(Wedding) Favour to ask. Following my other blog.

Hey everyone,

I'll do hobby stuff first. My Finecast Dark Angel Captain is cleaned up now and I'll be getting him painted up as pretty soon. Not too much flash but unfortunately there is a distinct mold shift on the model. It's not too much and I'm not worried about it, but I would suggest taking as close a look at your new model as you can before you purchase. If the mould line/shift went over major detailing, that would be a bigger issue.

Ok, that done, it's on to the main reason for this post.

I've started a blog about writing custom wedding readings for people getting married. The URL is (unsurprisingly) http://customweddingreadings.blogspot.com



Essentially, I will be working with couples who want to have something really special and personalised written for their wedding day, but perhaps don't have the ability to really write down what it is that they are feeling. I have one example up of something I've done for a wedding so far and more are to come.

If this is something that interests any of you, I'd love to start building up some followers and since I'm in the early days and looking to build awareness, any family or friends you have who are getting married can come to me and I'll put something together for them for no cost. Just tell them to mention that you recommended they speak to me.

Thankyou all and feel free to get in touch if you have any questions at all about the new site.

Pete :-)

I wasn't going to buy Finecast....I really wasn't

So in a remarkably foolish and immature decision, I figured I would stop by the local GW to see the Finecast models in person before I continued on my way to hunker down and work hard in Starbucks/Costa. I brought all of my grammar and teaching books, my notes, my pens, even a separate keyboard to plug into my battered laptop. That's a sure sign that I was actually intending to be responsible.

It started off innocently enough with me heading into the (very busy) store and the employees there all greeting me by name. Great guys and I have to comment on how nice it is to go to a store that has the hobby feel I remember from GW back in my pre-teen years (15 years ago...wow, I'm old). The guys working here are just all around awesome individuals and they have created a real atmosphere of fun in the place.

I managed to get a game in too, though I hadn't planned to or brought my models. A guy was looking for a 750 game and one of the blueshirts offered me his Blood Angels and asked me if I'd play the guy. I took a real Deathstar of assault terminators, a Sang Priest and chaplain in a StormRaven, just for the fun of it. My opponent was a decent enough guy but was a bit frustrating to play against with a bunch of rules quibbles and rolling behind terrain. Not a huge deal really as I was playing casually, but the blueshirt got mad at him when he told me mid-assault that his bolter-armed Grey Hunter squad actually had a power weapon then mentioned that I didn't ask, when I queried why he didn't say so at the start of the game (when I had explained my non-WYSIWYG). It wasn't a huge deal but the guy took a while to realise why it came across as questionable. Still, I managed to use the mobility of the Blood Raven to let my terminators eat his Blood Claws, Wolf Priest and Grey Hunters (hidden power weapon or not). The Raven also took out his dread, a rhino and survived his Long Fangs' attentions all game. A decent game all in all and I won on killpoints when we cut the game short because of the store closing.

Anyhoo, back to the Finecast models. They are pretty nice I must say.

The resin has a rubbery nature to it, which takes out the biggest complaint I have of resin in general; that it chips when you try to trim it and is brittle. The blushirt whose army I used grabbed me when I was near the painting table and asked me if I would like to put together a sternguard since it needed doing for the display in the window. It cuts off the sprues very easily, flash is easy to remove by carving, superglue takes to it very effectively and the bond formed is very strong (I tried to pull off the combi melta hehe). The total time for cleanup and assembly was about two minutes for the model and I did a second just as fast.

While people were gushing about the detailing, I'm not convinced it is any sharper than most of the metal precursors, it just looks that way as metal detail is harder to see than resin detail. Certain models do look great though. We all agreed that the mounted Gandalf model actually looked like Sir Ian McCellan and someone had a Njal Stormcaller where you can see the individual fangs in his mouth. Good stuff, but most of them just look good. The model strength is high and they wiggled the Terror of Arnor model (large and winged like the Balrog) around by its wings, then dropped it a couple of times from 6-8 inches above the table with no damage.

My only two complaints about Finecast are that there are some small casting error.s You can see a few small air bubbles in some models. You can also notice mould-shift in some of them, which can take out detail, but it's a lot easier to trim this down than metal. Some of the flash is quite annoying though as it forms in spikes coming off the studs on the Mk5 shoulder pads. It's hard to carve this off without taking the stud too and these were the biggest problems for bubbles too. Given that they are small detail points, one bubble was enough to kill the stud entirely.

Ultimately, I think that Finecast will be decent for the standard character figures but it will really shine when the larger metal kits are brought around to the new material. I think things like the O&G Azhag, the Ogre Kingdom's Gnoblar Scraplauncher (thinking of you and that commission job OSH), Inquisitor Kazaramov etc. will really benefit from the new material. By taking so much weight off what can otherwise be small joints, it will make the assembly and use of the big models so much more pleasant to deal with.

One of the blueshirts commented on the price rises too. His understanding was that prices were going to go up anyway, but he conceded that the timing of the price rise was probably a mistake. They were happy to chat about the bad timing of the multiple issues GW has raised in the last few weeks, agreeing that they probably should have been spread out more.

So why did I spend money on things that were too expensive and I'd already said I wasn't going to get?

Because the store is really excellently run, I wanted to support it and for once, I got a deal from GW.

A Dark Angels chapter master (Ten pounds fifty) finecast model they had on the shelves was mis-packed. It contained two body sprues and no backpack/head sprues. The staff offered to sell it to anyone who wanted instead of sending back to HQ as you would just need two plastic heads and backpacks to have two models. There was a young kid there who, when he realised I was thinking of buying it, begged me for the other body. He only had four pounds something on him, but I decided that was enough for me. His face lit up with a big grin and I felt like I'd done my good deed for the day. I'll probably paint up this guy in Deathwing colours then either sell him, or donate him back to the store. Still, it's a mark of how much GW has changed when six quid for a single (incomplete) model is a good deal.

This is what I have, except that I'll be using a more modest helmet and adding my own plastic backpack/banner.


Perhaps the whole karma malarky does work because when I got to Starbucks, the exhausted looking (but cute) girl at the register asked me what drink I would like and was so relieved when I just asked for a plain coffee. I guess they've been having a day of difficult orders. We chatted for a bit since I was a barista for six months or so in the States and I know the challenges you get. After a minute she 'accidentally' rung my drink up as a partner beverage :-)

So all in all, I've had a great day, despite not doing the work I need to do. I think it's time now to head home and be responsible. I have a lesson to plan and grammar structures to examine for my teaching course. I can't put it off any more. Perhaps I'll even tempt karma one more time on my way out of here and see if the barista girl is free for a date sometime ;-)

All the best

Pete

PS: I'm a wuss and didn't go chat to the girl. Ah well ;-)

Tonight I can write.....of a Deathwing battle and some more poetry ;-)

So I took the Deathwing out to play tonight.

After carrying around a big box of models during my teaching course today, the stage was set for a Deathwing battle at the local GW in Cambridge. I got the impression fairly quickly that most people there were playing fairly unfocused lists so I was a bit worried I'd be seen as a power gamer, but I figured that the disparity in codex age between me and my opponent (Space Wolves) should even things out.

We played pitched battle annihilation and my army was simple.

Belial, Librarian, Command Assault squad (with apothecary), 2 assault squads, 2 shooty squads.

My opponent brought (roughly):
- Wolf Lord with wolf claw and storm bolter
- Rune priest (jaws and living lightning)
- 5 Wolf guard in terminator armour, 2 wolf claws, 2 power fists, 1 thunder hammer, assault cannon
- Venerable Dread (AC)
- 10 Grey hunters
- 15(?) Blood Claws led by a Wolf Guard w/ PF
- 5 Wolf Scouts (sniper rifles and missile)
- Vindicator
- 5 Long Fangs (Multi-melta, heavy bolter, plasma cannon, lascannon)


I knew from his armaments that he hadn't really put together the list for killiness, but figured it would be a good first game for the Deathwing anyway. I won the dice off and gave him first turn. He deployed fairly evenly with Grey Hunters and Long Fangs on one flank, Vindicator, WG and Lord in the centre, then Dread and Blood Claws with Rune priest on the other flank. He reserved the scouts for outflanking. This seemed a waste to me since they had heavy weapons but hey ho.

To counter this, I deployed one shooty squad with the Librarian on the flank table edge facing his Dread and Blood Claws. All other squads were deep striking.

His turn 1 had nothing much since he had no targets. He moved forwards with everything but left the vindicator sitting, now separated from his mini-deathstar of lord and WG. My turn 1 brought in Belial and the command squad, and another assault squad. Belial et al. set up in my opponent's rear corner with LOS to, but out of charge range of, the dread. The other squad landed between two buildings with LOS to the Vindicator's flank. A few missiles later and I'd stunned the dread and blown up the tank. My shooty squad also killed some Blood Claws.

Turn 2 he continues to move forward on his right flank, which seemed a waste since my entire force thus far was on his left. His Wolf Guard wheeled around to advance on my guys and the Blood Claws elected to shoot rather than charge Belial's squad. Terminator armour and FNP saved them and the Librarian stopped Jaws being cast. My turn 2 gave me the second shooty squad who I deepstruck in place to block and shoot the wolf guard. I once again stunned the dread and charged the Blood Claws with Belial's squad. He took two wounds and we lost one terminator, but stomped the Claws, making them run, only the WG and Priest still alive. I consolidated so that they would be within 6" and unable to rally next turn

Turn 3 puts his fleeing units almost off the table. He gets to charge the shooty squad with his Wolf Guard though and with some good shooting and wolf claws, pulls them apart before I could fight back. I get my last squad and strike them to the flank I'm rapidly taking. I stun the dread again (damnit, just die), move Belial to escort the fleeing models off the board and get my power hitters in position to counter assault the WG if they get into combat with the assault squad near them. The WG are very killy, but I've got a huge amount of hitting power on offer to overwhelm them if I concentrate it.

Turn 4 lets him just get the charge on one of my assault squads, but the lord and one WG aren't close enough to strike. I get some good rolls with my lightning claws and tear up three of his guys, then the hammers/fists come into play and we're reduced to the cyclone guy on my side, his lord and AC on his side. I then shoot the DCCW off his dread, letting me charge it and PF it to death then my command squad assaults in to kill the lord and remaining Wolf Guard, their 3+ Storm Shields (thanks FAQ) saving them from the wolf claws.

He has 1 kill point (shooty squad), and has killed 10 terminators. I have 6 kills points (7 if the WG leader of the Blood Claws count) and we call the game as it's getting late.


Now clearly my opponent made some major errors and didn't correct them later. The wolf scouts should have been on the table in turn 1 to use their guns, the devastators (whose loadout would benefit from less diversity) needed to be better placed from the start and, when it was clear I was hitting just one flank, should have been moved to counter on turn 1. Instead they holed up in a building with great LOS to my flank that had no models on it. The end result was that I took on around 1000pts of Wolves with my whole army and mashed them. Good opponent though and kept smiling through to the end. If we'd had time I'd have danced out of his range and kept throwing missiles at his remaining troops. Or if I decided to be more casual I would have footslogged over to his scouts, hunters and fangs who'd hunkered down in a few buildings and tried to fight them out, just for kicks.

The Deathwing are nice, no question, but very different to play with. You have to use deepstriking (with Deathwing Assault) in many cases because you can't risk a long range gunfight against most foes. With that in mind, I can see that picking the DS locations can make or break your game from the start. I think this army is going to be very tactical to play and a real challenge when facing a less casual player, or even one who realises I might DS and castles up. Deathwing also suffer a problem of cracking Mech, especially walkers. Against vehicles I have hammers, fists and some chainfists but I have to think twice when facing a Dread that can pulp me pretty badly.

Overall I had a blast playing my new army and the GW store here is really cool. The staff were excited about Finecast but didn't try to sell me anything and just loved to talk about the hobby. It made me feel like I was in the GW that I grew into the hobby with and not some of the more sales-focused ones I've been to recently.

Thanks for reading all.

To finish off we have poetry.....it's good for you


I think this is my favourite poem I've yet read. It was shown to me be someone who I was close with and resonated with me deeply then, and still does as I look back on things. I hope you enjoy the flow, words and emotions too.

I'll culture you gamers yet ;-)


Tonight I Can Write

Tonight I can write the saddest lines.

Write, for example, 'The night is starry
and the stars are blue and shiver in the distance.'

The night wind revolves in the sky and sings.

Tonight I can write the saddest lines.
I loved her, and sometimes she loved me too.

Through nights like this one I held her in my arms.
I kissed her again and again under the endless sky.

She loved me, sometimes I loved her too.
How could one not have loved her great still eyes.

Tonight I can write the saddest lines.
To think that I do not have her. To feel that I have lost her.

To hear the immense night, still more immense without her.
And the verse falls to the soul like dew to the pasture.

What does it matter that my love could not keep her.
The night is starry and she is not with me.

This is all. In the distance someone is singing. In the distance.
My soul is not satisfied that it has lost her.

My sight tries to find her as though to bring her closer.
My heart looks for her, and she is not with me.

The same night whitening the same trees.
We, of that time, are no longer the same.

I no longer love her, that's certain, but how I loved her.
My voice tried to find the wind to touch her hearing.

Another's. She will be another's. As she was before my kisses.
Her voice, her bright body. Her infinite eyes.

I no longer love her, that's certain, but maybe I love her.
Love is so short, forgetting is so long.

Because through nights like this one I held her in my arms
my soul is not satisfied that it has lost her.

Though this be the last pain that she makes me suffer
and these the last verses that I write for her.

Citadel Finecast and a Neruda poem.

Hey everyone,

Today I went into the Cambridge GW and chatted with the staff there since I'm going to be living here for a month and need to get some game time in with the Deathwing before I head to Bratislava and possibly have a dearth of players. The guys working there were very cool and nice to talk to. They didn't try to sell me anything, were interested in my models and happy to chat about a bunch of different stuff.

However, when it came to Citadel Finecast, they clammed up hard. They've been told firmly from higher up that if they say too much they will be fired for it. The big reveal will be next Monday and despite me asking questions in a dozen different ways and them really wanting to tell me things, they didn't. What I gleamed was (take this with as much salt as you wish):

- They've been reading the blogs etc and 80% of it is wrong. They think people will be surprised at how wrong they are.
- Finecasting is a fundamentally new technique (they would neither confirm nor deny if it was resin)
- The detail of the models is a serious step up and makes Forge World look merely OK.
- No other game company will be able to afford to invest and make this technique happen. GW has been working on it for a while.
- While they didn't say exactly, it seems like the models will be receiving new sculpts and so on. They hinted that those expecting an exact recast in resin were wrong.


What they didn't comment on:

- Are old metal blisters going to be phased out and replaced by finecast? Will there be a sale? Are they just going to be melted down?
- Are all metal kits going to be moved to finecast, including big ones like Greater Daemons and metal warmachines?


All in all the two blueshirts were really nice guys. They invited me to their gaming night, didn't push sales, listened to my expressing the current upset with GW and responded fairly. Summed up:
- Finecast misunderstood
- Price rise is annual and expected. GW profits aren't that high because of reinvestment into model kits etc. It's not the big cash cow some people think
- FAQ writing was slow but seems to be better now. Also game designers work 2 years or more out on things so it's hard for them to predict rules conflicts and devote their time to FAQing new issues since they have moved on to later products
- The ban on online retailers shipping to Oz is not their speciality, but they speculated that GW may open a moulding plant over there, as the did in the states and prices can be brought in line.


All in all, good guys and I'm looking forward to seeing the Finecast models. I hope to be truly surprised and impressed at GW's work. But, it has to be said I have some scepticism. I can't see how much more detailing they can add to models so we will have to see.

I couldn't decide between the following animal pics so you get both ;-)








Now for something completely different. Thanks to someone I used to be in good contact with who showed me their favourite poem (Tonight I can Write), I found and fell in love with the Chilean poet Pablo Neruda. Here is a poem called unity that I read this morning and liked. Enjoy :-)


There is something dense, united, settled in the depths,
repeating its number, its identical sign.
How it is noted that stones have touched time,
in their refined matter there is an odor of age,
of water brought by the sea, from salt and sleep.

I'm encircled by a single thing, a single movement:
a mineral weight, a honeyed light
cling to the sound of the word "noche":
the tint of wheat, of ivory, of tears,
things of leather, of wood, of wool,
archaic, faded, uniform,
collect around me like walls.

I work quietly, wheeling over myself,
a crow over death, a crow in mourning.
I mediate, isolated in the spread of seasons,
centric, encircled by a silent geometry:
a partial temperature drifts down from the sky,
a distant empire of confused unities
reunites encircling me.

Breaking with the long time girlfriend that is GW...

I wasn't sure how to title or phrase this particular blog post until I was chatting with Old Shatter Hands on gmail and we came around to the topic of GW's actions of late. To sum them up for those who aren't familiar:

One - The new wave of Dark Eldar models are really nice. The 40k online community is generally all in favour of them, the models, prices not too bad for GW and all is well. Hope blossoms.

Two - GW decides now all info about new things will come out a week prior to release. No exceptions. No excitement for what's coming next. No seeing plans for model releases in advance (like almost every other game compan), nada. You will get it with 7 days warning and like it!!!

Three - GW announces they are basically recasting their metal figures into resin to reduce costs. I'm on the fence about this one. Cheaper figs is good but resin can be warped, bubbly and is fragile. I don't see certain sculpts lasting well (Lelith for one). Now we find out that they are actually going up in price by about 10% average (a few £/$ per figure). Oh, they are there to reduce GW's costs and shaft us? Gotcha

Four- GW announce an annual price rise to jack everything up a few % more than inflation. Not out of the ordinary but coming along with the rest makes me a sad panda.

Five- GW orders online sellers in the UK to stop shipping outside the EU. For people in Oz/NZ it is actually cheaper to buy forge world models than GW models because of the screwed pricing (box of terminators for £48 anyone? Nearly double RRP). The online retailers helped that but no more. A lot of down under gamers have expressed their imminent migration to Warmahordes etc. Hey GW, how about making prices virtually the same across the world or at least within 5-10% on the same product?


So me and OSH start chatting and here is the the conclusion.


OSH: I dont even care...I feel like I have broken up with a long time girlfriend and I am in the stage where I kind of remember the good times, but if I think about it hard all those bad times come back to memory

Pete: Ok, that's my blog title right there. Consider it stolen (I'll credit you lol)

OSH: Haha, go ahead. Really its like that. It's time for a break up. GW is the girlfriend that doesn't appreciate what you do...

Pete: Such a good analogy




To me the key point is that GW just doesn't seem to want to communicate with the playerbase and community. OSH sent a list of FAQs to Jervis, got a response, but half of the questions were not addressed when the actual FAQ came out and sometimes we have to wait months or years for simple rules questions to be addressed.

GW's pricing has always been at the high end of the market but now it's gotten to the point where I just don't care to play any more. Not that it is that much more expensive with the annual hike (a few £ per box set) but with the other issues of the game, corporate money-first attitude, lack of player base connection and communication, it's just a little more than I care to deal with.

I'd rather support games companies that are more interested in their players and have a more vibrant feeling to them. GW feels like they've stagnated, despite some of the best fluff and background out there.

From now on, I'm going to do what Steve Holy suggested. (He is one of the many good country singers who came to the studio when I was working in radio in the states)

For me it's going to be Infinity and Malifaux, with some Warmachine if I want a bigger game.



On the other hand, I'll be keeping up with my Deathwing since they are a finished army and you can't deny the terminator models are pretty sweet. In fact, model quality is something I don't really look down on GW for. For the most part they are great and their plastics are really nice. I did so much mix and matching with these Deathwing and I think they look great for it. I'm also going to put out a WOOT for the Army Painter colour primers. Saved me so much time on basecoating.

Infinite babes?

****Disclaimer, sexism towards wargaming figures occurs in this post ;-)****

Blog followers, I have a confession to make.....I sometimes get a crush on female wargaming miniature sculpts ;-)

Instead of considering this a problem, I've decided to relish it and use it as motivation for future gaming. Enter Infinity, the game.

Because I'm lazy and want to get on with linking pics of Infinity ladies, I'm going to blatantly crib info Old Shatter Hands wrote about the game(thanks bud).

The game is set in 175 years in the future of our world. This is very important, because in the game you'll find all the contemporary world powers represented in the game. There is a huge Asian conglomerate power, the Yu Jing, that features units and troops from China, Japan and other Asian nations. Americans have been fused with the nations of the UK and Russia, and become a power, less advanced technologically due to isolation from Earth and the Human Sphere for a century.

The game can be incredibly detailed; your futuristic soldiers can doctor wounded comrades, hack into enemy computer systems, and use camouflage to move undetected across the battlefield. At first it sounds complex, but the core rules are fluid, simple and easy to learn. You'll never need more than 4 dice at a time, in contrast to 40k where you often find yourself digging out 20-30 dice from your stash.

What I like most about it, is that although it's still based on a "you-go, I-go" turn system, your enemy can react to your moves in your turn and vice versa, making for a game that engages you throughout its entire length. You don't have to watch your opponent move and shoot uncontested during his turn, you get to fight back.

I haven't even mentioned the miniatures yet. They are, in my humble opinion, the best miniatures available on the market today. Every model is expertly sculpted with near flawless anatomy, posed in dynamic and fluid stances that imply action. You have to see for yourself. It's hard to look at a 40k miniature the same way after you realize what Corvus Belli has achieved with this range.


So of the factions available I find myself drawn towards the Ariadna (Old European) and Haqqislam (new Islam). I'm going based on the models I like most because I understand that this is a much more balanced game than 40k so there are no worries about picking a faction like Witch Hunters in 40k to find your play group is running Wolves, Blood Angels and Grey Knight Shunt-punching Dreadknights.

The low model count and limited investment also work well for me with my travel plans. Here are the two starter sets I will be picking up to start my Infinity gaming.



Haqqislamn
I agree with OSH on the quality of sculpts that Corvus Belli produces and the casual assurance of the female Ghulam figure on the right makes me think she is a real soldier. Nice feminine lines without the exaggerated effect you get in some other companies' miniatures.



AriadnaSome more great models and if we focus on the female Khazak (as we should in this post), you will see that she is definitely projecting a rough and tumble sexy look. She looks more than capable of handling herself on the battlefield or off it...(giggity?)



Haqqislam anti tankFrom this model, I have learned that tank hunting definitely requires stopping in mid-run and sticking a shapely backside out so that you can see the foe coming. Presumably any tank or TAG (Infinity's armoured suits) crew will be distracted by the lovely curves on display long enough for you to put a rocket through their armour.



Ariadne ChasseurThe Ariadne have clearly learned the booty shunt move too (much more fun that the GK shunt punch). Your eyes will be stuck to her until you realise she's stuck a grenade on you with her adhesive launcher.



Ariadne Caledonian VolunteersHere a sexy, plaid skirt wearing young lady appears to have wandered into the battle and is now all flustered and cute. Wrong, she just wants you to think that while her buddy on the right takes you out or she can show you the business end of her grenade launcher.



Haqqislam OdalisqueNow this lady may be a seductress (it's in the fluff, look it up) but she's smart, sassy, sexy and stalwart too. She can fight in platform boots too. Oh yeah




Ariadne Para CommandoNow here's a lady who has clearly watched Date Night and remembers the alleyway scene (Watch the trailer and skip to 1 minute in). Yeah, she knows about the killshot.



Szalamandra SquadronNow this figure is from the Nomads faction rather than Ariadne or Haqqislam but I love the sculpting on her. To me she's saying "Once I'm done posing, I'll get into my TAG suit (it looks like a giant Crisis suit) and totally kick your ass."


So there you have a short trip through just a few of the babes of Infinity. I'm definitely planning to get an army started with some eye candy and build up a fighting force around that. One great strength of a balanced game system is that I'm not going to lose out by taking certain models or not taking others. As I understand it, almost any force can deal with almost any other force if played well.

Nicely sculpted female figures all the way ;-)

Pete

Unnoficial Codexes and 40k detective fiction.

Hey everyone

So my Deathwing are fully assembled now, including Captain Lysander as the command squad sergeant (superglue still hates me but pinning sorts that out). Just waiting on my Army painter Bone White spray before I get to actually tying together my divergent models with a colour scheme.

Of course, being a wargamer I wouldn't be considered 'normal' within our community if I didn't have an extra project in mind. It hit me when I was reading through the unnoficial Kroot Mercenaries codex that came out in 3rd/4th edition Chapter Approved and then was updated for 5th edition. It's completely unofficial and not endorsed by GW, but I think it would be a blast to play and model for.

Essentially it takes the Kroot of the Tau codex, those put in the Imperial Armour 3: The Taros Campaign, adds a few more and ties it all together into a fun codex. It's not a powergaming choice by any means, but definitely has character. To represent their mercenary nature, the kroot shapers who lead each squad can be equipped with a variety of guns (storm bolters, flamers, melta, kroot rifles etc.) and other weapons (power swords, eviscerators, various kroot charms). Ultimately it's an army that puts a lot of Kroot on the table, with their attendant strengths and weaknesses. Put a few flame templates down and I'd be pulling models off left and right but let me get the charge through a forest and I'll hit hard up front.

How about some heavy support to start us off?

Greater Knarlocs are a nice way to munch up your foe. Now if only they didn't cost £40 each form Forge World


Jump infantry kroot and their shaper wielding a chainfist equivalent...fun.


You can have squads of sniper kroot. Deadly until your opponent flies his heavy flamer land speeder next to them.


Kroot shaper council with kroot hounds. Like a unit of nobz except not as diversified, limited to a max of 5 members, cannot get invulnerable saves or FNP, no furious charge and get Instant Death from Strenth 6. On the other hand, you can get a buttload of attacks on the charge and they are just plain fun. Bring it on you greenskins.


The downside of the fun codex is that you are stuck with one box of plastic kroot, metal krootox and hounds, and forge world's expensive resin selection to make it all work. I put together a 1500pt list and I think that I could make it, with a bunch of converting from 5 sets of Kroot (80 figures total), 4 krootox, a set of LOTR Wargs for hounds (OSH's idea) and some Dark Elf Cold one knights to give me knaroc mounts (after a Greenstuff sculpted beak). Relatively affordable and with fun conversion options. It wouldn't have all of the cool kroot choices (Great Knarlocs, vulture kroot) but would be fun to play and quirky to convert. A project for another day perhaps.


What are your thoughts on codexes like the Kroot Mercenaries or the Lost and the Damned? Have you collected them or played against them? Would it benefit Games Workshop to bring them back as playable?



In other news, when I'm not working on my English Language teaching course's pre-course homework (somehow that doesn't seem fair), I've been putting together a novel pitch for Black Library Publishing. Until I started this I'd never considered writing detective-type fiction in any setting but I've found that 40k and the Inquisition suit me just fine. I'm enjoying taking a lowly interrogator who's recently bereft of his master and putting him under the command of an Inquisitor who doesn't want him, doesn't much like him and has tasked him to bring an escaped psyker to justice.

I don't want to give away too much on my setting and plot as I think it's quite creative and could (hopefully) pique the interest of the submissions editors at Black Library but I can tell you that this interrogator is working in an environment that is anything but comfortable and is worried that he can't trust his own mind. For the first time, I'm making a conscious effort to have every character I introduce to the story be critical at some point in things. I've written too much before where I would add characters like "a soldier", "the ship's doctor", "a henchman". That's not to say there isn't a place for such characters, but if they only warrant a title, then they should only warrant a small place in the proceedings.


Take care all,

Pete

PS: I'm a responsible wargamer. Despite being seriously tempted to add an Infinity starter set to my Wayland Games spray paint order to make the most of the shipping cost, I refrained. Doesn't mean I won't pick up some Haqq'Islam when I get to Bratislava and start earning some money.


PPS: If anybody has some of the metal krootox models they don't want and would part with for a modest price, please get in touch with me.