Saturday, January 30, 2010

Space Wolves Editorial

I wrote this back when the SW codex was fresh off the shelves and it was just recently published in Issue 6 of the Astro Mag.

The Space Wolves codex is fresh off the shelves and everyone is wondering how well it will perform on the table and, for those of us who don’t play the Pups, how to beat it. It is a great codex that is jam-packed with fun units that make for great narrative gaming, but it is also a codex you may have to fear on the table. In this editorial I will dissect the codex to try and see what type of lists you’ll see pop up in competitive games and how to counter them. As a quick disclaimer, this editorial is not the end-all-be-all of the Codex Space Wolves. Winning games is not about lists, it’s about tactical superiority. All this editorial serves to do is to get you, the gamer, prepared to fight the Wolves and able to counter any special tricks they may have up their sleeve. Now let’s dive in, shall we?


The first big thing to point out is the proficiency in hand-to-hand combat each Space Wolf has. Every Space Wolf has the Counter Attack USR which means assaulting a unit just to deny them an extra close combat attack doesn’t work as all they need to do is pass a leadership test and it’s plus one attack for every model. This is a problem when facing the Wolves because you constantly have to guess your opponent’s motives as to whether or not you’ll be assaulted or they’ll just sit back and fire. If you are playing as the Space Wolves, this is a great rule to have since you don’t have to assault in order to maximize the amount of pain you put on the enemy; you can sit back and let them assault you with the same effect. Of course getting into combat as soon as possible is, generally, the best strategy to use with the new Codex and we’ll get into the details of that shortly…


HQ CHOICES
First we’ll go over the HQ choices I think you will see pop up in lists or have a lot of hubbub about in the near future. Logan Grimnar, in short, is a beast. And I don’t just mean his stats (5 base, 6 on the charge) but his wargear and Special Rules. I definitely see a lot of Wolf-wing lists in the future with Logan and his Wolf Guard taking advantage of his “The High King” rule but it probably won’t be a very competitive list (other than Deathwing veterans). Why? It’s expensive. Logan himself costs more than a 5-man terminator squad in Codex: Space Marines not to mention you have to buy the whole rest of his army yet too. Logan is easily one of the most powerful characters in the game, but at such a high cost I highly doubt you’d see him often in tournaments. He is the Marneus Calgar of Space Wolves and should thusly be treated as such (deadly, but still only ONE model).

Canis Wolfborn is, despite the youth of this codex, probably the most overlooked Special Character in this book. He, like many of the Space Wolves, is a Close Combat monster. He will only ever have a minimum of five attacks in close combat that can be raised based on how many models are in base-to-base contact with him plus always hitting on a 3+, being able to re-roll either rolls to hit or wound AND ignores armor saves. Biggest problem he has, however, is he is susceptible to Instant Death and AP3 or less weaponry. A quick fix is to give him a Fenrisian wolf squad to soak up some wounds, but against some armies it just won’t be enough. However, I do see a viable competitive aspect in Canis though the Rune Priest (which I’ll get to in due time) will be the far more popular choice. For you Space Wolves players out there, take a look at Canis and see if Fenrisian Wolves can work in your list…

Bjorn the Fellhanded is just awesome. I don’t think he is the best choice for an HQ but man is he made of win. If you score a glancing or penetrating hit on him ever the Space Wolf player rolls a D6 and on a 1+ he wins all games forever…. Ok…. Maybe I exaggerated. Still, he’s really cool. He allows the Space Wolf player to re-roll the dice that determines deployment zones which can be crucial in a tournament environment. In objective-based games, the Space Wolf player could take advantage of the “Living Relic” rule which means if Bjorn dies, he counts as an objective. Definitely a game-turning event if that happens due to the Space Wolf player’s own design. Now the down-side to this rule (and brace yourselves, it’s a big one) if you are playing a Kill Point game and Bjorn dies, he forfeits D3 Kill Points if the Pups don’t have a model in base-to-base with him. Yeah. Kill him in a Kill Point game and you can just guess where the wolves will be sprinting to. Easy pick’ns for pie-plates.

Ok, enough with the Special Characters, eh? The real HQ choices you’ll see pop up are the following: Rune Priests and Wolf Priests. Now unless you’ve been under a rock for the past six months (or skillfully avoiding the numerous “OMGZ SPACE WOLVES BREAK 40K” threads that have popped up across various forums) then you already know the controversy behind the Rune Priest and his “Jaws of the World Wolf” psychic power. First of all, yes it is very powerful when used correctly especially against models like the Carnifex who need to roll a 1 or 2 to not die. Ouch. At the same time, most models have I3 or I4 so you’re looking at a 4+ or 5+ to kill the model (respectively) and combined with a 91.68% chance to successfully use the psychic power you have a 45.8% chance to kill an I3 model and a 30.6% chance to kill an I4 model. One. Model. Word of advice: Jaws of the World Wolf… not as great as people think it may be (bar, of course, the unfortunate I1 models out there). Granted, it’s definitely still a worthwhile power to take with your Rune Priest, but by no means the end-all-be-all of psychic powers. Personally, one of my favorite Rune Priest psychic powers is the Tempest’s Wrath because it deters deep-strikers, jump infantry, jet bikes and skimmers entering within 24” of him since all terrain, for the offending units, is both difficult and dangerous. In the course of a game where speed is the key to victory, this can be VERY useful. However the best HQ, in my opinion, is not the Rune Priest. It’s…

The Wolf Priest! Ok, ok, maybe I’m biased because I think the Chaplain is the best HQ in Codex: Space Marines, but the principles are all the same. He adds a cohesive effect to the army, giving the unit he is with Preferred Enemy. WOW! Preferred Enemy! Better than the Vanilla “Litanies of Hate” which only allow re-rolls on first round of combat if the squad charged that turn, this allows re-rolls to hit EVERY TIME. Of course the catch is that you must choose a unit-type, but that shouldn’t be a problem because veteran list builders know to build a list with a purpose in mind for every unit. If I was building a list I’d pop this dude in with a Blood Claws squad and pick “infantry” and go to town. Other than that, the Wolf Priest is, effectively, a Space Marine Chaplain. And still the most effective HQ in Codex: Space Wolves.


Now onto Elites.

Wolf Guard are the versatile of versatile. They are the Veterans, Terminators and Sergeants of the Space Wolves and I guarantee you will see them in 90% of Space Wolf lists. Giving Wolf Guards Terminator Armor is cheap. Seven points cheaper than Codex: Space Marines’ Terminators cheap. With that you get a Power Sword and Storm Bolter which is pretty sweet. Now you might be asking “Why did you say Wolf Wing lists are expensive when talking about Logan Grimnar earlier?” Good question. Well you can, conceivably, have a cheap Terminator squad with Power Swords and Storm Bolters but, with a typical 5-man squad, you only get a potential 15 attacks rather than the possible 20 attacks at 25 points less with just regular Wolf Guard and Power Weapons. Sure some people will take them, but the only threat those particular Terminators bring to the table are their 2+ armor which can be easily broken with the Melta spam people seem to love to bring to the table. The threat you want with Terminators (besides the 2+ survivability) is high killing power (dual Lightning Claws) or high-toughness/anti-tank capabilities (Thunder Hammers or Power Fists, though preferably the former). In order to get this with Wolf Guard you need to pay three points more per model than C:SM for dual Wolf Claws (though, on the upside, you get to choose to re-roll either hits or misses), twenty-three more points per model for Thunder Hammer/Storm Shield (NOT worth it!) or eight points more per model for the classic Power Fist/Storm Bolter combo (again, NOT worth it). The most viable option here are the dual Lightning Claws but as a rule I say avoid Wolf Guard Terminators in squads. Instead it may be worthwhile to have a few Terminator-equipped Guard to through in your Blood Claws squads for some extra ‘oompf’ in combat, though I only suggest it at a high point level (1850pt minimum). Taking Wolf Guard without Terminator armor is far more deadly and definitely worthwhile for Close-Combat oriented squads like Blood Claws. If you want a full squad of Power Weapon toting badasses, Wolfguard can be a good option but, like Vanguard for Codex: Space Marines, they can get expensive real quick and lack a good amount of survivability. Their strength is absolutely separating them and making them pack leaders but what you give them is highly dependent on your personal play style.Wolf Scouts are neat. I do have a soft spot for Scouts, but these guys are just plain cool. Their “Behind Enemy Lines” special rule makes them very deadly because on a 3+ they can enter play from any table edge including the enemy’s. This can be game changing if used correctly because you can take out well hidden things early, or you can force your opponent to deploy in a manner that hurts his units’ potential performance in order to limit the damage from the outflanking scouts. Sure, they are just scouts, but they can be deadly. However, they cost fifteen points apiece. I love what these guys can bring to the table, I really do, but I feel that unless you have a solid strategy for Wolf Scouts in your list or have sufficient practice with them in a competitive setting (or you’re playing for fun) I would keep them out of your list. The best way to counter them is just shoot ‘em with massed AP4 weaponry like normal Space Marine scouts as the Wolf Scouts’ only strength is being able to effectively infiltrate enemy lines (which, again, if done correctly, will frak your day up).

Lone Wolves are very different. In essence, he is a watered down Captain for only twenty points. The down-side is that he is always on his own and can never join or be joined with a unit. Yet he can also change a Kill Point game around real quick since if he is killed he does not give up a point and if he is not killed he gives one up, but stays alive longer and potentially racks more points up for the Space Wolves player. Now a strategy to use is to take a Power Weapon and send him into combat side-by-side with some Blood Claws. That gives him extra killy power and forces the enemy to split up attacks (or not split up attacks and save his ass) which is useful. Think of him as an Independent Character that is running with a unit rather than in a unit. Play the Lone Wolf like that and he can be very useful. A problem is that if you want to give him deadlier weaponry, it gets a bit on the expensive side but can be worth it if you are facing a very tough enemy (such as Space Marines).


Time for Troops!

This one will be short and sweet: Grey Hunters are cheap and awesome. Give them ten guys and take two special weapons for the cost of one (expect lots of dual-melta squads)!

Blood Claws will be a bit longer as I love them and they should be in every single Space Wolves list ever (along with at least one Grey Hunters squad for some close-range fire support). Max the squads out at fifteen models, give them two special weapons for the price of one (flamers since they are, at the end of the day, an infantry-hunting unit) and enjoy your fifty-eight attacks on the charge (four per Blood Claw and three per Special Weapon toting Blood Claw). Everyone will hate you. Now this squad has the option to upgrade with Lukas the Trickster which is…costly to say the least. However, he brings a neat ability to the table: when he dies in Close Combat, the Space Wolf player and the enemy roll off and if the Space Wolf player wins any model in base-to-base contact with him is removed as a casualty. If you can fit him into your list, I’d suggest it. Grab a cheap (well, as cheap as you can get) 5-man Blood Claw squad and upgrade to Lukas. Get them into combat with a tough model (Carnifex, Avatar, C’Tan), wait for him to die and potentially destroy the target outright. Of course it’s uncertain whether or not that’ll happen but at the very worst you have tied up a deadly model (or models) for at least one turn and could’ve even wounded it as well (a 5-man Blood Claw squad with a Lukas upgrade has a 70% chance to wound an Avatar on the charge). However, I only suggest Lukas if you have enough room in your list and are not taking other highly-specialized Close Combat squads as it is a tad expensive. If you’re playing against Lukas, don’t let his squad get into Close Combat with anything valuable. Seriously.


Fast Attack time!

Thunderwolf Calvary are expensive and I only see them working well if Fenrisian Wolf squads are taken since said squads can re-roll failed Morale checks if they are within 12” of a Calvary model. Not to mention that they have six strength five attacks on the charge and have a beautiful 12” charge range. They are absolutely deadly in combat, but will get shot to hell unless you have some Fenrisian Wolves to take the heat off of them.

I will forgo talking about Swiftclaw packs as they are Blood Claws with a 12” movement range (bikes and jump packs). Treat them as Blood Claws and you’ll be golden!

Fenrisian Wolves are cheap, but fragile. But for one-hundred twenty points you get sixty attacks on the charge. Crazy awesome. Of course their 6+ save means they’ll die en masse in the first round of combat (usually) but that first round is really all you need to make up their points. Now another benefit of them is the fact that they are so fragile. Why? Because then it is the easy kill for the enemy and it will take some heat off of your other squads. If you saw fifteen close-combat monsters that you can kill very easily, why would you not shoot at them? At least thin their numbers down so it won’t hurt as much when they get into combat, right? Well that is, honestly, the best strategy to use against them, it still allows them to soak up wounds that would normally be targeted at Blood Claws or other highly valuable squads. Fenrisian Wolves are great for those two purposes: hard-hitting first round of combat and a unit to soak up wounds. It’s a beautiful thing.


Lastly, Heavy Support.

Long Fangs are the only unique unit in Codex Space Wolves under this heading and, thus, will be the only unit I talk about! They have a neat ability which allows the Sergeant to forgo his shooting phase and in turn allows the squad to split its fire. This makes squad-based versatility (which I am a fan of anyway) more powerful as it lets you make the most out of the squad in both the anti-tank and anti-infantry categories. Not everyone likes this idea and that’s alright, but this rule can still be useful for those that prefer the all anti-tank or all anti-infantry squads. Yet when it comes down to putting them in a list, I don’t see them being a popular choice only because they can only have five man squads and, as such, will be easy targets. If you have a good rushing screen of Blood Claws and Fenrisian Wolves, however, I think Long Fangs will last a bit longer and be a bit more effective. My opinion, though, is to forget about them and look for long range support elsewhere (like Predators, for example).

Well I hope everyone enjoyed reading my opinion on the competitive aspect of the Space Wolves codex and that I either helped the aspiring Space Wolf players out there or helped prepare you to fight Space Wolves next time you head down to your FLGS. Happy gaming everyone!

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Astro Mag Issue 6


Well it has been a long time coming, but the Astro Mag Issue #6 is finally out! Go download it, it's jam-packed with goodies and, in my opinion, the best issue yet. Coincidentally, it's also the first issue without me on staff so maybe that is saying something :p

One article in there, a hefty one I might add, I wrote back in October shortly after the release of Codex: Space Wolves. It's a bit dated now, but I'd still like to know what you guys think and will post it up here in the coming days as well.

Monday, January 18, 2010

Tournament Results!

Hey everyone!

This most recent Saturday, the 16th, I traveled to southern Virgina to take place in 3,000 point per team Doubles tournament with my friend Blaine. This is how it went down.

My List:

HQ

Company Command Squad
-Vox, Mortar

Elite
Sly Marbo

Troops
Platoon COmmand Squad
-2x Grenade Launcher, Mortar

Squad 1
-Autocannon, Vox, Grenade Launcher, Commissar

Squad 2
-Autocannon, Grenade Launcher

Squad 3
-Autocannon, Grenade Launcher

Squad 4
-Mortar

Squad 5
-Mortar

Veteran Squad
-3x Meltaguns, Dedicated Chimera transport

Veteran Squad
-3x Plasmagun, Plasma Pistol, Dedicated Chimera transport w/ Heavy Stubber

Fast Attack
Scout Sentinel w/autocannon

Scout Sentinel w/autocannon

Scout Sentinel w/autocannon

Heavy Support
Leman Russ Executioner
-Plasma Cannon Sponsons, Hull-mounted Las-cannon

Basilisk

Basilisk

Total: 1500 pts.

Blaine's List

HQ
Rune Priest
-Chooser of the Slain, Storm Caller, Living Lightning

Elite
Wolf Guard with Powerfist and Combi-melta

Wolf Guard with Powerfist and Combi-melta

Wolf Guard w/ Terminator armor and Combi-flamer

Wolf Guard w/ Terminator armor and Combi-flamer

Wolf Guard w/ Terminator armor and Heavy Flamer and Power fist

-Dedicated Landraider Transport

Troops
Grey Hunter Squad
-7x Grey Hunters, meltagun, Mark of Wulfen, power weapon, Wolf Standard
-Dedicated Rhino Transport

Grey Hunter Squad
-7x Grey Hunters, meltagun, Mark of Wulfen, power weapon, Wolf Standard
-Dedicated Rhino Transport

Inquisitorial Storm Troopers
-5x Storm troopers, 2x meltaguns
-Dedicated Chimera w/ Heavy Flamer Transport

Fast Attack
3x Thunderwolf Cavalry
-Power fist

Heavy Support

Vindicator

Vindicator

Total: 1500 pts.

First Game
Opponents are Jonathan and Mike

There lists were (combined)
Rhino rushing with 6 Beserker Squads
1 CSM Squad
some Obliterators
Havoks with Gubbin's
Kharn
Huron Blackheart
Khornate Demon Prince
5 Chosen Terminators with power fists and some gubbins

The game was pretty straight forward. We got first turn, set up among the strange deployment rules (18inch no man's land diagonally cross the board) and went to town right away. Blaine zoomed up his Wolf guard in the Land Raider and assaulted the Obliterators. From there, the Wolf gaurd were chewing slowly through squad after squad while being heavily assault by Kharn, demon Prince, and many Zerkers. They were aided heavily by the thunderwolf cavalry, but were eventually taken out after some summoned demons aided Kharn (post Demon Prince death).

While that massive combat is occurring I am sitting there blasting away at 5 Zerker Squads, Huron Black Heart, and all their rhinos.

By the time the dust had settled, not one Chaos Marine was a live and I had only lost 7 guardsmen with Huron's Heavy Flamer. One of the Last zerkers was trampled by the foot of a sentinel. It was a complete Massacre with them being completely tabled, with not one model left alive. We also had many of the victory conditions being met (table quarter control, more buildings occupied, enemy commanders dead, etc...)

Second Game
This game was decidedly less fun to play than the first. I was against Old School Tyranids and New Age Orks: very "gamey" army lists. These guys argued silly rules points and made a big fuss about line of sight all the time (according to these guys, weapon destroyed results count as Killpoints: upon one of the store veteran's and owner's hearing this he pimp slapped them back to the stonage with a "Don't try and pull that shit.").
There list was
2x Hive tyrants with twinlinked devourers. one with wings, one with guard
2 Without number Gaunt broods
4 carnifex with shooty implements (BS and venom cannons)
3x outflanking genestealer broods
Ghazghkull
180 boys with Power Klaw Nobs
mad dok grotsnik
and 1 full lootas Squad

Basically this list was self generating cover with a 30 boy mob with ghazghkull that had Feel No Pain. All the while big bugs terrorize your troops, stun your vehicles, and genestealers outfalnk harassing and pummelling your sides. There was not much that can be done when you drop tons of firepower just to see two orks die due to silly cover saves.

The game went like this.

FIrst turn I concentrate fire and bring down one fex, a couple lootas, and a handful of boys. Second turn, the oppossing horde takes even less damage while we lose some thunderwolves get one of the vindi's stunned and I lose two guardsmen to shooting and ghazghkull is in the thick of my 30 man infantry squad. I kill about 4 ork boys with 30 odd attacks, and he wipes the unit down to just the commissar. This all happens while blaine's thunder wolves kill one boy on the charge and get slaughtered by a lot of incredible strength 3 rolling.

The commisar stupidly holds his ground and prevents me from totally destroying ghazghkull and retinue with all of my shooting. In turn three I ferently try and taken down one more carnifex for a KP, and try and get some damage control by surrounding my leman russ with whatever troops I can muster to protect it. Blaine hops out from the ruination of his rhino's with two grey hunter squads and valiantly destroys a boys squad on the charge (losing 3 of his marines to dangerous terrain checks!!!!). Their turn three has them kill his wolfguard with shooting and counter assault the greyhunter's who hold up pretty well. I lose one sentinel and my Company Command Squad. Game over

We lost by only 300 Victory points, bringing out a drawn game in that aspect, but they mutilated us in KP's. We killed two carnifexes, and two boys squads. They got only 3 Kp's from me, but a whole bunch from blaine. This ends up being a minor loss.

Third Game
This game was against much more cheery opponents who were a real blast to play against and also had two pretty great lists. Derrick and Mike. Imperial Guard and Tau. The objectives were to rack of VP's while your commander must move toward their commander and vice-versa: If one army killed the one of the opponents' commanders in close combat (with any unit) you get extra VP's. Their lists were.

Company Command Squad with PLasma, FNP, and upgrades.
4 Chimera based veterans with Melta.
1 Chimera based Psyker Battle Squad.
Manticore
Leman Russ Executioner with all the gubbins
Leman Russ battle tanks with gubbins
2x Hellhounds
Shash'o with iridium, plasma, etc...
2x 6 Fire Warriors
3 Crisis suit squads with Missiles and Plasma
3 x Hammerhead's with Railguns and SMS

We got first turn like in the previous two games, and blaine and I ran up in our transports while my troops and mortars blasted away at the line of tanks in front of us. We wrecked, stunned, or immobilized most of their transports and pinned the psyker battle squads with mortars after emergency disembarked out of their transport. All the while Blaine popped smoke and awaited the oncoming volley.

Unfortunately, the oncoming volley did absolutely nothing. In the end I just had two stunned chimeras. That was it.

The game was a mop up operation after that with me losing just my chimera melta vets and my commander to ranged fire. Blaine ran up and destroyed pretty much all their tanks and most of their infantry excluding some firewarriors and one hammerhead and the LRBT. The game was punctuated with some great jokes, banter, more jokes, and some epic moments.

We ended the tournament by coming in second. We probably would have been in first place if our second game opponents (the gamey tyranid and ork armies) did not cause their third game opponent's to give up with in 30 minutes after a rules argument (the attacks on rules eventually became personal).

My winnings are:
Paint

and this...
Cadian Command Squad Box

Sorry if any of the above is incoherent. It probably is!

-Alex

Monday, January 11, 2010

Mobius Comics

Hey everyone, just a quick update from me. You may have noticed a bit of lack of activity from me and that is for a few reasons. First, my workload is massive now that I'm back at school again and I haven't even unpacked my 40k stuff yet (shock, gasp!). Second, my roommate Tim and I have been working hard in our free time to set up our webcomic Mobius Comics. It's a comic about nerdy stuff, random stuff, math and science and, of course, 40k (though I only have one 40k comic drawn yet- it's a future post - but there will be more of course ;)). We update every Monday, Wednesday and Friday and we also have a Youtube page here, if you're interested, where we will upload all sorts of videos. We also have a blog on there which we'll update whenever we have something to say.

Anyways, I just wanted to let everyone know why I have been so inactive and potentially expand our growing fan base. Subscribe, become a member, spread our link around, or hate us, whatever! Just plugging it here because I have put a lot of work towards it and it would be depressing to see it flop, as you could imagine!

Sunday, January 3, 2010

The Creation of a gaming board Part II

So, I got a good amount of work done on the board. I would go into specifics but... nah. Here are some pictures. Tomorrow I will write up on how everything was done and what is left to be done.

PICS!
Table 2

Table 1

Tutorial: Craters and Explosions (Part Two)

As a follow up to Part One of the Craters and Explosions tutorial, here is how I paint it.

After priming the pieces black, I drybrush grey over it. I used VMC Dark Blue Grey, but the likes of GW Codex Grey work fine. I use grey just because my marines are Urban-themed and the board Alex and I play on is also Urban (and he's building a new, sturdier, one. Here's his first post if you missed it).
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Next I drybrush a coat of VMC Flat Earth (GW Graveyard Earth works great here too). From here I'm going to just going to be putting down muddy colors that would be under the ashy urban surface mimicking what would happen if a shell fell down and thrust the ground underneath upward.
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After that I drybrush on some GW Bestial Brown...
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Then a light coat of GW Desert Yellow for a primary highlight.
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Finally I put a very light drybrush of GW Bleached Bone on the crater just to make the piece "pop" a bit more.
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And a size comparison with a Space Hulk Terminator:
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So that's it. If you want to make a more smoky explosion, you can just use Steel Wool and paint a bit of fire on the bottom. I'll probably pick some up and do a tutorial when there is a bit of lull in my schoolwork.

Saturday, January 2, 2010

The Creation of a gaming board

So this past week I decided to create a game board. Running with a bunch of ideas in my head I went with Kev and Pat to the local home depot to pick up supplies. Here is what we got

-8x4 section of Oak wood board (1 1/4" thick)
-Huge bucket of sand textured white paint (cannot be mixed with a color apparently...cough cough horrible service cough)
-1 light grey spray primer
-2 dark grey spray primer
-2 matte sealant spray bottles
-3 paint rollers
-1 Small Bucket of light grey paint

The creation of the board goes as follows.

After having the guy at Home Depot cut the board up into four 2x4 sections we set out to priming them with the light grey primer. After this week set out to covering the thing in the textured paint. We originally tried rolling our paint rollers in the paint pan that was filled with the textured paint. This did not really work out too well because the textured paint was about as thick as moist hummus.
We then decided to just dump the paint on each section and spread it around and create the uniform texture with the rollers. This proved successful!

After a single day's worth of drying I set out to applying another layer of this paint to ensure that there was a god thick layer on the board.

After I let it dry for another day I noticed that the texture paint was very brittle. I assume this has to do with the 1 week curing period mentioned on the bucket. Understanding that it would strengthen over time, I set out to bring some color to this "winter-wonder-land-board."

My girlfriend and I then sat down for 30 minutes spray priming a the darker grey primer over the boards. After letting it dry for about 2 hours I was still surprised at how black this dark grey was: I thought I had mistakenly gotten the incorrect primer (which I might have). After letting it dry for one whole day I noticed it was starting to get increasingly more grey. This probably has to do with the fact that drying in my 30* Fahrenheit garage was less than a bright idea. But either way, the board was ready for the next step.

Unfortunately, I still noticed how damn brittle the texture paint was. Even upon light contact and rubbing it would crackle and fall off. I then decided that the board was not fit to have the lighter grey dry brushed over it; there would simply be too much damage. I then tested out the matte sealant to see if it would solve my problem. I sprayed it on a corner of one of the boards and let it dry for its allotted 15 minute dry time.

Upon returning I noticed the matte sprayed corner of the board was incredibly black. Bought upon touching it, I noticed how much tougher it was. I no longer could interact directly with the textured paint below easily, so therefore it would not chip. I capatalized on this fact instantly and sprayed the mate sealant on all four board sections.

Here are some pictures of the progress that show the effect of the matte sealant on the color of the board and its look (at the same time while increasing its durability).

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As you can see, the matte sealed sections here are much darker. Even the one board on the far left that had already been drying for about 2 hours.

Closer look at the two board sections.
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The oh-not-so-matte sealant after two hours of drying to test its looks and durability.
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As of posting this I have already attempted to dry brush one of the board sections as a prototype for the rest of the board. It is looking mighty fine and actually matches the color of some of the cover and scenery we have lying around. PERFECT.

Tomorrow I will finish off the dry brushing, buy some more sealant to ensure MAXIMUM protection, and then post some WIP pictures.

All in all, a wonderful hobby experience! I hope you enjoyed my stream of consciousness write-out.

-Alex of Terranforge
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