Salamander Update – Size Matters

 For those who spent the end of last year either under a rock or were subjected to an inhumanly long time without internet, you missed out on one of the most ground-breaking and monumental releases of 2014 – The Blood Angels Codex.  This release was signficiant not just because of the sweet new kits or the new ways to be Billy-Badass with your space vampires, but because of a specific change to the very core of how we play with our Space Marines – the introduction of the 32mm infantry base.  The resultant internet hysteria fuelled the ‘base-gate’ scandal – a vertiable shit-storm of whinging and steadfast declarations of “how dare they!” “My army is useless now!!” and my personal favourite “Gee Dubs can’t make me change my bases!! I won’t! I won’t! I won’t!!!”  Despite the rapid deployment of ignorance, many people took a more temperate approach to the subject, carefully considering what was right for them before embracing the new base size for Marines and using then in new projects or in some cases revamping existing projects.  I was one of the latter...

Gene Therapy - Leaving the Legion

When I first created this blog, it was designed to be a collection of articles that allowed me to share my progress across three game systems - Warhammer Fantasy, Warhammer 40k and Hordes (specifically Legion of Everblight).  Since that time, much has occurred and I no longer play games with my Legion of Everblight models my enthusiasm for the game has significantly waned to the point of non-relevance.  I held onto the minis though, not because I had any illusions of playing again, but because selling them off went against my hoarding mentality.  All things must change however and recently I felt it was time to move on from the game completely, allowing me to explore other avenues.  

Hobby Update - Mandatory New Year's post incoming

So as I sit here, I'm perusing my blog feed, catching up on the adventures and progression of a myraid of projects / undertakings from a vast swathe of gamers, painters and all-round awesome people and in the process I'm reading my fair share of 'New Year' posts and as a result I'm feeling inspired to improve my own offerings to the peoples of the Internet after a pretty dismal effort during 2014.  Last year was a travesty solely due to a lack of drive on my part to actually sit down and transform my poorly-written notes into something legible and when I did, I never found the time to take the pictures necessary to make the article more like something that has the potential for entertainment and not some giant wall of text (think I failed on that one anyway, but hey-ho, that's just the way it is I guess).  But that's what these types of articles are for really - granting everyone a clean slate, a fresh opportunity to transcribe a more positive future for oneself.

#TerrainTuesday - Learning How to Paint Again

You know that feeling you get when you haven't painted in a while and you pick up that brush for the first time?  That feeling of uncertainty that hits you when you hold that brush in your hand which is strange, because deep down you remember how this same act used to fill you with a sense of surity; secure in the knowledge that your skills are equal to the task set before you.  So what do you do?  What do you do when the wolves of hesitation, uncertainty and doubt come howling at your door?

WoC Update - Panic Level Over 9000!!!!!

When you're just over a week from a Tournament and you still haven't finished painting... hell, when you haven't even finished ASSEMBLING your army, you know things aren't going to plan.  To be fair, I've been operating in a heightened state of hobby awareness for about a fortnight now, ever since a mate so kindly reminded me that Trickster's Blade was going to kick off in three weeks (players pack can be downloaded here).  Ever the hobby optimist, my reaction I feel was pretty fitting for the time:

#TerrainTuesday - Post Apocalyptic Shelves

You know, there's nothing like an impending deadline to remind you of all the other projects that demand your attention.  Inspired by Neon Pink Apokalypse's DIY Paint Station / Hobby Board, I have embraced my inner handy-man and have tried my hand at a set of shelves for my newly-recovered terrain cupboard.

Terrain....Thursday??? - It's Snow-Time!!

Last week I received my order of fine snow flock from the fine people over at Woodland Scenics and I couldn't resist trying it out immediately.  Unfortunately this has meant that my current rubble project has been sidelined for the moment, but it's only a small delay.  On the upside however, I'm another step closer to having a completed terrain-piece to grace my (as yet unpainted) snow table.

Hobby Update - New models for my army

While there's no doubt I've been making great progress on a number of projects, I thought I'd take the time to task about some of my recent hobby purchases.  These are important to track, especially if I want to paint more than I buy this year.

Hobby Update - Super-Industrialising your Hobby

I decided this week I would get myself an air compressor as I've been doing a good deal of work with my air brush lately and was getting a little tired of swapping over air canisters.  A quick trip to my local tool shop and I found this little beauty on sale

Possessing everything I could possibly need, I snatched it up and promptly whisked it home to begin the assembly process.  Now most of you who know me personally will be aware that I'm not one to do things by halves when it comes to my hobbies.  There's a word for my thought process - 

That said, with the size of the tank, I'm fairly confident I'd be able to basecoat my entire army in a single sitting.  Such a statement may be boasting though as such a theory is yet to be tested.  But when you look at the set-up, it's not a difficult leap to make...

From humble beginnings...

To industrial-sized awesomeness!!

Catch you all later

Trev

Salamander Update - Preparing for the Apocalypse

This last week has been pretty much consumed by assembling miniatures for the upcoming Apocalypse game to round out the Vogen Campaign that I've been running for the past 3 months.  This has meant a great deal of time has been allocated towards getting the necessary marines built and ready to go.  Due to a fairly savage heat-wave that has consumed most of Australia, painting opportunities this week have been damn-near non-existent.  30 degrees celsius at midnight does not conducive painting weather make!!

Through some small miracle I've managed to build nearly all the mini's I need for this game assembled and ready for the table (though hopefully not too hard... don't want to break the little buggers now do we?).  After a reduction in points for my army, I was able to scale back the number of models I needed for the game by at least 1 or 2 Land Raiders.  I've included a couple of pictures to convey the (still sizable) scale of 2000 points of Space Marines.

For the most part, it's really just another 2000 point army in the end.  With the point restriction, I was unable to include any of the Apoc formations that suited my Fireborn (damn my lack of Thunderhammer / Storm Shield Terminators!!!). While this was unfortunate, it does mean that I can field more bodies on the table which is always good.  That said - in the realm of Apocalypse, I'm not sure if more bodies will make any difference; dinner-plate sized templates will frequently ruin your day and help you remove your beloved models by the handful.  Of the new additions, there are a couple of conversions which I feel are particularly cool, coming from my unit of Vanguard Veterans.

With all of this building going on, I'm not running dangerously low on Forgeworld Shoulderpads and am eagerly looking forward to February which will see a number of my colleagues and I make a collective order to Forgeworld.  In  addition to the mandatory pauldrons for Terminators and standard Marines alike, I'm hoping to pick up the Horus Heresy MK IV Power Weapon kit which will give me more than enough weapons to equip every character with something a little bit special.  Until then, I'll just have to be content with stripping and painting my first purchased model for the year - a Vindicare Assassin.

My first purchased mini for 2013.  Didn't even
make it a month :-)

Catch you all later,

Trev

Campaign Update - Turn 5 and 100 posts

So according to my stats, this entry is the 100th article to be published as part of the Triple Helix Project.  While it is a relatively small milestone for many of the more established blogs such as Fresh Coast 40K, Miniature Tim and From the Warp, but it is a milestone nonetheless. I wanted to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has visited this site and made this all possible.  You guys are epic and I look forward to hearing from more of you in the future.

With the festivities out of the way, it's time to move onto the main topic of the blog.  As my regular readers will know, I've been running a 40K campaign for my local gaming club.  For those who would like to refresh themselves on the previous turns, I've included links here and here.  Since my last report, the campaign has covered another 3 turns, two of them spanning a two week stretch due to the intervention of real life.  In that time, both sides of the conflict have made advances in stops and starts with special events assisting in the conquest of a number of sectors throughout the city.

As was touched upon in previous articles, it has become apparent to not only me as the campaign organiser, but also to the other players that in games that only involved a single faction as the attacker and the city acting as the defender, the City was proving to be more stalwart then we originally anticipated; racking up victory after victory and generally proving to be a pain in the ass.  In response, I created an event that ran for a 2 week period that awarded faction players a bonus for every victory they gained in each sector.  Essentially this meant that every victory they gained would count as two, while each loss only counted for one.  By doing so, this resulted in a 50% increase in the number of sectors actually captured by each faction, allowing both sides to push towards the centre of the city, bringing them ever closer to direct confrontation  with one another.

The second event I held was integrated into Turn 4 of the campaign and was dubbed  'Operation: Head-hunter'.  This was an event that rotated purely around the identification and destruction of character models as a means of disrupting the command structure of either side. For every 20 characters killed during campaign games, the faction commander would be able to attribute a win to any location currently being sought after by the faction as a whole. The Forces of Disorder performed exceptionally, racking up an impressive 35 heads while the Forces of Order only managed to collect 22. On the upside, both sides secured an extra sector for themselves, allowing each side to push deeper into the city, swiftly closing in on the front lines on the opposing faction.

Now, after 7 weeks of hard fighting, the opposing factions have finally made contact - clashing on the outskirts of the Spaceport and securing a victory for the Forces of Order.  In addition to the special events, a series of mega-battles have been played on a regular occurrence, always involving multiple generals commanding armies on the same table.  These multi-player battles have been always close-fought events, with each game hinging on one or two Victory Points.  I though I'd take the opportunity to show you a couple of shots from our latest Mega-battle, a 2 vs 1 game, where the Salamanders and Space Wolves stood against a mighty force of Chaos Space Marines, specifically the renegade contingent of Red Skulls that are currently leading the assault against the City of Vogen.

So at the beginning, our battle-lines looked were set up pretty defensively, with the objective being to capture as many buildings as possible.

The battlefield looked like this:

The deployment zone of the Forces of Order looked like this:

The Forces of Disorder deployment was as such:

Now for some of the highlights - The Daemon Prince took a very offensive position, swooping towards the main concentration of Loyalist forces on the northern flank.  Before he was able to make his assault however, he was engulfed by heavy fire, forcing him to return to land heavily in front of the fortified Hab-Block.

Here he was engaged in mortal combat with a mighty Wolf Lord, the appointed Warlord of the Space Wolf contingent present on Khai-Zhaan.  A mighty battle was fought, with both combatants taking many wounds before the Daemon Prince was banished back to the warp.

While both sides traded heavy fire the Wolf Lord continued on to engage not one but two Hellbrutes, armed with flailing power-scourges.  With titanic effort, he destroyed both, shattering their warp-forged hulls and banishing the evil contained within.

But not all was to go well for the Forces of Order.  The Red Skulls possessed enough heavy weaponry to dominate the field, systematically decimating tanks and Marines alike.  Not even the mighty Wolf Lord was to be spared as a Predator's Lascannon finally felled the mighty warrior.  While not slain outright, the Wolf Lord would play no further part in the battle that was to come.

For the Loyalists, the southern flank was not as strongly defended, with both Vindicators being destroyed before they could effectively suppress the renegades with their devastating (however limited) ordinance.  In a cruel twist of fate, the mighty Warlord of Khorne that led the sortie was rewarded time and time again for his prowess, indiscriminately ending the lives of enemy commanders and their Lieutenants with ease until he was unceremoniously transformed into a gibbering spawn-creature whose existence was ended in a hail of mass-reactive shells from numerous bolters.

As the dust settled, the points were tallied, and it was discovered that the Forces of Disorder had secured victory by a mere 2 VP's.  A tight game indeed!  Many thanks to Dan and Ryan for participating in the event, I cannot thank you guys enough.  Hope everyone enjoys reading about the game, I know it's not a full battle report, but I hope it was still fun to read.

Catch you all later,

Trev

Community Awareness - Caring for Club Terrain

 

It seems that everywhere I look on the online community I'm treated to views such as the ones above.  Spectacular tables that are filled with mind-blowing terrain that is well built and painted to a spectacular degree.  Let's be honest here, if you're reading this article, you're most likely looking at the pics above, wishing your local club had terrain so damn good and I don't blame you one iota (if you're local club HAS this terrain, you're a lucky bastard and I'm very jealous right now...).  I mean, look at them! Each table is filled with mesmerizing details that allow you to immerse yourself in a world of your own imaginings.  Players become gods among men, striding the battlefield while putting their foes to the sword.  And yet when we go to our local club for a game, this is what we find...

Can you see the Marines?

This is our reality.  Dull, unpainted, basic terrain whose greatest achievement would be allowing players imaginings to be played out in vintage black and white.  Why must we be subjected to games with unpainted and crappy terrain?  Why can't we have something nice too?

The simple answer is: You don't deserve it

Countless are the times I've opened boxes of club terrain only to find some new piece that's been damaged by careless gamers or have been dented and warped after being thrown haphazardly into a random box.  Last Sunday saw the greatest example of this I've ever seen.

As you can see here, some careless gamers has thrown another gamer's personal terrain into its box without thinking about storage pressure and the power of gravity. As a result, part of the ruin has actually sunk into the pond and become stuck.  The subsequent removal of said ruin resulted in the creation of puncture marks marring the relatively smooth surface of the water feature that this gamer worked so hard to achieve.  This raises the question: How can a club trust players to care for their own terrain if the players themselves cannot respect the terrain created by their peers!?!?!?!?!?  Personally I don't think its too much to ask that you treat all terrain with respect, especially since you didn't have to pay for it in the first place.  THIS IS THE REASON WE CAN'T HAVE NICE THINGS!!!!!!

I guess the point of this article is to get you to think about the terrain at your game club and how you treat it before, after and during your games.  We all want great looking terrain to put on out own tables, but first we need to prove that we can look after the terrain we already have.  Just because we don't own something, doesn't mean we can treat it like garbage.  Quite the opposite actually, it means that we need to treat it all the more carefully.  If we don't, then we might not have any terrain at all...

Catch you all later

Trev