From out of the Northland comes...

Orangenemo has a Rogue Trader character

Arthur Highgate, the bastard son of the renowned admiral Duke Reginald Harrison Highgate the IV of Icarus III, the young space explorer, and 1st mate of Brock Rostman's vessel, Righteous Fire.

Arthur took to the stars as soon as he came of age as there was nothing for him on Icarus III except to scramble for the leavings of his legitimate half-brothers. He sought out a life among other bastards, villains, rogues and other generally degenerate folk. His goal? To one day acquire the title "Rogue Trader" and truly become a ruler, a position denied him on Icarus III. But his real desire in taking to the stars, more than finding comraderie among other like-minded rogues, more than the prospect of a stellar empire, is the chance to make it with freaky alien chicks.

Ever since he was a young adolescent he would look up at the stars in the night sky and imagine the multitudes of weird-looking alien babes aching to be taught the concept of human love. "It's a galaxy filled with hot xeno mamas," his father, the Duke, would tell him on those rare moments he found the time to talk to his bastard. "Your life is before you, opportunity abounds son, you have to go out there and take it. You have to go out there and make it with a green alien. Now, go play in the garden while your mom and I have adult fun time."

Yes, to make it with a nasty alien babe, that is the loftiest of dreams and Arthur is determined to make it a reality.

Variations on a theme

Here's two new zombie scenarios I've written up for your evaluation and bemusement (one 40K, one Fantasy).

I've also added a poll to the side asking what system you would prefer for the zombie game this year: 40k (last year's choice), Fantasy, or perennial runner-up Space Hulk.

Resolution 2010 Ends

This officially ends my chances of reaching my 2010 hobby resolutions, with none of my 40k projects completed and over 50% of my High Elves painted for 7th Edition play. I broke my left thumb on Thursday, basically ending any chance of painting clean lines.

Here's the recap of all the hobby items, and I'll update this again in Dec:
High Elves - 20 archers, 11 Phoenix Guardsmen, and 16 Swordmasters are over 80% complete and need their final 2 layers, bases, and detailing to complete. 15 White Lions are about 50% complete. The Lords and Heroes are about 80% complete. Another 20 archers still need to be undercoated. The Dragon and the Eagles need to be build/greenstuffed before undercoating.

White Scars - 5 man Combat Squad is about 70% complete. Test unit for painting white techniques. The rest of the army is undercoated white.

Farsight Tau - Haven't been worked on this year. Maybe next year.

Tau BFG - All but the Emissary Cruisers are basecoated black. Half of the fleet have a layer of Shadow Grey applied.

Tau Aeronautica Imperialis - 4 Tau Barracudas basecoated and a layer of Shadow Grey.

Warmachine - Cygnar warcaster undercoated and 1st 2 layers applied.

Next year, I'll set more realistic goals...

Recursion is fun

In preparation for the onset of WHFB 8th Ed.'s magically exploding heads and at the request of YodasLuck, I evaluated the probability of double or more 1s or 6s relative to the number of dice being thrown. Math below the cut, and I leave the implications of the probabilities as an exercise to the reader.

2 dice: 2/36 (6%)
3 dice: 32/216 (15%)
4 dice: 342/1296 (26%)

And on a related topic, I've simulated what the difference between 2d6 would be to get an idea of the distribution of power dice versus dispel dice, assuming no army bonuses to either:
0: ~16.5%
1: ~28%
2: ~22%
3: ~17%
4: ~11%
5: ~5.5%

13 Jul Edit: Updated the mathematics to be far less complicated (less fun, but much more readable), and added other sim results
22 Jul Edit: Added power dice sim results to bottom of post

Game Kastle 40k 1500pt Tourney

Took a couple of pictures of the armies playing at the tourney. Does it seem like Game Kastle terrain force close combat armies to show up? I'll let you comment.

Winner from 'ard Boys army.

Another veteran from 'ard Boys.

2010 Resolution Redux

From this post on Jan 1st: http://xenoturkeyhunters.blogspot.com/2010/01/happy-new-year-or-2010-resolutions.html, here's the status of my painting and building at the halfway point of the year.
My White Scars combat squad with veteran Sergeant and a power fist. Shoulder pads are painted in the 3rd Company colors. A coat of white was applied to the armor, along with gunmetal on the boltguns. Next up, more white and a couple of lightning bolts on the legs.

Here's the complete High Elf army for 7th Edition. There are 20 Archers in 2 groups of 10. The General, Hero, and mage are standing in front of the Repeating Bolt Throwers. There are 15 White Lions behind the left RBT. 11 Phoenix Guard are in the back center, and 16 Swordmasters are on the right.

Should I continue to work on the HE and get them to a legal 8th Ed setup? Or should I get relief on the resolutions and tailor them to something I can complete? Any and all comments are welcome.