Slackness

So I've been a little slack updating the blog lately.  And painting.  That being said, I have been doing a little painting and helping my girlfriend assemble her Chaos Daemons army hopefully in time for Orktoberfest.  We're still waiting on the stuff to come from Maelstrom so I'll be emailing them again...

I recently played in a combat patrol tournament put on at the club by Wonna.  Despite missing out on the first game (due to a player being absent and being the odds and evens player for the event), I still managed to score third place with my Eldar, so fairly happy with that.  I had to paint up a Shrieker Jetbike to fill out my force, so I'll take some photos of it tomorrow along with the rest of the army that I used.

As to why I've been slack, well there are a few reason/excuses.  I was a bit sick earlier in the month, and since then, I've come across a game called World of Tanks.  It's currently in beta testing, but is shaping up to be a fun game.  You can find out more about it HERE.  If you want to chat to me in game, I'm signed in as Eltnot.

So more content coming soon... well as soon as I stop playing with tanks.

Eltnot.

Bob the Piratical Preacher

I meant to finish this model about a week ago but life has been finding lots of ways to make painting time non existent.  I finally had a chance to sit down and get him finished tonight.  He's part of my Witch Hunters army and is normally fielded as a regular IST albeit holding a plasmagun.  The reason for getting him finished apart from getting the army done is that I'm entering him Bolter and Chainsword's Blood Duel competition.  If he beats anyone, I'll be impressed as his entry is a bit of a joke.  I'm not entirely sold on his base and might put a was on it to bring back some of the depth again.

Edit - I'm not super happy with his robes and his plasmagun could do with some highlights I think.  Undecided on whether to do any text on his parchment or not as well.  Thoughts and suggestions welcome.

Eltnot.

Eldar Armylist Critique

A friend of mine recently sent me an Eldar armylist of his asking me what I thought about it.  I was a bit busy at the time but he pestered me, so I thought I'd put it up as a post (I asked his permission first).  I figure it might give others insight into how I go about building my lists and evolving them into a lean mean fighting machine.

First of all, I should point out that I don't like making sweeping changes to an army list generally.  I usually go about slowly evolving the force through little changes into something that I'm happy with.  This means that by the time that I get to my final build, I've played quite a few games with the army in a similar form and know what it reasonably can and can't do.  I feel this approach works best for me, it may not though for others.

Enough waffling on, onto the list.

Autarch Rosu - Power Weapon, Fusion Gun, Mandiblasters

10x Dire Avengers - Exarch with Bladestorm, Shuriken Pistol and Diresword
Wave Serpent - Vectored Engines, Scatter Lasers

5x Guardian Jetbikes - Shuriken Cannon, Warlock with Embolden

5x Rangers

12x Storm Guardians - Flamer, Warlock with Enhance
Wave Serpent - Vectored Engines, Missile Launchers

5x Fire Dragons

8x Warp Spiders

Wraithlord - Brightlance, Wraithsword

3x War Walkers with double Scatter Lasers


Falcon - Vectored Engines, Holofield, Starcannon

Total - 1747

Here's my suggested rebuild:


Autarch Rosu - Power Weapon, Fusion Gun, Mandiblasters - 100
I prefer to run a Farseer instead of an Autarch.  I find the way that a Farseer acts as a force multiplier to be very handy, but if you want to run an Autarch, this is a reasonable way to do it.

10x Dire Avengers - Exarch with Bladestorm, Power Weapon and Shimmershield - 162
The Diresword is one of these really cool but utterly useless weapons, the odds of one instant killing it's target is appalling.  Much better to spend the points on making the squad more survivable.  Twin Shuriken Catapults is another perfectly acceptable option for the Exarch when in a Wave Serpent.
Wave Serpent - Spirit Stones, Bright Lances - 145
Vectored Engines are a want, Spirit Stones are a must have.  If your tank can't move, than any enemy can hit it automatically in HtH and bypass the energy field.  Don't let this happen.  The Bright Lances will help you deal with heavy armour more easily from afar.

5x Guardian Jetbikes - 105
Cheap scoring unit that is reasonably tough and very mobile.  Keep them in reserve so that they're more likely to be alive at the end of the game.  Killing things should be secondary to them staying alive to hold or contest objectives.  They're small enough that they will generally only have to take one leadership test most games so I don't bother with the Warlock.

5x Rangers - 95
As above.  Don't be afraid to go to ground with them if you have to, to keep them alive to hold that objective.

11x Storm Guardians - 2x Flamers, Warlock with Destructor - 127
Enhance looks nice on paper, I5 and WS4.  But in the real world, Guardians just don't wound often enough to make it worth it.  Better to kill more before hitting combat so less of the enemy get to hit back.  The triple flamer layout of this unit should also help with orks and guard blob squads, especially after you tank shock into the edge of the unit to bunch them up.  Keep a spot free so that the Autarch can jump in if his transport finds itself burning.
Wave Serpent - Spirit Stones, Bright Lances - 145
Don't rely on only one brightlance, always have two in case the first one goes down.

6x Fire Dragons -96
These guys don't need any explanations really.  Where possible, have the brightlances pop landraiders and use these guys on the termies inside.

8x Warp Spiders - Exarch with two spinnerets, powerblades and withdraw - 260
Use this unit to either finish off weakened units or shoot then assault large units like guants or guard blob squads.  Their 3+ save should keep them safe long enough for them to use withdraw at the end of the opponent's turn, to allow the rest of your army to shoot them.

3x War Walkers with double Eldar Missile Launchers - 210
30 points more than the original unit and much more likely to blow up tanks.  Still excellent vs infantry when they switch over to plasma missiles instead of kraks.

Wraithlord - Eldar Missile Launcher, Wraithsword - 125
The EML is 15 points cheaper than the brightlance on a Wraithlord.  Better to put BL's elsewhere.

Falcon - Spirit Stones, Holofield, Eldar Missile Launcher - 180
Move up to 6" and fire three S8 shots, or move 12" and shoot at infantry.


Total - 1750

I had about 50 points left over at the end so added in the Exarch for the Warp Spiders and the extra Fire Dragon.  You could easily use those points to take a Farseer instead of the Autarch, or simply increase the size of your Ranger and Jetbike squads.  Try things out and see how you go.

As you can see, I haven't changed what units "Autarch Rosu" has taken, just tweaked them slightly into something more cohesive.  The army now has plenty of high strength weaponry to deal with hordes and all of those EML's will be just as effective vs hordes like guants, guard and orks.  The list is fairly mobile with all units moving at least 6" a turn and still firing at full effect (except the rangers which should be placed as far from the action as possible in kill point games, and preferably holding an objective on top of a ruin in objective games.

Hope you like it, enjoy.

Eltnot.

Flames of War AAR - Free for All

I still have to write up a report of QM III, but I'll try and sort that out in the coming days.  Meanwhile, Wonna and I haven't played a game of Flames in over two months with Cowcon and QM III keeping us both busy so we were itching for a game.  Today was also the first time that either of us had played 1500 points, so a bit of a shake up in our forces.

Germans
Company HQ                80 points
2 Command Panzerknacker SMG

Gepanzerte Panzergrenadier Platoon    235 points
3 Squads
Command Panzerknacker SMG

Gepanzerte Panzergrenadier Platoon    235 points
3 Squads
Command Panzerknacker SMG

Gepanzerte Heavy Platoon        205 points
Gun Section
Mortar Section

Mittlere Panzer Platoon            360 points
3 Panzer III L with shurzen

Heavy Panzerspah Patrol            85 points
2 Sd Kfz 231

Assault Gun Platoon            280 points
2 StuG F

Total                    1480 points

Soviets
Command with two AT guns
3 Platoon Company with Commissar
3 Platoon Company with Commissar
Flamethrowers (two each attached to the Companies)
Heavy Mortar Platoon.
Limited Air Support - IL2's

We setup the table and then rolled up a mission.  We first got Cauldron, but as we read it, we realised that Wonna wouldn't start with any platoons, only the single platoon in ambush.  This would mean that I could start holding both objectives and keep his ambushing platoon away with my 8rads.  We both decided this wouldn't work well and decided on a different mission, and Wonna noted down to take at least four platoons in future.

Our second try rolled up Free for All so we went with it.  It's been played the most between us but would be a bit different to play now that we both had larger forces.  I won the roll for attacker and chose the board side that would let me deploy my mortars in a suitable spot behind some trees and allow my forces to advance into the village easily.

I forgot to take a photo straight up so Wonna has started moving one of his Strelkovy Guard companies forward in this photo.  Wonna's companies are deployed protecting each of the objectives.  His mortars are located on his far right flank behind the hill.  He attached his anti tank guns to the Company on his right flank.

I deployed my mortars behind the wood just left of my centre.  One platoon supported them intending to move into the woods to protect and hold that flank.  My 8 rads and a platoon deployed on my left flank ready to push up towards the objective located there.  The StuG's and Panzer III's deployed fairly centrally, mainly ready to support the thrust on my left flank towards Wonna's mortars by moving into the village, but also handy to redploy to the other flank.

Wonna started by advancing with both companies, his planes tried to come in but failed.  His planes never actually killed anything and only came on twice during the game.  His mortars fired on the platoon of PzGrens on my right flank near the mortars and blew up the 251/9C attached to the platoon.

During my turn, I moved forward also, the right PzGren platoon jumped out and moved into the woods.  Two of the halftracks bogged down trying to enter the woods also, but the platoon got into a reasonable defensive position.  On my left flank, the 8rads had scooted forward with their recce move and now moved again to pummel the heavy mortars, they killed three of the teams there.  The PzGren platoon moved forward and put off some shots at the company there.  The StuG's tried to hit the AT guns, but failed to do anything to them this turn as they would continue to try all game.  The Panzer III's moved into the village as planned and fired on the company with the AT guns as this was were I intended to overwhelm his lines.  My mortars also had a crack at the AT guns but only killed a nearby infantry stand.

Wonna dug in his right hand platoon to hold off my attacking forces there.  His left hand platoon kept moving forwards towards my mortars, and the two objectives either side of them.  The return fire from his mortars was ineffectual from memory.

I didn't feel that the PzGren platoon on my right flank in front of the mortars could hold off the horde coming their way, so I shifted the Panzer III's over to their flank, moving them close so that they could integrate their defense when assaulted.  The PzGren platoon moved up to bring more men to fire and together both platoons fired as the horde in front of them whittling them down.  The 8rads on my left flank snuck around the wood and continued shooting up the mortars who proceeded to run away after being reduced below 50% and losing their commissar to enemy fire.  My PzGren platoon moved forward to get close to the enemy to stop the enemy aircraft from targeting them or make it difficult due to their close proximity to the trees.

Over the next two turns Wonna tried to push home an assault with his Strelkovy Guard Company.  The first time one of his flamers bailed out a Panzer III.  His second attempt blew up two of my halftracks, pinning the PzGren platoon but they continued to hit enough times when combined with Panzer to throw the enemy back.  over these two turns they whittled the enemy down to just over 50%.

I decided to push home the advantage and moved up with the PzGrens and Panzers.  The mortars smoked the back half of his platoon to reduce incoming fire before the inevitable assault.  This also meant that my machine gun fire could only hit his more forward squads again thinning his numbers.  The PzGrens assaulted and brutally cut down the Soviets, but not without losses.  My platoon commander broke off and fell back to the three remaining half tracks that was all that was left of his platoon.  The three remaining stands of infantry however didn't do so well when the follow up assault of the Panzer III's crashed into them.  They broke off and ran, and without his Company commander and his force below 50% strength, Wonna lost at the start of his next turn.

We both enjoyed this battle as it had a lot more flow back and forth than our previous engagements.  This was also our first major use of aircraft and artillery in our games, so we stopped and started a bit as we worked out the rules for these exactly.  We also had a late start as when we were deploying, I realised that I'd left my two StuG's at home so had to race back to grab them.  We're planning on organising a bit of a FoW day soon with a couple of the other club members who have fledgling armies to get some games in so hopefully I'll have some batreps that aren't just Germans vs Soviets.

Edit - Missed out the aircraft from Wonna's list so have added them in.

Eltnot.

Chimera WIP Part 3

Well the Chimera is now about as finished as it's going to get before QM3, at least in the building department.  I may add some extra details like stowage and stuff later though.  I'll undercoat it tomorrow in the morning.

I've used plasticard to make the hatches.  I thought about adding rivets but after spending 3 minutes trying to cut plastic rod to size and then also realising that I don't have tweezers handy, I decided to give them a miss at least for the time being.  I added an Imperial Eagle to spice up the blank front plate and have added a groove to the rear hatch.  I may glue some handles on there before I spray it tomorrow.

Eltnot.

Sisters of Battle Armylist Update

I got in two games with my sisters last night using the Storm troopers and their Chimera in the list.  It went okay each game, and I found I had a few rough edges from not having played using my Witch Hunters in over a year.  I'll have to make sure I scrub up on declaring my Acts of Faith at the appropriate times, and also remembering to pop smoke at the end of a vehicle's movement.

After the two games last night, I've made some minor tweaks to the list.  Dropping one of the Storm Troopers and the Chimera's Dozer blade lets me put the Mantle of Ophelia onto my Canoness.  I thought she had it in my games last night and realised afterwards that she didn't.  Things probably would have turned out quite differently for me if I'd played it correctly, so in go the changes.  Anyhow, here's the new list:

Updated Army List

I'll be playing Wonna's IG tomorrow so we'll see how I go against a massed gun line.

Eltnot.

Prince Yriel's Raiders

Well I received a package today at work that I had been expecting with a couple of jetbikes inside.  These are for what is to be my next big army that I have been collecting.  I won't go into to many details now, excpet that I have spent a long time collecting these guys, hunting on Ebay and various buy and sell forums.  Enough of the boring stuff, here's the pic:

As you can see, a lot of stuff needs to be stripped, so they'll be getting the simple Green treatment over the coming months.  I quickly wrote down everything that I have to for future reference when working out what I do and don't need.

1x Farseer
2x Warlocks with Singing Spears
19x Storm Guardians
31x Defender Guardians
17x Generic Guardians (without arms)
9x Heavy Weapon Guardians
2x D Cannons with crew
6x Rangers
9x Swooping Hawks
1x Swooping Hawk Exarch
1x Banshee Exarch
3x Fire Dragons
1x Fire Dragon Exarch
5x Assassin Drones
4x Executioner Drones
11x Dire Avengers
1x Dire Avenger Exarch
13x Jetbikes (-1 Handlebars, -3 rider torsos, -1 rider legs)
4x Shrieker Jetbikes
6x War Walkers (-1 Power Plant)
1x Vampire Dreadnought (-1 Power Plant)
2x 3rd Ed Dreadnoughts (probably won't be used)
2x Wave Serpents
1x Falcon
10x Arm Sprues +1 incomplete
9x Weapon Sprues +2 incomplete
8x Scatter Lasers
4x Lascannons
3x Heavy Plasma Guns
2x Missile Launchers
2x Small Tripods
2x Large Tripods
2x Hover Platforms
6x Gun Shields
2x Weapon Mounts

Eldar.