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Hey there Chaos friends! Old Man Chaos is back with a brief report on two battles that happened in my subterranean layer the other day. I had a three friends over and we played two 1,500 point games of 40K back to back. We were originally going to do 3 games, but we decided the two games were more than sufficient.

Game 1- Secure and Control... in Hell!

So the first game saw Brian and his Ultramarines against Nick and his brand spanking new Tyranids. Ah. Ultramarines versus Nids in the Ultramar segmentum- just as nature intended LOL. Nick won the roll for deployment and selected the map Hammer and Anvil. At first I thought it was a weird choice for Tyranids (starting so far opposite would mean a long walk to get to grips with the Ultramarines), but Nick had a pretty good plan as it turned out.

With both sides deployed, Brian had more units than Nick so Nick got plus one and won the roll off. Nick set to work immediately by sending in two Trygons followed by 2 units of Genesetalers. Brian had castled up around the objective in the middle of the table and left plenty of room in his backfield for the Trygon to tunnel in and deep strike. Meanwhile, Nick's Hive Tyrand and Swarm Lord left their side, running straight on towards the front- veering to the left flank. Suddenly Nick's deployment made a lot more sense- Brian was swiftly under siege.

Brian immediately used a command point to allow him to shoot at a unit that just arrived via deep strike. His shooting managed to kill a couple of Genestealers on the right flank. Unfortunately, that's about as lucky as Nick got on that flank. On the charge, Brian's overwatch whittled down the Genestealers further. By the time they got to combat there were only three of them, too little to damage Brian's right flank. Nick's left flank attack did better- his Trygon destroyed a Dreadnought and the Genestealers destroyed a squad of bikers. The Tyranids then consolidated into other Ultramarine units.

In the Ultramarine turn, Brian used his Ultramarine tactic to withdraw and fire. This left the bulk of Nick's Tyranids open to an intense barrage of both heavy firepower and a ton of bolters. With some great rolling, Brian whittled down the Tyranids, wiping out the Genstealers and one Trygon. On the other end of the battlefield, Brian deployed his Inceptors near Nick's objective, shooting the babysitting Genestealer squad. They survived, angry with their Broodlord right behind them.

In turn 2, Nick was rapidly running out of options. His lone Trygon was still in the fight, but was weakening rapidly. His only hope was the Swarm Lord and his flying Hive Tyrant. Sadly, he rolled to charge with the Hive Tyrant and fell short. Meanwhile he suffered a few wounds from overwatch. With his Hive Tyrant hanging out there, he would prove to be easy pickings. On the other side of the field, the Genstealers killed two Inceptors, but the third hung on.

In Brian's second turn, he wheeled his castle toward the left flank. He shot the incoming beasts to death, while also dispatching the Trygon. While he made some great 5+ saves, it was just the hail of lead that killed the beasts. The bulk of Nick's army had been destroyed at this point. The Inceptor on the other side killed all but one Genestealer, which promptly killed the last Inceptor.

Although he was out of options, Nick still had the Broodlord and a lone Genstealer. Nick had hopped to babysit on the objective behind the volcano. Unfortunately Nick's advance rolls stunk, and he couldn't make it. Brian then turned all of his heavy firepower on them at distance, slaying them. It was over, but Nick played to the bitter end.

Brian, who never played against Tyranids before said "It was epic. A heroic struggle against the xenos, and such a cunning opponent". Nick said that it was a great game and "We need more biomass". Nick also said it was the "hail of bolter fire" that did him in. As an observer, it was a blast of a game, but it all hinged on die rolls, as both sides had great strategy.

Game 2- The Relic.. and a grand return!

So game two was between me and Joe. I had decided to play my Death Guard for the first time in the new 8th edition. I still don't have all the new models, but it was time to give them a go. And no, at 1500 I didn't use Mortarion. My list included: Lord of Contagion, Plaguecaster, 3 squads of Death Guard with a Meltagun (two squads had Rhinos, the third on foot). I also had 10 poxwalkers, two Drones (with Plaguespitters), and Plague Crawler, and a Preadator with Auotcannon and Heavy Bolters.

Joe took his usual Dark Angels (though this was his first with the new codex. His force included 5 squads of Terminators, a Contemptor Dreadnought, and Azrael and Belial. I must admit that I was intimidated, as I didn't know how I was going to destroy so many Terminators. Yikes.

The mission was The Relic. Joe won the roll off for the deployment, and he decided on Search and Destroy. After placing our models, I won the roll off with a six, so I got to go first. I immediately set to work shooting at the terminators. The Crawler, which I had serious doubts about, did a good job killing a couple of terminators. My Bloat Drones raced to meet them, but still out of range of their 9" weapon. Joe's turn, all his terminators moved toward the objective. He took a lot of shots at my Drones, and their Disgustingly Resilient did a great job allowing them to shrug off a lot (though not all) of their wounds.

It became a war of attrition around that objective. My drones now took shots at the terminators, as did everything else. It was a slow grind, just whittling them down one at a time. I tried to shake up his plans but dropping my Lord of Contagion near his flank, in an attempt to draw off some Terminators. Sadly, the tactic didn't work, and the Lord of Contagion got killed quick enough by the Terminators.

As the game went on, I lost my Bloat Drones. But he was losing Terminators. I still had 21 Plague Marines ready to go, plus my vehicles. By turn three, I had killed his Dreadnought, Azrael, and scores of Terminators. Joe couldn't make a 2+ roll to save his life, and terminators died to massed bolter fire.

At the end, it came down to Belial. He had made it to the relic, with some terminators BEHIND him. It was unavoidable, but Belial was now the closest enemy target. While he endured a shit ton of firepower (and killing off my Plaguecaster), in the end it was case of a wall of lead, and Belial died.

At the end he had only 3 terminators left. He was near the relic, but I had like 19 Plague Marines, the Crawler, the Predator, two Combi Plasma Rhinos, and a handful of Poxwalkers. Joe said that he had to concede, as there was no way 3 terminators could hold off that firepower.

It was a bitterly fought contest, in my opinion. He paid for every inch he advanced, and in the end he just kept rolling two or three 1s for saves, killing off his terminators slowly but inexorably. Joe said "It was a good first time out with a new codex. I still think the key concept is unit synergy and next time I will push that synergy to the max".

The back to back games were a lot of fun. We had a lot of laughs, some snacks, and lots of gaming carnage. Next time I promise to take better pictures- I hadn't intended to do battle reports but that's OK. Next time I will do a better job of it.

Until Next Time

Space Hulk

Hello everyone and welcome back to a new installment of the blog you never asked for- Chaos Corner. Now, we all know that the warp consumes all- everything is taken by the Immaterium. But, every once in a while, the Sea of Souls gives something back---- in this case, a dreaded Space Hulk!

This has been a project I have been working on for the better part of 2 months. Now, I can hear already what you're saying "Come on, Old Man Chaos- this game was released years ago! You mean you haven't done it yet?!"

Too true. Too true. The game was released in late summer 2009. I have owned it for that long, as a matter of fact. Sad but true story to follow: It was August of 2009 and the rumors were true: GW was going to make a new version of Space Hulk, with gorgeous models and gaming boards. However, just at I pre-ordered it, I experienced a family tragedy. My father passed away after a brief battle with cancer. I recall my friend Joe talking to me about Space Hulk after my father's passing; Joe was obviously trying to take my mind off things, but it wasn't working, for obvious reasons.

So, when I got the game, I opened it and looked at the contents, but I just couldn't seem to be able to sit down and paint the models. I just couldn't at that point. So, I gave my friend Pete the Broodlord from the box and then put the thing in my basement. And forgot about it pretty much. Every once in a while I'd look it over, maybe even read the rules. But I just couldn't bring myself to do it. I guess it just reminded me too much of my father.

So, fast forward to this past winter. GW announced the new game, Deathwatch: Overkill. This box looked simply amazing. The Genestealer cults?! I have always loved that idea. And I am a fan of the Deathwatch. How could I not get this game? So of course, my wife ordered it for me. As soon as I got it, I immediately put all of those models together.

But then it suddenly occurred to me... I said to myself "Self, wouldn't it be cool to do Space Hulk? You could paint the Tyranids in the same way you did for that commissioned work from last year... Paint up Space Hulk, then Deathwatch: Overkill, and you could do a huge "campaign" based on these Tyranid board games..."

Of course, I always listen to the voices that whisper to me (that's what got me to the Chaos Corner in the first place). So I dug up the Space Hulk set, opened the long closed box, and began modeling away... Everything but the Broodlord was there. Heck, the corridors and markers hadn't even been punched out yet.

My first order of business was to put all the models on bases. I figured, IF I ever wanted to use them for a regular 40K game for what ever reason, I could. Plus, I felt it made them look better, and the bases fit well enough on the Space Hulk corridors. This way I could handle them by the base, not by the model itself.

I painted the Tyranids first. I used the same technique as I had on that commission I did last year. The skin was painted white and then washed with Sepia all over, and then some Earthshade in the recesses. I painted their chitin armor I did in blues- Altdorf with a blue wash, highlighted with more Altdorf and Temple Guard, and then I did the blue glaze over it. I also went to town adding copious amounts of green slime and blood. I also added some corrosion to the metal corridors that the Nids were walking on- for all the rust and grime on these old Space Hulks.

The Blood Angels I painted in the same way that I did for that commission (which I never got a chance to take pics of before the guy needed them). Their basecoat is naturally Mephiston Red, with a wash of earthsahde, with more Mephiston over it, with successive lighter highlights.

I didn't do anything too fancy to the Blood Angels. After all, they are Blood Angels and they should look a certain way. No experimentation or anything here- just straight up Blood Angels. I did add some character in terms of adding Tyranid blood (slime) on their power fists.



In particular, the guy holding an eviscerated Tyranid head and torso was a lot of fun to paint. The bone/blue makes a great contrast with the red armor, and the green slime accentuates both, pulling your eye to that poor dead Tyranid.

I also had fun painting the Librarian. I have never liked the idea of painting them blue, as I felt that made them look too much like Ultramarines. I decided, in this case, to paint the armor Blood Angel red, however, I painted the shoulder pad and psychic hood blue, in honor of the Librarius. Thus, he looks like a Blood Angel, and yet he stands apart and is very distinct.

I also enjoyed painting the dead Blood Angel on the command throne- it was a bit of a hoot for this old Chaos player to paint up a slain servant of the false Emperor lol. But seriously, it is a nice model with lots of detail that I enjoyed painting.

All in all, with this many models, it took me nearly 2 months off and on to paint. I enjoyed it, but at times I was getting tired of painting so many damn Genestealers. One good thing about the Deathwatch box is that there is some variety among the Genestealer cult, which I will have a lot of fun painting. And the Deathwatch marines have so much character, and I look forward to bringing that out as I paint them.

Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed painting Space Hulk, but at times it was more a labor of love than just hobby fun. I guess 'Nids are not the army for me then LOL. I need another army like I need a hole in the head.

At any rate, I am greatly looking forward to playing Space Hulk with my friends, or even taking the game down to my local. I am planning to start Deathwatch within the next month or so- I have a few other projects simmering that I must attend to first. As it turns out, I have quite a bit to assemble and paint over the summer... But as soon as I do Deathwatch I will show it off here.

Until next time....

"Commissioned Tyranids"?!?

Hey there my friends! I hope the warp finds you and yours well today (or if Father Nurgle has blessed you with a seasonal cold, even better). I'm back with another installment of Chaos Corner. As you can no doubt see by the title, I have something completely (totally) different this time...

Commissioned work. That is something I never thought I'd do. I will admit, my painting skills have come a long, long way since I started the hobby. Currently, I turn out solid, consistent models. Sometimes I impress myself. However, I see the works of others (in person and online) and I just KNOW I will never be that good of a painter- light sourcing, fine details, drawings, etc. I have seen models that I think are practically works of art!

I know I don't have the skill to attain that. As it stands now, I paint models to a good tabletop standard. My opponents have always said they are happy to fight me, as my models are nicely painted, which is the best praise I can get. I just won't win any painting awards. *

*(I did win an award once at a tournament for "Best Looking Army". It was my Plague Marines. And it wasn't "Best Painted"... I won largely due to my conversions and heavily fluff-themed look).

As my readers my know, I have recently introduced my friend Brian to the game, and he has taken to playing like a fish to water (he likes to play but will never build his own army, I suspect). Well, one day he tells me his friend is going to be opening up a gaming-type store. He wants to include video gaming (on premises, like an arcade), but also some more traditional types of games, card games, and even- yes, war gaming. Brian had told him about Warhammer and the plethora of other games (like Star Wars, Warmachine, etc). So, the pair got the idea that they could set up a display case for some of these things. I think you know where this is going, don't you?

So, as a result, I was commissioned by Brian and his friend to paint up the Deathstorm box. My "fee" was to keep the campaign book inside...  I was excited, as I have never really painted Tyranids before. I did a couple of 'Nid corpses for my Ultramarines, but I copied Pete's paint scheme of red skin and grey carapace. So, what would I do?

I knew that I wanted a snow theme base- after all, it is winter out there. I wanted a paint scheme that could both compliment and contrast with that. I also wanted to play around with painting techniques that I don't normally use on a regular basis. But, whatever I did, I wanted them to look striking in the display case. They don't have to be masterpieces, but they should be at a tabletop standard (which is usually what I shoot for).

First, I sprayed them white- which is highly unusual for me (I start everything with black undercoat). That gave me the already white snow base, but it would also allow me to do something  else I wouldn't normally do- to do washes over the white.

I washed the bodies head to toe in Seripham Sepia. It got into the recesses quite well, and it turned the model this  yellow brown color- I lifted this technique from the ubiquitous How To Paint Citadel Miniatures guide (but I had never done it before). I did go a little heavier than the guide seems to suggest- I wanted them to look a little dirty, molted, with skin imperfections and dirt from crawling around semi-digested biomass all day... I then used some Earthshade in the cracks, joints, etc, just to show more depth.

The carapace and claws had to both reflect the cold winter base, but also contrast with the skin. So, I based it Kantor Blue, then layered on Altdorf Blue. Then I used a rather liberal Drakenhof wash. Once it dried, I highlighted with Altdorf, and used Temple Guard for the edge highlight. Thus, the carapace is both a cold blue (for winter) and a great contrast with their light flesh.

 The teeth, naturally, were painted white. The eyes were layered Yriel, then Flash Gitz yellow. Speaking of yellow, I used the yellow wash to do the whip and some of the "wires" attached to the weapons. I washed the guns with the blue, trying to show that they are organically grown from the same cellular matter as the carapaces. The tongues I washed with crimson wash. To the Carnifex I added Nurle slime (for the toxin sacs, etc).

So, that's pretty much the story. I painted my first Tyranids, with a technique I don't use too often, and on commission (which I never do). I must say that briefly I felt the urge to buy more 'Nids for my own, but one look from my wife dispelled that temptation- she may have gotten me the Sector Imperialis, but I shouldn't push my luck *. Truth is, Chaos is still my true hobby horse, with Dark Eldar in there too. It was fun to paint up the Nids though.

*(Is it so wrong that I would love to paint a Tervigon in my colors? And maybe even a Mawloc? Is it really so wrong? Sadly, my wife thought it was wrong lol ;-)

I'll be working on the Blood Angels side of Deathstorm in the coming weeks, while alternately working on my own stuff (they will not be needed for the display case until May/June, so I have time).

Until next time... stay chaotic, my friends.

 

Taking a Look At The Maulerfiend

Hey there Chaos fanatics! The holidays are fast approaching, and I hope you all get some 40K as your holiday of choice presents. I've got a few 40K things on my list, so I hope Santa will remember how good I was this year. I am also planning on seeing The Hobbit this weekend, so I will certainly write a review on that too.

So, I have two things going on here. First, I finished painting the Maulerfiend last week. I really like the size of this model. It is absolutely huge. A real monstrous creature, no doubt.  I got the kit for my birthday, along with 2(!) Heldrakes. So, with the Maulerfiend, I debated if I would put it together as a Mauler or a Forgefiend. Seeing as I have been working non-stop on my new Khorne Bezerker army, I thought that a Maulerfiend would be more appropriate.

First off, I put both the Heldrake and the Maulerfiend together at the same time. The Heldrake was very easy, and the directions were clear and numbered. The Mauler, on the other hand, was very, very difficult. The instructions were just unclear pictures without numbers. It really sucked- I cursed like a sailor as I assembled it. The thing is heavy, and it doesn't want to stand, so you have to be really careful getting it to stand right. I ultimately gave it a dramatic pose, but it was a pain to do. Well, perhaps now that I've done one, I'll be able to do others later on with more ease. I gave it lasher tendrils for the dynamic look (whether they are better than the Magma Cutters or not I'm not so sure). I also used the Ectoplasma head because it looks more mechanical- the other head (with tongue sticking out) looks rather dumb to me. I didn't do much to convert this one, as I was apprehensive about putting it together and painting it (I will certainly do more conversions on the next one). However, I did put a Khorne symbol on the large Chaos icon on its main plate- it looks rather striking I think, despite its simplicity.

Paint-wise, I utilized the same scheme as the one I'm suing on all my Bezerkers. The effect is harder to do on vehicles because of their size and large flat surfaces, but the Mauler has all kinds of curves and plates, so the effect actually worked out well here. As for the exposed metal, I did Leadbealcher followed by a heavy wash of Nuln Oil, followed by successive light highlights of the brighter silvers.  silvers. The metal trim of the armor plates and tendrils was my usual Bronze-->Scorpion Brass-->Runelord Brass. Of course the blood was a bit of Mephiston and Wazdakka Red. I decided to use blues to show the internal warp energies- a great contrast to the

Overall, I was thrilled by the completed paint job. It really goes with the rest of my army. The dark red plates, the brass highlights, and the fresh blood all combine to make a nice and unique looking model, while still tying in to the overall.

My second order of business here is to discuss my first attempt with my Khorne Bezerkers, a 1500 point battle against Eldar. Now, I only have a few things done- I never play with something that is unpainted. I just can't do it. One of the things I enjoy most about the whole hobby is placing my army out there- fully painted and ready to fight- I like seeing the fruits of my labor out on the field; plus, if I start playing with unpainted stuff, I may never FINISH a model again, which is not what I want.

So, my army list was very limited in options, since most of my stuff just ain't done. I took a Khorne Lord with a retinue of Terminators (5 with Lightning Claws, one with Heavy Flamer). I wanted to deep strike them in. I had 2 squads of 10 Bezerkers plus Rhinos- the Bezerkers had 2 Plasma Pistols and Chainaxes. I took a Helbrute with Twin Lascannon and Power Flail. I also took my Maulerfiend and a Vindicator. Coming up a bit short in points, I took 2 Spawn for 60 points. My opponent took a mix of Warwalkers, 2 Wraithlords, 3 squads of Dire Avengers and some wave serpents.

Needless to say, I didn't do too well at all. I did the stupidest thing in the world- I charged my Mauler right into the Wraithlord. I really thought that my Mauler stood a chance. But, the Wraithlord has a higher initiative, and is S10 (even though he had no Close Combat sword- is it the fact that the new rules don't jibe with the Eldar Codex or am I just dumb? I don't know). He cleaved the Mauler with ONE dice roll. Ugh.

The rest of my game went like that. Once my 1st squad of Bezerkers got to combat, they murdered the Dire Avengers. However, they were left exposed to ALL the Eldar fire, and were shot to hell. My Helbrute took two wounds out of the other Wraithlord, but couldn't finish the job and was destroyed. My vindicator destroyed one Wave Serpent, but that was about it. Finally, it took till turn 4 for the terminators to appear, and when they did they drifted 9 whole damn inches- away from any cover and right into his fire lines- they too were shot to pieces. At the top of turn 5 my friend had mercy and we called it a game- 5 to 2 victory points, though if the game continued he would have claimed more.

My friend played just fine. Joe is a tough, meticulous opponent, so I expected nothing less than a challenge. In fact, I fought him nearly every week 2 summers ago, and as I like to say, he "taught me how to hate"- the losses I suffered with my Dark Eldar against his Eldar taught me to look at and approach the codex differently- and when I did I became a tougher, better player. My friend Pete still blames Joe for making me a truly "evil" Dark Eldar player. You can check out that battle, if you are interested: Tyranids vs. Dark Eldar

This game was a rout though. I was disappointed that I lost so handily, and that my first time out with a new army was so bad right out of the gate. Now, I can see that I need cultists to hold objectives and run interference (I have zombies and renegades for my Plague Marines, but they don't look right for Khorne, so I'll need to start getting cultists). I also may have over-equipped my Bezerkers- they really don't need Chainaxes- they helped against the Eldar but weren't pivotal. My terminators were an out and out disaster though. Also, I can't figure if I used the Mauler totally wrong, or was it just the fact that the Wraithlord was so good rules-wise? I didn't use my Heldrake, as he's not finished yet. I'm also working on bikers, possessed, and eventually Havocs.

I'm basically trying to figure out where I went wrong.  If any of you have any ideas, I'd love to hear them! No, I don't want an "Internet List" or "Meta" or whatever. I have played a long time with Plague Marines, and Khorne Bezerkers are a different animal. It's not about winning (I'd wager that I don't have a good win record, if I tallied up all of my games over the years). I don't care about that, it's about being competitive- having a game that has some crazy rolls, or daring tactics, or incredible reversals- a game that has big moments and some laughs. A game like that anybody can (and should) enjoy, win or lose. Here, I was dead in the water almost immediately. That just isn't cool for anybody, as a one-sided game just doesn't have those highlights that make it so much fun for both players. So yes, I'm looking for ways to better my army, and better myself as a player. Win or lose, I just want some exciting games. So, like I said, if anybody has any ideas/advice, I'd love to hear from you.

Until next time...

Chaos Corner Interviews: The Man Behind The "Joe Maneuver" Part I

Hey there Chaos Corner fans. I'm back with another series of interviews, this time is with a guy who needs no introduction. Well, he does actually, since you guys don't know him, though I sure as heck do! Joe has been my friend since the earliest days of college- though it took him a whole semester to remember my name (admittedly, he's terrible with names). At any rate, we went through college together, taking various history classes as well as required courses (don't get us started on that Woman's Studies course we had to take to graduate). We had great professors (and awful ones), we fought through crazy classes, assignments, and butt-kissing students. We laugh now, but those are our war stories, so to speak.

Of course, Joe is also a 40K player and is one of my regular opponents. Joe has had a storied career in Warhammer 40K, having had several armies. Whereas Pete "The Hivemind" is strongly interested in the modeling aspects of the game, Mr. "Joe Maneuver" is squarely focused on the game play. Joe continuously refines his tactics and strategy. At times, the concept of the "friendly game" gets lost in the competitiveness, as Joe goes for the jugular in order to prove once again that he is the master tactician in our group.

 So, without further ado, let's start the interview...

Q: How did you first get into the hobby?




I first got into the hobby soon after I graduated college. My buddy Dave called me up and asked me some questions about the size of tanks in the military, specifically the relative size of them as compared to a foot soldier. When I asked him why he was so curious, he briefly explained the 40K game. He then invited me to hang out at our buddy Pete's house, he was gaming with his brother Steve. I found the game interesting, and then they asked if I would like to take a try at it. I agreed and was given some Space Marines and played a very small game. I enjoyed the game and began an army soon after.


Q: So your friends introduced you to it; but what made you interested in it? 

1.      What drew me in ? I guess since I have always been a military history buff and a fan of science fiction the background appealed to me and I have always liked to put together models. I like that it isn't a clean or pretty universe, it was as unlike Star Trek's clean future as you could get. The unusual appearance of the machines of war, such as the Dreadnoughts, were a plus as well. 

Q: Which armies have you played over the years? What got you into each army? 

I have played Eldar, Black Templar, Night Lords, and Blood Angels. With any army that I collect the most important thing is that I like the story behind them; it doesn't matter to me if they are not the most viable or "toughest" army. The Eldar are the first army that I collected. At the time they had a companion book that had several different lists in it called "Craftworld Eldar"...

Q: I remember that book. I liked those days; Craftworld, Eye of Terror, Armageddon...

I agree 100%. The Craftworld supplement had the better armies that could be tailored to any style that you liked, therefore not locking you into any one way to create a list. A small bit of appeal of the Eldar for me was that no one else had an Eldar army in our group yet everyone had a Marine army of some kind. The Eldar didn't function like any other army and had the most different, specialized units. The Eldar models look radically different yet still have the same feel: they clearly belong together; they're cohesive, which also drew me to them. 

Q: I had the beginnings of a Chaos army, as did my brother. But, I did also have Dark Eldar, so nah nah- I had a 'space elf" army first. And besides, you got a Marine army fast enough, didn't you?
 

Uh huh. The Black Templar were the second army I collected. The Templar had a warrior/crusader look and feel and had a different build than other marine armies. They also looked great painted with a simple and easy to do paint scheme. I have to be honest and admit that, while playing solely with the Eldar, I was getting a little tired of getting rocked by the 'Nids and the Plague Marines. Against those two armies I wasn't able to field a competitive Eldar force at an affordable price. Eldar had and still do have a large amount of expensive models in metal (and now Finecast)- this isn't so bad if the most effective units weren't all in metal. Templar as with most marines is predominantly plastic making far less strain on the wallet, truthfully. 

Q: Ah the Black Templar. I still remember the first time I shot up a squad and with their rules they actually charged me, despite their heavy shooting losses...

Ha ha! I still remember the look on your face... Your poor Plague Marines...

Q: Laugh all you want, but you were unable to avoid the slide into Chaos yourself, weren't you? 

True. I did start a Night Lords army. The Night Lords had great models and and interesting story line. And their rules were very cool. That is, in 4th edition. Sadly they became the army that I was the least enthusiastically collecting not because, as I started them the 5th edition codex was published and the legion lost all character. They were simply "vanilla Chaos Marines".  I lost interest in them after that.

 

 

 
 Q: Indeed, Chaos has fallen a long way, unfortunately. However, you mentioned it in relation to the newer books. Speaking of which, what are you working on now? 

The Blood Angels are the latest army that I have started to collect. I have always loved the idea of the Death Company, the Rage, etc. The back story is great and the new models and rules are fantastic. 

Q: So, of all your many armies, which is you absolute favorite? 

I can honestly say that I don't have a favorite army- it will depend on what time you ask me that question truthfully. I will always favor the Eldar because they are my original army and I'm still the only one to game with them in our gaming group- I don't count your Dark Eldar because they aren't true Eldar. I'd say the Blood Angels are the most viable right now but how long that will last is anyone's guess.

So, that concludes part one of our interview with Mr. "Joe Maneuver". I'm sure you're all asking the question "why is he called 'Joe Maneuver' anyways?", but don't worry- we shall answer that in the next interview. Let's just say it has to do with a rather interesting (ie. annoying) strategy that Joe uses in 40K. Until next time my friends...