Wednesday April 30 2008 The Beast Won't Die

Picture: a wrecked Tau Hammerhead which is part of the BASE of a very special project.

Where to start? I am still fighting my way through the Inbox. I still have about twenty messages. No complaints mind you, just saying to hold tight if you're waiting for a response from me. That's the catch 22-- if I need some help, I have to slow things down for interviews (I conducted three today) and then things can proceed more quickly.

Let's work backwards!

Right now, the kids are in bed and I'm watching Scrubs with my wife. I am ashamed that before that we watched American Idol.

I earmarked some of the funds from the Rummage sale to buy some Iron Man toys (masks and nerf guns) for my sons. Tonight, after going to a soccer game with my beloved Daughter, I went to Wal Mart to pick those up. People bad mouth Wal Mart, but I don't see the problem. Anyhoo, it was like a miniature Christmas, the boys fairly well freaked out. NERF has really improved over the years, I couldn't believe how well those things worked. It was a little splurge and a little moment of joy. Very nice.

It was a typical day at the studio; artists coming and going. Angela came in with about half of the hundred or so Movement Trays (magnetized ones) that need to be constructed. That has been a problematic item over the years and Angela is tackling it nicely. In other news, she cut her hair (herself!) on Sunday. It actually looks good. I saw Mike, Renn and Jose as well. All with some really nice stuff to turn in. I've got about five projects on the digital photography table.

My two Forge World battlesuit commanders are together and I'm going to get those painted up for a game this weekend (probably Saturday, assuming someone will fight me).

I interviewed three people this afternoon for General Helpfulness and Assisting People around the studio. My general rule is three to six months before the public gets to see them. So as you don't get emotionally attached to someone who might implode spectacularly.

Monday April 28 2008 Outside Time

Picture: one of my favorite Confrontation models, which would make an amazing Necromancer for a VC army. Yes, I'm a big fan of crossovers.

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Another busy and strange day. I got up at 5am, pounded the keyboard for two hours, went back to sleep. My wife and kids headed off to school and various destinations (she and Jonah went to the zoo today-- field trip).

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It was Renn and I at the studio, working on getting things set up for Tuesday, which is the huge traffic day.

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I made various Youtube vids:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9k_RvvM8MsQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2PupztSZxug

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Rummage sale

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qZDXoBH7zBA

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You must check out the rummage sale. There's a lot of good stuff on there.

Sorry for the short entry, I'm very, very tired.

Sunday April 27 2008 Springtime

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Today I have an immense sense of peace and well-being. If it weren't for Sunday, I wouldn't ever stop working. I would work myself to death, I think.

This is a magical time of year in Utah Valley. The mountains are still clad in snow, the air is crisp, the sun is warm, and all the trees have exploded in pink, white, and lavender blossoms. Paint into the picture brick houses; rose, shale, and rust colored. It's really something else.

In church the lesson was on making course corrections in life. I've been thinking these last few years about the process of sanctification- a slow process of becoming better a little at a time. Maybe like petrified wood transforms over many hundreds of years. Sometimes I wonder if I'll ever get over some of my faults. I am frustrated by my apparent lack of progress. But nothing to do about it except keep plugging away. And not beat myself up.

We rented some movies for the weekend. I thought "Hogfather" would be a dud, but maybe decent for passing the time while I painted up my Tau (speaking of which, I managed 1xSkyray, 2xDevilfish, 4xCrisis Suits, and 6x Stealth Suits). It really was quite good; entertaining, decent effects, humorous, and something to think about. Be warned, though, it's three hours long.

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I'd like to thank those that take time to read this blog. For those that find your way darkened, I would like to give you a word of thanks and encouragement. I hope you keep your chin up and keep fighting. For those of you who are young and your way seems uncertain, I say keep going one foot after the other. Things really do get better.

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*I found this picture on the net. It's not mine. Same as many of the Sunday pics.

Saturday April 26 2008 Adeptus Custodes

I came across this Adeptus Custodes army that we did a few years back.

http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/124019.page#124019

It's Saturday and I'm home with the kids while my wife gets a much needed break. She's out gallavanting around the countryside.

You should also know that I'm running a Rummage Sale. And I put up about eight new items in the For Sale section:

http://www.bluetablepainting.com/for_sale.php

Friday April 25 2008 Joseph Visits

Picture: a Khador Drakhun by Privateer Press for the game War Machine. See the others here.

War Machine is an amazing game. It requires only 10-30 models, a very modest amount. I highly recommend their product.

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http://www.privateerpress.com/ and here's a great place to buy the figures: http://www.thewarstore.com/

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The boys have been bugging me about Bionicles for over a week. Griffin is now three and it's all he can talk about. He is so sweet about it, too, gently explaining to me what he wants. So, today was the day I strapped those two young gentleman in the car and we headed to Wal Mart to pick up a toy for them. They spent the afternoon tinkering with them and "flying" them around the house.

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Having kids is really a great life adventure. People go off about how difficult it is to raise them, but I haven't found that so much to be true. One grows accustomed to the rigours, but then gets to really enjoy the deep and abiding satisfaction and love of it all. I think that's a secret of the universe: elevating others brings joy.

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I've also been watching the various X-men movies with Jonah and familiarizing him with the various characters. His journey to the nerd-side is nearly complete...

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I got back to the studio in time to interview a potential new Artist. It's a sort of catch-22. I am very satisfied with the current crew but it never hurts to keep an eye out for good new talent. I look mostly for work ethic and love for the games.

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The following projects are up for painting this week. As usual, if you don't see your project and are wondering what's up, by all means contact me. However, don't panic, this is only one week of four coming up!

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Vampire Counts 01 AS (multi-week)
Albino Orcs 01 JC
Fantasy Figures 05 GM (done, pics coming soon)
Marauder Destroyer 01 GF
Ultramarines 06 TO tanks
Angry Goats 01 (multi-week)
Orks 01 BW warboss on bike
Orks 01 CK warboss on bike
Orks 01 MP fixes (modifications done)
Vampire Counts 01 KS (multi-week)
Black Legion 01 RB
Vampire Counts 01 LE
Biel Tan 02 AS
Dark Elf Blood Bowl 01 CQ
Witch Hunters 03 AT
Dark Angels 01 MC
Mordheim 04 DF
Vampire Counts 02 DW
War Machine 08 BF

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In other news, movement trays are being completely stocked this week. This is a great product that we put out. But it has also been a source of delays due to the fiddly nature of the whole process.

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Joseph is back in town, and he came over for dinner. We went out to an authentic Mexican place to pick up some dinner. I speak Spanish fluently and I didn't recognize half the things on the menu, let's just say that. We rented "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" and watched that with the older kids. What a blast.

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I have prepped the first 1500 pts of Tau and I plan on getting those done in time for a Batrep next Friday. That's a lot of guys to paint between now and then! Fortunately, I'll have a little help with the bulk infantry.

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I think the missing link in most Tau armies is the Kroot, which most people don't include for aesthetic reasons. Or they are OCD like me and want everything to match.

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At this moment it's about 4am and I'm watching X-men 3. I will get some quick shut-eye before the house gets moving.

Advice on Tau List

This wonderful client responded with a huge-normous email to my Tau list. Thought you might enjoy. It has a LOT of good insights.

Shawn,
As you’ve already discovered, tau are one of the most difficult armies to build because of the number of choices available to the player (both in unit selection and in how those units are configured and equipped.) There is a bunch of material on the web that goes through the most mathematically efficient configurations for each unit and how best to combine certain themes for best effect (I don’t agree with all of it but that’s usually the case.) What would really help is knowing what you intend to do with the army and what the theme is going to be that you’ll be using. For example, I could easily convert this into an entirely air-moble tau hunter cadre that uses kroot as their advance scouts and counter assaults (all troops with jump packs or mounted in hover tanks.)

The army would look something like:
2x hammerhead with rail gun, smart missile system, decoy launchers, disruption field, 1 seaker missile.
1 Skyray gunship, smart missile system, decoy launchers, disruption field
1 unit of perhana with rail guns
2 units of 2 crisis suits with twin linked missile pods and targeting aray.
1 unit of Kroot 20 strong (can expand with whatever upgrades you want but you want them maxed out.)
3 units of fire warriors with pulse rifles, shas’ui with marker light, bonded, in a devil fish with smart missile systems, 1 each seaker missile
Shas’o with plasma rifle, missile pod, fail safe detonator, hard wired multi tracker (can’t remember if fsd is hard wired or on the suit. If it isn’t on the suit just give him a suit mounted multi tracker)
2 body guards each with plasma rifle, missile pod, target aray, and hard wired multi tracker.
One of the body guards should have a hard wired drone controller with 2 shield drones or 2 gun drones if you want a more aggressive configuration.
That list will give someone fits and is right out of your inventory.
Modifications to your current list:
Tau Empire Roster - Studio Tau Army

HQ: Commander Shas'o (7#, 351 Pts)
1 Commander Shas'o @ 351 Pts
Stimulant Injector; Crisis Bodyguard; Crisis Bodyguard; Missile Pod; Plasma Rifle; Multi-Tracker
1 Crisis Bodyguard @ [122] Pts
Failsafe Detonator; Hard-wired Drone Controller; Missile Pod; Shield Drone; Shield Drone; Plasma Rifle; Targeting Array
1 Shield Drone @ [15] Pts
Shield Generator
1 Shield Drone @ [15] Pts
Shield Generator
1 Crisis Bodyguard @ [107] Pts
Fusion Blaster; Hard-wired Drone Controller; Shield Drone; Shield Drone; Plasma Rifle; Targeting Array
1 Shield Drone @ [15] Pts
Shield Generator
1 Shield Drone @ [15] Pts
Shield Generator
See my suggested hq above. Your stim injector serves little purpose where it is because someone will have to force you to take a wound on that model, or the unit will have to have taken so many wounds that you’llw want to allocate a wound to your commander. I like a fail safe detonator on him since if you’re going to lose your general anyway, best if he takes a bunch of the enemy with him.
Only one set of drones on this unit as the more shield drones you put on a unit the less points you are actually using to win the game and the more unwieldy and more visible your unit becomes.
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Elite: Crisis Battlesuit (4#, 141 Pts)
1 Crisis Battlesuit @ 141 Pts
Team Leader; Crisis Battlesuit; Hard-wired Drone Controller; Shield Drone; Shield Drone; Twin Linked Missile Pod; Targeting Array
1 Crisis Battlesuit @ [53] Pts
Twin Linked Missile Pod; Targeting Array
1 Shield Drone @ [15] Pts
Shield Generator
1 Shield Drone @ [15] Pts
Shield Generator
Lose the shield drones and the upgrade to team leader. The unit doesn’t even have to be bonded since with 2 models it will always be over 50%. In most cases you want this unit sitting behind the edge of a blocking piece of area tarain. When it comes your turn, jump out in your move, fire, and then jump back behind the tarain out of sight. Same deal with the hq squad which is why too many shield drones is both inefecient and makes the unit harder to hide.
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Elite: Stealthsuits (8#, 212 Pts)
5 Stealthsuits @ 212 Pts
Add Team Leader; Burst Cannon (x5)
1 Team Leader @ [62] Pts
Bonding Knife; Fusion Blaster; Hard-wired Drone Controller; Gun Drone; Gun Drone
1 Gun Drone @ [10] Pts
Twin Linked Pulse Carbines
1 Gun Drone @ [10] Pts
Twin Linked Pulse Carbines
I’d just drop the fusion blaster here. This unit will mess someone’s day up, the single fb just takes away from the units overall mass effectiveness. Add targeting aray if you can, they’re pricy but every little bit of help counts here (especially with that many shots.)
*****
Troops: Fire Warrior (15#, 245 Pts)
11 Fire Warrior @ 245 Pts
Add Shas'ui; Pulse Carbine (x11)
1 Devilfish @ [95] Pts
Burst Cannon; Gun Drones; Decoy Launchers; Landing Gear; Multi-Tracker
2 Gun Drones @ [0] Pts
Twin Linked Pulse Carbines
1 Shas'ui @ [40] Pts
Markerlight; Bonding Knife; Hard-wired Target Lock
See my suggestions in my list for how this unit can be configured. The addition of the target lock is a nice touch. The landing gear and targeting aray are fairly useless since ideally you want this guy to stay behind cover to jump out and pick up the fire warriors later or to deposit them and stay in front of them (still can shoot through it since it’s a skimmer) to prevent assaults. You want as little upgrades on the devil fish as possible since it is a very expensive non scoring unit. Smart missile systems work well since it canhide behind terrain and still fire. A single seaker missile can be handy as well to spread out the anti tank love a bit. I’ve found that anything else is pretty much pointless.
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Troops: Fire Warrior (15#, 245 Pts)
11 Fire Warrior @ 245 Pts
Add Shas'ui; Pulse Carbine (x11)
1 Devilfish @ [95] Pts
Burst Cannon; Gun Drones; Decoy Launchers; Landing Gear; Multi-Tracker
2 Gun Drones @ [0] Pts
Twin Linked Pulse Carbines
1 Shas'ui @ [40] Pts
Markerlight; Bonding Knife; Hard-wired Target Lock
See above***

Troops: Kroot Carnivore Squad (14#, 96 Pts)
12 Kroot Carnivore Squad @ 96 Pts
Add Kroot Hounds; Kroot Rifle (x12)
2 Kroot Hounds @ [12] Pts
You want these guys as big as possible as well. Kroot require numbers to win combat and more rifles is always good so they can thin out the enemy. Put them in cover and the enemy will be forced to dedicate a fairly large amount of their resources to remove them. Meanwhile with the preshure off your tau, they can blast those resources.
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Troops: Remote Sensor Tower Team (1#, 40 Pts)
1 Remote Sensor Tower Team @ 40 Pts
Markerlight (x1); Target Lock (x1)
Doesn’tmatch your theme much. This is more of a perimeter/fixed implacement model. I wouldn’t bother much unless you have points left over. I suppose the tower could be the unit that raised the alarm and summoned your army of doom in the first place.
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Fast Attack: Gun Drone Squadron (4#, 48 Pts)
4 Gun Drone Squadron @ 48 Pts
Twin Linked Pulse Carbines (x4)
Max it out at 8 or don’t bother. At 4 it is at the minimum number of models to hold an objective. I’d rather see a sensor tower than 4 gun drones really.
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Fast Attack: Pirhana TX-42 (IA) (2#, 220 Pts)
2 Pirhana TX-42 (IA) @ 220 Pts
Twin Linked Rail Rifle (x2); Decoy Launchers (x2); Disruption Pod (x2); Seeker Missle (x2); Targeting Array
Lose the seaker missiles and the disruption pod. The first just runs your point total up on a very frajile unit and the second won’t be required since you’ll be moving while you’re firing anyway. The units are too delicate to warrant too much dedicated protection.
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Fast Attack: Pathfinder (9#, 246 Pts)
8 Pathfinder @ 246 Pts
Markerlight (x5); Pulse Carbine (x5); Rail Rifle and Target Lock (x3)
1 Devilfish @ [120] Pts
Burst Cannon; Smart Missile System; Decoy Launchers; Disruption Pod; Landing Gear; Marker Beacon; Sensor Spines
Lose the landing gear, disruption pod and decoy launcher. Non scoring unit. Add a seaker missile or two, god knows you’ll get your use out of it.
You may want to consider a team leader with target lock as well.
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Heavy Support: Broadside Battlesuit (2#, 180 Pts)
1 Broadside Battlesuit @ 180 Pts
Twin linked Railgun; Broadside Battlesuit; Twin Linked Plasma Rifle; Targeting Array
1 Broadside Battlesuit @ [90] Pts
Twin linked Railgun; Twin Linked Plasma Rifle; Targeting Array
Add team leader and 2 shield drones. You need something to soak up the fire these guys will be taking.
Not so much a fan of the plasma rifles without multi trackers on them so you can fire both at the same time…but that’s me.
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Heavy Support: Hammerhead Gunship (1#, 165 Pts)
1 Hammerhead Gunship @ 165 Pts
Railgun; Smart Missile System; Disruption Pod; Landing Gear; Targeting Array
Lose the landing gear and add a decoy launcher and seaker missile.
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Heavy Support: Sky Ray Missile Defence Gunship (1#, 155 Pts)
1 Sky Ray Missile Defence Gunship @ 155 Pts
Turret Mounted Seeker Missles; Two Networked Markerlights; Smart Missile System; Target Lock; Disruption Pod; Landing Gear; Targeting Array
Lose the landing gear and the target lock (as more often than not you’ll be firing at the same target anyway.) add a decoy launcher. Your tuffer scoring units need that extra protection.
***
Total Roster Cost: 2344
There are my thoughts anyway.
Remember, everyone has opinion, it doesn’t mean it’s right;) Play what’s fun.
Matthew

Wednesday April 23 2008

Picture: an Arbitrator Squad. These would make a perfect Inquisitor and seven retinue (five Warriors, an acolyte with carapace armor and bolter, and a cyber-dog familiar).
Would you consider buying them?

My day began by naturally waking up around 8am. My wonderful wife cooked me some french toast (with plenty of butter and syrup like I like it), one egg over medium, and some peppered bacon. That's a good breakfast. I spent the morning fending off my three year old son who adores me (I spent some time with him, of course) while I cleared the Inbox for the most part.

When I got to the studio I found Renn ensconced in the break room, which has become the de-facto assembly room for the time being. I am very happy with the current crew and feel that finally I can rest easy. Everything is smooth. Everyone's heart is in it.

It's been quite busy with comings and goings. I am currently booking projects for the last part of May. If you need something done, you've got to get started ahead of time.

As some of you may know, I finally sold the Tau Drone army which financed a huge splurge on Forge World stuff for my new Tau force. That should be done in the next few weeks. Do you want to know what I bought?

1x Barracuda
2x Broadsides
2x Specialty Battlesuits to make commander types
2x Sensor Towers (I'm a huge fan of these now)
2x TX-42 Pirahna conversion kits
3x Kroot Knarloc Riders

Fun! I picked only things that seemed like they would be interesting to play and look good.

Other news: I took a ton of pics of stuff that I'm putting up for sale soon. Nothing huge, just about eight new listings. See below for some teaser pics.

What else? Angela, Jose, and Renn were all in at the same time and we had a great ole time shooting the bull.

I got home around 6:30pm where my wonderful wife had a meal ready: grilled salmon, mashed potatoes, and peas. Then she headed out to traffic school (turns out she got a speeding ticked some time ago-- my wise policy is to not get worked up about things like that, nor to give her a hard time or poke fun) leaving me with the kids. I watched X-Men 2 with my middle son, explaining each character to him and fast-forwarding through the scary parts.

Spanish Challenge: translate the following-- ?Como como? Como como como.

Studio Tau Army Composition

These are the units that I'm likely to include in the Studio Tau Army. Can you give me advice, please, on unit composition and gear? I really don't know what I'm doing. The options for Tau are bewildering.

Please comment.

I am actually going to build this army! I have plenty of models to increase the size of any of these units. At the bottom you will find a rough inventory. I should note, though, that I want the army to be in the 2000-2500 point range.

As a side note: all the other models will be up for a special one-shot deal. The "Brother Army" deal will offer the remainder of the models at 40% off for anyone that wants to commission them. Still working out the kinks on that one.

Tau Empire Roster - Studio Tau Army

HQ: Commander Shas'o (7#, 351 Pts)
1 Commander Shas'o @ 351 Pts
Stimulant Injector; Crisis Bodyguard; Crisis Bodyguard; Missile Pod; Plasma Rifle; Multi-Tracker
1 Crisis Bodyguard @ [122] Pts
Failsafe Detonator; Hard-wired Drone Controller; Missile Pod; Shield Drone; Shield Drone; Plasma Rifle; Targeting Array
1 Shield Drone @ [15] Pts
Shield Generator
1 Shield Drone @ [15] Pts
Shield Generator
1 Crisis Bodyguard @ [107] Pts
Fusion Blaster; Hard-wired Drone Controller; Shield Drone; Shield Drone; Plasma Rifle; Targeting Array
1 Shield Drone @ [15] Pts
Shield Generator
1 Shield Drone @ [15] Pts
Shield Generator

Elite: Crisis Battlesuit (4#, 141 Pts)
1 Crisis Battlesuit @ 141 Pts
Team Leader; Crisis Battlesuit; Hard-wired Drone Controller; Shield Drone; Shield Drone; Twin Linked Missile Pod; Targeting Array
1 Crisis Battlesuit @ [53] Pts
Twin Linked Missile Pod; Targeting Array
1 Shield Drone @ [15] Pts
Shield Generator
1 Shield Drone @ [15] Pts
Shield Generator

Elite: Stealthsuits (8#, 212 Pts)
5 Stealthsuits @ 212 Pts
Add Team Leader; Burst Cannon (x5)
1 Team Leader @ [62] Pts
Bonding Knife; Fusion Blaster; Hard-wired Drone Controller; Gun Drone; Gun Drone
1 Gun Drone @ [10] Pts
Twin Linked Pulse Carbines
1 Gun Drone @ [10] Pts
Twin Linked Pulse Carbines

Troops: Fire Warrior (15#, 245 Pts)
11 Fire Warrior @ 245 Pts
Add Shas'ui; Pulse Carbine (x11)
1 Devilfish @ [95] Pts
Burst Cannon; Gun Drones; Decoy Launchers; Landing Gear; Multi-Tracker
2 Gun Drones @ [0] Pts
Twin Linked Pulse Carbines
1 Shas'ui @ [40] Pts
Markerlight; Bonding Knife; Hard-wired Target Lock

Troops: Fire Warrior (15#, 245 Pts)
11 Fire Warrior @ 245 Pts
Add Shas'ui; Pulse Carbine (x11)
1 Devilfish @ [95] Pts
Burst Cannon; Gun Drones; Decoy Launchers; Landing Gear; Multi-Tracker
2 Gun Drones @ [0] Pts
Twin Linked Pulse Carbines
1 Shas'ui @ [40] Pts
Markerlight; Bonding Knife; Hard-wired Target Lock

Troops: Kroot Carnivore Squad (14#, 96 Pts)
12 Kroot Carnivore Squad @ 96 Pts
Add Kroot Hounds; Kroot Rifle (x12)
2 Kroot Hounds @ [12] Pts

Troops: Remote Sensor Tower Team (1#, 40 Pts)
1 Remote Sensor Tower Team @ 40 Pts
Markerlight (x1); Target Lock (x1)

Fast Attack: Gun Drone Squadron (4#, 48 Pts)
4 Gun Drone Squadron @ 48 Pts
Twin Linked Pulse Carbines (x4)

Fast Attack: Pirhana TX-42 (IA) (2#, 220 Pts)
2 Pirhana TX-42 (IA) @ 220 Pts
Twin Linked Rail Rifle (x2); Decoy Launchers (x2); Disruption Pod (x2); Seeker Missle (x2); Targeting Array

Fast Attack: Pathfinder (9#, 246 Pts)
8 Pathfinder @ 246 Pts
Markerlight (x5); Pulse Carbine (x5); Rail Rifle and Target Lock (x3)
1 Devilfish @ [120] Pts
Burst Cannon; Smart Missile System; Decoy Launchers; Disruption Pod; Landing Gear; Marker Beacon; Sensor Spines

Heavy Support: Broadside Battlesuit (2#, 180 Pts)
1 Broadside Battlesuit @ 180 Pts
Twin linked Railgun; Broadside Battlesuit; Twin Linked Plasma Rifle; Targeting Array
1 Broadside Battlesuit @ [90] Pts
Twin linked Railgun; Twin Linked Plasma Rifle; Targeting Array

Heavy Support: Hammerhead Gunship (1#, 165 Pts)
1 Hammerhead Gunship @ 165 Pts
Railgun; Smart Missile System; Disruption Pod; Landing Gear; Targeting Array

Heavy Support: Sky Ray Missile Defence Gunship (1#, 155 Pts)
1 Sky Ray Missile Defence Gunship @ 155 Pts
Turret Mounted Seeker Missles; Two Networked Markerlights; Smart Missile System; Target Lock; Disruption Pod; Landing Gear; Targeting Array

Total Roster Cost: 2344

Created with Army Builder
Copyright (c) 1997-2005 Lone Wolf Development, Inc. All rights reserved.


Studio Tau Army Inventory

Fire Warriors 72
Path Finders 16
Stealth Suits 12
Gun Drones 24
Shield Drones 10
Broadsides 2
Hammerheads 3
Skyrays 1
Battlesuits 14

Still Needed
Piranhas 2
Kroot 16
Kroot Hounds 2

Forge World
Barracuda 1
Sensor Tower 1

Concepticon

I just got the good news this morning. My wife is pregnant with our fourth child. I'm pretty stoked. We've been working at this for about a year.
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The official story is that the child was conceived at Adepticon. Now that's good gamer mojo!
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Other Gately baby trivia

• We have three children ages three, six and eight.
• Each child was born in a different state: Oregon, California and Utah.
• All of them were born "mind over matter" style with no medical intervention. Tamie is like some kind of goddess with that.
• I want to have five kids, Tamie wants three, so we compromised on four. If the business goes well, we might adopt!
• When we got married I didn't want to have any kids at all. At the time I characterized babies as "the scourge of the earth".
• When I got the news that my wife was pregnant with my first child, my thought was "well, there goes my freedom".
• My heart changed the day my eldest, a daughter, was born. You can actually see it on the tape. I keep repeating "she's so beautiful..."
• I became an expert at managing children as a fourth-grade teacher.
• Tamie is a stay at home mom and loves every minute of it!

PS- If you feel inclined to send a "congratulations" you can do so right here on the blog. But don't feel obligated, I'm OK with that. I'm not good at that sort of thing either. Also, there is a remote chance this could be a false alarm; but I was so excited I couldn't hold it in!!!

Sunday April 20 2008 Brain Soup

Saturday was Paint Fest. We had six artists in and we all crammed into the main office, hunched around little painting areas. We chatted and shared ideas and techniques. I managed to get my prototypes done for the studio Tau army. I'm overall satisfied with the dark green and ivory thing; but I just might try one other thing. In the FW Apocalypse book there's a Tiger Shark with these horizontal water-type camo stripes and I might try something like that.

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I really didn't get that much done, though, the plan is to get it all done in short order. And in other Tau news, the army will have maximum one of each type of unit. Normally, I try these one-trick-pony themed armies adn I'm going to break with that this time.

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I would suggest that any army where you take one of each type of unit will be fairly competitive. This is a game design issue. The only thing you have to think about is how the units work together.

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Wait, maybe that's not right. Because we see a LOT of armies coming through and there are definite patterns. For example: I have not seen more than one in ten Tau armies with Stingwings. So, they must suck, right?

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Mike was working on his Blood Angels, so I think that will be the next matchup for a batrep. Renn brought in his Death Korps army which has an impressing amount of Forge World resin in it. Wouldn't it be nice to be single and have no expenses! Oh wait, I remember that and it *was* great... except for the crushing loneliness. Ty was working on some Tyranids. I challenged him to a game, too: My High Elves v his Dwarfs. Yerm, that's a classic matchup.

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And for those of you wondering: it was food poisoning. Brutal. I think it was the shrimp tacos. I wouldn't wish that on anyone.

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Warning: No MORE game-related material in this post. I'm serious. I've got a massive brain stew cooking. Here are my various thoughts.

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Temples

As I watch the "Texas Polygamist" thing unfold on the news, I feel inspired to say that those people really don't have anything to do with current-day Mormons (the regular LDS church). I am a Mormon and married to a descendant of the Mormon pioneers. However, I am a convert to the church and consciously chose it at age 15. And I would choose it again.

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Anyway, I am very familiar with Mormon temples, and indeed I was a worker at a temple for over a year and got to have virtually free access to any part of it. I can say that I didn't ever once run into anything strange or immodest. Quite the opposite, everything about the temple is clean, modest, and uplifting. It is a quiet place, as close to heaven on earth as anything.

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Before I got married in the Salt Lake Temple, I was asked by one of my friends if it was true that Mormons got married naked. Turns out not. That's just one of a huge number of absolutely stupid things circulating around out there. Oh, here's another one I was asked: do they grab your privates during the ceremony and say "these are only for procreation." Good heavens! No! Again, I want to re-iterate that I have never once come across anything immodest or indecent in the temple at all. The opposite is true.

.

If you want indecent and immodest, you can find that on FOX!

.

When I was investigating the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints as a teenager I started looking for sources of information and so I headed down to the public library. What impressed me is that I found something like eighteen books speaking out against the "Mormons". Why would 80% of the literature decry this particular one? It was completely disproportionate.

.

Additionally, what I read from these books that supposedly "exposed" the religion was completely at odds with the extremely positive experience I was having in person. I have since decided there are two "Mormonisms"; the one you actually experience living as one, and the one you read about in books (that supposedly enlighten you but are really just chock full of misinformation, half-truths, and exaggerations).

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The human soul is a receptor for light and truth. If it accepts correct principles and lives them, it becomes more receptive. The soul can sense light and darkness just as the human eye does. Have you ever wandered into a "dark" place? Where it just didn't feel right? And the opposite, a "light" place?

.

Hell

Oh, yes, I'm going to take this one on.

.

The stereotype of Hell is the old lake of fire and brimstone, which comes from the very end of the Bible, but if read carefully it is presented as a simile-- it is *as* a lake of fire. I mean, it doesn't make any sense. What loving father would put his child in a cauldron of lava? It's like the ultimate cosmic child abuse. To my mind, the concept of hell has been used over the ages indeed for a diabolical purpose: to gain power over other humans as a tool of coercion.

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In the Mormon view of the universe (which I contend matches up with the real universe) the human soul is the offspring of Diety, in the same fashion as one's own child. And what do I wish for my own children? That they grow up into their full potential.

.

The universe is a huge place, full of beauty. I came across this scripture recently that deeply impressed me:

.

32 And they who remain shall also be quickened; nevertheless, they shall return again to their own place, to enjoy that which they are willing to receive, because they were not willing to enjoy that which they might have received.
.
33 For what doth it profit a man if a gift is bestowed upon him, and he receive not the gift? Behold, he rejoices not in that which is given unto him, neither rejoices in him who is the giver of the gift.
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34 And again, verily I say unto you, that which is governed by law is also preserved by law and perfected and sanctified by the same.

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Read the rest.

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And again in the famous John 3:16-20. A careful reading shows that there is condemnation, but it isn't imposed on a human by God.

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Here's my short version: You get what you want. What you really want.

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That's true in this life, and it's true in the afterlife. There's no lake of fire. Except in ones own mind. And that might just be worse than a real one.

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Clear as the moon, and fair as the sun,

and terrible as an army with banners.

The Book of Mormon has a middle part called "the war chapters". At first, I always skipped past them, but now I see how relevant they are. They show the true place of a Warrior in a society. I think Captain Moroni is my new hero. I've noticed how often he acts counter-intuitively. It's a good read.

.

As usual, it's not my intention to come across as preachy. In fact, I don't think I'm a very good person-- I'm just picking away at my imperfections through the years. Again, I am NOT making any claim to any personal goodness or righteousness. This is what's really on my mind, and after all that's what you come to a blog for, right?

Proceeding Apace

Picture: a Longrider Trollblood. This project had an unusual color scheme that turned out well. I wish it were mine! See the Firebloods here.

Hey all!

I just wanted to do a quick note saying that everything is proceeding apace.

I have a digital camera full of the pics from five projects, I just need to get those up on the site: client initials JE, PH, RS, and DM.

A few waiting for pics: Empire 01 AS, Orcs 01 CF (still waiting on movement trays-- the GF9 bases are microscopically larger than a standard base and so we have to re-do them all from scratch).

And a few other projects are coming in. Some things are delayed due to creation of movement trays, but just a few days.

Tonight I was laid out sick. Horizontal and unconscious for eight hours. Brutal. I hope I am up and running tomorrow because it's Paint Fest!

Joseph came by today, some of you may remember him. He's writing a book and his family is out of state.

Hellstrike Missiles Needed

Agh! I'm missing four Forge World Hellstrike Missiles for a project! Does anyone have any on hand? Or know where I can get some? Or live near a place where you can buy them? I will pay or trade well for them.

If you are able/willing to help please contact me at bluetablepainting@gmail.com

Wednesday April 16 2008 Lousy Shrimp Tacos

I was running errands this morning with my three year old son. While at the bank he was doubled over, whining. I took him to the bathroom to see if he needed to throw up, but he seemed OK. He waited until we were in the car. I don't think I'll be able to eat cottage cheese ever again.

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That was the high point of MY day.

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But seriously, it was another day in paradise: artists coming and going. We're working on like five Vampire Counts armies right now. They are a delight to paint and everyone loves the new sculpts. They are truly inspired.

.

There is a trend, though, with new sets to complicate the sculpts. Basic skeletons now have all sorts of bits and bobs; chainmail shreds, wrapping trails, rotted spots etc.

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Right now I'm in the mood to get another army going: Tau or Eldar.

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I was looking at the Forge World Apocalypse book and reading the entry of the Tau Manta. You know, everyone gripes about how cool it is but I've yet to see a single person actually do one. I've getting pretty antsy about it.

.

I am really, really thinking over a color scheme for Tau. It's agony. I am thinking of doing green or dark green with a contrasting color of white or ivory or khaki. Hermmmm... Comments welcome. I definitely want to do weathering and battle damage.

.

Also, my Ghost Warriors Eldar army is being sold on eBay now, by a really good client.

40K Radio Coverage

Overheard in a Battle Barge Bathroom...

SM1: Gruuuuunge! Emperor's Balls! Why couldn't they have given me a genetically enhanced colon?

SM2: What, you didn't get one?

(Well, Renn and I thought it was pretty funny...)

Rumors of Wars

News from http://www.warseer.com/

[Note: this is a rumor roundup from various other sources. I am still working my way through an inbox, so bear with me if you're waiting for a response. I should be caught up by tomorrow.]

Hi guys

I'm new to the site but I thought what better way to start by announcing the new SW codex is on its way for sure!

I know I'm new here but I've been posting on the Ex-Libris board (Blood Angels) for years and also on a few other sites too.

I work for GW (I know, I know but this is seriously genuine), we've had our plans for the rest of the year given to us and it go's a little like this...
May- WFB and 40K Deamon release
June- LotR release (Mordor) and Hordes of Chaos White Dwarf update
July- 40K 5th edition release
August- WFB Hordes of Chaos army book release
September- 40k Marines release
October- 40k replacement for 'Battle for Macragge' release (Marines v Orks)
November- WFB Dark Elves release
December- 40k SPACE WOLVES codex release!!! This is a FULL codex release not a Blood Angels style White Dwarf update. However, no details have been revealed on it's contents or on the models- so anything you hear/see in that department is just rumour at the moment.

That said, things are subject to change; as was the case for the 'Planet Strike' release, which has been pushed back to next year to allow the team time to sort out the new plastic Thunderhawk (yes, that's correct; a new plastic Thunderhawk!!). Also the Guard were supposed to be done in the last quarter of this year but they will now be early 2009 instead.

Fingers crossed that the above releases stay true and the Wolves get a shiny new Codex by Christmas 2008!!

However, just because there's a new release doesn't mean it will all be good news... I just hope the Wolves don't get "Blood Angel'd" and lose their character to turn into a standard chapter, as my beloved BA did.






New on the Chaos Daemons,taken from the Fog of War forum(that was taken from the Daemons forum???!!!)

Ok gang, I'll try to put down as much as I can remember.

Army Special rules:

army set up: You split your army into halves as close to equal as possible. At this point you must declare if characters are joining units in deepstrike or deepstrike as a lone unit.

You then choose which part of your army to come in first. This half will arrive via the deep strike rules, while the rest remain in reserves. You then pray to the Chaos Gods, represented by rolling a D6. On a 3+, the Gods agree, and the part you choose arrives on the first turn. on a 1 or 2, the Gods decide you are wrong and you must have the other half arrive.

All saves are treated as invulnerable, unless the demons have an armor save above and beyond whats listed in their entry. (IE, Iron Hide=3+ armor save)

All Demons are considered Eternal Warriors, and are immune to the Instant Death rule.

All Demons are Fearless

Heralds marked by one God cannot join units with the mark of another God.

HQ choices: 15 choices! A named greater demon for each God, and a named Herald. Heralds are a 2 for one HQ choice. This means you could have up to 4 Heralds.

Skulltaker, AKA U'zuhl. This guy will become the most hated model in 40k. All hits count as rending, but on a 4+. Any attacks that rend cause Instant Death. He can also be mounted on a chariot or Juggernaught, improving his strength and toughness.

Also, He is WS 7 (IIRC) and 4 attacks with Furious Charge.

Bloodthirster: WS 10, Strength 7 with Furious Charge.

Keeper of Secrets: Fleet! Initiative 10, Hit and Run.

Great Unclean Ones: T 6, 6 Wounds, Slow and Purposeful, Feel No Pain.

Lord of Change: Can't remember a lot; very tricksy I remember.

Ku'gath the Plague Father: Has a range 24 inch, large blast poisoned ORDINANCE weapon, with AP 2

Skarbrand: Got so pissed he took a swing at Khorne himself. Khorne threw him for 4 days and a night after a vicious pummeling, and left his wings in tatters. Any unit, friend or foe, within 24 inches of him must re-roll any failed to hit rolls.

Epidemius makes Nurgle units better as the death-toll rises. 0-4, no effect. 5-7, poison works on 3+ instead of 4+. 8-14 can't remember. 15-20, Feel No Pain is increased to 3+.

The Masque of Slaanesh: Has an ability called the Pavane of Slaanesh. IIRC, its a Lash of Submission ability that is more tightly worded. But she/he/it can use it 3 times at 3 different units.

Bluescribes: Don't remember. Sorry gang.

Elites
Bloodcrushers: Obscene. Your opponent will be picking up units left and right if they get hit with these guys.

Beasts of Nurgle: Feel no pain, Slow and Purposeful, ignorantly tough and really hard to kill.

Flamers of Tzeentch: Didn't study them too closely.

Troops
General note: most units can have full command group. Icons can have units summoned to them, and not scatter as long as they are no more than 6 inches from them.

Instruments of Chaos: Can be bought for a character and most units. If combat is drawn, then you count as having won combat by 1 wound.

Bloodletters: WS 5, S 4, T 4, I 4, W 1, with Hellblades (Power Weapons) and furious charge. Has option to buy a command group.

Demonettes: can't remember a whole lot. Command group, each model has 3 attacks each, with rending, fleet.

Plaguebearers: T5, Feel No Pain, Slow and Purposeful. Poisoned attacks. Not great, but they aren't going ANYWHERE for a really long time.

Horrors: 18 inch, S 4, AP 4, Assault 3 shooting attacks, with I think the option to buy a Bolt of Change (S 8, AP 1 Assault 1).

Fast Attack
Seekers of Slaanesh: Cavalry models, 3 rending attacks each.

Flesh hounds: Move as beasts, very killy. Karanak is a brute in combat.

Screamers: Move as jetbikes. Garbage in combat with anything other than tanks. Why? Because they count as having Melta Bombs.

Heavy Support

Soul Grinder. Front and side armor 13, rear 11. Ignores shaken and stunned results. It is Fleet. It has 4 attacks at WS 3 and BS 3. Weighs in at 135. Has Harvester guns and a Mawcannon. You can upgrade the Mawcannon to fire a stronger shot, or an ordinance blast. You can buy both upgrades, and use any of the three profiles.

Demon Prince: same as in the Chaos Marine codex, but 80 points and no power Armor. They may have wings, and depending what marks of chaos you give it, access to different demonic gifts. Most flexible entry in the list.

Hope that helps. I'll go back and edit the more I read and retain.

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Ok, looked a little harder at the book, and Furies are Fast Attack choices.

All the Tzeentch stuff is dakka as all Hell. Flamers are insanity; Jump infantry with Breath of Chaos and Warp Fire. You can buy one a S 8 Ap1 Bolt of Change. They are elites.

Units like Tau and anything good in combat with a low save is going to absolutly hate Warp Fire. Harlequins, Banshees, Death Cult Assassins: I'm looking at you.

Something else I noticed: If you have a unit that can take a special character upgrade, take it. For example, the changeling is a 5pt addition. His glamour of Tzeentch is a pretty impressive ability.

Basically, you target and enemy unit. That unit takes a leadership check (vehicles counting as LD 10). If the unit fails, then they shoot at the closest friendly unit. If they pass, they stand around confused, unable to fire.

We Are Legion, a Tzeentch ability is amazing. The Herald can shoot two weapons, not the same one twice, at two different units, even if it is in a unit. The unit may fire independently, and the Herald's fire doesn't affect who they can assault after firing.

Karanak grants Move Through Cover, and is impressively deadly unit upgrade for Flesh Hounds.

Seekers of Slaanesh are very impressive; incredibly fast and lethal with the sheer amount of rending attacks that the can throw out, but delicate at the same time. If you intend to charge someone, make sure they're nice and softened before you them in.


There´s also some pics from the new Warmachine figs from Privateer,taked from their site...

-Warrior, sorcerer, and zealous follower of the Dragonfather, Darragh Wrathe ruthlessly commands Cryxian troops in the subjugation of the mainland. The howling of his countless victims follows the passage of Wrathe's hell-wrought iron steed as this necro-mechanikal horror rides to battle. He savors slaying the living whether by the razor edge of his scythe or a sudden eruption of spectral fire.

Darragh Wrathe comes in a box (PIP 34058). A player may field one Darragh Wrathe in his Cryx army.

Darragh Wrathe is featured in WARMACHINE: Legends, the next expansion to WARMACHINE, which releases this summer. Get a preview of Darragh Wrathe in No Quarter #18 this May. Darragh Wrathe arrives this June.

-The Horgenhold Forge Guard enter battle in superlative Rhulic armor, form an impervious line, and deliver blows capable of toppling warjacks with their massive, piston-driven hammers. Though the dwarves remain officially neutral in the southern wars of men, the Forge Guard hire out as mercenaries and bring the power of raw, blunt destruction to the battlefield.

Horgenhold Forge Guard comes in a box (PIP 41067). A player may add up to two blisters (PIP 41068) for a total of ten models and field two units of Horgenhold Forge Guard for each warcaster in his army. Horgenhold Forge Guard will not work for Cryx or Khador.

The Horgenhold Forge Guard is featured in WARMACHINE: Legends, the next expansion to WARMACHINE, which releases this summer. Get a preview of the Horgenhold Forge Guard in No Quarter #18 this May. The Horgenhold Forge Guard arrives this July.

(there was no text to Orin-Midwinter)

Adepticon Notes

www.adepticon.org

For those just joining the program, Adepticon is a major Warhammer 40K and Fantasy convention in Chicago every Spring.

Saturday I set up our modest booth, just around 100 figures. So, that was about a tenth as much as last year. A lot less hassle and it left me free to move around and admire other people's work and get to know both clients and fellow professionals.

I met Steve from Armorcast, he's the new owner and he told me all about the illustrious history of that company. They make a great product. Way back when, they had the license to make the oversize GW models. That was before Forge World was created.

Speaking of Forge World, I now have a complete set of Imperial Armor books and I must say that's the crown jewel of my library. Very nice. Oh, and I finally picked up a copy of the Apocalypse book by FW. That's a really good use of money.

The highlight of the convention for me was the two interviews I did with 40K radio. Those two guys (Spencer and Phil) are really, really cool. They are genuine and easy-going. I'm now a 40K radio believer!

However, I did feel a bit sheepish about some of the off-the-cuff remarks during the interviews. I got to thinking about that afterwards. If you know me, you know that I ramble and say inappropriate things. I've been working on curbing that. But anyway, my thought currently is "Hey, that's how I am so like it or leave it." But at the same time I have toned it down a bit. I really to hope I don't offend anyone.

If you want to hear the interviews, look for the April 12, 2008 entries on http://www.40kradio.com/

What else? We provided a huge display board and a 4,000 point army for the tournament organizers, Greg Sparks and the "Glance in the Pants" team.

I also had a client come up and point out that we forgot his order (an Eldar Avatar) for the convention. I was absolutely mortified. So, I think I need to change my policy to "no rush orders". I really try to make it happen for everyone, but it almost never ends well. There's too much that can go wrong with something as delicate as creating an army. Hmmm... Or I could streamline the process and make it happen without a flaw.

The main thing I have going for me in life is Blind Persistence.

I also spent some time with Matt Sabol (the army transport guy). He puts out a great product. He's been trying to discontinue the top-loading Battalion transport in favor of the multiple column Division type transport. I think the latter is a LOT better.

Ayup, I met a lot of great people. I am very excited. I'm really glad we went. I wish I would have spent more time over with Gale Force Nine.

Tamie and I went to downtown Chicago for some steak. That was quite an adventure. Downtown Chicago is really cool. I was impressed with how clean it was; gusting and raining. But what's with all the honking? We were looking around each time someone sounded the horn. Now I know what a deer feels like when it wanders into a city. It was like a different plane of reality, crowded with well-heeled Chicago-ites out on the town on a Saturday night; the streets like multi-colored tunnels.

From the plane, downtown Chicago was like a brooding cluster of dark towers on the edge of a sullen sea, but once you're down there it's like a black-marble and neon palace. We got back late and just hung out in the hotel room. It was a good night's sleep.

Sunday morning, I just wandered around a little bit, said our goodbyes and headed out to the airport. We are now at an airport restaurant just hanging out for three hours.

Saturday April 12 2008 Adepticon Main Course

I'm not going to write a lot because I took about a half hour of video clips. Here's the first one:



I'm going out on the town with the missus, so I'll let you know how that went. I've had a blast at Adepticon. We kept it a LOT more low key this year and that actually helped me meet people and see the sights better.

I have let my Inbox get pretty huge. I apologize for the delay. Bear with me and I'll get back to you.

Thursday April 10 2008 Adepticon Eve

Picture: a converted daemonic horror from 2003 when I was still taking pics on my back porch. This army used the Daemonic Legion list from "Storm of Chaos". See the others here. Theres a lot of crazy stuff on the BTP website if you look at it. I think it would take like two months to look at it all.

Here's the deal, I was insanely busy today running up to Adepticon and so I must apologize for being unresponsive. I will keep you posted as Adepticon unfolds. I plan on shooting a lot of video.

I will be arriving at Adepticon (if anyone cares) between 3pm and 5pm.

Check out this Eldar Attack Ship that we scratch built. This is my first foray into "Terrain as Model" and I think it turned out well.

Renn will be in charge of the studio while I am gone. All the projects are checked out to the painters so everything is underway.

I am currently booking projects for May.

Come Crawling Back to your True Master

Picture: a Chaos Dragon by Forge World. This thing has a wing span of approximately 18". It is a huge model. Beyond belief. I command you in the name of all that's unholy, to go an adore the other pictures.

Here's what's coming out in May for the two new Daemon army books:

First Week
WARHAMMER 40,000 BLACK BOX (ENGLISH)
DAEMONS OF CHAOS ARMY BOOK (ENGLISH)
CODEX CHAOS DAEMONS (ENGLISH)
BLOODLETTERS OF KHORNE
DAEMONETTES OF SLAANESH

Second Week

HERALD OF KHORNE ON JUGGERNAUGHT
FIEND OF SLAANESH 3 (Direct Exclusive)
FIEND OF SLAANESH 4 (Direct Exclusive)
PLAGUEBEARERS OF NURGLE
PLAGUEBEARERS OF NURGLE COMMAND
PINK HORRORS OF TZEENTCH
FLAMERS OF TZEENTCH
SCREAMERS OF TZEENTCH
SOUL GRINDER
GREATER DAEMON OF TZEENTCH
GREATER DAEMON OF NURGLE
GREATER DAEMON OF KHORNE
GREATER DAEMON OF SLAANESH
BLOODCRUSHER OF KHORNE
NURGLINGS

Third Week

FLESH HOUNDS OF KHORNE
EPIDEMIUS
SKULLTAKER
THE MASQUE
BEAST OF NURGLE
FIEND OF SLAANESH
KARANAK

Do you want some Daemons done? Now's the time to set it up. You know you want it. It's been so long. You need to give in.

Download the BTP price sheet here. Bow before your true master.

Loyal Slave Learns to Love the Lash

Never Again is what you Swore... the Time Before

Wednesday April 9 2008 Yawn

Picture: an ooooold Ral Partha Balrog type thing. This was a really special project, about twenty pounds of old lead figures. See the other fifty! I mean it, do it now.

Oh, man it's pedal to the metal down at the studio. I'm not kidding around.

I'm working on a super-secret project for Adepticon. You can expect some reports from the front over the weekend. My wife and I are leaving bright and early on Friday morning.

Tomorrow I'll be packing up for Adepticon. I'm not bringing as much stuff as last year, that was too much.

Yawn. It was a really slow news day.

So, would you like to know all the boring details? OK, here they come. Because of my rather oddball schedule (I'm usually up until about midnight taking care of business and webwork BUT I get to take enormous breaks during the day for family) the whole family doesn't really get up in the morning. So, Kenna is chronically late to school which is bad, but really the Gatelys march to their own drummer; we don't have any alarm clocks set in the house.

Anyway, it was just Kenna and I getting ready for school and work this morning. I love my "new" car. It has heat and a radio which is awesome. I can't believe I endured that tin can for a year and a half. But no complaints, we have it all right here in the USA.

I went by the Post Office because I think I left some papers there, but they hadn't found them. When I got in there were two people there all ready to work on Assembly. I've brought on a guy for the week to pick up the slack. He's a Warhammer Fantasy buff and knows his stuff.

About noon I headed to the gas station store and picked up a cheap pepperoni pizza which I washed down with some Fresca. The going joke is, "We've got yak piss and fresca... ewwww! I'll take the yak piss." But I like Fresca. Freezing cold with a ton of ice. Oh, and a roll of Neccos. Those things are like a sugar grenade in your system. I could easily eat four rolls in a single sitting, which is why I swore all the gals down at Combos to never sell me more than one roll.

I spent some time in the terrain room.

Then I got a call from the school from my kids asking to get picked up. I was a late and they had already started walking home. They were ticked... and cold. Poor guys. I had to explain that I can't always pack it up to come give them a ride; I had an artist in for a pickup (Winter Elves 02 DB). We headed out to run some errands, stopping by McDonalds for some happy meals.

Anyway, I should have gone back to the studio to pull a late shift, but I just went home. There was a talk from Conference about spending more time with family and that really struck a chord with me (by M. Russel Ballard). So, I pretty much dropped everything and hung out with the family all afternoon.

The following projects are under the brush now and should be done in 6-12 days depending on project size.

Some will be done sooner. There are a few projects slated for immediate completion.

Winter Elves 02 DB +display (the first part is done!)
Trollbloods 02 CS
Legion 02 DM
Empire 03 AS
High Elves 04 DL rush
Firebloods 01 TC
Wargods 01 TP
Tau 03 MN
Emperors Children 05 EB
Cygnar 01 LS
Black Templars 01 AS
Cadwallon 03 JE
Vampire Counts 01 PH
Giants 01 RS
Empire Wizard DG rush
Chaos 01 EH adepticon
Dwarfs 01 TD
KODT 01 AK


The following projects are in Assembly
Vampire Counts 01 AS
Biel Tan 02 AS
Emperors Children 05 EB
Terrain AL
Marauder Destroyer 01 GF
High Elves 04 DL rush
Tau 02 NH
Various Figures 05 GM

As usual, if you don’t see your project and you’re wondering what’s going on , just drop me a line. I’m always available for you.

Tuesday April 8 2008 Burning Up

Picture: Venerable Dreadnought with Dark Angels iconography. The plasma cannon is from the plastic devastator kit. See the rest.

Everyone at the studio is stretched to the absolute limit.

I started my day at 5am. We had "family home morning" this morning, everyone eating pancakes, bacon, hash browns, and eggs. It was great. We sang some songs and just spent some good time together.

I am currently booking projects for May.

I am working on a super-secret project at the studio. You'll see it at Adepticon.

Renn and Alan were working on getting projects assembled.

I got out about four projects at the PO today. I had a ton of certified letters, too, and a massive line backed up behind me. I'm always self-conscious about that. I think it comes from the logging road etiquette of pulling over for faster cars on a single lane.

I wish I could give more. But I'm really insanely tired now (it's nearly 10pm and I still haven't cleared my inbox).

Murphy's Law of Combat

A client sent this to me.

- By Anon
1) Friendly fire - isn't.
2)Recoilless rifles - aren't.
3) If it's stupid but it works, it isn't stupid.
4) If at first you don't succeed, call in an airstrike.
5) You are not Superman; Marines and fighter pilots take note.
6) A sucking chest wound is Nature's way of telling you to slow down.
7) Try to look unimportant; the enemy may be low on ammo and not want to waste a bullet on you.
8) If you are forward of your position, your artillery will fall short.
9) Never share a foxhole with anyone braver than yourself.
10) If your attack is going really well, it's an ambush.
11) The enemy diversion you're ignoring is their main attack.
12) The enemy invariably attacks on two occasions: when they're ready; when you're not.13) A retreating enemy is probably just falling back and regrouping.
14) The important things are always simple; the simple are always hard.
15) The easy way is always mined.
16) Teamwork is essential; it gives the enemy other people to shoot at.
17) Don't look conspicuous; it draws fire. (For this reason, it is not at all uncommon for aircraft carriers to be known as bomb magnets.)
18) If you are short of everything but the enemy, you are in the combat zone.
19) The only thing more accurate than incoming enemy fire is incoming friendly fire.
20) Things which must be shipped together as a set, aren't.
21) Things that must be together in order to work, can't be shipped to the field that way.
22) Radios will fail as soon as you need fire support. (Corollary: Radar tends to fail at night and in bad weather, and especially during both.)
23) Anything you do can get you killed, including doing nothing.
24) Tracers work both ways.
25) If you take more than your fair share of objectives, you will get more than your fair share of objectives to take.
26) Professional soldiers are predictable; the world is full of dangerous amateurs.
27) It's not the one with your name on it that should worry you; it's the one addressed "to whom it may concern" you've got to think about.
28) Never stand when you can sit, never sit when you can lie down, never stay awake when you can sleep.
30) If enough data is collected, a board of inquiry can prove anything.
31) To steal information from a person is called plagiarism. To steal information from the enemy is called gathering intelligence.
32) A Purple Heart just proves that were you smart enough to think of a plan, stupid enough to try it, and lucky enough to survive.
33) Body count Math: 3 guerrillas plus 1 probable plus 2 pigs equals 37 enemies killed in action.
34) If your flank march is going well, the enemy expects you to outflank him.
35) Odd objects attract fire - never lurk behind one.
36) The self-importance of a superior is inversely proportional to his position in the hierarchy (as is his deviousness and mischievousness).

Podhammer

Here's a website worth checking out.

http://www.podhammer.net/

Monday April 7 2008 Errands

Picture: an Earth Elemental painted the colors of Amethyst. You can find all sorts of unusual figures in our extensive RPG Figure Gallery.

Let's talk about my car. It's an '89 Plymouth Voyager. It has no heat, no A/C and leaks oil all over the place. Whenever I hit a pot-hole the radio randomly changes from AM to FM or quits out. It's a tin can. But it does get me to and from work every morning.

This morning I headed out with the family to pick up the same line of car except a '94. It has a heater. That's pretty sweet in the winter. I paid $900 cash. It's extremely bad timing, but it was a pretty good deal. It was one of those "old people" cars that is very well taken care of.

I don't buy new cars. For the same cost as a car payment you can buy an old clunker and ride it into the ground for sixty days. And if it lasts longer... bonus!

I ran my errands with my two handsome boys this morning. At Wal Mart I picked up a bunch of drawers for the Bitz Wall, which I am refurbishing. Four people have said they would organize it, but then dropped out. I can't say I blame them, it's quite a challenge. Soooo, I think Alan and I are going to tackle it.

The Bitz Wall is a great resource for BTP clients. We don't charge for bitz needed for your project. If you have a missing part, we just quietly take care of business.

While we were at Wal Mart, Griffin ran off and we had like five clerks looking for him. That kid is a real piece of work. That gave me quite a scare.

I got in an enormous shipment today. I'm going to sort all that out tomorrow. I think that will get about six orders out of the gate.

I interviewed a guy from Salt Lake Valley this afternoon, as a potential artist. He's a Warhammer Fantasy buff. Which is a good balance with the rest of the group which is mostly 40K oriented. I'm getting an almighty urge to do a Fantasy army.

I've pitched the idea of "Dark Bretonnians" to several clients, but with no bites. Essentially, it's an anti-paladin list. All dark knights, but using the Bretonnian list, changing everything to evil names. More to come on that.

Which reminds me, I'd really like to sell off my Tau Drone Army to finance that. I have it on the block for $650 temporarily. I have taken a ton of pictures of this army.

Sunday April 6 2008 General Conference

Today is General Conference. My wife is up at her sister's house for the weekend. I dearly miss them, but I had to "work" Saturday and my little tin can of a car isn't reliable enough to make the journey. So, here I am home alone.

Flashback: I went to Priesthood session last night and left, as always, uplifted and inspired. And of course with a great urgency to improve my life.

If you are a client trying to reach me, please try back first thing on Monday morning. You can get my undivided attention.

I am also looking up the voting record of my congressman, Chris Cannon. There's too much money flowing to the Feds. I can't believe what is going on up on "the hill". Let me be specific, the budget for this coming year is about $2,200,000,000,000. I think it should be more like $800,000,000,000. It's like getting an alcoholic to put down the bottle. They are drunk on our money.

If I compared it to a household. I think the budget needs to get scaled back from a roaring $8800 a month to about $3200 a month.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z6NfXk7Bvc8

Yeah, you heard me, I'm talking about both religion and politics on the same day.


Mike (one of the BTP painters) and I are going to form the "Torch and Pitchfork" society. We don't know what we're going to do, but we're headed up to the capitol sometime soon. Initial goal: get a membership of 15 good and stalwart men. I'm talking about fiscal responsibility here.

I am ever so tired of seeing my pie get taken away by force, then pecked over by rancid vultures, then returned to me in the form of so-called government services, which aren't even fit to be spit upon.
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Exhibit A: Social Security.
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Exhibit B: A "Ward" in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (Mormons). Within our community we are not only able to stay off the government dole, but also to pay our onerous taxes AND STILL take care of our own. I belong to a Ward of about 600 people. I am convinced that almost every problem can be taken care of by a community of that size. We could do an even better job if a fifth of our crops weren't stolen by bandits every year.
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How does it work? Each individual is expected to be self-sufficient. If there is a problem you rely first on yourself, then on your family, then on the church. In times of need, my wife and I have gone to the bishop, who has counseled with us, and in each case within 48 hours taken care of us in an immediate and substantive way. But we were expected to get back on our feet post haste. .
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And we did.
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My point: money is most efficiently managed on a local level. The more local the better.

Every month we fast and also make a donation to the Fast Offering fund. It is from that fund that we take care of our own. And not only that but the church gives all sorts of aid and service worldwide, quietly and with no publicity. My point is: if people are left alone, they will take care of themselves. Government is only needed for a very narrow and limited range of operations.








Back to the church welfare program: In one case I was eating some pears from the Storehouse, when I cast my mind back to my days as a new Mormon, sixteen years old, and working as a volunteer at the pear orchards in Oregon.

What goes around comes around.

PS- If you're going to start your own business you had better have a backup plan for food.

Dragons of Moloch- hindsight

Well, the game is over. The first part at least should be up on Youtube tonight. I won't say if I won or lost. I will say how I plan on improving my army.

Units with the most flexibility seem to do the best. For example, my Raptors have a meltagun, champion with power fist, and a plasma pistol. They are very vast and can take on a variety of threats.

My regular units of Berserkers (I use regular CSM models, with conversions, to represent them) could really use some more flexibility. I plan on including one plasma pistol and giving the champion Melta-bombs standard from now on.

I also forgot during the game that they have Furious Charge. That could have really given me the edge on numerous occasions.

Melta-bombs now standard on the Chaos Lord, too. I might try a Deamon Weapon next time. Not sure. The Lightning Claw is all right.

I will likely just play him with the stat line of Huron Blackheart, though.

As for additions to the army, I think a dreadnought or two would round things out nicely. They would provide good modeling opportunities.

I did pick up some of those Chaos Ogryns from FW, so I think I may just run those as Spawn. That would work.

Dragons of Moloch- Game Today

We're doing a Batrep today: Black Templars v. Chaos. Some of you may remember this same matchup. This time it's with a live person (Alan) and 2000 pts. What you'll see today is everything that is included in the Dragons of Moloch (CSM Khorne) except a full unit of ten CSM... and the spawn are not usually part of this army.

Here's the list:

2000 Pts - Chaos Marines Roster - Dragons of Moloch
HQ: Chaos Lord (1#, 135 Pts) 1 Chaos Lord @ 135 Pts Bolt Pistol (x1); Lightning Claw; Combi-flamer; Fearless; Frag Grenades; Krak Grenades; Mark of Khorne

Elite: Terminators (6#, 465 Pts) 5 Terminators @ 465 Pts Chain Fist (x1); Power Fist (x1); Power Weapon (x3); Combi-melta (x1); Twin Linked Bolter (x3); Heavy Flamer (x1); Icon of Khorne; Mark of Khorne; Land Raider 1 Land Raider @ [250] Pts Twin Linked Heavy Bolter; Twin Linked Lascannon Sponson (x2); Havoc Launcher; Extra Armor; Searchlight; Smoke Launchers

Troops: Khorne Berzerkers (10#, 250 Pts) 9 Khorne Berzerkers @ 250 Pts Bolt Pistol; Close Combat Weapon; Frag Grenades; Krak Grenades; Fearless; Furious Charge; Mark of Khorne 1 Skull Champion @ [61] Pts Bolt Pistol; Power Fist; Frag Grenades; Krak Grenades; Fearless; Furious Charge; Mark of Khorne

Troops: Khorne Berzerkers (9#, 229 Pts) 8 Khorne Berzerkers @ 229 Pts Bolt Pistol; Close Combat Weapon; Frag Grenades; Krak Grenades; Fearless; Furious Charge; Mark of Khorne 1 Skull Champion @ [61] Pts Bolt Pistol; Power Fist; Frag Grenades; Krak Grenades; Fearless; Furious Charge; Mark of Khorne

Fast Attack: Raptors (5#, 165 Pts) 4 Raptors @ 165 Pts Bolt Pistol; Close Combat Weapon; Plasma Pistol (x1); Meltagun (x1); Frag Grenades; Krak Grenades 1 Aspiring Champion @ [60] Pts Bolt Pistol; Power Fist; Frag Grenades; Krak Grenades

Heavy Support: Land Raider (1#, 250 Pts) 1 Land Raider @ 250 Pts Twin Linked Heavy Bolter; Twin Linked Lascannon Sponson (x2); Havoc Launcher; Extra Armor; Searchlight; Smoke Launchers

Heavy Support: Land Raider (1#, 250 Pts) 1 Land Raider @ 250 Pts Twin Linked Heavy Bolter; Twin Linked Lascannon Sponson (x2); Havoc Launcher; Extra Armor; Searchlight; Smoke Launchers

Heavy Support: Defiler (1#, 150 Pts) 1 Defiler @ 150 Pts Fleet; Battle Cannon; Dreadnought CCW (x2); Reaper Autocannon; Twin Linked Heavy Flamer; Daemonic Possession; Searchlight; Smoke Launchers

: Spawn (2#, 80 Pts) 2 Spawn @ 80 Pts Fearless; Slow and Purposeful
Total Roster Cost: 1974

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Friday April 4 2008

Picture: a Space Wolf rhino with extra armor. This was a favorite alternate color scheme of mine. I'd love to do a whole army of space wolves with black armor. That would look really cool. "The Ebon Wolves" or somesuch. More pics.

Yesterday my wife was out of town at her friend’s funeral. So, I was home with the kids all day. I managed to not get anyone killed, so that was a bonus. I kept Kenna home from school and we spent some good time together. I also got to put them to bed, which is a lot of fun. I bought some of that spray bath foam stuff and they super-freaked out with that.

Today I was back at the studio with a vengeance. All the emails are answered. All the packages are out.

I have a guy in part time to help me keep things under control. That's a life saver. Alan is also a Warhammer fanatic (mainly Fantasy, and interest is surging for that at the studio).

Ah, and today I got back my Questing Knights 40K army! I sold it to a client, then traded it back. Sweet. I love that army. Alan was super impressed by it and when I recommended that he play me with it against my Dragons of Moloch, he readily agreed. So, we're going to do a batrep tomorrow. And it's about time!

I admit I've been in a funk with armies. I've had a lot of other worries. But I'm starting to get back in the groove. Next army is Daemonhunters. It's static with almost no modelling opportunities. Easy to paint and not too many models to the army. Oh, and they fit in with Dark Heresy.

No session for DH today by the by.

Today was a beautiful day.

The following projects are under the brush this week:
Jungle Movement Trays (has taken waaay too long)
Winter Elves 01 DB
Firebloods 01 TC
Deathwing 04 MD
Fantasy Figures 01 TM
Orcs 01 CF
Chaos 01 KO
Necrons 01 CS (done)
Fallen Angels 02 CC termies
Vampire Counts 02 DW (assembly this week)
Fantasy Figures 03 PM (very close)
Urban Bases JM (done and in digital photography)

The following projects are in Assembly this week (should be done by April 8):
Ultramarines 06 TO tanks
Trollbloods 02 CS
War Machine 03 CS
Winter Elves 02 DB
Marauder Destroyer 01 GF
Black Templars 01 AS
Alaitoc 01 GS avatar
Legion 02 DM
Angry Goats conversions

As usual, if you don't see your project, just give me a ping.

A Good Word

In the course of my travels, I have come across a few miniatures painting companies that have a good track record. Both of these following companies can produce a good traditional style figure as well as some non-traditional stuff, not to mention display quality figures.

Middle Pillar Path Painting
Some of you may remember Jay (Jason) and Heather from Blue Table last year. They got married and are still painting miniatures under their original name Middle Pillar Path Painting. Jason finished over two hundred projects for Blue Table Painting. Both are accomplished artists.

Grey Matter Musings
www.gmmstudios.com/
Brandon is a fellow entrepreneur. He's always been friendly and has managed to survive this very, very competitive business for many years now.

Battlefield Scenics
Thomas is another accomplished local painter that I have worked with extensively. He can certainly service your L7+ needs. http://www.battlefieldscenics.com/