Friday Reflections

We've come to a very interesting place 11 months after the release of 6th edition.  Games Workshop has turned around and given us new codexes and models at a pace we've never experienced before.  A year ago, the 40k forum collective and blogosphere were ripe with people bemoaning the snail's pace of releases and updates.  Today, we're getting new books, units, and models so fast that only the hobby elite (read: those with the most free time) have actually had time to read every page if every new book and play with or against the new units.  The most common complaint I hear from my closest circle is lack of time to reflect on all the new content and experience the meta changes on the table.



If you frequent the most "popular" 40k sites, you'll still find plenty of complaints despite Santa arriving every other month for us hobbyists.  I contend that we are approaching a "Golden Age" of 40k despite the negative focus of the disillusioned competitive bloggers.  GW has given us an edition that isn't dominated by those who can bring 12 tanks.  They've given us limitless army builds through allies and fortifications.  A common complaint I read is that 5th was the most balanced because designing a "take all comers" list now is nearly impossible due to a wider variety in the tournament scene.  Really guys?  A year ago people complained about mech-spam mono-builds and now we complain about too much diversity?

I'm not going to stand on a soapbox and rant all day, but I encourage everyone to reflect.  Accept the fact that change is necessary.  Businesses cannot remain viable without changing to accommodate society's needs.  People cannot make their way through 75 years of life without adapting to technology and inflation.  The armies you used in 4th and 5th edition will not be competitively viable now without major changes.  Human beings have the amazing power to convince their own minds to think differently if you can overcome self-imposed barriers.  I challenge you all to embrace what GW is doing and what they have given us.  If you weren't happy with one new book every 6 months playing tankhammer, and you aren't happy with rapid fire books and allyhammer, the problem is not with the company or game but with your own mindset and approach.  And you have within yourself the power to change your own mind.

There's been rapid fire reviews of the Eldar codex on many of the prominent 40k blogs, and a majority are tainted with bitterness, apathy, and disillusionment.  This comes a week after release with not even enough time to assemble models and thoroughly playtest.  I pose an opposite proposition.  The Eldar and Tau books are the best books to date for this edition.  Some will disagree, but I think 12 months from now we will still see both armies as dominant contenders in the tournament scene.  It will be the year of the Xenos.

Anyways, enough of the gushy stuff and onto the meat.

I'm continuing to work on my Parkhammer '13 painting contest model.  The beginning steps can be found here.  This week I worked on some NMM and OSL on the staff, as well as shading the face with glazes.  A full step-by-step of this model can also be found here.  If you like what you see, I will point out that my progress as a painter has been 100% driven by internet research on sites like CMON and hobby blogs on my blogroll.  I highly recommend Fantasy Games and James Wappel's blogs for painting tricks and tutorials.

I also added some shading and highlights to the cloth with glazes this week.  Glazes are basically washes but watered down even more than normal.  When applying them, you don't "wash" the entire region, but rather "stain" your existing base colors with watered down pigments.  Here's a shot of my wet palette in use during glazing.

If you look at the black paint and follow it down towards the center of the photo, you'll see watered down black that's barely visible.  That's the "glaze" that I apply to shade regions on the model such as the face, black areas on the staff, and folds on the cloth.  For highlights, I mixed base colors such as the green or blues with white, watered them down to the glaze consistency, and "stained" the high areas to create shaded highlights.  It's a very easy process that I highly recommend.  On top of an airbrushed base coat, you'll have finished models without ever having to worry about "thick paint" anymore.

In last week's article, I also talked about my list for DaBoyz GT this year.  I've been pondering the recent Tau and Eldar releases and trying to anticipate the meta 5 months from now and drafted another list.  LMK what you think.

Typhus
CSM Lord + MoS, steed, lightning claw, melta bombs
Herald of Tzeentch + ml2, locus of conjuration
Noise Marines x5 + blastmaster, sonic blasters x3
Noise Marines x5 + blastmaster, sonic blasters x3
Horrors x11
Zombies x28
Zombies x28
Spawn x5 + MoN
Maulerfiend
Maulerfiend + lashers
Obliterators x3 + MoN
Bastion + quad gun

I've dropped one unit of spawn and plague bearers to add the lord and noise marines.  Eldar and Tau have many ways to achieve 3+/2+ cover so I'm anticipating the noise marines will fit the meta well.  There's still nearly 80 fearless scoring bodies, 3 fast assault units, and resiliency across the board.  For extra shenanigans, I can put the lord with zombies and outflank them.  I'm hoping to stick with this list and assemble it quickly so I can get to practicing.

That's all for this week.  Stay tuned for more Parkhammer '13 updates (don't forget YOU are invited, just contact Crispy with an RSVP) and progress towards this year's GT.