Monday, November 30, 2009

Tales from the Soapbox episode III: Tourney Comp



The Internet and Bloggosphere is ablaze discussing Tournament Comp scores, I feel the need to weigh in on the topic. I am going to group all the so-called soft scores into the term Comp for simplicity sake. Comp is meant to balance the playing field in a tournament, but the reality of it is it penalizes the overly competitive player while at the same time rewarding the Total hobbyist.

The Overly competitive player is focused on the win and how to best achieve that goal while playing a game. He crunches the numbers for his units and knows what the average outcome of his dice roll will be. A lot of them are less focused on the hobby aspect of the game, they may have a few conversions but their painting is average because the miniatures are required to play.

The Total hobbyist on the other hand winning games is less important than the “Fluff” and painting of their army. He will be focused on elaborate conversions and detailed paint jobs for his miniatures. He’ll also have worked out the background of his force and can drone on about it for hours. He sees all games including the tournament that he is at as a way to have fun and meet new people.

The problem is that the two groups I mentioned above are the polar opposites, but they are the vocal minority of the gaming community. They are not a good representation of the gaming community as a whole, because most gamers fall in the gray area in-between the two.

The average player likes to participate fully in all aspects of the hobby. They like to win, but don’t let a loss ruin their fun. They like to convert and paint but aren’t going to agonize and seek perfection while doing it. They like the “Fluff” and it may or may not be thought about in list building.

Now that I’ve described the types of players as I see them, lets look at Comp and what could be done to solve the problem.

I’ve got to be honest I didn’t mind Comp when it was mostly standardized by the GW RT tourney guidelines. At least it was clear cut and you always knew what to expect from it. Now it is too subjective with far too many ways of doing it. There are just too many misconceptions about the power level of many units in 40k. Besides Comp is kinda out dated since 5th edition requires Troops to actually take objectives to win games.

While we are talking mostly about Comp, I must bring up sportsmanship scores. I detest them completely, first off a lot of gamers use them as revenge for a lost game; secondly why bother with it because if someone is a complete Jerk give them a warning them kick them out if they persist in jerk-wadish behavior. Organizers need to man up, stop hiding behind the scorecards and confront these types of players. Let's face facts, playing a game against other people requires some social skills and manors. It’s not that frakin’ hard to be relatively friendly while playing.

I think that if Comp is still going to be used that having two types of tournaments could solve the whole issue. The first type could be a Hobby tournament with comp and painting scores added to battle points; the second could be a non-Comp, judged solely on your battle points tourney.

Saturday, November 28, 2009

Holiday Wars Episode II "The Soul Reapers Strike Back" AAR

So here is the Rematch battle report. Greg brought the same list as before, I changed mine up adding more Lascannons, as listed in my pre-game post. The game was a pitched battle, Seize and Control mission with five objectives.

The Orange trees are the five objectives.

Grey arrows = movement
Red arrows = assault
Yellow arrows = fallback

Unit legend:
Red Chaos
R=Rhino
T=Terminators
CM= Chaos Marines
H=Havocs
O=Obliterators
P=Predator
RSM=Reaver siege marines
SR=Reaver siege Rhino

Blue IG
C=Chimera
CC=Command Chimera
Vet=Veteran squad
IS=Infantry squad
G=Griffon
LR=Leman Russ
D=Demolisher
V=Vendetta
S=Sentinel
CCS=Company HQ
PCS=Platoon command squad


After seeing the table I decided that I need to go first. I was worried when I rolled a 2 for choosing, but Greg's die came up a 1, so I won the roll!

So here is the Deployment, I deployed everything in cover just in case he seized the initiative.



Greg held the Vendettas in Reserve this time hoping to use them late game if things went badly. Everything else in the army was deployed.

Greg attempts to steal the initiative but fails.

Soul Reapers turn 1



Movement Phase: I don't move much. Titus and the Reavers head for the middle objective. The Oblits move through the jungle on the hill.

Shooting phase: the Oblits fire at the Demolisher sqdn, stun one and immobilize the other. Havocs fire at the Sentinels, destroy one and knock put the AC on the other. The Predator fires at the Russ Sqdn and knocks out the battlecannon on one.

Steel Legion turn 1



Shooting Phase: The Russ sqdn fires at the Oblits, the battlecannon goes wildly off corse the Hvy Bolters hit 12 times wound with 7 and in the end cause one wound. The Platoon command and the 2nd infantry sqd fires their AC's at the Oblits causing no damage. The Vet squads in the Chimeras C1 and C4 fire at the Havocs killing one. The other Vet squads fire at Titus hit and wound him 3 times, but he saves all 3. The Griffon batt fires at Titus and the Reavers one scatters wide and hits nothing the other hits on target causes a wound to Titus which is saved by FnP it also shakes the Reavers Rhino.

Soul Reapers turn 2



Shooting Phase: The Predator fires the Russ sqdn, destroying one and immobilising the one that lost the Battlecannon. The Oblits fore at the Demolishers again, they hit twice and penetrate on the mobile Demolisher and destroy the main cannon. The Havocs fire at the C4 Chimera and destroy it with an explosion, Killing 4 vets. The CSM squad 3 fire 2 shots from their Plasma guns and Shake Chimera C3.

Steel Legion turn 2



Movement Phase: He gets his first Vendetta on an outflank move. He moves the vet sqd in Chimera C3 to support the infantry squad. Vet sqd 1 deployes from their Chimera.

Shooting Phase: The vendetta Immobilises the Reavers Rhino. The Command Squad fires two Meltas at the Reavers Rhino, Blowing it up disgorging the Reavers inside! (note on the map I use the wrong unit marker for the Reavers) Then Vet sqd 1 lays into them with three meltas and flashlights Killing two. Vet sqd 4 fires 2 plasmas and flashlights at the Havocs, Killing two. The Immobilised Demolisher fires at the Oblits, Killing one. Vet sqd 2 fires two meltas and puts a wound on Titus. Infantry sqd 2 fires at CSM sqd 2 with no effect. The Griffons fire at the Havocs both shots miss, but unluckily scatters one onto Vet sqd 4 Killing 3, they fail moral and fallback.

Soul Reapers turn 3



Movement Phase: The Terminators arrive from Deepstrike. CSM 2 moves forward and dismounts.

Shooting Phase: The Terminators shoot the Demolishers in the rear, hitting and penning with 3 Melta and 2 Reaper Autocannon shots, Both are destroyed one explodes killing 2 guardsmen from infantry sqd 2. CSm sqd 2 fires on Infantry sqd killing 5. The Oblit fires at and destroyes C2 disgorging Vet sqd 2, the predator then fires into them and kills two. The Havocs fire on the command Chimera and destroy it with Lascannon fire. The Reavers shoot and Flame the vets killing 6, the Vets pass moral and hold.

Assault Phase: Titus charges Vet sqd 2 with a great difficult terrain roll! and the Reavers charge the remnants of Vet sqd 1. Titus kills four Vets and they fail moral and are run down. The Reavers cut down the last 4 Vets and consolidate back into the wood on the objective.

Steel Legion turn 3



Movement Phase: The second Vendetta came in on the opposite flank. the C1 ad C3 Chimeras move into flamer range. The sentinel keeps moving toward the Havocs.

Shooting Phase: the Platoon Command shoots at the Terminators for no effect. The Griffons shoot at the Havocs, hitting both templates, but the Havocs make all their saves. The Chimera C1 flames the Havocs, Killing two. Vet sqd 3, Chimera 3 ad the Infantry sqd 2 shoot and kill 4 marines from CSM sqd 2. The Vendetta kills the Chaos Pred. The Company HQ and Infantry sqd 1 fire on the Reavers killing 2.

Soul Reapers Turn 4



Movement Phase: The Terminators, CSM sqd 2, Reavers and Titus all move into assault range.

Shooting Phase: Havocs fire two Lascannons and an Autocannon at Chimera C1, it is destroyed by the fire. The Oblit fires at the Vendetta, Penetrates but only Stuns the crew. The Reavers Flame the Command HQ, killing two. The Terminators fire on the Platoon Command and kill 3.

Assault Phase: Titus assaults the 1st Infantry sqd, Killing two guardsmen, they pass moral and are locked in combat. The Reavers charge the Company HQ and wipe them out. The Terminators assault the Platoon command and wipe them out. CSM 2 assaults the remnants of infantry sqd 2 and wipe them out.

Steel Legion turn 4



Shooting Phase: The Griffons fire at the Havocs, Killing one. Vet sqd 3 fires two meltas and the chimera fires the Multi-laser at CSM sqd 2 killing three, they pass moral and hold dispite the losses.

Assault phase: Titus swings the Butchers Blade in a wide arc of failure and rolls a one to hit! The guardsmen attack back and actually cause a wound on Titus, Looks like my dice may be abandoning me.

Greg offers to concede at the bottom of turn 4 as there is now way he can win. I accept because it would have been fruitless to continue.

I got some extremely good dice rolls in the early game. If I hadn't added the extra lascannons the game would have been much more hard fought. Greg has some horrible luck with the scatters on his ordinance weapons.

We are going to have one last battle tomorrow before he heads back home. We've decided to re-fight the first game using these two armies, although I told him to feel free to change up his list if he wants to.

So keep you eyes peeled for Holiday Wars Episode III "The Revenge of the Imperium" in the next few days.

Maps courtesy of Battle Chronicler.

Friday, November 27, 2009

Holiday Wars Pre-game edition


We’ve got about five hours ‘til game time and I thought I’d give you guys a quick update. This time we are fighting on neutral ground at my buddy Sean’s man-cave as opposed to mine. Sean has already set up the table and is boasting that it’ll be a knife fight. Dear lord, a close quarter fight against Demolishers sounds ugly.

Here’s this list I’ll be running tonight in my rematch against Greg. I’ve tweaked it since I posted the last one. I swapped the Missile Launchers in the Havoc squad for Lascannons.

HQ 165
Titus the Butcher
165

Elite 185
4 Terminators, 3 Combi-Melta, 1 Chainfist, 1 Reaper Autocannon and Icon of Chaos Glory
185

Troops 1131
10 Chaos Space Marines with 2 melta guns, Icon of Chaos Glory
Aspiring Champion with power fist
Rhino, extra armor
270

10 Chaos Space Marines with 2 melta guns, Icon of Chaos Glory
Aspiring Champion with power fist
Rhino, extra armor
270

10 Chaos Space Marines with 2 Plasma guns and Icon of Chaos Glory
Aspiring Champion with power weapon, combi-plasma
Rhino, extra armor
280

8 Reaver Siege Marines
Heavy Flamer, Icon of Chaos Glory
Aspiring Champion with power fist
Reaver pattern Rhino, extra armor
311


Heavy Support 515
8 Havocs
2 Lascannons, 2 Autocannons, Aspiring Champion and Icon of Chaos Glory
235

Predator
LC sponsons
130

2 Obliterators
150

Thursday, November 26, 2009

Happy Dead Bird on a Plate Day!



This is for my American brothers. I hope y'all have a great day with your close friends and Family!

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Holiday Wars Episode II "The Soul Reapers Strike Back" list preview

New art from Menzies!



I retooled my list for the post Thanksgiving rematch. Here is what I have come up with, I dropped the Bikes and the Defilers.

HQ 165
Titus the Butcher
165

Elite 180
4 Terminators, 3 Combi-Melta, 1 Chainfist, 1 Reaper Autocannon
180

Troops 1180
10 Chaos Space Marines with 2 melta guns, Icon of Chaos Glory
Aspiring Champion with power fist
Rhino, extra armor
270

10 Chaos Space Marines with 2 melta guns, Icon of Chaos Glory
Aspiring Champion with power fist
Rhino, extra armor
270

10 Chaos Space Marines with 1 Plasma gun, Lascannon and Icon of Chaos Glory
Aspiring Champion with power weapon, combi-plasma
Rhino
270

10 Reaver Siege Marines
Heavy Flamer, Icon of Chaos Glory
Aspiring Champion with power fist
Reaver pattern Rhino
Extra armor
370


Heavy Support 475
8 Havocs
2 Missile Launchers, 2 Autocannons, Aspiring Champion
195

Predator
LC sponsons
130

2 Obliterators
150

I kinda went for a horde o’ Marines list, I now have 50 infantry models which is great considering Greg had 70 infantry in his IG list last time.

In other Mini-dex related news, we sat down last night and discussed both the Reavers and Seekers. The group relented to my will in removing the Seekers as a unit of their own and making the Infernal Attack Bike an upgrade to the normal Chaos Bike squad. While outfanking is nice it makes the bike too expensive for what they are; what the guys want me to do is add a new special character on a bike that will allow one squad of bikes to outflank if he is attached to the unit during deployment.

We also decided to just replace the twin-linked bolter on the Siege Rhino with a Heavy Bolter for no points increase as it will not be shooting for most of the game due to movement. It will now have the option to add a twin-linked bolter for the standard cost.

On the Camera front it seems that the repair shop has really lost my camera and they are going to replace it, but they don’t have my camera in stock as it’s been replaced with a new model. They are going to order me the new version of my Camera, so I get an upgrade for free. It still sucks though as I will be camera-less until next week.

Monday, November 23, 2009

A game for the ages!



Last nights game was a real knock down drag out event, it was an epic “Slobber Knocker” of a great time! I was trying out both the Seeker bikes and the Reaver siege troops. So we played 2000 points to facilitate both units as they weigh in at over 300pts each.

My list was as follows

HQ 165
Titus the Butcher
165

Elite 115
3 Terminators, 3 Combi-Melta, 1 power fist
115

Troops 961
2x 10 Chaos Space Marines with 2 melta guns, Icon of Chaos Glory
Aspiring Champion with power fist
Rhino, extra armor
270

5 Chaos Marines (objective sitters)
Plasma gun
90

8 Reaver Siege Marines
Heavy Flamer, Icon of Chaos Glory
Aspiring Champion with power fist
Karpathian Rhino
Extra armor,
321

Fast Attack 308
5 Seekers
Aspiring Champion, Pfist, 2 Melta guns, Icon of Chaos Glory
1 Infernal Seeker Bike
308

Heavy Support 450
2x Defiler
150

2 Obliterators
150


My buddy Greg is in from outta town for Thanksgiving, so I will get a chance to redeem myself! He brought his brand new Steel Legion guard army.

HQ
CCS: 4 meltaguns, carapace armour, Chimera w/ multi-laser and heavy flamer

Troops
Infantry Platoon
PCS: vox, 2 grenade launchers, autocannon

2x Infantry Squad: vox, grenade launcher, autocannon

3x Veteran Squad: 3 meltaguns, Chimera w/ multi-laser, heavy flamer

Veteran Squad: 3 plasma guns, carapace armour, Chimera w/ multi-laser, heavy flamer

Fast Attack
Scout Sentinel Squadron:
2 Scout Sentinels w/ autocannons

2 Vendettas

Heavy Support
LR Squadron:
2 Leman Russ w/heavy bolter sponsons

LR Squadron:
2 Demolisher w/ heavy flamer

Ordnance Battery:
2 Griffons

The mission was Capture and Control with Spearhead deployment.

He won the roll off and decided to go first. He deployed everything on board. I held the Terminators and Seekers in reserve.

For once I actually stole the initiative! Seemed like the Dark Gods were smiling on me.

In the first turn my Oblits downed a Vendetta and the Defilers killed 1 Chimera and stunned another. Titus and all the Rhinos rushed forward with two blowing smoke obscuring the third and Titus. He responded by Nuking the Obils with the second Vendetta and LR’s as I failed my 4+ cover saves. Then he destroyed the BC on one of the defilers. By the end of turn one all of the rhinos were stunned, thank goodness I took the extra armor so the advance could continue.

The second turn saw no reserves. The BC-less Defiler stun the second Vendetta, while the other defiler smacked down a second Chimera that exploded and killed three vets. Lucky for me there was a large rocky outcrop that I’d be able to hide two of my Rhinos behind. Unfortunately the third Rhino and Titus could not reach the outcrop and was destroyed in a hale of IG fire the squad that was inside was whittled down to 7 models losing it’s icon from the rest of the guard shooting. (I couldn’t seem to make a 4+ FnP or Cover save for the entire turn) I lost the Defiler with the BC to Leman Russ fire. His advance on my objective was getting close.

Turn 3 both the Seekers and Terminators show up, the Seekers race forward and butcher the Griffon battery and the Terminators got the perfect scatter 2 inches behind the Demolisher Sqdn. They nuked one and destroy the cannon on the other! I rushed the Reavers forward disembarked then fried 8 Guardsmen with the Heavy Flamer, the rest of the guard sqd are mopped up by pistol fire! The squad of 7 CSM’s destroys one of the dismounted vet squads with bolter fire. The mounted squad does a drive-by and destroys the Sentinels. The defiler shakes the Vendetta, so it cannot fire for another turn!

He kills the defiler in his turn with the LR sqdn. He destroys the mounted squads rhino, but the squad weathers the flashlight and autocannon fire unscathed. The command squad lights up the Seeker bikes killing three. The two Chimera mounted squads disembark and rain hell on my 5 man squad of CSM’s they manage to kill two, I lose two more CSM’s from the 7 man squad luckily I pass both leadership tests. Amazingly other than the Heavy Flamer toting Demolisher nothing else shot at the Terminators.

Turn 4 my errors are grievous in this one. I move the Melta toting 10 man CSM squad forward to rapid fire their bolters as I thought they were to far away to move shoot pistols and assault, I was wrong and would pay in the bottom of the 4th. While they did kill 8 guardsmen who passed their LD test, they left themselves with their arse hangin’ in the wind. The Reavers move up and assault and wipe out the PCS. The Seekers decide to kill the Command squad. The now 5 man melta CSM squad assaults the last of the Chimera-less Vets win combat and run ‘em down. My objective holders kill 3 Vets from one of the two squads that are set to assault them. I assault the Demolisher with the Terminators and immobilize it.

He moves nothing in his turn other than spinning the LR sqdn around to bring the pain to my arse swinging melta sqd. After 18 heavy bolter and two BC shots the CSM squad is vaporized! He assaults my 3 man squad on my objective and killed all three. He now holds both objectives.

Turn 5 I assault the last infantry platoon squad off his objective with my Seeker Bikes, but my Reavers and withered Melta CSMs are both about an inch short of being able to claim his objective. The game ends on a die roll at the end of his turn. Victory to Greg and the Steel Legion!

So all in all a fantastically tough game lost by a mere inch! It was nice to be able to throw down with Greg as I only get to see him 2 or 3 times a year since he moved to Oregon.

After looking at what happened in this game I may drop the Defilers for some more long range AT, which I feel I am severely lacking. I'm just not sure what to use, because I don't wanna spam Oblits. With the tank heavy options that the guard have now I need a little more reach out an touch them in my list. I could just be over reacting.


Unfortunately I have no pics as the idiots at the camera repair shop seem to have misplaced my camera that they supposedly fixed. Expect to hear more on that later.

Friday, November 20, 2009

100th post, new art and Siege troops unit profile

This is the 100th post here on Galaxy in Flames, I’d like to thank all of the Disciples of Fire out there that have supported me so far! I appreciate you guys sticking around through all my random thoughts and silliness. I’d also like to give a shout out to the guys that have on and off line been helping with the Soul Reapers Mini-dex.

I was hoping to have a picture filled post for this, but my camera is still in the shop. I really broke it good, but at least the part needed to fix it arrived this afternoon to the shop and I should have a working camera soon. Fear not though, because Menzies has some more Soul Reapers artwork to share.



The Unit of the week is almost completely painted and pics will follow as soon as I can get them up!

Here is the preliminary unit entry for the siege troops.

Reaver Siege Marines are specialists at assaulting fortified positions. They are the direct product of the corrupted techniques of the Apostles of Malevolence. These once proud servants if the Imperium now despise their former masters as weak minded fools. They now serve the Soul Reapers with a level of fanaticism that is high even for an Asartes; this is probably related to the aggression chips that have been implanted in them.

Reaver Siege Marine WS4 BS4 S4 T4 W1 I4 A1 LD9 Sv3+ Pts 25
Reaver Champion WS4 BS4 S4 T4 W1 I4 A2 LD10 Sv3+

Unit type
Infantry

Squad composition
5-10 Reavers

Wargear
Bolt Pistol, Close Combat Weapon, Frag grenades, Melta Bombs

Character:
Upgrade one Reaver to an Aspiring Champion for 40 points. The Aspiring Champion has the following Wargear:
Bolt Pistol, Power Fist, Frag grenades, Melta Bombs

Options
Up to two Reavers may take one of the following:
Flamer
Melta gun
Heavy Flamer (one per squad) 15 points
Demolition Charge (one per squad) 25 points
(Stats for the Demo Charge are as listed in the Codex IG)

One Reaver may carry an Icon of Chaos Glory

Special Rules
Fear is for the weak.
Furious Charge

Transport
Karpathian pattern Rhino 55pts
BS 4
Armor
F 12
S 11
R10

Wargear
Twin Linked Bolters
Smoke Launchers
Searchlight
Siege Shield

Options
Pintle mounted Heavy Bolter 15 pts
Extra Armor

Special Rules
Repair

Fire points
2

Access points
3-Side and rear hatches.

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Soul Reapers Teaser pic and Seeker Bike squad profile

I’ve got a few tidbits to share with you. First off, Menzies has graciously offered to make a cover for the Soul Reapers Mini-dex, look at this great Teaser pic.



Next I have started working out a unit profile for the special bike squad. I’d like to thank Mad Cat over at Librarium Online for the suggestions for the Assault bike special rules. When looking at the points values for this squad, I'd as you to keep in mind that we have lowered the base cost of a standard Chaos Biker to 28 pts.

Added to the Fast Attack force org.

Seeker bike squads are used as an advanced element for any Soul Reapers army. They scout ahead of the main force disrupting enemy movements and probing their lines for weak spots with lightning fast raids.

The squad if often augmented by the addition of an Infernal Seeker bike. It’s a hellish nightmare of a bike covered in power blades combined with a sidecar containing a marine wielding power scythe.

Seeker Bike Squad (Points 117)
Stats
Seeker WS5 BS4 S4 T4(5) W1 I4 A1 LD9 Sv3+
Seeker Champion WS5 BS4 S4 T4(5) W1 I4 A2 LD10 Sv3+

Unit type
Bike.

Squad composition:
1 Seeker Champ
2 Seeker Bikes

Wargear
Bike with a TL bolter
Bolt Pistol, Close Combat Weapon

Special Rules
Fear is for the weak.
Outflank

Options (The points values for wargear upgrades can be found on Pg 99 in the Bikers entry in the codex CSM)
May include up to 4 more Seeker bikes at 33 points per model

The Seeker Champion may replace his close combat weapon with one of the following:
Power weapon
Power Fist

Up to 2 Seekers may take one of the following:
Plasma gun
Melta gun
Flamer

One Seeker may be upgraded to carry an Icon of Chaos undivided.

Add one Infernal Seeker Assault bike to the squad for 70 pts.

Infernal Seeker Assault Bike
Stats
WS5 BS4 S4 T4(5) W2 I4 A3 LD9 Sv3+.

Unit type
Bike

Wargear
Bike with a TL Flamer
Bolt pistol, power weapon

Special Rules
Fear is for the weak
Outflank
Furious charge (Note this does not transfer to other models in the unit)
Spiky death: When charging it add +1D6 attacks instead of the usual +1. These additional attacks are not from the powerweapon but due to the spikes on the bike.

I am currently working on a mock up for the Infernal Seeker bike and will get pics up as soon as I have my camera back from the shop.

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Soul Reapers new unit ideas

I sat down with the guys last night after a few games, we had a great chat and have decided to try dropping the Cult troops completely and attempt to add a couple of new units to the Soul Reapers list.

If we are going through all the effort of making our own mini-dex, why not create something truly unique.

From our quick brainstorming we came up with two probable candidates.



The first is not my idea but I like it, Siege Breaker assault marines. Initial thoughts for a starting point are non-fearless Khorne Berzerkers that must be mounted in a Rhino with a Siege Shield and extra armor.

The second is a special Bike squad with an option to upgrade one to an Infernal Harvester bike. It’s a hellish nightmare of a bike with its bolters replaced with linked flamers, covered in power blades combined with a sidecar containing a standing marine wielding power scythe.

I’ve always thought it would be nifty to have a marine riding on a sidecar ala Road Warrior, cleaving through their foes while hanging on the side at break neck speeds!



Any thoughts or comments?

-Jim

Monday, November 16, 2009

Unit of the Week 1: Squad Hades

This weeks unit of the week is this Chaos Marine squad. Including this converted Possessed Champion with a Power Fist and Bolter.

I know I’ve posted these pics before, I dropped my camera last night and now the shutter won’t open. The camera is now in the shop getting fixed and should be ready for pick up Wednesday. The squad is all basecoated now and should be an easy finish this week.



I may as an added bonus paint their Rhino this week too.



See you for the update on Thursday!

-Jim

Saturday, November 14, 2009

Sneak peek at Defiler 'Rampage'



While I was away I finally started slinging paint on my Defiler conversion, I've named him Rampage because of the nifty Daemon head/mask on the top. He is about halfway done, and I should have him completed very soon.

I decided to paint the head a flesh tone just because I've never seen it done before, and boy am I happy that I did. The face at the end of the battlecannon will be gold as I feel that the red will detract from the shield face.

I also built 20 more Chaos Space marines, a second Defiler, 3 Rhinos and a second Landraider for the Reapers too.

-Jim

Friday, November 13, 2009

Now back to our regularly Scheduled Program


I just got back from my wonderfully relaxing and productive vacation! Boy it sure is nice to leave real life behind and just relax.

I got a few things painted and a ton of models built while I was away. Pics to follow soon.

Here are a few things I decided to do while I was gone.

I will be doing one ‘Rules from the Man-cave’ post a month. Some will be the house rules that we use and others will be a rules proposal put forth for discussion. This month’s topic will be the reintroduction of Overwatch in 5th edition, because it was brought up in the last post by more than one of you.

My buddy has put his Necrons on hold until after the New Year, due to financial issues. So this frees me up for my projects. I really need to get the Soul Reapers finished beyond their pathetic 3 color tabletop state and I need to start working on my Space Wolves revamp project again. Now obviously the latter goes on the Space Wolves blog.

Every Monday I will be naming the unit of the week, that I intend on painting, I will post a starting pic followed up by a progress shot on Thursdays and finally the finished pics on Saturday or Sunday.

The Soul Reapers Mini-dex is complete as far as the Special Rules are concerned. Everyone in my group has decided that the rules are fair and balanced. I have decided much to the chagrin of my Imp Fist wielding mate that I am dropping the Ancient Enemies rule completely. He doesn’t really care that much but liked it from a Background/Fluff perspective.

So these are the final army wide special rules for the Soul Reapers:

Fear is for the weak: Soul Reapers have been in service the Chaos for ten millennia and know that the Dark Gods watch over them.

Soul Reapers never have their leadership reduced by more than –2 Ld as the result of losing an assault. If the Unit loses the assault by more than -2, then immediately take any remaining modifiers as armor saves. They may also attempt to regroup even if the squad has been reduced less than half strength through casualties.

Undivided We Stand: The Soul reapers detest the though of becoming single-minded minions of any particular Chaos God. Because of this the Soul Reapers make very limited use of the Cults of Chaos. A Soul Reapers army my only contain one unit of Berzerkers, Rubric Marines, Noise Marines, or Plague Marines for every HQ model in the army. Cult marines never count as the compulsory troops selections.


Icons of Chaos: The Soul Reapers make no use of icons dedicated to the Chaos Gods. They may only take the Icon of Chaos Glory as listed in the Codex Chaos Space Marine.


So work still continues on the Special Characters, although Titus is solid and probably set.

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Reporting from the road


After a visit to the magical land of Tornadoes, tonight I retire to the Log Bunker hidden in the wilds of Northern Cali.

Just imagine this, four guys, four armies, a dozen cases of beer, and a case of whiskey in the woods for four days; this is sure to be a kick ass time!

We are finally moving into the stage of Playtesting the Soul Reapers that I actually get to field my own army, Woohoo! Warlord Krüg and his Reaver bodyguard will be finally hitting the tabletop too!

I should resume regular posting on Saturday night or Sunday. So expect some tall tales from the Log Bunker!

-Big Jim

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

I'm outta here!


I am heading out on Vacation and probably won't be doing any updates for the next week.

I will be packing up a bunch of minis and my paints. So expect plenty of Eyecandy shortly after my return.

Thanks for your patients!

Big Jim