carving a bloody path - TS 2012

well its bin a while since iv spoken about TS  but  i have made sum slight alterations to my list. i wasnt happy  with  vect's squad  being so small  so  i put a few more wyhes in and got it back up to 9 to do this i had to shrink the beast masters so my new  beast masters squad is this

4 handlers
clawfeind
kymera x5
razorwings x4

to make up for the lack of wounds  the claw fiend can take the first  str8 shot  so as long as im in cover hell survive abit longer which means the unit will last abit longer


the claw feind will be a rat ogre as a base im gointo green stuffit a little  to try and redue the amount of ratty lookingness from the model.  iv also  tried my hand at green stuffing to add some detail to the model  ill post pis when hes done   

jump back to the far future !!!

iv been punged into fantasy quite heavily over the past few weeks with what iv been painting etc.

so back to 40k and  6th edition  firstly  plenty of rumours  knocking around the book is out in a few days and the cover is awesome which makes me want a copy lol

next the biggest  most intruiging  alteration is the allies rules  heres what we know so far

Rules for Allies
Brothers in Arms:
Join each others unit with Independent Characters and cast physic powers as if they were friendly.
Grudging Allies:
Cannot join each others’ units nor treat as friendly for psychic powers.
Unholy Alliance:
Roll at the begging of each turn if they are within 6″, if they roll a 1 they can’t do anything.

now the pic is just legible but what does it mean

brothers in arms means the armies count as 1  all USR are shared and characters can join all units
grudging alliance counts as 2 seperate armies
unholy if u ally these 2 u must roll for each allied unit  on the roll of a 1 the unit does nothin that turn


so what does this mean for my armies

firstly dark eldar as its my army that i play more than any at the moment well ill ally with eldar  this gives me access to  guide and fortune  not only that i can guide my ravagers etc etc  its gunna be filth  ill also look at what is cheaper  blaster trueborn or firedragons  ill also get some cheaper fodder troops for objectives like gaurdians

its going to be interesting  i think the units  ill take   really  are  1 farseer with council  dire avangers in transport and fire dragons

i can see why the points level will go to 2k  for base games as it will be hard to implement allies in smaller points scales

next army i will be updating is chaos marines and quite rightly  our brothers in arms are chaos deamons  we can also ally with IG orks necrons and tau

hmmm its a hard choice i think IG  may be the best choice then i an theme my list and make it like the legions of old   it also means i can take sum melta vets hydras  manticore and all the lovely stuff from the HS section 

so all in all lookking foreward 2 it!!!  gunna be filth lol

more fantasy stuff

yesterday i bought more hexwraiths  and the empire BSB for my  bus.  i also ordered the mantic revenant knights that ill be using as blackknights, i also ordered the von carstein pack  to pimp out my knights.

which means ill have the bus both hex wriath units and the terrorgheist

i need the characters and ghouls and a case and the army is ready to go :P

except everything need painting lol i have started doing the bone on a set of hexwraiths im waiting to get a wet pallete before i start doing the cloaks as with the hot weather its drying out 2 quick and im using  a mix of  black and purple.

hex wraiths!!

unfortunately  i didnt realise i had sum medium basing kit left and used small on my terrorgheist and mortis engine so i cant fully finish my initail targets. BUT  i have sprayed the riders and i thought id go thru my reasons for choosing hex wriaths for my list

thier ethereal!!
they have a special rule that when the move through an unengaged unit, that unit takes a str5 hit with no armour saves !! 
their also fast cavelry so pretty quick goin down the flanks to hit warmachines

ill be using 2 units of  5 at 2500pts  and then as the points get bigger ill try and add another rank 2 each unit

on to the model itself  iv put together the riders and the horses and found the scythes are abit finicky to get to gether  and 1 of the head as some of the helm sits on the arm but apart from that its pretty gd also the black knights in the kit as far as i can see are seperate so if u buy sum horses from a bitz site u can also use the black knights as well making this kit well worth its money

ill also be painting mine  purple with blue fire

calling from the grave gaming edition

so on the fantasy front iv finally got my self a list ready  and sorted out what i want

i have 1 vampire lord beat stick, if the points are cheaper ill take manfred coz hes a lvl4 wizard!!! with 5's across the board I7 and WS7:


my block of blackknights with the this upgrade pack, the banner bearer will have this banner:
 


ghouls will be these:                      hexwraiths are standard  GW models:   dire wolves are GW aswell:
   


last thing  terrorgheist  is GW as well:

 

but this is how the army looks so far i also have 2 little vampires on mounts as well :) 

next purchase will be more hexwraiths !!

mortis engine

its done  near enough lol iv jus got to finish the sheilds and paint the ground and its done!!!!  heres how it looks so far 

mmmm now  i believe  iv nearly hit all my targets  iv started building the  hexwraiths  theyll get finished at the weekend hopefully jus need 2 buy sum more stuff 2 base them with before they get sprayed

then i have 10 days to sit around and wait to see what happens with 40k 6th ed

terrorgheist done!!!

and here he is resplendant in all his glory 

scenery painting

so a few  weeks ago  we attended triples and bagged sum bargains  and i have been personally tasked with painting them.  the scenery in question is  trench and gun emplacements  now iv never painted scenery  before but im using it as a little break from the terrorgheist.

im wanting to create the look and feel of sand or dirt so what ill be doing is starting with

FOW - italian armour  is a nice bright yellow
next ill  brush  weathering powder  over it to deepen it
ill then affix this with a wash of devlan mud  

terrorgheist winged solution!

firstly im linking the heading in a fun way to the article :D im not that bored honest.  now iv bin searching for a way to paint the fibres of the terrorgheists wings for ages.  firstly i didnt want red as iv allready used plenty of it for the muscles and things like that so i wanted something different.

i was  going to use green i thought that could work but iv found a better picture 2 copy ie the one from the vampire counts army book and the wings are a blue grey. now black/red/blue all complement each other but the model itself  the skin is shrinking and decaying hence the grey  so ill also be painting the skin round on the main body of the model in the same colour and here is what iv chosen

dark reaper!!!   its from the new line of colours in the pot its a dark blueish grey.  although it does dry lighter heres my method of getting it to look somthing like the one in the book

dark reaper is the base
ill darken this and bring out the blue with a 2/1  blue/black wash
dark reaper will be the mid tone for raised areas

final stage  if needed will be  dark reaper with some  grey in it

here are the pics  iv only done 1 coat  to see how it looks at do any corrections and  lay down  guidelines near the bone.

this has been one of my favourite kits so far  10 days till the painting comp  :D

more dark eldar tactics

so  the list  is developing  and  getting back to basics.  last nite  i used  lelith  and  for  175 points  str3  jus doesnt cut it.  although she gets loads of attacks against marines 9 she still doesnt do enough wounds.

which means  theirs only one other characters that  can do the damage and thats vect. so lets havea quick over view of the ultimate overlord  before i go thru the new list

Pros
WS 8 with re-rolls means ull allways get  60% attacks thru  
has alot of attacks  around 7 with the charge
allways wounds on 3+ and its a power weapon
steal the iniative on a 4+

Cons
240pts

now their are plenty of benifits  to taking vect  but how can we get him stuck in to combat when  most opponents will be in little metal boxes 

heres  what il be doing  ( i also have a new  beast master unit that ill try at somepoint)  

beast masters  go in front 
vects raider  behind
on the flanks of the raider ill have the trueborn

far behind  ravagers sniping at tanks to get some results on the damage chart

now next game well see if it works

HQ
vect

elites
trueborn as normal

troops
wyches x5
venom
splinter canon
x2

wyches x8
raider
ff

FA
beasts as normal

HS
ravagers as normal

the new beasts are  250 points and set up like this

5 handlers
6 razor wings
5 chimeara
1 claw feind

what this unit lets you do is  take the first  wound on the claw feind  from each high powered shot this means the chimearas will  last a little longer 

obv i cant counter  bad dice rolls  but stick with it  as soon as those transports start cracking or they get out 2 attack the beasts jump out with  vect and counter !!

thats all for now

swimming in the deep end....fantasy edition

so  the observant will notice iv been painting  up a terrorgheist and  mortis engine  now some of you may also be doing the same and following as i go along if so spoiler alert for the terrorgheist iv finally deciced on a blue/green for the fibre of the wings.

neway  iv slated fantasy quite abit so im biting the bullet and gunna actually play it and ill post my findings from start to finish iv jus about finished writing a 2.5k list as this seems to be a common  points limit and i can also feild a wide range of units.

army style  since the vamps can do a wide range of magic/fighting  iv gone for a swift beat in your face with a solid block following them mash it up in the middle.  now this is still slightly premature as i still need the following:

vampire lord on nightmare
14 black knights
5 hexwriaths
60 ghouls
40 zombies
necromancer

as for the models  wraiths will be GW  big stuff GW  and  im thinkin of small stuff mantic  as their cheaper :D

the next blog will be as iv built up the next units 

long live the king long live 5th ed

5th ed i agree has a few flaws  such as 2 many cover saves are given out a little to easy  that  being said i love  5th  ed  its all thats  gd and right with war gaming  ok so the codex's  are a little unbalanced BUT if  5th wasnt updated AND instead all codex's were updated instead to 5th ed rules then they would balance out!!

i was reading a snippet from GW about  6th ed and this  caught my eye

"the ultimate contest of strategy and skill"  now  if this is implied about  5th ed ill agree  it requires  skill and stratagy to win

now i disagree  completely  and here are some of the rules that  have been collected  and ill break them down and apply the above  quote  and see whether or not it will be true or not

Random Charges are 2D6 pick the highest (unless going through Difficult Terrain where its 3D6 and you drop the highest.) Move through cover I believe adds an extra D6

this isnt skill full or strategic at all  as at the moment  you know that  each unit will charge a set distance judging that distance is skill full but now the skill is in rolling gd dice so that ull get the charge

the second part  charging through cover  makes it even harder   coz itll be slower!!  dislike this rule!!

-Vehicles are WS0 if stationary, and WS1 if they move, no matter how far they go.

this maybe a better  rule as it makes vehicles easier to blow up as sume vehicles are a little over powered at the moment  although  ws1 for how far they move is stupid 


-Vehicles go the same distance in the movement phase (I believe 6" and fire everything regardless if fast or not) but in the shooting phase can make an extra move (apparently some kept forgetting what vehicles moved to fast to fire...

this makes no sense and makes all vehicles slower which  ruins armies that actually need vehicles to survive  another rule i dislike

-Vehicles cannot contest (unsure if scoring units in transports can)
-6 Missions and 3 deployment types (2 of the deployments are the same as current, Spearhead & Pitched Battle.)

this will  make drop pods  slightly mor useless as well as any one who uses a rhino wall cud be a gd rule!

-Troops are the only ones that can score (including of course 'scoring units')

glad this is still in  although with the amount of armies that can make better units troops it dunt really matter lol

-5+ Cover save for most things (ruins are 4+).

this is better and makes alot more sense!!

-Allies rules are in, but its meant to be for team games (ie separate force org chart, distrusted ally rules similar to Fantasy)

this is also  gd  no bending over  IG and making them  super awesome agen

-Percentages are *not* in

thats awesome this 1 rule wud easily mess up the game  so glad its not in but dont worry their are other rules that will mess up the game

-Wound Allocation is closest to furthest.

and here it  the first in the line of rules that will ruin 40k as we know and love it  the first thing is its not realistic  ( i kno its a game but  we do want some realism in the game)  secondly their are  other scenarios in which  this rule just doesnt work  for eample  if a unit faceseach other thie is no way to determine who is closest with out measuring to each model from each model.    


-nDueling is similar to challenges in fantasy but contrary to earlier rumors, they don't replace Combat res, just add to sides. A IC can challenge another IC in the same combat even if not in base to base. If the defending IC refuses, he simply cannot attack that turn, if he does he counts as being in b2b and no one else can hurt him apart from the attacking IC. I'm guessing this is to offset the Wound Allocation rules

this next rule has ruined  40k  it means  everyone MUST take a special character bcoz we all know how awesome they are at killing  and ull need a character to combat the other guys character

all in all its a stupid rule that needs  taking out!!!!

-Preferred Enemy is including shooting and you may reroll wound rolls of a 1 (either shooting or combat)

this  ruins  most space marines  units with chaplians  rune preists are ridiculuosly overpowered now and any other unit that gets  preferred enemy  such as destroyers !!

-Rapid Fire weapons may now can shoot at long range while moving. restriction on assaulting after rapid firing remains.

i actually like this as  it means a gun line can move and still be usefull as it re positions

-Jump Infantry get a free strike at I10 when they charge into combat

this is stupid unless grenades  dont change and it shudnt be put in as it means people will buy assualt marines to take advantage of this rule  and it will unbalance the game

-Psychic Power Decks using a dice system similar to Fantasy.
this is another stupid rule  GW  know  they have ruined 40k and  along with a price rise need 2 make money bcoz theyll lose alot of  hardcore 40k players with this rule book.  it also  means that  those players  who take pyskers  to fill certain roles wont know wat theyll do if its all random!!  another rule i dislike!!!

Flyers are in.

new models and rules to make money and nuthin more 

-FNP drops to 5+ Save.

this is a good thing as  FNP  was everywhere 


overall the rules i dont like are the big ones that will have a major impact on the game  as i find out other rules ill post them i need 2 try  a few games and see how theyll play  but  if its really bad ill have 2 wait for  7th ed and if  Gw hasnt gone bankrupt

innards & corrections

their done and dusted and with more colours hes comming to gether nicely i also didnt think it needed 2 seperate  posts.

after  finishing the innards  i went back and sorted out all my mistakes  thus far  make it look neat and tidy  so here is the model as it stands (or sits) lol

terrorgheist ready 2 fly

here are the wings  their  huge  and really impressive  you  may be able to see that  the  base for the bone has spilled over on to the membrane of the wings  but  its fine  after i do the next layer  of bone ill go back over everything  and correct all the mistakes

now its time  to  do the second layer and for those looking to copy  the next layer is karak stone!! 

more terrorgheist pics!!

iv put down a few coats  of steel legion drab  i love this colour for bone its great its got the medium brown tone with out having to blend it.  i havent  started on the wings yet but since the body is done i thought id show you guys, its such an awesome model!!!   

next step  complete the bone on the wings

then i need 2 do the innards 

then correct all mistakes so far   

finish  the innards  layer them up etc  then do the same with the bone

then i have 2 be very careful and paint up the ribcage and other bits of bone round the main body

the  muscles will be slightly different reds  i want them to be a bit lighter  same with the bit in between the wings as theyll have more light hitting them

after all that is done the base needs doing then any extra detail such as high lighting the skin  adding some wet blood to the maw n making a little puddle below 

after all that hes done and ready to be entered  then the table awaits  to chomp down on the armies of the old world :P

dark eldar tactics

my last  game  i changed  up my list  and  tried some different  things!!!

firstly the HQ  i use lady malys  now for 135pts  shes  quite  cheap  and has a few really d  special  rules the down  side is  she  doesnt have a power  weapon as her main weapon and it lets  her down havin a random  2 attack  power attacks doesnt make up for it 

changing the HQ  changed   how the beasts  worked  not having the  baron  meant they were alot quicker even in dawn  of war  when they started at the back of hte board even going through terrain they were near enough in my enemies 12" deployment by turn 3  which  would never happen with the  baron attached 

next game  iv changed  the HQ for lelith  well see how she does  if that doesnt work then  ill be goin back to vect!!!

terror gheist

the terror gheist  has a simple base and is primed and ready  to  be painted  now as its goin in the painting comp  ill  hold off on the  mortis engine untill this is done  and here it is 

now the next thing is deciding on the colours and wat will be done first etc etc

skin will be black  so no need to do nething their 

the first thing to do then is paint the  innards  red  start building that  up 

after that  ill neaten  it up by painting the bone around that area  and paint the bone on the wings as well

after that i have 2 decide what colour the wings will be  still not sure 

mortis egine

this isnt really a picture  update  but  i jus thought id update  those  who are following this  both sides  of the  spirit  hoarde  have now been  washed  green  ready  for the white highlights took a total of 4 hours  ish  so  i reckon  ic now been painting this model  for  14 hours 

the next step is to stick the hoarde together blend it with washes  so they look like their joined  then ill highlight while their  joined then  take a pic as an update  to show u guys  what it looks like

once that  has bee done ill glue in the  lecturn  with an update  pic as this will be coming to the final stages of paiting

then ill doe it all over agen  with the  terrorgheist  !!!! 

next set of targets

well  toy  soldier  is next month  so  here are  my targets   for this  month

choose a list  + army  and finish  any models  if i need to 
complete  the  mortis engine with progress reports
finish building the terror gheist and spray ready for painting 
build and convert my hexwraiths  for the comp

terrorgheist

after  1 month near enough its  finally here and i got over excited and put the body together  ill sort the base  before  putting the wings on for ease of painting