Totally Off-Subject

This is why I love volleyball!

A Lazy Sunday...

It was a lazy summer and too hot and humid out to do much and I wasn't in the mood to model or paint, so me and my middle daughter pulled out my copy of the Wrath of Ashardalon.  The second of three of Dungeons  Dragons adventure board games, we quickly skimmed through the rules (because I hadn't played it yet), and sat down for our first adventure.  I played a Dragonborn Wizard and she chose the Elf Paladin.  It was suggested in the rules that we play the second adventure for our first game.  The goal was to kill 12 monsters to win.  To make a long story short, we cut down 7 before the Paladin succumbed to her wounds and we lost. 

As board games go, it was a lot of fun, with similar mechanics to the 4th edition DnD RPG.  Gameplay was fast and smooth once we got the hang of the phases of the turn.  Can't wait to play again.

First Space Wolf Painted

Here's my first Space Wolf HQ, Branek Stormhowler.  Young by Rune Priest standards, but a fierce warrior well on his way to creating his own saga.

I built this model from spare Space Wolf bits and the staff is made from a Grey Knight Warding Stave. I gave the armor a blue tinge in the tradition of standard Space Marine Librarians.

The Plan

A brief glance at my starting army list shows an obvious lack of experience and imagination, but I assure you that in the future, as the army/collection develops, there will be changes.  The plan is to shift some models to other units to make room for models with upgrades such as Mark of the Wulfen and/or Wolf Standard, etc.  I'd also like to base the fluff off of the codex background and make each model as unique as possible: a true collection.

Getting Started with 6th Edition

As I mentioned in my last post, I'm going with Space Wolves for 6th edition.  Now for all intents and purposes, I am a complete amateur and my army lists will reflect that.  But I am not a competitive player in terms of having to win.  I play for the fun of the game and getting away from the chaos of every day life.  So my first list will be around 700 points and was created based on models that I was able to acquire cheaply or already had on hand.

HQ
Rune Priest - wolftooth necklace, saga of the warrior born (145)

Elite
Dreadnought - multi-melta, stormbolter, close combat arm (105)

Troops
10 Grey Hunters - power fist, melta gun x2 (180)
10 Grey Hunters - power fist, melta gun x2 (180)

Heavy
Predator - autocannon, heavy bolter sponsons, h/k (95)

705 points

Again, not much in the way of firepower or anti-tank, but I pretty much have to learn this game all over again, so I'm choosing this as a starting point and take it through it's paces before deciding my next steps or investing any more money on an army that I'm not having any fun with.

My New 6th Edition Army

I've decided that my new army for 6th Edition will be Space Wolves.  I've always wanted to do this, but never really got this project off the ground. I'm going to start small at about 750 - 1k and build out from there. Over the next week, I'll work up a list, get some models and start building/painting.  My Grey Knights will be moved to an Allied support unit consisting of a couple of squads.  I'd like to add some Imperial Guard units later on down the line.

To test drive the new psyker cards, I think my initial HQ will have to be a Rune Priest. Should be fun.

Mission Accomplished!

I picked up the 6th Edition Rulebook yesterday morning.  Dang, is this book heavy! I wanted to grab a set of the new vehicle markers as well as the objective markers, but I was told that the release got pushed back for some reason or another.  I took a look at the new templates and the tape measure, but wasn't very impressed, so I passed on those. 

Anyway, I thumbed through the book and did like the layout, a disappointment that I'd like to share is the miniatures gallery.  It seemed to me that they were all pretty much re-printed images from the various codices. For me, one of the most appealing aspects of the game is the visual part - fantastically painted models, so I'm a bit disappointed about that part, but otherwise a nice-looking book.

Now I'm going to set about reading AND mastering the rules so stay tuned.

6th Edition Looms...There is only GAMING!

Unless you've been living under a rock for the past month, everyone knows that the 6th Edition of Warhammer 40,000 releases this weekend. I, like countless others will be searching between seat cushions and emptying piggy banks to grab the new rulebook.  Sadly, I had little time to play 40k's 5th edition, but all that is going to change.  I'm going to make time to actually learn this version...no...scratch that. I'm going to MASTER this version. Now I my only dilemma is deciding on an army.  I want my next project to be a single-minded project that I attack with a passion.  So, I'm not sure what that will be, but we'll see after this weekend.  I continue to whittle away at my Grey Knights, but I want something that I can call my own and actually COLLECT long term.

Happy Father's Day

Of course, my dad never got into wargaming and therefore doesn't even know that this blog exists.  Nor does he know what a blog even is, but I love him just the same.  He's one of my heroes and today, I wish him all of the best.  Happy Father's Day, dad.  Love you.

I'd also like to wish all of the dads out there a Happy Father's Day!  Enjoy, you deserve it.

Hammer

Good 'Ol Days

I got into gaming back in 1979 with Dungeons and Dragons and those were some great times.  These days, it seems that wargames and roleplaying games have become to complex and companies are producing and selling every tiny gaming aid that they can think of, just to make money.  What happened to the good 'ol days when friends could sit around the table with a set of dice, some paper, pencils and about a dozen miniatures between them and enjoy hours of fun and adventure?  Those were great times! AND mom and dad always knew where you were.  There was no need for cell phones and text messages to keep tabs on your kid.  Just call Joey's house and check with his mom to make sure you were safe.

Well, I was at a local book resale shop, cashing in some stuff I no longer had any use for and what did I find?  The Dungeons and Dragons Basic Set from 1980!  The box was a little worn, but the rulebook and module was in great shape.  Immediately, all those memories flooded back into my head and when I regained consciousness, I was at the check out counter and the cashier was ringing up my purchase.

As I got home and started reading the old book, I thought how easy it was to play this game and I started rolling up characters.  My daughters saw what I was doing and and asked me about it, so I shared some of those memories with them and now they want to give it a try.  We're going to sit down and roll up some characters this weekend and see how it goes.

Grey Knight Test Model

I finished painting (except for the blade) my first Grey Knight model.  This is my first model with he new paint line and so far, I don't have any complaints.  The colors went on smooth. While I'm still learning to manipulate the various types (bases, layers, etc), I do like the darker tone of the armour.  I haven't painted the blade yet because I'm not exactly sure how to paint that part.  I was at my local GW store yesterday and one of their master painters showed me a way to paint.  It looked great, but I"m going to have to practice before implementing it.

I plain to try the new texture paints to the bases later this week. But I'm going to get to work on the rest of the strike squad to move things along.

New (Old) Project - Grey Knights

I've decided that my lead project for this blog with be a Warhammer 40k project. An old project that I have a renewed interest in and one that I intend to work on this summer.  As my lead project.

Grey Knight will be my choice. After reading the Horus Heresy novel, Know No Fear, I immediately jumped into The Emperor's Gift, by Aaron Dembski-Bowden.  This is a brand new novel about the Grey Knights.  So far, it's been a great read, with no lull (at least, for me) in the storytelling.  I had started a Grey Knights project when the codex was released, but I quickly lost interest due to the lack of CURRENT background.  The older novels were out of date and didn't match the codex. It seems I can be a bit neurotic when it comes to my armies adhering to published material (call me crazy - it's just my thing).  But this new story is loaded with material.

So I'm starting my project with a single box of Grey Knights and a Stormraven Gunship (which I had laying around, unassembled).  My plan is to work on a 1,250 point list and move forward from there. Summer's here and as I had mentioned in earlier posts, my schedule has opened up a bit, so I have every intention of getting some heavy 40k gaming done.  Consider this a Warhammer summer!

Review: Know No Fear

I just finished reading this book over the weekend and I can say that this has become my favorite book in the Horus Heresy series so far.  It was a masterfully written war novel with a vivid, epic feel.  I was very impressed with the portrayal of the Ultramarines, a chapter that I have not had much interest in collecting, but now I'm starting to see the potential.  But we'll see.  So, in short the book an awesome read and I got through it in about three days.  It's been some time since I've actually read a book that I could not or would not put down. 

White Dwarf #390

  Got out to the Orland GW and picked up my copy of White Dwarf (June 2012).  I've two issues left before my subscription runs out and they tried talking me into renewing, but I heard that unless I have it sent to my house, I won't be able to received before the actual store release.  Which, for me at least, defeated the purpose.  I know it's a pretty decent savings, but I"m just getting tired of Games Workshop not doing enough to keep their current customers.  I don't want this to turn into a rant, but it seems they just make one stupid business decision after another, such as the ridiculously high price increases that occur every summer.  I'm not sure how much longer I'll be staying in this hobby before I start searching for greener (and cheaper) pastures.

Speaking of green, you may have noticed that I deleted my Aurora Chapter posts.  That'll be a story for another time.  I think right now, I"m going to sit down and check out my new White Dwarf.

I'm Free!!!!!!

Yay! I'm free! I get my life back!! I have fulfilled my last obligation for the school year and I am now a free man. My life has been non-stop kids sports and activities since early September.  I have three beautiful daughters, all of which enjoy sports. So living by the philosophy that a parent should take an active part in their childrens' lives, I decided about seven years ago to start coaching.  Needless to say, I only had one kid participating back then.  Well now it's soccer, volleyball, softball and cheerleading (I'm only a spectator at cheerleading).  As the school year comes to a close, I treated my daughter's 8th grade volleyball team to a round of Buffalo Wings.  We had some laughs and tears as we all realized that our time as a team was now over.  I don't regret a minute of it, but a part of me is glad its over.  For the summer at least.  I now intend to take some Dad time and get back to some gaming.

This weekend I'm going to dive into my Space Marines and do some reading and maybe sit up 'til all hours watching DVDs. I'm really looking forward to summer this year.  As I said, it's been a hectic year with the kids, a new job, knee surgery and whatnot.  I can't wait to get started.

Venturing Into Unexplored Territory

As you may have guessed, I've fallen a little behind in my Aurora Chapter army.  The good news is that I haven't started any other projects.  So in an effort to catch up, I'm  pulling out the spray gun that I bought last year, but until now have not had the guts to use.  I stopped in to visit my good buddy Tim at the Chicago Battle Bunker and he gave me some useful pointers on how to use GW's spray gun.  My goal is to finish up the SM battle force that I started before breaking into any bigger tanks or adding any other units to my army.  I did base coat 5 tactical marines with a brush, but it's taking a little too long, so I'm going to go ahead and give the spray gun a shot this week.  Once I"m caught up, I'll get a game or two in and then expand the force and maybe turn my gaze toward a Necron battle force. 

A Night Off

Last night, I spent a relatively quiet night around the house.  The rain kept me from having practice for my oldest daughter's softball team and my wife had to a training class for some school related thing.  So, I gathered my paints and models (yes, paints), flipped through the DVR to catch up on last week's episode of Fact or Fact and set to work on my Aurora Chapter.  I chickened out on the spray gun and grabbed my tank brush and started base coating my Tactical Squad.  I still haven't found out what ration of paint to water that I should use with the new paints, but I just haven't gotten around to calling my local Games Workshop.

Anyway, I got down to painting and got two models base-coated then took a break and checked out GW's daily blog and saw some awesome-looking Raven Guard models. After shaking off the trance I was in, I stepped away. But the damage may have already been done.  I want a Raven Guard army. Starting to panic, I ran back to my green paint and got back to work.  I need to stay focused.  Aurora Chapter, Aurora Chapter, Aurora Chapter.......

Glue Gripe!

I don't know if it's some new formula Games Workshop has switched to, but I have to say that I'm getting more than a little aggravated at the quality of their plastic glue. It doesn't seem to fuse the joins as well as it used to.  In fact, it doesn't seem to fuse them at all.  I was just base coating one of my space marines and the arm fell right off!  The bond is no where near what it used to be. Thanks GW! Someone let me know if there's a better glue out there (plastic) that works with GW plastic kits.

6th Edition Rumors As Motivation

So Fait 212 is reporting some 6th Edition background (I hate the word 'fluff') rumors.  The rumor mill is essentially reporting that the Tau will become a Xenos race that will fall under the protection of the Space Marines (an effort led by the Ultramarines).  If this turns out to be true, then I  would imagine that many chapters descended from that chapter will follow.  Well it just so happens that the Aurora Chapter just happens to be one of them. It also sounds like the new background is going to fracture certain elements of the Imperium.  Can't wait for the release.  Head on over to Fait 212 to read more.

Review: Legion Of The Damned

Just finished Legion of the Damned the other night (Space Marine Battles Novel series), and I have to honestly say that for me, this book was a big disappointment.  I had a hard time getting into Excoriators Chapter.  I've never heard of them and it seems that they were only created for this book.  Somehow, I didn't sense that they fit into the Warhammer 40k universe.  I also was disappointed with how little of the Legion was actually in the book.  I'll keep it on the shelf because it's a part of the series, but I wouldn't read this one again. 

New Goodies

Not much in the way of gaming, but I made it out to the nearest GW store to grab my copy of White Dwarf today and also stopped at my local Comic Store to pick up some comics and found the latest Heroclix Starter Set, The Avengers.  Based on the upcoming movie, I, like many others am swiftly getting caught up in superhero fever, so I bought it.  I always enjoyed the game of Heroclix.  It's a fun, fast-paced and simple tabletop game to play  that's portable (took a Green Lantern version on vacation a couple years back).  This starter set comes with the most updated rules, dice, 6 figures and full-color battle maps.  The new set contains 42 figures that are comprised of characters from all of the recent Marvel movies (Captain America, Thor, and Iron Man).  Looking forward to collecting these and playing a few games.

Weekend Update

Had another busy weekend, filled with kids sports and family, but I did sneak out very early on Saturday morning to catch a glimpse of the forces gathered for Adepticon.  I'm lucky enough to live on the southwest side of Chicago and I'm about 25 minutes from the Westin Hotel where the event was being held.  I'm not a power gamer (nor a competitive one for that matter), choosing instead to play for pure enjoyment and relishing the visual aspect of tabletop wargaming, so I grabbed a camera and headed out. I haven't sifted through all of the pics yet, but I'll have them up this week.  But as always, I enjoyed every second.

I started working on my Aurora Chapter army, getting a Tactical Squad put together. I'm beginning with a Space Marine battleforce, a Predator and a SM Commander's kit and then go from there. This army is made up of what I had laying around the house after the spring clean up in my work area.  I could not believe all of the unused kits that I had. 

I think this time around, I'll get the first part of the army built and start playing (painting as I go).  While I detest playing with an unpainted army, if I wait until all my models were painted, I'd never get beyond a combat patrol list.  My goal here is to get back into gaming as quickly as possible. The first phase of the list will be something like this:

SM Captain
10-man Tac Squad
5-man Tac Squad
Rhino Transport
5-man Assault Squad
5-man Scout Squad
Predator

I'll work out the details and best weapons load outs as I go along.  The upside is the work week has started and that's when I get most of my modeling/painting done.  I use that as way to maintain my sanity as I battle through the everyday labors of life.

Forgeworld Does It Again - Apothecaries!

Saw this in Forgeworld's lastest e-mail blast today.  Wow! Their models just get cooler and cooler.  You gotta love when the Adeptus Astartes get some love.  I will be ordering these babies for my upcoming Aurora Chapter project.  Thank God payday is next week.

What I like about these models (besides the awesome detail) is that they are generic, so they can easily be included in any chapter, the older power armour gives each one a unique look which will stand out on the table and the Aurora Chapter being a second founding chapter, allows for the armour to fit in with the army, historically.

A Fresh Start!

It seems that my old blog, Kantor Base has run it's course. I haven't seen a new follower in months, and truth be told - I have severely neglected the blog. Shame on me. I could cite dozens of excuses, but none of them would justify that kind of neglect. So, I've decided to start anew, here in Hammer's Hall. The first step was, of course to start this blog. The next step is to decide what type(s) of content will appear, going forward. For that, I'll have to contemplate on the various aspects of my life and select which elements to share with the masses. Most certainly, this will include wargaming. I love wargaming.

The final and most difficult step will be to make the commitment to consistently post to the Hall. Which I guess, begs the question: How often will I post to the blog? I have what many would consider a very busy life. I'm a father of three and it seems that there are not enough hours in a day, but I have recently promised myself that I would start making a little more time for myself. With all girls in my house, there is little room for the manly art of wargaming, so I will probably being pursuing this more outside the confines of my home. But I also mean to share my adventures through wargaming with everyone. So, in the coming weeks, months and hopefully years, I will be posting my experiences here.