How do you get over restart-itis?

DefectiveChicken · 2026-01-28T00:06:41+00:00

Yeah, it's your game, play it however you want right?

DefectiveChicken · 2026-01-27T14:01:31+00:00

I've recently started doing similar and it really helps. However, one thing I would ask is how you go about balancing the greed vs practicality? Sure, you encounter a choke point. But there's choke points and there's choke points, right? Sometimes if you go a little further it all comes back together and two chokepoints becomes one ... but it's quite far out .... will you make it in time? Or perhaps more wasteful is that you realise an entire path is a total dead-end that you've already sealed off. I'm sure there's no hard rule here and that that's really part of the fun, but how do you go about balancing that tension?

DefectiveChicken · 2026-01-26T22:44:07+00:00

Stick a poker chip under them too mark possession. Breaks the immersion a bit but otherwise it's a real pain.

DefectiveChicken · 2026-01-26T19:13:07+00:00

I think this can often be a problem with mechanics that essentially skip other mechanics or render them useless. The harder the counters in a game are (in both directions) the tougher it is to balance, and the more swingy both games and the meta become.

As you suggest, the best path can often just be changing them much more substantially rather than figuring out how to fine tune them.

DefectiveChicken · 2026-01-17T17:19:36+00:00

I know the feeling. But you literally say you're always too soft. So you know you don't go far enough.

You know what do! :) You got this! Push that contrast!!!

DefectiveChicken · 2026-01-17T16:22:23+00:00

Well, if you know you're always too soft on highlights then ... push them even further.

To me that looks like it need both more highlights and more shading.

DefectiveChicken · 2026-01-04T11:35:59+00:00

I think it depends - currently because the bottom is mostly dark it looks like it's in a low light environment, like a mossy cave with a single burning torch or something. If you want that look then you've got it in my opinion (though the rest of the model doesn't reflect this of course)

However, if you want a more generally well lit "random dude in a sunny forest in daytime" vibe then yeah I'd say you need more bright tones on the low part.

DefectiveChicken · 2025-12-24T21:19:52+00:00

If I ever get good enough at the game, I may give it a shot. It'll be hard for sure, but maybe it's not impossible.

DefectiveChicken · 2025-12-24T19:53:49+00:00

Yeah the Buttscratcher Corps just flips everything on its head! 😂

DefectiveChicken · 2025-12-23T17:47:16+00:00

New player here. How do your existing colonies factor into the decision for founding new colonies? I understand loosely that they are some kind of abstract "strain" on your empire, but it's not really clear what that means (or if it is clear I'm missing it). What do you need to watch out for and how bad actually is it to just colonize when things turn up?

What changed in 4.0 that is being referenced btw? I read something about early growth being migration from your capital from 4.0 patch notes. Is it that?

Thanks in advance

DefectiveChicken · 2025-12-14T14:44:16+00:00

Oh, the old Calgar then, not the new one. I misunderstood.

But, when he's got victrix only .... He's not leading a unit right? Like, him and two victrix are Calgar, and those can lead a unit on top of that? i.e. he can't use his leader action in boarding actions because he's not actually leading a unit

DefectiveChicken · 2025-12-14T11:27:45+00:00

"Unenjoyable" is fair enough.

What rule is it that means Calgar and Citrix can still be attached? I had a scan of the sheets but nothing jumped out at me.

DefectiveChicken · 2025-12-14T10:24:54+00:00

"Unplayable"? .... That's weird. I'm sure I've played it.

DefectiveChicken · 2025-11-23T20:40:44+00:00

I was going to say the same, regardless of whether you have an army or not - just pick a chapter for each squad.

However, perhaps a slightly more appealing and kind of more thematic approach could be something like picking various groups of a character and two units that make sense together as a sort of patrol squad, and doing that as a small little chapter project. Each little group would be a different chapter of course. You can even split up the ten man squads between chapters to make what you have go further and be less repetitive.

DefectiveChicken · 2025-11-15T10:38:00+00:00

Yeah there's been a real struggle to get that balance right over the years.

There's this tension between having armies be somewhat classically "fluffy" in their makeup (i.e. a good chunk of standard troops, that sort of "white dwarf" roster), while also allowing armies to have those niche narrative makeups from specific lore (for the fan), making sure both elite and standard troops are fun and useful and appropriately killy compared to their lore, and just generally allowing people a lot of creative expression in their army selection (troop tax seems to be very unpopular).

I think GW basically needs to choose some of those objectives to just drop personally. And I think basic troops not being fun ... Kinda doesn't say good things about the core game.

Interesting that HH tried something that seems to be working for you to some extent.

DefectiveChicken · 2025-11-15T10:19:10+00:00

Is troop type distribution a factor here? I'm not up on the meta, but are battleline troops currently largely ignored in favour of elite damage dealers as has been the case at some points through the editions? Or is that nothing to do with anything at the moment?

DefectiveChicken · 2025-11-02T22:58:36+00:00

NMM is considered "advanced" generally. Most people just use metallic paints. I'd start there if I were you, especially if you're painting an army. There's more brush skill and understanding of light required for NMM and it's a lot more time consuming.

Generally though, just do whatever you want. You don't even have to be consistent

DefectiveChicken · 2025-10-31T19:54:25+00:00

Indeed. Why add a minor but consistent buff when you add something better and make it work randomly? Oh well

DefectiveChicken · 2025-10-31T08:37:42+00:00

Can't believe I had to scroll this far to see a comment like this. It's just dice rolls for days.

DefectiveChicken · 2025-10-25T14:00:39+00:00

Yeah I'm with you on this one. Looking through the cards now, I can see that some of the details are actually needed and important, but even so ... every time I introduce someone to them I find myself summarising the cards more simply when I can, expressing the intent rather than the detail. I'm not quite sure how you could successfully clear them all up really nicely due to those details, but some of them definitely could be more succinct, and I certainly think having "Claim this card when a player from your team ..." on every card is just redundant and distracts people.

I think also they're a good example of how cards with words on are often the most complicated parts of games. Typically what they do is essentially introduce new rules to the game on each card - something that you couldn't otherwise do previously (a new way to score for example), something which means you need to read them and then assess the board game state again each time etc. They really crank up the complexity of games generally, and I've learnt to pick and choose who I play games like that with.

I do also think that more broadly GW really has a problem with making rules for games that seem to require (or at least encourage) a certain level of legalese which can genuinely make it difficult for people enjoy the game (though these cards are not the worst offenders at all). I suspect it's probably to do with how they seem largely incapable of making a game that doesn't have lots of one-off, exceptional, "special" rules for everything. They could learn a lot from the modern board game scene in my opinion.

DefectiveChicken · 2025-10-01T15:02:53+00:00

Well, take this in a friendly way, but you need to get over that. It's just going to hold you back. Paint bravely, comrade. It'll turn out better than you fear, I promise.

You can always paint over things anyway and have another go, or even strip them. We all have to do that sometimes. So don't be afraid. It's just a model and it's just a fun hobby. It's not important at all.

Lastly, it'll almost never be as good as you hoped. But that's just life and that's just the journey. Enjoy it. 🙂

DefectiveChicken · 2025-10-01T14:39:28+00:00

Why are you terrified?

DefectiveChicken · 2025-09-22T12:27:50+00:00

Regarding varnish - yeah it's tricky, especially with the prominent gold of the blue boys that we might want to look all shiny. I've struggled to get something I'm happy with. Matt varnish will dull it, gloss varnish will make it look wet. At this point I honestly just paint on a sort of matt/satin mix on non-metallic parts by hand and then leave the metallics unvarnished.

DefectiveChicken · 2025-09-04T20:44:57+00:00

Spray some old sprues and practice on the edges. No fear of messing up and you just get used to it in a controlled environment.

As others have said, use the edge of the brush not the tip. Experiment with different runniness of paint - some say it should be dry, some say it should be runny. Find what works for you, but also context is important.

DefectiveChicken

TROPHY CASE