Piper and the Yellow Dog Project

I'm not going to cross post often between my blogs, but this is one of those rare times. This is not at all Warhammer related either, and I promise this won't be a regular thing. But, to be honest, Chickhammer has a much wider reach than my other blog and this is important to me.

Piper with her new yellow ribbon.

I came across something called the Yellow Dog Project, which is aimed at helping people know when it is not ok to approach another dog with your own dog, by tying a yellow ribbon to their leash. I have a wonderful beagle named Piper who is one of these dogs. She was attacked by a dog shortly after my husband and I adopted her, and it has changed her for life. She's terrified of other dogs now- and acts out on this fear by being aggressive toward other dogs.

I wrote out Piper's whole story and more about the Yellow Dog Project in a post on my other blog, Little Thunder Lizard. Please check it out and find out more on their website. This project is being spread throughout the world- so please, pass it on.

I'll be back with a regular Warhammer update in the next few days, with progress on my Heresy Space Wolves.

White Dwarf Revamped

The newly redesigned White Dwarf is out and I just finished reading it. I tweeted about it while I was going through, but it quickly became apparent that what I want to say about it greatly exceeds 140 characters.

My instant reactions were "Awesome, it comes with another poster for us to hang in the War Room" and "Sheesh, we paid $10 for a 150 page advertisement?"

I'd seen the leaked photos of the Chaos models earlier in the week, but it wasn't until I had the magazine in my hand that I realized they red lit the models. What the bloody hell were they thinking? First of all, they look flat out terrible in that red light and they're too dark. Second, why did you bother to paint them if you were just going to ruin any chance for us to admire the paint job? Please don't ever do this again.

Pages 6-47 were straight ads for the new Chaos models, but also included Forgeworld stuff which I heartily appreciate. I like the little blurbs about each model, but they really told us nothing about the kit itself, other than mentioning over and over again the models are in Finecast. Some more details about what you'll actually get would be apprecaited.

The price list page also bothered me. It's as though they can't decide if they're making a magazine or a catalog. Either list the prices next to the model, or don't waste my time. Speaking of prices, $50 for the codex? Yikes! We're prone to complaining about prices but come on, GW. It's a book. I haven't paid that much for a some dead trees glued together since my college days.

At some point, the prices for the very basic game necessities (like, you know, the rules) are going to start discouraging people from entering the hobby. Hell, ten years ago I was discouraged from starting by the ten years ago prices. And I honestly have zero plans to buy this new book because of it, even though I very much like CSMs.

Heresy Space Wolves- The Start

Last post, I asked if I should start on my Heresy Wolves now, or if I should wait and see what Forgeworld comes out with in the coming months. The overwhelming consensus was that I should kick my lazy butt into gear and do it myself- for a menagerie of very good reasons. Thank you all for your input.

And so, it has begun.

I decided to start with the easiest models- the Fenrisian wolves. I heard fur was easy to sculpt, plus I have experience with the similarly designed Chaos Warhounds, so I knew I was going to have to fill in the gaps along where the two body halves meet. I didn't really know what to do about it when I assembled the Warhounds, and I ended up going back a year later (after they were painted) to fill in the gaps and then repaint the parts I touched up. Not a good plan.

Get Started or Wait? My Space Wolves Dilemma

With the exciting news of a new video for the Forgeworld Horus Hersey Book 1 today, I've really come to a head with getting started on my upcoming Space Wolf army.

I've been talking about the Big Plans I have for them for a few months now, and it's probably time I came clean about what those plans exactly are. Even before the rumors started circulating about Forgeworld's Heresy plans, I had decided I wanted to do my Space Wolves up in in the Heresy style.

At the time, I was reading Collected Visions and the style and fluff just sucked me in. I was completely committed to doing up all the conversions myself, and I'd scoured the internet for tips and suggestions from people who have already done similar work themselves. But with the announcement that Forgeworld is going to produce more Heresy models, I'm left in a tough spot.

I can either a) go forward with my plans and do a ton of work to convert them up myself or b) I can wait and see what they release. They have quite a few Heresy style things in production already (like the incredible Space Wolf dreadnought I already bought). They look great (I had planned on buying some to mix in with my conversions) so I expect these to be along similar lines.

The problem is, we know what the legions covered in this book are, and Space Wolves aren't among them. I expected this to be the case, from what the rumors had been saying. So the next book might be out around February/March and there's no guarantee Space Wolves will be covered in it. It could be a year, or more, before they get around to them, and then a little more before the models are all in production.

I was hoping to whip 1500 points up for Mechanicon at the end of October, but now I'm not so sure I want to start them. I don't have a 40k army right now, though, so it's an odd place to be in. If I'm going to put them together, I need to start doing them now in order to have them ready in time.

Decisions, decisions.

First Army Nostalgia

I talked about it for a while, and it took a bit, but I finally sold my Daemon army. I packed it up last night and shipped it off this morning. They're going all the way to a chap in South Africa. As excited that I am to see them put to good use (as I've been ignoring it for most of a year), I'm also a little sad about it.

These Daemons were my first army, the first models I painted, and the first things I tried to convert (tried being the key word). Working on them sucked me into the hobby for life. And I just sold them off so I could buy another army. It's comforting that they cannot feel betrayed by this. Nostalgia tugged at my heartstrings the whole time I packed them up.

First squad I ever painted.

That being said, I'm not heartbroken. They were sold for a good cause (Space Wolves count as a good cause in my book) and I wasn't playing them. I haven't played them enthusiastically in over a year. Despite the new models and the rumors of a new Daemon book soon, it just wasn't doing it for me.

I've moved on and I'm glad they've moved on, too. Goodbye, Daemons and goodluck! May we meet again several armies in the future!

What was your first army and where are they now? Feel bad about it? Feel free to share your guilt.

Get Thee To Ikea, and Soon

Casey's birthday is on Monday, and I wanted to get him something hobby-related. We've been talking about getting some sort of display case for our (his) miniatures and I actually found one. A pretty great one. The best part? It cost less than $100.

Those really nice and fancy glass display cases cost a ton of money, and they're mostly geared toward retailers. Ikea, though, has a pretty nice one called Detolf. It comes in black or beige and it's on clearance for $65. I spent another $30 on one of their light sets to illuminate each shelf, Dioder (white, not the multi-colored). I included the links, but don't buy it online and ship it to yourself- shipping was $125. Yes, $125 for shipping. I drove an hour to get it in person.

It weighs 90lbs (seriously) so bring a friend (I actually brought Casey to help me pick up his own gift, poor guy) to assist you. It definitely needs two people to put it together, too. But, the way the shelves are attached makes it ridiculously easy to put in the lights and tuck their wires out of the way. My trusty staple gun secured them to the top piece and together along the back.

 The lights are very bright LEDs and illuminate the minis better than I thought they would. It's not quite as bright as one of those expensive retail ones, but it really does a nice job. For the price, you can't beat it. In fact, I like it so much that if I had another $100 laying around, I'd go buy another set. They'd look really snazzy as a set on either side of our TV.

NOVA Open 2012 Battle Report

This was my first time playing Fantasy at a tournament. There were about 30 players, with room for up to 40. The Fantasy room was a whole different animal from the 40k side. If I could sum it up in a word, Fantasy was cozy and 40k was cavernous.

There was something like 38 people originally scheduled to participate but a bunch dropped out or didn't show at the last minute. That meant that to have 1 undefeated player at the end, we only needed to go 5 games instead of 6. This ended up being great, because it gave me more time to see things and talk with people before the award ceremony on Sunday.

Overall, I went 2-3 and I achieved my goal of winning at least two games. Everyone I played against was great and I even managed to find a little time between games to socialize with people I didn't get paired to play with.

I took this list:

The Hungry Horde!

Lords:
Slaughtermaster- Level 4 with Lore of the Great Maw, dispel scroll, Crown of Command and extra hand weapon.

Heros:
Bruiser- BSB with Rune Maw and Ironfist, Heavy Armour, and Lookout Gnoblar.
Firebelly- Great Weapon, Hellheart, and Lore of Fire

Core:
16 Ogres- full command and Ironfist.
10 Gnoblar Trappers
10 Gnoblar Trappers

Special:
6 Mournfang Cavalry- full command,  Dragonhide banner, Ironfist, and Heavy Armour.
6 Leadbelchers- Bellower.
1 Sabretusk

Rares:
2 Ironblasters

Game 1: Cale, Ogres (loss)

 
     There were a lot of Ogre players, and I had visions of repeating my experience at Blob's Park where I played the same army all day long. Somewhat remarkably, this ended up being my only game against Ogres.
     We had a great game and he beat me pretty handedly. We had some issues with our Ironblasters, in that we kept misfiring. I don't think either of ours did any damage to anyone the whole game. But I really do love them (and they were clutch later on in the event).
     The only real difference between our armies was I had regular Ogres and he had Ironguts. Those guys hurt with the S6 attacks. It took them a little while, but they chewed through my Mournfangs, despite their 2+ save.
     I ended up with 5 points and he had 17.

NOVA Open 2012 Aftermath

After much anticipation and flip flopping between which army I'd play, NOVA Open happened this past weeekend. In fact, I just got home about an hour ago. But, I had a pretty great time so I decided to sit down and talk a bit about it while it was still fresh in my mind (plus it's raining and I don't want to unpack the car in the rain).

Despite my previous reservations, I took Casey's Ogre army and had a great time playing with them. I really like their play style as compared to the Dwarfs. I also appreciate an army with a small model count when I have to schlep them around between games.

This was my first time attending the Open. There were several seminars I wanted to take, but unfortunately most of them overlapped with my games. There were a few offered on Friday, and I had no games, so I signed up for two of them. The first one was very early in the morning, so I took the Metro, which was vastly better than spending two hours driving through traffic.

The seminars were run by Justin of Secret Weapon Miniatures. I took the early seminar on airbrushing and the evening seminar on basing.I've been hemming and hawing about whether or not I should pick up an airbrush because I have no experience with one. In the seminar, I got a great primer on how they work and what they can do. I ultimately came to the conclusion that yes, I probably want an airbush (if for no other reason than I am an unbearably slow painter). I also got some excellent tips on where to get started.

There ended up just being two of us in the basing seminar (it was during one of the 40k games, so lots of people were busy) but it ended up being twice as awesome because we got to spend the entire time asking every single basing questions we could think of. I started off with snow basing, for Space Wolf-related reasons. But I also learned how to use some materials I didn't know how to work with.