New Year Comments

Nick speaking,

Happy New Year to all my readers, thank you so much for staying tuned to my Blog, and for over doubling my viewing figures from the previous year. I hope you have enjoyed the content and will continue to support me in 2012. My new years resolution for the Blog is to try and increase the amount of comments I get on my posts. The problem is, I don't know how to achieve this? I have to admit that I follow many 40k Blogs myself, but only ever comment on a few of them, although I am trying to make more of an effort to comment as much as I can, even if it is just a "nice article" or "looks great" comment. So, what makes you want to post a comment?

Go on, post a comment below and lets find out...

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IDIC Hann (Saim-Hann Eldar) Vs Daemons

Nick speaking,

Now that my Dire Avengers are on my work bench ready for painting, my Eldar Guardians will have to stand in for them for a while as proxy Dire Avengers until they are ready. In this 1750pt Capture and Control battle report, my newly painted Seer Council take on some Chaos Daemons...

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Necron Toys!

Nick speaking,

Did you get your Christmas wish this morning? I did, and I already have plenty of magnets to make them interchangeable. I have promised myself I wouldn't play with any Necrons until they are painted, so I better get cracking, and get these little beauties together...

Happy Christmas and Season Greetings to all my Readers, I hope you all got the 40k toys you wanted.

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Playing at 2000 Points?

Nick speaking,

You may remember a while back, when I posted up a Poll on what point level you prefer to play at? Without a shadow of a doubt, the top two levels were 1500 and 1750 points. Some of the lower levels like 500 and 750 points, did quite well also. I was a bit surprised that 2000 points clocked in at third place, as I thought it would take top spot! Not so long ago, my buddies and I always played at 1500 points. We would occasionally have bigger games, but not very often. I personally always found making 1500 point lists quite difficult to get all the toys that I wanted. This was probably due to me playing Necrons most of the time, and with two Troops, two units of Immortals and a decent Lord coming in at just over 1100 points with the old Dex, that was probably the reason why!

I suggested that maybe we should up the points level to 1750pts, we were experienced enough to still be able to play a game in an evening and still have time for a chat. So, when we decided to up the points level to 1750 at the beginning of this year, I was really up for the challenge of upping my lists in points and having some fun. I have noticed that 1750 points seems to be a lot easier to make a list work. This is probably due to having enough points to be able to, well lets face it, spam units, or are the words I am looking for, unit redundancy! Having said that, I have also found that 1750 points also challenges me with my unit selections, as it still isn't quite enough points to have ALL the toys I want...

I am currently working on a Tyranid list that includes five Tervigons. It is coming on very slowly, as I gradually buy Carnifex bodies to convert up into Tervies, but I hope to be able to play it one day. Although I can make a list like this at 1750pts, it would be a lot better if I had 2000 to play with! So is it time to suggest 2000pts to my buddies?

Well, actually, there's no need! To my surprise, my buddy suggested it to me the other day! I suppose he is also having trouble getting all his horrible Blood Angel units into his 1750pt list as well lol! After all, two units of ten Sternguard are 500 points and that's without some sort of transport! So, we have now decided to up our points level to 2000pts starting in 2012. We are going to have ago and see how we like it. Initial thoughts, that quickly run through my head for my armies are:

Harlequins ~ Now I can take Mauggy and Eldrad in the same list, yeppy!

Saim-Hann ~ Sadly, it probably will just mean a second, much needed Farseer (Eldrad!)

Eldar Mech/Hybrid ~ More of the same!

Space Wolves ~ I think I will be able to max out on most of the FOC!

Necrons ~ Bring it on!

Nids ~ Need to finish my Tervigons and Gants!

More to come on this, but if you want to find out more about the merits of playing at different point levels, go and check out this great post over at 3++.

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Real 13th Company Space Wolves - Battle Report

Nick speaking,

With the first turn seized by my Space Wolves, it was time to put my first 'Real' 13th Company Space Wolves list into action. In this Annihilation mission against Blood Angels, I lined up my Logan lead army and let the missiles get to work...

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Necron Immortals - Tesla Vs Gauss

Nick speaking,

So how do you choose? Should your Immortals have Guass Blaster's or Tesla Carbine's? I have been messing around for a while now with both versions of the Immortal guns to find out how they perform on the battlefield. Obviously the Gauss Blaster is not what is used to be, getting the Nerf bat down to a Rapid fire weapon, but still maintaining auto Glancing hits on a roll of a six against vehicles. The alternative Tesla Carbine has a new ability of getting two additional dice that auto hit if you roll any six's to hit, but no glance on six's to wound!

My first Necron lists involved using all the models I have instead of the new toy's, which meant losts of foot Immortals and Warriors. I also experimented with lists without Crypteks, but of course now they are always in my list! In those lists where I was lacking in the anti-tank department, like Eldritch Lances, I found having the ability to glance vehicles very useful. Most of the time I was standing still for the 24" range, and having the ability to advance forward to Rapid fire anything close was a bonus. I also found in those early games Tesla didn't really offer me anything the Blaster didn't do! I suppose the other thing to consider is how many Immortals you have in a unit, as this will have an impact on the squads ability with certain guns as well!

Since then, my overall list has changed and I have found that with enough anti-tank guns/Scarabs to get those troops out of their tanks midfield, the Tesla weapons really start to come into play. Being able to move into position and shoot 24" with a few six's coming into play, they can be pretty good. Obviously, when you start to put your Immortlas into transport or have a character leading them to give them the relentless special rule, the benifits of each gun changes as well. 

In reality, I think this new gun swap, which has no points difference, is a great idea for this troops choice. I have come to the conclusion that both guns have their place, depending on the build of the rest of your army, and it is difficult to pin point which gun is actually better, which is great really, as it means both guns are a useful option in there own right.

So what has your experience been? Please comment and vote on my poll, as I would love to hear your opinions...

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Necrons Vs Grey Knights Battle Report

Nick speaking,

In my game where I tried out a Monolith and a unit of Flayed Ones who both did nothing all game! I was hoping that my new Traveller list wouldn't end up the same way. I had the Traveller with a Veil of Darkness Cryptek and some Immortals ready to do their business, but would they get a chance to do it in this Annihilation game, against Grey Knights...

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Monolith/Flayed Ones disaster and first Traveller list!

Nick speaking,

Continuing on with putting my old Necron models on the table with the new Codex, meant having just the Monolith, Flayed Ones and the Destroyer Lord left to try out. My first game with a Stormlord lead list using a Monolith and Flayed Ones was a disaster. Flayed Ones flanked on the wrong side of the board and the Monolith came in with a 12" scatter for a mishap. My opponent got to put the Mono in the corner of the table, and both units did nothing all game, plus I lost my C'tan on turn one!

I still gave myself a chance to win having secured my objective with some Immortals at the end of turn five. All I had to do was Veil in a unit of Immortals to contest my enemies objective. Sadly I mishapped again, and this time lost the whole unit. Game didn't end on turn five anyway, so I would have still lost!

Here is a video of the battle if your interested...



With just the Destroyer Lord left to try, and having only ever played the Stormlord, I thought it was about time I had a go at a different HQ. The next HQ choice I was very interested in trying was the Traveller. Having played with the Stormlord and seeing how effective Nightfight can be to help keep my Scarabs alive, I am thinking I would like to get two Solor Pulses in the list. Sadly the Destroyer Lord does not count as an Overlord, so I can't have him and the Traveller, and have two Pulses. So the Destroyer Lord would have to wait a while.

So now I have my two HQ choices done, the Traveller and an Overlord. Next is two Pulse Crypteks and some extra Lance only Crypteks for obvious reasons. I have no Barges available to me yet, so the Traveller is going to have to use the Veil of Darkness trick to do what he needs to do. Having just got a third Tomb Spyder from my local hobby shop, I have them in the list with a single group of nine Scarabs. I have saved the third slot for some Heavy Destroyers, which should work well when combined with the Lances and Solar Pulse.

My initial games have showed me that generally the Troops at the back don't really get too much attention with everything else like Wraiths, Scarabs and Spyders up front, so I thought I would try out some smaller units of Warriors for the Crypteks to join. Probably not the best, as the Lances are sure to draw attention, but this is just for experience and fun purposes only anyway. Of course, I will also have a large unit of Immortals to take full advantage of the Travellers upgrade ability...

Here is my final first Traveller test list:

HQ
1 x Anrakyr the Traveller (165) (Joins Troop 1)
1 x Necron Overlord/Phaeron/Resurrection Orb (140) (Joins Troop 2)

1 x Cryptek Harbringer of Despare/Abyssal Staff/Veil of Darkness (60) (Joins Troop 1)
2 x Cryptek Harbringer of Destruction/Eldridge Lance (70) (Joins Troop 2 and 3)
2 x Cryptek Harbringer of Destruction/Eldridge Lance/Solar Pulse (110) (Joins Troops 4 and 5)

TROOPS
1) 5 x Necron Immortals/Tesla (85)
2) 10 x Pyrrhian Eternals (170)
3) 5 x Necron Warriors (65)
4) 5 x Necron Warriors (65)
5) 5 x Necron Warriors (65)

FAST
6 x Canoptek Wraiths/2x Particle Caster/4x Whip coils (260)
10 x Canoptek Scarabs (150)
3 x Necron Heavy Destroyers (180)

HEAVY
3 x Canoptek Spyders/1x Gloom Prism (165)

Points 1750

Battle report to follow

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Gold Dust! - Green Stuff Scarabs

Nick speaking,

I currently own sixty Warriors, which of course means that I have ended up with eighteen Scarab Swarms. Quite reasonable with the old Codex, but with Scarabs being as they are in the new version, is just not enough! GW still only sell Scarabs with Warriors, which is an incredibly expensive way to buy them, so not surprisingly these Swarms have become gold dust on eBay.

With inspiration from to Ron over on FTW, I thought I would have a go at making my own green stuff Scarabs. Thanks to Ron for sharing his experience with his Forge World inspired Scarabs. His posts meant that I was able to cut out some of the learning curve of making the moulding cast, and I was very happy to have achieved the results I did with my very first cast attempt.

Here is a picture of my first cast based around Ron's advice, it is made of Gale Force Nine's 'grey stuff' mixed to a sixty/forty ratio to make sure the cast was nice and hard...

I am not sure what the normal procedure is, but I found coating the mould with olive oil before pressing in the green stuff worked a treat at stopping them from sticking to each other. With my first attempt pictured below, I put slightly too much green stuff in the mould and ended up with some excess around the edges. I was able to clean up the excess, but I got a bit zealous with one bit and cut off a bit of the 'tounge'. First one was just a test anyway, so I wasn't too worried...

I don't think I want to go as far as Ron did with the quantity of Scarabs, but I can see me making bases with rocks on that match the rest of my terrain with four or five of these guys moving over them on each base...

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Bringing the broods to life - Objective Markers

Nick speaking,

Stinger Hive Fleet objective Markers done, amazing what you can get offf eBay for a pound...

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Next Stage Necrons Vs Blood Angels Battle Report

Nick speaking,

In this battle against Blood Angels I try out the list I made in my recent The Next Stage post. Basically, I wanted to try out a unit of Destroyers/Heavy Destroyers. It was a great battle, and believe it or not the Stormraven in the picture below is in MY deployment zone, and is next to MY objective!

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Real 13th Company Space Wolves - Initial List

Nick speaking,

I know it's been a while since I started to look at making a Real 13th Company army, but my three weeks holiday and Necron Codex release put a few delays on the project. So for those of you that missed my first post, you can check it out here if you wish. In the original post I go through the old 13th Co. units and compare them to the current Codex. I try to get a feel on how a new styled 13th Great Company army might look, and here is my progress so far...

There seems to be two main stand out options for a fluffy type, 13th Company army based around your initial first HQ choice. The first one, and the one I want to concentrate on in this post, is Logan Grimnar. I suppose you could say a sort of Loganwing list, but I want to make sure I keep it within the boundaries of 13th Company.  Logan unlocks Wolf Guard as troops, which if you take Logan, you SHOULD be doing. I think this alone puts you into the smaller elite category anyway, and seems to match a 13th Company themed army very well.

The second main HQ option would be a Wolf Lord, either on a Thunderwolf mount, or a bike. Join him to a unit of Thunderwolves or Wolf Guard bikers, take lots of Grey Hunters and back them up with Long Fangs and Scouts. One of the big things that 13th Company lose in the new Space Wolves Codex, is the army wide (except bikes) Scouts ability. With Logan making Guard a troops choice, that leaves me the Elites section free for Scouts, and just out of principle, my first Real 13th Co. list is going to have three Scout packs.

Three packs of Long Fangs are going to be mandatory, as that's my only Heavy support choice for these guy's anyway, so that leads me onto Troops. With some guidance from Purgatus and his Loganwing Troops post, I am going to start with his basic Troops choice and work my way from there as I progress. So that's the troops section sorted with multiple  packs of five Wolf Guard, one with Terminator armour and Cyclone Missile Launcher, and one with a Strom Bolter. With all that taken and a few Wolf Guard for the Scouts to give them a bit of extra clout, I can have five packs of Wolf Guard and just have enough points left over for some Fenrisians Wolves, to just sit in terrain and go to ground until the opportunity arises for them to be used...

1 x Logan Grimnar (275) 

5 x Wolf Scouts/Meltagun/1x Wolf Guard/Combi-Melta/Wolf Claw (123)

5 x Wolf Scouts/Meltagun/1x Wolf Guard/Wolf Claw (118) 
5 x Wolf Scouts/Meltagun/1x Wolf Guard/Combi-Melta (108)

5 x Wolf Guard Pack/1x Storm bolter/1x Terminator/Cyclone missile (138)
5 x Wolf Guard Pack/1x Storm bolter/1x Terminator/Cyclone missile (138) 
5 x Wolf Guard Pack/1x Storm bolter/1x Terminator/Cyclone missile (138) 
5 x Wolf Guard Pack/1x Storm bolter/1x Terminator/Cyclone missile (138) 
5 x Wolf Guard Pack/1x Storm bolter/1x Terminator/Cyclone missile (138)

5 x Long Fangs/4x Missile Launcher/1x Pack Leader (115)

5 x Long Fangs/4x Missile Launcher/1x Pack Leader (115) 
5 x Long Fangs/4x Missile Launcher/1x Pack Leader (115)

 

10 x Fenrisian Wolves/1x Cyberwolves (88)

1747

I have also been toying with the idea of adding a pack of five Wolf Guard Bikers and dropping two units of foot Guard, or maybe dropping one pack of foot Guard and one pack of Fangs, but I think I will have to see how this initial list goes first, and expand it from there. My first impression is that the list should do what Wolves do best, by having a lot of long ranged missiles, whilst keeping hold of midfield. The three packs of Scouts should put enough pressure on the board edges to help pull the army together!

Any thoughts, ideas and suggestions welcome.

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New Necrons - The Next Stage

Nick speaking,

My first new Necron Codex list went up against a nice and friendly Tau army. It was just a fun game where we got to see some of the new rules in action. In case you didn't get to see the battle report, we played Capture and Control, where I put my Stormlord, Lychgaurd and six units of Immortals and Warriors on my objective, sent out my Scarabs and Spyders up the middle, with Wraiths a C'tan on either flank. Tau ended up shooting at the stuff coming towards him, whilst I took out his fast stuff that could tank shock me off my objective. I ended up holding my objective and contesting his.

So, what did I learn and what is next for my list, remembering that I am in no hurry to start spamming everything for the most 'competitive' list around. I still want to try and win, of course, but I am quite happy to just play test the units and have some fun whilst doing so.

OK, so onto the list and the HQ slot. My list is based around the ever popular Imotekh the Stormlord. In my game against Tau I managed to hit three units with a six for the lighting attacks which was great, but sadly I rolled a one for the Storm to fail to continue on turn two. His storm ability is a bit random, which is fun, but also means that a Solor Pulse Cryptek is going to be mandatory, so that you can keep the Night fight rule in play if it fails, or indeed, if you have the correct opportunity, to turn the night fight off for you to start shooting.

It is pretty obvious that Crypteks are going to be the bread and butter of most Necron armies, and with the Eldrich Lance/Solar pulse ability, the Harbringer of Destruction was now in mine. It also became pretty apparent to me, that if I get an opponent that is in my face quickly, my foot troops are going to go down quite easily, even with Night fight. At this stage I am staying away from transports as I am just using the models I have, don't worry, I have my Christmas list done, but until then I am going to have to settle for the good old Veil of Darkness to get me around. Harbringer of Despair with Veil, now in my list!

My first list had five Lychgaurd in it and they did absolutely nothing! They literally just stood there in front of my troops the whole of the game! Although I will give them a try again at some point, it was evident that they do have a big lack of fire power. I originally took them as a sort of Pariah roll, but with no shooting attack they don't work that way. So what to have instead for the 225pts? Obvious choices for me in my Necron case would be either a Monolith or a unit of Destroyers, both of which have taken a big whack from the GW Nerf bat, but still...

I have the models, so I want to use them! Destroyers are no longer the unit they used to be, no need for me to go on anymore about why, however, what is needed with Destroyers, is to start thinking about them as a totally new unit. They do have AP3 guns, which is not to be stiffed at, and up to three of them can be upgraded to Heavy Destroyers. OK, AP3 isn't a great benefit with everyone getting cover saves, but that's why I have the C'tan in my list. Give him Writhing Worldscape to try and force your enemy in the open, and give him Stealth so he can sit behind the Destroyers for a 3+ cover save.

I had a unit of Wraiths and a unit of Scarabs in my first list, of which I am going to stick with. I am certain I will probably end up with two units of Scarabs in the future as it would definitely be a benefit to have a unit on each side of the board advancing forward, but at the moment I am just loving Wraiths too much to drop them. It's obvious that the Fast Attack slot is where it is in the Dex, Scarabs and Wraiths being the key units of choice, and I can see that spam type lists could have an issue over this slot.

Spyders will back up the Scarabs as in the previous list, and my Monolith will have to wait until next time to come out and play. As for Troops, without the Lychgaurd I opted for a bigger unit of Gauss Blaster Immortals for the Stormlord to join, with two five man Telsa units for the two Crypteks to join. Warriors have been relegated to a small five man unit to be reserved and come on for objectives.

Now my list looks like this:   

HQ
1 x Imotekh the Stormlord (225)
1 x Cryptek Harbringer of Destruction/ Eldridge Lance/Solar Pulse (55)
1 x Cryptek Harbringer of Despair/Abyssal Staff /Veil of Darkness (60)

ELITES
1 x C’Tan Shard/Spirit Dust/Writhing Worldscape (240)

TROOPS
10 x Immortals (170)
5 x Immortals Tesla Carbines (85)
5 x Immortals Tesla Carbines (85)
5 x Warriors (65)

FAST ATTACK
6 x Canoptek Wraiths/2x Particle Caster/4x Whip coils (260)
10 x Canoptek Scarabs (150)
5x Necron Destroyers/3x Gauss Cannon/2x Heavy Gauss Cannon (240)

HEAVY
2 x Canoptek Spyders/1x Gloom Prism (115)

Points 1750

Battle report to follow

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Bringing the broods to life - Even More Genestealears

Nick speaking,

As promised, even more Genestealers painted and ready to go...

OK, that gives me thirty Genestealers in total so far...

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New Necron Codex - First Battle Report

Nick speaking,

Here is the first game that I played with my first New Necron Codex list. It was just a fun game to get some of the new rules under way, I really enjoyed playing with the new Codex and I think I am going to have alot more fun with my resurrected Necrons in the future...

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Free New Necron Codex Army List Editor

Nick speaking,

I have previously said that the Internet is full of some very talented and generous people, and one of my fellow YouTubers matteo311GameMovies is exactly one of those people. Matt has now updated his Free Necron army list editor for the new Codex, and I have to say a big thank you to him for all his hard work on it. I have been using it and I think it's amazing.

All you have to do is download it, click the options and enable the content, then press run. You will notice the two finished advanced Necron and Eldar editors at the top, but wait, there's more. You will also notice he has added some simple, work in progress editors for many other armies that he is working on as well.
 
Please feel free to download the programme here, and don't forget to check out, subscribe and give feedback to Matt over on his YouTube channel, where you will be able to see his fantastic illuminated Necron terrain as well.

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Necrons - Making my first new Codex list!

Nick speaking,

I was on holiday when the new Necron Codex came out, so by the time I read, re-read and pondered on what I had read, every man and his blog had already done some sort of Codex/Unit reviews, with their own take on what is good, bad and ugly in the latest non Space Marine GW release. There are already lots of potentially competitive lists and list ideas about, and although this is another Necron list post, I am going to take a different approach to building my first list...

Forget the most competitive, I am going to look at it from the point of view of someone who has been playing Necrons for the last ten years, and wants to have some fun trying out the new rules. I also want to get a game in as soon as I can with the models I already have. I still want a fighting chance of winning of course, especially as I have never won a game with Necrons since 5th edition came out! I had many draws as it was easy to draw, but it was much more difficult to win lol.

So, I started work on my first Necron list...

First up, the HQ choice that really took my fancy was Imotekh the Stormlord, he really does look like fun with his ability to steal the initiative on 4+, with his Storm of the Lord shenanigans. What better way to start my first game with Necrons than stealing first turn, turning on Night fight and then hitting some of my opponents army with some S8 hits. Oh yes, and then telling him it may last the whole game! I am sure there will be many lists built around this guy, and when coupled with one or two Solar Pulses and some decent shooting ability, you can see why. Of course there are many other viable HQ choices, and I think the lords that unlock the Royal Court are going to be the bread and butter part of any good Necron list.

So what other fun stuff to take? mmm Scarab Swarms  Cenoptek Scarabs seem like they will be a must for most armies, and with the Entropik Strike rule being as it is, I think I will give them a try. I am sort of thinking that two units of Scarabs backed up with the obligatory Tomb Cenoptek Spyders would compliment the Stormlord and his night fight ability nicely, but like I said, I am only going for a fun list and just want to try out a few units, so I will just opt for ten Scarabs and a unit of three Spyders kitted out for wound allocation.

Next is Troops, and forgetting the disappointment that Flayed Ones are not Troops or cannot be unlocked as Troops, we have the choice of Warriors and Immortals. Talking of Flayed Ones, why bother bringing out new models, which imo are worse than the old ones, for a unit that no one is going to use because they suck, unless they really are designed for the rumoured 6th edition?

So, Immortals or Warriors? Well, I am still holding back my judgement on this, but I think there could be a place for a mix of both of them. What is for sure is that I can now take units of five and they are cheap! Just because I can, I am going to take them in fives! Two units of five Warriors and four units of five Immortals, two with Gauss Blasters and two with Tesla Carbines (why does Tesla Carbines sound like a Tau weapon!). I can't decide if Guass Blasters or Telsa Carbines are best, but something tells me that GW will want me to buy more models, and the Tesla's will be better than the Blasters that I currently have on all my models!

Next up are Canoptek Wraiths! I think I can see these guys in my army most of the time. Six in a unit, 3++ save, two wounds with wound allocation and the ability to strike first, unlike the rest of the army. These guys are either going to support my back ranks or go out to support my Scarabs depending on the enemy/mission.

Talking of support, and because they are still in the Codex (I was holding my breath with the rumour that they wouldn't be), the C'tan. Most of my previous lists had the Deceiver in, but with the way they have done the C'tan now, I can use either my Deceiver or the Nightbringer as the model on the table. Hell, I could even convert up one of the lost Star Gods if I wanted! For now though, I will continue to use old Golden boy. I gave him Writhing Worldscape as his first power, which surely is the best power he has and Pyreshards as his second. Keeping with the fun side, picking up eight dice when he shoots should be worth the look on my opponents face, even if they are only strength four.

After all this I had about 200pts left over, ideal for a Monolith, and I nearly look it. In the end though, I went for Lychguard, I've seen some people deeming these as one of the worse units in the Dex, but as there are no direct Pariah's in the Codex, these guy's seem to fit the Pariah slot nicely. So like I said, just for fun, five Lychguard won the day!

Here is my first final list:

HQ
1 x Imotekh the Stormlord (225) 

ELITES 
5 x Lychguards Hyperphase Swords & Dispersion Shields (225)
1 x C’Tan Shard/Pyreshards/Writhing Worldscape (235) 

TROOPS

5 x Warriors (65) 
5 x Warriors (65)
5 x Immortals (85)
5 x Immortals (85)
5 x Immortals Telsa Carbines (85)
5 x Immortals Telsa Carbines (85) 

FAST ATTACK

6 x Canoptek Wraiths/6x Whip coils (270) 
10 x Canoptek Scarabs (150) 

HEAVY 
3 x Canoptek Spyders/1x Gloom Prism/Claw (175)

1750 points

First battle report to follow...

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Dire Avenger Paint Scheme Decided

Nick speaking,

Now that I have finished painting my Seer Council in my IDIC Eldar colour scheme, I am ready to move on to my first Aspect Warriors to be painted. The first Aspects I want to paint are my Dire Avengers, and if you remember way back on a previous post when I was asking for your thoughts on what colours to use for Aspects, I have now made my decision...

With help from some of the comments I had, and a bit of research that I did whilst I recently painted my next unit of Genestealers, here are the results. First and foremost, I am going to stay with the Dire Avenger blue as the main colour. I like the idea of Aspects having their original colours, and I like the idea of having different colours to paint, so blue it was. Then there was the gun...

The Codex shows a black and gold gun, which looks OK, but I found another older picture of some Dire Avengers with a white and gold gun that really took my fancy. I think the white would match my 'IDIC' purple and white colour scheme quite nicely and generally looks better...

These seem to be a slightly older DA using what now would be a Guardian body! Just to make sure I would like the white gun in real life, I roughly painted up an old Guardian gun in the white colours to have look at it. Whilst I was there I did a second test gun with a black clip as well, but I think the white one is better. I am not sure about the Scope on the top of the gun at the moment, but on these two test pieces I added a scrap piece of plastic and painted it black just to get a feel for it...

To give me the 'IDIC' colour twist on the Avengers, I plan on painting the Tabard's Purple, and doing a purple and white head crest. The Exarch would have his usual white shoulder pads, and I was thinking of a white Tabard for him to make him a bit different. The exarch crest would be purple and yellow instead of white as yellow is the colour of my spirit/gem stones and again it would make him stand out from the normal avengers.

First I base coated them up ready for the paint job. I used two separate base coats to make painting the main white sections easier. The only thing I am not sure about at the moment is how to paint the DA spirit stones? Do I keep to my IDIC yellow colours, or being Aspects would they have different coloured stones? What do you think?

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Space Wolves 1750pt Battle Report (NOT VIDEO)

Nick speaking,

This battle report against Blood Angels, is the first game I played with my previously posted Best Overall Space Wolves list. We rolled for the mission and got Capture and Control with Dawn of War deployment...

I won the roll off and chose to go second, BA put their objective down behind a piece of terrain, about 8" from his board edge in the centre. I stuck mine behind a group of two bunkers on the left side, as it looked like a good place to hide some Rhino's. I put down my Chooser marker from the Rune Priest and then BA deployed one group of Scouts opposite my bunkers and in terrain. He then reserves another group of Scouts and a Drop Pod with another Pod coming in turn one. He then declares the rest of the army to come on turn one. I deploy nothing and reserve two groups of Scouts to flank, with everything else also coming on turn one.

I didn't bother trying to seize the initiative and BA bring down the first Pod just over 12" away from my board edge, just to the right of the bunker to disembark a Dread. I find all the BA Dreadnought's a bit confusing, but my Opponent tells me it's just a normal one with front armour twelve. He then walks on a large Devastator squad into the terrain by his objective, moves on a Storm Raven 24" behind the Drop Pod and a fast moving Baal behind that. The Raven has a Librarian, ten Sternguard and another Dread in it. This time the Dread is the armour thirteen one that gives him re-roll after re-roll (Furioso, I think?)

Going second, and seeing what BA first moves were, got me thinking right away about how I was going to win this game? He only has one group of Scouts left to come in and a Drop pod with another ten Sternguard in it. The first Pod has a homing beacon, and I am pretty sure he plans to send everything at my objective and then hold his objective with his reserved Scouts. The Storm Raven and the Baal would be his back track fast vehicles if needed.

Three groups of Long Fangs aren't ideal in DoW, and I bring them on the right side of the board, BA are already in my face so I know all the Fangs can do is pull his attention from my troops for a turn or two. My plan is to capture his objective and try and take out his only two Troop choices. I deploy one Troop Rhino to the far right side of the board out of vision to everything and wait for my Scouts to come in to deal with the Devastators. My push would be useless unless I can neutralise his missiles. I wanted my opponent to think that I am going to try my best to hold onto my objective, so I deploy two more Rhino's behind my objective bunker, and the Rune Priest Rhino with line of sight to the front Dread. I stick one Skimmer in front of the Rune Dread and bring the other two Skimmers (burrowed from my BA opponent) to the right with the Fangs. All skimmers and living Lighting fail to do anything due to Night Fight and bad rolls.

BA second Pod comes in turn two in front of his other Pod and to the right of my Rune Priest Rhino, and the Sternguard get out to aim up my Long Fangs. The Raven moves midfield and the Librarian and Sternguard get off it. He disengages the Libby so he can use his Fear of Darkness on a different unit. The Fangs take all the shots as one group is wiped out and the other group goes down with one missile dude left. Libby tries to FoD the third group, but my Priest nullifies his power. The front Dread assaults and destroys the Skimmer that I put in front of the Priest Rhino to protect it.

My turn two, and both Scouts come in allowing me to go anywhere. Both come in from the BA table edge to assault the Devastators and his first Scout squad, both groups do well killing most of the units except one or two guy's in each. With the Devastators out of action I move my right Rhino forward and pop smoke. I also move out one Rhino on the far left, keeping the other near my objective. Rune Rhino moves to the right and disembarks to make it look like I want to fight for my objective, but all I want to do is target the fast moving Raven and Baal, so he can't get back to his objective. Rune and his Hunters kill about half a unit of Sternguard, whilst the two Skimmers try to melta the Raven, but fail miserably! The remaining Long Fangs also fail to get through the armour, but one missile does wound and instant death the Libby.

BA turn three and his reserves don't come in as he continues to go for my objective. Raven moves to the left of my bunkers and destroys the Rhino on my objective, with the Dread to the right assaulting the Guy's inside. I do well and my Wolf Guard destroys the Dread with his Power Fist. Both Sternguard shoot my Priest pack killing them all with their AP3 bullets, and the Baal takes out a Skimmer. Both of my Scout packs win and consolidate in the BA assault phase.

My turn three, and I have to take out the Raven and Baal this time! I advance both the left and far right Rhinos at full speed again, moving my last Skimmer to the right for back up to the Hunters inside. The empty Rune Rhino in the centre of the table also moves forward, tank shocking the Sternguard on it's way. One of my Scout packs stays on the BA objective to wait for the second unit of BA Scouts to come in from reserve, whilst the other pack moves to the rear of the midfield Baal, destroying it with a meltagun. The last few guy's on my objective melta the Raven and wreck it, and then assault the Dread, I lose a couple of Hunters, but destroy it with the Guards Power Fist again. I consolidate behind the bunker with just two guy's left.

BA enter turn four with just two units of Sternguard left, one down to five guys and the other at full strength. The reserved group of Scouts come in at last. The Scouts get a bit nervous and come in to the left of the objective, rather than going into the assault with my Scouts and the Wolf Claw Guard. The ten Sternguard start making their way back to his objective, whilst the other five Sternguard head toward my objective.

My turn four and my right Rhino gets ready to capture his objective, with the Skimmer and Rune Rhino doing a Tank Shock/Flamer combo, killing all but three Sternguard and making them run. My midfield Scouts go towards the BA Scouts, ready to assault next turn, whilst the left Rhino moves back to the five Sternguard and disembarks to shoot them down to two left! The game is pretty much over now, but we carry on for fun anyway. Game ends on turn six with me holding both objectives with Grey Hunter full Rhino's, and Blood Angels with just two Scouts left. This game was a really fun, in your face game, and with most of the vehicle damage results going my way, was a nice win for my Wolves.

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