Why do I think I will beat Jwolf?

Lets get back to the heart of the matter. Why do I think I will beat Jwolf? First of all, I have no delusions about my chances in the 7 game BoLScon tournament. I will be up against some rough competition, and most of those guys will have been playing 2k point games on a regular basis. I play 1750 games, and have only in the last few weeks started playing 2k to get ready. Believe it or not, that 250 points makes a HUGE difference! My army is optimized to play 1750 through two years of playing. I feel that I cannot field a better Blood Angels 1750 list, and my recent success has proven that... But, is there a better combination of points then what is in my list for a 2k point game? I dont know!

One thing that I think I have going for me is experience playing my game. From what I understand, and please correct me if I am wrong, Jwolf and most of his cadre down there play the "Brick in the face" approach most of the time. His theory is that if my entire army is dead, I cannot win! Well, most guys up here play that way too! Guys I face on a regular basis. My advantage is that my army list and tactics are proven to work against that mentality.

I have written pages about my tactics, but reading about them and playing against them are two different things. I do believe that helps my chances in the tournament as well. I think most of the guys in the tournament will have insane lists that excel at blowing each other off the table, and more then likely, the winner will be one of those guys who does it the best. But what about some one like me who is used to playing against those lists, and has built an army that is good at surviving? I have been reduced to a handful of models and pulled victories or draws while my opponent has 90% of his army still on the table. I think that the one thing I have going for me is that even now, a lot of guys know just what I am going to do, yet are still surprised when I do it, and win.

Will I win BoLSCOn? Probably not. Will I beat Jwolf? I plan on it, may the dice god shine upon me. Will I make a name for the boys in red? I firmly believe that when BoLSCOn is over, I will have earned respect for The Blood Angels, and some of the guys that encounter me will wake up with Jawaballs! echoing in their ears.

Self Reflection. When are we bing dicks?

One thing that can be gathered from some of the recent hate I have gotten online is that I have taken some time to look inside myself. I took some time to reread some of my posts, and rewatch some of the batreps I have posted. I have to say, that I do feel I owe some apologies. First of all to Black Matt and Brother Captain James. I think that I sort of put some spins on batreps I posted from games we played that was unnecessary. You two guys are good friends and I apologize if I posted any thing that hurt your feelings. There are also a few other guys here and there against whom I may have made arrogant comments during video shooting for the sake of the camera but at your expense. I meant no harm.

I truly do not ever mean to come off as a dick. I make great effort in life to see it through the other guys eyes which serves me well in the classroom... but sometimes forget to take a look at myself. I have to remember that most readers will pop in and see one or two posts, and if they dont like what they see, will brand me in a negative way.

Who else?

Youtube viewers... sorry, I am still selling my tutorials and not posting them for free on youtube. :)

Texas, Austin and Jwolf? Die, Die, Die!

Haters? Hate me all you want, I still love you!

So there you go. Step one of 40k annonymous is seeking forgiveness. Consider my forgiveness sought.

Also just keep in mind, it is all just fun and games!

More to Come.

Jawaballs

I changed the title to make it less about me and more rhetorical! :)

More Hate!

I got this particularly well worded zinger of an email today:

Hey 'Jawaball' ( what a gay name ), Screw you and your tutorials 'cos me and a group of lead painters are doing are own videos Which are going to way more easier and way more comprehensive!

On: Blood angels
Eldar
Dark Eldar
T'au
Daemon Hunters
Sisters of battles
Necrons
And many many more that I really can't be bothered to mention! OH yeah guess what! It's all going to be posted on youtube for free and we aint going to sell any. Looks like your buissness aint going go so well ha.

you American Fag!

JordanNeo1 from Youtube

All I can say is best of luck! I wish you well. I take your hate an I turn it into good Karma. :)

Jawaballs

The Challenge Builds! Jwolf is going down at BoLScon.

I want to preface this by saying that I in no way consider myself 40k elite. I wallowed in the 60s tables for most of the last GT and when I did get a table in the teens, I got owned by Ork Bikers. Just last week, I got mopped up by my buddy Dan in a test game for a 2k point list. (No batrep since I was trying a list I wanted to keep secret.) I could win every game I play for the rest of the year and still not break even in my overall 40k record.

But the fact remains that I have found a way to win games in the last 10 months, and NOT by playing a flavor of the month list. Im not boasting or bragging so please don't take my smack talk wrong! Jwolf called the Blood Angels a bottom tier army, and my intention is to rewrite his definition of 'tier'. :) When forming opinions, lets just remember that 99% of this is Hype, mixed with a little pride. I write for YOU guys, and try to create entertaining, and sometimes educational content. I hope I am successful!

Now, here is my standard list:

Dante
Corbulo
Assault Squad, PW, Rhino xtra armor
Assault Squad, PW, Rhino xtra armor
Assault Squad, PW, Rhino xtra armor
Tactical Squad, PW, Lascanon, Meltagun, Rhino
Death Company Furioso Dread xtra armor, HF
Death Co. x4, in rhino xtra armor
Baal Pred x3, heavy bolters, storm bolters, xtra armor,

I play back and forth with 2 dreads or 3 assault squads.

Addition to make 2k points:
Speeder Squad x2, MM and HF
Attack Bike with MM
Attack Bike with MM

I know what I will be facing down there, and I know my tactics. So, I figured some fast moving melta guns would be my best bet. In order for my 1750 list to do its thing, I have to reduce my opponent to a 1750 list as well.

So there we go! Fritz and I have games scheduled against Jwolf for Friday night at BoLScon. He posted his list at that link so go check it out! I am looking forward to some great games and a LOT of smack talk.

More to Come,

Jawaballs

Some fan/reader love!

Gotta love some fan love. Ash, who frequently comments on my blog, sent me this email and link:

I have loved your videos and Website/Blog. It has helped me jump into this game and enjoy it. Painting, I think would have been a very frustrating part of this hobby if I did not have your expert tutelage.

I have been able to focus on the nuances of the rules and start to perfect my strategies instead of focusing on why my painted models look like poop.

Anyway thanks for the help you have provided to the 40k Community.

Oh, I have been playing and collecting for about 4 months.

Here is a link to pics of my latest model.

http://all-things-chaos.blogspot.com/2009/07/marneus-calgar-gift-for-my-nephew.html

Ash


Check him out! Thanks Ash.

Jawaballs

Blood Angels Unit Breakdown: Blood Angels Characters... Lesmartes.

So, the question that came in today was quick and to the point...

how come u never use lemartes??

Great Question. Here are some LM pros and cons.

First of all, as far as chaplains go, he is a steal. He has better stats then a Codex chaplain, and a jump pack. For 125 points, he is a bargain. But that is not all! He has a Death Mask! With his Death Mask, units within range of him must take a -1 to leadership roles. This is great for trying to break units in assault, or using him to help tank shock. We all know that chaplains are insane in that they help squads with Litinies and make them fearless. And that Death Company require the use of a Chaplain, or Brother Corbulo to keep them under control. So, when taking a squad of Jump Pack Death Company, Lesmartes is a great choice!

Having said all this, the question still remains. How come I do not use him? Well, here is the answer... Brother Corbulo and Dante combo. Using my tactics, if there is an assault going on, Dante is probably in the thick of it. That means that all Blood Angels within 12", not just the ones in the squad he has joined get Litinies. But ALL THE TIME! Litninies only works on the charge. Since I always use Dante, that alone is reason enough to find another way to spend that 125 points I would use on LM. But also, I take Corbulo because he grants every one within 12" Furious Charge. If I had LM, only the Death Company will have it, and not even he can take advantage of it.

I prefer that 1-2 punch of Dante and Corbulo any day. Plus, if Dante rolls a 1 when being shot by a guardsman lasgun, can LM allow him to ignore the wound?

So, it is not that LM is not good. It is that CB and D are better. Even if I were to just play one commander, I would take CB. For 100 points he is one of the best special characters in the game. Sorry LM. You are just not good enough. Perhaps if he granted a fearless bubble instead of only to the squad he joins he would be worth taking. But until then...

Child Psychology Update.

Some time ago, I got an email from a reader asking for advice on how to break his little brother into playing 40k. I gave a response about getting rid of the rules. Kids either get bored with too many confusing rules, or are embarrassed about not being able to calculate as fast as you do, or understand the rules instantly... so they will likely give up rather then trudge through the learning curve. I advised him to simplify the game down to Rolling to hit, and rolling to die. But also, to animate the game and make it fun for him! To sort of role play out the battle, give it some narrative, and suck the kid in. Finally, let the kid win most of the games, but dont let him know that.

So, the reader put my advice to the test, and came back with this:

Re: Child Psychology
THANK YOU SO MUCH JB! He's undergone a complete warhammer transformation! He practically begs me to play it with him now(i don't mind, i want to play it just as much :D). You helped turn the game around for him and i think i can officially call him a 40k junky xD Thanks again JB!


It does my heart good to see some one successfully putting to use what I spew out! :) Thanks Raizure.

Jawaballs

Want to get your artwork in my videos?







Zachary, a 20 year old subscriber to my youtube channel sent in this logo idea because he liked my stuff and wanted to share. I have to say I was flattered and pleased! Here is his email when I asked him for more info:

Hey jawaballs, I'm glad you liked my artwork and you have full permission to use my artwork for anything you want. My name is Zachary Adams, and I live in Colorado and will be turning 20 in August. I do drawings and paint Warhammer 40K as a hobby, and my favorite army is the Orks.

The attachments are pics of some of the lizard men I painted as well as some pics of the paper orks I made. Your videos inspired me to make the orks

If there's anything else you want to know just e-mail me

P.S. My girlfriend says you're a pretty cool teacher because your account name is jawaballs


I also included some other pics he sent.

So I used it in my next video! Then I realized what a fantastic way to get some more viewer involvement going on. So I decided to open up this offer to you.

If you would like to have some original artwork appear in my videos, please send it in. Ideally, it will be in the form of a logo, like my Jawaballs Productions one, or this one by Zachary. Depending on the interest, I will use one or more in my videos and from time to time make entire videos just showing off the entries.

Also, I am planning on making fan model videos too. So you can send in pictures of your models with some background info about yourself, and I will make a video out of them.

Send your submissions to jawaballs at yahoo dot com. I spelled it out to attempt to thwart any web crawling email spammers. Notice the yahoo part! This is a new email address I am using only to receive submissions so as not to lose them in the massive amount of mail I receive every day.

Understand that any submissions become the property of Jawaballs Productions for the purposes of any legal rights. I don't know how to legally word it, but you are releasing your artwork for me to use as I please and fully understand that you will receive no monetary compensation. I don't want people coming after the .58 (Yes, thats CENTS) I made last month on ad revenue. :) Mostly you are giving me permission to plaster your work all over youtube and my blog. Thanks!

I forgot to mention, make sure your pictures are High Resolution, and a large size... It makes it easier for me to enhance them with Photoshop if needed, and use them in making videos and posting.

Jawaballs

More Mailbag! A happy viewer from Portugal.

Hello,

my name is Gonçalo I'm from Portugal and I've been seeing some of your videos here on youtube and i had to send you a message congratulating you for what you've been doing with miniature painting of GW products. I've seen in one of your clips here that the best thing you like about this is when u make people feel like painting and it has been my case, I've started out when i was around 2000 when i went to London for the first time and saw in Harrods shop gw's miniatures painted and bought myself a pack and mega paint set (if i knew more when i started i wouldn't but well..!) and started painting I'm currently making 22 years old in September and I'm a pilot instructor so i don't have much time nowadays to paint and also i stopped painting for some years now and came back 1 year ago or so to paint the old model of the space marine techmarine (don't know if u remember the old one but it had less mechanical arms then the current one). I started like a normal person who wants to play it and get the army on the table but quickly i realized i preferred to paint display miniatures instead of armies (which is the rarest thing to see an army with top quality painting) and although in my painting times i didn't reached top knowledge on painting techniques (GS modeling/highlights/blending...) i think i've made a "good" job i've never shown other people my miniatures specially because in portugal as there isn't an official gw store and there's only like 1 dedicated store people don't really care as much as a dedicated store player/buyer but well..i suppose you got 30k things to do as do i but if you ever feel interested in seeing some of my miniatures send me a message here but if you're really interested send me a mail to EDITED BY THE INQUISITION which i check much more often then youtube.

Best regards,

Gonçalo "Loopper" Almeida

PS: im a person who doesn't send message complimenting or commenting anything so by sending this I'm telling that you've been doing a great job and from what i've seen you've turned it into a business with your movies i hope people adhere to that and if you have the time/patience send me a reply to my mail(i really prefer mail lol).



Thanks a lot Goncalo. Yes, while I have made a business out of my videos and bases, I still hold true to getting the greatest satisfaction out of hearing about how I help people. It is great to know that I can sort of 'have my cake' and 'eat it too'. I would love to see some of your models, and will post pics here if you want! Jawaballs

The Challenge... Jwolf... Jlunch? Jawawolf???

I have to say, I have not looked forward to something this much since I asked for the Millenium Falcon for Christmas almost 30 years ago. As you all know, Fritz and I are flying to Texas to take on Jwolf and also enter the BoLScon tournament in August. I have been anticipating this like a giddy kid! I dropped some smack on Jwolf not long ago, and he has responded on BoLS. We are going to test "40k in the 5th Dimension" against Jwolf and Companies "Kill em all" approach. Should be some good natured fun! Thanks for making my summer Jwolf!

Maybe if I beat him he will change his name to JawaWolf for a week.

Jawaballs

Mind Games: Forcing your opponent to choose.

The other night, when playing a Tau player, I realized that some times I employ a nice little mind freak that I have in part touched upon previously but I felt warranted it's own post. Here was the setup.

The Tau player had all of his guns lined up on his edge of the board thanks to Dawn of War deployment. He knew he would be facing my 5 Rhinos and 3 Predators among other things as they came onto the table in my turn, and he knew that I would be unable to reach him. I forgot to mention that I deployed a rhino and Dante behind cover to begin the game.

Turn one came, and all of my stuff moved onto the table as far as I could. The problem was that I would need at least one full turn of movement before I could return fire, and he would have up to two full turns of shooting during which he could cut down my rhinos like they were made of paper. My solution? I fed him a Rhino and Dante.

On the bottom of one, I fast moved the rhino I had deployed up to within 18" or so of his edge, and jumped Dante over to hide on the right side of it. Then I popped smoke. This rhino was right smack in the middle of the table and was carrying a 5 man combat squad... it was now on an objective. I had no delusions of it surviving the turn... but it did not have to. The point is that I forced my opponent to make a choice. He could:

A. Shoot his guns at this rhino and Dante because if he did NOT kill them, they would surely be on top of his troops.

B. Shoot his guns at my transports, leaving my troops stranded in the open and easy pickings for his missles.

Now, if he chose to ignore Dante and pop my transports, sure Dante would have gotten into his lines and tore it up... but what he did not quite realize was that Dante is not the strength of my army... my fast moving transports are! So he fired every gun he had at the first rhino and Dante. He actually failed to kill Dante due to some lucky dice on my part!

What did this do for me? Now my transports had a chance. I was able to fast move them the next turn up into cover and into lanes of blocked line of sight from his rail guns. He had missed his opportunity to stop them cold, and I was in position to win the game.

How do you translate this into your own games? First of all, pick a unit that has high survivability, coupled with a unit that is expendable. In this case, I took Dante and one of 5 of my troops choices. Then move the expendable unit up as far as you can to provide cover for your survivable one. Storm Shield terminators deep striking next to a rhino, or a fast moving seer council next to a Wave Serpent would be good. Use the transport to block LoS from as much as you can. In my case, I angled it to block about 60 percent of his guns from targeting Dante. He had to blow it up to get to him...

Now you cross your fingers! In this situation, he exploded up the rhino on his first shot. If you are lucky, he will simply destroy it and your troops can disembark into relative safety. In my case, with the rhino gone, my marines went down fast and Dante suffered more shots then he should have... but his 2+ save and 4+ invulnerable saved him! I knew I was going to lose the rhino and troops, but hoped that Dante could survive... and he did.

With Dante alive, any thing he did from that point was bonus. I sacrificed him to give my transports a chance to move. Now he was able to get up into it, destroy a squad, survive yet another round of shots, and die to a fire warrior charge... but we wont mention that. The second round of shots that he sucked up were the cake though. They are what won the game for me.

So there you go! A perfect example of my mind games in practice. Sacrifice a juicy target to give the rest of your army a chance to do their jobs.

I will add that the next round, I moved my Death company rhino with Corbulo into that same position, to fill the same role. I did not want him shooting at my troops, so I fed him the DC. The Rhino got popped, not exploded, and they got out on the safe side, and hunkered down. Now I had a nice LoS blocking heap of slag in the middle of the table, and my troops were able to move up unmolested.

Battle Report: BA vs Tau 2k points

So, getting in some 2k point practice for BoLScon, I managed to get a game against a new guy at our club playing Tau. I warned him about my army, and told him to play a strong 2k list. He had a lot of fire power... Hammer head with rail gun, squad of 3 broadsides with TL railguns, a couple other suit squads with lots of guns, snipers, marker lights etc. His Strategy was to use marker lights to increase his BS and focus his fire power on any thing that got close... fairly good and suprisingly good tactic!

Deployment: DoW
Mission: 4 Loot Counters

He deployed first, and placed 2 Fire warrior squads near objectives, with a stealth suit commander close by. I deployed a 5 man combat squad with Lascannon on an objective, and Dante attached. The objectives were set up with a 12" triangle on his side of the board on my right, and one lone objective on my left, on his edge of the board. The only objective on my side was one of the points of the triangle, which I placed my squad on. Luckily blocking LoS from most of his stuff.

Turn 1:

I won the roll and gave him first turn. He came on with every thing! DoW saved me since nothing was able to get range. He lined up on his edge, keeping his long range stuff in the corners, with shorter range stuff in the middle.

On my turn, I brought in every thing on my right half of the board. I decided to ignore the lone objective to my left, since he put a lot of resources into holding it. Most of the stuff there would never make it over to the 3 objectives I planned on taking. Plus, I could shoot the FW off of it with heavy bolter fire if I needed to. I moved up a rhino into the open center, and jumped Dante over to it, using it as cover. This was to draw his fire. He had to deal with that rhino and Dante. I was hoping with cover saves it would last a while, soaking up most of his shots, and giving all of my late coming rhinos a chance to move fast and get into position. If he chose not to deal with the rhino and instead target my other tanks, he would be in trouble when they unload and get into his ranks, and Dante starts running around.

The rest of my stuff moved up as far from the edge a possible. My speeders moved 24 and hid forward, while my Lascannon combat squad would hunker down on an objective and hide. They would need to survive the entire game...

Turn 2:

On his turn, he decided that Dante had to die. First, he shot his commander at the rhino Dante was hiding behind... first shot... exploded it... This was not going to go well for me. The rest of his shots would take down the combat squad iside, and reduce Dante to 1 wound... but he lived! He even withstood 2 rail cannon shots! My turn two was going to be fun. They did their job. He fired no shots at my rhinos and tanks.

On my turn, I jumped Dante into range to assault his first victim... a FW squad holding an objective. The rest of my stuff moved up into position to support Dante and get into range for a turn 3 charge. My attack bikes moved into position to attack a suit squad supported by speeders. I fast moved my Death Company as far as I could, hoping to get them in to join Dante and keep him alive... but could not reach... Dante would have to hold for another turn.

Dante assaulted the fire warriors and of course slaughtered them all. They broke and he cut them down... leaving himself in the open... Perfect! Now my opponent would have to sink more fire power into Dante... My Baal Preds were forced to waste shots of their own. He had two pirhana that were trying to get into position to melt my tanks. Every turn I shot at them with my preds... and one of them actually lived the entire game! Those cheap SOBs earned their points in that alone...

Turn 3:

He had to kill Dante. He focused a lot of shots on him, but still could not do it! More lucky invulnerable saves for me! Then travesty... after all of his shooting... he had killed my Death Company rhino, but Dante still lived. He decided to assault him with Fire Warriors! I laughed, and cut into them... Dante rolled to hit... landing 5 hits. He then rolled all 1s and 2s! ACK. The fire warriors, with their rediculously pathetic attacks managed to hit and wound Dante 4 times... and of course, if you make me roll 4 dice, a 1 is guaranteed... Dante fell. To fire Warriors. Oh... for the emperors sake...

On my turn things would start to lean my way though. My Death Company got into range and assaulted the squad that killed Dante. The FW held, though. Tough lot! My attack bikes killed a squad of suits and I lost a speeder. My preds moved up, and fired on his pirhanas, and my troops moved into range to fast move to objectives turn 5. My lowlight? I assaulted 3 broadsides with 2 attack bikes. All they had to do was hold them up for a turn so my Death Company could get over there and finish the job... I failed to wound, and he did a single wound. My bikes broke and ran! Just not my luck.

Turn 4:

Things were starting to get ugly for the Tau and he knew it. He popped another of my rhinos, but I had more... My Death Co Dread moved up to try to get into range, and my preds wasted more shots on the Pirhana, keeping them stunned an destroying guns. But the good part was they were getting into range of his last troop squad holding an objective... Once I brought my guns to bear on them... they would die quick. I needed to kill 4 to force a break test... only killed 3. Drat. My DC killed his FW squad on his assault and moved into range to take down his broadsides. Looking for a weaker target, my remaining attack bike went after some sniper drones. I killed a few in shooting, and they broke and ran off the table. Muahaha! By the end of turn 4, the game was pretty much in my hands. I had reduced his right flank and he had nothing really left to try to contest my 3 objectives that I firmly held, or would hold by turn 5.

Turn 5:

It took a turn for the worse for him. He was trying now to keep his fire warriors alive to keep his only objective, and attempt to contest my objective with his last transport. My preds moved up and shot his FW some more, killing a couple, but not enough to force a break. He killed a pred, and knocked an arm off my Dread, who was charging him as fast as he could in the open! I knocked the last guns off his pirhanas, eliminating that threat, and stunned his transport. My marines moved into range to hold 3 objectives firmly, with a rhino blocking LoS.

I rolled the die to end the game, and it went on to turn 6...

Turn 6:

The game was still in question. But not much. He destroyed another pred and knocked the other arm off my dread. My speeder moved up to shoot up snipers and my death company chased around his transport, keeping it stunned. By my turn, all I had to do was kill 2 more fire warriors to force a break, which I did, they broke and ran off his objective. I held 3 he held 0. The game ended on the die roll.

I know, I did not write a lot of detail here, but I made video and will be posting it soon. The game turned into a runaway for me, but was actually really close until the very end. Until my final shots, he had a chance to deny me my objectives, and keep his own... but my fire power won the day in the end.

MVP for me? Dante and his heroic stand. He swallowed up a LOT of shots that would have left my rhinos a bunch of smoking hulks. I did not pop smoke that turn banking on him wasting shots on Dante. I got lucky.

MVP for him? His Pirhanas. They soaked up my shots all game. If not for them, I would have moved my preds into range and wasted his last fire warrior squad turn 3, pretty much ending the game. But instead I had to shot them every turn, and at one point, a single ship made 5 cover saves against a single pred.

He had a lot of shots, and played smart! If I see any Tau at BOLSCON, I bet they will be played like this guy. He knew exactlly what he was doing, and with a few key decisions going a different way, could have won the game.

Nice game Brian!

JB

Mailbag: Question from a customer who bought my Imperial Fist videos...

Hey Jawaballs,
I've been a youtube fan for a long time, I think you might be the only 40k painter
on the internet who makes amazing looking models with straight-from-the-pot
techniques. I'm not sure if this is the right email to send this message to: I
purchased your Imperial Fist tutorial way back in February and I just had some
clarifying questions as I am trying to follow it very closely for my new (and first)
army.
In Segment 3, when you first start laying in Golden Yellow, do you still thin
the paint brush with your spit or water or anything? I see you bring the brush
on and off camera quickly so I assume you simply dip it slightly in the paint
pot. I wanted to clarify and/or ask for tips because I just finished my first
sternguard vet and my paint is very spotty/globby and basically just not smooth
at all. I don't have the problem with huge globs of thick paint all over like a
lot of beginners do, it simply looks rough and I would really like it to be
smooth - do you have any advice or techniques you use? Any brush suggestions? I
am using really old, splayed brushes but I thought it would be fine for laying
in the armor.
Anyway I don't know if I've been too clear (it's late over here) but I would
really appreciate any details or advice you would like to impart to me about
painting layers of yellow in general, and thank you in advance.

Michael

My Answer:

Yellow is hard.

Having said that. I use a Reaper Kolinsky 10/0 brush. Get one. Just
about every time I dip my brush into my pot, I wet and twist it on my lips
first to keep the super point. When I apply the yellow, I am more
touching the paint to the model then painting it on. I sort of let the
brush guide it to where I want, then let it be. If you 'paint' it too
much, brush strokes will remain. It is the same as taking your paint and
dabbing little paint puddles onto paper. Just drag the tip of your brush
over the model, leaving behind the paint where you want it... and do not
paint over it again til it dries. I wish I could explain it better...

Good luck!


His Response:


That actually makes some sense to me, jawaballs, and I am already
improving (slowly). Thank you for your timely and gracious reply:)



Michael, I'm glad I can help! A bonus you get when purchasing my videos is my instant response to your questions! I try to get to as many as possible, but I definitely give preference to guys who have purchased from me. Let me know how you do and I will post pics of your stuff! Jawaballs

Blog Redesign!

As a further part of the celebration of my first year of blogging, I had good ole Fritz help me out with a nice redesign! Now I am sporting a sweet 3 column look. Feel free to click the adds and support the people who sponsor me! Please add me to your blog roll and let me know so I can do the same! Next month, I will hold my first painting contest! Stay tuned for more info. Jawaballs!

Calling all 40k bloggers! Jawaballs wants you.

I want you on my blog roll, and I want to be added to yours. So, if you have a 40k blog, or any blog for that matter... (Zombies!) Add me and send me your URL and I will throw you up on mine! Lets spread the blog love.

Hard Boys Blood Angels

With round one of Hard Boys now history, and many of my friends having placed in the tournaments they entered, I find myself regretting my decision to pass on the elite tournament. First of all, I have been super busy finishing my first commission, but also, with a baby on the way, I cannot commit to traveling in case I advance... But Still, the question remains... what if? hat Blood Angels builds have you encountered that did well? I know Hard Boys is about bringing the cheese... but BA have plenty of that! I am thinking that I would have switched one of my Baal Preds to a Land Raider Crusader, filled it with LC Assault Terminators, and filled out the rest of the points from my current list with Land Speeders. What ya guys think? Corbulo giving 7 assault terminators Furious charge with Dantes Preferred enemy would slaughter just about any squad.

Or would I have been better served by taking a drop pod full of assault vets with meltas? I would love to know what you guys faced.

If you cant beat em... join em! My BoLSCON plans...


I have been quite staunch in my opposition to playing Terminators in my Blood Angels list... however, in thinking about what list to play at BoLSCON, I have decided to fight fire with fire! I already know I will face a lot of heavy weapons and tanks. My answer? Land Raiders! What is inside of them? Well Terminators of course... along with Corbulo and Dante (Dante hanging out behind of course). I pity any fool who gets within range... Die Texas!

I attached a pic of some Terminator death.

Jawaballs

How to Paint Space Marines: Blood Angels. How to Paint Dante.


As a treat celebrating a year of blogging and three thousand subscribers on youtube, I have decided to upload an entire How to Paint set of videos... but not just any! Nope, I am going for the king shiznit himself! Dante, lord and commander of my beloved Blood Angels is my subject this time. Here are the videos! Hope you enjoy. I will add them to this post as I upload them.

How to Paint Dante Video 1



How to Paint Dante Video 2

More Mailbag! A bike comparison from DocRailgun.

O Brother-Captain Jawaballs,

I've been thinking about 'ard Boyz, and about the armies I wish I had
the models to run with. To that end, I have a small comparison that
I'd like for you to take a look at... it might even be worthy of the
Way of Sanguinius.

"The Wisdom of the Khans; or Why Belial will keep his Ravenwing gig, thanks."

Space Marine players have generally accepted the new Codex, with its
generally reduced point costs. Many electrons have been used to tout
the virtues of one unit or another, but here I would like to compare
the bike-mounted Marine unit to the Rhino-mounted squad.

10 Tactical Marines with a multi-melta, flamer, power sword, and a
Rhino with an extra storm bolter and extra armor costs 245 points.
They can move 12" in one turn, then fire two weapons from the hatch;
or disembark and assault (after firing their bolt pistols).

6 bike Marines (with a melta, a flamer, and a power sword) and a
multi-melta attack bike come to 245 points. The bikes move 12", can
move and fire their heavy weapons, and assault the same turn or
turboboost 24" and be on top of the opponent in the second turn.

I won't go into the math (which I probably have wrong anyway), but
let's take a stab at comparing the units in battle. Both squads are
stationary, within 12" but their flamers are not able to come into
play.

The (last turn) dismounted Tactical squad fires 14 bolter shots, 2
bolt pistol shots (sgt and flamer marine), a multimelta shot, and
their Rhino fires its storm bolters. This volley does 5 wounds to a
MEQ opponent after saves... or they can assault, also doing 5 wounds
(combined close combat and firing their bolt pistols).

The bike squad fires 6 (5 from the non-melta bikes and 1 from the
attack bike) twin-linked bolters (so, 12 shots at this range), a melta
and a multi-melta shot. That should average to also 5 wounds vs MEQ
infantry. They can then assault on the same turn with 4 power sword
attacks, 3 regular attacks from the attack bike. and 10 attacks from
the other bikers. That should come out to 3 wounds after saves. So,
the bikes have done 8 wounds on average.

The bikes do have weaknesses, of course... they are 'Lashable' by
Chaos armies, they are vulnerable to blast fire (though they are T5...
a lot of the popular blast templates these days are high-S and high-AP
anyway, so a Rhino isn't proof against these sorts of shots), and
terrain can be a problem.

For 1850 points a biker army could consist of:
He'stan
a biker Captain with w/ power sword, combi-melta, melta bombs, digital
weapons, and a few other bits of wargear
18 bikes (in 3 squads) of which 3 have meltas and 3 have flamers
3 attack bikes with multi-meltas
2 Land Speeders with multi-meltas and heavy flamers
a Land Speeder with a Typhoon launcher and a multi-melta (or a heavy flamer)
6 Assault Terminators in a LRC with a multi-melta

I thought this looked pretty "Doublewing" to me, only with rerollable
melta and flamer shots.

So, what do you think... are bikes the way to go against the Guard
artillery, or will their infantry speed bumps get in the way? Is it
even worth having anything on your side of the board when the
Outflanking infantry platoons and veteran-carrying Valkyries fly in
from the sides of the board... or are good-old Rhinos still the best
option?

I will ponder this question and give a real answer later... I have to finish my commission! But every one feel free to hash this one back and forth!

Jawaballs

Mailbag Monday: Should you thin paint?



Image borrowed without permission from http://www.flickr.com/photos/epikuros/3483709130/ if you want me to remove the image, I will do so on request.

Email question:

Hey Jawaballs i love ur blog and i've recently started a chaos space marine army. When i was browsing youtube i noticed that many gamers like natakue and redxgamer use thinned or watered down paints and get outstanding results. Do you like to use watered down paints and do you suggest that i do it?- Frenzy

Jawaballs Answer:

All painting experts suggest adding at least a little water to your paint to 'cut' the surface tension and make it more spreadable. It is a good suggestion. I however rarely do so. I use paint straight from the pot. But I have a good control over it to allow that... The way I paint, with miniscule amounts of paint on the end of the brush, gets me results straight from the pot.

I suggest you thin your paints a tad, it will make your highlighting easier. Pull a little out of the pot, dip your brush into water and mix it in with the paint on your pallet and you are good to go. Good luck!

Jawaballs

Fritz and Jawaballs answer the call!

As just about all of you know, Bell of Lost Souls is having a huge gaming event the weekend of August 23rd. But what you may have missed is that Fritz and I will be in attendance! Some time ago, Jwolf, a BoLS writer and follower of my blog wrote an article about the top armies compared to the lowest tier armies, and he placed my beloved Blood Angels close to the bottom! So, I replied to his post citing the droves of evidence to the contrary in my archives. And he started to notice! I'm not saying I convinced him to change his mind, but I at least piqued his interest!

So he began watching my vids, and reading my posts, and eventually sent Fritz and I personal invites to BoLScon. He called us out. :) Fritz and I jumped at the chance! So we are flying down to Austin, TX to play some dude we know only as Jwolf, and throw our lots into a huge tournament.

We are playing Jwolf on Friday night in open gaming, then entering the 2k point tournament. Wish us luck!