October Horror Finished

Just a few update pics. Was hoping to have a min squad done but this week got crazy.

From Stuff I Have Painted

From Stuff I Have Painted

From Stuff I Have Painted

Thanks for reading,
T

October Horrors

From 2010-10-20

This month our local game club is having a painting challenge involving the color pink. As I am not a very imaginative person, and it is Halloween, Pink Horrors jumped to mind. It was also pretty helpful that they just got some cool new plastics.

So here are a couple of WIP shots of my first one. I am learning a lot as I don't normally paint this much skin. I plan to have a min squad done by the end of the challenge, so once that happens I will post the others up.

From 2010-10-20

From 2010-10-20

A Name Apropos

That guy looks pretty cool huh? A lot of people may have actually never seen one. Like Bigfoot, you have heard of them, even seen blurry photos, or artists renditions. (See Above.) But you have never actually seen a Tau Etheral in a 40k game. And despite my recent efforts to prove otherwise, there is probably a good reason for that.

I have stated a couple of times I am kind of an internet contrarian. (But wait! I am on the internet! Does that I mean I have to think contrary to everything I say? Oh noes!) So if the Internets tell me something sucks, like the Etheral, I can't get him into a list fast enough. In the case of the Etheral, I am starting to think like the internet.

The guy with the maracas of the future there has hit the table three times for me in pick up games. In all three games he has died because, when my opponent finds out that killing him has the chance of running my stuff of the board, they tend to get an evil grin as they start calling out new fire coordinates. The Ethereal has a rule that makes it so that as long as your Tau (So no bugs, kroot, or drones.) guys can see him they can reroll morale tests, but if he dies all Tau units on the board have to make a morale test at the beginning of their next turn. Your stuff that sticks around gains USR Preferred Enemy. In every game my Ethereal has made at least two squads run, though he has granted Preferred Enemy to what is left. Very helpful, what with all the assaulting my Tau do.

I am gonna give him a few more games. A lot of my units have low Ld because I don't pay for the squad upgrades, so I hypothesize that the reroll can be helpful. But the Etherial is officially "On Notice". Thus far the benefit of the Etheral has been just that. My consternation at this guy only grows when I think that he may be laying the groundwork, wherein a bridge can be built between myself and the internets. With that bridge will come contact, and commerece would increase. Followed closely by treaties, understanding, and eventual acceptence....
THIS CANNOT COME TO PASS!

The next game I think I will bury him a big unit of fire warriors and see what I can see, though that would require me to run a "big" unit of fire warriors. Shit just got real.

Thanks for reading,
T

Jeremy's Sons of Orar

Got to play a game of 40k with my buddy Jeremy against his stunning Sons of Orar army. This army has been to a few events in the Pacific Northwest, including OFCC and Astronomincon. The army is really sharp, and my craptastic pictures don't do it justice. Even more awesome is the fact that he has an Imperial Fist force, and an Angels of Redemption force that are painted as well, if not better.

Anyway we played 2k points. Annihilation with Dawn of War deployment. I brought my Tau to avoid some marine-on-marine action. I pulled a victory because it was one of those days you get, ever so rarely, where your railguns do what you think Str 10 AP 1 does, and just blew everything up. I was getting Pen "6's" for days. The final score was, after seven turns, Jeremy 9 Kill Points ('Cause Tau give them out like they are going out of style) and me 12 Kill Points. So there is that...

And this, which is a bunch of pics of his army. I am going to reschedule with him and shoot all of his armies in my little portable studio, so some day better pics will follow. Apologies in advance for the quality of these. The lighting was less than optimal and the shoot was somewhat impromptu.

From Mars' Project Blog

Drop Pod and Ironclad Dread that flamed my fire warriors and ran them off the board his first turn.

From Mars' Project Blog

From Mars' Project Blog

From Mars' Project Blog

From Mars' Project Blog

With my railguns being "on", I was able to rack up a good amount of kill points early with all the AV 11. Good thing too, as he took at least 2 KP's a turn in turns 6 and 7.

From Mars' Project Blog

Sternguard.

From Mars' Project Blog

From Mars' Project Blog

Jeremy ran Pedro and Honor Guard. While super nasty in assault, I got their truck open early and was able to plink them off with my plasma rifle/missile pod suits on a turn where I got 3 marker light hits.

Jeremy's army's beauty is only surpassed by what a sporting and cool guy he is to play. I always have a good game with him, and this was no exception. Thanks Jeremy.

Thanks for reading,
T

The Independent Characters

Kudos to the guys producing The Independant Characters podcasts. It has quickly become my favorite podcast for 40k out there. While certainly not G-rated, they are a little tamer than a lot of the others who often swear for swearing's sake or shock value. Their interviews are insightful. They ask pertinent questions and have tackled subject matter with out sounding pedantic or condescending. In all, when I listen to their discourses and opinions, they sound like the kind of guys I would like to hang out with.

Thanks fellas, and keep up the good work.

Thanks for reading,
T

Dads, Friends, and Fandom

This Blog is linked to my Gmail account via Google Buzz. When I was talking to my Dad last night he said that he was following my blog (Though not actually amongst my 9 awesome followers!) and said my stuff,"Looked cool." That was surprising, because my Dad knows eff all about miniature games. He doesn't have a clue what any of the words mean, he just likes the pictures.

I was thinking about how someone could be "into it", knowing nothing about it? Then it occurred to me that being vested in someone can still let you enjoy it. Deke Stella is without a doubt my favorite painter. You can see his work in the webstore of his miniature company, Soda Pop Miniatures. Now, lasciviously posed, scantily clad, anime chics are about 180 degrees from what I normally think is cool. There are exceptions...

But I digress. I throughly enjoy all of his paint jobs for his miniatures. As a matter of fact I love them. In some instances they even make me like the model more, despite it being something in a genre I wouldn't look twice at normally. Other than, and not looking to gloss over, the fact that he is just really good, I think Deke is my favorite because he is my best friend. Every time I see something that he has done, I can not only see the model, but also the thought process behind it. I can imagine, after having painted for countless hours at his side, the spots where he cursed the model, and the other spots that I know he was stoked to work on. In all, it is just cool that he did it.

As a new father, I am stoked when my daughter just waves. I can guess I can see how my dad could be into this blog with almost no frame of reference. It is all the better when the person you like is also talented, as is the case with Deke.

So thanks, Pop, for being a fan, and thanks Deke for being an awesome painter. Thank god no one I care about, to my knowledge, is involved in reality television. That is just something that I would have to work really hard to see merit in.

Thanks for reading,
T

Black Templar Vows Part 4

*Picture used w/o permission, glad to take it down if the artist wishes.

Alright. According to the internets we are are saving the best for last. And in many ways I am inclined to agree. Today's vow is:

Accept Any Challenge, No Matter the Odds

This is the most expensive vow at 50 points. It gives all your Templar USR Preferred Enemy. The vow affects dreadnoughts but not Neophytes. The second part of this vow is that if a unit is in range of an assault of an enemy unit it must assault them.

This vow actually took awhile for me to appreciate. The having to assault in conjunction with Kill Them All (A Black Templar rule that requires units to make a Ld test at -1 to shoot at anything other than the closest unit.)made me feel like at times I was not in control of my army. I had some canny opponents who would get an Ironclad or Wraithlord to where my squads had to assault it. The that Templar squad would be tied up all game, or until they were killed. I had even been victim to a very clever use of a Rhino pulling my guys off of an objective late game. And I didn't even get the Rhino since Preferred Enemy doesn't work on vehicles!

However, once you get your target priority worked out, and see some of the tricks coming, this vow becomes pretty nasty for a control type player. What assault army wouldn't love the chance to premeasure their assaults? This vow never states that you have to charge the closest squad, just that if a squad is within assault range you have to charge. It can easily be inferred from that rule that you measure to see what all your squad can charge. This knowledge can be used in a lot of ways to keep you out of undesirable assaults. Be it charging the best target, or declaring an assault you will probably fail, like one 6" away through difficult terrain.

And of course, the obvious, once you do get into assault you get to reroll all of your "to hit" rolls. Which normally makes it so that you crush whatever you are assaulting. This can be a problem, in that you often want to wipe out your opponent during their assault phase so your squad can't be shot at. But that is a different matter entirely.

One thing to note with this vow is that, if you think you are in a position where you will be able to pick your favorite assault, be sure not to shoot. Also, even though it is expensive for Templar, buying Krak grenades can help you out if you get drawn into an assault with something AV 11 or 12. Also, because neophytes don't benefit from this vow, it might not hurt, in lower point games, to leave them at home.

An army I might run under this vow would be small and rely on spending the game locked in close combat. At 1,500 points would look something like this:

1500 Pts - Black Templars Roster



: Emperor's Champion (1#, 140 pts)

   1 Emperor's Champion @ 140 pts (Bolt Pistol; Crusader Seals; Frag Grenades; The Black Sword; Accept Any Challenge, No Matter The Odds)

      1 Armor of Faith

      1 The Black Sword



HQ: Commander (1#, 155 pts)

   1 Commander @ 155 pts (Marshal)

      1 Marshal (Crusader Seals; Power Weapon x1; Combi-Meltagun; Accept Any Challenge, No Matter The Odds)

         1 Adamantine Mantle

         1 Combat Shield



Troops: Crusader Squad (11#, 505 pts)

   10 Crusader Squad @ 505 pts (Bolt Pistol x9; Close Combat Weapon x8; Frag Grenades; Krak Grenades; Meltagun; Power Weapon; Accept Any Challenge, No Matter The Odds)

      1 Land Raider Crusader (Unit Type: Vehicle (Tank); Transport Capacity: 15 models; Access Points: 3; Extra Armor; Frag Assault Launchers; Multi-Melta; Dozer Blade; Twin Linked Assault Cannon; 2x Hurricane Bolters; Accept Any Challenge, No Matter The Odds; Assault Vehicle; Power of the Machine Spirit)

         1 Blessed Hull



Troops: Crusader Squad (11#, 505 pts)

   10 Crusader Squad @ 505 pts (Bolt Pistol x9; Close Combat Weapon x8; Frag Grenades; Krak Grenades; Meltagun; Power Weapon; Accept Any Challenge, No Matter The Odds)

      1 Land Raider Crusader (Unit Type: Vehicle (Tank); Transport Capacity: 15 models; Access Points: 3; Extra Armor; Frag Assault Launchers; Multi-Melta; Dozer Blade; Twin Linked Assault Cannon; 2x Hurricane Bolters; Accept Any Challenge, No Matter The Odds; Assault Vehicle; Power of the Machine Spirit)

         1 Blessed Hull



Fast Attack: Attack Bike Squadron (2#, 130 pts)

   2 Attack Bike Squadron @ 130 pts (Frag Grenades; Multi-Melta x2; Accept Any Challenge, No Matter The Odds)

      1 Space Marine Bike (Twin Linked Bolter)



Fast Attack: Land Speeder Squadron (1#, 65 pts)

   1 Land Speeder Squadron @ 65 pts (Multi-Melta x1)



Total Roster Cost: 1500