Nova-ing Marines!

Hey guys Huron here, checking in.  So it has been a while since my last post, sorry about that.  Been busy with life, watching all the new anime on Netflix, and playing Rift.  However just over a week ago I got a new compressor for my airbrush (I will be doing a post about both in the future) and have been airbrushing up a storm thanks to some tips I've gotten from a few friends, from grey_death over on The Painting Corps, and from watching videos put out by WGConsortium on youtube.

If you do not follow The Painting Corps... well why don't you?  The Painting Corps has lots of tips and tricks for getting your stuff done and lots of beautiful looking models for you to drool over too.  Also if you are interested in Airbrushing, definitely check out WGConsortiums Airbrushing for Beginners vids and all his Space Wolf painting vids, very informative on ways to add airbrushing to your hobby.

Well it is a start...

Hey guys, Huron here again, man has it been a while. I have to admit that taking it easy has some advantages (though once you see my list of what I have been up to, you will question if I have been taking it easy), no deadlines, no models I have to have painted, no worries about not having X hobby thing painted, etc.

I has allowed me to find the time to play more and different games, which has lead me to rediscover board games and non-collectible card games and things of that nature. With December coming to a close however, I think it is about time to get back on the horse, set some goals, come up with a plan, and get to work. For one, there is a new 40K tournament season starting just around the corner. I said last year that my Griffons were under powered in the current meta in my area by the end of last season so I was going to do a new army for this season.

Additionally, I have put back on the black in the last few weeks and stepped up at my local LGS Huzzah Hobbies as a Pressganger again. That means catching up on what I have missed over the last 2 years and probably painting up some new demo sets and a new 35-50pt army to use.

Bah, there is to much to write down in paragraph form, so in comes a good old list.

What I have been up/Going to be up to in early 2011.

1. Started Flames of War - Late War Russians
2. Started Uncharted Seas - Shroud Mages
3. Started Dystopian Wars - Japanese
4. Started playing/Purchased Dominion (Deck Building Card Game)
5. Started playing/Purchased Resident Evil's new Deck Building Card Game
6. Purchased Invasion from Outer Space Board Game (From Flying From Productions)
7. Started playing/Purchased Wings of War base game and 2 planes
8. Dabbling with getting back into Monpoc
9. Reactivated myself as a Pressganger for Privateer Press and started organizing a new League and Tournament for Warmachine/Hordes
   
10. Stopped playing Malifaux, we will see if I get back in, in Jan 2011.
11. I am in week 3 of a Warhammer Fantasy Escalation League that will be running through February
12. Played some Apoc recently, has me thinking about getting my Blood Angels finished so I have a new army to play with short term
13. In the conceptual and testing build phase for a Steam-Punk Ork 40k army I am thinking about build to use at the Nova Open next August. Was 100% sold on the idea until I figured out what it would cost to create 3 Ork Battlewagon Steam Trains, now rethinking possibly or doing some revising.
14. Scatter Brained and starting new projects or wanting to finish old projects or something else every other day it seems.

Well that is my list of what I have been up to. I have articles coming in the near future, probably after I get my work area cleared up and find my camera again. But never fear I shall return, looking for me in 2011 if not before.

Looking out at 2010

Hey guys Huron here, just a few more hours left till 2010. Personally I am stuck here at work, well at least for 2 more hours so I thought I would take a small break a share with you my hobby goals for 2010.

First off I plan to finish up the Howling Griffons army that has been seen in the recent battle reports and tutorials I have posted. Now saying I am going to finish them up is I guess a bit of an understatement. My plan for the army looks like this:

1. Space Marine Battle Company - Including Transports
2. 1st Company Detachment - 25 - 30 Terminators, 10 Sternguard, 10 Vanguard
3. Variety of Characters - My own modified versions of several special characters; Khan, Pedro, Lysander, Shrike, Tigerious, and maybe some others. Plus a Power Armored and Terminator Armored Librarian, and Power armored Chaplain on Foot, on Bike, and with Jump Pack along with a Terminator armored one as well.
4. A mix of Heavy Support and Fast Attack vehicles and Bikes
   
5. Then for Apocalypse an Armored spearhead featuring 5 Landraiders (1 Standard, 1 Crusader, 1 Redeemer, 1 Promethius (FW), and One Terminus Ultra), a Line Breaker Squadron (3 Vindicators), An Ancients formation (Master of the Forge and 4+ Dreadnoughts of any pattern), and probably a super heavy of some sort

I am good way along on the Battle company, I just need 2 More Tactical Squads, 2 Devastator Squads, their Transports, and a Razorback for the Command Squad. I am about half way done collecting the 1st Company Detachment as I currently have 13 Terminators, 6 Sternguard, and 5 Vanguard in my collection. Character wise I have and have converted up pretty much all the characters listed except Lysander, Shrike, and Tigerious. I need another Predator or two and some Landspeeders and I have the Bike/Vehicle support of the Griffons locked down and for the Apoc stuff mentioned I just need 2 more Raiders (Redeemer and Promethius), one more dreadnought, and the super heavy choice I mentioned. Not sure what it is going to be yet.

Having all of that and having it all painted are different things altogether though so I am going to be focusing on getting it all painted, starting with what I need for my tournament list and going from their.

Once the Griffons are done I plan to put some work into a number of different projects I have on the back burner. While I will not commit to getting any of these projects finished in 2010 realistically I need/will probably put some work into all of them or sell them off over the course of the year. They are:

1. 40K Orks - I have around 3K or orks in various stages, mostly assembled and unprimed
2. Chaos Warriors - Likely to be my next project, want to get an army painted up and ready to play if I ever get the urge again. I have around 3K or assembled and primed models for this army
3. 40K Chaos - An old standby for me, I would like to revisit and tweak this army for 5th edition sometime in the future.
4. 40K Nurgle Daemons - I painted 1000pts of these guys over the summer of 2009 and really only need to pick up Epideimus, 1 Great Unclean One (to use as a Daemon Prince), and a box of Plague Bearers up for and I will have a full army. I even have 3 FW Blight Drones sitting around unassembled I can add in as well
5. Renegade IG - I have the Infantry component and a few of the tanks I would need to start a FW Renegade IG army based on the new Guard book. Really what I need a few more vehicles and to rearm a few models and this army would be ready to be painted and played
6. Eldar Exodites - This is a new army that I am in just the beginning stages of building. They are a long way off from being playable but I've always wanted and Exodite army and with some of the current Dark Elf, Lizardmen, and Eldar plastic models I think it is very doable so expect to see more work on these guys this year as time allows.
7. Blood Angels - If the rumors end up being true I expect to jump full bore into a Blood Angels army too.

Yeah I know lots of projects. Kind of overwhelming isn't it.

There is one thing besides the Howling Griffons I am going to pledge to do. I want to replace my existing Home/Travel Terrian with a GW Battle Board and some new nicer painted terrain. Whether this means GW stuff or scratch built stuff I do not know yet but I want to up my the quality of the terrain I play on when outside of a GW store.

Well that is it for now, see you all in 2010!

How to Run a Proper Tournament

Hey guys, Huron here. Mike and I really had a blast at the Battle for Salavation Tournament run November 21sts and got some good ideas to implement for a Sugarland Gamers Tournament we want to run early next year. From my experience at their tournament and from running some in the past here are a few things I think are important to running a really fantastic tournament.

1. No bad games - usually when I play in a tournament of the magnitude of the BfS tourament (40 Players) I expect at least one of my games to be a bad one, usually against someone who is a little to over competitive for their own good. However, with a little work and defined purpose and goals you can usually get around this problem. Mainly from the beginning you need to have the right attitude that will attract the right kind of gamer to your event. Making it clear from the being you are expecting good, competitive, respectful battles with no funny business (and that there will be penalties if there is any) is a good start.

2. The Food - Thats right folks, many of you are scratching your head wondering what good food has to do with a successful tournament. Well let me tell you, great food keeps players on site instead of allowing them to wander off and come back late. It fills the bellies and settles the gripes that come up after tight hard fought games. I have never been to an event before that fed me so well as the BfS tournament (Hot Dogs and Hamburgers for Lunch, full on Thanksgiving style Turkey dinner later on), and that includes the several GW GTs I have been too.

3. The Cause - Why run a tournament just to run a tournament. The best, most well attend events I have have been too were always those that bennifited a cause of some kind. The BfS tournament while putting up some great prizes for the winners also was part charity fund raiser. Their tournament benefited the Salvation Army and brought in quite a bit of money for them. Not only did part of the proceeds for the event go to Charity, but there was also a Charity raffle which raised several hundred dollars but also all the money raised by the good food I talked about above went to charity as well.

4. Good Judges - Make sure you and those helping to run the tournament have a good grasp of the rules and FAQ for the system you are playing. Having to look up simple rules can take up time and cause fustration amongst players looking for a quick answer. However with that also goes making sure players know that a judges ruling is final and once they have made their final ruling there is no room for anymore arguement. There is plenty of time after the game to look up rulings after the game, while the game is in play, players should respecting the ruling made by a judge until the game is finished.

5. Good Terrain and Area - Make sure that the terrain you are using and the area you are playing in is the best it can possibly be. Players like playing on good terrain and not on unpainted card board cutouts with books for hills. One of the reason to goto tournaments is to put your nicely painted army up against another nicely painted army on a great looking table. Good presentation brings players back.

Well that is my thoughts, but what tips didn't I cover that you have found work well. Please post them in the comments and I will see about getting them add to this list.

With that in mind, the Sugarland Gamers 2010 tournament series (I hope to run one per quarter) has a mission. To put out and provide the best possible tournament environment that focuses on good fun competitive games while giving back to the community and those in need. Additionally all players will be well fed.

Until next time...