Macharius Vanquisher + Inner Circle

Hey Everyone,
long time no update. This weekend I went to observe the 2250 Fantasy tournament hosted at the GW HQ in Baltimore Maryland by The Inner Circle (not to far from American University where I study). While there I entered the painting contest with the Jarran Kell model I painted. Luckily, with some stiff competition, I pulled ahead to first! My winnings include a very nice plaque and a Dark Elf Witch Command (which I really cannot use: I do not play Dark Elves or even fantasy). So if anyone would like to trade with me for these pretty girls, drop me an email at Dictator93@gmail.com



I am looking for one of the new Ogryn models in trade for this.

Beyond that I thought I would comment on how what a nice gaming group with The Inner Circle is. At each tournament they offer really cheap and tasty food, a $5 entry fee, and some wacky and awesome prizes. The painting competition they have is free to anyone and you need not be signed up in the tournament. To show you how funny and awesome these guys are, here is a Class A example:

Scooter (the main host of the Inner Circle): "Hey, where is ***** at?!"

"Here he is!"
Scooter: "And the final prize goes to the person with the highest games score and lowest sportsmanship score. Page 2. Sportsmanship is the most important rule!"


:D

Quite an epically hilarious moment. Scooter is a great guy. He even allowed my friend to borrow twenty some zombies for his Vampire counts army because he had left his box at home. A great group of gamers.

Also while there I had time to add some stuff to my Vanquisher. I painted the barrels and finished painting the twin-liked heavy stubber. I still have a lot to do, but it mainly consists of highlighting.

Kill for the Living, Kill for The Dead. Kill for the Warmaster.

This picture just came in yesterday to moderators on the Relic boards and was marked "Kill for the Dead." The first one posted the other day was marked "Kill for the Living."



This most recent pic came in today and was marked "Kill for the Warmaster" with the subtitle "Immortality will be our Reward."

If anyone knows anything about 40k, this is the battle cry for the Black Legion.

Black Legion? But aren't they off on the 13th Black Crusade?

This makes me wonder how they are to structure the single player campaign.

Contest for the 31st Millennium

Hey guys. I know there are loads of Pre-Heresy junkies out there and here's a great chance to show off your stuff. The Astro Mag's issue, due out in October, is of a Pre-Heresy/Heresy theme and their contest follows suit. Basically you just have to build/paint some model that would be found before the Heresy (from the Imperium or a xenos critter) and email it to them. Follow this link for more details. The prizes are gift certificates for Miniwargaming in the amounts of $50 for first, $25 for second and $10 for third.

Wish I could enter, but I'm a judge :( Good luck to everyone and I can't wait to see your stuff!

It's Official, Dawn of War II: Chaos Rising

It is official. Dawn of War II: Chaos Rising is real.

The picture shows what is most likely a Khornate lord with two hounds in front of him.

Along with this, there are confirmed blood letters on juggernauts in game. :D

That is all.

-Alex

Space Marines, Jacked

Interesting title, eh? Well i think so... Anyways, I've been wanting to do something entirely different (tactically) with my Space Marines. I attempted an outflanking list ala Kor'Sarro Khan but it is neither something I enjoyed playing or was able to play effectively. So I started reading different ideas across the web when I stumbled upon a blog that I know not many people like because it screams "power gamer!" but the idea is incredibly fun and cool (in my personal opinion of course). The blog is Yes the Truth Hurts and the idea is what they call a "Best of" army. I call it a "jack" army since each unit is, effectively, a jack-of-all-trades. However, the important part is that instead of being a "Master-of-None" the weapon selection on a unit-based level involves picking weapons that are exceptional for their role. On top of that, each infantry unit can perform a variety of roles (namely anti-tank and anti-infantry). Normally I despise this sort of thing as, depending on what you shoot at, at least one weapon will be totally useless (or not utilized properly) in that phase. However, if you lose Squad 'A' any other squad can step in to take up the role. You don't have to worry about your two anti-tank squads dying because you only have two anti-infantry squads left because each squad has anti-tank and each squad has anti-infantry. This not only allows tactical flexibility at a unit-level, but also makes your opponent's life harder because every squad is a threat to every unit.

Now before i ramble too much, here is the first incarnation of the list at 1850pts:
HQ
Chaplain - 120
+ Jump Pack, Melta Bombs

Elites
Terminator Assault Squad - 440
+ x2 TH/SS, x3 LC
+ Land Raider Redeemer

Troops
Tactical Squad x10 - 235
+ Melta Gun, Heavy Bolter, Power Fist
+ Rhino

Tactical Squad x10 - 235
+ Melta-Gun, Heavy Bolter, Power Fist
+ Rhino

Tactical Squad x10 - 230
+ Flamer, Multi-Melta, Power Fist
+ Rhino

Fast Attack
Assault Squad x10 - 215
+ Power Fist

Heavy Support
Land Raider - 250

Vindicator - 125
+Siege Shield
---------
Total Points: 1850
Models in Army: 52

First off I think i should mention that I easily beat an Eldar player at my gaming club who, until now, was undefeated. It was a pretty spectacular win too with my Redeemer, Vindie, Tac Squad 1 and Rhino, Second Tac squad sarge and Termie Sarge all still alive at the end of 7 turns. He had his avatar (locked in combat with my Termie), Farseer, 5 dark reapers and 6 dire avengers left.

Now the first big thing everyone mentions is "Heavy Support Land Raider is a points sink" and I agree... to an extent. It allows me to have a "safety valve" transport option on top of some decent anti-tank fire. At the same time, it is 250 points and, in the end, not worth it in an 1850pt list. My next incarnation (which won't happen until I get the models necessary for the change) will ditch this and the Vindie.

The Land Raider and Vindicator, as I just mentioned, will be replaced by four models: Two Predators with Autocannon turrets and Las-Cannon sponsons and two Land Speeders with Multi-Meltas and Heavy Flamers. This choices allow me tactically flexibility, as is the point of this "Jack" list, and some heavy hitting weapons too. The choice for the Predator stems from the fact that autocannons can pop light tanks and are good against infantry and LasCannons will provide the anti-tank I need on a ranged scale. The Multi Melta and Heavy Flamer on the Land Speeders allow me to choose to target tanks or infantry, both weapons being some of the best choices for their roles. Add in the ridiculous speed of the Land Speeder and you have a formidable little mobile weapons platform. Plus, with three Rhinos, a Redeemer and two predators on the field, not much attention will be paid, generally, to the Speeders until it starts doing damage.

So there are my thoughts on a "Jack" list which, at first, went against everything I believed in when playing a game (I was a big proponent of the "like-with-like" strategy until now). The way to play a "Jack" list effectively is, like all lists, ALWAYS having a purpose in mind for each unit. The plus side of a Jack list, as I've mentioned, is that each unit can fulfill nearly every role so it's all a matter of position and deployment.

What do you guys think? Any of you try this or thinking of trying it or do you think I'm whacked out of my mind :) ?

Friday FAQ #12

Another Friday, another FAQ...

Here be the question:

If I have a Platoon a guardsmen split over two or more Valkyrie squadrons, which takes precedence for the reserve roll: the Platoon or the Vehicle Squadrons?

For those of you that don't know, Page 96 of the Imperial Guard Codex states

Each Infantry Platoon... is rolled for collectively when rolling for reserves.

Clearly this specific entry overrides the reserve rules on Page 94 of the rulebook (which specify that single units are rolled for). Squadrons are definitely a single unit, but how would this situation work: would everything be rolled for once since the platoon and squadrons are rolled for together or do the squadrons come in, ignoring the platoon reserves rule?

There really aren't any quotes I can find in the rulebook that help shed light on the situation, so I will put forth arguments for both cases, what my opinion is, and then let you guys discuss.

All-or-nothing: The Imperial Guard codex has a specific entry pertaining to platoons and reserves. Likewise, squadrons must stay within unit coherency which includes coming in from reserves. In order to not break either of these rules, everything must be rolled for as one unit in order for the Imperial Guard rule and the Squadron rule to be satisfied.

One Squadron at a time: Despite the specific statement in the Imperial Guard codex, infantry are subject to the rules of a vehicle while embarked. Much like Space Marines being able to deep-strike via a drop pod even though they do not have the rule themselves, Imperial Guard platoons may enter separate from each other because Squadron Coherency takes precedence.

Terran Forge Opinion: Roll for one squadron at a time. This seems less controversial, much more simple and what I believe is intended with the wording.


As I said, this has to be one of the most unclear questions I've ever seen as there is definitely not enough support in the rulebook or codex for either answer. I implore you to discuss this question here and head on over to this thread at Dakka to read some further arguments and see what others think. At the time of writing this post, the "One Squadron at a Time" idea has 22 votes while the "All-or-Nothing" has 19 so it is pretty neck-and-neck.

Don't forget to email us any questions you have, we'll be sure to answer them! Our email is terranforge@gmail.com

Mini War Gaming

Hey guys, don't worry, the Friday FAQ will be on its way (technically due in 2 hours, but it won't be until later Friday evening, probably) but I wanted to mention something first...

Warhammer 40k is an expensive hobby and all of us look for discounts. I figure I could help out by pointing you to Miniwargaming.com for those of you that don't know about it. It's a great store, large selection and customer service that parallels Games Workshop itself. Not only that, but they have amazing tutorials and loads of other stuff (they even carry neodynium magnets!). They are very community-driven and a great showcase of that is how Matt, one of the store's founders, recently donated $85 to The Astro Mag's most recent contest as prizes. He contacted me because he loved the mag and wanted to help out!

Now there are plenty of online stores that offer discounts large than Miniwargaming's 10%, but you definitely don't get the awesome customer service nor the really cool "points" idea where you get points for whatever you buy that can be then traded in for store credit. Pretty awesome, if you ask me.

So you may have noticed that new little GIF I made at the top that links to miniwargaming.com. Alex and I decided, because we like the store so much, to become Affiliates. Basically, we link to their store and anyone that clicks on our links (peppered throughout this post, like here, and at the top of the page) and purchases something from them within a year (as long as you don't delete your cookies) we get paid 8% of whatever the cost was of the item you bought. That money can then be fed into our "Terran Forge fund" which will help us to support prizes for any contests we'd like to hold (which there are alot, Alex and I just don't have the spare funds to give you guys something cool- hopefully that will change!).

So if you think about buying some new 40k stuff, follow any miniwargaming.com link on Terran Forge because then YOU get discounts on your stuff and we get money to give prizes right back to YOU. It's a win-win situation!

Friday FAQ will be up sometime tomorrow, so look forward to that!

Lack of Updates = Alex's Fault

Hey everyone,
sorry for the lack of updates lately from me. I have been busy with school. I never would have thought I would have been this busy. I promise an update soon regarding a tournament I entered and a painting contest I am entering the macharius in.

Update soon!

-Alex

KEVIN SAYS: Slacker. :p

Book Review: Fallen Angels

Fallen Angels by Mike Lee is the tenth book (ignoring the collection of short stories called Tales of Heresy) in the Horus Heresy series and acts as a sequel to the sixth book Descent of Angels written by Mitchel Scanlon.

Since Fallen Angels is a sequel to Descent of Angels, it seems stupid not to talk about it a little bit. Descent got a lot of flak for having very little to do with the Heresy and revolving way too much around Pre-Imperial Caliban. Stepping outside the realm of the Horus Heresy series for a moment, Descent of Angels was not a bad book (although the ending felt abrupt and... weird). Looking at it from the Horus Heresy series point of view, however, it seems out of place and irrelevant to the time-line. Mike Lee battled this with Fallen Angels and did so very effectively.

Fallen Angels is based around the two main characters from the previous Dark Angels book, Zaharial and Nemiel. Zaharial is currently a Librarian-in-training and Nemiel is a Chaplain. From the beginning of the book straight to the end, Mike Lee did a great job keeping the story moving at a quick, but manageable, pace. This sucked me right into it as I read and made the story quite exciting. Every chapter switches places from Caliban to Gordia IV and later, Diamat. As with nearly all of the Horus Heresy books, the end of each chapter holds a pretty good cliff-hanger that wants you to read more; however, Mike Lee was able to make each story (both on Caliban and Diamat) so interesting that after reading either chapter, you wanted more. This is very different, in my opinion, than other books where one chapter is about the Space Marines and you want more of that, but have to trudge through boring crap about remembrances before you can satiate your need for power-armored super-humans. Mike Lee did a brilliant job keeping your attention throughout every part of the book.

Now let's talk more about the story: it's interesting, to say the least. We learn many things about Caliban and the Dark Angels stationed there leading right up to the fall. I was hoping for an epic battle that ends up in Caliban being destroyed (with Luther and Johnson duking it out) but alas, no such event occurred - more on that later). Zaharial, as we remember from Descent of Angels, is stationed on Caliban and Nemiel is with Johnson on the Emperor's Great Crusade. Zaharial has become Luther's right-hand man and, likewise, Nemiel became Johnson's. Mike Lee did a great job characterizing the Lion and Luther and you really become attached to both. Johnson quickly became one of my favorite Primarchs towards the end, despite a gross miscalculation (which was pretty ironic, truth be told) and I have a lot of respect for him both as a Primarch and as a tactician. A lot of the Lion's actions have further implications in the overall story of the Horus Heresy itself which makes the book that much more interesting.

Luther, and all of what will end up being the Fallen, are easy to relate to (despite being genetically enhanced super-humans with the ability to decapitate you with the flick of a finger). It is easy to be sympathetic towards them and their cause as they begin rebellion against the Imperium, but here is where I find a flaw in Mike Lee's writing: Zaharial's character is very idealistic and he is incredibly loyal to the Emperor and the Lion. His Librarian trainer, Israfael, is a mentor to him and Zaharial has the utmost respect for his counsel yet in the space of a page and a half, Zaharial completely changes and turns his back on the Imperium, the Lion and his mentor. The transition makes sense and is bound to happen, but it feels way too quick. It was still a good scene, just far too abrupt of a personality change in my opinion.

One of the most interesting characters was Cypher. You get to know more about his personality and his background and, suffice to say, I am a pretty big fan of him post-heresy now...

Now for the bad: as I mentioned, Zaharial's personality change was incredibly abrupt but the same goes for all of the Dark Angels. One minute they're all "We love the Lion and the Emperor" and then the next Luther is turning traitor and the Dark Angels all say "Ok, whatever, For Luther!". Seriously, the change in all of their thought processes was so abrupt it was as if Mike Lee jumped out of the book, slapped me across the face and yelled "that's for enjoying good character development!". Though I feel as if I'm being a bit too harsh. The seeds of discontent had been planted throughout the book and the charachters were all bound to tread down that path. The thing is, instead of being a line-graph (in that they get proportionately traitorous as the book progresses) it acted more like an exponential graph so the characters slowly got more and more unhappy with their situation and then it just exploded. If this was fixed, the book would've easily been one of my favorites in the series. Some smaller problems, setting aside grammar because Black Library doesn't understand the meaning of the term "proof-reading", was some of the cheesiness Mike Lee decided to add in. One of the instances that stands out is when Lion El'Johnson is talking to Brother-Redemptor Nemiel and says "You have the makings of a good Interrogator, brother". A definite face-palm moment there. Really, the Dark Angels Chaplains become Interrogator Chaplains? Who woulda thunk it? To be honest, though, I'm just nitpicking here but I think it was worth mentioning. One more thing I want to add is that the ending wasn't what I expected nor hoped for, but it was pretty cool and, well, unexpected. Kudos to Mike Lee for a very ironic twist!

Now a quick summary for those of you who don't feel like reading:
THE GOOD: Story is easy to follow and engaging, understand the Fallen and the Lion much more, very good ties to the overall story of the Horus Heresy, interesting ending.

THE BAD: Abrupt personality change in the Fallen, disappointing end (despite it being interesting, it wasn't what should've happened. The Fall of Caliban is what it should've ended with).

Overall, I rate this book 7.5 stars out of 10. It was a great book and I highly suggest reading it, but it is not the best book in the series (though certainly up there). The reason it doesn't score higher is because of the character change with the Fallen (as I've harped on a lot already) and how it really needs another book to finish the story. Sure, we know Caliban gets totally destroyed, but I want to know about Luther and the Lion's epic duel. I want to know about what happened when they confronted eachother, the conversation, the emotional toll fighting one another took on both of them. The ending was cool, just not as good as it could've been. It's like a video game: great story but a disappointing ending (personally, I have not played a game that had an ending that made me crap myself due to the awesome. Books: yes. Video games: no.)

I hope you enjoyed this Book Review, and expect more in the future!

Friday FAQ #11

This week we have a question about tanks I found on DakkaDakka asked by user Kitzz:

Can I choose to not fire multiple weapons even if I have access to them? For example, I'd rather just shoot the Demolisher Cannon on my Leman Russ against a squad of MEQ rather than the Cannon and three Heavy Bolters, as the squad being hit could potentially allocate the Bolter hits and Cannon shots to lose less models from the Cannon wounds.

The conflict arises from a quote on page 16 of the rulebook in the right-hand column towards the bottom under the "Which Models Can Fire?" header it reads:

A player may choose not to fire with certain models if he prefers... This must be declared before checking range.

However, since one tank is a model this quote is inapplicable. We must look to the Vehicle Shooting Rules later in the book. On Page 58 the first sentence on the page state:

When a vehicle fires... all its weapons must fire at a single target unit.

Pretty damn clear if you ask me. You can only fire at one unit and you must fire all weapons if possible. This would also include, for example, a Rhino with a storm bolter and Hunter-Killer missile. You want to fire your storm-bolter? Well the Hunter-Killer has to be fired too. Very weird, and perhaps not something that was intended, but RAW is way too clear here to get around.

Terran Forge Final Opinion: You must fire all weapons, Line of Sight permitting, at a single unit. You may not choose what weapons aren't firing.

These FAQs are, as always, totally unofficial. We hope they will help shed light onto situations that may arise when you are out gaming and serve as a second opinion when you and an opponent encounter such a predicament. If you have any weird rules you would like a second opinion on, please email us at terranforge@gmail.com. Even if it's not a tricky situation and you just want a little help, we will respond to your email (unless you're spam. I hate spam)!

Quick Barbed/Razor Wire Tutorial

To fit in with my Urban Space Marine theme, I wanted to put some barbed or razor wire on bases. Thing is, I had no idea how to do it until I got this idea after looking at GW's Razor Wire that they sell... taking soldering wire and twisting it. Here's my method:

1) Grab hand-drill and solder (powered drill just puts out too much torque and it's hard to gauge where your wire is. I twisted mine too much sometimes that it just stretched and broke)


2) Cut soldering wire and fold in half. Put the folded end into the drill and secure tightly.


3) Tie loose ends of soldering wire to a fixed position (I use my lamp post) and begin to twist. It is very important you pull the solder so it is nice and tight.


4) Twist until you get it looking roughly like this picture.


5) Cut it from your fixed position and take the end of a brush or pen and begin wrapping it around.


6) There we go... now to make it look like barbed or razor wire (whichever you prefer).


BARBED WIRE

Take pieces of solder and wrap it twice around equidistant (or whatever your eye thinks is equidistant... this is a poor example of that :p) points and then cut so a small bit hangs off each end. Do this as many times as desired.


RAZOR WIRE

Take a hobby knife and carefully cut about half-way into the solder and then twist your knife upwards to get the shard to stick out. I do this all around the wire and it looks pretty good (in my opinion at least).



All you half to remember is be careful not to overdo it. It's a really easy and fast method and works great. Just remember that when you're done you must coat the wire in superglue to make sure it's nice and hardened, otherwise your hardwork will fall apart!

Hope you enjoyed this short tutorial and expect more in the future!

100 Posts: a look back

This does it. September 1st, 2009 marks 100 posts at Terran Forge. Wow. For a blog just started as a mere thought in boredom shortly before Spring Break, Alex and I have come a long way to get this blog out there so we can show off our stuff. Personally, I absolutely love the blogersphere and it is very hard to go back to posting WIP threads on forums (though I still do, I just prefer the blogging part :p). Now some stats about what has happened since our start on March 3rd:

- We have 61 followers. Absolutely awesome!

- We have had 26,558 page impressions (as of the writing of this post)

- Our average unique viewer rate after posting an update is 250 views while downtime is about 60.

- Top Five Traffic Sources:
1) Bell Of Lost Souls: 28.03%
2) Google Search: 17.86%
3) From the Warp: 14.12%
4) Direct traffic: 7.62%
5) Warseer: 4.86%

-Our peak amount of unique hits came on July 25th during Games Day Chicago when Alex, Pat and I collaborated with Bell of Lost Souls for their "LIVEFeed". We recieved 1,271 Pageviews from 683 visitors and 553 were absolutely unique (first time on site ever). Each visitor spent an average of three minutes and six seconds on site.

So those are just a few stats since we started Terran Forge (thanks to Google Analytics). We thank all of you for not only visiting our humble little site (which makes us very happy) but for being a wonderful blogging community that helped us grow and become a blog that people actually look at (something we honestly thought would be incredibly hard).

Now I'm off to paint some more purple guys so I can get my damn army finished! :D