2009: A Review

My next post will concern the resolutions for 2010 but first I wanted to take a moment and ponder the events of 2009...

I began and completed 1850 points of Tau. My son has now assumed command of that army as it grows to, and beyond, 2500 points.

I began playing in July of this year. I have played 23 games. My record is 17 losses, 4 draws, and 2 wins.

I began a Space Marine chapter (Void Legion) in September. I have assembled and painted (tabletop standard, three colors) 1500 points. I have another 1000 points unassembled and unpainted.

I have started collecting a Tyranid army. It remains unassembled and unpainted, awaiting the day that the new codex is released.

I have yet to be "that guy" in a game. If anything, I feel that I have restrained my competitiveness to the point of being a lame duck (see win-draw-loss stats above).

I have drawn a new player into the hobby, my son. My nephews are next on the hit list.

My daughter owns 2.5 tactical squads of SM and SW. She is working on painting them. At eight years of age, I feel she is doing pretty well.

I was laid-off in February and started college in May. I have a 3.88 GPA.

Ho Ho Ho!

Christmas Eve here. In a few hours I will be opening presents to see if Santa brought me any new 40K stuff.

I will keep you posted.

I hope everyone enjoys their time off celebrating the birth of Christ with their family. If you and a family member are having a squabble, try to make amends. This life is fleeting and neither of you may be around much longer to squabble at all.

Fog of War(p) deployment

We tried this today with a three-way battle between Ultramarines, my Void Legion, and my son's Tau.

The point limit was 1000. Three objectives with each player getting to place one each. The objectives must be within 24" of the center of the table.

Roll for deployment order. Place one unit anywhere you want, except within 12" of another unit. Roll for standard scatter. If your unit would go off the table it is not destroyed it just sits on the edge. If the unit scatters within 12" of another unit that is okay. If you scatter into area terrain or difficult terrain that is fine. If you scatter into impassable terrain just place the unit up next to it. Using common sense will help things work out.

Then the next player deploys one of their units following the above guidance. And so on, and so on, and s.......

It is a lot of fun and gets you right into the fight. No unit is right on top of another unless it scatters there, making for some fun tactical decisions.

For extra randomness, roll for at the beginning of every round for player turns.

In the end, the Tau manuevered and sniped the SM and Ultramarines (who were busy tearing each other up!). Tau for the win!

Got Chitin?

Ok, I am not going to repeat all of the information that is out there on the web about the new Tryanids coming in January. The Trygon model is sweet.

I am receiving a Tyranid Battleforce for Christmas and other related goodies. So, I will be building and painting immediately. I hope to have a built army (probably not painted) ready to go on the 16th when the codex comes out. So, woohoo! Let the harvesting of biomass begin!

As I mentioned in my last post I have come into possession of 110+ imperial guardsmen. Since, I do not play IG and I am loath to get rid of any models (because they are hella cool). I am considering painting them (NOT all of them!) in my Void Legion chapter colors and making a few weapons mods and playing them as Space Marine scouts. Has anyone ever seen this?

I watched Avatar today and I cannot express how happy I am that it was a genuinely good movie. The story did not break any new ground but was solid nevertheless. The effects were impressive and more importantly they looked as close to life-like and real than any CGI done yet. The combat, little that there was, is very well coordinated and quite devastating. If there is an anti-Transformers spectacle out there, this is it. Micheal Bay, you should give James Cameron a call and let him teach you something about plot, story, and continuity...

Christmas is almost here! Rejoice!

110 what?

Yesterday saw my return to my local GW and we had a blast. I played zero games but that hardly mattered.

The annual Bizarre Bazaar was happening and I was hunting for the good deals. These deals caught my eye.

SM Assault squad for $10, yep! - Ended up not getting it.

Emperor's Champion for $5, yep! - Let a buddy make the purchase instead.

Ork Codex for $5, yep! - I did buy this!

Fully painted, based, and flocked Blood Angels detachment for $150, yep! - I did not get this, but it was a pretty good deal. x20 Assault Marines, x40 Tactical Marines, x15 Terminators

Random bag of genestealers and gaunts for free, yup! - My son somehow got this deal knowing that I am starting a new tyranid army for 2010. Bag contained x3 genestealers, x9 termagants, x2 spore mines. Some guy just gave them to my son!

My personal best deal of the day. $70 for 300+ models and three books. I bought this one and I don't even play Guard!

More than 100 guardsmen, 2 heavy weapons teams, and an old ork trukk converted to an IG buggy.

Complete, mostly unassembled celtic army, over 200+ models! Three books; Warhammer Ancient Battles, Armies of Antiquity (Ancient Battles Supplement), and Alexander the Great (another Ancient Battles supplement).

Ok, more to come later today. with pics!

It seems like it was yesterday....

My 14th wedding anniversary was today. We did not do much since we are both studying for finals week.

I did purchase a Tyranid Battleforce today. I will be receiving it as Christmas gift on the 25th. Yea me!

Toymallet $0.40 battle test

Ok, using the Toymallet rules are simplicity itself.

Our niece is spending the weekend with us and tonight was games night. After a couple of games of Cranium, I left my 13 y.o. son in charge of running a Toymallet game with his sister and younger niece.

I came back about 30 minutes later to find the Tyranids and Space Marines, supported by Ironman, engaged in wiping out a platoon of Imperial Stormtroopers.

Fun was had all around.

Rules? We don't need no stinking rules...

I have in my time collected a lot of figures. Fantasy, Star Wars, Heroscape, and, of course, 40k are the figures I currently own.

Occasionally, I get the urge to play with them, all of them, all at the same time.

Since my regular gaming partners are my eight year old daughter and my 13 y.o. son I need a simple mechanic that keeps the game moving but with enough depth to make it interesting.

I have downloaded the Forge of War homebrew rules and I like them. However, I needed something a little bit more "fun".

So, what did I do? I went websurfing.

It did not take me long to find just what I was looking for. A 40K parody game. Brilliant!

Here is the link; www.jenniverse.com/toymallet%20main.html

The ruleset's name is ToyMallet 40 cents. It is not serious ruleset, but it looks pretty fun. I cannot wait to introduce my daughter to this. She has been waiting to field her Rainbow Space Marines with her Heroscape Amazon Warriors(esses?), and the hot pink hormagaunts.

I think this will do the trick.