Kastelan Robot pressganged into service of the Pilgryms of Erudition.  Designation unknown. 

I've been spending more of my time on Instagram lately for my social media needs. I've been fixated on improving my painting skills, rather than writing or playing the game, and I've found that the simple act of taking photos and looking at the model not under my desk lamp has really helped my technique. Also, the feedback from painters of all skill levels has been very helpful and is pushing me to improve my craft. Also, while airbrushing is a great skill, Darren Latham and Duncan Rhodes are my current luminary idols. Latham especially is fantastic at breaking down some steps and his delivery is hypnotic. That being said, here's a recent photo dump of some recent and ancient models in my "portfolio." Is there an app that can cross post directly from Instagram to Blogger? The Captain of my Astral Claws army, the Bastards of Badab, who usually strolls behind my vehicle line. The Lieutenant of my Astral Claws army, the Bastards of Badab. He is moc...

Guess who has tickets to the 2019 LVO? This guy! When I went two years ago I got super sick (it was so bad that I was reported to the CDC for my illness) but still had one of the best times playing mini games ever. I even got to meet Lawrence from Tabletop Tactics, Aceface, and the Warhammer TV gang. It was epic. Now, I need to decide what army to bring. 1. Old hammer Flesh Tearers. 2. Ad Mech Mars army. 3. Imperial Soup with Raven Guard, AM, Ad Mech. 4. Dark Elder 5. Salamander I think my Flesh Tearers would get a lot of notice as a fun, old army, but I don't think they are that competitive. The Imperial Soup list is pretty competitive (in the current meta) but might not do well against a top tier Knights list. I feel like a teenager trying to decide what to wear to prom.

I'm busy building out my Salamanders/IG force for some upcoming tournaments and I start second guessing my build and daydream about retooling my Admech. I did a quick Google search for some color schemes for a Mars/Stygies combined force and I found Spikey Bit's photos of my army from the LVO a couple of years ago! Pilgrims of Erudition Spoiler alert: they didn't do well, but I did have fun playing them!

Since the new Adeptus Mechanicus codex has been released, I think I've only won a couple of games. I recently played my buddy Ryan against his Astra Militarum and Lamenters force and was thumped fairly soundly. I went first, I had Cawl leading my men from Mars, and seemingly had the deck stacked in my favor, but I think I killed one Primarius Lieutenant and about six IG guardsmen. Ryan's cannons sounded my troops crumbled. Gun line versus gun line, I did not do well. Yar. Maybe because I still haven't finished painting my robots?

I'm more than excited for the new Ad Mech err... Adeptus Mechanicus codex coming out soon. For the first time in the two decades that I've been miniature gaming, I snagged one of the limited edition codexes from Games Workshop. I was never to grab either of the White Scar or Salamander limited edition codexes for 6th and 7th edition and I actually yelled, "Yes!" when I saw that GW had some of the Omnisiah editions still available. I also picked up a box of Kastelan Robots to bolster my forces. Since I built my ad mech (the Pilgrims of Erudition) around the War Host Convocation, I never picked up the 50s-style robots from space. I know a lot of people don't like the design, but I really dig them... The amount of fire power that two models can dish out with the proper protocols is amazing and I may add two more to my forces. This afternoon I started putting them together when I ran into one of the more unusual pieces that GW has crafted... This tiny piece (...

My Adeptus Mechanicus Tech Preist Dominus conversion is almost ready. I wanted to build M.O.D.O.K. (Mechanized Organism Designed Only for Killing) from Marvel Comics because he's one of my favorite villains. Tinkering around with some bits I had, I eventually transformed the idea into more of a dark mechanicum tech priest with tentacles in a dreadnought hull. I've got him almost ready for the LVO; just some cleanup and deepening of shadows. Let me know what you think!

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...

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.

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...

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… ...

This holiday weekend, I managed to wrap up a couple of minis from a new army - and a repainted army. First, here are my Destroyers for my Cult Mechanicus. I've armed them with grave canons and cognis flamers. Next is their boss, a Tech Priest Domnius. I really love both of these models, as-well-as the entire Mechcanius line. I may pick up a second Dominus so I can feature both of their heads. I call this one, "Space Pope 13." My buddy Kraig and I have been talking a lot about the Horus Heresy line. We've never actually played a game from 30k, we just use our models in regular 40k. I've got about $600 worth of heresy marines primed light blue and ready to be finished as Alpha Legion, but as Kraig and I chatted, we both solidified our love for a few other legions. With the Heresy board game being released, it gave Kraig a chance to pick up a Legion army on the cheap (I bought a few of his extras from him) and we decided to start working on a...

As I have mentioned before, I have army ADD. I see new and shiny things and I run to the ATM and place orders at my local comic and game shop. My next obsession is AdMech with the Adeptus Mechanicus and their very powerful War Convocation formation. For the current Warhammer 40k league I’m playing in, I painted up my three Imperial Knights from AdMech loyalist houses (pics coming soon.) I picked up the Skitarii and Cult Mechanicus codexes so that I could fill out my remaining points with some more troops from Mars. At first, I was going to just add some inexpensive Skitarii Vanguard to help hold some objectives. However, after reading some more from the Cult Mechanicus list, I fell in love with the Kataphron Destroyers with their relentless grav-cannons. They lack the nifty model design of the Skitarii, but their firepower is so over-the-top that they make a very attractive option. After a little more research, I found the Adeptus Mechanicus War Convocation formation i...