The Wonders of Twitter 40k!

Nick speaking,

Just in case you didn't know, I have been on Twitter for a while now. I am not a massive Twitter fan, but it would be nice to get a few more followers on my page. If you use Twitter and are interested in 40K, please make me happy and support my page by following me

IDICBeer on Twitter

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Tyranid Warrior Attack Vs Orks

Nick speaking,

Another five hundred point picture battle report for you. This time we roll for three objectives with Dawn of War deployment...

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Dire Avenger Tips and Magnetising Eldar

k speaking,

A little while ago I made a video for my YouTube channel showing some of my Eldar models. The main reason for making the video was to show people a tip that I had come across whilst assembling my Dire Avengers. I used the video to also show some of my Magnetised Eldar models I have done, including a Blade Storm marker for my Dire Avenger Exarch...



Here are some links to the magnets I use from my UK supplier:

http://www.guysmagnets.com/view-product/2-mm-x-1-mm-neodymium-disk

http://www.guysmagnets.com/view-product/3-mm-x-05-mm-neodymium-disk

http://www.guysmagnets.com/view-product/18-x-116-neodymium-disk

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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 Psychic Markers

Nick speaking,

A few posts ago I asked my followers for some ideas for Doom, Guide and Fortune markers, to take the place of my Photoshop paper versions. I received some great ideas including making an information booth for a fortune marker.

One person though, really caught my attention with his great marker ideas. And I would like to say a big thank you to BigGrim for sharing them with me, and allowing me to share them with you also. So without further ado, here are his three markers...

'Doom' marker made from the new Tomb Banshee model...

'Guide' made from High Elf Archer pointing...

'Fortune' made from a High Elf Mage with orb...

I really love the simplistic way he has painted them, they are still eye catching and the bases really work well at making them stand out. I think I am going to seriously consider using his ideas for my own markers in the future.

You can check out more of BigGrim's stuff here on his Plog

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40k in Bali?

Nick speaking,

Just an update to let you know that I am going on holiday for three weeks to my wife's home country Indonesia. We will be visiting Jakarta and Bali for a very well deserved break, and I won't be around to look after my Blog. I have, however, scheduled a few posts to go up whilst I am away, but unless I can get to an Internet cafe that doesn't have a snail connection, I won't be able to respond to any comments or emails posted.

As for 40k whilst I am on holiday, I don't believe GW have anything where I am going, but I will try and take a few models to build whilst I am out there if I get the chance, or indeed, if the wife lets me! As for the next few week's, my posts will go up every three to four days and will include a Necron Cities of Death battle report, Eldar psychic power marker ideas and a magnetising Eldar options post. I hope you enjoy the contents of them, and I hope I have a wonderful holiday.

Just to keep this post about 40k, here is a quick picture I took of my currently painted IDIC Hann, Saim-Hann styled Eldar army...

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New Necron Codex Thoughts - Necron Phalanx

Nick speaking,

In anticipation of the new Necron Codex, I have been thinking about the many rumours that have been going around on what may be in store for the robots! My initial thoughts have been about the new rumoured points value of the Necron Warrior! So, putting all the other rumours aside regarding the new Codex except for this one, what impact could a 12pt Warrior have, compared to the current 18pts?

Forgetting the stat drops that may occur because they are cheaper, like 4+ saves! and whether they will or won't be Stubborn or what sort of WWB they will have? What do you see will happen? Putting aside the fact that 'hopefully' we will be able to unlock other units as Troops via a Lord, and assuming that Warriors will still be the only troops choice, with 5th and potentially 6th Edition still having Troops only as scoring. I think I can see my sixty Warriors coming out to play!

For some reason I ended up with sixty Warriors, which in the current Dex works out at 1080pts! Throw in a Lord for 200pts and it is easy to see why I never play all sixty at 1500pts, which was until recently the normal level I played at. I did have a fifty Warrior based list when we recently moved up to 1750pts, but 5th Edition has gradually killed that of bit by bit as the new books have come out. At 12pts a model, sixty Warriors are now only 720pts, and at 1750pts or even better, at 2000pts, I will be able to easily max out on six Troop choices and sill have enough points left over for the other toys, especially if they also get a price drop.

For me, Necrons are about robots, and with sixty Warriors  as a base on the table, with lets say a few units of Immortals, a couple of lords and some fast Destroyers or Wraiths, they will really look like what I imagine they should do, a Necron Phalanx, marching towards you! Mix into that in a Monolith and a few Deep Strike/Flank options to cover the sides, and of course a couple of new MC's to boot!

So with all that said, what about a small transport skimmer? Do Necrons need them? Well, apart from the fact that I don't want to have to go out and buy a load more Necron units to make my army viable. I don't see why? I don't want to play my Necrons like Marines, all huddled in Vehicles, that will no doubt not be durable anyway! I would rather have more unique ways to move around the board like dual Veil of Darkness Lords or some sort of phase portal like the Monolith! Mix those in with some fast moving units, and do we really need transports?

What do you think? Should Necrons just be a sea of robots or should we have multiple transport skimmers everywhere?

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Making Necrons work at 500 points?

Nick speaking,

Coinciding with my recent 'How many points do you prefer to play' poll, I have been very much enjoying a few games at 500 points. Playing 500 points with the three standard missions on a 4'x4' table really makes for fun games. We use house rules of only three objectives in the Seize ground missions, and flankers are only allowed to come on the table there base size. So a flanking Genestealer would come on one inch and then be able to fleet and assault, just something that suites us on the smaller tables.

With a new Necron Codex looming ever closer (hopefully) I thought it would be nice, or should I say fun, to get the old Necrons out for a 500 point game! Ouch!! Two troops and a basic HQ comes to 460 points! So what to buy for the remaining 40 points? Well it's either 3x Scarabs or wargear for the Lord!

With two out of the three missions being objective based, hopefully 20x Warriors would be able to hold at least one objective, so how to contest the others, or at least one of them? Three Scarabs would do it, but I went with buying a Destroyer Lord for the Job, give him a Warscythe with the ten points left over. Having that toughness six lord would be critical in keeping him up, in hope that he actually got the chance to contest. Would love to have a foot Lord with Solar Pulse and Veil of Darkness, but there just isn't enough points!

This is how I got on...

Mission: Annhilation, Deployment: Dawn of War

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Termagant Troubles!

Nick speaking,

Now that I have my first Tervigon completed, I need to have a look at Termagants! I currently have forty of them, but if I'm going to end up with five Tervigons, I know that I will need a lot more. This doesn't worry me, as I am sure I will be able to beg, borrow or steal more of them, or worse case scenario, just get them from eBay! I have a nice and simple colour scheme as well for my Nids, so I am not even worried about painting up one hundred plus Gants!

The only trouble I see is how to distinguish the many different Termagant broods that will end up on the table? I have been thinking long and hard about this and the most obvious way is to paint up lots of eighteen strong broods in different colour schemes! Eighteen models is the maximum amount a Tervigon can spawn in one turn. But that would mean on a lower spawn count of say, twelve models, six Termagants would be wasted? I suppose if I the spawned a small brood of six or less later in the game I could use them, but I am thinking you will end up with a lot of odd numbers and a bit of a miss match.

I hope I am making sense? I don't really want to have a load of Gants that can't be used, after all, I need so many to make it all work in the first place anyway! Maybe I am worrying about nothing, but if I painted all one hundred plus Gants all the same, like I would like to, how would the broods be distinguished? It was bad enough when I played with only forty unpainted Gants, I even had one brood facing backwards to highlight the brood on the table!

It's fair to say that I have never played, or seen being played, a game with five Tervigons and a ton of Gants, but I am sure there would be a lot of confusion on the table. I know that the Gants will be shot down or killed in the assault during the game, and they can then be recycled, but you can't rely on that. The last thing you want to do is run out of Gant models on a good spawning day!

So does anyone out there use a Tervigon heavy list and have any experience with this problem? Do you have any advice or answers that can help me with my Termagant troubles?

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Best Overall Space Wolves list!

Nick speaking,

I have had a lot of inspiration from many great Space Wolves related posts recently, my favourites being from, Best Overall, who is doing a great job with his Loganwing series, Kirby from 3++ with his fantastic armies in 5th Space Wolves posts, and of course, the Space Wolves Blog itself, with it's wealth of knowledge and advice that's in it's archives.

Long time readers will know of my Space Wolves progress, and how I have been playing around with the Wolves. With so much inspiration available, I have recently been working on a few lists including a couple of 'Real' 13th Company lists, a sort of Loganwing based one, and another Thunderwolf/Fenrisian Wolf based version. Another recent experiment was with an Arjac Drop Pod List, that was very interesting indeed, it performed well and was a lot of fun to play with, plus it wasn't a MSU based list, which was what I was trying to get away from! Having said that, a recent post called A Response to Stelek over on Best Overall, got me thinking about looking at a Mech list again...

At this moment in time I only have four Razors/Rhinos, so I wanted to come up with a list based around the above Response list, but working it down to 1750pts, as that is the points level I generally play at. Looking at my end list, I think I have got most of the original elements that were needed, and it does make good use of maxing out on the Elites, Fast and Heavy slots. I ended up putting a couple of Lascannon's in with the Long Fangs to make up for not having Las Razorbacks! Here is the list I came up with, what do you think?

HQ

1 x Rune Priest/Living Lightning/Tempest Wrath/Chooser of the Slain (110)

ELITES

5 x Wolf Scouts/Meltagun (85)

5 x Wolf Scouts/Meltagun (85)

6x Wolf Guard, 4x Combi-Melta/Power Fist (Grey Hunters) (172)
                        2x Combi-Melta/Wolf Claw (Scouts) (76)

TROOPS

8 x Grey Hunters/Meltagun/Wolf Standard/Rhino (170)

7 x Grey Hunters/Meltagun/Wolf Standard/Rhino (155)

7 x Grey Hunters/Meltagun/Wolf Standard/Rhino (155)

7 x Grey Hunters/Meltagun/Wolf Standard/Rhino (155)

FAST

1 x Land Speeder/Multi-Melta/Heavy Flamer (70)

1 x Land Speeder/Multi-Melta/Heavy Flamer (70)

1 x Land Speeder/Multi-Melta/Heavy Flamer (70)

HEAVY

5 x Long Fangs/3x Missile Launcher/1 Lascannon/Pack Leader (130)

5 x Long Fangs/3x Missile Launcher/1 Lascannon/Pack Leader (130)

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

Points 1748

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Last Saim-Hann list tweaks (for now anyway)

Nick speaking,

My current Saim-Hann list is based around all the units I currently have painted. I do intend to switch things about as I gradually paint up other units, but until then, I am working around my painted stuff only. Here is my previously tweaked list, which I am currently working on painting the last five Dire Avengers for at the moment... 

HQ

1 x IDIC Farseer Jetbike with Spear/Doom/Fortune/Guide/Warding/Witnessing/Stones (208)

4 x IDIC Warlock Jetbikes with Spear/Destructor (232)

1 x IDIC Warlock Jetbike with Witchblade/Embolden (50)

TROOPS

6 x IDIC Guardian Jetbikes with 2x Shuriken Cannon (152)

6 x IDIC Guardian Jetbikes with 2x Shuriken Cannon (152)

5 x IDIC Dire Avengers (60)

1 x IDIC Falcon with Missile Launcher/Shur Cannon/Stone/Vectored Engines/Star Engines/Holofield (225)

FAST ATTACK

2x IDIC Vypers with Star Cannon/Shuriken Cannon (160)

2x IDIC Vypers with Scatter Lasers/Shuriken Cannon (140)

HEAVY

1 x IDIC Fire Prism with Shur Cannon/Stone/Star Engines/Holofield (185)

1 x IDIC Fire Prism with Shur Cannon/Stone/Star Engines/Holofield (185)

1749 points

I am pretty happy with the list, but I have come across a few last tweaks that I seem to need. Armour thirteen and up, does cause me problems, I know I can combine my Prism beams to get to Strength ten, but with three Soul Grinders in one of my opponents list and Land Raiders floating about, I feel I need to get a Lance weapon in the list as well. I currently have the Missile launcher on the Falcon so that I can have the option to move 12", and still fire the strength four Plasma, but I think I am going to have to switch the gun over to a Bright Lance instead. It's not as great as on a twin linked Wave Serpent, but hopefully I will be able to guide it at the beginning of the game anyway.

So why no Wave Serpents? Well mainly as I haven't painted them yet, but also, I just love Holofields. The Falcon can be made scoring with just five Dire Avengers, sit back and gun down stuff, drop the Avengers off on an objective and then contest if needed, and of course it can tank shock. That's why I only have two Jetbike squads instead of the usual Saim Hann three. I prefer a Troops choice in a tank to another Jetbike unit, for now anyway.

The last tweak is on the Seer Council. Although I love the Singing Spear locks for the versatility, one attack in close combat just doesn't cut it, compared to the Whichblade's two attacks. This is even more noticeable when you charge in with the blades, giving you three attacks on the charge is actually quite good...

Now my final list looks like this, for now anyway! Any comments and thoughts welcome...

HQ

1 x IDIC Farseer Jetbike with Spear/Doom/Fortune/Guide/Warding/Witnessing/Stones (208)

4 x IDIC Warlock Jetbikes with Witchblade/Destructor (220)

1 x IDIC Warlock Jetbike with Spear/Embolden (53)

TROOPS

6 x IDIC Guardian Jetbikes with 2x Shuriken Cannon (152)

6 x IDIC Guardian Jetbikes with 2x Shuriken Cannon (152)

5 x IDIC Dire Avengers (60)

1 x IDIC Falcon with Brightlance/Shur Cannon/Stone/Vectored Engines/Star Engines/Holofield (235)

FAST ATTACK

2x IDIC Vypers with Star Cannon/Shuriken Cannon (160)

2x IDIC Vypers with Scatter Lasers/Shuriken Cannon (140)

HEAVY

1 x IDIC Fire Prism with Shur Cannon/Stone/Star Engines/Holofield (185)

1 x IDIC Fire Prism with Shur Cannon/Stone/Star Engines/Holofield (185)

1750 points

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