Tabletop Teacher

Do you want to know how to build an effective army? Do you want to avoid cheese traps and chasing metas? Then read on, you outrageously good-looking individuals, whether you be a fresh faced Lieutenant or grizzled general. There are a good number of list building guides out there, but I've found the vast majority either subscribe to meta trends or cheese lists. Whilst there is certainly value in understanding the strongest combinations of units in 40K, you'll eternally be at the mercy of rule changes and Games Workshop prices. It will be a never ending game of catch up, and the odds are you still won't have a high win-to-loss ratio. Some list building guides are only focused on satisfying detachment minimum requirements. There is little value in that, beyond gaining the old style 7th Edition Formation buffs.They won't help you understand why taking certain units is good, or even what to do with them when they touch table top. I come to you from a position whe...

Sadly lacking any women for true diversity... Well, this topic has reared it's ugly head again, with the "Feminists"* leading the charge for this foray into the minefield. That opening sentence itself has probably triggered all kinds of alarms, and even using the phrase triggered has possibly raised more red flags for others. Such is the tone of any conversation about these topics, where readers immediately rush to their side and ideas, determined to defend the honour of their philosophies. So let me just settle everyone down with this statement: I am professionally obliged to not pick any side. I am a teacher, and I am responsible for literally putting ideas in young people's heads. Unlike other teachers out there, I can see how phenomenally dangerous this is. And unlike a lot of other subject teachers, some of my more able students could potentially go on to build nuclear weapons. I am a Physics teacher, and when our students succeed they tend to do...

When you like the idea of Stormcast Eternals, but still want to be a special snowflake: Half-orruk Stormcast Eternal battling mixed race Khorne Bloodbound... do you even Diversity bro? Just a test piece to see if I like the colour scheme. I'm happy with the concept, but the gold and green are a bit meh. I think I might reverse the colours to more of a Salamander Space Marine scheme. In terms of fluff, well, Age of Sigmar gives us many opportunities to break lore in the name of Your Dudes. My new Stormcast chambers could be made entirely of orc heroes who have been Reforged. They could have been infected by WAAAGGHH!! magic. They could even have more sinister undertones of being part of a genuine half-orruk race of humans who live in the Beast Realm. Mostly I like the idea of subverting the paladin theme the Stormcast have, and having an excuse to shout WAAGGHH!! on the tabletop again. Until next time! Thanks for reading. If you liked what you saw, and you want to...

Things I learned from this trip: Packing a bag is more thoughtful than you might think Dragon caves are actually hard to get to Carrying a broadsword up a mountain is a feat itself I have a new found respect for the average party of adventurers. My training as a Ranger (or Duke of Edinburgh Leader) begins with a simple hike up Snowdon, with a wild camp over night just below the summit. There is a ridge of cliffs surrounding a small lake there (very much in the theme of the Gates of Moria), and the trainers thought there'd be enough shelter there for a decent night's sleep. They were wrong, but lets not get ahead of ourselves. The simple act of packing a bag for the adventure was a learning experience itself. I had three bags in the end: Expedition back bag, containing camping equipment such as tents and sleeping bags Day back pack, containing cooking tools and mapping equipment Spares bag, containing changes of clothes which was kept in our expedition bus ...

No, I'm not dead yet, neither is the blog. I've just been on a Duke of Edinburgh training trip to Snowdonia. I haven't drawn a Chalk Ork in months! In kind of a surprise, I've been made the Duke of Edinburgh Award Coordinator for my school, with the official reasoning being I just get on with work instead of complaining about it. So... the moral of the story is just get on with your work and you'll be rewarded? I'm more than happy to do it, as it is effectively breaking a wall I never intended to on my way to building Warhammer 40K as a school tradition, and I'm really excited about multi-classing into Ranger. There's a lot of Dungeons and Dragons nerdage in my approach to this, so brace yourselves. The Duke of Edinburgh Award (DofE) is an outdoor and general citizenship programme that student neophytes can learn hiking, mountaineering, camping and how to be a decent person. It's one of a few such organisations in the UK, the other two bi...

The last week has been a blur. I was on duty in the boarding house 3 nights in a row, and we're just gearing up for half term. But I did get some painting done over the weekend! Here are the school club's Blood Reavers, finally painted up to a decent standard. I'm not doing anything more to them, as they're there to die in droves anyway.  Ethnic diversity is a weird subject to mention in the same breath as orruks and aelves, but I do approve of variety in colours. There are three different skin tones here, one of which turned out a little too orange leading to a HILARIOUS name given to them by my students. Caucasian skin: Ushabti bone Wash with Reikland fleshshade Dark skin: Mournfang Brown Wash with Agrax Earthshade Trump skin: Tau Ochre Wash with Reikland fleshshade I really don't like painting hordes, which has put me off Imperial Guard since the beginning of time, and part of that is down to the faff of paintin...

I, like most neck beards, have a big soft spot for the Space Puppies. Whether you consider them to be space werewolves, space Vikings, or people who just really like wolves and alcohol in space, they are one of the few factions in 40K who realize they're in a fantasy genre. Yes, riding a 10-foot high wolf into battle is ridiculous, but it's awesome at the same time! I'm not a huge fan of the light blue armour though. I think it lacks the grit that the Sons of Russ are famed for. I also think the Horus Heresey grey is boring, so I've been looking for an alternative. Whilst doing my T'au Mu'gulath Bay Avengers, I found the above! The grey here is really dark blue, brought up to typical Space Wolf Fenrisian grey. It was also really quick to do, the whole thing taking about an hour including drying time for the basing material. Step 1 - Base Coat Dark Reaper is our first paint, over an undercoat of Mechanicus Standard grey. You can get a...