Friday, July 30, 2010

New Forge World piece: Ok things are just getting silly


So if you havent checked out the latest forge world newsletter you wont have noticed the new piece of kit pseudo storm raven like drop ship that they are supposedly releasing soon. Ill be honest, I like the stats, but the model looks like GW was trying to release a space marine piece that looked like something out of Homeworld 2 (or possibly a popular movie franchise which cant be mentioned without the concsent of George Lucas) Its not a bad model but lets be honest, this thing looks a trifle bit out of place in the grim and blocky universe that is Warhammer 40k. questions comments and hate mail all gladly accepted.


Cheers


Scott

BH Senior Editor


P.S.

due to some problems at the shop the regular BH radio show will not be airing.

Thursday, July 29, 2010

Rough coat coming back?


So I was perusing the latest GW North American Trade Catalog when what do I spot listed in with the GW sprays "Rough Coat" at $17.00. Now as we all know this spray was discontinued without reason or notice about two years ago, a shame since it was such a course even coat in comparison to off the shelf sprays. But that aside its re appearance has sparked a bit of interest around the Bay Hammer office (we actually have one now) so rest assured we will be getting to the bottom of this. If anyone else has any info on this feel free to email us.

This listing also comes on the heels of GW's major paint overhaul, which may soon see the removal of all bundled paint box sets if the rumblings from GW's inner circle prove true. Could we be looking at a much more conservative Games Workshop in the coming years? Let us examine the facts. First GW pulls almost all blister sales from retailers and then move a big chunk of their metal sets into the collectors range, then they reduce the amount of product per box, in some cases as much as 50%. Then of course we have the price hikes followed by the massive wave of layoffs at their retail stores and the closing of a fair amount of those stores. With smaller companies trying to take a piece of the greater war gaming pie and a economy in limbo, we may very well see the giant stumble in the next few years.

Cheers

Scott
BH Senior Editor

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Brawl In The Hall: Battle Report.

So Sundays game came and went and the mood over all was good. But shocker of shockers the game ended in a draw, so stay tuned for next weeks installment covering the sudden death bout to finish the tourney. Moving right along with the here and now, the game lasted well into the evening (we started at 12pm and ended around 8pm) and we saw a few changes in the roster due to a last minute withdraw by Heavy D. So I became a judge and D and his Eldar allied with with new comer Derek and his Blood Angels while Dan and Mike played there combined Imperial list. The lines where drawn and the Titans prepped, so here is the mostly complete account of what went down.


Turn one see's a stunted deployment of armor (mostly Dan's and turn one for the most part didn't happen) A battery of basilisks and a stormlord and Baneblade make for some menacing if not vulnerable targets for D's Phantoms. The guard make a play to lock out an objective early on and provide a minor threat towards the towering Eldar war machines by deploying a harasser squad of scout sentinels with auto cannons right on the Eldars doorstep forcing them to prioritize there targets rather then target the larger more valuable armor and Basilisk formation. The guard made a effort to blast away a structure point or two from the Eldars titans but to no avail. Now you may notice a growing line of guardians snaking along The Eldar deployment zone, this was actually part of a clever play devised by D to thwart any pesky out flanking maneuvers on his side of the board and as far as I know it worked. The top of turn two finds the Eldar making a good show of scrapping the guards forward armored push by almost immediately scrapping Dan's stormlord (which for some reason he left completely empty) and blasting apart a handful of sentinels. The remaining IG forces are forced back out of no mans land and the area becomes a neutral zone yet again.

Here we see the bottom of turn two, Dan un swayed by the loss of his sentinels pushes forward into no mans land yet again with his Demolisher's. But the real show stopper this turn was the massed artillery barrage that almost completely crippled one of the Phantoms leaving it immobile with only one functioning weapon and one less structure point.

The top of turn three and the Blood Angels make their move deploying deep into the guards rear lines, deep striking a dreadnought and land raider almost right on top of the guard. The BA are not able to scrap any guard armor but they remain a menacing threat against the guard well into the next turn, in the same turn the Blood Angels deploy Dante with a full compliment of Sanguinary guard into the objective point in no mans land effectively tipping the balance into the Eldars favor. The biggest hit from the Eldar came as expected from the titans as the phantoms opened up on the Reaver shredding it down to one structure point but otherwise leaving it operational. Turn three ends with the Eldar and Blood Angels taking the lead, holding both objective points in no mans land.


Above we see the Sanguinary guard holding the central objective point while the BA termies deep strike using the locator beacon in the dreds drop pod to strike deep at the guards rear flank.


The bottom of turn three and the Guard are in full deployment bringing everything out of strategic reserve and making a rather good show of it as well. here we see the massed ranks of armor preparing for their forward push. Right now I myself was enjoying wing stop so you'll forgive me if the details are a bit sparse on the first wave of attacks. Starting in short order the guard opened up with the Baneblade crippling the Phantom further and taking off a few structure points for their trouble, then the Reaver and shadow sword unleashed a fusillade further damaging the phantom leaving it for all intensive purposes dead in place. This turn the terminators would also suffer the wrath of the Guards guns suffering the loss of near half there force and the destruction of the Land Raider and Dreadnought. The guard also make a push to secure their own objective points, but fall just short. Turn three ends with the Eldar and BA still in the lead holding both Objectives.




The Eldar sweep the remaining Imperial forces from no mans land and leave the reaver a ticking time bomb on the Imperials side while shredding a few structure points from the guards super heavies and leaving the baneblades main gun destroyed. The bottom of turn four and the guard manage to seize an objective, though still lagging behind they manage to level out the score slightly. In the top of turn four the Blood Angels termies made an attempt to engage the guards Basilisks sitting at the rear but due to some bad rolls they only managed to scratch the paint a bit.


Above we see Dan just after deploying his strategic asset, re deploying the now unstable Reaver right at the Eldars feet, unable to move or shoot but offering the menacing prospect of an apocalyptic explosion should the final blow be a powerful one. After re deploying the Reaver the Guard resume bombarding the one already crippled Phantom, this time the graceful giant was destroyed and removed from play. Meanwhile the formation of Valkyrie drop ships speed towards the center objective in a desperate bid to contest the most valuable bit of property in the game. Turn 4 ends with the guard having removed one of the titans and moving to take a second objective, effectively tieing the game.


Turn Five See's the Valkyrie formation hammered by D cannons and blown apart leaving the storm troopers inside out in the open a mere stones throw from the objective (freshman Tom assists with the game after Dan had to duck out) The Eldar also land a misplaced shot on one of the guards buildings, the D strength blast destroys the building entirely and its occupants dropping the Guard back into second place. The Reaver still stands as the Eldar side did not wish to risk a meltdown.

So this is where my side of the story comes to an end, the bottom of turn 5 and the guard roll out in a desperate push for supremacy doing there best to turn the tide (though to be honest the guard seemed to be making up a fair bit of the tide already) The center objective is blasted out of existence by a well placed Shadowsword blast over the Sanguinary guard, removing both Dante and the rest of his squad along with the building. The Reaver is now fully mobile and unleashes a hail of fire on the warlock stripping away two structure points and a shoulder weapon. At this point the Eldar are in the lead holding one of the two remaining objectives. Turn six rolls around and the Warlock destroys the Reaver, but in the process causes a reactor meltdown that causes both the eldar guardians and the building they where holding to be blasted out of existence, this effectively tied the game since neither side had any troops with in range of an objective.

So next Sunday the game resumes, with new terrain configuration and new lists to decide who will be entered into the hall of Legends (other wise known as the cool little plaque I am going to have made) So stay tuned this week, both for Bay Hammer Radio and to see who will win.

I would like to thank Legends Comics And Games in Cupertino for hosting this event, and all those who worked to make this happen, but above all I would like to thank the players, without you guys this never would have happend.

Also Congrats to the winners of the Stormwardens charity Raffle, and a special salute to everyone involved with the project.

Cheers

Scott
BH Senior Editor

Friday, July 23, 2010

Getting ready for a "Brawl"


That's right, the 25th is but two days away and everyone over at Legends has been prepping their armies and the game space (as you can see above) for what promises to be one of the largest sponsored games in the Bay Area this year. While not as large as originally intended (we had a few drop outs) The point totals still top out around 40k pts over all, but the object of the event wasn't so much size as it was celebration. Brawl in The Hall was started as a joint effort between myself and Legends Comics and games in an effort to kick off the official tournament series at Legends (which will be coming this Fall) A massive game to celebrate getting to the point where the store was ready to start hosting regular events.

So here is the roster:

We have D headlining with his craftworld Ulthwe army coming in at well over 10k pts by itself (titans and all)

We have the Imperial guard being split by long time friends of the Shop Dan and Mike, who will also be fielding the reaver. They come in just at the 10k mark combined and will be playing as a team.

Then there is Heavy D who will be allying his Crons with Blood Angels, they will also be playing as a team.

Ok so now the good part, the winner will receive $60 Cash or credit from Legends Comics and Games in Cupertino, and their name in the hall of hero's (soon to be made) And I may or may not be live casting for part of the event so Ill post an update on that the day of.

So if you want to see a knock down drag out fight between imperium and Eldar come on down to Legends this Sunday, or better yet come and compete, the deadline for general entries is closed but you can still register at the door for $15. Your army must be painted in at least three shades and equal no more then 10k pts either alone or as part of a team.

As a side note don't forget to tune into Jawaa Balls live this Sunday to find out who won the storm wardens army, thats going to be a cant miss event as well.

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Seeing Double at GW

Ok so this could be a number of things, could be incompetence, could be a sign of new products to come that have not yet been properly listed. But as of this morning the GW America site had several of their 40k game books double listed, among these where Dark Eldar and Necrons, could this be a sign that these books will soon be pulled to make way for the updated versions? possibly not but interesting all the same.

if they have not yet fixed it see the double listings here

http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/catalog/armySubUnitCats.jsp?catId=cat440313a&rootCatGameStyle=

Cheers

Scott

Friday, July 16, 2010

Bay Hammer Radio: Live tonight

Hello all, just reminding everyone that BH radio will be broadcasting tonight at 5PM PST, as per usual we will be broadcasting the live show over ustream, see the link below to the show page. In addition this will also be the first show that is recorded for the podcast version so I will post an update when we get all that sorted so you can enjoy BH radio on the go, in the home, with friends or where ever good times are had.

Tonight's topics:

-Local events
-New Plastic Demons
-8th Edition
-Spearhead in review
-Product Review: new paints
-whats on the work bench
-Events:Brawl in the Hall

So tune in tonight at
http://www.ustream.tv/channel/bay-hammer

Cheers

Scott
BH Senior Editor

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Kicking back: Tales of Violence and Unused vacation time

Let me start off with Bay Hammer radios finalized rescheduled time is this coming Friday at 6pm PST.

This week I have been taking it easy, working on my side projects and actually going out and breathing fresh air and getting some actual sunlight and on top of those little refreshers I have been getting a lot of solid game time in with D and the twins (the phantom and warlock) and its been a quite enjoyable experience honing my list for optimal titan killing power (even though last Sundays 10k apoc game lasted only 3hrs). Now I must explain something here, when D and myself play Apocalypse, its not so much to actually play the game as it is more of a 40k version of fight club where we beat the crap out of each other and see what works out best strategy wise.


In other news I have been working on a few side projects, chief among them being the Reaver but last week a friend of mine came to me with a Land Raider Terminus he wanted painted and being the ever curious type I accepted. Now feel free to call me cheesy at this point but I am doing up his SM as Storm Wardens, and again if you have not donated to the Storm Wardens charity (click the banner at the top of the page) then do so if you can, every little bit counts. So to wrap things up here's a quick snap of the Terminus.


Cheers

Scott
BH Senior Editor

Friday, July 9, 2010

Bay Hammer Radio Tonight

Tonight's show is going to be a bit short, this is due to both having to come straight from work myself, and having to co host the Warhammer 8th Edition pre release party at legends in Cupertino. We will however still be going live tonight at 5:15 pm PST so don't forget to tune in for all the news and tips that you didn't get on BoLs.

Topics will include:
-Upcoming events
-Dark Eldar and Chaos Demons release dates
-Spearhead review and tactics
-Product review
-Whats on the work bench

and more.

So tune in and relax for another exciting installment of Bay Hammer Radio (Home of the Chaos Tyranids)

Hope to see you there

Scott
BH Senior Editor

Saturday, July 3, 2010

Legends hosts game Designer Matt Leacock





Ok so not so much a 40k or Fantasy post, but I will include some 40k in here. So today Bay Hammers game space host Legends Comics and Games hosted the demo and release of Matt Leacock's "Forbidden Island" for those of you not familiar with Matt's work I recommend checking out Pandemic or Pandemic on the brink (both of which he created and have since been adapted into flash games) I got to meet and talk with Mr Leacock briefly, a cool character with a outward nonchalance that I find refreshing in an industry who's money was made 10 years ago, and with so few designers actually connecting with their user base I find his new self promotion campaign a cool concept in the field of board games. And yes that is me on the left in the above picture.


Ok so now for the 40k bit I promised you. First off I would like to make a retraction of a previous statement regarding the new paint pots. A few weeks ago I was told that the boxed paint sets would contain the new pots, and until the current inventory of old style pots was sold, the only way to get the new pots would be through that set. Well GW did something sneaky and decided to completely scrap that idea and just release the new pots piecemeal over the next few months. Now adding on to that, Legends just received some of the new pots this week as shown above. This can only mean that the new pots are on their way out to retail stores now after making a brief appearance at GW stores.


Cheers

Scott
BH Senior Editor

Thursday, July 1, 2010

Titan Works: Project Reaver




So we got yet another titan on the work bench. A few days ago this little guy got pummeled by two Eldar titans, and still managed to limp away. But D, being the avid collector that he is didn't let him limp far, after the game money changed hands and I found myself with a new project sitting on my work bench (cleverly disguised as a kitchen table)

So the first stop was a long soak in some simple green (and for all of you out there who say the stuff doesn't work look above) A few part of the body where also covered in that horrible orange that you saw in my last battle report, and since I didn't have a gallon jug of simple green I simply lightly primed over what I could. After the carapace and missile launchers long soak I gave them a good scrubbing with some steel wool, now this may seem a bit harsh but when your dealing with resin and a piece this large its worth bringing out the big guns. So I scrubbed most of the primer and paint off and got what you see above.



I apologise for some of the photos above being a bit grainy, I took them on my cell and was being lazy and didn't much feel like hauling out the Nikon. Anyways after stripping and re priming everything all that was left to do was paint, which I have been doing over the last three days. Starting from the top down is the three day progression of my painting sessions. I have been using a three part scheme, doing the body in regal blue, the trim in Reaper gold and the accents in boltgun metal.

So that's it for now, Ill have more updates on the project in the near future, as well as any battle reports which involve this bad boy.

Cheers

Scott
BH senior Editor