Digital Wastrel

Decepticrons, rise up

2012-02-05T09:11:00.000Z

Test warrior, done! This guy was, surprisingly, very quick to paint. I attacked his face with liquid greenstuff and then carved it down with a knife. a featureless face makes them look a bit more robotic and expendable, I think.

I'm not sure about the base, though. What do you guys think? Any suggestions for a different way of doing the base?

Necron Scarab base fillers?

2012-01-29T12:51:00.000Z

When I start any new army (or even just think about starting), I like to do my research. While I don't take everything I read at face value, it's always good to see other people's take on things. Anyway, if you fulfil the dual criteria of 1) being alive and 2) being on the internet you'll know how much everyone seems to love Scarabs. I don't know if they're as good as people say, but they look cool and I want some.
Getting enough bases can be problematic, however. You get 3 bases per 12 warriors, and that's just with 4 scarabs per base. I want something a bit more swarm like, but I'm not sure I want to go the casting route, as cool as that looks.
I had a look around for alternative miniatures, and discovered that some of the recent Tomb Kings releases came with scarab beetle decorative bitz. While they decidedly non-robotic, I figure they'll look pretty good painted up the same as the regular scarabs; maybe an alternate make or model or something. I ordered some, and they arrived recently. Unfortunately they were a little smaller than I was anticipating, but I think they still might work scattered amongst the bigger bugs. What do you think?

I think they might be enough to let me spread my scarabs out a bit whilst still looking suitably swarm-like.

Bases are from Voodooworx by the way. I've not used resin bases before, but these ones were cheap enough to be affordable whilst also being pretty great quality. I am very impressed.

Rise of the Necrons

2012-01-28T13:29:00.000Z

Like many of you, I can't resist starting a new army, and like many of you, Necrons broke through my self restraint barrier and began pillaging my supplies of money and hobby time.
They ticked all three boxes for me. They had cool miniatures (finally), they had cool background (finally) and their playstyle looked both fun and a change from my usual preference for glass cannon types.

Anyway, I received a load of boxes for Christmas, but I have been waiting to have everything I need before I get started. For the first time ever I am trying out resin bases (I finally got sick of glueing sand to stuff), and they arrived a few days ago. I've begun the slow process of assembling my robotic forces, so expect some Necrons to show up on the blog sooner or later.

Necron Ambassador. Look, he brought a gift! It's either a rez orb or a delicious red apple.

I'm getting a little ahead of myself. Most of my Necron army was a gift from my ever generous brother, and he included the following Lord, painted up in the scheme of his own Necron Dynasty. He also wrote a whole load of in character notes to go along with the gifts, because we are both huge nerds and that is how we roll.

Pain Tokens

2012-01-27T11:52:00.000Z

I was out and about in Tokyo today, and spotted these things in the arts/crafts superstore Tokyu Hands.
Red/Orange plastic decoration...things. To be honest I'm not really sure what they're meant to be for, but they look a bit like blood drops, so I thought they would make neat pain tokens for my Dark Eldar.

I've been meaning to make some custom pain tokens since I started the army. Seeing as I have yet to make good on that, I figure these will be an improvement over a dice or whatever else I have to hand.

Unit Finished - Talos

2012-01-13T04:45:00.001Z

This guy took me ages. All the vials, bones, fleshy bits, it just seemed to go on forever. Of course, now he's done, I want to do another one.

I'm normally pretty careful while painting, but this guy ended up with quite a few accidental fingerprints during his paint job.

More pictures after the jump!

Heat Lances for cracking open vehicles. Large claws for cracking open heads.

Hi! Nice to meet you! I'll probably be dying the first turn of every game I play!

No one can quite remember who NAX was or why he ended up enslaved and modified into a horrific mobile torture monster, but everyone agrees he probably asked for it.

Unit Finished - Wyches

2012-01-09T03:52:00.000Z

Here's my first squad of Wyches. As mentioned before, each of my Wych squads will have different coloured hair to make them easy to differentiate on the battlefield. In my experience by about turn 3 I often have a few minis left from one Wych squad and 5 or 6 from the other all in one combat, so it will be good to be able to tell the units apart easily. These guys are pink, obviously, and the next unit will be green.

More pics after the jump

Agonizers, along with any power weapons, will be nice and vivid.

I made this rune up myself. I need to work on my freehanding.

Basic man. He has a cool mask so he got an individual picture.

The red spines breaks up all the grey across most of the bodysuit.

When not engaged in drug fueled fights to the death, she enjoys cosplaying as Ivy from Soul Calibur.

WHOOPA

Unit Finished - Plastic Haemonculus Conversion

2012-01-02T14:09:00.001Z

Happy New Year everyone!
Let's start 2012 off with a good one. A painted HQ choice!

I painted the robes all fleshy to begin with, but that just ended up looking weird. And by weird I mean terrible.

More pictures and a quick how-to after the jump.

It was a pretty simple conversion. The front torso was a Reaver Jetbiker (for some reason you end up with a spare front torso with that kit) and the back was from a Wych box (a bit of cutting. It should be pretty simple to rustle up a spare torso from your bitz box. I went with the reaver one because unlike most others, you get a bit of, well, groin, which gives you a bit more freedom when sculpting the robes.

Tails are all the rage this season. Oh, you don't have one? Not really surprising.

The head is, I think, a Wych head with the hair shaved off, and the extra arms from the Talos kit. The tail came from a Deamonette. The torso was attached to the base using a bit of sprue to make sure the figure was at the correct height and facing. Green Stuff was used to build up the robes in a two step process.

I went with a flesh coloured whip because I like the idea that it's somehow alive. Maybe it's some poor Space Marine's spinal column turned into a weapon.

First step was rough, just to get the shape of the lower body. Step two involved rolling out a thin sheet of green stuff to cover the lower body and act as the robes. That's pretty much it. I have a couple more in the works, armed with different weapons.

Edit: Do you guys use Twitter? Do you know about #miniaturemonday? Have a mooch at Miniature Musings of a Bear and join in!

Enemy Kabal WIP

2011-12-31T07:48:00.001Z

Well, despite moving all the way to Tokyo, I'm lucky enough to have a good friend who lives pretty close by and plays 40k, even if he does play he exact same army as I do. What are the chances?

The really cool effect on the canopy is a transfer. The sails on his raiders will be getting something similar, but not identical.

More pictures after the jump!

Test miniature. All the Wyches have the same helmet...

Anyway, I though I should post some pictures of his work in progress Kabal. He's basically batch painting the entire army, which has understandably taken some time but will no doubt feel incredibly satisfactory once it's done.

...as you can see here.

Test warrior, almost done.

We've not managed to get a game in yet, but the time is soon. Expect plenty of pictures when we do. I think our Dark Eldar civil war should look pretty good!

Talos WIP - 2

2011-12-29T04:59:00.000Z

Did everyone have a good Christmas? I hope so!
Like many of you I'm sure, this was an opportunity to start (another) army project. Santa-cron was incredibly generous this year, and now I have an entire Necron force to assemble and paint.
Unlike my Dark Eldar, I'll be trying to speed my way through the unliving automatons, with a quick, basic colour scheme. Before I break out the plastic glue, I've been messing about with army lists and plotting the best way to exterminate all life from the galaxy.

The silver faceplate and red colour scheme kinda reminds me of Iron Man's Silver Centurion armour.

Don't worry though, my Dark Eldar are still very much on the paint table. Here's some progress I've been making on my Talos.

Unit Finished - Kabalite Warriors

2011-12-22T05:10:00.000Z

Not too much to say about these guys. Finished squad of 10 Warriors, with Blaster and Dark Lance. There are a few more pictures of individual warriors from this squad in an old post.

Unit Finished - Reaver Jetbikes

2011-12-19T11:39:00.001Z

The Reaver Jetbikes were one of the main reasons I fell in love with the new Dark Eldar range. The whole lot is pretty top notch, but I remember, during Games Day UK a few years back, being blown away by the bikes. (more pics after the jump)

Group shot! The large scenic bases will probably screw me over in the future but I think it's worth it.

I've always loved Jetbikes, and finally here were some that looked totally badass!
As cool as the miniatures are, and as cool they are on the tabletop, painting them has been a real chore. I'm not sure why. Too big to be infantry but not big enough to get away with the larger brushes I use on vehicles maybe?

The white stripes down the canopy of 2 of the bikes pick out those with special weapons. It makes them easier to see on the battlefield.

The snow was still drying when I took these photos. I couldn't remember how I mixed the snow for the first batch months ago, so hopefully they all fit!

Part of me thinks I should have illuminated the street lamp wit an LED. The other part of me isn't mad.

Detail shot of the display. This guy is checking his twitter feed as he's riding along. How irresponsible!

Either way, the bikes were one of the first things I started on for this army but it's taken me a while to finish this unit.

Airbrushin' and a WIP Talos

2011-12-17T06:38:00.000Z

Ok, so, not many posts recently, but there has been a lot of hobby progress behind the scenes. I've tidied up and based everything that's painted so far, and the whole thing is looking a bit like a proper army now. Pics incoming soon! I'm quite close to breaking the back of the lot of them as well; one more Warrior squad and a second raider and I'll have a good, fully painted core. Then I can start work on the more interesting units like my Incubi or maybe some Scourges.

Not pictured: 2 hours spent trying to figure out why the airbrush wasn't working properly. Again.

Anyway, this week I had a pretty good hobby day. I went over to my buddy's house, and got busy with his airbrush. The end result, a nice smooth coat of red on 2 raiders and a ravager. I also picked up a Venom and a Razorwing fighter, which unfortunately were not assembled in time to get a similar coat of red.

"Argle Grarble Grarble" - sound tactical advice from the brilliant mind of the Talos

I've been working on a Talos, as well. I'm quite convinced it will get murdered immediately every game, but I don't care. It's a fantastic kit.

'tis the Season

2011-12-04T13:28:00.000Z

Festive cheer is inescapable, even in the dark corners of the webway.

My Wyches took a little time out from not having their bases painted to help me and Shiverz decorate the Digital Wastrel hobby cave.

Wych WIP

2011-11-07T07:04:00.000Z

These guys are almost finished, they just need a few extra details.

Just a quick picture today, some work in progress Wyches. While the rest of my army will be sporting blue hair, each Wych squad will have a different hair colour to make them easier to tell apart on the tabletop. These lot are pink, obviously, while squad number 2 will have green hair.

Necron Previews and 6th ed posibilites?

2011-10-29T06:48:00.000+01:00

So, the Necrons are officially up for advance order. They looks awesome, and the plastic kits have so many bits. I love bits. Expect Necrons to show up on this blog sooner or later (probably sooner, I'm impatient).

Anyway, I don't normally post rumours and the like, but there are some interesting tit bits to be gleaned from some of the unit descriptions. Check this one out, from the Heavy Destroyer description.

Your Heavy Destroyers can also be used to give you an advantage in the deployment phase. By deploying a Heavy Destroyer first you can wait and see where your opponent puts his own choice before committing a more expensive unit like a Monolith. Again, using a single Heavy Destroyer, you can push your opponent right back into his deployment zone. By deploying your Heavy Destroyer as far forward as possible you will force your opponent to deploy his units 24" back into his own table half, your Heavy destroyer can then turbo boost to a more sensible position on the first turn.

New deployment phase for 6th edition? 6th Edition imminent? Sounds pretty probable to me.

Well, I guess I play Warriors of Chaos now.

2011-10-27T09:01:00.000+01:00

They just followed me home, I swear.

Dark Eldar Raider finished!

2011-10-18T05:49:00.001+01:00

As ever, tidying up and finishing up the details took a lot longer than I thought.
Not as bad to paint as I was expecting, though. Which is good as I have 3 more to do!

I am quite tempted by the new Necrons, though. There's a sentence I never thought I'd type.
Anyway, here are some pictures! Next up...Wyches!

Dark Eldar Raider WIP 2

2011-09-28T16:40:00.000+01:00

I'd hoped this would be done by now to be honest, but I was never much good at painting vehicles. All the little bits end up taking longer than I think.
Anyway, here's the Aethersail. Quite pleased with how it came out. I think it'll give it some good visual punch amidst the sea of red that makes up most of my vehicles.

Now to paint the other side.

Dark Eldar Raider WIP

2011-09-19T08:55:00.000+01:00

The red needs a little more work, then onto the sail.

40k Musical Cosplay

2011-06-18T04:28:00.000+01:00

Chinese Warhammer 40k cosplay? Also a musical? Sisters of Battle, a working chainsword, and a singing Inquisitor?
I'll just leave these here.

Favourite miniature of all time?

2011-06-15T06:49:00.001+01:00

I still keep in contact with my club back home, and there's a topic in the forums entitled "What is your all time favourite miniature and why?"
Well, I can never resist a good topic like that so I put my thinking hat on. How to pick? So many awesome figures.

I gave this some serious thought and managed to narrow it down to 3. That's the best I can do!
First up is...

Favourite Fantasy Figure

Wood Elf Waywatcher Lord

This guy just oozes badass-ness. I still maintain the Wood Elves have some of the coolest character figures in the game. I've got 500 points of them that have been sitting around waiting for me to give them some paint for years, but I have yet to rise to the challenge. I've always loved the traditional Elf-with-bow archetype, and Fantasy Wood Elves pull this off nicely. Look at that figure. He's just shot you through the eye from 8 miles away, and before you can hit the floor he's going to do the same to all your friends. All because you looked at that tree funnily.

Favourite 40k Figure
This was a tough one! Some close calls here, so honourable mention goes to Boss Snikrot and the Harlequin Death Jester but my pick is going with a newer figure. A really new one!

Dark Eldar Scourges

These pictures from GW look cool, but honestly don't do them justice. They are such 3 dimensional figures, full of movement and with great presence due to the impressive wings. Plus they're a plastic kit, so you've got pose-ability, options, and a sense of uniqueness to each one. Easy to work with and convert as well. Aside from all that, they just look awesome. They make Swooping Hawks cry themselves to sleep at night because they'll never be this stylish.

Favourite Classic Figure or Best Over All
You wanted some nostalgia, here it is.

Space Ork Freebootaz. Not my own figures by the way, just something I found on google. Click to go to the source.

Specifically the Kaptin on the right, but the Cybork on the left is pretty cool too. Full of first edition flavour, this guy is part of what helped me fall in love with 40k in the first place. He's an Ork who's dressed as a pirate captain, has a massive power klaw and a gun made up of several smaller guns bolted together. Oh, and he's smoking a cigar. What more do you want?

Haemonculi - not enough arms

2011-06-10T16:03:00.000+01:00

I've posted about my plastic Haemonculi before. I was fairly content to leave them as they were. Not terribly exciting, but they would do the job. I've not been using them in my lists, but figure I might in the future so it was nice to have a few available.

The Talos kit is pretty fantastic. I've been told a lot of the parts are compatible with the Grotesques, but what got me excited were the small arms and other little bits that were on the frames. You can't really see it on GW's pictures, because all the little arms are tucked away under the Talos.

I took these parts and started glueing. It's a not a major difference from how she looked before, but the change in the miniature's profile really makes the mad surgeon stand out, I think.

She's also got me much more excited to paint her. Amazing what a difference a couple of extra arms can make!

First game in Japan; Javier's Blood Angels

2011-06-07T14:55:00.000+01:00

On Saturday I met up with Javier at the Jinbouchou store for my first game of 40k since landing in Japan.
He arrived with his beautifully painted Blood Angel army, putting my mostly unpainted Dark Eldar to shame. I got some shots of his force, because you all crave as many pictures as possible. I know I do!

The game was good fun, and I'm not just saying that because I won. I had my codex in English, he had his in Spanish, and we were in a Japanese store. The hobby certainly brings people together, huh? Anyway, most of my victory came through luck, I must admit. My units on foot shrugged off multiple morale, pinning and Fear The Darkness checks, whilst his reserves failed to arrive in a timely manner and when they did arrive, promptly misshaped.
Anyway, it was all good fun and really inspired me to push on with my Commorrites (Commorragthians? Commorronians?). I also picked up the Talos and a box of Scourges. The Talos kit really blew me away; I knew the figure looked cool but there are so many extras in the box. Definitely going to power up my Haemonculi.
I can't wait to get started on the beasty.

Games Workshop Japan - Part Two

2011-06-02T16:42:00.001+01:00

Gratuitous Grey Knight shot to lure people in!

As promised, here's part two. Pretty much just an image dump this time of stuff from the Jinboucho store.

Assault on Black Reach set on display outside the store. White Scars!

They get a lot of flak but a well painted Ultramarine army looks great.

It's pretty tough to fight off the desire to start a Warriors of Chaos army. Especially now I can get this dude in resin instead of horrible metal. Yes, Finecast. Topical!

Just some cool scenery

Lord of the Rings too

Undead are a popular. They get everywhere!

Edit:Forgot to mention that a lot of the pictures in this post and the previous were taken by my GF. Taking photos through glass cabinets is tough, and I don't have the steadiest of hands.

Games Workshop Japan- Jinbōchō, Tokyo

2011-05-28T05:11:00.007+01:00

Earlier this week I visited my new local GW store. It's one of several around Tokyo, and I believe it's the biggest.
Finding the place was a little daunting the first time. Tokyo can be a bit difficult to navigate at times (They have no street signs, I can't read Japanese yet and don't have access to anything like google maps on the move anymore), so I thought I'd write up a simple guide to getting to the store for any western gamers who are visiting Japan and want to roll some dice.

GW Jinbōchō

Firstly, you want to get yourself to the Jinboucho station. There are a few ways to do this, the easiest being from Shibuya station. It's worth noting that the Jinboucho stop isn't actually on the JR line. While you can still use your rail card to get there, this means the platform isn't grouped with all the other JR line platforms, so that's something to watch out for. The line you want is called the Hanzomon line, and is colour coded purple. If you're in Shibuya near the Hachiko exit you should be able to spot the signs for it. It's a few stops away and cost me about ¥150. I believe you can also get to Jinboucho from Shinjuku, but I came at it from Shibuya.

Who says the Japanese subway is complicated?

Anyway, somehow you make it to Jinboucho. You want to take exit A5. There will be a map somewhere on the platform showing you which way to go to get out of exit A5. Once you're out on the street, there should be large crossing directly to your right, and a family mart over the road from you.

The crossing

The family Mart

Cross the road towards the family mart, turn left, and GW should be a few paces in front of you. In fact you should be able to spot it from the subway exit.

The map showing the exit you should come out on. Note all the other exits on the map, so if you come out a different one you should be able to find your way there. The store is basically under the S 06 green circle on the map.

I'll leave you with a couple of shots of the inside of the store. If you're not planning on visiting Tokyo any time soon this is probably a bit of a useless post, but don't worry! I'll update part two of my trip soon, which will be all the figures from the store. Lots to look at!

Look what I found...

2011-05-12T14:42:00.000+01:00

I know a lot of you out there have custom dice. I'm no exception.
I mean, what's cooler than a D6 with your army's logo on it?
Today in Shinjuku's Yellow Submarine store, I found the answer.

Yeah, that's right. Dinosaur Dice!

Also Lobster Dice, because lobsters are cool too

Plastic Haemonculi

2011-04-18T12:00:00.001+01:00

Quick one today, just showing my Haemonculi. The spare torsos are fairly easy to source (Raver jetbikes come with a spare front and wyches come with a spare back). They were glued to some sprue for the legs, and then the robes were simple quick and dirty Greenstuff.

Dark Eldar weapons: Getting the most Blaster for your buck

2011-04-16T00:14:00.003+01:00

I'm not the foremost expert on Dark Eldar tactics, but it's a pretty basic fact that the more blasters in your force, the better. However, there is only one in each box of warriors.
Here's how to make more with a little creative thinking.

The first of my Trueborn is armed with a basic blaster. The keen eyed amongst you may observe his lack of head. Do not worry, the head will be attached before he takes to the battlefield.

The second blaster is made from a Shredder (who uses those anyway, right?), with the barrel cut off and replaced. The replacement here comes from the reaver jetbike sprue, but you could just as easily use a Blast Pistol.

Lastly we have a stripped down Dark Lance. Simply trim the long barrel off! It looks a little heftier than the usual Blaster, but it's still about the right shape and size to fit in nicely.

Plastic Incubi

2011-04-14T01:21:00.005+01:00

Hey guys!
I've been pretty busy lately, as, I'm moving in a few days. Going overseas to Japan! I've set up a second blog which will detail my adventures. Digital Wastrel will stay focussed on hobby type stuff. I mentioned before, but I shall be bringing my Dark Eldar with me. While i'm not sure how much gaming I'll get to do out there, hopefully I'll be more focussed and actually make some progress on painting. More updates than usual? Stay tuned to find out...

Anyway, before packing them away I sat down and finished up all the half finished units that had been cluttering up my desk. First of these was my Incubi. I came up with this prototype ages ago (and not even on my own blog apparently!), but finally gathered the bits to make an entire unit. I ended up going with Hellion weapons. With both ends painted up as power weapons the unit should stand out from my other warriors nicely.

Not sure how I'll be running these guys, but a unit of 6 should be plenty, especially as they'll be hanging with my Archon. Looking forward to getting them all painted! I went with fairly subdued poses which I think works better for the whole cold and brooding menace thing they have going on (plus I didn't have any Wych legs spare). The guy at the top of the post is my Klaivex. His pose took me a while to get looking right (considering it wasn't very complicated), but I quite like the way he turned out. My favourite in the unit though is below.

I've got a couple more blog posts written up, so expect more over the weekend!

New blog design!

2011-03-31T13:37:00.004+01:00

A certain Sandwich lover was messing about on photoshop yesterday. Seeing as my plan of "I'll make myself a blog banner eventually" had yet to produce any results, she did a few designs for me. One for each of my armies...well, almost! Much fancier than before. Now I just need to keep the content coming.

1500 Tau and moving away

2011-03-22T22:42:00.005Z

Note: My own Tau are half painted by my wonderful Girlfriend, half proxied miniatures, and entirely unphotographed. Instead, I shall pepper this post with images of my good friend OtherRob's Tau, from the Cheltenham Warchiefs gaming club.

It's been a while!

I have been pretty busy with an upcoming massive move and life-change (watch this space for more info) which has rendered my usual intermittent hobby output even less...mittent. Lots of games played, but I've not been painting or buying much. The move is possibly short term (a few months) but it may well end up being a full year. It's also overseas. Obviously, this means my tonnes of miniatures won't all be able to come with me. I decided early on that I'd take a single army with me, and I've been working over the choices in my head for a while now (yes, I think about important things like this). I think I've settled on taking my Dark Eldar. They're plastic (thus, light), mostly unpainted (so even if I don't get much gaming done I can channel my hobby energy into painting them), and they also tick the all important "evil pointy eared space elf" box.

I've been cycling through all of my various armies, trying to get some games in with each of them before I depart. This is the first of a possible series where I talk a little about each of my most common lists.

Today, my experiments with the Tau!
Tau were, for me, an early idea for an army to take with me. They're a very different play style to my usual (I normally live for the assault phase), but wrecking faces with Rail Guns is certainly awesome. In the end I decided against taking the army beyond my experiments because I'd still have so much to buy. If the rumours are true about them getting a new book sooner rather than later are true though, I may have to join the greater good permanently!

Here's my 1500 list.

HQ:
Shas'el - Plasma Rifle, Missile Pod, Multi Tracker

Elites:
2x Crisis Battlesuits, Plasma Rifle, Missile Pod, Multi Tracker

2x Crisis Battlesuits, Plasma Rifle, Missile Pod, Multi Tracker

2x Crisis Battlesuits, Twin Linked Missile Pod, Target Lock (didn't have enough points to make them all Fireknife load out)

Troops:

6x Fire Warriors (these guys steal the pathfinder's fish)

6x Fire Warriors, Devilfish with Disruption Pod

10 Kroot

10 Kroot

Fast:
8 Pathfinders, Devilfish with Disruption Pod

Heavy:

Hammerhead with Rail Gun, Smart Missile System, Disruption Pod and Target Lock

Hammerhead with Rail Gun, Smart Missile System, Disruption Pod and Target Lock

2x Broadsides, Advanced Stabilization System, Team Leader with Hard Wired Target Lock, Hard Wired Drone Controller, 2x Shield Drones

1497 points total.

Pretty simple stuff.
So far my Pathfinders have consistently been shot and immediately broken, but I think their markerlights are too useful not to have them in the list.
Kroot are a useful distraction/sacrifice unit, and I love them. Bigger squads would be nice, but I can't afford them.
It might be worth dropping the SMS on the hammerheads and using the points for something else.

Anyway, that's my take on the Tau! Kind of an epic and rambling post.

From the shelf...converted assault marines

2011-02-20T22:05:00.007Z

So, I'm having a clear out of some of my old mans. These guys are off to ebay (shameless plug, sorry) to hopefully find a new home, so why not commemorate them on my blog while I'm at it?

I made these guys back in 4th edition. I figured it would be cool if all my guys had tall shields and chainspears. Back then I just used them as BP/CCW guys, but now I guess they could be run as vets with storm shields and relic blades.

The remainder of this tiny army got drafted in to my Iron Hands, but these guys have been sat on a shelf for years now. Hence the dust.

Suddenly...Tau!

2011-02-19T17:25:00.004Z

Yeah, I know. Tau?
Anyway, I've been inspired by some wonderful converted battlesuits from around the net, and after proxying a tau list on monday I decided to have a go and make some of my own.
The conversion is essentially copied outright from a dude online named Tael. His site is here, and this is his thread on Advanced Tau Tactica. Both are a few years old so you might have run across them before, but very much worth a look.

Anyway, this is my effort. A WIP Broadside.

Vindicare Assassin

2011-02-12T18:28:00.001Z

More from the Imperium. This time it's a Vindicare Assassin. Pew pew! Headshot.

Death Company

2011-02-08T22:58:00.002Z

Just a quick update today.
I painted this guy up for a friend. Pictures are a little blurry, sorry!

Kabalites

2011-01-26T22:19:00.003Z

Yeah, I'm slow at getting through these guys! Still, first 5 warriors painted. Banner design is copied from one in the Dark Elf book.

DE Webway List ideas

2011-01-24T00:24:00.004Z

Ok, so at the moment my Dark Eldar are a fairly standard mechanized list. Everyone in boats, boats get them where they need to be.
However, since I first saw the Dark Eldar codex I've had a hankering to try a webway portal based army. It looks like it would be fun and unique to play. Less vehicles to paint wouldn't hurt either!

Working off some of the rumours as to what's going to be in the next wave of DE miniatures, I built the following list. 1500, naturally.

"Wave 1"

2 Haemonculi, each with webway portals, liquifier guns (95 each)

2 lots of 9 warriors, blaster and a raider (156 each)

Ravager (105)

"Wave 2"

Archon, Agoniser, Shadow Field, Combat drugs, Haywire Grenades (125)

15 Wyches, Haywire Grenades, Hekatrix with Agoniser (210)

6 Reavers, 2 Heat Lances, 2 Cluster Caltrops (196)

5 Scourges, 2 Haywire Blasters (130)

Talos Chain Flails, Extra CC Weapon, TL Haywire blaster (130)

Cronos Spirit Vortex (100)

1498 total

Some of the wargear probably needs tightening up, and I'm not sure about the scourges, but overall it looks like it would be a fun list to play. What do you guys think?

Plastic Archon, or getting the most from your Raider kits

2011-01-16T22:11:00.003Z

One of my first and greatest 40k loves were, and still are, the Orks. I don't play them much at present, generally preferring the quick but fragile fighting style of the pointy eared race. However the Mekaniak spirit of attempting to bolt lots of different things together to form something new and hopefully better prevails.

The Dark Eldar range is fantastic for this. Lots of plastic kits with lots of different options means lots of different spare parts. The raider kits, especially, can be looted for spare heads, torsos and legs. This, coupled with my desire for an all plastic army, led me to build a plastic Archon.

First things first, gathering the bits. Archon armour isn't too different from regular warrior armour, so I figured with a few extra fancy bits (say, a cape), a dynamic pose and some nice equipment, I could make something suitably leader like. It's generally a good idea to blu tack your parts together before getting the glue out, so you can try out the pose and look of the figure before you commit. This is my first draft, if you will.

The parts used should be fairly obvious. The corsair cape needed a bit of hacking up to get it to fit with the Dark Eldar torso (and a bit more hacking up to get the head to fit), but nothing terribly drastic. I added the guardsman helmet because, hey, who doesn't love giving the Imperial Guard a good killing?

Here she is from another angle. At this stage (after some good feedback from others) I was able to figure out a few problems. Firstly, the partly squatting pose looks a bit off, so I moved her to be standing on top of a pipe. More dynamic, and balancing on something makes her pose look a bit more natural. Secondly, it was suggested that I shift her to be looking the other way. I'd not considered this, but when I tried it, I found the miniature flowed a lot better. The only major thing I needed to consider was the direction of her hair. Some needed trimming from her head, which was fairly fiddly, but a sharp knife and being careful saw my foray into plastic hairdressing a success. Some glue and a few extra bits and my new Archon is ready for the painting queue.

So, there you go, a fairly simple conversion, made entirely from spare parts, but in the end a nice dynamic miniature (I hope). Alls well that ends well.

I'm not the only one who's doing this, mind you. I came across this example that had been cooked up on a forum I frequent. Check it out:

Archon/Duke Siliscus conversion by Halos Nach Tariff

Somewhere, in the depths of my fantasy bitz box, a lone Dark Elf Corsair is complaining that someone has stolen his cloak. He's crying and says that he's cold. All his friends are laughing at him. Screw that guy though, it's his own fault for not being assembled yet.

Reaver Jetbikes

2011-01-04T22:39:00.005Z

Well, I gave it more thought than was probably healthy, but I settled on the red scheme that I was pondering. Well, a variation of it, anyway. Thanks to anyone who gave an opinion; it all helped.
I switched out the red gore used in the test figure for blood red. I finished it off with a wash of baal red too, which makes the colour a lot more vibrant than my original. The bikes took a while, but infantry should be a lot quicker. I'm going to start on a squad of warriors next.

Haemonculi Coven Raider

2010-12-30T01:36:00.004Z

A quick rummage through this blog's archives will present you with the following obvious fact; I jump about between a lot of 40k armies. My brother is quite the opposite. Since just before 5th ed hit, he's been running his ever faithful Salamanders. He's dabbled in a few others (Death Guard, Flesh Tearers) but never strayed far from the power armour.
After he expressed an interest in the idea of a Haemonculi Coven army, I jumped on the chance. After all, I always like the opportunity to face something new across the tabletop. Fusing it with my need for Christmas gift ideas, I produced the following.

Quite expensive for a basic raider if you wanted to replicate this across a whole army, but I do like the way the pile of bodies replacing the sail changes the look of it. I imagine it hovering slowly through mists, Dark Eldar throwing bodies into it to be transported back to the laboratories of Commoragh.

What's a Haemonculi Coven without a Haemonculus? I had this guy left over from the Corpse cart kit, and didn't want him to go to waste. He's obviously a Haemonculus that hasn't yet mastered the art of floating around looking regal.

Magnetic Jetbikes

2010-12-24T00:01:00.003Z

I've not dabbled with magnets before, but I was given some spares by a friend recently and figured I should put them to use. Magnetically attaching my Reavers to their bases seemed like the optimal choice.

Now, if you've not messed about with the Dark Eldar range personally yet, know that the abominations against sanity otherwise known as flying stands have been redesigned somewhat. They have a ball and socket deal now, which works a lot better. Which is to say, they now work as intended, and hold up the miniature without it spinning wildly in circles or falling over every time you think in it's general direction.

Well, this is the case for the larger vehicles such as Raiders. Reavers don't fair so well (I suspect however that I may have been lax in my pressing together the two halves of the bike with appropriate force duties, so it may be my fault). My jetbikes still suffered from falling over mid battle, so I decided to go with some scenic bases. The magnets enable me to disassemble them for easy transport.

The scenic bases themselves ended up a lot taller than I would perhaps like, but finding scenery bits that are thick enough to support the insertion of a magnet whilst also being the appropriate hight turns out to be difficult, at least within the confines of my own bitz box.

Oh, and in regards to my previous post, I've settled on red.

Probably.

Dark Eldar colour scheme tests

2010-12-20T16:06:00.006Z

The DE raider is a pretty cool kit. Lots of options, and the guys hanging off the side can be a great source of bits. They're also really useful to use as guinea pigs for colour scheme experiments.

I've been back and forth on how I want my DE to look. I wanted to avoid purple as I have a few purple armies kicking about already. I'd probably avoid green too, as my skaven use that as their main colour. I narrowed it down to the following 3 schemes. All of which are, admittedly, slightly sloppy (bad priming for one) but they should get the idea across.

SCHEME ONE

Pros: Yellow is pretty striking. Yellow is pretty unique as well, so I'm less likely to run into someone else with a similar army.
Cons: Took ages. Painting yellow is a pain and I don't the way I did it looks that good. Painting yellow on the smooth flat vehicles will probably drive me insane.

SCHEME THE SECOND

Pros: Looks the most vibrant of the 3 in real life. Scheme would be very easy to do on vehicles as well as infantry.
Cons: Fairly standard looking DE scheme, perhaps? No distinction between the clothy bits and the armoury bits like there is on the other 2 tests, but I can always play around with that I suppose.

SCHEME C

Pros: Red and black looks suitably evil, I think. Contrasts nicely with the bright hair colours that will be dotted about the army too.
Cons: Very similar to my Dark Elf scheme, if and when I decide to pick them up again. Even with foundation paints, getting a smooth red on vehicles might be a challenge?

Anyway, what do you guys think? Which is your favourite?

Which Wych is which Wych

2010-12-12T23:52:00.003Z

The festive season descends upon us like an angry Blood Angel, only with less whirring chainswords and more chocolate reindeer.

Speaking of Blood Angels, I took my Dark Eldar for a game against Mr. MCT last week. It was my first time sending them up against anything wearing power armour, so I was curious to see how I'd do. Here are a few things I learned.

Wyches seem to be a solid assault unit. I'll be running 2 units each with a fighty HQ in my 1500 list, and I think this should be a good balance between being able to eat units, but not so powerful I automatically steam roll stuff and get shot to hell next turn. Which is good.

The loss of the Haemonculus really hurts when my transports inevitably begin exploding. However, the main reason I took them out was the H's lack of fleet, which I still think is vital enough to Wyches to be worth the trade off.

I'm liking Razorflails a lot more than I thought I would. I'm tempted to swap out the Hydra Gauntlets for a Flail in each unit.

I'm going up against what I think will be an all-infantry Raven Guard list on Monday. This should be fun, as I've faced mostly mech lists so far. I'm resisting the urge to swap all my Dark Lances for Disintegrator Cannons though. All-comers fo life, yo.

More DE HQs

2010-11-30T23:36:00.002Z

Not started painting any of them yet, but I've been assembling Dark Eldar for ages and ages, it seems!
Anyway, most are standard so I won't bore you with pictures, but I have been messing with HQs.

Here's my first. She was originally meant to be an Archon, but she came out looking a lot more...nude than I was imagining to begin with. I think she'll make a pretty good succubus though.

I decided I needed an actual Archon still. At the moment she's just blu-tacked together so I can see how the pose etc looks. Thoughts? Not sure about her right arm either. Maybe a blast pistol?

Dark Eldar 3 games in

2010-11-28T00:28:00.003Z

I managed to get a mighty 3 games in this week, to break in my new DE force. The good news is there was plenty of pain and despair inflicted. The bad news is that most of it was inflicted on me.

My army list was a bit of a hodge podge mix of things. Stuff I liked the look of from the miniature range (most of the first wave of releases), stuff I already owned (Harlequins, the forgeworld Pheonix Bomber) and a few things I wanted to try out (Lady Malys and a Haemonculus).
Here's what my 1500 list looked like.

-----------------------
Lady Malys

Haemonculus
(Agoniser)

9 Wychs
(Hydra Gauntlets, Hekatrix with Agoniser)
Raider
(Flickerfield)

9 Wychs
(Razorflails, Hekatrix with Agoniser)
Raider
(Flickerfield)

10 Warriors
(Blaster, Splinter Cannon, Sybarite with Agoniser)
Raider
(Flickerfield)

10 Warriors
(Blaster, Dark Lance)

6 Reavers
(2x Caltrops, 2 x Heat Lances)

Voidraven
(Flickerfield, 1 Shatter Missiles)

6 Harlequins
(Kisses, 2 fusion pistols, Shadowseer, Death Jester)

1494
-----------------------

First game was against craftworld Eldar, a guardian horde. With the exception of 3 warwalkers, everyone was on foot. This ended up being a fairly non dynamic battle, sadly. He was new to his army as well, so we both sort of kept our distance and slapped each other around a little before drawing with an objective each. I had set up for a bit of a first turn assault on his forces (using Malys' redeployment abilities), but got the initiative seized on me, which took the wind out of my sails a little. I did manage to run down a 15 man squad of guardians using only a single sybarite however, which was pretty entertaining.

Second game was up against Imperial Guard. A valk and a Vendetta, a bunch of Chimeras, a Manticore, a Deathstrike, and a single Russ. This time I think I made the mistake of heading in to a stand up fight, rather than engaging all of my forces against part of his. I really don't have the numbers to be able to commit a portion of it as a distraction. AV 12 was my bane this game, as it continues to be for my gaming career. Give me multiple Land Raiders over multiple Chimeras any day. I don't think I managed to crack open any of his transports. By the end of the game I had a single Reaver left (albeit the most bad-ass reaver in existence; throughout the game he survived numerous bolt and las shots, a straight up lascannon hit, and being set on fire numerous times). On the plus side however, I got the hang of a couple of tricks that will work for me in the future. One was using cover with my raiders. Whilst I was hit with a lot of fire power, I think I managed to claim a save from most of it (in which case I might be able to trim Flickerfields to free up some points in the future. Will need further investigation). The other was how to use my bikes. I deployed them behind cover out of sight of most of his army. First turn I moved forwards 12 to unleash my double heat lance on one of his fliers, before using my assault move to dodge back behind cover. Granted, the part of my plan that involved rolling more than a 2 with the hit dice apparently failed, but the movement part seemed solid. My Voidraven also got immobilised but still managed to nuke the russ and the manticore. I like the Voidraven. Maybe one day I'll get to drop the mine.

3rd game I went up against a (mostly) mechanised Tau force. 3 Hammerheads (2 with rail guns, 1 with an ion cannon), 2 Devilfish fire warrior squads, 2 on foot fire warrior squads, and a big pack of outflanking kroot. Oh, there was a commander and squad of suits in reserve as well but they didn't show up till the last turn, by which time I was mostly out for the count. The jetbikes did tons better this game. I kept them turbo boosting throughout most of it, decapitating a whole squad of fire warriors in one pass. You know that must have looked awesome on the battlefield. I kept the Voidraven in reserve again, which I think is a solid tactic. It protects the thing from unwarranted enemy attentions, plus I can bring it where it can do the most damage. My main foe this time was my horrible anti-armour. I think someone must have forgotten to change the batteries in the lances before the battle, because I failed to do anything more than a stun result to any of the vehicles.

Ok, enough rambling about that. I've made a few tweaks based on what worked and what didn't. I've added in more manoeuvrability, and more lances. I've dropped the Haemonculus, too. The free pain token is nice, no doubt about that, but I think the lack of fleet hurts when I'm trying to get my wyches into the fight.

This is what my new 1500 looks like.

-----------------------
Archon
(Shadowfield, Agoniser)

Succubus
(Agoniser)

9 Wychs
(Hydra Gauntlets, Hekatrix with Agoniser)
Raider
(Flickerfield)

9 Wychs
(Razorflails, Hekatrix with Agoniser)
Raider
(Flickerfield)

10 Warriors
(Blaster, Splinter Cannon, Sybarite with Agoniser)
Raider
(Flickerfield)

10 Warriors
(Blaster, Dark Lance)
Raider
(Flickerfield)

6 Reavers
(2x Caltrops, 2 x Heat Lances)

Voidraven
(Flickerfield, 2 Shatter Missiles)

Ravager
(Flickerfield)

1496
-----------------------
As I said, more speed and more lances, which should help get the foe out of their transports, and get my wyches into the foe. I've also changed up the HQ a little. A fighty character with each squad should, I hope, give them the extra punch they need when I go up against more close combat orientated forces. I ripped through Guardsmen and Fire Warriors in close combat, but I suspect those Flesh Tearers that I sometimes fight may give me more of a fight. We shall see.

I'm mostly done with my epic quest of glueing grey plastic together, so hopefully I should be able to get some more painting posts up soon!

Sybarite Fashion; Winter collection

2010-11-26T03:47:00.005Z

Just a quick post for you, I'll get something more substantial up over the weekend.

When assembling my Kabalite warrior squads, weapon choice was a bit of a problem. Internet group think can give me some ideas, but how do I know what load outs will suit me best? What do I arm my Sybarites with? Do I even want the Sybarite upgrade at all? Knowing what unit upgrades I can afford in my army list is problematic when I'm still figuring out what units I'll be using in the first place.

The answer was a bit of everything. I made sure both my Kabalite leaders were armed with Splinter Rifles so I can field them as fancy-looking-but-ultimately-regular-warriors. I also didn't want to waste any power swords or anything on them. Gotta ration out my bits for making cool characters. In the end I gave each a swinging chain blade from the Wych kit, which I think works as an agoniser if I have the points to spend.

Plus dudes loaded down with weapons look awesome.

Commissar Cosplay and Bolt Pistol auction

2010-11-18T18:04:00.004Z

Earlier this year I went to the MCM expo in London. My GF was going in costume, so I decided to step up and make myself something to wear as well.
The obvious choice of course was an Imperial Guard Commissar (Alas, I lack the 8 foot physique and jutting jawbone to get away with dressing as an Ork).
Here are a few pictures. Beware, my horrific visage is incoming!

Anyway, I've been cleaning up and getting rid of a lot of the junk I love to accumulate, and have decided to put my modified Bolt Pistol up on ebay.

Auction is here
EBAY

Post Apocalyptic Pictures

2010-11-15T21:32:00.002Z

Well, the last reactor has gone nuclear, the last plasma gun has cooled, and the last chainsword has been dislodged from the last head.
Had a great day yesterday, and our little 40k game was certainly apocalyptic.
Most importantly, my Phoenix got to shoot something (killed a mighty 8 chaos marines before we had to call time) and my Shadowsword got to kill something (mostly our own guardsmen when it exploded), so I was pleased!
Here are a few photos I took:

Overview of the Imperial side's forces all unpacked. You can see, from closest to furthest away, my Iron Hands, Raven Guard, a chunk of the Imperial Guard armour, the bastions, more Guard tanks, Tau, and right at the back are the Blood Angels.

We also had a few members of the Ultramarine first company.

Last but not least, Operation: Human Shield

Spies were sent to scout the enemy's forces, but only this blurry picture made it back to us

Both sides line up ready for the carnage

Things start badly for the Imperium. Orks and Chaos advance as our left flank vanishes under the initial fire storms. Our right flank remains smug under a shield generator. We also start the battle long trend of welcoming lovely chaps wearing terminator armour to view the rear armour of all our tanks. They are quite insistent that we show it to them, as they stroke their melta guns and cackle to themselves.

That's Wazdakka in the red, and that's a Vortex Grenade he's just thrown at us.

The battlefield clears out a bit after the middle stompa goes nuclear

Robo-Lysander and a sternguard squad, moments before they are mobbed by orks. When we finished the game at the end of turn 3, Lysander was still surrounded by baddies, swinging his thunderhammer at them.

Other highlights that I failed to get pictures of include:
Our disruptor beacon working like a champ and sending Abaddon, 5 terminators, several squads of obliterators and 2 demon princes off to the wrong side of the battlefield.
Alistair's colonel furiously punching an obliterator to death with his power fist before consolidating calmly into a bunker.
A combined outflanking force of Kroot and Grey Knights pouncing on a large group of Necrons.

Countdown to Apocalypse

2010-11-13T21:23:00.003Z

I've been gearing up for a huge Apocalypse game on Sunday. It's looking like we'll have about 21,000 points on each side, plus super heavies (We're balancing the heavies separately after an incident last year involving too many stompas). Quite exciting as this will be my first Apocalypse game ever!
I'm bringing about 3k of Iron Hands, along with an Eldar reserves force (in case anyone doesn't show up and we need extra bodies to balance the sides).
My marines don't get much play time these days, because we have quite a hefty lot of Imperial players at our club. I'm not a big fan of same faction vs same faction fighting (unless it makes sense from a fluff perspective, which admittedly isn't terribly hard to justify in the 41st millennium). It's fine now and then, but with all the marines players at the club it's more fun to bring along one of my other forces on game night.

With that in mind, it'll be good to see them in action again. I believe we should have representatives from a few of the other major chapters, with Raven Guard, Blood Angels, Ultramarines as well as a contingent (Regiment? Detachment?) of the Mordian Iron Guard (oh, and some Tau and my aforementioned Craftworlders as well). On the opposing side we've got a massive amount of Orks, Chaos, and probably some Dark Eldar.

I managed to paint up a new dreadnought for the occasion. He has yet to be named. Any suggestions?

I also got around to assembling the Forge World Phoenix Bomber that I've had on my shelf for way too long. It has no paint so here's a dramatic silhouette shot so you can't see it properly.

I've got a few hours painting time left to try and get Fake Lysander finished, too. I want to see how many stompas he can hammer his way through.

Skaven unit fillers

2010-11-07T18:23:00.001Z

I had an excellent idea to batch paint 20 clan rats at once. While I must admit that painting the final bits of their bases and ranking them up, finished, one by one at the end was very satisfying, I don't think I'll be doing it again. Working on that many at once sapped my will to paint a little, so in the end I think doing them in batches of 10 or maybe even 5 would get me through them a little better.

Anyways, my first 500 points is now fully painted! I will attempt to get a group shot of them when the lighting is better, but for now I'm moving on to assemble more of the little rats, including making some unit fillers to bulk out the clan rats a little.

The "holes" should look a little better with sand applied to the bases, I hope.

Postcards from Commorragh

2010-11-05T00:58:00.002Z

Well, I got a big box of stuff through the mail today. Mmmm, lovely new pointed eared warriors to do my bidding. The codex is lovely, as are the kits. I'm just browsing through it and pondering what direction to go in at the moment. It's quite liberating to come to an army completely fresh, with no preconceptions about unit types or background!

For the miniatures, I'm going all plastic. Same as my Skaven. Harlequins don't count because I already own some, and Fighters/Bombers don't count because they're resin and, er, because I said so.

Anyway, I've got plans for various conversions.

Wracks from ghouls is fairly standard and I might make myself a unit, but will probably shy away from going too far in the direction of the homunculus. Mostly because the artwork in the book for the wracks and grotesques look cool, so I wanna see what GW comes out with in wave 2.

Homunculi themselves shouldn't be too tough. I made an evil science doctor type chaos space marine a while ago, and I think the same principles should work for the space elves.

I'll proxy one before I decide if it has a place in my army, but a talos counts as from a wraithlord kit seems like an idea that may not be horrible.

I fancy trying some incubi, but not sure how to go about making some. Warriors with modified hellion helglaves, maybe? Dark Elf Cold One knight heads, and some greenstuff cloaks? Hmmm. Something to think about.

For leaders and special characters, Lady Malys sounds fun. Whether I use her or a generic Archon remains to be seen, but she'll certainly be the inspiration behind the looks of my HQ. I'm thinking a spare demonette for the torso/upper legs, with a greenstuff cloak covering up the demonic side of things. Kind of regal looking. I've got some spare eldar guardian legs that can work for her boots/lower legs, and then should have plenty of spare heads/arms from the main kits. I shall have to make like the homunculi, and start putting bits together to see what works best.

Finally, reading through the unit description for the Court of the Archon, anyone else think Sslyth = Laer? Their physical description sounds about the same, and the whole falling prey to excess sounds about right too.

Err day we be Lamentin'

2010-10-28T02:08:00.001+01:00

Nothing too exciting happening on the painting front. I'm slowly chipping away at the Skaven. I'm also gearing up for an Apocalypse game in a few weeks. I'll be joining the Imperial side of things with my Iron Hands, so expect some lists and pictures of the boys in black in the near future.

Today though, rather than the boys in black, I figured I might do some musing on the boys in red.
And by red, I clearly mean yellow.
Yellow with black and white checks.

I've never been a terribly big fan of the Blood Angels. I blame the last vestiges of faction loyalty from my nerdarific childhood. Back when me and my brother were first getting into the hobby, we both had space marine armies (of course). He had Blood Angels, while my allegiance was with the Ultramarines*. This is probably the same reason why I always favour Dark Elves over High Elves in Fantasy**. I digress, however.

When the book came out, however, I dabbled in it with some proxy-counts-as marines***. I ended up getting distracted by the Eldar (a story for another time), but the book itself was great fun to play with.

I've also long had a desire to paint up a yellow army, but have never quite had the nerve to go for it. Imperial Fists, Craftworld Iyanden, Bad Moons, all awesome factions. Lamenters are sweet, too. I especially like their whipping boy status. It's cool that despite being the finest genetically engineered super soldiers that mankind can produce, luck can still screw them over, repeatedly. I've always had a thing for the underdog, I suppose.

One day, I'll step up and paint myself a Lamenters army (possibly inspired by Aventine's dudes), but for now I just like to kick about the occassonal list. Which is really the point of this whole post.

Pretty much just theorycrafting with a little bit learned from my battlefield experiences with the book, so I make no promises about it being anywhere close to playable. Ready?

----------------------
LAMENTERS, 1500 POINTS

HQ:
Librarian, Jump Pack, Sword and Shield
Reclusiarch, Jump Pack

ELITE:
2 Priests with Jump Packs

TROOPS:
10 Assault Marines, 2 Flamers, Fist on the sgt

10 Assault Marines, 2 Meltas, Fist on the Sgt

5 Scouts, Pistol/Blade, 1 Missile Launcher, Fist on Sgt

7 Death Company, 2 Power Fists, 2 Power Weapons, Rhino

FAST:
2 Flamestorm Baals

---------------------

The idea behind this army is that it's an entirely deepstrike/outflank/reserve force. The HQs and Priests obviously run with the assault squads, drop down, then eat things. The baals outflank and set stuff on fire. The scouts outflank too, hopefully fisting an oportune target. The launcher is there so they can sit on an objective and shoot, or else keep out of the way if it's a KP mission. Death Company simply drive straight at the enemy and hopefully distract them long enough for the rest of the force to do it's thing.
Like I said before, it probably needs a decent amount of work to be viable on the tabletop (it lacks some serious anti-tank, for one thing), but I reckon it would be a pretty fun force to play.

*What can I say, I prefer blues to reds.
**There is also the scientifically proven fact that High Elves are pointy hat wearing ponces and totally lame.
***Yes yes, I know.

Warpfire Thrower Team, and Rattagantz

2010-10-24T01:20:00.002+01:00

The sun was out today and the lighting wasn't too horrible, so I took a few more pictures of what I've been painting.

The Warpfire Thrower Team. Maybe one day they'll get to shoot something!

Warlord Rattagantz! The pose on this guy makes him tough to photograph.

Now these guys are done, it's time to wade through all those clan rats I've been putting off.

First blood with the rats

2010-10-21T18:21:00.002+01:00

Well, had the first 2 "official" league games with my rats this week, which makes a grand total of 4 games played with skaven, ever.
First up was against some High Elves. The game was far closer than it had any right to be, due to some decent rolling from me and some fairly abysmal rolling from my opponent (obviously the new warchief dice I was using!). High point was a motley unit of clanrats holding their own against some swordmasters. In the end though, it ended as it always seems to, with the tattered remains of my army routing from the board.
Second game was against a cool looking (no pun intended; they were snow based) Dark Elf cavalry army. 3 units of Dark Riders and some Cold One Knights. I knew I was in trouble but held up a little better than expected, seeing off a unit of riders and the knights before I was finally outmanoeuvred and out shot. Not enough bodies or fire power to really contend with fast cav. Something to keep in mind for future blocks, I think. The other notable point of this game was it was the first time (in a total of 4 games with my rats) that a weapon team hit something that wasn't my own men! It failed to kill anything, but it's a start at least.

So, 2 losses, and unfinished painting as well. Not a very good start, but hey, the only way from here is up!

Here are my thoughts for expanding to 1k:
2 more pack masters, 4 more rat ogres.
10 more clan rats for each unit
Quezla, level 2 warlock with warp energy condenser
upgrade Rattagantz to a Warlord, give him a Warlock enhanced weapon.

So my list should look like:

LORDS
Rattagantz, Warlock Weapon

HEROES
Quezla, lv 2, WEC, Pistol

TROOPS
30 Clan Rats, Spears/Shields, Warp Fire Thrower

30 Clan Rats, HW/Shield, PWMortar

SPECIAL
6 Rat Ogres, 3 Pack Masters
987 points (Enough left over for an Enchanted Shield for my lord, perhaps?)

Adding a wizard seems like a solid choice, both from a fluff perspective and also from a game play one. Quezla is the core of my army, providing all the fun weapons I'll be adding in at larger points values, and a bit of extra ranged spell damage wont go amiss (or more likely it will, with disastrous consequences).
30 Clan Rats should hopefully help me maintain my rank bonus a little longer, and see each unit be that little bit more survivable. Hopefully.
Upgrading mr.Gantz to a lord is for a couple of reasons. Firstly, it's still quite early in the league so whilst skaven lords are not the combat monsters some are, the extra fightiness should help out quite a bit (with the warlock weapon he can dish out 5 strength 5 attacks at a decent I and ok WS). Secondly, bumping him up to a lord frees up some of my hero % points, so I can probably squeeze a cheap BSB into my list next block. Finally and most importantly, the extra point of LD is sorely needed!

Progress!

2010-10-17T01:41:00.002+01:00

Slowly creeping towards my first 500 points of painted skaven. More rats have been painted, namely the first unit of clan rats. Not very exciting, but I'm hoping quantity will make up for the fairly basic paint job on these guys.

Finished unit of Rat Ogres. In my next 500 point block I plan to bump this unit up to 6. As a long time Dark Elf player I've never really had the chance to play about with monstrous infantry, and I think a mob of these guys barrelling across the battlefield will be great fun.

First weapon team done!

Up next are my Warpfire Thrower, and Chieftain Rattagantz himself. Then it's back to more clan rats!

Also, a quick note on bases. At present they're just a grey drybrush and nothing more, but at some stage in the future I intend to go back and fancy them up a bit with some flock or something. For now however I'm concentrating on speed over fanciness!

Tokyo Blogging

2010-10-02T14:00:00.004+01:00

Well, here I am. 10pm local time, sitting in a cyber cafe messing about on the internet. An hour in here actually turned out a lot cheaper than buying a phone card to ring home as well! The keyboard keeps trying to make me type in Kanji though. I do not know Kanji, so this is a problem.

We landed yesterday, and the 11 hour flight kicked our assess a lot harder than anticipated. Getting lost in the middle of Tokyo didn't help much. Still, when in doubt, hail a cab. Tokyo is so crazy. It's busy, of course, but it's so intense. With the multi level arcades and shrines hidden away in between shops, everywhere you look there's something different going on. It's awesome!

Yesterday evening, just before passing out, we made a list of all the stereotypes and cliches that might come to mind when you think of Japan that we'd already seen/experienced.
Overly confusing toilet? Check.
Japanese School girls in sailor outfits? Check.
Japanese School boy with satchel slung over one shoulder? Check.
Engrish? Check (Best so far is Jamocan Coffee)
Lady in Kimono? Check.
Cute cartoon animals? Check.
Gloriously atractive hair all round? Check.
Packed but orderly subways? Check.
Stern looking Japanese doctor with a facemask? Check.
Arm bands signifying someone in a position of authority? Check.

The best one, however, is the television. Specificially the adverts. Beyond parody, everything you can imagine is true.
I love it!

A few more painted

2010-09-29T13:23:00.000+01:00

Making some slight progress with painting the horde!
Something a bit bigger than clanrats, anyway.

Gamesday 2010

2010-09-27T02:22:00.003+01:00

Been pretty busy this week with finishing off various studies and preparing for a immenant trip to Tokyo (first time ever visiting, wooo! but I digress), so no progress on the skaven, sadly. I've got a few days before we fly off to kick out some miniatures however.

Today, though, was Gamesday (well, it's now the morning so technically yesterday was Gamesday). Last year was the first time I'd been since I was a kid, and while fun, it was a little disappointing to be honest. This year, however, was super-awesome! If you care at all about the sorts of things that were being shown you've probably seen them already on other people's blogs or wherever. I won't bother re-posting them. I figure if I'm going to make sporadic, late posts, I may as well keep the content original, right?

So with that in mind, here are a couple of photos I took.

Culexus costume! The eyes were all glowy and everything!

Waaagh!

Nerrrrrds

First rats down. Billions more to go.

2010-09-19T17:57:00.000+01:00

Had a busy few days, but now it's time to knuckle down and get on with the important stuff. Painting Skaven!

I churned out the front rank of my spear rats in an evening. Quick and dirty, pretty much just base colours and then a brown wash over the top. I'll put a little more love into the non-clanrat units, but there are so many of these guys I have to prioritise quantity over quality. Took me a couple of hours to get this rank done, but I think I can trim it down now I've worked out what I'm doing with regard to what colours go on first, etc.

Dark green is the army colour, so will be showing up to some degree on every miniature. Clan rats will be rocking a green/grey/brown colour palette, while fancier units (say, Stormvermin) will probably be green/black/bone. I'm going to go back and add some flock to the bases as well, but I'll probably do that in bulk once I'm done with all of them.

I'm not going to get very far painting 5 at a time, so it's time to overcome my biggest fear. [b]Batch painting.[/b] [i]*dramatic music and thunder*[/i]

Slow but steady

2010-09-16T15:45:00.000+01:00

Not terribly exciting but slow and steady progress with my skaven. I've tidied up, de-mold line'd, stuck together and based my first block of Skaven. I'm gunna go undercoat them all, and then the painting can begin!
This is what 500 points of skaven looks like. There's quite a few of them.

The loathsome Ratmen and all their Vile Kin

2010-09-12T17:17:00.003+01:00

Right, so more Warhammer. No Beards this time. I've had a single proper game with my Dwarfs, and they're about half way assembled, no idea on a colour scheme yet. Obviously the perfect time to start a Skaven army.

8th ed has roused the interest of a fairly large portion of the club, and there is an escalation league starting up. 500 points a month, basically. We've got a pretty good spread of forces at the moment (which is good, as with 40k it's about 80% space marine on any given day). Empire, Dwarfs, Brettonians, various flavours of Chaos, some Lizards, a Vampire horde, and no doubt some High Elves. Dark Elves still have a bit of a bad rep around these parts, so I figured I'd step up and go for it with my Skaven. 500 points at a time should help me from going too mad with buying too much stuff, although it remains to be seen whether I can actually paint a hundred or more clanrats. Yikes!

I've never played Skaven before, though I've always liked their background. All their new miniatures (especially Island of Blood) tipped me over the edge. The plan is for this to be an entirely plastic army (seriously, fuck metal miniatures. I'm carrying this army around in a bucket!), mostly made up of Clans Skyre and Moulder. Maybe some Eshin (or maybe they're there already and you just can't see them). Not a big fan of Pestilens, though.

Here's some background I scribbled up:

Chief Rattagantz. Low ranking general of a low ranking clan, bottom of the pile of filth that is Skavenblight. A rat with big ambitions, though. Called upon by the warlocks of Clan Skyre, Rattagantz is sent forth into the world of men. One of their own is missing, the mad* recluse Iklas Quezla. Rattagantz is to find him, and more importantly, find his work. If the rumours about this Enginseer are true however, Rattagantz may just have found his way to the top of the pile. A few of his most trusted** clanrat warriors, a few "gifts" from clan Skyre, and a few favours he was able to negotiate from clan Moulder, and Rattagants is off to find his destiny, or die trying***.

*yes, even by skaven standards
** by skaven standards, anyway
***by dying, he of course means letting his underlings die whilst he runs away

And here is my starting 500 point list:

Chieftain Rattagantz, Halberd (47 pts)

20 Clanrats, Spear, Shield, Full Command (120 pts)
Warpfire Thrower (70 pts)

20 Clanrats, HW, Shield, Full Command (110 pts)
Poisoned Wind Mortar (65pts)

2 Rat Ogres, 1 Packmaster (88pts)

500 exactly

Finally, some pictures! Nothing painted yet, but a few characters destined to lead heroically from the back.

Chieftain Rattagantz. Removed the back banner and gave him some new arms. The arms attach in a bit of a weird way, and I had to mangle the previous shoulder pads something fierce to get the new ones on, so some greenstuff to tidy him up is in order.

I imagine at some point sooner rather than later I'll want a BSB, so here he is. Gave him a new head to make him a little different to Rattagantz, and did some minor repositioning of his cleaver arm so he'll actually rank up. His back banner isn't the most impressive army flag in existence, but the overall hight combined with the brazier on top should make him stand out nicely on the tabletop.

Finally, the mad genius behind all the warp technology I'll be hopefully using to wreak havoc amongst the surface dwellers. Iklas Quezla, clan Skyre Warlock Engineer. Not sure what to do with the pipe from his gasmask. Might just lop it off.

Axes at the ready!

2010-09-10T16:34:00.001+01:00

Well, earlier this week I got to try out my first proper 2k game with the angry, bearded ones, against Alistair's High Elves.
Luck was certainly on my side (or, perhaps more accurately, and absence of luck on his. See something like 30 arrows killing a single dwarf thunderer and various other High Elf mishaps), but I certainly think the core of my army is the way I want it.

I ran:

-----------------------
Dwarf Lord
-Shield, Rune Weapon (+1S, +2A) Talisman of 4+ Wardsavery

Thane
-BSB, Runic Standard of Grugni (5+ ward save against missiles to anyone within 6")

Runesmith
-Great Weapon, Talisman of power dice stealing

30 Longbeards
-Full Command, HW/Shields

25 Warriors
-Full Command, Great Weapons

25 Warriors
-Full Command, HW/Shields

14 Quarellers

14 Thunderers

Cannon

Organ Gun
------------------

The basic HW/Shield warriors were my "sacrifice block", in that I threw them in the path of the nastiest thing on the board (in this case, Sword Masters). Their decent T, Save, Parry save and numbers meant they held strong for a couple of round of combat before breaking, which gave the rest of my army time to get things done.

The strong core of Long Beards had good survivability, and with higher S and WS than normal meant they steadily ate their way through the block of spears I had them fighting. The BSB went in this unit, and I think it's a solid anchor point to my army.

Finally the lord went in with the GW warriors, and pretty much failed to get into combat after the Organ Gun destroyed everything they were trying to fight. We did a quick couple of theory rounds with them taking a charge from some dragon princes once the game ended, and I think they held their own pretty well. They've got enough numbers to take some casualties, and S5 should be enough to bring some foes down with them.

I'm not settled with the shooting phase. I think dropping the quarellers and getting some more warmachines will be the eventual plan, but for now they're doing ok.
I need to play with the runes on my characters a bit more though. The ward save against shooting was OK, but I think giving my BSB survivability in combat will be more useful.

Now to get on with painting the bearded little drunkards.

Bloodbowl and Dark Elves

2010-08-03T16:40:00.002+01:00

First two members of my BB team.

Also quick and easy Crossbow Elves.

In space, no one can hear you paint yellow badly

2010-07-05T00:16:00.001+01:00

You know what?
Yellow armies are awesome.

Bad Moons. Craftworld Iyanden. Imperial Fists. Marines Malevolent have a cool scheme. I have a soft spot for Lamenters, too. You have to love any force who's history is comprised entirely of horrible things that have happened to them.
I'm a big fan of the BA codex, and their figures (Space Hulk too), but I'm not in love with the chapter enough to really want to paint any. None of their successor chapters do it for me either. Except the Lamenters!
I've never painted yellow before, so here's my first attempt.
Work in progress, obviously.

I've been working on this Raven Guard guy too. I won't tell you when I started him though, it's embarrassing.

Finally, some progress on the first of my Blood Bowl team. I think I'm going to do the outside of his cloak white.

2010-05-27T02:56:00.001+01:00

I've not been very productive lately. No reason in particular, but bouncing between so many different projects doesn't help.
Here's a few things on my desk i'm working on at the moment.

Chaos Blood Angel Counts As Assault Marine Sgt, or Raptor Champion, depending on what mood i'm in.

Gene Priest got some paint as well. I think the white might need a few more coats still.

I've also started on a bloodbowl team! Not terribly exciting, just a chaos warrior with the weapons hacked off. Going for a tzeentch themed team, so blues as opposed to my usual love affair with purple. Yes, I know, it's a massive change.

At last, a sure fire method of speed painting 10 dudes at once!

Welcome to a kind of amalgamation post that was written in various places over various weeks!

2010-04-13T02:31:00.003+01:00

I've mentioned previously my work on the "counts as" blood angels.
Well, while this originally started as "make an Emperor's Children army using the BA codex", it's slowly turned into "make a new army using the BA codex that just so happens to share a bunch of miniatures with my EC".
So, I worked up the background in the previous post. If I have a lose alliance of chaos baddy types, each with his own style/tactics but likely to send allies and such to help the others, well, that seems like justification enough to run different codex lists but with the same basic troopers and vehicles showing up.

Anyway, I'm putting together the forces of Nam'Tar, the Fleshcrafter, mad doctor and warped genetic scientist. I'll be using the blood angels book, with sanguinary priests as his gene-priest apprentices, and death company as the weird mutant hybrids he creates. Nam'Tar himself will be a librarian, or maybe mephiston, depending on how many combat drugs he pumps into himself!

Here's the first draft of my list:

Nam'Tar, the Fleshcrafter
(Librarian, Jump Pack, Blood Lance and Unleash Rage powers)

Gene Priest
(1 Sanguinary Priest, Jump Pack, Power Weapon)

Tactical Squad
(10 Marines, Meltagun, Missile Launcher, Power Fist, Rhino)

Assault Squad
(10 Marines, 2 Flamers, Fist)

Assault Squad
(10 Marines, 2 Meltas, Power Sword)

Batch 001
(8 Death Company, 2 with Power Weapons, 2 with Power Fists, in a rhino)

Baal

Vindicator

1500 exactly

I tried it out for the first time tonight. Here's what critics had to say about the battle. Wait, no, it's just me again.

Played my first game with the BA codex against Necrons. Annihilation/Dawn of War. I went second and held everything in reserve. My 2 assault squads (with Librarian and Priest attached) would deep strike, my Baal would outflank, and the 2 rhinos and vindicator would rely on being fast to get them into the action.
All of the Necrons were in play when my forces began arriving, with 2 large units of warriors in the back right of the field, the monolith smashing down in the centre, and the various destroyers kind of hovering about the middle. I decided to focus my attack via the left flank, hopefully cutting down the small destroyer units first for easy kill points (well, easier than wading through hordes of warriors at least).
The rest of my forces that arrived a little later (Death Company and Vindicator) moved up the right flank as the remains of my initial attack wheeled around the monolith, forming a pincer movement against the warrior blocks.
The main brunt of my attack had been halted by a Destroyer Lord charging the Assault Squad with Priest, tying them up long enough to pop my bubble of Furious Charge/Feel No Pain, but I still did pretty well, the game ending with a draw, 5 KP each.
Here are some things I learnt from the game:

1) Blood Lance wasn't as good as I thought, but it'd probably be better against non-Necrons.

2) Unleash Rage (gives the librarian and the unit he's with Preferred enemy, i.e. can re-roll misses) is excellent!

3) Death Company are great. They ripped through everything they got into combat with, and feel no pain kept them alive throughout it all. I had wondered if 8 was too many, but I think it's enough that I can lose 1 or 2 and still be able to eat up most anything I charge.

4) Vindicator, as is usual for the thing, turned up late and didn't kill much. I still love it though!

5) This army is fast. Most of my army started on the left side of the battle, but I pretty comfortable made it to the opposite corner to dish out some slaaneshi fury.

6) Tactical Squad kind of sucked. I brought them on in the wrong place, so they spent most of the game driving around the board (really fast) not doing much. Tempting to swap them out for a 3rd assault squad, but I think the bolters would be pretty useful against CC heavy armies. I also don't want to specialise too much. We'll see.

Right, enough of all that jabbering. Picture time!

Started work on my Vindicator, finally!

Also a work in progress shot of Nam'Tar himself. He's actually just about ready for paint right now, but no pictures just yet.

His arms. The chainsword/narthecium is imposing enough to work as a force weapon, I hope. I also worked up a needle pistol.

Did I post any pictures here of my colour scheme for these guys? No? Here we go. Not too sure about the black being highlighted up to purple, I may just go back to straight grey.

Finally, a Gene-Priest. I've added a kind of robe/skirt of flayed skin around his legs using greenstuff since this picture.

The Six Mouths

2010-04-13T02:27:00.001+01:00

“When it begins, you will hear the sound of children screaming – as though from a great distance. A smoking orb of nothing will grow above your bed, and from it will emerge a thousand starving crows. As I slip through the widening maw in my new form, you will catch only a glimpse of my radiance before you are incinerated. Then, as tears of bubbling pitch stream down my face, my dark work will begin.
I will open one of my six mouths, and I will sing the song that ends the Earth.”

++++++
Thought for the day: Death is the servant of the righteous.
++++++
Access Inquisitorial Files: Heretic Group designate 18a996
Access Security Level: Granted
...accessing...
Consolidating all information files re:six_mouths
...working...
...complete
++++++

Welcome, Inquisitor.

As requested, please find summarised all available information we have accumulated regarding the Renegade Alliance known as The Six Mouths.

The Six Mouths are a lose group of renegades and traitors, primarily thought to operate around this sub-sector, but we suspect they may have operations in progress all over the galaxy. Be vigilant! The group is comprised of several powerful individuals. Space Marine renegades and traitors, they are in the service of one or more of the Ruinous Powers, and daemonic influence should not be discounted. They have rarely, if ever, openly worked alongside each other, and it is for this reason that information on the group as a whole is patchy and incomplete. They do, however, seem to exchange troops, information and supplies readily, and it is through these common elements that we have begun to track the group.

The First Voice: Raffaello Kabrou, The Silvered Blade.
Arrogant and proud even by the standards of those who have turned from the light of the Emperor. Boastful of his martial prowess. Has apparently launched several raids on well defended planets in order to seek out and duel those he deems “worthy”. In the thrall of Slaanesh, his forces employ sonic weaponry. Recent encounters with several of our psychically active agents suggests the weapon he wields contains the bound essence of the Deamonic entity known as Kura'vitch. Inquisitor Yassir [[cross ref Ordo_Malleus]] reported destroying this demon approximately 20 years previous. Suggest contacting Yassir, although the Inquisitor's current location is unknown.

The Second Voice: [[file corrupted]], The Sorcerer
Sorcerer of the Tzeentch, appears to be a member of the Thousand Sons legion. Struck a deal with Kabrou, and supplies him with troops, specifically Rubric Marines[[cross ref Ahriman]]. Unknown what the other end of the deal entails.

The Third Voice: ??

The Forth Voice: ??

The Fifth Voice: Nam'Tar, The Fleshcrafter
Renegade Gene-Scientist of the outer reaches. Holder of a great deal of forbidden lore, has a particular interest in the holy Gene Seed of fallen Astartes. Performs various modifications upon his troops, and even himself. [[more information needed]]

The Sixth Voice: ???

3rd, 4th and 6th Voices are at this stage unknown. Do not rule out allegiances to the other Chaos Powers, or even xenos involvement. Proceed with caution.

++++++

Painting updates!

2010-03-28T02:20:00.003+01:00

So, it's been a while since I've posted any pictures. I've not, however, been completely lazy in all this time.

First off, here are some Ultramarines I painted on commission. Quick and dirty, but not too bad I think. Painting clean, bright blue is good fun!

I've also been chipping away at the Iron Hands. Here's their vehicle pool all grouped up together.

The main new features here are an updated Brother Scaeva, and a completed land raider, the Purity of Hatred. I took the opportunity to get some nicer pictures of Brother Verne as well. I discovered the window ledge in the back bedroom is a pretty good spot for getting pictures. Hopefully this will see an end to my horrible yellow tinted photography.

A Brief History of Chaos

2010-03-27T02:23:00.001Z

or, how I learned to stop worrying and start worshipping Slaanesh

Aside from Orks, the faction I've played the longest in 40k is Chaos. It started back with the 2rd edition Chaos Codex, a massive beast of a book; If you could not best your opponent on the tabletop, a blow to the head from this book would surely grant victory. Perhaps my memory has embiggened it just a touch, but it certainly captured my imagination. My chaos army was a renegade chapter named the Warp Falcons, lovely purple fellows, and they had units aligned to each of the chaos powers. I seem to recall my stars being the plague marines, who were, at the time, single pose plastics. Good times.

3rd edition came with new miniatures for each of the 4 chaos powers, and the noise marines drew me in. After all, what's cooler than sonic weaponry? Answer: nothing. My Emperor's Children were basically an entirely new army, and as I was purchasing them I made sure to order plenty of extra sonic weapons. I still have some in a bag today, somewhere. These guys were horribly painted, but I loved them, and they served me well on the battlefield.

When the 4th edition codex arrived (well, late 4th, proto 5th), I reorganized them accordingly. The ability to upgrade most of your army to carry sonic weaponry was sadly gone, however so were the restrictions on mixing your gods. The Emperor's Children took this opportunity to strike a deal with a sorcerer of the Thousand Sons, and a few of the soulless warriors joined their ranks. My first trip to the doubles tournament provided the inspiration needed to repaint them. This is, quite predictably, a job still ongoing.

Recently, after a good few months of playing Iron Hands and Orks, I've gotten the urge for Chaos again. I took them out on the battlefield a few days ago, where they squared off against my brother's Salamanders. A draw, but considering my horrific reserve rolls left me with a good portion of my army entirely absent, clearly a moral victory! (what do you mean I always claim moral victories?) Anyway, the army is pretty good at what it does, nasty up close but with enough long range fire power that I don't need to struggle across the table to be effective. The chaos book is still very solid, even if I am ignoring a bunch of units because they don't really fit my theme (berzerkers, plague marines, defilers...actually that last one is more because I'm not a fan of the model). However, with the Blood Angel codex imminent, I've been doing a lot of thinking about switching over to the new list. Should I? Shouldn't I? If I do, I can play with things like the new drop ship, and dreads that wouldn't try and kill me, and land raiders that can hold more than 10 dudes. But I'd also lose stuff like my kickass lord, and sonic weapons, and my thousand sons squad. I've been flipping back and forth on the idea for a while, but there is one thing that draws me to the idea the most; the new BA codex just looks more fun. It might perform still, but the chaos book doesn't pack the tricks and options the newer books give you. I'll wait and try a few proxy games until I make my choice, of course, but the appeal of a fast-moving deep-striking out-flanking force is pretty strong. I've got some good ideas for "counts-as" death company, too.

Having looked briefly through the BA book, here's what I'm thinking of for my proposed core.

Sanguinary Priest with power weapon and jump pack;
joining a 10 man assault squad with 2 flamers and a power fist sgt,

2x 10 man tac squads in rhinos, with meltas and multi meltas, one with a fist and one with a sword

Vindicator

Las cannon Predator

This is, with a couple of exceptions, doable with minimum amounts of new miniatures needing to be scavenged/constructed/converted, and by my estimation comes out at around 1100 points, which should provide a solid core, but still have room to add some new toys. We'll see what happens.

Orkz orkz orkz orkz

2010-02-22T01:43:00.001Z

Ok, so, after a good few weeks of playing and messing around with different units and all that stuff, I'm mostly set on my standard Marine list!
Even better, that means I have around 12 infantry, 2 and a half vehicles, plus a thunderfire cannon to paint, and I'll be able to put down a fully painted 2k army! Despite playing since 1st edition, this is something I've never been able to manage.

Obviously, this week I was hit by the overwhelming desire to paint Orks instead. Here we go with the pictures!

For those who don't know, my orkz are freeboota pirates. I'm not going [i]too [/i]overboard with converting every little thing to be pirate themed, but the core of the force will be full of peg legs and eyepatches.
Did a little more work on Kaptin Dedeye, my warboss. He's close to finished now, I just need to do his hat and coat, and then a few details.

I finished this guy. He still needs basing, of course. Thinking of sticking with the basic grey gravel look, with a bit of grass on top perhaps. Anyway, he's an ex-snakebite nob, now serving as Dedeye's "minda", when things get rough (which they do frequently). I think I overdid the scratched metal on him. I'll tone it down for future orks.

Progressing through the rest of the nobz mob. Behold, his greenstuff beard! Yeah, I converted this guy a while ago now and the beard looks pretty rough. Never mind. I also went for a stripey shirt, which turned out way more purple than anticipated. I think it looks ok, but I dunno if he's that pirate-y.

Paint? 'aint got time to paint!

2010-02-14T02:34:00.002Z

See, because this post is about a predator tank. AHAHAHAHAHAHAAHA. Anyway.

I've had a scruffy old predator sitting around half painted for years. It's worked it's way onto the battlefield on quite a regular basis lately, so I painted it.

Also, exciting (!) WIP shots of a redeemer. Despite having played for way too many years, I've managed to never paint anything this large before.

2010-02-11T02:11:00.001Z

Update time!

So, at some stage soon I want to try out Lysander. He's a bad-ass. Most other special characters I'd make my own counts-as figure, but Lysander has a cool enough miniature I'm not going to do much to him. I've gotten rid of most of his Imperial Fist iconography, and I have some cogs and such to replace it. Nothing terribly exciting to look at right now. I thought that such an imposing figure needed an imposing base however, so I've built myself one. It's a curb/cross section of a street, or something.

I've also been building more tactical marines. I totally stole this pose/conversion from someone on the internet, but it looks awesome so I don't care!

As a Christmas present, one of my friends built me a 5 man squad of Sternguard. They've had mixed results on the battlefield, but I love 'em. Here they are. I need to paint the rims of their bases black to fit in with the rest of my force, at some point.

Sternguard are an expensive and fragile unit, so I figure I may as well go all the way and make a few more. First up is this guy. I'm not a huge fan of command squads, but I am a big fan of army standards, so I thought he'd fit in nicely with the vets. They'll probably be joined by Aronnax most games, so he's going to carry the Captain's personal standard. I'm gunna use this as an opportunity to try out some fancy freehand painting.

A sgt with a power fist would round the squad out nicely, so I made this guy. He's based on the Sgt Chronus miniature, as he had ornate yet techy armour, and a helmet that was similar to the rest of the unit. As they'll have a standard bearer with them, he didn't really need a back banner, and so I kept his mini-servo arm backpack.

He has a few Ultramarine icons sculpted on, so I had to get rid of them. The ones on his chest and loin armour had their top bits filed down. I then filled in the middle with greenstuff, and filed it smooth. Hopefully when painted this will give me a smooth circle symbol, which I can turn into a cog. The one on his backpack was a little bigger, so I tried something different. I made a mould of one of the Iron Hand symbols from the shoulder pad set using greenstuff, and then wedged it on over the top of the Ultra symbol. A bit sloppy but it works.

Well, that's it!

Thunderfire, HOOOOOOO

2010-01-28T05:36:00.001Z

I like the idea of a thunderfire cannon, but a huge lump of metal that size seems likely to chip or be dropped too often for my tastes.
So I'm making my own!
Here's what I have so far. It should probably have some sort of movement device, but I figure the stabilizer things lift up and it hovers, or something. I dunno.

I've got one of the old techmarines manning it.

I'm not sure what to do with the space between the rockets. Leave it blank?

More rockets?

Vaguely phallic glowy targeting gubbinz?

40k Doubles

2010-01-19T01:20:00.006Z

It's been a while. I'm back though, and I bring pictures!

So, the weekend before last was the uk 40k doubles tournament. Despite the snow and general shitty weather there was a great turn out, and it was excellent fun.
Me and Andrew entered this year with Loyalist marines; Salamanders and Iron Hands.
Here you can see a shitty picture of our army. I managed to fluff most of the pictures of our own guys (HINT: Remember to turn macro mode on), but Sophie took a few so I'll post better ones at some stage soon.

We did far better than anticipated, winning all our games on the Saturday and starting Sunday on table 1. We were quickly knocked down to size, finishing with 3 wins, 2 losses and a draw. We placed 22nd out of 153 or so teams. Not bad!

There was a massive amount of imperial guard present this year. Last year was all about the orks, but this year, everywhere you looked were Valkyries and Vendettas flying all over the place. Marines of all sorts were predictably common place (plenty of Wolves), with a fair few orks and demons, and a scattering of eldar, tau and nids. No necrons that I could see.

If I remember correctly, the top 3 winning teams were Guard, Space Wolves, and Eldar, in that order.

Anyway, enough of all that. The real reason I'm posting is because there were some very cool looking armies. Here are some pictures!

Eldar! I'm pretty certain this army belonged to one of the Forge World guys. The Avatar actually lit up. Apparently he'd cast the thing in clear resin, and inserted the LEDs inside.

A chaos army rising from the depths. There may have been some LOS trickery going on with that dreadnought, but it all looked awesome so that's all that matters, right?

A very nice Sisters of Battle force

This wasn't the best looking army, but we entered last year with a Slaanesh/Tzeentch army so I had to grab a picture. *chaos bro fist*

This is the army that eventually won best painted, and hopefully you can see why. Imperial Guard and Dark Angels, there was a stunning amount of detail. My favourite part was the Ogryns dropping out of one of their valks.

Lastly, some Crimson Fists.

There were some fantastic armies on display! Lighting in warhammer world is horrible, so these are the best shots I got :P

It arrived, as is usual for such things, during a firefight involving orks

2009-10-14T02:36:00.003+01:00

The not-quite saga of my application for a trainee studio writer's job definitively ended last night with a text from my brother; the process has ended without anyone being hired. The reasons for this are unknown. Perhaps everyone else was rubbish? My knowledge of people leads me to conclude this the most likely explanation.
This information at least gives me a little joy. I didn't get the job, so no-one else should. Schadenfreude* aside, I suppose there exists the chance the job will some day be re-opened for applications. Another chance to apply would certainly be welcome. Learning from my defeat, I have surely levelled up to such a degree that victory is a possible, no, the probable outcome.

Whatevs though, my doggs. The trip to the frozen wastes of Canada draws ever closer. I wonder if you have to wrestle the polar bear before or after you go through customs? Soon I will know.

*does it really count if the others are nameless faceless supposed entities? Also shut up scadenfreude is a word I use everyday for reals

A mystery

2009-08-25T20:07:00.003+01:00

A friend on facebook posts a general link to a crappy looking world war two themed webgame. He does this a lot. Fantasy themed games. Mafia themed games. Nothing new, nothing noteworthy. A reply though, from someone I do not know:
"I've already expressed my feelings to you on this."
His name is unfamiliar to me, his profile picture face stern and humourless. The background dark, although vague suggestions of a party are present. Who is this man? What are his feelings, and why must he tell the world about it in such a passive aggressive manner? Is it the WW2 theme he takes such umbridge at?
Maybe his beef lies with webgames in general.
Perhaps this is the final straw in their relationship.
A drama unfolds, the likes of which we can only guess at.

Quit getting sad at the fragility of life

2009-07-13T00:45:00.002+01:00

A new post, and it's not even going to be written by me. Still, crazy people who blew things up was too tempting a subject not to copy/paste this up here. You know, for reference.

On the topic of scientists who were more than a little crazy, one of my recent favorites is '30s and '40s rocket scientist Jack Parsons.

Now being a rocket scientist in '30s America was already enough to qualify you as insane if not downright suicidal. Before WW2, rocketry had next to zero credibility with the scientific establishment, who considered it the stuff of trashy science fiction pulp magazines. Not to mention that whole "it involves explosions that can very easily kill you, and everyone around you" stigma.

On the plus side, this left the "I am a rocket scientist" bar low enough that Parsons, a college drop-out and self-taught chemist, could just show up to the California Institute Of Technology and jump right in to blowing shit up with some CIT grad students dubbed "the Suicide Squad". Which is a good thing, since he developed the advances to solid rocket fuel and rocket-assisted aircraft takeoff that eventually helped jump-start the American space program. The "Suicide Squad" founded CIT's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which is now part of NASA, and Parsons even has a crater on the Moon named after him.

So what makes him notably more eccentric than his fellow pioneering rocket scientists?

Jack Parsons thought he was the Antichrist.

The same urge to explore the unknown that inspired Parsons to tinker with explosives and rockets inspired him to delve into the occult. He eventually became a devotee of infamous British occultist Aleister Crowley, also known as "The Great Beast", "The Wickedest Man In The World" and "Oh, That Guy Ozzy Wrote That Song About". By the time Jack Parsons and the other rocketeers at the Jet Propulsion Lab had become well-paid government employees, Parsons was also leading the California chapter of Crowley's "Ordo Templi Orientis" organization.

And by "leading the organization", I mean "living in a mansion with a bunch of other eccentrics, doing lots of drugs and having orgies under the guise of 'sex magick' rituals".

When Parsons' wife left him (shocking, I know), he decided that the best way to snag himself a new partner was to perform a sex magic ritual known as the "Babalon Working", which in addition to altering the fabric of the cosmos and ushering in a new era of Dionysian sensual liberation would summon forth a living female embodiment of the Biblical Whore Of Babylon. Once she appeared, Parsons would then fuck her brains out as part of some other, even more esoteric magical sex ritual.

(Or in other words, what the plot of Weird Science would have been if they'd never invented computers.)

So Jack got his ritualistic freak on while another member of the O.T.O. took notes. Because apparently masturbating can only punch holes in the fabric of the universe if someone else is watching. Within days of the ritual, a sexy redhead named Marjorie showed up at the O.T.O. mansion and hooked up with Parsons, who declared the ritual a smashing success. Since he thought he was now fucking the Whore Of Babylon in an effort to usher in the apocalypse, he declared himself to be the Antichrist and started writing unauthorized additional chapters to Crowley's books on the subject.

Crowley didn't take this too well, and kicked Parsons out of the O.T.O.. Around the same time, Parsons lost his government job due to a combination of his eccentric lifestyle becoming public knowledge and the science of rocketry becoming complex or at least academically acceptable enough that self-taught amateurs like Parsons were no longer invited to blow shit up with the more book-smart scientists.

He then took some private sector gigs, and founded a boat company with the half-sister of his ex-wife and her new husband, the former O.T.O. member who took those notes during Parsons' big sex magic ritual. This turns out to be a horrible idea, as said half-sister and husband run off with all of Parsons' money not once, but twice.

Parsons, broke and out of work, moved back in with his mother and took random movie special effects jobs, all while continuing both his chemical and mystical experiments. Eventually one of those chemical experiments went terribly wrong, when Parsons dropped a coffee can full of unstable explosive material and set off a massive explosion that blew off one of his arms and chunks of his jaw and his three other limbs. This explosion didn't kill him immediately, however, as he lingered for several hours before eventually dying. His mother, upon hearing the news of his death, killed herself.

Now Jack Parsons is a footnote in the history of space exploration, but has developed a cult following, no pun intended, amongst folks who can say the phrase "sex magick" without laughing.

Oh, whatever happened to the guy who watched Jack Parsons ritualistically masturbate and then twice scammed him out of his hard-earned cash? He combined his love of ripping people off and his love of writing and after a long and controversial career of doing both, died at the age of 75. His name?

L. Ron Hubbard.

Found here.

Brains?

2009-06-02T02:53:00.002+01:00

Like a whole bunch of people it seems, this past few weeks I have been amusing myself with the sublime Plants vs Zombies. Tonight I thought i should update this blog with a few Zombie versions of people I know.
Starting with myself, and then in no particular order:

Stlyin'

2009-05-09T03:57:00.003+01:00

So today I got a new pair of glasses. Those of you with prefect vision will be unfamiliar with the process of getting new glasses, so let me tell you it is odd and not unlike being given a new pair of eyes. Subtle differences in the way you see things, a whole new outlook on life. Well, at least for an hour or so until you get used to them.
Mum says that I look like Sylar from Heroes in them. I think it was meant to be a complement. Does Sylar even wear glasses? Maybe she meant Mr. Bennett. Hmmmm.

EXTREEEEEEEEM

2009-04-27T00:31:00.003+01:00

Despite being the correct age I was never into G.I. Joe as a kid. After all, giant fighty space robots beat regular-sized fighty soldiers. I'm vaguely familiar with a few of the characters through the backup stories that used to be reprinted (though infrequently read) in the back of my childhood Transformers comics, but I have nothing in the way of nostalgia for the series. I did, however, spend a part of this evening watching my way through G.I. Joe Resolute. It's a recently finished micro-series, written by Warren Ellis (of A-Bunch-Of-My-Favourite-Comics fame) and directed by Joaquim dos Santos (who apparently is notable for his work on the final few episodes of Avatar, and probably other things too). The animation is pretty spiffy too. Taking the form of 10 (or 11, depending on how you number them) 5-ish minute episodes, it's hugely entertaining, and also surprisingly brutal in places. You'll probably recognise a few familiar voice actors in there as well.

In other, related news, check out this, from the 90s. It seems bizarre to imagine a time when the word extreme was used without irony, but here it is.

It's all down hill from here

2009-04-13T03:15:00.000+01:00

That's it. As a race, we have officially peaked. All of the technological, sociological and psychological advancements that we have ever made have led up to this point. Rejoice, friends, because you were the generation that produced Robot Dinosaurs That Shoot Beams When They Roar.
Nothing will ever be the same again.

On spending

2009-03-19T01:15:00.004Z

I've been on something of an internet shopping spree this past week. Nothing terribly life changing. "What's wrong with me" I think, "I don't need any more stuff. I have plenty I'm not using as it is!" I figure recovery from major surgery* gave me licence to spend money though. Getting stuff in the post is fun!
Today me and mum went looking for a new dining room table. The place we went had two, both of which were tiny so it was not a very successful trip. However, they also had computers, and mum has been thinking about getting a new laptop for a while now, so we had a look. She spotted an iMac. "Oh!" She said "I didn't know you could get them without towers! The whole reason I wanted a laptop was because I didn't want the tower, but this is much nicer!" About 5 minutes of thinking about it followed, and then she was at the check out. "I'm only buying it because it looks nice!" she said.
I wonder where I get it from.

*It was not major, and wasn't really surgery either, more of a day in hospital to be probed. Shit was traumatic though. Traumatic enough to make me buy a high elf monolith from the internet. Fuck yeah!

Remember Captain, I'm here if you need me wink

2009-02-20T00:48:00.003Z

Ahh, how predictable. How like me, and my blogging ways. A month since the last update, and indeed 3 since anything of note. But not for this blog a decent into obsolescence! Not yet anywayz.
I say that like I leave a trail of neglected blogs in my wake. Just the one for me. I wonder if it's still online? Maybe i'll dig it up and go and find out what I wrote about 6 years ago, or whenever it was. Probably coco pops.
So. WoW has released it's hold on me for a few days, and in the gap before it inevitable consumes me again I have returned to a few titles I never quite finished the first time around. Such as Command and Conquer 3, starring the entire cast of Battlestar Galactica and That Guy From Lost. And not just their voices either. Full outfits, bad acting, it's all there. The first C&C came at a time when FMV cut scenes in video games was kinda how shit got done, but it's the only one that kept 'em, even if it is in knowingly bad way. And for that, I salute you!

Notes on a graduation

2009-01-24T18:53:00.001Z

Back home, massively tired, overwhelming urge to listen to beastie boys.

A discovery.

2008-11-24T23:05:00.003Z

There's a button at the top of my screen when I am in Blogger that is called "next blog".
I assumed that when pressed it would direct my browser to the next blog that I own, or perhaps the next blog on my watch list.
I have just pressed it, and apparently it takes me to a guy's spanish blog in which he posts pictures of him jerking off.
That is not what I expected the button to do.

Overheard conversations in a New York bathroom

2008-11-12T00:12:00.002Z

Dude number one enters a stall, while dude number two goes to a urinal.
Dude #1: I aint even wasted yet man!
Dude #2: What?
Dude #1: I aint even wasted!

A moment passes.

Dude #1: I gotta get a new refrigerator man, mine's not even cool now.
Dude #2: What?
Dude #1: Mine's not even cool!

This is another post by me

2008-11-04T02:06:00.002Z

I have been meaning to get around to posting this for ages now. This was my entry to the Black Library Warhammer Short Story Competition. The brief was to write a 500 word proposal, followed by 500-1000 word sample, based on the theme of "Death and Dishonour". Technically Warhammer involves magic and dragons and elves and all that shit, but my story is set around the ass-end of no-where, and so could just as easily be a thriller set in medieval Germany. This is possibly a negative point when entering a Warhammer competition, but it does mean I can re-work it to be set somewhere else without too much trouble. Anyways, here it is. Gimme dem crits.

-------------------------------

Synopsis: The story will be set in and around a small river city named Schollach, near the Great Forest. The protagonist is named Johan Hellstein, and does whatever he can to survive. This mostly involves grave robbing, finding what he can from the recently deceased. He then moves on to another town where he can sell it. He keeps on the move, as the penalty for stealing from the dead is harsh, and he's smart enough not to press his luck. The night before he leaves this particular town, he notices a curious looking nobleman. This man keeps to himself, and seems to act nervous, looking around as if he's being followed. A few hours later our “hero” leaves town, early, before people start going about their daily business. As he makes his way through the back streets he discovers this nobleman, dead. Going through his stuff, he finds the man's name, and papers indicating his wealth. He knows the nobleman was alone, and so he takes the dead man's identity, seeing this as an opportunity to make some money. However, this nobleman was travelling for a reason. He had some bad people after him. It doesn't take them long to follow our suddenly wealthy protagonist. Are they after the dead man, or something the dead man possessed? Hellstein has to find out, quickly, because otherwise, he's going to end up just as dead as the people he robs from.
Hellstein, our protagonist, isn't especially strong, or smart, or tough. He has to live by his wits and quick thinking, and the bulk of the story will be about him using these skills as he impersonates the dead noble, both to fit in with a class of person he has previously only seen from a distance, and also to save himself from the people who are after him.
Koertig is the dead nobleman. We find out very little about him in this story, except for his name. After spending so much effort fleeing for his life, he attempts an escape through the back window of his room at the inn, where he falls and breaks his neck. An ignoble end for the man.
The Assassins are two nasty pieces of work. They dress in dark hooded cloaks, and are trailing Koertig (and have been for some time) but as the story begins they have not caught up with him. They are following him based on a description of his clothing and his name, and as such the trail leads them right up to Hellstein. The reasons they are after Koertig are left ambiguous, but there will be hints that they are part of some chaos cult.

Sample Text:
Somewhere, off in the woods, something howled. Johan Hellstein paused for a moment. “Probably has some mean teeth in it, that one” he muttered to himself, thankful it didn't sound closer. He resumed his ascent up the small path leading from the river town of Schollach to the local graveyard. Hellstein pulled his hooded cloak tight about him, less to keep out the cold, more to keep out of sight of any who might happen to glance his way. Improbable at this time of night, but he liked to play it safe, especially in his line of work. The cool night air brought with it a thick fog from the River Steyr, and by the time he reached the gates to the graveyard, the fog was starting to curl around the headstones. Before he entered, he allowed himself the luxury of stopping and looking back on the town. The fog had by now completely enveloped Schollach, and the few lights that still burned at this hour glowed dimly in the mist. Very beautiful, Hellstein thought, a rarity in his life. The moment passed and he returned to his business. He moved carefully, studying each stone as he passed, peering through the darkness at the inscriptions, until at last he found one that he was satisfied with. “Let's see now. Manfred Huber. You'll do. Looks like we got a business transaction to make.” He started digging.
Two hours later and Hellstein trudged back down the hill towards the town. His shovel and his newly claimed prize were stowed carefully in the large black bag he carried by his side. Not long till dawn. He'd better hurry. He reached town and was glad to see the morning patrol had yet to set off. He'd been in Schollach for two days now, scoping the place out, getting a feel for the it, even managing to get a day's honest work at the docks. That was a change. The whole reason he did what he did was the difficulty he had in finding honest employment. He'd almost felt pleased at the end of the day when he'd received his payment along with the other dock workers. Almost. Hard work didn't really agree with him, he decided. Better to take what you can and get out before anyone notices. Arriving back at the inn he was staying at, he loped round the side and wedged his bag out of sight between some crates. Wouldn't really do to be caught with the merchandise, after all. A window above the crates provided an easy way back into his room, and he clambered awkwardly up and squeezed through the small opening. The air inside was warm but dusty, a sharp contrast to the cold night air. He pulled off his boots, lay down on the hard mattress and settled down to get a few hours sleep before the sun rose. He had a good feeling about this haul. Maybe he'd get some real coin from it. Still, didn't want to skip town too early, in case the watch had noticed and were on the lookout. One more day in town he decided. One more day, then he'd leave. He closed his eyes and drifted off into a dreamless sleep.
The next day was, fortunately for Hellstein, uneventful. No-one seemed to have noticed his activity up at the graveyard, or if they did, they weren't saying anything about it. He'd been careful, a lesson he'd had to learn the hard way a year ago when he'd been seen by the watch, shovel in hand. The penalties for such things were harsh, and it was only through luck that he'd been able to escape. The watchman had been fat and he'd been able to lose him over a wall. Still, harsh penalties meant little competition, so he was thankful for that. The sun was out but the air was cold and crisp, his breath hanging before him as he watched the townspeople go about their business. Winter would be here soon. He spent the day checking out a few dubious looking antiques shops. He wouldn't come back this way, not with his shovel, but there might be a potential future buyer. Keep things moving. Keep no plan but always have possibilities in mind. That was the best way.
As night approached he headed back to the inn. He had no room for the night, but enough coins for a few mugs of ale to while away the hours until it got quiet. Then he could retrieve his goods and be on his way. He sat alone, of course, in the corner of the inn, idly watching the room. The ale was foul, but cheap. Crowds of people thronged through the room, drinking, laughing, yelling, but one figure stood out, despite his best efforts not to. Sitting almost directly across from the room was a man. Like Hellstein, he was alone and the people about him paid him no heed. Unlike Hellstein, he was sharply dressed. The man looked to be of noble birth, and glanced about him nervously. He flinched at the constant loud noises. Hellstein wondered what the man was doing in a place such as this. Desperate not to be seen, yet sticking out like a sore thumb. Perhaps he was visiting a mistress, or partaking in some other scandalous activity, whatever it was these noble types got up to. Hellstein watched the man for about an hour, finding amusement in his discomfort, before the noble headed upstairs, presumably to his room. Slightly disappointed that his entertainment had left, he ordered another beer and waited for the morning to come.

Are you kidding? I am Queen's Boulevard.

2008-11-04T01:27:00.006Z

So, yes, back from New York and mostly recovered. I pondered for a while, but the night before we set off I decided to leave my camera behind. Loaf had hers, and I knew she'd take enough for both of us, while I'd probably end up resenting carting mine about all the time. I'm quite sure you've seen the results* by now, which provides a nice overview of what we got up to. Still, a few words from me.
The flight out was pretty pleasant. After having spent 23 hours in the air during a journey to New Zealand as a youngster, no-where seems terribly far away any more. Still, an 8 hour flight is something that needs some some prior consideration. Waiting in the food court area past security a group of girls sitting a little distance from us got excited. Apparently one of their number had spotted Keanu Reeves. If this was true, I saw no sign of him. Maybe he was too short to spot, however. Is Keanu Reeves short? He is an action movie guy, and thus I automatically assume he is a midget. However I base this upon nothing resembling information on my part.
When we landed it was evening, which I believe helps out the process of time zones greatly. Whichever way you happen to be flying, you tend to be pretty beat by the time you get there, so the local clock agreeing with your internal one that it is bed-time is a plus. We hailed a bright yellow new york cab, and spend on our way. Well, we stood in a line for like 20 minutes first. It wasn't even a yellow cab, 5 of us plus luggage needed a big old people carrier. Work with me here. So anyway, New York City at night! Is there a finer sight? I suspect not. Perhaps you could think of one if you are the victim of a late night mugging, but as it stands, it's high on my list. It's such a weird place. They call it a city, but dang, the sheer size of it (and I mean vertically here), makes it so different from the cities I am used to, like London, or Stormwind. Steel Canyons, indeed. At the same time, however, is a sense of familiarity. How many of us have visited New York via fiction? I suspect it must be close to a million percent. As we drove from JFK to east side Manhattan, I half expected to see an thuggish east European man on a stolen bike come hurtling down the road, smash into something, and sail entertainingly through the air before his inevitable death upon impact.
I might steal some of the pictures that were taken and do my own little blow by blow commentary at some stage, but for now I must assure you that I am, indeed, pretty fucking Queen's Boulevard.

*I was going to put in a fancy hyperlink to the photos here, but whatevs dudes, you know where they are.

Shit was so cash

2008-10-18T02:34:00.004+01:00

So my wikihopping today ended up with a blind download of something that turned out to be a spin-off/mini-series/whatever of 30 Days of Night. It's a story about a space shuttle, and what happens when one of the crew is a vampire (spoilers: everyone gets eaten). I only really skimmed through it, I did not read through in detail, so perhaps I missed some subtle nuances along the way. Like why a vampire would want to go into space. I guess one of the astronauts was bitten the night before the mission or something (rather than a vampire making his way into the space program...wait up, that idea has some merit), but still. You'd think a creature that didn't much like the sun would want to avoid an environment that lacked useful things such as shade and roofs and cellars to hide in. You also may suspect that a creature who requires the blood of humans to survive would have thought through his plans far enough for the problem of what to do once the crew of the shuttle have been devoured to crop up. Apparently not. I've read worse stories, Hell I like far stupider ones, but the whole set-up struck me as pretty dumb.

Noo Yoik

2008-10-09T00:41:00.001+01:00

Tonight there was a TV show on where Griff Rhys Jones explored/talked about New York, and I realised that I will be there in just over two weeks, which is hugely exciting! (Others will be there with me of course, but this aint their blog, and thus they are unimportant) This may be a notable event for the fact that OMG I actually turned on the television (TV, YouTube for old people) but i'm mainly writing this because hot damn do I like New York. Only been once of course, but it has a feel to it that draws me. Too many comic books/action movies probably.

I am sure this has happened to you before

2008-10-03T03:26:00.001+01:00

So, don't you just hate it when you're in bed, and you hear this noise, and then...well, you know the rest.

Hmmm.

2008-10-03T02:50:00.001+01:00

Well, I guess i have a blog again. Does it count if the previous time was about 6 years ago and involved using "lol"? How far i have come since then.
So, yeah. I've been thinking about setting one up for a while now, and a number of factors finally made it a reality. The main factor being that I actually got on with it. So, what shall I fill this blog up with? Nothing substantial, I suspect. Still, you never know.

2008-09-30T04:13:00.000+01:00

ok i think i got this down

2008-09-30T04:10:00.001+01:00

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