Mandrakes Update

Just a quick post today, to show the progress I have made with the Dark Eldar Mandrakes I am currently working on. (I am also working on the Archon as well, but currently have only touched up the black areas on him so there is really not that much to see there!).

As for the Mandrakes, their hair is done and finished, their green runes need further highlighting, as does their bale fire and skin. Once that is all complete then all that is left is the tunic/trousers/skirt thing they wear.

Should be a simple and straight forward job to get these guys finished, but one that will take until July to complete due to other commitments I have on at the moment. Still, I am looking forward to seeing these as a complete and finished unit.

Cheerio 5th, It's Been A Pleasure

After playing 40k for the last 2 years, I played my very last games of 5th Edition this weekend before we move on to 6th Edition next weekend (or two weeks time as I'm off to Europe next weekend).

With three other mates, the first game of the weekend saw my Space Wolves team up with Grey Knights to take on some Necrons and Dark Eldar in a 4,000pt game. While we did not have time to finish the game, the combat was pretty brutal and both sides took heavy casualties in the three rounds played.

The second game of the weekend, and my final game of Warhammer 40k in 5th Edition, saw my Space Wolves up against their former allies the Grey Knights. Points limit was set at a huge 5,000pts with two FOC in use on both sides. This ended in a massively bloody battle which saw neither side come out on top, a draw being the only fair conclusion to what was an epic confrontation which saw almost every unit wiped from the field of play by the end of the game.

The only thing I can think of that may have changed the battle is never, ever, ever get your Land Raider Redeemer surrounded and caused to explode. Watching Logan Grimnar and 5 Terminator buddies get removed from play without doing anything is very simple to avoid, very annoying to have happen to you. I'll never know what could have been, but I'm happy at the fight back given the dice rolls I was manging to produce for the game.

So, that is the end of 5th Edition for this blog and we can begin to look forward to 6th Edition, which is due to be released on the 30th June. I have the new White Dwarf to flick through and get a preview of what to expect from next weekend onward.

Further on for that, and once 6th is up and running, hopefully the new Chaos Marines codex will be out and I can start work on my Slaaneshi/Emperors Children force based on that codex. I am hoping that Lucius is made into an unstoppable beast to lead my force. This is mainly down to me really liking the fluff for the guy and the fact in games he keeps getting splatted by the first thunder hammer that flashes his way.

On top of all that there is also my Dark Eldar Haemonculus Army that is slowly starting to take shape. I don't know if you have seen it but Old School Terminator over at Dark Future Games is modelling 10 Grotesques out of a good collection of models such as the Skaven Rat Ogres, Fantasy Minotaurs, Crypt Fiends and more. All very interesting and has given me some inspiration to get on with modelling some of my own Grotesques as well, so those should be coming up very soon!

Feel free to let me know how you got on in your last game of 5th Edition before you change over to 6th, it would be good to hear other gaming stories, no matter how brief!

Kriel Stone Bearer Unit - Completed

I feel like I cheated by a few steps with completing this unit, the Kriel Stone Bearers, as I received them already painted as can be seen in the picture to the left.

However, I still did have the whole of the actual Kriel Stone Bearer himself to paint and I wanted to change a few of the colours on the other members of the unit.

The painting of these guys was a lot quicker than with the Space Wolf Terminators I finished previously, so I can conclude that Football Manager is less of a distraction whilst painting than Lord of the Rings (all 3) and Spiderman (again, all 3).

The picture to the right shows the first stage of the transformation, with Khaki (VGC) on the trousers of the unit and US Olive Drab (VGC) on the kilt bits. Both were then washed over with Agrax Earthshade (GW). All under garments on the grunts were painted with Mechanicus Standard Grey (GW) then washed with Nuln Oil (GW).

I followed my usual recipe for the troll flesh, which left the finished models as per the few pictures below:

Thanks for looking guys, I'll be back soon with another painting update (Dark Eldar Archon/Mandrakes) and hopefully a gaming update on how my Loganwing is faring.

Loganwing List, 2500pts

I had an interesting game recently against my friends Blood Angels. I wanted to try something I had never tried before while gaming, namely a Loganwing army, packing as many terminators armoured warriors as I had models for.

The one thing I could guarantee before even thinking too much about the list was that there would not be too many models on the table on my Space Wolf side. As it turned out neither side had a huge amount due to the list selected by my Blood friend, but we'll have a quick look at that list later on (from what I can remember of it!).

The only other stipulation I had on my list was that it had to WYSIWYG, which would also help to push up the cost of each model as I seem to have alot of terminator models with either a thunder hammer, chainfist or powerfist. So, without further ado, lets take a look at the list I fielded for this game:

Space Wolves 2,500pts Loganwing

The Great Wolf Logan Grimnar.
Rune Priest - TDA, Wolf Tooth Necklace, Wolf Tail Talisman.

Lone Wolf - TDA, Frost Blade, Storm Shield, 2xFenrisian Wolves.

Wolf Guard Squad 1 (TDA) - Heavy Flamer/Power Weapon, Combi-Melta/Chainfist, Combi-Plasma/Power Weapon (x2), Combi-Melta/Wolf Claw, Drop Pod.

Wolf Guard Squad 2 (TDA) - Wolf Claw/Storm Shield (x2), Thunder Hammer/Storm Shield (x2), Assault Cannon/Chainfist, Land Raider Redeemer.

Wolf Guard Squad 3 (TDA) - Storm Bolter/Chainfist, Storm Bolter/Power Weapon, Storm Bolter/ Powerfist, Combi-Melta/Powerfist, Storm Bolter/Chainfist/Cyclone Missile Launcher.

Wolf Guard Squad 4 (TDA) -  Combi-Melta/Wolf Claw, Combi-Melta/Powerfist, Storm Bolter/Chainfist,Heavy Flamer/Chainfist, Wolf Claw/Wolf Claw (x2).

Thunderwolf Cavalry - 3 Men, Storm Shield/Melta Bombs, Storm Shield/ Frost Blade.

Long Fangs - 6 Men, Missile Launcher (x3), Lascannon (x2), Razorback with Twin-Linked Lascannons.

Predator - Lascannon Sponsons, Twin-Linked Lascannons.

And that is that. 39 models in total, the majority 2+/5++ saves, with a small range of vehicles to accompany them. Logan started with the Redeemer while the Rune Priest joined the fourth Wolf Guard squad. Everything was deployed from the start except the Drop Pod which came in on turn one.

The Blood Angels list -

Captain in power armour with inferno pistol, power fist and jump pack.

Honour guard with Sanguinary priest (bolt pistol and chainsword), Blood champion (bolt pistol, combat shield

and power weapon), 3 honour guard with power weapons (1x bolt pistol, 1x hand flamer, 1x inferno pistol) all 

with jump packs.
 
Death company dreadnought with blood talons, storm bolter and melta gun
 
The above in a storm raven with extra armour, twin linked lascannons, twin linked multimelta and hurricane 

bolters.
 
Sanguinary Guard
5 men with 4x Glaive encarmine, 1x powerfist, 4x angelus Boltguns, 1x infernus pistol, chapter banner and 

jump packs.
 
In a Stormraven identical to the above.
 
Death Company
5 men 5x bolt pistols, 4x power weapons, 1x powerfist and jump packs.
 
Furioso librarian  Dreadnought 
Blood fist, force weapon, storm bolter, blood boil, might of heroes.
 
Both in a Stormraven as above.
 
Assault squad
Sergeant with plasma pistol and power weapon. 9 marines 8x bolt pistol and close combat weapon, 

1x plasma pistol and close combat weapon.
 
2x vindicators, 1 with extra armour.

Which meant the Blood Angels had 37 models in total on the table top. It was quite surreal how 5,000pts were taken up by only 76 models.

The main thing that went right in this game was my dice rolling. Never before have I made so many 5++ saves. It was good having invulnerable saves against everything for a change, rather than just two or three models throughout an entire army.

The Long Fangs took down two Storm Ravens and a Vindicator and immobilised the Librarian Dreadnought. The other Storm Raven was taken out by a combination of the Predator and Razorback.

As for the troops, Logan was a beast for a short while, killing six Assault Marines out of six attacks and watching as his unit cleared up on the remnants, then took down four Sanguinary Guard at the same time as taking all as many wounds from their attacks back.

Victory was the Space Wolves even with Logan finished, as the Thunderwolves finished off the Death Company and the Honor Guard as well as the remaining Vindicator.

While this was a successful first run of a terminator army, I would by no means call it as conclusive that it would be all conquering. I suspect that against larger forces the sheer weight of numbers will leave a heavy toll on the Wolves. There is however enough firepower and strength in there to deal with pretty much anything. This was only a fun run game to try out high points value models and it was fun, but would need a fair bit of tinkering with if it were to be used in anything but those fun and friendly games.

Next up I will be using exactly the same list against Blood Angels again, but a completely different list entirely. From the sneak peek I've had of it, it has a few more men, less vehicles and Mephiston. Hopefully my dice rolls will remain good!

Coming Up Next In the Immaterium

With my latest crop of Space Wolves complete it is time to look forward to what I am going to be doing over the next couple of weeks, both in painting and gaming.

With the impending arrival of 6th Edition in 40k a lot of my attention in a couple of weeks time will be on learning the new system. From the rumours it sounds like a bit of a change from what I am used to, so I'll have to read up a lot on what is new in 40k. Aside from that I will hopefully get a few more games of 40k in before we say good bye to 5th Edition.

On the painting front I will be starting work on a couple of Dark Eldar units, namely the Archon and Mandrakes shown. I am starting off with these as I love the Mandrakes models (I know about them being a bit rubbish on the table top, but I will find a way to use them and make them awesome!) and the Archon model is pretty damn cool if you ask me (he is a badass on the table top though).

For the next week or so I will be working on the Kriel Stone Bearer unit for my Trollbloods force. These were kindly donated to me by a friend, so it is time I gave them some love and got them standing alongside my other completed Trollbloods.

As with the other Trollbloods I have painted these guys require only a small amount of differing colours, but are immensely detailed. I really enjoy painting the Privateer Press models, which is a good job as I still have a few more to paint after these four!

Anyway, thanks for reading and I hope to update my progress in the coming days.

It's Finally Happened - Space Wolf Terminators Complete!

Boy has this taken some effort, but I am finally pleased to say I have finally finished this squad of Space Wolf Terminators.

The squad load out is as follows: Combi-Melta and Wolf Claw, Combi-Melta and Chainfist, Combi-Plasma and Power Sword (x2) and Heavy Flamer and Power Sword.

Looking forward now to running a fair few terminators alongside Thunderwolf Cavalry and Thunderwolf Lord, could be interesting. May even chuck them into a few Drop Pods and also have Arjac in there somewhere. Oh the possibilities are endless. Wonder if it would work though? I will have to try it out sometime and report back here.

Anyway, here are the rest of the pictures of these guys;

 

Another SW Terminators Update

Having had a slight issue with painters block, I am still bashing away at these guys, trying as best I can to get them finished.

My aim is to have them completed this weekend, so the finished pictures should be up in the early part of next week!

After I finish these I think I may have to concentrate on other models for a month or so before falling back to the remaining terminator models for my Space Wolf army. My Dark Eldar and Trollbloods should get quite the progression boost I think!

Anyway, just a short post today. I should be back very shortly with the completed Wolf Guard and a look at what I am planning next. Cheerio folks.

GW Price Rises - It's Conversion Time!

So, we have all seen the price rises now and have had time to digest them a bit. We all have our own thoughts on the matter, but this post is not about complaining about the price rises, but more about my aim to find convertible units to go in my Dark Eldar army that will work out being slightly more economical than going solely down the GW route.

Firstly I would like to say that I have no intention of playing in any tournaments and generally just play with friends in a very relaxed, anything goes, setting. Thanks to this it opens up the possibilities of using anything possible to represent the unit I want it to (Coke can as a Drop Pod anyone?). This also opens up the chances to create any unit can think of from anything available to the miniature wargaming community.

As part of my Dark Eldar army, I am hoping to expand my Grotesque unit from 3 Grots up to the 7 or 8 mark. Now, with the new price rise in effect that leaves me looking at around £80 spend on 5 models. It is really not something I would like to do, no matter how much I enjoy the hobby. The only other option is to create my own Grotesques from something else. But where do we start?

After a quick search I found an article over at Eye of Error which uses a unit from Hordes, a Legion of Everblight Warspears unit, to create their Grotesques using leftover bits from a Talos Pain Engine and the Warspears unit as well as a touch of greenstuff. All of this seems largely possible and has the added bonus of having my Grotesques in a couple of different positions, all for £27, which is a fair old saving and would also give me the number of Grotesques I want.

Having read through the article and looked into these Warspears units, I also took a look into other units available in the Hordes range. A friend also mentioned that I should look through the Warmachines Cryx stuff as well. Looking through the Cryx range I came across another unit called Cephalyx Slaver and Drudge Mind Slaves. To me they scream Haemonculus with 5 Wracks and save me a few quid on buying the official models.

All I need is to crack out the greenstuff and my bits box to see what I can use to create the monstrosities that my Haemonculi are to be blamed for. It has been a while since I lasted completed any serious amount of conversion work, but the uniqueness of converting these models for my Dark Eldar make the idea a very intriguing one for me.

As I progress with these ideas or if any other possible conversions spring to mind, I will update accordingly.

Campaign - Ardan V, Mission 3 Battle Report

The Eldar Pathfinders had quickly visited 6 locations in the industrial district of Baston, before disappearing quickly, practically melting into the ruins around the main fuel storage depot before Hjorvard could get close enough to them to try and extract some information as to what this xenos invasion was all about. 

Still, 6 locations of interest was the best lead the Space Wolves had had in the last three weeks of chasing these shadows all over Baston. There was something about these locations, something important, something he knew his Wolf Lord and Rune Priests would like to hear about.

Arandril Starsong had listened to the Pathfinders reports, agreeing with their assessment that the location of the cursus must be in this industrial sector of Baston. Time was running out now, the cursus would become critically dangerous to the entire planet in a matter of days, maybe even less, if action was not taken. Using the full force at his disposal, Arandril was going to move toward the site and search all six locations and end the threat from the cursus once and for all. He had already forseen a bloody battle with these humans, but he could not determine the aftermath. Giving his orders, in place of the slain Autuarch Alarique Dawn runner, Arandril was firmly set along the path which could also lead to his demise.

Battle Report - 3,000pts

Wolf Lord Fjolnir Lightningwolf's Space Wolves

Fjolnir Lightningwolf - Runic Armour, Wolf Claw, Belt of Russ, Combi-Melta, Wolf Tail Talisman, Saga of the Beat.
Hjorvard Gunnarsson - Runic Armour, Frost Blade, Wolf Tail Talisman, Saga of the Hunter.
Wolf Priest - Runic Armour, Bike, Wolf Tail Talisman, Saga of the Warrior Born.
Rune Priest - Runic Armour, Wolf Tail Talisman, Living Lightning, Tempests Wrath.

Wolf Scouts - 6 Men, Flamer, Power Weapon.
Lone Wolf - TDA, Thunder Hammer, Storm Shield, 2 x Fenrisian Wolves.
Wolf Guard - Frost Blade/Combi-Melta, Powerfist/Combi-Melta, 2 x Wolf Claw/Combi-Melta, Power weapon/Combi-Plasma, Razorback.
Dreadnought - Extra Armour, Assault Cannon, Missile Launcher.

Grey Hunters - 10 Men, Standard, Powerfist, Meltagun x 2, Rhino.
Grey Hunters - 10 Men, Standard, Powerweapon, Flamer x 2, Rhino. 
Grey Hunters - 6 Men, Standard, Plasma gun, Razorback.
Grey Hunters - 6 Men, Standard, Plasma gun, Razorback.
Blood Claws - 15 Men, 2 x Flamer.


Bikes - 5 Bikes, Flamer, Powerfist, Attack Bike
Wolf Guard Bike - Powerfist, Combi-Melta.


Long Fangs - 6 Men, 5 x Missile Launchers.
Predator - Heavy Bolter Sponsons.
Land Raider Crusader.

Arandril Starsong's Biel-Tan Eldar


Arandril Starsong - Ghosthelm, Rune Armour, Spirit Stones, Shuriken Pistol, Witchblade.
Avatar.
Warlock Unit - Embolden, Enhance, 3x Destructor.


Wraithguard - 5 Men, 1 Warlock with Singing Spear, Wave Serpent with TL Shuriken Catapults and TL Bright Lances.
Harlequin Troupe - 8 Men, 1 Shadowseer with Veil of Tears, 1 Troupe Master.
Fire Dragons - 10 Men, Wave Serpent with TL Shuriken Catapults and TL Shuriken Cannons.


Dire Avengers - 9 Men, Avenger S-Catapult, 1 Exarch, Blade Storm, Defend, Power Weapon, Shimmershield.
Dire Avengers - 9 Men, Avenger S-Catapult, 1 Exarch, Defend, Power Weapon, Shimmershield.
Pathfinders - 5 Men
Guardians - 10 Men, Bright Lance Weapon Platform.
Guardians - 10 Men, Bright Lance Weapon Platform.

Shining Spears - 4 Jetbikes with Laser Lance and TL Shuriken Catapults, 1 Exarch with Star Lance and TL Shuriken Catapults.
Vyper Squadron - 1 Skimmer, Bright Lance, TL Shuriken Catapults.


Wraithlord - Flamer (x2), Wraithsword, Bright Lance.
Wraithlord - Flamer (x2), Wraithsword, Bright Lance.
Fire Prism - Holo-Field, Spirit Stones, TL Shuriken Catapults, Prism Cannon.
Fire Prism - Holo-Field, Spirit Stones, TL Shuriken Catapults, Prism Cannon.

The Space Wolves surged forwards, with the Eldar a long way off in the distance and, for the moment, well out of range of the weaponry the Wolves had. Fjolnir was aboard his Land Raider Crusader alongside his Great Company's newest recruits, whilst Hjorvard took a scout pack around the fringes of the battlefield, hoping to gain a surprise attack on the back lines of the Eldar. 

The scouts early reports were of the mixed variety, the xenos were searching two locations, but still had not found what they were looking for. They also seemed to be a rather light force on the ground and their main forces seemed to be holding back.


The two enemies were closing in on each other now, however few shots had actually been fired, with both sides frantically searching for the cursus so that it could be captured and controlled by one side or the other. Hallkjell, now a lone warrior, having seen his pack destroyed by an earlier skirmish with the Eldar, took his two accompanying Wolves east to search a possible location in the ruins of an old control center. The area was clear, leaving only three locations as the possible source of the cursus. Hallkjell set off west toward the remaining locations when Arandril Starsong appeared from atop of the bridge across the river running through the industrial complex.


Before Hallkjell could even react to the appearance of the Eldar leader, he could feel his brain beginning to burn, to heat up, an unrelenting pressure within his skull. The Lone Wolf stumbled and lost his footing, falling to both knees as the intensity of the attack reached its crescendo. Hallkjell's brain exploded within his skull and the Space Wolf fell to the ground, his life finished in a second without the chance to gain any vengeance for his fallen pack mates.

Upon hearing of Hallkjells demise, Hjorvard sprang forward with his scouts, determined to responded to the death by taking some Eldar lives for himself. Appearing on the Eldar right flank, Hjorvard and his scouts struggled through the ruins and couldn't reach the Dark Reapers who were hiding there. Unfortunately for Hjorvard and his scouts, the Reapers position was then reinforced by a Harlequin Troupe, an Avatar and Shining Spears. Within moments the scouts and their Wolf Guard Battle Leader were torn to shreds by a ferocious counter attack that spared no one.


In retaliation the Space Wolves unleashed a barrage of fire power at the Farseer, which left him scrambling for his life and barely escaping with his life and finding cover with a Dire Avengers unit that had rushed to his position to assist him. Arandril then attempted to push west toward the last remaining locations that needed investigation, but again got caught in a hail of heavy bolter and assault cannon fire, which forced the Eldar Farseer to flee from the battlefield, with hopes of returning once the remaining Eldar force had secured the cursus.

The Long Fangs had, by now, set up a good position and were loosening off shots at any targets exposing themselves. Meanwhile Fjolnir's Crusader had moved up on the Space Wolves left flank and had moved well within the industrial complex, seeting itself up dangerously next to the fuel tanker situated there, as forces from both sides closed in on its position. 

The Harlequin Troupe converged on a location situated in the river that ran adjacent to the industrial complex. The Eldar had found the cursus and were quick to relay this information to all other Eldar units to bring all back up they could to the area. The Shining Spears, Wraithlords and Avatar all responded immediately, with a Wave Serpent loaded with Wraithguard moving as swiftly as possibly from the Eldar left flank across to their right.


The Space Wolves pushed forward, with the Space Wolves fire taking down one Wraithlord, while the bike squadron tried to take down a Wave Serpent carrying Fire Dragons. The Dragons themselves were forced from their transport, but the bikes suffered heavily in the return melta fire. The remaining Fire Dragons were then wiped out by a Grey Hunter squad who then went on to take the Vyper that was zipping around using their plasma gun.


Over at the cursus location, the Avatar and Wraithlord were firing off high powered shots at the Land Raider, trying to incapacitate it before it got into range of the Harlequins defending the mission objective. One stray Bright Lance later and the fuel tanker ignited and a huge ball of fire which engulfed the entire industrial complex, along the river and back toward nearby ruins of other buildings. The explosion took an almighty toll on both sides, with Shining Spears, Harlequins and Dire Avengers among the dead on the Eldar side and two squads of Grey Hunters losing men as well as the Land Raider having its tracks blown off.


It was at this point that the cursus sprung to life, with 10 Lesser Daemons spewing forth and leaping upon the nearby troupe of Harlequins. The Daemons devoured the Harlequins quickly and set forth toward the nearest unit, a squad of Pathfnders.

The Space Wolf Lord, Fjolnir, led his Blood Claws from the Land Raider Crusader and charged toward the unclaimed objective, avoiding the lurking Avatar and Wraithlord, to claim the objective for the moment for the Wolves. A nearby Grey Hunter unit finished the remaining Shining Spears and moved on toward the Dark Reapers who were firing upon the Wolf Lord at the cursus.


With a couple of Razorbacks still operational, all firing was focused upon the monstrous form of the Avatar that still moved across the battlefield, even though it had taken a couple of wounds already. This focused fire saw the Avatar finally fall, but not soon enough as the remaining Wraithlord had made it into combat with the Wolf Lord near the objective and the close combat there could see only one possible victor thanks to the strength and toughness of the Eldar warmachine.


The Lesser Daemons were still reaping a bloody toll among the Eldar and claimed more lives form the Pathfinders before moving on to a squad of Dire Avengers. The Daemon charge was slowly grinding to a halt thanks to the Dire Avenger Exarch who was restricting their attacks.

Fjolnir had seen his squad slowly wiped out by this walking beast that no weapon either he himself or his squad had could touch. The objective was out of reach and survival was all that occupied Fjolnirs mind. He would not fall this day to this monster.

Both forces had taken heavy casualties and the cursus was looking like being left unclaimed, the power of the warp ready to jump forth from it and devour this ruined world of Ardan V. Fjolnir Lightningwolf was locked in an unending dual with a Wraithlord, a pack of Grey Hunters had just cleaned out the fire base of the Dark Reapers, but were out of range and time to move closer to the cursus to claim it for the Space Wolves.


Suddenly, almost from out of nowhere, a Wave Serpent moved within touching distance of the combat between the Dire Avengers and Lesser Daemons. With the Wraithguard leaving their transport they threw themselves into the combat, helping to obliterate the last of the Daemons and send them back to the warp. Having won the contest, the Dire Avengers slumped to the ground, broken but alive, and able to only take one step forward toward their goal. The fresher Wraithguard could move without any fatigue, claiming the cursus as theirs while also setting up a perimeter around it to ensure no further Daemons could appear from within.


The Space Wolves, their forces spent and stretched across the battlefield, beat a tactical retreat and could only watch from a distance as the enemy Farseer, who fled the battle much earlier on, returned to the field to confront the tainted artifact, carrying out some form of ceremony to close its threat. With the cursus neutralised the Eldar left the planet of Ardan V immediately, while the Space Wolves were left to gather their dead and harvest the geneseed from the fallen.