New Marine Project

I picked up a pretty good sized bit of marines this weekend in a trade. I've been debating if they will become Dark Angels or a different chapter. From putting them together last night and starting some conversions, it's looking like they will be Crimson Fists.

It just seems appropriate that the first vehicle for a Crimson Fists army should be a Stompa killer. Now all I need is the Stompa for it to kill too.

My Walk, pt 2...

It's time for the next action packed part of my story...


So what was the basis for my beliefs before last year? It's quite simple really once all is made clear.

I am and have been a software developer for about 20 years now. One of the things I've come to realize about writing software is in most cases you are creating something from nothing more than a thought or a need. I'm not comparing all developers to God, but there are those who have that high of an opinion of themselves and do have (in my opinion) a God complex. One of the things about writing software is that for all the "right" ways to do something, there will be one feature that just doesn't work right. Due to a crunch of some sort, the developer will do whatever shortcut necessary to fix the problem whither it's done correctly or it's a hack to make it work cause it's usually something vital to the project.

So, what's this have to do with anything? Well, simply put, I believe this proof is visible daily to us. Water. Water is proof to me that there is a creator. Why? Since water is so chemically and physically different from every other compound but interacts so much with everything that life could not exist without it that this shows that (to use a computer term) water was debugged. The Lord knew this was the key to everything working out for life and made water the way it is because that's how it had to be to work.

I had done similar things to that before in my work to make a system work. One hingepin to everything coming together or falling apart leads to doing what it takes to make it work right. Not to say that anything I've done is on the scale or importance of creating a livable and sustainable environment for all kinds of life to exist for hundreds of millions of years on this planet as well as everything else in all of creation but there are times that the sponsor and the users make it out to be just that important.

So, there's my part on why I know that there is a God. Next time we'll get more into the decision. Stay tuned...

New Guard Codex

I got some time to look over the new IG codex. I still don't think the sky is falling. Read on for more.


Did the Guard get better? Oh yeah. Are they top tier now? Probably. Are they the new broken? I don't think so. It is nice to see alot of stuff from the past coming back to the surface. Forgeworld also seems to be the order of the day as well given all the variant types of everything.

The new order system is really kinda cool. It would be nice to see this system implemented across all the armies. It adds some of the flavor from Epic and Warmaster to the game. The worst things out there I think are the Psyker squads and a couple of the upgrades for the Command Squad.

Psyker squads seem to be the potentially worst. Being able to apply up to a -10 to leadership penalty makes one wish for the good old days of the Tyranids and the Choir there. The nuke isn't bad either. It also gives you an excuse to whip out those bad dice that always seem to roll low. This is probably the final dagger in the Biker Nob coffin (may it rest in Hell).

The CCS upgrades are situationally bad. They don't seem to be an all the time kinda bad, but they really can mess with any kind of reserve or outflank plan that doesn't involve the Positional Relay. They won't be an "I win" button but if you're relying on a unit of outflanking anything, don't expect them before turn 5 and pray for a 3 or better for the bottom of the turn. The other problem I see with this is you are self inflicting on yourself the problem that the Ninja Tau cause. You can't kill an army in a turn. The Tau abuse that for that setup, and you're giving it away to each opponent where they keep things in reserve. I'd like that very much for my Deathwing. Drop on turn 1, hide & harass, bring a second alpha strike on turn 5.

Since I play mainly Deathwing, the Exterminator seems the worst of the bunch of the new tanks. 5 plasma cannon shots per turn and this makes for some not happy Terminators. At least they are appropriately priced and the squadron rule makes them exceptionally easier to kill.

The Deathwind launcher is just silly. Why they put a unit that is meant for Apocalypse in a regular book is beyond me. 80' range? Seriously. Guess they want to give the guys on the bottom tables the ability to affect the top table. If I were a judge, I'd allow that just for the silliness factor. Either that or they want a battery of these to duel an Imperator.

My Walk...

Yeah, this doesn't have anything directly to do with wargaming or software but feel the need to tell this. If you don't want to read about a man coming closer to the Lord, there's other things to check out.


January 18, 2009, I was baptized in water at the Spring Vineyard Christian Fellowship in Spring Texas. This was no small thing given views that I have had over the years. Before last year, I had no thought at all about giving my life to Christ. None what so ever. Wouldn't happen. It's not that I didn't believe in God, but more why would he care about this little rock out here with all of creation to worry about. I guess this falls under not putting God in a box, but as a brilliant philosopher once said, "The very young do not always do what they are told."

So what lead me to this? I'd gotten a Bible a few years ago. Mainly because I'd never really read the Bible and I wanted to be sure that what I believed was because it was what I believed. Of course, this spawned lots of questions about why something was worded and the like, but it didn't really make much impact overall on me. Last summer, I was reading the Gospels again and something about John's Gospel (John 14:6) and the part about "No one comes to the father but through me" somehow just resonated with me. This was my start down the path to being a Christian.

As I said though, that's not to say that I didn't believe in God before. I even had something to base that off of. That's is what they call a cliffhanger in the trades though I believe so you have to wait until next time. :D

Back in the saddle...

Well I've been back in a bigger company after doing a two year stint at a small software development shop. The corporate game hasn't changed. I miss the small group (i.e. frathouse) feel of my old job and the overall competence of the whole team. We have a offshore group and onshore group. The onshore folks and I are meshing well with me bringing my experience to getting our work done in a quick fashion and them leading me where I need to go. The offshore folks are an entirely different story who seem to have never been introduced to the concept of testing before releasing software.

A month in and I think I got my feet under me here. This seems like it can be a good gig. Hope it lasts as long as the others have.

Bayou 2008 Summary

So Teclis was supposed to get me that coveted "TFA" award. Well nothing was further from what happened. 2-3-0 was the record with a win over the VC (who are overrated IMO) and dwarfs with losses to greenskins (who ironically won BECAUSE of a failed animosity roll), Daemons (it was a pretty soft list for a Daemon army), and a HE Civil War. Nothing much else new to say aside from I hope they tighten up on the list submissions this year.

So that didn't work...

Well almost a year later and no pics of the army or anything yet. That's ok cause I just got a new camera. The high elves are mostly done so on to the next project. This is either finishing my Deathwing, Dwarfs, or doing my Wife's Tomb Kings.

We'll get more going on this now. Really. I mean it this time.