What's this Warmachine thing all about?

So I'm listening to The War Banner podcast (hi Phil and Mike!) and theyre talking about Warmachine. They basically did the beginers guide to the game and I have to say I'm kinda interested. Anyone out there play Warmachine? Did you like it? How does it compare to 40K?

BTW I'm posting this from my Droid (best phone ever!) so I hope this turns out ok...

A Change of Pace or How to rid your reliance on the +3 Save

So my buddy Rich (or Tricky Dick if you listen to DLT) has a problem. I think he finally realized that he is burnt out on Space Marines. I would be too if that's all I played since 3rd Edition (not counting his stint in the Navy). Granted he switches things up and plays Chaos Space Marines and Necrons but in my book they are all the same type of army. I kind of know where he's coming from because my main army is Black Templars and I get burnt out with them as well from time to time.

The thing that these armies have in common is the awesome +3 armor save. Marines and their equivalents (necrons and other MEQs) are all tough as nails because of toughness 4 and armor save of +3. They also have a high ballistic skill of 4. I know almost all of you already know this but when you compare those stats to other non MEQ armies, their stats are pretty damn good.

I feel that people who only play MEQs rely on those stats too much and it kind of becomes a crutch. When said person goes up against an army that is built around solely killing MEQs, they become lost and helpless in a way. Their safety net is taken away from them because a good MEQ killing list does whatever it can to strip away the +3 save.

This is why I am a huge supporter of having a second army. Not just any kind of second army (I'm sorry but Blood Angels or Space Wolves don't count if you are already playing Vanilla Marines) but a non MEQ army, preferably Xenos. This is what I did by going with Eldar as my second army. Something that is totally different from what you normally play. I had a hard (but fun) time learning how to play an army that was toughness 3 and did not have +3 armor saves. It's a fact that if you try to play Eldar in the same manner you place Space Marines you will get your ass handed to you. I eventually learned the tricks of playing Eldar and I loved it because it was so different from my Templars. I was no longer burnt out and when I eventually went back to playing with my Templars I honestly felt like I became a much better player. I knew first hand how it feels not to have power armor to rely upon so I had to make smart tactical decisions and learn how to deploy and move and use cover. The jumping back and forth between my two armies is what keeps me fresh and eager to always want to play 40K.

So if Rich or anyone that is in his predicament is reading this, give a second army a whirl. Be warned, there is a high learning curve when you switch from MEQs to Xenos, but it is greatly rewarding. It will make you a better player in the long run and will prevent you from being burning out. I also hear the new Tyranid Codex is just begging for someone to figure out the hidden gems that are inside so give that a shot! (I honestly believe it is not as underpowered as everyone makes it out to be, but that's another topic).

So what's your second army, or what do you plan on using as a second army? Were you in the same predicament as Rich? How did you get out of your slump? Share your thoughts :D

Prime Advice

Primers. Interesting topic amongst some people. Some people don't use primer, some people swear by certain types of primer. Some people are sheep and just use what GW throws in front of you (I was one of those sheep for a long time) and others swear by Army Painter. Some people airbrush, some people put it on with a brush.

Now I mentioned I used to be one of the GW sheep, I actually was for about 2 years. I elected to pay up to $15 a can for primer. Now don't get me wrong, GW's black spray primer is the shit! I had used a lot of it for my Black Templars. It was so good, the primer actually doubled as my primary color. Then I moved on to Eldar and experimented with their white primer. In my opinion, GW's white primer is crap. You need to shake the thing for what seems like an hour in order for it to come out of the can decently, and I still have problems with it being too dusty and flakey. I don't want to be paying $15 for a can of shitty primer.

So I did what any pissed off gamer does, hit up the internet. I read an article on Hogs of War (http://www.thehogsofwar.com/2010/03/cheap-and-effective-non-gw-white-primer.html) and decided to give this Rustoleum a shot.

 First off, the can nearly exploded when I did my first spray. Paint shot out the top of the can and caked my hand in white primer. I'm pasty white enough being Polish and all, so right away I got a bad feeling about it. I continued anyways hoping that maybe it was just a bad can. So I sprayed a spare fig I had lying around and gave it the standard 15 minutes I normaly give my figs to dry before flipping them over to prime the other side. I went to touch the fig and it was still wet and sticky. So I checked up on it every hour. It took 24 hours for it to dry to a point that I could work with it, AND IT WAS STILL STICKY! Sorry Hogs of War, but this primer is crap.

So I continued my search on the internet and found someone on some random board praising the Color Place spray paint you can get at Walmart for $.96. Yes that ninety six cents.

So I picked up a can and tried it out and a random Nob I had lying around (Erin just got a Blackreach set for the Marines to convert to Chaos). It dried in like 10 minutes and came out of the can perfectly. It's not dusty and flakey like the GW stuff. Here's a pic of what this Nob looks like:

As you can see it turned out pretty freaking nice. It takes paint really nicely too. Here's a pick of a nob that I also primed with the Color Place and did a quick speed painting job on (that's ground for a future article)

So, what do you use for primer?

Let's Go Hawks

So it ends up being Blackhawks vs Flyers for the Stanley Cup. Let me get this out of the way, I FUCKING HATE THE FLYERS!!!! I don't know what it is about them but I just can't fucking stand them. I noticed today that the Flyers Captain Mike Richards touched the Prince of Wales Trophy.

Common hockey folk lore stated that to touch either the Campbell or Wales trophy is a curse because the only trophy a hockey player wants to touch is the Stanley Cup. Now I know that Sidney Crosby touched the trophy last year, but that's Sidney Crosby. Sid is well on his way to becoming a legend. Now Mike Richards on the other hand, he's an over rated hack.





Johnny Toews on the other hand, he's a  REAL captain and also well on his way to becoming a hall of famer. He also has class and respect for the game and it's traditions.

So I'm really hoping that the curse returns after making an exception for Sid.

Hawks in 6 is my prediction.

C Swizzy

Props to Lord Hannu

I'd like to give mad props to Lord Hannu. He is the artist for the Black Templar's Chaplain pic I'm using on my blog. I looked around for a pic for my site that would live up to the name, and I'm pretty happy with the results. Check out this dude's work at http://lordhannu.deviantart.com/  He also has an amazing Dark Angels pic up as well.

C Swizzy

How does this work? LOL

Well after listing to the Gamer's Lounge (Hi Bill and Jay!), I decided to experiment with this whole blogging thing.

What am I going to be posting here? I have no idea but I'm sure some of it will be AWESOME and some of it will be DISGUSTING! I'll probably use this as a log for current projects I'm working on (maybe even a little tid bit about the secret one I'm busting my ass off on now), a lot of venting or ranting I would assume and possibly some calling out. I will try to focus on just 40k but I will probably touch on other things like console and PC/Mac games, some sports, some music, some tech talk, a little bit of politics and maybe some firearms talk. I'm mostly doing this for me, I have no plans on competing with the other "big boy" blogs out there.

So feel free to follow me or subscribe to my RSS feed (wow, I feel important now!) and please mind the dust because this will be a perpetual work in progress.

C Swizzy