Space Hulk and my first Battlefoam Experience
When Games Workshop announced that they would be releasing a brand new version of Space Hulk, I was pretty excited. Now, I never played it when it was originally released and only had gotten to play a few games with a friend's set or played the little single player Visual Basic app (here). I found the game to be really fun and quick. I was already playing 40k, but Space Hulk would have been the perfect gateway drug for me to get into the realm of 40k if I hadn't played it before.
Now, I will admit, the price-tag for the newest version of Space Hulk seemed steep to me at first, but when I got to see up close and personal what came in the box set I was sold. The detail on all the Blood Angel Terminators were fantastic and all the different poses of the genestealers along with the really cool broodlord blew me away. I also really liked how all the pieces for the game were of a high quality THICK card-stock and not just printed with graphics but had embossed texture on them as well. For $90, the set really is a steal.
So, I pre-ordered the game to make sure I got my copy and then was out of town for a long period of time not having a chance to go pick it up till earlier this year. A week before I went to pick it up, I was thinking about how there are a TON of parts in the game and how with all that gear in there and mixed in with the figures, I was concerned that I would wind up with broken miniatures unless I put them in an army case or something. Now I was thinking "This game is only going to stay at home now because transporting it will be a pain unless I take the main box along with some figure case to protect the army". Especially since I would like to eventually take some time and paint up all the figures to really get the visual wiz-bang of playing the game (painted miniatures are more fun to play with in my mind). So, that would doubly require me to protect my figures, aka figure case.
So, while reading some trading forums (aka bartertown - read my post on it!) I stumbled upon someone selling their space hulk game along with battlefoam inserts for the box. "Hold the phone! Battlefoam has a case for the whole game? I will have to check this out!" So, I went to their website and sure enough, they had foam inserts for the game, but not just a place to store your stuff, but it would fit inside the game box! I was sold. I purchased the "Popular Corridor Space Game Foam Kit" and within a week I had it in hand.
When I initially opened my package from Battlefoam I was impressed with the quality of foam that came with it. It seemed sturdy and the cuts for the miniatures seemed nicely done. However, because my space hulk game was still on the sprue and I hadn't broken anything down and assembled it yet, I was unable to put all the miniatures in their proper places. However, I felt that it looked pretty small and was unsure if it would even fit. Because I was leaving town again for another few months, I just packed space hulk and the foam in my luggage separately and took it with me.
After I spent a lot of time cleaning all the flash and glueing together all the models in the kit, I began to look at the foam kit in ernest. I was perplexed how I would fit in all the pieces. I was confused as to what models went in what spots and how I would even think about stacking all the pieces in place. I was started to wonder what the return policy was on their foam trays, but figured, hey, they have a decent rep, they have to fit. So I contacted their customer support and they send me a link to a youtube video and some pics to help with figuring out how to arrange everything and I have to say, it is freaking perfect. I now have all my space hulk gear in one box and battlefoam has gotten another new customer. When I go to buy my next army transport, I know who I am getting mine from 
btw, here is the video and one of the images they sent me. Thanks battlefoam dudes!
Bartertown.com FTW
Cryx Battlegroup I got from Bartertown.com
Look what I got in the mail today!
I have been recycling my gaming money for a long time now thanks to Bartertown.com. I think the only money I have been spending has been for shipping here and there. Also, anything I sell just goes into the "wargaming slush-funds" that if I do buy anything with, it is with that money. This has allowed me to switch armies and try new games (like Hordes and Warmachine). I really do suggest if you want to find good deals to check this site out. Heck, if you are just starting out and want to purchase something, you can typically find stuff for good prices. Lots of 50% off sales, etc. And if you wind up not liking it, you know you have a place that you can sell/trade for something else on. Paying just a little bit of shipping to try something out is always worth it in my mind.
I did that with AT-43 actually. Bought the starter box and played it for a couple months. While I was hoping the people I was playing it with would get into it and invest, no one did. So, I just reposted it and sold it only loosing like $7 on shipping. How many people would like to try out a game for that long for just $7? 
A few tips though:
- Try to make purchases from people who have good references. You can check a persons reference by 1) looking at their number by their username in a post and 2) look them up via Searching for their references
- If you are trading, the common etiquette seems to be lowest references ships first, but I have shipped at the same time with people who have higher or lower reputations than I do if they have pretty strong references
- When trading, one of the easiest ways to do determine if it is a good trade is compare retail costs of what you are trading. Now, with things that are out of print, this is harder to do, but try and think of what they would cost right now if they were brand new and then, if they are in demand, bump them up a bit in price. It just makes things easier and it is easier to justify to the person you are trading with
I have found by following these rules along with some common sense make trading on bartertown worth my while. Heck, I have actually met some cool people via private messages while trading and had some cool conversations.
So, if you are interested in getting rid of, trading, or buying wargaming gear (or for that matter other stuff, some people sell game consoles, guitars, dvds, etc looking for trades) give it a look-see.
U-Con 2008 Tournament
My Necron Army in all its Glory!
It has been a few weeks since the U-Con Gaming Convention took place on November 22nd. I entered the 40k tournament hosted by Rob Haug (who also ran the Fantasy tournament AT THE SAME TIME!!! Great Job!!!!) and sponsored by Labyrinth Comics & Games and Get Your Game On. I had a great time and had 3 great games and got to play 3 different armies (an iyanden-style eldar, mech tau and mixed legion Chaos). I couldn't have asked for more, but I wound up getting more... I won "Best General"!
Results:
40k
Overall - Chris Pelletier (CSM)
General - Me (Necrons)
Sportsmanship - Doran Maynard (Eldar)
Painting - Nathaniel Bartlett (Tyranids and Nathaniel also painted Doran's Eldar army which tipped the scales Nathaniel's way)
Players Choice - Will Purves (Space Marines)
WFB
Overall - Kevin Petit (Ogre Kingdom)
General - Marc Reichart (Chaos Daemons)
Sportsmanship - Neil Hamiltom (Beasts of Chaos)
Painting - Donnie Goerlitz (Warriors of Chaos)
Players Choice - Jon Calhoun (Empire)
I also tried to take some pictures that day as well. Hope you enjoy them!!!
Also, in case anyone is interested, this is the list I brought:
NECRONS - 1750pts
HQ:
Necron Lord w/ Staff of Light, Resurrection Orb, and Veil of DarknessELITES:
10 Necron ImmortalsTROOPS:
4 units of 10 Necron WarriorsFAST:
5 Scarab Swarm Bases
5 Necron DestroyersHEAVY:
Necron Monolith
I don't think I would have changed anything in the list. While it might have been nice to have a heavy destroyer to help really "take out" armor, I was able to keep tanks that I was worried about shook each turn to where they really proved no threat to me. Too bad you can't shake Tau Broadsides. Those things had me very nervous in my second game vs mech tau 
Also, what is not to love about being able to redeploy/"pull out of combat" two units a turn. Who says the Necrons are dead as far as a tournament army goes (well, I guess they ARE kinda dead in the metaphysical sense of the word DEAD)?
Next up is tweaking a 1500 pt list for the Gorilla Con 2009 ARD BOYZ tournament. I have some thoughts in mind about what to take to it, but they are still just that, thoughts. Although, part of me is curious to see what the WM/Hordes tournament has in store.....
Monsterpocalypse: Monster Disappointment
Well, I am pretty sure I won’t be trying this game any time soon. The last thing miniature gaming needs is another collectable game in my book.
When I first began playing miniature wargames like warhammer fantasy and 40k I saw another game being played by some of the CCG regulars, Wiz Kids’ Mage Knight. When I saw the figures all I thought was, “bleegh”. The figures looked liked crappy knock off action figures that spent too much time in the sun. I did appreciate the bases containing the stats, but was quickly turned off by how they looked. A friend of mine one Christmas gave me a starter pack of them, and while I appreciated the gift, after I played it with him a few times, they took up space in my closet and have never left (anyone want some old Mage Knight figs?).
When Heroclix came out, I thought, hmm I will give this a shot. I mean, come on. It has super heroes, how can it suck? And ya know what? It didn’t. It was and still is a pretty fun game. Wiz kids simplified some of the movement rules by supplying a map divided into squares and some ideas of buildings/terrain/etc. There were rules for throwing people, throwing your own heroes at other heroes, all kinds of super-hero type of things. A friend of mine at work, at the time, played many a lunch time games each having a starter and a booster or 2. The problem was, if we wanted to expand, we needed to buy boosters. While I have no problem paying good money for a game that gives me hours of enjoyment, I don’t like playing the lottery…
Thus ended me playing hero clix. Back in the day, I used to play Magic:The Gathering (sheesh I am busting out the geek now) and while I really enjoyed that game at the time, I HATED having to either:
- ..buy a cases of cards in the hopes of getting some good cards or…
- …paying through the nose for good singles
In fact, one of the things I liked a lot about most miniature games was if I want to play with 10 of X trooper I go out and buy 10 of X trooper (more or less). I don’t have to worry that X trooper is a “rare miniature” and that only 1 of the 5 miniatures in a booster is a “rare minature” and that there are 20 “rare miniatures’ for that series of booster… ad naseum for lottery conditions. I want to go into the store, slap my 10 pence on the counter and say “I would like a box of Puce Rapid Fire Kabold Troopers, fine sir”. That is how I like my miniature games.
So, where am I going with this? Well, tonight I saw that what I thought originally sounded like a cool concept from a decent game studio turned out to be another lottery miniature game. No thanks. If you want to give me some free blisters to try it out, fine, fire away, but unless your game is like crack on acid while smoking heroin out of a tuna-fish sandwich, I doubt it is going to have me riding the gaming lottery again. Looked neat, but no thanks
Privateer Press’ Hordes - Gaming with the Mrs: Part 1.5
Earlier this week I got a few more of my trades from bartertown. “Who run bartertown?”… couldn’t help it…
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I have only begun to read through the rules but it seems like an interesting ruleset with units actually having formations which make a difference to gameplay (as to what extent, I do not know yet, but I like the potential). I received the soft cover version of the rules and the art is really cool inside:
I have only begun to read through the rules but it seems like an interesting ruleset with units actually having formations which make a difference to gameplay (as to what extent, I do not know yet, but I like the potential). I received the soft cover version of the rules and the art is really cool inside:
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Also, when picking up a can of primer, the local game store threw in a copy of this:
I have been a subscriber of White Dwarf for I don’t know how long and every year I plan on not getting it anymore, but fortunately for Games-Workshop they have lately been putting in nice bonus figures with a subscription that have been good for trading/etc, otherwise I would have canceled a while ago.
Meanwhile, it seems that No Quarter seems like a decent magazine. The problem with White Dwarf is that they have pretty much shred the majority of quality articles like the special rules for new variant army lists, quality short story fiction, FAQs, etc and have pretty much just littered it with ads of what new gear they want you to buy. That is not to say that No Quarter is the best. I am still a pretty lousy judge at the quality of the publication, but I do notice that they publish quarterly and probably pack all the content that WD creates in 3 issues into 1 and without the magazine being like 40% ads (did I mention I hate the fact that GW’s LotR game typically takes up to 20-40% of the space in WD too…..)
Anyway, enough ranting about what gaming rag is better than the other. I figure I should give a little bit of progress made. I was able to get 4 shredders and part of the warlock built:
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I will say I was impressed with the small amount of flash and mold lines I found on these figures. I do need to give them a little bath before I prime them to make sure it sticks well. I didn’t put the bow on Lylyth because I wanted to pin it along with the Carnivean heavy warbeast. I just got a little time to glue those few guys together. One thing I did too was a size comparison for the GW stuff I have. Hordes figures seem bigger. I like that ;-). More area to paint:
One last thing. For giggles I figured I would give you a few shots of my workspace. Why? I don’t know. Just look if you are interested.
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I hope you all are enjoying this Hordes newb blog. Happy gaming!
Privateer Press’ Hordes - Gaming with the Mrs.!
My wife and I don’t get much time to go out anymore now that we have a couple of munchkins in the house, so in order to have more fun at home without having to leave the house, I have introduced her to wargaming [cue sinister music]. I got her initially interested in playing because she thought all the figures looked neat. She decided she liked the fantasy looking figures more than the sci-fi and thus we began playing warhammer fantasy battles. The problem is, there are a lot of figures to paint, lots of rules to learn and a lot of time to play just one game. While I like to spend all that time working on my Warhammer and 40K armies (Dark Elves, Salamanders, Necrons and newly acquired Chaos Dwarfs), we wanted to have fewer figures to paint for our games to worry about completing.
I had heard from a friend that Hordes was a pretty fun game. I wasn’t a huge fan of Privateer Press’ Warmachine line of models (they are very nice, but not necessarily my cup of tea), but when I checked out the Hordes figures, they seemed pretty sweet to me. I had a few of armies from other game systems laying around just collecting dust, so I off to bartertown.com and I worked out a bunch of trades in order to get all 4 of the warpacks and the 2 rulebooks. While I could have gotten an idea of the game with just 2 packs and no rule books, it worked better with trading what I had, plus it seems that hordes warpacks are always in demand anyway, so if I wound up not being a huge fan I could trade most things with relative ease.
So, this week I got two of the warpacks that I traded for, Skorne and Trollbloods. Below are a few shots of the box sets still in pieces. I plan on attempting to record the progress my wife and I have while working on building and painting them and maybe some shots of some of our games in progress in addition to thoughts about the game, modeling, etc. Enjoy!
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