Light Box

I finally built myself a light box! It seriously took less than 5 minutes to rig up and I'm kicking myself for not doing it sooner. I followed this handy guide http://rustandthecity.blogspot.com/2012/06/budget-miniature-photography-my-tools.html

In other news, my 1750 Necron list for this weekend is complete! I'm going to work on getting decent shots of the army on the display board and in the new light box. I should have these posted later today, along with the army list before tomorrow's tournament.

Building a Display Board

I'm a beginner when it comes to building terrain or a display board. But it's something I'd like to spend more time on. This was the first board I've ever done, and overall I'm really pleased with how it turned out. It really didn't take a lot in terms of time, effort, or money. Here's a quick breakdown of what went into it and some of the cool things I learned along the way.

Step 1: Inspiration. Go to any 40k tournament / convention / event / etc. and you're bound to spot some really incredible works of art. This is what struck me the most at Nova last year and is one of the things I look forward to most of all -- seeing the armies on display. I was blown away by most of the armies in attendance and even felt bad that my army lacked a display board and barely met the 3 paint minimum. Going to an event like this is perfect for inspiration and gathering cool ideas that you can incorporate into your own armies.

Step 2: Theme and color scheme. Usually during list building, a theme or two starts to emerge -- is the list more defensive or up close and personal? These things should be taken into account when designing a display board. It helps you determine overall placement of the models, setting a dramatic scene that is "realistic" for your chosen army (well, as "realistic" as toy soldiers can get anyway). Is your army bunkered up, defending a relic, or mounting an unrelenting assault... etc. Try to get the layout and landscape of the board to match the overarching theme and composition of your army.

Then there is the color scheme. When planning how to base the models in an army, I first consider the actual paint scheme of the army then try to pick colors, textures, etc. that compliment those main colors -- something that really makes the actual models stand out. Once you have the bases locked down, the display board colors will follow suit. Up to this point, it's all planning and coming up with a vision for how you want the army and display board to look at the end.

Step 3: Materials. At tournaments, I noticed a lot of players using serving trays as the base for their display board. It's a great idea really; you've got handles, fold out legs, and something that is easy to transport to an event. It can also be used as a frame for multiple display boards when you have multiple armies to choose from. I found this one at target:

I've used this as-is before, but then it's just a handy carrying tray, not a real display board ;)

Here's what actually goes into the display board that sits inside the tray:

• Foam
• Cork board
• Scenery/props
• and of course flock, glue, and paint

For this I used standard styrofoam just to raise the main display area up an inch so the models wouldn't be so low within the tray. For anything else, like building hills or jagged scenery, make sure to use foam core instead since it wont melt to spray paint. But for adding height, styrofoam works fine since it will be covered up by a layer of cork that will act as the board's surface. You can get a big roll of cork board like this at Michaels for a few bucks.

Make sure the combined height of the foam + cork layer fits within the walls of the tray and/or is sufficient for the type of landscape you are going for.

Then it's time to think about placement of props, bunkers, buildings, lights, etc. I'm still a kid when it comes to this and think it's awesome when things light up, haha. So I wanted to incorporate some kind of lighting effect on the board. I originally tried to make a blue glowing cavern through the middle of the board, but changed direction when I found a sweet cardboard skull and resin hand at the craft store. The source for lighting would stay the same though. These push LED's are awesome and really easy to build into the board. My board uses one that is held in place by the foam pieces, which also hold the skeleton hand in place.

To get the blue glow effect, I simply hot glued some of these blue glass beads (which I'm using as Reanimation Protocol counters) together to sit on top of the LED.

I also hot glued 3 beads to the painted skull, which catches the light underneath to complete the glowing eyes / nose effect.

For the actual surface of the board, I started by spray painting the cork layer black, then applied patches of glue for the black sand that I used on the Necron bases. For the areas not covered in sand, I thought I would try this interesting product:

It worked pretty well! However, it sprays everywhere, so make sure you use it in a very open area away from anything you don't want speckled with fake snow.

After letting it dry over night, I went back over the snow areas with the earlier snow mixture from Gale Force 9 to more closely match the snow effect on the bases.

That's pretty much it! I'm planning on doing a similar board that fits into the same tray, but next time for my bike army. I think my Dark Eldar will end up needing a larger board than this just to fit the number of models I'm planning on running in that army, but we'll cross that bridge when I get there ;)

Necrons, 90% Done

The decision has been made. My next tournament (next Saturday) I'll be running a Necron list. Now, before you loyalist/Shrike/Khan/Biker enthusiasts get all upset, no, it will not be a scythe spam, AV13 spam, Wraith wing spam, or Scarab farm spam list. It may, in fact, be the least optimized Necron list this side of 6th edition (hell, I even have a C'tan in there) -- but you know what, it's nearly all the Necron models I own and I'm very excited to have it almost fully painted!

Excuse the poor phone photos, I'm saving the good camera for the final product.

A handful of bases, washes, and highlights remain. I do love the motivation that an upcoming event can bring -- each day I get a little closer to finishing my second army. I'm a few painting sessions away; stay tuned for end results and the 1750pt list.

Necron Display Board

Here's a few quick shots of my nearly finished Necron display board. It's basically a giant Necron rising from a snow landscape that matches the rest of my Necron Warriors. It all came together last week when I found the skull and resin hand at the local craft store -- gotta love Halloween decorations!

I still have some touch up and highlighting to do, but once that's done I'll take some better pictures along with the new 1750pt list that goes with it. Cheers!

Another Game of 6th

Slowly but surely I'm making my way through 6th edition. I haven't had a ton of time to play with the new rules since they dropped, but I did manage to get a 3rd game in the other week and hoping to get a few more in this month. There's a small 1750pt tournament I'm signed up for at the end of the month, so I really need to figure out what list I'm taking and continue to brush up on the new rules. I had never played this particular points level before, so deciding on what to cut from one of my typical 2000pt lists wasn't easy. I knew I wanted to try out the Storm Talon and at the last minute on a whim, decided I wanted to try Chaplain Cassius as well. It was a hodgepodge list but it was still fun and offered a good learning experience with units I don't normally field.

I played against Ian and his new Astral Claws army, who is also prepping for the same tournament (this was originally supposed to be the Battle at Blob's Park however due to high demand they had to push the date way back in order to make arrangements for a larger-scale tournament/event).

I'm not quite prepared to do full-fledged battle reports since I'm still learning all the new rules and will inevitably make mistakes and forget to do things (like rolling for night fight, etc). But this was the most exciting game of 6th I've played thus far. The mission (the Scouring) kept things interesting all the way to the very end, a full 7 turns. Dice were hot and cold on both sides throughout, but I ultimately lost by 1 victory point due to my own blunders -- could have done more to protect my second objective and should have denied the other 3pt objective with Cassius, but live and learn haha.

This game was a lot of fun and overall felt a lot more engaging than the old 5th edition missions. I still have a few of the new book missions to try out, but overall I'm feeling a lot more comfortable with 6th edition. Enough things have changed in this edition that you can now try anything and everything (at least for the time being) as far as your army list goes, which is the most the fun thing about a new edition. Ian had a really solid list that could pump out a cubic s-ton of firepower and could reliably deal with flyers. I think he's going to fair well with that list in the upcoming tournament. I, on the other hand, really need to nail down what I am bringing then play as many practice games as I can. Right now, I'm between a version of a vanilla marine biker list and my necrons. Other than the small effort I put into the Storm Talon, I've mostly been working on my necron army. I'm now very close to finishing this army which is exciting. I should have some updates on these guys coming shortly.

Dark Vengeance Shipped!

Received my shipping confirmation today for the Dark Vengeance limited edition set and can't wait to pick it up this weekend!

Unfortunately, I wont be able to attend the NOVA Open this year. Too many conflicts and regardless, not enough time to prepare my forces for 6th edition. Hopefully next time!

I'll be tuning in to the live feeds when I can but to those attending, good luck and please take lots of pictures for me!

From the 11th Company:

Next week, the 11th Company will be live video broadcasting the top tables at the Nova Open starting next week Thursday roughly at 4PM Eastern time.http://www.ustream.tv/user/the11thcompany

How to Equip a Stormtalon Gunship

This is something I've been pondering recently with the addition of the new flyer to my Space Marine army. There aren't many options (4 total) for the Stormtalon, so it shouldn't be that hard. It comes standard with an Assault Cannon and Heavy Bolter for 130pts. Only the Heavy Bolter can be substituted for 1 of 3 weapon options. Here's my thought process on each option:

• Standard weapons @ 130pts. Initially, I thought about keeping it standard just to keep it cheap. However, 130pts is not cheap. You can get these weapons elsewhere in the codex for cheaper and/or on more durable platforms. This can be said about all the weapon options (except for the Skyhammer Missiles which are unique), but ultimately what kills this option for me is the Heavy Bolter doesn't play to the Flyer's strengths. I'm taking the Stormtalon because my army lacks anti-flyer capabilities, and while it's possible (but not likely) to hurt very low AV flyers, the Heavy Bolter is the weakest choice in this regard. Now if you're going for anti-infantry and want that on a Flying platform, then the standard loadout may be the option for you.

• Twin-linked Lascannon @ 150pts. Having 2 non-TL lascannons would have been better, but that most likely would have driven up the points cost. Many have said that the twin-linking is unnecessary since the Talon can switch modes to gain BS 5. This isn't the whole story though. The 'Hover Strike' mode does not improve the BS when targeting Flyers or Skimmers, and lets not forget the vulnerability you open up when you switch to this mode. Flyers are durable because most units can only snap fire at them; changing the mode from Flyer to Skimmer removes that protection, and you can't move at all while performing a 'Hover Strike', so no jink saves either. Maybe I'll find a reason to switch modes once I start using these in games, but for now I can't think of any reason why you would ever want to risk changing out of Flyer mode, especially if all your guns are twin-linked. Anyway, the TL lascannon is a solid choice for taking out other flyers and high AV ground Mech alike.

• Typhoon Missile Launcher @ 155pts. The Typhoon ML is one of the most flexible weapons in the Space Marine codex. 9 out of 10 Land Speeders that I encounter on the table are packing the Typhoon, and for good reason. On the Talon, this gun would be even more survivable with the extra point in AV and the fact that it can only be hit on 6's (unless the enemy has Skyfire). I originally thought this would be my goto choice, but the longer I think about it the more I feel kinda meh about this selection. Dual-purposing a model is nice, and the Typhoon certainly has that going for it, but I keep coming back to the reason I'm including a Talon in my list in the first place -- to take out enemy flyers first and foremost, then to help take out high AV targets. 2 shots at strength 8 is pretty close to a re-rollable strength 9 shot, but in that situation where I want the highest possible chance of taking out a flyer or AV13+ vehicle (which is only going to be more prevalent in 6th) I'd rather be shooting with the TL Lascannon.

• Skyhammer Missile Launcher @ 155pts. The newest weapon to the Space Marine arsenal, however not that much different than an Autocannon; same exact Strength and AP but has slightly better range (60") and fires 1 more shot (3). The rate of fire matches the Heavy Bolter and the Strength 7 is decent when firing at low-mid AV or MC's. But you still need to roll 5's to glance AV12 flyers, and that's just not going to cut it for what I need out of this unit. I do like the range of this weapon and can see where hover striking the Talon in a corner if you can keep the enemy in range of your missiles while staying out of range from return fire could be fun. But that's a very specific scenario that may never occur, and it's not something I'm going to bet 155pts on.

In the end, I see myself going with the TL Lascannon option as it more adequately addresses the need in my current army list. None of the options are bad in my opinion, it just boils down to what your army needs more of. I'm going to paint up all the weapon options to have on hand and have already assembled the Talon so I can easily swap the weapons out or remove them for, god forbid, a weapon destroyed result. Either way, I'm looking forward to trying this thing out in my next game!

UPDATE: The rules / points for the Stormtalon have been updated via Death From The Skies