40k Demon Prince Painting.

Howdy there Fellow Warriors! Been awhile, but this is Lord Byron climbing back into the saddle for the Weekend Warriors Blog! Today I'd like to share a recently completed Demon Prince that I did for a friend. So, without further ado, let's get to it!

I started by putting all the major pieces together, this was the body, legs, tail and arms.
The wings were mounted onto one of my pill bottle paint stands.

From there I airbrushed the entire model with a basecoat of cavalry leather from vallejo. I then shaded everything in with Carrobug Crimson from Citadel. After that we came in with Mephiston Red, Wazdakka Red and Scarlet Crimson from Citadel. The metal is simply Leadbelcher applied to his wrist bands.

I started the bone ridges and spikes with Baneblade Brown. From here I worked up the colors through Karak Stone, Ushabti Bone and then Screaming Skull. I toned down with Agrax Earthshade and then went back up to screaming skull on the tips.
 

   After the bone work was done, I finished highlighting up the Red of the skin, and then added my gold onto the armbands and weapon. This was brought down with Reikland Fleshshade and then highlighted with Bronze Hashut. The Loincloth is simply Abaddon Black, with Administratum Grey highlights.Here's the finished model! Feel free to comment with questions!

Tales of a Malifaux Blogger Month 1 - Playing and Painting Lilith

Greetings once again!

So unfortunately this past month was fairly hectic on the real life side of things. I did manage to get the Mother of Monsters crew box started on painting. I just have the dry brushing, details, and bases to go. I haven't actually decided how I'm going to base them yet, but I'll worry about that later.

The hectic real life stuff mostly effected my ability to get any gaming in with this crew (most of my gaming was with Arcanists for events, since I don't have enough points of Neverborn yet).

I did manage to get in one game against a Rasputina crew. We were both running our respective crew boxes with a couple of upgrades. The Strategy was Turf War. I don't recall the full Scheme Pool, but I had Breakthrough and Murder Protege (I think), neither were revealed. The Turf Marker ended up being on top of a building, but there was enough space around it that the 6 inch ring included plenty of ground space.

So I am a learn-through-doing kind of person. I can read the cards repeatedly, but until I field them, it doesn't sink in. I knew Lilith's crew had the Black Blood thing going on, which means that if they are wounded, any non-Black Blood models within 1 inch take 1 damage. I also knew that the Terror Tots have the chance to grow with the proper upgrade and some good old fashioned slaughterings (and proper models available).

What I didn't realize is that Barbaros pushes his opponent away after damaging them...every time. It is not a trigger, it is part of his attack. This didn't make a whole lot of sense to me, until I realized that the Terror Tots have the Pounce ability, which allows them to deal damage out of Activation. It still seemed to make Barbaros charging a bit useless, since he pushes his foe out of his engagement zone. I also need to work on making sure the Tots are in good placement for taking advantage of this.

That being said, my opponent and I had a great time with some Ice Gamin vs. Terror Tots. It was two of each engaged with each other. Rasputina kept doing her long-range casting through the Gamin at the Tots, which damaged them, causing damage to the Gamin through Black Blood. Which led to the Gamins' demise, which caused them to explode, which killed the Tots.

Towards the end of the game, it was down to Lilith facing off against Rasputina, with the Wendigo running around dropping markers. Lilith very nearly took down Rasputina with her blade, but Rasputina managed to survive through the remaining turns. My opponent took the victory, 8-3.

I am looking forward to running my Lilith crew again soon. I really like her ability that allows you to draw and discard an additional card. Her upgrades are pretty sweet as well. My favorite is the one that extends her sword's reach an extra inch, which can be the difference between her opponent having 2 attacks or just 1 because they had to walk closer.

For this month's addition, I got a box of Nephilim, which comes with 2 Young Nephilim and 1 Mature, so that my Terror Tots have something to grow up into.

In closing, I am enjoying painting Lilith's box and am looking forward to continuing to learn how to field her.

I'll be back next month with more on Lilith!
-WenchWoman

Crimson Slaughter, Sentinels of Terra, Reclusiam Command Squad! Report!

     Happy day after St. Patty's everyone! Hopefully we all came home safe and sound and had an excellent time! But moving on, beer is great and all but we're here for some 40k talk. Over the weekend I had the pleasure to play against my good friend and Weekend Warrior Nate! We decided to pull out some special stuff and have a fun old time with some new units. He took the Crimson Slaughter supplement to heart, and I play tested a Reclusiam Command Squad using the Sentinels of Terra supplement for a core set of tactics, why? Why not!? It's new and fun, isnt't that the spirit of the game? We didn't have our cameras out, so there won't be any video or pictures, sorry I'll make sure to do it next time this is my first full Report after all!

     We went for a basic 1850 set up, no allies, and allowed supplements and Data Sheets
      The Musketeers(Sentinels of Terra)
      1 Reclusiam Command Squad
               1 Chaplain in Terminator Armor with Digital Weapons and the Angel of Sacrifice and Spartean
               1 Command Squad, Champion, Apothecary, Standard bearer
                         All with Power Weapons and Storm Shields
                         1 Banner of Staganda
                1 Razorback with Twin Linked Lascannon and Hunterkiller Missile
      1 Ten Man Tactical Squad
                 Veteran Sergeant w/ Chainsword
                  Grav Gun
                  Heavy Bolter
                  Drop Pod
        1 Ten Man Tactical Squad
                 Veteran Sergeant w/ Chainsword
                  Plasma Gun
                  Heavy Bolter
                  Rhino
        1 Five Man Devestator Squad
                  Veteran Sergeant w/ Chainsword
                   2 Missile Launchers w/ Flakk
                   2 Plasma Cannons
        1 Five Man Devestator Squad
                  Veteran Sergeant w/ Chainsword
                   2 Missile Launchers w/ flakk
                   2 Las Cannons
        1 Three Man Centurion Devestator Squad
                   2 Twin-Linked Lascannon
                   3 Missile Launchers
                   1 Grav Cannon w/ Grav Amp
                      Omniscope
        1 Landspeeder w/ Multi-Melta and Heavy Bolter
        1 Storm Talon w/ Skyhammer Missile Launcher


        Forces of the Crimson Slaughter(Chaos Undivided)
        1 Lord w/ Blade of restless battle
              Daemonheart
              Prophet of voices
              Mark of Slaanesh
         1 Deamon Prince w/ armor
              Wings
              Psyker Level 3 (Warp Speed, Doom Bolt, Leech Life)
              Mark of Tzeentch       
         1 Ten Man cultists squad no upgrades
         2  Seven Man Possessed w/ mark of Nurgle
         1 Eleven Man Possessed w/ mark of Slaanesh and Icon of Excess
         2 Three Man Obliterator Squads with Mark of Nurgle
          1 Helldrake with Baleflamer

Special Rules for the supplements obviously play a hefy role in these games as we have two supplements going and a Datasheet.

        Sentinels of Terra
               Close Range Bolter Drill - Replace Bolter Drill with reroll all misses at less than half range for bolt type weapons, does not include Hellfire, Vengeance etc.

                  Angel of Sacrifice - +2 Str AP 4 Concussive, Melee, Only In Death
                           Only In Death - If the bearer of the Angel of Sacrifice loses his last wound in the Assault Phase, he is not removed as a casualty until after all close combat attacks have been resolved, and can thus still attack if he is slain either by Overwatch or by a close combat attack made at a higher initiative step.
                  
                  Spartean - Bolt Pistol, Master Crafted, Ignores Cover

                  Banner of Staganda - Grants bearer Counter-Attack and Crusader and Units within 12" with same Chapter Tactics reroll Morale and Pinning

          Reclusiam Command Squad, Cost 25pts + Models cost
                    Grants Crusader
                    As long as the Chaplain lives also grants Relentless Zeal
                    Relentless Zeal - Whilst the Chaplain is alive, all models in this formation can re-roll misses in every round of Close Combat.


          Crimson Slaughter
                 All models cause Fear
                 Possessed can be taken as troops
                        New Table for Possessed  traits Roll a D3
                                   1- Shrouded
                                   2 - Beast
                                   3 - 3+ Invulnerable Save and Rending

                Blade of the Relentless - Stats as Power Sword - Keep Track of total kills by this model
                           1 or more = +1 STR
                           3 or more = AP 2
                           5 or more = Additional +1 STR
                           10 or more = Gains Instant Death

                  Daemonheart - 2+ Save and It Will Not Die

                   Prophet of Voices
                          Gains Deamon, Fearless and Fleet - Can only join Possessed Units

     For this mission we decided to roll on the Crimson Slaughter Mission chart in order to spice things up! We ended up with Storm of Spirits. This turned out to be a huge boon to Nate as it puts everything he has right in my face! Deployment is lengthwise with the Chaos player getting 12" in from BOTH board Edges, his opponent(me) gets the remaining 24" in the center. You then determine board halves and each player takes it in turn to place three objectives within their board half, this is also necessary for determining where your reserves will come in.

     In this mission the Chaos player also controls the Hurrican of Spirits! It starts in the center of the board, on every Chaos turn roll 2d6 the Chaos player then moves the Hurricane in any direction that number of inches. It then inflicts 2d6 STR 3 AP - hits on any non-chaos units within 12". It's not necessarily devestating to Space Mariens but it sure is annoying, and if you roll bad it's even worse!

     So for deployment Nate went ahead and put his possesed even space out on one side and the Obliterators and Demon Prince on the other along with the lone Cultist Squad, and his Heldrake in Reserve. I responded by Combat squading out my Plasma Squad with the Rhino in an attempt to put Heavy Bolters in Fire positioin and the Plasma at the Obliterators. Knowing that he had to close I put my Devestator Squads in the tops of Ruins so that his Possesssed would have to move into and then charge through cover, hopefully giving me at least a turn to level some firepower at them. My Reclusiam Squad started outside of the Razorback in order to close with the Deamon Prince and not have to spend a turn disembarking. I wanted them to Lock the Prince in combat, and given their load out I was fairly confident they would be able to do this. The Land Speeder, Storm Talon and Drop Pod Remained in Reserve.

     I was unable to seize the initiative, so Nate got first turn per the rules of the mission. Rolling his Possessed Traits one got shrouded and the other two, who also happened to be nearest my devestators, got Beast. So he was able to close through cover in the first turn and assault my Devestators before they even got to fire a shot! I accepted Challenges with my Sergeants and then began the painful process of fighting those Possessed. His Deamon Prince flew to my Reclusiam, managed to cast Warp Speed, but failed Doombolt and I denied his Leech Life. On the Charge my Reclusiam got their Counter-Attack off! and so began the combat, my Champion stepping to the Fore and initiaiting the first Challenge, and promptly dying. His Obliterators marched down and proceeded to gloriously whiff when it came to shooting my Rhino and killed 2 of my Centurions, only to punch them to death in the Assault. His third possessed merely marched forward and also joined the charge on the doomed Centurions. His cultists hid behind a wall, where they would remain the whole game. The Hurricane  managed to hit three squads, but my armour held firm.

      My first turn I called in my Drop Pod, behind the unengaged Possessed and leveled my Heavy Bolters, Grav Guns and bolters at the possessed, gloriously killing one. My Close Comabts proceeded to lose one Marine Each and the Challenges continued, this time with my Chaplain Dying, and the Veteran Sergeants against the possessed continuing to hold their own. In a hilarious twist Nate's Warlord managed to kill his first Marine this Asssault and gain his +1 STR. It was to be the only kill he got the entire game.

     Second turn no reserves for Chaos, and the assaults continue, the Obliterators at this point leveld the Razorback, and the unengaged possessed charged into my Tactical Squad from the Drop Pod. The Assault phase went horribly this time around on both sides with no one losing models in the possessed assaults, including challenges. The Deamon Prince managed to kill one more Marine as well lowering my Squad to an Apothecary, who declined a challenge, a Banned and a Marine, the Hurricane claimed a soul from the Drop Pod Tactical Squad as well. Continuing into my turn my Land Speeder arrived,  and killed an obliterator, two left! At this point the challenges with the possessed and the squad of devestators were killed off, and the Tactical Drop Pod Squad was also slaughtered, leaving me with my Reclusiam, a Rhino, and the five man Heavy Bolter Squad!

       Third Turn, Chaos moves their hurricane, and it proceeds to wipe out the Reclusiam, Five hits, Five Wounds, Three Failed armour Saves and Three Failed Feel No Pains and poof they disappear. His Helldrake arrived and proceeded to eat a Rhino, and his Obliterators shot my Land Speeder out of the sky. The Remaining Possessed from the Drop Pod and the Obliterators Shot and Charged the Last Tactical Squad, killing all but one. Total of Marines Left on the board, One...... Third Turn my Storm Talon still refuses to come into the game, and my Lone Marine is clapped between two Obliterator Power Fists. Ending the game. Win to Chaos, tabled me in three!

      Looking back, the mission was certainly a huge factor, given deployment there's pretty much no way to avoid close combat by the First or Second turn. My force simply wasn't geared right to deal with that kind of punishment. My Reclusiam also presented an interesting issue in regards to Challenges. At first it looks like a big nasty melee unit, and it certainly is! But when a Deamon Prince is able to challenge his way through a squad, it essentially negates their usefulness. What I should have done is deny the second challenge after my Champion died so that I could have four other guys beat on him. I would merely be losing a Chaplain or an Apothecary from the actual attacks, but I would get to keep their special rules to re-roll misses and Feel No Pain. Overall I'd really like to see how the Crimson Slaughter plays on a normal mission, them having to close could certainly pose a huge problem to the melee heavy army. But with rules like 3+ Invuln or the ability to move 12" in a turn, or even shrouded the Possesssed are definitely going to find a way to close. The warlord would definitely be interesting to see in action with the blade of the relentless as well, making him devestating in Close Combat provided he's wiped out a squad before he gets to his opponents big hitters. For myself, I really like the feel of the Reclusiam, but I'm going to have to refine my play style with them. Locking them in combat with a character really hampers their usefulness, and they would have done much better had I had them engage the possessed to leave my Devestators open to deal with the Deamon Prince. All in All, I really enjoyed this game, and I think the Supplements are definitely a great addition to players looking to alter their play styles! I highly recommend picking it up if you are a Chaos Player!

-Weekend Warrior Matt

My Thoughts on Nids

    So here we are fellow warriors, on the eve of another big old army release, IG/Astra Militarum, one of my armies! It got me thinking, I never posted anything about the Tyranids, so this can't be left alone a moment longer! I've been out of the loop of blogs and hobby for about a month, a newborn daughter can do that to you, but before I get my hands on that particular release I'll rant a bit about the last big army release, the one before Crimson Slaughter and the Imperial Knights which I'll have to rant on about later. So, without further ado, Tyranids!

     I LOVE the new Tyranids, I think they're exactly what the game of 40k needs at this time. We've seen tons of massive updates to armies, we've had super units and lists put together for tournaments, Eldar and Tau being a massive favorite to deploy cheese. I think that the Tyranids, and to an extent the Space Marines Codex, shows that GW is finally stepping out and trying to make a balanced game. I know that they love their models, and they make tons of new units and new rules to sell those models, but at their core they still have to sell an army. You can make one unit completely amazing, but you still need to sell that tactical squad that's sitting on the shelf, so you better have a rules set that makes you have to take it and makes it useful.

     When I look at these codexes, and play games with my Marines or Guard, and I play against Tyranids, I see a pretty balanced selection of units. There is no one definitive unit in the Tyranid Dex that is the be all end all of the tyranids. You're basically forced to take multiple units to compliment the other units in your army. If you want to make a shooty list you can, and there's tons of units to do that with, and options to buff them. If you want a melee list you can do that too, and yet again options are there to buff them.

     Venomthropes are a powerful buff for your army, that bonus 2 to the cover save can go a far way, and as long as you're playing on a field that actually has terrain that can translate into 3+ or 2+ saves for your units! Sure, there are options in other armies that negate cover, Thunderfire cannons, or Markerlights, etc. But you can lock those units down as well with your deepstrikers. Mawlocs come to mind instantly. Deep strike underneath that pesky unit and BAM str 6 AP2 twice!? That's nuts! even if you miss on the strike and pop up next to that unit, they still have to deal with a Mawloc before it resubmerges and tries again. The whole time your army moves forward, slowly closing that gap of range.

     Zoanthropes provide a wonderful boost to your punch, multiple warp blasts from a unit is devestating. The HQs and Characters are nothing to be laughed at either.  Swarmlord has Instant Death Weapons and you put him with some guard, now that's a total of 10 wounds that need to be done to a unit that can have feel no pain every turn and has a toughness of 6. That's a hard nut to crack for anybody. People have complained that Tyranid Warriors are no longer awesome because they lack Eternal Warrior, but they do have 3 wounds. And even though a Krak missile can instant death one of them, how many strength 8 weapons is your opponent leveling at them a turn to get rid of them? How many of those units of his AREN'T shooting your Exocrine, or your Tyrant? If he chooses to shoot at those units, then your Warriors are closing.

      The Tyranids to me are a constant threat army, your opponent has to constantly choose what is the most important thing to shoot at. In the back of his mind, he has to know that he can't kill everything, sooner or later something is going to get far to close for comfort. The Tyranids are designed to constantly apply pressure and I feel that this is something that has been sorely lacking in games. Every game I've played against other players is pretty straightforward. I instantly know exactly what my biggest threat is, I eliminate it and I move down the chain. Tyranids provide me with a laundry list of threats, that are all very real. I find them to be a difficult army to play against, and I feel that as time goes on we are going ot see more and more Tyranids players starting to win as they figure out what works for them.

     On that note, that's another thing that has made me truly happy with this release. It has taken a severly long time for people to come up with a list that is overpowering for Tyranids. There is no Deathstar, or Jetseer, there's nothing that anyone has been able to agree on. It's forced the community to really talk with each other and figure out what they want to play and what works. And even in the case of some of the lists out there, there's still a massive debate as to exactly how awesome they are. We're finally starting to see some life in the community in regards to list building, no more one list wins all. In my opinion we need more Dexes like the Tyranids, and I sincerely hope the IG/Astra Militarum Codex this next month is the same type of layout. I want to see a whole bunch of varied lists more and more, no more standard tournament winners and power game lists.

     What do you guys think? Feel free to let me know here, or on my personal blog www.313cadian.blogspot.com - it's where I post my painting and more random thoughts/stories ;) - Weekend Warrior Matt

My Turn! My Turn! (ToMB post, Month 0)

Hello Folks!

WenchWoman here. I thought it was about time I gave this whole blogging thing a go. Plus, I was given a reason to start blogging about my latest obsession: Malifaux.

I recently found out about this thing on the Wyrd forums (Wyrd Miniatures is the company that makes Malifaux): it's called Tales of a Malifaux Blogger. The idea is that you take a Master you haven't used yet and start building/painting/playing said master.

This is Month 0, which mean I get to talk about who I chose, why, and what I expect to see with them.

I chose to start my Neverborn collection with Lilith's crew starter box. The starter box runs for $40 and comes with Lilith, her henchman Barbarous, her totem Cherub, and three Terror Tots.

Probably the biggest reason I chose to do Lilith is the backstory that goes with her. The Neverborn are the natives of the world of Malifaux who are largely trying to preserve their way of life from the invading human population. They are also trying to continue waging battles to protect their world from other evils while keeping the humans at bay.

Lilith is the ruler of the Neverborn and is directly connected to the nature of Malifaux. In other games, I have typically been drawn to factions that are more nature driven (hippy-esque if you will): Wood Elves for Warhammer Fantasy, Circle Orboros for Hordes, and my first crew for Malifaux was Marcus.

I have played against Lilith when I was first getting started in the game. From that experience and looking at her crew's stat cards, I think I have a general idea of how she works.

Lilith does not have to worry about severe or hazardous terrain types, which means she can move full speed through forests and such. She also has an upgrade that allows her to create forests. Her whole crew has Black Blood, which means that they give damage out when they receive damage. At this point they seem to be a largely melee geared crew and I think I will have to be careful going against a range crew, although they do have pretty decent defense and willpower stats, along with speed on their side.

I am looking forward to building these models and getting a few games under my belt with them. I'll let you know next month how that goes and hopefully I'll have some pics of pretty models to share as well.

Until then, this is WenchWoman signing off

Rantings of an old school gamer

By. Overlord

Greetings masses!  Overlord here with the start of a new blog for the Weekend Warriors, Rantings of an old school gamer.  This blog covers that which have caused me ire, it is not meant be a series of complaints but more of a series of observations much like Andy Rooney from 60 Mins. So without further ado here begins the first Rant of an old school gamer.  

Wargaming and the Internet:

When I first purchased what would begin my Warhammer Fantasy Empire army, Karl Franz himself if I recall correctly, at the right ole age of 15 the internet was a flight of fancy.  Sure it existed but in the scope of AOL and chat rooms only.  Blogs such as this were not a trend yet and using it for communication had not exactly caught on yet. 

In those days Warhammer 40k was still only in its 2nd edition and companies such as Wyrd and Privateer Press had not existed yet.  As far as the gaming community was concerned Games Workshop, Ral Partha, and TSR was their world.  Since then the gaming community has changed radically, national tournaments, dedicated gaming websites have evolved due to this changing meta.  And this meta has created a slew of useful features, never before has it been easier to learn a new game, find a gaming group, or resolve a vague ruling that the local gaming group can not come to a consistent answer for. And in all of these uses I applaud the internet as it has made the gaming community tighter than ever before.

What has caused me ire is how the internet has changed the way players view and interpret a new codex or army book.  We have reached a point as a community that even before a book is released it has been picked apart and judged based on how powerful it can be.  Only the best units are worth looking at and all others are considered trash and a waste of time, money, and print.  Many years ago if one was to enter a gaming store a collection of players would be found running armies based on their favorite units, or a theme to the army, or a particular play style.  Then if one was to travel to another game store and witness the same armies in use they would be constructed in a completely different manner based upon that player's unique play style, even speaking to players in the same location would have a diference in opinion in how the army felt best to them.  

Now with the meta changing to one focused on national tournaments the terms "fluff" and "theme" are passed off almost as a curse to a player inciting feelings of being inadequate or not up to par.  Today the codex has been distilled to the greatest game breaking combination and given a "glorious" title such as Screamstar, Jetseer, or Taudar. New codexs that follow in these shadow are broken apart to find the next newest and greatest game breaking combination and players take issue with a codex that is "sub-par" in comparison.  To this I say let the internet have its jetseer and taudar as they do have a place in the meta on the national stage but let the local players come to their own opinion once again on how an army is to be run.  Let their own feelings and desire for theme and fluff drive them to create armies that are just as impressive to see on the battlefield as they are to battle against.  Let the spirit of gaming come to the fore and not the spirit of competition.

Sincerly-
Overlord

New Guy? Crusade of Fire!? Space Stations!

Hi there everyone! I'm Matt, part of the Weekend Warriors crew, and I thought I'd introduce myself real quick before I jump into the Nitty Gritty Terrain Blog that is to follow.

I started up in hobbies when I was but a wee lad, when my dad became part owner of a little place called the New Fiction House in Homewood Illinois. This was way back in the nineties, and I immediately fell in love with almost every system out there. I started with Warhammer 40k and Necromunda, back in the heady days of happiness that were 2nd and 3rd edition. I went on to play almost every game that was made back then, Gorka Morka, Gothic, Inquisitor, BattleTech, Ogre, Warzone. You name it I at least tried it! I even dabble in the wonderful world of RPGs. But enough of those fond memories, I am now a happily married man expecting his first child, and newly thrust back into the wide world of the Grim Dark Future. I've started my own Space Marine Chapter, The Emperor's Musketeers, and play the 313th Cadian Imperial Guard as well. So look for me in some upcoming battle-reports when the forces of the Imperium are called upon to destroy the Xenos and Heretic Plagues of our galaxy!

Along those lines, here at our friendly local gaming store, ShieldBreakers, we're getting ready to start up a Crusade of Fire campaign at the end of February. My friend and myself were immediately fired up for this, tournaments are great and all, but the fluff, storyline, and grand competition is where our bread and butter is for happiness! However, we noticed something...we don't have a space station! How are we supposed to recreate an epic battle far above the planets in outer space if we don't even have any space rocks and buildings!? We'd never done it before, but how hard can it be!?

So we have decided to take it upon ourselves to create this wonderful set piece. Our materials are relatively simple and cheap.
2 - Hardfoam sheets of insulation.You can find it in most Hardware stores, around $20-$30 a sheet.

The Foam! We went with 2" thick Sheets.

1 - Tube of PVA Glue
1 - Dremel
1 - Human Being equipped with the following
      1 - Hack Saw
      1 - File
      1 - Sandpaper or Sanding block
      1 - Box Cutter or similar cutting tool.
      1 - Electrically Heated cutting Wire (Not actually needed but quite nice to do the end pieces quick)

We started by putting our glue down on the back side of one sheet, and then stacked them together. As this was our first time doing this we then proceeded to try and shape after about 30 minutes of drying. This was a mistake, as we were suddenly reshifting things together after cutting. So we settled on putting down our traceries for future cutting.

Stacked and Glued

Our Mistake, if you look you can see the edges are a little off.

Moving on, and learning that PVA Glue takes forever to set, (some two hours later, pieces were still shifting) we decided to weigh all of this down and try again in another couple of hours.

We are very hi-tech when it comes to weights.

We then came back and started our rough cuts, for scale and playability we've opted for 2 - 12" Rocks, 2 - 8' rocks, and 1 - 15" rock. One of our 12" rocks will become a scratchbuilt landing pad, and the other rocks will house the various buildings and defenses of the space station.

The first 12" rock got cut a smidge to small by an overzealous cutter.

4" deep foam, we don't want models falling too far!

From there it was basically a lot random whacks at the rocks with the cutters and the sanding paper to make our defined edges. Our next steps are to use the Dremel and carve out some good deep gouges, and round off some chasm edges to make these islands in space look a little more worn.

The pre-finished, rough product!

This is in a friend's basement (I don't have one) and the wife won't let me take over the garage. The next update on this project should be in about a week! We're hoping to have it all banged up and painted by the end of next week, that way we can start in on our buildings! Hope this inspires some of you! Til next time, remember to aim for the eye stalks, that's where the daemons are weakest! - Weekend Warrior Matt

What's in the Box?! - Triumph & Treachery

In the premiere episode of the Weekend Warriors "What's in the Box?!" CJ & Nate review the recent Warhammer Fantasy Expansion Triumph & Treachery

Triumph & Treachery is a Warhammer supplement which features rules for playing three, four, or even five player games of Warhammer Fantasy.  It's a totally new way to play, allowing you and your friends to bribe you enemies, hire mercenaries to bolster your armies and carry out all manner of underhand tactics.  Anything goes in the quest to win the war!

This 96-page, full-color, hardback book includes:

-A history of the underhand tactics employed by devious generals to defeat multiple opponents.
-Full rules for playing multiplayer games of Warhammer Fantasy.
-Three new Triumph & Treachery scenarios.
-Three historical scenarios featuring the background to the battle; an overview of each army; scenario rules; and an order of battle showcasing the miniatures on each side.
-A showcase of expertly painted Citadel miniatures.

Also included is a deck of 36 beautifully illustrated Treachery cards that allow you to employ all sorts of nefarious bribes and ploys in your games.  There are also five player turn cards.

As well as this there is a drawstring bag containing victory tokens.  These provide a handy method of keeping track of each player's victory points throughout the game (and can be used for other things, such as bribing an opponent or hiring mercenaries.)

All of this is presented in a slipcase to keep the book, cards, and victory tokens together.

You will need a copy of the Warhammer rulebook and relevant army books in order to use the contents of this book.

To order, visit your friendly local gaming store!

-Weekend Warriors CJ & Nate

Teach Your Kids to Game Week

So this weekend that epic cold front that is pushing across the United States skirted us here in Colorado.  I was pretty much snowed in for much of the weekend, so I spent some time getting caught up on much needed Magic: the Gathering card organization.  For those of you who don't know I currently live with a pair of good friends and their young sons to help them out as their father has been unemployed for awhile now.  While I had several piles of cards all over the coffee table, their oldest son and his two friends from down the street who were spending the weekend via sleepover expressed interest in the game.  Fortunately I had a few sample decks that a friend had given me specifically for the reason to teach people how to play.  With the weather outside being so frightful I pulled them all out, let each one pick a color, and dove into the basics of the game.

They all definitely had a great time, and have mentioned they all want to get into the game so I'll probably bring them down to Shieldbreakers with their parents in the next few weeks, but it got me thinking.  Being such an avid casual gamer and not personally being a fan of the tournament scene, I wondered how we continue to get people into the hobby.  I looked at what ages our favorite tabletop systems are recommended for, how and when people were introduced to various systems or how they have or plan to do so with their own little ones.  I reflected on what brought me to the industry, how each game progressed to giving the next a try, and pondered when is a good time to introduce people to various games.  After all, the boys this weekend were between 8 to 12, and while I know officially Magic is supposed to be for ages 13 and up, I also know for a fact I was only 12 myself when I started to play.

For me it all started at the end of sixth grade.  I received my first 60 card starter deck at the end of the year when I "graduated" to middle school.  I acquired the cards from a friend at school, but aside from admiring the art work it pretty much sat on my shelf for most of the rest of the year.  That is, until that fall when I began social studies with our teacher Sacha Gerrish.  Every Thursday afternoon he would run a game club for students to help keep such young impressionable minds away from those things that can start to creep into our lives at that tender age.  Foremost were Warhammer as well as, low and behold, Magic.  I discovered several other classmates of mine met up there every week and begged my mother to let me join them.  I quickly was snatching a booster pack every week with my allowance and played every lunch with my friends at our own little table in the cafeteria.  This was also when I started playing Warhammer 40,000 myself, enjoying the hobby aspect of building up my Dark Angels.

By the time I was in high school my tabletop gaming had dwindled as I became fascinated with music, cars and women.  However, I was soon drawn in to tabletop games again when I joined the United States Army and spent my first year stationed in Seoul, South Korea.  Others in the barracks began teaching me roleplaying games, mainly through West End Games Star Wars as well as Wizards of the Coast Dungeons & Dragons.  I began to play my first video games like Neverwinter Nights and Diablo II.  Then, late one weekend while drinking in the barracks, my battle buddy pulled out his Magic collection.  Immediately I called home to ask my mother to find and mail my old cards, which by the end of the tour my battle kindly donated his entire collection to.  By the time I was stateside at my next duty station in Fort Lewis, Washington, I was again hooked.  Being in the Pugent Sound didn't help either, as I spent nearly all my free time at Wizards of the Coast or Games Workshop stores.  And so I have stayed active in all things tabletop gaming ever since.

Where does that bring me today?  Well, for starters, I already spend a lot of time in Colorado trying to introduce people to tabletop games they may not be familiar with.  I run the weekly Pathfinder Society scenarios every Thursday at Shieldbreakers, as well as their weekly boardgame days on Sundays.  I even own a company that specifically builds affordable custom gaming and hobby furniture as you all know.  The thing is, most of this time I've been either introducing adults to these games, or broadening their awareness of other systems.  Until this weekend, I had never had the privilege of introducing youngsters to the hobby.  Truth be told, I found it to be a very rewarding change.  I now look forward to other opportunities to bring middle and high school teenagers into the hobby.  One of the reasons I've personally avoided most tournaments is that I see a lot of "win at all cost" individuals which, frankly, turn off a lot of people my own age from wanting to play new systems.  Young adults on the other hand appear to still have that innocence of just wanting to learn the game without having to bash everyone's teeth in.  This is refreshing, and something I believe I am going to continue to pursue into the next year.

In essence, it's almost like a new year's resolution.  To openly and proudly share my favorite tabletop hobbies with all ages.  I both encourage and challenge each of you to do the same.  Let's make the first full week of each year "Teach Your Kids to Game Week" then lets spread the word on what we've introduced the next generation of gamer to.  Either comment below or message us at WeekendWarriors@KreatorHobbies.com with how you introduced the hobby with someone you loved.  Furthermore, Happy New Year to you and may you have a fun filled year of gaming yourselves!

-Weekend Warrior CJ