while the cats away

the  mice have been mega busy on projects my goal is to have both done for the end of the year and today im making a massive dent in that i still have lots to do but so far to day ive


sprayed loads of wyches and warriors
made n sprayed a jetseer and 2 bikes
finished sprayin 11 reavers
done the last 2 ravager sponsons
put the arms on the wraithknight


for the rest of the day ill have
sprayed 2 more venoms
finished off 2 venoms
sprayed 2 raiders
converted up 5 warp spiders with bases and sprayed them
base and spray wraithguard
re-spray my eldar bikes
base and spray some beasts


this will leave me with this left 2 do over all
finish converting a baron
finish beasts handlers
base 8 razorwings
then spray them all
then 2 fully finish the armies ready for painting i need 2
fully convert 15 warp spider base n spray
build n spray 6 more reaver jetbikes
spray n base crimson hunter


then that's both armies completed I also have 2 magnetize the sails on all the dark elder ships as well lol n then im really done but im hoping to get these fiddly bits done by the of april so I cant start painting in may time. the bonus is everything is the same colour for both armies so I can do large batches at a time

autarchs multipurpose CC units

so for the first time I tried an autarch and their great the set up I used was:


autarch
warp spider generator
shard of anaris
phoenix gem
death spinner
banshee mask


this comes to 165 points n makes the unit fearless that he joins  banshee masks means the can take on other high I units like elder dark elder and nids 


the death spinner means he can join in with the fire and a full unit of 10 kicks out 23 shots


the shard makes the unit fearless and in combat he gets 2+ str rending and in a challenge he gets ID and fleshbane  so very gd and phoenix gem means when he dies he has a chance to come back with 1 wound


their equipment list means they can join nearly every unit to boost their potential or they can be made unit a super single man death star with


bike
laser lance
shard
mantle
phoenix gem


this gives  a fearless autarch re-rolling 2+ cover save and when he charges str8 ap3 with rending :D


not as the warlord they can be played very aggressively a unit that is well worth looking into

warp spiders tactics

so  I know warp spiders are gd as ever the maths speaks for itself but I made a slight error in judgement (ie didn't their rules properly)


here is another steller tactics article featuring warp spiders Ive bin meaning to add these to my list and the now have a double feature


warp spiders x8
exarch
fast shot


warp spiders x7
exarch
fast shot


so  what can warp spiders do? 


well  firstly their very fast n move 6"+2d6 +d6" run with fleet in the movement phase +12" range for their guns that's an average of 29" on average for threat range


also  3+ armour which is great for eldar and mitigates the T3


next str6 basic weapons wound most things on 2+  with 2 shots each means their is a decent volume which gets better  VS i3 or less with a +1 str  and rolls of 6's are ap1  this means they'll shred tanks and troops as be a pain for heavy troops as well


a unit of 10 with an exarch with fastshot costs 215 that gets you 21 shots its a bargain also the large volumes of shots will help take down flyers


their are 2 ways to use these units


firstly u can deep strike them and aim for the first threat on the board this can be a MC or a tank for first blood etc etc


or they can be kept on the board n move up when ready to counter then be defensive to protect tanks objectives and scoring units


ways to beef them up  adding an autarch with shard of anaris spider jump pack and death spinner makes a fearless unit that u can be really aggressive with them u can also add phoenix gem to make the autarch more annoying lol

eldar list finalised

so iv bin testing a few combos and have finally found the list I think will work at 1500 for throne of skulls.


HQ
farseer
jet bike
mantle


troops
avengers x5
serpent
holofield
scatter laser
shuriken canon
x3 units


FA
spiders x8
exarch
fastshot


spiders x7
eaxarch
fast shot


HS
wriathknight
fire prism




I think this list covers near enough all the bases   my next problem is anti flyer as I have no actual flyer


but twin linked spiders should take out a flyer  ill have to roll some dice n play some test games

new nids secret weapons :D

well well well gw adds insult to injury with the first data slate which was shocking their  was some interesting ideas but none of the formations were any good.


and then gw pulls out the skyblight swarm formation BOOM! that's what im taking bout endless swarm loads more flyers and gargoyles are troops and they can capture even if contested it makes for a very fast army its what nids have really needed.


and then living artillery formation more big heavies added to the army with warriors now serving some function to give preferred enemy to exocrines and biovores.


now with these additions nids can take on the big boys at the top the problem is its not obvious their is no 1 click unit or trick it takes hard work n skill although either formation will help loads so lets take the list n add a formation


HQ
flyrant
flyrant
flyrant


elites
venomthrope x2


Troops
gargoyles x10
gargoyles x10
gargoyles x10
termaguantsx30
tervigon
warriors
canon


FA
crone
crone


HS
t. fex
exocrine
exocrine


now im not sure on points but 5 FMC and 4 normal MC  that's lots of heavy duty as well as lots of bodies so now nids are looking pretty strong u can even change up the fast for a slow heavy walking list.


so try out the new formations their well worth it

new nids slightly improved

so iv been watching loads of battle reports and played against them 3 times now with my eldar and here are my findings

from the battle reports what iv said is in the previos blog  the core nid list looks like this

HQ
flyrants
devs
x2

Elites
venomthropes (2)

Troops
gaunts x30
tervigon

FA
crone

HS
exocrines
t.fex

the main tactic now is stay out of range if possible  the t.fex with FNP is very hard to kill even with re-rolling successfull saves which makes him a great choice for nid players and a key unit to support by hiding venomthropes behind him and some synapse.

the exocrines are a priority unit with ap2 large blast or 6 shots theyll be moving/shooting or moving running to get into position. i found that if they stack up they can down a large target or annoy light tanks.

as synapse is so vital now start to them down fast!!  the army does crumble quite quickly the bigger creatures can survive at ldship8  but the lower dugs at ldship5 have a really hard time.

i have seen a nids list similar to the above beat tau riptide list  the ap2  once in range is devastating.

Nids new and unimproved

firstly this was goingto be a one off when the codex came out but im quite late!!  so itll be a small series going thru

initial codex review
games vs new nids
new formations

so the codex its self isnt that bad really gw made quite a few blunders as they normally do first major blunder was taking biomancy away from nids that was pretty stupid.

the next blunder was not giving them eternal warrior in synapse again lol

the next was making synapse far to important with no realy way to then protect those units (ie no biomancy)  bcoz once a synapse creatures dies the army starts to crumble

pyschic powers  arent that bad really but not great their is no real stat modifier at all for T  BUT the gem is catalyst  FNP on psyker + a unit so combo it with shroding its looking better AND pychic scream its a 4/5 in the table but still its their lol :D

but all is not lost!!!!!
their are some new gribblies and some re-writes that really shine

first up is the venomthrope gives shrouded to units within 6"  thats a 5+ cover to fearless units in the open or a massive 2/3+ in some kind of cover makes even the worst bugs more durable.

next is the crone str8 vector strike and haywire missiles mmmmm nom nom :D

the mawloc is now str6 ap2  ignore cover and 2 goes at terror from the deep before mishap add that to a lictor who can help them snipe out key targets its a juicy lil combo

exocrines are the bomb diggity with 40k mainly about the shooting game nids really need 2 step up and this bad boi does just that ap2  6 shots at 24" on the move or +1 BS standing still and a large blast they are deffinately a pain !!!

so a basic list for new nids has mainly stayed the same
HQ
flyrant
wings
double devourers

add hive commander if u will be running lots of outflanking units

elites
a unit of 2/3 venom thropes for the shrouding bubble

now u can choose lictors for the mawloc combo
or hive guard
or zoanbhropes for more pyschic powers

troops
its still all about  tervigons and gaunts

warriors are usefull for back field objectives and the living artillery foramtion but thats it!
stealers are still crap

FA
here the main choice is harpy or crone  id deff take crone all the time
other options are gargoyles for skybligh formation

HS
here is where its all happening for nids main choices are
mawlocs
exocrines
t. fex
dakka fexes