Grey Knights 2011- What I'd Like To See

Well, after a day of exlporing as I wait to head to my ship here in Japan, I sit down and begin to think of what looms on the horizon and likely what I will not be around to see drop: Grey Knights.

I have seen the rumours as I am sure all of you have. They do seem to be doing these paragons of the Imperium justice. There are only 2 things I worry about.
1- They play too much like Blood Angels
2- They fall victim to the mech meta-game

Lets Address #1

Replace Jesus with the Blood Angels. Then the above works perfectly. I do know that GK will be a viable Deep Strike army. Probably have the potential to deploy entirely from deep striking like the 9th legion as well. And I agree with this. But should they be able to do it as well as DoA armies? Well, I know in the fluff that they are really precise with their teleportation technology. They are the best humanity has to offer, so they are equipped with the best. BUT how to represent this without stepping on the toes of another army (or stomping on them as GW is oft to do)?
Well, it isn't in DS vehicles as well, seeing as BA now do that. But I wouldn't be surprised if their Land Raiders can DS as well. And we know that the GK already have Storm Ravens. Whereas these are HS for the BA, and I believe they will be for the GK as well, we may see these as FA or even Dedicated Transport. I wouldn't be too surprised if this is so.
So what is the answer? Well maybe some Teleportation Strategic Redployment. OR what I can really see happening is the ability to re-roll on the mishap table or an alteration of the table lessening the chances of BAD things happening. This would definately make sense with their super awesome tech, without making them function in the same manner of the Blood Angels. I would whole heartedly approve of this.
Another thing I am worried about: FNP. I really think GW is starting to hand this out too much. Including in the BA, and definately in DE. I can see it happening again in the GK codex. A better representation of their martial prowess I believe would be alot of 2 wound models with Eternal Warrior, and maybe a bunch of invulnerable saves tossed around or psychic powers granting such saves. This can make the army tough, but in a different manner and a more fitting manner as well.
One last thing is special weapons. Infernus pistols to be specific. The GK have a long history of gauntlet mounted weapons, and now the Sanguinary Guard have these spiffy wrist-meltas. Will we see a cross over? I actually hope so, which leads me to #2

So #2

The meta-game is still Mech IMO. Vehicles are great. Even DE use their light tanks in waves. It seems almost every army's strongest list involves as many vehicles and cheap scoring units you can fit in.
So how does an army of Super Elite, Super Expensive INFANTRY fit into this?

Well the answer is this:

Melta-Guns! And they aren't just for close combat, though this codex will only re-enforce the notion that all armies need vast amounts of them, seeing as they will be a sure fire way for units that are poor at combat to kill off 2+ saving GK teminators.. So the meta-game of which weapons to take won't change there. What I am worried about is a lack of melta in the GK codex. I can just see it happening, and that will be a shame. Because then we will see these units of super awesome close combat gods facing just waves of chimeras. Sure the meaty bits of gaurdmen inside would be mowed down by them, but the tanks themselves will just pummel the GK's small numbers with high volume fire. It will be leafblower list time all over again.
To avoid this, I hope to see plenty of melta in the army, and combined with their DS potential and low numbers of vehilces I hope we see an army that is able to threaten the dominance of mech heavy lists. If a small number of GK can arrive and pop open alot of armour quick and then sweep through the guys inside, we may see a need to shift away from investing a vast number of points in armour. The problem here is going to be just how outnumbered the GK will always be and a possibility that even with high occurance of melta, they may just not have the numbers to eliminate nough tanks in a heavy mech army. I hope GW can come up with a way around this problem.

So besides adressing these concerns what would I like to see?
1- Though I know they got nixed, I still have my fingers crossed and breath held for Jetbikes.
2- Chaplains and Librarians. It is an SM chapter, they do have these positions. And they do exist in the novels. Maybe not the same rules as SM chaps and libs, but a similar role
3- Ability to take small elite squads, like the SW Wolf Gaurd. This would help address issue #2 above, allowing a player to increase the number of units they have so they can engage more targets.
4- 2 wound models
5- Awesome walker choices
6- A monstrous creature

Well, those are my thoughts for the day.

This may be my last post for a while, but we shall see. Treating each one like it is potentially just that.

In the land of the rising sun

So I made it to Japan. Just thought I'd let you all know.

I want to thank my friends Mesdoram, Schlemazal and Discordian for introducing themselves. I hope you all enjoy them in the months to come.

As for my, I am not going to have access to hobby supplies for sometime. When I do I will return to working on my Blood Angels and Genswick, and maybe even Khador and Brettonians.
In the meantime, if and when I get to post it will be on the one thing I do have access too: Books. I recently finished God-King, the last book in Sigmar's time of Legend novels. Good story, though not an conslusive as I hoped it to be and not quite based off the previous two books except for the fact it had the same characters. But, maybe if I knew more of the back story of WHFB before hand it would have been more satisfying.

ANYWAYS I am now reading the Novel Redemption Corps by Rob Sanders. So far so good, and I look forward to doing a review on it.

In the meantime I must go contend with Godzilla.

Hello All! Mesdoram Here! And some pics for your time (Nurgle)

Hello all! Mesdoram here. I didn't want to post anything before I had some decent pictures of a few models. I got a new, mediocre camera and jerry rigged a light box -- it worked out okay.

I started 40k about two years ago with a Death Guard themed army. The army, in three aspects, consists of Daemon Princes, Plague Marines, and Obliterators. While still decent, I've become more disheartened with its performance with every new codex. I branched out into Daemons for fun, and have enjoyed a random amount of success with them. My current pet project is a Forge World renegade IG army, but it's still quite early in its inception. In a nutshell: I like chaos.

My plan with this blog is to post sporadic modeling and painting updates. Without further ado--a few pictures.

Icon Bearer

Plague Champion

Daemon Prince #1

Daemon Prince #2

Story Download: BL 2010 Submission

Something new in the downloads section. Uploaded my Black Library submission from this past summer. The working title is Armsmen.

Synopsis: Imperial Naval Armsmen of the Warship Agamemnon board a space hulk only to have their ship captured by none other than Traitor Astartes while away. It is up to the ship's Master at Arms and three Junior Commissars to devise a plan to recapture their ship from the Chaos Marines whilst fending off the unknown terrors of the hulk.

This is just Chapters 1, 2, 3, a full chapter by chapter break down and full plot synopsis.

Enjoy! Feedback greatly appreciated.

So Allow Me to Introduce Myself

Hello internet, my name is Discordian. Along with my fellow guest bloggers Mesdoram and Schlemazal, we will be posting here and there to add to our friends site while he’s overseas dealing with the Navy and Japanese people.

My prayers go out to him it’s pretty freaking weird over there

I’ve always been interested in tactics and war games. I was actually a member of my schools chess team, for a time I was one of those guys you see in those pictures sitting with a bunch of other nerds all playing separate chess games against one grand master.

Like this, just with more white people

It wasn’t until I met Gothmog and all my College pals a few years ago I was tricked into the glory of all things 40K. I was introduced to the hobby on the tail end of 4th, right as it was switching to 5th. My first times playing was through borrowing my friends Schlemazal’s Tau army. Say what you will about the Tau they are a great army to learn with.

Eventually I got a bunch of used Eldar models at a bizarre and fell in love with them as well. I think it’s because like the Tau they are a finesse army where if nothing goes unsupported everything crumbles, sort of like in chess. It might also be the appeal of giant robots and angry ass chicks with swords.

Phew Phew

So Angry

I dabbled in Tyranids for a while before they got the update and a little after it. But after a few games I didn’t feel like playing a horde army anymore so I eventually traded them for more tau and eldar stuff.

This is why you never leave your food out at a picnic

Unfortunately the whole two army thing failed when one of my friends I went with to gamesday wanted to get a forge world Greater Slaanesh Daemon. He had no money so he turned to me and asked if I wanted a brand new (formally his grey knights army). And yet again the barter system screwed me over again and now I have three armies in various stages of completion. I am looking forward though to the new Grey Knights codex that will make half of my stuff probably useless (It will make me feel better that half of it is still unpainted).

Also play Fantasy using a Vampire counts army. And in Warmachine I have a small group of Retribution. And I'll add more on those two later.

I definitely have a taste for modeling and converting, and I'm constantly trying to improve my painting skills (I do try, It's just not really my thing). And when I get around to it I will make future post spotlighting my various armies with pictures and probably end up blogging more about what I think about them and how they interact in their respective game systems.

Introductions, and Some Pictures for Your Time

Hello everyone, I'm Schlemazal, one of the three new guest posters here at Sepulchre. Gothmog asked each of us to make an introductory post before the month is out, so you should be hearing from my compatriots Discordian and Mesdoram in the next few days.

As this is my introductory post, a bit about myself is in order. I'm a hobby veteran of 8 years now, and I mostly play 40k, with my main army being the Dark Angels. I also play Warhammer Fantasy (Dwarves), and I dabble in a number of other systems, from Battlefleet Gothic (Eldar) to Warmachine (Mercenaries). I consider myself a competent player and painter, and as Gothmog mentioned, I was the one who made ther Kharn the Betrayer conversion he featured here a while ago, though I'd like to think I've improved since then. I will probably be writing primarily about painting here, or anything else you folks want me to write about. I'm no master painter, but I'll do my best to share anything I work on over the next several months.

I think that's plenty of introduction, so to leave you with some actual content, here are pictures of some of my more recent work, starting with a few Dark Angels:

Dark Angels 4th Company Veterans

Dark Angels 4th Company Librarian

The rest of what I have here for you today comes from my Mercenaries Warmachine army:

Orin Midwinter and Kell Bailoch

Renegade Light Warjack

Steelhead Cavalry

Magnus the Traitor

Well that's it for today. I hope you're interested in seeing more as I can find time to paint. I'll try to take more WIP pictures, but I'm just getting back into painting after a long break, and I don't have any active projects at the moment. Questions, comments, suggestions and criticism are all appreciated (though the first three are preferable), especially if that involves what you want me to write about here in the future.

Deploying to Japan and Site Changes: Three Amigos

Well folks, big news: I am heading out of the country for some time. For those of you who don't know me, I recently commissioned as an officer in the US Navy. As such I am going to my first duty station soon: USS Essex in Sasebo Japan.

This does not mean the end of Sepulchre of Heroes. Far from it. I plan to do this as long as I am in the hobby. I know I times I am inconsistent, but I enjoy this too much to give up.

What this does mean however is that there will be periods of time that the ship is underway and I will be unable to post, let alone participate in the hobby. As such, I have enlisted some help to keep this site running with content and ideally expand the content presented. So whenever I am away, these guys will be running the show. And even when I am still around they will be contributing to it.

Let me just give a brief introduction of these fine fellows:

Discordian- 99% likely to be the ranter out of the bunch. This guy can make Tau competitive and can hit hard with his Eldar, lead by Eldrad's cousin: Steve. He is a master of the rules and knows your army better than you do. His only pitfalls are his inability to resist getting new armies and always finding the worst units to be the most appealing (yay Hormaguants). He also dabbles in Grey Knights, so look to him for thoughts on the upcoming release.
Schlemazal- A Veteran Dark Angels (praise be the FAQs) player, as well a a dabbler in the dark arts of the Dark Eldar (before the new release). Outside of 40k, he plays Dwarves in WHFB, Humans in BB, Eldar in BFG and Tau in AE. Schlemazal is a good painter who was featured in the BoLS Warjack/Warbeast Challenge, and was featured in the From the Warp Tuesday Top 10 on this site for his True Scale Kharn the Betrayer, though he self admits that his work has vastly improved since that time. This guys painting skills have always challenged me to be a better painter and try new techniques.
Mesdoram- Devout of Nurgle. Really likes to build lists, in English and German. He has dabbled with Orks and has a steady Chaos Daemons army and is currently working on renegade Guardsmen (that were initially never supposed to be, but he eventually heard Chaos' call). Probably the most competitive in terms of builds and lists and a true sportsman if there ever was one.

Well, I hope you all look forward to reading the work of these scholarly gentlemen as much as I do.

Blood Angels NMM Sanguinary Guard Banner Bearer

Here is my Sanguinary Guard Banner Bearer painted in Non-metallic metals (NMM). I have the rest done up NMM but not done being detailed, just wanted to get this up to share though.

Did some bitz swapping for the power fist and the head.

Though I do say I like my freehand banner more:

Just seems like it is better detailed.

Imperial Guard Company for sale: 80+ Models, $55, less than 10 hours remaining

SOLD

Do you need a large expansion to your Imperial Guard army? Well check out my ebay auction to fund my Genswick project.
What is for grabs? Well 5 Infantry Squads w/ heavy and special weapons. One of these squads is Steel Legion, which on its own is $35 from GW. As well, there is a special weapons squad of sniper rifles, 4 command squads, 2 Sentinels (w/ broken legs), and 1 Chimera. Then there are several characters- 2 commissars, 1 Enginseer, 1 extra steel legion officer and 4 Stormtroopers. There is some bitz swapping and simple conversion work in there. Around 20 models are painted. A few more are half painted. BUT if you don't care about paint jobs or are just starting this isn't an issue and can even give you a colour scheme to use in the future.
So please please PLEASE! Someone make a bid.

First Genswick Conversions

First off, before getting to the Genswick, let me put in a plug for my ebay auction of a Cadian Imperial Guard Company. These guys are going to help fund more of what you see below.

Here are the first of my Genswick Imperial Guard. I apologize for the poor photography, but I was in a rush and had poor lighting at the time. As well, I have not received their bases yet, but I didn't want to wait to share them with you, so I present them unbased.
The use Brettonian Men-at-Arms bodies and heads. The weapons are standard cadian lasguns, cut to fit. To do so, the stock of the lasgun is removed as well, but the Dave Taylor originals suffered from this too, so I think it more to their virtually non-existent fluff that they have a pattern of lasgun without a stock, or maybe just attachable/extendable ones.
The Plasma Gun is a SM one attached to a Tau Firewarrior backpack for a power pack. I used Guitar wire for the power feed.
The Sarge has a Brettonian Men-at-Arms pike for his CCW and a necromunda Enforcer laspistol.

These guys aren't entirely finished, as I have yet to add some backpacks/rucksacks, sleeping rolls, etc. etc. BUT you get the picture (literally).

Now to just get some more bitz and goodies to keep working at these guys. I really want to get to my Engineers/Veterans because I think what I have in mind for them is particularly cool.