A New Year, A New Way To Paint

As my army has grown, and my slow plodding progress in painting hasn't picked up speed, I've started to get worried that I'm going to burn myself out before I finish my Ork army.  I'm not speedy, and I'm probably marginal with my skill at best.  That's not to say I don't enjoy painting, I do.  However, I got Assault on Black Reach, an Ork Trukk, a Killa Kan, and another set of 20 Assault on Black Reach Ork Boyz over the holidays.  Combine with that my Stormboyz I'm almost done with and my Nobz and Warboss I hadn't started yet, and you can see where I would start to feel overwhelmed.  I want to spend time making my Warboss, Killa Kan, and Ork Trukk look really good, but I'm afraid I'll either never get to the Boyz, or the Boyz will take so much time I'll never get to the other pieces.

So I decided perhaps I should attempt a quicker, although not necessarily simpler painting method.  So after researching and getting an understanding for it, I attempted the Dip Method of painting.

Chaos Rising Unit Profile: The Librarian

And coming in from the Dawn of War II guys is this:  The first unit profile of the new units coming to DoW2 with the Chaos Rising expansion pack.  First unit profiled?  The Librarian.

Can I get a Hell YEAH?

The Librarian, for those who don't know, is the defining unit of the Blood Ravens.  Since the chapter has no knowledge of their origins they prize information over everything.  This has brought them an inordinate number of Librarians compared to other Space Marine chapters.  The Librarian is key to the Blood Ravens, and god bless Dawn of War 2 for all they did right, not having them in the original game was one of the few things they did wrong.

The Librarians look to be a pretty potent addition to the Blood Ravens, and secretly I'm hoping their inclusion in Chaos Rising means we'll get our own bit of potent knowledge relating to the origins of the Blood Ravens.

You can read the entire unit profile over at the Dawn of War 2 Community Site.

The Birth of a New Gamer

It seems entirely fitting, this post I'm working on.  A year ago this month I started this blog.  Something to chronicle my growing fascination with Warhammer 40,000, and to chronicle my growth as both a fan and a participant.  So it seems awful fitting that I can now say I was actively involved in the birth of a new gamer.

Anybody who has read some of my battle reports knows there is a small cadre of guys I play 40k with.  We have e-mails to discuss things, and some of us even chat daily about the game.  We all love the fluff, and the game mechanics, some of us really enjoy the painting, and I really enjoy writing about the game.  We're still fairly new to the game, or at least the 5th edition rules, so we're learning but we're having fun.  There have been 4 of us, Steve, Chris, Jason, and myself.  Chris has played for years, but he's more familiar with older edition rules.  Steve is the one who got me into it introducing me to Dawn of War and just sort of needling me to continue to get into it.  Jason was the most recent convert, and while I had a small part in his coercion, er I mean conversion to 40K, that was mostly a Steve thing.  Now to our small group, we can add James.

James is somebody that Steve and I have known for years, having all worked together at a now defunct high-end retail store (all in the IS department).  Recent events transpired to bring James and I back to work together.  It's been cool, but the best part is I was able to help convince him to pick up Dawn of War II.  Having used Dawn of War II to introduce James to the 40K universe, Steve and I began to really push the tabletop.  And as James had more fun with DoW 2, and heard Steve and I discuss 40K tabletop and 40K fluff, his interest grew.

Oh sure he had doubts and reservations about being able to paint.  But thanks to the internet, we were able to show him that yes there are some serious kick-ass painters out there, but there are guys who just make their minis look decent, and some people who just don't paint at all.  And after feeding him some fanzines, and giving him access to codexes, James eventually picked the Tau as his first army to build.

James has his first batch of figures to paint (box of Fire Warriors), and thanks to his artist fiancee he has a bunch of nice painting supplies.  So he's all ready.  And for once I can talk about 40K and not sound like a goober.  But knowing James.  Soon he'll know more about the game than me, and I'll be back to sounding like a goober.  So I'll enjoy it for now.

And I'll also say welcome to 40K James.  May your Tau warriors find their mark against every race...except the Ork, and may the Greater Good be served by your army, except when Mork 'n Gork decide to take 'em down.

Now for a 6th person so we can get back to an even number...

God Bless Us Everyone

I hope Christmas was good for you guys, because it was good for me.  I ate too much, I didn't drink enough, and I spent too much time with in-laws.  But other than that, I got Assault on Black Reach and a Killa Kan with Rokkit Launcha to build my army up.

This is cool, because I have a bunch of minis to paint and it gives me an excuse to switch gears on how I paint.  I spend so much time fixating on the details that I'm convinced I'm going to burn out on painting.  So for the rank and file of my army I'm going to start dipping them.  It'll get them painted faster and allow me to spend my time painting the boss units, or big units that just look like fun to paint (like my Ork Trukk).

So, does anybody have any advice before I start dipping?  Any suggestions, tips, or tricks?  I'd love to hear them because I'm going to admit that I'm a little nervous about starting this.

Ultramarines The Movie Concept Art Revealed

I just got the latest e-mail newsletter for Ultramarines The Movie and lo there was in the newsletter a link to some revealed concept art.  The art is the entrance to the Codex Chapel, and I have to say it's just another bit of news that has me excited about this movie.  Sadly it also said the next steps were recording voice actors and creating story boards.  So it appears the movie is farther off than I had hoped.

See the art after the jump

Ultramarines The Movie The Update from The Producer

The Ultramarines The Movie: Blog has posted an interview with one of the producers.  It sounds like they are definitely trying to make the Warhammer 40,000 movie that we fans of Warhammer 40,000 have been wanting.  My only question is "What army are they going to fight?" they mentioned a bunch of possibilities, but left us hanging on which one it shall be (I hope it's Orks).

See the video after the jump.

A Dawn of War II Chaos Rising update I missed

My apologies, I missed this update last week over at the Dawn of War II site.  It's a chronicling of encounters between the Blood Ravens and the Chaos Space Marines in the Dawn of War series.  It's pretty darn cool, but I want to zero in on something and let my imagination run wild for a minute.

Horus Heresy Board Game

You've read the books,  you've heard of the old game.  Now you too can command the forces of Man or Chaos in most epic battle ever.  Fantasy Flight Games has released Horus Heresy, a two person board that allows players to play out one of the seminal moments in the 40K mythos history.

I'm not sure how different this new release is when compared to the 1993 release.  However, I think it's safe to say that it will be fun.  Whether you care or not, in the fluff few events are more important to the 40K universe than the Horus Heresy.  So I doubt Games Workshop would do anything to detract from the popularity (and money making potential) of this story with a poor game.  (Courtesy Bell of Lost Souls)

An Army List Program For Us Cheapskates

I have no shame in the fact I'm cheap.  Actually it's my wife that's cheap, I have no shame in constraining my spendthrift ways to her budgetary demands.  So as I've transitioned from focusing on just buying and painting my army to buying, painting, and using my army in the game I've come to realize that I really want a list building program.

Why do I want a list building program?  For a couple reasons.

A Tryptophan Clouded Trip Through a Trippy Battlereport

Note: This battle report has been sitting in the queue waiting for me to publish it for a week.  I make no apologies for the fact that right now I barely know what day of the week it is, but I do apologize for letting 40K Neophyte sit unattended like I did. 
While most of my Thanksgiving weekend was spent working and trying to avoid death at the hands of my loved ones for working, I fit in a round of 40k.  It was a tight fit considering how long it went, and it was an exhausting fit considering how late it went but it was a fun fit, and that's all that matters.

Pictures and battle report after the jump...