The 25mm Warrior

Now if you have no clue what I'm talking about go check out our fearless leaders blog post What Should I Post About.

I'ts cool I can wait... really go check it yo! I need to put some Rush on anyway.

Back? Right on.

This post really hit home for me. The opening sentence is what did it, "When you decided to start your blog, did you think about it then or were you just hoping it would come to you later on once you got started?"

Rons post may have been some commentary about how to get rid of bloggers block, finding your own voice, etc but it struck a different cord with me. It made me sit back and think about where I've been and where I'm going blogwise. Now this blog is about wargaming and 40k in particular. Because of this Rons post made me stop and look at where my hobby has been and gone to in the time I've been doing it.

I've mentioned before that I'm in pain a lot. The pain stems from injuries I received in the Military and pain glazes over everything I do... including my wargaming. As a matter of fact for a long time I would shy away from it. Pain got the best of me and I gave into it. It became easy to do too. I had lost my job anyway, had to sell my miniatures to make ends meet. Even before that though my buddy would call up, wanting to game, wanting to hang out...

I just made up some excuse.

Here I'll give you an example. Imagine your sitting in a comfortable Lazyboy chair. Your paint tray rests in your lap and a fresh Command Squad from your army lays about it. You start to go to work. Maybe you'll paint, or put some models together or clean em or whatever. The all of a sudden your back hurts. A slight ache that begins to spread down your arm so you stop for a sec, raise you head to see whats on the TV. You go back to it then all of a sudden your foot writhes in pain. You leg jerks from it knocking paints pots around. You take some pain killers and a hour later the edge is gone but now your vision is blurry (damn side effects). Now you can't see what your doing so you get up to get a drink and fall over from the pressure on your foot because you have to walk on your scars from a surgery that was supposed to fix all this mess...

I'm so sore right now from putting model buildings together in a Lazyboy chair. It doesn't help that I lean heavy on a cane with my right hand to walk. I'm right handed thus the arm and back problems when I do this stuff. Not to mention moving around a game table...ugg.

Geeze I'm jacked up from putting models together?

See why I love The Army Painter so much?

This blog has become much more than a wargame hobby journal to me. It is a chronicle of my fight with pain and an ever growing struggle to not let it take anything else away from me. My injuries have consummed too much from me and I'm hellbent to not let it take my beloved hobby as well. Gaming maybe painful for me now but I struggle on, in spite of it. I never would have thought I would grunt, cuss, stiffen and be overcome with pain because of my hobby but thats the hand I was dealt.

and that's what I post about now.

Thanks Ron.

Rome may not have been built in a day but I razed this bad boy in in about 48 hours...


Man I got my work cut out for me...

My back is killing me.

I bit the bullet and ordered a Ruined Sector, craters and twelve city barricades. At first I was a bit miffed. The Ruined Sector showed up in a box... the shipping box. All the was in there was a bunch of loose sprues. The pretty package that the GW website had displayed wasn't there, just a Fed Ex box with a bunch of stuff in it. I can picture the employee looking at my order and saying something like this...

"Hey Mac... we got another order for a Ruined Imperial Sector again."

"Oh man, you serious? We're all out."

"Well, we do have a bunch of loose sprues laying about. Why don't you go gather a bunch up and throw em in a Fed Ex box. No one needs the exact packaging anyway."

"Um ok."

If I'm gonnna shell out ninety bucks for something, it better come in the package on the site. Not to mention I've seen this item in my local game store IN A PACKAGE! WITH THE PICTURE ON IT AND STUFF! SO I KNOW IT COMES IN A PACKAGE!

I'm not really mad... it just threw me off and made me feel GW didn't really care.

The models on the other hand are awesome! The kits are fully customizable and you can make whatever you want out of em. As per usual I got a grip of bits left over too (which is always a plus).

Some IG boys in the middle of being base coated for part 2 of my Army Painter Cadian tutorial.




Even as I type this I'm pretty racked. Back is stiff, arm is sore. I guess there really is no avoiding it, I'm jacked up and my hobby will always hurt from now on. Maybe I should just cool it, pace myself only I've never been that way. You have to do things in spite of the pain, fight it as you go along. Now when I paint, model, whatever, there is a lot more going on than gluing and dipping.

Man, why can't this crap come painted :(

"Whatever you do, don't choose a complicated scheme like me, you'll be painting them for years. Dip and drybrush are the key my friend." -Col. Corbane

Dip and drybrush are my M.O. yo!

I guess the Colonel doesn't know me very well yet:)

For those of you that have been following my blog for a bit you know I hate painting, love playing! Painting gets in the way of me having fun! I bought 40K to play it, not spend a ton of time painting and then maybe in a few years I'll get around to a decent looking game. NO! I want to play damnit!

And I want my force to look decent.

The Army Painter is a Godsend. You still spend some time painting but it cuts about 80% of the time out. With a force like Guardsmen it really is convenient.

I've always digged Cadians. The uniforms, vehicles, models, I mean there really isn't a whole lot not to like with the Imperial Guard range, look and feel. Even the original color of the uniforms is awesome. The dark green meshed with a dark khaki or desert yellow is stunning on a force the size of a Guard army. The uniform reminds me of old WWII color schemes U.S. soldiers used to wear.

Never the less the paint scheme is hard to pull off. I tried it a bit and could never get the models to look even close to how GW had em. It would always look either too dark or too light. In either case the figure came out looking like a failed attempt to emulate the Cadians homeworld color.

Thats when fate intervened...


I had a bit of experience using The Army Painter Primers before but this time I needed something that would be spot on for that tricky Khaki/desert yellow looking fatigues that Cadians are known for. I looked at pic after pic, comparing it to the GW paint line trying to see what would work. GW says to use their Desert yellow paint but if you know anything about how The Army Painter works the last stage of Quick Shading will darken whatever color I decide to go with.

So I took a gamble. The uniform appeared to took like a dark bone color. I went back to The Army Painter website and compared their Skeletons with pic of the Cadians from Gamesworkshop.

Sure enough I think I found a close match for what I wanted.

At least I hope I did or I was out 30 bucks (ahhh the trial and error process of painting).


As you can see the coverage is very nice and it didn't take much of the primer to get complete coverage of the mini. Heed my advice though...

WHEN USING ARMY PAINTER PRIMERS USE SHORT CONTROLLED BURSTS!!!

A steady spray is too much in using this stuff and can quickly cake on the paint on the miniature, covering up detail. The heavy pigmented primer is a little tricky to get used to but as you can see the coverage is awesome. Even the cans top is pretty spot on to what the color will look like on your figure.




So for this tutorial I'll be painting five Guardsmen.

I hope this little tutorial/journal will show you just how easy it is to use this product and get your force on to the tabletop quickly (and looking fantastic to boot!)

Tune in next time for some basecoating action!

Cheers!

-BEGIN TRANSMISSION-

To: Col Corbane, Nobel Servant of the God-Emperor

From: The Administratum Chambers of His Emperors 147th Imperial Legion Command

Re: Warning to the Emperium and an Addendum to The Parade Ground Blog list

Dearest Col. Corbane

It is our most deepest hope that this communique reaches you in time. Our force is now stranded on an unknown, hostile world after responding to a distress signal which appeared to be Imperial in nature. Upon planetfall our deepest nightmares were realized. The signal had been sent by heretical Chaos agents in order to lure an Imperial presence away from support sectors. Their nefarious plan is to take apart the noble servants of our Emperor one at a time as new units respond to the signals.

We tried sending warning attached to the transmission alerting the Emperors servants to stay away however we discovered in horror that the transmission is not one, but countless others. They differ so much from one another that it is impossible to filter out each and every one of them. Some are calls for help, other for routine assistance, some appear to be legitimate orders from Terra herself. Whoever is doing this has a very intimate knowledge of our most Holy workings

Our Fleets High Astropath senses a traitor.

Please warn the Emperium of any incoming transmissions as they my be heretical and traitorous in nature. Please don't do anything rash and try to mount a rescue for us. The warp is especially dangerous here and we nearly lost the fleet when we entered the system. You must do something quickly Col.Corbane. New Guard units and His Most Holy Marines enter this sector daily and most meet a tragic end. However with all the reinforcements coming in it has sustained us as we fight the unholy cohorts of chaos and the disgusting xenos that appear to populate the planet. Since all of the approaching commands have been broken and in disarray the survivors have banded together to form the 147th Imperial Legion.

Please inform Terra of our designation that it may be added to the most Holy roster of men fighting for The Emperor across the galaxy. May the Administratum be pleased to note that the 147th was chosen from the Cadian force that responded to the 147th transmission summoning them to this hell trap. That Cadian force was able to rally the survivors to fight back.

Our commander formally requests that you add www.the25mmwarrior.blogspot.com to your Parade Ground blog list in hopes that the Emperium may be warned to stay away from this unknown, unholy world. Hopefully from the hub of this blog the rest of the realms of mankind will be able to hear and see what is going on with us. We can only hope that this message reaches you from the warp we find ourselves in.

The Emperium is in your hands Colonel

For the Glory of His Mighty Will!

-END TRANSMISSION-

I've never done it before... and as I do it I'm well aware just WHY I've never done it before.

My Imperial Guard force has well over 30 miniatures in it and I've only just begun the drudgery of scraping off mold lines off my troopers with a razor blade. Luckily I haven't sliced my fingers... yet.

Still with all this time on my hands I figured I might as well do it. When I sold my Blood Angels army Ron himself was interested in buying it until he inquired if I had taken the mold lines off the Marines. Since I hadn't he passed on the buy. Still it was a huge complement for me. It's no mystery that Ron is an accomplished painter and modeler and he thought my work was worth buying? Yeah, my head inflated (thanks Ron!).

Still this whole new aspect to my modeling is boring so I was wondering...

What do you do to pass through the time when aspects of your 40k hobby get boring?

Me?

Well I watch war movies (Saving Private Ryan, Gods and Generals, Glory, Starship Troopers) or listen to talk radio (Coast to Coast AM is always a riot). Lately though as I scrape the evidence of mass production from my figs I've been watching Mystery Science Theater 3000. I find it provides some much needed laughter amid the mind numbing repetition.

Besides, Tom Servo rocks yo!

So what do you do when your scraping, filing, cutting, pinning, gluing, converting (I'm running out ing's here)?

Cheers mates!

Man, I really was blessed by Max's response to my original post of the army list. His direction, insight and introduction to the Tactica Imperium really got my mind focused on just what I was doing and what I wanted from this army.

I hope the rambling below shows I was a good study.

I decided I wanted a static gun line type of army. I've always been fascinated by how wars were fought back when gun powder was new (so to speak). I'm a big fan of the Civil War (I tried to get it's autograph one time but it's bodyguard blocked my attempt) and the fighting back then has always captured my attention. Upon first glance it seems suicidal... just line up and shoot. However on a second glance you see the logic behind it. Have your men get into position, line up and shoot all the while having support elements peppering the enemy into bit size chunks for your troopers to take out more easily.

At least thats the plan and here is my list for it's implementation...

HQ Company Command Squad: 50
Vox-caster: 5
Regimental Standard: 15
Bolt Pistol: 2
Sniper Rifle x 3: 15
Carapace Armor: 20
Total: 107

TROOPS Platoon Command: 30
Bolt Pistol: 2
Vox Caster: 5
Grenade Launcher x 3: 15
Total: 52

TROOPS Infantry Squad: 50
Grenade Launcher: 5
Vox Caster: 5
Auto Cannon 10
Commissar: 35
Total: 105

TROOPS Infantry Squad 50
Grenade Launcher: 5
Vox Caster: 5
Auto Cannon 10
Commissar: 35
Total: 105

TROOPS Veteran Squad 70
Vox Caster: 5
Plasma gun x 3: 45
Grenadiers: 30
Total: 150

FAST ATTACK Valkyrie 100
Lascannon 15
Multiple Rocket Pods 30
Sponson Heavy Bolters 10
Total: 155

FAST ATTACK Armored Sentinel 55
Hunter Killer Missle: 10
Total: 65

FAST ATTACK Armored Sentinel 55
Hunter Killer Missle: 10
Total: 65

HEAVY SUPPORT Leman Russ Battle Tank 150
Lascannon 15
Heavy Bolter Sponsons 20
Hunter Killer Missle 10
Total: 185

Army Total: 989

The army really has a more focused feel to it now. The vehicles act as support and harassers to enemy units. Since the Sentinels and Valkyrie move fast and have a bitchen range on em I hope to draw the enemies attention away from my Guard squads as they slowly advance up or get into position to fire themselves. The Hunter Killer Missiles are just too good to pass up at 10 points a piece. The potential to wipe out threats that my harassers would have to deal with on the first turn is to cool a gamble to pass up.

Speaking of gambling, I threw the Plasma Guns onto the vets and heeded Max's advice to toss em into the Valkyrie. One, I like Plasma Guns and Two, I dig the idea of a vet suicide squad acting as a quick reaction force to my enemies big threats. No Guts, No Glory!

The command squad has snipers. I kinda debated this one for a bit. I didn't want a command squad that just sat back and did nothing but issue orders although I didn't want a CS that got too close to the fray and got smeared quickly. Since snipers can pin that won me over. I can pin the enemy if they try to rush my troops or pin the enemy so my squads can close in.

The squads themselves are pretty straight forward. Grenade Launchers, Lasguns, Commissar just in case morale is broken and the leader needs to be executed for his incompetence of command... you know the usual. The Autocannons give the men some much need range so they aren't just chilling in the rear with the gear.

Now this list does have some tweaks I can do to it. I purposely aimed for approx 10 points under the 1000 point limit to be able to switch out to missile launchers if the AC's don't perform to my liking or I just want to try something different. If range becomes an issue and my enemies get savvy and just try to stay out of tickling reach I can switch out 2 snipers for a mortar team for some serious tickling action. Even the idea of putting the Plasma Guns on the command team and throwing em into a Chimera is possible with only a few changes to the list.

However this is war and my plan can easily be shot all to bloody hell. We used to say in the Army that "you can train all you want but when the bullets start flying you do what you have to." You have to be flexible in war. If I can't get the enemy to commit to my gun line I can still break up the line and assign vehicles to provide covering fire while the Vox Casters keep everyone linked up (we got Verizon. They even gave us a sweet monthly plan and discount since we're an army!) In straight up games I think I'll do ok if I can keep the enemy at a distance (I'm friggin fodder in assault!). In objective based games I may be hurting a bit but I imagine that would take a whole other list entirely. Besides if you can't defeat you enemy... hurt him really, really bad. Make him pay for his victory!

My force needs a name, a number designation and a story. Games Workshop has an extensive product line for the IG and I'd like to have a force that has elements of all of em (eventually). Cadian squads fighting next to Praetorians. Steel Legion being supported by Elysians...

"CATS AND DOGS LIVING TOGETHER... MASS HYSTERIA!!!" (come on, who doesn't like Ghostbusters?)

Hmmm

Well I was the 147th blog to join From The Warp...

!!!

The 147th Imperial Legion is born!!!

Now I just got to figure out how to put Pin-Up Girls on my vehicles...

Hey, the mens morale is top priority!

So I decided on the Imperial Guard for my new army. I just went out and bought an approximate 1000 point force to get me started. After I assembled my troops I put my list together (I know, I know... it's wiser to make a list, then buy the army but thats not nearly as much fun). Here it is for your scrutiny. Now I have no idea what I'm doing so really lay into me... LET ME HAVE IT!!! BE RUTHLESS!!! (it's for me own good:).

HQ Company Command Squad 50
Power fist 15
Heavy flamer 20
Vox-caster 5
Medi-pack 30
Regimental Standard 15
Krak grenades 5
Total: 140

TROOPS Platoon Command 30
Bolt Pistol 2
Vox Caster 5
Medi-pack 30
Autocannon 10
Total: 77

Infantry Squad 50
Grenade Launcher 5
Vox Caster 5
Total: 60

Infantry Squad 50
Grenade Launcher: 5
Vox Caster: 5
Total: 60

Platoon Command 30
Bolt Pistol 2
Medi-pack 30
Vox Caster 5
Missle Launcher 15
Total: 82

Infantry Squad 50
Flamer 5
Vox-caster 5
Total: 60

Infantry Squad 50
Flamer 5
Vox-caster: 5
Total: 60

Heavy Weapons Squad 60
3 x Lascannons 45
Total: 105

FAST ATTACK Valkyrie Assault Carrier 100
Lascannon 15
Multiple Rocket Pods 30
Sponson Heavy Bolters 10
Total: 155

HEAVY SUPPORT Leman Russ Battle Tank 150
Lascannon 15
Heavy Bolter Sponsons 20
Hunter Killer Missle 10
Total: 185

Army Total: 994

Now I just went in the game store and bought the mins, thinking this looked like a good starting force (I had a little bit of experience from buying an IG army for my uncle a number of years back as a gift). However when I sat down to write the Army List I got discouraged. Putting a list together for Imperial Guard forces is daunting to a beginning player (at least it was to me). So I consulted the all wise, all knowing internet to see if there was someone out there who could give me some direction. I became really encouraged when I stumbled across the page below and found that the models I bought were nearly the same ones in his list...

http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/content/printArticle.jsp aId=13900003&_requestid=487957

Now there are some differences. He seemed more top heavy with heavy weapons in the squads and lighter on the vox casters. Is this a good idea? Do all my troop squads need vox casters? I also got 6 Commissars and 2 Sentinels laying about as well. Should I throw them in somewhere? Should I just stop asking questions? Whats the meaning of life? Anyone know how babies are made? Is there truly a wrong way to eat a Reeses?

This army was extremely fun to put together though. I dig the concept of collecting them as a whole force with tons of axillary troops to add on ( a Cadian/ Elysian joint task force would be friggin awesome). In any case it seems an Imperial Guard army is hard to get bored with.

I'll post pics of em soon as well as my plan to paint em... fast!

Can you say Army Painter?

I knew you could!

Yep, the title is a total rip off and if you don't know what from you should really check your credentials as a gamer... (ok, I'll give you a hint... it's the Lord of the Rings).

Still I can't think of anything better.

About six months ago I vanished. No warning other than a few reports that painting had become painful for me. No, I really mean PAINFUL!

Like... ouchy.

I still can't hold a brush for too long without my back and shoulder killing me.

But that wasn't the hard part.

I lost my job. Out of the blue I found myself out of work. With my ass crippled from my military service there really isn't too much work I'm suited too other than what I was doing which amounted to sitting on my ass.

I got fired from sitting on my ass...

go figure.

As money began to dwindle and job prospects looked bleak along with some serious foul ups from unemployment (im still waiting for a check six months later even though I've always done the job looking required for the benefit) I had to sell everything I had ever collected.

Entire armies, test figures,, games, even the bits went up in smoke on ebay. Actually I learned Warhammer 40k mins really are a decent investment. If their painted ok you even make a little bit of a profit (thanks ARMY PAINTER).

Never the less I sank into the blues. I never would have thought my military service would cost me my hobby let alone my professional ambitions (I am a trained Police Officer). Now not only does it hurt to paint I can't paint thanks to the stupid economy.

Imagine if you had to just give up your hobby... wouldn't you get a little blue too?

Even looking on FTW blogs became painful. There everyone was, advancing without me, going along with their hobby while I had to sell mine to keep things stable for me and my wife and son.

I didn't feel much like blogging.

Until now.

As with all things, this bleak time in my life appears to be coming to an end. I got my settlement for being disabled. A doctor looked at me and said "Wow, your crippled."

Needless to say I should be back in a place where I can game once again.

I'm excited. For the first time in a long time I'm excited. What army am I going to do? It's like I'm stepping into 40K for the first time all over again. It will have to be something easy to paint. Still, until a new job comes through (who knows how long thats gonna be) I'll be right on my ass anyway so maybe I should take my time with it.

Nah, still hate painting.

So (hopefully) this is hello again and (hopefully) the first fruits of many other blogs to come.

It's time to rebuild my collection, overcome the pain and find a bit of myself again.

I hope you come along for the ride.

FROM THE WARP always,

The 25mm Warrior