Monday 17 July 2017

On the edge-highlight of madness


Squad Panzerschreck complete.  Again it took far longer than I anticipated.  Being a naturally untidy person I struggle to be neat.  I could never stay in the lines when I was given a colouring book whilst growing up and didn't think it mattered.  I had no idea it was an important life skill.


I can do fine detail no problem (although I have to wear reading glasses now) but consistency and uniformity are hard.  Thats why I like tentacles.  I probably should have built and painted the Death Guard in this set.  Chaos is more my style.


But I really like these marines and think I've hit on a good colour scheme so I'm going to crack on.  I'm about half way through now, although I keep looking at the Captain in Gravis armour and fervently wishing that I hadn't glued him together.  He won't come apart with gentle persuasion so I'm going to have to paint the cloak around his backpack, weapon and legs which will be a bit of a nightmare.


The Hellblasters are an interesting squad.  The supercharge rule is a little confusing (although the Designer's Commentary does clarify).  I can re-roll natural 1's with the Captain nearby and avoid blowing myself up.  But if I roll a 2 whilst trying to hit a Flyer (-1 to hit) I still explode (re-rolls always happen before modifiers).  My probability theory is a bit rusty but I think thats a 22% chance of each Hellblaster dude exploding if he tries to supercharge flyers, even though he is stood next to a captain.  Not sure I like those odds.

They are also toughness 4 marines at the end of the day and armour piercing rounds can still tear them apart.  In my last game they were obliterated in the first turn by a Tau Ghostkeel which did 16 damage in one salvo.  Admittedly, it was wielding so many Fusion weapons that I wondered if it might implode into a small black hole but its the sort of thing I'm likely to face in competition.

7 comments:

  1. Beautifully done, man - Those look fantastic!

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    1. Thank you. I'm currently painting at about a quarter of the speed you do but will try harder.

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  2. Great work, but the explodes if I hit a difficult target is a crap rule! Why is my Plasma Gun more unstable if I aim it at a flyer or Cover? Naf. Our household have deemed the initial (and re-roll) result affect it, not subsequent modifiers. Love your Red Scorpions, the grey is sublime.

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    1. Maybe the seals aren't that good, and the plasma is more likely to spill out if you tip them up? ;)

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    2. Thanks Siph, I agree the rule is.. odd. However, I much prefer the more abstract ruleset of 8th Ed. and if it means that tanks get into punch-ups or Plasma is suddenly more volatile when shooting Venomthropes then at least I don't have to spend an hour checking rules during a game. A difficult balance.

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  3. There's a reason I just drybrush all my highlights. I've seen others spiral into that madness, and I want no part of it. I already have enough other madnesses taking up my time ;) Can't argue with your results, tho; they look great!

    There are definitely some weird consequences from the "re-rolls before modifiers" rule. Just don't overcharge them when shooting at targets with penalties, I guess. Kinda like this joke my stepdad told me back in the day: Guy goes into the doctor's office, says "Doctor, it hurts when I move my arm like this." Doctor says "So don't move your arm like that."

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    1. Yep. I love the idea that if you tilt the gun upwards at flying targets then the Plasma spills out and melts your arm. Its what I like about 40k. Weird and implausible but darkly humorous.

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