I'm a Winner!!!

Well I managed to get home in time to watch the live drawing for the Storm Wardens army on Jawaballs Live! While I did not manage to win the awesome Storm Wardens army, I was surprised when I heard my name announced for one of the additional prizes!

I won the following items donated by Mik over at Mik's Minis!

Thank you Mik for donating the prize and I will make sure I put it to good use, maybe even placing a post or two on here showing what I do with the model.

The whole Storm Wardens project was amazing to follow and if they ever do another in the future I will be offering up my talents (what little there may be) to help out.

Well that's all for now I am off to do some painting!

Taking a break from 40K!

Well the title says it all, I am officially going to be taking a break from playing 40K for awhile. What does this mean for the blog, nothing at all. I am only taking a break from playing Warhammer 40K, but I will still be painting, converting and working on terrain.

I have a few reasons for taking a break. First off I just made a killer trade and now own almost  the complete collection of the Protectorate of Menoth army for Warmachine. Secondly I am really enjoying the newly released 8th Edition Warhammer Fantasy Battles, third Hordes Mark II is about to be released and I want time to learn it.

The main reason I am taking a break though is I am just worn out with 40K. I have never been a fan of 5th edition, but I have persevered and continued playing. I am just not a fan of all the fully mech'd armies. I don't blame people foe mech'ing up, 5th edition makes vehicles awesome compared to 4th. Unfortunately my armies can not compete against them and I just don't feel like spending the money to mech up my armies, especially with the GW price hikes.

Like I said, I am not quitting 40K altogether, I will still be painting and other various 40K hobby related activities. I mean I just got a great gift from my friend Brandon, he gave me his Space Wolf army that I painted for him, so there is no way I will be abandoning 40K. My plan is pretty much to take off the rest of the summer and then see how I feel about returning to playing.

-So have any of you burned out on the game before? If so what did you do?

As always, thanks for taking the time to read my blog and please feel free to drop me a comment.

-BJ

Storm Wardens Project: GO CHECK IT OUT!

In case you haven't heard, there is a really awesome project going on between the following blog sites.

Dave Taylor

Thomas Wynn ( Wynn Studios)

Jawaballs

Ron Saikowski (From the Warp)

Mister Justin (Secret Weapon Miniatures)

Mik (Miks Minis, Barter Bucket)

Mike & John (Santa Cruz Warhammer)

To quickly summarize what is going on, these fine blogs are working together to build and paint a Storm Warden Space Marine army. This army is then going to be given to a randomly selected contestant. You can become one buy donating money to the Doctors Without Borders charity. The more you donate the more times your name will be entered in the contest. To top it off they are having weekly prizes for all contestants to win some cool swag, and you still get a chance at the army even if you win a weekly drawing.

To learn more about the project please visit Santa Cruz Warhammer, and to see how the army is progressing check out all of the blogs listed above.

-BJ

Projects Update: My Armies added to the blog

Just a quick update on something new I have added to the blog. To the left you will see a new set of links titled My Armies. I will be posting articles showcasing each of my fully painted armies. I will post pictures on the units and characters as well as add fluff for my army.

I have made my first addition to this new section of the blog. My Black Templars army is now up for viewing. I am still working on the format as well as adding fluff to the post but you can see the direction I am trying to go. If you have any suggestions on what to add or on what to do differently, please feel free to post here and let me know what you think.

As always thanks for taking the time to read my blog.

-BJ

Relax, The World Is Not Coming to an End!

There had been panic building on some websites and blogs, as always happens with the release of a new codex, but this time a good friend of mine was one of those crying doom. My buddy and I discuss war gaming all the time, mostly 40K and Fantasy Battles. I enjoy our discussions and though we don't always see eye to eye he is very rational and easy to talk to about our hobby. Imagine my surprise when he called me a few days ago and told me he was quitting 40K. I was even more surprised when I learned his reason was due to the new Blood Angels codex.

Now like I said my buddy is a pretty rational guy so I was very surprised at this reaction to a new codex. Unfortunately we didn't have long to talk and he has to work this weekend so I haven't gotten a chance to talk to him again to dissuade his quitting and show him why I feel the Blood Angels are not the end of the world for 40K. Hopefully I will get to talk to him tonight, but in the meantime it has given me something to blog about.

I don't have the codex and most of what I am about to talk about comes from what I have read on other blogs and seen on Beasts of War's Seven Days of Sanguinius videos, so if I get anything wrong please feel free to correct me.

From my limited conversation with my friend, I know one of the things he found most disturbing is deep striking Land Raiders. I admit, I myself was worried about this, but after seeing some of the info on the web this is not as fantastic as it sounds. First, the deep striking Land Raiders do not get the benefit of Decent of Angels, which means one bad roll of the scatter dice and you could lose the entire Land Raider and anything in it. Secondly, it is still a deep striking unit which means they can not assault out of the Land Raider the turn it comes into play. This also mean you get a free turn of shooting/assaulting before their next turn as well.

Another unit some people seem to be worried about is the Death Company. I think these guys are better on paper than they actually will be in game. You might think it is nice that they are a troops choice, but they can not hold objectives. They seem quite expensive for the basic guy then if you want things like power weapons/jump packs their price really starts to go up. The worst part about the unit, and forgive me I can't remember the name of the ability, is they must move towards the closest enemy unit they can see. This gives the enemy player the ability to kite the Death Company where you want them, setting them up for heavy fire or an assault.

Don't get me wrong I think that the Blood Angels are going to be a good, hard army. They have allot of really good units and rules that have the ability to really hit the enemy hard. Unfortunately many of these really great units are elite choices so it gets harder and harder to get all of the cool units in the game at one time.

Anyway I don't want to keep rambling, at this point I would like to turn it over to you all for your opinions on the new Blood Angel codex. I am hoping to maybe get myself some more ammo to talk my buddy out of quitting 40K.

So what do you think?

- Does the Blood Angels Codex worry you?
- Are there any units/combos you are scared of?
- How are you planning of fighting Blood Angels?
- Do you think Blood Angels is a broken codex?
- Will the Blood Angels Codex ruin the game of 40K?
- Anything else you would like to add?

As always thanks for reading my blog and all comments are welcome!

-BJ

That Sinking Feeling

I am not usually one to complain when a new codex comes out and I am posting this without first hand knowledge of the new Blood Angel Codex so I may just be panicking without cause.

My friend who is the GW rep for my FLGS got his copy of the Blood Angels codex and the new sprues of blood angels. The good news is he says the new Blood Angel sprues are amazing. The bad news came to some of the things he was reading me out of the book. It just seems with every new codex that is released my two main armies, Black Templars and Sisters of Battle are falling deeper and deeper into obscurity.

Don't get me wrong, I am happy for Blood Angel players, they needed a real codex. It is just that when I hear they are getting things like fast Baal Predators with scout ability for 115 points I start to get frustrated and debate if I should just shelf my armies until they get a new proper codex.

This isn't a rant about Blood Angels but more of a rant on lack of rules updates for older armies. I mean I would be completely satisfied if they made a FAQ that just gave my Templars the same points cost for things like Rhinos, Command Squads, Speeders etc. I mean I am fine with the new armies becoming more powerful and cheaper, but some where GW needs to realize how this effects other armies as we have a less effective force that cost more play.

I have other armies to turn too, I am building an Imperil Fists army and I own Orks, I just would like to field my favorite armies without feeling like I lost before even showing up. Anyway I don't want this to turn into a long winded rant so I just pose this question to all of you other players using dated codices. How are you dealing with the new armies as they come out? Any advice for my Templars or Sisters of Battle?

As always all comments are welcome and thank you for taking the time to read my blog.

-BJ

My 40K New Years Resolution

Well 2009 is coming to a close and I am looking back on what hobby related resolutions I made last year and deciding what to do for this New Year.

Well for my resolution last year I had 2 that were 40K related. The first was to make a 40K dedicated blog. It took a little longer than I had originally wanted but if you are reading this you can see I accomplished that resolution.

My 2nd resolution was to finish off 4 of my partially painted armies, Black Templars, Tzeentch Chaos Marines, Necrons and Sisters of Battle. Unfortunately I only managed to complete the Necrons and the Black Templars, but I have made substantial progress on my Chaos Marines and Sisters of Battle.

Well this year I have 3 resolutions that I am going to shoot for. The first is to finish the Sisters of Battle as well as the Chaos Marines. The 2nd will be to finish converting and then painting my Imperial Fists with the hopeful goal of having the my version of the entire 3rd Company with some auxiliary units from the 1st and 10th companies. Lastly I am making it my goal to play many more games this year as what is the point in painting and modeling all these armies if I never use them for what they were intended.

Well there you have my review of last year's resolutions as well as my new goals for 2010. Let's hear how well you all did with your 2009 resolutions and what you are planning for 2010.

-BJ

When did the 40K hobby become a competitive sport?

I have been wanting to write the post since early last week, but I decided to not post while I was irritated. I have had some time to contemplate what exactly I wanted to say, so I decided to go for it and post today. Before I go into my rant I just wanted to say this is not directed at anyone in particular and it is just me being frustrated with some of the things I see happening in 40K.

As my title suggests I am trying to figure out when 40K became so competitive. When I first got into playing 40K I was already a Fantasy Battle player. I started 40K because I honestly loved the back story and since I was already into the Hobby with fantasy it was easy to cross over to 40K. I am a D&D player at heart so I enjoy the story of the game as much as playing it. Last week I got very frustrated while reading some posts on other blogs and forums. There are a few trends I have seen in posts that have just gotten under my skin.

This is a Hobby not a competitive sport: Over and over I keep seeing people argue about 40K tournaments and why there shouldn't be soft scores in tournaments. I am not debating this as there are some valid reasons out there that I completely understand. What irritates me is all the people that use competitive sports as a comparison to make their points. First this is a Hobby War-game, not a competitive sport. The comparison makes no sense to me as you often have 2 different armies which have different rule sets to follow. In competitive sports you have two teams that must follow the same set of rules. Even people who compare 40K to chess are not making valid arguments as in chess both players have identical "armies" with identical rules and rely on their skill to play. 40K has different rules for different armies and relies on players skill as well as unpredictable dice rolls. So no matter what you think GW should do you will never have the same type of competition as you see in sports or chess for that matter.

Is the internet to blame: I love the internet, I spend too much of my free time on it. Does it have an impact on power gaming in 40K, hell yes! I blogged earlier about my issues with what I call "Cookie Cutter" armies. Pretty soon every Ork list has Nob Bikers, Every Eldar list has a Jetbike Seer Council. The list goes on and on. Then someone will post an alternative list and the power gamers jump on them... "This list sux, you got no Nob Bikers... noob! I love going through the book and reading about each unit and deciding how I can make them work together, but it seems this is a dying art as players just wait for the power gamers to post their killer list then they copy them.

Is the Hobby aspect of 40K dying: I sure hope not as I feel if it does then 40K itself will die. I worry when I read post that want every hobby aspect of tournament scoring removed. I understand some of the points on removing soft scores, but this is a hobby and some of us players enjoy building a fluffy list, as well as painting our miniatures and for me comp scores and painting scores help support the whole hobby. I can see a problem with the Sportsmanship score, but I also feel that power gamers brought this problem about. The idea that you do whatever you need to do to increase your chance of winning fostered the idea of screwing your opponent with a bad score. Do I think it should be removed? Most definitely because it is just another tool for power gamers to abuse.

Another issue I have seen creeping up is requests for GW to make pre-painted models. I understand that players can be apprehensive about painting but it is part of the hobby. I sucked at painting when I first started but I took the time to learn and practice. I am no Eavy Metal class painter but I am proud of what I paint and it helps make my army mine. I love playing other armies that are painted and converted, it makes the game more fun and immersive. I understand that not everyone is great at this aspect but it only takes asking for advice from the community to get you started.

The last thing I want to gripe about is the attitude that 40K can't be fun unless you are trying to win. I have actually been called a liar on forums when I say I have had just as much fun losing games as I do winning them. I don't know if it is because I got into gaming through RPGs like D&D, but the idea of playing a hobby game like 40K is first for fun, then for the narrative, and lastly hanging out with and making friends. I like to win but in the end it doesn't matter to me as long as I am having fun.

I often do moves in games that might not make the best tactical sense but it is how I feel my army would play in a situation. Recently I was playing a tough Guard list with my Black Templars. He was blowing up my Rhinos like nothing and most of my army was on foot by the end of turn 2. I had my Emperor's Champion lead his squad through insane fire in an attempt to get into the guards line. In the end I lost the game but seeing my Champion (the lone survivor of a 15 man squad) make it to the guard line and wreak havoc made the game both exciting and fun. I played my army fluffy, I lost, but I had fun and have a good story to tell when my buddies and I are talking about gaming.

I am going to bring this to a close as the post is starting to get long winded. I am just voicing some frustrations I have with trends I see in 40K. I by no means think my opinion is correct but I do want to open this up for discussion to see what you all think. I hope no one is offended, and by all means take this opportunity to voice your opinions on the matter, I would love to read them.

-BJ

New Blog for Warhammer Fantasy Battles

When I first started Extremis Diabolus, I intended it to be a Warhammer 40K blog. Well after reading over a few of my last posts, I have noticed that I am letting Fantasy Battles creep into my posts more and more. I started to play around with the idea of starting a Warhammer Fantasy Blog, low and behold The Winds of Magic was born.

The Winds of Magic is going to be a sister site to Extremis Diabolus that caters to the fantasy side of the hobby. I will post about tactics, fluff, rumors, as well as pics of my miniatures as I finish them. I welcome anyone who follows Extremis Diabolus to come join me for some good Fantasy Battle discussion.

While working on the Winds of Magic I messed around with different free templates on the web. I really like how the blog turned out so that means I think this blog will be getting a face-lift in the near future if I can find a template that fits the blogs background.

As always thanks for stopping by my blog and I hope to see some of you venture of to The Winds of Magic.

-BJ

My Must Have Unit: Sword Brethren

Ron over at From The Warp, has asked all of us members to take part in another collaborative post with the topic of our Must Have unit. In Ron's own words he is looking for " the one unit you always find a way to squeeze into your army, regardless of how well it does or how points effective it may or may not be".

This was an easy topic for me. I fell in love with the Black Templar Sword Brethren the day I bought my codex and first saw their models. I thought they were some of the most amazing Space Marine models GW had ever created and to this day I still do. I couldn't wait to get my own and start painting them.

Now as far as a unit goes I am sure some people will tell me I can do better, and I am sure I can, but I never play my Templars without these guys. They cost 19 points each and have the same stat line as the 16 point Templar Initiates, but where they really shine for me is the fact I can get two power weapons in the unit and have a choice of Furious Charge, Counter Attack or Infiltrate for free.

I run my unit as pictured above, an 8 man squad with 6 armed with BP/CCW, 1 BP/PW and 1 Pair of Lightning Claws. I give the unit Counter Attack and then mount them in either a Rhino or my Crusader depending on what list I am running. This unit has been very effective for me even though they seem far inferior to Codex Marine vets. When combined with my "Accept any Challenge, no matter the odds" vow this little unit can become quite a killing machine.

So there you have it, my must have unit is my Sword Brethren. They have become a permanent part of every Templar army I run. They may not be the most points efficient unit out there but I love the unit. The models are fantastic and their fluff is just how I would imagine Templar veterans.

-BJ

What is your life?

My honour is my life.

What is your fate?

My duty is my fate.

What is your fear?

My fear is to fail.

What is your reward?

My salvation is my reward.

What is your craft?

My craft is death.

What is your pledge?

My pledge is eternal service.

Space Wolves Display - Assault on Magnir's Crag

I am not sure how many of you check the GW site daily but I do and yesterday they had an amazing article showcasing a large cinematic Spacewolf Vs. Tyranids display made for Games Day UK. Not only was this large display amazing but the article shows tons of close up views of the display and even goes into how some of the dioramas on the display were made. I am very happy to see GW doing this sort of thing again and the article is definitely worth the read. I am linking to it as well as posting a pic on the display.

Assault on Magnir's Crag Display

My Battle Fleet Gothic Fleet

I was messing around with my DIY photo light box today and took some pictures of my Sisters of Battle Imperial Fleet for Battle Fleet Gothic. I know I still need to work on my lighting and all but for my first use of the box it worked out great.


The ship to the left is my Mars class Imperial Battle cruiser the "Caelestis Praetor". This is my flagship for my fleet until I get my Emperor class Imperial Battleship painted. I love launch bays and prow torpedoes and this little lady has them both!



This ship to the right is one of my favorite Imperial Cruisers, the Gothic class "Ancile". Armed with its prow torpedoes as well as port and starboard lance batteries make this ship a pretty destructive force in my fleet.






This next ship to the left is probably my favorite ship in my entire fleet. The Imperial Light cruiser, Dauntless class "Arma". Along with the Arma I have 3 other Dauntless light cruisers. Their speed and firepower make this smaller ship a force to be reckoned with.

Well that is all I am going to post here, if you are interested in seeing the rest of the painted portion of my fleet you can check out my Basic Training website where I am showcasing my armies as I get pictures taken of them.

As always thank you for stopping by my blog and all comments are welcome.

-BJ

How do you add to your Army's fluff?

How do you add army fluff? That is the question I am posing to you other gamers out there. Now before you answer let me clarify what I am talking about. I am not referring to army list construction at all. I am referring to some things you do to make your army yours.

One of my armies is the Black Templars. I wanted to stick to the codex for the army look but I still wanted to make them my own crusade force. One of the easiest steps I take is naming my characters as well as squads and individual vehicles. To the left you can see the leader of my crusade, Marshal Gaius Kilburne. I have 3 different models to represent him and I am working on a 4th. I also have my Emperor's Champion Castus Fabian, and my Master of Sanctity, Chaplain Kristoff Thaddius. Another thing I have done is create my own crusade heraldry. It is a very simple pattern but I find a way to fit it onto most of my models.

The last thing I usually work on is a back story for my army. My Templars are from the 2nd Crusade of Prima IV, where they finished a two year war against an awoken Necron force. The crusade now maintains a citadel on Prima IV awaiting the inevitable return of the Necron.

Another of my armies are my Disciples of Magnus Chaos marines. They are not as well fleshed out as my Templars yet, but I have named the main characters such as Daemon Prince Khaldun that you can see below. I am still working on a background for the army, but the main point is they are dedicated to Tzeentch and search the stars looking for arcane artifacts to further the goals of their patron god.

Those are some of the ways I have added fluff to my armies. Some other things I plan on doing is building a special new model for any that do something pretty outstanding in a big game like a Tournament. I also plan on writing short story form battle reports but that is a far off project.

So now that you see what I am talking about, what do you all do to add fluff to your armies?

-BJ