The Econo-Box: A Review

I am desperate for a new carrying case. Currently, I carry my models in an ancient leather doctor's bag which I have no idea how old it is or how it even came to be in my possession. I don't even know if it was a doctor's bag, but it looks just like the ones doctors would carry in the early 20th century while making house calls. It is made of very firm, wire reinforced leather. I place my models in, and use towels to separate the layers. Let me assure you, I am well versed in the benefits of a good matte sealant.

While I am saving up for a nice one, I figured I'd give the "Fuzz Box" from the Warstore a try. The price is only $12.99, even if it was terrible at least the price isn't too bad. It's a good thing I didn't throw down for more than one as I was sadly disappointed.

Don't get me wrong, I love the Warstore. I pretty much order exclusively from them. I was disappointed in this product because I couldn't fit anything in it. But fear not! There's good news too. I'll cover that more later, but for now I'll give a good description.

The box is about 15"x11"x2". It comes with three foam sheets; a top, middle and bottom one. You have to punch out the holes in the middle one leaving you with 66 foam blocks. The cardboard is- well, cardboard. When I got home from work I found my daughter standing on it. Why was she standing on it when there's plenty of other places to stand? The world may never know. She's about 20 lbs and she only put a slight bend into the lid, so that's a plus. I hadn't punched out the squares yet so it was a little firmer inside so I'm not sure if that's a good test.

Here's where the box failed for me: it doesn't fit any of the armies that I play. I have both Eldar and Tyranids. The only Eldar unit that fit inside were Fire Dragons and Guardians. Dark Reapers kind of fit, but the Exarch wouldn't fit. Warp Spiders kind of fit, but the gun really sticks out. The only Tyranid units that fit were my Termagants and Spore Mines. The Spinegaunts (I only have 2) kind of fit. Here is some photographic evidence.

As you can see not much really fits. Click on the picture to get a better idea of how everything fits (or doesn't).

This is what I'm using the box for. I have 34 gaunts, and they fit well enough. If the rumors are true and Termagants are going to be 4 points and get Without Number for free...well I'm going to need a lot more and this box will be great for storing them.

I considered cutting the squares to fit my guys better, but the amount I'd need to cut wouldn't be worth it as I'd be basically combining two squares. That trick might work for the 60mm Guard Heavy Weapons teams, however.

Now for the good news. At my big game on Monday, I tested several different armies. Space Marines fit perfectly. Assault Marines maybe not (I didn't test them) but Tactical Marines fit great. Slugga Boyz fit perfectly (I did not test the Choppa Boyz but I'm pretty sure they'll fit, especially the AoBR guys). Imperial Guard fit perfectly. I'm sure Necrons will fit great, as well as Tau. So if you play one of those armies, go for it! The Fuzz Box would be a great buy for you. But if you play Eldar, Tyranids or any other army that uses small bases but with tons of gribbly bits, cresting plumes, dynamic poses or what have you, you might want to reconsider.

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

Painting Challenge Failed! Also, The Curse of Painted Models

Args! I failed to complete my Hierodule in time for the game. All I had left was to highlight the black and the blue. Of course, if I didn't have a family I totally would have got it done.

Anyway, we played a 6,000 pt apoc game today. Here is a brief batrep: It was me and Dark Angels versus Wolves, Guard, and Orks. Two of the most underwhelming codices versus three of the best. The first unit of mine to die was the Hierodule. He was in cover. Out of 7 missile launcher and lascannon shots that wounded him, I only passed one cover save. So the dice struck me down on the first turn. The second model of mine to die was my Malanthrope. So my two Forgeworld goodies were the first gone. Then a few Genestealers died, an the next guy to go was my Broodlord! Why do all the painted guys go first?

The Ork guy told me that in the first game he used his completed Stompa it got wasted on the first turn. Has anyone else had this curse?

Oh yeah, we ended up losing the battle by 100 points. The central objective was contested and when we totaled up the points we were found wanting.

A funny moment from the battle was a lone surviving Genestealer who charged some Long Fangs. In over three full game turns of combat, neither side inflicted any wounds on the other.

Finally, here's some pictures of my WIP Hierodule. It is past this stage now, but here's what I've got going on.

Space Hulk: Brother Claudio

Here it is, I'll just let the pictures speak for themselves. This was my entry for the Jawaballs painting contest. The hardest part was probably the heraldry.

The Ultimate Painting Challenge

Well, sort of. Monday we're playing a big Apoc game since for some reason I have Columbus Day off. I really want to play Tyranids and use my Barbed Hierodule, but it is currently in pieces. In order to assemble it, it needs to be painted. So, I have one weekend to finish. I want it to be the same standard as my Malanthrope. After all, with Forgeworld models why settle for a tabletop quality paint job? I figure if I pay that much I might as well make it awesome.

On another note, I think the Hierodule is a bit overpriced. He's really just a souped up Carnifex. Of course, most Forgeworld things are overpriced, but this one I think is overpriced on the order of about 200 pts. Especially when a 20 man ork squad with a power klaw can take him out quite easily.

What the Dark Angels Need

I was thinking about this the other day, and I thought of a few things that Dark Angels need to become a more characterful army. Their looks are second to none, but their rules don't exactly follow suit. Here's what I came up with:

Deathwing: The Deathwing are quite used to going up against insurmountable odds, it's what gave them their bone-white color scheme and that tradition still rings true. To reflect this, all Deathwing should be immune to the effects of the No Retreat! rule. They should also have to select an opponent's HQ at the beginning of the game, against that model and its unit they gain the Preferred Enemy USR as this HQ has information about the Fallen.

Ravenwing: All of them should have the Skilled Rider USR, and furthermore they should always get some kind of save, or have their normal save increased to reflect their skill at dodging incoming fire. Back in 3rd edition, they had a "jink" save that was always on a 6+.

Also, why bother giving Sammael a jetbike when no one else can take one? He should be able to take an Honor Guard, all of whom have jetbikes. The Dark Angels have access to many ancient pieces of equipment, why not more than one bike?

They should be able to take the Mortis Pattern Dreadnought.

They may not get a new codex for a while, maybe I should let my friend who plays Dark Angels to try out these rules and see if they are balanced.

The Correct Plural of Codex

I've seen it wrong too many times. Time for some prescriptive smackdown. People write codexes, codici, codi, and all manner of linguistic blasphemies. The correct plural of codex is codices. That is all.

Source: Merriam-Webster's dictionary.

*Post Edit*  Please don't recite the crazy Latin rules for plurals.  I am fully aware of them and if we were living in Imperial Rome you would be totally correct on the different declensions.  However, in this case codex is a loanword, and as a result when we're speaking English the correct plural is codices.  GW tends to say codexes which is technically wrong but I'll survive that misuse.

While we're on the subject, the correct plural of octopus is not octopi.  It is octopuses.  Octopus comes from Greek, and the -i ending is Latin.  If you want to get really technical the correct plural is octopodes but nobody uses it.

Another Successful Planetstrike Defense

Last night I defended against Dark Angels and Daemons. For this game we did the second Planetstrike mission. Instead of a Helm's Deep type defense, I put my bastions spread out, with one in the middle, and one on each table edge, slightly off-set so that each bastion could see all the way to the other table edge. I then put my cheapest troops (not easy with Eldar) inside the bastions because I knew they were going to take Flamers and just burn my troops inside.

Inside the bastions I had two units of 5 Rangers, two units of 10 Guardians, and in the center a Vibro-Cannon unit. Each unit is about 100 pts, which isn't too cheap but was the best I could do.

The rest of my army was in reserve. I had a Seer council, 6 bikes, a Falcon full of Fire Dragons, a Fire Prism, and 10 Dire Avengers in a Wave Serpent. For the game, I basically flew around turbo-boosting as needed and frying things as needed. This more mobile defense worked out great. Since I only had to claim one objective, I could distract them and pull them far away from the objective I intended to claim, and then turbo-boost into position at the end of the game. I killed very few things, I don't think I killed a single Dark Angel model. I took out as many flamers as I could since they're fast, and I killed a Soul Grinder with a lucky Bright Lance shot, but that was about it. This game was won through resilience and speed.

So for a mobile army like Eldar, try a spread out defense. You force your slower foes to commit, and then you can rapidly redeploy as you see fit. Remember though, in Planetstrike you have to totally clear the objectives. None of this last minute contesting if you are defender.