Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Brother Goriel - Blood Angels Terminator Update

With very little homework, work and practicing needed for tonight, I got some more work done on Brother Goriel for Jawaballs' Blood Angels Terminator Contest.

As a solution to highlighting red, I've been using a highlight of elf flesh, followed by the lightest highlight of bleached bone. I'm considering adding another layer of highlights just to make it really pop out.







Some touch-ups and final details (blood drops, various gems, the genestealer corpse) and then I will probably call it a finished model.

As always, C&C welcome.

Codex: Necrons and What We Expect/Need



As some of you may or may not know, my first 40k army was actually Necrons. I started playing them late 4th edition because I loved the fluff and how the fit into the Grimdark that is the 40k Universe. Needless to say, I got kinda fed up with how well they actually performed and moved onto the Eldar. A recent conversation with a friend, however, got me to thinking what we can expect/hope from the next update of the Codex.

1) Price cuts across the board - everything is much more expensive and not as effective as the equivalents in other armies. When it gets to the point where so called  "elite" armies are starting to outnumber the Crons, we have a problem.

2) Effective close combat unit(s) or reducing the impact of CC - the army is particularly vulnerable to assault simply because Necron Warriors just can't compete with other units in assault - heck, even the Tactical Marine laughs at us. This can be solved by allowing smaller squad sizes for Warriors (to reduce the loss of a sweeping advance), making our current 'cc' units effective (Wraiths, Flayed Ones namely - no power weapons? Wtf?) or by just outright making us harder to kill in CC.  On another note - I'd like to see Pariahs gain the Necron rule. The pinnacle of alien technology and it can't self-repair? Laaammmeee.

3) More varieties in the HQ slots rather than a 300+ point C'tan or plain Jane Necron Lord. I personally would like (in addition to the Necron Lord) options that change up the FOC - seeing as that seems to be very 'in' with codices as of late. I have concepts of the Flayed Lord (allows Flayed Ones as troops choices) or the Pariah Lord (Pariahs as troops choices) in my head as well as things like Machine Lords which make the entire army more durable.

4) Ways to get from point A to B quickly. 5th ed. being such a objective focused game, movement becomes even more important and footslogging it across the field/floating six inches a turn doesn't work well at all. APC's don't make much sense for the Necrons, who should be using something a little more mysterious in nature. Thus, I envisioned something that I call the "Gauss Gate". Imagine something the size of a Drop Pod Deep Striking in. Once it arrives, units coming in from Reserve may treat a Gauss Gate as your table edge. Units may 'enter' a Gauss Gate in the same fashion as boarding a vehicle or entering a building. The unit is removed from play and return the next turn from any Gauss Gate they choose and may reroll any of their failed WBB saves. Think of this mechanic like the Monolith (whose gate will also be considered a Gauss Gate). These things will cost a pretty penny in points and will also be somewhat fragile compared to the rest of the army.

5) Removal of phase out. No, it isn't a balancing factor seeing as how you can wipe everything off the board and be victorious. It's easier to kill stuff than to keep stuff alive.

6) Overall streamlining of the rules. WBB turns to FNP (and the Resurrection Orb negates the negators of FNP), Gauss becoming more efficient (wounds models with a toughness value on a 6 and count as rending vs Vehicles, maybe?).

7) Cost efficient, effective anti-tank. With Gauss being unreliable now, there has to be an effective way to field some heavy weapons without paying half the army for it.

Those are pretty much my main points. I know there are other things that can be improved, but this would be a great start if GW got on this *hint*hint*nudge*nudge*.

C&C welcome, as always.

Sunday, September 27, 2009

Blood Angels Terminator - Jawaballs' Painting Contest

Hey folks,

I'd just like to show you some of my WiP pics for my submission to Jawaballs' painting contest. I decided to go with this particular model since I felt it showed the sheer tenacity of the Blood Angels and their refusal to accept defeat. Men die, heroes live forever.

Primed and Basecoated



First Coat of Red




Rear View



Things will only stand to get more red from here. I'm also trying to experiment to see what I can use to highlight red without getting pink or something that looks super orange.

C&C welcome, as always.

Squirrel_Fish

Sunday, September 20, 2009

Free Hand and Photography

Hey guys,

Back from a long week-end of rehearsals and tuba-playing. Just showing off what little I managed to get done before I had to leave in a hurry.

This is my first attempt at some larger free hand. Be gentle with me!







A question I'd like to pose to you guys - how do you take pictures and what do you insist on using?
My camera is a Sanyo 5-megapixel...thing. It's been in the family for a while and I took it to school with me and I use my roommate's camera because mine frustrates me to no end.

My camera


My roommate's camera



As you can see, the color difference is HUGE. The second picture is very clear and all the details are present - whereas my photos are hued differently. What do you recommend doing for photo's on a budget?

Squirrel_Fish

Monday, September 14, 2009

What I've Been Up To

So I've been at college for a solid three weeks now and have gotten little to none done (seeing as how I'm taking 19 credits and am a music major, that's not surprising -_-)

Anywho, here are some pics now that I got my camera working. Unfortunately, said pics still suck because I can't afford a nice camera.

This is the Tau Battlesuit 'Helios'that I slapped together a little while ago. It still needs some touch-ups to ease up on the highlights and cover up some slips, but overall it's done. I wanted to add some glowing effects from the lens, plasma rifle and multi-tracker a lot more prominent.





Next, some of the Salamanders that I've been working on.


Tactical Squad Flamers - the different colors on the trim of the right shoulder pad designate which squad the marine belongs to.

Now, for all of you folks out there with lower end cameras, how do you get decent pictures out there onto your blogs?
As always, C&C welcome.
Squirrel_Fish

Tuesday, September 8, 2009

Staying on Top of Projects

So me being me and being easily caught up in new projects - I picked up a squad of Space Marine Scouts, the first piece of my next project - the Ultramarines 10th Company.

However, this puts my Warhammer queue up to:
24 Tactical Marines (Bolters/Flamers)
3 Multi-Melta Marines
3 Tactical Sergeants (needs assembling)
8 Sternguard Veterans
1 Sternguard Sergeant (needs assembling)
4 Terminators
2 Rhinos
1 Razorback
1 Predator
3 Dreadnoughts
1 Land Raider Crusader/Redeemer
Everything from Space Hulk
5 Space Marine Scouts

So I pose this question to all of you out there - how do you stay on top of projects? Is there some sort of magic button that encourages you to paint faster than you buy or plan projects? Is there some other motivation in it for you (commissions, contests, ToP's)?

The table is yours,
Squirrel_Fish

Sunday, September 6, 2009

Sacrificing Units - The Who, the When, The Why

I'm home from school for labor day weekend and I managed to get in a game against one my friends - who was running his tyranids.


The game was killpoints and I won 8 to 1. Despite this, I still learned quite a few things, mainly when or why you would sacrifice units.


Who makes a good sacrificial unit? Any unit that you have redundancy in or is otherwise not a huge loss when it dies. This can be anywhere from a combat squad of Space marines to Space Marine Scouts to a squad of Guardsmen being led by a Commissar. The consideration you have to make whether or not the unit can easily be broken in combat. I feed my foe Rhinos once my use for them has dwindled. Which leads me to...


When do you want to do this? This is the hardest part to judge - if you know for sure that the unit you feed your opponent will die on his turn, you want to give him the charge or the opportunity to light your guys up. That way, when it rolls over to your turn, you can get some revenge kills in. However, if your unit is tough enough that they can withstand one turn of assault (or he just can't do enough damage to kill all of them in a single turn), then you should charge him on your turn (assuming you have the opportunity). You deny him some attacks, meaning that (hopefully) you'll survive til your opponent's Assault Phase, where he will finish you off and leave himself an open target for your vindication. Now, if you plan on assaulting with your sacrificial unit - you want it to be hard to break. The worst thing that can happen is that your squad gets wiped out or caught in a sweeping advance, allowing your opponent the opportunity to shoot/assault with impunity at your other targets. If you plan on passively feeding him a squad (ie. bait) then make it as easy to kill as possible.


Why? By sacrificing a unit, you can buy yourself time by drawing the fire/assault away from your other units. A common example of this is a squad of kroot hiding in woods and screening the fire warriors behind it. The enemy's assault troops will have to deal with the kroot before they can tear into the fire warriors. Alternatively, by putting a lone (yet somewhat juicy) target away from your other units unsupported, you have a piece of bait that you can use to lure a unit or two away from the main hustle and bustle of the battle.


Those are my 3W's for today. C&C welcome!


Squirrel_Fish



Friday, September 4, 2009

SM Special Characters and Chapter Tactics

It's made pretty clear in the SM codex that when there are two characters with the "Chapter Tactics" rule, you must choose which one is active. Now, what I want to ask is if you would consider worth it to take two of these characters.

I've been considering adding more Terminators to my Salamanders army (what can I say? These things are hella fun to paint and assemble) but want to avoid using another squad of assault terminators since I'd have to get another Land Raider to chauffeur them around in. My issue though is that regular terminators don't quite have enough 'ooph' unless fielded en masse or are...

Fielded with Captain Lysander. For 200 points, you get a 4 W Eternal Warrior with a S10 MC Thunder Hammer with Termie armor and a Storm Shield. That's not all folks! You get a +1 Cover save to a set of ruins of your choice and you get the fantastic Bolter Drill rule, meaning those Storm Bolters are now pretty awesome! However, I've gotten some criticism, saying that it's a waste of Lysander's Chapter Tactics. I say - who cares? He (and most of the Space marine characters) are a bargain for what you pay for. If I wanted Terminator armor, a storm shield and a thunder hammer on a regular captain, I'd be paying a solid 170 points. For 30 more points, I get another wound, rerolls with Bolters in his squad, eternal warrior and a better cover save. Worth it.

So my next 1750 list is gonna be this:

Vulkan
Lysander
Terminator Assault Squad (5 TH/SS)
Terminator Squad (Cyclone Missile Launcher, Chainfist)
Tactical Squad (Flamer, Multi-Melta, Sergeant Power Weapon/Meltabombs)
Rhino

Tactical Squad (Flamer, Multi-Melta, Sergeant Power Weapon/Meltabombs)
Rhino
Tactical Squad (Flamer, Multi-Melta, Sergeant Power Weapon/Meltabombs)
Rhino
Land Raider Redeemer (Multi-Melta)
Total: 1750



C&C?

Squirrel_Fish