Ugh! Know your core rules!

I swear! I've had nothing by bad in so many pick-up games as of late. My CLGS is supremely sub-par just to start. Terrible tables that rarely actually measure to 6x4, and never have painted or textured surface through-out. I suppose that's fine if you like to have all your battles on Planet Particle-Boardia. I'm growing weary of that through.

The A-#1 kick in the soft-bits is the people I've had the chance to play against. So far I've encountered no less than three regulars that either routinely forget rules, twist rules, make up wargear, or are still playing freaking 4th edition because they haven't fully learned 5th. The last bit seems to be fairly common. So far my best games have actually been with fairly new players. Like me, they've learned only 5th, and thus tend not to adamantly demand they're right about some crusty rule that might be as old as 3rd edition!!!

Yesterday, I had TWO games ruined by one made-up piece of wargear. I don't own every codex, and I've been playing for less than a year, but when I'm playing against Mr. I've-been-playing-since-Moses-started-40K, I tend to yield on a lot of the armies that are foreign to me. This has resulted in MULTIPLE disasters. Let me describe my most recent disappointment.

My lowly 1000 points of Orks found themselves facing down a Necron gun-line. I honestly had very little hope of survival. I managed to struggle forward, losing most of my army in turn 2. I had only my group of 20 'Ard Boyz (had to take them as that to make up the points) and my big-bad Warboss. I managed to call a Whaagh! and make assault. I spread out my boys into multiple unit combat. I was stuck in with a group of 10 Warriors, 10 Immortals, and a Necron Lord. I had positioned myself such that I could allocate most attacks against the Warriors, and my Warboss' attacks against the Immortals. The result was EPIC! I managed to cause an unsaved wound differential of 12! SUCCESS! My opponent had his back up against the table edge to try and give his gun line the best chance of whittling me down. This now was backfiring hugely as he was about to fail leadership with his two big point units; Immortals and his Lord. I was ready to fist-pump all the way home when my opponent announced that he had taken some wargear on his Lord that made him Fearless along with whatever unit he joined.

WHAAAAAA!

Now, not knowing the Necrons, I just assumed that was correct. HUGE MISTAKE! He promptly made most of the saves for the additional wounds, and began his turn. He used the Veil of Shadows, pulling his Lord and Immortals out of assault. His devastated Warrior squad only saw three make their "We'll Be Back" rolls and were forced to join a nearby Warriors squad that was not in combat. This left my Orks out in the cold. I was immediately hit by a Monolith template weapon killing 15 Boyz. The remainder were gunned down by the Immortals.

When I got home I loaded up my Necrons PDF codex (Shhhh!! Don't tell anyone) and I couldn't find ANYTHING that would make them fearless. Quite the opposite! I found the explicit explanation of why they DO take leadership tests despite being Undead Zombie Space Robots for the Future. GAAAAHHHHH! Ruined game! What's worse, we played another game and he repeated this SAME violation on me, claiming this imaginary wargear. What's worse, he wanted me to take a negative modifier after one assault because he "Outnumbered" me. WTH guy! Even I know that was a 4th Edition rule that wasn't in 5th! What sucked was that he INSISTED it was in the codex and took 10 minutes to look for it... IN MY RULE BOOK!

To summarize: I love 40K... I hate 40K players! KNOW THE CORE RULES PLEASE! I don't CARE that you were around when GW invented Space Marines! I don't care that your army hasn't seen a new codex since tight-rolled jeans were in style! I WANT YOU TO READ YOUR RULE BOOK!

*sigh* I feel better now. Although I'm never playing that guy again.

Big Mek with a Kustom Force Field

The newest addition to my budding Ork army is this Big Mek with the Kustom Force Field. I've commented on my personal delight in the outstanding comical qualities of the Orks, both from the codex and the models themselves. This model certainly reinforces that. The model was very simple to paint, and came out looking pretty nice. I didn't feel daunted by the details on the model, I simple started by dry brushing most of the Kustom Force Field pack. I took inspiration from the various panels and how things were going, and just kept building from there. I read a little strategy article after gluing him together about how it's recommended to take a burna with him as it gives him some utility while embarked in a vehicle and works as a power weapon in close combat. Well... too late now. I don't mind much because that choppa/wrench he has is just awesome looking. His arm position, leaning on the wrench is just perfect.

I also need to add that this is by far the heaviest single model that I own now. He certainly was a substantial chunk of metal. For the base, I decorated that with some "gears" to give him a bit more of the Mek Boy look. I had a tool kit from the Whirlwind box, but it didn't quite fit on the base without covering too much of the model. I also put a little nail varnish on the lenses to give them a shiny glass look. I like it.

I now have 10 Ork Nobz to prime and paint in about a week. I've gained a little courage and glued them all together prior to priming. I'm curious how much trouble this might add to the painting process. I see plenty of respected painters that do this, and it leads me to believe that there isn't much of a negative aspect to this at all. I also have their bases sitting there with the gravel glued and drying right now. I'm half tempted to go ahead and glue them to the bases... eh... maybe I'm not quite that brave yet.

Here are some more pictures of the Big Mek with the Kustom Force Field. I've also thrown in a shot with a Ork Boy next to him for size comparison:

Who's Da Boss?

Finished my Warboss from the Assault on Blackreach set. What an awesome model this is. I think there are basically three models that REALLY stand out in that starter set: the Warboss, the Space Marine Captain, and the Deff Koptas. I've gotten a TON of value out of that starter kit. I really think that GW did pretty much everything right with the contents of that box. That mini rule book is awesome for traveling, the models are terrific in inspiring you to start up the hobby, and of course throwing in the templates and some dice was a no-brainer.

Now, about the Warboss. I tried a few techniques on this model the kinda speed things up. I've got about 1000 points of Orks in my place, and I'm kinda starting to feel like I might just be able to have them all painted up before I go back home to Dallas when my leave comes up in late December. Maybe I'm crazy though, because I'm one HELL of a slow painter. I've found that I paint better by taking numerous breaks. I usually sit down for an hour, then wander off for an hour. On the weekends, I typically fill the off-time by digging through old Blue Table Painting YouTube vids. I love those guys. I can't get enough of their antics and inspirational builds.

One technique I explored with this model was blood splattering. I was worried about scaling this effect properly. What I ended up doing was taking my Citadel Detail Brush that I got in their 40K painting starter kit (that have five Ultra Marines in it) and I've since converted to a dry brush, and loaded that sucker up with Gore Red mixed with about 30% water, and just raked my thumb across the brush, flicking paint onto the model. The effect was really well scaled, easy to do, and looked great. Just be careful that you don't get unintentional splash onto something nearby that wasn't supposed to be speckled with blood. I managed to only hit a paint pot, so I learned my lesson at a very low cost.

Here are some more details of the Boss:

More Boyz for the Whaaagh!

Took a week, but the first batch of Boyz are done. A nice little group of five. I really just took my time and enjoyed the models. I tried to make sure that each one had a good level of detail, and some little bit of uniqueness to them. I'm pleased with the paint scheme and I can't wait to see the whole group of 29 Boyz with their Nob leader charging off into battle.

I picked up a box of Loota/Burnas and I'm pleased to see that with some extra torsos/legs I'll be able to use everything in the box and come away with 5 burnas, 4 lootas, and a mek. It's a great kit and every model out of that box will be unique. That's incredible! It furthers my belief that some other GW products are over-priced. Here I have this splendid box with all these unique parts for essentially a five man squad for about $20. Yet there are boxes for 5 men squads (still plastic) for more than twice that? Pfft... please.

Here are some detail shots of the 5 boyz:

More choppa!

Still working on my first batch of Ork Boyz. I'm taking my time really, as I need to learn my way around these models. I love their personality, and it really comes through on every model. I'm waiting to do bases in a batch, and I'm probably not going to put these guys on the base until I'm finished painting the base and everything. My basing test using the Grey Knights Grand Master (pictured below) went well and I think I'd prefer to do all my Orks that way.

I've been hammering away on Army Builder, trying to put together a fun, but still competitive 1500pt Ork list. So far I've got a pretty good one but I'm a little tighter on war gear than I would have liked to be. Unfortunately there aren't many places to cut down in order to make that little extra needed room. I'll need to do some Theoryhammer to see if I need the extra war gear at all.

I've priced out this intial list, and full retail will have me out of pocket about $300. I'll most likely be getting most of my stuff either through The War Store or my local Hobby Town USA as they both offer 20% off GW retail. My local Hobby Town gives me a $5 discount for every $100 I spend, but I pay tax... hmmm... I'll have to number crunch a bit. I've also included a Forgeworld model for my list, so we'll see how that works out.

I noticed that GW put up the new models for Iron Hand Straken and Gunnery Sergeant Harker which I have to say are some of the most insanely awesome HQ's I've seen! Those models make me want an Imperial Guard army. Crazy! We could definately use more of that level of quality GW... definately.