Source of Inspiration

We've all got something that "does the trick" for us when it comes to inspiration. Do I love Patton? Yes, as a matter of fact I do. Do I love sweet riffs on the electric guitar? My years of camo pants & flannel shirt grunge support in the late eighties/early nineties can attest to that. Patton playing a sweet riff on an electric guitar? Some things are just too awesome to speak of in polite company. This weekend K-Boy is running a Pathfinder game to test the challenge rating of the Asmodeus Mirage scenario. Aparently some folks ran through it in Cape Girardeau and ran screaming from the table. This is, of course, my kind of challenge. For those who may not know, I have been playing Dungeons & Dragons for over 27 years. That statement is not a boast of my abilities, rather its a testament to just how much I love the game. The only habits I have participated in for longer are eating and breathing. Both the game and my play style have evolved over the years, running down the long line of traditional stereotypes. I have been a role-player (no larping, that's just not my bag). I have been a roll-player. I always like to "win" the challenge, however, regardless of what that challenge happens to be. So when I hear about something being "hard" or "impossible" or "written only to drive the players before them and hear the lamentation of their women" I am instantly intrigued. The guantlet has been dropped, and I have answered the call. I will enter the fray this weekend playing a non-standard bard, and I expect to have a fantastic time telling all those naysayers how I succeeded where they didn't...and oh yeah, I did it with a bard named Babba Ganoush. ;)

Oh, Larry and I will likely work on our Warhammer 40k project since we're already behind...

Edit (12/15/09): Our party did remarkably well in the Pathfinder scenario. There has been another scenario that caused a stir recently (DM'd by my buddy Partho no less) that routed a group of players. Of course, I must now play it to see for myself, if the scenario was poorly written or if the players were ill prepared. Oh yeah, we didn't get anything done on our Adepticon army, but I have four days until my semester is over...

And we're off!

The team registration has been purchased, so Team Snake Eyes is officially attending Adepticon 2010! We've got our team, we just need to get our army. No problem right? Riiight. I made my order for Chapterhouse studio bits for our shoulder pads and some vehicles, and our resin bases are coming from Dark Arts Studios. If I wasn't such a lazy mook, I'd have links to those places over on the right hand column. I'll be doing good to get the army done, let alone properly advertise where we got our stuff from. Speaking of stuff, our minis will be coming from Miniature Market (again with the links) in St. Louis. These guys are fantastic to work with, have an excellent online and physical store and offer what is now the industry standard 20% discount. We're hoping our large order will yield some extra cheddar, but we'll see how the negotiations turn out. Our armies are little changed from the previous post (errors, however, have been fixed), and here's who's taking what:

Da Goffer = Army #1
Chosen 1 = Army #2
Aerion = Army #3
Blowtorch = Army #4

The Crusade has begun. Stay tuned.

EDIT: No longer as lazy a mook as I once was.

Adepticon Army Lists - 1st Draft

I've just finished my Adepticon lists for our Salamanders Team. They've not been vetted by the rest of the lads on the team yet, but documenting this process will be interesting as time goes by. First of all, I went to Adepticon back in 2006. We had four different space marine chapters arranged on a Crux Terminatus board. We finished 31st out of 76 teams (Emperor's Forgotten Sons) and had a pretty good time. We would have done considerably better if the Flying Douchebags (Flying Hellfish) didn't zero out our sportsmanship scores after we beat them in our second game. Oh well, that sort of stuff happens. Regardless of that, I realized at that tournament that no matter my preparation, I do not have the time/ability/money to truly compete at the level of some of the better participants. I'm okay with that. My goal is to show up, do my best, and take pictures of some truly fantastic looking armies and live vicariously through them. Earlier this year, a buddy of mine from my 2006 team contacted me and asked if I was willing to compete again this year. After agreeing and a few days of wrangling we had the old team back together. That lasted about two weeks. After discussions about army choice and theme broke down, two of the old members backed out. I assume they'll go with another team, and if they do - watch out. Those guys play hard. I was, however, still interested in going and my remaining teamate and I started to cobble together a new coalition. This too lasted about two weeks. The discussions again broke down and my last remaining teamate from 2006 walked away. I had a completely new team. While I am really excited about the progress "Team Snake Eyes" has made for the 2010 event, I can't help but notice that I was the only common denominator for the other three guys walking out. I feel I wasn't unreasonable in my suggestions, but I am more of a hobbyist and the others are more competitive. Oh well. In any event, all of my old teamates would look at these lists with scorn, but I am trying to create a theme of Vulkan attempting to recover some lost secret of his primarch and getting together a balanced force to do so. The choices include units I like the look of and want to see played. I understand Battle Points make up a large percentage of the total points available at the Team Tournament but we'll just have to see how the list evolves after playtesting. I also have some kickass conversions that will be fielded (Vulkan by Ron over at ++From The Warp++, and Master of the Forge w/conversion beamer by Ian over at The Sky Full of Stars...Don't worry gents, you'll both be getting pictures of your work when they are painted).

Army #1
190 Vulkan He'Stan
205 Tactical Squad with Multi-Melta, Flamer & Rhino
205 Tactical Squad with Multi-Melta, Flamer & Rhino
175 (5) Tactical Squad with Combi-Melta & TL Lascannon Razorback
105 Dreadnought with Multi-Melta & Heavy Flamer
120 Vindicator with Dozer Blade
1000

Army #2
120 Master of the Forge with Conversion Beamer
205 Tactical Squad with Multi-Melta, Flamer & Rhino
205 Tactical Squad with Multi-Melta, Flamer & Rhino
140 Scout Squad with Sniper Rifles
105 Dreadnought with Multi-Melta
140 (2) Land Speeders with Multi-Melta & Heavy Flamer
85 Predator Destructor
1000

Army #3
130 Space Marine Chaplain with Terminator Armor
205 Tactical Squad with Multi-Melta, Flamer & Rhino
205 Tactical Squad with Multi-Melta, Flamer & Rhino
200 (5) TH/SS Terminators
260 Land Raider Crusader with Muti-Melta
1000

Army #4
100 Space Marine Librarian
225 Tactical Squad with Lascannon, Flamer, Combi-Melta & Rhino
225 Tactical Squad with Lascannon, Flamer, Combi-Melta & Rhino
180 (5) Tactical Squad with Combi-Melta, Melta Bombs & TL Lascannon Razorback
100 Thunderfire Cannon
85 Predator Destructor
85 Predator Destructor
1000

Comments?

Adepticon: March 26 - 28, 2010

I may have been conned into returning to the upcoming Adepticon. I don't have the time, I don't have the models, and I'm not entirely convinced my wife (who was not present during the work-up last time I went) will be pleased with the whole process. Thankfully, we don't care about the Gladiator, but we don't yet have a full team, let alone a team concept. It will likely deal with Space Marines and may have a Pre-Heresy slant to it, but that's about as far as we've taken it. I need to come up with a clever name as "Stupid bastards who always wait till the last minute" doesn't roll off the tongue as well as I'd like it to. I will, of course, post progress reports as things develop.

Blog Down! Blog Down!

Anyone with an ounce of "blogger-sense" know why the frick my right hand column is way the hell down at the bottom of my page? I hate being ignorant.

I'm not dead yet!

I must say that rumors of my passing have been greatly exaggerated. I have, however, been a tad busy (getting married, too much work during the day for too little pay, tough-ass semester in grad school, abject laziness...you know how it is) lately. I do have some gaming announcements though, so pay attention. :)

Brewfest 2009: It's at Buckner's Brewery in Cape Girardeau Missouri (October 9 -11), and I must say that its one of the best convention experiences I've ever had the pleasure to experience. There's a variety of games, its not too large, its not too small, the venue serves great food (and booze, its at a brewery...hey-oh!). While we usually have a tournament (RTT or team tourney) and a big-ass Apocalypse event, I won't be partaking of the 40k events this year. I still have my IG army, although not tweaked for 5th edition yet, and my Salamanders are in their infancy; I just don't "feel it" at the moment.

Pathfinder RPG: I dabbled with 4th edition D&D, and while its an interesting game, its just not to my tastes. Pathfinder, however, fits me very well. I'll be playing Pathfinder's organized play events for most of the Con and a few slots of some homebrew. Not much time for gaming with school now, but the fellas have a Pathfinder home game I'd like to get in, but alas...

Pre-Heresy Awesomeness: While wandering the Internet while "working on homework" one evening, I happened upon an awesome blog that detailed pre-heresy World Eaters. Try a search for "Eater of Worlds" if you're interested...or you can wait for my lazy ass to upload the link to the TSE blog page. Anyway, its always been a dream of mine to be able to pull of the whole "Yeah, I can paint white and not make it look like crap" attitude so I would love to get to work on some of those guys at some point. That and having an army that could double as a CSM, SM, BT, & BA army would be a godsend. That might take care of SOME of my army ADD and the Mrs. would enjoy only having to look at one army in the house.

Hell, I don't have time to finish my IG or start my Salamanders (even with the sweet conversions I commissioned for my MotF & Vulkan models) let alone get a mini-project of Pre-Heresy World Eaters going. :) In a perfect world, I'd get the IG and Salamanders done and sold off on feEbay and then I could get some World Eater action going...I like the newer models though, so some purists might look down on me.

later all,

EDIT: Looks like Brewfest occurs during Homecoming weekend for Southeast Missouri State University. That means parades, traffic horrors, & drunk co-eds. Two out of those three will ruin your day, while the other could haunt you for a long time. :) Plan accordingly in all cases.

Army A.D.D.

We all know that Genoside has a problem with Games Workshop products...he frickin owns them all. I'm here to say that my name is Chad and I have Army Attention Deficit Disorder. (Hi Chad...) I will, however, refuse to speak my latest crazy idea out loud for fear that I might actually start working on it. I really need help.

I could take him...

He is only a plastic statue after all...or is he? In any event, with various GW gamesdays coming up, this is my public service announcement opportunity. Just say "No" when it comes to Games Days. Yes, the Golden Daemon stuff looks cool. Yes, they purpusely put that damn plexiglass at the perfect angle to prevent folks from touching the art...and ruining any pictures you try and take. Yes, the line to the forgeworld counter is too long and slow. No, there aren't any games worth playing. Yes, you get better deals on merchandise from any internet retailer or FLGS. Basically, for us, the drive is long, the cost is high, and the reward is severely lacking. If you have family in the area or if you're a fan of the host city, then have at it. Just consider GW's "Lame-Day" a temporary diversion to your regular trip. My recommendation? Independent conventions all the way.

Working On It...

This is for the three of you who may read this blog...I'm in the progress of updating the layout of the blog to a three column format and I lost all of my links and such to do so. Will rebuild as time permits.

IG vs. Orks @ 1500pts

I had a great game with the new Imperial Guard codex today against Partho's orks. I showed up with: (3) leman russ tanks, (2) chimera mounted veteran squads, (1) heavy bolter armed vet squad w/ Sgt. Harker, (3) autocannon armed armored sentinels, (1) devil dog, & a chimera mounted company command squad. Partho had an approximation of the following: (2) battlewagons filled with 20 boyz each, a truck w/ Gazgull, a painboy, and 6 nobz, a truck with shoota boyz, and truck with slugga boyz and his ubiquitous biker mob. We played capture & control with spearhead deployment. I won the roll to pick deployment area, but subsequently Partho "siezed the initiative". That was a grim sign of things to come. :)

Partho's Orks are fairly mechanized, and those two battlewagons are able to reliably transport their cargo where they are needed. I, however, have always played drop troop/light infantry guard armies. So, neither Partho nor I knew what the hell I was doing, and the first two turns were relatively uneventful. Partho didn't dismount because he didn't have enough anti-tank at range. I couldn't stop his advance for the same reason. On turn three he moves forward, dismounts and tears me a new ass with his power klaws. I lost two of the LR tanks and my command chimera. What really hurt, was loosing all of my mounted special weapons from the destroyed vehicle. After that, I focused my surviving templates on his (now more vulnerable) infantry,b killing them in large numbers. In the end, it came down to famous Team Snake Eyes rolling (failing leadership, difficult terrain checks, etc.) and some clever tricks on both our parts. Partho ended up with both objectives for a decisive Ork win.

My first thoughts are that in 5th edition the easiest thing to earn is a win or a draw in a capture and control mission...I earned neither. Partho is a skilled warboss, however, and it was my first game with the new codex using an army style (mech) that I am still unfamiliar with. I've got a few ideas on tweaking my list, but I'd like a few more games in with it against some other opponents/missions before I go too crazy with changes. I misused some units, so I can't justify getting rid of them until I learn how to better use my new list. I thoroughly enjoyed the game because even though Partho was the clear winner in the end, it wasn't clear until the VERY end of the game. As always, never give up, remember your objectives, and keep playing.

D&D

Not what you might expect. The first "D" pertains to Derecho. That is the official meteorological name for "really fast straight line winds that tear all sorts of shit up". That's what hit the Southern Illinois area recently. Power was restored to most on Wednesday/Thursday. This storm brought out its share of douche-nozzles (dudes with poster board signs on their trucks charging old ladies $900 to remove a single limb from her yard), but for the most part people were agreeable. Ameren did a kick ass job getting power back on considering the conditions they had to work with and the severity of the damage. Internet is still down...looking at you mediacom.

The second "D" should stand for "Don't forget you notebook when you come up with a clever idea for a blog post so you can remember what you're going to write about." I had a second D planned, I promise. It was clever too, you should have seen it.

On unrelated notes, Aerion has been looking at how the grown-ups run their 40k events, and he (and warlock) like what they see. We'll probably be taking what we like from their systems to create our own. We'll probably try and make an easy one page summary for comments/criticisms. Also, due to kick-ass models and idtiots on FEE-bay selling forgeworld stuff for what amounts to a 20% discount on the already bargain basement USD/GBP exchange rate, I have acquired some Death Korps of Krieg models. I will, most likely, be selling off my extensive Cadian style Imperial Guard infantry at some point and I am certainly putting an indefinate hold on "Operation Space Marine". Because of that, I have some (3) space marine commander boxes, (1) space marine command squad box, (3) space marine drop pod boxes, (4) boxes of space marine assault terminators, (1) unassembled set of five regular terminators, (3) squads of Black Reach Marines, & (2) Black Reach Dreadnoughts that I need to unload along with the bits for a crap-ton (20+) of assault troops that I need to unload. I also have an impressive bits collection in general for space marines, so spread the word. And as a general reminder to all, I have $300 worth of Tau that needs to get gone. Daddy is looking to unload power armor and the Cadian "can do" attitude for rebreathers, mechanized trench warfare, & a grim willingness to die in the Emperor's service that only the cloned fatalists of Krieg can provide. What Korps? Death Korps!

Call yer moms you worthless wanks!

Its Mother's Day. You know what to do.

Filthy Xenos Heretic wind!

Hopefully by now everyone has gotten word that the Rogue Trader is cancelled due to a warp storm that attacked our corner of Terra. Thankfully noone was hurt (in our little circle, though I did hear that 2 people were killed).

So we'll just have to enjoy beating each others brains in at SEHQ (hey, is that a hip new way to say "Sex"? No, guess it's more like "Seckwa" or something French sounding.)

Anyway, see some of you in the morning.

Rogue Trader prep

Since our esteemed leader is in the wicked throes of semester end, I'll make an effort to generate some lively discussion.

A goodly number of us are gearing up for the Rogue Trader in Carbondale this weekend. So far I have the following peeps on my radar:

Me- Black Templars
Chad- Imp Guard
Dave H.- Orks
Partho- Orks
Kelly- SoB
Dave B.- Imp Guard
Seth- Eldar (i.e. Best Army winner)


So, did I forget anyone? Did I get all the armies right? What are your hopes and dreams regarding this tourney? For myself, I hope to finally put a completed army on the table and make a good showing while having a great time with my friends.

You must be joking

Today a FedEx driver dropped off some packages at our building. He asked if we were Federal employees and, upon learning that we were, asked us about a new quarter he had received as change recently. It was like one of the newly designed state quarters, only this one was for Puerto Rico. Do these guys pay taxes? Are they a state? Now before we get too crazy on our nation's new political leadership, it takes a bit of time to get a coin into production, and I imagine it was under "W"s watch that this was approved. I can't wait for the U.S. Virgin Islands quarter, that'll be a real hoot. Strange times indeed.

Resource Expansion...

If any of you that read this (all two of you) have some spots you like to go on the internet for tactical or hobby advice on your armies, send me the link and I'll add it to the blog. We've got some team members new to their codex/edition and one is brand new to the game (looking at you veteran Ork & Eldar players here) and I'd like to do what I can to reduce their learning curve.

EDIT: If you see some poor schmuck who's listed on the team roster as "some-X-guy" please inquire as to their prefered internet name. Larry and I reserve the right to veto any dumb names. We have a "no douche names" clause on the Team's by-laws. :)

Apoc Game at Miniature Market 04/11/09

Saturday Partho (orks), Aerion (black templars) & myself (imperial guard) headed up to Miniature Market in St. Louis for an Apoc game. I believe the final tally was 20k points on each side and we managed to get in a 5 turn game in a very reasonable amount of time. It was a traditional split between Imperial Forces (2 IG, Black Templars, 2 Blood Angels, 1 Dark Angel & maybe some codex marines) and Xenos forces (Eldar, Tyranids, Undivided Chaos, 2 Orks, Necrons). It was supposed to be 2,000 points per player with an optional 2k points, but the organizer had us throw in everything we brought. After seeing some of the Eldar war machines on the table I know why...

While we had minor issues with the table set-up, Miniature Market's tables are primarily designed for tournaments and they don't really have the capability to make larger surface areas. While the Imperial side managed a solid victory due to objectives, the Xenos side really made us pay for our gains. Apoc rules aside, here's what we had to play on:

Here are some of Partho's Boyz in the mix:

A true battle report would be hard to come by because the long narrow table meant that you had to focus on your immediate surroundings or get overwhelmed (or tired running back and forth). All in all, I was please with the crowd. Everyone was cool, and the level of painted armies (except, oddly, the game organizer) was superior to the last time I was there. Aerion and myself as got the "your stuff looks good on the table" complement from the resident Golden Daemon winner. I'm a painting technician (as opposed to the artists like Aerion & some-Slaaneshi-guy) and that's about the coolest thing that could ever be said about one of my armies.

What were our take home lessons? 1) Never underestimate the psychological impact of playing against a titan. At the start of the game, I had two eldar titans (Revenant & some Knight thing) staring me down and it was demoralizing to say the least. Firing my entire army (less the mighty lasgun obviously) for four turns took them out, but their stinking Xenos engines blew me apart as they died. 2) If you are organizing a game, don't play. Too many things come up during the course of a game that require too much attention to just ignore things and play. 3) Think carefully about setting up a 40,000 point game across a few 1,500 point game tables.

In any event, they should be having a few more of these Apoc games since we were supposed to keep track of story points (similar to the Lucky 13's campaign I hear?) that will have an impact on subsequent games.

I hate it when heroes die...

Another hero was called home yesterday:

Dave Arneson: 10/01/1947 - 04/07/2009

Along with last year's passing of:

Gary Gygax: 07/27/1938 - 03/04/2008

Rest in peace gentlemen. You two literally created the foundation upon which my childhood was built. There will never exist a way for me to adequately express my gratitude.

with the utmost respect and admiration,
Chad

Little Egypt Wars

With the slackjawed morons (apologies to those morons out there without the slack jaws) on the Egyptian Campaign Committee dropping the ball on E-Con 2009, Scott Thorne of Castle Perilous in Carbondale, IL has agreed to put on a temporary measure called Little Egypt Wars. He is also planning to put on the next generation of E-Con in 2010, but there may or may not be legal issues with the name of the thing. Lets give three cheers to the no-account shitheads in the Strategic Gamers Society (SGS) of SIUC for jacking up yet another project. Granted, E-Con has been dying a slow and painful death for a number of years, but this latest debacle was truly mind boggling. Scott's latest efforts can be followed over at:

http://castleperilous.com/catalog/index.php?cPath=103&osCsid=c527a7ed4b4520f4c6291932064906e1

EDIT: The link above blows chunks...take this one to Castle P's website and navigate around there. I suggest the forums since they don't really have an alternative set up for the event itself:

http://www.castleperilous.com/

How's that for progress?

So I made my first post the other day...and I screwed it up. Well, I didn't exactly screw up the post, but I did get my dates wrong. This Saturday the 11th is an Apoc game at Miniature Market in St. Louis. The Cape Girardeau Comic Con is the weekend of the 24th-26th. This Saturday's event is run by a great guy at a fantastic store, so I'm really looking forward to it. Its 2000 points with the option of bringing up to another 2000 points to round out the sides if needed. My list is mostly complete, I'm just putting the finishing touches on the final 500 points of the 3500 I'll be bringing up there this weekend:

2000 pts
Inquisitor Lord w/ Psychic Hood, Psycannon, (2) Mystics & Multi-Melta Gun Servitor
Inquisitor Lord w/ Psychic Hood, Psycannon, (2) Mystics & Multi-Melta Gun Servitor
Basilisk w/ Indirect Fire
Basilisk w/ Indirect Fire
Leman Russ w/ (3) Heavy Bolters
Leman Russ w/ (3) Heavy Bolters
Leman Russ w/ (3) Heavy Bolters
Junior Officer w/ Plasma Pistol, Krak Grenades & (4) Guardsmen w/ Grenade Launchers
Anti-Tank Team w/ (3) Lascannons
Anti-Tank Team w/ (3) Lascannons
(5) Hardened Veterans w/ (3) Meltaguns
(5) Hardened Veterans w/ (3) Meltaguns
(5) Hardened Veterans w/ (3) Meltaguns
Junior Officer w/ (4) Guardsmen w/ Plasmaguns
Infantry Squad w/ Missile Launcher & Plasmagun
Infantry Squad w/ Missile Launcher & Plasmagun
Junior Officer w/ (4) Guardsmen w/ Plasmaguns
Infantry Squad w/ Missile Launcher & Plasmagun
Infantry Squad w/ Missile Launcher & Plasmagun

500 extra points bundle #1
Baneblade Superheavy Tank

500 extra points bundle #2
Chimera for HQ Command Squad
Hellhound
Inquisitorial Land Raider
Cadian Pattern Sentinel

500 extra points bundle #3
(2) Cadian Sentinels
(2) (5) Man Remnant Squads with Flamer for the 2 Platoons
(2) Special Weapon Squads with Demolition Charge and (2) Flamers
Sharpshooters for the Anti-Tank Teams & Grenadier HQ Squad
Cameoline on all Guard Infantry
Heavy Stubber on the Chimera

Inaugural Post

I got sick of looking at a blank blog page, so this is my "mercy-post" to make the place look not quite so pathetic. I don't expect to update the place as often as some of the pros I like to read, but eventually this will be a place to view the armies/battle reports of the local guys I play with as well as highlight some of the events in the area. As an example, this upcoming weekend is Cape Girardeau's Comic Con. While there will be all manner of gaming available, your humble correspondent will be judging/enabling the 40k crowd. We should have open gaming on Friday, a multi-table Apoc game on Saturday and a "hard" tournament on Sunday. Due to other commitments (I don't recommend working full time while going to graduate school) I haven't been able to put as much time into this tournament as some of the others I've been involved with, but if I get enough homework done (loose enough sleep) I'll put in some heroic last ditch stuff to get everything done. I will post a report and pictures of the weekend's festivities as soon as I figure some more of this blog thing out.