Happy Easter from Kantor Base

Just wanted to wish everyone out there a Happy Easter! I know it's a religious holiday and it may not apply to everyone, but there's the commercial aspect too. So with that in mind, May your day be filled with Marshallow Peeps and Chocolate Bunnies. Oh and Gaming. Lots and lots of gaming.

First Game....

...in three years. And it was fun. So I finally got my first game of Fantasy in over three years. We were unable to complete the game to time constraints. By that I mean GW has some real sissy hours of operation and kicked us out at 9pm. Which is BS, because many of us work for a living and can't get there until 7pm anyway. But I digress.

Anyway, I played a 1500 pt game against a new friend of mine. He ran an Orcs &Goblins list and I went with my High Elves. We were both pretty much newbies and so we didn't have much painted and we muddled our way through the rules, so there were no photos. This time.

My army consisted of a Noble, 2 Mages, 2 units of LSG, 2 units of Reavers, 5 Shadow Warriors, a Bolt Thrower and 15 Swordmasters. If memory serves, he brought along 4 characters, 10 Spider Riders, a Giant, a ton of Goblin Archers and Goblin Spearmen, a Doom Diver and block of Boyz. The game was pretty even of the two and a half turns until right before we got tossed out. My friend got ahead of me when I charged his Boyz with my Swordmasters and forgot that I get to re-roll misses because of my high initiative AND Speed of Asuryan. But that's what happens when you don't know how to play your army. Although, I did take out the Doom Diver and I shot up his Spider Riders pretty bad before losing my Shadow Warriors.

Anyway, it was fun getting out and playing and I look forward to the next battle. Nick was a great opponent.

Finally....Time for Gaming!!!

This Wednesday I will at long last have the time to pull up a stool, sit down and play some Warhammer. It's Warhammer Fantasy, but hey, I'm not complaining. It's been a long time since I've been able to play a game, but at long last the planets are aligned and the moon will be full (I think). By that I mean that the kids don't have any activity and my wife is off.

So...I'm playing a 1500 pt game of Fantasy; my High Elves against Orcs & Goblins. I never played against that army before, so it should be fun. If anyone has any tips - let me know. Anyway, I have a ton of stuff to do. I've got a 1000 point list that I need to upgrade, which will in ally likelihood involve, at the very least, building some more models.

I've got two days to get a ton of stuff done: Brush up on rules, update my list, assemble a couple of custom bases, build a unit or two, and if there's time - paint some stuff.

Grey Knight Librarian Conversion

As I had mentioned in a previous post, I'm not thrilled with the fact that the new Grey Knight codex has limited options for Librarians. By that, I mean Librarians must be in Terminator armor with no options for power armor. To me, it's a complete waste of Space Marine Librarians. With so many Grey Knight HQ choices, they should have produced a GK Commander Kit (just like the Space Marines). While I like the metal Terminator Librarian model, there aren't enough options for the rank and file Librarians. With that in mind, I sat down last night and tried coming up with my own conversion. I deliberately tried to avoid anything elaborate (that's what the metal one is for). Let me know what you think. Sorry about the bad lighting.

Now That's A Monster!

I got a heads up from my old gaming buddies and I just saw the newest kit from Warhammer Forge. Tamurkhan on Toad Dragon. Man, this kit is bad ass! Part of the Chaos army, this is by far one of the cool Fantasy models to come from Forge World yet. Maybe it's because I'm in Daemon slaying mode or something, but wouldn't it be cool to put this piece on a round base and have the Grey Knights beat the crap out of it?!

New Arrival

My Castellan Crowe arrived today in the mail. Pretty cool mini. Time to start the Purifiers!! I'm working on a list of pure Grey Knights (for now, at least). Currently, I'm debating whether or not I should go with a Grand Master or Brother-Captain. I'm trying to build the army, one Brotherhood at a time. That means (according to the Codex), eight captains, eight brotherhoods, plus one brotherhood each of Purifiers (approximately 40 models), and Paladins.

Most of the lists I see out there are including a Grand Master over a Brother-Captain, but I'm more of a fluff/background lover and enjoy building the collection around how the chapter is described in the published material.

Grey Knights Update

I've been spending the last few days working on my Grey Knights and I have been able to really go through sprues and get stuff built. Despite a few challenges while assembling the power armoured Grey Knights, the models are awesome. So far, I've compiled a short list of likes and dislikes that I'd like to share:

Likes

1. Great detail on each piece
2. Extensive pose capability
3. Great to use with other SM kits and vice versa
4. Lots of different heads
5. Seems easy to create plastic Librarians with the Terminator bits
   

Dislikes

1. Some unnecessary components, just to make me miserable - magazines for storm bolters, Could they just mold them onto the stormbolter.
2. Having to attach the storm bolters to the arms seperately (termies too)
3. Lack of bits to use on vehicles (in my opinion)
4. Psycannon on GKs, don't seem to line up right.
5. New plastic Terminators seem a bit broader than the old metal ones.
   

I think I may have found a secret to avoid army burn out. In past projects, I would assemble and paint multiple squads of the same time. For example, I would assemble and paint two or three squads of tactical marines before I would start a dread or tank or something else. Well, I'd finally get bored and then shift my attention to something else. This time I'm approaching the Grey Knights a little differently. I'm working different unit types each time. My first unit is a Strike Squad, then I'll work a unit of Terminators, then a Venerable Dread or Dreadknight before going back to making a Purgation Squad.

Anyway, currently I have my first Strike Squad assembled, based, primed and basecoated (10-man squad). I have a Rhino primed and ready for painting and I've been building a Terminator Squad. So the work continues.

As I mentioned a few posts ago, I ran into some old friends who are now into Fantasy and I'm looking forward to getting a game in soon, so I'll have paint work to do on the High Elves as well, so I may be alternating so I don't get bored with one project.

Grey Knights Have Landed!

Yeessssss!!!! The rest of my Grey Knights stuff has arrived today. Now I can get crackin' on my army! There's nothing more uplifting than a box on your doorstep filled with Grey Knights goodness. All I can say is thank God for Tax Refunds!

Time to get to work.

Mail Call!

Got home from errands today and from performing various tasks of good will for family and friends to find a package from none other than Games Workshop! Now I can get a list built before I go spend my cut of our Tax Refund! Woohoo!

Project: Grey Knights - Prep

As I anxiously await the arrival of my copy of the Grey Knights Codex, I decided to start prepping for my new army. While I haven't created a list yet, I have decided to include a Brother-Captain as one of my HQ choices right off the bat. I ordered one of the metal models from the website last week. I've got it assembled, based and primed and ready for painting.

I also found a Terminator Librarian in my boxes of unopened models. While I have assembled that one as well, I'm not completely sold on the towering iconography that I attached to the top of the model. Personally, I think the model is suitable as a Chief Librarian, but not as a rank and file battle-brother. So until I can come up with a more stripped down version of a Terminator Librarian, I'm going to set him aside for now. I have a Venerable Dreadnought and a Stormraven on hand as well, but I want to wait until I get the Codex (hopefully by Friday), to decide on how to kit out those models.

Other preparations include getting fresh paint, some of my older pots are drying out or I've used some of the more common colors up, so I'll have to grab a few more pots.

That's it for now, if anyone has any cool recipes for Terminator Librarians, I'd appreciate the suggestions.

Grey Knights....Yeah, I'm gonna do it.

Yep. I'm going to do it. I'm going to start a Grey Knights army. This time, I really mean it. I mean these models are too cool to pass up. To say nothing of the chapter's background. I think it's frikkin' awesome! But for this project, I want to do it up right. Get a new carrying case, new dice, some Forge World stuff to really dress it up. I even plan to go ahead and move forward with a Red Hunters Space Marine force. This army will give me a chance to use many of the kits that I have packed away and never got around to using such as the Venerable Dreadnought and a Land Raider. Oh and I forgot about Inquisitor Lord Hector Rex. I've got one of those too.

I went ahead and ordered the Codex and some of the models, but what do I do in the mean time? Well, I will be reading the new White Dwarf from cover to cover. Tons of Grey Knights stuff. I also got my hands on a couple of HQ models that I can use right now to get started. Tomorrow, I'll head into the local GW store and try making a list.

Warhammer Fantasy - 8th Edition

I recently got back in touch with my old gaming group, who at the time was heavy into 40k and Blood Bowl. Well now it seems that they have made their foray into Warhammer Fantasy. They've invited me to get in a few games, which I'm excited about. I haven't played in a couple of years. My plan was to jump back in with my High Elves. But the group is small and they already have a high elf player. Damn.

I've got a bunch of Lizardmen that I have not built, so I will probably start working on that project in order to get back into fantasy. I guess it won't hurt to have two Fantasy armies anyway. Better pull out the Lizardman book.

Grey Knights in WD 375

Just got back from the local GW store and I renewed my subscription, so I can get the latest copy of White Dwarf. I was going to renew in a couple of weeks anyway, so it wasn't like they roped me into it. I'm looking forward to building a squad or two of these awesome looking models. It looks like the new Tomb Kings stuff is coming out in May. Can't wait to see that. I've always been a fan of Egyptian mythology (mummies, anubis, pyramids, etc.).

I finished reading Volume I of the Siege of Vraks and started Volume II. I actually found it a pretty good read. It was like reading one long WWI trench war story. If the Death Korps weren't so damn expensive (and I had a job), I'd probably start one of those armies.

Next topic: What's been going on at Kantor Base? Well, I've been catching up on my Blood Angels and Crimson Fists, but I have yet to play a game with them. It seems being a volleyball and softball coach takes up a great deal of my free time. But...that's starting to wind down and my plan is to get a game in - that is one of my resolutions. The other plan is to break into Warhammer Fantasy, but probably won't tackle that until summer.

What a Movie...

I got a chance to see Battle: Los Angeles and I have to say that this is THE best alien invasion movie of all time. It wasn't too 'Hollywood' (as in Independence Day), but more like Blackhawk Down, but against space aliens. The movie was a dark, grim look into war against an unknown enemy.

The characters and heroes of this movie were just your basic G.I.s, fighting for their homes and doing their duty for their country. Great film, with good special effects and kept you in the dark, just enough to make it enjoyable. I highly recommend it.

40k for the First Time...Again

It's embarrassing to say, but it's been more than a year since I last played a game of 40k and as with many things, if you don't use it, you lose it. So I've set myself to the task of getting back into the game and not just building models and watching the paint projects back up. I need to learn the rules again. How will I manage to pull this off? Simple. I've got a copy of AoBR laying around that I never got around to using, so I'm going to quickly assemble the models and sit down with my 13 year old daughter and get back into the swing of things. I really need to inject new life into my gaming and this seems the best way to do it.

I've spent far too much time running around for others and damn it, it's time to do something for myself. Ha! So I'm sitting down to get the models built tonight and the plan is to get a game in with the quick start rules tomorrow afternoon. I'll let you know how it goes.