I'm a Gamer, Get Me Out of Here!

It's official, we're moving in February! We had initially expected to move to Asheville, NC at the end of summer or early autumn of 2011, but the window of opportunity to do this kept creeping closer and closer until it's now only two months away. It feels rather sudden and leaves quite a bit to be done in the time left so getting ready will likely not be much fun. Otherwise I am quite excited by this development and look forward to once again being a resident of North Carolina. I foresee better gaming days ahead. :)

Meanwhile these are going to be busy times for me over the next several months. I don't know for certain how this will impact things on the hobby front though I imagine there will inevitably be less free time to spend on my miniature wars. With AdeptiCon looming at the start of April I've decided I need to take a more organized approach than I normally do in order to have everything finished in time. This weekend I'm going to review and assess all the projects I have underway and come up with some basic priorities for them. I believe this will also be useful as I begin considering what hobby plans I want to focus on in the coming year.

These past few days have however turned out to be rather unproductive as Father Nurgle has continued to bless my household with his gift of the flu. It's therefore been a little painting here, little painting there type of week. Slow but steady progress at least and I have also been working on army lists for the Raptors to give me a sense of direction. Right now I have some spare minutes in which to paint so I'll catch up on that other business later. There's power armour to paint... bye!

Raptors Test Mini Update

My plan was to refrain from any weathering on the test mini for my Raptors project until I had the chapter markings in place. As it turns out I could not resist and went ahead with the first of my dirtying experiments. While that may complicate things when it's time to apply the transfers, I was too impatient to wait and by now have lost confidence in Forge World coming through for me in a timely manner with my order.

I've never tried to use weathering powders before so this was all new for me. Derina, author of both the Irons Hands and more things and Brigannion 4 blogs, suggested I go with rust powder to achieve the dusty appearance seen in some Raptors artwork. That's the look I want for this army so I took her advice and have made my first attempt at brushing on some dry pigment, using Orange Rust from Forge World. It wasn't quite what I expected but I feel like I started to get the hang of it towards the end. There were a few areas where the powder clumped a bit or went on streaky, but otherwise it was easier than I thought it would be.

(No worries, I've gone back and painted that little boot cable.)

Overall I think I'm satisfied with how the weathering powder worked and I'm happy with the choice of color. It surprises me how much it changes the tone or feeling of the miniature even though the effect itself is rather subtle. I applied the powder in two passes and was fairly cautious as I did not want to overdo anything and I now wonder if I should perhaps add even more Orange Rust. I may also try adding some darker earth-colored powder to his boots and legs but for now I'm going to leave him alone. I've started in on the first batch of Raptors and will be working on them this weekend. Yesterday I primed them and even had time to apply both coats of Devlan Mud. With those steps out of the way I'm ready to begin painting and am eager to find out how quickly I can get them finished.

Okay, that's it for now. I hope you're all having a great weekend so far... happy gaming and painting, everyone!

Raptors Test Mini WIP

I'm almost finished with this test of the Raptors Legion color scheme for my Badab project and so far I'm happy with the results. What is particularly nice is that it has been easy to paint and not time consuming either, exactly what I wanted for this army. I'm still waiting on my sheet of chapter transfers from Forge World so whatever weathering I'm going to attempt on him will have to wait until those are in place. Otherwise I don't think there's much left to do with this one. Good!

I'm quite pleased with how my first Raptor Space Marine is turning out and so I plan to next paint the four remaining Devastator Marines that make up the test mini's squad. I may attempt to also paint those Assault Marines at the same time depending on how things go. I'd like to work on building up my painting speed as I go along since I have a fair number of these guys assembled and ready. I'm about 80% sure at this point that I will use my Raptors in the Combat Patrol event at AdeptiCon so my goal now is to have them painted quickly to allow me time to become comfortable playing them and hopefully try out a variety of lists at that point level.

Also I've had more fun painting this test miniature than I had first anticipated so I think that's a positive sign for this new army. In fact I want to get right back to the painting so I'll just say goodnight and happy gaming, everyone. Bye!

Deathstrike Missiles in Spearhead

Of course... source programmable guidance!

There were some unusual developments yesterday. First off, my copy of White Dwarf issue #371 (US edition) arrived in the mail even before showing up at my LGS. This is strange in that mine typically is delivered two weeks after becoming available for sale in the shop. The second odd thing is that it arrived in good condition instead of being crumpled, bent, battered or torn as is normally the case with my subscription. Apparently my postman is not keen on tabletop gaming. The third and perhaps most disturbing development however is that upon opening the magazine, I almost instantly found genuine content directly applicable to my games of 40k.

Whaaaaaaat? Surely something is amiss here.

In this issue there is an article about the Spearhead variant of 40k which concludes with new rules for a pair of Spearhead Formations, written by none other than my man Jervis Johnson. Aside from further fueling my recent fixation with the other JJ, this actually raises a question for me relevant to playing the game itself. I know... this keeps getting more and more bizarre, doesn't it?

My question pertains to the so-called Destroyer Formation, comprised of 1-3 Heavy Support units specified as being of any type. At the cost of an additional 75 points the vehicles in this Formation receive the special rule, Preparatory Barrage, which says that you get to fire all their weapons once after deployment and any pre-battle moves have been completed. So does this mean that if I'm playing a game of Spearhead using my Blisstonian 9th, I would be allowed to launch all three of my Deathstrike Missiles before even the game's first turn?

Really? While that might sound great to Guard players with a penchant for doomsday weaponry, amongst whom I count myself, it nonetheless strikes me as being somewhat overly powerful. I understand that Spearhead should not be regarded as a finely balanced set of rules, but come on... really?

To answer this question my first course of action was to ring up Nottingham so as to ask the old man himself for an explanation. Unfortunately though it seems Jervis is no longer accepting my calls. I therefore am turning to you 28mm generals, my wonderfully erudite and sagacious WH40k readers, for your opinion on the matter. Am I reading this correctly, that this really would let me fire off all three missiles in a singularly impressive salvo of ultimate doom?

Like I said that just seems a little over the top to me, but what do you think? Part of the appeal for me in using a trio of Deathstrikes was not their in-game effectiveness (or lack thereof) but rather the dramatic tension created as they countdown to launch. I therefore might actually miss that aspect of the models' unique rules were I to make full use of the Preparatory Barrage. I suspect the presence of this type of Formation would also encourage my opponent to either simply Reserve everything if possible, or else at a minimum to adopt a more open deployment than otherwise might be considered. It's fun to think about though.

Regardless, one thing this has taught me is that even when it comes to reading White Dwarf, no matter how jaded you may have become, it is still important to pay attention and keep your eyes peeled...

... you might actually see something interesting!

Okay, that's it for now. I hope all of you have a great day, I'm off to find my copy of Spies Like Us. :) Oh yeah, and if you get a chance please let me know what you think about this business regarding the Destroyer Formation. Take care, friends!

EDIT: While preparing this post, my daughter got a hold of the issue of White Dwarf in question and tore the cover off. Ha! So much for it being in good condition....