A Couple of Weeks...

Alright, so I've been a little remiss about posting. Part of it has been because my intar-webbery has been curtailed at both work and home. Part of it has been because I haven't done much to report. Where I've been really remiss is that I promised to have a battle report of the IG-Eldar battle I played a couple of weeks ago. Well, I think this picture sums up the battle best:

My lunch was eaten. Some of it was a couple of minor mistakes I made but much of it was luck. Seriously, when the Sternguard squad wounded the Avatar (who had two wounds remaining) 11 times and he saved against all of them, that sucked. When I deep struck the other Drednaught in a drop pod, it would be land just fine as long as I didn't deviate more than 9 inches within a 30 degree arc in a certain direction. Of course, I deviated 10 inches in that very direction. On the other hand, the table was so small that all three objectives were in the middle of the board in a straight line because that was the only place there was enough room. So I don't feel too bad about the loss.

On the other hand, my birthday just passed. I had a party and friends brought me presents and among those presents were:

Now, I have a bunch of bikes I haven't painted yet so that bike is nice and all, but I don't have a Thunderfire cannon and had no intention of getting one so this gift is very cool. I also got a gift certificate for a local game store so I'm thinking that I may pick up a Planetstrike Bastion since I've wanted one, but didn't really have the money for it. Either way, I have new stuff to work on! And I've already opened the Thunderfire so I think I'll work on that for the next few days. As the proverb goes, "w00t".

I also played a couple games of Space Hulk today. It's been years since I played and this was a cool flashback. I played the same scenario with two other friends. I split Marines both times and they switched off playing Genestealers. The first time the Marines won. The second time they lost. Both times it was fun (though luck was very, VERY not on my side the second time). I highly recommend it and I will play again.

When I started doing this in June, I'm not really sure that I thought I would keep doing it for this long. Well, now I have. And Jeebus willin' and the crick don' rise, I'll be doing it for quite a while more. It's my biggest creative outlet and even when I'm not playing, the army grows bigger...

And, in memory, I give you something special. You don't know me all that well so you don't know the import of it but look at this:

These are 15 Vets (now Sternguard. When I made 10 of them, there was no differentiation) and a Dev heavy bolter. What's so special about them? Well, in keeping with my desite to have a desert table and terrain, I've flocked them in desert style! More than a year ago, I went to my local hardware store and bought a 50 pound bad of playground sandbox sand for $2. During the move, I packed it away but I kept a plastic container for projects that may come up. Well, I've started one. I intend to, step by step, base my entire army this way. It's going to take a while, but it can be done. Heck, if I do a ten man squad a night, I'll probably be done before the month is up. Well, maybe a little more to account for things with big bases like newer Termies and Dreds. But the project, hopefully, will progress! Huzzah!

On The Eve Of Impending Battle

Well, my moving is done and now I return in semi-grand style! Tomorrow (Sunday), I have a battle:

2K points of Marines


VS


1K Guard & 1K Eldar

Yes, folks, the Ancient and Glorious Astramalleus against the vile and most foreign Eldar and obviously Traitor Guard! Now, I'm not usually a defeatist, but I actually think I'm not going to win this battle. The Eldar make up for the Guard's biggest flaws (assault power and immobility) while the Guard are an excellent fit for the Eldar (numbers and big guns). I have to gear against two different styles of fighting while my opponents only have to face one well known and analyzed enemy. So I don't think I'm going to win. Because of that I've decided to take a somewhat crazy and hopefully brutal list in hopes of giving back what I think I'm going to get:

Captain w/ lightning claw, combi-plasma & Hellfire rounds
10-man Tac Squad w/ power weapon/bolt pistol, missile launcher & flamer in Rhino
10-man Tac Squad w/ power weapon/bolt pistol, missile launcher & flamer in Rhino
10-man Tac Squad w/ power weapon/bolt pistol, missile launcher & flamer
10-man Sternguard w/lightning claw/bolter, missile launcher & flamer in Rhino
10-man Devastator Squad w/missile launcher x4 in a Razorback
Speeder Squadron ([heavy bolter & heavy bolter] x3)
Dreadnought (assault cannon & heavy flamer)
Dreadnought (multi-melta & heavy flamer) in a Drop Pod
Whirlwind x2

The plan is something like this: If it's Seize Ground, I'll hold my own objective, assault another and contest a third. If it's Capture & Control, I'll do the same but there'll only be two objectives to worry about. If it's Annihilation, I'll stay squadded up and assault in force. The Sternguard will use Dragonfire ammo to deny cover saves and (if I combat squad them) possibly Hellfire ammo with the Captain to kill an Avatar. The Dred with the multi-melta will drop pod in behind the Leman Russ and Basilisk I expect to find against me. The other Dred will be kept behind for the Swooping Hawks I expect to Deep Strike near me and the Striking Scorpions I know will be assaulting me. Whirlwinds and Devastators should provide effective anti-infantry and the speeders will pick off squads at range until late game when I can rush them to contest an objective.

That's what I'm intending to do. Will it work? We shall see tomorrow.

A Small Act Of Defiance

Life, for the last few days has denied me the ability to paint or do anything, primarily because I've been packing. But last night, I took a moment from packing to take care of a minor project and damn the torpedoes if the world was going to stop me!

I saw this:
And I did something about it. This old man has been with my army for almost 10 years and a few years ago, his arm came off and I said I would fix it but I never got around to it. Last night, I shook my fist at the world and pulled out some superglue...

And now this heavy bolter is ready to return to proud and storied ranks of the Red Legs, the honored 6th squad of the Second Company of the Astramalleus! Fight on!

Packing up and moving

So I've been a little less pursuant with my painting the last week or so because I've been packing for a move. On one level, it's disappointing because I had a large space in my soon-to-be old place for playing, painting, keeping terrain and all that. On the other hand, during the summer, it's too hot to use for just about anything, even with fans. All in all, a minor disappointment, but only minor.

I've packed up about half my terrain and, with luck, I'll pack up the rest tonight. It's not going in storage because my friend who started with IG has no terrain so it's perfect. He has a place to play and no terrain. I have terrain, but no place to play. Win-win, I'd say.

I've also forgotten how much stuff I really have. But fear not, loyal friends! I'm taking some things with me so I'll be painting again after the weekend. If I'm lucky, I may even get to start sooner. I've got a Veteran squad to finish and a Devastator Squad to start!

More Painted Veterans

Remember when I said that I didn't think I was going to get any painting done this weekend? Well, I guess I lied to you all because I managed to whip out these two just a little while ago. Combined with the three in the background, I have a new 5 man Veteran squad. Of course, I believe in the glory of the ten man squad so, when time permits, I'm going to continue painting.

Once again, I watered down some black to put on them before painting. I'm starting to see how that might make things come out a little better, but my highlighting still leaves a bit to be desired. No biggie, though, but I'm happy with them, crappy highlighting or not. I kinda wish I had given the Sergeant a power weapon. I don't have enough Sergeants with them, especially now they are once again a reasonable choice (in 4th Ed, why take a power weapon for 10 pts when you could take a power fist for 15?). But other wise, I'm pleased as punch.

Another Painted Veteran

One more painted veteran for the squad. For some reason I couldn't get a very good picture of him so I went with what I could get. I painted over him with chaos black like I said I would this time. I think he came out a bit better, but not much. I realize that what I need is to sit down with someone who paints everything in black and learn a few tips for highlighting it. I can highlight, but when I'm doing something as big as an entire model, it never comes out that good. But it is good enough for government work so I'm not too terribly upset. I just figure that I should try to take these opportunities to get better at this.

Not sure I'm going to get any painting done this weekend. It was already packed before and I may have to go into work for a while, too. Unless the Earth day changes to 28 or 32 hours by tomorrow, I don't think I'll be lifting a brush. But I might be able to find a few minutes here or there so hope springs eternal...

Two Painted Veterans

Well, here are two painted Sternguard Veterans for you guys. I'll tell you a secret and I hope you don't all hold this against me. I didn't paint them black. I merely spray painted them black and painted on top of that. I'm also beginning to think that's why my black Veterans never seem to look quite right. I think on the next Veteran I work on (hopefully tonight), I will give it a good coat of Chaos black before I continue on. Or I may paint details and then paint on black to clean it up. And if I like the results, I may go back to these guys and paint on black, too. I've already got a "Veteran" squad to repaint. Back in the day (until about a year ago, that is), HQs got command squads and they weren't Veterans. So now I still have a Veteran Squad that is in all blue instead of traditional Veteran black. I should (and eventually will) repaint them.

Why do Veterans wear black? Well, in the early tribal days of the indigenous peoples of Besradine, home world of the Astramalleus, warriors would smear black paint over their scars to show their enemies that they had been in a lot of fights and were nobody to be taken lightly. When these warriors became Marines, they continued the practice by painting their armor where they had received scars and wounds. At first it was allowed as a symbol of warrior spirit and pride but, since Marines can endure wounds that would kill most men and live far longer, over time each Marines armor eventually became a motley and messy set of black painted patches and stripes. It was eventually decided by the Chapter Master that the practice would be discontinued among the rank and file but Veterans would be allowed to paint their armor completely black to show the many battles they had participated in. All veterans have the choice to wear black and few refuse. Chaplains and Librarians, being officers, also wear black. Captains, as representatives of the Chapter and the Grand Satrap of Besradine, wear the Blue and Black like line Marines. The one place the issue is not defined in among Sergeants. Some wear black to serve as an inspiration and example to the squad they lead. Some wear blue and black to help emphasize squad unity and coherency. As the issue has remained a question of leadership style and personal preference, no word has been given on the subject and as long as it does not interfere with morale, the issue will more than likely remain one of personal taste.

Palm Trees

In the meantime, while I was waiting for the Veterans to dry from the spray painting, I took a few minutes to do something I've been wanting to do for a very long time; I made palm tree stands. Many moons ago, I found that rear taller palm tree at a party supply store. I kinda liked the tree but it was $3 on sale and there were no others. I bought it with the thought of getting more later, but I didn't want to spend that much on each tree. A few months ago, I was at a Tar-Djay and I found a safari play set with wild animals and palm trees in it for $10. Yesterday I whipped out the cutters, cut the playset palms into separate trees and glued them all to cds/bases. And wait until I paint the bases and maybe put a little sand on them. They should look pretty neat. We'll see about working more on the veterans tonight or tomorrow, I think.

Five More Veterans

Well, here's the rest of the squad. Five more veterans that I finished last night to make a full ten man Sternguard squad along with their brothers in the background.. I kinda cheated with one of them. I used one from the actual Veteran set I bought long ago that doesn't completely suck as much. That was partially because of the missing backs from the Tac squad. At the point of this writing, however, all ten of them have been put under the spray paint in preparation for what needs to be done. With luck, I'll start painting them tomorrow night.

Those extra fronts have me thinking about a possible objective marker or two. Maybe put a head and a chest plate and an arm stuck in sand to look like a dead body left on the battle field... I've got some playground sand that I could use to build up around it to look like sand drifts or something similar. Definite potential, if you ask me.

I'm also thinking about building a Vanguard squad. I may never use them, but it would be nice to have them. I'm thinking about arming them with different swords to make them stand out. An English company called Magister Militum sells 25mm weapons packs like broadswords and scimitars and the like and I'd like a couple packs of those for this but the only store around here that orders from them only does it once a month so I have no idea when they would arrive and I don't want to order direct because the shipping would easily be double the cost of the order in the first place. I'll figure something out, though. It's not like I rally have money to spend right now anyway...

Three More Veterans

Well, I got three more done tonight. Obviously, I'm tricking them all out differently and not like standard, store bought Veteran squads. Why? For two reasons. First, These are some of the most experienced Marines in the Chapter. By this point, they have weapons that they prefer in a fight and gear that is special to them so most Veterans should be different from one another. Secondly, it offers a bit of versatility to the squad. If I decide that one of my guys has a lightning claw, well, he'll be represented by the one with the lightning claw. If one has a meltagun or a combi-plasma or a whatever, I'll probably have at least one guy who has one. I don't play in tournaments so having each and every model WYSIWYG isn't that big a deal to me. I also try to have a variety because of something a friend told me once. We were playing a battle and I didn't have any sergeants with power weapons. I substituted things for them and my friend and opponent said that with as many points in miniatures as I have, I should have some. That kinda stuck with me. I don't have many but I have a few now. And I'd rather have a few of many things than have none of something and have to sub my balls off to take the field.

Five down, five to go. Tonight I'm meeting someone for a trade. Should be getting some robed Dark Angel bodies and a couple sets of Terminator Lightning Claw Arms. I may make a couple more Termies to complete the Lightning claw squad. The robed ones will be mixed in with the Veterans I'm working on now. At least, that's the plan...

First Two Veterans

Well, here are the first two Veterans along with the bodies of some of their friends. As fate would have it, I had a minor problem with the Tac Squad box. You know the back piece that attaches to the chest plate to make the torso? Well, the box was missing two of them. In fact, the same back was missing from both the two sprues. I guess the guy how sold them to me needed them for something. For the price I paid for them, I won't quibble. I went diving in the bits and found a left over back from a tanker. You know the one? It has a cable running down into the tank and no backpack. Simple fix: I attached an Auspex and now the cable looks like it's the power conduit for it. That's the one on the left. Too bad I didn't get a picture of the back so you could see it. The one on the right, it looks a little plain for a veteran, but I guess not every vet looks completely different. He's got some pieces of flair, but nothing overwhelming. I also decided to use one of my older metal veterans that doesn't suck too much. I want to get my hands on a few Dark Angels because I use robed veterans, too.

And that's it for now. More pics tomorrow, I hope.

New Project Decision

I think I have decided on my new project for the next couple of weeks. For quite a few months, I've had a couple of Tactical Squads sitting around gathering dust. I picked them up as part of a large lot and the other things in the lot (a Razorback, Predator and Dreadnought) and since I have 8 or 10 Tac Squads already, they sat on the back burner. Since I'm thinking about finishing a 1st Company, however, I'm thinking about Veterans to fill out the remaining squads. I actually already have two Veteran squads but, because of fluff, I also have one Vet squad in every Battle Company. I actually purchased a Veteran Squad many moons ago (the Mark 1) but I don't like it too much. I just don't like Metal Veterans. Not only do they seem hokey and ill-posed, they always have at least one beakie in them and I just don't like beakies (there! I said it!) They should put out plastic ones that have tons of customizable weapons, heads, badges, dealies, bobbers and all that. Until then, I'll just put space bits on Tac Squads and make them into Vets. Which is what I intend to do. I'm going to build a Veteran squad and you're going to watch me do it bit by bit. It's going to go slowly because I have another painting project for something not 40K related that I want to accomplish this week.

After the Veterans, I'm going to put together that Devastator squad. I've had it much, much longer. At least three years and probably longer, now that I think about it. And I'm going to do up some of the new snap-fits from Black Reach to fill out the squad with bodies. This is especially fitting since my other Devastator squads are filled in with snap-fits from 2nd Ed. I've ve been wanting more heavy weapons that are not heavy bolters and missile launchers for a while. Sure, this will only give me two more (a Plasma Cannon and Lascannon), but they're two more I didn't have before. Besides, I'll never get all my stuff built and painted if I don't get down into the piles and actually build and paint.

One last thought: I'm going to have to come up with a new way of transporting vehicles. I have always used tackle boxes for carrying my army and while the trays are fine for foot models, I have been using the upper storage area for vehicles. I have two tackle boxes and I'm realizing that they were barely enough in the past. I had to perfectly place just about everyting in order to make it all fit. Now there's no chance. I could leave behind my Land Raiders because I never use them anyway, but it still wouldn't be enough. Eight Dreds? Twelve Rhino/Razorbacks soon to be fourteen? Four Predators? Three Land Raiders? Five Speeders eventually to become nine? I need a new answer. I think I'm going to have to get some vehicle specific carrier for all that stuff. Or maybe just for bigger vehicles and leave the Rhinos in the tackle boxes? I don't know, but I'm going to have to come up with something eventually.

500 PT Battle Report

So, my friend and I played a 500 pt battle today. He's started repainting his old IG (including the two really awesome squads I painted for him. Grrrrr!) and is trying to learn the way 40K plays now. So we had a small battle and here's how it went.

On one side, the good guys, the Ancient and Glorious Astramalleus, the Scions of Besradine, the Sons of Guilliman, the Scourge of the Stars and the Hammers of the Emperor!

On the other side, the most foul and foreign Imperial Guard!

Why were we fighting? Well, I maintained that the Planetary Governor had gone renegade and was using the Planetary Defense Forces to try to shield him from his just and righteous justice. My friend claimed that his world knew a secret about the my Chapter and we were attempting to eradicate any trace of it by wiping out the inhabitants of this world. I'm sure that's what their renegade Planetary Governor told them!

He lost the roll so I had him go first. It was Command and Control with long side setup. He placed and I placed and chose not to seize the initiative. First turn, he advanced and I advanced. I fired off a few heavy bolter shots with my speeder and killed a Guardsman. It was a pretty quick Turn 1.

Top of turn two, he advanced toward my speeder and fired two meltaguns at it. One missed. One hit and turned it into so much explosive shrapnel. Nobody was in range of the explosion but I was sad that I never got to use the heavy flamer.

Bottom of turn two, my Captain along with a Tac Squad moved forward and assaulted his Guard. Unfortunately, I was a little strung out so I could only get into hand to hand with one unit. I killed 5 of his guys but they didn't run away, which was good for me because I wouldn't get shot up during his next turn And believe me, he would have liked to. If he had his way, he'd fire Basilisks onto his own men to get the enemy if he could. On the other flank, however, I moved out of the way of a heavy weapons team that popped two of my men with Krak and heavy bolters.

Top of turn three, he started coming around the hill after me while moving his other squads away from the assault. We continued the assault and the might of my Captain and the squad managed to kill them all...but one. How this lonely little Guardsman lived, I have no earthly idea but he did which was bad for me because I would have to spend my next assault finishing him off meaning he could shoot at me when his next shooting came up. To their credit, this squad did more to mess me up than anything else in the game. What a waste that capable Imperial troops would have to be used up this way...

Bottom of turn three, Of course, the assault was finished and I was aware that I was being anticipated on two sides. On the other flank, however, I decided to take the fight to the enemy. I went up the hill and decided, instead of pulling out pistols and risking not being able to assault through the difficult terrain, I prepared to lay out the glory of the bolter on these rebel scum. I point at a squad and put a squad of rapid firing fury into them. And killed three... Some glory. I think this squad is going back to target practice when they get back to Besradine. But the IG squad failed its LD check so they fell back anyway! But that was little comfort because now my boys were standing in the wind on a hill being looked at by a lot of flashlights.

Top of turn four, he fired his heavy weapons team at my Captain and his squad. Cover didn't save me from a Krak missile but armor save me from everything else. Otherwise, he didn't want to get close at all. On the other flank, he decided to take the hand-to-hand to me. He brought up the Company Commander(and his power sword) with his Command squad and charged up the hill. They charged and killed...nobody! I counter attacked and fared just as well. Drawn combat and he didn't shoot me up. That was a good result for me.

Bottom of turn four, the Captain ans his squad needed to get to his objective. So I made a beeline for it and then ran four more inches to get closer. That left them right outside the ruin it was in and they were prepared to lose a couple guys from Krak and maybe some Melta. In the assault, there was a different result. I attacked and killed four of the five Veterans. He swung the power sword and killed nobody again.

At that point he decided to call it because ehe thought he was getting his ass handed to him. I actually thought something similar but I definitely had the advantage. As long as he didn't totally wipe the Captain and his squad, I would have his objective and if I fell back with the other squad, I'd have my own and without a good helping of luck I didn't think he could pull it off easily. If it ended on turn 5, I would have won. Turn 6? He may have been able to pull out a draw, but I think I would have won. Turn 7? I'm not so sure. I think he could have definitely made a draw but there was a decent chance he could have pulled out a win. Either way, he learned some thing and I was refreshed on some things and that's what really matters.

Next time we're going to play at 750. I totally expect a Leman Russ in that one. We also played on a smaller board this time (3'x4'). Definitely a bigger board next time.

Posed Terminator

So, I've had this one sitting around for years and today I finally decided to do something about it. The picture is a little dark but this is a Terminator knocking the head off of a Genestealer Hybrid. I put this together several years ago and every now and then I'd look back at it thinking that one day I would paint it and it would look cool. Well, it took years but I finally decided why not and just did it. It's not sexy and Golden Demon winning or anything like that, but it's mine and it's done.

So tomorrow starts something new. My friend who's got IG and hasn't played for years is going to be playing me tomorrow in his first 5th Ed. game. It's going to be a tiny one (500 pts) so he can learn the new mechanics and get a feel for how things work. If he's cool with it, I'm going to make a battle report of it. Sure, it's small, but a battle is a battle. And the plan is for this to be the kickoff of an escalation campaign between us so he has time and motivation to reassemble and paint things. I kinda hope he doesn't field a Russ but, knowing him, he might. On the other hand, the Land Speeder I intend to field may give him some pause...We'll play it by ear and see what happens.

Our other friend who is into Orks gave me a call today. He's really thinking about them and is looking to paint. This is the thing about this friend. He's a phenomenal painter. If he painted more, I think he could have a shot of competing at Golden Demon level. However, he does everything so slowly from painting to assembly. He has Ork and Eldar armies both on par sizewise with mine. However, between both armies he probably has 100 miniatures painted total. And now he has two more armies. He inherited a Necron army and, thanks to Black Reach, he has more than enough Marines to start a small army. When is he ever going to find time to paint them all?

Wish me luck tomorrow. I don't think I'm going to need it, but you never know...

Even More Terminators

Last night I took the evening off from painting, only putting away the Lightning Claws I just finished. Checking through my Termies, I realized that I only have three Lightning Claws, meaning I need two more to finish a squad of ten. More disturbing is the realization that I have 54 painted Terminators of various types and four HQs in Termie Armor for a grand total of 58 painted Terminator models. What on earth does one do with that many Terminators? And what about the 30 more that I have sitting waiting for paint, assembly or whatever state they're in? Eighty-eight Terminators? When I stopped acquiring terminators, I figured that I have a couple of Veteran squads already with plans to make more so 75 Termies with Veterans would make a good First Company. On the other hand, since I have 88 Termies, now I'm thinking why not just get the 12 remaining and have an entire Terminator Company? Sure, fluff doesn't support it since only the most ancient Chapters have entire Terminator Companies (I'm looking at you, Dark Angels) but at this point, why the heck not? Astramalleus fluff already has the first squad of Battle Companies being Veteran Squads of one form or another. Why the hell not?

Oh, and one last thing, I cannot field and entire 3K Planetstrike force in Terminators. I need to paint five more normal Terminators and one with an Assault Cannon or Cyclone Missile Launcher to acheive that...

Assault Terminators

Well, wow... How long has it been since I actually painted a miniature (as opposed to a vehicle or building)? So now I have 5 more Lightning Claw Terminators. I think I have four or five already so I'm close to or now at a full ten man squad. I also think this brings me up to 45 or 50 Terminators painted. When I pulled the unpainted ones out, I found that I had a done one in with them. I was probably using it as my reminder guide and forgot to put it back with the others.

I wonder if someone would like to play Planetstrike? I can field almost 3K in Terminators... Guess I'll have to throw in a couple Dreds to round out the points.

What will I work on next? Your guess is as good as mine. I'm a little tired of terrain at the moment and I have vehicles and Terminators I could work on. Then, of course, I have at least 6 Tac squads and a Dev squad that I've never even touched. Maybe it's time for me to work on Termies, fill out their company with Veteran Squads (I have a couple already but I may use a couple Tac Squads I still have in boxes, sprinkle bits liberally and voila) to finish out my First Company and then assemble the rest of the Tac and Dev squads and see if I can finish out a Third Company. It also occurs to me that if I get to the point where I can field three comapnies, I may just quit acquiring troops and restrict myself to vehicles and support units. Or maybe not.

Assault Terminators

Last night, while I was considering how my two towers from last night looked with walls, I found myself thinking about what foamcore project to do next, most likely another tower. However, a couple of days ago, I was remarking about the new Space Hulk and the possibility of more Terminators being out there and how Terminators are sorely not needed, especially by me. I mentioned this in a web forum and someone immediately offered to take the Termies I had sitting around off my hands. Of course, I demurred. Just because I haven't done anything with them yet doesn't mean I won't ever. So last night, while I was thinking about what to paint, I decided to revisit the Termies I've had sitting around for so long. I had based most them in black with their customary drybrushings in white and Blazing orange. Last night I took out the Assult Termies I hdn't finished (all lightning claws), pulled out the Ultramarine Blue and painted the details (helmets, hands, joints, etc.).

For some reason, Termies always take so much longer than standard Marines and I haven't figured out why. Maybe it's because I choose to take more time with them but I don't think it's that because Termies get annoying after a while. Maybe it's because there's a bit more detail than on a standard Marine but not much more. More likely, it's because there are more details that I actually pay attention to like feet and joints and other little things that add up to make them take longer. Either way, tonight, I'll do the small details and a little highlighting and I should be done. Five Terminators down, thirty to go...

One last note: between these lightning claws and a discussion with my friend with the IG army, I'm reminded of a tip to pass on to anyone who is trying to bulk out their army. When you buy a squad or a box set, don't just buy with no thought. Buy with an eye towards things you can do with the extra bits. Look at these Termies. Notice that one of them is a Black Reach Termie? Well, I bought an actual Assault Terminator set a while back. I've had nine Thunder Hammers for years and wanted a tenth to finish the squad. I used a few for lightning claws but that left several thunderhammer and lightning claw arms. What did I do with them? Put them on some Black Reach Termies. Here's another... I bought the Captain box and used the main parts to make a Commander. But I had left over bits so I put them on a biker and voila! A Commander on a bike! I still have a few bits left but when I build my next Tactical squad, I'm going to spread those Commander bits among them (along with others) and make it a Veteran squad. Don't just look at what they can do for you now. Look at what they can do in the future.

Two Towers

Well, there they are , cleaned up and finished. Simple towers that can serve as simple bastions. I haven't set them up with walls yet to get a feel for them yet, but that's alright because I bet they'll look just fine. Tonight, time permitting, I may try to make one or two more.

I'm running into an interesting problem... So the friend of mine who plays Guard? He has decided he wants to make a house rule. He wants to play with bigger tables and add a turn to the game. Why? Well, why do you think? This is the same guy who said he wouldn't even play 40K again until he could field 6 Basilisks. Now he doesn't like the small size of the tables. To an extent I agree with him. 6'x4' isn't much. It undercuts mobility and vastly decreases the effectiveness of firepower (as if that was king as it is). However, I know him. All he wants is more time to use those ungodly ranges that few else can touch to undo his opponent with big guns. I foresee breaking my own personal feelings and using all drop armies on him a few times to show the futility of that thinking. He wants to tilt the balance to favor himself winning when you should plan to do the best you can with what you have. Having mentioned this to him, he now seems to be more interested in Apocalypse which is cool because I like Apoc and I know he wants the bigger tables. However, when it comes to Apoc, he's fixated on titans and superheavies (which he can't afford and doesn't want to scratch build). And if it doesn't work out for him that way, he's taling about a 'Nid army made up of countless gaunts of all types. Jeez... I love the guy, but he's a total power gamer so playing him will be grating. But it will be playing with a friend So I guess I can live with that.

Two Towers

Well, I got two towers built and mostly painted. Tonight I'm going to do some touchup work and black in the windows and then these will be great bastions and wall towers. Definitely need at least two more but the standing plan is for three more anyway.

Was on Bell of Lost Souls forum while people were talking about the new Space Hulk. Someone mentioned that it would probably come out with more Terminators. Speaking as someone who has 40 Termies painted and another 35 basecoated or unassembled, do we really need more Terminators? I had to make the conscious choice not to get more when Black Reach ones were floating around like candy. I like Terminators, but I feel no need, either fluffwise or as a player, to have an entire Terminator Company. However, your proverbial mileage may vary. When I mentioned that, someone immediately jumped in to ask how much I wanted for the unassembled ones. Different strokes...

Walls & Building Finally Complete

Finally finished up the touch ups on the walls and building. Took me long enough, eh? Now they get to join the pantheon of terrain I already have. Apparently my terrain collection has had an effect that I never originally intended.

You see, I started playing 40k with 3rd Edition. Several of my friends played 2nd Ed and Rogue Trader back in the day and I got a little taste of interest from those (I'll tell you one day about my first attempt at painting, remembered fondly as the "terra-cotta Marine") but what they were playing just didn't do it for me. I didn't like the idea of a tactical war game where one character or one vehicle could literally rule the field by taking on the entire opposing army alone. And that was a good description of those days. Imagine a character with enough war gear to outfit an entire army, multiple wounds and 3 to 5 saves, all of which are rolled when damage is incoming, dealing 10 attacks with power weapons, finger lasers and whatever other kind of craziness could be packed on. Believe me, you couldn't even kill a Land Raider back then. Every new unit was power cranked to be even more devastating. Remember when Warp Spiders used flamer templates and ignored armor saves? I do. :) Anyway, when 3rd Ed came out, they shifted the game away from characters and on to squads. And that's when I got into the game. That's also when those friends got out. A few weeks ago, we threw a little 4th of July soiree and one of them was over. When he saw all the terrain I've made, he was impressed. So much so that he's thinking about pulling out his Orks and playing again. This particular friend, though he hasn't played much in the last decade has still collected minis off and onin that time. He has Ork and Eldar armies that, if assembled and painted, would probably equal my Marine Army points wise. And another friend has been talking to me about getting back in and building a board in his garage and working on his old Guard army. I guess I've given them the bug again and I'm good with that.

This morning I put some templates on foam core for planned desert terrain, specifically two story buildings that I can use as bastions, wall towers or just stand alone generic buildings. With luck, I'll be able to cut them out and assemble them tonight, If I'm really lucky, I'll be able to paint them, but I wouldn't bet on that. Either way, we'll cross that bridge when we get to it.

Walls & Building

Alright, I did the back sides of the walls last night. Now all I need is a little touch up, especially in corners, and they'll be good to go. While I was at it, I painted the building from the foamcore tutorial last night. Once again, I need to black in the windows and door and it'll be done.

Not too much to report other than that. I've been thinking about a terrain piece using a couple of those slimfast cans I acquired a number of years ago and still haven't used. They would be another addition to my one-day-to-be-accomplished industrial tank farm that I've been considering for years. Of course, this is just a side project that I don't feel pressure on since it's been rattling around for about 5 years and I've only built one piece... That doesn't mean I shouldn't pick up a few more small coffee cans, just in case.

Half-Painted Walls

Well, I'm halfway to my previously stated short term goal for the week. Last night I whipped out a bottle of paint and a foam brush and painted the front sides of those five walls of mine. Now they taunt me less with their reflective whiteness. Tonight I hope to get to the back sides of them and maybe do another once over on the fronts. The foam brush covers quickly and well, but you have to wait for paint to completely dry before you can go over it again or it streaks badly or, even worse, wears off and leaves big white sections showing through. Hopefully, by the weekend, I'll have these done and will have started the bastions.

I've run into a minor pickle. You see, I have another painting project I'm doing for a friend of mine. It's not 40K related but it's something I want to focus on and devote time to. Basically, I'm not sure whether I should put the work in progress here or not. Give me a couple of days to think about it.

I think when I've made my desert bastions and acquired and painted boards, I'm going to to arrange a battle with friends at my house. The entire point of building all this terrain and table acquisition is to be able to play more battles at home. I've always wanted to but I've never really had the space to do so. Now I do but it's space that's...environmentally challenged in that it's too hot in the summer and too cold in the winter to really use. I may have to plan a day in the fall that's good enough but considering the weather here in fall, that'll still be rough and too hot. But darn-it-all, I want to play in my own home and I will come hell or high water!

More Aquila Wreckage

Technically, it's the same wreckage since this is one of the pieces from a few days ago. I decided that I wanted to go ahead with that alternate color scheme I has mentioned. I quite like it. Unfortunately, the picture is kinda dark so you can't see the desert (for lack of a better term) sands around it too well. That and it's a little darker than I had hoped but that's just because I quit keeping bad moon yellow on hand a number of years ago and went to golden yellow exclusively. Heck, to get this light a sand color I had to layer and drybrush quite a bit (snakebite leather, yellow, bleached bone, yellow, white, yellow). Of course, I'm reminded that GW actually has a desert "yellow"(that is really more of a brown). Maybe, at some point when I have disposable income again, I might pick some up. I'm also thinking that this piece would look a bit cooler with some weathering. I may check out some sites and get some weathering ideas. If I don't, well, it could be just recently crashed. And I must admit that I like this look much better than the DA green, black and boltgun metal of my old pieces.

Short term goal for the week: I want to paint those walls I made a couple of weeks ago. They're just sitting in all their reflective white glory, shaming me into guilt. Might as well paint that building I made for the foamcore tutorial while I'm at it.

Long term goal for the coming month: I'm going to start making more foamcore two story buildings for desert terrain. A two story building makes a decent cheap bastion and I've got tons of ruins already for when any gets destroyed. I intend to have 5 done by mid-month (which isn't an outrageous plan since I could make that over a weekend if I had some time and minimal distractions.

Of course, all goals are subject to change, whim and the general availibility of time and whatnot.

Final thought: I have yet to play a Planetstrike game. I haven't been able to go to the local game stores (Austin's two best game stores are both within five minutes drive) and my normal group is on a bit of a seasonal 40K downswing. We play a lot for a while, then real life gets in the way and we don't play so much, wash, rinse, repeat. But soon, I hope...

Aquila Wreckage

Wow! It feels like forever! Well, alright, not quite forever but it's been a while. Definitely longer than I intended or would like. In theory I'm doing this every day or every other day. However, this has been a few days from heck so you get back to things when you can.

My accomplishment has been a small one. I took seven Macragge Aquila terrain pieces and drybrushed the ever loving crap out of them white. Two of them are left over from an old set of then I had. The rest I acquired a couple of years ago. I'll probably paint the two older ones to match the other ones I have in black and green. The newer ones though, I'm thinking about doing them in a much lighter scheme. In fact, I'm thinking about painting them white with light blue detailing. That might look really neat. As for the ground they're crashed in, I've decided to paint it up in desert colors to go along with my goal of having a more robust desert set.

Once again, the goal is not to accomplish a lot. It's to do a little bit each day. And finally, after a bad few days, I'm back on track.

A Tale In The Desert, A War In The Sun

It's been a long weekend filled with mostly fun, childcare and thought. Now that I have tables, it's time for me to seriously think about what kind of game setup I want to have. Certain things are a given but certain things have required some decision on my part.

First, one of my projects over the next few months will be to start acquiring 2x2' birch boards from a home improvement store. I will probably acquire them from Lowe's. The one that rhymes with "Dome Creep-o"...well, I have a few problems with the opinions and political biases of their owner so I vote with my dollar and spend them elsewhere. I don't know if Lowe's owner is any better, but he/they are smart enough to keep his/their mouths shut about it. That and Lowe's definitely has boards in stock because that's where I saw them and got the idea. I'm planning on buying six to start with (I think the birch ones were $6 each) so I can start with a 4x6" area to play on (just like the GW Battleboard set) and then picking up three more each month so I can have larger fields to play on.

Second, I've decided that I want to have a robust set of desert themed terrain. More specifically, I'd like to be able to have a large fortress or small city much like the one pictured above or possible the long walled outskirts of a desert town. Adding the short walls I just made to the ones I have brings me up to twelve and a simple gatehouse. I have a few small buildings but only one good tower to form corner defenses and interior structures. So I need to make a few small buildings and a bunch of towers. I figure five of each would be a good start. Ruins won't be an issue since I have more than a good handful of those.

Third, I need to make some non-city terrain for this. Palm tree groves and oases and wells would be the ticket. Palm trees are relatively easy. I've already found some kid toy sets that have palm trees so I can give the animals away (mine is too young for a while) and keep the trees to make stands of them. A few trees and some green stuff with a bit of water effect will make an oasis. If I find some kind of single brick set, I could make a well, I guess. Heck, I could probably make the bricks out of some kind of cheap modeling clay or something similar. Some more water effects and a frame of some kind and it could look pretty good.

So that's the beginning of the plan. Now let's see what I can get done to step closer to accomplishing it.

We Interrupt Your Regularly Scheduled Crafting...

...for news of a beautiful and wonderful nature. Yesterday, someone in the building I work at was having some junk carted off. I noticed while passing by that a couple of old folding tables were in the junk. He told me that I could have them if I carted them off immediately. So I pulled the car around and managed to get them in the trunk (half sticking out of the back, of course) and ran them home at lunch. Aren't they beautiful? And just the right price, too. :) As the man once said, "Cheap is good, but free is better"! Of course, this also means that I have to get serious about sorting and arranging the game room now.

Doesn't that look like a lovely place to have a battle? Lots of terrain to hide behind and move through? Good fire lanes in the streets (in as much as open lanes of grass can be streets)? It looks lovely! Did I mention that I made every piece of terrain on the table? And this also means that I can begin Operation "Emulate Battleboard" in earnest soon. Time to start considering what shades of green, gray and tan I want to start using for the project.

The Last Wall For a While

Before you is the last short wall I intend to make for a while. Just for the sake of full disclosure, if you look in the background, you can see the wall I completed before but recycled a picture for. Soon, I'm going to paint the five walls I've recently completed but I haven't decided if I want to do them all in tan and continue my desert/adobe theme of if I should do them in gray and make them part of my industrial buildings. I'm leaning towards desert because industrial areas tend to have open areas and more wide-ranging and mechanized defenses while out in the desert, walls are more useful for shade and against the occasional in coming invader or some kind of crap like that. In addition, I like the desert look a little more so I am leaning in that direction. I noticed a while back that if you put two of these walls back to back, they make a good elevated pathway. I noticed this morning that, thanks to the notches I put in the base so that they could stand at angles, I can fit a building to them well so I'm thinking that a few of these walls together like that and a few buildings together could make a pretty cool Indomitable Fortress.

Started drawing out that Memorial column I was talking about before. I have a couple of small issues to work out, but I see great potential for it as a terrain piece. On a completely different note, I'm also thinking about making more static defenses like sandbag walls, concertina wire and tank traps. The sandbag walls, well, there are ways to make them from scratch but I like the Tamiya ones a lot and they're cheap ($5/box) and they look good. One box can make an inch high tank redoubt or four five in ch long sandbag walls. If you pick up one a month, after a while you'll be swimming in sandbag fortifications. As for concertina wire and tank traps, they may be the subject of a future entry...

Haven't decided what to do next. You'll probably know the day after I do. I've got several things to paint and I think I'll do a bit of that for a while. Besides, I don't want to go out and buy any foamcore right now. I'll have to soon enough when I'm ready to build the Memorial column.