A big Thanks and Overview of Onslaught GT 2012!

First I would like to start this post with a major thanks to my friend Dave Taylor. His help in directing people to me for the sale of products has helped take a good chunk out of several bills that the wife and I were not sure on how we were going to pay. I have insurance mind you but my copays start adding up and it makes things difficult. At this time if anyone would like to purchase the lot as a whole btw I am making a great deal on it all. $250 and that includes shipping world wide so first person to email me about it will be my huckleberry at alexanderakers at yahoo dot com.

Now for the review of the Onslaught GT 2012 held at Templecon in Rhode Island. I like to break these down into event direct, venue as a whole, and other:
Event Direct: First off this was the Organizers first time running something so big. It is a daunting task mind you to run any tourney but when they spread several days it gets to be a major hassle and is very exhausting as a whole. Keith did a wonderfull job though and his prep was just fine with no flaws that I could see. Unlike the "Da Boyz GT" the scenerios were straight forward and not hard to comprehend but not so much that they would cause major unbalances either in final points. The terrain was perfect for the tables minus a few gripes from a few but thats honestly going to be the case no matter what. As far as awards they were rather nice looking plaques which personally I love more then tropheys, reason being trophies tend to break easily in moves etc. where are plaques sit nicely and look pleasant on the wall. They were from the convention itself so no overly large but still very nice and again unlike the "Da Boyz GT" at least there was awards as oppossed to product. Now there were no swag bags but for me this was actually rather nice because it took me back to how tournies used to be. Minus the minor personal quip of not having a best painted I understood the conventions reasoning on it as there was a comp outside with the coolminiornot people. There was players choice but this can get rather finiky as I noticed a bunch  of people were forgetting to even walk around and look at others armies as is often the case, and will just write whoever down. Normally I have several negative but really not on this. Like I said the minor issue is a personal thing but didn't detract from the event for me in the slightest.

Venue as a Whole: All I could say is WOW. First off the hotels food was by no account crappy, nor was the bar and the drinks...mmmmm whiskey. Suprisingly I found the food well above average and you could get a great filling meal for under $10 if you went to there restaurant, or buy from the vendor etc. Lots of parking so no issues there, and even with thousands of people they kept the place damn near spotless and odor free.. we all know of gamer funk people! Also Templecon is heavily into Steampunk and let me just say... THANK YOU!!!! Besides the fun of the costumes the actually attractive women in them made one hell of a show. To the fat women PUT MORE CLOTHES ON!!!!! Overall the venue was honestly as nice if not nicer in other respects to Adepticon and far surpased my last gt in Oct... wait for it... "Da Boyz". Yes I am no longer a fan of the Da Boyz!

Other: Honestly I am extremely picky about tournies and often take a firm approach to whats good and bad as I was spoiled on the west coast with great events in Seattle and such, but this one really did an outstanding job and I am very happy to see people stepping up to the challenge of running these big events and what's more doing it well! My hat is off to the organizers Keith, and the terrain man Sam Butler you all did an outstanding job and I for one plan to return next year.

Overview: Out of 5 pts
Event: 4.9 as nothing is ever perfect but this was damn close
Food: 4.5  great prices and well done just I am biased towards Chicago sorry
Tourney as a whole: 4.9 This one is one to watch as I see great things in it's future!

Up for Sale!

So I am selling pretty much everything personal atm as I need to raid money to cover some medical bills I am accurring. As such I am pricing everything to go big time so if you are interested then either email me at alexanderakers (at) yahoo dot com or call me at my business line at 508-251-0397. I can take payment via paypal or over the phone and I am willing to wheel and deal so the more you buy the more you get off!
First up is OOP Metal blisters. All of these are really recent but with the change to finecast all metal blisters are OOP. Each blister is $7.00 but again the more you buy the better I will deal.
40k Blisters:
-DE Lelith hesperax x2
-Eldar Avatar x2
-DE Urien Rakath x3
-SM Chaplain x2
-Eldar Farseer x2
-IG Ogre Bone'ead
-Dark Eldar Archeon
-Castellan Crowe
If somone wants to buy the whole package then I will sell them all for $200 That would save you $59

Fantasy Blister:
-Skaven Packmaster Gnawtooth x2
-Chaos Wulfrik the Wanderer
-HE Prince Althran x2
-Khorne Chaos Champ
-Skaven Tretch Craventailx3
-Skaven Warlord Spinetail x2
-DE Boltthrower
-Skaven Ratling Gun x4
-Skaven Ikit Claw
-Svage Orc Great Shaman on warboar x2
-Champion of chaos
-Ghorros Warhoof
-Wurzag
-Skaven Greyseer
-Sorcerer of Chaos
- Skaven Warlock Engineer x2
-Skaven Warlord x2
If somone wants to buy this whole batch then I will sell it for $250.
Buy all of the blisters for 40k and fantasy $400.

-Rare Limited Gamesday Archeon on foot x2 $35 each
-2005 understatably rare 54mm wood elf GW with certificate of authenticity (it was the employee xmas gift to select managers) $95

FW
-SM Dred left arm assembled and cleaned $13
-SM Dred cleaned right inferno flammer arm $13

- I will be posting pictures of my GK army that is over 2k as well in the next post but I am asking $950 for that plus shipping. For an extra $50 I will throw in the battlefoam x-board I converted to fit the dragon forge bases.

Seasons Greetings too one and All!

So I am feverishly working on some British Pennisular Light Regt for a pot in a few days, amongst other things, but I thought I should just drop a line and say seasons greetings to you all my loyal readers. The reason it's seasons greetings because some people celebrate Chanukha or Xmas and as such I don't want too single out anyone. As such thank you all for your readership of this blog and over the next year I should have some really fun posts comming as Adepticon this year is going too push me too new limits painting wise. I have a 40k army too finish painting and building for Feb. and I also have a 1250 early war German army, Macedonian WAB army, and several show models I need to finish in time for Adepticon! So as such it will be a crazy kick off to the end of the world year but damn it I will make it count (btw the end of the world thing was a joke so no run offs on that).

Also DON"T FORGET TO SHOP AT BATTLEROADGAMES.COM for all of your bits needs!

Battleroad Games and Hobbies Launches bits section on webstore

Greetings Fellow Dakkites,for those of you who know of Battleroad Games and Hobbies LLC we are a Hobby Retail Webstore. As such we are further striving too bring you the gamers what you want at great affoardable prices. As such we have switched our full ebay operation to our webstore and after a lot of work I am happy too announce that our bitz section will be launching this Friday on Dec 9th. As such we are starting with just the 40k and will be adding in Fantasy by the end of next month. Reason being it takes time too switch everything over and we have too rephotograph so that you for waiting as I promise you won't be dissapointed. By the end of Jan you will be able too shop from over 600 different bits up for sale and in the comming months we will be doubling that number too make us one of the most versatile one stop shops for your bits needs. We are also a full fledged web store and sell full box sets as well from over a dozen different lines. Come January you will also see our own 28mm heroic scale bits starting with several sets of heads that you will be able too purchase at extremely reasonable prices. I have attached a sneak peak at the first set recently sculpted by Dakkas own Navarro and he is hard at work on another as well. We have also contracted several major sculptors too do even more sets that we will be releasing in the comming months.




-Dec 9th launch of the bits section with 40k.

-Monthly 20% off sales on bits as we have the "Flavor of the Month".

-Full 10% off retail on all products ordered via the webstore and phone orders.

-If you don't see it call us and ask, we may not have it up atm or maybe it's something we should add!

-Finally unlike many other bits sites we will be making weekly restock orders (trust me our distributors already love us) so as too insure if it's out of stock it will be back in within that week.



So give us a call at 508-251-0397 or shop direct via our webstore at http://battleroadgames.com/ and remember this Friday is the launch so tell your friends.

P.S: The head set shown below we retail at $10.00 for all 9 heads. I am unsure yet if we are doing these as resin or pewter.

Another fine Weekend another fine tourney!

So this past weekend I decided too hit up the Battleground Games and Hobbies LLC doubles tourney for 40k. It was um....well... GREAT!!!!!! Tournies like this on are as they honestly should be for rogue traders, great terrain, great people, and lots of both, ooh ya a little fun too I dare say:)_! Years ago when I lived in Tacoma/ Seattle I went too rogue traders every month and some of those were great fun because they had a great organizer by the name of Rob McKitrick. Saddly over the years he faded away from that scene and the rogues when too crap honestly, and when I came too mass I hit a few but none really matched up. That is honestly until yesterday when my team mate and I went there with no expectations too win any games just have fun.

I am sad too announce Sam and I did win our final game and we were rather disapointed as damn it we thought we could go for broke. I did however manage too walk out with $90 store credit for having the best painted army and best single painted mini!  I promptly used it too get a friend some models I owed him so hey I was a happy camper but more I was happy because of the basic regonition of the judges and several people who noticed the work I put into it. I didn't care if I won anything as I was having fun but it was awsome too win and I promptley thanked the academy for my award and my director... wait wrong speech! Anyways looking around I did see several well done armies but more two fellow classmates of my painting mentor Mr. Mathieu Fontaine. These two fellas were brothers who had taken his classes on different ends of the country but were now back in Mass together and let me just say this. Once those two finish there armies, they are about 90% done I would think by looking at them, there will be some seriously stiff painting comp at rogues in the New England Area. These guys wowed me which doesn't happen alot but I can and will gladly admit when I am beaten and I think these two are forcing me too up my game even more.

More too the point I had three great games, and Sam and I had a clast and I for once have utterly no critiques. All around just a blast of a tourney and I look forward too more in the future there honestly and I do hope that Battleground branches into small indy GT's because I think they could handle it and run a good show.
-alex

The Da Boyz GT review

Greetings fellow bloggers and readers; as the title says this is my review from the Da Boyz indy GT that I returned from last late last night. Normally I would sit down and show you all a bunch of pictures of some cool armies and ideas that I saw while I was there, and then talk about the winners etc, but saddly this post won't be that kind of one as this was disapointingly the worst event I have ever been too. Here is the break down that lead too that determination.

Venue: The event was held in "The Armoury" in Rochester NY and the location though large and open but did not live up to the hype that the organizer lead us to believe about it. My friend and I were both told that the venue had a restaurant attached too it. What this apparently meant was the piss poor bar, that was overpriced and had nothing but well drinks and cheap beer, was grilling burgers and fries and selling to us. We ended up at wendys and don't get me started into the service on that place. Another major problem with the venue was that due to the size of the location it was either too hot or too cold. There was no comfortable medium and this really made for a misserable time alone.

Organization: Normally if you put out a shedule you stick by it and that works for me. The Fantasy side was on the nose but saddly I was playing 40k and this lead too tons of problems. We were told too arrive at 830am on both days and we would be rolling dice by 930am.....never happened on both days and all this did was fling us into further confusion when it came too grabbing meals etc. The organizers would tell us we would start our next round at 1 even though we just ended at 1230. Ok so I know we have no time too run out and get food, so the problem with this is that would wouldn't start till 1:45pm because they couldn't get there software that did the pairings too work, or the person inputing the data was too slow. Furthermore we ended up playing 4 games on the first day and two on the second. The problem with this is technically that is 10hours  on the first day, and that would have been fine if we started early but adding in the breaks etc we didn't get out of there till after 10pm and we were told we had too be there the next morning at 8am.

Judges: This was my biggest problem for the event because these guys were just awfull. For starters my games 5 was against a 15 year old kid. Now I am a mentor too teenagers and have no issues with children, teens whatever playing and often go into it with a little more give to the game as I know a lot of players are more pricks about it. During the game there was blatant cheating and I started calling my opponent on it, but one of the judges who knew the kid was a local, came up and started calling against me ever step of the way. For example: I took down one of his vehicles with my stormraven, I then used the machine spirit, as the rules clearly state, and choose too fire at a different target. The judge would not allow me too do this stating "you can't split fire it's all at once". IT"S IN THE RULES YOU TWIT!!!!!!! This was only the beginning of many such calls like it. I don't get angry during games but on this one I just got to the "whatever point". Other times during the event I would ask simple questions about time, location, minor rules on the scenarios and the judges would either start talking and walk away, say they have no clue, or tell me to figure it out for myself because they didn't care. Judges are there too help run a event but when I see them having no clue it begs too wonder what the hell they are doing.

Scenarios: This is the second worst part as the designer tried too add some flair....fail. The judges couldn't even answer questions on the scenarios, and before every game they would have too call the 40k side over too them too try and explain typos. The objectives were unclear and favored the locals who know the ways too play the game objectives.

Comp: This is a contraversal issue for many, and I personally have no issue with comp at a tourney... if it's done right. Initially we had a rubric we had too go off of that was out of 80, I personally score 70 pts (I took a untooled pure close combat falchions gk army). After this initially submitted rubric that we knew what our score would be the judges would grant up too an additional 30 points of comp. The problem was this was a blind comp decision and they refused too even state how they graded it. I personally recieved an additional 10 points, while another grey knight player took 30 for a full 110pts. He was a local....hrmmmmm but when I asked one of the judges he argued with me saying no GK player recieved max comp. I offered to show him on the list they posted but he refused to look and keep telling me I was wrong. The judges also refused when asked to at least explain to us how they graded the blind comp portion. This pissed a lot of players off and there was many grumbles.

Event prizes: Now when you go to a GT you go because it is something far bigger and grander then a local rogue trader. A weekend will often come in around 1k in overall costs too get out there, build your army etc etc so that is why you want it too be a cut above the rest in prizes and tropheys. Well the event had tons of prizes but almost zero trophies. More too the point they ran out of there certificates too the people who had won as one of my friends won best table and he got a few cheap scenery pieces. If I wanted to compete for product I would have saved my money and gone too Battleground Games as they put on some amazing rogue traders where you can win hundreds in product, but GTs we are paying for tropheys or plaques but namely something more then just product.

Overall review: I appriciate you all reading this long winded post but saddly there was no way to make it any shorter. If there was one issue I would chalk that too just bad luck..it happens heck even two I would but when I can find major problems in each aspect of the tourney then there is honestly something majorly wrong. I for one will not ever be returning too this event and that disapoints me as it was 5 years since I did a 40k singles GT and I was stoked for it. I went out of my way too sculpt and cast a purity seal for my army list, build a army full of major conversions and go balls too the wall to go all out. I didn't care if I won anything I just wanted too have a blast. Saddly for the first time I feel like I wasted my time, and money and honestly am really lacking the desire too even play anymore because events like this just destroys your desire for the game. Even several of my friends told me this event made them just want too sell off there GW because it just wasn't fun. So I am sure this negative post will cause some controversy and it sucks because I have tons of pictures I wanted too show and going into it I was really excited but now I don't even know if I care anymore about 40k GT's. Adepticon is a blast but I usually play WAB there so that is out of the question.

DA Boyz GT is only a few days away!

Granted I do not have my usual strand of strong anticipation as I do for Adepticon (I mean who wouldn't for adepticon) but I am still rather nervous as this is the first indy 40k GT I have actually done since 2006!!!!!! I was signed up for one two years ago at adepticon but I fell horribly ill and ended up catching the early flight home. In the words of my friend Joe Orteza " I looked like Nurgles rot!". Anyways I have been plowing away at the army, display board, and army list....wait army list? For those who will face off against me they will recieve my list as a purity seal that I sculpted on a 60mm round real quick and attached some parchment too. I felt it addes a little bit of fun to the whole deal and to thank my caster (who is also my ride to the event) I sculpted him one too for his nurgle.

Here's a little overview show of the army as it stands. I am working on the squad to the lower front right and the brotherhood champion and should be finished tues night. In the mean time I also will have too paint the xboard that I sanded down and put all of the hex stones ( and other stuff) on as it is too mimic the dragonforge bases of the lost empires. Jeff Wilhelm being the amazing friend he is made me a master mould too create the hexes from and from there my casting mate did up around 340. Jeff believed it would take 500 and I thought he was right..Had I covered every inch in it well maybe but I didn't because it is a ruined temple. I can use this for my Dark Eldar, and Macedonians as it all fits very easily!

The brotherhood Champion was a fairly easy conversion/ kit bash. I thought about sculpting it and so forth further too really set him apart but time is not on my side.

A little side shot of "La Fontaine" or the land raider for those of you not in the know I guess.

Here's my best friend Hans riding my wife...ya I did it people!

The final squad (now several layers in on paint). This is my only mixed squad in terms of weapons as I needed the points for other things. Well there you have it people. I will get some final shots of everything (seals and all) on Thurday at the hotel but until then I hope you enjoyed the post and as always keep painting.
-Alex