Vanity, vanity, all is vanity...

I've committed to the ultimate vanity project that a gamer can commit to: custom dice.





Thank you, Chessex.

I have a wild hair...

I've been getting a weird urge lately. I want to repaint my guard, or at least paint a guard army. 

It's something that Russ Wakelin (I think) was talking about many episodes ago. At least I think it was him, and if it was, I'm certainly paraphrasing here: you're a slave to your old models. You've collected an army for years; you've painted it in a certain style, and your painting style is now frozen in that time period because everything has to match. 

This model was recently painted, but could easily be one I painted 13 years ago.

And my Valhallans are that army. I love them, and it wounds me to think about putting them in the simple green dunk, just for an experiment. There are colors on those models that GW doesn't even make anymore. And that was before the massive paint reboot. 

But I have a few ideas on armies that I want to make that might distract me from my model melancholy. I love all the old metals, Mordians, Tallarn, etc, and the thought of putting together a US Armed Forces Tribute list keeps bubbling in my brain. I'd have Mordians as Marines/Vets, Cadians as Army (as an infantry platoon), Kasarkin standing in for Navy Seals (complete with Vendetta transports), and perhaps converting up some Avengers to have as counts as Vendettas.

The Valk kit could easily be turned into this. You'd just need to rationalize its transport capability. 

Of course, I also have that mostly assembled Double Wing army, as well.

Post Con Season

Adepticon...

Gencon...

NOVA...

They're all done, and my wallet is very thankful for that.

Of the three, Gencon was my favorite, as there was zero 40k competitive pressure to deal with. My schedule was my own, and I could game to my heart's content. While there, I L5R'ed my butt off, and cruised around the con otherwise. Fantasy Flight was a frequent stop, with Relic (think 40k Talisman, but improved) being the highlight. If they had had it there as anything beyond a prototype, it would have been mine. As it was, I picked up AEG’s Ninja: Legend of the Scorpion Clan, many Secret Weapon bases, some latex weapons for shits and giggles (one being a thunder hammer), and assorted odds and ends. I’m certainly going back next year, and I’m very pleased with the VIG companion ticket. So worth it, with the lounge/bag check/free sodas/shortened reg line. Oh, and the bean bag chairs in the lounge. Somewhere, there’s video of my friend supermanning into a pile of them after a sprint, after which she received the people’s elbow from me.

Adepticon was a mixed bag, mainly due to my illness. The day of the Team Tournament, I took ill, and had a 100 degree fever. I was sweating bullets and swallowing fistfuls of Tylenol to get through it. If it wasn’t for that, I would have had a great time. Adepticon is its own community now. I’m beginning to recognize people from different time zones now, which is weird to me. Still, I was proud of our team’s performance under duress. We improved our position again this year, even with the hurdle of facing the BoLS team in round one. Lessons were learned, and good times were had. I was just upset I had to skip the combat patrol the next day, as I was still sick.

NOVA would have been awesome, had it taken place about two weeks later. Mike and crew had to make some tough choices with some rules calls, and those really came back to bite me in certain games. It’s not their fault; it’s just that the GW FAQs clarified those rules in the exact opposite way that the NOVA did. Now, don’t get me wrong, I still had a good time, but by the time Sunday rolled up, I was done with 40k playing for a bit. I went to brunch with Kenyon instead, and had a great time there. I’m still going back to all three next year, Lord willin’ and the creek don’t rise. I'm debating NOVA for next year, as it came so soon after Gencon. It killed my wallet. I still think I'm going to go, if for nothing else than supporting an innovative format.

Three days until I leave for the NoVA Open. 27 models to paint. Can it be done? YES.

Adding the above to my Chaos Daemons/Chaos Space Marines. I've always loved 90% of that model; the head is complete gak, however. I look at this as the evolution of lost Lord Wormwood (seen below). Lord Wormwood was my little tribute to the late Sean Forbes, my old manager at GW, and an avid Dark Angels fan.

I'm looking at taking the Daemons to the NOVA Practice Tourney at the Bowie Bunker in about a week, just to see how they shake out. I just have to find my missing Nurglings...

My First Game of 6th

And it was a draw three turns in. Dark Eldar vs my Flesh Tearers. Both of us had flyers; I with my Storm Ravens, and he had a Void something or other. We ended up playing "Purge the Xenos", or whatever they call kill points now, with the end to end deployment. I ended up getting two Kill point off my initial drop; he killed two squads. That's all well and dandy. But this game still has the same DNA that we've all become familiar with, with added tactical choice. I'm all for it, at least right now, but I find myself thinking too much. Having to think about the rules impedes the thinking about tactics, but I sense the glimmer of goodness there. I'm looking forward to my next few games, so I can put the rules behind me, and get to the meat of the game. Practice will make perfect, after all.

So, to keep my options open, I'm also building a list for my Flesh Tearers at 2k for the NOVA, just in case. Last year, I went and took an all jump, led by the Sanguinor list, and I went 4-4 with it. In case my earlier supposition about vehicles was wrong, I thought I'd try something else, and make a vehicle heavy (for me) BA list. If the flyer rules are as good as they say, and if the flyer rules get transferred to the Storm Raven, well, I do have two that I converted just sitting about....

Here's the list I'm toying with (pun intended):


HQ: 1 Reclusiarch in Power Armour, 145 pts = (base cost 130 + Power Fist 15)

Elite: Furioso Librarian (1#, 175 pts)
   1 Furioso Librarian, 175 pts, Shield, Might of Heroes

Elite: Furioso Librarian (1#, 175 pts)
   1 Furioso Librarian, 175 pts Fear of Darkness, Might of Heroes

Elite: Terminator Assault Squad (5#, 225 pts)
5x TH/SS

Troops: Assault Squad (10#, 235 pts)
  2x Melta, Power Fist

Troops: Assault Squad (10#, 235 pts)
  2x Melta, Power Fist

Troops: Assault Squad (10#, 225 pts)
 2x Flamer, Power Fist

Heavy Support: Vindicator (1#, 155 pts)
   1 Vindicator, 155 pts = (base cost 145) + Siege Shield 10

Heavy Support: Stormraven Gunship (1#, 215 pts)
   1 Stormraven Gunship, 215 pts = (base cost 200 + Extra Armor 15)

Heavy Support: Stormraven Gunship (1#, 215 pts)
   1 Stormraven Gunship, 215 pts = (base cost 200 + Extra Armor 15)

Hopefully, the 6th Ed book will be in stores to look at tomorrow, but if not, I'll have a farewell game of 5th to tide me over.

NOVA Open and 6th

Given a number of the rumors floating about regarding 6th edition, it seems a less vehicle friendly place than it was before, at least to those light vehicle armies that we know and love. Given that supposition*, I'm seriously considering taking The Host of Hope's Demise to the NOVA Open, my all Nurgle based Chaos Daemons army. They've always excelled against a meat-bag based army, and have struggled against a metal based one. Could my tide of rotten flesh and rancid thoughts shuffle it's way to victory? It's hard to say, but it's fun to have an extra 250 points to play with**. I'll have to see the new mission structure, and how that will affect the NOVA's scoring, but I don't think it will be too much of a sea change.

My only concern is how to deal with flyers, who seem to have significant buffs to their defensive capabilities, but I've also heard rumors that flying monstrous creatures will also receive these buffs, and I'll likely have at least two of those. Of course, we're all guessing until the 30th, so who knows?

*And the fact that I love their paint job.
**I usually play at 1750, and the NOVA is at 2k.

Lost and Found

I started cleaning and reorganizing my hobby area this past Sunday. 

I found three rhinos on sprue and an assembled drop pod I had forgotten about.

It felt like Christmas. 

Before I go to sleep...

Just a project that I'm workin' on.

Working on a few odds and ends that I have in my hobby pile.

Hobby Progress as of late:

Assembled 15 GK in power armor for my NOVA Open army.

Threw the above guy together for fun.

Assembled (partially) a FW Griffon that I got at Adepticon

Started painting up a Samurai to represent my Legend of the Five Rings Character.

Planned out my new display for this year's NOVA.


So, all in all, only one thing I did was "useful." I'm out of black primer, so I can't start painting the GK yet. I'll have to fix that soon. I also need to assemble a Razorback for them, and I think I need a Chimera for my Henchmen.

Gencon and NOVA Open

Having put Adepticon behind me (and that was hell, because I took ill at the con), I've got two major cons coming up. You might have already guessed what they are by the post's title. Of the two, only NOVA is 40k related exclusively, but let me take a chance to sing the praises of Gencon for the hardcore miniatures player.

First of all, Fantasy Flight is there in force. I've signed up for sessions of Chaos in the Old World, and I'm looking forward to them immensely. And let me state, unreservedly, that CitOW is one of my favorite games, so much so, that I'm bringing it to NOVA to unwind from the massive amounts of 40k I'll be playing that weekend. Being a 40k player, what's not to love about being one of the four gods to destroy the world of square base heresy? Fantasy Flight will have that, and their multiple GW based games out to play, including RPG products. You'll see the GW universe from a different angle, refreshing your game play.

Secondly, Privateer Press always makes a huge splash. Yes, I'm not -technically- a PP player, but I already have two factions from my Adepticon swag bag, Khador and Legion. As much as I feel like I'm cheating on my wife (GW) by considering playing these systems, you have to admire PP for getting right everything that GW is getting wrong. For instance, they're at Gencon, playing demos, building relationships, and generating goodwill. Their system is solid, the rules are tight, and the models are always interesting.

You also have Wyrd Miniatures, makers of Malifaux, and, if you're a pure painter, Dark Sword Miniatures produces great work, with the Game of Thrones and Masterworks miniatures. I mean, look at this thing:

That's incredible. And the lion is sculpted on. Seriously. Tom Meier is a genius. This mini was on display there last year, and the picture doesn't do it justice. Cool Mini is also there as well, with all of their bizarre and painterly miniatures there for you to peruse. Battlefoam is as well, so you can cart your ill gotten gains back home. And that's perhaps 1% of what's there. I even played a cyberpunk Cthulhu game last year. If it's possible to play, it's possible to find it there. If you go with an open mind, you'll be rewarded, I assure you.

Blowing the dust off...

I may have been otherwise occupied.

It really is the devil.

Between school, work, SWTOR, and the obvious release today (which I was beta-testing), I've been a busy boy.

But I recently went to Adepticon as well, so perhaps I haven't been totally absent from the hobby. And, I finally brought a new Team Banzai themed army as well.

And I even made our new display board as well.

Shown here in it's Friday, pre-finished incarnation

It's not much to look at, but it's better than some. :)

But coming back from Adepticon has re-energized my desire to play the hobby. I'm building and painting again, and I've got a new idea for making my X-Board look snazzy (and to make it work with my new Grey Knight army's tech bases). So, look forward to actual future blog entries and such.