Title Shot

Last Saturday I went over to one of my friends house and met up with him and another friend I game with.  Spent a few hours chatting about 40k and other things, we hadn't seen each other in a while.  After grabbing some dinner we decided on who would play.  I don't get to play as much 40k as my buddies so I bugged one of them into playing me a 1500 point game. 

Not to go on a side topic, but I really like 1500.  The game plays really nice there, and I think its more of a sweet spot then 1850. At 1500 you just have to make more choices in your unit selection.  In 1850 you can have a large death star unit, lose it, and it doesn't affect you army that much.  If you lose a big death star unit in a 1500 list it can be 40% of your army. 

I had brought my IG, which are a modified leaf blower list as well as my Raptors, a codex space marine force.  As I had been reading the Badab War stuff I decided to throw down with the Raptors.  I also wanted to try using their Chapter Master, Lias Issodon.  He's nice in that his chapter tactics swaps combat tactics for stealth as well as he shoots the sternguard ammo.  The Raptor force that I have was built by my buddy as kind of a proof of concept, its mostly built from AOBR models.  It's got 6 tac squads, 2 Devastator squads,1 Assault Squad and 1 Termie squad (Shooty termies with  a H. Flamer).  The army takes advantage of the free M. Launchers and Flamers at max squad size.

We played an objective mission and due to the armies lack of mobility, and the fact my opponent was playing a Nurgle list it turned into a stand and shoot.  I honestly didn't think the army stood much of a chance, I just wanted to play it. My friend I was playing is a pretty good player and using a pretty good army, he used this list to win a good size tournie in So. Cal last month. To say he plays a lot and does well is an understatement.  But the gaming gods didn't go his way that night..... not to bore the reader with a turn by turn account but the game ended up going my way.  I just boltered and M. Launched his army to death. 

It was a great learning experience for both of us.  I think I pulled it off for two reasons.  One, getting stealth for an all infantry army is crazy.  Having your army get three up cover saves is just nuts.  Second, the volume of fire this list puts out can be incredible.   Combat squadding some of the units to use as tar units so I can get a turn of rapid firing onto a few units was quite effective.   I did learn that bolters just don't do squat to plaguemarines though. Krak missiles are much more effective. 

I won't talk about my second game that night where I played my other buddy at 1000 points and got massacred. Nope...not going to mention it.

Plethora of Gaming

After many months of not doing a ton with my models I had a rather gaming filled weekend. Since I haven't had a ton to write about lately I am saving the gaming and new gaming space stories for later.  I'm just going to talk about my purchase that kicked off the weekend.  My fiance and I took our son out to dinner and on the way I swung by a Games Workshop store and grabbed Imperial Armor 10, which includes the concluding details of The Badab War. I was really impressed with this one, it lived up to Forgeworld's high quality content in the preceding tome.  My only complaint about it was the price increase.  While the book was the same size as 9 the price went from the already crazy $75 to $90.   At that price it was still worth the price of admission though if I didn't already have 9 there is no way I would have picked up both.  I did appreciate Forgeworld including a slipcase for both books included with ten.  It did make for a very nice way to display the books on my shelf of gaming books.  I don't know about most people that have picked them up, but the urge to collect them has made the Imperial Armor books that much more attractive.

The content held up and I really did how these two books go into the details of may chapters that we have little details about from Games Workshop.  If you haven't cracked one open you should take the chance.  For those that are only looking for new strategies to win games, look elsewhere.  For those looking for more details into the very expansive universe of 40k it was an unapologetic view into what happens when one of the Emperor's Finest falls from grace and the methods taken to bring the worlds lost back into the fold.  

I also really appreciate that Forgeworld includes a nice poster with each of the IA books.  This one was no different and included a very large (3' by 5'?) poster  double sided poster.  One side included a hand drawn map of the affected area of the rebellion and the other the included space marine chapters.                               

In my next post I will discuss a very interesting game I played on Saturday and my quest to organize my garage into a more effective gaming and storage space.

Not the last temptation

I'm not doing a very good job of avoiding the GK temptations.  I was able to take a peek at the new codex and I'm even more intrigued.  GW has managed to create a somewhat unique new marine army.  I know there are a lot of polarizing views about the models (especially the dreadknight) but I really dig them.  That doesn't help my problem either. 

I could try and pick up just the codex and a box of models to paint up, but I don't think that will do anything more then delay the inevitable. 

I should rush and at least finish up some of my Blood Ravens before these guys come out, while I know there is no hope of me finishing my IG before I pick up some GKs there is some chance I could finish up my newer (I got them in November) Blood Ravens models.  15 assault troopers and 5 TH/SS terminators is not so tough. 

Resistance

I've got to resist my urge to pick up some GK's. I've got an an IG army I still haven't finished painting (I've sworn I'll finish it during my son's swimming season, we'll see...) and over the last six months I've been trying to trim down the armies that I have.  I didn't have any trouble resisting the DE release in October, but I'm having some trouble this time.

I like the models, the fluff is okay, but what really grabs me is the play of the army seems"fun". I like how they have a lot of unique weapons you don't see in other lists, but you still get a lot of MEU.  The allure of playing a 2+ heavy list is going to be tough to resist.   Most likely I'll pick up the codex and be able to resist the shiny new army syndrome that I have been able to suppress in the past, but I don't know if I am strong enough. I've been telling myself for a while I won't fall prey to that most cliche of gamer behavior and pick up a new army when it comes out (at least until the tau come out, but I played them in 3rd before my leave of absence).

Rumors and Stuff

I finally picked up the dice this last weekend after a three month drought.  Family life and Work had sucked up most of my energy recently.   I love 40k but it is a hobby that takes effort.  It takes work to paint, work to assemble models, a time commitment to play and those are things I have had much of lately. 

Upon finding myself with an entire weekend of no responsibilities, thanks to an empty house, I decided I would jump back up on that horse.  I played a pretty fun 2k battle on Saturday that I was pretty happy with.  I only lost 8-5 in the game. It had been going my opponents way, but Fear of Darkness'ing a few units off the board in the last turn helped me turn a crushing defeat into just a normal defeat.  

Trying to decide what to work on next, I think I'm going to work on my Blood Ravens. I've got some jump troops and SS/TH termies to paint.  While I have an entire IG army awaiting my brush its just frustrating having a mostly painted army. 

The Other Woman

Another problem of the recent holiday is my recent resurgence in interest in what I refer to as "The Other Woman" in my hobbies, Paintballing.  I haven't been much in the last year, mostly because of my renewed passion for the miniatures hobby.   I've come to the conclusion that I was burning myself out a bit on the 40k front, and that I didn't need to play every weekend and that some kind of a break would be beneficial.   I've also like to cut out the tournaments I've been playing in, as I did 6 in the last 5 months, and that includes not playing any in the month of November.  More then one a month I think may be a bit excessive. 

My son has also reached an age where sharing paint balling with him is becoming a real possibility as well.  While I understand the allure of plastic men battling he is still a bit young to understand the appeal, though shooting each other with paint balls is one he understands all too well.  It is tough as a father to pass on an activity that he can do with his son, as you feel the teenage years coming soon and the marginalization that accompanies it approaching.

This weekend I had planed on attending a local 1850 but I may pass and take my son to a local field, as the weather has been unseasonably dry and its hard not to take advantage of it. 

Post Holiday Failure

As my below lack of posts shows, I didn't quite hit my holiday painting goals.   I was very on track in the beginning, but the allure of all the time off and relaxing was too much of a sirens call.  I did get the last coat of highlighting done on the ground vehicles and I got one of the two Valkyries inked (looks great).  The infantry haven't been touched and the vehicle tracks are still not installed.  I blame Black Ops, my recent family developments (got engaged over the holiday) and way too much good food and couch time. 

First New Years Resolution...finish my project!