It's been ten years...

Trying 8th Edition

     So after a two edition hiatus the new 40k and its positive internet reception has lured me back in. The calls went out to the old group that hadn't met to push little plastic men around for half a decade, and a few even showed up! I ended up playing a 50 power level game against the mighty Ultramarines chapter led by Marneus Calgar, and he completely wrecked my tyranids, mostly by himself.

     My bad choices began when I chose to charge my hive tyrant into his half strength tactical squad. Calgar performed a "HEROIC INTERVENTION" and jumped in as well. I learned that without any special melee weapons equipped, a monstrous creature is now a strength six chump. After taking out a single marine in close combat, Marneus Calgar popped my hive tyrants head like a zit.

     Next the blue doom squad made a sweeping advance towards my good old reliable dakkafexes, former champions of wrecking everything. Calgar smacked them down without breaking a sweat. It turns out eight wounds at toughness seven and a 3+save doesn't mean all that much in the face of the big blue flyswatters of doom! Left with my warriors and their Alpha leader, my force quickly got wiped off the table as I attempted a last ditch effort to remove Calgar and still have a chance at winning the game.
     All being said and done I never felt like I was completely out of the game. Had I fared a little better against Calgar near the end I felt that my warriors still had a chance to finish off the remaining Ultrasmurfs and seize victory; but, the dice just were not with me and many lessons were learned. Such is wargaming.

     Besides looking at too many rules and thinking of how things used to be instead of how they are now, the game seemed to move quickly and only took about 60 to 90 minutes of actual playing. If that is the new par for the course then I believe this is an edition that I can fully endorse!

     Also, Marneus Calgar is dumb...

Games Day Table Expansion

     Back in 2010 when there was actually a Games Day on the east coast we had all signed up and ran a gaming table for the event. We had a little mini game going where people could walk up with an independent character and have a duel on one of the 2'x 2' battlefields we brought along. All of our old Games Day pictures can be seen here.

Out of the two arenas I made the lava one was always my favorite, and as soon as it was finished I knew I wanted to have a full table one day built in the same fashion. My youngest brother and I have been working on and off over the last year or so with long breaks in between but finally after a big push this week we have done it!

As you can see the original mini table is in the corner and we cut pink foam to match up and make a full sized table around it. I would like to make a few more pieces of themed terrain to go with it such as a volcano or a few mountains connected by a bridge or pipes but after a year of mostly procrastination it is good to see a project crossed off the list!

Also, as an added bonus, my brother now knows how to make cool looking terrain and I can get him to make it all!