The Caen Chronicles

New Arrivals!

2010-07-28T18:07:00.001-07:00

As I mentioned in an earlier post, my Arcanist arrived and yesterday, my Heavy Myrmidon kit arrived as well. This being my first plastic Privateer Press kit, I was eager to put that baby together. I inspected every inch of the box and found that super glue was the adhesive of choice for these, and I figured that I would be in for a long, hard night of assembling. Imagine my surprise when the model components all fit nicely (except for the left arc node), and when the glue bonded almost instantaneously. I couldn't believe it. As further bonus, in typical Privateer Press fashion, there was very little in the way of mold lines. I have to say that I actually had fun building this model. Imagine that.

As you can see, I kitted this one out as a Phoenix. Next payday, I'll order another Heavy or maybe a Light one. With a unit of Battle Mages on the way, this force is coming along nicely.

Home Sweet Home

2010-07-25T20:32:00.000-07:00

We finally got home from our road trip early this evening. It was a great vacation and we saw a ton of stuff, including a tour of the Yorktown Battlefield. One of the final battles of the Revolutionary War in which American forces laid siege to the British held town of Yorktown. It was pretty fascinating seeing the earthen fortifications still there and to see the British lines from the perspective of the American and AFrench army. Definitely one of the most memorable experiences of my life. Check it out if you're ever in Virginia.

Anyway, I got home and quickly searched through the mail to look for any packages. I was a little disappointed to find only one of the two items that I ordered. My Retribution Arcanist arrived but my Heavy Myrmidon didn't. Which is a little annoying considering I bought it off of eBay a week ago (and paid for it right way, mind you). To console myself I grabbed a box of House Shyeel Battle Mages on eBay today. I saved $5 off of the retail price. Not sure if I mentioned this in previous posts, but I did get Rahn assembled and I need to get him primed and I'll be assembling the Arcanist momentarily. I can't get over the quality of the sculpts. Another fine job by Privateer Press.

More Notes from the Road

2010-07-23T19:35:00.000-07:00

Yep. We're still on vacation. Today we rolled into Williamsburg, Va. The Williamsburg area comprises a historical triangle referred to as Historic Williamsburg, Jamestown, Yorktown triangle. We stopped in downtown Williamsburg and strolled around the charming colonial shops. I came across a cool little shop called The Toymaker of Williamsburg. It's a cool little store that sells a variety of toy soldiers and train sets.

As is common with many wargamers, another one of my hobbies is history, particularly military history, so I was in my glory visiting the Yorktown Battle site. To stand on the spot where so many men fought and died during the birth of our nation was pretty humbling. But by the time got to the site, the visitor's center was closed, so we found a place to stay for the night and we'll head back in the morning. Oh, and as luck would have it, I found a game shop in the area that supposedly carries Warmachine merchandise. I'll be checking that in the morning too. But in the meantime, check out this piece that I picked up from the Toymaker shop.

...On the road

2010-07-22T11:16:00.000-07:00

I've been on vacation with the family. The wife and I decided to take the kids on a road trip this summer. We headed down to Myrtle Beach for some R and R. Our trip down took us through Nashville, then North Carolina and the Smokey Mountains (beautiful). We spent a few days at the beach, where I picked up some nasty sunburn. I spent some time searching for a gaming store in the area, but I couldn't find a single one. The closest was a comic store that consisted of old 2nd and 3rd Edition Dungeons and Dragons. When I mentioned Warmachine, they looked at me like I had grown a second head.

We're heading back home by way of Virginia today. We're going to stop at Yorktown and check out one of the Revolutionary War battle sites, which I'm extremely looking forward to. It's been a nice trip so far, but I can't wait to get home and get to work on my Warmachine army.

40k: Raven Guard Transfers

2010-07-18T18:53:00.000-07:00

Before I jumped into Warmachine, I was just starting a Raven Guard Space Marine army for 40k. It's one of the fast army projects that is easy to paint. Spray everything black and add a couple of different colors for ammo packs and purity seals and BAM! Done. Well the only problem I had with that was that I didn't have anyway of identifying them as the Raven Guard as GW doesn't currently have a set for this loyalist chapter and I completely suck at free hand work. But now that's changed. It seems Forge World will be releasing an RG transfer sheet to go with their 8th Imperial Armour volume. I plan to order a few sheets and by the time they actually arrive from overseas, I'll have probably completed a couple of Warmachine armies and PP will have published their MkIII rules.

Retribution Book and Templates

2010-07-17T17:07:00.000-07:00

I received my Retribution of Scyrah book today, so now I've got something to read while on vacation. I also got Adeptis Rahn assembled as well. I waited for my nephew to fall asleep last night and started working on it. The sculpt is awesome and all of the parts fit together nicely. The only thing I didn't understand was why didn't they just mold the two smaller vent/exhaust things to the main figure? Why make separate smaller pieces to glue on? Those little buggers were popping out of my hand all over the place. Anyway, I finished putting it together this morning, but before I paint him up, I need to decide on a color scheme.

I also took the time to brave the muggy Chicago summer (a/c in the car not workin' so well), and drove all the way to the other end of town and checked out the only store in the city that stocks Warmachine products. Sadly, they didn't have any plastic Myrmidon kits, but I did grab a set of templates which I'll fiddle around with as I read through the rulebook. So I came home and ordered a Heavy Myrmidon kit and an Arcanist. Next payday, I plan on ordering some Battle Mages and another Myrmidon.

Adeptis Rahn Has Arrived!

2010-07-16T21:22:00.000-07:00

Yesssssss! I got home from work today to find a little cardboard box on the dining room table. I didn't even tell anyone I was home. I grabbed a knife and opened up the box and there he was...Adeptis Rahn, Warcaster.

I got the mini off of eBay for about $9, so I'm already saving a couple of bucks. I was going to put the model together tonight, but my nieces and nephew are spending the night and my nephew tends to stick his little nose into whatever I'm workin' on, so I'll wait until my sister picks them up in the morning.

One thing that I like about Privateer Press is that they really know how to package a product, especially the blisters. You don't have to rip the package open. All you have to do it pop it open and take the card and pieces out. You can use the package to store the bits so they don't get lost. The mini came with two little pieces of paper with numbers on them. Not sure what those are for, but I'll save them just the same.

First Post

2010-07-15T19:30:00.000-07:00

This will be my first post in this blog. I have had several blogs over the last couple of years, but I've always allowed them to fall by the way side. But this time it'll be different. Because I have a new interest. Warmachine. I figured that it's time to see what all of the hype is about. I bought the MkII book a while back but just didn't get around to reading it. But this past week I made some time (usually in the late evening hours when the wife and kids were asleep) to give a once over. What I've seen so far in the book and what I've watched over at Blue Table Painting, has peaked my interest, so I'm going to go ahead and give it a try. But fair warning - I'm a very busy guy and can't always keep a steady pace with modeling, painting and gaming, but I'm going to give a good try.

As you'll see I have quite a few interests, including science fiction (duh), comic books, movies, sports, action figure collecting, reading, board games, RPGs....well you get the idea. As I said, I haven't had much time to do all of those things but maybe I can share my interests with every one else out there.

So my first crack at Warmachine will be with the Retribution of Scyrah. Why? For two reasons: First, elves are just cool. I've been a fan of elves since the early 80's (my DnD days) and Second, they're relatively new and I can add to the collection and catch up relatively quickly without going broke. I went ahead and got the ball rolling by ordering the RoS rulebook and my first Warcaster - Adeptis Rahn (big surprise, right?). I ordered it last weekend, so I'm hoping it gets here soon.