Dracula's America and 40k update

I haven't played 40k much recently due to being slightly discouraged. This is partly because of proxies and partly because of the latest FAQ. I have played around 10 games this year and I've thoroughly enjoyed them. However the army I played with looks nothing like what its suppose to. I have a decent collection of miniatures but they are mostly not for 40k and unpainted. And most of my 40k miniatures are Blood Angels which I'm not even playing. Playing with proxies have been apart of my gaming life for over 10 years now and it slowly been getting to me. For a period of time during the end of Warhammer Fantasy, I could play with a force without using proxies. The models were unpainted or partially painted, but otherwise the army looked like it should. Now I don't even have that luxury and its not going to change any time soon. I have pick up a small sample of what I've been using this year but I'm still in the progress of assembling and painting them. My delay in getting them finish is because I can't decided on how I want my 40k bases to look. I've never been fond of the idea of basing. The default of gluing green grit to the base to make it look like the model is standing in terrain just doesn't look good to me. However I wanted to something this time around with me getting back into 40k. I have an idea of what I would LIKE to do, but I have no idea how to do it. Trying to find a base scheme that I would like and in my ability to do has been seemly impossible so far. Until I solved this riddle, I can't really finish the miniatures I started working on. Of course there is also another reason I've been delayed on getting things done...

My 40k hobby has mostly been stopped in its tracks with the Big FAQ 1 release in April. In particular the Battle Brothers beta rules completely ruins how I wanted to play 40k. I will hopefully go into it more later but the highlights are thus. The small factions are probably not worth using. They have take up their own detachment and they do not give you command points. Given that using the various small factions of the Imperium was basically my army idea, I'm limited to only taking 3 factions (I sometimes use 4) and I have to organize them in an inefficient way that reduces the amount of commend points I get. In other words I get punished heavy for trying to make a Witch Hunter list from my 4th edition days. So now I'm not sure I want to use Sisters of Silence, Inquisition or the Assassins. And of course Inquisition and Sisters of Silence were some of the first new models I brought. I haven't even started painting Inquisitor Greyfax and now I don't think I want to use her anymore, not with the Big FAQ beta rules. The more I think about the beta rules, the more it depresses my interest in playing 40k. Besides working on an unit or two of Arco-flagellants I think I might need to step away from 40k for the time being. My future in 40k is too uncertain at the moment, and there are other games I'm interested in that aren't as much of a financial investment to play.

One of which is Dracula's America. I played a few games last year and I've like what I played. There were talks of a campaign but nothing really came of it. I also joined a pen and paper Deadlands game that reduce the time I could play Dracula's America with others. I grab a few models for the campaign that never happened. I planned to make youtube videos about Dracula's America but that also never happened. So instead those models just sat on my shelf. Then two things change in recent weeks. My library has an audio video studio that will eventually be available for me to use. That will make recording audio for podcasts and youtube videos much easier to do and allow me to get shows off the ground I've been thinking about for a year or more. I also learn that a Dracula's America campaign was starting this week and I could join. I was not exactly ready to be apart of a campaign but now that I'm in one, I will take this opportunity to work on my western models and to make Dracula's America content. I don't know how much of the campaign I will cover here. It is a pretty simple 5 person, 7 weeks campaign. I will mention highlights in my new podcast but that will probably be the extent of it unless something interesting comes up.

More Dracula's America content is coming! So stay tune.

An Arco-Flagellant Force

I never used Arco-Flagellants when I played Witch Hunters in 4th edition. I thought there rules were interesting but I didn't like the models at the time nor their lore. I didn't like the idea that part of my army were convicted criminals overdosing on combat drugs (and I still don't). Back then I had the idea of doing a conversion using ninja models with cybernetic limbs and using the Arco-Flagellant rules. That never actually happen. At the time I only wanted to use Games Workshop models and I don't think GW had anything in their catalog that fit what I was looking for. While I still think it is an interest idea for a conversion, it not something I would do today. The conversion would make them thematically similar to Death Cult Assassins and I already have 3 of the current miniatures.

I have used Arco-Flagellants quite a bit in 8th edition. Earlier this year I made an Ecclesiarchy list to test out all the close combat options available in the Adeptus Ministorum. A lot of the options were okay at best in my opinion. But there were two that both my opponent and myself thought were really, really good. Of course Arco-Flagellants were one of them (the other being Penitent Engines). They have a clear battlefield role of killing low armor, mid range tough enemies. And they do that extremely well. The shear number of attacks they can generate in close combat is insane. More than once this year my Arco-Flagellants generated so many attacks that I had trouble holding the dices. In my test list I initially thought aforementioned Death Cult Assassins had the same role as Arco-Flagellants, only Arco-Flagellants were much much better. But after playing a few more games and taking a closer look at the Death Cult Assassins abilities, I realize Death Cult has a slightly different role from Arco-Flagellants. Death Cult Assassins are much better at dealing with low toughness, high armor opponents due to their armor piercing which Arco-Flagellants lack. Death Cult also possess a lot of close combat attacks of their own. In fact one Death Cult Assassin has the average number of attacks that one Arco-Flagellant has. I never realize that before. Though with Arco-Flagellants having random attacks, they benefit more abilities that give other units bonus attacks, like priests. I always did have a fondness for Death Cult Assassins (thought I never played with them either in 4th edition) with them essentially being Imperium ninjas. But with Arco-Flagellants being stronger, more resilient and point-wise cheaper, Arco-Flagellants are currently just better. That said, I will be using both.

The Big FAQ 1 of 2018 was just release and it prevents taking a datasheet(an unit) more than 3 times. So far I have not used Arco-Flagellants more than twice in an army but I was contemplating a list with 6 units of Arco-Flagellants. Now with the Big FAQ 1 around, I can only use 3 Arco-Flagellants units at most. Which is more than enough for most of my games. I just wish I could have played one game with a ton Arco-Flagellants. It seems Games Workshop are constantly updating and amending the rules so I suppose there is a chance the 3 datasheet limit could get removed in the future and I can legally run a mass Arco-Flagellant army.

I'm not the type of player whom makes a single army list. The player that plays the same list over and over again, making slight tweaks to the list after every game or two. That type of player only buys miniatures that are also in that single list. And once they have their army completed and painted, they will only buy new miniatures when they tweak the list. That type of player is definitely not me, though it would make miniature buying much much easier. Every time I played 40k this year, I made the army list from the ground up. Many of my lists were made to test certain elements while others were made based on what I was feeling like playing. The downside to make new list every time I play is that I can never fully learn the strength and weakness of a particular list. That only comes with playing the same list multiple times against a wide range of opponents and scenarios. However I can and have learn of the strengths and weaknesses of individual datasheets (units) as well as the strength and weakness of the overall collection of forces that I call my Imperium army (mostly the Sisters of Battle, Ecclesiarchy, Sisters of Silence and the Inquisition). The makeup of my army changes from game to game, but there are datasheets that I use repeatedly. And it is those elements I think I will focus on collecting models for first. Ever since I first learn how great Arco-Flagellants were, I've always included at least one unit of them. The 3 Arco-Flagellants pictured above will be the start of me building 2 full units of 9. With 3 already assembled, I'm thinking up ideas for conversions to use for some of the other 15. I'm not going to use my old cyber ninja idea, but I am thinking of doing a few priests with the cybernetic limbs. I haven't found any models I want to convert yet but the plan is buy probably a reaper priest model and replace the arms with Arco-Flagellants arms. I also have Chaos Spawn limb bits that when painted up metallic should work for Arco-Flagellants. Why priests? I have a short story idea that will explain in universe for priest Arco-Flagellants. Hopefully I can post it soon. I will be posting my painting progress on the Arco-Flagellants I currently have and the entire conversion process of the next batch of Arco-Flagellants. Stay tune!

The Sister Who Speaks

Sometimes when I'm putting models together I brainstorm conversion ideas that I could do with said models. Other times I come up with mini-stories that explains the fictional role that the model or unit I'm working on has in the army overall and what are some of the intra-army relationships are like. And then there are those times I do both.

One of the things I'm currently working on is a box of Sister of Silence. I love the miniatures but I also want to have at least one with a "traditional" look. I think it would make her look similar to my Sisters of Battle and therefore help make both Sister forces look apart of the same army. While head swaps is among the easiest conversion to do, I won't be converting any Sisters of Silence anytime soon. I want 2 squads (one armed with swords, the other with bolters) to be model as is. Once I get a third box of Sisters is when I will start looking into the conversion. Also I don't have a lot of female head bits in my collection to use in conversions.

As I was crafting the story of how this future Sister conversion was going to fit into my army, a question came to my mind. Why would a Sister of Silence look so radically different from the others? I decided to go with her being the Silence Officer whom interacts with the rest of the army. That means she would be the one who would go to officer meetings, get issued orders for all of the Sisters of Silence in the field and in general the person to communicate to when concerning Silence affairs. This may not sound like a big deal but the job requires speaking and Sisters of Silence take a Vow of Silence when becoming members. With fantasy I would be more than happy to ignore setting fluff and make up my own fiction details in my stories. But 40k feels different. It is the setting a lot of fans call home and it is truly unlike anything I would have created on my own. Especially Sisters of Silence. Fortunately there is a really easy way to explain how this will fit into the setting. A jackass Inquisitor!

Inquisitors' authority in the Imperium is insane. They can practically order nearly anyone to do anything on penalty of death as long as they claim it is for the benefit of the Imperium. An Inquisitor can easily conscript a force of Sisters of Silence to serve under him/her as his personal army/bodyguards. It would even make a lot of sense if it was an Ordo Hereticus Inquisitor currently hunting a powerful psyker. Sisters of Silence communicate with each other with sign language and to outsiders by acolytes. Acolytes are women training to be Silence of Silence but have not yet taken the Vow of Silence. If said Inquisitor felt it was beneath him/her to talk to an acolyte or wants to be able to talk with someone in the middle of a firefight when acolytes are probably not going to be around, he/she could give an Imperial Mandate to a Sisters of Silence to permanently break her Vow. And I have an Inquisitor that could fit that role already assembled. Just need to be primed and painted. And I also need to get a better camera.

With all that said, even though it makes perfect sense in the 40k lore, I'm not sure I want someone like that in my army. I suppose I could say the Inquisitor regrets issuing the mandate but that feels cheap and like poor storytelling to me. I think I would prefer to say that the Inquisitor was killed off and the Sisters of Silence were then later recruited into my current army. There is another scenario I could use that I just thought of. Starting off the same as before with an Inquisitor conscripting a force of Sisters of Silence, the difference being that the Inquisitor doesn't mind dealing with acolytes. In fact the Inquisitor grows fond of the working relationship they have with one of the acolytes to such a degree that they Imperial Mandate the Sisters of Silence order to accept the acolyte without her taking the Vow of Silence. Still a jackass thing to do and an abuse of power. However it doesn't setup a personality that makes me instantly hate the character. It will be awhile before I can bring this character to the tabletop. While I could use my new Inquisitor Greyfax model pictured above, this character for me deserves an unique model with my own personal conversions.

A little weird when you think about it that I've put this much thought into the backstory of two conversion projects I don't plan to do anytime soon. But that is how my mind works. At least now I can start looking for bits to fit into these projects. Also just because they don't currently have models doesn't mean I can't put them into stories. Thank you for reading my random musings on story and conversion.