40K - Nurgle Daemons

 I have a large Nurgle Daemon army that was originally built for WHFB. When GW blew up the Old World I ported it over to 40k.

Recently I got it out again and was keen to get it on the table. However to do this I found I needed to paint 13 Plaguebearers and, more importantly, rebase the full two units on 32mm bases. My army uses the old metal Plaguebearers (slotabase) so this involved cutting, drilling and pinning.

Here are all sixty in their glory. I need to give them a spray of satin varnish before I texture their bases.

The final thing to do is add 5 more bases of Nurglings to give me a neat dozen. Again these are the old metal figures. Pulling them out of my bitz box I found I had enough to do 24 40mm bases.....but where's the fun in that.

Hopefully over the next week I can finish the army up ready to get it out on the table.

40K Terrain - Ruined Tank Factory

 Over the weekend I painted up the Forge World Ruined Tank Factory and based it on one of the Tablescape tiles that arrived.

I then made up the interior to be in line with the molded base.

I reckon it has come up well and am looking to slot it into my home table.

This is quite a big piece. The tiles are 12" squares so the Factory is about 14-15" high.

It is very solid. The walls are made of solid resin which is around 1 cm thick. I have a bit of detail work to finish - inking of aquilas etc - but it is 90% done.

Key for me was to get the interior right. The molded base only covers 60% of the tile so I wanted to attempt a reasonably "invisible" integration of the rest. The new GW pipes help that.

There are lots of gantries and different flooring materials which gives a great canvas of textures to paint and play on.

40K Terrain - Supplies Airlifted In

 Yesterday eight new Tablescapes Urban Streets tiles arrived from the US. Jack sent them via USPS - who guaranteed delivery by 21 September or postage refunded 😆

These eight tiles allow me to expand my Cityfight table to 10' x 4'.......woohoo.

Last night I fitted some of the terrain I've been painting to individual tiles. As a result I'll have 3 new building tiles, three open plaza (one will get the Flying St. Celestine Statue) and two T-intersections.

The new Terrain GW released with the 9th Ed sets

Forge World Ruined Tank Factory with Extension plus 9th Ed Pipes

Manufactorum with 9th Ed Pipes/Boiler

The FW Ruined Tank Factory will be repainted this weekend using airbrush and inks. It is a beautiful OOP piece. Hopefully I'll have pictures up on Monday.

Fantasy - Kings of War 3rd Edition Bundle

 On the weekend I called into the Warlords for 10 mins while picking up an espresso (please be fixed soon, dear machine) and watched some members playing SAGA Fantasy.

It reminded me how much I really miss my beloved Rats and so, when I got home, I went online to Mighty Ape and bought myself the Kings of War 3rd Ed rules, Uncharted empires army lists and the spell and artefact cards.

Pretty good value for $130....Rulebook is 400 pages while the additional book of Army Lists is 112 pages. All three of my KoW armies are in Uncharted Empires - Ratkin, The Herd and The Varangar.

When I stopped playing 2-3 years ago, the local scene was too small to support an active tournament scene. However my approach this time will be to get in occasional games to scratch my Fantasy itch. From what I understand there are still 6-12 locals with armies.

40K - "Go First, Win" Redux

 So I have been sitting on this data for a week - since the FOB NZGT ended.

I had published it to a TOs' group to see if they could explain what I was seeing but got the stock "not enough terrain/not the right sort of terrain" answer.

However this morning Goonhammer published an article which appears to confirm what I was seeing. 

Put simply, if you go first you have a substantially increased chance of winning.

Goonhammer have indicated that the skew towards Go First Win is 58%. FOB NZGT had a more pronounced skew but if the average is 58%, within the bounds of uncertainty.

In their analysis, Goonhammer singled out Vital Intelligence and Surround & Destroy as particularly problematic. They also highlight Battlelines as the most balanced of the missions. 

I'd certainly be using Battlelines as my Championship mission in future - last weekend it was fortuitous that that was the case.

Personally, I think this skew is worrisome. That there is such an advantage from a random die roll is something GW should be worried about.

Hopefully, this will be addressed in coming months,