Todays Rant!

WHITE DWARF

So last November my wife decided to get me a White Dwarf subscription because she was tired of me buying it at my local shop (where other items would come home with me along with the WD). She was swayed by these magical words from the GW website:

Subscribe With a subscription to White Dwarf you will never miss an issue, each issue will be delivered directly to your door and there is a huge saving over buying issues individually.

Wow she thought, if it comes to the door we will be saving money since he will not bring home anything else! She read further about the benefits:

Never miss an issue - A subscription guarantees your copy every single month.
Convenient - it's delivered straight to your door
Early - subscription copies are sent out to arrive before the magazine hits the stores
Save money - subscriptions offer a saving against buying White Dwarf every month.

Wow she thought, this sounds great, I will be happy saving money, he will be happy getting his White Dwarf at Home, everyone wins she thought. So she plunked in the Old Credit card number and informed me that I would be getting WD now at home.

So after the wife told me about the subscription I was overjoyed and figured that the following month I would get my first copy since I just missed the deadline for it to come out that month. So I wait a month and no WD had came. So I called GW and they informed me that it takes two months before I get my first issue! WTF? Two months, were they filing this subscription in slow motion?? Now I have had many magazine subscriptions in the past & all of them (including WD about 6 years ago) could get the subscriptions started in a month, why does it take GW so long?

So I wait and get my first copy, but on the second copy I find that it does not come to the mailbox, in fact my local store gets their copies before I get my second copy. So I call GW up to find out whats going on, they tell me that I should have received it and they would get it out ASAP. So I wait a week and it shows up followed the next day by issue 3.

So for the next few issues everything is fine, until issue 5 does not show up, so I call good old GW again and inquiry whats going on. After verifying my mailing address they tell me they will get it out in about 14 days! You see it has to be order from the warehouse and takes longer. So I wait. issue 5 shows up and about 13 days later and right before issue 6 shows up in the mail.

Issue 7 disappears into the warp & I call GW yet again, we verify same info, nothing has changed and they say they will send it out, so I sit and wait! It shows up just before issue 8 which arrives three days later.

I get issue number 9 on time (issue 356 with the Space Hulk release) and I am a happy camper.

So today, with it being September 30th, and no WD in the mail, I decided to give old GW a call to find out whats going on. I was told that I should have received WD#357 already but technically it's not late until tomorrow. Then the guy tells me I should re-new soon since the subscription will be ending in a few months with issue 359.

Hold the phone sparky, but to date I have had to call GW 4 times now to find out where my lost subscription is & you try to sell me another subscription??? So I tell the guy on the other end my woes but I can tell he is not listening, he then tells me that they are doing a new system that will make sure everyone gets there WD's at the same time and that he will put my name on the list for the lost issue. What the hell is going on people????

So lets review GW's own words about there subscription:

Subscribe With a subscription to White Dwarf you will never miss an issue, each issue will be delivered directly to your door and there is a huge saving over buying issues individually. Um never miss an issue, you have lost 4 issues now already with god only knows what will happen to the last 3 issues!

Never miss an issue - a subscription guarantees your copy every single month Well that's a broken guarantee!

Convenient - it's delivered straight to your door. Well it must be going to someone elses door but not making it to mine!

Early - subscription copies are sent out to arrive before the magazine hits the stores. Early? What before next years issues come out??

Save money - subscriptions offer a saving against buying White Dwarf every month. Okay I will give them that, I got my subscription at $60.00 for a year, so I beat the price increase, but the times on the phone off set the price.

So, where does it leave me now? I am not sure, I still have three issues that are due to me, so I am sure I will be on the phone again with GW looking for at least those issues. Sorry GW, but I will not subscribe to your magazine again, as the old saying goes, Burn me once, shame on you, Burn me twice shame on me!

TK

Terrain for GitD 2010

So,

As I get home today I am greeted by 6 large boxes on my doorstep from Games Workshop. You see I ordered more terrain for GitD and it arrived today. Notice my cat Sydney decided to investigate the said boxes!

I get a few e-mails asking what it takes to run a well run event. Besides allot of prep work on scenarios, location, as well as other things, it also takes terrain. So below is a picture of what I will be using for GitD 2010, here is the breakdown of items received today:

8 Boxes of Citadel Woods

6 Citadel Gaming Hills

6 Citadel Modular Gaming Hills

4 Arcane Ruins

4 Temple of Skulls

3 Pack of Static Grass Tubs

2 Citadel Realm of Battle Gameboards

Now the real fun begins, the assembly & painting of it all! Also there will be a few conversion that have to be done to make some items more Lord of the Rings Themed. For example, the Temple of Skulls will have the skulls covered up to look like rocks and I might add a tower or ruin. Also I am thinking of re basing the trees in the woods box so I can get double duty out of the woods base as a rough terrain piece. Also there are a few sections on the Gameboards that have to be filled in (the skulls for one) since you don't see those too often in Lord of the Rings.

So the next few updates will be showing the construction and painting of all this terrain. I hope to have at least one battle board ready for the Primer at the end of October, so we shall see.

TK

Will return to our scheduled programing

Well,

Have been busy looking for a new job since my office closed down in July. I have been in sort of a game slump lately, I guess the stress of looking for a job has kept me from doing much gaming.

So today (9/20/09) my buddy Rob and I got out and went to a few game shops here in the valley. Rob had a shopping list and even though I have no job, I had a shopping list as well. I was in search of a few tanks for Flames of War to start my budding DAK Panzer Tank Kompanie. I also was looking at picking up the New Afrika book along with a few other items. But I held off and only walked away with a Wargames Illustrated.

Now Rob on the other hand came home with said Afrika book and a little game called Space Hulk! Needless to say, after these purchases (and an awesome Lunch at Ted's Hotdogs!) we headed back to Robs to bust open Space Hulk. Scratch one hour down and we had everything assembled and ready for play.

So I skimmed the rules (since I had the 1st edition) and we played the first scenario. I took the Bugs & Rob took the Terminators. Needless to say the game went pretty quick with the bugs taking out the Terminators. Needless to say the new Space Hulk was a Home Run!

I left Robs with a new intensity to game and will be getting back to regular posts of some of the games I am interested in. So stay tuned for regular scheduled programming...

TK

Gathering in the Desert Primer Event

Well it is that time again to start gearing up for Gathering in the Desert 2010. So to get the local LotR players back in the mood, I will be running a primer event in October.


Here are the particulars for the Event,

What: GITD 2010 Primer Event

When: October 25, 2009 (Sunday)

Where: Imperial Outpost - 4920 W. Thunderbird Rd. Suite 121 Glendale, AZ 85306 602-978-0467

Cost $10.00

Point Level: 350 LotR SBG






Armies will follow all Legion of Middle Earth specifics, if the new Galadhrim elves are used, you must provide a copy of the rules found in WD to your opponent, since not everyone will have access to them.

Armies do not need to be painted for this event, but armies will be judged for painting during this event. Games will last an Hour and a half (90 minutes)

Schedule for the event:

Check in :10:00am

Game 1, 11:00 - 12:30

Lunch Break 12:30 - 1:30

Game 2, 1:45 - 3:15

Game 3, 3:30 - 5:00

Winners Announced at 5:30

Awards:

Best Overall

Best Sportsmen

Best Painted



Look forward to seeing you all there that can make it, of course for those who can't I will have coverage here a few days after the event.

TK

FoW Italians

So, a few months ago I took delivery of my last trade for paint commissions from my buddy Mike. He had a 1500 point North Afrika German FoW army that he was looking at getting rid of. Well being the sucker I am I asked him what he wanted for it, he said if I painted his North Afrika Italians for him we could call it even. I needed a break from 40K, so I decided to bust out the Italians this weekend and get started painting on them.

So below are the test paints for the army, all the models were primed flat black, then on the vehicles I sponged on Green Orche 70914 from Vallejo Model Color line. I then followed up with a Drybrush of Americana Desert Sand. Once that was done I then dipped the models in Antique Walnut Satin from Minwax Polyshades line. Below are the first few pieces that I did, now I just need to know if Mike likes these.

These are the trucks for the 88cm Flack guns.

Here is a shot of an Italian tank (Sorry forgot the designation) without the dip, notice how much lighter the model is.

And here is another light tank that has been dipped and dull coated in Testors Dullcoate. This model was missing the barrel so I used a piece of brass wire as a stand in.

So there you go Mike, what do you think? (As well as the rest of the community) Also the vehicles look very gritty up close no thanks to my Macro setting on my camera.

TK

More Blood Bowl Action!

So the other night I felt like working on some Blood Bowl figures, but most of them have already been painted & need to be stripped. So while looking in my game closet, I spied my Tomb Kings Box setting there. Something was calling me to the box and when I opened it up I found all the sprues that I had not assembled yet. So I thought I would do up a Khemeri team since I have a ton of the Tomb Kings.


So I set about building a Khemeri team and when I finished the last figure, I had twenty of these guys sitting in front of me, that was Monday night. So when Tuesday morning came around, I decided to prime up the figures while on a break from searching for a job. Once the primer went on, I started seeing the color scheme I would use, Gold and a Light Blue. So after Lunch, I painted up one guy and then dipped him in a different Polyshade color that I am used to using, I dipped him with Antique Walnut, which is a brown color. Later that day I went out to check on the color and fell in love with the way it came out. So when the wife & I got home from hanging out with friends last night, I painted up the rest of the team.

So here is my Khemeri Team (Which Still needs a name, so leave me a comment on a team name) First up are the Thro-Ras (Throwers). The balls they are holding are made out of Green Stuff.

Here we have two Blitz-Ras (Blitzers) and for those following at home, the armour on the shoulders & thighs are from the Old Skeleton box set. I don't throw any bits away!

Here is the bulk of the team, just plain old Skeletons, I did do a few conversions which make a few look like they are running (See the Skeleton on the far right front).

And here is the whole team together, the only thing I am missing is a few Mummies which I plan on doing some converting using Old school Mummies that GW used to make.

This little side project was great to do something different and creative. I only wish a few of my other buddies would get interested in Blood Bowl!..

TK

=][=munda Test Games

So this past Sunday Rob came over for us to try out Necromunda again. It has been about 5+ years since we last played and with us wanting to do this =][=munda games, this would be a great way to warm back up to the rules.

Rob brought over all his card terrain and we assembled about 8 figures a side, below is what the board looked like.
Now Rob and I had built some cool Necromunda terrain for a local shop and we vowed that one day we would build ourselves another set. But we really never got around to it since Rob has so much of the card terrain. He had so much that he even gave me a set of it for myself, but it was packed away. Anyhow, the card terrain looks good once it's all on the table.

Well during our game I took a few action shots, but they all came out blurry and they were not worth for the web, but here is one shot of two of his gangers perched atop a tower.

The game was fun and I won due to the fact that Rob blew his bottle test and took off, I was down three gangers and was barely hanging on. It was a fun game and both Rob & I felt the urge to play more Necromunda, especially doing it for the =][=munda games.

Also Rob brought over his finished Tech Priest and it was amazing how similar Rob's paint style is too my own. Here is a shot of both priest side by side, Rob went with a more pale flesh color, but I think both guys look awesome!

Also here is a shot of my Sort of =][=munda group that I ran during our second game, I pulled a few figures from my Necromunda gangs as well as a few of my SOB & IG armies. It has that "adventuring group" sort of look to them. A nice hodge podge look that seems to fit with Inquisitor.

And here is a shot of the Adeptus group that Rob ran in our second game. And speaking of the game, Rob kicked the crap out of me with this little group! Who would have thought a bunch of half machines could be so tough!!!!

So after two games of Necromunda, Rob & I are excited about all the possibilities of using this for =][=munda and 40K Skirmish. By the way, we are using 1st edition Necromunda rules and using 2nd edition 40k rules for our games. We both have the 1st edition rules for Necro as well as the 2nd edition rules that we downloaded from GW, but the 1st edition still has Overwatch and Sustained Fire Dice as well as different sized templates. @nd edition 40K is very similar to Necromunda and has some cool things like Overwatch and arcs of fire.

When we do more games I will try to get better pictures...

TK

Are you Ready for Some Blood Bowl???

So after a long absence from the game table, I dug out Blood Bowl. I have been a fan of the game for a long time and when I was back in CA, we had a league of sorts with about 10 people in it. My good friend Jeff Ott and I ran the league and even held a few Draft Parties so people could try to draft Star Players, all the while watching real football on TV.

But once I moved to the valley of the sun, BB got shelved and put away. Every now and again I would pull it down and look through everything, but up it would go onto the shelf again. About 4 years ago my son took the game down and we played a few games, and I stripped one of my High Elf teams for him to re-paint (Into Denver Bronco colors!) But we never really got anywhere with it.

Now my friend Mike who is here in the valley with me also loves BB. We have played from time to time but with the release of the new PC Game it has come back on the radar. So I decided to finish up one of my teams that I got from a buddy back in CA, Skaven. So here below are the Reds my Skaven team. I started this repaint about a year ago and only got one thrower done, but decided to finish up the whole team. You will notice that these figures are all the old school style, which I love. The reason, well that's all that was out when we were playing in CA, go to show you how long ago that was!

Here is the team shot.

Here is a shot of the Mighty Lineman for the team!

Here are the Blitzers.

Two Throwers for the Team.
And here are the Fast & Furious Catchers for the team.

This guy stands in now as a lineman, but was an old school Kicker.

And you gotta have a Ref for the game!

I happen to have a few more teams now waiting in the wings, two High Elf Teams, one Dark Elf Team, Dwarfs and a Halfing team. I also saw this post on Warseer Forums and seeing this guys conversions has got me wanting to do a few of my own now...great another thing to keep me away from more pressing items! Oh well, you gotta love Football & Blood Bowl...

TK

Adeptus Mechanicus

Well Last week I finished the Tech Priest, today I bring you his band of merry Servitors & Servo Skulls. Since Rob and I are getting ready for some Inquisitor games I decided to paint these guys up. Now that this group is done and I see pictures of it together, perhaps I will run this as my Inquisitor band but for the Adeptus Mechanicus, we will see.





Here is a shot of the Combat Servitors, sadly I have two duplicate figures and I did not want to do any conversion work, so they are just stock figures.



Next up are the Gun Sevitors, I decided I liked the Heavy Bolters and kept these guys stock as well.

Next up are a few Servo-Skulls which three are stock, but the back left one is converted from bits. I will use these guys with my Inquisitor in my With Hunter army.

Now the next few pictures are not for the Inquisitor game, but I thought I would paint these up as I was going. The first piece is the Beacon from the old Battle for Macragge Set. I never got that set, but was able to get the remain pieces from a friend of mine.

I also got the Fence posts from John as well as a few Bug bits. John had based a few of the posts on None GW rounds and since I had a few lying around I based them to match. These will come in handy in a few Inquisitor games.

Here is a group shot of all the posts & the Beacon.

And the final shot is of all the guys and terrain together, I really like how it all turned out.

Next update will be about something different from 40K & not something I have posted before, so stay tuned...

TK