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It was outdated and quickly replaced with a download/ White Dwarf PDF.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

GTs coming up!

It is never too late to start planning for upcoming GTs.  Here is a shoutout to my friends over at BOLS and Wargamescon!

WARGamesCon 2013 is Coming!

WargamesCon is back for its 5th year, bigger and better than ever.! Great, massive venue -  June 6th -9th at the Austin Renaissance. Be There!

Lamenters Storm Raven WIP

More WIP pics of my Lamenters Storm Raven!  I traced a Warmachine base to make the circle, then painted it with multiple layers of grey to white. Then I painted the heart with black, then a couple layers of red. I will continue to fiddle with the checks to make the edges harder but for the most part c'est fini! (at least the checks on the wing are.) Now to do the other one...

Jawaballs

Embrace the checks: Lamenters Storm Raven

I had a busy birthday!  Part of my present was a day of peace, during which I went to work on the centerpiece of my new Lamenters army.  First I airbrushed with multiple yellows, and then sprayed some shade on it to get the yellow base you see here. I left it very subtle for now, I intend to go back and brush in some blending later.  I painted the engines black and will do them up with my Jawa Grey NMM grey technique.  

Before I could go on with the painting though, I had to do the cockpit. 

I painted the seat and back brown then bleached bone then washed.

Then I painted all the controls and lights with multiple layers of highlight.

Then time for the pilot!

First to make sure he fits with the canopy...

Then time to give him some life!  He got the same treatment all of my 

vanguard vets have gotten so far. Not quite as many layers, but he still looks

good. I did the full checker treatment on the shoulder pad along with the heart symbol and I painted all the 

Mechanicus symbols too. I borrowed from fantastic painter Gabe Dobkin for the eyes. I noticed that when he paints his it looks like he actually enlarges the lenses. You can see the images I used as reference HERE on BOLS. Simple but powerful!

Now it is time for the checks!  You can see the subtle blending I did

with the airbrush.  I mixed a little brown into my yellow for shading 

then accented it with wash.  I am fairly happy with the right front engine housing

and the housing over the rear right engine as well.  The blending is subtle and almost imperceptible

if you don't know to look for it!  But it will give me a great base to work on with a brush.

For the checks I used a ruler to grid out 1/4" marks, then a credit card as a straight edge to lay down 

the lines. The ruler was too unwieldly. 

Then came the hand painting!  I started with a codex grey base then painted in each individual

black check free hand. The only issue was that the wing was just a tad too wide to make the checking even. You can see on the right that that row of checks is a bit too wide. I will fix that by blending yellow down the front of the wing.  This is just the layout. I will paint each white check with about 4 shades of grey then a white highlight. That is the point that I will edge out the checks and make them as square as possible.

Where else will I place checks?  The tail and stabilizers will get some, and maybe some on the intake on the top. This raven will have hurricane bolters, so I think the bolter housings will also be checked.  I am going to magnetize the doors and sponsons so I can switch em out.  

Here are some inspiration images I found:

I am kinda digging the angled checks on the tails.  Perhaps this will be the perfect compliment to what is a very boxy and geometric model. Maybe I can do some subtle checks on the wing tips of the stabilizers.  I am thinking about actually hacking up the tail of my raven, and creating a sort of stabilizer like you see on these... a more traditional fighter type...

The storm raven is a truly huge model to build and paint.  The model itself goes together very easily, but it is a daunting task to paint it to a top level. The cockpit alone took a couple hours of work for me, but it is necessary. All too often do you see guys who short cut the cockpit and paint over it.  But it is those details that a paint judge will recognize, and if not directly, subconsciously reward. 

For the symbol, I am going to place it directly in the center of this field of checks. I will simply trace a terminator base and make a big circle and go to town. 

Ok, then, back to work for me.  My birthday vacation is wearing thin with the wife and my minutes are numbered!  

Jawaballs

 

Lamenters Chapter Banner continued

So I posted a pic of my new Lamenters Chapter Banner on Facebook, and none other than the great Dave Taylor popped in and gave some free advice!

I wish I lived close to Baltimore. I would be able to work with Dave and bounce ideas off him and vampire some of his incredible talent and motivation. :)

Here is my first attempt at the Lamenters Chapter Banner:

I was pretty happy with it. Until Dave threw a crack at me for being lazy and painting larger scale checkers. He challenged me to paint 8x16 instead of 4x8.

SO


I went to work.

Here it is now, more closely true to the Lamenters Chapter Banner that I found posted online in various locations.  I painted over the top left and bottom right checks with yellow, and then divided each of my original checks into four and based some grey over the black. I need to go back in and edge off the checks with black then highlight with white and grey.  And no Dave, I am not going 16x32.

:)

Thanks for the inspiration Dave Taylor! If you have not checked out Dave's Lamenters, he truly humbles me.  Take a look!  I feel refreshed and motivated to start banging these guys out.  Unlike Dave's black Death Company, mine will be white. Wish me luck with that!

Jawaballs

Lamenters Chapter Banner Bearer

More Work in Progress on my Lamenters!

Today I have my Vanguard Veteran standard bearer. 

But wait... Vanguard Vets cant have a banner!  Who cares, when competing for Best Painted, you need to add flare wherever you can. So most of the squads in my army will be carrying a banner of some sort.  :)

Here is how I did my Lamenters Chapter Banner.

First I sprayed it with Averland Yellow base color and gave it a yellow shade wash.  

Then I painted the rectangular banner area with codex grey.  

Then I laid out some lines using a detail brush and free hand. I eyeballed the distance and size of the squares, and just got lucky. It was just about perfect.  

Then I painted in the black squares.

Then boom finished banner! :)

Actually I layered up to white, using Fortress Grey, Ulthuan Grey, and white.

Then I hand painted a circle sorta in the center with black, and relayered up to white using the same recipe. 

Then I hand painted the heart on top of that with black again, then Mechrite Red, then some blood red and a bit of orange. I intend to give it some more love.

For the scroll I painted it with black first, then used Calthan Brown, and layered up using Tallarn Flesh and increasingly light layers of the new flesh and bone colors.  I painted the world Lament on the scroll.

The marine is done the same way as my Sgt. I sprayed him with the yellow base first on top of black, then gave a good wash of Casendora Yellow.  Then layers of Yriel and Flash Gitz with another light shade of Casendora.  The winged parts of his armor I used the same recipe as the checks.

Feel free to leave questions or comments or tips!  How are YOU doing your hellow I mean Yellow!

More to come!

Jawaballs

Time to give. You can directly help a family who lost a child.

Hey folks,

Several people have messaged me asking if I was going to do some sort of charity promotion for the kids at Sandy Hook. I wanted to share this with you, and I promise it will be the last you hear on it from me!

After some thought, I figured I would share this with you. Most people who hear about tragedies like this have a hard time feeling how real it is. When you are disconnected you don't really get a feel for the sadness and emotion.  Well in this case, you have a connection to me.

And this.

I have had a tough week because in the nature of my job, I feel the loss of each of those lives deeply. Being a parent of a little boy will soon be approaching the age of those kids only magnifies it.

Any way, now you can add a connection to a face and for a change you can actually help some one directly affected by something terrible, rather than donating to a charity and hoping the money gets to the right place.

Her name was Ana Grace Marquez-Greene.

My friend and colleague is a close friend to Ana's parents. These last days she has spent most of her time with them, trying to add comfort and strength to a place where there is only sorrow.  I can't imagine it. But I want to help.

You can help too.

I decided that instead of doing a painting project, or trying to sell chances to win something, or trying to collect money personally, I would connect you directly to a fund created to help the family of Ana Grace.  You can find it HERE. I urge you to go there and donate what you can.

I am going to place this image at the top right of my blog with the link to the Ana Grace Fund where you can donate. I urge all bloggers to do the same as a show of support of the kids and teachers who lost their lives. I will keep the image up until New Years Day.  Simply save the image and post it.

Sorry the image is not super artsy, I don't have any editing software on this machine. It is enough.

I know times are lean, but lets show this family the power that we as a group wield and donate to the fund created in the name of this beautiful little girl.

Jawaballs

Moment of pause.

As most of you know, I am a teacher in Connecticut. My school is about 20 miles from Newtown. Sitting here at work today, there is a quiet buzz in the building. Most of the kids are going on with business as usual. It is better not to think about things too much. Some of the kids are sad. Some are afraid. One little girl was so affected she asked to go speak to the councilor. We held a school wide moment of silence at 9:30am. Not a peep.

I didn't actually know any one involved with the tragedy, but I have a friend who just went home from work. Her good friend lost a daughter. I can't imagine it. She thought being in school today would be good for her, but it was too much. It doesn't matter though if you lost some one, or knew some one. If you are human, it hurts. I could not read a report over the weekend without tears.  I spent most of the weekend painting or playing with Jack to keep my mind off it. The thought of my own son going to school with his usual smile only to be shot down in a corner makes me want to scream puke and cry all at the same time.

In my classroom I cleared out my big walk-in closet of the various carts and things to make room. Our previous procedure of huddling in a corner was not good enough. I had my 28 8th graders quickly practice squeezing in. They all fit, albeit tightly. It only took a few seconds. Not one of them giggled or snickered. If you knew 8th graders, you would understand the feat.

With the door shut and the lights off you would not even know they were there.   At least now I know that given a small warning I can get them safe. If some psycho busts through my class room door, he better have a full mag because that is what it is going to take to stop this 300 pound art teacher from biting out his throat.

Any way... take a moment today to give those poor souls your thoughts. Appreciate what you have, and if you are a parent, spend a few more minutes with your kids. My heart is heavy today and it goes out to those teachers and kids who lost their lives.

And thank you to every one who emailed me with their concern over the weekend.

Back to business tomorrow. Be sure to check out my live show on the MWG vault!  Jim and I will be playing some live 40k.  8pm EST. Tomorrow's show is free for all.

See you then!

Jawaballs

Lamenters Vanguard Vet!

Here is one of my Lamenters Vanguard Veteran SGT. WIP!  I need to redo the power sword and bolt pistol, but the armor is mostly complete.

I'm particularly happy with the checkers on his apron. 

More to come!

Jawaballs

Something Worthwhile!

I don't manage to check out the greater interwebs often, but every once in a while I come across something sweet.  Today Dave from Miniwargaming emailed me a link to a contest video by Austin from Brush 4 Hire, and I wanted to share it here on the blog.  

In his video, he is advertising a contest where the grand prize is a 1500 point army painted by his service!  The models are donated by Dave and Matt from Miniwargaming.  

Here is the video:

So please take a look, and give Austin some props!

Also, Dave from MWG asked me to join their "Vault" community and I happily agreed after taking a quick look at some of the other guys on the list such as Blue Table Painting.  I have nothing but respect for the work they do and was honored to be part of the community.  I will be doing a weekly half hour show on Tuesdays at 8pm EST, but you have to be part of their Vault to see it!  

Tune in next week to the free live show on MWG. So far I have been painting Lamenters and talking Blood Angels. It is pretty fun!  

More to come...

Jawaballs

The Assault Marine Part 2!

Hey guys!

So there was a pretty good discussion the other day about Blood Angels assault marines as allies and I wanted to do a continuation of that thread for review.

First of all, I am sure there are better points use for allies but here is what I came up with:

This is a copy/paste from my comment section. I am replying to a question about bikers to begin.

The important part here is where I break down points costs and why BA RAS are a great troops choice in 6th Ed, especially as allies.

I did a lot of play testing a bike squad with priest. The result was underwhelming all the time. The squad is hugely expensive, and once combat is in place, it is still only one attack per model. If they could all take plasma guns, then yah bikes, but you only get two per squad plus SGT upgrades. In the end it is a very expensive pair of plasma guns that at best will tie up an enemy assault squad for a bit, provided that the enemy unit is not a dedicated assault unit. 



Here is a little comparison to show the strength of BA assault squads. I have created two units as identical as possible including 10 men and an attached IC.

Vanilla:
x10 marines
plasma pistol
flamer
power fist
chaplain with JP
Fearless
reroll hits on charge
non scoring
355 points

Blood Angels:
x10 marines
MELTA GUN (not an option for vanilla)
flamer
fist
Sanguinary Priest with JP and Power Maul(to keep it even)
FEEL NO PAIN
Furious Charge
possibly fearless
reroll ALL hits with librarian buff
scoring
320

35 less points and way more effective!

:)


Some one had commented comparing vanilla assault marines with BA.  So I created two units on army builder creating the same unit as close as possible, with an attached IC.  I used a chaplain and a priest since they were probably the closest in nature. You can immediately see the goodness of the BA assault marine!  

Some of the things that jump out at me are the fact that a BA RAS can have two specials, with the options being Melta, Flamer or Plasma guns while the Vanilla only gets one, and a plasma pistol (I think it was on the sgt?), and no Melta or Plasma gun option. 

So the point here is that you take this blood angels squad I have above, add another, and a Librarian with JP and you have a brutal group of nasties for 765 points.  This is the perfect allied compliment to a Space Marine army who has cheap fire power like Thunder Fires and interesting options like useful Captains or named characters and different Libby powers.  (The Blood Angels captain is a joke).  You can also throw in a Storm Raven which is one of the best flyers still.  

In summary, if you are playing Marines, and want some assault goodness, don't bother with the Marine codex, play Blood Angels.  1200 points of the best that the Marine codex has to offer supported by 800 points of the best the Bloods have to offer enhances both. And THAT is the point of allies folks!

Jawaballs