Indicium: NOVA Open Live Video Feed

Be sure to check out the very latest in voyeuristic gaming with the NOVA Open live, streaming, videographic feed:

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/the-11th-company
You'll be right in the middle of all the gamey goodness as the high-tech hardware of the 11th Company swoops in for play-by-play, throw-by-throw coverage of all the 40k action!

Indicium: Hobby in Perspective

I stumbled across this amusing and informative article over at Cracked.com and wanted to share it with my wargaming crew:

http://www.cracked.com/blog/5-questions-you-need-to-ask-to-avoid-ruining-your-life/

It is an interesting, quick look at some of the big questions that we should all likely be asking ourselves as life continues it's inexorable advance. For me, the biggest question deals with what it means to "be" an adult in our society, absent the rituals and traditions of our forebears. Considering that society at large sees wargaming as playing with toys, I have often asked myself what the hobby reflects about me as an individual and my role in a larger, social perspective.

Answers to that question will vary widely and all are highly individual, but I do like John Cheese's notion that a large part of adulthood is becoming the person that others can rely on and not the reverse. Once you have become unconsciously that go-to person for others, then things like hobby and how we spend free time seem to fall naturally into perspective.

Let me know what you think of John's article. Did any of it resonate with how you are moving this this lifetime?

Indicium: NOVA Open FAQ - Grey Knights

I've been updating the FAQ for the NOVA Open and have generally got things finalized. But I realized that I don't have too many major unanswered questions for the Grey Knights. Games Workshop did a pretty good job of getting out a complete FAQ and errata making my life just that much easier.

Let me know if you feel otherwise, or if you have any burning questions that you want addressed. I am also open to any questions regarding the Dark Eldar that were not answered in the last GW FAQ.

Mike will be releasing a draft version of the NOVA FAQ soon and we will do out best to address outstanding rules issues.

Indicium: Review of Tech Deck's Street Tour Set

Someone over on the Infinity forums pointed out that Tech Deck skateboard park pieces would make good Infinity terrain. Seeing as how I had to hit Target today for kitteh supplies, I dropped by their toy section. Lo and behold a bunch of their Tech Deck stuff is on clearance! I am not surprised given how expensive this stuff is MSRP and I really can't see kids getting too much into this. However, as Infinity terrain its perfect.

I picked up this set for $15 on clearance. It consists of two sections that connect underneath with plastic pins. The construction is solid, befitting a toy designed for use, and the paint job is subtle but sufficient for gaming purposes. It is nicely weathered and has two graffiti graphics that look cool and suit the nature of the terrain. Honestly, there is little I would do in the way of additional painting except perhaps to add some additional detritus in the corners.

I found the curves of this specific piece to mirror my vision of the Infinity architecture. Moreover, the piece looks good setup next to the Topo Solitario IKUBE series of containers. In fact the back of the Tech Deck piece is exactly the height of the IKUBE containers, so you line some containers up and use them to climb over the back of it. Overall dimensions are 22" long by about 8" wide and its about 2" tall at its tallest point.

Indicium: Head Asplode - You, Me and Kuang Shi

Lo Pan's Yu Jing list includes a bunch of re-educated political prisoners known collectively as the Kuang Shi. These are the poor bastards that the great and benevolent Yu Jing empire has taken a slight disliking to and decided that they have a better use within the greater good - namely as that of living explosives.

Leave it to Infinity to have a mechanic worked out for how models involuntarily Explode should they fall into an unconscious state. Furthermore, this model can voluntarily choose to Explode by making a Willpower test - you would think he'd need a Willpower test just so that he wouldn't explode. Really?! You want to explode... is life really that bad off? Apparently, prisoners of the Yu Jing seem to think so.

In Infinity, if you have a Doctor or medic on the board and one of your miniatures loses its last Wound, the mini is left on the board and your Doctor can use his Willpower to possibly revive his fallen comrade. However, for a model with the Explode characteristic, unconsciousness turns out to be the final solution - no chance to recover someone whose limbs are littering the battlefield.

But of course, the Yu Jing have to take it one step further and equip all the Kuang Shi with a remote detonator. So Lo Pan is required to field another model with a Kuang Shi Control Device to keep these mindless zombies in check - oh and to be able to explode them at a moment's notice. Using a Long Order, with no dice roll required, the controller can choose to immediately detonate all Kuang Shi on the field of battle. That's, like, just really mean, man!

So there you have it... how to explode your mindless, re-educated, wrongfully imprisoned minis in the brave new world that is the Human Sphere - enjoy!

Indicium: Confessions of a Metal Junkie

With Games Workshop's announcement and launch of their Finecast line of miniatures, gaming blogs have been ablaze with pundits opining about the move to resin. The general opinion seems to be that metal models bad, resin models good, with sundry well-meaning rationales following in an orgy of TL;DR. Well I am here to say (write) that all those pundits and talking heads are wrong... so very, sadly, maddeningly, pathetically... well, uh, wrong (just kidding, you guys are totally rad - no, really, rad, I mean it).

Where are the posts espousing the virtues of metal models?! Their ineffable pointiness, bendiness coated in a fine film of mold release cracked fresh from a blister pack, slotta base just waiting to be... uh, well slotted. In the vein of a true metal junkie, I was driven to post in defense of our old friend!

A single pose, two (maybe three - madness!) piece metal model let me obscure the lack of talent required to clip out and assemble the multitude of tiny, plastic parts required to construct even the most basic mini. Look at our friendly, neighborhood space marine - requiring no fewer than eight separate parts to complete the simplest model, he is an exercise in sliced, sticky fingers resulting in the ultimately futile adhesion of manifold parts that never line up quite like the box cover depicts. Why would I ever want to subject myself to the misery of incessantly cleaning sprue cuts and mold lines when I could simply grip the heft of a metal model and scrape a Husky straight edge, razorblade across any raised points guaranteeing a reduction in overall detail and clarity of the model? Why would I ever not want to even consider not doing that?

And now I have to suffer with brittle, resin models, sold to me in bulletproof, clamshell, slice-your-fingers, plastic blister along with a collectible trading card! Clearly resin is infinitely inferior to metal when it comes to chucking a model across the room at the annoying, unchaperoned ten year old screaming his head off at the cashier for not letting him fondle the Golden Daemon quality models hidden so tantalizingly close behind fingerprint-stained glass.

I realize that resin allows simple conversions by dipping the model in boiling hot water then gently twisting it into whatever pretzel shaped customization that your little heart might desire. Straightening metal models was always so difficult given that you had to do it using room temperature air and your naked fingers. Recounting the number of times I strained my delicate digits in this process is both a shaming and unspeakable exercise in humbling, debilitating, humiliation! I mean... room temperature air - the horror, the horror!

Speaking of customization, why would I ever want to improve on the perfection of modeling that is the Games Workshop sculptors? What level of hubris and ego would dare to tarnish the amazing grace and perfectly poised dynamism of the original sculpts? Just look at how these new "fine"cast resin sculpts lend themselves to whatever conversion your little heart might desire. With single piece bodies and separate arms, you can point the arms up or down or even parallel to the ground! And don't get me started on the innumerable positions made possible by a separate head...

So don't meddle with my metal, don't aggravate my alloys, don't piddle on my pewter... these are my static, mono-pose, multi-stripped, toy soldiers and they will quite physically crush your finecasts into a highly toxic, finely granulated, resiny grit of... resin right before your horrified, tear sheened, gamer-doe eyes!

Oh yeah and the photo is of my friend's former band, Durga Temple, rocking the Fairfax, Virginia metal scene for a goodly chunk of the 00's.

Indicium: The Path to Infinity - Getting Started

Are you tired of supporting a game company that makes you pay a premium for an insanely protected, poorly supported, infrequently updated ruleset all the while claiming to just be interested in selling toy soldiers? Do you have fully painted models gathering dust because you can't "make them work" in a newly competitive environment? Are you tired of painting endless squads of the same miniature over and over again only to be forced to keep them protected in metal boxes until they are ready to pop out and die?

If you answered yes to one or more of these questions, have I got a miniature, table-top, war game for you!

I present for your reading pleasure a brief introduction and a set of links designed to get you and your gaming group up and running on Infinity. Infinity is a 28mm, skirmish level game set in the near-future where high-tech is the norm and humanity has only recently spread itself across the stars.

The appeal that Infinity has for me is the science fiction setting, the 28mm scale, and the ability to use miniatures from other companies almost seamlessly. Specifically, miniatures from the 40k universe work very nicely in Infinity and have allowed me to enjoy my painted soldiers in a different venue.

Getting started with Infinity is as simple as grabbing their quick start rules and setting up a small table:
http://www.infinitythegame.com/infinity/en/2011/access/quick-start-rules/

Of course, as an experienced war gamer, you are ready to dig into the main rules which can be found here:
http://www.infinitythegame.com/infinity/downloads/rules/[en]Rules.pdf

Corvus Belli (CB - the maker of Infinity) has also released an expansion called the Human sphere:
http://www.infinitythegame.com/infinity/downloads/rules/[en]RulesHS.pdf

CB provides some basic video tutorials that give you a good sense of how the basic game mechanics work:
http://www.infinitythegame.com/infinity/en/category/wiki-beginning/

Now that you have the essentials of the game down, it's time to choose an army. CB makes this incredibly simple by providing an online army generator here (be patient, it loads a little slowly):
http://infinitythegame.com/dt_army/

Selecting one of the factions' icons launches the army generator for that specific faction. Each faction has its own units, with respective abilities and points values. Click a model from the list selection and it is automatically added to the army list. Infinity games are typically played between 200 - 300 points, but can be readily played at the 150 point left.

Another amazing facet of Infinity is the searchable wiki available with the complete set of rules. In fact, clicking one of the attributes at the header level of the unit entry in the army generator launches a new window with the wiki entry for the selected attribute.

The Infinity wiki is found here:
http://infinitythegame.wikispot.org/Home

On a final note for getting started you will need terrain... and lots of it! Fortunately, there is another awesome resource out there for getting quality terrain set up very quickly. The IKUBE series from Topo Solitario offers beautifully crafted, printable, foldable terrain that doesn't even require glue - and it's all free! Of course Topo provides more complex terrain elements but for getting started with Infinity the IKUBE series is second to none.

I hope I have provided you some insight into getting started quickly with Infinity. Stay tuned as I will continue to post Infinity articles related to army selection, gameplay, and tactics within this very cool universe.

Indicium: Color Palate for Infinity's Military Orders

I snagged this off the Infinity website and figured I post as a reminder to myself. I am putting together a PanOceana Military Order list comprised of Knights from each order.

Any suggestions as to color choices (Vallejo for preference) would be most appreciated in the comments.

Indicium: 40k Whippersnappers

In honor of Tony's win of the Adepticon 40k Championships, I present something only he can appreciate:




Created by Oatmeal


Enjoy, Tony, enjoy!

Indicium: Games Workshop UK Sweet Spot

Not directly related to the game, but I noticed recently that there is a sweet spot when ordering from the UK GW site and shipping to the United States.

The discovery came about when I realized that the US GW site no longer stocked the Grey Knight terminator psycannon arms. Considering that I had recently purchased six metal terminator bodies from ApocaBitz for use with those arms, I was justifiably upset. Calling US GW customer service rendered no satisfaction, only the statement that the bits had been discontinued in favor of the plastic terminators soon to be released.

In a state of desperation, I ended up at the UK GW site and found that they still carried the bits. I added these to my shopping cart, clicked Check Out, and found that shipping to the US was in the neighborhood of 8GBP (pound sterling) which is roughly $14! All that for something like five total ounces of metal.

I decided to see what else I could order so I added a few more things to my shopping cart. In doing so I noticed several things:

• Every item added to my cart showed up at a 17% discount from the list price
• As long as the total cart value stayed under 50GBP, the shipping remained 8GBP
• As soon as the value went over 50GBP shipping jumped to 24GBP (about $40)

The 17% discount is the VAT that gets taken off when the shipping address is in the US. This alone is more than enough to offset the cost of shipping on an order that is just under 50GBP.

Moreover, ALL Necromunda models are discounted about 20% on the UK GW site from their US counterparts. 

In all, I ended up ordering two arbites gang boxes, one escher booster, and the aforementioned psycannons. After all the dust had settled (VAT, US vs UK price differences, etc.), the shipping and the psycannons were essentially FREE.

So if you are considering picking up any Necromunda product and shipping to the US, do it from the UK GW site (just keep it under 50GBP per order). For anything else, you are still getting a discount especially when the UK site has product no longer available elsewhere.

Indicium: New Warhammer Expansion - Gridlock 40k

More and more vehicles inevitably gives rise to new expansions that support the sales of these models - call it a vicious circle or a revenue model. First there was Spearhead, where tanks of all stripe were encouraged to take the field with updated unit rules in numbers limited only by the points value of the game being played.

With the unrivaled success of Spearhead, Games Workshop saw an opportunity to further encourage the sale of their larger model kits. As such, they are pleased to announce Gridlock 40k!

Set in the far-off future, on inhospitable worlds, where vehicles are dirt cheap and infantry are just meant to drive them, Gridlock 40k allows players (except Tyranids) to experience vicariously the fevered flush of rush hour traffic, drive-by shootings, and carjackings. With rules that have been thoroughly researched and play-tested, Gridlock 40k represents the pinnacle of gaming finesse (except Tyranids) and is the most fun you can have pushing plastic boxes across your dining room table (except Tyranids).

Click here for the complete rule set

Indicium: Grey Knights Bits Breakdown

With the Grey Knights available for pre-order, I took a quick look at the sprues to breakdown the bits available.

While I may have some reservations about certain design elements (magazine-fed storm bolters!), I am absolutely thrilled with the amount of stuff they packed onto these sprues. With some extra marine bodies, you can basically build thirteen distinct power armor grey knights from one kit and eight grey knight terminators from the GKT box. I have not included the legs and torsos as these are limited five per box.

So without further ado, here is the relevant bits breakdown:

Grey Knights box:
-8 stormbolter arms
-5 force swords
-3 force halberds
-3 pair of falchions
-1 warding staff
-1 daemon hammer
-2 psycannons w/opposing arm
-1 incinerator w/opposing arm
-1 psilencer w/opposing arm
-7 heads

Grey Knight Terminator box:
-8 pairs of arms (incl. narthecium arm)
-5 storm bolters
-1 psycannon, psilencer, incinerator
-5 force halberds
-5 force swords
-5 pairs of falchions
-13 heads

Exemplum: Temptations of a Well-Painted Army

GW has an excellent blog post here about a guy from Poland with a gorgeous marine army. Over the years, I have resisted playing a strictly power armor list. The closest I came to running marines was a Deathwing list that represented a short period of infatuation with terminators.

But when I see stuff like this, I sit back and think how cool would it be to have a small, elite force of very well painted miniatures that are an excellent representation of their background and visual aesthetic. For me, it would be robed, warrior monks backed up by fanatical chaplains who completely eschew any use of warp-tainted powers.

My kudos go out to Michal but getting picked by GW for a blog spot but also for putting together a truly stellar army.

Advocatus: GW Wants You (to spend money)

So GW has seen fit to post this monstrosity on their blog site. I am not really sure what the expected reaction is meant to be... are we supposed to want to build this thing, to just ooh and aah over it, or what?!

The MSRP for the kits used add up to well in excess of 400 USD. Why would you even bother posting something like this?! I can't see any hobbyist their right mind wanting to build this thing (of course, no hobbyist is truly ever of sound mind) and even if they did would they spend that much hard earned cash on it.

I would actually like to see GW providing suggestions for kit-bashing that are actually affordable (or at least leverage the meager bitz selection available through their site). I realize that the days of actual hobby content, either online or in White Dwarf, are long gone. But I do sometimes find the content posted on the blog vaguely offensive. It's like the little rich kid thumbing his nose at you when he gets his shiny new, rending pony and you are stuck with your 2x4, home built rocking horse.

What do folks out on the interwebs think? Am I being too sensitive? Should I just stop frequenting their site?

Gaming Aid - Codex: Civilians

Codex: Civilians gives you the ability to field civilians who take an active role in your battles. Civilians are aligned with one specific side in the conflict. This can be determined randomly or explicitly as part of a narrative for the game. For example, you might have the Dark Angels defending an Imperial colony against the predations of a newly uncovered Necron tomb. Or you could have a human genestealer cult aligned with a Tyranid assault force intent on consuming an Imperial stronghold.  Regardless, civilians become part of the action, both offensively and as part of the mission objectives.

You can download the PDF for Codex: Civilians here.

Indicium: Unofficial Dark Angels FAQ

Here is a link to a DA update FAQ that I'd put together a while back. I think this would be a pretty fair update to the Dark Angels codex to bring it inline with the current Space Marine codex.

Unofficial Dark Angels Update