Oops! 02/22/2012
 
Forgot to renew Implausible Nature's domain last night.  That is why the site went down.  Heh.  If you're reading this, its already corrected. 

Sorry about the inconvenience.
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Sorry about the delay on this, some big things have happened that demanded my attention.  Not "bad" (for me at least) necessarily, but extremely eventful.  It may affect my ability to do things online, it may not.  We'll see.  Anyway, its too early to tell.  So let's get on with it!  :D

The first annual Dark Star GT has come and gone.  It was certainly an enjoyable weekend, for sure.  The event itself ran without a major hitch that I could see, but there were a couple minor ones.  Even with those things, I would definitely recommend attending in the future.  I'll start off with the good things, as there were quite a few more of those, then I'll move on to the cons.  I'll also talk briefly about the missions, but I'll get more into detail in my battle reports.  In another post, I'll talk about my list and how it did.
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Heya everyone!  Busy week.  Extremely eventful.  Unfortunately, it demanded all of my attention.  Still does, but I'm going to be taking a break from it to get back to all of my emails.  Not too bad this time around, only about 10 or so.  In addition, you'll see the start of my recap on Dark Star GT now that I've had time to digest the event.  See ya all tonight!  :)
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Hello all!  Day One at The Dark Star GT has come and gone.  One more critical incident has been overcome and I'm currently preparing myself for the rigors of Day Two, which isn't too terribly awful, considering its only two games today.  But I thought I'd give you guys a quick review of the first day at the GT.  Please note that these will be brief reviews and the in depth battle reports will be coming later.  :)
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The Dark Star GT 02/09/2012
 
The time as come for the Dark Star GT!  I'm actually pretty excited, since its the first GT I've been to since August.  However, I am slightly disappointed because my army won't be fully painted as planned.  I simply did not have enough time to redo everything with my work schedule this week.  Oh well.  I should have basic 3-colors though and that'll have to do. 

That just means I'll have to play flawlessly to try and get the ultimate goal:  Best General.  I suppose that is always the goal for me.  There are also sub-categories for each army called "Codex" Best General.  The player with the most points using a particular army wins that award.  However, it does require there to be 3 players using that codex.  As I'm the only Black Templars player, that eliminates me from this particular award since NONE OF YOU ARE THERE!  >.<
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So yeah, I had finished the miniatures that I had previously been working on...plus another 4 more CCW initiates from another squad.  Then there was an unfortunate accident.  As per my policy, I spray Purity Seal on my minis to give them a little protection and that "dusty" appearance that fits with the theme of the basing.  Well, my sister was visiting and parked in the garage, not noticing the painted figures on the garage floor drying after such a spray (hence why my car wasn't in there).  Needless to say, one rubber tire later, and I'm down 8 painted miniatures.  As well as two weeks of work.

Fortunately, I have replacements...but now I'm not going to be able to finish my army in a high quality manner.  Its more likely that they're getting the "Nova Open Treatment" so that I have a 3-color standard.  Not that painting is required, but I'd like at least a SHOT at getting overall winner.  Ugh.  I'm a little annoyed to say the least.  I know accidents happen, but like an artist, I put my heart and soul into my painting.  Its why I'm never satisfied.  They turned out well and now...they are crushed pieces of plastic.

Wish me luck getting some decent amount of paint on these.  I need to get over my frustration hump and get back to the painting desk.
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A couple years ago, the Black Templars got a jolt in the arm with a new FAQ from Games Workshop.  Since that day, Terminators and Typhoons have graced nearly every BT army list.  And that isn't a bad thing...they are just so good that it is pretty stupid not to take them unless you're not looking for competitive play.  We've seen our lists shift very visibly from close combat, towards gun-toting zealots.  One can argue whether or not this is the "fluffy" way to play, but let's face it, shooting your opponent often is more effective with our codex (with some rare exceptions).  Thus, my lists often feature strong fire support as the core of my army.

With both a new Warhammer 40k edition on its way, as well as a new codex, the BT player-base doesn't know what is in store for them.  Which is sad, but what has been done, cannot be undone.  With the Grand Tournament season starting up, Black Templars players likely only have a few more months to play with their current armies.  But that isn't such a bad thing.  It allows us to play a few builds that we'd not normally try, to produce a little bit of fun for ourselves.
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So, as you know, the Emperor's Champion has a piece of wargear called the "Black Sword".  Well, that presents some issues to a painter when you consider the model we're working with.  Namely, I want to keep the sword black, but I also want the detailing of the sword to stand out.  This means the engraving on the sword.  However, I'm at a loss at how to accomplish painting it and is the main reason I've held off painting him for so long.

I'm considering a couple things to get this done.  The first one is simply painting the engraving on the sword with a lighter color (I'm thinking gray) then paint black carefully around it to clean the sword back up.  Another option I've considered is simply painting the sword in a gray, then giving it a black wash a couple times.  Depending on how thickly I apply the wash, this will give the sword natural definition, shading, and highlights...but it will be difficult to pull off I think.  Not only that, I'm not sure if it'd look right with the rest of the model.

Thus, I welcome any advice or alternate methods to painting this.  As I said, I want to keep the sword black but I want to be able to read the script engraved on the sword if possible.  Any assistance would be most appreciated.  :)
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As promised, here are more updates on my progress.  Unfortunately, I'm not the speediest of painters as I can only sit down and paint for a few hours at a time.  If I go beyond that, my concentration starts to waiver and eyes/neck starts to get sore.  Not to mention, I prefer to paint where I have good lighting.  So that typically means during the day, as my current painting area isn't set up with three lamps like I used to have.  Because I work 7-4pm Monday through Friday, my painting time is slim at best.  But nevertheless, I'm still going at it!  :D

My Razorbacks need only minimal work at best, so they aren't really a concern.  The Terminators are done decently enough to pass for an average tabletop standard, but I want them cleaned up and finished.  Even the Typhoon's will only take minor work to get them up to snuff.  Its primarily the unpainted Initiates that will be the problem.  As well as the Vindicators.  I'm not sure what it is, but the Space Marine models take forever and a day to paint.  It'd be so much quicker if it wasn't black armor.  lol!  Needless to say, I need to start moving though.  Time is a wastin' if I want to put a reasonably painted army on the board.  Anyway, let's get to it!
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As the title suggests, its time to put in my suggestions for beating Necrons into the BT 101 guide.  However, because this is a community, I'd like to hear your comments as well before I put something solid down.  With that being said, I do have some thoughts on the the Necrons and therefore, how to beat them.
  • First of all, their sweet spot is definitely 24" or closer.  That is when most of their weaponry is most effective, so staying out of range of that is important.
  • While their Reanimation Protocols are improved, they cannot stand up to focused firepower.  Many of the Necron's armor saves were nerfed, so "killing" them is easier to do.  Shoot them and shoot them some more.  :)
  • To help ease that problem, Necrons feature several units with the ability to grant Nightfighting to the battle.  Solar Pulse wargear and Imotekh the Stormlord are main methods.  So if you're able to get a couple of Searchlights off, then this advantage will cease to exist.  However, its important to weigh the pros/cons of using a Searchlight to the situation at hand.  Sometimes using Nightfighting to your own advantage is beneficial.
  • They still suffer from initiative 2 on the majority of their units.  If you can manage to get into assault with them, even with a 5-man squad, you'll likely take them down in a Sweeping Advance.  However, the downfall with that is you're likely going take heavy incoming fire the next turn.  To couple with this, very few of their units are worth their salt in close combat, so you'll have little difficulty winning combats.
  • All of the Necron's vehicles are relatively fragile.  Sure they have Quantum Shielding, but if you can simply put a single Penetrating Hit on them, the shielding goes down permanently.  Then AV11 (usually open-topped) is what you're working against.  Taking high strength weaponry like Lascannons and Tank-hunter CMLs will work wonders here.
  • The Necron's are also extremely slow.  They have some transport capability, but taking significant numbers aren't really cost effective.  So they will likely be footslogging around the board, making them vulnerable against highly mechanized forces who can redeploy rapidly.  Which leads me into my next point...
  • Necrons seem to have a slight problem busting open armor.  At least in the shooting phase.  The only unit that really has that ability is either Crypteks with the Eldritch Lance (36" Str 8 AP2) or the Triarch Stalker.  Necrons can open armor in the close combat phase, however, with Canoptek Scarabs and with Warscythes (especially Command Barge sweeping attacks).  Beyond that, there isn't much that can hurt you there.  So if you're able to neutralize those units, your mechanized forces will be able to influence the battle dramatically.
The Necrons do have a few nasty vehicles to watch out for.  Namely the Doom Scythe and its uber-dangerous Death Ray weapon.  Fortunately, it has an extremely limited range (12") and is mounted on a fragile vehicle without Quantum Shielding.  If you can take it down early on, that removes a whopping 175 points from your opponent.  Watch out for Scarabs and if you're able to, shoot them down by the dozen.  Torrent of fire is your friend here.  If they get to your lines, you're going to be pulled down quickly.  The same with your vehicles.

Stay mobile to stay out of range and focus your fire on the most dangerous pieces of your opponent's list.  Usually this will be Command Barges, any Heavy Support vehicles, and small sized CC units.  Just keep firing and jump into close combat when the time is right to bust some robots up.  Use bubblewrap if you have to, but make sure to stall the giant line of Scarabs for as long as possible.

Anything else I should add to that?  Something I'm missing?  Disagree with what I said?  Let's hear it.  :D


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