Fluff: Why do ships always fight on the same level.

So, I was thinking, in all the fluff ships fly past each other launching broadsides at each other etc but there is no gravity in space. Why don't they fly under each other on their sides launching broadsides and the enemies underside and why don't they warp jump and come out pointing straight up towards the enemy to create a letter T, this would allow the lance batteries to fire at the underside and wreak havoc.

It's just a thought, try and prove me wrong either with a reason why they don't or a time when this happens in the fluff.

Thanks for reading,

Jacob.

Salamanders: Idea for my version of 'Vulkan He'stan'

So, I am planning on doing a Vulkan conversion as well as maybe a lysander conversion for the salamanders (perhaps lysander will be terran hands, my own custom chapter). Now I don't want my He'Stan to actually be Vulkan as that doesn't fit with my fluff, so instead I just want him to be the leader of my force. So, lets break down the important parts needed:

1. Some kind of flame weapon.
2. An amazing cape of scales.
3. A master crafted relic blade.

I think it would be cool to make th flame weapon his mouth and instead of just a cloak, maybe to have his whole armour covered in scales (I would add a cloak too as they are just cool) The master crafted relic blade could be anything.

With that in mind, my guy would be a normal marine with scale texture on his armor and a modified mouth piecu/helmet to launch flame plus some kind of big smash you weapon. His weapon might end up being a thunder hammer becuase that is the chapters siniture CCW, that also fits with the theme of all thunder hammers becoming master crafter when vulkan is in the army. I could also combine the bolt pistol and digital weapons into one thing, This could become part of the chest or hand, not sure yet, maybe I could use one of those new angelus boltguns.

For Lysander I am not sure his main features are:

1. The fist of dawn, a big whopping thunder hammer.
2. Terminator armor.

For Him I was thinking of perhaps Making him kind of like one of the battle knights from mechanicus, kind of like dreadnoughts, I would obviously make him smaller than a dread though. He would be wearing a custom made chapter suit kind of like calgar. So, it would need a big enclosed casing but still with a helmet/ head visible along with a shild arm for the storm shield and a massive hitty thing for the thunder hammer. I mau use an eldar war walker as a base but then have stabliser legs instead of thin ones and obviouly different army. I need to have a bit more of a think about this one.

Oh, yea, over the next 2 days I am a way with a mate so maybe there will be posts maybe not, tell us what you think and if you have any ideas. Thanks for reading,


Jacob.

Discussions: what one rule would you like to add/change to 40K?

So, I was thinking, there are many different game systems but a lot of my reader base are 40K fanatics. The 40K rules are great in my opinion but I have seen some really nice ideas from other game systems.

My question to you is, what one rule would you like to add or change to 40K. I would like to see squad coherency changed to radio coherency. What I mean is that instead of models having to stay within 2" of each other everybody has to stay within say 8" of the sergeant and if he dies you just nominate another model to become sergeant. This encourages the idea of all the men piling in and not spreading out along the entire board.

So, what would you change. Thanks for reading,

Jacob.

Armies: Those great ones that are way to expensive.

Round here there are some guys that get an awful lot of money to spend on warhammer and 40K, they are the guys that take a baneblade set of tracks, build some imperial sector buildings on top, scratch build 2 arms then but a tone of scrap on then paint to a high standard, this makes one awesome looking super-stompa.

Now, I have thought of some ridiculous armies that will never get done, like a space marine force where very man has tank track legs and the vehicles are just much larger versions of the same thing, this could be used as a radical space marine army, a mechanicum army or a chaos army.

Another is the all can ork army, having deff copters as killa cans with BIG ROKET BOOSTRZ representing mega nobz with mini cans, then you make the mega nobz troops.

Now, some people would make these armies, but most of us never could unless we put a lot of money in. Now, if you think that and army with a few options is going to cast about £300 give or take then next time you have that cash just think. Could I make half of a really, really nice army with that money.

Have you got any of those armies, or have you got any ideas. Lets here them, thanks for reading,

Jacob.

Sportsmanship: part 3, Da plyrs dat r rly anuyin

So, the next installment in sports is about those players you meet that are really annoying maybe the speak in text language saying LoL, rofl, foflmao etc all the time or maybe they have really bad 'gamer stink'.

 

This is more of a problem in tournaments where you have to play but anyway.

 

I personally have 3 steps when somebody is like the above

1. Try to make conversation with them and DO NOT make a point about their 'problem'.
2. If the are speaking in text language then make sure you don't if they stink then just stay a little farther away than normal. Just drop a little hint.
3. Remember that they may think you have some sort of problem so try and recognise when they are looking at you funny etc then try and stop your problem.

So, do you have anything to add? thanks for reading,

Jacob.

Reviews: Eisenhorn trilogy final review.

So, after a brake from reading I finaly finished the last 2 chapters of Eisenhorn today and I loved it. the whole trilogy kept me interested and becuase Dan Abnett doesn't get overly attached to his characters and kills them off regularly, you never new what was coming next. In the last book things get really weird. You don't know whether Eisenhorn will become a heritic or stay puritanical.

The description is fantastic, enough to tell you exactly what is happening without long, drawn out descriptions.

Anyway, I would definately recommend you pick up the trilogey. 9/10

Next I'm reading Ciaphas Cain, looking forward to it immensly.

Thanks for reading,

Jacob.

Painting: Random/Fun learning models.

Hi, so today I'm talking about random models that you have in your collection, maybe a spare black reach model or that conversion that you never used. What I do with these is to, from time to time I take one. Build it (maybe not fully) and paint it with no regard for it looking cohesive or fitting in with the fluff. I try to try new techniques for instance on the model below I experimented with wet blending on some of the purple and orange, face paint, an odd stippling effect for green armour and weird layering/washing/brush stroking technique on the hair as well as a couple of others. The model as a whole looks really odd but I learned a lot from painting it.

So, do you use this idea or are you going to try it? Thanks for reading,

Jacob.

P.S. I should be back to posting every day next week as I am back at school.

Discussions: how you transport your army,

I was looking at my armies the other day and thought about the way I transport my minis. Here are the different ways.

This is how I transport my most delicate minis. I wrap them up in tissue and then put them in a box.

The next way is for MARINES ONLY as they are so, so, so sturdy I just shove them in a box then layer the tanks on top.

This is a similar way but in a tool kit allowing me to put more delicate things on the top piece (not shown) and the rest in the bottom.

The final way is in a case. now with most of the guys I just fit them in as there isn't enough holes otherwise. More important and metal models get put in proper places.

So, how do you transport your models?

Army finishing project: Finished tzeentch sorcerer on disk!

So, I have now finished my Tzeentch sorc on disk. I used none metallic metal on the halberd and disk prongs and the only metallic colour used was shining gold. Anyway, here are the pics in a slideshow:

Pros: I am quite pleased with the NMM and the fire, as well as the grubby-ish white. I like hi and I think he stands up to close inspection as I took time in the intricate details especially he little tube on his belt which i used a speckling effect for.

Cons: the only bad bit for me is the stand. I custom made it out of a pen but i can't seem to make him stick and make it not brittle. That's why he is propped up on a bouncy ball.

Tell us what you think, thanks for reading,

Jacob.

Tutorial: 3 Minute a model way to paint nidz

So, i had a couple of nid models left over and decided to experiment. They came out quite nice so I thought I'd do a little tutorial. The pics are in order so watch the slideshow from the beginning for step by step. The method is


Step 1: prime white (no pics).
Step 2: wash 'flesh' with any colour, I used green on one and red on the other.
Step 3: Paint shell grey (or another neutral colour).
Step 4: wash whole model devlan mud.
Step 5: Paint recesses in 'flesh', teeth, claws, edge of shells etc bleached bone and tongue purple.
Step 6: On bigger models add a few highlights (optional)
Step 7: Do any extra details (optional)

If you don't do step 6 and 7 then a normal gaunt with take around 3 minutes. Remember that a spray gun would be dead useful for stp 1, 2 and 4.





Go to ImageShack® to Create your own Slideshow

Thanks for reading,

Jacob

Forum: I just made my own, Warp Stone Pillar, check it out.

So, I have decided to create and mod a forum, it is called

WARP STONE PILLAR

Join and check it out. It is for all GW game systems.
If you have any comments the email me at:

jacobgamer@live.com

Thanks for reading,

Jacob

Discussions: Crazy dice stories and post 300

ERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!! My Internet at the caravan is really playing up so I am struggling to get posts out but anyway. Here 1is. This weeks discussion is about any really weird dice stories you have. From rolling six after six after six then losing the game to losing a dice then finding it a different colour. I have one story:

An adult Nurgle player had bright blue dice for his army and said he wanted some more Nurgle esque ones. He always coughed on his dice (Nurgle) for good luck and when he had to make one more FNP to win the game, he coughed on the dice then rolled it and it ended up under a piece of terrain it came out as a murky green and yellow and also a six. We asked around and no body else had that colour of dice.
No joke, that really happened. So, what's your stories. Please tell us.
Oh yea, this is also my 300th post. Thanks to everybody who has helped me through all of them especially the FTW blogger group. Thanks for reading,

Jacob.

White Dwarf: 364, mini round-up.

I have found that the full reviews of white dwarf are a little long and not many people read them so I will just round up the bits that interest ME.

Battle report: Is a good game that shows off the new models as you would expect but whilst the armies are not broken they are pretty hard and the game doesn't seem overly 'perfect' so it looks like it wasn't 'fudged'.

Old war stories: This is one of my favourite articles and it talks about scenario gaming. Then it gives us one scenario and how a game went. The other guy will do the same next month and they will decide on a winner.

Move and fire: this months tactics article is about gunlines both magic and shooty in fantasy and how they work. It also includes a standard dark elf power army from last year. Overall very good to be honest.

Masterclass: The painting masterclass is ace this month. It teaches NMM gold really well.

Army masters: a great looking if bright vampire counts doubles army that has plenty of conversions.

Standard bearer: Jervis talks about banner designs and what looks right. Very nice!

Battlefield challenge: This months challenge is duel and involves 2 characters fighting it out in the middle of the board to the death. the armies end up quite close together because of a movement special rule allowing them to surge forward. Both characters in the duel have killing blow for the game and the winner gets first turn which often allows for first turn charges. Quite interesting really.

Rambles: Has the mech army had it's day?

So, I was thinking. Has the mech army had it's day. I mean nidz can have drop spores with ultra-lascannon-beam-I-kill-landraider-every-day-and-then-have-a-cup-of-tea zoanthropes in and the amount of melta/las you can get in an army is getting to be almost ridiculous. Especially with inferno pistols on accurate drop troops. I do still think mech has it's place and it is still 'tough' but I think it is dropping in favour of ? I mean some armies have a specialised build like guard who just say ha ha look at my wall of steel and cannons and i still have fast troops in good transports which are better than rhinos even though they are cheaper to make and I still have first turn vehicle killing vendettas. And nidz are also weird but I don't know what the general build will turn into. I have seen some very nice semi-mech armies with say 3 rhino marine squads then 1-2 drop pod squads and 1-3 drop pod dreads I think that semi-mech may be the new mech.

What are your thoughts? thanks for reading,

Jacob.

Battle reports: planning beforhand.

So, I am hoping to do my battle report soon and I thought I'd share my tips on planning.

1. Less is more with notes, I will be writing the BR as soon as I get back so I don't need to many notes. Just the really important bits need to be written down.
2. Think of a pic criteria for each turn, i will have a pic of the entire battlefield, a pic of the interesting events and any other pic that I want to take but keep that in mind and take notes from where you are taking pics of.
3. make sure your opponent is up for a BR as they add time to the game.
4. Get your opponent to help you out by writing his part of the tale down while you do.

So, just thought I'd share that with you. i have a question though. If you don't use picasa or another service like that how do you upload pic. I use blogger in draft and it won't let me upload any pictures at the moment!

Thanks for reading,

Jacob.

VASSAL: does anybody still use it.

So, I know that vassal 40k went down but you can still use the product if you had already downloaded it and I know there have been quite a few new books but you can proxy most things. What i want to know is if anybody still uses it from time to time. Tell us if you do.

Thanks for reading,

Jacob.