Takes Time to make Time

My last post was all about my 'Master Plan' and how I'm working to build a new 40k group at my LCS.  I promised everyone in that group that this week I'd be bringing in armies and running a mega-battle (or two) to teach the rules.  Anyone who's kept up with the blog in the last couple months remembers that I've been painting Dark Angels and Word Bearers to use in these battles.

Then it happened- the Chaos Space Marine codex hit the stores and the interwebs.  Store owners aren't allowed to sell their new releases earlier than Saturday (although many do), but 'Information is Power' in the grimdark universe and some lucky folks were able to get eyes into that book.  I am lucky enough to be one of them.  (Stay tuned for my own useless review of the codex)  Jay sad.  I had both these forces set up at 1,000 points and designed to fight each other to a standstill.  The new codex made the Daemon Prince way better and more expensive, and turned the Defiler into a high-cost beast!  Luckily, the Chaos squads are a bit cheaper as well as the Raptors.  After recalculating my Word Bearers I found the army sitting at 1,100 points.  Because, you know, the Dark Angels were already having a good time.  Now I have to add something to the loyalists to make the battle even. 

What to add, what to add...  I need to add 100 points, and I should focus on troops.  Nope, that won't work.  Okay, I just have to make sure to avoid the big three, which pretty much leaves HQ as the only slot for me to look into.  What's 100 points? 

If you guessed a Chaplain with no upgrades- you must be a Dark Angel player!  Good stuff.  With the power of the Daemon Prince and the fact that the DA codex is already the oldest in the game, I feel justified in bringing a second HQ choice.  Besides, it's a Chaplain.  They're not game-breaking anymore now that they can't take lightning claws and a jump pack for cheaper than a captain (or at all, YAY!). 

Oh crap, those battles are supposed to be set up for Saturday morning and it's already Thursday night!!!  Well, I better get to work.  Thank the Emporer that the prime-job makes the model half done already.  When this guy is finished, I'll be sure to post pics and fish for tons of credit for ridiculous talent (or just feel good about myself).  In any case, the pic you see above is the 'BEFORE' image, and tomorrow night should bring the 'AFTER'. 


All that being said, I can't just write about what I'm gonna do, I should leave y'all with something useful.  Many months ago, I was trying to teach some friends how to play and I wanted to make up stat-cards for the units we were going to use.  I dug them up and changed them to match my Dark Angels and Word Bearers to use Saturday (see?  Well trained, to say the least!).  I figured I'd share the file with you guys if you want to use it.  It's not fancy (it's Excel), and it does NONE of the work for you, but I find it handy with noobs so I'm not making them flip through a codex every four minutes.  If you're interested, leave me a comment on this post AND send me an email at jay_d_man@yahoo.com.  I don't check often, so the comment will be my reminder.



If you look real close, you'll see the new Chaos units and their new stats and rules

Enjoy, and Happy Hobbying!

Filling time

I could not decide what to blog on this week for the life of me.  I've been so preoccupied with taking care of the house while the wife was gone, and the almost-religious aspect of football over Sundays and Mondays (and sometimes Thursdays) have added to all the distractions from the hobby I have.  The Chaos Space Marine Codex is going to be released this weekend and I already have it on preorder at the game store.  I've finished the 1,000 point army projects that I started two months ago.  Soooooo....

Then I realized exactly what I can talk about- my Grand Plan of Doom!

You see, I've been trained by the Emperor's finest to promote and develop hobbyists everywhere I go.  I used to have stores to do that with and I enjoyed unrivalled success at it.  But then I retired my power armor and haven't looked back (well, much anyway).

I've spent some time in the LGS, a good store run pretty well and with a vibrant gaming community.  I've dealt with an unengaged owner and intrusive onlookers, while myself not enjoying the crowd as much as I expected (and that's for alot more reasons than them).  I've had a few friends in the garage, er, workshop and done some hobbying.  But I didn't enjoy that as much as I expected.  I've strong-armed both my brothers into playing the game with me a few times (and they're enjoyable, just not committed.  It's more something to do to them).  But I've been very unfulfilled as far as my hobby goes.

Well, I started collecting comic books again.  I found a great comic store and developed a relationship with the owner and some of the regulars.  I've kept up too many subscriptions and have had a reason to give them money every week for over 50 now.  And then I noticed something one day- they stock a small selection of 40k stuff!  I knew they had 4 game tables and a scattering of terrain, but I assumed it was for the Heroclix players (I found out later that they use square-maps, but that'll be a different blog).  I had, in a year of going there, not seen a single 40k player in the shop, or a single 40k purchase outside of my own rare ones (paints, old ones, victory!).  And so it began...

I talked to the owner the weekend before Dark Vengeance preorders went live, and I offered to bring in stuff and run demos and try to introduce some gaming love to his store.  He became very excited.  Apparently, there had been a small 40k crew that frequented the place in the past, but they eventually dispersed and allowed the 'clix players and Pathfinder crew to overtake the gaming areas.  This could not stand, and my mission was obvious.  The next weekend, I brought in 750 points each of Chaos and Dark Angels and played a couple demo turns with about half-a-dozen patrons and BOOM!  Instant preorders, instant sales, and smiles all around.


Every Saturday since, I've arrived to the store with a ridiculous amount of supplies and been a hobby guru for a group of guys.  They're all soldiers (or just out of the Army) and young, and sadly eventually getting stationed elsewhere.  But they've all dove feet-first into the hobby by purchasing almost everything they need for 1K armies- from hobby supplies to rules to models.  Better yet, they've now mostly spent a month painting their armies like crazy and discussing fluff and background.  It makes me very very happy!

I now have a group of guys that I can enjoy playing.  But what's different about these guys versus the ones at the LGS across town?  you ask.  Well, these guys have the same mindset about the hobby that I have- background over rules!  The LGS crowd has moved on to other games and often whine about the changes to 6th edition or their army's current failings.  They're a veteran crowd that enjoys the hobby in a different way to me.  Meanwhile, my comic shop guys love the stories and feel of the universe, and they're new to the game so they aren't focussed on rules and other nonsense!  It's nice to bring the Imperial Truth to the ignorant rather than Imperial Vengeance to the unwilling.  It brings the old warm-fuzzies back from the days when I was a Space Marine.

What's the Grand Plan?  Well, it was to start a game club that I enjoyed participating in.  That was the most important part.  The comic shop has shown me immensely outstanding customer service and I've witnessed nothing else in all the time I've spent there (and I have spent alot of time there recently), so the plan also included making them some monies.  Some of you may wonder if I'm suddenly employed there.  The answer is no.  I am there with the express purpose of forming a game group I like.  I also make them tons of cash, but that is a 'beneficial side effect' that I welcome, not a driving force.  The Grand Plan boils down to utilizing my extensive skill-base and resolving this hobby funk I'm in by forming a game group.

WINNING! 

Alex has an IG army that's based around Basalisks, Veterans riding in Vendettas, and a mean-looking Commissar.  They're named the 47th Silver Gloves, and yes, their gloves are silver.

Curtis has a big collection of Black Reach sets suddenly and has been diligently working on Ultramarines, but his love lies with the Orks.  He's even excited about painting striated flesh.

Kieth is nicknamed 'Sarge' for reasons beyond explanation right now, and he's the master of a massive force of Blood Angels.  Better yet, he's learned how to paint them better than the well-painted models he inheritted.

Robert is quiet and working on Tau- making them look like Gundams!

Conan is crazy about his huge Space Marine collection.  Sitting next to a Black Legion player, he unwittingly started painting his loyalists black and gold.  I can't wait to see that taunt-fight. 

Nick has the Black Legion, which started as the Pink Legion and then I showed him a couple tricks.  Lo and behold, he switches to an easy and beautiful scheme.  His models are too good for being so early in.

Chris has taken Nick's Dark Angels (of course, he did pay half for the box set) and started working on them diligently.  Adding Nuln Oil and Agrax Earthshade to his Ravenwing motors was eye-openning an drove him to go crazy with the paintbrush.

Trey is a young man with video game experience playing Dark Angels and a ton of natural painting talent.

Kyle is one of the regular 'clix players who used to play Eldar back in the day and is drooling now. 

Adam and John are a couple of experienced 40k players, one a Tyranid player and the other using Iron Warriors, who are excited to play in a group  that isn't uber-competitive.

And there's a few more besides that have shown interest.  My weekly efforts have paid-off quite well in the past month.  What have I been doing?  Well, the demo games were the first couple of weeks, the demo paint lessons were a week, and the last couple have been me just being part of the crowd and working on some models myself.  This Saturday will see me drag the demo armies back into the shop and run a game, this time using stat-cards and the rulebook and actually teaching everyone the meticulous rules (we used to call this a 'Beginner's Mega-battle').  I'm hoping that this will see some dice-rolling and dood-pushin' out of this group within the next couple of weeks.  But their commitment to painting their armies isn't upsetting me one bit...



And there's my Grand Plan.  It's really nothing more than the chance to fill my otherwise boring time and actually do something.  Oh, and it's motivating me to hobby every week, or at least it's supposed to.  Now to get that codex...

Glory be!

It is nearly upon us.  In a week, the most anticipated $50 purchase of all time will hit the stores, and all will be good in the universe.

 

Which is weird for me to say, considering that I'm a good guy.  I like my Ultramarines, being the paragon of a successful Imperium, and I'm a human supremecist at heart.  I usually play the Paladin in DnD and Diablo, and I'm even always 'white' in Chess.  I can't help it, I am a good guy.  But I do have some evil armies, and Chaos Space Marines are at the top of that list.

If you don't remember, I've been posting blogs about my love affair with the Word Bearers for some time now, and I've even painted up a small army recently (still gotta do the iconography).  And I did it anticipating the release of the Dark Vengeance kit.  Even better, it's the first codex to drop post-new rules!

 

Now I know that everyone has already seen all of this stuff.  I know some have bought the White Dwarf and checked it out there (that's where I went), and I know a bunch have read the reams of information shared online in this great blogosphere of ours.  But I have to get my piece in, mostly because I'm terribly excited myself.  [Warning:  There will be sharing of my thoughts, some of which may not be positive.  Get over it or go read another post.  I have plenty.  :-)]

 

 

The codex

It's hardbound- score!  It's full color- score!  It's over 100 pages- super score!  The book is definitely the continuation of the Warhammer8 project.  It's a terribly expensive book that's also of very good quality.  I don't know if this book will last much longer than an 'old' codex, but it's definitely gonna look better doing it. 

I also very much appreciate the NOT a Legionnaire on the cover.  Too long have the players of the Dark Gods put stock in the original 9 legions, forgetting that there are SCORES of renegade chapters and fallen forces.  This also perpetuates the theme of warbands, which means giving the army all the versatility in the world without forcing one to 'choose a god' to win (See also, Nurgle).  Chaos armies have been described, since the days of Realms of Darkness and the 2nd edition Codex, as amalgamations of different units belonging to different gods and coming from different chapters and legions to work for an exceptionally powerful Lord.  In fact, Chaos armies are most often described as 'horrific pirates'.  I happen to like that theme, and I'm a player of the one and only Legion still left in the galaxy! 

Also, limits baaaad.  Options good!  If you don't believe me, read Jervis' Standard Bearer in this fantastic White Dwarf.

 The Dark Apostle

Sooooooo, Word Bearers aren't the only ones with Dark Apostles?  But I can now take them and apparently they're 'buffers' somehow?  Yes, please!  Even better, they're cheap.  Yay!  And this model is super sexy. 

 

The Sorcerer

I'm rather disappointed that this model is Finecast and not just the plastic character-style that Warhammer8 started.  The Aspiring Champion model releasing this month is that, but so far seems to be the only lucky one in this month's oogle-bin.  I don't really have much to say about this dood.  He's a Chaos Sorcerer.  He looks it, he's not fancy, and he doesn't suck.  What does make him so good, however, is that Chaos Space Marines have access to their three lores of goodness, and also psychic powers from the Biomancy, Pyromancy, and Telepathy lores!  Yeah, that's where the good stuff is, so this model has the potential to put out some hurtin'.

The Daemon Engines

 

I don't like the look of them.  GW claims that they're loosely based off of the Juggernaut models, and I buy that a bit.  But they're too busy, far too large, and generally look like creatures from War Machine or some anime card cartoon.  Here's the deal, though, I must have one.  The box will build either the Maulerfiend or Forgefiend, and I LOVE the Forgefiend.  This is a daemonic walker with two or three really heavy weapons.  Do I want to fight one?  Gods no.  Do I want to crush the Imperial sissies with one?  You better believe it.  I just have to find a way to make it fit my fleshy, possessed, ridiculously red army...

 

 The Heldrake

 

ARE YOU FREAKIN' KIDDIN' ME?!?!  This looks like someone just played a Yu-Gi-Oh card!  It's a freakin' dragon made out of metal!!!  Where's the pilot?  Oh, he's now a shrivelled husk serving as the heart of this machine?  Where!?  Where's the weapon?  It's mouth?  Of course.  Does it have to be so huge?  Oh, we wanted to outdo the Stormraven. 

 

I hate this model.  I love it from the shoulders back, but the neck and foward annoys me.  I expected a flyer.  Like a 'I have a pilot and the ability to fly around shooting stuff' flyer.  Not a 'Look, Mom, I'm a dragon, Raar!' flyer!  Jay mad. 

 

But again, I HAVE to have one.  I need one because you must have flyers in 6th edition if you expect to win right now.  I need one because flyers are new and shiny and I already have flyers in three of my other armies.  I need one because I can convert this to look like a fighter jet and be happy.  I have tons of vehicle and chaos bits everywhere, and I even have a defunct Land Speeder that can become the basis of a cockpit and nose.  This will happen.  And it will be blogged about.  Oh yes...

 The Warp Talons

 

The Raptors finally got plastic models, and then the box includes the bits to upgrade them to a new unit, the Warp Talons.  Apparently, these are Raptors that are all armed with Lightning Claws (that's scary), and they cause 'Blindness' in assaulted units.  That's pretty cool!  Even better are the models.  Look closely, they're really detailed.  I'm afraid of these kats because of the extensive trim.  Buuuut, I must have a unit just to get that many LC doods on the table.  I love the smell of shred in the morning, it smells like victory.

 



The Dark Vengeance stuff 

Cultists with 2 hand weapons, a flamer, and a power maul

Cultists with autoguns, a stubber, and a shotgun

A Dreadnought, er, Helbrute

The new codex allows for cultists to be taken as Troops, finally adding that element missing since 2nd edition.  Better for me, I'm a Word Bearers player, and my Legion used to make extensive use of cultists (mostly as meatshields and sacrifices) before GW made them all deamonic.  Even better for me, I'm a Word Bearers player, and my Legion likes to get all 'possessed' and mutated.  There's a bit of that represented in these models. 

I know that the Legions aren't important anymore, and I'm a fan, but I do have to say that the Lorgar in me is really happy right now.  The whisper in my brain is that this will be the happiest 50 dollars I've spent in a while.  Of course that may just be the Chaos Gods trying to trick me. 

You've done it again, GW.  And I can't wait to get the book and spend a post critiqueing the rules.  For example, can you believe that Chaos Marines are now 13 points per model, and have to pay to get that extra close combat weapon?  Really?  Too cheap, I say, too cheap!!!  I can't wait to do more.

Till next time, Happy Hobbying!

P.S.-  Did you see the second-ever Primarch model?  (The first is the tiny Leman Russ)  Yeah, let me show that to ya:

Angron, Primarch of the World Eaters

The White Dwarf turned gold!

I haven't had the chance to blog too much these last couple of weeks, but it's really only because I've been busy.  That whole 'Dad' and 'Man' thing has interrupted me a number of times, and anyone that fits either of those two categories can attest.  But I'm not one to be defeated by sheer inconvenience, so I forced myself to pick up the new WD and see what all the hub-bub is about.  And by 'forced myself', I really mean scrounged up dollar bills and rushed to the game store just in time to get the last one, specifically reserved for me.  It was NOT a terrible battle of willpower, to be sure.

So let's start with the White Dwarf, the root of all evils right now.  Games Workshop announced last month that they were going to 'revamp' the magazine- producing a higher-quality product, with more pages, and much more attractive articles and features.  The promise seemed to be an answer to the constant whining and bitching from the hobby community out there. 

I'm going to go off on a bit of a tangent here and talk about that 'whining and bitching'...  We used to have a belief that an established, veteran hobbyist participated in all three true aspects- collecting, modelling, and gaming.  I, having dealt with THOUSANDS of hobbyists over a very large geographical area, added a fourth aspect- bitching.  The new hobbyists were always happy with everything (except the price, of course), while the 'Old Hats' always had a poor opinion of everything (especially the price, of course).  I would always know whether a person was a long-time gamer before I ever inquired, usually because I heard them whining about some rules change or something to someone. 

I do have to admit that I am part of this as well.  As with all my rants, I am a guilty party at times and can never claim to be as perfect as even my blog gives as an impression.  I bitched alot.  I've been an Ultramarine player forever, and I've had plenty to bitch about (not the least is that my army sucks while the codex I'm in is awesome!  Damn me for wanting to paint blue, rather than the obviously better white, yellow, or green), and I've been a tourney gamer for longer than most hobbyists have known how to read.  I have waxed furiously about many subjects over the years.  It's also why I have a blog. 

But I do think there's alot of 'perspective' missing.  Complaints about the WD over the years have been commonly that the price is too high (for a full color, glossy, picture-filled magazine?  Sorry, no Cosmo or Golf Digest here), that it doesn't have articles about every army or even every game (I mean, over 40 armies across 3 games and 5 divisions can't be that hard to cover at least once every couple of months, right?  Yeah, about that...), and the biggest complaint being that it's nothing more than a thick advertising catalogue now (of course, this from the people that have never opened WD 146 before or really looked at magazines from other hobby companies).  The hobby community tends to lack any real perspective and so this makes the bitching almost unbearable to me.

Ironically enough, I actually agree most of the time.  I agree because the complaints are half true and because I miss the magazines of by-gone days like Armageddon.  Those were outstanding issues.  That were also filled with advertisements like crazy.  And still only featured 40k, and only the armies that participated in the war.  And I only got one poster for the entire 4-month run!  But I keep these complaints quiet because I have perspective.  I understand the business (having been a successful part for so long).  And I'm more than grateful for what I DO get versus being unhappy with what I DON'T.  Want what you have.  GW gives us ALOT.  Alot alot.  Just sayin'.  Now back to your regularly scheduled reading.

The promises appear to have been kept, and in a big way.  The magazine is indeed higher quality, and this considering the old format wasn't average or low-quality at all!  The cover of this month's issue is firm and matte, with standout graphics and well-placed layout.  The pages are more firm, and maintain the same glossy style as the old issues.  The publishing layout and presentation format were significantly more professional-looking, and all 'modernized'.  All in all, the appearance and quality of the magazine definitely improved. 

Newer, better, longer articles seem to have made a comeback.  The magazine is more pages, and the articles are also more pages.  Jervis' monthly commisseration wasn't a page and a half (it was TWO!), the army display was longer than a half-page twice (it was 2 full pages!), and so on.  The articles that complimented each other were no longer near one another- the examples being the Horus Heresy bit and the Chaos Codex notes.  The beginning saw both of these promoted, and the end of the magazine saw articles about the design and concepts of each.  No more of the old 'everything I need is in the front/back/certain section'.  Hell, the descriptions of the new release models had fold-outs to show the models off even better!  Every article or section seemed to improve or at least expand. 

The battle report was phenomenal.  The table was fantastic, the armies were 'british-style' army lists (which you all know is my favoured style), and the new army didn't automatically win.  Plus, pretty nice commentary and a refreshing critique from some of the tall hats that didn't even participate!  And the report wasn't 12 pages or 2.  It was appropraitely long and exhibitted brevity nonetheless.  This was my favorite part of the whole magazine. 

There was also some little things that I really liked.  First was the listing of all the GWs and LGSs in the back.  It listed them ALL, and still only took a few pages.  It's nice to have that and not have that stupid insert we used to get sporadically.  Secondly, and far more importantly, all the new releases were marked with prices.  I can't even begin to explain how happy this made me.  I know the prices change, and I know that there's always the website, but I want to know what something costs when I look at it.  GW may have finally figured out that their stuff truly is expensive and they no longer have to be sneaky and hide it.  Be proud, and be loud!  This was huge to me.


There are some disadvantages, however.  First off, the magazine is $10 now, which is a 10% increase in price.  Damn you, GW.  Paper and ink can't be this expensive...  Oh, wait.
Secondly, there was no mention at all of my proud Ultramarines, my furious Blood Angels, or my stalwart Imperial Guard.  Or my Eldar, or Tau, or even the rumoured-to-be-upcoming Dark Angels!  What about my Empire or Warriors of Chaos?  Hell, my Uruk-hai didn't get mentioned in the LotR splash!  How dare you, GW.  With the enormous amount of money I've spent on this hobby, I deserve a nod once in a while.  Right? 
Finally, the issue was PACKED with advertisments!  I mean, it was completely about the soon-to-be-released Chaos Marine models, dedicating 62 of 120 pages to nothing but the new release models.  This took the form of the 'release' section, the 'description' section, the 'design' section, the 'paint lesson' section, and even the 'battle report' section!  GW thinks that they can release a ton of models in a month and use the magazine to focus on those models?  That's like when we were forced to run events in the shops that focussed on the new releases for that month...  Sneaky GW!  Proof of the evil empire, I tell ya!

See what I did there?  If you catch it, you win.  :-)

I know many many people that haven't purchased a White Dwarf in years.  I have heard (and even said) these complaints so many times that my ears automatically ignore them now.  I understand that this magazine tends to cost money better used on glue, or part of a box of doods.  But THIS is a great issue.  If this is the theme going foward; if this is the new format; if this is what we can expect as an 'average' issue, I'm thinking a subscription might be in order.  Seriously.  Save $50 (which is basically half a year for free) and get a subscription.  The White Dwarf has actually become a 'must have' again!

I have every issue of White Dwarf since #90 (and many before that), and I now have the urge to pull them all out and organize them again.  This issue has motivated me to do that.  What does that tell ya?

C'mon, next month!