Astro Mag Issue 8!

Hey guys, Astro Mag Issue 8 is out!  Go download it, won't you?

Also, apologies for the lack of activity.  I have a lot of Dark Eldar sitting next to my desk waiting to be painted, but two labs this quarter are really messin' with me.  Actually finished up the CPU design for my Computer Architecture class so that's a load off and in the coming weeks my freedom will be great. Though I am working on building a custom synthesizer and finishing writing an album I've been working on so the shit I need to get done won't be stopping soon.  Regardless, I will be making time for 40k soon enough!

Asshats of the Imperium

Ok, so I just finished up reading A Thousand Sons by Graham McNeil and it was a pretty great read.  Not quite up to the level of satisfaction I had after reading "Fulgrim" or "Mechanicum" (still my two favorite books of the series, in that order) but great nonetheless.  My overall impression of Leman Russ was that he is a whiny asshat. Yes, asshat.  Don't ask what that mean, he just is one.  This led me to a realization: the Horus Heresy series really sheds some well-needed light on the Pre-Heresy days and you really get to know Primarchs a lot better.  This is both good and bad.   What I decided to do for you (ok, more for me, but whatever) was to compile a list  of the cool-cats in the Imperium and the debby-downers.  Some non-kid friendly language will follow so I warn you now, if you don't like vulgarities of any kind, tread not past the jump!

Old Comics

Hey guys, just a quick check in.  Time is short, but my Dark Eldar are still in progress.  I'm working on a project right now which is eating up a lot of time- I'm basically building a light controlled sequencer and plan on making a nice compact and cheap circuit from it too.  The design and code are eating away a lot of free time, but I'm getting a lot done.  However, right now I'd like to share with you some comics I drew for my old site Mobius-Comics. I'm no longer drawing for them so I decided to compile all my comics into one post and a small zip file so anybody who would like to look at them can do so easily.  The link to the post is here (it is on my personal electronics blog) and I've included a few comics as examples below.

Happy New Year!

Happy 2011 from the Forge!  Hopefully we can all ass ourselves into getting our armies painting, even though I'm sure that's our New Year's resolution every year...  Hopefully this humble blog will be alive in 2011 with much more activity (though more on the hobby side since gaming will be very rare the way my schedule is looking).

Be safe out there everyone!

Dark Eldar Mandrake

Sorry for taking so long on painting this stuff.  A mix of being home for the holidays (and the required family events that ensue) and my odd urge to replay through Mass Effect 2 really created an unwelcome situation for my Mandrakes.  Alas, I finally got one done.  The Matte varnish I used had a bit of a gloss to it which is really amplified in the picture but isn't as bad in person.  Next time I'm going to snap pictures BEFORE the varnish though, just to give a better idea on what the guy actually looks like.  This guy was an experiment to see how I wanted to paint the squad and to make sure I get all the colors rights so he's not great, but I'm happy with how he turned out.  The rest of the squad *should* turn out better though.  We'll see!

Selling some Guard and Orks

Hey guys, decided to clear out some of my Guard I don't really use anymore and some Orks I found laying in my parents basement.  Figured I'd post them here and on some forums I frequent before heading to eBay.  If anyone is interested, just shoot me an email (click on the "Contact" tab up top).  If anyone has any questions, feel free to post them in the comments and I'll answer them ASAP!  I'm not really looking for a trade, but if you have some of the new Dark Eldar that are not painted and, preferably, not assembled, I'd certainly consider trading!

(Green is for sale, Orange is if "negotiations" are under way and Purple is sold)

IMPERIAL GUARD
5 Guardsmen on Sprue - link - $12 or BO

10 Vostroyan soldiers - link - $25 or BO (they are partially painted, but very easily stripped as they are just plastic. They also have some Resin bases I made awhile ago, they are NOT the black GW ones).

6 Valhallan soldiers - link - $25 or BO (these guys aren't sold anymore [as far as I can tell] and are just primed bar for one or two that have painted flesh. Again, metal so easily stripped.)

3 Mortar teams - link - $10 or BO (painted with really crappy bases, but they're easily cleaned off).

15 Guardsmen - link - $20 or BO (partially painted. Includes two guys from the command sprue here and here. Missing heads, shoulders were filed off as I originally planned on converting them to Valhallan warriors with greatcoats.)

Leman Russ Demolisher - link - $35 or BO (From old kit, Primed, Demolisher cannon itself is a bit warped but can be easily filed down. Missing top hatch).

Leman Russ - link - $35 or BO (From old kit, Primed. Cannon was built as a Nova cannon before the 5th edition codex was released (so it was based off of rumors)

31 Pig Iron Winter Sci Fi heads - link - $8 or BO (18 unpainted, the rest are partially painted but as they heads are metal, they're easily stripped. I only picture 25 heads, but I found six more in my bits box after taking pictures).


ORKS
5 Ork Nob Bikers with Painboy - link - $45 or BO (Painted and converted to look like Nobz rather than normal warbikerz. Some are not fully painted and just partially. Paint is not very heavy at all so painting over would not be a problem).

Ork Warboss - link - $12 or BO (Painted and converted a bit)

Pain Tokens of PAIN

Ok, I'm still waiting on my shipment of Warriors and Archon so I decided to build/paint up some Pain Tokens just to get myself remembering how to paint as well as test out my basing idea (I wanted lava world).  So here are the two tokens, turned out pretty decent I'd say!

Reaver Jetbikes

So I'm thinking of strategies for my current Dark Eldar list (I want to hone everything before committing on too many models.  Cash is tight!) and I realized that the Reavers aren't particularly great at assault and I was contemplating scratching them from my list until I realized one very important detail: Jetbikes have special rules.  They can move 6" in the assault phase and not assault!  I totally forgot!  I'm swamped with schoolwork at the moment, so a new updated list won't be created until probably Wednesday but if I take a few Reavers, pop a Blaster or Heat Lance on them and give them cluster caltrops I can Turbo Boost over an enemy unit (36" might I add) and end out of LoS of anything particularly dangerous and then pop out in the movement phase, shoot, pop back into hiding in the assault.  Rinse and repeat. I think it would create a nice distraction for my other units and still be able to wreak some havoc.  Knocking a few jetbikes out of my list also frees up room for Nightshields on my Raiders which makes killing them even more annoying.

I am so pumped for this army!

A Girl's 40k Problems

Ok, this gem is a bit to hilarious NOT to share.  I was showing my girlfriend the Archon and Kabalite Warriors I recently bought for my upcoming Dark Eldar army and I asked her why she hasn't done anything with the box of Ork Boyz I bought her back at Games Day '09.  She let me know why:

"Yeah, I left those in the box at home.  I got fed up building them because I kept getting super glue in my mouth."

I think she's doing it wrong.

*She told me the whole story and apparently the bottle exploded on her and got all over her hands and she had a hair in her mouth and, well, it's pretty easy to figure out what happened from there.  Still hilarious!

The Friday Fix #1

Hey guys, so I decided to do something so I can maintain some sort of regular posting schedule at the forge so I introduce The Friday Fix!  Basically if I see some cool stuff on forums or blogs or wherever, I'll post it in one of these Friday posts.  Alternatively, if you guys see something cool online you'd like to share or you have a thread on a forum or blog post you'd like to promote and think is pretty cool you can email it to me and I will include it in one of these new weekly posts!  Just send an email to terranforge@gmail.com with the title "Friday Fix" and I'll get back to you asap (i check my email super regularly so I guarantee I'll see it).  As long as it's 40k related, anything goes so long as it's interesting!

For this week, I point you to a post over at the Astronomican Forums by member tkkultist.  He's a member of "Team North America" and posted some cool WIP shots of the Primarchs used for the Golden Demon competitions in 2008 (I believe).  Really cool "behind the scenes" work that I thought was absolutely fascinating.

The lead image is Fulgrim by Chris Borer (and, incidentally, he won a Golden Demon and the Slayer Sword for his work).   Here are some WIP shots:

This next one is Ferrus Manus by Nathan Comanse:

And the last one I'll post is Lion El'Johnson by Tom Shadle:

Some incredible stuff, and absolutely thrilling to be able to see into the process of making such an incredible array of models.  To see more of the Primarchs, just mozy on over to this post on the Astronomican forums.  I promise you, it's worth it!  You can also check out tkkultist's (James Craig's) album on his site Lost In The Warp for even more Primarch goodness!

Final Dark Eldar List

Ok, I think I'm finally settled on a list. I changed the Huskblade to an Agoniser on the Archon since I figure at a small points level like this, the auto instant death wont be utilized much. When I get to building a 2k+ army, then a Huskblade/Soul Trap combo is a guarantee. I also gave the Archon a Blast Pistol and Hawire Grenades just so I can do SOMETHING if I find myself in CC with a walker. I took the Nightfiend of the Mandrakes, added a Dark Lance rather than Cannon for my second Kab squad and took the Heat Lance off the Raiders (I want them killing infantry, not stopping to shoot one weapon at a vehicle).

HQ
Archon - 140pts
+Agoniser, Combat Drugs, Shadow Field, Blast Pistol, Haywire Grenades

ELITES
Mandrakes x5 - 75

TROOPS
Kabalite Warriors x10 - 215pts
+Blaster, Dark Lance, Sybarite, Venom Blade
+Raider, Flickerfield

Kabalite Warriors x10 - 215pts
+Blaster, Dark Lance, Sybarite, Venom Blade
+Raider, Flickerfield

Wyches 9 - 200pts
+Hydra Gauntlets, Hekatrix, Agonizer
+Raider, Flickerfield

FAST ATTACK
Reavers x6 - 152pts
+Cluster Caltrops

TOTAL - 997pts


As a note, I have already purchased the Archon and a box of Warriors, so assembly and painting will soon happen (though not until I hit break in about a week).

Dark Eldar List v2.0

Ok, here's two new lists I made based on some great input both here and on the Astronomican Forums

LIST 1 
HQ
Archon - 135pts
+Huskblade, Combat Drugs, Shadow Field

ELITES
Incubi x4 - 208pts
+Klaivex, Bloodstone, Onslaught
+Venom, Splinter Cannon, Night shields

TROOPS
Kabalite Warriors x10 - 140pts
+Blaster, Dark Lance, Sybarite

Kabalite Warriors x10 - 140pts
+Blaster, Dark Lance, Sybarite

Wyches x10 - 210pts
+Hydra Gauntlets x2, Hekatrix, Power Weapon
+Raider, Flickerfield

FAST ATTACK
Reavers x6 - 164pts
+Heat Lance, Cluster Caltrops

TOTAL - 997pts



LIST 2 
HQ
Archon - 135pts
+Huskblade, Combat Drugs, Shadow Field

ELITES
Mandrakes x5 - 85
+ Nightfiend

TROOPS
Kabalite Warriors x10 - 215pts
+Blaster, Dark Lance, Sybarite, Venom Blade
+Raider, Flickerfield

Kabalite Warriors x10 - 200pts
+Blaster, Splinter Cannon, Sybarite, Venom Blade
+Raider, Flickerfield

Wyches x9 - 200pts  (EDIT- Originally had x10 here.  That was a mistake!)
+Hydra Gauntlets, Hekatrix, Agonizer
+Raider, Flickerfield

FAST ATTACK
Reavers x6 - 164pts
+Heat Lance, Cluster Caltrops


TOTAL - 999pts

Which do you guys think is the better list? List 2 seems much faster, but far more fragile while list 1 feels maybe too slow, but with a bit more staying power (because of the Incubi). List 1 is also a lot cheaper (money wise) but I'll worry about that when it's time to worry about that!

From the ashes...

Well, it's been a LONG while since I've been able to get excited over 40k. I just have had so much going on- my engineering courses are beginning to ramp up and require a lot of time and dedication, my goal to have an album recorded by the beginning of summer sucks away precious time and being able to relax is a very rare commodity.

Luckily I finally bought Chaos Rising. Why do I mention this? Well, I originally got into 40k because of the original Dawn of War game. Chaos Rising is bringing me back. Yes! The forge won't die!

I'm going to be possibly selling my Imperial Guard army soon, so I'll keep you posted on that. The reason is because I want to start a new army. An army that will reinvigorate my love for the hobby. I'm settling between Chaos and Dark Eldar and, to be honest, am quite partial to Dark Eldar at this point.

Sadly, my knowledge of the game has deteriorated as I haven't played a game in over a year. I'm not to keen on what's going on in the tourney scene and I'm very, very, horribly unfamiliar with Dark Eldar. Hopefully someone out there, then, can help!

Here is my tentative list. It is subject to 100% change, so PLEASE offer my criticism, suggestions, ask questions, whatever! I need all the help I can get!

The goal is to have a fun army, a fast army, a challenging army and a competitive army. For now I'm not going to worry about cost as this army build will be a full year in the making (so my limited cash flow at the moment will be able to keep up until I co-op again in Summer and Fall).

(1000 pt list)

HQ

Archon - 175pts
+Huskblade, Combat Drugs, Soul-trap, Ghostplate Armor, Webway Portal, Blast Pistol

ELITES
Incubi x5 - 155pts
+Klaivex, Bloodstone, Onslaught

TROOPS
Kabalite Warriors x10 - 230pts
+Blaster, Splinter Cannon, Sybarite, Blast Pistol, Venom Blade
+Raider, Disintegrator Cannon, Enhanced aethersails, Splinter Racks, Night Shields, Flickerfield

Kabalite Warriors x10 - 230pts
+Blaster, Splinter Cannon, Sybarite, Blast Pistol, Venom Blade
+Raider, Disintegrator Cannon, Enhanced aethersails, Splinter Racks, Night Shields, Flickerfield

FAST ATTACK
Reavers x3 - 101pts
+Blaster, Arena Champion, Power Weapon

Reavers x3 - 101pts
+Blaster, Arena Champion, Power Weapon

TOTAL - 992pts

Astro Mag Issue 7!

In what feels like forever, the guys at The Astro Mag have finally released Issue #7! Click HERE to download.

On an unrelated note, I really apologize for effectively ignoring this blog. Alex is in Germany for school until Christmas-time and I am so ridiculously swamped with school work and other more important things that I really don't have time for 40k at all in the forseeable future. However, if you happen to like this blog and you enjoy electronics and electronic related material, I do have another blog at Twelve Volt Rail. My current big project is designing a small ion generator for potential use as a secondary thrust mechanism on an RC plane. I will be ordering the parts for that shortly once I work out the kinks in the design. If that kind of crazy-ass stupid stuff interests you, bookmark the site, stop by and say hi, whatever!

The Strike Force compilation is beginning!

I am beginning work on compiling all the Strike Force changes this weekend so thank you to anyone who submitted suggestions! I am still open to receiving emails with suggestions on the rules, just email me at terranforge@gmail.com. The download link is here and the thread with current suggestions is here.

What I still need are pictures! If you guys want to submit your pictures of models or your artwork or whatever, just email me the pic with your name and blog or website and I will put a picture credit underneath the name with a link to your blog/website. Remember, these rules will be in the next issue of The Astro Mag so it's a good way to rack up some views!

Thanks all!

-Kevin

(Side note, seems like 40k will be taking a back burner ride for awhile. I'm going to be very busy with school, though I am looking at starting a Chaos army which may light a fire for my 40k love again, and Alex is going to Germany for school so he has other things on his mind. Pat who maybe has posted once on this site, well, I'm still trying to get him to post more. He's probably a lot more active than I am at this point and he is a damn good writer, one I'd love to have on here writing some articles. We'll see!)

A new name!

Project Kill Team finally has its new name thanks to you voters! When released, it will be known as Strike Force!

Thanks to all who voted and make sure you guys keep sending in your comments and suggestions to help make Strike Force one of the greatest community-made rule-sets on the web!!

Real-life, you cruel mistress!

Heh, well, didn't see this one coming.

Alex and I have made a promise to update Terran Forge more. I was working on painting some stuff up plus I've got the Project Kill Team to focus on and when he returned from California he was going to do the same. Well, this past week (those of you who follow me on twitter may already know this) I have been in Charlotte, NC to help the System Engineers from Harris figure some stuff out and collect data (I am currently on co-op which makes me, basically, a paid intern). I worked some 63 hours this past week so to say I have had little time for my beloved hobby (even going online and looking at blogs) is a vast understatement. I'm not used to this kind of work schedule! Now, to make it worse (for the blog at least), I have to go to Broken Arrow, OK tomorrow at 5am and am there till Thursday. THEN I go BACK to Charlotte, NC for the week after to help get the southern part of this massive communications system for Duke Energy live. It will be hectic, rest assured! However, after that it will be pretty much smooth sailing. I'm in Lynchburg, VA for two more weeks before going home for a relaxing two or three weeks (can't remember the exact amount of time) and then head back to RIT for school. 40k time will be back in full swing (hopefully) by then!

BUT! I have some good news (I think). I am rejoining The Astro Mag, but instead of an editor or something like that I am working on promotion and popping in on the creative side of things (article ideas, etc). I can promise you a BIG, BIG, BIG issue for our next release. It's all still in the works, but I can guarantee you that every bit of your 40k side will be satisfied! GET EXCITED!

-Kevin

Female Gamers: Ya Wanna Fight About It?

Ok, so maybe I'm a little late on this subject like Apple was late in realizing their phone doesn't actually work as a phone. Regardless, I feel like I should talk about this subject a bit even if no one gives a crap (which they shouldn't!).

So, neat. You spotted a female gamer throwin' some dice down. So what? Quite honestly, it is hard for me to understand what the big deal is about any minority demographic entering into a realm dominated by a different demographic. This, obviously, doesn't only apply to female gamers but as this is a 40k blog, I will limit myself to this very small aspect. Bringing attention to a minority demographic, like I am hypocritically doing now, serves only a few functions. The first is that is validates their minority status and becomes an almost impossible barrier to break down. This is not really anyones fault, but is more of a subconscious collective effort on the part of all wargamers because there is this stigma that cannot seem to be erased that wargaming is strictly a man's hobby. Second, it feeds the so-called "attention whores" who, more likely than not, are in it just for the attention of other males (this, I feel it should be said, does not apply to just females, but as it is the subject of this post it is the only thing I will address). Thirdly, and this I feel is the biggest problem in the wargaming community, is it highlights many-a-males severe ineptitude when it comes to talking to women.

Again, the general male ineptitude when it comes to conversing with women applies not only to wargaming (duh). Quite honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if most of the people reading this post right now are pretty bad at it (I mean, good enough to get by, but sometimes everything just comes out wrong). I'm definitely in this camp. In the correct setting or correct mindset I can easily talk to girls just like I talk to my male friends, and this is how it should be. However, sometimes a genuine hand at friendship can be misinterpreted quite easily as a flirt. Again, I am in this camp. In fact, a few years ago when I worked at a public library (as the only, and I cannot stress that enough, only male working there) a girl approached me and starting talking about one of my favorite authors, Fyodor Dostoevsky, and so naturally I engaged in harmless conversation with her. We became friends. No big deal, right? Well when I started dating another girl that works there (still am too! As far as I'm concerned she's way out of my league but I guess the drugs still haven't worn off after three years :p). Anyways, Dostoevsky girl was pissed because apparently she thought I have been flirting with her for the past few months.

Uh... what?

A simple gesture of kindness, becoming friends by talking about an atheistic Russian author from the 1800s, was turned into something else entirely. And this happens all the time.

Now, the problem with wargaming in regard to the subject at hand is that it is a male-dominated hobby. I am going to stereotype now, something I'm not a fan of doing, but I'm going to say that in general all of 40k wargamers have a much larger proportion of male friends to female friends. I will also make the assumption that, in general, this is due to a lack of perceived interests. Why, then, do male wargamers tend to suffocate female wargamers (whether in a club, or in threads on forums, or whatever)? Could it possibly be because the male wargamers lacking a good base of female friends (who are great to have because, honestly, they are incredible to talk to about a variety of subjects, mostly sensitive ones, that men are just terrible at. I know I am)? Could it be that they just are getting overly excited at the thought that they have found a potential female friend with similar interests as themselves? Absolutely! Are they sometimes overly aggressive? More times than not! HOW THE HELL DO YOU APPROACH THE SITUATION?

Be normal. Be yourself. Other than a difference in anatomy, there is no real reason to treat them any differently you would treat another male playing the game. Why should you, especially if you just want to be friends? The real female gamers (I say real because, as mentioned earlier, some are just out for attention. That is pretty unavoidable with any demographic in any situation, sadly) are the exact same as you. They love 40k. They either want to crush your army with cheese like Power-Gamer Joe or show off their stunning minis like GD Tom (or, you know, anything in between!). Why act differently if you really just would like to be friends or you just want to welcome them to a forum or what have you? There is no reason to. Treat them equally, not like they should be put on a pedestal and praised nor like they should be placed below us on the proverbial food chain. Treat them as a fellow gamer you have thrown the dice with countless times before, the only difference is, quite literally, on the surface.

The reason I posted this was just that I've seen so many disgusting blog and forum posts that just baffle me. Why talk about a subject that, honestly, doesn't really deserve a second though. Women are not all pretty-little-pink-princesses that play with barbies and watch Disney movies all the time. Just like men are not all beer guzzling "bros" who can't control their bodily functions and watch only sports and can't pick out the beautiful subtleties of well written screenplays instead opting for potty humor comedies. Phew. Humans are complex creatures with incredible ranges of emotions, interests and ideas. To stereotype (despite me doing it earlier, sorry) is to simplify humans into cookie-cutter forms that do a disservice to the amazing grey-matter that occupies each and every one of our skulls. No one person is alike, but we're all equal. Why treat one differently than the other?

And I leave you with a most appropriate xkcd comic:

Reminder: Vote for Project Kill Team!

Just a reminder that you should all vote for a new name for Project Kill Team on the poll right over there ---->>

That is all.

Flesh Tearers, Inquisitors, oh my!

Above is a Flesh Tearer. No, I am not starting a Codex: Blood Angels army, however my younger brother is! The thing is, he's never played or painted before so I decided I'd write a tutorial for him. First I wanted to test out what I had in mind on a spare marine (though after I finished I realized he was part of my Devastator squad and I never painted him yet- whoops! He won't be a Flesh Tearer for long lol!). This guy took me almost exactly one hour which is great. I wanted to create a method for my brother that was easy and quick and looked really good. I'm a fan of the way this one turned out. What I'm going to do is in about two weeks I'm heading over to Richmond, VA for a weekend with some guys from the Astronomican forum. While there I'm going to grab a Gabriel Seth model (assuming the guy has one in stock) and paint him up with an exhaustively detailed tutorial. Should be fun. I'm even thinking about buying an HD video camera so I can do a video tutorial. We'll see.

And next on the list, an Inquisitor! Hephesto of Hephesto's Forge sent me him with some other great models when I started my guard army (yes I haven't posted about them in awhile but I want to finish my marines before I think about guard!). I decided to paint him up just so I can do something when I get bored and it was a (successful) attempt to get me back into 40k full-swing. He's still very much a PIP but figure I'd post a progress pic up!