A Kind of Magic

Last Friday I had planned to run the introductory scenario for Call of Cthulhu for a few friends.  That plan ended up going the way of the dinosaur as all but one person cancelled.  As a back up, my friend Josh and I opted  to play some Magic.  It's been over a year or two since I've played any form of Magic and it felt good to get back into the game.  I'm not the biggest fan of constructed play so we decided to delve into the realm of limited.  We each grabbed six boosters from the Return to Ravnica block and built a deck from those.

We ended up having a great time.  I've been playing limited MTG for a long time and I've never really had any instruction on how to draft or assemble a deck.  I've done very well the past 12 or so years pretty much winging it.  On Friday, Josh told me something that was like flipping a light switch on in my head.  He said he had heard that a good framework for a limited deck would include ~18 creatures, 6 assorted spells, and ~16 land.  Throughout the past decade, I've been building decks that roughly meet these criteria, but actually hearing someone say this really was an eye opener.

Here's to many more games to come!

Painting Updates

I am getting to the point that there is nothing left to do on my Deathwing Terminators.  There are a few lights and wires that I need to paint as well as highlighting, flocking, and sealing their bases.  I need to pick up the paints to actually complete the lights.  I am extremely pleased with how these are turning out.  They have far exceeded any expectations that I had when I started painting them.  I was extremely worried about how painting something a bone color and feared it would come out either look too messy or just off.  Instead, they've turned into some of the best looking miniatures I think I've ever painted.

With this boost in confidence I started on a small batch of Tactical Marines.  I am using the robed models from the Dark Angels Chapter Upgrade sprue.  So far, I've painted and highlighted the armor and put the base coast and an ink on the robes.  The results look promising.  I've followed the color recommendations from Games Workshop for the Dark Angels Green scheme and it is actually a nice look.  It contrasts nicely with the robes.  My only complaint with the models is that there are some areas that are extremely hard to get to, so I will need to do some touch ups after I've completed everything.  Seeing how these guys have turned out really makes me excited to paint my Ravenwing Bikers.

Also, my local GW is holding a painting competition for March.  The entries must be chosen from the Elites FOC.  It can be an entire unit or a single model.  I had originally planned on painting a Dreadnought or a Dark Angels Veteran squad; however, in order to keep things interesting, I decided to paint a Chaos Space Marine Terminator.  I've played a lot of games against a father and son who have a Chaos Space Marine army.  They've become my favorite opponent(s) and every game we've had has been enjoyable.  The son with the help of his father has come up with a great background for their Legion and has dubbed them the Claws of the Forgotten.  In an homage to this, I am going to buy the Chaos Terminator Lord kit and put together a suitably sinister looking Terminator using the Lightning Claws.  I plan on using one of the hooded heads that I have from my Dark Angels and then paint him up using my take on their color scheme of red, blue, and gold.  After the contest ends, I plan on gifting the Terminator to the son.  He seems to really enjoy my Deathwing Terminators so I think he'll take a liking to this guy.  Pictures will be posted as work progresses with this guy.

One final thing of note, the nerds have been pressuring me to get into Fantasy.  With my slow painting style and a large inventory of WH40K models to paint, I've been very hesitant.  I've been feeling the itch to play so I decided to give it a go and try my luck at Ogre Kingdoms.  If I don't enjoy playing them, I know I will certainly enjoy painting them.  I have no issues at all painting skin, which OK has a lot of, and it's possible to field a 500pt army with only ten or eleven models.  It sounds a lot like playing a Deathwing force.  So, once my change jar fills up, I'll be picking up an Ogre Kingdoms Battalion.

What's in a Name?

I find that naming characters in Warhammer adds depth to an army.  I've been working on coming up with some good names for my Dark Angels characters.

Ophiel - Librarian
Sortarius - Librarian
Dominicus - Chaplain
Purgarius - Chaplain
Remiel - Captain

Edriel - ?

Ahimaaz Brother of anger.

Ahimaaz - Venerable Dreadnought
Ahimoth - Venerable Dreadnought
Arioc - Venerable Dreadnought
Bedan - Chaplain
Caleb - Veteran Sergeant
Dannah - ?
Eliphal - God of Judgement
Gideon - Warrior, one who cuts down
Hazor - Castle - Techmarine
Lucas - Bringer of Light
Magen - Shield - Techmarine
Nahshon - Enchanter - Librarian
Sariel - Angel of Guidance - Librarian


More to come!

One Month Down

The first month of the Warhammer 40,000 Escalation League at my local Games Workshop comes to an end tomorrow and the point limit goes up to 750pts.  I have to say, I was very impressed with how I fared for not having played in a long while.  I ended first month with a record of 1-0-1.  My first match against the Iron Snakes from Codex: Space Marines was a win.  My second game against Chaos Space Marines ended in a tie.  I learned a lot from those two games and I'm confident that I can carry on what I learned into the next stent of the league.

My 500pt list consisted of the following:

Librarian - 65pts
Mastery Lvl1(Divination), Bolt Pistol, Force Sword

Tactical Squad - 150pts
Heavy Bolter

Tactical Squad - 150pts
Heavy Bolter

Ravenwing Attack Squad - 80pts

Ravenwing Attack Bike - 55pts
Multimelta

Here are my thoughts on my list and what I would change or do differently.

First, in regards to my HQ, I don't think I could have made a better choice, especially at such a small point level.  The Librarian and his squad worked wonders in both games that I played.  The sheer amount of accurate firepower that they were able to put out really allowed me to dominate my backfield.  Almost every turn I was able to cast Prescience.  Prescience alone makes it worth taking a Librarian.  I plan on keeping at least one Librarian in my list as I progress the league.  Again, I have nothing but good things to say about the Librarian.

In regards to the troops that I selected, I feel comfortable with what I selected.  They've done exactly what I intended for them to do, and that is to sit back and hold my objectives.  They're armed to take on infantry and put out a high number of shots.  Combined with the Prescience psychic power, they did this very well.  If I were to go back again, the only thing I would consider changing is the Heavy Weapon from a Heavy Bolter to a Missile Launcher or a Plasma Cannon.

On the the Ravenwing components of my list.  These were the most underwhelming units in my list.  That it not to say that Ravenwing Attack Squads are not good; however, they did not mesh well with my list at this low of a point level.  The Ravenwing Bikers really serve two main purposes.  They act as a very mobile Teleport Beacon for Deathwing Terminators and mobile anti armor when they're toting Meltaguns.  I had neither of those in my list so they really felt like they were a waste.  The Attack Bike did well.  It took out a Land Speeder, helped take out a Techmarine and Nurgle Lord which were both on bikes, and kept a Hellbrute at bay.  The only downside is that I had to invest in an 80pt biker squad to unlock it.  If I were to go back and do things over, I would have traded the RAS in for a Dreadnought or a tank.  Two Whirlwinds or a Predator Destructor comes to mind.  Any of those would have provided good long range fire support which is was the list really lacked.

In summary, I was happy with everything in my list except the the RAS.  The points spent on those could have been allocated to something more useful that worked well with the list at this level.  If I were to start the league over again and wanted to do something different, I would try for a mechanized list.

Until my next entry, thanks for reading!

Terminatus

As I've mentioned before, I am a terribly slow painter.  I've been working on a squad of Terminators for the Escalation League.  I'm very close to completing these guys.  I'm happy with how they've turned out so far.  Here is a taste of things to come.

Fast Attack

Today I completed my first non Dark Vengeance Ravenwing Biker.  I have a couple more to assemble by next month for our Escalation League.  I have yet to attempt the Ravenwing black paint scheme, but, I think it will turn out great.  I am going to be highlighting the black with dark blues.

There's Nothing Quite Like a Classic

It pains me to do so, but a couple of weeks ago, I decided to change the color scheme of my Dark Angels to the original scheme.  This means I have to repaint everything that I started.  I decided to keep the two original Terminator Squads and the Dreadnought in the original Camo Green scheme, but everything else will be repainted in standard Dark Angels colors.

As for progress with the new scheme, I have been working on a squad of Terminators that will be added to my Escalation League force to bring the point total up to 750pts.  I was a little hesitant at first painting them in the Bone White scheme.  The base color I was using didn't cover very well over the black primer and was very time consuming to apply.  However, after finishing a test model, I am very pleased with how it turned out.  It has a gritty, comic book feel to it.  I have four more Terminators that have their initial Zandri Dust base coats and a Nuln Oil ink awaiting an Ushabti Bone dry brush.

Next up on my painting plate after the Terminator squad is five Tactical Marines from the Dark Angels Chapter Upgrade Sprue.  I plan on using this sprue to make most of my Tactical Squads.  I feel the robed models really set the Dark Angels apart from the other Space Marine forces and give the army a very dark, sinister feel.  These models should be fairly easy to paint and churn out.  The robes will be painted much in the same way as the Terminator armor and the green armor will be painted per the Games Workshop standard, starting with a base of Caliban Green, a wash of Biel-Tan Green, then successive highlights of Warpstone Glow and Moot Green.  Since most of the model is covered by the robes, there is not a lot of armor detail to pick out.

After I paint those five Marines, I am going to work on a Ravenwing Biker test model.  Their armor is traditionally all black, which can look very flat and bland if not done right.  I've opted to do the shading on the black armor with dark blues so I can highlight the other black areas using greys so there will be some differentiation between the colors.  I'm not a fan of hard lining, so hopefully my dry brush technique will turn out well.