Nice to Hear
[Got this email from a BTP Fan. I’m always impressed when someone has seen “every” video we’ve put up because that’s pushing 40 man-hours of viewing.]
Hello!
I’d like to introduce myself; My name is Sam, I’m a U.S. Navy sailor, stationed at the [redacted] in sunny (read: humid) [redacted]. I was a LONG time video game fanatic, playing almost anything I could get my hands on since the days of the Commodore 64. I tried the beta test for Dawn of War 2, on recommendation from a friend, and that’s when the bug bit. He used to be a manager at a comic book store, and had some passing knowledge of 40K, and I started constantly nagging him for more information about the fluff, and the miniatures. He filled me in with what he knew, but we found ourselves quickly spiraling down into the deep desire to become a part of the hobby. I obviously don’t have a lot of money, being a military member and all, so I wanted to start on the cheap.
I purchased the AoBR Painting set, with the five snap-together marines, six colors of paint in the tiny pots, and a starter brush. I was completely hooked! I decided that I wanted to start building a custom chapter of marines, buying whatever I could afford and adding to the army slowly. I bought another smaller box of marines (three snap-together tactical marines) and tested out my idea for the chapter colors. Next came a box of assault marines, then a battleforce (a happy day for me… not my wife), the AoBR box, and just recently a vindicator.
I’ve got quite a way to go on my army, and I’m a terribly slow painter, but what I love is the calm methodic peace I get from painting. It’s certainly an enjoyable creative outlet.
Why am I telling you all this? Well, because as far as I’m concerned, you and your employees have become my guides into this wonderful past-time. I’ve watched nearly every youtube video that Blue Table Painting has posted, watching many of the battle reports multiple times. I’m constantly encouraged by your enthusiasm, spirit, and joy for all things war gaming. I just can’t thank you guys enough for your major contribution to the wargaming world.
Though I greatly enjoy the painting now, perhaps in the future I’ll be honored to use your companies services as there’s no doubt in my mind who I would trust more with an army.
Sam
Sleek Ships
My day began with a start: a dream of the End of the World: lightning flashes ten per second over a distant city, coming ever closer; hiding the family in the cellar as the wind grows stronger, and dark clouds gather, and finally an unstoppable horde of half-men-half-dragon sent to raze my home town, on orders to kill every living thing. So, at 4:30am I was wide awake and got started on the day’s work.
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I am currently booking projects for June. So, bring it on I say. I am running the Imperial Guard special (see below) and expanding the tanks deal to any race.
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For the remainder of this week I am putting the studio Lizardmen on special at $1250. Remember it comes with a signed Dealio by Sarah. See here for details on what’s in it:
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I never got around to playing Renn. We are both so busy. Hopefully later this week, maybe Saturday.
Summer Release Schedule
Here’s a rumored GW release schedule. Looks like Planet Strike may be out in July.
Product
Release Date
Empire Captain with Hammer and Pistol
June 6th 2009
Star Player The Mighty Zug (Blood Bowl XXVII)
June 6th 2009
Pack of Skulls
June 6th 2009
Khrone Chaos Icons
June 6th 2009
Tzeentch Chaos Icons
June 6th 2009
Nurgle Chaos Icons
June 6th 2009
Slaanesh Chaos Icon
June 6th 2009
Uniforms & Heraldry of The Empire
June 6th 2009
Empire Greatswords
June 6th 2009
Empire Archers
June 6th 2009
Empire Steam Tank
June 6th 2009
Elector Count Marius Leitdorf
June 6th 2009
Empire Captain with Sword and Sheild
June 6th 2009
Dechala
June 20th 2009
Scyla
June 20th 2009
Galadhrim Banner Bearer
June 20th 2009
Guards of the Galadhrim Court
June 20th 2009
Rumil
June 20th 2009
Haldir
June 20th 2009
Galadhrim Knights
June 20th 2009
Galadhrim Warriors
June 20th 2009
Temple of Skulls
June 20th 2009
Empire Battalion
June 20th 2009
The Chase
July 4th 2009
Orc Heads
July 4th 2009
Snotlings
July 4th 2009
Orc Sheilds
July 4th 2009
Orc Weapons
July 4th 2009
Chaos Bastion
July 4th 2009
The Spear of Sicarius
July 4th 2009
Warhammer 40,000 Expansion: Planetstrike
July 4th 2009
Blastscape
July 4th 2009
Imperial Bastion
July 4th 2009
Aegis Defence Line
July 4th 2009
Skysheild Landing Pad
July 4th 2009
Mines, Bombs, and Booby traps
July 4th 2009
Imperial Outpost
July 18th 2009
Imperial Defence Network
July 18th 2009
Forgefather Vulkan He’stan
July 18th 2009
Kor’sarro Khan
July 18th 2009
Space Marine Landspeeder Storm
July 18th 2009
Space Marine Ironclad Dreadnought
July 18th 2009
Citadel Fine Detail Brush
July 18th 2009
Citadel Detail Brush
July 18th 2009
Citadel Standard Brush
July 18th 2009
Citadel Basecoat Brush
July 18th 2009
Citadel Large Brush
July 18th 2009
Citadel Wash Brush
July 18th 2009
Citadel Stippling Brush
July 18th 2009
Citadel Small Drybrush
July 18th 2009
Citadel Medium Drybrush
July 18th 2009
Citadel Large Drybrush
July 18th 2009
Shrine of the Aquila
July 18th 2009
Imperial Strongpoint
July 18th 2009
FAQ: New Army
I often get emails asking what units to buy for an army.
The first step is to buy your books! It’s not very exciting, but it needs to be done. Spend a few nights in bed with your first army book. Keep the book with you and take some notes.
When designing an army I like to take a blank sheet of paper and draw out the various units, as if the paper were a representation of the table itself, rectangles or circles showing each unit.
There’s no law you can’t just take blank pieces of paper, or chits, or blank bases and do a few playtests with your army list, even taking both sides if you don’t have a friend to go in for the playtest. Things that look good in theory aren’t always the best units.
There will be a temptation to make a “one trick pony” army. “Ooh wow this unit is really powerful, I’m going to make an army of all that”. Don’t do it. These games are designed with the idea that you need a variety of different units.
Besides, with a “one trick pony” is a no-win for the meta-game. If you win, you will crush your opponent and he/she won’t have a good time. If you lose, you will usually lose big time as the fatal flaw of your army is exposed. You almost can’t go wrong by taking one of each kind of unit in an army list.
For GW games, they have done a really good job of evening out the units. There aren’t too many outright broken unit types. And they have shored up weak units. In the Eldar list (which I love) there are lot of examples of this. The Wraithlord was vastly overpowered, and now they are about right. Wraithguard are about right. Shining Spears and Warp Spiders are still waiting for them to get it right.
In that same vein, when choosing units consider the “eggs with hammers” idea. This means a unit that is very fragile but hits very hard. Shining Spears are like this. They are great, but are pretty pricey for something that can die relatively easily. Imagine a unit with T3 and no armor save, but that has a gun stat line like S10 AP1 Assault 4. That seems powerful, but they die ever so easy. Keep survivability in mind. This is why a unit like Plague Marines is so popular. They can take a punch and still come out swinging. These are fun to play because they stick around. Wraithguard are in this category.
Dark Eldar are the ultimate eggs with hammers army. The Raider, for example, is an open-topped vehicle with 10 armor all around with one giant powerful gun stuck on the front. The difference here between Shining Spears and a Raider is that the Raider is priced correctly. It’s cheap, I think 35 points.
Speaking of which, you may have noticed that a Rhino has gone down in points, but comes with upgrades standard. They dropped the net cost about half. That makes Rhinos a really good option, especially that they are essentially mobile scenery. I’m also a fan of transports because it makes it faster to get your army on the table during deployment.
For 40K, also note that the game is not geared to be a short range firefight. Mid-range fighters are stronger because the game is designed to push units into short range really quick. I advise against the shooting-heavy army. For both Fantasy and 40K, the shooters are typically in a Troubleshooter role or (more likely) in a soften up the enemy role; they are support for your close combat units. Your archers should peel off a critical rank or two before your close combat guys move in to mop up. In 40K this is even more pronounced because a unit can shoot, then charge and effectively provide both roles.
This is why you’ll see a lot of combi-weapons on veteran-type squads. They can strike an almighty hammer-blow just where needed.
Your army is like an orchestra. You’ve got to have lots of different instruments. When you settle on an army, ask these questions of each unit:
1) What role does this unit fill? How does this unit help you win?
2) How does this unit interact with the other units? How does this unit help other units?
Harpies: This unit helps me win by ___________. This unit helps other units by ____________.
Too often, a new player just picks what looks good, or what seems powerful, and then gets dissected by a more experienced player.
Play for fun. Losing all the time isn’t fun.
Win by making sure your opponent has a good time. Be in the game, but not so invested that you can’t see how your friend is doing.
Happy (Tank) Hunting
Hi Shawn and company,
I received the [six variant shadowsword] you made up for me.
Congratulations to your shipper! The box arrived at our post office with a great big dent in the side, but due to the excellence of the packing job, all the pieces inside and the tank body itself were fine with ZERO damage!
My thanks to you all. The tank is well made and cleverly done with the magnets so that we can use all six variants. Very professional. From Randy and Kent in Ontario a big shout out to Blue Table Painting. Thank you very much guys.
Randy G.
Painting Eyes
I came across this great article on BOLS.
http://www.belloflostsouls.net/2009/05/hobby-eyes-have-it.html
Sabbatico Politico
Another glorious Sunday has passed. It was perfect go-for-a-walk weather.
I was inexplicably agitated today. After talking with my wonderful wife about it, we finally dug out the truth. I am getting all worked up about politics and economics. Stuff I can do very little about is getting the lions share of my mental energy. So, I’ve decided to take a few weeks off. Maybe even a month.
I still think it’s a very important topic to consider, and as a citizen to act upon as much as I can. So, don’t get me wrong.
Busy Day
The plan was to put in a full day and get all caught up for Monday. Renn and I had to postpone our game until then. But instead I took off with my daughter for the game shop. Once there I just hung out for like six hours, picking up a few games of Magic and soaking in the atmosphere of a mega-apocalypse game of 40K.
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A good friend of ours had his 36th birthday today. We are good friends with he and his wife. They have young kids like us and we trade babysitting a lot. Anyway, his sister-in-law Amy was there and we are both Ron Paul devotees and we fell in talking about politics for an indeterminate amount of time.
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I am making good headway with Open Veins, about a third the way through. I still owe you all a review of Meltdown.
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Remember, a bank loans money at a 10:1 ratio. They can lend out ten dollars for every dollar on deposit. It is legal, but it is a scam. It allows them to “buy the town” so to speak and make all the Freemen squatters on bank property, spending a third of their lives working for people who neither serve nor produce. And if they manage to bungle that sweet deal, you still have to pay for it through your taxes which finance bailouts. At least that’s the picture that’s shaping up.
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Here’s an encouraging blurb from a conference talk:
Throughout His mortal life the Savior taught that we should care for one another and help one another. He healed the sick, caused the lame to walk, restored sight to the blind, and unstopped the ears of the deaf. He taught the people the gospel. He blessed the people and performed many mighty miracles.10
There are opportunities everywhere to help those in need. I submit to you that at some time in our lives, each of us will be poor in some way and will need the help of another person. For “are we not all beggars?”11
President Spencer W. Kimball said: “God does notice us, and he watches over us. But it is usually through another person that he meets our needs. Therefore, it is vital that we serve each other.”12
Last summer when I was away from home, a fierce wind and rainstorm blew through our neighborhood. A huge tree had fallen from my neighbor’s yard, filling my yard and knocking down power lines. The tree needed to be removed before the damage could be repaired and power restored to my home.
Early in the morning I called my brother, who planned to find some equipment and come as soon as he could. I also called my bishop. Within minutes my bishop, home teacher, former stake president, and 10 men from my ward were there with their chain saws and made quick work of this disaster. My visiting teachers brought in dinner that evening. Many more men from the high priests group, the elders quorum, and the neighborhood came on subsequent evenings to assist me and my family in cleaning up the mess.
I was needy on that occasion. I needed help from others. My discouragement turned into joy and gratitude. I felt loved and cared for. These people were quick to recognize one in need. They lived their testimony and demonstrated the reality of their covenants.
At Church headquarters we often receive thank-you notes from people not of our church who have been served by you after a flood, hurricane, earthquake, or other disaster. Thank you for always being willing to serve, love, give, and thus be a true disciple of Jesus Christ.
A3x3
I am expanding the Imperial Guard tank special (get three vehicles painted, and get three similar vehicles painted for free). I’m calling it the Armor Three by Three special. I have three slots open for it. See below for details.
I am now booking projects for June. Now is a good time to get your project set up.
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Don’t forget that you can trade in models you’re not using. That helps take the edge off. Not to mention that wives love to see that old stuff out of the house! Use it as a bargaining point.