supposed to be camo'd and special and whatnot. Not sure what I want to do with them though. Potentially explore more of an entirely black suit with a "glowing" look that I mentioned a few days ago.
Lots of Gun Drones: May never happen. Unless I start using some.
A Marker Drone: May never happen. Unless I start using it.

Daemons to paint:
Daemonettes: Finish painting and basing the other 19.
Masque: Paint it.
Bloodletters: Fix the two the dog chewed on (Grr!). Possibly some work on the hellblades. Mostly just done.
Juggernaut #2: Repaint to be not a black rhino with a green bloodletter...some ideas just don't work out.
Flamers: Highlighting
Pink Horrors: Possible stripping and try again.
Flesh Hounds: Finish bases.
Karanak: Finish base and highlight/wash.
Bloodthirster: Finish. (need to work up the skin to a nice bright red and detail)
Screamers: Detailing.
Lord of Change: Finish his beak and glue his damn pieces together you lazy bastard! (I yell at myself for this one all the time. I'm particularly proud of a few select models, and this is one of them. It's like 99% done and I just need to sit down and do it.)
Skulltaker: Clean-up and some better detailing. He was one of my first models (I think my first warhammer purchase was Skulltaker, 10 Bloodletters, 10 Daemonettes, and 3 Flamers)

That list is kind of funny for someone who only really ever wants to play mono-Nurgle (All my Nurgle units are painted, heh)

Terrain:
The Tau Tank Traps need finishing.
Tau Bastion: This is my next big project.
Set of Tunnels: I wanted to make a set of "tunnel" representing pieces for coolness and/or stratagems, should I ever play anything that uses them. I also thought I could make them look pretty cool, disguising them in various ways. This might get abandoned.
Craters: I want to make some. Probably following something like this: Miniwargaming: Crashed Asteroid

Number one right now: Finishing my roommates Dreadnought. I have a very very very odd love of Dreadnoughts. I like mech-like suits. I always have. Mechwarrior, Armored Core, etc. Anything with an oversized robot with interchangeable parts and I'm in.

Hid Dreadnought is from an age of metal. It's a heavy little sucker, with no base. Anyway, he finally picked a chapter, Raven Guard, so I offered to paint it for him (more like asked if he'd let me, which I had asked multiple times, to which he responded "Then I'd have to pick a chapter."). I've been poking at it for ~2 weeks, but it's a PITA to paint assembled. So I found this guy who suggested boiling it. Literally. I boiled water and dropped him in for 30minutes. Worked like a charm.

Now that he's apart hopefully he'll be done soon, and I'm working on finishing my Kroot while in between Dreadnought stages (waiting for things to dry). Infantry is so hard. The test model is all exciting, but then you try to replicate it 11 times and painting the same stock 4 or 5 times, I just don't want to do the other 6 >.<

That's enough rambling, back to work...

I found an army to give OSH a run for his money...

2010-01-15T01:58:00.000-05:00

I still give OSH more points for painting awesome, but the conversions in this are just epic...

Tau Swamp Fighters

Sample images:

Comment turned post

2010-01-13T18:44:00.002-05:00

tl;dr - CSM 3rd Edition had a lot more fluff and options that I think should be encouraged and spread to other armies, as opposed to being obliterated as it was by their 4th Edition "update".

(In response to ~~Pete's~~ Firewasp's comment in this post, I got a little preachy.)

I guess I didn't include Black Templars or Dark Angels. I only included Space Wolves because they have their own section outside of the Space Marine section on the website, and I imagine Blood Angels will too shortly.

CSM did get a fairly recent update, but that's a touchy subject with me atm. I like Nurgle. I like the fluff, especially the irony of it, and I like the toughness of the units. I like a lot about it.

When I bought my Tau, my roommate wanted me to go CSM instead. I got bored the other day and started to check out the CSM codex. It seemed kind of cool. Then I read some more about Death Guard. I was liking the challenge of creating an effective, fluffy nurgle army that didn't have a bunch of identical units.

I decided to look around online to see what others had found. What I discovered was a LOT of rage. This led me to find a copy of the 3rd edition CSM book. This led me to rage.

The Tyranid and Tau 4th Edition books are sort of sparce. They're thin books, lacking variety you find in the 5th edition books. It's hard to customize a Tau army in a functional way that is also effective. These new Tyranids...I can see 5 different unique, flavorful, effective armies easily. Same with Space Marines, Space Wolves, and Orks.

The 3rd Edition CSM book is awesome. Options all over the place. I think every army should have some version of Veteran Skills (Essentially any character or individual unit can be given things like Furious Charge, Counter Attack, etc. for a points cost) and that it should be extended to stat line modifiers as well (+1S, +1WS, etc.), but that's a whole different story. You could dedicate anything and everything, but everything had a drawback too that matched what it gained. Nurgle Fast Attack was limited to 0-1 Bikers and could only have 2 dedicated Rhinos as Troops, then they became Fast Attack.

This is all coming from a builder. My favorite aspect of the game is designing an army. I like themes and cohesive ideas that bind it all together. If there were more drones or more stealth units, I'd give up every Railgun and spend days finding a way to make it work. If I can't find a good story in my head, I loose interest VERY QUICKLY.

The 3rd Edition CSM codex is exactly what I've always thought every other codex should be like. Fluffy army related options with generic options that can be put together and too many ways for me to exhaust that would let me really make an army my own. My problem is really that they utterly destroyed that beautiful thing with an "update" that hunched the guts out and made what remained a little cheaper in points.

I'm just going to cut myself off and step down from my soap box here because it's almost 7pm and I'm still sitting in my office >.<

Tyranids; Armored Core 5

2010-01-13T11:51:00.000-05:00

I found a copy of the new Tyranid codex...there is some truely awesome stuff going on in these 5th edition updates. I really can't wait to see what happens to Tau with their next update. Supposedly it's in 2012, which is sad times for how far away it is, but still awesome for knowing that it's definitely coming.

5th Edition so far (I think):

Imperial Guard - Updated
Orks - Updated
Space Marines - Updated

Tyranids - Updated
Space Wolves - New
Blood Angels - New

That leaves...
Chaos Space Marines
Daemonhunters

Dark Eldar
Eldar
Necrons
Tau Empire
Witch Hunters

(I'm at work and was gone for an hour right here, so I apologize if what precedes doesn't match up with what follows. My mind wanders and I ramble.)

I left Daemons out because I think they were released in 4th Edition, but it was right before 5th Edition came out, so I feel right saying they're 5th Edition, but don't want to argue with technical people :)

I think Tau have a pretty easy update coming when they get one. Forgeworld has almost done it, the "normal" codex just needs to make it "official" with a couple other things. That said, I hope it's as amazing as this Tyranid update. I liked where Tyranids were, but this 5th Edition codex has blown me away.

If you aren't sure they're awesome, just contemplate this: They have Assault 20 and Assault 12 weapons...on Monstrous Creatures with 6 wounds...Toughness 6...and special rules that make it even crazier. They are very short range, but it's still just awesome. I'll probably ramble more about this once the codex is released and I play against a few...like every other blog will this weekend :)

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(I wrote this before I wandered off to meetings for over an hour)

Kotaku: Armored Core 5 leak

I don't know about you guys, but I love Armored Core. With all the District 9 comparisons to Battlesuits I saw running around, I figure this might be worth mentioning. Am I the only Armored Core fanatic out here?

I recently moved into a new apartment, and whenever I move, I always find a bunch of stuff I'd forgotten about. I'm a pack-rat....HUGE pack-rat. Like my wife made me consolidate 9 boxes of "Stuff I just want to keep". I ended up with 4 boxes, and most of what I did was just fill in the empty half of a few without throwing a terrible lot away.

Relvency: I found my copy of Armored Core 4, for the 360. (Sidenote: spelling armor "armour" for so long writing warhammer lists makes it hard not to say "Armoured Core") All of my moving efforts immediately died and I was sucked into trying to recreate a Crisis Suit, in it's various configurations, and a Stealth Suit. I go pretty impressively close to the Crisis Suit. It made it a bit more fun to play.

Dreadnoughts are pretty easy to recreate as well.

Shield Drone detail close-up

2010-01-10T23:34:00.000-05:00

NockerGeek commented on being unable to really see the definition of the shield drones recesses, so this is a not so great picture of the drone. It's a good way to see the details though and maybe seeing it blown up will make it easier to see when looking at the other pictures.

Shield Drones!!! Part 2: Now with paint!

2010-01-10T20:20:00.000-05:00

That last picture in particular is terribad, but it shows off something I wanted to bring up: Why doesn't anyone seem to paint all 4 eyes on the drones? They do in the Codex images, but most people I see that do close-ups of their drones only paint the forward eye like an eye. My roommate thinks it's probably because it feels more "eye like" with only the forward one painted. /shrug I didn't even realize they had four eyes until I painted these.

Crisis Suits; On Drones

2010-01-10T18:11:00.000-05:00

To those of you who have painted Crisis Suits: Is there some process to it that makes it not such a pain?

Getting back in behind the arms and in between the body and jetpack is really killing me. I can't find a way to do it cleanly.

On the plus side I'm almost done with my shield drones. I love the drones. I wish you could field units of them. Not like Heavy Gun Drones or Gun Drones, but something like...

Drone Squad
Unit size 4-12 Drones
Up to two Gun Drones may be upgraded to Marker Drones or Shield Drones.
Up to two Gun Drones may be upgraded to Sniper Drones Heavy Gun Drones.
If a Heavy Gun Drone is Taken, it may replace one of it's 2 burst cannons for a Marker Light at no cost.
If a Marker Drone is taken, it may twin-link it's Marker Light.

Something like that. Maybe splitting it into Gun/Marker/Shield Drone squads as one choice and Heavy/Sniper/Shield Drone squads as another. Maybe some special character that would let you essentially field a drone army. Throw in the FW turrets. It could get cool.

The drones were a lot of the appeal of Tau to me. The Battlesuits too, but they were very secondary. I don't use any drones because they're fairly ineffective. I think some more complex drone squads could get a lot more interesting. If they had some more interesting aspects, instead of just X Gun Drones that aren't terribly effective (though I have used them and had them really shine a few times), I could overlook the effectiveness for the coolness. Just my thoughts.

Shield Drones!!!

2010-01-07T20:17:00.001-05:00

Horray! My shield drone conversion kits showed up. I ordered 2 of them (makes 8 Gun drones into shield drones). I really feel like they could have included the plastic disks (the top part) for the $9 they cost, but meh. The glue is drying atm, so pictures later (probably painted. Drones are easy).

Here's a link for them: Games Workshop: Shield Drones
They're buries in the menus. They don't show up in Tau bitz or in the Warhammer 40,000 -> Bitz -> Conversion Packs. They're in Warhammer 40,000 -> Bitz -> Misc -> All the way at the bottom.

The only other places to get them are with the XV15 Shas'ui (comes with 1), or Shadowsun (comes with 2).

Slannesh Pillow Bases Part 2: The 15minutes paint job

2010-01-06T20:41:00.003-05:00

So I never painted my Daemonettes, but I wanted an idea of what it would look like.

Slannesh Pillow Bases

2010-01-02T18:44:00.000-05:00

A friend I haven't seen in a few years was over for New Year's. She works with Sculpey clay a lot, making tiny animals and such.

(For those who don't know, my first army was Chaos Daemons)

While she was making some very tiny penguins, I was showing her my daemons. I did a whole set of lava bases for my Khorne units (20 Bloodletters, 2 Bloodcrushers, 5 Flesh Hounds, Karanak, Skulltaker, and a Bloodthirster). I did slime bases for my nurgle units (1 Beast, 4 bases of Nurglings, and 10 Plaguebearers). For Tzeentch I want to do multi-colored crystals (I got some fish rocks, but haven't tried making a base).

All of that to say: Of all the Chaos Gods, Slannesh is sort of my least favorite. I'm not sure why, I think it's mostly what the Dark Prince stands for, but, either way, it is this god that I picked that most complex bases to do. I wanted to do piles of gold coins and bolts of silk. I ended up abandoning that in favor of plushy pillows, but I never actually tried it out.

Below are the first three I tried. My friend took the tools I was using with her when she left, so it's all on pause until I can find them or until she gets me a set (which I think she said she was going to do).

The one on the far left is the first one I did, and my favorite. The second one I didn't push deep enough into the middle to build up the pillow, so it's sort of flat and bad. The third was going great until I got to zoned in and stopped dipping the tool. Green stuff gets sticky, so it kind of looks torn in the upper left corner; you can sort of see it in the picture.

Issuse: Not sure how I'm going to mimic it for my Masque, she might get the gold coins and bolts of silk. What do I do for Fiends or Keepers? I don't have any yet, but I just really like the Daemon models and am sort of shooting for "One of everything". A pile of pillows could be cool. Any thoughts?

Maybe tomorrow when I'm not tired and stoned on pain killers I'll be more apt to take pictures of my Daemons and the painting I got done the other day. Wisdom Teeth are not cool to get removed when you're running around for the holidays...

Happy New Year!

VICODIN LAND!

2009-12-30T18:09:00.000-05:00

I got my wisdom teeth cut out today...all four. It was completely painless because they put me under. They gave me two percocet and a prescription for vicodin. I just took the second percoset, haven't cracked the good stuff yet.

Never had surgery, been put under, or taken pain killers before. It's been a new experience day. The weirdest part is I'm pretty coherent so far, so I've been painting like crazy.

*Wanders off back to his painting table*

Some Painted Models

2009-12-29T18:39:00.000-05:00

So far I've painted a whole unit of Fire Warriors, the better part of a Devilfish, a single Kroot test model. I'm working on a Crisis Suit, trying to get an idea of what I want the army as a whole to look like. Oh, and I roughly base coated some Stealth Suits...keep forgetting about those. I keep forgetting to do the sept markings on the Fire Warriors too...note to self.

I forgot to take pictures of the Devilfish. Now that I think about it, I might just finish that one up after this post.

Anyway, I really love my Fire Warriors. I feel like, if I did it all over, I could do a much better (read: smoother) job, but I'll have a chance when I get a few more. I also didn't even know they had shin guards until I saw OSH's; I use the pictures from the book to sort of see what they're "supposed" to look like and the shins there are very similar to the under-suit, but live and learn.

This is the only Kroot model I've finished. I like to do one complete model, before moving on to the rest of the unit. It gives me a lot more direction when I'm pulling the assembly line on the other, in this case, eleven. I'm about as happy with him as I am with my Fire Warriors. I'm very much looking forward to seeing both completed units on the table.

You might notice the solid band on the bottom....hair spike? in the second and third picture. I was going to try something similar to the fluffy Kroot in the Codex, but changed my mind. I need to black it out or something and fix it. The rest won't have that.

Ahh, togetherness:

No internets!

2009-12-21T16:52:00.000-05:00

We have completed the move into our new apartment, no internet from now(I'm at work atm) until the 28th. My potential Warhammer room has been converted into a bedroom for a new roommate...rent is lame, but I've known her for a long time and hopefully it'll work out for the best.

I've been conflicted with painting or working on my secret project...the lack of internet until the 28th is probably going to lead to the former :)

Yay Snow!

2009-12-18T11:55:00.000-05:00

I've noticed the further away from my high school graduation I get, the more snow just sucks. We were planning on moving tomorrow, but now I have to bail out of work early, rent a u-haul, and do it all today to avoid this:

See the boxes there in MD? If you follow them to the center, that's roughly me. HOORAY! SNOW DAY!

The good news is, when it's all over and done with, I can get back to painting and terrain making! I really have gotten into a bit of a terrain obsession lately...

Repeating myself; The Future; Amazing Kroot Renagade Conversions.

2009-12-15T15:12:00.001-05:00

Like I said in my first post, this was a terribad time to start a blog. I have no monies, no time, lots of deadlines, and I'm moving this week. I am getting some stuff done, but I imagine there won't be much here until around the 28th. I have a nice, solid 11 days off of work and class from the 24th to the 3rd.

Things to look forward to:
- A showcase of all my models (Chaos Daemons, Vampire Counts, and Tau)
- Potentially a showcase of my new apartment
- Painting updates
- Terrain updates
- Overall improvement of blog look
- the unveiling of a secret project I'm trying to get going (hobby related, but keep in my mind my profession)

Another related bit of information, my roommate has decided Raven Guard are amazing, which means he's finally picked a chapter and started trying to model what he fields! (he usually proxies...everything almost. Like the Dreadnought, but sometimes the Whirlwind standing up is a Drop Pod...). He's also painting!

The key bit of this is that I'm painting his Dreadnought because I have an unabashed love of Dreadnoughts. I'm considering doing a "Kroot Battlesuit" conversion of a Dreadnought, potentially with tau weaponry.

Something akin to this: Kroot Battlesuit

If you haven't checked out those Kroot Renagades, I STRONGLY recommend it. He has conveted Commanders, Broadsides, Hammerheads, Crisis Suits. and Fire Warriors It's all damn cool.

This one is my favorite by far. The Shaper basically has the Fire Warrior on a leash! It's very anti-Tau philosophy and all, but damn if it doesn't look awesome.

A small disclaimer just for redundancy: Those pictures are from http://www.hivefleetmoloch.de/, used with out permission as thier use was a random tangent and I doubt they know I exist.

Holy Mother of Tyranids

2009-12-07T11:35:00.001-05:00

Holy crap...
http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/content/blogPost.jsp?aId=6700002a

SuperMagnet Man

2009-12-07T10:15:00.000-05:00

Just a small shout out to the SuperMagnet Man: http://www.supermagnetman.net/

I ordered some 100 small (1.5mm in diameter, 0.8mm tall) aboubt a week ago and I must say they were impressively strong. It's also really is a nice site with decent prices. The shipping was prompt and he sent out e-mail updates at each stage (Processing, Packing, Shipped). My only minor complaint is a lack of tracking service, but my order went from Alabama to Maryland in 2 days (Ordered to in my hands).

It's probably also worth noting: Those magnets were the perfect size for fitting in the various slots on the Crisis Suit and the back slot on the Stealth Suit. They also happened to match a drill bit on my pin vice perfectly, which made it all just ever so simple.

1 magnet in the suit and 1 in the weapon is more than enough for 80% of the people out there in terms of hold, but I think it was worth the effort to do 2 side-by-side, it makes them a lot harder to knock off and they don't rotate so easily. This does make it a little more important to line them up right on the weapons (the XV8s have straight slots, so you don't have to worry about the suit so much.)

Tau Tank Traps

2009-12-04T18:25:00.002-05:00

Tau Tank Traps : WIP

(I described these a bit earlier)

So these are my Tau Tank Traps I'm working on. I'm trying to decide between these two varients, with or without rubble. They aren't done being built yet either. I'm going to work up craters around each trap to make it look like they were air dropped in.

My roommate likes the "naked" ones because it "looks like dirt". I would probably add some small rocks and possibly something around the more central area (like in between the craters) and along the ridge of the craters to make the "Just dropped in" look more complete.

They obviously need more paint and little details, but what do you think? Rubble? Dirt? Other ideas?

I would also like to apologize for the crappy pictures. They aren't terrible for a cell phone, but it's the only camera I have. Working on that though. C'mon christmas!

Magnetized Suits

2009-12-04T17:02:00.002-05:00

BEHOLD! MAGNETS!

Stealth Suit

Stealth Suit w/Burst Canon Stealth Suit w/Fusion Blaster Stealth Suit Weapons

Crisis Suits

Fireknives

Helios Deathrain (Back Mount)

Deathrain (Top Mount)

These marks are the magenetized points. you can sort of see them all on the center one. They all have those 6 points. 2 per arm, 2 per "back slant", 1 per "back top". then there are 2 per weapon and 1 per system (only multi-trackers atm). The Stealth Suit has 2 in his arm and 2 in each weapon. The burst cannon is actually slightly off so it doesn't sit quite right :(

So...now I don't have any excuses not to finish painting them all (though they do still need sanding on the green stuff)

Trees

2009-12-04T12:35:00.000-05:00

So trees are kind of hard. Not impossibly so, but I've always had a hard time with them. I even bought some Woodland Scenic trees and foliage for them, but utterly failed at assembling them.

This guy is my hero: How to Assemble Woodland Scenic Trees
I haven't tried it yet, but I will be soon.

Did Stuff

2009-12-04T12:04:00.001-05:00

Tau Tank Traps
So I've been working on a lot of terrain lately. The most interesting piece, to me, is a set of Tau tank traps. I found these perfect corn cobb holders, pulled the pins out, and wah-lah, tank traps. I'm going to post some pictures in a bit, all I have is my cell phone camera and I left the cord to transfer the images at home.

The overall idea for them is to get a Tau looking tank trap, painted to match my army scheme, that look like they were air dropped in (debris and small craters around were the impacted, thought about making them kind of crooked like they came in at different angles, but technology should be able to drop them in right).

Magnetized Suits
(I'm not going to do a big thing on this because there are soooo many guides out there, but I'll throw up some pictures when I do the traps)

The other big thing I did last night was magnetize my Crisis Suits and one of my Stealth Suits (I only have three so there is only one fusion blaster option). It just occured to me I didn't do the top hard point on the Stealth Suits...I'll remedy that at lunch time.

All in all it was a royal pain of a process, mostly because I used 2 magnets per weapon and getting them next to eachother took some time to figure out. The magnets were 1.5mm in diameter and 0.8mm thick, they fit in the "slots" perfectly. I did 2 per arm, 2 per back "slant" and the 1 per back shoulder (where it's flat). The idea was weapons go on the arms and slants, but things like multi trackers tend to look better flat on top (the systems also lend themselves to a single magnet and are fairly symetrical, where-as the weapons tend to be longer in one direction, making two a lot stabler.). 2 per weapon and weapon point also keeps them from rotating.

All in all it was a pain to get the tiny magnets side by side without them flipping or snapping to their neighbor, but once I got some putty and tooth picks (which eventually became my craft knife) involved it all sped along quite nicely. 10 magnets per suit may be a but much, but I'm a completetionist like that :)

First Real Post

2009-12-03T13:38:00.000-05:00

Apparently the guys at mini-wargaming were given a sneak preview of the new Tyranids: Mini-Wargamming - New Tyranids

This all comes out January 16, 2010

For those who don't want to follow the link, this is the new stuff:

Tyranid Codex
Tyranid Ravener Brood - 3 Plastic Figures
Tyranid Gargoyle Brood - 10 Plastic Figures
Tyranid Trygon - 1 Plastic Figure
Tyranid Pyrovore - 1 Metal Figure
Tyranid Termagant Brood - 12 Plastic Figures
Tyranid Hormagaunt Brood - 12 Plastic Figures
Tyranid Venomthrope - 1 Metal Figure
Tyranid Hive Guard - 1 Metal Figure

The new battleforce will contain:

3 Warriors
16 Termagaunts
16 Hormagaunts
8 Genestealers
Ripper Swarms (that's really all it says, it doesn't say how many)

Hello

2009-11-25T14:51:00.000-05:00

So I've been reading a lot of Warhammer blogs lately and got the mind to start my own. It's a terrible time for me to do so. Swamped at work. Project due for class soon. Holiday Season. With that in mind, it will probably be a bit before I really get into full swing with anything. Moving on...

A little bit about myself: I'm a 21 year old ginger kid from Maryland, USA. I've been playing Warhammer since this past January when I moved out of my parent's house and into an apartment with my now wife and a friend from college. He brought his old stuff with him that he hadn't used since 3rd Edition. I got hooked pretty quick because I'd always wanted to play.

Started with Daemons because I wanted to play Fantasy and he liked 40k better, though he had armies for both. Daemons worked for both. I've always been a fan of things Demonic and Undead. Didn't know what I was doing, spent too much money, burned out on Daemons when I realized the army I wanted I didn't really have the models for.

Got some Vampire Counts to play against my wife's Wood Elves a few months later. She put them together and hasn't touched them since. Awesome use of $100.

So at this point I got kind of disappointed that my two favorite Fantasy armies based on lore were also considered rather over powered.

Back to 40k: I tend to be kind of extremest. So I went from "OMG! RUSH ACROSS THE TABLE!!! CHAOS!" to "Oh noes! Stay away /shoot." with the Tau. Really, I liked the battle suits and drones.

My most common opponent is my roommate. He has High Elves, Dark Elves, Lizardmen, Space Marines, and Tyranids. Truth be told, I probably would've picked SM or the bugs if he didn't already have them. I'm glad he already had them at this point. Still <3 Dreadnoughts though. They're just cool.

I do think I'm going to head down to the tournament on Sunday to see Old Shatter Hands in action. I haven't been to our local shop to play much because, until a few weeks ago, I spent the last four years as a hardcore WoW raider. I got into the best guild on our server, MT'd Heroic Anub for the server first kill, and realized I didn't care. So I stopped playing.

I'm kind of rambling at this point just because I want to make a really long post to be able to format the blog better. I know it seems terribad at the moment, but I'm a junior programmer at Breakaway Games Inc. and spend all day on a computer. If nothing else you'll eventually be able to come here for any new Warhammer related information because I got spoiled by things like mmo-champion giving me new information as soon as it happened.

That should be long enough. I'll get pictures of what I have so far, what I'm working towards, and more interesting stuff than this soon. Back to work....