True Line of Sight

 Just putting this here for safe keeping.

I’ve never liked the Black Templars and I’ve always liked the Word Bearers, call me complex or complicated, maybe just weird. Whatever you call me it’s always struck me as odd that a second founding chapter would be religious zealots, especially sons of Dorn, but who am I to judge, at least they look cool doing it. As for the Word Bearers, who doesn’t like a winner? Erebus wanted a religious empire and got one. I suppose while I’m ruffling feathers I’ll just go ahead and say Magnus did nothing wrong and get that out of the way. What does this have to do with the Crimson Fists? Well, the Black Templars are their sister chapter and that’s the connection… because I’m lazy. Stranger still is what does this have to do with Primaris and the quick answer is absolutely nothing, I just figured it'd be convenient to keep all my marine nonsense and inconsistent capitalization to one place. I'm not so much a Word Bearer sympathizer as a Word Bearer hipster, I ironically like the Word Beare...

For a period of time in Warhammer Fantasy Battles some artillery pieces were “guess range,” this meant the shooting player had to guess the distance being fired and hope it was right when it was measured. If the distance measured didn’t meet the requirement the shot was a bust in most cases though a few, like the cannon, could bounce the shot. The Dwarfs had the gunline on lockdown, a distant second was Empire, but they had knights to make up for it and to mock the Dwarfs who are afraid of horses to this day. This is when I remind you that my brother played Dwarfs and I played Empire. He's also a carpenter with one bad eye, you do that math. I, however, have no excuses in this story, judge me as you will. It’s also important to point out that no one ever told us that Warhammer wasn’t a game about living walls and excessive shooting. Every once in a while I hear someone say the shooting needs to be toned down in AoS and I get a little giggle inside and think back fondly. I always fa...

For a plethora of reasons I love low model count skirmish games. Going back to Necromunda and Mordheim I’ve always loved the idea of small squads desperately struggling to survive in narrow allies and corridors of cramped cities.  On the tabletop skirmish games always felt more cinematic to me, I felt more connected, more drawn in by each exchange of blows. The magnitude of losing even a single model was significant and could drastically change the course of the game. I found it easier to cheer for my opponent’s success because they’re just as invested in every little ugly man as I was. It was all around good feelings. Well, good news folks! Small scale skirmish games are alive and well, not only that but they’re in abundance. I dare you, DARE YOU, to visit Wargamer Vault and not find one that looks interesting. Every subject, genre, war, setting, flavor, or whatever you want to call it is covered. There is simply no shortage of options when it comes to skirmish games and no excus...

If there’s one thing GW doesn’t release enough of it’s Primaris Lieutenants. I’m not kidding, hear me out. I love all of the chapter specific lieutenants and I want more, every chapter should get one, right after the Khan gets his bike. However, they’re not the only lieutenants I’m after, no. I wish we had a more useful kit, one that made a selection of options even if we had to lose a little bit of dynamism. Particularly I’d like to see another lieutenant with a bolt rifle or power fist of some kind as I feel that fits the Crimson Fists (CF) the closest. But I would be more thrilled with a model that supported a more universal build, several options for melee and ranged to cater to all the different marine playstyles. As it stands right now if I want to bolt rifle lieutenants I have to buy the same model twice which is disappointing. So, yes, I want more Primaris Lieutenants. Besides not finding the perfect lieutenants Crimson fists are posing other challenges visually and the CR of t...

When I started these Knights an eon ago I wasn’t hip to oil washes and the prep required to use them without destroying the acrylic paint job underneath. Hindsight being both 20/20 and a bitch I now see what work I have to do to ensure I can have my cake and not melt it too. When I primed the first two skeletons I had them glued to their bases which meant there were places that didn’t get primed or solid enough coverage. This isn’t an issue if you just apply the oil wash and can call it good but if you intend to use mineral spirits to wipe some away there can be… issues. When there’s a break or thin spot in the primer the mineral sprites can slip between the acrylic paint and the material of the model and separate them, that’s how we get that undesirable melted look. The simple answer is to remove the Knights from their bases and varnish them, crisis averted. Not so fast. Once that varnish goes on everything underneath it is set in stone. Yes, I can paint right over the varnish and to ...