This Wood Elf Wardancer just got a new base and a little touch-up to his paint job. I forgot how metal models chip... #miniaturepainting #paintingwarhammer #warhammerofficial #warhammercommunity #oldhammer #whfb #warhammeroldworld #woodelf #woodelves 

I rebased my oldhammer Wood Elf Shaman. I need a couple more touch-ups, but I'm fairly happy with it.  #miniaturepainting #paintingwarhammer #oldhammer #oldworld #theoldworld #woodelves #woodelf #warhammerofficial #warhammercommunity

A rebased Oldhammer Wood Elf Standard Bearer ready to rejoin the Old World. I never thought I'd play with these models again! Also, rebasing is a pain, but I do like the extra space it gives the model.  #miniaturepainting #paintingwarhammer #warhammerofficial #warhammercommunity #middlehammer #oldworld #theoldworld #woodelves #woodelf #oldhammer 

For Athel Loren! I'm pulling my wood elves out of long-term storage and repainting them to actually play a game with them in the near future and I'm so excited. I never thought they would see a tabletop again! Since I need to rebase them for Old World, I figured I'd start from scratch and give my entire collection a fresh coat of paint and this fellow is the first in line.  The Wood Elves were my first WHFB army and I've got the same thrill now as I did when I first played a game all those years ago and I can't wait to play again.  #miniaturepainting #paintingwarhammer #oldhammer #oldworld #theoldworld #woodelves #woodelf #warhammerofficial 

Greetings from my secret HQ in the Capitol of KS-34. I've decided to give my airbrush another go after watching some more tutorials on YouTube and I'm fairly happy with the results. One tip was to glue bits on floral wire, not having ant handy, I used scrap booking glue dots and tongue depressors. I have nearly finished my Salamanders Primaris ancient as well as my Khorne Daemon Prince, El Toro Gigantes. El Toro Gigante Salamanders Primaris Ancient

I've stripped and repainted a few of my "old hammer" models more than a few times and I think I'm going to take another stab at an army. This morning, I threw on a few coats of paint on a couple of models for chapters that I've considered. Test paint jobs for chapter options for my Old Hammer army. From left to right: Raven Guard, Salamanders, Flesh Tearers, Raptors, Mentors, Emperor's Spears I've long considered painting a Raven Guard army and the rules are really good right now but a black army is so boring to paint. I know a few people really prefer "grim dark" models but part of the attraction of an old hammer army is brightness and color. The Salamanders would fit with my 30k and 40k armies. Plus, I get a cool alternate scheme with the yellow and black salamander pattern, however, the rules aren't great for them as I feel a unit that doesn't allow overwatch is a must thanks to Tau and Eldar being so good at blunting ...

This past weekend was the 2019 (ninth edition) Bug Eater GT in Omaha, Nebraska - a fundraiser for a high school's debate team. (Which may be my favorite reason to hold a 40k tournament.) I took my combined army of Astra Militarum, Blood Angels, and Adeptus Custodes, and joined my friend Kyle, and made the northward trek to Omaha to play in the 40k grand tournament. I have dishonored and embarrassed myself again with a 2-4 record. I felt really good the first day going 2-2, but I lost two close games on day 2. In all of my losses, my opponents said they loved my army, said nothing was wrong with it, loved the paint job and display base ... but I can't roll dice for shit. I even bought another set from a vendor at the tournament to no avail. I tried to keep my head high but I was routinely missing charges and I can't even say that I had average dice. My army usually sends a pair of smash captains, a pair of shield captains on dawneagle jetbikes, and...

My FLGS got an assortment of the new Games Workshop Warhammer 40k Funko Pop! "inaction" figures. Blood Angels - unofficial guardians of java. There is an Ultramarine, Space Wolf, Dark Angel and a Blood Angel. Since there wasn't a Salamander to be found, I chose the Blood Angel to guard my day job's desk top. The little assault guy comes with a signature yellow helmet and inferno pistol to help keep my steady supply of coffee warm - nay "recaf." His hands will hold steady because there isn't a movable limb on the figure.

When I paint models at home, I usually have some 40k batreps on in the background. I've listed some of my favorites before, like Tabletop Tactics, Winters SEO, or StrikingScorpion82. Sometimes I'll have painting videos on from Miniac or Erbert Heraderp but painting videos really require more attention to what is happening on screen - while I can just listen to batreps and be entertained by the story that is unfolding. Yesterday I found a new Youtube channel and I was blown away by their first batrep; Play on Tabletop. From the perspective of a professional videographer and photographer, I think this maybe the best batrep I've seen produced. They have multiple cameras, glide tracks or some other handheld steady-cam devices, great narration by someone not playing, player interviews that are insightful, everything is in focus, music with transitions between songs on top of color correction/grading, fantastic audio from mics or booms from the players despite being in a ...

Just like the title says, the Warhammer 40k Big FAQ 2018 2 is out! You can download the FAQ from the Warhammer Community page  HERE! *The first big change is the change to Psychic focus. Except for smite, each psychic power can only be cast once! There goes my Ork "Da Jump" force ... Honestly, in the games I've played, smite is the biggest problem, not the other powers. *Next the big change is to the tactical reserves. "Units that arrive as reinforcements must now wait until the second battle round to do so – they are reserves that arrive to reinforce your army mid-battle, not reinforce it before your opponent has had a chance to move any of their own models." *Also, the amount of reserves is now limited by points, not the number of units. *The advance deployment stratagems took a hit. Armies like Stygies VIII, Raven Guard, Alpha Legion get a pre-game 9" move instead of being able to deploy 9" away from an enemy. Personally, I think it shoul...

This driver gets it. Road rage - Built Ork Tough. I've never wanted a beater car to paint up more than I do now. I'd have to invest in new brushes though. 

I'm busy building out my Salamanders/IG force for some upcoming tournaments and I start second guessing my build and daydream about retooling my Admech. I did a quick Google search for some color schemes for a Mars/Stygies combined force and I found Spikey Bit's photos of my army from the LVO a couple of years ago! Pilgrims of Erudition Spoiler alert: they didn't do well, but I did have fun playing them!

Since switching to my new job with the State, I've had little to no time off for gaming, painting or anything much related to my hobbies. Some days are literally 4:30 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. with little time for eating or even bathroom breaks. Needless to say, I've not had much time to blog either and I apologize for the silence. My new job does have a lot of travel time - by plane or car - and that does give me some time to daydream and I have managed to scribble down an idea for a naval/amphibious based Space Marine chapter in the style of a fan Wiki. I call them, the Sea Wolves! I've started making a chapter master model from the generic Space Marine Captain. I've given him a peg leg and converted his weapon into a trident-sword. Let me know what you guys think! Peg leg conversion. Relic Blade/power sword trident conversion. New Chapter Creation: Sea Wolves aka Aquamarines Founded: 27th Founding – Ultima Founding Successors of: Unknown Chapter...

Over the past week, there has been a lot of drama around several "pro fans" in the Magic the Gathering community which was largely ignited between a cosplayer and a MTG centered Youtube channel host and now that drama seems to be bleeding into the Warhammer 40k Youtube-space. MtG cosplayer, Christine Sprankle, said she was leaving the hobby after being harassed by Jeremy Hambly from Unsleeved Media/ MTGHeadquarters for some of the horrible things he said in posts about her. In a show of solidarity, others fighting for social justice in support of Sprankle have flagged Jeremy and Unsleeved at every opportunity for his harassment. The end result is that Jeremy has been handed a lifetime ban from Wizards of the Coast for his behavior. Needless to say this is a big blow to his business, he's lost a lot of fans, and what I presume is sizable income source, and he's been fighting back in some posts on his channels. From the clips that I've watched, he argues that ...

Every year, I ask my wife for gaming supplies or models and I rarely get them as gifts for the holidays. The exception is my buddies who understand the hobby/addiction will often give something I need to further my current project. Here's what I'd like this year: 1. Dice that roll 6s when I want. 2. A Stormraven (or two.) 3. 5 Ork Weirdboys (or weirdboyz.) 4. Blood Angel Horus Heresy figs. 5. 4Ground buildings (something that would fit in WWII or the Grimdark city fight scene) 6. Another Guilliman model to convert into a Sangunious. 7. More time to game. 8. My own Youtube channel to post battle reports. 9. Dice that roll 1s when I want.

Ryan and I got together tonight for a game of Warhammer 40k 8th Edition. The store had a couple of packs of Open War cards left so I bought a deck and we played the game we were dealt. I have to admit, I had a blast! We were both excited as we drew the cards, not knowing how our armies would play out in random game play. The nature of the game meant that we would have to out play our opponent and not rely on the optimized build. Since Ryan is just getting back into the game and still gathering models for his army, this worked out great for both of us. New 8th Edition Open War Cards  This was our initial draw. We also pulled two Twist cards - Set Piece Battle and Battle Frenzy - every model got an additional attack! It made perfect sense for Ryan's Blood Angel Lamentors and my Astral Claws were happy to join in the frenzy of our separatist brothers. Ryan brought three of the new Primaris Reivers. They can do some work. Astral Claw lurking in the back field. I hav...

As a former journalist, I finally get to put on my old "press pass" and share a bit of breaking news and perhaps a spoiler:  Games Workshop has been slowly releasing some teasers about the chapter tactics in posts on the Warhammer Community page on Facebook (and possible elsewhere.) I had only seen Raven Guard and White Scars up to this point but an article aimed at new players may have spoiled the future teasers and it included a graphic of the new Space Marine codex chapter tactics.   Chapter Tactics Matrix Here are my thoughts: Ultramarines: They received a very good tactic in the ability to add +1 leadership. Since players will be making a lot more leadership rolls, especially since you still need to test even if you win close combat and you’ve taken a casualty, this is a very useful but not over-powered ability. White Scars: The darlings of the tournament scene got a smashing chapter tactic reminiscent of their old tactics with the ability to charg...

Here's a quick shot of two of the terrain pieces I primed today. A small building with a shielded top for sci-fi games and a Greek style monument for use in historical through modern and sci-fi games. My two sets of terrain that I've been working on fit into one or both of those categories. The Greek pieces are really a part of my Old Hammer Ultramarines/any Greco-Roman 40k army like Blood Angels and the small building can fit in with any of my urban sci-fi/city fight terrain. Those table tops are my two favorites but someday I'll expand into a winter/snow setting and perhaps a chaotic realm, but for now, city fight and ancient Greece are my favorite flavors.

There's are a couple of rumors floating around from Games Workshop about new Warhammer 40k rules and models releases; as well as major changes to the fluff. Rumor 1: All of the Primarchs will return, including the dead. Rumor 2: One of the traitor Primarchs will become a loyalist and one of the Imperial loyalists will become a traitor. I got into a discussion with some people on a thread on Spiky Bits' Facebook page about it and here are my theories. The Emperor will briefly return, only to be killed again. Once he finally dies, all of the pysker souls he's been consuming on the golden throne will coalesce and bring all of the dead primarchs back to life. The missing primarachs will rush back to Holy Terra like moths to a flame. Of course, this means both Horus and Sanguinius have returned as well. Horus will see the results of his actions and will repent his wicked ways, blame Ebrus/Logar and the Word Bearers for tricking him into corruption and turn to the sid...

Last weekend I traveled to the glitzy lights of the Las Vegas strip with my Ad Mech army, the Pilgrims of Erudition, to compete in the Warhammer 40k Championships at the Las Vegas Open. It has been said that it was the largest miniature war gaming tournament, ever. I didn't do well. My first night in Vegas, I got sick. Like, really sick. I've had chronic stomach problems most of my life but this was bad - and not like my usual issues. It wasn't pretty. I bought some Pepto from gift shop and soldiered on. I even found a few minutes to slip a few bucks into the one armed bandits and didn't walk away any richer and my luck never got better. The first night I found the main gaming hall. It was huge. I've never seen so many gaming tables since the Texas Wargames Con. Folks were still setting up until the wee hours of the morning but I got see a few Youtube gaming celebrities, like Dave from Miniwargaming.com, Lawrence from Table Top Tactics, and Ace Face f...