1st birthday!

i'm 2 days late but i just don't care, i'm sorry for no posting these days but try to understand me: i'm next to graduation, it's spring (which is a really nice season in italy) and i'm happy. so wish me good things and please be patient, i'll come back, don't know if soon or not but i'll come back for sure. i promise i'll try to update the blog as much as i can! see you soon, friends!

Mathammer: Basics

let me begin with this: luckly, there's not a right way to win at wh40k. personally i really enjoy to have a nice time with my friends when i play with "toy soldiers" but, of course, no one wants to lose games all the time and i am no exception.
every player, when it comes to list making, asks himself what unit he should put in or which piece of wargear suits best a possible combat with a designated enemy. some simply choose the most expensive options, others always use the same bone-crunching combo that their codex allows.

well, this article wants to be something different. some time ago, while i was passing from one defeat to another, i worked out this method which is a simple probabilistic analysis of what is more likely to come out with a roll of dice.
let's say you want to know how likely is that your space marine kills an ork, ok? in order to understand how much this event is likely to happen you simply have to make a little maths but don't worry, only some products or divisions :-)
space marines has BS4 so hit on 3+, bolter has S4 so wounds a T4 on 4+, bolter's AP is 5 so no armour save is allowed. on a D6 a roll of 3+ happens in 4 cases on 6 so we use a fraction to say this: 4/6= 0.66. we can say almost the same for the 4+ roll: 3 cases on 6 so 3/6=0.5

let's put this altogether:
if space marine shots 1 time we have: 4/6*3/6*100= 33.33%
(as you can see i multiplied by 100 to have a number in percentage)
if space marine shots 2 times (eg: target within 12") we have: 2*4/6*3/6*100= 66.66%

you can apply this approach with nearly every weapon and target in the game, there are some tricky issues i'll explain in next posts.

i hope i've been clear, i explained the question in the most straightforward way i found. i don't know if any other player wrote on this issue before, so if this is not that piece of news, please tell me. thank you.

PS: of course to apply this method you've got to know, at least vaguely, which enemy will stand before you.
PS2: BIG WARNING, this is a method with which you can know the average behaviour of a weapon or trooper against a given enemy. if you are lucky/unlucky with dice the "statistic prediction" may not work! also: the more dice you throw, the more you'll stick with Mathammer results.

and yes, i'm a nerd.

Fantasy Monday #3: Heroquest Evil Sorcerer

"Skeletor" is done! i'm not completely satisfied about this miniature but i don't think i'll strip it for now. i really don't like how the skull turned out, vallejo bad moon yellow doesn't provide a very bold coverage, which is bad. i will use a different approach next time... maybe i can try to give it a wash. i'll see what i can do to fix this fantastic miniature, it's a shame that i painted it this bad.

Black Templars' custom painted hatch

not that much to say: a nice way to make your rhino unique: templar cross with the (Navarre) crusade badge.

One more Chaos Space Marines scheme

do you remember this? well, today i tried to paint it but i sadly realized i have not got any colour close to that very light green so, together with Michele, we planned to switch to another green, the dear old Goblin Green. this is the plan, i'll paint one test miniature asap. do you like it? i do, it reminds me all those old orky miniatures... 1993-94 circa.

Battle for Tcharkov objective counters

this is the first surprise i was talking about in the previous post. not that incredible thing, of course, but these counters are quite useful when you play a lot of Seize Ground games. they simply are some 20mm round bases, painted with Battle for Tcharkov campaign factions' logos.

Upcoming stuff

sorry for the lack of posts: in this period i'm quite busy with my last exam befor graduation (hard to believe!). i've got some stuff in standby on the workbench, waiting to be finished:

• Vendetta: undone paintwork
• Heroquest Evil Sorcerer: same as above
• Demolisher: converted turret is almost done
• Scenery: i'm drawing a lot of things
• Surprise #1: 40k campaign related
  
• Surprise #2: WHFB related. yeah, that's right, Warhammer Fantasy Battles.

so, please have a little patience and wait, thanks!

Gothic DIY scenery WIP

gothic wall section, still wip. all that arts history back in the high school wasn't wasted time.

Powerplant WIP

we need a bunch of urban scenery for our campaign (Battle for Tcharkov) so yesterday night i began making one building for this purpose. it is (would be) a power plant but many details, like coils or cables, still lack. above, the entrance with the pediment. Demolition Man for size comparison.

interior's overview: pile of rubble and collapsed wall section

external view, featuring the chimney

war-torn windows

Fantasy Monday #3 (wip): Heroquest Evil Sorcerer

it has been a long time since the last Fantasy Monday so it's time to re-start! it will also be a smart thing to do to break all this sci-fi painting, i don't wanna get bored by my imperial guard so soon.
this miniature reminds me Skeletor from the cartoon HeMan (maybe names are different in UK or US editions, dunno) so i'm gonna paint it like that dude. for now i finished the skin.

Vendetta camo scheme update

ok, i completed the first step of the scheme choosing the method i like best but i now realize it looks a bit too dark so i'm gonna break the spots, making them smaller, with more codex grey and then i'll see how it will look

HELP: Valkyrie testpaint

dilemma: which spot is better? hollow or solid? please tell me!

Tank crew lasguns

just a quickie: tank crews have always downsized weapons, even in the real world, so i converted 2 cadian pattern lasguns to a shorter version, similiar to the one you find in the tank accessories sprue, with different muzzle and stock (this is fixed, the real tank one is foldable).

Sentinels' pilots

Even 34th Valhallan has it's own recon operatives. the colour that identifies them as recce squads is beige (bubonic brown), so they bear beige berets on the traditional olive uniform, common to all 34th troopers.

i used Pig Iron Militia Heads to represent old Valhallan heads. the gas mask is quite suitable for them as personal protection for hostile (frost) enviroments.

in this set there are 3 type of different berets: i used the one with the forage cap to represent the squadron sergeant (first picture, above).

i painted the instruments details like a screen and a gem or something like that.

you all know i am an accurate guy: every pilot has regimental insigna on his right shoulder.

Sentinel magnetic weapons

the first Sentinel kit had only one weapon available: the multilaser. so i had to convert (and magnetize) the autocannon.

i used an autocannon from the cadian weapons platform kit and i shortened the barrel because it was looking too long, then i added 2 targeters, one of these from devastator's kit.

Vendetta cockpit lascannon

the final weapon of my Vendetta is done! i must say this has been a little bit tricky because of the hollow case of the weapon. i decided to fill it with milliput, flatting it with the weapon flat side, then i left it to dry overnight and then carved both part as usual, gluing magnets to place.

Adjustment about magnetizing weapons

magnets are expensive so you should use the least of them unless you are a millionaire. since i am a poor italian student, i used only 2 to magnetize the hull heavy flamer of my demolisher. the problem with this method is that the weapon rotates, which is silly.

a really smart idea (which is not mine but Orlando's, thank you bro) is to make a pin to prevent the rotation. so simple...

how to customize a Leman Russ #4: fully magnetized weaponry

quite a painful work, meanly because of all that plastic shaving (gotta pass the vacuum cleaner on the floor). the trick is the same i used with valkyrie weaponry: make grooves, be careful, glue the magnets, let the glue dry and you're done. this is the result.

the heavy flamer is totally compatible with the hull mount, that of course can house many different weapons.

side sponsons stick to the hull thanks to 2 magnets each: pay attention to keep them parallel to the hull.

that's all for now, any question?

Leman Russ Exterminator 500 (command tank)

finally i made it! when GW put out Apocalypse i had the idea to build and paint a whole tank company, wondering about how the command tank should look. well, i guess it must look as this!
this Exterminator is led by Knight Commander Zhukov (Pask) so it is full of kill and honour markings, a scroll, commander heraldry, custom weapons and many extra fuel tanks. in addition to this i painted it with a custom camo scheme with a different pattern (check out Leman Russ 511 to see how different) in order to make it look like coming from an older batch of production, but, of course, i used the same colours.

in the lower right part there's a yellow aquila marking from an old transfer sheet: it is meant like an honour badge or a command designation

on this side i applied the same badge painting it half spoiled... decades of war aren't bodywork friendly.

i put an extra lasgun on the back... you never know what's gonna happen when you are bailed out of the tank.
so? do you like it?

Imperial guard progress

as you can see there's not much progress because i'm keeping changing armylist so i may replace things i paint with others unpainted... in any case this is the progress.
in this moment i'm painting the Exterminator.