Sunday, August 31, 2014

WIP: Nils Nielsen has nothing on me...

... or indeed any 40k hobbyist who's halfway competent with a brush. Here's where we are now with Sengoku Astray/ proxy Commander Farsight:


I'm pretty pleased with how with glowy green bits turned out. The kit comes with these silly little stickers that are supposed to go there:


Gawd, that looks cheap. So, I applied pretty much the same technique I did for the glowy orbs on my Necrons, starting with Abbaddon Black, to Caliban Green, to Warboss Green, to Scorpion Green, then added a little white, and that was that.


The white was tedious as hell, even with the magical and fantastical Ceramite White. But worth it, I think. Just a little more to go, i.e. some metal bits here and there, an accent or two, if the mood takes me, perhaps a decal or two or three for flavour, some varnish and then on to the battlefield to CUT SHIT UP!

Elsewhere, the land of GW is still pretty dry for me, so I'm still focusing on my team of Gunpla:


Buster Gundam looks really weedy compared to the others, now that I look at it... Anyway, once I'm done with Sengoku Astray, on to this guy!


 Kampfer Amazing! Yeah, stupid name, but I like the look and I like those guns. No need to mess about with pansy-ass pistols or a long rifle that takes up both hands - I wanted the biggest guns it could reasonably carry in each hand!

And as I was finishing off the final touches of its construction in the lovely FLGS, the question I was asked most was: "Sooo... are you going to paint it red?"

I was seriously tempted. BUT, since the Gunpla is, by nautre, something of a break from my 40k habits, I figured I'd check out the local handware stores for some other options and...


Note that this does NOT necessarily mean I'm going to collect a small detachment of Crimson Fists...

Oh, wow, the more I think about it...

Friday, August 29, 2014

WIP: Sengoku Astray

Still churning out Gunpla, seeing as:

  1. I've a bit of a wait until the Blood Angels receive their new codex;
  2. Even after the new codex comes out, there's no guarantee (really!) that I'll find myself investing in moar plastic crack; and 
  3. I've just gotten involved in a group that uses the Mobile Frame Zero rules to put Gunpla on the battlefield, thus cementing the relationship between Gunpla and my love of tabletop wargaming.
So, here's the box art of the current project:


Here's how it looks in naked plastic:


Suffice it to say, I can't be having with this naked plastic nonsense. It's quite a mystery to me how Gunpla enthusiasts tolerate it, but different strokes for different folks, I guess. So, not long after I finished getting it to that stage, I took my Sengoku Astry apart...


Those sticks are pure awesome-sauce. Wish I'd gotten my hands on them sooner! I sprayed first in Krylon Flat Black, then Army Painter Pure Red, reasoning that with Ceramite White, it shouldn't be too hard to get back from red to a solid white, rather than vice versa. Besides, it would be easier to highlight the red with a gentle drybrushing with orange and yellow first.

Things have been a bit busy at work, so the pace is pretty slow. I spent a little time focusing on just the head...


The most tedious bit is the white. Ceramite White is awesome and all, but it still means having to apply layer upon layer of the stuff. Here's my progress at the time of writing.


Will post more pics as I make more progress. Here's hoping I can put together a team of 5 before the year's out!

Friday, August 22, 2014

Buster Gundam is totally a Broadside...

Just look at it!


Looks better than the old Broadside model, I think...


That said, I really can't bring myself to field Tau (yet?). Besides, I kinda prefer Buster like this:


Also cleaned up that first Gundam I'd built yonks ago, Cherudim.


Looks okay from the front, but seriously, a lot of the models from Gundam 00 have absurd sticky-outy bits on their backs that I think are just annoying. In other news, here's a little something that's been long overdue...


Yep, at long last, a good old Land Raider for the Blood Angels. I just really hope the upcoming new codex doesn't shake things up too much...

Friday, August 15, 2014

Gouf Custom - Almost there!

A bit of paint, a little ink, some decal work, and here we are now:




One little thing about this kit that irks me: the grip of the right hand around the sword is too rigid! No self-respecting swordsman would hold his blade like that! Also, felt compelled to dig up a little more about the Gouf Custom. Here it is in all its badassery,with awful voice-acting to go with it... 

Gouf Custom WIP

Here's a pic of the mini as described in the manual:


And here's my current progress:


Nothing complicated. The red turned out far better than I'd expected. It's Army Painter's Pure Red on top of a Krylon Flat Black base, drybrushed with Trollslayer Orange, then drybrushed (very gently) one more time with Iyanden Darksun. Gotta admit, I'm really tempted to slap on some leftover decals from the GW kits. Speaking of which, I also picked up this gem in Taiwan:


I for one think it's absolutely beautiful. And now I'm kicking myself because I only bought one. Dammit... Anyway, moar painting to do...

Wednesday, August 13, 2014

A 40k gamer delves into Gunpla...

So, after many months of ogling Gunpla models in various places, I stumbled on a crazy cheap stash of them while on honeymoon in Taiwan. At about a third of the price of the kits in M'sia, I couldn't possibly resist, and loaded up on 3 of them and some nifty tools for general modelling.

This building is the one you want.

There are about half a dozen shops like this one on the 4th floor. So. Much. Plastic...

Truth be told, I gave a Gunpla set a try something like 4 years ago, but never got round to finishing it, as that was when my other armies were taking shape. Since I'm more or less happy with the state of my armies with very little expansion planned, I figured now is a good time to have some fun modelling something different...

Tuesday, August 12, 2014

So, I had a couple of games of 7th...

Note: This post has been sitting in my draft folder for a few weeks now. I've had quite a few more games of 7th ed since I first started this post, but not much has changed regarding how I feel about 7th, so I'm putting this up anyway. 

This weekend I caught up on some serious 40k-ing. Got in my first game of 7th, fielding Deathwing against Adi's Tau, then another game using 30 Blood Angel Tactical marines against Wong's Grey Knights. First impressions? Let's try and be organized about this...

Blood Angel Tacticals SUCK 
Had to get that out of the way. They are more expensive and in every possible way inferior to their counterparts from other chapters. And the one thing that makes them uniquely Blood Angels (i.e. the Red Thirst) only makes them worse at being Tactical Marines. Fearless means no going to ground. Furious Charge means having to choose between the bolter and their hardly adequate close combat prowess.

Pictured: Fail on two legs


So, here I sit, with 3 lovely squads of Tactical marines, relegated to shelf garrison duty. Or maybe I just suck at using them. Whatever the case may be, I'm going back to my good old Assault Marines and their magnificent Razorbacks. If anyone reading this has a clever way to use Blood Angel Tacticals, do tell, coz I'm certainly curious to see how they work...

The Psychic Phase
The source of much mixed feelings thus far, and this has greatly changed the way my Blood Angels operate. In 6th ed, one of the pillars of a decent Blood Angel list was that 100 pt Librarian who'd be puttering about and enhancing his comrades with Prescience. In this edition, 1 Librarian, even an Epistolary is no guarantee of pulling off Prescience reliably. In 6th, 2 Epistolaries equated to 4 powers being cast with great reliability. In 7th, you'll be lucky to get off 2, and that's assuming your opponent can't do much about it. If your opponent has an overwhelmingly greater number of Warp Charges, then your Librarians are pretty much useless, as all your powers get squelched by your psychically superior foe.

Obviously a better psyker than mine

I've mixed feelings about this. On one hand, it's an interesting new mechanic, and yay, Prescience is no longer an auto-include. On the other hand... well, I suppose it's going to take a while for psychically weak armies to find their sweet spot, in terms of how much to invest in psychic powers and which discipline serves them best. And, of course, this means a resurgence in the power of seriously psychic armies, notably Grey Knights, Daemons, and perhaps a little Eldar.

Tactical Objectives
Honestly? I don't like them. For years, I've been pretty used to the idea of putting your army on the board with a clear mission in mind long before the first dice is rolled. Now, I put stuff on the board, and I know where the objectives are but I don't know whether they'll reward me. In fact, until I draw my first hand of objective cards, I have NO idea what I'm playing for. There are a few ways to react to this:
  1. Just roll with it. It helps if you have an army that can respond quickly to the changing objectives. 
  2. Ignore it, and focus on killing your opponent's army. Coz if he's dead, he can't score, right?
  3. Don't play it, and just stick with the Eternal War missions. 
Personally... I'm kinda inclined towards 2 and 3. Mainly because it feels a bit silly when you put a couple of hours into the game only to essentially have it decided by luck of the draw. It's a little more random than I like, I think.

What do?
Well, first off, it's pretty clear that I can't rely on psykers as much anymore. Also, vehicles are back in a big way, thanks to the buffing of the vehicle damage chart and the nerfing of the Smash USR.  So... what does this realistically mean for my armies?
  1. Blood Angels - Well, on one hand, I can't rely on my Librarian for Prescience anymore. On the other hand, packing close combat death in a Land Raider is back in fashion, so I think my Chaplain/Reclusiarch may see some action, together with my new Land Raider Crusader...
  2. Deathwing - Yay! Null deployment is on! This edition is excellent for Deathwing, so no changes here.
  3. Necrons - No Psykers, so no real difference. Haven't seen action yet, though...
  4. Astra Militarum - My atheist army of men. Again, I place no faith in Psykers here, and play a large volume of vehicles. This army quite likely has gotten stronger with this edition, so no need to change anything.
  5. Chaos Space Marines - Another army without a Psyker. But you know what? I've a Daemon Prince that just might be tempted to start turning to Malefic Daemonology... 
Meta-wise, however, it's worth noting that at my FLGS, the players with more mature armies with larger collections (like myself) are moving on from 1,750 pts to 1,850 pts. No biggie. Fortifications for everybody!