Updates 'n Such

1. First and foremost, that time of the year is upon us again when Photobucket holds all my images for ransom. Seeing how I've got about 700 posts, that's too many pics to transfer or whatever. I may be jinxing myself, but the "due date" for me paying has come and passed, and my pics remain, so I'll wait 'til lights out, then pay up.

2. The Sons of Minos are in a slight holding pattern until I snag some bases. I will be going with the Dragon Forge's "Lost Empires" bases, I just need to save up some money because...




3. Fall-In! IS RIGHT AROUND THE CORNER! In less than a week from now, Duck Sauce, Bob Bryant, and myself are headed to Pennsylvania and we're hooking up with Repple Depple's Brian along the way. I didn't pre-register, so you'll find me in the huge registration line Thursday night. If you're reading this, make sure you find me at one point nonetheless. I am so looking forward to going.


4. I've mentioned Sarterra here more than a couple of times. Work continues to move forward on this fantasy world we're collaboratively creating. After laying out the basics we're now 'zooming in' on the continents and fleshing out the cities, organizations, and specific landforms. It's been a long road, it's nowhere near completion, but it's been a blast every step. I'll be posting soon on the two continents we've been fine tuning.

5. While we're talking about Sarterra, making the world is one thing but the goal is to actually play in it. I've got a couple of characters to whip up to boot, using the FATE system, so they'll be making an appearance as well.


6. Last, since it's Sunday as I type this I guess I should mention my Fantasy Football team, the Waterford Warpigs. I'm having my usual abysmal year sitting at 2-4, and today's game looks like it'll be a slaughter since four of my best starters are on a bye week.

The Death Spectres

The Death Spectres are a Chapter of Space Marines that suffers from a genetic mutation which causes all of the Chapter's members to become albinos. During Abaddon the Despoiler's Black Crusade, the Death Spectres used jump pack equipped assault squads to quickly capitalize on every gain made by the Imperial Guard. Stationed Beyond the bounds of the Imperium, the Death Spectres maintain constant vigil to ensure that the supernatural inhabitants of the Ghoul Stars never again threaten the galaxy. -the Lexicanum

According to a recent BoLS article, there is such a thing as SAS, or "single army syndrome". I'm definitely a candidate, since I've been going through pot after pot of Dark Angels Green over the last year, and though I do love my Dark Angels, I am admittedly getting tired of painting them! Another interesting note of my Dark Angels is that there could not have been a more random army put together. My DA army started back, at least fifteen years ago with second edition, and has been hobbled together since then, suffering through many rules editions and multiple codexes. I'm not a big planner, so really the army came together more by chance than anything else. Lately I've tried to make amends somewhat by cranking out more tactical squads to fill in the ranks. I'm near the end of my DA road however...

If you haven't checked out BJ's Extremis Diabolus blog you should, it's got lots of tasty tidbits in there. I've taken a lot of his comments to heart and am using those thoughts on starting something new. First off is what a great buy the Black Reach box is, and since Chri3 is an Ork player, we'll be splitting it down the middle. Thirty-some-odd bucks is a good price to pay methinks for, umm let's see; a Dreadnought, five termies, a character model, and a full tactical squad to boot! Hopefully I can snag the templates and mini-rulebook too since Chri3 has already bought this box once before.

BJ also mentioned the solid piece of advice to fully paint one army before starting on the next. I kind of had this one figured out, but I had to learn the hard way. My past GW experiences have been similar to giving a six year a couple hundred dollars in cash and turning them loose in a discount candy store. I'm a little more focused in my old age. The last piece of advice; stat out your list first, and stick to it, then just buy what you need, painting it along the way. This is something I've never done, so, given all this I've decided to do a new Space Marine army, start it from scratch, and plan it out first; hence, the Death Spectres.

I went with this chapter because I liked their fluff quite a bit, and their paint scheme seemed easy enough, but if done right could be really pretty nifty. I've put together a list which follows and though I'm not a "serious" player, and I'm certainly not a tournament player, I'd still like some feedback on it, for good or bad. See what you think, oh, and know that same BoLS article kind of frowned on multiple marine armies, but I should point out that I have already finished a fully painted, large Tau army as well, besides, Marines are just cool.

HQ:

Chthonius (Pedro Cantor): 175pts
I liked the idea of a commander named 'Pedro', plus he comes with a cool load-out and I like his special rules. I won't be using the actual Pedro model, but I'll find something suitable with a power fist and storm bolter

Helios (Chaplain, 100pts) digital weapons (10), jump pack (15): 125pts
I've never done much with Chaplains, but no longer, the digital weapons will help in an assault, and the jump pack's there for later in the list...

Elites:

Terminator Squad (x5, 200pts), assault cannon (30): 230pts
I'll have to 'cut and paste' an assault cannon here, but otherwise these will be straight up Black Reach figs, I'll probably always field termies, they're too cool

Dreadnought: 105pts
edit: Per HuronBH's advice, I'll take a stock Dread with Multi-Melta and see where that takes me, the points I save gives me two more Scout bikes to boot, every little bit helps...

Sternguard (x5, 125pts), melta-bombs (5): 130pts
Razorback (40pts), twin-linked lascannon (35), storm bolter (10): 85pts
These will be Pedro's "honor guard" and he'll be attached to them, and thanks to Pedro's special rules, they're also a scoring unit

Troops:

Tactical Squad Alpha (x10, 170pts), m. launcher, flamer, chainsword: 170pts
Rhino: 30pts
Bread and butter unit with transport

Tactical Squad Beta (x10, 170pts), m. launcher, flamer, chainsword: 170pts
Rhino: 30pts
Bread and butter unit with transport

Fast Attack:

Assault Squad (x5, 100pts), power weapon (15): 115pts
This smaller assault squad will play their role as needed and be lead into combat by the jump pack equipped Chaplain from the HQ section

Scout Bike Squad (x5, 110pts), cluster mines (10), locator beacon (25), aux. grenade launcher (10): 155pts
I don't even know how effective these guys will be, but, I like scouts and I've never had bikes, so this kills two birds with one stone, I threw the locator beacon in there too to help with errant deep strikers (which I was plagued with recently)

Total: 1500pts

So there you have it. I've got the Black Reach stuff pending, and already had a tactical squad box on hand thanks to Andy, plus it didn't take me long to hack up some Dark Angels I had pegged for veterans and turn them into five Sternguard. The big change for me is all the armor, which I just don't have a lot of experience building/painting tanks 'n such. As always, thanks for stopping by and let me know what you think...