Gosh darn you GW and your temptuous ways.

Hey everyone,

So despite winding down on my time here in America (leaving April 13th) and trying to sell off the vast majority of my wargaming collection.....I am getting tempted to collect a new army.

How is it that we can be hooked so powerfully by these pieces of plastic, pewter and resin that sensible ideas like dropping the hobby for a while due to impending travel drift out of our minds and are replaced by the urge to create a new army of tiny toy warriors?

However it happened....I want to get and play a Deathwing army

I trace this particular new urge to a few factors:
- I don't want to stop the hobby, despite planning on country hopping.
- I can make an army of all terminators and only have to transport 25-30 figures.
- The new FAQ makes them better on the tabletop.
- I like the idea of having mixed armament squads
- I read the original story of the Deathwing in the novel compilation Deathwing when I first got into the GW hobby at age 10 or so.

So let's bring on the Deathwing.



Games Workshop has managed to create a rather awesome collection of plastic terminators for various armies and I like them all.....so I want to create a fun mishmash army. I will use various boxed sets and enjoy the mix of armaments that playing deathwing will allow me to take advantage of. I also have a great love for plastic models and will use it whenever possible since metal and resin don't click with me. I swear my skin exudes chemicals that prevent superglue from working on anything I'm holding, no matter what it's made from.

Army 'List'

To start with, the army needs to be led by Belial, the master of the deathwing. He allows Deathwing to be taken as troops as well as Elites, giving you 9 slots to fill with terminator goodness. There is no model for Belial so I'm thinking of using the Chaos Terminator lord as a base for him with lightning claws or converting using spare bits from the other sets I'll get.

Here's a good example of a Chaos lord Belial Conversion from Dakka



I cleary need to have some regular terminator boxes, for the cyclone launchers if nothing else but with the other sets on offer I can make some beastly combinations and fun models.

So I will start with two boxes of regular terminators and one box of assault terminators to give me some good models and basic options.

Who doesn't love hammers, claws and missiles?



Next up for me is the extremely cool Space Wolf Terminator set. This comes with a great selection of ranged and melee weapons (love the belt-fed assault cannon) and as long as I cover up some of the more obvious wolf imagery, I think it will add character.




By adding Belial to the mix, one Deathwing squad can be upgraded to have a banner and an apothecary. That's right, feel no pain on fearless terminators. Until today there was no obvious way to get a terminator-armoured apothecary and so conversion was the only option.

......then the new Grey Knight terminators set was released, including a sweet banner, apothecary, multiple great weapons and some fantastically ornate armour pieces. Clearly I'll have to fiddle around with the parts and perhaps use some green stuff to edit the many Inquisition symbols but I think they will make for great Deathwing models. Also, if I spread the Grey Knight pieces out over the whole army and add some robes with Green Stuff then the army as a whole will be coherent.




Last on the list for now is to add some Dark Angels' bits from the conversion sprue to help maintain a theme of Deathwing, particularly given the multiple sources of models I'll be using.




So there we have it. Games Workshop has tempted me back in again and I'm thinking about this quite strongly. It'll make for a good longer-term project too that I can take with me to whatever new country I'm living in and will give me a nice creative outlet for when I want to just nerd out :-)

Pete

Lots of models on offer for modest prices.

Hey everyone,

So since I'm leaving the US in a couple of months to begin the next crazy adventure of my life country-hopping and hopefully living in South America, I have to get rid of my entire collection of models.

Below is a list of everything that I have. At this stage I'm looking for cash only rather than trade since I can't take much with me and there are plenty of costs ahead of me (flights, visas, certification to teach English abroad etc.)

Still, I'd rather my collection go to people who I know will enjoy it and take good care of it than just be put on faceless Ebay.

There are no prices on this. Just get in touch with me (pgwallin@gmail.com) if you're interested in something and we can discuss.

I'm hoping to sell the marines, orks and Tau as complete armies but I'm open to discussion on everything.

All the best :-)

Pete



40k
2500-3000pts Pete's chapter marines (95% painted, TT level)
Captain
5 sternguard, 6 terminators, MM dread,
5 scouts, 25 tactical marines, Rhino
Land Speeder
~10 Devastators
Land Raider Redeemer

10 Grey Knights

Other models
- Lascannon Dread
- Marneus Calgar (painted)
- Honour Guard (primed)
- Marneus + HG (primed)
- Tau army (all painted): 2 Helios, 3 stealth + MD, 6 Gun Drones, 12 Fire Warriors, 12 Kroot, 2 Piranhas, Hammerhead, Skyray
- Ork Army (85% painted): Warboss, Big Mek, 20 Nobz, 40 Boyz, 20 Grots, 8 lootas, 8 burnas, 6 deffkoptas

Warmachine/HORDES
- Harbinger of Menoth (almost painted and assembled)
- Skorne Battlebox (mostly assembled)
- Trollbloods battlebox
- Trollbloods battlbox (primed)

RamshackleHuntsman spider tank (~30% painted, needs a base)
- 8-10 trukks / half tracks etc.
- 30-40 figures, resin and metal. ~10 painted

Ork Tournament list for the sausagefest

Hey everyone,

So thanks to Old Shatter Hands' prodding, I am going to go and play in the Sausagefest tournament next weekend in Glen Burnie with my orks. I played a game with some friends yesterday, taking on 1850 pts of marines and Tau with an ork list.

I feel a little bad as my friends are pretty new to the game and I was testing out a tournament-style list but it was still a good fight. The dice were good to me at key points in the game and I played effectively to hold the objectives by turns 5-6.

My list was as follows

HQ
Warboss, Power Klaw, Squig, Cybork – 110 pts
Big mek, Kustom Force Field, Eavy Armour – 90 pts

Elites - One nobz as troops because of warboss
8 lootas – 120pts
8 burnas – 120 pts
9 nobz, Painboy, 3 Power Klaws, 2 Bi Choppas, Waagh banner, 9 Cybork bodies – 355
10 nobz, Painboy, 3 Power Klaws, 3 Kombi Weapons, 1xAmmo runt, 10 Cybork bodies – 373


Troops
21 boyz, 2 Big Shootas, Nob, Power Klaw, Bosspole – 176 pts
21 boyz, 2 Big Shootas, Nob, Power Klaw, Bosspole – 176 pts
10 grots, Runtherder – 40 pts
10 grots, Runtherder – 40 pts
Trukk, Red Paint Job - 40pts

Heavy Support
Battlewagon, Red Paint Job, 2 Big Shoota – 105 pts
Battlewagon, Red Paint Job, 2 Big Shoota – 105 pts

Total – 1850 pts



So it was a fun list to play and simple in execution. The vehicles head forward covered by the KFF and drop off the nobz into combat. The burnas ride in the trukk and do drive-by flaming while the boyz and grots move up the field or head for objectives. The lootas give me a bit of long range anti-vehicle.

Overall I like it but I think it will struggle a lot against a mech-heavy list as there is little available to really threaten armour outside of assault. My collection is quite limited and I have only the models above plus six Deffkoptas.

I'm thinking of dropping the warboss, burnas and trukk (270pts even) to add 3 units of 2 TL-rokkit deffkoptas. I think the drive by flaming is fun, but the trukk is very vulnerable to even light AV fire and the warboss is very fun, but not necessary like the KFF mek. Hopefully by being able to throw out some rokkits and scouting for first turn assaults I can mess up the opponents in the tournament.

New List:
HQ
Big mek, Kustom Force Field, Eavy Armour – 90 pts

Elites - One nobz as troops because of warboss
8 lootas – 120pts
9 nobz, Painboy, 3 Power Klaws, 2 Bi Choppas, Waagh banner, 9 Cybork bodies – 355
10 nobz, Painboy, 3 Power Klaws, 3 Kombi Weapons, 1xAmmo runt, 10 Cybork bodies – 373


Troops
21 boyz, 2 Big Shootas, Nob, Power Klaw, Bosspole – 176 pts
21 boyz, 2 Big Shootas, Nob, Power Klaw, Bosspole – 176 pts
10 grots, Runtherder – 40 pts
10 grots, Runtherder – 40 pts

Fast Attack
2 Deffkoptas, Twin-linked rokkits - 90 pts
2 Deffkoptas, Twin-linked rokkits - 90 pts
2 Deffkoptas, Twin-linked rokkits - 90 pts

Heavy Support
Battlewagon, Red Paint Job, 2 Big Shoota – 105 pts
Battlewagon, Red Paint Job, 2 Big Shoota – 105 pts

1850 on the nose.

Thoughts?

Learning to improve and grow from losses.

I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I intended to be. ~Douglas Adams

Hey everyone,

So while the title could have a 40k slant, it doesn't really (barring the following brief passage).

Of course you should do your utmost to recognise the lessons learned in a defeat on the tabletop as ways to improve both your character, skill in the game and understanding of your army. I definitely fall into a bloodthirsty pattern in games and try to kill my opponent's army off, sometimes at the expense of the objective. I've either lost or been pushed to a draw in a game where otherwise I've smacked my opponent around. I've learned to take the losing in good humour, not to get mad when the dice don't play and to just enjoy the experience of playing toy soldiers with the good people I've met through wargaming.

So, warhammer stuff over for now. It's time to write about what I'm really feeling.


******************************************************************************

First up is an admission. I played a strong part in really screwing up friendships because I was being selfish in pursuing a possible relationship, out of fear in fact. I wasn't the only person involved in what happened but I've got to accept a good portion of the blame. I think the friendships might have a chance to be rebuilt with some time and a chance to talk through things but it forced me to stop and really think about my life and future.

While it felt like a loss at first, actually being in the relationship I wanted wouldn't have been the best thing for me. I've come realise that I don't have a good idea of what it is that really drives and motivates me in my life. I don't have a greater goal that I'm moving towards and never really have. The major emotional connections and hope that I experienced in my life (with my ex-wife and this recent situation) came from the relationships representing a chance to escape the uncertainty. I was afraid of not really knowing myself and what I wanted and if I could make the relationships my goals and drives, that would let me avoid confronting the fear. Let me point out at this point that this isn't the best way of doing things ;-)

But it's amazing what can come out of losses and how much you can improve. I'm not only talking about learning to deal with Nob Bikers here (sorry, couldn't resist. I'll always be a geek at heart).

From my ex-wife I realised that I really wasn't looking for the same things in life that she was and that we could grow into a much better people not being with each other. We were best friends (still are) who had a good relationship. For much of the time the major issues could be glossed over because the friendship was so strong. After we separated though we have both gone from strength to strength and learned about ourselves. We've even managed to keep the friendship and possibly improve it even. I'm very fortunate to know such a good person.

From this recent situation I realised that it's probably not right for me to look for a serious relationship until I really know what path I'm going to walk in my life. It's also not right to risk friendships for selfish motives because you may lose much more than you gain and even if you 'succeed' in getting what you want, the pain you cause isn't nice for those involved. I also found the courage to stand up to my fear and admit that I don't know who I am really supposed to be and that it will take time to find that out.

So in order to help find that out.....

.....I'm going to explore the world a bit more :-)


I travelled for just shy of a year before I went to university and it was really good for me. Now the wanderlust bug has bitten me again (it was probably a sneaky Lictor) and I want to see where it will take me.

I have a two part idea, which is currently very loose but that's fine for now as it will start to tighten up as I consider all the angles.

My mother's boyfriend, who I've yet to have the pleasure of meeting since my Xmas trip home was cancelled by the snow in the UK, is very high up in a physics / engineering / renewable energy field and he travels all over the place doing really high level work (Japan, Europe, Australia just recently). I'm going to see if I can get to go along with him, even unpaid on some of this and get a feel for what he does. Perhaps get some future career contracts and use it to boost the resume while I save money doing whatever else I can do. This will necessitate going back to England at least for a while and I'm not totally sold on that yet, but I'm considering it for a bit. It'd definitely save money on the immigration front but on the other hand, if I got residency here then could go travelling for a bit too, that might be the best of both worlds.


For myself, I want to go to Argentina and Chile. I'd like to explore the Andes mountains, the high-plateaus and spend time at the space observatories down there if I can. I've really started to explore my fascination with the cosmos around us and how we play into this incredible universe around us. I'll probably try to take a full year to do this and travel around if I can. Nothing rushed, just exploring the world and myself at the same time.

I feel like it could be quite a religious exploration too (in my own agnostic way) if I get to really be in such a humbling, amazing place and spend time looking/listening to the instruments on space. My image is of being on the roof of the world and talking to God, If God to you means the sheer wonder of this natural world and the cosmic surroundings.

Any resemblance to a defence laser is purely geek imagination running wild



In my most fancy imaginations, I even get to write a book about self discovery and the nature of life, the universe and everything with what I've learned ;-)


Inevitably there is a lot to be done to make any of this happen. I need to gather together funding, figure out whether I even try to get permanent residency or just let my expiry date in June come around, get rid of all those excess possessions that I really don't need, spend time with family before I go off gallivanting again, learn Spanish so I can get around in South America and really put my mind into creating a defined plan.

And you though mathammer took a lot of work.....

Thanks for reading (if you made it this far). As always, more now in fact, thoughts and ideas are very much appreciated.

Pete

Won't be blogging for a bit, life is on a downer.

Hey everyone,

Now I know my blogging has hardly been the most active recently but I was getting back into the swing of things bit by bit and enjoying some warhammer with good friends.

Sadly, my friends and I have had a pretty serious falling out and I don't know if we'll be in touch much, if at all, let alone playing Warhammer.

It hurts a lot on a number of levels that I'm not going to go into and it remains to be seen if anything can be salvaged from the situation. Unfortunately, while I understand why it has gone the way it has, I wish I could speak to them a little bit to understand exactly what was said and why. In any case, it's not my place to initiate contact so we'll just see how it goes.

I look forward to keeping up on everyone else's blogs and hopefully life picks up soon and I hear from the people I care about.

Thankyou

Pete

Battle Report; I unwittingly cheated :-( In other news, go check out a hot wargaming chick ;-)

Happy Martin Luther King Jr day everyone.

In a bizzare twist of the usual things, my otherwise holiday shy employers have decided to give us the day off today and so I have time to write some reflections on the battle I played with friends yesterday.

First up though, I have to help out an awesome, hot wargaming friend of mine Courtney. She and her husband (sorry boys, she's taken) are my new 40k gaming buddies and best friends for life stuff in general here in Maryland.

One of Courtney's greatest passions is nail polish and while it was not something I knew much of before spending time with her, I am impressed at the artistry and work done on a different palette with a different medium than with miniature painting. I know that few of my readers are likely to use nail polish, except for Old Shatter Hands on weekends ;-), but for those who have wives or girlfriends who might be interested go and sign up as followers to her blog Polished Casual. Courtney is a wargamer too so she will probably return the favour and check out your blog if you have one.


So the battle report and my cheating (Oh the shame).

To clear up my dastardly behaviour, I will detail the cheating first. I played as orks and declared the Waagh on turn 1, letting me get right into assault. This is not allowed as, in the words of the codex:

"This may not normally be declared on the first turn as a proper Waagh needs some momentum behind it."

I completely failed to read this ahead of the game and so cheated my way into combat on turn 1, not cool. In addition, any ork unit rolling a 1 for the Waagh run takes a wound as the boyz fight. I also failed to do this for one unit.

That aside, here's a short battle report.

We played 2vs2, 1000pts per side. I took my vehicular assault orks, my teammate Chris had shooty marines and we faced off against Iron warriors on foot and nasty Tyranids.

In turn 1 we took a few hits from shooting but nothing much. I then waaghed my way into combat with the iron warrior squads for big casualties on each side while Chris largely missed with his shooting. In fairly short order we started crushing the Iron warriors flank but then the outflanking Genestealers (each led by Broodlords) showed up on Turn 2 and pretty much tore our army apart. The ork's momentum was lost after the first power charge, the nobs were whittled down by Hive Guard (no FNP on S8 shots), took their revenge then were eaten by the Hive Tyrant and her bodyguards. The marines kicked hive guard butt, were ravaged by the Genestealers, finally wiped them out but we ended the game with about 7 marines left vs a Tyrant & Guard, 8 Genestealers & Broodlord, plus a full CSM Havoc squad. We conceded on Turn 5.


Key lessons:
- Don't cheat, read your rulebook AND codex fully ;-)
- Orks need to hit the lines in one block. Trukks are vulnerable to light weapons. My nobz were stuck in a stunned transport so they boyz hit the line without them.
- Only models within 2" of an engaged model may fight, so your big mob of boyz might not swing with full numbers. Keep this in mind when picking fights.
- Outflanking Genestealers are very dangerous. You need a way to take them out before they hit your lines as few things will deal well with them in combat.
- Even losing games are fun when you play with your friends :-)


So thankyou to Matt and Kira for playing against us (Husband and Wife team no less), thanks Chris for being my team buddy and D'oh me for not reading the rules properly.

Thanks for reading.

Pete

PS: Now go see some nice nail polish pics ;-)

Revised 1000pt ork list after speaking to Old Shatter Hands.

Hi all,

So having taken some time to talk tactics with Old Shatter Hands and get his vibe on orks, I've decided to tweak my list. In his experience, ork lists do well when they focus on a certain aspect rather than trying to generalise, especially in smaller point games.

So my list which comes at you piecemeal gives the opponent the chance to deal with each component in turn i.e. shooting out the transports and their contents, then turning attention to the footsloggers coming behind. He thinks it would be better to send everything upfield and into the enemy's face in transports or to keep it all on foot and max out on bodies.

So I've decided to go vehicle heavy and smash face that way. The burnas are out, nobz are tweaked so I can get another battlewagon and two deffkoptas (scouty, sneaky, harassers)

- Big Mek (35) with KFF (50)
- 6 Nobz (120), 3 PK (75), Waagh Banner (15), Big Choppa (5), Painboy (30)
- Trukk (35) with RPJ (5)
- 20 Boyz (120) with, 2 Big shoota (10) Nob (10) PK (25), BP (5)
- 20 Boyz (120) with, 2 Big shoota (10) Nob (10) PK (25), BP (5)
- TL Rokkit Deffkopta (45)
- TL Rokkit Deffkopta (45)
- Battlewagon (90) with RPJ (5) and Big shoota (5)
- Battlewagon (90) with RPJ (5) and Big shoota (5)


Now we will be hitting the enemy lines probably on turn 2 with both boyz mobz and the nobz. Add in some multicharges if possible and I should be able to crush the foe. I'll be using the trukk and battlewagons to block off my opponent's shooting while the assaults go on and can always tank shock them off objectives. Deffkoptas are there to scout on turn 1 and mess with the opponent's starting game, possibly getting side armour shots or assaulting into small heavy weapon squads.