I'm stalling...apparently

o/

Ya know it occurred tome earlier this week that in all of my 20+ years of mini gaming, and the myriad of colors I've primed said minis in, I've never once (until now) primed a 40k tank in white. Now, whilst to many folks that statement will likely elicit a mental 'so what?', it's been my experience from watching others that priming tanks in white always ends either badly, or takes two to three times as long to complete (unless you're intending for the whole thing to predominantly white in the end). Indeed, I used to game with a guy who's White Scars' paint jobs barely went beyond their primer coating...

One day this will be a dirty, dust covered orange
(or, thanks to Monkeychuka is it actually red?)...

Yeah I know contrast paint is apparently great and all, but washes on large, flat, horizontal surfaces has also been a bit of an issue in the past for me, and given that contrast is essentially paint mixed with a wash, I think that that maybe part of my worry.  

As such, it appears that I'm stalling. 

1 finished, 3 WIP, and being rebels...conformity is blissfully nowhere in sight!

I've painted two and a half Battletech minis this week (the 'half' was a partial repaint). My second Silver Drakes sergeant is about a third of the way done, and then...clear out of left fucking field (yes, waaaaay out there) I started painting on the rest of my Rebel Ghar Tectorists from Beyond the Gates of Antares. 

The rest of my so-called army (sans one unassembled bodyguard suit), with some Imperial Forestry Service Rangers in the foreground.

BtGoA....you know...that game that I've: (1) never played (2) have in the past tried repeatedly to sell off both in it's entirety as well as in portions (3) and am trying once again to do so now as I'm tired of kicking the box of these around after 3-4 years of not touching them  (4) and know that painted or not, the game locally is pretty much dead (I could be wrong, but when it comes to gaming I don't get out much these days) meaning this 400 point 'army' will likely go back into stasis to not be seen again for who the fuck knows how long. 

So um yeah...that's me for this week. 

The demise of the Imperial Forestry Service?

o/

 I was reading the the latest update on Faeit in regards to the Inquisition, and their sudden loss of Rhinos aside from the SoB variety and thought: 'But what about my Imperial Forestry Service?' Do they require an SoB driver now? (not that that really matters much in game terms I guess).

An oldie but goodie!

This little unit has survived all of the purges unscathed, and despite not seeing the tabletop in years, its still one of my favorites. I'm really loathe to the idea of repainting their rhino, despite the (shockingly high) resale value that 30k has given the old, original rhinos.

So, I guess the question is (ignoring the infantry all together): would anyone balk that the idea that this is a 'camouflaged' Alpha Legion Rhino rather than a 'camouflaged' Inquisitorial one?

Scouts, why does it always have to be Scouts?

o/

With Space Marines on my mind after the rant in my last post, I decided to paint a scout/recon sergeant, and partially repainted two grunts with bolters. Then I went on use them alongside my Storm Wardens in a game this past Saturday night. (on a side note, I found another stupid Aurora Scout with a sniper rifle this weekend! Most worthless unit ever!!! I sold that infernal squad years ago to somebody in Stockholm Sweden which has plenty of icy waters to drown them in, yet they still keep coming out of the wood work around here, what the hell?!?!)

...and with that outta the way, here's this week's painting:

The two with bolters were repaints of the Recon Marines I was going to use for the Emperor's Children in 30k (which is such a laughable notion considering our finances right now). Honestly, despite purple being my favorite color, I didn't like em as they were. Painting them black gives me some options on what to use them as, although the Imperial Fists are my preference. I really like the Breacher Marine minis (and their Legion specific rules requires Breachers as compulsory troops choices). Also, recon marines probably wouldn't work too well if they're wearing bright fucking yellow armor. So the black works for that legion as well.

2nd ed 40k starter box marines, vs. old Warzone starter box Imperial infantry converted into Astra Militarum (Cadian arms fit them perfectly) and fighting over The Imperial Forestry Service who were acting as objectives. Miniature-wise it was a battle of the ancients! Indeed, virtually all of the infantry in this game were as old as, if not older than my opponent!

In my game this weekend, they served as regular 'old codex' scouts.  Fielding a squad of 5, the three newly painted ones not only survived their first game, they took out a basilisk that was deep in cover as well! Easily paying for themselves (which made up for them not showing up till turn 4...). In the end the game was a close one and ended in a tie, though had it gone one more turn I probably would've been tabled.

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).

All is well on the painting front at least.

o/

Been dealing with a cold this week, nothing bad enough to go to the doctor, as they'll tell me 'Yup, its a cold. Try chicken soup and rest, that'll be $35.' So instead, I just hunkered down at home and I've gotten a fair bit more painting done than is normal for me.

First up, I regunned the Vyper with a 'Brightglance' in an attempt give my Eldar some more anti-tank fire power. Of course its now more expensive and will be higher on the enemy's target priority list which isn't what it's Guardian crew wants to hear...

Sticking with the Eldar, I've also painted a pair of Corsairs. Being Corsairs, I figure I don't really need to paint them entirely consistently, which ought to break the monotony of painting a bunch of identically posed models.

As you can see, I also painted the Exarch for my Saim-Hann Dire Avenger Exarch. I never liked the traditional DA color scheme with the white shoulder guards and helmets, and so switched to black. Much better looking I think.

Veering off of the Eldar, last week I painted the first of the multitude of grots that were given to me for the now greatly enlarged Eleet Grot Mountin Duvishun. Ugh, that will be a project with no end...

Next up, I fixed Inquisitor Coteaz's warped nemesis-stupid-hammer which caused my screaming nerd raging FAILcrap rant a few weeks back. Using a pinned end of a GK Nemesis-WARD!!!-ing stave. Looks fine now. I might use Coteaz & his entourage as an allied contingent this weekend, but to be honest, every time I open that codex it just pisses me off. They get so much stuff for next to no cost that I still have no idea how it got thru the editing/play testing process.

Seriously, a Warrior acolyte with Storm Shield and Power Weapon is 39 points, or I can just take a Crusader which is the same thing except he's also WS4 for 15 points. Because that's fair...or a LR crusader gets fortitude built in and the Aegis for 5 points over anyone else's LR, psybolt ammo is a mere 5 points, and then there's the 2 pages of BS regarding all the bonuses to the nemesis weapons which ought to be torn out of the book entirely just because.

I wounded you, didn't use the force wepon ability, but are you a Daemon/psyker? Yes? well take a LD test and if you fail, get it off the table. Why? Because Matt Ward thought it was balanced. Cost extra? Oh heavens no, that stuff comes for free with the weapons (which also can be master crafted for the usual 5 points extra).

So stupid...were it not for my Imperial Forestry Service Squad, everything Inquisition related would have gone the way of ebay a long time ago. As it is, there's not much of it left. I hate that my fun little inquisitorial allied contingents are now part of a codex that is so utterly broken.

Okay, rant off and now moving on, I didn't get photos, but my Storm Warden's Devastator Sgt. is also coming along nicely. His signum is now glued in place and like the first of the heavy bolter marines in his squad, he's ready for decals, inking, dry brushing and then final touch ups.

Digitally remasterd in FAILcast...

o/

Recently my girlfriend has shown some interest in my mini gaming, and wanted to 'geek out' with my miniatures. Not knowing to much about 40k (she's more familiar with Warhammer Fantasy Role Play) aside from what she's read on GW's website, this and Neverness' blogs, Wikipedia and Lexicanum. So, the other night I pulled out all of my minis, kinda giving her an vague and rambling overview of my collection, and especially the design aesthetics. For example putting my Beastman IG next to my Loyalist IG, which look quite different, yet are exactly the same rules wise.

Going thru everything I came to the Inquisition layer at the bottom of one case. I call it the Inquisition layer, as it contains the remnants of my once vast array of Inquisitors and their allied contingents. Most are gone due to the fact that Matt Ward's OMG THIS WILL BE SO AWESOME!!!!! writing style makes me feel like a dirty cheeseball every time I consider using them. Fucker. Anyways, the only reason i still have any of them, is because Inquisitor Coteaz allows my beloved Imperial Forestry Service guys to be a troops choice.

'Grassy Knoll' is on Coteaz' left, and 'Ranger Smith' his on his right.

This is a FAILcast model, and of the three of those that I've bought, he and my Empire Captain, were relatively free of defect. Whereas my old Emperor's Champion-turned-Arkos the Faithless was fucked up, and later sold off. 

Now, I've only purchased one White Dwarf magazine since it was updated to the new format, that one being the first 'new' one. In that issue was the CSM release, and there was page after page of 'digitally remastered in 'high quality' Finecast previews of all sorts of the old CSM sculpts. GW literally emptied a thesaurus describing how wonderful these new models were now that they're in finecast (which is consequently sooo much cheaper for them to make and sooo much more expensive for us to buy).

Are you Fucking kidding me???

So why all this rambling? Well, going back to Coteaz, I pulled him out of the case above, and due to the exceptionally heavy weight of this miniature, and the exceptionally "high quality" of the finecast resin, his fucking hammer handle warped around his body in the fucking GW case!!! Not even FW resin parts that are so thin as to be translucent before priming do this!

What. The. Fuck. GW???

Pay attention Screech, I know you were thrilled with the detail of all of those FAILcast Thousand Sons conversion kits last week. You'd best store them vertically in a deep tray, or else they'll be screwed in the long run!

Does anybody know if Testor's matte varnish with hold up while it is immersed in hot water in an attempt to bend the damned thing back?  Personally I'm of the mind to just mail GW the damned thing with a note to have whomever is in charge of the FAILcost production to put it on their desk, so as to remind them of the 'exceptional quality' that they're providing us! Then I'll just convert a 'counts as' Coteaz out of PLASTIC! Makes me wonder if they'll just convert 40k into one of those pre-painted plastic clicky shit games. Seems they're using the same high quality material as those games have.

As such (and if you're reading this GW, pay attention) I will never ever, buy ANYTHING made of this crap ever again! Even if its fine when you get it, the necessary act of storing it will still fuck it up!

The wound allocation circus

o/

Well, I've been working on trying to turn all of my inquisitorial 'circus side shows' into a viable army (without having to buy any stupid monkey models). I've also had to raid the Aurora chapter vehicle pool & added in a handful of GK just for good measure. Can I field it? Yes, once I get Coteaz (or 'Cotex' as Murl has dubbed him) and the purgation squad. Will it work? Probably not.

Locally for opposing forces I have the following to choose from: Tryanid psyker/MC spam, completely immobile 'mechanized' IG, Plague marines, at least a half dozen Space Wolf armies, and a random allotment of everything else.

Of course there will be no sympathy for me as I'll be using a codex that often makes me feel I need a shower after perusing its pages. Matt Ward's wish-listing in print doesn't strike me or most of 'teh interwebz' as balanced. 5 points for a master-crafted upgrade? Only 5 for psybolt ammo? Makes sense when a regular SM rifleman is only 5 points cheaper right? Combat servitors can swap their servo arms for a heavy bolter for free, really? isn't that a 15-20 point upgrade in the IG & SM codexes?

...sigh...

Aside from the paladins (and only as I saw they come in units of 1) & purgation squad (I needed a GK devastator unit of some sort) & vehicles. I haven't even read the rules/fluff for the other GK units (or even the majority of the fluff in the whole book).

I don't think I've felt this much distaste for a codex since the current CSM codex was released (only just for entirely different reasons this time around). And yet, last night when I pulled all of my various Inquisitors & retinues out, I couldn't help but smile with affection for the whole mob of them. So, in trying to make heads or tails of what I had, I came up with the following list:

The Wound Allocation Circus: 1498 Points

Headquarters:

Inquisitor Coteaz

Ordo Malleus Inquisitor Longshot

Hell Rifle, (2) Servo Skulls

Elite:

(the no longer obsolete and now) Eversor Assassin

Matt Fucking Ward! (Paladin)

Master-Fucking-Crafted Nemesis Force Halberd

Troops:

The Imperial Forestry Service:

(5) Acolytes w/ Autoguns (Bolters), (1) Acolyte w/Stormbolter

Forestry Service Rhino

Dozer Blade, Extra Armor

Interrogator Flintlock’s Horde:

(1) Acolyte w/Plasma Pistol, Carapace Armor

(6) Acolytes w/Hot-shot lasguns & Carapace Armor

(1) Acolyte w/Hot Shot Lasgun, Power Armor

(1) Banisher, (1) Death Cult Assassin

Flintlock’s Chimera

Searchlight, Extra Armor

Interrogator Franklin’s Horde:

(1) Acolyte w/Power Sword, Carapace Armor

(2) Acolytes w/Nothing (not even clothes!)

(1) Acolyte w/Carapace Armor, Flamer

(1) Banisher w/Evicerator, (1) Crusader

(1) Acolyte w/Carapace Armor

(1) Nid-Slayer (Death Cult Assassin)

(1) Acolyte w/Boltgun & Carapace Armor

Mechanicum Detachment:

(3) Gun Servitors w/Heavy Bolters, (3) Combat Servitors

(1) Acolyte w/Power Axe, Carapace Armor
(1) Acolyte w/Power Axe, Power Armor, Bolter

Heavy Support:

(5) Purgation Squad

(4) Psycannons

Landraider Crusader

Extra Armor, Psybolt Ammo, True Silver Armor

Dreadnought

(2) Twin-Linked Autocannons, Extra Armor, Psybolt Ammo

I still have a dozen or more unused retinue models, but they would serve really no other purpose than throwing warm bodies onto the table top (and I think I've already done that enough here.

:-/

The Imperial Forestry Service

o/

So my recent 'Exodite field guide' seemed to go over well, especially the mentions of the 'Imperial Forestry Service'. Indeed, way back when I started this blog & I first mentioned them here, they seemed to get a favorable response (as they also do locally). However, aside from Ranger Smith himself and their infamous rhino, they've never been painted. Last night I started to remedy that. I also gave Ranger smith a quick touch up & inking to match the Foresters better. I hope to get the last two painted this evening.

(I had to add a pic of the ol' IFS rhino in even though nothing new has been done to it)

On the table top, they're used as Ordo Hereticus allies (the easy explanation is that they're a guise of the Inquisition). 'Ranger Smith' is the guy with what looks like an LMG. He's used as an elite level Inquisitor with a stormbolter, though if points are tight just a regular bolter. Frag & Krak rounds out his equipment. The other guys are 'Foresters' (Inquisitorial Storm Troopers or warriors in a retinue, again when points are tight). They're anything but a powerhouse unit, rather just a fun little addition to my games.

Fluff-wise, I've never written anything down but when asked, I have a basic outline on them that goes something like this:

The Imperial Forestry Service is often deployed in small teams to newly colonized 'frontier' worlds to assess the local flora for its exploitation via tithes to the Imperium. They tend to be well trained, equipped (note the stowage all over the rhino), and armed as they're basically 'on their own' when traveling into a world's hinterlands. Kinda like an Arbitrator team, just with a heavy 'outdoor survivalist' bent. On a newly claimed world, Forestry Service teams are often the first Imperial operatives rural communities will encounter (and such encounters are frequently hostile).

Their dispatch orders are meted out via the Administratum and as such, mistakes in deployment are not unknown (nor infrequent). IFS teams have been deployed to desert worlds, ice worlds, hive/forge worlds (far from the Imperial 'frontier'). Indeed, gas masks were added to their TO&E after teams were continuously deployed to Necromunda's ash wastes for more than a century due to an Administratum typo. Even if they're sent to a temperate planet, having no landing craft of their own they're at the mercy of the Imperial Navy. So they might be dropped into desert/arctic conditions requiring them to cross continents before finding anything of exploitable value (assuming they survive such crossings).

Or something like that, it varies here and there.

In short, the Imperial Forestry Service was a good idea that's underfunded and generally has been squandered by the Administratum's typically apathetic & monolithic structure (hence the Forestry Service's obscurity).

DON'T FEED THE XENOS!

o/

Lately as you all are aware I've been working on my Exodite army. However when this army gets to the game shop (and theoretically a tournament sometime beyond, assuming I get the hang of them), identifying the conversions may become tiresome. I've already had one friend pick up a dragon knight and say 'ooh, nice jet bike'

Umm, no. They're jet bikes in all the other Exodite armies, not mine.

And therein lays my problem. Locally it probably won't take long for everyone to figure out what is what due to a repetition of appearance. However with new players/opponents, tournament opponents, etc., it could be quite distracting. However Nyhil on Ten Inch Template (some time back) he mentioned that he had a similar problem with all of his Vraks militia conversions, and so created a 'field guide' of sorts for his opponents.

Great idea! Here's what I have so far:


It fits on a standard sheet of paper, and in a tourney scenario I could print my army list on the reverse side, so opponents & TO's would have all the info that they need with a visual reference to boot! The IFS logo can be removed when/if I add more Exodite units. Its basically a filler for dead space @ the moment. Prior to that though, I can just print a few copies off to bring to the FLGS.

My army currently stands at 900ish points, and I was hoping to use it next week for its battlefield debut (the FLGS is closed for gaming tomorrow night), but I got a notice from ebay that my Farseer & Warlocks will be delayed as the seller is buried in the snow.

So they may have to wait another week or so.

To hell with the Metagame, let's waste some points!

I'm calling in a snow day, almost 5" on the ground & the potential for the roads to get icy, so I'm skipping the game shop tonight. Anyways I've been thinking of the whole 40k metagame concept. Metagaming is heard quite often in association with 40k, so much so that if you look up the term on wikipedia 4ok is referenced. I see it mentioned all the time on the BoLS, but in the Austin gaming scene, competitive as it appears to be, I think that that's quite necessary. Indeed for a tournament or playing in a very competitive group, metagaming is part & parcel of 40k. To play in just a standard pick up game, where fun supersedes the 'must win' scenario? No, I don't think it is.

There are a LOT of units in 40k that almost never see the table, purely because they fail in the metagame. Units that aren't the best use of points, rendered obsolete by newer rules, they're too situational, or they suffer from simple mediocrity. Prime example: Chaos Spawn. No one around here uses them, because they suck. That's a real shame as the new models are really good in my opinion. In general, most every non-tournament list I build (damned near all of them) has about 100-150 points devoted to unit(s) that aren't very good on the table top, but I like the models and the concept behind them. Sure I may be all but handing my opponent a few easy kill points in an annihilation scenario. But who cares, its a game. This is supposed to be just for fun. Here are some of my favorites:

The Inquisition. Virtually every Imperial list I build has an elite choice inquisitor of some sort and his little band of idiots in it. I have so many that I could probably go 3 months, @ 1 game a week before I'll run out of inquisitors. I like their fluff, their novels, but no one else ever uses them. Their too situational. Demon armies make few appearances locally, although the new Zoanthrope rules may give inquisitors with psycannons a new lease on life as proxied Ordo Xenos. Here's an example: Inquisitor Ben Franklin & his retinue (the resemblance is striking, no?) Franklin was historically famous as a drinker & skirt chaser. So his retinue has 2 'acolytes' with las pistols & 'man catchers' (shield your eyes kids), and an apothecary with a keg of the Emperor's finest brew!



The Imperial Forestry Service, DON'T FEED THE XENOS! VIOLATORS WILL BE SHOT! Lol, if ever I had a 'signature' unit, this would be it. The forestry service is merely a guise of the inquisition, deployed to frontier or agri-worlds undercover to smoke out heretics where ever they may hide. 'Ranger Smith' with his bolter & his squad of 'Foresters' (Storm Troopers) are always quite popular when they hit the table with their rhino! (these are old warzone models)





Imperial Atlas armored recovery vehicle. If my Guardsmen aren't accompanied by an Inquisitor, odds are that this tank is why. Forgeworld's update PDF gave this quite a buff here recently. Now with the same armor as a standard Russ, and the ability to repair damaged vehicles in B2B (I've not managed to do that yet, but it was an excuse to buy the repairmen who's sole purpose is to remind me to make the repair roll) In general though, I use it purely because I like the model. Though the heavy bolter & stubber do manage to kill stuff periodically.



Sabre defense platform. My renegade IG army never fights without it! The Sabre can have a twin-autocannon, heavy bolter, or lascannon, but none look as cool or are as an ineffective use of a hvy. slot as a quad heavy stubber! Using the artillery rules, its rather fragile too. Though generally low on the list of priorities, I often hear 'you really like that dumb thing, so I'll shoot it first!' I have Rogue inquisitors to back up my renegades as well, with the infamous 'Khorne Dog' being my favorite!



So anyways, hopefully this will inspire someone to shelve the metagame for a small percentage of your list, and just put something on the table for reasons other than just pure combat effectiveness.