its over 1000 6th ed rumours :( targets

firstly  id like  to thank  all the readers  in  under 1 year  11 months 2 be precise iv had  1026  page views  so  u guys  must like sumthin  that im talking about lol 

on to targets  this  month they were  ridiculuosly  simple  but  because  total  wargamer  didnt get their order i didnt get mine !!!!!!

so i havent been able to meet them  although i havent done lots of work on the mortis engine so its not a full waste

the 5th ed  rulebook  has now been pulled from the shelves  6th ed  is less than  1 month away 

a few more stupid hopefully  troll  rumours  are

going back  2 troops  bin gd and can fire  2 or 3 times
choosing terrain before the start of the game for ur army
random  terrain effects  some include  setting it on fire 
random  pyschic powers
pychic lores  like fantasy
random  charge range like fantasy
% for  army lists

im sure theirs  more  lol

its also  far  2 warm to paint  so i havent  done  nethin  new really 

mortis engine

today i finished  the  metal  parts  and started the washing  of the  white  to  create  the  green colours for the  spirit  hoarde 

i will be  mostly using  thraka  green  to build  up most of the  base this will be highlighted with snot green and white  

for the  metal  i normally  use  chain mail  as its  easy to  darken it with  badab  black which i did  below  i will also  be  washing it green as well  to give it the rusted kinda feel  im also  following the  pic on the back of the box lol 

at  this point  id  like to note  iv bin painting this same mini  for  10 hours  which is  around the same time  i would  spend on a character !!!  eastimated  time till completion  6 hours lol

back to the mortis engine

so  for  those  who  went ahead and painted their  spirit  hoarde  you can have a break while i catch up  so it took  roughly  2 hours all in all  to build  up the white  now  if im honest  i could spend  another  half hour maybe even an hour building the white up even more  but  since  its  going  to  get  a few heavy green  washes  so it doesnt need 2 be perfect total time  painting now is  8 hours 

next ill finish off the metal parts  before washing  then iv got it allto do  on the other  side   one thing ill say from doing this kit is  its  very fragile and  the lance has snapped and a head came off

more comp shenanigans PT2

carrying  on  from  my last  blog heres the  next  installment starting with  ...

necrons
reanimation protocols  its  a quite  a complex rule  so ill break it down 

firstly  reanimation protocal is done at the  end of the  phase  on the roll of a 5 or 6 for each wound taken

this  doesnot happen  if  any of these  have a happend 
the unit has fallen back
the unit has been destroyed

also if the unit is in CC  the pile straight in

ever living  is the same as  reanimation protocals for independant characters

the most important rule  entropic strike 
models with wounds lose  their armour save if they take awound  from a model with this rule
vehicles for each hit roll a 4+ the vehicle then loses 1 point of armour from all facing  THIS IS DONE  BEFORE WORKING OUT what you need to pen or glance 

example 40  hits hitting  on a  4+  gives you  20 hits  then  4+  for  entropic strike means the armour is reduced by 10  if this reduces the armour  to 0  it immediatly  becomes wrecked

living  metal
ignores crew shaken  on a 2+
ignores crew stunned on a 4+

quantum sheilding adds 2 to the armour value of vehicles untill the first  glance or pen result

scarabs  have  3 wounds each so they can surive takig double  wounds from the swarms special rule

imotek  night fighting rule can be carried on each turn by rolling above the turn  and it will also do damage 2 each un engage enemy unit  on the roll of a d6  vehicles hit on side armour

spyders  have  the  only pyschic defence in the army

orks
they have FC
mob rule  units  above  11 are fearless    after  this  the LD  is  the number of orks  in the  unit  untill they reach  their  base  LD 
waaaaaaaaaaaaaaagh!!!!!!  called after  turn 2 gives ork infantry units  fleet for that  turn 
if thraka  is  in the  army  the  waaagh move  is allways 6 inch rather  than  rolling for it  (a rol off a 1 means the  unit takes a casualty)

kustom force shield is a 5+  cover save
flash gitz can pre measure  before they fire
koptas can out flank
 
SM
ATSKNF
combat squads
combat  tactics   - any none  fearless unit can choose to  fail  any moral check

independant characters replace combat tactics with their  own special  rules if u have2 characters  you can only choose  1

more comp shenanigans PT1

half the  battle  for  comp  play  is understanding  ur opponents army  now you dont need to  know everything about the codex  but  i do think  having some cliff notes  that will tell you the  basics about each army the specific  rules for  that codex  and list ull end up seeing or could see will help  you decide on a battle plan   im going to do this as a  2 part  series as other wise ill be here  all day lol

dark  eldar
power from  pain  after a unit kills a unit  they  get a token  that gives the unit extra abilities

1 FNP
2 FC
3 fearless

they also have night vision

fleet

combat drugs roll a d6 and consult the chart
1 roll ona extra d6 when fleeting/running
2 +1ws
3 +1s
4 re-roll wounds incombat
5+1a
6 1 pain token for all units

de have mostly poison shooting  weapons
arial assualt  means  ravagers and  both fighter  bombers can move 12" and fire all weapons

spacewolves
ATSKNF
acute senses
counter attack 

sagas
wolfkin - wolves are i5 ld7
bear - eternal warrior
majesty - re-roll failed  morale  within  6"  inlcuding his unit
hunter - outflank and stealth
warrior born - bonus attacks equal to models killed from previous assualt  phase
beastslayer -  reroll hits against  walkers and T5
iron wolf  - vehicles with this character in can move  d3 extra inches as well as add 1 to the repair rolls

long fangs  can split fire

terminators cant deep strike in this army

grey knights
ATSKNF
combat squads
aegis -1 penalty to psychic test
re inforced aegis  -4 to test  (only  happens if you are within 12")
pyschic pilot  vehices count as ld10
preffered eney deamons

grenades
pyschotroke has 6 effects
1nothing
2 enemy unit has 1 attak this round and hit automatically
3 re-roll to hit
4 ld2
5 I1
6 enemy unit takes an Itest  those that  fail 

these  only last  1  round

psyk-out grenades  -  deamons and pskyers in the assualted unit are reduced 2 I1
rad grenades -  is -1T  for the duration of the  turn  doesnt effect  instant death

assassins are  unique characters and u can only take 1 of each

psybolt  adds +1str

next  blog will be3 more  codex's

dark eldar tactics

since  quite a few readers  are  from the USA  and  i kno  from reading  bell of lost souls theirs a big tournament scene out there!!!  and  my  fave tournament army  is dark eldar  this year  im hoping for a  60%  win  ratio  at each event  or  50% at worse.

firstly  why do i   like  dark eldar  ?  well the  models  are  awesome  but  more  importantly  the encapsulate  the  holy trinity  of list building     speed plenty of anti tank  speed bump unit

how do you make dark eldar win?  well  it all depends on the opponents army  which sounds pretty  obvious and the  layout of the table may also be pretty obvious to some people  but  knowing  the opponents  army  you can  2nd guess where he will put his units for  example tall buildings will be an ideal  home  for  devastators  and long fang  or any  other unit with  long range fire power

hydras and  manticores  will allways be  in the corner  of the  board so if  ur not playing spear head deploy  the  blasters and  beasts  on that  side 

firstly  the beasts can  give cover saves to the blasters  2nd beasts are  fast  theyll be in combat turn  2  taking  out the hydras  also  dark  eldar have an amazing amount  of synergy  each unit has a job and they all work together to bring victory 

allways where possible refuse flank   this  means  go second assess the  opponents army  how hes deployed then  deploy your entire  force  on that flank and annilate it   he will have to pull his units from the  other flank to help support and as he moves across counter with long range ravager fire to slow them down  then  move  the beasts infront  to speed bump  the enemy  so that you can keep firing

another important  part  of playing dark eldar is using the  sceneray 2 minimise what the  opponent can fire at or improve  the  save from  5+  to  4+ 

future tactics  now i do use  1 beastmaster unit with the baron as a  huge speed bump stik them in cover go 2 ground  and  50 wounds with a   2+ cover save is hard to shift   this gives  my other units time 2 fire  and thin down the army  the problemishte baron makes the unit  quite slow

so  ill add 1 more beastmaster unit  thats another  unit with 50 wounds  but  unlike  the  barons unit  this 1 will be alot quicker  as it wont be slowed down  move through cover  fleet  12"charge they  can go round the barons unit  get a cover save then charge  in

ill be testing  dual beasts on thursday

mortis engine

after more painting  its comming along  great  but iv buggered  up the  cagesection  by  sticking on teh back peice i cant  paint  the main section of the stone at  the  back so ill have 2 leave  it black. although  i will be painting  the front section silver along with the padlocks and  the cage sections

after  this has been done im officially half way done   

colours  used  ushabti  bone + a wash of sepia  for the  book andscroll on the  tablet   adeptus battle grey to highlight the  the cage and chain mail and badabblack for the  silver areas 8 hours  total  time and the lecturn  is done 

next break  + food break  then  ill start  the  first  layer on the  spirit  horde   for  those following  this  which  is  0 bcoz no1 likes fantasy lol  water down some  skullwhite  and pain the horde white  untill you  get a nice even colour  then wash with  thraka green  highlight raised areas  with  white done

toy soldier 2012

iv now played  7 games with my deamons and  my w/l/d  is  2/4/1 

im struggling to make deamons a truly competitive army  the randomness  of first turn  coupled  with random  deep striking and scattering  is really starting to take its toll on my gaming pleasure.  some games go really well the rest  jus  bad dice rolls its 2 hard to pull it back

so  im gunna fix up the old dark eldar  and shake off the dust and bring them out 2 play theirs  roughly 9 weeks  left till  toy soldier  so ill play  atleast 9 games with my  dark eldar   

so i need 2 dig them out and start  fiing them  back up  get them ready 2 game 

more mortis engine work

today i completed the stone work and the  roses  on the steps  this erased  all the untidyness  of the bone  and its looking alot better  

here is todays pic   for  the stone work i used adeptus battle grey  and  liche purple for the roses  (jus incase  your using this as a step by step guide lol)  total  time bout 7 hours  lol

building a 40k list

now i do get asked  on forums and at my local club  about list list building or specific  units  and how to optimise them  to make them better or make better use of them.

that gave me an idea  ie  time to blog!!!  so i thought  how do i build a list  well primarily i am a gamer  at heart  and play tournaments  so this is my main focus

first things first  the codex  and i ask these 2 main questions

how good are the lists (as im a gamer first this is the most important)
will i enjoy playing the codex
what are the models like as ill have to paint them and if i dont like them im not gunna want to paint them and is their any way to do the odd conversion to make characters or certian units stand out


after  all these have been answered and iv found a codex  its on to writing the actual  list  itself  and ill choose a codex i allready have at random

a gd list should be able to deal with the current meta  it also needs these 3 things and fit my play style some people prefer  all CC  or all shooting armies or hybrid this is also important 

mobility -  whether its  deep striking or turbo boosting skimmers the army needs to be able to get around
anti tank - we all know  the metal boxs of doom are on every table  so a gd codex needs  long mid and CC  anti tank  or a mixture 
CC unit  - whether  its decent troops  a death star  or a speed bump units it should have some CC units  this will differ from codex to codex but each codex will have 1 or 2 dedicated CC units at least  
synergy the list needs to be able to work together  the units  should perform  certian jobs to help other units and in the long run help u win :D


so lets  go thru a which will be my DE 1750 pts  but u can follow this method for any points limit

HQ
i take the baron 
succubus agoniser

elites
i take  3 units of  trueborn with blasters in venoms with dual splinter canons

troops
9 wyches in a raider  with hydra and hekatrix with agoniser
2 units of 5 wyches with hydra in venoms with dual splinter canons

all units have haywire grenades 

Fa
beast masters

Hs
ravager x3  night shields and flicker fields


lets go back over the list  with the 4  points i laid down earlier 

mobility  - everything can turbo boost and the beasts are beasts so even their pretty quick
anti tank - this list has tons of anti tank  the long range is  9 dark lance  mid is  12  blasters and the short is beast masters and haywire grenades if i need them
CC - firstly my big speed bump is the beasts  tonns of wounds  and  stealth and grenades thanks to the baron who will be attached to them this also acts as a destraction this leaves the rest of the army free to attack for the first few turns  u can also claim cover saves for the venoms if their behind the beasts  hehe which is dirty :P
synergy -  basically how the list will work on the table  the  beasts go foreward to the middle of the table and sit in cover the  ravagers  hunt  av14  while the blasters and wyches in venoms go hunt light armour with troops in and then shoot them 2 death with all the  splinter weapons

and thats it list building  if any body would like me to go thru any other codex's  and build a list put it in the comments below :P

mortis engine more work done!!

im still waiting for the terrorgheist and  hexwraiths  so hopefully theyll arrive so i can meet my basic targets!! 

this was a weird one  the flames  were  green but the  lightest part was at the base  not sure how well its turned out  but nvm  here it is.  its also  neated up  the black between the bones so it now looks like the green magial fire is held in the rib cage  total  time  6 hours  ish lol

mortis engine update number 3

so now iv highlighted a few key areas with ushabti bone!!  jus to bring out and it looks quite gd hehe  im really enjoying this model  so far  total time  5 hours!!!  next part will be to neaten up the flames on the skellies 

for this ill use

dark angels green as a base
goblin green  as a medium
then  white 

for the cage ill  re paint it black  and highlight it adeptus  battle grey :P

mortis engine update

i was up early n started painting  bout 10 ish  and i have now finished  the second layer   which is karak stone its a nie light ish brown which will create  an off coloured bone rather then the bleached white bone

after this it takes the total  up 2  4 hours  so far  and iv not even started the  the spirit  horde!!!!

hte next layer  is  ushabti  bone  which is abit more yellowy  which ill use a highlight  that will be done later  :D

starting the mortis engine

as a prelim to the terror gheist i decided  to paint the lecturn in the bone colours i bought from the shop at the weekend  and 2 hours later  yes 2 hours to get a nice even coat!!!!!

this is steal legion drab  a lovely mid brown which  is the base layer for my bone  iv used this on a smaller scale  on the  chaplian it looks good  so  over the next few days  ill be applying the  next layer then the highlight  :D

more pictures!!!

to days  up date is a WIP  space wolves chaplian  hes  awesome   so far  i have  to highlight the armour finish the  plasma pistol possibly paint a shoulder pad up gotta check other pics first then hes done!!!

since hes a space puppy  you can have  4 of these bad boys  and wat makes them better than an ordinary chaplian prefered enemy!! not only that this prefered enemy is specific as you get to choose before the game starts  so  you can have a big tooled up unit that re-rolls against troops elites  OR infantry and get everything hehe 

disclaimer the model above wasnt built by me :) 

ps  the  mortis engine has been sprayed blak and ready to paint :P  i dont think  iv done a kit bigger than that 

Massive picture blog PT2

dinner has been eaten and im back on  it  the base  is nearly  done  iv ran into  1 rael problem  at  stage  4 it wasnt clear  but done and dusted  im now at stage 6


stage 6 is basically some skulls lol and thats the base is completed

interlude as a painter i like to paint everything every bit gets painted even if it cant be seen so when im building a model i have 2 take into consideration how arkward its gunna be so far the only thing is the sheilds and keeping both sides seperate which isnt that bad the next problem will be the stairs 

the stair way is now complete

now im ready 2 build up the final part to make this the mortis engine which is quite annoying section 18 isnt very clear but its done!!!   with the corpse master 

final note  the banshees are also  complete  that  will circle hte tower  also i havent stuckdown  the  corpe master or  the front gate as it will make it harder 2 paint 

enjoy the pics ill do the same thing when i start painting  !!

massive picture blog!!! PT1

so im gunna try a different format  with plenty of pictures  as my recent blogs hav been lacking!!  so i went and bought the  vampire counts mortis engine/coven throne and look at it.

 its a massive box for wat is 3 peices of plastic

then we have the double sided instruction manual its huge i dont think the dark elf ravager manual was that big!! but with GW maign more dual kits their guna get bigger lol

 so after much deliberation and reading and gluing im 45 mins in and up 2 stage 4 now the way these stick together means theirs quite a few regions that will be hard 2 paint so ill leave them seperate for now

time for  tea!!!  nom nom  more after that!!  in PT2  well finish the base completely  and look at wat makes this kit either the mortisengine or  coven throne

tactics article - feinds of slaanesh!!!

havet done  one of these  for ages  but ill start with a picture 4 are  done  1 more needs doing then i need 2 paint up the riders and then i have try and get 1 more from sumwhere to make it a unit of 6!! ps i will be doing once these are done a full army shot with unit break down and sperate tactica articles !!

here we go!!

 stat line ws4  str5  t4  w2  i5 a5  5+
gifts hit and run + rending 
unit type beasts


straight away we can see these are  CC monsters they have no shooting  power wat so ever  but their fast quite  strong and  have rending  theyll munch thru  most units  with ease  wounding and 3's and causing  ap2 wounds on 6+(rending)  

rending means  they can take on a dual  role  on the battle field  hitting  support tanks  like  hydras/manticore/razorbacks  etc  or  long fangs/devs   deamons generally struggle with  high AV like landraiders  so being able to throw  36 dice at a tank  with no extra modifiers is really gd 

the unit size i find most effective is  6 with 1 having +1 str  so they can bust thru landraiders easier as mentioned above  their quite cheap as well  30pts a model  for all this is well worth taking atleast 1 squad   maybe 2 :P

downsides  the  5+ save means theyll be whittled down quite quickly  so its best to keep htem out the way on the flanks OR  have them in range of the fate weaver the turn they come down  so they have a better chance of surviving

u can add more wounds  with a herald on  seeker  OR have 2 heralds if ur that way inclined 

chaos invasion 6th ed codex rumours round up

rite  were about 2 or 3 months  away  from 6th ed and the new chaos codex  so heres the rumours  so far!!  their in no specific  order  and  ill jus  give my  2 penneth  on them  wat theyll do for chaos players and the game in general 



- Mark-specific vehicle upgrades reminiscent of the 3.5 Chaos Marines Codex may appear, such as Poisoned flamers for Nurgle, higher strength/lower AP weapons for Tzeentch, Sonic weaponry for Slaanesh and "brutal blades" for Khorne.

this i think is  a great idea  it means  that for those who do mono  armies their vehicles can be tied in and given the appropriate mark  rather than jus a red/blue/brown/pink  paint job

- New specific differences between Raptors and "Chaos Assault Marines". Raptors now a new cult for Night Lords Legion and "Chaos Assault Marines" being available to all Legions and markable.
 this one is specifically  for  the  night lords fans  as  most  night lords armies were made redundant  when the 4th ed codex came  out so im sure theyll be happy  to see this addition.

Troops choices will be Chaos Space Marines and Cultists -  this is going back to older codex's  giving players more choice so well see different build's  alot of the new codex's  are following this trend take  GK for example
All Cult Marines are Elites
Special Characters will unlock Cult Marines as troops (Kharn for Berserkers and so on) - these  2 are very interesting  very similar to  the SM codex  in that  a HQ  not only changes the FOC  which is becomming more and more common  in newer codex's it also makes lists more interesting (this maybe bcoz phil kelly wrote the codex)
Typhus makes Cultists into Zombies - this is a apoc rule  im thinkin this will become more popular as well with chapter approved  units  from FW maybe tournaments will start lettin ppl use Fw that be awesome :P
Chaos Dreadnaught is removed and replaced with a new unit (like how pariahs were replaced with Lychguard) im not sold on this as  iv heard rumours of a plastic  dreadnought  being done for the starter kit  so well see 
CSM now get a Flyer a Mechanical Chaos Dragon (model is done will be part of initial release) again their are rumours knocking about for this  but i not sold on it i kno its different to regular marine stuff and u can argue  the fluff for ever  but well see how phill kelly handles  it  id like to go with suthin like its a deamon possessing a vendetta gun ship and then turning it into a different shape 
Lesser and Greater Demons are gone not surprised really  by this  with 2 seperate codex's  and the rumours that  its goin 2 be like  the SM codex style  wise
Spawn replaced by “Fell Beast” i think thats  the FW  beastie  

Rules for Traitor Guard are in! 

Codex author is Phil Kelly  cant ask for a better writer  than phill kelly  hes the best that GW have
Chaos Cultists are available in blob squads into the thirties...  like guard  squads 
Certain Named Characters grant various USRs and other special rules to Cultists when selected.  this has been mentioned above  and is like the SM codex

"On HullPoints: If a vehicle has 3 hull points it will die after 3 shaken results, but it can still explode after 1 shot as normal.  this is a weird 1  if u have 3 hull points  wat about things like demonic possession?  if  thats still in vehicles will last ages  and GK  if they can keep casting  fortitude then theyll last for ever as well

On Assault: All cc weapons have AP values in 6th similar to what was in the fake 6th ed rule book leak. this is also a strange  1  it makes  weaker  armies even weaker  for example  if a chain sword is ap5  then  an entire squad of  assault marines  will ignore armour u wont need power weapons

On the flying Dragon thingy: Imagine a dragon made of "fire" and coverd in a platemale armor and you won't be too far off. That is the best discription I can give. Some of the concept art shows it mauling a valkyrie mid flight. It is pretty cool.
But I've said too much! "  like  above  it makes sense  hmmmmmm  not sure  dragons maybe OTT in 40k but well see wat phill can do :P

deamons photos and awesomeness

firstly i havent posted many pics on my blog for ages but thats  bcoz im still painting  my feinds  i ran out of  astro grey so  apologies  i also  havent finished the FW dread but should soon  jus have the silver to do wash and highlight

next i played  2 games with my deamons  VS  IG  and i won both  games  

the first game i didnt get my icon down  first but  i did in the 2nd  and fateweaver is awesome  im gettin the hang of it now the list has obility fire power and durability 

more on the drop  when i game next week :P

targets underway

iv ordered  the hexwraiths  and  terrorgheist im now looking  for  paint schemes to paint this bad boy and i cant find anything at the min  looking at the new conversion chart  ill use

vermin as a base
karak stone  as first layer 
ushabti bone  as a midtone
skull white as the highlight

in between i may blend it with a wash before i highlight


the wings  are  sum where between green blue  purple  red 

now i think  ill go  for  all red  as teh torn  fibres will thn blend in with the  rest of the muscles 

the skin will be left black and highlighted in my fave adeptus battle grey 

after that its done  so ill add wet  blood  to the  maw and talons on the front  claws 

i will also b posing  him on the  garden  of moor  sceneray lik hes stalking thru it 


hex wraiths 

bone as above
one rider  will be  white  with a crown and bow to represent conquest
one  will be  red to represent war  if i can find a large sword even better
one will be black to represent  famine  i jus need 2 find sum scales  or make a set
one will b green or a yellowy decay colour to represent death  and hell be carryin 1 of the scythes

as the unit is a unit of 5 (for gaming purposes)  ill paint the other standard colours from the box