good bye fall season hello summer

What is this? A rare weekend post.

Well with the few T.V. shows i watch winding down, this is when I would lament nothing to watch. Well thankfully people got the memmo and have made late spring and summer a descent time for T.V.

actually not as cool as a fez



The new season of Dr. Who has started. I have been loyal since the rebirth in 2005. I have been a bit leary of each new doctor. I like Eccleston, I loved Tennent and am warming up to Matt Smith. The 1st official episode this year wasn't super awesome, but it is the 1st episode of the season. It is building and will get better, they usually do.

I'll admitt it openly, I have a man crush on Sean Bean.

HBO has give me another show to love, A Game of Thrones. It is only two episodes in and I'm hooked. It is fantasy based, but not is typical crazy fantasy. It is I guess low fantasy? Anyway it has a pretty soild cast and looks to only get better. It is also very mature. The adult situations are plentiful and not recommended for younger or even some older viewers. I is solid so far and I'm very anxious to see where it goes. Having Boromir and Peter Dinklage on the show help as well. These guys rock!

Then there is True Blood after that. Then somewhere Torchwood: Miracle Day (hopefully when Dr. Who ends). BBC is also running Battlestar from the beginnignand I'll happily watch that through a 2nd time (as will "Manders" who only got hooked the final season).

So with: Archer, Parks and Rec (should have started this show sooner), the Bang Show, Modern Family and Community all winding down or done I now have some something to watch that isn't comedy. Another nice bonus to the coming summer season.

Have you seen this unit? Part 4.1

Continuing from the last post on the Techmarine, I thought I'd expound a bit more.

Now all chapters of the Astartes have Techmarines. They have a few variations to their stats, rules and abilities from codex to codex. Some of this is intentional and some of it is due to old army books. I'll hit the other chapters quickly.

They are all elite choices in each codex. They can all repair vehicles. They can all take servitors. They all have a servo-arm. However, not all of them can Bolster Defense. They all have the Marine stat-line with a few variations.

Space Wolves have an Iron Priest. It is just a fancy name for Techmarine. They have the Space Wolf rules of Counter-Attack and Acute Senses. This guy is a one man unit, he is not an Independent Character. He cannot purchase a servo-harness either. They may take 0-3 Thralls, the fancy name for servitors. They run 10 points for a typical Marine servitor. Two of them can take heavy weapons that are cheaper than their "vanilla"  counterparts; heavy bolter 5 points, multi-melta 10 points and plasma cannon 20 points. They can take fewer and have cheaper guns. They also do not suffer mindlock, since they form a single unit with the Techie, I'm sorry Iron Priest.

They also come armed with a thunder hammer, runic armor (artificer armor, do wolves have to rename everything? we get it you're different), servo arm, bolter or pistol, frag and krak grenades. Oh yeah, he also has 2 attacks. He can purchase the typical upgrades along with cyber wolves, bike or a thunderwolf mount. All this for the same price as a Codex Space Marine Techmarine.

Have you seen this unit? Part 4

Techmarines, the grease monkeys of the Astartes. They are in every Marine codex, but why are they not on the table? Now I'm talking about the pure elite choice, not the Thunderfire operator or a Master of the Forge. These are both occasionally used, but the typical Techmarine elite seems to have been lost in the shuffle.

"Sweet the deployment roster has downloaded...and checking........Yup, not on it again."





Now there are small and subtle differences between the various Astartes Techmarines. I’ll be looking at the Codex Space Marine version. I’ll get to the other codex Techmarines in another post.



So the “vanilla” Techmarine has the typical Codex Marine stats: WS 4, BS 4, S 4, T 4, I 4, 1 wound, 1 attack, and leadership 8. He also has And They Shall Know No Fear, Combat Squad, and is an Independent Character. He also has Bolster Defense and Blessing of the Omnissiah. He also comes equipped with artificer armor (2+ power armor), a servo arm, a bolter or bolt pistol, and frag and krak grenades.

He can Bolster which does increase the cover save of a terrain piece by +1. Yes 3+ cover is better than 4+. He can also repair vehicles with the Blessing. The Techie can fix an immobile or weapon destroyed on a vehicle with a dice roll of 5+. Now he has to be in base contact in the movement phase and vehicle cannot move or shoot until the following turn. His servo arm can also be used not only to repair, but as a powerfist attack as well. Thus the Techmarine is a better armored Marine with an extra powerfist attack.

Now he also has some options he can purchase: the typical combi-, plasma, power weapons and a bike. The two I will look at are the servo-harness and servitors.

The servo-harness adds some extra arms and guns to the Techmarine. It can also help with repair vehicles. It comes with an extra servo arm, which gives a second powerfist attack. It also has a plasma cutter which fires as twin-linked plasma pistol and a flamer.  Now the plasma cutter and flamer can fire in the same round; or one of them can fire and the Techie can shoot a weapon he his armed with. The harness will also add 1 to the dice roll to repair a vehicle. It does add 25 points to the Techie, but two powerfist attacks and two guns are handy.

She dices, slices and makes juliann fries!

You know her and love her! She’ll steal your heart, by ripping it out! The one the only……LELITH HESPERAX!

She is the leader of the Wych Cult of Strife. Unlike her Wych companions she is 100% combat drug free. She needs only her skill and steel to conquer a foe. She is nimble, quick and her body is a finely honed weapon. She is the champion of champions in the gladiatorial arena. Some whisper that her abilities are from an unnatural source. They whisper it, because to say it otherwise would be fatal.  She is the premier fighting HQ for the Dark Eldar and you should look no farther if that is your goal.

So Lelith has the standard Dark Eldar rules, Night Vision, Fleet, and Power Through Pain. She has some impressive stats as well, WS 9, BS 9, strength, toughness and wounds all 3, initiative 9, 4 attacks, leadership 9 and a 6+/ 4++ save. The strength and toughness are space elf standard; but look at that 4++ save and the initiative and WS….both 9. Damn that is great! She is also armed with wicked blades (two close combat weapons), barbed hair (counts as a shardnet and impaler) and plasma grenades. The plasma grenades are huge for combat and cover. Not much (yes a few things) is going to slow her down or going before her in close combat. She also comes with three special rules; Penetrating Blade, Quicksilver Dodge, and A League Apart. All this for just an in-game price of $1.75.

Book report

While on holiday I finally read my first Space Marine battle book, Helsreach. I was once a rabid fan of Black Library novels, well the 40K books. I am still a huge fan of the Eisenhorn trilogy, the first few Uriel Ventris books, Storm of Iron and the early Heresy books (up until Flight o' Eisenstein). I just fell out of favor and really a want to read any more 40K stuff. Why? I guess it was just getting stale.

A year ago I bought this book and watched it sit on my shelf. I decided I needed a book to read at night on vacation and grabbed it.

Well Helsreach is not awful, it is pretty 40K novel standard. What I did like was the fact they focused on an event that "happened," and used a few known characters (well some in cameo only). The battle at Helsreach during the third war on Armageddon. I really like the Armageddon wars for some reason. They are really appealing to me. Is it the vast Ork hordes. the outnumbered Imperial and Space Marine forces? I'm not sure, but for some reason I gobble up Armageddon stories.

This book focuses on Chaplian Grimaldus of the Black Templars, a known 40K character, and his force's defense of Hive Helsreach. They made him quite the fiery oratory hard ass a Astartes chaplain should be. I know on the tabletop Grimaldus is not super popular, but he is a named and usable model. There are also minor appearances by Seth, High Marshall Helbrect, and Yarrick. The Steel Legion plays a nice big role as it should. There is also the Titan Legion and Mechanicum are players as well. it is Armageddon and all these people/ forces should be there.

home again home again

Back last nite from Ohio/ West Virginia and I'm glad to see it is just as wet here as it was the last two days there. We stayed at North Bend again (a state park in the foothills of the Appalachians) in their very spartan cabins.  The weather was descent and we hiked. When it rained we caught up on movies and hit Last Night on Earth (a riot of a zombie game) and I even read Helsreach while I was out there.

The landscape reminds me of the Lord o' the Rings movies, maybe it is why I like it out there. Here are a few pics from three of the trails we hiked.

trail cuts around this, looked neat

cut through the rock, by red trail marker

cut through again, off to right..

....and through the other side



  Death on the trails! Well just the remains of a couple deer on separate trails.

It was also Easter and we decided, probably for the last time (my kid is "old" now) to hit the eggs. I did a couple, but I was impressed with his 40K eggs: a couple are supporting the Archenemy, a green tide Ork WAAAAAGGHHH!!, and there is even one for the Macragge marines (or the Indianapolis Colts). Not bad considering he was going from memory and only had Dudley's color stuff and a white crayon to work with.

Not a bad trip, except for the monsoon season that started the last two days there. Well back to reality tomorrow.

Real world interlude

Heading on a small holiday to enjoy time with my boy and the outside world. Won't have anything to post for you people for a while. See you when I see you.

XOXOXOXO

Me

Tactical squad with arms

My third troop choice is a 10 man tactical squad with missile launcher, flamer and sarge with power fist.

I have their weapons and arms done. So...they are essentially done. They all have a left knee pad in red as a squad marker. The sarge has a red right knee pad, just to make him a little different or to indicate his rank as a tactical sergeant. i know tactical squads are not Blood Angel typical fare, but these are Night Lords and they need some boots on the ground, not everyone gets a fast rhino or jump pack. I look for them to be my backfield objective holders or combat squadded for annoyance.



  I had a few Black Templar bits and thought the chained bolters would be a nice touch. I also really like the bolters with straps. I might have to get a few more of those in the future.

powerfist/ flamer combat squad



missile launcher combat squad



Last Multi Melta bike

Here is my last multi melta bike the squad. It has another diorama-ish feel. I was going for melta gunner dumps bike to unload on something. His buddy is pointing toward said target with his bolter or is preparing to provide cover fire (these are the twin linked bolters they are equipped with). As i look at these now, i'll probably hit the boltguns with another coat of badab black wash. They look a little too silver and shiny.

remains of some roadkill on the spike there

We go VROOOOM!!! too!

Here is the second of my attack bikes. Little diorama-ish, with the mounted biker pointing at something as he talks/orders to the melta gunner. Once again seems crowded on the base, but I like the idea better than just using a regular marine attack bike. Probably go back and drill the melta barrels out, it just looks better.



"Hey Steve! See that tank? Slag it!"





Vrooooooom!!

Have the fisrt of my attack bikes on their base. Two bikes - two wounds. Problem is it seems a bit crowded. Hopefully when flocked, it will help to break it up.

One multi-melta attack bike done, two to go.



Test Terminator

I have 5 Assault on Black Reach Terminators lying around and thought I might add them to the Night Lord mix, as I am still waiting on bits to finish my last troop slot (stupid slow e-bay seller).

Painted this guy up last nigh, quick and not real pretty, but is a test. I added some Chaos-ie flair; bullet hole skull chain, more stripped skin tabbard and shiny little buckle skull bit.

He is fairly boring, but I don't want the over the top Chaos Terminators, I think I want a minimalistic approach. I might get some Chaos fist/claws for the squad and a few shoulder pads, but I don't think I'll go decoration heavy. Much like the rest of the army, less decoration is more.



need to cut the tabbard a bit to make it look a little less like cloth



Have you seen this unit? Part 3

The Legion of the Damned has a strange history and great model support. Yet why are they never taken to war?

They really are nice models

 They come as a squad of four guys and a sergeant. They are boast the same stats as veteran marines (all 4's, 2 attacks, 1 wound leadership 10) and the sergeant has the same stats plus a WS 5. They have some special rules; fearless, slow and purposeful, aid unlooked for and unyielding spectres. They come armed with typical Marine fare as well; both style grenades, bolt pistol, and bolt gun.

Aid Unlooked For means that the Legion must always start in reserve and deploy via deep strike. Since they seem to appear where needed, this rule allows you to re-roll the scatter dice for their deep strike. You may re-roll not must.

Unyielding Spectres basically describes that they have a 3++ invulnerable save at all times. Well that isn't to shabby to have.

Fearless, we all know is both good and bad.

The Company of Brother Captain Terik (my Night Lord chapter)

After the Culling of Grendel’s World several small groups of Night Lord battle brothers remained. Whether they were left behind, wounded, too busy purging the populace to catch their ship it is unknown. However, several Brother Captains, Brother Sergeants and marines were left on a now planet now devoid of human life. The most battle hardened and senior Night Lord on planet was Brother Sergeant Terik. He and his 3^rd Claw of assault specialists; Gari, Navar, Varlo, Solen, Gavor, and surviving Apothecary began the task of building a new Company of Night Lords from among the hundred left upon Grendel’s World.

The rag tag Company soon found a couple of derelict drop ships and repaired them to get up into orbit. From there both ships made for low orbit where they discovered what would be their salvation; a crippled planetary defense platform and a wounded Imperial Dauntless Class Light Cruiser that looked to be slowly limping away from the planet. It appeared not everyone and everything was destroyed in the planetary culling.

A quarter of the remaining Night Lord under the leadership of brothers Gari and Navar boarded the defense platform, killed the few remaining PDF soldiers there and began salvaging everything they could. At the same time, Terik and the remainder of the Night lords boarded the Imperial cruiser and set about capturing the crew and refugees on board. They pulled out the most able bodied and tech savvy of the bunch. They then set about slaughtering the remaining survivors, feasting on their fear, torment and screams.

After forty days of torturous labor, the slaves had repaired the ship with parts salvaged from low orbit wrecked craft, the remaining defense platform and what they could find planet-side. The Nigh Lords and their slave crew were now, space borne. However, without a navigator, they would not be able to safely achieve warp travel. They traveled the system’s known space lanes for months and then a rouge trader vessel drops from warp within range of the Night Lord’s cruiser. Seeing a battle damaged Imperial ship, the rouge trader captain offers assistance. It is their first and last mistake.

Terik’s troops quickly board the rouge trader vessel, over power the crew and secure the ship for themselves. They once again find the most “useable” crew members and the ship’s navigator. The rest of the crew is put to death in a most gruesome manner.

Terik and his reformed company have regained the ability to travel the warp. The rouge trader vessel is stripped of all necessary parts, equipment and then left derelict. Terik and his force turn their sights the Forge World of Idumea. According to the information gleaned from the ships computer bank it has a suitable supply of weapons, armor, manpower and a small skitarii force defending it.

The Imperial Cruiser drops into the warp. Its location and target plotted. The first conquest of The Company of Brother Captain Terik is underway.

Sounds like a 90's college radio girl band..Lady Malys

Lady Malys was the 1^st consort of Asdrubael Vect, well until he became bored with her.  He cast her aside to find another suitable lady. This, for some reason, left Lady Malys a bit jaded. So, she set out to gain fame and revenge on Vect. She started her own Kabal, the Poison Tongue and struck out for glory. She traveled the highways and byways of the Dark Eldar and eventually ran afoul of a strange entity in the webway.  This entity had power, and Malys knew it. She challenged it to a test of wills, knowing her extreme cunning would win her the day. After multiple games of Connect Four, (at least this is what I picture) or some space/ demon game, Lady Malys was victorious. Her reward was the heart of this entity and its blade. Once she had these she replaced her heart with that of the warp monster/demon thing, and who wouldn’t? Since that time she has gained some precognitive abilities a defense against powers for the warp and a limited invulnerability.



There is no picture of Lady Malys, but Here is Lian Shi from Dynasty Warriors 7.
Why her?   Do you really need to ask yourself that?

Well that is the short tale of Lady Malys, another of the unique HQ choices for the Dark Eldar. She rolls on the board at a $1.30 with the regular Dark Eldar fair; fleet, night vision, and power through pain. She sports a WS7, BS 7, strength, toughness and wounds of 3, initiative 7, 4 attacks, leadership 10 and a 5+ save. She looks like most Dark Eldar HQ choices right there. She comes with a steel fan (close combat weapon) and plasma grenades. What make her special are her rules: Precognizant, Crystal Heart and her gear: Lady’s Blade and the Crystal Heart.

Precognizant this allows her, after both sides deploy, to redeploy D3 Dark Eldar units. They may even be taken from the table and placed in reserve. This can be extremely helpful for a first strike force that needs units in certain locations, or placing units as a feint before removing them to a new locale.

This ability also confers to her a 4++ invulnerable save.

Crystal Heart the warp creature’s heart gives the Lady, and any unit she joins, immunity to psychic powers. This can be kind of handy with all the psy powers showing up in armies lately, well various Marine armies. However, it does not stop powers that buff a unit (Hammerhand, Warp Time, etc) only offensive powers that target her and/or her unit.

Lady’s Blade is a Djinn Blade with a twist, it doesn’t attack her. This is a power weapon that allows +2 extra attacks a round. You still roll two dice and if doubles are rolled the blade rebels. It does not attack the wielder like a Djinn Blade, instead it ceases to function. So you don’t stab yourself, instead you lose your power weapon. Ick!

She suffers and benefits like all the other Dark Eldar (weak in body, need pain tokens etc.).Well the lady Malys has her uses as a pre-game deployment changer, nullifier of offensive unit targeting psy powers and a great leadership of 10. Sadly that is about all. The 4++ is helpful as are the plasma grenades, but she just doesn’t bring much else. It seems like the Lady was almost a unit upgrade character that they switched to an HQ.  Sadly the points spent on her can get you a myriad of more useful HQ options. Oh yeah, and there is no model for her either.

Here come the Raptors and post 100

Well here is my Raptor (Blood Angels assault squad). It is ten men strong, but I look to run it as two 5 men suiciders. There are only eight photos of the ten, as two lost some parts during the photo shoot. They were  victims of a horrendous warp beast attack, or my cat thought they needed smacked off the table.



Angelus Boltguns make for a nice touch. They give you a free hand to throttle your victims.



the min-max resin jump packs are aces! i need more

melta suicide deep strikers

This is also my 100th post.I'm sure that means very little to most people, but I wasn't sure if I'd have enough to say for this long.  Thanx for those who read my ramblings and shame on those who don't.

An unneed break from 40K

Over a week ago after, being drummed in 40K, we went out for foods and such. I was brought to my attention Dynasty Warriors 7, a long favorite of our gaming clan, was out. Well we were told it was to come out the following week. So as I sat waiting for bits to finish another five man squad, I ran out and picked up Dynasty Warriors 7 on Saturday. I wish I had not.



I'm so angry and yet so incredibly pretty!



Now this game is a very polarizing in the video game world. There are rabid lovers and haters of this game, and many who know nothing of it. I am one of those people who love it. This game is button mashing at its finest. It once again, as they all do, it covers the unification of China. You play one of the numerous characters/ people of that time and fight your way through the three kingdoms. I was a fan of the Three Kingdoms strategy/ world builder games. I then became a fan of the button mashing beat’em up version.

So far it is no better or worse than the last version. The story mode takes you through the different factions; Wei, Wu, Shu and Jin. The conquest mode lets you fight through all of China as the officer of your choosing (a sort of open mode mode like the previous games, with a few twists). There is the option to swap out your characters main weapon for another which is new, but it just gives you the move set of another character armed with same weapon. It is fun if you tire of wasting guys with a halberd and want to switch to twin swords. I have not finished the game and most of the time there is some unlock after you beat the main story-ish mode, maybe this time as well.

In closing is this for everyone? No. Is it fun? Well if cutting through hundreds to thousands of enemy soldiers isn’t fun what is? If wielding swords, axes, pikes, spears, arm cannons, throwing knives, twin rods, battle fans (yup kick ass with a feather fan), boat anchor (yes one guy fights with a boat anchor) or flute isn’t fun I ask you again. What is? Are over the top characters (that could have no way been part of feudal China) and pretty 80’s action movie dialogue fun? Ummm…yes!

If you hate it you’ll stay away. If you like it, you’ll play it. If you know nothing about it you’ll stay oblivious. If you’re forced to play it you’ll develop your own opinion. Problem is I’ll be battling through ancient China for a bit instead finishing another part of my Night Lords. Oh well…back to fighting for the glory of Shu!

"YOU'RE THE DUKE! YOU'RE THE DUKE! A NUMBER ONE!"

A great Escape from New York quote (delivered by the late/ great Donald Pleasence)there to start the next Dark Eldar unique HQ review, Duke Sliscus.



The Duke of New York is one take on Duke Sliscus





I see him more like Sol from Doomsday

He commands the Sky Serpents. He is the true pirate of the Dark Eldar army. He deals in contraband, fast ships, slave raids and the loot it brings. He is famous for unpredictable behavior. He is known to be both charming and bloodthirsty. He is bit of an eccentric; never wearing the same clothes twice, dines on poisoned food, and is known to carve poetry into the flesh of his foes (great imagery there). He also has luminous alabaster skin that is hand scrubbed after each real space raid. It seems he cannot fathom the air of the lesser races on his skin. So yeah, he seems a bit weird, except when you have power it is eccentric.

He boasts a WS 6, BS 6, strength and toughness 3, 2 wounds, 3 attacks, leadership of 9 and a 4+/ 6++ armor save. He is armed with a blast pistol, plasma grenades, ghostplate armor, combat drugs, shadowfield (so a 2++ until that fails then a 6++ ghostplate save) and the serpents bite. He has all the regular Dark Eldar rules, fleet, night vision, power through pain, and is an independent character. He also has Serpent’s Venom, Serpent’s Bite, Low Orbit Raid and Contraband. All this runs him up to $1.50 which is pretty reasonable, in my mind for a HQ choice.

Serpents Venom any Warrior or Trueborn squad the Duke deploys with, at the start of the game, gets their splinter weapons a buff, wounding on 3+. A nice little buff if you build a big ol’ squad of warriors with dual splinter cannons and the Duke. Just an ugly thing if their target is non-vehicular.

Serpent’s Bite these are twin blades the Duke wields in close combat. They wound on 2+ and if you roll a 5 or 6 when wounding they count as if caused by a power weapon. I like these you can put out 5 attacks on the charge, hit on 3+, and wound on 2+. Then if you roll really well to wound, you get power weapon wounds to boot.

Low Orbit Raid Ravagers, Venoms and Raiders in the Duke’s army have the deep strike ability. Now this is great since you get the benefit with out the added cost per vehicle. Want vehicles falling from the sky and don’t want to pay the points? Then just take the Duke.

Contraband allows you to roll two times on the combat drug chart and choose which roll you want. This is stellar if run a lot of units with combat drugs along with the Duke. You have a great chance to get the result you want, or at least a better result than you initially rolled; just watch those double one’s. That roll will make any Dark Eldar player cry.

He is no slouch in combat. Having a blast pistol is nice, especially with WS 6. He can also tear it up in close combat with his attacks, initiative, plasma grenades, drugs, shadowfield/ ghost plate armor (his is one of the better armored Dark Eldar in the book) and Serpent’s Bite.

He fails as do the rest of the army in strength and toughness. So once again look for him to get better with drugs and pain tokens, just like the rest of this army. Man do I sound like a broken record when it comes to this.

After the Baron, the Duke is my second favorite unique HQ. He brings a lot to a force with his rules and fairly low cost. If you want vehicles raining from the skies, grab the Duke. If you want a fire base of warriors/ trueborn with 3+ poisoned splinter rifles/cannons, start the Duke with them. If you like a ton of Wyches and want the “good” combat drugs just add the Duke to the list.



Randomness and closing in on a century (or post #97)

Well low and behold as I arrived home yesterday and there was the shiny new Grey Knight codex. There is a tiny amount of satisfaction gained when you get a pre-order a day prior to official release. So I gave it a quick once over and was not overly impressed, but I'll dive into it this weekend and see what is really up with it.

Second is I want to say good luck to the people attending Adepticon this weekend. My team from last year is not attending. We waited a week after pre-registration opened to sign up and we were surprised to see the teams tournament was full. A reason why my painting slowed a bit, but I have lots of new Night Lords photos to post. I was busy painting while I had no computer, and playing Dragon Age.

Third, you Adepticon people, get and post lots and lots of pretty pictures. We all want to see them.

Last, and most importantly, don't believe anything on the interweb today. It is April 1st and that means everyone will be trying to be funny or dupe the gaming, movie, geek, nerd and general community. It is an every year occurrence that today is amateur hour. So if there is a new 40K, movie, game, sport, life or whatever story/ rumor, pass by it. There will be subtle believable ones and there will be outlandish rumors. Don't be the guy that falls for it and posts it on some site. You'll look the fool. Don't believe anything today that is to good to be true. I've done what I can now the rest is up to you people.

However, it may already be to late!