I has an army

So today, I have assembled:
pNemo
eHaley
pStryker (to be used as eStryker)
Hunter
Stormclad
Charger
Thorn (special Lancer)
Reinholdt
pEiyrss (to be used as eEiryss)
Jorneyman Warcaster

I started to pin.. and after a while, I said fuck it and just used gorilla super glue, green stuff and accelerator.

I doubted the hold until I tried to pry the hammer arm off my Charger to reposition it and the metal arm started to give before the joint.  This super glue is seriously the best stuff I've ever used.

Tomorrow I'm getting my magnets and I should be able to finish my two plastic Ironclad/Defenders and add it to the rest of my army..

..which currently consists of:
eCaine
B13
Squire
Arcane Tempest Gun Mages
ATGM Officer
Gun Mage Captain Adept
Arlan Strangeways.

I guess it helps to know that I also pre-ordered Gorman and Stormblades to be picked up next week.

I am now broke.
My wife hates me.
I lost all feeling to my left foot, right leg and lower back from sitting down for so long..
..but I'm very happy and excited to get some games in.

Overpowered is for noobs

Before we begin, I'm going to be quite blunt in this following post.  One of my biggest pet peeves about this hobby is when people call things "overpowered".  To me, there's no such thing.  The correct word to describe something that's not in line with the rest of the army is called "imbalanced".  This is a word alien to most forumers in the gaming word and something that I strongly suggest looking up.

To make things easy, I have google defined it for everyone.  For simplificty's sake, let's just take the first definition:

Imbalanced - unbalanced: being or thrown out of equilibrium.

When a certain unit is too powerful, it's imbalanced.  In the same manner, if a unit sucks complete ass, it should also be classified as imbalanced.  Balance is achieved when everything has a purpose; where everything has a use and is functioning as intended by design.  Every unit, ability, map, scenario, mission type or any combination of those aforementioned is factored in (among many other things) and held in relation to other aspects of the same archetype (other factions, races, armies).  As you can see, with a possible hundred or more various aspects to any given game, perfect balance is almost never achieved.  Some companies do this better than others, but that's specifically proportioned to how many people play the game, and how many people can analyze this on a design level and make it "fair" for the rest of us.  Statistically, you need hundreds if not thousands of people playing the game on casual, intermediate and competitive levels to even begin analyzing proper balance.  That's just how the cookie crumbles.

Best part of this hobby

So I've been pretty MIA lately, and I apologize to all my readers. Things are rather crazy here at work and we're pulling some crazy hours still!

As for my current progress on my hobbies, so far I've put together a fair amount of WM models.  In terms of Blood Angels, I haven't really gotten to anything other than a few ASM legs and jump packs.  Here's what I have assembled for WM..

eCaine
Black 13th Strike Team
Arcane Tempest Gun Mages
ATGM Officer
Gun Mage Captain Adept
Arlan Strangewayes
and a Squire

I have also cleaned my plastic Warjack kit and I'm waiting on my magnets to get here so I can magnetize the dude. I bought some crazy rare earth magnets that are N52 grade so they should hold together pretty well. Hopefully I'm not a total fail and magnetize them correctly when the time comes. I've read plenty of horror stories from magnet noobs (which I am).  Other than that, I have a few more metal models to pick up and finish, then I should be set to play some games.

Doing it my way

Yeah.. that's not actually Caine.. that's Noel Vermillion from BlazBlue.  They both fight with the same Gun Kata awesomeness except Noel's a hell of a lot better looking.  The below video will demonstrate the kind of pain Caine will inflict on an enemy warcaster once he draws LoS.  Noel, an example please.

Enough of the idle chatter!  Let's talk about some serious wargaming.  The reason for this post is because I've been doing a lot of research into Warmachine and Cygnar lately.  As most of you know from my last blog entry, I've decided to go with eCaine as my first warcaster.  His playstyle is very like my ideal playstyle in a game on the scale of warmachine.  With ROF infinity, a killer feat and the potential to kill anything in 1 volley or die trying, he's a real glass cannon.

My first Warmachine list

 

The first warcaster I want to try for Cygnar is Captain Allister Caine.  After doing a ton of research during the last couple of days, I liked eCaine's fluff and playstyle the most.  He reminds me of Christian Bale from that movie Equilibrium; running into the fray of guys and using precision Gun Kata skills to blast everyone to bits.  From what I read from BattleCollege, it seems that he's one of the best assassination characters in the game.  That type of balls-up play works perfectly fine for me!

Let's go over his most important stats really quick:  Offensively, he has one of the highest RAT's in the game at an incredible 9.  He also has 2x POW12 magical guns that has ROF infinity.  By having a FOC of 6 and a infinite number of shots, he can get in range of an enemy warcaster and light him up without too much trouble.  He also has an ability called Gatecrasher which allows him to basically teleport 8" anywhere he wants from his current location.  This gives him opportunities to setup rear shots or open up for an assassination run.  Considering his other abilities such as Blur, True Sight and Magic Bullet, Caine looks like one of those characters where positioning and placement is absolute key.  His relatively low ARM means that if you're not careful with him, he can die, thus costing you the game.  This double-edged sword kind of play is extremely fitting for a player like me:  I favor perfection and precision where misplays and failures result in a game lost.

Warmachine: Cygnar

Since I'm working crazy amounts of overtime right now.. I need to divert my attention from 40K and work on something smaller.  With that said, I'm currently looking into Warmachine and the faction of Cygnar.  I'm probably going with Captain Allister Caine as my warcaster and play a fairly balanced assassination list.  In the next couple of days, I'll sketch out 15, 25 and 35 point lists.

If anyone knows a thing or two about Warmachine, let me know.  I'm still doing my research, but I wanted to let everyone know that I'm still alive.  Barely..

Making Dante work

Dante is one of my favorite characters in all of 40K lore.  He's one of the oldest living Space Marines and he has fought against the enemies of the emperor for over a thousand years.  In the latest codex, he's a little overshadowed by big bad Mephiston, but he can certainly hold his own still.  It didn't take me long to make a list based on this honorable and respected Chapter Master.

Before we move onto the actual list, let's talk about Dante himself for a sec.  He has Death Mask of Sanguinius which is basically a Death Mask plus an added curse.  Before forces are deployed, the mask curses an enemy independent character and nerfs him by -1 WS, W, I and A.  This makes any combat character think twice before engaging in combat and makes every psyker (for the most part) die in 1 perils.

Dante also has the Axe Mortalis which is simply a humble MC Power Weapon, an Infernus Pistol, 2+/4++ save with 4 wounds and I6, but no Eternal Warrior.  Having come with a Jump Pack, he has the Decent of Angels special rule, as well as Tactical Precision and Surgical Strike.  Tactical Precision makes it so any squad that Dante joins do not scatter the turn they come in and Surgical Strike gives them Hit and Run.  This can make Dante's squad exceptionally dangerous when deep striking next to vehicles or refreshing combat with Furious Charge.  Dante also allows Sanguinary Guard to be taken as Troops.. which is a small plus.

Blood Angels released!

Well, aside from me picking up my 3 boxes of Baal Preds, 2 boxes of DC and 2 boxes of Sanguinary Guard, there's not much to say.  In fact, I don't even have time to write!  I need to build another Baal Pred and start digging through my old stuff, ripping off shoulder pads and replacing them with some new DC iconography.

Depending on the speed of this weekend's build fest, I might make some kit bash some Captains, Sanguinary Priests and Librarians and post the pics here.

Let me know if you guys are building as frantically as me, trying to get some playtest games in.  Otherwise, enjoy this blood-soaked weekend everybody!  I'll be using this post to update.

BA: Vindicators vs. Predators

My list is pretty much done.  I have solidified my HQ choices, my troops and my elite slots.  My plan for this weekend is to finish my 3 Baal Predators and incorporate them in every list I can.  I just love the look of the thing!  There's nothing more badass than a tank can fire spew out more ammunition than your opponents can handle.  Since my list is mostly mechanized, I need a Heavy support choice that can fit the needs of my army.  I'm talking about the Vindicator or the AC/LC Predator.

One one side, we have the Vindicator:  It can move 12" and shoot a S10 AP2 Large Blast Ordnance shot thanks to the Fast rule.  Remember what I said about S10?  S10 can threaten anything in the game.  When it's a 5" large blast template, the kill potential just goes through the roof.  When a demolisher shell lands on a group of marines, they just disappear.  Even with a 4+ cover save, you're going to be looking at a good amount of them dead.  Vs. vehicles, the S10 plus the Ordnance rule means you roll 2 dice for Penetration and take the highest result.  This means it has a 1/3rd chance to penetrate a Land Raider as long as it hits.  Considering the size of the thing, you have a 1/3 chance to roll a hit, give or take 2" on top of the BS4 scatter and you'll probably land a shot.  The Vindicator mauls lesser vehicles like a grizzly bear to a poodle though you should probably shoot at bigger, more juicier targets such as Nob Bikerz or Tyranid Warriors.  Anything that's T4 or T5 (or T4(5) bikes) gets instantly killed under the destruction that that the Vindicator can spit out.  Multi-wounds mean nothing and it's literally one of the only units in the game that threaten everything on the table.  Because of this well-known fact, it attracts a insane amount of attention of the battlefield; almost to a point where nothing else exists.