A message from the collection of all human knowledge

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Time Warp

So things are going to be pretty slow around here for the next, um... Year! This is because I'll be going to school in Germany, and while I'm bringing some models with me to work on, and there's a game shop in the town I'm traveling to, I don't imagine I'll be going too nuts on the game front. Rather I'll be trying not to fail classes that are ONLY IN GERMAN!

So, things will be sporadic, if at all. I'm sincerely sorry for any inconvienence this may cause to any readers of this blog.

Here's hoping things will be more regular when I get back!

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EPIC!

So I have no attention span, as a careful read of this blog will attest. In the midst of an Eldar painting frenzy, I'm managing (I think) to fit in some work on my Epic Blood Angels army. This will be the fifth paint of these models and man oh man are they gettin' thick. I'm pretty sure these figures can withstand a nuclear blast.

Blood Angels
Dark Angels
Crimson Fists
Dark Angels
Blood Angels

Yup... Thick all right. Considering how the 1st Dark Angel paintjob, and the Crimson Fists paintjob were done with the Citadel colored sprays back in the '90s/early '00s.

I'm doing this because two of my friends want to throw down some Epic, and as the resident Epic master of my gaming group I'm more than happy to oblidge a game. I have over 6000 points of Space Marines (way over... I even want to say almost 10,000 points because of my love of Titans), and 'bout 3000 of Chaos Marines. Once I get back from Germany I hope to have a 3000+ point army of Eldar, and a 3000 point army of Orks.

So that's what I've been up to this week. Not much else. I'm only a painting session or two away from finishing my Banshees, 2nd squad of Dire Avengers and a squad of Rangers. We'll see when I can fit that time in.



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A loss... Of sorts...

Yeah, so my WARMACHINE game didn't go so hot. It was for Summer Rampage, so I thought I'd be all clever-like and play in Western Cygnar; which many of you Rampagers might know to be a pretty safe bet for Cygnar to play in against the Legion, and also has quite a favorable condition on it (New Recruits: allowing 50 extra points per army). However I rolled what could possibly be the worst scenario I could have rolled: The Curse of Garlghast Island. For those of you who haven't had the pleasure of plying this scenario, it doesn't allow LOS any greater than 8", and it makes all spells and animi +1 Focus/Fury to cast. We both had pretty shooty armies, and so this particularily sucked.

There were a few mistakes I made that I noticed. I should've kept far back from him at all times instead of staying put. I also should have popped Haley's feat one turn sooner, allowing Alten Ashley to shoot the crap out of his Carnivian and whatever's left to be dealt with the Hunter. Alas, it was not to be. I'll have to play someone else before I go back to that Legion player and try my luck again.

Not much of a report, but I really don't have the patience to do full ones. Mine are more like battle summaries.

In other news, I haven't painted much today (read: anything today), but I'm hoping to finish up my Banshees tomorrow. I really need to as I have to get going on this project.

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PAAAAAIIIIINNT!

I actually finished something this time! That's right, my new Eldar army (the third incarnation I've done since I started playing oh so long ago - 12 years) is off to a great start. I've finished my Striking Scorpions, and my Howling Banshees have one day's work left in them. I also managed to finish a HORDES minion while I was at it. Let me take you through the magic that was the last three days of painting.

First off, here's some work in progress pictures of the Howling Banshees I'm working on.

Here's a close-up where I showcase my super-awesome talent with the new Citadel washes. This is Baal Red on top of a Mechrite Red base. Not as good as some wash/paint combos but it looks good and does the highlighting and shading for you.

Here's a standard close-up. Again, these aren't finished. If you look closely you can see my finger.

Here's what we came to see, a view of my finished Striking Scorpions.

Little closer this time. That's the Exarch in the middle with the Biting Blade. Pretty darn neat!

Here's a close-up. Watch out, that's a Scorpion Chainsword comin' at cha! For my army (which is mostly Aspect Warriors) I've gone and copied the Rogue Trader era color schemes. That means gold weapons and none of this 'painting your Aspect Warriors Craftworld color' bullcrap!

This is a pretty good shot of the armor, which is just Scorpion Green with Thraka Green wash over top of it. That easy. I tried to highlight but no matter what I mixed Scorpion Green with, it just looked redundant.

The Exarch now. I did the yellow on them using Iyandin Darksun with Sunburst Yellow highlights. I'm not super-happy with it, but I think it does the trick.

Here's a back shot showing off the way the wash really did its thing on the armor.


Here's an unrelated picture of Alten Ashley for HORDES. I painted him in the time it took the first coat of Shining Gold to dry on the Howling Banshees. That's sort of an exaggeration, as the gold was probably dry during the painting of him, but I like to think that I painted him pretty darn quick. I definitely painted him during the D&D/Penny Arcade/PVP podcast.

That's it for that. Glad I actually have something done. I'll put some more work into the Howling Banshees tomorrow, and I'll be back on this blog to talk about the new Summer Rampage put on by Privateer Press for their WARMACHINE and HORDES games (I may even have somewhat of a battle report for you).

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Yet Another Painting Challenge

So I've gotten myself into another painting challenge. Last time I tackled the mammoth task of painting every model in my WARMACHINE collection. This was not completed...

Here's the list (units in bold were completed)
10x Long Gunners with UA
8x Trenchers with UA
6x Mechanik crew
6x Mechanik crew
1x Eiryss
1x Haley
6x Sword Knights
6x Sword Knights
1X Hunter 'Jack
1x Centurion 'Jack
1x Ironclad 'Jack
1x Journeyman Warcaster

As you can see I actually got pretty close. The unfortunate part is that during all of this I managed to buy, build, and prime a unit of Storm Lances, Alten Ashley, and another Ironclad, so that didn't help. Nevertheless I am one model away from 500 points of painted WARMACHINE (either Alten Ashley, or Eiryss).

Yet now I am embroiled in another three month painting challenge with three details different from the last: 1. I'm doing an Eldar army for Warhammer 40,000; 2. It's many, many more models (see below); 3. I only have six weeks to complete it instead of twelve! This is because I'm leaving to Germany on the 9th of September.

How will I manage such a feat? The Citadel Washes of course. I started my Striking Scorpions today, and they look fantastic. All I did was tank brush them with Scorpion Green, before I washed them with Thraka Green. I'll post pictures when I get access to a digital camera again (weekend?). Now I just have to do the details, which will be mostly black, gold, and yellow. I'm hoping to actually finish the unit tomorrow.

In other news: There's a huge Warhammer tournament in Vancouver this weekend, and though I'm working during it, I'll be able to go out to the afterhours and tear stuff up! I'll be bringing my Dwarfs as they're the only army other than my High Elves that are really close to being painted, and they're fairly competitive. I'll post some reports about that after it happens (Sunday?). My game group, The Fighting Cocks, is going to represent itself there as well (we're named after the halfling regiment in Warhammer, not something vulgar), with four of the members showing up. 'Twill be good!

Anyways, I leave you with my Eldar painting list and an apology that these articles aren't more interesting; but this blog really is just my thoughts on painting and gaming, and those thoughts are often that I wish I painted more.

1 Autarch
6 Striking Scorpions
10 Howling Banshees
10 Dire Avengers
5 Rangers
6 Swooping Hawks
3 War Walkers
1 Falcon
3 Wave Serpents

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40K 5th Edition Review

I had my first game of Warhammer 40,000 5th edition today, and I got my ass handed back to me by a Nurgly fist.

The game itself is awesome. There’s so much more going on, and so many more tactical maneuverings it was almost confusing, only because I had no idea how to play my army anymore.

One thing I want to say to begin this is that anything you may have looked at in the new rules and said to yourself “Hmm, that looks like it wont work/is too powerful” doesn’t/isn’t. Everything from the true line of sight, to going to ground, to infantry being the only units to hold objectives works.

I also want to say that I wont really go through all the rules step-by-step as that’s pretty boring, and pretty long to write. Also, there are a few podcasts that do a better job of this, thus I’m just going to review everything at once.

What I like most about the new edition is that it’s added some of the interesting bits from the first two editions that they just discarded in the 3rd edition switch because they deemed them cumbersome. Now, it seems they’ve found a way to incorporate them better without sacrificing playability. My favorite being the vehicle ramming rules. Now you can ram opponent’s vehicles just like you could in the old editions. There’s also the inclusion of line of sight being ‘what you can see, you’re able to shoot at’, and the addition of running rules again.

My philosophical interpretation with these changes may differ from that of the games designers but with these changes I feel that they’ve changed purpose from having a streamlined tournament rules set to having a rules set that’s primarily fun to play with casually. Since 3rd edition 40K has always been secondary to me in my gaming pursuits because, while I thought it was a good tournament rules set, I hated playing it one on one, because it seemed so sterile and abstract. Even abstract miniatures games like AT-43 have interesting bits like command points, or orders. 40K 3rd and 4th editions didn’t. They were just abstract sets of rules that weren’t much fun to play other than in Cleanse mission type scenarios. The only 40K games I’ve played in the last two years have been using the Cities of Death and Apocalypse rules. Both of those rules sets deviate from the norm quite heavily, and are amazingly fun.

Now, 40K is fun to play again. There’s more for me to do against your vehicles than just plain ‘ole shoot at them. I can ram them, or I can go into combat with them head on and use your back armor to damage. Hiding out behind that forest, all game bombarding me/casting psychic powers? Not anymore you’re not! I can clearly see you, and though your cover save is quite high (most cover saves have been boosted at least +1), I can still harm you. You might want to hide behind that tree. Shooting at my Eldar Rangers that are sitting on an objective in the woods? Well, I’ll go to ground and get a +1 to my already 4+ cover save (let’s not forget the +1 I have for having the Stealth ability!). If I get shot by a Demolisher Cannon, then with a Go To Ground order I can either increase my cover save by +1 or take a 6+ cover save if I’m out in the open. This increases survivability (though I didn’t make ONE Go To Ground save the entire game). This is good, because with everything else out there that can now see and kill me; it’s good to have even a little insurance.

Combat is also way more deadly. After chargers have moved in the defenders must move their movement in order to get into contact with any chargers that able to be attacked. This guarantees that more models are in combat and also lessens the chance of combats being big slugfests for 6 turns. Combat resolution is also much easier to resolve, being more like the Warhammer Fantasy set of rules. For each kill you score in excess of your opponent, you force your opponent to take a -1 on a leadership test for losing the most casualties. In the event of a failed Leadership Test, you do the 4th edition Initiative roll-off and the winner consolidates (but is unable to engage another enemy unit that turn). Easy! In real game terms this resulted in some pretty decisive combats, as my Banshees destroyed a unit of Chaos Terminators on the charge but were then wiped out by Lesser Daemons the following turn.

Here’s another shocking change, Victory Conditions. Now only TROOPS (infantry, bikes, whatever… Unless it’s a vehicle) can capture objectives. Not only that, but because of the way you choose missions and deployment (that’s right, choosing missions is independent of choosing deployment types) 2/3 of the time you’re going to play a mission that uses NO VICTORY POINTS. It’s all Apocalypse-style: Whoever has the most objectives at the end of the game wins. Other units can contest objectives, but it’s up to the grunts to move in and hold them. After all, Saving Private Ryan has shown us that infantry are way better holders of towns than that sorry tank.

For the most part things were tidied up. Rules were clarified and certain aspects of the rules that may have been there from the beginning were reiterated. Such as the rule that you cannot move through your friendly or enemy models at all! Even in the same squad. The vehicle damage tables were consolidated into one table with modifiers on the roll depending on what weapon you’re using and what type of hit you got.

As much as I love the rules I do have a few complaints. In a few regards I thought they could have gone a step further to bring more detail into the game without sacrificing playability. I think the running rule is cool; but I really wish they’d just bring back Movement Values. I miss having Eldar move 5” and Marines move 4”. They don’t even have to touch the old codices; they can just print a table in the rulebook stating the different movement values for models. This is the most unreasonable of my requests, they get better.

I also wish Tank Shock was deadlier. I’ve always found Tank Shock to be just useless. I want more punishment for failing a Leadership Test when confronted by a tank charging into you. Finally, I’m still waiting for a decent Psychic System. I understand the want to move away from the mini game that was Dark Millennium back in 2nd edition, however I think a Warhammer Fantasy-Style system would be far superior to what they have now. I think the original thought behind scaling down the Psychic System in 3rd edition was because they didn’t feel Psychic Powers should play such a big role, or be too powerful. I just think that in a Space-Fantasy type setting there should be some destructive supernatural powers, and some epic psychic dueling.

Like I said, I love the new system. I was never this excited about 4th edition, and I sure as heck wasn’t as excited about 3rd edition. I’m looking forward to finishing my Eldar army and getting some painted games in. I also need to add more troop choices… With an average of 4 or 5 objectives per mission, what’s a three troop choice army to do?

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GAMMING!

I hate it when people misspell. Even more when they misspell gaming. Anyways, the new 40K comes out tomorrow, well... Comes out today at Strategies' midnight (10pm) release party (big ole game of Apocalypse). Well... I already have my copy, but that's not the point. The point is that your average plebians will have their copies on the 12th and that makes me happy.

I don't have time for a full-fledged review right now (maybe Sunday?); this is more of a check-in to see what I've been doing/haven't been doing. If the previous posts on this blog are any indication of what's to come next, it'll be madness, frenzy, and other made up words.

First up, I painted some more WARMACHINE stuff. Yay! I doubt I'll finish in time for the competition but I'm getting there. The sad part is that the project was entirely managable. I just got distracted with sunlight, friends, and social spheres, that don't involve pushing around metal soldiers on a tabletop (What?! Are you friends with SATANISTS, and SKINHEADS these days?). I'll try me darndest, but Citadel washes can only speed up painting so much

Second on the platter, I'm changing another painting project of mine. I'll no longer be looking to complete my Chaos Space Marine army, but instead will do my Eldar army which (in all fairness) has been on the docket much, much longer than the Chaos army, and is less redundant in my gaming circle (where we have two, or three, Chaos players). I'm known for my Eldar anyways, and it's time I updated my gaming force to the current models. This will mark my third Eldar army; my first being a Biel-Tan force from 1st/2nd edition, my second was a blue, and purple color-scheme from 3rd/4th edition, and this final one will be purple, and bone made up of all new Eldar models (4th/5th edition models. The ones that were released in 2006).

Third... Um... I bought more Chainmail models. I love those damned things. I really miss that game more than any other, I'd think. Well... The new D&D Minis game is actually quite good, so I guess I just miss the painted models. Oh well, Mike McVey has moved on to bigger and better things (please come back to Privateer Press), and his work on Chainmail shall not be missed.

For all you roleplayers out there, I didn't know that Chris Pramas worked on Chainmail. That's pretty cool. I like his stuff (Green Ronin/True20/Mutants & Masterminds/Song of Fire and Ice RPG (forthcoming)/and most importantly Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay).

Alright, time for me to get to work.

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YAY! TANKS!

Wow I finally finished building my box of 5 M4A1 Shermans with 76mm guns for my Late War U.S. Rifle Company! What? I can't use the 76mm guns as support with a Rifle Company?

Shit...

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Of Washes and Change

So I've been painting this whole time I haven't been posting. The first thing I want to touch upon is that a friend helped me convert the spear on the Cygnar Centurion Warjack for Warmachine, and the damned thing looks spectacular. It's easy 1.5 times taller than the 'jack, and thus, is way better than the wee one that came with it.

Secondly, the new Citadel Washes seem great, I just don't know how to use them yet. I've been told to slather them on and let physics sort 'em out. That is to say, use an abundant amount and wait for it to dry. So far, I've tried a small amount and got next to nothing. Then I tried a large amount and got way too much. I'm thinking this is just because I double-coated. I'm gonna try ONE big large coat instead of a small one and a big one. Then I guess I'll try a few small ones; then I guess I'll go through some combinations ad nauseum until I touch upon something that works. I just really wanted to get out there that doubling up isn't the greatest.

I'll tell you why. What I've found with a venture in flesh is that it doesn't have the velvety tones that I was told they should have. In fact it was a bit too dark for my tastes, and had some shiny elements in it (which I'd like to avoid for everything but metallic). I tried Tallarn Flesh, then Ogryn Flesh, then Elf Flesh. I was hoping to finally find a use for Tallarn Flesh, and Elf Flesh, but I now know that my quest continues.

The problem was that the Ogryn Flesh made the recesses too dark, and when I painted on the Tallarn Flesh/Elf Flesh mixture (I was never good with ratios, but it was something like 3:1) it clashed with the Ogryn Flesh so radically that it was like highlighting black with straight white. I tried my best to fix it, but now you can barely see any Ogryn Flesh at all. I'm thinking that Gryphonne Sepia will be a good alternative. I'll try it on the Journeyman Warcaster and get back to the blog on the results.

Another thing I should mention is that the Citadel Washes act as a matt varnish over whatever your painting. So if you like your golds rich, and your steels shiny, you might want to stick with inks. However, I detested this shininess with non-metallic colors and am glad for this matt look. I also happen to like the matt look. I've also learned that Orkhide Shade and Thraka Green is a useless combination; and the Orkhide Shade eats up the Thraka Green wash like it's going out of style.

On a side note: I'm finished Haley, and the Centurion Warjack for my Cygnar, Warmachine, army, leaving 12 Mechaniks and Gobbers; 6 Sword Knights; 8 Trenchers; 3 Long Gunners; 1 Journeyman Warcaster; 1 Eyriss; and 1 Ironclad Warjack. So close I can taste it!

To another topic: Change. My thoughts on this began with the new Citadel Washes, came to a conclusion with the new 5th edition of Warhammer 40,000, and had proto elements in the Foundation Paint range. I like change. Well, for the most part. It's sometimes hard in the gaming world. The loss of 2nd edition 40K, Chainmail, and the switch to pre-painted Confrontation figures were hard to swallow; but for the most part change is good.

As an example, before Games Workshop released Apocalypse for 40K the last time I played was the Medusa V worldwide campaign (Summer 2006). I really had no interest in 40K two years into the 4th edition. Then Apocalypse came out and it changed my gaming habits. Besides the removal of points-driven victory conditions and the addition of new models and formations, the expansion gave me multi player capabilities, and in-game options I've never been confronted with before. In fact, the last time I was given something close to this was with Cities of Death, which (not coincidentally) was the focus for Medusa V. I loved Apocalypse (and still do), and still haven't played 40K any other way.

Now I hear word of 5th edition and the changes seem monumental. It seems like it's bringing the game more into the tactical realm of Warhammer Fantasy (which up until 5th edition I thought was a much, much, better game), and closer to the detail and character of my beloved 2nd edition. More importantly than these changes to the 'feeling' of the game is the way it'll make me think about my game of 40K differently. The change from 3rd edition to 4th edition was so minuscule that it felt like I've been playing 3rd edition for ten years (1998 was when it came out); now I get to play something else, and I'm excited.

Now, a new edition has its drawbacks as the gaming community will let you know, vehemently. The cost to upgrade your rulebook is high alone, without having to await the opportunity to upgrade your codex. Fortunately the models and general structure of the various armies has stayed the same since 1st edition (anyone who disagrees has to actually look at the various army lists instead of just going by memory or rumor), but the paper cost is quite high.

That sorta sucks; but I'm willing to eat that cost if it means I can enjoy one of my favorite wargames again. I'll now construct my armies differently, respond to my enemies maneuvers differently, and strive towards victory differently. The same patterns, and trends, and responses I've been going through since '98, or '04 can take a breather, and I can think again, instead of feeling like I'm going through a playbook.

What my point to this whole thing is, that new editions and revisions of games are crucial. They keep interest in the hobby, and as painful as it is to upgrade I'm sure it's for the best. If a game doesn't evolve or change it gets boring, and people stop liking it. This is pretty bad for the games company, but this isn't about games companies or the politics within, it's about an incentive to play. Or paint; the Citadel washes are giving me something new to do at my paint table, and while I'm struggling with integrating them, I'm having fun. Hell, I haven't changed the way I've done hair, or flesh, or metals in years. In fact, with the exception of trying out Vallejo paints, or P3 paints, I've painted the same things the same ways since I learned how to do them.

Gamers have been lucky enough to have received a new D&D this year, one that changes a play-style that has basically been the same since AD&D 1st edition; and I can't wait to get a new 40K, one that will change the way I build, and play, for a long (but not too long) time.

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Daemons! DAEMONS!

The new Warhammer Armies: Daemons of Chaos looks SO GOOD! I bought it today along with a box of Bloodletters, and every P3 Paint Brush but the flat ones. I've had one too many Citadel brushes split on me that I'm now looking for alternatives. I've tried the Vallejo ones that come with the paint sets and found them to be unimpressive (save their ability to hold a point, but I imagine that's common with all synthetic brushes). I hope these work out.

Anyways, I bought the Daemons of Chaos book, and soon I'll have the Codex: Chaos Daemons book, and my Chaotic conquest will be complete. I'm surely not sticking my daemons on circle bases, this way I'll be able to use them in Fantasy and 40K (and if anyone complains about that, I'll laugh at them heartily and continue playing).

My other projects? Some are coming along, some have ground to a halt. I have been painting like mad, though. I've nearly finished seven Cygnarian Long Gunners, six Cygnarian Sword Knights, and nine Chaos Space Marines. I say nearly because the Long Gunners need only basing, the Sword Knights need only their sheaths painted, and the Chaos Marines need only their backpacks painted and glued-on.

This is good, as it means that I'm having a good start to both my (rather large) summer painting projects. But seeing as I've done the Marines in about a week it's not too bad. I'll post some pictures this weekend (I promise).

I'm also working on an Elven Wizard from Reaper Miniatures that I'm going to use for a D&D character (for 4th edition!), starting this Sunday when I demo the rules while playing through H1 Keep on the Shadowfell (the first 4th ed adventure, and one that I'm glad to see go back to the 'Letter-Number' designation). I'll also post pictures of him as soon as I finish.

Sadly, my Halfling Thief, and Confrontation Abel repaint haven't moved any further than the primer stage. Oh, the life of a painter with gaming-A.D.D. (there's nothing funny about A.D.D. unless you're Clone High).

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Repainting Prepaints

Say that ten times fast...

So, I thought I'd take a break in my two painting projects (Warmachine: Cygnar; and Warhammer 40,000 Chaos Space Marines) to tackle a couple projects I'd been meaning to do for awhile:

Painting a Halfling Rogue for D&D 4, and
Repainting the prepainted Abel from Confrontation

I primed both these suckas and now I'm just waiting for them to dry before I tackle this project. I don't think I'm going to do Non-Metal Metallics (NMM) as that's a project for another day. However, I will try and paint this model to the best of my abilities, using my new favorite line of paints: P3.

I'll use a good mix of Citadel, and P3; but I'm gonna try and better integrate P3 into my painting routine. I'm not gonna turn away from Citadel that easily. I still think they're good paints.

I'm thinking I might try some NMM on the halfling, though... Yeah, I think I will. I'll use that as a starting point, and I'll delve into some more complicated techniques with another model at another time and date. I'll, of course, let this blog know how it goes, with lots o' pictures.

Now for something else: This blog has tackled alot of the different aspects of miniatures wargaming, so far (that's the second time I've used the word, 'tackled' in this post); but what it's been lacking is the gaming portion of the hobby. I don't have the time, memory, or pictures to do battle reports for the two games of Warmachine I played yesterday, so you'll all have to suffice with the report that in my first 700 point game against Khador I pulled off a win in the Domination scenario from Prime: Remix; and my second 700 point game against a Menoth army went terribly poor as I lost by a landslide in a Killing Field scenario from the same book. This just goes to show my complete inability to deal with Menoth armies. Though, to my credit, I haven't played an army that hasn't fielded the Harbinger, yet. I'm hoping it's just her that throws a wrench in my gears.

I'm sure I'll have a better report the next time I play a game.

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What's he doing over there?

Why, painting Sword Knights of course... More at 11!

Not really... More later...

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Alkemy in Review

What's this? Two posts in two days? Heresy!

Well, I'm getting better at being regular (gross!), and I hope to have this bizarre trend continue. Today I talk about a new miniatures game made by a French gaming company called Kraken Editions. The game is called Alkemy, and it's pretty cool.

I first found out about this game not even a week ago. A friend brought some into the game shop I work at and offered to sell me a starter box for the Kingdom of Avalon. I bought it, and I just assembled the models today. Here's some pictures.

This is one of the two Avalonian Recruits you get in the box.

Here's another one

The Legate-Knight Garlan de Brall

One of the Avalonian Recruits finished

The second Avalonian Recruit finished

An Avalonain Crossbowman

A Countryside Priest

And the whole lot of 'em together.

Note, all the models have Dark Age-style bases on them. They did not come with the models, I chose to put them on because the models looked really cool, and I think Dark Age-style bases make models look better. The bases that the models came with were slotta bases like the ones GW uses but with a smoother, shinier, rim.

MODELS!
As you can see the models aren't metal; they're plastic. What plastic? I don't know. I used superglue at first because I wasn't sure if my Citadel Modelling plastic glue would work because it's a polystyrene cement, and only works with certain types of plastic. I eventually decided to test it out and used the plastic glue to do half of the models. I'll test them when they're dry to see if it worked; but I imagine this will be difficult to determine because the models are snap-together.

That's right, snap together. All the different fit snugly into each other like you'd witness amongst the higher-end prepainted plastic models (By which I pretty much just mean AT-43 and Confrontation). Indeed these plastics aren't like the kind you'll see with Citadel plastics, these ones aren't on a spure. In fact, they're cast just like metal models, but in plastic. I don't know much (read: anything) about casting models, but this is pretty neat to think about, because people like plastic for it's convertability, and if the models are cast a similar way to metal models, the pieces might not be constrained to the 'sprue-barrier'.

The models look awesome too (as you may be able to tell, with better photography, here). I was initially attracted to the Medieval, French, look to the soldiers, and the miniatures didn't disappoint. All the detail looks really fine, not as fine as lead Rackham models look, but about as fine as a plastic Citadel Miniature looks today. I was also impressed that I could build a large part of the models and not have to worry about covering up detail. All the shields are held out from the body, which not only allow some deft brush movements, but look dynamic as well. As for those parts where I couldn't help but cover up detail? Who cares? They're snap in! I'll paint it then glue it, and not have to worry about losing any pieces.

There are still a couple of problems with the models, though. For one, some of the pieces were bent. They weren't just bent like some banners, or swords from a blister pack containing a metal model are, they were bent in a style that's reminiscent of some of the prepaints. That annoying bend that wont straighten no matter what you do. How many times have you bought a D&D Miniatures booster pack only to have a model leaning over his base as though he were toppling over? While this only happened with a couple of the weapons, it's still annoying, and I've never had another plastic model with bent components right out of the box. Also, I noticed some pitting on the inside thigh of one of the Avalonian Recruits. I'm hoping primer will cover this up. In the back of my mind I know I should try and putty this, but you have to twist my arm to get me to putty anything.

Overall, I can't wait to paint these.

GAME!
The game looks cool. I've read the rulebook in English (and German) that's availiable from their site (German), and I have a hard-copy of the rulebook in French that came with the box. In fact, everything's in French... Which is funny only because I'm weihttp://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gifrded-out about it. I know that it's a French game, and that it shouldn't be weird, and that they'll get around to doing an English book eventually, I just find it funny that I look at these cards and rules and have no clue what any of it means. For those of you who are wondering I missed the 'exclusively French' phase of Rackham. In fact, I came into Rackham's games around the time that they were making some serious headway in English-speaking markets , North America especially.

Anyways, the rules are neat. Combat is done using a card system, where you choose your action in secret, and show it to you opponent who has also chosen a combat action. You then resolve the combat actions depending on what both of you played. I've been toying with a card-based action combat system for a while, but couldn't make it work. For those of you who remember the Warhammer Warriors books that Black Library did in the very late '90s you'll know the sort of system I was working on.

As for the die-rolling, you only roll one set of dice for hitting and damaging. The dice look like something out of Doom: The Boardgame, or Descent. There's six dice colored white, yellow, and red; and they all have numbers and weapon symbols on them. The colors depend on how heavily wounded you are: unharmed being white, damaged being yellow, and heavily wounded being red. Not only do the dice tell you if you hit or not with the numbers, but the weapon symbols correspond to a chart on your unit's card which will tell you how much damage you do to your target depending on what combination of symbols come up.

The game itself is a skirmish game along the lines of Confrontation 1, 2, or 3 (3.5... Whatever...), with alternate activation and action points. For those of you who played the VOR family of games (VOR, Warzone, Chronopia, Dark Age, and (to a lesser extent) VOID/Metropolis/Urban War) spending an action point to move, another to shoot, and a third to move again before handing off initiative to your opponent will seem familiar. I have yet to play a game; but once they're painted I will, and I'll let you all know how it went, along with my firsthand impressions.

BACKGROUND!
I haven't had much time to digest the background of Alkemy because I've been too busy digesting the background of HORDES and Dark Age; but it looks pretty cool. Except for the cat-people, that is. I don't even care if I offend a reader of this blog, cat-people, are bad, bad people. Beast-people, are perfectly fine, and dog-people are pushing it, but cat-people? *shudder*

Anyways, don't be fooled by the ninjas, or French Knights, it is a fantasy game populated by four races/factions: The Kingdom of Avalon, The Jade Triad, The Khaliman Republic(ugh!), and the Aurlok Nation. Like I said, I don't know much about the world, but from what I do know is that the Kingdom of Avalon worship an evil Tree-Daemon that they don't know is evil. It's also infecting them, turning them into mutant dryad-people. This I like; this I dig. I can get behind this game.

Overall, I'm pretty pumped to start painting, and playing this game. I'm sure that the low amount of models needed to play this game wont distract me from the 'Big Five' that take over my gaming life (Epic, Warhammer, WARMACHINE/HORDES, Dark Age, and 40K), but will still provide something new to keep me invigorated in the hobby. I'll post pictures as I paint them, and let you know of any gaming impressions.

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Update! UPDATE!

Wow, February... That's a hell of a ways off between posts.

However, fear not gentle readers, for I now have incentive to post here. Over at the Vancouver Gamers forums, I'm working on a 3-Month painting campaign that will have me finish all my WARMACHINE stuff (hopefully). I'll post the pictures here so as to generate some traffic, for once; and to save on the bandwidth on the Vancouver Gamers website.

I also haven't even started working on my Grave Guard... I'm hoping to finish my Vampire Counts before I go off to Germany. I will post pictures, though.

Here's a list of what I want to bring:
+WARMACHINE Cygnar
+Warhammer Vampire Counts or Chaos if Vamps aren't finished
+Warhammer 40,000 Chaos or Eldar if Chaos isn't finished
+Confrontation Cynwall (these probably wont be finished, but I'm gonna bring them to paint)
+Alkemy The Kingdom of Avalon (which is only five models that I can paint really fast and get some games in. Plus it's European, so I'll probably find some opponents over there.)

This brings us to The note on Alkemy. This game is a French game that's, so far, only availiable in France, and a few retailers in Europe. There's only one release of models so far, but I have a box of the dudes from the Kingdom of Avalon. I think the models are stellar; they have a Medieval, French, look to them, that's really cool coupled with their dark tree-daemon history. Unfortunately the game has cat-people in it, which I detest; but I can live with it. I'll just mock them, and try to defeat all cat armies utterly without mercy. God, I hate cat people.

Anyways I'm gonna paint 'em up, give 'em a go, and see how it treats me. I'll post pictures, and more, on it tomorrow. Until then... Later.

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I am a vampire, I AM A VAMPIRE!

(The title's from an Antsy Pants' song, by the by)

As I said last day Gav's Vampire Counts book is totally a high to end on. Here's the 2000point Vampire Counts army I'm gonna make, which illustrates my love for skeletons and Necromancers...

LORD
Vampire Lord - 435
Tomb Blade, Flayed Hauberk, Crown of the Damned, Lord of the Dead, Summon Creatures of the Night, Summon Ghouls, Red Fury, Level 3

HEROES
Necromancer - 120
2 Dispel Scrolls, Invocation of Nehek, Vanhel's Danse Macabre

Wight King Battle Standard Bearer - 225
Drakenhof Banner

CORE
30 Skeletons - 285
Hand Weapons, Light Armor, Shields, Full Command, Icon of Vengence

28 Skeletons - 244
Hand Weapons, Light Armor, Shields, Full Command

10 Crypt Ghouls - 88
Ghast

10 Crypt Ghouls - 88
Ghast

5 Dire Wolves - 40

5 Dire Wolves - 40

1 Corpse Cart - 100
Balefire

SPECIAL
10 Grave Guard - 315
Hand Weapons, Heavy Armor, Shields, Full Command, Banner of the Barrows

TOTAL: 1980

This will be the first army I've done without a Rare choice, and also the first army I've done that numbers over 100 models (111); though my Chaos army comes close. I wanted to include some knights but I don't think that it would do well with the ponderous nature of the army as it is. Maybe for 2250, or 2500 I'll add a unit of Blood Knights, and a 10-man unit of Wight Knights as a cavalry wing. Right now the Dire Wolves are used to flank and take out Fanatics/frenzied troops.

I own... ONE of the models I need for this army, and I'm gonna use mostly new models for it, so none of it is purchased/painted right now. I'll post pictures (for realz) when I do.

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P.S. In this bit of news Fantasy Flight is gonna take over production of GW's board, card, and roleplaying games. They aren't gonna be able to do games where miniatures are at the fore (like Warhammer Quest, Space Hulk, the Specialist Games, or Man O'War) but they'll get to do the rest (including Dark Heresy *glee!*). I wouldn't worry about Space Hulk, though. Games Workshop says they're gonna do it in-house.

Gav THOOOOOOORPE!

You've been the constant butt of my jokes whilst working at Games Workshop. In fact, I came close to writing a series of comics that revolved around you and the other UK designers and your fantastic shenanigans.

I thought the 3rd edition Eldar Codex was the worst thing in the world, and I think I had complaints about most everything you've written in the past as well. However, you're leaving GW and I'm not happy.

Looking back at your body of work, it doesn't look balanced, or competative, it looks fun. I had fun with most every one of your books (except Codex: Eldar you jerk!), and I'm very sad to see you go. I will shed a tear, and hope that you do something very interesting and exciting in the future. I just hope it's in miniatures/board/RPG gaming and not Video Games like Tuomas, and Andy.

Also, the 7th edition Vampire Counts book is the greatest codex/army book ever written. You left on a high note for sure!

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Working Title

So just what have I been working on? Well, my interests are so varied these days I seem to peck away at many different things, accomplishing nothing. This isn't really the way I want to go, and so I've decided to focus on my WARMACHINE Cygnar army right now.

This is very hard, because my Dark Age keeps staring me in the eye; I just bought Hybrid and the Nemesis expansion by Rackham and I'm dying to play that (only, I have to finish painting the models first); and today Strategies got in a pre-release copy of the new Vampire Counts book, which just fuels the fire. I now have to finish my High Elves in order to justify doing a new army.

Like that will happen. I predict myself, come March, jumping into the Vampire Counts so deep that I'll need a lifeguard to get me out.

Which brings me to a sort of a rant (not on lifeguards). Why the hell didn't they update all the High Elf models? To say that I'm a fan of the High Elves is an understatement. They're my first army for any wargame... Ever, and I've been waiting six years for that book (yes, that's right, from day one of the last book (which was god-awful)), and I have NO MOTIVATION to redo my High Elf army. Sure I'm using models that are 12 years old and were painted by my 10 year old self, but with hardly any new models I can't muster up any energy to do a new army. Whereas with the Vampire Counts, I'm dying to sink into those new skeletons.

I'm hoping that they get around to doing the High Elf models later. Here's what I want to see:

+New Archers
+New Silver Helms
+New Ellyrion Reavers
+New Swordmasters
+New White Lions
+Some good Shadow Warriors for a change

That's not THAT much...

Anyways I know I always post painting lists, and I rarely adhere to them, but I'm gonna do so again in hopes that I will streamline one to a point where it's stickable.

+WARMACHINE
+High Elves
+Vampire Counts
+Confrontation Cynwäll (yeah I'm using the old paintable ones!)/Hybrid models
+Flames of War
+Eldar
+Dark Age

I'm not happy with Dark Age and Eldar being that low, but I really need to finish some Flames of War, post-haste!

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P.S. I'm getting closer to actually doing some work on my wargame. I bought a ton of hex bases, and hex flying bases. That's right, I'm using hex bases in my wargame!