Another Update!

With as many changes as we have had over the past year we are moving in a new direction. That means a new web page, new name, and new format. We have already done a sound check with our new hardware and hope to bring you a better quality production. Our first recording is planned for 5/8/14. There should be very little editing with a short turn around time.

More information will be coming soon including with links to the new site which will also be hosting the podcast.

State of the Team and Podcast

Well well well......It has been over a year since the last post on this site and the last podcast. Where have we been? What have we been doing? Burn out, scheduling conflicts, and conflicting opinions all led to the blog and podcast coming to a screaming halt. What it boils down to is real life was more important than gaming.

What's this thing you call real life? Let me explain with a break down of what has been happening in our lives. James moved to Denver. Duncan got promoted to sergeant and has prisoners to keep in line. Mike works an outrageous number of hours each day, 6 days a week. Betty went back to school for another degree. Jack got promoted/new job which keeps him busy and is expecting his second kid. Seth finished his doctorate and moved to South Dakota. Conor started college. Andy, we still don't know where he is (I know someone will appreciate that joke). We have been spread thin to say the least.

However, we never quit playing 40k. There are always down times but the game continues to be an important part of our lives. Also, we have added a couple new members to the team to fill in the ranks. Long time players who we have all known for a long time, Aaron and Will.

What does this all mean? While we continue to go to tournaments we plan to work the podcast back in to our lives. The group has become scattered across the nation and its a chance for us to not only talk 40k but to stay in touch. After all, the best part about the game is the friends you make along the way.

What you talking 'bout GW?

 


Yesterdays White Dwarf Daily caught my attention. Not the content itself, but one specific word used in the first sentence. Here it is copied word for word.....

"May's issue of White Dwarf is out on Saturday in all Games Workshop Hobby Centres and all good independent stockists."

What do they mean by all GOOD independent stockists? Are they taking a stab at all the retailers that have come under scrutiny for selling new releases early?

 Second, I still think it is funny how they describe the content of the magazine....

"As always it will be packed with hobby articles, from our stage-by-stage painting guides in Paint Splatter to the action-packed Battle Report."

I am specifically referring to the "action-packed" part. The battle reports haven't been action packed in years. Most of the time you can't even follow what is happening because they leave out vital information. I for one would also enjoy them more if the armies were legal and the people playing them knew what they were doing. Maybe GW should let people send in battle reports. That would be much more entertaining.

I guess you can always count on GW to give you a good laugh with their strange and ridiculous statements.

Space Wolf Army Build Thoughts & List

Howdy folks.  Of late my mind has been on my Wolves and Guard, and competitive list building for the lead-up to Adepticon and events in between.  I’ve had no problem building Imperial Guard centralized lists.  Imperial Guard stepped up really well into 6^th edition.  Their firepower is still great, they have a strong flier presence, blobs are still durable.  They suffer a bit from the fact that their mobile troops are like tissue paper and have trouble holding objective on the far side of the board, but otherwise they’re fairly good.  Both those problems are easily mitigated by allies or worked around, and the addition of a rune priest to a blobbed platoon gives them a very creditable (if slow) deathstar that can handle a variety of targets.

But this article isn’t about my IG.  This article is about my Space Wolves.  I’ve really struggled to come up with a Space Wolf army that can make the competitive cut on its own since 6^th edition came out.  The problem really boils down to one thing for me.  Flyer Defense.  

Episode 15 - I Took a Boltgun to the Knee, Tools are Constructive

What Grinds My Gears

Howdy guys. Been awhile since I’ve been of a mind to blog, but the upcoming Dark Angels release got me thinking down a track that has me really annoyed.  I was looking at the new models that are on deck, and it got me thinking about the various model/codex releases over the last few years and I came to a conclusion. That being that Space Wolves (my pet army) got seriously screwed by GW on models.

The Space Wolf Codex got exactly two new kits when it was released, the Space Wolf Pack, and Space Wolf Terminators.  And ignoring the independent characters that was it.  You had Canis Wolfborn there to tease you with the idea of a unit of Thunderwolf Cavalry (at $50 per model), but otherwise nothing.  It was 2 ½  years later before GW released kits for those models.

So Codex: Space Wolves got a grand total of 4 plastic kits (and I only count the Fenrisian Wolf kit grudgingly), and had to wait nearly 3 years for their big splashy kit.  Contrast this with the following model releases.

Imperial Guard – 10 Kits

                Valkyrie

                Catchan Command

                Cadian Command

                Ratlings (Resculpt)

                Sentinels (Recut)

                Leman Russ (Recut)

                Demolisher (Recut)

                Hellhound(Recut)

                Chimera (Recut)

                Manticore

               

Tyrannids – 8 Kits

                Tyrand Guard

                Hive Guard

                Trygon

                Gargoyles

                Tervigon

                Venomthrope

                Pyrovores

                Raveners

Blood Angels – 4 Kits (All with Codex)

                Death Company

                Sanguinary Guard

                Baal Predator

                Stormraven

Dark Eldar - ~ 15Kits

                The Whole Damned Army

Grey Knights – 3.5 Kits (All with Codex)

                Strike Squad

                GK Terminators

                Dreadknight

                (Access to Stormraven)

Necrons – 9 Kits

                Stalker

                Lychguard

                Immortals

                Ghost Arc

                Night Scythe

                Command Barge

                Tomb Blades

                Wraiths

                Spyders

Chaos – 6Kits

                Mutilators

                Cultists

                Helldrake

                Raptors

                Forgefiend

                Chosen

Dark Angels – 5 Kits (All With Codex)

                Niphilim Fighter

                Land Speeder Vengeance

                Knight Terminators

Ravenwing Bikes (Recut)

Ravenwing Command

???

               

This bugs me.  Now I know that power armor codices all piggy back off the Codex: SM model range, but I can’t help but feel annoyed that Space Wolves got so markedly little, and had to wait so long for it.

On top of which is my pet game-play complaint. Space Wolves are the only codex released since 2006 that doesn’t have a flyer/flying MC within their codex.

The 6 following codices have them (including DA), and 4 preceding codices have them thanks to WD updates.   I know I can get the odd flyer with allies, but it would be nice to have something in my codex.  Even if it were only access to the crappy, crappy Stormtalon, at least it would be something I could take more than one of.

The only other codices with that problem are Templar, Eldar, Tau, and Sisters of Battle and which are all on deck for the next couple years.  Space Wolves likely won’t see another codex for another 4-5 years.  And in my book that’s way too damned long.

To sum up.  Space Wolves got fewer kits than anyone but GK (and the hell with them); had to wait almost 3 years to get two of them; their big fancy kit (TWC) was one of the late kits; and their codex is completely shut out of one of the main mechanics of the new edition (fliers) and is likely to remain so until a new codex arrives.  And that Gentlemen, really grinds my gears.

Episode 12 - Land Raider in a Tube Sock