Saturday, December 31, 2011

Eldar Corsair Test Mini Complete!

So here she is, my first Corsair model finally finished. I am still not sold on the helmet color but I think it will work. I also tried a new lighting source for the pictures, not sure that I like it either.




~I have 4 more of these Warriors on my table to paint before I try the test scheme on a Venom. What do you think? Does the Helmet color work as a contrast to the red?

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

Eldar Corsair Test Scheme


Been having some trouble getting a scheme down for my Eldar Corsair army. Not sold on this yet but it is a start.

Monday, December 5, 2011

Donorian Clawed Fiend Thoughts


Yesterday I played in a team tournament at Dragon's Layer back home in Austin with my long time gaming buddy Minus6. Minus6 played with his IG and I also used his Dark Eldar models coupled with the Exodites I've been slowly painting over the last year to make a Webway Portal list. My army included a very large Beast Master Unit with a very expensive Clawed Fiend. 

The Beast Master unit is interesting because you buy 1-5 Masters (Dark Eldar on skyboards) and then buy different beasts as wargear for them. There are three different types of beasts, Khymera, Razorwing Flock, and Clawed Fiend and you can only buy one type per Master. The Clawed Fiend is by far the most expensive beast coming in at 40pts (the second most is 15pts) and you can only buy one Fiend per Beast Master so in total you spend 52pts.

The Fiend has a pretty good statline; S5 T5 W4 A4, and for every wound he takes he gets an extra attack. His T5 and the incentive to take wounds on him means that he can soak up any Power Fist attacks directed at the unit. Probably the best thing he did in my three games yesterday was get powered up to 7 attacks and killed a Chaplain.

So are the Fiends worth 52 points? The unit as a whole is terrible against vehicles and terrible against Terminators and because they are Beasts; they don't know how to climb stairs. The unit has at best Ld8 and T3, so what's the point of being able to soak wounds if as soon as you lose combat or get shot you run? 

Monday, November 28, 2011

Battle Report 2000pts 11/27/11: IG vs Necrons

Bully Mike from 40kology is a great opponent. We've been playing against each other mostly in tournaments for the last three years, but yesterday we met up for a friendly game to test out his Necrons. Before this game Bully had only played two games with the new book, the last of which he won against my Mantis Warriors at KPs 9-4. In reaction to how well the Monolith and Citan did last game, I decided to bust out the IG and see if the Necron shooting could match the hammer of the Imperium!

Imperial Guard List



Command HQ; plasma*4, chimera

Infantry Command; flamer*4, chimera
Infantry Squad; grenade, power weapon, commissar, power weapon
Infantry Squad; grenade, power weapon
Infantry Squad; grenade, power weapon
Special Weapon Squad; melta*3
Heavy Weapon Squad; missiles*3
Heavy Weapon Squad; autocannon*3

Veterans*10; melta*3, chimera
Veterans*10; melta*2, flamer, chimera

Vendetta (special weapon squad rides here)
Scout Sentinels*3; lascannon*2, autocannon
Hellhound; smoke launchers

Demolisher; lascannon
Demolisher; lascannon
Manticore; camo netting

Although this is not the most tailored IG army, it is far more powerful that something I would generally bring to a friendly match; especially against someone whose only played a few games with their own codex. In the last game Bully took a very similar army, but I took a more close combat oriented SM army. His Monolith and the Citan really did a number me. He Portaled several units away from my assault units which essentially took them out of the game and the Citan's Rising World Scape managed to Immobilize my Landraider, kill two TH termis and about 6 or 7 SMs by turn 3! In this game, with a shooty army, my goal was to mitigate those specific threats while taking a large number of armored vehicles to test the waters against mass amounts of Gauss and Scarab attacks.

Necron List
Storm Lord; Command Barge
Destroyer Lord; res orb, war scythe

Warriors*10
Warriors*10
Warriors*10
Warriors*10

Spiders*2 (different wargear)
Scarab Swarm*8

Wraiths*4


Regular Destroyers*5
Citan; rising world scape, dust one (i think=stealth and grenades)
Monolith

BullyMike bought this army prebuilt and painted a couple years ago when no one wanted Necrons. Besides the new vehicle and new Special Character he is pretty much using every model he bought back then, which is pretty cool that it still came out to 2000pts! Because he is essentially using ever model he owns, his list has not seen much change in the last three games played. Mostly all he's done is switched out special characters and alternated between Annihilation Barge and Command Barge. It should also be noted that he won against Daemons and SMs in the first two games...

Mission: Seize Ground 5 Objectives
Deployment: Pitched Battle

Necrons Deployed First and set up in the forest along the entire length of this board edge. Monolith in the middle with the Spiders and Scarabs. Destroyers, Command Barge, and Wraiths on the left flank.

Imperial Guard Deployed Second with Demolisher tanks on left flank opposite the majority of the Necron heavy hitters. Command HQ was straight in the middle with Heavy Weapon squads on either side. Two infinity squads combined with commissar also in the middle to advance on center objective. Manticore in far right building and beyond that, Hellhound, Infantry Command with flamers and the three Sentinels deployed on extreme right flank facing single Necron Warrior Squad. The two melt vet units were in reserve, as well as one 10man infantry unit and the Vendetta Out Flanked.

TURN 1

Top Turn 1 was Night Fight thanks to the Swarm Lord. His lighting only hit one unit but managed to kill all three Autocannon Weapon Teams. That sucked but it could have been worse. Apart from that he had really good run rolls so almost everything made it to center field. He also 'Portaled' his Wraiths through the Monolith.
Bottom Turn 1 was still night fight so I used a lot of search lights and since he was half way across the board already, most everything got to shoot. I failed my orders and most everything else missed or did no damage. Demolisher tank in center penetrated the Monolith but only stunned it, and the Demolisher on the left only glanced the Command Barge which shook it. On the far right flank my Hellhound did major damage to his Warriors and only three remained after Reanimating!  In the center my Command HQ moved into range of the Wraiths and unleashed 8 plasma gun shots. All four guns overheated killing three while only doing one wound to the Necron snakes! 

TURN 2

 Top Turn 2 started with the Storm Ending (w00t) and a general advance. The three pitiful Necron Warriors on the Right Flank Portaled through the Monolith away from the armored advance; essentially conceding that objective to the Imperial Guard. The Wraiths assaulted the Command HQ Chimera; stunning it and popping off a gun. The Scarabs rolled all 6's for their movement for the second turn in a row and easily assaulted the Center Demolisher ever though it moved backwards. 40 attacks, 20 hits, 10 points of reduced armor... thank you back armor 11! The Destroyer Lord detached from the Destroyer Squad and made an attempt to attack the Left Demolisher on his own. He missed with all his attacks...

Bottom Turn 2 my Vendetta arrived on the left flank, and between it and the Melta Special Weapon squad inside, they were able to kill the Destroyer Lord who failed to reanimate. My center Demolisher, who now had Armor Value 4/3/1 (we called it "see through") moved backwards and dropped its shell on the Scarabs. The Swarm went to ground which saved two. My 10 man infantry unit came in from reserve in the center near the Wraiths and shot them up, doing no damage. My right flank units swung around the buildings and shot the Citan, only doing a single wound. My Infantry blob squad assaulted the center Warrior unit and brought it down to 4 with mass power weapon attacks.
TURN 3
Top Turn 3 the Storm Lord hopped off his Command Barge and assaulted the 10 man infantry unit that just arrived and murdered them. The Citan charged into the blob squad, and although killed three, the combined power weapons managed to take out the remaining 4 Warriors so the Citan took his second wound from fearless saves. The Monolith, now able to move, advanced to mid field and shot the "see through" Demolisher in the center and easily destroyed it. The Destroyers shot at the Vendetta but failed to roll and 6's. The Wraiths moved and assaulted the Hellhound, but because it had moved at Cruising Speed, they only Stunned it. On the far left, with a decent run roll, a Necron Warrior Unit advanced onto an objective near the Vendetta.

Bottom Turn 3 the two Melta Veteran units in Chimeras arrived up the middle and one of them destroyed the Command Barge. The Vendetta gathered up the Special weapon squad and moved to contest the left most objective and shot at the approaching Destroyers, killing one... oh wait, it reanimated! The stunned Hellhound popped smoke in anticipation for a point blank shot from the Manticore at the Wraiths who were still fighting it in combat. The Manticore did 9 hits on the 4 models and with bad armor save rolls, killed them all! On the far right flank the Infantry Command Squad in Chimera advanced onto an objective on that side of the board. The blob squad, unable to hurt toughness 7 Citan, lost a few more models, but held due to the Commissar.

TURN 4
Top Turn 4 the Storm Lord climbed up the ruined building where the Heavy Weapon Squad was missing with missiles all game and easily wiped them out. The Warrior Squad in the center of the Necron back field Portaled through the Monolith to escape the Hellhound that was now free of the Wraiths. After moving through the portal, only three Warriors were in range of the Vendetta, but one got a 6 which and immobilize it! Go Gauss Go! The Destroyers remained in cover and also shot at the Vendetta but were unable to damage it. The Spiders and remaining two Scarab bases charged into the IG blob squad. The Citan took out a couple but the power weapons all targeted the Spiders and Impressively did two wounds to each! 
Bottom Turn 4 the Manticore unleashed its final salvo of missiles and took out a handful of Warriors that had come through the Monolith Portal. The Citan missed with all of his attacks, and the combined Spiders and Scarabs killed everyone but the Commissar who proudly held, meaning my right flank was safe for another turn as all other units had been Portaled away from that flank by the Monolith. The Deolisher and the Chimera with Melta Vets on the left advanced and shot at the Destroyers, but were only able to kill one after reanimation. At this point in the game, the IG held one objective and were contesting the only Necron held Objective.

TURN 5
Top Turn 5 the Destroyers moved and contested the objective near the Melta Vets on the left and Stunned their Chimera while the Storm Lord assaulted and destroyed the Command HQ Chimera which had until now been stunned the entire game. The Citan finished off the Commissar and consolidated with the Spiders and Scarabs towards the IG right flank. Combined Gauss fire from the remaining Warrior Squads on the left targeted the Vendetta but did not damage it not enough to destroy it.
Bottom Turn 5 the Melta Vets in the center moved to claim the center objective in the building but because the Citan was still rising my damn world scape, their Chimera immobilized itself just shot. Ugh. My Hellhound swung around the ruins that the blob squad combat had been occupying for the majority of the game and placed its template so that it was hitting both Spiders, both Scarabs and the Citan... Yatzee! 5 ones lol. The Sentinels and the Infantry Command Chimera all shot at the Citan but did nothing. However, after shooting at the Monolith all game, my remaining Demolisher Cannon penetrated and destroyed it. We rolled for the game to continue ended on turn 5.

 Objective 1: Contested

Objective 2: Contested
 Objective 3: so close, Unclaimed
 Objective 4: Unclaimed
 Objective 5: Imperial Guard Claimed

So this turned out to be a VERY close game at turn 5. We both had some really bad rolling during the first two turns. The Storm Lord's lightning clouds ended after only striking down one unit and hitting no tanks and the Destroyer Lord failed to reanimate after not even hitting the Demolisher tank in combat. The first three times I had Penetrating hits on the Monolith they rolled 1s or 2s and my Command HQ lost 3 out of 4 plasma guns in their first volley! 

This game was a lot of fun and could have easily ended in the hands of the Necrons. Had the game gone an extra turn I might have been able to put models on one or two more objectives, but with the Storm Lord running around my back field and the Citan still with two wounds, it is unlikely that I would have been able to kill either of them and they would have easily contested any additional Objectives I might have tried to claim. I think any additional turns would have only helped the Necrons.

Personally I really enjoy playing against the Metal Undead. They have a lot of interesting units and nothing, initially, screams cheese except perhaps the Citan's Rising World Scape; but even that had little effect on a mostly static gun-line.

Sunday, November 27, 2011

WIP: the Fly Lord

This is my WIP model for the Bitz Box character conversion/painting contest. I don't have much left to do besides the base (not shown). This is a pretty crazy model with his entire chest and legs being sculpted from Green Stuff.

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Scout Squad Ultis


As the Badab War ground on and the number of casualties mounted, the Mantis Warriors were forced recruit an ever growing number of initiates to compensate for the Chapter's Battle companies inability to keep a full contingent of Tactical Squads. In an effort to ensure that the Chapter could still call upon full strength Battle companies to defend the Mantis Warriors home world, the chapter's Reserve and Scout Companies were dissolved and their numbers were added to the remaining Battle Companies. In doing so, several Scout Squads were permanently added to Captain Mantodea's second company, a shift from the Codex Astartes that has continued long after the the Mantis Warriors reunification with the Imperium. 

Scout Squad Ultis was formed late in the Siege of Tranquility. Although their sniper rifles were poor use against the Carcharodon Terminator legions, they mainly attacked from the rear of the advance, taking out servitors, chapter surfs, and other non-combat personnel in an effort to slow down the Space Shark warmachine and ultimately make any time spent on Tranquility as miserable as possible for the invaders.


That was a bit of a long winded fluff piece but I hope you enjoyed it. To be honest I don't recall why I decided to paint up these scouts. I've played a few games with them and they are terrible. BS3 with sniper rifles is rubbish, not to mention the squad costs the same as 10 Eldar Rangers. Well they are painted now so I'm sure they will make their way into some future lists.

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

I'm in the Movies: Sisters vs Mantis Warriors

Friendly game at Dragon's Lair a week ago. Apparently the last turn has been lost in the Warp, don't worry you didn't miss much.

Saturday, October 15, 2011

A Trio of More Scouts

Painted up three more scouts today. Two more to add to my Sniper squad and a Combat scout to round out the other unit to 10.

View of the cam.
For some reason I want three 10 man units of scouts... still have a few wholes to fill still.

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Sniper Scouts

Made more progress on the sniper scouts tonight while watching Baseball. 
Will do a little fluff bit when I have a ten man squad is complete.

Tranquility Camo

 Been working on some Sniper Scouts for the Shrike list lately and here are their Camo Cloaks on display. I'd say they are still a bit WIP as some of the black "leaves" are a bit wispy for my taste.

Wednesday, October 5, 2011

1500 point Shrike Thoughts


The local gaming community in Austin has been talking about reducing the size of standard pick-up games from 2000 points to a smaller number between 1850 and 1500. It has been a long time since 1500 points was the normal around town; 10 years maybe? Anyway it got me thinking about the differences in army list construction between 1500 and 2000.

After being used to 2000 for so long, 1500pts created quite a dilemma for me during army list construction. There is just not enough points to fill out two HQ slots, all the scoring units necessary for a 5 objective game, and the necessary Elite/Fast/Heavy slots to do the heavy lifting/killing.

Recently I've been toying around with a Shrike list, with heavy component of scouts, as a change of pace from Khan or Sicarius. I am hoping that the reduced price of my scoring units will leave me enough points left over to still bring a strong army at 1500pts.

HQ
Captain Shrike
Chaplain; jump pack, digi-lasers, melta bombs

TROOPS
Tactical Squad*10; power fist, combi-melta, melta gun, multi-melta
Drop Pod; locator beacon

Scouts*10; sniper rifles, combi-plasma, heavy bolter
Scouts*10; power fist, teleport homer

ELITES
Assault Terminators*5; thunder hammers*3, lightning claws*2

FAST ATTACK
Assault Marines*8; power first
Attack Bike; multi-melta

HEAVY SUPPORT
Devastators*5; missile launcher*4


~the idea is pretty simple. Infiltrate as close as possible with the assault scouts and assault marines+characters and hope for a first turn assault with both. Tac squad drops in first turn, combined with decent weight of fire from the sniper scouts and devs to weaken enemy before termis deep strike ASAP. It is a very aggressive army with a fairly major weak link: 20 scouts making up the majority of my scoring models. After a few games I'll post how it does. Any thoughts or words of wisdom for using Shrike or Scouts?

Saturday, October 1, 2011

Scout Sergeants; the only good thing in the unit

I've been messing around with a Shriek list in my last couple of games. I lost both of them but got me thinking about what I would need to add to my collection to make a Shriek list work for me... solution; more scouts?

 not the best pics but it was done quicly
 plasma gun/sniper sergeant, never seen one so we'll see how it goes

 Back slung Sniper Rifle.
 I always thought that SM power fists looked awkwardly large on scout arms. 
 Teleport Homer.
This is an old old Catachan power fist with a Cadian flamer hose and some putty.

Friday, September 30, 2011

Mobile Support Part 2

It's been a while since I've posted finished models on here, and to make matters worse I painted this guy 2 weeks ago... jeeze. 


This gives me a squadron of three, and I've got my eye on adding a fourth before I'm through.

Thursday, August 18, 2011

WarGames Con Narrative Tract Review: PART 2


Hello again folks, this is the second post in a series detailing my experience playing in the WarGames Con Narrative Tract. In this article I will talk about my preparation for the NT, what army I took and which table I decided to fight on and for which side.


The Narrative Tract is unique to WarGames Con and instead of 7 competitive games, it is comprised of four really big Apocalypse games! The past three years BigRed has run the Narrative show; not only has he been in charge of choosing awesome setting from the Warhammer Universe to stage the Apocalypse battles and written the missions for the games, he has also been the head judge/arbiter (more on that later). Because of the popularity of this event there have been enough participants to fill multiple NTs each year, so players can choose which battle to play in.
BoLS Con 2009 had three NT tables, each for one of the Campaign Books BoLS had released to date: Horus Heresy, Macharian Crusade, and Badab War and in 2010 the three themes were taken from FW books. This year there was a lot of discussion as to where to draw the themes from. 13th Black Crusade and Macrage were both discussed but when FW announced that they would be releasing their own version of the Badab War (EDIT: unofficially inspired by the BoLS book) we decided that had to be one of the tables again. Since Badab is essentially SM on SM, the Third Armageddon War seemed like a perfect theme that could accommodate pretty much everything else army wise.

The choice of table was a no brainer for me since I built my Mantis Warriors army specifically for the BoLS Badab campaign book; however deciding what to take in my army was somewhat more difficult. The NT calls for a 3000 point army and I certainly wasn't going to bring any unpainted models. I don't have any Super Heavies in my collection, and although there were PDF that fought on the side of the Separatists during the Badab War, I knew I wanted to take an exclusively Mantis Warrior army.


I had never fielded 3000pts of Mantis Warriors at one time before, so although I had that many points painted in my collection, I didn't have a good Apoc army. With still several months to go until WarGames Con I set to work expanding my collection of painted Space Marines. In the end there were still a couple more units I would have liked to add to the Apoc army but simply ran out of time. It also did not help that at the same time I was building from scratch a 1000pt chaos army for the team tournament. The army I ended up bringing was as follows...

Captain Mantodea
Chaplain
Assault Terminators
Landraider Redeemer

Jump Captain
Jump Chaplain
Assault Marines

Tranquility Snipers
Razorback
Tactical Squad; Rhino
Tactical Squad; Rhino
Tactical Squad; Rhino

Scouts Squad; Landspeeder Storm
Attack Bikes

Devestator Squad
Devestator Squad
Thunder Fire Cannon


I've noticed in big Apoc games most people over look scoring units and go for the big Super Heavies and lots and lots of tanks. Apoc games are also usually really close and come down to just one objective; which is insane considering how many models are on the board! What few infantry units there are on the table are usually pretty fragile and left unsupported on objectives. With this in mind I designed my Apoc list to be really infantry heavy with lots of scoring units to hold the few objectives on the board. I also stacked both a Captain and a Chaplain in my two combat units so that they could actually do some damage quickly on the charge without bogged down.


So there you have it guys, another chapter in my review of the Narrative Tract at WarGames Con. Next time I'll talk about the missions and the people I played with. Good times!