Fire

Trying to keep my sanity while away from home. I have been displaced due to the Waldo Canyon fire in Colorado.

I live in Woodland Park, the most south east possible for the town. I am now under pre-evacuation notice. I figured typing on the blog while at work may help calm me.

I left the house Sunday night. Thought it best to relocate the wife and kids early. This has obviously hindered my modeling and what not.

I have good insurance, so if it all burns, I can get new models.

Guidelines on Becoming a Successful 40k Player

   Introduction

Greetings,

       I am writing this guide on how to improve your gaming when it comes to 40k. Now this can be applied to other wargames and some other games but the methodology I use is something that is part experience, part game theory, and part observation. This is not a tactics article and I do not believe in writting tactics articles are any help due to numerous factors such as terrain, army, opponent. This guide may lay out things in simple steps but achieving success is much harder than explained in this blog post. I do not want to go into list building since 6th edition might change the dynamics of the game and invalidate the article. But if you follow the steps listed and put foward some effort both in and out of the game, you will be successful and your gaming will improve.


Selection and Playstyle

       Finding an army and a playstyle is extremely important. Picking an army also means you are investing hundreds of dollars on models and it would be a waste only to find out it has all been for nothing and you hate playing the army. When people ask me about what they want in lists, I always ask this question first: "What is your playstyle?" I could give them a gunline list but it would be a waste if they favor hand to hand. If you are having trouble determining a playstyle, take a look at some of the video games you play. FPS wise, if you favor run and gun; that means a mobile mech army would be good with hard hitting troops inside. If you love to snipe, generally your a ranged type of player and go for gunlines. Finally if you enjoy supporting your team with abilities and items, have fun with wargeared out lists that let you become batman on the tabletop. Find an army that you like for both the style and substance. I always tell new players to do a marine army and from there you have access to army books that offer different spectrums of styles for marine players. There is a style for nearly everyone in 40k, its a matter of you finding the army to support it.

Knowledge

       Knowing who and what you are playing is a benchmark on how successful you will be as a player. The majority of my games that I have lost were due to mistakes I have made fighting unfamiliar armies, missions, or rules and then getting blindsided by them. What you need to do is buy every army book or have access to one. Read the armylists and familiarize yourself with the wargear and troops. Marc Parker taught me a lesson with "Know your enemy" as he beat me early on and I took it to heart by reading every book. This saved my ass last year when I realized an opponent used a power that he couldnt normally do in hth and my game went from a loss to a win when I realized the error. Also read the rule book and keep up on the FAQs as some strategies may be viable or unviable depending on how they rule a particular issue. If you can watch games people play and learn the combos people are using. If a tournament has their missions available before the event, read up on the missions and plan your army accordingly. Also know your strengths and weaknesses, I know what my weaknesses are and I try to compensate for them while gaming. Knowing what you can do and what your opponent's army can do is essential in gaming successfully.

To Netlist or not

     Netlists are generally unsuccessful as the players just copy it and rarely mold it to their liking or playstyle and then wonder when they get crushed. But a netlist I consider a valuable tool when it comes to army building. If you find a particular netlist to your style, go ahead and copy it. Now play with it a few times and start tweaking the army. If you feel you need more anti-tank, get rid of a few things to include it. This theoy of gaming was David's as his theory of becoming a great 40k player involved mastery of an army and playing it enough to cover any situation. I agree with this theory and adopted it with my Dark Eldar from 3rd to 4th and had one of the best win percentages than with any other army.  But it involved both playing my army to know what it can and cannot do and knowledge of other armies to assess what to do in order to beat them. It was one of the earliest netlists for Dark Eldar (2002) but I took that list and made it my own by tweaking and adapting over the course of 6 years playing with it. Do not ever look down on a netlist, instead think of it as a starting point.

 Conclusion

     This guide is only a small portion but it lays the ground work of things you want to work on away from the tabletop. You can go on DakkaDakka to find plenty of articles on tactics of what to do in a game. To me, 40k is less about tactics and more about playing the game. Some people take 40k way too seriously and consider themselves the 2nd coming of Patton but the way I see the game is much like how I see playing Monopoly: achive the object of the game and win. Most of the objectives are not complexe and its a matter of keeping your head in the game and minding the objectives and you will do fine. Find and army that you like how it plays and run with it. Learn about other armies and rules to maximize damage and minimize yours. Finally, build upon other people's ideas and make your own with experience and adaption.

  Enjoy the game

T Hawk Part 2.5

Some updated pics of the base

T Hawk Pt2

Here are some new pictures of the T Hawk on its base. From table to the insertion point of the rod is 20"

Some scale pics in the last few. A Terminator and my Hammerhead.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Kroot

Here to share some more of my WIP Tau army. Thought I would share some rank and file troops. Here are 3 of my Kroot Shapers.

Up first is my Shaper for the Melee unit. This whole unit will be equipped with shield drone shield and a CC weapon.

Next is the shaper for my advancing unit.

Then we have the kick flipping Kroot

Group shot

Abbadon the Despoiler

Here is Abbadon I painted basically using bits from the chaos lord in terminator armor kit (highly recommended), The weapon is from warhammer fantasy Khorne deamon bloodletter and the cannon for the basing is from a leman russ battle cannon. The bits I got were from FTW games. I wanted to get ready for battle for the upcoming Chaos codex spearheading 6th edition.

  

Best 2 out of 3

Today I want to discuss our first "Tactics" post here on No Turtles Allowed.

I have been playing 40k since 1999, the onset of 3rd edition. With 6th edition in less than 2 weeks, I felt this a proper time to relay my theory on 40k, one that has served me 3 editions so far.

I find 40k to be a game of best 2 out of 3. This is in reference to the phases of the game. You best your opponent in 2 phases and the game should be yours. Note: there are many ways to win a Phase.

Movement

Lets start out with movement. The movement phase is the first phase of the game and the most important, a concept that was lost on me when I was new to this game. I would wonder "How could movement be the most important if you can't kill stuff?"

Well, the answer is simple, movement sets up everything. Just like in Chess, the movement phase for 40k sets up your next move. This can be getting into cover, out of LoS, setting up your shooting, assault, or going for objectives, etc.

Movement is the phase that you can be both offensive and defensive, and switch it up each turn. This is huge for winning my best 2 out of 3 theory. The movement phase allows your offense to do better and it allows you to negate your opponents shooting or assault phases.

The best advice I can offer to the movement phase is when you have the tough choice of moving or shootin, move.

Shooting

The shooting phase is the most straight forward of the 3 phases; point your gun and pull the trigger right? For the most part, yes. However, in 5th, the shooting phase has become more dynamic.

Its a sound and easy strategy to win this contest by bringing the most guns. Case in point, Leaf blower IG, Purifier Spam, or Venom Spam. However, there is more than just blowing things up to this phase.

5th edition introduced running and therefore allowed the shooting phase to be an extension of the movement phase. Also, wound allocation was born.

At the beginning of 5th, Nob Bikers ruled the day. They didn't have a lot of shooting in the list, but God help you if you thought you would out shoot them. Like their later Death Stars, TWolves and Paladins, Nob Bikers could soak up an army's worth of shooting and then smash you FTW.

Shooting can be won by killing, or not dying.

Assault

The last phase, and my favorite, assault. Assault has gone up and down over the years in power. From the venerable Rhino Rush era of sweeping advances, to now, the era of insane combat resolution.

Assault can be the trickiest of the phases to win, but it brings huge reward. Assault is the only way a unit can reliably kill more than 1 target. Also, there are 10-14 assault phases in a game that you can attack. Therefore your assault units could potentially see twice as much action as your shooting units.

Assault by nature though carries heavy risks. It is more reliant on movement than shooting, and is more at risk against heavy shooting(though the reward here is also huge). In short, you can do the most damage in the assault phase, but you must also be willing to gamble the game.

That Leads Us Back To Doe?

To sum it all up, you need a well rounded army, but not so well rounded that you end up being a Jack of all trades and master of none. Put your eggs into a basket, but have a back up basket too.

T-Hawk

The venerable T Hawk!!! No, not the SF toon. But the Space Marine Super Heavy Flyer(say that 3 times fast).

My brother, Ken from Next Level Painting(http://www.nextlevelpainting.blogspot.com/) sent a project my way recently; to build a Thunder Hawk and a flight stand for it. I zealously took on the project, as the Thunder Hawk is the Forge World model I covet the most. It has always been my dream to have 1 or even more. A sad dream that is outside of reality as a $600+ model is too much for my finances.

Well, here are some WIP pics of the beast.

These 2 Pics show the fuselage being formed. The model was very warped, and required several dips in near boiling water to straighten out the pieces

In these 2 pics, you can see the the Wings and Landing Gear being attached

In these last 2, the Thunder Hawk sits under its own weight on its landing gear. The bulk of the model is done at this point. Only the minor stuff like guns and doors remain. BTW it came with no instructions.

So, what model do you desire the most? And is it priced too high or is it Limited Edition?

1/144 HG Adele Photoreview

Here are some pictures of a newly released Adele (not to be confused with the singer) in High Grade 1/144 scale. The Adele suit was designed after the Gundam AGE-1 and this model kit is also compatible with the AGE-1's Spallow and Titus variants. For a grunt suit, it is highly articulate and very poseable as shown in the pictures below. The accessories for this kit include a DOTS rifle, 2 beam sabers, shield, and some extra bits that were part of the AGE-1 I am guessing though it would make for an interesting Adele custom suit with the parts. I got this kit from Robot4Less which is a very affordable site for Gunpla and shipping was very fast. They also seem to get the latest Gunpla kits from Japan very quickly and their selection is superior, I highly recommend them if you are looking to buy a few kits.

Mixed Warmahordes and 40k Figs Painted

Here are some minis I did as part of 2 separate commissions. The stingers are from hordes of the everblight faction. Arch confessor Kyrinov from the sisters of battle army. The stinger was done with some off light source for the effect of the fireball while the other stinger and confessor basic paintjob with washing.

PS3 Gundam Game Promo Video

This video here shows some of the prototype suits used. The video is courtesy of nbgi for the latest video PS3 Gundam Promo so be sure to check his stuff out. I do not own a PS3 but I hope that they will make a PC port of the game. Here are some screen captures of the game courtesy of Gundam Guy blog.




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Broadsides!!!

When we hear the term Broadside, a powerful, terrible, and yet awe inspiring visual comes to mind.

This time around I would like to share some pictures of my first squad of Tau Broadsides. These models were extensively converted. They have all been repositioned to hold the Rail Gun like an assault rifle. The one in the middle has been given a "mohawk" using the sensor spine from the Tau vehicle sprue to represent a drone controller.

The broadsides have also had their legs repositioned for a more dynamic firing stance. The SMS systems are made from the Hammerhead SMS with gun drone sensors on top. I also used the FW marker lights to represent Target Locks.

Lastly, the Shield Drones are converted from regular gun drones with extra sensor spines and a disruption pod.

Hope you enjoy!