Air Superiority and the Sky Hunter

Continuing my painting for NWG, as is usually the case one of the first models I finish is always the one I'm unsure of. In this case I am referring to the Crimson Hunter. Now don't get me wrong, in every game I've played it has survived despite the internet's "wisdom" that an AV10 flyer won't survive its arrival on the board, and has gotten some sweet kills, but it's the one unit in the army that hasn't had that umph factor about it, whether that was bad luck from some late reserve rolls, a fluff of shots in one game, or something else entirely.

Now all that being said, it is a unit that makes me feel very comfortable with my army despite all else, because if there's one thing my army absolutely struggles with it's Storm Ravens, in particular Grey Knight ones which make my Seer Council disappear (and they thought they were the ones pulling the tricks). Unlike other flyers as you know, the Raven is AV12 all around, so no jumping into rear armour shots, and not an easy kill even for mass S7. All in all, a pickle that 4 S8 AP2 shots with re-roll against armour solves. The problem is it only solves it if it gets to shoot at all, which of course might be a long shot if the Hunter comes onto the board before the Raven.

As such, I'm thinking of trying out the Nightwing for this army, since this event is Forge World friendly. It has a similar weapon load out, just replacing the Pulsar for two Shuriken Cannons. This makes it better overall but slightly worse at taking on flyers like the Raven. The big pull for the Nightwing however is that it is cheaper and can get a 2+ jink in order to stay alive. Also, I plan on converting one from a Razorwing, so that would be another conversion for painting points, though this is assuming the TO allows me to convert a Forge World unit from non-FW parts.

Anyway, I just wanted to muse out loud on that topic for a bit, and feel free to comment. But the part you probably want to see more are the pics of the finished Crimson Hunter, so here they are; enjoy.

A Study in Purple - ABF 2013 Begins

Battle Focus, Bladestorm, Serpent Shields, Holo-Fields; these are just some of the many things that came to us via the release of the new Codex: Eldar two months ago, and as a long time Eldar player I was ecstatic reading to book and confident in taking my army out of storage. Given that the army had been in a box for about two years and with the NWG tournament, which focuses heavily on painting, coming up in only a few weeks, I decided that the army would get a whole do over paintwise. I also added a couple of new models to modernise it.

Over the next two months leading up to NWG on September 28th, I am going to be chronicling my Eldar army as it progresses and prepares for two days of battling enjoyment, and the yearly Anyone But Frank (ABF) challenge. For those that may not remember since last year, Frank is one of the players on this side of the pond well known for his dynamic and enthusiastic painting projects, which happened to be winning him the painting prize at NWG year in and year out. Last year somebody claimed that it would be great if 'Anybody But Frank' won this year, and so Frank and the organisers came up with the ABF challenge. The challenge consists of a pledge to paint a new army and the standards include conversions, themed basing, and display boards. Last year I rocked out with Draigowing Grey Knights and actually won the challenge, so this year me and my space elves are back to try and take two in a row.

So enough talking, let's get to the actual painting. I decided on a purple colour scheme (shocker right), since doing my Eldar was putting my CSM on hold, and let's face it, I LOVE painting purple for some reason. I went and found an online painter and came up with this.

What you don't see here is the complimentary colour to the purple which will be added via weapons which is a Snakebite Leather based bone colour. So in order to show it to you I've had to go ahead a finish a model ahead of the pack so SPOILER ALERT, here is the first finished model (minus basing). On that note, the basing theme will be Eldar runes, so they will all be in greys with more green flock for similar contrast to the Spirit Stones, and will have plenty of ruined bits added.

Of course this is now, but I actually started a few weeks ago while working on my original list (it has changed a bit since then; will be posting the list in progress next time). At that pointed I decided to not lag behind on progress this year and just lined everything up, sprayed, basecoated, washed, and highlighted, all at once, so here are some progress shots of the last few weeks to tide you over while I get back to work. Stay tuned for my updates.

Deathly Deja-Vu - Conclave Game 5 & Conclusion

So as I mentioned at the end of the last report I was going into game 5 of Conclave with a very strong footing, and was set to face Gearoid again for the last round. If you want to see Gearoid's list again, you can find it two posts back in the Game 3 post.

Now the thing here is, we ended up on the same table, with the same opponent, on the same side, with the same spells, and after deployment it looked very similar as well. As such, I decided not to make maps and do a full report of this one as it may be a bit stale given that you've essentially read half of it already, but as a quick summary of the game.

 - Terrorgheist went after the Daemon Prince again early on and once again left him with one wounds. He took two Chariots for his trouble and got pulverised.

 - Vampire Lord slammed into the Warriors in turn 2 and picked of two characters and eventually the entire unit over a few rounds of combat.

 - The Chimera and Crushers did much of the same again, except this time it worked in the Vampires' favour with the Chimera getting tarpitted in skellies for half of the game and the Crushers killed by Horrors. Horrors then hit Throgg and co', a fight the Horrors narrowly won in the end thanks to a flank charge from the same Skellies that later tarpitted the Chimera.

 - The DP managed to survive the Terrorgheist scream as mentioned and went on to carve through all the Zombies and Corpse Cart to get his wounds back.

 - The game ended with a two turn dual between the DP and Vampire Lord which the Vampire just managed to win in the last turn. He, the Chariots and the Chimera were the only models left standing, resulting in a 10-10 draw.

At the end of the tournament I ended up in 1st place by 20 points. You will notice of course that that means that I was already winning going into the last round, which is why the game was so chaotic. The simple fact was based on the points going into Game 5 I was guaranteed to win the tournament so instead of playing balls to the wall competitive myself and Gearoid decided to just have a proper fun fight and see what's left standing at the end. It is incredibly enjoyable and a great way to end a tournament; certainly one of the most fun games of Warhammer I've had in a long time.

As for the list, I wouldn't change a thing, as every unit performed admirably all weekend. The Chimera was easily the man of the weekend for all he achieved, and though the Warriors did relatively little, I can't see the list being right without them.

To top off a great weekend my Throgg model which I entered into the Fantasy catagory of the painting competition was voted as the winner and so I got to go home with two awesome trophies as well as some others prizes and freebies. Couple that with 5 great games of Warhammer and there really was nothing to complain about; Conclave 2013 was a blast and I will definitely be back next year.

Back in Black - Conclave Game 4

After a night of beer and board games I got a good night sleep and geared up for day 2. As previously mentioned, I was set to play a 5 point nasty Dark Elf list, meaning all the tricks but a points advantage for me. The list was roughly as follows.

Dreadlord
Heavy Armour, Sea Dragon Cloak, Shield, Great Weapon, Pendent of Khaeleth, Crown of Command, Dark Pegasus

Supreme Sorceress
Level 4 Shadow, Sacrificial Dagger


Death Hag
BSB, Cauldron of Blood, Rune of Khaine

Master
Extra Hand Weapon

Sorceress
Level 2 Fire, Black Dragon Egg


40x Spearmen
Full Command, Shield

30x Corsairs
Full Command, Extra Hand Weapons, Sea Serpent Standard

20x Crossbowmen
Shields


20x Black Guard
Full Command


Hydra

The one weakness I could immediately see in this list was the lack of chaff. Without subtlety and with a 4 point lead going in, I knew I could opt not to engage and take some easy points if I felt unable to handle the opposition. As such I took full advantage of the scenario and my army's speed and deployed defensively in my corner, intending to make Dave come to me. Since this was Meeting Engagement we had to roll for reserves, with my BSB, my Sorcerer, and his Crossbowmen all going into reserve.

For magic I rolled the three sniper spells and Purple Sun, with Miasma support, while Dave got Miasma, The Withering, Pendulum and Mindrazor, with Fireball and Flaming Sword in support.

Turn 1

Taking first turn I immediately moved my BSB and Sorcerer on into their unit, which has been deployed in wait. Everything else shuffled a bit to make more room bar the DP who swung out east to try and snipe the Dreadlord early, however he failed in this endeavour.

In a similar move the Dark Elves moved forward heavily, bringing the Crossbowmen onto the field, and tried some magic but to little effect.

Turn 2

I moved some Hounds out to bait and/or slow down the Corsairs and Hydra while I flew the DP over the Dark Elf lines to threaten his back field and try to snipe the Dreadlord again. I also moved the Warriors into the building. Everything else continued to shuffle about to prepare for the following turn.

Once again magic did nothing and so we moved onto Dave's turn. He declared the first charge of the game on the baiting Hounds who fled from the Hydra, reducing it to moving only 5" this turn. Everything else kept moving forward with the Dreadlord and Cauldron favouring the left flank. In magic Dave got off Flaming Sword on the Corsairs, but that was all.

Turn 3

Forgetting that they have Flaming Sword on I charged the Gorebeast Chariots both into the Corsairs and despite the long distances both made it in. I knew I was susceptible to a Hydra counter-charge, but I reckoned my Chariots could take it, and for insurance I put the Chimera in wait. I also took the opportunity to try a charge with the DP into the Cauldron and managed it. With the Black Guard close I tried to set up a trap whereby he could either charge me or be stuck by surrounding him with Warriors and Trolls and baiting him with hounds. I sent the other Hounds and Crushers after the RXBs.

Magic fluffed again. In combat one of the Chariots took 3 wounds from the Corsairs, but they collectively did 8 back, though they would have done more had I remembered that Warriors have 2 attacks each. The Corsairs held and awaited the Hydra support. Elsewhere the DP took 3 wounds from the Cauldron for none in return.

The Hydra counter-charged finally while the rest of the army tried to deal with the threats I had put forward. Dave used the Dreadlord to bail out the Black Guard by blocking off the Warriors and the Spears turned to face the DP. In magic I allowed the dropping of my Trolls toughness in order to stop the buffs on the Corsairs. In retaliation the Sorceress cracked the Black Dragon Egg and killed a Troll with her breath weapon. In shooting the RXBs wiped out the Hounds.

Reminiscent of the last combat the Hydra did 3 wounds to the Chariot but the Chariots did enough to lose only by 1 and they both held. In the centre however the Dark Elves did not fair too well as the DP killed the Cauldron.

Turn 4

The Crushers finally made their attack by charging the RXBs, and the Chimera counter-charged the Hydra in the flank. I backed the Trolls and Warriors off to be ready to fight the Black Guard soon while the DP flew in behind them to have options.

Magic finally paid off as the DP killed the Dreadlord with sniper spells. The Chimera only managed one wound on the Hydra but took none in return and with the Chariots' continued massacre of the Corsairs the Hydra broke, though the Chimera failed to catch it. The Crushers up north managed to kill 12 RXBs but they rolled insane courage and held.

The Black Guard finally made their move, charging the Hounds. Knowing the Hounds would flee they redirected into the Warriors. I fled with them too, getting all units past the safety of the building, leaving the Black Guard open to a Troll flank charge. The Spearmen continued to move up slowly.

In magic the Sorceress managed to get off a Pendulum that struck the Chimera but he passed his Initiative test. In combat Chaos finally moped up with the Corsairs and Master destroyed, and the RXBs ran down. The Crushers went off the table after them while the Chariots reformed in either direction.

Turn 5

Thankfully the Warriors rallied, though the Hounds continued off the board, just in time to see the Trolls fail a stupidity check and lumber forward. The Chimera and a Chariot charged the Hydra once again as everything else repositioned.

In magic the Black Guard has their WS reduced, and in combat the Hydra took some more wounds and broke once again, though once again he outran he pursuers.

In the Dark Elf turn the Black Guard finally got t grips with the Trolls, taking advantage of their failed Stupidity check. The Hydra elsewhere failed to rally however and continued to run. The Sorceress managed another Pendulum that hit both the Chimera and the Chariot this time, but it only resulted in two wounds on the Chimera. She also managed to reduce the Toughness and Weapon Skill of the Trolls who looked to now be in for a brutal fight.

Brutal was correct, as 3 Trolls, the Sorceress and a lot of Black Guard fell, though the Trolls just won it thanks to Throgg's overkill.

Turn 6

Unfortunately for Dave that would be his last chance as I charged the Chariot into the Black Guard's flank, and chased the Hydra off the board elsewhere. I tried to snipe his Level 4 for magic but failed and wiped all but one Black Guard in combat.

In the last turn that Black Guard fell as the Sorceress failed to kill the Chimera with the Pendulum once again.

Conclusion

There's not too much to say; Dave played a good game but his SCALE let him down right from the start, allowing me to play cagey and leave the fight until late in the game. It helped that my DP's magic was the perfect answer to his PegLord as well.

In the end he only had my Hounds while I had all but one unit and character. As such despite SCALE I still got a 20-0 putting me in a solid standing going into game 5, where I would play Gearoid again but this time in a straight battleline.

Stay tuned.

I Am Become Undeath - Conclave Game 3

Sorry for the wait for game 3 folks; with all the preparations for Brocon the last few weeks, not to mention the event itself, I've been up the walls busy and had no time to write reports. As such the rest of them might be a little less than accurate.

I was heading into round 3 strong on two 19-1 wins, and was set to face fellow club mate from the Limerick Dice Chuckers, Gearoid Madden, and his Vampire Counts. Unfortunately for me this was my army's weakest match, Blood and Glory. However fortunately enough it was Gearoid's as well, though his army definitely had the edge going in.

Vampire Lord
Level 1 Vampires, Zombie Dragon, Red Fury, Quick Blood, Ogre Blade, Enchanted Shield, Heavy Armour


Vampire
Level 2 Vampires, Great Weapon, Fear Encarnate

Necromancer
Level 2 Vampires, Corpse Cart

Wight King
Armour of Fortune, Shield


~30x Skeletons
Spears, Light Armour, Full Command

~30x Skeletons
Light Armour, Full Command

~30x Skeletons
Light Armour, Full Command

~30x Zombies


6x Crypt Horrors
Crypt Hunter


Mortis Engine

Terrorgheist

The way the scenario worked for the tournament was that the game lasted 6 turns and the first person to break their opponent would get a bonus 500VPs. Both myself and Gearoid had 5 fortitude each with solo generals, meaning that overall my Daemon Prince was worth 1100pts in this game, and his Vampire Lord was worth ~1200pts, at least the first one to die was anyway. Unfortunately he had a Terrorgheist and I had no sure-fire way bar Purple Sun to take out his Lord.

I rolled up Spirit Leech, Caress of Laniph, Fate of Bjuna and Purple Sun for the Prince, with Miasma for the Sorcerer. Gearoid had Invocation on all of his wizards, with Van Hels also on the Necromancer and Hellish Vigour on the thrall Vampire.

Important to note before I display the maps is that unlike previous reports my army will be fighting from the North rather than the South for this report, as it is easier to import the previous game's terrain in Battle Chronicler rather than manually recreate it.

Turn 1

Gearoid's army surged forward in the first turn, though being cautious of the left flank's heavy combat units. Magic did nothing, however a Terrorgheist scream took out a Chariot. Nothing panicked and the first Vampire turn ended.

Though I had deployed the Daemon Prince out of range of the Terrorgheist to begin, now that it was closer I sent him into sniping range to try and take it out before it could do much damage. I tried a longish charge on the Mortis Engine with the Crushers to (a) get rid of the regen. buff on the Horrors and (b) get the Crushers into the VC backfield where they would be safer than on front of his units. The Trolls failed stupidity even with a re-roll and the Warriors advanced toward the building using the Hounds to keep them safe.

In magic a lot of power dice ensured the Daemon Prince managed to get off at least Spirit Leech, however even with Ld9 against Ld4 the Terrorgheist only took 1 wound and things began to look grim.

Turn 2

Taking their change the Engine and Horrors pounced on the now exposed Crushers. The Terrorgheist moved out to the flank ready to try and take out the Daemon Prince from a safe position. With nowhere to go the Vampire Lord held his position as back-up and a unit of Skeletons hit the building. Everything else shambled.

Magic didn't help once again, and though powerful, the scream only did 3 wounds to the Daemon Prince. Combat didn't go much better for the undead as the Crushers, though losing one of their numbers managed to survive and win, leaving only 4 Horrors left and 3 wounds on the Engine. The counter charge would now be painful.

The Chimera immediately took up the counter charge into the Mortis Engine. On the other flank the Daemon Prince charged straight into a unit of Skeletons looking to get some wounds back in combat, and a unit of Hounds went in with him so the Warriors could charge the building. The last Chariot backed up to threaten the Terrorgheist, or at least distract it, and the Trolls elected to stay out of the Engine combat as overkill was not on the menu.

Magic failed rather miserably this time around though combat was quite a bit more brutal. On the left flank the Chimera and Crushers saw off the Horrors and Engine, which killed nothing on the way out bar a few Zombies. The Warriors failed to wipe the building completely unsurprisingly, but thanks to their flaming banner but a sizeable 18 models dent in the unit. On the other flank the Hounds and Daemon Prince did the same however the Daemon Prince's Soul Feeder failed to work.

Turn 3

The Zombies tried a charge on the Hounds but failed, bottle-necking the Vampire lines. Instead of taking the Hounds bait to try and get at the Warriors the Lord instead took a more tactical approach and fly behind them knowing that they didn't have the room to turn around. Elsewhere the distraction for the Terrorgheist worked and the Corpse Cart hugged the building.

As was the case with every magic phase for either side for the rest of the game, nothing happened, and in shooting the scream killed another Chariot. In the combat the DP and Hounds killed the Wight King and got the Skeletons down to the command group, but still no wounds back for the Prince.

In order to get away from the Vampire Lord the Warriors charged the building in a last ditch effort to storm it, thus relieving themselves of the pressure of a potential rear charge. The Chimera charged into the flank of the Zombies, and the Crushers restrained in order to play it safe and instead move further away from the Lord. The Trolls failed another stupidity check and shambled forward while Hounds did their Hound thing.

The DP combat finally ended in defeat for the VC, though through all of it the DP didn't regain a single wound from Soul Feeder. The Chimera chewed through about half of the Zombies, and though there were quite a few still to go, the Warriors managed to take the building, getting exactly enough kills needed to wipe out the unit and Vampire within.

Turn 4

The Vampire Lord charged the building none-the-less, though he angled himself so as the threaten the left flank. The Necromancer chanced his arm with the Hounds, hitting them in the flank to try and get some points back. The remaining Skellies moved back while the Terrorgheist moved in for the kill...

...which it got, taking out the Daemon Prince and netting Gearoid the bonus scenario points. This was as good as it got for the VC this turn however, as the Vampire Lord was challenge blocked by the unit champion, and though the Necromancer broke the Hounds, he failed to restrain pursuit, and hit the flank of the Trolls.

Seemingly the death of the Daemon Prince just pissed the rest of the army off, as both the Crushers and the Chimera made mammoth max. charges to hit the Skellies and Terrorgheist respectively. The Hounds rallied and the Warriors stayed put.

While the Chimera tore the Terrorgheist apart and the Crushers turns bones to dust, Throgg bellowed a challenge to the Necromancer and subsequently broke him and his Corpse Cart apart by splitting his attacks. Both his unit and the Chimera now reformed to face the Lord, giving him something to think about.

Turn 5

At this point both myself and Gearoid agreed to call it once the Crusher/Skeleton combat had resolved itself as he could no longer commit his Lord to combats alone nor could I catch his lord, so we agreed nothing else was likely to die. So his Lord flew away and the Crushers finished off the Skellies, and that was game.

Conclusion

After the Daemon Prince went down I felt the round slip a bit but the brute strength of the Warriors of Chaos was actually enough to pull me through, and though I lost the bonus points, in the end I only lost the Prince, the Chariots and one unit of Hounds while he had only his Lord left. Thanks to this swing of power I managed a 15-5 win despite the loss of my general first.

There's not a whole lot more to say about this game, partly because it was fairly straight forward for both parties and partly because I don't remember much by now. However this win kept me on table 1 to face Dark Elves the next morning, and a run against the tournament's only 5 point nasty list.

Stay tuned.