So, looking over the stuff in the Grey Knights codex… Thinking that I'm probably going to be running a number of things that "most" other people do not bother with… In other words, probably not the "Internet Approved" stuff overall, so no "Dakka" stuff for me… For instance, I'm looking at the "Brotherhood Champion" for a HQ choice. 100 points for a WS 7 2+/4++ (3++ in close combat) guy armed with a Nemesis Force Sword that also allows re-rolls on the "to wounds"… Down side, his "attacks" are much like the Menoth Paladin, or at least the 1st edition version I remember… He gets a "stance", one where he gets re-rolled armor saves (Hello Seer Council level of survivability), one attack against everything in BtB, or an I 10 d3 (+1 for charging) attacks against a Monstrous Creature or IC that he's in combat with… Yeah, he's one wound and his "I won't die alone" power is kind of "eh" against a lot of armies, but still :-) Plan on sticking him with Purifiers and using the Land Raider or Storm Raven to roll them directly into combat… The Librarian looks good, the Grand Master is solid… The special characters seem hit or miss, all of them are powerful but expensive… An all of them pretty well define what your army setup will be. 'course, I'm just running the Knights, so not even really looking at the Inquisitors…
Job? Ah, Limbo is so much fun… Amusing hearing what other people are saying here and there, and the dawning realization on their parts that I am NOT subtle, I do mean pretty much exactly what I say, and politics can be played by those who talk, and those who do… I think of it more like "Klingon" politics, and apparently I can do that fairly well after all… Maybe next week something will actually break loose and be resolved…
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Spring Break?
Well, apparently it is spring break here at the U of I…. Having never actually gone anywhere for any of mine when I was a student here, it wasn't ever really a big deal… Was an Engineering student, so it just meant that the computer labs were slightly less crowded, and the other "campus town" things were pretty much deserted for a week or so… Staff seems to be MIA this week as well by and large… A tad annoying since I was really hoping to get some moves made on my current job situation/move, but a lot of the "principle players" are out for the week as well.
On the gaming front, the new league started, and I'll be running my Grey Knights with my partner (http://aychplace.blogspot.com/) running her Black Templars… So, her fanatics and my Daemon hunters… Pretty well gimped the first two weeks having to use the ancient "Daemonhunter" codex before the GK one releases the 2nd of April (ish… Supposed to be the official street date). I have some plans for the last 6 weeks of course, and have ordered a few of the new toys from the FLGS (www.armored-gopher.com) like the Codex and Dreadknight and… Well, I'll probably pick up some more Terminators and "powered armored" Knights, but that $ limit thing being what it is… Should be another army I can fit into a pistol case, and I'm REALLY looking forward to that since I hope to be riding a motorcycle in the near future… :-) Amusing since I've never actually carried/stored a pistol in a "pistol case", but they do make excellent cases for my wargame toys…
On the gaming front, the new league started, and I'll be running my Grey Knights with my partner (http://aychplace.blogspot.com/) running her Black Templars… So, her fanatics and my Daemon hunters… Pretty well gimped the first two weeks having to use the ancient "Daemonhunter" codex before the GK one releases the 2nd of April (ish… Supposed to be the official street date). I have some plans for the last 6 weeks of course, and have ordered a few of the new toys from the FLGS (www.armored-gopher.com) like the Codex and Dreadknight and… Well, I'll probably pick up some more Terminators and "powered armored" Knights, but that $ limit thing being what it is… Should be another army I can fit into a pistol case, and I'm REALLY looking forward to that since I hope to be riding a motorcycle in the near future… :-) Amusing since I've never actually carried/stored a pistol in a "pistol case", but they do make excellent cases for my wargame toys…
Sunday, March 20, 2011
Yet another army…
Mkay, time to expand my Grey Knights from the dozen or so terminators and another dozen or so Powered Armor troops for them into an actual army… For the first bit I have Cygnar Halberdiers to stand in for the regular lads, and I do have a "few" extra Terminators here and there… In terms of extra purchases, I'll likely have to buy or trade for some regulars, some Terminators, maybe a Storm Raven and definitely a Dread Knight.
The DK is one of those things that I think has potential. It is not nearly as broken as it's "playtest" incarnation, and it will take some actual planning and skill to use them properly… Bloody huge model, so cover saves will not be likely, T6 and 4 wounds puts them a bit worse off than the Eldar Wraithlord's current incarnation… The weapon loadout I think is a bit better for the DK, and they do have an inv save, though only a 5+… The Heavy Incinerator is more or less the IG's Hellhound for 30 points, the Gatling Psilencer is a Str 4 Heavy 12 AP- weapon costing 35… Not really liking the Heavy Psycannon at 40 points.. Str 7, large blast, AP 4 and rending… 24" range though, frankly I'd rather have the normal Psycannon's 4 shots (same specs, no blast of course) since we play with so much area terrain giving the 4+ cover saves to everything. Maybe I'm just missing something obvious, but it just doesn't seem worth it overall. The flamer and Psilencer are good horde control/just throw out mass fire weapons to go along with the Monstrous creature's Str 10 +2d6 AP vs. vehicles…
Other than that, the DNs are going to be beasts… Specifically, the "Rifleman" Dreadnaughts are going to be quite useful. 'course, GW does not make twin linked auto cannon arms for the DNs, so I'll be using green stuff and resin I think to make the 6+ I'll be using over the course of my armies… Green stuff for the first "master" for the right and left arms, then make the molds and cast away… Should be good for a dozen or so arms at least, not a "high capacity" industrial operation in any sense of the word, but it'll work for my purposes I guess…
Locally, the cats are getting more and more clingy by the hour…. Maggie has been gone for a few days, and the cats have been getting more and more nervous about the possibility of her not returning, and so they are lurking about keeping a watch over the girls and I… Even with me running the vacuum cleaner and doing laundry they're still all about here, at least the current "shift"… There are usually 2-3 of them right in view while the rest are off resting… Advantages of the Pack training and mindset I guess…
Fixed a few random computers yesterday :-) 2/3 are back up and working now, need parts for the 3rd, so we'll see about that last one next week. Good practice, hoping that things work out and I start the new job next week…
Dug out some ancient boxes of Army stuff and firearm parts… And ammo, lots and lots of ammo… Apparently I was set up for a "rougher" Y2K than we experienced… Or whatever random invasion might have occurred up to and including Alien invasions :-P The old 30-06 AP ammo was useful when I shot in the Garand competitions, but it can also defeat any body armor worn today at 100m or so… That and shoot chunks out of things like engine blocks should the need arise…
The DK is one of those things that I think has potential. It is not nearly as broken as it's "playtest" incarnation, and it will take some actual planning and skill to use them properly… Bloody huge model, so cover saves will not be likely, T6 and 4 wounds puts them a bit worse off than the Eldar Wraithlord's current incarnation… The weapon loadout I think is a bit better for the DK, and they do have an inv save, though only a 5+… The Heavy Incinerator is more or less the IG's Hellhound for 30 points, the Gatling Psilencer is a Str 4 Heavy 12 AP- weapon costing 35… Not really liking the Heavy Psycannon at 40 points.. Str 7, large blast, AP 4 and rending… 24" range though, frankly I'd rather have the normal Psycannon's 4 shots (same specs, no blast of course) since we play with so much area terrain giving the 4+ cover saves to everything. Maybe I'm just missing something obvious, but it just doesn't seem worth it overall. The flamer and Psilencer are good horde control/just throw out mass fire weapons to go along with the Monstrous creature's Str 10 +2d6 AP vs. vehicles…
Other than that, the DNs are going to be beasts… Specifically, the "Rifleman" Dreadnaughts are going to be quite useful. 'course, GW does not make twin linked auto cannon arms for the DNs, so I'll be using green stuff and resin I think to make the 6+ I'll be using over the course of my armies… Green stuff for the first "master" for the right and left arms, then make the molds and cast away… Should be good for a dozen or so arms at least, not a "high capacity" industrial operation in any sense of the word, but it'll work for my purposes I guess…
Locally, the cats are getting more and more clingy by the hour…. Maggie has been gone for a few days, and the cats have been getting more and more nervous about the possibility of her not returning, and so they are lurking about keeping a watch over the girls and I… Even with me running the vacuum cleaner and doing laundry they're still all about here, at least the current "shift"… There are usually 2-3 of them right in view while the rest are off resting… Advantages of the Pack training and mindset I guess…
Fixed a few random computers yesterday :-) 2/3 are back up and working now, need parts for the 3rd, so we'll see about that last one next week. Good practice, hoping that things work out and I start the new job next week…
Dug out some ancient boxes of Army stuff and firearm parts… And ammo, lots and lots of ammo… Apparently I was set up for a "rougher" Y2K than we experienced… Or whatever random invasion might have occurred up to and including Alien invasions :-P The old 30-06 AP ammo was useful when I shot in the Garand competitions, but it can also defeat any body armor worn today at 100m or so… That and shoot chunks out of things like engine blocks should the need arise…
Thursday, March 17, 2011
St Pat’s Day :-)
Ah, St. Pat's day…. So different than when I was younger… I was pretty much in the bar, either drinking or working (yeah, ok, both in that case)… These days though? :-) Here at home with the giant dog and pack of guard cats watching over the little girls… Instead of drinking, lifted weights, a bit of time on the elliptical, some minor "hobby" stuff and cleaning some of my old weapons… Specifically, my old 1935 M1911A1 Colt… The .45 I was "issued" during my first combat deployment… It was a fairly chaotic thing, we really just wandered through a big warehouse with a shopping cart and took pretty much whatever we wanted… "Combat Loss" is a good thing, and I had it rebuilt after I got out… It's the only gun I KNOW I ever shot someone with, and so it's the one I trust for "emergency use"… Amusingly, it was also the one I started my wife out on, and it's the kind of pistol she is able to chamber a round in and fire more accurately than me… At targets at least :-)
Back to gaming next week… Think I'll be breaking out my Grey Knights… 1000 points each with my partner bringing Black Templars. One force org chart though, so this will require a bit of planning for the first week or two… The new codex comes out early April, and having seen pretty much all of the details by now, it looks like a pretty fun one with more Terminators as troops, a power armored option that is a GIANT FU for horde forces, Purifiers. They have a Psychic power that causes a wound on a 4+ to every enemy model in the HtH with them? Um, yes please… Sure, they get saves, but just doing the math every single IG figure has a 1 in 3 chance of dying, so SGTs with the Power weapons, Commissars to keep them from running… Every one of them has to roll the dice, and those numbers count for the close combat resolution… So, "Green Tide" and IG "Power Blobs" are in a LOT of trouble, having a hard counter now. So, for next years Adepticon, the teaming of a DA Deathwing (insert BT, BA or SW here as well) and Grey Knights is going to be really hard to beat…
Back to gaming next week… Think I'll be breaking out my Grey Knights… 1000 points each with my partner bringing Black Templars. One force org chart though, so this will require a bit of planning for the first week or two… The new codex comes out early April, and having seen pretty much all of the details by now, it looks like a pretty fun one with more Terminators as troops, a power armored option that is a GIANT FU for horde forces, Purifiers. They have a Psychic power that causes a wound on a 4+ to every enemy model in the HtH with them? Um, yes please… Sure, they get saves, but just doing the math every single IG figure has a 1 in 3 chance of dying, so SGTs with the Power weapons, Commissars to keep them from running… Every one of them has to roll the dice, and those numbers count for the close combat resolution… So, "Green Tide" and IG "Power Blobs" are in a LOT of trouble, having a hard counter now. So, for next years Adepticon, the teaming of a DA Deathwing (insert BT, BA or SW here as well) and Grey Knights is going to be really hard to beat…
Saturday, March 12, 2011
Just some WIP shots…
Just throwing out a few pictures of some of the lads I'm working on… For the record, the magnets that close together (3 in each Terminator) make it a pain in the ass to get the 2nd and third ones in place… But this way it won't be painted Monday, but I can put out a truly WYSIWYG force… Might even be painted for the next League…. Now, I just have to decide if I'm playing DA or Grey Knights…
Friday, March 11, 2011
Next League and “stuff”
So, from what we discussed last week, it is looking like a good bet that we'll be playing a team league, 1000 points/each so 2000/side. Assuming that the same side can share things like teleport homers and the like, my DA are in an excellent position to "assist" and quite frankly I think they're about the strongest in this sort of a setup. I'll be bringing 2 squads of Terminators with Cyclone Missile Launchers (CML), 3 Thunder Hammer/Storm Shield and 2 Lightning Claw (CML with the LC) and CPT Bezaliel (CPT Belial) as the basis of any force I bring. From here I can bring Whirlwinds, Vindicators, Typhoon class Speeders, Ravenwing Squadrons (bikes) and even a Land Raider Crusader… That will motivate me to get back to work on that conversion I guess… But in any case, a good "general" list with the "Deathwing base", Whirlwind, Vindicator and 2 Typhoon Speeders is just a bit short for the 1000 points, so one squad will get an Apothecary since the biggest disadvantage I've found so far for the DA is that there really is not much customization you can do, especially with Deathwing. In any case, I'll be fielding a fully WYSIWYG and mostly painted force by the end of the league I'd bet…
With the guns of doom, found one of my old CZ-52's that I'm cleaning up… It's more or less somewhere between an AK-47 and one of the SKS type rifles… 10 round removable magazine, integrated bayonet, semi-automatic rifle chambered in 7.62x45 rather than the 7.62x39. I do have a conversion kit for it to make it "sort of" 7.62x39, but never used it since I wound up with a few thousand rounds of the x45… Once again more random stuff found in the basement of doom… I suppose I should stop being surprised what I find in there at this point :-)
With the guns of doom, found one of my old CZ-52's that I'm cleaning up… It's more or less somewhere between an AK-47 and one of the SKS type rifles… 10 round removable magazine, integrated bayonet, semi-automatic rifle chambered in 7.62x45 rather than the 7.62x39. I do have a conversion kit for it to make it "sort of" 7.62x39, but never used it since I wound up with a few thousand rounds of the x45… Once again more random stuff found in the basement of doom… I suppose I should stop being surprised what I find in there at this point :-)
Monday, March 7, 2011
So, it’s March…
So, March already…
Big moves on the job front, breaking out the resume to "tailor" it to the upcoming position I found out about. Since it appears I'll not be merged into Atlas like I had hoped, this appears the way to move over there on my own. Not at all sure how fierce the competition will be for the job, but since it's my way out/up I'm gearing up to move. The guy in charge over at Atlas will be moving out to ASU, and looks like he'll be helping move me over there to Department "X" … Anyway, gearing up for that and hoping that it works out. A raise would be nice, but even more important I think will be the working for an IT department and actually doing something I enjoy and not quite so mind numbing. Also gearing up for a move within my current Department to make the transition away from me easier, whether it is an internal "promotion" for the #3 guy here taking over for me or if they actually go out and hire some poor schmuck to fill this slot…
On the guns front, getting pictures, but the more I do with this, the less enthused I am… Would far rather have gone with the early 80's Honda Silverwing, but that would involve selling a gun or three with the family finances being what they are… :-\ Yeah, it would probably be selling half a dozen or more, and the market for that is tricky. Can't reasonably just take them to a street corner and sell them like that, too great a chance they go to an undercover cop trying to entrap me in something stupid or to someone who may well use them in criminal activity themselves. So, selling a few guns during an "economic downturn" is not really the best option. Ah well, maybe the motorcycle will actually work… And I AM looking forward to riding again after so long…
Gaming, we're between leagues, should be discussing what to do for the next one. I am still putting together my Dark Angels stuff, so lots of Terminator class armor for my Deathwing Squads and bikes for the Ravenwing squads being assembled/painted. 1500 points is a bit tight for all of the options I'd LIKE to have, but it's what we can do at the Gopher, so that's what I'll build…
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