Change of pace? Lets try Robotech!

I grew up on Robotech. I used to be up at the crack of dawn every Saturday morning to watch it when I was in 5th grade.  I have always kept that fond love. SO, I was nothing less than pleased when I was shown this new KICKSTARTER!

Palladium Books has launched a Kickstarter for a new revision of their Robotech RPG and Tabletop Tactics game. They have SWEET models and new rules. It is looking like it will be a freeking awesome game.

So there you go.  You can check out the rest for yourself HERE. 

To summarize, they set their goal at 70k and have already hit half a million with over half of the KS time to go.  Now they are in stretch goal time, which only serves to make the rewards bigger, as the more people who back, and the more it makes, means the more they include with the reward tier.  Get behind this Kickstarter and I hope to see Robotech included at some of the major GT cons in the area soon to relieve some of the GW BS that is going on!

Here is an example of one of the bonus Stretch goals.

Who doesn't love Roy Fokker?

Jawaballs

So much to cover!

I've been out of it for a while, mostly due to the huge amount of work and time it took to produce my new set of DVDs, which I will be featuring in a post later this week to celebrate their launch!  But in that time, a lot has come up...

The Tau Codex.

I don't know what to really say. This has been a long time coming and I am sure there was much rejoicing when it was announced it was on the way.  But I'm sorry, I just can't bring myself to spend 50.00 on another supplemental rule book that is not a special limited edition!  They got me on the Dark Angels because I had a gift card.  Even then, I wish I had not given in...  I just can't get behind them despite my love for the models.

Bitz Blocking?

Why?  Surely they have a reason, but I can't imagine that the bits sellers have reduced profits for GW. They can argue that people who want an apothecary would buy the command squad box set if they did not have the option to buy it from Spikey Bits, but in my opinion they simply won't buy it at all. I sure wont.  By the way, to go out with a bang, Rob Baer at Spikey Bits is offering a blow out special on his Fat Sack o Bits. He is clearing out stock and shutting up his bits business.  Go get em while you can!

Cease and Desist...

So a couple of high profile sites were shut down by Google, apparently because of a C&D order due to copyright infringement.  There are a couple issues here.

First, I support GW on this.  It is their privilege to be the first to present their content in their media. It is not the right of a third party website to obtain photographs of those published pages and post them online before the magazine is even released.  GW does need to protect their IP to some degree but I am no lawyer.

However, that is where my support stops.

 I have made this point before. GW owes a measure of thanks to the internet and sites like Bell of Lost Souls, Miniwargaming and myself for their huge growth in the last half decade. It is certainly NOT attributed to their pathetic website which used to at least have loads and loads of background info and images and now is just a hard to navigate catalogue.

If you are reading this, than it is possible that it is a site like mine that has initiated or rejuvenated your interest in 40k. That translates to numbers.  Through my site and my Youtube channel, and as evidenced by the literal thousands of testimonial emails I have received thanking me, I would lowball estimate that at least three thousand people are into 40k because of me.  Or at least got into it for a brief time.  (Yes, I have received thousands of emails and comments thanking me for the inspiration.) I think some where there is a numerical value per new customer... I would guess that is around 500.00.  So if I took my estimate of 3000 people, and multiplied that by 500, we are looking at 1.5 million!

Like it or not GW, the hundreds of blogs and sites dedicated to your merchandise are ADVERTISEMENT for you! You owe a portion of your success to us.  We feed the machine. I am not saying that GW needs to put up with copyright infringement, but they need to reconsider their approach to the online community. They did not create it, we did.  While they were ignoring us, BoLS was taking root and Fritz and I were launching a massive Youtube trend of tutorial videos and recorded batreps. Take away BoLS, From the Warp, Beast of War, Miniwargaming, Spikey Bits, and little guys like Myself and Fritz and where is GW?  I dare say they are not launching 50 dollar codex books.  Are we the cause of the current situation with our hobby?

Any way, it is my opinion that GW needs to embrace the internet and the fan sites.  Don't fight BOLS, work with them.  Get some progressive, internet savvy PR guy in place to work on reversing public relations and using the massive traffic that BoLS gets for the good of all!  Give BoLS some exclusive sneak peek "leak" images before a launch!  I am pretty sure that Larry would post them for free and GW will get the promotion they want.  Both parties win.  (This will also cut down on the piracy that they are trying so hard to banhammer.)

Those are the thoughts for the day!

Feel free to sound off.

Jawaballs

Something useful from Spikey Bits!

I know I have been quiet of late. I have been really busy with my Kickstarter, and also taking a hefty break to let my hand and arm recover. Tennis elbow and arthritis combine to make Jawa and unhappy boy. I have also been saddened by some of the decisions made by GW lately, and how they are hurting great guys like Miniwargaming. But I came across this article from Rob Baer that sorta helps.

Right on the heals of our bi-monthly "Miniature Market" videos that are a great way to pick-up some great deals on used miniatures, we have come up with yet another way for you to save even more on the hobbies you love' The Spikey Bits Trade-In Program!

The Happiest day of the year?

It is Easter Sunday, and I just bought my ticket for Mechanicon!

The Mechanicon is one of my first, and most beloved GTs. I love Tony Spino and the guys who run it, and I love the event. The tables are fantastic and the dude love is exquisite. :)  In other words, good games, good tables and good people makes for a good event.

Mechanicon is being held at The Warstore Weekend on November 1-3.  This is probably only one of two that I will make this year, the other being The Nova Open.  Mechanicon though is at a super sweet location in Northern NJ, convenient for every one from upper New England to Lower DC!

I will write more about it soon. But for now, don't wait, get your ticket! I just got mine.

Jawaballs

Miniwargaming Content!

Hey guys, post topics you want me to tackle on my live show here!

Jawaballs

The Kickstart ends in just 7 hours!

Get in on the fun while you can! Click the link at the top right. I included a few special rewards where you can grab sweet deals on some of my painted models too.  Don't miss out! CLICK HERE

Jawaballs

It's official!

With just over a week left my Kickstart promoting my new line of painting tutorial DVDs called The Jawaballs Way has reached it's mark!  Now it is time to push it with some new rewards. I will be posting up additional rewards today, offering great deals on stuff I happen to have around. So grab yourself some painting tutorials and some sweet swag!

In the meantime, here are some pictures of the actual painted models for the tutorials. Check out MY KICKSTART and get in on the deal! You get two free DVDs through the promotional preorder price on the kickstarter. 

Cryx Warjack!

This model is part of the "Black and White" disc. I will

also be painting a White Assault Marine and Ravenwing biker.

I also teach how to make this base on the "Basing and Display" disc.

Khador Mechanik Officer!

I use mostly P3 paints on the Warmachine models and do my

own interpretation of the recipes straight from their army books.

Some Jawa Grey! I do a full tutorial on how to do it.

A humble Blood Angel tactical marine! Part of the

"Red and Yellow" disc

A Space Hulk Tyranid from the "Blue and Green" disc.

Not every model you paint needs to be epic!

Thanks to every one for their awesome support!

Jawaballs

The Jawaballs Way: Half way done, almost there!

My Kickstarter is half way over, and I have reached 83% of my goal. That is outstanding! Thanks go out to every one who has supported this project.

But it is not over yet! We have two more weeks to really push for the roof. I set the goal at 7k, but I would love to see it double that!

I have some sweet stretch goals planned where I will be offering up painted models at prices I have never offered before.  For example, one of the most famous Vindicators on the internet will be offered up as a stretch goal.  HERE IT IS in all it's old school Blood Angels glory, as featured as the main image on Miniwargaming.com.   This vindicator is significant not for it's outstanding paint job, frankly it doesn't hold up to my current tanks even though it still looks awesome. No, this was one of the first tanks I ever painted, a bit of Jawaballs history. Also it has some of my first handpainting.

Any way. I will be putting this up as a stretch goal once I hit my 7k goal along with lots of other great little bits from the Jawaballs closet. I will be clearing out old sprues, Eldar, Grey Knights, Vampire Counts, and who knows what else! All at prices I have never even considered previously. Currently I have my squad of painted Blood Knights up there for 250 bucks and it comes with your choice of a DVD.  They are gorgeous!  I also have a tabletop ready Dark Angels vindicator up there that I painted during my live Miniwargaming show.

The next couple weeks should be a pretty exciting stretch with lots of great deals on some beautifully painted stuff. Stay tuned because you can always upgrade your pledge! Bounce on over to my KICKSTARTER and get your pledge in and thank you for your fantastic support!

Jawaballs

Lots of marines?

If you have not noticed, marines in the Dark Angel codex are much less expensive than Blood Angels!

We have always wanted to play a full company in a game. You know what I mean... 100 marines, proud and strong.  But with points and such, this has not really been possible!

Well now it is with the Dark Angels codex.

I forget the points exactly, but for 2k you get the fourth company:

Azrael
Company Commander
x6 ten man tacticals with Plasma Cannon
x2 ten man Assault
x3 ten man Devastator. (Or was it two. I don't have my book in hand. Matters not, just look up the 4th company load out in the codex, whatever it says there, that is it!) I think I even squeezed in a couple rhinos.

Oh and each Dev squad has all plasma cannons, minus one or two to make the point cost.

The key is the cheaper units without vet sergeants. Azrael gives them army wide LD 10. So you don't need the vet!  With all of those Dark Vengeance tacticals floating around for cheap, now is the time to throw this army together. Bust out your book, point out the army, and ebay yourself some tacticals! Will the army win? Well, 6th Ed has become a game of attrition. 100 marines in cover are tough to kill in five rounds, and you have enough plasma to eat into the hoardiest of hoards. You are not going to beat some of the uber Sean Nayden Dark Eldar Beast Eldrad Combos from hell. Lots of Chaos dragons are probably going to burn your ass. But with some tactics you will have a chance to beat normal armies.

Have some fun!

Jawaballs

The Walking Dead returns!

But do we care?

Ouch.

I can't believe I typed that. But it is true! I find myself not really caring about TWD...

Of course I will watch it. But the last few episodes of the first half of season three left me with nothing to write about!  That makes me sad.

Why?  But this is the best season yet... right?

Sure, we have more Michael Bay like action... we also have an easily Michael Bay sort of easily identifiable Good and Bad. We have sides. We have a hero and an anti hero. We have a plot, and a conflict and something to fight against thus creating drama and something to be over come.

We have The Last Samurai! We have Armageddon. We have Independence Day.

All fun to watch movies, but are any of them great?

Season three has turned TWD into a hollywood sort of block bluster show by spelling it all out for us.

I lament the loss of the farm!  Season two caught a lot of flack for that stupid and simple setting. But I counter that the farm was the genius of season two!

It left the drama up to the actors. The villains were within. Every one had their demons. There were no heroes! That is what made the farm so good. It left us to wonder, and interpret what the characters were thinking. Now there is no need. Gone are the Lori head games. Shane freak outs. Rick disbelief. (Scratch that... he still has that down.) Dale whining and us rooting for Glen to bang the hottie.

We have this guy...

Fans of the comic might like this dude, but I just don't see it. This picture is it! This is all he brings to the character. They may as well have created a puppet out of clay on a stick that looks like this, and had Jim Henson dance him around the screen.  The 'love' scenes between him and Andrea are just awkward  Especially when compared to the raw animal passion between her and Shane in the car. He delivers his lines with no variety at all, and his best scenes are when he is not speaking at all, but instead glowering at a bunch of zombie heads in aquariums.

We went from watching Shane descend into madness, in a believable and realistic downward spiral...

To J.J. Abrams "Lost" sort of snippets, slowly leaking the fact that The Governor is crazy.

I find myself just not caring. Especially when a prosthetic zombie head floating in water is just as good at acting out an emotion as this dude. (Maybe this is a nod to the fact that we are all insane... all already dead... all zombies?) Is that grief? or constipation...

It is not all horrible. We have some of the most powerful moments of television ever...

You could feel every ounce of pain...

I wanted to charge into the TV myself and help her...

But overall, I have found season three lacking. I miss the farm.

So with sort of eager anticipation, I find myself sorta looking forward to Sunday at 9 EST.

Here is to a better second half!

Jawaballs

Jawaballs Live! On MWG Vault.

Here is the link for you to catch my live show on the Miniwargaming Vault! CLICK HERE.

You can access the live show for free, but must be a vault member to watch the recordings of mine and all of the other great MWG content.  My live show airs every Tuesday at 8pm EST. I do a variety of painting and hobby projects, whatever is on my desk at the time, and do a Q and A session, answering all questions in the chat.

Tonight I will be discussing my Kickstart, and working more on my Dark Vengeance Deathwing Terminators and Land Raider!

Here is your chance to connect live with Jawaballs!

More to come.

Jawaballs

Kickstart well under way! And the MWG Vault.

I launched my new Kickstarter  and in just a couple of days we have met over a third of my lofty goal!  That is outstanding!

What is a kickstarter? In case you missed it, HERE IT IS.

A kickstarter is an organization that helps dudes like me raise backing to launch new projects. In my case, it is my series of six new DVDs called The Jawaballs Way: How to Paint Wargame Miniatures.

What are you getting? Each disc tackles different models and colors from both Games Workshop and Privateer Press. I am still working out how chock each disk with as much as possible, but I estimate about four hours of instruction for each set!

Disc One: Yellow and Red.  I am painting a Lamenter, Blood Angel and Khador Mechanik.  The lamenter alone is about an hour and a half of footage!

Disc Two: Blue and Green. I am painting an Ultramarine, Cygnar Warcaster, Tyranid, Dark Angel and Librarian

Disc Three: Bone and Grey. I am painting a Deathwing Terminator, Cryx Jack, Space Wolf and Grey Knight nonmetallic metal!

Disc Four: Black and White: I am painting a Ravenwing Biker, Death Company, White Death Company and Menoth jack.

Disc Five: Detailing and Hand Painting. I will be doing all the details, from gemstones, to power swords. Eye lenses, scopes, purity seals. Also I will be doing hand painting, skulls, scrolls, numbers and letters!

Disc Six: Hobby and Tools. You will see the tools of my trade. My paint station, and brushes. But also you will see how I do my basing, and make my award winning displays!



So get in on the deal now by VISITING HERE. You can have all six DVDs for 80 bucks. I am also offering digital versions of the discs.

As far as HD, I am producing them with as high HD quality as I can, and still fit every thing I have planned on disc.  I wish I could offer them all in 1080p, but it is just not possible as the Lamenters footage alone consumes almost 18 gigs of space.

Thank you for all of your outstanding support!

Also, my Jawaballs Live show is back on the air as part of the Miniwargaming vault. Be sure to check it out every Tuesday at 8pm EST!

Jawaballs

The Jawaballs Way: A kickstarter is launched!

Hey Folks!

I started producing How to Paint tutorials about six years ago, and in that time, have received tens of thousands of comments and emails from dudes thanking me for helping them with their hobby.

Well, I figured it was time to revamp my products. And now is your chance to show your support for me!

My skills have improved, and new paints are available, so here you go!

The Jawaballs Way: How to Paint Wargame Miniatures!

I have started a Kickstarter to raise capital to get an entirely new line of DVDs produced.  I am making a series of six double length discs.

One. Yellow and Red:  I will paint a Lamenter, Blood Angel and Khador Battle Mechanik Officer in high definition.

Two. Blue and Green: I will paint a Cygnar Journeyman Warcaster, Ultramarine, Terminator Librarian, Dark Angel and Tyranid!  Phew that is going to be a huge set.

Three. Bone and Wolf Grey:  I will paint a Deathwing Terminator, Cryx Bone Jack, and Space Wolf.

Four. Black and White: The two hardest colors to paint!  I will paint a Ravenwing Biker, Menoth Warjack model, and White and Black Death Company models using the Jawaballs techniques.

Five. Detailing and Hand Painting: I will paint eye lenses, power weapons, lightning effects, scopes, banners, scrolls and hand painted insignia, numbers and skulls just to name a few!

Six. Hobby and tools: I will cover the tools of my trade and demonstrate in depth how to make several different bases and a competition level display board!

How is that for a comprehensive set???

Each DVD is going to be a full function DVD with menus and a full color printed disc in a compact, full color eco sleeve.  I estimate no less than four hours of instruction PER DISC!

What is a kickstarter?

This is a fund raising website to promote new business and projects. Essentially you pledge to preorder your discs. Once I have reached my goal, the order becomes reality and you are charged for the purchase. I then collect the cash and get the DVDs produced, then mailed out to you.  I set the goal of this kickstart at 7000 dollars. Each disc will cost about 1150 to have printed and mailed to me in bulk. I will then ship the discs to you, within the US, at no additional cost. Shipping world wide will cost a few extra bucks.  You will have a chance to pick your disc of choice.

The DVDs will be zoned for US, so you foreigners will have to adjust, though I am sure you are used to that.

So go ahead and check out my Kickstarter and get yourself some new painting DVDs and help me out at the same time! Also included in the top tiers of the kickstarter are chances to get yourself a custom painted HQ or Jawabanner at a nice discount.  You can't lose!

EDIT: I am working on a new way to reliably provide digital content, so I created digital options if you prefer that way. Stay tuned for details!

Jawaballs

Deathwing Terminator and my own Kickstart coming soon

Deathwing Terminator!

So I figured I would take a break from yellow and checks to work on some bone loving. This here is one of my Dark Vengeance terminators!  I decided to go with a very bright basing style for this army since the Deathwing and Ravenwing colors are so non colorful, but I tied in the colors of the terminator with the base, the bone skull, the nonmetallic gun and grill match the rock, the oranges/reds of the foliage are close to the gun.

The base by the way was done from a tutorial posted on Bell of Lost Souls.  My thanks go out to Lazuli Miniature Studios for posting that. I wanted a redish ground with grey rock and bright foliage, so it was timely that I found his tutorial on Bols.

As I do more bases, I will do my own step by step post.

Oh and the knee is not done yet, I am waiting to see how I intend to squad markings for the army before I finish it.

In the background you can see a Deathwing Land Raider. This thing has been painted a bunch of times. It started it's life as an Ultramarine Land Raider, then went Black Templars, then Blood Angels, then got used as an Airbrush tester model for all sorts of colors including my lamenters themes.  It makes me happy to say that the old venerable will finish it's life span as a Deathwing tank.

Thats it for now!  Be sure to check out my live shows on the Miniwargaming vault. I am doing my Jawaballs Live every Tuesday at 8pm EST.  Dave has opened it up for all to view for free! Tonight I will probably be doing cork bases and discussing tactics again!

Also I will be launching a Kickstarter soon for my own DVDs.  It is time for me to revamp my lineup and update my offerings to reflect my improved painting and the new colors available!  But I need some capital to get the DVDs made. I will be releasing a six disc set that covers all of the major colors, detailing and handpainting, and hobby tools and tricks including basing and display.  Each disc will be a full DVD, with menus and full color images on the disc, complete in a full color, shrinkwrapped sleeve! Painting the Jawa way!

If you love my stuff show your support by backing me in the kickstarter! Be looking for that announcement in a few days once I finish setting it up.

More to come.

Jawaballs

Poor decision?

GW got me. They got me to pay 50 bucks for a new Dark Angels codex.  It was not a difficult decision because I won a 50 dollar credit at a LGS for Best Painted at a tournament. So I just picked up the codex.

But here is the error of their ways.

In 2006 when I got into 40k, codex books were 20 bucks.  Actually I picked up the Blood Angels one for 15.00.

It was outdated and quickly replaced with a download/ White Dwarf PDF.

The first ones I bought were Demon Hunters Black Templars for 20 bucks each.

Shortly after they jumped to 22 or some such. I grumbled when the little store from which I was buying my stuff put new price sticker over the old one.  But I understand, inflation. Whatever.

20, 22 or 25 though, it didn't matter. I still bought the books.  All of them. I owned every codex from 4th edition which was the game I started playing. It changed about a year after I got into it. At the low to mid 20s, the books were affordable and allowed me to buy them all.

But then GW started creeping up.

The Space Marine codex turned into a huge all encompassing book. I didn't gripe though, it was a good book, about twice the size of it's predecessor. I don't remember it's cost. It didn't matter though because it was still a value for the price.

But the IG book was also bigger, better and more expensive. I didn't buy it. But Jwolf gave me a copy when I went to Bolscon!  

33.00

20.00

Then GW started getting froggy.

Codex Blood Angels came out and forgive me if I am wrong, was about 33 bucks.  Woah! A 33% increase? But I had to have it.  I snatched it off the shelf.

But wait. I just noticed. Another book is also 33 dollars.

Wait what?  How could the price of a book go from 20 dollars to 33 in just a couple years? The same book... That's not right!

Sadly, I could not afford to buy the other books any more.  I got the new Space Wolves book,

but for the cost of the SW and BA books, I should have been able to, and would have, bought the Tyranid and Ork books.

I didn't.

Nope

Nope

 (I know the release dates of these books are a big jumbled and the prices are approximates. I don't remember the order and exact prices. The point I am illustrating is that I bought the Eldar, Imperial Guard, Demon Hunters, Space Marine, Ork, Tyranid, Space Wolves and other books all for about 20 bucks a piece.)

You see GW, you got the same amount of money out of me. But I got less value. Does that work?

I can't imagine for long.

As prices started rising, I started having to pick and choose which ones I bought.

Welcome to 2012.  Six years later. We have seen a 150% increase in price.

The era of the 50 dollar codex has begun.

From 18, to 33, to 50!

I think I made my point.

I just paid 50 bucks for Codex: Dark Angels.

I will not be buying Codex: Chaos Space Marines. Or Codex: Chaos Demons or even The Tau. When if the books were 25 bucks a piece, or even 30, I would have.

I would have happily scooped up every book they released at a reasonable price. However now in the era of the 50.00 Codex, I have to pick and choose.

I bought Dark Angels, and will buy Eldar and Blood Angels. But that is it!

For 150 bucks, I should be able to buy most of them. GW, you would have gotten my money any way.

The worst part is my 50.00 book was already out of date the week it was released, forcing the use of a downloadable PDF to make it valid.

Don't even get me started on a 75.00 land speeder.  I defended them when they released a 65.00 Storm Raven, it was a huge and well done model. (Though it is now 82.50, a 33% price increase in the two years since it's release... )

That is like raising a pot of paint from 2.50 to 4.00.  Ridiculous... oh wait...

Jawaballs

Unbeatable list in assault?

I think I encountered it! The Dark Eldar/Eldar combo of doom.

Image borrowed from HERE

 I found myself against Sean Nayden this weekend at a tournament and knew I was doomed.

I know he packs one of the nastiest assault lists I have ever seen, and knew it could only get worse with allies. My first words to him were: "Let me guess, you added Eldrad and jet bike troops" Yup.

 Lets start with his list:

Dark Eldar mother list:
Baron
Vect

15 Wyches- Haywires, hekatix, PGL, Venom Blade
15 Wyches- Hawyires, hekatix, PGL, Venomblade

20 Warriors- 2 splinter cannons, sybarite

5 Beast Masters- 5 Kymerra, 8 Razorwings

3 Reavers- Heatlance
3 Reavers- Heatlance

3 Trueborn- 2 splinter cannons
3 Trueborn- 2 splinter cannons
3 Trueborn- 2 splinter cannons

Eldar Allies:
Eldrad
3 Guardian Jetbikes- Shuriken cannon
3 Guaridan Jetbikes- Shuriken cannon

Aegis Defense Line- Quad Gun

First of all. This is not a gripe, it is a congrats to Sean for fielding an uber list.

I am not a Dark Eldar player so I don't know all of the ins and outs of this list. I only know it from my side of the table. And it is nasty.

First, the list does have some possible achiles heels. In order for it to be optimal effective, Eldrad has to roll Invisibility.  But he has four chances to do so. So Sean has to be VERY unlucky to not get it.

Invisibility essentially gives his army a 2+ cover save to shooting.

We figured out that it would take 65+ bolter shots just to kill a single Razorwing, which costs 15 points a model.

The other weakness is STR 6 shooting, preferably templates, which preferably ignore cover, like Heldrakes I believe. A few of those could probably ruin his day.

In the assault, STR 6 hits hurt him as well. Mephiston vs his beasts for example. However, Sean is very good at not letting you do that.

Why STR 6?

Well that will instant kill his beasts. Otherwise they have five wounds a piece and absorb hits like a Detroit Lions quarterback.

Case in point:

I assaulted his beast unit with two 10 man assault squads, 3 priests, a librarian, five terminators (4 LC 1 TH) and Mephiston.  While it took him a couple turns to take me out due to Feel No Pain and 2+ saves, I believe I managed to kill about a dozen bases of his.  Mostly in the second wave as I focused my hits against his Wyches and their lowly 4+ invulnerable and the warriors.

It only lasted that long because Vect did not get into it until late.

Sorry I don't have any pics of the list but I did discuss the list with Sean on Video:



So there you go!  If you can stomach playing this list, you now have the tools to have a shot at winning any GT you go to.  Enjoy!

Jawaballs

Jawa-imposter

Here is a quarterly heads up! Some poser douchebag used my name to make a Twitter account. I do not own a twitter account. I had one for a short time to get codes for Xbox but have cancelled it. I never had the name Jawaballs on Twitter. If you are following, or get a message from Chris/Jawaballs it is NOT me. Tell him how much of a douche he is then block him or whatever.

Some day I will find this guy and poop on his keyboard. Jawaballs

Local mini tournaments: Great practice for the big time!

Almost all of my games are at the big time GT level. I build and paint armies designed to win both in painting and on the tables. But how do I know if my army works? I literally get to play next to zero pickup games. So how do I get to practice for a GT? Well I try to find as many small tournaments as I can in my area. Luckily for me, there are a LOT of places to go in the NY/NJ/CT area. What it comes down to is wife agro. Leaving the house to play 40k will consume most of a day, whether I am playing one or three games. So I try to maximize the return for the hate I get! Plus mini tournaments tend to offer a bit stiffer competition than I would find showing up at the mall and hoping for an opponent. I have two such tournaments coming up. One is this weekend, the 13th, at GamingETC in Stratford, CT.

GamingETC is a HUGE gaming store in Stratford who's specialization is card games like Magic. But their 40k scene is small, perhaps two or three guys gather there to play at their dedicated 40k nights. The potential is there, with space to hold 60+ 40k players in a tournament and a good proximity to both New York and Boston, this place could be a destination gaming mecca for 40k tournaments. But they are trying. Brendan Gallagher, a local GT attendee has taken the reigns on organizing tournaments for the store. His experienced perspective plus connections to some of the clubs in the area are bringing players to GamingETC's events. Last time there were 22 guys at a 3 game tournament and this weekend stands to be even bigger.< / e > The tables and terrain need some work, but all in good time. I for one will be there this Sunday, January 13 for a 2k point tournament. I think there is a 10 or 15 dollar entry fee. Last time I went I was eliminated from the win by Brendan's nasty GK list. (He was not organizing at that time.) And then coming up next weekend is yet another mini tournament. I will be grabbing some of the boys from Battle for Salvation and heading up to Catskill NY for Kirwin's Gaming Store! I have never been there, but the TO posts on the boards for Battle for Salvation, which I am also tuned into. I hear that the last tournament held up there was a blast! The 2k point, 3 game tournament is being held on January 19. Here is the address: Kirwan's Game Store 369 Main Street Catskill, NY 12414

The best part about going to these is the variety. You will encounter hardened vets and apprehensive noobies but all in a relaxed setting. I always enjoy chatting with the beginners who are anxious for advice from an experienced circuit player and painter. Ok, tomorrow I will be posting about my list! EDIT: Weird, I formatted paragraph breaks, but Blogger ignored them. I just tried to fix the block 0 texts but it didnt work! Any one got any feedback on why? Jawaballs

The dates roll in!

Mechanicon 2013 has been announced so you can add this one to your schedule!

Tony Spino and crew always put on a nice event. Last year they joined forces with The Warstore and held Mechanicon at The Warstore Weekend, and despite the looming weather that weekend, (Any one remember Sandy?) all that attended had a great time. The Mechanicon boasts some of the best tables I have ever played on at any GT, unique and interesting missions, a hobby friendly gaming atmosphere since the focus on the Mechanicon is putting pretty armies on the table rather than beating face, and finally an entire weekend of gaming organized by Neal at Thewarstore! Add November 8th to your calender! Jawaballs

Summer loving...

So with my tightened wallet I need to plan more wisely on my trips. Templecon this year is just not going to be in the cards as the main hotel is already booked to capacity plus my holiday traveling consumed my spending money. The Conflict GT is MIA. I missed Adepticon registration, though I am planning on going next year and teaming up with some secret buds. My wife has already given me the face palm for Mike Clark's SVDM. That leaves little more for the early 2013 events! One event that is on my list is The Colonial GT. I don't even know if they are taking registration yet, but they always sell out. I have heard nothing but great things about improvement and fun, so I want to give these guys another shot! But would like to announce that I have decided to put some effort into hitting the two major bookends for this summer. That's right, Wargamescon and The Nova Open. Last year by freak of scheduling, Wargamescon fell on my last day of school, and Nova fell on my first. (More or less) The short of it is that the events wrapped around the only days of the year I CANNOT take off. (Not really true I found out the hard way it was not so easy to get days off when I tried to go to The Feast of Blades last October.) But you get the point.

SO this year, after discussing it with Fritz, I am planning on not making my yearly pilgrimage to Gamesday. I really was only planning on going so I could try to win five banner competitions in a row, but Gamesday has honestly been sucking more and more and I just cannot justify the plane ticket and hotel for a few hours of gaming and a banner entry. Not when I can fly to Texas for a kickass weekend with Goatboy and Brent! So there you have it. The first rule is that I am not allowed to use my credit card. SO I have to sell some banners and models and build up some Paypal money. Then I have to make sure my wife has no plans for me. So as of now, The Nova is just about 100% for me, and Wargamescon is looking at about 75! After that comes Battle for Salvation, Mechanicon and DaBoyz. It looks like my Lamenters will get a workout against some of the best painters in the country... I'm pointing at YOU Joe Johnson! We will see if I can squeeze in The Colonial. Only if the army is ready by then! Jawaballs