WH40K 6th is almost upon us! and so is Dexcon!

Man have I been busy of late.  Above you can see what I have been up to the last 9 weeks or so, over 100 Police Recruits are preparing to graduate from the Police Academy on Wednesday, after which I am taking a much needed break from work.

I am going to be using that time to get in some serious hobby time, I plan on taking a couple of day trips to various game stores for some gaming, I am going to work on some projects that I have been ignoring for way too long, and of course I am going to absorb every page of the new 6th edition rule book!



6th edition is almost here, I picked up my copy of White Dwarf the other night, and have already read it from cover to cover.  It was really just a tease, as it gave me a little insight as to what was to come, but left me wondering how it is all going to fit together.

This new edition couldn't come at a better time, I am very bored with 5th, I feel the edition has run its course, and I am tired of playing the same old thing.  I needed a shake up, and boy does 6th look like its going to do that.

For those of you living under a rock, 6th edition looks to be bringing back quite a few old rules with an updated twist, it looks like you can throw grenades again, and that there is over-watch in a new form.  A new Force Org chart looks to include the ability to purchase Fortifications as part of your list (I can't wait to add some to my IG army) and the new Allies rules look to really shake up the Meta (if they are going to be allowed in Tournaments). 

Its going to be an all new universe, and I for one am ready...

Honestly, I don't know what I'm going to do, I feel a new edition deserves a whole new army, but what to choose?  I already have half a dozen projects going, the two main current ones being WoC for Fantasy, and my Elysian Drop Troop project the other.  Now with the new rules for flyers, I think my IG army is going to be a blast.  But I am going to need something brand new, to take advantage of trying out all of the new rules.  I guess I'll have to wait, and give the new rulebook a good read before I decide.

What else is coming up? Nick Nanivati (sorry if I butchered the spelling Nick) or should I say the "Dreaded Nick" is running the Warhammer 40k Tournament at Dexcon 15, a two-day event.
Nick is a very experienced and accomplished gamer, crushing all who oppose him all across the East Coast, this boy knows how to play, he also knows how a Tournament should be run.  I expect this event to put the "Grand" into Grand Tournament.
 I really wish I could participate in this one, but I just can't commit to the entire weekend, so I am going to make do with a day trip on Thursday or Friday.  The convention itself runs from 07-04 through 07-08 and promises to be a great event.
I am probably going to make my way north on Thursday to say hi to some friends, and check out the dealers room.
The link is below for those interested.

Dexcon 15

Some Elysian Drop Trooper lists...

Ok, so I have completed assembling my second squad.  I will be priming it one day this week providing that the humidity isn't too bad. 

I should be all set for the Combat Patrol campaign my son is starting on Thursday nights.  A small force of 2x Veteran squads and a Valkyrie as a dedicated transport.  We decided to allow me to use the IA8 list, so that I can field stuff as I build it, allowing me to take one as a Transport (in the normal Adepticon rules, the Valkyrie would have too much armor and would not be allowed as a Fast Attack choice.)

I am currently planning on 2 Versions of this Army, one using the IA8 list, which will be my main list for local play and Tournaments that will allow it.   I have already spoken with Rich at Jester's Playhouse, and he is fine with it, and after a discussion with the TOs of the WFN GT in South Jersey, they decided they would open up Imperial Armor lists and equipment for their tournaments as well.  All great new for me! 
The standard IG list, I will be used for other Tournaments, the first probably being the Mechanicon.  (the Friday Night Vets Tournament, will feature the IA8 list).

Here is the list I have planned so far:
Hq: Company Command.  The Commander has a Plasma pistol, Power Fist, and Homing Beacon
Vet with Grenade Launcher
Vet with Vox
Heavy Bolter Team
2x Body Guards
Valkyrie Transport with Missile Pods and LC upgrade

Hq: Long Range Ground Scanner

Troops: 1st Platoon
Command: Lt has a Plasma Pistol and Power fist
Vet with LasCutter
Vet with Grenade Launcher
Vet with Vox

Sentinel with Multi-Melta (yes it is part of the platoon!)

1st squad: Plasma pistol, Vox, Demo-charge, Flamer
2nd squad: Plasma pistol, Vox, Demo-charge, Flamer

Special weapons Team with 3x MG
Special weapons Team with 3x MG

Troops: Veteran squad with MGx3, Plasma pistol, Demo specialists
Valkyrie Transport with the Missile Pods and LC upgrade

Troops: Veteran squad with MGx3, Plasma pistol, Demo specialists
Valkyrie Transport with the Missile Pods and LC upgrade

Elite: Sentinel wtih Multi-Melta

Fast Attack: 2x Cyclops remote control Demolition Vehicles

Fast Attack: Tauros Venator with LasCannon upgrade

Fast Attack: Tauros Venator with LasCannon upgrade

Heavy Support: Vulture Gunship with Twin Linked Punisher Cannons

I should be in pretty good shape, I currently have most of it purchased already, and am just waiting shipment on a single squad of infantry and the Tauros Venators.
I have yet to buy the Vulture, so that is on the "not sure if it stays" list.  I may have a go at converting one, shouldn't be too difficult.

Here is the list I am planning using the standard IG codex:

Company Command: Officer has a Power fist, Plasma pistol, and Melta-bombs.
4x Melta-guns
2x Bodyguards

Veteran Squad 1: 3x Plasma guns, Missile Launcher, Sgt. has a Power weapon
Veteran Squad 2: 3x Plasma guns, Missile Launcher
Veteran Squad 3: 3x Melta guns, Demolitions, Sgt. has a Powerfist and a Shotgun
Veteran Squad 4: 3x Melta guns, Demolitions, Sgt. has a Powerfist and a Shotgun
Penal legion Squad

Valkyrie squadron x3 with lascannon upgrades, and Missile Pods (carry the command, and the 2x Melta vet squads)

Vendetta Squadron x2 (carry the PG Vet Squads)

Scout Sentinel squadron x3 with Auto-cannons, and Hunter Killer Missiles

Storm troopers x8: Plasma guns x2, Sgt has a Power weapon and Plasma pistol


A much different list.  Of course those of you who know me will realize that this is all going to change 50 times from now until game day, but I always like to have a rough idea of the direction I am heading...

A real update! (sort of) Elysian Drop Troops, a New Store and More!

 Man oh man, things have been crazy, work has been keeping me a little too busy, and has seriously cut into my hobby time.  I did however get a Saturday off yesterday, which is a bit unusual for this time of year.  I took the day to head up to the old Echelon Mall, in Vorhees, to visit a new store on its Grand Opening, Out of the Box, owned by my buddy Mike, former Manager at the GW Vorhees store.  What a great place, with lots going on, above you can see a couple of shots of the store, nice and clean with a great selection of GW, Dust, Flames of War, Warmachine, and some other cool stuff, by Gale Force Nine, Avatars of War, Army Painter, the list goes on.

To kick off his Grand Opening, Mike had a 2000 Point-three game, One day event.  I originally wasn't able to get a slot to play, as the event sold out quickly, but went up on a whim, on the stand by list, hoping to squeeze in and play some games.  A risky prospect considering it's an eighty-five mile drive but what the hell.  In the end, I'm glad I did, I was able to get a slot and play. 

I took my Death Wing, and had a great time, seeing some old friends, and some new faces.  The terrain was great, especially considering the store is brand new, Mike really put in a lot of time and effort to ensure his opening day was a great event.

I ended up going 2 wins and 1 loss, losing to my buddy Paul and his incredibly tough IG force.  I did however manage two wins, one against Tyranids and the other against Orks.  I also took the award for having the most Kill Points at the end of the Tournament, (Mike has a name for it, but I can't remember what he called the award).  Prize support was great considering the price of the Tournament, and that it was a one day event, I walked away with a nifty little trophy and a 25.00 gift certificate to put towards anything in the store.


 Above we have Belial surrounded by a Orky Dread and a bunch of Kans, Belial had an unusually good day yesterday, and wasn't behaving like his normal whimpish self...

I will most certainly be adding the "Out of the Box" Store to my list of places to visit for events, and day trips.

Thanks Mike for a great day!

Even though I have been busy, I have been managing to squeeze in a little hobby time.  Doing some work here and there on my Warriors of Chaos Fantasy project, and what has become my next 40k project, the Elysian Drop Troops.

So far, I have a ten man squad of Veterans painted, below you can see the paint scheme I have selected.  I know the picture quality isn't the best, but it's been so long since I've posted a real update, I wanted to get something on the blog to show.

I am currently putting together a second squad, and have made a purchase of some more FW stuff to try and flesh out the army.

 Next up we have the first of many Valkyrie Ships that will be in the force, it took me quite awhile to figure out what to do for a paint scheme for these fantastic models and in the end settled for a nice dark brown.  I got the base coat which is a spray from Michael's, it's by "Liquitex"  and is a water based spray which takes extremely well to GW paints.

I have also done a few conversions using the Mantic Corporation miniatures which I think have turned out fairly well, I will get some shots up of these guys along with some better WIP pictures when I have more time.  

I do want to thank everyone for reading, and I'll be posting again real soon...

The Honey Badgers, a new Space Marine Chapter?

Yes, The Honey Badgers
You just gotta see this if you have a few minutes that you don't mind wasting
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4r7wHMg5Yjg

I don't know why I find it so funny, but it makes me laugh.

40k Limbo,

Not so much the above, but more like below...

 
I just don't know what my next 40k project is going to be, I am suffering from a bit of Space Wolves burn out.  I tend to go through this every couple of years, and pick up a new 40k project for a few months to "recharge" my batteries.  No worries though, I never wander too far from the Fang, and always return to my Space Wolves.

I have done a couple of test models, thinking on a couple of potential projects.  First up is an Iron Warrior Chaos Marine.  I went for a very clean look to this model, figuring that Iron Warriors would spend a lot of their time caring for and maintaining their gear.  Even in the field

 I went for red as the secondary color rather than the traditional gold, as I feel it is a better contrast to the other metallics, and breaks up the model a bit better, besides that Red is the color of Combat Engineers in the US army, so what better color to put on these guys.  I think I like the look, and have played with a few lists on Army Builder, but have decided to wait and see if the rumors are true, and see if a new Chaos book is truly coming our way sometime in the near future.
In the meantime, I will probably paint a few more standard Marines for the Iron Warriors as the spirit moves me in an effort to get a jump start on the force.

Next up I have a couple of shots of a test paint scheme for my Elysian Drop Troops army.

I have been attempting to collect an army of these guys for years.  A couple of things have prevented me from ever completing them however (not counting the fully converted army that took 2nd best paint at the Philly GT 10 or so years ago) 1. Forge World is expensive, I have spent literally hundreds of dollars on these guys, and still have not collected enough of them for a full army, and 2. I really find working with Resin annoying. and 3. (okay, a few things, not so much a couple) the scale is off, more of a true scale model rather than the hero scale of most GW models, this makes converting difficult.

Enter Mantic Games http://www.manticgames.com/Shop-Home.html , cruising the net for some conversion bits for my various armies has led me to this little company.  They have Recently produced a Sci-Fi line of miniatures which I thought may suit my needs and allow me to finally really get to work on a true Elysian Drop Troops army.

They certainly have the look I was going for, and the scale looks pretty close.  On a whim, I ordered the army deal, just Seventy Five bucks for something like 40 miniatures! this was a deal, price-wise you can't even compare it to Forge World.
When they came in I was eager to compare the scale to the Elysians, and I was not disappointed.  The scale is nearly perfect!

Above I have some side by side shots with the Elysian Drop Troops, real close.  I am betting that once I have converted them and have them side by side painted on the table top it is going to be hard to tell the difference between them.
So I will probably start working on some of these guys.  right now I only have 2 Valkyries and need to place a Forge World order for some Elysian Weapon Sprues, but I have enough to get me started, and I can add the units to my current IG army to start some play testing with some new units.

Of course work continues on my Marauders of Chaos army, I have finished painting another five Marauders and have enough assembled to start playing some small skirmishes of 5-6 hundred points to start learning this Warhammer Fagasy game.  When I get something done with them that is worth posting, I will certainly put some new photos up.

Well till next time,
And remember, Friends don't let friends play Grey Knights

Stupid little game

I am hooked on this game, I love to doodle...

Colonial GT Army, some pregame pictures of the Space Wolves

Well, I touched up my display base a little bit, nothing fancy, just added a little more flock and fixed some chipped paint on the rocks

Then I touched up some chipped paint on the Grey Hunters, and I think I'm all set.


Above you can see my army on the display board, I know that's a very old Predator, but I love it.
Next we have the Blood Claws

Their Wolf Guard has an odd assortment of equipment, carrying a Storm Bolter and Power Fist, but the model looks cool, and as I said in another post on my blog, I'm sick of seeing the same thing over and over.

Logan Grimnar and the Wolf Guard Terminator Pack. The Terminators are usually entrusted with important missions without Logan's presence, though I do try to keep him close enough to support if needed with his "Aura" abilities

Logan's Drinking buddies, don't ever underestimate the power of five Heavy Bolter with either relentless or tank hunter...

The Wolf Scouts, I know they are over equipped and undermanned but they roll with the big guy, they should have the best equipment.

Well there she is, Battle Reports are sure to follow, either here on my Blog or on the B&C.