What did Krampus bring?

     No rusty chains or bells here; just a ton of minis resulting in some glued together fingers. This was a very Geeky Christmas. From the Bat'Leth my wife received from my father, to the 7 board/card/dice games that were gifted, not to mention the piles of minis, a good time was had by all. The year 2011 marks the culmination of over a decade of hard work in attempting to get my little brother to start miniature wargaming as he has, in fact, picked up the Khador flag and is waving it proudly, alongside the faction book we gave him and his shiny new Karchev warcaster...

Thanks

I am thankful for all the wonderful people in my life. From my wife to my family and friends.
I am thankful for having a job and roof over my head in these somewhat uncertain economic times.
I am thankful for being a gamer, and most importantly being able to be a gamer.
-Game on...

Ahh, gaming again...

     I feel rather like The Rock with his whole "Once again, the Rock has come back to <insert city here>..." speech. I must say, it is good to be back. While I was away I took a look at my mercs and I decided that just because I like neither their theme lists nor the searforge contract in general, that shouldn't keep me from playing my Dwarves in Warmachine!
     So, I got a game in this last weekend with a buddy of mine so he could try out his shiny new Menoth from the 2 player starter. I thought my list was pretty decent and we didn't quite finish out the game due to time constraints, but it was definitely shaping up as a loss for me ...

Game called on account of...

Zoom, Zoom. See you soon.

Holy cow there's been a lot going on. Apparently October is just the perfect month to get married in. We've had 2 weddings of dear friends recently. Our anniversary is coming up this weekend, and then another wedding is scheduled for the weekend after. Influx of July babies inc?Heh. What I do know is I've made myself way less time for hobbying than I should have. I really want to sit and spend a good bit of time focusing on painting and getting some games in but I've only been managing about one a week. Here's hoping November will be a smoother, more hobby filled month for me. Although, with an attempt at NaNoWriMo looming, we'll have to see.
     So, for the interim, and hopefully only until November, I am going on a blog-hiatus. Catch you on the flipside...

* Had to do it. That's got to be one of my favorite hobby pics. Who knew having a hamster could be this much fun.

Minion madness...

     In the excitement following the description of the Journeyman league by Privateer Press, I decided to start a second Hordes faction. With my love of monster movies like Lake Placid, tv shows like shark week and swamp people as well as crocs and gators in general, there really was only 1 other faction it could have been.
Enter the gators....
     I've gotten 4 games under my belt so far at differing points values and I have a 50-50 win loss ratio. Got a battle box game in against Madrak and couldn't put enough pressure on. That's one tough troll. Won a 20 point mosh pit game against pirates and Shae. Lost a 25 point Throw Down mission against the wife and her Cryx. Played it too conservatively and lost track of the 3rd turn control check  while setting up my assassination run. Last but not least, I got the caster kill on Deneghra in a battle box game.
     I'm really enjoying the Blindwater pact and can't wait to get more games in. Just started the local league and will hopefully be getting some games in this Thursday and Friday nights. As it is, I've got a ton to paint and I'm trying to figure out my paint schemes. We'll see what happens...

In the grim darkness of the far future...

There is only this cop-out pseudo review post.
     So, I picked up the new hotness, Space Marine, on the PS3; as did several of my buddies. So far we've played 1 on 1 and 2 on 2 in the multi-player setup. I've also played a few of the levels in the campaign. Can't say enough good things about the game. Multi-player modes are fun, at least with 2+ people per team. One on one is pretty slow. We're going to try to all jump on the same team and join the multiplayer queue as we're in the process of getting headsets all-round so we aren't all conversing via speaker phone.
     The multiplayer is set up in levels. The more you play, the more kills and flag captures you get, the more experience and the further you progress along the track to level 41. As you level up, you unlock new abilities, new wargear and new appearance options. As it is currently, I'm enjoying running around as a Black Templar tac-marine with a plasma gun, but we'll see what happens when I unlock the plasma cannon or lascannon for the Devastator.
I highly recommed you check out the game if you get a chance.
Until next week...

13 Abaddon, really? I can do it in 1...

"Now, this is the story all about how my life got flipped, turned upside down; And I'd like to take a minute, just sit right there, I'll tell you how I became a Daemon Prince of Nurgly Goodness."

Hobby Update...

     Hi. My name's Ryan and I play Circle Orboros.
Hi Ryan.
     Somehow my intro paragraphs always make me feel like I'm in front of a group of  folks telling them 'my story' of how I came to be where I am and/or why I'm here. Something like Gamer's Anonymous I guess.
     Anyway, in keeping with the first line of this mini -post, I play Circle in Hordes. More specifically, I play Baldur (that's him to the left there standing in a 4inch forest template whacking Deneghra with a stick) and boy am I having fun.

Look at the shiny...

Here's another edition of "hey, what do you guys think?"

     It occurred to me the other day, while looking for something in my minis, that I have a good number of Orks from the assault on black reach set. As I can't seem to focus on an army long enough to see it through to a completed painted status, I figure it's time to start a new army, right?

Hobby delay caused by Hobby related release

     That's right, I picked up Kill Team for the PS3 this week when it became available for download and it's cratered my hobby productivity. I expect Space Marine will have a somewhat equal if not more intense effect once it releases September 9th.
     My wife, my little brother and I played host to 3 of our gaming buddies Wednesday evening and we passed the controllers around for several hours playing co-op through the various Kill Team levels. Quite an enjoyable game. The length of the game is acceptable for the price point and I'll get better at aiming shots with the right stick which are the only two cons set against a huge list of pros.
     My suggestion, if you haven't checked it out yet, do so. It's available on PSN and the XBOX Live Arcade.

In which I learn a valuable wargaming lesson...

     Apparently, Benjamin Franklin said something along the lines of, "He that can have Patience, can have what he will." On my trip down to the local pub, after an afternoon of jumping the gun I had plenty of time to ponder Ben's words over a pipe and a pint. s much as I willed the games Sunday afternoon to go in my favor, I just wasn't patient enough to cause that outcome.
     The setup:
Our local shop is open on Sundays from 1-6 and 4 of us decided this last weekend we'd get together for some Warmachine...

Like a fin on the water...

     So many projects looming on the horizon like the proverbial fin heralding the sharks' arrival. I have far too many models lining up on my tv tray. For the foreseeable future, my focus will be split hobby-wise on different systems. I just picked up the Storm of Magic book for Warhammer Fantasy and I'm feeling an urge to give 8th edition another go. As my dwarves aren't the most adept magic users out there, I plan on bringing the beastmen back out.
     Does this mean I won't be working on anything but my warherds? Of course not; I still have the attention span of a mentally-challenged fruit gnat on meth when it comes to what interests me in my gaming, so this is merely a diversion, a side-track if you will...

WARGamesCon post-action post

     It's been a week now since my wife and I took to the field for our doubles games at WARGamesCon and I've had plenty of time to analyze our games. I've had time to consider what happened in each and why we saw the outcomes we did.  I could say, "Waah! Our codex is older and can't compete with the current books," but the internet is full of whining and I'd rather be more constructive. Besides, I know competitive lists can be built from the current Chaos Space Marine codex. If they couldn't, I'd never win ANY games instead of the 35-40%-ish win ratio I have. It seems like for every win I get, there's a draw, or a hard-fought, very close loss. So what were our failings? What caused the 3 losses we suffered? Stay tuned to find out...

The culprits and a special message...

     And here they are. The little buggers that have lured my wife away from the claws of chaos. So far, she's received a battle box for her birthday and assembled the reaver jetbikes and the raider. She's clipped off and parted out the warriors, but they haven't seen any glue yet. As she grows more excited about this new army, I get more excited about her expansion in the hobby.
     Her current chaos army started out as one I picked up from a buddy/coworker that was leaving the hobby. I picked up roughly 32 berserkers, a Bloodthirster, a defiler, a couple of rhinos, one of the metal Daemon Princes circa 4th edition and a number of unassembled bits and bikes for about $200 if I remember correctly. I only played it a very few times before she moved down here and once she became interested in the hobby, it was only natural to hand it over to her. Before she moved in with me, we played a ton of Dawn of War multi-player games remotely and she always gravitated towards Chaos.
     She's enjoyed this army, and expanded it, but it wasn't wholly hers; even after she stripped and repainted everyone, so I'm eagerly awaiting her finishing this Dark Eldar force as it will be her first real hobby project 100%, from inception to completion. As she reads this blog, this, as well as the battle box, are both a bit of a pre-birthday present because I want to let her know how proud I am of her and, especially after hearing some of the horrible "anti-gaming wife stories", how thankful I am that I have a loving, caring partner who shares in my interests and would kick my butt if I ever let her win instead of her earning it. So here's to you babe. You earn my respect more and more every day. Happy Birthday and I love you!

The Road to WARGamesCon... The final days.

     Ever notice how with Berserkers it all turns into a big rugby scrum in the middle? At least that's how it seems to end up for my wife. Her berserkers charge forward, kill kill kill and then are left with either too few troops to withstand the resulting hail of incoming fire, or end up getting wiped out in combat. Just seems like that 3 up armor save isn't enough to keep the boys in business these days. This post titles mentions final days and serves a dual purpose. We're looking at the final days leading up to the 40k doubles tournament at WARGamesCon and we're looking at what appear to be the final days of my wife's Khorne Space Marines army in the field. At least until either CSM gets a new book, or 6th edition makes sweeping changes. Time will tell.

On the road again...

     It's time for another 1,000 point game. In my ongoing mission to find the right thousand points to field next to wife's tide of Khorne, I got another game under my belt this week with yet another new list. Depicted on the left is where our game was at about the middle of turn 3. We finally remembered, somewhere near the end of the sixth turn, that we were supposed to roll for random game length at the end of the 5th. So with a roll of 1 on the dice, the game that was shaping up to become a 6-turn draw promptly rolled back to 5-turn draw instead.

We'z goin to da Pants Party!

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how you spice up a game of Deathwatch. Who knew traffic cones would make such great hats?

The Road to WARGamesCon...

We've hit the 1 month out mark on the 40k doubles tournament my wife and I will be attending at WARGamesCon. Looking quite forward to it, even if I will be helping a friend move into a new apartment the day before. Ah. the joys of truck ownership. Heh. As the day nears, we've managed to get a few good 1,000 point games in with our armies against some local folks, but haven't yet put the two together for a 2,000 point game since last year.

To Infinity... or at least WARGamesCon

So here comes the Next Big Thing™. Now that Alamo 40k is over, our eyes turn toward the event we'll be attending in July, WARGamesCon.

I for one welcome our new hamster overlords

Lucy, Terror of the Warp! -or- Since when did Skaven Vermin Lords get rhinos?

Remember the Alamo... Day 2

     Day 2 of the Alamo event started out with a game against another Space Wolf player, Jason Walker. Completely different composition to what I brought. His army consisted of 2 units of long fangs with a twin-linked lascannon razorback for each and 4 drop pods. Leading the charge for him was Ragnar Blackmane with a Rune Priest running backup.

Remember the Alamo... Day 1

     This last weekend was the Alamo Indy GT in San Antonio. I believe there were 70 gamers in attendance. Well, 69 plus the ringer. And even with records of 0-5 and 1-3-1, team Woodroof still returned home with a tank, an award and a cool new game to check out.

Alamo Bound - Painting in progress

4 short days till I'm throwing dice with my Space Wolves on the table. I've just got a few things left to do with my army paint-wise and then I'll consider them complete as far as I'm concerned.
The group so far:

Alamo Bound - Primed and Ready...

Just a quick group shot today.
Got everyone primed last night, so all we have left is the painting and then affixing them to their snow bases.
Without further ado, here's the gang:

Alamo Bound - Assembly Complete

The countdown to tourney has begun. We're at the 10 day mark now. Friday after next my wife and I will be packing our armies (and our friend Mike) into her car and heading down to San Antonio to crash out on our friend Scott's apartment floor like a couple of kids passed out under the Christmas tree eagerly awaiting Santa's visit.

Alamo Bound - List Complete and submitted

It is upon us...
With just 2 short weeks left before the Alamo GT, we've reached the deadline for list submission. I haven't actually been able to get any games in with this list, but I think I'm going to enjoy running it. I have some time to get a few games in now before the tournament and will be scrambling to get that done while I scramble to get my figs painted as well.
But the hardest parts are out of the way: List and model assembly.

Alamo Bound - Work continues

Remember those resin bases? Well they've all been primed, painted, washed, snow-flocked, re-washed and re-flocked. I'm done. I dig the way they look and they'll make the minis on them really stand out.
That being said, I'm on to model assembly. With a near finalized list I've just realized that I have about a month to get these guys assembled and painted. Today's April 14th and the Alamo event starts May 14th. Let's see what we've got so far...

Alamo Bound... A List in Progress

I've put together a 1999 point list and have 1 modification to it in my head.
So, it looks like this is what I'll be running:

#	Unit	Gear/Details
1	Wolf Lord	Thunderwolf Mount, Frag/Krak, Runic Armor, Frost Weapon, Storm Shield, Saga of the Warrior Born
1	Wolf Lord	Frag/Krak, Wolf Claw x2, Belt of Russ, Saga of the Bear
1	Rune Priest	Frag/Krak, Chooser of the Slain, Storm Caller, Living Lightning Master of Runes
2	Thunderwolf Cavalry	Frag/Krak, Storm Shield x2, Frost Axe x1
8	Grey Hunters	Frag/Krak, Meltagun, MotW, Wolf Standard, Power Weapon, Rhino
9	Grey Hunters	Frag/Krak, Meltagun x2, MotW, Wolf Standard, Power Weapon, Rhino
9	Grey Hunters	Frag/Krak, Meltagun x2, MotW, Wolf Standard, Power Weapon, Rhino
*	Mark of the Wulfen	One in each Grey Hunter Squad
*	Rhino	One for each Grey Hunter Squad
6	Long Fangs	Missile Launcher x4, Heavy Bolter x1
1	Dreadnought	TL AC x2
1	Dreadnought	TL Lascannon, Missile Launcher
3	Wolf Guard	(Wolf Claw x2) x2, TH/SS

After I get a couple playtest games in with this list, I'll swap out the Thunderwolf cav and the Wolf Lord's mount for a Land Raider for one of the GH squads. Not sure if I want to go redeemer or Crusader yet, or even original, but we'll play around and get a feel for it.

Alamo Bound - Work begins

It has begun. I've received the first of the items I need to begin building my army for Alamo. While I have a good number of space wolf models and have been play-testing lists already, I want to make some new toy soldiers for this tournament and I want them to stand out.
To that end, I'm shamelessly borrowing from the fellas at the Space Wolves blog and using their idea for pre-heresy grey hunters as shown here.

Alamo Bound... A Work in Progress

I've weighed my options, and thought a good bit about what I want to run.
I've thrown a few lists together and spent a good amount of time coming up with ideas for modeling options and units additions.
But at the end of it all, my wolves won out. I can't wait to see my Thunderwolf cav led across the table by the 2 Lords on Bears. I'll be testing my list out and tweaking it, but this is how it stands currently, without any modifications before we start:

Wolf Lord - 275 pts - Runic Armour; Thunderwolf Mount; Frost Weapon x1; Storm Shield x1; Saga of the Warrior Born
      2 Fenrisian Wolves
Thunderwolf Cavalry x2 - 190 pts - Storm Shield x2; Thunder Hammer x1

Wolf Lord  - 260 pts - Runic Armour; Thunderwolf Mount; Storm Shield x1; Thunder Hammer x1; Saga of the Wolfkin
      2 Fenrisian Wolves
Thunderwolf Cavalry x2 - 185 pts - Storm Shield x2; Frost Weapon x1

Fenrisian Wolves x9 - 80 pts - Cyberwolf x1

Rune Priest - 160 pts - Chooser of the Slain; Master of Runes; Living Lightning; Storm Caller
Long Fangs x6 - 140 pts - Missile Launcher x5

Rune Priest - 110 pts - Chooser of the Slain; Fury of the Wolf Spirits; Storm Caller
Grey Hunters x9 - 190 pts - Meltagun x1; Mark of the Wulfen; Rhino 
Grey Hunters x10 - 205 pts - Meltagun x2; Mark of the Wulfen; Rhino
Grey Hunters x10 - 205 pts - Meltagun x2; Mark of the Wulfen; Rhino
 
Total Roster Cost: 2000

Alamo 40k 2011

So my wife and I have registered and paid for the 40k Alamo tourney this year.
She will be bringing her frothing-at-the-mouth-for-blood-and-skulls Khornate marines.
I've decided to bring....

That's just it. Like a dieter on a cheat day faced with a menu full of goodies, I can't make up my feeble mind. Do I go old-school and bring along my Black Templars, especially now they've received a cool FAQ update?
Do I cry havoc and let loose the wolves of Spaceyness? I've got some Thunderwolf cav foaming at the fang to jump into combat and tear some folks up.
Do I give in to the urge to spread decay and plague and bring along a force of marines devoted to Grandfather Nurgle? My Daemon prince likes that idea.
Or do I try something new and field my counts-as Blood Angels army, the Sons of Saint Arnold. They who thirst for beer, not blood.

All four options should allow for some unique and characterful conversions as I'm not really up to 2000 points with any of them yet. And each one sounds like a lot of fun. To be honest, I hadn't even considered reviving the Templars until just now, but I can picture my land Raiders, driving across the table to disgorge their contents upon my opponents. Jump packing marines, some armed with sword and shield descending to deliver the Emperor's mercy. And let's not forget, the holy hand grenade. 1, 2, 5! 3 sir, 3!
I've put together a 2000 point Nurgle list and it looks so much like my wife's khorne list that I fear we'd be the Christmas pal armies, my green to her red as our choice of chaos power would be the only real difference.
I've attempted to build a wolf list and a blood angel list, but just couldn't quite finish getting it all on paper.
Maybe I'll try my hand at building a Templar list and see if I can finish it. I'll get all 3 together and see which list look likes the most fun.

Happy wargaming.

To Do in the new year and beyond....

Not a resolutions post.
Not a post really in and of itself.
More of a to-do list for myself to refer to on what projects I'm currently working on, what I need to work on, and what I think I want to work on.

Space Wolves

• List - Complete the army list
  
• Thunderwolves and Fenrisian Wolves - Assemble and paint
• Lone Wolves - Assemble 2nd and paint both
• Wolf Lords - Assemble 2nd, repair first and paint both
• Grey Hunters and Transports - Paint 

The Purge

• List - I have 1,000 points, need a 2,000 point list for tournies
• Assemble the 2nd thousand points
• Paint - Finish trim on first 1,000 points, paint 2nd thousand post-assembly

Deathwatch (RPG)

• Ulvir - Paint
• Apoc - Paint
• Maynard - Assemble and Paint
• Bolverk - Assemble and Paint (40mm base with ghostwolf)

KillZone 

• Absorb Rules
• Create Team lists
• Paint Teams
• Start playing at the LGS

Sons of Saint Arnold

• Finish List
• Design Decision (Reg Marines or mix with Dwarf Bits)
• Assemble/Paint

Black Templars

• Build List
• Finish Painting

Orks

• Build List
• Finish Assembly
• Paint

Beastmen

• Assemble and paint Minotaurs
• Paint Gors
• Repair and paint Shaman

Dwarves

• Finish Painting