Well, Astronomi-con Was Fun Now, Wasn't It?

Sorry for the lack of posts recently.  Attempting to paint an army basically in a week was just too much.

Astronomi-con, was, well, an absolute blast!!  6 games in 2 days gave the "Noob" some well needed table experience, and the way the Con is set up made it great.

For Dallas, they had 38 players.  each Table was a different scenario, and they randomly assign players to tables, so you didn't know who you would be fighting until you sat down.  At the same time you found out how the battle would go down.  It was great.

I went 0-3-3, the three ties obviously being the highlights for me (2 of them were slightly in my favor which I was really proud of).I fought Tyranids, 2 Space Marine Armys, an IG army, an Ork horde, and a Tau army that shot me up into little pieces.  The best part about the Dallas scene, really, is that all the players (at Astro, at least) are there for the fun.  It's no real secret that I'm here for the game.  The joy of playing for playing, and every one I faced at Astro seemed to just enjoy the time spent.  I met some great people, saw some kick ass armies, and had a great weekend.  To Mike and Chris. thanks for dragging yourselves all the way from Canada to our neck of the woods.  I sincerely hope you make it back our way again.

Well, that's the update.  Hope you all had a good 40K time this weekend.

Keep rolling 6's.

Day 1, Closer (Slightly) to Ready to Go

So Sunday was the first day (since my army assessment) that I had a chance to do any army work.  Saturday was full (as I figured it would be) and Sunday was full enough that I had to shoe-horn in some 40K army work where I could.  Keeping in mind the list from the previous post, here's what I got done yesterday.  I'll get some pics up tomorrow along with tomorrow's update as there really wasn't much to photograph yesterday.

HQ:  Captain - Now primed.

HQ:  Chaplain -  I went ahead and stripped the Chaplain.  It went pretty well, and I went ahead and primed it last night.  I think I can get the HQ units painted up tonight and, these being the most detailed jobs ahead, will certainly be a load off my mind.

Elite 1:  5 Man Termie Squad - These were painted and primed, but it dawned on me that the weapon combo I selected for my sergeant was not available on a helmeted model (I refuse to send any unit into battle without a helmet, my reasons for doing so will be covered in  a later blog).  After my discovery, I decided to tackle my first "conversion" (although what little I did probably doesn't qualify).  All my terminators are from the AoBR set, so I had to saw the arms off the helmet-less Terminator Sergeant and attach them to a helmeted model.  The sawing/replacing went more smoothly than I had thought, and I now have the sergeant with a helmet I desired.  I re-primed him, and they are in the painting "bullpen" at the moment, waiting for the HQ choices to be completed.

Fast Attack 1:  5 Man Assault Squad - BUILT!!  A minor triumph, but a triumph nonetheless.

And that was it for Sunday.  Considering all the other things that landed on my plate yesterday I'm pretty pleased with what I got accomplished.  Of course the elephant in the room is the unpainted Predator, the UNBUILT Predator, and the Whirlwind with only the left track assembly done.  I've got them on the schedule and I will get this done prior to Saturday if I have to break the laws of physics to do it!!

Back tomorrow with updates and pics!

The Countdown Begins.....

Less than 1 week to Astronomi-con Dallas.  Where has the time gone?

I have (to the surprise of no one who knows me personally) procrastinated and placed myself in a difficult position:  I have an absolute TON pf models left to build and paint in order to be ready for the con.  I have a 6 hour house work and honey-do commitment to the lovely Mrs. Noob tomorrow in addition to 2 hours allocated to Mother Noob (helping her run errands/get her hair done) and a minimum 2 hours being given to supporting the United States Men's National (Soccer) Team (that little World Cup thing they've got going on in South Africa.  The US has a minor match against some team or another, so i should watch.  OK, it's freaking ING-ER-LUND.  Lord how I'd love to smack the English around tomorrow, especially if we can jump out to an early 2 goal lead or so.  If the US gets up by 2 or more before half-time you have my personal NOOB guarantee that the little bitch Wayne Rooney will get red carded.  He will LOSE HIS MIND if he realizes he's getting personal ass-handing service, compliments of the good ol' US of A.  So much so that, rather than to dig in and work hard, he'll try and make it all about him and get tossed.  It will start as a yellow for a cynical tackle on the US player that has just stripped him of the ball.  What will ensue is a string of expletives aimed at the ref that would embarrass a dockworker in Liverpool, followed by a second yellow and Widdle Wayne's dismissal.  Hallelujah.  we now return to our regularly scheduled 40K blog)...

OK, football rant over, back to 40K.

So, as I wise saying before I got interrupted, I have a lot of work to do vis a vis putting my army together, so I figured I would post a "Noob's Ultramarine Completion Update" daily this week.  This will force me:  acually paint, and; be accountable as I'm sure my beloved readers will be the first to say "Hey, Noob, you said you would have those Termies painted and based yesterday, yet they're on you list again today.  What gives, slacker??" (it will also inflate "ye olde Post Count", which isn't a bad thing, either)  Looking at my "To Do" list for today (Saturday) again, it seems that all I'll really be able to do today is, well, post the initial list of where every element in the army is as far as assemble, painting, basing, etc.

So, without further ado, here is the master list.

HQ:  Space Marine Captain - built, no primer yet (this is a rebuild as the Captain I had initially intended to use lost an arm, plus the paint job was a solid "meh" as the guy I bought it from didn't really seem to care too much about "quality", and "neatness", and "painting the torso and legs the same color")

HQ:  Chaplain in Power Armor - built and painted, needs base completion (This may also get redone as I looked closely at my Chaplain on Thursday I discovered some of the same issues as I had with the Captain, except instead of  "painting the torso/legs the same color" it's more along the lines of "painting both sides of the face the same color".  Possible purchase of a new Chaplain this week)

Troops 1:  10 man Tac squad.  Assembled, painted, AND based.  F'ing complete.  Hurray for me!!  (Actually, "Hurray for the guy I bought them from off of Ebay")

Troops 2:  5 man tac squad.  Assembled, painted, and based.  Thanks, Ebay!!

Elites 1:  5 man Termis squad:  Assembled and painted/assembled and primed.  I have one set completed (save the bases) and they are OK.  They were some of the first models I painted and with the painting I have done since then I'm sure I can do a much better job now.  I'll wait until everything else is done and see if I have time to redo these.

Elites 2:  Dreadnaught.  Assembled and painted.  Needs base completed.

Elites 3:  Dreadnaught.  Assembled and painted.  Needs base completed (Ooohhhh, deja vu!!!)

Fast Attack 1:  5 man Assault Squad.  NiB, and NiB is NOT what I'm looking for in this case.

Fast Attack 2:  Land Speeder Squadron.  Both are painted and ready to go except LS#1 needs to have the Typhoon Missile racks attached.

Heavy Support 1:  Whirlwind.  Left track sub-assembly built.  Uh-oh.

Heavy Support 2:  Predator, Autocannon variant.  Built, not primed.

Heavy Support 3:  Predator, twin-linked Lascannon variant.  NiB. Damn, do I have my word cut out for me this week.

Well, that's it, the 1496 points I'm dragging with me to Astronomi-con.  I'll update it every night just (with pictures!!) before I go to bed so you guys can follow along and comment/heckle as the week goes by.  feel free to comment on the weirdness/weakness of this abortion I call an army list, as well.



Oh, quickly before I forget:  Matt from the Archangels blog, I lost your address.  Your stripped Venerable dread is on my painting table mocking me, so shoot me your address again so I can ship this sucker. (bradATthesatorigroupDOTcom)


That's the news, and I am outta' here.....

The Noob Goes 1 and 1

So Saturday was my big Combat Patrol day. Let me say that I don't think I've had more gaming fun in quite some time. The guys in Adeptus North Texas (my gaming group) are fantastic, and really helpful to new players.

Game 1 was against Grey Knights. Here's a tip: don't get locked in close combat with Grey Knight Terminators. They took out an entire tac squad until a second squad turned the tide based on numbers alone. My Dread also did his job, holding up a GK tac squad and preventing them from getting involved elsewhere. By the end of turn 5 I had finally cleaned the board and taken the win.

Game 2 saw my Ultramarines squaring off against an IG army. To let you know how the game went, my Dread (with missile rack to handle his armor) was wiped out in the first half of turn 1, before I even moved. And it went downhill from there. the bike squad (along with Chaplain on bike) was useless, my Terminators were wiped out, and I was completely swept off the board by turn 4. Oh, well, it was a good time anyway.

Sunday I played a 1500 point game against another Space Marine army. Again, a loss. Again, the bike squad was useless, the Chaplain was no help, and my Land Speeders were less than helpful (although keeping them in reserve wasn't the best idea at all).

All in all, though, it was a great weekend of 40K. I signed up for another tournament starting June 27, and I'm looking at maybe doing a Tourney at the end of July in Austin. Yes, I have become a 40K addict.

Is it a bad sign I'm already contemplating starting a Tau army????