Video games will eventually bring about the fall of civilisation. I went to see Ready Player One the other week and was gushing like a school girl (the segment set in Stanley Kubrick's 'The Shining' was bloody brilliant). Someone was prattling on about the dystopian, plutocratic future portrayed in the film but my son and I were too busy Googling "omni-directional treadmill" to notice. A virtual world where I can be Raziel from Soul Reaver and my boy can be a Phase-Shifter pilot from Titanfall? (I think the other one is just going to be Halliday). Where I can completely lose myself in immersive unreality? Shit yeah, sign me up! Credit is good these days, we'll just get a third mortgage!
Sadly, this frame of mind was not helpful when it came to hobby time. The Stormtalon should have been finished weeks ago and its not even close. A depressing state of affairs which could only addressed by playing video games and trying not to think about it. I finished The Last Guardian and Horizon Zero Dawn (well, the story line anyway) on the PS4 in under a week but courageously managed to stop playing Mechwarrior Online when my premium time ran out. So that was ok but what about the Space Marines? At this rate, the army won't be finished in time for Maelstrom XI. I decided it was time for some retail therapy.
After reading the Big FAQ I felt peversely compelled to buy Assassins. I only bought two because that way I can't take them in a Vanguard detachment and I have to sacrifice a command point to list them as auxilliaries. I've always considered myself a glass-is-half-empty kind of guy but deliberately buying understrength, freshly nerfed units is borderline psychotic. Its not like I ever considered taking Imperial soup before the FAQ. I started to assemble the Eversor Assassin but an image of Skeletor on the toilet kept flashing through my mind and I knew that if I didn't stop and hide the model, I would end up starting a very foolish conversion. I really like the Culexus Assassin however. Such a cool, iconic profile and he looks fun to play in games too. An evil little bogeyman, stalking enemy psykers and freaking them out with his complete lack of psychic signature and funny eye.
I also reconfigured one of my Razorbacks with lascannons plus hellfire missile (thanks Rory!) and converted a Primaris sergeant into a Thunderhammer Jump Pack Captain (thanks Hagen!). I was so annoyed with the sergeant's bare head that I cut the helmet clipped to his belt off and re-attached it to his neck with the help of some grey stuff. Hagen gifted me several different shields and I found the Custodes one intriguing but I think I'll go with the vanilla stormshield in the end. I just need to stop playing videogames before they ruin my life or become so immersed in one that I don't care if my life is ruined.
After reading the Big FAQ I felt peversely compelled to buy Assassins. I only bought two because that way I can't take them in a Vanguard detachment and I have to sacrifice a command point to list them as auxilliaries. I've always considered myself a glass-is-half-empty kind of guy but deliberately buying understrength, freshly nerfed units is borderline psychotic. Its not like I ever considered taking Imperial soup before the FAQ. I started to assemble the Eversor Assassin but an image of Skeletor on the toilet kept flashing through my mind and I knew that if I didn't stop and hide the model, I would end up starting a very foolish conversion. I really like the Culexus Assassin however. Such a cool, iconic profile and he looks fun to play in games too. An evil little bogeyman, stalking enemy psykers and freaking them out with his complete lack of psychic signature and funny eye.
I also reconfigured one of my Razorbacks with lascannons plus hellfire missile (thanks Rory!) and converted a Primaris sergeant into a Thunderhammer Jump Pack Captain (thanks Hagen!). I was so annoyed with the sergeant's bare head that I cut the helmet clipped to his belt off and re-attached it to his neck with the help of some grey stuff. Hagen gifted me several different shields and I found the Custodes one intriguing but I think I'll go with the vanilla stormshield in the end. I just need to stop playing videogames before they ruin my life or become so immersed in one that I don't care if my life is ruined.
I REALLY like those razorbacks!!!
ReplyDeleteI like them too when they are not exploding. I miss my Predator Annihilator but it's too much of a bullet magnet to survive turn 1 of a game, so I use Razorbacks now. Cheers.
DeleteBeautiful all around - Love the sense of motion the assault marine has, that's a great build! Been playing the recent Battletech game released on Steam recently, so suddenly I have a desire to build mechs, and your awesome walker is not helping me stay the course... :D
ReplyDeleteIs that the XCom style game that recently came out? Oooh, maybe I should give it a look. Dammit Mordian, I'm trying to stop playing videogames all the time!
DeleteThe Assassins are all really fun to play. I'm actually kind of disappointed that the FAQ killed my Execution Force: Extreme Prejudice list with 18 of them, but it was probably for the best. And at least it happened while I was still using borrowed ones to fill it out, so I don't have too many of any single one lying around right now.
ReplyDeleteThat Captain conversion is excellent. I dislike bare-headed* models in power armour, so I did a similar thing with clipping the helmet off the Sergeant's belt, but I kind of screwed it up, and mangled his leg armour in the process. Still trying to figure out how to fix that, or at least cover it up.
*Tho I would make an exception if they were also bear-headed ;)
18 Assassins? Thats despicable. But fluffy. You could re-enact The Beheading.
DeleteOn my sergeant, I just stuck a banner decoration over the damage to his leg when I removed the helmet. You can see it in the picture.
I'm not a fan of our mutated brethren in the Space Wolves chapter. Strength in Purity! Oh wait, thats wolf headed, not bear headed. Now I'm confused.
In fairness, I put the Army together in 7th, when they were far less efficient, and I could only fit 14 in a 2K list. Also, there's essentially nothing else in the list, so it really lacks staying power and Objective holding.
DeleteYeah, the problem is that I *really* trashed his leg. That extra plate that Primaris Marines have on the thigh is basically gone. Might take an actual banner to cover it ;)
When I started my SW, I was considering converting them heavily and doing Ursus Astra or Marines Ursus or something. During 7th, I really wished I'd done it, because they worked great as a Drop Pod list then, and instead of Drop Wolves, they would have been Drop Bears :D