Monday, April 21, 2014

The Invasion is on Hold

Okay, it really isn't on hold, I just haven't had any time this last week to work on it. So a slight bump in the schedule, heck, I haven't even had time to go back and take more pictures yet. That is just the way life gets some times.

What I can tell you, is that I've got all the chaos I need. All of my wheeling and dealing and purchases came flooding in. I am now the proud owner (again) of a full chaos marine force. And it is all in pieces. :(

But don't fret, I'm not. I'll get back to assembling models tonight after work and will continue to churn them out. I will say I'm still looking for some specific pieces though. My army has lots of chaos beasties in it. I have the helldrake, two fiends, and a total of five hellbrutes. But I don't own a warsmith yet. I like the model so I am on the lookout for one.

Also, I'm trying to get my hands on more special weapon sprues for the basic CSM. I only have one for all 25 of my CSM. I could at the very least use one more. I'll see what I can salvage from some of the other units.

The whole army is plastic which is pretty cool. All of it are the latest models as well. So no old stuff. The only down side to that is that I have to put everything....and I mean everything, together. Sometimes I find assembly fun. But when you have to start cranking out the models....then it becomes a chore. At least for me anyways. So I'm trying to figure out how best to do this. I think it would probably work well if I chose a few of any one kind of model at a time....instead of trying to power through all of them. So maybe I'll stick with a "no more than five at a time" rule. For lots of the stuff, I only have five of a kind for a model type (raptors and terminators for example). So that should work okay. For guys like my CSM and cultists, I think it will help me not get sick of them to spread them out.

So, I'm still working on the possessed right now and the rhino. I hope to wrap those up tonight. Then I'll get back to my DV models (which are awesome!) and then start grinding out some CSM again.

Next up: Chaos Sighted!

Wednesday, April 16, 2014

Reinforcements Arrive

So the last few days has seen the rest of my chaos force come into being. I've snagged the DV models and have been working on them. I also was able to trade for a few hellbrutes. Now normally I don't really like having duplicate models, but due to the new dataslates for chaos, I have the option now of using all of them.

I also got in my order for the new Attack Force and a new Hellbrute. I've got more than enough models to field a decent sized force for chaos. Yay model addiction!

As far as the assembly line is going, there things have slowed down a little. I'm working on the rhino and have that about 70% done. I've also started on the Possessed unit. The DV models stole some attention for a while since those are so easy to get going. However, I was lucky enough to get quite a few extra ones, so that process is still going on.

Oh, and I also forgot that I got two boxes of beastmen gors to use as close combat cultists. So basically I'm drowning in chaos models.

I haven't snapped any pics lately, but will do that shortly and update the post with those.

In true gamer ADD fashion, I've been keeping a sharp eye out on the new Dystopian Wars ships. They are gorgeous! and I'm practically drooling over them. Once the end of May rolls around, I'm sure they are going to steal the show for a while. I'm going to keep chugging away though at Chaos until then.

Next Up - even more chaos!

Thursday, April 10, 2014

Chaos Assemble!

So this week I've been squeezing as much time as I can into assembling my chaos models. 98% of the army is going to be NIB, and even the stuff I got in trade will need to be finished. So lots to do. Currently I'm working on the battalion set. It has 15 CSM, a rhino, 8 berserkers, and 5 possessed.

I cranked out the berserkers first. GW plastics always act differently to various glues, so I figured I'd choose a unit I had the least interest in to start with. :)


My wife loves it when I confiscate our dining room for my hobbies. Right now though my office is in chaos (pun intended) and I needed a clear space to work in. That cool LED lamp is a gift from said wife-unit for my birthday. Its pretty sweet.



I have to say I really love the chaos models. Marines are cool and all, but the extra touch of chaos makes the models just pop. Though I have to admit, I am not a fan of the Khorne helms.


But, these guys are apparently with the Crimson Slaughter renegade faction, which is the force I'm painting, so they get to stay, silly helms and all. Check out the guy on the far left. I put him on his back foot and gave him a John Woo pose....or maybe a Neo dodging bullets pose...either way, he turned out well.

Next time, chaos rhino and possessed!

Wednesday, April 9, 2014

Those damn Spartans!

See, this is exactly what I was talking about. You try and try to work on a solo project to get real progress done, and what goes and happens? I'll tell you what.. new rules get released, and a new starter box.

For what pray tell? For Dystopian Wars, that's what. Darn those fellows at Spartan, they completely snuck an entire new edition of Dystopian Wars onto the world. Granted, it won't release until May 21st...but still. This is exactly what I was waiting for for this game. I love DW, but the rules were too clunky. Now they have a full new version, with a sexy new rulebook, and promised faster gameplay...my number one beef with the game.

Not only that, but then they also release a super cool two player box set as well. So yeah, I got two months to fortify myself with all things Chaos so that I can continue to work on my army. Because we all know as soon as the new DW stuff is released, my gamerADD is gonna kick in and and pull me in a new direction.


Monday, April 7, 2014

Let the Stars Burn!

So I'm on new project. For those that have read my old blogs, I have said some harsh things about GW in the past....well maybe I didn't write down the specifics, but the gist of it was, I don't like them as a company. I really don't like how they operate. I think it is a huge disservice to the people who put them where they are now.

However, there is no denying how awesome their product is. It is by far, the most popular for this hobby, and in my own home. Recently, I was struck by the awesomeness of the new hellbrute model for the chaos space marines. Now I had owned CSM once before, and I loved the models then tool. I don't like CSM as a concept...I mean I'm much more of a good guy type of player...and so chaos has always been an army I avoided collecting. But the CSM line is pretty awesome, and just keeps getting better.

Well the new hellbrute got me thinking about how I could collect a CSM force fairly cheaply. Turns out, it isn't all that hard. The new Attack Force set is an actual deal on GW models. Getting it for a discount is even better. That added to the surperb models from the Dark Vengence starter, gives you a fairly diverse army right out of the gate and all for the low price of around $200.

So that was my goal, start small, start cheap, and go from there. Well the idea was great, but I still needed to come up with $200. Now I could have just gone out and spent the money...but I really do have way too many armies and models in general. So first, I tried to trade. I had a Dark Angels army that was doing nothing and its sale would easily cover the costs I was expecting and then some.

Enter roadblock #1...no one wants Dark Angels. Granted, it was based on older terminator models, but they were painted very well in typical Deathwing colors. In fact an entire playable Deathwing army was there, plus extras. Thankfully an opportunity came up for me to sell some other models. Wasn't enough to get me my starting force, but it did allow me to grab another opportunity to get a CSM battalion from a friend. It would give me models to play with and would supplement my planned force in a good way.

Thankfully, I did finally sell my DA army. And now I have purchased the majority of my CSM force. I'm hoping to work a deal for the DV models I want soon. I was also to trade some nids for two other CSM units during the last few weeks. Here is my planned Crimson Slaughter CSM force: af = attack force, dv = dark vengence, bt = battalion, tr = trade, pu = purchase.

HQs - terminator librarian (af), chaos lord (dv)
Elite - 5 terminators (af), 6 chosen (dv), 8 berserkers (bt)
Troops - 10 csm (af), 15 csm (bt), 20 cultists (pu)(gor conversions), 5 possessed (bt), 1 aspiring champ (pu)
Fast Attack - 1 helldrake (tr), 5 raptors (af)
Heavy Support - 1 maulerfiend (tr), 1 forge fiend (af), 1 hellbrute (dv), 1 hellbrute (pu)
Transports - 1 rhino (bt), 1 rhino (af)

All said and done, $$ spent was about $335 which I brought in $375 with sales. Technically I don't have the DV models yet, but I should be able to get them within budget easily, and hopefully with trades.

Next post, Chaos Assemble!

Thursday, April 3, 2014

The clarion call

Welcome back gentle readers. It has been a while since my last blog. Last we spoke, I had closed both of my previous blogs that were dedicated to single games. It quickly became clear to me that I could not keep any sort of consistent updates for just one system. I'm not built that way. Like many of my fellow gamers, I flip and flop between games all the time. So while I could provide content over a few months, eventually my interest would wane, and soon I'd dive into a new project.

Thus, this new blog is dedicated to no game in particular, instead, it is dedicated to the pursuit of happiness within this wonderful hobby.

I suppose the next logical question then would be, what have I been up to? The answer to that question is summed up in two words "a lot".

I got into playing some Bolt Action! for a while when a friend of mine started up a league. It was quite fun and I quickly discovered that taking a Churchill AVRE was just no fun for my opponents. Unfortunately for me, the long awaited Italian book came out, and I was quite disappointed. So much so that it really knocked me away from the game. Plus, I had an issue with an order I had made and it took months for them to resolve. So Warlord is not exactly on my friends list right now. Shame too since the game really is brilliant. I'm sure I'll get back to it eventually.

Mantic has been holding my attention in a few ways recently. I got to play a few games of Kings of War and I really like it. Much easier on the brain than WHFB. But the real killer lately has been Deadzone. I had missed the kickstarter fortunately/unfortunately, but was able to hop into the second phase with a fellow Ordite (www.ordofanaticus.com). I now own a starter box and am impatiently waiting my kickstarter purchases. Models are decent, and the terrain is awesome. Haven't actually played it yet though.

As shameful as it is to admit, I've been getting back into 40K. For those that may have read my previous blogs (unlikely as that is), you may remember that I was pretty much done with GW for a variety of reasons. But "done" was not the right word. I had no intention of getting rid of my collection. I just didn't want to support them anymore. But a friend of mine asked me to play a game with him. It was fun. It got me excited about my Eldar again...and now I have lots of eldar assembled, and even painted a few (will post in upcoming blog). That has led to a horrible chain of events which led me to selling my Dark Angel army, and have begun purchasing a new Chaos Marine army. The models are just too cool. I can't help it! So, that is where I'm currently at. I've got eldar on my table, but have finally gotten some CSM models and will start my assembly of them.

So as you can see, four months have gone by since my dive into Warmachine, and I've already hopped between four other games. That doesn't even include the PC games I've been playing.

So there you have it, I'm diving back into the blog-sphere, and this time we'll see if I can do better.