I suck at Chaos!

   Like I noted in the last post, I haven't been idle in the gaming and hobby side of things.  Me and my son played a lot of 40k games using different armies (as we, who have hobby-ADD, do) and I was trying to focus on my Chaos Space Marines.  I had to do quite a bit of 'culling' on my collection as the Emprah has replaced many of the models, but my son and another buddy donated to make sure that I was up-to-date.  So I owed it to them to put an army to the battlefield.  

  My army list has to include my Daemon Prince with Wings as he's been "my guy" since 3rd edition.  I also wanted to try a Defiler and try to combine my favorite parts of the force, like Terminators and Possessed.  (I should note that we've played a couple of games already and the best-performing units were those, so I now prefer them in hopes of some success, finally!)

  My son has been using his Dark Angels like crazy and whopping me all over the table with them.  I hate those First Legion guys!  Mind you, we still haven't busted out the Lion...  To show me some mercy, he decided on using his Black Templars, with all the characters and a couple of dreadnoughts to escort his horde.  Oh goody- a close-combat army versus close-combat army game. 

  In the previous games we played, my army was rife with failed Dark Pacts and I probably lost more models to being forsaken than the enemy did.  So did I learn my lesson and stop being so reliant on that special rule (further buffed by the detachment rule)?  No, of course not!  Even with Ld 6 and icon rerolls everywhere, I still took that mandatory d3 mortal wounds on every unit at least once a round.  Add that to the craziness of those Templar vows and blenders-for-characters and it was just another loss.  There were some cool moments, though!

  The moment that changed the game happened in Round 3, well after the Defiler had used its daemonic legs to dash over-and-through ruins and make the central objective a focus, a unit of Chosen had to countercharge the veterans chewing through the Chaos Minions.  This charge would have cleared the enemy, claimed the objective, and protected the Daemon Prince and the squishy-parts.  And the charge was only 7".  First roll- a 4!  No worries, a command point was saved just for this key moment.  Reroll- a 6!  With that failed charge, the Templar dudes destroyed the Defiler, the Daemon Price, and consolidated to keep that objective forever.  Did I mention that the middle objective was the most important for this game?

  Another cool moment was the recall of the old 'Rhino-wall' tactic that was prevalent back in the days of 5th.  I had a Rhino placed to claim an objective, shield some infantry from the Demolisher cannon coming their way, and prevent the berserker-nought from moving too close.  That Rhino stood until the 4th round, claiming a weak objective point for an army that just wasn't scoring already!  It was destroyed, giving up the 'tabling' as one of the last models, but it was the only scoring unit while it was there and that made it the MVP.  A Rhino, that did nothing offensively, as the MVP.  

  And there it is- yet another loss by a massive margin.  My Chaos Space Marines hate me.  It wasn't bad dice rolls- in fact, there were quite a few times that I rolled unnaturally well and created some havoc.  It wasn't the army list- these were the most effective units from previous losses being focused and it still didn't seem to be enough.  And it wasn't balance- while the Templars are insanely good (and cool!), so are the Righteous Zealots!  Between Dark Pacts hurting me and key moments failed...  

  We played another game after, with different scenario objectives and setup, and the result was the same.  All-in-all, this means that I've lost five games in a row with my Chaos Marines!  Five!  I've learned that I hate Dark Angels, I now hate Black Templars, and I should never use the Dark Pacts rule.  Maybe I'm a good-guy after all...

  Well, that was it for now!  I just wanted to make a post declaring a new-found fact and proving that I'm not gone, just busy.  I will be posting more, so be sure to keep checking back!

Into the ruins of war...

   It has most certainly been some time since I posted.  Admittedly, this blog became a tertiary priority after work and adult responsibilities (as a hobby should).  However, still being barely an adult mentally, I never stopped playing with my toys and having a bit of game and hobby time wherever I could.  Emperor knows my sportsball teams are all tragically failing this year...

  Over the past year and some, we've enjoyed tons of 40k in 10th edition (I even have a few drafted posts about it, but never got around to the pesky proofreading and editing stages, so in draft-form they sit), and not with my typically tally of victories.  But those commiserations will be other posts. I've also been running a DnD campaign that has been outstanding (if not chaotic).  But that is on hiatus due to the holidays.  That will give me time to go even deeper into this crazy world I've created- so they can destroy it all (as gamers do)!

  Conflicting schedules and just weekly exhaustion prevent many dice-rolling contests, but hobbying on things can still scratch that itch and that's just what we've done.  Recruiting my wife and son (also my common gaming opponents), we dove into the Cityfight terrain for our 40k games.  (There's a huge reason here, but you'll have to drudge through my progress first to understand why that suddenly became a priority.)  These old GW Cityfight ruins are the focus of the majority of our 40k games and yet they sit unfinished.  With all the detail and the impact the rules for ruins have in-game, it was a shame and I decided that this was to be our urgent priority.  

  First, I cut a ton of bases from hardboard (or MDF).  Then, I dug out the 'ol arts & crafts bag and found the hot-glue gun.  I even dug out some old ruin walls that GW used to sell in a blister pack, some old Forgewold craters, and even a couple bits from the buildings themselves, and glued them into the bases to add 'grit'.  It's very tempting to fill the area with tons of debris and rubble, but it does bear remembering that you have to move models around.  Most importantly, I wanted each base to reflect a ruins, and the placement of the walls and building themselves really mattered.  This is to enhance the 'modular' nature of this terrain.  

  With a metric-ton (not literally- calm down!) of white glue (Elmers PVA- every parent already knows) and 25 lbs. of sand (that time was literal), we covered the bases inside the buildings and over all details.  It dried, we dumped and brushed away all the sand (we use that much to create the weight needed to hold the bases flat as the liquid dries and curls it) and it left behind a perfect platform for the next steps.  

  First came the sloppy basing of black paint all over the bases and even the bottoms of the buildings.  Layer after layer of the basic, acrylic craft paint from the Walmart isle was allowed to dry and soak all the way through the sand as a sealant.  Next came a heavy drybrush of the Pewter Gray color from that same acrylic brand over all the sand and craters.  Large, soft brushes and no care for the buildings on top, other than leaving some level of shading underneath were the tricks.  

  After that, I busted out the airbrush, struggled mightily, and finally got the floors painted in a way to contrast them from the bases and the buildings' walls.  I really need to practice with that thing more...  Finally, the flat parts of the bases outside the buildings were based heavily with Asphalt Gray as they were meant to be the sidewalks and 'blocks' that the buildings sit on.  Again, this is to enhance the modular nature of the terrain.   

Already playable in my mind!

  Now I had to bring the buildings themselves to life.  With the trusty bronze, bone, black, and silver, there was some basecoating to be done.  And it took a while.  Three sets of hands and a long night led to the washing step, which was the expected Agrax, Nuln, and Sepia.  But there were still some little details that needed to be attended...

  One of the buildings had a huge gap on the base behind it.  This would not look good on the tabletop unless there was something going on.  I decided that a 'loading zone' would be appropriate for no real reason, and the stripes needed to be painted before the pavement itself.  With a quick dash of yellow, I could finally get to the sidewalk part.  Note that I stippled the original Asphalt gray back over my sloppy lines to make them worn and faded already.  

  The finishing stages involved that artistic skill and personal touch that makes any terrain a worthy battlefield.  I started by drawing grids on the asphalt, giving the impression of our own modern sidewalks in front of and around buildings.  Using watered-down black (I don't want the lines to be perfect) and then highlighting those lines with a brighter gray (the pewter gray from the sand drybrush), I even went so far as to add the occasional crack or broken 'tile' to add that realism.  Then over all that was a progressive stipple of lighter grays within each square to accentuate everything and add weathering...

  A final trace of dark gray around the edges of the bases and the buildings were finally done!  It only took moving four states and two decades of time to finally finish this.  It was embarrassing that this wasn't done.  There was more work involved, especially on the wife's newer buildings and my ancient Shrine of the Aquila.  But I'll show those off later.  

This looks WAY better than our old boards!  A little paint goes a long way...

  We FINALLY completed this Cityfight stuff.  We have been playing with it for years, but it was always just a little underwhelming.  That was because there was some 'abstract' aspect of having destroyed walls just laid out on flat ground.  These buildings needed bases.  During my service in the Emprah's armies, I was taught that a beautiful battlefield motivates armies.  Which leads me to the reason this all became a priority so suddenly.

   Some of you may remember when I helped start a gaming group at my local comic shop.  Some of these guys became my buddies and became strong leaders in that group, advancing it until it became a very strong community that persists even after everyone moved out and on.  One of them (easily the coolest guy of them all) even went on to create a new community in his area and then start a company to address that most important part of a wargame- the terrain!

  This buddy (remember that I try to protect people's identities) is amazing and has always had a passion for everything!  He has a huge heart and an even bigger smile and always makes everyone around him happier just for being there.  Imagine a gaming group with someone like..  Now imagine that this passion translates into some of the best terrain you'll ever get.  When I received this stuff, I could instantly note my buddy's passion.  The quality is amazing!  

  Note how meticulously packed this box was.  The terrain is not heavy as it's printed, making it very easy to transport.  Better, the terrain is not frail and can take some handling- especially important for modular terrain that gets shuffled around the table between rounds.  And the details are crisp.  I will be sharing more images in the next post, but this teaser pic will show already some of the amazing detail.  My first impressions were beyond excited, as this was even better than I expected.  

  Please go check them out- my buddy's site is called "Only War" and is very much worth the visit.  A beautiful battlefield motives armies, and this stuff is beautiful.  I strongly suggest it and will be ordering another set soon (you only need one set for a full-size tournament layout, but I want another because of the quality alone).  And the creator is one of my buddies and an amazing person to boot!  More to come...

As always, Happy Hobbying!