The 2 Most Expensive Hobbies Ever

IA11 - Unit by Unit summary

2012-01-12T05:48:00.000-08:00

A couple of people have asked me, in both messages, forum posts and comments on the post on BoLS front page about the Corsairs in IA11.

I’ve written my review as many people have seen, and Gotthammer has also written an excellent review (found here). He makes a few points I missed and I heartedly recommend giving it a read.

But I’ve been asked a lot about the Corsairs army list, so I’ve written a more in depth review of the corsairs to give people the idea of the army and inform them if they want to make the admittedly pricy jump into buying the book. I’ll admit, since the FW FAQ the book isn’t quite a good for me now (I’m not a fan of MSU armies), but it is still a great book. But without further adu, the Corsairs of IA11. This is not a review in strictest terms, more a detailed summary of the choices for those out there to make their own decision off of.

HQ
The HQ choices in a corsairs list are a small group, especially compared to multitude of choices in modern codexes. No named characters (something I feel is a missed opportunity to detail the most prolific Eldar space pirates in the galaxy) and only 2 basic choices. You have a Corsair Prince and a Void Dreamer.
The Corsair prince is the combat choice. With a very similar stat line to that of a DE archon, his cost of 100 points basic is quite good. Able to take a long list of CCW’s (Harlies Kiss, Power Weapon and a Void Sabre (+1 Strength and Rending)) and ranged weapons (Lasblaster – the default weapon of Corsairs. Strength 3, AP5, 24” Assault 2 and Fusion Pistol.). Can also take Melta bombs or Haywire grenades, as well as the corsairs jet packs. He can also choose between 3 types of invulnerable save, a personal 4+, a 5+ save for himself and hit unit in CC and the DE Shadowfield 2+ until failed. His special abilities grant 3 units in the army deepstrike, as well as a one off unlimited range shooting attack that is either a strength 9 AP2 5” ordinance lance blast, a S4 AP5 Ordinance pinning blast, with a blast of 6 + D6” or a shot that works equivalent to the Necron Solar Flare, making the turn nightfighting.

The Void Dreamer is the physic choice, similar stat line to a Farseer. Starting at 70 points he can be armed with a lot of weapons as well (Power Weapon, Void Sabre and Witchblade). He can also take a neural shredder, a Strength 8 AP1 flamer, that rolls against Ld not T. It also inflicts an auto penetrating hit against vehicles, but only rolls D3 on the damage table. He can use one physic power a turn (2 if he takes spirit stones). These power are either Soul Scry, the ability for one elder unit in 12” to reroll all failed Ld tests for the turn, SpiritShield, nullifies physic powers against the unit on a 4+ and grants defensive grenades against any deamon or pysker and Withering Radiance, a 12” shot that does D6 hits at a strength of 10 minus the units toughness of an AP of 2.

The final choice to mention (even though they don't take up a HQ slot) is a Sworn Blade retinue for the Prince. 2-5 guys, Eldar Aspect warrior stat line with an extra attack, but lower Ld. Only allowed one of thse units per prince in the army, but don't take up a slot. Every guy comes with a CCW and a pistol, but everyone can choose to swap them out for a lasblaster, a shuriken catapult, a fusion pistol or a Power weapon. Can also take Meltabombs or Haywire grenades and jump packs. So theoretically the unit could be 5 guys, all with short range melta pistols, flying round in a venom (to be discussed in a bit)

Which bring us to Transport.

There are 2 types. Venoms and Falcons. Both well known to everyone, the only difference is the Corsair Venom. Instead of splinter cannons it comes with underslung rifles and a cannon, which can be swapped out for all Eldar heavy weapons, except for a Lance. It can also be given all Eldar vehicle upgrades. The Venom starts at 45 points, meaning you can give it holofields and nearly double its point cost. Thanks to the FAQ, the Venom can carry 5, and the Falcon only 6 now.

Next up to bat is the troops choices. 4 choices (now thanks to the FAQ) here.

Easiest is Rangers from the Eldar codex. But you are only allowed one squad.

Next up is the namesakes of the army, a corsair squad. With a statline somewhere between guardians and aspect warriors and 9 points a pop and armed with a lasblaster, these guys will be the rank and file of an army. The army must have a unit of these, and you would be mad to not take multiples. For every 5 men in a squad you can have a flamer or a fusion gun, as well as a Shuriken Cannon or EML. And again the whole squad can be given jump packs. However the jumppacks are a purchase for the whole squad, so you get better value out of them with a bigger squad. If the unit takes jump packs they can't take a transport, but being fast moving an relentless with a heavy weapon can't be a bad thing

Then you have Wasps. Warwalkers, without open topped, with the same weapons and upgrades an also given jump jets. These mean they are treated not as walkers, but jump infantry for moving. They also grant a 12” jump in the shooting phase which means they move fast and grants a 5+ cover save. The only downside to these units is that they are limited in number (in a troops slot, and their number of squads cannot exceed the number of squads of Corsairs) and the fact that despite being troops, vehicles can’t claim objectives.

Finally we have corsair jetbikes, again identical to those in the Eldar codex, but with a higher BS, and cost 3 more points.

Next are the ELITES.

Of the 4 choices, 3 are already known. Harlequins (identical to those in both Eldar books – except they can now take a Corsair Venom as a transport) as well as the options to choose a squad of Kabalite Warriors from Dark Eldar codex (along with transport options) or a unit from any Elites or Fast Attack section in Codex Eldar. These allied Eldar and Dark Eldar also come with the same rule as Wasp Walkers. You must have more Corsair squads in your army than you do allied units.

The only new elites option is the a Voidstorm Squad. Aspect Warriors statline, 12 points. Armed with CCW and pistol, as well as grenades and a jetpack. The also have a 5+ invulnerable in CC. One in 3 guys can swap out his weapons for either a flamer, a fusion pistol, a fusion gun or a power weapon. Interestingly unlike most other unit, there is no squad leader upgrade for this squad.

Next up is the Fast Attack choices.

The foremost of these for me is the Nightwing finally getting repointed to an appropriate level. Identical to the one from the Apoc book, it now costs only 145 points. All the usual shiny rules for a flier in normal games (aerial assault, supersonic) and also states it counts as a flier in Apoc.

Other options are Hornets, identical to those in Apoc v2, and make good harrying units (3 guys, 6 scatter lasers, 36 S6 AP6 shots a turn for 255pts? Yes please)

And the final option is the Nightspinner. Identical to the Eldar one from WD, it is now in the fast slot, making it more viable now it’s not fighting for a heavy slot

And last but no means least we get to Heavy support.

Again nothing new here. The Warp Hunter from Apoc v2 is still the same, and still very dirty. The Firestorm AA tank from the apoc books is also here, also still the same.

The final choice is a Phoenix bomber, now made much cheaper (225pts...) its still pricey but has a lot of bang for your buck. Standard flier’s rules apply, same as the Nightwing, but now it has the option to swap its pulse laser out for a TL bright lance or a TL starcannon. The other new option is the option to swap out your missile launchers for nightfire missiles for 10 points. This means instead of 6 S5 AP3 shots, you get 6 S5 AP5 shots, which are blasts, pin and ignore cover.

Conclusions

Overall the codex offers a lot of choice. It may seem that lots of units aren’t new, but the recosting on some key units, and the ability to play them together is. Some units are going to be essential (the Warp Hunter in my opinion is one of the best tanks in the game) whereas some probably will not see any action (Firestorm tank – Way too expensive for what it is).

Written 2 different army lists below at 1750 points. See what you think

Void Dreamer – Neural Shredder
Prince – Fusion Pistol, Void Sabre and Shimmer Shield
Retinue – 4 guys, all with fusion pistols and CCW with ded transport of Venom with scatter lasers and holofields
6 Corsairs, fusion gun one upgraded to felarch in a Falcon with Lance, Holofields and spirit stones
6 Corsairs, fusion gun one upgraded to felarch in a Falcon with Scatter Laser, Holofields and spirit stones
7 Corsairs
3 Wasps with 2 Scatter Lasers each
Nightwing
Warp Hunter, Holofields
Warp Hunter, Holofields

This is my current list. It seems to work from what little I’ve played with it because it suits my style. A different approach might be;

Prince, Fusion pistol
Retinue – 4 guys, all with fusion pistols and CCW with dedicated transport of Venom with scatter lasers and holofields
5 Corsairs, Fusion gun, Missile Launcher with Dedicated Transport of Corsair Venom
5 Corsairs, Fusion gun, Missile Launcher with Dedicated Transport of Corsair Venom
5 Corsairs, Fusion gun, Missile Launcher with Dedicated Transport of Corsair Venom
5 Corsairs, Fusion gun, Missile Launcher with Dedicated Transport of Corsair Venom
5 Corsairs, Fusion gun, Missile Launcher with Dedicated Transport of Corsair Venom
5 Corsairs, Fusion gun, Missile Launcher with Dedicated Transport of Corsair Venom
5 Kabalite Warriors, Blaster with Dedicated Transport of Venom with 2nd Splinter Cannon
5 Kabalite Warriors, Blaster with Dedicated Transport of Venom with 2nd Splinter Cannon
Warp Hunter, Holofields
Warp Hunter, Holofields
Warp Hunter, Spirit Stones and Cannon

Like I’ve said I hate MSU armies....but although thats a lot of KP, it could be very painful. Its a LOT of fast moving armour melta, and once anything that was in a vehicles isn’t any more, either through long range missile fire or short range melta, the warp hunters and DE venoms can quickly mop up infantry. Its also a lot of investment, particularly if you do it properly with all the FW conversion kits.

One final list, one that’s a bit sneaky, but with Fliers being the new way to go...why not?

Void Dreamer
Corsair Squad of 5
Corsair Squad of 5
Corsair Squad of 5
Nightwing
Nightwing
Nightwing
Nightwing
Nightwing
Nighwing
Phoenix Bomber
Phoenix Bomber
Phoenix Bomber

That’s using 3 nightwings in Fast Attack slots from the corsairs list, and using the fact that the nightwing is now a Fast Attack choice in an Eldar army thanks to the FAQ, using the allies elites slots to bring 3 more in.
It almost certainly would suck on the table top....but it’d be impressive to see 9 aircraft in a 1750 point game...

Path of the Seer - A Black Libriary Review

2011-08-22T02:31:00.001-07:00

Let me start off with the following warning – This review contains spoilers for Path of the Warrior. I will try to keep it spoiler free for Path of the Seer, but it follows the same story as Warrior. Which also means (I guess) this review also contains “spoilers” for the unreleased Path of the Outcast, even though it’s not out for ages yet.
And before I get onto Path of the Seer, a brief word on Warrior. Warrior…is a complicated book for me. It offers a deep look at Eldar culture, society, the path system, how a craftworld functions and how the Eldar wage war. It is brilliant for understanding the Eldar more than what is in the codex, and great for the enigmatic race to get some more screen time. However if you aren’t interested in the background (or maybe even if you are) Warrior is severely let down by the main character being an intolerable prick. Who then gets “killed” off 2/3 of the way through the book and replaced by an even less likable character (although this is deliberate – Exarches live only to fight and so are allowed to be aloof d**ks). Warrior earns 6.5/10 from me
Anyway…Seer. From the get go already a much better book from the first few pages. The main Character (Thirianna) is a much more likable character. From her point of view (not the skewed view of Korandril in Warrior) she is a much better person, and Korandril comes off even worse than he did in Warrior. The book follows the same structure as warrior. 3 friends re-united, confrontation, choosing a new path, conflict on a maiden world against the Orks, more training, assault on a chaos tainted guard outpost, decision to continue the path, defence of the craftworld from the Imperium. It’s the same story as Warrior, just from a Seer’s perspective, not that of the Warrior.
Again the book is resplendent with details of the Eldar way, and different aspects of their culture explored. Obviously the Eldar physic powers, rune casting and mastery of the threads of the Skein are paramount, but other aspects are explored. The interaction between Eldar, the infinity circuit and the Craftworld are explored. How Physkers battle each other in combat, both in mind and body. A section focuses on Thiriannas father, a Bonesinger as they sculpt the Pyscho-plastic wraithbone into a battleship. How the physkers and Autarchs work together for battle plans and enforce them. The most distasteful of all Eldar practises is also discussed and shown - Raising the dead to fight in the form of Wraithguard and Wraithlords. The webway, the warp, demonic possession and influence as well. There is a particular part during the raid on the guard outpost about Thirianna duelling with a child who is being possessed by a demon of She-Who-Thirsts that’s sticks in my mind
The writing style is as good as Warrior, and with a better character and I feel, a better character’s journey, the book is much better. The Space Marines who invade the craftworld at the end are finally named (Sons of Orar) and from the beginning of Thirianna’s days on the path of the Poet to her final climactic duel with a Marine Librarian the book is well paced and a brilliant read. Still I feel it suffers towards the end. The trilogy (Warrior, Seer, Outcast) is unusual in they all end in the same place, but only the last one will actually end the story. In Warrior and Seer, the war for Altioc is still raging when the book ends, leaving only the cryptic comment that it’s “Fate will be decided in Book 3”. Interestingly it never refers to the series as a Trilogy, only a series. Maybe suggesting future books? Maybe Outcast won’t end the battle either, and there will be a 4th book of climax and recovery. Without a true ending, the book suffers, but still is well deserving of its score of 8.5/10
Hint for Outcast are also scattered in the book, where Thirianna touches on Aradryan’s (the Outcast) memory. Memories of pirate raids, visits to Commaragh and ranger training are highlighted, as are his return to defend the Craftworld with the Harlequins.
Off topic – A few cool physic powers are mentioned that would be good in the next Eldar codex. One is a kind of reverse-guide where the enemy is targeted and their accuracy drops due to distraction. Maybe target enemies and make them re-roll successful to hit rolls?

Brighton Warlords 1750pts

2011-08-08T04:06:00.000-07:00

Link to their forum

http://z15.invisionfree.com/Brighton_Warlords/index.php?showtopic=1831&st=0

The guys at Brighton are good fun, and the venue is generally brilliant as well

1750 points, including any FW (but not Superheavies or Gangantuan Creatures - although I'm asking if I can take my massivly overpowered Eldar Fliers)

If I can take my fliers then I'll be taking 3 aircraft Eldar list. Which needing 6's to hit, and 2 4+ saves will be bent as hell

If I can't, the DE list I took to Solent will be added to and changed.

Solent Position

2011-08-01T04:23:00.000-07:00

Just got posted. Came 14th out of 37. Pretty happy with that for my first real tournement!

Solent Wargamers Day 2

2011-08-01T02:12:00.000-07:00

Returned the next morning, with a sore back and clicky knees. I set myself the goal of getting hopefully one more win, and the secondary objective of seeing if the Duke could pass at least 1 2++ save.

And so it begins

GAME 4, Pitched Battle, Annihalation. Result - Loss (Ended turn 5, conceded about 800VP and gained about 1200

Ork army. 2 battlewagons, 1 full of Hard Boyz, 1 with Nobz, Warboss and the crazy physic ork leader. Also a unit of warbikes, and 3 warbuggies with Rokkits.

This was always going to be hard. His army had only 8 KP. By the end I had both Ravagers, my raider, my venom, my incubi and my wyches still alive. He had 2 wounded Nobz, the warboss and the special wierd boy (I can't for the life of me remember name) cowering in a pile of rocks, under assault from my Wyches and Incubi. Another turn and i'd have had him through Annihalation

High Points - Immobilsing Warboss Battlewagon turn 1, wrecking the other turn 2. Reaver flyby killing most of the bikes in one turn. My Talos realising he had to sacrifice his life to kill a battlewagon before it ran away and lost me another kill point and Death or Glorying a Deffrolla Battlewagon. Took 9 hits and died, but his one hit back...rolled an 8, penetrated and exploded it. The wracks also got AP1 and 2 for their liquifiers which really helped cut the Nobs down. The 'ard Boyz running, sacrificing one of them to reroll their leadership and still failing

Low Points - Those Nobs surviving! Just! Another turn and the Wyches (who were still unwounded) and maybe the Incubi would have killed them all. The immobilised battlewagon using its only Grot rigger and repairing its immobilised turn 1 and then shrugging off a huge amount of firepower.

GAME 5, Spearhead, Capture and Control. Result - Loss (Tabled turn 6, gained about 200VP's

GK. 3 Psyrifledread's. 2 razorbacks with strike squads, a librarian and a stormraven full of Terminators.

I hate GK's

That point still stands.

The only game I got tabled, and just got horrendous luck. Was playing on the exact same table as I was for the previous GK game, so really dislike this table.

Did I mention I hate GK's?

High Points - Uh.....wow. Even less than last game against GK's. My Talos guns killed 3 guys. And in CC he got 7 attacks against a vehicle!

And managed one glancing hit

Low Points - The Game. In all my shots, all my Talo's CC attacks I managed a single glancing hit. Which gave me a shaken result. Which being a GK vehicle it ignored. I lost all but one ravager by turn 2. My Wyches walked on, got hit by all 4 missiles from the Stormraven, took 20 wounds. only lost 6, but failed Leadership and ran off. My large warriors squad took 8 hits from 2 dreads, failed 6 out of 8 cover saves (on a 3+ having gone to ground), failed a leadership and ran. Was not a good game.

Did I mention I hate GK's?

GAME 6, Spearhead, Seize Ground. Result - Win (Ended turn 5, conceded about 350VP and gained about 1100VP Ultramarines. Absolutly beautiful, and won best painted overall. Damn well deserved it as well.

Land Raider, Drop Pod dread, rhino, razorback, sternguard and a few combat squads and a Terminator squad

High Points - Venom killed 6 Sternguard in one shooting phase. Incubi assaulted the Terminators and over 3 assaults killed all of them without taking a single wound back. The Wyches using their blast pistol to one shot the Dreadnaught that was about to assault my warriors squad after drop podding in and then Haywire grenading the Droppod and Land raider.

Low Points - Wracks got hit and ran away. One fluky missile shot at its maximum range managed to get one Ravager on turn 1.

So all over! Had a great time, got a breakeven result, even had 2 games (a win and a loss) at the top of the leaderboard! The results will get published later so I can find out how I did.

Re-writting my list and will share that and some army pictures soon

Solent 40K Tournement

2011-07-31T13:43:00.000-07:00

Wow Month and a half between posts. Will post pictures soon. Honest. Or just anything

But for now it is feedback time!

Just got back from a local tournement in Portsmouth with the Solent Wargaming lot. Definently be going back next year, and who knows might make the trip down there for regualar trips, the club guys seem really cool

Anyway!

Took my Dark Eldar, with the list thats somewhere below. Broke Average with 3 wins and 3 losses. Of my three wins 2 were huge margins, 1 was a close run thing. Of my 3 losses, 2 were huge margins and one was a close run thing. Begining to see a pattern here! I didn't take pictures or notes, don't have video and dont have any fancy mapping software so there won't be any battle reps, cos text only ones are boring and i'm sure i'd forget lots. So brief summaries to follow;

GAME 1, DoW, C&C. Result - Win (tabled turn 4, conceded about 200VP)
Played my friend from local and his Orks. Lots of Dethkoptas (about 14), big nob bikers squad and boyz with warboss in Trukk. I went first. Combat Drugs were 6 and 6. So free pain token!

High Points involve the trukk getting immobilsed turn 1 and most importantly for me the Nob bikers being half an inch out of assault range of my warrior squad, leaving them in perfect distance for a reaver flyby and rapid fire from the Warriors. All dead, one round. Ha ha.

Low points involve the wracks being called to take 20 FNP saves and not passing a single one of them as well as Sliscus deciding to try assaulting the warboss to protect the Talos. Missing with all of his attacks, only getting hit once in return, wounded once, and failed his 2++ straight away. ID and his run of spectacular bad luck for the tournement began. Forgetting the Talo's upgrade...probably wouldn't have done much but....

GAME 2, DoW, Annialation. Result - Win (ended turn 6 about 11 to 6, conceded about 1100VP to 1300)
Ooooo Top table. Don't want to be here the people are scary good here!
DE vs DE. Sliscus vs Sliscus (and the Baron). Hellions, 2 ravagers, 2 Wych Raiders, 1 Warrior raider and 1 Trueborn with Carbines. I went first. Combat drugs were 1 and 5. Extra attack each!

High Points - Killing all but 1 hellion and the baron with Liquifier guns turn 2Talos assaulted by 2 Wych units, before he realised he couldn't hurt me. Getting 3 raiders and a ravager down in turn 1 was pretty good

Low Points - His baron and his 1 hellion breaking and running. Their run put them straight into the only bit of area terrain on their line away from me. The Hellion failed his re-rollable dangerous terrain and died, allowing the Baron to regroup. He was a pain for the rest of the game, never did get through his Shadowfield. Also the Duke Sliscus trueborn vs my Duke Sliscus warriors. His Duke hit me with all of his attacks, wounded with all of them....and I failed my first Shadowfield save. Bad luck continues! My attacks back hit with 1, which failed to wound. I prevailed in the end thanks to the Talos intervening and murdering the Trueborn.

GAME 3, Spearhead, the D3+2 objectives one (real names abandoned me). Result - Loss (Voluntarily ended turn 6, conceded about 1000VP to about 300VP)
GK army. 3 Psyrifleman dreads, lots of razorbacks with Purifiers in, Corteaz and some henchmen in a few chimeras. I went first. Combat drugs were 1 and 5 again. Took the extra attack (never got to use them though)

Still on top table! And now facing the guy who stayed on top for the rest of the comp and came first overall. So not too bad on losing to him

High Points - Um....Did I have any? A Warrior wrecked a chimera with a dark lance. A incubi killed the last purifier in a squad. A Wychh Haywire grenade blew up a Chimera's multi-laser. Think that was about it

Low Points - Plenty of these! The affore mentioned warrior hits on 3's. Took him 4 tries to hit that one Chimera. My Talos got hit 4 times. Failed 3 out of 4 3+ saves and died in one turn. 10 lance shots over the game scored a total of 1 glancing hit. Nearly all skimmers down in turn 2.

I hate Meched up lists, and definently hate GK Pysrifleman dreads!

Thats day 1, I'll post day 2 tomorrow. It not quite as sunny

Red Faction Armageddon Review

2011-06-13T03:08:00.000-07:00

I’m determined to keep the Armageddon puns to a minimum in this review…so no Bruce Willis jokes, Aerosmith songs or comments about Ben Affleck.

The newest entry in the Red Faction franchise Armageddon leads off with the grandson of the formers games protagonist on a mission to protect the device that makes mars habitable. Needless to say he fails and everyone has to go hide underground because of the lacks of air, and horrific weather on the surface. He’s then tricked by some bad guys into opening a hidden chamber where loads of bugs live. It’s never really explained why there a tons of bugs underground, and one audio log and text in the instruction manual suggest they aren’t the old inhabitants of Mars, but aliens themselves, which just adds more confusion as to what the hell they’re doing down there.

Also as a note to silly story…you open one tunnel that’s blocking them underground…and then the bugs escape down a completely different tunnel which connects to human settlements. So why hadn’t they already escaped?

Theresa lot of new stuff to the series, from the repair tools and repair grenades, to the advanced powers of the nano forge…which include a Kinetic energy burst (means you don’t need the games signature sledgehammer anymore…not that you need it to destroy stuff anymore – see below), a power that suspends enemies in the air, a power that gives you a protective shield and the ability to go “berserk” and increase damage. Also new is the magnet gun, which is great fun. Its awesome to stick one to a monster and another to the ceiling 200 metres up just to get it out of your hair for a few seconds to reload. The combat walkers are also good fun.
Anyway, Red Faction is a game that has always been about blowing stuff up. And the superb physics engine from the previous game, Guerrilla, is still in place. On the first mission there are the familiar EDF bunkers, barracks and guard towers from the last game to blow up and everything feels great. With the ability to rebuild everything you destroy you are a little less carefully about blowing up walkways you might need. Blowing up buildings from under enemies, removing their cover still feels great.

However you then get to the second mission. And then the third mission. And every mission after that. These pretty much all consist of underground tunnels, or enclosed spaces shooting bugs off of walls. Anyone who’s played the mission “Cortana” on High Charity at the end of Halo 3 will feel right at home. It’s about shooting bugs that jump from wall to wall and shoot at you, walls which are generally curved and that orangey-red colour. And everyone now and then a beefy tank bug turns up. It just feels very familiar. And gets a bit boring. The one mission against human enemies is a refreshing change of pace, but is gone as quickly as it comes. Gone is the free range-ness of the last game to do missions as you want and mess around blowing stuff up. It’s now a series of linear corridor turkey shoots against the same bugs over and over again. Even the building destruction is mostly gone, and when it’s there it’s not enjoyable in the same way, as it doesn’t feel necessary. In Guerrilla missions of blowing up buildings and bridges, setting charges in key places and watching it come down was very enjoyable and rewarding. Now there’s only a few building you ever have to destroy, and most of those are very flimsy comms towers. As mentioned there’s no need to carry the games signature weapon, the sledgehammer because you’ll never need it unless you want to melee with the giant bugs

In here lies Armageddon’s main problem – It’s the little brother to a Guerrilla. It has the same mechanics and options available to it, but chooses not to use its best bits. By taking the emphasis away from destruction the game feels weakened. It’s not a bad game by any means; I’m playing it through a 2nd time now, and it’s still enjoyable. But unlike Guerrilla I won’t be keeping it or coming back to it
The destruction is still there…it’s just in a tacked on extra mode, set in small arenas against the clock or time free, but isn’t the same. Also you only get this mode if you buy a new copy, or pay a few quid extra for it, the games way of joining the increasing trend on games manufacturers fighting the pre-owned market.
Also clearly missing is the competitive multiplayer. In Guerrilla this was great, combining the destruction and carnage of the game with the world of online shooting. And it was good. In its place is a 4 player Horde wave survival mode, which doesn’t hold as much fun I must say. Again, its not bad, but feels like a poor cover up for the missing multiplayer.

In summary…it’s not a bad game. It’s just not an outstanding game. To me Guerrilla was an outstanding game. And that’s why once I’ve wrung the achievements out of Armageddon it’ll be on the trade in pile waiting for something good. And I’ll go back and replay Guerrilla for the 5th time. Because that game shows how it’s supposed to be done.

7.5/10

New DE and my newest list

2011-05-26T12:34:00.000-07:00

Oh aren't they pretty? Now made 2 £150 orders in the last month...nothing new for me for a while!

2 of everything new in box waves, cept for grotesques cos you need a minimum of 3!

And then my army....

DE 1500
HQ (210pts)
Duke Sliscus – 150pts
Hemonculus with Venom Blade and Sting Pistol – 60pts
Troops (625pts)
10 Wracks, 2 Liquifier guns with Acothyst with Venom Blade 135pts
Raider with Flickerfields (70pt)
Warriors x20, With 1 Splinter Cannons, Dark Lance and Sybarite with Pistol and CCW (225pts)
Wych x 11, 1 Razorflail, 1 Shardnet with Hekatrix with Blast Pistol and Agoniser – 195pts
Heavy Support (340pts)
Ravager, 3 Dark Lances, Flickerfield 115pts
Ravager, 3 Dark Lances, Flickerfield 115pts
Talos, Chain Flails 110pts
Fast Attack (172pts)
Reavers x 6,2 with Cluster Caltrops 172pts
Elites (153pts)
4 Incubi, 88pts
Venom with Splinter Cannon 65pts

New DE are out!

2011-05-11T03:24:00.000-07:00

http://www.lounge.belloflostsouls.net/showthread.php?t=13924&page=10

Thats my post with all the info on them

And now the newsis posted...my opinion

Why couldn't that scratchbuilt Talos on the last page have been real? The new one...is cool i guess...and i'll be getting at least 1...but the scratch built looks much nicer

And maybe its just me being silly...but the sprue preview for the Talos and cronos look identical. Not sure why its not just 1 kit? (Turns out it is 1 kit...just being sold as 2)

Venoms and Scourges are perfect. Can't wait to get my hands on some. I like the scourge has 2 choices of cockpit...it can be open so you can see the driver

And the battleforce is nice I guess...but contains no new models, so why it wasn't released at launch I don't know

The customisation in them all looks amazing.

Rumour is a 2nd wave of models in the next 2 weeks as well

Yippee!

Game Review - Portal 2 (cont)

2011-04-30T14:27:00.000-07:00

Co-Op time!

Having had a bit longer with the game I have now played co-op through (3 times with 3 seperate people in fact) and got all 1000 gamerscore, first time i've managed that with a full retail game in a while.

Co-op...is a bit good and a bit bad.

The good is the puzzles. Adding a 2nd player, and another 2 portals to play with, the puzzle get big, and complex. By the last few they are a real puzzler for a good while.

The C-op controls are great as well. In addition to normal controls you can view your friends view in a PiP screen at the push of a button. You can also "ping" locations on the course using a button, to highlight what you're talking about or where you want portal. You can also set up a stopwatch function, so you time actions exactly. This last one is particularly useful, as sometimes there can be lag between speaking and the other person hearing it, but accoridng to Valve, the clock is consistant between players

The Bad? Its not as engaging. Yes i've played it through 3 times, but mostly by chatting away. After the first play through you've seen and heard it all, and unlike the single player, it doesn't hold re-playability. Glados' commentary and comments are no where near as engaging as in the single player in Portal 1 or 2, and often fall a little flat.

First time play through? 6-7 hours. Every successive play through, thanks to knowledge on the puzzles...3-4.

Portal 2 Co-Op - 7.5 out of 10

So overall Portal garners an 8.5 out of 10. It's funny...if they'd just released the single player it would have got a higher score...even though its shorter!

Also Valve today announced free DLC for the game, in the form of single and multi player challenge chambers. And apparantly it's going to be free, which is always a big tick in my book...seeing as i'm paying 1200 points for CoD maps in a few days...

40k stuff, I will hope to get an update tomorrow, and soon a review on the Gears 3 beta....

Game Review - Portal 2

2011-04-22T07:54:00.000-07:00

40K's been on the back burner for a bit...work, games, in-laws visit.

But heres a review for one of the best games i've played in a loooong time. Portal 2

Portal 1 was a revelation. A tiny tech demo almost, that didn't have a story until towards the end, that sparked a huge amount of interest. The humour was sarcastic and dark, perfect for my SoH. The puzzle were mostly great, requiring thought in 4 dimensions and timing on top of that. Some of the exacting timing puzzles were a pain.

Luckily they're mostly gone in Portal 2. No more high energy bouncing pellets to time opening doors for perfectly. Just lots more 4D puzzles. With over 50 test chambers, as opposed to the 19 in game 1, and lots more behind the scenes action its a lot longer. Still, its a little short (about 7 hours) but thats just the single player, i haven't touched co-op yet.

Portal 2 starts with you waking up after being asleep at the end of portal 2 for 9999999... days. You're woken up by the wonderfuly...odd Wheatley (voiced to perfection by Stephen Merchant), who warns you theres a slight chance you might have a severe case of brain damage. From the minute hes asks you to say your name and all you do is jump, the game sets off more of the savagely dark, sarcastic and hilarious comedy.

As the years have passed Apaerture science is in a bad way. But the test chambers from portal 1, act as a tutorial for the game, and seeing them in a new light (usually firelight) brings a lot home. Eventually you go kilometers under the earth and see the original testing centres from when Aperture opened, and was mostly a shower curtain manufaturing company. Here you're guided by Cave Johnson, again perfectly writen and voiced (by the chap who plays J. J. Jameson in the spidermans).

Shortly put this game is brilliant. Theres much more comedy this time, the story is more developed and the puzzles less annoying, but more challenging.

Waiting for my mate to get his copy so i can jump into co-op, but just on a single player front, definently worth a buy, if not a rent.

You won't regret it

9/10

Duke Sliscus, the Serpent

2011-04-09T13:47:00.000-07:00

Man I've been busy

Heres my scratchbuild for Duke Sliscus, the Serpent. Hes got a lot more colour on him now, but can't get a good picture on him till I get back

The legs come from one of the raider passengers, with the torso removed at the waist.
The body is part of another raider passenger, using the front half of his torso, trimmed down to fit at the waist.
The cloak comes from a Dark Elf Corsair kit, needed quite a lot of the back already in it removing before it fit, but did in the end, with minimal greenstuffing.
The head comes from the Reaver pack
Blast Pistol and Sword come from the Warriors (I think - They were in my bits bag)
And then hes standing on a pile of skulls from the GW Skulls pack. Was gonna use the individual skulls and some greenstuff, but it came with this pile, that was just the right size

Additionaly finished my succubus and started my 2nd archon.

But now alas, I am off to a IMechE conference in Leeds tomorrow,so not a lot of painting for a few days

Phantom Titan...now going toe to toe with a Warlord!

2011-04-08T04:44:00.000-07:00

Phantom Titan is up for preorder

http://www.forgeworld.co.uk/Warhamme...ITAN-BODY.html

Shipped 26th April

The experimental rules for it are up as well...and they ARE different to those seen at the open day. Its now more expensive!

New rules are awesome!

13/13/11, Init 3, 3 attacks (Eldar get a AV13 unit! Ha!)
Permanant 5+ save
4+ save if it moved
3+ if it moves flat out and fires no weapons
Pulsar is 4 shots
D cannon now has D3 rolls on the superheavy chart for each hit
Star Cannon is now S6, it was 7 at the open day
The AA weapon is now S 7 ap 3
Missile battery is 4 shots
But its now 2500 points!

FW Open Day - From Someone who was there!

2011-04-04T07:51:00.000-07:00

Just a quick recap of what I remember from yesterday...posted this on BoLS Lounge yesterday, but wouldn't let me sign in here, so doing it today!

Theres a few other bits of news coming out, but since I've not been told them, you'll have to track them down!

Phantom Titan

WS 3, BS 4, 12/12/11 Init 2, Attacks 3

8 Structure Points

Don't expect it on sale till Gamesday (which is September here in Blighty).
Comes in at a hefty 2300 points. Features the Cobra cannon, the pulsar (which is 3 shots), the starcannon (3 shots instead of 2), which can be swapped for a pulse laser for free. Also has missile battery (S8 AP3 4 shots) and a AA mounted missile battery (S5 AP5 AA Mount). Usual 4+ invuln if it moved, but can chose to turn driver stunned into gunner stunned, so should only stop moving if it gets immobilised. Has the usual rules for fleeting titans as well, and weapons have a 12" minimum range. Only current other weapon is the sword seen previously. Will hasn't finished making it yet, but the sword comes with a 2nd twin linked starcannon built in. He also hasn't ruled out expanding the line of guns

The lady with the rule book (who i'm sure is an important person, i just don't know her name) said the reaction today towards the rules was mixed, so might be changing. (Personally I'm in the mind they are a little too expensive. 2000 points seems a better point...that fleeting instead of shooting rule is overated IMO)

As for magnetising and weapon swapping, the "torso" component comes with the body, the arm, the elbox joint and the hand. The "Gun" comes attatched to the forearm. So either can be magnetised at both ends, or drill through the arm and have a massive pin/rod from elbow to hand

So those of you wondering this phantom, stood wide legged and stationairy is 24 inches exactly from bottom of base, to top of vanes

Warlock Titan

Will Hayes wants this. And it will happen. But probably not till the next FW Eldar book (his words) so means we get another Eldar book! it'll be the same size as a phantom, but more ornate, with more wraithbone extrusions. He joked about having the psycannon mounted on the side of the arm, so both hands were free for a giant spear

IA11

Few months off yet, still finalising the fluff at the beginning. Focuses on Eldar, with some guard and a tiny smidge of Wolves. All eldar models ever made have rules in it, so no need to carry multiple books.

Also the big one...not all models in the books will have models. I asked if there were rules for any models we hadn't seen yet ( a sneaky way of asking if there were more kits for us to see yet). The reply was "Yes, a few more. Also some will have rules that were aren't planning on producing" The Phoenix lord of the spectres was then gestured to. So maybe not getting a model yet?

Artwork is amazing. The pictures of the eldar squadrons stalking through the tundra, with the nights sky are simply astonishing

Shadow spectres get Phoenix Lord, didn't read the stats

Corsairs get Allied DE with craftworlds, and a few new unique units and HQ choices

Solitaire is one of those new HQ. Doesn't make quins troops, is a 0-1 no matter how big the army, not an IC and can carry a vortex grenade in Apoc for 75pts

Apoc data sheets, including one which is a 550pt Avatar, has 2D6 wounds, a 2+ armour save and his wailing doom is upgraded to a Strength D 10" template. However hes still a monstrous creature, not a gargant. He's important in the story as its the avatars last stand so he goes out in a literal blaze of glory. So at the end of the game he takes D6 wounds with no saves of any kind allowed

Phantom Titans rules are above

The Wraithseer is a HQ wraithlord, his physic powers include one which force an enemy unit to take a moral check at -1 or fall back immediatly. Another gives one wraithlord or wraithguard near him fleet (!). And the other, if a friendly wriath unit within 6" dies roll a D6. On a 6 its still alive, with one wound left. It also has a 4+ invulnerable

IA12

Dark Eldar

Initial Production and Evaluation on bits has begun. The model on show (with the double hull) is likely to be a light super heavy. I mentioned my theory that DE superheavies would look like Jabbas sail palace from Return of the Jedi he laughed and said they probably would...

Lots of concept art for DE skimmers, one of which was a super charged Ravager, that had 2 floors, each with 3 Dark Lances on both sides

Modular Boards

With the first Fw board expansion available (its very nice) someone said they were looking at expanding a lot more now they've got the technology down, with buildings, ammo dumps, train lines and trench systems forthcoming

Game Review - Homefront

2011-03-21T06:13:00.000-07:00

Game Review - Homefront (or why you should never buy a game which advertises its best review coming from a lad/softcore porn mag)

Homefront, for those of you who don't know is an FPS set around the American Underground resistance in a North Korean Occupied United States. Its story was written by the same guy who wrote the movies "Red Dawn" and "Apocolypse Now". So as far as stories go, it should be promising.I'm a guy that loves a strong narative in a game, which is why Bioshock is so highly held in my eyes, as it the overarching Gears of War and Halo series are.

And it is good...sort of. Without giving too much away it features some grand set ups, some good developments, but at the same time some "twists" that are so obvious if you didn't see them coming the Korean Propaganda has obviously worked,

Never the less the single player is a good well rounded game, with some huge problems.

1) Its way too short - I played through normal in under 3 hours because i couldn't find how to change the difficulty (its hidden in the options menu, only accessable from the front menu)

2)Ordered Sequences - There are some times in the game where you need to climb down a ladder, or crawl through a hole. So you try to. Only problem is your teammates need to go through first. So you're left standing next to the hole you want to crawl through, while your teammates slowly wander over and climb through. Even worse is, if you stand in front of the door your supposed to walk through, even if guy number 1 has gone through, if you block guy number 2 he can't go through so you can't go through. It just heavily breaks the feeling of immersion

3)Special Grenades. In single player (we'll get to multi in abit) it introduces you to special greandes in the first mission. Here its C4 you throw through a window and blow up an APC. Great. You never find any or use it ever again. Or any other special greande. Kinda wonder what the point in that was.

4) Walking/Dialogue sections - In the early game there are sections of long dialogue where you slowly walk around the village, or ride a bus. These take about 5 minutes and are unskippable. If you want all the achievements in the game, you'll probably need to play each mission at least twice (unless you're a gaming god and can complete each mission on the hardest setting without dying once). They just take forever and break it up even more.

5) The Ending. Through out the early game you have control of "Goliath" a drone APC that fires it machine guns at enemies automatically and you fire its missiles at targets you designate. Eventually goliath bites it. At the very end of the game, the last 2 things you do are - Fire a Predator UAV at some white blobs in a unchallenging boring version of the C130 bits from CoD. And then you become the gunner on an APC and have to blow up the enemy Goliath. So basically the last great firefight moment is an onrails shooter, with a infinite ammo machine gun and pressed the button to activate missile countermeasures (on a Humvee? Really?) every 10 seconds or so. And then the highly cliched predicatable ending rolls.

They (the developers) have said there will be 2 single player DLC content packs, with 3 new missions each. So in 2 packs, you get the same number of missions as the game itself has.

Multiplayer

The Multiplayer isn't bad. Could have used a bit more testing, and the menus are annoying (pressing B doesn't drop you out, you have to go and select the option...just irritating).

Also it can't seem to decide if it wants to be a realistic military shooter (like GRAW, or Operation Flashpoint) or a more arcadey style (like CoD). Guns are better set at their ranges, so SMG win at short range, assault at mid, snipers at long (I'll get to snipers in a minute) and going prone helps aim and chances, but at the same time a guy running round with a pistol has a good chance of beating you at long range and runing, jumping and circle strafing work just as well

Snipers...are another problem. They're strong (1 headshot, or 2 torsoshots), they have virtually no recoil, aiming down the sights has little to no movement for "breathing" and are semi automatic. Brilliant for people who snipe. I call those people...something I can't repeat. Yes accurate that snipers rule open areas, but with no drawbacks they seem to rule anything they want.

A good idea in the game is "BP". Working like XP you earn points for every kill you make, objective you capture etc. Each class comes with 2 special purchase slots, which range from UAV sweeps and extra armour, to bombing runs and gun drones. This is a really good system for rewarding good gameplay, as even if you don't get a high killstreak, you still earn points towards goodies, meaning people who win the matches just by claiming objectives get rewards as well as those who run in crazy and get kills.

These BP can also be spent on vehicles in some matches. From the humble humvee (which seems to be missing the missile countermeasures suddenly) to APC's, Tanks and 2 types of helicopters. The game also offers a brilliant option of spawning in the secondary gun seat in someones vehicle, so if you buy a chopper you donj't need to waste time on the ground waiting for someone else to get in.

However the vehicles (particularly the choppers, especially the missile spewing AT chopper) don't seem balenced. Almost impervious to small arms fire thanks to height and armour they have only 2 weaknesses...proximity rockets (rockets that fire in straight lines, but explode if they sense they're close to something) and AT drones, which have lock on missiles. However the neither of these purchaseables are unlockable until about Level 30. The AT drone isn't in any of the premade selections, and the proximity launcher in one of them. Oh and the chopper does have counter measures, which recharge faster than the rockets on the drone do. Also at a high enough level you can have a perk which means you vehicle automatically repairs itself. I understand that the chopper is a significant BP investment (about 2000 points, when you get 130 for a kill) but its just doen'st seem to die. At least drones have a battery life before they fail.

It also seems to favour the higher ranked more than other FPS games do. At higher ranks you unlock better things, like better airstrikes, perks and customised vehicle slots. These just make it easier to dominate the lesser being who are just starting. Example? When you start you have the option of a hell strike purchasable. 2 single shot missiles that damage light armour (kill a humvee in one though)and kill infantry if you hit them directly. At rank 17 you get a white phosphorus mortar round. large area, kills lot of infantry (rarely do I see one of these that doesn't kill at least 2 people) but doesn't do much against vehicles. At rank 40ish you get cluster bombs. Large area, kills anything under it, infantry or vehicles included. Now I understand you need to reawrd hgiher ranking players, but it just feels like a newcomer to this game in say, a month is going to have a serious uphill struggle to get into the game.

Also some of the capture and control maps seem a little one sided. In all the game i've played on most of them one team always wins that round. But maybe thats just fluke.

Anyway in review Homefront isn't a bad game. Its just short, with some good multiplayer innovations, but could use a few tweaks.

And its arbitary grade out of 10? 7.5. Rent it, borrow it, see what you think, then if you like the multiplayer buy it. But do it quick before every online is ranked Lv50.

Absenteeism

2011-02-28T11:29:00.000-08:00

There is a reason!

Figured i should get a 2nd update in this month. There WILL be more this weekend, as my fioncee is away so planning on doing something i've never done before and lay the whole of my entire army out for big "team" photos. All of my armies aren't complete but the hearts there.

As for my reason it's been a whil;e since my post. Been playing games and painting a lot. So just not posting anything. Got 10 warriors, 10 wyches, Lelith, 3 reavers and 1 raider done in the last few weeks. Been busy! They look good, individual pictures will come soon, weather dependanant.

As for gaming...been playing Bulletstorm, Game is awesome. Everyones putting it down cos of the load of bad language. Personally i don't think its particularly over the top. Doesn't affect the game at all. Duke Nukem Forever in a few months is going be a ton worse for it...

Brighton Warlords Super Heavy Tournement Army!

2011-02-08T04:17:00.000-08:00

Hey all...must post more...

Brighton Warlords excellent tournements continued this week with a "2000pt including a super heavy or gargantuan creature tournement" (Could use a shorter name)this weekend just gone. Was great fun with a proper review and maybe even a battlereport or 2 (maybe...it'll be words only though) to come soon... but for the time being my army!

1 cobra and 2 nightwings formed the backbone of the army...

Archon of the Twinned Blades

2010-12-22T03:27:00.001-08:00

*Warning* Crappy picture alert *Warning*

So being winter here in England its pretty much dark all day. yes the suns up and its theres plenty of light....but its not very much. So pictures are going to be of low quality!

First of 2 archons i have assembled already. Fluff behind my Kabal uses a pair of twin sisters as kabal rulers. Working on getting it all tidied up, so will share soon. Loved this model to paint, its just so detailed, and i'm reasonably happy with the finish. Agoniser could maybe use a touch or two. Also finished the "hangers" for the raider. Used them as test schemes for the armour before touching the archon,did find one major problem....the Warriors are too detailed! One of them took me 2 hours to finish one soldier...Going to do their raider next, before moving onto other things.

In other news have my Cobra (and a Hornet) ordered so hoping i'll see them soon. Have another comp in February, so need my superheavy finished, and need to finish my 2 Nightwings as well. Now i've started on my Kabal i'll be moving over to them soon

Week off, what to do....

2010-12-19T09:46:00.000-08:00

Yay week off work until christmas, then few days off the other side.

Now what to do...guess i could always embark in an epic painting few days

For those of you who don't frequent the BoLS lounge i've scratch built a Cronos pain engine, so he'll being seeing the brush

My Dark Eldar plans for paint are simple....green for Hemo constructs, blue/purple for Kabals, Grey for Wych cults and Red/orange for street gangers. That way they show clearly that each "faction" is seperate, but fight together. So this guys going to be seeing some green!

In other painting bits, got Lelith, Urien, 2 Archons, 1 raider and 20 of both wyches and warriors to do...and a Talos to build/convert. So plenty to keep me busy!

In addition...i've decided to use my newest pay packet (its lovely) and early christmas money to buy a FW Eldar cobra. Got a healthy air force already...need a super heavy. And seeing as the Phantom titan is still in the distance the Cobra will win for time being. I think. Need to balence cobra and scorpion against each other

Brighton Warlords Doubles Tournie

2010-11-29T13:24:00.000-08:00

Had my first tournement this weekend just gone. Left a really good impression with me as we had loads of fun, did pretty well and met a whole bunch of new folk...even if it did mean a 2 hour drive to get there.

Was a well done tournement, with FO charts restricted to all slots having to balence (must have 1 FA, Elites and Heavy before you can get a 2nd in one of those...) so no lists of too overpoweredness...althgouh still a few slightly cheeky lists in there...:p. We played with Tau and Armoured Imperial Guard forces. Our list composed of;

Tau Commander, 2 Crisis Suits, 2 unit of Firewarriors, 3 Broadsides with Shield droness, allied with 1 Leman Russ Vanquisher, 2 regular Russes, an armoured sentinel and a chimera with a small guard squad inside. So good strong gunline, with a hellof a punch, but not so good in combat...

Don't have the memory to give full battle reports, but i'll give an overview on the highlights.

GAME 1-Dawn of War, Annihaltion.

Drew a Eldar/Eldar list with a jetbike council and pathfinders. Few questionable calls on rules were let slip (can you fortune before they move on the board? And can you claim the jetbike free move in the assault phase if you turboboost?) but end result was a loss for us.

GAME 2-Pitched Battle, Seize Ground, 5 objectives.

Against a combined Marine/Mech guard list. Were agains the guys who overall came last, but thanks to some awful shooting and deepstriking mishaps we were close to a draw. They were very slow in deployment and movement, so the game ended on turn 4. Highlights include a 10 man assault squad deepstriking in, rolling a 1 to run, not spreading out at all and taking 90% casulties from a battlecannon next turn... We win!

GAME 3-Spearhead, Capture and Control.

Against another Tau, allied with Blood Angels. Highlights include....my broadsides actually managing to kill something! They'd gone 2 games so far and had survived both of them, but had only imobilised a Wave Serpent, a Drednaught and a Land Raider so far...so them blowing a Death Company drednaught apart was very welcome! Other highlights were 1 lone firewarrior sitting in a bunker and survivning an auto cannon + heavy bolters from a stormraven, devilfish fire and a battlecannon shot that scattered 9 inches onto him to hold our objective on the last turn! Result - We win!

GAME 4-Pitched Battle, Capture and Control.

Played a Chaos Marines List with 2 defilers, and a few demon princes, including the beautiful FW one. These guys took best painted army in the end and definently deserve it. Firewarriors were especially useless this game, as were the broadsides again, only managing to wound a DP once, and blow a rhino up...Highlights include the sentinel holding up a squad of CSM armed with krak grenades and 1 power fist for 4 full turns before exploding, a defiler falling 1 inch short of assaulting the Vanquisher Russ, which then blew him apart the following turn and a squad of firewarriors rapid firing a squad of CSM on an objective, causing 14 wounds, and having all of them saved (grrrr). Result - We lose :(

GAME 5-Spearhead, Annihaltion.

Against an ork list, with over 100 bodies on the table...only made it to the end of turn 4 cos of sheer volume and time of moving. 2 huge boyz units and 2 huge grot units charging under a landing pad gave the battle cannnons plenty to shoot...if it weren't for their massive scatter everyturn. Again my broadsides proved their worth, and took 4 turns to immobilise 1 KillaKan...*sigh*...would say they weren't worth their points but they absorbed so much loota firepower...Highlights including the sentinel holding 2 seperate units of deffkoptas in combat from turn 2 till end of game...and on turn 3 having a boyz unit try to kill it (cos the Koptas couldn't hurt AV12)...only for them to fail to damage with their furious charge, and then them be stuck in combat with it as well, a shokkgun going double 1 and taking himself and a unit of lootas to the grave for 2 nice killpoints, and a unit of grots with a big mek assaulting the broadsides, who's frisbee shield drones killed 2, killed 3 more with their own attacks, forced a retreat, ran them down and killed them for another 2 points...End Result - We Win!

GAME 6-Dawn of War, sieze ground, 3 objectives.

Urgh...our only game against a power list. Least fun game as well. Nob bikers and traitor airborne guard. On the deployment that suited them best really. If we'd had them on spearhead might have had a chance...but when they deploy on the centre line...with first turn...nope. Highlights include a turn 2 charge from the bikers killing 2 tanks and the sentinel with one squad, in one round of combat, firewarriors holding one bike in combat for 2 turns and my broadsides finally managing to earn their points back. The lone suit had 1 drone killed in turn 2 so ran away (stupid really), so the other 2 managed to kill 3 Vendettas and 1 Vulture, survived an amazing amount of firepower and manged to clear one objective of guardsmen in the last turn. 1 nob biker squadron hold centre 2 objectives so we lose

Good fun this weekend, did a lot better than we expected to (11 out of 28). We were a mere 56 victory points behind 10th place...and if we'd got our WYSIWYG points (2 of the guardsmen didn't have grenades) we'd have come 7th. Still it was amazing fun and i can't wait for next one in April...but by then people had better look out...

The Dark Eldar are on their way :D

And away!

2010-11-10T23:58:00.000-08:00

Right i'm off to the In Laws for a week (joys). so thought i'd leave you with 3 things...

1) CoD Black Ops is ace, and if you don't play single player on Veteran you're a pussy

2) DE codex is amazing. The fluff is deep and rich, exactly what was needed, the models are wonderful and the rules are a perfect balence, nearly every unit is competitive (nearly...Quins are the poor CC choice in Elites, i'm still not sold on scourges, and hellions don't do it for me)

3) My double tourny army is done...heres a poor picture of the Battlesuits on the shelf

What did I miss?

2010-10-31T05:38:00.000-07:00

Ok so a month and a half is a long vacancy....soory about that. Thats what a broken laptop and Halo Reach does to you! Laptops still not fixed, so piggybacking the missus' for the time being..

So its gonna be a long post....both 40k and video games to talk about!

First up...the immediate cause of my dissapearace...Halo Reach!

Simply brilliant game, with a proper review to come soon. Single player is shortish, so played it through on solo heroic and legendary in 3-4 days. But the multiplayer is where its at. Some stuff, as per usual is broken, glitchy, over powered, underpowered but overall its great. New modes like Invasion spice up the already great Halo 3 multiplayer and armour abilities just mix it up more. With the rank cap coming off very soon, and the first map pack to bring more variety to it, it will continue to improve

And now my future....40k bits!

First off been busy preparing and play testing for a double tournement in my local area. Playing my Tau with my mates Imperial Guard Armoured Company and in play testing its a hella scary gun line. Against double Eldar list we killed 2 Wraithlords and an Avatar in one turn of shooting. Feeling good about our chances, as long as theres not too much assault stuff.

And Dark Eldar! Yes my dark kindred return to tabletops in force. The new codex is wonderful, still waiting on mine...but the rules are hard, the fluff is wonderful and the models simply perfect. Thinking of a Hemo/Wych cult mix with aircraft in support....

Photos of mucho Tau stuff to come when i get my laptop back!

See you laters!

Clan Rats, Phoenix Lords and Tanks!

2010-09-09T05:32:00.000-07:00

Eclectic posting list here...i'm winding down the painting binge i've been on. Ordered a resin base for Karandaras from Dragon Forge Games, might do that and get him in GD this year. Know i won't win anything, but would be nice to enter something for once!

Photo time!

First up an old clanrat I painted up in an hour for a painting competion in store. Nothing fancy, just used it as an excuse to work on layering in the muscles on the arms, and rusty metal on his back and weapon. Didn't win anything, but the standard even in store, just on rats was insane!

With Karandaras and Fuegan done I now have a completed Phoenix Court. You can easily compare my early work (Asurmen, Maugan Ra) with my newest...definently grown as a painter. (and yes i knwo Zain Jar is missing her Trisikle. Fell off and haven't got around to pinning yet)

And finally with my Fire Prisms all done I took this opportunity to get a shot of my Eldar Tank Host. 4 Fire Prisms, 3 Wave Serpents, a Falcon, a Nightspinner and a FW Firestorm, with 2 Warwalkers for support. Anyone feeling particularly opservant will notice that all Fire Prisms are diagonal stripes, Wave Serpents Vertical stripes and Falcon chassis are Chevrons. Also every tank is named, with its name in "runes" (that are actually Mandarin Chinese translations in symbols) next to the pilot.

Isle of Blood. High Elves review

2010-09-05T05:25:00.000-07:00

Can only review half of it cos I swapped my rat folk out someone elses pointy ears, so i have double the number of elves and no skaven i'd never use. Gonna break it down

Box Set

The artwork on the box is wonderful as is the beginners booklet in there. The dice are still dice, with larger ones for scatter and artillery. Box also features whippy sticks and a set of templates. While they aren't as pretty as the rustic bronze special edition ones you can buy they are very nice. But main useful bit is the mini rule book, saving lugging the massive tome that is the 8th ed rule book around (if you want one theres a few on ebay for about £15 each...)

Models

As all the promo material shows they are gorgeous models. The sprues are packed, made swapping them out a bit of a challenge, and we missed bits when swapping them. Means I have a seaguard without a instrument, and he has a rat ogre without a head.

Griffon

Centre piece of the army this guy looks great (and based on games in store yesterday kicks serious ***). Being click together hes a bit of a paint to build (has to be done in exactly the correct order). The unpainted detail on the wings feathers particularly is wonderful and the pose is also great. Much better than the old griffon model in my opinion. Only critiscism is how ingrained the prince is to the model. His legs and hips are moulded on the halves of the torso as is the arm carrying the lance, the body slots into that, and then his head is part of the back of the seat. Although not a big deal it makes painting them seperatly or converting it to a standalone griffon or another character would be very tricky.

Mage

Again gorgeous model. Torso connects to legs connects to face, similar to the Space Marine captain in Black Reach. The base in particular is of note, its just calling out for some lighting inside it. However it is very flimsy in some places, having broken a bit of it off while pushing the model together

Reavers

10 reavers on the table looks a bit intimidating to me. Love the champion in this group. However another complaint here is the lack of customisabliity. The heads are attached the a throat piece that only fits onto one torso. There no swapping heads or differing one rider horse combo to his brother from the other set. But thats only minor. Also no option for banner or musician...

Infantry

Both the Swordmasters and the sea guard are wonderfully detailed and with there banners with raised details (and the sea guards shields) they are going to be fun to paint. Assembly on them all was very simple, with only 1 arm on the sea guard and nothing at all on the Sword masters, meant i got the entire 2 box worths (minus 2nd mage and griffon) clipped off, cleaned off and assembled inside 3 or so hours.

Picture shows Reavers at the back, with the mage in top right. The 2 squads of swordmasters are on the left (one hiding behind the griffons wings), and one super squad of seaguard (with 2 banners...) are on the right

These guys are now in the holding cycle of my painting list, waiting for a decent day to get them sprayed and started.

Picture Time!

2010-09-03T09:55:00.000-07:00

Its show time! As promised, new camera so pictures...still working out some of the nuances so some of them are a bit out of focus on the backs of frame.

Fire Prism!

Devilfish!

FireWarriors!

And Finally my XV8 Shas'o.

Theres a few others pictures to come, but will spread them out a bit...

In Videogaming news Minervas Den DLC for Bioshock2 is out. And its awesome. Much bigger than I was expecting.

Also Dead Rising Case Zero is out. As a fan of DR I love it, so advise people to go out and get it.

Me very bad...

2010-08-31T10:00:00.000-07:00

Ok

So i've been bad and not posted for a while. Between my Girlfirends 2 weeks off, my parents wedding anniversary, her parents wedding anniversary and 2 job interviews i've not done a lot. Out of my list I have completed;

Fuegan
Firewarrior Squad
Fire Prism
Dire Avengers
1 XV8 Suit
and most of 1 Devilfish.

Might not make the full list in the 13 days I have left, but gonna keep going.

Pictures to come soon, when I get a new camera (well my lady does, i'll be borrowing it :D) this week.

The Final 2 Phoenix Lords

2010-08-04T10:14:00.000-07:00

Karandaras I finished last week, and anyone who's seen my thread on BoLS will have seen him. Really enjoyed painting him

And 1 day into my challenge i've finished the first model (after 3 days). This guy...i didn't enjoy painting as much. It just felts a bit cluttered, particularly around his left shoulder. Happy with the dragon scales on the tabard and helmet though and the magma-y effect on his greaves. Again another model that only sees play in Apoc games

42 day challenge

2010-08-03T08:10:00.000-07:00

In 42 days the biggest game of the year comes out. Well for me at least. That is Halo Reach. I'd imaginge once that comes out just about every waking second will be spent on it. So I'm starting my challenge to achieve everything I can in that time frame. Bar a few days at me ladies parents for their anniversary and then a few for her birthday I have plenty of time (unless I find a job real quick). So I challenge myself to see how much i can achieve.

By September 13th i aim to have completed...

Fuegan
1 Nightwing
1 Guardian Squad
All my Dire Avengers
Last Fireprism
My Squad of Fire Warriors
2 XV8 Suits
1 Broadside
1 Devilfish
And have all my outstanding Forge World models built, cleaned and maybe sprayed.

Also want to finish Dirt 2, Split Second and Splinter Cell Conviction in that time.

Having goals keeps me busy!

A Bird! A Plane! No is FW's flying dog Skull

2010-07-30T16:13:00.000-07:00

Seriously? Not only does it look like a flying dog skull (complete with snout, ears and eyeballs) but now every space marine army, not just Blood Angels can take a fast skimmer.

We Eldar better get some serious loving in the next codex and IA book....

And done...

2010-07-27T03:39:00.000-07:00

And hes done. Without a doubt the best painted of all my wraithlords (and probably the rest of my army) hes going to make a fine centre point. The swords worked quite well i think, maybe a bit more practise in the future on things.

Just delved into my army case for the next thing to paint. Got Fuegan, Karandaras, a guardian weapon platform that needs fixing/magnetising and the black reach marine commander. Those should keep me entertained for the next few days.

Going home this weekend for parents 25th wedding anniversary so won't get much done. Then got my girlfriends parents, also 25th anniversary week after that so another long trip.

Upon this rock, he dies

2010-07-26T14:03:00.000-07:00

So due to bad weather my painting hours have been short of late, so last two days i've only got about 4-5 hours in (unemployment does have its benefits. Being unemployed gives me time to paint, but no money to buy models with. Getting a job would provide said money, but alas no time to paint)

The base is now done...i think. Don't think theres anything outstanding. This is actual the first space marine i ever painted. Therefore it had to be a space smurf on that slat of ferrocrete. It will also be the last ultramarine ever do as other than one casulty being done in the colours of my friends marines (who is going on fliers base as a kill trophy) from now on they will be done in the colours of my custom chapter (which i have the ideas for but army is well down the line).

Thinking i'm going to push myself on this model, got ideas for the power swords that are probably beyond my ability but gonna give them a try. Hope for better weather and more painting time in!

Samurai Wraithlord and more High Elves

2010-07-25T05:09:00.001-07:00

And the finished article (bar paint of course, but as i type its sitting drying from its base spray). All the weapons, down to the hands are magnetised should they need posing or changing, something i intend to start doing on all models like this. Looking forward to painting him!

Also got this

My newset high elf. The paint scheme definently works on IC's just got to wait and see it on rank and file troops. Gonna have to get better at doing faces now in fantasy, seeing as no helmets to cover faces now!

Combat Wraithlord

2010-07-24T10:25:00.000-07:00

Next wraithlord. Wanted something a little different to the standard so used the marine casulty from the space marine casultie set, lying propped up against the ruins of an imperial city wildly firing his bolt pistol into the 25 foot creature as it pins the marine down and puts the sword to his neck. Also enacted another wish for a wraithlord by giving him a 2nd sword, pointing backwards in a back hand martial stance. Then 2 scatterlasers (obv counts as one, not two or twinlinked for the rules) to the arms for a Warmachine look.

Once this is done I only have...a few more ideas for custom lords. This is my first shot at converting (even if it is only the bended knee). Be finishing the torso and arms tomorrow...

The High Elves of Corcesceth

2010-07-11T14:03:00.000-07:00

So i've decided to start Fantasy in 8th edition. I'm doing High Elves cos I love the models, the rules and generally all things Elvish. But I hate painting in White and Blue so i'm going with something a little different. Written a bit of fan-fluff to explain my colours

Prior to the chaos incursions of dark elves, beasts and deamons that plagued Ulthuan for so long began, before contact with the human civilisations in the Old World, the elves of central Tiranoc lived peacefully off the land in the same way that all of their kin did. This changed during the reign of the Phoenix King Caledor the Second. A massive chaos incursion landed on the coasts in an attempt to avoid the road well travelled and catch their foes unawares, while most of the army was abroad, in battle with the dwarves. After encountering little resistance as expected they came across the army of the Prince Corcesceth waiting for them on the plains of Haedris.
A desperate bloody battle ensued with the Elves fighting heavily outnumbered, buying time for the main armies to mobilise, to reinforce them. However it was a losing battle. The elves were punished heavily. Corcesceth saw his uncle, his brother and his only son killed before his eyes as the battle lines of chaos encroached further across the plain. A flurry of arrows felled his steed from underneath him and dropped him, unceremoniously on the side of the plain. Forces were thin here as an impenetrable forest guarded this flank. As he lay there watching his kin fall, selling their lives dearly on this plain he prayed to Asuryan for deliverance. His prayers were answered with a screech. The forest exploded, near him trees flying and scattering surrounding troops on both sides. But it was not the salvation he had prayed for. Out of the forest strode the Keeper of Secrets, a greater demon of Tzeentch. Corcesceth slumped his head to the ground wondering why his gods had abandoned him on this field when a second deeper screech rang out over the plain. From the black storm clouds advancing over the Chaos lines swept a dragon of jet black scales, burning with an eldritch red glow. As it flew over the lines of battle great gouts of white hot flame erupted from its mouth, immolating the chaos lines, before it swooped in on Corcesceth’s position. The Lord of Change swung his twisted weapon at the dragon only to have it deftly avoided. The dragon lunged in and grabbed the daemons neck in its claws, and in a magically amplified noise, shattered it in two places. It pulled the demons head next to its own, looked into the eyes of the beast and once more unleashed its magical flame into the beasts face. When the dragon released the demon it slumped to the ground, headless and defeated before vanishing back to the warp. Crushed by the loss of the demon and the appearance of the powerful Star Dragon much of the chaos line fled. It was quickly chased down and cut apart by vengeful High Elves.
After the battle the fallen elves were seen to in the respectful manner expected of their kin. The bodies of their enemies were removed, burnt in massive pyres to honour the flame of the dragon that had saved them all. A year later the plains of Haedris, were no longer the green grass they once were, but awash with a new red flower, only growing in places where the dragons breath had cleansed the earth. Prince Corcesceth decided to adopt these colours into his kinsman’s martial uniform as a reminder of the cost of their safety.
However other citizens of Ulthuan regard them with suspicion. Were Corcesceth’s prayers answered by a chaos god before his own? And any elf abandoning the white robes of his race in favour of the blood red of battle must be showing signs of taint mustn’t they? And how did any elf live so long with no signs of ageing? Regardless of these suspicions Corcesceth still rules over the lands, riding into battle astride his saviour, Elarique to keep his lands free, and fought in the great campaign during the reign of Finubar the Seafarer pushing the last great chaos excursion from their lands.

So only one model (2nds underway) at present but I like it personally. Its going to be a while before i'm up to gameplay strength (although the intro box is apparantly High Elves vs Skaven so i'll be getting that probably)

Cars + Speed + Criterion = Win

2010-07-10T03:53:00.000-07:00

Take abreak from wargaming, and painting to talk about games now.

There s basically nothing i want between here and Halo Reach now. Kinda sucks but means i'll finish a lot of games i haven't yet (L4D2, Saboteur, DA;O, Dirt2, Conviction).

And yes this caught my eye. Repeatedly. There might actual be a good Need for Speed game this year. After all Criterion are gods of racing (just look at any game in the Burnout series after 1).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D6ouHWP0KrY

Gorgoues cars, awesome soundtrack and a good online component by looks of it. Looking forward to strapping a set of red and blues on my Lambo and hunting down some street racing scum.

Settled in!

2010-07-09T04:53:00.000-07:00

So all moved back in now, got set up, internet and back on the painting horse. Still a member of the unemployed, so unless the interview on monday goes well i won't be funding either of my hobbies for a while i think.

So here something i did earlier...

The first of my 2 Forgeworld Nightwings and the base of it. The base is a resin base from Iron Halo, a top notch company I would recommend...need to buy more for some of my other stuff.

Flyer is sprayed but still not painted, but the base is now painted, to match the rest of my bases (ruined city scape). Flyer is next thing on my list!

In other news I'm heartily considering starting a Fantasy army, probably high elves (i love me point ears). This is promoted by having a nice idea for a very different paint scheme on them (have to wait and see if it works). Just have to wait and see. If Dark Eldar get an announcement at Gamesday (and I eventually find someone willing to employ me) then fantasy might hit the back burner for a little longer.

Absentism

2010-06-26T04:53:00.000-07:00

OK so i've been away for a little bit. Just finihsed my degree and moving house so not had much face time with the internet. Will post a more sizable welcome bacl post when my interent sorts itself out.

So until next time (covering my thoughts on E3, my new eldar tanks and other stuff) i'll see you soon!

Eldar. Treading water in 5th ed?

2010-05-27T13:09:00.000-07:00

I have a large Eldar army. 9000 points large. It was my first army and it continues to grow (just started work on my 4th Wraithlord and will soon add one of the awesome new nightspinners and my 4th fire prism in. But reading the BoLs forum recently i happened upon a thread talking about what Eldar need to modify everything that already exists to work.

This list included lots of USR's to squad, free exarches and a few other things but the big two that caught my eye were;
All tanks/vypers/Wraithlords take a shuriken cannon as there default, already included in the price, not expecting us to have to pay for it
Make it a skill army. Increase WS and BS by 1 to represent 1000's of years of training.

I've heard this 2nd one before and i still think its a good idea. Eldar are no longer physic master (like they should be) or the most mobile army (like they should be) why not make them the most practised? We're a glass cannon army that have trained for 1000's of years but get outshot by guardsmen.

Also our skimmers are overpriced. End of Argument (give all tanks the serpents energy field rules and then maybe we're talking)

Just have to wait patiently for our new codex (mid to late next year at the absolute earliest), the FW book we're in (IA10) and a look at the dark eldar book when it gets out to see what we might expect.

Argh one exam down

2010-05-26T06:22:00.000-07:00

Nothing beats the feeling of coming out of an exam feeling like you've knocked it out of the park.

Heres the gun drone i've done in between revision to blow off a little steam. Think its looks pretty good. Bit darker than the ones in the codex in the colour scheme but i like it. Bit more camoflagey than a bright orange. Well as camoflagey as a shade of orange will ever get in a grey city scape.

Exams and bleurgh

2010-05-25T07:15:00.000-07:00

Who knew the final exams at the end of a 4 year degree in Aerospace engineering would be so hard?

Microstructural characterisation and spectroscopy (and thats just the name of the module) is evil. Who sets questions on something he's never mentioned before in lectures, is not in the notes and was only discovered last year when it won the Nobel prize? Argh!

In other more blog-orientated news Spearhead gets released in a few days. i was hoping to have read it by now in my housemates early subscriber White Dwarf but its not turned up yet, so i wait like everyone else. The idea of massive tank battles is good by me, last time i played an apoc game i only fielded an Eldar tank host...3000 points of tanks is pretty. With only 2 Tau tanks so far they won't reach the table, but my Ulthwe tank host, with the addition of a new fire prism and nightspinner should be a good game :D. That against my housemates Imperial fist armoured company...looking forward to it.

Well back to it...8 days of revision and 7 hours of exams and i'll be no longer a student!

2010-05-18T07:46:00.000-07:00

Been pretty busy so far so not had much time to post anything. In the middle of my exams so not doing a lot of gaming or modelling so when they're all over (15 days) and there should be more stuff coming!

Alright sorry about the awful picture, first time trying to photo a model...
Well theres a test model, my Kroot shaper in my newly started Tau army. Pretty happy with how its turned out for a few hours work. Never fails to amaze me how quickly the pile of paints on my desk grows as i paint a model, and just how many are in it by the end. Starts with camo green, snakebite leather and a devlan mud wash, and before long theres scab and blood red, gold, bronze, bleached bone, shadow grey, ice blue, black, red washes, white, yellow, khaki, tau sept ochre and a few others...

Anyway back to revision. Rest of this guys squad and my work in progress stealth suits to come!

Well Introductionary Post!

2010-05-08T07:50:00.000-07:00

Well guess i'd better set this up after thinking it through a while. Doubt anyone will read it but hey i like to say stuff!

As the name suggests i'm going to talk a lot about my two hobbies. Those being 360 (and wii, ds and little bit of pc) gaming and Warhammer 40K. Both pretty geeky i'll admit but both really fun! An obviously a bit expensive. With one game being £40 and a box for a model looking at £18 its not suprising i'm poor. Combine into that i'm supposed to be a student living off beans and 2p noodles and life is pretty hectic. Then balence doing a Masters Degree in what equates to rocket science and well i'm sure you can understand i'm pretty busy!

I'll think of something actually constructive to say soon. In the mean time go play the Reach beta!