My Two Days at Mechanicon

This post managed to get lost in the blob that was MEM2, Thanksgiving, Birthdays, and Christmas.
But hey, better late than never, right? Let's just pretend it still mid November.

I recently attended The Mechanicon for the first time. I have wanted to go for the last few years but my son's birthday has been falling on that weekend since I got into 40k. This year his Birthday was on Sunday so I managed to get in on the Friday Night Fight and took my brothers for the Kill Team Alpha tournament on Saturday.

Foot Nurgle. Every model has magnetized bases to match any table!

I managed to forget my camera on Friday, but with a sixteen hour night shift beforehand and three hours of sleep before the event  there wasn't much to see any way. I tried out a Vulkan list for the first time and my dice treated me a lot better than they did during The Warstore Weekend. Alas, I learned two valuable lessons. First get more sleep before a tournament!
After winning my first game versus plague marines on foot, I came up against a Thousand Sons themed Khan Biker army. My opponent used three thunder fire cannons to make difficult/dangerous terrain and pounded away with rifle dreads while I had to slog towards him. I played a good game for about three turns after which I made a  dumb move unloading my TH/SS terminators and lost any advantage I had from that point. I have noticed that I'm often the first to attack during a waiting game and had I attempted to weather another round of fire I may have won the game. At least I can say I was half asleep!

MASS EFFECT MARATHON 2 IS LIVE!

It's that time again! MASS EFFECT MARATHON 2! A bunch of my friends are torturing themselves with 72 hours of non stop Mass Effect 1 and 2 play through (Plus DLC) and random hi jinks! I would be there right now forcing vomit favored jellybeans down if I could! All of the proceeds are going to Child's Play Charity and there's plenty of swag to be won for donating.

Also, once again Revenant Autumn is scratch building an awesome Normandy model to be auctioned off and this time it has lights! You can see last years finished model and his WIP shots for this years on his blog.

So what are you waiting for! Check out and donate to MASS EFFECT MARATHON 2! Do it for the children!

Space Marine, The New Facebook?

So I was playing Space Marine way later than I should have been the other night when, out of nowhere, this Imperial Fist clad in MK VIII power armor runs by. I look at him and think to my self, "Man that name sounds familiar." We finish the match and in the lobby lo and behold he asks me, "Palinmoonstride, where do I know that name from?"

Sure enough, it was the same Mr. Went that I played almost two years ago in this battle report.


Now what are the odds of that?
Space Marine, now connecting battle brothers across the country!

Building A Metal Model

Basic modeling knowledge was bread and butter to me when I first got into the hobby. I have noticed that once most bloggers get established they never really go back to talking about the basics and thus the current new guys miss out. Not so today! Most of you all know this but here are the basics of prepping, assembling, and basing a metal model.

Pillaged Videos

TQ has been doing a video every day in October to test out his new video equipment, and work on his editing skills as he begins to venture into videography. Since he, like myself, is all about miniature war gaming many of his videos are and will be about the hobby. I will be posting them here since they could be of use to others who are looking for some tips or just want to see another dudes gaming room. So without further adieu, here is the first pillaged TQ video!






Here we have TQ making a list, checking it twice, and playing a game of WARMACHINE against the in-laws!

If you liked the video head over to his you tube channel and check out some more!

How to get easy XP in Space Marine PC

So I just discovered this and thought I would share it with you all. If you're as bad as I am this will be a godsend.

The larger maps with more points give more XP from the capturing bonus!

Make a private Seize Ground server and capture all the points.  That is all.

About 4 minutes for 1050 XP.

I was struggling to get 500 XP a match working my way up through the weapons you unlock. After discovering this much easier way to get XP I had my thunder hammer in 15 minutes, and seriously, who doesn't want a thunder hammer?

I sucked as an assault marine till I started swinging around this bad boy!

Space Marines vs Chaos Marines & Traitor Guard

This past weekend's PBL pitted Paul and Scott's Space Marines against Jon's Chaos Marines and my (Traitor) Imperial Guard. The battle was 1k points each for a 2,000pt team match. It was spearhead deployment with 5 objectives. The game ended on turn 6 tied 2-2-1. It was a great match and here are some pictures from the fierce battle:

Charity Time Again!

I've been slacking lately but others have not. Once again our awesome friends over at g33kWatch are hosting a charity event for Child's Play.

  Among the myriad of awesome prizes they have lined up for auctions and raffles will be something of interest to 40k gamers. Rather than having to think about flashy catch phrases and hook lines I'm going to continue my slackery and copy / paste.

***PLAGIARISM TO FOLLOW*** (My old English teacher would be so appalled!)

Lets talk charity. My brothers in arms, the G33kwatch crew put on an epic Mass Effect Marathon last year for Childsplay charity, in which they auctioned off my Normandy SR1 model. While I have plans for the SR2 for this coming year's ME marathon, the G33ks have a new 24 hour marathon in the works on June 4th, consisting of many different party games! Talking it over with Charismatic guy Joe, we decided to try something a little different for my crafty contribution to this Slumber Party:


I will be purchasing the Warhammer 40k starter set Black Reach box, and preparing it for the Slumber Party(assembling, basing, priming). Early into the marathon day we will auction this set off, to be painted up to the exact specifications of the winner, DURING the marathon. I will be painting and also jumping into a few of the games and crazy hijinks during the rest of this 24 hour period.

What will Definitely be Included:

• The full Black Reach box contents(minus sprue, unless you really want it..) amounting to a respectable Ork and Space Marine forces. Arguably one of the most generous starter kits to date!
• Painted to match your color choices, or an existing army.
• Based to your desired terrain, or to match any existing forces as closely as possible.

Additional Items I am working to also Include:

• Custom Objective counters (mix of orky and Imperial)
• Extra set of rules and templates (for those who might want to split it up between two new players)
• Protective foam to fit the Blackreach set.
• 3-5 pieces of low terrain so you can play a real match right out of the box!

In addition, if the winner is new to painting and would prefer, I will document my colors and steps carefully. I can paint the base troops in a way more suited for a new painter to match when they add new models. In this case I will spend extra time on the commanders and elites, and may include some starter paints and brushes if I have them available.

Whether you are interested in this auction or not, I encourage you to tune in and watch the marathon during the 24 hour period. We will be playing plenty of fun video games, raffling off a metric ton of prizes to those who donate, doing crazy things for donations, and unlocking g33kwatch member special costumes! Sponser me in your donations to force me to do hilarious/dangerous/informative things while trying to meet my painting deadline!

Lastly, any help in spreading the word on both the auction and event would be greatly appreciated. As we approach the Slumber Party, I will be posting progress and updating this post should any of the specifics change. If you have any questions or suggestions for this Auction, please let me know!  

Posted by Revenant Autumn

*** END PLAGIARISM ***

In a total non slacker fashion I made a few pieces of terrain that will also fit in the black reach box and will be behind the scenes (until they make me do a silly dance) assisting with this charitable endeavor.

 If your looking for a  way to get a friend or two into the game or just want to use the models for yourself this is an extremely good way to do it without having to do all the painting!
YOU CAN SLACK TOO! AND GIVE TO A GREAT CAUSE WHILE YOUR AT IT!

So check us out tomorrow around noon, get some laughs, do it for the children!

Razorwing? A Blast From My Past

  

When Dark Eldar got their new codex my attention immediately went to the fact that they got a fighter jet. "That's awesome", I thought. At the time I wasn't planning on making an army and that was that. Months later while rummaging around at my parents I found this old model I built as a kid. 

 

It looked like it would be about the right size so I brought it home and began to entertain the possibility of using it at some point. Splinter rifles could be placed in the recesses in front of the cockpit with a minimum of work. Dark lances and missiles could be mounted under the wings. 

I had a few squads worth of the old warrior models sitting around and would only need a HQ to have a small playable force.

Recently I threw a minimum bid on a sizable Dark Eldar force on e bay with terrible paint jobs. Getting someones old unwanted army for cheap, stripping the paint, and breathing new life into the models has been something I wanted to try out for some time. Now that I have about 2000 points worth of models to work with the project can begin but GW has thrown a kink in my plan.

 

 The official model is now up for advance order! It looks great and I would like to field more than one as my stand in bat wing has proven the units worth on the tabletop in casual games. Moving on form reserve and unleashing four large blasts can take out plenty of units and fits my alpha strike Dark Eldar mentality perfectly.

I have found other Bat Jets available on the internet for very reasonable prices but here is my question to you all. Should I just suck it up and buy the new models or continue with my original idea to convert the bat jet?

Meet Paul - PBL Documentary Series

We'd like to make this a series, so if you have questions for Paul or would like to see videos like this of our other players or things we do, please comment below!

The New Ones Always Go First

Our escalation league is still going strong with last week marking the 600 point mark. It was nice to finally play a standard game finally. Kill Teams are fun, but everyone was itching to bring out the heavy firepower. I haven't played an unpainted model in our "official" games yet, but I wanted to try out the storm raven so bad I decided the his to my points for the day were worth it.

Having just build my storm raven I was itching to give it a go and went with the following.

Librarian - Blood lance, Str 10
5 man Assault Squad - no upgrades (x2)
Land Speeder - Muti Melta / Heavy Flamer
Storm Raven - Hurricane Bolters, Assault Cannon, Heavy Bolter

Since the games were so small we played on 4x4 tables with 3 objectives spread diagonally. In an effort to get everyone into the tournament mindset, kill points were also in effect.

I ended up playing against Kung Fu Joe and his Sisters of Battle. He was running two large squads of battle sisters along with Repentias and a squad of 2 penitent engines lead by a Palatine. We started with table quarters for deployment and he went first, moving his engines and repentias toward my storm raven sitting on the back of the table. He rolled well for his extra movement but I still felt secure that I could take down his heavy hitters and get away.
When it came to be my turn I opted to sit still and show my opponent the full fury of the Blood Angels gunship!
Boy was I wrong! After four blood strike missiles, four assault cannon shots, and three heavy bolter shots at his AV 11 walkers all I had to show for it was one explodes result and a shaken walker that ran up to punch my ship right out of the sky on the next turn! They don't get used much but boy those penitent engines are fast!

Lucky for me, my Librarian jumped out of the ship as it exploded and punched his walker right back! If not, I think I would have been hard pressed to deal with it for the remainder of the game.

My assault squads deep struck out of his troops line of site and managed to make a combined charge clearing out one objective as the rest of my force moved to take the midfield uncontested and the game ended up being a solid victory for me but I think the real moral of the story is this.

When you have that super shiny new toy you want to try out for the first time, it's going to miss a lot and get blown up in the most embarrassing possible way!

Playing catch up

I know, I know... I haven't posted in forever it seems. Things have been crazy lately for our gaming crew but finally all the babies have arrived for everyone and life is starting to get back to normal. (Except for sleeping. New babies never seem to want to let you sleep.)

So in new news my wife had our third baby! And while I was at the hospital for three days I built a storm raven!

My youngest brother thinks shes beautiful!

My wife likes this one better!

I meant to post these pics a few weeks ago when it was new and exciting but my one year old daughter decided to pull the SD card out of the laptop and eat it. After drying the card off and putting it back in it appeared to be empty. " Great", I thought, "there goes all of the baby pics and my spider WIP shots." After a week in some uncooked rice (It helps to pull the moisture out) the pics were still on the card thankfully!

Back when it was the hot new black box item, my local red shirt lat me take the new Arachnarok Spider home to build and paint.  I jokingly went to take it as I was leaving the store that day and said, "Well I'll just go home and airbrush some gradients on this..." To my surprise he replied, "Really! Here take the other sprue too!"
So that's how I ended up with this a few days later.

I ended up having a baby in the middle of painting and took it back to the store before it was finished but they thought it was so good when I took it back to the store that no one wants to put the chariot on top now. The model was a lot of fun to work with and it was a nice change of pace from painting 40k. I can't wait too see what they have done with it next time I stop by the store.One word of advice if you plan on getting one. DO NOT glue the legs on before you paint. it makes getting in all the recesses nearly impossible.

Deathwatch, The New Hotness

When I picked up an early copy of the Deathwatch role playing game at Games Day back in August I knew we would play it. I knew we would all make models for our characters and set aside time on our monthly gaming day for it. I did not know it would become the main event! During the slow time between summer and Christmas attendance has been sporadic at best during any of our gaming related fun times. Every few weeks enough of us would be around to try out the game here and there. The immediate response was always something like this, "HOLY CRAP! THAT WAS AWESOME!", or like this, " I JUST DID HOW MUCH DAMAGE!", or ," WE ARE THIS POWERFUL AT LEVEL ONE?!"

Having played more than our fair share of role playing games over the years we all found the game to be both unique and refreshing. It can be played as a space marine kill fest but there is also plenty of room for depth of storyline like you would expect from any well done role playing system. Did I mention how AWESOME space marines are at level one? Its very refreshing to be able to start a new character and not worry about getting killed off in the first combat you come across. Not that you are invincible, mind you. Space Marines can still drop dead rather quickly given the right circumstances as our first group quickly found out. (Genestealers are serious business when they get a crit to your head.)

On the flip side when your team works together using the squad mode abilities you can deal with overwhelming threats almost with ease. When we were surprised by a Lictor while moving to a new area we brought it down so fast the GM was shocked and gave it more HP for a few rounds just so he could at least get a few attacks off. Running the game takes serious adjustment in planning simply because your players are no longer weak nobodies. They are the champions of mankind! They are space marines!

A big bonus for tabletop 40k players is that you can use your models and terrain to really make battles come alive. Many times throughout the missions we would see the map of the area we entered and make an approximate recreation with whatever terrain was available. I'm one of those gamers who really enjoys seeing painted models bring a battlefield to life and it really made the game that much more enjoyable. Defrolla Dan showed up with an old deathwatch squad he nabbed form ebay which some people used but many of us are working on our own custom figures.

If you have yet to give deathwatch a try you should. They have a free starter mission with abridged rules available here.

Soon you too could be hot wiring a chimera and rocking it like this!

This wasn't even the epic finale.

Rune Priest Yimeron Ready to unleash his power.

This is my Blood Angel apothecary. He's got magnets!