Waaaaagh!

  I dun did it!  After far too much stress and way too many variables that messed with things, I quit my job and dedicated myself to home and hobby again.  I literally had no time to do anything other than sleep for two hours a night and sit in front of a computer anytime I wasn't driving.  Many a model and battle were left unattended over the last year.  But I did it.

  And, like any good cathartic event, some retail reward or therapy was needed.  When I left the service of the Emprah, I purchased an entire Blood Angel army.  Now that I've become a full-time student and dad, I decided to add to my list of xenos and pick up the Orks.

  The starter kit, Stormclaw, had some really beautiful models in it, and the campaign books look really cool.  Plus, I happen to have two sets of Black Reach Orks from a couple of buddies, so I decided to waste some of my holiday budget on that.  Now, I have a fourth 'bad guy' army and a third xenos race to help balance the homo-centric world I live in.  And let's be real, it's just freakin' fun to play the greenskins!

My Ultramarines have become too 'easy' to use, mostly because I own everything there is to own for that army (well, almost).  Any list I write up can be specialized and overly effective, so the army becomes an observation in dice-rolling and basic maneuvres.  My other armies are either too deeply buried or just downright boring to use, so I didn't really have a good force to play with.  And Orks, well, you don't have to think like that.  All you need to do is enjoy rolling dice and pushing little dudes around the table.  

  I've realized that I've been scared of the greenskins for some time for no real reason.  The Lootas are the most utilized unit in that entire codex, which meant that I had to face 30 or more of them often (remember, it used to be my job to sell these things!), which can be terribly effective and demoralizing to some armies.  Nob Warbikers are the next unit that I fear and that's just because bikes are ridiculous to begin with.  Beyond that, nothing else really meant too much and I found myself actually underwhelmed with the codex.  And happily so...

  You see, Orks are opposite of my favored Astartes in almost every way.  They're not fearless or ATSKNF, and their Ld is not high enough to keep them in the fight like other armies.  They wear no armour, and they don't carry special weapons and heavy gear into battle.  A couple might grap a .50 or RPG, but it's all about the shirts, the choppas, and whatever has a trigger nearby.  They aren't few, and they don't come expensive.  Orks can be expensive, but that's only if you choose to play Ghazkull's Meganob formation.  Otherwise, filling the FOC out isn't as hard as you might expect.  

  Better, the clans are perfectly aligned to me.  Much like I love the 'warband' idea of the CSM (let the flaming start... now), the Orks also embody that whole "mix it up" idea to allow me to play anything I want.  I personally enjoy the Bad Moonz (those who know me know why), but I can't bring myself to painting the choppa-boyz with yellow gubbinz when they are asking for dags and checks!  And I do love me Warbikes in red and Meks in yellow and Deffdreads in black, so this is perfect!   Orks allow me to use the whole range of colours and actually make an attractive army.  Of course, that would mean that I'm painting something anything soon, and we know that's not happening yet...

  I've built a 1,000 point force to be used in a small campaign with a couple of buddies.  One of them is a constant Chaos Marine player (he's my typical opponent), and the other has decided to start the Space Puppies from the starter.  I've built a couple of campaign maps and might even try to get another buddy, starting Blood Angels for some strange reason, in on a campaign of conquest!  I own faaaaaar more than that, but I want to paint this army and I don't think that putting 200 plastic dudes in front of me will be very motivating.  But I sure do want to to get to choppin', so the models are built and challenges have been bellowed.  

  This is also the start of a return to my blog.  I miss doing this, but not hobbying and gaming and no time meant that I had to be patient.  Nothing can stop a Waaaagh once it gets started, and I'm bring the Waaagh back!  It always starts small...