Photography improvement. Check.

Using some of the tips from Faolain's article: http://awakeningynnead.blogspot.com/2010/02/photographing-your-minis.html I've improved my photography just a bit. ;) I'll be tweaking things a little more to suit my own preferences but I'm pretty happy with this test run. The below photo is obviously the 'after' pic.

I've gotten a fair idea of what basing I will use for my Eldar and am actually planning it out instead of just throwing it together as I did with my Tyranids. I think I have 3 or 4 different grades of basing on my 'nids, but since it's just sand and rock for the most part it's not too discernable. I'm going to be taking more time on the Eldar, so I want to make sure it's done well. I may even document it here. ;)

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I've got a 'blast from the past' blog that I've written and was going to post, but with my newly levelled up photo skills, I'll be retaking that photo. (did you see what I did there? ;) )

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Rawr!

Eldar - Banshee Exarch #2

As I am nearing completion of the 4th and final wave serpent, I had gotten the urge to paint the squad that will be riding in it - my 2nd squad of Howling Banshees. As the first squad is painted similar to the Bleached Bone style typically shown in the codex I wanted something different since these squads would likely be on the board at the same time. Or scary version; in the same combat. ;) I couldn't think of or see anything that I really was inspired by around the web. Breaking it down however, I came up with something. I thought about it, Banshees are scary. What else is Banshee-like and scary. The first thing that popped into my head was spectres and immediately after that the Dunharrow guys from Lord of the Rings. I'd seen some fun paintjobs on those and someone else's undead army at one time. I started with the Exarch, since I have 3 of her. I'm pretty happy with the results. :) Slight conversion to her as well. My first squad is the current models of the Banshees, but through a trade that I couldn't pass up, I wound up with the 2nd gen models. I call them the 'tall hat' Banshees. Anyway, I wound up with 3 of the Exarchs as I mentioned, all with Executioners. I prefer Mirrorswords (with doom, yum) so I set about converting. Pretty simple conversion, cut it in half, trim the ends and then turn one of the swords around. I pinned it just to be sure. The rest of the squad won't have the contrasting helmet (as I didn't do that with the first squad) but I do rather like it with it's green tinged edges. I tried to put a metallic blue wet blend on the tips of the swords, but I'm rubbish at the whole wet blend thing. Still, I'm happy with the result and that's what counts!

Battle Report: the Rematch!!

When our FLGS closed in December, a very nice guy in our group of regulars opened his home to us on Sat evenings and Sundays so that we would have a place to play. I just wanted to give a shout out to him and say thanks!

So yesterday I took my Eldar with me because I'd spent all week painting my final Wave Serpent and I think getting a tactic worked out that I believe will make my Shining Spears playable. :) However my opponent requested I bring the bugs 'just in case'. I didn't mind since last week I was smashed back to the bottom of our challenge tier by Daemonhunters of all things. The above photo about sums it up; a lone DA fleeing his wrecked serpent next to a immobilized Falcon.

Ok, so the rematch at hand; I took basically the same list as previously stated minus the shooty tyrant, tyrant guard and the spore for the 'stealer squad. We were playing 1500 points.

The Eldar had a much changed list; Avatar, Farseer, warlocks, walking Dire Avengers x 2, Fire Dragons and Scorpions (all full squads), a Wraithlord and 2 Fire Prisms.

C&C mission, Pitched Battle deployment. I put everything in reserve but the Zoeys and Biovore, which I hid behind buildings near the left and right flanks to increase chance of 'stealers getting into combat. Eldar won deployment, I failed to steal inititave. Scorpions infiltrated 12" from the biovore and zoey i hid on the left side of the board (next to the objective). First turn they assaulted and killed the Zoey, Biovore got one shot off that missed, and the subsequent spore mine was run down by a tank in turn 2. Biovore was slaughtered and one of the other zoeys was wounded by the Wraithlord. My turn two saw 1 squad of stealers, Carnifex and Great White Hive Tyrant all show up. The Carnifex dropped behind enemy lines and directly behind one of the Prisms, The GWHT dropped behind the building sheltering the Avengers sitting on their objective and the stealers outflanked the other Avengers on the left side of the board. Shooting left 2 objective Avengers dead, one Prism without weapons (thanks to the spore). Assault wiped out the flanked Avengers.

Turn 3 started with the Avatar fleeing the stealers, the fire dragons vapourizing the spore and the wraithlord failing to wound the carnifex. The active prism and zoeys continued their dance of not hurting one another, and the scorpions came out of cover in preparations to throw themselves upon the stealers threatening their Avatar. My half of turn 3 had the other stealer squad show up, the first squad charged towards the avatar, the second came on the board threatening the scorpions, the GWHT flew in to support the carnifex, who was looking at fire dragons, Farseer and warlocks and wraithlord. The only shooting that scored a wound was the carnifex who vomited bio plasma on and killed 4 fire dragons. Sadly, they were fearless due to the proximity of the Avatar, and enough died that they were no longer in assault range. Both stealer squads engauged their targets, and the ferociously charging Great White wounded a now WS & BS 1 wraithlord, who failed to strike back, sadly the bonesword failed to kill it outright.

Turn 4 resulted in dead scorpions and a dead avatar, but he took plenty of company with him. The fire dragons melted the carnifex, but were assaulted (and wiped out) by the 6 remaining stealers. The other stealer squad fled to the ruins containing their own objective, narrowly being missed by a Prism blast. The farseer and warlocks assaulted the GWHT, counting on their fortune to keep them from becoming snacks, they inflicted two wounds, but the Tyrant's acid blood melted one of the warlocks' face off.

Turn 5; the Avengers on the objective had reloaded since their efforts to kill the tyrant and now emptied again into the onrushing stealers, killing everything except for a very angry Broodlord. The weaponless Prism tank shocked into the building containing the stealers sitting on that objective. Instead of dislodging the bugs, the pilot instead got entangled in the ruins and immobilzed himself. Oh no!! He was in turn, wrecked for his efforts, making that objective their own. The other prism wounded one of the Zoeys, putting them both at a single wound, they ignored this obvious taunt and instead fired at and assaulted the reloading Avengers, successfully wounding them but failing to break their morale. The Zoeys killed another Dire Avenger, but their resolve held. Despite wounding the wraithlord again, wounding the farseer through shadow in the warp and spilling acid blood over everything, one warlock got in a lucky hit and the wraithlord finished him off. The wraithlord moved to block the broodlord's interference with the Avengers (and their objective) and the farseer and friends moved to screen the wraithlord. The broodlord moved and ran around the brainy eldar, and jumped on and ate the face of the wraithlord in revenge for killing the Tyrant. Yay for rending!! Broodlord rolled a one, failing to sweep towards the objective.

We went to turn 6. The Farseer and warlocks charged the broodlord. I honestly don't remember if they killed him or not. I remember one of the zoeys died making the DAs consolidate too far from the objective. I was laughing so hard that the details are fuzzy. The reason I was laughing is because the remaining fire prism tank shocked the dug in stealers. He managed to immobilize himself ON TOP of the wrecked prism, however the stealers in a fit of disbelief FAILED the morale check for tank shock and fled off the table!! Neither objective claimed, game results in a draw. Below is the photo of the event that had me giggling all the way home.

Fiction - The Siege of Vardash III

It seemed like years since the occupation had begun. At first it seemed like a few malcontents dissatisfied with Imperial rule, then some spoke out, later, it was government edicts that didn't make any sense. Now, huddled in the basement of a ruined building, things looked dire. And very real. Slowly, Port Munio had become haven to heretics or mutants or ... something. Last week when the first of them emerged from the sewers and dark places, all hunched and some sporting a third arm, almost all of them with talons and beady eyes, that's when the riots began. They seemed to be in charge, and the towns people followed them almost robotically, even those in government were no better than the lowliest worker. Those not under this mind control or whatever it was, were in hiding, in places like this. It's possible this was the last packet of survivors. In the last few hours, packs of ... things, six limbed creatures with slavering jaws had been wandering the streets, helping to hunt down people who had not been placed under control.
There were perhaps 60 or 70 people in the basement, the door barricaded which resounded with a rythmic thumping as forces outside pounded at it with some random deritus. One man sat at a small table in the corner with a transmitter of some sort, futilly calling for help that wasn't coming. Another man sat, his child held close in one hand, hugging a makeshift grenade in the other. Whether he meant it for himself or the enemy was unknown. Men, women and childen wept openly, some tried to hide it, as if there were some dignity left for them here. Maybe a half dozen people had second hand lasguns, for what good they would do. There was a sound of distant scrabbling, as if something were burrowing. They didn't know where it came from, and had found it was near impossible to acertain with so many people in such a small space. They all knew the end was near, hope had left Vardash III long ago.
Far above in space floated two Imperial vessels. One, the Hammerhand, carried a compliment of Imperial Fist marines, the other, Voice of Redemption and it's accompanying smaller vessels home to an Inquisitor of the Ordo Malleus. Onboard both ships, preparations were underway to take to the planets' surface. The subject of a 4 day search had just been located. A shuttle known to have been carrying a Chaos Lord, his retinue and some device that xenos notes had revealed to be "devestating on a planetary scale". Nearly too late, sensors picked up a large mass moving towards the planet. Too slow to be a meteor, it was to large to be something constructed, deeper scans confrimed biomass, it was a Tyranid ship. Moving to intercept, both battleships spat fire into the bio-ship, which didn't fight back. The combined fire made quick work of the bloated ship and it ruptured and seemed to be bleeding droplets of ichor into space. Larger drops turned out to be mycetic spores spilling from the ship and entering the upper atmosphere of the planet. They continued downward until they were no longer reachable by scan. Attempts to fire upon the pods were mostly ineffectual. The ships reoriented themselves to their original orbit and began launching landing craft and drop pods. They would bring hope back to Vardash III.

Lazy Saturday and Highlights of the game.

So I did virtually nothing on the Eldar today. I'm a horrible person. (no i'm not) I think something about them being all packed away and not on my sewing desk where they can stare and taunt me just made me a bit oblivious to them. Besides my goal was to have them fixed up before the game at Da Machines place. There was also a tournement today at the nice big game store in Atlanta, and I'd have loved to gone, but two trips in as many days as well as my lack of funds dissuaded me. It's a shame too, as this new job is going to have me working Saturdays.

So I did promise a battle report. We did 2000 points, and used one of the Adepticon missions chosen at random. I was expecting Chaos Marines, but Da Machine pulled out his Daemons. Either way I was looking at a tough fight. I won initative but gave it to him as he was deepstriking in with everything. Primary Objective was table quarters, Secondary Kill points, Tertiary highest cost unit.

The first wave came in and milled about since they had no targets. 2nd round more showed up and looked confused then on my turn all my jetbikes and the Dire Avengers showed up, but no Falcons or Wraithguard. Most of his plaguebearers came in on the left flank, so I kept everything on my right flank and just focused on holding those two corners. It was a tough fight, especially when the Soul Grinder showed up. I got lucky by taking out the two daemon princes early. The great unclean one was on the left flank, nearly to my table edge when a Falcon arrived and shot down that left side. Close enough to draw some of his units attention and have them move towards it, but the next turn it was 24" away and they turned around, but it did it's job. Being full of Rangers as well, I now contested that corner. I tried a new tactic, screening Shining Spears with Guardians, since people tend to charge them first. I think it worked pretty well. Their downfall came from the Soulgrinder and from a terrible 5" hit and run, then followed by some rather vicious Nurglings finishing off the remaining two spears. The guardians avenged them and held that quarter, but it was contested by spawn that the Wraithlord was having trouble getting rid of. The dire avengers cleaned up some plague bearers in the far right corner and the rangers contested the far left. My other falcon finished off a straggling fury leaving the near left quarter unclaimed. This makes up for his failed ram into the rear of the soulgrinder. It was truly a sad moment. Let no one say that Eldritch Storm is a bad power. I love it for this reason. Elorrah even got in there after the Falcon left and finished the 'grinder off!! My Wraithguard survived, but not before being cut in half by nurgly vomit and then failing a wraithsight check. T6 prevailed and kept me from losing points there. Final result; I had one quarter, and one more kill point for the victory!!

Highlights; A. the table. truly a beerhammer table!

B. Epidemus and the gang burrowed into a ruin like a tick. Rangers, a Wave serpent and Falcon couldn't dislodge them. I think I killed one.

C. the Soulgrinder. Devestating to my guys, My farseer hurled a well aimed Eldritch storm into it, and the other falcon immobilized it with a pulse laser to the back. Then it was finished off by the same farseer. Go Elorrah!!

D. the Nurgling infested swamp. He took very few nurglings, but they were enough to chase down a slow 'hit and run' and finish off the Shining Spears.

E. Da Machine's painting. Wow. fantastic stuff. His CSM are looking particularly gorgeous, even for Nurgle.

Friday - Geekery and Invention

So I'm packing up the troops to invade Da Machine's house, to as he says "get my geek on". I hope to get some good notes for battle reporting. I can't promise anything, as Da Machine is well known for his 'beerhammer'. Taking my camera too, armed with newly aquired macro skills!

I managed to get one of the Wave Serpents completed. I hadn't realized just how fast I had put that thing together and painted it to get it on the table. Hopefully that is the worst of the bunch. Still have one still on the sprue though, but that one isn't included in the 'crunch week'. I did get all the turrets and weapons magnetized a lot quicker than I expected. I invented a tool to help me and I must say that it's ingenious! I took a swizzle stick, drilled a hole in the fat end and placed a magnet just like I was putting it in a model. Now there's no guessing if the magnet is the right polarity. I simply mark one side as 'weapon' (the other is 'mount'), attatch the subject magnet, then put it where it needs to be. The swizzle stick itself is slick, so I don't have to hold it in place while the glue dries, I can just slide it down the stick. I was already using one of these to tamp the magnet into place, so now I've doubled my tool's effectiveness. I was able to actually 'assembly line' the weapons; drilling them, dotting them with glue, then having the magnets already sitting on the desk, set them in place with the swizzle.

Eldar - Falcon, now with squigglies!!

Oh my goodness!! I'm finally done with the falcons. I got the detail I wanted on them for so long. Now I just have to get the wave serpents done. I'm probably not going to put quite as much detailing on them though. I'm very happy with the squigglies though. I wanted a bit more organic look to my tanks, instead of plain color. I would like to add a little battle damage too.

I may not make my end-of-week deadline. I don't think my color ink cartridge has enough ink for a whole page of banners. Also Friday is an all day geek fest with Da Machine at his place. We'll see what Saturday brings though. Trying to be optomistic here. I'm sure I'll be able to get all the weapons magnetized and touch up painting shouldn't be too bad. Still haven't decided on a basing theme however, so that can wait a little bit longer.

Banners!!

I'm starting work Monday so I'm using this last week of 'freedom' to patch up all the little 'incompletes' I left on my Eldar trying to get them table ready. One of the things I skipped was the banners for my jetbikes. I've actually made a couple of attempts before but without success or just plain creative block, but last night it came together. The angle of the banner pole threw me off before, but I think I've got it figured out now. They're a little smaller than I originally wanted too, but I had to be sure they'd fit in the storage case, which I made forgetting I was going to put banners on them.
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I've also got a banner made for my Shining Spears, but not sure if I want to put those on just yet. Will have to see how they look.
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Obviously this is a test banner, I'm either going to print it on some fancy paper or put a pattern behind it.
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Next thing I tackle is the Autarch's banner. She wants something grand! I feel it will help balance out the less-than-stellar job I did on the hood of her bike as well. Farseer Elorrah gets nothing though, since her robes flapping about behind her cover up where the banner post attaches. Besides, I don't want to take away from the detail work on the hood.

Eldar - Family portrait

Just a quick post with the thusfar painted Iybraesil Eldar I have. Some of it still needs a little tweaking or detail work and everyone needs basing yet. Fairly sure I have the theme I want figured out. I'm a little hesitant to base the jetbike bases though. I like that they are clear and show the terrain that they are on, but I know that will count against me in the painting area of a tournament. I wanted to base them on a water themed battle board, but then they wouldn't match any table at all, save my own.

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My concept for the army was that no one walks. The Wraithlord is the only exception but that was a really excellent trade I couldn't pass up. I painted the Jetbike Guardians in a way that allows me to divide them into 3 squads of 4 or 2 of 6, I'm still working on converting the 3rd warlock for that. This will also mean that I can make a Jetbike seer council. In keeping with the matriarchal theme of Iybraesil, I'm working on a 2nd squad of Banshees (and accompanying wave serpent). Also in the works is a Harlequin squad. I think I've finally figured out the scheme I want to paint them in. I just wound up with a squad of Fire Dragons too. They'll have to fight with the Harleys for the third Falcon. I do own a box of regular guardians, but until I get another wave serpent they'll stay right there. Not having them slow me down with their silly walking about behaviour. The only other purchase I am planning for this army right now is a Nightwing. It's such a pretty thing, and so far no one in our group has brought a flyer to our Apoc games. Instant air superiority. :D

Battle Report - Tyranids v. Eldar

I blew the dust off my Tyranids today since my Eldar are currently locked in a challenge in our challenge league.

It gave me an excuse to try out the Mycetic spores I cooked up not too long ago. I only have the two finished so far, but have 4 more coming. I'm still not sold on spores as a 'must have' either.

Opponent's list; Eldrad and seer council, Howling Banshees in Wave Serpent, 10x Dire Avengers in Wave Serpent (x2), 5 Rangers, 5 Fire Dragons (x2), 3 Falcons.

My list: Hive tyrant with Stranglethorn, Brainleeches, 2+ save, Regen, Hive Commander, Leech, Scream,3 Tyrant guard.
The Great White Hive Tyrant with Wings, Brainleeches, Regen, Acid Blood, Adrenal Glands, Miasma, Old Adversary, Leech, Paroxysm
3 Zoanthropes, all individual
19x Stealers, 1 Broodlord
19x Stealers, 1 Broodlord, Scything Talons, Mycetic spore
Carnifex, Claws, Talons, Regen, Adrenal, Bio Plasma, Mycetic Spore
Biovore

2000 points, C&C mission, Spearhead deployment. I won the roll for deployment and chose to go first, which was my first mistake. Having all the stealers in reserve as well as the GWHT and 'fex, I should have allowed him to go first or maybe left more off board. What was I thinking? lol

Initiative was stolen, and the Eldar went first. Wave serpents swooped in for attack, trying to give the Zoanthropes a wide berth, Falcons hung back to take pot-shots. The falcons only scored one hit on a Tyrant guard, missed the Zoeys. Rangers hit but failed to wound. Tyranids return fire, killing a couple of Rangers, one Zoey that the opponent failed to notice behind a building zoomed out and tried to attack a Wave Serpent but only managed to get a headache, taking a wound. Curse you Eldrad!! Tyrant failed to hurt the falcon Biovore misses with a spore, which is a good thing.

Turn 2; Eldar move in a bit closer, wound the Tyrant and kill one of his guard due to a hail of fire. Manage to wound a Zoey, but he saves. Thanks to Hive commander, all but the outflanking stealers show up. The spore mine wanders up behind the tank it missed and the GWHT lands spot on for a rear shot at said tank, but he fails to knock the troops out of the tank. The stealer spore lands in an okay position, and the carnifex spore wanders nearly to the far end of the board. Another mistake - I dump him out on the open side in order to get a shot in with the plasma, which fails to hurt the falcon. Manage to get 'can't shoot' on two of the serpents. One zoey manages to kill himself thanks to Perils.

Turn 3; Dire avengers pour out of their transports and bladestorm the Doomed Stealers huddled around their Mycetic spore. One serpent tank shocks a spore mine and pops it. Cover grants them saves, but not enough, serpents lends support and only a angry wounded broodlord survives. Falcons hammer at the Doomed GWHT and leave him with one wound, but alive and very hungry. Fire dragons hop out of one of the falcons and vaporize the carnifex with 4 very lucky hair dryer shots. The other Stealer squad appears at this point and on the correct flank thankfully! They head right for the DA squad sitting on the objective. The GWHT regends one wound and then drops onto the bridge where the other DA squad is and the Lone Broodlord moves into the woods where the FD are hiding. Biovore misses and another spore mine is hanging out. Eldrad is making life tough for the remaining 'thropes and the other Tyrant fails to get enough movement to get close to the serpent full of Banshees so moves away, faling to hurt it with his shooting. The GWHT risks Eldrad's runes and successfully uses his Leech Essence gaining another wound back!! The stealers' Mycetic spore manages to kill two unlucky fire dragons, then close combat happens. The Lone Broodlord charges through the woods and takes a bonk on the head from a lucky fire dragon, but saves and eats two faces in return. The full squad of stealers hit the DA and overflow into two of the falcons, they tear off a pulse laser on one, but the other is unhurt. only 2 DA left to strike back. The GWHT kills a few of his DAs and is unhurt for the return strikes. All the eldar fail morale and are caught by sweeping advance. everyone heads for cover after combat.

At this point we have to call the game due to time constraints. Eldar have one scoring unit in a building a LONG way from the objectives, Hive tryants between each of them. One of the 'nid scoring units is a wounded broodlord the other is at full strength but about to get hit by Doom and 4 destructor warlocks. Not a lovely prospect. My opponent concedes, but I'm not so sure it's a given win for me. that seer council would kill a LOT, if not all, of bugs with no saves. They'd be eaten by the GWHT, sure, but that would result in a draw, since that lone broodlord wouldn't survive the sprint to either of the objectives, especially with that limp. All of the Eldar tanks were operational. Still no way to determine how it would have gone.

I call re-match!! :)

In examining the list, I think that two tyrants may have been overkill in a 2000 point game, and everyone is a bit too stacked out. I do however like how everything functions and can't really think of how I would change it. I'm short on troops, but 2 20-strong broods work pretty well. I could drop 2 Zoeys, Tyrant guard and the biovore for a third lightweight stealer brood, but I lose some serious firepower on the Zoanthropes. Just don't know, have to try the rematch and see.

Fiction - Eldar short story.

A little short story I wrote inspired by a game with a friend.

Fo'glaim listened to the war-chatter of the Farseer's thought network in his mind and to the other craft cruising towards the front line. The other Eldar across the ruined Imperial outpost were moving early and so were they. His canopy display showed the mon-keigh ruins clearly despite the pre-dawn condition and off to his right he could see the dark spots which clearly marked the obelisks of the Ancient ones the humans had uncovered. He felt a twinge of nervousness go down his spine and the Farseer's thoughts once again turned his direction and sounded loudly in his head. He realized after a moment that it wasn't he the Farseer was talking to but instead to the Phoenix Lord riding in his Wave Serpent with the Howling Banshees he was directed to deliver to battle. This was his first battle as a pilot, but he was confident in his abilities. Doubt gnawed at him though, it was his duty to deliver a Phoenix Lord, Jain Zar nonetheless into battle. A truly tremendous task! If he failed in that, what would become of him?
Chun Sosai transporting the Dire Avengers was the first pilot to report contact. This wasn't surprising, it was well known that their pilot was a bit rash. It was also said that he had come from the Saim Hann craftworld and had initially learned with their Wind Riders. Chun Sosai reported 2 Falcon tanks directly ahead of him. "This is it" Fo'glaim thought as he poured on the speed trying to avoid being hit by laser fire from a third Falcon trying to outflank. Gripping the controls, he swung his transport low trying to stay close to the ground to get cover from the ruined buildings. Feeling more confident as laser fire streaked nearby but not scoring hits he allowed a smile. Jain Zar's thoughts exploded into his head then.
Get Closer! she thought-screamed into his head. He could feel the contained rage behind her thoughts. It nearly drove him into a battle lust. He couldn't imagine what it must be like for those following the Path of the Warrior. For the Banshees it must be like going to battle with a goddess on their side or worse, driving them.
He pushed the throttle of his transport gaining altitude and climbing over the ruin ahead of him. At the apex of his maneuver, he saw an enemy transport targeting him and fired first. He scored a hit, but didn't see what kind of damage he did. Clearing the building he dove close to the ground again, looking for a place to allow his charges out safely and yet close enough to the enemy to engage. He thought he spotted just such a place and began to adjust his descent when a thought-warning snapped him back to wariness. A group of Fire Dragons beyond the ruin had drawn bead on him as he cleared the building. He had just enough time to silently curse himself for letting his attention wander when the whole transport jolted violently. He saw the energy field surrounding his tank flare and fizzle as it tried to compensate for the incoming heat weapons. He also felt pain in his mind through the mindlinks to his vehicle. Everything felt sluggish as he fought to keep control of his craft. He also fought despair as he felt imminet failure in his duty, but then everything went black.

Fo'glaim awoke to two things. The first was a pounding, both in his head and on the outside on the hull, which he realized was one of the enemy's Farseers trying to wreak further havoc on the crippled craft. The other thing was the psychic howl from the Banshee warriors as they crashed into the farseer. Fo'glaim didn't think the farseer knew what hit him. There wasn't much left as the Banshees turned and took off after other prey. Jain Zar was directing them to attack something to the rear, while she ran to attack the warriors that had brought down their craft.
He quickly took stock of his situation. His craft was down, the nose buried in dirt at the base of a rock outcropping. Carbon scoring and holes decorated the front of his precious Wave Serpent. He feebly tried the controls, and checked the power circuts. There was power to life support and the secondary weapons, but he was immobilized and his main weapons were offline. A powerful explosion struck nearby and he heard the psyichic death screams of the Banshees. Craning his head around and looking through the rear of the canopy he could see the ground littered with bodies amidst a crater. Beyond them was a squad of Dire Avengers reloading their weapons. Obviously they'd emptied them into the Banshees. Suddenly frantic, he glanced around. Dire Avengers didn't carry firepower enough to make a crater! Then he spotted it. That flanking Falcon had levelled them with a shot in their midst! It was drawing bead on him now. He curled up into a ball as best he could inside his cockpit in an attempt to protect himself. He could feel the hair stand up on his head a moment before the lasers rocked the entire vehicle sideways slightly. The dreaded explosion never came, but the rest of the systems registered no power.
The third Wave Serpent from his warhost slid into view to his left and just above as it disgorged the eerie Wraithguard onto a hill nearby. They were obviously trying to secure that hill as the enemy had deemed it valuable. Before the other craft could get clear, a missle slammed into the tank! The dull thrum of the engines became a pitiful whine as the grav systems failed. The other Wave Serpent settled to the ground with a crunch nearly on top of his own, but the pilot still had weapon control and began firing at whatever targets he could find.
Ahead, Jain Zar became a whirling storm of devestation as she engaged the Fire Dragons in combat. They pushed forward to meet her charge, but they met only death accompanied by the sound of her battle scream amplified by her mask to strike fear in the very soul. Not many could stand up to that onslaught, and they were no exception. Her blade cut them down one after another. They attempted to fight back, but seemed little threat to her. Before she could finish the squad off however she was set upon by the enemy's own Banshees! Terrible screams and flashing blades filled the air. Alone she stood against a full squad of her own Aspect. She turned aside blow after blow as she struck down her own kin. Her own warriors. They fought by her teachings, but she couldn't defeat them all. Blows were landed that cut through her armor as if it weren't there. Wounded and bleeding, she laughed. The mask amplified it into a horrible thing. The Banshees were not prepared for this and, gripped in fear they had not known before, fled from the battlefield. The Fire Dragons occupied her long enough for the Banshees to make it safely away before they were cut down. Fo'glaim watched as she turned and headed back his way. He could feel her fury burn as she saw the devastation that was only moments ago her own Banshee warriors littering the field. The Dire Avengers that had helped cut them down were climbing back into their own downed transport to finish reloading. She was very intent on them and didn't see the enemy Falcon bearing down on her until it was too late. Laser and missle fire hit all about her. When the smoke cleared there was nothing left.
Fo'glaim screamed at the Falcon in rage. He pounded on the canopy trying to get it open. He didn't know what he was going to do, but he had to do something. Maybe he could distract it to keep it from killing any more of his kin. He had just tripped the manual release when the enemy tank's own grav engines spat fire and it settled to the ground. Looking over his shoulder, Fo'glaim saw his own warhost's Falcon hovering nearby. The turret gunner gave him a thumbs up before swinging his guns around at another target.
Three jetbikes screamed down from above settling in a defensive position next to his tank. Whether they were there for his protection or some other reason he never knew. Before the jetbikes had finished moving into position they all exploded from the hail of shuriken from the freshly reloaded Avengers. Fo'glaim had dived back into his seat from the flurry of monofiliment disks peppering the hull of his craft. He didn't know what to do. He could try and run, but that enemy tank was still out there, even if it were immoble now. Those Avengers were going to reload and then come finish him off. He was sure of it!
Moments passed. The sound of laserfire and explosions had all but died down. He risked a peek out of his cockpit. Back towards his own side it looked like figures were cheering in the ruins. He looked round for the enemy Avengers but they were gone!! The opposing force were quitting the field. Somehow, they'd won!!

Much later, as the bonesingers were trying to coax his crippled craft out of the ground, he wandered over to the crater where he'd last seen her. He scoured the area but couldn't find any sign that Jain Zar had ever been there. No scraps of cloth, no broken armor, nothing. It was like she hadn't been there at all. He looked off in the distance wistfully, content in the knowledge he'd seen something that other Eldar lived their whole lifetimes and never witnessed. He'd seen a Phoenix Lord in action, doing what they do, the only thing they knew how to do. He smiled to himself hoping that it wasn't the last time he'd see it either.

'ere we go...

This is going to be my go at a 40k blog. I'll post tactics, failures of those tactics, works in progress, painting ideas/techniques, completed models, etc etc. Primarily this will be for my Eldar army since right now it is what I'm playing and working on most. My Tyranids will likely make an appearance or two since I work on those from time to time, having only tidbits to go until that army is finsished. I don't know if I will ever complete this army, it's pretty large, and mostly painted as it is, but this blog will follow it through to whatever form the end takes.

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Why the title? I thought about what to title the blog. I had originally worked with 'creation' as a title, but I figured the craftworld is already there. I'm not creating it, I'm just exploring it with Elorrah Stormbringer as my guide. Why Iybraesil? This one was tough. I wanted a bit more obscure of a craftworld for my Eldar. I nearly went with Saim Hann since I wanted a mobile list, but all of my attempts at painting reds have wound up disasterous at best. I was torn then. Altansar was appealing because of the fluff, but I figured everyone would be after them, and there's that red again. Yme-Loc was also very close to my "nobody walks" concept with their mechanized fluff. Il-Kaithe was the closest contender, but I had just painted a blood bowl team in those same "Mardi Gras" colors and it wasn't so appealing. I think in the end Elorrah herself tipped the balance. As soon as I saw the option of a Farseer on a bike I knew almost exactly what I wanted. I had an old female guardian figure that I adored, and with Iybraesil being matriarchal it just fit well. And no red.

I'm going to also tweak the blog as I go, as I've never used blogger before. I hope to have it pretty in the next couple of months.

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Welcome to the craftworld of Iybraesil, I hope you enjoy the journey with me.