Jolemai's Blog of WIPs, Battle Reports and Musings

[Jolemai]

Basing

So I thought I'd post up how I am currently doing my bases. There's nothing new here and a lot of folk probably do similar already, but for me it's significant. At the start of 2017 one of my goals was to improve my efficiency at painting. This is one of the major contributions to that which I've started doing this year.

Step one

Blu-tac model to base (preferably unpainted) and apply PVA. Haven't tried this with a slottabase yet...

Step two

Dip in bag to get the "rocks", then swirl in the sand to fill up the remaining space. The rocks are packaging material often used for transporting chemicals, glass vials, etc. If anyone knows what it is then send me a PM!

Step three

Remove model and blu-tac, then seal with watered down PVA

Step four

Spray with Halford's Grey Primer (fabulous stuff)

Step five

Shade with Nuln Oil

Step six

Drybrush with Celestra Grey and then Bleached Bone

Step seven

Attach model and paint rim Goblin Green

[Bjorn Firewalker]

Excellent work.

[Father Mapple]

Looks good. But I'm confused: did the building rubble fall into the AstroTurf football pitch from surrounding collapses, or did the stadium explode and the green pitch exploded into the ruins? ;)

[Jolemai]

Vow complete

Xenos sighted!

[Crimson Ghost IX]

ZOMG the Xenos is right on top of em !!

 

Looking great Jolemai, the repairs must have went well after the fall. Can't see any damage.

Although I am about blind anymore anyhow so there is that too I suppose.

 

Gold Termies look boss *nod.

You should be proud!

 

Can I turn in painting my future gaming room as a vow? (j/k)

... Must go paint so I can set up gaming area before codex arrives and nothing else gets done this year...

[Xenith]

Hmm. I got another Karlaen on that deathstorm box I found. I might need a gold version.

 

Wondering if I can kitbash him with the cataphractii captain from calth...

[Jolemai]

Looks good. But I'm confused: did the building rubble fall into the AstroTurf football pitch from surrounding collapses, or did the stadium explode and the green pitch exploded into the ruins?

 

There's two reasons why my bases are this way:

1. I'm not about to re-base my entire collection and a lot of my line troopers are from the second edition. The new stuff I do keeps the green rims to not only pay homage to my roots (also, hence my bright red BAs), but to match the older stuff as close as possible
2. The look I'm trying to achieve for my scenery, bases, and (one day) my gaming table, is a rural, ruined setting which is contested. So in places you'll still have the odd bit of grass but the churned up stuff reveals the clay-mud underneath. Basically when I was younger that's how I envisioned the card ruins set you got in the 2^nd edition box

 

Can I turn in painting my future gaming room as a vow? (j/k)

... Must go paint so I can set up gaming area before codex arrives and nothing else gets done this year...

 

I've tried that with the ETL before now, even had before and after pics. Trouble is, it's not Codex legal

[Panzer]

I'd love to see how a codex legal gaming room looks like. :D

[Jolemai]

Random picture time

So here's my miniature holder and magnifying tool:

I've had both of these for over fifteen years (the holder was custom made), but never really got and use out of them. However, I really needed them for Karlaen. Basically, I'm getting to the point where the level of detail I'm painting to requires more finesse than line troops or tanks (hence the lack of use really - I kept putting off doing characters thinking i wasn't good enough, etc, etc ), so it was nice to able to properly use them.

Astorath

The next one the list for operation de-blu-tack is Astorath and there's a lot of work needed here :(

Need him done by March. Re-bending the base (hairdryer for Finecast?) and pinning the axe to start with

[Charlo]

I've got that magnifier too!

[Jolemai]

Blood Angels Vs Harlequins - 1000 points

Army Lists

Blood Angels

Battalion Detachment

• Captain - Warlord
• Chaplain
• Company Veterans with Drop Pod
• Three Scout Squads
• Scout Bike Squadron
• Tarantula with twin heavy bolters
• Tarantula with twin lascannons

Harlequins

Battalion Detachment

• Trope Master – Warlord
• Two Shadowseers
• Death Jester
• Three Tropes
• Two Skyweaver squads

Deployment

Mission: Deadlock

Setup: Hammer and Anvil

The board is a Realm of Battle board with four tiles of the order:

AB

CD

The board is a Sector Imperialis one with a road running along the middle of all the tiles. A and C have the straight bits, B and C have the T-junctions and they are all joined together. Each tile has a smattering of ruins alongside the road with actual buildings kept to a minimum (there's one in tile B close to the middle of the board and one that runs along the C/D join). All pipes, stacks, crates are treated as regular terrain.

The six Maelstrom objectives are placed as follows: #1 is in the middle of tile Cby the pipeline, #2 is in the middle of tile D and also on the pipline. #3 is under the ruin on the tile A/C interface, whilst #4 is by the central building and just in tile D. #5 is on the far side of the road in tile A and finally, #6 is on the T-junction of tile B.

Both Warlords (BA Captain and Trope Master) opt for the Tenacious Survivor (6+++) Warlord Trait . The red Shadowseer has the Fog of Dreams (-1 to hit) spell and the yellow has the Mirror of Minds (keep dicing off until you beat the Seer or die from mortal wounds) spell, both of which compliment Smite.

For the Blood Angels, the lascannon Tarantula (TL) deploys high in a ruin in tile B, whilst the first combat squad of sniper rifle-armed Scouts (with the missile launcher, SR1) sit high in a ruin in tile D. On the floor below, sits the heavy bolter Tarantula (THB). The large squad of Scouts with the bolters (SB) occupy the central building and both combat squads of choppy Scouts (S1, S2) are as far forward as possible on the outside edge of tile B. The second squad of snipers (SR2) is just behind on a ledge and the Scout Bikes sit as central as they can and out of sight. Everything else is inside the Drop Pod in reserve.

Just 9” away from the choppy Scouts lie the first Trope (T1) and Shadow Seer (SS1) in cover. Across the street in tile A there is a ruin which has the first bike squad (B1) on the first floor and huddled underneath lie the Trope Master, second Trope (T2) and second Shadow Seer (SS2). In the central ruin on their deployment zone sit the third Trope (T3) and in the back corner of Tile C sit the Death Jester and the second squad of bikes (B2).

Turn One

Blood Angels

~ Tactical Objectives (TO) 24 (Secure Objective 4), 31 (Defend Objective 1), 51 (Overwhelming Firepower), 61 (Kingslayer), 62 (Witch Hunter), and 64 (Assassinate) are drawn

~ The Scout Bikes blast onto Obj4 whilst S1 and S2 move towards T1

~ SB inflicts 2W on B1, S1 does 1W to T1 and S2 kills four from T3

~ S1 and S2 charge T1. S2 opts to go first and deals 2W to SS1. T1 then interrupt and swat aside S1 (First Blood) before SS2 kills a Scout from S2

~ TO 24 is claimed for 1VP and 31 is discarded

Harlequins

~ TOs 15 (Secure Objective 5), 21 (Secure Objective 1), 24 (Secure Objective 4), 43 (Hold the Line), 44 (Mission Critical Objective {#6}), and 52 (Blood and Guts) are drawn

~ The Death Jester moves onto Obj1. T1 and SS1 fall back from combat and move towards SR2, with B1 bringing their weapons to bear on S2. B2, T2, T3 and SS2 all move towards the Scout Bikes. Finally, the Master moves into cover.

~ Using a re-roll, SS1 smites a Scout from S2. Meanwhile, Fog of Dreams is cast on SB and a wound is taken from another smite on the Scout bikes.

~ B2 dishes out another 3W on the Scout bikes, whilst B1 guns down a single member of S2

~ SS1 finishes off S2 before SR interrupts the flow to kill one from T1. In return they lose four members and the survivors promptly run away. T2 finishes off the Scout bikes.

~ TO 21, 24, 43, 52 are claimed for 1VP apiece and 44 is discarded

BA: 1-5 :HQ

Turn Two

Blood Angels

~ TO 23 (Secure Objective 3) is drawn

~ The Drop Pod arrives in Tile C, with its contents moving towards T3

~ Combined fire sees three die from T2, T3 destroyed and SR1 manages to take a wound off SS2

~ The Chaplain and SB charge and annihilate T2

~ TO 51 was claimed for 1 VP whilst 23 was discarded

Harlequins

~ TOs 13 (Secure Objective 3), 33 (Defend Objective 3), 42 (Behind Enemy Lines), and 54 (Area Denial) are drawn

~ T1, SS1 and the Master move towards SB, whilst SS2 moves towards the Chaplain. B1 kites the proceedings whilst B2 moves onto Obj3. The Death Jester moves into the cover of the central ruin in his desployment zone

~ SS2 casts Smite on the Chaplain causing two wounds

~ The Death Jester adds another wound to the Chaplain and further fire only manages to kill two Scouts from SB

~ SS2 charges and dispatches the Chaplain. T1 and the Master charge SB causing six deaths. Another flees leaving the Sergeant

~ TOs 13 and 15 are cashed in for 1 VP apiece

BA: 2-7 :HQ

Turn Three

Blood Angels

~ TO 46 (Domination) is drawn

~ The Captain and Company Veterans advance towards the SS1, B2, Master group

~ The Captain melts the Shadow Seer, with the Company Veterans putting four wounds on the bikes

~ The The Company Veterans charge B2 but neither side does any damage. The Captain charges the Master with both combatants dealing 1W to the other. Elsewhere, the Scout Sergeant kills another two from T1 before being cut down, and the Captain takes a further 2w from nearby Harlequins

~ TOs 62 and 62 are claimed for 1 VP apiece, whilst 46 is discarded

Harlequins

~ TO 46 (Domination) is drawn

~ Both squads of bikes pull back into cover. The Master and T1 fall back to 1” away from the Captain whilst SS1 moves into range of the Company Veterans

~ Smite finishes off the Company Veterans

~ The Captain is then shot to pieces from everything else (Slay the Warlord)

~ TOs 33 is claimed for 2VP, 54 is claimed for 1 VP, and 46 is discarded

BA: 4-11 :HQ

Game called, Harlequins wins

[Jolemai]

Summary

 

Have to say, I really enjoyed this game. GawFang's Harlequins (which incidentally, feature in December's White Dwarf) and my Scouts fight so often this is becoming quite the grudge match, boosting it up to a full game rather than a sideshow of other games added some extra bite to the proceedings. It was also really cool trying something new that I've had on my mind for a while now.

 

Battalion Detachment - Obvious choice for CPs and Scouts are Troops. Can't see this been altered going forward.

• Captain - Warlord - Fluffy choice with a combi-melta and relic blade. Didn't let me down and now even better with the re-rolls
• Chaplain - Another fluffy addition as aspirants need their spiritual side tending too. Hugely important for combat buffs and a useful combi-melta
• Company Veterans - Even a 10th Company Captain needs a bodyguard. Pretty great with combi-meltas, but should I take another weapon choice these days? Hopefully can field more than two with Chapter Approved/new Codex
• Drop Pod - Fluffy option for the above reinforcements to arrive, but the DWM are too short ranged and dropping it T2 restricts it's use should the enemy spread out. I'm going to presist with it, but maybe opt for a stormbolter
• Choppy Scout Squads - Being able to get 9" away out of line of sight meant I could pull off a first turn charge (even better from next week). I learned by deploying them early I can dictate the enemy's deployment Unfortunately I made a huge blunder here: in their first combat I should have gone for the Trope rather than the Shadow Seer (was hoping for First Blood and two other Tactical Objectives). By getting this wrong, my opponent spent 2CPs to wipe a squad. Wont make that mistake again...
• Bolter Scout Squad - Large central footprint, had to be dealt with. Workhorses. Just need to scour eBay for another nine now...
• Sniper Scout Squad - Chipped away here and there. Possibly lost the one combat squad by bad placement/lack of foresight (i.e. I'm rusty)
• Scout Bike Squadron - Threw these away in my haste to get points on the board. Despite getting my Tactical Objective, they were countered hard and I never brought their impressive firepower to bear. This and the mistake with the combat Scouts *may* have cost me the game.
• Tarantula with twin heavy bolters - A little underwhelmed. 4+ heavy bolters don't do it like 3+ (which I'm a fan of) but Tarantulas are a fluffy choice and I need something longer ranged in thie list
• Tarantula with twin lascannons - When it hits but I still don't get along with lascannons   Great placement though: used it like a cannon/bolt thrower in Fantasy: drop it first and thus dictate the enemies deployment

[Jolemai]

Astorath WIP

Obligatory weekly update sees me working on his wings and axe rather than doing all four sub assemblies at once (no idea why, it just happened that way):

Where to start with this mess :(

The gold is too dark. I went black -> Chainmail -> Gehenna -> Auric Armour and it's really not what I want. Hopefully I can highlight it further to get it that same as everything else in my army.

I used to dry brush gold onto Mithril Silver but had to change when GW altered it's paint line. As for why gold on Astorath? Any 2+ save (i.e. artificer armour) in the Joliverse is gold, so any armour peeking through is that colour (same as my Techmarine, Mephiston, Captains, etc).

The wings I've done wrong. I used to wash Nuln Oil onto Ulthuan Grey but didn't like it. Having looked up some videos, Drakenhof Nightshade is recommended which I don't have, but I do have blue ink. So I applied that to Ulthuan Grey as that was already on the model (should have been to Celestria Grey...) Hopefully I can fix this with multiple Ulthuan coats.

Not happy with the bone either :/

Edited December 12, 2017 by Jolemai

[Charlo]

Surprised you've got that finish with Auric on there?

 

That stuff is bright as anything! Maybe give it a couple more coats?

 

Are you looking for a warmer or colder gold?

[Jolemai]

I haven't the foggiest anymore when it comes to gold.

[Jolemai]

Blood Angels Vs Imperial Knights - 1750 points

Nb: This is with the Index

Army Lists


Blood Angels
Battalion Detachment

• Mephiston- Warlord
• Corbulo
• Two Scout Squads
• Two Tactical Squads
• Stormraven Gunship
• Death Company and Rhino (R2)
• Vanguard Veterans and Rhino (R1)
• Cullexus Assassin
• Aegis Defence Line

Imperial Knights
Super Heavy Detachment

• Imperial Knight Gallant
• Imperial Knight Paladin – Warlord
• Imperial Knight Paladin
• Imperial Knight Errant

Deployment
Mission: Tactical Escalation (BA Tactical Priority is Take & Hold, IK is Annihilation)
Setup: Hammer and Anvil
The board is a Realm of Battle board with six tiles of the order:

ABC

DEF

The board is a ruined city complex with a road running centrally from A-C and D-F. This join via a T-junction with a road that runs down the middle of A-D. The various ruins are simply, ruins. The pipe working are barricades, anything else (crates/furnace/central box building) is simply terrain
Obj1 is on the box building, Obj2 is amongst the crates in the middle of the board, and Obj3 is on the adjacent pipe working in Tile B. Obj4 is at the base of a ruin in Tile F, Obj5 is on the base of a ruin in Tile D, and Obj6 is amongst the pipe working in Tile E.

Mephiston is the Warlord and has Legendary Fighter (+1 Attack). In addition to Smite he has Blood Boil, Unleash Rage and Shield of Sanguinius.
The Stormraven (with the “choppy” Scout Squad, S2 inside) deploys in the corner of Tile A and the Scorpius hides behind the central box building that the second Tactical Squad (T2) occupy. The Aegis Defense Line sets up in Tile A with the first Tactical Squad (T1) nearby and just in front of them, high up in some ruins, sits the “sniper” Scout Squad (S1). Hiding behind a ruin in Tile D near to the road is the first Rhino (R1) that contains the Vanguard Veterans (VAS) and Mephiston. The other Rhino (R2) is close by and this contains the Death Company and Corbulo. The Cullexus is in Reserve.

The Imperial Knights Warlord, a Paladin, takes the Legendary Fighter (+1 Attack) Warlord Trait.
The pretty much deploy in a line along their deployment zone, running from tile C->F is the Paladin Warlord; Errant; Gallant; Paladin.
Blood Angels Seize the Initiative!

Turn One
Blood Angels
~ Tactical Objective (TO) 14 (Secure Objective 4) is drawn
~ The Cullexus appears in the IK's deployment zone behind the Errant. Both Rhino's dash forward whilst the Stormraven zooms into the middle of Tile E
~ The Stormraven knocks two wounds off a Paladin before its remaining weapons (and everyone else's) strip eight wounds from the Errant
Imperial Knights
~ TO 62 (Witch Hunter) is drawn
~ The Gallant moves down the FED road
~ The first Paladin knocks four wounds off R1, whilst the other Paladin and Gallant can only deal one wound apiece to the cullexus
BA: 0-0 :IK





Turn Two
Blood Angels
~ TO 32 (Defend Objective 2) is drawn
~ T1 adjust position inside it's defense line whilst R1 heads towards Obj2, R2 moves towards the Gallant, and the Stormraven moves into tile F after letting its cargo (S2) out.
~ The Stormraven takes the Gallant down to eleven wounds, further fire strip another wound off the Errant
Imperial Knights
~ TO 12 (Secure Objective 2) is drawn
~ The Gallant moves towards R2
~ The Errant deals eleven wounds to the Stormraven before the Paladin Warlord kills it (First Blood)
~ The Gallant charges and kills R2, with two Death Company perishing in the explosion. The other Paladin charges the Scouts and despite killing five of them, they hold.
~ TO 12 was discarded
BA: 0:1 :IK





Turn Three
Blood Angels
~ TO 44 (Mission Critical Objective [5]) is drawn
~ Mephiston disembarks R1 and heads towards the Gallant, whilst the tank moves onto Obj2. The Cullexus moves into line of sight of the Errant and the S2 fall back from the Paladin into some ruins which happen to house Obj4...
~ Unleash Rage is cast on the Death Company and Smite peels two wounds off the Gallant
~ The Scorpius knocks four wounds off the Paladin (it's now lost seven total) and everything else takes away three from the Errant (who's now lost fourteen total)
~ Mephiston and the Death Company charge the Gallant. The Gallant is now left on four wounds, and so is Mephiston
~ TO 14 is claimed for 1 VP
Imperial Knights
~ TOs 25 (Secure Objective 5) and 41 (Advance) are drawn
~ The Paladin moves towards the S2 whilst the Errant moves into Tile C away from the Cullexus
~ One Scout dies to stubber fire whilst the Errant knocks five wounds off R1. Both Paladins then combine to explode it
~ Mephiston easily dispatches the Gallant in combat
~ TO 25 is discarded
BA: 1-1 :IK





Turn Four
Blood Angels
~ TOs 31 (Defend Objective 1) and 34 (Defend Objective 4) are drawn
~ The DC move onto Obj5 whilst the VAS move onto Obj2. Corbulo and Mephiston move out of line of sight and Mephiston is healed
~ Shield of Sanguinius is cast on the DC
~ Combined fire plinks another wound off the Errant (fifteen total lost) and two more on the Paladin (nine total lost)
~TO 32 is claimed for 2 VP while 44 is claimed for 1 VP. 34 is discarded
Imperial Knights
~ TOs 52 (Blood and Guts) and 55 (Psychological Warfare) are drawn.
~ The Errant moves towards the IK player's board edge
~ The Paladin unloads on the VAS leaving only one survivor. The Paladin Warlord kills three members of the DC
~ The Paladin then swats the remaining Scout from S2 aside
~ TO 52 is claimed for 1 VP
BA: 4-2 :IK





Turn Five
Blood Angels
~ TOs 24 (Secure Objective 4), 26 (Secure Objective 6), 33 (defend Objective 3) and 56 (Master of the Warp) are drawn
~ The DC move onto Obj6, whilst the VAS move towards the Paladin
~ Shield of Sanguinius is cast on T2
~ The Scorpius knocks eight wounds off the Paladin to leave four remaining. Meanwhile, combined fire takes the Errant down to seven wounds remaining
~TO 31 is claimed for 2 VP whilst 26 and 56 are claimed for 1 VP apiece. 24 is discarded
Imperial Knights
~ TOs 14 (Secure Objective 4), 26 (Secure Objective 6) and 66 (Priority Orders Received [11 – Secure Objective 1]) drawn.
~ The Paladin destroys the VAS whilst the Errant obliterates four from S1
~ TO 14 is claimed for 1 VP whilst 26 is discarded
BA: 8-3 :IK

The game is over at this point. Blood Angels have Linebreaker, +1 for Tactical Priority and -1 for Tactical Priority. BA wins 9-3.

Edited January 5, 2018 by Jolemai

[Jolemai]

Summary

 

Battalion Detachment - Does what it does; six CPs with nothing to spend it on (Pre-Codex). May well tweak this going forward to squeeze in more points.

• Mephiston- Warlord - A beast, can't wait to use him with the Codex. Was a little reserved all in all with his use, but that was more target dependant
• Corbulo - Does what he does. Staple unit and has only gotten better
• "Choppy" Scout Squad - Not the best match up but still grabbed an objective. Could have done better with the kiting after they ran from combat (was too close the ruins, hence he got assaulted). Dropping them from a Stormraven still works imo
• "Sniper" Scout Squad - Becoming a staple with their steady, if unspectacular, ability to plink away wounds a turn, Consistent.
• Two Tactical Squads - Babysat the plasma cannons. Blew one up with the overcharge but was generally reserved with them. Need to learn to be more mobile perhaps
• Stormraven Gunship - Brutal and against something else, it would have deleted units a turn. Focused on rather quickly - perhaps I shouldn't be so aggressive this edition with it?
• Death Company and Rhino (R2) - Standard really. Too much of a mismatch to do anything of note but the power fist did some damage so...
• Vanguard Veterans and Rhino (R1) - Bit of a let down really. Especially the storm shield which fluffed it's lines on the first attack. Will use again but again, a mismatch
• Cullexus Assassin - Another mismatch - it did one wound maybe? but kited well and grabbed Linebreaker. Should be more interesting against other targets.
• Aegis Defence Line - Terrible as it hits everything on sixes. Only really useful against anti-grav stuff these days so yeah, another mismatch :(

[Jolemai]

Bikes

Heads done:

No flash

Flash

Not been idle either. All bikes' armour are shaded and the tidying up is almost complete. As is the bone (skulls, parchment, etc). Green screens done. Bases done.

So just some highlights is all that remains after the tidying it seems...

[Xenith]

Nice work on that yellow!

[Jolemai]

2018 goals:

• Astorath done by the end of March
• Bikes done by the end of March
• Remove the blue-tack from a lot of my stuff (so fix it or magnetise it)
• Finish my DC Knight
• Participate in the three* BA events this year - this may affect the above list!

 

 

 

 

* RTS, ETL (hopefully) and something to be confirmed...

[Xenith]

 

• Remove the blue-tack from a lot of my stuff (so fix it or magnetise it)

 

I was in the position that models would lie unfinished for months as I couldn't build up to magnetising them. Now I don't magnetise so much and leave things with fixed loadouts, and I'm much happier. I'm also in that position of having way too much stuff, so I don't really need to magnetise all the heavy weapons on a dev squad as I have enough marine bodies to make it happen.

 

I think you're in the same boat regarding bodies, so my thought would be that if magnetising is slowing you down, or you're putting it off, then stop doing it!

[GawFang]

2018 goals:

• Remove the blue-tack from a lot of my stuff (so fix it or magnetise it)

 

*insert M Bison Yes Yes meme*

[Charlo]

<p>

 

 

2018 goals:

• Remove the blue-tack from a lot of my stuff (so fix it or magnetise it)

*insert M Bison Yes Yes meme*

http://i0.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/000/104/603/YESS!!.gif Edited January 14, 2018 by Charlo

[Jolemai]

 

 

• Remove the blue-tack from a lot of my stuff (so fix it or magnetise it)

 

I was in the position that models would lie unfinished for months as I couldn't build up to magnetising them. Now I don't magnetise so much and leave things with fixed loadouts, and I'm much happier. I'm also in that position of having way too much stuff, so I don't really need to magnetise all the heavy weapons on a dev squad as I have enough marine bodies to make it happen.

 

I think you're in the same boat regarding bodies, so my thought would be that if magnetising is slowing you down, or you're putting it off, then stop doing it!

 

 

It's not as black and white as that sadly. Take my Knight, it's half-finished paint wise (so legal for my group's gaming events), but blu-tacced as it is easier to paint in sub-assemblies. It needs magnetising to switch out weapons. Astorath is the same, he's not finished paint-wise but painted enough for gaming, so he's held together by blu-tac. and so on.

 

Basically, I've gotten myself into the trap whereby I'm rushing to use stuff rather than wait until it's complete - and this isn't helped by my current thought-process of painting virtually everything in sub-assembles :/

 

***

 

In other news, I'm trying to decide whether or not to abandon the batch paint process for my bikes as I can't see the wood through the trees at this point. Endless touching up, after touching up where the shade is too thick, etc. I know there's no good rule of thumb but I do wonder if it's more efficient to do one at a time going forward (if only for my mental well being)

[brother_b]

Magnets, bane, and joy.

 

I don't know, I really want to magnetize my precious sternguard. The kit is expensive, well all GW is expensive, but I'd like to be able to mix and match. The thought is I'll be able to switch out weapons based on my adversary. I'll have to try it out, but I'm dreading the work.