You are What you Eat!

Old Skool-New Skool Series (Article 2)
Your choice of army defines you


I have always been an odd little boy (and yes I was pretty small when compared to my peers as I was growing up. It was only through the no-scientific basis myth of post-circumcision growth spurts that I have grown to the stud of a man I am now… but that’s another story.)

Where was I? Oh yes. I have always been an odd little boy, choosing the road less traveled over the proverbial path of least resistance. I, for example, stuck with the Go-Bots well after I started watching, and loving, the Transformers as rented from the commonplace illegal betamax rental store. I took up baseball while everyone else was avidly playing soccer. I was reading Harper Lee and J.D. Salinger when everyone else was reading “Choose Your Own Adventure”. I… well I’m sure you get my point.

In true ManongGuard form, my army choices have always been odd and a tad more challenging than they have to be. I have been known to field the following 40K weird armies:

1. Assaulty Tau (with no Kroot) – Might not be fluffy but hellalotafun 2. Orange Speed Freeks with a Warboss on Trike and a Basilisk on a Buggy 3. Night Lords when no one else was playing Night Lords… weird looking Defiler called Hydro-cephalloid 4. Thousand Sons crap army 5. and now Iyanden Eldar

This brings me to my longest planned, never delivered army – The Salamanders.

I love this game. I love how hundreds of people fire up their neurons to deliver the ever-changing 40K rules BUT if there is one thing that I love most in 40K, it is the richness of the story. While I will not claim to be an expert in 40K canon (that’s why I have my three trusted buddies to educate me on fluff – Kyuzo, Salubri, and Balian – who are, [could it be?] possibly nerdier that I am), I try to read up as much as I can on armies before I commit to them. I came across the Salamanders (as I did with the Night Lords and Thousand Sons) in one of the old Index Astartes offerings. I read the fluff and liked them immediately. They had almost as much flavor as my favorite loyalists of all-time, the Iron Hands (too bad I do not like black and silver armies), they had challenges that you had to conquer (they used to be I3 marines) and some nice toys as well (Fury of the Salamander, Never Give Up, and that funky Armor you can put on your tanks). They were far from the powerhouses they are now.

I love playing against people with the same philosophy. My game against Beefcake’s Stealers army, for example, while ending in a draw, was memorable as hell. Some other examples are Salubri’s way gay BA Barakus army, Arvin’s lethal Oblits and Heavy galore Iron Warriors, Ricky’s viper-ridden Saim-Hann and Lito’s never-changing SoBs.

So what is my point? I would suggest you get to know your armies, not just rules-wise, but in terms of fluff as well. If you decide to field canonical armies (ones that do have mention in original 40K material), then try to read up on them and field lists that at least approximate what they are supposed to be. I promise you that you will have a richer experience when playing with and against such armies. Challenge yourself. What separates Warhammer from other TCGs and CCGs is that it should not only be about winning.

If you don’t want to bother, then make up your own chapter/craftworld/horde/klan/etc, please. On that note, I leave you with the following message: VULKAN HE’STAN is not a LUNA WOLF! – bang bang Jessie! Peace!

For more pictures of my Iyanden Eldar Serpents, please visit my blog.

Wave Serpent Alpha

I just finished the detail work on my first Wave Serpent. I'm pretty happy with how this project is turning out. It's just sad that I couldn't finish in time for the GT. This probably would have given Emcee's beautiful gray Ravenwing army a challenge at the very least.

The base is in homage to Jun Ubay's Tau army... the prime reason I got into 40K. I saw his army displayed in the old Galleria NG and thought to myself, "Hmm... I can do that too." More than 10 armies later, I think I'm still getting there (maybe 25% of the way there.). Progress is progress.

As a side note, six of my current stash of seven serpents (aba alliteration) have had their initial coat of mango yellow and dark blue applied. From there I would need to highlight each one and then proceed to ink-lining and detailing. Hope I finish within the year.

Taken with my D300 paired with my Tokina 100mm Macro prime lens and with the help of a Sigma Speedlite and my trusty light tent. Please post your comments.

*my sensor seems to be really dirty. sigh.

For more pictures please visit the Wave Serpent Alpha entry in my photoblog. Comments welcome.

When Math isn’t Math anymore

Old Skool-New Skool Series (Article 1)
Insights on 4th edition strategies in a 5th edition world
*sorry about the images - I forgot to take my cam off of ISO3200 after I did some night work*


Some of you may know this about me. I may not look it, but I number-crunch a lot. Number-crunching actually takes up a third of the major elements in my strategy. I number-crunch when I’m making army lists (mostly to evaluate weird lists and their efficiency). I number-crunch while playing. I number-crunch when doing post-mortem. Heck, I number-crunch when I’m reading my codices while taking a crap (beware all you who would dare borrow my codices). It is unsurprising, when viewed from this perspective, that I would tend to attempt to go back to my old ways now that I have returned to 40K gaming.

It was during my first battle under the 5th edition rules (and the beating I got from Matthew’s Eldar) that I noticed how my math simply does not work anymore… at least not the way I expected it to.

My brand of number-crunching is all about 1)reducing random results when possible, and 2) anticipating randomness through a crude probability computation. In my golden years, I could very effectively predict the outcome of assaults with a 2 model/wound margin of error. This allowed me to anticipate the chances my units will win in a particular combat and, more importantly, how long the combat would hold before my units or the opposing units get wiped-out. Gone are those days and here are the major reasons why:

1. Assault – The wound allocation rules are putting me off. A lot of my computations relied on the powerfist guaranteedly surviving the round of assault. Current wound allocation rules dictates that you have to distribute wounds prior to taking saves. 2. Shooting at units – Cover saves are awesome! I knew this way back when I was playing Nightlords. In fact, I would spend the extra 5 points per marine for Stealth Adept except on my assaulty units. Now everyone gets the 4+ invulnerable save I used to have to pay for. This rule adds 50% randomization to my results as compared to the 33% that I had to contend with using old rules. True-line-of-sight is also putting me off. Do I have to anticipate the 4+ cover save for that unit or don’t I? 3. Shooting at Vehicles– Vehicles taking a cover save? A new set of Glancing Hits results? I hope I get used to this. There was a time when cover meant “Glancing Hits Only”. I abused this rule through my Manongguard patented T-Rhino Assault Formation which basically guaranteed a maximum of only 2 glanceable transports as my opponent’s legal targets per turn. No randomness. I cannot seem to get the hang of computing for results based on the chances of getting an immobilized or destroyed result when you compound the new table with the cover rules. I end up shooting land raiders with 8 bright-lances a turn and coming up with nothing. Rhino’s in-turn, are ultra-easy to pop (it’s just sad that I use so many rhinos). Pop-smoke and you only get a 50% chance to become unpoppable. Sigh. 4. Assaulting Vehicles – What?! Units always get to assault the rear? They simply made the Land Raider a bigger monster and made everything else afraid of getting assaulted (Why do they love the Land Raider so much – I have 2 CSM armies and an SM army and not one Land Raider).

I’m at my most vulnerable right now and it’s a wonder that I haven’t lost any of my games so far. I don’t know if I will ever get back to number-crunching on the table or if it’s simply time to let the dice gods have their way with me.

Just some thoughts from an old dog trying to… you know the rest.

Iyanden Ghosts - St. Luke's Chapter

The result of three days (and change) cooped up in St Luke's while "Stoney" was being treated. I went through a Urethroscopy + Lithosomethingoranother. It's basically the joy of inserting a camera equipped with a jackhammer through your genitals.

Silver lining was that I got some painting done. I finished 4 Wraithguards, 1 Wraithlord, and 10 Storm Guardians (Conversions - Still have to paint the gems and base of 5 of em). Mostly, this builds my painting speed confidence. I might be able to finish the entire army before the year ends... maybe even before the GT.

Tell me what you think.


Photos were taken using my D300 with the PLASTIC MASTER. Light-tent shots were taken in my house.

Visit my multiply site for more photos.

My 40K Photographs so far...

Some links to my photoblog that you might find interesting. The first three are Iyanden progress photos, the fourth link is just me fooling around with extension tubes and my Salamanders, while the last one is about my DIY Light Tent (Thousand Sons used to test). You might find this useful if you are into mini photography.

Eldar Craftworld Iyanden
First Iyanden Guardians Squad
Manong's (wraith)Guard

The Making of the Salamanders

Return of the Thousand Sons

Let's do a professional BattleRep soon with two fully painted armies and wicked terrain. I'm very willing to photograph. Salubri or Emcee, maybe you should volunteer your armies.