This is the Red Thunder, and I am pleased

So, I've been getting in a few games with this army:

Company command with bolt pistol for the commander, carapace armour, grenade launcher, lascannon and officer of the fleet in a Chimera
Tank commander in a Leman Russ Exterminator with heavy bolter sponsons and a Leman Russ Battletank
Veteran squad with carapace armour, 3 plasmaguns and krak grenades in a Chimera
Veteran squad with carapace armour, 3 meltaguns and krak grenades in a Chimera
Platoon command with bolt pistol, grenade launcher and autocannon
Infantry squad with flamer and autocannon
Infantry squad with flamer and autocannon
Special weapons squad with 3 sniper rifles
Heavy weapons squad with 3 mortars
22 conscripts with a commissar
2 Vendetta gunships
Leman Russ Battletank

All squads have voxcasters, bringing this list to 1,749 pts. 86 infanry models in total, with the heavy weapon teams having 2 models per base. I suppose I should confess that one heavy weapon team is still missing a spotter, so, 85 infantry models, accompanied by 8 vehicles. This is easily the most models I've ever fielded in 1,750 pts and as someone who's been playing either Blood Angels, Deathwing, Necrons or Chaos Marines since the end of 5th ed, the Astra Militarum are HARD. Not hard as in hard-as-nails tough, mind you, but hard to play. That said, I LOVE this army! Here's a quick introduction to each of the elements:

A dab here, a dab there...

So, I've been giving my first army, the Blood Angels, a little love. Mostly I'm looking at the good old mechanized elements. Here's how they're looking...

Still get the feeling there's more to do, but can't motivate myself to do much more really. Right now, I just want to inflict this list:

Tycho (sane)
Librarian with plasma pistol
5 Sternguard with 2 combimeltas, 2 combiplasmas and 1 heavy flamer
Land Raider Redeemer with multimelta
5 Assault Marines with meltagun and infernus pistol in a Lasplas Razorback
5 Assault Marines with meltagun and infernus pistol in a Lasplas Razorback
5 Assault Marines with flamer and infernus pistol in a Lasplas Razorback
Stormraven with hurricane bolters
Baal Predator with twin-linked assault cannon and heavy bolter sponsons
Baal Predator with twin-linked assault cannon and heavy bolter sponsons

1,750 pts precisely. If this doesn't do anything for me, I've a Death Company version, with the Sternguard and Librarian replaced with Death Company and a Chaplain. Suffice it to say, Tycho gets replaced with psycho Tycho.

Anyway, on the face of it, I think the list looks like fun to use. Lotsa plasma and melta and assault cannon death and maiming, with no marine having to walk. And, in true Tycho fashion, the list is brutally direct. No deep striking, no need for jump infantry, just a vicious, fast, armoured assault. It's fluffy, it's painted with love and it's full of some of the nastiest things in the Blood Angel codex. I must test this...

My first IG, the Red Thunder

So, at long last, after years and years of prevaricating, I've finally put together a semblance of 1,750 pts of solid, proper Imperial Guard. Here's the list:

Still needs some paint, but it looks mean enough on the table... 

Commissar Lord with carapace armour, power sword and meltabombs
Sly Marbo
Veteran squad with 2 flamers, 1 heavy flamer, Demolitions doctrine and Sgt Harker
Platoon command with 3 flamers, 1 heavy flamer and krak grenades, in a Chimera with heavy flamer
Infantry squad with grenade launcher and krak grenades, in a Chimera with heavy flamer
Infantry squad with grenade launcher and krak grenades, in a Chimera with heavy bolter
2 Vendetta gunships
Squadron of 2 Leman Russ Battletanks with hull-mounted heavy bolters
Squadron of 2 Leman Russ Demolishers with hull-mounted heavy bolters
Manticore

Nothing subtle here, just a list designed to achieve victory through crushing amounts of firepower. 3 vehicles throwing out S10 pie plates is scary for any army. Supporting that are the 2 plain Leman Russes, placed off to one side to make good use of their superior range. Anything that can hide from all that most certainly can't hide from Marbo, who'll make a fine nuisance of himself. The armoured fist platoon is typical of any army I have played thus far, keeping the whole army mobile, because mobility means more options. The Vendettas are there for aerial superiority and miscellaneous troubleshooting. And last but not least, the mighty Catachan Devils (oh, but I do have a soft spot for them) ride in one of the Vendettas, waiting to pop out and maul a troublesome unit when the time is right.

Let's look at the checklist:

• How to deal with hordes? PIE PLATES! And lotsa flaming death. 
• How to deal with high AV vehicles? PIE PLATES! And Vendettas. 
• How to deal with Monstrous Creatures? PIE PLATES! And Vendettas.
• How to deal with Death Stars? PIE PLATES! And high volume of wound output from the flamers.
• How to deal with Flyers? Vendettas!
• Scoring? 3 units in Chimeras, one zooming about in a Vendetta. 

Yeah, I love solving problems with pie plates. Having engaged the Imperial Guard before, I'd learnt to fear the occasional lucky pie plate, so I figured I'd go a little further and use paired Leman Russes and Demolishers, significantly increasing my chances of inflicting serious damage with them. Besides, I don't really put much faith in BS3, so lots of templates for everyone!

This isn't theoryhammer, mind you. I just had the opportunity to inflict this list against an Ork horde and it performed magnificently. Vehicles were shattered by my tanks, Marbo did his thing, chucking a big bomb into the midst of some Lootas, and oh, man, the Manticore got to work, annihilating a squad of Flash Gitz, exposing the big, stompy Warboss to the tender mercies of a pair of Demolisher cannons. The Catachan Devils got to work, slaying 13 Slugga Boyz in their first salvo, then battling their way to the enemy objective. And the Lord Commissar even survived!

A large one had S7, T7, W8, I8 and up to 11 Attacks. Ah, those were the days... 

I was pleased with the performance. As such, this is a list I'll be inflicting a few more times before I consider any tweaks.

The Unkindness...

... of Stormravens! So, I've been slinging this list around a bit:

Librarian with plasma pistol
10 Sternguard Veterans, 2 with heavy flamers, 2 with combi flamers, 3 with combi plasma and 3 with combi melta
Furioso Dreadnought with Frag Cannon and heavy flamer in a Drop Pod
5 Assault Marines with meltagun and Infernus Pistol, in a Razorback with Lascannon and twin-linked plasmagun
5 Assault Marines with meltagun and Infernus Pistol, in a Razorback with Lascannon and twin-linked plasmagun
5 Scouts with camo cloaks, sniper rifles and a missile launcher
Stormraven Gunship with twin-linked assault cannon, twin-linked multimelta and hurricane bolters
Stormraven Gunship with twin-linked assault cannon, twin-linked multimelta and hurricane bolters
Stormraven Gunship with twin-linked assault cannon, twin-linked multimelta and hurricane bolters

This comes to 1,747 pts, because poor old Blood Angels still have to pay to install searchlights. Sheesh. This is a list that plays to the Blood Angel's strengths, notably:

• Cheap combi-weapons for Sternguard. The 10 Sternguard come to 310 pts, compared to 335 for an identical loadout for Space Marines in the current codex.
• Librarians with Divination. Prescience just goes far too well with combi-plasma and Vengeance rounds.
• Stormravens with Bloodstrike missiles. Hurray for AP 1!
• The Furioso Dreadnought. Because sometimes you just need a good, cheap-ish infantry eraser. 
• Assault Squads in Fast Razorbacks, getting the most out of the Lascannon + twin-linked plasmagun configuration.

I have inflicted this list in three games thus far. Here's a brief overview of how those games went:

BURN heretic!

So, as I mentioned in the previous post, I got my grubby paws on the lovely new plastic Sternguard, and verily, I like how they're turning out:

The only one without the wing on his pauldron I use to mark my Sternguard, because Deathwatch. 

No, not using the Sternguard bodies or legs; I'm going to save those for something special... I've still got a couple more that I haven't started painting. Just waiting for some bits to come my way. Specifically, this one:

I've always had a soft spot for Sternguard, so I've decided to bulk out my collection to have a full squad of Sternguard and build a list around them. Blood Angels might be rolling with an old-ish Codex, but I don't think they're out of the game yet. They've still got some things going for them, notably:

- Stormravens with Bloodstrike missiles, coz AP1 can really sting in this edition.
- Librarians with Divination. Pricey, but Prescience is so full of win! Especially when you need to make those combi-plasma shots count...
- Multimelta attack bikes are 5 pts cheaper.
- A 5-man team of Marines geared for assault with a meltagun and Infernus pistol in a Razorback with Lascannon and twin-linked plasma is every bit as cheap as the 6th ed equivalent. AND the Razorback is Fast.
- Furioso Dreadnoughts are awesome.

So, here's an idea for a list:

Librarian in Terminator armour with Storm Shield
10 Sternguard, 2 with heavy flamers, 8 combiweapons (3 melta, 3 plasma, 2 flamer) and a power weapon
3 x 5-man Assault squads with an Infernus Pistol and a meltagun in a Razorback with Lascannon & twin-linked plasmagun
3 x Stormraven Gunships with Hurricane bolters
Attack Bike with multimelta

Right, the basics:
1) Dealing with hordes? 6 Hurricane bolters, Sternguard with lotsa flaming death, 3 TL Assault Cannons... Need I say more?
2) AP 2? Bloodstrike missiles, Lascannon and twin-linked plasma death, melta weapons in every flavour. Check, I think.
3) Dealing with Deathstars? Depends on the Deathstar, but a concerted strike from the 3 Ravens will most certainly get stuff done.
4) Scoring? 3 scoring units, zipping about in Fast vehicles. Not too bad.
5) Flyers? I have 3 Stormravens. It's going to take quite an investment in anti-air dakka to stop that.

That more or less covers most of the bases. I can't help but feel I need more gun...

Anyway, I need to test this. To this end, I just got my grubby paws on this:

2nd-hand, needs a little work. Here's where we are now...

Left, Newraven, right, Blackraven. 

Colour's a little different. That's Army Painter Pure Red with a coat of Mephiston Red, drybrushed with Trollslayer Orange. Blacklining with Agrax Earthshade. Soon.... soon....

Gaaaahplastic crack overdose!!

Sooo, a lovely new FLGS with exceedingly attractive prices opened veeery conveniently not 2 minutes walk from where I work. And the lovely new Codex Space Marines has finally turned up!

The majesty... 

After nearly 5 years of faithful service, the old 5th ed Space Marine Codex is making way for the lovely bundle of 176-page hardback awesome that will breathe new life into the good old Space Marine and his trusty bolter. Or will it? Whatever the case may be, the Blood Angels are coming back!

Crisis suit or Chibi Gundam?

So, I clapped eyes upon the useful bits of the Farsight Enclaves supplement. You know, the army bits, because who gives a toss about Farsight's fluff, eh? And here's my idea for a Tau list...

This Angel and that Angel...

This weekend, I decided to dust off some old, old models who haven't seen action since... September last year, by my reckoning...

So, out they came, and I banged together a happy little list, with some allies to spice things up:

Librarian with jump pack
Honour Guard; one with thunder hammer and meltagun; 2 with lightning claws (one each) and meltaguns; one with storm shield; all with jump packs
2 Sanguinary Priests with jump packs
10 man Assault Squad with 2 meltaguns and power fist for the sergeant
10 man Assault Squad with 2 meltaguns and power fist for the sergeant
10 man Assault Squad with 2 flamers and power sword and meltabombs for the sergeant
Stormraven with hurricane bolters

Lord Commissar
10 Veterans with 3 grenade launchers
Vendetta gunship

I was initially thinking of a 2nd Stormraven and moar wargear instead of the Guard contingent, but I figured it might be a good idea to have a scoring unit about while the Blood Angels go and beat people up. And, of course, is there a better use of 130 pts than a Vendetta?

I tried this in 2 games...

My 2 Khador Armies: pButcher and pSorscha, 35 pts

This is just a quick post detailing the 2 army lists which I've been using with reasonable success. Now, I'm no tournament champion and I'm not in any way claiming these armies will maul everything they come up against. What I will say, however, is that these armies have evolved over several games at the FLGS where I get my weekly Warmahordes fix and, to date, they've performed well enough to have a good fighting chance against pretty much any army I've encountered. These armies are pretty straightforward in their strategies, with relatively little in the way of diabolical shenanigans and as such, lend themselves very well to introducing the art of Warmachine to newbies.

Basic Butchery

 This is the first list I can say I got proficient with, and the one that has won me the most victories. Quite conveniently, I've a batrep showing this list in action.

The general strategy is pretty much the same in all engagements. Close in carefully, with the Winter Guard taking the fore and Drakhun, Manhunter and Widowmakers on the flanks. The jacks form the 2nd wave, advancing close by the Butcher and his dog. Then push forward using the feat and a flurry of CRAs from the Winter Guard as the main punch. If possible, use the Drakhun or Manhunter to get a good charge in, because rolling 5 dice to damage is just awesome. I find that, under the influence of the feat, the Winter Guard are best used firing their CRAs in pairs; 5 or 6 shots of POW 14 + 3d6 damage is often quite enough to deal crippling damage to a heavy warjack or warbeast. And if the opponent decided to lead with his light, high-DEF infantry, just switch to grapeshot, let Kovnik Joe boost the attack rolls and watch as everything within 8" of the mighty Winter Guard just disintegrates in killer shrapnel.

An alternative strategy to use against a more aggressive opponent would be to use the Winter Guard as a cushion to catch the opponent's charge, then countercharge with the feat, Full Throttle and 2 very angry jacks. Taking the enemy's charge on the Winter Guard isn't as painful as it sounds. Put Iron Flesh and Bob n' Weave on the Guard, you've got 15 DEF 17 infantry as your screen. With Kovnik Joe, they're Tough, too! As for the countercharge, with the Butcher's feat and Full Throttle, that's boosted attack and damage rolls and charges for the meagre price of 3 Focus, with not a single one placed on the jacks themselves.

Whichever of the two strategies are used, both converge towards the same endgame. The Butcher has no interesting spells to execute flashy maneuvres or assassination runs from hitherto unforeseen angles. After popping the feat, the objective is simply to kill everything within reach. Against most competent players, this will result in the two armies being depleted to just a few models, and this is pretty much where the Butcher shines. With his excellent armour (and DEF, with Iron Flesh) and tremendous melee power, there are very few single models in Warmahordes that can stand up to a one-on-one fight with the Butcher. 

 Red Gunishment

This is a list geared towards ranged assassination. If, like me, you're wont to checking points totals, you will find this list comes to 37 pts. Note, however, that this is pSorscha's Tier 1 list, which allows me to pick up Kovnik Joe for free.

As usual, the Winter Guard form the screen. The Widowmakers will loiter around a flank, picking off targets of opportunity and generally being a nuisance. Following closely behind the Winter Guard are the Destroyers and Sorscha. At the rear, the Mortar Crews. The initial stages, while closing with the enemy, are spent pounding anything that gets within range with the many guns at my disposal. Of course, these guns aren't anywhere as precise as those of say, Cygnar or Scyrah. So, the trick is to keep Sorscha close to the front lines, moving forward, firing her Tempest and hopefully knocking something down for the Destroyers and mortars to brutalize, then darting back with Wind Rush. Alternatively, feed the Destroyers some Focus to deal some heavy hits. All this is simply a build-up to the good-bit: Sorscha darts forward, pops her feat, freezes the enemy caster, then the Destroyers and Mortar Crew go to work. If the enemy caster has some models crowded round to block line of sight, just feat anyway and whack something nearby with Tempest.

Thanks to Wind Rush and Boundless Charge, it can be surprisingly difficult for an opposing caster to escape Sorscha's feat. And of course, anyone wielding this list would do well to remember that Sorscha herself has a pretty decent weapon with Reach. If guns are not an option, Sorscha can zip up to 19" away to deal a killing blow to the more fragile breed of caster.

And that's the way my two Khadoran armies roll. I'm pretty pleased with how they've turned out. A strong core of Winter Guard and Widowmakers, and I've 2 armies with dramatically different strategies from one another, which is rather awesome, because I do get bored pretty quickly. My only regret with these 2 lists is that only after I'd acquired them, Privateer Press released this. I have to say, they look excellent, and now I find myself tempted to try putting together Supreme Kommandant Irusk's list with 2 Winter Guard Deathstars....

Fun list: The Butcher and his Brutes

Having played quite a few games of Warmachine using the most solid (read: boring) lists I could build (mostly centred around the dreaded Winter Guard Deathstar), I decided it was time for some fun. It was during a game against Ian's Scyrah that I witnessed the sheer brutality of a Berserker with 3 focus under the influence of the Butcher's feat and Full Throttle. Despite having lost an arm, said Berserker hurtled forward to charge a nearby Phoenix, pound it into scrap, then explode, killing a nearby Stormfall Archer.

I decided then that I really like Full Throttle and since I don't have a Karchev to hand, here's a list I threw together and had some good fun with.

It's simple enough, yes? The Destroyer hangs with the Kovnik and slowly advances, dumping double boosted (by which I mean attack and damage rolls are both boosted) Bombard shots into the foe, while the Butcher advances behind a wall of Khador's most vicious melee jacks. Full Throttle makes sure they hit stuff, and Fury will let one jack hit absurdly hard. The wee doggy is there... well, just because.

I had a game using this list against a beast-heavy Circle Orboros list, with eKaya using her feat to hit my lines really hard, then bugger off out of my reach. A fairly close-ish game, I thought, but when my Kovnik failed to Drive 2 turns in a row, well, that when I knew the dice gods had turned their back on me. But hey, I'm not letting a little bad luck stop me. I'm gonna have a couple more games with this list and see how it rolls.  Read on for a dissection of each element of the list...

Army List: Blood Angels Double Deathstar, 1750pts

... or at least Double Deathstar until such time as I figure out a better name. Each time I've fielded this list, it's been an absolute blast. Here it is, in as much glory as I can manage with my camera and limited photography skills:

WYSIWYG with 5 pts spare. Searchlights for everyone!

Read on for the story of what does what...

Army List: Flying Fists! 1750pts

I've been using this list quite a bit this past couple of weeks, getting in 3 games with it, and every time it was a blast to play. It's hits hard and fast and plays pretty well to the strengths of the Blood Angels, i.e. closing quickly to bring some close-combat oriented MEQ to bear in devastating charges, with Feel No Pain, Furious Charge, excellent mobility and a lot of power weapons all working in concert to provide a massive Turn 2/3 punch that very few armies can withstand or recover from.

A long, LONG overdue update...

Oh, man, has it really been nearly a YEAR??

Well, a lot has happened since the last post. Really, a LOT has happened, most of which isn't within the scope of this blog. That thing I mentioned about painting is gonna have to wait. So, I guess I might as well be organized about this. The next few posts will be as follows, starting with this one:

1) My Blood Angel mechanized army as it is today.
2) My Grey Knight Draigowing army
3) My fall from the Emperor's Grace into the depths of CHAOS...

Just a brief update with a couple of pretty pictures for each. I'll go into details in later posts. So, here's the Blood Angel list as it stands today:

HQ
1 Librarian with Shield and Lance

Troops
4 x 5-man Assault Squads, each with Sgt power weapon, Infernus pistol and a meltagun, mounted in a Razorback armed with a Lascannon and twin-linked Plasmagun (the infamous Stronos pattern)

Fast Attack
2 x Baal Predators with Heavy Bolter sponsons

Heavy Support
Predator with Autocannon and Lascannon sponsons
Stormraven with Multimelta, Twin-linked Assault Cannon and extra armour (Librarian goes here)
Stormraven with Typhoon Missile Launcher and Twin-linked Assault Cannon

Total PV: 1745pts

The army in all it's glory:

I made this board with kitty litter!

That's the whole army as stated on the list, plus a few Sternguard flanking the Librarian, coz they were designed to look cool standing next to characters. Photo courtesy of 40kWong. One thing about all my armies: 100% plastic. I loathe metals. That having been said, there is ONE metal model in this army - the Librarian:


I plan to replace him with something cobbled together from plastic kits at somepoint. Besides being metal, the Librarian is also guilty of the sin of not being WYSIWYG. Anyhoo, here's a couple more pics of some key elements of the army...


I keep meaning to get round to naming my Seargeants, but it never happens. Alas, Sarge isn't WYSIWYG. That's something I intend to getting round to sorting out when I'm done painting every mini here. I know it looks kind of like the army's painted, but honestly, it isn't. LOTS of tiny little details to sort out. Text on scrolls, headlights, line highlights... The list goes on and on and it really doesn't help that I'm really easily distracted, particularly by work and my other armies. Anyway, more pics:

... and only AFTER I paint 5 kneecaps do I realize I've chosen the flag of Scotland as the squad emblem. The Sarge is now affectionately known as Sgt Wallace.

I know I could probably play something more efficient and killy than 2 Baal Predators, but I've a soft spot for Assault Cannons, ever since I blew up a Land Raider with a lucky shot from my Terminators (who are now gathering dust...). Last pic, the #1 dakka magnet...


It's a very rare thing indeed for my Stormravens to see the end of a game. And thanks to my growing Black Legion army, it's rarer still that it sees the end of my paint brush.

So how well does this army perform? Well, I don't get shredded every time I play, which is a good thing. Won some, lost some. I usually lose to marine armies (i.e. vanilla marines, jumping Blood Angels, Grey Knights, Chaos Marines... ), and I'm guessing the Baal Predators and Stormravens are eating points better spent on less flashy, more straightforward killy things, like maybe more Razorback assault squads, or a Vindicator or two. But hell, I just like those models, so they'll be staying for now. Besides, the sheer amount of violence Baal Predators inflict on squishier targets, like Guardsmen, Tyranids or Tau makes them oh-so-worth-it...

And that's my mechanized Blood Angel army. Will take a closer look at it in later posts, but first...

In the beginning...

... was the first 1000pts. Anything less than 1,000 struck as boring at the time, so I tried to get 1,000 pts together quick as I could. Suffice it to say, a terminator squad was absolutely necessary. This is what I used for my very first game of 5th ed 40k:

1 Reclusiarch with Infernus pistol
9 Death Company with 2 power weapons and 1 Infernus pistol
1 Drop pod

5 Terminators with 1 assault cannon and a chainfist

10 Tactical marines with a flamer, missile launcher meltabombs on the Sgt

10 Tactical marines with a plasma gun and plasma cannon

That's 1,000pts on the nose. Worked a charm during my first game against Imperial Guard, with the Death Company dropping right behind the obligatory Leman Russ, blowing it up with Infernus pistol rudeness, then proceeding to chew up every other thing within reach (which, in this case, comprised 2 Heavy Weapon squads, 1 Banewolf and 1 Infantry squad). Still, it felt somewhat lacking.

Experienced playes will probably note this list lacks mobility. Now, looking back, it seems an absurd way to play Blood Angels but hey, that's what I had available to me at the time, and I was kinda pleased with the paintjob. Well, at least with the elements that were painted at the time...


Umm... And that's it, really. I've been procrastinating horribly with my Death Company. I mean, they're in black armour! Anyways, the 2 units above were painted using the same technique, though the tacticals obviously have nicer bases. It is EXTREMELY time-consuming. 7 games and much plastic kitbashing later, I've settled on a more efficient list and a more efficient way to paint.

Blood Angels have quite a few traits which set them apart from the usual Space Marine army, 2 of which were conspicuously absent in this first list. First is their unparalleled expertise with jump packs, i.e. the Descent of Angels rule. The other is their armoury of fast Rhino-type vehicles.

After much digging around on the net and getting killed with half-arsed army lists, I soon came to realise I don't like jump packs. They're a pain to paint, they make the models annoyingly bulky (I use a Citadel figure case) and I once lost 235 pts worth of marines in a 1,000pts game due to an improbable Deep Strike mishap. I also found, I really, really like assault cannons, especially after an insanely lucky shot from my terminators managed to blow up a Land Raider Crusader full of Grey Knights.

Now, the current metagame has split the world of Blood Angels into 2 types of army: Jump packs or Mechanized. It was an easy decision to make, and off I went collecting Razorbacks and eBaying for more lovely assault cannons...

I suppose it's worth noting at this point there are a few principles I like to follow in building my army. One is that I won't take special characters. I swear, every time I see a special character in a codex, it seems to me that they're just made ludicrously powerful for the sole purpose of selling overpriced models. And if the model isn't available, then they're a conversion project, making them even more expensive to produce (for most, anyway). Anyway, having so much power concentrated in a single special character just seems silly to me, so I'm not having any of it.

Another is spam. I'm not much of a fan of that. I could turn towards a mechanized list of as many copies of the same unit as possible, looking to get as many twin-linked assault cannons scooting around the battlefield as possible, but no thanks. Why? Coz it's BORING. I like having many options with which to brutalize my opponents, even if it means my army is a little less efficient. So these days, my must-take units are some Death Company and Sternguard. I have to confess, the Sternguard are there mostly coz I like my kitbashed plastic Sternguard (work in progress):


Oh, and the last factor I take into consideration is plastic. Coz I like bitz and mixing and matching and churning out new marines and cool poses and stuff.

Next up, a word on painting...