Harlequin Shadowseer

Here's a Harlequin Shadowseer that I did on commission.  This one was hard to paint.  There's a lot of detail and the finecast was full of bubbles that I had to fill in.  There's about a bajillion gemstones on it as well as the freehand pattern on the leg.

Completed Wave Serpent

I've had this guy sitting on my desk for ages. You can see it in this post from over a year ago. I based it off this Wave Serpent. To be fair, I didn't just base it, I pretty much copied it. But look, mine is green!


That's my craftworld symbol on the back door.

The hardest part about it was the highlighting. The green was easy, and the black was easy, but the midtone in the fade was very difficult. I still don't think I got it right. I also should have made my highlights more intense. In some areas you can barely see them.

It doesn't show up very well in the pictures, but I tinted the canopy purple using Akenseth's tutorial on the subject. I think I still need to either add more layers or add more dye to my mixture.

The lightning is all freehand, I did it without tape. The hardest part about that was edging the black. I started with a codex gray and then went over it with white, though in retrospect I should have used a lighter gray after, and then a white as I had to do several layers of white.

Also notice there's no guns. They're all magnetic and aren't painted yet.

Magnetizing the New Night Spinner/Fire Prism

Here's how to magnetize the new Fire Prism/Night Spinner kit. While my initial impressions of the Night Spinner were poor I'd still like to give it a try. I think its real strength will be on things like Thunderwolf Cavalry.

First off, I get my magnets from KJ Magnetics. They're a fantastic supplier and from my searches have the best combination of selection and prices. The exact type of magnets you use on this project really don't matter, as you can make any type fit the setting. I just used ones that I had left over from other projects.
The first step is to glue in your mounting magnets. Don't worry about the polarity of these, they can be the same or different. They need to be flush with the surface of the plastic, so you may have to drill a little. Don't drill into your finger like I did.

Drill out a wider and deeper hole than you need on the guns. The reason for this is that we'll make a greenstuff setting, and we need room to work. I used a 3/16 drill bit to make the hole.

Now set the gun magnet on top of the mounting magnet, and place a ball of greenstuff in the setting. There's two ways to do this from here. The first is to squeeze the two together and let the GS pick up the magnet into the setting and pull it out quickly (the fast but unreliable way), or to wet the top of the magnet so it doesn't stick to the GS, press in the magnet then pull it apart and wait for the GS to cure and then glue the magnet into the setting you just made (the slow but reliable way). Here I made the setting and glued it later, but on the Night Spinner guns I used the first method. Whatever works for you.

Here you can see the magnet in the GS setting. Make sure the GS fully cures before you go around testing it. I like to add a dab of superglue to the edges just to help it stay in place.

Fire Prism...

...and Night Spinner!

Okay, now for the housing. Here I used some GS to make a setting for the mounting magnet. Make sure it is far enough back that it won't get in the way of the guns. You can actually trim off the end of the guns (the part that goes into the housing) since no one will see it and it serves no functional purpose.

Use the GS to make a setting again. Since the housing doesn't bear any weight you can use a smaller magnet. You could even just use a portion of a paperclip if you wanted. Just be careful that you test the fit with the upper portion of the turret hull on or else the housing will not fit properly.

Here you can see all the housings magnetized.

My Work Table

I moved out to the kitchen table (which was not in the kitchen because of another project) because I needed extra space for this endeavor. I ripped apart my entire grav-tank collection in order to magnetize the chin guns, and then it turned out I didn't have to rip them apart. Oh well, they came apart really easily and nothing broke. I also magnetized the new Night Spinner/Fire Prism kit. Tutorials coming soon!

Fixing Eldar: What If?

Eldar seem to be getting weaker every time a new codex comes out. Space Wolves nullify their powers with impunity (and don't even get me started on Njal, an upstart who is a better psyker than Eldrad), IG get a fast skimmer just as good as a Wave Serpent and cheaper, Blood Angels also get a fast skimmer. Seer Councils get shut down and other armies can match the speed of mass skimmers. Aspects mostly suck, leaving Dire Avengers as Falcon upgrades to make them scoring and Fire Dragons are suicide squads.

That said, I still love my Eldar. Tyranids are just a fling, Eldar are my first and true Warhammer love. I'm positively giddy over the new Prism and Nightspinner. They are due for a new codex eventually, so here's some ideas I've been kicking around. I haven't really thought these through, so some may be imbalanced and others may not help at all, but that's what the comments are for.

I put my thoughts on some of these, in italics.

HQ:
1. What if every Farseer's first cast power were unstoppable, but you could nullify the second normally?
This would force you to choose which power is the most important to you, and I hope something like this makes it in. Foolish Mon-keigh should not be able to nullify a Farseer so easily.
2. What if Farseers could use one Warlock power per turn for free (after all they were Warlocks once)?
3. What if the Avatar could join squads and not be picked out, much like the Hive Tyrant in a Guard unit?
4. What if the Avatar could deep strike (and he'd better get fleet)?
5. What if the Phoenix Lords allowed you to take one or two squads of their aspect as Troops (I got this idea from Stelek)?
I really like this idea. It would create so many more interesting possibilities in army builds. We would need Warp Spider and Shining Spear Phoenix Lords, however.

Elites:
6. Fire Dragons are currently a suicide squad- what if they could shoot out of the rear of a Wave Serpent (and perhaps the Wave Serpent counts as open topped in a turn they do that)?
7. What if Wraithguard kept their gun as is, but with a 24" range?
I really like the idea of Wraithguard, space elf zombie robots, but that short range just kills them, seeing how pathetic they are in close combat.

Troops:
8. What if Pathfinders were an upgrade character for Rangers, much like and Exarch, that would confer new abilities on the squad? One power could be to allow him to take a shot at any member of a squad. And what if they could fire twice per turn as another power?

Fast Attack:
9. Swooping Hawks, as they are, don't know what they want. They have anti vehicle grenades and pathetic anti troop guns. What if they could do fly-by bombings like in second edition (with either the Haywire or the Frag grenades), with the number of bombs being dependent on the number of warriors in the squad (perhaps one bomb per two members)?
They used to be able to fly up to 36" and drop bombs anywhere on their path. That was fun.
10. Warp Spiders. How I used to love thee so. What if they got the flame template again?
Old school Warp Spiders were unstoppable with large flame templates and instant death. I would like people to be afraid of them again, not simply mildly annoyed.
11. What if Shining Spears were cheaper and could come in larger squads?
12. What if Vypers could come in squadrons of 5?

Heavy Support:
13. The biggest problem with Heavy Support is there's just too much competition. To resolve this, what if Falcons could be bought as dedicated transports for certain units, such as Elites?
14. What if the Fire Prism came in squadrons?
I would love this. GW gets to sell more models, and you can take plenty of tanks in the same list. You could even have the Prisms fire individually or charge up for SUPER SAYIN OVER 9000
15. What if the Night Spinner doesn't suck (I would like to see Heavy 2, large blast, barrage, S6 AP 6), and could be bought in squadrons?
16. What if Wraithlords had more attacks and could live without a psychic babysitter?
17. What if Heavy Weapons platforms were bought as attachments to a Guardian squad, like Imperial Guard (and had a drastic improvement in range/power)?
18. What if Dark Reapers had regular missile launchers?
I got into the game because of Maugan Ra. Dark Reapers are my favorite aspect looks wise, and I'd like people to be afraid of them again.

So, thoughts?

How To Chin-Mount a Shuriken Cannon on Vypers

The chin mounted S-Cannon is a great option for your Vypers. To keep my Vypers cheap I usually run dual cannons. Here's my solution for how to mount them without having to use expensive pewter Jetbike bitz, which I'm not even sure will work.  Plus, these are removable. 

The Vyper frame comes with two cannons, one on the weapons sprue and one on the Vyper sprue. The one we're going to use is the one on the Vyper sprue. It would probably work with the other, but it is built differently and I haven't tried using it.


Here you can see in this terribly blurry photo (I took it on my phone, I was too lazy to get out my tripod and camera) what I've done. First thing you need to do is clip or saw off the ammo feed belt. Next thing to do is to saw off the back bulbous thing. Next, glue the bulbous thing at approximately a 20˚ angle on the rounded part. If you just leave it normal it won't fit underneath the Vyper.  Finally, glue the ammo feed belt underneath it all.  Lastly, fill in the circular hole with some greenstuff, and magnetize it for removal.  Not too difficult!

A Better Picture of My Shining Spears

I think I'm finally figuring out how to properly photograph miniatures. Compare this photo to the ones here. On the old one, half of them are out of focus.

All it took was a trip down memory lane to my high school and college photography classes. I'll make a post later showing my setup and what I do to photograph.

Now that I look at it, I really need to redo their bases. That project is going on the back burner until Eldar get updated...

Another Successful Planetstrike Defense

Last night I defended against Dark Angels and Daemons. For this game we did the second Planetstrike mission. Instead of a Helm's Deep type defense, I put my bastions spread out, with one in the middle, and one on each table edge, slightly off-set so that each bastion could see all the way to the other table edge. I then put my cheapest troops (not easy with Eldar) inside the bastions because I knew they were going to take Flamers and just burn my troops inside.

Inside the bastions I had two units of 5 Rangers, two units of 10 Guardians, and in the center a Vibro-Cannon unit. Each unit is about 100 pts, which isn't too cheap but was the best I could do.

The rest of my army was in reserve. I had a Seer council, 6 bikes, a Falcon full of Fire Dragons, a Fire Prism, and 10 Dire Avengers in a Wave Serpent. For the game, I basically flew around turbo-boosting as needed and frying things as needed. This more mobile defense worked out great. Since I only had to claim one objective, I could distract them and pull them far away from the objective I intended to claim, and then turbo-boost into position at the end of the game. I killed very few things, I don't think I killed a single Dark Angel model. I took out as many flamers as I could since they're fast, and I killed a Soul Grinder with a lucky Bright Lance shot, but that was about it. This game was won through resilience and speed.

So for a mobile army like Eldar, try a spread out defense. You force your slower foes to commit, and then you can rapidly redeploy as you see fit. Remember though, in Planetstrike you have to totally clear the objectives. None of this last minute contesting if you are defender.

Eldar Defense in Planetstrike

I finally got around to playing my first Planetstrike game. It was a lot of fun. I really like the Attacker/Defender dynamic. Here's the defense I employed. Please ignore the bright, colorful blocks. My daughter loaned them to me for this game because I was one bastion short. I was very eager for it to be destroyed.


As you can see, I went with a Helm's Deep style defense. The idea is that if they attack the front, they're exposed to fire from all bastions. If they try and take the sides, they can only get the first two, and then they'll be slowed down. I filled the spaces between bastions with obstacles to mess up any deep strikers.

I deployed my Dark Reapers in the center bastion so they could get the best line of fire. I put a Wraithlord in each of the forward bastions, and a squad of Wraithguard in the right bastion, and some Dire Avengers in the left one. I had some Pathfinders out behind the Aegis Defense Line for extra firepower.

When playing Planetstrike, make sure you follow the order of events properly. I figured I knew them so I didn't and deployed too early. The order is there for a reason!

An imposing view for an attacker.

My opponent took to the flank. Fortunately, I was able to slow him down enough that he only had two objectives. At one point he had 3 but I was able to clear the attackers from it. If the game had ended on turn 5, it would have been a draw. However, the game ended on turn 7 and I won with three objectives to two.

I'm not sure who my star unit was. All my units did really well. The Wraithguard absorbed a huge amount of firepower and my opponent stayed away from them out of fear. While they have a short range, Wraithcannons are very nasty. I only had 3 of 10 survive the game, but that was all I needed. The reapers did well, and after spending 3 turns repositioning my Pathfinders, they actually managed to do some damage.


In all it was an enjoyable game. Next time I play defender, I am going to try a spread out defense and use my speed to take care of objectives as needed.

Winning With Warp Spiders

I had an experience in a recent game that I thought would help out my fellow Eldar players. I have loved Warp Spiders ever since their heavy flamer template/roll against Initiative instead of Toughness days. I still try to use them as often as I can as their abilities are the signature style of the Eldar.

Anyway, the mission was Capture and Control, a difficult mission to win and an easy mission to tie. In this case, it was turn 5 and we each were holding our objectives. My opponent had been running his Marines to his objective, and as such were strung out. I simply assaulted the far end of his line and watched them all respond to the charge, pulling them 6" off the objective. The game ended and I won.

Warp Spiders are a fantastic harassment unit. They aren't as fast or tough as jetbikes, but they pack a much stronger punch (their guns can punch through most vehicle rear armor, and they're maneuverable enough to get back there). Since they are Aspect Warriors, they also fare slightly better than guardians at close combat, even though they aren't built for it. Furthermore, they can Hit and Run to get out of sticky situations.

Now that they get Deep Strike for free, that saves a lot of points. Don't think you have to deep strike every time- remember that they can just walk on from the table edge if you wish. If they're needed close to your table edge, just walk them! I know this sounds like common sense, but it's easily forgotten when you want to use their abilities (similar to how people will sacrifice movement to get a few shots off).

Charging with your Warp Spiders is another good trick. To keep them safe from shooting for a turn, you can launch them into an assault, their high armor hopefully keeping them alive. If you upgraded your Exarch you may even take a few down. I have found that against all but dedicated assault units, Warp Spiders can hold their own, finally using Hit and Run to get to safety.

As for the Exarch, I always give him the double spinner, powerblades, and Hit and Run. Any extra shots I can give are worth it, and seeing as I often use their melee abilities to harass and lock down units, they might as well take some down with them. For unit size, I try to go with the max. A small unit can be effective, but having full size makes their advantages even stronger. With a large unit, you can take casualties and still be able to make a difference on the battlefield, being effective through the whole game.

I have never experimented with putting an Autarch in a unit. It would be interesting to give him a fusion gun and power weapon, so the unit would have greater vehicle popping abilities, and an intense close combat presence. This is a unit that can pop transports easily and take out the squishies inside.

I'd like to hear how everyone else uses Warp Spiders (or if you don't use them at all, why).

Shining Spears Are Awesome

I hear a lot of negativity about the Spears, and while I too have not had a ton of success with them last night everything changed. I took a squad of 5 plus an Autarch for a friendly game and they dominated. To start, I held them in reserve and got a good roll for them to come in the second turn (Autarch helps with that). My opponent had a Dreadnought and scout squad in my deployment zone (we were playing capture and control). The spears flew in and since they are a big unit (big base sizes) I managed to charge both the Dreadnought and scouts together.

while I didn't destroy the dreadnought I did manage to destroy two weapons. Meanwhile, I wiped out the scouts. I survived the return attacks and while I couldn't hurt it in his assault phase since my haywire grenade failed, I simply used Withdraw and got them all out of there.

Next they assaulted a combat squad in his deployment zone and wiped them out. They got assaulted once and actually lost a guy in that but managed to withdraw and charge back. They took some shooting casualties and lost a guy charging into difficult terrain but the Autarch and Exarch survived to the end of turn 7. Their final body count was 5 scouts and 20 tactical marines.

A jetbike Autarch is a beast. He can get 6 S6 power weapon attacks on the charge. He can carry a fusion gun or a reaper launcher (either one results in dead marines). Supported by a squad of spears there is not much that can resist.

However, I don't think my experience is typical. Most of the time you will charge into a squad, devastate them and then get shot to pieces. This didn't happen too badly to me because I exploited some deployment mistakes. He wasn't able to bring all his heavy weapons to bear because I put a lot of terrain between us.

Anyway, Shining Spears are a scalpel among scalpels and really aren't for every battle. They're a hard-hitting "fun" choice. They're fast and deadly but can be very vulnerable in the shooting phase. I'm going to use them a bit more and see if I can still get some good mileage out of them.

Next game I think I am going to take Swooping Hawks, even though they suck. I used to love them back in the crazy days of 2nd edition and I want to love them again. I'll have to build a list around them.

Today's 1k List- Eldar

This is the list I'm taking to tonight's game. I'm going for an entirely mobile force but without being a "hard" list. So here's what I came up with.

Autarch on Jetbike with Laser Lance, mandiblasters and Fusion Gun
3x Guardian Jetbikes with cannon
3x Guardian Jetbikes with cannon
3x Guardian Jetbikes with cannon
5x Shining Spears with Exarch and all the trimmings
3x Vypers with EML and cannons
Fire Prism with Holo-fields and spirit stones, cannon

The plan is to reserve everything (depending on who goes first). The Vypers and Prism are going to stay at range popping vehicles and try to lure him out of cover, at which point the Spears led by the Autarch will break them. If he takes a Land Raider the Autarch is going to make a banzai run and pop it with the fusion gun or 6 S6 lance attacks.

This list has a solid core (jetbikes, vypers and prism) but the spears make it more of a fun list. I would never run them in a tourney. I painted them all up and whether I win or not I am going to use them.

Small Game Recap

So last night turns out that the store does have some bigger tables. Furthermore, they are expanding in a couple of months and they'll have even bigger tables there. We played on a 5x3.5 table. Being a 500 point game it was quite open. Here's what I took and what he took:

Space Marines
5x Scouts
10x Marines
1 Chaplain
1 Thunderfire Cannon

Eldar
10 Dire Avengers
3 Jetbikes
1 Farseer + doom
6 Banshees
1 D-Cannon

I took the D cannon because I figured that on a small table the limited range would not be an issue. As it was, I never got to fire a shot because he stayed out of range and destroyed it around the 4th turn with a Thunderfire Cannon shot. It did keep a bit of firepower off my troops though. I think I can use them as area denial since no one wants to come near one.

His Thunderfire cannon did the most damage of everything he had, it killed 3 banshees, an Avenger, and took out the D cannon. I tried taking it out with my bikes, but it's a tough nut to crack with a 3+ cover save thanks to the Techmarine. A little more firepower would help.

My banshees suffered some really bad rolls and didn't kill too much. They were wiped out by the Chaplain. When I charged the combat squad led by the chaplain, only one banshee actually managed to hit, and of course failed to wound.

In all, I won 3 objectives to 1 (my Avengers formed a long line that touched two objectives while the bikes held the third). I think what did it for me was I have learned that giving up a turn of shooting in order to get a better position pays off a lot better in the long run. In a small game every unit counts, and I think I was better able to maximize what my units did.

Next game we play we're upping it to 1,000 points. I will be playing as Tyranids. This should be interesting because the smaller the game, the harder time Tyranids have because Synapse becomes an issue.

Now we're working on strengthening the 40k community in this area. With the Northridge store closing and the stores in Santa Clarita closing, this is the only place to game in the valley. There's a small club at the college that says I can't play with them because I'm not a student (for insurance reasons, blah blah blah) but we can try and steal their players and get a league going. There's more players out here, finding who they are and getting them out will help us to get a strong wargaming community our here.

Playing Smaller Games

Recently, a new store opened up here in Lancaster (CA) called Battle Grounds. They are the only gaming store around. The only other nearest one is about 45 minutes to an hour away in Santa Clarita. This store is small, and just getting started. Tonight, they will host what I think is their first 40k game ever in their eight months of being open. About a month ago, the owner put out a list of people who have contacted him about playing 40k, making me realize that there's other people around here who play. I'm no longer alone!

Unfortunately, their tables are kind of small. They're set up for Magic and other board games, not for Warhammer. But I'm not going to let that stop me! Instead we're going to play some 500 pt games. Generally, we agree that 500 pt games don't need an HQ as part of the FOC, only two troops choices. Planning these lists made me realize the game gets a little trickier at small points.

Here's the three lists I wrote up:

10 Dire Avengers with Exarch, Power Weapon, Shimmershield, Defend and Bladestorm.
1 Doomseer (Farseer+doom)
6 Banshees with exarch & executioner
3 Jetbikes, one with cannon
1 D cannon

This list takes advantage of the small table space. D-Cannons are awesome, but their short range is their only limitation. A small board will help mitigate that weakness. The Doomseer lets the shuriken catapults in the army do the maximum damage. I gave the Exarch the powerweapon and shield instead of dual cats because with a small board, I fear that they would get assaulted easily. Those upgrades would help them survive. I normally mechanize my Avengers, these upgrades are to help them guard an objective.

5 Pathfinders
3 Jetbikes (with cannon)
3 Jetbikes (with cannon)
6 Fire Dragons with Exarch
5 Banshees with Exarch

This list is my specialist list. The Pathfinders can get a 2+ cover save, a tough cookie in a small game. The bikes can run around nabbing objectives and generally harassing the foe.

12 Guardians with Scatter Laser, warlock with conceal
3 Jetbikes with cannon
1 Doomseer
5 Swooping Hawks with Exarch
1 D-Cannon

This is my "I'm not really trying" list. I want to love hawks, they were fun back in 2nd and I want their glory days to return. Their problem is they're not sure what they want to do. Are they anti-vehicle, or anti-horde? They're also very fragile. I think if their guns had one more shot, and if their blast template was either increased in strength or number of blasts per hawk in the unit (why not give them one small blast template per 2 hawks?) they would be more useful. Anyway, more on them later.

While writing these lists, I realized that most of the normal game types would be weird with such a small points game. Any objective based mission probably would end in a draw as most lists only have two things that can possibly score. The death of one means you'd have to really scramble to avoid a draw. The only standard mission that would work is Killpoints.

Well, I'll see how tonight goes and report tomorrow.

Post-Apocalypse Thoughts

Yesterday's game was a lot of fun. While I wait for my friend to give me the pictures, here's a recap and thoughts on how various units and strategies performed.

First off, my Cobra: It did exactly how I thought it would. Devastated a lot of things on the first turn, and spent the rest of the game with weapon shaken results. On the first turn it took two structure points off a Hellhammer, took a structure point off a Warhound Titan and exploded a nearby bunker, exposing the troops within. For the rest of the game my opponents concentrated their firepower on it, but a combination of holo-fields and cover saves (from a nearby Tower of Tzeentch) kept it from losing any structure points, though it did take a lot of driver stunned/weapon shaken results.

The Revenant Titan: On the first turn destroyed a Vindicator squadron that was threatening a nearby bunker. It is a devastating formation and I decided that it should go away quickly. It took some shots, but the holo-fields really saved the day. I did lose one structure point and had a couple of weapon shaken results.

Shining Spears: They attacked some terminators, but even after two rounds of charges (hit and run) couldn't kill all 5. They just don't have enough attacks, and their extra toughness and armor save just aren't enough to stop powerfists. They are pure Marine killers (who have to be in the open as Spears don't have grenades).

Windrider Host: Due to a Disruptor Beacon, they were quite scattered but took a backline objective. I wasn't going to take the formation because it is really expensive for not getting too much, but as objective claimers they're excellent.

Fire Dragons: In one round of shooting, they took out a Baneblade without even needing to charge in with Meltabombs (3 died in the explosion). They survived a lot longer than I thought, even with a marine squad double tapping and a squad of terminators pumping them full of depleted uranium. They all died eventually, but wiped out more than their points cost. Their Wave Serpent lost its weapons, but survived the game and took an objective.

Howling Banshees: Led by Jain Zar, once they moved the distance to charge a squad of marines (the same squad that nearly wiped out the Fire Dragons) my opponent simply removed the marines without bothering to roll. How's that for reputation?

Genestealers: Did well, Feeder Tendrils on a Broodlord gets the whole unit twice as deadly. If Flesh Hooks and Acid Maw could be taken on the same unit, you would have a unit who could reroll to hit and to wound. With rending, that becomes extra deadly. Unfortunately to do that you have to lose Flesh Hooks, which is very much required.

Malanthrope: For some reason was a big target. It's tough for a husky floater like him to get a cover save, and he took a lot of shots. His supporting Carnifex did well, the extra wound was very helpful. The other fex got taken down by a powerfist rather quickly.

A couple of words on the strategic asset Disruptor Beacon: This changed the game entirely. My ally had the Chaos Conclave which makes all members of the Conclave have a Disruptor Beacon, and my opponents took one and placed it in the center of the board. Since no objectives were in the corners, both sides were throwing reserves into the forested corners. They rapidly became hotspots of combat, but all of it was meaningless as no one could reach any objectives.

Memorable points in the game: The Hellhammer's apocalyptic explosion which immobilized a nearby Warhound Titan, the Dragons cooking a Baneblade, and the surprising appearance of 5 scratch-built Lightning Fighters. When those appeared they used the Precision Strike asset, firing all their missles and weapons at the Cobra. That's 20 missiles, 10 twin-linked autocannons, and 5 lascannons for those of you keeping score at home. Furthermore, a couple of devastator squads joined in the fun of getting a 2+ to hit on my Cobra. Because part of the time it was shielded by a Silver Tower of Tzeentch (which blew up after just a couple shots) the Cobra survived the entire thing unharmed. Granted, it couldn't move or shoot, but no structure points were gone and no weapon destroyed. On the next turn because it got neither a holo-field save nor a cover save it lost the D-cannon. I tried to repair it the next turn but failed. Finally, the last memorable moment was when my Banshees had to take 9 cover saves against a Vulcan Mega-Bolter. I passed all 9. I will admit it, the dice were with me this game. I rolled lots of chain reactions and made lots of saves.

Pictures coming soon!

Upcoming Apocalypse Game!

Saturday I'm going down to the L.A. Battle Bunker for a massive Apocalypse game! It's going to be Eldar (for story purposes, my Eldar are pirate mercenaries) and Chaos versus Dark Angels. We're taking 6k points each. We've divided the board in half with seven objectives, three on each side and one in the middle. Here are some pictures from the last game we played (lots of unpainted minis, sorry!).

Some of the awesome selection of terrain at the L.A. Battle Bunker

A devastating bombing run from a Fighta-Bomma

My Fire Dragons and some marines join in assaulting this hastily constructed scratch-built stompa.

The view from the Ork side, you can see the back of my friend's massively, massively oversized stompa. It's probably bigger than a gargant. You can see my titan off in the distance.

The view from our side. Almost every single ork you see here died. In the end, it was only a drop in a bucket. Notice the line of grots in the background? They're from the boxed set back in 2nd edition. But besides that, my opponents had enough grots to line the board edge completely. They were afraid that we would flank march, and so blocked their entire board edge. The only reserves they had were flying things, or infiltrators.

I think I've hosted these pictures before, but here's our front line defense.

In an unrelated note, I built 10 craters out of clay today. They're drying right now, but once they're done I will post pictures. They took about 10 minutes to make, at most. The smaller ones took about 5 minutes. Really simple and they look great.

Eldar vs. Dark Angels, 1500 Friendly Game

The real beauty of the Eldar Codex is the sheer number of choices. 11 HQ choices? Yes please. You can't even come close to taking everything in the codex in one game (which you can for Nids). If you want to field an entire army of Jetbikes, you can. If you want to field an army whose lowest toughness is 6 (except for their spiritseers), you can. If you want to go pure assault, you can. Or if you just want to sit back and shoot with devastating firepower, you can. The codex has so many different play styles that when I get tired of Eldar, I find that changing my list up drastically can revitalize the whole game for me. Obviously some builds are much more effective than others, but in a friendly game who cares?

For this game I elected to take a more unusual list. I decided to take things that I don't normally take to change the game up, and throw my regular opponent for a loop. Here's what I took:

Autarch on JB with lance and fusion gun
5 Shining Spears
10 Pathfinders
3x Vibrocannons (with a Embolden Warlock)
19 Guardians w/Starcannon (with an Embolden Warlock)
3 Jetbikes with a Destructor Warlock
Falcon with 6 Harlequins inside

KP: 8

I rarely take Guardians these days. I decided to take them today to be held in reserve, to come in later and claim back end objectives (the jetbikes were also designated in this role, but to claim mid-field objectives). I've never taken Shining Spears, and the plan was to have the Autarch lead them in glorious Marine slaying. I have never taken Vibrocannons either, and thought I'd have some fun with them. I've never taken Harlequins before, and I had to proxy them, but figured I'd run a Clown Car and see how it goes.

My opponent decided to take the Ravenwing. His plan was to match speed for speed, as I normally run a mechanized/jetbike list. His list was (as far as I can remember):

Sammael
8 Bikers led by Interrogator-Chaplain
8 Bikers
8 Bikers
3 Landspeeders with Multi-Meltas (not in a squadron)
3 Attack Bikes (not in a squadron)

KP: 11 (if the speeders and attack bikes were in squadrons it would be 7)

We rolled an annihilation game with a pitched battle deployment.

Eldar won the roll and elected to deploy first and take first turn.

I deployed my Vibro-cannons in a LOS blocking castle (a terrible looking thing but it’s all we got). They don’t need LOS to hit, so I figured I’d keep them safe. The Falcon and Spears were deployed behind them. Since I saw he had Ravenwing I knew I was safe from the biggest blast weapons, so I bunched them up tight. Finally, I placed my Pathfinders on the right in a ruin which ended up being a mistake. The Guardians and Jetbikes were held in reserve.

He deployed his bikes up front, then used his scout move to put his front bikes into cover. The Landspeeders and Attack Bikes were held behind cover. In the bike squadron were the Interrogator-Chaplain and Sammael.

All plans changed when the Dark Angels seized the initiative!

Dark Angels Turn 1

Turn one, Sammael turbo boosted toward the pathfinders, as well as the int-chap bikes. The attack bikes and the Landspeeders sped toward the Falcon, The attack bikes shot 3 multi-meltas at the falcon and scored 1 hit, which I saved with a cover save.

(Yes that is a cooking pot in the picture. We're working on making better terrain. That pot will some day be the base for a planetary defense laser. I still have to put texture on my gaming table, hence the green felt.)

Eldar turn 1

After moving my Shining Spears forward to engage the Landspeeders, I moved the Falcon swiftly using Star Engines over to the beleaguered Pathfinders. In the shooting phase, I blasted my 3 vibro cannons at the int-chap bikes and slew 2 marines and wounded Sammael twice. In my second mistake of the game, my forward assault contingent (Spears and Autarch) were caught in the open because they destroyed a landspeeder in the shooting phase (thus they couldn’t assault anything since they weren’t in a squadron). Had they assaulted, the unit was big enough that I could have taken down two speeders (maybe). The Pathfinders attempted to wipe out Sammael’s last wound, but ten sniper rounds failed to do anything.

Dark Angels Turn 2

His speeders and bikes saw fast retribution by annihilating the Shining Spear unit down to the Exarch thanks to 5 multi-melta shots. The autarch was hit in this flamestorm but not wounded, as his bad luck with multi-meltas continues (it’s a running gag between us). On the other side of the board, the pathfinders suffered 2 losses from a flamer, while saving many bolter shots. Charging into the ruins, Sammael suffered a wound from dangerous terrain but saved it with his Iron Halo, however a fellow brother was not as lucky.



The retribution was swift. All the Pathfinders were wiped out without a single return casualty. The Eldar position was pretty tenuous, as they found themselves trapped!

Eldar turn 2

I couldn’t believe that I was completely trapped. Normally I’m the fast one. Recovering from the casualties, I destroyed 2 Landspeeders, 2 attack bikes and 1 regular bike. The Autarch, remaining Shining Spear Exarch, Vibro cannons, and reserves marching in (thanks to the Autarch for that one) claim credit for this victory. The Harlequins disembarked and took care of two bikers while losing one of their own.

Dark Angels turn 3

One reserve bike squadron rode on the flank and pulverized the Vibro-Cannon squad. All that was left was one gunner, quaking in his Eldar boots. The subsequent assault claimed two more Marines to Dangerous Terrain tests, but the kill point was earned.

On the other side, the harlequins wiped out all but the Interrogator-Chaplain, after which they safely disengaged, running for the safety of the Falcon.

Eldar Turn 3

The Harlequins embarked on the Falcon, which flew across the battlefield (Thank Vaul for Star Engines) to combat the new threat from the flanking bikers. The jetbikes formed a protective shield to prevent the guardians from being charged. The remaining Exarch charged the last attack bike to claim that killpoint, while the Autarch played cat-and-mouse with the last Landspeeder, failing to kill it as it shrugged off his Fusion Gun, and he couldn’t get a 6 to hit it in close combat. Finally, the Guardian squad killed the Int-Chaplain with a withering hail of Shuriken fire.



Dark Angels Turn 4

Bringing in the last reserve bikers, he surrounded the Autarch. The flanking bikers on my battle line charged into the jetbike squad. The marines took down one jetbike. The jetbikes passed their morale check unfortunately.
In the shooting phase, the Autarch shrugged off a hail of bolter shots, while the Exarch barely avoided getting fried by the last Landspeeder’s multi-melta (it failed to wound). The Autarch survived all the close combat hits from the Ravenwing bikers, only to fall to a powerfist.

Eldar Turn 4

The Shining Spears Exarch, not wanting to be a free killpoint, turboboosted across the field to hide behind a building. This was not an act of cowardice, but a brave and noble move. The Falcon dropped off the Harlies who charged the outflanking bikers. The Guardians consolidated their position and brought the Starcannon around to bear.

The Falcon exploded the last Landspeeder. The harlequins dispatched the remaining bikers, and consolidated into cover. All that was left was one Bike squad.

Dark Angels Turn 5

With only one squad remaining, he decided it was do or die. My opponent turboboosted them towards the foe, hoping to shoot up the harlequins on the next turn.

Eldar Turn 5

Lots of shooting from everything I had took out all but two of the bikers. Finally, the Harlequins sliced down the last two, ending the game via total annihilation.



Final Score: 11 KPs to 3

My thoughts on the game:

Well, I did learn a lot. Shining Spears are a tiny scalpel in an army already full of scalpels. While devastating on the charge (the Exarch alone wiped out 2 attack bikes and crippled a Landspeeder) they are fragile if the enemy can draw LOS to them. Of course, I left them out in the open and not much can survive a face full of melta. The Autarch underperformed. While he took down a Landspeeder, he also died without taking anyone down with him because his lance only works on the charge. I shouldn’t have chased down the speeder.

The Pathfinders however, underperformed. They didn’t inflict a single wound and were wiped out in a single round of shooting/assault. Their deployment was a mistake though. I should have put them in another building that was closer to the enemy. They wouldn’t have had LOS on the first turn, but it’s always better to spend a turn moving to get the perfect shot than to have two rounds of bad shooting.

The Harlequins were amazing. They wiped out three squads of bikes only taking one return casualty. Next time I am going to combine them with a Farseer. In a Falcon, their speed is unstoppable. Star Engines was worth it. A lot of people say not to take it as the battlefield is small enough, but without it the Harlequins would never have been able to reach the combats where they were needed as fast as they did. It would have taken an extra turn, which I didn't have. Without them the game would have been a loss, or at least a very sloppy victory.

Dire Avengers Pictures

Sweet tears of Isha these guys took forever to paint. I started painting them sometime in February and finally finished today. Of course, as I uploaded the pictures I realized I missed some of the basing on the Exarch near his right foot...back to work!

Anyway, my craftworld's aspect warriors use a variation of the traditional colors. I was inspired to do this after reading a post from a veteran Eldar player with an army fully painted up to fluff. He frequently noted that even though it was fully fluffy, nothing looked like it belonged together. There's no unifying color scheme. To prevent that with my army, I've been using black and the traditional color together (no idea what I'm going to do with the Reapers, give me time). Hopefully, this will help the army look like it all belongs together.



On the Exarch, this is my first attempt at doing a freehand with pen. The Avengers symbol is painted on, while the writing in the corners was done with a Micron pen. It took me a bit to get it right, and I'm still not satisfied with it, but these guys are 12 point troops and I think I already spent enough time with them. I learned a lot about painting with these guys. By the way, make sure you glue the guns on last, that would have saved a lot of trouble.

The Exarch is fully magnetized. This was my first attempt at magnetic figures. I didn't bother painting his other options out of sheer laziness. I should have...now I'm never going to get around to it. Tomorrow I begin work on a commissioned Dark Angels Whirlwind.

Tutorial: Magnetic Eldar Weapons

If you're like me, I hate closing off my options. I don't like gluing optional pieces on like weapon choices when my mind could change later. To solve this pretty much everything I own that has optional weapons is magnetic. Here's my most recent one, a magnetic wave serpent (though this also works on Falcons).



What you'll need is a ton of magnets. I usually buy from K&J Magnetics. The size I use for my wave serpents is the 1/8 by 1/32.

The first step is to get all the magnets facing the same direction. In the following diagram, the polarity facing outside is the one indicated. This way, weapons don't have to be left side or right side, they're universal.



Here's the parts all laid out.



What I do is set the magnets in a stack, then with a permanent marker, mark the top surface of the magnet. For arbitrary purposes, we'll call it positive. I then glue it with the positive side (the marked side) facing out on the central axis (after cutting off the thinner axis that you were supposed to slide the weapon on normally). I mark the next magnet, then glue it with the marked side facing the same way, but on the other side of the central axis (so the marked side is covered). Now it's just a matter of marking the top magnet and making sure they're all facing the same way.

Do the same to the weapons. Make sure that the positive magnet is facing the same way as the magnet on the central axis. If you did it right, when you glue the second magnet on the weapon it should naturally fall in its proper alignment. After the glue dries (and not before, I've learned from hard experience) it should be able to fit together just fine like this. (Edit: See my update at the bottom of this article)



For the housing on either side, you will have to drill in a little bit or else it sits way too far off the weapon. Make sure not to go too deep, you want the surface of the magnet flush with the housing.

Now you should be able to swap weapons out with ease! I haven't painted my weapons yet, but I'm working on it. I also adapted this for Vypers, so I can use these weapons on my Vypers. Furthermore, I have adapted my Falcon to this as well.

As you can see below, it's the same Wave Serpent but with bright lances now. Later on I'll have a tutorial on how to magnetize your Vypers. I also have magnetic Carnifexes, Warriors and Hive Tyrant.



Post Update: After experimentation I have popped all the magnets off the weapons and am in the process of drilling them out. I have decided to drill into the round part, the base of the weapons and glue the magnets in so they're flush with the surface. I did this for several reasons. First, it helps it not look so separate, everything becomes closer together. Secondly, it makes fitting the same weapons into the Vyper housing so much easier. While I already widened my Vyper housings, I would have to do the same for my future War Walkers which would not be so easy. Fixing the Vypers would be easier than widening the War Walkers.

Eldar Fire Prism

I've had this project done for a while, but thought I'd post it now. This took me a full day of painting to do. Looking back I think I should have done a bit more highlighting but I'm not going to touch it. It has a magnetized base so I can easily transport it and use it on the battlefield. The standard GW bases simply don't hold up the weight and snap too easily. If you glue it they're stronger, but if they break you're screwed. If you don't glue it, the flying bases constantly fall out and can still break. So I settled with magnets. I'll put up a tutorial on magnetizing flying bases later.

Next post will be about how to fully magnetize a wave serpent's weapons.