Games Day Weekender

Well with less than 24 hours to go, the excitement is palpable. Me and my friend have decided to stretch the excitement out even further and make a weekend of it.

Ignoring these "Mini Games Days" happening up and down the country at GW stores, we're celebrating in our own way. We're not sleeping tonight due to the fact that we have to up at 3am, so instead we're grabbing a few beers, few mates and playing an all-night 40k game.

If we've got time after that, we're having a painting session, before walking down to catch the coach for the big day itself

Once we're actually there, i've got a list of things i want to check out, also I'm picking up my Forge World order of some pre-heresy marines plus weapons and a Contemptor Dreadnought to kick off my planned Pre-Heresy army properly. I'm still teetering between doing Thousand Sons or Space Wolves, but I may see what Forgeworld are bringing out Space Wolves-wise with the next AI book before deciding. Or else do both, given my love of both Legions

For the most part though, big thing at Games Day this year is going to be Black Library. A must for me is picking up Salvations Reach, the new Gaunts Ghost book, as well as getting it signed by Mr Abnett himself, as well as getting in the "Writing for Black Library" seminar

I'll post what i can up tomorrow, but you might have to wait until early next week before i can.

Anyway, off i go, wish me luck. I'm off to game, drink, be merry in the highlight of my gaming year

Stumble Gun

This is the start of a Stumble Gun for my Blood Pact.



For those of you who don't know, it's a terror weapon unleashed by the Archenemy in the Gaunts Ghost book His Last Command.
Essentially they're spheres of metal and guns that are literally rolled at the enemy, bouncing around randomly, crushing and killing all in their path with both their weight and energy weapons studded across its surface.

I loved the idea of these balls of destruction the moment i saw them and i've wanted to build one for ages. I'm still not sure what i'm going to use it as yet, but i'll work that out later.

Hopefully i'll be able to show you more in the next couple of days

Deamon Challenge

I've decided to set myself a challenge, seeing as I'm bored and
I've got a few days to kill.

I will turn this...



and this...



And the contents of my half-finished figure case...

... into a fully finished 1750-2000pt 40K Deamon army by 5pm Monday. Seems a tall order i know, but i have twenty Plaguebearer-Zombies to finish basing, 10 Possessed-Guardsmen-Horrors to paint and my Soul Grinder (the 'ruined' Land Raider in the pics above) to finish up and I'm done, so i'm confident of my chances.

So, donning my paint brush, I'll check in on monday to let you know how it goes and post pictures. I've promised myself lots of shiny Storm of Magic stuff if i manage it

I'm so easily distracted aka. Deathwing

Painted these up today, as Deathwing are my next side-project. Blood Pact are still going to be my main force for the league, i'm just going to be trying these out in friendly games.

I'm aiming to field a 'pure' Deathwing force eventually, if i ever get them all painted. These are still WIP and i have about another 20 Terminators to paint.

I'm also planning to test my freehand skills by painting the Deathwing banner shown in the DA book

Degrees of 'counts as' - Being reasonable?

Played two games today. One in the ongoing WHFB league i'm in and the other with the space wolf list today. Lost horribly in both cases, but i didn't mind too much. But the second game threw up issues of 'counts as' and reasonability.

Basically, we both wanted to test the new space wolves codex. Neither of us own the 'official' models, so there was a lot of 'counts as' being used.

First up, he put a Black Reach captain, a Terminator Chaplain and a Dreadnought down and said 'that's A Wolf Lord, A Rune Priest and Bjorn'. Now i'm a reasonable guy (not that i'm saying he's not), so i said, yeah, no Problem.

I then unpacked my stuff and put Sarpedon and Tellos down and said "That's Njal and a Wolf Lord". Instantly, he blurted out, pointing to Sarpedon "but he's on too big a base, you can't use him!", followed by a retort from me. I'd been using this guy for months as Tigerius (who's on a small base), with no problems, yet the moment i wanted to use him as a new character, (who is more or less the equivilant of Tigerius, but sold on a terminator base), it was apparently bang out of order, just because he had some apparently powerful special rules, which had yet to be run through the local gaming mill, so the hype over them was still believed.

However, in his new-codex-oh-my-god-it's-overpowered, he chose to ignore the fact that Tellos, my Wolf Lord, for exactly the same fluff reasons as Sarpedon, had chainblades for hands(count-as wolf claws), no chest armour (but highly mutated, so counting as runic armour and belt of russ) and no representation of the jump pack i gave him (inhuman speed). If i'd wanted to make an overpowered list, i could have classed Tellos as Canis Wolfborn, who is very Tellos-like, in that he's also fast, tough and kick-ass in combat.

It's not like i was wanting to gain an unfair advantage by using Sarpedon on a bigger base, i was merely wanting to represent one of my favourite BL characters in a fluffy manner, as well as make use of the model i'd commissioned off Ron.

If i'd really wanted to be picky, i'd have said in that case, he couldn't use his Chaplain as a Rune Priest, but instead i took the cowards way out and bargained with him. I let him use his missile launchers from his tactical squads (being thrust into the role of grey hunters) as plasma guns in exchange for him 'being reasonable' about Sarpedon. In the end, Sarpedon was vapourised by a lascannon with the opening shot of the game and those extra plasma guns cost me the match, taking out my drop pod troops as they landed. The game was over by turn three.

I wouldn't have even been bothered that much if his force hadn't consisted of a mis-match of several other SM armies, including Dark Angels and Codex Marines, with no consistancy of colouration, whereas, i'd taken the time to paint every model in Soul Drinkers colours and model things like Mark of the Wulfen clearly (mutations). The only reason why Sarpedon isn't on a terminator base is because when building him, Ron suggested that he'd look better on a bigger base, else he'd look ridiculously squashed in on a 40mm one.

Speaking to Colin, the club organiser afterwards, he said it was a little unfair considering it was a friendly game and if he was in that position he would have let me use Sarpedon without forcing concessions upon me. But unfortunately there is a fair sprinkling of competitve players in my local gaming group, whereas me and Colin are more in favour of balanced or fluffy lists, so there's often clahes of 'gaming personalities'

So, who would you favour in this situation. Me or him?

How far should people reasonably take 'counts as'?

Space Wolves for the right reasons?

Having bought and looked through the new SW codex, i've decided to collect a small contingent of space wolves to accompany my Soul Drinkers force. It won't be huge force, just enough for me to have fun with it. But i plan to use the SW codex in a few games.

Many may say i'm jumping on the bandwagon here, but i'm no powergamer or army junky, so i don't care.

These are the main 3 reasons behind my decision:

1. Epic models.

I love the new space wolves sprue that's come out. So many modelling possibilities have opened up it's unbeliveable. I plan to get a few of the basic SW boxes to make a few squads Blood Claws and a Wolf Lord at the very least. I'll probably make a lone wolf too, but in general, SW's will feed my love of making character models like no other amry will.

Plus, i reckon a few SW heads scattered through my IG army will look awesome.


2. Fluffy Soul Drinkers.

So many options in the SW book are just perfect for representing many of the unique things in the Soul Drinkers books,something my Raven Guard-based Soul Drinkers have struggled with. eg. Njal and his Lord of Tempests ability is just perfect for representing the effects of Sarpedons 'The Hell' psychic power, whereas before, i've had to make do with a 'count as' Tigerius since the loss of Fear of the Darkness from the SM list

Also, a Wolf lord with twin lightning claws and saga of the warrior born just screams the name Tellos at me. Maybe even the Mark of the Wulfen instead. Eithe rof these two would convey the 'frenzied killing machine with chainsaw hands' thing he's got going on.

Only downside to this idea is that assault squads are only ws and bs 3, but that shouldn't be too much of a problem, with their +2 attacks on the charge making up for it.

3. Play style.

I play very gung ho with SM's anyway, often favouring glorious charges and creating epic combats, when i really should be focussing on objectives. With this in mind, the army i envisage me having at the moment is an army based around blood claws, impeteous and foolhardy, out to prove themselves and start their sagas with a bang. I'm aiming to avoid any really cheesy or broken choices/ combinations in my list (so no Wolfwing, Thunderwolf Cavalry, etc), as i know many players who are starting SW's just for the chance to use this stuff, which smacks of powergaming.

So, as you can see. I have very valid reasons for wanting to start SW's, other than just 'because they're new'. I've wanted to do them for years, ever since i saw the 13th company in the EoT campaign, but various other projects kept getting in the way.

What do people think?

Have I chosen SW's for the right reason, or do you think i'm just another army junky latching onto the latest thing.

Deathstrikes are fun!

Sometimes you just have to cackle maniaclly and hope that your doomsday device works!

Played my first game with a deathstrike today and i have to say, it was a blast!(no pun intended)

Deathstrikes pretty much sum up the way i like to play. Fun, quirky and they doesn't always pay off, but it's awesome to play with them anyway.

I reckon i need to convert up a guard officer with a suit and moustache, just for effect. He can be a 'counts' as Creed, with the four orders a turn representing him going nuts and shouting at everyone in the general vicinity!

Essentially, my guard were holed up in the building they'd hidden the deathstrike behind and kept feeding the Deathwing infantry squads until it went off.

Luckily, it went off turn 2 and hit bang on target in the centre of the huge cluster of Deathwing terminators bearing down on my squishy infantry squads with the full blast of 6". I have never seen anyone roll so many fives and sixes as this bloke did, although i did wipe out a good half-dozen or so terminators. The look on his face was worth the points cost of the missile on its own!

Unfortunatley, it didn't slow him down and his army swept up my flank, all the while under fire from guardsmen with Autocannons and Plasma Guns. One plucky Commissar wiuth a power sword even managed to kill one up close and personal before being gutted by Belial. In the end we called it a draw, due to the fact that my opponent had to dash off, but it was a very fun game and i'm looking forward to facing him again in two weeks time.

Would a second Deathsrike be excessive?