Saturday, November 26, 2011

I bought Evan's Imperial Guard stuff from him. My army expands.

I bought my friend Evan's IG collection. It's added almost half again my original numbers.

I have taken and posted some pictures. Please enjoy. If a further sense of scale is needed, that's all laid out on a 4x4 table.




Creed/Kell Company Command Squad with all advisors and bodyguards

Straken Company Command Squad with two bodyguards

Lord Commissar

6 Commissars

1 Priest

2 Standard Bearers

3 Squads of Stormtroopers (28 troops)

5 Ratlings

Guardsman Marbo

7 Platoon Command Squads (35 troops)

16 Fully equipped line squads (160 troops)

55 Extra Troopers (Conscripts, or combine with unused elements of Platoon Hqs to make Veteran Squads.

9 Autocannon Teams

6 Lascannon Teams

6 Heavy Bolter teams

6 Mortar Teams

3 Missile Launcher teams

1 Sentinel

3 Chimeras

9 Leman Russ Tanks (4 Vanilla Russ, 3 Plasma Executioners, 2 Demolisher (only one pictured))

1 Basilisk

Grand Total Time: 9 Command Squads, 7 Commissars, 28 Stormtroopers, 215 Infantrymen, 30 heavy weapon teams, 3 chimeras, 9 Leman Russes, a sentinel and a basilisk.

That's at least 1800 points of Heavy Support. (I HAVE 2000 pts, there's another demolisher I don't have sponsons on that wasn't in the picture.) Now I feel like I can REALLY take on Josh's traitor guard. The only problem I actually had against his list was pitting my (plasma armed) Executioner tanks against the Blood Pact's Main-line Battle Tanks, of which I originally only had 1. I now posses 4.


Sunday, November 6, 2011

Musings on Flames of War- Really just List Buildling

I've been looking at playing late war Finns for Flames of War. The first list is a fairly straightforward infantry list, and the second is a... well, I decided to build a Finnish Armoured Company, because nobody else does. It strikes me as being a whole lot of fun to at least try out, and if all else fails, I'll have the models available to fill in the regimental and divisional support slots for Finnish Infantry lists.


Jalkaväkikomppania

Company HQ (45) 2x Panzerschreck teams (45) 3x Sniper Teams (150) (240)

Combat Platoon 4 squads (230) Close Defense SMG HQ (5)

Combat Platoon 3 squads (180) Close Defense SMG HQ (5)

Combat Platoon 3 squads (225) all rifle/mg now SMGs, HQ now close defence smg (5) (180)

Machine Gun Platoon, 2 sections (165)

Machine Gun Platoon, 2 sections (165)

Artillery Battery 122 H/38 Howitzers x4 (235)

Tank Hunter Platoon, 3 Sections, Panzerfaust upgrades for all! (225)

Anti-Aircraft Platoon (90)

Heavy Anti-Tank Platoon 75 PstK/97-38 (90)

Pansarri Platoon 4x T-28s (200)

2,000 pts


Finnish 3rd Company, 1st Tank Battalion

HQ (70) T-34/85 upgrade (70) cupola (5) Famo Recovery Vehicle (5) (150)

1st Platoon 3x T-34/85s with Cupolas (375)

2nd Platoon 4x T-28s (200)

3rd Platoon 5x T-26s (175)

Armored Car Platoon x3 (135)

Stug G platoon x 4 (German Allies) (380)

Self Propelled Anti-Aircraft Platoon (125)

Jaakari Platoon 4 squads (240) all SMG upgrades, command SMG/Pzrfaust upgrade.

122 H/38 Battery 4 guns confident vets and 3 ton trucks (215)


1995 pts


So, there we have it. I'd appreciate any input from you Flames of War vets out there. Some of you, or perhaps even most of you, came here from the Great Hall Games forum. Feel free to post your responses here or there, either way works for me.


Thursday, September 22, 2011

Games Were Played!

We still exist as a gaming group! Haha. We haven't played 40k nearly as much lately as we used to. I just got an Imperial Sector for my birthday (from the most amazing fiance in the world) and, while I don't have pictures up of it yet, over my birthday weekend, I had some of the gang over and we played 40k. Fun times were had!

My fiance is a huge fan of sci-fi and robots, so it's only natural she decided to try Necrons. She's 3-0 so far. HOW!? HOW, DICE GODS?!? Ugh, so unfair. Haha. Anyways, without too much commentary, here are a few of the pictures I took.

Hilton (left) Evan (center) Victoria (right) going through an introductory game. 540 points per side meant 1 assault squad, 1 tac squad, and a captain vs 20 Necron warriors and a Lord.

                         Here, Hilton explains something or other. Probably how cover saves work.

A squad of implaccable, soulless killing machines zaps and blasts their way through a squad of Space Marines.

Be aware, Imperial Citizens! This is the face of the Xenos! Also, Chaos. Multiple xenos, come to think of it...

Evan (blood angels) and Robert (Sisters of Battle) face each other for a brother against brother battle the likes of which haven't been seen since the War between the States! (With less tragedy.)

Jump pack troops face off. Also: UNPAINTED MODELS BRING SHAME UPON YOUR GROUP. SHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAME!
 


What's his name, of the Flesh Tearers, faces off (with 1 wound) against the Living Saint and posse.
                                                                       (He dies.)

In my... 1000 pt game? Against Ria's (Derek's) Necrons, I turtled my guys up. It would have worked better if I hadn't made some stupid mistakes. And also, if Ria's dark pact with the dice gods hadn't worked as well as it apparently did. IT'S UNCANNY. SHE ROLLS BETTER THAN HILTON. HOW IS THAT POSSIBLE

                          This was the last sight of many a brave guardsman that fateful day...

Speaking of brave Guardsmen, this is how my new paint scheme is coming along: (one was with the flash on, and one without. I couldn't decide which one I preferred, so here's both)

Coming up next time: Pictures of our new terrain.

Saturday, September 3, 2011

I LIIIIIIIIIIVE!

Although I am sure that many doubted it. I do live! What have I been up to? Oh, y'know. Dark Heresy-ing it up, playing some 40k, working on some 15mm Carthaginians. I don't have many of them, and nobody else plays Field of Glory in San Marcos. But they look pretty cool, and there's a group in Austin that does it. It's something I might look at sometime. I picked up the rulebook and the 'Rise of Rome' army list compendium for pretty cheap.

Here are the pictures. I hand painted the shields. They look fine at 3 feet away, but aren't so grand up-close. They make decals, which I'll probably wind up getting so they look nice. These are Libyan spearmen, the standard heavy infantry of Carthage.

I don't think they look half bad. Next time I'll post about my 15mm Flames of War Germans I've got. But for now, back to theoretically the reason you read this blog...


WARHAMMER!!!!!

My beautiful fiance is buying me an Imperial Sector boxed set for my birthday, which I am extremely excited about. I've decided I'm going to re-do my Cadians with a more urban look. Theorizing that a Cadian expeditionary force rushed to an Urban warzone would more easily get new BDUs than special urban armour, they have kept their traditional OD Green flak vests and helmets but gotten spiffy new grey clothing. I'm going to do more work on urbanizing the bases when I have the proper equiptment, but for now, enjoy my first trio. I've decided to name them as I go. This should be fun. Many of you will recognize at once the Infamous Jenkins...

Please forgive the terrible eyes. They were painted on by their previous owner and I'm busy repainting cloth. It's not like anybody notices the model's eyes from three feet above the tabletop.

So yeah, there we go. There's an update. Expect more to follow before long.

Monday, July 11, 2011

Re-Writing Cityfight

Some members of our group, myself included, are fired up about Cityfight. It looks like fun, and Dragon's Lair in Austin has all kinds of city terrain. However, the 'codex' is rather out of date, and was never updated by GW. I've changed somethings, updated others, and made shit up as I went. Let me know what you think.

The only real Rules changes listed are Rubble giving you a 4+ save. (Which 5th edition gives you for literally everything.) The rest were various 'stratagems' you could buy. Including Deep Strike and Infiltrate and things like that. Yeah, you remember when some missions didn't allow you to deep strike? Sorry New Daemons. But anyways, here are the things I thought up.

General Rules Changes
Plunging Fire: Units firing from a higher vantage point have a much better view of their targets than if both units are on the same plane. Therefore, units being fired at from a higher level are at a -1 to their cover save, so long as they are within 18" of the firing unit. Likewise, vehicles that would count as 'obscured' by terrain have their cover save reduced to 5+, or even 6 if the vehicles' top is entirely visible from above.

Rubble: The ubiquitous detritus of fallen towers and crushed stonework, rubble is going to be a major terrain factor in any urban combat. It provides a 4+ cover save, of course, and is difficult terrain to non-skimmer vehicles. Walkers can re-roll failed dangerous terrain checks, since they were invented to deal with terrain obstacles. Vehicles with dozer blades never test for dangerous terrain for moving through rubble heaps, but have their speed reduced by d3" Since rubble wouldn't actually break a vehicle to immobilize it, the immobilization is only temporary. Rolling a '1' on the difficult terrain check immobilizes the vehicle for a turn. They re-test in their next movement phase.

Measuring Range: The way GW wrote it is really fucking stupid. You measure base to base, even if the model is on a higher level. That's right, if you have a beautiful vantage point on the 3rd floor of a building, it's probable that you can't shoot anything that's not within three inches of your building. Fuck that, that's not how projectile drop works. That just annoys me. Range is measured from the relative position of the firer on the ground level to the guy on the ground. That is, you just measure from the bottom floor, right underneath your model, to the target. This is the part where I need input. It's harder for rounds to Fight gravity, being aimed upwards and all that. Should it work the same for shooting Up at people, or should there be some sort of penalty? Chime in.

Stratagems: Stratagems are neat tricks and upgrades you could buy with stratagem points in the old cityfight dex. I've decided that we should assign them relative point values. So again, here's what I think sounds fun.


Command Center Stratagem: (Building) (65 pts?) A vital command post outfitted with vox gear or at a focal point for warp magicks or what have you, from a Command post, a leader guides and controls his forces. This stratagem applies to one building. It allows one unit per turn to re-roll a failed moral/leadership test if they have a model within 24" of the Command Center. This re-roll is made using the highest Ld value of any model inside the Command Center.


Observation Point Stratagem: (building) (85 pts?) A vantage point for your entire force, manned by sharp eyed individuals with radio, map and their judgement. From it, they can direct fire or alert your forces to the incoming foe. Designate the highest point on one building. Each turn, one friendly unit attempting to Deepstrike or fire a blast/barrage/ordinance weapon at or on a point within the LOS of the obs. point may re-roll the scatter die. Additionally, no enemy unit may outflank or infiltrate to within 18" of the structure. Might change it to 12" but 18" sounds good.


Fuel Dump Stratagem: (buildling) (55pts?) Having a handy fuel dump near the front lines is a boon to any force that controls it. Allowing for easy reloads and plentiful supplies for your flame weapons, this is clearly a vital point to hold on to for whoever holds it, and an objective that Must be taken or destroyed by the foe. The player holding the Fuel Dump increases the strength of all FLAME based flame-template weapons by +1. If the building is contested by the foe (If there are more attacking models inside the building than there are defenders), then the bonus is lost until one side or the other regains control. Sorry, flamers of Tzeentch. Your warp magicks aren't made stronger by promethium.


Sacred Ground Stratagem: (building) (70 pts?) Every race has it's symbols and holy places. Locations and relics worth fighting and dying for. Designate one building or Square or point on the field to be your Sacred Ground. Friendly units with MORE than half their models within 6" of the structure/point/space become Stubborn and gain Counterattack. This stratagem is only available to the Defender of the battle.

Booby Traps: Okay, this is tricky. I'm not sure how this sounds. This is a first draft. And, of course, only defenders will have placed booby traps. At least at first. Later in a campaign, if there's a stalemate, both sides might be allowed to place booby traps. We'll see.


Anti Personnel: 0-6 booby traps, 40 points each?
Designate however many buildings as having been booby-trapped. Mark it down on a piece of paper. When an enemy unit enters a booby-trapped building, once the controlling player has finished placing the models in the unit, they roll a d6. On a 3+, the unit has found the trap... The Hard Way. The player who's booby trap it is places a small blast template wherever they please on the unit (as long as it's inside the booby trapped terrain feature) and resolve it at Strength 5, AP * No cover saves may be taken, and the armor save is taken at -1 of it's standard value. Once triggered, the trap is removed from play. Should the attacker be able to do something like pass an initiative test to deactivate the trap if they don't trip it? And if that's a possiblity, should the unit roll each turn that they move inside the building or terrain feature to see if some bumbling idiot sets it off?

As far as anti-tank traps go, there should be minefields, either 6" by 6" or just along roads, in 6" long sections. I'm thinking 0-3, and fairly expensive. They should hit against rear armor. Dozer blades should allow you to resolve the hit against the front armor and give a 5+ save. Skimmers should only be hit on a 4+ Wheeled vehicles would be hit on a 3+ and tracked vehicles, being really fucking heavy, would be hit on a 2+ when passing through. A str. 8 hit sounds right for an anti-vehicle mine. Maybe AP 1, maybe less. Sensor spines or the equivalent would give you a 5+ know-where-the-mine-is-and-avoid-it sort of save.

Fortifications: (dirty tricks) (150-200pts?) One building may be 'fortified' by the defenders. Choose one building. All models inside get +1 to their cover saves.  Defenders only.


Master Snipers: (dirty tricks) Snipers thrive in city battles, lying in wait for their prey. You've seen enemy at the gates. Anyways. Sniper Weapons now rend on a 5+, and their targets are at -1 to their cover saves. This DOES stack with plunging fire. This costs 10 pts per sniper rifle armed model. AND, because you should be able to damn well shoot before they hand you a sniper rifle, any model with a sniper rifle that is BS 3 may increase their BS to 4 for +5 pts each.

That's about it. That's all I've got so far. Yes, yes, I know it's long. And maybe rambling at some points. But what do you think? I know we need rules for Preliminary Bombardment for the Attackers, since most of this stuff benefits the Defenders. Maybe some more special siege weapon type stuff, or some rules for upgrading troops to combat engineers, like in the actual cityfight book. But here's what I have so far. I would like some input and feedback. Does it sound fun to play? I can't wait to give it a go, myself.

Friday, July 8, 2011

A GAME was played!

It turns out, my friend Robert plays some pretty bastardly Grey Knights. Actually, bastardly isn't the right word. Sledgehammerly? Tough as nails? He plays them well, is the point. My other Grey Knight playing friend should take lessons from him. Rare was the chance I had to drop template after template of plasma onto the heads of nicely bunched terminators. Sigh. Fun was had by all, though. Except perhaps Lucy, who dozed off after turn two, haha. Grey Knights are pretty much an awesome sledgehammer of doom, though. They also look pretty cool.

I'm glad we've started playing 40k again. We slacked off for a bit there, what with two of our group having a major falling out, and the ensuing chaos of that put a bit of a damper on things. And since our group finally has another guard player, who plays satisfyingly large hordes of foot guard, I should finally get the game I've been waiting for all these years! Guard on Guard! And That, dear readers, will be a thing of wonder. I'm getting the feeling we need to schedule our games a bit further in advance, so more people can come. Oh well. We'll figure that out once I know everyone's schedule. In the meantime, Photographic evidence that a game was played!

In the future, expect to see more pictures of us actually playing. And by all the Gods, there will be a battle report. Someday. Someday soon.

*Footnote*: I rather enjoy playing at Dragon's Lair in Austin. Having multi-level, three dimensional terrain makes it feel like a whole different game, instead of just another flat battlefield.

Thursday, June 30, 2011

Blog Update: No pictures, but News and possibly a Rebirth

It's me again, with news and excuses. Summer is here, but somehow we haven't played much 40k at all. A few of us started playing Flames of War, which is a total blast, but in the past few weeks we've sort of slacked off entirely. This is inexcusable. We should start playing again, regularly.

Our facebook group, "Warhammer Players of San Marcos," has two new members. We haven't played since they joined, so we should probably get our asses into gear and throw some dice around. One plays Black Templar, and the other plays Guards, Iron Warriors, 'Nids, and something else that I don't remember. I'm so excited for another Guard player. I've been waiting to play a Guard against Guard game for so long. That and co-smite some enemies of Mankind.

I feel like this blog needs to evolve, though. Instead of this being the Blog of Ben, as it is now, I would like to see it become the Blog of the San Marcosites, as it were. San Marcutions? San Martians? Blog of the Wargamers of Saint Mark? Hm. I like that last one. Anyways, I'm rambling. I plan on expanding this blog to cover our whole gaming group. I hope to have pictures of our group, show other people's armies, and even *GASP* Battle reports, which we talk about needing to do every single time we play. Maybe it's time to act!

As far as the updates I mentioned go, I've been out of a job for several months, so money's been pretty tight. I've sold my Black Templar army, my Bretonnians, the handful of Tau I had, and I plan on selling a few other odds and ends of my wargaming paraphernalia to help make ends meet. However, I DO have a job interview at Hastings on Saturday, so here's hoping that works out. I AM keeping my Guard. I would not part with them. My Guard army is precious to me, though I buy it with a great pain. The markings upon the band seem to fade, a secret now that only fire...

Oy, sorry. I kind of Isildur-d out there for a second. The point being that I have a terrible problem. In the past, I've impulse-bought things. Space Marines, Lizardmen, Empire, Bretonnians... And I no longer own any of them. It's an impulse I've gotten better about keeping under control. It's too easy and far too much fun to buy and assemble these models. But I don't have the time or money to start a fantasy army. I have to realize and accept it now. They've Really priced me out of fantasy, since they not only want you to buy Huge units, but also raised prices. I'm not sure how much more 40k I'm willing to buy either. I might shore up my Guard army with a couple vehicles, but I'm kind of through spending money on GW products.

Leading me to the final bit: Flames of War! I love 15mm historical gaming. Multiple companies mean producing models that you can use with any game system means that you Can find cheaper alternatives to the miniatures! Battlefront (official) Flames of War minis too expensive? Old Glory miniatures are almost literally dirt cheap. Anyway, this blog shall expand to cover Flames of War, too. And the next post will have pictures.

Thank you, o Readers of the Blog, for sticking with it. I think I'm going to join this "House of Paincakes" blog group that my friend Evan showed me. I'd like to get increased traffic. And I like them a lot more than Bell of Lost Souls. So we'll see how that goes. For now, Auf Wiedersehen!

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

BLACK TEMPLAR

BLACK TEMPLAR!

I have some. Have for years. Tried to paint them in the fall of '08, which is when I started them, now that I think about it. I got really frustrated, because 18 year old me had other things on his mind than the best ways to paint black armor (booze, girlfriend, and, oh yeah, college too. I sometimes forget that that's why I was at Texas State... Oh well.

Yes, but anyways, Black Templars! I've begun painting them. I got a couple of Sword Brethren painted a month ago, and they turned out quite well. Metal models have those sharper edges on them, better/easier to paint. Anyways, what I did was try out the painting on some of my plastic terminators (of which I have many, haha.) And it did turn out quite well, if I do say so myself. Here they are!

Terminators and Sword Brethren! I happen to like the way they turned out. With so much of the model black, it only makes sense to base in black paint. But the subsequent white on top of black REALLY, REALLY SUCKS. That's why the Terminator with the Chainfist has two red shoulder pauldrons. Because, THAT'S WHY. I decided to give other two guys white shoulder pads with decals since, to be honest, they don't have the special BT specific pads that my other guys go. So there, a little bit of standard BT fair.

Black Templar are my favorite Chapter of Space Marines. Why? Because they really don't recognize the authority of anyone over them. They're All Crusade, All the Time. Crazy super soldier crusaders in space? Yes, please. Also, the Codex Astartes that Roboute Guilliman shoved down everyone's throats says no more than a thousand sworn Space Marines in a chapter. The Black Templar have at least 5,000. Because they do what they want, that's why. Flying all over space, in a dozen or maybe a hundred fleets, fighting the enemies of mankind. Seriously, great stuff.
The white shield really stands out against so much black and red, I think. It's certainly a striking contrast, and looks pretty cool (again, if I do say so myself.) I just had a spare combat shield in the bitz box, so he conveniently lost his bolt pistol and became a Fighting Company Champion.
Who Doesn't love Space Marines with pairs of lightning claws? Seriously, this guy is all about making trouble. Guy thoughtfully gave me a spare Berzerker head, which I gashed up artfully and added to the base, it's previous owner having just been decapitated by this guy. I might add more detail to it later, bigger gashes, blood leaking out, etc.
The camera clearly has better resolution than my eyes does. The white shoulder pad Really needs another layer or two. Other than that though, this guy is ready to claw peoples faces out. Also, for 3 pts. a model, you can give ALL your terminators either Furious Charge or... I think counter attack. Either way, awesome. There are a few really nice things in the Black Templar codex that I think makes them still viable, years after their last update.
Again with the eye/camera problems. The shield looked better with the naked eye, sooo... I'll be doing some touch ups on that. I also may switch around the colours on the shield. But, as with the Sword Brethren champion, I think the white provides a stark, eye catching contrast to the red and black.
These Tau are so boned. They won't know what hit them. And speaking of which...

I've painted a few of my Tau as well. I have 3 Crisis suits, 12 firewarriors, and a Piranha. I figure that some day, I'll play them again. Or at least paint the models I have, as I really like them. So, here's a parting shot of my Tau. Let me know what y'all think of the paintjobs. I might update later today, depending on how I feel, with a battle report on my games against the new Grey Knights. No pics, and it's all by memory, but I have some general impressions that people might enjoy, or even find insightful. So, until then, keep on painting your armies. Next game, the player with a higher percentage of painted models gets an 8% points bonus to their list. Here is a parting picture of some Tau.

Thursday, March 17, 2011

Quick Update

It's St. Patrick's Day, or, as I call it, Amateur Day! Seriously. Play some real Irish music, for heaven's sake.

Anyways, neither Ria or I have working internet on our laptops. She had to order a new one, and it doesn't get here until tomorrow. So thanks, Guy, for letting me borrow yours real quick like this.

Next time I post something, I'm hoping it's a battle report. With pictures and everything. Until then, stay class. Check out my friend Evan's Ork blog, Waagh Grimbad. I'm following it, so I'm sure you can look it up on my profile somehow. No pics yet, but it's amusingly written.

Until next time, keep painting your miniatures, you lazy gits. Full Props to Derek, for his 98% painted Necron army. It looks pretty badass. I enjoy seeing an army of opponents that isn't that same grey colour as everyone else. Get it together, people!

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

We're Knights of the Round Table!


I'm nothing if not a traditionalist. Got my Bretonnian Battalion last thursday. Started assembling it almost  immediately, haha. Somehow the glue I was  using was drying literally half as fast as it had in the past. Small two-pack of superglue purchased at Lowes, you have failed me for the first time. Things sped up on Friday when Robert came over to watch movies and assemble his rat-men. Hobby Lobby glue, for one of the first times, proved the most effective way.


That being said, on to the army! Don't play armies you don't love. Don't let the fact that somebody else is playing the same army ultimately deter you from buying it.  I wish I'd been playing Bretonnians all along, haha. I love the Arthurian mythos. I am really digging these models. They are wonderful, and they're also pretty old. I don't think GW has touched the Bretonnian range in 7 or 8 years, and you know what? Even the most basic troopers are some of my favorite GW plastic models. And who doesn't love knights?





So far, I've only painted seven models. 6 men-at-arms, and one knight. A lot of the Games Workshop Bretonnian Knights are just... over gaudy. They don't look at all weathered, no realism at all. I know, I know, it's fantasy, but... Maybe I'm rambling. It probably doesn't make any sense. Anywho, my Commander will bear the same heraldry as the men-at-arms, since the foot troops will be his own household force, while the vast majority of the Knights will, of course, all bear their own heraldry. Here is my first knight, who has earned the nick-name The Black Boar.

 He is, as you can plainly see, black and white. Very crisp colours, but not gaudy. He looks very distinct without looking too silly. I think the paint scheme has a lot of dignity. But that might just be me. After that I'll be painting red and green  and blue and yellow knights. Knights of every colour of the rainbow!! haha.

Footnote: I'm fighting any number of urges to model every single knight after characters from A Song of Ice and Fire. Great stuff. Check it out. Coming soon to HBO.

And next, the Men-At-Arms. I wish they had better stats, you guys have no idea how much fun  I think these models are.



What do y'all think? I LOVE the way the shield transfers turned out. SO much easier than putting those blasted little things on space marine shoulder pads. I only have 34 Men-at-Arms, 32 peasant archers, 7 regular knights and one Pegasus knight. Until next time.

Saturday, February 12, 2011

Update, no new pics.

Grettings, minions! Or, minion. I have a follower. That's nice, thanks Hilton. It's appreciated. Time for some updates!

The only Guard stuff I have left to paint are two autocannons, 10 Ogryn, and maybe a handful of random models. And one Commissar. And the Baneblade. Not a baneblade, it's one of the variants that I can't keep straight. I promised myself awhile ago that I wouldn't buy any more wargaming stuff until my guard army is done.

But I ordered a Bretonnian Battalion on Friday. I'm going to start a fantasy army, from scratch. I'll probably chronicle it here, too. But they won't be getting  here for awhile, so I'll endeavor  to finish my guard force. Also planning on buying the Imperial Sector, a week or 2 down the road. We need more buildings.

So, anyways, if you're reading this: Become a follower. Leave insightful or sarcastic comments. Is there anybody out there?!?!?! haha.

My next post will be all about my Commissar models, and close ups of a few well painted Guardsmen.

Thursday, February 3, 2011



HERE IT IS! My company of the Cadian 8th Regiment, the Lord  Castellan's Own! Most of them aren't all that well painted, I have to admit. I've been working on this army for 8 years. EIGHT. haha. Man, the Eye of Terror Campaign was awhile ago, wasn't it? That's the main group shot.




Now, the more cunning and sharp-eyed among you will have noticed, and perhaps asked yourself "Why, it looks as if the Tanks are painted an entirely different scheme than the everything else. What's up with that?" Well, the answer lies in fluff. Ever since the Horus Heresy, Imperial Guard formations have been entirely made up of one type of unit. Infantry regiments are full of infantry. Tanks go  in the tank  regiments, and IG can't control spaceships. That way, if heresy takes root, a would-be Warmaster wouldn't have the full range of units at their disposal. So, while my Infantry are a solid force of Cadians, I've decided that their allied Armoured units would be from a Valhallan armored regiment. I'll probably slowly work towards an armored apocalypse force, the Valhallan somethinghundred-and-fifth.



 Here, we see the Valhallan Armored force pushing forwards, while the Cadian  infantry advances alongside and uses them for cover.



I personally really enjoy the grey-brown paint scheme. I have to learn how to get some more detail on the tanks. I've been focusing on getting my army up to the 3-colour standard.

Here, we have an Officer of the Fleet. I really like the model. Also, see his Bodyguard. I like it, thematically, since when I beef up a command squad, I always have an officer of the fleet,  and I always have bodyguards. It  made sense to me that a high ranking officer  of the Imperial Fleet wouldn't be unaccompanied by a personal armsman. Also, I had a spare Mordian lying around. So, here they are together.



And, because this post has dragged on long enough, I'll add a  picture of  my favorite commissar.



Anyways, I hope whoever's reading this enjoys it. Have at it, let  me know what you think. I guess I'll post about tactics or  something else next time. I still need to post pictures of the Stormtroopers, the other Commissars,  and some of my unpainted stuff.

*FOOTNOTE* I'd almost forgotten. You might also notice how there are three different paint schemes for the infantry models. Since I've been building this army for 8 years, there have been some changes. I'm working on getting them all up to the exact same standard. They all look fine. For now, I've decided that the FLUFF explanation for this  is that it's only natural that the newer  arrivals  to the unit would have cleaner,newer uniforms, some  would be a little more weathered, and the oldest models (from when I base coated my older models olive drab to save time painting the armor, haha.) So, they're a mixed batch, but I enjoy my horde of guardsmen.

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

An Update, Excuses about Updating, and some Rants

Heyyyyyyy everybody. Not sure if anyone's really reading my blog, at this point. I  have  no 'followers' according to the right hand  column of the blog, but  it's whatever. Only one real post, no pictures up yet, I didn't expect much more. I keep meaning and planning to take pictures of my army. They're all lined  up on  the kitchen table, just waiting. I'll have pictures up tomorrow,  and a post of some more substance, honest. As for now, that's what's up. Haven't played a game in a few days, I hope to work one in tomorrow night after work.

Let's see. What are some things about 40k that annoy me?
Thunderwolf Cavalry. Absolutely the stupidest idea I've heard in 40k, ever. Giant super human Space Marines... riding wolves. That's just really, really stupid. I can't fully express how very much I hate and loathe this idea without resorting  to lots and LOTS of profanity. Absurd. Utterly absurd.

A minor annoyance would have to be the way that rules handle weapon sponsons. A vehicle  should not have  to fire all it's weapons at a single target. You have a main gun for engaging your main target, and you have machine guns on the side to blast infantry. I really, really think that side sponsons should be able to engage any target they can see. That's just how things work.

Vehicle squadron rules are an annoyance to me, but I'm probably only saying  that because I'm a Guard player. It's only fair though, since  I can fit 9 heavy support  vehicles into 3 heavy support slots. I guess I get it, but  still.

Things I really like about 40k? I'd have to say it's mostly fluff things that I truly love. The fact that Blood Angels have horrific psychic visions on the eve of battle of their beloved Primarch, lying dead at the feet of the greatest traitor in human history, and this drives them to outrageous feats of rage and courage. That's really, really hardcore.

Everything about Gaunt's Ghosts. "A new Tanith, sir? Like the men talk about, when they're drunk or dying?"

The diversity of the Imperial Guard. There are, what, a million worlds in the Imperium? Some world have billions of people, some only thousands. Let's say that each world tithes only 100,000 (some less, many many more) men to the Guard. Not including the PDF, the Imperial Guard. Does that sound fairly reasonable? That means that there could be easily 100,000,000,000 Men and Women in the Guard. Imagine, then, every idea and image about the military you've ever seen. That's the Guard. They have entire divisions of elite soldiers comparable and superior to today's Special Forces, they have army groups drawn from worlds both feral and medieval, and glittering, brightly uniformed forces still marching to battle with drums banging and banners flying. So much diversity. I enjoy the immensely rich tapestry that this provides.

That's honestly what drew me to 40k in the first place. The incredibly rich storyline and backstory.

So, to turn this in to a magically interactive blog all of a sudden, I address YOU, the reader! What's your favorite piece of 40k fluff? Your favorite tidbit about the universe. Go for it.

Tomorrow will be about my own army.

Saturday, January 29, 2011

Let's See How This Blog Thing Goes.

God, how I hate trying  to format this blog. I hate trying to make the image appear behind it, I Loathe attempting to make the text do all the crazy and magical things that I feel like it should. Be that as  it may, I'm working on it. We'll see how it goes.

 So. I'm Ben. I'm a Guard Player. ("Hiiii, Ben.") I guess  I started this blog because I felt like it would help motivate me to get everything painted. Or something. I'm not really sure. Mostly, it was to chronicle some of our games. I'd love to start doing battle reports with our local gaming group. You'd think that with about a dozen 40k players hereabouts we could put up some decent battle reports.

This is also all an evil plan of mine. See, I'm the only player I know who has more than 1/3rd of his army painted. That's not true, our Resident Tau Player is no slouch. But other than Adam, I'm pretty much the only one has a painted army. As  of right now, only my Ogryn, 2 heavy weapon teams, a few vehicles and a couple characters are unpainted. 180 PAINTED  INFANTRY MODELS. PAINTED. INFANTRY. Not too bad, either, if I do say so myself. Y'know, for mass painted Guard hordes. I'm only really proud  of the Commissars and Storm Troopers. Oh, right back to the evil plan. If we start putting up Battle Reports, hopefully whoever's reading this will leave comments, saying "Wow, that Chaos player's no slouch on the table top. It'd be cool if his models were painted." Or "Hmm. That Dark Eldar Player is an evil genius on the table top with those dark space elves (YES HILTON, THEY ARE ELVES) but he should probably paint some of them. And stop borrowing the author's Black Templar as proxies."

So, eventually we'll have some battle reports going on, I'll post some pictures of my army, that sort of thing. Thoughts, Ideas, Rants, etc. And, depending on my fellow gamers, GUEST ARTICLES! Bum bummm BAMMMMMMMM!

But, until then, I'm going to go back to trying to format this damned blog. Aufwiedersehen.

Disclaimers, since there isn't room at the bottom of the page, apparently.

Warhammer 40,000
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