Brainstorm of Sigmar

So, I have been thinking.

"A dangerous passtime."
"I know".

I'm pretty darn good at running my Stormcast army. I win with them more than I lose (provided I'm doing more than goofing off), and I like the way the army plays on the board. The way you can shuffle buffs around as you need them is honestly a joy to use. Throwing Liberators with Sigmarite Shields and a +2 save modifier headlong into my opponent's most dangerous unit and watching them bog down the models that, by all accounts, should be gutting my army effortlessly for 4 turns (or more) is just satisfying.

...But I've been working on a project. Maybe you've seen them? The Sylvaneth? They (not to break my arm patting myself on the back) look great. The Stormcast? Dip & flick. In other words, not so much.

The Sylvaneth are an experienced player's army. You have to be careful. Now that the new FAQ nerfed Sylvaneth Wyldwoods (each has to be within 1" of all others in the feature now) the Sylvaneth Stripe O' Doom down the center of the table is gone. It's a bummer in a way, but that just means we have to adjust our tactics.

I have to do it.

I have to put the Stormcast into mothballs and start running (as well as step up the pace of painting) my tree peeps. I need to start getting in reps with my Sylvaneth.

At least weekly, if not more.

I need to get into a Sakura Sylvaneth State.

Now, why am I thinking this? Simple. I'm aiming for the NoVA Open this year. I intend to get good- not a little good, but intimidatingly so. I intend to hone my list to a razor's edge. I intend to face as many different opponents with as many different armies as possible. I intend to have That Army, but not be That Guy.

I'm going for the win.

Now, I have opted out of tournament play. I hate the people who WAAC (Win At Any Cost), because it seems that unless they are winning at playing with toys (and face facts- that's what we do) they have no self worth. Northern Virginia is rife with those people.

I must not let them get under my skin. I must remember the one Grand Tournament I went to when Games Workshop ran such things. I must remember that not all tournament players are scum, and that those who are should just be ignored.

I must stomp them pleasantly, and with a cheerful demeanor. After the game, I can report their Sportsmanship. During the game...

Well, let's just say I have my fair share of sportsmanship awards.

Now to start honing my gameplay.

I have another box coming.

What's in it? What will end up in my army?

Wouldn't you like to know.

Muahahahaha!

Pokemon: I Came, I Left, I Returned (Sorta)

Shameless Pokemon Cheesecake.

So, I was really obsessive about Pokemon Go, but then tragedy struck and I traded away my best critter with an accidental tap while in a conversation. Oh, also, there is one- let me repeat that, ONE Pokestop, and zero gyms, anywhere near where I live. This means I have to buy supplies in-game, because the construction of the game is stupid, and it rewards those in urban, upper-class environments. I ragequit the game, and swore it off.

Of course, in my usual style, I have returned. Not because the game is great or anything. I think the game is a waste of time. But I have a reason.

I have put on a fair few pounds of late. Now, I'm not "typical 'Murrican Wal-Mart shoppin' Rascal scooter drivin' washin' under the folds" fat, but let's just say I've put on 50% of my initial body weight again over the last few years. That's not good. I may be off the dating market, but I still wand to be okay with looking at myself in the mirror.

To this end, I am going to play the game for at least 30 minutes each day in order to get a walk in and if not lose, maintain, my current weight. This will slow my painting production, and the fact that I'm playing Elder Scrolls Online right now (say "hi" to Mitsune Kanno and her pet fox on the North America server some time), but it will continue to progress. I even have some pics to post- including a fairly huge development.

Oh, also, I have some thoughts on the General's Handbook. That will be addressed in its own post, though. As a preview; the points seem okay, but I have reservations about some of the army selection implementation choices...

More Stormcast, And At Last, a Win!

Smug sense of satisfaction.

So, my Stormcast got their first big win against Demitra yesterday. I won't say that there weren't bad rolls on his part, but there were bad rolls on my end, too. In particular a Decimator Prime who hit three times in as many rounds of combat.

That said, I think I have found an overall army comp I'm okay with. My Drakesworn Templar could have done better, as all he ate were some weapon crew, an unlucky Engineer, and a Handgunner unit. In WHFB monsters were best employed hunting down squishy targets, so that's what I did.

There is also Very Big News. I have decided to change up how I'm painting my Sigmarines. The Celestial Vindicator scheme I have been using is too dexterity intensive to stick with, so most of the minis I have painted are in a bath of Simple Green right now. I took a close look at my shading and highlights, and upon realizing that they were... terrible, I switched to dip. Yes, I'm dipping minis again. Sue me.

Of course, I'll most likely lose soft score points for painting if I go to a tournament, so I will touch them up with some minor highlights, but with my hand what it is, serious painting is pretty much out of the question. This is why painting, while required, should not be added into a player's score in a tournament. For people like me, who don't have the fine motor control needed for a nice paint job, this may very put us out of the running before an event even begins.

Even sportsmanship (which is what is making me lean toward bowing out of X-Wing- too many players are jerks) is a score which, while it have some bearing on the tournament's outcome, is left up to players to decide, and can lead to dishonest players torpedoing their opponents' scores out of spite, or worse, to make sure their game club wins.

But what would be a solution? There will be jerks everywhere. It's a fact of life. When I ran Monsterpcalypse tournaments I would take a couple of minutes once or twice a round to just mosey through the tables and look in on the games as they were going on. In a really big to event, this just isn't possible.

This is where assistant judges come in. At a particularly large event, the T. O. will have a few extra staff on hand to make rulings when they are not available. Well, in between rulings just mosey from table to table checking in. The bad games are usually pretty easy to spot. Posture, expression, body movement, voice tone. It's all on display. Just quietly jot down the players involved, and keep on moving. If one (or both) players continue have games that appear less than pleasant, you probably have a problem gamer on your hands. Talk to their opponent, and find out what was going on. If the stories match up amongst the player's opponents, you have a problem participant. This is, in my opinion, a less biased way to determine sportsmanship. As far as how to implement it in terms of overall score? Got me there.

Any way, I'll throw up pics of my new Sigmarine color scheme soon. They should be dry enough to retouch the paint on tonight.

Starting To Understand Stormcast

Ah-Ha!

So, I got in another game against Demitra in Age of Sigmar. Needless to say, I lost again, but I am picking up ideas.

First, when it comes to this army, numbers don't count for much. Five Decimators can lay out plenty of hurt against an opponent who still runs 20mm square bases. The tighter packed the enemy is, the quicker they will die. Stormcast are an MSU army. That's just how it is.

Second, when you set your eyes on a unit, kill it. This may seem elementary, but some enemies, once mangled (for instance Stormcast), are nigh useless. Others (the Celestial Hurricanum) are still very dangerous.

Third, don't be afraid of sacrifice. I hurled a unit of Decimators headlong into Demitra's handgunner mob using the Pennant of the Stormbringer turn one, and every ranged weapon on my right flank was instantly silenced. After the monstrous casualties the last three gunners turned tail and fled after only firing a single volley due to their musician.

Fourth, kill the enemy general. This may be a "duh, no joke" to many, but the loss of Command Abilities is a Very Big Deal. Once I had offed his boss, and still had my Lord Celestant trucking around handing out his +1 to hit bonus, the game felt very different.

Fifth, it's all about the characters. Having a pair of Knight-Heraldors hanging back and allowing my units to disengage & run & charge all at once was amazing. Teleporting a unit of Decimators into charge range turn one was stupendous. The Knight-Venator paid for himself impressively.

Bravely run away!

Sixth, don't be afraid to retreat. Seriously. I caught a lot of flak for the tactic, but the death of Demitra's general came at the hands of my Lord Celestant after he broke free of a drawn-out melee, spun around, and charged the foppish noble. Don't feel as though you have to stay in a fight that is less than ideal. You can (with the help of a Knight-Heraldor) pull out of a no-win situation and put your troops in a location they want to occupy. Alternatively, you could swap out mismatched troops for ones more suited to the situation, or even just withdraw and set up a roadblock in order to buy time. Think of Liberators with shields (already basically a speed bump unit) that have taken a charge from an elite enemy (in my last game, Greatswords). They cannot do enough damage to matter this turn, and in fact they may be mauled to the point that your opponent's unit will be able to wipe them out now, and continue toward an objective unmolested. What happens if they fall back a few inches? You can adjust the unit's position so the enemy cannot go where they want to without dealing with the nuisance unit, and they cannot be gotten rid of this turn. You have bought yourself a round to maneuver (and perhaps send help) just by falling back a bit.

I am pleased with myself.

In the end, this game is going to be what you make of it. My tactics are not the end-all be-all by any stretch. I lost my last game, I have not mastered the Stormcast, and I may never. I do, however, feel that I have improved vastly since my last outing. I forced myself to be patient, I was not afraid to leave a tactically sour situation, and I tried to prioritize targets (I was incorrect, but it was a start.

I did, several times, forget some abilities. I think I need to make up some reference cards with what abilities models have and when they trigger, but one thing at a time. First, master the basics, then on to the memorization.

I'm still looking forward to the General's Handbook. It will be a whole new way to play the game. As much as I love the PPC system (and I do), a standardized pick-up-and-play system for anywhere you go will help the game a ton.

Finally, I have some more minis done, and I'll show them off soon!

Random Repaint & Battlefield Roles

First off, let me start by saying "oops". Turns out the decals on the shoulders of your units do more than simply designate units... The offending minis, pictured to the left, have been fixed. I didn't take a picture yet, but now they have moons where the stars were.

Now, that said, how 'bout some more AoS? Today will be my first time fielding a "pure" Stormcast Eternal army. I have been reading up on Stormcast tactics, and the interwebz seem to agree that the Sigmarines are best in an MSU (multiple small unit) configuration. To that end, I starting putting together a new, more swarmy, version of my old list. PPC comp system, of course, as the General's Handbook won't be out for another few weeks.

I won't go into the gory details, just an overview.

After Demitra's thorough whupping administration laid upon the backsides of my Vindicators, I have not only studied the rules and the FAQ, but also some strategy articles discussing formations, model roles on the battlefield, and weapon loadouts. 5 models seems to be the ideal size for most Stormcast units. Their characters are capable of several roles at a time- buffer, fighter, sniper, etc. Because of that, a Stormcast player can get away with bringing less characters than most armies.

Weapon loadouts are another thing. Decimators should all have axes. All of them, all of the time. with their excellent reach and crazy ability to get an attack for every enemy within 2", they should capitalize on crowd control. Leave the scary things to the other paladins.

Judicators are wonderful. They have good range, and their arrows hit pretty hard. The crossbows... Situational at best. I can see them trailing some Protectors as crowd control, but unless they are shooting into an ongoing combat, they are most likely going to get eaten.

Damn you, Liberators! I know you have SOME function!

I'm positive Liberators have uses, but I'm not seeing them. They're not good bait, they don't crank out a ton of damage, and they're not super durable. I wish I could see their appeal. I guess twin hammers and a Prime with a Great hammer might work as a "swap out" or "temporary tarpit" unit, so I'll keep trying with them.

The heroes are mostly pretty good.

I have some severe hesitancy about the Knight-Azyros. Unless you build your army around his Lightning Strike tweak, he will light up an enemy unit for a very brief period before his swift, brutal death.

The Lord Relictor only really seems to shine in the presence of a Dracoth rider or a Star Drake, both of which will leave him in the dust.

Finally, the Lord Castellant. Oh, how I want to like you! Oh, how the FAQ religated you to the blackest depths of my figure case! Now that you make saves, regenerate wounds, then apply damage, you end up in the "Relictor Zone". Cool on paper, in practice, however, meh or worse.

Everyone else in the books have some great abilities. Personally, with my "go get 'em" style of play, a Lord-Celestant on foot handing out +1 to hit the enemies of the God-King (especially when backed up by an Amber Wizard for OMG levels of brutality) is a no-brainer in terms of being my General.

Knight-Heraldors? If you don't see the amazing control potential for these guys... Well, think hard. Yoinking units out of the wrong fight and sending them running toward a new threat is brilliant. Better yet, a Star Drake moving flat out (fly + run), unleashing its breath weapon (it's an ability, not an attack), and then charging? Squeeeee!!!

Any way, my head is a-swirlin' with thoughts, and I have a game tonight, so time to start narrowing down my options into an army list.

Until next time, when I'll have minis to show off!

Thoughts of Sigmar

I really believed this.

So, Age of Sigmar is about to get a points system- an official one, where GW has playtested the rules and values associated as well as gotten input from, and changed things based on the input of, tournament organizers. I am thrilled.

Until now I have been trying the game out, and it is a pretty slick system. I've picked up some ideas, some tactics (it matters which models you use and how you deploy / move them). The PPC system seems pretty good. It too is community tested, and seems balanced enough. The games I have lost have been due to poor tactics on my part. I have discovered this by watching tactics articles online that show how to utilize things like the pile-in move to your advantage. I have read articles on which weapons work best on which model, and why (This concerns me a bit, but I see uses for all the kit Stormcast have). The game has some combos, and they all help out, but none are game breaking.

That said, I am worried.

My worry is, of course, about an "official" set of points. While I look forward to (and have ordered) a copy of the General's Handbook, I worry about things slipping through playtesting cracks. Rules don't get truly checked out until they're released "into the wild", where gamers hell-bent on breaking them look for any playtesting "oopsie" they can find, and pounce on it. Power gamers, and I feel I can call them out as I once was one, are going to sit down, grab a calculator, and crunch the numbers to come up with the best bang for the point. While no system is perfect (looking for that is a fool's errand, as I have mentioned before), some systems are better than others. Only a select few people have seen the actual system, so what do I know?

This is... a thing?

...Then a picture got leaked. Supposedly it is a picture of the new points system for Age of Sigmar. Looking at it, which you can do as well if you gaze to the right, there are some questions right off the bat. The "Min" and "Max" columns are pretty straightforward. You can take from (Min) to (Max) models in a unit. No surprise there.

Next you have the point costs themselves. The values seem a bit high for a per-model value. Word is games are still 2,000 point affairs, and High Elf archers are clocking in at a double-digit cost. What that is can't really be determined unfortunately. So, is this a "per grouping" cost? Say, for X points you get Y models?

Finally, the names of things. There are no "Lizardmen" (second purple header), there are "Seraphon". There are no "Elves", there are "Aelves". There are no "Ogres", there are "Ogors". Seems odd to me that GW would miss that. Then again, there are a bunch of legacy unit names there. Teclis, High Elf Archers, The Shadow King... This could be some of the point values for the old lists. The models not in the Grand Alliance books.

If only the picture weren't so blurry! That, however, is the way of hoax postings on the internet. Make something up, take a really bad picture of it, throw it to the drooling masses, and lulz as the masses go wild.

As you can most likely tell from my tone, I don't believe that the above image actually is legit. As a person that loves skepticism, I attempt to use it as often as possible in my life. I have chosen to deploy that tool here, so I shall go with my old mantra; "I'll believe it when I see it". When I'm holding the actual published book, am leafing through it, and find this chart, I will believe. Until then, it's just a blurry picture of...

Something.

Nothing other than that.

Blurry thing that doesn't exist plays AoS using blurry point values that are just as fake.

I've Been Pretty Bad at This Blogging Thing Recently...

Etna does not approve of my neglect.

Once again, not dead, busy.

I just moved house from Fairfax to Manassas. For those who don't know, I basically moved further away from Washington, DC down I-66 (renowned as having some of the worst traffic in the United States) in order to save money on rent. Northern Virginia has some of the worst over-inflated rent in the nation, and I had the misfortune to be born there...

That said, I have been playing some Age of Sigmar against Demitra. His blog is dead, so I'm not linking to it any more. I have discovered one thing- swarms in AoS are deadly. Seriously, even the most pathetic Free Peoples units can decimate you with barely a thought.

The fact that he won't re-base his minis (a decision I begrudgingly respect) doesn't help. Those 20mm bases get a lot more spears / halberds in range than you would expect.

After having the "Age of Balance" system accidentally broken over my head (40 Daemonettes wins games) we switched to the PPC system. The fact that it's in Battlescribe certainly helps, as I can fiddle with lists at lunch.

I have, despite myself, fallen in love with the Stormcast Eternals. The "Sigmarines" have kind of cliche' fluff, but they're just fantasy Space Marines, so I find it funny that people will rag on Stormcast fluff, imagery, and rules while they paint up their eight billionth Space Marine. Get a grip, guys. Stormcast are fantasy Space Marines. That's their deal. So, what?

Rant abated, here is my progress.

Lightning hammers go BOOM!

First up, a squad! these are three of the starter set Retributors, with two of the normal boxed minis atted in. Yes, the minis should have tassels on their helmets. I was not paying attention. The Decimators I'm making should have heads that I'll swap out from another kit. In fact, I have a fair few Stormcast on the way.

My sword! It squiggles!!!

Next up, my Lord Celestant. His head is from the Retributor box, and his sword is from the long since discontinued Mordheim weapon frame.The rest is, obviously, a Lord Relictor. He turned out prety OK.

Lastly, the actual Lord Relictor. I decided to go with a more "40k-ish" look to him, painting him up in Chaplain colors. The teal on his shoulders, along with the limited color palette, connect him visually to the rest of the army.

I intend to get some battle reports in soon. My new game room is a bit cramped, but it is mine, and I can do whatever I want with the space. Sometimes moving to a smaller town farther away from the action adds benefits (for instance, more space).

Hobby Nirvana.

Until next time, I leave you with a shot of my new hobby area. new desk, computer readily at hand, baby fan to keep cool, Oh, and also an awesome speaker system (not pictured) for podcasts and music.

Here's hoping I post again in the next month. 2016 has been a rough year for this blog.

A Stirring in the Warp... Again...

It's been too long since I've been here. I haven't not been gaming. I've rather been playing X-Wing.

A lot.

Still poorly, but a lot.

Since the only real hobby time I've really gotten out of that particular game is painting the engines on the Millennium Falcon, and a pretty poor repaint of Poe's X-Wing, I haven't had a reason to post.

Recently, however, some things have changed in my life, and I have time to fiddle around with toy soldiers again.

Be warned, a mini rant lies ahead.



Long ago, perhaps before you were born, dear reader, I started reading the "Redwall" series of books. I was never really a devout reader of anything, but this world called to me. There were only the first two books at the time, but both Redwall and Mossflower resonated with me in a way no book ever had. I was instantly hooked. I would go on to spend hours pouring through the 22 books in the ever expanding saga, reading about heroes like Matthias, Martin the Warrior, Bella, Mattimeo, and so many, many more.

...But no character ever stood out to me like Cluny the Scourge. The savage, sadistic, and at times outright insane pirate rat captain from Redwall. His brutality, ingenuity, and callous disregard for the lives of his enemies as well as his crew cemented him as one of my all time favorite villains.

I looked for a picture to post here that might do him justice, but none seem to exist that do him justice as described in the books. Also, please don't go watching the awful animated series. I have seen parts of it, and let's just say that it's.... Unfortunate.

A few years later, I wandered into a Games Workshop store (the one located in Fair City Mall- either the first or second store in the States) looking for Battletech miniatures and books. They had lots of miniatures, but no battlemechs. Obviously, this store sucked. After I chatted with the store staff member on duty for a second, I told him I was in a bit of a hurry and had to run (no sense in staying if they didn't have what I wanted). He asked me to hold on for just one bit, and he ran to the display of back issues of White Dwarf on the back wall. He grabbed one of the older issues, and handed it to me saying "here, take this with you and read up a bit on us". I said I would, and headed home.

Later that night I pulled out the magazine, and started leafing through it. There were a fair few sci-fi minis, but meh. They couldn't stand up to the coolness of a battlemech, and the universe just didn'the look nearly as well fleshed out. There were some other articles, none of which stick with me to this day. Finally, as I neared the end of the magazine, I came upon the battle report.

I stopped turning pages right there.

There, laid out before me, was an army of rats. Just like in Redwall! This was the greatest thing ever.

The story goes on from there, but basically I started playing Warhammer Fantasy Battle a bit later, and always loved my skittering, chittering, Skaven. I have some of the very first miniatures sitting in the figure cases and display case right behind me as I type this. I have three of the pins GW was giving out during the End Times when I snatched up the remaining few minis I needed for my collection right before...

Before they destroyed the game I loved. Don'the get me wrong, 8th edition was no masterpiece of game design by any stretch. I think that is what led to its downfall. If you have a game that is that broken, and requires literally hundreds of very expensive miniatures to play, it will just fall flat. That is what that edition of the game did.

Then, Age of Sigmar leaked. The horrible rumors were true. A four page ruleset, no more "rank & flank", and worst of all, no points values. The rules actually called for players to just grab whatever they had lying around toss them down across the table from each other, and go at it. No semblance of balance whatsoever.

I was out. Done with it. No more GW for me. It had been nearly a year since my last game of 40k, and there was Kings of War to fill the void. I could even use my Skaven with one of their platesting lists.

Cut to last month. I was strolling through the forums over at Dakka Dakka, and I came across a link to the PPC project. Lots of the people on the thread were commenting about the system making the game rather balanced. Plus, since the system was being worked on by a worldwide internet community rather that a few guys in England, issues could be addressed and balanced as needed.

...And so, with a sigh, I said "why the hell not?" And went about considering my choices to try the new system out with. It turned out to be a pretty easy choice. The only army I had with no recent rulebook had by far the most broken book in the ruleset I did have that I could use them in. My Daemons.

Into the dip they went. I was going to have to make them uniform across the whole army, so every last bit of paint would have to come off.

More astute viewers of the image above may note that what is in that container is not Simple Green.

It's actually a product you in the States can find over at Dollar Tree called "LA's Totally Awesome!". It runs $1 per bottle, and it took 2 bottles to fill the container pictured. There are two advantages to it over Simple Green. First, it's cheap. Much more so than the alternative. Second, it's faster. This stuff devours most paint in two days. Be warned, wash your hands super well after using this stuff. I missed some under my wedding band, and the results are not too pretty. Once soaked and scrubbed with a toothbrush, most of your minis will look out of the blister new. It seems to have problems getting paint off of plastic though, so stick with Simple Green for that.

One thing to keep in mind- Totally Awesome eats superglue as well, so a lot of your joins will fail. Check all of them before repainting any mini. A lot of my daemonette arms are loose, but because I pinned them in place, you wouldn't know without checking them.

...Well, more than likely you wouldn'the know until it's too late.

As you can see, my Daemons are off their old square bases, and ready to be put onto a new round one. Those are in the mail, and should arrive by tomorrow. Just in time for the blizzard (that may or may not happen, shucks it could be rain). At least if something does indeed happen snow-wise, and I'm stranded indoors, I have something to do while my wife watches Fushigi Yugi. Yes, I bought both seasons for her for Christmas, but I have no interest in watching a single episode.

With any luck, I'll be getting a new toy to play with while refurbishing this army as well, but only time will tell.

A Long Time Ago, On a Blog Far, Far Away...

Well, it has been quite a while since I was here, months in fact. It's not that I haven't been gaming, quite the opposite in fact. It's just that I really haven't had anything to report.

I have been playing a lot of X-Wing. No painting involved there, and since I'm not really good at the game I don't have any tips, tactics, or lists.

That was until I heard the rumors...

Warhammer was going the way of the dodo! Well, at least Warhammer as we know it. Flurries of rumors about round bases, limited release regiment, reality bubbles bumping into each other...

I was horrified. Quickly I scrambled to the eBays and snatched up any classic Skaven I could get my claws on. Every regiment I don't currently own. Now my army is nearly complete- I'm just missing a couple of the less useful weapon teams. I'm hoping to fix that as soon as possible (in metal of course since GW's resin is terrible). I have been painting these fellas in the last couple of days, but my new (awesome) job keeps me pretty busy. Hopefully I'll have some pictures to post soon.

Oh, also- I got my tracking email for the first wave of Super Dungeon Explore yesterday. Those little fellas just beg for paint. First of course I need to finish Caverns of Roxor and Von Drakk Manor.

A hobbyist's work is never done it would seem.

The Deafening Sound Of Silence

Annoyed Etna is annoyed.

Yep, I've been a bad blogger. I have not been posting any updates. Honestly, the reason for this is simple:

I have not done anything of note wargaming related since my last update. Nothing. Sure there have been the occasional X-Wing skirmishes with Demitra (who has also fallen off of the face of the earth in terms of blogging), and we tried out the new Dust Battlefield rules (which are awful), but no real progress. I guess I've hit a spell of the "gaming doldrums", which every gamer has a run-in with from time to time, and that's ground my progress to a halt. I can't paint Malifaux right now (I promised my wife I'd paint with her), and I've pretty much hit the wall in terms of Super Dungeon Explore.

All is not lost though! A week ago I placed an order for Mantic's "Zombie Apokalypse" deal. Normally it's 96 minis for $99, but after the US got eliminated from the World Cup Mantic ran a 25% off sale, and 96 mans for $75 was just too good a deal to pass up. Now the minis are winging their way over from Jolly Old England, and they should be waiting for me in a week or two.

 I ordered this army for two reasons. First, the above deal reasoning, but secondly because this army is a conversion project from A to Z. Lots of chopping up bits and building up minis- kitbashing galore!

I have been chatting with Demitra, and as he wants nothing to do with 40k at this time, I've been trying to convince him to play a game of Warpath (Mantic's answer to 40k) with me. Once my Corporation zombie horde is completed I hope to convince him to try the ruleset out using his Orks as Orx.

My army list is long, and does not belong in this post, but the list of minis I'll be making go here just fine. First there is of course Mortis, who I won't mess with at all. Next the Marines. Sixty, with one Energy Gauntlet and one Tactical Flame Unit for every ten. I will be giving them two of the actual TFUs and then two each of the various other weapons supplied on the special weapons frame. My other four troopers will have the other two weapons supplied on the frame. My Enforcers will consist of two Strike teams with a TFU each, and three suppression teams. Two will be armed with a pair of rocket launchers, and one team will have four burst lasers. For those who don't know, four Burst Lasers cranks out twenty shots per turn! Finally I will be making two Marine officers and three snipers. It has been pointed out to me that zombie snipers "don't make sense", but wait until they're done. They'll be a mass of wires and scopes, making them more than adequate at range.

I'll be left with five marines, and I'm really not sure what I'll do with them, so they'll be bits box fodder for the time being. I also have some ideas as to some "counts as" models (a Panzer IV D as a close assault gun toting battle tank, some Ogres converted into big hulking zombies with tiny little heads for Striders, etc.) so this should work as hobby fodder for the time being.

I promise I'll do an unboxing when they arrive, so bear with me for another week or two. Until then, I'll try to find worthwhile content, but I'm not going to muck up this blog with nonsensical ramblings if I can at all help it.

TTFN!

Almost Forgotten, But Not Quite

Yeah, I know- a picture of a tablet.

Woohoo.....

It's what's on the tablet that counts. Yep, I've upgraded. Since my FNSLGS (Friendly Not So Local Game Store) now has a 40k night, and since I have a freshly painted "Not Tau" army, I figure I need to get out and get my game on. In order to do that I will of course need the current rule set- 7th edition, so I broke down and dropped the $60 to get a digital copy of the rules. After finding that the Google book app doesn't read books not stored on the Google cloud, and the storage system won't accept a file larger than 100mb (the book is 130), I had to root around and find an app to read directly off the device. I downloaded a free one, and since Avast didn't go nuts after scanning it, I started my reading.

First up, the file itself. The thing should have been broken down into three files- three books just like the hardcover. Then I could have put it up on Google, and skip the first book which is a flagrant catalog and advertisement for the company. Look, guys- I just bought your book, obviously I'm interested in your toys. Well, except for my Greys... I also don't need the background of the game. I've been playing for 20 years. I think I know it by now. All I bought the book for was the rules, which start 259 pages in. I am honestly baffled as to who thought that this was a good idea.. *Sigh* Oh, GW...

To the rules themselves. Well, as you've probably read elsewhere the system is 6th edition with some tweaks- the Psychic Phase, new missions, slightly different special rules. I've read a lot of whining that this is a rip-off, but let's look back here. There has been no, and I mean NO serious rules overhaul since 3rd edition. Every edition past that has been building on and re-tweaking Andy Chambers' rules. No exception. I can and will side with those who say that this edition was released far too quickly after the last. Two years does not the lifespan of an edition of a game make.

Gameplay. Well, nobody in either of my home gaming groups is willing to get into this edition of the game, so I'll have to reserve judgement here. Hopefully in a couple of weeks (when my schedule clears up) I'll be able to go into this aspect. If you were to push me I'd say that my first-glance impression of the game is that it'll be tighter and brighter for your gaming pleasure.

So, what I'm saying is, despite the disdain toward "Unbound" armies I expressed on Three Geeks to the Wind (a statement I stand by), I hold out hope here. Now let's see how it functions once the rubber meets the road.

Going Back to a Wyrd Place

So, now that my Warmachine career is over I need something to replace it. With 7th edition 40k looming, and me being wary of it and Demitra having sworn off the game (as far as I can tell) that's a no-go. Then a miracle. My wife asked me "what about Malifaux?". Why would she ask? She knows the game is played in stores on days I'm stuck at work until 11:00 at night...

Turns out she really likes the background and minis. Hmmmm... I took a gamble and asked if she was interested in learning the game. The answer was yes! She has been interested in learning how to paint minis for quite a while now, and it's been a while since Monsterpocalypse or Battle Lore hit the table, so I seized on the opportunity. I took the PayPal money I had earned from selling off all my Warmachine stuff and went to the Miniature Market. First up, my crew.

I chose the Ten Thunders. I love their Asian look, and who doesn't like kung-fu and ninjas (pirate fans can go scratch)? Plus their underground mafia theme and the fact that all of their masters have infiltrated all of the other factions is a great bit if fluff as well. The fact that the models look dynamic and super slick was a big selling point too.

My wife loves steampunk, so I turned her straight toward Ramos. It was love at first sight (read?). All his constructs, in particular his arachnids, resonated with her. Super cool, we had picked out our forces.

I, having read the rules and figured out how the various crews interact, placed the order. About a week later most of our stuff had arrived. I say almost since my FLGS somehow had a Misaki crew in stock, and with the second edition cards! This is an almost miraculous find, as no online retailers I know of have them. I snatched them up, unaware of the trials the box would contain. More on that later.

My crew consisted of the aforementioned Misaki box, a set of archers, some Oiran, and Yamaziko. I figured this would give me a solid core from which to expand. My wife received Ramos' box, an arachnid swarm, and some metal gamin. Again, I figured that this would be a solid place to start. I made a couple of oopsies with that order. First, apparently Oiran are all but useless. Sad face as the minis are gorgeous. Second, Ramos needs many, many arachnids as one of his strategies is to go around making more and more of the things from the scrap markers as the initial ones get destroyed.

Time for a second order.

With my part of the money I got the Masters of the Path box, with some nice undead samurai to tag along. My wife got more arachnids as well as a Soulstone Miner and the Mechanical Rider. The Soulstone Miner was purchased because it looks cool, and the Rider because according to a few podcasts he just wins games.

Now that I had my stuff either in hand or in the mail (due to arrive two days from now), I decided to slap together the minis I had in hand. First basing, which I decided to do with a sort of ruined city street look. I started with using green stuff to lay down cobblestones, followed by laying some slate pieces over them to look like crumbled walls. I haven't gotten to laying down the ballast yet, but as soon as this post is finished that's next on the list. Now that the bases were ready it was time for the minis. I started with what I thought would be the easiest, Yamaziko. She went together like a breeze, and I glued her to her base. No sweat! The Internet legends of these being some of the toughest minis to assemble on the market were obviously posted by amateurs. Then I popped open Misaki's box.

What a nightmare.

I'm being helpful.

The parts were thin and fiddly. This I was prepared for. There were no instructions and the parts were randomly numbered. This was bad. Off to the Internet I scurried. I looked for an assembly guide on the Wyrd site. No such luck. To Google! Nope. So I started reading Malifaux blogs with Ten Thunders articles. Eventually I hit pay dirt. A color coded diagram. Not instructions, but the next best thing. From there I struggled through putting the nightmarish little things together. I struggled with Ototo, but I was able to noodle through the rest of them.

The Oiran went together easily enough, but then to the archers. Every last arrow, every single one, came snapped in half. I was going to have to get creative here, because they were all the same diameter as paper clips. Not good at all. Again, I was able to bodge the models together, but there are some arrows that are obviously bent and to mu eye you can still tell they were broken at one point. I am a bit more than displeased with these models. Maybe they'll look better painted, but I'd give it a 50% chance that they won't.

In the end the minis did go together, but not at all smoothly. Because of this, unless you are an experienced modeler and have lots of patience, steer clear of this faction. I'll give Ramos and friends a review when my wife puts them together, but as you can actually find instructions online I would give these a much higher chance of being doable than my faction.

That's enough text for now. Here, have some pictures of my finished minis:

Oiran. Useless, but easy to assemble.

Torakage. Middle of the road once you get the color-coded diagram. Still, those chains are fiddly and delicate.

Archers. Putting them together is the biggest exercise in patience in my modeling career

The Henchmen. Yamiziki is easy, Ototo is a pain.

Misaki and Shang. I would figure out later that I had assembled Shang's tail wrong, but it's not really noticable.

Mean Green Mini Stripping Machine

Once again Blogger rotates my photo.

Not too much to report today, other than that I've finally gotten around to stripping the paint from my old, old Skaven. As you can see there is a collection of Plague Monks, Globadiers, Stormvermin, even an original Warlock Engineer in there. I still don't have the varnish to take the shine off the minis I dipped, so no army photo/list yet. Not that it matters, as the weather on NoVA os about to go from bad to Very Bad, making it so that I have exactly a 0% chance of varnishing today any way. Curse the snow! Give me summer any day.

I've also been slacking on the painting front. I have Super Dungeon Explore minis to paint, as well as Mice & Mystics, even my Grey Aliens, not to mention the fact that I'm way behind on my podcasts, but I'm just having a hard time picking up a brush lately. Maybe something will get me into gear here, as I really hope it will, but maybe I just need to pick up a dang brush, open some paint, and go to town. Watching TV is getting really boring and all that's on is depressing stuff.

That's it! I'm going to start back up on my Greys, snide comments about my color scheme be damned. I bought them to enjoy the hobby aspect of these games, so I'm going to enjoy it weather certain people want me to or not. Besides, I've gotten more compliments than criticisms on my army, and I like the color scheme.

Time to grab my brush and go to town. Now, if you'll excuse me...

Tournament Time Again!

After a long hiatus, it is time to pull out my beloved Skaven again. My Friendly Not-So Local Game Store is having a Warhammer Fantasy tournament coming up on February 22nd. I had to juggle my work schedule around a little bit, but I managed to switch shifts with a co-worker in order to attend.

To that end I have been looking for input as to my army composition, and I have been getting... A very mixed response. On Dakka Dakka I was getting several different responses from a fair few different army lists thrown my way. Some swear I should take a massive block of Stormvermin, others claim that my Grey Seer is going to miscast and blow himself to tiny bits. Since he's not going to be dropped under any circumstances (the Dreaded Thirteenth is just too useful against enemies like Chaos Warriors that my shooting and other spells won't be able to crack), I had to sift through the feedback in order to find a suitable kit loadout. The real debate was over the the Arcane Item he would be carrying. I settled on a kit that allowed him to cast The Curse of the Horned Rat more easily.

Since this is an open-list event, I have decided to forego subtlety and simply go for the throat. The usual shenanigans- a Grey Seer, a "suicide" Warlock Engineer, a super tanked-up battle standard bearer. You know the drill. I did however tweak things a touch this time. First of all, this game is going to be smaller than I'm used to- 2,000 points. That means I had to take a scalpel to my army and remove a few things. Less Gutter Runners, no double Hell Pit Abomination (in fact none at all), and less in the way of Clanrats. I'll be running my old nemesis, the Doomwheel again. Two of them. Lots of "rat darts"- nine strong Giant Rat packs that are there to take up unit drops, redirect the enemy, and generally make a nuisance of themselves will be present as well.

I dropped ten Clanrats, demoted my Warpfire Thrower to a second Poisoned Wind Mortar- the reasoning behind this is simple- it is a more stable weapon, it can move and fire, and it doesn't need to see its target. It also ignores armor. I will be throwing away my flaming attacks, but that just means I'll have to blow those regenerating targets I face up with my various forms of Warp Lightning. Dragon Ogres will be incredibly dangerous, as I'll pretty much auto-frenzy them with all the electricty I churn out, but hopefully the fact that I have thirteen drops (fitting, no?) will allow me to see where my enemies deploy and react by plunking my Doomwheels down on the opposite end of the board. A couple of rat darts will have to soak up the lightning bolts (or Skavenslaves as each unit consists of 40) to keep the Doomwheels from nuking one another. I have a limited amount of time to experiment with these concepts- I haven't even purchased my second Doomwheel yet!

Suffice it to say, I have some work in front of me. The journey begins with a game against the Lizardmen Wednesday afternoon. It terminates with three games in a few weeks. May the Horned Rat smile upon me and my troops.

...And Cryx

Remember how I said I was done with Warmachine? Well, that all may have changed.

I have broken down and posted a thread on Dakka Dakka asking for advise on getting back into the game with a minimum of financial expenditure. I put up a list and got one very long bit of feedback- that being that I need Bane Knights. Well, there goes the whole "minimum expenditure" concept. I was given a budget, and allowed to go not a penny over. Luckily this was well more than I needed, so I would be able to grab a Bane Thrall command section as well. Thus I did venture out into the wilds of NoVA to seek out my much needed minis. I started with the store Demitra frequents. It's only a hop, skip, and a jump from my place, so I got in the ol' car and headed on over.

I walked briskly and confidently into the store, bent on picking up one of the two items at the least. As I entered the store the friendly staff greeted me and asked what I had stopped in for. Cheerfully I answered "Warmachine"! They pointed to the display immediately to my right and I stared at it intently. "Is there something you're looking for?" I was asked. "Cryx- I can't seem to find them."

It was then that the employee's face fell. "There was a customer in the other day. He started a new Cryx army- by which I mean he bought all of our Cryx stuff". My heart sank. Nooooooo!!! I had just gotten myself to get back into the swing of the game, and there was not a blister or box to be had! I thanked the employee for his time, and shuffled out the door.

All was not lost, however. There was always my Friendly (not so) Local Game Store! They always have tons of HordesMachine stuff!

Back to the car, down route 50, and up route 28. I got there a few minutes after 12:00, and the gaming tables were already in use. *It's good to see the store is doing well* I thought as I walked over to the display wall.

And found the Cryx section.

And found the blisters.

No Bane Thrall Command, but that was secondary.

Over to the boxes.

No Bane Knights.

It was thusly that I learned a lesson- do not trust that your FLGS has anything in stock. Always call beforehand.

It's unfortunate that this was how my attempt to support my local brick-and-mortar stores ended, but what could I do. On my way home I stopped by Firehouse Subs to drown my sorrows in some pastrami. That helped, but dagnabbit, if I was getting back into this game I'd be getting back into it! To the Miniature Market! Fingers crossed I began clicking away. Bane Knights? In stock! Bane Thrall Command? In stock! I even had some money left over. I remembered reading that Darragh Wrathe was a force to be reckoned with in an all-undead army, so I tacked him onto the purchase. Still a few bucks left, eh? How about a little X-wing? Blammo! Just a few cents under my limit and enough spent to get free shipping. After heartily patting myself on the back I finalized placing the order and went back to watching "Cops" on TV.

These minis cannot show up soon enough.

It looks like tomorrow is the big day, but as the UPS guy never really shows up until after 6:00, I may have to go back to painting my Greys. I'm taking a bit of a break from them, as having their paintjob get slammed really derailed my mojo. I'm not going to repaint them, but I'll have a hard time motivating myself any time soon. Whatever, too many people would refuse to play them any way since they're "too small" and "not GW minis". They'll probably go into a box and sit in the closet until I get inspired to paint them again.

Any way, let's end this on an upbeat note! I'm getting back into Warmachine, a game that I loved ever since it first hit the scene! Hooray!

GW & Stock Price Problems

Funny that this is post #300. Originally this was a Facebook rant, so the formatting is a little off for Blogger. I'm assuming you'll forgive me.

Well, every other one of my gaming nerd friends has said it, I might as well say it as well...

Problem, GW?

Games Workshop's sales fell 12% last quarter, causing their stock prices to plunge 24% in a single day. I want to laugh so bad, and to a degree I did at first, but could this be bad for the hobby community? I'm a bit worried that the loss of the "gateway" into wargaming will cause the expansion of the player base to dwindle. It is with a heavy heart that I have to stop "ROFLMAO-ing" at them and actually get a touch worried.

True, I prefer the company of grown-up gamers to Little Timmy across the board who I have to hold the hand of throughout the entire game, but Little Timmy may eventually become one of those adults who continue to play the game as they are more able to comprehend the nuance and complexity of the game and become competent opponents. I want this for the hobby (by which I mean wargaming, not Games Workshop), as it spreads the word of the game, brings more people in, and despite the natural attrition of such a hobby, further increases the player base. Wake up GW, it is the community, *the players of your game*, who spread the word. If nobody wants to play your game, they WILL NOT bring new players in, and get this- your sales will dwindle.

Took me a bit to find a hydra with three heads.

Now, why (in my not so expert opinion) is this happening? To me it is a three headed monster. The first, and most obvious head of which is the one everybody knows- price points. The tidy sum of $100 for the rules to the game and two unbalanced and not even playable by your own rules armies. Oh, wait- you wanted to play games using those little plastic dudes? Sorry, that's another $100 JUST FOR THE RULES FOR YOUR ARMY. That's right, if you want to know how many points and what the capabilities of your troops are, you have to fork over $50 per army rulebook. For those of you keeping track, we're at $200 just for the bare minimum needed to play. Wait a minute- now that I've written an army list and checked the charts to build my armies you have discovered that not only is one of the armies ILLEGAL, the other is drastically under the point cost of the other, and so you have to buy more stuff to make both of them work. For army "A" you're looking at $37.50 just to make the army legal. At least twice that much for army "B" to have a fair chance against "A" on the table. Total outlay *just to start playing the game*? For those of you who are non math inclined like myself, $312.50 is our total JUST TO GET ON YOUR FEET. Let's just throw in the glue you'll need to put your mans together, a bit of primer (I'll ball-park it and say you need three cans), and the paints & brushes to get your dudes looking spiffy. There's well over $400 right there. Oh, you wanted to play the game on the correct sized surface? That's another $350 or so for the board (assuming you have a table to put it on). Oh, let's not forget (easily) $250 for the terrain features the rules call for. Yep, we've cracked the $1,000 barrier right there- just for you and a friend to start playing the game. Obscene.

Head #2; alienation of the player base. I already explained why this is a Very Bad Thing above, but why else are players leaving? Rules. Bad ones that are unbalanced and poorly written. I'm talking basic grammar here. The singular of "dice" is not "dice", it is "die". Not only that, but the rules are vague, contradictory, and frequently bland. But rules can't be all that's wrong, right? Righto, bucko. Veteran players are treated like crap. The GW business model is to suck teens in with oodles of disposable income (by the way, tell me when you see one of those), grab as much money as you can from them, and then discard them. Look, attrition (as I stated above) is to be expected. As these targets become older they frequently become "too cool" for the game and drop out. Some stay though. They gradually get to the point where they actually really *do* have disposable income, and then they buy your plastic crack en masse. They are also good for the developing player base (and granted, there can be exceptions) as they, like myself, will take the time to teach these newbies the tricks of the trade. How to get a better paint job, why that squad with four different types of heavy weapons doesn't perform as well as the one with nothing but anti-tank kit, how to maneuver on the table to maximize your position and stymie your opponent. Learning these things makes the game more fun, and in an environment like your Friendly Local Game Store (where let's face it, most of us grognards game), means your employees will actually have people going above and beyond their own job description free of charge. That makes those kids (who you wanted to make a money grab from) much more likely to stick around, even as "closeted gamers". I have encountered some people in my day that you would least expect to be standing across the table from me- don't count anybody out. GW no longer runs tournaments (in fact they actively discourage them). One has to wonder why this is. Could it be unplaytested rules that are horribly lopsided? Hmm... If you're not the aforementioned Little Timmy with his mom's stolen black American Express card in hand, they think you won't buy anything and you can just get out of the store and pound sand. Oh, the fact that in their own stores they constantly push product on you doesn't help either. Oh, and why preview product to build hype? Let's just sue anybody who posts a picture of our unreleased stuff on their blog. This all stems from being a publically traded company which only focuses on short-term profits, but I digress here.

Get it? Alienation?

Head #3; competition! Games Workshop likes to act like they are the only fish in the sea, but there are growing shadows. Privateer Press, while just as expensive on a per-model basis (don't argue this one, I've been pricing stuff) requires fewer minis to play their games. This lowers the cost of entry barrier. They actually, get this, playtest their rules! While this doesn't mean that some models aren't better than others in terms of "value" per point or are more synergistic than others, everything *tends* to be more balanced. They also actively encourage tournaments with prize support, and they promote their stuff ahead of time. These guys are growing at what should be an alarming rate for GW, But they *actively* bury their heads in the sand. If you want to wargame, you've gotta go GW. Not any more. Corvus Belli makes amazing stuff. Mantic is actively targeting the players who GW have driven away by ceasing to (even passively) support the favorite games of. I'm looking at you Necromunda, Space Hulk, and Blood Bowl (also further examples of alienation). Vallejo and Reaper make superior paints and painting supplies. The list goes on.

Remember these guys? Owned by Hasbro.

Oh, let's not forget games like Magic, which admit it or not DOES suck away players.

Look, I'm not just going to sit here and club GW all day. They make some amazing looking stuff, and I *want* them to stick around, but come on. Shape up or ship out guys.

...And by "ship out" I mean "get bought out by Hasbro like every other floundering gaming company".

For The Glory of Irk!!! Also, Christmas. Kill Team Too.

Playing around with my phone's collage function.

 

Well, most of my Irken force has arrived. I got a box from Zombiesmith on Monday, and then a box from Hydra Miniatures on Tuesday. I've put together all the included minis, and as you can see there are a lot of warriors in my army.

 

All is not well in EV land though- I started drilling the holes in the heads of the minis to put the antenna into, and things could be going better. They're ending up all over the place in the minis heads. They are not being drilled in the places I would like, and this is causing the models to look... Not Good. I'll have pictures later, but once you see them I think you'll agree that things have gone awry. Perhaps (most likely) it is because I am using a Dremel to drill out the holes. I really wish this weren't the case as drilling 122 holes by hand will be a nightmare. Not to mention the wear on my hands. I'm going to give it a shot on a few more minis, but right now I don't like the look of things. I'll stick to it though, as this is sort of a fun thing for me (in theory) and I really don't want to admit defeat here.

 

More exploring of Super Dungeons.

Next up is Christmas. I was a good Vassal this year, so my family got me Super Dungeon Explore: Von Drakk Manor. This both pleases and irks me. Now I honestly do not know what to paint. Listen to me here; I love, repeat love the aesthetic of SDE, and I still have most of the Caverns of Roxor to paint. This places my SDE queue along the magnitude of my Irken, and they need less (read no) fiddly drilling into tiny metal heads. Just mold line cleanup and base hole patching.

 

White primer is needed for both, so no difference. What else is there? Likelihood of use. This one's a really tough call. I'm not sure here. Demitra and I are less and less likely to be able to get a full game of 40k in any time soon, as my "job", despite my protestations, has begun to fiddle around with my hours. This reduces our Tuesday Gaming Time to being long enough for some Infinity or X-Wing, but not really much more. Super Dungeon Explore does not fare much better here. The game is fun, and I do have one person interested in playing, but as far as I know that's it. It's a really tough call.

 

This is worth the price of admission.

Finally, on the whole 40k note, I went ahead and downloaded my first Games Workshop digital book, Kill Team. For those of you who don't know what this game is, allow me to explain. Kill team is for those of us who like to take an occasional break from the legion-sized battles so common in the 40k universe. It is the polar opposite of Apocalypse. Kill team is about one or two squads of elite troops who infiltrate into no-man's land or even enemy territory to accomplish a vital mission. This is the scalpel to regular 40k's sledge hammer.

 

Every miniature, despite being purchased as part of a squad, deploys and plays as a unit consisting of a single miniature.

 

I love this way of playing 40k.

 

Now, this version of Kill Team (for those of you familiar with the game) is tighter and brighter. They have tweaked several things that made original Kill Team... A little unbalanced. New composition rules are in place for your team, which are:

 

- 0 HQ, 0-1 Elite, 0-2 Troops, 0-1 Fast Attack, 0 Heavy Support.

- Must consist of 4+ non-vehicle models.

- Nothing with more than 3 wounds.

- No vehicles with more than 33 total armor across the total of all three values or more than 3 Hull Points.

- No Flyers.

- Nothing with a 2+ Armor Save.

 

Now, I disagree with the 2+ save rule (as this removes the super-fluffy Grey Knight Terminator squad suicide mission option) but all the rest I am down with. There have been Kill Team events where the "elite fighting force" consists of a single Riptide (not exactly subtle). Big vehicles (and especially flyers) would just plain remove playability. Lots of wounds means things like Trygons & Carnifexes, which again are not exactly the "elite fighting force" the designers professed to envision. There is also the ability to have the elite hero/villain surrounded by a bunch of mooks, which I also kind of like. It's tough to play against, but as Demitra will attest to, it's not unbeatable by any means.

 

Further tweaks can be found in the Specialist rules. For starters, you Leader now cannot be a Specialist. Instead he gets a sort of "mini Warlord Trait" that can either drastically alter the game, or in a few cases do just plain nothing. Secondly, the Special Rules your Specialists can take have been tweaked. Gone is the ability to give Shrouded to your heavy weapon trooper (or anybody at all). The Special rules have been broken up into categories- Combat, Weapon, Dirty Fighter, Indomitable, & Guerilla. Your three Specialists must choose their abilities from amongst these groups, and a group may not be repeated. Special Rules are now clearly defined as to what kind of weapon they can be attached to. For example, a Fleshbane weapon may only be a close combat one.

 

Death Watch: the original kill team.

 

A personal favorite of mine is to attach Haywire to a Splinter Cannon. Now, not only does it shred any model that gets in its path, it will glance pretty much any vehicle to bits in a single volley. Yep, interesting combinations of Special Rules and miniatures abound in Kill Team. I've found a fair few, but I'd be tipping my hand were I to reveal any more.

 

I've been thinking up various Kill Teams over this last week. Purifiers in a Razorback, a Tau incursion team, Dark Eldar raiders...

Most likely naught will come of this but maybe, just maybe, I can find some like-minded individuals who would be up for a game.

I've rambled long enough. Happy Holidays to you regardless of which one, none, or all you observe, and thanks for reading over the last year. I'll see about an end or year roundup in the next five days, but failing that I'll see you in 2014!