Reaper Bones Kickstarter

Now, I realize this is not at all Specialist Games or GW related, but have you seen the Reaper Miniatures Bones Kickstarter yet?

I am not a role-player, but holy cow, this deal is reeeeeallllllly tempting... $100 for well over 100 models! Not only that, but because of the nature of Kickstarter campaigns, the higher the total pledged, the more models get added into the mix!

This is a really interesting project and I plan on keeping my eyes on it to see where it goes.

If you're wondering how much you're actually getting for your dollar, a really nice person has done up an infographic for your education. Just mouse over the image and look to the right for the value of the current metal model.

Bear in mind that the Bones line is plastic and not metal, so the comparison isn't quite apples to apples, but $10 for a 7-inch tall dragon? Yes, please.

Specialist Games Day

Sunday, August 12 saw a Specialist Games Day at The Whiz in Westborough, Mass. There were games of Epic, Blood Bowl, Warmaster, Space Hulk, and Trafalgar (published by the now defunct Warhammer Historicals.) I played one game of Epic, which went horribly, and my first game of Warmaster.

For the Epic game, it was my Orks versus Black Legion Chaos. Unfortunately, my dice hated me, and I couldn't hit or make any saves for most of the game. For example: I would roll twelve dice in an attack, requiring fives or better. Everything would come up threes or worse. Nevermind trying to hit on sevens... I wound up getting a little disgruntled, but fortunately, my opponent Ruth didn't seem to hold it against me. I don't mind losing a game when my opponent is more skilled (i.e. most opponents) but to constantly lose due to terrible dice rolls is extremely frustrating.

The Warboss and his Krew move to take out a lone Chaos Terminator stand

Deffrollin'

Vultcha Skwadron makes a ground attack on the Decimator

Da Boyz

 On the brighter side, I was able to dive into Warmaster using my opponent Matt's Chaos army. I fought against his pure Goblin army, and this time, the dice were more conducive to an enjoyable game. I really enjoyed the game and found the rules to be less "crunchy" and more abstract than Epic, making it a more relaxed game. I've got my Tomb Kings and Orcs currently floating in a bath of Castrol Super Clean - hopefully the next time I play Warmaster, it will be with one of those armies.

The Chaos Army in all its glory

Facing the distant enemy

Squigs!

Giant Squig!

Trolls attack the Chaos Knights

Net Epic Armageddon Tournament Pack available

Just a quick post here to let everyone know that the Net Epic Armageddon site is now up and running. All the crunchy development stuff will still take place on the Tactical Command forums, but the Net Epic Armageddon (NetEA) site will serve as an easy entry point for players and house larger Epic-related projects.

One of those projects is the latest version of the NetEA Tournament Pack. From the site:

The NetEA Tournament Pack goes back to the idea of a living rulebook when Epic was seeing active development from Fanatic. It contains:

• The official Epic Armageddon game rules and all of the errata found on the Epic Armageddon Resources page. All is stressed here as some errata are missing from the rulebook sections found on the web page above.
• The most up-to-date FAQ available, essentially an expanded version of the FAQ found on the Games Workshop web page above. Each Q&A is a footnote in the appropriate section of the rules.
• All of the NetEA Approved tournament army lists and any rule extensions and Q&A's that accompany them. NetEA Approved army lists are tournament ready and balanced against one another using the Epic tournament game rules. These lists vary slightly (point-cost and unit-stat-wise) from the official lists due to community feedback.

  Visit Net-Armageddon and get your updated rules today!

General Specialization and a new look!

As stated in a previous post, I've been mulling the idea of changing my focus from strictly Epic to a more generalized Specialist Games view. I've been kicking around the idea for some time, but it really became relevant when one of the guys in the gaming group (Dave, The Epic Gamer) offered a general Specialist Games day up, rather than the usual "Let's play Epic."

Now, of course, I still love Epic. But, I've been playing other games for at least as long. 40K, Warhammer Fantasy Battles, Blood Bowl, Man O' War, Battlefleet Gothic, Mordheim, and Space Hulk were all staples for me as I was growing up. Well, I was already out of high school for them most part, so my growing was pretty much done, but you get my point... Every now and then, as I go into my basement to look for a specific model, I'll glance at the shelving unit and see boxes full of games and miniatures I haven't touched in years. For the area I live in (around New Haven, Connecticut), the gaming scene is pretty non-existent, which is weird since I'm literally minutes from three universities! This isn't to say that there is no one who plays the games I do, it's just that I haven't found them yet. So, the classics collect dust...

This all changed when Dave (The Epic Gamer - check his blog in the Blogroll) mentioned a Specialist Games day - "Hey!" I thought. "A reason to clean off the old games!" And going through those old games rekindled my interest in them.

Flying Lunchboxes and Evil Lawn Darts!

Boy, it's been a while since I last posted... I've been both busy and lazy - never a good combination. I've also been toying with the idea of making this into more of a Specialist Games blog rather than strictly focusing on Epic. Why? Well, because I like more than just Epic! But enough of that for now..

Speaking of Epic, I recently made up some proxies for models that don't exist in the Epic line. I asked a few great painters to apply paint and brush to said models and what you see below are the results.

First off, the Lunchbox (a Space Marine Storm Raven proxy). The first two are painted in Imperial Fists colors by Egel. The second two are from the Lamenters chapter, painted by CaptPiett. Both guys hang out on the Tactical Command forums.

Next up is the Evil Lawn Dart (a Chaos Dreadclaw proxy). This was painted in World Eaters colors by HerrR, also a regular staple of Tactical Command. To be honest, when I first saw the photo, I thought HerrR was playing a joke on me - I thought I was looking at fullscale 40K models. It took me a few seconds to realize that everything in the photo is Epic scale. Awesome!

Thanks to Egel, CaptPiett, and HerrR for the photos that make these models look so good!