The Witchblade

About a month ago, right in the midst of my work on the ABF 2013 Challenge, Johno of the Wild Serpent blog approached me about doing a joint Eldar blog with himself and another Irish Eldar player, Mike Tangney from Voidhunters, called the Witchblade. Though I was extremely busy at the time, I accepted his offer with the stipulation that I would have to finish my ABF Challenge before contributing anything to the blog.

You guys may also remember that in my last post here, I promised you all a report from NWG. As it turns out, I am still rather busy with other non-game related things, and so don't have time before Gaelcon at the end of the month to write up a full on 5 post battle report complete with maps and images. As such, I decided to make my first contribution to the Witchblade by posting up a brief report on the event.

I would encourage all of you to hit up the Witchblade blog and subscribe, as we will be adding some killed articles over the coming months as we really bring it to its feet. The post I made can be found here, so please, head over, read, comment, subscribe, and all that jazz. Your Craftworld needs you!

NWG 2013 - The ABF Challenge

So NWG has come and gone. Unfortunately I couldn't get a Wi-Fi connection at the event, so my plans to blog direct from there fell through. I can report however that it was an incredible event and was enjoyed by all in attendance (from what I could see).

I will have a full set of battle reports from the event starting tomorrow or Thursday, but for now, I am here to present pics of the armies included in the ABF Challenge (including my own), as well as some of the Fantasy armies and a few game pics. The standard was incredible all around, and it is unfortunate that I only had my smart phone to take pics, as they certainly don't do any of the armies justice, especially the ones that were taken after my flash died.

So enjoy and feel free to comment and even throw your name in the ring to say "that one's mine" if you like. Cheers all, and congrats to the NWG organisers on a top event.

The Final Countdown

How appropriate that the final posting for my NWG 2013 Anyone But Frank challenge is also my 100th blog post. Thanks to all for the support over the years, I intend to keep going.

The last pieces are in place, and not only is the board finished, but it is already gone and on its way to the event as I type. Rest assured however, I took pictures before sending it away, and I must say I am pleased with the results.

I also believe that I promised to share my list. I've been working on it for awhile, and though I only got to practice with this precise build once, I am confident that it is strong enough to go the distance. What remains to be seen is if I can play it to standard.

Farseer
Eldar Jetbike, Singing Spear

5x Warlocks
5x Eldar Jetbikes, 2x Singing Spears

Baron Sathonyx


5x Dire Avengers
In Transport 1

10x Guardian Defenders
In Transport 2

10x Guardian Defenders
In Transport 3

3x Windrider Jetbikes

5x Wyches
Haywire Grenades, in Transport 4


7x Warp Spiders

2x Hornets
4x Pulse Lasers, Holo-Fields


Transport 1: Wave Serpent with Twin-Linked Scatter Lasers and Holo-Fields
Transport 2: Wave Serpent with Twin-Linked Scatter Lasers and Holo-Fields
Transport 3: Wave Serpent with Twin-Linked Scatter Lasers and Holo-Fields
Transport 4: Venom with Grisly Trophies, Splinter Cannon and Night Shields

As you see the list is based around a mini-SeerStar with Baron support. There are elements of Serpent SPAM in there as well, while also having the added kick of the new-an-improved Hornets the lay down some heavy low AP firepower. Grisly Trophies add some reliability to the Council, while the Wyches inside provide an answer (albeit not a great one) to Land Raiders.

Hope you enjoy, and see you all at the weekend. Full army pics on the board to come, live from NWG.

Guardians of Craftworld Yveltal

We're almost there, only one more post away from the completed NWG ABF army (after this post of course). Today I'm just bringing together the last piece of the army, the Guardian Defenders that make up the majority of my Troops.

These guys got a solid boost in the new Codex, getting bumped to BS4. Having Rending attached to their guns was also nice, making them a real threat to elite infantry squads, but more importantly, Battle Focus did a good bit to slightly mitigate the downside of their short range. Now don't get my wrong, they still squish like a bug when you look at them, but if they can get into some solid cover they can hold out due to numbers and return fire, though that being said, they will rarely be a priority target in my list.

Another aspect of building armies that I've never really delved into before, but which helped me immensely when planning my board, was writing the fluff of the army. I normally don't think too much about it, but when making the board I really didn't know what to do, and felt if I knew where the army was coming from and what makes them themselves then I'd know a natural environment to put them in rather than dropping them in 'Generic 40k Backdrop E'. And so Craftworld Yveltal was born.

Craftworld Yveltal is an old Craftworld, and highly secluded. They are an Eldar society that never truly let go of the days before The Fall. Furthermore, over the millennia of battling the Imperium they have suffered heavy loses, and now their Craftworld is dying. Due to these two factors which have heavily effected their lives, the Eldar of Craftworld Yveltal have dedicated their lives to collecting powerful and often unstable energy sources in order to restore their Craftworld to its old glory, with the ultimate goal being to eventually return to their home world and restore it.

The energy these Eldar seek is usually found in abandoned industrial ruins or on lost starships. Most commonly old Imperial Manufactorums and other old buildings of industry are seeked out as they often still contain energy silos that were not removed for one reason or another. When lucky, they may find Eldar ruins, where they know even more powerful energy can be found. As a rule, they try and get in and out quietly and quickly, however should this not be possible no mercy is withheld for any witnesses. The scarce few that have seen these raiding parties and lived to tell often call them Tech Hunters.

The Craftworld Yveltal Eldar prefer to use corsair style hit and run tactics in battle, and heavily favour the use of skimmers and jetbikes, as these are tools that they are used to functioning during their raids. Confidence and precision are defining traits of the Yveltal fighting style, and the energy they acquire is sometimes used in their technology, helping sustain the advanced Holo-Fields they equip to their skimmers. As time goes on, the Craftworld becomes more powerful and more life flows through it. It is only a matter of time before they are ready, and begin the long journey home.

One Skimmed Over the Serpent's Nest

The time is almost upon us; NWG is only 5 days away. That means only 5 days left to paint. Thankfully all I left to do is finish my Guardians and finish my board. Of course if you are keeping track that means that I finished both Wave Serpents this week. Not only that but I also made a big start on the board; right now all that's left is some sand, and then a date between me, the board an some spray cans.

As for the Serpents, I know I normally give a tactical summary of the unit in question, but with Wave Serpents there is not much to say. They are without a doubt one of the top units in the game right now, and there is little subtely to them; they go on the field and say 'fuck you' to cover while showing the enemy what MC Hammer is all about. There really is little more to say that anyone who has faced them or used them wouldn't already know, because they have made that much of an impression on the meta in my opinion.

As for my own Serpents, you have already seen the first one a few weeks back, so now I present the final two, and I swear there are two even if they look that similar. Some close-ups of one of the pilots and turrets as well. Finally, as a teaser, I've uploaded some WIPs of the display board, which should soon be done, so stay tuned for the final army shots and list.

Float Like a Butterfly, Sting Like a Hornet

So I may (or may not) have mentioned before that NWG is a ForgeWorld friendly tournament. Now in past years I've never taken advantage of this fact at all, however this year with the Eldar army being new and an impulse purchase nagging me from the sidelines, I decided to take the opportunity and use a ForgeWorld unit that I may not get to use very often otherwise. Enter the Hornets.

My Hornet squadron is my very first ForgeWorld unit to own, use, or paint ever. I bought them on impulse a while back when they were going cheap on ebay. A few weeks later the new Imperial Armour Apocalypse book came out, and the Hornet update was something to behold. Getting all upgrades dropped to the new Codex: Eldar pricing standards, the Hornets became a force to be reckoned with. I am taking a two 'man' squadron equipped with double Pulse Lasers and Holo-Fields. For a measly 190pts these guys outclass the Walkers I was planning on taking previously by quite a bit.

They boast a decent AV11 defense front and sides like most imperial vehicles, however with Holo-Fields they are getting a 4+ cover save just for moving. They also have Star Engines, so can move flat-out and still fire Snap Shots. This doesn't seem like much until you consider that the unit puts out 8 S8 AP2 shots! With Prescience or Guide on them they should be able to get into squishy side armour and still punch through a vehicle with ease. Similarly, they put out enough firepower to threaten flyers. In fact the only thing they lose over the Walkers is the Lance rule, making the army a bit more susceptible to Land Raiders, but we have Spears and Wyches for that.

What's more, they are amazing models, and were a breeze to put together and paint. As I mentioned above, this is the first ForgeWorld unit I have ever painted, and I am certainly pleased with them. Be sure to let me know what you guys think. I'll have another update soon for the last few pieces of the army, as well as a look at the final list that I settled on. Until then though, stay tuned and enjoy.

Providing Good Council

It's been awhile, but between the hussle and bussle I've managed to get painting in still, and now am sitting on a new update, albeit a quick one.

Today I present my Seer Council, consisting of 5 Jetlocks. When paired with a Farseer and the Baron these 5 add a lot of tactical flexibility to the army as well as forming a mini-deathstar. The Conceal power combined with the Baron gives the whole bar the Baron himself a 2+ cover save on the move, and their other various powers all have a part to play. In the past getting +1 armour save has surely kept my Council alive, +1 strength has seen more than one tank explode, and -3 leadership for the enemy has won me more than one game. The duality of the powers gives perfect flexibility, and the real trick to the Council is learning when to use the Blessings and when to use the Maledictions.

These guys took a bit of time to paint, as I've been rather busy as of late. Because of this there haven't been many updates, so last night I quickly snapped some pics of these guys after finishing them. The pics as such aren't of great quality, but and update is still an update, so here they are. Should have another update soon with my finished Hornets, and hopefully more.