Possible Guard list

070104APR10
I'm closing on a final Guard list. I thought I'd share the current iteration.

HQ: Company Command Squad with a medi-pack, a vox-caster, a mortar, and an Officer of the Fleet: 120
Troops: Infantry Platoon
Platoon Command Squad with a power fist, a vox-caster, the platoon standard, a heavy flamer, replacing lasguns with laspistols: 85
Infantry Squad with a vox-caster, a grenade launcher, and an autocannon: 70
Infantry Squad with a vox-caster and a flamer: 60
Heavy Weapons Squad with three lascannons: 105
Troops: Infantry Platoon
Platoon Command Squad with a power fist, a vox-caster, the platoon standard, a heavy flamer, replacing lasguns with laspistols: 85
Infantry Squad with a vox-caster, a grenade launcher, and an autocannon: 70
Infantry Squad with a vox-caster and a flamer: 60
Elites: Ogryn Squad: 130
Elites: Guardsman Marbo: 65
Fast Attack: Scout Sentinel Squadron with three autocannon-armed Sentinels and camo-netting: 150

In this iteration, the Company Command would sit in the rear with the lascannons and autocannons, aiming for tanks and the like (autocannon-armed Infantry Squads would screen in front of the Heavy Weapons). I realize I have an Officer of the Fleet in this list, but I would likely swap him out for whatever's most appropriate (Master of Ordnance for, say, Ork mobs and big 'nid swarms, an Astropath when I have no other needs; I don't see Bodyguards being all that useful here). Flamer-armed Infantry Squads would form the front of the tiered gunline to act as a screen and counter-charge. Platoon Commands and the Ogryns would remain in the front to act as skirmishers. The Sentinels harass from the flanks. Marbo's (or rather this army's equivalent's) role is to pop in at the most inconvenient location to irritate and annoy (from cover, of course).
May be worth testing with some old Guard models (I don't have everything, of course, but I can sub some other models in).

Masterclass Telion (or as close as I get to masterclass)

060140APR10
For the record, playing WoW while trying to update the blog is not a good idea; avoid it if possible.
I promised pictures of Telion when I finished. I'd say he's at least close enough to finished that I can post them (which probably means I'm not going to work on him one bit more). I'm more than a little pleased with how the fellow turned out.

He may not actually be "masterclass" compared to some of the other stuff I've seen, but he's certainly one of the best, if not the best, I've ever painted. (I've been asked this since my last post, so let me just be clear that I am not an Ultramarines player; I just felt like painting one for laughs).
I've also started work on the Keepers. The vehicles' interiors are all painted up, so now it's just the exteriors that need work, and my first Tactical Marine is done, too.



Here's the list I've built, 1,000 points. Will it win? Heck if I know, but it was fun building it and I'm looking forward to painting it.

HQ: Space Marine Captain with a power fist and a combi-melta: 135
Troops: 10 Tactical Marines with a flamer, a missile launcher, a combi-melta, and a Rhino: 215
Troops: 5 Tactical Marines with a flamer, melta-bombs, a chainsword, and a Razorback: 135
Troops: 5 Tactical Marines with a plasma gun and a Razorback: 140
Elites: Venerable Dreadnought with a plasma cannon: 175
Elites: Terminator Assault Squad with 3 thunder hammers & storm shields: 200
Total: 1,000 points

It's been a long time since I've played vanilla Marines, so I honestly can't say for certain how good this list is. I'll almost certainly have this army with me next time I'm at GW in the hopes of getting a test run.
Speaking of lists, the reason why there have been no real updates on my reborn Imperial Guard army is because I'm having trouble making a good list for it that keeps to the light infantry theme. Right now the list revolves around an Infantry Platoon supplemented by some close-quarters oriented Veterans (the platoon would act as a gunline, Infantry Squads protecting the Heavy Weapons Squads and the Company Command Squad, while Veteran Squads and the Platoon Command Squad run around and harrass the enemy as they close). I've never had a good experience running an all-gunline list, so I wanted to make sure I had a few things here and there to slow them down (later expansions would likely see some Ogryns thrown in there). I've toyed with the idea of an all-close-quarters list, but while inexpensive I don't see it working well at all. Any veteran IG players got any ideas? (Among the two of you who read this nonsense and blah?)
(Yes, I know Blood Angels just came out and I apparently should be making one of their lists. Fact is, I have a Space Wolves army that needs painting, a Codex chapter starting out, a Guard list in the future, and a recently massively expanded Empire army that needs lots of work. Blood Angels are interesting, but not enough that I'm going to start building one of those in favor of these current projects.)

Update

010202APR10
Such a bland title, but I suppose it's appropriate as I'm afraid I don't have much information to share. School has taken on something of a punishing tempo, and looks like it's going to continue in that vein for some time. Not exactly my preferred way to kill time (for the most part; the actual biological weapons classes are fascinating in a singularly morbid and disturbing way), but oh well.
During what little free time I do have I have been working on my first "master-class" model (at least that's the term I have heard used to describe a maximum effort): Scout Sergeant Telion. This thing is for the Fair Oaks GW Birthday Mini-Daemon, so I'm taking my time with it; the event is in a week and a half but I'm only about 2/3 done with it. I really wanted to do Calgar or Sicarius, but I don't see myself as having the time to do that particular fellow justice. Next time . . .
(No, I don't play Ultramarines, nor do I intend to play Ultramarines.)
Next time I do one of these I'll post WIP pictures; I apologize for not having them this time, but I didn't think about it until about an hour ago.
I realize it's April Fool's Day. Fear not, I have put no strange, tasteless jokes in here.

Ugh . . .

240252MAR10
Laxity on the blog updates is due to midterms. (Come to think of it, I can blame grad school for the all of the slowness of my posting.) They'll be done by tomorrow, but alas, I haven't any new pictures to post then. Instead, I give you a brief update on the state of things (just because I haven't in awhile):
I am finally caving in and getting one of those nifty sprayguns. Anyone who has seen any of my armies on the table knows I almost never field fully painted armies because I end up buying and building at a far greater rate than I paint (which I like to think manifests in the quality of my work, but I leave that to you, oh few readers, to judge). This thing ought to massively increase the rate at which I paint, particularly those grueling Space Wolves and the multitude of Empire State Troops (lest we discuss my future Imperial Guard rebuild).
I've finished collecting all 1,000 points of the Keepers. They'll be built for the big painting competition soon (except the vehicles, I'm leaving them partly assembled so I can try my hand at painting the interiors).
I have now played a few games of War of the Ring. I found Gimli to be absolutely disgusting; the diminutive fellow pretty much crushed an entire formation of Mordor orcs on his own (or rather his company did; Epic Rampage FTW!). It's definitely a great game, and abominably fun, but I find I actually like the skirmish game better. To me, it felt like WotR was trying to be a strange mix of LotR and Fantasy, and while that's not necessarily a bad thing . . . I don't know, I think I like both of those games better than WotR. (Just to be clear, WotR was an absolute delight, and I hope more people start playing it, but given a choice between it and any of the other game systems, and I'll probably take one of the other ones.)
Alas, it is back to the grind of studying for me.

Keepers update

142242MAR10
Google Analytics is awesome. For example, I know that there have been people poking around this blog and reading this drivel from several states in the U.S. (primarily Virginia, of course, but I recall seeing New York and California in there), and even some European countries (the U.K., Germany, and Spain). I honestly hadn't expected anything of the sort before several months had passed. Is not that just cool?
Now, I know I've waxed lyrical about my themed Imperial Guard army, but I find I have very little interest in actually making that army right now. Oh, I intend to in the future, but I just don't feel like it at the moment. What I do feel like doing, however, is concentrating on the Keepers.
Remember that Captain from not-so-long-ago?

Unfortunately, after making this guy I finalized the theme and design of the Keepers slightly differently from how he's painted. Rather than mess with his paint scheme, however, I think I'll leave him as a sort of record of how the Keepers have evolved over the months.
I couldn't come up with a satisfactory theme for the longest time; would the Keepers be a new chapter? Old? Converted to depict a raid on an Eldar craftworld? Fighting Tyranids? Orks? Traitors? How would I base it?
None of those ideas really stood out at me. Instead I went with focusing on the chapter's lore. It took awhile, but I eventually arrived at the idea of using Japanese mythology as my basis. The squads are all named after legendary dragons (e.g. the Yamata no Orochi), and individual named models take names from similar sources (e.g. Captain Susanoo and Honoured Brother Urashima). The chapter itself is from the 21st "Cursed" Founding; their misfortune is represented by constant raids on their recruiting worlds, including the total loss of their homeworld Amaterasu (along with over 70% of their chapter, leaving them in a nearly Crimson Fists-like state). They now operate out of the deep space station/Fortress-Monastery they call the Citadel.
There's word of a painting contest at GW Sugarland starting up in the near future: build, convert, and paint a 1,000 point army of any game system. This provides a fine excuse to finally rebuild my Keepers. I'm still playing around with the list, but here's what I'm thinking of:

HQ
Space Marine Captain (Captain Susanoo) w/ a power fist, a combi-melta, and artificer armour: 150

Elites
Venerable Dreadnought (Honoured Brother Urashima) w/ a plasma cannon: 175
Terminator Assault Squad (Squad Ryuujin) w/ thunder hammers and storm shields: 200

Troops
Tactical Squad (Squad Orochi) w/ ten Marines, a flamer, a missile launcher, a combi-melta, and a Rhino: 215
Combat Squad (Squad Watatsumi) w/ five Marines and a Razorback: 130
Combat Squad (Squad Mizuchi) w/ five Marines and a Razorback: 130

Total point cost: 1,000

It needs work, of that I have no doubt; there's barely anything to take out enemy armor, for example. (Okay, there's a missile launcher and a plasma cannon, which can take down light to medium armor from range, Susanoo and Squad Ryuujin all have tank-buster melee weapons, and a couple of combi-meltas, but there's nothing beyond Strength 8 right now; something to consider for the inevitable army expansions.) Mayhaps the handful of people who read this drivel have some suggestions (I know some of you are experienced Space Marine players) or comments on the theme?

More Blood Angels stuff and the War of the Ring

121543MAR10
If you'll permit me a moment of bitching, does anyone but me think it's abominably rude when you make a head call (more commonly referred to as going to the bathroom) in the middle of your turn? Seriously, you couldn't do that as I was doing my movement, you have to wait until your shooting phase? That was the first, and hopefully only, game of 40k during which I struggled to maintain a sense of sportsmanship and decorum with my opponent, as well as the first and hopefully only game I did not have fun.
Moving on from the complaints section, after actually looking through the Blood Angels codex a little more thoroughly, I discovered there's no way to have an all Dreadnought army (except the HQ choices). Alas, but they've got awesome models strewn across their choices anyway (and damn but I can't wait to see what they come up with for the Stormraven). I came up with an experimental 1500 point list; I wrote it up quickly without really working on a strong plan for it, but still . . .

HQ: Captain Tycho (Death Company variant): 175
Troops: 15 Death Company with 2 power fists, 2 power weapons, 2 hand flamers, 1 infernus pistol: 405*
--Dedicated Transport: Land Raider Crusader: 250
Troops: Death Company Dreadnought with magna grapple: 140
Troops: Death Company Dreadnought with magna grapple: 140
Troops: 5 Tactical Marines with flamer and chainsword: 90
--Dedicated Transport: Razorback: 55
Troops: 5 Tactical Marines with flamer and chainsword: 90
--Dedicated Transport: Razorback: 55
Heavy Support: Whirlwind with hunter-killer missile: 100
Total: 1500 points
*No there was no rhyme or reason for those weapon selections, I did it to fill in the points

That list is liable to get modified in many strange ways before the Blood Angels actually get released (likely in the form of being shrunk down to 1000 points, as that is my "experimental-army-I'm-just-trying-out-for-now" size).
Changing tracks here, I've built up my Lord of the Rings army to be fully playable for War of the Ring. I don't have a rulebook, so someone might be able to point out something terribly wrong with it (I'm fairly sure the Epic Hero or Legendary Formation leading it can be an ally; at least that's what I'm banking on). I'm hoping more people jump on this system (kind of like I keep hoping to find more Fantasy games . . .), as it is abominably fun. Here's what I have:

Epic Hero: Gandalf the Grey: 200
Common Formation: 3 companies of Dwarf Warriors with a Captain and a Banner Bearer: 205
Common Formation: 2 companies of Dwarf Warriors with shields and a Captain: 130
Common Formation: 2 companies of Dwarf Archers: 70
Common Formation: 2 companies of Dwarf Rangers: 70
75 points of Fortune
Total: 750 points

It may be a bit odd to have Gandalf leading a dwarf army (I really need to get a Gimli model or something . . .), but that provides the army with some crazy magic that the dwarves don't otherwise have access to. All I need now is an opponent (which exemplifies my general status with Fantasy, now that I think about it . . .).
I never know how to gracefully end these posts . . . Old Booj, Out.

WIPs and Blood Angel thoughts

072051MAR10
I have now empirically proven that a great way to get funny looks (which I would advise against) is to interrupt the Commanding General in the middle of his address with a hearty "Oorrah!" Unless, of course, you want to irritate all of the colonels and sergeants major around you.
Reflex reactions may save your life one day, but they can also leave you feeling mighty uncomfortable on another.
Anyhow, Gamer's Lounge has put up their second podcast, go listen. Apparently Jay and Bill read this drivel because they mention my last post in it. Grand stuff, though I must point out that I'm not making a Traitor Guard list; that's Cathal at 4 Ones (http://4-ones.blogspot.com/). I hate pointing out errors in an otherwise delightful podcast, but I'd rather not be known as a Traitor player. The irony is that I have yet to play a game against either of those two. One of these days I'll have to take care of that; they'll probably wreck me, but that's immaterial to the notion of the amount of fun to be had.
As the post's title points out, I have some works-in-progress for you. The first is one of the new Space Marine Venerable Dreadnoughts. This kit is, without a doubt, one of the most awesome kits I have ever messed with (that may not be saying much, but whatever), and even if you don't play Space Marines or 40k, you may want to get one just because it is awesome. I have left the arms unglued so I can swap them out as necessary.

You ever see that great picture of a bomber (a B-52 if memory serves) with its payload laid out in front of it and a football-esque caption? That's what I think of. "The Xenos have won the toss, and have elected to receive."
Next up is my codex chapter's (the Keepers) Captain. He's not done, but should look all manner of awesome when he is. (He's also taken two days to get to this point, so it won't be anytime soon.)

His cloak is something of an exercise in blending, and his shoulder pad (and eventually the banner) is one in free-handing.

Finally, some finished works. The first are a bunch of Space Wolves; the fuzzy-ish one on the left is a Long Fang (and dear God what a pain his shoulder pad was), the ones other two are Grey Hunters. Difficult though they may be, I am rather pleased with how they turned out.

The fellow on the far right has proven himself in the Kill Teams scenario in the new Battle Missions book. Great book.
Finally, we have a Fantasy Imperial Marksman. Note the Outrider's cloak, I think it gives him a rather romantic (or, perhaps, elitist) look.

On a completely separate note, I stopped by GW Sugarland earlier today (to pick up their last Venerable Dreadnought), and found an absolutely delightful surprise: the black box containing the Blood Angels preview. Those sprues are amazing, and just based on those I feel compelled to make a Blood Angels (or, more likely a Blood Angels successor chapter) army. What cinches it, however, is what I found in the codex itself, specifically the Blood Angels army list: the Furioso Dreadnought, an Elites-choice psyker (yes, psyker); the regular Dreadnought playing Heavy Support; and, best of all, a Troops choice dreadnought whose name I can't remember at the moment. That means you can field up to twelve (!) dreadnoughts per army. Alas, there is no choice for an HQ dreadnought (like the Wolves have), but you can bet, without any shadow of doubt, I will be making a Blood Angels army consisting of a mass of dreadnoughts, properly upgraded, likely in Drop Pods (if I can convince myself to make and paint more of the blasted things), with the final points filled up with HQ choices. Will it be a successful list? Probably not, but let's face it, a mass of dreadnoughts would be ridiculously fun to play with and an awesome sight on the field.
That's all for now. Old Booj, Out.