This week's round up.

o/

Fuck the opening crawl, we're attacking! 

I got another game of Star Wars Legion in, with my Separatist Alliance making its battlefield debut. It was my opponent's 3rd game, none of which involved droids. As such he was not able to correct me if I did anything wrong. Being my first time using said army, I am sure that I made plenty of mistakes.

My opponent was also strecthing for points and apologized for having both Vader & an AT-ST in a recon mission list. Next time I'll see if he wants to borrow my small Imperial contingent. 

I was stretching for points, so I had unit upgrades everywhere and forgot about most of them. Darth Vader killed most of my army single handedly forcing me to concede that while I don't like force users, I probably need to field one, even if only to tie up the opposing force user.

At one point, my Super Tactical Droid charged Vader, hoping to tie him up for a bit. That was an unwise decision...

I prefer more of the Rogue One/Andor type of army of average Joes (or in this case, droids) fighting the battles. However, it is Star Wars and so like the game of War Machine, the same half dozen characters don their plot armor before leading every...single...battle. 

The Dwarf Spider's 'wicked kick' attack was brushed off by a bemused Darth Vader. 

Anyways, despite heavy losses, I held a slim edge in VPs throughout the game. That is, until about midway thru the final turn when my my army finally crumbled leaving me with nothing more than my T-series command droid and one of the Dwarf Spider droids, remaining. At that point I ran up the white flag. Overall it was an enjoyable game though. 

Next up: The State of my 40k. 

In short, it is rapidly declining. I donated the vast majority (say, 95%-ish) of my spare bitz and terrain to the FLGS for use as a community resource. I have a very limited amount of space to store gaming stuff at my new house in SC. Those two tubs of plastic were taking up a lot of room in my miniatures storage closet while not being used. Nor did they possess any prospect of being needed at any time in the foreseeable future. 

Just another unfullfilled prophecy...

As for my 40K armies, the PHIGs (minus the squad siphoned off for Trench Crusade) are boxed up and will be shipping out today to a very excited buyer in California. The PHIGs will join his WWI styled Iggy army. It is exceptionally rare to get such enthusiasm from an eBay buyer. They may have have sold for less than I wanted them to, but knowing that they are going to someone who cannot wait to get them makes up for that in my opinion.

What little remains of the unpainted portions of my Smurfs, Orks & Tau are likely to be next in line for eBay. I have decided to hang on to the painted portions of my 40k armies for the time being. 

Now where did I put those Ork & Imperium styled Christmas trees that I got from Kromlech last year? 

Lastly,  this weekend I finished up these Christmas bots that I bought from Bombshell miniatures last year. These will be distributed too friends and family who neither read, nor are even aware of this blog's existance. As such, I can post them here without spoiling the surprise for anyone. 

My general state of things.

 o/

Long time, no posts. I am still alive and am posting regularly on my Battletech blog as I am playing that more or less exclusively. That, said, I have been pondering playing something else. My buddy Nick 2.0 wants to try out Down Range at some point which was developed by and for the United State Marine Corps of all things (yes really, read about it here). 

This small bunch is more likely to simply scratch an itch and find itself a spot in my display case than anything else. 

Beaverbug Mk III, used almost exclusively by the British Homeguard, it is as fearsome as it looks. 

Sporting both print lines and markings for my Quar's Eleventy First regiment.

Being a mediocre 3D print, I rated it on eBay equal to what I got: three good wheels out of four. The defective one isn't real noticable, but also ought not have been shipped in my opinion.

With my pre-existing Universal carrier, they form a minimum armored (and I use that term loosely) platoon. 

I have been pondering Bolt Action again, the game that I buy, paint a few minis for, and then sell without ever playing on a seemingly regular basis. That said, I would prefer to play it using my Quar which would clock in at about 600ish points. When I mention this idea to the guys at the shop, I always get the same reply: 'You can just borrow an army if you want to play.'

...sigh...

40K for me is on a permanent hiatus at this point. The prices are down right comical. The FLGS hosts regular games, and almost bi-weekly touraments. The preferred point value for both is 2K. Recently they had a 'teaching tourney' to help players learn to play better/more competively, with winning being a secondary objective. 

That sounded appealing except it was a 2K point limit. How many new players already have 2K point armies? My Tau are in the 600-700 point range, and drop a few points every time the balance dataslate is released it seems. The Orks clock in at maybe a 1K-ish, I honestly have no idea at this point. The Iggies are maybe 1K assuming I ever build my two remaining tanks. Lastly, my smurfs are the largest army, yet still fall short of the 2K requirement as they total up at about 1500 points or so. 

So I passed on that. 

I recently ordered some new helms for a squad's worth of unpainted iggies to syphon off for Trench Crusade. Additionally, i purchased a mechanized heavy infantry model for New Antioch to finally give that game a try. It seems to have a decent following locally with a few of the battletech guys playing it. 

I am also seriously pondering selling off my Star Wars Legion minis (again). I am sure it is a fine game, I love the universe and the minis, but it's player base leaves a lot to be desired. My last game seemed fine at the time, but the more I thought about it, the more annoyed I became. 

I've hosted plenty of 'teaching games' for new players over the years, mainly 40K. For a teaching game, as I know the rules by heart and my opponent barely knows what he/she is fielding, I would field a mediocre list that will put up a good fight and is more than capable of winning said game. That said it will do so less efficiently, with higher casualties and if I lose, the new player won't feel like I let them win. Whereas if they lose, it'll be close enough that they felt as though they could have won and thus will want to play again. Not to mention their units would have lasted long enough to give a feel for what they can do, in addition to giving the new player an at least halfway decent grasp of the game. 

RJ knew going into our game that I had only played once and only had a vague grasp of the rules. With that foreknowledge he brought his Anakin Skywalker, special build, almost all Arc Trooper special forces list. We both knew his would slaughter my force before any dice were even rolled. 

Traditionally, we have always referred to this as 'clubbing baby seals'. Needless to say, if you are the baby seal, then it really sucks to be you. RJ seems perplexed by my lack of desire to play again. 

Curious indeed that is...

I never played Legion in Tennessee after watching the local guy who would 'teach' all of the new players in much the same fashion, and when they were justifiably pissed afterwards would say (quote) Well that's just the meta. He came close to getting punched a time or two. Oddly, the player base for Legion didn't seem to expand beyond what it already was.

Back in South Carolina...

I told the FLGS owner that I was on the fence for Legion aways back. When he asked why, I explained my views on teaching games vs my game with RJ in much the same detail as above and he grimaced. He wanted to argue my point, but admitted that he had nothing to offer as a counterpoint. His experiences learning SWL were much the same as mine, though being the FLGS owner who wanted to sell minis, he just quietly put up with losing consistantly. 

I have no such incentive.

*****

So for the TL;DR folks who skipped to the end (and who can blame you given the above wall of text):

Down Range probably.

Bolt Action maybe, Bolt Action with Quar not likely. 

40K, no. 

Trench Crusade, possibly.

Star Wars Legion likely going bye bye. 

Battletech all the time!

Star Wars Legion Rebel Troopers

 o/

Well I guess its time for another bi-weekly (or so) blog post. I've downloaded everything I need for 10th ed 40k, and...that's basically it. Haven't even really looked thru the PDFs other than to delete out the units I don't have. For example: I reduced the 250+ page Smurf index to 30ish pages. I've heard mostly positive reviews thus far, but haven't been too enthused to give it a try myself...yet.

Baby Yoda's looking a bit dark, may need to scrounge/blend up a lighter shade of green.

Instead I've been focusing my painting and gaming efforts on Battletech and useless shit Star Wars Legion. I guess its about time that I've had some actual, official foot troopers to go with my pizza cannon and all of the 3D printed minis. Nothing fancy, but cheap, functional and expendable. 

I really like this new type of tufts I bought. This ion trooper looks like's she's slogging thru weeds and bramble. 

I painted them to match the fleet trooper look of their army's commander. Again, just using whatever borrowed kit they could find to blend in with the local terrain. Also like their commander, they're quite dirty meaning they've been planet side for quite some time.

There's no telling if the different colored fly traps represent different species, or rather healthy vs. unhealthy plants. Either way, I wouldn't stick my hand in there if I were you...

New Toys

My recent arrivals: Imperial Mud Troopers, a single Republic Clone, a lone Gamorrean, and a smattering of minis from Diehard Miniatures. 

Ah yes, its that time of the year again. The annually occurring bout of me buying all kinds of random minis in under the premise of: I want it! Usually, this spending spree is centered around all things 40k. This year however, not so much. 

Or rather, not at all. 

I'm kinda over 40k to be honest, with even the impending onslaught of new Ork releases failing to catch my fancy. I did put my name down on the list in one of the local FLGS's for the new Kill Team boxed set. 

However GW's inevitable supply scam shortages, means they likely won't get enouh for everybody who wanted one. That coupled with the apparent need to buy an additional $50 book for the full set of rules means that I think I'll take a pass on that as well. 

Besides, Battletech and X-wing are really the only games that I play these days anyways, and even those two are sporadic at best. Instead I seem to have crossed the line into primarily a mini painter, rather than a gamer. 

The WIP Pizza Cannon

The majority of my recent purchases you might have noted, have been for Star Wars Legion; a game that I'm still not keen to learn to play. I sure like the (mostly 3D printed) minis though. My small (250pts +/-) of Rebels is almost complete with just the pizza cannon above remaining to be finished.  

Opposing them will be the Mud troopers pictured t the top, as well as an occupier assault tank (I'm sure half of the folks who follow that link will be too distracted to return, but whatever) though I have yet to purchase that model. They'll clock in at about 300pts or so (I think), not that it really matters. 

I've also purchased more tanks for Battletech (who will get their own post on my TBAGers blog), as well as minis for a probably stupid revisitation to both the Beyond the Gates of Antares and Heavy Gear game systems. Oh I'll probably paint 'em up, not holding my breath for any actual gaming. 

Also I'm currently reading the book Ghost Riders, meaning my (unrelated to that theater) Bolt Action army may again see a ray of hope of reentering the painting queue

Oh don't worry Neverness, I haven't opened the eBay 40k flood gates yet. Selling off vast swathes of my 40k forces, painted and otherwise. Though I can't say that the idea isn't under any consideration...

Downsizing 'da Groop

 lol, I'm sure that just by that title alone Neverness has a knot in the pit of his stomach, and perhaps rightly so.

It isn't news to anybody that I don't play near as often as I once did, which has only been exacerbated by the ongoing pandemic. Thus my pile o' shame is both considerable and taking up a lot of space. Granted I still have some extra of that following the passing of My Beloved Wolfy, but that said I could probably do something better with it were some of it not filled with a literal pile of plastic that I have little want to paint. As such, force reductions are well under way:

First up, the Spess Mahreenz. As y'all may recall, having just sold off all of my non-primaris Spess Mahreenz, Kushial blindsided me with the gift of a veritable horde of them! From that collection both the Astral Claws were reborn, and my Incandescent Coyotes came into being. However with the Coyotes clocking in at about 500 points, and the Astral Claws at about the same, I was still left with a Landraider and 30-odd marines. Not wanting to sell what was gifted to me, I passed those minis on to Neverness. 

My Silver Drakes clock in at about 1000 points, with maybe 1/10 of that painted. No plans to add to or reduce their numbers at this point in time. They're not too high on the list to get painted either...

Next up: Chaos. I mentioned just a few posts back that I sold the majority of  my chaos marines off, reducing them to a mere kill team. 

Then there's My Beloved Wolfy's Fem Fa'Tau. By far my largest army (at the start of this paragraph anyways...), clocking in at a little over 1500 points of almost entirely unpainted minis (the original, paltry collection of painted Fem Fa'Tau minis Wolfy herself fielded are all in my display case). I didn't see meself doing much with these, and burned out after just a few painted up in a new scheme. Still, being hers, I didn't want to sell em, so what to do? Well, my buddy Hoss has flirted with Tau and 40k for years, but the astronomical cost of entry into the game has always kept him from making the jump. He was also one of My Wolfy's favorite folks. As such I have approx. 1K of Tau set aside to suck him into the financial hell that is 40k. The remainder are staying with me to all wear the Fem F'aTau's new colors...someday. 

The Exodites...barely clock in at 500 points, They're good as is. 

And lastly there's Da Long Wayz Dezert Groop itself. Recently they achieved something like 90+% painted status when 30 or so unpainted minis were sold to another local gamer. Riddled with sentimental favorites, they're all but impossible to sell off in their entirety. They are still fieldable as an army (albeit a small one) as their troops compliment has been reduced to a mere 10-strong slugga boy mob. 

Storage and transport of these little guys will be much easier as well!

That said, just days prior to the above mentioned sale, I purchased 48 new orks (pictured above)...in 15mm scale. Sure they may not be as detailed, nor have as much variety of models, but at the same time a *NEW* 500pt army cost me $50, of which a goodly portion of that was shipping from the UK. 

So...that's the current state of things around here. More minis are likely to go, just not sure what at this point. 

The State of my 40k (yes this is includes a rant).

o/

(kicks the dust off of this ol' blog to see if its still alive...)

So, the State of my 40k, my on-again off-again series where I usually just whine/rant about 40k. Rather than just focus on any one army this time I think I'll just do an overview of all of them. Big things are afoot, both around the world and even here locally. 

The Nova Open reveals have induced nerdgasms the world over in the 40k realm, a new psychic...something is coming for all factions! SoBs finally have a release date, PLASTIC aspect warriors after decades of begging!

Emprah be praised! What will we buy first???? 

Locally, there's a 40k escalation league at the FLGS, with prize support and best of all: the only models that get objective secured have to be painted to at least a table top standard! Hell, even Bob, a long-time 8th ed. hold out has a Knight nowadays, as apparently that's what's required to remain 'competitive' in 8th's kick their teeth in with pay-to-win models and make 'em cry meta.

Seriously, every pick-up game I saw in the last few weeks in which I was still a regular at the FLGS' game nights looked like games where any of my armies would be dead on arrival.

Even Neverness' infernal 20+ shots a turn flyer all but wrecked my army on turn one, killing a squad and a half in one volley, requiring my entire army to shoot at it the next turn in hopes of taking it out (which we all know is a really shitty way to try and enjoy a game). Oh, and before you get defensive and bring up the turn 2 'Vyper incident', I'm certain that that was a miracle of dice which will likely never be repeated.

Besides, its not your fault anyways, but rather GW's insistence on making I win button rules to sell over-priced models (Custodes army anyone?) taking just about all strategy out of the game because my new stuff is awesome and your old stuff isn't. Speaking of...don't tell the trolls that infest teh interwebz that you're tired of primaris updates/releases (lieutenants excluded, everyone's sick of those) because without constantly getting newer and better and better releases on a seemingly never-ending basis, that army is (quote) unplayable.

Clearly that wasn't a very good Martini.

...and thru all of that, even with my new projects and 40k purchases I'm just kinda meh. Hell, I'm not really even interested in playing 40k right now, with most all efforts going towards Battletech and a bit of Rogue Stars. Anyways, onto the state of my 40k...

Da Long Wayz Dezert Groop

Da Groop, assembled for their most recent battle.

The baby squiggoth is still on hold, and still awaiting greenstuff. Guess I ought to just order it online given that I almost never make it to the FLGS these days. Also, Krump and Pittance are getting demoted back to a mere nob (appropriately enough, even as puns) as I have a new Da Masta Cheef warboss mini which needs to come out of it's bath of simple green water to remove the resin-mold release agents. Someday I might even assemble my dakka jet as well.

Orks will always be one of my favs, and its doubtful I'll ever sell the army (again) due to too many sentimental models, and following my 7th ed rage-quit/ebay sale and the subsequent horror/anger of My Beloved Wolfy when finding out I'd sold the lion's share of them. As such they're currently holding steady at approximately 1000-1250ish points. 

Spess Mahreenz

Its pretty obvious that GW doesn't give a fuck about any marine that isn't a Primaris marine, and personally I find that heartbreaking. 

To be honest, I'm thinking of liquidating my army again the 500ish points that are left of it (and what little I have left for 30k too). I'll just keep my Rainbow Warriors, Relictors, and Silver Drakes Kill Teams, and my ancient Predator will go into stasis in my dust-proof display box. Technically the Rainbows would still be field-able as a patrol consisting of a Lt., a minimum tac and scout squads and the pred., but I seriously doubt anyone would want to play a game so low in points. So just kill teams for them I guess.

The Eldar

Only three left to go...

The Corsair re-arm-ament is almost complete, though I did keep a squad of 10 Iyanden Guardians with lasguns as is. They are all painted decently, needing only minor touch ups, and match one another relatively well. In doing so they've spawned another project/idea that I'm looking into but I'll get to that below.

Having removed about 200ish points just in over-priced lasblasters alone, my Corsair/Exodite/Craftworld menagerie is holding steady as about the 1k mark. The Corsairs are in dire need of a cohesive paint scheme though!

Dark Mechanicus/Renegade IG.

No doubt you can see the need for my cultists to
eradicate this clearly deranged foe...

Nope, no further progress on the Venomcrawler from my last post. I did get a 3rd squad of cultists cheap though bringing that little band of misfits up to about 300 points. They just need some motivation by me which is sadly lacking these days. 

RETROHAMMER

Kinda sad to think that these convoluted rules were a simpler time...

Going back to those Iyanden guardians with lasguns. In looking at my whole Iyanden contingent, they're all 2nd ed models (like many Eldar armies due to 20 year old metal aspect warriors still being the standard), so I looked to our friends in France and sure enough, they had all of the 2nd ed rules, codexes, etc. available as PDFs and I downloaded all of it (well, only the codexes that are relevant to me), and assuming I can figure out the old rules again, maybe see if Neverness (or somebody) would be interested in playing some 2nd ed retrohammer at some point. 

2nd ed does have the issue of not including My Beloved Wolfy's Fem Fa'Tau as they weren't invented yet, but she currently has zero interest in playing 40k at this point, and thus her 2kish army of Tau remain in stasis. 

*****

Well I think this rant post has a high enough word count to make up for my recent lack of posts...lol. 

The State of my 40k: 8th ed, take 2

o/

Sure, let's resurrect this long defunct series of mine...

So…I tried making another 8th ed list to give the game another try and found the process to be quite frustrating. I figured, I only played one game of the new edition and I have a bucket load of minis so why not give it another go. Sounds reasonable right? Right. So tossing the Orks aside (as usual) I opted for one of my other armies: The Aeldari, ahem: The Eldar.

Still viable...

From the get go it was a mess. Autarchs, what the hell happened to autarchs?!? Forget designing them however you want, instead you have 3 options: the jetbike version, the swooping hawk wing and fusion gun version, or else a footslogger with a spear and grenades, that’s it!?!?!? Where’d all the other options go?

This one, not so much...

Yes, like everybody else I want my army commander to be a footslogger (the generic version of Prince Yriel), who hits on a 2+ in both shooting and HTH and shooting armed with only grenades and a -1 to hit in HTH spear…(NOT EVEN A PISTOL?), what the fuck is he a Tau Ethereal now?

This and the Dragon Knight above are my idea of a footslogger Autarch! At least this guy can still qualify as an Exarch...

But wait! Then there’s the designer’s notes flow chart explaining that if you want an Autarch (or whatever) with options not available in the codex, then just use the index entry instead, but with codex point values. Well why the fuck didn’t they just put that into the codex in the first damn place?!? 

Quality game design right here...

The variety of wargear and versatility of non-special characters, not to mention the convert-ability of the minis has been a hallmark of 40k since the beginning. So why now are they just going for the ‘only if we have a model for it’ mindset. Yes I know they want to appeal more to kids, but us old fuckers are the addicts that have kept ‘em in business all these years, go ahead, alienate us and see where that gets ya…

Separate index for one fucking model, check. Moving on. 

Regular grunts are all but the same as before except that the having to give ‘em all of their specific wargear (half of which is ‘0’ points) making you wonder why they went this laborious route, but that's just a standard gripe of 8th ed., so nothing to add there. Anyways, all was going fine till I got to my Corsairs (requiring index/codex #3). 

Yeah, wow. Those poor bastards really took it between the legs! Whilst an interesting concept, I really never did much beyond paint a small squad and halfway convert (but still not finish) a venom for them (which will now be relegated to the role of a funky looking Vyper I guess). With no HQ’s, they’re no longer a stand alone army and I really feel for the people who had those (and there are countless forum posts of screaming, justifiable nerd rage on the subject). Also the option for a 4+ save is gone too, because that was necessary.

The 1st army casualty of 8th ed...

Basically they’re just guardians with lasblasters. Guardians on foot, guardians with jetpacks, and guardians on jetbikes skyrunners, with a handful of other options, to be added into your Craftworlds army. Yay. No command benefits for them…speaking of, the whole command benefit thing is lost on my eldar anyways. My army is made up of: Exodites, Siam-Hann, Iyanden, and Corsair contingents. So whatever command benefit my warlord would confer, would only effect a squad or two at most. Apparently variety is no longer the spice of the 40k-life.

So yeah, by this point I was annoyed with the whole process. Three index/codex PDFs AND a fucking flow chart are needed to build my list. Plus I have no idea if anything in said three index/codex’s changed even further in the just released chapter approved. Yup, no guilt on using pirated PDFs when considering that I could have $75+ tied up in books whose point values were partially rendered obsolete inside the year that they were released. 

(edit: yup, Corsair point values dropped.)

Regardless, after considerable frustration I did finally manage to make a list. Due to the demise of the Corsair HQ's, and the total lack of incentive to use my storm guardians as corsairs (with 4+ saves), the army now only clocks in at a mere 750 points. Bleh. For the time being I have no idea when, or even if I'll give the army a try though.

Comparing Apples and Oranges...

Okay, so figuring it out from the point of view of starting from scratch, here's a comaprison of what I've purchased for Gruntz vs. the 40k Spess mahreen equivalent (because lets face it, 90% of players start with marines.

Also I'm not going with the Dark Vengeance boxed set as (1) not everybody starts with it and (2) there's no Gruntz equivalent which more or less renders this whole exercise in comparing the two pointless. Especially as the forces contained in that set don't really compare well with what I bought for Gruntz. The DV box is also intended to be split by 2 new players (which is amusing as only veteran players who have pre-existing armies for the minis contained in the set tend to actually do that).

"He's the Orange!'

 This is a good size comparison photo (which tend to be surprisingly hard to find in google searches...

Anyways, first up buying the game rules:

Gruntz rulebook PDF and unit builder app: $14.00 (+$10 for printing out and spiral binding @ kinko's)

40k Big Rulebook and SM codex ebook: $145.99

A difference of: $121.99! (ouch!)

Next up, minis (all of which were purchased from Khurasan miniatures with the lone exception of the commander's mech which came from The Ion Age):

Gruntz:

(1) APC

(1) Tank

(20) Infantry

(3) specialist squads (similar to IG heavy weapon teams)

(1) commander's mech

Gruntz minis total: $79.42 and just short of 250 points as built. 

That point total could go higher if I beefed em up a bit but I've kept em simple to start with and that's a decently sized starter army anyways.

40k:

(1) Rhino

(1) Predator

(20) Tactical Marines

(5) devastator marines

(1) dreadnought

(nope, no GW links as y'all already know what those look like)

Minis total: $267.25, and about 750 points (give or take) which is also a good starter size.

Minis come to a difference in price of: $187.83 (again, ouch!) Actually it would be worse as the Gruntz also includes shipping costs, whereas the 40k doesn't. The 40k costs also don't involve sales tax, and since GW's NA HQ is in Memphis, buying from them online would involve sales tax just like buying their toys at the FLGS would.

Total Gruntz Start up cost: $103.25
Total 40k Start up cost: $413.15

For a difference of: $309.90 (triple ouch!)

Increasing the armies from there won't get any cheaper for the 40k player (assuming ebay isn't involved) but is debatable for the Gruntz player as I could redo the unit stats, increasing their skills and their point costs free of charge (I would have to buy more stuff though).

Now, obviously Gruntz is not the (gamers) household name that 40k is, and I've yet to get in a game to see just how much I'll like it in the long run either, but still...most games of 40k these days feel like a pay-to-win scenario which just plain sucks! Personally, 7th ed as whole hasn't been any fun in general, as it feels like it has far more cons than pros to it. Apparently I'm not alone (locally Infinity has all but replaced 40k at the FLGS' game night), so its not hard to see why GW is hemorrhaging players and having difficulty finding new ones with new army start up costs like that. Don't even get me started on the AoS debacle! What's the latest on that? $100 for SIX Khorne Blood Crushers...curiously with most every release, the WHFB cost too much excuse for AoS's existance seems hollower and hollower.

Oops, back on topic...

Speaking of hemorrhaging players, the Gruntz purchases listed above came out of my now depleted Plastic 30k Fund that I had built up. Mk IV tac marines isn't what I was hoping for and given GW's opaque marketing scheme of: just have a lot of money ready to impulse buy our releases with no forewarning of what they are or when they'll come out... 

Meh, why did I put up with their crap for so long? Honestly it feels like I've achieved escape velocity and I don't see any reason to look back (unless I'm looking waaaaaaaaaaaay back towards GorkaMorka, Mordheim and the goodies from GW's long since past 'Golden Age').

You're not going to sell all of your bitz are you?

No, I...uh...well...

My friends who have rummaged thru this box over the years will probably be horrified by how empty it is now.

Looking down at my near empty bitz box (the 'BIG BOX' as I generally refer to it), and the 6, full, gallon sized bag at my feet...well, it sure looked like I was heading in that direction. I guess I kinda just got into the ebay mindset and wasn't stopping till Wolfy posed that question to me.

Next stop: ebay.

 My Orks, Space Marines and Eldar (what survives of the three armies), along with Wolfy's Tau are all already built, with no plans of any future purchases at the moment (and I'm two updated codexes behind already). The Grymn and Quar are all largely 1-2 piece metal minis, with little to no need of conversion. X-Wing conversions to date number just one ship, and that didn't require anymore than rearranging its own parts. Ya know, I always said I'd be done with gaming when I sold off all of my bitz, and after seeing how well Mike's bitz bags sold for a few weeks back, I thought:

Why hang onto all of this junk that I'm not using anymore?

But I dunno, faced with the reality of what I was doing, I quietly stopped and instead I collected my smaller bitz boxes and dumped them into the now almost empty big box, closed the lid and put it back in the game room. I know I'm not done with gaming just yet, but my connection to my 20 year love of all forms of Warhammer took another big, BIG hit today. It makes me sad, but more for what 40k & WHFB was, rather than what GW's turned them into now.

On a brighter note, here's my latest Grymn WIP Twin-Heavy stubber team:

Too much sand?

Lambda Shuttle repaint and a last minute U-turn on my part...

Okay, time for a quick change from where this post was originally heading (more on that below, and as only Voril and Wolfy had knowledge of it, likely they'll be the only ones disappointed). Instead I offer all of you the finished Lambda Shuttle repaint:

Both Wolfy and I were pleased with my rendition of engine glow. Its kinda ironic though given just how slow the ship itself is...

So: ta da! Another (minor) project done!

 When first writing this post, I was all set for another bout of nerd rage from atop the ol' soap box, but it occurred to me that only I have a problem with everyone else (i.e.: it seems every game is approached with a kick the others guy's teeth in mentality rather than something that would be fun to play against. Yes, primarily in 40k, though Bolt Action looks to be following quickly even though our group hasn't even played it yet!), but no one else seems to have that problem. Guess that means I've graduated to 'that guy' status. Achievement unlocked!

Yay.

So I deleted my long-winded rant about everything degenerating into (quoting myself here) a pissing contest between grown men playing with their fucking toys! Besides, everyone locally has already heard it from me before (to no avail). I do however wonder if I've just out-grown gaming (as often it just isn't much fun anymore aside from painting minis) and I'm left pondering: just what the hell do I do now? Were it not for the recent additions of X-Wing, and some minor forays into Infinity and Bolt Action, this blog would probably be dead already when you consider its 40k content. Indeed, I've even discarded my State of my 40k series as for the most part, that state is simply: awaiting their turn on ebay.

The state of my 40k: Astral Claws

o/

Arch Centurion Carnac Commodus in all his glory!

Current Disposition: 

With the demise of my Tyrant's Legion army as the cultists have long since gone the way of ebay, my Astral claws are kindova small and redundant army now. They're also the last army I played prior to my 4ish month hiatus from 40k. Indeed, when 40+ models died to Mephiston (with biomancy of course!) and the Sanguinor who themselves were nigh invulnerable...yeah, that was soooo much fun I simply waked away from 40k for awhile. Now that I've returned, I'm thoroughly unimpressed with the game...but on a higher note, some IG models that went the way of ebay earlier this week funded some new Infinity minis!

Regardless, the state of this army is abysmal. Devoid of cultists, they're just a SM army now. However the almost fully painted Storm Wardens have commandeered the Astral Claws predator, and the Angry Marines have stolen their rhino leaving them on foot.

Future Recruitment:

Zilch.

The Ebay Threat:

lol, well...why don't you check out their current ebay listing here.

The State of my 30k: Emperor's Children

lol, I guess this is slightly off topic for the first of my 'State of my 40k' series.

Current Disposition:

My apologies for the crummy photos.

Yes folks, I actually painted a pair of Space Marines this week! It is the first time in months in which marines of any sort have landed in my painting lineup! Sadly (as you can see) I don't have the FW recon marines, but lowly scouts…albeit with minor conversions done to them. Recon Marines are fully fledged marines and not in-fact 'lowly scouts' however they can switch to 'scout armor' which reduces their save to a 4+ in exchange for outflank.

The Night Lords Vigilator I had intended to pair with this unit originally is going to go into the Simple Green for a repaint (again!?!). Not sure what I'll do with him to be honest though. An infiltrating, Warlord with a 4+/5++ sounds great on paper, but a few test games with him resulted in all but giving my opponent the Warlord VP! Hell, the fucker never lived beyond turn 2! So needless to say, I intend to have someone else serve as my Warlord. I also wanted a more 'generic' army than the Night Lords list (true, that's optional, but the only Legion to wear the Aquila was the EC, not the NL. If anything my force may end up being a mix of beleaguered loyalists rather than just the Emperor's Children.

Ya see, unlike the usual 'pretty boy' appearance of the Emperor's Children, mine are (as is so typical of me) dirty and grimy with battle-damaged armor. These guys are loyalist (and thus short-lived) survivors of the Istvaan III betrayal. Forewarned of the impending virus bombing by Captain Saul Tarvitz, this squad took shelter in an abandoned drop pod after resealing the hatches. Luckily the pod was undamaged (ensuring a proper hermetic seal) as the Life Eater virus would have otherwise resulted in 100% casualties for the squad. Following that, they weathered the subsequent firestorm in the pod as well. Such an inferno was more or less 'just another day' in the life of a drop pod, and so was a safe place to continue to hold tight. Suffering psychologically from the outrage of betrayal, these marines fought to the last against their former brethren…and they certainly look the part!

In addition to this squad, I have an unpainted/assembled Techmarine with conversion-beamer, and his retinue of servo-automata (servitors with bolters and chainswords), and my old 1st. generation Predator, the aforementioned Vigilator and…well, that's it.

Future Recruitment:

God I wish! Currently even the Chinese knock-offs are financially out of my reach. Though going that route, It looks like about $130 would bring my force up to about 1K in points. For the time being, I'll have to content myself with painting what models I have. Of course given that I only ever manage to paint 3-4 models for any one project at a given time (at most), that ought to keep me content for quite awhile. If someone wants to play 30k, then I can (hopefully) borrow from Bob if needs be, as he has a sizable Emperor's Children force (or at least he does compared to me).

The Ebay Threat:

Zilch. If anything, ebay will be my answer to someday financing more 30k Emperor's Children, rather than finding themselves on it!