Bro-in-Law 40k Brainwash

Trying to brainwash my new brother-in-law who also happens to not be repulsed by gaming into joining our cult of game worshipping fools. Pics of our game, 1000pts Eldar vs. Nids, which was very close. A draw in the end, about as close a game as we could have had.

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It has been awhile since I've posted, but the time in between has been great in terms of gaming. In particular, I wanted to share the gaming experience that was Strategicon LA (Gateway) over Labor Day. This was only my second full con experience but I planned well for it and in the end it really paid off. Me and my friend Mike arrived in the early afternoon on Friday after an uneventful drive in. We really were not signed up for any games yet because we missed the internet window and everything I had an interest in was full. After meeting up with our local friends who were already there and gaming, I got the info that the sign up books had not been out anyway that day. After finding these books, I discovered open slots in every game I wanted to play. There were so many interesting choices but only so much time, so I had to choose. Our schedule and my experience:
Friday night- A Star Wars RPG game based on the Smallville rules set. 'Treasure of Hoth" was a very enjoyable 4 hours of scene based roleplay and character interaction. I really enjoyed this one and hoped every game was going to be this good. In the end, the "Treasure" decided that the temptation of the Dark side was far more entertaining and fryed the padawon with lightning.
Saturday morning- Historical minis, skip-bombing mission in the Pacific against a convoy of Japanese supply ships, using the "Check Your 6!" rules set. The guys who were running this did a great job preparing and explaining the rules to 4 of us who have never played this type of game before. Had a difficult time lining up my bombing runs initially but in the end (we really had to rush to finish up) I accounted for a destroyer and maimed a supply ship. This is one game I hope we can play from time-to-time here locally. A lot of fun.
Saturday Afternoon-Rushing from Check Your 6 back downstairs, we were next playing Houses of the Blooded of which I had heard many great things. Perhaps it was my choice of character, the group dynamic, or something else about the game, but this was the weakest of my experiences all weekend long. I was very entertained by my friend Anthony and a few of the other players at the table, who I admit are clearly better at this sort of thing than I am, but I found the theatrical/dramatic stuff going on to be too much for even a roleplaying dork like myself. Note to self- fighting based characters with no social skills are boring in these games.
Saturday Evening-Whats going to save me from the bore that is nobility quibbling over some throne? Zombie smashin! Alpha Omega is a game Ive never played or even heard of. my initial idea of the game was going to be an elite team with badass weaponry nuking tons of undying bodies. But once the game got underway I quickly realized this mission was something else entirely. I actually had a blast, and the group dynamic was really interesting and funny. The DM had 2 friends who were sitting in and playing NPCs that we encountered at different times during the mission. There were also 2 other guys in our party who I didnt know who were funny simply because of the ridiculous decisions they made (splitting away from the group and knowingly inviting danger in a zombie infested town= guaranteed death). In the end my character died a heroic death braining the assholes that ambushed us in the first place. I liked this rules set, also thought the books were very pretty. If I had more disposable cash I would pick them up.
Sunday Morning- Our initial fallback plan waas that if we coudnt get into anything else we would play some LFR. "Gathering Storm" was an ok module compared to others Ive played. The DM was pretty good, especially at the storytelling and moving the game along aspects. In the encounters though she could have done a lot more. Maps were confusing squigles of color, creatres were represented by hilariously incorrect models, and she was inconsistent in her targetting of PCs. She had a rule against killing anybody, yet she would focus fire against some of the softest characters, and actually wound up killing me. Given all that though it really wasnt so bad.
It was a great weekend overall with a chance to hang out with some of my best friends and enjoy some new games. My next post will include a few pics and some details about the 2 awesome meals I had while in Cali.

It is done at last!

Finally finished the last of the commission work I started for a friend oh so long ago- I hope it was worth the wait!

40k Again?

After all this time, I finally get the chance to play some 40k again. Me and a friend played two games over the course of an afternoon, 1 at 750 pts and the second at 1500. It was a blast and although I suffered from a lack of both tactics and dice luck, I felt that the blood pact at least made for an fun game for my opponent. The first 750 game was intended as a chance to warm up and get to know the rules again. As I read the rules, but never got a chance to play, I was surprised at how my brain kept thinking of stuff from previous editions that were no longer valid. It was a good game, and close all the way through. I lost by one objective, and realized that I could have pulled out a draw had I been smarter in the last turn (go to ground!). Game 2 turned out to be quite a disappiontment for me, as my dice all but abandoned me. 3 turns of vicious shooting by my side managed to immobilize a dread and blow a rhino up, after it had managed to dump it's cargo of CSM of course. I was depressed and annoyed at my ineffective shooting, but in the end actually managed to kill 2 squads of marines and the lord. The death of the lord was interesting. He sawed through an entire squad single handedly with his khorne demon weapon, then in the next bout of fighting rolled a 1 on his attack dice and was finished off by my guard. Had it not gone that way he would have munched my entire back field to shreds. Technically the game was a draw, called on account of the late hour. It would have proven to be a good game had we finished. Some thoughts on the newest ig codex: orders are ok. Vox pretty much sucks ass now. WTF didn't gw allow the vox to extend the range of orders instead of just allow a crappy re-roll? Leman Russ running as vehicle squads isn't great. I hope I get to play again soon. Some random bad photos with my camera phone (couldnt find my camera.... :( )

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Rhio, the newest member of the 4e Fallen Empire team. He can dish out some DPR...



LFR Goliath (converted Reaper Half-giant model)with Mordenkrad (battle cleric?). The hammer head is interchangable with a massive axe head that makes him a perfect Barbarian.





Upper left: The last 5 terminator models. Deathwing will become Deathwatch!
Last 2: Librarian special paint- the Vallejo really makes the colors pop. Loving the inks for adding so much depth to the highlights.

This Blog is not dead yet....

No- it really isn't! So what if it's been a few months? I've gotten some stuff done. Oh yes, and no trace of any MMO or pseudo-MMO *cough-Dragonage-cough* to distract me from the better games in life. Face-to-face games. The worst part is deciding where to put my energy. Years ago the division in attention could be attributed to the fickle Winds of Gaming Flavor and what was blowing on a particular month. Now, as the gaming group is very small, it is trying to figure out what we might actually play in the forseeable future. 4E Dnd seems the solid choice at this point, and I really enjoy working on individual models as opposed to whole units and armies- the short-term gratification is so much better. Warmachine or 40k are the only other games that even appear to be on the radar. Luckily Ive had works in progress for both games for a long time now...

Left: Blood Pact traitor guard HQ (counts-as Iron Hand Straken- the stat block is perfect!)
Right: 3 Snipers and my 2 demo charge carrying Death Brigade models (from last post)


Left: Heavy weapon teams (also from prev post)
Right: One of the LFR Half-orc models (green skin-tone variant)


Left: Close up of LFR Half-Orc #2 (Brown skin varient)
Right: Both Half Orcs- which color do you like more?

Post holiday mini fun

It finally seems to be slowing down a bit after the holiday chaos that consumes 2 or so months of the year. One of my wife's gifts to me was the newest IG codex (sucker! :) ), tossing the match onto the gas puddle that is me excited about tabletop gaming again. I was happy to see that the changes did not mean me having to run out and buy 50 or 100 bucks worth of new models, but it did highlight a few gaps in my list that needed help. The biggest change will be adding a unit of heavy weapons teams equipped with missile launchers, and swap the useless mortar in one squad with a lacannon. I was also excited to see my Death Brigade can come back to the table with the fun yet slightly suicidal demo charge. I was also able to convert up a gift to a friend, a LFR half-orc fighter. The LOR blister had two models, so he will get to use whichever is his favorite.