A Gentleman's Ones

""Gentleman's Ones" is an expression commonly used among friends here to describe those devious double-ones required to pass a morale test when everything has otherwise gone horribly, horribly wrong. It's an admission that one doesn't really deserve to be on the table, but just might continue to fight anyway."
- from A Gentleman's Ones

 If you still haven't visited this marvelous blog, now is your chance. Check out the awesome models that B. Smoove has painted, his beautiful 3D interpretation of Space Hulk and all the other crazy projects that, without a doubt, will blow your mind.

And now I will share with you MY "Gentleman's Ones"

1. This one was recent. I was playing a 1750 pt. game using my buddy's Ork list against a very nasty Imperial Guard player who knew he was going to face Orkz and thus fielded tons of heavy bolters. His list consisted of 2 Leman Russ squadrons (not sure which type), a Psycher Battle Squad in a Chimera and then a bunch of other vehicles, few Sentinels.. Overall a pretty good, annoying list.
The list that I ran was fairly simple - 2 Warbosses with PKs - each with 10 Nobz (Painboy, Waagh banner, one with PK and everyone else with Big Choppas). One of them was in a trukk, one in a Battle Wagon with a Deff Rolla. There were two units of 30 Boyz with Nobz and Zagstruk with his Stormboyz was in reserve. Notice how the Nobz are not really kitted out for mean wound allocation!
So first turn I see a squad of Boyz whittled down to 3 Boyz and a Nob (they make their saves) and the Trukk is glanced and stunned from Heavy Bolters.. or something.

Yes. My Nobz had the balls.

My army advances and does nothing. Until the end of the game one unit of Boyz will never get in close combat and the Trukk will always be stunned, shaken or immobilized but never wrecked or destroyed. Zagstruk shows up and assaults a Leman Russ squadron, wrecking all 3 vehicles. Next turn he ends up being the only survivor and will wreck a Chimera before getting shot to death. The 3 Boyz and a Nob squad becomes just a lonely Nob who ends up killing 2 vehicles in the next 2 turns all by himself AND survives the game. However, it all seems lost when my closest Nob squad gets hit with his psychic power and their Ld gets reduced to 2. They get shot.. a LOT.. . I roll like a 9 or 10 and use my boss pole to re-roll the moral save... and BAM! A GENTLEMAN'S ONES!

I then start screaming WAAAAAAAAAAAAGH! from joy and proceed to humiliate his Leman Russes. I really needed that save, because my whole army was being kited around and when I made it, it really changed the game around for me. Final result was 7 KP to 2 for me - He got a point for killing my Battlewagon and Zagstruk's unit. Silly Guardsmen.

But then you'll probably say "But Vlaaaaaaaaad, you had a boss pol and that was not faaaaaair!"
Well, then... sit tight for I have yet another story to tell! : )

2. Da Sevun Bloo Boyz
The store had a pretty big Planetstrike game in which everyone brought 1,000 points of their army. My team was playing Attackers and for most of the game my Boyz were pretty much unharmed. A turn or so before the game ended I had a unit of 25+ Boyz with a Power Klaw Nob and they were headed for this tiny sandbag bunker in the middle of the map. Now, in Planetstrike Attackers touching an objective count as controlling it and it just so happened that my Orkz were the only ones around AND this little bunker was the tiebreaker. What was in the bunker? Genestealers and Scarab Swarms. My Boyz WAAAAAGH and multi-assault them sustaining minor injuries due to lucky rolling. So far so good.

Next turn they get assaulted by..
Ultramarines Terminators
Blood Angels Assault Squad
Corbulo
A few Tactical Marines
NECRON WARRIORS - Yes, that's right. They assaulted me since they had nothing to shoot at.

Uh-oh. I get to watch my Boyz dieing like flies before they can even strike back. However, Mork was watching over me and he made sure that 7 Boyz remained. Their attacks killed a few Scarab Swarms, but the damage was done. I had to allocate wounds on my Nob and he ended up dieing so that meant no bosspole morale re-roll for me. ;_; Luckily my boyz were not Fearless, which would have meant taking like 15 armor saves. Yikes. Combat ended and I needed to take that impossible morale save. It was the very last turn of the game (Defenders didn't get their turn because they had the points advantage and we were running out of time).. and I rolled A GENTLEMAN'S ONES.
My brave Ork Boyz decided to stay and fight for this meaningless little bunker. Was it because of sheer stupidity or blood lust? Probably.

Da Sevun Bloo Boyz

Later that same day I repainted those seven Boyz from red to blue. After all, Orkz believe that blue brings luck to their race and they WERE lucky to survive that meat grinder.
Since then, I started painting my Orkz blue. My painting skills have evolved since then but these little guys are always in the front lines of one of my Ork Mobz and no matter the tactical situation, I always, always remove them last. They have never stopped working for me.

I haven't had any Gentleman's Ones with my Space Wolves, but I believe that when I start playing with them more often they will also get to experience the epic power of the double ones.

Narwhals, Narwhals Swimming in the Ocean...

.. causing a commotion, 'cause they are so awesome!

So I heard you liek S10 AP2 to the face?

Not a whole lot going on these day with college classes and attempts to find a job. I did, however, get a nice deal on a built Vindicator from a younger customer at the store. Funny story, I gave him the same Vindie kit during last year's Christmas Secret Santa and now it came back to me. The condition that I got him in was slightly average to below average, but then again it was built by a little kid, hehe.
So.. I grabbed some Green Stuff and off I went on a repairing spree, filling out all the gaps there were.

And then.. I started cutting it with the hobby knife!
I guess I just like the slightly damaged look of my vehicles and guys. They should look like they fight constantly and without rest all the time.
So anyways, this bad boy is going to be called Narhval, which is the northern way of saying "narwhal". My plan for this Vindicator is to green stuff a pretty big narwhal horn and mount it inside his cannon like a ginormous harpoon.

In other unrelated news, I managed to grab some sweet bits from an Ogre Kingdoms player - their battalion box is PERFECT for the feral Space Wolves - tankards filled with mead, juicy ribs, barrels of ale and even bear traps. I got a score of each for any future conversions.

Research Completed!

After I purchased the two sets of Forge World Space Wolf Rhino Doors I just wanted to build them as soon as possible, because I couldn't wait to see what they would look like on the actual models.
I had two unopened Rhino kits from before but was afraid to even start building them. Why? Well, I messed up a few of them - something always seemed to go wrong when I was building my previous two rhinos.
But I decided to man up and with some encouragement from the GW store owner I finally built my Rhinos.
Both sets of side doors were warped and bent so we nuked some hot water in the microwave and dipped them in it for a few seconds. Just like plastic, resin becomes very malleable when exposed to higher temperature, thus you can flatten any warped pieces. Other than that they didn't have any annoying mold lines or at least anything that my sharp knife couldn't handle. ;P

Bragi - The Rhino of my Rune Priest

   The front of the second Rhino was slightly messed up so I had to green stuff a pretty big gap that was left between it and the actual Rhino. Whatever. The models look so sweet now that even if I were to cover them with random chunks of Green Stuff all over the place (Nurgle Rhino, anyone?) it would still look sexy as hell.

I am a big fan of vehicles that are themed in some shape or form. The Space Wolves are very individual, which probably means that their dedicated transports are just as unique and flavorful.
My Rune Priest's Rhino is named after Bragi - the Norse God of wisdom and patron of all skalds. It has an open book on one of its sides (from a Dark Angels Ravenwing battleforce) and the sides of it will be covered in runes to represent the important and venerable character inside. I am not a big fan of Extra Armor, but in some games I can see myself spending the 15 pts. just for that Rhino to reflect the mystical energy that protects it.

My second Rhino, Sleipnir (Odin's eight-legged steed) does not get a special HQ riding in it, but it serves a very important role in my army. You see, there is a barrel of very, very intoxicating ale on it. If the Rhino is untouched at the end of a game the Space Wolves would count that as a personal victory despite any silling objectives or kill points.

On the left - Sleipnir. Notice the barrel of booze!

The Road to Games Day 2010

If you'd rather read about Games Day and not about how we got there, then please skip this part and click here for the second part.

Part 1: The Wild, Wild East
What do three 40k players need to travel more than 750 miles from Chicago, IL all the way to Baltimore, MD?
Some bread, a cooler filled with Mountain Dew and Dr. Pepper, an iPod with some good Rock N' Roll, cases filled with miniatures and a red Jeep. CUZ RED UNZ GO FASTA!!!!!!!!!!
It's what we had and all we needed to make this long trip, and by the Emperor on his Golden Toilet, it was WORTH it.

We left from our beloved state (which was actually the worst and most tedious part of our trip - IL has the worst roads in the world) around 8:30 am on Friday the 22nd with some trusty Mapquest directions and the cheery tunes that were playing on the radio. Before that we changed the motor oil to get better gas mileage. My friends Vince and Nolan were switching driver duties every 3 hours or so... which pretty much meant every time we got gas and our trip took is trough the states of Michigan (where I played Detroit Rock City by KISS), Ohio (which apparently is the slowest state when it comes to preparing fast food), Pennsylvania (which charged us $3.90 just for entering the state and just like the name states IS one giant forest) and of course Maryland.
We went a little bit too far North so we lost some momentum on the way to the convention, but that was fixed with a quick stop for directions at a Red Roof Inn. ; ) The whole trip in general was very exciting for me, because it was my first real roadtrip and the first time I got to explore the U.S ever since I moved here from Bulgaria. I have to say, the further east we went, the more gorgeous the scenery became and the more it reminded me of the years spent in my motherland. Pennsylvania was definitely the best, though. A single road with almost no signs and around it the only thing I could see were trees, trees and more trees. It was simply breathtaking. To being our journey from Illinois - a state torn by the industrialization and with more concrete than plants and to end in such a paradise after the barren Midwest... Whoo boy..

When we got to Baltimore it was already really grim.. and dark. It is a gorgeous city that looks very inspiring but doesn't really have the crowd of Chicago. Also, there is nightlife! Yep. People actually do stuff outside when it gets dark. That and just the relaxing atmosphere of the city reminded me of my own hometown which is also located next to a significant body of water (The Black Sea). I don't know. There was something in the air that just felt like home and I'd love to visit Baltimore again and again even if it is not for a nerdy convention. ;P Oh, yeah.
Obviously we weren't able to get any rooms in any of the three hotels that were pretty much glued to the Games Day convention hall so we had to get a room for the night over at the Best Western. I have no idea what a Best Western is doing in the Far East, though... All I know is that they charged us $150 for a two bed room (one bed rooms were the same price) with a TV and a bathroom fan that were not working and a really upsetting "free" breakfast in the morning. I was going to complain like so many people have done to me while I was working in the Hotel business but we were too tired after a day's worth of driving across the U.S. of A.

KRAKATOOM!

Man, I need to find a guide on how to properly photograph miniatures. You'd think that a guy like me who enjoys taking pictures for battle reports and army progression would know more about the tools of the trade but I guess I'm just lazy and stubborn.

Brother Orkan Stromnar

So anyway, today I finally built my Cyclone Missile Launcher Terminator. He has his handy-dandy Storm Bolter candy and a chain-fist for good measure in case I'm playing a game without Kill Points. No one would target a single guy like him, right? Not when there are tons of Thunderwolves and Grey Hunters in your back yard. I guess he'd do well against those Bastions in Planetstrike, huh? Deep Strike close to it and shoot for a bit, maybe gunning down squads that have been hurt by the Firestorm strike and then next turn charge and shred that building like it's nothing! :)


Otherwise he's going to hang out with the Long Fangs and that squad is going to be firing 7 missiles a turn.

A Cyclone Missile Launcher bit is hard to come by. It only comes in one box and everyone seems to be using it in some shape or form. It also doesn't help that I cannot find the sprue that I bought a long time ago.. so I had to trade for it. But it was a nice trade from a fellow Wolf Brother. Not sure if you can see some of the battle damage that I went for on this model. There are several cuts and bullet holes on his left shoulder and some gashes in the missile launcher itself. I like the grimy, messy look on models. I guess you can tell that I also play Orkz, huh?

GAMES DAY 2010

Should have announced it earlier buuuut....

IN LIKE 8 HOURS WE ARE HEADED TO BALTIMORE, MARYLAND FOOOR...

Vince, Nolan and I are making the trip east to this year's one and only Games Day! We got our ticket a couple of days ago, our preparations include a cooler of Dr. Pepper, some cold cut sammiches, an iPod with cool music, our 40k stuff the idea to stop and spend the night at a cheap hotel of some sort..
The road is long and we don't know what awaits us in the foreign land of Maryland but personally I'm hoping for some Space Wolf stuff. We had a blast at Games Day 2009 Chicago and Waaaagh'd until our throats were bleeding so here's to another amazing event by Games Workshop!

I'll be taking pictures all the time since I'm our group's designated photographer (and I don't mind it at all!) and you can bet your ass that I'll post tons of them here along with a description of the event.

See you there!

Of kombi-meltaz and frost choppas

Woo! It has been a busy day! I've been building more and more Grey Hunters. I have toooo many, but is it my fault that Grey Hunters are the BEST? If my calculations are correct, then I should have more than 40 models, maybe more. I built 17 today, finishing the power armored models from the Space Wolves Battleforce (which is SUCH a good deal - you end up getting a Drop Pod for free). I gave away the Drop Pod to a friend of mine and I still need to assemble the Scouts, but they will be staying in their plastic prisons for a while since I am not going to be needing them just yet. I will eventually post a big picture with all of the Grey Hunters I have, since I'm sure that they will be a sight to behold.

In the meantime I have been converting combi-meltas. Following this easy guide, I was able to create one of them. I even taught a fellow and younger Space Wolf player today how to make one. Due to a sharper knife his ended up looking better than mine... ;_; The cut was sort of uneven, so Green Stuff was used to combine both parts smoothly. I'm still waiting for the curing process to end and then I'll file the excess putty.


For a while I've been also looking around for the bits and pieces that I will need for my Wolf Lord on a Thunderwolf. He's going to be armed with an impressive Frost Axe. Even though the ones from the current Space Wolves boxes look reaaaal good I was not impresses with the size or the ferocity. And then I found this bad boy in a Ziploc baggies. Just need to amputate the poor Ork's hand holding it and maybe add some wolfy bitz. But come on, now this axe looks like a weapon that gives +1S and can easily slice through power armor.

His previous owner called it.. Da Frost Choppa..