One Does Not Simply Walk.........: Seerk's Take On Footdar Pt2

Continuing on the subject of Footdar that I started last time. Strategy and formation. Besides having a good mix of units, You need to have your army deployed to take advantage of the terrain and have clear lines of fire on priority targets. My standard Footdar list has 3 layers to it. This can be varied depending on the unit mix you choose to go with.

When deploying the army you layer it. The Avatar maintains a central position in the army. This maintains the fearlessness of a majority of your units as they walk forward into the breach. It also screens the Avatar. Granted his 3+ armor save and his 4+ invulnerably save keep him pretty safe, but its good to present a bigger number of targets to try and break down your opponents fire discipline. One real key is making sure you have a Seer within Fortune range. As the Avatar really is the lynch pin in the army you must ensure his safety. Although he eats up a lot of points I always Run Eldrad in my foot lists. Mainly because he can do the duty of two Farseers and he is harder to kill than a normal Farseer. You just have to make sure you have a concise plan and order of operations when casting your powers.

Now I spoke about layers. I have covered this topic before. Since the Eldar army is a collection of specialists they have to work in concert and mutually support each other. Besides two large squads of guardians I only run one maybe two Aspect warrior squads in the foot list. I use a medium sized squad of Pathfinders and a Squad of Dark Reapers in the backfield. This is your rear guard and the ranged firepower. Both should be set up in cover with good fields of vision. Since you have the Avatar centrally located with all your foot units orbiting around him, the army moves as a great mass forward. Its the rear guards job to clear the way and hit units trying to flank the main force. The dark reapers can tear thru small squads and transports. Its important to note that the Exarch should have the Crack shot power. Given most rhinos and transports surge forward and pop smoke or have some similar defense. You need to be able to pop said transport. Crack shot ignores saves derived from cover. I usually arm my Exarch with an Eldar Missile Launcher. It does not give you the saturation of the Tempest launcher, but it has more utility. Once a transport is opened up you can hit the unit with the Pathfinders to try and kill them outright or at least pin them. I also Use a pair of Night Spinners and put them out of harms way. Since they are twin linked you can use them indirectly with a fair amount of confidence. I will hit large concentrations of troops and vehicles trying to get the template to hit as many as possible so as to spread the love so to speak. This is more for suppressing units movement rather than killing. Granted since its a strength 6 rending large blast it will kill fairly effectively. I played OST this past week using the list and despite having to deal with 4 squads of plague marines the combined fire of the Dark Reapers, Pathfinders and Night Spinners kept his units suppressed and killed large numbers very quickly. Keeping the constant pressure on the opposing force makes them adjust their tactics.

When they are hurried they make mistakes, you just have to be able to see them and capitalize on them. With a lot of long range suppressing fire coming at them you can predict where units are going to go. If they have deep strikers or out flanking units you can almost ensure they will be going for the back field units. You can sweeten the pot by placing the pathfinders on an objective in cover. I prefer to place them and the objective in a building a floor or 2 up. Its a hard target for any shooting units to take out. You can cause a mishap or lure the units in with this trick. If you have warp spiders or a unit close they can take out the new intruders so you can keep the pressure on the main force. Thats the real key with the Back field units. They are there to keep the pressure on the main force. If you have no viable targets out in the kill corridor on the field then take out the units deep striking or out flanking into your turf.

Your Vanguard units are also there to put pressure onto the main force. I have chosen to screen this particular list with a vanguard unit of Harlequins. They move swiftly ahead of the guardians and the Seer council. The Seer Council hangs back behind the Avatar and the Guardians. I arm them with the customary fusion pistols and I give all of them Harlequin Kisses. Its an expensive unit that is put in a position that you would usually use an expendable unit in. This is another key. Everybody in the Army is Expendable. If you turtle up to much and guard specific units or models they will get more fire. IF you don't draw attention then the unit gets ignored in favor of the unit that is drawing the attention. The Internet has hyped up how nasty Harlequin units are. Granted they are pretty nasty, but not as nasty as a unit of Striking Scorpions or Howling Banshees. They just are much harder to hit and pack a punch in close combat. When your opponent has that bearing down on his units expect a torrent of fire to hit them. When this happens they are doing their job. They are screening the rest of your army and taking hits that could be hitting the Avatar, guardians or your long rang back field units.

If they survive direct them towards a soft unit. Their higher strength on the charge along with a high weapon skill and a rending weapon will be able to overwhelm a unit of 5 or 6 even if there is only a couple left thanks to their high number of attacks.

So some more tidbits about how I run Footdar. I may do another part as I think there is a lot to talk about yet when it comes to deployment. I will try and fire up a drawing program and come up with some sample deployments that I have done in the past. How you deploy your force is going to differ a lot based on the deployment type of the game.

Until then...

Blood Runs, Anger Rises, Death Wakes, War Calls!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

WAAAAAAAAAAAGH!!!!!!!!!!!

Merry Christmas!

All of us here at Craftworld Lansing want to wish you and yours a very Merry Christmas.  I am enjoying the day being lazy and enjoying the Dr. Who marathon on BBC America.  Later this week there will be a nice New Years party to usher in 2012.  I will be bringing you more Eldar and Xenos coverage.  I will also be highlighting my Road to Adepticon.  I am officially a member of Team Deathstar, which will be playing in the Adepticon Team Tournament. more on that later. Merry Christmas!



Until Next Time...

Blood Runs, Anger Rises, Death Wakes, War Calls!!!!!!!!!!!!!

HOHOHOHOHOHOHO!!!!!!!!!!!!

One Does Not Simply Walk........:SeerK's Take On FootDar Pt1

Well its holiday time again. I apologize for the pause. I plowed through my finals and now I am free and clear, except for work, til the 16^th of January. I realized after my game with OST this past Wednesday that I have not actually had my Craftworlders out on the table in forever. I also realized I have not had an Eldar article in a while. I played OST's Deathwing at the FLGS This past week and I whipped out a good old fashioned Footdar list. It was very nice to hear the phrase “F#@*ing Eldar” ringing like a symphony in the store again.

The elusive Footdar list. Its a list that seemed to really go by the wayside in 5^th edition. Mech lists were the norm. As we get closer to 6^th edition the meta is changing once again and foot lists once again are making appearances. Mech lists and such are generally geared towards defeating other mech lists. The backlash from the excessive amount of mech was the reemergence of the foot list and horde armies.

I could go over a bunch of different Footdar lists and how they work and such, but each one if going to have key elements that are the same. These elements are what make the list work. It is a combination of key units, formation and strategy.

First we will look at the key units in a Footdar list, besides Eldrad or a Seer as you pretty mush always need one. The first and foremost, the lynchpin if you will, in a good Footdar list is The Avatar of Khaine. The Avatar is a very potent unit and a good deal at 155 points. Yes he takes up an HQ slot so you can't run two Farseers, but you get a lot of bang for your buck. Besides he potent combat ability The Avatar has his 12” Inspiring Presence aura. As you know any Eldar unit within 12 inches of the Avatar is fearless. This is important, especially if you are running hordes of Guardians. As the army advances you will get pounded by artillery and long range fire. I run big, 20 man, units of Guardians with a Warlock as my troops. The Warlock has Conceal for that 5+ cover save in the open, combine this with no leadership tests and you have a nice big mob to distract your opponent and solid squads who are not going to run from the field. The Avatar keep your units moving forward and really makes your opponent second guess his use of fire. This makes the Avatar a big target at the same time. You have to make sure you have your Seer in range to hit him with a Fortune. This should be easy as most of your units should have at least one member in orbit of The Avatar to ensure fearlessness. The real threat to the Avatar is Plasma. For the love of Khaine keep Plasma vets away from the avatar.

Picture By Tacticangle

Now this next unit I actually don't use much, but as I explore the Footdar again I am going to be using more. Harlequins. Harlequins, although expensive are an excellent advanced unit. The ignore difficult terrain and when you have a shadow seer in with the group are very hard to target. They can move as a screen ahead of the main force providing a better cover save. Giving them fusion pistols lets them crack armor and giving the unit Harlequins kisses gives them rending, on top of the Furious charge and hit & run. They are potent and thanks to months of playing dark Eldar I finally have a grasp on how to use them effectively.

Dark Reapers, in my view, are important components to a Footdar list. They are effective in taking out light armor and are very effective at killing power armor. They also prove valuable in killing light fast moving targets like venoms, raiders, ork truks, and space marine Land speeders. When you equip the Exarch with a Eldar Missile launcher and give him crack shot, the flat out move save becomes irrelevant . This can really hamper a meched up fast moving army. Dark Eldar are especially doomed if you crack open their transports and force them to hoof it. This also hurts webway portal delivery allowing you to contain the Dark Kin in a proverbial barrel.

Guardians are my mainstay for a Footdar list. They can be fielded in big units and Shuriken Catapult fire from a unit of 20, especially if they have been guided, has unit killing potential. I always include a Warlock with the Conceal power. This helps mitigate casualties as the blob marches forward. They can effectively hold objectives thru sheer numbers. The real key though is making sure the Avatar is close enough to keep them from running.

Warp Spiders are a quirky yet very effective unit. They are an advance force to really wreck some havoc in your opponents back field. Warp spiders are Eldar that are a little off. The whole concept of hurtling themselves through the warp is crazy talk to most Eldar. Not Warp Spiders. They have a screw loose, so you kind of need to play them like you have a screw loose. Deep Striking them in behind the soft rear ends of Imperial Guard artillery or any transports and blowing them really slows down your opponent and gives you time to bring your force up and deal the killing blows.

Night Spinners are another effective method for slowing down your opponent. I am a big fan of these guys. I will try and run two with a unit of Dark Reapers or one with 2 Units of Dark Reapers sitting in my back field to give my advancing force good suppressing fire and pop fast moving units. Since the monfiliment affects foot units and vehicles, and is strength 6, it is effective in slowing down and even damaging units.

One of my favorite things to use in a foot list is the support weapon Batteries. The one weapon I really like using is vibro cannons. In a battery of three they are strength 6. The auto glance vehicles and they hit everything in a line. Did I mention they also cause pinning This suppresses enemy fire and can really hamper foot units. A battery takes up a valuable heavy slot so I will use these if I am not using a night spinner. They can be interchangeable.

So my two cents about the units that are integral to a Footdar list. I will cover Strategy and formation in my next post as they go hand in hand. Time to break out some drawing programs.

Until Next time

Blood Runs, Anger Rises, Death Wakes, War Calls!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Imperial Armour 11 Has Landed

The Doom of Mymera has landed.  Imperial Armour  11 ships tomorrow.  Sadly I have to wait for my copy.  I am really looking forward to getting my hands on it.  It looks like we have the new Craftworld of Mymeara along with corsairs and Alaitoc.  More Imperial guard are included as well as the Space Wolves Great company of Bran Redmaw.

So we will have a complete Corsairs army list as well as final stats for the Shadow Specters and the Phoenix Lord.  I would imagine there is a crazy Space Wolf Character or two as well. Once I get a copy to read, which should be soon if I know Farseer Re-Rolls, I will give a run down and my opinion on the new stuff.

Has anybody else noticed that Alaitoc seems to at the forefront of the fluff as of late.  The Path Of series Gav Thorpe is writing and now an Imperial Armour book.  Alaitoc is also cited several times in the new Necron codex as being active in hunting tomb worlds and destroying them.  I wonder if they are going to be the poster children of the Eldar for 6th edition.

I guess we shall see.  Well Next time I will have a battle report.  I broke out Da Kabal uf Da Big Teef while I was up at the FLGS and squared off against our own BigMek SkrapKlaw.  Once again he established the orky pecking order on the blog.  I am also hoping to have another post up on DFG this week.  I have had requests from several players at the shop, Vogrin included, to run the Age of the Emperor campaign I ran across, that was put out by the Tempus Fugitives.  More on that later, and probably on Dark Future Games.  I also may have a rant about Ebay and Paypal this week.  Once I calm down about my funds being held.

Until then..............

Blood Runs, Anger Rises, Death Wakes, War Calls!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Bat Rep Draigo-Wing

So I got in a round of 40k with a friend of mine known as Deathbringer. He brought his draigo-wing out to play and I was glad to get in a round against the loathsome paladin terminators. We decided on two thousand points apiece.

My List was:
Eldrad Ulthran with warlock council 10x (full of magnificent powers) embarked on a scatter laser clad wave serpent.
10x fire dragons in a scatter laser equipped wave serpent.
10x Warp Spiders.
10x Dire avengers in a Bright lance wave serpent
2 squads of 7x Pathfinders
and a Fire Prism for kicks

Deathbringer brought:
A unit of 10 paladins with Draigo himself lending his support
a Venerable psyfleman dreadnought
a 5 man strike squad inside an assualt cannon razorback
a Storm raven with a 10 man purifier squad led by a Librarian in termie armor.

The battlefield was three tiered high ruins with the exception of a raised platform and a statue of the emperor. I apologize for not taking pictures. We rolled table quarters and annihilation, I immediately cringed with displeasure. A slug fest was not to my advantage, I brought 11 kill points and Deathbringer brought only 7 to the field of battle.

Going into the battle I knew I could ill afford a slug fest with the hard hitting grey knights, but I felt that if I could disable his storm raven early I could buy plenty of time to deal with his forces in the manner I wanted.

I won first turn and deployed castled up at point charlie. My opponent deployed everything on the board behind point alpha. one squad of pathfinders infiltrated on the platform and the other deployed on top of the northern ruins at point charlie.

Turn 1:

My opponent failed to seize. My turn one was by and large ineffectual. I hung back with most of my forces and took pot shots with pathfinders and the fire prism. He made his psychic check for the shrouding and his stacked forces had cover from everything.

He then proceeded to make every cover save I could throw at him. The pathfinders had the mission of pinning the paladins at least once to give me some much needed breathing room. Sadly, that mission would be left unfulfilled.

His turn had his forces move across the board for the most part. The storm raven turbo boosted and between the power of the machine spirit multi-melta and the psyfleman dread they managed to turn the dire avengers transport into all but a wreck, without any weapons and completely immobilized. The paladins unleashed a torrent of fire into the pathfinders, killing 2. They had taken position on the platform but no sissy silver knights would be able to displace them from their cover. The razorback failed to cause any lasting damage because they forget to have Jesse Ventura behind the assualt cannon.

0 - 0 

Turn 2:

My turn brought my frustration back out again. I held true to my battle plan of not engaging him head on but tried to collapse my army around the now encroaching storm raven.

The fire prism completely missed despite being the recipient of a guide from Eldrad. The warp spiders brought their fire to bear upon the storm raven and only managed one glance that took off the multi-melta. The pathfinders again failed to make it through the cover that the grey knights waded amongst. My scatter lasers didn't find any purchase on the storm raven either. The paladins once again didn't manage to fail even one of their 3 cover saves from ap 1 shots.

So between my first two turns I didn't manage to do any more than take a multi-melta off.......

The paladin squad moved in closer to my now perilous position They took a few more shots into the pathfinders knocking off another two. The psyfleman managed to immobilize the fire dragons wave serpent. The remaining lascannon from the storm raven didn't make it through the, generally durable, armor of the fire dragons wave serpent.

The purifiers however got out and destroyed the warp spiders with extreme prejudice, exacting a bloody vengeance for their lost multi-melta. They managed to kill every last one of the warp spiders before their initiative even came round.

At this point I had a full squad of purifiers running amok in my back field, I admit I felt that the game was going to degenerate faster than a pile of cocaine in the vicinity of Charlie Sheen.

0 -1 Grey Knights Lead

Turn 3:

The beginning of my turn did nothing to bring the morale back around for the Eldar, Eldrad failed to cast even one of his three psychic powers. The librarian shut down each of my powers from his hood. (I am notoriously bad at rolling off for hoods and mind wars)

I had Eldrad turbo boost north as a feint to hopefully bring the paladins northward away from the majority of my forces and to protect his venerable dreadnought from the attentions of my witchblades.

All of my troops evacuated their transports and prepared to cause some havoc. The dire avengers blade stormed the purifiers and killed nearly half of their number. The fire dragons used their expertise as tank hunters to blow the storm raven into as many small pieces as they could manage. My snipers finally managed to put a wound on the paladin squad, but of course there was no respite for the dying race, draigo kept his squad from getting pinned. Finally, the fire prism was able to blow up the razorback that had been agitating me.

Deathbringer responded in kind, the psyfleman immobilized Eldrad's personal wave serpent. The paladins shot up the wave serpent as well but failed to actually cause damage. The 5 man squad of marines shot up the fire dragons but didn't manage to break them.

The Purifiers charged the dire avengers, the libby put on his "try-hard cap" and killed more brain cells than putting his head inside a micro-wave thanks to runes of warding being in full effect. The combat, despite not getting hammer hands off, saw the dire avengers lose combat by a total of 5. Needless to say, they broke and proceeded to run off the board.

2 - 2

Turn 4:

Eldrad fled away from his immobile skimmer.....I mean advanced towards future victories.....away from paladins.

The fire prism let loose upon the dreadnought but missed in fine fashion. The fire dragons took up a firing line next to the purifiers turned them into wisps of ceramite armor. Funny enough the librarian blew his own mind while trying to cast shrouding so the squad could hit the dirt. Between the remaining scatter laser on the immobile vehicles and sniper rounds, the 5 man strike squad died a miserable death.

The grey knights, now getting low on the ability to engage multiple targets, had the paladins shoot the fire dragons into oblivion. Luckily the Exarch comes slightly better armored and survived long enough to have his head blown off by the psyfleman.

5 - 3 Eldar Leads

Turn 5:

Without the presence of the librarian, Eldrad went to town with some psychic powers, even going as far as to confront draigo's minditself. Eldrad sadly blinked and failed to kill the ancient grey knight.

The remainder of my shots failed to inflict too much damage on the paladins but the fire prism did manage to shake the psyfleman.

The psyfleman tried to cast fortitude but instead of regaining the ability to fire, he accidentally ripped off his arm, not once but twice because of the reroll granted from being venerable. The Grey knights unleashed a volley of fire into the warlocks killing 5 of their number but breaking their will just yet.

The grey knights were still down and desperately needed another turn to equalize the score, but you can never underestimate my ability to roll a 1.

Game Ends
5 - 3 Eldar Victory

I was very proud of how my army performed, luckily the grey knights were unable to finish the job on my transports. At the end of the game I had 3 that absolutely none could move under their own power..

My plan of stalling the paladin squad worked and I was able to keep them at arms reach the entire game. I have also grown fond of running two 7 man squads of pathfinders, I've had good success with them throughout my recent games and I think I will be incorporating them for quite some time.

Kabal of Da Big Teef Update: We gots us some Vehicles.

My hobby Table is overrun with orks!

After spending a couple days up at the FLGS this past week I felt the hobby bug start to wake up again. Given the fact I will be returning from the path of the outcast back to the Craftworld as it were, I am moving back to Lansing in February, I decided to start cleaning out the closet and start consolidating the miniatures collection a bit for transport. I unpacked the newly acquired orks that I got from The Judge an placed them with the others. I started digging thru the Dark Eldar bits I have, old and new, and inspiration took hold. Methinks that a break from the Eldar is needed, modeling wise, as I have grown uninspired assembling and attempting to paint them. The Kabal Of Da Big Teef is finally going to get worked on consistently and is fulfilling its original purpose. Getting my hobby drive kick started again.

So I give you some of the, very early, conversions and models I am doing fro the army. The army itself is kind of divided into two camps. You have BigMek Urchon Bigtoof and his Dethskullz boys on one side and Boss Lubgrub Bigtusk and his Snakebite boys on the other. They are the survivors of a failed Dark Eldar raid on the planet these two groups were currently living on after the space hulk they were riding crashed. The BigMek was impressed by how shooty and Hurty the Dark Eldar weapons were. He also wondered how they could go so fast without bein red. Da boss puts up with the BigMek because he has more boys with him and his Nobs or “OrKubi” are dead killy.

The Mech and his boys are going to be loaded up in “truks” and a battle wagon while Da boss and his boys will be riding “bikes”. I have to make the boss yet as I have to find a suitably big boar for him to ride. I am thinking a Rhinox or even A Razagor from the Beastmen line.

I converted the first trukk using an old style Dark Eldar Raider. A battle wagon sprue and a whole ork Truk were then kit bashed into the ramshackle vehicle before you. As a car guy I had to make all the controls and drive train look at least 90% legit or else it would bug the ever living crap out of me. I am going to add some Grots hanging off or possibly some boyz in the same style as the warriors on the new raiders.

The Battle wagon I got already assembled so I am adding lots of spiky Dark Eldar bits and weapons. The grot riggers will ride on the old raider platforms welded to the rear of the wagon. I have been trying to ass some weapon pods from a new ravager I have form a big bits lot I got. We will see if I can make it work. Since the battle wagon is the personal ride of the BigMek I want it to be dead shooty and killy, or at least look the part.  Its still not done, its missing something and I have not figured out what to do really.  I am sure it will come to me as I build and go thru my bits boxes.

Well there ya go My Kabal of Da Big Teef update. As I get some more stuff converted I will update. I also have the Bike council I need to start painting and finish buying and building. I am on the hunt for cheap jet bikes to finish the council and flesh out the two small guardian jet bike units in the list.

More on that as I get stuff done.

Until then

Blood Runs, Anger Rises, Death Wakes, War Calls!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

WAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Eldar Rumors

SO its far off and likely going to be in 6th edition, but there are some murmurs around the web.  Granted you have to take them with a grain of salt the size of a truck, but some sound cool and I know I would like to see them. I found this on Heresy Online.  The local "experts" did not give it much credit, but I found the forum monkeys generally just hate on everything. so here they are.

Eldar Rumors; Plastic Vampyre and Additional Aspects

Eldar are something I am sure that many people are waiting for any word on, so this little gem appeared. The highlight in my book is the 2 additional aspect warrior types and the plastic vampyre.


Please remember that these rumors are very early still, so please take with a some salt.

via RandomThoughts

Eldar Storm Guardians come in boxes of 8 with a min of 10...

response from ghost21
expect it to change(unit size); 8 to a squad min

via ghost21
plastic vampyre,
solitare,
dragon riders,
possibly exodite character
and 2 additional aspect warrior types

I think the plastic Vampyre is an viable option or even a super heavy tank of some sort.  Given the rumors that 6th edition will have super heavy rules as part of the main book, it makes sense to have at least 1 super heavy for the races that have vehicles of a decent cost in plastic.
Storm Guardians seem viable as a re-release but since they sell them now unless they are redesigning the guardian models it makes no sense.
I think additional Aspects can be assumed.  I would think Shadow Specters or 2 Aspects which share a new plastic kit would make sense from a model release perspective.
The Dragon riders and an Exodite character harken back to Rogue Trader and 2nd edition.  If GW wants to sell models we can expect new units and since we have not seen a lot of Exodites at all this I think is viable.  Also given the rumored focus 6th edition is going to have on the Eldar expanding on the race makes sense.
This would also lend some credence to the return of everbodys favorite 2nd edition killing machine the Harlequin Solitaire.  If its the end times I can see the Harlequins getting a face lift and the Solitaire being put back in.

So next time I will have an update about the Kabal Of Da Big Teef.  I have some pictures of my half done Battle Wagon and the 80% complete "TruK".  I have an Idea about doing some "Orkubi", we will see if I can make it work.

Until then...............

Blood Runs, Anger Rises, Death Wakes, War Calls!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My First Game of Fantasy: Ogres vs The Stormlords Bretonians

Well I finally got in my first game of fantasy battle. The Stormlord finally finished his senior thesis and was fiending for a game of Warhammer Fantasy. He is slowly absorbing the Necron codex planning for my annihilation at the hands of his metal warriors. He brought his noble Bretonians lead by the most metal of all Bretonian Lords, Lord Kilmister. Rather than using my small collection of high elves OST let my use his Ogres. The Stormlord wanted to do a 2500 point game so it was logical to use the ogres since I don't have that many point of high elves yet. Sadly my first game did not go well.

I had the Imitative and took the first turn. I set up my big unit of Ogres next to the Iron Blaster with the Unit of Iron Guts on the other side in the center of the table. My Firebelly was put in with the ogre unit while the Slaughter Master was in with the Iron Guts. Thanks to me not paying attention I forgot to set up the 4 man unit of Mournfang Calvary after I had placed the Thunder Tusk on the left flank and the Gnobblar Scrap Launcher, I had 144 points left to fill and ran out of models, on the right flank behind the Lead Belchers.

Lord Kilmister was in the center of the Bretonian battle line His archers where in the right corner while a picket line of spear men formed a protective wall in front of his Damsel and Trebuchet. Two big units of Knights of the Realm flanked the lord with a unit of Grail Knights and the Grail Reliquary next to them.

I marched my units forward trying to keep my distance to avoid the devastating charge of the Knights. The winds of Magic were not kind giving me only 3 power dice. I hit the Ogre unit with Tooth cracker to give them a little more toughness in the event of a charge the following turn. I lined up the Iron Blaster on Lord Kilmister and it hit just short, but the bounce took out the Lord dealing 4 wounds.

This did not dishearten the Bretonians. In fact it really pissed them off. The Knights surged forward. The Grail Knights made a successful charge on the Thunder Tusk The Knights of the realm unit closest to the Ogre unit moved to set up a possible charge next turn. The Trebuchet Fired into the Iron blaster hitting it dead on and dealing 4 wounds. The Damsel was blessed in the magic phase with 10 power dice and cast a spell which sucked 4 ogres and the Fire Belly into the ground and death. Sadly it was also cast with irresistible force so I could not dispel it. The Damsel also survived the miscast. Close combat saw the death of the Thunder Tusk despite the chill aura

The Mournfangs did not arrive from reserve sadly. My Ogre Unit charged the closest Knight of the realm unit While the Lead Belchers positioned themselves to fire upon the other unit of Knights. The Ironguts moved to into position to hit the Knights of the realm unit engaged with the Ogre unit. The Winds of magic were very giving as I got 11 power dice. I tried to hit the Grail Reliquary with the Maw. It was dispelled. So I Hit the Ogre unit with Bullgorger and Tooth Cracker. The iron blaster attempted to stop the momentum of the Grail Knights no bearing down upon it, but only managed to kill 2 with a shot of grape shot. The Scrap launcher was basically useless going wide in its second use.

We went 2 turns basically. The Grail knights slammed into the Iron blaster destroying it while the knights of the realm unit beat down the ogres. The Green Knight hit the board and laid waste to the scrap launcher while the Lead Belchers broke after being charged by the other Knights of the realm unit.

I scooped as I saw no real chance for victory or survival for that matter. The Mournfangs would be mince meat as soon as they hit the board as I could not declare a charge when they arrived and most of the army was fleeing or surrounded.

It was fun and a great learning experience. I made some glaring tactical errors, not spreading out my army more to avoid getting surrounded like I did for one, and I am sure we did some things wrong, but hey it was the first game I have played in 12 years. I will now be building the high elves at a faster rate. I also acquired a nice haul of Orks from The Judge so look for some Kabal of Da Big Teef updates soon.

I am also going to be doing a series on DFG in collaboration with OST. I found 2 campaign packs that were put out by the Temps Fugitives a well known game club in the UK. It was done as a weekend campaign detailing the major battles of the Horus Heresy. The stats and such are not official GW, but OST, Vogrin and I may be running these series of battles over the next 2 months. I am going to start painting the Bike Council I have in primer as well as I build it towards 10 and gearing up for the team tournament at Adepticon.

Until next time...............

Blood Runs, Anger Rises, Death Wakes, War Calls!!!!!!!!!!!

WAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Eldar...Feeling like Tau without reason

I wanted to write a post to help reinvigorate my fellow Eldar players. I still believe Eldar to stand on equal footing with the best of the other armies. so without further interruption I would like to do a comparison  of a simple troops choice, The Dire Avengers.

The true strength of every Eldar unit is how specialized it is. The dire avengers aspect is the first of the many who exemplify my point. The Dark Eldar put up similar number of shots, the advantage is their ability to always wound on a 4, but keep in mind these weapons cannot hurt a tank. Short of a blaster hiding in the squad you have no chance to damage a vehicle. The imperial guard can put up the same amount of shots but have a lack of leadership and their save isn't as good as the dire avengers without upgrading. No marine variant can put up near the same number of shots. The tau are impressive at shooting but they lack the ability to fight in close quarters, worse than dire avengers.

This isn’t a comprehensive list, more of a short list of examples of the comparable units. Many of these units possess the ability to stand up in situations where the dire avengers are rendered useless, but I wish to point out is that the dire avengers can pose a serious threat in the situations they were designed for. Which brings me to the bigger point I want to convey.

Eldar have superb specialization. While this point has its faults, (i.e. a certain lack of versatility) the craft world’ers can still dish out some pain. In the given situations where the aspects where designed to perform.....they still do. The tactics of Eldar involve getting your opponent to do what you want them to do.

The last thing I’d like to point out is some of the units who still stand tall.

Fire Prisms still command respect in every game, not one opponent scoffs at a tank with that much maneuverability and fire power in one package. Eldar battles are won with the devastating fire power these puppies can let loose.

The Wave Serpent is another great unit, no army has both the speed and dependability that the wave serpent rocks out. Energy shielding makes any shot that gets additional dice to penetrate usually find no purchase against the front or side of these fine transports.

The Fire Dragons command respect from every general. There aren’t any squads or even tanks who boast 10 melta gun level weapons at once.

The also have access to the best psychic defense in the game bar none. Even Njal’s staff has the drawback of range.

The Eldar still boast two of the greatest offensive psychic powers, Guide and Doom. These powers are near unrivaled in their usefulness. Doom makes an effective turn into a devastating turn. Guide while slightly more limited makes almost every shot find home.

The psychic power Fortune is the strongest defensive power in the games, Making up for the Eldars lack of durability that comes from toughness 3. This power is most commonly seen on the next unit in my list.

The Warlock Council. Each opponent that decides to deploy against the Eldar expect to see these guys and rightly fear them. High weapon skill, high initiative, decent amount of attacks, good leadership along with the ability to re roll, the scariest non-powered weapon available, high power template shot, and god forbid you encounter these guys mounted up on jet bikes. Versatile and powerful, the warlock council fears little as long as they are fortune’d up.

The last but not least of all Eldar has to offer. The hqs, heart and soul of the army, are powerful indeed. A Farseer is all but required to lead the ancient race into battle. Each Farseer brings the aforementioned powers Should you find yourself in a pickle, bring the big daddy, Eldrad Ulthran. Point for point perhaps the scariest single hq in the game.

This is the list of the things I find to be most important, the units I did not list, while many of them effective have certain drawbacks that couldn’t drive my point as poignantly. I just wanted to point out that the Eldar are not dead yet, just has arthritis now-a-days.

If you feel that I missed a major point from the glorious Craft world Eldar, feel free to help me remind everyone that the Eldar haven’t burnt out yet.

Double Duty

Well looks like I will be multi tasking.  I was invited to be a writer at Dark Future Games.  So in addition to my 40K high jinks here I will also be posting blogs over there.  The Craftworld is still my primary focus though.  I will still be posting articles about tactics and projects.  My other 3 authors will also be posting, especially when the semester is over for 2 of them, tactics and projects about orks, Necrons and Fantasy.

I will be heading up the the FLGS tomorrow night so I hope to have some battle reports and some new conversions done to show off this weekend.

Until next time.....

Blood Runs, Anger Rises, Death Wakes, War Calls!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

WAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!!!!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Well to everybody Happy Thanksgiving from all of us at Craftworld Lansing. I have been busy this week with all the crazy crap that happens in retail, even auto parts, the week of Thanksgiving. I have been busy though rekindling my hobby bug.

Since I am an alternate on Team Deathstar for the Adepticon Team tournament I have been putting together a 1000 points of death starry goodness. I have decided to go with the Craftworlders. I think to make a proper deathstar, the team theme, you need a beefy unit that can take the pain and dish it out. So I have decided to do a project I have been putting off for quite a while now. The Bike Council. I have the Farseer already done. I have begun work on the Warlocks. I have 4 in primer and need to get 3 more jet bikes.

I am using the Chapter House Studios Warlock and Farseer on jet bike conversion kits. I have 6 more to get and I will be ordering soon. Keep your eyes peeled on eBay as I am going to be putting some of my Forgeworld up for sale. I have already sold my Revenant Titan, tear....., and I will be putting up some smaller tanks and Eldar bits I have sitting around gaining dust.

My Ork horde will also be gaining some new models as I continue to build, very slowly, the Kabal Of Da Big Teef. The Judge has made me an offer I can't refuse for some trades. So happy Turkey day. I will post some more pics as I get jet bikes painted. OST really hit the nail on the head when he started his Deathwing. Having an army that is small is easy to transport and a lot quicker to paint.

Until next time...

Blood Runs, Anger Rises, Death Wakes, War Calls!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

WAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

forgeworld to the rescue

Picture From Forgeworld

Forgeworlds newsletter presented a induction to the Phoenix court.....kind of. as it turns out he has already disappeared faster than a wayward primarch.

but we did get some rules to represent him. sporting a heavy three strength seven AP two weapon is nothing to point and laugh about. he has a standard Phoenix Lord stat line and price tag, but instead of being like asurmen who has a invuln and is setup to jump into your opponents face, Irilliyth gains some durability outside of twelve inches with a four up invuln (being a five up inside the bubble).

I don't have much time and my phone doesn't want to edit properly but prepare for a new post about what the Eldar still have to offer that none of the other kids have poached yet

The Hobby Rut: I Has It

I find myself in a rut. Between hellish work weeks, school and a general feeling of laziness I have been unable to get myself out of my hobby rut. I have a backlog of projects just filling up the table. High Elves, Orks and Dark Eldar. I even have Eldar that need some attention.

Since I have been unable to make it up to Lansing and the FLGS I have also not been able to take part in the New Fantasy escalation league at Evolution Games. They are rekindling the hobby portion by doing league games on Fridays and building and hobby nights earlier in the week. Being on the Path of the Outcast sucks. I plan on moving back to the Craftworld, Lansing, this spring.

Until then I am going to get the ball rolling on getting out of my rut. A friend of mine who plays in the area has recently created a unicorn in the form of his Lovely Girlfriend Angela. He is an avid Iron Hands player and I was greatly amused by the fact his new unicorn likes Xenos armies. Green Xenos armies to be exact. She is currently building an Evil Suns Speed freak army. I am always one to encourage new players and people interested in starting in the hobby. Hell it was my job at GW back in the day.

That said we are going to have a designated night we all get together and build and paint models. This is the first step. As I think back, when I first got back into the hobby the two motivating factors were a good FLGS to play at and one night a week The Stormlord, Mr. O, Mrs Stormlord and I all painted and put models together as a group. There were snacks and refreshments, lets face it hobby night is always better with a pint, and good times were had. This is how I got 5000 points worth of Eldar painted in 4 months. I think its easier for people to work on stuff like this when its a social gathering. You can show off stuff and get advice from more experienced hobbyists. It also distracts you if you have some sort of aversion to painting.

So A new hobby night is going to be instituted here in Ypsilanti. I plan on carrying the tradition back with me when and if I move back to Lansing. Its time I got back to my roots. I started this whole crazy hobby by simply collecting and painting. I guess its time I get back to that. Getting back to the fun aspects always helps recharge your batteries. I hope to have some pics once the first night has happened.

Until then....

Blood Runs, Anger Rises, Death Wakes, War Calls!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We Are Ancient: The Eldar Are Showing Their Age

Well its bee a crazy week, thus my late week post. Work has been crazy and I had ASE testing this week, but I digress. I played in the “End Of Days” tournament last weekend at Evolution Games in Lansing. Sadly Vogrin and I were not at table one at the end of the tournament like last year, granted we won the last partners tournament so no big in retrospect. We went 1 and 2. We faced some some rather creative lists and unit combinations. My favorite was a Warboss and Nob deathstar flying into the fray in a Storm Raven by Craftworld Lansing’s newest contributor BigMek SkrapKlaw. Yes there was even a Def Dread in tow.

I am not writing about the tournament though. The tournament did get me thinking though, as did the release of the Necron Codex the same day. That thought was that the Eldar Codex is now the oldest. Before you start pointing out that the Tau or Dark Angels are older, remember they got an update in the FAQ that was quite substantial, especially in the case of the Dark Angels.

I was feeling the age of the Eldar codex in the tournament and while reading about the new atrocities the Necrons can unleash upon the battle field. Despite Eldar still doing decently well in tournaments across the world, I ask the Question, How much longer are they going to actually be competitive?.

I have been playing the Eldar for a long time, as long as I have been playing 40K in fact, and I have never seen them not be able to kick some major butt. The butt kicking is on a major decline, and victory is very costly anymore. Between the high point costs and nerfing of certain weapons and powers in 4^th edition I am dismayed by how much I have to work for a victory against a solid player, or even a mediocre player at this point.

Maybe I have grown use to winning consistently with the Dark Kin. The Dark Eldar have their faults, but they are a solid codex and very competitive. I can overcome the weak areas fairly easily. This is getting harder and harder with the Eldar. I am looking forward to 6^th edition purely for the fact the Eldar will be at the forefront. This and the return of Chaos. I know OST is looking forward to that.

So I think I am going to shelf the Craftworlders for a while as I contemplate their place and await 6h edition and a new codex. The Dark Kin are going to finally get the paint job they deserve. I think I am going to really start working on my Orks as well. I am now in no hurry. Financial issues have assured that I will not be playing in the GT at Adepticon. I will still get the army painted and ready just in case, but my focus will be on building a small force for the Team tournament as I have been asked to be an alternate on Team Deathstar. Samsquatch Monster, Lord Solar Steve and The Judge from DFG are 3 out of the 4 members. I am hoping to be the 4^th.

So I am finally going to build a Seer Council on bikes for my Deathstar. This will be a side project as I work to get the Dark Kin painted. Snow has finally hit the ground here in Michigan so its painting season.

Until next time..............

Blood Runs, Anger Rises, Death Wakes, War Calls!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

WAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!!!!!!!!!!!

Imhotek... Imhotek... IMHOTEK!!!

I finally got my mitts on the new codex. Already, everyone is bitching about how overpowered the Necrons are now, and how cheesy the army is, and blah, blah, blah... I say it's about time that the Necrons became a competitive army again!

The first thing that struck me was the reduced point costs. Last time I played the Necrons, SeerK handed me my butt. The reason I bring this up is the fact that I had 36 models in my army, while he had over 75. Now model counts will be more in line.

I am a little confused about the new "we'll be back" rule. Now, by themselves, resurrection protocols and the everliving make sense, but what confuses me is why most IC's and HQ have BOTH powers. It would seem that the everliving would make the resurrection protocols superfluous... Maybe there is something I am missing in the reading.

The new weapons are pretty boss. Having the tesla weapons do an additional 2 automatic hits for every 6 rolled on the to hit roll is beefcake.

The Monoliths became a little bit less powerful. The portal gained some power in the fact that a unit does not need to be within 18" to be pulled thru, however, it can no longer pull a unit put that is engaged in combat. Fair enough, that tactic was pretty dodgy.

Resurrection orbs now only affect the unit they are with, giving their resurrection protocols roll to a 4+, and not any model within 6". I'm kinda sad to see this, but there can now be multiple orbs out on the field now with the royal court. We will see how this shakes out.

And my last thought for the day: Imhotek the Stormlord - Baller at large

I was already enthralled with the fact that I had a namesake to put in my army, but damn. Humiliating defeat makes that model so sweet. (if a model loses his last wound to Imhotek, you get to add d3 additional hits to add to your combat result). This is gonna make him a hand to hand beast. Then his superior strategy makes him seize the initiative on a 4+. Finally, the Stormlord makes the first round night fighting and has the ability to keep this effect up.

Well, that's it for now. I am typing this on the blogger app, and it's making my thumbs sore.

I need to stew on the scarabs. I think with their new rules I can think of some really heinous uses for them.

-Stormlord

Necrons Awaken!: SeerK's Thoughts On The New Codex

I am writing this live from Evolution Games.  I have in my hands the New Necron Codex.  Although there will be buzz around the net like crazy for weeks to come I wanted to add my two cents before The Strormlord Hijacked the blog and went to town on the new codex.  Where to begin.

I have to say it was a major overhaul.  Previously Necron players were faced with very limited choices, especially in the troops department.  Now Immortals are in the troops slot alongside warriors.  The other slots have expanded like crazy.  So here are my top 5 choices of my favorite additions.

First lets get to the one that may seem benign, but will play a part in strategy for Eldar and Grey Knight Players.  Tomb Spiders, or Canoptek Spyders as they are called now, work slightly differently.  They ass a base of scarabs to an existing unit and, much like the Tervigon, will cease to produce swarms with a roll of a 1.  It also has a vehicle repair ability much like the Ork MeK.  Weapon destroyed and Immobilized results can be repaired on a roll of 4+ thanks to the addition of a Fabricator Claw Array for 10 points.  The real bump out of left field though is the Gloom Prism upgrade.  Psychic powers that target the Tomb Spyders or a unit within 3" may be nullified on a 4+.  So basically you have a defensive psychic hood.  Offensive powers or powers like Doom can be nullified as long as they target the unit.  I can see some arguments arising over the wording on this.

The next bit involves a unit that should have been cool in the last codex but kind of rode the fail boat. Wraiths.  These guys have been beefed up.  They now sport a 3+ invo save, are jump infantry, they automatically pass dangerous terrain tests and ignore difficult terrain.  They are also 2 wounds now and have the rending rule.They are only I2 now, but you can take more than 3 in a unit now.  It has doubled to 6 in the unit.  Add in the fact they now have Lash Whips, whip coils, and you have a pretty effective unit.

Number three is the Entropic Strike rule.  Any unsaved wounds caused by a weapon with this rule cause the model that took the hits to loose its armor save for the rest of the game.  Any hits inflicted on vehicle cause it to loose a point of armor on a roll of a 4+.  So basically units like Canoptek Scarabs can just fly into a vehicle and eat it.  Anybody who says this codex does not have enough anti tank is a damn fool.  There is plenty of anti tank to go around besides this little treat.  A full unit of scarabs is 10 bases.  Thats 50 attacks on the charge.  I am not a math guy but that sounds scary.  somebody good at mathhammer calculate 50 attacks hitting then also "wounding" on a 4+

The next favorite is a new unit.  The Triarch Stalkers.  So we have a nice walker with living metal, move thru cover and quantum sheilding.  Not only that but is has a heavy 2 multi melta.  He can also tag a unit, marker light style, when he hits a unit and all other units shooting at it count as twin linked.  This is a nice elites choice, although Necron players are now faced with several choices in each slot so I see some major decision making, but also major flexibility with the the codex.

The last of the top 5 is another new unit.  The Night Scythe.  This supersonic transport can carry 15 models.  It can also carry jump infantry ( counts as 2 models) and jetbikes ( counts as 3 models).  So you can actually carry a unit fo 5 jetbikes in this thing.  Necrons now have a Jetbike unit, Tomb Blades, which look to be able to really cause some trouble.  On a side not the Tomb Blades have an upgrade which boosts their BS to 5.  Can anybody say Eldar Crystal Targeting Matrix.


There is a ton of stuff i want to talk about, but I want the Stormlord to have first dibs.  I now leave you to prepare for the End of Days tournament.  I have a list to hammer the kinks out of.  I will post the results tomorrow after Vogrin and I win.


Until then...........



Blood Runs, Anger Rises, Death Wakes War Calls!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


WAAAAAAAAAAAGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The "End Of Days" Is Nigh: DFG's End Of Days Tournament

Well this Saturday Dark Future Games will be holding its 2nd annual "End Of Days" partners tournament at Evolutions Games in Lansing.  Vogrin and I will be attending.  I am breaking out the Craftworlders with some Dark Eldar back up while Vogrin will be bringing the guns of the Imperial Guard with some Grey Knight support.  Psychic domination is assured.

 I have find the concept of the tourney pretty cool.  You each get 1250 points to work with.  You both use the same force org chart with the addition of 1 HQ slot.  You both may take one unit that is from a different codex.  You cannot take a unit from your partners codex nor can you both take the extra unit from the same other codex.

I think there will be 3 or 4 missions that are multi tier.  I wrote the core for one of them so we will see how it got changed to fit the scoring structure.  So I hope to see some of you there Saturday.  I think dice start rolling at 11 am. 

Until then...

Blood Runs, Anger Rises, Death Wakes, War Calls!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Finally, GW opens up about the new Necrons.

This morning I woke up to a pleasant surprise in my inbox, the official GW release about the new Necron army.

Click here to see GW's advance order page, featuring some pretty awesome codex artwork, and a look at a few of the reissues and kits that haven't been leaked.

I'll post more of an in depth review as I see the models in person, and when I get my hands on a copy of the codex.

-StormLord

Quick Edit: I noticed going through GW's site the follwing things:

- Pariahs are gone... Maybe Lichguard now?
-Immortals/Deathmarks are listed both as Troops and Elites
-The new flayed ones look SWWWWWWEEEEEEEEEEETTTTTTTTTTT!!!!!
-C'Tan are now ELITES, not HQ

0_o

-SL