UPDATE COMPLETE

Looked at in in IE. Use something else.

Does anyone know how to set it so that when I leave white space between paragraphs, it doesn't automatically delete that space and compress the blog entry? Right now I have to manipulate HTML each time. I would like to be able to type in plain text and not have to mess with it every time.

Oh, and if you were on the blogroll (or want to get added) make sure you are there and that you have me on yours.

Quick site news

Sometime this next week or weekend I will be changing the layout of the site. I need to make sure though that I have everything properly saved, ready and organized to make the change, so I am not doing it tonight.

It will be the same site and content, just a better layout, with stuff dealing directly with Sepulchre on the left and community stuff on the right with the blog straight down the middle.

Also, you can see I joined the BoLS Alliance. Though I actually like FTW more, I see this as a good thing, bringing more readers into my site, and by extension, the FTW network. So if you are coming here from BoLS, thanks for taking interest and check out not only my site, but other FTW blogs. The Space Marine Major League Baseball logo on the right will whisk you away.

Old School Blood Angels

Here are some old Blood Angels resources. Original Shoulder pad designs as well as some interesting tips below on certain aspects of the Blood Angels Chapter. An interesting idea is the Lt. Commander. I plan on having one myself in my Masters of the Chapter Formation, seeing as Tycho can't take a jump pack. Note also how the Standard bearer has a lighter arm to acknowledge the honour given to him.

One tip not present that also should be shared is that Chaplains in training (Those going into the Reclusiarch) have their right arm and helmet painted black, only recieving all black armour upon completion of training.

I have a bunch of other old images of banner and such that I am going to try and clean up too share with you all.

Meanwhile click on the image to check it out up close.

Biggest Bang for Your Buck: 2500 Pt Space Marine Battle Company

So here is a new series: Biggest Bang. Essentially, it is about do things BIG. So what better off than to start with a Space Marine Battle Company fit into the least points possible.

Captain- 100
Command Squad (5): 155- Razorback
Tactical Squad (10): 215- Sergeant BP & CCW; Flamer; Lascannon; Rhino
Tactical Squad (10): 215- Sergeant BP & CCW; Flamer; Lascannon; Rhino
Tactical Squad (10): 205- Sergeant BP & CCW; Flamer; Missile Launcher; Rhino
Tactical Squad (10): 205- Sergeant BP & CCW; Flamer; Missile Launcher; Rhino
Tactical Squad (10): 205- Sergeant BP & CCW; Flamer; Multi-Melta; Rhino
Tactical Squad (10): 205- Sergeant BP & CCW; Flamer; Multi-Melta; Rhino
Assault Squad (10): 190
Assault Squad (10): 190
Devastator Squad (10): 265- 4 x Missile Launcher, Rhino
Devastator Squad (10): 265- 4 x Missile Launcher, Rhino
Whirlwind: 85

Pts: 2500 Scoring Units: 6-12 KPs: 13, 22

Okay, you can drop the Rhinos for drop pods if you want, be hear out these tactics first.

Put your whirlwind in cover and just blast away all 6 turns. Good cheap vehicle and the indirect fire will be a pesky nuisance, especially since your opponent will be too busy killing 106 Space Marines to deal with it.

Next you get your devs into a good firing position. Sure missile launchers aren't the best, but 8 of them from on high is no laughing matter. If you get them position premiumly, then I recommend sending 1/2 of the squad away in Rhinos to bog down your opponent in Assualt.

I would probably save the assault squads for deep strike in this case so you can deploy them where you need them most.

Now what you do with the 6 tac squads is as follows. Take some objectives, getting to them ASAP with the Rhinos. If it is a good vantage point, throw the devs on an objective too. Once you get to the objectives, combat squad it up, sending forward the flamers, leaving behind the heavies, and bog down your opponent in assaults. Even if he can beat 5 marines, chances are it isn't one turn and then he still has to advance on your gunline. Send your Captain and Command squad up with these guys.

Now what you do with the rhinos is form a line abreast between your gunline and your opponent. Keep moving the Rhinos from side to side to give them their save against any Close Combat. What you are doing here is creating a wall he has to walk through. You can force your opponent through specific gaps created by you to maximize your fields of fire. You can also pop smoke to block fields of fire even better. Bring big puffy bunches of cotton to do this, as True LOS is hurt more. Add the razorback to this line and use its Heavy Bolters on infantry hordes. The rhinos also give you plenty of search lights for any night fighting you may have to endure. Note you can do this in any list really, just on smaller scales. Something drop pods definitely can't do.

So there you go. 106 Space Marines, 10 tanks. That is a lot to eliminate in 5-7 turns. Not many armies can do it. Basically mass waves of Orks, Nids, and Guard have the potential, and a Cheap Armoured company has a good chance to0, spitting out as much ordnance as possible.

Evolution of a List: 1000 pt Space Marines (Salamanders)

So here is my 1000 pt Space Marine list to kick off the Space Marine Evolution of a List Sequence. For those of you who don't know what that is, I start with a small list and build upon it, developing an army in much the way a hobbyist would by slowly adding units and new concepts/tactics to the list.

HQ- Forgefather Vulkan He’stan: 190
TROOPS- Tactical Squad (10): 220- Sergeant, bp & chainsword; Melta Gun; Lascannon; Rhino
TROOPS- Tactical Squad (10): 210- Sergeant, bp & chainsword; Melta Gun; Multi-Melta; Rhino
TROOPS- Tactical Squad (10): 210- Sergeant, bp & chainsword; Melta Gun; Multi-Melta; Rhino 
ELITES- Stern Guard Veteran Squad (5): 170- 2 x Combi-Flamer; Rhino

Pts: 1000 Scoring Units: 3-6 KPs: 5, 8 (Hard Boyz)

Hobby Notes: 
Be ready to switch the Flamers in the Sternguard to melta-guns and the chainswords to power weapons. The Sternguard Rhino should be able to be converted to a razorback with both HB and an Assault Cannon. My recommendation to do this is buy 2 razorback kits. Use one as a Rhino for the Tac squads and then use the parts to make two seperate turrets for the Razorback.

Tactics:
Okay simple tactics here. Vulkan gets attached to the Sternguard. He is going to stay with them through the whole series. They are a potent squad with their bolters. They should be able to tear apart squads with their weapons and then weather an assault with Vulkan.

3 Tactical Squads will remain the core of the army. The Lascannon is to give some long range umph and the vast amouts of melta owes to having Vulkan. Plus they are cheap and good, doubly good with Vulkan treating all Melta weapons in the army as Master Crafted. Basically: Take objectives and kill stuff. You can also use combat squads to spread out and take more objectives, which in a 1000 pts game can be usefull. And you can footslog guys to the near objectives and motor guys out to further ones. But don't get too spread out so that your opponent can eliminate your smaller squads piecemeal. 

Everything mounts up in a basic Rhino for now. Thought about Drop Pods, but for the same cost, I like rhinos, as they are moving cover and will help support other ground units later on by having the Tac Squads on the table rather than stuck in Reserves.

So there you go. I went with Salamanders because everyone and their mom does Kantor. So Vulkan it was, giving me alot of AP 1 potency, saving me from having to worry about buying lascannons and such. And I also want to avoid deep striking too much through the list. Many lists are built to counter that these days, and conventional tactics work just fine.

Another New Apocalypse Formation

This one is based off the Siege of Vraks part 6 and the Red Scorpions within. Check it out:

Red Scorpions Vraksian Breaching Force

Alot of rules I know, but it is true to the Fluff of the Sector 57-44 Breach.

New Apocalypse Formation

So I made this today:

Vanguard Linebreaker Assault Squad

It is a formation for Space Marines based around a heavy Vanguard Squad and a Land Raider.

Go ahead and download the file to see what it is all about. I like how it turned out. If anyone uses it, let me know how it did.

UPDATE: A few more grammatical and spelling errors were fixed. The revised sheet will be uploaded later today (MAR 25)

1000 Pts SM List (Salamanders)

So I was working on my next evolution of series (the SM) and while tinkering came up with this list.

HQ- Forgefather Vulkan He’stan: 190
TROOPS- Tactical Squad (10): 225- Sergeant, bp & chainsword, melta bomb; Melta Gun; Lascannon; Drop Pod
TROOPS- Tactical Squad (10): 210- Sergeant, bp & chainsword; Melta Gun; Multi-Melta; Drop Pod
TROOPS- Tactical Squad (10): 210- Sergeant, bp & chainsword; Melta Gun; Multi-Melta; Drop Pod
TROOPS- Scout Squad (5): 115- 4 x Sniper Rifles; Power Weapon; Heavy Bolter w/ Hellfire Rounds; Cammo Cloaks
FAST ATTACK- Land Speeder Storm: 50 

Pts: 1000 Scoring Units: 4-7 KPs: 6, 9 ('ard Boyz)

So, there is a quick 1000 pt build for you. I went with Vulkan because too many people use Kantor, and in this small of a list he wouldn't be as influential as Vulkan, as it is best to have larger squads like the tactical than the smaller Sterguard Squads. With Combat Squads, you have a high chance of controlling more objectives in this small of a game just by being able to spread out more. The drop pods help facilitate this. The Melta-guns should be able to deal with anything with high T you may be facing, and the lone lascannon gives you some reach.

The scouts are fast with the Land Speeder Transport. Their sniper rifles are your fire support, along with the Heavy Bolter on both the squad and the Landspeeder. The cammo cloaks help them survive more and the one power weapon helps them defend if they get assaulted.  If you want though you can move that around in the list. In this small of a game, your enemy should not have too much teleporting or such, so get the Jammers on the Speeder to where he is most likely to drop in if he does like to teleport. As well, you can bait and switch with infiltrated scouts. In this case, they fire for a bit, and then you bring down a tac squad in a drop pod and have the Storm pick them up and move them to a new firing position.

So this isn't the list for the new evolution of series, but it is the Direction I am going. No Kantor. I am presenting something different. I may not do TH&SS termies either. I know what you are thinking "BUT YOU TOOK VULKAN". Wait and see what I have in mind instead...

Tau in Halo

So I was going to do an article on what the potential future of armoured co.'s would be, but I want to see the new Guard Codex first.

So in the mean time I just wanted to post something I had noticed over time:

The Human Fleet in Halo is very reminiscent of the Tau fleet.

First of all, the UNSC and the Tau use the same symbol.

Next, Human ships are slower through slip-space than Convenant ships, as Tau are slower through warp than the other races.

Humans use MACs (Magnetic Accelerator Cannons). Tau use Rail Guns.

Humans use Archer missiles (Clusters of a bunch of missiles). Tau Missiles are suppossed to be similar.

Orca and Pelican drop ships are very similar with swivel engines.

Just saying.

Okay

So I intended to airbrush my tanks over Spring Break, but there was too much wind on the only day I had a chance. So that is now going to have to wait untill mid-april. I have the paint, the brush, everything primed and all that jazz. Just need to have a good day to do it when home.

SO in the meantime, things will be Blood Angel focused hobby wise. Going to do a hobby project with my CCW terminators using magnets. Hope it turns out well. Plan to do it mid-arm since I have FW shoulder pads. 

Working on some more content for the site. As the semester winds down, I may not get as much, but this summer is very promising due to my circumstances.

I'll post a list or article later today

Mega Battles: Tips and Tricks

Twice a year, my club does a large mega-battle and with the advent of apocalypse, it has become simpler to run and organize. Despite this though, it still requires a lot of time and effort to get it right.

As well, this is mostly a guide for larger groups, and not so much a small 2 on 2 apocalypse game.

Organizing
1- Figure out a date a ways before hand.
2- As soon as a date is decided, start finding out who will be there. Make sure to get commitments at least a month before hand.
3- Choose a theme. This includes just a standard Apocalypse games, but there are other things you can do. Here are some examples from my club and just other possibilities
-Cityfight
-Fortress assualt (Large attack force, smaller defenders)
-Jungle fights
-Amphibious assaults
-Cross linked tables/objectives
-Themed forces
4- Come up with any special rules needed for the battle. Try and get as much input as possible. Put it to a vote with your group. What you think may be fair rules for a amphibious assault may be horribly unbalanced in actuality. Have others place a check on this possiblity.
5- Set a date for either lists or just point costs to be in. KPs are also a good idea to get. This allows you to early on balance the sides and set up teams. Make sure you have plenty of time before the battle to do this, as some people will be delinquent on this.
6- Decide on what assets will be allowed and which won't. Certain ones are just broken when playing battles with 6 players per size. Ambush is broken when 8k flankmarch.

Terrain Suggestions
1- Require all players to bring a piece
2- Decide a layout before hand. Some themes will require this. My club once did 2 table with crosslinked objectives, so things had to be specifically set up. Amphibious and Fortress assaults are the same way.
3- For abundant area terrain just use paper with things like "Rubble" or "forest" written on them. Because of LOS in 5th ed. this may not be acceptable, but often it can be generally agreeable how tall tress are. A tip here is to break up what trees you have to have on or two per forest area. If the LOS passes beneath the canopy of that single tree, then LOS is blocked.
4- Buildings/inpassible terrain can have its outline drawn on poster paper. While you can't have second stories, you can have doors and windows by leaving open places or dotted lines respectively
5- Build terrain quick and dirty for the one use out of cheap materials like cardboard, paper plates, etc. etc. Spray down with spray paint (textured for some extra zaz).

Objective ideas
1- Attach assets to cetain objectives, such as sheild generator.
2- Crosslink objectives. An example: as long as a shield generator is up, a building can't be captured elsewhere on the table
3- Make KP's an objective

Playing the Game
1- Give a time for arrival of everyone. If setup needs to be done, show up early.
2- Schedule in a lunch/break time for EVERYONE somewhere in the middle of the game.
3- Limit turn lengths. In the beginning, movement and shooting are going to take longer, towards the end it will be the assault phase. Things like Turns 1-3 10 min move, 20 min shooting, 10 min assualt, 5 min flexible. Turns 4+ 7 min move, 10 min shooting, 23 min assault 5 min flexible. Figure out a good time for you.
4- If you realize the game is moving faster than the alloted times, relax them/suspend them and just let people play.
5- Give an hour for set-up and and hour for starting the game. Schedule time for clean up at the end.

Okay, seeing as I am posting this in the wee hours of the morning check back later and I amy have changed some things. It will say UPDATED at the top.

Evolution of a List: Eldar 3000 pts

Check out all the earlier lists here.

HQ
Autarch- 125: Warp Jump Generator, Power Weapon, Fusion Gun, Mandiblasters
Farseer- 155: Spirit Stones, Jetbike, Fortune, Mindwar

Elites
Wraithguard (5+1)- 356: Warlock, Spiritseer, Enhance; Wave Serpent, Twin Linked Bright Lances
Fire Dragons (6)- Exarch, Fire Lance, Crack Shot

Troops
Guardian Jetbikes (6+1)- 205: 2 x Shuriken Cannon; Warlock, Singing Spear, Embolden
Guardian Jetbikes (6+1)- 212: 2 x Shuriken Cannon; Warlock, Enhance
Dire Avengers (10)- 280: Exarch, Power Weapon, Shimmershield, Defend, Bladestorm; Wave Serpent, Twin Linked Scatter Lasers
Guardians (11+1)- 268: Warlock, Conceal; Starcannon; Wave Serpent, Twin-Linked Scatter Lasers
Rangers(6)- 144: Pathfinders

Fast Attack
Warp Spiders (10)- 262: Exarch, Extra Deathspinner, Power Blades, Withdrawal
Warp Spiders (10)- 262: Exarch, Spinneret Rifle, Power Blades, Withdrawal
Vyper Squadron (3)- 205: Bright Lance, 2 x Eldar Missle Launchers
 
Heavy Support
Falcon Grav Tank- 170: Scatter Laser, Holo-fields, Vectored Engines
Falcon Grav Tank- 180: Star Cannon, Holo-fields, Vectored Engines

Pts: 2999 Scoring Units: 5 KPs: 14, 24 ('ard Boyz)

Evolution:
Infiltators (the Rangers). This gives you an extra scoring unit that can deploy closer to objectives on the table. These guys as an added bonus have stealth and move through cover.
Snipers (the Rangers again). A type of weapon not yet present in the army is sniping weapons. These cause pinning and have a high rate of wounding. C'tan and other Montrous Creatures have a fear of sniping.

Tactics: 
The earlier lists detail most of this. Only the Rangers really need to be described here.
You have two options with them: Infiltrate or deploy in the second falcon. This is really a personal choice that varies from mission to mission. In 4th ed. I would have hesitated to infiltrate in this army, but 5th ed. makes cover saves alot easier to gain, so it is up for debate. The Falcon though does gives them the flexibility of rapidly moving around the feild to take objectives or get within their 36 inch range with their heavy weapons. Set these snipers in an objective with Warp Spiders for counter assaults and/or to thwart approaching enemies.

Other changes in the list include a Warlock with Conceal to aid the survival of the Guardians, some better weapons on some vehicles, upgrades on the autarch to make him more fierce in combat. As well, the second falcon adds a bit more firepower.

Hobby:
Make sure you are able to convert the Autarch to be usable in all lists, and have the weapons on the wave serpents/falcons/vypers able to switch out.

Thats it for the Eldar. What list do you want done next? Hit the right -->. Not doing a full weeks vote though this time.

Plan of the Day: Get paint to airbrush my tanks and get some magnets for 2 projects.

effteedub

Joined From The Warp For The Win! (FTWFTW)

More extensive post later today.

Anyone checking me out for the first time due to this check out the polls over there on the right --->.

Some Hobby Work (Part II)

Here is the back of the Terminator Lord. Some green stuff work on the cloak to cover where the Guantlets of Ultramar hooked up to the armour for their ammo feed.

I am trying to get some more photo's up later tonight of some finished marines. 

Some Hobby Work (Part I)

First let me say: Sorry about the lighting. Didn't have time for a proper photo shoot today. Thought having something was better than nothing.

Okay, here are some photos of some stuff done recently. Sorry lighting is bad. Terminator Captain Conversion and 3rd Squad Tactical Marine.

The Terminator is made from the torso of Marneus Calgar and a pair of Grey Knight Terminator legs. Sawed the Grey Knight in half and trimmed some of Calgar's cape on the inside. Cut the Ammo box off the GK leg and covered the area with plastics bitz like purity seals and krak grenades. I am probably going to add a pair of Chaos Lord Lightning Claws. There is some green stuff to hold him together and give him his Vanilla Ice haircut.

The Blood Angel is painted by starting with mech red foundation paint, then applying blood angels red. Low lights are scab red and red gore mixes, high lights are blood red, blazing and fiery orange mixes. The Model gets washed with magenta ink. The Blue areas are regal blue, enchanted blue, ice blue. The Aquilla is grey foundation, shadow grey, fortress grey and space wolves grey.

Make your own rumours!!!

POLL RELATED POST

2 Polls on the right: What army deserves a new codex, what race needs to be new.

Others comment here!

Maybe this will end up being the unannouced 40k release.

The poll: who deserves a new one includes the races that have already got one in 5th Edition! Chaos Deamons are missing because they are a new race all together.

POLL RESULTS

What army deserves a new codex?

Blood Angels 9 (14%)
Dark Angels 6 (9%)
Black Templars 2 (3%)
Salamanders 7 (10%)
Space Wolves 10 (15%)
Witch Hunters 9 (14%)
Deamon Hunters 18 (28%)
Necrons 16 (25%)
Imperial Guard 5 (7%)
Dark Eldar 33 (51%)
Eldar 3 (4%)
Tau Empire 0 (0%)
Tyranids 6 (9%)
Chaos Space Marines 3 (4%)
Orks 0 (0%)
Armoured Company 4 (6%)
Kroot Mercenaries 4 (6%)
Space Marines 0 (0%)

If there was a new race, what would you liek to see?

Ad Mech 10 (23%)
Xenos Hunters 7 (16%)
Squats (Demiurg) 5 (11%)
Adeptus Arbites 1 (2%)
Imperial Navy 1 (2%)
Blood Pact (Chaos Guard) 4 (9%)
Hrud 1 (2%)
Worshippers of Chaos (LatD/Mutants/Guard) 6 (13%)
Loxatl 1 (2%)
Adeptus Custodes 3 (6%)
Brand New Imperial Org 0 (0%)
Brand New Xenos Race 3 (6%)
Other 1 (2%)

In the doghouse: Why don't I deserve an FAQ?

Okay, so I am looking around the net at the Q2 Q3 releases from GW. Dissapointingly enough, none of them point really to a fixed DA/BA/BT list. The DH and WH suffer as well. The SW aren't to bad because they get to use the new SM codex. But why not us?

GW said they weren't going to FAQ these armies, because it would just be to confusing and difficult and we should just wait for our armies to be released in full.

SO my questions are:
How long do we have to wait?
How does making essentially two types of Space Marine armies make the game easier?
How is that fair?

Well for one: It isn't fair. Why am I left with worse everything almost? Worse Land Raiders, Worse TH & SS Termies etc. etc.

Next: It doesn't make things easier. Chances are no beginner picks up the BA, DA, and BT. More advanced players can handle it. Trust me.

Last: I can't answer this one. Maybe their secret project for 40k is "Angels of Death" and is a supplement including DA and BA. Hopefully. I doubt it. They are putting alot of other stuff in front of us and the rumour mills don't support this theory (SW, Xenos and Space Hulk seem to be the favoured topics).

I just don't want another WD release. It would have been simple enough to balance BA, DA and BT alongside the SM codex, but now we play the waiting game. I for one though am too proud to play red marines. Luckily my army is undergoing a makeover that should be done by the end of the Summer. Hopefully by then, something will have been done to ease the situation.

Untill then, Drink Deep of Victory and Remember the Fallen.

SORRY

Sorry I haven't posted in a nearly 2 weeks. I have just been REALLY BUSY! I will make it up to you with a post a day this next week. Hopefully I can stick to it.

So I know I said I would have pictures, but they didn't turn out as well as I thought they were on the Camera, BUT I will try again tonight and have them up tomorrow.

In addition, this week I have access to an Airbrush, so instead of working on Blood Angels, my tanks will get mostly done. One week off of everything is plenty of time to do it, especially since the week forecast has only one day with a 20% chance of rain tops. I also plan to get some rare earth magnets for not one, but 2 projects, one of which is fast and easy and should be completed this break! The other I am saving for a surprise, but I think it is something the not many people (if any) have done and depending on my results with it, it may appear more often.

WIPs

Weekend work:

Terminator Captain Conversion, Scratch Built Terminator Librarian, Converted Honour Guard (minimal green stuff) and Painting.

Pictures later