Necron Canoptek Acanthrite Conversion Progress #1

Nick speaking,

Back to the three left over Wraiths that I had from my very cheap eBay loot, and as previously posted, I am going to convert them into Forge Wold Acanthrites. It shouldn't be too difficult, as they seem to be just a kitbashed from Wraiths and Spyders. I think it will be fun to do and it's a unit I have never played before that seem to be pretty decent on the table...

First I bent the metal tails about so that when they go onto a flying stand they look like they are floating. I ended up having to pin two sections on each tail, but it wasn't an issue. A nice spiky bit for the tail scythe and that was that done.

Next was the back and gun. I found a gun and back torso in my bitz box and went about cutting a filing the back of the Wraith down so that they fit together. I still need to green stuff in the gaps, but that will come later. I am thinking the sticky out ball at the back of the torso will make a good stabiliser. I know the original has four of them, but I am struggling to get bitz for them and I kinda like the single one I have at the moment...

So, that's how far I have got so far, You may have noticed that I have also cut the Wraith head off, and I plan on adding a Spyder head instead like the original. I think I will also trim down the Wraith back pieces and and them to the spine to beef the model up a little. Before that though, I have just had a delivery of claws from eBay, so I will fix them on and the head and see how they look

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Games Workshop Paint my Terrain!

Nick speaking,

More dead Blood Angels!

A little while ago, I placed third in a painting competition at my local Games Workshop store and won a prize for them to paint up a piece of terrain for me. I thought I would submit the Forge World piece I got for a fiver a while back. It wasn't badly painted when I got it, but it wasn't great either, and it didn't match my board. So, it was time to get the paint stripper out and see what they could do with it...

I just asked for a dead Blood Angel and my usual sand colour to match my board, and the rest was left up to them. I think they did an awesome job and I really like the green finish, as it will go well with my Necron Buildings... 

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Forge World Avatar Painting Challenge (part 3)

Nick speaking,

More work on the Avatar and I have now gone in a started the lava effects. The pictures don't really show it off in it's full glory, but I think it gives you a good idea of where I am going with it. I blended in from the edge with Scab Red, 1:1 Scab Red/Blood Red, 1:1 Blood Red/Troll Orange and a final Troll Orange highlight. Still plenty of work to do, but first I need to bring all the Lava up to this level...

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Forge World Avatar Painting Challenge (part 1)

Nick speaking,

After having my Forge World Avatar for five years or so, it's time to finally get it painted. I know it still has issues on the table, that haven't been resolved by the new Codex, but as it was voted to be the next unit for me to paint by my YouTube subscribers, the challenge has been set!

More to come...

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Necrons at Games Day 2012

Nick speaking,

Sadly I didn't make it to Games Day this year, but I was very interested to see some pictures of the new Necron stuff that maybe coming up from Forge World. So lets have a look at the pictures and see what we think of the new stuff. All images and information is from Fred's Warhammer Stuff Blog...

The Necron Night Shroud:

It looks alright, but I am not sure about the canopy and those side bits just look really out of place to me!

The Necron Tesseract Ark:

Looks like the back of a Ghost Ark with some dodgy front section on it. I really think this doesn't match in very well to the Ark piece, it looks too much like a blob and isn't delicate enough looking for me!

Necron Sentry Pylon (wip):

What can I say, just a feeble looking Pylon!

Sorry to be a bit negative here, but that's what my initial thoughts are. Sometimes things do grow on you though so I may change my mind, and it's fair to say, if this Necron terrain eventually makes it onto the market, that would be pretty cool...

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Wolf Guard Tartaros Terminators Won!

Nick speaking,

Seems like I have been pretty lucky this year so far. After already winning one competition a month or so back on YouTube, I have now just won another! Cruorangelussilicis had a competition to celebrate his Channel getting to 150 subscribers, and yes, I won the random draw. With the prize being a set of Forge World Tartaros Terminators...

As you would expect, I am very happy to have won these, so a massive thanks to Cruorangelussilicis for running the competition, and if you have a YouTube account, please go over and check out his Channel to give him some support...

As for the prize, it's really great to be handling resin models that are good quality, lets hope Finecast will be this good one day! I plan on converting these dudes up into Wolf Guard Terminators for my 13th Company Space Wolves, which will include some Chaos armour. I recon I should be able to make six Guards out of the five minis, by the time I have changed some of the armour about with Chaos bits.

More to come on this one...

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My Forge World Avatar

Nick speaking,

It's been a while since I felt the excitement of ordering my Forge World Avatar! I remember all the saving up for it, and then placing the order with a massive smile on my face. I also remember the feeling I had when it eventually came through the post, and the joy of building, converting and magnetising it. Since then, it has been sitting around in my case for quite some time, and I have only just realised that I haven't shown it on my Blog yet!

So here are a few pictures of this very awesome looking model, I got myself a resin base to further enhance it, although I had to do some work to get it to fit on, as you can see below. I also magnetised the spear for storage purposes. I will be painting it up at some point, but until then...

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Eldar Wasp Assault Walker Announced

Nick speaking,

More Forge Wold Eldar announced, and it's a Troops choice that can move 24" and assault!

ELDAR WASP ASSAULT WALKER 

Commonly found amongst the raiding forces of the Eldar Corsairs, the Eldar Wasp Assault Walker confers additional protection and manoeuvrability to the pilot. Jump jets are added to the sturdy War Walker chassis to bolster this already potent weapons platform with deceptively swift movement.

Experimental rules for the Wasp Assault Walker can be found here. This model is available to pre-order now and will be despatched week commencing the 28th of February.

This new model doesn't really look that different from the normal War Walker, it has a bigger cockpit and some Forge World star engine bits added to the back, but that's about it. I am sure my normal Walkers will be delighted to come out of the case and stand in as Wasp Walkers!
 

So how are we going to use this new unit in gaming terms?

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New Eldar Announced

Nick speaking,

Forge World announces new stuff for Eldar...
  

ELDAR WARP HUNTER:

The Warp Hunter, perhaps the rarest of Eldar tanks, sacrifices the transport capacity of the Falcon chassis to mount the terrifying firepower of a large D-Cannon, a weapon capable of tearing open the very fabric of reality and engulfing its target in the dark energies of the Warp. Complete resin and plastic kit. Model designed by Stuart Williamson.
Rules for the Warp Hunter can be found here.


ELDAR SHADOW SPECTRES ASPECT WARRIORS:

Disguised behind shimmering holo-fields, draped with gossamer-thin robes and wraith-like in appearance, the Shadow Spectres were believed long lost by Eldar Seers. Armed with prism rifles, each a potent anti-tank weapon, and equipped with jet packs, their mobility allows them to hunt down their chosen targets with the implacable patience of the dead, materialising seemingly from the very air to unleash their overwhelming firepower. This kit contains 5 full resin Aspect Warriors including scenic bases. Models designed by Simon Egan. Please note that the wire stand shown in two images is not included in this kit. Some careful conversion work will be required to acheive this effect.

Experimental rules for the Shadow Spectres aspect are available to download here.

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New Necron Codex Review - Tomb Stalker

Nick speaking,

Well, well, I certainly wasn't expecting to have an additional Heavy Support choice to review in my New Necron Codex post run, but the Tomb Stalker is here, and it deserves a review...

Obviously to review something like this requires a few test games, and rather than building brand new lists around the Stalker, I have found that he seems to fit into any list that would normally have three units of Warriors just fine. Dropping one unit of Warriors and taking the Tomb Stalker instead, gives you an extra dimension to lists like the 4th edition 'Wraith Wing' and current 'Capstone' type lists.

I tend to favour the deep strike tactic with the Stalker, and use it to either support your army or to get him into the enemy ranks, depending on how the game is going when he arrives! Just remember not to get disappointed when he dies, always expect that to happen, as long as he can distract/devastate enough before he goes down then he's done his job.

As for his stats, well, I was a bit disappointed in his shooting ability, but then again I am used to the Trygon Primes cheeky twelve shots! But putting that aside, why toughness seven? All it means is that it can't be hit by anything at strength three, and lets face it, not many people would throw a strength three unit at it except maybe Howelling banchees with their dreaded power weapons! Most people will just shoot it out.

I don't know how many points it cost to have toughness seven as appose to toughness six, but I would like to have seen some sort of invulnerable save, even if it was only a 5+, instead of the extra toughness!

So what do you think of the Tomb Stalker? How are you fitting him into your lists? Is he worth the points? Will he make it into the next Necron Codex, and how should his stats be changed from the current experimental ones?

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Eldar Hornet Announced

Nick speaking,

Forge World announces the Eldar Hornet is available for pre-order...

The Eldar Hornet, is a brand-new addition to the Eldar range. One of several new Eldar units that will feature in the forthcoming Imperial Armour Volume 11, this complete resin kit may be armed with a full range of Eldar weaponry and is supplied with two resin Pulse Lasers, and a plastic Eldar heavy weapon sprue, to allow you to refine its potent weaponry to a specific battlefield role.

 

The Hornet is a light tank employed by Eldar armoured forces in a fast reconnaissance and raiding role. Piloted by a single crewman, it can be found in the forefront of Eldar aspect warrior assault waves, speeding ahead of heavier Falcons and Wave Serpents and often operating alongside other high-speed attack craft such as jetbikes and Vypers.

Click here to get the experimental rules...

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Necron Tomb Stalker - First Battle Report

Nick speaking,

After waiting so long for something new for Necrons, playing my first test game with the Necron Tomb Stalker was pretty exciting. So exciting in fact, that it seemed to have an effect on my gaming ability...

The Tomb stalker does exactly what you would expect it to do on the table, as long as you accept that in most games it will die! It does make a fantastic distraction unit that also can do some damage, giving your other units (Warriors) some breathing space. Necrons now have a nice new toy to play with, and I am looking forward to a few more games with it sometime soon...

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Necron Tomb Stalker Ideas

Nick speaking,

With my Tomb Stalker model ready, it was time to re-arrange one of my army lists for it to fit into. After alot of deliberation, I decided that the Stalker would best fit the Capstone list, but how to get him in it?

The Capstone list is basically thirty Warriors, Lord and Scarabs, Deceiver, Monolith and two lots of four Destroyers. With a tweak on the Lords Wargear and dropping a unit of Warriors, I can free up 195pts for the Tomb Stalker...

Of course before I invest in the Forge World model, I need to test it out! Luckily my gaming buddies are happy to be guinea pigs and let me use a proxy model!

Obviously, I will have to be extra careful with only two units of Warriors on the table, but I have found that if there are enough distractions around, two units can do the job nicely, and I am hoping the Tomb Stalker will be enough of a distraction to compensate the loss of the Warriors?

Time to test it out, battle reports to follow...

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Why Forge World?

Nick speaking,

Generally, from a gaming point of view, using Forge World bitz to improve the look of our models has no real advantage. Indeed, in some cases it's a disadvantage? Take the Forge World Eldar Avatar for instance! Although it is an awesome model, it's at least double the size of the GW model, and twice as difficult to get 50% behind cover!

Of course there can be some advantages as well, my Forge World Eldar tanks are slightly longer than the GW ones, making it a bit easier to contest two objectives! But this is not the reason I went down the Forge World route! So why did I? Resin can be a pain to use, and it costs a lot more money?

Well, my first army was Necrons, and with only a Monolith as a tank with no FW upgrades, I have to admit I got a bit jealous seeing my buddies upgrading their tanks and dreadnoughts with FW bitz. Necrons of course only had the Pylon as a Forge World model, and at that time I only ever planned on having one army (like you do when you first start playing) so I treated myself to an expensive Necron toy.

It wasn't long after getting my Pylon, that I got the new army bug and it was time for me to get a second army. This time I wanted something different from the stand and shoot Necron's. I looked at Ork Speed Freaks and Eldar Saim Hann, but in the end I settled for the Eye of Terror's Elite, Space Wolves 13th Company army. I was playing alot against a hard hitting Emperors Children army at the time and I wanted some CC revenge. Trouble was, no tanks!

My third army was a Nid army that I got very cheap from a mate of mine. It was basically a massive box of Tyranid bitz, some made, some not, but definitely no tanks!

So that was it, my forth army had to have tanks, and the IDIC Eldar Craftworld was found. After waiting so long, I knew that my Eldar tanks were going to be all Forge World. It just had to be done, and that is why Forge World...

So what do you guy's think of FW models? have you found any advantages or disadvantages to certain models, and with the influx of models like the Mawclaw/Trigon from GW, do we really need to buy FW anymore?

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Necron Tomb Stalker!

Nick speaking,

At last, something is awakening for the Necrons!

Pre-release at Games Day UK...

Patterned in the shape of ancient and alien beasts of prey, Necron Tomb Stalkers are huge unliving machines; swift, tireless and relentless engines of murder that know neither pity nor remorse. Differing somewhat in scale and form, Tomb Stalkers and other similar constructs serve a function first of all to guard their masters’ sleep, eternally vigilant in their search for intruders that might disturb the dread tombs in which they slumber. Tomb Stalkers can detect the pulse of life through hundreds of metres of solid rock and use this ability to home in unerringly on their victims, employing a form of phase field to pass through inert matter as if it were water, striking without warning and leaving nothing but blood and dust in their wake.

Experimental rules:

Necron Tomb Stalker

Points 195, Heavy Support Choice

WS4 BS4 S6 T7 W5 I4 A4 LD10 SV3+

Unit Composition:

• 1 Tomb Stalker

Unit Type:

• Monstrous Creature

Wargear:

• Two Gauss Flayers

Special Rules:

• Sense Cluster

• Brutal Assault

• Fearless

• War Construct

• Phase Tunnelling

Sense Cluster: Tomb Stalkers have the Night Vision universal special rule.

Brutal Assault: The Tomb Stalker itself is a weapon; a mass of bladed limbs and razor-sharp armour plates. It

gains +2 attacks on a turn in which it assaults as opposed to the usual +1.

War Construct: The Tomb Stalker is a huge mass of shifting pseudo-metal, with little vulnerability except to the massive use of force. Sniper weapons, attacks with the Poisoned ability and the like, only wound the Tomb Stalker on a 6 (as opposed to a 4+, 2+ etc, as would normally be the case).

Phase Tunnelling: The Tomb Stalker is extraordinarily fast, and carries inbuilt phase field projectors allowing it to pass easily through inert matter, boring its way through rock and stone, and effortlessly passing through debris and rough terrain as it moves. As a result it has the Fleet, Deep Strike, Move Through Cover and Hit and Run universal special rules.

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Forge World Falcon Painted

Nick speaking,

Here is my finished Forge World Falcon Tank that I painting with my Fire Prisms...

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Forge World Fire Prisms Painted

Nick speaking,

At long last I have finished painting my Forge World Fire Prisms!

I can't wait to get them on the battle field...

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Forge World Fire Prism!

Nick speaking,

So the new GW Fire Prism is out and I am sure it is selling very well, after all it is a great looking model and more to the point has no lead weight on top of it! Even so, I have had to convince myself that my Fire Prisms are better! After all I have spent a lot of money and time converting them into Forge World Prisms, and have spent the last few months painting them! I am about 85% complete on the painting and have been taking pictures as I go along to make another painting project video like my Guardian and Vyper video's.

Here is a quick video of my Prisms just before I was ready to start painting them...

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