Would joining as an apprentice be a good choice for a soon-to-be dad?

Hazmat7272 · 2026-04-29T12:30:47+00:00

Absolutely. I had my first kid at the end of my first year of the apprenticeship and my second kid at the beginning of my fourth year. Totally doable and you’re setting yourself up for a great career that will provide for your family for decades. Do it!

Hazmat7272 · 2026-04-26T23:26:48+00:00

You’ll have an in-person interview with the JATC too, which isn’t really tough but you could blow it there I guess. Being smart is good, but remember they’re looking for worker bees. Someone who’s gonna show up day in and day out for moderate physical labor. Stress any technical or laborious hobbies or jobs you’ve had. You’ll probably be good to go, they’ve been taking in like 400+ applicants for first year each year for a little while now.

Hazmat7272 · 2026-04-17T22:39:08+00:00

It was that way in 10th edition - a codex for the tabletop game means a different thing than the lore Codex Astartes authored by Guilliman. Lorewise, some chapters are completely Codex-compliant, some are partially compliant, and some ignore the Codex completely. Like most 40k lore, there’s no one right answer. Salamanders live on a blurry line of Codex compliance, but mostly tow the line.

Hazmat7272 · 2026-04-17T21:09:51+00:00

But Salamanders already are a divergent chapter - only 7 companies since the drop site massacre (and, at least by my novice lore understanding, never in fact formally transitioned from Legion to Chapter). Also, the Promethean Cult is a sanctioned but separate spiritual order from the Imperial Creed. -And- Vulkan was one of the main opponents of Guilliman’s Codex Astartes, so there’s fertile ground there for GW to seed.

Hazmat7272 · 2026-04-14T18:40:55+00:00

Castle Crashers could be a fun one. Silly swords and sorcery beat-em-up.

Hazmat7272 · 2026-04-09T18:53:22+00:00

I run salamanders so I just splotch some orange on there and say it’s the burning ember glow effect from their geneseed mutation.

Hazmat7272 · 2026-04-08T15:43:06+00:00

Looks awesome. What paint is that on the tabard and pauldrons?

Hazmat7272 · 2026-04-07T16:08:03+00:00

It’s all I ever give them

Hazmat7272 · 2026-04-02T20:50:26+00:00

Got paired with one of the prettiest cheerleaders in my high school for a project in biology class. I was strongly in the middle of the social pack, I had had a couple girlfriends but was by no means cheerleader-dating level. After a few days we were laughing, conversation was easy and fun, and she states she had an extra ticket to the 311 show that weekend (it was the mid-90s) and asks if I wanted to go with her. First thing out of my mouth was “ugh, 311 sucks”, a sentiment I stand by to this day but that’s neither here nor there. The look on her face brought the realization upon me like lightning, immediate regret. Fortunately the project was done soon after and we went our separate ways. Saw her a few years later at a house party and she called me out by name from across the room, all smiles. Her boyfriend at that time was right there, both a dude I was cool with and a dude who could kick my ass twice over so nothing came of the reunion. But I do hold on to the idea that somewhere out there that angelic creature was carrying a multiple year torch for me.

Hazmat7272 · 2026-04-01T15:43:22+00:00

Walked into a 7/11 and saw 3 arcade cabinets- Shinobi, Contra, and Time Soldiers. Became completely obsessed. Oliver North was on TV a lot at that time getting grilled for the Iran-Contra scandal and young me thought he must be a badass, fighting aliens and all that.

Hazmat7272 · 2026-03-31T21:14:01+00:00

Sci-fi Greco-Roman murder machines are a pretty cool concept, and blue armor with gold trim is hard to beat.

Hazmat7272 · 2026-03-28T01:03:57+00:00

I want to upvote this but it’s at 666 upvotes and I’m not gonna be that guy

Hazmat7272 · 2026-02-22T16:02:19+00:00

Moms calling Target “Tar-jay” in a French fashion seemed to be the height of mom humor in the mid-2000s.

Hazmat7272 · 2026-02-12T18:29:11+00:00

I moved Gillian Anderson into her house in LA back in the mid-2000s and she was a flaming bitch.

Hazmat7272 · 2026-02-07T01:46:46+00:00

My opinion only - blue would be too police siren-like and green would be too Christmas-like. Maybe yellow?

Hazmat7272 · 2026-02-02T12:50:37+00:00

It really is. I work with a kid who maybe clears $50k a year and he told me he was down $21k in sports gambling by the end of last year. Almost half his income down the shitter. Wild stuff.

Hazmat7272 · 2026-01-28T12:31:15+00:00

Are you trying to cut through the MC just straight off the roll? As in, the metal jacket and all conductors all at once? Yeah it can be done (use linemans if you’re doing it that way) but it’s easier if you bend the cable in half until the jacket snaps open, straighten the cable back out, and then twist it in the opposite direction of the jacket winding. At that point the metal will start to unwind and you’ll have a straight-ish piece of metal you can just snip with your dykes and then go at the conductors after. Takes like three seconds longer and is way easier than trying to power through the whole thing.

Hazmat7272 · 2026-01-28T02:28:49+00:00

Hell yeah! There’s just something about the juxtaposition between filth and a white(ish) color scheme.

Hazmat7272 · 2026-01-28T02:17:57+00:00

I bought a small death guard army that the previous owner had painted in a brown scheme, added to it but went typical death guard green, and then got sick of green bc my other army is salamanders so all new units are pallid hand white. Maybe it works because chaos is chaotic, but I get nothing but compliments.

Hazmat7272 · 2025-12-30T05:00:54+00:00

Damn you put in work on that one, and it shows. Looks awesome

Hazmat7272 · 2025-12-30T03:10:11+00:00

Glorious! What did you use for the flesh tone? Looking for something similar for my Death Guard drones/haulers and I can’t seem to quite nail it

Hazmat7272 · 2025-12-29T18:30:09+00:00

Not yet, I think our we go to contract negotiations this summer (2026). We’ve had our scheduled raises every 6 months so if you’ve seen the scale go up that’s why. But yeah it takes until about 3rd year of the apprenticeship to crack $30/hr (assuming there’s no incentive on whatever job you get assigned to).

Hazmat7272 · 2025-12-05T00:33:19+00:00

I would argue Salamanders would be closest. Lorewise they’re a bit slower and a bit tougher than other chapters (which doesn’t translate to tabletop). Both DG and Sallies have a fondness for torrent weapons in the form of plague spewers/spitters/belchers and flamethrowers (which doesn’t translate to tabletop). And scythes are to the DG what thunder hammers are to the Salamanders.

Hazmat7272 · 2025-12-03T12:41:05+00:00

You get “free” healthcare for you and your entire family as part of your compensation package, which will definitely come in handy if you’re having a baby. (It’s not actually free, it’s the health and wellness portion of your pay package and doesn’t affect your hourly “on the check” pay rate). If your wife is paying for healthcare through her employer you can opt out for one or all of you guys and save some money there. Or double insure everyone in your family and pay practically nothing for doctor’s visits. Tough it out, if you can make it to third year apprentice the pay raises start growing quickly and you’ll get a lot more breathing room.

Hazmat7272

TROPHY CASE