Wolves for the Wolf God is now less boring thanks to a commission from the one and only Goatboy! And what a lovely commission it is! It is simple and brutal, just like the Wolf Lord it portrays. Skarvald the Troll-faced himself, baby! He's ready to take any and all challenges and promises to take no prisoners and leave no survivors if the blood and mead are spilling and if his opponent is kind enough to feed the Thunderwolves his biggest and nastiest elite units.
First, let me say one thing: The Santa Cruz Warhammer Barter Bucket is AMAZING. After I post this, I am officially going to include them on my sidebar, because the idea of trading items, bitz and kits based on wants/haves without the hassle of having to log-in AND with such simple design is very, very much appreciated. What a great place to find specific bits and items without having to pay eBay or PayPal's fees or pay an arm or a leg to bitz-order websites. <3 Thank you, Barter Bucket! Next.. for the rest:
I "accomplished" a lot this weekend, I more or less finished my deathwatch sergeant, and participated in a Warmachine/Hordes tournament for charity.
After finishing the highlighting on the armor, I painted all of the purity seals and the strap on his gun. The base was deffinately lacking something so I got some advice from a fewfriends and decided on some rust effects for this particular base. I have to say that it was a great idea, and just adding a little splash of color makes the black model stand out because the base isn't all gray anymore. I plan to do caution stripes and sewer water on some of the other bases but the pipe and its connections really screamed rusty to me. My photgraphy skills aren't the greatest, as I really lack consistency on picture tone. This one is very yellow, and a little blown out despite my best efforts monkeying with my camera settings.
As for the tournament, it really showed to me how much more I have to learn about Warmachine and Hordes, and even what more I have to learn about my own army. I had been planning on expanding to a second force, but I think I may have to put that on pause until I can really say I have mastered my original faction. The turns were timed, which was something very foreign to me. With only have 10 minutes to perform every action for your entire army I found myself mid turn on more than one occasion. As someone who really likes to think and plan ahead of time, which is especially important in a game like Warmahordes where order of unit activation can be crucially important, that turn stopping buzzer snuck up on me.
Speed, I think, will come in time as I learn to better assess the tabletop/battle situation, which will hopefully happen when I have an intrinsic knowledge of my units. While I don't have to look on my cards to know the stats of my models anymore, I can't quite play with my gut instinct like I can in 40k. In two games the dread of the timer caused critical errors, fortunately my warlock allowed me to "come from behind" as he has on so many occasions.
Killing Kromac's friends makes him angry...you won't like him when he's angry.
I was fortunate enough to be the lucky winner of a raffle for the rulebook to Dystopian Wars, a steam-punk naval game that has been getting rave reviews. Perhaps we will see some boats approaching on the horizon? While my tournament score wasn't the greatest, I won the award for biggest charitable donation, which meant I received a copy of the Hordes rulebook signed by Matt Wilson and other creators of the game! All in all a great weekend.
Finally, the schematics for the interior have turned into a glorious artistic representation of the one and only Fang - the pinnacle of all that is Space Wolf. Might be old news but I have yet to see someone blog about it other than the author of the book - Chris Wraight himself, astartes and sororitas. Such magnificent Space Wolves art must be shared with the rest of Imperium of Man.. Cannot wait for Battle of the Fang!
The Fang - A Mountain of Manliness
I could imagine Skarvald the Troll-faced walking around the top of the citadel and then all of a sudden heretics from the Thousands Sons storm the building. After some Saturday Morning-style bright lights and a catchy tune, Skarvald presses a button on his belt and a dozen of servitors show up and bedazzle him with his sweet ornamented runic armor, gigantic frost axe and less gigantic frost sword while his Garfrost, his Thunderwolf, leaps from the sky itself, answering to his master's call.
From beyond any known galaxy, bringing with them the laws and ideals of their doomed planet, Fenris, come the Thunderwolves. Njal, the Stormcaller; Lucas, the Trickster; Bjorn, the Fell-Handed; Svangir and Ulfgir, the junior cunning duo; Canis, the Wolfborn and Fangir. The Thunderwolves all sworn to serve their young Lord, Skarvald, and to instruct him in the secrets of the "Fang of Fenris" the "fang" embedded in the hilt of the Axe of Omens, is the source of the Thunderwolves' power.
Pursuing the Thunderwolves to Fenris and determined to possess the "Fang" for their own evil purposes are the hideous heretics from the planet Prospero, led by the daemonic Magnus. They form an unholy alliance with the ageless daemon-god Tzeentch.
I did a bit of highlight last night and this morning. I am targeting just one model so far, just so I can get an idea of the brightness of a finished model so I can tweak it on the first one before I get halfway done with all of them. He isn't done yet, but I am starting to get an idea of where it is going. The splashes of color on black are nice, but the bases definitely need something to make the dark model stand out more. Maybe make it brighter/browner/golder? I will try some finagling and see what happens.
It is sure a change from this yesterday: The highlighting makes a huge difference.
Oh man, today is a good day! The Star Forge had a lovelygive-away to commemorate 1 month of blogging and his first 500 views! Make sure you visit his very promising blog! Oh and-by-the-way I WON! Well... there were two winners, but my name was listed first! :) So I won! Woohooo!
A very interesting set indeed. Very post-apocalyptic/Nazi-like, which is always welcome and nice to have for future projects. I already know that two.. maybe THREE of my friends will be very jealous (One is German, one does WW2 reenactments and rides in a German tank and the last on plays Death Korps of Krieg). Plus, I love me some gas masks. I've got my own black Russian GP-5 (GP being ГП - Гражданский Противогаз, Russian for Citizen's Gas mask) with custom black tinted eye pieces. I'm pretty sure I still have the wider-spread gray version of it at my old apartment in Bulgaria. Was gonna use this bad boy for a TF2 Pyro cosplay but I never got around to making the flamethrower despite buying pretty much all the materials AND getting a red firefighter's jacket-thing from eBay.
Once again, thank you for the pleasant surprise, Starforged. I will make sure to update you once I decide what the fate of this lovely set is going to be..
Well, I have been pretty void of gaming, and of 40k in particular, for quite some time. I have played a few games of Warmachine/Hordes over the winter, but all in all things have been pretty silent one the wargaming front...until now.
You see, I was without a mission, but I have now fully succumb to a new cause: Killzone. This game is definitely more my style, with only a handful of miniatures on the table I can take as little or as long as I want on painting and converting. The game is perfect for someone like myself who loves to paint, but can't seem to stick to a project for any length of time. It also really captures my imagination with the look and visceral style of a terrain filled board. One of my favorite elements of 40k is having models run around on a board littered with terrain. For me nothing really can compare to the image of a city that has become a wazone.
I was inspired by a particular gentleman who's enthusiasm for the game has spilled off on to me, though he just doesn't know it yet. With my love of all things inquisitorial, this seemed like a perfect opportunity for me to create a Deathwatch Kill team. In my excitement I thought it would be appropriate to show a few pictures of my progress. I created a few custom bases for my team, which totaled up to more time basing than I have ever spent before. I am not sure if the bases are quite bright enough to make the black armor really pop. All that is really completed are the bases a few shoulder pads, and I hope that once the black armor is highlighted the detail will appear like magic.
My team is composed of 7 members, all which use the Sternguard Veteran rules as a base. Sergeant - Ultramarine Medic - Blood Angel Heavy Bolter - Space Wolf Combi-Flamer - Salamander Combi-Melta - Imperial Fist Combi-Plasma - Dark Angel Regular Veteran - Blood Raven
The chapter of the last marine was difficult to pick, Raven Guard would have been a black shoulder pad on black armor, and White Scars is so blah.
While #1 of this series was more of a joke, this one is pretty important and effective.
Despite often being the spawn point of many antisocial guys, at the end of the day your LGS is still a place of social interest, especially because many of the hobbies there require more than one person. Even if you visit Gaming Stores just to buy and paint models you probably would enjoy meeting other people who can appreciate your paintjob, right?
With LGS's being centers for social interaction, what better way to improve this interaction by creating a group in an online social network like Facebook? Nowadays most people have a Facebook account and creating a group OR an account is absolutely free and easy like using Smoke Launchers on a Rhino..
N.B: You do not have to own the LGS store to open up an "official" Facebook Group. As long as you think you know what you're doing and you have the approval of the owner (sit down and explain to them the pros and cons of having a Facebook Group) you can create the group by yourself. I strongly recommend all of the owners of the LGS to join too, after which you can make them Admins. It's what I did!
So what are some of the pros and cons of creating a Facebook Group for your favorite store?
PROS: Easy to make, easy to join: Choose a name for your group, add a description and invite people. You can invite people in plethora of ways if they are not your Facebook friends already and when new members join they can invite others to the group. Easy to keep Private: I know a lot of people who love this hobby but would rather not share their affection for little plastic dudemen with their co-workers or friends. That's okay. Make the group Closed, so only members can see what's going on inside or who the other members are. I'm the administrator of my group and so far it's working just fine.
Easy to maintain: Seriously, you and all of the other admins will hardly ever have to do anything at all. Inviting people you know and making sure things don't get out of hand by deleting inappropriate posts is all you have to do. The rest if just being your usual self and a hobbyist willing to make his gaming community grow and prosper.. Helps people be a part of the community: This is pretty darn important. I found out that after creating the Facebook Group, people started "friending" each other all over the place, even though they already knew each other and had been playing for a year and a half. Now you have people communicating with each other outside the store and having an easier time setting up games to play. It just gives the lazy gamers that little push they often need. It's easier to send someone a message on Facebook than calling them or even sending a text. Great for sharing information and announcing events: Many stores have Calendars that they print out and give to people so they know when something big is happening. The problem is that this method is a waste of paper, there's never enough copies to give when you need them and people are very likely to lose them. Not to mention that for many individuals it's already hard to make the drive and allocate the time to get that calendar.. Here are some things you could share on the Facebook group:
Monthly calendar: Make it so people can see all of your major events with the click of a button! Saves paper and ink and people will get the calendar as soon as you release it.. Also great for announcing store hour changes whether temporary or permanent, even dates on which the store is not going to be opened.
Pictures from events: Best way to immortalize some of the funniest achievements and mishaps that always happen during events and even casual games. Lets people see the hobby even when not in your store. Let's be honest, this is a visual hobby, so telling someone how your Space Wolves just destroyed your buddy's I.G is not as satisfying as sharing with everyone a picture of your Thunderwolves on top of 3 wrecked Leman Russes... >=) Here's an example from my GW Facebook Group:
Sisters of Battle rubbing sticks and stones with the Scouts..
Events: Not only can you share your events with the calendar, but you can create Events and invite people to them. A Facebook Event is used as a reminder and a countdown to your tournament or a contest and people can discuss any and all details in it. This is not only useful for sharing the monthly, BIG events that the store owner has cooked up, but all the independent and casual events that regulars want to run! Not only is this a great way to post all the fluff and details that shape your event but also any diagrams, galactic maps. You can then easily message the participants and give them secret objectives or goodies for the campaign you are running!
Great for scheduling.. anything!: Now you can post which days you have off during the week and ask if people would like to throw down. This is especially useful for busy members of the Group that work a lot or don't want to make the drive and then stumble upon an empty store.. Even better, if someone DOES want to play you, you can easily discuss how many points you want to field, which (if any) expansion you feel like playing. Heck, you could even come up with some interesting fluff beforehand and create appropriate objectives.
Makes things "interesting": Where I go to, people love to talk smack game-wise and fluff-wise. We are not competitive at all, but it is always nice when you get a chance to remind a Space Marine player that his miniatures are eunuchs on steroids or that Guardsmen are just meat-shields from backwater planets.. Many people love to play along and others will go to great lengths to defend their army's honor. As long as it's kept appropriate it's always funny to watch people make fun of each other, joke around and even sometimes.... rage. I know I'm guilty for starting a lot of these...
Useful for all aspects of the hobby: The Facebook group is always a good place to ask questions about your hobby. From creating a balanced-list, dealing with specific armies and compositions to tutorials on making terrain and paint schemes. The internet has them all and sharing links is much easier online. If you are reading this, chances are you also have your own blog and know about tons of amazing articles that your friends would love to read. This is just a natural way of sharing them with everyone..
CONS:
I am 12 and what is this: Just like any other place on the internet, a Facebook Group could easily get out of hand and inappropriate Slaaneshi topics could corrupt even the purest. Although, chances are if someone is young enough to have a Facebook account they should be able to deal with the contents of your LGS's Facebook Group. It's mostly common sense, really. Make sure people don't post inappropriate, hurtful stuff... But you already knew that. Just enforce it. You probably shouldn't let children under the age of 13 join, just to be safe..
Over 9,000 Notifications: If a user is using all of the default setting, they will receive an e-mail notification every time someone writes a new post or uploads a picture. I know that a couple of my friends have Blackberries and thus they also get notifications on their phones. This isn't your fault really, it's just Facebook being a social network.. That being said, there are many ways of dealing with this, but it's nothing YOU can do. Your members can change their Facebook settings to stop notifications for specific events or create a filter that recognizes all e-mails from the group and automatically deletes, marks as spam or marks as read any group notification e-mails.
These are some of the Pros and Cons of having a LGS Facebook Group. As with everything in the 40k universe, a Facebook Group exists only because of the purity seals, skulls and screaming bald men..
And the loyalty of its members!
Just went outside to take a picture of my newly assembled Savage Orc Boar Boyz. It's like 37°F outside, so that's dedication and sheer will for ya!
Click on the image for better quality!
Da Boared to Deff Boyz!
There they are, the appropriately named unit of Savage Orc Boar Boyz! Hurr hurr hurr.. They actually used to be with two hand weapons, until I read Trollhoer's article about the awesomeness that is being mounted and getting +1S for your choppas and +1S for charging while wielding spears.. That's a total of x5 S5 I3 attacks from the boars and x16 S5 I2 attacks from their riders. They are pretty durable too, T4 5+/6+. Needless to say they are now armed with spears.
Da Boared to Deff Boyz x5 Savage Orc Boar Boyz with spears, boss, musician, standard bearer with Banner of Switftness (+1 Movement) = 150 points
Notice that the rider on the left has his left amputated arm connected to a blade. Also, just like their cousins from the far, far future, my "champion" Boss models are wielding a powerful "bone klaw". I just wish it doubled their strength in close combat..
Yesterday was supposed to be more of an assembly day for my Orcs and Goblins army, but instead a few of the regulars at the store decided to throw down and show me some of the nooks and crannies of Warhammer Fantasy. It was so much fun! It felt good to just Waaaagh around with my orcs, without the pressure of running an optimized, serious list. I was still playing for the win, even though my army is still in the process of crushing some 'eadz and gathering the tribes..
I was pretty much playing with what I had, plus-minus some extra orc bodies and a proxied Savage Orc Shaman..
HEROES
Wartgrin Facemelta - 130 points
Level 2 Savage Orc Shaman with Ruby Ring of Ruin
CORE
Unnamed Savage Orc Boyz - 280 points
25 Savage Orc Boyz with 2x CCW, Big Stabba, Full Command
Unnamed Savage Orc Boyz - 235 points
20 Savage Orc Boyz with 2x CCW, Big Stabba, Full Command
SPECIAL
Da Boared to Deff Boyz - 135 points
5 Savage Orc Boar Boyz with 2x CCW, Full Command
At a 1,000 points this list doesn't really have a lot of models. I know that fielding a giant in 1,000 is not the smartest move and that only 5 Savage Orc Boar Boyz really don't pack a mean punch, but it's what I had at the moment and I learned a whole lot about the different units.
My first game was against the store manager, who ran his infamous Skaven. A Skaven Warlock Enginseer, a bare-bones Grey Seer, Hellpit Abomination, a block of Plague Monks with the banner that lets them re-roll To Hit and To Wound once per game and Storm Vermin who had the Banner of the Horned Rat (-1 to Leadership within 12'', re-roll all successful Ld checks). Basically I was outskilled, outclassed in the Magic phase and terrain was an issue for my Boar Boyz.. Best part of the game, though? My Shaman casting an unstoppable 'eadbutt and hitting the Grey Seer for two wounds. Then I rolled Snake Eyes (also known as A Gentleman's Ones) for the mishap and the explosion killed 5 of my Savage Orc Boyz. Shaman was fine, though.
Second game we used pretty much the same lists. This time it was the Tower mission, which I barricaded with the 20 Savages. Terrain was pretty open on the flanks and I rolled Foot of Gork and 'ere We Go. He had the first turn and moved his Hellpit Abomination very close to my Giant and Boar Boyz. On my turn I my Boar Boyz couldn't restrain their Frenzy and charged at the Hellpit Abomination alongside with Old Greg. First round of combat was pretty much tied (we forgot to do Stomp Attacks..), especially when his monster avoided my Giant's Club.. ;( He managed to cast the 13th Spell on my big block of guys by getting exactly 25 without rolling any double 6's.. And like 12 boyz died... On my turn I cast Foot of Gork (extedned), squished 12 Storm Vermin and then I rolled a 1, which crushed some of my Savage Orc Boyz.. On his turn though the Hellpit Abomination lost combat and fled, but my Boar Boyz caugh up to it and killed it! The rest of the game was all about Skaven munching on my Orcs with some crazy Plague Monks getting Poison on a 5+ and re-rolls to Hit and to Wound against my Giant... But that and the small unit of Savage Orc Boar Boyz managed to distract his army enough to end the game with me controlling the Tower!
Third game was against my buddy Will and his Orcs and Goblins. He had two blocks of Orc Boyz, a Night Goblin Shaman, a Black Orc Boss on a Boar with +1 attack and some disrupting crown.. or something. He also had a Doom Diver Catapult, x2 Bolt Throwers, two Pump Wagons and 2 5-man Goblin Wolf Rider units. The way we deployed discouraged both of us from hanging out in the middle, so this game was basically Will's Wolf Riders teasing my frenzied units (charged his Wolf Riders turn one and then rolled like a 16'' overrun right in front of his mobz) on the flanks. Our Shamans were shooting small and annoying spells at each other (Itchy Nuisance sucks on a Giant!)... Old Greg was being the target of Will's artillery and got rid of the two Pump Wagons..
Goblins Wolf Riders are definitely good! But the models are meh.. Unfortunately my Thunderwolves are the size of a Hellpit Abominatios and won't really work.. :P
Waddaya know, I complain about the nasty rumors foreshadowing the Grey Knights and Games Workshop announces the first wave of Knights in Shining Armor.. I'm looking at the models, rereading many of the rumors (many of which Games Workshop just proved to be ... sigh.. true!)... and.. I don't know. It doesn't seem so scary anymore.
Lets go over the first wave, shall we?
Codex Grey Knights: Soft cover. Many people assumed that 40k would also adopt to the new hard cover system, just like the Orcs and Goblins Army Book.. Well, they were wrong. Cover is pretty nice, although it's missing some xeno primates. Where are my Jokaero, huh??
Grey Knights - This 5-man $33 box is used for the assembly of Grey Knight Strike Squads (Troops), Grey Knight Purifier Squads (Troop/Elites), Grey Knight Purgation Squads (Heavy Support Devastator-like) and Grey Knight Interceptor Squads (Fast Attack). Come with plenty of options.. for Justicars. Wow. That's going to be pretty expensive. For example, the Space Wolves Pack comes with enough parts to make 10 models and is only $37.25. No options to take a Jokaero familiar, thus this kit sucks. They look nice, though.. I mean, not too different from the previous Grey Knights but at least they are plastic. I'm digging the beheaded Daemonette there..
Grey Knight Terminators ($50) - NOW IN PLASIC! ...and all of a sudden all of the older metal Terminators die due to Perils of the Warp. Again, tons of upgrades and thank god they can only take 1 Ward-staff or whatever it is called.. Oh, and the 2+ Invulnerable save only counts in close combat. Same box is used for the Grey Knight Paladins. Comes with a cool-looking banner..
It's a... It's.. It's a Grey Knight in a baby pouch. With a diaper. Look at him. Look at his expression, he's all like "I fink I made an angry poo-poo." Or even, "Okay, who just cast the Hemorrhoids psychic power on me? Not cool, Battle-Brothers. Not. Cool."
Man, I preferred him when he was a blurry picture. At least the big gun on his left arm looks threatening. And we finally have the bit to recreate the Thunder Hammer Statue from Assault on Magnir's Crag.
It just hit me. I think with all the Adepticon preparations, that hours spent painting and all the hype.. I'm slowly getting tired of playing 40k. I am sure that after Adepticon I won't be playing many Warhammer 40,000 games for a while.. At least a month or two.
All the rumors about the Grey Knights aren't helping either. I know that it doesn't sound right coming from a Space Wolves player, but almost all of the things that I've heard so far sound unfair. Hopefully points costs will be fair for the amount of stuff Grey Knights are getting... but come on, it's Games Workshop. The new codex will be either extremely broken underpriced or overpriced. I don't really care about what the new codex will have that is better than my Space Wolves. It's going to be tough, but in the end I know the Sons of Russ will be victorious.
It's the fact that Grey Knights basically make at least three armies completely obsolete: Chaos Daemons, Tyranids and Orkz. The fact that they have tons of weapons that ignore invulnerable saves, amazing anti-horde capabilities without sacrificing hand-to-hand superiority, the fact that they seem to be growing force weapons just like an Obliterator.. Preferred Enemy (Daemons). Their force weapons ignore Eternal Warrior on daemons and psykers.. Whatever. I'll just wait until their hype is over with, just like I did with Blood Angels and Dark Eldar.
Until then I'll be learning Warhammer Fantasy Battle with my Jungle Orcs! After Adepticon expect to see more coverage as I will be participating in a Tale of n Gamers - Empire Knights, Tomb Kings, Beastmen and my Orcs and Goblins. I'll be doing battle report videos and whatnot...
Old Stuff Day is here, ladies and mentlegen! I just recently found out about it and decided to participate. Why not? Holidays and things that usually end in "day" are usually very, very nice and pleasant. Like.. payday, Games Day, Felicia Day. Stuff like that.
Now, as you probably know Old Stuff day is well.. about OLD stuff.
and "Wolves for the Wolf God" is still pretty a tiny little puppy when compared to some of the bigger and older blogs out there. Still, there are a few older articles that some of you might have missed or might find interesting. So, without further adieu:
Wolves for the Wolf God is now less boring thanks to a commission from the one and only Goatboy! And what a lovely commission it is! It is simple and brutal, just like the Wolf Lord it portrays. Skarvald the Troll-faced himself, baby! He's ready to take any and all challenges and promises to take no prisoners and leave no survivors if the blood and mead are spilling and if his opponent is kind enough to feed the Thunderwolves his biggest and nastiest elite units.
