The Warhammer 40K Social Contract in Action

Hey there Chaos Cultists, great and small! Summer is upon us, which means I'm going to try to get in a ton of Warhammer 40K stuff done- models painted, games played, and even, yes... a campaign. I'll blog about that at another point, but it looks like that I'll be having a campaign with my friend and my brother... a nice 3 force campaign of my own devising. Like I said, I'll get into that in the next posting or two...

The Lord of Skulls prepares for battle

At any rate, I played a game last week at my local store. My opponent was a younger person (younger than me, at any rate). I have played him before at the store- fun opponent, serious player but willing to laugh off mistakes. He is also a good modeller and painter, in my opinion.

This thing is huge! It is inevitable that GW will make plastic Titans sooner or later...

Well, we had decided the week before that we would fight, and yes, we would go with a Lord of War. I was very excited, as I have never gotten to use my Lord of Skulls before. The day of the battle, the guy tells me that he has a Leviathan brand "Knight" (and damn it, that it is a huge model- very nice, although it lacks the finer details of a GW model). I was fine with this (I don't care if it isn't GW). However, he had a special request- could it instead count as a Lord of Skulls as well?

This was an odd combination, and it didn't work that well.

Now, he has Black Templars and Dark Angels. There should be no way that they can have a Lord of Skulls without it being "Come the Apocalypse". AT LEAST. Plus, the model is radically different from a Lord of Skulls. The Leviathan model could pass as a Knight (A big one, to be sure), but I don't know about a Lord of Skulls... However, thinking that I have played this guy before, and the fact that he was very excited about it (he even had a backstory for it)... how could I say no? So I agreed. Then, he asked if we could go up to 3K points. Now, I only brought a few extra things with me... so I ended up with a squad of Spawn, a Dark Apostle, and a Bloodthirster. Again, not what I planned, but hey, its all in fun.

Kill! Maim! Burn! Indeed

Right there is what I think GW is getting at with 7th (unbounded and the like). We talked about it beforehand, and came to an agreement. Plus, he even had a storyline in mind. This is the type of thing that a Tournament would go beszerk over, but in a friendly game, why not? Besides, now we would be evenly matched- no way to complain that taking a LoW was unfair or anything. I now envisioned that this game would be brutal, and it would be anybodies game. I won for placement, and put my LoS on the far side of the board with a Maulerfiend and a Warpsmith in Rhino for support. My opponent placed his LoS opposite mine- he said that he was dying to see them fight, and that the Emperor was blessing him... The guy wanted to play straight up kill points, and that's all, again I agreed. Ultimately, our lists were almost 3K points

Well painted, with subtle conversions and nice winter basing.

The game, as it turns out, did not go as either of us predicted. In my first turn, my LoS did some damage to the nearby Centurions (those are tough bastards). My Helbrute destroyed his pesky thunderfire cannon quickly. I then advanced my rhino and Maulerfiend on with the LoS. On the other side, I drove up my other rhino (containing Kharn) and a squad of Spawn with a Dark Apostle.

The Black Templar Lord of War has its sights set on single combat.

Then, my opponent went. The first thing he did was advance his LoS so that it was literally face to face with mine. He really wanted this up close. So, he charged. When he rolled with his destroyer weapon, he rolled poorly, rolling mostly ones and a 4. I lost 3 hull points. He was not happy. Then I rolled. I rolled a couple of ones myself, but also a 6. Then, on the D table, I rolled a 6 again. I killed his LoS outright. One blow. Gone. Even his cataclysmic explosion did little, though it took a HP from my Maulerfiend. I laughed and said how crazy that was...

I rolled well on the Destroyer table- praise Khorne and the Skull Throne!

Sadly, the guy was upset. Angry. Mad that he lost his LoS so early- and it was on his charge besides. Because he was so pissed, the rest of the game wasn't as fun. I  and some other guys tried to tell him to buck up, as the dice could have easily gone the other way, but it was no use. He was mad and that was that.

The forces of Khorne advance!

The rest of the game was interesting, though not surprising. His Chapter Master and squad tore through the Spawns. My Maulerfiend finished off the Centurions up close. And my LoS began to take out chunks of his army as he moved toward the center of the field.

And they both bite the dust!

That Contemptor is awesome, even if it cleaved me in twain.

Then, his Chapter Master gets to Kharn, and they duel. Interestingly, both died simultaneously- the legend of my Kharn continues, as this is how he has met his end in several games recently. His  Contemptor Dred tore my Helbrute apart in spectacular fashion. Then, my 2 Heldrakes came on the board, and began to incinerate things (I only take 2 Heldrakes IF I know my opponent is fielding lots of flyers or if it is well over 2K points), and the Templar/Bezerker battle ended with but a handful of Templars left. The Maulerfiend was destroyed by shots from his Devastator squad.

A major moment in the game in  my view...

The Templars did have a Stormtalon, and it zeroed in on one Heldrake. I took Jink, but it wasn't needed as he failed to hit. Yikes- bad rolls. My other Heldrake would later vector strike him and actually destroy it (my rolls were dead on for most of the game when it counted). That meant my Heldrakes were the masters of the sky. My Lord of Skulls was now nearing the center, killing off what was left (including those Devastators). Finally, my Bloodthirster appeared. He shot at him and grounded him, then he had the Contemptor and Terminators charge him. The Contemptor rolled poorly, and again the guy was pissed. My Bloodthirster then killed some terminators.

... since it meant that I could do this in later turns.

At this point, my opponent decided to concede. With the Lord of Skulls dominating, he couldn't win. He killed several of my units, but I had killed more, and that killing would continue unabated, while he had less and less to kill my units. Ultimately, I had 2 Heldrakes, the Lord of Skulls, a Warpsmith and 9 Bezerkers, and a Rhino. He had his Land Raider, and the terminators and conemptor locked with the Bloodthirster. Even IF he had killed the Daemon, the Lord of Skulls was ready to smash that Contemptor to pieces and shoot the terminators.

He made some mistakes. Once his LoS was dead, he decided to pretty much ignore mine. His Centurions were killed before they could act, true, but he had a Landraider, Storm Talon, and Devastators. They should have shot all they had at the thing. But he didn't. Thus, my Lord of Skulls could strike with impunity.

The Heldrake's point of view

His anger had gotten the better of him. Once the game was done he said that Lords of War were stupid and that his army sucks. I told him a single die roll of 6 was what changed everything. I said that I play Khorne Bezerkers- everyone says they suck due to the difficulty of CC armies in 7th- and yet I won. There are many factors, and that next time or the time after he would win. It was to no avail. He was upset and that was it.

Look, it happens sometimes- every player loses their cool at one point or another. In my younger days I would get pissed (Red Terror, Pete?). I understand. But even in my worst moments, I was still sportsmanlike. Shake hands. Have a laugh. Swear revenge.

I felt bad for him, but at the same time... if HE rolled that 6 on the Destroyer table- would he have felt bad for me? And besides, I agreed to every request he made- can it be a Lord of Skulls? Can we just play kill points? Can you increase your list to 3K? As far as I'm concerned, I lived up to my end of the social contract. I hope that he will put this loss in perspective and laugh it off at some point.

Other than that, I have a 2K point game tomorrow against Ultramarines, and I will be looking forward to starting the campaign soon. And I finished some models that I plan on showing soon. And I have mini- movie reviews. And... wow... when did it get so busy here at the Chaos Corner?

Until next time...

Celebrating The Apocalypse Part 2: A New Rhino and Dreadnought

Hey there everybody! As promised, I'm back with part 2 of my celebration of the upcoming Apocalypse release. It came across the wires last Saturday- my "nearby" Games Workshop store is doing a big Apocalypse battle this upcoming Saturday called "The Destruction of Karthanax IV". I have decided that it is high time that the Plague Marines of Nurgle march forth again, bringing disease, decay, and death to all who oppose the might of Grandfather Nurgle and his chosen son, Mortarion. Thus, my Plague Marines will be taking part in the destruction of that poor, puny imperial world. (Maniacal laugh, maniacal laugh).

So, deciding that my Plague Marines would once again see battle, I decided to add a a couple of new things to my army. Nothing special, just a couple of new units- making their first appearance at the big game. Thus, I was painting on a schedule (something I seldom do); I wanted to finish these 2 units in time for the big battle.

The first was a Rhino. I currently have 3 Rhinos. Two of them are older- when I was first starting the Plague Marines in the early 2000s. The third looks pretty good, to be honest. However, I have a ton of Rhinos still to assemble (even after doing the 2 Rhinos for the Khorne Bezerkers), so I decided to do a new one for the Plague Marines. While I know the "Rhino Rush"is on life support in 6th, I figured a new Rhino couldn't hurt.

I decided to go crazy with the gross factor on this one. I used green stuff to make huge intestinal guts to fill up the top hatch. How did I get it recessed in there without it falling? Ah ha! I used one of the larger rectangular bases for fantasy (maybe it came with my Tzeentch Chariot?). I cut off a piece so it would fit in the Rhino and bam- instant area to lay down the guts while still making them appear as if they are also within the Rhino. I made them all red and bloody, and I even put an extra Nurgling in pulling at it.

I decided to do the same thing for the rear of the Rhino. I left off the back ramp and put guts in there too- I even made it look like the intestines were running down from the guts in the top. Again, I put in a Nurgling, just to have some fun. With the red paint job, I even used P4 Red Ink and GW Gloss Varnish and presto- bloody guts worthy of a Romero movie.

For the rest of the tank, I decided to take it easy, as the guts were the centerpiece. I used Forge World Death Guard doors of course. I also put in a driver/gunner. I decided to give him a spare Plaguebearer head- so he's nice and mutated for Grandfather Nurgle. The paint job was a a base of Deathworld Green, followed by a wash of Camoshade, a stippling of straken green, and a subsequent wash of Agrax Eathshade (which may be the most ubiquitous shade for all things Nurgle, now that I look at it). While the Rhino turned out a bit darker than my other Rhinos, I'm down with it because it still fits in with the rotting Plague Marine aesthetic.

The other new unit is the Plague Marine Dreadnought (I just can't call it a Helbrute!) from Forgeworld. I have been sitting on this guy for a while, not sure how to paint him. I decided to go with a variation from the Rhino- I added Waywatcher Green Glaze to it, thus making him look more green. A bunch of his body was also rusty metal- which I did by paining on Mournfang Brown, with subsequent stippling of Troll Slayer Orange and Ironbreaker, followed by a wash of Eathshade- a really nice, dingy, rusty look.

I am particularly proud of the work I did with it's topside- the dead body, the slime, and the Nurgling pulling at the body. All over the model I used Warpstone Green and Moot Green for slimy areas or holes on his body. For some of the sores, I used Ungor Flesh with a yellow glaze- it looks like oozing pus. I also made some of the sores bloody, naturally.

The only problem with the model was the damn banner. It is a nice piece, but the banner pole is so fine that I snapped it off several times. It is just so fragile (as is the banner on the Plague Marine Sorcerer- broke that like 5 times too). I used the method described in the latest White Dwarf for the skulls on the banner and the base itself- Zandri Dust, with a wash of Eathshade, and then building up from their with drybrushing of Tyrant Skull and the like.

Now, that means I have 3 Dreadnoughts for my Plague Marines. I certainly won't field all 3 outside of Apocalypse games too often, but hey, I'm glad I've got the option now if I want to. And the Forgreworld Dreadnought is a fantastic piece, a great addition to my evil forces.

Well, that's all for this posting. Hope you like the pics. For the record, I finished both in 4 days. I realize I can paint faster if I put my mind to it... I think the need to paint it in time for a big game certainly helped to motivate me. Anyways, I'll be back later with more Apocalypse by the weekend.

Until next time!

The Grand Unvieling: The Heldrake

Hey there Chaos fanatics! How's your holiday week going? Was Santa good to you? Did you get some 40K goodies in your stocking? I sure did- I got 2 boxes of the new Raptors, Khorne Bezerkers, a Warpsmith, and a Dark Apostle. The new Raptors are fantastic models. I love the new jump packs, and the models can be posed very dynamically. I also love the Wapsmith- the pictures did not do this model justice at all- lots of detail that just didn't come through in the photos.

I did indeed see The Hobbit. I will be writing my review shortly. I must say that I had very mixed feelings about it. There were parts that were amazing- parts that made me remember why I fell in love with LotR, and filled me with hope about The Hobbit, and there were parts when I wanted to just yell at the screen and say "Is this the same Peter Jackson who made the brilliant LotR movie?". Mixed feelings indeed... not something I wanted with The Hobbit at all, unfortunately. I'll review that movie soon.

So- I have just finished my Heldrake. Would you like to take a look? Hehe! I thought you might after all...

Since I already had a Hell Talon painted in my Death Guard scheme, so I decided to make the Heldrake a part of my new Khorne Bezerker army. Initially, I had been ambivalent about the Heldrake model when they first showed it in White Dwarf. Indeed, I still don't know how I would go about "Nurglefying" it. However, the dragon look ended up being a perfect fit with my Khorne Bezerkers.

The model goes together really, really easily. Like a dream, as a matter of fact. Despite the sheer size and vast amount of detail, the model is actually a good kit to build. The directions are really clear and straightforward- even newcomers could tackle it if they carefully follow the pictures/numbers. Once assembled, it is hard to not to be impressed with the model, as looking at it in person is way better than any magazine shot. The wings can be posed in several ways, making the Heldrake look very dynamic. The detail work is extraordinary, with tons of Chaos symbols, baroque rims, a tail that is both metal and flesh, and a dragon head that looks vicious.

The only downside, to me at least, is that conversions would be difficult, to say the least. There seems to be little room for massive conversions, which I am used to as a Chaos player. The only difference is the 2 guns (minor at best). Converting is more difficult as you have so much detail that conversions won't look (or be placed) right. A small quibble, but for a longtime Chaos modeler its a bit of a bigger issue. I did add to icons and a skull chain from the Chaos vehicle sprue.

Painting-wise, I did it in my typical World Eaters color scheme- a deep, dark red with plenty of brass trim-work. I also used what I did with the Maulerfiend- I used blues to represent daemon-warp energy inside the metal shell. This ties the two big beasts together in a further way. Looking at both models, I really like the synergy between the two. I know that I was not a fan of the models when they first appeared in the pages of White Dwarf, but after assembling and painting them, I really do like them now. I do wish that you could convert them a bit more, but... I can see ways of doing it with a Maulerfiend (I have ideas for my next one), but less so with the Heldrake. However, that said, I do like these two now, and they are a worthy addition to the forces of Chaos. They also look nice with the new Helbrute (which will always be a Dreadnought to me).

The other day I happened to be in the city, and as often happens, I wandered by the Games Workshop store there. I decided to ask some of my rules questions to the guy there. He answered a lot of my questions about the Maulerfiend and flyers. After his suggestions, I realized I simply should not have charged a Wraithlord. He's just too damn powerful. If my Mauler went after the War Walkers or something, that would have been very effective. Oh well- live and learn. He also clarified that the Heldrake CAN do a vector strike over something he passes over and then fire his gun at a different unit. That makes the Heldrake even more effective than I initially thought. The GW guy was very helpful and patient with my questions, and I do appreciate it.

So, with these new models ready and new strategic ideas learned, I can't wait to play my next game. I don't know when that will be exactly, but I can't wait to try out my new models and ideas. With the Heldrake done, I'll be working on some of the other stuff- the Raptors are first up for me- I'm so excited for them! The models are absolutely first rate. I also have a Land Raider and Possessed to work on too. I'll let you know as I get done with 'em.

I hope you've enjoyed the pics. Until next time, my friends...

1st Battle With The New Chaos Codex!!

Hey there everyone! It's certainly been exciting times at the old Chaos ponderosa- I've been reading and re-reading the new Chaos Codex, cross-referencing with the 6th edition book, writing down key rules, studying the new options, etc. Whew!

Ohhh!! Shinny!

Now, some people are already pronouncing the Chaos Codex to be a wonderful triumph or an unmitigated disaster. I am certainly leaning toward the former, in terms of the book's presentation. The artwork is simply amazing- full color, with lots of new art- all of which is stunning. The fluff is solid (though not spectacular- I wish there was a bit more here). The layout and format is excellent, plus there's good sample models and paint schemes, etc. It is a quality product , no doubt.

The real question for any Codex though is the rules- how will these guys play on the field? That is the million dollar question. But one can't just read the book and few times and Bam! pass judgement on the rules themselves- you need to play a few matches in order to even begin to have a basis to formulate such conclusions. Luckily for me, I managed to get in a game this week using the new book.

My new Desert/Wasteland gaming boards

 However, there is an additional wrinkle for me. As my readers are aware, I was very ill this summer, requiring surgery and a slow recovery. The fact is I haven't even played that many 6th edition games- three, as it turns out. So, not only am I learning the new Chaos rules, I am also still getting the hang of the 6th rules in general- yes, much of it is the same, but so much has been changed or even slightly altered. Flyers, Monstrous Creatures, Charge Rolls, and much more... Hehe! That's a lot to learn- but hey- that's part of the fun.

Another perspective on my board

We decided to use the new desert/wasteland battle surface that I created- I will post an article on how I made it after this article- I promise. I found something quick and easy, and I want to tell you about it, as I'm very excited over it. At any rate, though I have the new boards, I don't have much "desert style" terrain, so my brother and I decided to  keep the terrain sparse, quite befitting of a desert wasteland deal.

My old bone bridge- plus an objective marker

I used a couple of bunkers, my Chaos Shrine (which fits in with any style of terrain, it is Chaos after all), the Chaos ruins (painted a desert color, funny enough), and my old bone bridge. I also had two old pillars from armorcast that I painted a while ago. So, while there wasn't a ton of terrain, it actually made of a very interesting battle, while still looking like an empty desert.

They're baaaaaacck!!

 So, my brother and I played a 1900 point game- Grey Knights up against my Death Guard Plague Marine army. So, what did I take? Hahaha- I've been waiting ages to play with my Plague Zombies again- so of course I played with Typhus as my HQ- bringing with him 2 squads of 30 zombies apiece. I also had 2 squads of Plague Marines (1 Rhino, 1 Land Raider). I decided to go a bit more mechanized than usual (wanting to try out the vehicles rules)- the aforementioned Land Raider, a Vindicator, a Predator (Twin Las and two Heavy Bolters), and a Heldrake (for which I used my FW Hell Talon). I also took a "Hellbrute" (Dreadnought) with a Las and Missile Launcher (my Dreads never get into close combat). Finally, I took a Sorcerer at Mastery Level 2.

This sucker is huge!!

My brother, meanwhile, took a Nemesis Dreadknight, Captain Stern, 3 squads of terminators, 2 squads of regular Grey Knight marines, and a Land Raider and dreadnought of his own. Now, he doesn't have enough Grey Knights, so he used some of my Ultramarines as stand-ins, which was fine by me. We were now ready to throw down...

Bwaiins!! Bwaiins!!

So, first we rolled for mission- we got the first one, Crusade, with a Dawn of War deployment. We rolled 5 random/unknown objectives and placed them. My Warlord trait was already a given with Typhus, while my brother rolled Master of Offense. For who goes first, I won that roll, so I decided to deploy first (thus going first). I placed my Death Guard out on the table, and then my brother placed his Grey Knights on the other end. Then, I rolled both for psychic powers and on the boon table (I had taken mutation for both my Plague Marine squad champions and Sorcerer. 30 points- wanted to see how it would happen). For psychic powers, Both Typhus and the Sorcerer rolled 6- this meant they had the Wind of Nurgle (large blast). For Typhus I chose the primaris power Flame Breath, and my Sorcerer chose the power Smite. As for the boons- hahahah!  Nurgle must be mad since I haven't played with the Death Guard in a bit- for my champions, both rolled a 16- no gift granted. Shucks!! My Sorcerer meanwhile rolled a 36- giving his power sword the fleshbane ability- that's not too shabby at all.

The forces of Nurgle, Lord of Decay!

So, to start with, I moved one group of zombies to claim the objective at the foot of the bone bridge- I figured my brother would try for that with his oncoming Dreadknight, but even he would be hard pressed to remove 30 zombies from there. The second objective near me was the one on the roof of the bunker- the second squad of zombies was near there- but 30 can't possibly fit in that bunker, so I sent them forwards instead. I moved the Rhino up 6", and I moved the Predator and Dreadnought up to the wall of the Chaos shrine for protection (the Pred could then have view through the open side as the GKs came through). Then, my Vindicator fired a blast at the Dreadknight, doing no damage- yep, the slap fight had begun there. Finally, my Land Raider shot and killed one terminator. In the GK half, the Grey Knights claimed their first objective. The Dreadknight fired at my Vindicator, the blast drifting off the table. His Land Raider shot my Rhino- immobilizing it. All his troops moved forward, though he let Stern hang back for an unknown reason.

"When there's no more room in the Warp, the dead will walk the galaxy"

So, turn 2, I rolled to have my Heldrake come in- I rolled a 1. Crap- I hoped I didn't waste points on that guy. My 2nd group of zombies continued their advance toward the third objective. My Death Guard squad and Sorcerer got out of the Rhino and moved to the bunker objective. My Dread climbed the rock side to stand on top of the Shrine. My Predator, Dreadnought, and Land Raider fired at the 2 advancing Terminator squads beginning to go through the narrow pass on the Shrine's side. The Vindicator moved toward the bone bridge, firing at the Dreadknight and causing a wound. In the Grey Knight half, his Dreadknight advanced along with a GK squad, and he again hit my Vindicator, but failed to get even a glance. His terminators took shots at my 2nd zombies- as did his Land Raider, and I lost a bunch, but 30 fearless is a lot to get through.

Typhus thought the battle would be decided on the flanks, not the Shrine. The Grey Knights begged to differ.

Now, turn 3- the game was going well, a slog match befitting the Death Guard, but I knew I'd need something to shake it up- and I thought that may happen as I rolled a 3 and the Heldrake came in. As I understand it- the flyer comes in as a reserve, unable to act- I think. If anyone wishes to clarify for me, I'd appreciate it. At any rate, I now had everything I needed to put on the full court press. My Plague Marines moved to the bunker, claiming the second objective. My vindicator moved onto the bone bridge, firing at the oncoming GK squad, causing a few casualties. My Land Raider  fired at his LR, causing 2 Hull Points of damage, while my Predator fired at the second Terminator squad, killing two more. My dreadnought began a slap-fight exchange with the oncoming GK dreadnought- no damage (bad rolls). Now, my 2nd zombies charged into the one terminator squad (rolling an 11 charge- whoa!!), killing them all (that many rolls means a few ones will be rolled- a matter of probability). First Blood went to me and my zombie horde, who could attack the other Termies and claim the nearby 3rd objective by then.

The Terminator is overwhelmed by undead Imperail citizens- the very people he has sworn to protect!

I was now ahead, 3 to 1 in victory points. However, in his phase I was going to pay. He moved his Dreadknight to attack my Vindicator. All he managed to do was Immobilize, but that meant he would hammer me the next turn and I couldn't escape. His Dreadnought now moved with his GK squad toward the Shrine- he was certainly going to be able to claim that unless my own Dread could stop them. His other Termie squad moved away from the zombies toward the Land Raider and 3rd objective, firing at the zombies in futile defiance. My brother did something rash, firing his LR at my LR, blowing off a sponson Las. Yep- he wanted revenge.

The Heldrake takes aim

Turn 4- I moved my 2nd zombies within striking range of both the other terminator squad and the 3rd objective. My sorcerer left the bunker squad and moved alone toward the Shrine- those GKs were going to get there, and he'd be the one to stop them. Meanwhile, my other squad, along with Typhus, got out of the Land Raider and moved toward the Shrine and bone bridge- my plan was to destroy the GK with the PMs and Sorcerer, while Typhus would go and challenge the Dreadknight. That would be a combat. My Dread fired at the oncoming GK squad, killing one, while my LR and Pred exchanged shots with the GK LR, taking another Hull Point. As for my Heldrake, I made a less than 90 degree pivot, then moved it 24"- over the GK squad near the shrine, and facing the other GK squad sitting on the objective in his deployment zone. I did a Vector Strike on the one squad (killing 1), while shooting at the babysitters, killing 2- it was then that I realized that this flyer business was pretty cool after all. Hehe!! Finally, I moved my zombies to attack the other terminator squad, rolling a 7" charge- and again they killed the last of the termies. This left the zombies in control of the 3rd objective, but in front of the guns of the GK LR. Vengeance would be his...

The Grey Knights advance towards the accursed Shrine

Typhus prepares to meet the Dreadknight head-on

The Grey Knights countered hard. The GK arrived on top of the shrine, while their Dreadnought charged mine- and neither of us had close combat weapons, so now it was a close quarters slap fight. Ugh- Strength 6 against 12 Armor and no power fists- you do the math. His Dreadknight destroyed my vindicator, and now he could move past the bridge toward my 1st zombies and their objective. Finally, his LR fired at the 2nd zombie squad, taking out a bunch- but there was still more than 10 left.

Turn 5 was make or brake- I had more objectives (3 to 2, plus 1 VP for FB), but the GK were now in range to take two objectives away, if I wasn't careful. I needed to get the Shrine objective out of his hands. I advanced the Plague Marines away from Typhus and toward the shrine. Typhus began the climb to the bridge to confront the Dreadknight. Meanwhile, the LR and Pred fired at the GK LR, but I rolled lousy that time. As for my Heldrake, and this is my own fault- I flew him around and did nothing, as I had misread the rules and didn't realize that I could have had him hover. My own fault, but I won't repeat that mistake in the next game... Anyways, my Sorcerer was closing in on the Shrine, and i was getting ready to use his psychic powers.

The Plague Marines march around the Dreadnoughts' slap fight

My erstwhile brother continued his counterattack. His Dreadknight's blast torched a whole bunch of my 1st zombies, but there were still a ton left. The two dreads continued to duke it out, with on one landing a good blow- I got a HP out of him, and that's it. His LR continued to try to decimate the zombies- there were only a handful left, which he could kill off in the bottom of the 6th if he landed all his shots, and I'd lose that objective.

Now it was 6th- final round. I advanced Typhus on the bridge near the Dreadknight, while my Plague Marines and Sorcerer were in range to shoot the GK on the Shrine objective (but too damn far away to grab it in time). It was now or never- my sorcerer used his Plague Wind on the GK squad- it worked, killing them all, as a matter of fact. Excellent indeed. I got him off an objective. Then, Typhus was about to use the same power on the Dreadknight aaannnddd--- rolled a snake eyes!! What!?! That means he took a wound, and then he missed anyways! I can't believe he had that rotten luck.

Typhus was injured (and slightly embarrassed), but won the battle for the glory of Grandfather Nurgle

As for the last phase, the my brother actually resisted taking a shot at Typhus and instead fired with his Dreadkinght again at the zombies, actually breaking their squad coherency with his huge (and well placed) blast. Meanwhile, his LR killed off the last of the 2nd zombies (I knew he would), denying me the objective there too. At this point, the game concluded. As it stood, I had 1 objective (PMs at the bunker), and I had 1 VP for "First Blood". My brother had only 1 objective (in his deployment zone), thus, the Plague Marines won the game. It was a ton of fun, and it got gut-wrenchingly close at the end. There were good rolls, bad rolls, and Typhus whiffed, and I totally messed up on the flyer rules (I kept it moving fast, rather than put it in hover and still shoot), but it was a blast to play. I think, a few more games under my belt, and I'll be totally comfortable with 6th. Meanwhile, I am liking the new Chaos Codex, but there's still a lot to try out, and after this, I can't wait to do so!!

Until next time... 

Old Man Chaos!! Where Have You Been???

Hey there Chaos fanatics! Old Man Chaos is back in action. But where have I been? Why haven't I been posting? Why was my TDKR review so short?Why haven't you reported on things like Dark Vengeance?

Well... without getting too specific on what is supposed to be a fun blog, I have been ill for a few months. I was born with a certain defect, which recently became a major health problem. I thought I was going to be OK, but it only got worse. I ended up going to the emergency room and needed major surgery to fix the defect now. It was a bit scary for me and my family, but it ultimately turned out very well. I was out of the hospital in a week.


I have spent the past few weeks recovering at home, and I won't be able to go back to work for another few weeks. I only just started painting again (a little a day, but longer each day). I haven't written my blog because at first I was too medicated to, and then I have been too tired to until now- I was fatigued, unfocused, and my mind was fuzzy.

Now, as I am well on the road to recovery, I feel better enough to write again. So, I figured I'd begin writing again. I will be writing a longer, more in-depth review of The Dark Knight Rises (it deserves a longer review), and I have some new models to show you. I'll get those up within the next few days.











I certainly am excited about the upcoming Warhammer 40K stuff. I would love to get my hands on Dark Vengeance, but the cash flow is a little dried up lately, as I've got medical bills and all. However, I love those Chaos models. In particular, I love the champion. I also would love to see the Hellbrute up close (I wonder how different the model will be when released individually). Finally, I think I can speak for most Chaos fanatics when I say I am thrilled to see Chaos Cultists. I am really looking forward to making real fluffy scenarios using the Cultists (I already have a ton of Plague Zombies that can be Nurgle Cultists, and I have some Forgeworld Vraks Traitor Guard too). I will need to get some of those new Cultist models too... Hehe!! I can not wait to see what else is up the sleeve of the Forces of the Dark gods.

At any rate, I'll be back soon with some updates. I have been working on some cool stuff, little by little. I will also remember to do a long review of TDKR.

Until next time...