Heretical Commercials (Blogs & Roleplay)

Hello bloggers, just a quick post today, mainly to highlight the blog of a very old friend who I have recently rediscovered and started gaming with again. Forgotmytea and I started gaming together at some point around 2000, but lost contact after going to college and uni. In the last month however I have not only discovered that he still paints and plays wargames, but also that he is a fellow blogger!

So head over to Forgotmytea where you can read about his growing Epic Eldar army (xenos rivals to my own glorious Imperial force) as well as his established Necron army of doom.

The first of hopefully a few awesome objective markers, made by Forgotmytea

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In other news, I myself have descended further in to the world of geekdom and have been convinced to try something that I have resisted for so long: Roleplaying Games.

Our GM, who has more roleplay experience in his little finger than I do in my whole body has decided to introduce us to The World of Darkness, a game set in the modern day where Vampires and Werewolves exist alongside mankind.

We have already begun the preliminaries, sorting out characters and background etc. I myself have assumed the role of a Russian Vampire, born under the rule of the Tsars and serf to a powerful noble, who just so happened to be a vampire. Exiled to the UK after the revolution I am always keen to take revenge on...well, just about anybody I can. Links to shadowy figures such as Rasputin are already being formed and the whole thing looks to be a lot of beer swigging fun. If I can, I will get some write-ups sorted and posted here.

Finally, if I do get into the spirit of this roleplay business (and I must admit I was skeptical), then I hope to GM my own Dark Heresy based adventures. To this end I picked up the book yesterday, and dear god it is beautiful. If the price tag wasn't quite so high I would recommend it to anybody just for the fluff sections; as it is I am very pleased with my purchase. I wont be performing any in-depth reviews, as I have no roleplaying experience to judge it by, but as a product in itself it certainly get a thumbs up from me!

Tale of Painters 2 Deadline 1: Met (Sort of...)

This post my first begin with an apology. I have well and truly failed to keep apace with 73rd's excellent A Tale of Even More Painters. I am sad that I didn't have the time to sort out my entries to the last few deadlines, but it has been great to see how the group has melded together, and how like minded hobbyists can offer each other a great amount of support and advice. 73rd, if you read this then please consider me off the challenge, but I wish you and the rest of the entrants the very best of luck!

A second apology also goes to the rest of the blogesphere. I've been remiss in barely commenting on so much of the great work that goes on out there. I'm going to try and follow the lead set by Gamer's World in suggesting the Common Posters Group, as it is unfair that I take so much enjoyment from what I read but do not give anything back. Damn my short attention span!

Anyway, despite failing A Tale of Even More Painters I have been able to keep up the longer term goals set by the Librarium Online challenge. Below are some shots of my entry for the first month:

1. Epic IG

Mechanised Infantry Company - 400pts

At 400pts completed I have managed to stay on target with my Epic force, and I am really enjoying painting at the smaller scale. In particular it was great fun painting the Chimeras, and I do love seeing them arrayed out in a mechanised column.

The scheme itself is rather simple, a military looking grey with highlights, and then simple highlighted browns and greens for all the stowed kit. I want to convey and real utilitarian and military feel with my IG armies. These are not the glory boy marines, all polished and shiny, these are the grunts that bear the brunt of the galaxies fighting and suffer for it...

2. Praetorian Guard

Infantry Squad w/ Grenade Launcher - 55pts

After only managing to complete one squad I am already 145pts behind where I should be with my 40k Guard, leaving me a lot of work to do next month! However, I am pleased that they are at least off the ground and that I am starting to get to grips with using the Army Painter.

Although I do consider it cheating slightly I cant deny that the Army Painter dip is the only way I could conceive of getting an IG army done in a reasonable time, and I pleased with the inital results. The type of shading style you get with the Army Painter also reflects the more realistic and darker tone that I wanted for my IG - getting away from the heroic style of my Dark Angels. I have also added in some details, making sure that all the lasgun targeting lenses are painted properly, as well as detailing the eyes and adding a few subtle highlights here and there (the sergeants sword for example).

I am sorry for the quality of the pictures, it is becoming clear that my camera phone is not up to the job! This said, I would love to hear any comments or criticism that people have.

For next month expect to see an Epic Armoured Company, as well as 3 more Praetorian Squads. This, at least, is the plan...

Thanks for reading!

Dark Angels Updates: Objectives

More new photos for you all, this time of the objective markers that you first saw here. Mostly straightforward work on these, although greenstuffing the tread for the marine took a little effort, especially as I'm not a fan of green stuffing. I keep on meaning to work up the courage to try and freehand a chaos star on the black helmet, but so far I haven't managed it. Soon though...

I've got to say that making objective markers is not something I originally planned on doing but, now that I have, it is certainly something I'll be doing again! It adds another level of story to all the games you play, as well as looking very cool. I even find myself hoping we will roll up objective games, even though my DA are far better at kill points!

Comments welcome guys :)

Dark Angels Updates: Deathwing Squad 3

Well, I've finally found a digital camera I can borrow, and this means I can show you the progress I've had in the last few months. First up is the Deathwing Squad that you saw as a WiP a few months ago. I recently found the time to finish off my 'wing collection, and I'm very proud of them!

Doesn't that last photo just look cool! Though I can't believe I missed the time stamp. And, while we are looking at it, how horrifically out of date is it... *goes to fiddle with camera*...

You can also see below a picture of my whole Deathwing collection, a feat that has taken god knows how many hours to achieve. Apologies for the rubbish pic, I really must build a light box!

This signals the end of my Deathwing painting for the foreseeable future. This said, my last post noted that I had just pre-ordered Space Hulk, and if those Blood Angels Termis are easily converted, I can see them making superb reinforcements ...

Next up, when I get a bit more time to post, will be my new Tactical Squad, Rhino and the painted objective markers.

TOEMP Deadline 1: Met... Oh, and SPACE HULK!!!

So, let the challenges roll in! Despite it being set at crazily short notice (your insane 73rd!), I was able to meet first The Tale of Even More Painters deadline. 73rd tasked the group to paint 75pts of models, to bed us in for the start of the challenge.

Given that I am painting my brand new Epic Imperial Guard force for the challenge, I have decided I will double all the targets set for those painting the larger scale models, simply to make it fairer for the rest of the bloggers in the contest. This means that my target was to paint 150pts of epic which, using some dodgy maths, equates to roughly 3 quarters of an infantry company, which you can see below:

As you can see, I've chosen a fairly simple paint scheme for the infantry. I had originally intended to paint them up in Praetorian colours, but I decided that it would not fit with the greatcoat'ed models. I went for a grubbier and WWI style drab uniform, which I think befits the larger scale of epic.

It has been an interesting and very welcome change painting epic scale models. It is certainly an easier process than painting Deathwing! I'm cracking on with more of the infantry stands, as I'm committed to paint the rest of the Infantry company (13 stands in total) and a Leman Russ squadron for the LO Tale of Painters. Oh, and then to the 40k scale Praetorians. I'm going to be busy!

Below you can see my Epic collection to date. This is why I love the game - there is something brilliant about seeing tank companies arrayed along with massed infantry. Maybe I just like parades...

As well as the visual scope, I have also found the game rules really fun and very challenging. The step from using tactics to taking on a more strategic overview is a big leap, but an enjoyable one. I hope to be able to set up some battle reports soon, so look out for that!

And finally...

I've you've missed the hubbub around the pre-release of Space Hulk, then you are probably living under a rock. Or dead. Or both.

Either way, I've seen the released pictures of the boxed game, and I was impressed enough to pre-order it on the spot! My only complaint is that I've going to have to heavily convert the Blood Angels terminators to make them Deathwing ready, but I'm absolutely sure it will be worth it! Look forward to a review of the game, short after it arrives at the beginning of September.

Ooooh dear god I'm excited!!

I would have love to have written more for this post, but alas I'm in a rush. But please do let me know what you think of my epic efforts. Do you get it...epic efforts.

I'll get my coat.

Bristol Vanguard Spoils of War Part 2

Hello again people! Two posts in two days, what a pace! Either way, I hope it is a sign of more regular content in the future.

My second day at the Vanguard Spoils of War was less than successful in game terms, with my Dark Angels suffering two losses. However, in a sign of how well run the weekend was run, both games were very enjoyable; with the second game against a Thousands Suns force being particularly cinematic.

Spoils was a very interesting tournament, in that it was explicitly a 'campaign weekend' as opposed to a competitive event. Special rules were devised for the various tables, for example having ALL the terrain on a board rotate 90 degrees every turn on a roll of 3+. On the final game all tables were positioned around a central table, on which a warp rift had occurred. At the beginning of each game turn each player rolled a dice for their army. Each unit in the army was then moved that amount towards the rift, being destroyed if it hit it. Most interestingly, this rule applied to ALL the other boards, with units being dragged towards the central board, and being destroyed if they reached a table edge. This led to some very amusing situations, and is the sort of wacky stuff you just couldn't do in a competitive tournament. I can say how much fun these sort of events are, and I would strongly recommend that anybody to give anything like it a good go!

Anyway, I didn't have time to collate any in-depth battle reports, but here are a few more pictures of the event for you all to look over!

The Warp Rift in progress

A particularly good looking game of Orks vs. the Praetorian Guard. 2000pts and models galore!

Below are some pics of my last game against the Sons. A very visually striking game on a great board and, most importantly, a wonderful opponent to play against.

And finally, some pictures of some of best painted armies on display...

Eldar

An awesome Chaos army, including a truly fearsome Daemon Prince...

A lovely Blood Raven force

Elements of the Chaos Daemon army that won best painted

Some pictures of the Imperial Fists army that was my favourite army. It contained a stunning amount of individual conversions, as well as some excellent paint jobs and three of the funniest Vindicators I have ever seen. And lets be honest, Vindicators are rarely called funny...

So there you have it, my brief and picture-filled report from Spoils. I'll leave you with a photo of all the Dark Angels I have painted to date, totalling 2000 blood soaked points.

For the Lion!

Bristol Vanguard Spoils of War & Tale of Painters Reborn...

Well, its been quite an absence hasn't it! As I mentioned in my last post (over a month ago!) the amount I am able to blog right now is pretty limited, but I do hope I haven't been forgotten.

I'm hoping that I should have some more to show you soon, including some newly painted Dark Angels units, as well as the start of both Epic and 40k Imperial Guard armies. I will be building the new armies in conjunction with both 73rd's Tale of More Painters (on his excellent blog The Unforgiven Angels), and Librarium Online's newest Tale of Painters group. More details on those soon...





Turning back to more current events, I have just got back from the first day of the Bristol Vanguard Spoils of War tournament, a friendly event with battles ranging from 750pts to 2000pts. As expected the Vanguard has turned out another expectionally good tournament, with superb terrain, missions and home made brownies to boot. With around 30 players in attendance its been great fun so far, and I can't wait to get back to the coal-face tomorrow.

Below are a few pictures of the first games from my camera phone. So far I have tallied up a loss, a draw and win; a distinctly average day!



















I hope that has wetted your appetite, look forward to more from the Astronomcian soon!