So Apocalypse showed up...and now I'm broke

So the new Apocalypse is soon to be upon us, and I went on a spending spree of epic proportions!  For starters, I ordered the following new items:

The Apocalypse Collectors Edition
1 Khorne Lord of Skulls
1 set of the new templates
1 set of the AdMech dice, the 125 dice set
1 Vortex Template

That ran me a decent amount, but nothing I wasn't already bracing to spend anyways.  However, after finally finding the apocalypse formations on the website (which may or may not have taken me longer to find than it should have...) I saw my dream of fielding an entire Space Wolf Great Company become a reality!!!

I didn't actually buy the $1000+ one-click scam from GW, but instead shopped around locally, emptied the SW selection from various FLGS (including the one I run), and begrudgingly ordered a few blisters from GW's website.  All said and done, I ended up with 4 drop pods that aren't even part of the formation, 3 extra scout squads, and a Wolf Lord on Thunder Wolf for roughly $900!!!  So quite a few extra models for over $100 cheaper.  Yay me.  Now I am off to figure out how to hide this purchase from my wife...if I don't post again in the next month, call a Life Guard for me.

The board and some other models that have had my attention as of late!

So here is where the board is at.  It's coming right along, with some Summer Leaves, and I have also started doing the bases to go along with it.  Once the 28mm bases are down, then I just have to paint the models...yay me.

As for the rest of these pictures, these were all taken with my phone, so bare with me on the quality here.

I fixed the board somewhat...

So here is what the board looks like now that I fixed it.  I'm happier with this than I am with how the train wreck prior came out, but still angry, haha.  I added some grass clumps sporadically around, and I have some leaves from Secret Weapon Miniatures as well to add, but I need to figure out what I am going to do with those.  I bought their Fallen Leaves - Fall Mix, which has a beautiful color that I REALLY wanted to use, but the board turned out much lighter than I imagined, and I'm actually rather please with the general color scheme.  They have some lighter colors that I coincidentally carry in my store, so I might have to snag one or two of those and try them out.

I based this with a dark brown from Minitaire Airbrush Paint, and then I used Dark Earth, Clay Brown, and Burning Sands pigments from Secret Weapon Miniatures in successively lighter dustings.  I love working with their pigments, and a project of this size gave me a LOT of practice on using the pigments.

For the trench line I based the bottom with a dark grey, followed by a dark wash, and then any dirt colored pigments settle where they may.  This allowed it to get dusty and dirty in a manner that appeared random as opposed to something that would have looked too forced.  Once the wash was dry, I dipped my finger in SWM's Metallic Iron pigment just enough to get some on my finger tip, and then I rubbed my finger pretty forcefully across the floor of the trench to pick out the raised edges and the nuts and bolts with a metallic tinge, since they would have been worn to a more metallic sheen through continuous use.

Anyways, this is what I am working on hobby wise, and I am also putting together an 1850 Ork list to break up the monotony of doing clean color schemes.  Here is what I am in the process of building:

Wazdakka Gutsmek

10 Lootas
10 Lootas

6 Warbikers with Nob w/ Big Choppa
6 Warbikers with Nob w/ Big Choppa
6 Warbikers with Nob w/ Big Choppa
6 Warbikers with Nob w/ Big Choppa

Blitza-bomma
Burna-bomma
Burna-bomma

Battlewagon w/ Killakannon
Battlewagon w/ Killakannon

So that's my 1850 list.  Terribly exciting, I know, but I think it should play well enough.  The 4+ cover saves on the bike are silly, as are the number of shots I can throw out a turn.  Anyways, I need to finish my work for the day, so I'll post again soon...ish.

So, being impatient is a bad idea

So I am working on a display board, and I was gonna wait until it was mostly done before posting any pictures.  Mostly done came yesterday, and I got done using about $40 worth of pigments to make the dirt look real.  I was sooooooo excited that I instantly wanted to Matte Varnish it.  One problem: I forgot to let all the pigment sealer dry.  Do yeah, this disgusting mess above is what happened afterwards.  Yay me.  Back to buying more pigment and starting over.  

Apocalypse next month!

I stole these from Blood of Kittens' Facebook.  I cannot WAIT to see what else is coming out!

Memorial Day

It's that time of the year again where I get drunk and sappy.  I spent 8 years in the US Army, including 2 deployments.  I lost a lot of good friends, so this holiday brings up a whole slew of crazy emotions.  Anyways, I have actual stuff to post, but that will be during the week.  Until then, here is my Platoon's video from our 2007 - 2008 deployment to Afghanistan.  Thanks for bearing with me today, and remember it's not Veterans Day today, it's Memorial Day.  Thank those who gave their all, and not those of us who lived.

Warhammer 40k Battle Royal!

So last night I ran a free event at my store which we called a Battle Royal.  We played on a 3' x 3' Zone Mortalis board (that I have yet to paint...), and we had 5 people show up.  Everyone brought 1 HQ choice, no special characters, no wargear that has the Instant Death special rule or removes models outright.  We did however allow models to be instant killed by failing a save from a weapon that is double their toughness.

We used standard Zone Mortalis rules, which roughly means nothing on a base larger than 60mm, no ordnance weapons, templates gain the Shred special rule, etc.  Doors were placed before any players placed their models, and we decided that there is two ways somebody can open a door: roll a 4+ while touching the door in your movement phase, where passing the roll allows you to control the door for your turn and you can continue your movement, and a failure means your movement is done for the turn, and the other way is to destroy the door.  As per the Zone Mortalis rules, the doors are AV13 with 1 Hull Point.

The rules were further altered in some fun ways.  You are allowed to shoot into assaults that you are not a part of, with wounds being allocated to the nearest player, and blast templates hitting any models touched.  This made flamers an amazing choice to take.  We also decided to have all of the players roll for turn order every round, which made it a lot harder to plan a strategy, since you didn't know who was moving in what order in the next turn.

The player who went first in the first round placed his model first.  We had the first player place anywhere he wanted, and then went in turn order with each subsequent player placing his model no closer than 18" away from another model.  This was not a true 18", but instead it was measured following the hallways in the fastest path between any two models.

The game lasted almost 45 minutes, since quite a few players played very defensively and waited for their fellow players to either die or lose some wounds before jumping into the fray.  The winner ended up being a fully loaded Space Marine Captain in Artificer Armour, with a close second being a Necron Overlord with a bunch of shenanigans packed in.  It was a very close game between those two.

Anyways, we all had a lot of fun, and we played several more games afterwards, which I actually played in since their was no prize, it was just fun.  I don't play in any of my free events since it would seem shady if I were to win.  I bought a bunch more Tau stuff, and once I find some fishing net, I will knock out my Salamanders models and the Tau stuff and post pictures of those as I get the airbrushing done.  Until next time, stay classy internet!

Played with some Tau today...

And holy broken, haha!  I ran a 1500 point list that ran roughly like the following:

Daemons w/ Tau Allies:

Herald of Nurgle
Herald of Nurgle
20x Plaguebearers
9x Nurglings
Soul Grinder w/ Mark of Nurgle

Commander Farsight
12 Fire Warriors
Riptide
Sun Shark Bomber
Broadside

So that's excluding wargear, which there wasn't much of to be honest, and I only took Farsight because I bought him for his looks before reading the codex.  He is a great HQ in my opinion, but only if you're running his 7 Crisis Suit honor guard.

Anyways, a very brutal game against a 1500 point Dark Eldar Wych list.  I deployed second but stole the initiative, and left my Nurglings in the middle of the board as bait.  I then made a gun line with my Tau, and shot everything to hell.  The game was over at the beginning of turn three, and I have to say, I feel that Tau have some real shenanigans in their codex.  That Riptide is just BRUTAL.  Anyways, I'll post pictures up soon, so thanks for tuning in and catch me again later this week.

50k page views finally!

So yes, I hit 50k page views this morning, and to all of you out there, thank you so much!  I know I have been sporadic with my posting, but you guys keep me going!

As for what I have been up to, I recently bought a Zone Mortalis board, and it is INCREDIBLE!  I'm hoping to have it painted up soon, but we'll see how long it actually takes.  I also have pledged for two different Kickstarters, which are as follows:

Secret Weapon Miniatures has one going that I mentioned previously in which they are working to get games boards designed with matching bases, walls, and terrain.  It is an AMAZING project they are working on, and it will help my store look even better with all the different boards we will have for people to play on.  Below is a link, and if you can you should absolutely jump on top of this one.  It's a great opportunity to get these before they hit stores.

Secret Weapons Miniatures Tablescapes Kickstarter

The other one I have jumped on board with has my inner child going nuts!  Growing up, I was a HUGE fan of Robotech and Macross, and now I can play out my wildest childhood fantasies on the table top.  Palladium Books, which previously has done great things with the Robotech RPG, is now putting out a 1/285th scale miniatures game.  Fret not with the scale, as the robots are so big that the miniatures are still larger than 40k Space Marines.  The Kickstarter has a lot to offer in the way of deals, so hop on this one to save yourself a lot of money in the future.  Click below to check it out, and there is also a video of their current rule set, which is still in play testing, being played out and discussed at Adepticon.

Palladium Books Robotech RPG Tactics

Anyways, I'll hopefully get more pictures up soon.  I finished a Maxmini Greater Plaguebringer that I finished painting, some Salamanders I am building for a 1000 point Zone Mortalis army, and even some German Tanks for a Late War Flames of War army I am putting together!  Those pictures will be up just as soon as I stop being lazy, haha.

Thanks again for everything you guys have done for me.  It really does mean a lot to have support of random people, and not just overly encouraging friends and family!

Secret Weapon Miniatures will be the death of me...

So if you have been a long time reader here, I have made it no small secret that I love this companies products.  Mr Justin does an AMAZING job with everything he and his company put their hands on, so when their Kickstarter went live, I knew I was going to be broke.  If you're looking for a higher quality and better priced board than what GW puts out, look no further!  Enough talking from me though, here is a link:

                                                   OMG!  A LINK!

So yeah, check them out and what not!  They're awesome!

So more pictures!

So here are some models I have worked on while at my work.  We have a Thursday group that meets every week, and we all sit around, sip on some beers, and paint!  It's a lot of fun, and it is actually helping quite a few people with their painting.  I don't have much time, so that will be all of the words for now, so check below the break to see more!

So it's been nearly three months...

Yeah, so it's been a very long while since I have posted anything, but don't despair!  I have actually been working on quite a few things since we all have last spoke.  Check below the bump for more info on all of that.