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Friday, December 31, 2010

Hobby Pledges of the New Year!



As the year comes to a close and 2011 knocks at our door, it is time to make those resolutions once again. I have been thinking about this and feel that many of us don't make realistic ones and often not the right ones.

So, I have decided to create this blog about pledges. I may do a montly post and people can comment stating what they are going to build/convert/paint as a goal for the month. One of the reasons why I made this blog was that to reflect back on my work to gauge how I am applied to the hobby. Cameron said last night that he needs to focus more on painting, I also am in this same boat. Everyone has a pledge I am sure about their hobby so declare it!

For me my year long pledge is to paint more!

Next month! I am going to purchase the final bits I need to finish my Space Wolves project and start painting. I am even already warming my wife to the idea of buying an airbrush and compressor. This from my discussions with people has been an amazing tool to getting bulk units and vehicles done. Something that really appeals to me.

I am going to hope to have one squad done each week. Lofty goal perhaps? Too easy? We shall see....

Tell us about your goals for the year and the first month fo 2011!

Da Boyz vs Da Umies! Orks Vs IG Batrep

My second game last night was short lived due to the store closing. With 30mins left and we was on turn two it was better to call the game, pack up and put everything away to keep in the good graces of the store.  There is a raincheck for this game to see how this will play out in the future. Perhaps over beer and burgers at my house or an arranged game at the store with a better time slot.

I had:
Warboss with attack squig, klaw, twin linked shoota and cybork
Big Mek with KFF and Klaw
14 Lootas
15 Kommandos with 2 burnas and Snikrot
19 Ard Boyz with Nob with Klaw and Bosspole
Battlewagon with Red Paint job and big shoota
25 Boyz with 2 Rockets with Nobz with Klaw and Bosspole
30 Boyz with 3 Rockets with Nobz with Klaw and Bosspole
10 Grots and Handler
19 Vulcha Boyz and Zagstruck

He had (from memory)
2 Heavy Weapons teams with lascannons
1 Heavy Weapons Team with missiles
lots of blob infantry squads
Command Squad with Commissar attached with Chimera with heavy flamer in hull
Rough Riders
Hellhound with flamer in the hull
Pask in Vanquisher with lascannon
2 Valks in a squadron with no missile pods.
Some special weapons teams

The game was Kill Points with spearhead deployment in a city based table. He deploys much of his army in cover and blobs  up his infantry squads to reduce Kill Points (very smart) and prepares for a turn or two of shooting. Wait for the Ork assult and then counter assult with flamer squad and riders.,

Well his first turn killed about 15 orks early on with lots of shooting. Ick! I had the KFF out with both squads in cover best I could with the Lootas. The Wagon comes in from long edge along with the Gorts (to avoid being an easy KP) with Snikrot sneaking about and the Vulcha Boyz from above deep striking.

I opened up with the Lootas on his Hellhound that zipped out fast (he forgot to blow smoke) and I managed to make it immobile. Good! Reduces the ability to shoot into my horde! A lucky rocket shot makes one Valk immobile making the squadron limited in movement or force loosing the one Valk in the exchange otherwise. Not a bad start. Weze are Deathskull Lootas and we had blue so we lucky!

His second turn pounds my Lootas some, kills a few. Downs a few more Orks, unit falls below 11 and I have to test, no problem.

Now the reserves. Snikrot and Boss with Wagon shows! Boss rolls on 13", they jump out, declare a Waagh! while the other two Boyz squads advanced also. We had the Lootas kill one heavy weapons team with some poor shooting performance. Meh! Snikrot burns one squad covering the rear and kills a few rough riders. The squad breaks (my primary target) and rest of the orks makes some good rolls. I fall short on one charge. My larger squad of boyz piles into one IG squad. The Kommandos charge the falling back unit. They rally and are promptly eaten along with the heavy weapons missile team and the command squad in back (multi charge). The Boss wrecks the Chimera (STR 10 on a stationary vehicle) 6 BOOM! but only 2". No real losses but the command squad looses 3 fleebs leaving one and the Commander and Commissar.

At this point we called it....due to the store closing. I had two units still in reserve. 2 KP and He lost 5 totak KP at that point. He could have counter assulted with the Rough Riders, flamered my orks and shot the crud out of me and could have swung it back to a balance then depending on my actions. I still have the Vulchas to drop that could have been ugly.

Great game! Great opponent! What more could you close out your gaming year with. but two grudges. Space Wolves vs 1000 Sons and IG vs  Orks!

Some pics of the game....


The Deployment

Da Dead Pile!

Heh! Stop that Hellhound!

Der'be Umies in there somewhere!
Not fur long!


*Knock Knock*
"Mr Kommisar I want your 'at!"

Hey wait! Orks don't sneak!
*URK!*

Thursday, December 30, 2010

Prospero's Revenge! Space Wolves vs 1000 Sons

Just got home after playing two great games at Anthem (one of my LGS in the area) against two great players. One is our very own Doomicon (check out his blog of the 4 Gamers challenge!) in a small 1000pt game of fluff.

We setup a ruined city table and rolled the mission. We got the standard each player had to protect their objective and capture the other. We had the pitched battle deployment and promptlys started to roll dice.

The dice roll went to Doomicon that setup his objective in the center of his deployment zone, mine was off to the side to give me a little more defensive base against the Space Wolves. His deployment was his Long Fangs next to his Razorback with a squad of Grey Hunters close by to protect his objective. His other Grey Hunter squad hid behind a build to avoid being a target. His drop pod was held in reserve with Lukas and a Wolf Priest with 8 Blood Claws.

From memory his list:
Wolf Priest
Lukas with 8 Blood Claws (think there was a flamer and power weapon)
2 Grey Hunter packs with power fists in them and melta weapons and flamers.
Razorback with TL Lascannons
Drop Pod
5 Long Fangs with 2 plasma and 2 lascannons.

My list was this:
Demon Prince with the MOT with Doombolt
3 squads of 9 Thousand Sons with a Sorcerer included with Doombolt.

My defense was to keep one squad close to protect the objective, one squad to the right to counter any attempts to move on my objective and the last squad to march up the middle. The Demon prince was to the right of this squad ready to either assist with the forward assult or defend the objective.

Click for a larger image for any pictures shown....

My deloyment around the objective hidden in the ruined building.

Cool shot of the Demon Prince with the far left squad.

The field in all it's glory....

Failed the seize roll and game on! Drop Pod landed and scattered back 7" from  his target zone. Blood Claws pile out and run. Both Grey Hunter squads move with the one running up to support the Blood Claws. His shooting removes a few 1000 Sons, puts a wound on the Prince...ick!



Lukas and company arrive!
 
My losses so far! Bear in mind I only have 24 Marines and 3 Sorcerers!

My turn advances my Sons slowly with SAP getting in the way. I crack off several shots killing some Blood Claws. Then Demon Prince charges into the squad and inflicts one wound on the Wolf Priest and attacks the squad killing a few. He pulls off several saves and only looses one wound. Fearless causes the loss of a few more.  Leaving Lukas and the Priest on their own.


Blood Claws Dead! Here comes the Grey Hunters!

Note the cowardly Grey Hunters hidden in the ruins after being beaten in combat!
 Bad puppies! No Saga for you!
His turn pulls the Grey Hunters up and piles them into the combat. We exchange a few more shots and one of his Long Fangs rolls a 1 and 1 for an armor save after an overheat killing himself. The Demon Prince manages to avoid death by rolling lots of 3+ and 4+ saves....then manages to win the fight again. Driving off the Grey Hunters. Lukas and the wounded Wolf Priest holding on. There was several saves on Lukas trying to get that dang "Last Laugh" to go off....I think Tzeench has other plans.

My turn fires into the Grey Hunters again that just fell back killing all but 2. I exchange some shots with his other Grey Hunter Squad as we take some losses back and forth from the various turns. I manage to kill the other two Blood Claws leaving Lukas and the Priest.


Lukas and the Demon Prince faces off for the final showdown!

His turn 3 charges the Grey Hunters back into the fight with the Prince. His other Grey Hunter pack falls short of a charge. Another Plasma Long Fang bites the big one with another overheat and a failed armor save. Ugh! The Demon Prince eats the other two Grey Hunters and bags the Wolf Priest. It is just now Lukas and the Prince.


Fire at Will! Or whoever that idiot in the front is!

My turn shoots up his remaining GH squad, killing like one or two models. Meh! Demon Prince wacks Lukas after he inflicts two wounds on the Prince passing both Inv Saves! At this point I think I passed 6-7 4+ inv. saves in this fight. Lukas takes two wounds, rerolls them due to the cloak and they still happen. We roll the dice, each of us has a 4. Lukas has the last laugh! Well, maybe Tzeench and Mangus the Red may have other plans for this Demon Prince.


Yea, is the Vortex Grenade Template and fitting ending for an epic battle!

We call the game at this point, He has one squad of Grey Hunters and one Long Fang squad with his Razorback and Drop Pod still kicking. I only lost the Prince and perhaps about half of one squad. I would be hard pressed to get to his side and he really didn't have a chance to capture mine or kick me off in 3 turns with what he had.

A great game, been a long time since  I've played Chaos and found myself a bit rusty on them. We had some confusion with the T and S of the Demon Prince that may could have resulted in a few more wounds but may or may not have made a huge impact to the game. The game itself was intended to be fun and a learning curve for Doomicon to sharpen  his game play. As as Space Wolf player I would say get rid of this Plasma Cannons! He is cursed I tell you!

Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Da Boyz are back in Town and Those Rat bastards!

Been working on a few models for Anthem to help James move up in class for his store with GW. They rank a store based on various factors one of which is having the starter kits for all three games painted up for demos as part of the critera. James has done several contests and this is the last leg I think that should put him in his new ranking for the first of the year. Painting has been slow with the holidays and helping out my wife's dad after hip surgery but now I am now done!

UPDATE!  The camera is not the best in the world, but it's a start. I did mange to fiddle with the settings to get some slightly clearer pics....



New Books to Read! Reviews on older stuff I've read....



Just picked these two books up today! Looking forward to cracking them open and reading Dan Abnett's stuff. A shame about his illness and I hope we can see many more great things to come. I've always been a fan of Gaunt's Ghosts and the prequel book "A Thousand Sons" was a great book that really opened the fluff door for them giving some great insight into their chapter and their struggles being one of the most unique of the Legions. This one not only has one of my favorite soon-to-be Chaos Legions but also has the Space Wolves another of the armies I am working on.

On to some of the recent stuff I've read: <<<No spoilers!>>>


This was a great book from the IG line with the Death Corps of Kreig vs  Necrons with a light love story set in the middle (if you could call it that). You really can see the depth of how the Death Corps works and how their attitude towards warfare is perhaps by far the most "mechanical". The Commissars are a bit interesting as they are not the hard ass political office but in this case more of a man of politics and reflection on the human spirit in the dark times. A recommended reading, the ending is a bit of a suprise compared to many IG novels but we are talking about Necrons VS Death Corps!


This follow up book was great! I love the Salamanders (had them at one time but was stripped down for Dark Angels as their rules from 3rd was gimped) and this story did not disappoint me in the least. Vulcan He'stan making an apperance in this novel was pretty cool as you got to see some of his personality in his grim quest to recover the artifacts of their gene-father. This book takes on a three fold nature of the story giving way to the newly trained Librarian and his ordeals, with the newly appointed Firedrake (the other rival sgt from the first book) taking a reflective stance into how empty his life has been and of the Chaplain and his own demons of his past. Pick this one up!



Amazing! This book ranked up there with Flight of Eisenstein and A 1000 Sons. This books sheds alot of light into the corruption of the Word Bearers before any of the others came to be. One of the interesting aspects of reading this book like the others is reading about the tragic fall of the chapters and their damming tales that spiraled them into the hands of Chaos. After reading this, my earlier thoughts of the God Emperor not being so great is even more true as to me he was a very poor "father" to the chapters and to be a spirit of humanity he sucked at the most basic principle of being human. The book brings up some serious questions as to why the Emperor allowed things to go on from being reunited with his son all the way to the time he punished the Word Bearers for their religous zeal and venerification of the Emperor as a god. Some of the shocking parts of the book really casts some new light on events we all know and love. Nuff said! The nice cap to the book is telling of the story of the massaccare at Istavan where the rebellion really came to a head. The Iron Warriors rocked in this....their cold calculated attitude in the fight made me laugh and feel all warm as they was my first Legion to have the honor to paint.

Feel free to talk about anything you have read...love to hear your thoughts on the above books. Just don't spoil the new ones!

Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Who Let the Dogs Out!


Worked on a few select models this week trying to get all my legs and torso bits ready to assemble into a few squads to round out my army.

2 Rune Priests (1 Painted) (1 primered)
1 Wolf Priest
1 Lord/WGBL with Thunder hammer and Storm Shield (primered)
1 Lord/WGBL with Wolf Claw (going to magnet the other hand to switch out weapons)
Najal Stormcaller

1 Iron Priest (techmarine conversion in works)
7 Thunderwolves including one with a power fist, Wolf Claw and Frost weapon. (WIP converting)
1 Land speeder with Multimelta and Heavy Flamer (painted)
1 Dreadnought (WIP to convert)
1 Land Raider (in box)
2 Drop Pods (in box)
4 Rhino/Razorbacks (WIP to finish, just the basic assembly is done)
15 Blood Claws with power weapon and 2 flamers (ready to primer)
4 Squads of Grey Hunters each with power weapon, 2 meltas and a Wulfin. (Pending some bits and work)
3 Long Fangs with 5 missiles each (pending to order 5 more missiles) (1 squad painted) (1 squad to primer)
Another Long Fang squad of 4 Lascannons (primered)
10 Terminators (pending magnet order to interchange arms)
15 Wolves (painted already for Vampire Counts, just used Goblin Rider wolves)
2 Scout Units of 5 (pending Wulfin heads and some conversion work, some primered)
2 other Grey Hunters with flamers (flex models)

Still have another box of Space Wolves to purchase; this will let me create a Multimelta squad and 1 extra Lascannon along with some Standard bearers and perhaps some plasma/flamer options. (hrm may need two!) I like to have options with my army. Based on what Chris owns also we can borrow from one another giving us enough stuff to make pretty much two companies of Space Wolves to work with. Working with some friends to perhaps learn to use an airbrush to speed up painting for the Wolves to get them done faster. I figure wait for a Michaels or  Hobby Lobby get 40% off a good double action brush and buy a good air compressor on sale at the Home Depot/Lowes and I am good to go. 

Shopping list:
Wulfin Heads
Magnets
2 boxes of Space Wolves
2-4 combi meltas
5 missile launchers
2 cyclone launchers
extra terminator power weapons (regular or space wolf)

Update!
*sigh* after looking at my inventory, gonna need now 2 boxes of Space Wolves and forgot the Terminator bits...arg!

Warhammer and Wine


Today my wife and I went to Lakeridge Winery for some tasting and bought a bottle of their Red Wine (sweet) that inspired me to compare a good game of Warhammer to wine.

A good game of Warhammer is like having a great bottle of wine. Why you may ask? You enjoy the moment and you leave the game with a feeling of  "Wow, that was a great game....wish all could be like that." In some ways enjoying the wine is like enjoying the hobby. You can take a moment to admire the color of the wine, much like a well painted army, both are pleasing to the eye. While an army of grey plastic or primered models would be like looking a wine that is clouded with residue from a bad process. The taste of wine is much like the enjoyment of the social aspect of the game. A moment of sharing something that is enjoyable and something to keep the mind sharp. The flavor of a good game can leave with you from the table just as much as a bad wine can leave a sour taste just as a horrible game can leave you with that same feeling. Last, there is the moment of reflection as the wine is gone and the models are packed away. There is that passing moment of reminder that it is time to go back to life. Yet, the positive and negativity of your experience can follow you afterwards....wine for thought....

Monday, December 27, 2010

Hungry like the Wolf!



With the FAQ GW just posted about Stealth giving benefits to the squad that the IC is with has created a storm of people posting various Space Wolf lists trying to avoid the common theme of being mechanized all the time.

Footsloggers 1 at 1850pts

100pts Rune Priest with Storm Caller and Murderous Hurricane/Living Lighting

120pts WGBL with Saga Hunger, Wolf Claw, 2 Wolves

100pts Scouts x5 with melta gun and Mark of Wulfin (MOW) or Power Weapon (PW)

100pts Scouts x5 same

240pts Blood Claws: 2 Flamers, 1 Power Weapon

170pts Grey Hunters x10 with Melta Guns x2, MOW or PW

170pts Grey Hunters x10 same

170pts Grey Hunters x10 Same

170pts Grey Hunters x10 Same

140pts Long Fangs x6: 5 Missile Launchers

140pts Long Fangs x6: 5 ML again

229pts Wolf Guard x7
2 with Power Armor, Power fists and combi-meltas
5 with Power Armor with Power Weapon, 1 gets the token Storm Bolter (4 points leftover)

This list offers your basic concept of the Stealth/Footslogger list. The Rune Priest and Wolf Guard Battle Leader join the Blood Claws giving you 21 wounds to soak now. You attach the two basic Wolf Guard to the Scouts and the other 4 into the Grey Hunter Squads. The Rune Priest casts Storm Caller if the majority of the unit is out of cover, giving them a 4+ (with stealth). Otherwise you could go with Murderous Hurricane or Living Lighting depending upon your taste. Living lighting works with the Long Fangs while Murderous Hurricane can slow down a unit to perhaps avoid assaults. The screen from the Blood Claws shields the 4 Grey Hunter squads and of course the Long Fangs should be in cover. The scouts can infiltrate or flank for tank hunting shock value or to tie up units in the back that the rest of the army may not be able to reach quickly. My only gripe about this list overall is the lack of power fists. Still, there are plenty of power weapons to make up the oversight. If you go towards 2000pts you have an extra 150pts to toss around, which is great for the Wolf Guard to get some decent upgrades like combis, power fists, TDA and perhaps even a cyclone launcher. You could also just toss in another Long Fang pack and bump two power weapons to power fists for Wolf Guards with the leftover 10pts.

Now, this second list is a bit different, it removes the scouts and adds a third Long Fang unit to the mix. The Fangs along with the cyclone launcher now gives you 17 missiles and if you carry living lighting, another d6, STR 7 shots. Also, all your Wolf Guard here have TDA giving them a 2+ now to soak an AP 3 to – shot giving some relief from the 3+ dice tossing. This list also has a lot of options compared to the other list while removing the tactical flexibility. You can swap around weapon choices to take the option of flamers or plasma if you want for example. Take from Peter to pay Paul they say is the name of the game. That gets nice about this list is when you move up towards 2000pts as you have now a serious amount of flex space to add what you want. Even a Dreadnought could be viable but as you’re only AV in the entire list, I think they would die a horrible death and your points would be better vested into Scouts, Lone Wolfs in TDA with a pair of Wolves with a chain fist and storm shield. Another thought is taking an Iron Priest with some thralls to take some extra heavy weapons like plasma cannons and layer up with extra thralls and wolves to soak the damage. I like to try to leave a list open ended so people can tailor it to their own tastes.

Footsloggers 2 at 1850pts

100pts Rune Priest with Storm Caller and Murderous Hurricane/Living Lighting

120pts WGBL with Saga Hunger, Wolf Claw, 2 Wolves
240pts Blood Claws: 2 Flamers, 1 Power Weapon

185pts Grey Hunters x10 with Melta Guns x2, MOW and Power Weapon

185pts Grey Hunters x10 same

185pts Grey Hunters x10 Same

185pts Grey Hunters x10 Same

140pts Long Fangs x6: 5 Missile Launchers

140pts Long Fangs x6: 5 ML again

140pts Long Fangs x6: 5 ML again

230pts Wolf Guard x5
3 with TDA with Power Fists
1 with TDA with Wolf Claw
1 with TDA with Cyclone

Saturday, December 25, 2010

Waagh! First post to a new blog! Merry Xmas!


As the New Year approaches time to launch the first post! Just a welcome to anyone that is interested in this blog and I am very excited to post up some work as this will be a good tool for me to track my hobby progress.

I  have already determined that at lunch I end up napping about half of it away doing nothing. So, I am going to work on models instead. The time I make up for my hobby is amazing, a half hour each day gives me 2.5 hours a week, that adds up to 20 hours of hobby work each month! That is assuming I don't start earlier. I tend to eat quickly and just surf the web for awhile since I can close the door to my office and read up about my hobby.

Last, I just want say that I hope everyone had a great Christmas!