Black Library jumps the shark... again

With Macragge's Honour. A 100-page graphic novel that costs 95€ (almost 1€ per page!) and that will be shipped after 10 weeks.

There is nothing wrong with Limited or Luxury editions, as long as there is a standard edition that most customers will buy. Loyal customers like me who have printed copies of most of the Horus Heresy books.

And there is nothing wrong with claiming a high price when the value is right, but 1€ per page and 2.5 months to ship it? warp travel is faster than that!

Something that I recommend though is watchning the promo video with Dan Abnett and Neil Roberts. At least until someone posts a PDF for all to read, until and if BL eventually releases a normal, reasonal, affordable copy. Because let's get this straight, that is what most customers will do and not because they like piracy, but because that is the only option GW is leaving.

Apologies for the rant but please allow me to use this small and remote corner in the net to express my frustration at what GW is trying to pull this time.

Anyone feeling the same? I'd also like to see if anyone is actually interested in purchasing this version.

Something special in Indiegogo

If you follow the Golden Demons and the myriad of artists that participate, you might have heard the names of Allan Carrasco and Jérémie Bonamant. They have teamed up for a indiegogo campaign to produce a massive mounted globin figure, and given the impressive results of their collaborations so far, this is going to be a good one.

I'm not particularly interested in fantasy figures but I want to try out something different. I know some people only want to buy models they will use afterwards, and I can see the logic in that. I suppose in an open-minded, friendly group you can always play by the rules of something else, but obviously it will be harder to use in tournaments and the like even as a counts-as. For some others more interested in the artistic side of things this is not a problem at all. I'm torn somewhere in between, and while I like to be able to field my stuff, I could also go for something that I can't if it's good enough. And I think this will be :) In any case this is the Indiegogo campaign should you be interested:

http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/rocco-the-most-massive-mounted-orc-in-54mm-ever/x/5410318

See some of their previous work and you'll understand why I'm so excited about this:

This is friggin' badass Orc and no mistake!

This Minotaur puts Bloodthirster to shame

A pirate ogyn

Eldar Fire Dragons Showcase

Howdy! today I bring some classic Fire Dragons for my new Eldar army. I really like these models, I think they epitomize most of what is Eldar - slender and graceful yet with a sense of power, and they look utterly alien which I like as well.

This is the Fire Dragon Exarch. I opted for the fusion gun because that's what I will be using in games, and also because the hobbyist in me didn't want the firepike to cover all the details in the body :)



The Wave Serpent in the back is their assigned transport. Same as the Dragons it is still missing the gems... so many of those! I will show it some other day, for now I will just anticipate I wanted do something different and show Eldar are the Children of the Stars so I painted a nebulae and stars all over it ^^ yes I might have jumped the shark on this one.

Some notes on the painting

The models were painted with airbrush, using a similar method to my Blood Angels:

• Basecoat with Vallejo's Red Brown primer.
• I then created some pre-lights by lightly airbrushing a soft grey from a zenital angle. This makes the next red coat to have some color modulation. It's a very simple and effective technique.
• For the body I applied some tones of red, Italian Red from  Vallejo comes to mind, to which I added a small part of yellow to get a more orange tone.
• The helmet was painted Yellow obviously.

Then it is a matter of adding the shadows with controlled strokes of either a very dilluted dark red paint, or a less dilluted wash. The lights were added with watered down light oranges, yellows and white. The Citadel Edge paints are great for this work (in general).

The guns were painted light grey and then washed with brown, then cleared it a little bit. The weapons link visually the Fire Dragons with the rest of Eldars (Guarians and Avengers mainly) due to the bone color of their weapons. Notice how the muzzle of the weapons has a scorched look, this can be achieved with purple and red glazes.

The bases are the awesome Urban Streets rubble from Secret Weapon Miniatures. The rest of Eldar models use a different base though. I went for this choice to fit with the Exarch model that is stepping on some tank residues.

Here's some more pictures, hope you like them! Feel free to post any comments or feedback.

Shadows Of Treachery Review

Shadows of Treachery is the latest Horus Heresy short story antology that Black Library has released. Unlike Age of Darkness, Shadows of Treachery feels much more solid and consistent; this is not only to a very solid roster of authors, but especially because it mainly focuses on 2 Legions, their Primarchs and First Captains, a similar timeframe and related events. In this case, it is the Imperial Fists and the Night Lords. 

Up to now, the Imperial Fists main contribution to the story so far was picking up the survivors of the Einsenstein after their escape from the Isstvan system, bringing the news to Terra and start fortifying the defences. The Imperial Fists were also in charge of retrieving as many supplies as possible from Mars when the civil war broke out in the Red Planet. It is also known what it was Rogal Dorn who organized the disastrous counter-attack that ended up with the dropsite massacre.

As for the Night Lords, we have had brief references of their skirmishes with the Dark Angels in some remote region of space, and I believe play an important role in the recent Vulkan lives, which I haven't read yet.

So what about this compilation? I was a bit disappointed with Tales of Heresy and Age of Darkess but given the roster of authors is top notch - Abnett, McNeill and Dembski-Bowden amongst other- and that the Legacy Edition was available, I went for it. See below a short review of each story.

The Crimson Fist by John French

This is the largest story in the book, almost a mini novel on its own. The Crimson Fist explains what happened to the Imperial Fists force dispatched by Rogal Dorn to support the other loyalist Legions in the fight in Isstvan V. About 20% of the Legion, which was a huge fleet in that time, was sent to Isstvan and did not participate in the dropsite massacre; we finally get to know their fate. Not that I want to spoil anything but the cover we can already see Imperial Fists with assault gear fighting Astartes of the +++CENSORED+++ legion. It might also ring a bell if you saw this amazing diorama from Games Day ...

In the story we get to know a little bit more about the impenetrable Rogal Dorn and the Imperial Fists' First Captain Sigismund (who had previously appeared saving some bacon in Mechanicum). On the other side we find out the origin of the bodyguards of the Primarch of the +++CENSORED+++ legion and get to know more of their efficient way of fighting. All in all an enjoyable read, if yet its final is not very imaginative.

The Dark King by Graham McNeill

The Night Lords are arguably of one the Legions that have spent less time in the spotlight (pun intended) and finally get some much deserved love, although they are still to get a full novell of their own. In the meantime, The Dark King preludes the origins of their Primarch Konrad Kurze in a similar fashion as other Primarchs have had mentions of their first steps in their worlds of adoption in their novels; think of Fulgrim or Perturabo but with some more detail.

I don't know much about the Night Lords lore and fluff but suffice to say, this story has a quite different flavour to those of other more normal Primarchs; Kurze arrives to Nostromo after being dispersed from Terra to find a violent hive society, and after sometime surviving by eating different types of meat (hint: there are no cows in the hives) decides to put some order on his on way, which is terror. This is where we see hints that things were not allright in the Night Lords legion many years before the Heresy, same as we saw in Fulgrim, Angel Exterminatus or A Thousand Sons, and rather than the Heresy was made possible because most of the traitor Legions were already hiding something. It is these little tidbits of information that together add a much needed sense to the overall story.

The Lightning Tower by Dan Abnett

Can the mighty, imprenetable, hard as a rock Rogal Dorn feel fear? if it's not fear, let's just call it a very deep concern. This short story is bolter porn-free and revolves around a conversation of Rogal Dorn and the Sigillite in Terra, where they discuss the origins of that fear. What can it be so grave, so daunting, so horrible that can affect Rogal Dorn? The Night Haunter is part of this conversation and we learn that Dorn and Kurze had some issues in the past, but is it Kurze the reason of the fear?

The Kaban Project by Graham McNeill

The second short story of Mr. McNeill explains the origins of that sentient machine that attacked Dalia Cyphera and her friends in the novel Mechanicum. Although this was not a part that deserved much explanation, it is very nice to have a complementary story around Mechanicum, for this is one of the finest Horus Heresy novels to date, and one that - time will tell - could be recalled in the future as the origin of a new Mechanicum army. The story itself isn't that great but again, those that enjoyed Mechanicum will be interested. Hopefully we'll get some more stories on the Knights next time?

Raven’s Flight by Gav Thorpe

In the context of the Horus Heresy storyline, one of the big questions marks so far is how could there be any survivors from Isstvan V, and especially how Corax got away. Well this short story sheds some light about it. Personnally I feel it gives a too simplistic explanation and that it could have been more developed but to be fair, it is only a short story and it's best to get a (simple) answer that no answer at all, IMO.


Death of a Silversmith by Graham McNeill

This is really a filler that adds nothing to the general storyline. A very short story on the Luna Wolves and a character we had not heard about in a long time...

Prince of Crows by Aaron Dembski-Bowden
The second story of the Night Lords and one that I found very interesting; after a series of skirmishes with the Dark Angels, the Lion manages to ambush the Night Lords and in leaves Kurze badly wounded after fighting him. The remnants of the Night Lords ships flee and it is up to their First Captain Jago Sevatar to take the control. To do so will have to fight the inherent treachery of his Legion if he wants to strike back at the First Legion. 

Conclusion

Whilst the previous Horus Heresy compilations so far have been somewhat disappointing, this book feels much more solid and consistent. it sheds some light around details or secondary affairs far from the main action that some might find interesting, and definetely gives much more context to the Imperial Fists and Night Lords. If you are not interested in neither the details or those Legions and just want to see the story advance, I would probably recommend to skip this lecture. Otherwise it makes for a pleasant distraction (I read it one story at a time while going to work in the train) and the Legacy Edition at 10.5€ is definetely a great value. Verdict: 3/5

Have you read this book? what do you think?

Eldar Wave Serpent WIP 1

Hi there! Wave Serpents are the new rage in terms of power gaming (these things are pretty darn good!) but the reality is, it has always been one of the best vehicles in terms of hobby. Just head to CMON or google a bit and you'll find some incredible pieces of art painted over a Wave Serpent Hull. Now I'm not nowhere near the level of these artists but it was nonetheless an idea that has been in my mind for some time and when I heard the codex Eldar was due for a release, I decided I would get a small contingent for fun: a Farseer and some bikes, some Guardians / Avengers in Serpent, and of course the mighty Wraithknight!

This has to be my favourite side of 6th Ed, the pace of codex releases is so fast that it is difficult to keep track! but it is encouraging to find every 2 months or 3 some amazing new kits. And here we are, painting my very first xeno outside of Orks, and that was well 15 years ago. Ah those 2nd edition Gretchins painted in goblin green and blood red :)

Back to Eldar. It is a difficult decision to decide how to paint an Eldar army, since you can pretty much use any color. Then there also fluff or game considerations of course, like I would go Saim Hann if I wanted to go biker/skimmer heavy. Given Eldar are meant to be the Children of the Stars and their long decadence, I decided to go with a dark black/blue scheme and add some touches of "space" (more on this later). It will be a Craftwork Ulthwe contingent with some creative licenses.

The first Wave Serpent has a black base with blue hues around it, to give it a sense of energy. The challenge is I went all in and inspired by this wonderful army by Hortwerth, I will try to paint a nebulae on top of the serpent. The easy part is that an airbrush can blend the colors nicely, but the tricky part is painting light colors like yellow on top of black (it looks very dull) or blue (becomes green). With some patience and a few thin layers this is where I am now:

The inside is being painted with an eery blue

I wanted the bottom to show some "energy". Still undecided about going bone with the guns

This baby still needs a lot of work: finalizing the highlights, add stars to the nebula, paint the guns, and the dauting task of painting some 20 jewels. Doh!

At the same time I am also painting the Vyper that comes with the army force; I'm not really sure about the nebula on the small rear wings so I might just go black / blue on this one. What do you guys think?

Let me know if you have any feedback or questions! cheers

Musings about finding your own painting style

It is interesting that many renowned painters area able to define their style in the interviews or posts; some say it is reallistic and gory (Third Eye Nuke), grey/blue (Arsies), based in washes (James Wappel) and so on... and it got me thinking about my own style - after 20 years in the hobby I still don't have  defined paint style! or should I say, my paint style is not established yet and I keep looking for it. If I was to look at the armies I've painted over the last few years, there is a big difference between my light Space Wolves, painted a la GW, the dark, dirty and realistic Blood Angels I painted when I got onto airbrushing, and the latest Dark Angels which are still dark but clean and with high contrast. All of this in a time frame of 3 years!

I think the reason behind is because I keep looking for ways to improve my painting, even when I have win several best painted at large tournaments. I just keep looking around and finding wonderful, inspiring paint jobs that make me want to up my level. I guess it's just like players that want to become better at it and play better players; we often see this desire of improvement from a gamer point of view but not as much as a hobbyists. I'll do a brief recap of my last armies to show my evolution.

The Space Wolves were an army I had always liked. Back in the day in the late 90s I painted some Blood Claws, Scouts, Long Fangs and Land Raider in dark grey, just with a drybrush. It gives me the creeps to look at them now :) but hey, I was so proud back then! by the way those Long Fangs with mixed plastic/metal components has to be the most difficult model ever to put together!

So about 3 years ago I decided to expand the army and went with the same aesthetic as those painted by GW - a light grey blue with simple edge highlighting and shadows in the recesses. The armour plates have no color graduation at all, unlike today where is the part I probably care the most about. But with all the wolf pelts, fangs, runes, beards, axes, knives and other viking stuff, who cares about the armour? I based them with a high contrast snowed rocky setting and it's an army that looks nice in the tabletop.

Light, almost cartoonish. But still able to scare the s*** out of many opponents :)

Then I got an airbrush and was very tired of all those edge highlighting, so I set about painting an army that was very different to the Wolves - it is dark and realistic, full of battle damage and dirt, and it has very little contrast.

Dirty and realistic, little contrast

Nowadays I keep painting in a dark style but I strive to get very light highlights, increase the contrast and add OSLs in the weapons. I put a lot of effort onto creating color transitions in the armour with the airbrush, and have started to consider things like warm/cold colors. These are all things I have seen in our great community and luckily there are a lot of talented painters out there who are willing to share their work.

Ditto dark with clear highlights and OSL

Dark yet clear and with more contrast

Yet I know that this is not yet my final take and that my paintjobs in 12 months time will look different to those I do now. What will change? well I would dearly like to do good NMM, and I want to keep increasing the contrast.

What has been your evolution? have you settled on one style or are still finding your own?

Dark Angels Nephilim Jetfighter Showcase

After sitting in my table for some months now, the Nephilim jetfighter is finally finished. And boy, it is a great model! it looks very Space Marine with its boxy shape and gothic finishes, but also very Dark Angels. Personally I prefer this model over the Storm Talon any day, it looks more "realistic" and menacing.

Paint-wise, the key to painting black is, well, no to paint black. I know it sounds strange but think about when you've just primed black a model, there is no definition or shapes, and it is indeed very difficult to make out the shapes and details. This is why most areas are painted dark-grey, leaving the black for the final shadows or deepest recesses. This can be seen for example in the nose, than is one of the light points.

The second secret would be the edge highlighting. This model uses 4 different tones, from dark grey to almost white. The idea is that the highlights should be consistent with the color around it. In the case of the nose again, notice how the edges that receive the light have an almost white highlight, while as the line goes down to the heavy bolters it gets darker as the panel is also obscured. Does this make sense?

The reason it's missing the side antennas is just I haven't painted those yet - the model is completely magnetized so I can swap it to a Dark Talon, should I want to play a veeeery casual game.

The brown dirt in the wings is the effect of the oil pants. Alternatively spraying burnt umber is a good way to achieve a similar effect.

 The base... well as much as I love resin bases, especially like those from Secret Weapon Miniatures, the reality is that I didn't want to spend more money in this one so I just created the base with some bits and sand from the park.

The pilot is painted turquoise in an effort to replicate the light from his console. A black pilot in a black ship would be very difficult to spot.

Hope you like it! let me know what you guys think

Imperial Guard Manticore Conversion

The Manticore is one of the best Heavy Support choices out there, with its ability to dish out S10 pies where needed. Now the plastic GM model has always seemed to me more of an ICBM launcher than rockets, and I very much prefer my own version. It is based in the ubiquotous Chimera, of course, and replaces the 4 large rockets by the Space Marines Air Defence missile support by Forge World. It has the standard diameter so it fits perfectly in a Quad Gun support, or be used to transform a Razorback onto a Whirldwind, which by the way was my original purpose. But then I somehow decided I preferred a S10 pie over a S5 one :)

I realize now it looks a bit like the old G.I.Joe Wolverine! no Cover Girl in the IG version though.

Back to the Manticore, I built it so I could use it in different ways - a plain Chimera, Manticore, Whirlwind (in a Razorback chasis) or even a Hydra, using the Guad gun. Here's in standard Chimera APC shape:

When stripped of the topmost part of the hull / turret and ramp, there is a nice cargo area that can accomodate different types of guns.

A few magnets here and there allow the magic. The guns are also magnetized although admittedly, I will hardly move away from the versatile multilaser / heavy flamer configuration.

Hope you like it! Cheers

An imperial player view on Eldars

For all of my hobby life, this is the first time I'm really excited about collecting an playing a non-Imperial army. I have always find the Eldar to be one of the most interesting armies out there, both from a hobbyist and player perspective, and with the new codex I just can't help myself to start a small army. As SW player I have struggled to get close and personal in my games against Eldar, they would just dance around me for 2/3 turns, then hit with a seer council or fire dragons in Serpent, all while getting re-rolls for everything while having me cast powers through Runes of Warding!

As a player, I have been stunned by the organic shapes of the tanks, the wrong humanoid proportions or the wraith constructs. I guess having played against some incredible armies like this one below has been a huge motivation for me.

Now I'm in love with the new Eldar codex. For one, I'm glad that its power level is way below that of Tau, Daemons or Necrons, for I have very little interest in that. Game wise all I care is it's fun to play and boy, I bet it will be! A mech army will be quite resilient, while jetbikes, Swooping Hawks or Warp Spiders provide very mobile components. But it is yet a T3/5+ army so it needs to be played with finesse. Compared to SW/BA that I'm used to play, I don't need to rush to midfield and I don't want to start any attrition war, but instead maneuver around my opponent and hit with a sting, instead of a sledge-hammer, when the time is appropiate.

This is a brief overview of the new codex from the point of view of an Imperial player (for now!). So I won't be covering all the units, but just touching those that look interesting so far.

HQs

The Farseer is a lv3 psychic that can provide re-rolls to 2 units per turn (with Divination/Guide), plus a third power for a measly 100 points. It will be near auto-include.

The Spiritseer makes Wraith units scoring, and since I don't plan on using any will see little usage. Other than that is lv2 psyker with access to teh Runes of Battle and Telepathy branches, so no re-roll buffs for you.

The Autarch is a combat oriented character which ironically is best kept from it. Instead it provides reserves manipulation, which are important for this type of army where some key units (read War Walkers) are very fragile. That aside there is a very interesting build with the Mantle of the Laughing God, that provides Stealth/Shrouded with re-rolls, and a jetbike to make it a very mobile, difficult to take down tank-hunter.

Warlocks are now Wolf Guard-esque in the sense that can be assigned to join certain units. While the idea of providing Shrouded to a home camping unit is nice, they are just Ld8 and W1 so it's not exactly reliable. The Seer Council though could be nasty, yet very expensive.

The Avatar is of course very characterful; it might not be the most competitive option and will die to missiles like in 5th, but I'm loving his fluff and the FW models and is not a terrible choice.

Elites

WraithGuard are reasonably tough with T6 although only 3+/W1, and come with a 12" S10 weapon so I can see them working as a sort of walking Vindicator (remember this is the point of view of an Imperial player); so will be taking a lot of shots early in the game, and for 160 points aren't that expensive. Now if they could be infiltrated with Ilic...

Fire Dragons have destroyed me more than 1 Land Raider (actually quite a lot of them!) but with the plethora of Lances the Eldar army can get, seem less important now. I would still take a unit of them as most SM armies still carry Land Raiders full of Terminators...

Striking Scorpions have move through cover and other goodies that allow them to make it to the assault, however I'm not sure they hit hard enough for this type of unit. I don't really see Eldars doing many assaults, especially in the very shooty game 40k is today.

Howling Banshees and Harlequins I rate them lower, as don't have good ways to making it onto combat, and even there the most they'll do is destroy a tactical or infantry squad before being wiped out. Perhaps there are better ways to use them, but I just don't see them.

Troops

Dire Avengers are the cheapest way to access a Wave Serpent, but are as survivable as the cheaper Guardians so I'd probably lean towards taking 10 Guardians for a similar price, leaving them sitting in an objective shooting a heavy weapon while the Serpent moves forward.

Speaking of Wave Serpents, these seem to be the star of the codex. The reason being their shield, which can be used offensively or defensively. When used to attack, it's a D6+1 autocannon that ignores cover and causes pinning! if the Serpent is also equipped with a Scatter Laser, then the Shield shots would be twin-linked. It's easy to see that 3 or 4 Serpents can provide a ton of firepower for a reasonable price, are difficult enough to take down and can protect / move around troop choices. If the shield is used defensively (which admittedly will be in T1 when going second), then downgrades internal hits to glancing on a 2+ roll. Pretty damn good for someone who comes from a world of AV11 shoe boxes with a storm bolter...

Jetbikes is the another great feature of the codex and are serious contenders for the best troop choice in the game. They are extremely mobile, with decent defences and good shooting. Can be used to harass the opponent early on as well to contest objectives late game. I expect to see a lot of them, both in Eldar armies as well as allies.

Rangers are like Sniper Scouts - a cheap scoring unit that sits in a ruin and harasses Devs and MCs. With the rise in popularity of the Riptide, Nurgle units and other high T units, they can have a place.

Fast attack

There are some very interesting units that I had never seen on the table. My favourite so far are Warp Spiders, who have a terrific (and complicated) movement being Jet Pack infantry with a Warp Jump Generator, and carry very nice S6 weapons. Essentially they are a super mobile unit that threatens infantry and light tanks alike. The minis are also beautiful if yet a bit aged.

Swooping Hawks have even older looking minis but are very interesting in tournament game. The combination of no scatter when deep striking plus their ability to go to reserve on any given turn to return the following is too good to pass. It's my T4, I know we'll only play until T5 as there is no more time so I'll send whatever Hawks are still alive to reserves, only to drop them T5 by an objective. Boom. Shaenigans aside they can drop a large blast, ignore cover, no LOS required grenade at 24" which is perfect to get rid of cultist squads, pathfinders or infantry platoons camping behind ruins. For about 100 points they are a good deal I think.

Shining Spears are non-scoring jetbikes. 'nuff said.

About the flyers... it is often said flyers are the elephant in the room of the 40k universe. In this case they would be the mosquitos, as they are terribly fragile with AV10 all around and a hefty price tag. The models are very nice but game wise it is unlikely they will survive a turn. Similar to the DA flyers, you are paying through the nose for the ability of being almost inmune to anything that has no AA in its profile, however the comparison with price tag of Vendettas/Night Scythes or the raw power of the Hell Turkey makes them look subpar in comparison. 

Heavy Support

This has to be my favourite slot - plenty of options and all of them seem to have their place. War Walkers are even better than before as they can Battle Focus back to cover after shooting, and if not will sport a 5++ save. It is also worth mentioning most of their shots will be twin-linked thanks to a nearby Farseer or the Scatter lasers lock rule (if a scatter laser impacts, the rest of weapons of the unit are twin-linked).

The Fire Prism has 3 fire modes now, with a large blast, small blast and lance. The lance gets the highest strength and lowest AP, and now it doesn't need a second Prism supporting it so it provides great flexibility at a reasonable price. Very solid.

The Night Spinner shoots a S7/S8 weapon and can have a template version. Not bad although it lacks the flexibility of the Prism nor the sheer number of shots of the Walkers.

Dark Reapers are very fragile and are too specialized on killing machines, but could work if using a Bastion to man the AA weapon (they ignore jink saves). I love the minis though so at least they will make it to the cabin... and perhaps to the board. We'll see.

The Support battery is very solid. 90 points give you 3 S9 AP2 shots, and will have a field day from behind an Aegis or some ruins. If the points are short I can see them replacing a War Walker unit.

And the mighty Wraithknight... I think the disappointment comes from comparing it to the Riptide, which is very good. I have yet to see a Tau army without one which suggests the thing is either too good or too cheap. The Wraithknigth on his own is fine I think; yes it gets very pricy and yes, poison will kill it. However... it also does other things like deep striking in front of a gunline and wreaking havoc, and attract a ton of firepower that would otherwise be directed to weaker units.

The Wraithlord on the other hand I don't know what to make out of it. It feels like you are getting half a Wraithknight, in terms of firepower, cost and statlines (wounds). Again unless I'm going for a Wraith army I don't really see its place.

So what am I looking at?

The idea is to start a small Eldar force based in the units I like the most as a hobbyist, which happen to be pretty decent when gaming as well :) Something like this:

Farseer
Autarch in jetbike, mantle of the laughing god, spear

5x Dire Avengers, Wave Serpent with Scatter lasers, Holofield
5x Dire Avengers, Wave Serpent with Scatter lasers, Holofield
5x Dire Avengers, Wave Serpent with Scatter lasers, Holofield

10x Guardians, heavy weapon, Wave Serpent with Scatter lasers, Holofield

6x Jetbikes, 2x Shuriken cannon
6x Jetbikes, 2x Shuriken cannon

5x Warp Spiders

3x War Walkers (2xScatter Lasers)
3x War Walkers (Scatter Lasers, Lance))
Fire Prism, Holofields

So the Farseer sits in backfield buffing units. The Guardians sit on an objective, and the War Walkers / Prism take good shooting positions. The Serpents remain back shooting, ready to move forward when (if) needed. This seems like a pretty solid base to begin with.

Then we have the mobile elements; the Autarch in jetbike goes tank-hunting solo.The Warp Spiders move through a flank, looking for side armour or for backfield units. The jetbikes should stay a couple of turns behind LOS / in reserve, then push forward in the late game.

And there you go. I think Eldars have some very solid units in the form of Serpents, Jetbikes or War Walkers that will be the backbone of many armies. Other constructs like Wraithguard based could be a thing, depending on the FAQs (if Ilic is allowed to infiltrate a Wraithguard unit, who wouldn't take them with a FP2 flamer?). Exciting times ahead for the Eldar fans!

Is 40k becoming Apocalypse lite?

The Dreadknight was the first foot in the door. Then we heard about the Riptide, and the interwebs were so crazy about how OMFG good it was at killing things that nobody paid much attention as to what was a mecha doing in a 40k game.

(to be fair, we have assumed genetically enhanced super humans in power armours riding giant fenrisian wolves so why not).

Then came the Eldar Wraithknight, and now this abomination (in both being a Daemonic engine and a cosmetic torture). What bothers me now is not this thing, which ugly and expensive as it is will sport healthy sales as long as it kills handfuls of MEQs in the tabletop.

What bothers me is that Space Marines come next, and being the 40k poster boys I'd be very surprised if they don't get their own MC. Are we all going to be playing Mecha 40k?

Unsurprisingly this thing comes along with the newest version of Apocalypse, and GW will make sure that this is not another Baneblade or Stompa that most 40k have never even seen one live. Instead they will ensure model compatibility back between standard 40k and Apocalypse, even if there are different rules or if it doesn't belong at all.


By the way, this thing has some long story behing it seemingly. I'll give it to GW that the newest version has improved the looks of the old Epic model, if only because that thing below is absolutely awful.

The only upside to this is that I can keep dreaming about ever seeing Mechanicum Knights!


Images from Dies Irae 40k here.

The Gaunt's Ghosts project - first squad on the way!

As discussed in the previous entry I want to create a small detachment of Gaunt's Ghosts for my own pleasure, and of course to field in some games. So I ordered a squad of Border World Rangers from Victoria Miniatures and I have to say I'm very pleased with them - the sculpts are superb, full of details and being components not full miniatures opens the door to the level of customization that I'm after. The only downside is they are made of pewter but again, as they come in pieces it is easy to replace arms or legs and have them look as you want them. The kit comes complete with pouches, knives, water tins and of course cloaks!

So here's a little taste - so far I have a squad almost completed and I just need to finish some details, paint the bases and pin the minis. The troopers are generic so far with no special characters yet, but Milo is already assembled and I will be creating a few officers soon.  Kolea, Rawne and Mkoll will be amongst the first, and others like Domor will follow if I can recreate them properly. Of course there will be a Try Again Bragg in the shape of Harker, Larkin as one of the snipers and some notable troopers like Caffran or Merrt. I'm also toying with the idea of creating a Mkvenner to play Marbo but still unsure of how I want him to look (with black fatigues, green cloak and a wood stick he is going to look like Donatello lol). Gaunt will come in the shape of a standard comissar with a cloak. I prefer those from Forge World but the masked heads obviously don't work. Anyway here's what I have so far:

Cloaks, berets, tattoos and stright silver to make Cadians look like boys

The first flamer, unfinished yet. Brostin will follow

A WIP sniper - not as dark as the image suggests

Notice a piper with a boy face to the right

He's getting a blue tatto soon, sure as sure

Urban rubble bases from SWM - I'll be adding razorwire and empty ronds to some

 Hope you like them. More updates to follow soon!