Thursday, November 1, 2012

I guess you could call this a tactical withdrawal...

o/

Well, no progress has been made on my second squad of SW tactical marines. Basically I got bored painting a half dozen identically posed minis (when i reached that point, I heard cries of lament from the dev squad which is still on it's sprues).  So I thought I'd try something else.

First up I worked a bit on an Apothecary. I never had much success with my Aurora command squad, but had the extra model so figured I could periodically split the Sternguard in half to make a command unit. Then I recalled why I have no white minis in my armies: because I hate painting white! I don't have any white primer (and I can't see buying a can for just one model) and my skull white is so old as to be sludge (no amount of thinning was helping either). So currently the Apothecary is bathing in Simple Green and on his exit I'll peruse some of From the Warp's white paint tutorials and give it another go...maybe.

Then there are the scouts. I still have 15 unpainted scouts (plus the ones in the LS Storm box), and the painted ones are going nowhere on ebay. I looked at other SM scout listings, and they seem to sell for a pittance (So Screech, you know you want Aurora scouts for Christmas right?) Thus, I omitted the unpainted snipers from their auction, and painted one up for the Wardens (so that the epic failure may yet continue...).

'Warrior poets' are not known for their marksmanship...

Apparently the Storm Wardens' creators at Fantasy Flight really liked Braveheart (or just Scotland) as not only do they have a fondness of claymores, and tartans, but the tribes they recruit from are fond of painting themselves up in woad prior to battle. The Imperial indoctrination process doesn't entirely eradicate this tradition (early on anyways) and as such, sometimes their scouts do as well. While its kind of hard to see above, half of the scout's face is painted blue. Nothing is better to fuck up a sniper's aim, then to get all pumped up for battle with some (potentially hallucinogenic) face paint right?

The cloak came out darker than anticipated as I mistakenly touched it when the first wash was only half dried, and it came off leaving a clean spot! So i had to do it a second time. Oh well, at least these guys won't look like free roaming shrubbery on my bombed out city table like the Aurora scouts did.

...and on a totally different note, 'teh interwebz' has been all up in arms on cron-air lists here of late (oddly, there are no Necron lords leading them named Nicholas Cage). Indeed even Madival was inquiring about my thoughts on flyers (no doubt mining opinions for a blog post of his own).  Again, I've yet to face a flyer in 6th (yes I know its coming), so while not qualified to form my own opinion on the subject (which isn't to say that I haven't) I'll instead cut & paste Snord's thoughts on the subject. The screen shot below was taken from amongst the nerd raging commentary on BoLS the other day and seemed to not only be well thought out, but an echo of my thoughts on the matter. 

Yeah! What he said.


Edit: New Ork rumors popped up this morning!!!

18 comments:

HappySpawn said...

To quote a text I sent last night: "I have Hydras...that's what I think of (flyers)."

Da Masta Cheef said...

lol!

Anonymous said...

I've fielded one flyer so far and be up against one or two fliers in game so far a few times. At that level, they really aren't that game changing. With the Necron Airforce list that seems to have everyone up in arms, is that it only has fliers on the board (that are dedicated transports that are ruled to NOT have the troops inside them), but that most armies have no to very limited options that can target fliers. I think as more codex's come out and more options for anti air and fliers come out, it'll be a lot less of an issue.

Mordian7th said...

I dig that sniper, the woad looks pretty cool!

It's always good to have a backup project or two in the wings when Army Painter's Fatigue sets in...

Da Masta Cheef said...

Thanks Mordian! Yes, if there's one thing I don't lack, its back up painting projects...

@anon: That's what I've heard. Personally I don't think I'll see a Cron air list around here. I don't attend any major tournies, and it looks so 'not fun' to play against, that its easily avoided if one were to show up at the FLGS.

Plus, to add to my AAA defense, I've just ordered the bitz needed to made the Ork version of the aegis quad gun that I've been pondering for a while now...

neverness said...

I look forward to the Ork Quad gun! I have been pondering something similar while painting the Imperail Bastion that It might be fun to make an Orky Bastion. Ideas are brewing for sure...;)

Da Masta Cheef said...

lol, I knew you would. The ork barricades will work well enough for the defense line I figure. The quad gun hopefully will be cool if I get it to go together the way I want.

Oh, and I painted the Icarus lascannon for the bastion tonight.

Anonymous said...

Ok...those ork rumors looks cool....

Murl

Anonymous said...

I am interested kn sniper scouts . I am looking into the sons if malice and may try to figure a way for sniper scouts to join in somehow. also, no blog post about the subject . I just remember going to kingsport and having everyone throw their hands up in fail over 2-3 flyers

Da Masta Cheef said...

Well they're on ebay right now, but how are you going to add scouts into a themed CSM army?

Oh and just an FYI: if you buy them & I find your method of transporting them is to toss them into the pile in a box or baggie, like I've seen you do with all of your armies. I reserve the right to kill you myself.

So did you show up with 2-3 flyers to cause that? If so, you can expect a similar reception at HT...

Anonymous said...

I showed up with 2-3 of the most ineffective flyers you ever saw. 375 points killed 3 marines and a Chaplin. I only play 3 flyers at 1750+ really and 2 of then dump max squads where I need them.

Da Masta Cheef said...

Sounds like your dice didn't like you that day. However, considering that only ONE gun in my ENTIRE army can effectively at shoot them, then perhaps you can see the issue that most people take with them.

As I've stated elsewhere online, I want to play 40k, not reenact the US side of Pearl Harbor.

Hive Angel said...

Killing for models that is a new SCI plot line indeed.

Da Masta Cheef said...

CSI?

Anonymous said...

when it comes to the Pearl harbor warhammer thing, I want to say something for the scythes. People have problems shooting them out of the sky, but they also have a problem not shooting them. six hits sees five wounds sees maybe two dead marines a shot. Add this to forced into reserves, 90 degree turning angle, min move distance, lack of ability to contest, and the contents going into reserves when the scuthe dies, Night scythes aren't that amazing, just tough. Doom scythes are something of a strange case. The targets the death ray must be aimed at often have done the deed by the time the doom scythes comes in. Really, if I see a doom scythe, it is a fun unit. It serves no real purpose the list shouldn't have covered already. great units, spam kind of ruins degrades the purpose.

Da Masta Cheef said...

You're running a 'light' version of literally the most hated list in the game. Obviously people are going to take issue with it just on first mention. When virtually the whole gaming community hates a unit, there's gotta be a reason for it, the fact that Ward has a history of making broken units only adds to that (worse yet, the DA rumors sound like Paladins 2.0 for example).

Also contents going into reserves when the scythe dies, how is that worse than everyone takes a str 10 hit with no armor saves?

Ya know, I once asked you what you thought was fun in 40k. You replied 'I like shenanigans that generally piss people off'. Well, here we are again, why do you want to keep arguing with me? I think my issue with you is we are exactly the same in thinking we're right & not understanding why the other person can't see that. The difference is we approach the game for opposite perspectives.

So whatever your justifications, it doesn't matter. it doesn't sound like any fun to me, so I don't want to play against it. One flyer, cool, an air wing? No. You win by default, now go find another opponent.

Anonymous said...

I generally dont approve of more shenanigans anymore. that was the magic player in me I dont feel I won if I had to shenanigan it. I run" light"because I want everyone to have fun.

Da Masta Cheef said...

Still doesn't sound to fun to me, but having never faced it, I suppose I'm not qualified to definitively say that.

Also, sorta faced a flyer tonight, however Screech's quad gun shot it down before it could do anything.