Cancelled my White Dwarf subscription

The interwebs are a flutter with the information that White Dwarf subscriptions will be delayed and it's the last straw for me.  I've been unhappy with the magazine for a while.  It is, and has been for a while, an overpriced catalog and I knew and accepted this for sometime. 

I've been having issues with getting the magazine later and later over the last few months.  It used to come around the 25th and the date has been slipping so I wouldn't get until about the 30th or the 1st.  One month I didn't get it until the 10th.  GW's announcement that it isn't even going to be shipped until the 30th is the final straw.

I called GW to cancel my subscription this morning. The CSR tried to tell me that I could just pick it up at a GW store on the 30th.  Really?  Thank you for "letting" me pick up the item I paid to have shipped to me in a timely manner at your store.

 I only had 5 issues left, so I'm only really cancelling three issues but its more the point.  If GW gets enough cancellations over this, maybe they will change their minds. I doubt it, but as we vote with our wallet as consumers I am putting my ballot in the box with a big N-O on it.

40k Cosplay Video - Working Chainsword

I found this fantastic video up on reddit today.  It's some sort of cosplay convention and there are a ton of 40k cosplayers showing off.  Towards the end one of them has a working chainsword!!

I haven't posted in a while, I keep forgetting to get my pictures off of my camera.  I played two games and finished putting together most of my GKs (as well as my first stormraven) and without pictures a wall of text is just not that interesting.   I'll post these up soon.

Grey Knights at the playtest phase

I've gotten my Grey Knights well enough assembled that I can start playtesting. I've finished two dreadknights as I don't think I am going to run three, as I think two with better wargear may be more effective then three stock, though we'll see.

Please excuse the horrible camera phone pictures.

Below are the five I completed last night. 

Below is my HQ, a grand master with halberd.  I used the Draigo body I got from the miscast Draigo I got together with bits from the terminator sets. 

The Army as it is, almost completed.  There is another Dreadknight I completed as well as the weapons for the Dreadknight in the picture are completed as well. 



Grey Knight Nerfing

Unless you live under a rock (I'm looking at a certain sponge's best friend) then you've taken a few moments and read the new FAQs that GW posted up. I found out about them on BOLS last night and was very disappointed about a few rules. 

Don't get me wrong, I can take my lumps. Into this life, a little nerfhammer must come.   My GKs are just a "fun" list I've been building, though even then the FAQ has some headscratchers.

In hindsight some of them make sense, though a lot of them seem like reactions to the the vocal minority of the blogs and forums of the Internet.

I'm just going to speak up about the Dreadknight.  I'm honestly not sure what GW was thinking, the thing was expensive but had a few unique tricks up it's sleeve. The FAQ boosted up some things in the list, but the DKs seem to have taken the brunt of the nerfing though. With three in my 1850 I am going to feel it, and obviously have to rework the list somewhat.

The first turn shunt, cheap S 10 hitting power, made the thing somewhat playable.   I was going to use three in the GK list I'm building. Most competitive players are running Psydreads, but I just like the look of the baby carriers.  Losing the S 10 makes senses, why else would the hammer upgrade be there? The shunt move ruling I think is plain wrong, as it's not consistent with the wording of what the shunt does.   At the end of the day I can't get too upset, it is just a game.  Though I wonder, does GW really want to sell Dreadknights?

Real Life Looted Wagon

Over on Reddit today I found a great video I'd like to share.  The video is of a rebel Libyan Tank/Truck that is best described as a Real Life Ork vehicle.

See below for the video.

Alamo Games Workshop 2v2 June 12, 2011

I spent the afternoon at a 2v2 at the Alamo Games Workshop store.  It is one of the most enjoyable formats of this game we all adore, as it leads to some unlikely bedfellows and interesting synergy's that are not afforded by the restraints of the typical codex.  I was scheduled to play with a friend of mine and his Dark Eldar, but a graduation required his attention so I had to team up with another friend who had lost his conspirator as well.  This lead to me being teamed up with a Space Wolf list.

Our first game was against a Demon and IG pairing.

 We were able to deploy on a hill, obviously a boon to our team as it afforded my Manticores and Hydras a generous field of fire. 

 The game was spearhead, capture and control so we hung back with most of units and moved forward with some wolves being screened by empty Chimeras.

 The Meltavets came in the Valkyrie, and popped an Executioner.  Their victory would be short lived as they were quickly gunned down.

 I had to take a picture of the carnage at a table next to ours.   A friend of mine had brought a list with over a hundred boyz in it...

 The game quickly ended after the below picture with both armies holding one objective and proving once again, that capture and control is the worst mission on the book. 

 Our second game turned into a gunline battle as we played mechdar and a plaguemarine list with abaddon.

 Abaddon deepstruck near our lines and began to cause trouble.

 I didn't get a picture but Ragnar and a squad hopped out and charged Abaddon and they proceeded to kill each other with only a lone terminator left over.   After that the game turned into a trade back and forth of KP's with us losing 12-9.

 Our Final game would be against another Demon and IG team in a pitched battle, objectives battle.

 From the start of the match we got our teeth kicked in.  Three soul grinders hammered our lines hard, backed up with a cornucopia of classic guard weapons.

 Some last minute moves both cleared some units off and contested objectives.  Noticed my Manticore in the lower right of the picture.  What else do you do with a Manticore that lost it's missile rack?

The Meltavets proved to be the MVPs as they swooped in on the last turn, took an objective and allowed for a 2-0 victory for our badly wounded forces.  This was a mission where our opponents should have won, but got a bit bloodthirsty because they thought we were on the ropes and we were able to pull a victory out. 

First Impressions and lessons with Grey Knight Terminators

I had a chance to put together some of my Grey Knights this morning at my Son's swim meet.  I had heard they were detailed and a bit complicated to assemble and they were every  thing I had heard. 

I've put together more Space Marines then I care to admit and I was pretty excited to get to put together something as different yet familiar as these models.  Opening the box up I was impressed with the sprue's virtually limitless options.

I set to work and my only complaint after completing a box was that the instructions are not 100% accurate.  Some of the numbers of the parts do not match their pictures and it made some of the build more complicated then I would have liked, as I had to try multiple pieces to get the look/fit I wanted. 

I did have a bit of trouble with the two handed halberds.  The kit came with some bits to make one handed halberds, but the two handed terminators holding their weapons with two hands is so iconic for the codex I had to have a few.

I first tried the below method, putting both arms on the weapon and then fitting over the torso.  It did work, but I had to work some magic to get a flush fit between the arms and torso. 

 

After doing this method a few times I switched to doing one arm on the weapon, placing that on the torso and then gluing in the final arm.  This was much more effective and I would highly suggest this method to others.

I finished up five more terminators by the time the meet was over, completing half of my troops.  I plan on saving the next pair of boxes for his next swim meet. I should get it going faster though I got so burned out on my last marathon build that I want to take my time this go around.

First Milestone Complete

I finished up the first phase in my latest army build, getting the models.  For this build I went with Miniature Market. I had nothing but a good experience. Great pricing and they shipped quickly so I will most likely start using them as my primary channel for acquiring GW items.  I had used The War Store, my only issue it usually takes at least a week and half to get my models because I am so far away.  I must admit that when it comes to my hobby products, a few days earlier is a big deal to me, I have the patience of an infant.

I am going to get started tomorrow morning putting together the terminators.  My son's swimming season is having it's inaugural event and I found last year that it is a great chance to get some modeling done.  He is in the water for about 10 minutes and spends the rest of the time running around with the other 10 year olds so me and Mom (unless we have to work) have plenty of sitting time.  Last year I painted most of an 1850 that I took to the 2010 Da Grand Waaagh (I hate how they misspelled a fake word).

Dragonforge Studio's Resin Bases - Initial Impressions / Review

 I was pretty excited yesterday to find that my Dragonforge bases had shown up in the mail.  I've been wanting to get them for a while, and this is the first army it's been cost effective for me to use them.

They did come a bit better packed then the picture would indicate, I just removed the paper so I could actually see what was there in a photo.

I picked up 5 large flying bases, 25 of the 40mm bases and 2 of the "hero" bases.  I did spend some time to scrub them free of the release material.  I always forget to do this when I pick up resin models so I wanted to get it done as soon as they came in.  I didn't see a ton of flash or trimming that needed to be done, so I may get away with not much more prep work.

It's interesting how the large bases clearly have a different type of resin then the smaller ones. I put the bases on the shelf and when I finish up painting my GKs I'll start working on the paint, most likely not for a few months.

The Sweet Spot

This is one of my rambling posts....you've been warned.

I've been having one of "those" weeks this week. My car is in the shop, my three year old Ford is deciding it wants to live up the acronyms and the manufacturer is of course living up to it's reputation. Work has been busy, big deals won't quite close, customers are being their typical difficult self, and just generally being frustrating.

The only bright side of the week is I got in some 40k on a weeknight.  I'm sure that if you are reading this and laughing, you live in what I call the "sweet spot" part of your life as a gamer. Don't laugh too much, this will be you in a few years.  But there is good news that goes with the more limited time to play.

When you first start out playing games (be it 40k, RPGs, TCGs or Board Games) most likely you start in high school. Your gaming is limited mostly by lack of funds, or extracurricular activities, studies etc.  When you get to be my age you may have the funds, but not the time to play as much as you'd like.  My son has a swimming meet, or I want to hang out with my Wife, etc.  The sweet spot is that time when you are out on your own for the first time and have no one (outside of your job) dictating when you can play 40k.  I used to play pick up games all the time on random weeknights when a friend would call, or would just be at my house and we'd decide it sounded like fun. Playing till 3am was the norm, not the outlier in my life.

Don't get me wrong, I love being in the place in my life I am in now.  I'm not one of those people that whines about being a family man and how it "keeps them down".  These people are morons and forgot how much living with a bunch of sweaty guys in their twenties sucks.

There is a huge benefit to being where I am.  You  appreciate the games that you play much more.  Going to a tournament is an event, or an impromptu pick up game is much more enjoyable when it isn't a nightly occurrence.

Finecast Lord Draigo Replacement model shows up from Games Workshop....no miscasts, but missing parts.

The Draigo model that I had picked up had some miscasts, as I wrote about here and today I finally got my replacement model from GW.  It didn't have any miscasts, but it was missing a piece, the shield.  The batch codes were the same so it could just be GW needs to burn through their first batch of rushed models.  Still frustrating....

Finecast Terminator Librarian Review

I picked up a second finecast model yesterday.  For the Hobby Challenge I am participating in that The INdependant Characters are running I need to build a sideboard besides the 1850 list.  I'm building a couple of stormravens and a Terminator Librarian.  I figured since the army is supposed to easy to carry as part of the list building that a finecast model would make a lot more sense then the metal version.

I'll let the video explain more, but for the most part I had a pretty good experiance with this one compared to the first model I picked up. No miscasts!

Warhammer 40k Kill Team by THQ - YouTube Announcment Trailer / News

I was pretty excited this morning to read an article about how THQ is releasing an arcade shooter called Kill Team.  It looks like Castle Crashers ( a game I got way more then $15 dollars out of) with Space Marines.  What really surprised me was the game looks to be kind of a throw away game to lead into Space Marine though they clearly spent some money on it. 

Check below for the trailer.

The Independant Characters Hobby Progress 10 MonthChallenge

Being the lazy blogger, I'm rehashing a forum post I put up on the IC forums a few minutes ago. The Hobby Progress 10 Month Challenge they are doing is pushing me over the edge to pony up and complete another army. I'm even breaking my "collect one, get rid of one" army rule.  I should bounce one of my current ones on eBay but I just can't decide which one to sacrifice. 

I had been planning this army as a possibility and the challenge put me over the top. I am going to build a 2+ Grey Knight army. Deep Striking an entire army of 2+ models sounds fun, and only having 6 Kill Points should make it really work in some tournament missions, but get creamed in others. I also spent the last 6 months working really hard to get an 1850 guard army painted (just finished three weeks ago) so I have to take it easy on the hobby time or the family is not going to be happy.

I also ordered some Dragonforge bases over the weekend, the Lost Empires set. I’ve wanted to use them for a while, and this is the first army where it is cost effective enough to use them.

My list is still a bit in flux, mostly wargear, though I am about 90% sure the below is what I am going with.

1850 Grey Knights
Draigo
10 Paladins (4 MC’d Psycannons, 1 warding staff)
10 Terminators (2 Psycannons, Psybolt ammo, 1 warding staff)
1 Dreadknight with Greatsword
2 Dreadknights – Stock

Sideboard
Terminator Librarian
Stormraven – I’ve wanted one since the release of the model and never had a good reason to pick one up. Now I do!

Plan
End of July – All models assembled and begin painting terminators
End of August – Finish Terminators and 1 Dreadknight
End of September – Finish 2 Dreadknights
End of October – Finish Draigo, Librarian, and Stormraven
End of November- Place models on Bases, Matte Spray, and any punch list items.