Late-July 2017 reading....

Here's what I've read this week:

1)  Private Yankee Doodle by Lee Plumb Marin.  More about being a soldier in Washington's Revolutionary army.....

2)  The Long Way Home by Sabina Chase.  More military sci-fi about a NASA astronaut stranded in the 22nd century....

3)  The Rhodesian War:  A Military History by Moorecock.  More about the guerrilla insurgency that toppled Smith's white government in 1980...

4)  Blue Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson.  Getting into the second Martian revolution that overthrew the Terran colonial government on the terra-formed planet...

WIP, Nurgle Death Guard from the Dark Imperium box set, 17JUL17

Here are photos of WIP, 30mm WH40K Death Guard Plague Marines and Pox Walkers from the Dark Imperium box set:

                                          WIP, 30mm Nurgle Plague Marines.

                                          WIP, 30mm Pox Walkers and Blight Drone.

Mid-July 2017 reading...

Here's what I've been reading this week:

1)  The Rhodesian War:  A Military History.  More on the guerrilla insurgency in Rhodesia/what became Zimbabwe.  Interesting interplay between the then Apartheid  South African government and Smith all white Rhodesia.

2)  Blue Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson.  Started third book in the Mars Trilogy.  Begins with a successful second revolution against the Terran authority on Mars while Earth falls into chaos because of the flooding from the melting Antarctic ice shelf. 

3)  Private Yankee Doodle by P.L. Martin.  More about a private in General Washington's American army during the Revolutionary War.

WIP, 6mm 1980s Angolan Support Vehicles, 13JUL17

Here's a photo of a WIP, 6mm 1980s Angolan Support Vehicles, 13JUL17:

WIP, 6mm Angolan Armor and 30mm WH40K Skitarri Rangers

Photos of some WIP, 6mm Angolan Armor and 30mm WH40K Skitarri Rangers:

                                          6mm 1980s Angolan Armor for FFoT, III.

                                          Last of my 30mm Adeptus Mechanicus, Skitarri Rangers.

New WH40K 8th Edition Playtesting, 03JUL17

I play-tested the new WH40K 8th edition rules with my friend Curtis Turner (Hostile Contact) this afternoon at my house.  We got a 1500 point game done in 1.5 hours.

Here are my impressions:

1)  Vehicles are harder to kill in the new edition.  Vehicles have Strength, Toughness, and Wounds stats.  It simplifies the game instead of dealing with armor values.  However, land raiders are tougher to kill outright.  I crippled a Chaos Predator with a couple turns of turns of las-cannon fire from a Deathwing Land Raider.  Both my Land Raiders were standing at the end of the game.

2)  Close combat and power weapons maul Space Marines in regular power armor.  Terminators will last longer in close combat for a couple of turns.  However, regular marines (both Chaos and Imperial) are more fragile to outright effects of power weapons.

3)  Psychic powers can be effective if your opponent doesn't has a psycher.  They can't counter your psychic power plays without a Deny the Witch roll. 

4)  Storm Bolter rapid fire can be effective in removing regular Space Marines.  Assault Cannons are also effective in clearing out troop formations, too.

5)  Deathwing Terminator armies are more effective in this new edition of WH40K.  My termis had more staying power with two wounds than previous games.

6)  Curtis had horrible dice rolls.  Mine were good (for a change).  I didn't know what happened to my usual luck.  I'm not complaining.  I won this game we played.  I was destined to lose when Brian Bigford blew up one of my land raiders on Turn 2 the other weekend we gamed...

Overall, recommend edition.  Plays faster, bloodier, more tactically forgiving.  

Early July 2017 reading....

Here's what I've read this week:

1)  The Long Way Home by Sabrina Chase.  Hard military sci-fi novel about a NASA astronaut trapped in the 22nd century rim.  She holds a huge secret; the location of a virgin planet.  And is being hunted down for it....

2)  Green Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson.  Another hard sci-fi novel about the colonization and terra-forming of Mars into a livable world...

3)  The Rhodesian War:  A Military History.  Nonfiction on the conflict that paved the way for Zimbabwe's independence.  I've just started it.  Mainly colonial history of Rhodesia...

4)  Private Yankee Doodle by P.L. Martin.  Nonfiction autobiography of an American Revolutionary NCO who fought in Washington's Army during the conflict...