Iyanden Paint Scheme

I finished my test model and can say I'm quite happy with the way it turned out.  Only big problem I see is drybrushing the gun.  Becasue I apply 2 spray coats of primer (white then yellow) the model gets a textured feal to it.  Makes it impossible to dry brush as the entire surface is covered in raised paint.  Future models I'll simple add a couple of quick line highlights such I did for the yellow bits.

Iyanden though lol... I don't know if I just bit off a bit more than I can chew.  Lining up the new paint scheme with my existing work in progress I'm not sure if the two fit.  I'll paint up the yellow wave serpent and then decide if I keep going with new Iyanden style on the wraith knight or go back to tried and true blue.

Fist Official Lizardman Teaser From GW

Another 1250 point game against raven wing

Got another game in last Thursday.  Mixed up my 1250 list dropping the wraithknight and adding in a crimson hunter.  Also swapped one fire prism out for night spinner.  We called the game middle of turn three.  As he only had one unit of bikes left and the nightshroud skimmer.  I also had a whack of stuff left to shoot that turn.  Wave serpents are amazing.  Every game they shine and when people get close thinking they can take them out... out pop all my shuriken guns rending away to their harts content.  Anyway, did some painting the past while.  Last week has been busy for me with work so not as much done as I would have liked.  Still though I just have to keep chipping away at the mountain and eventually the army will be painted.  The following photo's are sequential up to middle of my turn three.

Finaly, below is just a rough test model using army painter yellow (stole idea from zen 40k here). Looking to add lots of more yellow into my standing army...

Eldar Apocalypse

I've told myself no.  No I will not jump on the new fad from GW.  I will not buy the new Apocalypse book.  So I will not buy the new book... yet.  I do however have the Doom of Mymeara campaign and as would luck would have it, a friend that has a Cadian IG army.  Nothing stopping me from trying out a few missions from the Imperial Armour book.

The above is a 1500 point army nearly painted to completion.  As it stands the first mission of Doom of Mymeara requires a 1500 Eldar army.  It includes a bunch of upgrades and whatnot and is not very optimal.  But it is nearly painted in its entirety.  I hope then to play the first mission and then aim to play out the campain as presented in Imperial Armour 11 at a leisurely pace.

Expanding the army I can draw upon some Eldar Corsair allies.  In particular I have 2 falcons that likely won't have a place in my Eldar list.  Bringing the list up to 2k and beyond I can easily add in some Corsair's and perhaps at some point down the road pick up a forgeworld model or two.  In particular I really like the lynx.  Not now or any time soon but perhaps down the road some indeterminate time I may look to expanding my collection with some forgeworld models.

With respect to my standard games of 40k, I've changed up my list for 1850.  Ultimately I've decided to drop the wraith knight for now.  A couple of reasons: one I want to try out some other units in the Eldar book (namely the crimson hunter and some war walkers).  Two, I have two war walkers nearly completed and a third one on the sprue in my collection.  As with the last post I'm taking the path of least resistance.

Unfortunately I don't have a photo of the army right now but it is all but built and 2/3rds painted (one war walker needs to be assembled).  The list is as follows:

HQ:
Farseer - spear
Spirit Seer

Troops:
5 Wraith Guard - wave serpent, holo, lance
2 x 10 Avengers - wave serpent, holo, laser
10 Storm Guardians - 2 flamers, wave serpent, holo laser

Fast:
Crimson Hunter

Heavy:
Fire Prism - spirit stone
Night Spinner - crystal matrix
3 War Walkers - shuriken cannons

Total Points: 1850 on the nose

The basic premise of the list is that the Farseer picks only divination powers and rides with the wraithguard.  Guaranteed prescience, I know that I can always twin link 5 s.10 and 1 s.9 shots to deal with flyers toughness ten or heavy armour.  Any other combination of 2 powers from divination will not be wasted when cast on the Wraith Guard.  In particular I want the 6th power that allows me to roll 3 dice on reserves/outflank/mysterious terrain.  In fact I might not take prescience if it means losing that power.  As I see it I need the control over reserves and outflank rolls to maximize the potential of the war walkers and crimson hunter.

I know the crimson hunter is not considered optimal but even if it takes out one heldrake, its paid for itself.  My 4 wave serpents can take out a quad gun very reliably.  With the 3 rolls on reserve I can help assure my flyer comes on after an opponent.  I feel I need a second option in case I face 2 heldrakes or more.  The twin linked wraithguns can take out one but if there are two then the squad will likely be wiped in return.  Perhaps the hunter is a waste of points but I want to move beyond theory hammer and try the model out.  Especially because I really dig the look of it.

The war walkers are as cheap as I can make them.  I plan to put them in reserve and outflank.  The additional dice on choosing a side to outflank will come in handy as well.  Big thing for including the 3 walkers is that I nearly have a unit completed and painted.  Also been watching a lot of the front-line gaming videos and the walkers tend to do very well.

The Spirit Seer rides with the Storm Guardians.  They worked very well for me last edition.  Often my opponent would simply discount them and focus on other parts of my army.  I think they will work all the better now with the boost to their stats.  Guaranteed shrouding and one other additional power, they will complement my list.  Cut down my Avenger squads by one mainly because I did not want to paint 10 more white helmets.  I stand by my choice however to include them in the wave serpents.  The internet and myself do not agree on their utility.  They have done very well for me though so they stay.  Switching the Storm Guardians in for the 3rd Avenger squad will give me some more flexibility.

I had to make room to put on the crystal targeting matrix on the Night Spinner.  It seems like this bit of kit was made for the spinner in particular.  For 140 points this unit is very flexible and gives me access to a decent barrage weapon to deal with opponents behind the aegis.  Plus if the opportunity presents itself can scoot across the board to capitalize on poor enemy model placement with the torrent weapon.  The Fire Prism does what it says on the label.  Has the stones so it keeps firing every turn.

So that's the new list.  I think I will miss the wraith knight but at least I will have tested out some other units.  It may well be that it makes it back into my list.  Bringing the list up to 2k, I would add in 3 jet bikes and 6 spiders.  Need to figure out how to shave 15 points though.  That's it for now.

Eldar update: 1250 point army nearly done, 1500 in sight.

The path of least resistance is one I decided to tread.  Was not really up for painting another group of ten dire avengers, so I pulled out from storage a squad of storm guardians I used to run in 5th.  It will be a lot easier to finish them up rather than go through another ten white helmets.  Also with points saved I can throw in a crimson hunter in my 1250 list.  Also wanted to try out the night spinner so I got out my conversion knife.  Cut the fire prism gun off and then magnetized it.  Also magnetized some spinner barrels for the night spinner.   The above now (absent the wraith knight) comes in at 1250 on the dot.  Bringing the list up to 1500 I'll add the wraith knight.  Going beyond that to 1850 I've 5 d-scyth wraithguard and serpent I'll add.

The 1250 list:

HQ:
Farseer - singing spear

Troops:
10 Storm Guardians - 2 fusion guns, wave serpent, holo, lasers
2 x 10 Avengers - wave serpent, lasers

Fast:
Crimson Hunter

Heavy:
Fire Prism
Night Spinner

Painting wise, it is a lot easier to paint up the crimson hunter than another ten avengers.  So the end is in sight to having a completed 1250 army.  I've been thinking an autarch might be a better choice for the above to assist the CH.  I can take him stock with the banshee mask, thus freeing up 30 points to put holo fields on the avenger wave serpents.  Or I can give the autarch the fire saber to make the storm guardians half decent in an assault.

With the farseer I've given him the spear and the guardians fusion guns: as those three guided anti tank shots will do in a pinch if I need to drop a landraider or monolith.  It was how I ran the squad back in 5th and it did well for me.  For now the unit will stay as is.  I'm happy with how the farseer turned out so I plan to use him aplenty.  I think after my army is complete at the 1250 level and I have time before the lizardmen drop, I might return to the chaos marines.

I've had a hankering to make up a nurgle sorcerer to act as an antagonist to farseer dumuzi.  The 1250 army is primed and on the way to being painted.  Would be cool to have two completed 1250 lists so that I might get some games in with friends that otherwise would not be interested in the initial start up cost of the hobby.

In closing, the state of my eldar army is looking good.  It is 100 percent a plastic army and built up to 1850.  It includes all the new mini's I bought as well.  Is it hyper competitive - likely no - but it can hold its own.  At 1250 I have a lot of tools to play with on Thursday game nights.  That's all for now.

-- edit --

Thinking about it some more, bringing the list up to 1850 I should swap out the farseer for a spirit seer and use the iyanden army list.  I can then make my wraith knight the warlord and the d-scyth wraithguard are now scoring.  Battle focus would be deadly on the wraithguard and wraithknight.  Can also afford to take the item that allows me to heal wounds on a 3+.  If I drop the holo stones on the guardians and give them flame weapons then I should have 25 points to play with.  Not sure how much it costs but if 25 points or less can take item that allows the wraithguard to accept challenges rather than the spirit seer.  I think a fairly solid list.

Second Squad of Avengers Nearly Done

Have the second squad of avengers nearly complete. The white helmets took forever. While I painted multiple thin coats, I also decided to paint the white bits on another wave serpent. I need to do some edge highlighting that should go fairly quickly and one last coat of white... Can never have enough thin layers of white lol.

Here is my 1250 list that I want to paint to completion before moving onto the wraith knight.  The 5 OOP ranger models are ones I had from back in high school (nearly 20 years old).  I think for now they will act as stand ins.  Will likely pick up 5 of the new fine cast models.  Have five of the new models in metal but they got banged up very badly last summer when I was doing some work on my basement.

My goal is to have the above painted by the time the new lizardmen book comes out.  Most of the work on the tanks is done but for the bottom half's and some edge highlighting.  Now that I know how I want to paint them should not take too long.  The Avengers are a time sink though.  If I have the time I would like to go back and update my first squad of Avengers.  Its the first unit I painted a couple of years ago when I first came back to the hobby.