Adepticon 2011, Part V: The Rest

Well, I wrote about the event itself, the stuff I got, the Team Tournament and the Killzone event on Sunday, so in conclusion I'd like to share whatever is left in my photo folder. Unfortunately, it is kind of hard to take a picture of everything in a room with so many people, especially when participating in such a crowded event, but I am very happy with some of the photos I took. I hope you like them as well!

Adepticon 2011, Part IV: Special Operations Killzone

In part IV of my Adepticon coverage, I'd like to tell you guys about my first games of Special Operations Killzone on one of the FANTASTIC tables that Brian from A Gentleman's Ones built and painted with the help of a few friends (with my buddy "Frozencore" Joe being one of them!).

Come on, now. Unless you have been living a rock for the past year or so you probably already know about Special Operations Killzone, but for your convenience and in case you don't know here are some quick links to the beautiful .pdf's:

a simple, cinematic skirmish version of Warhammer 40,000... of AWESOMENESS!!!

• Rules: What is Special Operations Killzone? How do I get started? How do I write a list?
• Army Errata: How does my army work in Special Operations Killzone? What units can I pick?
• Missions: How much terrain do I need? What size are the tables? What are the deployments and missions?
• Mission/Fate Cards: What is that?

The best way I can summarize Killzone is "a simple, cinematic skirmish version of Warhammer 40,000... of AWESOMENESS!!!" It is a great way of playing quick, fast-paced games of 40k that, while at a smaller scale, feel just as (if not even more) epic but it still requires lots of thinking, because in Killzone nothing is expandable....
 Okay.. Maybe Gretchin are. Just a little bit. And I.G Conscripts. And Penal Legions.  Okay, I'll shut up now.

Brian's increasing Special Operations Killzone WAAAAAAGH!

Killzone games are just around 250 points each with special upgrades included and it allows for a relatively cheap and easy participation. In many cases a single box of plastic dudemen or just some models you have laying around but never use are more than enough. Always wanted to be cool and play Orkz but never got around to it, intimidated by the throngs of guys you'd have to paint? So did Brian and look what he did!
It's also a great way to start an army: A warband here, a warband there and all of a sudden you'll have a nice collection of models and 1000 pt. games will be a piece of squigpie.

/palmface

Also an opportunity to finally field "those" units. Got some Kroot or Vespids that you never use? Maybe one of those units that a new edition, codex or codex creep made less-than-desirable like.. Pariahs, Immortals, Wraiths, Necron Warriors, Destroyers, Scarab Swarms and Flayed Ones? Genestealers (in Killzone you can give them frag grenades for 1 pt.)? Ogryns and Ratlings.. and pretty much all I.G Elites Choices... Ork Flash Gitz, even! BAM, you got yourself a Warband that doesn't necessarily suck. Actually Necrons are kind of amazing in Killzone and I really, really WANT to have a Kroot or a Vostroyan-themed Warband in the future.

This is Special Operations Killzone in a nutshell, Ladies and Gentlemen's Ones...  Now follow me for my Adepticon 2011 Special Operations Killzone coverage!

Adepticon 2011, Part III: Team Tournament, Game 4 vs. Penguins of Chaos

After the crushing defeats it was time for the 4th, final, less-competitive and more casual Game of the Adepticon 2011 40k Team Tournament. Usually by that time most teams realize that there is no reason to be super competitive unless you actually have a chance of winning something or scoring within the... erm.. Top 20? Besides, booze adds up, hehe.  Well, for us it didn't. Cuz.. you know.. 3/4 of the team were under 21 (Thanks for the shots, Team Sweden ;P)? Our fourth game was indeed very pleasant and laid back, so without further ado let me introduce you toooo...

Penguins of Chaos

All the way from the famous tourney scene of Toledo, Ohio we were to face these wonderful fellas. Not exactly too far, my only memory from the Buckeye State was waiting 15 minutes for a meal in Burger King on the way back from Games Day 2010.... but that's another story. It's Batrep time, baby!

Adepticon 2011, Part III: Team Tournament, Game 3 vs. Sons of Scotty (SOS)

Well, gents, it was time for the third game of the Team Tournament as it usually happens, after a good round you tend to face bigger challenges. And in our case it was true. I retell this story with a sour taste in my mouth simply because it really wasn't that interesting and yeah, some might say it is because we got utterly trounced. So without further ado, meet the Canadian invaders from team..

Sons of Scotty

Or at least one of the Coalitions..

DAKKADAKKADAKKA!

But before I take you on this very short and painful journey let us observe what this Coaltion from Canada brought on the table. Yes, you got that right. Orkz. *sigh* Orkz: The one army I was 100% we could defeat without a problem just by playing Space Wolves and the army that I really, really wanted to face just so Skarvald the Troll-faced could have a field day feeding his Thunderwolf some xeno fungus. After all, we did practice against a shooty Ork list that was specifically created to face us and while it was tough we won.
I guess with great overconfidence comes great regret, eh?

Adepticon 2011, Part III: Team Tournament, Game 2 vs. A Day Late and a Dollar Short

Well, after the awesome Draw and Loss against the coalitions from Team Sweden it was time to go to our second game. Despite the rough start we were supper excited to see who our opponents were and fate put us against the jolly and "slightly" inebriated fellas from The Heroic 28s Podcast (Great, casual podcast that I've been enjoying ever since!). So without further ado, let me introduce you to Team..

A Day Late and a Dollar Short

 

They had a very mixed army and had written up a bunch of fluff to make it work, however I seem to have misplaced their story, so if any of you 28s reads this and you have a digital copy, please send it to me and I'll add it. Unfortunately we were too excited and the game went by pretty fast, so I didn't remember to take any pictures. The Coalition we faced had a Vulkan He'Stan Salamanders-themed SM list AND a Null-Deployment Style Tyranids. I am 99% sure that these lists below are correct since I saw them posted on their forums.. so join us after the break to see them AND read the battle report!

Adepticon 2011, Part III: Team Tournament, Game 1 vs. Team Sweden

So there we were, Team Razorback's debut in the "tourney" scene and boy were we all excited to eat stuff with our Thunderwolves as various kinds of ammunition went "plink!" against their cybernetics and fur. All of our.. well.. hard work was hopefully going to pay off and we were either going to get crushed or win with a bloody massacre. Well, neither happened but our very first game at the Adepticon 2011 Team Tournament quickly became the highlight of the entire event for we were playing..

Team Sweden

"AAAHHHhhhhh! We come from the land of the ice and snow.."

With their blue-and-yellow T-shirts, blue-and-yellow dice and blue bottle of booze, we were destined to face one of the top teams at Adepticon 2011. Unlike last year we didn't luck out with an easy team. This one was going to be.. hm.. what was that, little thunderwolf puppy? Ruff? Yeah, exactly that - rough.

Adepticon 2011, Part II: Da Loot!

Hehe, I bet you can't wait for the actual tournament coverage.. Trust me, I can't wait to type it.. But for now, lets see what I spent my cash-money-dollars on! After all.. loot is pretty important.

Adepticon Poster and T-Shirt

We're starting with the old Adepticon poster everyone got for free with their swag bags or during registration. Not sure if I like the white on he top and bottom of it, but I was too lazy to play with the scissors when I taped it to my wall. It now sits next to my Games Workshop Academy Diploma. Ah, they don't make them anymore.. $5 also got me the 2009 Adepticon T-shirt with the exact same design. It was pretty much a steal..

 

x2 Bags with 5 Kroot on Spue

On Sunday I was able to snag these bad boys at a discounted price. There were a bunch of bags and I just knew that there were Kroot lurkin' around. Standard GW price is $35 for 16 of 'em, so that's a nice deal right there, right? I'm going to be collecting a small Kroot Mercenary Special Operations: Killzone team, but that's going to be only in the near future. I was thinking one or two with wings, a few sniper guys, a hunter followed by two Kroot Hounds. Can't wait to see what comes out of them..

Assorted Bitz!

$9 got me some nifty bitz! I got the top part of a Fantasy Orc Boyz banner, a chained snotling from an unknown kit, two sets of Sisters of Battle wings (for trading, possibly for flying Vulturekin Kroot) and a painted Space Wolves Rune Priest in Terminator Armor ($17 value!) that's missing his storm bolter arm. I also picked up a GW cube of green dice for like $6.60, because all of my friends tend to agree that green dice roll better and I lost most of mine. Plus, my local store never got any new shipments of green dice..

Micro Art Studio's Forest Bases and Engima's Ulkurz

Ulkurz!

Frozencore Joe persuaded me to check out Engima's miniatures and if I had to choose between GW's miniature line and their before I got addicted to 40k I would have chosen Engima. Simply superb. I quickly picked up Ulkurz who at 32mm is just big enough to pass as a Savage Orc Warboss. I'll just have to get rid of that shield he's carrying and give him a suitable second hand weapon for more choppiness. Adn warpaint. Lots and lots of warpaint. I also asked the vendor if he could recommend me a base for the model, simply because the selection was so big. I wanted something to make him stand out, make him even bigger and scarier without being too cliche and at the end I decided to pick up
Micro Art Studio's 25x25mm Forest Bases.

Autographed "Prospero Burns" by Dan Abnett

Next is definitely a very valuable item! While I was walking around the vendor's area I saw a familiar face. And whaddaya know, Dan Abnett was there, signing books. And he looked lonely. So, just like any good Space Wolf player would have done in my power shoes I asked him to sign "Prospero Burns" for me! I have yet to read it and I still need to get my "Thousand Sons" on, but eventually I will. I'm planning to give away my first copy of Prospero Burns. Not sure if people would be interested.

Gale Force Nice Massive Wound Markers

 These always come in handy, especially if you are a Wound Allocation Jerk like me!

Special Operations: Killzone cards

Got myself a set of the Secondary Objective and Fate cards for the Special Operations: Killzone game. These bad boys are Superior POD's doing and look pretty sweet. Brian was kind enough to save a set for me
and I can't wait to open them for my first game of Killzone at the FLGS. Price was a bit steep at $25 but I realize that the supply was limited. Besides, they look friggin' sweet-tastic! I also got one of the printed out rule booklets after the Killzone event, which was neat. I really cannot stress how much I want to play this game. It's like a breath of fresh air... of awesomeness.

Adepticon 2011 T-shirt

I've been having a lot of fun collecting shirts from various conventions and events and this one is no exception. the gray color is a nice touch and the logo is beautiful. Also, I was extremely lucky to pick up the very last XL T-shirt on Sunday. Kind of awesome, right?

Battle Foam P.A.C.K. 720

P.A.C.K 720, also known as the "Arm and a leg splurge". I had to, I just had to. I'm sooo sick of Citadel cases barely holding my stuff with only one of the latches remaining. Or.. you know, with spiders living inside them. My current way to carry miniatures has been 2 Citadel cases (both with the left latch missing): One for Warhammer 40,000 and one for Warhammer Fantasy. I try and cram my rulebook, codices and dice and stuff. If I'm going to play, I put both of them in a Aldi bag and plop a metal foam case with my vehicles in it. Otherwise it's one case and a small tool/tackle box with my paints and hobby supplies. The 720 is going to be able to fit all of them.. hopefully. Plus I've got some cool iron-on patches from various events that I can't wait to decorate it with.

Adepticon 2011, Part I: The (Bumpy) Road to the Adepticon 2011 Team Tournament!

*takes a deep breath* Man, I survived Adepticon. Again. The feeling is so exhilarating. All the pressure, all the excitement, all the good and bad feelings, emotions, all the stress. Gone. What's left is pure awesomeness.

So this post I want to dedicate to the "hobby" part of the little plastic dudemenz-building hobby we all seem to enjoy around here. Especially the things that worked and did not work for our team. I'll talk about our ideas and what we hoped to accomplish and even cover some of the things I'm definitely going to try and change for Adepticon 2011. So, without further ado..

Team Razorback Spam's Road to Adepticon 2011

New Savage Orc Boyz? *jaw drops* + [Adepticon 2011 Team Progress Update]

Today our store got the Black Box containing the new Orcs and Goblins Army Book, the new Savage Orc Boyz and the Arachnarok Spider. I'll be honest - I've been trying to stay away from Fantasy. For the longest time I was always busy with 40k and on the few occasions I got to play against people with friends armies I was pretty satisfied, yet not inspired enough to start an army of my own. People have been bugging me to start an army for the longest time too.. For my previous birthday I got a bunch of Skaven and was about to start my own clan Moulder with tons of Rat Ogre's aaand Hell Pit Abominations. But that never happened and I just sold/traded them on eBay. I got a nice trade for my last remaining 40 clan rats = got a badly painted Stompa!

Enter the Savage Orc Boyz!

 I... I was.. so happy when I saw the new Savage Boys. They are perfect. Orc skins is so much fun to paint and the lack of tons of straps, shirts and jackets to paint make them even more attractive. I always thought that the Ork Boyz were a pain in the neck to paint, especially because I never bother with painting heads and arms separate and everything eventually ended up being in the way of the paintbrush. But the Savage Orc Boyz! So bright! So much bones, so many possibilities! Look at them.. Definitely the best Orc/Ork models Games Workshop have ever sold.. I saw the kits today and there are so many weapons and other gubbinz to choose from. The Big Stabba? Why would you ever opt out of it? It is death on a stick..

Now, I know that I have plenty of things to paint. Those Space Wolves I have won't pant themselves, you know? I am planning to purchase a box of Savage Orcs and not open it until Adepticon is over. Or I'll try not to open it. How's that? I will be very careful about this project. I will only buy things that I'm ready to paint and will spend plenty of time on each model. I don't plan on having a horde army.. Maybe something in between. Like.. a smallish horde of elite guys and then some little guys. Here are some things that I'll have to change/think about/figure out:

Obsidian arrowhead!

- Figure out whether I want to run them with Spears, extra Hand weapons or Shields? Bows are out of the question.
- Will have the Big Stabba in every unit.
- Figure out a paint scheme. I definitely love the bright colors so I'll wait for some GW and blog articles.
- The stone weapons I plan on painting like obsidian. Probably Chaos Black with a light drybrush, white highlights and then gloss varnish. Or might use the Black Undercoat paint from the Paint Set. Then I'll sprinkle dried and fresh blood using Scab Red and Blood Red.
- They will start without tattoos but I will add tattoos to each squad when they prove themselves in battle. The more distinguished and successful a squad is, the more tattoos it will get.
- Will learn to be patient and paint the heads and other detail-obscuring pieces separate.

Other units to take will be Savage Boar Boyz, Goblin Wolf Riders including the new Goblin special character that makes them better at shooting (BS4 and other dakka!), definitely love new Savage Orc Shaman on Boar model so I'll have to pick it up at one point on another. Not sure what else as I was only able to peruse the army book and I am not that familiar with Warhammer Fantasy in general. The new Squig herd thing is pretty interesting too, and a pretty big unit of Goblins with Fanatics (with BIG skulls instead of chained metal balls) sounds pretty darn good to me.

Definitely a unit of Black Orcs that I'll need to convert somehow to make them look like Savage Orcs. I'm thinking that there should be a way to make their armor seems as if it was made from obsidian? Will have to research that. Maybe some very carefully placed Citadel Water Effects, Undercoat Black?

Team Razorback Spam Adepticon 2011 Progress:

- The pink foam part of the display board is not being glued to the wooden board with some PVA glue with.. hm... 8 Warhammer Fantasy Rulebooks and a Yellow Pages book sitting on top for some support.
- Met today with the guys to make sure progress was being made. We are doing different steps, but finishing on time definitely still seems possible.
- Started painting the faces of all the Space Wolves I own. Thinned layer of Tallarn Flesh, followed by a wash of Devlan Mud and then a 1:1 Tallarn Flesh and Elf Flesh mix was applied leaving some of the darker areas. About 50% have the 1:1 mix applied to them, the rest were washed before we had to call it a night.


- Still need to do some touch ups on the 4 Rhinos, Vindicator before I prime them Chaos Black and airbrush them with 2:1 Shadow Grey and Space Wolves Grey.
- Still need to prime and work on my 5 Thunderwolves.
- Still need to finish Skarvald's backpack and prime him.

Happy New 011.M3! Now release Imperial Armour XI already!

Happy New Year, guys! According to the Chinese, it is to be the Year of the Metal Rabbit! It is also the International Year of Forest and the International Year of Chemistry.
Here's for yet another year to enjoy and cherish before Quetzalcoatl comes and destroys our polluted, overpopulated planet Earth. So that means - yet another year of being a happy manchild who gets to play with toy soldiers. Hmmm.. Sounds good to me!
Who knows what the new year will bring us? All we have are rumors, but they are always good enough in my book, because speculation is part of the whole gaming experience for me.. So lets see what the new year is bringing us..

January - Skaven second wave!
February - Blood Angels second wave
March - New Warhammer Fantasy Orcs and Goblins Army Book and new models.
April - Adepticon 2011!
??? - Grey Knights
??? - Necrons
??? - Tau Empire

There have been rumors for Necrons in April, even Tau in October. Who knows?
Tomb Kings will probably be the next Warhammer Fantasy army to get a new Army Book.

And here's the book that every Space Wolves player is waiting for:
Imperial Armour 11. We don't know for sure if it will come out this year, but it probably will..
All I care about are the Space Wolves in the book. New characters, new vehicles, new upgrade kits and finally some unique Space Wolves Apocalypse Formations! Which Great Company will be featured? Will Forge World make some sick-looking Thunderwolf models or does Games Workshop insist on making them in plastic?

Personally I would love to see a Formation that features Thunderwolves - I've been trying to come up with something cool, but I always fail to do so..
A new Space Wolves Land Raider variant? I really want to see a vehicle that can shoot harpoons at people. Maybe a version of the Magna Grapple?
Resin Wolf Guard in Power Armour?
A really cool resin Rune Priest?

Also, I am really hoping that Games Workshop will release new Goblin Wolf Riders for the Orcs and Goblins Army Book. Something that doesn't have only one pose and that looks intimidating.. Something that we can finally use as Fenrisian wolves...

What are you wishing for this year? What would you like to see as a product? What new armies are you thinking of starting?

Team Razoback Spam has been registered for Adepticon 2011!

Can you smell what the Wolves are cookin'?

Our Space Wolves team has finally registered for the Adepticon 2011 Warhammer 40k Team Tournament! After a lot of time spent trying to come up with a funny, fluffy and punny name we finally decided to do something more simplistic and direct. Thus, Team Razorback Spam. Despite the dozens of names that had to do with wolves and other plays of words we just thought it would be funny... We are also listed under Team #42.. which happens to be the answer to Life, the Universe and Everything.... ;)


Now can you guess how many Space Wolf Razorback we are bringing to Adepticon 2011? As in, all four of us. Combined. How many?

Getting there!

Our Space Wolves Adepticon 2011 army is slowly unfolding. Pretty much everything has been built -
Last night I help one of my team mates to build his 10 Grey Hunters. He still needs to build his only Rhino and then he has to fix his warped Space Wolves Rhino doors. Vince has already built his Rhinos and will also need to put the doors on his two Rhinos. Other than that all Thunderwolves have been built... except my Wolf Lord on a Thunderwolf.

Yesterday I finished building the 2 remaining Long Fang members with Missile Launchers. I had just enough actual missile launchers but was missing the supporting hands that hold the weapon in place. Instead I used bolter hands and put a small missile in each as if they were loading the missile launcher. Looks pretty good! I also drilled the muzzles of all of my bolt guns and bolt pistols. That was like 40 drilled miniatures and some of them had a bolter and a bolt pistol, tee hee! And then I primed them. That took a while. I'm a perfectionist when it comes down to priming my models and I revisit every miniature to make sure that it has been properly sprayed. I must have primed around 60 models that day (I am responsible for assembling and painting two out of the four 1,000 pt. armies). And those were just the infantry models. I will prime the Thunderwolves and vehicles later - maybe when we are done painting the Grey Hunters and Long Fangs.

I still need to build one more Rune Priest and add some jib-jabs to my Rhinos and my Vindicator. We should start spraying Shadow Grey on the models pretty soon. 

The Great Company Banner!

It's been a while. I've been thinking of stuff to write about, but recently things have been.. stale. I blame the new release of Warhammer Fantasy 8th Edition. All I hear is "Dude! Run your High Elves in blocks of 50!" or "Magic is so OP!". I don't really care! Gah! Fantasy is kind of neat, but I already sold my Skaven, since I prefer the more futuristic grimdark universe.
We are still trying to come up with a really cool-looking paint sceheme for our Space Wolves. If any of you thinks that your is the best you should totally recommend us something!

Yesterday I decided that I really needed to paint something. I was sick of building miniatures and kind of didn't want to just hang out around the paint bar in our local GW, so I decided to... pain the Great Company! My Wolf Lord's name is.. well.. Skarvald the Troll-faced and he's a renowned hunter and slayers of beasts (thus the saga of the beastslayer). The Company Banner is going to be attacked to his back and on top of it I will attach the decapitated head of a river troll. ; )

Our Adepticon Space Wolf armies are themed after Harald Deathwolf's Great Company. His sigil is the Ravening Jaw - a wolf devouring a white star. Harald's Company is known for its Thunderwolves and that matches the main focus of our four 1000 pts. lists for the Team Tournament. After all, there's a total of 4 units of them - fully kitted out. ;-3

The banner was not that hard to do. Primed black, base coated with Mechrite Red mixed with a liiiitle bit of Blood Red. As always, add water to your paints, especially if it is a foundation paint. 1:1 ratio works best. After that, I tried outlining the wolf with a pencil but gave up on the idea and realized that there was no way that I could fit both the "Harald" AND "Deathwolf" scrolls on it.
Not even the white star that the black wolf was supposed to be devouring. Oh well.
I started outlining the wolf with a fine detail brush, using Chaos Black and with Mechrite Red I was going over any spots that I messed up (wrong proportions, bad details, etc. etc.). This happened A LOT.

Free Hand Drawing is all about going back and fixing stuff you fucked up. It's not about precision, accuracy and a steady hand (although that helps a ton!) - it's about persistence and patience.


After I was happy with the general shape I filled the wolf with Chaos Black and then played around blending various greys, whites.. On top I did the scroll and quickly wrote deathwolf on it with a micron pen. They help sooo much. Can't stress this enough. You need it. Not only was it priceless for outlining and defining the wolf, but it also gives it that "finished" look to boot! It is yet another way to fix whatever you fucked up. ; )

Obviously this is not finished yet. The backside needs to be painted as well with red and I need to add some touch ups to the scroll, paint the cloth part of the banner and finished the little purity seals and little banners beneath the wolf. And I need to paint that troll head.

But that's another story.

P.S: Excuse my camera phone and poor lightning. It was too late for me to rummage for my good cameras, plus the banner does not deserve a proper photo before it is 100% complete.

Wolf Pack, baby!

Hi, there. My name is Vlad and this little puppy here is my new blog. Here, I plan to report the progress of my new Space Wolves army, especially since they are headed down the Road to Adepticon 2011!

I am relatively new to the hobby with less than a year and a half of experience and my first army was Orkz. I still love them, but I have always had a soft spot for our lupine friends and when the new Space Wolves Codex came out I shrieked like a little girl.


I know, I know. I know what you're already thinking:

"In the name of Russ! Yet another Space Wolves blog? Can't I just head to the ultimate Space Wolves blog and win?"
Well.. you could, but then you'd just be reading about a fraction of the hobby potential that the SW codex has. Every hobbyist is different - from their various fluff reasons to start an army, their assembling, painting and actual gaming. Right? Well, I just happen to be one of them.

About me: As I said before, my name is Vladimir or just Vlad for short. I am a colllege student, just turned 20 and game and hobby at our local GW store at the Deer Grove plaza in Palatine, IL. My first taste of competitive, tournament-oriented gaming was over at Adepticon 2010 where I partook in the Team Tournament with an army of Speed Freekz called "Mork Protects" and finished overal 35th! Other than that I am a very casual player that likes to dispense indiscriminate justice with my Orkz and now my beloved Wolves. I got into the hobby as soon as our local store opened and I've been hanging out at "Geedub", which just happens to be like the only good place for hanging out in my little suburban town. More to come.. : )

Stay tuned for pictures of my army as I build and paint more members of the glorious Space Wolves AND batreps as I crush those who dare cross my path!