Happy New Year !

Hi all!

yet again been absent from blogging, as fate would have it work issues raised their ugly head again, it honestly feel like 2011 will great to see the rear end of.  Anyway- been chipping away at the grey knights.

Got to complete a librarian and a squad of interceptors.

I'm really happy with the results the colour scheme is really showing through now and i like it as something different but still consistent with the grey knights.

Anyway 2012 looms ahead and I'm hoping that it will be a year of progress and stability.

I wish you all a happy new year.

cheers

Jon-Paul

Wednesday Tactics

Grey Knights and Halberds

I really like this article over at Prometheus at war  prometheus at war  I really like the view he has on halberds, ill admit ive armed some of my interceptors with halberds but I really do see his rationals here against equipping them with Halberds.

Check the article over here ok look nfw halberds are not as great as you think

While I think against DE which I'm facing allot lately having the initiative advantage is important and the other is taking down and winning combats against furious charge blood angels - yep thats what everyone else is running!

Anyway have a read and post up what you think!

The Weekly WIP

So this week saw some gaming 3 small 850 games on Friday-  earlier on monday night a 1500 point game against eldar and on the sunday counting backwards 2 games one against blood angels with gabriel seth and one against Grey Knights a draigo wing list.

So the games went well and on the friday night games i found and then fell in love with the purgation squad. If your reading the blog on a regular basis you'll notice on wednesday i started another regular post - The Wednesday tactics post.

So after reading through the article myself I thought heck Purgation squads lets see what they can do. Sure the 24 range can be limiting but! as the article discusses man they can unleash a huge amount of pain- in 2 of the 3 games they played so well- and even in the 3rd game they still caused 6 penetrating hits and 4 glances - it was just the dice gods who saw my opponent save all the cover saves all 10 of them!

Wednesday Tactics

So Im not the best tactician - in fact i think half the time I win by pure luck!

But in the past I've come across some pretty nice tactical articles in forums and etc so I figure im going to replicate some of the interesting ones ive read.

Im going to keep the theme to grey knights for the next few articles. The 1st one is about Purgation squads by Hero of Coffee on the Heresy online forums Purgation Squads .

It got me thinking and infact ive re-arrganged my 1200 point list to included these guys 16 Str 7 shots a turn?  Me thinks its worth it !

Im thinking an incinerator/psycannon combo with a land raider for higher points.

Anyway here is the article enjoy:

The Mid week Rant

So here they come!

Over on Blood of Kittens network there was an interesting article on the nature of the new codex and its main theme: its like tactics mat ward and his necron dreams the white dwarf .

Its very interesting - the emphasis on the shooting is really clear- and down at our LFGS there has been allot of discussion about the shooting abilities.  Of course the matt ward element has been discussed .

I think we will see this army being a real challenge to face if you intend sit and castle- I think counter attack space wolf lists that are reliant on long fangs. Guard may have challenges considering some of the interesting abilities that are being kicked about.

Weekly WIP 2

Well this week was about finishing the 1st terminator squad.

I was keen to work on a banner for the squad as well as get them based up as well.  Initially I had contacted Ron from From the Warp about the possibility of him being able to complete a commission for me on flags as his work is really great and maybe one day I will but unfortunately Ron's schedule will not fit in with mine. 

The Weekly WIP

Well after reading a very good article over on From the Warp about improving your blog - and the part about getting some structure into your posts (things you can do to improve your blog ).

With that as a basis im going to try and start with just a weekly update on the current Works in Progress or WIPs.

Once I get this going more consistently ill then look to slot in other regular posts with different themes.

Army Lists for Arcanacon

The last few days I've spent pondering what list id like to take to this years Arcannacon Tournament-  Last time I was very successful with a mechanised space wolf list though certain options did let me down in the end. Notably the drop pods actually hurt me in some games and Id like to revisit that list possibly as a back up if the Grey Knights are not completed in time.

Theme and colours

So thanks to all those who commmented last post.

The next thing I going to discuss about the GK army is the theme and colour.

As you would have noticed they are not the shiny new grey knights from the codex- they have a darker colour set its grey with metal working through it but all in all its grey.

Reading the books and fluff etc- the armor of the grey knights was unpolished and unmarked cermite in the beginning so im sticking with the  dull non reflective approach-  My brotherhood and grand master could honor the old ways of the chapter im not yet certain how it will go.

Additionally I have some reference material to go with this approach.

As you can see here the color scheme is allot darker almost black with hits of metalic highlights, and i personally prefer this look- there are some changes ive made- notably the storm bolter is red as opposed to black in these pictures and hilts of swords and halberd parts are gold. But predominatly this will be the colors ill use for my army.

As to force structure - there will be a dreadnaught - mainly because you can't really go pass the -4 on psychic rolls for the ageis- he will be venerable and it will be a contemptor model.

I think personally considering at what point the Knights where formed and that they have access to the technology of the imperium and really are the few that would have had access to allot of the STC- considering a whole forge world was dedicated to their resourcing that the contemptor would feature in the Grey Knight forces -  according to the special rules for the contemptor it has a 5++ cover save well i would argue that field generator that provides that would be replaced with the re-enforced ageis to combat demons etc.

As to the name ill pick for my main characters and the justicars and the squad names im not sure where to go with this.

Im thinking roman names etc but that may be standard across the empire.

But I will lay down some back story for the strike force and how its come to be the way it is etc.

Any thoughts from you readers on the approach for names etc would be interesting to read.

Anyway now for forgeworld to get my stuff delivered and for Dragon Forge to send me my bases and Ill be able to kick this up a notch.

Next post ill throw up some proposed army lists for consumption and feedback.

It's ALIVE!

Well the say its been a long time would be an understatement.

Suffice to say end of financial year at work balanced by concerns of me having a job in the foreseeable future put a hold on motivation pretty much. Painting and gaming only really happened in small amounts balanced by finance and income concerns!

Anyway most that is now behind me.  My partner in crime though is still under a pile of text books and such and really wont expect to see him surface for a few more months.

That being the case things in the hobby scene are moving again Arcannacon 2012 is looming and Im hoping to return and have more fun at the event with a new army.

And that leads me to yes there is a new army on the way and of course its .........

GREY KNIGHTS

now before there is that - oh here we go again grey knights yet again,  way back before the space wolves were an option grey knights aka deamonhunters was the planned codex of choice-  what happened was playability and availability to plastic kits for conversions.

Now though with the new range of kits out well i thought it was time to give the boys in grey a spin.

Ive begun working on a small 1200 point list that I hope to expand as the 2012 tournament scene progresses.  So Grey knights will be the theme for 2012.

The High elves are still there as well and ill be working on them as time goes on, storm of magic has opened up some options for interesting armies theme wise and ill post more on that as the time comes.

So here are some shots of WIPS for the grey knights;

Also i got a new display cabinet for some of my favorite miniatures as well as a small sample of the Napoleonic armies i have

Anyway hope to be blogging more in the coming days and weeks

cheers

Honouring great work

Hey guys, just a quick post tonight to honour the great tutorial done by Faolain on his blog Awakening Ynnead. His tutorial on how to magnetise a Skaven Screaming Bell was well laid out, showed me all the steps necessary to repeat the procedure and while I chose not to repeat this work it was because of the effort done already (the too hard basket was filled with this one). It doesn't stop there however as there are numerous tutorials on all facets of the hobby on the site, so go check it out!

In as fact I have begun to record all the great tutorials I can find with the interest of building a list for the new site when I get it up and running, If you think you too have done something great for the community and would like to ensure it gets out there why not drop me a line, I will check it out and put it on the list with full props going to the rightful authors! But how to contact me you say? why you've never posted an email up before you say... well that ends now! Contact me at bobgill13 at gmail dot com!

Additionally there will be more on my own Skaven in the near future, as I catalogue the sheer immensity that is painting 260+ models *sigh*

Good Gaming!
Von Drakin 

High Elf Dragon WIP 6

So the last two days ive got allot more completed on the rider so this guy is nearly done and ill move back to another rank of seaguard and continue to build that unit, i havnt figured out what ill paint after the 2nd rank of seaguard but it may either be the lion chariot or the 1st rank of the sword masters. Ill see what takes my fancy.


Anyway here are the shots from the last few sessions of painting.

High Elf Dragon WIP 5 and Carmine Dragon Warhammer Forge Release

Well to say I'm excited about the recent warhammer forge release is an understatement.

Oh my will that be my centerpiece for the army ? HELL YEAH

Ill admit this I'm a Forgeworld fan - proud to say it in fact I love their take on Warhammer 40k and Warhammer in general and ill say this looking at this I'm happy to part with money for this model.  

High Elf Dragon WIP 4

So got the base done partly today,

still some more detailing to go and refining of some of the elements.

Delectable Morsels.

So if you have been visiting us here at the 5th for the past few days you will no doubt have seen the work in progress shots of one very green hungry looking dragon as done by Jon Paul. Now while it looks a fearsome brute it is an animal and with that concern in mind I thought how nice would it be to ensure it a healthy diet... Enter stage left, the ratmen aka. Lunch.

High Elf Dragon WIP 3

OK so tonight was more work on the detail around the head namely the eyes, the reins and continued work on skin tones and base coating and working on some of the gems.

40k 6th edition Rumours

Howdy folks, So its been a tumultuous time for not just myself but many of you as well,  with GW playing funny buggers in the background and giving us gamers in the southern hemisphere what can only be described as the Glasgow Kiss (for those who dont know what this is google it! but dont try it at home...). So with all that has been going on there is little brand love from myself right now, yet there lies a shining beacon of hope on the horizon! 40k 6th edition could be coming real soon!

High Elf Dragon WIP 2

So today got some more done today- continued to work on the skin highlights as well correct the underside of the spines to blend them closer to the topside-  also laid down the base coat for the armor and began working on the bone elements.

So the bronze works really well the the green contrast and im glad i stuck with that scheme-  the interesting thing about this model and it may be my lazy painting or just the complexity of the mode but I find allot of area's where i need to continue to build skin contrast as much as possible.

High Elf Dragon WIP 1

So with the 1st rank of the sea guard completed I decided to start work on the dragon I plan to include in the final 3000 point list.

The first step was to airbrush the model black using the Vallejo black primer and then a full covering of Vallejo model air color olive green (71007).

Then after that I mixed that with about 50% of that with 50% Game Color Dark Green (72028) and airbrushed that on as well.

From there was a green wash over the body of the model and black wash over the wing components.

WIP Seaguard Update 2

Got some more completed today on the front rank- bases are done, only thing really remaing for these guys is some highlights for the blue's, gems and eyes.

Yes we are still open

Never fear readers, the changes to our site have been a long time coming. You may notice over the next few days that the 5th Column will be undergoing certain 'tweaks' and we ask that you bear with us during this time.

Black Powder Napoleonic Game

This weekend Harley and I continued our infrequent learning of the Black Powder Rules.  Having played General de brigade for the better part of a decade and amassing a largish collection -( which I have plans to continue to grow mind you)  Ive been looking for another set of rules to play games with people who may not be ready to sit down and spend a few solid weeks reading the rules before playing.

So far I'm starting to feel black powder is that set of rules - strip away to silly comments and the general tidbits of attempted humor (sorry guys I don't find it that funny) and at the core you have a set of elegant rules that for the most part is giving me the feel of the period- without to much of the reference material. 

WIP Seaguard Update

I was able to do a some more highlighting this week and also progress the champion to completion and test the basing idea I had as well.

The main idea is to create a look of a ruined city in the fall period so lots of fallen leaves against white stone etc. Eventually will aim to have this as the theme for the presentation board down the track.

I used some of the Silfor range to complete the effect and I must say I really like the outcome.


The other 5 guys are also closer to completion- so once they are done Ill start work on the Noble with the battle standard and the Mage.  The aim is to complete the front rank, then paint something else such as the dragon or the chariot and then comeback and paint the next rank. This way I wont get bored and feel like I'm stuck on one unit for eternity.

A place to call my own

So its been a while, As you may already know I have been neck deep in mid year exams of which I only have 1 more to go in 11 days. The funny thing is I have had to escape to study from... my study! Thats right I can no longer sit in that room any longer and pretend to do anything but play with my models!

Enough with the math, its almost time to play games involving... damn it

So this got me to thinking, According to Wolframs law this surely cant be a unique situation I find myself in, with the plethora of gamers out there someone else has to have come across this "issue" before. So in the interest of idle curiosity I thought to share my... issue with all of you and see what people have to say, or at the very least expose my shame for your entertainment!

High Elves WIP Seaguard

So its been a few days since my last post, Harley is currently knee deep in text books, working through his semester exams.  Myself with work going overdrive I've taken to working for about an hour and half a night slowly working away on the high elves. 

For a unit of 40 elves there is probably to much time and effort going into the models, and ill let people be the judge but the shots below are still in progress and there is allot of highlighting to go, but to be honest, with no tournament to rush to finish for, and now taking a more relaxed approach to painting, I'm not minding the slow burn, but it does make me think how long will this army really take?

Update on GW price and embargo 2

Well the Facebook page owner had his meeting today:

Here is the summary he posted at http://www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=group_109577025797447#!/home.php?sk=group_109577025797447&notif_t=group_activity

Text as follows:

English Civil War Megagame

On Sunday Harley and I attend the megagame event held down here annually- Last year it was ACW but this year it was the English Civil War.

Harley and I chose to be royalists and stood up to defend the king against parliament and its wicked ways.  The rules where modified Black Powder.  to sum up the objective of the day here is the blurb from website:

Update on GW price and embargo

Recently a letter was sent by one of the members of the face book page group GW Australia and New Zealand Price Petition Linkhttp://www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=group_109577025797447&notif_t=group_activity

The letter is as follows:

Return to Warhammer part 2

Well I wont lie,

The last week has left a real sour taste in my mouth when it comes GamesWorkshop the company.
So much so I have been a little hesitant when it comes to the blog around what my discussion around the hobby does in terms of how it relates to my opinion that the Company has made a serious public relations blunder.

Suffice to say this point going forward the mantra here at 5th column will be about "enjoy then game" but I will not talk about only GW product and will expand my discussion around what else is out there to use for the game. Further more at the heart I am an historical gamer so some content around that aspect of my hobby needs to make a return so some balance returns to my hobby overall.

Put simply I think allot of us forgot myself included, that while GW make one of the largest ranges of fantasy models out there, there are other companies who make equal product, but probably not on the scale of GW and probably because we the wargamer have become lazy and just spent our money with GW in the past.

What do I mean?  well Avatars of War - http://www.avatars-of-war.com/ are a great small Spanish company with some truly wonderful models for your hero's and they are expanding into plastic themselves with dwarf berserkers- which I personally think are better than the GW version and when I start my Slayer Army later this year will be the product I use.

There are heaps of other companies who do a range of wonderful fantasy models - now for the tournament player this may be problematic but, maybe since GW don't sponsor tournaments , maybe its time TO's start to allow other products to be used in armies so that people can continue to enjoy and play the game without having to average 140$ aud for a unit of 20 warriors.

Anyway enough about Mark Wells, dumb customer relations and price gouging lets get back into some gaming.

GW Price's and The growing disquiet

Well a small update here,

I promise ill have some hobby related items soon!

Anyway anyone who thinks that GW have got it wrong and feel that a message needs to be sent

Please join this face book group Gw Australian and NZ price Petition

So far the only comment we have seen from GW is from their web team :

"Hi everyone,

Well, we can see that there are quite a few of you with strong feelings about several issues, and the threads have gone a little crazy. We’re sorry many of you feel frustrated. We have read all of your comments and  because we (the web dudes) don’t have the power to act on any of them, be assured that we have passed your comments on to the higher levels of management in GW.

GW Price rise and Trade Restriction

I ask all to read this- understand it even comment as sign of support or even post it on your blog as well.

An Open Letter to GW by Kirby

From the Desk of Kirby:

I normally hate these type of posts and avoid writing them like the plague. Most of these type of articles just end up complete whining or asshatery (though I did love SandWyrm's)which isn't really necessary but what has happened recently has lead me to write this. Before we get to the letter though some information. Games Workshop has changed their terms and conditions for stores in the United Kingdom to only allow shipping to countries within the European Union and other parts of Europe. They have increased their prices again come June and have announced the released of resin and mixed resin/plastic sets instead of metals with an approximate increase of 2.5-25% depending upon the set. None of these sets are new but rather re-casts. 


Letter time!

Return to Warhammer Part 1

So as I mentioned last night I'm returning to Warhammer after a very long brake.

Back in the day I owned a Wood elf Army, a Dwarf Army, an Empire Army and  a Dark Elf Army. Suffice to say Warhammer was what it was about for me, that is after historical gaming.

I loved the system,  the story, the character and the imagery.  That was then, I was 13 and I was having a blast, over that period of 5th ed and then 6th ed i built those above armies and loved every moment of it over those intervening years.

High Elves 3000 points

Hi all,

Well from a gaming perspective 40k is taking a back seat for the next few months, well at least till Arcannacon,  painting will continue and I should have an update in the next week with another completed squad.

Fluff Revisited

Thanks to Mike Mini's recent post on the back ground of his chapter Sons of Minos which I recommend you all go have a look at.  I felt it was time I worked out and settled on the proper back story and fluff for the arctic templars.

Of course the time to do with with has more to do with the fact I put my Back out last week so I cant paint!

So fist off why is fluff so important. Well to me it give my lads something else other than a nice paint job and seeing as they are going through a rebirth of sorts with new paint jobs and new models for some of the older models and considering Ive progressed along in the hobby as well.

Additionally it allows me to plan future work with little more than just a list and color scheme to work with. Some depth of story sets up for a few new characters maybe, and ability to also then work on unit histories as well.

So I got out my Deathwatch - Rites of Battle book and the deathwatch book as well which I have stowed away for all sorts of tidbits of lore etc about the 40k verse and got to work.


So I present the rebirth of the Arctic Templar's:

We want YOU!

Thats right fellow bloggers and other assorted people who trawl the interwebs for stuff that could or could not be hobby related... stuff it, YOU! A while ago Jp issued a challenge to himself and I. "Paint your unpainted miniatures!" Well im doing my bit, even under the weight of assignments and with exams looming just over the horizon I have painted my very first of what im now hoping to be one of many, many, many, many... well its a lot of rats!

Its Uncle Skalm!

Im not dead!

Well to say the least its been a while.

I have to apologise to anyone following the blog, we recently had a death in the family which took allot of time from everything else, then work stepped up a notch, so a few things had to get cut with regards to time that was available.

Unfortunately the blog was one of the 1st to go. but after a long hiatus I'm back and hope to be posting on a regular basis again.

Grey Knights, you know you want to!

So readers you may have noticed a great deal of not very much going on here at the 5th for the last week, this is due to real life and hobby factors but fear not, for we are here to whet you hobby needs!

So whats on everyones mind right now? Grey Knights of course, are they as deadly as everyone thinks? what can we do with these bad boys in the mundane colour scheme! With that in mind I have been toying with several list ideas based on concepts at the 1500 point level, none of which should scream ultimate cheese to your opponent but with luck give you an interesting game! So over the next few days im going to post up these lists to you the reader for you dissemination!

I'll be there

Dont worry mate I'll make it to Melbourne in Flames!

in as fact im currently just finishing off building the new models for what I hope to be my last Chaos Marine tourny, I mean lets face it with the arrival of Grey Knights on top of other great codex's and a new unnamed codex in the works my pre 5th edition Chaos Lite 'just one calorie' codex is starting to see the end of its days!

But fear not my stalwart friends the last major tourny for the Astral Wolves is going to be a blast with my new list!

Melbourne in Flames and Lords of Terra Invitational.

Well the with the campaign progressing nicely  (The loyalists will have their revenge I can assure of that!) there are a few tournaments coming up in the coming months Namely Melbourne in Flames, SDW, Kill Count and Lords of Terra Invitational.

The coming series of tournaments will probably represent my season of tournaments for the year 2011 until Arcannacon.

Gythium Campaign game 3

Howdy! Von Drakin here with another game report on what is becoming a hotly contested matchup between Jp and I, the Gythium Campaign! As always I will include a little bit of story time at the end :)

Bloody door to door sales tanks...

But first off the bat, before we delve into the raw grit of battle, the wistful tales of heroes told and a boy and his rabid lesser daemon of fury I would like to address Jp's new idea "The painting initiative" (a newer snazzier name could be good... suggestions welcome. btw I will not accept "The newer snazzier painting initiative")

High Elves and a New Painting Intiative

Well its been a few weeks and I have to say sorry for not posting sooner. Real life as Drakin suggested has caught up with me and I have been unable to do much than work and focus on the basics.

The last few days I've been working a High Elf Seaguard color scheme and feel ive hit the scheme im after and will now progress to building at first a 2000 point army.

Story time and pretty pictures!

Hi there,
             Well its fallen to me Von Drakin to take the blog under my wing for a few days due to unforeseeable events outside of hobby/cyber space, Needless to say things are a bit hectic at the moment for Jp so his side of the story will have to wait for another day, but in the mean time your support would perk him up no doubt about it!

Go ahead, Make my day!

So first of, before I go on languidly on our narrative campaign story arc how about a little hobby to whet yon appetites!