Greenstuff bases. Ying and yang Dark Eldar :-)

Hi everyone,

Just some quick update pictures of the Dark Eldar infantry who are finished. Next up is the kitbashing of the Eldar models with some pointy bits to make them feel more like a group of corsair raiders :-)

I decided to use greenstuff on the bases here to put a little variety int the models rather than everyone walking on black circles. To keep them close to the scourges and their rocky outcrops, I went for a fairly generic rock base.

My Kabalite warrior squad. A blaster for some heavy hitting but otherwise just more poison shots.

The trueborn anti-armour squad. Three of the blasters are simple conversions of the shredders with a little trimming on the barrel. I think it looks alright and is much easier than hunting bits. By the way, I have noticed the mould line on the right hand chap's head so out comes the knife again :-)

Archon Saban. Sporting a blaster/pistol (not sure yet) and a venom blade, she's simple but deadly. I decided to step up the base a little here and included the Ying-Yang symbol underneath her. I think it'll help make my HQ model stand out from the crowd a bit.

Another view of Saban in her groovy pose.

Thumbs up to Jes Goodwin and Games Workshop for making fantastic Dark Eldar models. I'm really stoked to play with them soon.

All the best

Pete :-)

Screw it, these are my models and I want to build them this way.

Hey folks,

I have a confession to make. I'm a procrastinator when it comes to building models. I find myself putting off the assembly of a new unit over and over because I'm just not sure how to build it. I run through various questions, with the biggest one at the end:

• Which body with which arms?
• Should I convert or try to pose them specially?
• Is it worth using unit leader special bits?
• WHICH WEAPONS SHOULD I GIVE THEM?

Now as someone who doesn't go in for magnetising (at least not yet), the last question is a big one. Inevitably the 'best' choices come to mind and you go through the codex, wiggle the list around, think about the balance of your army and what you've already planned to take, what your friends are taking, what the internet tells you to take etc.

I write down the weapons in the army, counting up the anti-infantry, anti-tank and versatile weapons. Then I think about how it will play on the table and I start to put away the less optimal weapon choices in the bitz box. Then I take them out again and think about how cool it might be to include the weapons on the model for the look of it. Then I put them away again, then take them out, then blu-tac them on the models, then take  them off again, then put the models away and play a video game for a bit ;-)

It's been quite tough for me with the Dark Eldar models recently as it's a completely new codex and playstyle compared to what I've done in 40k before (Marines, Tau, Orks) and I'm not quite sure how things will work out. I spent quite a few days just looking at the fancy sprues and not actually cutting or assembling anything for fear of getting it 'wrong' or feeling bad.

Then I said F-this and started building. They are my models, look awesome and I will damn well make them work on the tabletop one way or another.

It felt very liberating and it's how I ended up with the following, awesome-looking Scourges that I just can't wait to play with.

I added the greenstuff bases to make the rocks blend in a bit more, plus it helps to weigh down the light, top-heavy models.

Next up are the trueborn, my archon and warriors.

Pete :-)

The Dark Eldar / Eldar raider project begins!

Hi everyone.

I'm pretty stoked as the cabal's raiding is on the way to starting. I've got my boxed sets, have started assembly and I'm excited to start converting the slightly boring Eldar Jetbike models to make them more exciting and deadly-looking.

Here is the collection in its glory. It's a great feeling to have a stack of boxes under the desk just waiting for me to get going on them. As you can see, I've already put the Razorwing together and out of shot there is also a Venom mostly done plus a few scourges halfway there. One thing I can say is that the Dark Eldar models are some of the nicest that Games Workshop have produced and really show of the quality and investment in the plastics technology.

Another thing to say is that they are DANGEROUS models. I've stabbed myself about ten times already and even drawn blood once just from the plastic models. That's right, wielding a hobby knife has done nothing to me but the sweet plastic models have already started collecting power from pain tokens ;-)

In other news, because of some flattery (never underestimate it) I started painting up a Necron overlord for another gamer. He's been struggling to develop his painting skills and also pick a palette so I decided to help a bit to see if I could bring out a nice model and colour scheme with the idea's he came up with.

He's been going with a grey to white drybrush palette and then blue weapons. I tried to keep to this but added some spot colour with the red orbs. I tried to make them look like glass balls but so far I'm not happy with the effect. I have to go back over and get some more light effects running through them. The blades came out quite nicely on the weapon but I still need to put some pop in the miniature with another colour. 

Some of his other models have a yellow glow to the eyes and rib gaps so I might try that. I've started some yellow on the weapon power casing in the middle. I will brighten that up and perhaps tie it in to some more yellow.

Any thoughts are appreciated.

Best wishes

Pete

Rock, Paper, Scissors round 2 :-)

Hi everyone,

Yesterday I had the excitement of going to the gaming store to pick up my new Dark Eldar models in exchange for some old Grey Knight terminators. I'm now the proud owner of an Eldar Windrider host as well as the following reinforcements: two venoms, two boxes of warriors, two boxes of scourges and a Razorwing jetfighter.

However I decided not only to pick up new toys but also have a throw down game with the Grey Knight Draigowing army that caused me so much pain before.

This time things would be different. I wanted to try out a different army list using proxy models. It's something I've been kicking around for a while and works on the alpha strike principle. My opponent agreed and even loaned me the models to play it.

HQ - Belial and a vanilla librarian.
Troops - 10 terminators (2 TH/SS, Cyclone missile launcher, assault cannon, chainfist), 5 terminators (assault cannon), 5 sniper scouts
Heavy Support - 5 devastators (4 missile launchers), 5 devastators (4 lascannons), 5 devastators (4 plasma cannons)

The army is really simple. The heavy weapons gun down the enemy from turn 1 with support from the Librarian who casts prescience, the scouts and 5 terminators go for objectives and shoot what they can, Belial and the big squad drop in on turn one or two without scattering (thanks Belial) and lay waste to a squad with twin-linked shooting. If possible, you can split fire to take out a vehicle with rear armour shots.

This game, with my opponent's permission/encouragement, I switched up the army to replace the missile launchers with lascannons on the second squad. Let's bring the pain.

The game was pretty bloody and challenging and I lost the mission, but not in a bad way. In a nutshell:

• The Dreadknight shunted behind one lascannon squad and killed them off. They did a wound. He then ate my scouts squad before being shot down by massed firepower.
• The 4 psycannon paladin combat squad hid from the alpha strike then got into a close range gunfight and assault with Belial's squad who deep struck next to them. After the dust had settled, the paladins and Coteaz were dead, as were six terminators and belial (thanks Coteaz with your S8 Daemon hammer).
• Draigo and pals deepstruck in front of the las/plas and librarian building. They shot down a bunch of plasma guys but finally went down to lascannon blasts and assault from the small terminator squad. I KILLED DRAIGO...WOO HOO!
• The solo paladin dropped into the central building, grabbed the relic and hunkered down. 

The game ended on turn 5 with five terminators and the surviving devastators ready to take out the last paladin. Unfortunately we ran out of time and my opponent won 5 to 1 (first blood, slay the warlord and three for the relic). One more turn and we could have tabled him for the win.

Annoying daemon hammer dude :-)

So how is the alpha strike army. I think it's a fairly solid concept at 1500 points and brings a lot of pain to the table. Belial's squad can really kill things (though Paladins are not easy) and will easily take out a whole unit of most enemy things, plus they are then in the backfield causing mayhem. In the meantime, the enemy gets to advance under a hailstorm of heavy weapon fire.

Now as far as models go, getting a bunch of heavy weapon dudes used to be a bit of a challenge with the various GW bits. I could go and pick up two boxes of devastators plus a tactical squad and use the parts that way, or I could go to Anvil Industry and get a squad of  Exo-lord missile launcher dudes. With the other parts of his website clearly offering things to marine players, I can't see it taking too long for him to make some plasma and lascannon equivalent models.

Take care all and watch out for those new Tau rules....they look nasty :-)

Pete