A Hilariously Ignorant Review of Space Marine

Have a read and get in on the nerd rage!

You'll note that he's updated it (addressing the torrent of nerd rage) and the update is longer than the original article.  I think what he was trying to say is that gameplay elements are similar to Gears of War, but even in his correction he still insinuates that Warhammer is ripped from Gears.

Frankly this guy doesn't know what he's talking about, it's further evident when he says Harvest Moon debuted in 2005.  It came out on the DS in 2005 but the franchise is far older than that.  I remember playing it in 1999 on the 64 and according to a two-second Google search it first came out in 1996.

On another note, people in the comments should avoid the ad hominems.  Let's be a good example of our community and stick to refuting his inaccurate assumptions.

Caution When Assembling the GK Termies

As I mentioned before, I got to build the GK Terminator/Paladin set for my LGS.  I finished them up this afternoon and here are some warnings and notes on assembling them.

First off, the instructions are flat-out wrong on several cases.  The instructions tell you certain torsos go with certain legs but they're wrong.  The fiddly bits on the front of the torso such as purity seals, chains and bones get in the way on certain pairings.  Furthermore at least one of the arms doesn't fit properly on the body at all with the shoulder pad and Storm Bolter.  You should glue all the torsos together front to back, then test each one individually with the legs to see which go best together.

Also, be sure to dry fit!  It will help you make sure your arms are glued properly if you know which ones fit where and in which poses.  GW's figures are getting more and more complicated (which is good aesthetically) but it makes modeling a bit more difficult.  Always dry fit before gluing.

Also you're allowed to take two heavy weapons per 5 guys but the kit only has one heavy weapon arm (I'm pretty sure it didn't anyway, now that I returned the leftover sprues I realize I didn't really look through the extra arms, but I'm fairly confident that there's only one).  It would be very easy to convert a second out of a leftover Storm Bolter arm, but it's kind of annoying that you have to do so.

Now for the good.  There are a ton of options.  I believe that every single close combat option is on the sprues (yes, there are 5 pairs of Falchions).  There are also a ton of leftover bits.  If you're creative you could probably get another box of regular Terminators and convert them up into GKs (you'd be short shoulderpads but there's enough leftover heads, weapons and tilting shields to make up for it).

Also, these kits are packed with detail.  You will be very busy painting these guys.

Building the GK Paladin/Terminator Kit

So in addition to the Dreadknight, I get to build the GK Terminator/Paladins.  I'm going to be building them all differently for proper wound allocation shenanigans, but I just wanted to show you all how much stuff comes on the sprue.  These sprues are packed with bits, and every item is covered in detail.  Remember a while back when Space Hulk came out and we were all blown away with the level of detail and character on each Terminator?  It seems like the GK kits are the scions of that style.  I'm going to start building them tomorrow, here's what I'm thinking:

1 Apothecary
1 with Psycannon
1 with Incinerator
1 with Force Stave
1 with Banner

I really want to use the Falchions though, so if anyone can make a better suggestion for me on how to build them that would be appreciated.  This is mostly for display purposes so competitiveness isn't really the issue here.  Also if you have any questions about what's on the sprues let me know.

Oh, and for magnetizing purposes it should be pretty much like magnetizing your standard Terminator.

The Difficulty in Magnetizing a Dreadknight

I got to build the Dreadknight for my LGS.  While building it, I considered magnetizing the weapon options.  Since it's not mine I didn't do it, but if you want to do it for yourself there's a couple of major difficulties.  It's possible but very difficult.  Seems like a lot of GW kits these days are like that.

First off there's only two gun bodies with three options.  You have to magnetize all three barrels and ammo feeds which is a chore into itself.  Then you have to magnetize the gun body onto the arm which is complicated as illustrated above.  The servo arm locks into the gun, which in turn runs through the ammo feeds.  This is not a task for beginners.

Fortunately the hands are easier.  Make sure you set the magnet inside the arm before you glue it together.  It includes two right hands with three options.  It is possible to just magnetize the fingers on so you can use all three options.  I didn't glue it in because the hex arrangement fits pretty well without a magnet.

There's a piece that I can't identify.  I read through the instructions 3 times but I couldn't find where piece 75 (in the middle) goes.  It's not listed in the extras like the included purity seals and Terminator Honors. It looks important.  If anyone knows please let me know.

I would love to paint this thing up for the store but there's no way I could do it in a reasonable timeframe.  So tonight it leaves my hands but if you have any questions about the sprues themselves I'll be glad to answer them.  I might be able to get ahold of the GK squads, both the power armor and termies.

Old Stuff Day

Here's my links for Old Stuff Day:

Brother Claudio from Space Hulk.  One of the finest minis I've painted and without a single comment.

The correct plural of codex.  One of my most viewed pages yet so few people do it right.

My Barbed Hierodule.  My first appearance on the Tuesday Top 10.

Painting the Blastscape.  Quit whining how it's vacuum formed and paint it properly.

The Malanthrope.  One of my favorite FW models, and painted quite nicely I might add!  Excuse the bad photography, I've gotten better.

A humorous look at the comment section of a famous wargaming website.  Some of the jokes are a bit dated but it's entertaining nonetheless.  One guy thought the post was real and quoted my fake rumor without linking back to the source or even giving credit.  LOLs were had by all (except for him).

My first Fire Prism!  I've had that model for a long long long long time, back in 2nd edition and I finally painted it.  It was the first vehicle I painted in my 40k renaissance.  Now if I could just paint the rest of the stuff I bought back in 2nd...

The New Guy

Updates may be sparse for a while because of my newest arrival.  Please pardon the disjointed narrative of this post as I'm typing this with one hand while he sleeps on my chest.  With the first one I could work on stuff during her naps. My wife was so tired that she would nap too, and we had an apartment so there wasn't much housework to do. I started this blog a few weeks after she was born, probably during a naptime.

Now with more to do the hobby will have to take the back burner for a while as I try to paint in those magical combined naptimes. As long as there's no housework to do.

Poll: Should I Start a New Fantasy Blog?

So I'm going to start playing Fantasy once the Island of Blood comes out, and I'm asking all my loyal readers if I should start a new Fantasy blog and keep just the 40k stuff here. As far as Fantasy goes, I'll probably be posting batreps, and showing off my handiwork. Furthermore, I'll probably talk about speed painting as I intend to learn how to do it with my Skaven.

40k will still be the dominant aspect of this blog, it's my main game and I'm not stopping playing it. A reason to separate the blogs is that I may work on Fantasy in waves, so you'd get a few weeks with mostly fantasy, then back to 40k and so on. I could try and intersperse them but it all depends on what I'm working on with commissions and such. I also already have a sweet name picked out so that's another reason to keep them separated.

A reason to keep them together is, if you don't like reading Fantasy posts, don't read them! Suscribe to the RSS feed and simply mark them as "Read" in Google Reader. Furthermore, I don't know if I could really keep two blogs going with regular content. I can barely keep one going with at least one post a week, especially on slow weeks where I just plod along on commissions.

The poll is at the top right, go ahead and vote! If you'd like to explain your reasoning, please do so in the comments. I'll leave it up for two weeks or so until September 4th when the IoB comes out.

Terrain From Junk Giveaway!

Terrain From Junk is having a giveaway of a $40 gift certificate to CSN stores. Head on down and enter!

The Ultimate Scale Model

Something I saw on the news, a man spent thirty years making a scale model of Herod's temple. As wargamers we can all appreciate the skill involved.

Picture obtained from above link

Blog Chain Giveaway Moves On!

The Blog Chain Giveaway continues! Magiler won the giveaway last and is now hosting his own. You can find his blog and the contest here. He is giving away either 5 terminators or 5 Forgeworld Plague Marines. Sounds nice!

Blog Chain Giveaway Ends Today!

So if you haven't entered yet now's your chance! So far there's only one entrant so you stand a pretty good chance! Here's the link!

My family is going to be in town this week so I may be slow on the posting, but if there's only one entrant, then you win.

*****
Edit: We only had one entrant and he won! So....you missed out.
*****

Blog Chain Giveaway Continues!

****EDIT 6/22****
Deadline extended.
********

The Blog Chain Giveaway thing rolls on! I won a Zoanthrope and Lictor from Hive Zero. Now I must continue.

What is the Super Blog Chain Giveaway?
The fellows over at Santa Cruz Warhammer got the ball rolling in an effort to foster folks in our community reaching out and seeing what other blogs have to offer as well extending a helping hand to fellow gamers.

Want to participate?
If you want to win a prize of your own and join this Give-Away, go comment on this blog. The rules of the give-away are as follows:

you must have a blog.

you must have something worthwhile to offer up to give away for free.

if you win, you must hold your own blogsite giveaway using the same rules to pay it forward.

you must contact us with a link to your give away so we can send bloggers to your site.

you may only enter once per give away.

To Enter:
leave a comment to this post as follows.
1st sentence, why you need the prize.
2nd sentence what you will give away on your blog to pay it forward.
I will choose the winner based on how convincing they are and what they offer to the next winner.

What’s in it for you?
The winner will receive an old school Screamer Killer. This is a classic model and hard to find. it isn't new (it's been out of print for many years) but unassembled and unpainted. I will ship it free of charge along with a 60mm round base (or a 40mm if you want it for a Tyranid Prime). Tell me the reason why you want it and how you plan to put it to use. I will choose a winner based on a combination of what you are offering and how convincing you were on Monday, June 28, 2010.

I got the Screamer-Killer a while ago and wanted to use it as a Tyranid Prime. But I just couldn't bring myself to convert it as I wanted to use the model in its normal form. So since I can't decide what to do with it I'm going to pass it on to someone who needs it.

New Blog Format

Google released some new formatting options and I'm playing around with them right now so the blog may look a little weird.

Look At What I Found: Some Rarities

A few months ago I put up a post about a game store where I used to live which kind of died out. Well, the store is still there but their Warhammer community died out (link to post). They still have quite a selection of ancient Warhammer goodies. Every time I visit my parents I make a point to see what they have.

If their community died out, then why do I bother going each time to see what they have new? Well, half the store used to be a "normal games" half and the other was the "nerd" half. The store always seemed embarrassed of its geeky clientele and so they erected a large barrier in the middle of the store so you couldn't see the nerd half of the establishment from the main area, like some kind of smoking section or unsavory media store. Anyway, I moved away and the community died out for reasons I suspect but don't know for sure, but their Warhammer stock remained.

Anyway, they turned the nerd room into the stock room. Every time I go there they have rearranged it and there's newfound goodies like some archaeological dig. This time I found some ancient models and sets.

Chaos Dwarfs!
I love how it says, "White Metal!" I'm really not sure what kind of selling point that is.
In case you can't see it clearly, that's the third edition boxed set. They had several of these.

Sometimes their prices are ancient too. You can get some things for a lot cheaper, but other things have a pricing fail- they had the old metal War Walker for $35 while the newer, better looking one was $30. I bought a biovore a few months ago for $15 which is half retail now.

I also found many, many cans of Blood Red spray paint. As you know, they don't make that anymore so I bought a few for when I get around to starting up that Blood Angels army.

I couldn't get to certain areas and there were stacks and stacks of things I hadn't seen on my last visit so I guess I'll just be surprised next time. It irks me that this stuff just sits here gathering dust. They should just offer massive discounts to let the gamers clear this stuff out.

How Many Models Fit Under a Blast Marker?

I was curious, how many under ideal circumstances could fit? I decided to test it out. I placed the models on top of the templates rather than under, because of that pesky thing called perspective, wherein closer objects appear to be larger. Beware the guy who holds the blast markers high above your models!

OMG I GOT ALL OF THEM

To begin I started with the small blast marker. As you can see below I got 13 25mm bases to fit.

Next up was the large blast marker. I got 31 25mm bases to fit on this one.

Now, the flame template. I got 20 to fit. Notice the inch of space at the beginning, that's assuming the firing model is remaining 1" away from the enemy models. If it were a Hellhound type projected template you could probably squeeze a few more in.
Now, let's try the 40mm bases. I got 7 to fit on the small blast marker.
And I got 13 to fit on the large blast marker. It is possible that you could argue that 6 more would fit but it would be touching by an exceedingly narrow margin.
Finally, 11 fit on the flame template.
One more thing to note about the markers/template- be sure to look as straight down as possible! An angle may mean you're hitting or missing models you shouldn't simply because of the viewing angle. Also, don't bunch up your guys! A few months ago, one of my Mawlocs got to go "OH YEAH!!!" on about twenty-something guys because they were all bunched up in close combat.

I Have Fought the Footdar Fight

...and let's just say it turned out pretty much how I expected, but there were some surprises on the way! Full batrep is coming, I need to write it and get the pictures uploaded. I should hopefully have it by Friday. Here's a teaser- one of the lamest units in the 40k universe killed all three of my Wraithlords.

Second teaser: At turn 3 I was winning on objectives.

Third teaser: I did not get tabled.

The Footdar Challenge

So a while back there was some posting on BolS about some foot Eldar list. The author claimed it as unbeatable. I disagree because first off, going on foot cancels out the Eldar's main strength and secondly, exposes their greatest weakness. Yet there were plenty who though this was a good idea. Well, instead of theoryhammering and explaining why, I am going to take a foot Eldar list to the LGS on Tuesday and give a full report on why it is a bad idea. And if I win...well, we shall see.

Pardon Our Dust and Some Updates

I'm currently in the process of upgrading computers, thus my updates have been sparse. Everything should be straightened out by Friday. My Tervigon is finished, I built another Mycetic Spore and I'm hard at work on the Parasite of Mortrex.

A Shout Out to Akers

Back in December, I won a model from a contest by Akers Minis.  I chose Baharroth, the Phoenix Lord.  I received the model in January and have been meaning to post it, but it's been a busy month.  My apologies.  Anyway, it's quite the beauty.

I especially like the sword, and the highlighting on the wings. When they stop sucking, I'll get around to painting my Swooping Hawks and I'll probably take a few cues from this model.

Akers also wanted me to let you know that he's hosting a tournament, called the Boston Brawl.

Excellent work all around!

Growing Your Gaming Group

When I moved to this area a few years ago, I much lamented the fact that there was no gaming store in the area. The nearest was in Glendale, about an hour and a half away, through L.A. traffic. The next nearest was the Battle Bunker, about two hours through L.A. traffic. So, it was just me and my friend who was stationed at the Air Force base. I have another friend who lives about two hours away as well, but for the longest time I'd only get to play one game per month.

Then one day I heard that a gaming store had opened up in town. I went by and though they mostly specialized in Magic and RPGs (they didn't sell Warhammer at all), the owner was setting up a list of Warhammer players. Later, one of them contacted me and we started playing small games. The game store (Battle Grounds) then moved to a larger store across the street and we then could play on full sized tables, though there were only three players. We then discovered more players through my friend at the Air Force base, though because of the distance they can't come regularly.

Tuesday night, we had seven players show up. Three of them are getting into the game, and one is getting back into the game after a long hiatus. We've gone from just two players to a growing group, and now the game store is going to start carrying Warhammer.

I attribute two factors to our growth, the first and most important being a supportive FLGS. They don't really have terrain (we have to supply our own) but they have tables and they let us play. This sounds pretty basic, but an unsupportive LGS can kill any Warhammer community. When I was younger, there was a store in the area that would kick players out if they didn't have painted models. Now they're an overpriced empty shell of a game store with absolutely no Warhammer patrons and a massive stock of ancient metal models that they will never sell (the good ones have all been picked clean). They only sell board games and kids toys now. Anyone from the Utah Valley area will know exactly which store I'm talking about.

The second factor is keeping a regular gaming night. With a few exceptions, we've had a game going once a week for the past year and a half. Knowing that there's a regular group helps attract new players, and keep the veterans coming.

What factors do you think help a gaming group grow, and what can hinder its growth?