Another New iPad 40k App

Well, we continue to have some awesome iPad Apps rolling out under the warhammer IP.  A lot of people in the Warhammer internet community are making a stink about the number of games that Games-Workshop is releasing but I for one love it.  I think I'll add a couple reviews of past games since I seem to own quite a few of them.  The new game looks fun and I hope there's a little more customization.

What do you I really want from an App?  I want an RPG like game and an RTS.  Both have been done in other Apps but not with the Warhammer IP.  I think they would be awesome.  I'll let you know what I think of the new game as soon as it's released and I get a chance to play it.

My First 30k and 7th Ed Battle-Rep

So my first game and 30k was honestly pretty bad.  Basically I just wanted to get back into the flow of playing a game and also see what 30k was like in comparison to the typical 40k.  Since I don't actually have any models for 30k put together and based the store graciously allowed me to use some of theirs and build a small 1000 pt game.  

We only played on a 2 by 4 with pretty much no cover so there wasn't a lot of choice tactically  so as you can see I just basically set up in a straight line. and waited to see what would happen.  Another issue was that I honestly didn't really know what my units were, what they could do, or how to arm them.  For instance, I took the Iron Warriors specialty "Tyrant Terminators" and didn't realize that they could fire their cyclone missile launchers and storm bolters, or that every weapon they had was wrecker which would have been really handy in dealing with his armor.

The single thing that made the most important difference, however, was the fact that he had one of those crazy Whirlwind Scorpius's that fired D3+1 barrage that were AP3!!!  Can you believe that? In the picture below you can see that they totally destroyed me and even wiped out my armor.  Basically in the first salvo the game was over but it was still pretty fun learning the rules and seeing how the models worked and such.

So what do I think now?  Well I would love to actually play a game with some cover and tactics in addition to using my own models.  This game also really cemented my desire to play with Iron Warriors as there rules are just super cool.  I can't wait until Forgeworld releases Perturabo and Alpharius as those two guys are going to be beasts.  Overall, I'm excited to start really playing 30k in the coming months!  Let's see what I can build and paint in the meantime eh?

A Short Hiatus but For a Good Reason!

Well, I haven't in awhile and that is for a very good reason (at least in my opinion) my wife gave birth just over a week ago to a wonderful baby boy:

Loch Alexander Herrick was born on August 14, 2014.

He enjoys being milk drunk:

And our cat is still trying to figure what this new thing is!

Also, he's already been baptized with warhammer as the other night I was cleaning up some Forgeworld Resin products and a little piece of a shaving got caught in his leg fat.  Hopefully this is good for the future!

New Job, New Gaming Group!

So, I just relocated (sorta) to the South Bay area in Northern California and as such hobby and gaming time will be a bit difficult to come by for the next few weeks.  That being said, I am really excited about this move not only for my growing little family, professional development, and life but also because I will be around much more serious gamers and hobbiers!  I have already connected with a Facebook group of a local gaming store that is running a 30k escalation league, perfect for me and my new Forgeworld projects!  The store is call Apokalypse Gaming and is located halfway between work and home which means it's perfectly placed!

Why am I so excited about Apok Gaming?  Well, there are a number of reasons actually.  First, the people running the store are former GW employees who lost their jobs when GW closed the store in the mall.  They say that there is a large community and that community is focused on WHFB, 40k, 30k, and also some obligatory X-wing and MTG.  So, the terrain and armies that were in the store when I dropped by yesterday were awesome and well painted.  Second, there's no dedicated 40k night!  Normally this drives me nuts because the store doesn't actually want people gaming just buying at their store.  However, the reason Apok Gaming doesn't have a specific night for 40k is because people are always there willing to play and hobby!  As someone who is spending the next couple months living with my in-laws in the middle of nowhere, it's really nice to know that I can drop by any day after work and get some game or hobby time in, it's always more fun with friends!  Third, they actually have a WHFB group!  With WHFB losing a lot of popularity it has meant that my possible chance to actually learn how to play the game was diminished dramatically.  However, I dropped by the store yesterday to talk to one of the employees and he's going to do a demo game at 1500 pts with me on Thursday.  I'm much too excited about that for sure.

Overall I am super excited about this store especially since I don't have anything better to do in the evenings.  I might start bringing along my models to work so that I can drop by the store when I'm done and get some modeling in while waiting for the traffic to pass.  We'll see though because I also like working in the evenings and getting paid overtime!  I didn't bring a lot of my models out with my to California but I did bring most of the Eldar Ghost Warriors box set so that should be fun.  I honestly don't know how much work I'll get done on this since I'm pretty busy training and all but it should be a small little distraction.

Anyway, maybe my next post should be about some more background on the world I created, Al-Sear Prime?  That'll be good for me to think about and write.  Have fun gaming and hobbying till next time.

Alpha Legion Recon Squad Pt 3

So, as you can probably tell already I am a glacially slow at painting but I'm thinking that is getting better!   One of the hardest things to figure out right now is just how to paint using an airbrush.  It may seem weird but I've only ever painted with a brush and not really in sub assemblies.  Learning how to paint with an airbrush (and on Forgeworld models) tends to change things a bit so maybe I'll highlight my process here so any newbs to airbrushing can see what I do and I can learn from them.  That's the beauty of the wargaming community right?  We all learn from each other?

In these two pictures you can see that I decided to paint the backpacks and arms seperately, a move I have since decided to scrap unless absolutely necessary.  I found it was really difficult to actually control where the pieces were and trying to paint all of them at the same time was difficult.  

The backpacks were especially hard because I didn't use strong enough glue to hold them in place which meant the pressurized air pushed them in a circle as I painted them.  On the models I'm putting together now I have decided to put the backpacks on the model after the initial black undercoat.  This way if I can get to an area with the silver or blue it is already shaded and doesn't take a ton of extra time.

So far with the Forgeworld weapons I've decided that the best option is to keep them on the sprue and just make sure I have cleaned up all the flash and mold lines.  Since they only connect with a small part in the back I figure there will be very little touch up after the undercoat and most of the work on these will be done with a brush anyway.

The next two weeks might be a little heavy on non-airbrush and non-forgeworld stuff as I am starting a great new job in California, two states away, and my wife is 38 weeks pregnant and staying here in Utah to give birth.  This means some craziness in many directions but since I'll be living with the in-laws in California I'll have a little more time in the evenings to do blogging on some other topics and meet my new gaming group/club that I've already scoped out in the Bay Area.  I'm looking forward to the move and getting around a good Warhammer Community and hopefully some soon to be good friends.