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.....

Cheating: How, and, more importantly, why?

I don't know how many people have followed the possible cheating imbroglio from Adepticon ( videos here ), but to me I think people may have pulled the accusation out a bit early.

The link above has three videos for you to watch and decide on what you think. I, myself, being a noob to the 40K scene, can't really say much of anything one way or another. You may take a look and see something my noobish eyes didn't pick up, but that really isn't the point of this post.

Why would someone cheat at what is, essentially, a game at day's end. I just can't think of any good reason to cheat, even if it was the finals at Adepticon. It's just not that important to me. Would any of the three or four people who read this blog consider cheating? As a new player I'd like to think I'm going to get a fair shake in a game. I'm here to learn, and someone cheating would be a real turn off to just about any player, new or otherwise.

A second thought comes with these accusations. Did the accuser pull the trigger on these accusations a bit soon? I saw a post coming approximately 4 hours or so after the tournament ended with accusations of cheating, and those smelled somewhat of sour grapes. The responses were divided with people lined up on both sides based on how they felt personally about the player involved. I saw one comment claiming the accused was using rigged dice. All this with no evidence presented at the time. That accusation seems completely out of line, with the accused tried and found guilty without any evidence at the time. If you're going to make that type of accusation you damned well better have some rock solid evidence to back it up.

So, why cheat? And why make the accusations so soon?

I think this whole fiasco makes everyone involved look bad, and gives the 40K community a bad name.

A note: I have taken the advice given to me by the guys who commented on my painting, and things really have started to look better. I'll post some shots of my most recent builds, a tactical squad, another Dreadnaught, and an assault squad. Using the tips you guys gave me produced some great results. And now any vehicle painting tips you have for me on the Predator and Razorback I just finished building I'd be most appreciative.