Saturday 30 June 2012

6th Edition is here


Well we should all now have rushed out to buy the new rule book. I know I did, with a pre-order and collection at midnight of the release date.

I am now working my way rather slowly through the new hallowed pages trying to work out how on earth I am going to remember this and phase out the old knowledge of the game!

Needless to say, its all very novel and interesting thats for sure and I bet the first few dozen games will be very slow and confusing with lots of large rule books constantly being referred to!

Thursday 21 June 2012

6th Edition Warhammer 40k.


Well the interwebs is rife with the excitement (and general GW bashing) of the new edition of the game we all know and love.
GW is still pretending it does not exist and staff are under threat of sackings/and or deeath to even pretend they know anything more than to say "23rd June something is happening but we do not know what" which is very amusing considering the leaks of pictures, rules, and whats for sale has been about for weeks if not months.

Still, I am excited, my wallet is prepared to convulse at the idea of spending cash in a non independant store for a change and pay full price, and my armies are ready to learn some new tricks!

Are you ready??

Quick Change!


Almost completely forgot that I had signed up to a small challenge at my local GW (Staines UK)
They are running a "tale of" series for armies you do not normally use in your main collection.
There are points to be scored for participating in this, painting challenges and gaming results etc.

So the painting challenge for June was to paint 2 game legal units and then participate in a small 200 point kill team game.

I quick whizz through the bits and voila, I have Necrons to do! Now I have a painted Necron army from a few years ago. It was not very good, it was used maybe twice (and lost twice I recall) but since the Codex reboot and new models launched, what a great excuse to get re-animating the robots again!

So, a couple of days later I have 20 Necron warriors assembled/reassembled/primed and basecoated in a Valleo gun metal, washed with Mig Dark Rust and then again in Mig Engine Grease. They now look really old...
I have started working on an OSL-esque weapon glow on the first 10 - which actually can be 2x5 and thus achieve my painting requirement for June. The glow is orange for a change. I will try and replicate that around the eyes as well to give them a menacing un-natural looking power source.

The total army is supposed to be 1000 points by December I think I read correctly. Warriors alone I can get 390 points (I have a further 10 that need some basing) and then I can add in some of the new units recently released such as Tomb Blades and Wraiths and perhaps the new flyer and stalker kits for good measure. No doubt this will end up escalating to a full sized 2500 point army as with my old models added in it will be once again no small army. It just happens like that ok? Don't judge me!!

Tuesday 12 June 2012

Todays news


On topic the Predator Executioner is nigh on done! Just some minor finishing details and pictures to be taken and she is ready to hit the table top and unleash Plasma Blasting death rays!

Off topic, I finally (I think) had my final interview for a new job. Now this has been bubbling away for about 5-6 weeks at a guess as I went through several stages of interview. 2 from the HR recruitment team, 1 face to face with a Director, 1 telephone interview with the potential manager, 1 hour long technical test with a senior engineer, and now 2 telephone calls with guys in America (its a US firm after all and these guys I'd be working with in a virtual team). I am hoping an offer will shortly be on the cards as I cannot imagine anyone else being left to fival me at this stage surely...watch this space for further news.

Sunday 10 June 2012




End of the weekend 


I finally got some hobby time this weekend.
The Vindicator took a yellow glaze coat or three ready to begin detailing.
The Storm Talon now has its lascannons painted as does the Executioner.
The Seige Dread got some painting on him too!

I feel like I am batch painting 4 vehicles here, perhaps not an ideal thing to do for a "completion" ratio, but at the end, all of a sudden Ill be adding nigh on 500 points of models to the list very quickly indeed.

This week I hope to hear if I have a new job and fly off to Italy for my sister-in-laws wedding so hobby time this week will be limited to just Tuesday when I will be "working from home" teehee!

Ciao!

Saturday 9 June 2012

So whats new this weekend?


Well having had a few disasters to avert with dodgy Estate Agents (Realtors) about the sale of my house, I have gotten some hobby time in!

Right now I am 90% finished a Predator Executioner and half way through a Seige Dread and Storm Talon. All being added to the Imperial Fists. Mainly these are units that enable me to field the army as a normal 40k force, but are being styled in pre heresy capacities.

Friday 8 June 2012

Apocalypse!!!


Well we did get the huge game of Apocalypse in last Monday (with my broken toes too!) and had a blast.
40,000 points a side - yes 40k of 40k a side.
Played at GW Staines from 10am we eventually finished at about 11pm!!! Pics will follow as will a link to a battle report.
The Phantom was amazing...

Off Topic 2!


Well its been a week since my bike passed its tests, and I have now taken delivery of the tax disc too. However, I did drop the machine on my foot and broke my toes....so lots of pain since and no riding!

Friday 1 June 2012

Off topic alert.


I have had a large sports tourer motorbike since about the age of 25. So thats a while then...over 10 years. But for the past 18 months its sat in my garage depreciating rapidly and gaining zero miles.

So in the hope I get a new job thats not too far away, it will become the ideal commuting tool and inject some fun in the journey to work. As such, today it passed its MOT, serviced and new tax disc sorted. Time to squeeze into the leathers, don the lid and get biking. Cannot wait.

How many armies is enough?!


When I started out in this obsessive hobby, I was a painter. Not a great one at that, but nonetheless, the daunting prospect of entering a GW store other than to make purchases and play a game was rather scarey. So I didn't. For many years.

Now all that has changed of course and I am regularly seen at GW Staines every other Thursday pitching battles to other would be army generals in a battle of wit, plastic, dice and lots of luck.
I also attend these campaign weekends which I mentioned about before which take all weekend.

Anyway, I thought I would make a note of what armies I have, and how many points they are worth.

Warhammer 40k

This being my main game system I play on a regular basis, I have the following:
Imperial Fists.
A pre Heresy version using a fair bit of FW and some artistic licence from the team that bring us the 30k universe, 10,000 years before the current time line of the game
This force is currently residing at about 2700 points all painted, with as mentioned again before, a further 1300 to go.

Space Wolves.
My first  love of the game and first army were the viking warrriors in space. The models were metal, the detail amazing, and no other race really bettered them for a background story. My first army was sold a while ago as the models changed from metal to plastic.
Currently I have about 5000 points painted of these with plans for at least 3000 more.

Blood Angels
.When not fielding the IF, one of my main gaming armies is the BA. Although not painted (I feel) to the same standard as that of the others, the intention was to make this a Company collection and add parts to make it a tournament kind of force. Hence lots of Razorbacks are sitting awaiting painting as well as flying land raiders and a lot of Predators. However to make it a Company project required toning back on the paint a little from a detailed pwerspective and collect a lot of infantry too.
Right now it sits at 4900 painted with a further 2800 collected/assembled/primed or in other states of affairs.

Eldar.
Ah yes. The Eldar. See I don;t just collect Marines!!! Eldar started off as a campaign army and we chose to do an Iyanden craftworld. So from a humble 1900 point collection, I fell in love with the way they play and what models were available to collect from both GW and FW.
Since then, I bought a shed load more and painted a lot!
This is my main Apocalypse army as it contains all the main nasty units, D weapons, Titans and other superheavies.
It currently stands at 12,300 painted! A further 6500 is assembled or part finished as I work on new units as they are released or while on a break from painting BA. I suspect the collection to hit 20,000 points in the end and at that stage will possibly have to decide enough is enough.

Necrons.
I started a small Necron army under the old rules and codex. They seemed very popular at tournaments and seemed fast to paint. Until In decided on a scheme that took ages and was "pre airbrush". Since the new rules came out for them, the value of the models shrunk from 1500 to 1200.
I now have enough purchases (and some more to make since the new released came out) to take it back to 2000-2500.

Chaos.
My Chaos armies have come and gone. I had an old Death Guard force, at around 2000 points. It was ritually sacrificed to the pits of eBay a few years ago to make room for new models. As such I do not have a gameable army any longer but have a lot of models ready for the new release codex that is due shortly (we hope). That will force me to bring them back from retirement and back into main gaming play.
That said I do have a few models painted, in the Khornate scheme and sits at about 1000 points right now.
I also have an Iron Warrior army that needs some attention to bring back to the fore, and sits at about 2000 points. It is not very competetive and looks dated, but some effort can revive it!

Warhammer Fantasy Battle

Now I have played about 4 games of this in total. And I was not very good at making the transition from one system to another. However, it did make an ideal opportunity for new painting and new models :)

Dwarves.
I obtained at considerable discount a whole bunch of dwarves and started painting, then ran out of time and motivation.
I got to about 900 points done, with 1100 to go.

Tomb Kings.
The idea to paint fast and get a good army going. Did not really work out...I got to 2000 points, then the new book came out and new models released which I bought and have not touched since!

High Elves.
The new rules and a new boxed set, and some trades later gave be 3 lots of Elves from the Island of Blood Set.None have been painted...


Warriors of Chaos.
So switching tact and a good internet deal from Wayland Games I thought "Ah a smaller army = completion and gamable right?" And so it was! I painted nearly 3500 points worth with another 1000 to go. This army has seen the most action from myb 4 games, having used it twice and got smashed twice. Probably why it is back in storage...lack of gaming knowledge and being out magicked at every step as new armies were released and new rules came about!






Imperial Fist Booster - The Storm Eagle


Today I finally finished and took pictures of the new FW Storm Eagle, painted in my Heresy Imperial Fist colours.
The pilot was even converted up from some MkIII parts to ensure the consistency of the project overall.
The version I have done is the Multimelta and Lascannon variety with Vengeance Missiles.
The Lascannos are actually removable to swap in the alternate missile system.

Apocalypse


Having amassed such a few large armies (I'll go into those later I guess), when GW brought out a few years back the Apocalypse expansion, I was very excited. At last a chance to play with pretty much anything, Forgeworld models with no arguements, everything!
Big battles is where it is at. Epic style games at 28mm scale is brilliant!
Unfortunately opponents, playing space, and time are the big committments and resources that you need for this to play it properly. And copius snacks, drinks and pizza and good friends of course.

Apoc(alypse) is designed to be played with friends in a social encounter only. It is not for odd people to arrange with their collections as the game immediately can unbalance due to the fact some people have more money than others to spend and thus have some of the bigger powerful models. If one side has more than the other, the game is almost certainly going one way only.
However that said, over a few games and some experience in the matter, Formations is where the game really excels. Collections of models that make a formation gain some really cool bonus rules which can really bring the game into its own.

As I write, I have a planned Apoc game this coming Monday v's the Holloway Wargamers club against my local GW veterans club (The Staines Invaders - we have yet to embrace the new name of the Staines-upon-Thames Invaders...it doesn't have the same ring to it)
The plan is about 35000 points a side, which is pretty damn big. My previous biggest was 16,000 a side! So double that and there we go.

My main Apoc army is the Eldar. Graceful, elegent, arrogant, and full of beautiful MASSIVE titans and super tanks. What can go wrong. I will be fielding 8000 points and will be allied with some Marines and other Eldar players to make about 5 a side. Cameras at the ready, and prepare for war! Strength D. Its the only way...

Whats in a name?


So why "Haywiregrenade". Umm no tricky thing here really, its my username on all the forums that I frequent!

The obvious thing is that it is a piece of wargear that is found in Eldar armies that causes electomagnetic disruption on enemy vehicles.

Originally when I first ventured on to the forums after GW disbanded their own, I was known as Krak Grenade. The reason being that I played Space Wolves exclusively as my only army after a 10 year hiatus from the hobby as I got educated and started my working life.

Back then a Krak Grenade was a paid for item of wargear that was basically never taken. By anyone. So it was a useless piece of crap. I felt that was appropriate! Not that I was a useless piece of crap, I guess it was ironic. Now of course every Marine never leaves home without them as they are free and included in the models profile.

Once back as a fully fledged nerd, I started an Eldar army. Iyanden, for the yellow challenge! 6 years later and I now have amassed thosands (about 12k-14k painted at last guestimate) and as such switched to Haywiregrenade to reflect my new found love of things with pointy ears and low toughness.