First 6th ed game tomorrow....

Not entirely sure what 'm bringing...  Probably NOT my Wolves or Eldar yet...  So DA or Fleshtearers (BA)...  Guessing that jump troopers or Terminators...  Now that Terminators are not as vulnerable to Power Weapons, having my Deathwing might be REALLY powerful.  And the FnP from the Medic on the Command squad gets better...

So, Fleshtearers as a Drop force....

Librarian (Jump Pack)
Death Company (9 DC, 2 w PF/Bolter, Lemartes, Jump Packs)
DC DN (Claws of Eternal CC?  Maybe)
  Drop Pod w/Beacon
Vanguard Vets (Jump Packs, 2 PF, 3 PW)
Scout Squad (10, 9 Snipers, 1 ML, SGT w/ PF)
Sangunary Priest (Jump Pack)
DN (Rifleman)
  Drop Pod w/Beacon


Not too coherent, but might be fun...

Still wrapping my head around a lot of the rules and changes, so keeping it simple.  I think I will be heading to Wolves/Eldar...  I think the Eldar will be pretty interesting...

So, 6th is almost here...

One of the best summaries I've found is here:

http://www.thehogsofwar.com/2012/06/warhammer-40k-6th-edition-rules-summary.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheHogsOfWar+%28The+Hogs+of+War%29

So far it is looking like a lot of my armies are set to get better in many ways...  For instance my Fleshtearers I have played as a Jump heavy "Berserker" force with Death Company.  Rage is now +2 attacks on the charge, Jump troopers now have the same 2d6 everyone else does for Assaults, so a huge potential threat range...   Both Eldar and Marine snipers get better, but Pathfinders are going to be insane.  The "To Hit" roll of a 6 means the sniper shoots the target of his or her choice, and the Pathfinder will be hitting at AP 1...

And that segues into my main concern.  I do think that there will be some potential issues with some of the codexes, especially the 4th edition ones.  Now, a bunch of major FAQ/Online PDF's changes could very easily mitigate this and make is a non issue.  But there are a few things that because they were written for a VERY different system that might cause problems in the current one.  Specifically the Eldar Runes/Ghost Helms and Long Rifles are the ones that I immediately thought of.  The giant "Screw You Enemy Wizard...  I mean 'Psycher'" that the runes of defense causing the 3d6 rolls for all Psy powers is going to remain really powerful, until the rules change through FAQ or a new codex.  The rules for the Rangers/Pathfinders and their interaction with the new "Sniper" rules might make it a bit overpowered in the near term...

I think my other major point of concern is the Allies stuff, combined with the potential 2nd FOC at 2000 points.  Now, I'm not going to say much about allies because I have not seen the actual rules and restrictions as of now...  My hope is that it will be "neat" but not brokenly over powered...  My fear is that it will become a crutch to make even more silly broken combos.  The FOC thing is going to be a concern for big games more, unless of course the "standard game" goes to 2000+ points...  The first major thing might be something like the GK book with the potential for lots of the cheap HQ options and IC's...  Not worried...  Yet :-)

New book incoming...

Well, pre-ordered the Warhammer 40K 6th edition book from the Gopher...  (20% off for pre-order/pay, so as good as online sites, with added bonus of supporting the store I game in...  Wasn't sure they were doing this, but Bill was quite helpful :-)  Making that last minute sale...  Guessing we'll see what really changes.  Rumors and early info are all looking pretty darn good.  Sounding like we'll be hitting 2000 points for a normal game.  My Eldar might even make a resurgence...

My fun and games with the Squats I think will be tabled for the moment.  If Mantic does the kick starter thing for their Sci Fi game, perhaps I'll kick in for some of the Space Dwarves...  Then I'll make some Airships for fighter-bombers...  May well make some of the "Space 1899" ones for my IG in any case, just too amusing to have the Praetorians on those things...

More Squat (Ork) madness...

So, not at all sure that I will be able to bring a second "Battlewagon"...  I DO have the second MK I Land Raider (Spartan) dusted off, and since it looks like I'll be trucking it in rather than riding the old Silverwing I'll certainly HAVE the room to do so...  So, maybe...

Warlord (War Boss) w/Mega Armor, Cybork, Attack Squig...  So, the ancient Exo Armor..
Exo Armor suits (5 Meganobz, Troops)
  Battlewagon (Roller, red, armor, claw, plank and riggers, 1 big shooter)

Engineer (Mek, force field)
DN (Deff Dread 2 rocket launchers, Troops)

The Boys (Boyz, 30 w/ 3 RL's one on Nob w/ PF)
Thunderers (Lootas, 12)
RT DN's (3 Killa Kans, RL's/DN CCW)
War Bikers 5, 1 Nob w/ PF)
Thunderers (Tankbustas, 5)

So, a moving "blob" kind of...  The boys will envelop the tank bustas and protect the flanks of the Battlewagon.  The Kans and DN will move with them to take advantage of the force field.  The Thunderers will occupy terrain and stand still shooting...  Maybe this time they will even get some shots in the first 3 turns...  Bikes probably reserve or run a flank as light Cav...  So, subtle :-)

The other option is a second Battlewagon, drop the Boys to 20 to let them ride...  Give up the Tankbustas, and that's about it...  Thinking the tankbustas are going to be pretty worthless, so could swap burnas in maybe for the same point cost...  Flame Throwers or Rockets at BS 2...  So, 3 options I guess...  The 2 Battlewagons with the DNs escorting could be a REALLY devastating thing to the locals who are not used to AV 14 transports...

Dunno, but it is amusing seeing the horde of Space Dwarves and RT era DNs hitting the table...

6th in 2 weeks?

Well, from the GW teaser it is looking very much like the 6th ed will be hitting/be announced officially/opened for pre-order on the 23rd of this month...  Maybe.  Seems a really shitty way to announce your flagship product, and it really hurts the independent retailers many of whom might well still have 5th ed rule books on the shelves...  Guessing they will be eating that cost, but I honestly do not know...  The AoBR boxes are probably still selling for the minis inside alone...  Maybe the 6th ed box will be something cool :-)  Who knows...  And maybe they will do a big group of FAQ's like they did for fantasy, but it looks like there will be a REALLY messed up couple of months before any codexes get released...  Hoping it doesn't kill off the local group...

Started another wee blog, mostly to keep myself honest with the diet/weight loss/exercise program...  Nothing much there at the moment...

Almost have Maggie convinced that I need a bigger bike :-)  Found a 1980 Goldwing for $400...  Doesn't look like it has the luggage, so would definitely need that...  Dunno, maybe if it is still there after the Disney trip.  In the meantime I'll be saving to the "special" account and still trying to sell off old firearms, computers and assorted "other" stuff...  Not sure if a garage sale is in the near future, or if it just goes e-bay/craigslist for the non firearms.  LONG term, I'm looking at saving up for a bigger bike, most likely a Harley Davidson cruiser, Road King, Fat Boy or Street Glide...  Something like that...  :-)  But that is a very long term thing...

Dwarf Jump Infantry?

:-)  So, thinking of running some of the "Stormboyz"...  But the Squats AFAIK never had jump infantry...  Looking at picking up a few Mantic Forge Fathers as additional infantry, but no real idea what to do to make jumpers...  Though I do have an old brand "x" jet pack or three I could replicate...  Hmmm...  Finding the Orks really don't have a lot of choice but play aggressive against Necrons at least...  Guessing this will be the case for a lot of armies...  And I REALLY like my jump troops...

Long ride on the bike today...  2 hours is apparently my upper limit.  Not thinking that it was the seat, I think it was more the lack of highway pegs...  Need to be able to stretch the legs a bit now and then, and just not happening on the old Silverwing...

Squats as Orks, Week 1 results...

Well, played it out... Ran:
Mek w/ Field
Warlord (Cybork, Mega Armor, squig, etc...)
Mega Nobs
  Loaded in a Battle wagon, tricked out...  The Boarding Plank was really amusing BTW...
Shootas (30, Nob w/ PF, 3 rockets)
Thunderers (lottas, 2 squads of 12)
Killa Kans (3 with Mega Blasters)
Bikers (Nob w/ PF)

:-)  Played Necrons...  So, the post game debriefing would go like this:

Thunderers...  When they finally got to shoot, they were amazing...  Though perhaps I had too many, given they were completely useless until turn 4...  2 turns of night fighting, one turn of rolling 1 for shots meant they really didn't DO much...  They caused a giant bottleneck as they are a huge "fear factor"...

Shootas...  "Eh", with night fighting, they wound up tying up 2 Necoon Lords and a C'Tan shard for most of the game...  In this case, the pistol/axe troops would have been WAY better for the 29 extra attacks on the first turn, and 3 attack/man rather than 2/per...  I think that the Shooters will be given another shot, but I suspect that close combat troopers should outnumber the shooters 2/1...

Kans...  Awesome, but close combat...Even BS 3 shooting didn't work much for me...

Bikers?  Yes, send more...

Battlewagon?  Made an obnoxious number of field save, forget the roller...  Awesome I think...  Might go with 2...

So, amusing...  And I think it will play well...

Squats as Orks MK II

Mkay, looking over what I actually have...

Warboss (Warlord) with Mega Armor (Exo Armor, TL Shoota/Fist), Cybork (Refractor field), Attack Squig

  Str/T 5, 3 wounds, 5 base attacks, 6 on charge, Terminator armor, and riding the wagon with loads of extras

Mek (Engineer) with Force Field, Power Fist
 
    He is really just here for the force field...  Might change the fist out for the flame thrower...

Mega Nobs (Hearth Guard) Mega Armor, power fists, 1 flamer

  Riding in a Battlewagon with Death Rolla, Red Paint, Armor plates, Grabbin Klaw and Boarding plank...  Probably WAY too much crap on the tank, but it's like a Swiss army knife :-)  So many toys....  Death Roller for the d6 Str 10 hits (2d6 if they "Death or Glory"), the plank to allow one model (Warlord) to attack a vehicle within 2" as if he charged...  Claw to have a 4+ roll to prevent an enemy vehicle moving...  Should be wrecked by the Exo suits after that...  You know, assuming any vehicles end up within 2" and survive :-)  Might be an amusing answer to a parking lot...

The Warlord (boss) makes one Nob unit a Troop section, so just one more needed...  I'm looking at a very big "bubble wrap"...  30 strong squad with one PF Nob (with one of the 3 rockets, 2 more in the squad)...  Expensive, but fearless and fairly effective...  But really just there to swarm and protect the...

Lottas (Thunderers)...  2 squads, on of 12 one of 11.  Each armed with an auto-cannon shooting d3 shots....  So, even at the mighty BS 2, there a re a LOT of potential shots hitting...

3 Killa Kans (RT Era DN's), all armed with Mega blasta...  Keep them near the Battlewagon to act as a can opener...  The squadron should get the 4++ cover save, the Str 8 AP 2 shots might even do something...  But really they're there to pull a Fencik/Plank move...  Now, for those of you who did not grow up watching the Bears in the late 70's/early 80's, this is where one of the players would make contact with say, the quarterback and just hold him in place...  Not tackling him, rather stretching him out a bit for the second lad to come in and absolutely level the target...  We used to do this back in HS when we played football (I played Safety, buddy was a Linebacker, we were REALLY good at this...)...  Figure the DN's can hold something in place for the Hearth Guard/Lord to charge in and get the kills...

War Bikers...  Nob with fist, 5 total...  Mostly just a light Cav flanker unit...  Figure they are mu Free Safety to try and run a flank or get into a backfield somewhere...  Not a lot there, mostly I suspect they'll just be a mobile reserve and something for me to try and deny a kill point...

we'll see Monday I guess...  :-)

Dwarf tank...

So, not sure if this will work for a Battle Wagon...  Looking at a WWI German tank called the A7V Sturmpanzer...

Unfortunately, the 1/35 pattern I found looks like it will be "truck" sized...  ~7" long, maybe 3" wide...  Guessing I'd need to scale it up for a Battle Wagon, but honestly not sure the "correct" dimensions...  The ancient resin kit was tiny, would probably be a truck in today's scale...  Not sure this would work...

For now I'll use an old Land Raider...  Guessing that my Squats will ride into battle on something like the above tank...  Wonder how they'll do against the Grey Knights...

More Squats

Mkay, looking over the codex (Thanks!), thinking that I will change a few things...

Bring out the "Boyz" as the Squats I have...  Call them "Shoota Boyz", so basically Assault 2 Bolter shots (18" range), bring out the max size for the 3 heavy weapons (though they are all "Assault" as well), so 3 Rockets in the squad...  Not going to hit often, but 26 x 2 for bolter shots gives me 52 shots, so "on average" I should get ~17 hits from that and one Rocket hit...  245 points, and I think it can actually kill of MEQs reliably...

I do wonder if running 20 of the shooters in a battlewagon would work well...  AV 14, open top, and with the 4+ cover save against shooting might be annoyingly difficult to deal with before I roll into range...  I'm thinking the "Death Roller" for 2 battle wagons would be a really good thing for the d6 Str 10 hits against anything I tank shock and an additional d6 if they decide to "Death or Glory"...  Just thinking that the 2 wagons rolling over most anything should put in some serious hurt...

Lootas (Thunderers for me) are amazing...  Each of them gets d3 48" range Autocannon shots?  Um, yes please...  OK, BS 2, and hey are random, but a unit of up to 15?  Yes, it would roll through the ammo, but not my problem :-)

It looks like this might be a fun way to go up against the Grey Knights, Necrons and min/maxxed other things that are set up to deal with GK...  This is just WAY different than most of the other things out there...  Something to take into the twilight of 5th ed...

Squats as Orks?

Ok, so I'm bored I guess...  And I just happen to have an ancient Squat army...  Wonder if this will be in any way effective:

Big Mek (Engineer) - Tools, Force Field, Power Fist
Warboss (Warlord) - Mega Armor, Cybork body, Attack Squig (Squat Terminator armor)
Mega Nobz (Squat Termis) - PF's, 2 Combi Rockets, 1 flamer
Truck to transport them all...

30 Slugga Boys, 3 w/ rockets and one Nob w/ PF
Lottas (10)
Lootas (5)

Killa Kan (RT era DN's) 3, w Mega Blasters
War Bikes (5 old bikes), one Nob w/ PF

Death Copters (? Dunno what to use, maybe old Imperial jetbikes) 5 w/ TL Rockets

So, loads of shooting...  Cover saves all over the place...  Probably swap the Truck for a Battle Wagon...  Plan is "subtle, like Jaegermonster" (Phil Foglio's "Girl Genius" ref :-))...  Lootas (Old Squat Thunderers) will set up behind the big mob of grunts, hopefully on a hill to just throw lead, hopefully lots of it...

Kans stay near the Wagon/Truck for the 4+ cover save and shoot/pry off anyone silly enough to assaul...  The Terminators (Exo Armor?) in the BW are in an assault vehicle, so they can drive up and open the can o whoop ass on something...  We can get Fleet for a turn, the Jet Bikes can flank, and even with BS 2, twin linked for 5 Krak missile shots to the side/rear of things might work out well...

War Bikes run a flank, throwing lots of shots, providing a cover save to themselves and things behind themselves...  These to be honest are probably the weakest link for me...  Not at all sure they fit frankly...

Probably not at all effective, but it throws LOTS of dice, and it is very different from the standard GK/anti GK I'm seeing these days...

Holy Land Raiders Batman!

WOW, $75 (ok, $74.25 + tax, so $80+ around here) retail for a Land Raider...  $90 for a Storm Raven?  Even Razorbacks/Vindicators, etc. are all up over $40/each...  I have 3 Land Raider hulls (2 are Spartan class MK I's though), so not a big deal about that really...  Kind of annoying about the Storm Raven, but having never particularly liked the look of the kit, I guess I continue on without one for the time being...  Kind of annoying, I like the rules, and new fliers coming out...  Maybe I'll pick up some...  But with the new bloody edition coming, I'll hold off purchases...

Sadly, the Orks are actually kind of interesting to me, but there is no (insert term to replace fucking here, I can't think of one at the moment :-)) way I am picking up something so insanely expensive...  I bet I could do a "shooty" Ork army...  Maybe I'll play my Squats as "Counts as Orks"...  I have bikes, trikes, troopers, even the ancient "Easter Egg" type Terminator armor equivalent they used to use...  Anyone have a used Codex out there I can look over?  :-)

Bike wise, looking at something bigger for eventual road trips...  Guess I start saving now.  Realized that I've never owned a new vehicle in my life, doubt my next bike will be it, but still something I guess to look forward to...  Eventually...  Probably getting a Harley Davidson, one of the bigger cruisers, though I do not have a particular brand loyality

Going to be selling off a few of my old firearms...  Mkay, probably most of them...  Probably keep the IBM manufactured M1 Carbine, my old sidearm (M1911A1), Garand and my '94 Winchester...  Beyond that, everything else can go...  Swedish Model 96 Mauser, Hakim, FN-49, Lugar, and assorted "other" weapons...  Know anyone looking, I'm sure I can work out a good deal :-)...

Out riding... Tournament Sat?

Looking like I might take the bike out for a longer ride Friday...  I think it is going to be a good day for it.  Just feeling the need to get away from a lot of this stuff around here for a bit...  An old friend of min calls it "wind therapy", me I'm not so much into therapy...  :-)  My ex would have called that in and of itself problematic, she was/is a Psychiatrist, good match since I've been called crazy a fair number of times, sometimes by mental health professionals...   But mostly just wanting to get out on the road...

Looking like Deathwing if I end up playing Sat...  Loads of Terminators, and a few Speeders...

Oh Dark?

:-)  Yes, 5:30 sure seems to come earlier these days...  Been getting up every day to hit the basement and get in a workout before showering and herding the kids off to school.  Elliptical machine, weights, getting closer to where I want to be in order to actually start running again, though to be honest I am still concerned about old injuries there.  Knee, shrapnel, back, etc...  For the most part they never really did heal.  In retrospect, I probably should have taken the medical out from the Army, but there was that whole "pride" thing...  I just sucked it up and convinced myself that I was "better enough".  Made it through Ranger school, so I was probably right, at least for a while...  After a while, well...  :-)  Good thing I was never really a professional level athlete, it would have been more obvious that I was never going to recover fully...  'course, that also defined a lot of what I later became, getting "no one gets left behind" reinforced and drilled into your head over and over really did not change much for me, just really amplified a lot of how I was already.  Also made me completely unsuitable for other work...  That whole silly Pack loyalty thing just doesn't translate well to people who do not have it themselves.  If it has to be explained, it is unlikely it will be understood...

:-)  Yeah, darker moods these days...  Not sure why, but just can't seem to shake it in a lasting way.  Work is stressful, money is tight, other random issues keep popping up. And it just keeps building.  Have our first "real" vacation in a decade or more coming up next month, hoping that does not turn out horribly.  We'll see.  Should be fine, but Florida in June is going to be a hot swamp...  Maggie hates it when I refer to FLA as a giant swamp, but...  Well, the last few times I went there, I was air dropped or drove through huge swaths of swamp...  Having that whole "Green Hell" experience really does color your perceptions a bit.

Gaming is just not happening much if at all these days either.  Just not really getting into the current 40K scene.  Not enough of a group for much else at the moment either, so per usual 40K is about it for miniatures gaming at the moment...  Maybe Warmachine/Hordes will come back, I don't know...  We had a REALLY solid group for a long time that just faded and dropped off...  Infinity and Confrontation are good possibilities as well but just not there yet.  And at this point knowing how many miniatures I have in the basement of doom, I can't really justify buying a lot more...  Sucks a bit, there are a LOT of things I'd like to pick up, but I have to keep that annoying "reality" in mind...  And the fact that I have shelves and a desk overflowing with random minis from dead games of course...

Not much going on in the painting/conversion thing recently...  Really just a holding pattern until I see what, if anything changes with the new edition.  I have a bunch of Scouts I'm working on...  I always use them with my Fleshtearers, but don't have much use for them in other Marine armies I play...  Wolf Scouts are different :-), and those I am further along with...  Those lads are in every Wolf army I play...  'course, it has been a long time since I played them...  Perhaps telling...

We'll have to look over the Team rules from Adepticon, looked like they allowed some silliness there, but since those rules are widely used at other tournaments...  One player taking a special character modifying the Force Org allowed all of their team to use the modified Force Org...  So, Logan Grimmar becomes a MUCH better possibility, making Wolf Guard "Troops" for the partners...  And if Dave and I end up going out to play again, I think we can coordinate the lists a LOT better...  I think his list was good, mine was the weaker (Deathwing)...  I also screwed up bringing fully painted and WYSIWYG stuff over the "mostly painted" but better stuff I could have brought...  Silly me following the published rules :-)  Ah well, lesson learned...

Moving on...

So, working out every morning...  Getting up early and hitting the basement for the home gym and elliptical...  Trying to work out a schedule where I push myself, but not TOO hard...  Hit it too hard the other day, and so Monday was a much lighter day on the machines...  On the other hand, I'm also using the stairs a LOT more at work, and between that and the machines I'm already getting back into some semblance of shape...  We'll see, I am almost doing 10 minute miles on the elliptical and it hasn't killed me yet...  Seems to work the best for my schedule getting it in first thing in the morning, hoping I can keep at it... I can see my face getting leaner, and I feel a lot better overall, no clue how much if any actual weight I am losing yet, but...  Cutting out a LOT of random "bad" stuff, not quite all the way over to the "paleo", but looking like that is where I am headed...  Seems to be working for a number of my friends, and I'm guessing I can do it again...  Saying "again" because when we did our survival silliness, we ate what we could...  So deer, rabbit, snake, basically whatever I could catch or kill and didn't move fast enough to avoid me/us...  Worked, I survived...  Did not enjoy it, I'm still a city boy when it comes down to it, or that's what my Amerindian friends would say :-)...  Still, for a white boy, I move through the woods quite well, quickly and quietly...  Scares the hell out of a lot of folks, they assume that I cannot move that quickly and that quietly, I have a habit of just appearing places where no one really expects me to be...

Kind of brings me back to 40K with my Wolf Scouts...  Guessing they'll be the unit I finish up and get fully WYSIWYG in the event we actually get into serious tournaments...  We'll see how well the Army Painter method works for painting the lads...  Now, not all GW minis, in fact most are not...  Old Warzone minis, that silly Scottish faction I plaed, Wolves banes...  And they make excellent Wolf Scouts.  Something to kill time until the 6th edition hits, probably this summer...

What shape?

So, time to get more serious about the diet and exercise program...  More and more of my friends are doing this, and even most of the lads at work...  :-)  So, good peer pressure I guess...  I'm not entirely sure how much I've lost so far, and to be honest I'm not looking for a number here.  I want to get back into the shape I was in when I considered myself to be in shape...  Basically when I was playing Army, or right when I got out...  Finding that movement is easier at a lower weight, and the pain from old injuries is not nearly so bad most of the time...  But stronger now than I have been in a very long time, and taking the stairs at work and the elliptical more often is getting me closer to being "in shape" enough to start running again I think...  Also, the motorcycle is much easier to control in higher winds when I am stronger...  Not something that really matters much with the truck of course, but...

I'm not sure I am ready to go all out like some of my friends and completely change my entire diet, going "paleo" with lots of meats, no carbs, processed stuff, etc...  But, I have cut back seriously on the "junk", no alcohol at all this year, and a lot more in the line of :healthy food...  We'll see I guess...

Grey Knights for the win... sigh...

So, looking briefly at the Adepticon results...  8 of the top 16 playing for the Championship ended up being Grey Knights, and the overall champion was one of them.  I'm shocked, simply shocked to see so many there :-)  Yes, I am a big fan of "Casablanca"...  When I do play the GK, I almost feel like I HAVE to tone them down just to be fair to the opponent...  Not that I am just that much better than the other folks playing, but that I really feel the army is just that far out of line with the rest of them out there.  Any time you get so many special rules modifying or changing basic rules of the game, there is at the very least potential for it to be unbalanced and game breaking.  :-)  Not going to go into the ones I feel are game breakingly powerful, but there are sure a lot of them.  I have heard them called the "Easy Button" of 40K, and I think  that is a fairly accurate description iff you try to build a powerful competitive army...  Building to the "fluff" or artificial background, you tend to get powerful, but balanced forces...  Expensive, elite armies that can probably go toe to toe with anything in the game and fare reasonably well.  Guessing this is what GW play-tested and accepted as "This is how the Army will play"...  Now, if you go in looking at the min/max potential, the system starts to break down quickly.  And there are several REALLY good, powerful builds available to the Knights, far more than just about any other Codex out there...  Note, this, like everything else I write is just my opinion of course, based on my experiences and such...  But I am fairly good at math ( :-)) and have a fair bit of experience playing the game to base the opinion on...

Looking back I think it really was about the time I read through the GK codex that my "40K Malaise" really started...  I was able to spot a good number of game breakingly stupid combos on my initial quick skimming of the book, and more and more kept popping up.  I thought that it just could be my interpretation of the rules/book, but after the FAQs confirming them, no...  So, back in the back of my mind I think I started thinking that I've seen this all before, this is a game ending a cycle, ripe for a "new version that will fix it all"...  So, the company either intentionally breaks their stuff or realizes that "codex creep" has gotten to a point when a complete rebuild is the only option...  Sadly, this is also about the time I started to pull way back on my model purchases...  The GK Dreadknight is a neat model, glad I snagged one, and I play it in my forces...  Just it is one of the very few over costed things in the book given how silly the standard DN's are...  So, neat model, really expensive ($ and points), and essentially worthless on the field...  The Storm Raven is a very powerful model, I just can't stand the way it looks :-)...  Personal preference thing, but given how amazing the Vendetta/Valkyrie looks, the SR just does not work for me...  That and GW going over to a fairly poor resin for a metal replacement...  Understandable, I actually have "some" experience casting in resin myself, and with that silly useless Mechanical (Industrial) Engineering degree, I know WHY it is the best, most logical thing for the company to do...  Just that the results are far less than what I would have considered acceptable...  Guessing I'm more of a perfectionist there though, and without knowing a lot of the behind the scene details, that is just a WAG on my part...  But it was a factor in my decision not to be buying more stuff until it either evened out, or I found something I REALLY wanted...  And, sadly that has not happened or appeared...  Guessing my wife is happier about it a bit as not a lot of the wee toy soldiers are appearing to haunt the shelves in the basement, but going "static"in terms of what I have is slightly limiting...  Only slightly, I have a LOT of them in various stages of painting and assembly...

I THINK our 40K group will survive the summer, but if 6th hits and is complete crap...  Maybe not.  Already looking like we'll be losing a few folks here and there with real life stuff...  Maybe Confrontation, Infinity or Warmachine/Hordes will rise up and fill that gap...  :-)  As it happens I have a few armies out there, so will probably be fine with any of them, assuming that there is a regular night to game...  Needing that stress relief more than ever these days...  We'll see I guess.  If not, I guess I pick up some vid games and spend more time riding the motorcycle to blow off steam...

Ah, another week...

So, looking like I'm taking some time off of the 40K leagues and such...  I think just taking some time off will be best for the moment.  Some things keep calling me away, and honestly, my heart really isn't in it at the moment. Boredom I guess, but I think I have run out of interesting "let's try this" concepts for my armies...  It only took a few years :-)...  Rumors of the new edition coming, at least one of my armies is on the "short list" of armies to get a Codex update (Dark Angels)...  I just hope they don't screw up my army too much.  I like the Terminator suits...  A LOT.  And so I really hope I can field an army I think can compete with the new book using them.  Sadly, I actually HAVE a bunch of Powered Armored DA troops, so I COULD rebuild that army after I strip and repaint them...  Just that this particular army does not interest me nearly so much, especially being an old school Wolf player...  Remember the old traditions when Chip and I would send out a single trooper each to duel before each game whether we were on the same side or not...  And my lads trying really hard to sneak in and capture/kill the renegade DA's that his lads were hunting (2nd/3rd ed codex?) for no other reason than the DA wanted them, so having my Wolves take them was worth almost any risk :-)...  Besides, I really have little interest in playing yet another Powered Armor army, my Wolves are pretty much it for me...  While I HAVE a bunch of GK in PA, the main units in that Army for me are the Terminator suits...  I have "a few" of the RT era ones around...

Getting back into shape, albeit slowly...  Elliptical rather than running for the time being, working my way up in terms of time on...  Usually doing this after a LONG day at work, so I guess I will be more successful doing this first thing in the morning...  Don't WANT to mind, but I suspect it will be better all around.  So Elliptical, stairs at work, weights and cutting way back on the junk food...  Getting myself closer to the "correct" diet, loads of extra protein usually in the form of tuna, smaller portions and just staying away from the known "bad" foods for the most part...  I'll have to fire up the Wii as this is the only scale that I think we have at the moment...  Good enough way to track with the Wii fit...  Not really so into the Wii fit as a workout though...

Killing time in Bloomington...

Between meetings :-)  So, thought I'd jot down a bit of what I'm thinking...

Confrontation...  If it does come back, great.  There were some really silly, broken things in 3.5, so here's hoping they fix those things in the Phoenix edition.  There IS a campaign supplement called "Dogs of War", but that one was REALLY a beer and pretzels thing...  The silliness you could come up with made the Mordheim/Necromunda power games look like minor league child's play...  Yeah, didn't help that I was playing with 2 borderline broken lists to start with in the Wolfen Packs and Sessairs Kelts (Horde of Mugan, so the cheap Centaurs and Giants were even cheaper)...  But getting to choose from SO many of the broken abilities to add to just about any of your troopers, it got really silly and broken really quickly...

But in any case, I do miss playing the game.  As a tournament game it had some problems, but it was always fun to play in our group...  But then having a good and reasonable group tends to make just about any game good...

Infinity...  I do king of hope that the game picks up here locally...  I've only played it a few times, but it is a good system I think...  And I'm picking up a few more of the Highlanders for the Aridrana (sp?) army...  Lacking the whole "High Tech" thing without ANY hackers or BFR (the giant robots, I think TAG is what they were called :-)), doubt it will be a hugely competitive force, but it WILL be fun to throw down an army of Scottish Werewolves to tear up those armies depending on their high tech toys...

40K...  Well, I'll keep painting I think...  Decided to redo my IG vehicles in a US WWII paint scheme using "Brown Violet" from Vallejo like the FoW stuff I'm doing...  Fleshtearers are getting Scouts and I need to finish up the magnets for the Assault Squads so I can have them as Drop troopers or Mechanized...  Wolves?  Dunno, DA are looking like one of the next forces up, so I'll hold off on those lads to see what GW messes up for my Deathwing army...

So, things looking interesting for gaming, just not so much for 40K....

Wolfen...

So, looking like the Wolfen will be prowling again...  Time to break out the wolves...

So, here's some bad pics of the lads as I revive them from deep storage...

So a BUNCH of half painted Wolfen, and entirely too many for 3/3.5 games, but pretty broad selection of the lads...  OK, there are 2 females in there, Irix and Ashan'tyr...  So, a powerful mage and one of the really weird LE figs...  Mine is somewhere in the 3000's of 5000, "neat" figure, but honestly not all that powerful, and she really does not fit with the rest of my Wolfen's play style...  So, hopefully our old Confrontation group will start getting back to gaming...

Back to painting and the basement of DOOM...

A bit windy, but the motorcycle is running great...  I think I've gotten the basic maintenance stuff down and I'm REALLY liking the ride in to work.  I need to get the seat recovered, and it looks like an e-bay purchase as I've found someone out there making custom ones for my model (1981 Honda Silverwing GL500)...  Not so sure I'll be able to find a radio/MP3 player for it, but thinking that something in a CB/headset for my phone...  Need something to keep in communication in the event I wind up on the road for longer trips...  Or maybe not, really kind of liking the idea of being off the grid for a while...

Painting a bit, it is kind of amazing how much more quickly the 15mm stuff goes...  In just a few minutes I was able to get a whole platoon of Mortars uniforms and helmets painted up...  So, the about half of the base coat up...  Not a lot of vehicles at the moment, but did find another "Platoon" of them...  M8 GMC's, but only 3 in the Platoon...  Light tanks with 75mm Howitzer, pretty sure they are not an option for my Parachute Rifle Company, but...

For 40K, I am DEFINITELY looking at something simple for my complete redo for my IG force...  Thinking that the "Brown Violet" like look to match the US paint in WWII...  Not sure if I'll actually play my Praetorians  any time soon, but...  Since I know with almost absolute certainty that I WILL play them again, might as well have them painted...  I have some ancient Marine Scouts that are going to become my Veteran Grenadiers with Shotguns...  Will convert one of the Heavy Bolters and some other lad to be a heavy weapon team...  I know I'm in the minority, but I consider it a bit of a waste NOT to have a heavy weapon on a squad with BS 4, especially given how cheap the weapons are...  :-)  Another holdover from my own time in...  I REALLY liked having lots of options... Just not really feeling THAT into the whole 40K thing right now, so I'll probably just keep things moving here and there.

So, Confrontation 3.5 is looking like it will be coming back...  Have to admit I am WAY more excited about that than 40K or frankly any other wargaming at this point...  Have to dig up my Wolves I think...  Get back to painting a lot of wee Gunn tartans for the kilts I've added on all the lads...