Indy 40K

Upcoming Indy Event - 2000 point 40k tournament - GP South

2012-01-11T04:48:00.001-05:00

What: 2000 point 40k tournament

When: Saturday, February 4th, 2012
   check-in starts at 9:30, game 1 starts at 10:30
             2 hr, 15 min rounds

Where: Game Preserve - South
             1551 East Stop 12 Road
               Indianapolis, IN 46227
               (317) 881-4263

Entry Fee: $10

more info: This tournament will be modeled after the Indy Open, in that the scoring will use their rubric. This event is intended to be a "practice" tournament for those wanting to attend the Indy Open, and want to get a feel for what it will be like, or just want to get together and get some games in! The missions used will be chosen from their mission packet, available here. If you haven't registered for the Indy Open, please do so here.

Each mission will have a primary, secondary, and tertiary objective. The player that achieves the primary objective will win the game. If the two players tie on the primary objective, then the player who achieves the secondary objective will win, and so on. If the players tie on all the objectives, then the player who has earned the highest number of victory points will be the winner. Each objective will be worth a variable number of "bracket points," which will be used to determine a player's position within his win/loss bracket. The primary objective will be worth 6 points, the secondary objective will be worth 5 points, and the tertiary objective will be worth 4 points, and winning by victory points will be worth 3 bracket points.

Prizes: prizes will be awarded to the following players:

Best General - the player with the highest number of bracket points with a 3-0 win/loss record
Best Painted - the player with the highest army appearance score
Best Sportsman - the player who is voted the best opponent by his peers
Renaissance Man - the player with the best combined score (50% battle/50% painting)

Additional prizes will be awarded randomly, and will be determined by the number of attendees.

Please bring the following:
-your army
-any rulebook, FAQ, errata, etc that pertains to your army
-any dice, template, measuring devices that you need to play the game
-a printed army list for each opponent

Sign-up sheet for the tournament will be at the Game Preserve - South. You may contact them to sign up, or email me at indy40k@gmail.com to sign up. Please include your name, email address, and what army you will be playing.

Hobby progress and upcoming events

2012-01-06T05:30:00.000-05:00

Welcome back Indy! I hope everyone had a good holiday season. I kept busy over my "holiday hiatus" trying to juggle too many projects at once (is there any other way?).

For Christmas, I got my daughter her first set of hobby supplies. The GW paint set comes with a variety of paints, a (crappy) brush, and some space marines. My daughter decided that she wanted to paint the marines red, so I got out my Blood Angels Codex and began to regale her with stories of the Blood Angels' organization, the different unit types, etc. We sat down and started painting last week while watching reruns of Star Trek: TNG on Netflix. You can see her first finished model here. Bear in mind that she is 6 years old, and this is the first model that she's painted on her own.

I'm pretty amazed, and very proud.

I've also been coordinating with other organizers in the area to plan out the even schedule for the beginning of the year. I'll put up a separate post with more details, but there's an 1850 tourney in Bloomington on Jan 14, and I'll be running a 2000 point practice tournament that will use the Indy Open format on Feb 4th. Again, a more detailed post about these, and many more events in the not so distant future.

I will leave you with that. What cool hobby goodness did you guys do over the holidays?

indy40k combat patrol tourney recap

2011-11-08T06:00:00.000-05:00

Saturday was the day for our Combat Patrol tournament. This was jRock's first attempt at running an event, and he wanted to do something different and memorable. The restrictions for the event were very similar to those at Adepticon, with the exception that forces would be 500 points.

We had a relatively small turnout, which was still pretty remarkable considering there were 2 other events going on that day around Indianapolis. We played 5 1-hour rounds of fast and (dare I say) furious action. Most games were very decisive, and a good time was had by all (or at least by most of us).

This was the first of our tournaments that I've been able to play in, as I am usually the TO. I brought my fledgling Grey Knight army, and was a little nervous having never played this force in an actual game. My force consisted of 3 5-man Strike Squads with a psycannon in each squad and backed up by 3 Razorbacks with psybolt ammo. My first 3 games couldn't have gone better. The amount of shooting that this force put out was very deadly at the 500 point level. The games were fun, but short. Each game consisted of one good round of shooting on my part, then a swift decline of the opponent's forces. All 3 were decisive victories.

Game 4 saw me pitted against Spaguatyrine's Space Wolves. He had a nasty Thunderwolf squad backed up by the obligatory Long Fang pack. The mission had us running for the center board to grab an objective that we could then take with us. My luck seemed to run out in this game, as my good round of shooting never came, and the game ended in my being tabled.

Game 5 had me paired up against another 3-1 player, TheGraveMind and his traitorous Blood Angels with 2 large jump assault squads boosted by a Sanguinary Priest. The mission called for us to eliminate each others leader (the model with the highest Ld), and we both killed the other's leader, ending the game in a draw.

Spag won his last game against the last 3-1 player, giving him the Best General award. I walked away with second place, and the Best Strategist award (having secured the most bonus objectives). The breakdown of players was as such:
1. Aaron A (Spaguatyrine) - Best General - Space Wolves
2. Jason T. (wienas) - Best Strategist - Grey Knights
3. Nic M (TheGraveMind) - Blood Angels
4. Ken L - Grey Knights
5. John L. - Grey Knights
6. Jim B. - Daemons

As you can see, the Grey Knights showed up in force this weekend, and occupied plenty of the top spots. Here are some more pictures from the event.

Thanks to everyone for showing up. I know jRock had a great time running the event, as he is planning the next one for the spring. If you want to leave any feedback for the event, or have any questions, send them to: indy40k @ gmail.com

Upcoming Indy Event - 1850 point 40k tournament - Bloomington

2011-10-09T07:00:00.000-04:00

What: 1850 point Warhammer 40k tournament.

When: Saturday, October 15th, 2011

Where: The Game Preserve - Bloomington

101 W. Kirkwood Ste. 117

Bloomington, IN
1.812.332.6602

More Info:

Come out for our next Warhammer 40,000 tournament and get in on some plastic spaceman-fueled carnage! We'll start registration at 11 AM, and games will begin at noon. The points size for the tournament will be 1850. We'll have three two-hour rounds, with a lunch break in between the first and second rounds.

Games Workshop changed their tournament format recently, so we'll be doing things a little differently this time:

Games are worth 20 points each, shared between the two players as before. Instead of up to 40 points being available for painting based on a rubric, as we've previously done, one (or, likely more) impartial judges will be recruited during the lunch break to pick their three favorites for best painted, and those players will receive 10 bonus points-- essentially, enough to break a tie in the overall standings.

Entry: $5

upcoming indy40k event - 500 point Combat Patrol tournament

2011-10-08T12:19:00.003-04:00

What: 500 point Combat Patrol tournament

When: Saturday, November 5th, 2011.

Where: Game Preserve - South
             1551 East Stop 12 Road
               Indianapolis, IN 46227
               (317) 881-4263

More Info:
jRock will be the TO for this event, and you can register by sending an email to: indy40k@gmail.com

-Army is to be made up of no more than 500 points.

-FOC requirements are as follows: 0-1 HQ, 1-6 TROOPS, 0-1Elite, 0-1 Fast Attack, 0-1 Heavy Support.

-No 2+ Saves (armor or invulnerable)

-No model (other than a Troops Choice from the standard FOC )may have more than 2 Wounds. This includes units that are "unlocked"as troops (ie. Tervigon)

-Vehicles may have nothing higher than an added armor of 33(adding front, side, and rear values).

-No Special Characters (Regardless if they are ‘unique’ or not.If in doubt, leave ‘em out)

-No psychic powers may be used (you may take a psycher,though, if you wish).

-No ordinance weapons

-No invulnerable saves (unless the model has no armor save(i.e. Daemons).

All models should adhere to the WYSIWG standards. If a model has a piece of wargear/weaponry, that wargear/weapon should appear on the model. Models that do not meet this requirement may be removed or replaced at the TO's discretion. If you have any questions about this, please ask.

SPECIALRULES:

-Yourarmy needs a “Leader”. If you have an HQ choice, it is your “leader”. If you donot have an HQ choice in your force, nominate the model with the highestLeadership value to be your “Leader”.

SCORING:

2 points per win

1 point per tie

0 points per loss

1 point for bonus objective

AWARDS:

Best General – Highest battle score - $50

2^nd- $30

3^rd- $20

Best Strategist – Most Bonus Objectives - $50

Favorite Army – Player’s Choice by Voting (painting,theme, etc) - $30

2^nd - $20

T.O.will vote in the event of a tie

Ifthere are ties for any of the battle awards, tie breaker for Best General isBonus objectives, tie breaker for bonus objectives is battle scores.

Please bring the following with you:

A printed copy of your army list for yourself, the TO, and each of your opponents.
Your rulebook and codex.
Any FAQs that may pertain to your army.'
Any necessary dice, tape measures, templates, etc.

GAMEPLAY:

Each round will be one hour long. Gaming surfaces will bedivided into a 4x4 square playing area; the remainder may be used for dice,templates, and the “dead pile”. All games are 6 rounds.

SCHEDULE:

Registration9:30-10:30

Game 1:10:30-11:30

Lunch andPlayer’s Choice Voting: 11:30-12:30

Game 2:12:30-1:30

Game 3:1:45-2:45

Break :3:00-3:15

Game 4:3:30-4:30

Game 5: 4:45-5:45

Awards

Tournament wrap-up

2011-10-06T19:21:00.000-04:00

I'm a bit late getting this out, but on the 24th, we ran a 1500 point tournament on Indy's south side. The breakdown of armies was as such:

3 Space Marines
2 Chaos Marines
2 Orks
2 Imperial Guard
1 Necrons
1Space Wolves
1 Dark Angels
1 Tyranids
1 Blood Angels
1 Tau
1 Daemons

With Spaguatyrine fresh off his Best Overall win at the NOVA Invitational, jRock having won the last 2 local tournaments, and competitive players TheGraveMind and Strung Muppet showing up as well, I figured our players would be in for a slugfest. Spags drew Strung Muppet, or Blue Moon, or whatever he goes by these days (we mostly refer to him as d-bag) for the first round, and the game ended in a tie. jRock and TheGraveMind both won their first round games. jRock drew a newcomer to the tournament scene for round 2. His name is Ryan, he's 13 years old, and has a very nice-looking Ultramarines army. I didn't get any good pictures of his force, so here's one that I pulled from the GW website showing his Golden Daemon-winning entry.

Ryan proved to be a talented player as well as a talented painter, as he won the game against jRock. TheGraveMind was the only other undefeated player going into round 3, so he and Ryan faced off against each other. Ultramarines vs. Tyranids in a Victory Point mission. TheGraveMind's Nids had trouble with what Nids usually have problems with: taking out the Land Raider. The Librarian above managed to shut down the Tyranid psychic phase for the first 4 turns of the game, almost assuring Ryan the victory. In the end the game came down to within 100 victory points, with Ryan winning Best General.

The top 10 for battle points was as such:

1. Ryan H. - Space Marines

2. Nate H. (Strung Muppet) - Blood Angels

3. Aaron A. (Spaguatyrine) - Space Wolves

4. Steve B. - Space Marines

5. Nik M. (TheGraveMind) - Tyranids

6. Nick M. - Orks

7. John McG (jRock) - Imperial Guard

8. Chad N. - Chaos Marines

9. Matt S. - Orks

10. Aaron B. - Dark Angels

Top 3 overall (battle+appearance+sports) were:

1. Ryan H. - Space Marines

2. Steve B. - Space Marines

3. Aaron A. (Spaguatyrine) - Space Wolves

Thanks to everyone for coming out. We're planning on running another event soon. I'll leave you with some more pics:

Spag's Wolves attempt to cleanse the Ork filth.

Ron's Crimson Fists get attacked by Steve's robots (attack bikes), while Cassius leads a squad of Assault Terminators into the Crimson Fists center (ouch).

Brad's IG and Aaron's Tau face each other down. Which one is supposed to charge?

jRock's traitor guard try to halt the advance of the Ultramarines. They were not successful.

Upcoming Indy Event - 1750 Hive Fleet Indy tournament - Indianapolis

2011-09-27T05:00:00.000-04:00

What: 1750 Warhammer 40k tournament

When: Saturday, October 22nd.

Where: Games 2 Die 4
                   55 South Raceway Road, Suite 1100
              Avon, Indiana 46231
                   317-271-4234

More Info:
Registration Time: 11:00am
Tournament begins: 12:00 pm

Entree Fee: $15

Tournament Information/Rules:

1750 point armies

The format is a Win/Loss tourney

1st round 12:00 to 2:00 pm
Break 2:00 to 2:15pm
2nd round 2:15 to 4:15 pm
Break 4:15 to 4:45 pm (Army appearance and Players' Choice Judging
3rd round 4:45 to 6:45 pm
Awards 7:00 to 7:15pm
(15 minute break and a 30 minute food break)

*Pairings will be random round 1, then are paired by highest scores to lowest rounds 2 and 3.
Any players TRAVELING substantial distance may REQUEST not to be paired together
the first round at the judge's discretion.

*All valid armies and current codices must be used. Allies are only allowed where permitted in the appropriate codex.

*An army list must be presented to the TO for verification and a copy must be available for each opponent. List that are improperly made, don't follow force organization, or don't add up in points, and are found at the beginning or during the tournament will be automatically disqualified.

All missions are based out of the Warhammer 40K rule book, with some slight twists

Now for the good stuff

Prizes:
Top 4 Players with best overall score

2 Best Apperence

2 Sportsmanship prizes

Also, additional prizes awarded

Missions will be made available Monday September 26th via the G2D4 website at www.Games2D4.com and in the Games 2 Die 4 store located at 55 South Raceway Road, Suite 1100, Avon, Indiana 46231. The phone number to contact the store is 317-271-4234.

Upcoming Indy Event - 1500 pt 40k tournament - Greenwood, IN

2011-08-14T21:33:00.000-04:00

What: 1500 point Warhammer 40k tournament put on by Indy 40k (that's me!)

When: Saturday, September 24th, 2011
             Registration starts at 9:30, game 1 starts at 10:30

Where: Game Preserve - South
             1551 East Stop 12 Road
               Indianapolis, IN 46227
               (317) 881-4263

More Info:

Entry fee: $15
3 rounds
Battle Scoring: A player will receive 5 points for a win, 3 points for a tie, or 1 point for a loss each game. In addition, each player will choose their own personal objective each game, which will be worth 1 point.
Paint Scoring: There is no painting requirement for the event. All models must adhere to WYSIWYG, and should represent the wargear they are carrying. "Counts-as" armies are welcome, but should adhere to WYSIWYG as well. Any questions regarding this may be sent to Jason at: indy40k {at} gmail {dot} com. Painting will be scored according to the Rogue Trader checklist by GW (I'm sorry, but I don't have the link for where you can find this). In addition, the players will select their favorite armies to award additional appearance points.
Sportsmanship: Players will nominate their favorite opponents to receive prizes based on how pleasant they were to play against.
Overall: Each of the above-mentioned categories will be awarded prizes. Additionally, the scores will be combined, and the players with the highest overall scores will receive separate prizes, similar to the "Renaissance Man" award at the NOVA Open.
Additional prizes will be given out randomly, the amount of which will be determined by the number of entrants.

To register for the event, email Jason at: indy40k {at} gmail {dot} com with the following information:

your name (and online handle if you use one)
an email address where you can be reached
what army you are bringing

Indy Events Update

2011-08-07T21:10:00.001-04:00

I've come across several upcoming events here in Indy. I'll be posting separate entries for each of these events with more detailed information, but I wanted to get these out to anyone interested.

08-27: Wizard's Keep Muncie - 1750 tournament

09-17: Game Preserve Bloomington - 1850 tournament

09-24: Game Preserve Indy South - 1500 tournament

10-15: Game Preserve Bloomington - 1850 tournament

11-12: Game Preserve Bloomington - 1850 tournament

12-10: Game Preserve Bloomington - 1850 tournament

I hope to see many of you across the table.

Tournament of Championship wrap-up

2011-07-25T13:02:00.002-04:00

The winner received this (somewhat) coveted trophy.

This past weekend we held the 2nd annual Tournament of Championship on the south side of Indy. Attendance was a bit scarce due to the fact that there were 2 other tournaments that day, but a good time was had by all.

The run-down was as such:

Generalship:

1st - Dustin S - Blood Angels

2nd - Eric H - Orks

3rd - Nate H - Chaos Marines

Painting:

1st - Nate H - Chaos Marines

2nd - Steve B - Chaos Marines

3rd - Eric H - Orks

Sporstmanship:

1st - Eric H

2nd - Matt S

3rd - John L

Overall:

1st - Eric H - Orks

2nd - Nate H - Chaos Marines

3rd - John L - Witch Hunters

If anyone wants to know the complete break-down: e-mail me at: indy40k {at} gmail {dot} com

Some pictures of the event:

Nurgle Terminators try to give the Blood Angels a what-for. Mephiston is not amused.

Grey Knight Paladins Drop into the face of the enemy.

The Imperial Guard form a gun-line in hopes of holding off an Ork horde.

Deathwing Terminators deep strike in to clear an area of heretical Witch Hunters (the Deathwing were my ringer army).

Obliterators castle up whilst their Daemon Princes hide, er...wait for the right moment to strike.

Each entrant got a bag of goodies from us at Indy 40k and Secret Weapon Miniatures.

I wanted to thank everyone that came out to the tournament. We had a great time running it, and I hope that everyone had a good time playing in it. I also wanted to thank our sponsors, who threw in some really good prize support: The Game Preserve, Blue Moon Games, and Secret Weapon Miniatures.

2011-07-04T17:18:00.000-04:00

Sorry, no update this week. I'm spending the long weekend with my family. I hope everyone has a happy and safe 4th of July.

this week on the blogs

2011-06-27T04:59:00.000-04:00

This week had a great series of articles from Dave_G at Wargaming Tradecraft about airbrushing. This is a superb read for any airbrush novice (like myself).

SC Mike has finished pics of his Death Company Storm Raven for the Heroes of Armageddon project.

OST had a huge post of 6th Ed rumors.

Lamenter posted a tutorial for casting greenstuff icons.

Karitas has a very nice-looking Sons Of Medusa Assault Marine.

this week on the blogs

2011-06-19T21:54:00.000-04:00

My wife worked all weekend, and I spent that time with my daughters (and painting). As such, I haven't caught much of what's been going on, but here is what caught my eye this week.

Lamenter builds one of his best "artscale" models yet: a Grey Knight Terminator.

Drathmere sets out his army on the display board as his Armies On Parade project winds toward an end.

Roman continues his tutorial of his dungeon base diorama. The written part is a little difficult to follow, but the video is very interesting.

Happy Fathers' Day to all the dads out there.

Upcoming Indy Event - 1500 pt 40k tournament - Greenwood, IN

2011-06-15T21:10:00.002-04:00

What: 1500 point 40k tournament

When: Saturday, July 23rd, 2011

Where: Game Preserve - South
              1551 East Stop 12 Road
              Indianapolis, IN 46227
              (317) 881-4263

More Info: The second annual Tournament of Championship will be on July 23rd.

Entry fee is $15
3 rounds
We will score the players using the "Flames of War" scoring system used at the G2D4 tournament, where a win will give a player 5 points, and each player will choose their own personal objective worth additional points.
We have room for 30 players.
Registration will be from 9:00-9:40, Game 1 will begin at 10:00
Prizes will be given to the top 3 players in Generalship, Painting, and Sportsmanship. Also, the top 3 overall players will receive additional prizes. Extra prizes will be given away randomly and will depend on the number of attendants.
Each player will receive a swag bag consisting of a set of custom dice, products from Secret Weapon Miniatures, and more!
To register for the event, e-mail Jason at: indy40k {at} gmail {dot} com with the following information:

Your name (and online name/handle if you have one)
Your e-mail address
What army you will be bringing.

this week on the blogs

2011-06-12T12:36:00.000-04:00

Ron from From The Warp had several good posts this week. Here is a tutorial for painting Flesh Tearers Marines, with another post about adding small details to your models with paint. Here's another tutorial about using card instead of plasticard. Lastly, Ron talks about why he likes playing 40K at 1500 points.

Drathmere is coming along on his Blood Angels.

Painting Mum has an in-depth tutorial of a Tzeentch Sorcerer.

Dave shows some progress on his contribution to the Heroes of Armageddon project.

Roman finishes this amazing Ultramarines diorama. I really like the subdued colors of the Tyranids; they barely stand out from the background.

An Open (Video) Letter to Games Workshop

2011-06-08T20:59:00.001-04:00

from MiniWargaming.com

I'm sure many of you have already seen this video. It is a respectful, non-ranting video presenting one gamer's dissatisfaction with some of the current practices that Games Workshop has undertaken. I share many of the sentiments expressed in the video, and wanted to pass it on.

this week on the blogs

2011-06-04T20:21:00.000-04:00

Ron from From The Warp was very busy creating some inspirational posts for us this week. First, a nice Adeptus Custode conversion. Next, he brings on Adam from the Space Wolves blog to talk about promoting your blog. Lastly, there is a very nice Flesh Tearers Librarian conversion.

TheGraveMind explains how he made his army transport case on the cheap.

Loquacious gives a color-by-color comparison of the metallic range of GW, Vallejo Game Color, and Reaper Master Series.

Dave_G has a nice way to organize your flock and other basing materials; a spice rack!

Roman gives a tutorial on building this nice dungeon display base.

Raffa shows us how to paint marble effects.

LeadHead has a great article on the basics of getting into airbrushing. This article was of particular relevance to me, as I am getting into airbrushing myself.

May in Indy - A Monthly Review

2011-05-31T05:00:00.001-04:00

This month started out with a trio of interesting articles regarding list optimization. Spaguatyrine's post talked about using units with similar function rather than spamming the exact same unit to optimize your army's utility. Sandywyrm's post followed this up talking about learning the basics of army optimization before figuring out which of these rules a player should break in order to create an army that is unique to your playing style. CaulynDarr capped off the discussion talking about finding balance between redundancy and utility

Sandwyrm brings up a potential tournament issue with Justicar Thawn from the new Grey Knights Codex.
Anonymous Foodie weighs in with his thoughts on Thawn here.

Farmpunk gives his thoughts about the Grey Knights after using them in a NOVA-format tournament.

TheGraveMind revises his thoughts on the Tyranid Elite section.

Spaguatyrine talks about playing against Daemons with Grey Knights.

Heretic expresses his frustrations about starting a Tau army in the face of the current metagame.

TheGraveMind shows off a new Tyranid Alpha Warrior.

NitroKitty has a good article about distractionary units.

Spaguatyrine gives some tips about deployment.

CaulynDarr acts as a voice of reason in light of the recent price increases from GW, and talks about confirmation bias.

Sandwyrm does a kind of hobby outreach with a Tau player and gives a battle report here.

this week on the blogs

2011-05-28T19:38:00.000-04:00

Old School Terminator has completed his awesome Tervigon conversion.

Master Darksol gives us a tutorial for painting Grey Knights.

Jawaballs has some nice-looking WIP shots of the Blood Angels Land Raider he is contributing for the Heroes of Armageddon charity project.

Ron shows off a Black Templars Chaplain conversion based off of artwork from the Codex.

Dave_G shows us how to add a poll to our blogs.

Max (aka The Maxican) shows us a very cool Keltic Warrior done in an almost monochromatic color scheme.

Raffa created some great art inspired by the recent disaster in Japan.

Upcoming Indy Event - 1850 point 40k tournament - Kokomo

2011-05-24T05:00:00.000-04:00

What: 1850 point 40k tournament

When: June 25th, 2011

Where: Gamer DMZ LLC
              1233 W. Jackson St. Ste. A
              Kokomo, IN. 46901
              (765) 868-8330
More Info:

Cost: $15 entry fee.
Time: Open at 10:30. Sign up from 10:30-11:30. First game starts promptly at 11:45.

If you are late (Hartley! lol) then we will not allow you to play. Sorry guys, hope you understand, this was an issue the last time, and all the players were incredibly nice about it, but we have to do it this way.

Points: 1850,
3 rounds at 2 hours and 15 minutes, WYSIWYG. modified W/L system (to be posted later)
1st: $80. 2nd. $40. 3rd. $30
best painted army: $30. Best painted miniature: $15. Wooden spoon award: $15. and guys i promise we will have close to the same amount of prize support for you that we did the last time, just give me a few weeks to figure it out. lol. We are also going to be providing free lunch again, and this time, (looking at the person who ate more than 2 pieces of pizza), i will have a marine stationed to guard the pizza. hehe

So thats about it, any questions feel free to direct them towards me or to Gamer DMZ.

this week on the blogs

2011-05-22T21:47:00.000-04:00

I'm sure you've seen the hullaballoo around in interwebs about the GW price increase and embargo on Australia. Many bloggers have posted protest letters and forwarded them to GW in hopes of eliciting a change in their pricing policies. Sandwyrm went one further and looked up the various companies that are the majority shareholders of GW stock. Their contact information can be found here. Perhaps if we contact the people to whom GW has to answer, we can see change.

Loquacious highlights an awesome defiler converted using the new Dreadknight kit.

Ron gives us some tips on how to map out freehand designs.

Desartfox shows off a gret-looking Treeman for his Blood Bowl team.

Upcoming Indy Event - 2000 point 40k tournament - Greenwood

2011-05-21T01:17:00.000-04:00

What: 2000 point 40k tournament (1st of 3 events)

When: June 11th, 2011

Where: Game Preserve - South
              1551 East Stop 12 Road
              Indianapolis, IN 46227
              (317) 881-4263

More Info:

Our first annual Game Preserve Civil War will be taking place this June at our Greenwood store! This unique event pits players from teams representing the North and the Southside stores against each other in three separate events covering Warhammer Fantasy, Warhammer 40K, and Warmachine/Hordes. As this is an unusual event and the first we’ve run of its kind, let me break down the rules for you…

Three separate tournaments will take place: Warhammer Fantasy (June 25th), Warmachine/Hordes (June 18th), and Warhammer 40k (June 11th).
Players will have to sign up at the store they wish to represent beforehand. Example: If Joe Smith signs up at our Greenwood store (southside) he will represent the South when he comes to play.
Players will only ever be matched up against players from the opposing store (Northside players will only ever play against Southside players).
After each event the top six players will earn points for their side. Once all three events have been concluded then the scores will be totaled up to determine which store won the overall event.
Players can participate in as many or as few of the events as they would like. Joe Smith can play in just Warhammer Fantasy’s event or, if he is particularly hardcore, all three events.
Army size for the events are as follows: Warmachine/Hordes: 35 points. Warhammer Fantasy and Warhammer 40K: 2000 points.
Each event will consist of three 120 minute rounds.
Be at the store at 10:00 AM, play will begin shortly after.
There is a $10 fee due at sign up per event.
Each store will only have room for eight players per team per event.
In addition to a trophy that will reside at the victorious store until next year, there will be over $150 in prizes given away at each event, including gift cards, custom dice and t-shirts. The clock is ticking so be sure to sign up soon!

Tournament Gallery

2011-05-20T05:00:00.000-04:00

Here are some pics from the tournament that I went to last weekend at Games 2 Die 4. Above is the Tyranid army that I took.

Click the images for a larger view.

Steve's SM army.

Spaguatyrine's Space Wolves

John's Sisters (the super heavy was just for display)

jRock's Genestealer Cult army (counts as IG)

CaulynDarr's Eldar

Some of Nick's crazy Ork conversions

UberDark's awesome Speed Freaks army.

this week on the blogs

2011-05-15T17:05:00.000-04:00

Ron concludes his series of articles showing how to paint a Space Marine Drop Pod. Here's part 1, here's part 2.

Mr. Justin shows off a Command Chimera he's contributing to the Heroes of Armageddon project. He also posted a video showing how to create blood and gore effects in conjunction with his new bone fields bases.

On Bolter & Chainsword, a Grey Knights FAQ was posted, allegedly authored by GW Australia.

Lamenter shows off an art-scale Alpha Legion Terminator.

Roman shows some WIP pics of a cool Ultramarines/Tyranids diorama.

Hobby Update

2011-05-08T05:00:00.001-04:00

So the updates have been less than frequent as of late. My wife had a baby a few weeks ago, and I've been rather preoccupied with daddy duties. What hobby time I've been able to get usually comes in 15-30 minute chunks before I'm called away. Here are some pictures of what I've been working on lately:

I'm working on a commission for a Sisters of Battle army. One squad is finished, and I'm about 50% on two other squads.

I've started painting an Assault on Black Reach force for my local store. The Warboss is almost finished, and the first squad of Boyz have only their green flesh painted.

Project Space Marine is still underway. When my computer crashed last year, I lost all my WIP pictures for the marines that I had started. I'm almost finished with all the white marines (the ones who will be carrying only bolters).

Here's a group shot of the marines that I have finished thus far. Do you think they look enough like a cohesive force? I'm thinking of putting some sort of icon on one of their kneepads affiliating them with the Inquisition. Do you think that's enough, or should I do something more?

this week on the blogs

2011-05-07T07:00:00.000-04:00

The last of the Postapocalypticar Contest submissions were displayed this week. Entries 23-25, 25-29. Here is a link to the gallery where you can check out all 29 entries.

The boys at Massive Voodoo seem to have all completed their current projects at the same time. Raffa shows off a nice-looking Grey Knight as well as some other great showpieces. Roman has a very nice Gladiator. Baphomet has a very lovely Zombie diorama as well as a nice-looking minotaur.

Lantz has three very helpful product reviews up on Miniature Wargames Conversions; the first is of the Dragonforge Power Cables. The second is of a very nice lightbox available on eBay. Lastly, he reviews the Power Generator from Quantum Gothic.

Marcus and Martin continue their analysis of the Grey Knights Codex by looking at the Heavy Support choices.

Painting Mum has a fantastic Tzeentch Sorcerer for us to drool over.

Dark Side gives us a high-res map of the 40k Galaxy.

Drathmere shows off an expanding Henchman squad with the inclusion of some Daemonhosts.

Ron gives us a great guide on how to build a Drop Pod. This would have been nice to have before I put mine together (shakes fist in frustration)! :)

a note on the Game 2 Die 4 tournament on May 14th

2011-05-07T03:16:00.001-04:00

I just registered for the tournament at Games 2 Die 4 yesterday, and there were 3 or 4 slots left open. So far, 30 people have signed up, so if you're planning on trying to make it, stop in and sign up or call the store at 317-271-4234.

See you there!

April in Indy - a monthly review

2011-05-02T05:00:00.002-04:00

Happy Easter!

Adepticon was this month, so there has been a cornucopia of gaming as of late (not by me, of course). I did a special "best of Adepticon" post that you can check out here. Lots of good stuff there, largely thanks to SandWyrm's efforts.

Archfiend inventories his Ork collection. It's quite impressive.

CaulynDarr has a nicely coverted Dread Knight using Marneus Calgar. Later, he looks at the current meta, and postulates whether all-mech is still the way to go.

Loki takes a look at the Space Marine Codex, and how it is beginning to show it's age.

SandWyrm rags on Kirby, and why he's bringing GW down.

Spaguatyrine guarantees that you'll win if you follow is easy 3-step Grey Knight program (it's not a Ponzi scheme, I promise).

There were a few battle reports posted this month, here's the run-down:

Uberdark showcases the tournament that he ran up in Kokomo. He mentions another tournament in June, which I'm looking forward to attending.

Lastly, the Game Preserve North has changed their 40k night to Mondays. I don't know what this will do to the scene at this store, but I may be able to make it up there on occasion. I hear the 40k scene is pretty nice there, hopefully this will not disrupt that.

this week on the blogs

2011-04-30T13:25:00.000-04:00

The Postapocalypticar Contest entries are still being shown at Massive Voodoo. Continuing from last week, here are entries 14-19, 20-22. This has been one of my favorite hobby contests across the internet. The quality of entries is very inspiring.

Loquacious gives her thoughts about the differences between GW, Vallejo, P3, and Reaper MS paints.

Martin and Marcus continue their analysis of the Grey Knights Codex. Here, they look at the Troop choices. Here, they look at the Fast Attack.

Mr. Justin gives a walk-through on how he converted and painted his Command Chimera for the Heroes of Armageddon project.

Lamenter has a new "art scale" version of Abaddon. I really dig the scratch-built Talon of Horus.

Mathieu looks at what tools a painter may need to get into airbrushing.

this week on the blogs

2011-04-23T05:00:00.001-04:00

Massive Voodoo has been showing the entries for their Postapoclypitcar contest. These models show huge amounts of creativity and talent and have to be seen. Entries 1-3, 4-6, 7-10, 11-13. Check out this series for some great inspiriation.

Deathtron shows us how to make cheap craters

OST highlights a Grey Knights army by BulldogUK from the B+C forum. Really nice stuff here.

MajorTom11 posted an article on DakkaDakka about airbrushing a Grey Knight Terminator.

Ron posted an article about using sponges for weathering. He also completed his counts-as Astorath. Finally, he gives us a tutorial about how to paint glass vials.

this week on the blogs

2011-04-17T22:39:00.001-04:00

From The Warp is back! Ron couldn't stay gone for long, and put up a couple of good articles this week. Here is one about how to make your army stand out. Here is another about the progression from being a good beginning painter to a beginning good painter.

Brian gives us some final thoughts and pics of the Spec Ops: Killzone event at Adepticon.

Dave_G has finished his Postapocalyptibuggy and shows it off here.

Marcus and Martin begin a breakdown of the new Grey Knights Codex. You can find part 1 here. Part 2 can be found here.

Roman has finished his Hombre Toro model. It turned out fantastic.

Lantz has given us a 2-part tutorial about casting your own molds. Part 1 here. Part 2 here.

Speaking of casting, Zero has given us a review of Instant Mold, a new product used for press molding.

Master Darksol gives us a really nice tutorial for painting gold.

Big D looks at some tools that a beginning painter would do well to have in his toolbox.

Upcoming Indy Event - 1500 pt 40k tournament - Kokomo, IN

2011-04-14T16:00:00.004-04:00

What: 1500 pt 40k tournament - the K-Town Throwdown

Where: Gamer DMZ
                 1233 West Jackson Street
                 Kokomo, IN 46901-4581

When: Saturday, April 23rd, 2011

More Info:

We will open the doors around 10:30
1500 points. WYSIWYG

Admission: $15
3 rounds
Round time: 1 hour and 45 minutes.
Armies must be assembled but do not have to be painted. You MUST PROVIDE 4 LISTS One for you and one for each of your opponents. You will be running the same list all three games.   Standard Force Organization applies.
Yes the new Grey Knights codex will be able to be used. (FYI. Coteaz makes henchman warbands not require an inquisitor, and they ARE troops. ie... you can have 6 henchmen squads as troops, and 2 attached to HQ inquisitors.) Codex DaemonHunters is invalid for this tournament.

Prizes:
   1st, 2nd, 3rd prizes are $90. $40. $20.
   Door prizes: Gamesday ticket, painted miniature of your choice (painted by me). Door prizes of the following: grey knights, grey knights terminators, grey knights dreadknight, grey knights codex. (note: if you do not want the grey knights prizes you may trade for in store credit of equal value)
   Best painted army: $25, best painted miniature: $15.
    3 more $15 door prizes
   Wooden spoon award for last place $15.
   All prizes will be given through Gamer DMZ gift cards, and if we do not have the items you need that day, it will be ordered and sent to you in the mail free of charge.
THATS 16 PRIZES GIVEN YO!!!
go ahead an add that stuff up. TON O' SWAG!!

Mission packs: Before I go any further. If you don't like them, sorry. This is what we're doing. Being the type of person I am, I went for short and sweet. So we are going with Nova Primer Mission packs.
NOVA PRIMER MISSIONS

The mission goals will be as follows:

Kill points- You must beat your opponent by 3 or more killpoints to garner a win.
Objectives- a counter is placed in the center of the board, and on the center of each table quarter. Scoring units claim the objective if they are within 3" of the edge of the marker. Opposing units can contest an objective.
Table Quarters- The player with the most VP's in a table quarter claims the quater, Scoring units always count full VP's, a unit straddling the line counts in the quarter the majority of the squad is in. If there is an even portion on both sides of the line, a die is rolled for which side the unit falls on.
Victory points- Victory Points will be calculated an used if the previous 3 goals are all tied in a mission.

Missions will be a combination of a Deployment style, (Dawn of War, Pitched Battle, Spearhead), and the 3 goals above. The primary, secondary, and tertiary goals for each round will be different.

I will also be putting up first names and last name initials for the list of who's playing on a forthcoming post. (or perhaps as an addenum to this post)
example: john brothers goes to John B. MAKE SURE YOUR NAME IS ON THERE. IF IT IS NOT, YOU ARE NOT SIGNED UP. Let me know if you are playing by WEDNESDAY APRIL 20TH BY 10PM. After that the registration is closed.
So rock on! and hope to see you there!!!

Upcoming Indy Event - Hive Fleet Indy Tournament, May 14th- Games 2 Die 4

2011-04-14T04:13:00.002-04:00

What: 1750 40k tournament

Where: Games 2 Die 4
55 South Raceway Road, Suite 1100
Indianapolis, IN

When: Saturday, May 14th, 2011

More Info:
12:00 pm
Registration starts at 11am and ends at 11:30am

All current codecies as of 5-7-11

1750 pt armies
3 rounds with 2 hours per round for play
Entry fee is $15

Missions and deployment will not be released prior to event. You will play all 3 missions out of the BRB with some slight variations.

This is a win/loss tourney with a twist:
7-0 full win
6-1 win
5-2 slight win
(first number is winner, second is loser)

Personal Objectives for each game: Choose 1 (Worth +1 for achieve and -1 for denided objective)
1. Assasination-Destroy HQ (with most points)
2. Recover supplies-deepstrike objective at center point of table
3. Defend supplies-deepstrike objective in your deployement zone
4. Push Forward-Highest point troop unit above 50% and in enemy deployment zone

Now the good stuff......Prizes:

Best General
Renaissance Man
2nd Best General
3rd Best General
2nd Best Renaissance Man
Players Choice
Best Sport
And Several Door Prizes

Upcoming Indy Event - Team Tournament - Games 2 Die 4

2011-04-10T20:41:00.001-04:00

What: 4-person team tournament

Where: Games 2 Die 4
55 South Raceway Road, Suite 1100
Indianapolis, IN

When: June 4th, 2011

More Info:

Start Time: 10am (A further schedule will be posted in a few weeks with the missions)

Max 8 teams=32 players (4 teams pre-set: G2D4team 1, GP North team 1, GP South team 1, Saltire/Bradford team 1) The 4 remaining teams are first come first serve.

Entry per team. $45

Tournament Organizer: Greg / Caulyn Darr

Rules:

*Teams: 4 players with a 1,000 point list that follows all FOC requirements and current Codex restrictions. (Only 1 unique character per 4 man team){No 4 Calgar's, or 2 Njal's, or 3 Straken's, etc.)
*Only a player's special abilities, powers, rules, etc work for his army. PERIOD!
*Team Captain will determine team pairings before each round, but before random pairings of opponents are decided.
*Each member of each team will play with every member of their team.

Prize support: (break downs will also come with mission packs)
*Top 4 teams will receive prize support.
*Best Sports team will receive prize support.
*Best Painted team will receive prize support.

So Sign up and bring your A game. May the best team win!

4 spots available NOW! Post on here your team and send a verification email to me with names. Since this is a highly anticipated event, refrain from signing up if you aren't sure your team can make it. Please don't get on my bad side, sign up, and not show up! :)

P.S. If you are one of the 4 pre set teams, I need an email or phone call to verify what we have already discussed and to get your team players and names. Teams will be public knowledge.

My email is aleongs@att.net

this week on the blogs

2011-04-10T05:00:00.000-04:00

Ron has a couple of posts showing some cool models. Here's his new approach at painting Deathwing. Here is that method of painting bone on a Legion of the Damned model.

Ana shows us how to make a wet palette.

Deathtron gives us some good uses for wallpaper.

The crew that gave us the Storm Wardens Project are planning something much larger for this year. They are giving away 4 armies, all themed around the battle for Armageddon. Proceeds will once again benefit Doctors Without Borders.

Dave G shows us how to add a feed footer to the bottom of our blogs.

#2501 shows off a fantastic conversion of a Knight Warden Titan.

Roman has finished his pirate model. It turned out quite nice.

Dylan created an Imperial Guard Command Tower out of plasticard. I used to have one of these back in 2nd Ed. This looks awesome and takes it back to the old school. Well done!

this week on the blogs - Adepticon Special

2011-04-06T20:51:00.001-04:00

Soooooo much Adepticon coverage this week. I had to have a special mid-week update to showcase all the awesomeness.

Let's begin:

Sandwyrm went above and beyond documenting the different models there. He took pictures of over 90 of the armies at the Gladiator tournament, separated by army type:

Here he showcases the tables and terrain for the tournament.

Here are some pics of the Siege of Terra diorama.

Here is a recap of a round-table discussion with Dan Abnett.

Forge World was present at the event as well, with all kinds of goodies to show off.

To segue along Forge World for a moment, the Forge World Open Day was the same weekend as Adepticon, where we got to see a ton of new products coming soon. Thanks to Hogs of War for this post.

Old School Terminator shows us some great-looking models both from the Team Tournament here, and the Gladiator Tournament here

Brian from A Gentleman's Ones goes over the Killzone event here. Again, these tables are fantastic.

TastyTaste gives a rundown of some of the top 16 players' army lists here.

Brent has an interview with Tony, the Championship winner, here.

The Independent Characters Podcast has video coverage of the final games at the Gladiator tournament here.

Upcoming Indy Event - Lafayette 40k summer league

2011-04-04T05:00:00.001-04:00

What: Summer 40k league

Where: The Game Preserve Lafayette
100 South Creasy Lane, Suite 1030
Lafayette, IN 47905

When: May 1st - July 31st, 2011

More Info:

Where: All games must be played at The Game Preserve, Pavilions.
Cost: Participants must purchase a $25 Gift Certificate, which they will get after they participate in six games/events (that is only two per month).

Format: At each player’s discretion, they may challenge others in the league to pick-up games of Warhammer 40K at the Game Preserve. These games can be set up with any mission and a...ny deployment, and at any points agreed by both players, with 1000 points minimum. 1500 is standard, if no points total can be agreed upon. You may play as many games as you like, any day of the week, with Saturdays as the official gathering day. You must choose one codex from which to play all your games in the league. A results form, signed by the employee on duty MUST be turned in and initialed by both players to get credit for the game.

The winner of one of these pick-up games will get 3 League Points (LP). The loser gets 1 LP and a draw earns 2 LP for both players. So, even if you lose every game, the more games you play, the more LP you get. So play as often as you want!

Periodically, throughout the summer, special events will take place and your participation will earn extra LP. These will range from Apocalypse Mega Battles, to painting and terrain days, to painting competitions. You can also earn extra LP for submitting prose style battle reports.

Each player that is able to paint a new 1500 point force to completion by the end of the July will earn a bonus of 10 LP! None of the models may have been painted before May 1st. This must be a completely new completely painted force!

The 24 players with the most LP will be invited to a two-day 1500 point tournament on July 30th-31st. This tournament will be a seeded, non-elimination format. Highest seed will play lowest seed, etc, during each round, each day. This final tournament will determine the winner of the league. ALL ARMIES MUST BE PAINTED (LEVEL ONE) TO PLAY! This gives you over 3 months to get up to snuff!

Tentative Schedule: (May be changed, due to unforeseen conflicting events.)
Sunday, May 1st - Kick off day! All games are worth double LP!
Saturday, May 14th – Painting day. Each hour you paint earns you 1 LP!
Sunday, May 22nd – Terrain day. Each hour you assemble terrain earns you 1 LP!
Saturday, June 4th - Apocalypse! Counts as a double point game!
Sunday, June 12th – Painting day. Each hour you paint earns you 1 LP!
Saturday, June 25th – Terrain day. Each hour you assemble terrain earns you 1 LP!
Sunday, July 10th – Apocalypse! Counts as a double point game!
Saturday, July 23rd – Grind ‘em up! All games are worth double LP!
Saturday & Sunday, July 30th & 31st – League Championship Tournament!

Prizes:
All prizes will be in the form of Frequent Buyer Points, redeemable for product at the GP.

If you can get to 30 LP, you will earn 100 Freq points. 40 LP will earn you 150 Freq points, and 50 LP will earn you 200 Freq points! Of course, you will get your entry Gift Certificate back well before this point.

Best Painted Army* – 250 Freq points
Third Place at Tournament – 500 Freq points
Second Place at Tournament – 750 Freq points
First Place at Tournament – 1000 Freq points

The champion will get a trophy to commemorate this truly prodigious achievement!
* As judged by peer review of those that attend on Friday, July 29th at the store at 6:00 pm.

this week on the blogs

2011-04-03T11:49:00.000-04:00

B.smoov finishes up the tables for Adepticon.

Here are some pics of the finished works at the event. Amazing.

Drathmere has a great-looking Arvus Lighter to show us. I've always loved this model. This makes me want to get one even more.

Dave_G walks us through the process of setting up your blog with its own domain name.

The internet is abuzz with Adepticon coverage. Here, Sandwyrm talks about his tournament results. Apparently, someone went all-reserve against an infiltrating Genestealer army and was immediately destroyed.

March in Indy - a monthly review

2011-04-01T05:00:00.006-04:00

Anonymous Foodie gives us a tutorial converting the Dark Eldar Raider.

Spaguatyrine shows off his finished Thunderwolf Cavalry conversions.

Ishmael talks a bit about GW's tournament philosophy. In the second post, he compares GW's tournament policies with that of Privateer Press.

TheGraveMind plays in a tournament in Lafayette and gives his report here.

Spaguatyrine and Uberdark meet for a game and give us a battle report.

Sandwyrm takes his Tallarn army against a Shrike Terminator list in this battle report.

TheGraveMind talks about the Tyranid army here.

Speaking of Tyranids, I win a tournament with mine, and give a report here.

Sandwyrm made some craters that we can print out and use for destroyed vehicle markers.

I have added a new feature to the blog. The Events In Indy section is to promote upcoming tournaments, painting contests, or whatever else I find interesting that is within a reasonable drive from Indianapolis. If anyone is running or knows of a local event, let me know so I can get it on the page. Thanks!

Upcoming Indy Event - Bloomington May 21st, 2011

2011-03-30T17:43:00.001-04:00

What: 1850 point 40k tournament

Where: The Game Preserve - Bloomington

101 W. Kirkwood Ste. 117

Bloomington, IN
1.812.332.6602

When: Saturday, May 21st, 2011 11:00 am - 8:00 pm

More Info:

Come on in and bring your army ready to slaughter in the name of the Emperor!

There is a Warhammer 40,000 tournament Saturday the 21st of May at the Game Preserve in Bloomington.

It will be 1850 points and will have an entry fee of $5.00. Hope to see you there!
.........
*Registration and list checks begin at 11:00 a.m. and play begins at Noon!

**We will be using the official Rogue Trader Tournament rules for this event.

***We will also be changing the way we judge Painting. Painting will be judged by 2 separate individuals, neither of which will be one of the TO's of the event. Judging for painting will be done during break. Armies will be marked by number only, the scores of both judges will be averaged together and that will be the final painting score for each Army.

You can check out the Games Workshop Rogue Trader Tournament rules packet here: http://www.games-workshop.com/MEDIA_CustomProductCatalog/m1181502_RTTGuidebook.pdf

Note that the voting system has been removed from all Games Workshop tournaments effective 2006, as it was an abused system. Instead, army appearance scores are calculated using this rubric, which you can also check out on Games Workshop's website:
http://www.games-workshop.com/MEDIA_CustomProductCatalog/m2140008_PaintingScoreChecklist.pdf

tournament report - Bloomington 3-26-2011

2011-03-29T05:00:00.009-04:00

I played in a tournament this past weekend down in Bloomington. I got three games in against some fun opponents, and had a great time. The turnout was pretty bare, so I figured I had a good shot at going home with a prize.

You can see my Tyranid army above. Behind the Hive Tyrant is a Carnifex with twin Devourers in a Mycetic Spore.

Game 1 was against Meric, a Traitor Guard player that I faced at a past tournament. The mission was Victory Points with Pitched Battle deployment. I dropped my Spore Mines in the center of his deployment zone, forcing him toward the outside edges. He took his first turn to position his tanks and clear the field of Spore Mines. His infantry units were still hunkered down in cover near the board edges when my Genestealers began outflanking.
My Genestealers had to charge into cover, but still had little problems clearing out the area of Guardsmen. My problem with this game was that IG does not give up Victory Points easily. Their infantry are easy to kill, but very cheap. The expensive tanks do not die very easily, especially when I don't bring a lot of ranged anti-tank.

In the end, I managed a minor victory.

Game 2 was against Lukas, an Ork player that bested me the last time we faced off. Feeling good from my last game, and wanting to redeem myself from my last minute loss in our previous encounter, I knew that I could show no mercy. The mission was Kill Points with a Pitched Battle Deployment. Again, I dropped my Spore Mines in the middle of his deployment zone pushing him toward the outside edges. Lukas placed a 30-man Slugga squad on his flank, bubble-wrapping his more vulnerable Loota and Shoota squads. His vehicles were in his center, blocking the randomly-floating Spore Mines from getting to his infantry.

My reserve rolls were good, and I charged in with 2 squads of Genestealers, killing 17 of the 30 Orks. A further 10 would fail their Fearless wounds, leaving 3 Orks to fend off 15 Genestealers during his turn. The Zoanthropes were able to drop in and stop one Battlewagon, while the Carnifex charged and blew up the second one. At this point, the weakened remains of his army were surrounded by my entire force.

The result was a massacre for me.

Game 3 was against Chip, a Blood Angels player that I had not faced before. Having little experience against BA, and knowing that Chip was also 2-0 at this point, I was a little worried about this game. He had Astorath leading an 8-man squad of Vanguard Vets, all with storm shields. Mephiston and some Sanguinary Priests were scattered around the force for support.

The mission was a home-brew variant of Seize Ground, with Spearhead deployment. Each 2x2 board square had an objective in the center of it that could be claimed by any model with a WS value and carried with that model. When the model with the token died, he dropped it immediately. I dropped my Spore Mines near the center of the table to try and dissuade Chip from moving directly towards the center of the board. Fortunately for me, he strung out his Vanguard Vet squad to bubble-wrap his jump assault squad and Mephiston. He left this squad too close to the board edge, however, so when my Genestealers came in from the side edge, Astorath and the Sanguinary Priest were too far away to get into base to base contact. The Hive Tyrant dropped in near this squad and cast Paroxysm, also buffing the Genestealers with Preferred Enemy. It took several turns of combat, but the Vet squad eventually went down. The Hive Tyrant had a lucky round of combat against Mephiston, and insta-killed him with his Bonesword, and the Tervigon ran around the backfield spawning units to grab objectives. Upon losing his heavy hitting units, Chip decided to try to go out in a blaze of glory and charged his remaining squads into hand to hand.

Again, another massacre to me. I ended up winning the tournament by two battle points over the 2nd place player. The tournaments in Bloomington are a great deal of fun, and although they are less structured than the ones I have grown accustomed to here in Indy, I still find myself gaining some valuable experience from them.

Bloomington tournament pics

2011-03-29T05:00:00.008-04:00

Here are some more of the pictures I took at the recent Bloomington tournament.

My army again. I took 1st place.

The 2nd place army.

3rd place.

A nicely-converted Wolf Lord. This accompanies the one at the top of the post.

A really nice-looking IG army. Lots of Forge World pieces, and some good weathering on all the tanks.

A huge Imperial Fists army. With 80 marines, this army would have been difficult to chew through.

A nice-looking Leman Russ conversion.

Upcoming Tournament - Bloomington April 23rd, 2011

2011-03-29T04:44:00.002-04:00

What: 1850 point 40k tournament

Where: The Game Preserve - Bloomington

101 W. Kirkwood Ste. 117

Bloomington, IN
1.812.332.6602

When: Saturday, April 23rd, 2011 11:00 am - 7:00 pm

More Info:

Come on in and bring your army ready to slaughter in the name of the Emperor!

There is a Warhammer 40,000 tournament Saturday the 23rd of April at the Game Preserve in Bloomington.

It will be 1850 points and will have an entry fee of $5.00. Hope to see you there!
.........
*Registration and list checks begin at 11:00 a.m. and play begins at Noon!

**We will be using the official Rogue Trader Tournament rules for this event.

***We will also be changing the way we judge Painting. Painting will be judged by 2 separate individuals, neither of which will be one of the TO's of the event. Judging for painting will be done during break. Armies will be marked by number only, the scores of both judges will be averaged together and that will be the final painting score for each Army.

You can check out the Games Workshop Rogue Trader Tournament rules packet here: http://www.games-workshop.com/MEDIA_CustomProductCatalog/m1181502_RTTGuidebook.pdf

Note that the voting system has been removed from all Games Workshop tournaments effective 2006, as it was an abused system. Instead, army appearance scores are calculated using this rubric, which you can also check out on Games Workshop's website:
http://www.games-workshop.com/MEDIA_CustomProductCatalog/m2140008_PaintingScoreChecklist.pdf

Upcoming Tournament - Muncie April 2nd, 2011

2011-03-29T04:36:00.000-04:00

What: 1500 point 40k tournament

Where: The Wizards Keep, Muncie, IN
             1612 W University Ave, Muncie, IN 47303-3515
             1 (765) 286-5145

When: Saturday, April 2nd
             11:00 am - 7:00 pm

More Info: $5 entry fee

this week on the blogs

2011-03-27T12:35:00.000-04:00

As short as last week's list was, this week's list is very long. There was a lot going on this week.

Ron shows us a tutorial on wet blending. I especially like that he talks about the appropriate times for wet blending, and that is not the be-all end-all of painting techniques.

We saw several people posting their test games with the new Grey Knights Codex. Each one of these gave some good insight as to the potential of this new army:

Vogrin of Dark Future Games. He gives his thoughts after 3 games here.
Spaguatyrine plays a pair of games against Daemons
Spaguatyrine plays some Blood Angels next
FarmPunk of the Back 40k

Dave_G from Wargaming Tradecraft has several good posts:

b.smoove posted some WIP shots of his awesome-looking tables he's building for Adepticon.

Drathmere continues his very nice Blood Angels army with a squad of Forge World marines in different mks of armour.

Lamenter from Master of the Forge shows his finished artscale Terminator Librarian.

Old School Terminator talks about list building and starting a good army.

this week on the blogs

2011-03-19T07:00:00.001-04:00

It's a short list this week. Maybe everyone is getting their armies ready for Adepticon.

Alaric shows off some great-looking Orks with a particular enthusiasm for looting the Ultramarines.

MrJustin and Les from APJ bring us a wide range of washes at a good price.

SC Mike shows us how to build some height and texture on bases using Apoxie Sculpt.

Drathmere shows off some Chaplains for his BA army. The airbrushed black on these models looks terrific.

Some chapter badges

2011-03-15T04:00:00.000-04:00

I spent some time this weekend working on some chapter badges for my Project Space Marine.

In the center is the Howling Griffons Sergeant. Clockwise from the upper-left are the Iron Lords, Heralds of Ultramar, White Templars and the Angels of Vengeance.

this week on the blogs

2011-03-12T13:50:00.000-05:00

Dave_G shows us the benefits of modelling putty over green stuff.

Spaguatyrine discusses why Thuderwolf Cavalry are the best unit in the game.

Roman talks about having fun with basing your models, all while putting together an amazing pirate model.

Ron shows off a great-looking Blood Angels Vanguard Veteran Sgt. Pay attention to how he paints his red models. It looks fantastic.

Ron follows that post up with a tutorial on painting red.

Big D gives us some knowledge on press molding.

Mordian7th shows off some Dark Eldar. I especially like the counts-as Haemonculi.

this week on the blogs

2011-03-05T08:00:00.000-05:00

Since Ron has placed From The Warp into stasis, I assume that many other bloggers are not getting the same traffic that they once were. I wanted to try to help out by drawing attention to some of the things that caught my eye in the past week.

Nick from 2nd City Warzone has been chipping away at his Angels of Absolution army for years now, and adds a Rhino to the mix. I was fortunate enough to play against him at the last Chicago GT (back in 06-07?). The army looks much better than these photos portray.

Drathmere finishes his great-looking Blood Angels Terminator Assault Squad. I really like the blending that he was able to get on his characters with the airbrush. I look forward to seeing how that Astorath turns out.

Old School Terminator finished this Tervigon conversion using the new Arachnarok model from the Orcs & Goblins range.

Roman gives us a tutorial on how he painted this amazing bust, titled "Supreme Intelligence." Fantastic.

Also from Roman, a tutorial about how to use crackle medium with your models.

Painting Mum gives us a massive tutorial on how she painted the Verthandi Burning Ice model.

Dave_G from Wargaming Tradecraft has set up a Network page as a resource to blog readers and blog authors. It helps blog readers quickly find a lot of blogs and see at a glance what each blog focuses on. I've added a link to the network on the top left of this blog.

Finished Blood Angels Librarian Dreadnought

2011-03-04T08:00:00.000-05:00

I just finished this Librarian Dreadnought as part of the GP South's collection of Blood Angels miniatures. It was a bit of a rush job, so I didn't get any WIP pics. The weathering was done by sponging on Charadon Granite, as instructed by Grey_Death at The Painting Corps. The sponging worked pretty well in some areas (the arms), and not as well in other areas (the legs). Click on the pictures for a larger view. Questions and comments are welcome.

Old Stuff Day

2011-03-02T17:22:00.000-05:00

Today being "Old Stuff Day," I thought I'd drag back a few tutorials that people seemed to enjoy in the past.

White Templars tutorial

Angels of Vengeance tutorial

Dark Sons tutorial

Heralds of Ultramar tutorial

Fantasy Tournament and Painting Competition

2011-01-11T04:27:00.000-05:00

I just got an e-mail today from a TO wanting me to mention his event. There is a Fantasy tournament this Saturday (Jan 15th) at the Game Preserve South store.

What piqued my interest was the painting competition sponsored by Scibor Monstrous Miniatures also at the event. The entrance fee for the painting competition is $10, and there looks to be around $200 in prize support. Entrants will receive a gift bag with Scibor products as well as entrance into a raffle for a weekend pass to Adepticon.

There are also still slots available in the Fantasy tournament.

For questions or additional information, contact Jace on the Circle City Gamers forum.

December in Indy - a monthly review

2011-01-01T22:15:00.000-05:00

So, another month has gone by and my computer is still not fixed. The year has come to an end, and I wanted to thank all of the readers who have stopped by my little corner of the internet.

The Back 40k turns 2 years old this month. I was asked to be a contributor to their blog in March, and will add my 2 cents to the discussions from time to time (not so much recently). Congratulations to them.

This month in Indy, there has been a lot of discussion regarding tournaments, and the benefits of the win/loss format of scoring. This entire first section is all about tournaments and competitive play. If these things are not your cup of tea, feel free to move further down the page and check out some of the other offerings from this month.

Sandwyrm started off this discussion with an article on why battle points encourage Win At All Cost (WAAC) behavior. He follows this up with an article on diffrentiating between competitive behavior and WAAC behavior. After some confusion about his position, Sandwyrm clarifies his points here.
He then offers up some of the common misconceptions about win/loss tournaments in a 3-part series. part 1, part 2, part 3.

Onto some hobby!! TheGraveMind has blue baals (and a drop pod, and a land raider). He then presents us with a 2-part article showing us how he built his own Storm Raven. part 1, part 2. A battle report showing it in action completes the picture.

The Ultramarines movie was released this month. Sandwyrm gives us his review, while Chambers offers some advice for those who purchased the movie and are experiencing problems getting it to play.

Heretic explores new avenues of his Eldar army with a pair of articles. part 1, part 2

Sandwyrm talks a bit about line highlighting, and his advice on using the technique appropriately. He then answers a readers e-mail about a color scheme for an Dark Eldar army.

Sandwyrm finishes the month (this guy has been really busy this month!) with a post posing the question, "Should GW open-source their rules?" I've had a very similar conversation with my gaming circle, and it brings up some interesting points about the game and the marketing that GW employs. Feel free to leave a comment.

I hope everyone had a good holiday. The tournament season is quickly approaching, and I'm trying hard to stay focused on getting a new army ready in time. My goal for 2011 is to finish my 2 armies, make a worthy display board for the Crimson Fists, and finish the commission army that I'm also currently working on. Anyone else have any hobby resolutions?

November in Indy - a monthly review

2010-12-02T18:59:00.000-05:00

This month saw 2 tournaments and a new addition to our little family over at The Back 40k. Spaguatyrine is a very competitive player and winner of multiple local tournaments. His point of view on competitive gaming has stirred several interesting conversations prior to his joining the blog, and now he'll have a larger audience with which to interact.

My favorite post of the month goes to SandWyrm's post about the future of 40k, and how it would be beneficial to the game (and GW as a company) to kill off the Emperor in the fluff. The topic is interesting, but the avatars and comments added by SandWyrm are hilarious. If you haven't yet read this, please do so.

Loki from Rites of Battle has posted a great series of articles dissecting the Black Templars Codex. He dips into the fluff a bit, and then offers his opinions each unit and how it is used within the army.
Army Special Rules, HQ, Elites, Troops, Fast Attack & Dedicated Transports. At some point in the conversation, I had to school Loki on how to use his own army. My sage advice must have paid off, because he came in first place at the tournament I played in at the Bloomington Game Preserve. Congratulations and you're welcome :P

Hive Fleet Indy put on a tournament on the west side this month as well. Spaguatyrine gives his impressions of the event here and details about the games here. TheHiveMind offers his rundown of his games here. SandWyrm shares his gallery of the armies at the event (mine is the second one down).

The Space Wolves get some love from Heretic, and Spaguatyrine discusses why the Space Wolves have the best psykers.

Spaguatyrine's first post on The Back 40k gives some tips on battling Daemons.

TheHiveMind gives some tips on using HQ units in your Tyranid force.

Uberdark weighs the pros and cons of using "Death Star" units in your force.

Lastly, SandWyrm strokes his own ego by showing off some of the newest version of his great-looking IG force.

I have been notably absent from posting this month. The day after the Hive Fleet Indy tournament, my PC died. I'm working on getting it fixed, but I don't have access to my photo-editing software, and my wife's laptop is usually occupied in the evenings. I do have several articles started, including two new Project Space Marine tutorials. These will hopefully be posted soon. Thanks for stopping by.

It's a Love Affair...Mainly Tyranids, and my Hotrod.

2010-11-04T10:00:00.000-04:00

I was waxing nostalgic the other day when looking for some 40k pics on my computer and stumbled across these. This is my old Tyranid army as it was during a tournament in 2006.

Tyranids were my first army, and I started playing them in 2nd edition, shortly after the Codex came out. At the time, most people didn't know how to play against Tyranids and even as a new player, I would destroy most opponents.

The large piece in the back is an old Armorcast Malefactor. For those who don't know, Armorcast used to have a license to make Epic models in 40k scale. The most common places I see these is at Adepticon, with people bringing their old Warhound, Reaver, and Phantom titans. The Malefactor is a Tyranid transport creature. It was a monstrous creature that could carry up to 12 wounds worth of Tyranids and was a beast, which at the time meant that it moved 9" in the movement and assault phases. A full squad of Genestealers charging out of a 6 wound creature sounds kinda broken under current standards. It was broken then too :)

Once Apocalypse came out, I started the task of replacing all my 2nd ed models with the newer, more current versions. With the new codex punching the Tyranid army below the exoskeleton, this project has taken a bit of a back seat to others.

October In Indy - a monthly review

2010-10-29T10:00:00.000-04:00

Here's another installment of what's been going on around Indy this last month or so.

First, let me congratulate The Back 40k on getting its 200th follower. This blog (to which I am an infrequent contributor), is made up of competitively-minded gamers with a real passion for upping the level of play in 40k. There are also some of the best hobby and painting articles that I've come across on the internet. SandWyrm's articles on color theory and tutorials on his set-back Chimeras are some that every hobby-ist should check out. Here's a small selection of articles that I particularly enjoyed:

painting Tau Battle Suits, color theory part 1, part 2, part 3, converting the Chimera part 1, part 2

Now that I've got that out of the way, on with the recap!!

SandWyrm hits us with some MathHammer, telling us why Vendettas are either awesome or terrible (depending on which side of the table you're on).
SandWyrm plays against JB's Orks. The pictorial has some great shots of great-looking models.
Archfiend of Dezdemon comes out of hiding and is starting a Blood Bowl league. Maybe it's time to dust off my Snotling team...
I played in my first team tournament with Caanaan. CaulynDarr gives his recap of the event here. We finished respectably, with a 2-1 record. Here's my recap of the event where I also talk about battle scoring in tournaments.
SandWyrm followed this up with further discussion about why GW's old model of battle points encourages douchebaggery.
TheGraveMind played a game against Spaguatyrine's Space Wolves. Many pictures were taken.
Farmpunk talks about his Necromunda itch. I'm a huge Necromunda fan, and have 4 gangs collecting dust on the shelf. GW's Specialist Games are, for the most part, really solid games. The rules are usually well-balanced (believe it or not), and the models are really different from what you're used to.
Our friends up in Muncie take some time off from class to talk about Dreadnoughts.
Spaguatyrine played in an impromptu tournament late in the month on the east side of town. He recounts the event here. No pictures, but he details his lessons learned. Good read for anyone.
SandWyrm vigorously rubs his lamp and wishes for change in the future of 40k 6th ed.
Loki breaks down the benefits and weaknesses of the Rhino vs. the Razorback.
TheGraveMind is coming back with his Tyranids! Here, he MathHammers the differences between the Tervigon and a brood of Warriors.

I've not been terribly busy this month. Work has been crazy, and I haven't gotten much decent hobby time to myself. I'm continuing work on both the tech-cult guard and SOB commission, and I hope to have some new pics of those up shortly.

A Gaming Tragedy - Help Big Jim

2010-10-19T22:34:00.000-04:00

I listen to a lot of podcasts. Big Jim has made a name for himself lately by making his rounds on almost all of the 40k-related podcats on the internet, talking about Spec Ops Killzone, his fan-based skirmish rules for 40k. This led me to his blog, Galaxy In Flames, where I found a plethora of inspirational pictures and tutorials for his awesome fan-codex Chaos Marines, the Soul Reapers.

Recently, Jim's car was broken into, and his army was stolen. Magilla Gurilla at Table Top War, along with several podcast personalities, is organizing a collection to help Jim recoup some of his losses. If you can spare a few models for this guy, please consider doing so. If you are not able to donate anything, please keep an eye out at your local store and sites like eBay for someone trying to sell this army. It took a great deal of time and love to put this army together, and I think everyone would like to see it returned to its rightful owner.

The 40k community at large has shown itself to be more than able to rally and help one of its own in a time of need.

Hobby update

2010-10-12T16:12:00.000-04:00

I've not been posting much about what I've been up to in the hobby lately. Fresh off the team tournament, I decided to start a new IG army designed to be part of a team army. You can see the test models above. I wanted to go with a techno-cult theme, not quite Adeptus Mechanicus, not quite Traitor Guard, but something that would fit along-side an Iron Warriors CSM army. The bodies are from the WFB Empire Flagellants. The heads are from Pig Iron Production's Kolony Ferals. The arms are from the Cadian and Catachan IG sprues that I had lying around. I will be using Forge Worlds' Traitor Guard weapon arms in the final version.

Also, I've taken on my first commission work. I'm painting up my friend's Sisters of Battle army. You can see the test models here.

Team Tournament Game 3 Battle Report vs. Space Wolves & Necrons

2010-10-09T20:01:00.000-04:00

Our third and final game in the team tournament was against a father/son team playing Space Wolves and Necrons. The son was new to the game, and the father normally plays Apocalypse and hadn't played a tournament-sized game since 3rd Ed.

Their lists were as follows:

Rune Priest on a bike

Swift Claw squad

2 Grey Hunter Squads

Long Fangs with a mixture of anti-vehicle weapons

Lone Wolf

Necron Lord w/res orb

Immortals

Pariahs

2 Warrior squads

Scarabs

Destroyers

Seeing the lists and listening to the players, I didn't think that we would have much of a problem with this game. Here is were I like the scoring format of this tournament the most. Your placement depends on your win/loss record, not the degree by which you beat your opponent. That meant that we could play a fun game, and I didn't have to feel like a dick as I tried to table his army. Merely winning was enough.

The mission was Capture and Control with Dawn of War deployment. I set up my Emperor's Champion, 14-man Crusader Squad, and Land Raider Crusader directly across from his objective. He set up his Rune Priest and 2 Grey Hunter squads on the objective in a set of ruins approximately 20" away. I used the Callidus Assassin's "word in your ear" ability to pull one of the Grey Hunter squads out of the ruins and within charge distance of my squad. The Crusader Squad disembarked from their transport and fired into the Grey Hunters before charging, killing 3. This would be just enough to force a break check on the squad, which he failed. The Grey Hunters fell back into the ruins and out of charge range. My Templars were left staring at each other as their prey ran for cover.

Instead of charging headlong into the enemy, my Crusader Squad was then charged by the Rune Priest along with a squad of bikes that had come in from reserve. The combat took a surprisingly long time to resolve. It was 3 rounds of combat before the Space Wolves had been dispatched, and the Crusader Squad consolidated towards the objective. The Land Raider Crusader traded shots with the other Grey Hunter squad that attempted to defend their objective, but the tank had too many shots, and the Grey Hunters fell back. The Callidus Assassin sprang from out of nowhere right behind the fleeing Grey Hunters and forced them off the board as she assaulted the Long Fangs who were maneuvering for a good shot.

Meanwhile, the Necrons were moving up the center of the table attempting to take our objective, which was located centrally on the table behind impassable terrain and being defended by a small squad of Storm Troopers and 2 5-man Crusader Squads. The Necrons were all on foot, and posed little threat of being able to reach us in time. The Scarabs turbo-boosted forward, and took cover in some shrubs, only to be charged by a trio of Penitent Engines. The Scarabs were quickly taken out. The Pariahs would move up and shoot the PEs, destroying 2 of them (with strength 5 guns!) Keeping the Necrons at bay, the Destoyers decided to try to blow us off the objective, and killed the Storm Troopers. One of the 5-man Crusader Squads was taken below half strength by the Destoyers, but did not fall back.

At the end, we controlled both objectives and had a fun game to boot.

Team Tournament Game 2 Battle Report vs Dual Fateweavers

2010-10-07T05:01:00.000-04:00

Game 2 matched us against a combined Daemon army with 2 Fateweavers, 2 squads of Bloodcrushers, 2 squads of Horrors with Changelings, another unit of Horrors, a unit of Plaguebearers, a unit of Fiends, and 2 units of Screamers. I knew this game would be rough.

The mission was Seize Ground with Spearhead deployment. I set up my objectives as far apart from each other as possible in an attempt to force the opponents army to separate itself. They followed suit, and we ended up with 1 objective in each corner, and one objective in the center of the board. I set up our force as spread out as possible within our quarter, and then spread out even further on my first turn to keep our opponents from deep striking behind us. I did leave a few gaps that were big enough for a monstrous creature or small unit to fit, just in case they got greedy. I like to do this when I have some time to react to another player's deep striking units. If I can persuade them to deep strike into this small opening that I have created, I can force a mishap if the unit deviates at all. A Fateweaver Daemon army relies on all of its units dropping as close to Fateweaver as possible, and my opponents were canny enough to not take my bait, dropping in on my right flank instead.

The Vindicator, Land Raider, and Penitent Engines on the left flank began to sweep right to support the other flank while the squad of Storm Troopers and 5-man Crusader squad began to foot-slog across the board toward the objective directly across from them. The Penitent Engines on the right flank surged toward the Bloodcrushers who appeared in their face, with the Callidus Assassin appearing right next to the vile daemons as well. The Callidus was within range of the Changeling's power, failed her leadership test, and shot her Neural Shredder at the oncoming Penitent Engines. Fortunately, she was out of range. Unfortunately, she now couldn't charge the Bloodcrushers, having shot at a different unit. The Callidus would meet her fate to a fusillade of shots from the nearby Horrors. The Penitent Engines would trade blows with the Bloodcrushers for the entire game, finally wiping them out in turn 4.

The Daemon players deep struck a squad of Horrors onto the objective directly in front of me. I sent the Vindicator and 2 infantry squads at them. The Horrors shot up the Stormtroopers, causing them to break (very similarly to last game), so I tank shocked onto the objective with the Vindicator on the last turn, hoping to weather the storm and contest.

The 5-man squad in a Rhino surged onto the central objective and tried to hug cover to try and avoid being charged by the Bloodcrushers on the other side of the hill.

The Land Raider tank shocked through Fateweaver and the Bloodcrushers across the table and unloaded the 15-man Crusader Squad onto the Horrors protecting the objective in our opposite corner. The Horrors were quickly massacred and the squad spread out to deny the screamers the ability to turbo boost within 3" of the objective.

At this point, we were ahead, controlling 3 objectives to 1, with 1 objective being contested. In the final round of the game, the Horrors across from my deployment zone would destroy the Vindicator with the aid of one of the Fateweavers, giving them 2 objectives to our 3. The Bloodcrushers would roll very highly for their difficult terrain check to charge the squad in the center, contesting the center objective, causing a draw result.

I was quite pleased with this result, as this was a very tough army to play against. 2 Fateweavers on the board cast a big bubble where things just don't die. It would be made known that in the result of a tie, victory points would be used to determine the winner. Having killed very little of the opposition, it was no surprise that this caused us to lose the game. There were another couple of players at the next table that were also surprised to find out about the tiebreaker at this point in the tournament. It may have been mentioned earlier on and we just didn't hear the TO from the back of the room, or it was not made clear in the first place. Either way, we ended up losing the game solidly based on the large discrepancy in victory points. This team would go on to tie for first place, going 3-0 in the tournament.

Team Tournament Game 1 Results vs Blood Angels & Eldar

2010-10-05T11:20:00.000-04:00

This is the first of 3 reports of the games from the Team Tournament that I played with Caanaan at Games 2D4.

Our first game was against GraveMind, who was playing his new Blood Angels army. At the last minute, GraveMind's team-mate bailed on him, and he was paired with Mike, who was playing Eldar. The mission was Anhillation with Pitched Battle deployment.

Their army was as follows:

Captain w/combi-melta & power sword
Retinue w/4 meltaguns & flamer in a drop pod
5 Thunder Hammer/Storm Shield Terminators
5-man assault squad in a Razorback w/lascannons
10-man assault squad w/jump packs
2 Land Speeder Typhoons

Jetbike Farseer w/Eldritch Storm and Mind War
Wraithguard w/Warlock
2 squads of Rangers
Falcon w/missile launcher
2 Wraithlords with missile launchers

We set up our units on our right side, keeping the Penitent Engines under the cover of the sturdier vehicles and a squad of Storm Troopers. I wanted to try and keep my close combat units out of his melta range. The drop pod came down as expected immediately in front of the Land Raider and Penitent Engines. The screen that we had put up to protect the PE would be enough, and the shots would prove to be ineffectual.

We would charge into the command squad and drop pod with the Emperors Champion and 14-man squad, and tried to get into combat with the Penitent Engines. Being out of melta range, he fired at the closest unit, the Storm Troopers, who immediately broke and ran off. Here is where we made a mistake. There was too much stuff in that area to allow the Penitent Engines to fit into combat and it ended up taking 3 rounds of combat to finish off the command squad with the 15-man Crusader Squad (damn Feel No Pain!).

This would set the tone for the rest of the battle. GraveMind's army came at us piecemeal, and we were able to put most of our combined forces against a small portion of his without much meddling from the Eldar, which stayed to our left flank.

We wound up winning the game 6 kill points to 5. We learned a few things about our combined force, and about playing team games in general.

Lesson one is to play quickly. A team game can quickly eat up time when each team deliberates amongst itself. We only got through 4 turns, but were able to pull off a win by taking the available kill points when they presented themselves. Mike's Eldar were in position to engage our army on the next turn, had we gotten to take it.
Lesson two is to practice. This was our first game playing with two armies on one table. The Penitent Engines have a very large footprint, and got held up between our own units, preventing them from getting into hand to hand (the only place they can do much damage).
Lesson 3 is to know your army. Mike brought an Eldar force that he hadn't played since 3rd Ed. This caused him to play very timidly, and his units were not used in conjunction with GraveMind's Blood Angels.

Tournament on October 17th!

2010-10-04T22:19:00.000-04:00

I just wanted to promote a local tournament that was just announced.

On Oct. 17th, there will be a 1500 point tournament at Saltire Games, on the east side of Indy.

11723 Pendleton Pike
Indianapolis, Indiana
46236

For more information, check out the link.

Team Tournament Results

2010-09-28T05:07:00.000-04:00

Caanaan and I played in a team tournament this weekend ran by the Hive Fleet Indy crew. CaulynDarr ran the event by himself, and did a fine job considering.

The tournament was scored according to your win/loss record, with the two teams that went 3/0 splitting the top prize, and the 2/1 team with the most victory points receiving 3rd place. There were 14 teams in total. The final scores haven't been posted, so I'm not sure where we fell within the group, but we won 2 games and lost 1, and scored around 2800 victory points over 3 games. This being my first team tournament, I thought we did pretty good.

The list we ran was split up as follows:

Emperor's Champion
14-man Crusader Squad in a Land Raider Crusader
2 5-man Crusader Squads with lascannons, one with a Rhino
Vindicator

Inquisitor Lord Karamazov
Callidus Assassin
2 6-man Inquisitorial Storm Trooper Squads
Priest
2 squadrons of 3 Penitent Engines

We ran into some trouble when Farmpunk pointed out that Karamzov could only be fielded in armies of 1500 points or more. Caanaan had overlooked this restriction, so we scrambled at the last minute to rearrange his half of the army and wound up including an Inquisitor Lord with bolter/crossbow combi-weapon and excruciators with a multi-melta gun servitor and 2 warriors with plasma guns.

I'll post battle reports of the games later, but I wanted to talk about what the tournament did right and what left room for improvement.

I really liked the team format. New tactics were needed to face different combos, and it was neat to see the combinations that people came up with. If this type of tournament became more frequent, I think it would be cool to see more people making themed team armies. I would like to see one or two of this type of tournament every year in addition to our normal tournaments.

There were a few things that could be improved upon, but overall I had a great time. I wanted to make sure I stressed that none of the things I took issue with diminished my having a good time, and my criticisms are intended to make a better event in the future.

Prior to the event, I would have liked to have seen a statement that clearly spelled out how the tournament was scored, and what the schedule was going to look like so that I as a player know what to expect. CaulynDarr took over as TO only a few days prior, but it would have been nice to know how long each game would last, and what time to show up. The posting on the website said to be there at 11:00, but the first game was supposed to start at 11:00. There could have been some time scheduled to register each army, and figure out pairings prior to the starting time. Inevitably, some gamers will wait until the last minute to show up, and it usually makes the entire tournament start late.

Each game was given 2 hours to complete, which I felt was not enough time. At 2000 points, most games were not getting finished. I don't know if that is a result of most of us being used to playing games at 1750 points, but I think 2.5 hours was needed.

I would have liked to have seen printed mission sheets to give each player a reminder of the victory conditions as well. At the beginning of the tournament, it was explained that victory points would be used as a tie-breaker between the 3-0 teams to determine a winner, and the 2-1 team with the highest victory points would take 3rd place. I don't remember hearing that victory points would be used as a tie-breaker in the games, and that there would be no draw results. There were several people who, at the end of game 2, were surprised to find this out. A printed mission sheet could have resolved this issue.

The terrain was themed by table, and looked very nice. The problem with this was that the terrain was very inconsistent from table to table. The first table I played on had only impassible terrain, with no area terrain. The last table I played on had only ruins, which were in the 4 corners of the table with nothing but some hedges in the center of the board. I prefer to see a little bit of each type of terrain on each table, so as not to benefit one type of army over another too much.

I want to say again that I had a great time, and I look forward to the next event by Hive Fleet Indy. They have a 1750 point tournament scheduled for November 6th. I hope to see some of you there.

Tournament this weekend

2010-09-24T04:33:00.000-04:00

As I said before, caanaan and I are going to a doubles tournament this weekend. I have been told that there is one more slot available, so if there is another pair out there that would like to attend, please contact Spaguatyrine at:
aaronaleong -at- yahoo -dot-com

The tournament will be at Games 2 Die 4, and will consist of two 1000 point forces per team. Registration is $20 per team. There are no soft scores.

Caanaan and I are taking Black Templars and Witch Hunters. Both armies are close-quarter fighters and are ready to bring the pain. They also both suffer from old codices, and could be outclassed by a good player with a newer book. We'll have to rely on wits and shenanigans to prevail. Here's what I'm looking out for:

Spaguatyrine has stepped down as TO to play in the tournament with his son. I'm expecting to see a combination of his IG and Thunderwolf Space Wolf armies. Spaguatyrine is a good player, and this army combo could be really tough.
Scottydont has won multiple tournaments with his Daemons and Vulkan Salamanders. These two armies paired together could be quite nasty. Scottydont's son has started playing his Daemons, with some good results (he nearly tabled me at the last Hive Fleet Indy tournament I played in).
SandWyrm and Farmpunk would pose a threat with their IG and Witch Hunters duo. This army would create quite a gun-line, and would act as the paper to our rock.
There are several other good players in the area that, if paired together correctly, could be quite fearsome.

In the end, I don't know if we will face any of these match-ups, or if they even exist. We'll come to the tournament in our usual fashion; ready to have a good time and give other players a challenging game. I hope to see some of you there.

What is a GT to you?

2010-09-19T17:46:00.000-04:00

I've been asked to help organize a GT-level tournament in the Indianapolis area. The group consists of guys from The Back 40k, Too Competitive Hurts!, as well as other local TOs.

I used to play in GWs Grand Tournaments quite a bit from around 1999-2004. I've never been a particularly competitive player, but I enjoy the competitive atmosphere of a tournament. My philosophy has been to try and master the list I have, and figure out how to play against the so-called "tourmanent lists."

There has been much discussion in the last year in our local area regarding tournaments and soft scores. Some claim that soft scores have no place in a tournament setting, that only battle points should be considered. After all, Warhammer is a game. If I play the game better than you, I should place higher than you, right? Others claim that Warhammer is a hobby, and includes other aspects like painting, sportsmanship, and (dare I say it?) composition.

I have played in both types of tournaments, and have had a lot of fun in both. My question to all of you is this: In a GT-level event with upwards of 100 players, do you think that all aspects of the hobby should be represented in the scoring, or should battle points be the determining factor of a player's ranking?

If you think soft scores should be included, how much weight do you give them compared to the battle points? Should battle points be 33% of a player's overall score? 50%? 75%?

If you were to travel to another city for a large event, how would you like to see the scoring break down?

August in Indy - a monthly review

2010-09-02T07:00:00.000-04:00

This month, I thought I'd do something a little different. Instead of highlighting what I've been up to this month, I wanted to highlight what the Indy blog circle has been up to this month.

If you have a blog and are tied to Indianapolis (from here, living here, etc.), drop me a line and I'll be happy to add you to the blogroll.

-Games 2 Die 4 had a tournament at the beginning of the month. I was unable to attend, but SandWyrm and Farmpunk have some good articles covering the event.

-CaulynDarr, inspired by the tournament, built a display board for his already impressive-looking Eldar army.

-SandWyrm answers a painting question from a Tyranid player. SandWyrm has a background in art, and his painting advice always draws on color theory and inspires me to paint more. Here and here are another conversation with some Tau players about their color choices.

-SandWyrm has been working on his Sanguinary Guard army. He posts a battle report here against Spaguatyrine's Space Wolves. Here he shows off his test model for the army - very nice.

-Support By Fire adds some Crimson Fists to his Black Templars for a Declates Crusade force. Since I play a Crimson Fists crusade force using the Black Templar rules, this post has a special place in my heart :)

-I added 5 new tutorials to the Project Space Marine page: White Templars, Praetors of Orpheus, Angels of Vengeance, Heralds of Ultramar, and Iron Lords.

-I also got my shipment of Greatcoat Troopers from Wargames Factory. You can see my review of the models, as well as a painted example, here.

-I got in a tournament at the end of the month-and won!

Let me know how you like this new format of monthly review. I enjoy highlighting what's going on in Indy besides what I am up to. Again, if you have a blog related to Indy, send me an e-mail at: indy40k@gmail.com

Bloomington tournament results and pictures

2010-09-01T04:33:00.000-04:00

I attended a tournament at the Game Preserve in Bloomington (home of Indiana University for the non-hoosier readers) this past weekend. There were only around 13 players, and nearly half of those were from the Muncie area (home of Ball State University). Among them were members of the Rites of Battle blog.

It was nice to put faces to screen-names with a lot of guys whose articles I've read in the past. This tournament felt like a very cross-community event. Sadly, I was the only Indianapolis representative there.

Here's the army I took (pictured above):

Emperor's Champion w/accept any challenge

Terminators w/2 assault cannons and tank hunters
Venerable Dreadnought w/twin-linked lascannons and tank hunters

14-man Crusader Squad in Land Raider Crusader
2 5-man Crusader Squads w/lascannon and plasma gun in Rhinos

1 Land Speeder and 2 attack bikes with multi-meltas

2 Vindicators

Most of the armies were not fully painted. This was a bit disappointing, but I liked that it helped my odds since painting scores would be added into the overall results. The armies that were painted looked good (I think I placed 2nd in painting out of 3), but the units that were painted looked very promising. There was a particular Space Wolf player that had some great-looking Thunderwolf Cav conversions based on Chaos Knight Cavalry that were painted to a very high standard. I was irresponsible, and didn't get as many pictures as I should have.

Game 1 was against Jacob, a Blood Ravens player who was using the Space Wolves codex. He brought Njal, 4 full Grey Hunter units, and 2 Long Fangs with some Wolf Guard pack leaders sprinkled in for flavoring. The mission was a modified Seize Ground, where you earn points for every turn that you hold an objective. His Long Fangs holed up in cover, and his packs of Grey Hunters advanced. over 40 marines with special characters and Wolf Guard leaders were bearing down on me, and my dice were completely failing me. Every time I would roll to hit, I would fail to wound. Every time I would wound, he would make his save. Luckily for me, Jacob's dice also failed. Both Long Fangs packs killed virtually nothing the entire game, and his rolls to hit and to wound were about as good as mine. The game turned into a hilarious bout to see who could wear the other down first. In the end, my 15-man Crusader Squad led by the Emperor's Champion pushed a squad of Grey Hunters off an objective, while my Terminators deep struck in and took out another squad that he left unsupported. This gave me 2 objectives to none for the last 3 turns of the game. This game would also be the most fun. Jacob was a great opponent, and we had a lot of laughs in spite of how terrible both of our armies were performing. It's been a long time since there were that many models left on the board on both sides.

Game 2 was against Heretic, from Rites of Battle. He was using a mech Eldar list with 2 dire avengers, 2 fire dragons, 4 wave serpents, pathfinders, a fire prism, and a jetbike seer council. The mission was another modified seize ground. The objectives were laid out diagonally across the board with diagonal deployment. I was expecting the usual Eldar shenanigans, and I got exactly that. I've played mech Eldar a number of times, and have learned that they don't pack a whole lot of punch, but are very resilient, and are wicked fast. I was very worried about the Fire Dragons, and each Wave Serpent packed bright lances on top. If I could get into position, I knew I could tie the game. I doubted that I could do better than that.

Heretic was a good MechEldar player, and played to their strengths. I won the roll-off, and made him go first in order to give myself the last turn to respond to his late-game push. He zipped around the board for a few turns, and positioned himself to jump on the objectives at the last moment. Both of us knew this was coming, it was just a matter of whether or not I could immobilize any of his vehicles beforehand or push him off once he contested an objective.

I could not. He jumped on the objectives, and I counter-charged with my entire army. It wasn't enough. All 3 objective sat contested at the end of the game. There were many instances where a single die roll would have made the difference and won me the game, but such is the way of the Eldar. They are tricksy and false.

My third game was against Meric, a veteran gamer with a greatly-converted and painted Death Guard army. Our mission was victory points with a pitched battle deployment. I once again won the roll-off and let my opponent go first. Meric had 3 squads of Plague Marines in Rhinos with a Sorcerer and Lord sprinkled in for flavor, backed up by a Defiler, Predator Annihilator, and the biggest summoned Daemon squad I've seen in a long time (around 12-15 daemons).

There was a large ruin separating the two halves of the table, but you could see from one side to the other. I set up my Land Raider, both Vindicators, and Dreadnought, reserving everything else. My lighter units will typically deploy in reserve in kill point or victory point games to avoid giving easy points to my opponent. My Dreadnought traded shots with his Predator for a couple of turns, neither doing anything to the other, and my Vindicators lobbed shots through the ruins at his units in Rhinos, doing practically nothing. My Terminators then deep struck in and destroyed his Predator with their dual tank-hunting assault cannons. His Rhino with Lord and meltagun-armed squad pushed forward into the ruins, targeting my Land Raider. However, my opponent misjudged his distance and fell just shy of 6" from my tank. Doing no damage, this left a single squad standing in front of two Vindicators and a Land Raider Crusader. These vehicles let loose with all the firepower they could muster and reduced the squad to 2 men (the Champion and his Lord). This was also the turn that my Terminators took out the Defiler as well, leaving my opponent with no ranged anti-tank units.

Wishing to go out in a blaze of glory, Meric charged forward with his two remaining Rhinos and wiped out my Terminators with 4 plasma guns and 2 plasma pistols (none of which overheated the entire game). His daemons came down and jumped on a lone attack bike, which was able to hold the daemons at bay long enough for the other attack bike to come and join the combat. These two units whittled each other down over the course of 5 rounds of combat, until he eventually came out ahead with only 2 daemons remaining. Our forces faced off, and although resilient, his Plague Marines could not withstand the tremendous number of shots that I could put down. This was my most drastic victory of the day.

I believe that I was pretty close in battle points for the day, but my painting score was enough to put me in first place overall.

The tournament was a lot of fun and I look forward to the next time I can make it down to play in another.

The Greatcoats are here!

2010-08-26T09:00:00.000-04:00

After some unfortunate shipping issues with their Chinese distributor, Wargames Factory has shipped out their Greatcoat Troopers.

These models look really cool, and would look great in any IG army. The feel of the models is very similar to the Death Corps of Krieg, although the detail of these models is nowhere near that of Forge World. Although, you get 18 troops in the box for only $19.99. A gamer who wants a different look to his army without spending a ton of money will be happy to add these models to their collection.

Wargames Factory has plans on expanding the Shock Troops line of models, although there is no word as to what exactly we can expect in the future.

I was a little disappointed by the level of detail on these models, but I think it's because I've been spoiled all these years by GW models and have pretty high standards. Still, the models look great and will add a lot to any sci-fi game table, 40k or otherwise. I painted one of these models up for fun. I had imagined these guys to be like a Vostroyan Storm Trooper, and that is what dictated my color scheme.

Hive Fleet Indy Couples Tournament!

2010-08-23T09:00:00.000-04:00

Hive Fleet Indy has announced a couples tournament on September 26th.

After missing the last tournament due to family obligations, I was pretty excited to hear this news. Caanaan and I will be in attendance, combining the power of the Black Templars and Witch Hunters into a holy crusade the likes of which have never been seen!

Neither caanaan nor myself have particularly competitive armies, but we are fairly competent players. I'm expecting to see quite a few good players there as well. Most of the guys from The Back 40K have pledged to be there, and Hive Fleet Indy has it's fair share of tough players.

If you will be in Indianapolis on September 26th, stop on by and play some games, it should be fun.

Here's some of the details:

-Sunday, September 26th at Games 2 Die 4
-2000 points per team (no more than 1000 points per player)
-No soft scores (due to popular demand)

Tutorial - Heralds of Ultramar

2010-08-22T11:01:00.000-04:00

The Heralds of Ultramar use the following GW colors:

Mordian Blue
Ultramarines Blue
Skull White
Asurmen Blue
Charadon Granite
Codex Grey
Badab Black
Mechrite Red
Blood Red
Iyanden Darksun
Bad Moon Yellow
Devlan Mud

For the armor, I started with a coat of Mordian Blue. Ultramarines Blue was then painted over this, being sure to leave the darker color showing in the recesses. Ultramarines Blue was mixed with Skull White 50/50 and used to highlight the edges of the armor. A wash of Asurmen Blue was applied to tie the colors together and to deepen the recesses.

The shoulder pad trim and chest eagle were given a base coat of Iyanden Darksun. Bad Moon Yellow was used to edge highlight these parts. A wash of Devlan Mud was applied to the recesses, being sure not to get any on the highlights. The eyes and lenses were painted with Mechrite Red before being highlighted with Blood Red. The armor joints, hoses, and head scanner were painted with a coat of Charadon Granite. Codex Grey was used to highlight the edges. A wash of Badab Black was applied to these areas to tie the colors together and to deepen the recesses.

Tutorial - Angels of Vengeance

2010-08-13T15:00:00.000-04:00

The Angels of Vengeance will use the following GW colors:

Codex Grey
Badab Black
Orkhide Shade
Dark Angels Green
Mechrite Red
Blood Red
Devlan Mud
Dheneb Stone
Bleached Bone
Charadon Granite

*I also used the color Black Grey from Vallejo's Model Color line. If you can't get this (but I recommend you do-it's awesome), you can mix Charadon Granite and Chaos Black 50/50.

Over a black-primed model, I painted the armor Black Grey, being careful to leave some of the black paint showing in the recesses. Codex Grey was used to apply an edge highlight. Badab Black was washed over this to tie the colors together and bring out the details.

The armor joints, power cables, and hoses were painted with Charadon Granite. Codex Grey was used to give an edge highlight before being washed with Badab Black. The purity seals, eyes, and a diagonal stripe on the right knee pad were painted with Mechrite Red and highlighted with Blood Red. The parchment was given a coat of Dheneb Stone. Devlan Mud was washed over the parchment and the purity seal. The parchment was highlighted with Bleached Bone. The remaining black areas on the right knee pad were painted with Orkhide Shade, then highlighted with Dark Angels Green.

Project Space Marine Breakdown pt.5: Cursed Renegade Squad

2010-08-13T09:00:00.000-04:00

For those of you reading the blog for the first time, Project Space Marine is an army that I'm working on consisting of 151 Space Marines, each one from a different chapter.

The story behind the force is that it is an arm of the Ordo Xenos, a sort of Deathwatch-in-training force. It will be led by an Inquisitor with a Librarian as the 2nd HQ. I enjoy painting single models that don't necessarily belong to any army that I have, and I wanted a way to have an army of random single models.

All 17 Force Organization slots will be filled with infantry. The chapters that I have found particularly interesting or inspiring will be placed in the more elite squads or hold a higher rank in the tactical squads.

For the 5th Tactical Squad in the force, I placed chapters that were either from the cursed 21st Founding, or were chapters that had turned renegade.

The squad will be led by a Sergeant from the Fire Hawks chapter (pictured above).

Also in the squad will be:

Black Dragons

Exectutioners

Lamenters

Mantis Warriors

Minotaurs

Relictors

Sons of Antaeus

Soul Drinkers

Tiger Claws

I'm sure there are several of you out there that may disagree with putting renegade chapters along with loyalist along with pre-heresy chapters together. To that, I say, "Sorry, they'll look cool together."

Project Space Marine Breakdown pt.4: Troops

2010-08-10T09:00:00.000-04:00

For those of you reading the blog for the first time, Project Space Marine is an army that I'm working on consisting of 151 Space Marines, each one from a different chapter.

The story behind the force is that it is an arm of the Ordo Xenos, a sort of Deathwatch-in-training force. It will be led by an Inquisitor with a Librarian as the 2nd HQ. I enjoy painting single models that don't necessarily belong to any army that I have, and I wanted a way to have an army of random single models.

All 17 Force Organization slots will be filled with infantry. The chapters that I have found particularly interesting or inspiring will be placed in the more elite squads or hold a higher rank in the tactical squads.

The first 4 Tactical Squads will be made up of the following chapters:

Tactical Squad 1
-Ultramarines (sgt)
-Angels Porphyr
-Angels Encarmine
-Blood Swords
-Emperor's Hands
-Genesis Chapter
-Iron Fists
-Masters of Proteus
-Red Hunters
-Subjugators

Tactical Squad 2
-Howling Griffons (sgt)
-Angels of Vengeance
-Brotherhood of a Thousand
-Emperor's Hawks
-Heralds of Ultramar
-Imperial Castellans
-Iron Lords
-Metamarines
-Red Legion
-Taurans

Tactical Squad 3
-Iron Snakes (sgt)
-Angels Vermillion
-Consecrators
-Emperor's Spears
-Heralds of Vengeance
-Knights of Gryphonne
-Mortifactors
-Red Talons
-Tigers Argent
-White Templars

Tactical Squad 4
-Star Phantoms (sgt)
-Avenging Sons
-Dark Eagles
-Dark Sons
-Emperor's Warbringers
-Imperial Paladins
-Knights of the Raven
-Novamarines
-Red Templars
-War Bearers

Tutorial - Praetors of Orpheus

2010-08-08T09:00:00.000-04:00

The Praetors of Orpheus use the following GW colors:

Mordian Blue
Ultramarines Blue
Asurmen Blue
Badab Black
Astronomican Grey
Skull White
Charadon Granite
Codex Grey
Dheneb Stone
Devlan Mud
Bleached Bone
Mechrite Red
Blood Red
Iyanden Darksun
Golden Yellow
Bad Moon Yellow

Using a white-primed model, I painted a layer of Mordian Blue over the shoulder pad trim, elbow covers, chest vent (or chest eagle), knee covers, feet, and the top of the back pack. These areas were then painted with Ultramarines Blue, being careful to leave the darker color showing in the recesses. Ultramarines Blue was mixed 50/50 with Astronomican Grey to give an edge highlight to these areas. A wash of Asurmen Blue was then applied to tie the colors together and deepen the recesses.

I didn't worry much about getting the blue paint on any other areas. At this point in the process, I went and touched up any area that should not be blue with Astronomican Grey.

The white armor was given a wash of Badab Black to bring out the detail in the recesses. The armor was then given a coat of Astronomican Grey, leaving the black visible in the deepest recesses. A 50/50 mix of Astronomican Grey and Skull White was painted onto the edges and highest areas of the armor. Finally, pure Skull White was painted onto the edges and highest points of the model.

The eyes and purity seal were painted with a coat of Mechrite Red before being highlighted with Blood Red. The chest cables, vents and armor joints were painted with Charadon Granite. They were edge-highlighted with Codex Grey, before receiving a wash of Badab Black. The parchment and skull on the backpack were painted with Dheneb Stone, washed with Devlan Mud, and highlighted with Bleached Bone.

The color schemes for the Praetors of Orpheus showed them both with and without the yellow stripe on the helmet. I decided to include the yellow stripe, as I think it gives the model a bit of contrast (although it does make the model look a bit busy). The stripe was painted with a layer of Iyanden Darksun. Golden Yellow was then painted on in several layers before being edge-highlighted with Bad Moon Yellow. Devlan Mud was then watered down approximately 3:1 and painted in between the edge highlights on the top, and between the models eyes.

Project Space Marine Breakdown pt.3: Heavy Support

2010-08-07T09:00:00.000-04:00

For those of you reading the blog for the first time, Project Space Marine is an army that I'm working on consisting of 151 Space Marines, each one from a different chapter.

The story behind the force is that it is an arm of the Ordo Xenos, a sort of Deathwatch-in-training force. It will be led by an Inquisitor with a Librarian as the 2nd HQ. I enjoy painting single models that don't necessarily belong to any army that I have, and I wanted a way to have an army of random single models.

All 17 Force Organization slots will be filled with infantry. The chapters that I have found particularly interesting or inspiring will be placed in the more elite squads or hold a higher rank in the tactical squads.

The Heavy Support section of the force will be made up of the following chapters:

Devastator Squad 1
-Iron Hands (sgt)
-Black Consuls
-Death Eagles
-Exorcists
-Imperial Talons
-Praetors of Orpheus
-Omega Marines
-Skull Bearers
-Storm Hawks
-White Panthers

Devastator Squad 2
-Lion Warriors (sgt)
-Black Guard
-Death Spectres
-Fire Angels
-Invaders
-Marauders
-Night Watch
-Rampagers
-Star Dragons
-Storm Warriors

Devastator Squad 3
-Marines Errant (sgt)
-Blood Drinkers
-Death Strike
-Flame Eagles
-Iron Champions
-Marines Malevolent
-Raptors
-Storm Callers
-Storm Wings
-Steel Confessors

Project Space Marine Breakdown pt.2: Fast Attack

2010-08-06T09:00:00.000-04:00

For those of you reading the blog for the first time, Project Space Marine is an army that I'm working on consisting of 151 Space Marines, each one from a different chapter.

The story behind the force is that it is an arm of the Ordo Xenos, a sort of Deathwatch-in-training force. It will be led by an Inquisitor with a Librarian as the 2nd HQ. I enjoy painting single models that don't necessarily belong to any army that I have, and I wanted a way to have an army of random single models.

All 17 Force Organization slots will be filled with infantry. The chapters that I have found particularly interesting or inspiring will be placed in the more elite squads or hold a higher rank in the tactical squads.

The Fast Attack section will be made up of the following chapters:

Vanguard Vet Squad
-Blood Angels (sgt)
-Rainbow Warriors
-Raven Guard
-Silver Skulls
-Sons of Medusa
-Space Sharks
-Storm Giants
-Storm Lords
-White Minotaurs
-White Scars

Assault Squad 1
-Black Templars (sgt)
-Celestial Lions
-Dark Hands
-Doom Warriors
-Flesh Tearers
-Marines Exemplar
-Silver Eagles
-Sons of Guilliman
-Space Wolves
-Warmongers

Assault Squad 2
-Doom Eagles (sgt)
-Black Wings
-Dark Hunters
-Mentor Legion
-Red Wolves
-Revilers
-Sable Swords
-Scythes of the Emperor
-Warrior Adepts
-White Consuls

Next time, I will outline which chapters will make up the Heavy Support section of the force.

Project Space Marine Breakdown: HQ & Elites

2010-08-04T09:00:00.000-04:00

I thought I'd talk a bit about Project Space Marine and how I plan on organizing such a force.

For those of you reading the blog for the first time, Project Space Marine is an army that I'm working on consisting of 151 Space Marines, each one from a different chapter.

The story behind the force is that it is an arm of the Ordo Xenos, a sort of Deathwatch-in-training force. It will be led by an Inquisitor with a Librarian as the 2nd HQ. I enjoy painting single models that don't necessarily belong to any army that I have, and I wanted a way to have an army of random single models.

All 17 Force Organization slots will be filled with infantry. The chapters that I have found particularly interesting or inspiring will be placed in the more elite squads or hold a higher rank in the tactical squads.

The top of the force will look like this:

HQ:
Inquisitor
Librarian - Blood Ravens

Elites:
Terminator Assault Squad:
-Imperial Fists (sgt)
-Aurora Chapter
-Brazen Minotaurs
-Crimson Guard
-Dark Angels
-Doom Legion
-Eagle Warriors
-Flesh Eaters
-Hawk Lords
-Imperial Harbingers

Sternguard Vet Squad:
-Crimson Fists (sgt)
-Angels of Fire
-Angels of Redemption
-Angels Sanguine
-Disciples of Caliban
-Dusk Raiders
-Golden Gryphons
-Imperial Stars
-Red Scorpions

Sternguard Vet Squad:
-Storm Wardens (sgt)
-Angels of Absolution
-Angels of Iron
-Angels of Vigilance
-Celebrants
-Death Knights
-Fire Lords
-Guardians of the Covenant
-Iron Knights
-Sons of Orar

In my next post, I will cover the Fast Attack section of the force.

July - monthly review

2010-08-03T09:00:00.000-04:00

This month saw several new tutorials for Project Space Marine. This was my first time making tutorials, and the earlier ones are a little rough, but I've found a format that I'm happy with. Hopefully people can find some useful hobby tips or inspiration there.

Tutorial - White Templars

2010-08-01T15:30:00.000-04:00

The White Templars use the following GW colors:

Codex Grey
Astronomican Grey
Badab Black
Skull White
Chaos Black* (I used Black Grey from the Vallejo Model Color line, but Chaos Black will work as well)
Charadon Granite
Dheneb Stone
Devlan Mud
Bleached Bone
Mechrite Red
Blood Red
Boltgun Metal
Gunmetal Blue (from VGC)

I first applied Black Grey over the robes and shoulder pads. Codex Grey was used as the first highlight of the robe and the highlight on the shoulder pads. Astronomican Grey was used as a final highlight on the robes. The robes and shoulder pads were then washed with Badab Black to tie the colors together and deepen the details.

The white armor was given a wash of Badab Black. Astronomican Grey was painted over this, making sure to leave the darker color showing in the recesses. Skull White was mixed 50/50 with Astronomican Grey to highlight the armor. Pure Skull White was used to edge highlight the raised details.

Any skulls and parchment were painted Dheneb Stone before receiving a wash of Devlan Mud. Bleached Bone was used to highlight the raised surfaces. The purity seal and the models eyes were painted with Mechrite Red before being edge highlighted with Blood Red. The arm and leg joints, bolter chains, and backpack exhausts were painted Charadon Granite. Codex Grey was used to edge highlight these details, and then a wash of Badab Black was applied to tie the greys together and deepen the details.

I paint my bolters black and then edge highlight the bolter casing with Codex Grey. The detail piece on the bolter (skull, wing, aquila...in this case, it's a cross) is painted Codex Grey. The clip, barrel, and other details are painted with Gunmetal Blue, from Vallejo's Model Color line. Boltgun Metal is then drybrushed over the Gunmetal Blue, and the entire bolter receives a wash of Badab Black. The detail piece on the bolter is then edge highlighted with Codex Grey.

Tutorial - Dark Sons

2010-07-25T20:27:00.000-04:00

The Dark Sons use the following GW paints:

Orkhide Shade
Knarloc Green
Gretchin Green
Thraka Green
Badab Black
Astronomicon Grey
Skull White
Dheneb Stone
Gryphonne Sepia
Devlan Mud
Bleached Bone
Mechrite Red
Blood Red
Charadon Granite
Codex Grey

A layer of Orkhide Shade is painted over the marine's right top quarter and left lower quarter. Knarloc Green is then painted over this, leaving the darker color showing in the recesses. Gretchin Green is then used to edge highlight the armor. The armor is then given a wash of Thraka Green to deepen the colors and tie them together.

The white armor is given a wash of Badab Black. Astronomicon Grey is painted over this, leaving the darker color to show in the recesses. An edge highlight of Skull White is applied finally.

The eyes and purity seal are given a coat of Mechrite Red before receiving an edge highlight of Blood Red. The chest eagle and parchment is given a coat of Dheneb Stone, followed by a wash of Gryphonne Sepia. Bleached Bone is then used to edge highlight the details, and Devlan Mud is washed on to tie the colors together and deepen the details.

Chapter Badges, ho!

2010-07-23T18:35:00.001-04:00

I've been working on the chapter badges for the Imperial Castellans and Angels Porphyr marines for Project Space Marine. They're a little shiny now, but once I hit them with some matte sealer they should look just fine.

I also updated the Project Space Marine page with some thumbnail pictures, and I'll update the tutorials once I get the pictures edited of how I did the chapter badges.

Tutorial - Imperial Castellans

2010-07-19T04:41:00.000-04:00

The Imperial Castellans use the following GW colors:

Badab Black
Mordian Blue
Enchanted Blue
Skull White
Asurmen Blue
Charadon Granite
Dheneb Stone
Devlan Mud
Blood Red
Fortress Gray
Bleached Bone

Begin with a white-primed model, then give a thin coat of Badab Black to the entire model.

A layer of Mordian Blue was applied to the torso, helmet, shoulder pads, and backpack - you may need to apply multiple coats of Mordian Blue to get a nice smooth coat.

A layer of Enchanted Blue was applied, leaving some of the Mordian Blue visible in the recesses. If Enchanted Blue is hard to find in your area, you can use Magic Blue from Vallejo's Game Color line.

Enchanted Blue was mixed 50/50 with Skull White and used to give an edge highlight to the model using a fine detail brush.

All of the blue areas on the model were given a wash of Asurmen Blue to deepen the blues and tie them all together. Your blue is now finished. Charadon Granite was applied to the joints, cables, and vents. Blood Red was applied to the eyes and purity seal. Dheneb Stone was applied to the parchments and chest skull. Should your model have an eagle or winged skull on his chest, these should be painted yellow.

Devlan Mud was washed over the parchments and chest skull. Fortress Gray was used to edge highlight all of the gray areas.

Bleached Bone was applied to the parchments and chest skull, leaving the previous colors visible in the recesses. Badab Black was used to wash the gray areas, tying the colors together.

Skull White was used to edge highlight the white areas of the armor.

I went back at this point and smoothed out a lot of the white areas with Fortress Gray, to get rid of the harsh difference between the white and the previous black wash. Skull White was then reapplied to the edges of the armor. Now you are finished. Just finish the base, and add a bolter and get him on the table!

Tutorial - Angels Porphyr

2010-07-13T09:00:00.000-04:00

The Angels Porphyr use the following GW colors:

Badab Black
Mordian Blue
Enchanted Blue
Skull White
Asurmen Blue
Iyanden Darksun
Charadon Granite
Dheneb Stone
Devlan Mud
Blood Red
Fortress Gray
Bleached Bone

Begin with a white-primed model, then give a thin coat of Badab Black to the entire model.

A layer of Mordian Blue was applied to the left half of the model (or the right half from the model's perspective) - you may need to apply multiple coats of Mordian Blue to get a nice smooth coat.

A layer of Enchanted Blue was applied, leaving some of the Mordian Blue visible in the recesses. If Enchanted Blue is hard to find in your area, you can use Magic Blue from Vallejo's Game Color line.

Enchanted Blue was mixed 50/50 with Skull White and used to give an edge highlight to the model using a fine detail brush.

All of the blue areas on the model were given a wash of Asurmen Blue to deepen the blues and tie them all together. Your blue is now finished.

Iyanden Darksun was applied to the chest eagle. Charadon Granite was applied to the joints, cables, and vents. Blood Red was applied to the eyes and purity seal. Dheneb Stone was applied to the parchments.

Devlan Mud was washed over the parchments. Iyanden Darksun was mixed 50/50 with Skull White and applied to the edges of the eagles wings and heads. Fortress Gray was used to edge highlight all of the gray areas.

Bleached Bone was applied to the parchments, leaving the previous colors visible in the recesses. Badab Black was used to wash the gray areas, tying the colors together.

Skull White was used to edge highlight the white areas of the armor.

Project Space Marine progresses

2010-07-08T09:00:00.000-04:00

I'm currently painting some resin bases for my marines. In between steps, I've started two new chapters: the Dark Sons and the Praetors of Orpheus.

June - monthly review

2010-07-06T04:54:00.000-04:00

Not a lot of progress this month hobby-wise. I was quite busy preparing for our tournament. The event went very smoothly, and I learned a lot about what it takes to run a tournament successfully. I'm currently planning another event for early November, so anyone near Indianapolis should keep an eye out for that.

I finished a Howling Griffons Sergeant for Project Space Marine. I'm currently painting some resin bases for the models that I have finished, and should have some tutorials up early next week.

My Tournament Game vs. Tyranids

2010-06-29T04:51:00.000-04:00

At last weekend's tournament, myself and jRock brought along an army in case there was an odd number of people that showed up. JRock brought his Chaos Marines and I brought my Deathwing, which had not seen any play in quite a while. It turned out that we had an odd number of people show up, and our armies had a chance to shake off the dust webs that had gathered and battle it out on the table.

I only played one game with my army, which was game 4 against Curt and his Tyranids (the army that won the Player's Choice Appearance award).

His list consisted of a pair of Tyranid Primes, each leading a large squad of Warriors, a Genestealer squad with Broodlord, Harpy, and Tyrannofex. We both brought fairly small, elite forces and I knew this would be an interesting game.

The mission was Capture and Control, with a tertiary objective of having units in your opponent's deployment zone. There are a lot of missions that the Deathwing are just not good at, but Capture and Control is one of the better-suited missions for my army. My plan going in was to deploy two squads of Terminators, one on my objective, and one across from my opponents. Using the Deathwing Assault rule, I would deep strike 2 squads onto his objective on the first turn, one with Belial and one with the Librarian. The last squad would come in normal reserves and help out where needed.

Curt got the first turn and surged forward towards me. The Harpy and Tyrannofex laid down some fire, but couldn't punch through the Terminators' 2+ save. He left only one squad of Warriors on his own objective, so I opted to stick with the plan and focus only on taking his objective while "strategically retreating" from my own objective in the face of 2 monstrous creatures, 10 Warriors, and outflanking Genestealers.

I was fairly aggressive with my deep striking units and landed fairly spot on, landing my close combat squad and another squad with an assault cannon within charge range of his Warriors. The charge came, and my squad held their own taking surprisingly few wounds. The following combat phase would find the Warriors squad wiped out under a sea of lightning claw and power fist attacks. The Warriors' T4 would prove to be their undoing in this game, as my squads consolidated onto his objective and attempted to defend it against the portions of his army that were now wheeling around to engage me.

My last squad deep struck in near the center of the table to help intercept any of Curt's units that tried to harass my objective-holding unit. In the end, Curt would not have enough bodies to be able to take his objective back. In a moment of blood-lust, I brought my squad that was on the objective forward to lay down some supporting fire on his Tyrannofex that was coming across the table. Had the game ended on turn 6, it would have found my squad off of his objective and lost me the game. Fortune was with me, and I back-pedaled onto his objective, tying the game on objectives and gaining a narrow victory by having more units in his deployment zone.

Curt was a great opponent with a great-looking army and we had almost 30 minutes left after playing 7 turns in a 1:45 game. We talked a lot about the new Tyranid codex, and having tons of plastic Tyranids at home that were made almost useless by the new codex (my first 40k army was Tyranids). The game was a lot of fun and I hope to play Curt again soon.

South Indy 40k Tournament Results

2010-06-27T20:37:00.000-04:00

Last weekend I hosted my first tournament. I had volunteered to take over for the guy that normally runs tournaments on this side of town, and had some big shoes to fill. There is a fairly prolific tournament scene in Indianapolis, with at least one event going on each month at one of the stores in the city. Caanaan, jRock, and myself had been putting in a lot of prep work building terrain and writing missions, hoping to make the tournament run as smoothly as possible.

Four games were played at 1500. Each game started on time, and in the end, we had our champion:

Carlos came in 1st overall with a 4-0 record with his Tyranids.

Here are some other army shots:

Eric's Orks

EvilTed's Orks (evilTed's blog is here)

Farmpunk's Witch Hunters (check out his break-down of the event here)

Metrosh's IG

Grave Mind's Tyranids (GraveMinds's blog)

Aaron's SM army

J Lay's Witch Hunters (yes, that's the second pure Sisters army at the tournament!)

Brian's Blood Angels (with awesome Storm Raven conversion)

Chad's Alpha Legion (if you look closely, you will notice an awesome squad of

Chosen with each model painted as a member of a different loyalist SM chapter-fantastic!)

Caulyn Darr's Eldar (visit his blog here to read about his take on the event)

Curt's Tyranids

Almost every army was fully-painted, and the two that were not had some well-painted models in them. I was very surprised to see this much of the hobby represented at a competitive event. Thanks to everyone who showed up and helped to make this a great event to run!

Howling Griffons finished

2010-06-18T04:45:00.000-04:00

A small hobby update today. I've been working feverishly on terrain for the tournament this weekend, and had to take a break last night. I got this guy finished. I've got to say, I had a great time painting this scheme. It was very challenging, but I think he turned out pretty well. I had to go back and re-touch the areas where the red and yellow meet at least a dozen times throughout the process. The base is from Secret Weapon Miniatures. Any questions or comments are welcome.

Hobby and tournament updates

2010-06-14T04:31:00.000-04:00

I've been very busy preparing for our tournament this weekend, and haven't gotten a lot of hobby time. There has been a little progress made in Project Space Marine, as you can see from the above picture.

I've been working on tutorials for the two chapters that I have finished, as well as a tutorial on the above-pictured Howling Griffons.

There are 16 people that have signed up for the tournament on Saturday (June 19th). The armies signed up so far are as follows:

Tyranids (x3)
Chaos Marines (x2)
Eldar (x2)
Sisters of Battle
Imperial Guard
Orks
Blood Angels
Space Marines

There is a good amount of variety here, and I'm looking forward to the turnout. Expect to see some updates about the tournament next week. Hopefully, I can get some hobby updates out there sooner than that.

May - monthly review

2010-06-03T04:43:00.000-04:00

May started off with a tournament (a great way to start a month). I placed 4th overall with my Crimson Fists, and had a great time - meeting some terrific new players and reconnecting with veteran players from past tournaments.

The Indy Blog section has doubled in size since last month. Check out these blogs in the column on the left to see what's going on all around Indianapolis. Through this blog list, I discovered 2 new games stores in the metro Indianapolis area, bringing the total to 8 that I know of. That's a lot of stores for a city as small as Indy.

I began a project that I am hoping will become a staple here on indy40k; one that I'm calling Project Space Marine. It's a crusade-style Space Marine force where each marine will be from a different chapter, around 150 chapters in total! It seems crazy, but interesting to me. Expect updates on that soon.

I also announced that I will be running my first tournament. The local tournament organizer has taken some time off to focus on school, and I took the opportunity to try my hand at it. I have been spending a lot of time planning for the event and building terrain, and have gotten very little painting time recently. The tournament will be on Saturday, June 19th. 11 people have pre-registered for the event, leaving 9 slots open. 5 people have responded stating that they will be there, so if you would like to attend, your best bet would be to pre-register as soon as possible. Click on the link on the top left to see more information and to pre-register.