Building the Killzone "Booster Pack" Tables: Part II

It's always like a holiday when "Frozencore" Joe stops by for some good ole hobby-time. Even on Memorial Day. That's like a double rain--- holiday, all across the sky. I know I promised you an update on Sunday, but with work being annoying and what not we had to postpone everything. But, no worries - we did meet up and a lot of progress was made.

The materials:
Ork Barricades - Resin. You get 6 different barricades for $22. Amazing, considering some of the bits you would need to duplicate them. One of the barricades is a wrecked Ork buggy!
Dap Drydex Spackling - A pink spackling that turns white when completely dry. Used for the "muddy" surface beneath the wooden boards and planks in the trenches and to raise areas.
Balsa and basswood sticks - Various lengths and widths for the ramshackle look of the trench boards used for support.
Gorilla Wood Glue - for gluing. Duh!
Master-crafted Digital Weapons -That would be yer hands!

Building the Killzone "Booster Pack" Tables: Part I

Yesterday "Frozencore" Joe and I met again, this time to start the 2'x2' modular sections for the Killzone table we're going to be making. We decided to lay down the basics - draw some pictures, outline where stuff was going to be located on each 2'x2' segment, try and loot some terrain, etc.

The materials:
3/4'' plywood we got from Home Depot. Thick, sturdy, no chance to bend and a great support for the..
3/4'' pink foam. Also from Home Depot. Both items were cut for us pretty precisely, giving us a bunch of 2'x2' squares. 
Caulk gun and glue to glue plywood and pink foam together. The bond was pretty rock-solid.
Gorilla Wood Glue donated to us by Brian from A Gentleman's Ones. Used for gluing various pink foam pieces, foam core and eventually sealing the pink foam for sturdiness.
White foam core which Joe is primarily using to create the various buildings for his Imperial city board.

What? Green Vostroyans? Soon ALL will be revealed..

The boards:
"Frozencore" Joe: An Imperial fortified city with a lot of vertical action going on. We're talking about ramps and bridges connecting buildings at various heights, bridges over a river and various ways to go up and down the whole thing. Definitely a complicated and terrain-heavy 2'x2' for Joe's Deathwatch Killzone Team, but in the end we all know that it is going to look awesome. He went crazy with his measurements, making sure everything was going to fit and had a pretty detailed picture of his idea.

The wooden part will be a river and from the raised part - a bridge.

This tree? An aquarium decoration. Of awesomeness.

Skarvald the Troll-faced: I was going to go for a jungle/swamp Kroot Mercenaries camp of some sort, but after thinking about it I decided to use my Kommando Ork-themed list. I never managed to write a good enough list using the Tau Codex. Lots of things I liked, others - not so much and for me every attempt to create a Killzone team was a painful process.


Besides, I spent a lot of time browsing for some big trees, simply because I wanted to have a bunch of them, connected with bridges and catwalks all over the place to achieve that "vertical effect", but lack of models and high prices eventually persuaded me to think of something else.

Thus, the Kommando Mercenary Headquarters idea was born. I'm going to keep the jungle/swamp idea, and found something to use as the big tree. There will be trenches, a lot of camouflage, tall grass, a mine field, razor wire, a watch tower, a Deff kopta landing pad, etc. The tree thing you see on the picture above will be covered with ork... stuff. Platforms, ladders, catwalks.  
I like this terrain piece more and more and every time I look at it I get crazier orky ideas. It looks pretty realistic but then it is not. You know what I mean? Next step is getting some spackle and putting it on the sides of the trenches, before I put wooden planks.

One of the terrain pieces that I will be making is a crashed Deff Kopta and a separate terrain piece will be a tree with the Deff Kopta's dead pilot, stuck in its branches with his parachute. With a raven on its shoulder. Yeah-yeah.

Come back next Sunday for more development on the "Booster Pack" Tables. PART II!

Blood Axes Orkz Killzone team in da making!

To temporarily appease some dude's sweet toof for all things Orky here's a Killzone list in progress: 

Killzone upgrades:
Crack Shot - Re-roll rolls To Hit or To Wound in the Shooting phase.
Stealth Suit - Grants Scout, Stealth and Move Through Cover

Da Silensurz

Kommando Orkz have always been a weakness for me. A nice, hefty unit lead by Snikkrot always does the job and strikes fear into the hearts of even those who know no fear. I'm looking at you, Space Marines. The models, although metal, are sweet and gas masks are too classy to say "No" to. This list is supposed to emulate the more "Elite" part of the Blood Axes - A gang of mercenaries with lots of tuff and 'uge unz. Sure, Blood Axes are supposed to be sneaky, silent and dead killy, but don't let the five big shootas fool you. When they jump out of their hiding spots and start shooting you'll never be able to hear anything ever again. Because you will be dead. Or deaf from the noise. 

6 of the models are Nob variants with 2 wounds each, 5 of which have Stealth and an effective 3+ cover save from shooting, which is pretty neat. They don't have any other fancy special weapons or upgrades, counting on the mobility that Move Through Cover and Scout gives them to get the charge on their enemies and hopefully win through sheer number of wounds, attacks and brute strength. 

The five big shootas are awesome assault weapons with enough range to reach anything on the board as long as it is in sight, while still allowing the Orkz to move around and even charge. Crack Shot lessens the failure that is BS2 by making the Big Shootas pretty much twin-linked. It's not like I'll ever choose to re-roll To Wound.

The leader of the bunch I decided to be something... else. A Flash Git. Again, a less subtle mercenary. Imagine an Ork who has realized that not only can he kill as much as he wants but he gets paid for it AND get to keep all the teef he loots. His model and his actions are supposed to mimic Rambo's and I'll be converting him to shoot a rokkit-arrow with a fancy bow. Need some Orc Arrer hands... Anyone? 

Leader

Flash Git with More Dakka, Shootier, Blasta, Stealth Suit and Crack Shot

Kommando Nob

x2 Kommando with Big Shoota, Crack Shot

x3 Nob with Stealth Suit, Stikkbombz

Nob with Stealth Suit, Stikkbombz

x3 Boy with Big Shoota, Crack Shot

Starting your Killzone: "Booster Pack" Terrain Tables

We live in interesting times, Wolf Brothers! We were made to battle in the name of the Emperor, to lead his armies and rip out the throats of the enemies of the Imperium of Man, but in this new Age of Strife our purpose in life is being taken from us! And by whom? Not xenos, not heretics, nor treacherous Chaos-worshippers. No.. Our one and only reason to exist is being taken from us by scriveners and accountants, by lords who have never seen a day of battle, have never held a dying brother in their blood-soaked hands... Our Crusades used to be fueled by glory, honor and pride - NOT MONEY! The assaults and sieges we carried out on so many planets under the blazing heat and light of a thousands suns and countless stars were done because it was our right to do so, not because they were potentially profitable. Dark times await us and Chaos beckons..    
- Skarvald the Troll-faced

So much for my commentary on the price-hike, the new resin/resin-plastic models and the new embargo policy of Games Workshop. Kirby has a great open letter to GW about it which has been floating around various blogs and forums for a while now. I agree with it, but what can I do? Words won't win against Capitalism, so the best thing to do is to figure out a way to still enjoy the hobby while eliminating the factors that undermine my budget. I love this hobby, I love the models, I lost most of the rules and I love my local Games Workshop store, but unfortunately it seems that none of them love me enough to grant me free miniatures on a regular basis.

Enter Special Operations Killzone...

Citadel Finecast is here! Giveaway reminder!

Wow. Just WOW!
It is here, gentlemen and gentlemen. It is finally here: CITADEL FINECAST Announced!
The rumor born on April 1st that many dismissed and labeled as a "troll's wishlist", that there was no way in Hell Games Workshop would drop their metal range and substitute it for a yet-to-be-named resin-plastic hybrid. Well... It is true.

First, most of the metal blisters and kits were turned into "Direct Order" only to slowly reduce the number of the "outdated" metals. A lot of people freaked out and then it was said that it simply meant that all metals were going to be produced in the U.K and that the U.S wound just continue making plastics.

Then, the first Tomb Kings wave got no metal models despite several outdated and old-looking character models and numerous new Special Characters and unit entries. Not even new generic Lords and Heroes options. EXCEPT the PLASTIC Tomb King model that's in the Warspinx/Necrosphinx plastic kit. Yep. They included pretty much a free Character model in there made out of plastic.

There's a List of the First Wave of Finecast Miniatures WITH Prices! Dang.

Ook! Me be resin soooon! Eeek!

Tons of models are getting a price increase when you compare the listed prices with the current GW ones. Some are barely getting more expensive, while others.. well, lets just say that buying Finecast models will be like watching a Jokaero shooting your Land Raider with a finger-lascannon from exactly 48'' away, penetrating it, going through its cover save and then blowing it to smithereens. On turn 1. After stealing the Initiative.



Canis Wolfborn will be ~$8 more expensive. Still a squirrel-riding Space Wolf, still extremely expensive (he will be like $48!), but at least he won't be a chunk of metal now. That's good, right? Also he'll definitely be easier to convert if you're crazy and rich enough to buy multiples of him just to make "legal" Thunderwolf Cavalry units. Less heavy, easier to transport, less prone to chipping if you drop him, but also less likely to give you a +2S bonus in the first turn of combat if you put him in a sock and swing him around like a flail, you silly manchild! :)

There are a few more models from the Space Wolves range, like Njal Stormcaller who will be 2-3 bucks more expensive, which is not too bad. Gluing his staff hands was pretty much impossible for me so I had to use lots of Green Stuff...

About the Price-hike
Obviously starting a new production-like will require new machines, molds and what not so there has to be a lot of money involved. It is also a risky move I suppose, even though so many people tend to complain about metal models in general. I know I have a few Ork Kommandos that need to be stripped and repainted, because they are ultra-mega chipped, and I almost wanted to kill myself while building the Tomb Kings Screaming Skull Catapult.
There's also the annual price-hike, so hopefully the prices listed are adjusted accordingly in advance, because if they also get increased AGAIN so soon I'll definitely complain about it on my blog.. Which just happens to be this blog.. Oh, poor you.
I could talk about the ever-increasing prices of tin, plastic, etc, but I don't know a whole lot about it. Obviously inflation and material cost happens every year and this is a niche market, blah-blah-blah. It's not like we could do anything about it, besides trying to be smarter consumers. Be less impulsive with your purchases, people!

And now a great question from Games Workshop:

Q: "What will my first Citadel Finecast miniature be?"

A: Well, I don't know, Mr. Games Workshop Man. Nothing from that list is something that I need, besides a few Orcs and Goblins special characters, maybe. But I know one thing that will explode MY Land Raider and it won't be Jokaeros, no sir. It would be a whole lot of... 

VOSTROYANS!

But more about them (in excruciating details, mind you!!!) later.. This whole talk about resin is just urging me to remind you about the Wolves for the Wolf God 100th Post Giveaway! Don't miss the chance to score some free Renegade Militia resin dudemen, dudes. It's easy, it's free, so do it. And tell your friends about it too!

News Flash!: Dark Eldar Fusion ProGlide Razorwing

Fusion ProGlide Razorwings: Because even Space Elves need to shave!

So there you have it - the Dark Eldar Razorwing Jetfighters, born to sow the seeds of anarchy! And bomb stuff.

Definitely bigger than I envisioned it and at least it's a vehicle that could probably manage to fly unlike that Stormraven "Gunship" abomination. Just not as overpowered.

This just in!: 

The Wolves for the Wolf God 100th post Giveaway!

Okay.. okay.. it's more of a belated 100th post Giveaway. Okay? Now continue reading! :)

I've been thinking about something special for my 100th post on this blog, but with so many ideas and the urge to write I completely forgot about my plans until I hit the 103th post.. Then it was too late, I got lazy and then work was hectic (again..). But it is NOT too late I say... for a GIVEAWAY!

On June 15th, 2011 (a month before the anniversary of Wolves for the Wolf God) I will choose a random follower of this blog using a completely random method.. which may or not involve dummies with everyone's name and scent on them and a very hungry Thunderwolf.
The lucky winner will receive a prize which I will send free of charge, no matter where you live. But it has to be on this planet. The Warp cannot be trusted. 
I will announce the winner using a post on THIS blog and will do my best to notify you using Google Friend Connect.
You will have one week to respond with your current address until I grow impatient and sick my Thunderwolf on another tasty-looking dummy.

But wait, Skarvald the Troll-faced, we don't even know what we're playing for!!!?

Ah, always the impatient one, aren't you, little Timmy Firepants? Listen carefully, then.
If you do follow my blog you'll be entered in a drawing to win a Forge World Renegade Miltia Conversion Set, which is "a pack of resin accessories to upgrade 10 plastic Cadians, or convert other Games Workshop plastic figures, such as Catachans or Chaos Marauders. Set contains 10 head and torso pieces with respirators and Flamer canister. Plastic Cadians not included. Models designed by Mark Bedford." The set goes for £12.25 which is equal to $20. That's 20 bucks you don't have to spend to have these awesome conversion pieces which you could use as..:

Renegade Orphan says: "Pwease adopt me!"

1. ..your new Traitor Guard Army!
2. ..your new Special Operations Killzone!
3. ..pseudo Death Korps of Krieg!
4. ..your next Painting Project!
5. ..a gift for a Chaos-worshiping friend!
6. ..your Fancy Objective Markers!
7. ..your Count-as Chaos Henchmen for Coteaz' Retinue!
8. ..a landing pad for a Deep Striking Stompa!
9. ..food for your Thunderwolves!
10. ..yet another thing that will gather dust..
11. ..Dead Renegade Militia on your Grey Knights' bases!

What if I like bi-winning?

Charlie Sheen - The true Duke!

Well, you don't need to bang 7g rocks to be one of my awesome followers, but as you probably already know, the super duper secret agenda of this Giveaway is to (hopefully) get me even more Followers. Holy crap, I'm like a Chaos God that's giving Renegades to his worshipers! Genius! So..
If you are willing to help me promote this Giveaway by mentioning it on your blog, I'll add you TWICE in the list of random names AND if you win I will add a secret item of awesomeness in the parcel with the Renegade Militia Conversion Set. Double the pleasure, double the fun, right? All you have to do is comment on this post with a link to your blog post! Easy!

Good Luck!