Battlegrounds!

Had a chance to sit down and play my very first game of 6th edition on Thursday night at a little store called Battlegrounds in Plainville (http://www.battlegroundgames.com/). After a nice little drive down 495 in rush hour traffic (YIKES!), I managed to get a small, five hundred point game in with my Space Wolves against a nice guy named Tyler, who showed me the ropes.

All I can say is... wow! Things sure have changed. My Space Wolf list was done up in the prime of 5th edition, and, not knowing what to expect, I carried the core troop choices over into the new edition. At the time, the list was an assaulty night mare. Power fists, Mark of the Wulfen, Standard, all with Wolf Guard leaders with power fists or thunder hammers of their own!

Now, with the assault phase being very different, I was torn to bits by Tyler's bolter fire.

These are my guys! The Company of The Dead, featuring a custom made Wolf Priest.

My other squad. Notice the Mark of the Wolfen character. I call him Joe.

Close up of the Wolf Priest.

Tyler's forces, two squads of Grey Hunters, his wolf lord on a Thunder Wolf, and his Wolf Guard Battle Leader.

Close up of Tyler's HQ.

Approaching from around the hill, my plasma squad is cut to ribbons by bolter fire!

After the initial assault, counter assault, and Tyler's turn again, not much is left of my melta squad.

Despite the loss, I had a fantastic time, met some folks, and am eagerly waiting for next week. I'll be taking my guard out for a spin, see what sort of havoc a much more shooty list can get into.

Skinks! And the ancient Arcardian Pattern Leman Russ.

Finished the skinks from the Lizardman Battalion I received for my birthday. Blow guns and javelins all around!

And, while I was putting these little lovies together, I was also finishing up my newest Leman Russ. And by newest, I mean having been sitting around in the box for about a year and a half.

This was bought some time after GW changed kits over to the new Leman Russ, putting all the weapon options into regular games. So, keeping with that spirit, I made sure I could use every weapon option possible.

I magnetized the dozer blade and the turret hatch, allowing use of the famed Command Parsk!

I also took this oppurtunity to flex my conversion muscle, and tried my hand at the reverse style of Leman Russes. So, as follows, is my so called 'Arcardian Pattern' Leman Russ. It features a reverse style tread pattern, a hard, turret mounted Heavy Bolter (as opposed to 'hull' mounted on a standard Russ), along with a turret mount Heavy Stubber.

And there's no rest for the wicked! It'll be right back to the hobby tonight, with a squad of Lizardmen Saurons, the last of my Imperial Guardsman, and the second of two Vampire Count figures that'll be assembled.

More pictures to come! Stay tuned!

Descent: Journeys in The Dark

Who remembers the old Hero Quest game? Or any of the other dungeon crawling board games that came around before that? One of the newer iterations on that concept is Descent: Journeys in the Dark, which is currently in it's second edition.

I received Descent as a birthday gift earlier this month, and I wanted to share the unboxing.

 Descent features a modular board, that you build and add to as the guides or your heart's desire dictates.

 Descent makes use of cards as a way to track inventory, character status, and the other minutia in game

The bad guys! The figures are well done, preassembled, and, oddly, lacking of mold lines in all but the most detailed of areas. Makes you wonder what we've all been accepting as a stark reality...

And the heros!

We're still waiting on our schedule to free up a bit here, but I'm hoping to have a review of play done up before the month is out. Stay tuned for that, and for pictures of the upcoming Arcardia Pattern Leman Russ and skinks!

Was lucky enough to receive several generous gifts for my recent birthday.

My lovely fiance, who gratiously accepts and feeds my addiction for Warhammer, got me the starter set for Lizardmen for WHFB, the new Forgefiend for Chaos Space Marines in WH40k, and the board game Descent- Journeys in the Dark.

We have been talking about starting up WHFB armies for the past few months, and I've always enjoyed the look of Lizardmen, being that they're very unique and don't have a playable counter part in the 40k universe.

And, of course, my age old army of Chaos Space Marines will be blessed with a new Warp Engine to use in their reign of terror across the Imperium.

We were lucky enough to pick up a near mint Heroquest set some months ago, and had a blast reliving our youths by playing that old favorite. And when we heard about Descent, we were naturally courious. So, picking that up will increase our board game collection as well.

Look forward to some Skinks in the near future, an update of the now finished Valkyrie, Icefyre, and, a top secret project that is currently in the works.

The seldom seen Legion of Bone

These guys started out as a squad of Space Marines from Assault on Black Reach box set that I saved from the horrors of Ebay. The models came to be in half way rough shape. Primed, but nasty mold lines and not really put together right.

Now I'm not saying I'm the best guy out there. After you take the pictures, you always find a mold line you missed. And this is the case with this marine. But here's a look a little side project I've been toying with from time to time.

First Look at Valkyrie; Icefyre

I received a valkyrie for Christam from my fiance. I plan on magnetizing it for all options, including a vendetta. This is the first look at it.

Intolerance; Bane Blade

This project began back last Easter when my fiance got a bane blade for me for my Confirmation. It's taken me all these months to get it put together and painted to a standard I'm proud of.

Thanks for your patience, baby. This one is for you.