They call him Marbo .....

Had a game down the club on Friday night playing against Andy's eldar. Playing Andy is always a pleasure as he plays the game for a laugh and it doesn't matter who's winning or what's happening on the table, we're always laughing. Well, this game was no different, and we were clearly the loudest players in the club with shouts 'YES!', 'NOOOOO!' and numerous quite offensive insults been thrown back and forth, it's just the way we roll.

We were playing capture and control on a spearhead deployment and it was clear by the end of turn two that the best I could do was going to be a draw. My objective was protected by a good chunk of 2nd platoon, around forty models and they'd already dealt with his scorpians, avatar and only had his ten man harlequin coming at my lines which worried me quite a bit as if they got into combat, it'd have been a slaughter. His objective was protected by fire dragons, dire avengers and howling banshees, so I didn't have much chance to getting to it with what I had left. So, all I had to do was deal with this 310pt killing clowns advancing in the clear using veil of tears to stop me shooting them.

Bring in Marbo!

The clowns got pie plated, scoring 9 hits and then failing 8 4+ Inv saves. The remaining two charged Marbo taking one wound whilst he killed one in return, drawn combat. The scene was set for an epic battle between the hardened loner with a single wound left and a 5+ save against the xenos Shadowseer. Attacking on I6, the xenos went first and this is how it played out over the next 3 rounds of combat.

• Shadowseer scored 2 wounds, Marbo saved on 5,6 (1 in 12 chance)
• Marbo scored 1 wound, Shadowseer saved on a 4+ Inv - Drawn combat
• Shadowseer scored another 2 wounds, Marbo saved on 6,6 (1 in 36 chance)
• Marbo scored 3 wounds, Shadowseer saved on a 4+ Inv - Drawn combat
• Shadowseer scored another 2 wounds again, Marbo saved on 6,6 again (1 in 36 chance)
• Marbo scored 2 wounds, Shadowseer died!

The roof went off, an epic battle had been fought and Marbo was victorious! Both me and Andy abandoned the rest of the game and both agreed it was the best game of 40k we'd ever played.When I got home, I worked out the odds of rolling those dice for Marbo's saves - 1 in 15,552!

A so, I make this solemn promise that the Corbanian 1st will never go into combat without him again. I'm also going to keep this post a service record of Marbo's actions in combat. So, without further ado .....

CSgt Marbo (24909925) - 571 Infantry Company 

M20090130 (Gateway sector) - CSgt Marbo ambushed a retinue of xenos harlequins threatening to overrun Imperial lines. CSgt Marbo killed all but the xenos Shadowseer in the initial ambush whilst receiving a serious wound himself. CSgt Marbo then defeated the xenos Shadowseer in a prolonged hand to hand combat where he sustained multiple wounds counting no less than six. For this action, CSgt Marbo was cited in Regimental Orders, and mentioned in Dispatches - END.

M20090212 (Gateway sector) - In a surprise attack by the Angels of Blood Astartes chapter, CSgt Marbo received a shrapnel wound whilst preparing to attack a Rhino transport vehicle that was destroy by Vendetta air support. Whilst wounded, CSgt Marbo ambushed a Death Company squad that had evacuated the Rhino transport killing 8 Death Company Astartes marines before becoming seriously wounded and unable to continue the fight by bolter fire from a supporting dreadnought. CSgt Marbo was cited in Regimental Orders - END

A model a month - The Red Knight

As some of you might remember, back at the start of the year, I set out some aims that I wanted to achieve this year. One of those was to paint one non-guard model a month to improve my painting ability, as the problem with guard is that they're uniform and so although painting my guard has improved my precision as a painter and taught me a lot about paint consistency, they haven't given me a chance to try more advanced painting techniques or to work with different colour schemes.

With my lovely wife getting me both Heroquest and Advanced Heroquest for xmas, I now have a stack of models that I can use to improve my painting. Last night, I finished the first of these, The Red Knight, and I can honestly say that this is the best model I have ever painted, the pictures just don't do it justice.

I really have pushed myself with this model, the face was done following a GW faces masterclass pdf, and although initially, I wasn't that happy with it due to the highlights. Once I realised that trying to compare it to GW modern faces, I became I lot happier. I'm not blaming my tools so to speak, but the latest GW painting techniques work really well on detailed faces, whereas this model was cast over a decade ago. It's also the first time I've done teeth or lips, eye's are still a challenge to be met one day.

The red clothe and shield were done with layering and washes, basically mechrite red, then black wash in the recesses, then reapply mechrite red, then scab red, then scab/blood red, then blood red, then blood red/blazing orange, then pure blazing orange and finally a red wash to tie all the layers back together. Now that was an experience, but produced a great look.

The armour was more a simple working of a base of boltgun metal, followed by various washes and boltgun highlights. Quite simple really, but very effective.

Finally, his boots and gloves, which started like the red clothe with a base colour and a black wash in the recesses, but instead of using different colours, I simply got my base colour calthan brown and my highlight colour bronzed flesh and mixed them up as I painted, and then used a devlan mud wash to blend the highlights back together. It's the first time I've ever mixed paints on the fly, and once I sort out a wet palette, it's something I'm going to be doing a lot more of, it's so much quick and produces and much smoother look than different colour layering.

So there you have it, my first model a month and in my humble opinion, an outstanding one at that. The other thing I've noticed is how much I've enjoyed painting him up. My guard are normally batch painted to get them on the table but this guy was just a pleasure to paint. I'd highly recommend doing something like this yourself if you've been batch painting an army for a while.

Don't worry, more guard stuff coming soon but keep your eyes peeled for another Heroquester at the end of next month, although I'm not sure if it's going to be a elf, wizard or dwarf as of yet, only time and inspiration will tell.

Sportsmanship????

I'm a little worried about sportsmanship, as you're probably aware, I'm planning to go to the UKGT at the end of the year and I've been reading up on tournaments in general and reading up on the rules in preparation.

Now, from what I can see, quite a lot of players don't know the rules or pretend like they don't, and I'm getting a little concerned that if I start pointing out the 'correct rules' here and there, then I'm going to get shafted on my sportsmanship scores.

So, I was thinking. Isn't it a shame that tournaments don't run a system where if you have to call over a TO/Judge to make a rules decision, then the correct player automatically gets full sportsmanship scores and the incorrect one get none. I think that not only would this stop people using the sportsmanship scores to 'get at' a player who proved them wrong but also, it'd encourage players to sort out their problems themselves without calling over a TO/Judge for fear of being in the wrong and getting zero for sportsmanship that game.

That way, the only time they'd call a judge over would be if both players are adamant that they are right, and then it's down to the judge as normal. Now the only downside I can see to this is if someone gets a negative decision very early on in a game and so they've got nothing to lose, so keeps arguing over the rules. Perhaps a negative score for continued 'asshattery'?

What do you reckon guys?

What's your opinion on the allocation of multiple gets hot wounds?

After my last blog and a couple of posts on others, I thought I'd post this and get the communities opinions on the allocation of multiple 'Gets hot' wounds. Now I want to make clear from the start that is is simply a call out for your opinions, it's not a discussion, it's not a debate. As far as I'm concerned, unless you're Alessio Cavatore or one of the other authors of the rulebook, then you're opinion carries no more weight than anyone else's.

So, on that basis, everyone gets one chance to post in the comments their opinion. There's going to be no back and forth, no trying to disprove someone else's opinion and the only commenting on other peoples opinions I'm going to allow is simply along the lines of 'I agree with .......' to simply save you having to type out the same thing that someone else has already posted. Any posts that don't comply to this rule will be removed. We all left that  s*** behind us on the forums and I'm damned if I'm going to bring it onto my blog.

Right, back to the subject matter .....

For the purpose of this exercise, we'll work on the example of an Imperial Guard command squad with four plasma gunners in it, firing rapid fire and rolling two 1's to hit and therefore taking 2 Get's hot wounds.

Now, in previous comments and posts, I heard quite a few different ways of allocating these wounds, from lumping them all on one guy, to distributing them evenly, to rolling each guy separately.

Now my opinion is ...........

That you have to roll each guy separately so that any 1's are applied to that specific model. I base this opinion of the following. Page 31 of rulebook states "For each result of a 1 rolled on it's to hit rolls, the firing model suffers a wound.".

For me, then sentence is a singular one, it doesn't say unit, so they can't be passed on to non plasma guys in the unit. It doesn't say 'models', so it can't be passed between plasma gunners or all lumped on one guy. It says 'model', and so in my opinion, that means that you have to roll separately for each plasma gunner, so that you can determine if that model firing has rolled a 1 and suffers a wound.

Well, that my opinion guys, I can't wait to hear yours, just remember the rules. Get commenting guys!

Do you know the rules?

I have a confession to make, I don't know the rules for 40k, do you?

Well, that isn't strictly true, I actually know loads of rules for 40k. They might not be the right ones, but I do know loads of them from numerous different editions and they've all sort of amalgamated in to one set of rules and so I suffer from MES, Multiple Edition Syndrome. As some of you are aware, this year I'm really trying to get some games in and I'm planning on going to the UKGT at the end of the year but over the past couple of weeks, I've had a couple of situations that have made realise that I really need to get my head in the rulebook and read it properly.

First off, I've started getting off my backside and getting down to the club to get some games in. Now, at the club, we've got a relatively new player Draz (who's actually a FTW blogger too - check this blog, give him some encouragement and tell him not to feel so bad when I hand him his arse on a plate - lol). Now Draz is quite different from all the other players at the club in that he's only played 5ed, and so the rules are clean and fresh in his mind, whereas the rest of us suffer fom multiple edition syndrome, and so I've found myself, and man of nearly two decades of gaming under his belt asking 'the new guy' for rule clarifications.

Secondly, I got into a brief discussion online regarding firing multiple plasma weapons and the allocation of get's hot wounds. Halfway through, I decided that I'd recheck the rule book and low and behold, there it was, perfectly clear in black and white. Now I've read that section numerous times and never really taken in the rule, perhaps it was selective reading, I don't know, but I do know is that it's not on if I want to go to the GT.

And finally, I played a game against Dunc and his new nasty nids at the club last night. We played CnC with a spearhead deployment. Dunc had his objective buried in cover surrounded by as sea of little nids and nid nasties, whereas my objective was right in the corner with no terrain with 18 inches of it on the far right of my long table edge. The plan was simple, I reserved everything and then deployed a large distraction force on the far left of the table to draw his nids away from the objectives and then bring a unit in from reserves to claim my objective whilst using my valk with the command squad to contest his and that's exactly how it happened - perfectly. At the end of the game, my valk sat on top of his objective surrounded by nid units and a vanquisher sat on top of mine. It was at that point that Dunc pointed out that tanks can't claim objectives and so it was a draw. If I'd just deployed one of the vet squads on the objective instead of part of the distraction force, the game would have mine. Not remembering that fact cost me the game - gutted!

So, that's when I came to the realisation that I really do need to get my head in the rulebook at learn the smegging rules, or I'm going to look at (insert insulting name here) at the GT at the end of the year.

So, am I the only one who suffers from multiple edition syndrome? Do you know the rules? Are you sure?

A newbies guide to blogging.

** Image used without permission from http://www.newbiesstarterkit.com/ **

I follow a lot of blogs and it always saddens me when I see one get abandoned, especially if it was a relatively new one that had good stuff on it and showed promise. Now, I know that sometimes people leave the hobby and life can get in the way blogging but I think a lot of it is new bloggers getting disillusioned with their blogs and abandoning them to return to the forums of instant gratification. So, I thought I'd put together a post with a few thoughts and tips, and hopefully it'll encourage you guys that are new to blogging to stay around and stick with it. So, lets start at the beginning.

Why do you want to blog?

I imagine a lot of bloggers are much like me, refugees from the various forums after getting fed up with the various 'personalities' that frequent them, seeking a little place of their own on the interweb thingy. Well, if that's you, then welcome to the club, if not, then you're still welcome. 

If you are, then there's a few things you need to get your head around, blogging and the blogging community are quite different from forums. Blogs arn't like forums, they're yours to do with what you wish which is great but the downside is that they don't come with the instant traffic that the forums provide. You have to work at it, and it takes time, so if you're after that instant hit, stick with the forums, you're not going to get it blogging.

So, what are you going to blog about?

Most commonly, people just blog about their hobby and the bit's of the hobby they most enjoy. For me, it's my guard, my scenery and campaigns, for others it's painting or tactics. It doesn't matter what you blog about as long as you're passionate about it and enjoy sharing that passion. If you're not sure what you're going to blog about, then for the time being, just stick with posting blogs about your mini's. If you've got no mini's, you don't play games and aren't into the tactics or fluff, then what are you doing in this hobby? lol

Now a lot of people start blogging and try to emulate some of the more popular blogs out there. In most cases, it's a mistake. In the case of hobby news, unless you secretly work for the design studio or have photos of Jervis J in a compromising position involving an actress and a bishop, then leave it alone. If you're sourcing your material from other blogs (Bols etc) or sites (GW etc), then there's a good chance that anyone who reads your blog will have already read it on the original and that means they're not going to be interested in rereading it on yours, and so it'll devalue your blog. Feel free to comment on other postings and news, but don't just copy them. The same goes for all the different aspects of the hobby, remember, the blog is yours, so put your thoughts on it, not others.

How often should I blog?

Well, it really depends on how much you've got to blog about. The main thing is to be consistent, personally I try to post twice a week. It's just the right level for me and lets me get the best out of the communities I belong to (more on those later). It's ok if you miss the odd post, life often gets in the way of our hobbies but if you're going to be taking a big break from blogging, then it's a good idea to put up a post just to let your followers and passing visitors know that you haven't abandoned the blog and that you'll be back.

Also, if you're new to blogging, don't make the mistake I made of posting all your stuff as soon as you start. Once you run out, you'll feel pressured to keep posting at that rate and then get disillusioned with your blog when you can't. Save all that stuff for when life gets in the way of your hobby and then you've got something in the bag to post about. I've been blogging since last March and I still haven't posted any pics of my space marine army. 

How do you get visitors to your blog?

The easiest way by far is to get involved in the two main blogging communities out there. First and foremost is From The Warp (All hail the Great Ronissar!) which is a great community of bloggers who support each other and take part in various collaborative posts. After three months of regular blogging, you can then join the Bols Blogging Alliance which is another great source of visitors but lacks the community support of FTW. Both of these bloglists will bring you lots of visitors to your blog.

To get the best out of them, space you posts with at least a day between them to make sure each post gets the maximum exposure. These bloglists only show your latest post and so if you post twice in one day, you won't get any exposure from your first post as it'll disappear when you post your second.

Finally, if you still use forums, make sure you put your blog address in your signature. You won't get a lot of traffic from forums, but unlike the bloglists, your signature will advertise your blog whether you post a blog or not.

On comments and followers ....

'If you blog, they will come', in truth, there's no rhyme or reason to getting comments and followers. I've posted things that I expected to bring in loads of followers and they haven't. Overtime, I've come to realise that it's not about what you post but whether it interests a person as they pass by your blog, and this is something you just don't have any control over. Feel free to post blogs that you think people might find interesting, but don't expect people to like it just because you do.

As long as you keep posting regularly, then they will come in time. If you're after that hit of instant glory, stick with forums because unless you're a golden daemon painter or a tactical genius, you're not going to get it from blogging.

But my stuff ain't good enough ....

Don't ever, ever, ever think that, and if you do, I'll give you a cyber smack around the head. The hobby is about the journey and it doesn't matter what aspect of the hobby it is, we all have something to learn and something to share. Also, remember blogging is actually a two way thing, we've got a great supportive community going, so if you don't think your stuff is good, just ask how you can improve it, the community will be only too glad to help.

Well, that about wraps up this blog, I hope you found it useful. Finally, I'm going to take a bit of my own advice, so guys, what do you reckon? have a missed anything?

Happy blogging!

Halftrack sentinel

I put the final details on my halftrack sentinel standin last night. Considering I put it together over 18 months ago, I'm quite chuffed that I've finally finished it. The original plan was to make three of them as a sentinel squadron but I'm now thinking that it'll be a one off as I already have a full sentinel squadron and I want to start work on my other projects.

It's going to be attached to the HQ section of 571 Infantry company as an escort and a nod to the old codex that let you take sentinels with your command section. That finishes of the command section, so expect a post sometime in the future showing off the command section in all it's glory.

 

Sorry the pics arn't brilliant, the light here today is terrible. Next up is going to be the final troops for 2nd platoon. They're already undercoated and sitting on my paint station, so they'll be coming real soon.

Glass beads

I always seem to have problems with my paint thickening in the pot. So, when I came across this excellent blog on extending the life of your paints by Tinweasel, I just had to give it ago.

Unlike Tinweasel, I had no problems finding cheap glass beads thanks to ebay, I got 120 for £4 with postage. My beads arrived this morning and I immediately gave them a go. They work like a treat, a couple of drops of water and a glass bead, a good shake and they're like new.

I'd highly recommend reading Tinweasel's blog and giving it a go for yourself.

Doc Butchers victim finished

Here's the first bit of hobby goodness for 2010. I'm pretty pleased with how he's turned out, and he was really fun to put together. Overall, I think I like the wound and surgical sheet the most both in sculpting it and painting it.

 

It's not the only thing I've been working on, the sentinel halftrack is coming together nicely and should be finished for next week. Also on the hobby front, the Corbanian 1st went to war last night, I got a game in at the local club. I played against nids and wiped the floor with them. 

I'd like to say that it was due to my tactical brilliance but in truth, Dunc had some pretty poor dice rolls and just couldn't stop my armour. He was also playing nids and I know from experience that they suffer against armour anyway, so it was an up hill struggle for Dunc from the start

But, a win is a win, so it's a good start to 2010 nonetheless.

Why I love my wife .....

There's many reasons I love my wife, but today she pulled a blinder. Some of you may remember about my xmas fail where my wife got me Heroquest from MB games on ebay not realising it was Advanced Heroquest that I was after.

For you younger hobbyists, Advanced Heroquest was a game produced by GW a long time ago. It's basically a mixture of Dungeons and Dragons, and Warhammer Fantasy Battle. It was so popular that MB games did a spin off simplified versions called Heroquest. Although, it was a long time ago, so it might have been MB games who did it first. I'm not sure, but I do know that I lost many hours of my youth to this game.

Well, this morning, she woke me from my duvet day comfort with a package. Yep, Advanced Heroquest. So, I am a very happy chappy. It's virtually brand new, so I think I've found the miniatures I'm going to be using for my miniature a month project.

Finally, didn't get any hobby stuff done tonight, it snowed here heavily for the first time in years, so as all big kids, I headed out with the son-in-law to be and we made this .......

December Parade Ground recruits

A little late with the New Year, but here's December's new parade ground recruits. When I first started the Parade Ground bloglist, there were guard blogs everywhere but they seem to be getting thin on the ground now, so find new recruits is getting harder with each month.

Has anyone else noticed how many of the new space wolf blogs have gone quiet recently? I'm expecting to see quite a few Nids blogs popup with the new codex coming out soon. Anyway, back to the recruits.

http://miniacademics.blogspot.com - Guard and Academics in one blog, it's almost Heresy, but in truth, it's quite entertaining.

http://valhallan42nd.blogspot.com - Guard in the cold, this guy's got some cracking models, well worth having a peek.

http://93rdpraetorian.blogspot.com - A new Praetorian blog with lots of footsloggers and a couple of Valks, I'll be watching this one grow.

That's it for December guys, as always, if you have a guard blog, or know of a blog I haven't listed, drop me a line and I'll get it on the Parade Ground.

Goals for 2010

First off, Happy New Year guys and gals

It's the start of a brand new year and it's time to layout my plans and goals for the coming year. I've got a few things that I need to wind up before starting any more projects. There's the last squad for 2nd platoon, the half track sentinel for the command section and the executioner for my armoured company. All these are sitting on my painting station at the moment, so I'm pretty hopeful I'll have these finished before the end of the month.

I've also almost finished my field ambulance project with only some stretcher bearers and a tent to do to complete it. I'm guessing I'll have it finished up sometime in Febuary, which leaves me with my goals for this year. I've got a few but I'm pretty confident that I can pull them off. In no particular order, here's my hobby goals for 2010 ....

1. Game more - Last year, I only played in about six games, so I want to improve on this. I'm aiming to get an average of one game every two weeks culminating with entering the grand tournament at the end of the year. It doesn't sound like much but it's a step in the right direction.
   
   
2. A miniature a month - I've become a bit pattern set with painting my guard and spent last year painting shades of grey, and as such my painting hasn't really improved much. So, I'm going to paint one random model a month just to give me a chance to try different colours and painting techniques.
   
   
3. 1st Platoon (Vets) - I want to add another platoon to my infantry company. I'm thinking roughly 5 squads (maybe 6) of veterans. Hopefully, with the veterans varied equipment options, there will plenty of opportunities for more sculpting and converting.
   
   
4. Amphibious assault force - I'm planning of putting together a naval beach landing force made up of scratch built ridged raiders, landing craft and support craft. This project is more about getting me into scratch building than anything else but it should make an interesting game once the projects complete.
   
   
5. Going on campaign - I want to add more rules to my campaign blog, so I'm planning on regularly adding sections with a bare minimum of one a month. I know that doesn't sound like much but it is a long term side project.
   

There you have it, my five main goals for the year ahead. I should say that these are my main goals, not an exclusive list of what I'm going to be doing over the next twelve months. I've still got my Valkyrie to paint up, I'm planning a kit bash hydra and I've still got an itch for Advanced Heroquest which I hope to be scratching soon.

So, here's to a busy 2010.