Wednesday 31 October 2012

Necron Painting Tutorial - Lychguard

I worked on this for so long... I will guard it with my life.

Hey guys! So, as promised I've made my first tutorial. I decided to paint up a Necron Lychguard as I personally believe that it's an awesome model, but also because it has some fine detail that needs attending to. Just a side note, the pictures included in the tutorial aren't the best of quality, but hopefully they will be good enough to give an idea of what I'm actually doing. Also, all the paints used are from the Citadel range. With that being said, lets begin!

NOTE: Where it says "watered down", I really only put a small drop of water in. Don't water it down too much.


First up, I decided which position I would like my Lychguard to be in, so I played around with it for a little while until I found a position that appealed to me. I also added a brass grate from the 40k basing set, just for good measure.

Next I under coated my model with Chaos Black Spray.


Then, using Leadbelcher I applied a heavy dry brush to all areas I wanted to be metallic metal, this was then followed up with a lighter dry brush of Ironbreaker. To create an underlying tone of rust, I  applied a wash of watered down Null Oil about a 1:1 ratio. Once dry, I applied a watered down wash of Agrax Earthshade, again about a 1:1 ratio. 


Now, with the initial base coating out of the way, it's time to move onto the highlighting! I then reached for Ironbreaker again and applied a light dry brush over the metallic areas. (Be cautious not to apply too much Ironbreaker, as you may spoil the 'rusty' effect. Start slowly and lightly to avoid any mishaps.)


Next, I went for Runefang Steel and with a finer brush applied generous highlights to areas where the light would hit the most. Mainly being the corners and edges.


With the main part of the body all done, it was time to move onto painting the gold. I started with a base coat of slightly watered down Hashut Copper. This was followed by a layer of Gehenna's Gold.


I then applied a wash of Agrax Earthshade over the whole gold area. Once dry, I applied another coat of Gehenna's Gold, but made sure to leave the wash in the recesses. To finish it off, I sparingly highlighted the edges with a 1:1 mix of Gehenna's Gold and Runefang Steel.


With the gold also out of the way, I decided to start work on the Dispersion Shield. The metal and gold were painted in the same way as mentioned above. Because the undercoat of Chaos Black was a reasonably smooth coat, I decided to leave it and not bother painting a layer of black over it. I then moved on to painting the green lighting effects on the edges of the shield. 

This was done using a watered down layer of Warpstone Glow nearly all the way around the edges. To make it look a little more effective, I applied a watered down layer of Moot Green on some of the edges. The ovals between the metal were painted again using Warpstone Glow and Moot Green and were also applied in the same order. I even added a touch of White Scar to the Moot Green, just to make it stand out a little more.


Now, moving onto the sword: this was a little bit tricky. The gold was painted in the same manner as mentioned before. Again, leaving the black from the undercoat I went straight to painting the green power effects on the blade. Using a watered down Moot Green, apply irregular shapes onto the blade focusing more towards the edges. Then, using Warpstone Glow, apply a layer on the outskirts of the irregular shapes. This will be your base coat to work with when you start to blend the paint together. 

To achieve this blending effect, I used a very watered down Moot Green and applied numerous layers, each time trying to create a smooth transition between the two colours. (It is important to note, not to rush this process or else you risk ruining the effect. Wait for each layer to dry until applying the next. It may take a while, but the overall effect will be well worth it!) For extreme highlights, I used a 1:2 mix of Moot Green and White Scar which was applied on the very edges of the blade to finish it off nicely. 

The green light effects on the rod and in the grooves of the blade were painted using Warpstone Glow followed by Moot Green, both of which were watered down.  


Last but not least, the Lychguard's head! Unfortunately I could not get any close up shots of the head as they always came up blurry! But it is still visible in the full body shots I took. So I decided to paint the main part of the head first and leave the gold decoration until last. The white was first painted using a base coat of Ceramite White, I then used White Scar with a tiny drop of Fenrisian Grey and watered it down. I did two layers of this mixture to make it nice and smooth. I then highlighted the edges of the face with pure White Scar. The gold was again painted in the same manner as mentioned above. 

The eyes were painted starting with a layer of Warpstone Green. This was followed by Moot Green, and then mix of Moot Green and White Scar that was applied directly onto the centre of the eye. To create a glowing effect, a very watered down Moot Green was used as a glaze just under the eye.

Final Product



Ready to stomp Zero.

To finalise the Lychguard I picked out his chest glyph and orb using Moot Green. I then based the model to give it some extra detail. So there you have it! One Lychguard armed and ready for battle. I hope this tutorial was of some use to you and please, if you have any comments or questions do not hesitate! Thanks.

Sunday 21 October 2012

Help! My Doomwheels Won't Stop Owning!

Seriously, I had another 1500 game yesterday against a Dwarf player and my Doomwheels wrecked face. Together they destroyed a Cannon, a unit of Thunderers and helped defeat a unit of Long Beards that my Slaves had held up. It may not sound like much, but the only units they didn't have a hand in destroying were a unit of Warriors or whatever the basic Dwarf Core with Great Weapons is called (defeated by some Death Frenzied Skavenslaves) and the Organ Gun (destroyed by the same unit of Slaves).

Bare in mind, I'm not saying I'm the greatest player here, just that Doomwheels are amazing. It's quite frustrating when all the Internet-kings-of-fucking-everything-Warhammer waltz in and declare that a unit sucks because some other douchebag on the Internet said so. Doomwheels are insane, especially at lower points levels, and at higher points levels they have the benefit of being cheaper than Hell Pit Abominations, allowing for a pair of Cannons.

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No more need be said...

That said, my Warpfire Throwers have consistently being doing nothing. They just don't have the time to fire when I'm rushing Slaves in and then Doomwheels into the side, so I've changed my 1500 point Skaven list up a bit and added in some Plague Censer Bearers.

I'm going in the 1500 Fantasy tournament at my store next month to really test out my list. Half of it is still unpainted, so I think my chances of winning overall are quite slim, but it'll still be nice to test out how the list plays in a more serious environment. At 1500 my Skaven are still currently undefeated, but I hardly think that's much to brag about until I throw it against some serious competition. Fingers crossed though!

That aside, I also ordered a pair of Noise Marine Sonic Weapon kits, so hopefully in about a week or two I'll be able to turn my Chaos Space Marines into Noise Marines and start causing some serious headaches.

Hang around and I should be able to get some WiP pics of my Noise Marines in the next couple of weeks.

Wednesday 17 October 2012

So Little Time...

Unfortunately for the past week or so school has insisted on keeping my schedule absolutely packed, leaving almost no time for any real hobby. All I've been able to get done during my weekdays in terms of hobbies and games is posting over on MiniWarGaming and looking into Infinity. Although on the weekend I did get some Fantasy and Magic done, so I'll go into that and Infinity a bit.

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"Doomwheels are so OP"

So on Fantasy first, I had a game at 1250 points against a Vampire Counts player. I didn't get any pictures of the game because I didn't have my camera, but my army was only about half-painted and his was almost entirely base-coated, so I don't think many would care too much anyway...

Regardless, the game was over pretty quick. I ran a Grey Seer, some Clanrats, a unit of Slaves, Warpfire Throwers, Plague Censer Bearers, Doomrocket Engineer and 2 Doomwheels. He slapped down a couple of small units of Zombies, a Master Necro, Vampire, Ethereal Hero thing, Ghouls, Crypt Horrors and a Terrorgheist.

Before the game began he was joking a bit about the Terrorgheist, and one of his friends asked what the leadership of Skaven was. When I told them 5, they both had a good chuckle. They also claimed the thing would just scream away my leadership 7 Doomwheels. I was really looking to end the boasting and show them that Doomwheels are not something to be messed with. And I succeeded.

The game went to turn 3, where one of my Doomwheels got S8 on it's Zzzap! and killed the Terrorgheist. I'd fired my Doomrocket at his Ghouls the turn before and pretty much destroyed them, as well as taking out the Crypt Horrors with a Cracks Call and the Plague Censer Bearers. He conceded with a few Zombies and his characters left, whilst I had my entire army minus the Slaves, one Censer Bearer and one Doomwheel was down a single wound.

If I had a dollar for the number of times "Doomwheels are so OP" or something to that effect was said during and after that game, I'd be a very, very rich man.

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So very, very sick.

Onto Magic: the Gathering. I'm still a complete and utter n00b, but I did get myself quite a large number of games Friday night and Saturday against the friend I started with and my High Elf playing friend who'd started on Saturday himself with a Blue and Red deck. I've currently beat my R/B friend three more times than he's beat me, and it's nice to put a bit of a gap between our win/loss ratios, if just for bragging rights.

I think I've worked out the kind of deck I want to go for, and I'm pretty much just going to follow on with the theme the starter deck I got has. Golgari Growth. I originally wanted a Zombie Graveyard deck, but I'm really liking buffing monsters to huge levels, and the general thematics of the whole deck appeals to me as well. Dreg Manglers and Corpsejack Menaces are easily my favourite cards in my deck currently.

I'm still building on my deck, but we'll get there eventually, and it will be glorious.

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Infinitely awesome.

The last thing I'm going to cover is my interest in Infinity. It looks like an extremely interesting game, and should be one that's quite different to 40k and Fantasy, which should be quite nice. The Factions look incredibly cool, and being a fan of anime and pretty much everything Japanese in general, the style appeals to me even more.

Everything I've heard of the game is extremely positive and it's very cheap to get into (compared to the likes of Games Workshop's games at least), so now it's just down to convincing some friends to grab some stuff with me and I'll be good to go. Naturally, I think I'm going to go with Yu Jing right now, but my opinion may change given a little more research.

As usual, thanks for reading and feel free to give any thoughts and/or advice. I do quite desperately need it for MTG...

Thursday 11 October 2012

The Awakening of Infinite...

Hello everyone! This is my first ever post and I'm so happy to be partnered up with Zero in this blog! But before I go any further, allow me to introduce myself...

Death rises...

I've been into Fantasy and 40k for a few years now and I just love the painting aspect of it. However, that doesn't stop me from wanting to get out on the battlefield and crush that arrogant Zero!

I have recently started a Necron army and intend on completing it in the near future. Hopefully I'll be able to keep you all updated with the process of finishing my shiny new army. As I said, 'I just love the painting aspect of it'. Therefore, intend on creating some painting tutorials as I complete my miniatures, so I can hopefully share some of my painting techniques and ideas!

However, Necrons aren't my one and only army, I also have bits and pieces lying around from other armies including Space wolves, Chaos Space Marines, Dark Angels and Blood Angels from 40k and also Dark Elves and Warriors of Chaos from Fantasy.

Thanks for reading and hopefully I'll be able to get some pictures up soon!

Flakk Missiles vs Autocannons and Quad-gun

In the new Chaos book, Havocs can take Flakk Missiles with their Missile Launchers so they can fire at Flyers with S7 AP4 shots, but is it really worth it over just taking Autocannons and an Aegis Defence Line with a Quad-gun?

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Mathematical!

So two units of 5 Havocs with 4 Missile Launchers and Flakk Missiles comes in at 175 points a unit, or 350 points for the two of them. So you get 8 shots at a Flyer a turn after it has had a chance to shoot you, which nets you 5.333... hits and 2.666... glances and penetrates against AV11, so slightly less than a single Flyer in one turn.

Two units of Havocs with 4 Autocannons are 115 points each, or 230 points together, and then the Aegis Defence Line with a Quad-gun is 100 points on top of that, coming in at 20 points less than the Missile Launcher Havocs. The major benefit of this kit is that you get to shoot at the Flyer when it comes in and before it even has a chance to shoot at you. The Quad-gun being fired at BS4 with TL will get you 3.444... hits alone and 1.7222... glances/pens. Then on your turn the 8 Autocannons will hit 1.333... times, getting you another 0.666... Glances/Pens against the same AV11 vehicle. This all comes out to slightly less glances/penetrates than the Flakk Missiles, but it does come in at 20 points cheaper and gives you vastly superior firepower against transports and other lightly armoured vehicles.

With that all in mind, I think I'll be going for the Autocannon Havocs and Aegis Defence Line every time because while they do slightly less against Flyers, they also cost less, do far more against transports and infantry and the Quad-gun gives you a slight chance to take the enemy Flyer down before it even gets a chance to shoot.

Just some food for thought.

Wednesday 10 October 2012

Heavy Firepower Slaaneshi Foot List

A little bit of background never hurt...

When I started with Chaos Space Marines, Slaanesh was easily my favourite of the gods, and I was looking forward to building a pretty boss Emperors Children Army. But then I found out that Noise Marines and just about all things Slaanesh sucked in the last book, so I turned to Nurgle instead. Then I was going to do some Word Bearers, or maybe a Tzeentch army, but after looking through the new book, neither of those really provided the kind of firepower I was looking for.

So, here we are, all the way back at Slaanesh. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a bit stoked about it.

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HQ - 165pts.
Lucius the Eternal - 165pts.

Troops - 824pts.
9 Chaos Space Marines - Replace Bolters with Close Combat Weapons, Lightning Claw, Gift of Mutation, Melta Bombs, Mark of Slaanesh, Icon of Excess - 200pts.
10 Noise Marines - 9 Sonic Blasters, Blastmaster, Icon of Excess - 267pts.
10 Noise Marines - 9 Sonic Blasters, Blastmaster, Icon of Excess - 267pts.
20 Chaos Cultists - 90pts.

Fast Attack - 350pts.
Heldrake - Baleflamer - 170pts.
3 Chaos Bikers - 2 Meltaguns - 90pts.
3 Chaos Bikers - 2 Meltaguns - 90pts.

Heavy Support - 405pts.
5 Havocs - 4 Missile Launchers, Flakk Missiles - 175pts.
5 Havocs - 4 Autocannons - 115pts.
5 Havocs - 4 Autocannons - 115pts.

TOTAL - 1749pts.

The only unit that I feel is slightly out of place in this list is the unit of combat-oriented Chaos Space Marines, but I don't feel comfortable wasting Lucius's combat prowess with another unit of Noise Marines sitting back.

I also loathe painting vehicles to such an extent that I'd rather gimp myself and not take them than having to spend the few hours to paint them up (the Heldrake being the exception). Luckily, I feel that this edition really favours more bodies on the field than anything and I think it'll hardly be much of an issue, if it is one at all.

Lastly, it should be noted that whilst I said in my review of the codex that 2 Flyers should be taken minimum, I wouldn't be able to take all that I'd like in the list if I did that and I think that it should turn out fine with just one, provided you have the right amount of anti-Flyer. Time will tell I guess...

This is still only a draft for the moment, but it should be pretty close to what I want in the end. Now I just need to get building!

Feedback is welcome as always!

Monday 8 October 2012

Chaos Space Marines Codex Review

Well, here's the review I promised! Hope you enjoy it.

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Huron got a lot better this edition.

Overall
Overall the book is fantastic and there's definitely going to be plentiful styles and builds for both fluffy and competitive armies. The vast majority of the book is easily worth it and even some of the formerly more terrible units make it into the "useable" zone, including Spawn!

The Chaos Boon Table is fantastic and all 3 gods that use psychic powers get their own psychic tables. Throw in a smattering of Chaos Gifts, some cool new rules and units and you'd be hard pressed being disappointed with the book.

The Chaos Vehicles upgrades are also fantastic. Dirge Caster stops enemy units within 6" from firing Overwatch whilst Destroyer Blades allow you to cause D6 S5 hits to a unit when you Tank Shock them.

Named Characters
There's very, very little to be disappointed about in this section, except for the complete lack of anyone new (no Cypher...). All of the named characters are at least better than they were, though the only ones you might see in competitive lists are Kharn, Fabius Bile, Huron and maybe Ahriman (being the only Mastery Level 4 Psyker currently). Though I do suspect someone will come up with an uber-list with Abaddon and a whole bunch of Chosen, but I'd personally leave him to friendly games.

Back to Fabius Bile: he seems very good now. He comes at S5 with 5 attacks and inflicts Instant Death with his combat attacks, while boasting a 18" Poison (2+)  Assault 3 shooting attack. He also has FnP. Unfortunately though, he's still only Initiative 4 and has no Invul. But ultimately, the icing on the cake is that you can make a single unit of Chaos Space Marines in the same army as him +1 Strength and Fearless for absolutely no extra cost and no negative side effects of any kind. Swap out the Bolters on this unit for Close Combat weapons, give the Champ a Lightning Claw and give them whatever Mark you please, plus the Icon if you feel it's worth it, and you've got yourself a pretty brutal unit. Obviously Mark of Khorne and Icon of Wrath are the obvious choices for the unit, making them an absolute machine in combat. The Champ will be hitting with 5 Attacks at S6, AP3 with rerolls To Wound for the first round of combat. Even Independent Characters are going to fear that should you not feel comfortable throwing Fabius himself in there.

Typhus can make Cultists Zombies if you wish for no cost, giving them Slow and Purposeful and FnP, but they can't shoot. There is a dispute over this though, as the rule states that they may not choose any options, and in the new codex extra models are options, so some could argue that as per RAW you cannot take more than the minimum unit of 10. Whether this was intended or not, we'll have to see. I personally don't think it was meant that way, but I'd still advise staying away from Zombies until the FAQ is released.

HQ
Chaos Lords are going to be king in challenges, and considering they must issue them, that's a very, very good thing. Daemon Weapons still hurt you on the roll of a 1 when determining extra attacks, but the new rules for them a very nice. I don't think I'd use any of them outside of friendly games though. Burning Brand of Skalathrax, the flamer Kharn used when he started attacking his own guys, is also an option. It's a S4, AP3 Flamer with Torrent. I like it plenty. Back to Lords though, my personal favourite current combo is Terminator Armour, Sigil of Corruption, Power Fist/Power Weapon/Pair of Lightning Claw and a Mark of Tzeentch. This gives him a 2+/3++ save and some simple but effective armour-cutting weapons. I'll be rocking the Power Fist myself.

Sorcerers are way cheaper at 60 points, and you can get up to 2 more Mastery Levels at 25 points each for a Mastery Level 3 psyker. All of the god-specific psychic tables are absolutely fantastic, though Slaanesh is so far my least favourite whilst Nurgle's 5-6 option is definitely my favourite. It probably depends on the army you're playing and what kind of Synergy you need though.

It is indeed true that Daemon Princes don't have Eternal Warrior and they cannot be T6 with a Mark of Nurgle. Instead they must be a Daemon of one of the gods, which gives them an ability + Hatred (a certain type of Chaos Daemon here, depending on god). Being Flying MC's though, I think they still have their uses, but they are certainly expensive. I'm not so sure about them yet.

Now onto the new guys, the one's most people are probably most curious about. Warpsmiths seem decent, though I'd only run them as a secondary character after a Lord or Sorcerer is in the list, but the Dark Apostles are utterly lame. Yes, it's crushing, but it's the truth. Everyone within 6" gets to use his leadership of 10 and any models in the same unit that roll on the Chaos Boon Table get to reroll the result. Lame. He also has an AP4 weapon, because we totally need help killing those Dire Avengers and Fire Warriors in combat, right?

Troops
So in the troops section we're left with just Chaos Space Marines and Cultists, both of which are fairly cheap and both of which are definitely going to be making it into 90% of non-themed lists. A unit of 10 Chaos Space Marines can just be given a pair of Plasma Guns at 170 points, or you can completely kit them out with Marks, Icons, Special Weapons and all that jazz and reach over 268 points (though anything over that is probably getting into the zone of "retarded-for-the-sake-of-being-retarded" kits) for the 10 of them.

Meanwhile, 20 Chaos Cultists will rarely be costing you more than 120 points. I'll definitely be running at least one unit in every list I make.

Elites
By golly is the Elites section packed. You've got Chosen, Possessed, Terminators, Helbrute, Mutilators, and the 4 Cult units. Obviously you can unlock one of the Cult units as a Troops choice with a Lord/Sorcerer with the appropriate Mark or the appropriate named character, so I guess that's a mostly moot point.


Every single Elite choice is useable. Chaos Terminators with Power Fists cost 2 points less than enemy shooty Terminators and while they miss out on Assault 2 weapons for inferior ranged firepower, they are more accurate and are the superior choice when within 12" thanks to their now 2 TL shots versus the standard Termies still 2 non-TL shots. I think Chaos Terminators are going to be a good option this edition, either with MoT or Slaanesh and Icon for FnP, however I think the Slaanesh and Icon combo is crazy expensive. I'll probably stick to no mark or Tzeentch.

Possessed are great now, but are still crazy expensive, so it makes it hard to justify them outside of friendly games. The Helbrute is the Dreadnought replacement and is actually useable now. Yay! I'm not too taken by the Mutilators because I think I could spend points better elsewhere, but they're still good.

Fast Attack
Too bad you've pretty much got to take those Flyers to be competitive. They are definitely good, but in my opinion it's either 2-3 or none. One will just get nailed way too fast. You could take a Daemon Prince for your HQ instead of one if you wanted and save some points, but I'd just go with those Heldrakes. Luckily you can also give them Baleflamers and dominate infantry like no tomorrow with those S6 AP3 Torrent Templates.

As for the last FA slot, everything is viable. Raptors are essentially the same before, but gain Fear and are only 17 points a piece. Bikers got the same kind of treatment, and 3 of them with 2 Meltaguns is only 90 points. You could make them T6 for an additional 18 points too, if you so choose. They're definitely a solid unit now.

Then you've got the Warp Talons. As I mentioned in my last post about the codex, they work great with the Dimensional Key. They're a bit like Possessed though; they look great, they beat things down in combat like no tomorrow, but they also cost a huge amount of points. Worth taking, but not tournament material.

Heavy Support
Most of the old stuff stayed about the same, maybe getting a little cheaper. The Predator costs more base but the options are much cheaper. Oblits are 5 points cheaper and have access to Assault Cannons but can't fire the same weapon twice. Nothing really worthy of note with the old stuff except the Havocs, who are the first unit who can take Flakk Missiles. They're S7, AP4 Skyfire and you can fire them out of your Missile Launchers. Unfortunately they come at an additional cost, but I have 2 units of 5 Havocs in every version of my list with 4 Missile Launchers and Flakk Missiles. Combine them with 2 Flyers and the sky is yours. They also make taking the Baleflamer over the Hades Autocannon on your BS3 Flyer a much easier choice. Defilers are also better but more expensive.

The new stuff though... Well the Fiends are both fantastic. The Forgefiend can fire 3 S8, AP2 Blasts per turn at 200 points whilst the Maulerfiend is a Walker that moves 12" a turn and is designed to dominate vehicles in combat. It doesn't have any guns, but it'll wreck anything with an AV value that it touches.

All of the Daemon Engines are incredibly survivable with a 5++ save and the ability to regenerate a Hull Point with It Will Not Die.

Conclusion
Absolutely amazing book. Gamers and fluff buffs will be happy alike with the options and versatility available to the Codex. I couldn't have asked for much better honestly.

It'll still be a little time before we work out what will rule the tournament scene and what you shouldn't touch with a 10-foot pole, but we'll get there.

So that's all I've got for now! Thanks for reading through all my waffling and half-finished thoughts.

I know I promised lists, but I'm not even finished yet. It's nearly there though and should be up in the next couple of days. It's a difficult thing to work through though with so many options.

Rhinos are exactly the same, in case you were wondering.

I can't really cover everything properly in the post, so if you have any more specific questions on units, rules or whatever, feel free to ask!

Sunday 7 October 2012

There's a First For Everything!

Today I've had a couple of firsts, the first of which is my first follower, which is definitely a boost. Thank you!

The other is my first game of Magic: The Gathering. I've never really been into card games a whole lot, but I must admit I did have quite a bit of fun and have picked up my first Intro Set.

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This picture gave me an idea for a Wood Elf Forest Dragon conversion...

I picked up the Black and Green set, and have spent a bit of my afternoon checking out how the game works properly and how I build my deck. To be honest I'm still a little stumped, but I'm definitely looking forward to playing some more with my friend and working the game out.

It's quite the departure from table-top gaming, but it's always nice to have something fresh to do!

Anyway, I guess I'll keep the blog up-to-date with my progress on the game and see if I can work out how to build decks properly...

Any advice is definitely welcome.

And just before I go, the Chaos Space Marines Codex review will be up tomorrow should my Internet permit, otherwise it will absolutely, definitely, 100% be Tuesday!

Thursday 4 October 2012

Chaos Space Marines New Codex - First Impressions

I've had a little time to go through the codex so far and check out all the cool new rules and units and whatnot, and I've got to tell you: I'm extremely happy.

I won't do a proper review of the codex until I've actually had more time with the book (some time early next week), but for now I'll just give my thoughts and let you know a few of the things I've noticed.

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If the rest of the 6th edition books are like this one, it will be a good edition.

First of all, the positives. Overall, the book is so far beyond that pathetic excuse for a codex that is Codex: Chaos Space Marines 4th Edition that they're not even comparable. As is typical of anything Phil Kelly touches, the book has some very nice synergy and almost all of the units are balanced if not tournament worthy. A lot of things got much cheaper, like our regular Chaos Space Marines, Lords, Sorcerers and Raptors, while some things did get a bit more expensive, but gained some new rules and things that ultimately justify the cost.

That's not to say that Chaos Space Marines will now be able to horde up, because as far as I can see, the book really is designed for you to personalise your army with fairly tremendous amounts of upgrades and options.

All of the new additions to the book are very nice. The Maulerfiend is a Walker that gets to move 12" and ignores cover, while the Warp Talons cause any enemies within 6" to count as being hit by a weapon with the Blind USR. There's also an item that allows friendly units to not scatter when deep-striking, which has some pretty obvious synergy with the Warp Talons. The unfortunate thing is that the model with the item must have caused a wound in close combat in order to activate the Key, so it does seem a little more like a gimmick than anything, because in a lot of cases your Warp Talons will be in from reserves before you get to activate it. It'd be worth trying out in friendly games though.

Now, there are a few unfortunate things, as with all codecies. First of all, Land Raiders are 10 points more expensive than last edition and gained absolutely no new special rules. Terminators got the same kind of treatment, now costing an extra point each, although Terminators are better this edition of 40k, so I'm assuming that's why they were upped in cost, but I still don't think it was warranted. Dark Apostles are lacklustre at best, which annoyed me quite severely because I was looking to do a Word Bearers army. Maybe I'll just have to run one without the Apostle. Thousand Sons got the shaft once again and Defilers are now 45 points more than before, although they are quite boss...

Despite the few downsides, overall the book is absolutely insane. I'm having a hard time writing lists of 1850 points because I simply can't fit everything I want in.

Check back in a couple of days and I'll have a more in-depth review of the book, complete with a couple of lists and my thoughts on how to deal with what looks like the most likely 6th edition meta!

Tuesday 2 October 2012

Hobbyhammer: Skaven Clanrats and Doomwheel Complete!

So if you scroll down to about 2 posts before this one, you'll know that I'm trying to get 1500 points of Skaven painted up for the local tournaments they run just about monthly. I don't really know why it's at that points level, but that's what it is. The only thing I still need to do is all the spiky bits on the Doomwheel.

Also, I'm no pro painter! These are done to a tabletop standard, and to be honest they're only slightly worse than the best I could do...

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Group shot.

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My first unit of Clanrats

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The second unit.

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Doomwheel side-shot.

Sorry about the poor quality of the shots and lighting, these were just some quick shots to show progress more than anything. Let me know what you think!

Planning For the Upcoming Chaos Space Marines Codex... Why?

Alright, so I've seen a few posts on various internet forums about people building up brand new Chaos Lords, fully kitted and painted in preperation for the new codex, as well as ordering every damn new shiny thing GW drops and so on.

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Because Word Bearers are boss.

Now Chaos Space Marines were my first army, and I'm definitely excited for the new codex. I mean, I've been waiting 2 years to have a book actually worthy of Chaos, and it finally looks like it's here, but I'm not going to build myself an entire new Chaos Lord or order any of the new models until I actually have the book and have mostly worked out my army list. Who wants to kit their Lord wrong and find that they've got to either got to play with him how he is, not happy with how he perfoms in game, or have to wreck your nice paint job removing the incorrect parts and replacing them with what he should have? I certainly don't.

This is a damn expensive hobby, and I for one am not wasting any cash on anything I don't plan on playing with, nor am I going to paint up a model to find that I don't want to use him as is. I think doing up generic CSM squads or Terminators or whatever is fine, because those are some pretty safe options, but I definitely don't think you should be ordering too many toys or building any new Lords just yet.

Thoughts? Comments?