Dark Eldar Models!!

Check out the GW site for some pics of the new DE models!! Damn they look awesome!!

(adding pictures ~J)

As GG said, 'Daaaaamn!' Makes me wish I actually followed-through with my wish to start a Dark Eldar force. Honestly though, what held me back (besides the outdated rules) was how ridiculous some of the models looked. The only thing that interested me were the jet bikes and the raider ships.
Now though, I mean just so much better. It looks sleek and dark, full of sharp edges but no absurd gigantic spikes. I'll search for more pictures to add here later.

(2010-09-30) Adding more! ~J

Giant Necron Centipede Announced

Yay....?

I'll be honest, I really don't care for it. It's a robot bug. Great. Instead of making a unique looking robot monster you made a robot centipede with little guns near its head. It is a pretty model but I feel that with a few adjustments this would have been a better Tyrannid model.

But, thanks, I guess, Forge World for some attention?

On the other hand:

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NECRON TOMB STALKER Points: 195 (experimental rules)
WS BS S T W I A LD SV
4 4 6 7 5 4 4 10 3+

Two Gauss Flayers

Monstrous Creature, Sense Cluster (Night Vision), Brutal Assault (+2 instead of +1 attacks when charging), Fearless, War Construct (Sniper weapons and Poison, etc wound on a 6 instead of their special wound roll), Phase Tunneling (Fleet, Deep Strike, Move Through Cover, Hit and Run)

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A close combat monster for Necrons? I'll take 3, thank you very much. I'll tie up a unit then run off next round just in time to charge something else. Throw in some Destroyer fire support and we'll have ourselves a little party.

Eldar in 5th Edition

Bell of Lost Souls did a little Eldar codex review. I never know entirely how to feel about these pieces because you often get conflicting reviews given that is just like your opinion, man. For example, and correct me if I'm wrong, the Way of Saim Hann (Fritz) has often been quoted as saying Vypers are not to be taken, glass cannons that they are. While others vehemently defy this opinion in favor of the idea that they use them in conjunction with other tactics, for example blowing up a tank with the Vyper and then rushing in with a wave serpent full of nastiness to destroy the gooey contents of said tank (rhino).

I suddenly realize most tactics revolve around killing space marines.

Sunday Afternoon's Alright for Football?

Bloodbowl is awesome. If you don't agree then you're wrong and I don't think I can be seen in public with you.

The game takes maybe 30-60 minutes to play. Bloodbowl is much more like rugby than football Americano. It affords you the opportunity to make fantastic conversions. Instead of points each player is worth a certain amount of money. The game is actually based on playing a season in a league so your players can gain experience, purchase new players, or your players can DIE HORRIBLY!

Orcs vs. High Elves 1.1 Million Dollars (or whatever currency)

I really won't go into details but orcs are brutal and they can bring a troll. Most of the game was spent smashing elves into the turf while the elves ran around them.

• The orcs got the first touchdown after beating the crap out of the elf with the ball, taking it, and then running it in.
• The elves scored after by throwing a very desperate pass but making it (if only).
• The elves would have scored again but the runner fell over right before the end zone and died. How did this happen, you ask? Each model has a set movement but you can move two more squares as long as you DON'T ROLL A ONE. On my second move I rolled a one. Every time you got down you opponent rolls against your armor. If they pierce your armor they roll to see what happens to you on a 2D6. 1-9 is stunned, 10-11 is seriously injured, 12 is dead (those rolls might be off). Needless to say my elf fell over and died right in front of the end zone.
• The crowd went wild and proceeded to riot ending the game in a tie (we ran out of time but the crowd CAN riot or possibly kill your players during the game).

I seriously suggest looking into it at some point. Wood elves are really hard to hit (as their players are wardancers). Vampires... well, all the undead are as slow as molasses but their specialty units can hit really hard. Although I once played as Tomb Kings and spent 3 turns with my quarterback just TRYING to pick up the ball.

Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting!

"Don't give us none of your aggravation

We had it with your discipline

Saturday night's alright for fighting

Get a little action in"

-Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting, Elton John

Aww yeah, round three brought the return of the Chaos warriors and a new HE list.

Chaos vs. Hight Elves 3k pts

Standard line-up-and-fight

Terrain: left to right

• space
• forest (a little to the left side of the board)
• Haunted Mansion on the right side of the forest
• space
• closer to my edge:
• marsh with the regen
• fence

Deployment:

Chaos

• Hellcannon
• Khorne nights (like 12?) with the lord on a juggernaut (bitch)
• Tzeentch warrior block (TW)
• Marauder blocks (50 with great weapons) (MGW) with a death mage lvl 2
• Khorne warrior block (KW) with a death mage lvl 2
• dogs
• HC

HE

• 2 Great Eagles (GE1L, GE2L)
• 9 Dragon Princes (DP) with the BSB (no special banner, just heavily armored)
• Prince (AR of Silvered Steel 2+AS, Vambrances of Defense re-roll AS 4+WS) with great weapon riding on a Star Dragon (that's the biggest one we've got) [To which my opponent replied, seriously?]
• 2x20 Phoenix Guard (PG1, PG2)
• 2x27 Lothern Seaguard (LSG1, LSG2) with mages attached to them: life and high magic.
• 2 Great Eagles (GE3R, GE4R)

Turn 1

HE
LSG1&2 move up to get in shooting range, PG1&2 and DP move up and to the right of the haunted mansion, Prince on a Dragon moves up behind the mansion. Eagles both fly up on the flanks. Magic: I get curse of arrow attraction on the KW (re-roll shooting vs. target) and take out a few.

Chaos

Knights and dogs marched forward to the left of the forest, TW with them. MGW and KW march forward. Magic: mages fail to do anything substantial. Shooting: left hellcannon misses, right hellcannon eats a few of its crew. Mages detach from the MGW and KW.

Turn 2

HE

GE2L on left charges dogs, GE1L on left charges Hellcannon. Prince on a Dragon flies over the Mansion but out of line of sight of the knights and the TW. Right GE3&4 fly up some more, PG move up, and DP move up waiting to try and pounce the Marauders. Magic: My life mage miscasts and kills a few LSG standing next to him. Shooting: take out a few more KW and my dragon, my STAR dragon opens fire on the TW and does nothing. CC: GE1L stalls the dogs, GE2L stalls the hellcannon (luckily its thunderstomp rolled a 1).

Chaos

Marauders charge PG2 but I didn't align them quite right and so PG1 was out of the picture for CC. Knights are stuck because the dogs are in the way so they turn around and try to go around the forest towards the TW and my dragon. KW charge my LSG but don't make it, getting a free round of arrows in the face (keep in mind I'm hitting on 4+ and wounding on 5+ and they get a 3+ AS). Magic: mages manage to get off some debuffs on my PG2, not good. Hellcannon on the right actually hits something but doesn't do too much damage. CC: Hellcannon on the left kills the GE1L, dogs actually beat the GE2L. PG2 lose combat and since they are -3 to leadership from the debuff, run. Luckily PG1 was right in front of the MGW that they ran into them first!

Turn 3

HE

GE3&4 charge the wizards. DP charge MGW. PG2 rally and come about to face the MGW. Prince on a dragon moves out of range of the knights and TW but still blocking their path. Magic: my life wizard miscasts again and killing himself and a few LSG (I never had him roll more than 3 dice at a time and he miscasted twice). I was able to get curse of arrow attraction on the KW again and shot more of them down (5 were left). CC: DP and PG destroy the Marauders and overrun them. Wizards are tied up with the GE.

Chaos

Dogs finally make their way around the forest. Knights and TW move up facing the Prince and PG1. KW finally charge my LSG2. Magic: nothing really happens. Shooting: the right Hellcannon eats the rest of its handlers (meaning it will soon rampage off) and the other fails to hit anything. CC: GE4R kills its wizard but GE3R gets killed by the wizard near the mansion. KW (all 5 of them) have about 50 billion attacks so they beat the tar out of my units of LSG2 who break, and barely don't get caught or get overrun.

Turn 4

HE

Ralley LSG2. GE3R (after overrunning the wizard) charges the dogs. PG1 and Prince charge TW. PG2 gets ready to fight the Hellcannon when it decides to flip out. Magic: I can't get anything off. Shooting: I kill off everything but 2 of the KW. CC: GE3R wins against the dogs, who run, the eagle overruns. Unit champion challenges Prince accepts and kills him. HOWEVER, because he is dead the dragon does not get to attack meaning I can't get overkill... TW beat up some PG and we actually draw combat.

Chaos

Knights charge prince. Hellcannon on right charges forward into PG2. KW charge LSG2, stand and shoot killing one (champion is left). Magic: the last mage runs forward and proceeds to self-destruct by miscasting but fails to wound anyone. Shooting: the Hellcannon to the left doesn't shoot as everything is too close together now.

CC: PG2 beat up on the Hellcannon, win but the HC is unbreakable.

Khorne Lord on Juggernaut (KLG) challenges my Prince. Initiative order: Prince does 2 wounds on the lord, PG deal wounds into the TW, KLG fails to hurt the prince, TW beat up on the PG, dragon kills the lord. But the real kicker is that I still lose to static combat resolution by a lot. So much so that I need a 3 to keep my PG or Prince from running.

I make both rolls at a 3.

Turn 5

HE

DP charge knights, GE charges TW, LSG1&2 charge hellcannon right. Magic: nothing. Shooting: nothing.

CC:

PG and LSG1&2 kill the hellcannon.

Initiative order: prince kills knights, DP kill knights, PG kill TW, TW kill PG, remaining knights kill DP, dragon kills the rest of the knights. TW lose and run off.

At this point my opponent has a hellcannon with 1 crew left.

Result: victory High Elves!

What went right: some very lucky rolls for leadership, GE's are fantastic for redirecting movement. Between the eagles blocking the dogs and the dragon stalling the deathstar unit of knights and TW I was able to take out the rest of the army before getting steamrolled by his monster unit.

What went wrong: GE have stomp! Miscasted twice killing several LSG. I had to make some very lucky rolls for leadership.

I should probably had my Prince charge the knights in the first place so my DP could have flank charged the TW causing them to lose their combat resolution. Then again they still would have been stubborn...

While the star dragon is intimidating it didn't do anything that a GE couldn't have. So for almost 4 turns I had a 600 point distraction which could have easily been an archmage and more PG instead of a dragon... Or a dragon mage dodging things and hitting people with spells.

I like how this list functioned. The PG can take some serious damage and with curse of arrow attraction the LSG could actually dish out a good amount of firepower. I really do want to include a dragon but I also want to include an archmage and possibly some more PG.

I could drop the life mage, take a archmage with the book with life magic, drop the star dragon for a sun dragon...

Hmm I'll have to post more on this later.

Friday Night's Alright for Fighting

Friday Night fights! Same players, different army to face. This time my opponent brought the Empire to bear on me. Not wanting to give up on my last list I stuck with it for this new fight.

Empire vs. High Elves 3k pts
Standard line-up-and-fight

Terrain: again, scattered across a line

Left to right:

• Altar of Khaine
• Bane Shrine or something
• Sigmarite Shrine
• Forest with a fence on my side
• Surprise! Fezzick's Folding Fortress (heretofore to be named F3 or F cubed) in the middle of the Empire deployment zone (that item is actually pretty damn awesome)

Deployment:

Empire:

• General with a block of great swords
• 10 handguners one with a Hochland (the champion has a special rifle and is essentially a sniper and can take out characters in units)
• Vanilla knights
• Pistoleers screening the knights (these have been my BANE before)
• A battery of cannon and mortar with an Engineer
• F3 with a unit of 15 crossbows and a level 4 wizard with life magic
• Block of greatswords with the BSB, warrior priest and a attached unit of vanilla Empire warriors
• Unit of hand guns with a level 2 wizard
• Battery of cannon and mortar with Engineer
• Somewhere in there was another level 2 wizard but I don't recall really doing anything.

HE

• BT
• LSG
• PG with GE hiding behind it
• SG
• WL

Turn 1

HE

Marched forward the PG, SG, WL, GE. Magic: able to get a little life magic to boost the SG and toughen up the PG. Shooting: BT open up and take out all of the pistoleers. Unfortunately this is all the BT succeed at for the rest of the game...

Empire

Knights march forward, followed by the block of greatswords with the general. Magic: nothing really happens as this time I remember the anti-magic banner on my SG and was able to dispel everything that came my way. Everything else stays put and shoots at me. Empire Engineers are now fantastic as they allow you to re-roll artillery dice. Cannons and mortars lay into my LSG and SG, killing a few.

Turn 2

HE

GE charges the battery next to F3, PG, SG, and WL march up again. Shooting: BT fail to hurt the knights the other misses entirely. Magic: buffed up the SG with regen from life magic, mindrazor to the PG to accept the inevitable charge... CC: eagle wiffs its attacks, the engineer actually wounds it but it stays, tying up the engineer.

Empire

...which never happens. Empire sits tight, knights and greatswords move forward. Magic: this is where things got bad for me: remember that life mage in the F3? He irresistible force casts 'Dwellers Bellow' on my PG. I lose over half the unit and the archmage inside it. They resist panicking but the damage has been done... Shooting: Hochlands wound the other wizard, artillery kills off some LSG and some SG. CC: the eagle wounds, but so does the engineer thus ending the flight of the lone eagle.

Turn 3

HE

SG charge the greatswords, WL flank charge the unit of handgunners on the right with the attached wizard. PG wheel about to face the knights, LSG move up to help the PG. Shooting: wiff wiff goes the two bolt throwers with perfect line ups to flank shot a 6x3 unit of knights passing by, this was actually the second time they missed. At this point I had had enough of BT's. Magic: given that my mage had been brought down by the dwellers my life mage couldn't get anything off to save his life. CC: WL destroy the handgunners and mage then roll into the battery on the right. SG actually do a decent job at hacking up the greatswords. Of course returning hits whittle me down but I hold.

Empire

Knights charge the PG, general's block moves up. Magic: buffs all over the place and death negatives on me. Shooting: not much happens. CC: WL take out the battery, charge into the unit attached to the greatswords. Knights take out the PG and overrun into the SG.

We both know the game is over at this point given that my LSG are too far away to help, the knights were raised with life magic back to full health, the remaining SG were debuffed to T2. We fought the round of combat and I lost because of combat resolution. SG fled, WL held, knights killed SG and wheeled about to face the WL.

What went right: initially my BT did well, my eagle charged the battery, my mages kept my units alive via life buffs. I never rolled well for my power dice I think the best I got WITH the banner of sorcery was 6.

What went wrong: BT and LSG didn't do a thing to the knights. Archmage and PG DESTROYED by a spell. Also, PG cause fear! At no point during this or the previous game did anyone take fear tests before CC!

Result: HE got rocked (again)

Despite that I felt a little better about the game. I was never sure about the WL but now I'm pretty certain I won't continue using them. GE aren't useful unless you take them in groups. I'm done with BT's and SG. Not having cavalry is a tremendous liability, I can't close on anything or get quick flank charges.

Thursday Night's Alright for Fighting

I've got 4 battle reports to post! Given that they happened a few days ago the details are a little shady. Additionally I might have forgotten exactly what each of us brought to the table.

Thursday:
Chaos Warriors vs. High Elves 3k
Standard line-up-and-fight

Chaos:
Tzeentch Lord on a Chaos Dragon
Block of ~ 36(?) Warriors (Khorne), full command
Block of ~ 36(?) Warriors (Tzeentch), full command
Block of 50 marauders with great weapons, full command
2x10 hounds
2 Hellcannons
(I have no idea what items my opponent took)

High Elves:
Prince, White Sword (KB, great weapon), AR of Caledor (2+AS), Guardian Phoenix (5+WS)
Arch Mage, lvl 4, Book of Hoeth (doubles = irresistible force with no miscast except 6's)
Noble BSB with Banner of World Dragon (immune to magic)
Mage lvl 2, Annulian Crystal (steals one power dice from opponent and gives you a dispel dice), Silver wand (+1 spell)
50 Spearguard with full command
19 Lothern Seaguard with full command
30 Phoenix Guard, full command, Banner of Sorcery (+D3 power dice)
19 White Lions, full command, Banner of Swiftness (+1 movement)
2 Bolt Throwers
1 Great Eagle

Set-up:

• Left to right, basically everything was thrown into a line down the table, my opponent really doesn't care for terrain in the middle of the battlefield so his placements were off to the sides
• Anvil of Vaul Hill
• Idol of Gork/Mork
• Haunted Mansion (awesome)
• Marsh (that gives regen or something)

While the terrain selection is actually very interesting and can add new and unique things to the battlefield, it became really tedious to set the whole thing up. Having no scenery at all we just cut out pieces of paper. After my third battle I really appreciated the amount of scenery on the board and how it could disrupt a gun-line or allow you to avoid combat with nasty units later.

Deployment:

Left to right:

Chaos

• Knights with hounds screening them
• block of warriors
• Lord on Dragon
• Marauders
• block of warriors
• Hellcannons

High Elves

• Bolt Throwers (BT)
• Great Eagle (GE)
• Lothern Seaguard (LSG)
• Phoenix Guard (PG)
• Spearguard (SG)
• White Lions (WL)

Turn 1

Chaos

Marched everything forward, hellcannons peppered my SG and WL taking a few out. The Lord attempted to cast a few things but to no avail.

HE

BT opened into the dogs, causing them to flee. Eagle flew over to try and outflank something. PG, SG, and WL marched forward to the right of the mansion. Magic was uneventful despite the fact that I took the Book of Hoeth. LSG shot at something but didn't do much.

Turn 2

Chaos

Marched forward again, they probably could have charged me but the Marauders stayed put at the right of the mansion, knights came over the hill. Magic, Lord got of pandemonium, which was really bad. Not only could I roll well enough to cast, I couldn't roll well enough to dispel. Hellcannons shot a few things but didn't really do anything of note.

HE

Charges: SG into Marauders, WL into warriors, PG didn't really have enough room to get in there so I wheeled them about to try and face the oncoming knights. Magic: got off Mindrazor on the SG, then I tried to cast an offensive spell but rolling doubles of any sort causes a miscast because of Pandemonium. This was my first big mistake as I should have spent my time dispelling Pandemonium before anything else. I rolled my miscast table and got a 3, then I rolled a 1 to see if my wizard gets sucked into the Abyss (you needed to get a 4+ for it not to die). My wizard gets pulled into the Abyss AND a huge explosion kills off several of the PG who fail their ward saves causing a panic test which they (thankfully) passed. Shooting was uninteresting. Combat: my SG killed over half of the Marauders, the Marauders killed about 15 of my SG. I win, they flee and I chase them down... Leaving the unit completely exposed.

Turn 3

Chaos

Another block of warriors charge into my SG, knights charge my LSG, Lord charges my WL. Magic: the Lord could basically walk all over me now. He gets off Pandemonium again and then does something to my SG to make them weaker (I forgot, entirely, that I had the anti-magic banner). The hellcannons missed or ate a few of their handlers or something. Combat: LSG smashed by knights, SG smashed by warriors, the Lord challenges my Prince and my prince loses (but not before dealing 2 wounds to the lord) but static combat resolution causes the Lord to lose combat and then BARELY flee away from my WL.

HE

PG charge warriors, WL charge a different unit of warriors. BT fail to do anything useful. Magic: (cries). Combat: draws across the board. I played them out just to see what would happen but at this point I admitted defeat.

Result: HE got rocked.

What went right: ...

What went wrong: I didn't dispel Pandemonium, I forgot about my magic banners, I chose the wrong targets to fight, I had no cavalry.

LOTR - No way!/other painting updates

So I got some major motivation to do some serious painting this weekend and it's not painting 'Nids, Elves, or Warriors....

I picked up my Rohan/Gondorian soldiers that have yet to be painted and started doing some basic work on them.

I am currently working on my Gondorian Rangers with hopes to touch the Faramir model as well. This should be my first officially painted LOTR unit once completed. I am trying to keep the scheme as simple as possible to make painting go by faster. My color palette is currently around 5 colors with a 50/50 double wash once completed. Overall the first few test models didn't turn out half bad. I expect to try my hand on finishing up some Riders of Rohan next week.

On a side note, I have started my first Gargoyle to try and get my scheme for those straightened away. The test model is currently about 75% complete and its not looking too bad!

Other painting projects in which I finished included 8 Genestealers which were all in various stages of painting, and started another group of 16 Termagaunts.

That is my hobby update for the weekend. What about you guys?

Battlereport!

So I managed to play a game this weekend and here is the lowdown.



Game: Battlemission book = Last Defence

Points: 2000

Attacker: Tyranids

Defender: Space Marines



My opponent was Pat (the GW store owner in Tacoma), who had recently got a burnout with Fantasy and wanted to switch to some 'Draw'hammer! He started a new 40k army in which he is using the Chaos models and units because he loves the models/history, with the Space Wolves rule book. His main reason for doing this is that with the new plastic Bloodcrusher kits, he wanted Juggernauts as Thunderwolf cavalry. So the stage is set for the game!

We decided to play one of the 'Battle Mission' scenarios and thought that the Space Marine mission, 'Last Defense' would be a neat one to try. Alas, my first attempt at this scenario was a complete failure, so I hoped my luck might change this time.

Mission: Last Defense
Points: 2000
Tyranids vs. Chaos Wolves

The mission sets up with 1 objective in the very center of the defender deployment zone. The victory condition is to hold this objective at the end of the game. Basically I had to wipe 2000 points of marines off of a single objective. No easy feat! My deployment is 6" away from his deployment zone which is a 24" circle around the objective. Marines can only hold Fast Attack and units that can deep strike in reserve, while the attacker is 'required' to hold all Heavy support and HQ's in reserve.

Seeing as how I would have to start the game without any of my big bugs on the table I opted to hold everything in reserve and walk everything on at the start of my turn...

So with that in mind here are the lists...

Chaos Wolves:

Wolf Lord on Thunderwolf with lots of uber stuff
Thunderwolf cavalry unit of 4 guarding the Lord
4 10 man Grey Hunter squads (2 squads with melta guns, 2 with plasma guns)
1 Long Fang squad of 5 with 2 heavy bolters, and 2 plasma cannons.
1 5 man squad of Wolf Guard Terminators
2 Drop Pods (useless in this mission)
2 Rhinos (useless in this mission)
1 Razorback with T.L. Lascannon (kinda useless)
1 Land Raider Redeemer

Tyranids (Me):

Swarmlord with 1 Tyrant Guard
3 Hive Guard
3 Zoanthropes
2 Lictors
20 Termagaunts
20 Hormagaunts with Toxin Sacs
1 Tervigon with Toxin Sacs
6 Warriors with Bonesword/Lash Whips
20 Gargoyles with Adrenal Glands
5 Raveners with Rending Claws
1 Mawloc

We rolled off for first turn and as I figured would happen the marines got first go... good thing I'm not deployed!

Turn 1 (CM):
Marines move a Rhino out with a Grey Hunter squad toward one board edge to possibly delay my advance. Otherwise nothing happened.

Turn 1 (Nids):
Everything walked on except the Mawloc and Lictors. I deployed with my force in 3 edges of the board hoping to take advantage of particular units against targets in which they can cause the most damage to. The Zoanthropes, Gargs, and Warriors on the right. Swarmlord and Hormagaunts down the center. Hive Guard, Termagaunts and Tervigon down the left. Shooting phase was fairly uneventful. Zoanthropes barely had range but 1 failed their psychic test and the other two failed to destroy the Land Raider even with my Str 10 AP 1 Lance gun! (I rolled a 1 & 2 on for my penetrating hit rolls). Despite the failed shooting from the Zoans I managed to destory one of the Redeemer Cannons. The Hive Guard opened up on the Rhino that had zoomed toward the board edge and caused it to explode killing 4 marines inside (Pat failed 4 of 4 armor save rolls). The rest of the army ran forward and my Raveners managed to charge the remains of the unit in the Rhino wiping them to a man with no casualties in return, consolidating into the crater left from the wreckage.

Turn 2 (CM):

The drop pods came roaring out of the sky with nothing inside them. 30 pt storm bolters! The Land Raider thundered toward my Zoans and Warriors with his juicy Terminators inside. The Thunderwolf Cavalry charged my Hormagaunts in front of my Swarmlord to drive the bugs back. Shooting was fairly ineffective as the Marines tried to focus down my Zoans with their big guns only wounding one once. The Terminators popped out and charged the Zoans killing 2 leaving one sole survivor which left his Terminators out in the open and unable to consolidate into nearby cover to gain the upperhand against my Warriors! The Thunderwolves and Lord tore into the gaunts killing 10, but not before my gaunts managed to kill 2 of the Thunderwolves and wound both the reamining wolf once and the Lord twice! 40 attacks that wound on 4+!!! The combat was nearly a draw and due to synapse I lost a few more gaunts.

Turn 2 (Nids):

More running/charging! Lictors and Mawloc appeared right near the marine bastion. The lictors popped out and managed to kill a marine with their flesh hooks while staying out of line of sight of the majority of the marine force. The Mawloc popped out and hit a full Grey Hunter squad but only managed to wound 5 (I needed a 2+ and rolled 5 ones). Pat then proceeded to roll all but one cover save. :( Epic fail Mawloc! The Hiveguard started their turn out of synapse and had to fire at the nearest drop pod which exploded and took a few gaunts nearby it with the ensuing flames. The Tervigon opened up on the clustered marines in the bastion killing 2. The raveners charged the bastion and only killed 3 due to poor rending rolls while they lost 2 to the marine counter attack. The lone Zonethrope fought on valiantly but died to the terminators but not before my warriors managed to charge and wipe 4 of them from the table losing only 1 in return. The Swarmlord was unable to charge the Thunderwolf cavalry due to the 'pile in' rules and opted to move closer to the objective while staying in cover. The Gargs dared a risky assault to draw some gunfire away by shooting and charging the nearest Grey Hunter squad, downing 2 with Fleshborers, and 2 more in cc. However I only managed to roll a 5 on my difficult terrain for my charge and only got 4 Gargs into cc while his unit managed to wipe them clean due to the Gargs being out of synapse at the end of combat. I lost the whole unit while his Marines managed to catch them in a sweeping advance. The Hormagaunts were wiped clean by the Lord while his lone guardian was dispatched as well. The Lord opted to flee from the might of my Swarmlord and consolidated toward the Warriors who were giving a classic beat down against the Terminators.

Turn 3 (CM):

More shooting from the marines at the Mawloc. It died after almost all the marines torn into it with meltas, plasma, and bolter fire. It eventually died as the Lord charged it and caused the last wound. The Raveners fared a bit better killing a few more marines but losing another 2 in return. The Warriors cleaned the Terminators off the map and advanced toward the bastion once more. The Land Raider turned and fled while blasting away at the Warriors causing a few more wounds.

Turn 3 (Nids):

Gaunts run more but are still out of range to charge. Tervigon moves to try and use Dominate to bring the Hive Guard back into Synapse range but fails, while the Guard however miraculously make the check with a Ld 7 and act normally firing a few remaining shots at the Razorback blowing it into bits of metal. The Terivgon opened up again at the marines in the bastion but scattered off target. The Warriors advanced and ran, while the Swarmlord did the same! The Lictors and Raveners charged another squad of Grey Hunters killing 4, while suffering a few wounds in return.

More epic report to come.... I am getting tired at typing....

Who will win the epic struggle??

EDIT: Battlereport continued due to J's 2nd comment.... We can't allow that to happen!!!

Turn 4 (CM):

At the start of turn four here was a quick rough list of what remained...

CM:

• Wolf Lord with 1 wound
• Land Raider Redeemer partially damaged
• Drop Pod
• Rhino with no guns remaining
• Long Fang squad with no Sargent (can't split fire anymore)
• Grey Hunter squad with plasma guns (8 left, fought off the Gargs)
• Grey Hunter squad with melta guns (8 or so left, shot at and cleared the Mawloc)

Nids:

• Swarmlord with Tyrant Guard
• 2 Warriors
• Tervigon
• 25ish gaunts - (forgot to mention in turn 3, 10 were spawned from the Tervigon)
• 1 Ravener
• 2 Lictors
• 3 Hive Guard

The start of the marine turn went as follows...

Land Raider zoomed around the bastion to open fire on the gaunts before they could assault flaming about 5 with fire! Drop pod fired at gaunts killing another. The Long Fangs and plasma Grey Hunters eyed the unwounded Tervigon and saw that if it was allowed to live it could potentially charge the Land Raider and threaten the expensive beast, so they opened fire with everything and managed to wipe it clean from the table. This resulted in a psychic backlash killing about 7 more gaunts split between the two squads. The assault phase was more for the Nids though with the remaining melta squad being reduced to a single sole survivor by the remaining Ravener and Lictors. The Ravener was finally wiped clean from the retaliation though.... The plasma squad and long fangs stationed a floor above watched in horror knowing full well they were next! The Lord charged the Warriors and things looked bleak for the lord knowing full well that with only 1 wound left and the Warriors Lash Whips forcing him to strike at initiative 1 could spell doom for him. I awaited with baited breath as I rolled my attacks (6 in total). 5 were hits.... YES!.... now I needed only 4+ to wound thanks to toxin sacs!!!!..... the roll was........!!!!!........ two 1's, two 2's, and a 3........... The lord survived and proceeded to kill the remaining warriors. Pat was laughing hard at this point... the Lord was unstoppable!!! I however only smiled knowing that eventually if he wanted to win he would have to face the true cc master... the Swarmlord!!!

Turn 4 (Nids):

Movement saw the gaunts advancing up onto the objective with the Swarmlord. The gaunts opened fire at the Lord hoping to kill hive but failed to do so. The Hive Guard opened fire on the Land Raider and to no surprise caused no damage. The Lictors climbed the steep bastion to the very top where the Long Fangs awaited, killing 3 and taking no wounds. The Swarmlord followed suit and wiped the rest of the Long Fangs. Right now my whole victory relied upon my Swarmlord and Lictors being able to wipe the rest of the marines before time ran out!

Turn 5 (CM):

The plasma marines opened fire on the swarmlord and managed to kill the tyrant guard with plasma while the Land Raider popped a few shots at the Swarmlord failing to cause any damage. They then proceeded to charge the remaining Lictors and wipe them clean! They managed to not engage the Swarmlord and then consolidated down to the objective where their Lord rallied their sole survivors.

Turn 5 (Nids):

To win I had to kill every last marine..... that wasn't going to happen unless we went to turn 6. So I proceeded to target his lord knowing full well that he had caused me enough pain. The Hive Guard fired at the Land Raider but again nothing happened.... With primal fury the Swarmlord unleashed his Psychic Scream and Leech Essence psychic attacks killing another marine before he charged the Lord! Now the duel of the battle was in progress... To compare the two let us loot at various stat lines....

Wolf Lord

WS 6, S 6, T 5, W 1 left out of 3, A 4 (base) + 1 (2 CC weapons), +1 (counterattack)... He also has an ability that allows him to gain 1 attack for every wound he causes in the previous assault phase. In some instances he was swinging with 10ish attacks, Initiative 5, Save of 2+ with a 5+ invulnerable.

Swarmlord

WS 9, S 6, T 6, W 5, A 4, Initative 6, Save of 3+. However here is where Swarmlord is soooo damn good... He was built to provide synergy to the surrounding broods while being a character and elite infantry killer. With his 4 boneswords he gets a 4+ Invulernable in CC, ignores armor saves, causes instant death for every unsaved wound caused, as well as forcing your opponent to 're-roll' successful invulnerable saves!!!

The fight: I struck first with I 6, and proceeded to hit with all my attacks, and wounding with 3. His saves.... didn't happen this time... Dead Wolf Lord!!! The Swarmlord now turned to look at the Grey Hunters left standing....

At the end of turn 5 we rolled for another turn... and we got a 5... therefore we go on to turn 6.

Turn 6 (CM):

Pat was still smiling thinking he had a chance.... The Hive Guard were too far to contest the objective and weren't a threat to his Land Raider so he focused all his fire at the Swarmlord.... The Land Raider and Grey Hunters opened fire with a Multi-melta, 2 plasma guns, an Assault cannon, and numerous bolters..... in the end..... no wounds were caused!!!! (lots of 1's to wound were rolled)... Pat sighed, knowing full well what awaited him next....

Turn 6 (Nids):

The Hive Guard opted to fire at the Drop Pod instead to kill it and succeeded.... The Swarmlord with his wrath charged the remaining 5 marines.... with his Psychic attacks he killed 2 leaving 3 for his blades which were dropped like flies. The Swarmlord bellowed with rage and surveyed the carnage...

We rolled for another turn... a 2.... END OF GAME

Result: Tyranid Victory...

Survivors:

• 1 Land Raider
• 1 Rhino with no guns
• 1 Swarmlord
• 3 Hive Guard

Thoughts from the battle:

1. Space Wolves are annoying as sin.... Grey Hunters are definately one of the best troop choices out there.
2. Land Raiders are annoying and can only be downed by Zoanthropes at range.
3. Mawlocs are cool but I need to roll better....
4. Raveners rock!
5. Lictors aren't too bad, but if they are shot or assaulted en mass will drop like flies..
6. Lash whip Warriors make quick work of marines but definately attract a lot of priority gun fire...
7. Hormagaunts with Toxin Sacs are soooooo good. I will probably run 2 units of 20 from now on...
8. The Swarmlord is amazing as always!!! His only downfall is speed. He will constantly get avoided by your opponent due to their fear of his uberness... use this to your advantage.

What have you been up to?

I've been SCULPTING!

The role out sheet contains a cheap but sturdy set of metal sculpting utensils that I got off of Amazon.com. Now traditionally people use green-stuff to sculpt. I detest the stuff because I have to decide pretty quickly if what I've made is worthwhile or crap before it cures and solidifies forever. So I looked for a material that would be a little more forgiving: FIMO clay is cheap but really really soft AND you have to bake it. Not something for gap filler or conversions. It is really hard to work with because of the overall softness. Not really the material for sculpting fine detail BUT if I don't like what I've made I can squish it and start over.

These were made with FIMO, the body I created to attach these arms to, sadly, was not spared my wrath.

After attempting several different sculpts a friend of mine gave me something he calls sculpty or something. It is more of a firm material than FIMO so it is much easier to attempt finer work (you still have to bake it).

So I started Mylecia, she was supposed to be my first Slaanesh fiend and thus I started to compose each part separately with the intention to cast and mold the figure (more on that later).

Several problems became immediately apparent:

+ I started with a plan.
- I had no concept of scale (see last picture).
+ The wireframe (made of paperclips) really helped define a pose.
- I tried to make each piece separately.
- Despite the wireframe clay still seemed to slip off.
- I did not have a good way to hold the model while I worked with it.
+ I intend to work on an intermediate stage: you can see here Mylecia is darker than the original sculpty clay as she has been baked and assembled. Now I can add extra layers of clay for further detail.
-This is really hard and potentially time consuming.
+ This is really fun and there's no where to go but up from here.

What's next:

1. Add a fur/feather/something detail to her and the legs. The original plan was a sort of fin that connected the legs and tail but I might leave that out.
   
2. Sculpt a full model and not in pieces. I'll mold things some other day.
   
3. Plan the scale out a little better.
   

Here's the other thing:


I sculpted a mouth full of teeth. I have no idea what I'm going to do with it but I love it. This is the power of making your own stuff: only you will love it, at first...

Let's turn to my other endeavors: molding and casting!

I mentioned awhile back that I found a fantastic dead beetle and attempted to mold and cast it. BEHOLD! The legs... they did not turn out but the body did and for once I was enthusiastic about my future with being able to cast and mold things.

Custom bases:

I just realized I didn't take a picture of the mold itself. The white plastic bases are the new casts with the underside full in order to provide a little more density to the cast. The molding provides fantastic details of the original: the electric chips I used for some of the bases casted so well you can see the grooves in the them (could NOT get that detail in a picture). Also my skull-covered base turned out rather well.

And finally, painted scarabs:

I used the Reaper Mini inks on these and I felt it turned out well. I also tried my hand at layering the yellow lights with a darker yellow and then working my way up to a white highlight. You can't see that in the picture but that's fine as it didn't turn out particularly well. Next time I would like to include more scarabs to truly make it a swarm base, like 10 scarabs crawling over each other towards one edge like a wave! That and more dynamic bases. I like my dark sand but this is basic paint then flock.

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That's all for now. I'm going to be playing a 3000 point game with the new rules and the High Elves this weekend. Asur, ho!

DARK ELDAR CONFIRMED!

Check the GW store site! Dark Eldar are coming! About damn time!

I hope this means that Necrons will follow suit soon!

Codex thoughts (Eldar)

Okay... so after much thought I figured I would share with you guys my thoughts on particular codices every now and then to talk about what I like, hate, and think should be added and/or changed.

Today's first codex review is.....

Eldar!

Opening Thoughts:

I love the themes, imagery, and history behind the Eldar race. They have one of thee best back stories and history in the game with characters that are very iconic and full of flavor. The Eldar have some of the best looking models on top of that. Their sleek surfaces and crisp details make their models a definite must for experienced painters. Their model range is overwhelming and they are kind of like Protoss in SC2, as they have the hard counter to all types of enemy units. I think their codex is/was well written but definitely could use an update. Here begins my thoughts...

Army wide rules:

1) More Psychic Powers - The current powers are hit and miss when it comes to Eldar. Doom & Guide are amazing and worth their weight in gold! Mind War is neat and could potentially be nasty. Eldritch Storm needs to be a bit more powerful to turn the Farseer into a ranged damage dealer. Maybe make the Storm Str 4 with an AP of 5 or 6. As for new powers for the Farseer I think a few more for variety sake would be good. Warlock powers are even more crap. They are neat but again should be updated/upgraded and new ones should be added.

Warlocks: Warlocks are neat and if their powers get enhanced should be able to join other units, not just Guardians or Wraithguard. I foresee a Warlock as a support caster that would join other aspect warriors at the front of combat and help their brothers/sisters in combat.

Exarchs/Exarch Powers:

Powers need their rules redone and should be included in the cost of an Exarch. For instance rather than spending 16 pts per Howling Banshee with another 16 for an Exarch, the new codex should read similar to the Marine dexs in which you spend 100 points for 4 Marines and a Sargeant. You then can add additional members and/or tailor the squad accordingly. The same thing should apply to Eldar squads in the next codex. Also new powers would be nice. Maybe have three powers each and select 2 before the battle begins.

Vehicle Upgrades:

Besides Holo-fields, Star Engines, and Spirit Stones the Eldar need more upgrade choices.

New Weapons:

The Eldar have lots of different guns but tend to lack in certain areas. More variety here would be nice.

Units:

HQ:
Avatar - Don't change this beast! He is amazing in 5th edition and is definitely worth his points. A new model would be nice (Plastic please!)
Farseer - The iconic leaders of the Space Elves. I like the Farseer as a HQ choice as he is more of a supporter character which is unique since not many armies have HQ's that are tailored for that aspect of warfare. The majority of HQ's are melee combatants (Tau excluded) with ranged or psychic support thrown out. Current rules are good but could be better. I would like to see more psychic powers and war gear for their leaders.
Autuarchs - Don't see them used very much but more war gear choices would be nice. They seem to lack the upgrades that say... ... other armies get (I'm looking at you Space Marines!)
Phoenix Lords - Pretty sweet! Some need some slight changes otherwise pretty good.
Special characters - I would argue that Eldar need more special characters but their Phoenix Lords sort of qualify so... maybe add 1 or 2 more characters.

Troops:
Dire Avengers - Awesome!
Guardians - Make them cheaper to compensate for their crap stat line. maybe 6 or 7 points a piece.
Wraithguard - Should be put as troops if you are led by a Farseer. Otherwise Elites. They are ridiculous with their Wraithcannons. However they could be upgraded to be a bit more nasty in close combat. Maybe give them weapon options.
Jetbikes - Pretty good.
Rangers/Pathfinders - Pretty good.

Elites:
Howling Banshees - Good!
Striking Scorpions - Good! Give them fleet!!!
Fire Dragons - Crap!!! .... oh wait... I mean freaking sweet!
Harlequins - Awesome!

Fast Attack:
Warp Spiders - Damn son these boys are fast!
Shining Spears - just remove these guys. They are crap in my opinion.
Swooping Hawks - something needs changed here. They are situational and have a bunch of rules that usually never apply.
Vypers - Glass cannons but pretty good. I would argue to make them more resilient but they are comparable to other units (Dark Eldar Raiders, Ork Buggies, Tau Piranhas)

Heavy Support:
Wraithlord - Good! They could use a few more upgrades. Maybe make them sort of like Marine dreadnoughts with either CC ability or ranged mastery. 4 wounds and downgrade to T 7????
Nightspinner - ......... I ..... hate..... these guys..... No changes for something OP! :P
Fire Prism - The cannon might need changing here... The combining fire rule is awesome fluff wise and could be nasty but the gun needs a slight change. Maybe make it a Lance to turn the Prism into a more anti-tank role with the Spinner covering Infantry.
Falcon - Jack of all trades... master of none.... good overall but tends to be a point sink for a vehicle that doesn't perform as well.
Dark Reapers - A niche unit that is really good but only against MEQ's. Make it an Elite choice to free up space in the Heavy Support slots.
Support Weapons - Make them more survivable so people will take them because the rules/guns are awesome!
War Walkers - Neat but I don't know if I would include them in Heavy Support. Maybe given them less weapon options and turn them into a Fast Attack choice sort of like Imp Guard Sentinels.

Transports:
Wave Serpent: Good!

End of rant!

The Dark Tower

"The man in black fled across the desert and the gunslinger followed."

Once upon a time I read the Lord of the Rings, the Chronicles of Narnia, Dune, the Ender series, Harry Potter. I sat on the edge of my seat watching the original Star Wars trilogy (episode 4-6 if you must), the three Indiana Jones movies, the Alien series, and so on.

What do they all have in common? They are epics, like Beowulf and the Odyssey, spread out over a long period of time and different settings following one hero on what can almost seem like a grail quest. Indiana Jones finds ancient relics, Eleanor Ripley finally gets to stay awake and is thus free to decide her fate, the one ring is destroyed, the end times come about, the emperor is killed, people ascend to power, people die, a journey comes to an end.

The Dark Tower was, is, Stephen King's epic. If you do not care for King's work, this might be the exception. Seven books long and the series was almost never finished due to the near fatal car accident King suffered around 1999. It looks like NBC is going to try and take on the epic for movie and television.

Given that we all play an epic game I think this is important news. That and I want to somehow incorporate some of the imagery into my demon army.

Unique Lictor

So I was chatting with B the other night and said I found an awesome custom made Lictor. Well I couldn't find the image until now. Here it is!!

I think I will try to make one similar. It is just too cool!