Tuesday, November 16, 2010
And MORE painting
Ok, I now have 30 Kabalite warriors, 10 Wyches, 2 Raiders with crew, and 12 Jetbikes all base-coated and the first layer of dry-brushed color applied. Progress is slow, but progress it is. I will have a few WIP pictures up tomorrow for you.
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
Update DE: paint
I decided on a scheme for the bases: Winter tundra. It is a little more work with the snow but it looks good and pops for color. Here is an example
I have all of the models for wave one in primer now, and I have started color blocking on the raider. My final color scheme is a medium brown base color for the armor plating. Specifically Vallejo model color mahogany sand. The metals will be Vallejo Model Brassy Brass with a dark wash. I plan on using Citadel foundation Deneb Stone as a second color and a third trim color will be an acid green that I have yet to pick out. More to come as I finish models.
Progress report : DE
Well I am underway. I have my first raider assembled and in primer. I also have 6 reavers built and in primer. I have 10 Wyches built and waiting on primer.
Today I start the slow process of finishing assembly on the last six reaver bikes. These things look awesome, but have a ton of tiny little fiddly bits to them. This week sees the addition of a squad of Kabaklite warriors and the start of a small trueborn unit. Next week I will add more raiders and ravagers to the list.
Today I start the slow process of finishing assembly on the last six reaver bikes. These things look awesome, but have a ton of tiny little fiddly bits to them. This week sees the addition of a squad of Kabaklite warriors and the start of a small trueborn unit. Next week I will add more raiders and ravagers to the list.
Friday, November 5, 2010
WOW that's a LOT of Dark Eldar...
This is the stack of incoming Dark Eldar at my local shop.....WOW thats a lot of figs....especially when you consider all but a few of those boxes were already spoken for.....
Then there is my stack....
Now If I can just get GW to make plastic Wrack models.....
Kabal of the Sundered Storm
Well I have the Dark Eldar Codex in my grubby hands. My final list is turning out to be a far cry from where I started.
Lady Malys
Urien Rakarth
6 trueborn in a raider with flicker fields and night shields 3 blasters and 2 dark lances
9 Wyches in a raider with flicker fields and nightshields
10 Kabalite Warriors with a blaster and Darklance
10 Wracks with a liquifer gun
10 Wracks with a liquifer gun
10 Wracks with a liqufer gun
2x 6 Reaver Jetbikes with 2 blasters and 2 cluster caltrops
Ravager with flickerfields and night shields
2x Chronos Parasite engines with spirit vortex
That is it at 1850, but for 1500 point games I lose Lady Malys and one unit of Wracks. The list uses shock tactics to keep people off my pain engines until turn two and screen the Kabalite warriors that will camp the home objective in cover. The Wracks all move up through cover to get to the forward objectives, supported by the Chronos engines. They will then hunker down and make you come and get them. The Bikes are harrassers and can kill transports in a pinch. Really The list focuses on pain tokens. Rakarth lets d3 units start with them and I intend for two of those to be the wytches and warriors. The wracks start with them, and the pain engines generate more to add to the surrounding units. Lady Malys allows me to redploy d3 units at the beginning of the game. Tricksey and unforgiving but fun to play.
Lady Malys
Urien Rakarth
6 trueborn in a raider with flicker fields and night shields 3 blasters and 2 dark lances
9 Wyches in a raider with flicker fields and nightshields
10 Kabalite Warriors with a blaster and Darklance
10 Wracks with a liquifer gun
10 Wracks with a liquifer gun
10 Wracks with a liqufer gun
2x 6 Reaver Jetbikes with 2 blasters and 2 cluster caltrops
Ravager with flickerfields and night shields
2x Chronos Parasite engines with spirit vortex
That is it at 1850, but for 1500 point games I lose Lady Malys and one unit of Wracks. The list uses shock tactics to keep people off my pain engines until turn two and screen the Kabalite warriors that will camp the home objective in cover. The Wracks all move up through cover to get to the forward objectives, supported by the Chronos engines. They will then hunker down and make you come and get them. The Bikes are harrassers and can kill transports in a pinch. Really The list focuses on pain tokens. Rakarth lets d3 units start with them and I intend for two of those to be the wytches and warriors. The wracks start with them, and the pain engines generate more to add to the surrounding units. Lady Malys allows me to redploy d3 units at the beginning of the game. Tricksey and unforgiving but fun to play.
Thursday, November 4, 2010
Volscani 4th Vs Blood Angels Battle Report
I managed to get a rare mid week game in last night against my good friend ElPee, Parker and his blood angels. We decided that since we had painted armies and terrain (and we haven't done one in eons) that we should do a battle report on our game. Now Parker and I are usually up for some oddball stuff to make the game interesting. Since most of the terrain on hand was city ruins, I dug out "Ye Olde Cities O' Death" from the books and we played a 5th edition city fight.
The mission was to hold as many ruins as we could. In the original game this would have been any unit, but since we are in a 5th edition world only our "troops" could hold. We had 10 buildings and the bridge out for a total of 11 possible scoring points. We decided on stratagems as follows, then deployed.
Shadowvast: Booby traps, munitions cache, and siege shells
ElPee: Combat Engineers, tank traps(grrr), and a demolition charge
I took a fairly straightforward 2000 point guard army as follows:
Regimental command, autocannon, Meltagun plasmagun, chimera
10 man psyker battle squad in chimera
3x Scout Sentinels with Autocannons
Vendetta
2x 10man Veteran squad with 3 plasma in chimera
10 man veteran squad with 3 meltas in chimera
2x Leman Russ Demolishers
2x Medusa with Cammo netting (which I forgot)
Manticore
ElPee's Blood Angels looked like this
Epistolary Librarian, Jump Pack, using shield and lance
10 man assault squad with 2 melta guns an infernus pistol and powerfist
10 man assault squad with flamer, infernis pistol and powerfist
10 man tactical with flamer and rocket launcher in a rhino
2x annihilator predators
3x typhoon landspeeders
10 terminators with cyclone missile launcher
So with me deployed and stratagems placed, the board looked like this:
Those markers are my booby traps
So after ElPee decides to reserve everything I roll out to start taking a few buildings....but wait he has a surprise for me....
See those stone barricades? Yeah, those are tank traps, and they are impassible terrain to vehicles.....yeah good times....he basically locked me into my deployment and forced me to split through difficult terrain on my flanks with my vehicles...cagey buddy, cagey....
So after two turns of slogging through the ruins parker decided to show up and fight. He got about half his army, and deployed on my right flank, here:
Things would get crazy from here. My psyker battle squad immobilized itself blocking my exit on the left flank, and forcing me to just push into the marines on the right....can you see why that cammo netting I forgot about would have been handy here?
I moved up in the middle to get my command squad into the tower in front of me and move some troops into buildings. ElPee moved up on that single flank while he waited for those reserves and his HQ to join the fight. His tactical squad stayed in the rhino for now, content to snipe at my Medusas with their rocket launcher. That rocket launcher and those predators would prove fatal to the twin medusas , but that opened a path for my tansports to make a run through the building and take up positions to defend it.
This also allows a really good view of the blasted tank traps I was talking about....grrrrr! I moved my men out on foot to start taking ruins for end game results at this point. The squad on the ground behind the tower was moving to the left towards the manufactorum to the left of the picture. Right about turn 4 things got interesting though.....
The blood angels command joined the party, and downed a demolisher and the vendetta over the next two turns. I had hit them with my psyker battle squad's weaken resolve power to make them leadership 2 when they showed up, but I could not inflict that last wound I needed to force a test on them, so this was the result.
The right flank was a firestorm the whole game with my chimeras making a wall to stop the terminators getting too far into the terrain. I was hoping to knock the storage tanks down on their heads but failed to make that happen twice, and I didn't get the third chance. Elpee played his trump cards on turn 4. In the picture above you can see the crater from him dropping a building down (fortunately I wasn't in it) and then making craters out of my medusas over on the right. He was pressing in HARD on that right flank with the remains of his central assault squad. I used every gun left on that flank and finally killed the powerfist sergeant, but that left those terminators all but ignored until now....uh oh!
As you can see that sergeant about gave me a heart attack! Those terminators were really in my grill on turn 5. After 6 turns of blasting at each other the game ended with Elpee holding the storage tanks, bridge and processing plant, and me holding one manufactorum tower and a cathedral and contesting the second manufatorum. End result 2-2 tie. Awesome game against an awesome opponent. Having painted armies and terrain really made me feel like I was down in the action, looking through windows and doors for fire lanes and cover.
I cannot say enough how much good looking terrain and armies can enhance a great game. All in all we played this game for nearly 4 hours. It got bogged down for rules from cities of death converting to 5th edition, and pictures, but that didn't slow down our good time. Battles like this don't come along every day....just every time I play a game with a good friend like ElPee! And I want a rematch on this one!!
Right Flank
Center
LeftFlank
Shadowvast: Booby traps, munitions cache, and siege shells
ElPee: Combat Engineers, tank traps(grrr), and a demolition charge
I took a fairly straightforward 2000 point guard army as follows:
Regimental command, autocannon, Meltagun plasmagun, chimera
10 man psyker battle squad in chimera
3x Scout Sentinels with Autocannons
Vendetta
2x 10man Veteran squad with 3 plasma in chimera
10 man veteran squad with 3 meltas in chimera
2x Leman Russ Demolishers
2x Medusa with Cammo netting (which I forgot)
Manticore
ElPee's Blood Angels looked like this
Epistolary Librarian, Jump Pack, using shield and lance
10 man assault squad with 2 melta guns an infernus pistol and powerfist
10 man assault squad with flamer, infernis pistol and powerfist
10 man tactical with flamer and rocket launcher in a rhino
2x annihilator predators
3x typhoon landspeeders
10 terminators with cyclone missile launcher
So with me deployed and stratagems placed, the board looked like this:
So after two turns of slogging through the ruins parker decided to show up and fight. He got about half his army, and deployed on my right flank, here:
I moved up in the middle to get my command squad into the tower in front of me and move some troops into buildings. ElPee moved up on that single flank while he waited for those reserves and his HQ to join the fight. His tactical squad stayed in the rhino for now, content to snipe at my Medusas with their rocket launcher. That rocket launcher and those predators would prove fatal to the twin medusas , but that opened a path for my tansports to make a run through the building and take up positions to defend it.
The right flank was a firestorm the whole game with my chimeras making a wall to stop the terminators getting too far into the terrain. I was hoping to knock the storage tanks down on their heads but failed to make that happen twice, and I didn't get the third chance. Elpee played his trump cards on turn 4. In the picture above you can see the crater from him dropping a building down (fortunately I wasn't in it) and then making craters out of my medusas over on the right. He was pressing in HARD on that right flank with the remains of his central assault squad. I used every gun left on that flank and finally killed the powerfist sergeant, but that left those terminators all but ignored until now....uh oh!
I cannot say enough how much good looking terrain and armies can enhance a great game. All in all we played this game for nearly 4 hours. It got bogged down for rules from cities of death converting to 5th edition, and pictures, but that didn't slow down our good time. Battles like this don't come along every day....just every time I play a game with a good friend like ElPee! And I want a rematch on this one!!
Sunday, October 24, 2010
Boltgun Battles 3
Well, I went to a local tournament yesterday called Boltgun Battles, and I had a Spectacular time. This was the third annual event held in a town a few miles north of me. Alan Blount organises this every year with the help of his friends and I have to say, they throw a hell of a party. The prize support was spectacular, and more than half of the entrants left with something to show for the day beyond 3 good games. There were some CRAZY games going on...like a necron vs. necron with 5 monoliths and nightbringer between them....did I mention one of those players was a woman!?! (Amanda I LOVED your army, very thematic and well done).
Now, the games were at 2000pts, which is larger than I usually play, so I had to sit down and create a whole new animal. I went through 5 army builds on three different codeci before I settled with Daemons of chaos. I was fairly certain I would be in a minority with them, but more importantly I ENJOY the quirky nature of the army. I took a sub-optimal list of my own design, that with some tweaking (and about 30 plaguebearers) could be a tough nut to crack. This is how it stood for the tournament:
Fateweaver
3x Daemon prince, mark of Nurgle, wings, Daemon Armour and Noxious touch
3 flamers
12 plaguebearers
16 bloodletters
2x 15 bloodletters
Now, I know this is not an "optimal" list, but it hits hard, and I enjoy playing it. I had three spectacular opponents and while the random daemons didn't perform perfectly (and neither did I), I had nothing but fun. Here is a run-down of my games. I can't remember all the details of the lists but here is what I do remember.
In round one I played Afrojoe. Now, Afrojoe had done something similar to me and taken an army he did not normally play. His space marines were really in the growing stages and Afrojoe seemed to be still learning the ropes with them.
Librarian with force dome
Captain with fist in a tricked out command squad in a rhino
3 (possibly 4 but im not sure) 5 man tacticals in rhinos with various gear
typhoon speeder
2 triple lascannon predators.
Now Joe played well, but he had never played the daemons, and I was able through LUCKY drops to get his speeder, one predator, his command and a tactical in the space of 2 turns with my princes.....took all 5 turns to kill everything except an immobilized rhino and one predator which had no guns on it. Joe is super nice guy and we talked after the game about how it went and what could have gone differently. Joe is one of those guys that I would play anytime!
My second game was against Jeremy McClung and his spectacularly painted Howling Griffons marines. This army is GORGEOUS. Jeremy is a super nice guy as well, and we laughed all the way through this game.
Khan on bike with command squad
Librarian with null zone (curses!)
4 tactical squads in razorbacks all with las/twin-plasma
bike squad with a multi-melta attack bike, this one was scoring because of Khan
2 whirlwinds
Now it strikes me that I am missing something, so Jeremy if you read this comment and let me know, because I really like this list. There was an incredible amount of low AP fire coming in, and Fateweaver should have been the savior of my list....except Jeremy shot every gun in his army at him for 2 turns and I eventually failed that third save....after even making two leadership tests to keep him around. Problem is, I had no way to stop null zone, so I had to re-roll all successful invulnerable saves on half the table....which is basically all I had.....hmpf.....This mission was for table quarters and kill the opposing general was a bonus table quarter. While I smeared Khan all over my filth encrusted talons in turn 3, he had killed fateweaver. It came down to a 5 to 3 win for Jeremy on strength of numbers in his scoring units.
Now in round 3 I played Jeff Jenkins, and his mechanised Imperial guard. Again, Jeff if I miss something comment and let me know.
2 primaris psykers as HQ
4 veteran squads in chimeras
manticore
pair of Leman Russ battle tanks with hull lascannons
Pair of Executioners (ouch)
This mission was a bad draw for me as there were three objectives in a line across the middle of the table, all out in the open. Then you throw that SICK firepower on a daemon and I just melted under the fire here. Jeff was ready to throw Fateweaver across the room by turn four, but we both had a good game. It was fun and in the end I lost 2 to nothing.
In the end I was 1-2 on the day with a total of 16 battle points. I have not seen the final painting, comp or sports scores so I am not filled in on the placements over all, but I did walk away with on HELL of a prize:BEST SPORTSMAN! I had NO idea I was even in the running. I went to have some good games and a good time, and I aceived that in spades, but the sportsman award was AWESOME!! and the prize support for it was....well......THIS!!!
Yes...that is a Knight titan....WOOT!
Now, the games were at 2000pts, which is larger than I usually play, so I had to sit down and create a whole new animal. I went through 5 army builds on three different codeci before I settled with Daemons of chaos. I was fairly certain I would be in a minority with them, but more importantly I ENJOY the quirky nature of the army. I took a sub-optimal list of my own design, that with some tweaking (and about 30 plaguebearers) could be a tough nut to crack. This is how it stood for the tournament:
Fateweaver
3x Daemon prince, mark of Nurgle, wings, Daemon Armour and Noxious touch
3 flamers
12 plaguebearers
16 bloodletters
2x 15 bloodletters
Now, I know this is not an "optimal" list, but it hits hard, and I enjoy playing it. I had three spectacular opponents and while the random daemons didn't perform perfectly (and neither did I), I had nothing but fun. Here is a run-down of my games. I can't remember all the details of the lists but here is what I do remember.
In round one I played Afrojoe. Now, Afrojoe had done something similar to me and taken an army he did not normally play. His space marines were really in the growing stages and Afrojoe seemed to be still learning the ropes with them.
Librarian with force dome
Captain with fist in a tricked out command squad in a rhino
3 (possibly 4 but im not sure) 5 man tacticals in rhinos with various gear
typhoon speeder
2 triple lascannon predators.
Now Joe played well, but he had never played the daemons, and I was able through LUCKY drops to get his speeder, one predator, his command and a tactical in the space of 2 turns with my princes.....took all 5 turns to kill everything except an immobilized rhino and one predator which had no guns on it. Joe is super nice guy and we talked after the game about how it went and what could have gone differently. Joe is one of those guys that I would play anytime!
My second game was against Jeremy McClung and his spectacularly painted Howling Griffons marines. This army is GORGEOUS. Jeremy is a super nice guy as well, and we laughed all the way through this game.
Khan on bike with command squad
Librarian with null zone (curses!)
4 tactical squads in razorbacks all with las/twin-plasma
bike squad with a multi-melta attack bike, this one was scoring because of Khan
2 whirlwinds
Now it strikes me that I am missing something, so Jeremy if you read this comment and let me know, because I really like this list. There was an incredible amount of low AP fire coming in, and Fateweaver should have been the savior of my list....except Jeremy shot every gun in his army at him for 2 turns and I eventually failed that third save....after even making two leadership tests to keep him around. Problem is, I had no way to stop null zone, so I had to re-roll all successful invulnerable saves on half the table....which is basically all I had.....hmpf.....This mission was for table quarters and kill the opposing general was a bonus table quarter. While I smeared Khan all over my filth encrusted talons in turn 3, he had killed fateweaver. It came down to a 5 to 3 win for Jeremy on strength of numbers in his scoring units.
Now in round 3 I played Jeff Jenkins, and his mechanised Imperial guard. Again, Jeff if I miss something comment and let me know.
2 primaris psykers as HQ
4 veteran squads in chimeras
manticore
pair of Leman Russ battle tanks with hull lascannons
Pair of Executioners (ouch)
This mission was a bad draw for me as there were three objectives in a line across the middle of the table, all out in the open. Then you throw that SICK firepower on a daemon and I just melted under the fire here. Jeff was ready to throw Fateweaver across the room by turn four, but we both had a good game. It was fun and in the end I lost 2 to nothing.
In the end I was 1-2 on the day with a total of 16 battle points. I have not seen the final painting, comp or sports scores so I am not filled in on the placements over all, but I did walk away with on HELL of a prize:BEST SPORTSMAN! I had NO idea I was even in the running. I went to have some good games and a good time, and I aceived that in spades, but the sportsman award was AWESOME!! and the prize support for it was....well......THIS!!!
Yes...that is a Knight titan....WOOT!
Friday, October 22, 2010
Drew Part 1: Da Bomb!
Drew has this for his initial order: The whole thing!!
Alright, got my 1500 list written and models ordered.....and of course I went to extremes, so buying, building and painting will be a pain! lol
Lelith
9 wyches:
1 hydra gauntlet
hekatrix
blast pistol
phantasm grenades
agoniser
haywire grenades
raider transport:
torment grenade
aethersails
retrofire jets
chain-snares
envenomed blades
night shields
flickerfield
10 wyches:
2 hydra gauntlets
hekatrix
blast pistol
phantasm grenades
agoniser
haywire grenades
raider transport:
torment grenades
aethersails
retrofire jets
chain-snares
envenomed blades
night shields
flickerfield
10 reavers:
3 heat lances
10 reavers:
3 heat lances
10 reavers:
3 heat lances
general idea is to zoom the wyches into position for objective based games and let them unleash nasty combat goodness on whatever enemy unit is trying to capture the objective. meanwhile, the raiders and 3 out of every squad of the reavers have tank busting capability. the wyches with haywire grenades can also attempt tank busting in a pinch. any infantry units not able to be engaged by wyches will take fly-by hits from reavers as well as volleys from their poisoned splinter rifles.
yes, there are some holes in that list, but i like the models, it's fast, and it has capability to deal with most units. now we all know how i roll, so really, it doesn't matter what list is "best" i'll still flub it on the table!
Alright, got my 1500 list written and models ordered.....and of course I went to extremes, so buying, building and painting will be a pain! lol
Lelith
9 wyches:
1 hydra gauntlet
hekatrix
blast pistol
phantasm grenades
agoniser
haywire grenades
raider transport:
torment grenade
aethersails
retrofire jets
chain-snares
envenomed blades
night shields
flickerfield
10 wyches:
2 hydra gauntlets
hekatrix
blast pistol
phantasm grenades
agoniser
haywire grenades
raider transport:
torment grenades
aethersails
retrofire jets
chain-snares
envenomed blades
night shields
flickerfield
10 reavers:
3 heat lances
10 reavers:
3 heat lances
10 reavers:
3 heat lances
general idea is to zoom the wyches into position for objective based games and let them unleash nasty combat goodness on whatever enemy unit is trying to capture the objective. meanwhile, the raiders and 3 out of every squad of the reavers have tank busting capability. the wyches with haywire grenades can also attempt tank busting in a pinch. any infantry units not able to be engaged by wyches will take fly-by hits from reavers as well as volleys from their poisoned splinter rifles.
yes, there are some holes in that list, but i like the models, it's fast, and it has capability to deal with most units. now we all know how i roll, so really, it doesn't matter what list is "best" i'll still flub it on the table!
Thursday, October 21, 2010
A Tale part Deux
Drew texted me today with his initial take on a 1500pt force.....shockingly close to mine....
Lelith Hesperax
9 Wytches in a Raider
10 Wytches in a Raider
3x 10 Reaver jet bikes
Wow....2 troops in gutsy, even leaving it all in reserve while the bikes fly around the board killing transports. He plans to table what he plays, but we'll see how well this works out.
Next up: Play-testing with the new toys.
Lelith Hesperax
9 Wytches in a Raider
10 Wytches in a Raider
3x 10 Reaver jet bikes
Wow....2 troops in gutsy, even leaving it all in reserve while the bikes fly around the board killing transports. He plans to table what he plays, but we'll see how well this works out.
Next up: Play-testing with the new toys.
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
A Tale of Two (addicted) Gamers
Well, I have my second miniature group ordered now. I have added the following, which will make a playable army somewhere above the 500 point range so I can begin testing.
Urien Rakarth
2x boxes of Wytches
Mandrakes
Webway Portal
These are really just filler pieces to make it a legal army. There are a bunch more things that I am likely to need to convert or buy multiple boxes of to complete. The force after wave 2 (no grear) looks like this:
Urien Rakarth
Archon
9 Wytches in raider
20 Wytches on foot for portal
10 Warriors
Mandrakes
2x 6 Bikes
Again this is a partial force, but I plan on getting some Hemonoculi as a second HQ and dropping the Archon. I will need more warriors to get the bits for a Trueborn tank busting squad, and I need to convert 3 bombers and a parasite engine or two as the anchors of the list. So far so good!
Urien Rakarth
2x boxes of Wytches
Mandrakes
Webway Portal
These are really just filler pieces to make it a legal army. There are a bunch more things that I am likely to need to convert or buy multiple boxes of to complete. The force after wave 2 (no grear) looks like this:
Urien Rakarth
Archon
9 Wytches in raider
20 Wytches on foot for portal
10 Warriors
Mandrakes
2x 6 Bikes
Again this is a partial force, but I plan on getting some Hemonoculi as a second HQ and dropping the Archon. I will need more warriors to get the bits for a Trueborn tank busting squad, and I need to convert 3 bombers and a parasite engine or two as the anchors of the list. So far so good!
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