take a moment...

...and thank a veteran for their service today.

i'd say "just like a rat"...

 ...only the ship's not sinking.

i am, however, jumping ship.  i've been a little bored with the stuff i've been working on for games workshop for a while now.  that doesn't mean that i won't pick it back up later, but right now i've got to do something new.

so i've decided to build a force for privateer press' warmachine.

even though bad guy (insert air quotes) armies don't usually appeal to me, i picked up the new plastic cryx battlegroup,

one of the new plastic helljacks,

and the rulebook. 

i've already got the battlegroup painted and ready to play.  and i'm going to make a vow with this game:

"i do solemnly affirm that i will not purchase more warmachine products until i have what i currently own fully painted and have played at least 5 games."

here are pics of my cryx battlegroup thus far:

the battlegroup cleaned and assembled:

here is the warwitch deneghra and a couple of deathripper bonejacks:

here are the reaper and slayer helljacks.  i did a bit of extra work to the brass "hood" around the head to give each a bit of a different appearance:

the funny thing is that i was able to pump these out pretty quickly, but it's not like the paint scheme is too difficult.

keep an eye out here for future warmachine updates!

is that a space hulk in your pocket, or are you just happy to see me?

i didn't go to gencon.  everyone of my friends rave about how awesome it was.  it's kinda annoying really, but i'll probably wind up going next year.  even though all the footage online show huge lines of fat bastards wheezing over copies of games that no one else can buy yet.

and i can only image the magnitude of gamer funk and steampunk costume desperation...

but one good thing did come of it.  i had a friend (thanks mike!) pick up a copy of fantasy flight games' death angel.

the game is a cooperative endeavor for 1 to 6 players, who take on the role of imperial space marines tasked with clearing a xenos infestation from the space hulk sin of damnation.

folks familiar with the games workshop property that inspired this little silverline game will know all about marines versus genestealers (or 'stealers).  for the rest of you, imagine this:  space men fight nasty aliens in a derelict ship.  sold yet?  you should be.

i tried two solo games today, and i have to admit it's a helluva challenge and a lot of fun!

here are my thoughts broken down:

pros:

• small and portable like the rest of the silverline.  great quality in the printing of the cards and all components.  as usual. 
• nice length of game (about an hour to play)
• gets the environment of space hulk right.  great atmosphere, art, and very tense gameplay.  unlike the board game, the card game has location cards that are marked to illustrate areas where 'stealers are more likely to appear than others, but this doesn't reduce the amount of tension, and as you start to lose marines, it really does become harder and harder to manage your fire lanes and kill the 'stealers before they eat your face.
• simple gameplay that is pretty straightforward and easy once you learn the way the cards work.
• a nice cooperative mechanic that allows for a variety of choices for actions that are resolved in a particular order.  fail to be a good team member, and you could be killing not only yourself, but the rest of the squad as well. 
• nice variety between the various marines allowing a team that is good at shooting and close combat. 

cons:

• the rules booklet.  the layout is awkward and requires some flipping back and forth in the booklet to get a grip on the way the various cards work within the rule system.
• would like to have either a small zip top bag or tuck box for the components included. 
• would like the marines have more than a 50% chance of killing something when attacking.  imperial space marines are genetically engineered killing machines.  i would probably suggest having the kill pip (a skull) on 4 of the 6 faces (taking it to 66%) of the die.  to compensate for this the blip piles could contain more 'stealers and each location could "spawn" an additional 'stealer during the event phase.    

overall, it's a lot of fun, and definitely worth your hard earned gaming dollar!

"in the quiet words of the virgin mary... come again?"

when someone told me the cost of the new warhammer fantasy eighth edition rulebook, my first reaction was the quote above.  

my next reaction was that $74.25 must be the cost for the uber-cool collectors edition.  eventually i realized that games workshop truly intended to sell it's basic warhammer rulebook for $75.   

i felt that if gw were going to attempt to separate me from my hard earned cash, it would only be fair if i blogged about the event and what i thought about it.  

so here are my initial thoughts: heavy (literally and figuratively), nice quality (amazing color throughout and great paper), monolithic, good rule updates, and speeds up the game.

i read through the rules and gained an appreciation for the changes throughout, but the question “is this worth $75?" remained.

as a conscientious  consumer and hobbyist, i have to consider my budget; especially in this economy. 

to be fair, contemplating the worth of games workshop products can be a effort in futility.  after all, the company seems to price its product according to the unit’s worth in the game as opposed to the actual cost of the product produced. 

is there any other way to explain how a 10 model bestigor herd ($41.25 and 92 pieces in the box)...

...costs 60% more than a 10 model gor herd ($24.75 and 74 pieces in the box)?  

need more evidence?  fine.  the bestigor box costs 60% more than the 10 model ungor herd that costs $24.75 and contains 98 pieces.  

some readers may feel the compunction to defend gw’s pricing practices and this is your right.  i've heard it all.  it's a luxury hobby, i can play other games, i don't have to play with the new rules, etc.  

but before you blindly and blithely ride to the defense of gw's pricing consider the following:

the typical vendor discount on gw product is about 40% of the retail price; meaning that you pay $74.25 (plus tax) for the rulebook while your friendly local game store pays about $45.  this pricing structure is one that  gw has had in place for a long time, and ensures that the company can realize a profit while selling the rulebook at $45 each. 

food for thought.

the other problem i have with the rulebook is that out of the 512 pages i only need about 150 of them.  meaning that i'd be using only about $23 of my rulebook's worth

so i’ve come to the conclusion that the warhammer fantasy rulebook is not worth $75.  you’ll be better served by shopping the internet and finding a better deal for it. 

all images property of games workshop

warlord games is such a tease

not content with teasing us with some great images of the 3-ups of their late war german infantry sculpts, warlord games has released an image of the body sprue for the set:

that combined with this earlier image:

gives us an opportunity to drool over the various combinations available!

"protection from what? zee germans? - snatch

for those of you not in the know, warlord games has released some sneak peeks of their new their new line of german troops in 28mm.  and boy are they hot!  check ‘em out below:

to be completely fair, these are “3 ups” of the sculpts, but there’s some sexy detail on ‘em!

not content with putting out some great looking jerry models, they’re also releasing a 28mm scale tiger i. 

and michael wittman too!

i love the zimmerit on wittman's tank.  a nice western europe olive green and brown camo scheme with 212 in red and white on the turrent and this bad boy's ready to deal some damage at villers-bocage!

update!

for those of you salivating like hungry dogs, you can order your tigers online here.  it looks like only wittman's is available for order now, but for only £22 it's a steal.  additionally, warlord games is currently running a special on free shipping during the month of july.  

and if running only tigers isn't your thing, warlord games also has some panzer iv models for you.  armor up bitches!

now just to order some of these tanks, bitz 'em up with some gw gribblies (like stuff from here, here, and here) to make 'em all imperial and this shock troop deal, well, that'd be on helluva cool lookin' 40k imperial guard army...


all images property of and courtesy of warlord games.

shock troopers mount up!

for those of you who have been eagerly awaiting the arrival of these guys:

your wait is almost over.  wargames factory has announced that their new shock trooper models are in the process of being boxed up over this weekend and will be shipped on monday to fulfill their preorders.

additionally, the previously unreleased armored and unarmored saxons are shipping immediately!

now you can have those viking and saxon raids you've been dreaming about!


all images property of wargames factory