Gaming: Monthly Tourney Time!

One of the local gaming shops has been running some monthly tournaments and this months was a primer for the upcoming large tournament at SPOCON. The TO (tournament organizer) for this one (Winterman) is the same guy who will be doing the SPOCON tourney and he used the scenarios he has been working on for the big tournament.

5 Minute History: Adeptus Mechanicus Robots

War Robots were introduced in the early days of Warhammer 40,000 starting with Rouge Trader and introduced later for the Epic 40,000 setting with the Adeptus Titanicus expansion. During the hazy time when Rouge Trader (1987) was giving birth to Adeptus Titanicus (1988) which was then spawning Space Marine (1989), war robots came and went with little fanfare. War Robots were the offspring of Jes Goodwin and were available to Imperial Guard, Orks and Squats. The basic premise being an army of Robots maintained by the Adeptus Mechanicus to act as support for infantry and ground troops. One can make the assumption that robots were tossed aside in favor of vehicles as the demise of the War Robots began with the release of actual vehicle kits starting in 1988.

Page from GW Gatalogue 1987 - no challenge intended

Space Wolves: Army List 1850

Awhile back I brought my old Space Wolf army out of cold storage and started bouncing around some army list ideas. After some great suggestions, some thinking, some testing and some drinking - I have arrived at what I am going to affectionately call a 'mini star' list. The point of the mini star is to be able to go toe to toe with a great many things and overwhelm with redundancy and power. This is not a 'Death Star' that can wade in where angels fear to tread and punch you in the face. A mini star still requires a good bit of finesse and patience for proper execution and while this list will forgive a few minor mistakes, major mistakes will have catastrophic consequences.

Grey Hunters at Magnir's Crag - Games Workshop

5 Minute History: Adeptus Mechanicus Primer El Secundo

The Cult Mechanicus believes knowledge to be the manifestation of divinity. Their supreme object of devotion is therefore the omniscient Machine God, an immanent and omnipotent spirit governing machinery and knowledge. The Machine God is not to be understood in the Abrahamic tradition of a god; it is not a person, but rather a force immanent in the universe. For unspecified reasons, it has appointed humans as its favored people, and reveals its true designs and machines to them through select prophets. In order to interact with a personal world it was also prophesied to create an avatar, the Omnissiah. In the early days of the Great Crusade, the Emperor of Mankind was recognized as Omnissiah, prompting the Treaty of Mars and the alliance of the Cult with the Imperium of Man.

Jess Goodwin concept sketch

Game Time: Walker Battle Royale!

An event where only walkers can be used; it’s Battletech 40k! One of the local hobby shops is holding an event next weekend with some interesting rules. The armies are limited to ‘walkers’ from the elites, fast attack or heavy support categories. The armies are then further limited to 200 points. The interesting trade off is that once a unit is destroyed it can respawn the next turn in a random deployment zone and at the beginning of each turn there will be a roll off for who goes first. Special awards given for most kill points, longest time without losing a model and so on…

Edward Teach and his Sentinel of dewm come for you!

Painting: Metallics Gold

Gold Basics
GW Paints:  Tin Bitz, Dwarf Bronze, Shining Gold, Burnished Gold
Best basecoat: A dark brown, a dark brown mixed with some Shining Gold, a dark gold (I use Tin Bitz or the dark brown with Shining Gold mix).
Best washes: Devlan Mud, Sepia.
Basic recipe: Dark brown basecoat, Shining Gold, Burnished Gold Highlight.

My go-to gold recipe:

• Dark brown (Scorched Brown or similar paint) mixed with a small amount of Shining Gold
• Layer Shining Gold
• Wash the entire area with Devlin Mud
• Re-layer Shining Gold, bringing back some color while preserving the shading from the Devlan Mud wash
• Layer on a Shining Gold/Mithril Silver mix for highlights.
• One last layer of Shining Gold/Mithril Silver, this time with more silver mixed in.
• Wash the entire area with Sepia, pulling the wash to the areas you want to be darker/richer.  You can really see this on the Spear Elves in the Silver section; check out the gold bits right below the spearheads.   

5 Minute History: Adeptus Mechanicus Primer

Servants of the Machine God, the Adeptus Mechanicus know the mysteries of the machines and technology of the Imperium that many have forgotten. The masters of the mechanical, they serve to maintain infrastructure and tools to ensure that other forces of the Imperium are free to fight on in the Emperor's Name, secure in knowing that their homes and bases of operation will remain lit, fortified, and awaiting their safe return. Though their main purpose is not martial; this does not mean they do not see combat, merely that they do not actively seek it.

Modeling: Rapid Assault Vehicle

Normally I don't post links to stores or highlight particular products, but in this case I will make an exception. Secret Weapon Miniatures has put up a final rendering of the 'Rapid Assault Vehicle' they have been working on for awhile:

Click picture to see higher resolution image

Painting: Metallic Silvers

Metallic paints are great, and that is what this post is going to be about.  I won't be exploring everything, but this should be a solid foundation

With metallic paints, you can go from really easy to really intricate in your techniques and recipes.  How intricate depends on how much effort and thought you put into the process.  Let's jump right in, shall we?

There are two basic types of metallic paints: silver and gold.  For generalization purposes, bronze/copper go under gold, steel is under silver, et cetera.  I'll start with the silver stuffs and cover golds and rust/weathering in their own separate posts.

Silver Basics

• GW Paints: Boltgun Metal, Chainmail, Mithril Silver 
• Best basecoat: Black
• Washes: Badab Black
• Basic recipe: Black basecoat.  Boltgun Metal.  Mithril Silver highlights.

Game Time: SPOCON army list progress

When I put together my list for SPOCON, the annual local geekery convention with 40k tournament thrown in, I thought the majority of my army was done. What a horribly wrong assumption that turned out to be! After reviewing my army list and laying out the mini's I came to the dramatic realization that I have a bunch of work to do in order to get this force ready to my standards prior to the tournament in a month.

Deep Thoughts: Give me my America back!

Interesting tidbit of history that got churched up to be politically correct: did you know that Robert E. Lee was the owner of Arlington Cemetery prior to it becoming the national cemetery? Would it surprise you to know that when northern army forces captured the mansion they decided to turn it into a cemetery just to put their finger square in the eye of Robert E. Lee? That’s right, the mansion, which was intended as a living memorial to George Washington, was owned and constructed by the first president's adopted grandson, George Washington Parke Custis, son of John Parke Custis who himself was a child of Martha Washington by her first marriage and a ward of George Washington.