Weekly War Diary- Easy Victory A-Go-Go

Returning to the good, old-fashioned motivator of falling down in public rather than waiting for perfection in private I've decided to write an actual hobby diary. First attempt, so sorry if it's dull. Anyway, starting the week out on the painting table are:

2 Lizardmen Salamanders

Lizardmen Bastiladon with a Solar Engine

Lizardmen Saurus Oldblood with halberd and shield

2 Space Orks Gretchin

5 Tomb Kings Skeleton Warriors with spears and command options

Blood Angels Librarian (conversion)

Sunday 16^th August 2015

Turned out the Skeleton Warriors didn't need much work, just a little highlighting on their shields so that I did and popped them on the basing shelf. Basing takes too bloody long so things don't stay on the painting table for basing, they go on the shelf and others things take their place.

In this case, five Assault On Black Reach Ork Boyz with sluuggas and choppas take their place. Briefly. I have a horrible tendency to start things and then get distracted so after a little layering on the browns and some touching up of the metallics they, too, went to the basing shelf.

Less than an hour into this diary and I have ten models damn near finished. This is good.

Replacing them are six Skink Skirmishers with blowpipes and hand weapons, significantly further from finished than the Boyz or the Skeletons. I'd only just started the skin tones when I put them back in the case for a game. I also slipped the Skink Priest with the Cloak Of Feathers onto the table since he's at a similar stage of progress.

I also quickly finished the metallics on the two Gretchin (or, more honestly, gave up on them because Gretchin don't deserve the effort of picking out each element of their guns in different tones) and they went to the basing shelf to be replaced by another two Gretchin. Some day I will finish this unit!

Finally, I got the last inking done on the Salamanders and they also slipped up to the basing shelf. Now, everything so far has been in the nature of easy victories, jobs nearly done finally getting finished. This is, in all honestly, because I am avoiding the Bastiladon. I tried drybrushing the black carapace with Dark Reaper and it just doesn't work. Mostly, the How To Paint Lizardmen guide has served me well but it just doesn't look right to me so back to the drawing board on that one...

Monday 17^th August 2015

A quick afternoon session while listening to Doctor Who: Return To Telos. I got the skin tones on the Skink Skirmishers and Priest layered up to completion and slapped some colours on the Gretchin's trousers.

The small, mismatched army on the basing shelf got Steel Legion Drab painted around the rims of their bases.

The Bastiladon still torments me.

Wednesday 19^th August 2015

I like Doctor Who audios for shorter painting sessions but this afternoon I discovered that Mystery Science Theatre 3000 is pretty decent, undemanding viewing/listening for longer sit downs. The following was all completed to the background sound of Operation: Double 007 (which was terrible but not up to Manos: The Hands Of Fate's standard).

I'm pretty sure I'm done with texture paints. I'm using Armageddon Dust on the bases of the Skeleton Warriors and it just isn't working out for me. I got one of those new textures spreaders from GW the other day and it doesn't make it that much easier. True, I don't have to sacrifice good brushes to get the stuff out of the pot anymore but they spread all clumpy and the spreader is far from a precision instrument. Back to the drawing board on that one, time to work out how to paint sand to look like sand, as insane as that sounds.

I finished the layering on the Gretchin and popped them up onto the self, replaced them with two other Gretchin as the eternal cycle continues.

Whilst I was painting the metallics on the Oldblood I discovered that Brass Scorpion is a very unforgiving colour. It took me three layers of Abaddon Black to cover a small slip of the brush.

Still can't decide what to do with the Bastiladon's carapace.

Thursday 20^th August 2015

The group is getting together on Sunday to play a series of 500 point games. It'll be me (Lizardmen), Matt (Orcs & Goblins), Tom (Empire or Bretonnia) and Iain (Chaos Warriors). The full quorum. 500 points doesn't get you many Lizardmen and at the moment I'm leaning towards this:

Skink Priest, Level 1 Wizard with a Channelling Staff. 80 points

20 Saurus Warriors armed with spears and shields, full command. 250 points

12 Skink Skirmishers armed with hand weapons and blowpipes, Patrol Leader. 94 points

Salamander Hunting Pack of 1 Salaamander and 3 Skink Handlers. 80 points

504 points total.

Some magic (I'll decide what lore on the day), some combat power, some speed and some shooting. Only real flaws of the list is that everything will be moving at markedly different rates so dispersal is going to be a nightmare and I've never liked taking a wizard as a general. Still, it isn't as if anyone else is going to be playing with ideal lists.

Friday 21^st August 2015

Too tired to get anything substantive done after work so I just finishing the basing on the models that have been accumulating on the shelf this week. Given that I haven't painted anything in months and now I have sixteen models sitting on the shelf just waiting to be varnished I'd say this diary idea is paying off!

In other news, the ink and drybrush layers make the Armageddon Dust on the Tomb King Skeletons look amazing so I'm definitely going to have to keep using it. Hopefully, practice will make using the texture spreader easier.

Completed Models This Week

#1 - #5: Tomb Kings Skeleton Warriors with spears and shields (command rank)

Here's a “better” look at the bases I'm so enamoured with now. Terrible photo, I know.

#6 - #10: Ork Boyz with sluggas and choppas.

#11 - #12: Orks Gretchin

 #13 - #14: Lizardmen Salamanders

#15 - #16: Orks Gretchin

Progress Bar

Model finished this week: 16

Models finished so far: 16

Weekly War Diary #2: Complete Lack Of Progress Report

Well, not actually zero progress but nothing really worth commenting on. I ended up painting the Skinks in a very, very crap way before breaking, paint-stripping the lot and investing in a copy of How To Paint Citadel Miniatures: Lizardmen.

I have to say that I like these ebook How To Paint guides a lot more than the paper ones. The stage-by-stage images are a lot easier to follow when you can press the “next” button and the image changes before your very eyes. In the paper version its more like a comic strip and sometimes the subtler effects can be a bit hard to distinguish, especially since layering is used to describe about five separate techniques.

Anyway, the purchase is paying off. Although the guide seems convinced the Citadel Spray Gun was a good idea it didn't take me long to work out what base paints to use since my spray gun went in the bin months ago.

One Week Hobby Challenge

Okay, so my second attempt to complete a unit in a week resulted in a second failure so let's streamline this down a bit. Its 40k's turn on the Challenge so I'm going to paint my copy of Kaptin Badrukk, aka my Ork Warlord Kaptin Thunderguts Snarla. 

One Week Hobby Challenge end of week review

(Okay, long story short: when I looked at these pictures on my laptop while I was writing this post they looked fine. Now I look at them on my desktop as I post them they look far too shadowy. Hopefully they look okay but I really need to get one of these daylight bulbs people on hobby forums enthuse about and maybe that'll solve the problem once and for all.)

A productive week. Not only did I get the Glade Lord finished for my One Week Challenge but a few other bits and pieces along the way. I've got a head of steam up now and hopefully I can carry that momentum forward and get more done next week.

This week's models, in order of completion:

Model 2015.1: Astra Militarum Silvik 23rd "Fixers" Guardsman with lasgun
(Statuesque Miniatures head conversion)

Test model for my Astra Militarum regiment the Silvik 23^rd “Fixers” using the Statuesque Miniatures heroic scale female heads conversion set. As previously noted the head doesn't have the right connector to fit the torso, at least for any pose other than ironsighting so I'll need to learn to sculpt a join before doing any more.

I think a darker grey for the flak armour would compliment the grey better in future, though. I'm rather proud of the red edging, though.

Models 2015.2 and 2015.3: Orks Gretchin with grot blasters.

These Gretchin represent something important to this project: easy victories. Small, simple models that can be dashed off in a session or two. Its a nice feeling to finish something and it gives you a boost to your momentum. Since between the twenty-strong Gretchin mob, Mek Gun crew and other random Grots I've got about thirty that I can stick on one side of the painting table one or two at a time just to chip away.

Model 2015.4: Alvin Callum, Inquisitorial Acoltye with laspistol

The first of my Inquisitor's warband: Alvin Callum,Imperial Strategist and former scrivener for the Avalon Free Press' devotional pamphlet The 700 Wonders Of The Imperium. He's a polymath recruited by my inquisitor to act as his mission operator. His strategy commission was part of a longterm undercover assignment. I've been using this character for over ten years in every Imperial army I've ever had and its actually a bit of a treat to myself to finally make a model for him.

Models 2015.5: Wood Elves Glade Lord with great weapon and Asrai longbow

The main event, of course, is the Glade Lord I was painting for my One Week Challenge. Its a lovely model to paint, at least once you've worked out where the loincloth ends and the cape begins. I “highlighted” the armour using a shade since its far too delicate for me to even attempt it with an actual brush. I'm really going to have to work out some background for this guy as I want to use him a lot, I absolutely love this model

Model 2015.6: Mehendri Korendorf, Vampire Counts Necromancer

 

I've been using this Necromancer model for the better part of a year with it very nearly almost completed and I took the chance to finish him off. I'm not entirely satisfied with the pale flesh method I tried but I really didn't feel like repainting it.

Model 2015.7: Orks Mek Gun Crew Gretchin

Another Grot, this time crew for my Mek Guns, and probably my favourite of all the Grot sculpts. I like the little welding mask and the comical little pose. It also have me a chance to experiment a little with what I wanted armour plate to look like in the army. I didn't want to go with any of the usual Orky colours and the blue-green of Stegadon Scale Green suits my idea for a navy theme.

One Week Challenge #2

If there's one thing my Ork army needs its more heavy armour, plus I want to try something rather larger than a single character. The Meganobz seem relatively simple: once I've got the green flesh and the armour painted there's just the details to fill in. Also, they were a birthday present (well, three of them were) and it seems ungrateful not to have painted them. 

Hobby Goals for February and March

FEBRUARY HOBBY GOALS

Passed: 2 of 3

I did get my 1000 points Space Ork built, which was good for getting some games in (another one tomorrow) but bad from the perspective that I now have a huge number of barely painted Orks sitting to one side of my paint station.

I did get a start on my Inquisitorial Warband with the models I've already posted and ordering some others to do more conversions.

Failed: 1 of 3

The Heroic Scale Female Heads are currently out of stock at Statuesque Miniatures so I couldn't order them. Sadly, I'm also getting cold feet on them since I've been working on other projects in the meantime. Also, they're metal, not resin as I originally believed and I bloody hate working with metal.

MARCH HOBBY GOALS

Goal the First: Paint 250 points of Space Orks

With most other armies I'd have said 500 points but this is a horde army we're talking about so 250 it is. I really, really want to beat this goal good and hard but getting a quarter of the army up and finished seems a decent goal for what's looking to be a sunny month where I won't want to be indoors much during the day.

Goal the Second: Build my Looted Wagon

I've got it mostly planned out, I just need to get the glue and clippers out. It also gives me something to do with all the Mek Gunz parts I have left spare.

Goal the Third: Paint the first four members of the warband

Striking while the iron's hot, I don't want to lose inspiration on this project now I've finally started it. 

The Looted Wagon Project

I bought a Leman Russ kit yesterday, for two reasons. The first was because there are a couple of picture in the Astra Militarum Codex where the tank commander seems to have a left-handed laspistol, which I need because of a conversion I'm planning. As it turns out this component is a conversion and therefore does not exist. Oh well, Plan B is still viable.

Plan B, the way I managed to con myself into spending £31 on a big kit for a single component that doesn't exist, is to make a Looted Wagon for my Orks.

I love the idea of Looted Wagons, mainly because I remember the days when not everything in a Codex would have a model. That those days are gone is unequivocally a good thing but I do sort of miss it nonetheless., especially since I'm planning a Renegades & Heretics army so I need to get back into converting again. AS Looted Wagon is the perfect project to get back on the horse with.

What's great is it doesn't even have to look halfways sensible. I can come up with any insane, over-busy creation and it will look perfectly in character. I can reeeeealy go to town on this.

So far I have the Leman Russ plus spare parts from the Meganobs, Mek Gunz and Killa Kans kits. That's a lot of gubbins I can strap to the Russ' chassis. I also, since you only need two to operate a Mek Gun, have some spare Gretchin I didn't make for the second Zzap Gun who can be clambering over the thing keeping it running.

This is going to be fun. 

After Action Report #1: Orks vs. Astra Militarum

Seventh Edition, First Impressions

1000 points, my Orks versus Matt's Traitor Astra Militarum (with summoned Nurgle Deamons). My first game of 7^th edition. My first game since the release day of 6^th edition, in fact. I lost 14 Victory Points to 8 but it really came down to the last two turns.

I have to say I really like the Strategic Objective cards. We were pulling three per turn and it really adds a level of unpredictability to the game I've always felt was lacking. The constant shifting of priorities was fun, especially in my mad Turn Six dash to equalise as I tried desperately to take out Matt's Warlord (and gain D3 Victory Points) with a one-Deffkopta suicide charge. I almost did it too, winning the combat but Matt passed his morale check and my hopes of running the man down evaporated.

It was a genuinely tense moment.

Matt's fifty man Conscript Platoon led by Ministorum Priest continues its long run as his MVP, especially now he has realised how many shots he can get out of it with Front Rank, Fire! Back Rank, Fire! Seriously, there was one turn where the unit pumped one hundred and ten shots into my Boyz.

Lessons Learnt

I either need bigger Boyz mobs or faster ones, so either expand to thirty Boyz per mob in the 1500 points version or invest in some trucks to get smaller units into combat faster.

I need to remember that Furious Charge exists, as I forgot several times.

I also forgot that Waaagh! existed for almost the entire game and then it was too late to use.

Matt's Wyrdvane Psykers should be a real priority for me. In my defence, I knew this before and took out two of the five in my first Shooting Phase but then he hid them behind sight-blocking cover where they rode out the rest of the game, summoning Plaguebearers and Nurglings in peace. In hindsight I should have sent the Deffkoptas in to finish them off.

Flash Gitz are fantastic: great guns (which have more components than an entire Space Marine, by the way) and they have the combat ability of a Nob. I had my Warboss accompanying one of the Boyz mobs but I'm seriously considering surrounding him with Flash Gitz since Snazzguns are Assault weapons.

I had the Killa Kans figured all wrong, I was using them for shooting but once they entered combat with the Plaguebearers... well, okay, they died but took out a few in return. Really, I should have used them to tie up the Conscripts for a few turns, stop them slightly shifting the outer edges of their enormous unit to leisurely claim objectives.

The Mek Guns didn't get much of a testing. Matt only had two vehicles: a Chimera and an Armageddon-Pattern Armoured Sentinel, the first went down in turn one and the other was on the far side of the board. So my fantastically powerful artillery spent the rest of the game sniping off a Guardsman or two per turn from his flamer-toting Veteran Squad.

Forging a Narrative

Aside from the Deffkopta suicide-charging Matt's Warlord there were no real “cinematic moments” to build epic rivalries around. This might be for the best as Matt and I will be team mates in Dave's campaign. Also, I only won that combat in theory, the victory didn't achieve anything.

Still, one of the Gretchin manning the Mek Guns sprang back to life after we discovered we'd resolved a round of shooting incorrectly.

Conclusions

Good game, better than any game of 40k I've had since the Hallowed Third Edition and I'm much more motivated to get this army painted. 

TO WAR!

The 1k version of my Space Orks is built and Matt has challenged me to a game on Sunday so I can get used to 7^th edition before the campaign begins (which will happen as soon as the guy running it recovers from severe dental surgery). It'll be me with the Orks versus Matt's Astra Militarum Traitor Guard.

Matt's MVP these days is a fifty-strong Conscript unit (representing a Mutant Rabble) bolstered by a Priest which has so far proved nigh-invulnerable. The only thing that has really dented them was Ian's Leman Russ Exterminator and even then the Priest meant they just stood there and took it. Given this I felt I really needed more boots on the ground than I had so I've swapped out the Meganobz from my previous army list for twenty extra Boyz, two Zzap Gunz and an unupgraded Mek. It goes a little something like this:

HQ

Warboss wearing 'eavy armour and armed with twin-linked shoota and power claw. 92 points

Big Mek (wearing 'eavy armour and armed with Shokk Attack Gun. 89 points

Mek armed with slugga, choppa and Mek's tools. 15 points

Troops

20 Boyz armed with sluggas and choppas, 2 big shootas, Boss Nob with Big Choppa. 140 points

20 Boyz armed with sluggas and choppas, 2 rokkit launchas, Boss Nob with Big Choppa. 140 points

20 Gretchin armed with Grot blastas with 2 Runtherds armed with Grabba Sticks. 75 points

Fast Attack

3 Deffkoptas armed with twin-linked rokkit launchas. 90 points

Heavy Support

5 Flash Gitz including Kaptin armed with Snazzguns, bosspoles, stikkbombs and gitfindas. 110 points

3 Killa Kans armed with kan klaws and rokkit launcha, grotzooka and scorcha, all upgraded with extra armour 195 points

2 Mek Gunz upgraded to Zzap Gunz. 46 points

Total: 992 points

My battle plan is non-existent beyond the fact of having a pretty even split between ranged and melee units. To be honest what I'm most looking forward to is writing some background for these units based on their performance. I am pretty confident I'll lose, this being my first game and things having gotten rather more complicated since I last played.

Also this is the first time I've used an army that doesn't use the nice, easily recognisable weapons of the Imperium so I anticipate much rules flitting as I try to work out what exactly my units do.

But I must remember the sage advice of the 4^th edition Ork codex: “Orkses is never defeated in battle. If we win we win, if we die we die fighting so it don't count. If we runs for it we don't die neither, cos we can come back for annuver go, see!”

Army building: a little bit of what you fancy does you good

Killa Kans, I love 'em. Homicidal scrapheaps piloted by angry space goblins who finally have a chance to hurt things bigger than them. I liked the old metal sculpts but the plastics are so much nicer, the hilariously ramshackle grotzooka being my favourite component. I also like the idea of taking mini-Dreadnoughts in packs of three, partly for the visual and partly because I'm not convinced Dreadnoughts work on their own in this edition, I need to experiment a bit more.

All this is the long way to saying there are two kinds of model I put in my armies: the things that must be there and the things I think are pretty. The “must” category comprises those units that I think, background-wise, an army cannot do without, which is usually the basic troop type. I can't conceive, even in this glorious age of unbound army lists, of a Space Marines army taking the field without at least one Tactical Squad or, in this case, an Ork army without at least a mob or two of Boyz.

And I really don't like Ork Boyz all that much. I'm planning on having at least forty of them because I don't think the army can work without them but they're not something I'm enthused by. That's what the rest of the army's for. The sculpts are functional, there's nothing overtly wrong with them they just bore me. Thankfully they look pretty easy to paint.

A big problem for me in the past when it comes to completing armies has been boredom. I think if I tried to work my way through those forty Boyz in one go I'd just lose interest in the army and drift off, disappointing Dave and rendering a lot of money wasted. So instead I'll be painting them five at a time alongside things I am interested in...

… like Killa Kans, like Flash Gits and their ridiculously ostentatious guns (which have more components on their own than there are in an entire Space Marine!), like Gretchin who are just funny, like Meganobz who are so much bigger and more imposing than I thought they'd be (still think they're a bit over-priced, though).

These are all things I've included because, as I say, I think they look cool. There are people who tell me this is all wrong and I should think about the meta, about how “competitive” the army I'm building is. For me, though, half the fun is finding that out on the battlefield and I really don't mind losing all that much. , I'd rather have fun and the same holds true for building and painting the army: I'd rather do it in a way I enjoy than in a way that will guarantee me victory.

Then again the Ork models I like the most are also some of the shootiest, most dakka-tastic units in the army. Plus Grots, I like the Grots because they're funny. 

Hobby Goals for February 2015

Last day of January and so I'm setting myself some goals for the shortest month, which promises to be snowy and ideal for getting things done.

Goal the first: Finish building my Ork army

Dave's 40k campaign kicks off this month and I really need to get some more work done on the Orks. Most of my opponents don't mind fighting “in progress” miniatures so all I need to do is get the things built and slap some base colours on them.

Solid commitment is to get the 1000 points list built, which just means getting my Deffkoptas and Killa Kans done. If I can get the physical tally up to 1500 so much the better.

Goal the second: Order those head from Statuesque Miniatures

Because I really, really, really want to make some female Guard.

Goal the third: Make a start on my Inquisitorial Warband

A project that I have been meaning to get around to for some time: making the models to represent my Ordo Xenos Inquisitor Laurento Hex and his retinue. Since I'm planning on doing some loyalist Guard it seems like high time to get around to this little side project.

I'm not sure what “making a start” will actually mean but I want to at least build Hex himself and maybe some other members of the warband by the end of the month. 

Space Orks Cast

One of Dave's big ideas for this campaign is that each player gets a pool of six character class units and if they die in game they're out of the fight for a game or two as they recover/get patched up with cybernetics/roil about in the Warp sulking. We have to submit the characters ahead of time and so here are mine:

Kaptin Thunderguts Snarla

(Warboss represented using the Kaptin Badrukk model)

My ultimate Warboss, the Kaptin of the ramshackle flotilla these Freebooterz maraud around the universe in. For those as nerdy as me about classic comedy: yes, that is a Navy Lark reference and it will not be the last. He's a pirate captain and an Ork so he's surly, loud and prone to violently punching minions.

Mistah Krumpins

(Black Reach Warboss)

Thunderguts' first mate and the character I intend to use as my Warlord more often than not. Thunderguts is, I admit, my fallback Warboss because I prefer the Black Reach model but I admit Badrukk looks 1000% more piratical. Being the man on the ground he'll be less “naval” than Thunderguts, more akin to a commander of marines than a ship's officer.

Owzat Gubbinz

(plastic Big Mek with Shokk Attack Gun)

THE MAIN CHARACTER. Yes, my main character is not my Warlord. He's a wandering Bik Mek who's joined up with the flotilla so he can loot battlegrounds and try out his new inventions on soft, squishy humans. He's well-in with Thunderguts so he's the flotilla's chief engineering officer.

Krakka Mugs

(Big Mek in mega armour)

Every army needs an internal rivalry, I feel and Krakka is Owzat's rival for the post of chief engineering officer. He's been with the flotilla longer and his creations are more stable but they don't produce such satisfyingly destructive results and so Thunderguts likes Owzat better. Much skullduggery ensues.

Mistah Chub

(plastic clampack Mek)

Krakka's witless minion (yes, they are basically Pertwee and Johnson from The Navy Lark, I told you that wasn't over). He'll be represented most days as a completely un-upgraded Mek there to keep my Zzap Guns firing. An idiot even by Ork standards.

Da Padre

(Finecast Weirdboy)

I'm not as up on 40k Ork background as I am on Fantasy Orc background so I'm not sure if Weirdboyz are at all spiritual figures like Shamans. Still, it'll be funny and allows me one more Navy Lark gag.

*****

Now I just need to build this army within the next fortnight. 

Facing the Green Tide (1,000 points Space Orks army list)

Now we get to the part of the project where I usually screw up completely: the concrete plan. This is usually when things go wrong but since I have most of these models alerady it shouldn't be too hard to paint them up. Plus, they're Orks, no well will mind if the paintjob isn't up to standard, it'll just look authentic.

HQ

Warboss wearing 'eavy armour and armed with twin-linked shoota and power claw. 92pts

Big Mek wearing 'eavy armour and armed with Shokk Attack Gun. 89pts

Elites

5 Meganobz including Boss Nob armed with twin-linked shootas and power klaws including rokkit launcha and scorcha. 210 pts

Troops

20 Boyz armed with sluggas and choppas, big shoota and rokkit launcha, Boss Nob armed with Big Choppa. 140 pts

20 Gretchin armed with Grot blastas and 2 Runtherds armed with Grabba Sticks. 75 pts

Fast Attack

3 Deffkoptas armed with twin-linked rokkit launchas. 90pts

Heavy Support

5 Flash Gitz including Kaptin armed with Snazzguns, bosspoles, stikkbombs and gitfindas. 110pts

3 Killa Kans armed with kan klaws and rokkit launcha, grotzooka and scorcha, extra armour on all Kans. 195pts

1,001 points

Yes, I'm a point over, my group doesn't really care about a couple of points here and there.

It is, I freely admit, a little light boots-on-the-ground-wise, which is a bad thing for an Ork army to be. The 1,500 points list will have at least another twenty man squad of Boyz and some other infantry but this is based purely on what I can do quickly with the minimum number of purchases and effort. Also on what looks pretty because that's the best way to keep your own interest up, I've found: I love the Shokk Attack Gun and the Flash Gitz. 

Finding my enthusiasm for Warhammer 40,000

It has taken me a while, honestly. I haven't played 40k in years and when I agreed to take part in Dave's campaign it was more to make up the numbers and be sociable than actually wanting to. I put myself down to play Orks because I had the models sitting in a box, unmade and unused and that felt wrong. I've been dragging my feet on building them just because I didn't have the enthusiasm.

Now I do, thank goodness. My newfound enthusiasm comes from two factors:

The first is that Matt and Ian had a game on Sunday and I was invited over for company and to handle the rulebook. Both were playing Battle Forged Imperial Guard lists (or Astra Militarum, if you insist), though Matt's are built and converted as Traitor Guard. Still, it was a game between two of the same army and yet it wasn't at all boring. I suppose my problems with old 40k aren't uncommon: I found it too easy to predict what was going to happen in a game, the winner was often obvious from turn two and had very little to do with tactics.

This game, though? Random charge lengths stopped the movement progression from being as logarithmic as it was back in fourth edition when I last played regularly and the Tactical Objective system meant that both players were forced to make choices, again something I thought the game lacked before.

Matt made a choice to basically remove his largest unit (40 Conscripts and a Ministorum Priest) from play to hunker down on Objective 2 in case he drew that card later in the game. Ian made a choice to throw his deep striking Tempestus Scions into a suicide mission to take out Matt's Warlord to potentially grab two objective points for killing the Warlord and killing a character. Both also had to choose at various points whether to ignore an objective they could take but that that might harm their army in the long run.

And the winner just plain made better choices on what objectives to go after. Luck was involved, it always is when random mechanics come into play, but so did tactics. It wasn't just a matter of spamming the enemy with the “best” units or using a tournament list. It was a genuinely fun game to watch and made me want to play it myself.

Of course, I'm going to need an army for that and the other thing that rekindled my enthusiasm was that I came up with some sketchy background for my Orks. Nothing too definite, just some names and basic personalities because I mostly want it to be determined by what happens in-game but it is amazing how much more I care about this campaign now I have some characters to play with.

Now, instead of taking “my Ork army” to this campaign I'll be bringing the mercenary Freebooterz of Kaptin Thunderguts Snarla (yes, I love the Navy Lark), (un)ably assisted by his first mate Mistah Krumpins and his trio of incompetent Meks Owzat Gubbinz, Krakka Muggs and Chub. Also, for comedy purpose, the Gretchin crewing one of my Zzap Gunz will be based on the Marx Brothers (Grubba, Chugga, Hurla and Zero).

Now its just a matter of building the bloody army before February. I'm going for a theme that's heavy on the gubbinz, heavy on the dakka so that should save me from having to build too many models. Now I just need an army list, some idea of what I have and what I need, and away we go.