Last two Dark Eldar Cruisers

…and here are the last two Dark Eldar Cruisers.  The Stillborn Promise and the Gift of Discord.

Next: Escorts!

New Dark Eldar Ships and a new hosting site!

The names Osan’gar and Aran’gar come from the Wheel of Time, the names of two reborn Forsaken.  Translated from the old tongue, they are left and right handed daggers coated in slow poison.  Perfect for Dark Eldar.

In addition, next month will mark the 3 year anniversary of The Four Strands.  Due to this, I have finally dumped Godaddy as a hosting site and have moved to Bluehost as they are cheaper and don’t have an ad campaign that is complete ass.  Thanks again to Lexington for moving the site successfully.

Next: two more cruisers, then escorts, and then I can be done with Gothic again!  …until I build another fleet…

Dark Eldar Fleet: The Bliss of Pain

Here’s my first finished Dark Eldar Cruiser: The Bliss of Pain.  It’s not TOTALLY finished due to the fact that I left my varnish at my old place.  Durr.  Here’s the final paint scheme:

-White Primer

-Old GW Ice Blue, which was replaced by the new Layer paint Lothern Blue

-Privateer P3 Turquoise Ink

-Old GW Ice Blue drybrush, replaced by new GW dry Skink Blue (WHICH IS AWESOME.  HOLY CRAP THIS WORKS SO WELL)

-Boltgun Metal for the blades

-Chainmail highlight on the blades

-Vallejo Hexed Lichen (dark purple) for the “windows” and thrusters

-Vallejo Squid Pink highlight for the windows

-Generic black and white for the base

Next: some escorts and I go get the stupid varnish and seal this ship.

Warhammer Fantasy Island of Blood Unboxing

Last Christmas I received the Warhammer Fantasy Battles box set: Island of Blood.  Part of my master scheme to be able to demo as many games as possible.  I hadn’t even looked at the box twice until I got to my new place, but now I have some time, space and privacy.  Here’s my takeaway:

-First I assembled the High Elves.  Fantastic models.  However the join points on some of the models are on a crossguard that is less than 1 mm thick.  I ruined three getting them off the damn sprue.  Two were salvageable, one will have to be rebuilt with putty.  Models went together with ease, but there was a little confusion on the Lothern Sea Guard Musician.  I got it eventually, but an assembly guide would have been nice.

-Next I got the Skaven together.  Also fantastic minis.  At first I thought that I was missing something with the Clan Rats, but some of the long knives look like short spears.  Once I took stock, it made sense.  With some creative allocation I made all the hand weapon Clan Rats have round shields and the spear rats have triangle shields except for the champion.  Some of the clan rats and characters did not want to fit into the slotted base, and required some filing.

-Then I read the Island of Blood intro book thoroughly.  I had ASSUMED that, like the 5th ed 40K box, Assault on Black Reach, actual RULES would be contained therein.  No rules.  This is not a deal breaker.  I have the rulebook and I’m not afraid to read.

Here’s the deal breaker.  No stats.  No army list.  No Special Rules.  No nothing.  You need to buy BOTH the Skaven and High Elf books to play with the Army of Blood box set.  That’s not cool.  It’s advertised as being able to play right out of the box.  Truthfully you get 95% of the way there.  But this isn’t chemistry class.  A 95% isn’t a pass.  If you only get 95% of the way to the moon, you’re stranded in space.  That’s kind of how I feel about this box set.

EDIT: I got the last 5% of the way there!  Check this link.  This has all the missing stats.  The link is NOWHERE in the box, and Google doesn’t put it on the first page, but my friend Andy read the above and remembered this existed.  So, Thank You Andy.  You got us to the moon.

Dark Eldar Undercoat, Wash, and Drybrush

Here’s a work in progress of one of my Dark Eldar cruisers.  Undercoat: Ice blue.  Wash: P3 Turquoise ink.  Drybrush: Ice Blue.

Next: Details!

New Place, New Possibilities

Hi all three of you loyal readers!  You may have noticed that I haven’t updated in months.  I got a new job in the district where I had my old job, and I moved.  BUT now that I’m all alone, I can focus on modeling to a greater degree, so without further ado, here’s a list of my current projects:

-The Antonius Project: Thanks to Lexington’s generous gift at Gen Con, I now have a Lugft Huron body and two Tyberos arms from Forge World.  I’m going to make a version of Antonius to be the new Chapter Master of the Azure Flames.  Perhaps there will be a story tie in.

-Dark Eldar Fleet: Currently stinking up my new apartment with carcinogens is my assembled and primed Dark Eldar fleet for Gothic.  Paint scheme will be: white primer -> Ice Blue undercoat -> Turquoise Ink -> 25/75 Turquoise/Ice Blue drybrush -> Boltgun metal blades with a chainmail edging -> Purple lights details with 50/50 pink/purple hughlight, -> purple engines with watered down White wash.  Should look just like the fighter counters I downloaded.  Thanks to whoever Hoja is.  Click below to see.

-Blood Bowl Completion: While I have a fully painted team (Konquata Monitors) and another unpainted (Grimfang Scrappaz) I am missing a few key components such as apothecaries, Bloodweiser Babes, Coaches, Cheerleaders, etc.  I bought enough skinks and goblins at Gen Con to fill out the ranks and finish the accoutrements for both teams.  Additionally, I have to re-do a special character for the Monitors due to him actualy being a skink, not a saurus.

That’s a lot to do!  Expect the Gothic stuff soon, and mini-updates for Blood Bowl.

Loads of Ladz

For my Epic Teaching list for the Orks, I included a ‘Uge Ork formation, which is 6 Nob stands, 6 Grot stands, and 18 Ork stands for a total of 150 minis on 30 bases.

So here they are.  Finally.

I did custom details on the flags and shoulders.  I also painted the barrels of the Deathskull guns like other clans and painted over them, like I did with the tanks.

Next: 40K Orks? Perhaps more modeling for Lost and the Damned?

Scion Minis Painted!

I know I posted the modeled minis for my Scion players ages ago, but tomorrow is our final game so I painted them up, as a farewell present.

Esther was the hardest, as her katana sheath broke a while ago and I had to make a new one from scratch.  She was originally going to be in black, but that was a boring color so I went with purple as it’s still dark but looks visually interesting.  It also compliments her gold bracelets.

Kemo was pretty easy, as the Humming-beater was a simple green blend.  He didn’t look great until I added the blood to the obsidian machete, as the red and green compliment each other.

Alex’s white suit was hard to get, as I used black ink for the cracks to accentuate them.  The skin used the same technique I used for Antonius of the Azure Flames.  Namely, 50% goblin Green and 50% Bronzed Flesh as a base for the skin, ink wash, then sloppy drybrush with Bronzed Flesh and another careful highlight with 75% Bronzed Flesh and 25% Elf Flesh.  Gives him a Mediterranean look.  The red power tie also stands out well.

Mecca is a mercenary so I used a military scheme for him.  The Bronze buttons made his shirt less boring, and because he’s african I made his bar red, black, and green.

Church’s jeans took several tries to get right.  I used a glaze of Vallejo Clear Blue to make the blue drybrushed colors blend, and then did one final random drybrush of Skull White, hitting the knees pretty hard.  To compliment this, I made the rune orange.  His hair was drybrushed ever so lightly with Mechrite Red as a nod to his Nordic ancestry.

I googled up some fancy fonts for the names and just copied them.  It was actually pretty easy.

6th ed rules lawyering part 2

Looks like that headache was the first symptom of a minor flu.  I’m over it now (hopefully) so, back to the salt mines!

-p 49: Flying monstrous creatures get their own special rules which are quite complicated.  They can “Glide” which makes them Jump Monstrous Creatures, or “Swoop” which makes them behave like Flyers.  There’s not a lot of these.  One tyranid character and some forge world guys, unless they errata it later that Hive Tyrants with wings can do this, which seems a bit out of character for them.  “Swooping” comes with a price.  Every unit that causes a successful “hit” causes a Grounding test.  3+ and you’re fine, or else you take a S9 hit, no armor saves!  Note that it says “hit” not “wound” so even a lasgun could force this test.  A ten man guard squad with one special weapon is almost guaranteed to get at least one “hit” and with a platoon of 3 units, that MC is going DOWN.

-p 52: There’s a new gun type: Salvo.  Salvo weapons fire max range with max shots if they don’t move.  If they move, they fire 1/2 range with a reduced number of shots (specified in the profile).  Something called a Shellstorm cannon.  I don’t know what has this.

-p 57: Missile Launchers now have a third type of missile: Flakk.  S7 AP4 Heavy 1 Skyfire.  Four of these will definitely put the hurt on most flyers.  For maximum annoyance, one ML in each squad will cause multiple “grounding” checks in the hope of knocking the thing out of the air at a distance.

-p 61: OK, they have significantly changed how Power Weapons of all types work.  Now any close combat weapon has an AP value, just like a gun.  Power Swords, Axes, Mauls, and Lances are all different things.  I really don’t like this idea, as it makes it hard to be creative with power weapons.  Now the various Axes Swords, Etc. are actually different things with different effects. Swords are AP3, Axes are AP2 with +1 Str, but makes you I 1.  Mauls are AP4, but are Concussive so they make multi-wound models I 1 until the end of the next turn like a Thunder Hammer.  Lances are better on the charge than at all other times.

-p 61-62: GRENADES!  You can THROW almost any grenade now!  Oddly only one model per unit can throw a grenade each shooting phase. Perhaps this is what your Heavy Weapon guy can do before charging?  Also, most grenades have a seperate profile for close combat against vehicles AND MONSTROUS CREATURES.  The thing that I have wanted since 3rd edition!  I always wondered why you could clamp a melta bomb onto a vehicle, but couldn’t shove it up a Carnifex’s ass.  In the end, only Melta Bombs are useful against most MCs as they usually have a 3+ or better.

-p 63: Characters.  They get Precision Shots like snipers, and even get precision strikes in close combat?  I guess characters are really good at hitting.  Now at least my Veteran Sergeants are worth the extra 15pts.

-p 64-65: Characters can issue and receive challenges.  Like Fantasy, they fight without anyone helping them.  However, if fighting a single enemy, every 5 models in your unit that are not fighting give you one re-roll for hits, wounds, or saves.  This is small consolation for a Guard sergeant faced with a Daemon Prince, but fantastic for an Ork Nob smashing a Chapter Master!  Multiple characters in a combat can “tag out” between turn with an Initiative test.

-p 66-69: Psykers.  Psykers have Mastery Levels, just like in the Grey Knights.  Each Mastery Level lets you cast one Psychic Power or use a Force Weapon, just like before but now they call it a “warp charge.”  *COUGH* focus *COUGH* Bad news: Now EVERYONE resists ANY psychic power on a 6+, or a 5+ if you’re a psyker, or a 4+ if you’re a BETTER psyker.  Luckily Psychic Hoods have been nerfed as a result.  Now Psychic Hoods do nothing for the model or unit with them, but let you take these “deny the witch” tests for any unit within 6″.  Yes, a paltry 6″.

-p 70-71: Vehicles have wounds called “hull points” now.  Vehicle weapons that previously couldn’t fire can now take “snap shots” as long as that weapon type is allowed to do that.  All vehicles can only move up to 12″ in the movement phase.

-p 72-73: Now all vehicles can move an extra 6″ in the shooting phase to move “flat out,” but cannot make snap shots. Blast weapons now do full damage no matter what, regardless of the hole in the template.

-p 74-75: Glances now do one Hull Point of damage with no other effect, slowing you to “glance vehicles to death” again.  Pens do one HP but also roll on the damage chart.  It’s a bit different but not by much.  Now an Immobilized vehicle that gets another Immobilized result loses a hull point rather than suffering a Weapon Destroyed result.

-p 76: Vehicles can’t overwatch.  All regular vehicles are WS 1 if they moved, or WS 0 if they didn’t move.  This is much more realistic than hitting on a 4+.

-p 77: Whoa.  If you’re the bomb at assaults, you can hit one tank in a squadron and blow up another tank entirely.  I would have treated each vehicle as a separate unit in assault.  Luckily abandoned squadron members no longer die immediately.  You can’t abandon someone with a Crew Shaken result though, so this can bog down squadrons if you’re unlucky.

-p 78: Units can move normally after disembarking from a vehicle that moved 6″ or less, but can’t disembark if it moved farther.  However, they must end their movement wholly within 6″ of an access point.  This means you don’t get the extra 2″ anymore.  Models that disembark can’t charge.  Ah, to have the Rhino Rush again…  Units can also make an Emergency Disembarkation if access points are covered, but then can’t do anything else that turn.  They must be too busy climbing out windows or shoving enemies.

-p 80: Embarked units can take Overwatch shots at people assaulting their transport.  Shaken and Stunned affect the unit’s ability to shoot in the next shooting phase.  Wrecked vehicles cause the unit to disembark within 3″ and then take a pinning test.  Exploded vehicles cause one Str 4 hit per model and a pinning test.  You can still charge the unit that came out of a vehicle that you wrecked in the shooting phase.

-p 80-81: FLYERS!  Measure to the hull of the flyer, which means ranges to flyers are going to be longer than they look.  Damn Pythagoras.  You can move underneath a flyer if you fit, but you still must stay 1″ away from the base.  All flyers can Zoom and some can Hover.  Zooming flyers move 18″ or 36″.  If it moves less than 18″ for some reason it dies.  It can turn 90 degrees and then must move in a straight line, like Swooping Flying Monstrous Creatures.  Zooming flyers can shoot 4 weapons.  Zooming flyers can only be shot at by Snap Shots unless the gun has Skyfire.  Zooming Flyers can also make a Flat Out move of 12-24″.  Flyers can take evasive action to get a Jink save, but then can only fire Snap Shots.  Immobilized Zooming Flyers suffer from Locked Velocity. This means they MUST move the distance they used last turn for the rest of the game, can’t Evade, and can’t go Flat Out.  It can still turn though.  If the Flyer is destroyed mid-zoom it drops a S 6 AP – large blast on the board, and anyone aboard the flyer takes a S 10 AP 2 hit.  Flyers can choose at the beginning of their turn to have ALL their guns have Skyfire.  Flyers can shoot Missiles anytime, but can only use Bombs while zooming.  Flyers with the Hover type can choose to Hover instead of Zoom, which makes them Fast Skimmers.

-p 82: Chariots!  I’m guessing this is for Necrons and Daemons.  They can Sweep Attack during the Movement Phase, and the Character aboard can fight from the chariot.  Open Topped vehicles are the same.

-p 83: Heavy Vehicles Can never move more than 6″, but always count as stationary.  Fast vehicles can shoot more guns and go faster for Flat Out.  Skimmers look the same.

-p 84: Walkers are the same, except that they can no longer perform Death or Glory! attacks.  BOOOOO.  I liked punching Ork Trukks that rammed my Dreadnoughts.  However, rammed walkers CAN fight back during the Assault Phase if they survive!

-p 85-86: Oddly, tanks that Tank Shock can’t move Flat Out.  You’d think they’d want to go as fast as possible. Artillery can Death or Glory with either Guns or Crew, so Grots can Death or Glory with their Shokk Attack Gun!  Ramming is the same.

-p 91: There’s Lethal terrain now, which is Impassable Terrain which ou can choose to go on but you die automatically, duhoy.  Mysterious Terrain has a Random Effect table based on what kind of terrain it is (forest, river, etc.)

-p 92-94: Buildings can now be entered like vehicles and destroyed like vehicles.  Damaging a building reduces its Armor Value, and can hurt people inside.  You can throw a grenade inside if you are within 2″ of a fire point, so a building with a lot of windows can be a death trap.  Template Weapons now do D6 hits instead of hitting everyone.

-p 95-96: There are rules for being in “battlements” which is a fancy way of saying “on the roof.”  Models can jump down and possibly be hurt doing so!  You can throw grenades on the roof too.

-p 98-107: Ruins look the same.  All other types of terrain get “mysterious” rules.  Battlefield Debris is diverse and has in-game effects to models, such as ammo dumps giving re-rolls of rolls of 1 to hit.  There’s also Archaeotech, which is a 2D6 chart of madness.

That’s all for now.  I’ll wrap it up in Part 3 later.

6th Ed stream of rules-lawyering blog!

So, 6th ed is currently being picked apart by pretty much every gaming site, forum, or hive-mind.  Who am I to buck a trend?

However, this post will be a page-by-page thoughts blog concentrating on the rules section.  Basically if something is worth commenting on, I’m going to.  If I skip a section (like if I don’t explain what a template is) assume it’s the same as 5th ed.

-Cover and introduction: Beautiful book.  GW is really making books that look fantastic. Even better than Fantasy 8th ed.

-p. xiv: The book doesn’t say you “need” the new buying them unless I need them.

-p. xvi: AWESOME.  At the end of the intro battle, the players get together for a pint!

-p. 4: Yes, you can pre-measure.

-p. 7: Multiple characteristics are now a thing of the past.  So, your Space Marine Captain on a Bike is T5 for purposes of insta-kill.  Codex trumps rulebook, advanced rulebook trumps basic rules, as usual.  However, it’s good that they spelled it out.  Back in 3rd ed you had to wait for a FAQ, which were notoriously nonsensical.

-p. 13: Snap fire allows heavy weapons to fire on the move @BS1.  Because Codex trumps Rulebook, I wonder if a Devastator Sergeant with a Signum would allow a moving heavy weapon to still be BS5 on the move.  Probably not though.

-p. 14: 6 does NOT auto-wound, as some rumors said!  Wraithguard can come out from behind the tanks and shrug off flashlights again.

-p 15: NEW ALLOCATION RULES for shooting.  Shooting player determines which STR or AP shots are resolved in which order, so you can blow away high-armor individuals first, or save the high STR for last to try to insta-kill a character.  Wounds are allocated closest to farthest, even with mixed saves.

-p 16: You can’t kill what you can’t see, so no more killing a whole unit because you can see one dude.  Look Out Sir! also shows up on a 4+!

-P 18: Forests are now a 5+ cover save, as are intervening units.  Focus Fire allows you to only kill models with a certain cover save, so if you say “Focus Fire 5+” models with a 4+ or better cover save are not allocated to.  This could lead to situations where you can “snipe” a character, sergeant, or heavy weapon.  I just realized you don’t have to remove according to coherency anymore, you remove based on closest, so you can cut units in 1/2 and MAKE them regain coherency, which can make heavy weapons less useful.

-p 20: You can’t assault if you ran, so the Ghazghkull 18″ assault is gone.  However, Charging is now 2D6″ so it’s still possible, just not guaranteed.

-p 21: Overwatch is not the Overwatch of 2nd ed, it’s “snap fire if you get charged.”  Overwatch never causes pinning or morale, and is only once per turn, so if you fend off chargers with overwatch fire, another unit is free to charge you unrestricted.

-p. 22: Charge through difficult terrain is 3D6 pick the two lowest, and fight at initiative 1 regardless of terrain.

-p. 23: All models “pile in” at their initiative step, even if they charged that turn!  So, if one of your dudes just barely didn’t make it into the 2″ combat zone they get another 3″!

-p. 26: Look Out Sir! applies to close combat too.  OH DANG you can choose to fail your morale check if you cannot possibly hurt the enemy (such as Guardsmen vs. Wraithlord).

-p. 27: You get ANOTHER pile-in at the end of the combat if you’re still fighting.  Disordered Charge means you don’t get +1A if you charge multiple units.

-p. 28: Further complicating multiple charges, you cannot charge a model in the secondary target unit if you CAN charge a model in the primary unit.  This means clip-charging two units to tie them up is nearly impossible.  Models can now split attacks between units.

-p. 30: Models can now regroup until 75% of the unit is eliminated, instead of 50%.  Units UNDER 25% can still regroup on a leadership roll of snake eyes!

-p. 33: Acute Senses now lets you re-roll Outflank.  ATSKNF is slightly clarified, and does not happen immediately, but there is no downside.  Also makes unit immune to “fear.”  Blast weapons can’t snap shot.  Looks like you can only shoot Krak missiles if you run!

-p. 34: New USR: Blind.  Unit takes Initiative Test, fail = WS and BS 1 until the end of their next turn.  Brotherhood of Psykers works for Grey Knight psychic units, etc.

-p. 35: Bulky = 2 models on a transport, very = 3, extremely = 5.  Crusader makes a unit better at running and sweeping advances.  There is no tiered Instant Death or Eternal Warrior.  Fear causes a Ld test @ the start of combat, a failure = WS1 for the rest of the phase.  Generic FNP is now 5+.  Fleet re-rolls the dice for running.  Fleshbane wounds on a 2+.

-p. 36: Deep Strike Mishap Table is less bad.

-p. 37: Furious Charge is now just +1 Str, not +1 I as well.  Gets Hot! now affects vehicles, so sucks to be Killa Kans with Kustom Mega Blastas!  Hammer of Wrath lets a character get one auto-hit at I 10.  Hatred only works for the first turn of combat.

-p. 38: Infiltrators cannot charge on turn 1 no matter what.  ICs without Infiltrate can’t Infiltrate with an attached unit.  It Will Not Die is 5+ regen for models, or vehicles!

-p. 39: ICs pass Look Out Sir! on a 2+ instead of a 4+, and allow units under 25% to regroup normally.  Missile Lock lets you scatter D6 instead of 2D6. Monster Hunter re-rolls wounds against MCs.

-p. 40: Night Vision ignores Night Fighting.  Preferred Enemy now only re-rolls 1s instead of all misses.

-p. 41: Rampage gets +D3 attacks if their unit is outnumbered.  Keep each model seperate, so this required bookkeeping for Rampage units with lots of different weapons.  Scout is VERY different as it allows a re-deploy, not a “move.”  Shred re-rolls all wounds. Shrouded gives 2 point bonus to cover saves.  Skilled Rider auto-passes dangerous terrain and gets +1 to “jink” saves.

-p. 42: Skyfire shoots normally vs. Flyers.  Smash allows you to attack at AP2, and then you can choose to halve your attacks, double strength, and re-roll armor pen rolls.  Snipers choose their targets on a roll of “6” to hit.  Soul Blaze sets the unit of fire, and can cause extra hits later.  Split fire allows a Ld test for ONE model to split fire.  Strafing Run grants +1BS against most units and pinning.

-p. 43: Strikedown knocks down the enemy, halving I and making it movas if in Difficult Terrain until next turn.  Swarms are no longer slowed by difficult terrain.  Tank Hunters gives a re-roll for Armor pen.  Vector Dancer allows a vehicle to turn more.  Vector Strike causes Swoopers to do hits to the enemy in the movement phase.

-p. 45: Eldar Jetbikes are insanely fast now.

-p. 46: Artillery works different now.  They have wounds instead of AV 10.

-p. 47: Jump Packs get Hammer of Wrath (impact attacks).  Jet Packs do not get this.

ARGHLEBARGLE MY BRAIN IS ON FIRE.  That’s all for now, part 2 later.