WFB: Dark Elves Heroes

Here are a few pictures of the Dark Elves Heroes I have worked on in the past week. The pictures did not turn out the greatest though.

Dark Elf Hag Queen

Dark Elf Dreadlord on Cold One

Dark Elf Supreme Sorceress

Dark Elf Sorceress
Dark Elf Assassin

W40K: IG Leman Russ Executioner Part 2

Here is Part 2 of my Leman Russ Executioner. As I stated earlier, I got impatient on the drying time of the "dip" and attempted to Matte spray the vehicle before 24 hours. Well that was a mistake. Some of the "dip" started to bubble on top and made the vehicle look awful. I ended up sanding some of it away and touching it back up and reapply the "dip". I learned my lesson and will NEVER do that again.

So here are three pictures of the Russ, dipped, matted and next to some of my other models.

Leman Russ Executioner

Leman Russ Executioner
Leman Russ Executioner

W40K: IG Heavy Weapons Team: Autocannon

Last night I was able to matte spray my Autocannon teams for my ACON list. It helps to wait the full 24 hours for the "dip" to dry. You'll see why in one of tomorrow's posts :(

Heavy Weapons Team: Autocannon

Heavy Weapons Team: Autocannon

W40K: IG Leman Russ Executioner Part 1

As stated in the post below, I started assembling my Leman Russ Executioner this past weekend. Again, what a breeze!. Well last night we started painting the Russ. The vehicle got completed this morning with all of the basecoat colors and I applied the "dip" on the bottom-side of the vehicle. The "dip" take 24 hours to fully dry so I will not be able to brush the top-side until tomorrow afternoon. Hopefully sometime Thursday night I will post finished pictures. Here are two pictures of the assembly and the vehicle basecoated.

Leman Russ Executioner

Leman Russ Executioner

W40K: Imperial Guard Leman Russ Executioner

In my 1000 point W40K list for the Adepticon Team Tournament, I will be running the new Leman Russ Executioner.


Today I got a chance to sit down and assemble this new model. I have never built any of the older Leman Russ variant models, but I have already built 4 Chimera's and was not too please with the assembly process on those.


All I can say about the new model is "wow". What a breeze to assemble. Games Workshop did a terrific job with this model. All the wheel tracks are nicely labeled and went together smoothly. I actually really enjoyed putting the model together. I hope the new Hellohound's will go together as easily.


There is going to be a W40K Team Tournament Primer on January 16th that my son and I will be attending. I'm trying to get the last of my list assembled/painted for this event. Painting is not a requirement, but I would like to have most of it done if possible.

Still have 1 Hellhound to assemble and then paint all the Vehicles.

WFB: Wood Elves Glade Guard

Saturday night I was also able to complete my son's first unit of Glade Guard Archers. I have 3 Units of 10 that I also need to complete for him. His Wood Elves army is already painted with the older figures. We are slowly replacing those with the newer models. Some of the older models will stay in his army like the Wardancers and Waywatchers. They are currently painted to a nice quality.

So thanks again to "The Army Painter" these got done rather quickly. Just 2 more Units to go.

Wood Elves: Glade Guard Archers

Wood Elves: Glade Guard Archers

WFB: Dark Elves Warriors with Repeater Crossbows

As promised, here are a couple pictures of my recently completed Dark Elves Warriors with Repeater Crossbows. I have 3 Units of 10 completely finished for my army.

BTW, I was able to get my first 1500 point game with the Dark Elves today. We were only able to complete 3 Turns due to time constraints. The Magic is awesome, my dice were cold for Shooting and Combat.

Hopefully I can get another game in Wednesday night.

Dark Elves: Warriors with Repeater Crossbows

Dark Elves: Warriors with Repeater Crossbows

Dark Elves First Game Postponed

After getting all excited about trying out my Dark Elves, packing them all up in their foam trays, loading up the car....... we head out to the Battle Bunker last night, and the sign says "Closed due to bad weather".... ah come on! it was only a few inches of snow...... If I can make it with Arizona plates still on my car, everyone else can........

The night was not a total loss, since I was already out and close to Hobby Lobby, I swung in and picked up some more matte spray and glue.

I also then decided since I had the evening available, I based my 3x10 Warriors with Crossbows. All that's left is the matte spray.

Then I broke out some of my son's Wood Elves that I had started awhile ago and also got some of those done.

I did not get to play, but I did accomplish alot.

Maybe Friday night the DE will hit the table.

WFB: Dark Elves Assembled (well almost)

So after Bugman's Bash this past Saturday, I got real itchy on wanting to get my Dark Elves assembled so I can finally give them a whirl. Low and behold, finished them all last night. I still have to place an order this weekend to get my 9 Harpies. That's all that is left for my 2250 pt list.

Assembling the Hydra looked scary, but it actually was not too bad. I used a "rock" to help prop one of the legs to be a little bit more supportive.

Since I dont have the Harpies yet, I am going to try out a 1500 pt version of the list tonight against my son. I have never played Dark Elves so the lower points will be a good learning game. I still will be running 2 Sorcerers so that will good for learning the Dark Magic.

My 3 units of Repeater Crossbows ended up getting "dipped" Sunday night. This Saturday I will finish the bases on them, Matte spray them and call them complete. Next I'll start on a Unit of Warriors with Spear/Shield or maybe a Character. We'll see what kind of mood I'm in.

Bugman's Holiday Bash 2009!

Bugman's Holiday Bash 2009 a WFB Tournament was this past Saturday and it was a great time. I wanted to thank everyone that attended and all the toys that were donated for "Toys for Tots". We received a lot more toys than expected. We had a few last minute drops, but still was able to have 22 in attendance. Here is a picture of all the toys, along with the results from the event.

WFB: Dark Elves

Since I really love the way my Imperial Guard are looking using the "dip" method from "The Army Painter", I decided yesterday that I will also use this for my Dark Elves army. Over the past year I have been slowly purchasing the models for my army. I am just a Hydra and 7 Black Guard away from having a 2250 point list.

In my list I will have 3x10 units of Warrior Crossbowmen. Started 2 of these units about 2 years ago with a dark blue color scheme where the usual purple is suppose to be. Using the "dip" method, I think the dark blue I chose will be too dark. So last night I picked up a bottle of GW's Mordian Blue Foundation Paint. Today I went through and re-did all the blue on the 2 units. While I was at it, I also completed the third unit. So all 3x10 units are now basecoated and just waiting to be dipped. Not sure if I will do that tonight, or wait for the weekend. Probably the weekend. Tonight I'll probably continue on the bases for the Wood Elves.

Whats next for the Dark Elves.... I'm going to start painting one of the units of Warriors with HW/Shield.

Why am I doing the Dark Elves now? I am running a Spring 2010 Warhammer League here in Illinois that will be starting mid-January. Painted armies is not required. So this will give me a chance to play with a new army while I see them get painted.

Once the units get "dipped", I'll post some pictures.

December's Agenda

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow! Yep, December is already here.

Let's keep this month as real as possible. With the Holidays coming up and visiting family, not sure how much will get done.

So here is what I'd like to get done for the month.

W40K:
Imperial Guard
1. Finish priming the rest of my Troops for my 1750 point list.
2. Get 3 more Foot Troop units painted (24 guys). This will have all my "Troops" done. Just Command Squads, Special Weapons, Heavy Weapons will be all that's left.
3. Possibly start on a Chimera if I have any primer left over.

WFB:
Wood Elves
1. Finish rebasing the rest of the Wood Elves.
2. Finish a unit of Glade Guard that I started almost 2 years ago. They are half done. Will try the dip on them.
3. Assemble a unit of Glade Riders that my son receive last year for Christmas. Not sure if I will be building all 8 or just 5. Need to check with my friends who play WE's on whats the best way to run Glade Riders.

Dark Elves
1. Finish up my 3x10 units of Warriors with Crossbows.
2. Finish a unit of Warriors with HW/Shield (20).
3. Assemble another unit of Warriors with HW/Shield (20)

I hope I'm keeping this "real" :)

Catching Up!

I know, I'm a bad blogger!!!!! November was not a total waste, I did get some things done.

First lets start with my WFB Dwarfs. I did finish everything I wanted to for them in order to compete in the "Core Competency" (even the Miners). "Core Competency" was the weekend of 11/14-11/15 5 games over 2 days. All I can say was that I had a blast. I did not care if I won a game (which I didnt.... 0-4-1) I played to have fun and I did.

There are still some of my older units in my Dwarf army that need their bases redone, but until I need to use them again, I should be good. I have at least 2250 points that are nicely painted and based the same.

Second, I finished basing all the Troops for my ACON TT List and picked up a Leman Russ Exterminator. I still need to get a Hellhound for the list and then I should be good. I'd like to start painting the Chimera's this month, but we'll see, I'm running out of my "Desert Yellow" primer and will have to wait a bit before I can order from Warstore again. I'm using the last of the primer to finish the Troops for my 1750 point list.

Third, I started rebasing my son's WFB Wood Elves army. Again I'm going with my new standard for WFB armies on these guys also. He'll be playing this Saturday in "Bugman's Holiday Bash" that I am running at the Battle Bunker and I'm trying to get as much re-based as possible. I think I'm gonna fall short on a few units. Thats OK, at least they are all painted.

Well that's it for catching up, onto December.

November's Plate

So what's on the plate for the month of November.

W40K:
Imperial Guard
I am still working on my Imperial Guard army. Using "TAP" has been great and all my Troops are done for my ACON 40K TT list. I finished building 4 Chimera Transports for the list this past weekend, and I still have a Hellhound and Executioner to purchase/complete for the list. I will also continue painting up the rest of my IG to complete out my 1750 list. With one of the extra Vet Squads for my TT list, I'll actually enough done for possibly an 1850 list.

Salamanders
1750 points are done for the Salamanders. I recently acquired a third Razorback for "Squad 3" so I'll be putting that together this month to give me a few more options for my son. I still have plenty of Space Marine vehicles that can be put together for my son's army, just not enough time.

WFB:
Well next Saturday is the release of the new Skaven army book. I will be picking up the book for sure, but my desire for a Skaven army may have to wait till the new year. I may pick up a new box here and there to slowly start to collect the army.

Dwarfs
My war machine crew are now done for the Dwarfs. I still have a unit of Miners I want to get done by 11/15. If that does not happen, I will fill out a unit 15 GW Dwarfs to 25. They are already done, just the bases have to be redone.

Wood Elves
This is my son's Fantasy army. They are done, but most of the models are previous edition. We are slowly replacing them with new models. My next order with "The War Store" I'll be adding some of the Green Primer. I decided that I will be dipping these to get them done sooner.

Dark Elves
Wont be touching these this month. We'll see about December.

Not too much for November....... Lets hope I can get the above done.

W40K: Imperial Guard "TAP"

This past Friday UPS shows up at my door with my The War Store order for my The Army Painter supplies. Looks like I'll be painting for the weekend.

The colors that I had ordered are going to be perfect for our "Desert Theme" we are trying to accomplish for the AdeptiCon W40K Team Tournament. Each team will consist of 1000 points.

I wanted to paint my 1000 points to something that I really liked and that was quick to paint. The rest of my Imperial Guard army will also be matching this theme.

So I opened the box and started to get my models ready.

Step 1: Prime the models.

Step 2: Basecoat the models.

Step 3: Quickshade the models.

Step 4: Matt varnish and finish the bases.

I ended up finishing 2 Veteran Troop Squads this past weekend, with about 2 hours of time per Squad. I am really happy with the results and it will speed up my time to get my army on the gaming table. This is the first time I ever used a "dip" method and I like the results.

The Army Painter: Part 2

So yesterday afternoon I decided to place my order with The War Store for some "The Army Painter" supplies so I can finally start working on my Imperial Guard. Once the "Brown Fur" primer is available I will also order that for my new Skaven Army.

I ended up ordering the "Desert Yellow" Primer, "Strong Tone" Quick Shade, and "Anti Shine" Matte Varnish. As soon as it comes in I'll be priming the Imperial Guard troops.

1000 points of my Imperial Guard army will also be used in the 4-man 40K Team Tournament at AdeptiCon 2010. Our theme color is desert based. So I think the "Desert Yellow" will make a great basecoat and I am going to use "Calthan Brown" from the GW Foundation line for all the armor.

Hopefully my order will arrive before the weekend so I can give it a try, if not stay tuned next week for an update.

The Army Painter

While in Phoenix, AZ for the Wild West Shootout this past weekend I was able to meet up with some friends on Friday night at Empire Games during their Mercenary Market (flee market) and one of my friends mentioned to me a new product called "The Army Painter".

"The Army Painter" is basically a "dipping" method for painting your armies. The nice thing about TAP is that the base color sprays come in a lot of colors. With the new release of Skaven for Warhammer coming out in few weeks, I think this is going to be a quick way to get them done. TAP will be releasing a "Brown Fur" base color right around the same time.

Here a re a few pictures on the procedures.

Step 1: Primer with Base Color

Step 2: Basecoat with Normal Colors

Step 3: Dip

Step 4: Matt Varnish


Step 5: Finish the Base of the Model

I have friends that use the "dupping" method all the time with the "Minwax" product, but I have never tried it before. I am really considering it for the Skaven. With that many models, I think this will save me a lot of time. If I decide to go this route, I will post pictures of the progress.

In case you are interested, you can purchase "The Army Painter" online at "The War Store".

W40K: Wild West Shootout Day 2

Day 2 of the WWS 2009 has now come to the conclusion and I wanted to say that I had a blast this weekend. This is the first time I can say that I had 5 fun games. I hope all my opponent's can say the same.

Well, I did not take the "Murphy's Luck" award for last place, I did manage to get a win in Game #4.

Onto the recaps.

Game 4: vs Brad N (Space Wolves)
This mission was a "top secret" mission and was not published beforehand. When we arrived at our tables we were handed an envelope with our mission. Before opening the envelopes we were told that we are in the Wild West and that this mission would be in that tradition. We then opened our envelops and the mission read, good ole fashion shootout. NO TERRAIN on the tables at all and Victory Points would be used.

Scenario: "Wild West Shootout"

My opponent was a great guy and he was playing an all Drop Pod Space Wolves with the new Codex. First I have never played against an all Drop Pod army before, Second I have not seen the new Codex yet. This was gonna be good. I heard the best defense against an all DP army would be to "castle up". So I did that. The deployment zone was 15", I placed my 3 Troops with their 3 Razorbacks (TLLC) in the corner, my LRC was protecting its flank with my Vet squad in Rhino behind the LRC.

Brad dropped 3 Pods on first turn (the 4th scattered off but will be back later). 2 converted Dreads (looked like robot Wolves.... awesome) dropped in front of my troops. He manged to flame a few and killed some marines. My Razorbacks and Plasmacanons returned fire and I was able to blow off the Close Combat weapons off each of the dreads.

This was a really fun game. I managed to kill quite a few squads, couple of Drop Pods, and Dread and a HQ. Brad managed to kill 2 full troop squads and my squad of Terminators. I ended up winning the game by just over 400 Victory Points (301 was a Win).

First win of the tourney.

1-2-1

Game 5: Jim A (Chaos Space Marines - Nurgle)
Final game of the tournament and I really wanted another fun game. I got to play Jim A, a friend of mine who also used to live in Phoenix and relocated back to Florida around the same time I left back to Chicago. Now that my chances for last place were gone, I joked with him and said no holds bar, I'm going out shooting......

We finally got to play an object based game. 5 objectives with one of them in the center of the table. Control more objectives than your opponent and you win.

Scenario: "When All Is Lost"

Deployment was 12" Pitched Battle with 7 turns and Jim got to go first. This was a really tough game that came down to the wire. My LRC with Terminators went up across the board and dismantled a unit of Marines and held onto one Objective. The LRC then pick up a 5 man unit of Troops and proceeded to the center Objective but became Immobilized 5" away. The rest of my army was trying to hold onto a third Objective.

Came down to bottom of Turn 7. Jim has 2 Objectives. My 5 man combat squad jumped out of the LRC and contested the center Objective. The Objective that was in my deployment zone was being contested, but I still had the one that Terminators controlled. Last chance..... Jim has 2 Marines sitting on 1 objective........Plasmacanon fires.....does not get hot.........scatters 8" off target.... game over. Jim controlled 2 Objectives, I had 1 Objective and we contested the other 2. Great game.

1-3-1

Well thats it for my gaming weekend. I want to thank Battlefoam and Empire Games for this weekend, it was a blast.

Now its time to put the 40K armies back on the shelf for abit and get back into Fantasy.

W40K: Wild West Shootout Day 1

Well Day 1 of the Wild West Shootout 2009 is in the books and I am not one to write up great battle reports, but here is a quick recap of my first three games.

Game 1: vs. Chris A (Chaos Space Marines)
Chris is a good friend of mine from when I lived there in Phoenix. It was really nice to be able to start off the tournament against a friend. He was playing a new army that he had just finished and it looked awesome. The scenario was a variation of Annihilation with modified Kill Points and the game would last 6 Turns.

Scenario: "Lost to the Warp"

This game was close until the final 2 Turns. Once the Chaos Marines hit my lines, it was over.
Final KP's: Chris 15, Dean 9. So we start the tournament with a Loss. But that is OK with me. It was a fun game.

0-1-0

Game 2: vs. Zack (Chaos Space Marines)
This mission was a variation of Capture and Control in which you had to carry the objective off the board via your enemies deployment zone.

Scenario: "Downed Pilot"

The deployment zone was 18" (yes 18") which is needed to get the objective off the board, but it really made the game a close combat type of game. The objective was in the center of the board and we had these 2 large ruins surrounding it on both sides. So there really was 2 ways to get out of the "ruined village". Zach setup a defensive line on his side, and I did the same on my side. For the most part the objective stayed in the middle of the board while I was shooting up units and Daemon Prince's that were trying to hold it. By Turn 5 we realized that the game would be a Draw, but we had to finish the final two turns and calculate Victory Points. Victory Point are being used in the Tournament just for overall tie-breakers in the standings.

So another fun game and a Draw for me.

0-1-1

Game 3: vs. Dave T (Chaos Imperial Guard)
This was the game I was waiting for. I finally got to play a game against "Mr. Dave Taylor". Dave is great guy who actually used to work for Games Workshop and is now currently employed with Wargames Illustrated. Dave invited me to the last Vegas GT in 2008 to help run LotR and here is where we actually got to sit and chit-chat for awhile. So playing him now I knew was going to be fun. Dave has been working on his custom Chaos Imperial Guard with all scratch built vehicles. It was a sharp looking army. So onto the game.

This mission was strictly a Victory Points games with a bonus of 250 VP's for holding Table Quarters. The game would be 7 turns and the first 3 turns were night fighting.

Scenario: "Night Assault"

So with 2 sit back and shoot armies and 3 turns of night fighting, this was gonna be pretty quick first half.

Well Dave got first turn and did not waste it one bit. First shot of the game, decides to check and see if he can my Land Raider Crusader drops a Battle Canon shot on top of my LRC (which is the transport for my Terminators), hits right, rolls and penetrates, and then........... immobilized. That was good enough for Dave. VP's would have been nice, but now he knew my Termies would have to foot slog it across the board.

The dice were not with me all game and were with Dave. My Termies did eventually hit his lines and got to destroy some units, but not enough. The rest of my army could not do anything. Dave manged to kill 1025 points plus a bonus 250 for a table quarter, and I managed a measly 400 points. This didnt matter, it was a blast. I hope Dave had as much fun as I did.

Another Loss, but a good Loss.

0-2-1

So I have 2 Losses and 1 Draw for the day. The award for last place is looking pretty good right about now.

Now to get ready for the final 2 games.

W40K: Wild West Shootout 2009

Well yesterday afternoon I boarded the plane and headed back 'home' to Phoenix (yes I'm calling Phoenix home, I really love it here..... maybe in the future we might be back) for the W40K Wild West Shootout 2009 presented by Battlefoam.

I was deciding between 2 different armies to bring. My good 'ole' trustworthy Dark Angels that I have been playing for 6 years or my sons new Salamanders army that I had finished this year. The paint scheme is nice on both of them, but the Dark Angels have some weathering effects on their vehicles. I decided I was going to pack my army in the suitcase to save from carrying on another item. So with that in mind, I really did not want to have any of my son's army break on me while traveling, so I opted for my Dark Angels. They looked to have arrived safely, but I will double check on them later today just to make sure nothing broke off.

The Wild West Shootout will be a 2 day 1750 pt W40K Indy GT held at Empire Games in Mesa, AZ starting early tomorrow morning. I'm really looking forward to meeting up with old friends again. Thats really the only reason I came down for this event. Meet with friends, and spend a weekend with my parents. The gaming will be secondhand. I know I am not going to win (I do not play to win anymore, just for fun) so I'm just looking for a good time. I'm hoping my good friend Tim will be able to come over on Sunday so we can chit-chat for a little. With having to miss out on GitD 2010 coming in February, I hope I can meet up with him.

Tonight Empire Games is going to have a Mercenary Market (allows players to sell some of their models to others for store credit) so I plan on swinging by to see if their is anything interesting.

Well, this will probably be my last W40K tourney until AdeptiCon. The Fantasy bug has really bitten me pretty hard the last couple of weeks so I am really excited about Fantasy again.

Stay tuned for a Saturday night recap of WWS2009.

WFB: Bugman's Holiday Bash! 2009

A good friend of mine and myself will be throwing a Warhammer Fantasy Battles tournament Saturday December 5th, 2009 at the Chicago Battle Bunker.

For more information and registration, please visit http://www.iwfb.org

WFB: Dwarf War Machines

Finished my Dwarf Canon last night along with 2 Organ Guns. One of the Organ Guns I just touched up a bit. I thought I'd be able to get to some of the Crew also, but did not so. I was able to get them primed. When I get back from our weekend trip to Dells, I'll start on them. Maybe get them at least half done before I head off for next weekend.

Dwarf Organ Guns & Canon

WFB: Play-test Core Comp List

Last night I got to play-test my Dwarf Core Comp list against my good friend Chris W. As always Chris gave me a good beat down. But it was good time. I do not mind losing anymore. A few years ago I changed my mentality of wargaming and I just play for fun, win or lose. It is all about throwing dice with your good buddies.

Chris was also play-testing his Core Comp list. He decided to play with his Lizardmen army (he has just about every army to choose from). It looked like a nice solid list and one to have fun playing with.

After the game, I decided I am going too tweak my list just a little bit. I am going to drop the second Bolt Thrower and second Runesmith, and add a Canon and Master Engineer. What Dwarf army does not have a Canon? Not that I do not like the Bolt Thrower, I just feel having a Canon would also be fun to play with.

So I just started to build the Canon and hopefully tonight I'll be able to prime it and start painting it. I'm glad to be going to Phoenix next week, but it really is going to cut down on my painting time. When I get back, I will really have to crack down and get all the Crew and Miners painted.

Dwarf Canon: Copyright Games-Workshop

WFB: Dwarf Hammerers

So last night I finished my unit of Dwarf Hammerers. It's nowhere near any of my best work, but for rank-n-file figures, they look decent. To be able to finish these guys in two days is a big accomplishment for myself. I have not painted rank-n-file in over 3 years.

Now I have a unit of (10) Miners to get done by 11/14/09 and about 6 Crew Men for my War Machines. Hopefully I can start the Miners next Monday before I leave for Phoenix. If not, they will have to wait.

Dwarf: Hammerers

WFB: Empire Warrior Priest

I thought I had posted a picture of my Empire Warrior Priest that I finished last April for AdeptiCon 2009, but I guess I didn't. I really enjoy painting the single character figures. It allows me to actually blend some paint together to achieve some nice highlights.

I'm really happy on how he turned out.

Empire: Warrior Priest

WFB: Dwarfs are based (Core Comp list)

I finished basing the Dwarfs for my Core Comp list this weekend. I haven't painted that much in a long time. Now its time to finish the unit of Hammerers, unit of Miners and Crew for the Organ Gun and one Bolt Thrower. I base coated the Hammerers last night. Hopefully I'll get those done before I head off the Phoenix for the "Wild West Shootout" in 10 days.

Here is what I based (re-based this weekend)

1 Dwarf Lord

1 Runesmith

1 Runesmith

1 Thane (Battle Standard Bearer)

19 Dwarf Warriors FC, HW/Shield

15 Dwarf Warriors FC, GW

25 Dwarf Warriors FC, GW

10 Thunderers

10 Thunderers

Eventually I'll re-base the rest of my Dwarf army to match my new basing standards. My goal is to complete what I'm going to play in the Core Comp tourney first. Then I'll get to the rest of them.

I'm going to be trying out this list come Wednesday night, we shall see how it does.

Back in the saddle (so to speak)

Well it's been awhile since I wrote anything, let alone paint anything. I've painted a few items for my son's 40K Salamander's army, but nothing alot (just a couple Attack Bikes and a few Assault Marines).

It's finally time to get back up on the horse (it's not like I was just sitting on the couch doing nothing, all my free time has been going to the gym. Since we got back from vacation in July, I thought it was time to start exercising again and riding the bike.) It's been about 6 years since I last exercised and at that time I went from 250 lbs down to 169 lbs. When we got back from vacation, I was back at 250 lbs. That's not good. It's been almost 3 months since we got back and I'm at 206 lbs. I'm real happy with my progress, and I have been really enjoying riding my bike.

Now back to my hobbying. Winter is coming soon here in Chicago and riding outdoors is becoming limited, so it's time to pick up the paint brush again. I thought moving back to Chicago that I would be playing a lot more Fantasy (since most of my friends here play Fantasy) but that hasn't really been the case. Guess I've been lazy. Well I think it's time to finally get back to my roots, what got me into this hobby.

So the weekend of November 14th-15th a friend of mine here is running a 2250 point Warhammer tourney called Core Competency. 900 points of the 2250 must be of Core points.

I have my Empire army which is what I started with, and always play, but I also have a Dwarf army. I thought what better time to get these guys touched up/finished up for this event.

I need to re-base the entire army (to match my new standards) and paint up a unit of Hammerers and Miners and few Artillery Crew.

Last night I started the basing process, and it's been going pretty good so far. I'll be out of town next weekend, and the weekend after, so their really isn't much time left. If I do not get the Hammerers and Miners done in time, I have some other units that I can throw in as a backup plan.

Here is the list I am thinking of playing (minus Magic items)

2250 Pts - Dwarfs Roster

1 Dwarf Lord

1 Runesmith

1 Runesmith

1 Thane (Battle Standard Bearer)

19 Dwarf Warriors FC, HW/Shield

15 Dwarf Warriors FC, GW

25 Dwarf Warriors FC, GW

10 Thunderers

10 Thunderers

13 Hammerers FC, GW/Shield

9 Miners

1 Bolt Thrower

1 Bolt Thrower

1 Organ Gun

Total Roster Cost: 2248

Well back to basing......

W40K: July Updates

As mentioned in the post below, I'm slowly getting out of my GW rut and playing some W40K games. I usually need a goal/upcoming event to get me motivated to paint again. So on August 15th, 2009 Adeptus Windy City will be starting an "AWC Tournament Series" (similar to the old days of Tournament Trackers but without the point standings) with a tournament held once a month using the Adepticon rules/scoring criteria. So "NO" painted armies allowed, which is a great thing. So, I'm not much into the tournaments anymore, but this series has a lot of my friends attending so I signed my son and myself up just so we can have a good time.

The first event will be 1750 points. I'm 250 points short on my sons Salamander army at the moment. I have three options I'm looking at to get him from 1500 to 1750. Due to costs/time I am going with adding a Land Raider Redeemer to his army (we already have the model, see post earlier this year) and I believe I can quickly paint one up for him.

For myself, I know my Imperial Guard will not be done (not much progress on them except for assembly) so I'm thinking of running a Dark Angels list led by Belial (one unit of scoring Terminators) or one of my Black Templar lists. I'm still undecided but I'm leaning towards the Dark Angels. More than likely the list I play here will be the list I play in the "Wild West Shootout" this October in Phoenix, AZ.

Stay tuned over the next few weeks while I make my final decisions........

W40K: Planetstrike Has Arrived

Well, this has been long overdue. Sorry for the lack of updates. With a vacation to Houston at the end of June / beginning of July, and in a rut for GW games, not much was really done last month.

I did manage to paint up my Soviet HQ and a platoon of Soviet T34/85 Tanks, other than that, really did not do any painting.

I'm slowly coming out of my GW rut and did get a game of W40K in against my son on Friday night and it was a good game. I'm still not really feeling it though for the other games. Must be because its summer.......

So while I was on vacation, GW released their newest expansion for W40K called Planetstrike. Friday night while at the GW Bunker getting a game in, I decided to pick up a copy (lately I'm playing more for the fun of the game, rather than the competition) so I'm hoping Planetstrike will be a nice change for those types of games.

I've have not yet had a chance to peruse the book (also picked up the last copy of White Dwarf, so I've been reading that). Hopefully I'll be able to peruse the book a bit later today. If I do get the chance to do so, I may quickly build up two lists and head out to the Bunker tonight. But we'll see. The next two days will be busy at work, so I may not have a chance to play until Thursday or Friday.

FOW: US Armored Rifle Platoon

Over the weekend I finished up the bases for my US Armored Rifle Platoon. This platoon can be played in either MW or LW.

Armored Rifle Platoon

Command Team & Light Machine Gun Team

Rifle Squad Team & Mortar Team

M3 Half-Tracks

I now have 1500 points completed for US Tank Company Late War, and about 2120 points if they are played in Mid War.

FOW: US M20 Utility

Here is a picture of two M20 Utility vehicles I painted last week. These M20's will be replacing two Jeeps in the Tank Destroyer Platoon for Late War battles.

M20 Utility

FOW: US Tank Company

Here are some pictures I took a little over a year ago for my US Tank Company for Flames Of War. I am just about done with adding an Armored Rifle Platoon to the Company and those pictures should hopefully be up later this week. This army will be playable in both Mid War (MW) and Late War (LW). In MW its just about 2100 points. For LW this list will come out to about 1500 points. Also for LW, I'll be replacing two of the Jeeps from the Tank Destroyer Platoon with two M20 Utility vehicles.

Once I get the ARP finished, I'll start to concentrate on the Soviets for awhile. This will then give me two playable armies. I'll eventually also add some Germans and other Axis and Allies.

US Tank Company

Company HQ

Tank Platoon: M4A1

Tank Platoon: M4A1

Tank Platoon: M5A1

Tank Destroyer Platoon: M10