Wall of Pain

Just a quick update here from my new pad in Baton Rouge while I'm doing some research. Haven't been able to do much 40k related, other than assemble some heavy weapons. Take a look.



Hopefully more to come, but I can't make many promises at the moment guys. Thanks for checking in!

Bits for Sale/Trade

I was rummaging through my bits this evening, and found a few things I'd like to hock and wanted to give the FTW community the first bite at the apple, as it were. There are two lots for your consideration and details are as follows:

Lot 1: Scouts. All items must go together. You will receive:
1 partially built scout
3 legs
4 torsos
5 heads
1 heavy bolter
1 missile launcher
3 bolter arms
4 shotgun arms
5 bolt pistol arms
5 close combat weapon arms
Various accessory bits


Lot 2: Transfer Sheets. Take your pick from:
12 normal infantry transfer sheets
5 normal vehicle transfer sheets
2 Space Wolves vehicle transfer sheets
1 Space Wolves Bike Squad transfer sheet
1 Ultramarine Bike Squad transfer sheet
1 Blood Angel Bike Squad transfer sheet


Contact me at mss1087@gmail.com if you are interested in any of these items and we'll work something out, either money transaction or item trade.

Back to the front, with a laundry list in front of me

After a bit of a sabbatical, I've returned to my post! I got through the semester, for which I'm very grateful, and I'm waiting to get started with my research internship next month. In the meantime, however, I have a bit of time to paint. And what a list!

Here's what I got done in the past two days:

TLLC Razorback "Corinth"
Jump Pack Chaplain "Erasmus"

Currently working on:
Attack Bike
5 Assault Marines (almost finished, the shoulder pads need to be painted then glued in place.)
Missile Launcher Marine (For flexibility. Though I'm not sure why I bother. I've currently come to hate missile launchers, due to my scatter dice deciding that they hate me!)

Still to come:
3 Tactical Squad Sergeants
5 Heavy Weapon Specialists
5 Standard Terminators
1 Tactical Squad, potentially converted into Sternguard Vets
1 Standard Bike
1 OOP Terminator Librarian
10 Assault Terminators (D is going to hate my guts...)
Bits to finish my Land Raider project

Also, there is another secret project being worked on, and I will be posting on that (potentially in its own blog) after I get "done" with my Marines. Though, quite frankly, I don't think I'll ever be done. I've come to the realization that for the hobbyist, an army is never done, only abandoned. Unless, of course, you have the patience and capital (or outside help and capital) to complete an entire Chapter of marines, and therefore have all the options you could ever dream of for developing an army. Alas, I doubt I shall ever have a complete thousand plus man chapter, but it does create such mental images...

I digress. Pictures to come soon!

Brother-Captain Turel, reporting for duty.

Here's my latest work (for Space Marines, anyway.) This is a counts as Shrike model I worked up, and if I ever get more assault marines, he will see some action on the tabletop. For now, however, he is little more than a centerpiece. In any case, props to Jawaballs for his wing tutorials! I did mine far too small, but used the basic techniques to create my own wing pattern. I may have to try the wings again in the future. Anyway, here's some pics of the newest addition to the Dawn Crusaders command structure!

AstroMag Article Response

After reading the excellent new issue of the AstroMag, I felt somewhat inspired and uplifted by the first article, entitled "40K in 2009: the Big Picture." The author brings out excellent points that quite frankly, as gamers in a niche market, we're complaining far too much about a company that in the grand scheme of things is pretty stinking small. They're running 3 popular miniatures games systems with a staff of 77 creative developers total. In other words, there are video game studios with a higher number of creative staff. They're doing their best, so pipe down and enjoy your hobby. That was the general idea of the article. I agree with this for the most part, but there is one statement that I take issue with, and I will quote it for you now:

"In a hobby advertised not through mass marketing but rather through word of mouth, it is imperative that our words and our corresponding actions support Games Workshop in every decision they make."

In every decision they make? No, I don't think so. For example, I don't think that dropping Imperial Guardsmen troops from 20 to 10 troops in a box is a great decision. Does it make some amount of business sense? Sure, but charging the same price for half the models is a bit extreme, in my opinion. Yeah, the world economy is in bad shape, but I think that this may push all but the most driven of potential Guard players away to an extent, minimizing the number of Guard horde armies. This leads to a generally stale set of army list composition. While I agree that we need to be positive about the game and most certainly its developers, if we ever stop questioning decisions completely and letting GW know about our concerns in an intelligent, irenic fashion they will begin to make more and more decisions without consumer feedback, which is important to any business. So ultimately, if we give our complaints the right vehicle, they do matter.

I suppose that that is the real point of the article: vent your spleen to the right person in the right venue. It does no good to complain to your buddy about a decision GW makes, let your concerns be known to GW in a civilized manner if you want to get a decent answer. The answer may not be one you like, but they are much more likely to give you a good reason if your complaint isn't along the lines of "OMG, u r teh suxxor!!!!1! Brng bak teh infnite asslts whit teh corn brzrkrs lol!" And for goodness sake, if you're trying to bring a new player into the game, don't constantly complain about GW in front of them. That's just going to scare them off, decreasing your number of potential opponents.

Overall, I definitely agree with the author of "Big Picture" for the most part, but I would say that you should never forget that if you're going to complain, there is a proper time and place to do so. Remember, words do have a great amount of power, so be careful what you say, and to whom.

1850 Potential Tourney List

After a bit of brain storming and looking over what I have, I came up with the following list. I present it to you now for consideration.

HQ
Space Marine Chapter Master -- 170 pts.
--Boltgun
--Artificer Armor
--Relic Blade

Space Marine Chaplain -- 125 pts.
--Jump Pack
--Digital Weapons

Elites
Dreadnought -- 125 pts.
--Assault Cannon
--Heavy Flamer

1x5 Terminators --230
--Assault Cannon

Troops
1x10 Man Tactical Squad--205 points
--Flamer
--Multi-melta
--Rhino

1x10 Man Tactical Squad--255 points
--Plasma gun
--Missile launcher
--Razorback (TL Lascannon)

Fast Attack
1x10 Man Assault Squad -- 215
--Powerfist
--Combat Shield
--Melta Bombs

Heavy Support
Whirlwind -- 85 points

Land Raider --250 points

Predator -- 190 points
--Autocannon
--Lascannon Sponsons
--Sgt. Chronus

TOTAL: 1850

The way I see it working out is I'll have the Chapter Master joined to the Terminators inside the LR to go forth and kill what they can. The MM Tac Squad in the Rhino will go hunting, while the Razorback Tac Squad will set up as a kind of forward fire base. The Whirlwind will be set up to start smashing hordes, with the Predator tooled up for support, hopefully from behind cover. The Dreadnought will mainly be used as a hunter/distraction. The Assault marines, finally, will be paired with the Chaplain and used for interdiction. I plan to keep them behind cover/out of line of sight until they're in a good position to ruin somebody's day.

Feel free to let me know what you think!

Layout Changes and Table Construction

Well, normally I refuse to do these sort of posts on principle, because they do little to actually further the content of my blog, but I made some layout changes. I felt like the widgets got far too distracting on the left side when trying to read a post, so now they're over there ----->.

In order to satisfy my own standards, let it be known that a friend and I have started working on making 2' x 4' table top sections for our games. We used the basic plans from miniwargaming.com, found in their "How to" articles section. Hopefully the tabletops will be done shortly after finals are over. They aren't the prettiest or the most professionally done, but we're not professionals, and it gives us some excuse to play wi...ehrm...get more experience with power tools.

Last, but by no means least, I am getting ready for a tournament. 1850. A list will be posted shortly for criticism/suggestions.

Thank you, and good night!