Rock, Paper, Power Fist

We have all seen the growth of 40K cosplay and have noticed the increasing skill level. The You Tubes are packed with (mostly) awesome efforts. Check out this Imperial Fists Terminator for example. 

But this guy, he just nails it. The fully articulated power fist is a hell of a thing.

The video itself is not great but has some funny moments, like his interaction with the convention folk, and the annoyed looks he gets from a few 40K players as he walks into the gaming room, and power fist massage? probably not the best idea.

The Emperor Protects

Even cosplayers.

Quick Tau Picts

And ready for battle.

I managed to force some painting time into my overloaded schedule and I am happy with the result. I've said it before, I'm a gamer, not a painter. It only took three tries to find the right paints I used on the rest of my Tau army. I should have written that down somewhere. I have a battle against Matt's Tyranids later tonight so I will get to try out the Riptide for the first time.

Now with 85% less chance of ankle snapping.

I assembled the lone Broadside I was able to get, and sadly, I really like it. Now I need two more. The kit went together really smooth. I am a little sad that unlike the Riptide, there is really only one pose. I can live with that. Twin plasma rilfes or smart missile system, three head choices, a few different antennae/sensor thingies, a shoulder-mounted seeker missile, and two drones of three types give the kit plenty of options.
The new Broadside has a heavier feel to it, like it is a dedicated heavy unit and not just a normal Crisis suit with heavy weapons added. It is a great update to Tau the line.
Next up, battle report, Tau vs. Tyranids.

For the Greater Good

With Greater Battle Armor

Tau, Gundam style

Say 'ello to my big friend.

Like so many others in our little hobby, I love killer mecha. Which is one of the reasons the Tau and their anime inspired battlesuits appealed to me. I got my hands on a XV104 Riptide on Saturday. And it is a really nice kit. Easy to build with lots of options. It looks great and is quite big.

That's him officer, the one in the middle.

 I like the Riptide's name in different langues on the side of the box. XV104 Cataclismo has such a nice ring to it. After reading the New Codex I was torn on which weapon I would equip the Riptide with. So, I though, what would a crazy person do? Magnets! My first foray into the rare earth madness.

It was a pain, but well worth it. Fun fact, when working with powerful really small magnets, try to avoid mounting them close together. Like I did. Eventually. Taking a cue from Matt (whose magnetic insanity we will uncover later) marking one side with a red sharpie really helped, because those little bastards love to flip over at the worst time.
Time to go build the new Broadside suit. Without main weapon swapping.

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Just not from magnets

Relic has arrived

We'll take a moment out the 28mm version of 40K and have a quick look a Fantasy Flight Games (FFG) new board game, Relic. As most of you know, Fantasy Flight Games has been licensing out the things Games Workshop used to do; role playing games, card and boardgames set in the Warhammer & 40k universes.

A while back FFG did a new release of the classic GW Talisman, a Warhammer Fantasy board game. Relic is a 40K version of Talisman and full of typical outstanding FFG artwork and components.

In a nutshell, each player picks one of the ten Imperial characters and adventures around the map, completing missions and engaging enemies. You gain experience and wargear to help with more difficult foes. Ultimately you must acquire a powerful relic and fight the final battle with the evil that is threatening the sector. 

Relic looks great and I'll post a game report later this week after we have our first game.

Check out FFG's nice teaser for it here.

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In all forms

Death or Glory!

Promotion exam. Space Marine style.

Once again the Blood Angels try and stop the rampaging Ork horde. This time, Commander Matt really means it. 2000 points, Purge the Alien mission, Vanguard Strike deployment.

Wagonz 'n Ladz

The thin red line. And a land Raider.

First Ork mistake: I stole the initiative and charged right into boltgun range.
Second Ork mistake: By moving first it gave Matt's jump troops the charge.
Fix for said mistakes: More Rum!

Oops.

So all four of my trukks were blown to hell and the boyz badly mauled. Turn two; the bikers closed in on the Blood Angels flank; Battlewagon with a supa-kannon blew away the Furioso Dreadnought armed with the hated Blood Talons. The center of the field became a huge close combat mess. Matt's Vanguard dropped almost on top of my bikers and wiped them out in the assault phase. Mr. Angry Chaplain led a squad into the mass in the middle and broke the Ladz.

Time for chopped Ork.

Terminators kill 20, lose 3.

An Assault Terminator squad hopped out the Land Raider and started to work their way through my largest mob of boyz. Things were not going my way, so I sent my Warboss and firends in their Battlewagon into the center of Matt's Marines. Tank Shock with a Death Roller is a fun thing for an Ork player. None dare stand before you!

No, Mr. Marine, I expect you to die.

Except this one jerk with a Meltagun. Needless to say, one Marine can ruin your whole day. Making the most successful Death or Glory test I've ever seen. Not only did the Battlewagon blow up, it killed five Orks next to it and two Nobs on board. Thus my hopes for turning this game went up in a tremendous fireball.
The Vanguard squad piled on my HQ along with everybody else in red armor.

Zogging Marine boyz.

I put up a good fight, but it was over. And the final score was not kind:14-6 for the Blood Angels.
A very enjoyable match. The carnage between these two forces is always fun.

Next week: The Guard take the Zombie Challenge.

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And he doesn't like Orks

Pict Captures

Pete's "Space Marine" Predator.

The cure for all heretics.

Mrs. Blackheart's "Tempest" class super heavy grav tank.

This urban grey cammo works great! The Orks don't suspect a thing.

And then it went all pear-shaped for the Guard.

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When he is paying attention

Stompa Attack

Ork Walkers on the north ridge.

Some days you just need a straight up slug-fest. Fast moving, lots of carnage, no fiddling with unit cohesion, just big guns and big targets. So we had a 2500 point Apocalypse game. I brought a Ork Stompa mob, with air support. Mrs. Blackheart took lots of Guard tanks with a little tac air of her own.

You may fire when ready.

With four super-heavies on the table it would be a fine chance to try out the new damage rules from the Forge World website. In a nutshell; no more super-heavy damage tables,just roll on the normal table. Each structure point is equal to 3 hull points and a "6" on the damage table takes one structure point (3 hull points). A simple and clean system. We used the small green skulls for hull points, and a red die to mark SP. It worked very well.

Bandits inbound!

We were playing for victory points based on the cost of the unit. Full points if killed, half points if damaged. I had a good turn one smoking a pair of Leman Russ MBTs. Gillian's shooting was not quite on target and did a few points of damage. Next turn brought both my fighters on the table and another dead tank and a lot of damage to the Shadowsword. This was looking good for the Mob, one more turn and I would be in tank-tossing range.

It was not to be. The Hydra, which had waited fourteen years to shoot something down, blew a fighta-bomber out of the sky. The wreckage landed squarely on a Deffdread, causing it to explode, of course.
Concentrated firepower, with the coupe de grace delivered by the damaged Shadowsword took out the Stompa Gunhed. On my turn I charged foward and into the Guard's front line.

Zog the battlecannons! Full steam a...

Two more tanks went down to close combat attacks. Then the guard really started to shoot well. Boss Mauler exploded in fine style, the Hydra continued it's rampage and shot down my other fighta. The Valkyrie arrived and promptly smoked the Mega-dread. The tank ace in the Vanquisher took out the deffdread Tuska, leaving only Big Hugga, a deffdread with four close combat weapons and no guns.

Right before the Hydra did it's job. Again.

It's good to have friends in high places. With lots of las cannons.

Big Hugga killed one last tank before the Valkyrie ventilated him.

I dare you to go into hover mode!

With that, on the bottom of turn five, I was all out of Orks. A really fun fast game. I think the Orks could use a bit of a points boost in such a scenario, due to the lack of long range weapons.
Thanks to Mrs. Blackheart for great game. Now I want to try this against another armor heavy force, or even a "Godzilla" style Tyranid army.

The Emperor Protects

He gave us Shadowswords didn't he?