Monday, September 24, 2012

Interrogator Chaplain Seraphicus

First commission model completed.








I had a lot of trouble getting the symbol on the cloak to look right, and after 3 tries it's still not perfect, but it's good for the quality promised.   Everything else went pretty quick.

Monday, September 17, 2012

Hobby update; first commission.

Happily I picked up my first commission this week, 3 of the characters from Dark Vengeance which may eventually turn into the whole thing. Working on the chaplain. I'm liking the cloak and tabbard, and there isn't much armor so that won't take long at all. Just have to do the weapons, gold and smoke.



I also built a Chaos Rhino for Toys for Tots.  Since it's Iron Warriors it really won't take long (yay black tanks!).  Not doing the inside, but I have the rear door magnetized to hold the havoc launcher and dozer blade just like last year's Chimera.


I also have all the chaos models from DV for myself. They are to the point of mostly primed, but ran out of primer (see Rhino above LOL).   I plan on doing the Chosen as nurgle-themed, eventually running them as proxies for plague marines as allies.

That's it for now.

Thursday, September 13, 2012

Games Workshop has changed, for the better, and we should all celebrate.

How much change has GW gone through in such a short time?  For someone who borders on a GW fanboy even I had to admit that last year at this time it didn't look good for GW in the long haul.

Codex creep GK was domination the tournament scene.  Finecast continued with quality issues with GW apparently indifferent to the consumer about it.  No support for events/tournaments.  It's like they were rolling along on past success with complete apathy. Units in books without models.  Oh, and the international sales embargo.

Oh what 12 months can bring.

What sparked this post? Today's announcement of a brand-new White Dwarf.  The final bad apple has been plucked and a whole new life has been brought to the Games Workshop hobby.

Check it out here: http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/wnt/blog.jsp?pid=4200016

A whole new team. A whole new approach including featuring models painted by the community from email and Flickr. How cool is that?  Only time will tell if WD will return to past glory, but I'm hopeful.

So what else has happened to completely turn around my attitude towards GW?  A lot. Necrons brought non-power armor into the forefront of the competitive environment.  Timely and useful faq updates. More and more attendance by GW at events such as Adepticon and GenCon.

Then came 6th edition.  A whole new approach to 40k that to me is a wonderful game. With the latest round of faq and errata eliminating the deathstars and bringing the last little bit of balance to the game.  I always thought 5th edition was wonderful. It was, but 6th eclipses it by far.  Other then the challenge rules, I have no complaints about 6th. It is fast, fluid, cinematic and a whole lot of fun.  I think the challenge can be fixed really easy too, make it just like fantasy where unit champions can decline without penalty.

Still only rumors but the leaked release list includes some very interesting tidbits.  Mainly the idea that they will release small army lists in WD that can't play on their own but can be used as allies.  I consider that the ultimate win-win.  The company gets to sell more models, while the players and hobbyists get to try out new things, new models, new lists without the expense of a full sized army.  Specifically the older gamers with multiple armies that may not be buying as fast or as often as they once did, will be enticed into new purchases.  The final cherry on top is you'll never know for sure what you will come up against.   I honestly think 6th edition eliminates the "meta" entirely.

Oh ya, can't forget to mention the awesomeness that is Dark Vengeance.  For once, GW has put out a REAL starter set.  I've seen Macragge, Black Reach, Island of Blood, and none of them really qualified.  I looked through the book that came with Black Reach and I can't imagine a new player trying to figure out the game (basically it just had arrows pointing and referring to page numbers) and of course the fact that Island of Blood came with no stats at all..they had to release a pdf.

DV changed all that. There are missions that walk you through the rules adding more in each time. Heck there is even a *single player* scenario!!  Nicely made stat cards gives you all the information you need to get stared in 40k.  All this for the same price as Black Reach.  Don't forget the completely amazing models included in the set.  GW is still the king of models, especially plastics.

Did I mention every unit in the Necron codex has a model?  That is something new, and if the rumors hold then from now on every codex will have available every unit in it within a month or two. This may mean that some books are delayed, but that is a compromise I can live with.

There is no way to know what motivated this change.  Ultimately I have have to vote for the idea that sales were slumping, or at least flattening, and they realized the competition was coming on strong and they couldn't sit on their laurels any longer.  It really does come down to making money after all, and I will never berate them for that.

Edit: Totally forgot to mention the digital products!  If only they had them available for general computer use not just iSuck products.  maybe in time..

Not everything is perfect of course. The draconian clamp down on rumors.  Finecast still hasn't reached the quality it needs.  Price increases.   But overall I have to commend Games Workshop for the almost revolutionary way it has responded to complaints by it's customers and fixed a whole big chunk of it's issues, and in such a short amount of time.

I'm really looking forward to years of enjoyment with the current state of Warhammer 40k.  What's even better is the local people and community I play is huge, growing and simply amazing.  The Pacific Northwest is a huge gaming area.  There are about 12 active game stores around the Portland area alone, which means there has to be a lot of gamers out there spending money.

If you want to see what we do here, check out our club Ordo Fanaticus and it's forums.

Well that's enough for now.  I am still planning on hitting up the Bay Area Open next year, so subscribe to get updates on my plans for that over the next 6 months.

Tuesday, September 11, 2012

Jet Battlewagon Complete!

If you haven't see it on youtube, here are pics of the completed battlewagon.

Only took me 2 1/2 years.






That is all.  See you next time.

Sunday, September 9, 2012

Aegis Defense Line completed!

Turned out to be more work then I thought.  The stippling was very annoying, but looks good :)










Base color is my old favorite, Vallejo Model Air black metallic.  I then went through and stippled Vallejo Model Air rust, GW Vermin Brown and lastly Blazing Orange over every single piece. Was extremely tedious.

I then painted the details. The "lights" (that's what they look like to me anyway)  are Ianyden Darksun, then the control boxes and wires were picked out. The green button is like the on switch for the lights. 

After that the whole thing was washed with Nuin Oil, then a very light drybrush of Chainmail to bring out the very edges and not make it quite so dark.

After a spray of Dul-Cote, I put on the ocher ground color pigment and a little black around the blast holes.

All ready to keep the lootas nice and safe!

Saturday, September 8, 2012

The future of nob bikers post-FAQ

So the big faq update hit today and with it came the end of the Paladin/Nob character units.

Still have the harlie-star, but that's a different topic for a different day..

The question then becomes are nob bikers still good?

The answer is, unequivocally, a bit fat green YES.

Are they worth the points? Most likely.

They aren't going anywhere just yet..


I've been mulling over the games I played with nob bikers, and realized that the wound allocation wasn't a big deal.  With Look out sir! of only a 4+ I still lost front models far more often then getting wounds spread out everywhere.  In other words, overall I don't think I gained much benefit from the wound shenanigans.

The other losses, though, are harder to take.

First is the loss of precision shot.  I have to say that was the best part of the whole character thing to me.  The one time in particular where I was able to snipe out the Commissar from an IG blob making them lose stubborn was huge in that game.   However that does not negate the still considerable firepower you get from ork bikes in general.  Oh, and you don't lose P.S. entirely. The painboy is still a character.

The next loss is in challenges. Before you could throw whatever nob you wanted to in a challenge. Now it will take more consideration then before when dealing with this.  Not like the biker boss is any slouch in a challenge, especially with that T6..so knowing what you're up against really matters.

Overall you lost a bit of survivability. Nothing compared to paladins though. lascannons and meltas still blow them off the table. Not so much with nob bikers. That T5 and FNP is still by far the best part of them, and that's still there.

They definitely did not lose much if any killing power, or are any less of a target priority for your opponent if you want to play that way.

Friday, September 7, 2012

Resurgence of the Big Shoota

In 5th edition I always equipped my boyz units with rokkits. Statistically, 3 rokkits and 3 big shootas have the same lethality to MEQ, 1 causality.  However rokkits are actually pretty good against AV11, and there was so much of that in 5th that it was simply silly to take big shootas.

Now that the vehicles have calmed down somewhat in 6th, the big shoota is on it's way back. When I was running 1750pts I knocked one unit from rokkits to big shootas just because of points. The more I played them the more and more the big shootas were awesome and the rokkits did nothing because they were out of range. I've done notable damage to infantry with them.  So much so that I've now equipped both units of shoota boys with big shootas. 

Obsolete?

A lot of that has to do with the nob bikers, and the boys just hung back on objectives most of the game. Even without the nob bikers being able to have that total range of 42" with S5 shots against mostly infantry isn't bad. Heck they can even glance most flyers.

I was thinking about trying out a large unit of deffkoptas as an annoying shooty unit. Having T5 and jink might add to their survivability enough where they can come on and shoot and then survive.  Maybe. I was going to run them with rokkits but now I think all big shootas and a buzzsaw is the way to go, keeping them cheaper.  The changes to morale is a big part of that as well.

If I take 4 koptas with big shootas and 1 buzzsaw, they will always try to rally on their LD7. If I take 5 then with just 1 left he would need snake eyes.  Not great odds, but a whole lot better then 5th!

Returning to a tabletop near you?
The one thing I've noted in my games without the nob bikers is that getting to objectives is hard. My perception is that it's harder then it was in 5th, but that may be the nature of 6th ed armies where there is just more anti-infantry shooting.  Koptas add that outflank harassing ability lost with Snikrot but have more survivability then kommandos.  The other option is a wierdboy trying for 'ere we go!

4 of them with a buzzsaw is 165pts, 30 more then a dakkajet.  Unlike a dakkajet though, they are a denial unit and a scoring unit in The Scouring and have a shot at taking out annoying things like Long Fangs.

Buggies however, still suck.  Don't take them, ever.

If I ever break out the kan wall again, big shootas are definitely an option there as well.  Actually, so is the KMB..




Wednesday, September 5, 2012

Throwing away the Nob Biker crutch

I've been playing nob bikers since 6th came out. They are really freaking awesome lol. 

I've run them very aggressively, and they usually die by turn 4. My opponent has to deal with them, as they will knock out almost every unit in the game.

I've decided to try something a bit different, more of a horde style. I've added 30 more slugga boys (because that's what I have).  I'll be swapping out different units to see what happens. I want to try some reserve stuff (deffkopters), and some wierdboy stuff.




In two games I've played I find mobility an issue.   I never worried about it too much in 5th but it seems more of an issue in 6th. 

At 2k I want to try out adding a 2nd force org for a wierdboy, maybe a SAG or 2nd KFF mek.  The idea of getting that 'ere we go! and suddenly dropping 30 shootas all up in my opponent's stuff sounds fun.

I'll give this list a go for a few games, see what happens:

HQ: Mek, KFF, bosspole
HQ: Warboss, PK, squig, cybork, bike, bosspole

Troop: 30 Sluggas, nob w/pk&bp
Troop: 30 shootas, 3x big shootas, nb w/pk&bp
Troop: 30 shootas, 3x big shootas, nb w/pk&bp

Elite: 10 Lootas
Elite: 10 Lootas
Elite: 10 Lootas 

Fast: Dakkajet, extra guns, fighter ace (proxied by a Barracuda)

Heavy: 3 lobbas, 1x extra crew, 3x ammo runts
Heavy: 2 Kannon, 3x ammo runts

Fortification: Aegis

Allies:
HQ: Sash'o: TL missile pod, blacksun

Troop: 6 Firewarriors

Heavy: 2x Broadsides, A.S.S., team leader with hw-blacksun

2000pts exactly

Tuesday, September 4, 2012

Another quick Aegis update

I finished distressing the aegis.  Loved how it came out.

Not going to be making it "orky", it's simply going to be a beat up, abandoned wall that lootas ran up behind and started shooting..other then removing the Imperial Aquila.






Pretty much just going to do it quick. Base of Vallejo model air black, lots of stippling of rust colors, pigments and a black wash.