This Week's Peek...
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Saturday, March 27, 2010
The Rival List for 03/27/2010
The Rival List for 03/27/2010
10. The Fallen Princes
Very cool warlock and ranger diorama.
9. Dilusions of Grandeur
I really like the conversion work on these Tyranid Harpies. A great use of various kits without the need for massive amounts of green stuff.
8. Dakka Dakka Daz
I found this paint scheme to be eye catching.
7. Constantly Risking Obscurity
Seems like the fantasy side came out this week and this awesome conversion was shown off. I love the giant rat mount.
6. A Gentleman's Ones
While the following model is being used for 40K, it is based on the new minotaur kit and looks great. Blood Angels should be afraid!
5. The Dead Tau Project
First, I love the cake. Second, I enjoyed looking at the various armies.
4. The Tau of War
A pretty sweet conversion that uses space marine bitz to give some bulk to a crisis suit. I especially like the double flamer conversion.
3. Green Stuff Sculpting
Never heard of Miniature Mentors until I saw this blog. The review of the newest video in the series is well written and makes me want to watch it. Overall, a great blog that links folks to other blogs about sculpting.
2. Hungry Ghost Chaos Squats of Khorne
While squats have become extinct in the 40K universe, there are those that still love to model them. HGCSoK has done some amazing conversions for his insanely original squat army.
1. The Lair of the Breviks
I wish I could remember the exact wording of a quote I recently read, but the basic idea was that if you focus on perfection, you will never become good. This entry by The Lair of the Breviks talks about the same idea and how it was impacting his hobby. The good news is that he got past the "need" for perfection, and in the process, painted a perfect model.
Honorable Mentions
Tentakel
This blog entry has nothing to do with 40K, WFB or anything related to GW. With that said, it appeared on one GW related blog and thought it was a very cool video. What I find most interesting is that it looks like the cuttlefish was actually hovering just to the edge of the camera's view before attacking. I love to snorkel and dive, and have yet to capture anything remotely as cool as this video.
Ninja Bread
I wish I would have caught this post last week as it would have easily made the top ten. I have long pondered doing a Thousand Sons army using red and gold instead of the traditional blue and gold. Ninja Bread not only beat me to the punch, but he knocked me out with his first model.
10. The Fallen Princes
Very cool warlock and ranger diorama.
9. Dilusions of Grandeur
I really like the conversion work on these Tyranid Harpies. A great use of various kits without the need for massive amounts of green stuff.
8. Dakka Dakka Daz
I found this paint scheme to be eye catching.
7. Constantly Risking Obscurity
Seems like the fantasy side came out this week and this awesome conversion was shown off. I love the giant rat mount.
6. A Gentleman's Ones
While the following model is being used for 40K, it is based on the new minotaur kit and looks great. Blood Angels should be afraid!
5. The Dead Tau Project
First, I love the cake. Second, I enjoyed looking at the various armies.
4. The Tau of War
A pretty sweet conversion that uses space marine bitz to give some bulk to a crisis suit. I especially like the double flamer conversion.
3. Green Stuff Sculpting
Never heard of Miniature Mentors until I saw this blog. The review of the newest video in the series is well written and makes me want to watch it. Overall, a great blog that links folks to other blogs about sculpting.
2. Hungry Ghost Chaos Squats of Khorne
While squats have become extinct in the 40K universe, there are those that still love to model them. HGCSoK has done some amazing conversions for his insanely original squat army.
1. The Lair of the Breviks
I wish I could remember the exact wording of a quote I recently read, but the basic idea was that if you focus on perfection, you will never become good. This entry by The Lair of the Breviks talks about the same idea and how it was impacting his hobby. The good news is that he got past the "need" for perfection, and in the process, painted a perfect model.
Honorable Mentions
Tentakel
This blog entry has nothing to do with 40K, WFB or anything related to GW. With that said, it appeared on one GW related blog and thought it was a very cool video. What I find most interesting is that it looks like the cuttlefish was actually hovering just to the edge of the camera's view before attacking. I love to snorkel and dive, and have yet to capture anything remotely as cool as this video.
Ninja Bread
I wish I would have caught this post last week as it would have easily made the top ten. I have long pondered doing a Thousand Sons army using red and gold instead of the traditional blue and gold. Ninja Bread not only beat me to the punch, but he knocked me out with his first model.
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Fantasy Thursdays: Mydas the Mean
Image Courtesy of Games Workshop
While not the easiest rules to come by with GW's current embargo on DoW, I was able to get a copy of the rules for the DoW special characters (or as I prefer to call them, named characters). Of the five characters in the original article, four of them are lord choices. Since my focus is right now on getting ready for Vanguard in July, I thought I would explore the only hero level choice in the bunch; Mydas the Mean.
Mydas the mean is an interesting choice as he is actually three units in one. First, he is the required paymaster for the army. Second, he is protected by a regiment of paymaster bodyguard. Lastly, he comes with an independent chariot in the form of his moneylender. Considering that a standard paymaster and bodyguard will cost a player a hero and special slot, the fact that Mydas costs the same slots and gives the player an independent chariot makes him a bit of a win.
When it comes to the Sheikh Yadosh, the moneylender who acts as a chariot, his role on the battlefield is limited when compared to a standard chariot. The key difference is that Sheikh Yadosh only does d3 impacts hits, similar to a tomb king chariot. While not bad, it is not great either. The real magic of the unit is in its other special ability; all friendly units within 6” of the sheikh may reroll any failed psychology tests. Combining this ability with blocks of pikemen means a DoW army has a solid wall against faster moving armies.
The fun doesn’t stop though with Sheikh Yadosh, as the real star of the unit, Mydas, offers his own bag of wonderful tricks. The first trick is called Treasure Map. At the start of the game, roll a d6 and consult the table in his rules. On a 1 or 2, his bodyguard gets a +1 to combat resolution. So in effect, the unit gets a warbanner without taking one. On a 3 or 4, Mydas’ range as a standard bearer is increased to 18”. Finally, if a player rolls a 5 or 6, one unit in the DoW army receives a +1 bonus to all to hit rolls in close combat. All three choices are nice, but the last one can take an average unit and make it a star.
That is not all though, for Mydas has another ability that extends to himself and his bodyguard. According to the rules, Mydas and his bodyguard count all of their attacks as magical. For an army that is very limited in terms of the magical items available, this can really help with those units that ignore non-magical attacks.
Overall, for ~300 points and two limited slots, Mydas the Mean provides a DoW army with a solid foundation around which an army can be built. The ability to strengthen an army against psychology rolls is something to never be overlooked. Combined with a decent unit that can provide some much needed magical attacks, Mydas the Mean is definitely worth considering if playing a DoW army.
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Tournament Tuesdays: Walking Away...
It seems that the current trend in 40K and WFB tournaments is to run them over a two day period. When it comes to these two day events, there is a heavy stigma placed on anyone that drops out on the second day unless it’s for a grave emergency. It seems that the expectation is that if someone is not having fun, they should suffer thru the remainder of the event for the betterment of the majority. This seems to go against the ultimate goal of the hobby which is to have fun.
When it comes to this view, I believe it is driven by a few things. The first belief is that there is always the concern that someone dropping from an event will result in an odd number of players. While this is a strong possibility, any good TO has to plan for this to happen regardless of when during the event it does happen. I have seen folks drop out because their wives have gone into labor. I have seen guys drop because they got too drunk during the prior round and could not continue. My point is whether it is by choice or fate, you never know when your event is going to have an odd pairing.
Another concern that I have seen reflected is that it places a burden on the TO when it comes to score keeping. I can only speak for myself, but on the very rare occasions I have had someone drop, dealing with it had a very minimal effect. The only way I can imagine the dropping of a player would have a huge effect is if the scoring system was overly complex or the TO was disorganized.
Again, the ultimate goal of this hobby is to have fun. If someone finds themselves not having fun, they should have the right to state such and walk away without reprisal. We wouldn’t think poorly of someone who walked out of a movie they weren’t enjoying. Should this leisurely activity be any different?
When it comes to this view, I believe it is driven by a few things. The first belief is that there is always the concern that someone dropping from an event will result in an odd number of players. While this is a strong possibility, any good TO has to plan for this to happen regardless of when during the event it does happen. I have seen folks drop out because their wives have gone into labor. I have seen guys drop because they got too drunk during the prior round and could not continue. My point is whether it is by choice or fate, you never know when your event is going to have an odd pairing.
Another concern that I have seen reflected is that it places a burden on the TO when it comes to score keeping. I can only speak for myself, but on the very rare occasions I have had someone drop, dealing with it had a very minimal effect. The only way I can imagine the dropping of a player would have a huge effect is if the scoring system was overly complex or the TO was disorganized.
Again, the ultimate goal of this hobby is to have fun. If someone finds themselves not having fun, they should have the right to state such and walk away without reprisal. We wouldn’t think poorly of someone who walked out of a movie they weren’t enjoying. Should this leisurely activity be any different?
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