40k Views! Contest Closed

Huzzah! We officially hit 40k views around 4:15 today. With that, we are not accepting any additional entries into the $100 contest drawing. For those who have already entered your name, you have until 2:00PM (EST) Tomorrow, November 1 to submit before and after photos to the Flickr Group to gain additional entries. Make sure you tag the photo in some way that we know it is your entry. We will host the drawing tomorrow evening and post the winning name soon thereafter. Good Luck!

I know this is too big for the blog formatting, but it's kinda that big of a deal.

Thank you to everyone who has been checking out the blog. When we began in April, we were ecstatic just breaking 1,000 views, and never imagined getting much of a wide readership. We hope to keep growing, and with your support to keep us going, we will. 

For those who have checked us out recently, we hope you become a regular reader and comment from time to time. For those who have been following us for months, thank you! We hope you continue enjoying what we offer and, as always, we love input. 

THANK YOU!

Inquisition and Deathwatch on the Horizon

With Inquisition rumors upon us, I figured it was time to dive in to a little side topic I am extremely interested in. As an avid Space Wolf player, I can’t help but love the idea of individualism within a deadly pack. The idea of Brother fighting alongside Brother with each one decked out in Pelts, Charms, and Totems that tell his Saga, his Legacy, his Life. It is the reason I have been slow in painting my Wolves. I wish them to be uniform in only their loyalty, not in the way they are armed, painted (outside of the standard Space Wolves Grey for their base layer), and how they tell my story.  It is also why even my vehicles are painted in the manner they are. The Story is sometimes far greater than the Victory. That is why the Deathwatch (who I hope are in the new codex) is awesome to me.

FTGT 40k $100 Giveaway Contest Deadline Approaching!

Hello again. Wanted to take a moment, as we approach the end of the contest (a little over 700 views left as of writing this), to clarify a few things about entries and how the end of the contest will work. As always, if you haven't already, you can enter the contest by simply commenting on this or any other FTGT Contest post with a list of items in your Grey Tide awaiting paint. Full rules can be found in the main rules post.

FTGT $100 Giveaway Contest Update - Final Days

We're in the home stretch and less than 1,500 views from wrapping up the contest. With the recent averages, we're probably looking at Thursday or Friday this week for wrapping up the contest, so get those entries in!

For those of you new to the contest, we're giving away $100 in GW product of your choosing. To join in, all you need to do is comment on this post with a list of your Grey Tide - what you have that needs some paint and love. You can also earn additional entries by submitting before and after photos (taken on or after October 8) of your minis to the Contest Flickr Group. Alternatively you can email us the pictures and we'll post them up. Full rules are in the main 40k Contest Post.

Mechanicum (Horus Heresy Book 9) Review

Continuing with my Horus Heresy review series, the next book is the first to not follow Space Marines directly (though Legion has arguably very little directly following the Alpha Legion), instead focusing on events on Mars. As a result, the subject matter was fresh and new and interesting. With this book, and I believe going forward, after the jump I'm going to be less cautious about spoilers, so be forewarned. I am open to input whether this or the previous format is preferred. The reason I'm leaning to this new format is partly out of inspiration from listening to the After Ullanor podcasts, but also because I am worried that non-spoiler reviews are getting a little repetitive and vague.

In summary, the book follows several story lines of characters on Mars. The protagonist is arguably Dalia, a simple scribe who has incredibly memory and intuitive skills, and is not of the Mechanicum. Other minor (sort-of and only by comparison) story arcs follow the Legio Tempestus (Titans - sweeet!), a group of Knights, and a few Mechanicum Adepts. The arc of the story shows the triumphs and potential of the 30k Mechanicum, their fall, and a bit of why technology in 40k is the way it is.

List Building: 1k Space Wolves

With so many army lists being built by +EvanS, I figured why not take a look at my Wolves and see what I can do at 1,000 points.  Of course I have put together lists before with moderate success in larger games, but heck why not.  So without further ado, let’s build a Space Wolves list for a challenging but fun 1000 point game.

FTGT 40k Giveaway and Painting Update

Under two weeks in and we're just over 4,000 views from wrapping up the contest. As expected, it looks like it will run a little beyond the projected end date of October 29th. For those of you new to the contest, we're giving away $100 in GW product of your choosing. To join in, all you need to do is comment on this post with a list of your Grey Tide - what you have that needs some paint and love.

Full rules, including how to get additional entries are in the main 40k Contest Post. Basically, you can earn additional entries by submitting before and after photos of minis as you paint them to the Contest Flickr Group. Alternatively you can email us the pictures and we'll post them up.

List Building: 1k Mobile Tau Army

I've always liked the look and feel of Tau, and so, collected a fair number of models. That said, while the idea of a gunline appeals to me, it's something that doesn't particularly fit my play style - I prefer to be mobile and make things happen on the board. With this in mind, I wanted to ask myself, is there a way I can build a mobile, slippery Tau force without losing its effectiveness.

FTGT 40k $100 Giveaway Contest Update

Hello FTGT Readers! Less than a week in and we're already less than 7,500 views away for 40k.

You can find the full rules to the contest in the original post and can enter by commenting there or on this post  with a list of your Grey Tide - the models you have either on the sprue or lying about unpainted.

As mentioned in the main rules post, in addition to getting an entry by posting your Grey Tide, you can get additional entries by posting before and after photos in our Flickr Group: FTGT 40k Contest.

All you have to do is join the group and then post photos of your assembled models before and after you've painted them up. You will get an additional entry for every 10 infantry (25mm), 5 Large Infantry (40mm), 2 Monster (60mm) or 1 Monstrous Creature (Oval Base) or Vehicle you submit painted (note, this has changed - we have cut the required models for extra entries in half).

So if you painted up a tac squad and a rhino, you would get two additional entries. 20 Termagants and a Tervigon would be three new entries.

Each entry increases your odds of winning our 40k Giveaway prize: $100(US) of GW minis of your choice. You want to start a Space Marine army? Well help yourself to two Tac Squads and an HQ choice. Blue aliens more your style? Boom, Riptide.

So post below, get your stuff painted up, and good luck!

Battle for the Abyss (Horus Heresy Book 8) Review

Back to the Horus Heresy Series, I recently finished up Battle for the Abyss. After Legion, I had a bit of a book hangover and took a couple breaks in the reading of this novel. Not because it was bad by any stretch, but it was certainly a good bit more direct and so, there was a bit less suspense I felt. As I mentioned in my Galaxy in Flames review, I've been a Ben Counter fan since Soul Drinker; I think he does an excellent job of developer characters through action and not having to divide the two. You get to learn about a character as the plot progresses swiftly, without stopping for a lot of background. At the same time, while the plot progresses quickly, the characters don't end up as boring, static action heroes.

List Building: 2k Dark Elves - A Foray into Fantasy

As I flipped through the book, still not sure what actually makes up a good army, I decided a good place to start would be to just building a list, based predominantly on what I had painted, but leaving the option to include things I owned. The first thing that became apparent is that the point systems aren't even close to similar to 40k, and while I planned at starting at 2k, even then I couldn't fit much of what I hoped to include.

FTGT 40k Giveaway for 40k Views Contest

As fans of 40k, we find it fitting to do something special as we approach 40k page views. We're still about 10k away, but when kicking around the thought of doing something to celebrate, we came up with the idea of doing a little contest, and want to give everyone plenty of time to get as many entries as possible.

The Prize: Up to $100 in GW boxed product. This is a hard cap, and we're leaving it up to the winner to pick out what they want in whole boxes.*

Dark Elf Army Book Review

On the evening of this codex's release, my wife flips through the book to feign interest, and announces in summary: "I don't like this book. There's too much boobs."

She was kidding.

Mostly.

What to Bring: 1k Tournament - Tyranids

It's time once again for my local 1k Tournament, and I'm actually going to make it this time. As I've mentioned before, after NOVA, I promised myself I would not show up to a tournament, even this little local one, without a fully painted army. While I want to show off my DakkaJet and Wraith Knight, I don't have a painted army to go with them, so they will have to wait until I do. That leaves me with the tried and true Tyranids.

Pulling Out the Dark Elves

With the imminent release of the new Dark Elf book, I figured it was a good time to break out my old Dark Elves and take stock of what I had.

About half my painted Dark Elves

Back to the Painting Table

I managed to get back to the painting table, after over a month away. I really wasn't sure what to paint, but wanted to airbrush something. My first thought was to paint some Kroot, but after pulling them out, I didn't feel like fixing them up. Not to mention, my big project should be Eldar, so I ended up picking up my Eldrad and Rangers and deciding to go with them.