2k Blood Angels: Hammer and Anvil

Taking a break from work and came up with the following list:

HQ:
2 x Librarians - Epistolary, Divination, Force Axes

Troops:

30 Death Company - 3 Power Axes, 27 Bolters

5 x 10 Assault Squads - 2 melta guns

Total Points: 1995

Hardy and mobile.  The 2 librarians saddle up with the Death Company casting 4 powers a turn to make the unit beastly.  5 assault squads then to provide mobility and scoring.  While the death company does not score (which normally is a liability) it certainly can contest.  Plan of action is to drive this unit forward to absorb enemy focus fire and evaporate enemy units.  I figure the presence of the 30 man mob would really screw around with an opponents target priority.  Normally one would want to take out the scoring units but if you let the death company get to your lines your toast.  Big glaring weakness is no answer to flyers, however, there should be enough power armoured bodies on the table to weather the storm.

An alternative to the above list would be to replace a librarian with an elite chaplain and drop the epistolary upgrade on the remaining librarian.  I lose 3 powers a turn but I guarantee re-rolls to hit and wound on a turn I charge.  I could then give every sergeant in the assault squads a melta bomb.  The Death Company would then get 2 extra power axes and 5 hand flamers.  I figure this would make the unit even more undesirable to assault.

1k Lizardmen to cut my teeth on

I'm firmly back on the fantasy train and have come up with a 1k list to cut my teeth on:

Hero (General):

Skink Priest: Plaque of Tepok, Ruby Ring

Core:

24 Saurus Warriors - Spears, Standard
2 x 10 Skink Skirmishers

Special:

5 Chameleon Skinks
1 Stegadon

Rare:

2 Salamanders (separate units) extra handlers

A bit of everything to try and maximize the different rules for the Lizardmen at such a small point level.  I like the priest: though he is level 1 he will have 3 spells to choose from any given game.  In addition to drawing on three spells, fireball is guaranteed which is nice if I run across ethereal models.  The stegadon is likely a liability as I'm sure to come across cheap cannons but I love the model.  I figure having 2 salamanders will make up for any short comings of the stegadon.  Also, the 5 chameleon skinks should help alleviate any pressure the stegadon might face.

As far as modeling goes, I need to convert 5 skinks into chameleons.  There are quite a few good tutorials on Lustria Online that I will take advantage of.  Then its back to the tried and true army painter spray cans to finish up this list.

A second list I might try out would see me including a scar vet mounted on a cold one.  I would equip him with light armour, great weapon, venom of firefly frog, amulet of itzl, dragon helm.  I would have to scale down the priest and drop the chameleons along with one salamander to include him.  He would be a tough bugger though.  +1 plus armour save with a +2 ward save on the first wound taken along with 4 strength 7 poisoned/magical attacks.

If I went this rout it would mean less painting and modeling before I had a completed 1k army.  I figure the first list is better as the salamanders at this point level are gold however, I would like to have a beefy combat character to kick but with.

The Deep Freeze

Well winter has hit and it looks like I'll be snowed in for the next 5 months or so.  Time to pull out the mini's and start painting again.  Its been awhile since I last worked on the hobby but with the summer and fall firmly behind me, I can get back to work.  As you can see with the above photo, I've switched tracks back to fantasy.  Right now I'm at a bit of a loss with 6th edition 40k.  My flesh tearers are almost complete but at their heart they are a 5th edition list.  I just don't want to go and change the army dramatically so I'll use them - as is - until the Eldar are released.  I really want to build an Eldar army from the ground up utilizing as many plastic models that might be released with the new codex.  So rather than take on any new projects I've decided to get back to the lizardmen.

I'm focusing on getting a 2k army built and painted.  I've 2 lists in mind.  The first (as seen in the photo above -absent one ancient steg) is as follows:

Lord:
Slann - BsB, Dispel Scroll, Magic Banner (+1 leadership), Focus of Mystery, The Becalming Cogitation

Hero:
Scar-Vet - Shield, Armour, Venom of the Fire Fly Frog

Core:
27 Saurus Warriors - Full Command, Spears
11 Skink Skirmishers
10 Skink Skirmishers

Special:
20 Temple Guard - Musician, Standard Bearer
Stegadon

Rare
Ancient Stegadon
2 Salamanders + 1 Extra Skink

Total Points 2k

Its light on core/saurus warriors and I really should be inserting chameleon skinks or terradons to hunt war-machines   But the army is nearly built and well on the way to being painted.  The second list that I've been pondering at 2k is as follows:


Lord:
Slann - BsB, Dispel Scroll, Magic Banner (+1 leadership), Focus of Mystery, The Becalming Cogitation)

Core:
24 Saurus Warriors - Musician, Standard Bearer, Spears
10 Skink Skirmishers
10 Skink Skirmishers
10 Skink Skirmishers

Special:
20 Temple Guard - Musician, Standard Bearer
3 Terradons
Stegadon

Rare
Ancient Stegadon
2 Salamanders

Total Points 1997

I like the second list better for the variety it would bring to the table top.  A glaring problem with both lists is the inclusion of the stegadons.  I believe that including more blocks of saurus would be better; however, I just do not want to play lizardmen without including these models on the table top.  From what I've read if you are going to take one you're better off taking two.  Along the same lines of reasoning for including the stegadons, I believe that the terradons will look ascetically pleasing on the table top.  The second list will showcase a wide variety of different models from the lizardmen range which I think is an often neglected aspect of this hobby.  At any rate bring on the snow, its time to roll up my sleeves and get back to work.

p.s.

Here's a photo of my back yard after the last few days snow fall.

Some photo's of my last couple of games

Nothing to report other that I'm really digging the new rule set.  Having a painted army really amps up the fun factor for 40k.  I've been meaning to write a review of the job front line gaming did.  Hopefully in the next few weeks, I will have the time to do so.  One thing that really stands out for me in 6th is the extra layer of tactical decisions one must make with individual models.  It really adds to the game.  Anyway, hope to get some games in the next few weeks, and perhaps might write up a proper battle report.  That's all for now.

6th Edition Flesh Tearers

Ah the joys that list building brings me.  I've been puzzling over how to build a list that takes into account the models I've recently had painted for my Flesh Tearers.  I think I've come up with a decent one that (bar the Death Company) uses all the models I've had painted.  I've a second list in mind that tries to include as many Death Company as possible as well.

HQ:
Librarian

Elite:
3 Priests

Troops:
2 x 10 Assault Marines - Rhino, 2 Melta Guns, Melta Bomb
10 Man Tactical Squad - Missile Launcher, Plasma Gun,  Combi Plasma, Rhino
5 man Assault Squad - Rhino, Melta Gun, Melta Bomb
2 x 5 Assault Marines - Melta Gun, Melta Bomb

Fast:
2 Baal Preds - Assault Cannons, Heavy Bolters

Heavy:
2 Storm Ravens - Plasma Cannons, Multi Melta

Total 2K

So the gist of the list is each raven holds a 5 man squad with jump packs and a priest to start in reserve.  The rest of the army starts on the table and uses their first turn to get into the center board with the fast rhinos supported by the Baal Preds.  The Librarian and remaining Priest ride with the 5 man assault squad in the rhino.  In total I have 49 feel no pain marines, between 6 and 9 scoring units, 2 fliers and 27 hull points.  One thing that I'm not sure about is whether the priest grants a feel no pain save when embarked in a transport to units outside of the transport.  If they don't then the list will have to be overhauled.  I plan to use skies of blood to drop my jump infantry into areas that need them most.  This will allow me to keep the ravens in zoom mode.  Also, when I want to take Seth along for the ride, I can swap him with the librarian and drop the heavy bolter upgrades on my preds to fit him in with relative ease.

Now, I've also had a score of Death Company painted up and changes to the list above to include them would be to drop my two jump infantry units, the heavy bolters and a single priest for 8 Death Company with 2 power weapons and a fist as well as the Death Company Dread.  This would give me 46 feel no pain infantry, 4-7 scoring units, 2 fliers and 30 hull points to play with.  In order to swap in Seth I would drop the death company fist and one power weapon.

Eldar Dark Eldar Combo #2

Have not had much time lately to sink my teeth into 6^th, in fact I’ve only played one game so far with my Blood Angels.  Between my house coming down around my ears and a busy work schedule things have been hectic to say the least.  Anyway, with my gripes aside I have been reading and listening to pod casts to see how the community at large has been absorbing 6^th.  One thing that has really grabbed my attention is the dual FOC charts at 2k.  Again looking at an Eldar /Dark Eldar combo, I was thinking of building a list that fits in as many MC’s as possible.  Without much ado this is what I came up with:

HQ’s:

Avatar

Eldrad

Farseer – Divination

Farseer – Divination

Troops:

4 x 10 Avengers

Heavy:

6 Wraithlords – Shuriken Cannons

Allies:

2 Hemoculi – Hex Rifles

2 x 3 Wracks

2 Talos Pain Engines – Haywire Blasters

All in all 9 MC’s in the list.  Eldrad doom’s a couple of targets and fortunes the Avatar.  I have one 12 inch fearless bubble, two 12 inch guide bubbles.  Potential 80 anti-infantry shots a turn and two sniper back field shots.  Finally 18 strength 6 shots on my wraithlords.   I doubt very much I would ever invest in the models to try this list out but I think it might do ok.  I figure the Eldar army would advance behind the wraithwall while the Dark Eldar stay back to hold a home base objective.  Nothing too tactical: but for maintaining my units within the bubbles of force multipliers. 

If I were to forgo the Dark Eldar as allies, I think I would then take 2 squads of 20 storm guardians with an enhance warlock to act as fearless tar pits.  The two extra warlocks would also help out with wraith sight issues that might arise.

My Flesh Tearer Army

My new army is in the mail.  Kinda wish I did not get so many rhino's painted up.  Really digging the Storm Ravens.  I think my first game will include the two ravens.  Death Company in one and Seth and assault squad in the other with a priest.  2 baal preds that I really liked in 5th and I hope are good in 6th.  I also want to try out a true rhino rush list.  The jury is still out on rhino's in my opinion.  Especially fast rhino's.  I figure for 50 points I can guarantee 10 assault marines will get up to a 24 inch boost in the first turn might be worth it.  One thing I know for sure is that I can't wait to get some games in and try out the new rule set.

Eldar Dark Eldar combo idea

Been busy reading the new book and my head is swimming with ideas.  Thinking upon the multiple detachments and allies I've hobbled this list together.

2k List:

Detachment 1:
Farseer - guide, RoW

Troops:
(2) 5 man avengers - wave serpent, shurken cannons up and down

Heavy:
(3) fire prisms

Detachment 2:
same as detachment 1

Ally 1:

HQ:
Haemonculus

Troop:
3 Wracks

Heavy:
Razorwing Jetfighter

Ally2:
same as ally 1

Total Points 2k

If I drop a fire prism I can afford to give the wracks venoms with 5 points to spare.  Over all though I think fire prisms have improved with the new rule set.  Multiple detachments allows one to capitalize on their relatively cheep cost.  Dark Eldar provide the anti-air capability and two deck chair units with feal no pain. the two Runes of Warding stack to force a 4d6 psychic test.  I figure I would take a couple of random powers and if I don't like them take the signature spell that seems a little bit better than guide itself.  5-6 pie plates at bs 4 that can provide lots of different firepower as needed. The wave serpents can shoot both weapons moving 12 inches.  +5 jink save across the board.  Its purely a shooty list. Ultimately its just an idea.  But my head is spinning with them now so its handy to type a few of them out.

Seth got a buff

Caveat first off, I've only skimmed the rules.  It looks like Seth got a buff.  I read the IC section and it state that unless otherwise noted an IC does not impart their abilities to a unit and vice versa (unless otherwise specified).  Fearless USR now states one or all members of a unit with fearless means the unit does not roll on the pinning chart etcetera.  Seth has become a true force multiplier as he (as I read it) makes the unit he is attached to fearless.

I need to now take a look and determine whether he might strike at strength 9 on the charge again.  

Dark Eldar Treat

So while I took my sweet time to get back into the 40k grove a friend of mine has been slaving away building a Dark Eldar army.  Its the same guy whose IG army I've played against so many times.  Check out these photo's I think his painting has really been taken to the next level.

Refined 500 point Eldar Ally list.

Having some fun thinking up small ally detachments.  It's a great way to get motivated to finish up some old projects.  Going through my piccasa album I found this photo.  It was a 500 point army for an escalation league I never finished.  I think I might still give it a shot.


HQ:
- Autarch: Spider Pack, Death Spinner, Chain Sword, Mandiblaster


Elite:
-7 Scorpions + 1 Exarch: Claw, Shadow Strike, Stalker


Troop:
-5 Pathfinders


Fast Attack:
-5 Spiders


Total Points: 500


I figure the benefit to this list is that it allows me a chance to try out the new outflanking moves.  Have not read much recently but apparently I might be able to co-ordinate their deepstrike/outflank move.  Not a bad list really, as there are no bad lists on the eve of 6th edition.  Hopefully the Eldar and Tearers can have a strong enough alliance that the + 1 reserve roll is army wide.

Work on the Tearers continues

Trying new blogger app on phone to to puplish a post.  At any rate got the shoulder pads of the assault squad painted. 

Edit:

Got a bit of work in on the assault squad and painted the bases.

Blood Angel and Eldar Allies are In

Man, was reading yes the truth hurts and saw this link.  So its official, my flesh tearers and eldar can ally.  When I get my army back from frontline gaming, I will have a solid 1500 point army painted for the table top.  I'm thinking that I want to use my remaining 500 points to buy an Autarch for the +1 to reserve roll. I also figure with flyers coming into the game from reserve always that a reserve roll boast for the tearers could come in handy.  Keeping in mind my previous 1500 point list for the tearers I figure the following 500 point Eldar list would be a fun ally to include.


HQ:
Autarch - spider pack, fusion gun, powersword, mandiblaster


Troop:
5 Rangers


Elite:
5 Scorpions + 1 Exarch - claw, stalker, shadow strike


Fast:
6 Warp Spiders


I suspect that Rangers will be a good troop choice in 6th.  They can always scout onto an objective off the hop for extra points.  All I really care about is my +1 reserve roll.  Though there is a good chance that the flesh tearers and eldar might not be able to share abilities between the two detachments.  I have not read anywhere what the different tiers of cooperation allows the different armies to do.  If this is the case then I likely will plan out a 500 point list using a farseer.

Flight of the Swooping Hawk

Reading through the new white dwarf and various blogs, I take it glancing hits will strip away hull points in 6th edition.  I wonder if this might encourage the use of swooping hawks.  5 for 110 points you get 5 models with jump packs and haywire grenades.  If the additional rumor is true that vehicles will have WS values of 1 or 0 depending on movement, that's a lot of guaranteed glancing hits produced by the swooping hawks.  Just a random thought though.  What little of the rules I've gleaned are woefully out of context.  Still it is a fun exercise to dream up new uses for little seen units.

500 point Eldar Ally

In anticipation for my first game of 6th edition I think I will try and take along 500 points of an Eldar ally.  Sounds like a lot of fun.  If this proposed new rule is true then I get the ability to field some of my painted Eldar units along with my Flesh Tearers.  Only restriction that I saw from what I've seen of the leaked WD issue is that ally's might be restricted to large point games of 2.5k.  I hope that is not the case and that you can take them at 2k points.  At any rate if the rumors are true then I've come up with a 2k list that I suspect I will play my first game of 6th edition with.


Eldar:


Farseer - RoW, Spirit Stones, Mind War, Guide (cheapest powers to save points after taking new powers)


10 Avengers - Wave Serpent, Shuriken Cannons x2, Exarch, Dire Sword


1 Fire Prism


Flesh Tearers:


Librarian (try out all new powers)


10 man Tac Squad - Missile, Fist, Melta Gun, Rhino
10 man Assault Squad - Fist, 2x Melta Gun's, Rhino
5 man Assault Squad - Flamer, Rhino, Melta Bomb
5 man Death Company Squad
1 Death Company Dread


2 Baal Preds - Assault Cannons, Heavy Bolters


1 Storm Raven - Plasma Cannon, Multi-Melta


Should roughly come out to 2k points.  I think it would be a blast to play and take advantage of as many possible changes that might come out with the new rule set.

Tactical Squad Done

Calling this unit done and moving on to the next.  10 assault marines in the background are next on the painting que.  The mojo is flowing.

Eldar changes to look forward to

With what I hope is a June 30th release I've been thinking all sorts of 40k thoughts lately.  I will have the tearers ready willing and able to go when the new rule set drops but as always my mind turns to the Eldar.  Realistically a 6th edition codex is at least a year away.  That being said however, I'm positive changes to the core rule system will shake up the 4th edition codex.  Ultimately lending itself to seeing a shake up on what limited builds are available to the Eldar in the twilight of 5th.

First and foremost there is the Farseer.  At first I was fairly negative to the proposed changes to the psychic system with respect to the Eldar.  As it stands the Eldar require a list to be built around specific force multipliers found in their Farseer powers.  I thought that any change to these powers would make an already difficult army to play be all the more challenging.  After giving it some thought though, I hope the Eldar powers are revamped in the new rule set.  On its face, the most positive aspect of these changes will be opening a window to potential changes coming down the pipe for the Eldar.  That aside, I'm hopeful the new power system might open up new combo's for the old codex allowing the Eldar to take advantage of whatever new rules may be present prior to a new codex.  For example lets say the shooting phase and assault phase swap places in any given game turn.  Without equipping the Eldar with the tools to take advantage of this new playing field they would likely slip further into obscurity.  As I see it there are only 2 ways that this might be alleviated: 1) a new codex 2) change the way Eldar force multipliers work.  This is all conjecture, but I do remain hopeful that the new rule set will breath new life into the antiquated Eldar codex.  I don't expect 6th edition to make the Eldar a top tier army but I do suspect it will shake up the cookie cutter builds and inject some new life into the ancient space fairing elves.

Absent the Farseer, I remain hopeful that there will be multiple universal rule changes that might encourage new builds to be played.  Examples of USR rules that I will be paying particular attention to are: Fleet, Sniper Rifles, Wound Allocation, Fast Vehicles, Infiltrate, Stealth.  I'm hoping that we might see universal changes that would buff certain unused Eldar units.  Namely: Rangers, Scorpions and though often used the Wave Serpent.  I list the Wave Serpent because our bread and butter transport stands to gain massive improvements based on some of the rumours floating around.  Rangers and Scorpions are some of my favorite models in the entire Eldar range so anything that might encourage there use I strongly look forward to.

So with all that being said the only concrete thing to say is that time will tell.  The excitement for a new rule set is reaching epic levels.  I really look forward to starting fresh with the entire community to digest the new rule set.  I came in mid stream with 5th and the only time I've ever started a rule set fresh was when Rogue Trader switched to 2nd (and I played the bejesus out of 2nd edition).  In closing, I've attached a few photo's of Eldar models that I've started but never completed.  I'm hoping that 6th edition will inspire me to paint Eldar again rather than waiting for a new codex.

I'm all verklempt

Oh I cannot wait.  The eve of 6th edition.  I've my flesh tearers bought and paid for.  A painted army ready to play.  But the Eldar are calling.  My main squeeze.  Let the rumor mongers sling about all the potential changes.  I don't care.  I'll play the flesh tearers (in a 5th edition style list until the Eldar are released).  No big changes for me.  However, once the Eldar hit the horizon, my wallet will be spent.

To recap my experience with 40k, I came back into the game from 2nd edition into 5th, the Eldar have always been (and I suspect always will be) my army.  Now that 6th edition is on the horizon I can breath a big sigh of relief.  No tail end codex for my space elves.  I can take comfort in the fact that a proper (hope hard cover) codex is waiting for me in a years time.  In the mean time I will be content to hash out games with my marines.  But I give fair warning to all the opponents I've ever played against.  Once the Eldar hit the shelves, no mercy!  I plan to build the most broken list possible and relish the results.

Dual Ravens for 6th Edition

I picked up a second Storm Raven gambling that flyers will become more viable in 6th edition.  After sleuthing around the inter-webs with a mind to researching the viability of a dual raven list the general consensus I've found is that including 2 ravens is not the most competitive build going for 5th.  There are sentiments as well that flyers will not be improved under a 6th edition rule set.  Myself I cannot say one way or the other whether running two ravens will become more viable with any certainty, but I have a gut feeling this will be the case.  With this in mind I've played around with army builder to come up with a list that I think could perform well under 5th but realistically having 6th edition foremost in focus.  I've also included flamers (normal and heavy) where I could considering some of the rumors that have been flowing lately in their increased tactical use.  Here we go:

HQ:
Librarian - Unleash Rage, Shield

Elite:
2 Priests
Furioso Dread - Frag Cannon, Drop Pod

Troops:
2x 10 man Assault Squads - Melta Gun, Flamer, Power Fist, Rhino
10 Tac Squad - Melta Gun, Missile Launcher, Power Fist
5 man Assault Squad - Melta Gun, Heavy Flamer Razorback
5 Death Company
1 Death Company Dread

Fast Attack:
1 Attack Bike - Multi-Melta

Heavy:
2 Storm Ravens - Plasma Cannons, Multi Melta's, Extra Armour
Dreadnought - Multi-Melta, Heavy Flamer

Total Points: 2000

So the Librarian, Priest and a 10 man Assault Squad will jump in a Storm Raven along with the basic Dread.  The unused Rhino then goes to the Tac Squad to bunker down and camp an objective.  Joining the Storm Raven will be the second Storm Raven carrying the Death Company.  I figure this Storm Raven will draw most of the early game fire power simply because of the black paint job.  I've kept the death company then to a min only to unlock the dread.  I figure at 100 points the small infantry squad should be able to earn their points back.  Ultimately they are in the list to die.  That leaves me with two Assault Squads and an Attack Bike to form an attack formation supporting each other.

The way I envision the list working (assuming I go first) is dropping the Furioso Dread next to a juicy armoured target to get a melta gun and frag cannon shot off.  The two Storm Ravens then move flat out to support the lone dread and use the machine spirit to get off two multi-melta shots.  The Tac Squad jumps into their newly acquired rhino and camps an objective.  The reaming Assault Squads along with the second Priest and Attack Bike rush forward to support the main thrust of my army for turn two.  I suspect they will draw little fire due to the threat of the ravens and three dreads on the opponents doorstep turn one.  Not sure what my plan is if I go second (reserve the ravens or not).

Models Away

My models are now en-route to the States to be completed.  This leaves me with the above to get painted/finished in anticipation for 6th edition.  In order to remove all clutter from my work space and mind, I've put away every other model in my collection so as not to be tempted to stray from my plan of attack.  I want to first finish the tac squad (its oh so close).  From there finish my full 10 man assault squad then the two smaller squads.  I want to leave my independent characters till last (I enjoy painting them the most).  So there you have it, while some might say I took the easy way out, I do not care.  I'm looking at having a completely painted 2000 point army for 6th edition.  Booya!

Prepping for 6th edition.

Man I'm completely stoked for 6th edition to drop.  Fantasy is put away and I've pulled out the flesh tearers to start working on again.  In order to facilitate having a completely painted army for 6th I've gone and outsourced the painting on my tanks and death company to Frontline Gaming.  I first started following their blog when they posted a few video's using the rumored 6th edition rule set and have enjoyed reading their content since.  With the crew down in California painting up a large portion of my army, all I have left to do is finish the infantry.  This is something by all rights I should be able to complete for July.  Essentially I've to finish painting up two full squads of marines and start fresh on another 10.  I've the models mostly built and primed so I should be off the the races for 6th edition.  The following will be my list.

HQ:
Seth
Librarian - Lance, Shield

Elite:
Chaplain
2 Priests

Troops:
5 man assault squad - melta gun, rhino
5 man assault squad - flamer, rhino
10 man assault squad - 2 melta guns, power fist, rhino
10 man tac squad - melta gun, missile launcher, power fist, rhino
10 man death company - power fist
1 death company dread

Fast:
2 Baal Preds - assault cannons

Heavy:
Storm Raven - plasma cannon, multi-melta, extra armour

Total Points:  2000

This list gives me 45 feel no pain marines on the table top (or 50 feel no pain wounds on the table).  No support fire, no 4+2, 6+6, or other competitive frameworks to build a list around.  Just a lot of angry fast marines that like to chop stuff up.  I've played the list and it is a lot of fun on the table.

With a painted army complete, I can then take my time and work on the eldar at a more pleasurable pace.  I'm tempted to start fresh though with the Eldar.  I want to try my hand at air brushing an army using a unique colour scheme.  Greens, browns and yellows is something that I've been tossing around in my head.  Anyway, the 5th edition malaise that I had succumbed to has been replaced with an excited anticipation for 6th to drop.  Can't wait.

Random Thoughts 2099 (Change is good - or - Why the Negativity?)

Today I represented an individual that ended up going to JAIL ( incarcerated - locked up - put away - slammer - sing sing).  For those who may not know I'm a criminal defence lawyer.  Presure was on I was living my life like I was in a movie.  At the end of the day I return home to a family and life far removed from the toils of everyday life.  One of the things that makes this possible is my multi-decade long love of 40k.  I've seen this system of rules change ever since the late 1989's.  One thing that has kept me interested all these long years is my love of change.  5 editions of rules...  Hopefuly June of this year a 6th edition of rules.  This game has inspired my imagination since I was a young teenager.  I for one cannot waitv for the new rule system to drop.

With this background I pose the following question:

Why the Negativity?

We live in democratic society.  Why the hate for capitalism.  GW raises their price every year.  I continue to pay GW yearly to support my desire for a good life.  A good life to me is having a 40k army to play games and occupy my mind with.  40k occupies my mind.  I love thinking of tactics, strategies, fluff, and story driven fun to distract me from my every day toil.  

I proactively spend gobs of hard earned money (though not in the past 10 months) on this hobby of ours.  And I don't regret it: I wish I did.  It brings me peace of mind.  With this in mind I have trouble understanding the general negative vibe I've been picking up waiting for 6th edition to drop.  Pay the nominal fee to engage your mind and look forward to a new age of this great game we all play.  

Change is good.  I my self look forward to change.  This is a general call out to all the Bloggers and friends of mine out there; change is good.  

Random Thoughts 2099

Kaughnor

Back on track

Well, its been nearly two months since I worked on any models.  Life work family et cetera...  Glad to be back on track though with the lizardmen.  All these 6th edition rumors have left me a little drained.  Not that I'm not excited for 6th edition, its just that I have no desire to play 40k until the new rule set is released.  I do like change though so when 6th edition does drop I will be all over it.  As it stands I've got my lizardmen to work on.  I had a great spurt of productivity early March.  Hoping to reignite my creative juices.  It helps that I have a painting plan for the rest of the army.  Just got to keep on keeping on.

Picked up some new GW paints

Picked up three paint pots from the new GW line today.  The textured undergrowth for my lizardmen bases, the lahmian medium to apply some of the forgeworld transfers I picked up ages ago for my flesh tearers and the imperial primer to fix up damaged/chiped spots on my metal models.  Looking forward to see how they turn out.

Stacking Runes of Warding

I was reading ELDAR ONLINE the other day looking for some insights into other peoples experience running corsairs when I came across a rules interpretation that left me scratching my head.  It has to do with the relatively recent FAQ update for the Eldar.  In particular it involves an Errata for Runes of Warding which reads as follows:


ERRATA
Page 26 – Runes of Warding
Change the last sentence to “All enemy Psykers must
roll an extra dice when taking Psychic tests, suffering
Perils of the Warp on any roll of 12 or above.”

It was the general consensus that with this new errata that Runes of Warding would stack.  In other words, taking two Farseers with runes of warding would force the opponent to roll 4 dice and anything over 12 would count as a peril of the warp.  If this is the case does it change the face of how Eldar are to build lists, or at the minimum give their 4th edition codex a well needed boost?

If an accurate interpretation of the rules then I would suggest that the Eldar have received a boost against Grey Knights for one.  With Grey Knights accounting for a large segment of armies played over all it would appear that the boost to the codex is more than just trivial.

As it stands, if this were the case, I would be looking to tailor an Eldar list then to include Eldrad and a Farseer with RoW, Stones, Guide and Fortune.  Three DAVU Falcons then with holo-fields, stones and EML's to form the core of my army.  A possible 4th troop choice of storm guardians with warlock, embolden, fusion guns and spear to boost Eldrads powers.  Fill the list out then with Fire Dragons in wave serpents and perhaps a seer council.

Then again, perhaps this is an erroneous interpretation of the RoW rule and that only 3d6 dice are to be rolled when taking the test.

First Game with Eldar Corsairs

I managed to get a game in last Friday using the new Corsair list out of IA 11.  Man it was a lot of fun.  My list was as follows:

HQ:
Prince

Troops:
5 x 5 Corsairs - fusion gun, Falcon, EML, Holo-Field, Stone
3 Wasps - EML's

Heavy:
2 Warp Hunters - Holo-Field, Stone, Under Slung Cannon

I went up against Guard that had a list as follows (roughly from memory):

HQ:
Command Squad - Chimera

Elite:
Psycher Battle Squad - Chimera (not sure how many models in unit)

Troops:
4 or 5 Vet Squads - Melta Guns, Chimeras

Fast Attack:
Vindicator
Devil Dog

Heavy
2 Lemun Russ's (two different guns battle cannon and demolisher I believe)
1 Manticore

The game was standard deployment and kill points.  I won by 1 kill point at the end of the game that proved to be very fun.  Throughout the game it could have gone either way as it felt both armies were evenly matched.  The main reason I took the list that I did is that it included models I currently own.  I have a grand total of 7 tanks for my Eldar and three war walkers (4 wave serpents, 2 Fire Prisms and a Falcon).  The wave serpents I proxied as falcons by throwing on a bright lance and EML to act as the pulse laser and EML and used my fire prisms as warp hunters.

Playing the corsair list was a very tactical experience.  The game was a duel between two tank lists.  I used my mobility to keep as much range between myself and his tanks as he hemmed me into a corner.  I've got to say it was great to have BS 4 across the board.  The Falcons were hardy little devils that could reach out across the board and produce results.  Having holo-fields across all my tanks was great as well as they proved very durable.  I believe they saved me from immobilized/wreaked/destroyed results at least 5 times.  

Against the Guard the warp hunters paid for themselves in spades.  The large blast D-Cannon template wreaked havoc on his congested tank lines.  Because of the the way the weapon works you don't care about getting the center of the blast on a tank as there is no strength value.  Very first turn - first shot in fact - saw a warphunter place a large blast that partially covered 2 lemun russes and the manticore.  The result being one wreaked lemun russ, another lemun russ with the demolisher blown off and a stunned manticore.  Pure gold.  Thing is it almost seemed too good.  The warp hunter may be a bit overpowered as it currently stands in the list.

As for the wasps, I only took them as I lacked a 8th tank to act as a falcon.  They did ok at best.  The jump movement in the shooting phase did work out well though allowing them to avoid the oncoming rush of guardsmen.  They proved very fragile at the end of the day and I felt just acted to give my opponent free kill points when faced with the durability of the rest of my list.

Overall it was refreshing to play a game where the Eldar proved to be an elite force that had the tools to back up their fluff.  If I were to play the list again I think I would drop the wasps and use those points to add star-engines across the board.  Also I think I would upgrade my corsair squads to carry shuriken cannons as well and switch the fusion guns out for flamers.  I did not realize until after that the shuriken cannon is an assault weapon.  With this kit out the 5 man squads could do some damage to infantry should the opportunity arise.  One glaring weakness to the list is the vulnerability to melta.  I was able to absorb all sorts of long range firepower but once my opponent was able to get his melta guns into range I began to sweat.  Equipping my infantry with anti-infantry weapons would help out in this department I suspect.  I did forget about my prince's ability to call down a bombardment that I think would have proved handy in this situation as well.  Once his troops are exposed and clumped together to get some melta-shots, the anti-infintry shot would have done a good number on them while having no fear that the shot could hurt my tanks.

So final thoughts: I'm now on a mission to pick up some used falcon's to turn this list into a reality.  It was a blast to play.

Paint Supplies

I popped into my local GW store this morning and received my first encounter with the new painting line.  One of the gaming tables had been cleared to set up 6 painting stations along with a bucket of plastic space marines free for the public to test out the new line.  Now, I did not actually paint up a mini with the new paints but I took a close look at what some people had done.

Over all I'm excited for the new range to hit the shelves.  The foundation and basic (layers) paint selection has been expanded which is always nice.  In particular, I tend to paint out of the pot (watered down) and try to avoid mixing colours.  Time being my enemy, I've found I spend too much of it trying to recreate past tones or hues.  With an expanded range, that gives me more tools that require less time to use.  A win win situation for me.

Another big win, as far as I can tell, is the new class of base paints.  No more basing with sand and elmers glue.  The new process if pretty slick, the sand is already mixed into the paint and provides a nice texture for your bases allowing for a finial dry brush and flock.  Speaking of drybrushing, another new line of paints is tailored just for this purpose.  I did not get a look at how effective this new style of highlight paint is but I did peer into the pot.  Its not really paint at all but rather almost a solid state chalky substance.  I'm interested to see how it pans out.  Also I peered into a glaze class paint and it looks like a watered down ink.  A couple of final thoughts: white foundation colour, ohh, I really want to see how this works.  Then there is another class of paints to be used for utility functions (such as liquid green stuff).  I take it there will be a paintable primer that I'm thinking would be quit handy.

So over all I can honestly say I'm actually really excited to get my hands on these new paints.