We played another 40K game recently, which was pretty much the same setup as before, being 750pts of Salamanders against Night Lords. In this one, we rolled The Scouring and Scoob picked the vanguard strike deployment. We used some Ork Nobz that Scoob had just given me as the objective markers, and then proceeded to completely ignore them all until turn 5 when my last couple of Sternguard Veterans advanced onto the one in Scoob's deployment zone. That got me 2 victory points, as well as 1 for linebreaker, to go with the first blood point I got earlier in the game. Scoob got linebreaker too as his mob of Chaos characters advanced on my Whirlwind after chewing through my Vindicator and Techmarine. The game ended, luckily for me, after 5 turns. Had it gone on any longer Scoob's forces were poised to take the superior objective which would have got him 4 more points. As it was, I managed my first 8th edition win 4-1.

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There's also been some work going on behind the scenes as I really want to move on from using the pretty boring Marines. I've really broken my "no more purchases" promise, and have picked up a few more things for my Nidz and one or two units for my other armies to help them out in this new edition. I'm also trying to finish some previously started units, including the Warriors I started to paint three and a half years ago, as well as starting to convert my old Spore-proxies as Tyrannocytes. I never even finished those Spores even though I started them back in 2010!
After failing to find the necessary Scorpions on ebay to boost my unit to 10, I've had to sink down to failcast levels and pick up a brand new unit. I've never used failcast before, but just look at the shitty state they arrive in. Sheesh.

Then we get to the meat of this update, which is that we've played our first two games of 40K 8th edition. Both games have been 750pts, with me as Salamanders against Scoob as Chaos Marines, firstly as the World Eaters, then as the Night Lords.

In the first game, we did not play a proper mission, and just decided to play a very basic game to pick up the rules. I was able to eliminate most of Scoob's infantry, but I had brought little to deal with his Vindicator and Helbrute so conceded when I realised the game was lost.
Then yesterday we played the second game, which saw us playing a No Mercy mission. This time, I mistakenly brought too many anti-tank guns, while Scoob had brought an almost entirely infantry army. Even with all the meltas and lascannons, my shooting failed to pop his rhino which was carrying all of his Khorne berserkers. I managed to take it out in combat with a psychic-buffed sergeant, but this brought the end to only one of the Chaos Marines inside.
Now they were free, his berserkers and characters tore through my Marines with glee, and he tabled me on turn 5.

So our first attempts at 8th edition have continued exactly where we left off back in 5th, with me losing pretty much every game against Scoob.

So far, we are a little unsure of these new rules. They are massively simplified compared to previous editions, but at the same time there's way more to remember, like all the auras and re-rolls, and strategic objectives, and stratagems, and relics, and warlord traits. Sigh. We just want an easy, fun game to play.
And also, because the rules are so simple, in just our two games, we've already come across several situations that the rules either don't make clear, or don't cover at all. We're really going to have to start writing a whole bunch of house rules to clear these things up.

After completing the 6mm Nurgle and 28mm Marines, I've been slowly pushing on with completing some other long-ignored projects. Firstly, as it was the easiest task, I finished up the 6mm Khorne army. In addition to the last few things that needed painting, I've slightly updated the Daemon Engines, Lord Of Battle, Banelord, Angron, Bloodthirster and Cannon Of Khorne, so that they more closely match my current painting style.

Pretty happy with the end results, though I think that's mostly because the Banelord's new colours suit the army so much better. It will indeed be an interesting thing to see the entire 6mm Chaos army completed. Hopefully I'll manage to get there one day.

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With the Khorne 6mm army out of the way, I now have to decide on which project to try and finish next. I have a great many that need my attention. My most pressing options are:

• More of the 6mm Chaos army, with either the Tzeentch or Slaanesh forces.
• Update and complete the 6mm Tyranids army, as there's not all that much left to do.
• Finish the Skaven Blood Bowl team I started early last year.
• Get cracking with some more 40K, in the shape of my 28mm Tyranids.

While I'm deciding on which project to finish, I have decided to update some of the big Nid monsters that started to look out of date after I painted that red, black and white Carnifex a while back.

Plus, as we are looking to finally play some 40K 8th edition in the next couple of weeks, I've been reading through the new Nid Codex, and with the models I've got it looks like they'll struggle to take out heavy tanks. So to back them up a bit, I managed to get another Hive Tyrant with a venom cannon pretty cheap off ebay. It needs some serious TLC, but I'll soon sort that out.
I've also got a few new Hormagaunts on the way, and now the only other things I'd like are more Warriors and some Biovores, so I'll keep my eyes open.

As much as I wanted 2018 to be big on tabletop gaming, it feels instead like it's been more of a slow burn so far. There's been progress on many fronts, like painting and rules writing, and for many games, like Super Dungeon, Epic, Blood Bowl and 40K, but all of the progress has been slow. Speaking of 40K, 8th edition looks like it's finally going to get some attention now we're done with our Blood Bowl league, so hopefully that all goes well. Picking an army in 8th looks like a bit of a chore though, so I've created a new spreadsheet for my Marines to make it much easier.

Pretty much all year I've been itching to update some of the photos for my painted models. With the recent completion of my 40K Marines and 6mm Nurgle, I was able to take advantage of some free time to get snapping.

I was hoping that with the two light setup these images would be a lot better than they've turned out. I guess they are better than the old ones, but my camera is pretty shitty. It does weird things, and is not consistent with its colour, even in a consistent lighting situation. Stupid thing.

It was interesting to see all my 40K Marines set out together for the first time since I finished painting them, but I can't believe the army looks so small considering it's been about 25 years since I started to collect it. Still, at least they're all painted, which is far more than can be said for any of my other armies.

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Here's my 6mm Nurgle force fully painted. The 6mm Khorne army isn't quite there yet, but is very close, with just the Daemon Engines to paint.