A Guardsman by any other name....

As a direct result of antipathy towards GW and their price model, and an eBay habit that won't quit, I've begun to build an Imperial Guard army based around proxied miniatures from Warzone. Actually, there are nominally two armies in the works, since I have 160 plastic miniatures coming, evenly divided between Imperial Regulars and Bauhaus Ducal Militia.

I've had a ton of Bauhaus stuff kicking around over the years (Venusian Rangers really defined the feel of the game for me), and, as a Germanophile, I've always wanted to build a first world war themed army out of them. Given the associated cost of an actual Death Korps army from Forgeworld, this seemed like a reasonable compromise.

Ask...and thou shalt receive?

I recently dropped a line to Jervis Johnson, purely out of frustration at not currently being able to get Steel Legion Plasma Gunners for my army.

Not able to entirely check my rancor, here is what I sent:

"Hi Jervis,

I'm a long time GW hobbyist, and I'm hoping you might help me out. I've recently taken out my Guard army and recognized the need dor a special weapon other than a grenade launcher. However, the SL Plasma Gunner is not available in GW's current Bitz Catalog.

While I have read and am prepared to accept the rationale behind the drastic reduction to the Bitz service, I am curious to know what happened with this model, and if it will soon be available.


Thank you,
Me"

As you can see, I did not vent my spleen on the subject of there only being two special weapons for the SL in the first place. I commend my own restraint.

I was astounded to find, in my inbox today, this reply:

Hi,

Thanks for the heads up. I’ll pass this onto the team responsible for the collectors & bitz range so they can deal with it.

Thanks again for writing in.

Jervis Johnson

Now, if this actually translates into action, my hat will certainly be off to Jervis Johnson. One of GW's 10 Commandments for Management is "Faith, Not Heresy", and I will be faithful in this circumstance that Jervis will follow through.

20,000 Leagues

I'm embarrassed to admit I'd never heard of this before today, but it seems terribly significant:

Bloop

For the Empire! Venerate the Immortal Emperor!

My job is fairly repetitive, and the upshot of this is that I listen to a lot of podcasts, and get paid an absurd amount of money to do so.

For sparing me a significant amount of boredom, I want to extend my thanks to Jeff Carroll at Podhammer. If you play Warhammer fantasy, you owe it to yourself to listen to Jeff and his gaming gang discuss the ins and outs of the game. The Australians really have a top-notch tournament scene and these guys know what they are talking about. So, listen to Jeff!

On the 40k side of things is 40k Radio. This is, I would argue, the best of the 40k 'casts. The cohosts, Spencer Harding and Phil Johnson have great chemistry and an in-depth knowledge of the hobby. On the downside, they are 40k players, and consequently their idea of what makes a great game is sadly awry. Face it guys--Fantasy is the better game. 40k has all the strategy of a simian dung fight. Maybe that'll change with 5th ed.

Two strong podcasts for your listening pleasure.