172 Going on Campaign

Dear All,

Thanks for your kind comments and good wishes for my wife and new baby - here's another project for you:

Going on Campaign

Col. Corbane - whose great blog I know many of you frequent - has started to put together a smashing new resource in order to provide information, ideas and material in order to help people to get campaigning: click here to take a look, or follow the link above.

It promises to be really good - but what'll really allow it to thrive will be your contributions!

I'm going to see if I can lend Corbane an occasional hand with some wordsmithery, too: hence the plug.

Campaigns - hard graft:

[image from www.dday-overlord.com - used without permission]

Cheers, all!

- Drax.

171 Drax Minora

Huzzah!

At High Noon today (Saturday 07/11/09) the beautiful Mrs. Drax gave birth to little baby Hazel, at 7lbs, 12oz, and changed my life for the better, for ever. Here she is, still very new to the world:

Looks like I made that timely 'reserves' roll after all!

My wife and I would like to say a truly heartfelt 'THANK YOU' to all the readers of this little blog who've been kind enough to offer us good wishes over the last few months.

Always appreciated.

- Drax

(very happy, very excited and very tired.)

170 'Must-Have' Unit

Well now, this is a tricky one.

Ron, over at From the Warp has asked us for a collaborative post exploring our 'must have' unit - that without which we would never leave the troop carrier (compulsory units aside).

The only problem? My 'must have' unit is a compulsory choice: the humble platoon command section.
Before the new Codex: Imperial Guard came out, this was a 'no-brainer' - junior officers were great! They could automatically give anyone nearby a Ld boost, and with my typical doctrines would enable them to infiltrate, move through cover and (brilliantly) rally those troops nearby - even below 50% strength.

But now? Strewth! They have hardly any bumps, they can't afford medics anymore (at 30pts each) they no can longer inspire their troops and their sodding vox batteries have run down, leaving them with a measly (read: 'pointless') 6" range.

So why do I like them?

Simple. For 50 points I can get a 5-man scoring unit with Ld8 and 4 grenade launchers. Genius! For 105pts I can give them a chimera too! They can scoot around, shoot four S6 shots out to 24", and maybe even occasionally give out some useful orders (hmmm...).

But here's the thing: they're a real throwaway unit. Officers attract fire because they look important, they sound important, and they used to actually be important...but they're not! Of course they can be tremendously useful, but under the old codex, if you could kill a platoon's officer, you'd scare the horses and panic the men...they'd scatter like rats out of an aqueduct.

Now? Who cares! The infantry can watch Rupert the Officer getting himself slotted whilst ostentatiously striking a pose, turn to their sergeants and say "Right then, Sarge - what next?". The bump to sergeants has rendered the officers pretty much obsolete. So it goes.

So I love 'em. If you want to tool them up for anti-tank duties with four melta guns in a chimera...great - go for it! If you want to keep them back mumbling their poxy orders and maybe counter-attacking...wonderful! If you fancy keeping them out of sight with a mortar team...smashing! For me, I'll pretty much keep them on foot with three or four grenade launchers, and have my little bit of Draxian fun.

Thanks Ron, and cheers for reading, everyone.

- Drax.

169 Halloween in the Drax Household

Well now,

Being a miserable Brit, I'm not much of a fan of the whole 'Halloween' thing...but the talented Mrs. Drax (being American) is. And (being, as she is, nine months pregnant) who am I to tell her otherwise?

This is hers:
I love my wife.

- Drax.

168 3 Platoon, 2 Section Finished (with freehand)

Greetings.

Well, that's another squad ticked off thanks to TOEMP (see right) - although I've forgotten exactly which TOEMP challenge they were meant to be for now... Ladies and Gents, allow me to present to you the underwhelming and poorly lit 3 Platoon, 2 Section:

Yup - that's it. Here's a pic taken with the camera's flash (note the freehand regimental numbers (24) and aquilas, as noted in my previous post); I decided to keep the weird design on the meltagunner's shoulder:

Here's a detail shot, and in it you can see the squad ID flash on the rear of the base (these are a tremendous help on the 'battlefield') as well as the old varnish on the sergeant and vox (they were both previously in other platoons):

By the way...

I have now officially had enough of Purity Seal, to the point whereby I scarcely varnish anything plastic any more. I've heard great things, though, about Testor's Dullcoat. Anyone care to comment? I know I've moaned before about wanting all my guardsmen to look the same, but that time has passed, not least because of my recent freehanding...

Cheers,

- Drax.