lol, even at my age, Christmas is all about the toys under the tree...

Yes I got a lot of other stuff too and like them just as much, but they're not really 'blog-worthy'.
Anyways...

I hope everyone had a great Christmas (or insert whichever other holiday you like), we certainly did! I recall as a child dreading the thought of Christmas as a 'grown-up' because all you would get would socks and underwear, other clothing items, and that's about it. The idea of 'no toys for Christmas' was rather horrifying. Being the little tyke that I was, I hadn't even heard of the concept of miniature games. Thus I had no way of knowing that even as an adult, on Christmas morning I would still getting toys!!! To that end, I'm not sure where to start on the painting/building front come the new year, but amongst all of the on-going projects I have, there's quite a few more to add it.

Starting off on my GF's Tau: I gave her some rather cool, and anime-styled banner poles by Paulson Games for her Fire Warrior Shas'ui's. Not sure if they'll work on her metal Pathfinder Shas'ui's or not though. Additionally, I got her a squad of Kroot, and a small squad of Hasselfree minis, that will work nicely as an inquisitor and retinue (all female of course). Whilst desperate allies, they will give her her only access to psykers, since to date she's only been on the receiving end of psychic powers. She also received another Devilfish, and a gift card to the FLGS. Thus the ranks of the Fem Fa'Tau will be growing considerably (not to mention her still unbuilt Piranhas…).

I did quite well on the gaming front as well! Da boys have a new kustom fotifikayshun along with a FW Runt Bot (curiously, its Grot controller speaks with a Russian accent…), which will be either the warlord of the grot divishun, or a deff dred depending on what sort of list I am using. My Arbites have a new Chimera along with the Chapterhouse wheeled conversion kit and the Storm Wardens now have a bike squad! On top of that I also got a gift card to the FLGS!

So look for a lot of new projects getting started here in the next few months! Of course, being the typical gamers that we are, don't go looking for them all to be finished in that, or any reasonable timeframe…

;-p

Time for a half-assed Battle Report.

o/

I was hoping to do a proper battle report today, however on getting to the FLGS Saturday, we soon discovered that I had forgotten the case that held the bulk of the Fem Fa'Tau's infantry! (Again? Really?) Thus with all of the Pathfinders and Fire Warriors being proxies, I decided to skip it. However part of the way thru, my GF wanted me to do a bat rep anyways, and starting taking pics of the game (with the proxies omitted). So here goes...well, sorta.

Purge the alien, 1500 points, dawn of war deployment, Rob's Plague Marines vs. the Fem Fa'Tau and a small contingent of my allied Orks.

Rob stated beforehand that he was 'bringing the chesse' and boy did he! Omitting vehicles and dumping (seemingly) all of those points into this friggin' Daemon Prince. Who made short work of my Tankbustas and Big Mek with KFF.  

I need 5's to hit & 6's to wound? Sure that sounds fair, 4-5 dead Orks later, they tried to flee but were instead cut down.

On the same flank, a squad of Stealth Suits arrives to bring the pain via a bucket load of burst cannon shots. Rob was rather impressed with this unit!

Whereas on the other flank, the god-awful looking spawn, took down a Hammerhead, though they lost one of their number on the way in...

An oblit. arrived via deep strike, only to roll a snake eyes on the multi-melta's attempt to penetrate the other hammerhead. in return, he absorbed a hellova lot of fire, for no ill effect.

Fearing the firepower of the Tau gun line and not the Deff Dredd (borrowed from Neverness, and being the first Deff Dread that I've fielded...EVER!), the Daemon falls back into cover, though still takes a bunch of wounds from Tau shooting.

Proving invulnerable to the Daemon's witchery, the Stealth suits hammer the bastard with overwatch fire. However Mr. 4+ FnP (among the myriad of other goodies) makes his FnP save, clinging to his last wound, and summarily wipes out the squad.

Hide your eyes kids! Rob's touching with his sack...

Just prior to that disaster, the Termies lost a member or two from the burst cannon onslaught!

Having lost another spawn to concentrated Tau shooting, Rob claimed "I'm not trying to be a douche"  and then the spawn, using far more intelligence than it ought to have, proceeded to hug the wall denying the shooting of most of the tau on the floors above it. 

However, on it's charge of the Devilfish, it found the transport was within 6" of the fire warriors, and their shooting along with the still attached gun drone brought that douchbaggery to an end!

The Deff Dread, *my* sole remaining model, decides to eat some termies...

 

With the Spawn threat eliminated, the Pathfinders and fire warriors went back to sniping at the above squad, which was out ranged and never made any attempt to advance.

Nomming two of them, he then turns his attention to the helpless Termie Lord and his weak lightning claws...

Whilst the Devilfish looks for some fresh targets...however these Plague marines would also refuse to advance, and thus never make it into the D-fish's range.

Desperate to save his Termie Lord, Rob brings that rotten chunk of cheddar in to save him...

Meanwhile the Oblit still fails to do any damage, though he finally succumbed to the Tau's shooting...

Typical. I can only hope the next, far off edition of 40k does something to rectify the fact that a Dreadnought of any sort, still has an almost 0% chance of surviving in close combat with a monstrous creature (barring some epically bad rolling, which as you can see, was not the case here).

This time Rob clearly stated he 'was engaging in the douchebaggery' by dropping this beleaguered squad into the building and out of site of the Tau. That said, a Rail rifle shot or two still went thru that bottom floor window, to no effect other than to let them know that they were not forgotten...

Whilst in the center the last surviving plague bearer (sorry, all other pics of this fight were blurry to the point of oblivion) succumbs to the Pathfinders' shooting. Though a squad of fire warriors died before to these Daemons.

At games' end, Rob had us by four points. Sadly, Amy's dice were not pleased by the proxies, and that itself had a telling effect, especially among the almost worthless shooting from the pathfinder units (averaging just 1 marker light hit per squad, per turn). The Daemon prince wiped out my Orks single-handedly (and anything else it came in contact with), and was 'just a little over the top'. It amuses me that he was screaming cheese about a similarly equipped daemon prince that Neverness threw it at him some ways back. Still we a good time so all is well.

Hope everyone has a Merry Christmas!!!

Sing it like its the 'Partridge in a pear tree' song...

THREE rokkit boyz,

TWO missed shots…

ONE glancing hit!

AND da' LAND-raiderz' still COM-ING for MEEEEEeee!!!

lol, That's all I got, no more to the song. 

These guys have looted everything from Kaos beakies to Cheezy beakies, doubtful they blown up any tanks though...

Anyways, last time I played Rob's Nurgle marines with my Orks, the tankbustas repeatedly hit his Helbrute, for little if any effect. Thus my solution: I needed MORE of them! (Now I have 8) Odds are that these three boyz won't change much, but they look cool. Especially with all of the gubbinz that that are available for Orks…not to mention all da' skrap that they find on the corpses of 'beakies' to loot for trophies!

ONE. LOUSY. MARINE.

That's all I got painted this week...that's it. Just one. Its not even a great paint job, merely decent.

At least he better matches the predator than the captain, though its kinda blah looking, even for a Sgt.

Where in the hell did all of my free time go all of a sudden? Perhaps, post holidays, things will settle down and 'free time' will reappear? The GF moving in will pass the 90 day-trial period and we'll settle into our 'new normal' or something like that. Or at least I hope its something like that...I was tempted to make a low-blow remark along the lines of 'I feel like Neverness now' but hell, I think his painting progress has easily surpassed mine by this point!

...sigh...

Those look like the Jokers's clown cars...

o/

Just a quick post as there's been little time for hobbying this week. I did manage to repaint a pair of Hetzers. Now in Marik's Militia colors, you can easily see where the blog post's title came from. Whilst goofy looking, lets face it, NOTHING will ever make a Hetzer look pretty anyways. Unless...maybe it manages to survive long enough to get into short range, WITH precision ammo, AND it actually has a target...

Before you say they look dumb, remember all of the goofy colors you see on Space Marine tanks...

I also just wanted to give a quick shout out to Iron Wind Metals. I've never dealt with them much as their shipping is horridly high, but when I inquired about a mismolded part from a tank I bought  on ebay (one of the twin autocannons on the Partisan tank below). However, they handled it quickly and without question, shipping it out Thanksgiving weekend!

Battletech NEEDZ MO' DAKKA!!!

So...does Escalation = GW's version of Warmahordes?

Just a thought I had whilst reading Skulker's review of Escalation and Stronghold Assault. My thought was that if you kill a 'Lord of War' in a 'normal sized game' (1500 points locally), the game is effectively over. Granted its a nightmare to kill unless you tailor a list to kill it (AND you manage to steal the initiative before it throws a strength whatever dinner plate at you...). Whereas in Warmahordes I would imagine that killing a Warcaster, whilst difficult, isn't quite that hard to do...

On the left you see a variation of the only Warmahordes mini I have...

That said, regardless of game system its still essentially: 1 kill = win.

Right?

So what the hell?

Notes from the Frontlines...

o/

With the arrival of the new inquisition PDF codex, I can once again field my old and beloved 100-150 point inquisitorial 'circus side shows'. These little units are more for shits and giggles than for any sort of effectiveness, though they do sometimes earn their points back. Indeed I think the SM's got more than enough in their new book, and don't need a lone inquisitor tagging along just to give them divination...or any of that sort of nonsense. I'll leave those shenanigans tor the tournament crowd.

This is also a boon as my GF has a new work schedule which allows her to come and play with us at the FLGS on weekends. So I can add a little (desperate) allied contingent to her Fem Fa'Tau for the next few weeks till the repetition of the game, and all the assorted rules/numbers she needs to remember are memorized. After that, I can start fielding my own armies again, whilst she goes off and beats up on the guys!

Oh how I've missed playing with these guys!

As it was, this past weekend, the Illustrious Ranger Smith of the Imperial Forestry Service returned to the table top! He and his foresters road around in their rhino (never deigning to get out of it), and contributed very little to the Fem Fa'Tau's glorious victory. About all that they did manage was a lucky hot-shot lasgun kill on a SW termie who had a T-hammer and storm shield (almost paying for themselves!). I doubt that was even needed though as Bob's dice were not with him, and the game soon became a 40k reenactment of Pickett's charge...

On a totally different note, my GF's new work schedule also allows her to join in on our Warhammer Fantasy Role Play games as well. We're still hunting for a suitable Elven mercenary mini for her to use, though my Hafling has had his old paint scrubbed off (for the most part), an added watchman's pole and a new pack that's stuffed full of anything he could find of use!

Little Gonnabe Muggins has yet to contribute much, side from being used by my GF's elf as a pillow at night (with threats of severe bodily harm should he 'try anything funny'), and (unsurprisingly) will probably end up as the party's cook (as he's outfitted for war in that area).

Subjugators 3rd Company, all of it!

Well, maybe...

So as I said earlier, I've been pondering a small allied force of the Subjugators Space Marine chapter. Again this is really just an excuse to drag my old Dark Hands Predator out of retirement without making another DH army. The Subjugators fit the bill, although as you can see, the newly painted captain (now with a visibly distinguishable shoulder icon) doesn't quite match it. I wonder if I should forgo the wash and paint the grunts to better match the pred? That ought to allow me to keep the chapter icons black as well...

The 'T's' and 'D's' on the bases distinguished tactical and devastator marines previously.

Anyways, I'd only picked the 3rd Company as the Predator was bedecked with 3's, and so added a '3' to the captain's shoulder as well. Having since read the Chapter's fluff on Lexicanum a little closer, the 3rd was 'almost completely wiped out'. Thus, its conceivable that my 500 point contingent could in fact be the entire company (assuming roughly 80% casualties from full company strength). Conveniently, this is yet another obscure chapter with only a smidgen of canon fluff, leaving me to fill in the gaping holes with whatever I want.

Such as:

The 3rd company's captain ordered the Ramilies star fort's reactor to be overloaded when he realized the station was lost to chaos. With most of the company going down with the fort (the captain included), only a handful of marines in the rearguard were able to escape the debacle.

With the dire news coming from their losses in the Cadian warzone, the Chapter Master pulled the beleaguered vanguard off the line to rest and refit. Of the shattered 3rd company, he reorganized the
company's 19 survivors (including the 2 in the predator) into the most combat effective force he could muster: two under strength tactical squads, with a single predator in support. Two marines were then promoted to the rank of sergeant to lead the tac. squads.  The company's sole surviving sergeant (prior to the reorganization) was elevated to the rank of captain. To instill in him the chapter's confidence, as well as to rekindle the sense of purpose into the defeated 3rd co. (which was ordered to leave the Cadian war zone rather than risk annihilation), the newly minted captain was given the privilege to use a chapter relic: The Primarch's Wrath.

So, 19 marines, 1 tank, and (presumably) a ship of some sort, probably an escort with a single Thunderhawk to shuttle them around...plying the space of the Imperium, and looking to ally with whomever in an attempt to regain their sense of purpose (and a paint job).  Yup, that'll work just nicely I think. Also, I realized that I have almost another full tac. squad of the same generic bolter marines still on the sprue. Meaning the loss of the 16 marines above will have a minimal impact on the Storm Warden army from whence they came.

Yup, sledge hammers still work...

o/

My only gaming/hobby stuff over the past weekend of sheer gluttonous eating, was when Kushial and I played a game of Classic Battletech Saturday night. 8k points, 3030s timeframe units (he had a few royal variants, and idea that completely escaped me), Eridani Light Horse vs. a combination of the 2nd Legion of Vega and the Free Rasalhague's reserve readiness corps (the FRR was still an unwilling member of the Combine during that time period).

We seemed to be trading blows fairly even early on, until a lucky SRM hit produced 3 criticals, and blew the gyro out of my catapult killing it. That, lead to the immediate collapse of my flank and it was all down hill from there. I did hang on for quite a bit before raising the white flag an hour or so later. Of my units though (a medium mech lance and a heavy tank lance), the tanks impressed me more than anything.

The best pic of the tank that Fasa/Wizkids ever made.

I think that vehicles suck in CBT because they're easily immobilized (which happened to virtually all of mine), and thus outmaneuvered are easily taken down (though turrets do mitigate the out manuevering part somewhat, unless of course the vehicle doesn't have one...). That said, the Axel Mk I's that I was fielding a lance of easily did the lion's share of damage to Kushial's ELH force. Indeed, the Axel's took down 2 Jenners (vile looking things), and a Saladin almost single-handedly, and left a few big holes in his surviving units as well. In tonnage its a piss poor trade off, whereas in battle value, probably not quite as bad. They were fielded by the FRR's weekend warriors after all...

The Axel is basically an ICE powered Rommel, which adds a machine gun and trades the LRM5 for a LRM10. Sounds great except its mud slow, and the 'big gun' has a woefully short range. Still Kushial's (quite effective) preference to surround a tank for the 'circle of death' still resulted in several mechs taking a 20-point slug and the occasional MG hit for their efforts.

Conveniently, this tank chassis comes in a bucket load of variants, ranging from the 900 point Axels used Saturday, on up thru the 2k point+ (WTF?) Clan versions! So in the future they'll become a jack-of-all-trades unit. Though, the humble (and probably worst of the bunch) Axel is already a favorite!