Andy G. and Ian C.

A Game with Movement Trays

majormcnicol — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 22:47:29 +0000

I recently built some modular movement trays for the old Skull Pass forces. Today we played a game of Warhammer with them (about 722 points per side), and they certainly made it smoother! Goblins won; the defenders were killed to a Dwarf…

When we originally painted the forces, we used a number of paints from the now-bankrupt Ral Partha company, and are unable to recreate the colors now. But we were able to get close with mostly spray paint. The movement trays for my Bretonnian army will be painted to match exactly (goblin green, bestial brown, codex gray).

Dwarf Thane (side project)

majormcnicol — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 14:30:02 +0000

Over break I painted up this Dwarf Thane, and had a rather good time doing it. I really enjoyed the Battle for Skull Pass set a few years ago, and this figure took me back.

Tau Stealth Team

majormcnicol — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 18:10:52 +0000

My brother finished his Tau Stealth Team yesterday. The box is actually an impressive value: three stealth team members with a few options, a markerlight drone with flying stand, and, as we found, enough spare pieces to build a sweet-looking objective marker.

In games this would run as a 3-man stealth team, a team leader/veteran with fusion blaster and target lock, and a drone with stealth field generator and a networked markerlight.

Bretons in Red

majormcnicol — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 21:32:56 +0000

I finally finished the first four Men-at-Arms and Pegasus Knight for my fledgling Bretonnian muster from Artois. This is the first time I’ve painted strong warm colors for an army.

I am very pleased with the first Pegasus Knight. I painted in sub assemblies, and when I put it all together it was a shock at how awesome it looked. The Men-at-Arms are from the smaller of the two planned units, the red and yellow (and orange) marking them as Baron Gilderaux’s Voulgiers.

Taking the Plunge

majormcnicol — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 23:19:26 +0000

This Holiday season yielded some great deals on the fantastic, all-plastic Bretonnian boxed set. Now to jump into the project…

Gaunt’s Ghosts Reading List

majormcnicol — Sun, 18 Dec 2011 17:19:24 +0000

As a fan of Dan Abnett’s Gaunt’s Ghosts series, I am freshly up to date on the Sabbat Worlds anthology. Reading the short stories made me desire a chronological listing of all the Sabbat Crusade materials, but I did not find one online. So I made one, which is accurate so far as I could remember and glean from brief refreshers of some of the books. I think it can not be completely accurate without re-reading everything (which I plan to do sometime soon). If you take issue with any of the orderings given below, please comment and we can fix it. It is also important to note that I do not have the extraordinarily underprinted Sabbat Worlds Crusade background book, which might prove very helpful for this list.

Gaunt’s Ghosts Reading List

compiled by Ian Cross, 12.18.11

The campaign begins in 755.M41.

Full, Chronological Campaign Reading Order:

“Regicide”

First and Only

“Of Their Lives in the Ruins of Their Cities”

Ghostmaker

Necropolis

“A Good Man”

“The Headstone and Hammerstone Kings”

“Blueblood”

Titanicus

“Lyubov”

Honor Guard

The Guns of Tanith

Straight Silver

Sabbat Martyr

Double Eagle

“Apostle’s Creed”

Interceptor City

“Cell”

Traitor General

His Last Command

The Armor of Contempt

Only in Death

“The Iron Star”

Blood Pact

Salvation’s Reach

Why 40k is a Good Thing

majormcnicol — Sat, 03 Dec 2011 13:47:41 +0000

Now, I normally want to avoid putting stuff on the blog like this – I want the hobby material to be the focus, to the exclusion of everything else. But I think a reaction to the recent article about 40k players in a Greek newspaper is not a bad thing to post here. The article’s translation is on BOLS (as is my response below, where I originally posted as a commenter): here is a link. My response follows below:

Ok, I did find this article really…sloppy. Biased. Sensationalist. It seems to have some weird agenda, obviously. I am wary to quote anything, because I know it’s an unofficial translation – no offense to Antipope of course, it’s just the nature of the beast, when careful dissection is at stake.

Then again, I don’t want to dissect this. But I do want to say: this is a good opportunity to reflect on the nature of the universe, the background story, the ideas expressed within – really, the worldview expressed within. A “question the assumptions,” type thing.

Now, I obviously love the universe, love the fiction, love the stories, love the intellectual stimulation, love the hobby. All I mean to say is, I think it’s important to take a step back sometimes and ask yourself, wait, where are all the non-caucasian descendants of Terra? I think a question like that is important. On one level, it’s not dissimilar to “fact checking” to better understand and experience the universe, like, “is Ork blood green?” (here’s looking at you, author of Brunner the Bounty Hunter!) But it’s also bigger than that. Because it can lead to insightful growth in yourself, and it can challenge the universe to improve.

There are some big worldview issues raised in 40k. Is democracy the best form of government? Is violence a viable tool of government? Of interest groups? Of individuals? Are symbols important? Is intent important in action?

Now, I really don’t think I have answers to any of these questions, at least not ones without qualifiers and doubts. But what I am trying to express, and please excuse my lack of articulation, is that thinking about these questions leads to a lot of personal development. It changes you, and I think that’s the kind of edification that’s good for people. You step outside your own experience and gain a better view of the experiences of other beings.

And, this is what I do believe: thinking about these big questions and growing from them is the precise way to avoid societal descent into fascism (as one, oft overused, example). But playing 40k has certainly led me to investigate my own assumptions and beliefs about that question a lot – can one person make a difference? can personal growth outgrow societal fads? can systems be changed actively? – and I think that is for the best for me, to keep questioning. To keep growing.

Forgive me for lack of a better citation, but I’ll end by paraphrasing a Greek philosopher: “to entertain an idea without espousing it is a true sign of intelligence.”

Addendum: I’d also like to say that this is why I like Henry Zou’s fiction so much. He brings important questions into the mythos. His works are probably my favorite 40k fiction because they bring in themes of imperialism and oppression, sexism, art, culture, choice, trade, ecosystems, etc.

Easy Cardboard Terrain

majormcnicol — Sun, 27 Nov 2011 15:31:51 +0000

Over Thanksgiving break we got a few things accomplished. First, we built a Tau Stealth Team and used the extra pieces to make a cool objective marker. The Stealth Team kit seems to have a fair about of extra objects well-suited for objective building. We also put together two pieces of terrain, made only out of cardboard, masking tape, glue, sand and brown spray paint. (We do plan to overbrush some green on, though.) Here are some pictures of the new terrain:

The first piece was a basic ruined building, complete with windows, battle damage and some fallen debris. The second piece was an area of hills/mounds/slight variation for the board. I am exceedingly pleased with how easy it was to create this terrain – and quick, too. Besides waiting for the glue and paint to dry, both pieces altogether took less than two hours to produce. On the terrain you can see the undercoated contents of the Stealth Team kit – three team members, a markerlight drone, and the objective marker.

Finishing Troubles

majormcnicol — Sun, 09 Oct 2011 02:55:03 +0000

As our efforts to finish the Tau continue, we gradually complete models and then plan to put some finish on them, to seal them and protect them. The last time I did this the weather here was still very humid – and the models were terribly frosted! We lost lots of color and effort. But thanks to some helpful users on 40kOnline and The Round Table of Bretonnia, I was able to save them today. Essentially, for this problem, I just sprayed them again, albeit in much better weather. It completely fixed the issue. Awesome!

Also today I built, based and undercoated some Men-at-Arms my brothers got me for my birthday. The start of something glorious! So included below are pictures of the Men-at-Arms, the saved Tau, and the color scheme plan for the two Men-at-Arms units (planned).

The two planned units are Baron Gilderaux’s Volgiers and the Spears of Sir Mattice.

Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaghh! Og’Thall

majormcnicol — Sun, 18 Sep 2011 15:41:28 +0000

This post is a little overdue. During Hurricane/Tropical Storm Irene I evacuated inland and southwards to a friend’s apartment – the same friend who previously painted an Ork Warboss and Kommando with Big Shoota years ago. Aaron just recently got back into painting his Ork army. It is based on the Assault on Black Reach boxed set, and has a strong Blood Axe theme. He has been gracious enough to send several pictures of his Orks so far, and I think they look pretty awesome.

You may remember the first two (and finished) models, Warboss Og’Thall and Kommando Coco. He may change the bases to Camo Green, however.

Aaron has been working on painting up his basic boyz (Ork boyz with sluggas and choppas, from the Assault on Black Reach set), and included this multi-angle shot essay of the first completed boy, codename “Weapon X.”

He also included this short of his “Front Nine” – the first 9 boyz he has been painting in one batch. There will be more updates soon!

In other news, my brothers and I have almost finished painting our 2300 points of Tau and Kroot – and I mean completely finished, final touch-ups, flocking, and varnishing, and everything. Expect a post on that soon! Also, we hope to take up to 800 points of those Tau down to visit Aaron and Oggie and play a small escalation campaign… More soon.