Updates, What has been happening and play-testing Inepticon

Howdy everybody. It is getting to the crux of the year for me, so in order to procrastinate for as long as possible I have a pretty long update for you all. just touching on what I have been up to for the past 3 months or so gaming wise and to formally announce the Inepticon updates.

In gaming news, I have been pretty booked up over the past three months with two main distractions. The first was a role play that I was running for some of the club members every fortnight using the Warhammer Role-play 2nd edition rules (much better than the third edition in my own opinion) set between  the events of the storm (as the 2nd edition focus's on the aftermath) and the End Times that have been recently turning heads. The upshot of the story means you shouldn't go camping in Ostermark any time soon, too many chaosy stragglers and undead machinations.

the whole force, all painted in the last 6 weeks

The second was a new Warmachine/Hordes escalation league that was run by Chris Otton to try to encourage more players in the wider Wellington region. I had tried to get involved in the last one but other events got in the way. This round timing was perfect as a colleague of my mother knew I was a wargamer (having spotted my spray table at a Christmas lunch last year) and sold me his left over miniatures for my faction (Circle Orboros) for dirt cheap. the majority of my painting time was taken up getting these guys looking good, as I have found im not great at synergising in game and so needed all the painting scores I could get.

Warpborn Skinwalkers with Alpha, pretty terrifying i found

Tharn Ravagers with a Shaman. i still have 4 of these guys and a chieftain to paint

Wolves of Orboros with captain and banner, they did well, but always died in droves

Druids, the Swiss army knife of the circle. man these guys annoyed people

My solos (minus a tree). A Reave Hunter and his Puppy's

The beasties, Argi, griffon and a Feral Warpwolf

I have 4 casters and Una, but only Kaya and Grayle are painted

However, during the league I encountered Scott...

And I must have caught something off of him, as not two weeks into the league did a disturbing growth start to creep up on me where I wouldn't be able to see it...

OH GOD! WHAT IS THAT!!!!

His offer of a whole DWARF ARMY was too tempting to pass up (since I was in the process of selling my Vampire Counts) and so the army of Karak Kadrin is almost all together, and are just looking for a paint update.

The horde of Characters, led by my work in progress Slayer King

What are Dwarves without arty? There are two of each, but i couldnt be bothered grabbing the other organ gun or bolt thrower

I hear these guys are good. recent play-testing confirms this

Classic hand-gunners. i got a butt tonne of these guys

YARRR. Long Drong be har

Bugman with his rangers

Hammerers. i need more of these guys

a small number of slayers. I NEED MORE!

Back when any Lord could Throne up. and ride along Runelord

Now with recent changes to the games workshop FAQ's, we have decided that the 50% lords and heroes will be implemented at Inepticon as we have the veto system in place to stop any extreme cases of rule-bending. In other Inepticon news we are currently trialling the Secret Mission cards on club nights. last week I squared off with my pal Rex to A) help him prepare for skitterleap and B) see if the missions are viable. I got smashed by his Woodies, but both sides managed to achieve there missions. I drew VANTAGE POINT (hold the highest ground) and Rex had DEPARTMENT OF CONSERVATION (do not loose a rare unit).

It was a long winded update, but we are at the end. There are Plenty of spots left for anyone wanting to take part in Inepticon and James Millington has kindly offered to take people heading up from Wellington, he does have limited seats though so get in quick.

INEPTICON '14

Are you going to miss out on the masters this year? prefer to have a bit of a laugh than purely competitive Warhammer? INEPTICON might be the tournament for you!

The Kapiti Wargames Club is hosting its inaugural tournament on the weekend of December 6th/7th for those who do not expect to get invites to the masters this year. Designed to be more of a fun time rather than a Math-Hammer slugfest, INEPTICON will boast a few custom scenarios, secret missions, and a BBQ lunch on the second day during the beauty contest.

 If your interested in joining us for this weekend romp on the coast, you can find the player pack for the event HERE. Send me an email at jebsonic@gmail.com  if you'd like a spot booked for you, though get in quick as there is a maximum  of 18 spots available. Hope to hear from you all soon. 

Apologies again...

Once more dear reader, wherever in the world you might hail from, I must apologise for the lack of transmissions. Regular programming will resume shortly, with a breakdown of my standing in the Call To Arms tournament, painting table updates and general grumblings and ejaculations (which is a legit use of the word, look it up before getting offended).

As it was before, so it shall be

Today's discussion (so far between Me, my friend I, and an acquaintance called Myself) was sparked while contemplating the interesting turn of events set in motion by the Goliath, Games Workshop. Nagash has burst onto the wargaming scene as if from nowhere (since the rumour mill seemed to be in the dark till a mere two weeks prior) and with it comes the start of the end times campaign, with literature and plastic models galore. When my friend David and I were discussing one said piece of literature (The return of Nagash) he quite simply stated "just like the first time Archeon invaded". This perplexed me. Yes, in the good old days Games Workshop used to create global campaigns. The storm of chaos that roiled around the northern hemisphere 10 years ago was, for a time, written into warhammer lore (especially as there was controversy as to whether they skewed the results to stop chaos from winning). early in 8th edition we got the Ork and Goblin army book, and were perplexed to find that the lore was changing. Everything had been reset to a cusp of the event horizon. Grimgor no longer fought Archaon, Middenheim was under siege and Kislev was no more.

Now, with new branding and models, we are to erase the storm of chaos from our memory, as we are about to re-fight it. The End Times are here, with greater stakes on the line for every race in the warhammer world.  with the Vampires awakening the god of un-death himself, Sigmer re-born as Valten (the first time no longer happened remember), the return of the king of chivalry, the death of an ancestor god, the appearance of the Horned Rat, and communion with the Elven gods, risks have been taken in writing an epic of a worlds ending. this brings me (somehow) round to the second part of my musings. 9th Edition.

The whisper on the wind is that this is now right around the corner, with Bretonia's shiny new book coming on its coat tails. I am excited to see where they place the time-frame of the book, if it ends part way through The End Times or just before. Without plying serious spoiler warnings (though lets face it, it is the internet) I wish to see which characters make it into the book and what lores are made available to the Damsels. Some serious shit gets thrown down in the early stages of Nagash's début, and I wish to know how it will change the outlook of there army book. Technically this also applies to the Empire and High Elves, but that is a different story entirely.

For now I must wait to see whether the Goliath will indeed forge ahead with the story, or will it grind to a halt once more and require an entirely new reboot, possibly involving the death of more main characters (anyone would think the George R.R.Martin had a hand in it). In any case I sit here with bated breath, hoping against hope that they don't miss a great opportunity here.

Call To Arms incoming

Shar-Vear is clapping his hands with glee this morning after having a good read through the lists that will be gracing the field at Call To Arms. There are fewer cannons than I bargained for, and some pretty juicy monsters out there for me to haul back to Clar Karond. I don't believe in the slightest that I will be gracing the podium for the first time, but here is my list of those with a very definite chance to do so.

Number V

Alix Barclay

Everyone knows that green-skins are my favourite army, but bias's aside I truly believe he has put together something stronger than the sum of its parts. with over 170 goblins gracing the field and every sneaky scheme under the sun, including masses of diverters and plenty of fanatics and nets, I feel that with even some moderate pairings Alix is going to really shine. Big props to the man for fielding Squig Hoppers too, it takes some kahuna's to pull that off.

Number IV

Alan Hughes

Skaven might have an old book, but it is for just that reason that the ratties are still a prominent threat on the battlefield. I may be placing him here just because I have never faired well against them, but with two Lightening Cannons, the Hellpit Abomination, lots of cheap warlocks and a bell seer its going to be a hard list to take meaningful points out of. Unfortunately there was nothing new and unforeseen in his list, so he wont be gaining Fun Points from me.

Number III

Jeff Kent

As much as he has tried to gloss over his army by naming the characters after Diva's, those same Diva's are going to tear enemies apart. 4 Pegasus mounted characters are going to be a massive pain to clear from a field, and their dance of death will cut a swathe through the opposition. Jeff's one concern is the Empire, Daemons and Ogres, who all seem to have raided the Old Worlds gunpowder stocks to bring all their fire-power to bear. Again there has been no concession to "Fun Points" so his ruthless attitude will see him place well

Number II

John Murrie

John, John, John. You must have been dancing with joy when you saw the final line-up. twin Ironblasters, twin Mournfangs, Hell Heart, Ironguts, the lot really. Usually Gnoblers would be a cause for me to smile and exclaim that the ogres are softening off, but as death-fodder I just feel sad for them. Conventional wisdom says that this list should do extremely well, so I guess its now up to John to deliver. No pressure

Number I

Joel Van De Ven-Long

WOW. There is no concession to fun in this list. It has been constructed for a single purpose, to destroy the world of FUN. 11 Beasts of Nurgle! 11! backed up by 4 Plague Drones and 2 Skill Cannons, and a core full of tzeentch daemons makes his list a real knuckle buster to get any meaningful points out of while he just moves forward, slowly drowning you under slime. No amount of water can clean up this filth, and if he doesn't podium I will be mighty surprised.

Practise time. Wargamming on a deadline

I decided I needed to get my hand back in the game before I rock up to the tables on the 16th. So last night I decided to put the pressure on and play three games in six hours. However, I also wanted to help out mates with their tournament preparations, which meant that the three games would all be different game systems. in the end I managed my major goal, fitting all three games in in a 5 hour window (though the last game came to a close early as Sam had to be home before curfew). Here were the results...

GAME ONE: WARHAMMER FANTASY

OPPONENT: REX FOOTE

POINTS LIMIT: 2400

SCENARIO: BLOOD AND GLORY

a great laughing point in the game, as the  lone Waywatcher oh so nearly killed the Kharibdyss in close combat, what a battler

Game one pitted my Beastmaster list against an annoying as hell Wood Elf list, consisting of a High mage, Beast mage, more archers than I could shake a stick at, a medium sized block of Eternal Guard with a Shadowdancer and BSB and a treeman. Both of us had a total of 5 break points, but Rex's problem in this game was the shortening of the gap between the two armies. I deployed as far forward as possible in a hard pincer, with the Chariots, Hydras, Kharibdyss and light mage with bodyguard on the left and the corsairs, BSB and chaff on the right. I managed to get first deployment on my scouts as well as first turn, so the tree huggers found themselves about 5" away from my army turn one, as well as a dead Treeman being dragged as a prize behind Shar-Vear's chariot. I lost 90% of my chaff in Rex's first hail of hell, but after turn two it was practically a Dark Elf mop up as two Hydras showed why forest's don't like fire, vaporizing 16 of the 20 Eternal Guard where they stood with their templates.

A very empty movement tray. Due to a lack of built Hydras (i will be borrowing my good friend Hermans for the event) a few spare bases had to make do.

The game ended a lot closer than it at first appeared, as it came down to one turns difference, who would be broken first. unfortunately for Rex his archers could not pin down or flee the corsairs, who romped home to deliver the victory for the dark side. I believe that Rex will soon have a more in depth and rather less biased account on his blog here if you want to read more

RESULT: DASTARDLY VICTORY!

GAME TWO: FLAMES OF WAR
OPPONENT: JAYDEN HOWELL
POINTS LIMIT: 1450 EARLY WAR
SCENARIO: HOLD THE LINE

Jayden is popping his competitive cherry and jumping into the early war tournament at Call To Arms, taking the Imperial Japanese infantry division that he commissioned me to paint for him. Unfortunately my Finnish infantry division is no where near completed, let alone fully painted, so a good friend loaned me his Germans to fill out bases. the sides where...

Japanese 7th Hohei Division (fearless/veteran)
HQ with division banner
2 Hohei infantry platoons with  3 squads, 3 light mortars and banners
1 Hohei machine-gun platoon with 4 machine-guns
1 Hohei battalion gun platoon with 2 type 92 70mm guns and no spotter
1 Medium sensha platoon with 5 Chi-Ro medium tanks and 2 type 94 tankettes

My sexy ass anti-tank platoon, who ran after being thoroughly shot up

Finish Jalkaväkikompanie (confident/veteran)
HQ
2 Jalkaväki platoons with 4 squads and a close defence command squad
1 Jalkaväki machine-gun platoon with 4 machine-guns
1 Jalkaväki mortar platoon with 4 tampala mortars
1 Jääkäri scout platoon with 3 squads and a close defence command squad (fearless/veteran)
1 Jalkaväki tank hunter platoon with 2 boys anti-tank rifles, two close defence rifle teams and a close defence command squad
1 Jalkaväki anti-tank platoon with 2 45 PsTK/37 guns
1 Anti-aircraft platoon with 2 40ItK/38 guns
1 Artillery platoon with 4 76 K/02 guns
Fokker CX sporadic air support

Oh dear, that is alot of infantry facing the thin white line

This game ended fast. As the defender I had delayed reserves so only started with one Jalkaväki platoon (with combat attached machine guns), the Jääkäri scouts, the Anti-air guns and the Artillery on the field. Having to deploy first, and since he won if he could hold one of the two objectives, meant I had to scatter my forces. In the end he piled everything in the corner and threw them forward in one great wave, crashing over the hill in the pre-dawn assault. I was allowed to ambush two units, but foolishly only held the Anti-tank squads back, wanting to see where he would place the tanks. in the end the man of the match for me was the AA guns, that brutalised his tanks as they crested the ridge behind the objective, but it was not enough. The Japanese juggernaut smashed it's way over both the Jalkaväki squad and the objective, holding it against a counter attack by the Jääkäri. dawn broke on the very last turn, turn 4. I had not received any reserves.

Game face on, but little I could do about those gorgeous little buckets

RESULT: CRUSHING DEFEAT!

GAME THREE: WARMACHINE/HORDES
OPPONENT: SAM CAMPBELL
POINTS LIMIT: 35
SCENARIO: INCURSION

Chris Otton is hosting a second escalation league at the Kapiti Wargames Club, so both me and Sam decided to crank out some miniatures and have a go (I had just made a very good purchase of older miniatures from a colleague of my Mother, so was looking to blood them). The sides were...

Sam: Trollbloods
Madrak Ironhide
1 Troll Axer
2 Troll Impaler's
5 Trollkin Champions
10 Trollkin Fenblades
Krielstone Bearer and scribes
Fell Caller solo

Nick: Circle Orboros
Grayle Farstrider
1 Feral Warpwolf
1 Razorwing Griffon
1 Argus
10 Wolves of Orboros with command group
5 Tharn Ravagers with a Tharn Chieftain
Reeve's of Orboros solo
2 Gallows grove's

end of Sams first turn, just before my first moves. for those who want to know the far objective was the one that disappeared

This game had to be called early, but to be honest at that point it was anyone's game, he had turtled heavily around his big old stone, and the Wolves and Tharn were making great dents in his troops (thanks to the gallows groves removing his tough ability). However just before we had to call it his Axer had made a long charge and Bisected (quite literally) half of the Tharn unit, including the Chieftain. both of us were gearing up to pop our feats in the next turn so it would have been an extremely interesting turn, where one or the other of us would have come out on top. Oh well.

RESULT: INDETERMINATE

So at the end of five hours back to back games with little break, I was 1-1 with 1 draw. Pretty much my usual fare in this situation but with room for improvement.

Too Long

When your a full time university student it is hard to find time between work (since the boss never hired someone to fill important gaps) and my long distance relationship with my dear Ashleigh to actually get out and play. Looking back I haven't been to a tournament this year since heading up Beauty And The Beast's at the NZTC. However I have put my foot down and have been let loose for a weekend to once more stalk the battlefields of Wellington. Call To Arms HERE I COME!

However, this means I have two weeks to finish painting my list. It is Dark Elves. before the groans echo around the hills of Te Whanganui-A-Tara (woo, cultural) you may be interested to know that I plan to attempt a goodish position (not top place, too many dwarves for that) with NO Bolt Throwers, NO Executioners and NO Warlocks. Some think im mad, I prefer kooky. Here is the list.

Shar-Vear, High Beastmaster on Scourgerunner Chariot with the charmed shield. (305)

Niastra, Supreme Sorceress (lvl 4, light) on a Dark Steed with the iron-curse icon (245)

Calathan, Master Battle Standard Bearer on a Pegasus, with a lance, 1+ armour, 4+ ward and potion of foolhardiness (218)

5 Dark Riders with crossbows, shields and a musician (110)

5 Dark Riders with crossbows, shields and a musician (110)

5 Dark Riders with crossbows, shields and a musician and banner (120)

20 Black Ark Corsairs with additional hand weapons, full command and the flaming banner (260)

5 Shades with additional hand weapons (90)

5 shades with additional hand weapons (90)

Scourgerunner Chariot (150)

Hydra with flaming breath (180)

Hydra with flaming breath (180)

Hydra with flaming breath (180)

Kharibdyss (160)

2398

Fun, themed and a little insane. I will also be keeping a tally of how many monsters and large targets I can bring down with the list, a sort of moral victory points to offset some of the huge losses I will take from cannonballs to the face.

Can't wait to see you all there

Character spotlight, top 5 named characters in Warhammer

Well with a new project looming (very hush hush here) I really felt like doing a quick post on my favourite characters you can find strolling the tabletop, and no they are not all orcs. For me a great character needs to have some awesome fluff to back up what he can do, so a mix of combat effectiveness and back-story is going to play a role here. All righty then, where to start...

NUMBER 5

 

Heinrich Kemmler

The Lichemaster himself. What sort of a man could possibly warrant an entry in an army full of vampires? Heinrich can. A solid stat line (for a wizard), a monster dispel ability (he counts as a Level 5), loremaster, and the ability to resurrect Grave Guard with every kill he makes. To boot he has the most powerful Wight King in the world under his command and stands as equals in an alliance with the greatest vampire of the age. He can also be found as a villain in one of my favourite of the Gotrek and Felix saga. what's not to like?

NUMBER 4

Kholek Sun-eater

Badass levels are already increasing. Kholek is an underused but amazing Character. Sealing the doom of his race with oaths so foul that the sun itself turned away its face in disgust, Kholek now forever wanders the world under a perpetual tempest. as a monster, he has a nightmare of a stat line (WS8, S8, A7, W8, the list goes on), a 3+ armour save, multiple wound rule and the ability to hurl lightening bolts at his enemies. Sigmar preserve us!

NUMBER 3

The Sisters Of Twilight

what do the twin embodiments of a fractured elven psyche riding on top of a forest dragon account to, why the sisters of twilight that's what. Only the Everqueen now knows who the sisters Naestra and Arahan used to be, but who cares when it creates such an awesome Duo. Kind, compassionate Naestra has weapons to ensnare rather than kill, while cruel, capricious Arahan laughs at the carnage that she commits. with ranged attacks galore, a fearful combat profile (thanks to there dragon Ceithan-Har) and the ability to spring back to life unless both of them are killed in the same phase, the twins are a brilliant creation that has much better fluff than most of the other Wood Elf characters. though I have yet to verse the twins in a game, I know that I would rue the day if I don't have a cannon or two around to aid me...

NUMBER 2

Ungrim Ironfist

who are the biggest bad-asses in the Dwarven realm? The slayers of course. Who is the second best slayer in the world (behind you-know-who)? Why the king of the slayers of course! Ungrim, unfortunately, is the last in the line of the slayer kings of Karak Kadrin since his soon met his doom at the hands of the Chaos Giant he had just killed. Having beaten Chaos invasions, defeated Golgfag Maneater in single combat, smashed the army of Queek Headtaker, slain the dragon of Black Peak, and wiped out the Orc hoard of Gnashrak Badtooth, he is one of the Old Worlds greatest generals. In game he is a powerhouse, with the abilities of both a Dragon and Daemon slayer, the Axe of Drago and a cloak made from the skin of Fyrskar the dragon, Ungrim would be able to easily slaughter any character on this list. Well, if he can get to them that is (damn these stumpy legs!) 

And finally

NUMBER 1

Malekith the Deceiver

What more is there to say. Malekith is, well, Malekith. The greatest of the sons of Anerion. Cursed with Immortality, riven by hatred and consumed with the humiliation of his scaring. Malekith is by far and away the biggest, most evil bad-ass in all of Warhammer (on par with the devil himself, Archaon). Profile in excess of a combat lord: check. Power of the greatest of wizards: check. 2000 years of back story including, but not limited to; the orchestration of the war of the beard, wiping out an entire city that displeased him, the killing of a Phoenix King and fighting his way out of the Realm of Chaos: check, check, check, check. Oh, and Awesome weaponry and protective items: check. There is quite literally no fault in this Elf. It also helps that, due to a prophesy, he can only be killed by a male sorcerer. Definitely my number one pick.

I would just like to point out that this is in fact only my opinion. If you feel I have wronged a character by not putting him here do speak up, its always interesting how people rate there favourites.

If in doubt, send the marines!

Oi, Listen up you lout's. da real Admiral's back so e is, an' not too late ta get some bashin' done! Even managed to gets me a right handy li'll birdy ta carry me inta battle.

 I was havin' trouble naming da blasted thing, but since it et 'alf the stores onboard (as well as plenty of dem wippersnappers crawlin round da place) i decided to name him Right Bastard. 

speakin' of dem li'llens, da Marine core ain't comin along to bad neither. Wid a Bit more trainin' dey might even give dem hooligan's a run for dere money. Har Har Har.

Sad Passings

British comedy has felt a massive blow over the last two weeks with two of there veteran actors sadly passing away. Both Rik Mayall and Sam Kelly were parts of my childhood, with the young ones and Allo Allo helping form my love of comedy. Though these are tragedies for all comedy lovers, they are not the great loss this post is about.

taking a much loved machine to binary heaven

After a 7 year struggle with over heating and corruption, I must now say goodbye to my faithful laptop. That small bundle of silicone and plastic has served me faithfully through my formative years at university, where I first felt the pull of the warhammer tournament scene. It was older than 99% of the miniatures in my collection, it has survived earthquakes, floods, snow and rain (and I mean that quite literally, it has been impacted by all but shrugged it off).

Most notably however Toshi (yea I had a pet name for it, so what) was fundamental in the set up of this very Blog. it possessed a small, unregarded little hole in its chassis that would accommodate a memory card from my camera. Without it I am looking for new ways to bring the photos from my table to your screen. I must ask patience while I work through this difficult time.

Normal posts will hopefully return latter today with the (almost) complete Pirates.

this post is dedicated to Toshi the Toshiba, may the 8-bit angels sing you to your rest (though when I thought about that the only singing I could think of was the sound a fax machine makes. Computers might like it)

Toshi the Toshiba (2007-2014)

Where in the world is HMS. Distraction?

I never really think hard about the power of the internet, sending its tendrils out all over the world in a mass exodus of binary information. However this morning, as I was trying to reformat the blog to allow for a wider section to display the basic text of the blog I came across a page of viewing statistics. I was rather surprised. Naively thinking that most of the traffic perusing my whimsical ramblings must have been coming from the Australasian region where I, funnily enough, reside turned out to be totally and utterly false.

New Zealand is only THIRD in the line up (though still makes up the entirety of the subscriber base), behind the USA and Great Britain. Now upon thinking about it, this wouldn't be a huge realisation. New Zealand is a tiny country compared to the motherland and ol' uncle Sam, but it was the nations further down the list that sparked my interest. places like Turkey, Poland and Germany. Nations that I wouldn't have expected to be trawling English Wargaming blogs at all (well I know Poland and Germany both have pretty good wargaming scenes, but surely they have enough of there own blogs as it is) Even China rated higher on the list than Australia, which was the biggest surprise of the investigation.

I am now left wondering how many of these are just cursory glances over (maybe thinking it was a blog about sailing. Maybe) and how many of them are actually stopping, hitting translate, and reading through the musings of a 22 year old student from the deep (deep) south of the globe. Its interesting to muse on....

Finish line in sight

I said that I would have some images of the infantry latter in the week didn't I. the Hohei Chutai is almost complete, with only a machine gun platoon and the command banner teams (another WWII army with flags! but now the Russians aren't unique.)

with 10 bases of infantry, 2 light mortars and a command sword team in each platoon, coupled with the night assault rules and the choice of being the attacker, these guys are always the powerhouse of the Japanese forces. If given the choice of targeting their artillery, machine guns, tanks or infantry; my first bombardment will always be targeting these insane buggers. Oh and just try and pin them down, I dare you, its next to impossible.

First Commision, new computer and the Liebster awards

Good Evening folks, I hope everything is going peachy in your neck of the woods.

Once more I must apologise for my lack of communication, but a blog is merely a place to share ones thoughts, and I am afraid I must heavily edit those least I lose anyone to my terrifying rants.

However, digression aside, welcome back. There are a few things I wish to talk about Tonight. First and foremost is that, until recently, I have been labouring under the yolk of a woefully outdated computer. But no longer! With a great weight lifted from my wallet (honestly, I blew my budget so quickly I had to dip into the Orc funds) I can now work without having the machine crash every 25 minutes, which makes blogging so much easier I can tell you. You can therefore expect more content on a much more regular basis.

one of the commanders of the Light Sensha division, equipped with the fearsome *snigger* type 95  Ha-Go 

Secondly is the completion of the first part of what I am calling my first proper commission (I painted Hamish's trolls for him a while ago, for which I apologise profusely to everyone who has been eaten by them, but that was in repayment for a certain amount of travel). My good friend Jayden over at The imperial patrol passed his Hohei Chutai (Japanese rifle company)into my keeping over the last month and the results are just now being finished (University and work have interceded to delay progress). However, here are some pictures of the first completed miniatures.

Nikuhaku squads, trust the Japanese to devise suicide squads to take on Russian armour

came out fuzzy, but some light type 92 70mm Howitzers, man my Fin's have a deep hatred for these light but violent weapons 

 So with the first wave of support platoons done, and 20 stands of infantry almost complete (you will be seeing them latter in the week) it seems I need to soon pull my finger out of my metaphorical arse and get my Finnish Jalkaväki kompany painted.

To finish tonight I would like to make a quick mention of the Liebster awards. My good friend Herman made a mention of it in the comments of my previous video, and my interest was piqued. I didn't really know how to feel about it, convention is that the nominator asks 11 questions of the nominee, who then nominates another group of young bloggers and so on. I will say now that I have always disliked this style of, for lack of a better word, pyramid scheme style of secret sharing (secrets are secrets for a reason, and I could crush people with the skeletons in my closet). However, awareness of other like minded blogs is a good thing, so you may see a post soon highlighting my favourite blogs to visit. We will see.

That's all I was going to talk about tonight. I hope to be back latter in the week with the finished Hohei platoon. Till then, have fun, stay classy, and rattle 'dem bones.

Wood Elves, the character quandary

Hello again everyone. My post's seem to be few and far between at the moment, with uni and work taking up so much time and so many topics being talked to death I just haven't felt like blogging. One such topic is, of course, the brand spanking new Wood Elves that everyone seems to see as "meta breaking". My Two cents (or should that be ten cents these days, hard to tell) is that yes, it is a nice book. It delivered most of what Woody players wanted with just minor tweaks to keep balance pretty much perfect from my vantage point. Fluff units are cool additions (heres looking at you Glade Riders and Wildwood Rangers) and special characters are not over the top. However, their is one pair that I had an interesting chat about earlier today with good friend and Kiwi Hammer contributor Sam Campbell.

The sisters of Twilight

The Twins are back and, shockingly, they are now found in the Hero section (theoretically allowing you to take a dragon in both lords and heroes) and still have their wondrous ability to come back to life as long as the other is still hanging round on the battlefield. The problem arises, in my eyes at least, when you go for the cheep option (if you count 275pts as cheap) and put them on their loyal Great Eagle Gwindalor. Being now on a monstrous beast rather than a monster as they are on the back of their dragon, the sisters suddenly find themselves as a SINGLE monstrous cavalry model. The wording on page 105 of the baby rulebook (under charecter mounts) states...

"Very rarely, a character will have the option to ride a monstrous beast. In this case, the whole model is treated as having the troop type 'monstrous cavalry' and follows all the rules for both characters and monstrous cavalry"

Then, under monstrous cavalry (page 83) it states...

"Monstrous cavalry always use the highest wounds characteristic the model has, rather than automatically using the rider's"

Forgive my nitpicking but to me that sounds like the singular model of the two riding on Gwindalor would therefore only have 3 wounds between them, as the MODEL uses the HIGHEST WOUNDS CHARACTERISTIC! Theoretically then after sustaining three wounds both the sisters would then be removed from the table, and their special rule would have no time to proc.

My question is was this deliberate wording that may hint at a change of pace closing in towards the 9th edition rules where monstrous cavalry characters will not be instantly benefited by their steeds, or was this an accidental afterthought by GW during the creation of the book. I'm pretty sure its going to be the first thing to be included in big, bold lettering when the first Woody FAQ comes out.

Thats all i wanted to ramble about. Also would people see two Lvl 4's, The sisters on dragon and a Battle standard captain to be a viable character set up for the new Woodies. Captain Jebson Signing off.

Book Review: Master Of Death

Let me put a disclaimer on this one. I love the Vampire Counts. I have at least 3000 points worth of them and i love the huge quantity of fluff that has built up around them over the years. with that out of the way one thing that has been lacking over the years is real insight into the patriarchs (or matriarchs in Neferata's case) of the vampiric bloodlines. yes we know Alcadizar led an army that smashed Lahmia and scattered the vampires to the four winds, but then there is a massive gap in the lore until Nagash returns to recreate his empire. Josh Reynolds was the man chosen to create three time of legends books, each focusing on one of the undead lords that were mentioned during the rise of Nagash trilogy (which, shamefully, i have not read), and so far he has not dissapointed.

W'soran, also refereed quite commonly by the other Vampires as the "old monster", is the patriarch of the Necharach line. He is vain, as are most of his brothers, and cunning like Neferata, but also a monumental coward compared to his brethren. Nagash's death showed him that even the greatest can fall, and fleeing does not irk him like it would his siblings. He also does not mind sacrificing those closest to him to further his plans. He is consumed with finding the secrets of life and death to try to prevent the true death ever occurring to the one person he can't live without, himself.

I didn't know what to think of the book at first. It has an odd structure where, before the start of every chapter, you get a flashback. However the whole story is a flashback, as in the first chapter we see the betrayal of his protege Melkhior (a huge part of the existing background fluff, so a logical thing to place in the book) and W'soran's death. Most of these flashbacks seemed to have no continuity to them, often they were his interactions with his fellow vampires, and quite often him running from the problem at hand, trying to take as many of his books and acolytes with him. most of them didn't seem to fit. Their were alot with Ushoran that made sense as it showed that he was the only one of his brethren he seemed to get along with, and built the tension as Ushoran was now his greatest enemy, having been possessed by the crown of Nagash. Overall the book showed his attempts to become greater than the great necromancer, to transcend death and become unto the god that Nagash believed himself to be. Since we have already witnessed his death we can view this story as a tragedy as we know the great work will never be complete.

It is in the conclusion of the book, however, that the fog was lifted and everything made perfect sense. Everything that was learned, all the flashbacks, all the pointless little ditties came together in the final battle and an absolutely breathtaking finale. I will not spoil it, but it made the whole book, and made me so so very pleased that i had persisted. From that end alone i give it a 9/10, and recommend you check it out if you are a fan of the background of these great characters.

Master Of Death is on sale at Games Workshop stores, on the Black Library website, or available as an Ebook.