Oblivion and My Love for the Post Apocalyptic Theme

Oblivion on the Big Screen

No plot spoiling material ahead.

When I originally viewed the trailer for Oblivion I was hooked and instantly wanted to go see the film. I understood the film had a post apocalyptic theme which is probably why I liked the film much more. I showed my daughter the trailer and she liked the film as well. With all this in mind last Saturday my daughter and I both went to go see Oblivion in the theaters.

Although the film was of a post apocalyptic nature it was a completely different setting and really gave some interesting surprises and twists to my visual amazement. When I say a different setting I mean how the earth is after and how the inhabitants react. The film was fine for my daughter's age as well, no serious unneeded love scenes (although you do get a nice underwater shot of Andrea Riseborough' ass when she is swimming) nor was there any gore at all.

I understood the movie quite well throughout its playing, but there are some things left untold, but I believe I might have missed them or its the writer's way of keeping the mystery alive. I think my daughter got most of the ideas the movie was trying to tell and how the whole plot came together so I am glad she came along. The film has an interesting set of characters and villains or should I say villain? The movie isn't about teaching the wrong doings and be green bullshit so never fear it is new story material altogether.

Some details in the film remind me and come real close to Bungie's new game in development called Destiny. The film is based on an unpublished graphic novel from the writer himself. In a sense this is original material as it gets.

Oblivion is a good movie, so go see it.

The Post Apocalyptic Theme

On the same subject, for some reason I have an attraction to the post apocalyptic themes. I like all sort of material in novels, films, TV series, and even games set in the theme the most recent

Novels

My most recent novel All You Need Is Kill was is a thrill ride from start to finish. Another bonus is the book is coming to the big screen in 2014. Tom Cruise who stared in Oblivion will star in All you Need Is Kill as well. Watching a new science fiction film with Tom Cruise in it refreshing from his past science fiction work being Minority Report and War of the Worlds. Minority Report was definitely science fiction and was good for the most parts, but there are some dull parts you would rather avoid. War of the Worlds is science fiction  and a good film as well, but I don't classify it as post apocalyptic either as the alien invasion was brief.

Films

Films are numerous throughout the years. Some are good and some are crap. I think a lot of my film interest is pulled into the aime world as I feel it gets told better sometimes. Movies like Akira, Neon Genesis Evangelion (Technically TV, but had two films) still have left trying ti understand certain aspects of their story lines. Appleseed probably is my favorite because of the characters, story line, and the visuals all add up a a superb film all set in the universe I enjoy. There is MD Geist who some love and or hate. The MD Geist has the theme and all of the chaos mixed in to make a good set of films, but towards the end of both films it tends to dwell back into ever repeating madness.

TV

The most recent TV series I watched in full was Star Trek Voyager which I always thought was not very, but my thoughts were changed soon enough. When I finish the series I started watching Outcasts which is a British TV series with a post apocalyptic theme. This series was good in my opinion, but unfortunately it got canceled at the end of the first series due to the more than outdated viewer ratings system. Falling Skied might be the only series running right now besides Revolution. I watched and enjoyed both seasons of Falling Skies so far and am looking forward to the third season this year. Revolution did not hook me, but I willing to give the show another look if I can find it on Netflix or a marathon somewhere. I watch a lot of shows when I paint so Netflix is the perfect way to catch up on old and new shows along with painting.

Games

Bethesta's Fallout 3 and Fallout New Vegas games which I play on my XBOX360 are both set perfectly in the post apocalyptic American. These games stand out so much as the games place the player in the action and in the story line. Like many others I can sit and play them for hours and hours on end. Funny I play 40K, but I don't treat it as a post apocalyptic themed game as things in the universe no matter how bad they get keep on going. Battletech has a post apocalyptic setting sort of in their 3025 eras when everyone went about nuking the piss out of each other blasting all technology down. Plus there is more past the Jihad setting when they nuked the piss out of everyone again and into the Dark Ages. It does give players an ability to be in the action, but no so much or maybe I have not really tried to do so.

I guess I kind of like the post apocalyptic theme, but I don't really ever wish for it to happen.

Blood Angels vs Allied Xenos Battle Report 3,000 Points

Last Saturday I attended the regular local game night and played the usual game of 40K. I had no idea who I would play against, but I ended up with Masta  Cheef. Then the resident Tau player arrived and to avoid him showing up without game we included him in the game. The game was decided as a two versus one being allied xenos composed of allied Eldar and Tau against the might of the Blood Angels.

It was either Masta Cheef or the Tau player who had such a look on their face. They saw I had placed more than fifty marines on the setup table with the intent to deploy them all. Half a chapter's worth of marines were coming to get them. I selected what units I had and borrowed a few from other to fill the ranks. Overall it was a good mix of infantry, tanks, and some elite units.

Blood Angels Host

Quick Summary

Four independent characters
Two dreadnoughts
Sixty-five space marines
Four landspeeders
Three tanks
Two drop pods

Army List

HQ
Mephiston, Lord of Death with  (Proxied using a Space Wolf model from Screech, lol)
(+D3 rage points added to Masta Cheef's rage scale per close combat phase.)
Librarian


Elites
Furioso Dreadnought with Frag Cannon
(+D3 frustration points points added to Tau player's frustration scale per turn once deployed.)
Transport
Drop Pod
(+D3 rage points added to Masta Cheef's rage scale per turn once deployed.)
Furioso Dreadnought with Frag Cannon
Transport
Drop Pod
Sanguinary Priest
Sanguinary Priest with Jump Pack
Sternguard Veteran Squad with 2x Combi-Melta and Power Fist
Transport
Land Raider Crusader with Multi-Melta


Troops
Tactical Squad with Plasma Gun and Lascannon
Tactical Squad with Plasma Gun and Lascannon
Tactical Squad with Flamer and Heavy Bolter
Tactical Squad with Flamer and Heavy Bolter
Combat Squad
Tactical Squad with Flamer
Tactical Squad with Heavy Bolter
Assault Squad with 2x Meltagun and Power Weapon
Death Company x 5 with Jump Packs and Power Weapon


Fast Attack
Land Speeder Squadron with 2x Heavy Bolter
Land Speeder Squadron with 2x Heavy Bolter
Land Speeder Squadron with 2x Multi-Melta
Land Speeder Squadron with Typhoon Missile Launcher


Heavy Support
Predator with Heavy Bolter Sponsons
Predator with TL Lasconnon and Lascannon Sponsons



Big Guns Never Tire

The Tau empire had dispatched a small strike force to a ruined imperial world to retrieve the body of a fallen comrade. The fallen Tau previously gave his essence to the greater good while assisting with planetary evacuations when the planet originally fell to disorder. The Tau emerged to discover a similar sized Eldar strike force bent on similar objectives. Both forces agreed only the need to recover their lost and no need for loss of life. A large force of Blood Angel were on the planet. The Tau and the Eldar agreed to join forces to recover what was theirs. With this agreement the Tau ordered a small bombardment around the objective building as they approved the battlefield.

Battle Report

Blood Angel deployment

The first Furioso Dreadnought transported in a drop pod would deploy via drop pod assault.
The second Furioso Dreadnought transported in a drop pod was kept in reserves.

To the far right off the picture is where the other Predator and all of the Landspeeders deployed.

Neverness took a nice picture of my effective deployment silliness so I swiped it.

Xenos deployment

Eldar A Wave Serpent transporting infantry and a Vypher were both kept in in reserve

Tau Command Battle Suit squad were kept in reserve

Tau deployed a Hammerhead  to the far left and far right.

Turn 1 (Night Fight)

Blood Angels

The first Furioso Dreadnought arrives via drop pod.

The Land Raider Crusader advanced slightly.  A Tactical combat squad advanced along the left side of the LRC to the large ruined aquila. Both Predators moved slightly to better firing positions. All Landspeeders move slightly out of cover with the twin Multi-Melta Landspeeder moving flat out straight towards the enemy line and some cover. The Assault squad walked a few feet. Both Mephiston and the Death Company jumped to nearby cover.

Night fighting reduced a lot of shooting, but the Furioso Dreadnought unleashed its frag cannon upon the unsuspecting Tau. 

Xenos

The Eldar advanced towards nearby objectives. The Tau adjusted firing positions.

Night fighting reduced most shooting power for the Xenos as well. Despite the close proximity of the Furioso Dreadnought and the Multi-Melta Landspeeder, the Tau player failed to harm either vehicle.

Turn 2

Blood Angels

The second Furioso Dreadnought arrives via drop pod from reserves.

The LRC advanced slightly again and opened the assault ramps to allow the Librarian, a Sanguinary Priest, and their attached squad of Sterguard veterans to deploy. The Tactical combat squad kept stumbling on the ruined aquila barely managing to move at all. Both Predators only adjusted position. All Lanspeeders moved slightly. Only the Multi-Melta Landspeeder moved within optimum firing range to the nearby Hammerhead. The Assault Squad jumped to the middle of the battlefield. Both Mephiston and the Death Company jumped to the Eldar front lines.

Blood Angels shooting phase proofed very detrimental to the Tau player. The Multi-Melta speeder destroyed the Hammerhead on the far right. Combined fire power from all units removed two battle suit squads leaving just the Broadsides and almost every Tau infantry unit save two badly damaged squads. The Tau forces responsible for protecting he right flank had completely collapsed.

Mephiston and the Death Company assaulted the Eldar front lines wiping out a Wraithguard unit.

Someone is attempting to use scare tactics and moon the Blood Angels.

Xenos

The Eldar Wave Serpent along with a Vypher emerged on the far left flank to help bring some heavy weapons to bear against the enemy.

The Tau player couldn't get a break and failed to bring in his command battle suit unit by failing both a roll and a re-roll.

Movement was scarce just as much as shooting from the Xenos forces which were quickly being surrounded. The Eldar did claim a second objective, stunned the Furiouso Dreadnought which dropped in the middle flank along with destroying the Multi-Melta Landspeeder.

Masta Cheef's rage meter filled the the break and burst, the battlefield was beginning to heat up. Neverness stepped in with a calm spell. 

The pile of bad dice proven two fold, green sometimes is not best and they were horribly cursed.

Turn 3

Blood Angels

The Blood Angels move for the Eldar in force. The LRC and the Landspeeders and a Tactical squad all move towards the left flank corner. The Tactical combat squad finally moved off the dreaded ruined aquila. The Sterguard move for the Eldar holding the objective on the right flank while Mephiston and the Death move for the Eldar holding the objective on the left flank. The Assault squad jumped towards the last remaining Tau infantry unit.

Blood Angels combined shooting was proving to much to bare for the Xenos forces as more and more fell to the unchecked firepower. The Eldar lost various infantry units along with the Vypher.

Blood Angels launched three separate assaults against units from both Xenos forces. Mephiston battled an Eldar squad while the Death Company watched. The Assault squad tore apart the Tau infantry squad. The Stergaurd fought to remove the Eldar from an objective.

The Wave Serpent came close to destroying the LRC.

Xenos

The Tau command battle suit squad arrived from reserved and seeing all of his army almost completely wiped out he deployed to the far left flank.

The Xenos shooting was low as they only brought two of the Mephiston down by a few more wounds and the Death Company's numbers down by two.

The small clear blast templates are drop pods, lol.

Turn 4

Blood Angels

All Blood Angels continue their advance towards the remaining Eldar on the left flank while the LRC moves to support the Predator Annihilator deal with the Wave Serpent threat.

The Blood Angels shooting and assaults wipe out all the remaining Eldar units along with the Tau commander's body guard and a Broadside.

A mysterious plastic class drop ship arrived to evacuate the Eldar spirits.

Xenos

The Tau now alone failed to any significant harm to a host Blood Angels missing arms, bodies, heads, and weapons and left the Battlefield. Actually when the Tau player did point this out I saw laughter in his eyes, it was lol.

The Eldar gone and the Tau with four units left.

End Game

The Blood Angels discovered a covered among the rubble in a ruined building. The Librarian began to wonder if this was all a big misunderstanding. However, imperial teaching reveal anything Xenos to be bad and the Librarian ordered the Tactical squads to torch and burn what was left of the area.

Was it all a simulated event?

Was it a bad omen?

A moment of silence for those who fell on the battlefield.

Thoughts

For such a large game I added Mephiston to simply try out the character to see how he plays. His psychic ability along with the other Librarian was shut down constantly. I find this annoying a lot. I guess it is a balance of a rule which is table wide, army wide, or limited to certain distances, however I am not one to argue. I only used him for one model which could strike higher than I4. I think he acted more as a fear tactic than anything. If an opponent tends to focus on one model they can literally break elsewhere. The Tau player gained an obsession to kill him, but failed, however I would have done the same. 

The Librarian didn't die!

The Sanguinary Priests saved so many marines with their FNP ability. I feel I got a good amount saved versus losses. These FNP saves really robbed Masta Cheef sometimes of some helpful kills which could have help keep him fighting longer.

I forgot to give the Sterguard their bolters. Masta Cheef always comments glue their guns on. Everyone says my army has no heads. See a pattern of lulz?

The Furioso Dreadnoughts and their Frag Cannons were plain nasty and this is the second time I have used them which they are proven units. When both the first Furioso Dreadnought and the Multi-Melta speeder had survive the first turn I felt I had a huge upper hand as I had two units in my opponent's deployment zone capable of causing major damage. This helps me justify a Drop Pod purchase in the future. I use the small blast templates for friendly game. I usually tend to forget to shoot the weapons on them so they are just plain delivery systems to me. I would like to buy them, but presently I have a new purchase waiting assembly and trying to stay positive and continue painting my Blood Angels to achieve the Ultimate Goal!

Blood Angels players like to use a tactic called wall of armor 13. Although I was not using the tactic so to say it kind of made sense when my opponents had serious trouble breaching the front armor of the Furious Dreadnoughts which is 13. When both Dreadnoughts front armor along with the front armor of the Predators are added together I had 5 units with front armor 13 plus the LRC was 14 all around as usual. This could still fall from better dice rolls.

I love Landspeeders and the twin HB and then two with twin HBs can really do some major damage over time. Still twelve HB shots fired at any unit is potentially bad. I used a Predator Destructor, but for twenty more points I could have two more Landspeeders with twin HBS, but I did not have the models. I also need to order new flight stands.

The Predator Anihilator although expensive is efficient at killing high armor targets. If the vehicle can be deployed and get into a good firing position without much movement it can be very hard to dislodge or fight with out in the open. I may need to rethink my thoughts upon it.

I think the Tau only killed maybe two Tactical Marines and if they weren't his kills then he failed to kill anything leaving Masta Cheef with the feeling of having to fight all on his own the entire game. The Tau player was trying to use new rules for his codex and the crappy ordered from GW left him without a ton of extra units to potentially use. I think this is the main reason his rage scale flourished to its maximum levels. Neverness be praised.

It was fun to get to use a large amount of my Blood Angels units. Masta Cheef is always great to game against and the Tau player is cool to.

All right I am done.

Buying new terrain for my pet Hierodules.

This is a bit of abstract humor I thought I would share.

Earlier this week I had a small conversation with my friend Masta Cheef. Initially I asked if he shops at a nearby pet store and if the store was still open for business. He said he occasionally does shop at the pet store and the store is still open for business. I explained I needed new cages for my Hierodules. Amusing enough, Masta Cheef caught the reference and said he wanted pictures of their faces if I ask.

I met my wife at the pet store to check the store's cage designs and hopefully purchase new cages. This was the cage design and setup I had in mind I wanted. The pet store had a different cage design which we ultimately decoded upon purchasing.

The store had two of the cages in stock and they were actually slightly larger models. We ended up taking advantage of the larger size and bought the two cages they had in stock. The store owner gave us $15 off each cage as we were going to order a third as well.

We went home, setup the new cages and transferred three of our Chinchillas to their new cages. These cages are much easier to maintain and give them plenty of room as well. These larger cages will provide all of my Chinchillas with an upgrade from a three story to a six story cage.

Some more humor.

Not more than two days after purchasing the new cages two of my Chinchillas a father and his on to be exact  managed to break out and get loose. I told my wife we had a jail break. My daughter helped me find the two escape artists.

She found the younger Chinchilla (Outlaw) first hiding among the lower contents of my hobby shelf.

She spotted what looked like a Chinchilla and saw one sitting on top of a bag. The same bag contains some of my larger Tyranid models such as my Carnifex and my Trygon models. :)

She found the older Chinchilla (Bandit) last hiding behind the (Damsel) our female Chinchilla's cage. Damsel was Bandit's mate awhile back. I received the cutest pet picture one can receive.

Bandit!!!

Later on in the evening I think my daughter finally caught on how the whole jail break ordeal went perfectly along with the Wild Wild West name theme we give our Chinchillas. I explained I told her mother earlier there was a jail break, an Outlaw was caught, and a Bandit was caught, all while a Damsel watched. She loled. :)

One day I will have to place some unused 40K models and let one my Chinchillas loose and see how many he can knock down.

Further Progress Update on Devastator Squad

The Devastator squad is almost finished. I would like to show how they look once more before they receive any final alteration and or cleanup. Plus I have a few concerns I am still trying to resolve.

The Devastator squad

This is the normal squad size I use in most of my games. A lot of times a power sword on a tactical squad Sergeant is useless and I might start investing in adding an additional Marine to the Devastator squad size instead. This squad also received the new base scheme. I like it so far. I have experimented with some grey paints, grey washes, and grey weathering powders. I still need something to help set the crushed rubble from the bricks. I thought Badab Black, but it is too dark. I'll have to see if I can obtain a lighter wash somewhere.

Marine Sergeant

I have not painted flesh in many years, but the painted flesh on the Sergeant's head came out nicely. I haven't painted the eyes yet though. I seem to be out of a very thin brush suitable for painting eyes. Painting eyes uses a smaller brush than lenses in my opinion. I might invest in a superior quality paint brush just for this reason and then clean it and leave it only to use it again for painting eyes. The eye sockets have a light Badab Black wash applied and that was it and I am not sure if this helped any.

Sergeant Sir Point to Nothing Useful

Marines with missile launchers

I retouched the outer lenses of missile launcher sights so I will need to apply a bit of Badab Black. I might also add a very light Badab Black wash to the side of the purity seals throughout the squad to help define them a bit more, but either way they do look nice. I need to practice making inscriptions some day. The bases really give them models contact to the ground and is much better than the previous green.


Heads glued on? Check
Weapons glued on? Check

The other half of the Devastator squad

Marines with bolters

These Marines look bad ass and I think they will look bad ass on the table when I finally use them. The poses I chose although are almost generic look good. The leader in the middle, three firing away, another advancing weapon at the ready. Sadly, hey have no idea or rules on how to pick up their fallen brethren's weapons and finish the fight. This picture shows the eye lenses are lacking a bit. The color of the eye lenses would be the same for red armor, but encased in blue the green color needs a little more to help it show through. I don't want a glow though.

Heads glued on? Check
Weapons glued on? Check

Squad portrait

Damn we look good!

The Army Painter Ultramarine Blue along with the Liquitex Prussian Blue ink really helped the blue helmets match the color intensity of the red armor. I know they look shiny  but this is because of the ink and the nature of the color intensity I want. The most important fact in the models never fail to stand out in a picture and this I like. :)

I am so glad this squad is done. It is beyond annoying when ole boys missile launcher falls off during the fight or ole boy can't doesn't have the strength to raise his missile launcher to the enemy. One thing is the squad was famous for taking down enemy units having no heads and no weapons. Hopefully with a complete removal from the battlefield while being painted and a reintroduction to the battlefield fully painted will allow the squad to shine through.

Call it what you want, but the models when I view them or handle them seem larger and better than their unpainted states. Maybe it is the whole painted feel, but who knows. This squad would have been great to field in my last game, I dropped so many marines on the table it really wouldn't have mattered and might have been overkill.

The Devastator squad has been off the battlefield ever since they were paint stripped and last week the Baal Predator was not on the battlefield either. I currently have the Baal Predator in production behind this squad alongside a Land Raider. I should have no issues getting some WIP pictures of the Baal and maybe the Land Raider depending upon what work I can do soon.

Progress update on Devastator Squad

I haven't been active lately on my blog, but I have been active in the game and hobby world. I figure I would show how the Devastator squad looks so far. The pictures could be better, but I haven't been in the mood to setup both lamps to get the best lighting.

For the most part, the squad looks great. I did something different in which I painted the inner coils metal instead of the normal black, but also applied a wash as well. I made a fair number of over painting mistakes, but the matching army painter pure red paint works great for covering those areas. Something new I have painted is the rear section in their packs. I liked the look of this so much I will apply to all future painted Blood Angels marines. All of the purity seals turned out nice as well even though I never add lines to them.

The squad sergeant is taking a bit longer than expected, but the overall looks has proven worth the extra time. I tried and new paint recipe for the leather portions and a new paint recipe for the flesh portion as well. I would like the flesh a bit lighter, but it looks good for now. I went with green for his hair just for color contrast reasons. Every time I start a new Fallout game  I seem to create a character with a Mohawk hair style colored green  I never see it, because having a helmet in Fallout helps considerably. I need to finish the auspex/signum or for simplicity just leave it green screen.

You can barely see the frag grenade to the right of the bolter. I started out dark and worked up to light with a light recess application Badab Black wash.

Just what was GW's intention to have him pointing at anyway?

The marines holding the missile launchers are up to par with the sergeant. I am in the finishing stages of painting the helmets and then they are good to go. This particular marine I tried to remove the head prior to paint stripping, but couldn't do it and damaged the front vent a bit. I left the front vent damage as is and considered it some form of battle damage.

The missile launchers for some reason never seem to paint nice and smooth. They didn't look appealing, but after some clean up they did look much better. The under slung coil had to be repainted to though. I initially debated on how to paint them and eventually decided to keep the barrel of the launcher black and the other parts metal in color.

The other half of the squad which are normal bolter marines and according to GW have no idea how to pick up their fallen brother's weapons and use them against the enemy. They lighting was not good in the lower portions, but the marines do look stunning up close. I didn't use any special paint ideas, just normal armor and a metal chest armor plate decoration. They will have their heads attached once those are done.

I painting the base of this marine as a test bed for the basing material I will be using. I will be using a combination of Army Painter Black Battleground mixed with Pegasus Hobbies Small Grey Bricks for an urban base theme. The Blood Angel's in general are shown fighting in urban landscapes so the original boring green base and green flock had to go. I can debating what is better a black or grey base rim. The Black Battleground starts black in color and is designed to be glued and dry brushed as desired. I believe leaving the rim black is the best choice as the Black Battleground mix will be dry brushed slightly grey and I don't want to avoid color issues. The black base visually helps bring the model back to the playing field as well.

This particular marine will be the leader of the rest of the squad. I chose the Aquila chest plate for only this marine in the squad. All of the normal marines will receive normal marine heads, but I was thinking of using a Corvis helmet for the Aquila plus beak deal.

Here are the heads so far in the painting process. I initially used a 5:1 ink mix when I intended to use a 10:1 ink mix causing me to paint strip these heads again, lol. The 10:1 ratio works great alongside matching the color intensity of the ink mix on the normal armor. I have painted the eyes so far with Warpstone Green and not sure how to proceed from there besides a glaze of Waywatcher Green. The front vents are done along with the side metal pieces. I am undecided on the metal coils to the side of the front vent as sometimes they tend not to look so good. 

The head closest to the camera had some odd flash stuck to the front vent. I didn't see this till to far in so I left it as a possible enemy round permanently lodged in the front vent. The mistakes from the eyes shoukd be easy to clean up with a light ink mix application.

Here are the materials I will be basing the army with. Army Painter Black Battleground mixed with Pegasus Hobbies Small Grey Bricks. I might even add a few random skulls in the mix I bought from Secret Weapon Miniatures because who doesn't need more skulls.

Once these heads are down I believe I will place the Assault squad heads and start working on them. Painting the Assault squad is no big deal, the heads are the toughest part to get the colors right.

My intentions are to finish this squad for good this week and then proceed with the Baal Predator next. I would like to get the Baal Predator spry painted before the wet weather sets in this week. I also have spray painted my other Land Raider and it is ready for painting as well.

Any thoughts on the areas I am concerning or pondering to much are greatly appreciated.