Monday, July 25, 2016

Hemlock!


This fine aircraft didn't take too long to paint. I admit it's not the best paint job I've done by far, but it is the first model I've painted in almost 2 years, and it was done in many many small steps in between my work and life schedules. Now it's done and battle-ready, and I'm happy with it.

I've chosen to paint over the canopy, taking the Wraith theme of the aircraft just one step further. The original aircraft comes with a SpiritSeer pilot with a mirror mask sitting in the cockpit, which is not bad, but also not different enough from the sister fighter Crimson Hunter, flown by the Aspect Warriors.


I've decided that this particular hemlock is truly a Wraithcraft, piloted by the soul of a SpiritSeer whose gem is encased in the cockpit. Relying on waithsight alone, she has no need for a transparent canopy (thankfully we don't need to roll for wraithsight anymore).

Other than that it's a pretty standard build, Heavy D-Scythes in the wing weapon points and the Mindshock Pod under belly. This standard weapon load-out has already proven to be extremely deadly against man, xenos, daemon and machine, and to me, it's just right.


The paint sheme itself is based on my standard upstart Alaitoc Warhost of Farseer Lahnn. As the 16-year fluff of this particular warhost goes, Farseer Lahnn's warhost vehicles are not painted in the standard Alaitoc mottle camo scheme. His younger years as a Pathfinder amongts the Saim-Hann has influenced his approach to battle when it comes to jetbikes and skimmers, and this influence extends to his warhost's vehicle livery, which is reminiscant of the Saim-Hann stripes and diagonal patterns.

So this Hemlock is painted in a similar pattern to the Falcons, Fire Prisms, Wave Serpents, Jetbikes and Vypers of the warhost. But unlike the skimmer tanks, she does not have a light-blue underside. This is similar to the paint schemes for the warhost's jetbikes and Vypers.


The aircraft's base is not quite done yet, and she's currently using the Crimson Hunter's base. The wrecked Leman Russ turret on the base is actually quite befitting for one of the deadliest attack aircraft in 40k. I look forward to seeing this Hemlock create more gaping holes in enemy lines, striking fear amongst all foe who set eyes on her.

Keep them dice rolling!





Wednesday, July 20, 2016

Monday Night 40k!


This is what Monday nights should be about - dice rolling, nice models, friendly people, friendly store, new friends, and old friends.

I've been due to roll dice at JB's Alexandria Bookstore for a month now. But due to various commitments, and the fact that it was Ramadhan, I had to cancel planned gaming visits a few times. Until last night, whence the stars and planets aligned, and my renegade Alaitoc Windriders found themselves upon the bloody fields of Alexandria.


Still, to make sure that the game won't be rushed, we played an Eternal War mission: The Scouring, on a Vanguard Strike deployment. The Alaitoc Windrider Warhost is actually, rules-wise, a CAD with an attached Aspect Warrior Host formation. This is the 2nd iteration of the list, the first I tried out a couple of months back against some Tyranids. Not much changes, just some tweaking. And here's the 1843pt list:

HQ:
Farseer Lahnn - jetbike, singing spear, Spirit Stone of Anath'lan

TROOPS:
3 Jetbikes - all with scatter lasers
3 Jetbikes - all with scatter lasers
3 Jetbikes - all with shuriken cannon
3 Jetbikes - all with shuriken cannon
3 Jetbikes - 2 with shuriken cannon
3 Jetbikes - 2 with shuriken cannon

FAST ATTACK:
6 Swooping Hawks - exarch with Hawk's Talon
Hemlock Wraithfighter

HEAVY SUPPORT:
Fire Prism
Fire Prism

ASPECT WARRIOR HOST:
8 Warp Spiders - exarch with twin-linked deathspinner
8 Dark Reapers - with starshot missiles
5 Fire Dragons - in a Wave Serpent with twin-linked bright lances and shuriken cannon


My opponent is John, with his Ultramarines. He had a couple of formations in there, including the one that gives free transports, and the one that deepstrikes all the drop pods of the formation in turn 1, and I really don't recall what they are called, but his list is something like:

Chaplain (Warlord)
5-man Tactical Squad (w meltagun) in Razorback with twin-linked lascannons
10-man Tactical Squad (w missile launcher & flamer), split into 2 combat squads, with Razorback with twin-linked lascannons
Bike Squad with 3 bikes and an Attack Bike with multimelta
5-man Devastator Squad (w 4 lascannons) with Razorback with twin-linked lascannons
Venerable Dreadnought in Drop Pod
5-man Tactical Squad with 2 flamers, in Drop Pod with Deathwind Launcher
5-man Tactical Squad with 2 meltaguns, in Drop Pod with Deathwind Launcher
5-man Tactical Squad with 2 meltaguns, in Drop Pod 
Captain in terminator armor
5 Terminators, with 1 assault cannon
Land Speeder Typhoon

The Ultramarines got to choose table side, but I won the roll for deployment and started first.


Turn 1 Highlights
Since John won the roll for table side, the mon-keigh Devastators set up shop in the tallest building on the battlefield, while my Dark Reapers looked on enviously, and had to make do with an abandoned trench line that commanded a reasonable firing field, even if not the best.

I had deployed to make full use of the cover afforded by the ruins, and planned a main thrust up my left flank. The entire army, except for the Dark Reapers and the Wave Serpent, deployed on the left flank.

When battle commenced, the Warhost advanced cautiously (around 12") and proceeded to open fire on the marines occupying the first ruin in mon-keigh territory. The bike squad was cut to ribbons, the Razorback lost 2 hull points and its lascannon, while both forward combat squads were reduced to half-strength or less.


The Dark Reapers unleashed a hail of S5 AP3 missiles (that's 17 shots at BS5) at their Devastator counterparts. The mon-keigh was smart to Go To Ground, and only the sergeant was lost in the deluge of high explosives.

The mon-keigh struck back aggressively. Drop Pods roared down in front of the Dark Reapers position, and the grim Aspect Warriors received the attention of intense bolter fire, flamers, stormbolters and Deathwind missile strikes. Even with Fortune, 5 Dark Reapers perished.

Two more Combat Squads from the Drop Pods opened fire at point-blank range with their meltaguns on the Fire Dragons' Wave Serpent, but thanks to jinking and the serpent shield, the transport survived the assault with 1 hull point to spare.

On the left flank, a missile launcher, the Devastator's Razorback and a snap-firing Devastor managed to severely damage a Fire Prism, knocking off 2 hull points, shaking the crew and immobilizing it.

The Venerable Dreadnought took on the front-most Jetbike squad, killing 2 Windriders.


Turn 2 Highlights
One of the best things about Eldar is its amazing speed and manouverability. And it was easy for the Warhost to pull back almost the entire army to deal with the drop pod assault.

Swooping Hawks landed near the offending mon-keigh, grenade packs covering the marines in a lot of noise and dust, and nothing else. The Hemlock decided to not turn up from reserves this turn - wraiths!

Starting with Farseer Lahnn's Psychic Shriek, the culling of the mon-keigh warriors began in earnest. While he didn't roll very high, it was enough to put down 2 marines. I see his Psychic Shriek abilities as a progression from his early days as Mind War specialist (pest?), hence his nickname Brain Smelter.

The combined firepower of the Swooping Hawks, Warp Spiders, Jetbikes, Fire Prism, Dark Reapers and the Fire Dragons and their snap-firing Wave Serpent wiped out all the drop pod squads, as well as both Deathwind-equipped drop pods. One of them blowing up and taking 2 Fire Dragons with it.


While all this glorious death was going on, 4 Jetbikes skimmed over the Venerable Dreadnought, turned on a pin, an unloaded shuriken death into the rear armor of the dreadnought, and it exploded in a spectacular display of fire and steel. On the far left, the immobilized Fire Prism got a lucky snap-firing shot into the Razorback opposite it, wrecking the mon-keigh vehicle.

Then with Battle Focus and jump moves, the Alaitoc Warhost resumed their advance up the left flank, such is Eldar manouverability!

The rest of the Ultramarines reserves arrived. The Captain and his Terminator squad teleporting to face the lead elements of xenos, their firepower, combined with the surviving combat squads deployed at the start of the battle, wiping out the lead Jetbike squad. The Devastators could only aquire one target, the immobilized Fire Prism, and put it out of its misery with a well-laid lascannon volley.

The deep-striking Land Speeder Typhoon killed a further 2 Jetbikes with its heavy bolter and frag missiles. Twin-linked lascannons of the Devastator's Razorback took aim at the Warp Spiders, who immediately flicker-jumped. However, the mon-keigh could still see one Warp Spider, who failed his cover save and was subsequently vaporized,

On the right flank, the Ultramarines Chaplain and his Tactical squad advanced in their Razorback, disembarking and shooting at the nearest lone Jetbike, to no effect.


Turn 3 Highlights
The Hemlock finally deigned to arrive, streaking low over the mon-keigh chaplain's head and making an impossible 90 degree turn near the Devastator's position. The Hemlock's Psychic Shriek reduced the Devastator squad to one man, who was forced to fall back. This is the first time I saw first-hand how deadly is the combination of the Mindshock Pod and Psychic Shriek.

Continuing their relentless advance up the left flank, the Alaitoc Warhost focused their fire on the Captain and his Terminators. Psychic Shriek attacks, scatter lasers, shuriken cannon, deathspinners, focused blast prism cannon shots drenched the mon-keigh in a deluge of Eldar munitions, and the Terminators were easily wiped out.

Scatter lasers also destroyed the Devastator's Razorback, wrecking it in a single deadly volley. The Hemlock is not done with her death and destruction, and her double Heavy D-Scythes easily obliterated the Land Speeder Typhoon.

On the right flank, advancing Dark Reapers and the Wave Serpent opened fire on the Chaplain and his squad, killing only 3, thanks to good cover (I just realized I was shooting the Wave Serpent at BS4. It should really be BS5 as it's part of the Aspect Warrior Host).

With only a handful of warriors left, the mon-keigh shot back with whatever was left, but could not make a mark. The Ultramarines then decided that discretion is the better part of valour, and conceded the battlefield.


Aftermath
This Alaitoc Windrider Warhost is fast! It was easy to concentrate firepower on chosen targets, switching back and forth between flanks and always gaining localized superiority. It helped tremendously that the Ultramarines arrived piecemeal and their units were never able to link up and lend mutual support to each other.

As it turned out, the battle was one-sided. The only survivors from the Ultramarines' force was the Chaplain, 7 marines, 2 drop pods and a Razorback. The Eldar only lost 2 units (a Fire Prism and 1 Jetbike squad).

It remains to be seen how this army would do against a Knight- or Land Raider-heavy enemy, as the Warhost is short on heavy anti-tank weaponry with only 2 Prism cannons, 1 twin-linked Bright Lance, 5 Fusion guns, and 2 Heavy D-Scythes at its disposal.

At any rate, it was real fun, and I look forward to the next session of furious dice-rolling. Now to finish painting the Hemlock, 6 additional Jetbikes, 2 additional Warp Spiders and 3 additional Dark Reapers. And the terrain pieces too.

Thanks John for a great game, and Quake for great banter from a fellow Eldar!

Keep them dice rolling!



Sunday, July 17, 2016

Gathering materials ...


... for my table in JB!

While my Hemlock and jetbikes are still WIP (I've been chipping away at these models, painting whenever I can find the time. The Hemlock is coming along nicely, and I hope to post pics up soon), I've also started to gather things for my new table in my new place in JB.

I've ordered one of those cool battlemats, and that's on its way here. I've managed to rescue some of the scatter terrain that I painted for Legio some years back, and that will be put to good use - maybe a bit of repainting to better match the mat. I also have a Fortress of Redemption on sprue, and will start assembling it next month. The idea is to use the individual parts of the fortress as stand alone terrain features (either as bunkers, buildings or impassable terrain). I've also ordered some ruins and a couple of hills - experimenting here and there. I think all the stuff I've ordered would be arriving over the next few weeks - exciting indeed!


And I got a 6x4 board from the local friendly hardware store to mount the battlemat. The board itself is cut into 3 sections of 2x4, for ease of transport and storage. And with a quick visit to ArtFriend I managed to pick up a couple packs of awesome Woodland Scenics trees. The idea is to assemble them, spray a black undercoat, and drybrush browns and grays for that fresh ashwaste look. I'd prefer mounting them on MDF woods bases, but I might just settle for hard card mounting boards instead.

Anyways, I'm stoked about table Mk.1 and look forward to finishing it and rolling dice on it.

In the meantime, I got some dice to roll tonight ...

Monday, July 11, 2016

Trip down memory lane - the Balau Sector


So it was that during the recent Eid holidays, I flew home for the celebrations and some good ol' wargaming friends turned up one night - complete with a few armies, rulebooks, etc.

So we headed down to the hallowed sweltering halls of the Balau Sector, scene of years of strife and furious dice rolling and serious hobbying. From the pre-40k days of Napoleonic and WW2 wargaming (back when the place was called the IX Coalition), to the heady days of 40k 3rd, 3.5, 4th ed and the first Apoc books (during which we didn't play a non-Apoc game for a whole year).


At the height of Balau Sector, between 2000 to 2007, it was common to see 3-4, sometimes 5 tables with 40k action going on. Balau regulars regularly terrorized tourneys with nicely painted but fearsome armies and it was a pretty fun time. Regulars would get into "training" to prepare for tournaments - complete with a fully-painted "aggressor" army to fight against.

Campaigns, megabattles (sort of a pre-Apoc Apoc) and Apoc battles were a staple, and some of the best campaigns I've ever participated in was played there. Check out Kai's campaign on this ol' skool site.


But time passes, things change, people grow and move towns/countries and gradually the Balau Sector went into decline, as all empires do.

Revisiting Balau Sector was full of nostalgic fun, and a little sadness. We could scrounge up 2 complete tables, with most of the other tables in disrepair. There was a shortage of scatter terrain and gone were the shelves and shelves of model armies. 


But there was still a bit of the wild fun atmosphere of unbridled wargaming excesses of the original Balau Sector vibe in the air. And with a series of loud whoops and laughter, and tons of thematic digging and teasing and ribbing, we actually had a quick game in which the Thousand Sons won decisively against a Tyranid horde, successfully rolling up the flank and breaking the bug army apart. 

It was very late night/early morning by the time we realized we were really sleepy and needed to crash - just like the gool old days of Balau. But we all agreed that there will definitely be occassional game nights in the future at the Balau Sector. 

Rolling dice rocks!



Sunday, July 3, 2016

Serpent weapon swap again ... or back to the lances, perhaps.

 
Today

With the current codex, the Wave Serpent's role has reverted to its role back in 3rd Ed - as the best d**ned transport in the game! The amazingly broken previous codex' Serpent turned it into the best gunship/battle tank in the game, which is not quite right (though I enjoyed it tremendously). But really, the Wave Serpent is a transport vehicle, and I'm glad that it's gone back to its roots.

16 years after converting a couple of Falcons into Wave Serpents by lengthening the hull and adding bow shields (all based off plans found on some website somewhere), those very same Serpents are still in action. Back then they usually carried Howling Banshees and Fire Dragons. They remained exactly the same models until 2013, when I gave them a face lift - refreshed the paint job and changed the turret to scatter lasers (magnetized) from the original bright lances (glued).


Refreshed



Yes, I completely missed the era of the Forgeworld Wave Serpent bits, and have yet to get one of those nice looking current era plastic Serpents.

So, in between converting my jetbikes, painting my Hemlock and tweaking my army lists, I decided that the army currently doesn't need another twin-linked scatter laser in its arsenal. By some kind of miracle, I managed to find the original metal bright lance bits which were pried off the turret back in 2014.

3rd Ed memories

3rd Ed memories


And after that it was the easy matter of putting magnets onto the bright lances, and since the turret already has magnets on it, I just swapped away the scatter lasers. Now I just need to touch up the paintwork, and it's all set.

Hope to give an update on the Hemlock paintjob soon.

Keep rolling them dice!