Biker list update

Nick speaking,

Continuing on with my Swiftclaw Biker list which was totally based around getting my bikes on the tabletop, it is now time for a few final tweaks to the list. After playing a game with the original list and illegally having Saga of the Hunter on the Bike Wolf Priest, I found myself with few extra points to play around with.

The original list was based around my Wolf Lord model that is holding a frost blade, but it quickly came clear to me after getting my bike unit locked in combat with an armour thirteen dreadnought, this was a mistake. During the game I was thinking I need some Melta bombs in the unit, but in reality and now with a few extra points, it has to be a Thunder Hammer!

One of my other bike dudes is holding a flamer as I originally modelling him up with it, but I think 100% he would be better off with a Melta Gun. So in the end I chose the Melta Gun/Thunder Hammer Combo instead of Melta bombs for the unit.

Now my Swiftclaw Biker List looks like this...

HQ

1 x Wolf Lord/Thunder Hammer/Storm Shield/Runic Armour/Bike (215) 
1 x Wolf Priest/Runic Armour/Wolf Tail/Bike (160)

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/Melta Gun/Power Weapon (125) 

HEAVY

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

Points 1750

Hopefully now I won't get the unit bogged down with some pesky Dread in the future, or if I do at least I will have a chance to wound the thing! 

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Necron Tomb World Battle Report

Nick speaking,

Whenever I get a chance to bring out my Necron themed board, I always get the urge to play my Necron army. With a new Necron Codex not to far away, and with all the rumours of what is going to be in it and how the new rules will work, I just had to get my Deceiver based list on the table, just in case the Star Gods disappear forever...

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Latest Necron Terrain Piece

Nick speaking,

If you have seen my recent post and video of me making my interchangeable display board, you will know that I purchased a Battlefield in a Box rocky hill. It came in two halves, one slightly smaller than the other. I used the smaller half for my Eldar display board and I planned for the bigger half to go towards my Necron themed terrain.

I made all my Necron terrain way before I started this Blog, and although this is a pretty basic piece, I thought I would use it as an opportunity for me to show you a step by step guide on how I get my Necron terrain colour scheme. Being a piece of terrain that is designed to go on the edge of the board, it will be a nice addition to the rest of my stuff. First I took the original hill and added a few extra stones to it to make it match my board a bit better...

I then painted it Chaos Black...

Dry Brushed it Dark Angels Green...

Dry brushed it Snot Green...

Dry brushed it Scorpion Green...

I then went back over the sand areas with Chaos Black...

Finally, I dry brushed the sand Codex Grey to match rest of my board...

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IDIC Harlequins - Time for Mauggy!

Nick speaking,

If you have been following my Blog, you will know that my IDIC Harlequin Eldar list is totally based around the tactical Harlequin PDF done by Fritz. I love the whole Harlequin themed army idea, and I have had some great fun with them. The army has two variants based around two HQ's, with either Eldrad or Maugan Ra heading up the army. Eldrad is generally the preferred choice, giving a boost to your Harlies with Doom, Guiding your Wraithlords and Fortuning the Pathfinders so they can keep hold of any objectives...

The main disadvantage of the Eldrad list, is that pretty much every man and his dog now has some way to shut down Eldrad's psychic powers! Lets face it, Eldar are no longer the psykers they used to be and with said powers being shut down, Eldrad almost becomes redundant. Of course he does bring other things to the table like Divination and Runes of Warding, and if you get lucky with an army without any psychic defense, or manage to take it out, then the Eldrad list still stands very strong.

Both lists rely on just two troop choices, two units of five Pathfinders. After you have paid for the thirty Harlequins and three Wraithlords that you need to make the list work, that's the only troop choices you can afford. That's OK though, as the whole army is designed around that fact and has so many tricks in it to make it work.

Except...

Having a fortuned troop choice sitting on an objective, with a re-rollable, two plus cover save, backed by thirty Harlequins that you can't target, is a pretty tough nut to crack, but what about all the weapons out there that ignore cover saves? Tau marker lights, Blood Angels flanking flamer Baals, Blood Angels horrible Sternguard bullets that either drop pod or Storm Raven in (I won't mention their 2+ poisoned bullets!) Ork Snikrot rear flanking Commandos with flamers etc etc. I know there are a few tricks that can help out the Pathfinders, like reserving, baiting and bubble wrapping, and it is fair to say that even when the Pathfinders have been wiped out, I have still held on to a draw with the Harlies and Wraithlords contesting. So with all that said, I am now starting to think that it maybe time for me to start using the Mauggy list!

So what does Mauggy bring to the army?

Well, Mauggy has a bit more of an offensive roll than Eldrad, and although he has no invulnerable save, he does bring something different to the army. Using his thirty six inch ranged Muagateer, whilst being protected by a Harlequin unit with Veil of Tears, is going to start to be annoying to your opponent. With his Crack Shot ability you will be getting four strength six, rending shots, that ignore cover saves and hit on a two plus. With the ability to ignore smoke on rhinos, or cover saves on fast moving skimmers helps bring your opponent out on foot. Add to this his Fast Shot ability, an extra shot for when your opponent hasn’t or can’t pop smoke or is out in the open, plus acute senses for night fight and Dawn of War. When Mauggies Harlequin unit finally hits for the assault, he brings support with his high initiative, good number of attacks and a strength six power weapon to boot. No invulnerable save does suck, but at least he has Internal Warrior to slightly compensate for it!

I am not thinking or saying that adding Mauggy is going to change how my opponent deals with my scoring Pathfinders, but at least he may add a bit more pressure on them to deal with his unit, whilst my Pathfinders reserve and try not to draw attention to themselves! Although Mauggy will mean I no longer have any psychic protection myself without Eldrad's Runes of Warding, and I could potentially miss out on the the boosting powers of Eldrad, I think he will make me play my Harlequins a bit more aggressively than I do at the moment, and I am looking forward to see the results.

So with my Mauggy list in hand, it's time to take him into battle...

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