Updates

Yes, this is one of those "post just to post" posts. I haven't been able to get a whole lot of painting/building/hobbying done lately due to real life stuff (two kids, wife, job stuff, etc), but I'm going to lay out the projects I'm working on and their progress so far. This also lets me know where I stand (and it's a quick-reference I can check on my phone lol, as my blog is enabled for web browsing now).

Blood Angels:
I started work on a 2,000 point list via my club's 40k Escalation League, and I believe I posted the contents a few months ago. There's 4 Las/Plas Razorbacks, 4 Predators, and a Stormraven in it. Sure, the list is not original, unique, or inspiring, but it surely is competitive and has won me many games (including scoring a SUPER CLOSE draw against the guy who won my store's Feast of Blades tournament). At the moment I have three Razorbacks and 15 Assault Marines primed bright red, and I've started painting black on the details of one of the Marines as a test model. Unfortunately, I still need roughly 8 Plasmaguns so I can convert the turret of the Razorbacks, and I need to do a LOT of work on my regular Predators as the sponsons have broken off tons of times over the years. Also, when I primed my Razorbacks red, there was a bit of shrinking and wrinkling of the paint in certain areas, apparently due to a chemical reaction between this new Army Painter primer and some old GW red primer. Isn't that awesome? Now I have to sand off that garbage and re-prime the spots. I'll post WIP pics later.

Tyranids:
I was in the process of painting up my bugs for Tacticon and GenghisCon, and since then my bugs have been horribly mistreated. I've played a TON of games with them, and unfortunately I don't have foam to store them in so they bounce around in cardboard trays and a tackle-box. Someday I'll purchase a shit-ton of foam from Battlefoam to store them in, and it'll be sweet. Until then I think I'm just going to have to be super-careful with them. Anyways, as I said a few posts back I've been really interested in using alternate units including Lictors, so I think I might work on building (and painting) a 2,000 point Tyranid list that doesn't really include the normal copy-paste stuff. I think I'll have a LOT more fun with it, and hey, if I win some games with them then that's even better. :)

Dark Elves:
They are still in-progress, don't worry! I have 40 Corsairs, 24 Crossbowmen, 10 Black Guard, a Hydra, a Supreme Sorceress, a Dreadlord, a Master, and a sorceress built. All I have left to do is roughly 30 more Corsairs, 12 more Crossbowmen (though I'm going to have 6 of them made as unit fillers because I actually don't have 6 more), 10 more Black Guard, another Hydra, and a Cauldron of Blood. I'm easily over half-way there, and my wife is making things WAY easier by cleaning everything ahead of time by de-spruing the models and bits and shaving off the plastic and metal flash. Fairly soon, I'll have 3k of Dark Elves fully built and ready for some kick-ass battles.

Cygnar:
Unfortunately my FLGS hasn't got in ANY of my preliminary Cygnar stuff (tokens, faction deck, etc), so I'm kind of stalled-out on them. Once the job situation gets figured out, I'll be able to start picking up little things here and there from other stores, but for now I'm waiting to use my store credit on the stuff I ordered, if it ever comes in. :(

So, stay tuned, I'll have pics of my WIP models up soon. Life is kickin me in the ass right now, and time is a very valuable asset at the moment.

My FLGS has a website!

Finally, my FLGS has started to work on their website! I happen to frequent a store called Attactix in Aurora, Colorado, and for several years their website had been down, until now! (note that it is under construction, however)

www.attactix.com

They also have a facebook page up and running too!

www.facebook.com/attactix

Check 'em out!

3,000 points - Dark Elves

I've been putting together my Dark Elf models, and making sure I have a WYSIWYG 3,000 point army (I just randomly have the urge to play a larger force than 2,250). So far, here's the list I've been thinking about running (and I plan on play-testing it this weekend if I can get everything built):

2,996 points - Dark Elves - Lore of Shadow

LORDS
Dreadlord (General, Crimson Death, Armor of Darkness, Pendant of Kaeleth, The Other Trickster's Shard)

HEROES
Sorceress (Level 2, Talisman of Preservation)
Sorceress (Level 2, Null Talisman (3), Ironcurse Icon)
Death Hag (BSB, Cauldron of Blood)

CORE
Assassin (Touch of Death, Dark Venom)
14x Repeater Crossbowmen (Musician)
14x Repeater Crossbowmen (Musician)
14x Repeater Crossbowmen (Musician)
20x Corsairs (Extra Hand Weapons, Command)
30x Corsairs (Extra Hand Weapons, Command, Sea Serpent Standard)

SPECIAL
20x Blackguard (Command, Banner of Murder)
5x Cold One Knights (Command)
5x Cold One Knights (Command)

RARE
War Hydra
War Hydra

Mantic's Warpath beta rules now available!

Some of you may have subscribed to Mantic's newsletter, and in that case you already have the Beta rules for their new Sci-Fi miniatures game Warpath (that is, if you were lucky enough for your beta test application NOT to get lost on their server). For those of you that haven't subscribed (or haven't gotten the invitation email yet like myself), you can download them for free right now at www.manticgames.com/sci-fi.html.

Mantic Games is most widely known for their Kings of War miniatures, typically their Dwarfs, Undead, and Orcs (which when combined with their fantasy game's rules set available here, is a direct competitor with Games Workshop's Warhammer Fantasy). However, they've decided to step into the world of Sci-Fi miniatures games to compete with Warhammer 40k.

So far, they only have their Marauders and Forge Fathers written up in PDF format to use with the beta rules, but that should be enough to give people a rough idea of how they want their game to play. The only problems I've heard of so far are base-size issues considering they don't list them in the beta army lists, but I'm sure two friends looking to have fun with a trial rules set could figure something out fairly easily.

Overall, after seeing some of the concept art for Warpath, I'm really looking forward to seeing some of the minis produced in plastic. I think this game could easily steal a lot of GW's market share if they focus on four major aspects of this hobby:

1. Ensure the rulebook is plainly laid-out. Nobody wants to spend half an hour flipping pages to find a simple rule. Better written rules also means fewer errata and FAQ documents.
2. Play-test the rules and armies. "Power creep" is not unavoidable. Units can be powerful but they should be balanced by cost, speed, or even numbers.
3. Cheap miniatures means it's easier for gamers to increase the size of their armies, and new players will be able to afford new armies.
4. Though the miniatures should be reasonably priced, that doesn't mean it's acceptable to skimp on quality. If people don't like the minis or material, they simply won't buy it.

But here's the kicker:

SO MANY PEOPLE were upset with the 5th Edition of Warhammer 40k, and even more were absolutely pissed off over the weekend project called "Codex: Chaos Space Marines". BOTH of these were written by one specific individual (though he did admittedly have help), and his name is Alessio Cavatore. Guess who has written the core rules for Kings of War, and now Warpath?

Is that enough to turn you away from the game? Should we play-test the beta rules and find out for ourselves?

It has begun...

As I stated in my last post, I started playing Warmachine recently. I acquired some Cygnar minis (which is my faction of choice) about a week or two ago and have been playing almost non-stop since. Because I don't have a whole heck of a lot and I'm brand-new to the game, I have been playing some small 15-point games just to try and figure things out.

The list I've been using is:

15 points
Commander Coleman Stryker (+6)
-Ironclad
-Hunter
-Charger
Trencher Chaingun Crew
Trencher Chaingun Crew

So far, it's 3-0 against Mercs, Cryx, and other Cygnar, but I've been looking through the Cygnar faction book and I'm really excited to get more minis. I came up with a slightly more interesting 15 point list after a bit of reading...

15 points
Commander Coleman Stryker (+6)
-Charger
-Charger
Journeyman Warcaster
-Hunter
Trencher Chaingun Crew
Trencher Chaingun Crew

With the Journeyman Warcaster I can alleviate some of the Focus issues Stryker might have with three Warjacks. Additionally, though I lost the Ironclad and replaced it with another Charger meaning I'm not able to fully deal with heavy melee jacks, I have gained an enormous amount of ranged firepower. Stryker will likely be casting Snipe on a Chaingun unit turn 1, along with Arcane Shield on one of the Chargers (and probably blurring the Journeyman Warcaster). Junior will likely be casting Arcane Shield on one of the Chargers during the first turn as well. This way, they both will be ARM 19, and one of the Chainguns will be RNG 14. That's a pretty solid firebase from what I can tell.

On an assassination run, I would start the turn by advancing with Stryker, casting Earthquake (which would likely be boosted since after upkeeping Snipe and Arcane Shield he'd have one focus left), and if it failed to hit the enemy Warcaster I would pop his feat to ensure I survive the round. If Earthquake hit, then two Chargers, a Hunter, and two Chaingun Crews would try to open fire on the now DEF 5 base enemy Warcaster.

It's still not perfect, and I know I would have issues with Stealth and infantry-based 15-point armies, but this seems like it would be a lot of fun, and I can't wait to try it out.

Cygnar?

I've done it! I've made the plunge. I have acquired about 40-ish points of Cygnar miniatures for Warmachine, and I can't wait to put them to use!

Here's what I got:

BOOKS
Current Warmachine Rulebook
Current Cygnar Faction Book
Current Mercenaries Faction Book

TOKEN SETS (Are these even usable anymore?)
Cmdr. Coleman Stryker
Captain Victoria Haley
Lt. Allister Caine & Journeyman Warcaster
Cygnar: Troop Set

WARCASTERS
Allister Caine (two pistols aimed forward)
Captain Haley (Variant)
Commander Coleman Stryker (pommel close to his chest, sword pointing up)

SOLOS
Captain Maxwell Finn

UNITS
Classic Trenchers (10 minis)
Classic Arcane Tempest Gun Mages (6 minis)
Trencher Chain Gun Crew x2 (two gunners, and two ammo dudes)
Trencher Officer & Sharpshooter (2 minis)
Ranger Unit (6 minis)

WARJACKS
Classic Ironclad
Classic Lancer
Classic Charger
Hunter (x2)



I figured out I could make a "35 points (+6)" list as follows:

Commander Stryker
Ironclad
Hunter
Hunter
10x Trenchers
Trencher Officer & Sniper
Trencher Chain Gunner
Trencher Chain Gunner
6x Rangers

I might not know what the heck I'm doing, but that seems to use most of the models I was given (whether they're good or not), and should get me going right away, I think.