Fire Hawks Logo Sheet

"In the year 963.M41 the Fire Hawks were sent to the Crows World subsector against Eldar pirates. The entire chapter-fleet, including the chapter's mobile space-fortress Raptorus Rex, made a successful warp jump from the Piraeus system 120 light years from Crows World. The five ships, over eight hundred brethren, and two thousand other personnel expected to reach Crows World within no more than 12 hours. They never arrived.

Twenty years after the event the chapter was officially declared lost in the warp and presumed destroyed. The great Bell of Lost Souls tolled a thousand times, and it said that the Emperor himself ordered a Black Candle to be lit in the Adeptus Chapel of Fallen Heroes."


Its finally the Fire Hawk's turn. This chapter, borne of the 21st "Cursed" Founding has a very close tie with BoLS. One could call the Fire Hawks our Godfather chapter, as the origin of the Bell of Lost Souls in 40k canon is in the original Legion of the Damned article that described their origins in the unfortunate chapter.

We are doing them now as part of the Badab War campaign book, but they really are a cool chapter. How cool is it to throw down on the tabletop with the chapter that becomes the Legion of the Damned? Did I mention their chapter scheme is yellow with flames...not to mention the nuclear blast symbol. Enjoy guys!


We have been noting for a while that GW does a great job of covering the "Big 4" chapters with their decal sheets. However, there are a number of great looking 2nd and later Founding chapters who get a good amount of back-story and have great alternative uniform colors that never have had decals produced for them. In the interest of promoting diversity in the Space Marine community and encouraging players to branch out beyond the "Big-4", I continue our line of logo sheets for some of these other chapters who I think look great and have no GW decal support.

Here is the link to the PDF file for the logo sheet you can freely pull down and use:

Download Here

The sheet is designed for printout on decal printer paper which is easily available online. These decals are designed for the CLEAR decal paper. The procedure is as follows:

CLEAR PAPER: If you use the clear decals, the decals need to be applied to a white colored surface to be visible at all. The procedure for applying the "outline only" decals is to apply them to a white surface, and wait till they are fully dried. Then paint in the Fire Hawk's yellow around the logos. It is odd, but gets the job done.

Click here for a detailed Custom Decal Tutorial

This sheet is sized for superheavy vehicles up towards the top and scales down to marine scout shoulderpad size at the very bottom. I have included the standard "nuclear blast" chapter logo first described in the Rogue Trader Badab War article. Please make sure you run off a test sheet first on your printer to make sure.

In any case, enjoy and I wish you the best in using this set for your forces.

~Please feel free to leave comments if there is a special Chapter, Craftworld, or something else you would love to collect, but have no GW decal options, and I will see what I can do.

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NEWS: Adepticon 2009 Registration Opens

AdeptiCon 2009 Registration Now Open!

Registration for the “can’t miss” miniature wargaming event of the year is now open! AdeptiCon 2009 will return on April 3rd to the Chicagoland area for our seventh year of Games Workshop and other miniature wargaming madness.

Click here to check out our new and improved lineup of events!
http://www.adepticon.org/files/2009schedules.pdf

Pre-register online at: http://www.adepticon.org/cart/

This year we will be moving to the Westin Lombard Yorktown Center in Lombard, IL, located just outside of Chicago.

AdeptiCon 2009 Hotel Information
The Westin Lombard Yorktown Center
70 Yorktown Center
Lombard, Illinois 60148
Phone: (630) 719-8000
Fax: (630) 719-8079
AdeptiCon Room Rate: $109.00/night
Group rate available until March 11, 2009 (Subject to availability)
Parking: Free

Reservations can be made by calling the The Westin Lombard Yorktown Center directly (1-630-719-8000) or by visiting http://www.starwoodmeeting.com/StarGroupsWeb/booking/reservation?id=0808063151&key=1184D

Full details of our new host can be found on http://www.adepticon.org/modules.php?name=Hotel

Register Early!
Pre-register online and your AdeptiCon Weekend Badge (required for entry to all AdeptiCon events) will be discounted to $25. This discounted price will be available until January 31, 2009.

On February 1st, the price for the AdeptiCon Weekend Badge will go up to $30, so don’t delay and register online today at http://www.adepticon.org/cart/

What’s New at AdeptiCon 2009
We’ve added new events to the roster this year, including a Lord of the Rings singles tournament, a 2-day Blood Bowl tournament, a new Warhammer Historical demo, and a new, improved lineup of Hobby Seminars.

Many of our signature events have been modified and updated, including the Warhammer 40K Gladiator, which now offers players a chance to field 2250 point armies in four rounds of no-holds barred competition. Read the new rules for all events carefully – even if its got the same name as before, there may be differences you don’t want to be surprised by!

http://www.adepticon.org/modules.php?name=2009rules

AdeptiCon 2009 Allowed 40K Units/Codexes
Are you wondering exactly what is allowed at AdeptiCon for 40K players? Wonder no longer – download our list of allowed 40K rules/codexes, and our list of allowed 40K ForgeWorld units from the links below.

http://www.adepticon.org/09rules/0940KArmyList.pdf
http://www.adepticon.org/09rules/0940KIAList.pdf

Register Today!
Remember, your AdeptiCon Weekend Badge will be available for $25 until January 31, 2009. All events are available on a first-come, first-served basis, so register online today and reserve your spot at AdeptiCon 2009.

http://www.adepticon.org/cart/

~The Fly Lords will be there and we hope to see as many of you as can make it.

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NEWS: Forgeworld Price Adjustment

And not the kind you think...

Just in from the latest Forgeworld news release... an across the board prise DECREASE! Read below:

Forge World Will be Passing on UK Tax Reduction to its Customers Recently, the UK Government has decided to reduce the rate of Value Added Tax (the UK sales tax) on all products subject to it by 2.5%, reducing it from 17.5% to 15%.

As a result Forge World will be passing on the effect of this reduction to all its customers with immediate effect, which will be represented by a reduction in our prices. All orders placed on our online store from now on will be processed and charged at these new lower rates, (except for our book products, which are not subject to VAT.)

This is great news for all our customers worldwide, because although this is a UK tax change, we have decided to apply these new lower prices to all the orders placed directly with Forge World, not just those from within the UK. This means that Forge World models are now lower in price for everyone.

~Once again, this news combined with the recent surge in the value of the US Dollar versus the Pound Sterling makes this good time to splurge for Forgeworld if there is something you US readers have had your eye's on. I know I'm getting another Firestorm turret to beef up my Eldar Riposte Host.

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PAINTING: Bigred's Dark Elves Grow

Hi all,

Here's a little followup post regarding that Dark Elf army i've been working up for my initial foray into Fantasy. Since the last time we chatted, I've fulfilled my promise of not buying any more fantasy minis until every single one I bought with my initial purchase got painted up. So here they are. I've got the army color theme established and just need to really go into "factory production mode" So far we have:

10 Cold One Knights
10 Shades
1 Lokhir Fellheart

I'm off to pick up a Dark Elf Batallion box which will get me:

20 Corsairs
5 Cold Ones
16 Warriors w/ crossbows
12 Warriors w/spears & shields






~I've been playing a few games and am still quite shaky but starting to get my Fantasy "sea legs". I know a bunch of you guys play both systems, so what is you advice for my next set of purchases to build upon this core to get a lean and mean 2250 pt army? Note than I am a big fan of the Cold One Knights models, and I really like the Repeater Bolt Throwers.

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OPEN THREAD: Happy Thanksgiving!

~Have a Happy Thankgiving from everyone here at BoLS! Open thread, so have at it...gobble,gobble.

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Tournament and GT thoughts...

Anyone who pays attention to the metagame of 40k and the results of the GT's must be wondering, how the hell do you deal with orks? When you look at the top players in most of the GT's this year, you see a creeping sensation of green all over the upper tables. So if you are thinking of throwing some dice in any type of event, you better be prepared to face some green and hope that the waagh roll comes up a 1. So today, I want to go through some thoughts that might help out your armies versus the oncoming wave of smelly jerks that run out of some kind of cobbled together monstrosity.

In order to beat orks, you need to first look at their strengths.

1. Cheap as hell!! One ork boy with 2 to 3 attacks based, with WS 4 and Toughness 4 for 6 points a piece is just about insane. Mix that with a really good gun (18" Assault 2) and you have a mean threat that can put a lot of hurt out on a unit if they hit.

2. Fearless without being fully fearless. The mob rule is a pretty sweet ability that allows to ignore a lot of methods that are normally used for large squads of guys. Plus, once you get down to under 10 in assault, you still can have a high leadership due to having 9 or so boyz.

3. Orks Power Klaws are still effective, due to having a larger amount of attacks (3) for the model that can take a Power Fists. Most of the time, you are looking at 2 attacks with a fist for any other army, but with nobz you get 3 base, 4 on the charge. That is more then enough to put a squishin' on something.

4. Large units means you can cover more then one objective, if you placed them close together.

5. Did I saw cheap?

The big issue with most tournaments is that people are not changing their lists for 5th edition. The influx of objective marker games has created the whole, look for the goodies instead of just killing the opponent. Mix that with a large push for everything getting cover, and you have a game that no longer is as dominated by shooting the hell out of your opponent. These things are why the new ork codex has put an iron grip on the tournament scene. You have an army that can throw down large units, that are constantly getting cover saves, as well as being extremely efficient in combat. Since people are playing the goodies game, orks can cover a ton of ground, and thus grab a lot of the goodies. So how do you combat this?

1. Take lots and lots of templates that can cover a ton of models. Yeah they get cover saves, but if you are wounding 10+ models, you will still be killing 5+ at a time. And once you get the unit under 15, it becomes less scary and easier to manager.

2. Flamers are great. Orks have crap for armor, so basically you are hitting 4+ models per template and wounding half of them. If you have a flamer with a higher strength, then just watch as you roast a ton of the green off those bastards.

3. Use dedicated assault units. Khorne Bezerkers are great at tearing apart 30 man orks squads. Hell marine assaults squads also can put a hurting on orks and cause them to take fearless wounds at the end of combat. Thunder hammer terminator squads are death squads to just about any unit they touch, especially orks.  If you win by 10, and they are still fearless, they are taking 10 more wounds.  If that doesn't kill them off, the next round of combat should and you will get a free d6 movement to get closer and put some hurting on the boyz.

4. Castle up, don't spread out. If you take a corner and make them come at you, you will force them to funnel their units. Once they start funneling, your templates will start eating large chunks of their army out.

5. Don't be afraid to sacrifice a unit in order to get the orks to assault the way you want them too. Remember, if they kill out the squad, they are left there to sit around and you can easily take out lots with template weapons. Flamers lover models after an assault.

6. 14 armor is a pain in the butt for orks to deal with. The only thing with str 10 is the warboss, and you can easily take him out with what is in your Land Raider.

These are some things that people need to think about when putting together their armies. The ork armies you are seeing right now, can be easily handled with just a little bit of thought. Of course there are ways for the orks to change to help combat this, but the games should not be as one sided as it looks in the tournament.

Armies to look at, if orks are becoming a problem in your area.

1. Chaos: Lash is great versus orks. Mix that with most of your units being good in assault, means you have a great way to deal with the green skins. You also have access to templates as well as some solid units to help dish out some hurt.

2. Marines: Thunder hammer terminators are death squads for any army. Why weren't we seeing more of them at the GT? I am not sure, but if any one of those squads hit a nob biker unit, don't expect your 800+ pt unit to survive the hammer beatings. Why wasn't Shrike out there making your terminators fleet. Or why wasn't there 3 Land Raiders with 3 squads of hammer men hanging out and putting the smack down on people?

3. Sisters: Constantly Leadership 9, mixed with auto killing weapons (Exorcists for nobz) and lots and lots of flamers gives you a great chance versus just about anything orks throw at you. Mix that with a great anti horde weapon (bolter) and troop transports with flaming death on it, and you have a good army that can combat the ork monstrosity.

4. IG: Templates, templates and more templates. Lots and lots of orks die if you get hit by tank templates. And hell, the scatter doesn't matter as much, as the unit is 30+ big.

5. Nurgle Daemons: Not the best army, but they sure do a great job killing orks. High toughness mixed with taking off attacks can put a hurt on anything orky. Mix that with a unit that can throw out a big template and is pretty impervious to most ork weapons (Soul grinder) and you have a mixture that is pretty scary for orks.

So there you go, some things to think about if you are playing lots and lots of greenskins in your local store. Now how do orks deal with this new threat of pain from other armies? Welp that is another article as I go into how orks need to evolve to deal with the changes in the tournament scene.

Some new art here. Look for an article about my building a chaos mortals army and painting it up for paint challenge from my local store owner. But enough of that, here is a pic.


If you have any questions about the list or want to know more, shoot me an email. And again, the link below takes you to my art and miniature commission site.

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EVENT: Bargains at GW Bizarre Bazaar

The next Bizarre Bazaar customer flea market at Games Workshop stores across the U.S. will be on December 6 and 7. These flea markets are a great way for GW hobbyists to buy, sell and trade GW products amongst themselves. Whether you are looking to sell off some unwanted product so you can buy new, trade some items for another, or seeking a rare collectible model from days of yore, Bizarre Bazaar is where you ought to be. You never know what items you might find in another hobbyist's bargain bin. You might even find that rare out of print model you've always wanted.

Don't hesitate, pack up those no longer wanted or used items and head off to your local GW store on the morning of December 6. And here's a tip from experience, get there early to make sure you don't miss the best bargains or if you're selling, some of your best potential customers.

I've been able to subsidize my hobby nicely since GW started having these flea markets in 2007. I've sold a lot of older items I no longer used in order to pay for a lot of nice new models and game books. I've also made some great trades where no one spent any money, but everyone walked away happy with something they wanted. Some of the bargains I've seen at these events include an LotR Mumak for $25, Land Raiders new in box for $30, Eldar Wraithguard for $4 each and once I even saw a $1 for each metal model bin. I've also found the flea markets to be tremendous fun and I've met a lot of nice new people at previous Bizarre Bazaar events. If you've never been to Bizarre Bazaar before, I highly recommend it.

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DESIGN CHALLENGE: Star Phantoms Scheme Edition

OK guys,

After exhausting every scrap of background we can find, we've struck out on the paint scheme for the Badab War's Star Phantoms.

This chapter was brought into the warzone after several years and charged with assaulting Badab itself and smashing the Astral Claws. They have an entire piece of fiction dedicated to them in Cities of Death, yet no images, or even hints as to thier appearance appear.

Thats where you guys come in!

In one week I will select the best Chapter scheme submissions and put them up for a BoLS reader poll. The winning scheme gets into the Badab book. The submission rules are:

1) The Deadline is December 3rd.
2) The submission should be created using Bolter and Chainsword's superb space marine painter tool. (you may have to do a screen capture and cut out the image)
3) Make the marine background white. (not the gridlines)
4) Throw in a short explanation for the color scheme and armor/equipment options selected. (2 sentences max)
5) Submit the image and the text to the BoLS emailbox (top right column) with the subject line "STAR PHANTOMS".
6) For Extra Credit you can attach a suggested Chapter Logo.

~Turn on those artistic skill and good luck! The title image is an Black Templar example of the type of image we're looking for.

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EVENT: Black Friday, Tanksgiving Update!

Games Workshop will be having a special Black Friday Celebration on Friday, November 28. Special merchandise will be available on that day. Visit the GW Black Friday Events web page for full details.

Also part of the Black Friday weekend-long celebration will be the Tanksgiving Armor Clash I posted about last week. This super-mega-multi-store event will occur in GW stores all across the U.S. on Saturday, November 29. Here's the latest information about it from this week's GW e-newsletter:

Saturday: Tanksgiving
It's back and bigger and badder than ever! You will not only be playing against opponents across the table, but across the entire country! We're going for the biggest simultaneous tank battle ever recorded. So while you're shelling the Defiler thirty inches away, pick up the phone and call in an Orbital Bombardment thirty states away!

There's a special announcement about Tanksgiving in the Black Friday Events section of the GW website. Note that there are also Warhammer Fantasy and Lord of the Rings events as well. These are called "The Summoning" and "Dark Riders" respectively. Visit the links provided in this article for more information.

If you want to keep up with all the latest news on these kinds of events, GW has a newsletter which you can receive regularly via email. You can get on the newsletter mailing list by signing up for it at the Games Workshop website.

Being a fan of all things Chaos and happy to display it too, I have to get myself one of those terrific Black Friday special limited edition Four Powers of Chaos T-shirts. I will be at the store when the doors open to make sure I get one. Chaos must be served!

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Images from the Baltimore GT

Hi all,

Kind reader Auxellion forwarded these links to YouTube slideshows he made from the 2008 Baltimore GT. They are pretty well done and give a nice feel of taking part in these types of events.

Baltimore GT 2008

Baltimore GT 2008 Armies

~I know many, many of you have never gone to a major 40k or Fantasy event, but if it at all interests you you should try it at least once. I remember at first I was intimidated by the concept, but it really is just a big gathering of folks like you who truly love the hobby. In the end, its the people , the great armies, and the conversations that are the most compelling reasons to keep going to these things.

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REVIEW: Mathias Thulmann, Witch Hunter

Timo is back with our latest Black Library review:

Mathias Thulmann, Witch Hunter– C.L. Werner

As most Black Library collector’s editions, this book contains three short stories as well as three books belonging to the same series, the only difference being that the stories were actually written chronologically (the first short story was penned in 2001, the last book in 2008).

Mathia Thulmann and his shady companion Streng are sent to investigate mysterious murders in a community, where they uncover the strange doings of an undead and his necromant, who are in search of a grimoire full of evil spells, "Das Buch Die Unholden". Quite a few strands of plot are joined over the course of the three related novels; all protagonists and antagonists seems to be on the prowl for this dark opus in one way or another, thereby establishing the story’s leitmotif. Due to this, the novels connect to one another perfectly, which creates a perfect Omnibus. Thulmann’s antagonists range from mad scientists to Skaven, turning this book into a downright case of dog eat dog. Every character involved is driven only by his own selfish interests, which results in a daring yet very crafty story.

Over the course of the book, a plethora of additional information breathes life into the character Mathias Thulmann. Not only do we find out about his thoughts and moral values, the story also sheds some light upon dark events in his past, and so the witch hunter becomes more vivid. The difference becomes clear when we compare this to the short stories from the time between 2001 and 2004, where the character seems more like an action hero straight out of an 80’s B movie. He comes across as a cold and two-dimensional entity with a smart catch phrase always ready to be said.This goes to show that the story’s main character is not the only one who undergoes major development; C.L. Werner evidently makes some progress as a writer.

Still my favorite character here is Streng. This mercenary and witch hunter’s side-kick drinks, hits on women, enjoys torture and has his own special view of the concept of "honor". He fits perfectly into Warhammer Fantasy’s dark world view.

Werner puts German terms to use relatively well, so they don’t give away the plot or make you laugh unwillingly if you are familiar with the German language. This is actually the case with some Warhammer Fantasy RPG adventures as well as a few Blood Bowl novels, where, for example, the horse’s name is "Pferd", which is really just German for "horse".

I only had a problem with this book’s open ending, which leaves situations unfinished and calling for a sequel. After reading 761 pages it disappoints me to see "to be continued" written at the very end. Closed endings like those of the Gaunt’s Ghosts or the Gotrek and Felix series just sit better with me.

So this Omnibus is a good read all in all, even if it will not find a spot in the top ranks of all Warhammer novels.

~3.5 Stars (out of 5)

~Bigred here. As usual comments are welcome and expect to see more novel reviews from Timo in the days ahead.

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SNEAK PEEK: 2nd Wave Orks and Lizardmen

Hi All,

As some industrious readers have noted, the GW 2009 Catalog has hit the stores and includes some nice little peeks at certain of the upcoming Lizardmen and Ork minis headed our way this January and February.

Check these shots out. We've seen the models before, but here are additional shots of them all painted up. Enjoy guys.







~That battlewagon is a real interesting kit. There are some kits that just scream out for you to buy them even in the plastic. Yet there are others which seem to magicly transform into amazing kits as soon as they get paint on them. Just compare the painted battlewagon kit to these pics to see what I'm talking about.

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Victor Hardy's Chaos Deamons Army

Hi all,

Its been a long time since we've done an painting collection post. Last night I was playing a game and glanced over to the next table to see none other than two-time Slayer Sword winner Victor Hardy, throwing down on the tabletop against Darkwynn's Black Templars.

I quickly forget whatever I was previously doing, grabbed the camera and introduced myself. Victor is currently living in the Austin area, and we are humbled to have his armies make regular appearances at our FLGS.

On behalf of the Fly Lords, BoLS, and the State of Texas: Welcome Victor! For this post, I am putting up a small set of the full resolution pics of his Chaos Daemon army for your viewing pleasure. As Aventine noted, when you line up across the tabletop from an army like this you realize that Victor's painting makes YOU -2 leadership. Just amazing stuff. Enjoy!






~If you all have any comments let's hear them. If we're lucky Victor might even be checking in on the thread.

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NEWS: Citadel Bitz & Collectors Catalogues

Games Workshop has updated their Bitz and Collectors Catalogues and placed them on their website as PDF downloads. Many terrific models are now available again and some useful bitz too. For example, if you want to buy a few horse models for that special mounted conversion you can now do so again. Visit the GW website for full details.

Personally, there are a few items I'd still like to see added back into the Bitz range. While I appreciate what GW is trying to do with the metal "weapons upgrade" packs of melta-guns, plasma guns, flamers, lightning claws and thunder hammers, I'd much rather have the plastic sprue equivalents available even though they'd be a bit more expensive. The Tactical Marine Upgrade sprue, Chaos Marine Icon And Upgrade sprue, and the Assault Terminator arm sprue would be terrific bitz offerings. Over the past couple years GW has largely moved away from hybrid kits of plastic models with metal conversion bitz, so why offer the old metal bitz for conversions in the bitz pack service? I'd much rather have the plastic sprues with those upgrade bitz available as bitz packs. Especially that Chaos Marine Icon sprue; there are so many essential bitz on that sprue for building specially equipped squads and cult models, decorating vehicles with icons, etc. More than a year after it's release I'm still frustrated that it cannot be purchased in quantity by itself. I'd also like to be able to purchase the Razorback Turret sprue without having to buy it bundled with the Predator sponson sprue.

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NEWS: Orks On Advance Order!

The following models are now available for Advance Order in the GW US on-line store:
- Ork Battlewagon ($50)
- Ork Nobz ($25)
- Ork Kaptin Badrukk ($20)
- Ork Boss Snikrot ($15)

There are of course photos for each new model in the GW on-line store. Pictures of the Battlewagon fully painted can be found there as well as in last month's issue of White Dwarf, in pictures around the Internet from Games Day Italy, etc. The Ork Battlewagon kit contains 113 parts, so there's a lot to see. You might also wish to see GW's Janu-Waaagh!-ry Preview article for more pictures and product information. Here are some additional pictures of the Battlewagon in an unpainted state:




Some of you may recall that I posted these photos of the Battlewagon a while back, then removed them. In spite of a few crazy conspiracy theories about why they were removed, let me assure you there were no dark forces at work except the forces of Chaos that caused the model to be displayed too early. The model was put on display in the store in error and when the mistake was corrected I removed my photos as well as a courtesy to my friends at GW. Two days after the error, the model was revealed in all its glory at Games Day Italy, hence the consternation over the early display. Now that pictures of the model abound everywhere, including the GW on-line store, I share with our BoLS readers again some revealing shots of the detail and some of the options on the new Ork Battlewagon. If you're buying one, I hope you enjoy the model. It looks great. Unfortunately I have no time for an Ork army, I tried Orks once and gave them away to another starting out in the hobby years ago. Alas, I'm too busy for Orks because of Chaos Marines, Eldar, Space Marines, Fantasy Chaos, Daemons... Um, er, you get the idea.

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Designer Challenge: Renegades Edition

Hi everybody,

It's time to reveal the next big campaign book headed your way. The Badab War is looking like it will be a whole lot of fun and we have just "broken ground" on it. It is still a ways off, but I would like your input on a couple of points while we are still at a formative stage.

First, it is my intention to do this campaign book a little differently. BoLS is firstly a community of enthusiast gamers, and I want this next effort to reflect that. Expect to see many more design challenges regarding the Badab War book as the Fly Lords "widen the circle" and bring you all inside the design group. You guys really helped keep me on my toes with the Arbites Minidex, and I hope to expand on the dialogue with Badab.

Now onto the actual design challenge. The Badab War is a setting of rebellion, misplaced honor and tragic mistakes. The chapters involved range from the loyal, to the duped, to the truly treasonous.

GW has given us 2 codices to fill this wide spectrum, the Space Marine and CSM codices. We are told that if you love the Emperor you use codex A, and when you renounce him, you use codex B. Badab however gives us a concrete example of chapters at the knife edge of decision. To me, it seems odd that on Monday your chapter is loading up the droppods, and polishing the Thunderfire Cannons, yet on Tuesday is summoning daemons and unchaining the Defilers.

My question to you our readers is what is the ideal framework to build armies for this campaign. With the extreme cases such as the Astral Claws and Salamanders the codex choice is clear, but what of the "mushy middle" chapters? Also take into account the timeline; Badab is pre-13th black crusade and defilers had not been sighted yet. Remember too that all the armies need to be balanced and fun. No one paints up an army and signs up for a campaign just to get slammed against a wall for seveal weeks in a row.

~Welcome to the exciting world of campaign design, its gonna be a fun ride! Let's hear your thoughts. May the best ideas win.

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NEWS: GW Shrine of Knowledge Update

Games Workshop has recently updated The Shrine of Knowledge introductory page in the FAQ and Errata section of the US GW website. Notable amongst the changes is the fact that there is no longer a flow chart for problem resolution, but there is a succinct explanation as to the difference between errata and FAQ documents as well as their intent regarding the level of authority of these documents. Please visit The Shrine of Knowledge for full information.

On a different topic, congratulations to all the fellows in the BoLS crew who participated in the Baltimore tournaments last weekend. Thanks for coming all the way out here to Maryland and thanks for stopping by the Battle Bunker to say, "hi". It was great meeting you!

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Baltimore GT report 3rd Best General/5th place overall

Welp as the title suggests, I did pretty well up in Baltimore. I decided to take my orks with me this time, and played a horde/bike lists that was set up to take advantage of 5th edition (low kill points, large amount of troops to score, high damage potential with a hand to hand unit that could cause total whip outs).

My list again for those that missed it.
HQ: Warboss, bike, cybork, PK, attack squig, kombi skorcha, bosspole X 2
Troops: Nobz (7), Painboy, Kombi Skorcha (3), Waagh banner, Bikes, PK (3)
Troops: Slugga/choppa (29), Rokkits (3), Nob, Bosspole, PK
Troops: Shoota (29), Big Shootas (3), Nob, Bosspole, PK
Troops: Shoota (29), Big Shootas (3), Nob, Bosspole, PK
Elites: Lootas (15)

Pts: 1750 Killpoints: 7 Scoring: 4




RD 1: VS Keith Rinaldi and his Witch Hunters. 2 Exorcists and some Storm Troopers with an Inquisitor Lord and some Assassins.
Game was a 5 objective game with a spear head deployment and Keith rolled to go first and took the first turn. I did not seize the initiative and the game was on. I set up in a brick of Slugga/choppa boyz to "protect/give cover" to my lootas and the other two large squads of shootas were set to the side. The Nob bikerz and bossess were left in the middle and the game was on. First turn had Keith firing both exorcists into my nobz and only causing 2 wounds per tank. Thus I was able to put the wounds on warbosses and left with only 1 wound on the boss after the initial fire. I turbo boosted after that, and proceeded to chew through his army via the bikerz. He pulled in front and tried to fire into them, but with the 3+ cover save it was a bit hopeless. Nice player and I feel bad from bringing this unit of evil. The game ended with me at 20 and Keith at 3. High point of the game was failing the leadership roll when trying to assault his Inquisitor twice. I still shot him, but I just wanted to get some clickity clack klaw action going.




RD 2: VS Tony Spino and his nicely painted grey Marines. Tony brought a list using Khan as his main guy with infiltrating rhinos and dudes. The mission was annihilation and he had a lot more kill points them me due to rhinos and other bits. The deployment as spearhead and I set up similar to the way I did last round. Tony went first and his speeders didn't put much of a dent. Next turn I shot up his speeders, leaving one alive. He had hidden his bikers and pulled them out the next turn. After some shooting left them less then likely, I pulled my bikes out as a threat. He charged in and I proceeded to klaw my way to victory. After that it was just a matter of time as the nobz went around the board looking for more people to squish. He did infiltrate into my back field and hurt some ork squads, but the combined forces of the two 30 man boyz took some steam out of them and left the rhino as well as the squad dead. The game ended with me at 20 and Tony at 3.




RD 3: VS Matt Hoell and his Khorne influenced Chaos Space Marine army. Mission was Seize ground with 5 objectives and the deployment was Pitched Battle. Matt had a defiler, rhinos filled with Bezerkers, a greater daemon, some daemons, a dreadnought and a LR with Kharn and more bezerkers. The game was a bloody affair, with Kharn and friends eating a bunch of Orks and my bikerz just chewing through squads. Matt made a mistake when he forgot my lootas were strength 7 and could take out the defiler. First volley immobilized it, while the second blew it up. From there it was just down hill as I slowly ate through stuff with the squad and the boyz moved around to take objectives. I did do an non orky thing, and charged the immobilized LR instead of the crazy dreadnought. Hey the LR was worth more points and the dread was got eaten by loota fire. Matt was a great opponent and the game was a testament that Khorne and Orks always win in a bloody battle. Game ended with me at 20 and Matt at 3 as I wiped his army out.



RD 4: VS Neil Cauley. Neil had already taken out Nick earlier. I am sorry for not having a pic of his Army. I could have sworn I had it, but alas it was two squads of 8 Nob bikerz with two warbosses, a 20 man shootas squad and a 10 man Gretchin mob to sit on an objective. The mission was Capture and Control with pitched battle deployment. Let me tell you, nob bikerz are mean. I know how to deal with them, and as you can see in the tournament, the top armies were nob bikerz. My list was designed to deal with the lists out there to kill nob bikerz, but alas there were enough of them out there. For those that want to know, more meltas, thunderhammer terminators, and just power fists are a good way to kill bikerz. As well as Deff Rollas too. Anyway, Neil played a great game and took me out when I had a crap charge into one squad. My guys were dead, and his were not. We called it as his two squads were about to hit my objective and at the very least contest it. Good game and Neil went on to win the whole thing so it isn't too bad that I lost heh.




RD 5: VS Sid Lark. Annihilation and Dawn of War. Sid had a double lash chaos army, with some bezerkers in a LD, two DP's with wings/lash, 2 vindicators, a Greater Daemon and 3 squads of 5 man plague marines in rhinos. A nice Chaos list and gave me a nice game as it was extremely bloody. I ran two squads of boyz forward, and they got chewed on by a 9 man bezerker squad. I ended up killing them out, as well as a DP and left me with a 6 boyz and a nob from one squad. The bikerz went on a rampage as they got to the vindicators after losing all 3 PK nobz. The warbosses took it to the vindicators as well as rhinos and the other DP. I ended the game with 2 warbosses, 1 troop squad, and the left over nobz to his one LR, and rhino with 5 man plague marine squad. Biker squad took out 2 vindicators, 1 greater daemon, a rhino, and one plague marine squad. Extremely bloody game and my vote for favorite player of the tournament.

I thought my list worked out well, the only thing I wished I had more of, was rokkits to deal with light vehicles, or another squad of lootas. Not sure what would have helped, but most likely dropping one of the large boyz squads would have helped me by adding in more rokkits or another squad of lootas. I think it would have helped me control the game easier, as well as give me a lot more fire power for most armies. And for those going into any other tournaments, thunder hammer terminators are gross as well as get more melta. It auto kills stuff and if you are close, will blow up most tanks, including the big ones (LR).

Now some pics from the event. First is Scott Simpsons Sista Sisters. He wanted me to write it that way I swear.



And some other pics of cool armies and minis I saw around.






And finally the plasticard awards from Ard Boyz.



For those that armies I posted, add some comments in there. I am sure there were a ton of other armies I didn't get a chance to show case. Oh besides me hitting 3rd best general in 40k, Austin's own Abe took 2nd best general in Warhammer Fantasy with Jordan Braun taking home Best General in Warhammer Fantasy. Woot for Battleforge Games taking home three plastic trophies.

If you have any questions about the list or want to know more, shoot me an email. And again, the link below takes you to my art and miniature commission site.

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SNEAK PEEK: Lizardman and Dark Elves OH MY!

Pics brought to the community by: DAWARPATH's Turelio

Enjoy these pics snapped at the Australia/New Zealand Games Day.

What we have here are:

-Stegadon: 4 pics including sprue pics
-Lizardman Standardbearer
-Lizardman character: Chakax
-Lizardman Razordon
-Lizardman Kroxigors
-Dark Elf Lord with greatweapon










~The Lizardman are headed your way February. The Dark Elf lord may be the first visual confirmation of the rumored 2nd wave Dark Elf release, but the timing is uncertain. Enjoy guys!

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RUMOR: Ork, Lizardmen Releases

Tabletop Gaming News has confirmed the following Games Workshop model releases for January and February 2009:

January:
-Ork Nobz $25.00
-Ork Stormboyz $25.00
-Ork Gretchin $15.00
-Ork Battlewagon $50.00
-Boss Zagstruk $20.00
-Kaptin Badrukk $20.00
-Boss Snikrot $15.00

February:
-Warhammer Armies: Lizardmen $25.00
-Lizardmen Stegadon $40.00
-Lizardmen Saurus Temple Guard $25.00

These additional Lizardmen releases also appear to be on target for February:
-Lizardmen Kroxigor $20.00
-Tiktaq’to, Master Of Skies $17.00
-Lizardmen Barbed Razordon Hunting Party $25.00
-Lizardmen Scar Veteran With Army Standard $15.00
-Chakax, Eternity Warden $15.00
-Lizardmen Terradon $17.00

Some of the Ork models like the Battlewagon are due for release as early as January 3 according to current postings on the new release boards in US GW stores.

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RUMORS: Apocalypse Inbound

Hi guys,

Remember those two earlier posts we had a while back regarding the rumored Stompa and Baneblade variants? Well whispers on the wind tell us the following:

Stompa
This kit is apparently designed to be somewhat "modular"and allow the construction of any of the Stompa variants from either the hardcover Apocalypse book or Apocalypse Reload.

Baneblade Variant
Apparently this one will have a selection of buildouts allowing for several of our favorite fixed turret baneblade variants. There is recurring chatter of roughly five options possible with this kit.

This Apocaplyse launch window is still said to be on track for arrival in your greedy, sweaty hands in March.

~Standard caveats folks, but boy oh boy! Bulwark may be out of the homebrew stompa business soon, so now maybe he'll finally start on that Ork Landa I've been egging him on to do. For myself, that Baneblade kit sounds like just the trick to help put all the local Warhounds in thier place once and for all. Get ready to raid the piggy bank!

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NEWS: Black Library Free Shipping!

Black Library has free standard shipping until December 1. This includes orders to anywhere in the world. Click here for details.

With the exchange rate down to about $1.50 US to 1 British pound and no shipping charges, now is a better time than usual to get that BL item you've been dreaming about.

I got my Mechanicum shirt from BL yesterday. It's terrific! It took only about 13 days from the time I placed my order to arrive in my mailbox.

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EVENT: Tanksgiving Armor Clash, Nov. 29

Games Workshop US will run their annual "Tanksgiving" event on Saturday, November 29. The idea behind Tanksgiving is to have a record breaking number of armored vehicles involved in near simultaneous games all over the United States. Exact times and event details may vary from store to store depending on space available and other circumstances, so it's probably best to contact your local GW store if you have questions about this event.

Personally, I'm really looking forward to this massive armor clash. As there is a large amount of space available at my local Battle Bunker, Tanksgiving will be an Apocalypse event with super-heavies allowed on the field and multiple game tables running simultaneously. In fact, any model with an armor rating can be used in this event. I'm thinking about fielding four Imperial Baneblade variants and four Chaos variants and conversions just to see what it looks like to put eight Baneblades on the table all at once. This includes my newly built Tower of Skulls daemon engine, which is constructed on top of a Baneblade chassis. If I can find space in the car for more model cases I might throw in some other armored models from my Chaos Marines, Dark Angels and or Imperial Guard as well. One thing is for sure, my Shadowsword pictured at the top of this article will be there, because in 40K Apocalypse, the word "good" begins with the letter "D", as in D for Destroyer weapons!

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NEWS: Citadel Gameboard Large Man Test

While the link to Games Workshop's video of the "Large Man Test" for the new Citadel Realm of Battle Gameboard on the US GW website has been broken since it was first posted late last week, as of this writing the video can be found at the following link on YouTube. For those of you who have been unable to see a sample of this product firsthand, there is a brief glimpse of the back of one of the game board modular tiles in the video, probably the first one officially published by GW.

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ARMYLIST: Eldar Riposte Host - 2000pt

This is one of my current Eldar lists I've been tooling around with, that has given me good results so far.

Summary

Back in 4th I was big believer in Eldar lists designed around the Torrent of Fire/Blows rule mechanic. Then 5th Edition came along and threw that entire concept out the window yet opened up other more interesting tactical combinations, such as this one: The Eldar Riposte Host (say it 10 times fast, its fun!) , a list focussing on rapid reaction to the enemy.

The goal of this list is to unlock the Eldar Codex's maneuver and shatter power based on the new missions and deployment options that came with 5th edition. A secondary focus will be on dealing with a couple of our newest challenges on the 40k scene, the Chaos Daemon army and Marine Droppod lists, both of which are vying for the "Maneuver and Shatter" crown.

So big picture things first...why?

If you're anything like me, you've come to realize over the years that the Eldar list just can't take a punch. Yes you can gussy it up to be a bit more resiliant, but most of the other armies can play that game better. If the Eldar list can only survive to hit the enemy where it is most vulnerable you can do fairly well, and many games are often lost for the Craftworlders by the end of the bottom of turn one if the enemy rolls well.

The Reposte Host fights against this problem by instead offering NO resistance for an enemy to "get the jump" on. In most cases you deploy nothing. Let your opponent face an empty table. This is in fact the desired deployment case for droppod and chaos daemons lists who lose much of thier effectiveness with no enemy to focus on. Let the enemy army lose a turn or two of valuable shooting, or see thier Deathwing/Droppod/Daemon first wave appear into an empty table and do nothing.

At the start of turn 2 the fun begins. Your entire army will arrive from reserve on rolls of 2+ (double Autarchs). Now you get your pick of how to deal with the foe. Study his deployment carefully and focus on your priority targets that are most threatening to your Reposte Host. In most cases this is not the heaviest weapons, but the mid-range high rate of fire weapons such as autocannons, heavybolters, heavy flamers, and the like. High value units caught out of position such as drop-podding dreads, Sternguard, particularly nasty daemons packs and such can be eliminated with massed fire to begin the dismemberment of the enemy force.

What the Reposte Host gives you is the initiative. The list works whether you win the first turn roll of not. Winning first turn means the enemy only gets 1 turn before your arrive instead of 2. The key with these lists is to use fast mobility forces that can get where you need them easily. Anything with range is good, but shortranged forces MUST be mechanized or nimble. Thus Guardians are out, vypers are in. Walking aspects and wraithlords are out, spiders and mechanized aspects are in. Make a special note for ourflankers as these will also arrive on a 2+, making things such as War-walker squadrons with long ranged high-rate of fire weapons valuable.

A final note. While torrent of fire is gone, this list throws out LOTS of wounds, so make sure you have re-read the wound allocation rules and know them backwards and forwards. This list will often snipe out a higher than average number of important squad members during games.

Army List

-----------------------------
HQ ~This pair makes the army work, are mobile, and can combine with other units to provide long ranged AP:3 fire or nasty shock assaults to finish off small isolated units.

Autarch
Jetbike
Reaper launcher, mandiblaster, laser lance

Autarch
Jetbike
Reaper launcher, mandiblaster, laser lance

Elites ~These go in the Falcon and prioritize the destruction of high AV vehicles or elite infantry such as terminators. Don't expect them so survive games.

Fire Dragons (6)

Troops ~The bread and butter of the list. Do not be tempted to use these versus any heavy targets, as they dont have any farseer tricks up their sleeve. You will get only 1 or at most 2 massed triple Bladestorm blasts so pick the soft underbelly of your foe's army well and shatter it in one turn. You will be kicking out over 100 dice of shuriken firepower between the squads and the Serpents, so stay focussed and use it well. Their best defense is little surviving return fire.

Avengers (9)
Exarch Dual catapults, Bladestorm
Wave Serpent; TL Shuriken Cannons, Stones, Star Engines

Avengers (9)
Exarch Dual catapults, Bladestorm
Wave Serpent; TL Shuriken Cannons, Stones, Star Engines

Avengers (9)
Exarch Dual catapults, Bladestorm
Wave Serpent; TL Shuriken Cannons, Stones, Star Engines

Fast Attack~The hunters. These units are built to move. They should be able to pick out targets of thier choosing and reach them quickly (usually vehicle rear armor or elite infantry). Keep them moving or behind cover for increased resiliance until they reach their targets. Wthdraw and hide for last turn objective contention once they get mauled (and they will).

Warp Spiders (9)
Exarch, Twin spinner

Vyper Squadron (3)
Star Cannons

Heavy Support ~Falcons hauls the Dragons where they need to go and assists after the drop. The Warwalkers outlank and keep distance, peppering the foe with massed scatterlaser fire.


Falcon
Scatterlaser/ Shuriken cannon/ Pulselaser
Holo/Stones

Warwalker (3)
Scatterlaser (x6)

~The Reposte concept can work with a variety of lists and combos. The one listed is simply based on my model collection, but I'm sure you guys can make even better ones. Forgeworld is pretty cool for this list concept as flyers and things like Eldar Firestorms are really effective in this context. Comments and feedback are welcome as usual.

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NEWS: GW US Website Improvements

As many customers have observed since the new US Games Workshop website first became active several months ago, there have been some problems with the site being slow and unresponsive. GW has apparently taken note of the problem and as of this evening, the website is temporarily down while it is being moved to newer, faster servers. This news comes directly from the US GW website. Here is a copy of the announcement:

We are currently moving our web site to its new home on newer, faster
servers.
We hope to complete this operation by noon GMT / 7am EST
Monday.

We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.

This is great news for everyone who uses the site both for its hobby content and for making purchases. It should also be good for GW's online sales. As a frequent customer and daily visitor to the site, I find this news most welcome as I've also experienced many problems with the responsiveness of the site. I'm looking forward to checking out the improvements for myself when the site comes back on-line.

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RUMORS: IG Rumblings - Part 2

Rumors brought to the community by Warseer's: druchii lord narackh and philbrad

Hi guys:

Latest rumbling regarding next year's IG codex:

GENERAL RUMORS
-No more doctrines
-Tanks will be in squads
-Many special charaters that will provide army wide rules like those in new SM codex
-Chimera and Hellhound might come in one combo boxed set
-Troop squads may be in the pricerange of 200Pts for 45 Guardsmen
-Many new models

MODEL RUMORS (only a sampling)
-Leman Russ multi-variant all plastic kit
-Hellhound updated
-IG Command Squad plastic kit

~These roughly fall in line with lots the ther earlier set of IG rumors we hard a few weeks back, so taken as a whole we may be starting to get a rough idea of the codex's direction. Standard cavets apply folks.

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CAMPAIGN: Macharian Crusade: Week 4

The Macharian Crusade League continues!

We had almost over 30 folks show up at Battleforge Games yet again, and the Macharian Crusade is pushing and shoving into the galactic west. This fourth week featured most of the seven army groups punching and scratching their way through their second warzones. Lets do a quick recap so everyone can see how the forces of the Lord Solar are faring.

1st Army: Joura Warzone
Krieg Korps, Cadian Rangers vs Tyranids, CSM
The 1st Army Group is mired in the Joura Warzone. The world of New Perth has preseneted a tough challenge to the Krieg Korps. Marshal Hollweg reports losses due to a series of Chaos Space marine Raiders, and is halting to solidify his army's baggage train. Cadia's General Martel reports a further victory against the monstrous fauna of Joura. He is well into a Jouran pacification campaign and awaiting Titan and Ordinatus support to finish the deathworld's ecosystem off.
Status: Slow Advance





2nd Army: Charaxidis Warzone; Battle of Chiros
Mordians, Barac Pioneers vs Chiros Red Guard
Generals Sejanus and Apfel report a complete victory on Chiros. The Arch-Heretic Colonel Richelieu has been killed and his Chiros Red Guard shattered in a major bloody engagement. His armored forces were held in place by stalwart Mordian forces with Legio Metalica support, and bombed into dust by massed Barac air power. Sejanus reports the conquest of the Charaxidis warzone is proceeding with all due haste.
Status: Advancing Quickly








3rd Army: Aurora Warzone
Genswick Rifles, Cadians vs CSM, Tau (Red Technocracy)
General Tarka reports a bloody stalemate on Lapis Majoris. His Cadian Shock Troops have been stalled by holdout partisans of the Red Technocracy as they moved to fully solidy control of the planet. Pineas IV has halted General Collins' Genswick rifles in their tracks. A force of Alpha Legion infiltrators under command of Captain Sorge have destroyed key strategic assets of the 3rd Army. Mechanicus support teams have been redirected into the Aurora Warzone by the Lord Solar to rectify the situation.
Status: Stalled




4th Army: Garden Worlds Warzone
Steel Legion vs Eldar
Hive-Marshal Stanislaw reports a determined yet slow advance versus Il-Kaithe forces in the Garden Worlds. Initial landings on Leto faced a determined Eldar Warhost that inflicted serious damage to the Steel Legion forces. They have since solidified thier landing zones and broken through the xenos cordon, inficting heavy casualties on the enemy. Attempts to link up with Black Templar forces in theatre have been unsuccessful so far.
Status: Slow Advance




5th Army: Calverna Warzone; Battle of Kleistes II, "Da Kablowee"
Cadian, Crimson Guard vs Orks of Calverna
General Crassus has scored a resounding victory for the Crusade. During the spaceborne actions for Kleistes II, General Crassus, assisted by Ordo Xenos Master Pizarro have succeeded in capturing the Ork Killkroozer "Kablowee". The shipboard action was described as a "nightmare" of close quarters fighting in the bowels of the ork vessel, yet the Cadian forces have pulled off an amazing victory. The Calverna battlefleet has moved off, and Crassus has ordered the 5th Army to prepare for give chase deep into the heart of the Ork empire.
Status: Advancing Quickly






6th Army; Palus Olidus Warzone
Catachan, Terrax Armored Corps vs Tyranids
General Arrian reports the campaigh for Palus Olidus continues. Terrax Armored troops have conquered large sections of the planet and are establishing a cordon around a primeval jungle believed to house the theorized "grub mother" of the world's monstrous insects. Catachan forces under General Kariyapa report heavy casualties as they send hundreds of probing missions into this jungle to bring back insectoid genetic samples. Mechanicus Magos are using these to isolate the grub-mother's exact location and determine the best way of destroying her. A detailed Catachan battlereport submitted to the Lord Solar can be reviewed here.
Status: Slow Advance




7th Army; Calverna Warzone
Valhallan Armored Corps vs CSMs
General Cyrus reports an initial push into the vast Calverna Warzone.Cyrus' Valhallan Armored have been waylaid by incessant Chaos Marine raids in the region. An initial landing on Forax was mauled by these brigands as they prepared to engage Ork forces in theatre. Cyrus reports the sitation is slowly stabilizing. The 7th army is moving with speed to link up and support the 5th Army's advance agasint the forces of the Arch-Maniac of Calverna.
Status: Stalled




Total Results:
1st Army: Slow Advance
2nd Army: Advancing Quickly
3rd Army: Stalled
4th Army: Slow Advance (3rd Warzone)
5th Army: Advancing Quickly
6th Army: Slow Advance
7th Army: Stalled

Summary:
The Macharian Crusade is grinding forward. This week sees an uneven general advance by almost every army group. There is very hard fighting occuring throughout the second sets of warzones. The 4th Army under General Lysander is still in the lead, fighting off Il-Kaithe Eldar in the Garden World warzone, but they're slow advance has allowed other army groups to close the gap. Standouts this week are the 2nd and 5th Armies who both have destroyed opposition on the bloody fields of Chiros and successfully captured the Calverna Killkroozer "Kablowee". The Lord Solar is elated and is headed into the Calverna Warzone to plan the destruction of Waaagh Kaboom with Generals Crassus and Cyrus.

Next Week: The xenos counter-offensive...

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NEWS: FW Grey Knights Land Raider Redeemer

Forge World (FW) announced the release of the new Grey Knights Land Raider Redeemer today in their newsletter #206. It will be available as an upgrade kit and as a complete model with resin upgrades. The upgrade kit contains weapons sponsons, twin psycannon and and assault launchers. The complete kit contains the resin conversion kit, along with a FW Grey Knights Tank Commander model and Grey Knights Land Raider Door Set 2, as well as a complete Plastic Space Marine Land Raider Kit. The release date for these kits is November 24. US Battle Bunkers usually have new FW kits for sale approximately 2 to 3 weeks after official release.

FW is also releasing the Psycannon Upgrade as a separate kit for use on Razorbacks and there's a Red Scorpions Chapter Icon pack on its way as well.

Please click the links sprinkled throughout the article above to see pictures of these new products on the Forge World website.

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NEWS: The Astro Mag #2 is Out

Hi everyone,

You didn't think Firebase was the only game in 40k ezine in town? The dedicated gamers over at Astronomicon.com have been busy spinning up their own magazine and have just released their second issue. Go grab it and let us know what you think.

The Astro Mag #2

~I for one am really excited to see the GW online community flourish. It seems that over the last 12 months we've seen the rise of so much exciting content as gamers share ideas, build communities, crank out podcasts, and really push the boundries of the internet. Its a good time to be a wargamer!

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Arbites Conversion Part 3: Sniper

The sniper conversion is very similar to the Arbite conversion. The elbow and knee pads can be done just like for the Arbitor, but lets go adifferent way with the gun.

The end of the barrel was clipped off completely, and then replaced with a catachan lasgun barrel. If you don't have any spare catachan lasguns sitting around, but are planning on building a few black mariahs, you can use the lasguns off of those sprues instead. This adds about 25 to 30% to the length of the gun.

Remember all those barrels you clipped off for the arbite shotguns? Well I hope you saved them, because now it is time to use them. Glue the barrels end to end and then place them on top of the gun for your scope.

To visually separate the snipers from the arbites, I chose different heads. The helmeted tank commander heads from the imperial guard tank accessory sprue were used. The ones with the visors look especially cool.

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Current Project: Lamenters Space Marines

Well here is an tie-in to Red's last post, though from the pic above you can tell I don't have the transfers printed out quite yet. I think this army should be a lot of fun.

For those of you who don't know about the Lamenters, they are a cursed founding chapter who use the gene-seed of Sanguinius with the Black Rage bred out. The downside being they have genetically bad luck. Examples of this include them accidentally siding with Huron during the Badab Uprising, and then for penance being sent into the mouth of Hivefleet Kraken. Barely three companies of Lamenters live in the galaxy now. I'm using the new foundations and washes to create the yellow for my armour. The recipe is this;

1.White spray undercoat
2.Tau Sept Ochre
3.Devlan Mud Wash
4. Iyanden Darksun
5.Highlight Golden Yellow
6.Highlight Sunburst Yellow

So far the checkers have been really fun to paint and I've also added them on place like kneepads and jump pack jets.

Here is the list I am making-

HQ
Captain Roderic w/ Bolter, Power Fist, Hellfire Rounds 135
Librarian Jordanes w/ Avenger, Gate of Infinity 100

Elites
8*Sternguard w/ 2*Combi-plasmas 210
6*Legion of the Damned w/ Multimelta, Power Fist 240

Troops
10*Marines w/ Meltagun, Multimelta, Combi-melta 185
in Droppod 35

10*Marines w/ Meltagun, Multimelta, Combi-melta 185

10*Marines w/ Plasmagun, Plasma Cannon, Power Sword 200

5*Scouts w/ Heavy Bolter, Combi-melta 95

Fast Attack
10*Assault Marines w/ Power Weapon 205

Heavy Support
Land Raider Redeemer w/ Extra Armour 255
6*Devastators w/ 3*Missle Launchers 151

=1996

~Is it getting obvious what Bigred's big mystery is yet? What does everyone think of my first unit? Any ideas on basing?~

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Lamenters Logo Sheet

Look out folks, because those unlucky Lamenters are here. This chapter, borne of the 21st "Cursed" Founding has had their share of misfortune. They are a Blood Angel successor chapter and apparently have eradicated "the flaw" but apparently at an even worse price.

From their taking the wrong side during ther Badab War to their 100 year penitent crusade, to their mauling at the hands of Hive Fleet Kraken, it seems the Lamenters have a bit of an unlucky streak going. Of course when selecting a Marine army to collect who doesn't love an underdog? Enjoy!


We have been noting for a while that GW does a great job of covering the "Big 4" chapters with their decal sheets. However, there are a number of great looking 2nd and later Founding chapters who get a good amount of back-story and have great alternative uniform colors that never have had decals produced for them. In the interest of promoting diversity in the Space Marine community and encouraging players to branch out beyond the "Big-4", I continue our line of logo sheets for some of these other chapters who I think look great and have no GW decal support.

Here is the link to the PDF file for the logo sheet you can freely pull down and use:

Download Here

The sheet is designed for printout on decal printer paper which is easily available online. These decals are designed for the CLEAR decal paper. The procedure is as follows:

CLEAR PAPER: If you use the clear decals, the decals need to be applied to a white colored surface to be visible at all. The procedure for applying the "outline only" decals is to apply them to a white surface, and wait till they are fully dried. Then paint in the Lamenter's black and white checkers around the logos. It is odd, but gets the job done.

Click here for a detailed Custom Decal Tutorial

This sheet is sized for superheavy vehicles up towards the top and scales down to marine scout shoulderpad size at the very bottom. I have included the standard "crying heart" chapter logo. Please make sure you run off a test sheet first on your printer to make sure.

In any case, enjoy and I wish you the best in using this set for your forces.

~Please feel free to leave comments if there is a special Chapter, Craftworld, or something else you would love to collect, but have no GW decal options, and I will see what I can do. Finally, lets see if any of you can solve my little logo sheet archive mystery...

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Arbites Conversion Part 2: The Shock Arbitrator

And now for your viewing pleasure, we present the second installment of Bell of Lost Souls' critically acclaimed series: Arbites Conversions for dummies.
Begin this model the same as you did your Arbitrator. Greenstuff the elbows and knee pads.

The shield is a bit tricky. I had several left over from the Arbites bitz order from a while back. However, it is not too difficult to make your own by gluing two thin pieces of plasticard together, then taping them to a curved surface while the glue dries. When it is done, the two pieces are laminated together and will keep the curve shape. There are also some third party model companies that make riot shields that will work.

The shock/Power mauls is easy. Don't tell anyone, but the shock maul bit is almost exactly the same as an ork stormboy stick-bomb. Just go ask your friendly neighborhood ork player if you can get a few (I'm sure he isn't using them).

For the helmet, I went with the traditional Arbites look. I took the cadian helmet and saved down the sides, then rolled a small amount of greenstuff and placed it across the nose. I smoothed it out and, once dry, filed it smooth. Not perfect, but it looks pretty good. Unfortunately, it is easier said than done and it takes a steady hand and patience to get right.


Between you and me, I still think GW's enforcers look better ;)

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Arbites Conversion Part 1: The Arbitrator

The Arbitrator; bread and butter of the Adeptus Arbites list. Without him, you have nothing. The model starts as a basic Cadian with 3 main conversions, the pads, the gun and the head.

The Cadian model needs a bit of bulking up to look like a proper Arbitrator. To do this, greenstuff knee and elbow pads were added. I rolled up a small ball of greenstuff and then pressed it against the knee so that it was flat like a pancake. I then took my hobby knife and pressed 4 or 5 vertical lines into the greenstuff to give it texture. The same was done for the elbow.

The shotgun conversion took a few trials to get right. The ammo clip was removed from the bottm of the lasgun. The end of the barrel was cut off about .5mm from the bulk of the gun and the bayonette was removed as well. Don't throw these bits away, you will need them later!

For the head, the squares on either side of the helmet were shaved off and filed smooth. Unlike the other two parts of the conversion, I didn't do this to beef up the armor or change the gun type. It was mostly done to keep it from looking too much like a Cadian. To go closer to the true arbites style, you can use a small roll of greenstuff and apply it across the nose of the model. Flatten it down and file it once it has dried. I did this for the shock team models, but it is a lot of delicate work for the 50+ standard Arbites.

Obviously, GW's necromunda enforcer models are much better than these. But for a weekend's worth of work on some old cadians, you can have an Adeptus Arbite force assembled pretty quick.

This is the first in a series of conversions intended to help you build an Adeptus Arbites force.

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Final Baltimore List and more arts!

Just a quick update before I jet to Baltimore on Thursday. The list I plan on bringing is below, plus I will post some art I just completed for David Luke to show case the kind of stuff I do when people want their miniatures all drawn up.

But first of all my list

Brothas of Doomz!!!

HQ: Warboss, PK, bike, cybork, attack squig, kombi skorcha, bosspole
HQ: Warboss, PK, bike, cybork, attack squig, kombi skorcha
Troops: Nobz (7), Painboy, BIkes, PK (3), Kombi Skorcha (3), Cybork, Waagh Banner
Troops: Slugga boyz (29), Rokkits (3), Nob, PK, Bosspole
Troops: Shoota boyz (29), Big Shootas (3), Nob, PK, Bosspole
Troops: Shoota boyz (29), Big Shootas (3), Nob, PK, Bosspole
Elites: Lootas (15)

Total Pts: 1745 (I know I can add a bosspole to one boss, but he isn't modeled that way :()
Kill points: 7 Total troops: 114 Scoring: 4

But that is my final list. So for those that read this blog and see me there, give me a shout. I will be more than happy to throw down throughout the weekend, depending on how boozed up I might be at the time heh. Here is what I look like for all the ladies.



Look for a big report next week. I plan on taking some pics and hopefully they won't be too crappy. Also look for some thoughts on some new Ork lists. Woot woot!!! Besides all of this, I am planning some speed painting articles due to a bit of competition going on with some local Austin peeps and some thoughts on the Daemons for those that are interested.

Onto some new drawings. Again these were for David Luke.



If you have any questions about the list or want to know more, shoot me an email. And again, the link below takes you to my art and miniature commission site.

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SNEAK PEEK: WFB Lizardman Pics

Pics brought to the community by Warseer's: XMcCourtX

We've already seen the first shots of the Stegadon, and here come some more updated mini pics.



-Temple Guard
-Kroxigor
-Terradon

~Coming this February (so we hear)

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PLAY-AID: Adeptus Arbites Mini-dex from BoLS

Hi Everybody,

As promised, the Adeptus Arbites are HERE! The playtesters are all playtested out, the proofreader's eyes are sore and we've pored our all into this one. Within this 22 page mini-dex you will find:

• Background
• Modeling section
• Army List
• 3 Special Characters (including an Arbites opposition character)
• Apocalypse Datasheet
• Lots of cool fluff and Arbites diagrams

It has been an absolute blast working on this list and tweaking it for maximum fun. Hopefully it will get some of those old dusty Arbitrator minis off of the shelves and back onto the tabletop where they belong. This is a newly invisioned list based on the fluff we could gather from a variety of sources and a little creative license. It also offers homages to the Citadel Journal list and the fan list put out in the days of yore by Precinct Omega.

It is primarily an infantry list that starts slow but ends big, with a focus on a few 5th Edition rules mechanics we don't see that often on the tabletop.

On the modeling front, a couple of things to note: Ebay is agreat source for old 2nd Edition Arbites, and you can order squads of Arbites Enforcers right now from the GW site in the Specialist Games section under Necromunda. For those vehicle enthusiants: 1Whirlwind+1Chimera=1 Arbites Rhino+1Black Maria. Finally, don't forget about putting the final touches on your Precinct House forces with the BoLS Arbites logosheet.






~I hope all you Arbites fans have some fun with these. Enjoy and as usual, we love comments and feedback! What I think I enjoy most of all is the flexibility these PDFs give us. While we endeaver ot playtest the heck out of these things, they really are living documents. So enjoy, and by all means keep the feedback and comment coming. We really do read them!

Download Here Citizen!

FAQ Update: Both the Repressor and Chimera listed in the minidex are based off of the Imperial Armor Volume:1 Errata released from Forgeworld in November 2008.

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Project: Ruined Temple

For far too long I have neglected our loyal readers who yearn for terrain building advice. But at long last, a terrain column has returned. Today's feature is the ruined temple.

As with any building project, it is 80% inspiration. And in this case, the inspiration was wedding cake columns. Along with the 80% inspiration, there is 40% painting, 27% foam cutting and a pinch of gluing. leaving us somewhere in the neighborhood of 148% effort. I never was good at math.

We start with a scrap piece of insulation foam. A piece of plasticard is glued to the bottom to help it stand up to abuse.

Ten holes were cut using a hot-wire foam cutter. Hot-wire is probably the easiest thing to work with, but a sharp hobby knife works well too. However, your knife may not be too sharp once you are done cutting. The holes should be just big enough to hold the cake columns.

A sharp blade was used to make cuts in the foam to represent large tiles or blocks for the floor.

For most of the columns, I cut the ends off at an angle. Save some of the end pieces you cut off, you can scatter them around the base as rubble. See acropolis for inspiration.

The ends of the columns need to be filled in. I took small scraps of paper to fill most of the columns, then filled the last 1/4 inch with carpenter's filler. You will need the paper inside to prevent the filler from getting pushed inside the columns. A test fitting here shows a good fit.

They were painted with a medium grey, followed by a dark wash and a light grey dry-brushing.

Rather than using Elmer's glue, I tried gorilla glue. I had heard good things about it in the past, so I thought I would give it a try. This stuff sticks very well. However, it does expand a lot; between 200% and 300%. Be careful. I had extra glue foaming out the sides and it was quite a mess to clean up. But once it dries, it is very hard. It should hold up to most game play.

And there you have it. Your own personal ruined temple and 4+ cover save. Enjoy.

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REVIEW: Titanicus

A guest review by: Timo

Titanicus - Dan Abnett

What's left to say about Dan Abnett that hasn't already been said?

As with most of Abnett's new releases, Titanicus presents itself as a hardcover. Many people I know don't like this version, but I myself tend to be quite happy holding a "real" book with a jacket in my hand, what with all of Black Library's softcover editions. It has a nice feel to it when you can run your fingers over the jacket and actually feel the letters.

Titanicus' setting is the forge world Orestes under attack by a Legion of Chaos Titans. Following the emergency signal, an Imperial Titan Legion lands, and a colossal battle ensues. What gets left when two Legions of the God Machines collide?

I was skeptical in approaching this book: 400 pages filled with Titans besieging each other sounded interesting enough, since we haven't seen a whole lot of this in Black Library's releases. On the other hand, this could get boring rather quickly. Titanicus offers more than this though; the book doesn't just describe the conflict of the god machines, it also explains the moderati's relationships among each other as well as to their machines. Additionally, it attempts to clarify the influence of individuals and politics on a global conflict of this magnitude. Abnett establishes several interlaced strands of plot, thereby making this book hard to put down because you're just dying to get the answers to questions like "who is cheating who?" or "which dark secret is behind the Wastelands?"

Once again Dan Abnett manages to deliver a fascinating, thrilling novel. He highlights individual fates within a highly epic conflict, establishing an emotional connection between the reader and those characters, be they Moderati or "just" reservists in the imperial army. He installs life in these characters, making them more than just fictional entities: he makes them seem three-dimensional due to the fact that he gives them certain traits that you recognize from friends or co-workers.

The BCD codification of the individual chapters clearly shows what an attention to detail was paid in designing this book. Sometimes designers care about the little things that increase a book's charm, even if those little things are as inconspicuous as a third class reservist in a war of god machines.

I'm sorry to repeat myself but what's left for me to say? Dan Abnett still is the master of suspense in the range of 40k novels.

5 Stars (out of 5)

~Bigred here. I hope you enjoyed this review by Timo. It is hopefully the first of many Black Library book reviews coming your way.

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NEWS: Armybuilder 5th Edition 40k File Out

Hi everybody,

The new 5th Edition datafile has been released for ArmyBuilder, and includes the new Marine Codex. Go get it!

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BATTLE REPORT: Streets of the Dead

GW stores around the US ran a "Halloween Spooktacular" last weekend. Among the many events that were part of the fun-filled weekend were open games with zombie uprisings as their theme. The game at our local Battle Bunker was called "Streets of the Dead". This entailed players bringing a miniature to represent themselves, then trying to escape from a city overrun with zombies. The game ran on Friday night with five participants and again on Saturday with about a dozen. At the encouragement of GW staff, some miniatures were converted to closely resemble in some way the players who built them, but without knowledge of what equipment would be actually available in the game. Just before the game a list of equipment options with point values was made available to players. Players could then choose up to a certain points limit in equipment, but anything chosen on the list needed to be represented on the model in some way. For example, if you had modeled your miniature with a sword, swords were not on the equipment list, but improvised cutting tools were so you could purchase that and have the sword represent it. Luckily for me, flame throwers were on the list and I had modeled one. I was going to need it!

The scenario involved a long trek through two tables placed end-to-end, first through a zombie filled city, then through the wooded outskirts to a landing pad where an aircraft would take any character who could make it away from the horrors chasing them. Counters representing various medical, weapon and ammunition upgrades were scattered throughout the city. The rules were a hybrid of Lord of the Rings and 40K in that there was a priority roll each turn to see who went first, the players or the zombies. If players survived a round of close combat, the zombies would be pushed back so that the character might have the chance to run for it in their next turn.

Once a player made it out of the city, the pilot flying in, who turned out to be an Ork, radioed ahead that he had only one seat available on his aircraft as he had brought the wrong one. Only one player would be flying out of the overrun city! What did you expect from an Ork, anyway?

In the end, no one made it onto the aircraft. In the first run on Friday night, one person made it to the bottom of the landing pad ramp before being overrun. I then made it an inch or so farther onto the ramp before being overrun. That was as far as anyone got on Friday night. The Saturday event ended somewhat similarly with no one of the twelve players making it out alive. Small prizes were awarded for largest number of kills and who made it the farthest. There was also a conversion contest where people in the store voted for their favorite converted player miniature; I was lucky enough to receive that award both days.

Here are a few pictures of the event. Click on the small photos below for larger versions.

My "mini-me". The clothes and revolver were inspired by the "Man With No Name" movies of Sergio Leone.

The miniature of a friend and the second closest to making it out in the first run of the game.

The players had to traverse several feet of dense city terrain, meandering through narrow alleys and ruined buildings.

I get swamped trying to take the shortest route through a narrow alley, but eventually fight my way out. Note the blue bomb squig in the right of the photo. I took a chance and deliberately wounded the bomb squig so he would explode, taking several zombies with him and clearing some space for my escape. I survived the exploding squig, then flamed the remaining zombies and ran as fast as I could out of town.

Meanwhile, my friend bolts along the edge of the game table, limiting the number and direction of attackers till he makes it to the woods outside the town.

After escaping the city, other horrors besides zombies await the players. This mutant beast is big, fast and has multiple wounds.

The Ork pilot anxiously awaits the arrival of one of the players so he can get out of there himself.

One person almost makes it to the aircraft, but the zombies get priority and the player is overrun just moments from escape. Notice the huge mutant in the photo!

Then I almost make it, but again, the zombies win priority and I'm overrun.


Thanks to Games Workshop for providing a fun and entertaining way to spend Halloween. Everyone seemed to have a great time, staff and customers alike. Many thanks to our local GW Battle Bunker staff for all their effort. Now I'm really looking forward to that Lucky 13's Apocalypse battle going on tomorrow!

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SNEAK PEEK: WFB Plastic Stegadon

Images brought to the community by: Warseer, DakkaDakka, pyramid vault, and TPV

Check this baby out! Rumors say the army can field a good number of these as well. They are due out in February with the new Lizardman Armybook.

~It almost makes you want to start a Lizarman army doesn't it? You Ork converters can stop drooling now...

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CAMPAIGN: Macharian Crusade: Week 3

The Macharian Crusade League is moving ahead!

We had almost over 40 folks show up at Battleforge Games yet again, and the Macharian Crusade is crusading ever westward. This third week featured most of the seven army groups scratching and clawing their way into their second warzones. Lets do a quick recap so everyone can see how the forces of the Lord Solar are faring.

1st Army: Joura Warzone
Merican, Krieg Korps, Cadian Rangers vs Tyranids, Orks
The 1st Army Group has entered the Joura Warzone. The world of New Perth has halted the Krieg Korps as they reposition in the face of monstrous opposition. Cadia's General Martel reports a victory against the predators of Joura. He is currently fortifying his position and calling for a full xenocide of the world's ecosystem. General Bradley's Mericans report a stalled offensive versus an Ork Waaagh on Sparas.
Status: Slow Advance





2nd Army: Argolis Cluster Warzone
Mordians, Barac Pioneers
General Sejanus and Apfel report a minor breakout from the Argolis Cluster. Sejanus has located Chiros and is mustering a strong force to face Heretic-Colonel Richelieu while the Cadian Armoured Corps and Barac Pioneers have entered the Charaxidis warzone. Scout ships have been dispatched by Macharius to ascertain more details regarding the 2nd Army's disposition.
Status: Slow Advance


3rd Army: Aurora Warzone
Cadian, vs Tau (Red Technocracy)
General Tarka reports a bloody victory on Lapis Majoris. His Cadian Shock Troops have overrun the world and thrown down its heretical techno-leaders. The so called "Red Technocracy" is being studied by Mechanicus explorator teams as the 3rd army fans out to pacify the extent of the Aurora Warzone.
Status: Slow Advance



4th Army: Kelementia Warzone
Tallarn, Steel Legion, Black Templars vs CSM, Deamons, Eldar
General Lysander reports a bloody yet rapid conquest of the Kelementia Warzone. Lysander's Tallarn forces have reported overall mixed progress versus a variety of Chaos forces on Canopus IV and Hotarra. General Stanislaw reports his Steel legion forces has struck a determined Eldar warhost on Kelementia and called in a Black Templar strike which swept away the foul xenos forces. Through sheer determination, the 4th Army has exited the Kelementia Warzone. They are currently the leading Crusade Army Group and making best speed towards the Garden Worlds Warzone and its deadly Il-Kaithe defenders. The Lord Solar has ordered a Crusade- wide cheer to the 4th Army's progress.
Status: Advancing Quickly

5th Army: Calverna Warzone
Cadian, Harakoni vs Orks
General Crassus has entered the Calverna Warzone. Cadian forces have stalemated a large Calverna Waaagh on Likar. The forces of Waaagh Kaboom have made heavy use of boom trukks and explosives to halt the rapid advance of both Crassus' Cadians and Timovich's Harakoni forces. Naval reports indicate a large Calverna battlefleet approaching, and Crassus has ordered the 5th Army to prepare for spaceborne boarding actions.

Status: Slow Advance

6th Army; Palus Olidus Warzone
Catachan, Methalor, Terrax Armored Corps vs Chaos, Tyranids
General Arrian has reached the Palus Olidus Warzone. Methalor troops have seriously engaged insectoid forces in Palus Olidus' jungles, while Catachan forces under General Kariyapa report tough fighting against Chaos forces in theatre. Terrax's Monash reports a stubborn chaos opponent has been faced down on Rigel, and his forces are to redeploy to assist in the conquest of Palus Olidus. A detailed Catachan battlereport submitted to the Lord Solar can be reviewed here.
Status: Slow Advance





7th Army; Centaurus Warzone
Valhallan Armored Corps vs Eldar, CSMs
General Cyrus reports a final breakout from the Centaurus warzone.Cyrus' Valhallan Armored have smashed through Eldar raiders on Centaurus, while a rearguard force was caught and destroyed in detail by a Night Lords taskforce previously unseen in this sector. Cyrus regrouped his battlefleet for action, but the traitor legionairres fled into the warp, leaving the warzone firmly under Imperial control. The 7th Army Group is not headed into the vast Calverna Warzone.
Status: Slow Advance



Total Results:
1st Army: Slow Advance
2nd Army: Slow Advance
3rd Army: Slow Advance
4th Army: Advancing Quickly; (Kelementia Warzone Conquered)
5th Army: Slow Advance
6th Army: Slow Advance
7th Army: Slow Advance

Summary:
The Macharian Crusade is picking up speed. This week sees a slow advance by almost every army group. Every initial Warzone has now been pacified (some just barely), and the Crusade is moving en masse into thier second sets of warzones. It would appear that in this third week our Imperial Crusaders have finally gotten their sea legs and are getting into the "Imperial Guard groove". The 4th Army under General Lysander is the standout again, having cleared their second warzone.

Next Week: The Crusade pushes forward; and General Sejanus meets his traitorous mentor on the bloody fields of Chiros...

~As a final note, I have to just tell all our readers that in all my years of 40k, it is just stunning to walk into our campaign nights and see table after table of IG pounding it out for the Imperium and learning to control thier forces and push back all comers. We have over 40 players in this league and there is only ONE marine player out there! Its really cool and a treat to see the lowly guardsmen take his place of honor as the true hero of the Imperium.

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Baltimore is next week... What my happy butt is playing

As I have stated before, I am planning on throwing down with my ork army. When I played in Las Vegas I threw down with an all Nurgle list, trying to abuse the evil of Epidemius. I had 5 great games, losing out in any objective based game due to the fact I have a hard time with vehicles. I've since then tweaked my Daemon list and feel I have something that would be more competitive, but I am not taking that list. I will write that up later on this week with pics for those interested.

So for Baltimore I decided to bring a green horde. I know I am the BOLS ork player, so I thought I should bust out some orks. I will write up a batrep with pics. If my camera doesn't mess up. If it does, then I will pretend there are pics and still talk about the games. So yeah, for those going to play in Baltimore, look for the guys who are freezing since there is a group of us coming from Texas where winter is 60 degrees and breezy.

But onto the list. I like to post lists before hand, because the metagame of 40k is something that isn't as fluid as you can see in other games. The biggest thing is the change of 4th edition lists to 5th edition lists. You can see this, in the push for Troops as well as the use of above average strength flamers etc. Also you can see this in the rise of Land Raiders.

The Twins of Destruktion ork horde.



"Grakkis the Red Krusha" HQ: Warboss, warbike, cybork armor, pk, attack squig, bosspole, kombi skorcha
"Morkus the Menance" HQ: Warboss, warbike, cybork armor, pk, attack squig, kombi skorcha
"The Boyz" Troops: Nobz (3), warbikes, pk, waagh banner, painboy, kombi skorcha (3)
"Shoota Blue Meanies" Troops: Shoota boyz (29), Big Shootas (3), nob, pk, bosspole
"Shoota Red Caps" Troops: Shoota boyz (29), Big Shootas (3), nob, pk, bosspole
"Slugga/Choppa Blue Meanies" Troops: Slugga/choppa boyz (29), Rokkits (3), nob, pk, bosspole
"Slugga/Choppa Red Caps" Troops: Slugga/choppa (29), Rokkits (3), nob, pk, bosspole
"Krak Shootas" Elites: (15) Lootas

Scoring: 5 KP: 8

The thought here is to utilize the orks ability to have lots of large scoring units mixed in with the idea that the squads in front can give 4+ cover saves to the dudes in the back. I would set up in blocks of boyz, with slugga/choppa in the front and shootas following behind to pour on fire. The smaller nob squad is there to just give a pile of hurt to anything that needs a good amount of PK attacks. The two warbosses allow me to pass off lascannons, melta fire, etc and not have something auto explode.

The plan is just to swarm enemies and keep up the threat of a big swarm of boyz. Lootas are there to take out light armor (falcons, rhinos, dreadnoughts, etc). On the lootas, just remember that they are a great use to remove light vehicles and small elite squads as well as MC creatures that Daemons can throw down. If you see a 3 land raider army, well look for an uphill battle. Just hope they don't have a lot of dudes to throw at your large squads.

But yeah, this is the list, I have a magnetic board they all stick on and everything is painted. I even have two objective markers created and can use. I am ready for this weekend, I just hope my fellow Austin gamers are ready too. I've already had to quickly paint a defiler/soul grinder for one guy this weekend. Pics of it are below.



If you have any questions about the list or want to know more, shoot me an email. And again, the link below takes you to my art and miniature commission site.

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SNEAK PEEK: Forgeworld Goodies

Latest Forgeworld newsletter reports the following upcoming releases:

Warboss on a bike ~with a giant honkin rocket!

Deathstorm Drop pod with Assualt cannons.

Deathstorm Droppod with Missile launchers.

Imperial Armor Volume II: Space Marines and Inquisition update for 5th edition.

~That last one is especially cool as its just a big PDF with updated 5th edition stats for a ton of the units in the hardback. In particular take a look at the stats for the Inquisitor Chimera Armoured Transport. Anyone else see some intriguing items there that don't seem to make sense at this time?

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EVENT: Lucky 13's, Stand Fast!

The GW US Lucky 13's campaign continues this coming Saturday, November 8 with the sixth national game event, Stand Fast! Some additional good news, the Lucky 13's campaign is being extended beyond November 8 till the end of the year, so those of you with a few blocks left to fill on your Lucky 13's card will have a few more chances to acquire a full thirteen stamps and earn your Lucky 13's badge. Visit your local participating game shop for details and schedule information regarding events. Remember, you can also earn a Lucky 13's stamp when you purchase Apocalypse Battle Formation sets or Direct Battle Formation Deals (one per month) and participating stores host a variety of events that allow you to earn stamps. If you wish to learn more about the Lucky 13's, visit the GW US website events section for full details of what it's all about, how to participate, how to earn your Lucky 13's badge and more. It's time once again to bring those super-heavies to war!

I'm always torn as to which side to play on for these Lucky 13's Apocalypse events. Chaos Marines are always my favorite forces and with three Brass Scorpions painted and a massive collection of Chaos Terminators, Chaos Dreadnoughts and such, it's easy to jump in on these large multi-player events with just a few models and have a great time. However, after painting both an Arkurian Pattern Shadowsword and Stormblade (see picture at top) earlier this year along with a Land Raider Terminus and my Armorcast Warhound, I have a fun and finished super-heavy support force to field for the Imperials all nicely done in the livery of the Cult Mechanicus. Unfortunately, none of my Chaos Baneblades are painted yet. In the last game I ran my Brass Scorpions and Mechanicus force together for the side of Chaos, my Mechanicus force turning traitor for the day as the "bad guys" were in need of players to balance the game. I may bring a bit of both and see which side needs help more. I'll have fun as always either way. Unpainted as it may be, I might give my now nearly finished Tower of Skulls a try just to see it on the field of battle for the first time. Khorne needs more skulls!

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USA Readers: VOTE!

Get to the polls folks!

~And enjoy that nice ad from the fine state of Nebraska.

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HOBBY: Working with Brass Etchings

A guest tutorial by RedScorpionsGirl

Forge World’s Brass Etch sheets are a great way to accent troops, vehicles and more. A bit pricey at £8.00 ($16.00) each, but if you are looking for that extra bit of detail they are a perfect fit. Forge World’s newest book series, Model Master Class provides directions on one way of getting them from the sheet to the tank (and they don’t go into a lot of detail), but after using them, I have found a different approach that seems to work a lot better than the tips they offer up.

My Approach to Using Brass Etches


Trimming etch off sprue with scissors.

The etches should be trimmed off with scissors, not cut off with a craft knife, clipped off with clippers or some other manner. These small pieces do NOT file well if you try to clean up the attachment points in this manner, and due to the small nature of a good portion of the pieces, a craft knife isn’t advisable either. Using scissors, you have a great deal more control on cleaning up the points of contact (usually 2) without ruining the etch itself.


At this point dry fitting the pieces to the tank is a good idea.

This gives you an idea of what the finished product will look like, as well as adjust where the final locations will be. If you take the tank and set it on its side, you can set the pieces across the side and evaluate the overall look. In general it is easier to attach the brass to the bare plastic, but have no fear, if you’ve already primed the model, they will attach without an issue. If you are adding them after the model is primed, simply place them where you wish, glue them in place and brush over them lightly with the appropriate paint to match your primer after the glue is dry.

Once satisfied with the test placement, make a mark with a pen or Sharpie. The bright spot seen in the photo below is the centering spot.

This designates the center of the location for each of the etches you are using. Pick up the etch with a pair of tweezers making sure it is facing the direction you are intending on it. This is referencing the direction you might want the scorpion facing, the way the name plate goes on, making sure the Khorne symbol is right side up and not upside down…etc. Common sense in most cases, but it is something obvious to make sure and touch upon.

Place a very small drop of super glue on the dot you made on the model. Too much glue and it will ooze out around the etch and give you a very poor final result. If you get a bit too much glue in the area think ahead, and have something handy to quickly wipe it up. It doesn’t take a lot of glue for these to adhere well, so make sure of the placement and alignment, as you generally don’t get a second chance.

Seating the etch

Gently use your fingers in combination with the tweezers to seat the etch. It will adhere almost instantly. I will often cheat and put a drop of kicker/accelerant/insta-set on it to ensure it is seated. Once you are sure of the glue being dry, wipe the area off with a lint free cloth, or paper towel.

Wiping the etch off before priming

This will remove the oil from you touching the etch as well as any residue from the kicker still remaining, allowing you to have the best results for priming and painting. Prime as normal with light coats so no details are obscured. It is best to do this and once the tank is primed, touch up the area around the etch, and the etch itself with a light hand if need be rather than trying to do it all with the spray primer. Don’t worry if the etches look odd while the primer is still drying, as they have a tendency to look like they are spotty and/or the letters being filled in. Be patient and you will see the transformation when it dries. Once the etches are primed like the rest of the tank, either by brushing on the appropriate primer matched paint if already primed, or in the case of the unpainted tank going through the steps of priming and touching up, paint them as you would any other details on the tank.

Because of how fine some of the details and the text are, it is easy to obscure part or all of it with too heavy a hand when painting. Generally speaking this is either enamel or acrylic paint, whatever you prefer to use, however enamel can be much worse if applied too heavily. Even though enamel it isn’t recommended for painting in most cases, some people do still use it, and prefer it. Just keep an eye on what you’re doing and it will turn out great.

~Bigred here, While some of the techniques seen here seem odd, remember that the brass etching used in the example pics is a rather large one. These tips and tricks really come into their own once you get down into the really tiny pieces that require precision glue and tweeser work to get aligned properly onto your model without glueing them to yourself!

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Adeptus Arbites Logo Sheet

"To serve the Emperor. To protect His domains. To judge and stand guard over His subjects. To carry the Emperor's law to all worlds under His blessed protection. To pursue and punish those who trespassed against His word."
-Arbites Cadet Oath


The Adeptus Arbites are coming folks! With all the work we have put into our Arbites mini-dex you don't think we would just let this proud organization go without its own logo sheet did you? Its time they got some love!

Not only have we done up a big sheet of these logos against a white and black background for maximum flexibility, we have also given you all some little Arbites warning signs to dress up cool Arbites terrain features, and help give your tabletop a nice theme. I hear that Bulwark is pulling out the stops and we will be getting some Arbites articles covering conversions and custom terrain to go along with the mini-dex.

Here is the link to the PDF file for the logo sheet you can freely pull down and use:

Download Here

The sheet is designed for printout on decal printer paper which is easily available online. These decals are designed for the CLEAR, or WHITE decal paper. The procedure is as follows:

CLEAR PAPER: If you use the clear decals, the decals need to be applied to a light colored surface to be visible at all. The procedure for applying the "white background" decals is to apply them to a white surface, and wait till they are fully dried. Then using the outlines as a guide, paint in the darker color around the decal if needed. It is odd, but gets the job done.

WHITE PAPER: This paper will allow you to use it directly over dark surfaces. Cut out the black background logos, and apply them directly over your black painted models. Once dry, you can go back and touch up any edge defects with black paint.


Click here for a detailed Custom Decal Tutorial

This sheet is sized for large vehicles and terrain up towards the top and scales down to small vehicle sized towards the middle. At the very bottom I've attached a set of Arbites warning signs you can use for terrain if you want a cool Arbites themed board. Those signs can be printed out on a color printer on standard paper, and simply glued to your terrain. Please make sure you run off a test sheet first on your printer to make sure.

In any case, enjoy and I wish you the best in using this set for your forces.

~Please feel free to leave comments if there is a special Chapter, Craftworld, or something else you would love to collect, but have no GW decal options, and I will see what I can do. Have a good time out there on the Imperium's mean streets. Its a tough job Arbitrator, but someone's gotta do it!

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NEWS: GW Base Pack Range

Virtually every type of model base made by Games Workshop is now available in the GW Online Store. Click the link in the previous sentence to see the full range of bases. Note that the bases previously available are now considerably more expensive, such as 40mm round bases which were 25 for $5.00 and are now 5 for $4.50. The positive change, however, is that bases that have been previously unavailable for purchase on their own are now readily available, such as 60mm beveled bases, the new Space Marine Scout Bike bases, Eldar 60mm Scenic bases and the large oval base from the Lord of the Rings Dragon model.

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NEWS: Firebase 8 is Out!

Our favorites 40k webzine is out with their latest issue.

Get Firebase #8 here.

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RUMORS: IG Rumblings

Rumors brought to the community by Warseer's: Badger[Fr]

Look what we have here boys and girls:

-3 Leman Russes per HS slot. (requires certain conditions to be met)
- Leman Russes can now move and fire ALL their weapons (including the Battle Canon), regardless of their strength.
-New doctrines, including one which provides +1 to cover and allows firing while going to ground. -New Plastic Command squad.
-Assault 2 Lasguns (probably an upgrade).
-The plastic Valkyrie will cost 60€.
-New plastic Hellhound.

~Standard caveats apply, but some of these would seem to be an attempt to put some "Uumph" back into the Leman Russ. If even half of these and that 4pt guard rumor we heard earlier pan out, those horde ork players better watch out!

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ARMY LISTS: Black Templar Archetypes

Hi all, following up on Darkwynn's Black Templar Introduction article, he has cooked up these sample 2000pt lists to illustrate each of the three archetypes he recommends. The vow for all of these is: Accept Any Challenge No Matter The Odds.

-Crusaders From the Sky
Marshall
Thunderhammer, Term. Honors, Storm Shield, Artificer Armour

Emp. Champion

8 initiates
2 neophytes
Powerfist, Meltagun, Crusader Seals
Drop pod

8 initiates
2 neophytes
Powerfist, Meltagun, Crusader Seals
Drop pod

8 initiates
2 neophytes
Powerfist, Meltagun, Crusader Seals
Drop pod

8 initiates
2 neophytes
Powerfist, Meltagun, Crusader Seals
Drop pod

8 initiates
2 neophytes
Powerfist, Meltagun, Crusader Seals
Drop pod

7 initiates
2 neophytes
Powerfist, Meltagun, Crusader Seals
Drop pod

5 Terminators
2 Assault Cannons

1 Venerable Dread
Multi-melta, Heavy flamer, Extra Armour, Smoke
Tank hunters or Furious Charge
Drop pod

Land Speeder, Multi-melta

66 infantry, 7 drop pods, 2 vehicles

-Crusader Horde
Marshall
Term. Honors, Storm shield, Thunder hammer

Emp. Champion

10 initiates
6 Neophytes
Meltagun, Powerfist, Crusader Seals

10 initiates
6 Neophytes
Meltagun, Powerfist, Crusader Seals

10 initiates
6 Neophytes
Meltagun, Powerfist, Crusader Seals

10 initiates
6 Neophytes
Meltagun, Powerfist, Crusader Seals

10 initiates
6 Neophytes
Meltagun, Powerfist, Crusader Seals


5 Close Combat Assault Terminators
3 Lighting Claws, 2 Thunderhammers
Furious charge


Land Raider Crusader
Smoke

87 infantry, 1 vehicle

-Mechanized Crusaders

Marshal
Artificer Armor, Storm Shield, Thunderhammer, Term. Honors, Bionics

Emp. Champion


5 Close Combat Assault Terminators
3 Lighting Claws, 2 Thunderhammers
Furious Charge

Land Raider Crusader, Smoke

5 Close Combat Assault Terminators
3 Lighting Claws, 2 Thunderhammers
Furious Charge

Land Raider Crusader, Smoke

10 initiates
Melta gun, Powerfist, Crusader Seals
Rhino
Extra Armour, Smoke

10 initiates
Melta gun, Powerfist, Crusader Seals
Rhino
Extra Armour, Smoke

10 initiates
Melta gun, Powerfist, Crusader Seals
Rhino
Extra Armour, Smoke

42 infantry, 5 vehicles

~Feel free to look these over. I've seen some of these on the tabletop and they all play like a ton of bricks that just smashes most opposition aside. I'm sure Darkwynn will be along shortly to respond to your comments.

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