Contagion

When I played WoW (World of Warcraft) I had this sickness... The sickness was called
Altivitus. In short I was always creating new toons / characters to play. I wanted to be able to experience all aspects of the game. I have my primary 4 toons, but that was just not good enough.

I have discovered / realized recently that this "Contagion" is spreading. I now know that this same infection affects my 40k too. I have this insatiable need to play many different builds, with many different armies. Most of the time it is sparked simply by seeing a really cool model. Sometimes it is sparked by seeing a cool conversion such as the Dakkalith from the previous post. Whatever causes it... I have it.

I love my orks I think because they have the most diverse collection of models. If I so choose I can take any vehicle from any model and put some orky know-how to it. I will be able to field that model, and it will work. Take for instance the upcoming Valkrie release. Do I currently play IG? Nope. I want a huge Cadian force, but am trying to hold myself back.

What will I do then? Hmmmm... Sounds to me like WAAAGH! Hermit is getting a couple of fighta-bombas. Will it be the best option? Nope. Will it be used in 95% of my games... Nope. It will look crazy on my gaming shelf though for all (rather the people that come to my garage) to see.

What is the cure? I am not sure there is one. If you are still reading this... I am afraid that you have been infected... I hope that you are immune.

What I need to make the symptoms less painful would be a Mercenary / Pirate / Raider list. When I first started this hobby I played fantasy and this Army list came out called Dogs of War. I thought this was simply amazing. The ability to have a large variety of models that look different so that one such as me could try them all. I want that for 40k.

I recently bought a Vyper and painted it up to my gaming standard. I like the model, which is sitting in front of the marines on my shelves. I purchased 4 Jetbikes to go along with him to start my Eldar army. I am wondering now if I still want to follow that army through... or was it just a need to paint that really cool model up?

I want to paint some Cadians. I want to try out my own version of Ron's Marines. I want to paint some Crisis Suits, a Pirahna, and a Hammerhead. I want to paint up a squad of Grey Knights. I want I want I want...

/sigh

I am going to have to develop my own Dogs of War rules for 40k even if the only place I can use it is my garage.

Dakkalith?

Have you seen this? I found this to be simply amazing.



I found it on this guys blog...

Scarpia

Sadly in reading through some of his posts it appears that he no longer plays 40k. However... I think a monolith converted into a battle fortress count as battlewagon just for fun sounds amazing. I think it would look dead sexy next to my Stompa.

I will not call it a looted Monolith, and I do not choose to get into a fluff debate. I will just call it "Orkspiration" and say that some Mekboy decided to build a rolling pyramid.

Monday - Hermit Game Nights

Monday's have become Hermit Game Nights around my house. My wife has a Bible study she goes to so the house is all mine from 6ish to 9ish... well... me and the kids.

Anyway...

So the guy I "converted" to miniature war gaming, Nick, has been coming over working out his Marine build. He is getting better quick, which is a good thing. He has been getting more Saturday games in than me too... So... It will not be long before my padawan confronts the master... heh

He is building up a Salamanders army and it is looking good. He is painting a lot. He has a lot of free time on his hands with a medical retirement from the Army. Really cool guy and picking up on the nuances of the game fast.

I have been running my basic Ork list and want feedback. I do not want to improve it. Nay! What I want is to make sure I have not cheesed him. I do not see my army as overkill, it is the standard 1500 that I run, just want anyone out there that comes across this to give me their thoughts.

Again... I am not trying to improve. What I am after is to make sure that I am not overpowered cheese here. We end up calling most of the games do to pending wipe. We have loads of fun, and that is what counts... I want to keep it that way.

Here is my list...

Warboss
Powerklaw, Twin-Link Shoota, Attack Squig

9 Nobz
3 PK, 3 Big Choppa, 3 Choppa, 3 Bosspole, 3 Eavy Armor

Battlewagon
4 Big Shoota, Zzap Gun, Armor Plates, Ard Case, Deff Rolla, Grot Riggers, Red Paint Job

19 Boyz & Nob
Big Shoota, Pk & Bosspole

Battlewagon
4 Big Shoota, Zzap Gun, Armor Plates, Ard Case, Deff Rolla, Grot Riggers, Red Paint Job

11 Boyz & Nob
PK & Bosspole, Trukk, Red Paint Job

4 Deffkopta
4 Twin-Link Rokkit Launcha, Buzzsaw

4 Deffkopta
4 Twin-Link Rokkit Launcha, Buzzsaw

Meganobz Conversion

Ok. So... this is my first real attempt at conversion work. I have done minor things. Nothing major or significant.

I took one of the black reach terminators and went to orky town on him. I kept the whole terminator in there... buried under ork bits. I chopped off both hands and added proper orky ones.

I filed down the head into a "neck", added some green stuff to build up the armor around the head then added a nob head. I like the burna looking head. I added an armor plate up top to fill in the space.

I gave him a nice "skark" looking spike on top. I used some "gobs" for the boots. and some shoulder armor to take some of the marine look away from the arms. I added the burna backpack to his back and put on a nice armored ork loin cloth.

Oh...

Those guys behind the conversion...

Do not mind them, they are just a few of his friends.

Currently they are a nice "GRAY TIDE" one day they will grow up, get painted and be a proper GREEN TIDE.






Sorry for the lousy photos. I suck at photography and it is hit or miss with me. I am still trying new things in the game room with the lighting too...

In that last image... that is not too much shadow, it is just sunset on planet hermit...

By Popular Demand

Ok... so everybody asked me...

"Hermit, how did you build the Proxidar so quickly? How did you get so much detail? We could use some guidance... tips even."

Well... My loyal readers... both of you... Here is my Tutorial...

PAPAERHAMMER and YOU

A list of materials...
Bowl
Spoon
Cereal
Milk
Scissors
Marker
Pen
Plastic Bag
Crayons
Bases
List
Inspiration

Step 1
Get your bowl, spoon, cereal and Milk. Eat. Repeat this step until cereal is gone.


Step 2
Cut up the cereal box.

Step 3
Gather your bases, pen, marker, scissors....


Step 4
Get your list...
Step 5
Take a base, your pen, and some cardboard. Place the base on the cardboard and trace.



Step 6
For those tricky models get yourself an image and draw it out.


Step 7
Now that your models are traced, you need to cut. Get your scissors and star cutting.


Step 8
Now most of you would recycle what is left. Some of you may discard it. These are both wrong. What you need to do is save all this extra stuff. In the modeling world we call this stuff "sprue" and bits. You need to put all this extra stuff in a bit box to use for conversions later...

Step 9
You may be asking yourself... "Self... but the Hammerhead has a turret?" You would of course be mentally imbalance and should seek help... You should at least be polite and answer yourself though. Tell your other personality or whatever you crazies call it that we have that covered. Get your scissors, pen, and cardboard...



Step 10
They make these little "button" things that are silver and brass. I did not have any. What I did have was an old folder. I cut the hinged tab things out. I punched a hole in the "turret" and the hammerhead. Push the hinged tab thing (yes that is the technical term) into the holes and you have a functional turret.


Step 11
Time to label. Get out your marker...



Step 12
Squads Hermit Squads! I hear you. CALM DOWN! Now... get out your crayons so that you can make proper squad markings...



Step 13
Now this is a big topic on the interweb... How best to transport your models? I have heard the talk about Battlefoam. I have seen and used Sabol Army Transport. I have seen and used the GW cases. I have even used Plano and other plastic boxes... All rubbish. Overpriced and not nearly cool enough. There is a secret company out there that makes great transport containers. Perfect. It will hold all of your models and fit in a backpack....


I hope that this tutorial has been informative. I know some may say "Hermit you suck." Well that is your choice. This is a free country.

I know some may complain that this is a hobby and paper models are just crap. Well... perhaps. I think unpainted models are crap too...

When all is said and done, this is a game folks. I play for fun. I am not rich. When my son and I, and my "trainees" want to game and try out new armies I am not going to go out and blow my mortgage on the newest army. This is cheap, and works just fine for having fun.

/cheers

Give Up

Been waiting on my jetbikes from E-bay for over a week now. Got an e-mail yesterday stating that "My items have just been shipped." Nice...

I had been holding off on doing anything orky with the expectation that any day now I would be able to build and paint some jetbikes. Bah! No such luck now.

Last night after I got finished digging in my yard (Yay! Yard work) I sat down and could no longer put off the assembly of some orks. A couple months ago I purchased lots of black reach orks along with some orks to make shoota boyz. Well last night I sat myself down to assemble them. I now have 35 complete along with another 50 that are just legs and torsos...

/sigh

Quite the discouraging task.

Image ninjaed from Despair Inc

Attack of the Proxidar

So here is my finest work yet. Perfectly based. Perfectly painted. I put this all together in one evening and it adds up to 2k.

I mean come on! Just look at that detail. Did you see the blending on that one Wave Serpent? Amazing! Highlights, shadows... I have simply outdone myself...

2000 Point Robotech

Ok... So this is not really Robotech. It was false advertising... When I first thought of it though I though... hey... This reminds me of that cartoon I watched as a kid with all the Zentradi. It had jetbikes, and walkers and cool flying things... yea...

So here is what crazy idea that I came up with. I love crazy lists... and this is one of them.

NEW & Improved List (I did not realize the Walker weapons would not be twin-linked... thus the change)

Autarch
Avenger Shuriken Catapult

Autarch
Avenger Shuriken Catapult

9 Dire Avengers
Exarch, Bladestorm

Wave Serpent
Twin-Linked Brightlance, Star Engines

9 Dire Avengers
Exarch, Bladestorm

Wave Serpent
Twin-Linked Brightlance, Star Engines

Vyper Squad (3)
Brightlance

Vyper Squad (3)
Starcannon

Vyper Squad (3)
Eldar Missile Launcher

War Walker Squad (3)
Eldar Missile Launcher

War Walker Squad (3)
Starcannon

War Walker Squad (3)
Scatter Laser

Did you see that? 2000 points with 9 vypers and 9 war walkers... crazy. Is it a good list? I do not know... Do I care? Nope lol

As some of you may know I love to field crazy things... This certainly qualifies... Time to start buying up some models...

Sherpa, if you are reading this... Now who seems crazier :) Great job on those trees again.

Ninja Post

Bit Box

I just stumbled upon this post. You may have read it. You may already do this. If not.. I think it is an amazing idea. It beats my cardboard bit box easy.

My Starter Eldar

Ok... so here is how my first 500 points of Eldar shall go down. It may not be the most tactically sound, but it is what I want to see on the table. Often times I will play an army list that is weak just because it is how I want to see it fielded. I have my lists built all the way out to my proposed 2000 list, where in theory is where I want to stop.

500 ELDAR

FARSEER [113]
Farseer ( 55), Jetbike (30), Shining Spear (3), Doom (25)

GUARDIAN JETBIKE SQUAD [152]
6 Guardians (132), 2 Shuriken Cannon (20)

GUARDIAN JETBIKE SQUAD [152]
6 Guardians (132), 2 Shuriken Cannon (20)

VYPER SQUAD [80]
Vyper (45), Star Cannon (25), Shuriken Cannon (10)


In other news. I made up some "CD" terrain this weekend to test how I liked it. I think it turned out ok. I used the wrong type of glue on a couple of them and it really stands out, but otherwise I am happy. I will create some more and perhaps even do my very first ever tutorial... Not like this simple stuff needs one... This way I feel important though :)

Saim-Hermit

I have watched too many of Fritz's videos as of late... Between him and my good blogging buddy Sherpa I just had to start my own.

At this past Hobbit RTT that I attended I really love my deffkoptas. That got me thinking... Why not do a whole army like that? hmmm...

Ravenwing? Nope

Dark Eldar? Nope (really close though)

Eldar? Nop... Yep!

Better yet... I shall run Saim-Hermit along side of WAAAGH! Hermit, and to a lesser extent my UltraHermits. I have a trend going... must keep with it.

Below you shall see how I put my meager painting skills to the eldar. I have 4 bikes on the way and just need some fantasy elf bits to convert up a seer council and start playing to do Fritz proud.

Final Round

Ok... So... No photos of round 3...

I know I know. I had the camera. You see what happened was this...

I was playing a chaos player with Lash. I reached for my camera and he passed his psychic test. He then promptly rolled some dice and moved my camera just out of reach. It seemed like every time I went for the camera he used the power. I spent the whole game reaching for it, getting oh so close... but just came up with an epic fail.

It was a very close game. We both had an objective and both contested. We both killed the highest HQ of the opponent. The third "goal" was victory points. I killed more than he did and received 5 points for the game. A very informative game, as this was the first time I had seen lash... ever... Just an evil power. Lash + Demon Prince Ate my Warboss and all 10 Nobz in combat in one turn. Well... His close combat phase followed by mine that is.

So... What do I have for you? The following images of the painted armies for your enjoyment....

On another note... I am going camping for the weekend... Catch everyone later :)