Armies on Parade 2016 Board Progress

Nick speaking,

Continuing on with my board for this years Armies on Parade. I have now completed the build ready for painting. Although it took a bit of time to do, it was all pretty simple. First I got some cheap cork boards from my local DIY store. Then I cut out the cork at the back to fit around the buildings. These sections will just have sand on them to match my Fenrisian Wolf bases. I then broke up the cork and made an urban rubble section at the front of the board for the rest of the army to stand on..

Once that was all dry, I then covered the flat areas and the cracks between the cork in sand using PVA glue. All I have to do now is paint it to match my bases and I am done. Nothing too special, but considering how quickly I managed to get it done and for just the cost of some cork, I think the army is going to look great on it!

More to come soon

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Armies on Parade 2016 Board Ideas

Nick speaking,

Time to actually start work on my Armies on Parade board! I know it's been a fair while since I posted about entering my Space Wolves into this years competition, but to be honest, most of that wait was finding an appropriate board to use. Luckily, my buddy was able to get me a board via his work, so with my board in hand, lets see what we can come up with!

The initial plan was to have a building at the back of the board with some Long Fangs in it and then the rest of the army charging forward at the front. On reflection, I think that will be a little one dimensional, so with a look over my cityfight terrain, I found my two buildings that have a bridge between them...

With this set up I can have my two Long Fang units in the buildings and the Grey Hunters at the front as envisioned, but when the buildings are together I have a spare section at the back of the board. I was thinking I would have all my Fenrisian Wolves charging at the back and under the bridge following the Hunters into battle! I think it will add a sort of 3D effect to the board and make it a lot more interesting!

The first job will be to get some cork and make the surface of the board match my armies urban rubble bases. I am planning on insetting the buildings into the cork to help blend them in, but we will see how that goes. More to come soon!

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Blast Scape Necron Terrain Showcase

Nick speaking,

Here are my Citadel Blast Scapes all finished up, one for my Cities of Death board and the rest for my Necron terrain. I really enjoyed painting and converting these, and I think the LaserCutCard Obelisk has worked really well. I even had a go with an LED for the first time in the satellite section. I can't wait to start playing on them soon, please let me know what you think...

 

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Blast Scape Necron Terrain

Nick speaking,

I thought I would finally get around to doing the Citadel Blast Scape set that I was given last year. The pieces look pretty cool as they are, but I ended up doing a few conversions to match them into my terrain, one for my Cities of Death board and the rest for my Necron terrain. I have seen a few reviews on this set saying the quality is pretty poor, and I have to say, these are nowhere near the quality of my Moonscape kit I have. So just to be on the safe side I started my giving them a good coat of expanding foam on the underside, which seemed to give them some extra strength. Anyway, this is what I have done with them, and I couldn't resist adding in a LaserCutCard Obelisk. just got to add some sand and then paint them up...

 

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Necron Cities of Death Battle Report

Nick speaking,

Cities of Death battle report against my son and his Space Marines!

My list...

HQ

1 x Necron Overlord/Warscythe/Phaeron (120)
Royal Court:
1 x Cryptek Harbringer of Despair/Abyssal Staff/Veil of Darkness (60)
1 x Cryptek Harbringer of Destruction/Eldridge Lance/Solar Pulse (55)

ELITES

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

5 x Flayed Ones (65)

TROOPS 

5 x Necron immortals/Gauss (85)
5 x Necron Warriors (65)
5 x Necron Warriors (65)

FAST ATTACK

3 x Canoptek Wraiths/2x Whip coils (125)
8 x Canoptek Scarabs (120)

Points 1000

Find out more about the Dunk Cryptek here...

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Cities of Death Necrons!

Nick speaking,

I am playing a Cities of Death game against my sons Space Marines soon, we are just having a bit of fun as it's the first time he has played on a Cities board, and the first time against the new Necron Codex. We have set the game at 1k points and are not going to bother with any stratagems on this occasion. Here is a list I have come up with specifically for Cityfight, it's based around the C'tan Shard making all terrain dangerous and playing a few different units for him to see in action...

HQ

1 x Necron Overlord/Warscythe/Phaeron (120)
Royal Court:
1 x Cryptek Harbringer of Despair/Abyssal Staff/Veil of Darkness (60)
1 x Cryptek Harbringer of Destruction/Eldridge Lance/Solar Pulse (55)

ELITES

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

5 x Flayed Ones (65)

TROOPS 

5 x Necron immortals/Gauss (85)
5 x Necron Warriors (65)
5 x Necron Warriors (65)

FAST ATTACK

3 x Canoptek Wraiths/2x Whip coils (125)
8 x Canoptek Scarabs (120)

Points 1000

Battle report to follow...

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Necron Cities of Death Battle Report

Nick speaking,

I thought I would give my Pariah's a chance to come out and play in this Cities of Death game, and what better way to take advantage of there abilities that to mix them up with the Deceiver and a Nightmare Shroud Lord!

Here's the 1750 point list I was using:

1x Deceiver
1x Lord/Scythe/Nightmare Shroud/Veil of Darkness
5x Pariah
5x Pariah
10x Warriors
10x Warriors
4x Destroyers
4x Destroyers
8x Scarabs/Dis Fields
1x Tomb Spyder

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Eldar City of Death Battle Report

Nick speaking,

After upgrading my Cities of Death 1500pt Eldar list to 1750pt, I was all set to start playing with my buildings again for some fun. As it turns out, I had even more fun than I expected, It was such a pleasure to get my Cities of Death terrain back out on the table..

Most of the units I use in CoD, never really come out to play that much because they don't tend to fit into my other lists easily, hence I haven't got around to painting them. After this game though, and once my Saim-Hann themed army is done and dusted, I will work on some of these models, starting with the Avatar...

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City fighting Eldar

Nick speaking,

It's been a long time since I got out my Cities of Death terrain and had a few games on it, so long in fact that all my army lists are at 1500 points! Nowadays though, my buddies and I always play our games at 1750 points, so it's time to shake up my lists a bit!

Here is my old 1500 point Eldar list and how it all works:

HQ

1x Avatar

1x Eldrad

TROOPS

5 x Pathfinder Rangers

3 x Guardian Jetbikes/Shuriken Cannon

10 x Guardians/Scatter Laser

ELITES

10 x Harlequins/Kiss/Fusion Pistols/Troupe Master/Death Jester/Shadowseer

10 x Striking Scorpions/Exarch/Scorpion’s Claw/Stalker/Shadowstrike

HEAVY SUPPORT

1 x Wraithlord/Flamers/Bright Lance/Missile Launcher

3 x War Walkers/Scatter Lasers 

1500pts

The Avatar advances forward to cause trouble, whilst the Wraithlord, Guardians and War Walkers all sit at the back giving out some firepower, with quantity of shots over quality being key in Cities because of all the cover saves. Eldrad hides out of site or joins the Guardians to do what he does best with his Jedi tricks, and to help with wraithsight. Harlequins sit nearby ignoring terrain ready for the counter assault, or to quickly move out depending on the mission.
 

Striking Scorpions infiltrate in a position to help the Avatar out midfield, or to get into the enemies back ranks taking advantage of move through cover. The Pathfinders infiltrate into a high advantage point to shoot, distract and hold any buildings. The small unit of jetbikes are ideal for reserving, it is small enough to avoid landing on terrain, and can either contest or pop out from behind terrain, shoot the Cannon and then hiding again in the assault phase.

Overall, the list works very well for City fighting and I wanted to keep the same format with the extra 250 points. I did consider beefing up Striking Scorpions with Karandras, but both Eldrad and the Avatar fit in the list too well to drop either one. So with that out of the way, and knowing that any and everyone gets cover saves in Cities, the next choice was obvious, Dark Reapers! Lets get that Crack shot Exarch on the table to deny those cover saves and be even more of a distraction. They also keep the theme of using unused units that I love so much about Cities.

I always knew I wanted a second unit of Jetbikes to help with objectives, and with all the terrain around, another small unit of three would be ideal. The Dark Reaper unit will have to be the bare minimum of three to get the Jetbikes in, and with a few points left over, the Pathfinders get an extra dude, as that was all I could come up with! Of course choosing the correct Stratagems for the army is also another key point, and I tend to choose Fortifications (+1 cover for every unit in a building and ignores enemy granades) and Ammunition Stores (re-roll to hit for one unit) which is a perfect compliment to add to Eldrad's powers. How many re-rolls do you want!

Now my list looks like this:

HQ

1x Avatar

1x Eldrad

TROOPS

6 x Pathfinder Rangers

3 x Guardian Jetbikes/Shuriken Cannon
3 x Guardian Jetbikes/Shuriken Cannon

10 x Guardians/Scatter Laser

ELITES

10 x Harlequins/Kiss/Fusion Pistols/Troupe Master/Death Jester/Shadowseer

10 x Striking Scorpions/Exarch/Scorpion’s Claw/Stalker/Shadowstrike

HEAVY SUPPORT

1 x Wraithlord/Flamers/Bright Lance/Missile Launcher

3 x War Walkers/Scatter Lasers
3x Dark Reapers/Tempest Launcher/Crack Shot 

1746 Points

What do you think? Is that a good way to spend the extra 250 points? Any other suggestions or ideas welcome?

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City Stratagems

Nick speaking,

It's been a long time since I picked up White Dwarf from my front door mat, with any excitement that there maybe something of interest in it, that I don't already know about! Imagine my delighted surprise when I opened issue 379, and saw some brand new Cities of Death stuff!

In reality, I am sure it is nothing more than GW noticing that Cities sales have died a bit, and need a boost, but as it has come out at the same time that I have been thinking about getting my Cities board out for a few games, I was actually quite excited about this issue!

Dubbed as 'Official', it introduces some dedicated new Stratagems for each of the 'major' armies, along with four brand new missions, which is a nice added bonus for anyone who has played the current missions to death, and need a change. This brings me nicely onto the real reason for this post, something that I had already planned for before the Cities WD came out...

What Stratagems are the best? Even though they are 'free', which ones should I take? Is there some sort of mathammer way to decide?

Until this day, my buddy still uses the very same Stratagems he used when we first started playing CoD. With Medicae (FNP) and Booby Traps (S8 AP2 hits) being his favourites. I notice he pretty much takes them without thinking about it, as if it is easier to have the same old, than take something new, or are they the best? When I first started playing, I always chose Barricades, Razor wire and Tank Traps! Not because they were the best, but because I had spent so much time making my terrain, I wanted it to be used, especially as I had made a broken Blood Angels bike barricade to put out when my buddies BA's came to town...

I soon realised that Obstacle Stratagems, along with Deployment and Armoury Stratagems, weren't really worth taking for my armies, and I ended up with four standard Stratagems that I choose between. My favourites being, Fortifications (+1 cover for every unit in a building), Ammunition Stores (re-roll to hit for one unit), Power Generator (re-roll to wound for one unit) and of course Medicae for the (feel no pain)

So will the new Stratagems offer me more choices for my armies? I won't list down all the description of the Stratagems, but here is what I am thinking...

Eldar: Holo-Emitters
Having the ability to redeploy and swap units about, is a great dirty trick, and matches in with the current Eldrad Devination power. I like this one, but it is something that will need to be planned out rather than randomly taking it. I think I will give it a try.

Necrons: Flayed One Haunt
Lets just say, when the new Codex hits, and we can take Flayed Ones as troops, I will have a closer look at it, but until then, Flayed Ones are off my radar.

Tyranids: Gargoyle Eyrie
Maybe if you are a Gargoyle fan then great, but personally, I just have to ask, WHY?

Space Wolves/Space Marines: The Noble Hero
Of course GW won't let us down with the Marines, any Marine within 6" of the building get to re-roll all failed rolls to hit!

So there you have it, I may play the Eldar one, but it only helps once at the beginning of the game, unlike the nice Space Marine one that last for the whole game, and can effect your whole army!

So what do you think? Stratagems! Do you like them? Do you plan what ones you will take before a game or do you randomly pick them? What do you think of the new Stratagems and should Stratagems be introduced into normal 40k games?

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Using Unused Units!

Nick speaking,

So I have previously talked about how playing different scenarios and missions can really change your army, and how Cities of Death really helped my Wulvenkind perform on the table, even with my old Codex. But the best thing about playing something different, is that it can unlock those units that you don't usually play with! And that is what I love about playing Cities of Death...

I have found that it also makes a big difference to my Eldar army as well, allowing me to take advantage of the buildings and scenarios, and getting a different type of list on the table is what it's all about. Here is a peak at my standard 1500 point list for Cities of Death.

HQ

1x Avatar

1x Eldrad

TROOPS

5 x Pathfinder Rangers

3 x Guardian Jetbikes/Shuriken Cannon

10 x Guardians/Scatter Laser

ELITES

10 x Harlequins/Kiss/Fusion Pistols/Troupe Master/Death Jester/Shadowseer

10 x Striking Scorpions/Exarch/Scorpion’s Claw/Stalker/Shadowstrike

HEAVY SUPPORT

1 x Wraithlord/Flamers/Bright Lance/Missile Launcher

3 x War Walkers/Scatter Laser

Normally four of these units would never make it into my standard 40k list, but the Avatar, Scorpions, Warwalkers and Guardians are all perfect for Cities, and it's only because I also have an Eldar Harlequin army, that the number of units I would not normally use isn't eight, with Jetbikes being the only unit I use in my Eldar Mech and Saim Hann lists.

So with the ability to have some fun with units I love but don't usually take, how does the list work?

 

Well first up the Avatar advances forward to cause trouble, whilst the Wraithlord, Guardians and War Walkers all sit at the back giving out some firepower, with quantity of shots over quality being key in Cities because of all the cover saves. Eldrad hides out of site or joins the Guardians to do what he does best with his Jedi tricks, and to help with wraithsight. Harlequins sit nearby ignoring terrain ready for the counter assault, or to quickly move out depending on the mission.

Striking Scorpions infiltrate in a position to help the Avatar out midfield, or to get into the enemies back ranks taking advantage of move through cover. The Pathfinders infiltrate into a high advantage point to shoot, distract and hold any buildings. A small unit of jetbikes are ideal for reserving, it is small enough to avoid landing on terrain, and can either contest or pop out from behind terrain, shoot the Cannon and then hiding again in the assault phase.

Playing something extra like Cities of Death and the different missions, really does add a different dimension to your army and how it work, and gives you something different to work with...

Do you have any units you never use in normal 40k, but work really well in different scenarios?

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Love your Army!

Nick speaking,

About five years ago, you would hardly ever see my Eye of Terror Space Wolves 13th company on the table, in actual fact if I hadn't put so much time, effort and money into converting them all, I probably would have sold them off by now. With the lack of vehicles and an aging Codex compared to the new shinny editions, I started to lose my enjoyment for them.

Back in those days I was mainly playing against Blood Angels, and that was probably the real reason for my lack of love for these guy's. With their fast moving Jump packs, horrible Death Company and Honour Guard units, it was always hard for me to control the game, especially without any vehicles! When you coupled the BA fast movement with furious charge, close combat was always a problem for me, even though I was a CC army?

So for a while I shelved my Wulvenkind in favour of my Necrons, but when I got my copy of the first GW 'expansion book' Cities of Death in 2006, it occurred to me that my 13th Company could make an ideal army for Cities of Death! With all the buildings around I could avoid being shot at, and so giving me no disadvantage in not having vehicles! So with that inspiration, I got started on my Ruined Buildings terrain...

The Cities of Death Codex was the first inclination of where GW was going with fifth edition, as it was here that we saw Troops only as scoring units for the first time, and this was ideal for my Wulvenkind. I no longer had to take my points heavy ten man units to try and walk across the board, I could take several five man units and sneak them around the heavy terrain claiming objectives!

I suppose the long and short of this post is that different scenarios and missions can have a big impact on your armies ability. Back in forth edition, GW gave us all the extra scenarios for free, but now they sell them to us in the form of  'expansion books'.

I have not gone down the route of  'Planet Strike' or 'Battle Missions' yet, but If you are starting to get a bit fed up with your army for whatever reason, just get a few of your willing buddies to give something else a try instead of the three standard missions, and you may just get some love back for your army again...

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Ruined Buildings Insight - Part 2

Nick speaking,

Following on from the first video, this video looks at the rest of my ruined Cities of Death terrain with a bit more insight on how I painted them...

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Ruined Buildings Insight - Part 1

Nick speaking,

I have had a few requests lately for a closer look at my Cities of Death terrain. Here is the first video I made last year, with a bit more depth and insight into my ruined buildings...

Part two to follow...

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Cities of Death Terrain

Nick speaking,

Let the city fight begin....

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