Trial Run II

I was able to get some work done on the Ranger tonight.  Not much of an improvement.  Just finished the base coat and applied a wash.  Looking at this photo, I think I need to improve my light source where I paint.  Looks like I need to do some touch ups before starting my highlights.

Trial Run

First Ranger cleaned, based and primed.  Going to use this model as a test run for the rest of my Rangers.

First coat of colour on the cloak applied.  I used the GW foundation paint Orkhide Shade.

Started applying Mordian Blue for on the armour plates.

The leather gloves and boots I've applied a coat of Graveyard Earth.  The helmet is Iyandian Yellow.  Not sure what I am going to paint the gun and ammo clips.  I plan to paint the back pack a mixture of green and leather as used already.  That leaves the hoses and leather straps then to paint.  Not sure what colours to paint them either.  I think the remaining leather straps need to differentiated from the boots and gloves, not sure whether to go lighter or perhaps a reddish brown.  As for the gun I might wait until I develop some of the colours I have down before I start it.  I was thinking of painting the gun wraithbone but I may end up making it darker depending on how the highlights on the camo clock turn out.  Anyway think I'm going to call it a night.  Hopefully I will get another hour or so tomorrow to plug away at the model.  I got to say its nice to pick up a brush again.  Its been nearly three months since I last painted.

Kill Team

I think I have settled on my kill team list with 5 Rangers, 4 Scorpions and 1 Exarch with Biting Blade and Stealth Move Through Cover.  Not sure if the Scorpions get the benefit of the Exarch power in kill teams but I had points left over for it.  I figure this will be a good start on my stealth Alaitoc list.  So the plan is to have the above 10 models painted as best I can by Jan 1, 2011.  I think that is a reasonable deadline.

Forum

So I think I've got the forum up and running.

Escalation League Part II

Ok so the rules of the league have been hammered out as follows:

- It will progress monthly
- Month 1, 200 points using the Kill Team rule set from Battle Missions.
- Month 2 500 points with the following requirements:
     - 1 HQ choice
     - 1 + Troop choice
     - no selection from the Heavy slot
- Month 3 750 points, game on, standard force org.
- Previous unit selections must be kept month to month.  Units may only be upgraded.  Never downgraded.
- Each subsequent month 250 points until we reach 2000 points (7 months in total).
- There will be seven teams

Scoring:

-  There are 5 categories that will be scored at the end league.
     - Best painted/converted single model
     - Best painted army
     - Best story/fluff/army progression
     - Best sportsmen
     - Most number of wins.
-  With respect to the final category, we will be required to play one official game a month.
-  Each month you will have to challenge someone different in the group.
-  We will be scored by our opponents on the above criteria between a scale of 1 to 5.
-  No one person can win more than two categories at the end of the league.
-  Once a month every person will put in ten dollars to the prize fund.
-  At the end of the league we will have roughly $100 prize to give out per category.
-  Any money won, must be spent on furthering the hobby at our local gaming store.

So I met last night with the group to hammer out the rules.  As it stands we will have the following armies:

  - Eldar (me) - Alaitoc with a focus on rangers, scorpions and war walkers
  - Space Marines - Ultra Marine drop pod army
  - Orcs - Some kind of mech boy list where kans are troop choice (from imperial armour)
  - Chaos Demons - Strong focus on khorne
  - Nids - not sure on the theme yet
  - Tau - focus on battle suits and no kroot allowed
  - Dark Eldar - Hellion sky board army with the Duke HQ

So the above lists are not standard or hard.  The idea is that we will focus the league on creating armies more thematic in nature than competitive.  Hence only one of the five scoring options are for actually winning games.  The primary focus then is to focus on the hobby as a whole and produce a well painted 2000 point army.  In addition we all have been talking about pushing into the Apoc levels once we complete the 2k points.

With respect to this blog, I will be trying to host a forum to allow us all a common place to gather and report our progress.  Not exactly sure how to do this but I have until Jan 1, 2011 to get the blog up to speed.  It may end up that I will simply just give access to the the other members of the group to post on the blog.  I also need to figure out a away to incorporate google calendar with the blog so that we might all coordinated our different schedules and see when each of us are playing each other.  

I forgot to mention that we will have to write a short blurb explaining the fluff/back story to each list we make.  As well, we will be responsible to write up a battle report after each official battle.  I will then post those along with any photo's that were taken of any given game.

I am extremely excited for this tourney, as it will provide a solid foundation to build a complete and painted army.  Personally I'm going to focus on the Eldar.  In particular, the idea I am toying with is an Alaitoc strike force.  I want a strong scouting force that go in and secure any given objective.  They then call in support  from the main Alaitoc war host with a rapid response team (ie mech wing of avengers, dragons and storm guardians).  I've also been looking at building my list with a mind to Apoc data sheets.  In particular the shadow sect of Karandras and the shadow walker formation.  I've also got my eye on a titan or two...

Anyway I will update shortly with my progress on getting this blog up to speed to help facilitate this new league.

Escalation

I have been out of commission as far as the hobby goes for the last couple of months due to work, family and life in general.  In an effort to get back into the swing of things I’ve decided to join an escalation league with some friends starting Jan 1, 2011.  At present there will be the following armies: Tau, Daemons, Ultramarines, Dark Eldar, Orks (potentially two ork lists).  It has been agreed that we will start things off with 500 points with the regular force org requirements but for initially only requiring 1+ troop selection.  The primary focus of this league will be to stick to fluff and high painting standards. 

The rest of the crew are jumping on board as it will give them a chance to paint a new army in a structured manner.  My focus is to get my Eldar army painted and done!  I’m tired of playing with half painted models.  My main problem (aside from lack of hobby time) is my low attention span and attraction to bright shinny new things.  For example when the blood angel book was released I was all over starting a Flesh Tearer army and as a result work on my Eldar grinded to a halt.  With the release of the Dark Eldar, it took a lot of will power for me not to jump on that band wagon as well.

After our initial investment of 500 points we will be increasing our point levels by 250 every month.  As it stands this is my potential list I wish to start things off with.

HQ:

Autarch – Power Weapon, Mandiblasters, Fusion Gun – 100 points

(rides with the Avengers)

Troop:

10 Dire Avengers (no exarch) – Wave Serpent, Shuriken Cannons – 220 points

Elite:

5 Fire Dragons (no exarch) – Wave Serpent, Shuriken Cannons – 180 points

Total Points: 500

As it stands I have about half of the above painted and will have to focus on completing the rest for January first.  I should also say that I have chosen Alaitoc as my craftworld and paint scheme.  Consequently, as I grow the list I plan to add Pathfinders, Scorpions, Warwalkers, Storm Guardians, Warp- Spiders and a Farseer.  The reason I initially went with an Autarch over the Farseer was mainly for theme.  I like the idea of a small strike force lead by a general. 

I don’t have much experience with 5^th edition and never really played in 4^th or 3^rd edition.  The bulk of my experience comes from 2^nd edition.  The reason I say this is that my big complaint back then with the Eldar was that the army lacked a cohesive military feel.  Now with units up to squads of 10 and the introduction of the Autarch acting as a general I feel this game has come a long way (at least with respect to the Eldar) to grasping that feel of commanding an army.  I realise that the Farseer is probably the better choice and acts as a force multiplier, but I want to:

a)      Seriously try the Autarch out in a number of games

b)      Create a theme to my army as I build it organically over the course of the escalation league.

So there you have it, let me know what you think of my initial 500 points.  If you made it this far in my post, thank you for listening to my rambles.