On the brink: Angels verses Reapers Challenge

Tomorrow evening Mags of Tabletop War and I will be throwing down our first cooperative blog challenge game.

His Angels Encarmine verses my Soul Reapers Fandex.

Can the casual gamer survive and take down the competitive gamers alpha strike? Only time will tell.

Will the Soul Reapers be victorious against the lackey's of the Corpse God and show them the light of the true power in the galaxy?

I look forward to meeting Mags and Snake Eyes in person. Playing games is a great side effect of this meeting of great cool dudes!

We will also be throwing down in true Killzone style on Saturday night!

Game on guys!

Until the next.

-Jim

The Infernal Assault Bike finally makes an appearance

After months and months of proxying I have finally finished the Infernal Assault Bike conversion. I had passed it off to my buddy to make the roll bar on the front of the sidecar but he just never got around to it. He is a single dad so it's understandable.

I decided that the Soul Reaper mini-dex challenge games would have no proxies so I got the kit back and did it myself. I am quite pleased with the end result! So much so that I may make a second go at having these as a unit choice of their own.

Soul Reapers Challenge list

I have decided on my 2000 point list for the Challenge games. It was tough to create a list that gives enough Soul Reapers flavor yet remains quasi competitive. The list is far from optimized, but it'll be a hoot to play with.

I decided to use the Soul Reapers Possessed and the Harbinger of Malice as there is no way that I will finish the conversions for the pair of Mauler Preds I wanted to use.

I intend to do no proxy's in these games which is what I have been doing for the preds. Another thing that may happen in the game as much as it pains me, it that I may not have everything fully painted and based; as I am starting a new job this week. I am working feverishly to get things done this weekend, but it just may not happen. I've still got a crap load of bases to rebuild.

For HQ's I went for the one two punch of Titus and Xusia. This will also allow me to have access to most of the Soul Reapers psychic powers.

HQ (385pts)

Titus the Butcher 165

Xusia 220

Elites (420pts)

1 Harbinger of Malice 70
Plasma pistol, power weapon

3 Terminators 125
2 combi-melta and Reaper Autocannon

5 Soul Reapers Possessed 225
Wings

Troops (814pts)

8 Chosen Marines 272
2 melta guns, 1 flamer, 1 power weapon and personal icon, cohort tactics bonus +10pts
Aspiring Champion with Lightning claws
Rhino

8 Reaver Marines 264
Heavy Flamer, Melta gun and personal icon
Aspiring Champion with power fist
Testudo Rhino

8 Chaos Space Marines 218
2 melta guns and personal icon
Aspiring Champion with power fist
Rhino

5 Lesser Daemons 65

Fast Attack (228pts)

5 Soul Reaper Bikers 228
2 Melta guns, Infernal Bike, champ with power fist

Heavy Support (150pts)

2 Obliterators 150

Behold the Testudo pattern Rhino pre-bronzing

I finally managed to finish this conversion. It was started 4 months ago, but I was suffering from a little burn out, so it got shelved. The Testudo is the up-armored Rhino transport for the Soul Reapers crazed Reaver assault marines.




With the upcoming challenge games, I decided that the poxying of the Testudo would be bad form.

I am quite pleased with how it turned out. Between the extensive front armored plates and the over-sized dozer blade it definitely looks the part.

I'll be busting out the airbrush this weekend to give it a lick of paint.

The Big Jim 2010 podcast tour continues

Hey guys, I am on the newest episode of the Imperial Truth podcast. It is a unique show that brings on a pair of internet personalities and has them talk about interesting topics.

For example this episode is about the relativity of 40k fan fluff verses GW cannon fluff, and we chat about the need/addiction to FAQ's for 40k.

It was a great fun show, I am on with Geoff from the Independent Characters podcast. We had a cracking good conversation.

Please do check it out!

here is a link to the steaming feed, or you can download it from Itunes.

Until the next.

-Jim

Flying Gauntlets: be careful what you wish for!

So my simian friend Mags, has thrown down the Gauntlet just begging to be another victim of the Soul Reapers reign of Terror! Carl from the Independent Characters Podcast has been chomping at the bit to get a piece of the action too.

I am feverishly building bases to remount the army for these challenges!

The question is which of the great champions of the Soul Reapers will lead the army on the field of battle!

The Warlord?
Xusia and his sorcerers powers?
The Butcher and his mighty cohort?
The Seeker and his Bikes of fury?
The Raptor and his swift moving death force?

All are solid choices, but which will best represent the Soul Reapers? Only time will tell.



I also need to give proper representation of the Uniqueness of the Warband. There are a bunch on new units I'd like to spotlight in these one off games. It's gonna take some thought to balance the army correctly and give it a proper symmetry.

Units that must make it in for sure are:

The Reaver assault troops and their groovy Testudo Rhino
A bike squadron with an Infernal Harvester
Mauler Predator
Gore Daemons

No matter what I choose it should be a couple of great fun games; Challenge Accepted!

It's on like Donkey Kong!

You can expect some Soul Reapers coverage to resume over the next couple of weeks!

Until the next!

10/10/10 Killzone Revolution Day and other happenings

Hey guys I know the blog has been pretty quiet, I have been very busy behind the scenes with the development of Killzone.

I have a few bits of Killzone related news to share.

Looking ahead to a rare opportunity that comes along once a century and it being right in the middle of the first round of Killzone playtesting.

We invite you to celebrate Spec Ops Killzone with us on

10/10/2010

We will be Blitzing the Internet with Killzone Content. From Blogs to forums we will be there sharing our experiences from everything involved with Killzone.

Covering list building, modeling, painting, battle reports and maybe even a few videos.

Feel free to join in yourself, email me you posts and I will highlight them in bi-hourly updates all day on the 10th.

AJ/Bestia from the rules committee and the Imperial Truth Podcast is on this weeks episode of the Seanhammer podcast. He is talking Killzone, so please check it out!

Clarification from the Interview: A team may only have one Team Leader, he should be chosen from the models with the highest leadership stat.

Don't forget that Killzone will be at Adepticon 2011, as far as I know the first fan made 40k supplement to be run at a major US convention. Right now it is set as a Sunday event, but there is the possibility of getting a second event opened up on Friday.

Check out the initial designs for the Killzone tables that will be used in the event on B.smoove's Blog A Gentleman's Ones.

The beta test rules for Killzone are off and running

It has been a crazy couple of days! There have been over 400 downloads of the Killzone rules PDF, in just over 72 hours! I have had over 40 emails filled with compliments and suggestions, I am truly awe struck.

I never imagined that 8 weeks into this project there would be so many gamers interested, let a lone one of the biggest and best cons like Adepticon would be wanting to run an event!

I am shocked and excited at the same time.

As someone who has been tinkering with rules writing for over 20 years, this gives me some sense of validation. I always strive to keep things simple while adding some dynamic new aspect or mechanics to the games.

Sometimes it is not easy living on the fringes of the 40k community, as a free thinking homebrew rules guy, it can be rough getting a good game out side of my small gaming club. Even when the project is well written and balanced, the larger community usually scoffs at anything not officially put out by GW.

What started off as a simple fix for Kill Teams has snowballed into a living breathing monster of it's own.

Thanks again for all of the support, please come join in on the discussions on the Killzone Forums and help us make the best 40k skirmish game out there.

Link---->Killzone Forums<----Link

Spec Ops Killzone Beta test rules Available now

Well after a few weeks of intense discussion and hard work, the Beta test version of Killzone is here.

For those that have not heard of Spec Ops Killzone:

Special Operations Killzone is a set of fan designed rules created with the intent of enabling players to run skirmish games within the Warhammer 40,000 universe.

It is intended as a supplemental way to play the game, and as such a set of Games Workshop’s core rules and Codices for any armies used is essential to understand and play this ruleset.

Players will choose an elite team and undertake vital actions set against the stage of wider conflict. This ruleset aims to enable cinematic play in the style of tier one assets of a universe at war.

For more information chack out the following Downloads:

Killzone Rules


Errata


Scenarios

The Scenario book offers you the first 12 missions, there will be another 6 available in October.

Help us make killzone the best fan based 40k skirmish system available. Your input is valuable to us.

Feel free to join the Killzone forums and give us your direct feedback. This forum is where the Rules Committee did the balance of the hard work put into this project.

Edit 9-7-10 3:10 PM PST: The Errata has been updated with the following info:

Even with all this hard work and planning we need to temporarily errata the errata. You know what they say about the best laid plans......

The Space Marine Errata is missing the following entries.

Tactical marines

0-1 Tactical sergeant

Scouts

0-1 Scout sergeant



I would like to thank everyone for the support that they have given me while making the Killzone project happen. I appreciate the continued support.

Until the next....

What's this? Squats for Killzone

While digging through boxes over the last couple of days I found a ton of OOP minis, ranging back to the hallowed days of Rogue Trader.

The most exciting find is 40+ Squats, that's right I said it!

Here are the ones that are still on bases and/or not in pieces.



I have decided to remodel and repaint these crusty old veterans as a Spec Ops Group for Killzone.

I am thinking that they may need their own special list for Killzone, more on that later.

I will be showing all the various OOP models I found over the next few weeks.

PS: Don't forget that the Killzone Beta test rules will go live on Tuesday, including 12 missions and all 16 errata for the codices!

Killzone: Eldar Team modeling

I have been swamped with the finishing touches for the Killzone Beta release, but have found a little time to rummage through my old fig cases looking for treasures to use for my unique teams.

B.smoove has inspired me with his Rogue Trader era Marine Team, I just could not resist the urge to do something similar myself. In the spirit of Old School miniatures used for Killzone. I present the first batch of pre-stripped miniatures for my Eldar SOG for Killzone. These are all 2nd ed from the mid nineties and the left overs from an army I gave to a friend.








I will be repainting these over the next few weeks. I will probably stick with my non-standard color schemes on the Dragons and Scorps. I really love the green Dragons!

So stay tuned!

Until the next!