Blog Roll Updates

I'm off to Georgia for Easter weekend.  I need to spend some time with the family, see the area my sister was last seen in, stuff like that.  Not as relaxing a trip as I would like, but it's something.

While I'm gone, take a look to the right, and scroll down.  My "Proud Member of the Following Blog and Wargaming Networks" widget is getting ridiculously long.  I've been added to both the gdmnw blogdex AND the Int'l House of Paincakes Blog Roll.  Both sites are pretty cool, and I recommend checking them out.  I also recommend visiting the other sites in that widget too.

Happy Easter everyone.  Enjoy your time with your families, your ham if you eat it, and use the holiday weekend as an excuse to paint, or game or whatever.

***UPDATED***Dawn of War II: Retribution Roundup - Dark Angel DLC Review, Soundtrack, and Last Standalone

Dark Angel DLC
Monday Relic sent me the code for the Dark Angel DLC.  I hadn't expected it since I won the Retribution Collector's Edition, but had gone ahead and e-mailed about it when I found out a buddy who had purchased the CE had been sent the code.

Beyond the coolness of the surprise in receiving the code, it was an excuse to get back into Retribution that I hadn't done in a couple weeks.

Personally I think they nailed the look really well.  I mean I enjoyed having the Dark Angel color scheme in the game, but this gives them a great visual flavor.  From the winged helmet of the company master, to the robes of the Tactical Marines, to the markings on the vehicles, they really look like the Dark Angels now.  You can see some screen shots of everything after the jump.  What do you guys think?  Does the Dark Angel DLC meet your approval?

Complete Dawn of War II Soundtrack
iTunes currently has the Complete Dawn of War II Soundtrack available for pre-order for $16.  The 35 track collection features songs from Dawn of War II, Chaos Rising, and Retribution and will be released on April 26th.  I have the soundtrack for the original Dawn of War II, so I'm going to beg, borrow, and steal to get the extra music.

Dawn of War II - Retribution - The Last Standalone
April 20th will see the release of Retribution - The Last Standalone.  This $10 package will contain a stand alone version of the upgraded Last Stand from Retribution.  This version will not require or contain any of the single player campaigns or competitive multiplayer from the full Retribution, just the expanded Last Stand with the new items, hero, and map.  The Last Standalone can be upgraded later to the full Retribution at a discounted price.  As of this writing I did not see it available on Steam yet.  You can get Retribution - The Last Standalone from Steam.


Hit the jump for the screenshots.

The Healing Power of Painting

I painted last night.  Worked on the gunner emplacement, bars for the cab, and the big exhaust pipe for my Ork Trukk.  It wasn't much, but for me it was monumental.  All of last week I couldn't focus on painting.  I still have no information on my sister, but for the first time in a week things felt normal...at least for a little while.   I had an hour and a half of zen like seclusion with nothing on my mind except the here and now of each brush stroke, and when I was done I felt better.  Some people pray, some people meditate, and I've done a little of everything...but for me the healing started with my MP3 player, a paint brush, and some red paint.

Missing

When the real world takes a dump on life, sometimes not even the warm and inviting confines of the grim darkness of the far future where there is only war can soothe me.

Such is that time right now.

The woman in that picture is my sister.  Her vehicle was recovered at a Dollar General in Tunnel Hill, Georgia where she was seen on surveillance camera footage in the store.  She has not been heard from since Saturday April 9, and there have been no confirmed sitings of her since the footage.  If anyone has seen her, please do not hesitate to contact one of the numbers listed.  I know this isn't 40K related, and I'm breaking my own rule about this again...but right now I can't focus on my miniatures enough to even clean up or primer them.

Hopefully we find her soon and I can get back to fixating on the minutia of this game I love, and can have the energy and focus I need to enjoy this hobby of mine.  But right now, thanks for indulging me this moment of Real Life Misery in my 40K blog.

Battle Report 4/9/2011

I did a search as I was getting ready to write this battle report up, and the last battle report I published was June of last year.  That means it’s been more than 10 months since I was last able to roll dice in a game of 40K.  That’s a long time.  As much as I love the hobby of 40K, I love the game even more.  Which is why this session of gaming was just what I needed to recharge the batteries and keep me pumped about what I’m doing 40K-wise.

Because it had been so long since I had played a game, and since we were still using proxy units to flesh out our armies, we kept the point total to a reasonably low 500 points.   We were planning to play a 1000 point game as well, but after starting late, and taking a break for supper we decided to play a game of Zombies!!!! instead.  It was cool, but lasted a long time (we finished that game up after a 3 hour marathon session).  Had we known we were going to spend that much time on that game I probably would have voted to play 40K again.

Random rolls teamed myself and Steve up against Steve’s son Connor and James.  We then rolled to get an annihilation game with a spearhead deployment.  Steve and I won initiative, decided to attack first and kept initiative when James and Connor tried to steal it.

A couple caveats.  When it comes to the actual playing of 40K, we are infrequent in our ability to play games, and can be considered relatively new when it comes to actual gameplay.  Second, we had to fudge the list rules because Connor plays the Necrons and it was really hard to have him fit his army into our points limitation and be viable, so we let him take a higher points total with only one troop choice.  We also did not require the Space Marines to take two compulsory troop choices to give them some variety.

Also, to James, Connor, and Steve, if I missed a move forgive me.  I was trying to write down what we were doing and play the game so I was finding myself trying to catch up after the fact.  So if there was a big move I missed then please put it in the comments.

Hit the jump to see the army lists and round by round breakdown.

Some Minor Site Tweaks

In case you guys were paying attention I've tweaked the site this weekend.  Mostly it's just cosmetic, moving stuff around the site.  The biggest thing is I moved my slide show and list of what I have done and what I haven't started to a separate page.  I also created a new tag to better organize all the Dawn of War/II, Space Marine, and Dark Millennium updates in case you guys actually use the nav bar.

Thanks for reading, and if something doesn't work, or look right, please let me know ASAP.

40K Neotube - Space Marine Developer Diary

A Developer Diary for the upcoming 40K console shooter, Space Marine has been posted.  Mostly it's the developers giving the standard lip service to how they feel about the 40K IP (which has been born out in previous Relic games), as well as confirmation that the primary baddies will be the Orks, but it looks like Chaos is there too.  There's also lots of shots of the Space Marines chewing through Orks with chain swords.

I have my druthers about this game, mostly it's 3rd person perspective, and that it's a console game and I don't have a game console.  That said still looks gorgeous and violent, and I will find a way to play it.

Hit the jump to see the video.

Happy Birthday To Me

So I celebrated my birthday with a bunch of purchases and presents and suddenly my backlog of figures to paint is much larger.

That's a set of Killer Kans, a Warbiker Mob, a Big Mek, and a copy of A Thousand Sons.

Work In Progress: Ork Trukk

Last year when I started dipping my Orks I had planned on doing it just for my standard Ork Boyz and then do traditional painting for what I termed the "fun figures" like my Ork Trukk.  Well after looking at my Orks I've decided to dip everything because I'll get a more consistent look to my army.  So since then I've cleaned my Stormboyz off and repainted them, and now I'm on my Ork Trukk.  I've painted and dipped the frame and trukk bed, and I've painted part of the cab.  My daughter is on spring break this week so I'm not sure if my plan to have it done by the end of the week will pan out or not, but we'll see.

I'm pretty happy with it so far.  I think the only area I'm not please with is the tires.  I tried to make the wheels look like a hodgepodge of patched metal and rubber, and it really looked more clownish than I wanted.  I mean I'm no Cool Mini or Not level of painting, but I'm more interested in painting a table top ready army to game with than to be the next Rembrandt of miniature painting.

Also, if the trukk looks bad remember I don't have the best camera and I'm totally blaming it on that and not my measly painting skills.

Hit the jump to see the pictures.