Et tu Brute?

It might be the change in weather, or it might be that I started running/hitting the gym again but Spring has somehow resulted in more motivation to paint, build army lists and generally be more productive.  The past two weeks, I took the time to work on one of the 3 Helbrutes that I need completed as part of the list I plan to bring with me to the next Millennium tournament.

I have a few new elements in this list - and I have found these incremental changes really help a lot when it comes to pushing me to complete painting projects.

Born on the Bayou

I've made more progress on the swamp board over the past week. While I am getting a lot of things done on the board, the pace may seem a little slow since so much of the time is spent letting glue dry between applications. But fear not, things are progressing and starting to take shape. So without dragging this out, let's take a look at what I was able to accomplish this past week.

Quick Daemon Thoughts

I had the chance to grab a game this weekend at the local Millennium tournament and being there whet my appetite to get back into playing some more 40k games.  I am going to try to get out at least one or two nights before next month's tournament to practice/relax a bit.  Somehow, it seems like Spring leaves me with more energy than Winter when it comes to around the house and 40k.

The tournament at Millennium though is unique - and requires some more painting - in that it is 2000 points and up to 3 Forge World units with no Super Heavies, Gargantuans or D Weapons allowed.

Swamp Board - A Genesis

A couple of weeks ago I announced that my first terrain project for 2014 was to be a swamp themed board. Well, the weather has started to cooperate in Western NY so I started work on the board. The idea behind this board is that I want to create a realistic looking lowlands/swamp that fits a 6x4 table surface but will have modular pieces so that even though the overall shape and layout of the board will always be the same, the modular pieces should have enough variety so that the board as unlimited potential for layouts. So let's see what I got done last week.

Balance of Power - 1 Casual, 1 Tournament List

This week the world's eyes - well the Warhammer 40k world's eyes - was on Adepticon.  It was great to see a few Daemons among the top finishers for the tournament.  It was sad to see that none of the lists were particularly inspired.  For the most part they took minimum troops, maximum flying monstrous creatures.  Before discussing army lists, a quick observation.

The most interesting 'innovation' of the tournament for a Daemon player was the inclusion of 9x Fiends by Bill Kim.  Kim is a veteran Daemon player, and it makes sense that he would bring them to both quash psychic powers with -1 ld within 12" of each Fiend and eliminate the Hit and Run shenanigans that so many armies seem to rely on.  I started taking a similar load out for Fiends in December - I had experimented with 2 smaller units, but the truth is you need the whole grouping of 9 to be effective.  I have also started running a Slaanesh herald on Seeker mount to get them into those backfield psykers through outflanking.  Grabbing a lesser gift also enable the Witstealer sword - which pairs well with the Fiends initiative reduction.

40k Team Event - Game 2

... or how I learned to hate space marine bikes and Grav-guns. Last week I typed up a battle report on our first game at the Millennium 40k Team Event. If you missed it, you can read it here. In the second game we would be paired up against Smitty and Evan, of Beef n' Wing, a gaming club out of Buffalo NY. Both of them are participating in the Adepticon Team Event and used this event to practice their armies. If you attended Adepticon last year you probably saw their army in the team event. Beef n' wing has been building up a large 30k army over the past couple of years painted up in the Emperor's Children theme and this year they are continuing that theme.

Balance of Power - Helbrutes, Casual Hints

Everything seems to take twice as long when you have children - especially when one is 3 weeks old.  I had intended to followup quickly with a casual army list - but instead I put off that post for two reasons: 1 Sleep Deprivation, 2: The Helbrute data slate was coming out.  I want to hit on the dataslate this week and follow on with my new list.  I am actually having a lot of trouble pushing away from old habits to throw down a ton of wounds and bring some real diversity.

A minimum value for how much trouble 2 children cause.  Synergistic effects expected.

Look at the flowers grubnards.

... or how my games went last week at the Millennium Games team event.

For those of you who watched the Walking Dead on Sunday, you will get the reference of the title and a pretty good idea of how our games went last weekend. For those who haven't seen it yet don't worry, I'm not going to spoil anything but I do highly recommend that anyone who is a fan of the show to watch it. Two weekends ago I attended the team event at the Millennium Games month tournament. Once again I teamed up with my good friend and fellow club member sinistermind to wage war with our xeno's tag team of Tau and Eldar.

Terrain Board 2014

Every year I devote a part of my hobby year to creating a new themed terrain board. In 2011 it was my Train Yard board, in 2012 it was my Ancient Ruins board and last year I created my Tyranid/Jungle board. So this year I had a few ideas such as an Eldar/Winter themed board, Swamp Ruins board, or to continue on with my necron board. Well, after looking around on google images I finally made my decision to go with the Swamp Ruins board. Why go with this theme? Well, after working on the Tyranid terrain I was impressed with how detailed the terrain pieces looked and I especially liked the water effects pools I added to the pieces so I wanted to explore, experiment, and expand with working on that theme. So let's take a look at what I have planned.

Balance of Power

The last few months for 40k have been transformative and they just so happen to correspond with me taking a short break from the hobby.  I say the hobby because since December - actually early January - I have not painted, played, made lists or really browsed the new rumors or releases.  My motivation was two-fold.  Coming of of Da Boyz and the intense painting schedule to get ready I was pretty tired and had neglected some other obligations.  Second, I had a chance to play a casual game for the first time in months in early January.  The pickup pitted myself allied with a Space Marine player against Grey Knights and Imperial Guard.

That game inspired me to take a break from playing.