Terran Forge

Astro Mag Issue 8!

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin) — Tue, 08 Feb 2011 06:33:00 +0000

Hey guys, Astro Mag Issue 8 is out! Go download it, won't you?

Also, apologies for the lack of activity. I have a lot of Dark Eldar sitting next to my desk waiting to be painted, but two labs this quarter are really messin' with me. Actually finished up the CPU design for my Computer Architecture class so that's a load off and in the coming weeks my freedom will be great. Though I am working on building a custom synthesizer and finishing writing an album I've been working on so the shit I need to get done won't be stopping soon. Regardless, I will be making time for 40k soon enough!

Asshats of the Imperium

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin) — Tue, 11 Jan 2011 02:40:00 +0000

Ok, so I just finished up reading A Thousand Sons by Graham McNeil and it was a pretty great read. Not quite up to the level of satisfaction I had after reading "Fulgrim" or "Mechanicum" (still my two favorite books of the series, in that order) but great nonetheless. My overall impression of Leman Russ was that he is a whiny asshat. Yes, asshat. Don't ask what that mean, he just is one. This led me to a realization: the Horus Heresy series really sheds some well-needed light on the Pre-Heresy days and you really get to know Primarchs a lot better. This is both good and bad. What I decided to do for you (ok, more for me, but whatever) was to compile a list of the cool-cats in the Imperium and the debby-downers. Some non-kid friendly language will follow so I warn you now, if you don't like vulgarities of any kind, tread not past the jump!

Ok, so clearly you're not easily put off by vulgarities or you're just plain stupid. Either way, here is (warning, some spoilers are also contained if you're reading the Horus Heresy series up through A Thousand Sons):
Kevin's Ultimate Guide to the Asshats of the Imperium!

First up, we got Lion El'Johnson. Now this kid was a total badass when he landed on Caliban as a child. For the love of god, his version of "playing outstide" was killing warp beasts just because they were kind of annoying him. He was like, what, six? Holy shit. Total badass. But then he found out he was the born leader of the Emperor's First Legion and basically said "Well, screw you fuckers, I'm off to rape me some orks!" and let his best friend and mentor sit on a husk of a world while he was off having fun. It's like being the kid picked last to play dodgeball only to be told "oh, sorry, you're not allowed to actually play. In fact, go home. Nobody really likes you anyway". Then the Lion is wondering why everyone went batshit crazy on him when he came back.

Lion El'Johnson - Asshat (though definitely some badass moments)
---------
Onto Fulgrim. Up until reading the similarly titled book, I always thought he was a bit of a prick. After reading the book, I think he was just deeply flawed but had good intentions. I mean he punched a god-damned hole through an Avatar's skull! If can't not think that's cool as shit. That little venture alone gives him high marks in my book. The only thing really holding me back from saying he's a Cool Cat is that he was SUCH a massive pussy. Seriously "Oh no, Mr. Deamon, sir. Please don't take my brain away from me". You're a fucking primarch, act like one.

Flugrim - Pussy, but not enough to prevent me from saying Cool Cat
---------
Siege Warfare = cool so, by extension, so is Perturabo. (Not to mention, even though that whole Iron Cage thing with Dorn's legion was pretty douchie, it was funny as hell!)

Perturabo - Cool Cat
---------
Next up is Jaghatai Khan. I have very little info on him, so

Jaghatai Khan - Undecided (final judgement pending)
---------
No onto Leman Russ. This guy... uh, where to begin? Well, first he's all like "Yo, Magnus you one-eyed freak, I need your help because apparently my legion is too puss to be able to take this world by ourselves" and Magnus just ignores it because, well, he's got more important things to worry about. Like, you know, WEBWAY TRAVEL. But the Wolf didn't know that, so I'll let it slide. Then he send one of his captains to force Magnus to join him. Uh, what? If you need him THAT badly, come there yourself you whiny bitch. Still, Magnus really didn't give him any information and perhaps LR was really entrenched. But then LR gets all fidgety because Magnus wants to preserve knowledge and Leman just wants to rape people with his jagged wolf dick and when he sees the Thousand Sons using "sorcery" he cries all the way back to Terra until daddy gets the mean cyclops to stop scaring him. Right, because your Rune Priests don't do the same thing you backwards barbaric dickbag. I digress. Leman, along with another we'll get to shortly, decide to make daddy tell mean old Magnus to stop throwing fire from his fingers and daddy says "ok". The thousand sons are then all but destroyed and you can almost entirely blame this on a severe case of asshatery on Leman Russ' part.

Leman Russ - ASSHAT
---------
Rogal Dorn. Dorn is a bit of a stoic dick at times, but the dude has given me no reasons to yet call him a douche. Thus,

Rogal Dorn - Cool Cat
---------
Konrad Curze is... odd. I mean, for a primarch he really is just a bizarre guy. He's like the deeply disturbed member of your family, probably Old Uncle Joe, whose mental capabilities come into question but he makes for a good laugh, despite how unethical his form of entertainment may be. This guy is a tough one to place my finger on so..

Konrad Curze - Undecided
---------
Sanguinius is up next and he's pretty alright. I mean, his only flaw is being a vampire but that's more of Stephenie Meyer's fault than his. Before those shit stains on history came up, vampires were badass so

Sanguinius - Cool Cat
---------
He (allegedly) fought a C'Tan and the god thought he was so cool he gave him a liquid metal hand. Christ, the hand alone is enough for me to say..

Ferrus Manus - Cool Cat
---------
Angron seems to be a douche along the lines of Leman Russ where he kills everything for the sake of killing everything. His upside is that it's not his fault. He's just like a giant caveman. Than can tear you apart with his pinky finger. I mean, the only reason he turned traitor is because Horus was all like "You Angron, you like killing people?" "Angron Kill! Angron Kill!" "Yeah.. uh, want to go kill some more?" "Angron Kill! Angron Kill!". If Dorn had the same conversation him, it would be Horus getting his ass pounded into submission, not the Emperor. So based on the fact that Angron is pretty much a walking nuclear bomb that explodes into heat seeking shards of metal I must say:

Angron - Cool Cat
---------
I fucking hate the Ultramarines.

Roboute Guillaume - Asshat (though I will admit, I have no logical reason. Give me a break, though, we're talking about sci-fi based on little plastic figurines here!)
---------
Mortarion was cool, with his drinking of poison just because he could and shit like that. But then he went all whiny on Magnus' ass and kind of pissed me off. At the same time, he wasn't a hypocrite like LR because, unlike LR, he has no psychically trained soldiers in his legion. Though I really think he pussed out when Horus asked him to turn on the Emperor (especially after getting his way at Nikea) so, though it pains me to say it..

Mortarion - Asshat
---------
I've always been fond of Magnus. I'm a guy who loves learning, shit I thrive on it! Though he gets way too arrogant and assumes that his father, who fucking created him in a glass tube, was too stupid to see his brother were about to go nuts and try and take over the Imperium. So Magnus decided to bust on into the palace to warn the Emperor and, in doing so, completely fucks the Webway portal up. In normal circumstances I'd say "man, Magnus is an asshat" but there are a few redeeming qualities. First of all, despite being turned on by his brothers and the Emperor, he is still loyal to the Emperor. That takes balls, man. Next, HE FUCKING FLEW INTO THE WARP, PENETRATED THE WEBWAY AND THEN GOT TO TERRA. AWESOME! Plus, most of this could have been prevented had the Emperor not been a dickwad about it. I'll get to him later though.

Magnus the Red - Cool Cat (though just barely, honestly)
---------
Horus wasn't bad. In fact, he was probably the most relatable primarch of all the series. It's no wonder why the Emperor picked him to be Warmaster. But he let a god damned Word Bearer dick, like a captain or some shit too- it wasn't even Lorgar, to influence him into turning on the Emperor. And that's while Magnus was telling him "dude, this dick is a toolbag. Trust me, I'm fucking killing my legion over here trying to warn you, I'm not fucking around". That lapse of testicular ownership forces me to say:

Horus Lupracal - Asshat
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Lorgar started the heresy. Well, Kor-Phaeron did more precisely but I blame Lorgar for being a zealot retard.

Lorgar - ASSHAT EXTRAORDINAIRE (It's all his fault)
---------
Vulken uses fire. Fire = awesome.

Vulken - Cool Cat
---------
Corax I don't really have a lot of information on. I mean, guerilla warfare is cool, I'll give him that, but I just don't feel I can comment on him fully enough to choose cool or asshat (ironically, I used less words for Vulken and Roboute combined).

Corax - Undecided
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Alpharius is awesome. I mean, he's fighting for Horus and against the Emperor in order to save the galaxy at the cost of humanity. The dude is great. Sure, humanity gets wiped out, but in the scheme of things, the existence of the galaxy is far more important!

Alpharius/Omegon - Cool Cat
---------
And finally we get down to easily the most polarizing figure in all of 40k lore. A Sarah Palin of the 41st Millennium, if you will. The Emperor. This one is tough because as a Space Marine player, I can't do anything but love the Emperor for his grand ideals, focus on science and progress and overall badassitude. At the same time, he could've prevented the Heresy by NOT naming a Warmaster. He could've prevented the destruction on the Thousand Sons by just saying "Yo, Magnus, don't tell your brothers but I got a webway down in the basement and that's why I'm leaving the war. I'm planning on putting you in charge of it when I'm done even if your reatarded brothers think this whole psychic stuff is garbage, kapeesh?" (said in a Brooklyn accent). Bam. Problem solved. Granted I am sort of acting like Captain Hindsight here but fuck you, I needed a way to link that video. Anyways, the Emperor in his seemingly omniscience (sort of like Ziltoid) felt that he could keep buttloads of information from his constantly bickering sons, put only one of them in charge and thought everything would go swimingly. I mean, I imagine a lot of 40k bloggers reading this may have kids (I don't, personally, but this is still a good analogy). Would you take your 12year old son, your 8 year old son and your 6 year old son, throw them all into your house, say "I'll be back in a few days, I expect the house to be completely cleaned when I get back. Oh and 8 year old son, you're in charge", drive off and expect anything to get done bar one or two of them hanging from the ceiling fan when you return? Fuck no! And that's just THREE kids. We're talking TWENTY here. Sure they're all grown up, but they're all still fucking babies in their own right. The Emperor performed what we like to call in the business, a ROYAL FUCKUP. The Heresy is completely his fault (and Lorgars. Fuck Lorgar) and thus I must say

THE EMPEROR = ASSHAT

That is all.

Old Comics

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin) — Fri, 07 Jan 2011 20:46:00 +0000

Hey guys, just a quick check in. Time is short, but my Dark Eldar are still in progress. I'm working on a project right now which is eating up a lot of time- I'm basically building a light controlled sequencer and plan on making a nice compact and cheap circuit from it too. The design and code are eating away a lot of free time, but I'm getting a lot done. However, right now I'd like to share with you some comics I drew for my old site Mobius-Comics. I'm no longer drawing for them so I decided to compile all my comics into one post and a small zip file so anybody who would like to look at them can do so easily. The link to the post is here (it is on my personal electronics blog) and I've included a few comics as examples below.

Happy New Year!

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin) — Sat, 01 Jan 2011 05:00:00 +0000

Happy 2011 from the Forge! Hopefully we can all ass ourselves into getting our armies painting, even though I'm sure that's our New Year's resolution every year... Hopefully this humble blog will be alive in 2011 with much more activity (though more on the hobby side since gaming will be very rare the way my schedule is looking).

Be safe out there everyone!

Dark Eldar Mandrake

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin) — Thu, 30 Dec 2010 11:00:00 +0000

Sorry for taking so long on painting this stuff. A mix of being home for the holidays (and the required family events that ensue) and my odd urge to replay through Mass Effect 2 really created an unwelcome situation for my Mandrakes. Alas, I finally got one done. The Matte varnish I used had a bit of a gloss to it which is really amplified in the picture but isn't as bad in person. Next time I'm going to snap pictures BEFORE the varnish though, just to give a better idea on what the guy actually looks like. This guy was an experiment to see how I wanted to paint the squad and to make sure I get all the colors rights so he's not great, but I'm happy with how he turned out. The rest of the squad *should* turn out better though. We'll see!

Selling some Guard and Orks

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin) — Thu, 23 Dec 2010 23:38:00 +0000

Hey guys, decided to clear out some of my Guard I don't really use anymore and some Orks I found laying in my parents basement. Figured I'd post them here and on some forums I frequent before heading to eBay. If anyone is interested, just shoot me an email (click on the "Contact" tab up top). If anyone has any questions, feel free to post them in the comments and I'll answer them ASAP! I'm not really looking for a trade, but if you have some of the new Dark Eldar that are not painted and, preferably, not assembled, I'd certainly consider trading!

(Green is for sale, Orange is if "negotiations" are under way and Purple is sold)

IMPERIAL GUARD
5 Guardsmen on Sprue - link - $12 or BO

10 Vostroyan soldiers - link - $25 or BO (they are partially painted, but very easily stripped as they are just plastic. They also have some Resin bases I made awhile ago, they are NOT the black GW ones).

6 Valhallan soldiers - link - $25 or BO (these guys aren't sold anymore [as far as I can tell] and are just primed bar for one or two that have painted flesh. Again, metal so easily stripped.)

3 Mortar teams - link - $10 or BO (painted with really crappy bases, but they're easily cleaned off).

15 Guardsmen - link - $20 or BO (partially painted. Includes two guys from the command sprue here and here. Missing heads, shoulders were filed off as I originally planned on converting them to Valhallan warriors with greatcoats.)

Leman Russ Demolisher - link - $35 or BO (From old kit, Primed, Demolisher cannon itself is a bit warped but can be easily filed down. Missing top hatch).

Leman Russ - link - $35 or BO (From old kit, Primed. Cannon was built as a Nova cannon before the 5th edition codex was released (so it was based off of rumors)

31 Pig Iron Winter Sci Fi heads - link - $8 or BO (18 unpainted, the rest are partially painted but as they heads are metal, they're easily stripped. I only picture 25 heads, but I found six more in my bits box after taking pictures).

ORKS
5 Ork Nob Bikers with Painboy - link - $45 or BO (Painted and converted to look like Nobz rather than normal warbikerz. Some are not fully painted and just partially. Paint is not very heavy at all so painting over would not be a problem).

Ork Warboss - link - $12 or BO (Painted and converted a bit)

Pain Tokens of PAIN

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin) — Wed, 22 Dec 2010 20:18:00 +0000

Ok, I'm still waiting on my shipment of Warriors and Archon so I decided to build/paint up some Pain Tokens just to get myself remembering how to paint as well as test out my basing idea (I wanted lava world). So here are the two tokens, turned out pretty decent I'd say!

Reaver Jetbikes

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin) — Mon, 13 Dec 2010 12:00:00 +0000

So I'm thinking of strategies for my current Dark Eldar list (I want to hone everything before committing on too many models. Cash is tight!) and I realized that the Reavers aren't particularly great at assault and I was contemplating scratching them from my list until I realized one very important detail: Jetbikes have special rules. They can move 6" in the assault phase and not assault! I totally forgot! I'm swamped with schoolwork at the moment, so a new updated list won't be created until probably Wednesday but if I take a few Reavers, pop a Blaster or Heat Lance on them and give them cluster caltrops I can Turbo Boost over an enemy unit (36" might I add) and end out of LoS of anything particularly dangerous and then pop out in the movement phase, shoot, pop back into hiding in the assault. Rinse and repeat. I think it would create a nice distraction for my other units and still be able to wreak some havoc. Knocking a few jetbikes out of my list also frees up room for Nightshields on my Raiders which makes killing them even more annoying.

I am so pumped for this army!

A Girl's 40k Problems

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin) — Sat, 11 Dec 2010 05:11:00 +0000

Ok, this gem is a bit to hilarious NOT to share. I was showing my girlfriend the Archon and Kabalite Warriors I recently bought for my upcoming Dark Eldar army and I asked her why she hasn't done anything with the box of Ork Boyz I bought her back at Games Day '09. She let me know why:

"Yeah, I left those in the box at home. I got fed up building them because I kept getting super glue in my mouth."

I think she's doing it wrong.

*She told me the whole story and apparently the bottle exploded on her and got all over her hands and she had a hair in her mouth and, well, it's pretty easy to figure out what happened from there. Still hilarious!

The Friday Fix #1

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin) — Fri, 10 Dec 2010 18:49:00 +0000

Hey guys, so I decided to do something so I can maintain some sort of regular posting schedule at the forge so I introduce The Friday Fix! Basically if I see some cool stuff on forums or blogs or wherever, I'll post it in one of these Friday posts. Alternatively, if you guys see something cool online you'd like to share or you have a thread on a forum or blog post you'd like to promote and think is pretty cool you can email it to me and I will include it in one of these new weekly posts! Just send an email to terranforge@gmail.com with the title "Friday Fix" and I'll get back to you asap (i check my email super regularly so I guarantee I'll see it). As long as it's 40k related, anything goes so long as it's interesting!

For this week, I point you to a post over at the Astronomican Forums by member tkkultist. He's a member of "Team North America" and posted some cool WIP shots of the Primarchs used for the Golden Demon competitions in 2008 (I believe). Really cool "behind the scenes" work that I thought was absolutely fascinating.

The lead image is Fulgrim by Chris Borer (and, incidentally, he won a Golden Demon and the Slayer Sword for his work). Here are some WIP shots:

This next one is Ferrus Manus by Nathan Comanse:

And the last one I'll post is Lion El'Johnson by Tom Shadle:

Some incredible stuff, and absolutely thrilling to be able to see into the process of making such an incredible array of models. To see more of the Primarchs, just mozy on over to this post on the Astronomican forums. I promise you, it's worth it! You can also check out tkkultist's (James Craig's) album on his site Lost In The Warp for even more Primarch goodness!

Final Dark Eldar List

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin) — Thu, 09 Dec 2010 06:26:00 +0000

Ok, I think I'm finally settled on a list. I changed the Huskblade to an Agoniser on the Archon since I figure at a small points level like this, the auto instant death wont be utilized much. When I get to building a 2k+ army, then a Huskblade/Soul Trap combo is a guarantee. I also gave the Archon a Blast Pistol and Hawire Grenades just so I can do SOMETHING if I find myself in CC with a walker. I took the Nightfiend of the Mandrakes, added a Dark Lance rather than Cannon for my second Kab squad and took the Heat Lance off the Raiders (I want them killing infantry, not stopping to shoot one weapon at a vehicle).

HQ
Archon - 140pts
+Agoniser, Combat Drugs, Shadow Field, Blast Pistol, Haywire Grenades

ELITES
Mandrakes x5 - 75

TROOPS
Kabalite Warriors x10 - 215pts
+Blaster, Dark Lance, Sybarite, Venom Blade
+Raider, Flickerfield

Kabalite Warriors x10 - 215pts
+Blaster, Dark Lance, Sybarite, Venom Blade
+Raider, Flickerfield

Wyches 9 - 200pts
+Hydra Gauntlets, Hekatrix, Agonizer
+Raider, Flickerfield

FAST ATTACK
Reavers x6 - 152pts
+Cluster Caltrops

TOTAL - 997pts

As a note, I have already purchased the Archon and a box of Warriors, so assembly and painting will soon happen (though not until I hit break in about a week).

Dark Eldar List v2.0

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin) — Sun, 05 Dec 2010 11:00:00 +0000

Ok, here's two new lists I made based on some great input both here and on the Astronomican Forums

LIST 1
HQ
Archon - 135pts
+Huskblade, Combat Drugs, Shadow Field

ELITES
Incubi x4 - 208pts
+Klaivex, Bloodstone, Onslaught
+Venom, Splinter Cannon, Night shields

TROOPS
Kabalite Warriors x10 - 140pts
+Blaster, Dark Lance, Sybarite

Kabalite Warriors x10 - 140pts
+Blaster, Dark Lance, Sybarite

Wyches x10 - 210pts
+Hydra Gauntlets x2, Hekatrix, Power Weapon
+Raider, Flickerfield

FAST ATTACK
Reavers x6 - 164pts
+Heat Lance, Cluster Caltrops

TOTAL - 997pts

LIST 2
HQ
Archon - 135pts
+Huskblade, Combat Drugs, Shadow Field

ELITES
Mandrakes x5 - 85
+ Nightfiend

TROOPS
Kabalite Warriors x10 - 215pts
+Blaster, Dark Lance, Sybarite, Venom Blade
+Raider, Flickerfield

Kabalite Warriors x10 - 200pts
+Blaster, Splinter Cannon, Sybarite, Venom Blade
+Raider, Flickerfield

Wyches x9 - 200pts (EDIT- Originally had x10 here. That was a mistake!)
+Hydra Gauntlets, Hekatrix, Agonizer
+Raider, Flickerfield

FAST ATTACK
Reavers x6 - 164pts
+Heat Lance, Cluster Caltrops

TOTAL - 999pts

Which do you guys think is the better list? List 2 seems much faster, but far more fragile while list 1 feels maybe too slow, but with a bit more staying power (because of the Incubi). List 1 is also a lot cheaper (money wise) but I'll worry about that when it's time to worry about that!

From the ashes...

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin) — Fri, 03 Dec 2010 18:32:00 +0000

Well, it's been a LONG while since I've been able to get excited over 40k. I just have had so much going on- my engineering courses are beginning to ramp up and require a lot of time and dedication, my goal to have an album recorded by the beginning of summer sucks away precious time and being able to relax is a very rare commodity.

Luckily I finally bought Chaos Rising. Why do I mention this? Well, I originally got into 40k because of the original Dawn of War game. Chaos Rising is bringing me back. Yes! The forge won't die!

I'm going to be possibly selling my Imperial Guard army soon, so I'll keep you posted on that. The reason is because I want to start a new army. An army that will reinvigorate my love for the hobby. I'm settling between Chaos and Dark Eldar and, to be honest, am quite partial to Dark Eldar at this point.

Sadly, my knowledge of the game has deteriorated as I haven't played a game in over a year. I'm not to keen on what's going on in the tourney scene and I'm very, very, horribly unfamiliar with Dark Eldar. Hopefully someone out there, then, can help!

Here is my tentative list. It is subject to 100% change, so PLEASE offer my criticism, suggestions, ask questions, whatever! I need all the help I can get!

The goal is to have a fun army, a fast army, a challenging army and a competitive army. For now I'm not going to worry about cost as this army build will be a full year in the making (so my limited cash flow at the moment will be able to keep up until I co-op again in Summer and Fall).

(1000 pt list)

Archon - 175pts
+Huskblade, Combat Drugs, Soul-trap, Ghostplate Armor, Webway Portal, Blast Pistol

ELITES
Incubi x5 - 155pts
+Klaivex, Bloodstone, Onslaught

TROOPS
Kabalite Warriors x10 - 230pts
+Blaster, Splinter Cannon, Sybarite, Blast Pistol, Venom Blade
+Raider, Disintegrator Cannon, Enhanced aethersails, Splinter Racks, Night Shields, Flickerfield

Kabalite Warriors x10 - 230pts
+Blaster, Splinter Cannon, Sybarite, Blast Pistol, Venom Blade
+Raider, Disintegrator Cannon, Enhanced aethersails, Splinter Racks, Night Shields, Flickerfield

FAST ATTACK
Reavers x3 - 101pts
+Blaster, Arena Champion, Power Weapon

Reavers x3 - 101pts
+Blaster, Arena Champion, Power Weapon

TOTAL - 992pts

Astro Mag Issue 7!

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin) — Wed, 15 Sep 2010 22:02:00 +0000

In what feels like forever, the guys at The Astro Mag have finally released Issue #7! Click HERE to download.

On an unrelated note, I really apologize for effectively ignoring this blog. Alex is in Germany for school until Christmas-time and I am so ridiculously swamped with school work and other more important things that I really don't have time for 40k at all in the forseeable future. However, if you happen to like this blog and you enjoy electronics and electronic related material, I do have another blog at Twelve Volt Rail. My current big project is designing a small ion generator for potential use as a secondary thrust mechanism on an RC plane. I will be ordering the parts for that shortly once I work out the kinks in the design. If that kind of crazy-ass stupid stuff interests you, bookmark the site, stop by and say hi, whatever!

The Strike Force compilation is beginning!

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin) — Sat, 21 Aug 2010 14:33:00 +0000

I am beginning work on compiling all the Strike Force changes this weekend so thank you to anyone who submitted suggestions! I am still open to receiving emails with suggestions on the rules, just email me at terranforge@gmail.com. The download link is here and the thread with current suggestions is here.

What I still need are pictures! If you guys want to submit your pictures of models or your artwork or whatever, just email me the pic with your name and blog or website and I will put a picture credit underneath the name with a link to your blog/website. Remember, these rules will be in the next issue of The Astro Mag so it's a good way to rack up some views!

Thanks all!

-Kevin

(Side note, seems like 40k will be taking a back burner ride for awhile. I'm going to be very busy with school, though I am looking at starting a Chaos army which may light a fire for my 40k love again, and Alex is going to Germany for school so he has other things on his mind. Pat who maybe has posted once on this site, well, I'm still trying to get him to post more. He's probably a lot more active than I am at this point and he is a damn good writer, one I'd love to have on here writing some articles. We'll see!)

A new name!

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin) — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 01:38:00 +0000

Project Kill Team finally has its new name thanks to you voters! When released, it will be known as Strike Force!

Thanks to all who voted and make sure you guys keep sending in your comments and suggestions to help make Strike Force one of the greatest community-made rule-sets on the web!!

Real-life, you cruel mistress!

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin) — Sun, 18 Jul 2010 22:43:00 +0000

Heh, well, didn't see this one coming.

Alex and I have made a promise to update Terran Forge more. I was working on painting some stuff up plus I've got the Project Kill Team to focus on and when he returned from California he was going to do the same. Well, this past week (those of you who follow me on twitter may already know this) I have been in Charlotte, NC to help the System Engineers from Harris figure some stuff out and collect data (I am currently on co-op which makes me, basically, a paid intern). I worked some 63 hours this past week so to say I have had little time for my beloved hobby (even going online and looking at blogs) is a vast understatement. I'm not used to this kind of work schedule! Now, to make it worse (for the blog at least), I have to go to Broken Arrow, OK tomorrow at 5am and am there till Thursday. THEN I go BACK to Charlotte, NC for the week after to help get the southern part of this massive communications system for Duke Energy live. It will be hectic, rest assured! However, after that it will be pretty much smooth sailing. I'm in Lynchburg, VA for two more weeks before going home for a relaxing two or three weeks (can't remember the exact amount of time) and then head back to RIT for school. 40k time will be back in full swing (hopefully) by then!

BUT! I have some good news (I think). I am rejoining The Astro Mag, but instead of an editor or something like that I am working on promotion and popping in on the creative side of things (article ideas, etc). I can promise you a BIG, BIG, BIG issue for our next release. It's all still in the works, but I can guarantee you that every bit of your 40k side will be satisfied! GET EXCITED!

-Kevin

Female Gamers: Ya Wanna Fight About It?

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin) — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 22:04:00 +0000

Ok, so maybe I'm a little late on this subject like Apple was late in realizing their phone doesn't actually work as a phone. Regardless, I feel like I should talk about this subject a bit even if no one gives a crap (which they shouldn't!).

So, neat. You spotted a female gamer throwin' some dice down. So what? Quite honestly, it is hard for me to understand what the big deal is about any minority demographic entering into a realm dominated by a different demographic. This, obviously, doesn't only apply to female gamers but as this is a 40k blog, I will limit myself to this very small aspect. Bringing attention to a minority demographic, like I am hypocritically doing now, serves only a few functions. The first is that is validates their minority status and becomes an almost impossible barrier to break down. This is not really anyones fault, but is more of a subconscious collective effort on the part of all wargamers because there is this stigma that cannot seem to be erased that wargaming is strictly a man's hobby. Second, it feeds the so-called "attention whores" who, more likely than not, are in it just for the attention of other males (this, I feel it should be said, does not apply to just females, but as it is the subject of this post it is the only thing I will address). Thirdly, and this I feel is the biggest problem in the wargaming community, is it highlights many-a-males severe ineptitude when it comes to talking to women.

Again, the general male ineptitude when it comes to conversing with women applies not only to wargaming (duh). Quite honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if most of the people reading this post right now are pretty bad at it (I mean, good enough to get by, but sometimes everything just comes out wrong). I'm definitely in this camp. In the correct setting or correct mindset I can easily talk to girls just like I talk to my male friends, and this is how it should be. However, sometimes a genuine hand at friendship can be misinterpreted quite easily as a flirt. Again, I am in this camp. In fact, a few years ago when I worked at a public library (as the only, and I cannot stress that enough, only male working there) a girl approached me and starting talking about one of my favorite authors, Fyodor Dostoevsky, and so naturally I engaged in harmless conversation with her. We became friends. No big deal, right? Well when I started dating another girl that works there (still am too! As far as I'm concerned she's way out of my league but I guess the drugs still haven't worn off after three years :p). Anyways, Dostoevsky girl was pissed because apparently she thought I have been flirting with her for the past few months.

Uh... what?

A simple gesture of kindness, becoming friends by talking about an atheistic Russian author from the 1800s, was turned into something else entirely. And this happens all the time.

Now, the problem with wargaming in regard to the subject at hand is that it is a male-dominated hobby. I am going to stereotype now, something I'm not a fan of doing, but I'm going to say that in general all of 40k wargamers have a much larger proportion of male friends to female friends. I will also make the assumption that, in general, this is due to a lack of perceived interests. Why, then, do male wargamers tend to suffocate female wargamers (whether in a club, or in threads on forums, or whatever)? Could it possibly be because the male wargamers lacking a good base of female friends (who are great to have because, honestly, they are incredible to talk to about a variety of subjects, mostly sensitive ones, that men are just terrible at. I know I am)? Could it be that they just are getting overly excited at the thought that they have found a potential female friend with similar interests as themselves? Absolutely! Are they sometimes overly aggressive? More times than not! HOW THE HELL DO YOU APPROACH THE SITUATION?

Be normal. Be yourself. Other than a difference in anatomy, there is no real reason to treat them any differently you would treat another male playing the game. Why should you, especially if you just want to be friends? The real female gamers (I say real because, as mentioned earlier, some are just out for attention. That is pretty unavoidable with any demographic in any situation, sadly) are the exact same as you. They love 40k. They either want to crush your army with cheese like Power-Gamer Joe or show off their stunning minis like GD Tom (or, you know, anything in between!). Why act differently if you really just would like to be friends or you just want to welcome them to a forum or what have you? There is no reason to. Treat them equally, not like they should be put on a pedestal and praised nor like they should be placed below us on the proverbial food chain. Treat them as a fellow gamer you have thrown the dice with countless times before, the only difference is, quite literally, on the surface.

The reason I posted this was just that I've seen so many disgusting blog and forum posts that just baffle me. Why talk about a subject that, honestly, doesn't really deserve a second though. Women are not all pretty-little-pink-princesses that play with barbies and watch Disney movies all the time. Just like men are not all beer guzzling "bros" who can't control their bodily functions and watch only sports and can't pick out the beautiful subtleties of well written screenplays instead opting for potty humor comedies. Phew. Humans are complex creatures with incredible ranges of emotions, interests and ideas. To stereotype (despite me doing it earlier, sorry) is to simplify humans into cookie-cutter forms that do a disservice to the amazing grey-matter that occupies each and every one of our skulls. No one person is alike, but we're all equal. Why treat one differently than the other?

And I leave you with a most appropriate xkcd comic:

Reminder: Vote for Project Kill Team!

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin) — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 02:59:00 +0000

Just a reminder that you should all vote for a new name for Project Kill Team on the poll right over there ---->>

That is all.

Flesh Tearers, Inquisitors, oh my!

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin) — Sun, 27 Jun 2010 23:17:00 +0000

Above is a Flesh Tearer. No, I am not starting a Codex: Blood Angels army, however my younger brother is! The thing is, he's never played or painted before so I decided I'd write a tutorial for him. First I wanted to test out what I had in mind on a spare marine (though after I finished I realized he was part of my Devastator squad and I never painted him yet- whoops! He won't be a Flesh Tearer for long lol!). This guy took me almost exactly one hour which is great. I wanted to create a method for my brother that was easy and quick and looked really good. I'm a fan of the way this one turned out. What I'm going to do is in about two weeks I'm heading over to Richmond, VA for a weekend with some guys from the Astronomican forum. While there I'm going to grab a Gabriel Seth model (assuming the guy has one in stock) and paint him up with an exhaustively detailed tutorial. Should be fun. I'm even thinking about buying an HD video camera so I can do a video tutorial. We'll see.

And next on the list, an Inquisitor! Hephesto of Hephesto's Forge sent me him with some other great models when I started my guard army (yes I haven't posted about them in awhile but I want to finish my marines before I think about guard!). I decided to paint him up just so I can do something when I get bored and it was a (successful) attempt to get me back into 40k full-swing. He's still very much a PIP but figure I'd post a progress pic up!

Power Bracket Finals and Kill Team Poll!

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin) — Sun, 27 Jun 2010 15:52:00 +0000

Before we get to the bracket, I'd like to mention the poll to the right for choosing a new name for "Project Kill Team". This will be the name of the rules-set itself. If you have a better name that you like, please just post it in the comments of either this post or the Project Kill Team post and I will add it to the poll.

Now, the bracket. I apologize it has taken me so long to post up, I've just been really busy.

The winner is:

THE SANGUINOR!

I know, I know, surprising, right? Well here's the bracket and underneath the full bracket.

Abaddon just destroyed Marneus and The Sanguinor very easily beat Canis Wolfborne. It was the final between The Sanguinor and Abaddon that was actually very thrilling. The first round Abaddon rolled a 5 for how many extra attacks he got and in one round of combat was able to kill the Blood Angels Champion. However, it is the higher invulnerable save of 3+, the ability to re-roll all to hit and to wound rolls in combat against a specified HQ and his Eternal Warrior that saved The Sanguinor from falling to the blade of Chaos like his father, Sanguinius, did before him.

All in all, a very appropriate ending for this bracket. Good versus Evil in the Calgar/Abaddon match and a replay of the Horus Heresy when Horus killed his brother Sangunius. Only this time, the Blood Angel was able to avenge his father's death. Cool ending if you ask me!

I will be putting the final bracket up permanently on the left-hand side of Terran Forge as well.

Perhaps I will do an alien bracket next.....

Chaos Marines Bracket

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin) — Sun, 20 Jun 2010 23:24:00 +0000

Ok, here is the last section before the finals, the Chaos Space Marines! The winner, completely unexpectedly [/sarcasm] is Abaddon the Despoiler!

Here is the bracket:

So what's next? Well Abaddon and Marneus will face off in what promises to be an epic duel and Canis Wolfborne and The Sanguinor will have a nice fist fight to see who enters the final arena. Stay tuned, as I'll post up the finals on Tuesday! It's anybody's guess on who's going to win!

Blood Angels Bracket

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin) — Sat, 19 Jun 2010 20:21:00 +0000

It's a bit later than I wanted to post it, but here it is, the Blood Angels bracket. And the winner is... THE SANGUINOR! Guy ripped through everybody, I was impressed. As a note, I ended up restructuring this bracket a bit because the one I orginially had didn't maketoo much sense.

Click for larger image!

Space Wolves Bracket

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin) — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 19:00:00 +0000

Well... this was... interesting, to say the least. There were many times while I was pitting each IC against each other that I second guessed myself because the outcome was just down right odd. A great example is the fact that Canis Wolfbane won. What?! He beat, with lack of anti-tank weaponry mind you, Bjorn the Fellhanded - a gorram dreadnought! Granted, the amount of attacks he had coupled with his heightened strength of 5 and the fact he has rending all contributed to this beat down. The first round he managed to get a wreck, the second went on for a few assault rounds as Canisjust kept getting weapon destroyed and immobilized results.

But yeah. What a shocker. The only reason, I think, he survived against Logan even though the guy (as far as I can tell. I could've missed something) doesn't have an invulnerable save was just because if his heightened toughness. Plus, the pair of claws let him re-roll wounds so that was certainly a plus!

Anyways, here's the bracket:

-Unless Logan would've been killed beforehand, he opted to allocated all attacks as a Power Fist rather than Frost Blade. (Technically a bit of cheating here, but I wanted to keep it as balanced as possible)

-Njal, after testing all shooting psychic attacks, always used "Muderous Hurricane" as it nearly always produced results.

Space Marine Bracket

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin) — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 19:00:00 +0000

Here is the promised Space Marine bracket! Marneus Calgar, unsurprisingly, won. What is surprising, however, is that the only one to beat him was Cassius! Very interesting! A few reasons for that were that Marnues couldn't insta-kill him and Cassius has Feel No Pain.

Here's the bracket with each round's win-loss ratio for each opponent (click to enlarge).

- Marneus Calgar was given the Armor of Antilochus

- Tigurius uses Smite in the shooting round and Quickening and Might of the Ancients in the Assault round.