Status Update

Alright, I managed to finish off the third assault squad last night. My scoring units are now complete. I also assembled their jump packs, but I still have to assemble ten more for one of the other assault squads, AND I have to show up early to the tournament on Saturday to buy and assemble my final ten (yes, I’m cutting it THAT close). Tonight, I’ve got those ten pesky jump packs to work on, and then ten Vanguard Veterans and ten Death Company. Now, I know I can easily assemble twenty models in a single night, but I’m hesitant to. If I rush assembly, that means significantly less time spent crafting and converting each model. Considering the fact that these are my veterans and death company, units that should pop out on the table top (at least the veterans), this may be an issue. Hopefully, I can kick a whole lotta tail tomorrow and just buy more DC models.

Aside from the status update, I also wanted to briefly touch on the advancement I’ve seen in GW mold technology. Now, I’ve only been playing for seven years, so I missed the REALLY old days, but even when I started, plastic kits were really a way to provide most armies with cheap kits to fill the ranks of units they would need a lot of. For example, when I started up my Dwarfs, dwarfs warriors and dwarfs with crossbows were the two most common Core units. They also happened to be the only units in the entire army that came in plastic. Same for my two friends, Tyler and Bob. One, with Lizardmen, had plastic Saurus and Skinks, and the other, with Hordes of Chaos, had Chaos Warriors and Marauders. Everything else was metal. On a side note, that’s why I don’t much mind paying $25 for a unit of 10 infantry models. . .most of the units in my army were $5 per model! Anyway, looking at the old dwarf warriors and quarrelers of mine, the kits definitely have a decent amount of detail, and are pleasant enough to look at (especially now that they’re decently painted), but I would never have thought about converting the more elite units in my army out of them, simply because they don’t look “elite” enough.

The same goes for, as a current example, the Blood Angels. The plastic assault marine kit is nice. It has a good amount of detail on the armor, and various accoutrement to add a little flair to the models. But if I have one unit painted red with yellow helmets, and another red with gold helmets, well, you can tell which are the vets and which aren’t, but there’s not a whole lot that would make the veterans look elite that wouldn’t involve a lot of cutting, sawing, gluing and sculpting. Enter in the plastic kits we’ve seen with the new release. Between the Sanguinary Guard and Death Company kits, you have everything you’ll need to make Veterans, Sanguinary Priests, Sergeants, and even characters, named or unnamed. The kits are not only extremely detailed, but the death company kit comes with power weapons, a power fist, a thunder hammer, bolt pistols, hand flamers, plasma pistols, inferno pistols, bolters, jump packs, chainswords. . .AND the bits to make five models. I was upset before I saw the kits that Blood Angels wouldn’t be getting a chapter upgrade kit, like Templars and Dark Angels, or a more versatile chapter kit, like the Space Wovles. Then my eyes beheld the glory that is the new DC kit, and I would gladly shell out $35 for a kit that only has five complete models. If you get yourself two DC kits and a tactical squad, well, my friend, you now have enough to make a Vanguard Veteran and a Sternguard Veteran squad.

I do have to say, because I don’t see this on the internet enough, I’m pretty darn happy with the way GW has been operating for the seven years I’ve been in The Hobby. Sure, price increases suck, and they haven’t always made the best decisions, but all in all, they have a solid company and a game that’s larger than any other miniatures system out there. And I’m not just saying this because my army has all of the shiny new toys. . .but it helps.