Scrap 4: Scavvies

Julie felt great after her fight with the Cawdor. Two successful bouts in a row had her flying high. A night of hard drinking ensued, and in that smoky underhive bar she heard a rumor.

"Scavvies, y'see? They been causin' trouble for the guilders lately. Took out a bunch of Goliaths that'd been hired to guard a caravan."

Julie spat on the ground. "Goliaths," she said, replacing the wet cigar in her mouth.

The man nodded, "they got pretty trashed, lemme tell ya. Anywhoo, these guilders are ready to pay a pretty cred to anyone who can mess up the patriarch of this family."

Julie leaned in, "family?"

The man nodded again, more vigorously, his eyes widening at the promise of an interested audience. He'd peddled this tale around the various saloons of this sector, and found nothing but disbelief. He didn't think the leader of a House Escher gang would even grant a male an audience, but here he was sitting across a table from the leader of the Necrotown 'Nihilators—no matter that two of her gangers stood behind him out of the light of the dim glow-globe suspended above the drinks.

"They're real messed-up, lemme tell ya! Bunch'a inbreds 'n' mutants. They call themselves The Subhumans." He looked around, "rumor has it, they even try'n breed with the dead."

Julie leaned back in her chair, and chewed on her cigar. The man licked his lips nervously and, after a while, reached for the bottle of booze. Julie stuck her hand out and grabbed the man's wrist.

"You've had enough," she said. "Tell your contacts I got this. Let Sweet Dee over here know where we can find these shitheads, and get the hell outta my sight."

The man bit his lower lip and nodded. He rose and moved out of the light towards the big one they called Sweet Dee.

Julie grinned and thought of all that a pile of credits would get her.

+++

For a man, Doc Sellers was one of the best. Julie was no fool, and made sure to make contacts with no less than three friendly docs. Not only were they good at patching up the girls, but they paid a suspiciously high amount for any that didn't make it. 

Suzi sat at a greasy window, and looked out to what bits of the underhive she could see. The weather control systems had it raining for some reason. Rivulets of heavy water snaked their way through the grease and leaked into the window through the bottom. Her right leg bounced up and down and she took another drag off her cigarette. Twelve feet from her, under a black tarp lay Klaudia. 

In the other room with the doc lay Julie. A wyrd's rat had ripped her throat out. If the doc could do anything for her she'd have to scrounge up a vox at the market if she ever hoped to bark orders anymore. If she did make it, though, I guess she'd be glad that she wouldn't have to keep looking over her shoulder for Klaudia anymore. 

Doc Sellers cleared his throat and Suzi turned.

"I have good newth and bad newth," he said, pulling off bloodstained gloves and depositing them into a drawer with white, flaking, paint. "Thweet Dee ith going to pull through, though she'th not going to be the thame. I recommend a little prothedure while I have her under thtill."

He reached into the next drawer and pulled out a computer chip with three dangling cords. "Thith should enthure thome thenth of calm about her, but... Yeth, she'll never be the thame."

Suzi took the cigarette out of her mouth. "Julie?"

Doc Sellers lowered the lobo-chip and turned it around with both hands, regarding it. "That'th the bad newth."

Suzi put the cigarette back in her mouth and inhaled. Her eyes drifted to the dark doorway where the doc worked. Maybe they should have gone to Doc Homme instead. She was a female but despite that, Julie never trusted her to work on anyone but the juves. She was the one who "couldn't save" Katherine Kool, and though this led to Julie's ascension as leader, it forever marked her as bad luck. Julie was pretty superstitious.

"Oh," Suzi said. She looked over at the slab where Klaudia lay. Doc Sellers looked at her, then at Klaudia, then over at the greasy window.

Finally, Suzi ground the cigarette on the heel of her boot, and placed it on the window sill. She stood up. "I'll let the girls know." She began to leave the room.

"What about the lobo-chip?" Doc Sellers asked.

Without breaking step Suzi called back "put it in, I think she'll need a bit of calm when she wakes up."

+++

"I can do it, sure!" said the woman at the other end of the table—the very same table that Julie had met with the man selling information about The Subhumans.

Suzi looked in her drink, her leg was bouncing up and down beneath the table. She could hear Carrie clear her throat behind her. Ever since Sweet Dee had gotten the operation she had been a little slow on the draw, and Suzi couldn't trust her to be the bodyguard that she had been for Julie. If this demotion bothered Dee, she didn't show it. But who could tell anymore.

"We took a set-back, that's all." Suzi said to the woman—Courtney Crash was her name. She took a swig of the fungus whiskey.

Courtney nodded, her eyes big and letting Suzi know that she understood clearly.

"It's not gonna be easy, but you say you're an ace with that sword, so I believe you. You know we got some scavvies comin' for us, right?"

"I heard," Courtney said. "I ain't afraid of those creeps. I got Slicer and Piercer here," she gestured to her sword and pistol hanging from the third chair by their scabbard and holster. "Though if I may," she began, "why don't we just off this captive and toss its body back down that stinkin' hole they came from and be done with 'em."

Suzi looked at her, her head cocked and looking tired. "First of all, you may not." Courtney lowered her eyes. "And secondly, it's because it's personal. I need him as bait."

As if on cue Marlene walked into the room, rubbing her knuckles. "It's asleep," she muttered on her way to the bar. Kandi was working tonight and already had Marlene's drink ready.

Suzi sighed and reached behind her, tossing a bag into Courtney's hands. "There's seventy-five," she said, rising from her seat.

"It's your deposit. From here on in, you'll take a share with the rest of us. You want some cool shit? It comes outta your pay. Carrie here's my second, Dee's still the third, but in case she don't make much sense, you listen to Marlene over there." Suzi slung her lasgun over her shoulder.

"Get some sleep. Tomorrow we tie that scavvy to a pole and go fishin'."

Suzi walked out of the bar and up the stairs to her bed.

Sweet Dee takes up an overwatch position while zombies lurk on the hive floor beneath her.

Sweet Dee scores a hit, taking two scavvies down with super-heated plasma.

A wyrd's giant rat has designs on Julie Ruin.

The second table. Not quite finished, but fully built. Sorry for the werid-sized photos. I left my camera at home and had to rely on my cellphone for documentation of Julie Ruin's final scrap.

+++END TRANSMISSION+++

Scrap 3: Ex-Cons

From the Journals of Julie Ruin, leader of the Necrotown 'Nihilators:

Word on the street was that this band a' Cawdor ex-cons callin' themselves "The Judged" was shakin' down our shops askin' for protection money. Let me get one damn thing straight: we're the ones shakin' down those shops! I rounded up the girls and we managed to hit 'em in this old-lookin' part a' town.

See the thing about these jerks is that they name themselves after their crimes, y'see? So there was this jack-off named Manslaughter, and some other bozo named Solicitation. Well, bein' stupid must not be a crime accordin' to House Cawdor, otherwise the whole bunch a' these dickheads whoulda had a hard time knowin' who's who, if ya catch my drift. 

Anyway, things were goin' pretty well until Sweet Dee's gun backfired, knockin' her on her ass the whole scrap.

Ta tell ya the truth, I was a little disappointed with the girls this scrap. I mean, they weren't the worst, but it seemed like I was doin' most a' the hittin'. My bolter was barkin' like a rad-hound. I sniped this little creep right off the bat, and knocked his ass on the ground. 

It got to a point where we were holed up behind this building with a heavy stubber and a jerk with a shotgun keepin' our heads down. It was at this point that I did what any good leader would do, and sent out the juve to draw their fire. That bitch Cynthia was nowhere to be seen (probably too busy tryin' ta knife me in the back), so I had to tell Mish to haul her ass out there. Well no kiddin'—BAM!—they take her out. I didn't hear the stubber go, though. I was plannin' on jumpin' out there myself when that maniac Marlene decides to rev-up her chainsword and jump out like a lunatic. Well, sure 'nough she takes one in the shoulder, and hits the plascrete. 

I heard the stubber jam, and the gunner goin' "oh," so I jumped out and squeezed the trigger harder'n I ever done. Well, that was enough for these jokers. They picked up their wounded and slunk off like a buncha Delaque. Well, all but one of 'em. We took that Solicitation fella and met up with their gang again a little later in an alley. I had my las pointed at his head, and demanded that they fork over some creds, otherwise they slavers'll have what's left of 'em. They were broke as a joke, but I still managed to squeeze 45 creds out of 'em (more than I'd get from the slavers, at least).

+++END TRANSMISSION+++

Scrap 2: Masked Weirdos

From the Journals of Julie Ruin, leader of the Necrotown 'Nihilators:

After sufferin' at the hands of Ironboot's chuckleheads, my gang was lookin' pretty stupid. We took to the streets to show off some muscle and prove that we're not anything to push around. This is when these costumed lunatics showed up. 

Throwin' psychic powers at us like some kinda coven a' wyrds, they surrounded us and demanded that we surrender ourselves for judgement or some buncha crap. As if they were a group a' Arbites, right? I told 'em to fuck off and we started shootin'.

Sweet Dee took up position down a street, gettin' as much of a line a' sight as she could. I told Suzi to watch her back, and I headed upstairs with Carrie (who was still a little winded from our scrap with the All Naturals). Marlene and Cynthia ran around like a buncha psychos not bein' able to make up their damned minds. One time climbin' up a ladder with Carrie and I, and the next runnin' full-bore at a coupla supes that were tryin' to dance with Sweet Dee. 

Much to my surprise (and probably Marlene's chagrin), Cynthia popped off a supe with her stub gun and took the weirdo down. I reckon that's the last we'll see a' him, seein' as all kinds a' blood was spillin' outta his head. Anyway, things came to a head when Klaudia, Mish, and Patti were tradin' shots with a coupla freaks across an alley. One of 'em looked kinda weirder than the rest. He was probably a mutie or somethin'. 

Anyway, one of these creeps—a real sneaky bitch—comes runnin' up behind the three of 'em and tosses in a frag grenade. Boom! They were taken out, and at the mercy of a halberd-weildin' kook. I had had enough a' this and decided to start sprayin' bolter shells down at the mutie. I took him out and their boss (some red-clad clown) decided that maybe they'd had enough a' us embarassin' 'em. 

I ain't gonna lie, though. It was by the skin a' our teeth. Afterwards Mish has been complainin' about a sore right arm—which hopefully won't impact her ability to separate rubes from their creds in the crowds—and Klaudia's got a nasty criss-cross a' scars across her mug. Pretty scary stuff. Hopefully the others out there will feel the same way we do. Carrie's finally learned her lesson and started packin' man-stopper shells in addition to the hot-shots she's so fond of (but which never fuckin' hit), and I even got myself a slick set a' flak armor for the next time some jerk decides to plug me.

+++END TRANSMISSION+++

Scrap 1: Ironboot's Wrath

From the Journals of Julie Ruin, leader of the Necrotown 'Nihilators:

First, the Underhive in all its decrepit glory:

The whole shebang.

Close-up.

Ironically full of scavvies...

My first Gang Fight was against the All Naturals lead by the indomitable Ironboot. They are a gang hailing from House Goliath, and I was wholly unprepared to face them, evidently.

They came at us through the tunnels. Ironboot and two of his shotgun-weilding weirdos popped up through some old ventilation ducts and completely surprised Carrie and Mish. Sweet Dee tried her best to supply covering fire but her primary duty is to be my bodyguard and at this moment two of Ironboot's heavy stubbers had Cynthia and me in their sights.

The shotgun blasts caught us out of cover. The concussive blasts knocked Klaudia off a gantry and down to the streets below.

Sweet-Dee was next. Some meathead strode out into the street like he owned the joint and took aim. Her shot had missed, veering off to his left. She was dead meat; left without a gantry to stand on. She ended up hittin' the dirt too. It was at this time that I didn't even care about showin' up Ironboot. I knew I had to protect my girls, and fleeing is the better part of valor, after all.

We took off. I managed to get all the gals out safely but Carrie suffered a chest wound. She's been suckin' wind all week, which has really affected meal time. Patti's been fillin' in as helper, but let's be honest, I love her to shreds but she'd burn water.

+++END TRANSMISSION+++

Punk-Rockin', Never Stoppin'

For those that don't know, Necromunda is one of my favorite games. My list—to the right—of favorite miniatures games is limited to five, otherwise Necromunda would be 6 or 7 alongside GorkaMorka. The reason is that it's easily the most "punk" miniatures game ever written. Gangs with mohawks and studded leather boots fighting it out over garbage and evading the law and rich kids? I can hear The Exploited playing over a vox caster right now.

Now that brings us to today, where my gaming group is starting a Necromunda campaign. This will be the first time I've played Necromunda in over a decade. I believe the last time I played was when the boxed sets got compiled into the hardcover rulebook in '98 (the one with the hazard stripes). This, coincidentally, is the version we're going to be using. The re-make (Necromunda: Underhive) is very close to the original version but is missing some key bits that we felt, ultimately, did the game a disservice. Therefore, it will be ignored.

I'll be using the Escher, which is my favorite Underhive house, and I'll be doing them as punkly as I can (all the names are inspired by female punk rockers). I'd also like to use this opportunity to compile a bit of a narrative about my gang and post it here on this blog. I'll be using the tag "Necrotown 'Nihilators" for any posts related to this campaign, so keep checking back to see battle reports, stories, and pictures of my games.

Now without further ado, let's meet The Necrotown 'Nihilators (note: I'm not actually finished painting my figures yet. Until then, I don't want to show pictures of half-assed paintjobs. Once the figures are finished, I'll update the entries here on this post, so check back soon!):

Julie Ruin (leader)
If there's one word that can describe Julie it's "unlucky." She's had to rely on her skills and tenacity to secure the leadership of The Necrotown 'Nihilators (previously known as the Underhive Rats) from her former leader Kathrine Kool. This has made her all the more determined to move cautiously through her career; keeping one eye peeled for any pitfalls that she can't talk, or shoot her way out of.

Sweet Dee (heavy)
Dee-Lite—known to everyone as "Sweet Dee"—is a strong, silent type. She and Julie were juves in the "Underhive Rats" at the same time, and have moved up among the ranks together. She has no ambition towards leadership, however, and remains Julie's closest friend, advisor, and bodyguard. After all, who would dare knife Julie in the back when you're in the sights of a heavy plasma gun?

Suzi Shrapnel (ganger)
Suzi is a sharpshooter. Suzi has always been a sharpshooter. She's had her lasgun (Lungpiercer) passed down from her mother, and has earned her chops picking off anyone who got too close to her hab. This got her in trouble when she targeted the heavy of the Underhive Rats, who was scrounging for archeotech too close to Suzi's home. This led to a three-day siege by which the Underhive Rats ultimately lost when Julie mutinied against Katherine Kool. So impressed was Julie by Suzi's skills that she immediately hired her and Lungpiercer on.

Klaudia Shiv (ganger)
Klaudia is petty,  sneaky, and closely watched by Julie. She's the one who came up with the name "Underhive Rats" and deeply resents Julie changing the name. She'll still refer to the gang by its old moniker (even though it's just her, Sweet Dee, and Julie that remain out of the original gang), which causes some confusion amongst outsiders. Good thing Klaudia's not in charge of anything important (other than laying down a hail of covering fire).

Marlene Murder (ganger)
No one really knows where Marlene came from. She just kinda started hanging around, which is handy, as she brought her own chainsword. Marlene speaks in the third person, which irritates Julie to no end (who has taken to referring to Marlene in the third person as well). None can deny her skill with the sword, however. Though it is a little startling how enthusiastic she can get.

Carrie Blastein (ganger)
Carrie came on the gang as a juve not too long after Julie took over. The difference is that she came on as a cook! Carrie cooked the best millisaur jambalaya this side of The Wall, and was greatly welcome into the 'Nihilators. At first she avoided combat, but when the 'Nihilators were taken by surprise by a Delaque gang known as the "Hotshots," she quickly took to the shotgun, which has become her signature weapon. Now, it rarely leaves her kitchen, and she rarely leaves without it.

Mish Mash (juve)
Mish was part of a traveling circus, and worked as a dancer. When she was caught pick-pocketing Sweet Dee, Julie decided that her skills were better put to use in the gang rather than lifting creds off of dense Underhive rubes.

Cynthia Cyanide (juve)
Cynthia doesn't fuck around, and wants everyone to know that. After just one scrape with a Scavvy gang she decided that she'd earned the right to challenge Julie. Julie responded with a boltgun shot, which left Cynthia unharmed save a nagging case of tinnitus. This put a stop to Cynthia's mutiny... For the moment.

Patti Patricide (juve)
Patti's known affectionately as "Little Julie," due less to the fact that she looks like her, and more to the fact that she's Julie's favorite. Julie "sees something" in Patti and has taken her under her wing. In fact, Julie gifted Patti with Katherine Kool's "kustom" autopistol ("spark barker") as a sign of confidence (something that's rubbed Cynthia the wrong way since day one).

+++END TRANSMISSION+++

I played Epic 40,000!

Today I decided to give a couple friends a demo of Epic 40,000. One guy showed up with his Tyranids and we built him a list. I originally wanted to do a small game to keep things moving, but we got carried away and we went up to 2500pts.

The other guy showed up just to watch, so I built a 2500pt Dark Angels army (complete with Imperator Titan, 'cause why not?), and we dove right in. We only got to play two turns before the Tyranid player had to leave, but it was still fun to give this game another go. I hadn't played Epic 40,000 since the late-90s/early-00s.

Epic 40,000 is appealing to my friends because all the armies that were in 40k at the time had official lists in the Armies Book that came with the game. Epic: Armageddon (while an awesome, awesome, game) only has four armies as official lists (Space Marines, Imperial Guard, Orks, and Eldar)—though the fans are doing a good job of amending that.

Anyway, it seems like everything went over well, and we'll probably give the game another (fuller) shot another time. Here are some pictures (don't mind the unpainted pieces of terrain; I'm working on it):

The table set-up: 122cm x 183cm

Imperator vs. Hierodule: Who will win? (A: The Imperator)

Shot from the ground complete with command squad surfing
on a Land Raider.

+++END TRANSMISSION+++

Of Kings And War

I had a chance to play Kings of War last Sunday. It was the second time I've played this game, and like the first, I was pleasantly surprised.

Here's the scene: A friend of mine has a 12'x4' table, which, as a gamer, is Shangri-La. He also has enough painted undead figures to line up along the length of that 12'x4' table. He invited over myself and another friend to ally against his dread legions. We played 3000pts and it only took us three hours.

This is the major benefit of Kings of War over other regimental games—being Warhammer, as I think the two games are the only regimental games on the market right now—that it's quick. Every time I look at Kings of War I always think it's going to be boring. I will admit, it is a bare-bones system. You move, you shoot, you fight in combat, sometimes you can cast spells—which are fancy (but not that fancy) shooting attacks—but really everything does what you think it's going to do outside of the normal randomness of a dice-based system.

Some (like my friend with the table) look upon this as the highlight of the system, but I look at it as a drawback (albeit one with potential). I like a game system with variance and options. Warhammer has drawbacks, sure, but a dearth of options is not one of them. In Warhammer you have an arsenal of stuff at your disposal, hell even the terrain on the table can give you things to think about other than "I can't see through those trees."

So naturally every time I read up on Kings of War, and set up a game my eyes hurt from rolling in my skull, and my lungs are well stretched from the constant sighing. However the game is super-intuitive and quick. Like I said, a 3000pt game (which is probably 3500–4000pts in Warhammer) played in three hours is unheard of in most miniatures games. Also, I've only read the rulebook once and the gap in time between my two games is most-likely longer than a calendar year, yet it was all in my head.

The game is written by Alessio Cavatore who used to work for Games Workshop, and was the principal author of Warhammer 7th edition. 7th edition was (in my humble opinion) fun, but it was the most ho-hum of Warhammer editions. Sort of a clean up of 6th edition, and a forgettable transition between the kind of game 6th edition created (streamlined tournament-ready system with some of Warhammer's traditional wackiness), and the game Warhammer is now with 8th (which is to say, great). So when I read the rules and saw who authored them, it made sense to me. But now I've developed a whole other respect for Alessio's work (my comments about 7th still standing). I see that what he was trying to create was a fast, simple, and intuitive miniatures system.

Kings of War will not replace Warhammer for me. I won't turn down a game, and I may even tailor an army specifically to the system. I can even see myself entering a Kings of War tournament and being satisfied by the state of the rules while within that medium, but it's not replacing Warhammer. What it is is a solid, fast, big-battles, game that would provide an excellent framework for customizing.

This kind of brings me to an aside: I think all too often (especially now as opposed to in the '70s or '80s) miniatures gamers get hung up on a "tournament ruleset," which is understandable, as it gives us the framework to not only play in tournaments but to facilitate one-off games against strangers in shops, clubs, or conventions. Having a set of house rules is tons of fun and can be pretty creative, but it's also something you need to inform people of when they want to join.

But one of the benefits to tabletop games (versus electronic game, for instance) is that they're malleable. Kings of War is a great example of a game system that provides a solid framework upon which I would love to see stuff added. I would love wackier units to add to my army, and a more robust magic system. Hell, even some interesting scenarios would spice things up. As it stands, the game is a set of vegetables. Good, but it needs something done to it to really be a favorite of yours truly.

Anyway, enough from me, enjoy these, passable, pictures of our game. I thought the lighting in my friend's place was too dark, so I turned on the flash (something I never do on cameras). After I got home and sobered-up (Kings of War also works when you've polished-off seven cans of beer), I immediately regretted my flash decision, and promise that I'll never, ever, do it again...

12' of Undead.

The grand alliance of elves and dwarves (and a
can of Cariboo beer).

Some o' my dwarves.

A rollicking fight in the center of the table.

Generals and gentlemen.

A big ole scrum against some zombies.

My dwarf general vs. a necromancer that the
undead player forgot to do anything with the
whole game (much to my benefit).

+++END TRANSMISSION+++

Tournament Wrap-Up

I went to a Warhammer tournament on December 14th, 2014. It was at a Games Workshop retail store, and there were ten people there. It was a three-round, 2000pt, tournament where anything goes provided you had the book to back it up. This means that if I wanted to use the Chaos Ascendant rules, I had to have the Glottkin book with me (which I did!).

Each 6'x4' table had a special scenario attached to it, and you had to play that scenario while on that board. My personal favorite was the first table I played on, where there were no deployment zones—meaning you could set up anywhere you wanted on the table as close as 1" to the enemy if you dared—but every time you set down a unit you had to roll a scatter die to see which direction it faced (a HIT is any direction you want).

It was tons of fun, and I came in third place. I only won one game, but due to the inclusion of soft scores like painting, sportsmanship, and so forth, I rocketed to the top three. I lost out by one vote for best sport, so the award I usually win in tournaments went to someone else. I won the first game, and then proceeded to lose the next two, but the hilarious part was that I played all three games against people who were either in my gaming group, and/or were friends of mine. 40% of the people at the tournament I've known for 10+ years, and have, or still, game(d) with regularly.

Anyway, I was pleased to find out that they're doing the same thing this year, and that it is an escalating tournament (I just missed the first two parts in 2014). There's a tournament in Spring that's 1000pts, one in Summer that's 1500pts, and the last one in Fall that's 2000pts. I plan on bringing my old-school Lizardmen army to these three events, so keep up to date on that. It'll be like the tournament journal I've always wanted to write for this blog.

Without further ado, here are some pictures:

This is my army on display. Everyone did this
and people went around and voted on the best
painted. 

This is actually the set-up for the first game—or
as much as I could include on my cellphone's
camera. See the 2nd paragraph for why it's so
chaotic (no pun intended).

A grisly shrine.

I didn't get a chance to finish painting my
daemonettes, so I had to summon plaguebearers.

Game two against Beastmen. I lost this one.

Final game against another Legions of Chaos army.

There used to be five knights with this fearsome
exalted hero of Chaos, however the winds of magic
are fickle indeed... 

CHALLENGE AXEPTED!

+++END TRANSMISSION+++

Reinforcements!

Just a quick post to show you some pics! My saurus command arrived in the mail today, so I put them together. They came still in the blister pack! In the old style that's yellow on the bottom and red on the top (back row, left, in this picture). Anyway, they're cool, and now I have a full unit of 25 saurus to command on the battlefield.

+++END TRANSMISSION+++

Extract From The Prophecy Of Sotek

New year, new army!

I hope your holidays were as fun as mine! I didn't get up to too much gaming after my tournament, which I will write about later this week (gotta save something to write about on this blog, seeing as I do so infrequently), but I did get a pretty decent x-mas haul (Warhammer 40,000 Conquest, and a booster box of Khans of Tarkir), and some dude came into the shop and dropped-off a near-mint Warhammer 5th edition boxed set.

So that brings me to the allusion in this post's title, which is my new Lizardmen army:

The whole shebang (note the gap in the sauruses is for a yet-to-be-received command section)

The skinks

The sauruses (with gap for command)

I decided—in a moment of beer-fueled frenzy—that I will take the 20 saurus, and 32 skinks, and use them to begin a Lizardmen army. After all, they're the only Warhammer army I haven't attempted to build, and until we can all be sure what is and isn't true in the (pretty incredible) 9th edition rumors I don't want to start my brand-new High Elf army if it means half-way through I have to do some unexpected alterations. Hell, with this Lizardmen army I may even get a chance to finally try out the Army Painter dips.

Here's the catch, though, the army will be made up of first-wave Lizardmen figures, such as the ones found in 5th edition. That means, wherever I can, I need to use a figure from before May 2003. This doesn't preclude me from using figures post-2003, but I can't use the new plastic stegadon when there are metal ones to be had, for instance.

Anyway, we'll see how far this goes. I'll keep you updated (albeit spottily). I have some ebay wins coming in this week or next, so you'll get to see more as this mad project reaches fruition.

+++END TRANSMISSION+++

EDIT (Jan. 14, 2014): Just wanted to pop in and say that I intend to command this fearsome army in a series of tournaments being run this year at my local Games Workshop retail store. The first one's in Spring and it's 1000pts, the second one's in Summer and it's 1500pts, and the third one's in Fall at 2000pts. Anyway, I changed the labels of this post to reflect that this is actually Part 1 in a tournament journal, wherein I'll describe my process of taking an army from zero to hero and throwing it to the dogs in a tournament. Stay tuned!