Epic Baldur and firiends

Inspired by finishing Megalith I worked on Epic Baldur late last night after work and study. Here are the results. I also got a Wold wyrd done during the day and finished a druid. I say "finished" the druid because when I bought him from my friend Charles of Da Momma Boyz many of the druids had been started. 

I think Ebaldur may be my favorite figure I have painted to date.

Megalith

This is straight off the painting table. This actually took a look more work than it looks like. To repose the arms out of their "Y" in the YMCA (as Jeff called it) you have to sculpt parts of the shoulders and glue things where they should not be glued. at any rate his proximal humerous was sculpted by me. I also extended the branches so I could add the foliage to his back.

Dropzone commander Rulebook review long overdue

Have been reading 6^th edition 40k and figuring out how to play Tau in this edition. Also I have been painting fire warriors and few Cygnar models. I hope to have the Tau done soon after returning back to Madison.

I also purchased the rulebook to Dropzone Commander and have a lengthy review below.

Dropzone Commander Review

                I will start this review by saying I have not yet played a single game of Dropzone Commander, but I have had the rulebook for nearly a week and have thoroughly read the rules and army lists. First off I will start with the very few negative aspects of the book. There are a few typos in the book. This is to be expected in the first edition, especially when the book was produced with a single author. Also there are a few confusing point costs, especially among the light drop ships. For each of these, two point values are listed, but it is not made clear which version costs which point amount. I believe the light dropshop that carries troops is the more expensive. Also the Scourage have the ability to upgrade their infantry but the point cost for doing this is listed as “X”. The only other detractor in the game is the Energy to Armor table which could have been made clearer. As it is, if the E of the weapon is equal to the A of the vehicle is requires a roll of a 5+ to damage it.  The Armor values simply could have been raised such that you roll a die and the E value of the weapon if it beat the armor a point it done. These are the only bad portions of the game and honestly if these are the only complaints for the first edition of a game, it is well written.

                                The background to this game is highly original. While each of the races are similar to those in other games, the combination of these races and interactions between them seems realistic and logical. Each of the races is interesting enough to warrant playing them. The first race in the game is the United Colonies of Mankind(UCM). These are the remains of the human race flung to the outskirts of space after losing Earth and its close colonies to the Scourge invaders. The Shal’tari while are very similar to the eldar, but attempts to manipulate the other races makes them interesting. The Scourge are essentially the puppet masters of Heinlein and the borg put together. They are parasites which constantly need new hosts. The Scourge conquered earth 150 years ago, but have not located the UCM colonies. The final race in the game is the Post Human Republic. These humans are the descendants of humans who headed the warning of a mysterious white sphere that landed on Earth. This sphere predicted the attack of the Scourge and those who escaped with it have adopted cybernetic technology. They like the UCM have been building a military in the 150 year since the Scourge invasion.

                The game uses d6’s and all measurements are made in inches. The recommended board size is 4’x4’ for most games and seems like it would take much less time to play than 40k or large games of warmachine. The scale of the game is 10mm, but from the photos in the book the detail looks like good. The book is softback and full color and all of the photos are of the figures  and full color.

The rules are interesting a simple, but allow for more complex game play as special rules are given to the individual armies and units within them. There are two major breaks from traditional miniature games. The first is that players rarely deploy their forces before the game. Most units within most scenarios fly unto the board within drop ships. While players do have the option to not provide transport for their units, given the slow movement of most units, this would prove an unwise decision in most scenarios. The second aspect is alternating unit activation. While this is not a new idea, the Spartan games have made use of this and others, alternating activation along, lack of static deployment, and objective based scenarios, should make for a new and unique gaming experience.

                Included in the book are 12 scenarios which are mostly objective based. Each of the 12 scenarios features a small variant option making a total of 24 different battles to play. The focus in most the scenarios is getting infantry into building and then finding and taking the objective off the board. In many of the scenarios objectives is not a location but instead an item or person. Therefore they can be taken from the building.  There are other objective such as focal points, which are similar to 40k objectives and most be held by keeping units nearby.

                Army building is point based along with a slightly complicated force organization chart (FOC). The FOC requires that a mix of infantry and vehicles be taken. This forces variety in armies, however, is not a problem as it is expected that only mixed unit armies would be successful in the game. Infantry is required to enter buildings and take objectives, but tanks are much more deadly than infantry. The only close combat that occurs in the game takes place in building between infantry. The building close quarters fighting is swift and brutal. This phase is also the portion of the game that can require more than 10 d6’s.

                The individual armies play quite differently. The United Colonies of Mankind and Post Human Republic are somewhat similar, but the PHR and much more elite. The scourge plays very differently from the other races as they are much faster, only reliably fire at close range, and have several units that must be in base to base to fight (a rare range in Dropzone Commander). The Shal’tari, instead of having traditional drop ships has gates. This allows them to move between two gates on the battlefield. The Shal’tari do not have to assign which units on are which ships. As mentioned previously units are very slow and drop ships seem to be essential for battlefield mobility.

                In closing, this game promises original game play which I look forward to trying out. More to come on the models and individual card decks as I see them.

                

Well I have thumbed through my copy of Warhammer 6th edition and I must say I think this is the best edition yet. The rules have been solidified and frankly make a lot of sense. Here is my 1500pt tau list I intend to try first....


tau  1500 (1498pts)
1500pt Tau Empire 4th Ed (2006) Roster (Standard)

Selections:

* HQ (120pts)

    * Commander (120pts)
        Hard-Wired Blacksun Filter , Missile Pod , Multi-Tracker, Plasma Rifle, Shas'el, Stimulant Injector
        * Hard-Wired Drone Controller
            2x Gun Drone

* Elites (392pts)

    * Stealth Team (173pts)
        4x Burst Cannon
        * Shas'ui
            * Drone Controller
                Gun Drone
        * Shas'ui
            * Drone Controller
                Gun Drone
        * Shas'ui
            * Drone Controller
                Gun Drone
        * Shas'ui
            * Drone Controller
                Gun Drone
        * Team Leader
            Bonding Knife, Hard-Wired Blacksun Filter

    * XV8 'Crisis' Battlesuit Team (219pts)
        * Shas'ui
            Missile Pod, Multi-Tracker, Plasma Rifle
        * Shas'ui 
            Missile Pod, Multi-Tracker, Plasma Rifle
        * Shas'ui 
            Missile Pod, Multi-Tracker, Plasma Rifle
        * Team Leader (33pts)
            Bonding Knife, Hard-Wired Blacksun Filter
            * Hard-Wired Drone Controller
                2x Gun Drone

* Troops (571pts)

    * Fire Warrior Team (138pts)
        12x Pulse Rifle, 12x Shas'la
        * Shas'ui
            Bonding Knife, Hard-Wired Blacksun Filter

    * Fire Warrior Team (223pts)
        12x Pulse Rifle, 12x Shas'la
        * Devilfish
            Disruption Pod, Gun Drones
        * Shas'ui
            Bonding Knife, Hard-Wired Blacksun Filter

    * Kroot Carnivore Squad (210pts)
        12x Kroot , 3x Krootox Rider
        * Shaper
            Kroot Rifle

* Fast Attack (65pts)

    * Piranha Light Skimmer Team (65pts)
        * Piranha
            Burst Cannon, Disruption Pod

* Heavy Support (350pts)

    * Hammerhead Gunship (170pts)
        Blacksun Filter , Disruption Pod, Multi-Tracker, Railgun, Two Burst Cannons

    * Hammerhead Gunship (180pts)
        Blacksun Filter, Disruption Pod , Multi-Tracker, Railgun, Smart Missile System

I lost like a chump

It was a good time and the tourney despite the fact that I had a super allergy attack that day and could hardly stand. I did manage to roll some dice and play some folk (all of whom were good opponents). End story I got destroyed . I had a list designed to take on power armor and not a single suit was fielded against me. Nids the first round, which I got 8-19 VPs. This one I blame on my termies missing all but one close combat attack they made. Then a great game against a shooty ork horde. This one Coteaz and crew after taking 3 out of 11 members of the unit as casualties rolled box cars for leadership (they needed =10 or under) and box cars to run of the board. Those were very effective stray ork bullets... so I lost 3-6 kill points giving me only 5 points for that match. The finally game was also against a shorty ork horde. This one had a nob bike squad that I charged with my close combat crusader unit. In an allergy fueled moment I forgot hammer hand rolled a 1 for the psycotroke grenades and failed to do a single wound despite 26 power weapon attacks.... yup that was the end of that game.....

At any rate I decided my ego could not take playing the "power gaming" army and losing like a chump. So the grey knights were a great painting lesson but appear to be going out the door. I just won a bid on a tau army... unpainted via the ebay seen here

Also I am going with option 3 below

http://penny-arcade.com/comic/2011/02/14

Cheers!

Grey Knights Done...

Inquisition (Grey Knight) army painted to 2000 points

This is my second painted 2000 point army in a year. I made a display board as I am taking 1600 points of it to a tournament this Saturday. Here are the pictures.... more to come on the outcome of the tournament later....
I have some more figures to add but not for a long while.

Big post coming...

The Grey Knights are literally 2.5 figures away from being done..... They are going to tourney this weekend details on the army before, tourney results after...

Justin