Dreamforge Titan

Hey, my blog. Long time, no post. Sorry about that. I've been... busy? Not really. But in the meantime, I made a not-Titan!

Well, technically, Dreamforge Games made it, I merely assembled it. Though in this pic it isn't fully assembled, it's done in the really real world. I even assembled the sword arm, even though I won't use it.

And let me tell you, it was a fun kit to work with. There's a good number of moving parts, and it's poseable with a decent (not awesome) range of motion. 

Glad I got two.

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.