Librarian Project

So I keep reading about the librarian conclave and how amazing it is.  Honestly, I have never been much of a librarian guy, I have always gone basic chaplain with my Salamanders.  Anyway, I decided that I needed to find out what all the fuss was about and decided to build a couple of librarians.  Since I had just bought the Betrayal at Calth box I figured this could be a great chance to save a few dollars.

My plan is to use these guys both with my Salamanders as well as my White Scars.  I love the open hand casting thing and I like the idea of a librarian being kind of a seer or tribal shaman rather than just a boring disciplined dude who has some psychic ability.

I'm not sure that I have really talked about my White Scars on this page yet so here are a couple of them.

So what do you think?

List Building Time!

I have a game coming up this weekend with a buddy of mine.  As we are both kind of getting back into the game we are going for a 1,000 points.  He generally plays Eldar or Harlequins but I don't really tailor lists so that isn't really a factor.

At this point I am zeroing in on two lists using my two primary armies.  The first is Dark Eldar.

Dark Eldar 1k

Archon [145] shadow field, agonizer, haywire grenades

Trueborn [150] x2 splinter cannon, venom with x2 splinter cannons

Kabalite Warriors (5) [120] venom x2 splinter cannon, blaster

Wyches (8) [210] x2 which weapons, raider, agonizer

Razorwing [145]

Reavers (3) [48]

Reavers (3) [48]

Ravager [125] Disintegrator Cannons

Total 991 points

With this list I am basically looking for a kind of ultra fast striking force that can quickly grab tactical objectives anywhere with the reavers on the table but still packs a little bit of a punch with the Archon riding along with the wyches.  There are some pretty unconventional choices in this list but I think it could be fun.  Personally I love the idea of having a venom that is pumping out four splinter cannons worth of shots!

Salamanders 1k

Librarian [90] ML2

Tac Squad (10) [195] Meltagun, Multimelta, Rhino

Tac Squad (10) [245] Flamer, Multimelta, Powerfist, Rhino

Land speeder [60] Heavy Flamer, Multimelta

Drop Pod [35]

Grav Centurions [250] omniscope

Vindicator [120]

This list is way smaller and the grave centurions are my new toy.  Having never used them I have no idea how they will do but they should be able to handle most of the toughest stuff out there.  I suppose they have a reputation for a reason.  Librarian cruises in with the centurions and maybe I get lucky with invisibility which would basically end a 1,000 point game.  I guess I am looking to hit hard and see what happens.

What do you think?  Dark Eldar or Salamanders?

Game Night Report

So I played a game last week.  I made it out to a friends house on a Tuesday night and threw down.  The group of guys that I was playing with have been away from the hobby for quite a while so the points level was a meager 500 points but it was still great fun.  I took my White Scars list and had a blast.

Here was my list.

Librarian- bike, ML1
Bikes- x8, attack bike with MM, two grav guns, and a lightning claw.
Bikes- x5, flamer, plasmagun, power fist

The idea behind this list of course was to cruise into some cover then get up there, dump on some bolter fire and get into assault.  I used a mix of special weapons to handle a couple of different threats and figured the librarian could get off psychic shriek to kill any big bad lords that might need killing.

How did it go?

I only got one game in and it was against Harlequins.  The opponents list was something like this:

Solitaire
Death Jester
Shadowseer
Troupe- x6 or 7 with a couple special weapons
Voidweaver

He deployed everything in cover and infiltrated where possible, I pretty much lined up in cover as well, keeping my whole force to one side, using a hill to split the board up.

Turn one I moved forward and completely wiped out the troupe with bolters as they were the closest, I also got a few shots off at the solitaire and took off a wound.  He came charging in during his turn and got his solitaire into combat only to see him killed to overwatch (5 rapid firing, twin linked bolters against a guy in a spandex suit is bad news). The Voidweaver also shot a couple of bikes down  but the solitaire's charge was really what we were paying attention to.

Turn two was pretty much mop up, I'm not sure whether the Voidweaver actually survived that turn but we decided to shake hands and end it after that.

Overall, was it a good game?  Not really... but the company was good and it was pretty fun to watch some buddys play a few games afterward.

Thoughts on the models?  Any good stories of disappointing games?  Comment below!

Sally Forth Lads!

I am a long time player, painter, nerd, etc.  Along the way I have collected a lot of miniatures, in honesty, I definitely have more unpainted miniatures than painted ones.  But that has been turning around a little bit lately as I have turned back to my longest lasting active 40k army.

Back in the summer of 2000 Codex: Armageddon was released and I was hooked.  I loved the idea of a group of flamer wielding badasses capable of taking down giant lizards.  The thing I liked about them most?  They actually have some compassion for humans.  That summer they became my first completely painted army as well.

Since then these guys have seen some serious shelf time.  While they have always been my 'primary' army, they have been on the back burner for a long time.  Also, like most people I have had a couple of periods where I drifted away from the hobby over the years.  To me, these guys are the hobby.

When the Battle of Calth box came out I decided to come back to my salamanders and using the Calth box as my catalyst.  Here is what I have (almost) finished so far.

First off, a combat squad of normal marines. These guys are the standard that I will be bringing the rest of the army up to and I am particularly happy with the highlighting and flame effect on the right shoulder pads.  I have yet to add decals to the left shoulder pads but these guys are 95% of the way there so I figured I would post them!

On top of putting together and painting these Calth minis I also decided to reboot my old Razorback. This guy has been there the whole time that I have played Salamanders (over 15 years!) and was pretty poorly painted for a long time.  So I gave it a little love.  I am pretty pleased with the highlights and mud effects and obviously, I'm just happy to be able to put it on the table fully painted.

So that is all I am going to post for now.  I have done a lot more work on the Calth box and will be going over it in segments.  

Comment below and let me know what you think!  Or don't, I'm ok with that too.  

Ghosting Again

Don't worry, there are no spoilers here.

If you haven't heard of Gaunt's Ghosts then you really need to check it out.  This is really the best 40k series that I have encountered.  With three omnibus' totaling about a dozen novels (maybe 15?).  The ghosts series maintains a fairly fun and fast paced tempo while it develops some really deep storylines.

I read this series years ago and loved it.  Since then I have read several other 40k books and I feel pretty comfortable saying that this is the best.  I really have to say, I am actually really enjoying reading this stuff again.  The story is intense and the characters are awesome.  The main character, Ibram Guant is a real character with some depth and internal conflict that keeps you engaged.  There are characters who struggle with some of the realities of war, which is refreshing in the 40k universe.  The real star of the ghosts series though?

CHAOS!  I haven't read anything in the 40k universe that describes the forces of chaos in such a unique way.  I mean, it's pretty much like the cultists from the Assassinorum box were lifted straight out of these books.  Chaos is gritty, confusing, aggressive, genius, and awesome.

I highly recommend that you check out the Gaunt's Ghosts Omnibus and get into it. Just be ready, you will probably end up buying some Guardsmen (er... Astra Militarum?) if you aren't careful.

Full disclosure: I will make a little bit of money if you actually buy something after clicking the link above.  I would have provided the link either way so I don't feel too bad about it.  If you disagree then feel free to email me.  

40k Gamer Blog Lives!

Hi all, my name is Eric and I am a long time table top gamer who is coming back to the hobby in earnest... again.  Like many of the gamers that I know I have had my highs and lows in the hobby.  At this point though, I think that I have finally found a balance where I am achieving my hobby goals and really enjoying things.

As this is my first post I feel like I should commit to a couple of tenets.  For my readers this should give some idea for where I am going with this thing.  So there they are:

40k Gamer Tenets:

1. Authenticity- I'm not in this shill products.  Posts on this page will always be from a gamer and to gamers.  
2. Balance- I genuinely enjoy all aspects of the 40k hobby; gaming, modeling, and fluff.  This blog should consistently contain components of all of these.  
3. Cadence- post twice per week, if I can't keep it up then I should shut it down. 

It's as simple as ABC.  Maybe I'll come up with some more as things go on, who knows.