Revenge of the Random!

Lets see, been a while since I did one of my random posts, bunch of different stuff here...

First, online gaming, for the three of us that care: Mythic (guys who do the Warhammer MMO) is getting a shakeup, I might actually reload my WAR account in the next few months to see if they make it more worth playing. Actually, let me rephrase that. When I played, I enjoyed myself for the most part. I killed my account off a while back, because I wasn't playing it all that much in favor of WoW. Seeing as most of my friends, as well as my wife, were not interested in WAR, I was flying solo, and community is my favorite part of of MMOs. Im expecting them to keep the heavy PvP content, but Id like to hope they add some more PvE stuff to draw in more of the others.

My shelf of current projects was cleaned off last week, with just the Red Scorpions sitting there. I was trying to decide what I wanted to put up there with them, and before work tonight I set up my Imperial Guard. I haven't decided if they are going to stay up there, as I was also considering setting up my Orks.

Another option I was looking at was my Eldar... though working on them is sure to piss my wife off. Why is that, you ask? Because I have exactly two squads of 5 dire avengers and a farseer... which means Id need to buy stuff to make 500 pts, and that would bring down the wrath of the queen of the apartment. ;) Honestly, I cant blame her, finances are never really good, and this is an expensive hobby. :P

Red Scorpions have been getting a tiny amount of love lately, the four remaining devastators have gotten work done on their chapter badges, and Ive mostly assembled the rhino I picked up last week. Just need to add doors and tracks, then glue on some of the brass symbols. Ive been thinking I want a standard look and load for my Rhinos. Whether that's all getting basic equipment or loading them with HK Missiles, I haven't decided. I still need to get three more rhinos and a razorback... and a command squad to fill that razorback. ;)

Everyone has probably heard about the proposed boycott of planetstrike, right? I was trying to decide whether Id participate, when it dawned on me that Ill prolly not buy it for a few months at least, since there is so much other stuff I need to pick up anyways. As far as the reasoning behind it, well... The guys behind it want GW to support books that haven't had an update in a decade. An admirable goal. I agree 100%. The way I see GW looking at it (aside from $$$$), is "hey, we have put out a bunch of Space Marine army books lately, lets give the gamers something different!"... And this *could* be used as an opportunity to promote several armies at once, and put out more plastic terrain... I like this as well.

Of course, the beancounters say "oh nice expansion, MORE SPACE MARINES!".

I really need to get to work on my terrain. The Sector is still sitting in its box, the trees still need to be primed and painted, and the hills are still just primered. Times like this make me consider pulling out my old airbrush and seeing if I can get it to work. That would make the hills (at least) easier.

Guess I should do something work related, seeing as Im at work... ;)

Name that planet!

So, late last week I picked up a Rhino for my Red Scorpions, the first of 4 or so needed for the 1500 point build Im looking at. I think Ive got enough symbols left on the brass etch sheet that I wont need to get another... And on Sunday, I traded off my box o' rats to Mikie for a brand new Imperial Sector! All Ive done with that so far is pop the top and get a whiff of that new plastic smell... and look at the instruction sheet.

Ive been trying to decide on what to do with it, whether Im going to need to make changes to my board or what... So far, Im thinking my options are to pick up some more fabric (grey this time) and not use any of the other terrain I have made, or figure a way to make these work on a brown tabletop, with trees and hills... and Im leaning towards the latter choice.

I think Ill be spraying them black, giving them a thin coat or three of the brown paint, then heavy drybrushes of Tin Bitz and BG Metal, then washing it all back down with the brown again, sorta crud of the centuries. The idea being that this is the outskirts of an abandoned Imperial hive or city.... I havnt decided for sure on the base color, might do each one differently, but the drybrushing and washes are pretty much what Ill do, if I decide on this idea... This, of course, leads to the title of the post, with am I going to make a story to theme this all around? I just might....

Doing this will mean that I need to assemble them to look as wrecked as possible, and probably work some sand into the corners as detritus of the ages. So, out of 4 buildings they say I can make, I might be able to squeeze out another corner or three, I think... And once I get these together, maybe Ill finally play a game of Cityfight... just in time for Planetstrike to come out... ;)

Weekend stuff...

First up is a pic of my recently rebased Imperial Fists, First Tactical Squad of the Second Company. Since the picture was taken, Ive touched up the tac badges, and still have to add unit numbers, and do something with the VSgt's banner. But I like how the yellow looks, even if I loath painting it.


Next up, the complete Red Scorpion Assault Squad Eight of the Fifth Company. Nothing more planned for this unit, time to work on finishing that Devastator squad.

Speaking of that Devastator squad, they have 6 models completed from before, and four models primered, drybrushed grey, and with the yellow-ish trims painted. Im hoping to get them worked on this week.

I also drybrushed the metal onto 4 of those dwarfs, and most of their cannon. Only 25 more to go!

More work was done this weekend on my table. I finally got the other sheet of fabric I need, and once I clear everything off, I plan to tack it onto the plywood. The hills got some love as well, as I gave them all a coat of thinned elmers glue mixed with sand. Im thinking Ill be spraying (and praying I got it on thick enough) tomorrow.

Tonight, I have a goal. To discover a source of decent plastic trees that are sold fairly cheap. Ask nicely, and Ill share. ;)

Oh, and I joined on that MyBattalion thing, as Ryan. ;) Check it out Here.

Tables, games, and other random bits.

So, Saturday morning, I was productive. I hit the fabric store, and got a sheet of "potting soil" brown fabric. I hit Target, and got a box of tacks, and some wood glue. Then I went home and waited for a friend to get up and head over, and we hit Lowes, and got a sheet of plywood, then dragged it back to my place... Unfortunately the sheet of fabric I got was about half the size I needed, due to my not understanding how they sold it and not checking before I left, so Ill be heading back some time this week to get more. That didnt stop me and Mikie from playing a game though! Terrain was a bit sparse, though that should have helped him rather then me.

1000 points, Tau vs Red Scorpions. Annihilation, Dawn of War. Same list as previously reported for me, he had a commander with 1 body guard, a unit of Kroot, two units of fire warriors, a unit of gun drones, and a unit of stealthsuits.

Highlights of the game: Chaplain and assault squad beat the stuffing out of the drones, then get shot to bits by the commander and BG, Chaplain survived, then proceeded to solo kill the commander, bodyguard, and a good part of one of the Firewarrior squads.

The Kroot... Im not sure what to think of them. They spent the entire game either hitting dirt cuz of my shooting or dusting themselves off. I think the only time they moved was turn 1 (he went first), then at the end, when they finally broke and ran. They took a good chunk of my shooting, but most of it was incidental fire, in that I didnt have any better targets at the moment. My devastators worked wonderfully, they "reached out and crushed someone" every turn. On the other hand, I didnt concentrate on one target with them, I spread the wealth over the entire army all game. Not sure if that was a good decision or not.

In the end, I lost the assault squad and a handful of tactical marines, he was left with a few Firewarriors. Its always harder to pull a lesson from a win then a loss, but I think the lessons for this game was that assault troops need larger units, they need to be supported better, and that if a "tarpit" target like the kroot show their faces again, I need to maximise shooting on them, so they dont soak fire for the entire game.

Ill also try to get some pictures of the table after I get the other sheet of fabric.

Keith looks to be joining our campaign, so there are Orks inbound! Still not sure what day we are planning on playing, Mikie seems to want Mondays, but havnt heard what works for Keith.

I need to get around to making more terrain too...