I'm a bit stumped on which warlord trait table I should roll on for my tech priest Dominus in my AdMech Mechanicus War Convocation. Normally, for most of my armies, I take a roll (or two) on the Strategic table out of the Basic Rule Book. After a couple of games recently where the warlord trait played no part in the battle, I'm a little undecided on which table I should roll on. Usually, I keep a couple of units in reserve so I try to land Strategic Genus or Master of Ambush to help get the jump on my opponents but with my Cult Mechanicus and Skitarri, I don't keep much in reserve and I don't want to get most my units that close to the enemy... That leaves Night Attacker which doesn't do much against most armies, because I can already take ShroudPsalm. Conqueror of Cities is moot because of Dunestrider, and Princeps of Deceit is usually worthless because most things are either immune to pinning, mounted on bikes, or ride in vehicles in the first turn. That l...

As I've mentioned before, I'm not just a mini wargamer, but I'm an avid comic book fan as well. While I don't write a comic book blog, it feels like I should write a post on miniature-based comic books when I find them. However, I want to stress that I am not just a comic book fan. I'm a comic book fanatic. I've made comic books. I've written comic books. I co-own a comic book store. My 5,000+ book collection takes up a second bedroom in my home. I proposed to wife in a comic book. I'm friends with other comic creators. What I'm trying to say here is that I know comics inside and out and I can be quite a comic book snob.  This is my grain-of-salt warning. London based Titan Comics has been publishing comic books based on licensed properties like television shows (Doctor Who,) video games (Assassin's Creed,) and other comic properties (2000AD) for almost 40 years. In October, they released the first issue of "Warhammer 40,000...

I'm working on a new Magus for my Cult Mechanicus/Ad Mech/Mechanicum. After reading more of the Black Library fluff, it's obvious the Mechanicum/Machanicus are some twisted folks. While I didn't want to make my Magos "dark" mechanium, I think there is a lot of opportunity for conversions to make each Ad Mech army unique and I want my general to stand out. One of my favorite comic book villains is MODOK. A giant head floating on a cyborg body with mental powers and traditional weapons built into his "golden throne." I couldn't figure out how to make a knock-off model out of GW bits, but it did give me a jumping off point by inspiring me to use the dreadnought hull as a body.

Ol' Games Workshop has been doing well in the, "fan service" department. Rumors say we'll get two new armies in December (or shortly thereafter), Imperial Agents and Chaos Traitor Legions. I suspect that the Imperial Agents book will be more of a revision/combination book for the few digital only and outdated codexes - Assassins, Inquisitors, and Sisters. I'm sure they'll add in the Sisters of Silence from the recent Burning of Prospero board game, and I wouldn't be surprised to see Militarum Tempestus, Astra Militarum, Grey Knights, or regular Marines units to make a full army. For the Chaos Codex, I can only assume that we'll see rules like the Space Marine chapters. The Black Legion will be the generic Ultramarines style army that's flexible enough that most current Chaos armies can play. Death Guard, Emperor's Children, World Eaters, and Thousand Sons will probably have some of the best rules/tactics/formations because they already ...

Whoa, Games Workshop has released their new FAQ for Warhammer 40k! A lot of the changes were based on community feedback and they even gave credit to Frontline Gaming/operators of the Las Vegas Open for their help. Link to changes on GW's site. My favorite FAQ? Witchfire psychic powers without a profile, like Psychic Shriek, don't need to roll to hit. Invisibility? You can't hide from being yelled at. Also, Battle Brothers can NOT deploy in each other's dedicated transports. No more drop pod rideshare for Ad Mech. Let's hope that drop pods get a little more expensive or Rhinos get cheaper. If the rumors are true, 8th edition is just around the corner, so I imagine most of these will apply to that edition as well.

When I paint, I like to watch battle reports on Youtube. When I work out on a treadmill, I watch battle reports. Sometimes, I just sit and watch battle reports. Even when I'm not actually watching batreps and they are playing in the background, I can pick up some helpful tips and rules, especially for armies that I don't own. These are valuable resources that have boosted my game play and certainly help fuel my enthusiasm for playing just as much as reading a Black Library novel or entering a painting competition. It was a really good week for batreps for me because most of my favorite channels posted videos! Here are my favorites: Winters SEO: If Winters had a pay to play channel, I'd pay. I love his fluffy, narrative-story driven format. I also love his little sayings like, "Take a bite of the apple" and his love of the game is second to none. I think of all of the players I watch online, I would love to play Winters the most. His channel is at the top o...

There are more games than Warhammer 40k? Yes. Yes, there are.  Today I re-read the Age of Sigmar rules. I have still yet to play a game though. Part of the problem is the lack of interest in my neck of the woods. Part of the problem is the simplicity of the rules and I can't wash previous edition of the fluff and rules out of my mouth. That's on me and I know it... but I'm just not excited by it. I have, like six old fantasy armies. I really should try to drum up a game and give it a spin. I also picked up a box of Infinity models. I began reading the rules and it seems pretty straight forward, but man, there are a lot of unit specific rules. Plus, tokens. I dislike games with tokens... Necromunda is the only system that I really give a pass to but other games that require cards or chits, or model specific tokens, I'm usually unlikely to give it a try. However, I really like a lot of the Infinity models and I had a hard time picking a faction, so I went t...

Do you know what's hard? Painting 6 Heldrakes for a major ITC event in a few weeks is hard. I had no idea how hard it is to paint a heldrake, let alone 6, but I'm giving a go. As you can see in the picture, I've got all my space dragons clipped, sanded, primed and now I have black to red gradients painted on all of the parts that need the coverage. Now, I've begun the arduous task of hitting all of the "veins" and edges of the dragons. Luckily, Leadbelcher is a base color from Citadel and I can usually get one coat coverage. I may not have time to edge highlight... At present, I have one model done and awaiting magnets, one model nearly done - but has the wings magnetized, and the rest are sitting in boxes waiting for their first coat of silver. It's taking me about 7-10 hours per heldrake just to paint the silver. Oy. After I get all of the silver painted, I plan on adding a black oil wash and then air brushing some energy spots on the balefla...

Guess who cashed in some frequent flyer miles for airfare, booked a hotel room, and bought tickets to the Las Vegas Open Warhammer 40k Championship Tournament? I couldn't be more excited! Now, to fine tune my army. Here's what I'm considering taking. 1. My Salamanders. Flame Strike formation with a First Company Task Force. In the First Company Task Force, I'm packing three Sternguard units with double heavy flamers (that are S6) and putting them in drop pods. Vulkan is my warlord and giving preferred enemy to all of the other units packing meltas and multimeltas. This list is solid all around and is great against Chaos Daemons but may fall to heavy shooting like Eldar or Tau. I also have to paint about 30 more Sallies. 2. My Astral Claws. This list features lots of bikes, a Centurion Devastator squad with boatloads of grav, a Skyhammer Assault Formation, and using the Ultramarines Chapter tactics. This is actually my first pick and I think it's the strongest ...

Recently, on a tip from somewhere on the internet, I bought some pine tree bark to use as rocks in model terrain and basing. I picked up some trees from Michael's and a few wooden oval cutout to act as bases, and started gluing. I have to say, I'm really pleased with how pine bark looks. Even without painting, the bark really looks like layers of natural rock. You can see in the photos that a couple of layers of brown and grey make for some nice additions to some sparse tree patches.

I've always been a big fan of painting models exactly like codex, army book, fluff, and/or real life historical markings and schemes. I've also been a big fan of, "they're your dolls, painting 'em however you want." The third choice, however, it to paint them like something else. I've thought long and hard about painting a Cadian Imperial Guard army up like GI Joe and Cobra. The Cobra half would be a blob squad with a couple of characters like Destro, Cobra Commander, and the Baroness. The Joe half would be veteran squads with heavily converted models to make up all of the "good guys." Duke, Flint, Gung Ho, Snake Eyes, and Beachhead were my favorites. Tunnel Rat too. I've seen a couple of others before, but I really like the look of this guy's Cobra army: Cobra Themed GI Joe - Imperial Guard Army Other cool models I've seen have been the Gundam Tau: A whole bunch of Avengers:

I had this thought the other day as I was working on an army list. What if Detachments and Formations were developed as a deliberate attempt to sabotage "net lists?" After Games Workshop shut down their own tournament series, lots of armies were built the same way because the independent tourneys published the winning lists online for everyone to mimic. The proliferation of Formations and all of the new codex specific Detachments could be the way Nottingham has decided to guide players into building lists that are a bit more fluffy and in character. Of course, the cynic in me says it could also just be a simple sales technique to sell more vehicles and models that are slow movers. Either way, I love the bonuses of the Salamander Flame Strike formation, but I don't really want to take a devastator squad. At least the current rules don't force me to arm them with any actual heavy weapons...

Today I played in a 1,500 point Rogue Trader style tournament and did very well. I brought my "Bastards of Badab" Astral Claws army and came in second by getting the most victory points. I brought a Space Marine biker CAD, a Librarius Conclave all rolling on Telepathy, and a Sky Hammer Annihilation Force with 3 grav and multimeltas in the devastator squads. I switched from White Scars chapter tactics to Ultramarines recently and I'm glad I did. The doctrines, even though I only get to use each one once in this build, have been a big help because I don't need to put librarians with divination nearby. If this had been a larger point game, I would have brought devastator centurions and because of the Ultramarines Chapter Tactics, I don't need to sink a lot of points into Tigurius. The conclave on bikes usually means that I can throw some sort of protection on the CentsDevs. In my first battle, I played Eli and his Khorn Daemonkin. It was Vanguard deployment...

One of the many side projects is building a 40k Old Hammer list. I think a Space Marine was among the first minis I ever painted and of course I painted him just like the blue armor and white helmeted chaps on the box. I still had a handful of the old Rouge Trader models sitting around collecting dust but I recently started assembling an army in earnest about the time the Horus Heresy models from Forge World were released. My plan was to build a real Heresy army out of RT models and I've finally started that ball rolling with these classic minis. I've got about 2,000 points lined up to build my Ultramarines, complete with Tac squads in rhinos, termies, a librarius conclave, and a land raider. I can almost field a Gladius Strike Force...

Citadel Hobby Clippers If you're a hobby addict like I am, or if you have army ADHD like I do, you tend to spend a lot of time chopping, clipping, or gnawing bits of toy soldiers off of grey plastic sprues. When I first started playing miniature games, most models came in blister packs and you needed needle-nose pliers to bend foot tabs so they would stay in slotta bases. Sure, plastic models were available but if you bought them, you probably cut them off the sprues with an X-Acto knife. About the mid-90s I picked up my first pair of Citadel clippers and they have been faithfully freeing models from their plastic prisons for many years but they have become so dull that I was no longer getting clean cuts. So, I decided to splurge and buy a new pair of Citadel Fine Detail Clippers - which retail for $33 USD. Holly surgical chainsaw, Batman! Do you remember that first time you held an X-Acto knife in your hands? Do you remember feeling like you could cut through a car door b...

A couple of weekends back, the wife and I made the trek to Omaha, Nebraska for the Bugeater Great Tournament. I've been to a few tournaments in Omaha before (Bellevue, actually) but this was my first Bugeater. After my last GT, I wanted to change things up and bring a more competitive list, at least what I thought was be more competitive. I brought 3 knights, a batch of Eldar scatter bikes, and a Culexus assassin. The knight's Baronial Court is a nice formation, the Eldar jetbikes put out a ton of firepower and move well, and the Culexus was there for the librarian/daemon shenanigans. Good on paper. My first round was against a fluffy Tzeentch Chaos Daemon army without Fateweaver. My dice were cold, ice cold but I managed to squeak out a victory. I probably would have lost in turn 5 and 6, but turn 7 left me with the win. My next game was almost a mirror match- 3 Imperial Knights and some IG backup. I started off hot and blew up his home-made shield generator. For some...

This past weekend I made my way to the Midwest ConQuesT GT in Kansas City.   It was a bit of a last minute decision and I didn’t really have an optimized army built for what you might typically expect at an ITC GT but I had three options. First I considered my White Scars (which I’ve recently re-painted as Astral Claws – more on that in another post) but they failed me at a recent local tournament after facing ‘Nids and a scouting Eldar list and I moth-balled them for the time being. Next I was thinking about bringing my Admech War Host Convocation with two Imperial Knights. To be honest, I haven’t really enjoyed playing the Admech very much but they can be a force to be reckoned with a favorable matchup. Lastly, I considered and ultimately chose my Grey Knights. Here’s roughly what I brought: Grey Knight CAD: Librarian -   Level 3, Cuirass of Sacrifice 10 Termies, Daemon Hammer, Psycannon, Halberd 10 Strike Squad, Daemon Hammer, incinerator, Halberd ...

Games Workshop has recently dipped back into social media and community outreach after several years of going silent and have launched several new pages pages on Facebook, including their  Warhammer 40k page. This is a big deal. One of the most talked about posts is their call to fans to submit questions for a future FAQ. Among smart-ass jokes, snarky comments, and other general whining, there are some genuine rules questions that players have been struggling to get a clear ruling. ITC has their own interpretations and rulings that most gamers have accepted but getting answers straight from high command will be a positive step forward in both connecting with the gaming community and building a better game. Personally, I'd like to see some rulings on scouting fortifications, Iron Hands vehicles and chapter tactics, Independent Characters joining formations, and scouting units and their transports with the Strategic Warlord Trait. I know there's always going to be codex c...

Forge World is holding a contest to win one of four titans! To enter, you have to spend £100 (about $150 USD) and write an essay naming your new titan in 400 words or less. A panel of judges will pick the four best stories and the winners will receive one of the following: a warhound, a reaver, or a warlord titan. Since I bought my wife an engagement ring and two wedding bands, I almost had her convinced to buy me a Reaver titan in return. I told her it would be an invincible symbol of our love that would shield us from our enemies and everyone would be able to witness our unbeatable bond. She didn't buy it. Admittedly, I've been tempted to buy a warhound recently. I wouldn't play with it very often but it's possible to field it in the local tourneys, and there's a certain amount of prestige that comes with owning such a cool model. Of course, I would love to own any of the other titans but they are just so expensive that it's out of my gaming budget. I could s...

My buddy Gabe, commissioned me to paint up an Imperial Knight in the style of Legend of the Five Rings Dragon Clan style. Here's what I've done: The lighting is a little harsh, but I think you can make out the shading on the green. I originally tried painting scales using an airbrush and a piece of mesh, but it didn't really look good. I may have used too much paint, but I'm pretty pleased with how this turned out. Gabe put him to good use as an ally for his Grey Knights in the last league at our FLGS and has decided to build a full Knight army. He's hired another local gamer to paint another Knight in another L5R clan and has asked me to paint his third Knight in the Crane clan colors.

With my army A.D.D., I’m constantly dreaming up of new paint schemes and army theme ideas. Space Marines and Imperial Guard (nay Astra Militarum) are the usual suspects to be converted to some sort of idea that I’ve dreamed up like GI Joe, Star Trek, comic book characters, cartoon characters, 1950s style space heroes etc. Every time I’m picking up the brush, I’m daydreaming about yet another scheme I can paint for another army. Bolter and Chainsword has a handy tool to help flush out some ideas and paint schemes so I have to actually paint up a test mini and then strip it when it doesn’t work out. Imperial Guard Painter at Bolter and Chainsword Space Marine Painter at Bolter and Chainsword This doesn’t help with any conversions, but it does help visualize how some paint colors will look on a model.   I wish they had a Dark Eldar version because I’d like to try out a “Joker” themed list and I could use some visualization help. Purple bodies, white skin, green hair… ...