Most Inspirational Book?

Photo from Chicago Terrain Factory - Used without permission

Lately, I have been getting out my copy of Cities of Death and thumbing through it. I have found Cities of Death to be the most inspirational 40k book that I own. The photos of the model conversions and the terrain just captures my imagination. I can feel the environment and the strife in those photos. No other 40k game book fires me up like Cities of Death does.

It also helps that GW released their Cities of Death design notes as a free White Dwarf archive .pdf. Just click on Cities of Death

I am feeling hyped up right now to build some city terrain. Maybe a super huge factorum to play a Kill Team mission in?

What about you? What inspires your gaming? What lights a fire in your belly and makes you say, "I have to do that!".

One to lead them...

Captain Praxus, what is best in life?
To crush the Blood Angels
See them driven before you, and to hear the lamentations of their Chaplains...

This is my Terminator Captain.

He still needs a few touch ups and sealing before he is completely finished.

He will be leading the Void Legion into battle from here on out.

Opinions sought...

In the singing stillness as dark fades to light...we stand, ready...

1st stanza of the Void Legion Lament

Ok, I purchased a Terminator Captain. He came with a standard base.

Should I put him on a Terminator base or leave him on the standard base?

House Rules - Fog of War(p) deployment

Your army is on patrol as they stumble into an unnatural fog bank....only to exit the fog a few minutes later surrounded by enemies and their unit formations in disorder...

Designate a 12 o'clock position on the battlefield.

One objective per player. This is especially fun with more than two players.

Each player may place their objective. Roll off if objective placement order matters to you.

The objectives must be within 24" of the center of the table and can be as close to one another as they desire. After objectives are placed, roll for scatter.

Roll for deployment order.

The first player to go will place one unit anywhere they want. Roll for standard scatter (will always be a full 2d6 scatter irregardless of special rules to the contrary). If a unit would go off the table it is not destroyed it just sits on the edge. If a unit scatters into area terrain or difficult terrain that is fine (no dangerous terrain check needed). If a unit scatters into impassable terrain just place the unit next to it. Using common sense will help things work out.

If the deployed unit is a vehicle (or any unit in which facing matters) roll a scatter die and a 2d6. On a "hit" of the scatter die the controlling player may position the vehicle to any heading they desire. If it is a "scatter" the 2d6 result will determine the heading the vehicle is deployed at (remember the 12 o'clock position you set before starting?)

Then the next player deploys one of their units following the above guidance. If a unit scatters within 12" of another unit that is fine.

Deployment follows one unit at a time alternating between players until all units are deployed.

A few clarifying notes:

1. The models are placed as if they had conducted a deep strike (IE., clustered tight together surrounding the initial model placed down). Notice the "as if", models deployed in the deployment phase can assault on their first turn.

2. You cannot be a killjoy and plan a unit deployment in an area not large enough for your entire unit to be staged in deep strike formation. Well, OK you can, but if during placement of your unit you cannot place all models in a deep strike deployment configuration your opponents get to roll off with the winner placing your unit (with proscribed scatter!) anywhere they want on the battlefield.

3. Scout and infiltrating units may make their preemptive moves if all of the regular requirements are met.

4. Any disagreements can be resolved with a roll off to determine who fortune will favor in this battle.

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

Sportsmanship...

Today was the second day of Owlcon and the only day I could actually go. The kids had a great time with my daughter winning a $25 gift certificate in a Settlers of Catan tournament.

For the 40k tournament I had a win, a draw, and a loss. Meh.

The GM for the tournament is a local at my gaming store and I know him fairly well. After the final scores were posted, I went and asked him about where I had placed in the pack. Turns out I placed 13 out of 24, making me the first place slot for the bottom half.

I was then shown the sportsmanship scores.

When I was tabled in the fourth round, I received a perfect sportsmanship score. When I managed to draw, I received an average sportsmanship score. When I pulled off a 5 KP to 1 KP win, I received the lowest sportsmanship score possible.

It seems that success on the battlefield is inversely proportional to perceived sportsmanship.

I gave all of my opponents perfect sportsmanship scores because they were all decent fellows who did not try and pull any shenanigans on the board. I was told that my scoring of my opponents (and others like me) actually make it harder for the GM to post up scores because not everyone can be the best of sports.

While, I agree with that, to a degree. How do you know? I mean in the first round it is pretty hard to compare my opponent, to my opponent in the third round...

Anyway, I am quite satisfied with a 13 place overall, especially with only eight months of gaming under my belt. I still seem to be incapable of beating Space Wolves.

Who am I...when I win?

The local GW is holding a March Madness tournament.

Every player has to play seven games and the top four will battle it out at the end of March to find out who is the best.

I have played three games so far. Resulting in two wins and one loss.

Now, one of my resolutions for this year was to bring my game up...with 22 losses under my belt, I figured I needed to work on my list, tactics, etc.

In the past I have mentioned that I have two "hats" that I wear depending on how I am going to play the game. On one hand I have my "let's have fun" hat and my "No holds barred" hat.

The fun hat has not stood me too well in the winning department as I am too laid back, not as focused on the game, etc. However, the winning hat has made me feel like a dick.

Let me cover a few key events in the last couple of games to bring this into perspective.

First winning game (in the tournament) was against Dark Angels. It was an objective game and I maximized my objective placement by grouping them as close as possible to each other and maximized for the terrain. My opponent is a regular in the store and he has steamrolled me every time I have played him in the past. This games was bit different. I was a lot more focused.

I controlled my movement and spread out a full tactical squad, while remaining in coherency, to claim two of the five objectives. My target priority was much more brutal as I systematically smashed his transport/armor capability. In the last round (I went second) I barely managed to run my Captain into contesting range of one of the two objectives my opponent held.

So, it went from a draw situation, to a win for me.

As we shook hands I couldn't help but notice that my opponent had a look on his face. That look said to me, "I can't believe you kicked my dog, mister". It made me feel kinda small, to see that look.

Second winning game (tournament) was against a brutal Chaos Demons army. Two objectives. Two full units of Flamers of Tzeentch, a couple of Nurgle units, and a Soul Grinder. This game was against the manager of the store and, well, he's a hell of a nice guy.

Early in the game, I took out his Soul Grinder before it could even wound one of my units. One shot - BOOM.

After he wiped two complete tactical squads out and claimed my objective, I tank shocked (Land Raider and Rhino) him off of the objective and embarked my last tac squad into the Land Raider. Now, the way I positioned my tanks, he was incapable of getting within 3" of my objective, period. the Flamers of Tzeentch are brutal against troops but, tank busting is not their strong suit. He tried for four rounds to use a lance type weapon against my tanks, to get a destroyed result. He managed to get a wrecked result on the Rhino but, because it now becomes terrain he still could not get within 3".

He kept trying to move his model's bases under my tanks (the tanks were set up a little because they were sitting on area terrain) but, I kept saying "I don't think you can crawl under my vehicles"...

In the fifth round I used my Land Speeder to contest his objective. I also had ran my Marneus Calgar equivalent into close combat with his unit, which prevented him from assaulting my Land Speeder.

I did not know this at the time because, I was hoping the game would end on turn five and since I was going second (again) he could not bump me from his objective. The game went a full seven rounds.

However, there is a little known statement in the rules that basically says in a multiple close combat situation that involves a vehicle, the defender will ignore the vehicle to face the more imminent of threats (which makes sense). It was this situation that allowed me to win. He literally could not ignore my assaulting HQ unit to attack my contesting vehicle.

So, I won on two technicalities (or so it seems to me). One, he could not physically get within 3" of my objective because I had parked on top of it. Two, he could not fight off my contesting vehicle because I had managed to get another non-vehicle unit into close combat with him.

I again, saw the look.

It had been a tense game all around. In the end the entire store was gathered around, watching and waiting to see the outcome.

Anyway about twenty minutes after, I told him I did not feel good about how I had won and he was very cool. He told me not to worry about it, I had played smarter (and luckier), I had played to the objective of the game, etc.

However, I have looked back at the last two games and wondered if they have cast the most favorable light on me.

In the end I won but, what did it cost me, to do so?

Prepare for drop!

After two hard fought losses this weekend I have begun reassessing my list.

My problem seems to boil down to mis-positioning my units during deployment.

Since I usually footslog my marines, due to only owning one Rhino and one Land Raider, I am badly outmanuevered on most missions. I have found myself saying repeatedly, to myself, if I could only get my heavy firepower "over there", I could wreak some havoc.

So, I dug into my codex and began looking at other options. I was immediately enamored with the drop pods. For the same price/points cost of a Rhino I have a transport option that can carry anything in my army.

Terminators?....check, Dreadnought?...check, All flavors of marines?...check.

Only problem is that it is immobilized once it drops, not much a problem as my Rhino and or Land Raider is usually popped on the first turn and cannot carry a Dreadnought at all.

So, I came home with two drop pods (I would have bought more but the store didn't have any...) and built them while watching the Super Bowl. They went together quickly, as I did not bother to build the central column and harnesses. I am not happy that the doors will not stay closed on their own, but a few magnets will fix that.

I also picked up a couple of Dreadnoughts. I am strongly toying with the idea of a six Dread list.

I think the pods will give me a better chance of getting my firepower "over there" and into the backfield of my enemy.

Now, I have read the Drop Pod Assault rules and they basically distill down to this...no scatter mishaps unless you scatter off the table. Is this a correct interpretation?

Who's afraid of the big bad bug?

This Saturday saw an impromptu apocalypse game happen at the local GW. I had my Void Legion marines and my son brought his Tau. As is the usual these days we found ourselves as opponents.

On the side of Order we had; Steel Legion (rocking no less than 20 tanks), four space marine armies, and Sisters of Battle with IG allies.

On the side of Chaos we had; Chaos Marines, Tau, Eldar, two traitor IG, and four (yes, four!) Tyranid armies.

I am not going to go into a blow-by-blow account but I did want to share a few observations...

Deep Striking Mawlocs and Trygons will not survive if they are unsupported. Neither of the two that popped up survived past their first round of combat. Granted, I fired everything I had in my army at the Trygon in my sector, but the results were still the same; one dead Trygon. All it managed to do against the back armor of a Dreadnought is stun it (then the Trygon died).

Psyker powers on the Tyranids seem pretty tough. However, I did not see the results of any of the powers because the Sisters of Battle HQ chicky stopped their powers, all of their powers, cold. Not one Tyranid power manifested the entire game. Go Sisters!

Termagants are still really easy to kill. Full tactical squads with bolters in rapid fire range will decimate a brood. For an added bonus kill the Tervigon synapse creature before you shoot them up and they will pretty much run away without the "fearless" special rule to support them.

Combat tactics are going to play a larger part in my strategy against the bugs. In close combat, I am going to take casualties, period. But the ability to break away and get another shooting phase before getting tangled up again is going to be priceless.

Use terrain. There are so many models in an infantry brood that if you can funnel them, when they hit your line most of the brood will be out of close combat range (ie, more than 2" away). This will reduce the attacks against you and possibly allow your entire (smaller) unit get all of your attacks against them.

The game ended on the fourth turn when all of the Tyranid players pulled their armies off of the table, stated that they felt outnumbered, and in general acted a bit upset that we had broken their new toys. So it goes...

The new Tyranids are a tough army to fight. Once the players get some wicked unit and tactics combinations under their belt they are going to be even more deadly. I predict a second coming for the long-range pieplate firepower of the Whirlwind and Thunderfire Cannon.

Manners - What are they good for?

My local GW is overrun with kids.

Sometimes it little kids, you know 8, 9, 10.

More often it is older ones 14, 15, 23.

The little ones are usually pretty cool and are only bothersome when they want to handle your minis with their grubby, sticky, clumsy hands.

The older ones now, they should know better. They should have, you know, manners. I am not speaking of miniature handling. What I am speaking of is a cordial awareness that the person standing across from them is a person. An actual, just-across-the-table-from-you, person.

Just because you are a kid and you are accustomed to speaking however you speak over X-Box Live, does not mean you will not be called on it.

Clearly, over the internet, people have grown accustomed to speaking/writing to others in a manner that reflects the inherent safety of sitting behind a computer, safe in your home. The guy you just sniped in Modern Warfare 2 can't do anything about it when you call him a jerk.

However, the 6'2" amateur Mixed-Martial Arts practitioner, that you just called a jerk can do something about it.

Such was the scene today in my local GW. I was busy getting my tookus handed to me by some teenager, meanwhile, my opponent's brother was looking on and making comments about various things happening in the game. During round four, Zach, the aforementioned MMA aficionado, wandered over and made a couple of comments concerning my opponent's loose interpretation of a rule. Having said his piece, and opening my eyes to the shiftiness of my opponent's conduct, Zach wandered off to the paint bar.

It was at this point, that my opponent's brother made his mistake. He said (to his brother) "That guy is a jerk". A few minutes later the game ended (badly for me) when I heard the following words, "You shouldn't insult someone when they can hear you". These words were uttered in Zach's unmistakable bass rumble of a voice.

I, of course, looked up because this sounded like it could be the beginning of something interesting. It was at that point that I noticed the 135 lb, 5'8" teenager looking up (with a quite frantic expression, might I add) at Zach.

Zach wasn't looming over the kid, and his tone/expression was that of someone commenting about the weather.

I think, however, the kid got message.

A hasty apology followed and everything was cool.

Where are we as a society where pointing out that someone is cheating (or near enough) gets you called a jerk?

2010: Looking Forward

A brief list of things I intend to accomplish this year...

Quit smoking

Lose some weight. I have gained about 40 lbs since I got laid off. Have to keep in fighting trim.

Finish my scratch built Arvus Lighter.

Be more competitive. I feel I have laid too far back to accommodate my opponents. I am going to bring my A game to the table more often. They are big boys, they should be able to handle it.

Start and finish my Tyranid army.

Fine tune my SM Void Legion army.

Build a proper gaming table in the garage.

Post some army pics.

Post some battle reports.

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.

Range = Unlimited

We had a great day at our local Tanksgiving. We discovered that the hunter-killer and seeker missiles really did have unlimited range.

On round three the forces of order launched every hunter-killer missile they had. From the south of Texas the missiles roared until they found a target in Gig Harbor, WA. Once on target, they inflicted severe damage to a Warhound Titan.

If you are the player from Washington whose titan was damaged by a missile salvo from Texas, please let me know. We want to hear from you.

Did anyone else make a longer distance shot during their Tanksgiving?

Gamer Stigma

We had an early Thanksgiving dinner with some family today. At some point my wife was telling some members of the family about an event that occurred earlier this week...

We had purchased the new Star Trek on DVD. The edition we bought was the one that has the model of the Enterprise that doubles as the DVD holder. Once home, but before we began the movie, I had to slip outside and give the model a quick zoom-zoom around the driveway while I smoked a cigarette.

As my wife related this story I felt a twinge of...shame? embarrassment? What kind of man still plays with toys into his mid-30s? Was I a man or some type of man-child eternally caught in an immature phase?


I have throughout my life had this feeling of disconnect between what is manly behaviour (especially in Texas) and the hobbies/interests that I cultivate.

I am middle-aged man with a family, mortgage, normal pets (no snakes or spiders), car payments, and all of the attendant responsibilities that comes with that life situation. I am a combat veteran with 15 years of service under my belt.

So, why is it that I should feel this twinge? I mean, I am a free citizen on my own property pursuing my own type of happiness. Am I too sensitive to mainstream culture? Am I too aware of a society that favors certain manly behaviours over others as a definition of what it means to be a "man"?

Have you ever had the feeling that playing with fictional toy soldiers is somehow diminishing your manliness, in the eyes of others?