Space Marine List (2000 pts)

So after checking I had the right models (I believe in WYSIWYG) this is the list I plan to have finished by the end of the year. Hopefully then I can start gaming with it and make tweaks as by then I also plan to have a Auto-Cannon dread in the works as well as some custom SternGuard and VanGuard veterans. I will put a 1500/1750 point list up soon so I can cover any requirements when I finally get down to GW Bromley.

At the moment I am unsure of what to do with Vulcan, the Librarian+terminators will be hammering into an opponents line via the LandRaider which will also deal with any infantry with its flamestorm cannons. The pred gives me some roving firepower as the scouts + combat squaded tactical 3 (plasma cannon) secure my back field. I just don't know what to do with him.

Tactical Squad 1&2 as well as the other combat squad (flamer) will follow behind the LandRaider in their Rhino's to exploit the gap and secure objectives. The Landspeeder and Attack Bike will be tank hunting and moving around the flanks.

Type	Name	Points
HQ	Vulkan	190
HQ	Librarian (100)	190
	Epistolary (50)
	Terminator Armour
	Storm Shield (40)
Troop	Tactical Squad 1 x9 (170)	250
	Sgt with Power fist (25)
	Melta (5)
	Multi-Melta (0)
	Rhino - extra armour (50)
Troop	Tactical Squad 2 x9 (170)	245
	Sgt with Power fist (25)
	Flamer (0)
	Multi-Melta (0)
	Rhino - extra armour (50)
Troop	Tactical Squad 3 x9 (170)	250
	Sgt with Power fist (25)
	Flamer (0)
	Plasma Cannon (5)
	Rhino - extra armour (50)
Troop	Scouts x9	214
	Sniper Rifles
	Tellion (50)
	Missile Launcher (10)
	Camo Cloaks (27)
Elite	Terminator Assault Squad x5 (200)	200
	Thunder Hammers x 3
	Lightning Claws x2
Heavy	Land Raider Redeemer (240)	250
	Multi Melta (10)
Heavy	Predadtor	85
	Auto Cannon (60)
	Heavy Bolters (25)
Fast Attack	Attack Bike (40)	50
	Multi Melta (10)
Fast Attack	Land Speeder (50)	70
	Heavy Flamer (20)
	Multi Melta (0)
		Total
		1994

World of Goo promotion - Pay-What-You-Want viable?

On Gamepolitics.com (recommended site - great for mature game new info) the results of 2D-boys "Pay what you want" promotion seemed to be a success.

PR wise the move gathered only praise and pushed a year old game back into the main news streams of most big game websites. Apparently 57,000 people purchased the game and a 40% increase in purchases over Steam.

Where this falls down a little is the price - the average was $2.03 paid and 17,000 paid $0.01. Personally I thought it would be around the $5 mark as I had hoped gamers would react in a more positive way. This is after all a company giving them a choice of what to pay for a game and not putting any shitty DRM in it, something many people in favour of file sharing have argued for.

I guess those people who paid a cent would probably not have ever bought the game so $170 for thos downloads is something and if even a few thousand enjoy it enough they may buy any follow up games from the studio. The main response on the survey for people buying World of Goo was "I Like the Pay-What-You-Want Model and Wanted to Support It" with 24% so it got a postive response.

I hope that gamers would rally around developers like 2D-Boy and support them when they act in such a way, similar to the way Stardock has acted with its game. Who knows maybe people will not pirate their games because all the arguements in support of file sharing can;t argue with the way they have acted....

Whats that, this is the internet....oh well!

World of Goo

World of Goo is on special offer until the end of today.

The publishers 2D-Boy are allowing people to make donations for whatever you feel the game is is worth. There will have been people paying $0.01 for the game but with DRM i assume those same people will have pirated it anyway, for me i paid $15 as i felt that was a fair price for a few hours of fun. It also makes a great deal of sense, creating interest in a game that has been out for a year. Steams special offer weekends seems to use the same idea as it normally propels games into the top 10 downloads when thee is 50% off such as with left4dead which I purchased recently (more on that in another post).

My girlfriend certainly agrees that it was a good deal and has been happily directing those cute balls of goo around all day. What makes her happy makes me happy so thanks 2D-boy!

Sons of Orar

Well my painting is going really slow at the moment as I am lacking motivation. It seems to easy to blob out in front of the PC than get stuck in. However I am determined to get moving again and have a squad of Sniper Scouts, Assualt Terminators and another squad of Tactical Marines assembled and ready for undercoating.

I was torn about using a new Marine Chapter of my own but have decided to stick with my Sons of Orar rather than start again as I like the Fluff around them.

“Orar is a mythical figure in the histories of the Space Marines, an Ultramarines Captain who won great reknown during the Horus Heresy. Details of the Sons of Orar's founding are lost to Imperial records. The legends of the Chapter claim Orar as spiritual patriarch."

My Marines will now be part of the 4th Company and I will also be fielding lots more Multi Meltas and Flamers to go with a scratch built Vulkan proxy. I know it is ultra cheese to use him but he seems like a great chance to scratch build an HQ and also scratch build some Sternguard/Vanguard venterans which I call "Shield guard" and "Spear guard".

I also have ideas for my custom chapter, the Emperors Shieldbearers. Shown here using B&C space marine painter I am still not 100% sure I should not start again so who knows I may about turn and start something new entirely.

Hopefully have pictures of my progress coming soon.

Behind the scenes at Blizzard

Gamasutra had a really interesting article Blizzard and how they structure their different teams. It's funny to think of how many people who never get a mention or even thought about by the masses of Blizzard fans, such as 37 people designing everything from classes to encounters and loot and 123 staff for cinematics which are something Blizzard always does well.

It doesn't even stop there as Blizzard even have "two full-time lore historians, keepers of blizzard's past"

So I guess this post is to recognise all the hard work members of games companies put in without ever really getting recoginition from gamers.