Welcome to Craftworld Iybraesil

Battle Report Coming!

2011-12-08T01:44:00.001-05:00

Genestealer overkill

2011-12-01T15:47:00.001-05:00

I now have enough models to make this happen. The internet is rife with taking something that works and spamming it so I figured a way to get a maximum amount of Genestealers into one 2000 point army. I don't know if this has been done, but once they are all painted I'm SO going to run this. And watch my enemy tremble.

Are you ready?

HQ:
1 Flying Hive Tyrant, (TL Devourer w/Brainleech Worms x1, Hive Commander, Wings,) Paroxysm, Leech Essence

Troops:
  19 Genestealer Brood + 1 Broodlord (Scything Talons)
  19 Genestealer Brood + 1 Broodlord (Scything Talons)
  19 Genestealer Brood + 1 Broodlord (Scything Talons)
  19 Genestealer Brood + 1 Broodlord (Scything Talons)
  19 Genestealer Brood + 1 Broodlord (Scything Talons)

Heavy Support:
2 x Biovore

Not so much with the tank killing, but this should make short work of anything that tries to walk on it's turf. :D Plus it's just fun!!

Craftworlderly News

2011-11-24T14:14:00.001-05:00

I thought the world had ended last weekend. My computer crashed, I've missed two weeks of gaming and just life in general has been a challenge. Things are looking up though, I may be getting a lateral shift that gets me off the phones (which stresses me to no end), I've gotten my computer back up and running without losing any data (or photos. the photos! AAGH!) and I've rearranged my workspace. The painting area is a little more cramped than I'd like so I'll work on that, but things are arranged better now. All of which I'm thankful for.

See what I did there?

Happy Thanksgiving.

Sisters project - ongoing

2011-11-15T11:52:00.001-05:00

After a brief (ish) break to finish up my MERCS figures, I'm recharged enough to tackle my Sisters again. I'm not sure if I covered it before, but I painted one of my Flagellants and have begun on a Repentia as test models. I really am happy with the Priest and how fast he went. The Repentia went on the back burner when I picked up the MERCS. I've also been working on Celestine as well. Photos of those will come in time, I really am not a fan of WIP photos, at least not on the blog, though I have taken some.

Travis at Cool Mini or Not helped me out with Secret Weapons newish line of washes by pointing me to a shade that looks like it's going to be perfect for the Caesta Rosa's gauntlets. I've been mixing a new wash up each batch of girls I paint and it's frustrating trying to get it to match properly as you can imagine. This looks to be just what I need. I'll review it later.

I also got some tips on bases, and it looks like I'll be casting all of my Sister's bases when I'm ready to start working on bases. I'm nearly out of casting material, so that will have to wait a bit.

I am hoping to do a review of Super Dungeon Explorer soon, but haven't had a chance to play the game yet. Hopefully that will be here in the next blog or two.

MERCS - FINI!

2011-11-07T18:06:00.003-05:00

I have completed my MERCS team (to the best of my ability). There's a LOT of detail on these models and I kept going back and fiddling with them. My loving camera kept pointing out little spots, nooks and crannies that I missed and taunting me. I have gone and touched up these spots, but not taken new photos. Those will be along eventually I'm sure.

The one figure that's missing is my Kemvar Assassin. He's still missing his left arm (I can't locate it at the moment) so I didn't paint him with the gang. I am doing so now because I have a fabulous idea for him (due to his Active Camoflage) and perhaps it will look okay when I'm done. I'll make that another post.

So without wasting space with my meager words, here are some photos!

Housemaster - She's the bosslady and can lay down some serious firepower. She also allows the team to use the 'Black Ops' ability.

USCR Sniper - The FCC's Black Ops ability allows hiring of other MERCS. This guy can pin down opponents
with his harpoon gun, and has some pretty stout armour.

This is Boomer. He carries a grenade launcher. He makes things go BOOM with his frag grenades! He also can switch to a secondary grenade type according to which MERC faction has joined up with Black Ops. As I have a USCR model in the group, he could use their Ice Grenades

The Liason - Offensively weak. His gun is short range (one card) only, He's got no secondary weapons. However He has a LDHF Shield that makes him harder to hit, he can grant a free action to a model once per game and he can allow the Black Ops 'guests' to use their corporate abilities (which they can't normally). This means that the USCR Sniper above will be immune to strength 1 weapons (Dense) and +1 to courage checks (Intimidate) as per his Corp Abilities

Ok so obviously there were some words involved. The Imperial Guardsman pictured is a stand-in for my Pack Rat, which serves as the FCC's Medic and Monkeywrench (armor repair person) all in one. The kit for him wasn't available at the time. He's also got a Melee attack and a semi-auto rifle that can lay down some suppression fire or get two shots per turn if needed (at +2 FN).

Game Review - MERCS

2011-11-05T09:30:00.000-04:00

Been working a bit lately on my MERCs figures to take a break from the Sister's project and also as test models for mudding up my figures. I plan on the Sisters to have a weathered, dirty look, and the same look is ideal for the MERCs game environement. I'm going to be using more of a dusty, rubble strewn theme for the MERCs though, since it's largely city fighting. The Sisters will have more mud and universal basing.

What's MERCs? So glad you asked!

MERCS is a small squad skirmish game based in a futuristic, mega-corporate run world. MERCS are the Corporate Security forces that are now the military might of the world. There are 9 factions that are still world powers and currently 6 of them have been released for play. Each faction is different from the rest and has pros and cons. There's a good review of 5 of the 6 current factions here.

The game itself is pretty clever and quick. Each side chooses 3 to 5 models (no point costs!) from a faction and battles are fought on a 2'x 3' board.

Models go in initiative order and can choose to Hold, Move or Combat. Movement is measured by a template that is also the stat card. Each model has a Movement Point (MP) stat that allows it to move and/or turn more than 90 degrees (the first 90 is free). There's also a feature called 'snap to cover' that allows any model (even if unable to move) to jump or dive a base-length towards cover.

Combat is pretty straight forward. Each model has a Firing Number (FN) that is the target to get (equal or better) for a successful shot or melee attack. Elevation, cover, facing and distance can all affect this.

There are Combat Class Maneuvers and Advanced Combat Maneuvers that models can perform to increase effectiveness and strategy. CCMs are listed on stat cards and specific to certain models. Fire & Move and Load/Aim are a couple of examples of CCMs. ACMs are advanced tactics that anyone can perform. Bounding is basically one model giving another covering fire in order to gain +1 MP, Suppression is simply that, suppressive fire to make other models keep their heads down and Overwatch is waiting to take shots at those who stick their heads out of cover.

I really do like this game despite the lack of vehicles (I do love my vehicles), because it makes you think. There’s no sure fire “This army wins” to it. Each faction has it’s own strengths. That the game is d10 based doesn’t hurt either, that’s my favorite die! The models are beautiful too! I was intimidated for a while that I wouldn’t be able to do them justice. More photos will follow soon.

The Farseer is still alive..

2011-10-09T08:56:00.001-04:00

Imperial vid-pic of a Chaplain shortly before he was pulped.

I'm still here.

There's been a lot of things going on and without going into it, I just haven't had time or motivation to blog lately. I'll get better.

Doesn't mean I haven't been at play. I've still found time to get a few games in here and there. Lately my orks. I'll try and get a battle report up soonish.

The Sisters project is ongoing, and though not as fast as I'd like, it's getting done. Hopefully will have some photos of the girls soon.

I recently ran out of Mechrite Red *gasp* while working on one of the Sisters Superior so went to my box for my Polly S "Demon Deep Red" which is still one of the coolest colors ever. Not as pigmenty as the Foundation stuff from GW but a damn good match.

I got to thinking that it was my last bottle of Polly S ever, but then after a few moments of digging found the rest of the family. The Frost Ivory is nearly dried up but still salvageable. These were (and still largely are) my favorite paints and the ones I started out with so very long ago. I'm now starting to use some P3 and Vallejo colors and liking them alot, which is a good thing since the LGS is no longer carrying GW paints. Which is fine with me because they keep raising prices and putting less paints in the pots.

Battle Report - Grey Knights! (vs Tyranids)

2011-09-10T21:23:00.000-04:00

So for a long time now I've been curious about the whole Tyranids vs. Grey Knights thing. The internet (hi Internet!) seems to think that my buggles are no match for the Knights in shiny satin.

So I was actually challenged by one of the regulars (We'll call him Markus Aurelius) at the LGS the week prior after months of trash talking. sadly I had to postpone until this last week. We had actually semi-battled on the table of a 2v2 match, but we had been in opposite corners, and barely had traded punches. This time was different.

I showed up to the shop early on, as is my usual when in the company of Da Machine, but he could not make it, as he is busy with impending nuptuials (congrats hon!). So I busied myself with learning how to play this Warmachine thing, and possibly brokering away my Emporer's Children *sniffle*.

Some more taunting ensued via text, and finally Mr. Aurelius showed up with his ego in tow. ;) He also declared we play 2500 points! I had enough with me to add another 500 to my standard sneaky-bug list. I had just finished a warmup battle vs MOAR NIDS and though I lost, it was a very close battle. Swarmlord held the pass quite effectively.

So we set up in a ruined city, rolling a Sieze Ground/Spearhead mission. Markus won initative and picked a solid corner, quite near all three objectives we placed. He did set up rather clumped together, much to my (and Doom of Malan'tai's) delight. After he was set up I placed my two Biovores and declared everything else deepstriking or outflanking. I also managed to steal the initiative!! My biovores shot and though wounded a couple of Knights, didn't kill anyone. Markus' first turn - Dreadnanny shunts forward and zaps a biovore to death.

Second turn saw the Great White Hive Tyrant and Parasite (with Shrikes attending) come in, along with one of my stealerbug hordes (outflanking on the wrong end of the table), and carnifex. Great White and Parasite dropped in, flanking the the Dread Knight, his only way out was through the stealers. He chose to charge the shrikes while the Vindicare provided support. Only one shrike wounded him and he managed to pass his Ld test. The carnifex dropped behind cover, but the Land Raider in attendance found a 'sweet spot' and managed to put some assault cannon rounds through his eye, and the holes burned into him by some psycannons.

Next turn (and thereafter) the Great White Hive Tyrant charged in, brainleeches screaming from both guns, and smashed the exoskeleton to pieces. He was burned down shortly after by the approaching stormraven's lascannon. Meanwhile the warriors and another squad of stealerbugs approached from the WRONG EDGE, but one squad managed to get it right and came after Crowe and his gang. The stealerbugs managed to wreck a Rhino, but the Knights were able to repel them and send them running through the battlefield the wrong way. The knights simply turned around and shot them to pieces. This did however allow the Parasite to get the drop on the Stormraven and attacked and wrecked it!

Biovore and Warriors (who had reached the far (center board) objective) concentrated on the squad of grey knights perched on the middle objective. They had an accompanying Razorback with assault cannons that was working on keeping the first squad of genestealers at bay. The little assault cannon was working overtime, which you have to do when a full squad of genestealers is charging your position, but didn't keep them from overrunning the knight's position. The Razorback did however manage to contest the objective (and killsome stealerbugs too)

Meanwhile, back at the close objective that the knights all but had surrounded, Doom of Malan'tai decided to make his appearance (on turn 5) but it made such an impact. Dead center on the objective the mycetic spore fell and out poured the mighty Doom. Despite the combined fire of the remaining grey knights, Doom ate their souls by the brainfull. Even Crowe was not able to withstand the onslaught. Even the land raider fell before the mighty headbutt of Doom. At the end of turn 6, two knights remained in combat with the monstrosity. One carried a mighty thunder hammer that threatened to destroy the Doom (and make for a tie game). The hammer hit twice, wounded once and Doom made it's save for the win!

All in all a fantastic game. I took a mountain of fire and though I lost the Great White and carnifex early on, they still drew lots of fire allowing my valuable troops to get into position and do what they were bio-engineered to do. Eat faces. Doom really was pivitol in the game, despite failing to show until turn 5. I think had he dropped sooner, Markus would have been plenty dispersed and I wouldn't have gotten all the wounds from the Spirit Leech ability. I would have loved to see Parasite spawn lots of rippers, but he had bigger birds to take down. Despite all this, my opponent was very mindful of what he was doing and had some good strategy. He kept me on my toes but in the end, made a big pile of biomass.

I'm already getting called out for a rematch, but I think this time it may be Orks that show up.

By the way (thanks Noah) there's a new Vassal mod for 40k.

The Sisters Project - Update Umpteen

2011-08-29T10:38:00.000-04:00

I've gotten 'hold of points listings for the new Sisters "codex" and though I'm not thrilled, I'm set on this path, and as always, more into the modeling than the gaming, so we're definitely off and running. I'm actually behind, since they are now 'out'. I've been set back again and again by poor priming. I bought some Army Painter primer last week at the LGS, but have not been impressed so far. The results of the test model I did were fine, but then when I did the batch, they all came out fuzzy. Really fuzzy. It came off on my hands. EW! So another bottle of Simple Green and I'm stripping them all again.

In the mean time I've been painting vehicles. I've got one Rhino nearly done and another ready to purple-ize. I should have my Exorcist painted by the end of the day. I've finally got my Immolator turret coverted up and will be painting that shortly. I've got my ancient Immolator primed up and ready to paint as well, though the doors of such needs stripping.

I had a surprise day off Saturday. (I was playing around with the scheduling software last week and accidentally gave my shift away) I took the opportunity to clean up my work area. I photoed it before, but never posted, but here it is with the Sisters ready to go.

I've tallied points up (minus the Arcos) and the best I've been able to come up with is about 1800 points worth of the girls. This is unacceptable. (I'm running St. Celestine and a Cannoness for HQs, so no Priest to get the Arcos.) However, I figure that an Exorcist kit, and Rhino sprue will give me most of what I need for another Exorcist and Immolator. I do have enough Repentia for a second squad, but would need another Sister Superior for them before I could run them. I'm bouyed by the fact that they can ride in Rhinos now.

That (and St. Celestine) is about the only positive I can say about the "Codex" honestly. I don't want to rant too much, but the lack of options for the Cannoness really upset me. They've gelded the Immolator (shoulda been 'Fast') and though I don't mind D6 S8 AP1 shots, I really expected them to make it at least D3+2 shots. My Farseer powers have failed me.

Or maybe just thwarted by GW's sillyheads.

The Sisters Project

2011-08-18T14:38:00.001-04:00

The girls have been worked on, albeit slowly. I'm almost done with my second batch (which will bring me to 11). I'm probably not going to be ready in time for the dwarfdex release, as I've found a lot of bad primer runs and some recent trades needed stripping as well. Over half of my own primed models have a fuzzy feel to them, and some of the ones that were primed white (I prime grey on models that need flesh or bright color) were really heavily primed upon closer inspection. I stripped these recently and found they were just re-primed over a paint job prior. Eww.

Even re-cycling it, I'm going to need more Simple Green soon.

I still have 10 more that are primed and ready to paint, and my Seraphim, while not painted in my colors, ARE painted and therein legal to put on the table by my rules. Same goes for Cannoness Starr. Repentia are also primed, but I'm intimidated by those models and the sheer number of them.

In regards to the upcoming dwarfdex - I'm not seeing any Stormtroopers or ~~Arco-Flagellants~~. Is it possible that these are gone altogether? This would disappoint me. Especially since I have 3 squads of Stormtroopers. One was for my Guard army, another for the Sisters (already had a test model painted) and the other was going to be a floater between the two.(*e* Oops, found Flagellants in HQ on GW's site. Silly me) I've always liked the Flagellants, they are pretty nifty models despite the age on the original sculpt.

Photos to come, someone borrowed my camera (for a very good cause).

Necrons leaked?

2011-08-13T01:56:00.000-04:00

Not quite. But it would've been funny!

In my recent adventures, I had to move some old books of mine and by chance the White Dwarf containing the first ever Necron rules fell out of the stack. I swiped it up and re-visited it. Necron warriors were scarier than I remembered. Toughness 5 with a 2+ save. Yeouch. And while "we'll be back" only worked on a 6, on a 2+ you got to try again. Fearless. And Disruptor zone. Scary for vehicles, but gross for infantry. It must be remembered that at the time (2nd ed) Chainswords were S4, Power swords S5 or 6 and a two handed power axe was S7. They also only had negatives to armor saves, not 'ignores armor'. Fun Stuff!!

It had been a little while since I'd gotten a game in, but managed to get up to the LGS on Tuesday for a little bit, where I played a little Magic (*gasp*) and Mordheim, and actually taught someone how to play it as well.
Things are finally settling down as far as work goes, and I have Sisters on my table ready for a brush. I know I"m too little too late to finish my army now, as the "codex" is coming soon. I also have to admit that my farseer powers failed me. I was hoping for a whole book. I'm sad to see that there aren't even new models. but I'm yet holding on to hope that they'll pop up once the White Dwarf issue comes out. I didn't see any guard/arbites models on the GW site, and if the 'leaked' pages were to be believed, then there should be some guardsmen in the mix there somewhere. Regardless, the Sisters Project goes on.

Did ya miss me?

2011-07-19T13:39:00.000-04:00

I've been quite busy despite the lack of posting (and I am apologetic/guilt-ridden about that). The job training is finally over though and hopefully I will have a bit more time. This is perhaps a joke though, since there have been some (rather wonderful) personal developments of late.

Nay, I do solemnly type that I will endeavor to blog on a more regular schedule. I have to you see, I've got two of them now!!

I did get some painting and games in, and aside from one or two minis I don't yet have, the Mordheim warband is done. I have to buy yet another knight, since he fell in battle and was crushed to death by said horse (who also died, sad to say). Daemonic Warhorses don't grow on trees, y'know! For now we're going to have to just deal with 5 BS5 crossbowmen and a BS6 hired elf and Sarah Jayne (also BS6) and her rifle of doom.

The War Dolls project is off and running now. You can see the chatbox here or click on the link there. We've got some great girls on board right now and are looking for more. If you are interested let us know in a comment, chatbox or email! We have some great things planned, and are always getting more ideas.

Mordheim - Obituary and Report

2011-07-04T13:23:00.000-04:00

Jethro seems to be out of his head in this photo.

Today we mourn the loss of Ser Norbert Allengaard. Noble Knight and recovering alcoholic who was hired to protect Miss Annabelle's caravan and enterprise. In the caverns below Mount Motusin, while on an egg run, he was terribly mauled by a sabretusk. The ogre allies that the caravan was working with fled after one of their number was swallowed whole by the wyrm that dwelled inside those caverns. Wisely retreating, the caravan escaped, but had to leave behind the body of Ser Norbert. It was only later that they discovered that the old man had, in fact, survived, but was captured by a roving band of Chaos Warriors. He was thrown into their fighting pits and subsequently killed for certain this time. That's just what they do. Miss Annabelle was quoted as saying "We shall miss Ser Norbert, but at least we still have his horse, that saves us a good deal of money."

The new 'luxury' model wagon.

While on a later quest for information (and finding a new Knight to pledge his service) in the town of Mulderberry they were set upon by Chaos Marauders and some crazies out of Nuln with a lot of guns. The latter were not interested in striking a deal, being after the same information coincidentally and the former were just plain crazy. Some of the crew were still rather upset about the loss of Ser Norbert and executed the Marauders with extreme prejudice. Sarah Jayne was rather trigger happy with her crossbow, and Melman the apprentice actually ran one down with the cart. Despite the Nulnians (is that a word?) injuring most of the horses (including the previously mentioned one, now ridden by Ser Varlo) Melman managed to drive over one of the opposition and they fled after. Ser Varlo did survive despite his horse falling on him, and the draft horses were all okay after some untangling and poultices. The information turned out to be worthless though (but they did buy one of Miss Annabelle's fine warhorses), so it's on to the next town.

Update update!

2011-07-02T12:21:00.000-04:00

Besides training at work, here's what I've been up to. As previously mentioned my Mordheim band bought it's 2nd Trade Wagon. It's completed as of now, but I haven't had the opportunity to take photos yet. Expect some next update as I'm headed to Phoenix Games today to "get my geek on".

Also, there's a new chat pod! Commissar Carrie, Katie Drake, Mistress of Minis and I are embarking on a mission to unite the girl gamers! The new chatbox is the first of a few projects we will be working on. If you want to contribute or just be a part of the War Dolls, then drop one of us a line or hit us up in the chatbox!

Recharged! I needed that.

2011-06-26T22:18:00.001-04:00

I don't know if I overdosed on gaming or not yesterday, but even my dice are tired. (I did in fact do a little shopping afterward, so that may have added to the exhaustion)

I got in my 2 (makeup) weekly games of Mordheim yesterday and one very large 40k battle with a good friend I haven't seen in a while. We wound up doing a 2 v 2 battle since the store was so crowded. It was Grey Knights & Space Wolves vs. Eldar and (my) Tyranids. Noah wound up having to leave at the end of turn 4, but he had managed to dislodge the Imperial forces from their (C&C) objective, whereas I had about 16 Stealerbugs piled atop ours. I had another nearly-full brood holding the hill after a failed charge from the Blood Claws (go venomthrope!!) It was still anyone's fight, since there was a Stormraven full of Paladins on it's way to our own objective.

In Mordheim (or Cathay, since we're playing Bordertown Burning) I had two (technical) losses, but since I'm playing the Merchant role to the hilt, I feel like I made out pretty well. I made enough money (selling warhorses) to purchase a 4th crossbowman for my team and my 2nd Trade Wagon. Now I just have to build it.

Annabelle supervises the construction of the
new 'Luxury' model wagon.

Tah-daa! So far so good. I'm basing it off a gypsy wagon(s) design I saw. I'm still very lacking on wheels but I am working on that. Running out of casting material too, that's not so good. I'm researching alternate wagon wheel sources though.

I also have to get a hunting rifle painted up and modeled for young Sarah Jayne (the halfling in the photo). Talented up from the marksmen squad, she immediately picked up 'weapons master' and I should have enough money in a game or two, if the horse market is doing well enough. I am also going to pick up a couple of Blackguards and my 2nd Knight. I've had the most trouble finding an armored and both on-foot and mounted female. I had decided on Eowyn, since I have a Rohan Captain as the other Knight, but as soon as I decided that, GW stopped sending all those figures to retailers. I long thought that Eowyn would be my first Finecast model, but that's not happening now. I've found a model in the Reaper range that has a mounted and unmounted version, just as separate pieces. She'll definitely fit a young and spunky daughter/knight for me.

Not Much to Report Lately.

2011-06-22T04:00:00.001-04:00

I've been in a bit of a funk lately. I did get out to see Green Lantern with a new/old friend this past weekend. I approve! The new job and an upcoming Saturday that promises reunion with old friends and geekery to the limit should have me in a much better mood shortly. I apologize to the one or two of you who actually keep up with my blog. ;)

In the meantime, PHOTOS! These are from the tournament just last month. Enjoy!

Where's the Farseer Been?

2011-06-14T15:20:00.000-04:00

I apologize for the lack of content on my blog lately. I have been working on a few things that aren't necessarily blogworthy. One of which is trying to get InstantMold to do what I ask it to. I've been trying to make a two part mold and my casting medium isn't exactly co-operating. And what is that I'm asking of it? Wagon wheels. I'm making extra wagons to leave at the game store because the Bordertown Burning campaign seems to like putting them in missions all over the place. Secondly I've been trying to get my apt cleaned up because this is my last day of being unemployed. Woohoo! Thirdly I've been trying to finalize my 40k Campaign Packet. I've been in the mood to run a narrative campaign again and realized there were things I had noted in there during the first run that I wanted to add / revise for the second run.

So that's what I've been up to. I have more stories coming, but my dismay at the implications of the Sister's Codex being a White Dwarf article(s) has taken the wind out of my sails, especially with my painting of the Sisters. I'm really hoping (probably in vain) that it's just a preview of what's coming later this Fall. We shall see. In the mean time, I'll continue to write and there are plenty of other things to paint...

Fiction - Merchant Adventures (part 1)

2011-06-06T02:27:00.003-04:00

Annabelle Evarion trudged up the path towards the little village she’d heard about over a game of cards. The village wasn’t well known but what she’d heard was that therein lived a simple wainwright that built the sturdiest wagons within 500 leagues. She’d spent the last of her inheritance here in a grand investment plan. She had to get rich, or she’d be in trouble, especially if her father found out that she’d taken her inheritance before he was actually in the grave.

She lifted her skirts to keep them out of the mud. She probably shouldn’t have spent a little extra on the dress, but the fabric was just divine. The boots were still functional too, despite them being made in the most current fashion. It was almost a shame she’d talked the cobbler down from his usual price for such a nice piece of custom work. Almost.

Luckily the mud didn’t extend into the quaint little group of homes. A pity the same couldn’t be said for the smell that lingered there. She approached the wainwright’s shoppe (more of a rickety barn, really) and gently knocked on the door. The little old man she had commissioned some weeks before answered with a timid “Yes?”

“Hello, Gaspar, it’s Annabelle. I placed an order with you some weeks ago. Is it ready?” she asked.

The old man squinted up at the merchant. “Ah. Yes. I remember you. Yes mum, come into the workshop.” He turned and led the way through a small living area into the cramped barn. A pig rooted through some straw in a corner. Annabelle produced her fan from a sleeve to try and help with the smell.

Annabelle looked up at the … thing before her. It was a wagon true enough, but somewhat larger than anything she’d ever seen. Nearly the size of a small house, yet built to her specifications, if only slightly enlarged.

“Ma'am said she wanted something grand…” the wainwright pushed his dirty glasses back up his nose.

“Yes, it is definitely grand.”

Annabelle sighed inwardly. She hadn’t the time to have another wagon commissioned, she had other plans that were in motion already. She put on her best smile for the elderly man and thanked him. “Did you arrange for the horses to pull it as I asked?”

The next evening found her pulling back into the little town of Sliphill. The horses the wainwright had found for her were good quality, she was content. Sliphill was one she had visited in the past, but she had not been here since the festival half a year ago. She had been trying to sell some exotic fabrics at that time and had barely broken even. After securing her wagon and horses at the stable, she made her way to the inn and secured a room, making sure that a warm bath would be drawn for her. Refreshed, she lingered a bit in front of the mirror then went across the street to the Glass Dagger tavern. The food there wasn’t particularly outstanding, but she wasn’t returning for the cuisine. She took a seat and in a few moments a small black haired came over, smiling widely.

“Hi Annabelle! I haven’t seen you here in some time! How do you fare and what can I get you?”

She returned the girl’s smile. “Hi Sarah, it’s good to see you again. I’m doing quite well and I just want a bottle of the Red right now, but bring two glasses please.”

Sarah returned, setting the items on the table. “Expecting someone are we?” she inquired with that infectious smile.

“Actually no. Please sit Sarah, I have a proposition for you.” Annabelle poured two glasses as Sarah sat, after first looking to see if the only other customer needed anything. Annabelle continued, “I was here for the festival some months back. I saw you compete in the archery tournament. I was very impressed!”

“Yep! I won second prize! ”

“Yes you did! It so happens that I am in need of good archers. I’d like you to join me in my journey. There’s money to be made and fun to be had. Interested?”

“Really? Me? Yes! Oh Yes!”

“Well I will let you finish your shift and we can discuss particulars after. Can you be ready to go in two days?”

Sarah didn’t even hesitate before replying “Yes!”

“Well done. I have a room at the inn. I have some other details to take care of, but come see me two days hence and we can be off.” Annabelle pressed a few coins into Sarah’s hand, picked up her bottle and made her way out.

On the agreed morning, the porter was loading the last of the merchant’s things into the wagon, Sarah hurried up with a pack and her trademark smile. “Oh thank the gods! I was worried you’d leave without me! Say, what’s with all the horses?”

Annabelle nodded to the porter, who packed Sarah’s pack as well and helped her onto the wagon. “Of course not dear. I knew you’d be along shortly.” She looked back at the eight stout horses tied behind the wagon. “It’s my investment. I got these horses at a very good price and we’re off to sell them where we can. Is there anything else you need, or shall we go?”

Sarah smiled and nodded and hopped into the seat next to Annabelle, who took up the reins and off they went, to find adventure and best of all, fortune.

Tournament - Battle Report (part 2)

2011-05-28T00:15:00.000-04:00

The Little Known "Wall of Eldar"

Game two was against a young boy who was there with his father. He did enjoy the game, and I'm still curious as to whether or not he painted his own figs. Some of them looked pretty detailed. Sadly, none of the photos I got came out very well.

The game itself was somewhat as expected. I did wind up helping him with rules a lot and even asked him a few times if he really wanted to make certain moves that would leave him tactically open. Despite my helping him (and no I was not an evil bitch), I still stomped on the Tau. I think he was a little frustrated at the end, but he still had fun. I didn't get full points for the match due to us running out of time.

Round 3 was a good opponent, and he's been playing for some time. I was happy to play against someone with experience, a 3+ save and not umpteen billion missiles. He brought Blood Angels with 4 twin linked Assault Cannons. I was a little scared of that, until I realized that a wall of Serpents were immune to his Rending. At best he could only glance me. The Multi Meltas were a different story though. I prioritized targets, kept working my way backwards, while having the Wraithlord hide behind a ruin that totally blocked him. A razor back sprinted forward and disgorged a half dozen troops with a flamer, torching my poor Pathfinders, and a squad of Jump troops followed them in, but my green Banshees were already on their way out of the ruin. Each Farseer Doomed a squad and the Banshees multi charged!

Meanwhile, we wrecked the Stormraven with some well placed Pulse Lasers and Missiles, making the Death Company and their dread walk, which is a very good thing. Next Bright Lances failed to stop the Land Raider but the Fire Dragons (whose tank was immobilized early on) had snuck forward into cover and the Exarch Fire Pike'd (yes it's a word) the Land Raider into an explodey mess! The Wraithlord (who'd peeked around the corner) switched from Lance to flamers and poured it into the squad standing into the wreckage. Gleeful that they had no power fist in that squad, he attempted to charge them but failed to make it through the cover. The turn after they were shot so full of holes that the fled the battlefield. The DC Dread finally made it into combat with a backpedaling Wraithlord and while delivering two vicious wounds to him, received a sword through the chest and wrecked. The green Banshees finished up with their two squads, but paid heavily for it. Two were lost in the flamer incident, and another 6 were lost in the ensuing combat rounds. Only the Exarch and a wounded Farseer remained. They moved forward, charged the razorback and destroyed it, and then thumbed a ride back into their wave serpent, which just happened to be passing by. There was a Predator in the battle somewhere, but it went fast first turn, suffered shaken and stunned hits for several turns and then asploded to Lance fire at some point. It did get to shoot once. I think it may be what took out the Fire Dragons' ride. At this point, my Falcon (containing Avengers) and the other Serpent (full of very bored Banshees) shot off at full speed to capture the table quarters and an objective that were standing empty and needed for victory.

At the end of turn 5, there were only four Death Company on the board, and one Chaplain. I had lost 2 Fire Dragons, 8 Banshees, 5 Pathfinders, one wound on a farseer and 2 on the Wraithlord. Two tanks were immobile (one my own doing) and one had lost it's scatter lasers. I feel like I did a great job and am quite pleased with the result of the whole tourney, even if I didn't get the best painted award.

There's always next time...

Tournament - Battle Report (part 1)

2011-05-25T11:29:00.001-04:00

The tournament was lots of fun! In a stroke of ill luck though my first random match up was vs the Missile Spam list I had so much trouble with in testing. I did actually perform better than in testing and I think that's largely due to the lovely amount of terrain we had available on the tables. Missions were #s 1, 3 & 4 out of the Adepticon 2010 team packet, modified slightly for singles.

I knew it would be a challenge, and was hoping to at least win best painted since I knew that Space Wolf list was still waiting for me.

First round; Won the init roll and forced the SW to deploy in some pretty open terrain. I managed to keep cover on most of my tanks and actually did really really well the first two turns. The Fire Dragon Serpent scooted up the right side of the board to take out one of the 3 Long Fang squads that were set up in the deployment zone. Despite my cover and jinking about he started slowly immobilizing my tanks. One Serpent exploding taking out 4 Banshees, but they did manage to cripple the thunderwolves before fleeing and being run down, along with my poor Farseer. The other Banshee squad charged into the center terrain where 2 full squads of Grey hunters were camped on the center objective. The Wraithlord added support, but failed a cover save and was melta'd down. Despite giving him a good run for his money, I still failed to achieve all 3 of the mission objectives.

Almost every race showed to tourney. We had Necrons, Orks, 2 x Eldar, Tau, and several flavors of Space Marine.

This list was VERY hard and he went on to win the tournament. Congrats to him!

Sadly I didn't get best painted either. I'm hoping it was very close, but that award went to a very deserving Necron player with a carry tray of epic proportions!

Final list for tournament.

2011-05-18T08:52:00.000-04:00

Finally got a good photo of the detail

I've done some testing with this list and though it seems rather hit or miss (how DO you deal with missile spam anyway) my hits have been pretty good. I'm not sure what I could change at this point and still keep my banshees in there. I guess I'll just go and look pretty. I'm willing to bet my Tyranid list would perform better, but there's no way I could get all the work done that I need to by the end of the week. So I'll just go for 'best painted' with what I have. :) I'm still going to try my best of course. I'm hoping that the missions being different will help me out.

We're using the team missions (modified for singles) from Adepticon 2010 (#s 1, 3 & 4). They look cute and I'm looking forward to playing them not to mention just being able to 'get my geek on' and meet a few new people on the way.

So here's my list;

1 Farseer, Doom
1 Farseer, Runes x2, Spirit Stones, Doom, Fortune, Singing Spear
4 Fire Dragons, + 1 Fire Dragon Exarch, Firepike
1 Wave Serpent, Spirit Stones, TL Scatter Lasers
8 Howling Banshees, + 1 Exarch, War Shout, Mirrorswords
1 Wave Serpent, Spirit Stones, TL Bright Lances
8 Howling Banshees, + 1 Exarch, Executioner
1 Wave Serpent, Spirit Stones, TL Bright Lances
5 Dire Avengers
5 Dire Avengers
5 Pathfinders (Rangers)
1 Falcon, Holo-Field, Spirit Stones, Missle Launcher, Shuriken Cannon
1 Falcon, Holo-Field, Spirit Stones, Missle Launcher, Shuriken Cannon
1 Wraithlord, Wraithsword, Bright Lance

Oh and SO happy with this camera... Lots of photos will be taken of tourney!

Razorwing & 100th post

2011-05-14T08:55:00.000-04:00

I've still come across some people who've not seen this photo. This is apparently a preview of the Dark Eldar Razorwing. No one seems to have a release date for it right now, which is sad, because I think it's a very pretty model. I may end up getting two! I hear you both saying, "But Cami, you don't have Dark Eldar!". I know! In my scouring looking for a release date, I've seen more than a few comments that leads me to believe that people don't realize that this is an 'either/or' kit. I've had it on good authority (and I am a Farseer) that this kit will be able to build either a Razorwing or a Nightwing.

I feel like this photo confirms it. If you replace the three upright vanes and the weapons then it looks like it would be no problem turning into an Eldar Nightwing. I can totally see that being on the same sprue. If not, I'll just run it 'counts as'. Sure I'll have to wait for the Eldar codex (you know it'll be in there) or play Apocalypse, but I've never been afraid of Apocalypse, and I'm eager to have some Nightwing v Valkyrie/Stormraven dogfighting. (No contest)

In other news - My Banshees are totally done and nestled into my re-arranged foam packing in my Eldar box. I'm pretty cheap, crafty, and broke so I can't afford custom made foam trays, well not the machine made ones, so I broke out my last few surgical blades and some open cell foam and got to work. It's really amazing how fast foam eats up a blade! Now I have all 20 (21, I have 2 Exarch builds for green squad) banshees nestled into my case and all the jetbikes on one layer instead of having to dig through 3 trays to get to them all. My Farseers also have a home as well, as before they just were pushed in between a foam joint and held on for dear life. I'm still not done - I have to figure out how to sort my Wave Serpents a little better, rather than just having them stacked with foam in between.

While doing all this, I'm pulling models that need basing done, primarily from the list I'm using in tourney in two weeks and finishing those. Basing makes SO much difference in a model. My Eldar are the first army (out of four) I've actually done a lot of detail work on the bases and I really think it makes a world of difference. I did pay attention to my Tyranids MC's bases, but the rank and file bugs were just bland. I'm REALLY happy with the Eldar results, and that's probably a blog entry for another time.

I know I've mentioned this before, but I'm loving this new camera. I actually took the 'group photos' twice. The first time I reviewed the photos I noticed some things I needed to touch up and just out and out missed (gems!). This second set showed me some flaws as well, that I have gone back and touched up since. I don't know if anyone uses this practice, but I highly recommend a photo review before calling minis "done".

Fastest Brush in the West

2011-05-11T17:30:00.000-04:00

Just pulled off getting 10 figures painted in a little over 24 hours. Wow! I've never painted so fast!

I changed my list up a little and that required more Banshees. These have been in my 'to do' box for some time and I've always wanted to have a 2nd squad for my army. So I set out to to get them done. I just didn't expect to paint them so fast. I managed to paint these, play some Mordheim at the LGS and dye my hair all in that time. I'm not a fan of painting en masse normally but I'm not a big fan of these old models, and really happy to get them out of the way. I've done a little touch up and now just need to do the bases.
These were fairly easy to paint, even despite the several drybrushing layers I did. I was inspired by the look of the Army of the Dead from Lord of the Rings when trying to come up with a color scheme for my second squad of Banshees. I did several layers of progressively lighter green drybrush, then washed it with the original Dark Angels green. I wanted to keep a darker look to them.

My camera has impressed me again. I can take a photo of my work, and it shows me flaws. Slips and misses. Sad to say that they are there, but it's going to help me improve overall I think.

Now if I can paint my Sisters as fast.

Project - Sisters of Battle Rhino/Immolator

2011-05-08T21:10:00.001-04:00

So I realized a couple of weeks ago that I needed to try out my paint scheme on a vehicle before I went much farther with the project. So I broke out the Cannoness's Rhino, and found bits to convert it to an Immolator. In the process of putting the Rhino together (my first with the current kit) I found nooks and crannies. This plus my electronics background gave way to a lighted interior. I tried to put a light in the searchlight, but that only wound up with a ruined searchlight. I didn't have a small enough LED for it and even then it wouldn't look quite proper. I didn't have a switch either, so I fashioned a jumper out of a gear box. Second picture shows it in the 'off' position.

Off position. Also stores easily inside the vehicle.

The Sisters of Battle top piece makes for a great little area to hide the wiring and the LED so that it shines back towards the wall. I've got the battery and resistor secured in the drivers area and the switch actually is in the area above the track. That was the only drilling I needed to do. I'm currently trying to figure out where to hide the LED in a normal Rhino to get the same results. This was a much easier project than the Valkyrie that I'm working on. That one will be cooler when I'm done though.

I'm not done painting, nor is the conversion work done on the Immolator turret (parts incoming) but I finally got the new camera so had to show off. It's made me want to go back and continue work on my Valkyrie in which I'm doing similar work, but I really need to get back to getting a tournament army ready to go.

Enjoy and thanks for veiwing! Comments are appreciated.

Fiction - An Old Tale

2011-05-07T20:37:00.002-04:00

This is a telling of an event long ago. I was still an apprentice to Nel'waith at the time. He had a fascination with the Humans and watched them often. Admittedly I was left with a similar curiosity and have kept up with some of his subjects. One of which was one Tarvis Larkaan, whom is of special interest to me. My mentor watched him for a long time. His fate was very tangled, but with some 'help' he achieved his destiny. This is how it began...

The Imperial Landspeeder lurched as Tarvis pushed the throttle forward. Bolter rounds screamed through the air all around them. The battlefield below was a study in chaos. Explosions were everywhere and there were virtually no discernable battle lines. A quick glance towards Montus, his gunner showed the older veteran holding on to whatever he could, gritting his teeth as wind buffeted the both of them. Despite the goggles, tears still streamed from his eyes. Tarvis slowed as he swung the protesting machine around to race back across the battle. As he did so, Montus laid down some heavy fire into a unit of traitor marines taking cover behind some foliage. They had no time to see if there were any casualties because that Predator was firing again.

Their orders were to take out that Predator. It had a prime position atop a hill and nothing they had could even come close to it without taking fire from it and several units surrounding. Tarvis was trying to fly a serpentine path towards it so that Montus could get a good shot in on it. Tarvis dropped the landspeeder as close to the ground as he dared as autocannon fire raked just over head. He could hear Montus retching in the seat next to him. Poor Montus was a tank gunner previously. Tarvis didn't doubt that he was glad that there was talk of retiring the old landspeeders as they were too dangerous.

Tarvis skirted around a burning house and powered into a climb above the trees in order to come around. Movement caught his eye as a trooper stepped out from behind a tree and leveled a missile launcher at them. He turned the landspeeder quickly to the right, and over the treetops. The missile missed by a near margin, but now Tarvis was staring straight across the battlefield into the barrel of the predator. Autocannon shots slammed into the speeder. Warning indicators lit up all over the console, and Tarvis felt the controls go slack in his hand. He heard a scream in the midst of the torrent of fire, probably his own. He wrenched the controls over and dove back below the treeline. He weaved and ducked for cover as best he could to try and avoid any further fire.

"Looks like we made it-" he began as he looked over toward Montus, but his gunner was incomplete from the sternum upwards. Somehow though, the shoulder harness survived, strapping the body to the chair. Tarvis skimmed past a burning wreck and took quick stock of what survived. He himself had no holes to speak of fortunately. Obviously he was still aloft, though smoke was pouring out of one of the engines. Lots of systems failures though, he wouldn't be flying long. His own forward mounted weapon was hanging loose beneath the craft. The gunner's weapon seemed operational, but there was no way he could fire and pilot the craft at the same time. The skimmer was running out of cover and he was rapidly approaching the hill where his target was. Tarvis felt a wave of confidence sweep over him despite the situation. "well..." he thought aloud, "I've got a mission to accomplish!"

He waited until he heard the tank firing at another target and then he acted. The remaining engine screamed in protest as Tarvis pushed the throttle as far forward as he could. The landspeeder leapt above the treetops and sped towards the target. The tank was swinging it's turret around already. A lascannon from somewhere left a bright streak of afterimage his retinas as it missed him. Wind screamed in his ears as he willed every ounce of speed from his machine. The smoking engine burst into flames and multiple warnings flashed on his console. The autocannon turret swung in line.

"This is it..." he thought as the tank was dead ahead. Then, suddenly inspired he grasped his safety harness buckle, twisted it loose and leapt from the machine! He sailed through the air as his landspeeder, hurtling out of control now, and trailing smoke and flame, had nowhere to go but into the front of the enemy tank. Both exploded in a massive fireball. The ground rushed up to meet him and everything went dark.

Tarvis awoke with a start. He seemed fine other than bumps and bruises. The Emperor truly was looking out for him! Shrapnel and flaming debris were scattered about the hill top. The sounds of battle were fading in the distance, but he was still deep in enemy territory most likely. He drew his laspistol and hurried towards the tree line, feeling very fortunate to be alive. Fate must surely have something grand in store for him!

Tournament - Possible Eldar list

2011-05-05T06:22:00.001-04:00

So the tourney has been re-set at 1850 points (you are welcome!) and the list I had just about figured out has been totally shattered. I played around with a couple of ideas, and then just started from the ground up, and this list just kinda happened. When it came to exactly 1850 I sort of took that as a sign. However in hindsight, my Warlock has no power to grant to the wraithguard (I usually give them Enhance).

The list is as follows:

1 Autarch, Banshee Mask, Power Weapon, Reaper Launcher
1 Farseer, Runes x2, Spirit Stones, Doom, Fortune, Singing Spear
4 Fire Dragons, + 1 Fire Dragon Exarch, Firepike
9 Howling Banshees, + 1 Exarch, War Shout, Mirrorswords
1 Wave Serpent, Spirit Stones, Scatter Lasers
5 Wraithguard, 1 Warlock
1 Wave Serpent, Spirit Stones, TL Scatter Lasers
5 Dire Avengers x 2
5 Pathfinders (Rangers)
1 Falcon, Holo-Field, Spirit Stones, Bright Lance, Shuriken Cannon
1 Falcon, Holo-Field, Spirit Stones, Missle Launcher, Shuriken Cannon
4 Dark Reapers + 1 Exarch, Fast Shot, Missile Launcher

The plan is simple, leave the reapers, pathfinders, autarch and lance falcon in one location to serve as a fire base. The rest will roll out together to work on cracking open those harder targets and then doom-bansheeing the squishy bits inside. Fire dragons ride in the missle falcon, one squat of dire avengers in the other. The free-roaming avengers will reserve on, and head for whatever objective they need to.

Thoughts?

New Deadline...

2011-05-02T21:36:00.000-04:00

There is a 1500 point tournament coming up at Phoenix games on May 21. I now have less than 3 weeks to figure out what army I'm playing, paint/base any stragglers (I"m looking at you Stealerbugs) and OMG LEARN TO PLAY AT 1500 points!!!

All my lists/knowledge are currently running at 2000 points with a few lists at the 1000 point level. When I first heard 'tournament' I was mentally preparing for the aforementioned 'Stealerbug Swarm' list seeing as how I've now got both Venomthropes assembled. A small miracle there, those are some complex, fiddly models. I have learned and now appreciate super glue accelerator now.

So my options are;
Tyranids
Eldar
Chaos Marines (not likely)

It's possible that I could get 1500 points of Sisters done in time, but I only have one Exorcist and 3/4 of an Immolator, so that's probably not a good option.

I'll toy with some ideas and post lists for you, my loyal minions, to pick apart and tell me how foolish I am. Just remember, I have 5 fire dragons and NO hive guard, so forget that! :P

List - Genestealer Swarm

2011-04-27T12:52:00.000-04:00

"This place crawls sir, we need retrieval!"

Everyone seems to be posting lists to their blogs, and I haven't done so in a while, so here goes. I've had lots of success with this list, or a variant thereof, so I'm throwing it into the interwebs. So far it's been vassal only, but I will be putting it on the table very soon. This list probably exists somewhere on the internet, and if so I'm sorry for not providing something new, but this is something that I have evolved from my own experience from the codex and feel that it's pretty solid. It's a straightforward, stompy-stomp towards the enemy list. It's designed to get across the board and into a fight and have enough bodies to do so with acceptable loss and still a 5+ (4+ for the venoms) cover save that goes with the army.

I love the genestealer. It was the first model (still in the codex) that was Tyranid and with Space Hulk, Advanced Space Crusade and the like, I wound up with more than a few of them. I secretly bought a Hive Tyrant and few other models while I was playing my Space Wolves back in 2nd edition. My lone zoat had long since joined the ranks of chaos and is now a Daemon Prince of Slaanesh, but that's a different story. It was around the time Cities of Death came out that I had enough models to put to table.

Since then obviously the horde has grown, but I've always had a special place in my heart for the 'stealerbug'. I'm quite satisfied with the current incarnation of it in the current codex and have used them with great success. Yesterday I took a solid step forward into making this a list with the aquisition of two venomthropes. Now all I lack is the Ymgarls! Though I do have more than enough hybrids to be stand ins...

HQ: 1 Hive Tyrant; TL Devourer w/Brainleech Worms + Heavy Venom Cannon + Old Adversary + Adrenal Glands + Armoured Shell + Paroxysm + Leech Essence
Elite: 10 Ymgarl Genestealer Brood
Elite: 1 Venomthrope
Elite: 1 Venomthrope
Troops: 4 Tyranid Warrior Brood; Venom Cannon
Troops: 19 Genestealer Brood; Broodlord with Scything Talons
Troops: 19 Genestealer Brood; Broodlord with Scything Talons
Troops: 19 Genestealer Brood; Broodlord with Scything Talons
Heavy Support: Tyrannofex; Rupture Cannon + Regeneration

1997 points

I am considering changing Old Adversary (or dropping the T-fex Regen) to Hive Commander just in the case of DoW, so that I can outflank all the troops. That would still give the two MC's portable 5+ cover saves.

Anyway, I'd like to hear thoughts/feedback so please do!

Mordheim - Project(s) Update

2011-04-24T18:16:00.002-04:00

A quick Easter update!

I've pretty much finished the wagon. I feel like there may be something more that I could do to it. Steps, secret compartments, something. I just can't figure out what that is though. I also carved a yoke! It's not the prettiest, but I put magnets in it and found a pair of horses to pull it along. I would like a couple of different ones, but these will do if nothing else shows up.

The Beastmen are also done. Like completely done. Bases and everything! I'm rather pleased. Just not with the quality of photos. Still haven't gotten that camera yet.

I've got 3 of my 4 Merchant Caravan warband painted. They just need some basing now. And a 2nd knight. Sad that my LGS can't get metal models now... Photos to come.

Quick note on the Sisters Project; I got frustrated with my Apple Barrel purple yesterday. I'm going to pick up some P3 at the game store. The owner suggested to me that it was a superior product with more pigments so we will see. Hopefully Tuesday this will happen.

I Win Vassal

2011-04-22T01:12:00.003-04:00

At this point I've pretty much lost the game, but early on here was an exchange over fire on my Dire Avengers. A whole squad of Celestians had gunned down Yriel and moved in to try and dislodge them from my objective. They later got blown up to heavy bolter fire, but here's a transcription of what transpired. In case you don't chat in the chatbox over yonder ->, I'm Cami obviously. Carrie, of course you should know.

Update; with only a pair of mobile tanks left, I have lost. Carrie snuck one faaaar out squad into a lone rhino and sped across the board for the win. The rhino had come in, dropped it's unit off then sped away after losing a weapon. I totally spaced that she had loaded troops into it. MVP of the game was no doubt Cannoness Angelica Cross. She wounded my Autarch, made him run, ran him down because that wasn't good enough, shot him through the leg then "fed him his own tailbone" in the ensuing combat. Not thinking that was enough, she ran down the Wave Serpent that had shot she and her squad up earlier as it was speeding away, cracked open an engine cover, shoved a melta bomb into it and dodged the shrapnel as it exploded into a fireball.

Carrie - 4 Dead, 13 Saves
Cami - so 17
Cami - erg
Cami - one on exarch
Cami rolls 1 dice, 3+ to save...
Cami* 1 out of 1 dice save (3+) = (5)
Cami* Amounting to 1 save, being 0 wounds.
Carrie - You can do it!
Cami rolls 12 dice, 4+ to save...
Cami* 12 out of 12 dice save (4+) = (6,6,6,6,6,5,5,5,5,5,5,5)
Cami* Amounting to 12 saves, being 0 wounds.
Cami - You were right
Carrie - WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
Carrie - How the....

The Wheels on the Bus...

2011-04-17T19:56:00.001-04:00

Annabelle Evarion's wagon commission (for my upcoming Mordheim Merchant Caravan warband) is rolling right along. I'm still not finished with it though. She's now telling me there needs to be a roof on it. Of course, Magnet Princess that I am, I'm going to make it removable. Who knows when she'll turn up with large cargo, or if the the weather is nice.

I still haven't found the proper horses to pull the wagon though. Fortunately the next campaign won't start for a couple more weeks still.

The magnetized roof was inspired from the wheels being magnetized (and my general proclivity for magnetizing anything). I have been fretting for several days trying to figure out how to attach the wheels. Wheels can be damaged in the game so I wanted to make them removable. My first test of putting a magnet into balsa failed while drilling into the dowel. I thought I had a small dowel somewhere but couldn't find it in any of my craft boxes. I toyed with a plastic axle set up and a couple of other ways but nothing seemed to work in a way that would support the weight of the wagon loaded. Finally I tried the balsa again, drilling slowly and then coating the end in wood glue around the magnet. Success!! The wheels were easy enough to plant magnets in since they are the aforementioned 2 part plastic.

Here you see Annabelle and her Wizardess friend testing things out. Checking to see if there's space enough for cargo. I found some little wooden cubes in my craft stuff that will make great crates for when there is cargo to put in it.

I honestly did research on wagons and stages before undertaking this build, and I know it doesn't look much like any of the more commonplace historical blahblahblah wagons. As I've built it though, it's just kind of grown into it's own thing. I'm happy with what I have and that's what counts!

At least it doesn't look like a picnic table any more.

What's going on?

2011-04-14T16:00:00.000-04:00

I'm still around. Just a little update on my updates (or lack thereof).

Sisters; still slightly stalled. I'm about to go outside and prime all the bare metals though. That's progress right?

Mordheim; I nearly finished painting my final model, a Centigor, for my beastman warband just in time to have him murdered by a dwarf warband. Won the fight, but that was a chunk of gold I won't see again. Still, the Vampire player has been doing far worse. Lost his vamp and now his Necro is blind in one eye.

Mored 'heim; My Merchant Caravan list is almost final. I've got half the figures painted and the wagon is nearing completion. I had to cast some wagon wheels using InstantMold. This stuff is fantastic!! I was going to write a review, but MiniatureWargameConversions said everything I was going to and better. It's said that you shouldn't use an exothermic medium to cast with, but my 2-part plastic is exothermic, and did fine. I cast 4 wheels and none of them seemed to have any degredation in the detail.

Fiction; Currently working on another short story. This one from Farseer Elorrah's viewpoint.

Real Life Oh Noes! Commissar Carrie over at Inquisitork is in the hostpital! Go visit her blog and tell her to get her ass back to the compy stat! I miss my friend.

...and she's got a story to finish.

Sisters Project - 2nd model

2011-04-10T17:45:00.000-04:00

I am much happier with the way this model has come out. Perhaps its the banner. The banner is very pretty. I couldn't have asked for better, myself. It might also be that I painted over a grey primer. The first was over white. I can't see any difference in them when side by side, so I dunno. I have a can and a half of grey, so the ones I just stripped will be getting a grey base, methinks.

The recent 'leak' of the Sisters pages, whether true or not had motivated me to step up my painting of them. The owner of the local LGS seems to think that the new codex will release around August or September, as he says he can't even buy the old models as a retailer from GW any longer. I am hoping to have all the girls done by then, and will only need to pick up vehicles (hopefully new ones). I may add a squad or two of the new plastics after I see what they look like.

In other news, I've begun preparing for the 2nd Mordheim campaign coming up at the store. I'll be playing a Merchant Caravan. Annabelle Evarion has commissioned a trade wagon from me and I've been working on that the last week. I've got my merchant completely painted and her knight vanguard begun. I am excited about doing the wheeling and dealing that should be inherent with this warband. I have also obtained a Prince Yriel for my Eldar. I've begun painting him as well. I still haven't figured out a satisfactory way of fielding him, though it's looking like he might be a 'plug in' unit to go with others. More on that as it develops!

Fiction - New Orders

2011-04-05T10:51:00.002-04:00

(I've actually had this story in my head since seeing Inquisition seemingly moved from Sisters of Battle to Grey Knights. Time unfortunately has been against me lately and I have been unable to post it.)

Inquisitor Seriphena Weston walked out upon the landing platform, her armored boots ringing on the deck plating. The stormtroopers standing guard stood a little straighter when she passed. She recognized trooper Pavkin and greeted him warmly. She approached the Valkyrie that was perched on the deck like a crouching beast. She could see the pilot going through pre-flight rituals. Servitors were loading crates and equipment into the rear door. Some of the battle sisters were loading ammo crates into the side door. Seriphena grabbed one end of an ammo crate with her free hand and helped a sister she didn't recognize load a crate. She smiled as the sister thanked her. Seriphena stepped aside as Sister Superior Annalisa walked over and the two exchanged the formal pleasantries before settling into a less formal conversation. Seriphena liked that some of the sisters could feel comfortable around her. She knew that Inquisitor Husqmann was far more formal and ... stuffy with the girls. Well he was stuffy with everyone actually.

"I wish you were coming with us Ma'am." Annalisa was saying.

"Well it just wasn't meant to be. You will be fine, this is just an errand mission."

"It's not that... We are just used to having you with us. The girls and I just feel better with you around." Sister Annalisa looked away, trying not to show emotion. She watched the last of the equipment being loaded aboard the flyer.

Seriphena responded kindly, "The Emporer Protects, child. Not me. We shall still see one another on occasion. There will be times when-"

The engines of the Valkyrie coughed and whined to life, drowning out Inquisitor Seriphena's next words. She placed a comforting hand on Annalisa's arm and nodded towards the hatch. After the sister superior was aboard, the Inquisitor backed away. After a few moments the engines whined higher and the craft lifted off. It spun 'round slightly and then sped off, climbing into the sky.

Inquisitor Seriphena looked down at the dataslate still clutched in her hand. New orders had come through. She was being transferred to Titan.

Back to Basics with Elorrah

2011-03-23T19:33:00.000-04:00

Elorrah, slayer of CrazyDreads

I've gotten away from my original idea of a Craftworld Iybraesil list. I don't mind so much though, it's been a fun journey and the journey is what counts. Lately though I wanted to use my jetbikes more and decided to build a list geared more towards my beginning concept, especially since I had painted units I didn't have when starting.

Below is the list (slightly modified; warlock powers and one vyper weapon) that I used in a game yesterday at the LGS. I was very happy with the performance save for one incident (which prompted the power change) and will definitely be using it again.

Elorrah's Strike Force

HQ: Farseer (225 pts)
   1 Elorrah, Bringer of Storms, (Runes of Warding + Runes of Witnessing + Spirit Stones + Eldar Jetbike) + Doom + Eldritch Storm + Fortune + Mind War

HQ: Jain Zar (190 pts)

Elite: Howling Banshees (312 pts)
   9 Howling Banshees
   1 Howling Banshee Exarch + War Shout 5 Mirrorswords 10)
   1 Wave Serpent + Spirit Stones + TL Scatter Lasers

Troops: Guardian Jetbike Squadron (205 pts)
   6 Guardian Jetbike Squadron + Shuriken Cannon x2
   1 Warlock + Embolden + Singing Spear

Troops: Guardian Jetbike Squadron (205 pts)
   6 Guardian Jetbike Squadron + Shuriken Cannon x2
   1 Warlock + Embolden + Singing Spear

Fast Attack: Shining Spears (237 pts)
   4 Shining Spears
   1 Shining Spears Exarch + Skilled Rider + Withdraw + Star Lance

Troops: Pathfinders (Rangers x 5) (120 pts)

Elite: Harlequin Troupe (184 pts)
   4 Harlequin Troupe + Harlequins Kiss x4 + Fusion Pistol
   1 Shadowseer
   1 Troupe Master + Power Weapon

Heavy Support: Falcon (200 pts)
   1 Falcon + Holo-Field + Spirit Stones + Bright Lance + Shuriken Cannon

Fast Attack: Vyper Squadron (120 pts)
   1 Vyper + Scatter Laser
   1 Vyper + Scatter Laser

Mordheim - Harr'Tak's Raiders

2011-03-21T13:22:00.000-04:00

So, on Mordheim day at the shop last week. You know the one I blogged about, having spent the day painting my pride-and-joy Sharphoof figure... Yeah that's the one. The Raider's first game of the day was against Da Machine's Undead. The mission was to hold buildings. The Raiders had managed to claim 3 buildings and was about to contest the 4th. There were two zombies inside and several milling about outside. The Chaos Warhounds attacked the outside zombies and Sharphoof plowed through the one by the door, and headed inside. He found the two zombies there and engaged them in combat. One dropped to his onslaught while the other kept trying to stab him with a dirty kitchen knife. After a moment or two, two dregs barged in and held him down while the zombie ate his brain.

Poor Sharphoof.

Now the band has turned to the most experienced beastman to lead them. Sadly, this is Harr'Tak. He's horribly scarred (causes fear), has a half healed chest wound (-1T) and is psychologically scarred as well (hates the Dwarf Noble). Clearly the best choice to lead this band. Clearly.

I'm having fun though, and without a doubt this does give my warband character!

Rules Query for Your Pondering.

2011-03-20T13:34:00.001-04:00

Last night I posed a question to the 3++ chatbox (located to your right) that I've often wondered about but until last night in Vassal, had never come up for me. I got several mixed replies there and (I imagine) one or two confused stares.

The situation is this. Farseer X's Fortune goes down at the beginning of the turn. He obviously thinks that it should stay up, so he casts Fortune again. The dice come up two ones. Ghosthelm fails. First invulnerable save succeeds, so he has to roll another save but fails it.

The question; Does he get a re-roll to that failed invulnerable save?

The rulebook states that the power goes off live or die, so any squad left behind (assuming this is his last wound) would have Fortune up. Everyone agreed that the first Fortune was gone and not usable. However there was no consensus to when the power actually happened. Does the wound have to be resolved THEN the power happens, or does the power happen as soon as the successful psychic test is made?

Mordheim - Bighorns Sharphoof

2011-03-14T20:09:00.000-04:00

Tomorrow is Mordheim day at the shop and I wanted my Chieftan to be ready for battle. Today I painted him up and I'm rather happy with the results. I magnetized his arms (of course) since I would like other weapon options at some point.

I present; Bighorns Sharphoof, leader of the ragtag band known as Sharphoof's Raiders. They like axes and chopping and usually their big friend Murrghor the Minotaur comes along for the fun of it.

The last excursion they made into Mordheim was a bit of a disaster though. They had heard there was a whole trove of loot and wyrdstone in a little shack in a outlying section of town. Upon arrival and scouting out the area they discovered that a small group of dwarves had taken up post around the place. Two were even on the roof. Sharphoof, smartest of the beastmen that he knew, spread his band around the perimeter to charge in at 'the signal'. He later realized he forgot what 'the signal' was, but instead just bellowed his favorite (of that moment) roar. Beastmen rushed from all sides and the dwarves quaked in fear, but this didn't stop them from firing crossbows at the oncoming beastmen. Their bolts failed to hurt anyone coming in and the charging beasties slammed into the dwarves almost stumbling over their shortness. Harr'tak the bestigor was following behind Murrghor through cover and preparing to charge into the fray when Murrghor drew up short in front of him! He continued around the huge beast and charged in, leaping over a fence in his way. He glanced back briefly and saw the minotaur staring perplexed at the fence. He looked ahead and beyond his target Harr'tak saw the Dwarf Lord yelling something and pointing in his direction. Then from the corner of his eye he glimpsed a dwarf stepping into his path just in time to plant an axe in his chest. Everything went black.

Sharphoof rages at the loss to the stunties!!

Harr'tak came to some time later with the band's shaman applying some muck to his wound. It burned something fierce. He didn't feel well. He also had a burning desire to exact revenge on that Dwarf Lord. Though he wasn't the only one to be dropped in battle, he was the one that got hurt the worst. This was their first loss, and next time he'd be ready. Especially for them dwarves.

Mordheim - Sharphoof's Raiders

2011-03-14T03:45:00.000-04:00

So the gang at the LGS recently started a Mordheim League. I figured I would give it a try. The Sisters of Sigmar sounded interesting and very Sisters of Battle (and I figured I might could use the figures in my army). Sad to say I didn't find the Sisters models very appealing. I've always loved beastmen though, so after looking at them, and the models I decided to give it a whirl.

I planned my warband, figured out which dolls I needed and armed with my Chaos Blood Bowl team for proxying I headed to the store on Saturday. Now I didn't like Necromunda, but for some reason I fell for Mordheim. Maybe it's the terrain at the store (it's totally gorgeous) maybe it's something else, but it was a lot of fun. I attempted to get the store owner to order me the Mordheim gang, but he and a couple of the regulars suggested I go with the regular Beastmen box since there are more of them and more options for the same price, which actually helped me in the long run.

So Saturday and some of today I spent working on converting and putting together the Bestigors I picked up. There's a lot of pieces there! They weren't as easily converted as I had hoped due to the way the models are holding the weapons, but there are a few arms that are usable. The wrists are segmented too, which makes it a little tougher to me, but I made do! I'm very pleased with the results. Granted it's just arm conversion work, but I felt like I'd done good work there. It's also a milestone for me since I put models together BEFORE I painted them. I normally dislike doing that because it leaves some gaps and makes it hard to paint in there.

I'm particularly proud of my Chieftan as he's magnetized and somewhat posable. I couldn't find my old accessory sprue so I didn't get him as decked out as I'd like, but I can always add later. Photos of him are forthcoming. Hopefully a new camera as well.

So I got this little doll painted up and actually did so according to the GW website (another milestone). I normally don't paint like this. The results are very distinctively different from my usual work I think, or at least I see a difference. I will try and paint my next Sister of Battle in that same style and see if it changes anything.

Camera Time - Opinions needed!!

2011-03-11T14:52:00.001-05:00

So now that I have a job again (*whew*) I will be able to shop (YAY!!) and the first thing on my list, quite possibly after bills, is a new camera. I have, I think, 3 digital cameras. One was a hand-me-down from a friend and is just terrible. It is so fickle and sometimes works, sometimes doesn't. Seems like you always need a flash, and that burns through batteries in no time. The other was an old Sony Mavica I got in a box of things my mother gave me after my father passed. I thought the Mavica was pretty cool, and it was perfect for what he did. He could just drop the floppy full of photos in the file he was working on rather than print them all out. It's now very old and the drive doesn't work very well. My 3rd is my video cam, and it takes not-so-great photos, as can be seen on this blog.

So I am putting a call out to you bloggers and modelers that photograph your models, and anyone familiar with photography to a degree more than I (which is alot, I know which end to look into); What features of a camera should I look for. I'm aware that 'Macro' is for photos up close, but I really don't know what that means. Do I look for a number, letter or just that it has 'Macro'? (See where I'm coming from?) Cost is an issue too. I'm trying to keep it under or around $100 (Emphasis on the 'under') so I realize I'm not going to get the super camera here. I'm also looking for something I can use for general photos as well, and preferably (but not required) something that fits in my purse easily.

I've seen MANY cameras that fit my requirements, but there are sooo many features on them that it's a little mind-boggling. And I'm supposed to be a tech geek. Ha!!

Thanks everyone who helps!!

Vassal Maps

2011-03-09T23:08:00.002-05:00

That's right!! No Grey Knight mentions here.

Oh wait. Dammit!

Honestly though, who'd have thought I'd have sought after material!? Especially my doodlings in Vassal. Well I'm tickled and more than happy to present them here. I've tried to label them according to the type of terrain and everything, but if you have any questions, I'm not too far to hide. And that goes for any map of mine, just look for the hurricane 'symbol' in the lower left. --->

Map Pack 1 and Map Pack 2 Enjoy!!

Thanks everyone who's kept up with me. We hit (and passed) 50 followers last week! Amazing that I can be that entertaining!

*edit* Maps lists
Pack 1:
DesertFlower2 - A ruined pumping station.
RoadsideCamp2 - An imperial camp on the side of a road. (pictured)
TauOutpost - An outpost, made my Tau. Big surprise!
UrbanDecay - An early map I did. Pretty urban, and busy. Forgot to label it.

Pack 2:
BigMeksPlace - A junkyard where shooty 'tings get built!
CrowdyTown - An experiment in BLoS. Only the brave go to Crowdy Town
JunkyardCrossroad - New map!! Junkyard, at a crossroad! So easy!
SnowStation - Lots more buildings fun, in the snow!

Battle Report - Death at Big Mek's Shop

2011-03-06T22:57:00.003-05:00

Had a very wonderful (vassal) game with Commissar Carrie, and though it started a little lopsided, eventually blossomed into a nail biter! Had I known that it would have ended thus, I'd have gotten more snapshots.

The start of the game had me deployed with 2 Zoeys on one flank, 1 on the other, with two squads of warriors in cover (note the blood). Carrie's DeffKoptas scouted up the left and right flanks and blew them away with help of some other units on TURN ONE. They never got to move!
The Valliant Hammer of Justice (Looted Wagon with BOOMgun) was on FIRE. A single shot out of 6 rounds of firing missed it's intended target. By far this was her MVP. The rest of the game after turn 1 can be summed up like this:

(Carrie) rolls 1 dice, 5+ to hit, 2+ to wound, rerolling missed hits...
* 0 out of 1 dice hit (5+) = (1)
* Rerolling 1 dice: 0 out of 1 rerolled dice hit (5+) = (2)
* Amounting to 0 wounds.

Stealerbugs outflanked from both table edges, Tyrant and Parasite/shrikes struck from above and Yrmgarl stealers (my first time running them) appeared in the Ork's faces (though I expected her to have advanced farther up.) It was looking grim for the Orks. The Great White Hive Tyrant was down to one wound and Deff Koptas, Nobs and the Warboss all tried to take it from him, but he prevailed. That is until the Big Mek decided it was his time. The only shot that the Big Mek made that really counted took out the Great White and nearly destroyed the Parasite. This was turn 6, the final turn. Where the Hammer had moved up to contest the lone center objective, then fired on the genestealers sitting atop the left side objective blowing them to smithereens. Stompa Killa, venerable Deff Dread, had sat back field, watching with his wizened eyes the comings and goings of the battle, had moved towards that flank. After the Stealers crawled out of the crater formed by the boomgun, he assaulted them. Despite charging into cover and being immobilized by the broodlord's immense strength, Stompa Killa reached out and snipped off the head of one of the remaining stealers. The following turn saw them staring and growling at one another.

The realization that Stompa Killa was a troop choice hit me at that moment. In one turn Carrie had moved from my holding 3 objectives, to contesting all three, PLUS had a REALLY good chance of claiming that one since the Dredd was immobilized within 3" of the objective. The third objective (on the right flank) had been run over by the Skorcha Looted Wagon. It needed removing if I were to win. The Teal Warrior had hit nothing the entire game with his barbed strangler, and failed to do anything to the Hammer on the last turn as well. It was up to the Parasite and the lone remaining Warrior over there. Parasite went first and in a freak emo rage, he got two penetrating hits. First was 'wrecked' and I was just so happy for the little guy. The second was 'Explodes' and the crowd went wild. The last Warrior only had one wound remaining. Fortunately, Carrie failed to wound him (The Parasite dropped to his last wound though) and I claimed the objective. Die roll said that game ended there, thankfully so. Another round with that venerable deff dread and the stealers may not have survived!

For The Win!

Sisters Project - Update

2011-03-04T17:59:00.003-05:00

I hadn't really touched my sisters since my first post on it. I have been busy, but something never really sat right about the look of the Battle Sister I'd painted. I kept looking at it over and over, and finally thought that she needed a wash. I was trying to keep the armor bright and shiny, but using a double coat of Armour wash really had a positive effect. I also highlighted the armor back up with more mithril silver and deepened the purple with darker purple.

I was tempted to do the next one with boltgun metal, wash and then highlight with mithril silver, but I think that is still too dark for the look I'm trying to go for. I would like to be able to battle damage and such on them but being as that these models are the old metals and how they are posed this makes it difficult. I will still see what I can do with paint though.

I'm still trying to decide whether to possibly supplement my ranks with the newer models when they come out or sell this army once complete and build anew. Either way I'll be needing tanks for my army. I haven't forseen if there will be new models made for the Exorcist and Immolator or not, so I'm reluctant to buy/trade for any right now. I'm a little concerned about my two Inquisitors though. Commissar Carrie has brought up a valid point about the state of the new Grey Knight codex and that the new Sisters book will be an Ecclesiarchy only book. I like my Inquisitor models and they have distinct personalities. Especially the old man I painted years ago. He likes to hit things with his sword. My other Inquisitor brings lots of guns to her battles.

Lord Inquisitor 'Husk'

Project - Silver Towers of Tzeentch

2011-03-01T04:02:00.001-05:00

Obviously my Sisters project is slow to start. Not sure why... could it be the 40+ models awaiting me to paint them all exactly the same? Could it be the stripping of some of them and starting over from bare metal? (I do hate going backwards with painting) Very possible.

Also there's that whole finding a job thing. Funny how that eats up a lot of time that would otherwise be spare.

So insert (slow) project that I've wanted to do for some time. Recently inspired by the local store having an umpteen thousand point Apocalypse battle invitational. I don't know the points, but I saw (smelled) the four 4' x 8' tables being painted. Da Machine was supposed to attend but had to take care of some things out of town, but he did loan them his army. I still don't have all the details of the battle, but apparently the super titan was involved and there was a meltdown of it. Needless to say, Chaos didn't fare too well (or so I'm told).

Da Machine let me know these tidbits about the battle and said he was finally going to build his Plague Tower, citing that this titan, however awesome, is still a LOT of points to be putting in one fully armed and operational basket. So inspired by this, I decided that my 'fun' project while doing the Sisters will be my Silver Towers. Ever since seeing the datasheet I've had an idea of what I wanted it to look like. I would prefer the Slaanesh Subjugator, (as it fits my army) but I don't have any idea where to start that project. Lots of parts needed that I don't have or can afford just yet.

I've got the Bane Tower in my Man O War stuff and have always loved the model and concept. I once ran a D&D campaign that had a floating castle moving across the land that needed to be stopped. These both will help me along the journey. I still don't know exactly what my towers will look like, but the base will be rather distinctive I feel. I've looked around the net and while I've seen some great ideas, I've not seen mine and this pleases me.

Photos will follow as the project gets underway.

Tyranids - Venomthropes + Stealerbugs

2011-02-23T09:03:00.002-05:00

It's been a little while since this Farseer has reported on Tyranids, so here we go with a new list. I've had this list and have experimented with in Vassal only (since we have no Venomthropes) but I had been wanting to try out the V'thropes. People seem to ignore them for some reason and I wanted to know why. They have a 2+ poison attack and give every unit (keyword here) within 6" a 5+ cover. Normally that's not such a great save, but when you start looking at a 5+ save on Genestealers and what the 'standard' issue gun (e.g. bolter) does to said save, that 5+ cover starts to look pretty tasty.

I'm still tinkering with the 'big bug' section of the list, but the inclusion of the Warriors is much needed. I was finding that the Venomthropes have a severe lack of backbone when it comes to being shot at. My original version of this list only had one synapse creature. I rarely (if ever) run hormagaunts or termagants since the release of the new codex, so I never really worried about synapse except with my Carnifex and the occasional Biovore.

So right now the Hive Tyrant and Tyrannofex are there for dealing with armor and anything really BIG. Warriors share synapse duty. Carnifex is there just because I love him so. :) That's my current 'big bug' setup. I thought about slipping a Zoanthrope in there, but the original list was 3 Venoms strong so there wasn't room. I keep the Venoms as individual units to keep them as separate targets.

So the setup; Venomthropes obviously take the center. Big bugs slightly behind, Warriors take up the rear. 1 unit of Stealerbugs to either side of the Venoms, stretching out as far as you like. The important part is the third unit in FRONT of the Venoms. So everyone has a 5+ cover save (including the big bugs) and the Venoms get a 4+ cover from the stealerbugs down in front!!

I've had a large amount of success with this list except on a couple of my own boards with lots and lots of cover (and bad terrain/run rolls). I think a little tweaking here and there could make it loads better. I had to actually add things just to bring the points up (like the Adrenal glands on the Carnifex). I think I could drop that and everyone's regenerations and add the third Venomthrope back.

2000 Pts - Tyranids Roster

Total Roster Cost: 1997

HQ: Hive Tyrant (1#, 305 pts)
   1 Hive Tyrant, 305 pts = (base cost 170 + TL Devourer w/Brainleech Worms x1 15 + Heavy Venom Cannon 25 + Old Adversary 25 + Adrenal Glands 10 + Regeneration 20 + Armoured Shell 40, Paroxysm, Psychic Scream)

Elite: Venomthrope (1#, 55 pts)
   1 Venomthrope, 55 pts

Elite: Venomthrope (1#, 55 pts)
   1 Venomthrope, 55 pts

Troops: Genestealer Brood (19#, 314 pts)
   18 Genestealer Brood, 252 pts = 18 * 14
   1 Broodlord, 62 pts = (base cost 60 + Scything Talons 2)

Troops: Genestealer Brood (19#, 314 pts)
   18 Genestealer Brood, 252 pts = 18 * 14
   1 Broodlord, 62 pts = (base cost 60 + Scything Talons 2)

Troops: Genestealer Brood (19#, 314 pts)
   18 Genestealer Brood, 252 pts = 18 * 14
   1 Broodlord, 62 pts = (base cost 60 + Scything Talons 2)

Heavy Support: Carnifex (1#, 240 pts)
   1 Carnifex, 240 pts = (base cost 160 + Crushing Claws 25 + Adrenal Glands 10 + Bio-plasma 20 + Regeneration 25)

Heavy Support: Tyrannofex (1#, 265 pts)
   1 Tyrannofex, 265 pts = (base cost 250 + Rupture Cannon 15)

Troops: Tyranid Warrior Brood (4#, 135 pts)
   3 Tyranid Warrior Brood, 90 pts = 3 * 30
   1 Tyranid Warrior, 45 pts = (base cost 30 + Venom Cannon 15)

Feelin' Orky!

2011-02-16T09:32:00.001-05:00

So I'm headed to the LGS today, and figured I'd share what I'm taking. Special thanks to Commissar Carrie for her helpful ~~telling me what to do~~ suggestions.

2000 Pts - Warboss Gazbakk's Warmob

HQ: Big Mek Whizzgutz. 'eavy Armor, Cybork Body, Shokk Attack Gun (110 pts)

HQ: Warboss Gazbakk. 'eavy Armor, Cybork Body, Power Klaw, Shoota/Skorcha (105 pts)

Troops: 9 x Nobz w/ Big Choppa, x 1 Bosspole + 1 Painboy. All in 'eavy Armor. + Trukk w/ Red Paint Job and Ram (375 pts)

Elite: Lootas 10 x Boyz (150 pts)

Elite: Burna Boyz 11 x Boyz (165 pts)

Troops: Boyz 11 x Boyz, 1 x Rokkit + Trukk w/ Plank, Red Paint Job, Ram (126 pts)

Troops: Boyz x 18 Boyz + 1 Nob w Klaw, Bosspole. 1 x Big Shoota(159 pts)

Troops: Boyz 19 x Boyz + 1 Nob w Klaw, Bosspole. 2 x Big Shoota (170 pts)

Heavy Support: Battlewagon; Armor Plates, Deff Rolla, Rigger, Kannon, Big Shoota x 2 (145 pts)

Heavy Support: 3 x Killer Kans 2 x Grotzooka & Riggers, 1x Big Shoota, x 3 Armor Plates(170 pts)

Fast Attack: 5 x Deffkoptas w/ TL Rokkits and x 1 Buzzsaw (250 pts)

Heavy Support: 2 Zzap Guns w/ 9 Gretchin crew.(75 pts)

A quick note on Orks by Farseer N'kurrik

2011-02-11T13:53:00.000-05:00

We have discovered an inherent weakness in Orks battle tactics. They often employ psychic orks they call 'weirdboys' or 'warpheads'. These so-called psykers seem to have very little control over their powers and act more of a leak in a container rather than a conduit channeling psychic energy. Even the exodites have far better control.

In a recent attack upon a maiden world that had been settled by and subsequently wrested away from human colonists, a small defense force was attacked by ork raiders. We are still trying to figure out where they came from, but of note was one of these weirdboys. This creature came charging towards the lines amongst a large group of it's brethren. There seems to be a slightly stronger psychic emittance from the larger groups. The observance my friends is this, the Farseer's runes of warding flared twice and after that the so called ork psyker lay dead. It was later found lying on his back, one eye burned completely from it's misshapen skull and the oddest smile on it's face. They seem to have no defenses at all to the dangers of the warp. Combine that with the total lack of control they have over their powers and they show no match whatsoever for our own psychic ability.

The Eldar force had taken up a defensive posture in some of the human ruins that remained on the planet. The orks came on strong and fast, charging towards the defenses heedlessly. Only 2 forces broke through the perimeter though, but one was taken out with sniper fire and flamers from the Wraithlord. The other, a trukk full of the larger orks called 'noobs' (to my rememberance) crashed through a ruined building, poured out and engaged the wraithguard in combat. The wraithguard were overcome, and the orks barricaded themselves in one of the buildings there. They were soon dealt with though, once the Wraithlord brought it's flamers over and filled the building full of fire.

The maiden world remains safe... for now.

It has begun - The Sisters Project

2011-01-31T19:48:00.000-05:00

From the Sisterhood of the Rosa Caestu, here comes my first Sister of Battle. I was helped by CommissarCarrie, whom I consider a dear friend and my personal expert on Witch Hunters. Of course HER help would have involved pink guns as well, so I feel like it was a decent compromise.

Now I have several minis to strip down and there are about 6 different paint jobs in the army. This army changed hands several times before reaching mine and everyone had a go at the paint scheme. I really liked the original blue/white but was really trying NOT to paint another blue army. Sorry Devin!

The only problem is there are no vehicles other than Rhinos in the army. I've got enough pieces to put together one Immolator but that really isn't going to help. My plan is to have all the figs painted by the time the Codex comes out later this year or early next year and then pick up the possibly new vehicles then. Since I paint vehicles pretty quick I should have a fully operational army almost when the book hits the shelves!

More Orky goodness - Trukk

2011-01-25T23:35:00.000-05:00

The original Trukk not painted by me.

So after my first game with the orks, I realized that one Trukk wasn't going to do it. Especially when I own a unit of Nobz. Burnas obviously need to ride in one, so I needed another to move things along. When the local store where I used to live went out of business (*sniffle*) I took advantage of the discounts though and picked up several models. One of which was a second Trukk for my Ork army that I had just traded for. It went into the 'to do' pile and wasn't a priority until now.

The Trukk kit is actually really really detailed, and at first I thought I was going to need a mechanic's training to put it together. I mean there's even a drive shaft thingy under there!! I found to my dismay, that in the subsequent move I had misplaced the assembly instructions! I know they are here somewhere, having put them with several other booklets, but heaven knows where they wound up after the move. I had everything organized in boxes prior to the mob by 'primed', 'to-be-primed' etc. Was working pretty well until now.

So, I broke out the kit and set about trying to replicate the prior owner's paint scheme. He was nice enough to tell me what he used, but unfortunately one of the colors was his own mix. I feel like I've gotten a fairly good match on it, though it seems he's got more metal on his Trukk than mine. But they do look very close and I'm pleased with the results so far. :)

Not quite done yet. I'm going to go back and put a little more boltgun on the rusty plates to make them shine a bit. The driver and gunner aren't done yet either as you can see.

Anyone who knows me knows that I can't stand painting assembled models, so I paint largely on the sprue and it can take a little more time. But knowing those little nooks and crannies are taken care of matters to me.

I won't be doing much on the Orks since my project was supposed to be switching to my Sisters after that tournament. I did need the extra transport (and it was hella fun) and since I still haven't decided on a color scheme I'm vilified. So hopefully next time I'll be blogging about that, but more than likely, it'll be campaign news. We shall see!

Stormraven photos then and now.

2011-01-23T01:32:00.000-05:00

A while back GW 'leaked' the stormraven photo on their website and of course it made the rounds on the internet. Almost universally it was lamented as a terrible model. It looks small and anemic and skinny and has been called many other names. Not exactly something you'd care to be proud to say "Yeah I rode to battle in that!" I wasn't planning on getting one either way (unless they give them to Sisters of Battle) unlike the Valkyrie which called to me to build it.

Well apparently in the interim Mr. Stormraven hit the gym before showing himself in public. This definitely doesn't look like the model that I was imagining! Very buff, much larger than the above image gave indication. This is a more flattering angle obviously. Beefier than the Valkyrie it does lack the elegance. Of course that comes with that silly melta ignoring armor.

I'm still reserving my like or dislike of the model until I see one completed, painted and preferably within lance range.

Here there be ORKS!!

2011-01-22T01:15:00.001-05:00

I mentioned before that I had traded my old Space Wolves in for Orks about a year ago. Today I broke them out. Da MaCHiNe called me yesterday to schedule a game today and came and picked me up to go to the local store. I had originally planned to start my narrative campaign with this game (and a planetstrike one at that) should he bring his Chaos Marines. However, if he were bringing Daemons, I'd play my Orks. I was still staring at both army boxes when he walked in. I asked which army he brought with him and he only responded "Chaos". My friend.

So I explained my thought process and he said I should try my orks out. Since the tourney is over and I'm not really in the mood to start painting the Sisters yet (after the furious Eldar painting fest) I decided this would be a good intermission. Encouraged by him, I grabbed the Ork box and off we went.

I had made a 2000 point list quickly while waiting on him to arrive from memory of what I owned, so it wasn't the best list functionally, but I've since revised it a little. One of the major lessons I learned is to put a runt herder with grots. I bought extra grots for my artillery in case they died (as grots are wont to do) but I forgot to have a look at their Ld. 5 is not conducive to hanging about after an ordinance round. So my artillery never fired.

The table we set up on was already there, but about halfway through my deployment (I was 2nd) I realized there was virtually NO terrain in my side of the board. I thought this would be okay since the object is to get in his face where the killy stuff works best. Sadly this put the lootas in a bad spot, they hardly did anything other than gunning down the Daemon Prince, but only after he killed two Killa Kans.

I had a battlewagon drop off some Orks in front of a Berserker squad that had just exited from their Land Raider. Two of the berserkers were squished on the way in (oops). 20 orks descended on the rest of the squad. It took some doing, but the berzerkers didn't survive. Those boys were later shot down by a retreating landraider and a squad of Plague Marines with flamers. The Chaos Lord meanwhile attacked a patrol of Deffkoptas. He found out to his dismay that one had a buzzsaw beneath it. The battle wagon was sniped by lone plasma gun that had hopped out of a rhino and got a lucky side shot. 'wrecked' is what he did to it.

Bikers managed to Immobilize one of the Vindicators, Tankbustas the other, but that doesn't gain kill points. The bikers had died to the Daemon Prince right after and the Tankbustas are still holding that hill. This was shortly before the Prince ~~smashed~~ exploded the Killa Kans. Never before have I seen someone so hellbent on destruction.

My burna boys arrived to the party a little too late, having gone the long way 'round and winding up taking a lascannon in the Trukk. Kareen! took them the wrong direction and they wound up having to walk towards the fight, and the Plague marines just walked backwards firing the whole way.

Despite my best efforts I only got 5 KP and gave up 9. A solid victory for the CSM. A victory for me as well because I had fun losing and learning my green fellas. I got some compliments too, but it's a shame I didn't do the painting and converting. That was all done by the guy I got the orks from (indirectly). Thanks Mike!! (if you happen to read this). I had so much fun that the orks may very well be the antagonists in my campaign.

Next up, we teach Da MaCHiNe Planestrike.

Tournament Report - 1000 points

2011-01-20T13:18:00.002-05:00

0041011.M3

We converged on Phoneix games for 8 games / 12 hours of fast and furious dice rolling. Tournament was 1000 points, all Kill Points, Missions were 2 each from the rulebook, plus 2 'Cauldron' missions.

I took the previously mentioned Shining Spears list. I figured that I would not last the entire 8 rounds without becoming loopy, so I might as well have fun with it. I'm also trying to figure out the Spears. I've had some really good experiences with them and want to see them shine. (see what I did??)

I guess I figured that at 1000 points it wouldn't be THAT bad. Well I guess I underestimated. There were some really serious lists there. I had been having trouble with Da MaCHiNe's Daemon list; Bloodthirster, GUO, Daemon Prince, Soulgrinder, plaguebearers and nurglings and Noah's Armored Eldar; 2 Prisms, Falcon, 2 Dragon Squads in Serpents, 2 Da squads and a Guideseer for the Falcon. During the tournament I lost to Noah (I had beat him before with a Banshee variation of the list) and managed to beat the Daemons, but only after having to go to victory points. (Thanks Kirby for the advice!)

The other armies that were there were pretty much all marines or chaos marines. Noah and I were the only Eldar. Da MaCHiNe had Daemons and one other person had some very beautiful Tyranids.

Among the marines were; 2 Land Raiders, 2 tac squads and a Librarian (and winner of the tournament); Abaddon, 2x 5 man Chaos marine squads and the rest of the points in Terminator Champion bodyguard; Another Abaddon list with 2 big squads of CSM and 5 bikes; Pedro, his Stern(?)guard and 2 tac squads all in rhinos; oh, and a Chaos Guard army with 2 Vendettas, penal legion squads and the largest ogryn group i've ever seen!

I beleive this was the 'Pedro' list.

The guard beat me soundly. It was my 8th game and my tired brain couldn't figure out what to do with the Ogryn. It just didn't compute. I wound up meeting both the Abaddons. The termie gang was just too much for me and overwhelmed me. I did make the mistake of trying to engage them with the spears before softening them up first. The 2nd list I nearly tabled, but Abaddon singlehandedly took out both Falcons and my Shining spears and then ran from my Farseer.

This was probably the best looking army there. Painted
by the same guy that created the Titan that lives at the shop,
they looked fantastic. Nearly every ogryn head is sculpted.

It was a really fun tournament and I met some nice people and even got some great tips on painting from a couple of them. It was very well run and everyone had a good time as far as I could tell. I was really happy to have a couple of 'ooohs' and 'aaaahs' over my Eldar too. :) I don't think I'll do another 8-in-one-day tourney again, but I definitely look forward to playing those guys in the future.

His army lived in a bag, but his MCs were very pretty.

Can't have an Eldar post without Elorrah. ;)

Buzz buzz buzz!! Marine FAQs updated (and DE too)

2011-01-14T07:34:00.000-05:00

http://www.games-workshop.com/MEDIA_CustomProductCatalog/m1620225a_Dark_Angels_Version_1_1.pdf

See, Dark Angels, GW does still love you.

Looks like all of the Marine codices got a little attention.

Yeah you Dark Kin got a FAQ too.

The rulebook got one too, but I don't see any changes that common sense wouldn't have fixed already.

That is all.

Not quite final apparently. (the internet's going to laugh at me)

2011-01-13T10:38:00.004-05:00

...ok, so maybe not.

I thought that the version 7 was going to be the final version of my list and that I just would have to fear Da MaCHiNE's Daemon list during the course of the tournament. With 8 games during the course of the day, it's likely that I will see this list. Kirby from 3++ gave me some pointers on how to handle the list (more on that in a bit) and Noah (who has no blog for shame) suggested adding Banshees. I *heart* Howling Banshees despite what you say internet, and they are fluffy for Iybraesil being matriarchal and all. When I build a list they always seem to come out with a tinge of fluff, I just can't help it. It's what happens.

So after Noah smashed my army with his 2 Prism / Falcon / 2xFire-Dragons-in-Serpents list, I decided to try out the Banshees. Dropping a Farseer, Wraithlord and downgrading the DA Exarch, I was able to put 8 Banshees in a Wave Serpent into my army. This changed the target spread from 2 tanks to 3 and I was able to put cannons under my Falcons. Something else lacking in Version 7. Well I went 50/50 with Noah after that, and I think it came down to deployment. I felt like we were pretty evenly matched. Still lost 7 - 1 against the Daemons despite Kirby's telling me to stay far away. The Banshees just want to go kill so it's tough to make them run. (Yes I DO listen to the little voices, why do you ask?)

Looking again at my list I wondered how I could go faster. I caved in and asked the 3++ chatters what they thought of my list. Amidst the expected "get more fire dragons", were "banshees suck" and "the only thing worse than banshees are shining spears / swooping hawks". I actually had two or three people offer constructive help. Breaking down my list they said I had enough anti-tank (which I was worried about) but they didn't know if the Banshees would be enough to stop the not-so-squishy centers of those tanks that came splling out after I brightlance them open.

While I respect Fire Dragons, I only own the one squad and have no plans to own any more. It's not fluffy to me. Autarch Ry'hanna says if they learned how to ride bikes that would be a different story. I took the internets' collective advice and soundly went against it. I dropped the Banshees and Rangers. Added another squad of Avengers to put the Farseer on a bike and added a Vyper and Shining Spears (cue laugh track). Say what you will, and I know the mathhammer on it, but my Spears have been very effective whenever I've run them. So effective that whenever I put them on the table they get target priority from my usual opponents.

I think that some Eldar units look bad on paper on their own, but once given proper support from other units perform well. My Spears have done quite well when accompanied by Guardian bikers as a screen / combat support. I've also enjoyed running an Autarch with them but cant' decide on a lance or power weapon for her. I just made a scorpion chainsword arm for her so once painted we'll see how that goes. This time though, I'm supporting them with Tanks and the Farseer. Out of 3 test games I won 2. I lost 3-1 to the Daemon list and would have kept it to 2-1 had I remembered to NOT attatch the Farseer to the spears. The 'thirster caught them after a bad sweep and they couldn't Hit & Run. He tried a variant of that list replacing the Bloodthirster with Beasts of Nurgle and I won.

I'm very happy with the 'Version 9' list as it were, and though I will finish basing my Banshees, am thinking seriously of running this list. I'm scared but more research will be done first. I know that Spears are hit or miss, literally. They do get that chance TWICE though. Lances get to shoot, THEN charge. Farseer ties up the combat, then they Hit & Run. It's all about picking your fights.

HQ: Farseer (1#, 173 pts)
1 Farseer, Doom ; Fortune ; Runes of Witnessing; Spirit Stones; Eldar Jetbike; Singing Spear

Elite: Fire Dragons (5#, 100 pts)
4 Fire Dragons
1 Fire Dragon Exarch, Firepike

Troops: Dire Avengers (5#, 60 pts)
5 Dire Avengers

Troops: Dire Avengers (5#, 60 pts)
5 Dire Avengers

Heavy Support: Falcon (1#, 165 pts)
1 Falcon, Spirit Stones; Bright Lance; Shuriken Cannon; Pulse Laser

Heavy Support: Falcon (1#, 145 pts)
1 Falcon, Spirit Stones; Missile Launcher; TL Shuriken Catapults; Pulse Laser

Fast Attack: Vyper Squadron (1#, 70 pts)
1 Vyper (Scatter Laser; Shuriken Cannon)

Fast Attack: Shining Spears (5#, 227 pts)
4 Shining Spears,
1 Shining Spears Exarch, Withdraw; Star Lance

1K Point Tournament List - v. 7 and Final

2011-01-07T09:00:00.000-05:00

So with a little over a week to go I think I've decided to stick with what I've been running the last few weeks. It's almost exactly the previous one except I dropped a wave serpent in favor of a second farseer. Just didn't make sense to have an empty falcon and a serpent with 5 or 6 models in it. The list in this version has tested very well on vassal but only 2 games on actual table and those didn't go so great. In my defense though, there's only so much that can be done against a raging Bloodthirster on a 4 x 4 table.

So here is what I'm bringing.

Farseer - Stones, Witnessing, Doom, Fortune

Farseer - Stones, Spear, Warding, Guide, Fortune

Dire Avengers x 5, Exarch, 2xCats, Bladestorm

Rangers x 5, camo face paint

Fire Dragons x 5, Exarch, Firepike, Crackshot, Asbestos underpants
Falcon - Stones, Brightlance

Falcon - Stones, Missle Launcher

Wraithlord - Wraithsword, Missle Launcer, 2x Flamer

I did poorly vs the Daemons and will probably fare poorly vs the Tyranid player for somewhat obvious reason. The DA and Wraithlord are my only real crowd control. The meta though is calling for severe Marine vehicle armies so I'm preparing accordingly. I think I'll just try and dance around everyone since they have no shooting. Could be tough, but I'm very hopeful. Feel free to comment!

Fiction - The Origin of Autarch Ry'hanna Skyblade (part 3)

2011-01-05T18:21:00.000-05:00

This is the tale of how Ry'hanna ech'Tyur Skyblade came to us on Iybraesil and how she found the path of leadership with us. These are the her trials as she conveyed them to me, and some of which I Saw in the runes. -Farseer Elorrah

Ranger Ry'hanna stepped through the webway portal onto the the cool grassy ground. She sank to her knees and closed her eyes and just concentrated on breathing. The air smelled faintly of cinnamon and roses. Behind her the Pathfinders followed through as well, all three of them showing exhaustion in similar fashion. No'ahl, Torrum, and Kah'hal were the only ones remaining of the small band that had showed up to rescue her, but wound up pinned down with her. Kah'hal's eyes still had that haunted, faraway look to them as he lay there recovering. Had that Void Dragon not shown up when it did none of them would have made it out alive.

After her calm had returned, she sat up and pulled the Scorpion helmet that hung from her belt around and unfastened the small bag that had been secured inside. She untied the back and slowly brought out one of the spirit stones contained within. The stone glistened as if in thanks for being rescued from a most terrible fate. Ry'hanna's tears splashed quietly upon the face of the stone.

A figure approached silently in the distance. Flowing teal robes enfolded a black bodyglove adorned with wraithbone and bright red hair framed an ageless face but her beautiful green eyes betrayed the ages she had witnessed, both in body and in spirit. Ry'hanna watched her approach wordlessly and noted that she had a bit of a limp. The Farseer knelt slowly, yet gracefully before the ranger, her eyes showing understanding, compassion and love. She reached out and touched Ry'hanna's face ever so gently and a feeling of comfort washed over her. After a few moments Ry'hanna placed the stone she was holding back into the bag. She then reverently handed the stones over to the Farseer. The Farseer accepted the bundle and smiled gently. She secured it beneath her robes and finally spoke.

"Thank you Ry'hanna. Yes, I know your name. I am Elorrah and I forsaw your coming here to Iybraesil. You went through great trials to get these and yourself to us and you have my thanks and the thanks of many of our people. You no doubt have many questions, and we have much to discuss. If you don't mind coming with me,I will have your companions looked after." With a gesture, several eldar appeared and began taking care of the pathfinders. Ry'hanna rose and began looking at her surroundings. She followed behind Elorrah, not noticing the lingering look the Farseer gave to Kah'hal.

Ry'hanna gazed about her as they walked along a high terrace. They were in a largely rural area of the craftworld. Some forests were nearby and a large sea spread out before her. A coastal city was a short distance away, it's lights reflecting off the sea. Broad plains and rolling hills covered in flowers made a beautiful quilt of the landscape, that somewhat reminded her of her native Saim-Hann. A cool refreshing wind swept over the sea.

They traveled back to Elorrah's abode where they repasted, rested and conversed. Elorrah told her of Iybraesil, a bit of herself and of the happenings of things while Ry'hanna was wandering. Ry'hanna had learned some of the things she had missed out on, but knew nothing of the craftworld or the Farseer before her. She shared her own tales of what she had learned in and of her travels. She also learned that Elorrah had been a battle Seer until many years ago. She knew the Farseer wasn't telling her everything, but learned that her future lie here. She had spent many years wandering as an outcast and had only discovered one clue to the fate of her cousin; the Dark Kin had sold or traded slaves to the forces of Chaos. From what she was told, this craftworld would be make a strong ally in her search.

Ry'hanna pledged herself to craftworld Iybraesil a week later, ending her time as an outcast. She bid goodbye to the three Pathfinders that she had come with. They had joined with another Pathfinder group that had come through, bringing news and taking their rest. She adapted quickly to society again and took up her arts and enrolled as a craftworld guardian. Her services were not needed for some time however.

Her first battle was after she had felt the calling of change. She rejoined the ranks of the striking scorpions, but something felt wrong. She could fight well enough, having done so before, but something did not sit well in the back of her mind about how she was fighting. She soon left and joined the path of the shining spear. Finally her dream realized! She excelled at her training and soon was one of the best in her unit. She fought rarely however, as the one in command of her section, Autarch Tresaaran O'nah did not seem to think that the path of the shining spear was an effective or useful one.

She saw Elorrah over the years, and visited her as often as she could. They became friends and found they could talk freely with one another, though sometimes she felt that Elorrah was still hiding things from her. She attributed this to the nature of the Seer path. On one particular visit she discussed how she was having issues with the autarch's command. She also discovered that while she had finally achieved her dream of becoming a shining spear, it just didn't feel right without Allonia there with her. She told of how she felt the autarch was ignoring tactics and forces at his disposal for unknown reasons. Through discussion and with the backing of Elorrah, Ry'hanna soon joined the Path of Command and became Autarch Ry'henna Skyblade.

As Autarch Ry'henna had many successful sorties against the forces of Chaos. Iybraesil was moving closer to the Eye of Terror and she had even led her forces there as well in search of the near mythical crone worlds. Always she hoped to find some sign of Allonia. She often clashed with Autarch O'nah, over tactics and he often attempted to upstage or embarrass her. He openly criticized her for restructuring her command to a nearly completely mounted force. She got nothing but praise from the administrators of the craftworld for her ingenuity in drawing upon her previous experience with Saim-Hann and incorporating it into an effective fighting force.

She remains to this day a well respected Autarch. She is by no means perfect, but she's well-liked and influential. She has discovered an inherent ability to treat with other races. She's had successful dealings with the Tau and Imperium and often works with craftworld Yme-Loc. She's even encouraged Farseer Elorrah to take to the battlefield again. She once thought she was too crippled to be effective, but Ry'hanna presented her with a specially crafted jetbike and now Elorrah fights at her side when needed.

As Requested; Dire Avengers

2011-01-04T17:24:00.001-05:00

Contemplative Avenger wasn't paying attention again.

Just a quick photo (and update) of the Dire Avengers as requested. (love the sound of that) My photo quality is still crap, so forgive please.

Before dear Reader, you say anything, yes I know there are two Exarchs. I have needed to split the squad smaller in the past and been unable to, so I made a convertable Exarch/Avenger. I also needed the Exarch to have dual cats for the upcoming tournament and my power weapon / shimmershield guy is glued together completely. He's not *quite* done, but I don't think you can tell from the photo. His face needs shading, the gem under his pistol needs color and he needs his symbol on his hat. oh and dullcoating.

Anyway, this was more about the basing anyway.

Bit more of an angle to show of the new Exarch

My original idea was to have my Eldar attacking an Imperial outpost on the sea. So my bases are going to be rather industrial themed. Add a little grass for those fuzzy boards and viola, you have a french word. I think I covered all this in a previous post.

I achieved this with macreme meshing, plasticard, gravel and flocking as well as a little fake grass. The Dragons have vehicle bits, plasticard, gravel and grass and the Rangers (which I just completed) have the mesh and city ruins bits, as they almost always are on a rooftop. I have some more Rangers models, but those will be my Pathfinders and have a foresty theme, as well as a little something special for one of the guys mentioned in the Chronicles of Ry'hanna.

A disturbance in the Æther...

2011-01-03T16:18:00.001-05:00

Did you feel that? A movement within the Immaterium. The urge to run a campaign is calling to me again. That could be complicated since I still know very few gamers here locally. I could just throw it out to the local store, but I don't know which players are reliable and which are not around here. This chafed me on the last campaign. I poured a lot of work and effort into building it and the (not quite finished) Campaign Packet I came up with. I guess I expected a bit more commitment from the players. Maybe it's just me, but when you ask a player for feedback, it's kind of expected. I let everyone know that the Packet was still being worked on and I needed lots of feedback to get it finished, as well as their turn orders. I was running a map based / narrative campaign.

Moving forward, I can try and run a campaign with less player control (which I'm not fond of) or with fewer players. Still haven't decided yet. I do know that it will be a single planetary campaign rather than spanning multiple systems I think the travel times between planets/systems were too disenchanting previously. Having to wait a full 3 week turn with no action can be a turn off. Going completely narrative would allow me to do away with the Packet, needing to build a map and the movement issues, but would mean less player control and probably fewer players at the same time.

I suppose this conjecture is still 'cart before the horse' yet. I should probably identify interested players first to see if anyone even wants to be involved. I still have a tournament to prepare for anyway and a story to finish.

COGITATOR BAND BETA

-
+++Transmission Inbound+++
+++administratum securis procuro: code orange+++
+++message arrives:+++
-
+++Thought For The Day+++
+++To err is to invite retribution.+++
Date: 4035802.M41
Source – Vardash III

Emperor be Praised

Report - Post Siege and retaking of city by Imperial Forces

No further signs of uprisings or alien influence, nor any sign of the Arch-traitor Xylar ne'Ivis. It's possible that he escaped capture. More likely that he succumbed to wounds and was mass-burned with the other traitors that surrendered when the aliens broke.

-Temporary Planetary Governor Fargus Nomen

+++End Transmission+++

Fire Dragon Exarch and onwards

2011-01-01T10:05:00.000-05:00

Fire Dragons done! added a little grass to the bases just for those more woodsy boards. Still not happy with the camera but here's what I could actually get to come out. I'm really very pleased with my bases and I hope the little guys stay put. I didn't pin them so I'm considering this a test. The Rangers I think are going to be a bit simpler and I've already got my 2nd Farseer figured out. After those 6 models and painting the Farseer with the scuplted base, my tourney army will be done!

I'll likely take the rest of Jan to finish basing the rest of the Eldar and then move on to painting my Sisters. I've still got a full squad (minus the Exarch) of banshees to paint, and another 6 Harlequins, but I'll save those for when I need a break from Sister-monotony.

*edit* since the beginning of this post I've finished the Dire Avengers and both Exarchs. I'm really happy with them as well.

Happy New Year everyone!

Update! Fire Dragons and Dire Avengers nearing completion.

2010-12-30T18:15:00.000-05:00

Just a quickie update on my Eldar army progression as tournament approaches (and my story isn't completed yet either).

So I finally decided on a theme for the army, mostly because there are models with bases sculpted that way. I'm going with a battlefield/ruins look. I am making the squads match, but each will vary. I have a grid/metal plates theme going for the Dire Avengers, and ruined vehicles for the Fire Dragons. I ran out of time for working on them this evening as it's a girls' night out for me (yay) but will post photos as soon as I get them painted (the bases that is) and attached. Rangers are next and will feature city ruins as their theme.

That is all!

Projects - for the future

2010-12-29T10:50:00.001-05:00

I currently have 3 armies I've yet to play and another that I've retired until I can do more to it. I am currently playing my Eldar and occasionally my Tyranids. I have far too many armies I know, but I don't know what to get rid of. I've toyed with the idea of selling the 'nids, but I've not finished them up yet. I've come very attatched to the Eldar so I think I'll hold on to them for a while yet. Then again, I said that about the Space Wolves too, but I'd been building them for a looong time. Yes, I've been at this quite a while.

Chaos Marines - I have an Emporer's Children army that I started back in the Rogue Trader era, but a distinct lack of Heavy Support has hurt them severely. I used to run a Blastmaster heavy Havok squad, but the current codex ruined that (that's really my only gripe with that codex too). Adding Lucius recently helped alot. Recently I've picked up a chaos predator, Huron Blackheart and a squad to paint up as Red Corsairs to add to them. Once I get these painted I'll be able to play them again. I also plan on building a Silver Tower of Tzeentch and maybe a Slaanesh Subjugator for fun.

Sisters of Battle - I obtained these at our first swap day in Athens. Apparently this army changed hands alot before I got it. There are several 'test models' that need stripping and repainting. It looks like each person tested but never got around to painting them. Maybe I'm just a dreamer but I am going to hold on to these girls until the next codex release. I might even have a fully painted army when it comes out. I'll only need vehicles at that point. I have a couple of rhinos and parts of an old Immolator conversion kit.

Imperial Guard - Prodigalson and I had always tinkered with playing a jointly owned Guard army. We would pick up guard figures here and there and had plans of making a huge force. When we moved away from one another, his share of the guard joined the Inquisition and mine were no different. When I picked up the Sisters, my guard got poured into that box. I got some stormtroopers in that trade and they went in there too. I'd pick things up here and there and before I knew what was going on there were two platoons of guard in there. I had a chance to pick up several vehicles last year and had to jump at the chance. Now there's a Guard army waiting on me. A recent trade gave me another squad of Stormtroopers too.

Orks - I've always loved the orks too, but never wanted to paint that many figures. When they announced another Space Wolf codex I was excited at first to finally have my Wolves updated, but then I was hearing the rumours of what was coming, and I was sad. I had already been accused of running a 'cheesy' army twice before with codex releases. There would also be a lot of conversion work (again) to make them viable. I thought it was finally time to get rid of them (and my Eldar army was quickly outstripping them as being enjoyable modelling) so I traded them for a 90% painted ork army with some really fun conversions. I'll never play them in tourney since I didn't paint them, but I plan on having fun with them (and maybe using them as a campaign antagonist) since I've got over 3k points of them now.

So the plan right now (after the upcoming tourney / basing the Eldar) is to start on the Sisters. I've got a really good feeling that we will be seeing a codex for them within the next year. Commissar Carrie has also inspired me somewhat. I have lots of fluff ideas for my girls.

New Year's Resolutions.

2010-12-27T17:58:00.001-05:00

I've spent some time poking around other peoples blogs trying to see what makes one successful. I've seen a lot of things and while I got some good ideas, I decided that a successful blog would be the one that I'm happiest with. I am no expert tactician, so I can't be expected to help there. I'm more into 'fluffy' armies, so God help you if you come to me helping with a list. I've been made fun of for some of the armies I've made, but it doesn't bother me. I know they are mine and I have fun with them and that's what it's about to me. I'm no expert at painting either. I know what I know and it gets me by. Sometimes someone says "Wow!" and that's good enough to make me a giddy girl. I do occasionally learn something new though. This old girl isn't above learning new tricks.

That's not to say I don't want to help people. I LOVE helping and educating. Nothing makes me happier than to bring someone into the hobby. I do love people asking me for help or advice. If I know it I'll pass it on, if I don't I won't BS them. I'll find it or find someone who can help them. And above all, I won't act like they are beneath me. I've also tried really hard to stay positive on here. It's really easy to be negative and spread discontent. I don't want to fall into that trap.

I have digressed...

So my resolution (at least with the blog) is to produce more. I've been slack of late, and I know it happens to everyone. When I started this blog nearly 6 months ago I worried I wouldn't have enough content to fill it with. While I have hit a couple of dry spells here and there I feel like I've done pretty well. I am going to make a serious effort to post more content, more quality content, and hopefully a bit better photos (still struggling to find that elusive better camera).

I have plans still, so there should be plenty on the way. Still have a tournament in Jan I'm prepping for. I'll begin painting my sisters soon after that (after she finds a color scheme to go with) there's still the chat project (Welcome Inquisitork) and others. Stay tuned!!

Merry Christmas Everyone!!

2010-12-25T11:37:00.002-05:00

Hope everyone has fantastic holidays, however they celebrate or name it.

Super Dire Avenger Exarch Go!!

2010-12-19T10:45:00.000-05:00

I've been a bit busy lately with several projects, one of which involved putting figures back together thanks to certain unnamed kitties. My future as the cat lady at the end of your street has become in doubt of late...

One of my projects was to turn my standard 10-man DA squad into something more versatile. I wanted the ability to run an Exarch-less 10 or 2 5 man squads. This has become especially important of late since there is a 1000 point tournament and those few points are becoming vitally important.

It always kinda teased me that the Dire Avenger box came with 2 extra torso/arm/head sets and not the legs for them. I understand why they did it this way and it makes sense, but being frugal and crafty, I had to do something about this. I ordered some leg bits from ebay thinking I'd have two extra DA for the cheap! I didn't realize that the sprues also come with a butt piece for the legs that the bits didn't include. Those are near impossible to find! So the project went on the shelf (in the bits box) until this tournament loomed. I got things back out and organized and just figured I could greenstuff him a new butt. I'm rubbish with GS, so I managed one simple piece to hold him up. Being queen of magnets, I added a magnet to the lower torso, and magnetized upper torso for the switcheroo! Now I could have 10 normal DA or 8 and 2 Exarchs. I also went further with the Exarch and magnetized his arms so that I could have the other options from the book. It can make a difference running a 5 model unit with Bladestorm and your Exarch doesn't have a gun (which my prior guy didn't). Above is the different options for the Exarch (and the regular DA's gun). I'm quite happy with how it came out, especially the 2 x DA Catapults pose. He appears to be running and firing both behind him. I will photo this when I get it painted.

Also completed recently (but also not painted); Scorpion chainsword option for my Autarch(s), Missle launchers for my Wraithlords and modularizing the underslung weapon for my tanks. Next project: Get out the vacuum to get all this plastic shaving off my desk and carpet.

Battle Report - Daemons vs Eldar

2010-12-10T15:09:00.002-05:00

Been a little pre-occupied this week, and the draft I had started for this Battle Report never got saved, so here we are (with no excuses left) starting over. Had another game with Da Machine last weekend at the local game store Phoenix Games. They have awesome tables with gorgeous terrain. Also home to the biggest (chaos) titan I've ever seen.

Mission was Annihilation, Setup was Dawn of War. 2000 points. Da Machine brought lots (3 or 4 groups) of Plague bearers, a group of harpies, nurglings for days, 3 spawn, a Great Unclean one, Daemon Prince, nurgle's accountant and some little robed thing that spits huge vomit. I deployed my scouts and waited for the rain of pestilence.

He got the 'do not want' half of the army which was the little things plus spawn. They all landed and ran for cover. Most of which was towards my scouts. My tanks came in and started blazing, hoping to catch them before they went into cover. Sadly though, they brought invulnerable saves with them and the knowledge on how to use them. Before I knew it, the wraithguard tank was down, two of them dead in the explosion, the banshees' ride had no weapons and there were still far too many daemons on the table. Nothing to ram, and tank shocking was useless, so the banshees unloaded to try and save the Rangers (who had managed to wound one of the big monstrosities) from the chaos spawn, but too late. They did manage to finish off the spawn, but not before the nurglings charged in. In a fight that lasted far too long, The Exarch and one lone banshee stood remaining, but they were hit by a small unit of plague bearers. The last banshee went down and the Exarch stood alone, and would have kept fighting had I not stuck a camera in her face. Immediately after, she went down, obviously too worried about her hair after all that fighting.

Autarch Ry'hanna and Farseer Elorrah were going to try and take on the Great Unclean one, but the Falcon deprived them of that opporunity. Having no other target, they joined a huge fight that included harpies, Harlequins and something else. It was messy, but thanks to Fortune, They survived. The harlequins, not so lucky once my opponent realized they had only a 5+ save. Two harlies managed to survive once they realized they had hit & run, but they charged back in next turn in order to kill some more.

Despite losing the Harlequins, the wraithguard's serpent (the wraithguard were knocked out, but the spiritseer with them headed for the hills, or rather, between my other Wraithlord's legs), my sworded Wraithlord, my dire avengers (to a huge plaguebearer charge then failed morale) and my rangers, I still managed to eek a victory! 7 KP to 5!

"The Warp" Chat Network is up and running!

2010-12-05T13:45:00.002-05:00

Thanks to Trucker Judd, the chat network has been tested and is running! We both now have linked chats on our blogs, and it's also available at http://thewarp.chatango.com/ as a standalone. The website is also accessable from Droid phones but doesn't look like iPhone can do it since it's flash.

It's very easy to add to a blog, simply click 'copy this', tweak the colors to your liking, then post the code in a blog widget! Simple and easy! Note: '200' width will fit within the standard width of the side column in blogger. If/when you do so, register your name and send me an IM via chatango and I'll make sure you have moderator status as well.

I have another battle report in the works, but wanted to put this out there now. Coming soon; Eldar vs Chaos Daemons!

*edit* just wanted to shout out to FoxPhoenix135 (who's got a chatango for his local group) for inspring this idea into motion. Thanks!

The 40k Chat Project.

2010-12-03T11:23:00.001-05:00

Ok, so maybe I'm being a little over ambitious here, but I've always enjoyed a more 'live' chat with other folks. Or at least direct contact. I don't know if you other 40kers like it too, but this little nerd girl has a vision. That vision is uniting the universe! And I don't even want to rule it! (But I will remain a princess!)

I'd like a place for 40k folks to chat real time, or near enough to it. I've looked and looked and haven't found anything that's not localized and maybe I'll just become one of those too, but chatango(.com) looks promising. It allows for multiple users to link to the same chat via HTML. It also doesn't slow down the blog to a crawl like a couple others I tried. This means we could all have the same chat link on our blogs. :) I personally really like this idea.

Would anyone else be interested in this project? I've already tapped this one. Originally I had intended it for use as such, but realize it's a bit arrogant for me to name it 'Iybraesil' for the use of all the comunnity. I'll be keeping it of course, but would like to replace it on my blog with something more universal for all chatters.

So I put out to the community at large. Are you into this? Am I more than just a girl with a silly dream? If so, what shall we name it? It looks like someone's already tapped 40k.chatango.com so here are a few other names I've come up with to represent the chat universe at large.

Empyrean (oops, also claimed. neither of these seem to be in use either)
Astronomicon
40kUniverse
TheWarp
Immaterium

Ideas? Thoughts?

Overlooked & Underused Rule Time - Buildings

2010-12-02T19:34:00.001-05:00

I know this is a ruin and not a 'building' but he's SOOOO cute!!!

I know that each gaming area / metagame is subject to its own generalities, but I was looking through the rulebook last night (playing someone in vassal that didn't have much of a clue) post-game and came across my old friend, The Building section.

I love buildings. I have built many of them (as you can see in past blog entries) and something in my brain makes me build them (and my vehicles, and of late, my infantry) modular. I like having buildings that you can actually put models into. At one point I even had a garage being worked on. That got discarded or lost in a move along the way.

It's all too easy to say "that's impassible terrain" when you see an intact building on the field, and I'm guilty of this as well. Buildings add a definite tactical advantage to the battlefield, especially if you can find one with an address that's already inside your deployment zone. Heavy weapons or snipers? Excellent choices to place in a building. Usually these units are weaker in close combat and they get to lock/barricade the door on that building and this keeps them safe from that. Unfortunately you have to look out for those big guns as they try to bring that building down on your head. So bring a shovel!

I know the tournament scene doesn't usually support the Buildings rule, and that's probably why most people overlook or don't use this rule. I think I even forgot to use it in my last campaign. It may have been a lack of intact building terrain though, but that was rectified. I've built several buildings since then and made sure to include fire points on most of them. This is important, otherwise those snipers will be nice and safe but be unable to shoot at anything. You are also able to place models on top of the building and they still count as being inside, but at a risk of +1 to damage rolls on the building.

Unlike vehicles, two models may use each fire point in a building, so you don't need too many. Two or three per side is a good number to have. It's also a good idea to have the models covering two sides of the building if the building is at an angle.

Something to note; unlike ruins, buildings do not count as difficult terrain moving up, down or through them.

Watch out for template weapons though, they will inflict d6 hits on your models inside as well as hitting the building itself.

Hopefully this sheds a bit more light on a rule that may have been overlooked by your gaming group.

This has been a public service message from Craftworld Iybraesil.

Battle report!! Eldar vs. CSM

2010-12-01T11:11:00.001-05:00

Yay!! Dice on the table finally!!

I've been Vassaling the last week or so, mostly to try and test my 1000 point list (see previous post) and evolve it. It's not enough though, to sate the hunger for dice in hand. Today I got to go to my friend Da Machine's place and square off. Classic battle for Iybraesil! vs Chaos Marines! Grr.

First; I had a fantabulous game vs a really excellent opponent (whom I've obviously converted to blogger) in Vassal last night. C&C mission, very bloody as you can see from the screenshot. My tanks contested and a lone Dominion Sister fought her way through Fire and Scatterlaser and climbed over the rubble to find that she was 1/2" from a draw game. It was very very close!! Highlights from that game - A) Calidus assassin that had single handedly killed a chariot of Tzeentch in a previous game. Came out of nowhere and attacked the Farseer, but didn't count on the Farseer's prowress with a blade. First round was a draw - one wound each. Next round she got the upper hand, Elorrah failed morale and ran. The assassin then hopped out of combat and neural shredded a whole squad of Pathfinders. B) The Pimp Slap of Doom. Immolator tankshock!s the stranded Wraithlord (after he'd just kicked over an Exorcist). WL stood his ground silently (cause he's dead and has no mouth) screaming "Death or Glory!". Smashes the tank and explodes it!! I think two of the Dominions inside were caught by surprise and died (because really, who expects a towering monstrosity to kung fu your tank in half?)

The rest of the game is reported on her blog, I couldn't have put it better.

So it would seem that Farseer Elorrah led an expedition onto a Chaos tainted world in search of 3 student farseers (had no foot troops) that had become captured by the Enemy (Mission was 'Prisoners' from Adepticon (we believe)). Somehow the Pathfinders had captured three daemon creatures and were thinking erroneously that Elorrah might want to use them as bait. She let them know that they were just silly boys and not to be trusted to make decisions on their own any more. The Pitched Battle was met over an ancient battlefield, at first thought to be a crone world, but further evidence revealed it not to be so. The ancient statues though somewhat Eldar in art were on closer inspection, somewhat human in craftsmanship.

The Pathfinders reported that the forces were those of Nurgle. The Chaos Marines attacked first, but did very little other thank make a lot of noise and noxious vapour. Raptors tried to get in the right flank. Wraithguard shot down the right flank in their serpent, Guardian jetbikes tenatively took the left flank. Falcons focussed on the Land Raider. Someone cut down a Raptor in his attempt to get behind our lines. More shooting from the enemy resulted in lots of smoke and noise and some terminators appeared near the jetbikes, but they were able to dance away, but lost their prisoner in the process. Despite them firing a melta gun at him, the Wraithlord strode into the midst of the slicing them open left and right. They fled and he cut them down as they ran.

The Wraithguard wound up immobilizing the (really gorgeous despite being unfinished) land raider but it disgorged some very unhappy plague marines (then again they always look unhappy) and their Chaos Lord Tardiness. They promptly beat the Wraithguard into little wraithbone bits and the marines stayed to guard the two prisoners they had while the Lord ran off to get blasted by a Falcon. Dire Avengers later showed up and wound up killing one or two marines before dying off. The Exarch though we think is still fighting at this very moment.

The Wraithlord meanwhile ran down the middle of the board (after a brief stop to look at the pretty pretty lights) and wound up engaging the chosen. Chosen to be smashed it seems. He also tangled with another squad of plague marines. They weren't too happy when last seen. Harlequins ran down the daemons they summoned and made short work of them, but when they turned to engage the Obliterator cult, they were torched into ash. The Fire Dragons however, strode through the fire and promptly embarrassed the Obliterators.

The terminators used the time they had to chase after the Falcons, and although they shook them up a bit, the Falcons kept on flying. One of them chased down a rhino and gave the driver whiplash. Twice. Three of the prisoners were crossing paths midfield, one was far left, another far right and the last being fought over by the plague marines and the lone Dire Avenger exarch. At the last moment (and gambling successfully (rolled a 1!) the game ended at turn 5) the warlocks remaining jetbikers swooped down and manage to capture back two of the fleeing prisoners and contest the fleeing farseer!! Victory Eldar!

Now we will return the Farseers back to the craftworld and see if the intelligence they hopefully gathered was worth the price we paid.

The Tournament list evolving...

2010-11-28T12:08:00.003-05:00

I'm now on version 4 of my tourney Eldar list. I'm feeling a bit less confident in the Eldar than the Tyranids, but that's only because I'm losing. However in losing I'm learning and in learning we grow better. There's still plenty of time.

I've dropped the Autarch at this point. She's awesome and can put a melta gun wherever I need it with that bike, but she's just too expensive at this point range (not to mention it just takes one S6 shot to kill her outright) A whole squad of Fire Dragons with an Exarch is cheaper. That's FIVE times the melta. Noah asked 'why the exarch?' Well that's all I own.

I did manage to pick up a second Falcon in the list, but at the cost of Holofields on both of them, and downgrading the Pathfinders to Rangers. I've noticed most of the lists that people have made at 1k wind up with armor. I'm having to cope with that by bringing my own and running the Fire Dragons.

My difficulty is this; I want to sculpt a list that looks a certain way. The more I see what's out there and what people are running, the more I feel forced to run a particular style list. I suppose this is the way of the Eldar. With specific roles for countering specific threats, one tends to wind up running a particular list. Here is that list now.

1 Farseer @ 140 pts - Doom ; Fortune ; Runes of Witnessing; Spirit Stones; Shuriken Pistol; Witchblade

4 Fire Dragons @ 100 pts + 1 Fire Dragon Exarch - Firepike

8 Dire Avengers @ 255 pts + 1 Dire Avenger Exarch - Bladestorm ; Avenger S-Catapult
1 Wave Serpent - TL Shuriken Catapults; TL Missile Launchers

5 Rangers @ 95 pts

1 Wraithlord @ 125 pts - Flamer x2; Wraithsword; Missile Launcher

1 Falcon @ 145 pts - Spirit Stones; Missile Launcher; TL Shuriken Catapults; Pulse Laser

1 Falcon @ 140 pts - Spirit Stones; Scatter Laser; TL Shuriken Catapults; Pulse Laser

If you have thoughts, I'd love to hear them please.

Tournament bound! (and happy 50th post!)

2010-11-23T16:00:00.000-05:00

Finally! Motivation! Muse-ism! Something to do!

There's a tourney scheduled the Ides of January at the (now) local store. They don't have 40k tourneys very often and I missed the last one, so it's been since March I think since I've had a tourney. Gah! I did manage to walk away with a "best painted team" trophy, so that's tided (is that a word?) over for a while.

My first thought was to dig out my Eldar for their very first big tourney run. Then I read up on it. 1000 points. Ouch. Well is it a team tourney like last year? No. Wow, so just 1k per player. Ok, I can do this. Write up some Eldar. Meh, My Eldar look much better at higher points. Well lets try 'nids. Holy cow! I can get a Swarm of Personality list going at 1k. 37 stealerbugs, 4 Shrikes w/boneswords, Parasite of Mortrex and the Doom of Malan'tai in at 999 points.

Wait, Kill points?!? Parasite's out! No way I'm giving the kill points away. Back up, readjust. Bugs are going to be a tough build. I don't have a Tyranid Prime, or a Tervigon (like he's better than the Parasite) so the only HQ option is a Tyrant. I like the Great White, but he's a bit pricey in 1k. Gaunts are also a no no for me since they are too easy to get points on (and I only have 13 of them). Here's my initial thought, but it tested badly last night.

I REALLY want to take my Eldar 'cause they are so pretty, but I'm not firecely competitive with them yet. Here's my initial findings for them.

1 Farseer @ 163 pts ((pp.26, 28 & 60 Eldar); Independent Character; Psyker; Doom ; Fortune ; Mind War ; Fleet; Ghosthelm; Rune Armour; Runes of Witnessing; Spirit Stones; Shuriken Pistol; Singing Spear)

9 Dire Avengers @ 302 pts ((pp.30 & 64 Eldar); Fleet; Avenger S-Catapult)

+1 Dire Avenger Exarch (Fleet; Bladestorm ; Power Weapon; Shimmershield)
+1 Wave Serpent ((pp.45 & 63 Eldar); Unit Type: Vehicle (Skimmer, Tank, Fast); Energy Field; Spirit Stones; Shuriken Cannon; TL Missile Launchers)

1 Autarch @ 108 pts ((pp.29 & 60 Eldar); Independent Character; Fleet; Master Strategist; Banshee Mask; Forceshield; Power Weapon; Shuriken Pistol; Reaper Launcher; Haywire Grenades; Plasma Grenades)

5 Pathfinders (Rangers) @ 120 pts ((pp.38 & 64 Eldar); Fleet; Infiltrate; Move Through Cover; Stealth; Ignore Difficult Terrain; Pathfinder Stealth; Scouts; Pathfinders; Shuriken Pistol x5; Ranger Long Rifle)

1 Wraithlord @ 120 pts ((pp.47 & 66 Eldar); Unit Type: Monstrous Creature; Fearless; Wraithsight; Flamer x2; Wraithsword; Scatter Laser)

4 Harlequin Troupe @ 184 pts ((pp.48-49 & 63 Eldar); Fleet; Flip Belts; Furious Charge; Hit & Run; Holo-Suit; Harlequins Kiss x4; Fusion Pistol x1; Shuriken Pistol x3; Hallucinogen Grenades)
+1 Shadowseer (Psyker; Veil Of Tears ; Fleet; Flip Belts; Furious Charge; Hit & Run; Holo-Suit; Close Combat Weapon; Shuriken Pistol; Hallucinogen Grenades)
+1 Troupe Master (Fleet; Flip Belts; Furious Charge; Hit & Run; Holo-Suit; Power Weapon; Shuriken Pistol; Hallucinogen Grenades)

I'm tempted to drop the Autarch and the Wraithlord for a loaded Falcon. That would help deliver the Harlequins and give me something really survivable. The wraithlord is very useful though, and when combined with Mindwar can tie up a squad of marines forever. I like the Autarch build because it deters people from charging the Pathfinders in close combat, plus it's an almost guaranteed 2 dead things per turn.

Still, I have nearly two months to prepare and very little painting/modeling to do so I've got some leeway. I also have plenty of time to figure out what to wear too.

1 Hive Tyrant @ 255 pts (Unit Type: Monstrous Creature; Bonded Exoskeleton; Synapse Creature; Psyker; Shadow in the Warp; Lash Whip & Bonesword x1; Heavy Venom Cannon; Regeneration; Armoured Shell; Leech Essence; The Horror)

x2: 17 Genestealer Brood @ 300 pts (Unit Type: Infantry; Reinforced Chitin; Rending Claws; Brood Telepathy; Fleet; Infiltrate; Move Through Cover)
+1 Broodlord (Unit Type: Infantry; Hardened Carapace; Rending Claws; Brood Telepathy; Fleet; Infiltrate; Move Through Cover; Psyker; Scything Talons; Aura of Despair; Hypnotic Gaze)

1 The Doom of Malan'tai @ 145 pts (Unit Type: Infantry; Claws & Teeth; Reinforced Chitin; Instinctive Behaviour - Feed; Absorb Life; Fearless; Psychic Strength; Psyker; Shadow in the Warp; Spirit Leech; Warp Field; Mycetic Spore; Cataclysm)
+1 Mycetic Spore (Unit Type: Monstrous Creature; Hardened Carapace; Lash Whip; Ripper Tentacles; Deep Strike; Fearless; Immobile Pod; Limited Sentience; Transport Spore; Barbed Strangler)

Fiction - The Origin of Autarch Ry'hanna Skyblade (part 1)

2010-11-22T14:15:00.002-05:00

Ry'hanna ech'Tyur of the Skyblade clan and her cousin Allonia lived on the Saim Hann craftworld. Naturally, they learned the jetbike and even talked as children of following the path of the Shining Spear. As adults this was not to be so. Ry'hanna did not feel the path of the Warrior's call in her heart. Instead she became an artisan. Allonia felt the calling of the Scorpion, and joined that Aspect. For many decades they would not see one another, or maybe just in passing, until a fateful day when Saim Hann had wandered near an Exodite world. The Exodite world had been invaded by Imperial forces and the Craftworld responded sending relief forces. Ry'hanna was called upon to fulfill her role as a guardian and took to battle on the back of her jetbike with the others. After a very successful battle, the Exodites were feasting the victorious off-world Eldar and Ry'hanna and Allonia had a chance meeting.

They spent several days catching up. Allonia spoke of the battles she had seen and places that she had been to. Ry'hanna listened intently, as she did not have such tales. She spent the intervening years learning various forms of art. Sculpting, painting, dancing, she even attempted bonesinging. She had skill, of that there was no doubt, but she could not seem to reach a mastery of any art form. Some yearning was within her that she could not identify. She never spoke of this, not even with her cousin. They also spoke of the future, and it was Allonia's turn to be silent as her future only lie with war. Ry'hanna spoke of hopes of betrothal and other learnings. She spoke of lofty dreams and possibly becoming involved in politics.

They had wandered from the Exodite village a bit, strolling hand in hand as they had done when children. Ry'hanna had removed her biker's gloves, but Allonia still retained her scorpion armor. Only her head was bare. Ry'hanna stopped both talking and walking when she noticed Allonia was staring at her with a strange smile on her face. "What is it?"

"Nothing," replied Allonia. "You think you are lost and cannot find your path, but you are not. Rare is the one who can dominate the path instead of it dominating them. I-"

She was cut off by a scream from towards the village. She turned fluidly and sprinted towards the village, her brown braid streaming behind her. Ry'hanna watched her go, hearing her chainsword quietly whirring to life. She stood for a moment, hand outstretched towards her cousin. She then realized that she had taken two sprinting steps towards the trouble as well. Had her cousin's grip carried her along? Had she reacted as instantly as the Aspect Warrior? Sounds of catapult fire and more screams broke her reverie and she turned and sprinted towards where their bikes had been stored.

The raid was over as quickly as it begun. The Dark Kin had taken many of the Exodites and several of the Eldar as well. Allonia was among those missing, her scorpion helmet, resting where she had set it, the only thing attesting to her having been there. Ry'hanna cradled the helmet and cried silently. Allonia had been her best friend forever and the only one she could share her innermost thoughts with as children.

Some days later, they returned to the craftworld. The pain of loss was soon replaced with the thirst for vengeance. Ry'hanna took up the path of the scorpion in an attempt to sate that thirst. Several years went by and despite several engagements with the Dark Kin; she was no nearer learning the fate of her cousin. Was she alive? If there were any chance she must find out and do what she had to, in order to free her. Her Exarch chided her for not embracing the path fully, that her dwelling on the past and her loss was distracting her from becoming a great warrior. Shortly thereafter, Ry'hanna abandoned the path, but she kept her helmet, which had been Allonia's.

For months she researched what she could about the webway, the Dark Kin and Comorragh. There was limited knowledge on her craftworld, and the Warlocks and Seers were not very forthcoming. She was becoming frustrated at finding one dead end after another until she met Seer Tu'chall. She was in mid question when he shivered and a faraway look came to his almond shaped eyes. She watched him quietly until finally he sighed deeply. His eyes refocusing on her, he seemed to be overcome with a sad look. He rested his hand on her shoulder and told her, "I'm sorry child, your answers lie somewhere distant, and your path will lead you there. I see death, greatness and the Archenemy in your path. Tread carefully." He then grew silent and wouldn't respond to further questions. Ry'hanna went to contemplate this news.

Two days later a group of Rangers emerged from the webway to resupply and pass on information. They had news of a small Dark Eldar raiding party moving towards an Imperial outpost. This news did not interest the clan leaders. They would not risk Eldar lives for the mon-keigh. This did interest Ry'hanna though, and was just the sign she was waiting for. She packed her things, said a few quick goodbyes to some of her dearer clan members and ran to join the Rangers. They agreed to let her go with them, and even loaned her a spare rifle. Her clan leader approached and warned her that her path would forsake the clan and she might not be welcome back should she return. She replied, "My cousin is out there, her fate unknown. Here lies a chance, with these, to discover what may have happened to her, yet you would not do anything for her or me. The clan has forsaken one of its own, so what is another?" He stared at her impassively. After a moment or two Ry'hanna turned and strode to where the Rangers stood waiting by the webway gate. They greeted her and together they stepped through the gate.

Her life as an outcast had begun.

*edit* Part 3 is here

Things are finally coming together

2010-11-21T07:42:00.001-05:00

A quick trip back to Athens to drop off the old place's keys, spot clean and visit my storage unit (ok, not that quick) later and I think I have my painting station problem solved. I now have desk space! Now I just have to get things set up.

I'm currently just looking at a desk with my panting board and a box labelled "Painting desk" on top of it. I think it will work pretty well. I have it in front of the window so I can get some natural light, but also have my florescent light propped above it. Granted I'm not happy about the light just sitting, but it will do until I can get to the hardware store and assemble some sort of stand for it. I'm not sure the apartment complex would like me drilling holes in the ceiling to hang it otherwise. Right now I'm just happy to have some progress for my hobby.

"Why haven't you made that priority?" I hear you ask? Oh, well because I"m still trying to solve another equally-if-not-more important issue. I've only got one closet here (instead of the two in the previous place) and I'm not sure where all my shoes will go. I won't even go into the clothes issue. Things are a little tense. Some shoes might actually get less 'special' treatment and that's going to take some diplomacy.

More space has me tickled pink. I finally have all my armies in one place. Granted they're still in boxes and/or cases, but they're not split between storage and home any more. Of course this just reinforces the idea that I should get rid of one or more of them, but which? I kind of like the idea that I won't have to buy an army for the next 10 years or so.

I also have playspace again. Granted my gaming table doubles as a dining table, but at least my priorites are straight, right? Just have to find a place to stash all of the terrain. There's a tiny closet in the living room that I have my eye on. My board games already occupy the top shelf there. (Don't worry coats, ya'll got the big closet in the foyer)

Warning: rant ahead.

Ok, enough about that. Let's talk about the Land Raider Achilles, shall we? At first, I was all tingly. A tank with a thunderfire cannon! I love the ~~Thudd Gun~~ thunderfire cannon, it very nearly made me build Space Marines again when they first released it. The fact that this model is forgeworld non-withstanding, I went and looked at the rules. Point cost only 50 more than a standard Land Raider not bad for something with an artillery piece in the gut. I thought this was okay until I saw "Ferromantic Invulnerability". Ignores Lance AND Melta rules. Suddenly the points for this thing got way under what it's worth. I could see one or the other, but both? I dunno, maybe I'm over analyzing this thing, but I just think that it's a bit overboard. Land Raiders are tough enough to take out for my Eldar as it is since we go no higher than S8 without resorting to other options. And the poor Sisters, Melta's all they got.

I'll just hope that rule stays FW and doesn't translate over eventually.

Battle report too. Long over due.

2010-11-18T08:49:00.000-05:00

Well the moving is done, and the unpacking has commenced. Sadly my painting setup that I had imagined did not work out, so I'm still at a loss on where I will be painting. Still, I'm very glad the move is over and the new place is much much bigger. I'm also glad that I'm back online. I've had a difficult time with AT&T the last few days.

But enough of that, you didn't come here to listen to her prattle. You came here for a battle report!

So the game was 2000 points, Eldar vs Blood Angels. Mission was Annihilation (again, bleah) and setup was pitched battle. BA went first and reserved everyone. I failed to steal the inititave.

The BA forces consisted of Dante, 2 squads of Assault marines, one squad of Sanguinary guard, a Librarian dread, Stormraven a Land Raider and a Terminator squad.

Eldar forces were led by Farseer Elorrah, and had Jain Zar, Wraithlord with sword and starcannon, 2 falcons, 3 wave serpents each with Banshees, Dire Avengers and Wraithguard. Pathfinders were in a tower somewhere.

First turn, I moved around alot. Tanks were flat-outing all over the table and parking back-to-back since his entire army was dropping in. I wanted to multiply the targets so he was confused as to where to drop his stuff in, then I could mob up on stragglers. Only Dante and both squads of marines reserved on turn one. I was REALLY happy about this as I figured there would be plenty of fire on both squads and hopefully wiping them out ready for the next wave.

Alas, nothing like that for this girl. I think i managed to kill 2 of dante's squad, one of which didn't really feel the pain. Not a fair trade since they had just killed my wraithlord. He was all ready to assault them too, since Elorrah had just successfully Mind War'd the Power Fist. The other squad dropped just outside of the priest's range and got shot up, actually FAILED morale and ran for it. I was very happy. They had plenty of room to run as both squads landed on my side of the table.

But woe, despite being within 6" of three separate units, the marines rallied and leaped over the tanks to engage Elorrah in close combat after trying to melta her first. This actually tied her up for the rest of the game. She did kill one marine but never left combat.

Things got worse from there. Dante and the gang dogpiled on the Wraithguard's wave serpent, immobilizing it, the Land Raider showed up, exploding the Banshees' serpent and killing two of them in the ensuing explosion. My wraithguard hopped out of their (now) bunker and wrecked the 'raider. Very nice of them. The Terminators of course hopped out, spoiling for a fight and after some heavy fire power into them, Jain Zar and her girls obliged, to great effect. The termies never got to strike back, and the banshees swept back into the wreckage for cover. (I just realized, I don't believe I took dangerous terrain tests for that, shame on me)

Next turn, the Storm raven shows up, kills a couple more banshees, drops the librarian in front of them. Dante heads for the wraithguard. I had some Dire Avengers somewhere on the table but who knows what they were up to. Dante kills all the wraithguard and the Libraria-dread engages the banshees and slowly begins to kill them all as they struggle in vain. Accursed 13 front armor!!

I did a lot of wounds across the board, but being kill points I didn't focus enough and wound up losing something like 2 to 5. My opponent made a methodical sweep with Dante, killing and moving on. The librarian, though not doing anything psychically (he was afraid of Ellorah's runes), tied up Jain Zar and my banshees and slowly mashed them into Eldar paste.

I was impressed with my Wraithguard, they were in the right place at the right time even despite having a flat tire on their bus. Ellorah was on her game too, despite getting bogged down in combat. I had tried out Fortune on her this game and will never NOT buy it for her again. The banshees, while making fun of the (Doomed) terminators, just couldn't predict the stormraven showing up and dumping an impenetrable dreadnought on them. Not much you can do about that.

It was an enjoyable game and day for my last regular game with the gang there in Athens. I'll go back for sure, especially if they cry Apocalypse (or Planetstrike). For now though, there's a new kid (old lady) in town.

Is it... a Battle Report?

2010-11-10T09:15:00.005-05:00

Yes! She lives.

Yes, I have an unfinished figure on the table.
I'm so ashamed..

The last several weeks have been a whirlwind of busy. I had to scramble to put my halloween costume together (successfully I might add). The party was comic themed, and I wanted something a bit obscure. Sadly, since I got out of comics in the early 90s, my idea of obscure is unheard of for the average comic fan now. Still, the ones that went and checked it out after the party said I made a spot on Typhoid Mary.

After Halloween, the packing began in earnest. I'm still doing it. I hate moving. But it will be a bigger place and more room to spread out my hobby instead of a tiny little corner between my computer and sewing desk.

But this is a battle report. I took a break on Sunday to get in a game with the guys before moving. I won't say last, since I'm only about 50 minutes away and will certainly come running back when they dangle the Apocalypse hook in front of me.

I actually got in two games. The first was vs Noah we both had 1250 footslogging Eldar forces. From now on I'll stick to my vehicles. We rolled Anihillation/Dawn of War for the game, Noah goes first.

He's got lots of Dire Avengers, 1 unit of pathfinders, a storm guardian squad with warlock, striking scorpions, an Avatar and 3 Wraithlords. I realized woefully at that point I wasn't ready for that. I brought nothing for heavy weapons. I had opted out Fire Dragons for a winged Autarch. I had an Avatar, Farseer with Doom, Fortune and Guide, 6 Harlequins, full squads of Dire Avengers, Banshees, Reapers and also a 5 man Pathfinder squad.

Noah deployed the Avatar center board, avengers on my left and pathfinders on my right. I put my pathfinders on the left in some trees and tried to make sure I was out of range of his own snipers. The avengers were slightly forward from there behind a large rock and the Farseer deployed with them. My objective was to reaper the Avatar and snipers and snipe(guided) the Wraithlords (Doomed). First turn was lightweight, with both armies marching on. Avengers came in call across his board, the wraithlords were spaced out and the Avatar, storm guardians and scorpions marched up the middle. Pathfinders were pretty much the sole target for the wraithlords but their cover held. On my turn I marched Harlequins up the middle, followed by Banshees. Reapers ran into the trees on my right side with the Autarch, though as a separate unit (he had wings). My avengers held their cover for the time being as there was no range. Pathfinders failed to see anything.

Most of the game was fought in, around and
over this small pond. Obviously a very important
landmark for the Eldar.

Turn two had me losing a couple of Avengers despite a fortuned cover save. I think all the wraithlords fired my way. The Avatar continued sprinting forward and was nearing charge range. I wasn't sure my Harleys would be able to hold against him. His pathfinders shot at my reapers pretty much all game, but no one died this turn. Banshees were fired at and lost two. Harlies and Banshees ran forward. Reapers fired at the Avatar but only managed one wound despite having doomed him. The Farseer had joined the Harlequins during movement. My Pathfinders wounded a wraithlord and finished him off on the following turn, but not before he put a well placed brightlance or missle into the Autarchs face. The Avengers stepped out and (guided) bladestormed into the (doomed) Avatar. It was a bit of a mess. Avatar parts littered the ground after that.

On turn three the storm guardians were moving forward to keep the warlock pacing the wraithlords, scorpions were close behind. A Dark reaper fell to sniper fire. The wraithlords sought out my pathfinders but could only hit leaves and bark. My Avengers hid, the reapers attempted to hurt a wraithlord but failed to wound. My harlequins (now fortuned) danced across the lake and assaulted the storm guardians and put a hurting on them but didn't wipe them out. They did manage to kill the warlock in that squad tho, so wraithsight was now in effect!

Turn 4 had the harlequins getting wiped out by scorpions. Farseer too, thanks to a scorp claw to the liver. Ouchies! The banshees took some withering fire, and were wiped out. Another Reaper dropped to sniper fire, and the squad fell, pinned down. Two more reapers were hit by a wraithlord, leaving just the Exarch. My pathfinders shot the offending wraithlord and put two wounds on him, but still not dead. The scorps having moved up, now faced the Avengers next volley of bladestormyness. I weathered that assault, but now his Avengers were moving in and all I had left were a few avengers, some on-fire pathfinders and a reaper exarch. It was only downhill from there.

I believe the score was Eleventy billion kill points to 3. This is why my eldar don't walk. They don't like carrying heavy weapons to a battle when forced to walk.

I'll post game 2 of the day soon!

Battle Report - Swarm of Personality vs Space Marines

2010-10-26T13:28:00.002-04:00

The Great White Hive Tyrant can be sneaky at times.

So after hearing Fritz blog and blog about the Tyrannofex I finally broke out 'little brother' and began converting him over. I guess he'll be "mini-T'fex". Of course, being Queen of Magnets I'm magnetizing his main gun so that I can swap between rupture cannon and the gun that rolls far too many dice (~~doesn't have codex handy~~ fleshborer hive). I picked up a lot of devourer guns on ebay recently, and several of them have a date with some green stuff for this conversion.

So I dropped 2 of the Zoeys from the list in order to drop pod the remaining one in, upgrade the lictor to Deathleaper (it IS the Swarm of Personality after all) and add Hive Commander to the Great White Hive Tyrant because it is MUCH needed in this list (switched back to Paroxsym instead of the Horror too, but only out of reflex). I also dropped boneswords from the Shrikes, added a barbed strangler and dropped scything talons from one of the broodlords due to being one point over. This would have made the list completely reserving in, but I swapped the Carnifex (and his newly made Mycetic spore) out for the mini-Tyrannofex who doesn't like to fly (He pities the fool).

We rolled Annihilation for the game and Dawn of War for deployment. Yuck on both since the T-fex has to walk. Marines win and choose table side. Scouts and a rhino show up first. I set up everything in reserve / outflank. T-fex would walk on first turn.

LOTS of tanks roll on. Land raider, a predator with Brother Chronos, another rhino, vindicator and a razorback all show Dreadnought droppods center table. They look around and find nothing to shoot at, maybe intel was bad...

Wait, what's that on the horizon, some kinda new bug. It shoots and the shots go wide. Shoot it and we'll ask what it was later!! Marines inflict 4 wounds on T-fex (thanks to my opponent's ability to roll ones when he needs them the most!), He regens a wound and returns fire on the predator and manages to shake it, which Chronos ignores cause he's a jerk like that. Tyranids 2nd turn has everything except the solo Zoey come down in turn two. Thank you hive commander!! Both stealer squads come in on the left flank, but have nothing to assault yet, but at 20 bugs each, there will be lots left to get into combat. Must be careful those doublestacked (He'stan) flamers are going to be nasty. Doom scatters way wide, fails to suck up any wounds, but this ultimately saves him as he's way outside the killy zone. T-fex knocks the lascannon off the predator, GWHT comes in brainleeches blazing but doesn't kill anything that I remember, Deathleaper sneaks up behind the vindicator and fleshhooks the main gun right out of it! Parasite and the Shrikes go wide too, landing right in front of the Land raider.... not good. I had no on-target drops that turn and normally the GWHT is spot on (which would have put 6 x S6 shots in the back of the dreadnought).

Sternguard jump out of the Lazorback and double double flamer shrikes. He'stan and the terminators hop out of the land raider and he cooks some as well. Wounds fall away like popcorn but the Parasite saves a couple of wounds trying to soak. All is for naught as the termies charge in, hammers at the ready. Not TOO ready as the Parasite tries to make some rippers, though I'm not looking forward to generating new kill points for my opponent. I go for the termies in order to try and reduce all those attacks, but I fail to roll any rends and they make their saves easily. Total bug splatter. They look towards the T-fex next. They spent most of their fire shooting at the shrikes, but someone got a lucky shot on the Doom and he takes a wound as well. Tyrannofex and stealers try to entrap the terminators, but Big guy fails his Instinctive behaviour roll and the stealers rool a really bad run. Great White moves up to line up the Dread and shoots getting 2 pens and 2 glances in the back but thanks to the trees between them the Dread saves ALL FOUR. So much for my opponent's bad luck! Deathleaper fades into the trees and doom moves in and manages to clip 2 squads with the Aura going up to 9 wounds, he blasts a full tac squad and then entagles them in close combat! Doomies's spore immobilizes the pred too! The errant Zoey drops in in the middle of everything in order to take out the Land Raider, but gets a headache when he rolls a 12 on his psy test. Having to Lurk, the T-fex fires on the Term squad and manages to kill one of them and cannot assault. The stealers cannot reach either, so instead assault the Lazorback and barely immobilize it. Deathleaper shows up and wrecks it, but gets shot down almost immediately after. Other stealer squad ran into some cover and decided NOT to assault the land raider for what should be obvious reasons.

At some point around here I look over and realize that it's 5 KP to 2. The 2 being mine. Doom was tied up with a squad and having had them flee originally, was out of range to suck the wounds off of the scout squad. I definintely needed to change my luck.

The Terminators having smushed the T-fex's head and follow up into what's left of the stealers after doing the flamer squeeze on them with the Sternguard. The Dread bears down on the Zoey counting on someone to take out the blocking spore for him, the land raider and snipers wound up taking out the spore AND the zoey, the Dread was so sad. Landraider (via machine spirit) and one side of the predator shoot some of the 2nd stealer squad, but some of them make cover saves. Vindicator and rhino both go back to back to keep their kill point butts covered. Not much left to shoot at. Doomie finishes sucking the life out of the squad he's engaged with and moves off in hunt of more. GWHT lands behind the Dread and shoots off his power fist arm and stun him. Charging in, he does some more damage, but the dread isn't dead yet. The 2nd stealer squad (with the freckles) swarm all over the predator attempting to dislodge Chronos (and his kill point!) but despite wrecking it 3 or 4 times, the little guy gets tangled in the wreckage and never hits the table (and denies me that easy KP).

There are so many stealers left that shooting at them proves inconsequential. The sternguard and Terminators fall back away from the GWHT, Termies forming a shield wall. Doomie lances the land raider, but nothing happens. The stealers engage the scouts and what's left of the vindicator. The Tyrant finally kills the dread, and despite all those stealers, they only manage to wreck the vindicator, but scouts survive.

Lucky for me we go to a turn 6! Land raider shoots and fails to wound the Spore and Doom makes his save. Sternguard and Termies continue falling back, the sternguard making it to cover. GWHT leaps over the wreckage of the lazorback and shoots the termies, killing one or two. Doom forgoes the land raider and uses Cataclysm on the sternguard but they have cover so 2 survive (argh!), catching and killing a terminator as well. The spore continues to lob barbed strangler rounds seemingly at random. The stealers finish of the scouts thankfully, and The Great White Hive tryant splits his attacks and manages to kill off the terminators, but He'Stan survives only to be cut down by Toxic Miasma.

Final tally - 8 KP to 7, Tyranids pull out a squeaky win. It was a very tough game and lots of fun. :)

Battle Report - Eldar Apocalypse!

2010-10-22T16:56:00.000-04:00

Well I'm slacking again. It's been nearly a week and I never posted a battle report. Obviously you, dear reader are slacking too, since you haven't hounded me about it! The game of all games and neither of us seem too concerned.

All things concerned we learned quite a bit about all sorts of things; units and rules we don't often play with and I think that was a very good thing for all of us.

The game was standard Apoc. 9000 pts of Imperial vs 9000 points Eldar. Troops only were scorers. Six objectives and 3 Apoc assets for each side, drawn at random.

Noah and I chose to go second by bidding 30 minutes for set up. We wanted the option to infiltrate if needed. The Marines scattered all over the board and left only 2 places to do so, one very wide open and the other behind a terrain blocking LoS. I put my 5 Pathfinders there in the hopes that it would draw off some attackers first round and/or they would ignore them, and then we could sprint for the objective later. Well little me didn't read the Marine codex well enough or I'd have known that the Whirlwind doesn't need LoS and has a missle that's the absolute bane of Pathfinders (ignores cover saves). The first round connected and wiped out the unit.The Banehammer that was there fired a earthquake round at the Waveserpent formation and while it didn't hurt it, BOTH our banshee WS's immobilized themselves on our first turn, the Dire Avenger WS later. The Cloudstrike Formation flew all the way across the board and landed in the opposite corner of the table. Next round it took out both lascannons (and a Hammer Blow Asset took out the main gun) on the Bane(Fell)hammer and immobilized a dreanought (that had spun to face!)and also dropped off harlequins. One of the Falcons was crippled with 5 DA inside, but the rest flew away having done damage and drawn off a portion of the forces. The harlequins managed to take out the Forgefather with the conversion beamer on bike that was harrassing our wraithlords and wave serpents, but then they were cut down by Banehammer heavy bolters. They paid for themselves well over, killing the techie and drawing Shrike, 2 rhinos and the Banehammer for 2 rounds.

Apoc Barrage took out my DA squad, but Asurmen walked out unscathed. He was a little unsure of what to do with no ride and being dead center of our forces. He later was in the process of destroying a Sanguinary squad when the game ended. Fuegan hopped out early and wound up engaging and immobilizing one of the two dreadnoughts that drop podded in our deployment zone first turn. He was punched to death tho thanks to blood talons. The other Dread stunned one of the Fire Prisms and killed 4/5ths of the Shining Spears in that turn.

We had 5 Wraithlords and I must say they were the stars of the game. One spun backwards and took out the Dread in the very back (that killed the Spears). Another took off after Dante and the gang that had dropped into a ruin 2nd turn and had killed my wraithguard squad and retreated back into cover. Two flamers and a wraithsword later and there were a lot of dead marines. Eldrad headed over and burst a lot of brains there. Another headed towards a Marine Landraider and the subsequent Terminators that emerged after the cloudstrikers made it a smoking ruin. One terminator and whatshisname from the salamanders remained after thunderhammering the wraithlord in the dirt. Striking Scorpions and Autarch finished them off. My last wraithlord (only one armed without a wraithsword) stood atop a landing pad providing support fire where needed.

(Wow there was a lot going on!!)

More thundernators and a Librarian emerged from their wrecked land raider right in front of my banshee wave serpent (now bunker) and assaulted and wiped out, the Dark Reapers in the neighboring building. Jain Zar led the banshees into the building and wiped back. Noah's Fire Dragons x 10 almost solely held the right flank vs 2 Dreads and a tac squad dug into a building. My Wild Rider Formation came in trying to distract a predator and LR on our right flank and wound up drawing 3 squads of jump troops who also blocked off their path to use the strategic redeployment. My vypers failed 3 rounds to blow up the predator even with rear shots. (again, the wraithlords came to the rescue). Jump troopers killed my guardians on bikes. Sanguinary guard got my Autarch (right before Asurmen got to them) and Though Elorrah put up quite a fight, a second squad of jumpers assaulted her and wiped her out (despite fortune). The Shining spear that had come to her rescue failed his morale and fled the board. This worked out okay because Maugan Ra and the Reapers had been bored nearly the whole game. They cut down a lot of marines but did finally get assaulted, but soon found out why Maugan Ra wears a skull. He's good at killing. Really good. Only one reaper died in that fight.

The Eldar team went home despondent on Sat night after 2 turns of Imperial hammering. Sunday afternoon started with turn three and the Cloudstrike formation taking their first Lance shots and was a definite upswing in morale. The game was pretty tense from there and wound up in a draw with each side holding one objective. The Imperial side claimed we should have won since Noah didn't flat out with his falcon holding the 5 Avengers and we ended the game 30 minutes earlier than planned. So we took the draw, but the Moral victory is ours!!

Eldar reign supreme!

Rawr!

Apocalypse! The Eldar challenge.

2010-10-16T16:30:00.000-04:00

As I'm moving out of town next month, and it seems to be tradition around here to have a 'going away game', Noah approached me with the idea of a big TWO DAY Apocalypse game. We both have rather large Eldar armies and both are increasing slowly. We each totalled what we had and came up with a combined total of around 9000 points! The combined forces of Yme-Loc and Iybraesil issued an open ended challenge on the local forums here and awaited a challenger.

For a while we didn't think anyone had the courage (or points) to face us, but finally the Space Marines have stepped up. At first it was a lone Defenders of Terra (Imperial Fists / Blood Angels) player who knows no fear, but he was soon joined by others. Both the Blood Angels and Imperial Dragons (Salamanders descendant) chapters have made showings. They've shown courage, but that may not be enough, do they have the points?

A list of what we are bringing follows shortly. As it stands, we are planning on using the cloudstrike squadron to get in behind enemy lines and use Pulse Lasers Lances on the BaneStormSwordBlade that we are pretty certain of seeing. These will also serve to take out the Defense Laser but I'm really really hoping that they've all forgotten that particular bit of terrain I built.

The Aspect Assault wave will be used to charge in and deliver all sorts of killy-ness. 2 squads of banshees, 1 each of dire avengers, scorpions and fire dragons will be joined by Jain Zar, Asurmen and Fuegan. They'll use the energy wave ability to force pinning checks for 5d6" around. Most of the eldar will be immune since the Avatar will be aboard, not to mention that all 5 wraithlords and the wraithguard unit (also in a wave serpent) all grant Fearless within 12" thanks to the Spirit Host formation.

My Wild Riders will be waiting in the wings to fill in whatever gaps or capturing/contesting objectives as needed, but Autarch Ry'hanna will break off and join the Shining Spears when they arrive. When they aren't charging into combat, Ry'hanna will be laying down Marine death with her Reaper Launcher. Elorrah is also in the host, and will offer backup Farseer support when needed.

We each have Pathfinders and Reapers that will be placed all about the board, and my Reapers will have Maugan Ra to give support if the enemy gets too close. Noah also has several 5 man DA squads in case we need to hold or contest objectives.

Noah is bringing a trio of Fire Prisms. I regret that I don't have one to loan him for a decent Sunstorm formation. That would really make them second guess deploying their superheavy in the open, which they will no doubt do.

We fully expect to see a Titankiller formation since our Defenders of Terra player loves Lysander so. That vortex grenade could really make for a bad day. Thankfully we're largely mobile, but should they decide to come in our back field and try and assault our Wraithlords it could be bad if they catch one or two off on their own. We were planning on keeping them back and sniping with the brightlances. Luckily if that happens, 4 of 5 of them are armed with wraithswords.

We're randomly pulling Strategic Assets to keep things fresh and relying on generalship and less on cheezy combos. Only Troops will be scoring units this game.

I'm pretty confident that we will pull this through, especially since Intel has told us that the three generals aren't co-ordinating their army lists the way that Noah and I did. Still, coordination only goes so far when there are a bunch of Land Raiders on the board. Wish us luck! I for one am really excited about this game, it will be the largest I've ever played since 1st edition.

Well if you've read this far you probably want to see the army list, so here it is! The Yme-Loc/Iybraesil coalition! Game starts today at 6pm Eastern and may very well be televised! Come by and say hello!

We don't need no water...

2010-10-15T19:35:00.001-04:00

Enter the frazzled frantic woman trying to get ready for her last big game with the local gang (at least while living in town). At my partner's behest, I included my fire dragon squad into our giant Eldar force taking over the tables tomorrow. I was worried that I would have to field unpainted troops. (*gasp*) Anyone who knows me (or reads this blog with regularity) will attest that I dislike this practice. (she means "abhore") I don't mind it if playtesting, and have even done it myself, but in a 'showdown' match like this weekend, I want to look my best.

Despite the terrible photo, which I took while running through a tunnel in the rain in my highest heels (not really, it's just a crap camera), I feel like these guys turned out pretty well! I painted all five of these TODAY. That's right. Granted I did have one model I'd done for a test the night before that had the first coat of orange (that I had to mix up) on. Having a work at home job is pretty nice sometimes, and not just cause I get to work in my PJs if I want. Though, that hasn't stopped me from carrying some paint and figs into work in my purse before...

So anyway, I wanted quick and easy, and pretty much succeeded (see note about mixing above). I slathered (and that IS a painting term) some Mechrite Red over my black base coat, then followed it up with 2 overbrush coats of my (not so) Blazing Orange. For the yellow parts, they got a touch of Iyanden Darksun first, then Bad Moon yellow. I then went in and re-did the undersuits in Demon Deep Red (the best named color ever) by Polly S. It's the same shade as Mechrite, but not a foundation, I didn't want a second heavy coat. Loincloths are in Snot or Goblin green with Dark Angel green wash and Scorpion green highlights. Dwarf Bronze picked out the detail work and boot/glove buckles. Then everyone got Scorpion green eyes for contrast, but I wasn't thinking too deeply about the Exarch. I may still go give him some blue eyes. Exarch got Blood red gems (and later 'ardcoated) and those who had sashes/favors got them painted Hawk Turquoise since they work with Iybraesil and Autarch Ry'anna demands it.

In other news, who's getting Ultramarines: The Movie? Me! that's who. I don't care about all the whining about the game demos being prettier. I figure that if sales are high enough on the DVD, they'll make another. If they aren't, well duh. This is our chance to vote. And besides, have you ever seen the movie that GW actually DID put out? Inquisitor was pretty crappy. Some german kids did one better but it got pulled. Probably because they outdid GW. If you check out the credits, Inquisitor's writer(?) and the GW legal rep were the same person if I remember correctly... I wonder if that's a coincidence.

Harlequins - Finished!

2010-10-15T09:00:00.000-04:00

As of right this moment, My harlequins are done. Well ok, the first squad. Through some good old fashioned mini trading (bet you thought I'd say horse), I wound up with a dozen harleys. I even traded some of the classic models away, but they were doubles or didn't have kisses. I'm only using 6 in the Apocalypse game, since that is all that will fit in a Falcon.

We can now add Shadowseer to the list of figures that I was intimidated by but now I'm not. Lucius, Fabius Bile and this one all worried me with the level of detail, but that's a thing of the past. I'm hoping that Huron isn't too tough, because he's another one that intimidates me (he's a scary guy) and is on my to do list. I've always had a thing for the Red Corsairs, and they'll be a project (and blog) for a later time.

So tactially, as I mentioned previously, I've got a farseer riding in another Falcon within the same cloudstrike formation. The idea is to come on board, wagons circling, firing pulse lasers with the Lance rule at the super heavy. Harleys will disembark if it's safe enough. Next round, my main falcon gets guided and there's a doom for anyone foolish enough to come near the formation. If they get doomed, the harlequins are there to mop them up. Fire dragons will be riding in another in case of survivable vehicles.

I've never fielded fire dragons before. Hell I only have one shade of orange. I found a pot of blazing orange in my 'empty' bin that had dried up long ago. I cleaned the pot out and mixed up something very close and have the first test dragon nearly complete. Should be a quick and easy paint. I'm not going for fancy or showboat, since I'll hardly ever run them. Yes I know they are good, but it's not my style. This is apocalypse, you have to pull out all the stops. Or most of them, I'm leaving my Eldrad at home.

So as for the Apocalypse game, I'm way ahead of schedule. I didn't expect to have the harlequins done so soon, and figured I'd be go go going with the fire dragons all morning Saturday (after a trip to the store to get the right shade of orange paint). So I've got all day today and I should be done with the fire dragons by days end. Then I just need to finish Autarch Treshaaran. There won't be much after that until I have a completed Eldar army.

The roll continues - Harlequins & Apocalypse

2010-10-13T10:30:00.000-04:00

So I'm still rolling with the painting streak. I'm halfway through my harlequins, and as a break I hacked at and painted my old wraithlord. He's now got an interchangable hand and one of them has the 'kung fu' grip. I'm really liking the pose too, and maybe I'll get better photos of him soon.

So I completed Asurmen and (the previously shown) Maugan Ra. I took a bit more time on Asurmen than I did on Mauggy (30 minutes), and am pretty happy with the result. I'm not really thrilled about all the 'bulk' space between his loincloth and cape. I'm not sure what the official term for this is, but it's fairly annoying. It's always a challenging in how to deal with it, but in this case I just painted it black.

I've never played with Asurmen either, except for being on the recieving end of him, so I'm excited to have him coming to the big game this weekend. I'm not quite sure how to play him. Obviously he should be in with his DA squad, but I feel like that's wasting his potential since he's such a close combat monster being a Phoenix Lord and all. I guess his best use is soaking up hits for the DA squad (invulnerable and Eternal Warrior) and using him as a character assassin with the diresword. He's going to be in an aspect assault formation with Jain Zar, so I think he'll leave all the in-the-face killy stuff to her and just watch her back.

I swear. women have to do all the hard work sometimes...

This will also be my first game with Harlequins (assuming I actually finish painting them) and again I'm still a little unsure of how to use them, or maybe just uncomfortable with my lack of skill with them. I originally was going to put Jain Zar with them and have a Furious Charge party but it just makes more sense that she should be with her sister Banshees. And there was no room in the Harley's party falcon. Jain wasn't too thrilled about that. (I don't know if I'll ever be able to repair that friendship.)

I am, however following them in with Farseer Kessan Yoo'en (yes, I am so nerdy I name my characters) with Doom to give them a better chance at getting that rending result. He's got his own falcon to ride in, cause yup, he's just that cool. He's also got guide, which will really help since his falcon is my heavy gunship - pulse laser, bright lance and shuriken cannon. I'm running the cloudstrike formation so that will be a pulse lance laser when he comes out of the clouds. sadly though, I won't be able to guide that shot since they start the turn off board.

None of my Eldar that I've shown in my blog are based, and I'm surprised I haven't gotten flak over it. There are two reasons for this (the lack of basing, not flak) 1. because I base all my figures at one time. 2. Because I hadn't quite figured out how I want them based. I have work in progress, a water themed board, and had origianlly planned that my force excelled at that sort of assault. I've made sure that every unit has a transport, except the rangers and wraithlords (obviously) but recent aquisitions my have changed that. I'll have to resort all my stuff now. I digress though, and now feel that because they are from Iybraesil and frequently are having to combat chaos in search for the crone worlds, they will be traversing planets and landscapes that is tainted. Well sometimes that stuff's just nasty and really, who want's to be walking on that?

Seriously, I just bought these shoes!

The Swarm - stopped.

2010-10-11T09:00:00.003-04:00

So my killer bug list was killed. Blood Angels did me in, though I have to take a smidgen of the credit for the work.

I used my "Swarm of Personality" list, but with double boneswords on the shrikes and no frag spines on the 'fex.

Oppnent had Dante, Jump marines with him
Razorback double flamer with 5 assault marines, melta, power fist
The burninator Land Raider with 5 assault termies +
Librarian in termie armor
Storm raven with 6 sanguinary guard and an underslung
Two fisted Dreadnought.
Both jumpy marines had sanguinary priests.

Mission was Capture and Control with Pitched battle setup. BA set up and went first, I passed on stealing the initative.

Zoey unit deployed center field, everyone else reserved or outflanked. I seriously need to figure out how to get Hive Commander on the Great White. The Great White, 2nd genestealer squad didn't turn up until turn 3, the Doom didn't turn up until turn FIVE?!? Only because he had no other choice. By then, everyone got to shoot at him. Dante took him down in close combat, and the Terminators were waiting their turn.

The Great White left the entire army to handle the home objective and flew over to take out the 5 marines in the razorback on the opponent's objective. No sweat, the brainleech worms (oooh I love those) even made the marines run off board. No breaking any nails (or teeth) on that fight. He still took a scratch on the way in, but hey, it'll heal. He was halfway back across the board to clean up the mess DoM had left when the game ended.

The Zoeys took out the melta on the storm raven early game, but it dropped a dread on them, which pounded on them the rest of the game. Turn 5 finally saw him dirtnap the last Zoey and run off to find the fight.

DoM showed up so late it didn't really matter. My opponent is known for his 'bad dice rolling' and does seem to have some streaks of ill luck. The low rolls however came to his advantage when I dropped DoM in the midst of 3 squads. ONE terminator went down to his aura in my shooting and nothing in oppnents subsequent shooting phase. Dante and the land raider proceeded to pummel DoM to one wound, then Dante closed in and finished him off then took his lunch money.

The sanguinary guard, despite making a circuit around the board in their storm raven, being blown up by a genestealer diving through the engine ducts, losing a member of the squad to dangerous terrain while charging said stealers, managed to get to my objective on their last turn. DoM tried to stop them as they ran, but the Librarian psy hooded Cataclysm. *pout*

My big error was with the Carnifex. I had a choice between charging the terminators or the land raider on turn 3. I was hoping that DoM would drop in and say hi to the terminators and the 'fex would see what was inside the tank. When DoM didn't show, I somehow rationalized that I needed to take out the termies and charged them instead. I dunno why I chose to do this since I put him in there specifically to take out vehicles that the zoeys cannot get to. I guess I was hoping DoM would show up on turn 4 to stop it. Well it did not. and what did I get in return? BOTH stealer squads got flamed, leaving one squad at 2 members (sanguinary guard took them out) and the other squad still 17 strong, that was sitting atop my objective, waiting for someone to show up took 6 casualties, failed morale and left the board. This was a huge mistake on my part and my opponent took full advantage of me for it, as well he should.

I'll get a rematch, and am still considering dropping the boneswords for devourers as originally planned. My Parasite did nothing this game, since he was scared of Dante's ugly old face and 1 wound down from normal. Dante took HIS lunch money too early game, and furious charge made sure that that whole squad got beaten down before they could do anything. I think that a well placed drop into enemy territory could concievably run off a heavy weapon or holdout squad with the devourer's ability. The lack of boneswords would also ensure that the Parasite doesn't run out of Ripper incubation chambers (i.e. your belly) too quickly, as apparent in my other games, the first of which ensured that he got shot to pieces. I also think that dropping them could ensure I get to put Hive Commander on the Great White as well.

But that will be another day. Soon - Harlequin update!

Back in the groove!

2010-10-08T18:04:00.000-04:00

I've been like a madwoman this week with the hobbying. I started with the bugs. I've gotten everyone primed with the exception of the Doom. I still need to work on his brain a bit. But everyone else is ready to paint. I even got some of the walking warriors primed that needed it, and a couple that needed their talons painted are now in the 'finished' area of my workspace. I'm looking at 3 left that need eyes, some greenstuff for a barbed strangler 'sac', and one warrior that's just primed. I even have the Parasite halfway finished.

Then I got the call. I (and roommate) applied for an apartment nearer to Atlanta and we got it. So the next month and a half will be filled with packing, moving, unpacking, all intermingled with training and work, and of course, some gaming. Cause I gotta get as much gaming with the boys here in as I can before I go. I'll be able to come visit, being only an hour away, but probably not every week, as I have been.

So came the talk of the EPIC final game (which seems to be a theme around here) and Noah suggested an Apocalypse game, with his and my Eldar joining forces. I did of course agree wholeheartedly. We both had been sitting at a point or few over 3000 with our armies, but some painting and trading had gone by and we both retallied. He was at 4000 and I, with what is painted (excluding my Eldrad since Noah has one) and on the table at the moment have just shy of 5000! So off I toddle to the local boards and throw down the gauntlet. 9000 points of Eldar vs whatever a coalition of challengers can bring. No responses yet except the veiled fear. ;)

So obviously this (and my recent commission) put me in an Eldar mood. I've already gotten half my harlequins going. This is a big deal since I hadn't figured out a color scheme yet. Fire dragons based, but I'm not counting on finishing them. I painted my Maugan Ra in 30 minutes, and I have Asurmen nearly done. Oh, and my Wraithlord two has been converted with magnetic pistol grip and 'pimp-slap' hands. More photos once he's painted (and less head-less).

I also built a light box, something I've needed to do for a while now. I've been very disappointed with my photo quality lately. Part of it of course is due to my camera, but money says I can't get a new one just yet. So yes, light box. It has it's own internal lighting, but I need some sort of diffuser still, but I think the above photo came out fairly well, all things considered.

I've also done some graphic work for a potential project I'm considering and I'm working on a new banner for this blog. Look for it soon!

Harlequin Commission - Finished

2010-10-05T18:21:00.002-04:00

These little guys were much easier to paint that I realized. Having a color scheme to go by probably helped me a great deal, and figuring out where to use what colors appealed to my puzzle loving nature. The first two (this one and in the previous post) are the ones I was handed and asked to replicate. I am not sure who painted them, they were picked up off Ebay I believe, so if you did them, not bad, and thank you for giving me something fairly simple to follow. And blue. I love painting blue.

This was a fun project, and has definitely inspired me to paint my own. It's also got me to thinking about how to use them with what I have available. I'm thinking of running them with Jain Zar. Don't get me wrong, Banshees are fun to run with Jain, but attatching her to harlequins with Veil of Tears just does something for me. With 24" max range, the only hardcore AP weapons that are going to hurt them are going to be either stationary, or tanks, and fairly easy to navigate around. Melta weapons, fine, but once you are in range, it's too late. I say this, because Jain has that 2+ armor save I can always drop the first and extra hits on.

I admit that it's not the most synergystic combo, but I like it. It screams (pun not intended) close combat killy-ness. Furious Charge, Rending, Power weapons. Initative 7+ on the charge. What's not to love? War shout still has a chance at making the enemy WS1, Jain can actually split off during movement on the turn they assault and allow for the harlequins to still use their hit and run ability. I'm not so sure how I feel about that last one, since it could potentially leave Jain out in the open.

I'm also considering putting them in a wave serpent in order to get them there quicker, and bringing a farseer along to doom and fortune for lots of fun with rerolls!

And in conclusion, everybody's dancing!

Harlequin Commission - (not so) quick update

2010-10-01T10:44:00.001-04:00

Just a quickie update here cause I've been lazy from the standpoint of this blog, not so much at what I'm doing.

In the mail this week arrived some bits for my Shrikes, now they finally have heads!! A bit of paint and they'll make an appearance here. I'm really excited about my bonesword conversions.

Yesterday arrived a fun little pkg from Hoard o Bits on ebay (i LOVE that site) with my dire avenger pants and the new plastic ravener claws for my Parasite of Mortrex. The metal claws I was using were just too heavy for him and he kept toppling over. The shrikes are top heavy too since I used the old gargoyle wings on them. I may have to switch to larger flying bases or 40mm plastic ones since they're a bit larger than the small flying bases. I also wound up with a crapton of devourers that I cannot think of why I ordered them. I think I was going to put them on the shrikes originally, but wound up with enough scything talons to go around. It's fine though, I have some other projects I can use them for, like my shooty fex and i can put them on mycetic spores.

But I digressed from the very beginning. I had orignally intended this to be a progress report on a commission I took for one of the local gang. He asked me to paint his harlequins. Normally I'd have cringed and threw them back in his face. I've tried painting harleys here and there over the years and always failed miserably. Seeing as I have some of my own to do AND he had a sample with a very simple scheme that he wanted matched, I agreed. Especially because they were blue. I paint blue well. :D Here (or up there ^ ) is my first attempt. It's now been highlighted and touched up but I was excited about getting it done, and quickly as well. There's now a 2nd one with it and I'm feeling very good about them both. I need to try and tone the pants a bit lighter but I think they match fairly well. The white based one is the original.

I adore some of the older Harlequin models so I'm liking this project alot. Half of my own are the older ones so it's definitely a pre-cursor to my own project. I might jump back on the bugs to get them painted before doing my own Harlequins. It's a quick and easy color scheme, and I designed it to be so since there were SOOOO many genestealers and gaunts to paint. I'm so in an Eldar mood now because I've got a very interested idea with the harlequins I want to try out, but more on that later, and only after they are painted.

Battle Report - Tyranids vs. Eldar

2010-09-27T09:00:00.000-04:00

A little overdue, but we finally got to play this game yesterday.

Noah took;

Eldrad + 3 warlocks

Avatar

3 squads of Dire Avengers

1 squad Pathfinders

1 squad of Striking Scorpions

1 squad of Fire Dragons

1 squad Howling Banshees

3 Wraithlords

I used the Swarm of Personality list with 3 zoanthropes and a lictor

The mission was sieze ground with 4 objectives and a pitched battle deployment. Noah won the toss and deployed everything. The pathfinders later infiltrated to target my zoeys. My 3 Zoeys deployed behind a building since it was my only unit on board, everything else reserved/outflanked. I believe he expected this, as the Eldar were bunched up in the center of his deployment zone. But lo, I had expected him to expect that. There was a plan... If only it had been a bit faster.

I stole the initative, and the Zoanthropes moved up and started blasting Pathfinders, but thanks to Eldrad's Runes of GettingInYourWay, not all of them were able to fire all the time. The Eldar had no targets other than sniper fire in their first turn, and neither side had any casualties. 2nd turn saw the deployment of everything except the Lictor and the Doom of Malan'tai. Rats!! The Parasite and his goons landed midfield in cover. The Great White and Carnifex landed in the thick of things and shot up some fire dragons and scorpions respectively. Each took wounds in the following turn. The 'fex was assaulted by a wraithlord and the Tyrant by the scorpions, though they failed to wound him or flee when he started eating faces. Both stealer squads came in on my right flank deep in enemy territory. One squad took a lot of shuriken damage and wound up fleeing for a turn. The banshees moved in and killed the 'fex's mycetic spore and moved on.

Turn 3 the lictor shows up, and hides waaaay up in the rafters of a ruin right in the midst of the eldar forces. The Tyrant finished off the scorpions and moved up, the carnifex was charged and wounded once by the wraithlord, but gave 2 wounds back in trade. The Parasite flew in and assaulted the fire dragons, killing two and spawning TWELVE ripper bases. Not bad for a first use. The Bonesword wielding warriors finished them off quickly. The stealer squad assaulted the Avatar (that old broodlord had killed an avatar before, then followed that up with a wraithlord, he was feeling confident). They inflicted a wound, but didn't have the staying power. The pathfinders and zoeys continued exchanging fire until the banshees came around the corner and the zoeys, in a move of desparation, charged the banshees. There were two banshees and one zoey at the end of the game, largely due to an errant barbed strangler round. The Eldar had closed in all round my guys in his deployment zone, and I was having trouble NOT dancing as I was hoping for just that.

Things were looking bad at the start of turn 4. The hive tyrant had been sniped while running for a date with the avatar or Eldrad. The carnifex was beaten down by the wraithlord, and the rippers were tied up by the same. The parasite and his goon squad contracted a fatal case of bladestorm from two squads, The lictor had to go to ground to keep his head attatched, and I only had one 'stealer squad left. But then, the Doom arrived. I had never played with this character before and neither of us knew what to expect. The mycetic spore homed in on the Lictor's phermone trail and landed precise. The doom slithered out and before he could say hi, a wraithlord and a squad of dire avengers had some brain popping action, then the doom used the newly aquired wounds to give the bunched up avengers (2 squads) and a warlock from Eldrad's group a really bad day. 15 models were hit!!

Everyone ran!

Noah and I were both stunned by the sheer devastation that DoM caused. I now see why theres a lot of hype online about him. He foccused a lot of fire on the DoM, and wound up doing a couple of wounds, but in subsequent turns, he never dropped below 6. The second squad of stealers overcame the Avatar and a third wraithlord, DoM actually finished off the Avatar, and the stealers followed up into Eldrad later. Despite being charged by the remnants of a DA squad, the stealers recovered and were able to assault into the DA hiding in a buliding that DoM smashed in HtH.

End of game: each of us had an objective. The pathfinders had run across the board and took the one near my zone. I held the one in the (now ruined) building.

I'm very impressed by both the DoM and the Parasite. The Doom goes without saying I believe since so many others have praised and commented on his abilities. Noah saw later (as I did) that the 'cure' is to get him into close combat. I plan on keeping him surrounded with termigaunts or stealers when possible. The parasite (and shrikes) while vulnerable to shooting, are absolutley insane in close combat. My tyrant got close enough to give them Preferred Enemy and granted I got lucky with the ripper roll, but I do plan on using them again soon!!

Waiting...

2010-09-24T12:20:00.000-04:00

Oh waiting can be so frustrating. Especially when you are on a creative 'roll'. I had such a streak going with my Parasite and flying warrior team. I've been stalled out though as I didn't have enough ravener talons for the Parasite (didn't have enough for the raveners either, which is why they never got put together) and no heads for the warriors.

I had also run out of scything talons for the Doom of Malan'tai that I'm making, so I suppose in a way everything needing bits at once was a good thing. So off to the War Store for Barbed Stranglers, scything talons and warrior heads. Hoard o bits on ebay for ravener talons and some other things I was wanting too. Now I just have to play the waiting game and watch those tracking numbers. :p My only problem is when waiting I tend to lose momentum on a project. As it stands I finally have primer again, and have those harlequins on comission that I need to get done.

Speaking of primer, the local game store I visited to pick it up actually had a can of Army Painter on the rack. I was very tempted to try it out but A) this is comission work, I need to go with something I know and trust, and B) It was nearly twice the cost of my regular Armoury primer. So I know folks have raved about the AP, but I'll stick with the cheap and trustworthy. Even if I am allergic. Ick. Mask and surgical gloves are sooo unfashionable this season.

Tyranids - Swarm of Personality

2010-09-19T10:40:00.001-04:00

So today we're testing out the new stuff. I do so detest putting unpainted models on the table, but there's a lot of work to be done still before those Tyranid Shrikes are completed. Not to mention purchasing some parts online. I've been lovingly called a paint snob for this. (it had BETTER be lovingly dammit)

Here's a look at my Parasite of Mortrex so far. I'm really happy with how he came out, but I'm probably going to replace the metal ravener talons with the new plastic ones when I get them from ebay.

So here is the list I'm bringing today,

The Great White Hive Tyrant; Lash Whip & Bonesword, Wings, TL Devourers with (mmm) brainleech worms, Acid Blood, Adrenal Glands, Regen, (and of course) Old Adversary. Leech Essence & The Horror for psychics.

The Parasite of Mortrex

The Doom of Malan'Tai in a Mycetic Spore with Barbed Strangler

3x Zoanthrope

Lictor

Tyranid Shrikes (4) Devourers and 1 Barbed Strangler

2x Genestealer brood (19) + Broodlord with Scything talons

Carnifex; Crushing Claws, Adrenal Glands, Bio-plasma, Frag Spines, Regen in a Mycetic Spore with Barbed Strangler

Ideally the plan would go like this; Lictor shows up, Spores and Winged things would then drop all around him and shoot a squad full of devourer beetles and make it run off the board. Next turn, lots of killy stuff happens. 'Stealers would flank in for objectifying and general killyness. The problem I was having with this was the lack of action on the Zoeys' part. And that they would be sitting on the board all alone for the first turn. Thusly I'm considering these changes;

Drop 2 Zoanthropes for a Mycetic Spore with TL Devourers
Exchange Lictor for Deathleaper.
This would mean I could move him about the board if needed AND one character would lose D3 Ld points so that the Great White could BOO! him off the board easier. Lets not forget the benefit of DoM's ability with that. Lastly, it would fit with the "Swarm of Personality" theme. I do so love themes. Lost many a M:tG game because I only ever built theme decks. I just can't help myself. And yes, the Great White counts - he's an old adversary!

*sniffle* we miss you little brudda!!

I'm also considering boneswords instead of devourers on the Shrikes. This means a lot less shooting and I'm not fond of that. (not to mention losing a barbed strangler) I would also have to drop the squad to 4. I plan on keeping them + Parasite near the Great White and the combined shooting of all those Devourers could make for some runnin' scared squads.

I'm a little doubtful of the Carnifex too. He always seems to get melta'd early. Kinda makes me sad. He is ALWAYS so good about killing tanks though. (unless it's a rhino tank shocking him) I even got him some fresh bio-plasma for when he lands by spore now. I guess that I can rest assured that I can make my opponent react to him, and that's just good tactics.