Lifesign

Ten days without a blog post? Yeah, sucks. It was a bunch of busy days, as I not only devoted lots of time to my usual life shenenigans (like University, work, birthday business, my GF working full-time at the moment leaving the household to me) but also supported (and keep supporting) the great Custodes Forums with some moderator work and technical/design-fu, plus general contributions. More on that in an upcoming post, as it definitely deserves its own entry over here. But drop by and register if you are curious what this cool new community of really great people is all about, besides being the meeting place for Deepstrike Radio's fanbase.

So, I'm basically dropping by to let the internets know that I had a hard time finding some air to breathe for the last week or so, but I'm still on it, and have big plans for a bright, shiny future or something.

In the meantime, here's a pic of one of the few things I actually have gotten done, and a harbinger of the things to come.

So, stay tuned, and enjoy your Thanksgiving holiday, if you celebrate such a thing.

"Pics or it didn't happen"

Doing nice, slow and easy progress. Master plan post yet to come. So, as a filler, I figured that a gallery of clean shots of the army about to be expanded would be fitting... just for completism's sake. Blogging is serious business, you know.

Ithmaril's Star Phantoms, in no particular order:

That would be all. Ithmaril, out.

Quick Newsflash

Just some quick notes today, as I'm really f'-in tired.

• Yay. I'm on BoLS. No, I'm not a fan on their comp articles and metagame approach, and I do see their influence on the internet scene in a critical light. But it's still my 40k morning newspaper and part of my coffee-smoking-reading-routine. So I am honored.Think about that what you want.
• Deepstrike Radio have released their third Episode. Listen to it. It's amazing. Can't kiss their ass enough. Drop the guys some comments, they really deserve even more attention for their hard work. More coverage on them will follow one of those days.
• I actually got in some hobby time today. There are results. Retro metal, newschool plastic, green stuff and magnets are involved. Those will be captured in pictures. Soon. Right now I'm just happy. Stay tuned.

That's it for today. See ya around.

Shameless Faltering and Plugging.

Yeah, so the fact that the whole internet besides me seems to have preview copies of IA9: The Badab War, part 1 got me nervous. Despite being not enthusiastic at all. Shut up, will ya? I is seriouz internets journalist! With a journal, and stuff! How dare they!

Joking aside, yeah, I commited to browsing the webs a little in search for some information on the Phantom's FW fluff, colors and chapter symbol. No luck so far. What I did instead was something that is incredibly rare for me these days. I downloaded a whole episode of a Podcast I haven't ever checked out yet, promising an extensive review of the book. Why that's special? It's special because since the departure of the original 40k Radio cast broke my heart, I didn't even catch up on the new one. Nope. I did check out Deepstrike Radio because I love the guys who do it. Listen to it, it's awesome, more on that in a seperate post. But they only have released 2 episodes as of yet, so it was easy to get into. But here I committed to 2 hours of listening of a podcast I've never tried yet, for the sake of possible information on my pet chapter of choice and how FW would ruin them for me. It was The Independent Characters, Episode 16.

click me, biatch.

At first, I though I'd skip around the file, looking for the info I wanted, and be done with it. But then, I ended up actually enjoying Carl's and Geoff's ramblings a lot- very sympathetic guys. Also, their coverage on the book was excellent in an unforseen way: After what they told me about the contents of the book, the nature of the fluff included, some spoilers concerning the story, and how FW generally approaches the whole conflict ... I feel hooked. I'm not too interested in the campaign rules section, but man, the story itself sounds awesome. It swept most of my "bwah, bwah, my scheme will be invalid"-butthurt right away when they explained how the Badab War unfolds in FWs version. And, being the visual person (/design whore) I am, I now really want to take a look. My scheme be damned, I want to read it now. Bad. Badab.

Dammit, they've gotten me so far that I'm actually already planning what to do about my army to fit in closer into the upcoming Badab War canon. Considering different approaches and stuff, depending on how far off I am. And I seriously consider buying the book now. I guess this means selling stuff on ebay again, but oh well. More on that in another post.

Forge World. Do you hear me? Pay those guys money. Hire them. I think they just sold me something I hated when I first heard about it.

Ithmaril, signing out.

This is where I am.

So, I’ve got a plan now.

Since I decided to get back into the hobby after 7 months of hiatus, I’ve been mainly doing two things: Getting in touch with the Freebootaz again, which are widely known for being the most awesome people in the world for real. And taking inventory to find out what has to be fixed, what hobby resources are still available to me, and what I’ll have to repair/replace. The good news: My army survived being in storage without a scratch. Bad news: Before I can get back to hobby work, I’ll have to replace my superglue, several pots of paint, and possibly my spray primer (we will see about that). Also, I seem to have misplaced my black reach rulebook, but hope isn’t lost yet. Futhermore, I’m organizing a workspace again. I think I’ll cover that in its own blog post, though.

What I’ll definitely cover soon is said plan. My challenge. My mission. My strategy. It’s gonna be ambitious, at least on my scale of things. Not in terms of epicness, but in terms of self-restraint, dedication, resourcefulness. It’s all in my head already, and the materials are being gathered. Schedules are being laid out. It’s on its way, but before I can start explaining where I want to be soon, it’s time to recap where I am right now. First of all, it’ll be about expanding my Star Phantoms, of course. I’ve talked about them before. So it’s time to look back and remind myself, and you, dear readers, how the army looks right now.

Those guys, you know.

So, here's the breakdown of the first 1000 painted, battle-ready points, plus two extra models.

• HQ: Jump Pack Chaplain
• HQ: Terminator Librarian
• TR: 10 Tactical Marines, Missile Launcher, Flamer
• TR: 10 Tactical Marines, Powerfist, Multi-Melta, Melta
• TR: 5 Scouts, Sniper Rifles
• AT: Rhino
• AT: Razorback, Lascannons
• FA: 10 Assault Marines, Powerfist, 2 Flamers
• EL: Dreadnaught, Multi-Melta
• Lone Bolter Sergeant as a replacement.

Converted plastic Chaplains lead from the front.

Scouting some ruins, 'cause that's what ruin scouts do.

Just ignore those DA symbols for a moment, mkay? My dreadnaught rocks.

A sniper's gotta do what a sniper's gotta do. Five of them, on the other hand...

Note their general lack of orientation and the sergeant's confused gesture. I love my guys.

Hacking BA to pieces while eating apples like they just don't care. Seriously, have a close look. "BORING!"

Concerning Ultramarine Blue: The Movie

It's been a while. They took their time. Now it's irreversibly here. A release date is set. Final trailer is out on the tubes. Preorders are open. No turning back now, GW. No way to chicken out on this anymore. No "BloodQuest"-type of disaster. We have our very first 40k movie, and the expected lot of inevitable fandom drama / internet lulz in tow. Good times.

Oh, it's about Space Marines. Quel surprise, mes amies.

You absolutely can't help having an opinion on this project if you're into the 40k fandom as deep as I am, so let me make a prolonged statement on mine, and my decision to preorder the special edition despite serious doubts.

1. I'm glad it came to pass. Really. Remeber BloodQuest? Remember the theories and semi-facts about the Blizzard connection? All the rumors spread over years of failed cinematic plans? Yeah. Now us fans have our cake and the chance to eat it, too. I'm not saying that the cake is bound to be tasty. It may taste revolting. I'm just saying that it's finally here and confirms the very existence of cake to the wide public. 


2. I think they gave it their best shot. In terms of creative direction, voice talent casting, choice of studio, and financing. I feel that lots and lots of fans are so deep into the world of GW fandom that they get a picture of a international megacorporation. GW ain't. They're just the biggest, most established contender in a very, very niche market. They don't have millions of GBP do waste. That movie is a risk, in contrast to the toys they produce, and know that will sell. They had to find a balance while keeping their target group in mind. A balance between driving their business into the ground by investing too much into an experiment, and satisfying the fans. I think they considered their options well, and made an educated choice.



3. Yes, I am disappointed by the quality of animation in the trailers. No, I'm not gonna say "it could be worse, eat it up", although it could indeed be far worse. I'm a sucker for visuals. I expected something in line with the DoW/Space Marine video game cutscenes. But creating an entire feature-lenght film is worlds apart from minute-long video game intros. I still firmly believe into the power of a good story over its looks. Alas, I won't judge based on YouTube low-res trailers. I'll give it a shot and the benefit of doubt, enjoy it on my TV screen, where I judge other movies. It deserves nothing less.



4. I am seriously, seriously glad that they didn't sell out to any Hollywood studio in order to see a big budget mainstream movie done. May I remind you that the Warhammer 40.000 universe is not mass appeal friendly? That it would be turned and twisted to no ends in order to appeal to studio mentality? PG-13, with a green message, a love story, and possible waving american flags, anyone? Imagine that for a second. How many adaptions of geek favorites have you seen that actually satisfied you? How many were utter, steamlined garbage? What would the chances be for a setting as extremist and brutal, as hopeless and dark, as 40k's? I'm glad that GW went down the road of complete creative control.



5. Finally, I'd rather like to see it succeed than fail. Really. Even if it's not exactly what we all were hoping for. You know- GW does see what we want from a 40k movie. Ridiculous production values would be the price of most of those fan's wet dreams. And they'll never, ever gonna fund something really, really big if even smaller, less risky experiments like this fail. Do I try to tell you that you should buy a potentially inferior product for a steep price just to support your favorite company and wargmaing background and immerse yourself in it?
   
   Take a deep breath. And then, tell me that you buy GW's stuff because its impartially (!) the best stuff out there in terms of ruleset, quality, and fair pricing.
   
   I for my part endure a lot of GWs antics because I'm a fan. As simple as that. That's also why I'll buy the movie, give it the benefit of the doubt, the same chance on the same TV and DVD player where I watch other movies I bought, and approach it with an open mind, while supporting this experiment of my wargaming company of choice.

And that's about it.
Ithmaril out.

Also, I'm a sucker for Special Editions.

Introduction? Nah, let the bitching begin.

Because, see- Introductions are a thing for people who don't know each other, right? I for my part am pretty sure that if you're reading this (and I'm thankful that you do, don't get me wrong), you know me from one of the message boards I'm posting at. This is fine, but makes any kind of further sweet talking unnecessary, so let's get right to the beef, and to what you expect from a blog in general. A little bit of personal ranting.

n3v4r forg3t!

So, Forgeworld unveiling their upcoming Badab War book is not exactly breaking news. Guess you heard it all. Also, being here, you most likely know that Star Phantoms are my current 40k army, crafted after BOLS' Badab War Minidex, and George Millers color scheme / chapter insignia. My only playable, all-painted 40k army, no point in denying. (Let me clarify: I've had plenty of armies for different systems in the last 12 years of tabletop gaming, but I tend to sell my stuff to fund new toys, or food and booze. At least the unpainted stuff, making it "most of my former projects".) Boy, did I fall into love with that paint scheme, and the little non-canon fluff we got on them. Let me get you a piccie.

The few, the proud, the... mine

So, it figures that I'm happy about my niche army getting some official attention, right? Everyone is, after all. People kinda assume I'm all looking forward to it (happened multiple times by now), and I can't blame them for that. But I'm not that enthusiastic, to be honest.

To put it simply, it would be hell of a coincidence if FWs upcoming chapter colors and logo would be anywhere close to the BOLS stuff. So it basically invalidates my work from a canon viewpoint. No big deal, yeah, I know, it's not like they will take my army and physically smash it, or forbid me to keep calling them “Star Phantoms”. For the most part, people I game with won’t notice, anyway, because most local kids don’t buy FW or read english language websites and/or books. Finally, I’ve picked this chapter mainly because I love the color combination and symbol, so, it’s all good, right? Nobody will care, why should I?

I guess my tiny little bit of butthurt stems from the fact that I’m kind of a fluff junkie, and never was in this position before. Canon moving on and biting me in the ass. Normally, the 40k universe offers enough room to do your own thing, but two Space Marine Chapters with the same name are quite a stretch, and I love the general idea of the Badab War. Totally a reason to look forward to FWs effort on that, but here I am, feeling sorry for myself instead because nobody who cares for the more obscure fluff will instantly recognize my army as ‘valid’ Star Phantoms anymore. Except they were not, ever. Because collectively making up fluff on the internet doesn’t make it more official. It was just a nice feeling, I suppose, to do something obscure, yet accepted- like jumping on George Miller’s pretty-colored bandwagon.

Anyway- of course, it remains to be seen what FW does with the Phantoms. Best case for me? They don’t give my chapter of choice too much attention and stick to some extra fluff and a few background pictures, where they’re pretty close to my scheme, making it all quick and painless. But I won’t insist on my slight nerd rage, and I’ll most likely give it a shot, curious about the question what kind of flavor they’ll think up for them. I might even try to find some middle ground between my current interpretation of the chapter and what they cook up. However it will work out, I’ll keep you updated. My Freeboota pal Starminer made a good suggestion to get around the color scheme problem and even the symbol: Campaign badges/special paintjobs. Totally FWs thing, after all. Only thing I don’t like about that idea yet is that I don’t believe in not displaying the actual chapter symbol. But I’ll find a way.

You see, even I, myself, am not too sure how I feel about it. Only thing I can definitely tell you is that I’m not as enthusiastic as I should. I guess that’s how fans of the Star Wars Expanded Universe must have felt when the prequels came around the corner and invalidated what they believed to know before. What’s confusing me is that I now understand that feeling hell of a lot better- something I made fun of once. You live and learn, I guess.

Ever experienced something similar? If so, tell me about it.

Ithmaril, out.

Seeing this preview, I might just commit the worst heresy and turn them into Astral Claws. ;)