Interchangeable Display Board

Nick speaking,

One of my side projects was to make myself some display boards for my various armies, nothing too elaborate, just something simple that I could put my army on before the game begins in an attempt to speed things up. It would also give me somewhere to put the models on as they die...

For obvious reasons, I needed to come up with something that wouldn't take up too much space. After a bit of thinking I decided I would make myself one display board that could be interchangeable between my armies. I got myself one old picture frame and made a second insert for it, giving me two inserts. I then sanded and painted up both sides of each insert giving me four different boards for my armies.

Here are a few pictures of the four boards I made, using the same frame for all of them. I haven't put all the models on the boards and still need to make a few more small pieces of terrain for them, but hopefully it gives you a feel for the results...

I also made several video clips through the stages of making the boards...

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IDIC Harlequins Cover Save Battle Report

Nick speaking,

With only two basic Pathfinder units as troops in my Harlequin themed army, it is imperative that I get them into cover for that two plus cover save, or as least make my own cover with the Harlequins. It is also essential to get Eldrad's Farseer powers off to help keep them up, and for the Harlequins to have a better chance in the assault.

One of the worst armies to play against in objective missions are Tau and their cover save reducing Marker Lights, who can easily wipe out my troop choices, but recently I have noticed that Blood Angels also have some nifty things that really hurt my Pathfinders. AP3 Flamer Baals and annoying no cover save bullets from Sternguard, not to mention the Psychic Hood denying Eldrad's powers!

In this five objective Seize Ground mission, I plan to hold my objective with Eldrad's Pathfinder group and contest the others with the rest of my army, but can my Pathfinders hold out...

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First Freehand Work!

Nick speaking,

When I first put my Farseers Jetbike platform together, I always knew I wanted my Craftworld logo on the front plate. I had previously thought about having the logo on the front of all my Jetbikes and Tanks, but in the end I decided I would save my first piece of freehand work for my Sexy Farseer

The project seemed a bit daunting at first, and to be honest I thought I would fail, and end up just having the section painted plain purple instead!. Before I attempted the logo, I had a look at one of my favourite painting blogs From the Warp for some inspiration. I was not disappointed and found several great freehand painting posts like this one, that gave me the confidence to get going.

So with the base coats all done on the rest of my platform, it was time for me to have a go. First I drew a cross with a pencil to give me a guide to where the logo would be...

Next I pencilled in the actual logo...

I then painted the outline of the logo with black...

Next was to paint in the purple sections...

Then all I had to do was tidy it all up...

All in all, I was very pleased with the results for my first freehand piece, and when viewed with the naked eye it is very difficult to see the imperfections. So once again, many thanks to Ron, and his fantastic painting articles. I am going to continue to keep having a go at freehand, and can only inspire to be as good Rons work one day!

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Stripping Metal Models

Nick speaking,

I have had a couple of comments on my YouTube channel asking me what I use to strip my metal models. I know that Dettol is very good for this job, but in this video, using some old Warlocks I got from eBay, I demonstrate how to do it with a different substance...

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Before there was Finecast there was Urban!

Nick speaking,

A short while before metal models made the switch to Citadel Finecast, I purchased my second box of the Citadel Urban Basing kit. The first box I bought was way back when it first came out five years ago, but in this new box, I could see the start of some changes for GW resin models...

If you don't know, the basing kit comes with five mini pots containing brass etchings, some large and small slate pots and two pots of resin base bits in various sizes...

One problem that I had with the original kit I purchased, was that all the resin base bits were so thick, that you had to somehow file them down to get them to sit flat on the base. I found sand paper did the job, but it was a bit of a pain. However, this new kit I had was not like that at all, in actual fact the resin bits seemed to be made of a different material altogether! Yes they were flatter, but now the detail was rubbish? Some parts were so bad you hardly had any detail at all!  You can see the differences from the pictures below. Take a look at the the detail of the coils and sand on some of them. Old bases are on the left, new ones on the right...

Overall, I was very disappointed with my purchase and although I didn't have to sand down the bases anymore, the general quality definitely seemed to be going down hill. A few weeks later, Finecast was announced, and I have to say that my new basing kit didn't give me much confidence in it!

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Swiftclaw Biker list Battle Report

Nick speaking,

I recently had a friendly game with my Swiftclaw Biker list and after posting up the list here on the blog, I discovered that I had illegally given my Wolf Priest on a bike, Saga of the Hunter! (thank you 'itspug' for pointing that out). Luckily enough though, in this game it actually made no difference, the only time I tried to use the plus one to my cover save, I threw three's anyway. During the game I found that there was also something missing from my list that I could have used the miss spent points on instead! Overall though, I liked the list I had and the way it played, and I am looking forward to using it again. I will work on a few tweaks hear and there, and post them up at some point. Until then, here is the battle report I did of that game...

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Giving your IC a chance to stay alive!

Nick speaking,

The other day when I was playing a game with my Eldar, I came across something that I have never really thought about before, a way to give your independent character a chance to stay alive, and this is how I came across it...

I was playing an Annihilation mission with my mech Eldar, I had a full unit of Banshees and a Farseer in a Wave Serpent mid-table, backed up by other tanks. Farseer does the usual trick and fortunes the Banshees so they can get out and assault a doomed unit, with the Farseer staying in the Wave Serpent. Banshees do the business in the assault and gradually die over the next turn or so.

Meanwhile, the Farseer's Serpent gets assaulted and destroyed in one of my opponents turns leaving him stranded in the wreckage, ready to give up a kill point! In my turn, I see that I have a Falcon nearby, with five Dire Avengers embarked on it, Farseer moves to the Falcon and embarks, saving his life, and letting me continue to use his powers the rest of the game.

It then struck me that if I had filled up the Falcon with six Dire Avengers, my Farseer would not have been able to embark, and probably would have died the next turn potentially costing me the game! It may not happen very often, but having that chance to save the Farseer has opened a new tactic for me. If you are running a mech army, try not to fill the tank up to full capacity in case you need to rescue an IC!

Maybe this is a tried and tested tactic that everybody knows about already? Maybe it's a useless tactic, as it isn't going to happen very often? Or maybe it's a gem, that is well worth considering, so I thought I would share it with you, just in case, like me, you hadn't thought of it either!

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How to Magnetising - Top Ten Tips!

Email in:

Just about to start on my first wave serpent. Any thoughts or tips on building this model? I know that you sent me a few vid links a while back regarding magnetising? I am trying to get better at this but you appear to be the master! ;-)

I end up gluing magnets to my hands the sofa, the bench anywhere apart from where I want them!

Any thoughts???

Reply out:

Nick speaking,

OK, here are my top magnetising tips that are not in any of my videos:

1) Make sure that all surfaces to be glued are as flat as possible

2) Get a stick (or paint brush) and stick a piece of Blu-Tack to the end, make the Blu-Tack into a point that is smaller than the actual magnet, so that the glue does not go onto the Blu-Tack

3) Work out which way round the magnet needs to be glued on and place the opposite end facing up on a table

4) Lightly pick it up with the Blu-Tack

5) Put the Super Glue onto the magnet and not onto the model

6) Gentle hold the magnet into position with the stick and wait a couple of second (I blow on it, but I don't know if this really does anything)

7) Gentle twist the stick so that the Blu-Tack comes off without pulling the magnet off

8) If you need to touch the magnet to re-adjust it before it dries, or maybe to put some pressure on it to make sure it's flat, use the edge of your finger nail and not your finger skin.

9) TOP TIP and one I need to often remember myself! Do not touch the magnet or try to magnetise it to another one until it is fully dry. Even though it's 'super glue' just leave it alone for a while to let it fully bond. I find this hard and sometimes try it out too early, messing up the work I have done and having to start it again

10) Make sure you do it in a peace and quite environment so you can concentrate, and so that no one can see when you glue it to the sofa, or in my case, when it pings off and glues to the radiator!

Think that's it, hope it helps

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Tyranids Vs Mech Blood Angels

Nick speaking,

In this game against Mech Blood Angels, I destroyed everything except for two marines and an immobilised Land Raider Crusader, but was it enough to win!

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Swiftclaw Biker Army Ideas!

Nick speaking,

Since posting about my Space Wolves, Eye of Terror bikes, I have been working on a way to start to get them back on the table. I have seven bikes in total including models with a power fist, Mark of Wulven, flamer and a Wolf Lord. My initial thoughts were to have a small sized unit to just support my Thunderwolves, but the more I thought about it, the more I wanted to give the bikers centre of attention!

I needed to work with the models I had, so first up was the Wolf Lord, mine has a frost blade, so I ran with that, adding in a storm shield and runic armour to boot. I always knew that I would need the Wolf Priest in the unit so that was an easy second HQ. My Mark of Wulven biker could easily stand in for a Wolf Priest, and armed with runic armour, wolf tail and saga of the hunter, he will be a great boost to the unit giving me preferred enemy, stealth and the ability to flank if needed. So that's two re-roll to hit power weapons, two 2+ saves, a 3++ and a 4++ save with a unit wide 3/2+ cover save that can outflank!

Previously I have been playing with minimum Grey Hunter Razorbacks, with Thunderwolves as the main action units, and that's arguable the best way to go, but I have found that I have not really been having that much fun with this type of list, Thunderwolves are great, but it was now time to get those Grey Hunters out and fighting.

Knowing that I wanted some hard hitting troops, meant that I was going to need some Wolf Guards for the Grey Hunters, and this leads me onto my next Biker model, a Wolf Guard with Power Fist to join the four Swiftclaw Bikers I have left, with another Power weapon and a flamer guy.

Three Rhino's with eight kitted out Grey Hunters and a Wolf Guard with a combi-melta and power fist would head up the attack with the Swiftclaw unit. Next, was a Wolf Guard in terminator armour and a cyclone missile launcher, to join a unit of missile Long Fangs. He would help pop vehicles, taking wounds, and may do something if the Fangs get assaulted.

I did think about having more than one unit of Long Fangs, but in the end I spent the last few points, on a small Scout squad and five Grey Hunters in a Razorback. The general idea of the list is to move the Rhino's and Bike unit as quickly as possible straight at the enemy, using turbo boosting, smoke and cover to keep it all up until it gets there. Long fangs and Razorback sit back and pop what they can, whilst holding any home objectives. Lastly with the Scout pack having a good chance of coming in on the rear board edge, for distraction.

Here is my final list, and like I said, this list was all about getting my bikers on the table, so please let me know what you think?

HQ

1 x Wolf Lord/Frost Blade/Storm Shield/Runic Armour/Bike (210) 
1 x Wolf Priest/Runic Armour/Wolf Tail/Hunter/Bike (170)

ELITES

5 x Wolf Scouts/Mark of Wulven/Meltagun/Melta Bomb (105)
5x Wolf Guard:
3 x Wolf Guard/Combi-Melta/Power Fist (129) 
1 x Wolf Guard/Terminator Armour/Cyclone missile launcher (63)
1 x Wolf Guard/Power Fist/Storm Shield/Bike (98)  

TROOPS

8 x Grey Hunters/Meltagun/Mark of Wulven/Power Weapon/Wolf Standard (200)
8 x Grey Hunters/Meltagun/Mark of Wulven/Power Weapon/Wolf Standard (200)
8 x Grey Hunters/Meltagun/Mark of Wulven/Wolf Standard (185)
5 x Grey Hunters/Meltagun/Razorback/Twin Las (155)

FAST

4 x Swiftclaw Bikers/Flamer/Power Weapon (120) 

HEAVY

5 x Long Fangs/4 x Missiles/Pack Leader (115)

Points 1750
 

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