Still here, seeking relics...

   Still here!  Sorry for the absence- I've been really focused on work (a growing company working on taking over an entire market!) and just haven't had a strong focus in any one game during off-time.  I still do the hobby thing and even squeeze in a contest once in a while, especially with my peer group- my brother finally got into 40k and started up a Blood Angels army, while my son has been focused on 3d printing (where I've backed projects and forced him to be my production center) and my wife has been slapping some paint on non-gamer models.  But none of it had the 'draw' for me to sit down and make a post.  

  In fast, Google has already tried to shut down this blog-site once for inactivity and I'm trying to avoid that again.  More, I actually (finally) found something to get excited about and wanted to blog about it!  Last year, I went to a little convention known as Reapercon and decided to fish out a new game to distract from the rest of my ridiculous collection.  This is where I ran into something I'd already seen years before and just wasn't interested, but fate knows the 'call-back' technique and sometimes uses it.  I like painting models (well, I like it enough anyway, but at least I'm good at it) and I love being part of a new thing- at the ground-floor, one of the "first adopters", being part of it before it's so-called 'cool', and this reappearance definitely presented that opportunity.  That's right- I have a word count...  (IYKYK)

  This game first popped up as a very successful crowd-funding project that had a poor reception for a number of post-production reasons that weren't limited to communication, logistics, quality, or even consistency.  But it did have a novel concept and enough of a following to not disappear completely.  A big-dog (I don't remember if he's one of the original creators or just a super-fan or what) reached out to an experienced game designer to re-work it and bring the project to life again, and I'm here for it.  The models are actually quite good (both the old and new- completely different materials and designs though) and the rules are very fast.  In fact, the whole game is so novel that it didn't even require dice- my arch-nemesis!  It is set in a sci-fi universe with fantasy elements carried on an 'anime'-aesthetic, and only made this come-back in 2025.  The game is called Relic Knights.

  I have to spread these posts out a bit, so I'm not going to go into the game-play aspects and certainly not the background (I actually don't know the 'fluff' since the online resources are poor and I don't own any of the old stuff), but I have been taking the opportunity to paint models and even work on some new techniques.  In this case, I'm just going to show off the models.  I have a very common style when painting miniatures as I'm a student of the "Citadel System" from the very first introduction of it (like I said- I dig starting at the beginning!), but I wanted to spread my wings a bit and try some stuff. 

  I'm used to that aforementioned approach of 'base, shade, highlight', often involving copious amounts of wash and singular lines of accents with brighter colours- ideally drawing your eye to the detail and not the lighting or aspect/pose.  GW models are high-detail and meant to really impress based on bringing all that out with layers and line-highlighting.  That system is easy and effective and anyone can get great results following it.  In the interest of breaking away from that very system, I tried to get the airbrush involved, applied zenithal principles, tested out Contrast paints, concentrated on highlights and placement, and even dusted off the old non-metallic technique once or twice.  It's been some time and my equipment is not the highest quality which means that I'm not always ecstatic with the results, but I'm very happy overall.  It's the uniqueness and overall aesthetic of these models that really allowed for that artistic expression more than the GW style and I had a bit of fun with it.  Check 'em out:

Radiant Faction (the good guys)

Void Faction (the bad guys)

  I did try to do some editing with backgrounds and effects and all that, but it wasn't working on some of the pictures, so I just posted them raw.  This is also part of the 'learning process'- I recently got a computer powerful enough to do all that stuff and have no idea how to use it!!!  These models are an absolute blast to paint and the opportunity for growth in skills is awesome.  I'm finding the experience fun and my wife even enjoys this one (I think she might even mean it this time!), so I strongly suggest it.  These models and the cards needed to play can be ordered here- give it a go!  If you just happened to be at Reapercon this year, I'm hoping to have a table set up as well- obviously, let me know if you read my blog- I know there's only two of you...  And I will, of course, start posting about this game (sooner or later).

As always- Happy Hobbying!

Can't lose again, Chaos...

   After painting the Lion, my son and I planned for a game in the middle of the week (work schedules are a real obstacle these days), but we didn't get the chance due to having company.  This gave me time to introspecting on my recent success (or lack thereof) with my Chaos Marines.  I've used the new codex three times, twice against his Dark Angels and once against the Black Templars, and I was convincingly annihilated each time.  My conclusion- I suck at Chaos!

  For this post, I'm going to spend a little time talking about my favorite units in the codex and why I use them frequently.  After that, I'll reach a conclusion as to why I fail so badly somehow.  Now, it should be noted that I'd normally fall back to the "Dice tell the story" addage, but my rolls haven't been characteristically bad for the most part.  But I'll get to that later.  

The Leaders

  I always use my Daemon Prince.  For decades, I got owned across tables all around the nation by heretic players and their Daemon Princes, so I have a bit of a chip on my shoulder for this guy.  Now that I'm also a heretic player, I feel the obligation to put him in my lists.  In previous editions, this was always a good choice.  These days are different and he shouldn't be an auto-include now.  In fact, the difference between the winged one and the normal one is more than the just the ability to fly.  

  The winged version is a lower Toughness, making him only slightly more vulnerable to mid-strength weapons compared to the other guy.  But he causes 'impact hits' when he charges, which makes that extra movement really helpful.  Unfortunately, his wings make him hard to hide so it's always only a matter of time before he's eliminated by those mid-strength bullets.  The walker is tougher, but his most important trait is spreading the Shadow of Chaos and giving allies nearby the Stealth rule, making all of them harder to hit!  That matters enough that I asked my son to paint up the foot-version for our game.  

  Next up are my Terminator characters- the Lord and the Sorcerer.  The Lord is a beat-stick and has always 'traded up', so he's definitely my leader even when the Daemon Prince is involved.  But the real hero is my Sorcerer- giving his bodyguard squad faster movement with his Warptime power.  Unfortunately, this leads that squad to being a 'minesweeper' and being eliminated after a trade.  Not bad, but that's a lot of points spent for less results.  

Vehicles and Armour

  I used to be a big believer in the Defiler, despite the common impression.  The unit is little more than an over-costed Dreadnought with a weaker Battle Cannon on the front, with options for more weapons.  I've tried to use this a couple of times, but it doesn't seem to destroy anything, so it has become a tarpit.  And a tarpit does not a victory earn!

  

  Being a little disappointed in the Defiler, I'm not entertaining the use of Helbrutes (Chaos Dreadnoughts).  While they're not the most game-breaking unit in the game, their ability to inspire nearby allies to use BOTH of the Dark Pacts abilities is really handy- especially for those Possessed that need all the help they can get.  

Troops and other units

  Speaking of Possessed- they are by far my favorite unit in the codex!  More than simply Imperial marines with spikes and chains, these guys actually reflect the boons of following the Dark Gods.  These guys are tough and can be dangerous when going up against stock troopers.  The problem that they have is they don't have a lot of high-strength attacks.  This means that they need to make Dark Pacts or use their once-per-game ability (or both!) to really cause any damage.  Add in a Master of Possessions to buff them, and they're almost the most powerful unit in the game!  But the unit comes with the character- and dice roll-taxes to reach that effectiveness.  

by Diego Gisbert Llorens

  Now we get to the Terminators again.  Regular Chaos squads are cheap but don't do anything other than take and hold objectives, while Raptors and Havocs are a lot of points but almost always underwhelm.  Terminators come with the resilience and firepower to be worth their points and can serve as a tarpit or a damage-dealer.  But they come with that character-tax as well, so it's always a bit of an investment.  Unlike most other units, the Terminators are actually fun, meaning that they often exceed expectations and, just as often, fall short.  

  Next comes the Obliterators.  While Havocs carry the heavy weapons (and can move and shoot without penalty- pretty handy!), they go down quick and aren't often around long enough to get their points back.  Obliterators, on the other hand, are as resilient as they come and can lay down blistering salvoes to wipe out troops and vehicles with ease.  Better- they can deep strike!  I only use them occasionally, but I think they need to make it into every list now.  

  Finally, the infantry I love to use most often includes my Daemon Prince's bodyguard- the Warp Talons.  I converted my own (I still think GW's models are terrible at representing what a Warp Talon is supposed to be- a warp-mutated Raptor that's more daemon than warrior now), using the old Possessed bodies and wings.  Unfortunately, this unit is terrible on the tabletop.  I've tried all the tricks (including having a Defiler nearby to 'interrupt' and keep his buddies alive) and I'm always disappointed.  Even against regular line-troops, they don't do much.  But they have wings and move quickly, so I like them.  

So what's the problem then?!

  Well, this is where it gets fun.  Obviously, I use the least-good units but they don't suck as bad as most people think.  Plus, the theme of "not just Imperial Marines with spikes and chains" is key for me as I already play enough of the good guys.  I want something different, and including all the daemonically-infused stuff is a great way to keep that theme.  My dice-rolling is typically bad, but not so much that it would result in a 100% loss rate with this army.  At least with one exception- 

DARK PACTS!!!

  Chaos Space Marines have the ability to gain 'sustained hits' or 'lethal hits' simply by taking a Leadership test.  This is great- increasing the unit's effectiveness (with the roll of 6's to hit, of course) and doesn't require special wargear or other upgrades.  They just pray to their Dark Gods and suddenly have more super superpowers.  Unfortunately, failing that Ld check results in a sacrifice that causes up to three Mortal Wounds to the unit.  Guess who can't pass a 2d6 check, requiring a '6', with rerolls?  This guy!  Worse, both my Terminators and my Possessed happen to roll a '3' each time they wound themselves, meaning they lose 20% of their output before they even attack!  Yeah, that's not good.  In two of the three losses, I did more damage to my own army than my opponent did.  Wow.  

  With the extra time (hopefully we can play this weekend), I'll be 'finessing' an army list.  If I can break my unhealthy adherence to the 'fluff', maybe I'll use different units and see more success.  But it's not my unit selection that's killing me, it's me!  Pray better, heretics.  Pray better.  

Let me know what advice you may have below or if you have a similar situation with one of your armies.  As always- Happy Gaming! 

It's Hobby X Time!

   So...  there's a new edition of 40k, in case you didn't know.  This is the "10th edition" and is a complete overhaul from the 8-9th era.  There's a lot going on suddenly.

  Thank you for your patience as I've been away for a bit.  I'm still working hard at keeping the world (at least my local one) clean and it's been busy.  Toss on top of that a bunch of personal stuff affecting me and my circles and suddenly the hobby ends up drifting into the background.  This didn't happen with us- my son and I still played all the way through 9th edition and had the excitement of new (or returning to old) armies and the upcoming new edition.  Oh boy...

  I immediately preordered everything and double-stocked the awesome launch box because it's a bit of a deal (there's many blogs out there that break down the value and it's remarkable).  Even cooler, I found that the rulebook included in that box also had the campaign book in it!  While I have two rulebooks now, I also have two Screamer-Killers (well, my son does), two squads of Terminators, and tons more- I am a fan.  

  Unfortunately, the timing of this edition's release and this busy household didn't agree and we've only been able to play two games of 10th.  In the first game, the Ultramarines survived and executed the xenos to pull out a decisive victory.  The second game saw the Tyranids come from a gazillion points behind to eke out a win at the last second (and without using a Gambit!).  The best part of that game was the soft-quitting at the end of round three and more than 30 points behind to playing it out and winning by 2.  Those are the kinds of games that you remember (like the limping Screamer-Killer smashing into a healthy Land Raider and dying in the ensuing explosion to clear an entire objective and deny points).  

  I'm really excited to get some hobbying and gaming in with this new edition.  I dig the free and updated datacards, I really appreciate the army-building app, and I'm having fun messing up and learning a new edition even more than any other edition in the past (this one is complicated!).  Finally, I'm happy to get my Ultramarines on the tables again, and with some effectiveness [sans the Primarch] for the first time in a decade.  This is exciting!

  I hope you're having the same experience.  Let me know how you like the new edition in the comments below and Happy Gaming!

When life brings you lemondade...

 

  As I sit here and try to come up with something to blog about, I realize that I'm just under a truckload of stress suddenly.  And this isn't the bad kind of stress- it's the sudden craziness of real life and all.  Since this is a blog about my gaming hobby, I'll only touch on that real-life stuff for a minute (I promise).  More importantly is the gaming stuff that I'm trying to keep up with.  Let me explain:

  The business I work for is a small one that is expanding at a warp-speed rate.  Luckily, my bosses are all very intelligent and are keeping this going smoothly, even if it's before we technically planned for it.  One of our competitors is consolidating their area and is offering a portion of their clients to us for their own transition.  Then we have the 'Fair season', meaning that the business is at every event on every weekend to promote ourselves.  Add to that new equipment, new employees, and new policies and you can see how time isn't as available as it used to be.

  We got a call from our property company noting that the owner is selling and presenting some opportunities that we weren't prepared for.  Much time is being spent on phone calls and planning so we don't end up playing 40k behind our cardboard box in the alley.  On the plus side, I may be able to build out my hobby room of my dreams here soon!

  Finally, my son (and regular gaming partner these days) is enjoying a long-term relationship and joining significant social activities.  While I'm away at work enjoying the oppressive summer sun, he's dressing up as the Joker and going to local comic-cons to show off his newfound love of cosplay (and impressing his girlfriend).  His time for gaming in the grimdark is also lacking but he's having a blast otherwise.  

  Now I get back to the hobby!  First- I've joined another Pathfinder campaign.  The last one saw me using a Rogue that fit the Inuyasha combat archetype (tons of acrobatics) but fell victim to every magical trap in every dungeon we entered.  This time, I'm playing a Paladin (a GOOD one!) with the accent of Sean Connery and the need to protect everyone he's around.  My dice are still unfriendly (I'm not the DM, which appears to be the trigger for which side of the die it stops on) but at least I'm not putting the rest of the party at risk with rusted lock-picking tools anymore.

  The TTRPG things seems to be a theme right now as I also received more very recently.  It started with my buddy paying me for helping him with his business in books- almost the entire set of Exalted 2nd edition!  I've played in this world a couple of times before, normally as a human trying to survive in this world of mini-dieties as the role-playing opportunities are more fun.  My buddy is also a RPG gamer and we hope, some sunny day, to be able to play together.  If it's not D&D, it may be Exalted.

  Keeping the theme, another buddy sent me some overstock that he had in his collection.  The box randomly arrived at my door and I called him to find out what and why.  He forced me to open the box and, getting over my SE7EN suspicions, I found almost the entire set of Legend of Five Rings 2nd edition RPG!  The game system is awesome, using the d10 pool mechanic, and the setting is awesome as it's fantasy but set in the samurai time-period.  I've played in the system before and dug it.  The game also reminds me that I need to get back to the Test of Honour stuff we both have...

  Now we're to the miniatures and GW wheelhouse.  I realize that I've fallen behind on the Underhive stuff (or, more specifically, the Ash Wastes).  The Book of the Outlands and giant cargo-hauler have been released and I forgot all about them.  Of course, I also haven't built the models from the box anyway, so I'm really behind.  And now there's some Goliath bikes coming out!?!  They are amazing and remind me to get back to that world.  

  Out of the GW complex- it turns out that Hasbro has released the Frozen Horror expansion for Heroquest and I didn't see it until I watched a couple of unboxing videos for it.  I love miniatures, role-playing, and fantasy and this game is where it all really came together and started.  I refuse to fall behind on that one!  I need to dig through the Amazon.com to find one at some point.

  When life drives a truckload of lemons up your driveway, you need to figure out the best lemonade recipe.  When life brings you a truckload of lemonade, you just start sipping and enjoying the summer days.  In all of this craziness, I need to find my lawn chair...

  Hopefully I'll have a batrep or hobby post soon.  In the meantime, I'm living vicariously through you, the readers.  Let me know what you're doing in the comments below or just commiserate on the fun of your real life.  In the meantime, Happy Hobbying!

Happy Independence Day!

   If you live in the USA, then you know that today is our celebration of independence from the British crown.  The date is almost completely arbitrary as it doesn't exactly match up with the signing of the Declaration or the Constitution (or Articles, for that matter), but it's close enough to count.  In today's modern era, it really just means a day to grill outdoors, drink tons of alcohol (as is the case for most American holidays), and watch awesome fireworks in the evening.  Freedom!

  It's too hot for fireworks this year.  The potential for wildfires and accidents is too high and the show has been cancelled or postponed.  But it's not too hot for grilling!  We have the plans for ribs, burgers and dogs, and even cheesecake and other deserts!  I played two games of 40k this weekend and now get to glut on some barbecued meats...  one of the best holidays evar!

  This takes me to a little story from my past life in the service of the Emprah.  It was July 4th, two-thousand something, and we were required to have our shops open on the holiday.  The idea was that we could capitalize on everyone being off-work and bored.  That idea rarely panned out as people liked to... play outdoors on those summer holidays and cuddle indoors for the others, but I was a good marine and did my job.  Because, of course, this holiday was about American independence from the British, I felt comfortable, nay- obligated!, to hang the American flag.  Little did I realize that our British overlord named "Tom" would be on this side of the pond and popping into shops.  My shop was part of the densest region and was the top in its class for the nation, so it was getting a visit.  Without my knowledge.

  There we- and by "we", I mean myself in my black armour, I think at least one of my poor red-shirts,  and about a half-dozen gamers just gathered lazily at the corner of one of the tables.  Our discussion likely wasn't gamer-related nor would lead to any sales, so that probably didn't help.  But we were enjoying ourselves and I had a few new silver pieces in the till, so I didn't feel the danger coming on.  Suddenly, the door swings open and my boss and the overlord himself come strolling on into the shop.  Brainwashed to immediately react with a greeting and assessment, the horror took a moment to actualize.  "Welcome in!  What can I help... you... " I trailed off as I realized that our little group from which my greeting emanated was perfectly framed by the giant American flag.  I realized this from the look of barely-controlled disdain on Tom's face.  That British stoicism isn't always successful.

  I gave little mind to it as I'm a looooooong seasoned veteran, my boss is an actual military veteran, and this day has a meaning to us on this side of the pond.  It may have taken a moment, but I processed through the situation and continued on with my programmed engagement.  The situation was mostly ackward because I just didn't have a group of gamers to bring that energy to my shop- instead I had the handful of loiterers and lonelies that gave me a couple sales and expected some friendship for a moment (which I was happy to give).  This meant guiding my boss and the overlord through a suddenly suppressed shop with little happening and nothing but a giant American flag, spitting in the face of he-who-signs-our-paychecks, and my fellow nerds to fill space.  They were there for about ten minutes.  We resumed our irrelevant fun after ten minutes.  Freedom!

  For those celebrating- be safe and have a great time!  American holidays are just excuses for food and fun.  For those elsewhere and not having an arbitrary day of celebrations on this particular calendar date- be safe and have a great day!  

  Well, that's my excuse of a posting for the week.  Once I have an actual idea or make the mistake of falling into another GW trap (Horus Heresy is sitting there on the shelf at my game store just calling my name...), then I'll post with some substance.  But for now, back to seasoning some meat and remembering the point...

Is it hobby season yet?

   I don't know if anyone else has noticed, but GW has been busy lately.  Of course, being an acolyte of the Emprah for so long, feel the need to keep up.  If this were a race, GW just got drafted as a receiver and I got an offer to man the phones.  I've fallen a bit behind...

  I only note this because I have the pressure from a couple of different angles.  My son cannot be more geeked for the new core game and my main hobby buddy is deep in the parsing and analyzing of all the new rules, points, and evolutions that have been released.

  First, the Horus Heresy:  NO!  When I managed the stores in Philly and Jersey, we were already flirting with the idea with events and house rules (that aren't dissimilar to the real game later, coincidentally).  I own ten pounds in weight of pewter Mk 6 marines from Rogue Trader as well as certain old vehicles produced before the time of computers and resin.  I've read most of the novels and steeped myself so far in that universe that I still call today's Chapters "Legions".  I very much dig the universe, but I have two things that will keep me from it:

    First, I don't want to return to the 'old style' of the rules.  I'm very happy not having to remember the WS and Wound tables (not that it was a problem), trace arcs for vehicle facings, and argue over base contact for templates.  I don't miss the old days and very much enjoy the modern iteration of the game.  I don't like the constant adjustments, but that's a discussion for further down.  I like simple and fun and I did not think 7th edition was either.

    More importantly- 

MONEY!

  I'm not poor, but this hobby definitely requires money that I don't have.  I already own almost every unit for every army in 40k, the same for Necromunda, Underworlds, and even Middle Earth SBG!  I have nine editions of books, dice, and play aids stashed or in use.  There's much more, but I don't have the time or interest in boring you (the reader).  As a core game, this Horus Heresy will have books for days, new miniatures kits produced every month for years, and support that sucks up every one of those free dollars.  I've made the mistake of owning everything, meaning that anything new has to be bought just to keep up.  I don't want to add to that cycle an more!

  But damn! do I want that game...

  Secondly- GW has dumped all over my precious 40k!!!  If you read that in a negative connotation, settle down.  They literally spent last week doing a data-dump to update the game.  First came the new points values for everything, then came the balance datasheet to adjust the rules, and finally the newest Chapter Approved dropped on Saturday.  With all these documents, GW changed the game significantly and it impacted me directly.

  (Here's where I'm being a petty baby:)  I had the perfect Eldar army list.  It included everything that I wanted and was very effective on the tabletop.  Most of the models were even painted!  But then the points values came out and made my army list too expensive with every unit getting a points increase.  Then the balance datasheet came out and changed the way a couple of my units were meant to act and made some decisions harder.  Finally, the new Chapter Approved ripped away the starting CP and adapted the secondary objectives and missions so there's more to have to consider.  All of this means I can't figure out an Eldar list now!  This even has me building old-school Shining Spears for a bike-force, but I just can't seem to settle on anything now.  Thanks, GW.

  I also want to take a moment to shout out to all those in the community that DEMAND more attention to the game from GW.  They want constant points-adjustments, tweaks to rules, and even nerf-bat olympics against every new army that comes out.  Because balance or something.  I got into this game as a social activity to share my tactics and modeling hobbies with people.  I dropped out of law school because researching isn't something I wanted to be forced to do.  Now GW is giving these people what they want and I'm stuck spending more time researching than playing.  How dare you?  Please remember this next time you claim that GW doesn't listen to the community and makes unbalanced rules due to incompetence.  

  Well, that's my rant for the week.  It was a busy week in the world of GW and I was definitely paying attention enough to finally have something to say.  Now back to trying to figure out these Eldar...

Outside the Hive

   I'm late, but I'm just looking for something to post about this week.  While I'm hobbying on my new gang and getting massacred by my wife and son, news came out about the next era in the Necromunda world and I became excited.  So I had to, late or not, rant in a post about it.

  Since '95, I've been a big fan of the world of the Underhive.  The universe is so unique to yet part of the grimdark of the 41st millenium.  I fell out of it when I went off to college (the first of many times) and stuck with 40k when I returned.  That meant the Underhive took a back seat until 2019, when the new edition came out.  This last year has seen Necromunda return to eminence, and how there's a newer new edition coming.  And this one is based outside the Underhive!

  At some point in the early 2000's, GW released unofficial rules for playing in the Ash Wastes outside the hive city.  It was neat insofar as it included the Gorkamorka-concept vehicles and bikes, but the models were atrocious and this wasn't really what Necromunda was about.  These rules weren't enough to draw me back to the game of gang warfare, but that's different now.  

  You see, the old rules for Necromunda were really about sneaking and snapping shots in the crowded confines of the manufactorum sectors of the Underhive.  The rules were really focused on cover, hiding, overwatching dashing figures, and opposed roll-offs.  This made open-table gaming clunky and unbalanced, with Gorkamorka barely overcoming these pitfalls with the focus on vehicles and speed.  The new rules for Necromunda focus on action management, min-maxing modifiers, and upgrades, shifting that clunkiness out.  In other words, I think this is going to work very well! 

  I'm really excited for some more unique models- those raiders are awesome!  I always like the concepts of civilian- or unregulated-fighters in the grimdark where conscription is almost a best-case scenario.  And riding those giant flea-things?!?  YESSSS!  I'm not looking to make Chaos cultists or anything like the 40k community is surely foaming at the mouth for; I just want that same uniqueness that Necromunda is really leaning into.  Each of the major gangs is totally unique from each other (even the wargear autoguns and lasguns are no longer 'universal' options!), the cultist gangs are unique (minus the 40k models ported over), and now these models continue that trend.

  I'm even more excited about the terrain- not everything is a ruined Administratum!  We always think of the massive, gothic structures dominated the grimdark, but a million worlds and a score of millennia should lead to a lot of variety in human construction.  Add the variety of environments and we should see the oppressive gothic style of old rarely.  This sand-people-style terrain (thanks Star Wars!) is totally unique and, of course, amazing.  I look forward to grabbing a couple of sets just like I did for SW:A.  

  The only issue that I have is the new set coming with more Orlocks.  I already have two gang boxes for them and wasn't really planning on expanding much more than that.  But this seems to be less of an issue when we look and see that there are new dice in the box (likely necessary for the vehicles and mounts) and a big rulebook.  I'm hoping this rulebook is just the same rulebook as the Underhive one plus the riding rules; I can't imagine this is a 3rd edition and replaces the current one (which has already been expanded).  So getting more models I already own alongside new rules and dice isn't such a big deal.

  In fact, I expect the box to be $400...  and I STILL plan to buy it!  (Please GW, don't make this box that expensive...)  If you're a Star Wars Legion player, this might draw you into the grimdark.  As a 40k and Necromunda player, I'm really geeked to bridge that gap and get my battles outside the Underhive on!  Let me know what you think in the comments below.

Until then- Happy Gaming!  

GW's brainwashing!

   I had an epiphany the other day.  This realization was a brutal one that left me with a smile of annoyance.  After all, I realized that I've been brainwashed and it was so subtle that I didn't even notice.  My favorite company (with huge bias) has effectively used behavior modification techniques to train me.  Let me explain.

  You see, the new Eldar have been released and I just happen to be a collector of the pointy-ears.  Like almost all the armies, I feel compelled to 'keep up' by buying at least the new rules (codex and cards) every time GW pulls an update.  Every once-in-a-while, I might even buy some new models!  But there's a limit- the price.

  I used to be able to buy a space marine Tactical Squad for $24.99 back when I put on the power armor.  I watched the prices go up and up and up until 7th edition, where that same Tactical Squad (now with new groin-towels!) now cost $42.99.  And then came Primaris.  And then the other armies.

  Since I own almost every army, I have to buy stuff almost every month.  But that price limit tends to keep me generally in check.  When I look at the price of things now, it's easy for me to talk myself out of buying it, especially if I already own the older (smaller) version of whatever it is.  This applies especially to my Eldar army, where I own three of everything produced for that army since 1992.  And one of my favorite models in that collection is the Avatar of Khaine.  

  Have you seen that new model!  Wow!!!  Even the Forgewold version of the model isn't as cool as the new one.  But I don't want to buy it.  My self-imposed limit is wholly based on the price.  For a model that large and detailed, it was going to cost between $140 and 175.  I don't have that kind of money anymore and I can't justify buying a single plastic model that I already own a version of for that kind of money.  

  But wait!  The price for the new Avatar isn't $140?!  It's only $100!?!  Wait now...

  This is how well GW has brainwashed me- the price was too high at my assumption.  Who would pay that much for a single model that might see the tabletop three total times?  On the other hand, with the typical prices for GW's products, this suddenly seems cheap by the real price!  GW taught me that a c-note is reasonable and affordable... for a toy.

  There was a point in time that I would buy everything that GW produced.  Then I became more responsible and stopped spending so much.  When it costs almost $1000 just to start a good army, the prices became unjustified.  But that Avatar only being $100?  Why do I feel like that's a good price?  GW has normalized their prestige-pricing strategy so much that now I can be tricked into thinking that a nickel's worth of plastic is a great deal for only entire two days' work.

  Has GW gotten you too?  Have you been tricked by GW into thinking the prices aren't that bad?  Are there units that you wish would get the Avatar treatment?  Let me know in the comments below.

Happy Gaming!