Minor Sidetrack: Eldar Upkeep

I just realized last week that I hadn't changed my Eldar list from 6th edition. In fact, I think prior to that I've only played my Eldar a couple of times in 7th ed, using my old 6th ed list, themed as my version of a Windrider war host, or at least a really fast army:

Farseer - on jetbike, with singing spear
2 Warlocks - on jetbikes with singing spear
10 Guardians - with starcannon
mounted in Wave Serpent - twin-linked bright lance, holofield
10 Dire Avengers - with Exarch
mounted in Wave Serpent - twin-linked bright lance, holofield
6 Jetbikes - with 2 shuriken cannons
6 Jetbikes - with 2 shuriken cannons
3 Vypers - scatter lasers, shuriken cannons
Crimson Hunter - with Exarch
Falcon - holofields
Fire Prism - holofields
Fire Prism - holofields

It's very telling how powerful Eldar is, because that 6th ed list was still really powerful, even soundly beating an army of a trio of mon-keigh Imperial Knights and their IG allies.

But I figured that it's time to use some of the models that have been on the shelf for awhile, and have a change in how the army fights. Well, whatever changes, it will still be fast and in your face. So jetbikes and skimmer tanks are still important. Units that are not on fast skimmers must be fast themselves, or at least be able to infiltrate or outflank. And since I've got such an abundance of psykers in my other favorite army (Thousand Sons), I'm going to leave my aging Seers at home to contemplate amongst the stars. So this was the war host I used last week, and it was great fun:

Autarch - with a fusion gun
10 Striking Scorpions - including Exarch with Scorpion's Claw and Crushing Blow
9 Fire Dragons
mounted in a Wave Serpent with twin-linked scatter lasers, shuriken cannon, holofield and ghostwalk matrix (had 10 extra points. besides, it's the Autarch's ride)
10 Guardians
mounted in a Wave Serpent with twin-linked scatter lasers, shuriken cannon, holofield
3 Jetbikes - with a shuriken cannon
3 Jetbikes - with a shuriken cannon
3 Jetbikes - with a shuriken cannon
3 Jetbikes - with a shuriken cannon
6 Warp Spiders - including Exarch with twin-linked death spinner and fast shot
6 Swooping Hawks - including Exarch with Hawk's Talon
Crimson Hunter - Exarch
Fire Prism - holofield
Fire Prism - holofield

I must say it was really fun playing this army. It's super-flexible, and uses some of my favorite units in the Eldar army - Warp Spiders, Striking Scorpions, Swooping Hawks - and units I haven't touched in years - Fire Dragons, Autarch. It's also really hard-hitting and extremely manouverable. With the Autarch having some ability to influence reserve rolls, the war host is able to deliver death blows when and where it wants to, more or less. In one game, the Autarch also managed to get that amazing Strategic Trait to re-roll reserve rolls - which gives him amazing control!

I also realized that my Eldar hasn't had much love in a long time. The last time I painted an Eldar model was the Crimson Hunter a couple years back, and even then haven't quite finished its base. I did paint 6 jetbikes at that time, along with a converted Warlock on jetbike. The Striking Scorpions, Swooping Hawks, Fire Prism, and Autarch were painted in 2007 - along with a paint refresh of 6 jetbikes, and still looked great. But the Wave Serpents, Fire Dragons and Guardians were looking pretty sad.

The Wave Serpents were kit-bashed in 2000 - before ForgeWorld released their kit, and certainly way before the existing plastic Wave Serpent was released. And they pretty much remained the same ever since - plastic card bow shield generators, twin-linked brightlance turret. The paintjob has chipped in many places and some of the decals are in tatters. When I did a paint refresh in 2007, which included jetbikes, Vypers and the Falcon, I didn't manage to get to the Serpents. Here's a pic of the old Serpent. The Serpents above and below that are the updated ones as of last night.

The Spiders and Dragons were also painted in 2000, and have lots of chipped paintwork, and some of the Spiders paint has faded. The Guardians were painted in the same year, but have only minimal damage.

Anyways, with the magic of magnets and paint, the Wave Serpents have been updated. Had a bit of trouble with my matt varnish clouding over a couple of decals on one of them, but it's all fixed now. The old Aspect Warriors were touched up. I had gloss varnished their helmets to prepare them for decals - but I couldn't find the decals. So they remain rune-less for now. I'm sure they are around somewhere.

I still need to find a fusion gun for my Autarch. I do intend to get the GW Autarch with fusion gun, but that will be for my next Eldar army - a Biel Tan war host of Aspect Warriors. But that's a project after the current Denerair IG is done. In the meantime, these old Eldar models will soldier on. And having a lot of fun doing it too!

Leman Russ #1 Finally Done!

Finally got the first Denerair Leman Russ done. Had some trouble with this one, as I tried a lot of stuff with the model, and accidentally damaged it. While I like the current version of rhe Leman Russ for many reasons (awesome fit, all weapon options included, etc), the turret really doesn't fit into the Denerair WW1-ish look. It's too ... contemporary/modern/slick.

So I spent almost 2 weeks experimenting with turrets. I considered getting an alternative turret online. Then I thought that a circular turret might work, so I hunted high and low for a suitable base material. But after trying all kinds of different stuff, I couldn't find one that's the right size and right material. Then I remembered that my Leman Punisher was kit-bashed using the Punisher cannon bit from the Demolisher kit and an old Leman Russ turret, without the stowage bin.

Just happens that I do have a few spare ol'-skool Leman Russ turrets. Off went the stowage bin and battle cannon, in went the Exterminator cannon bit, and voila!

The rest of the assembly is pretty standard. I moved the exhaust pipes to the top of the rear deck, and used the handle bits as a ladder for maintenance crew to use to access the engine and fuel cap. The paint scheme is standard Denerair armored vehicle livery, which I described in my previous post.

Anyways, now the first one is done, the other 2 should be easier - I hope. Next up will be 2nd squad of 1st platoon. But I'll be doing some maintenance work on some of my Eldar models first. I finally got around to building an Eldar list for 7th Ed (I'd been using an old list, which stll kicks ass, such is the state of the Eldar ...), and I need to retrofit scatter lasers and shuriken cannons on my 2 Wave Serpents. Those 14-year old kit-bashed Serpents are long overdue for a clean-up and overhaul, and this is the perfect excuse for that. The only other model I need to convert/add for the new Eldar list is an Autarch with fusion gun. Should be a nice distraction.

 

Wyvern #1 done!

Finally finished the first Wyvern for my Highlanders. Again, it didn't take too long to paint, but I did spend a lot of time deciding and trying out the conversion, and then again more time on the paint scheme and the paints to use for weathering. But I'm pretty happy with how it turned out.

For the base colors, I again used Battlefront's Great War painting guide, and using mainly Vallejo paints, was able to base paint the vehicle pretty fast. Then it was time to figure out the details. In the end, this is what I used:

1. Vallejo Brown Violet - hull, helmet
2. Vallejo Beige Brown - wooden crates
3. Citadel Abaddon Black - all the black stuff, black wash
4. Citadel Leadbelcher - metal stuff, gun barrels, tracks, chipped paint
5. Citadel White Scar - markings
6. Citadel Mechrite Red - markings (by mistake)
7. Citadel Blood Red - markings
8. Citadel Bestial Brown - rust
9. Citadel  XV88 - leather bindings
10. Citadel Nuln Oil - wash on helmet
11. Citadel Agrax Nightshade - wash on metal bits
12. Vallejo German Grey - chipped paint
13. Citadel Fang - mud
14. Citadel Fenris Grey - mud highlight
15. Vallejo Grey Green - hull highlight
16. Vallejo English Uniform - heavy bolter tarp

There were a few experiments and trial and error - stuff that I imagined in my head, and then tried out on the model. Thankfully, most of it worked out ok for me - the rebuilt turret with the clustered barrels (instead of the chopped-off Hydra turret), the hand-painted stripes (I first used Mechrite Red - it's too dark. The straight up red of Blood Red works better), omitting the railings in the fighting compartment, the grey mud instead of brown, etc.

I still haven't decided what the crew will look like. Most likely they'll be wearing kilts, with one guy holding binoculars and observing the fall of shot as the mortar ranges in, and the other guy checking coordinates. But we'll leave that for later for now.

Next up will be 2nd squad, 1st platoon. That's 10 guys - 8 riflemen, flamer and sergeant. Looking forward to getting that done and see the army build up.

Keep them dice rolling!

Straken Survives Crash! And Some Denerair Updates

 
Last Friday's games vs the vile xenos of Synide's Craftworld Kai were amazing fun. Painful for my forces, but fun anyways.

His 1850pt army list:
Vile Eldar xenos scum:
Autarch on jetbike, with fusion gun, lance and the funky mask
Spiritseer
5 Wraithguard w wraithcannon
Wave Serpent with holofields, twin scatter lasers, shuriken cannon
5 Wraithguard w the flamer things
Wave Serpent with holofields, twin scatter lasers, shuriken cannon
Crimson Hunter w Exarch
Hemlock
3 Hornets
Night Spinner
Night Spinner

The Emperor's Indomitable II Catachan, Air Mobile Detachment:
Colonel Straken, with 3 plasma gunners and a Medic
Padre Peters (rides with Straken)
Major Winters, with 3 riflemen and standard bearer
1st Assault squad - demolitions, heavy flamer, 2 meltaguns
2nd Assault squad - demolitions, heavy flamer, 2 meltaguns
3rd squad - autocannon, 2 meltaguns, vet sgt w meltabombs
4th squad - autocannon, sniper, 2 plasma guns, vet sgt w meltabombs
5th squad - autocannon, sniper, 2 plasma guns, vet sgt w meltabombs
Valkyrie Squadron - 2 Valks with missile pods
Vendetta Squadron - 2 aircraft
Vendetta Squadron - 2 aircraft

Synide, the poor thing, had never played a Maelstrom mission before, so I got him to try it out. We played mission no.3. Safe to say it was so much fun, he actually bought the mission cards that night.

 

I won't go thru a blow by blow of the game, but one thing's for sure - Eldar armies like this one are alongside the Tau for armies that the AirCav just cannot handle. While Straken's troopers fought valiantly, they didn't stand a chance. Xenos withering firepower very quickly tore down the Vendettas and Valkyrie, and amidst my backdrop music of Ride The Valkyrie and assorted late-60s rock, the Catachans' brave fight could not stop the xenos from absolute victory. Only 1 Catachan survived - the Veteran Sergeant Hobbs of 2nd Assault Squad.

The most amazing moment of the game had to be when Straken's Vendetta was shot down by the Crimson Hunter, sending the mighty gunship down in flames, and crashing with a thunderous blast, killing all onboard - except for Straken. Emerging from the fiery twisted wreck, the incensed Colonel charged the nearest xenos tank and brought it crashing down (the plan was for the surviving Vendetta squadron to kill the Wave Serpent, and Straken then would charge the Spiritseer and Wraithguard inside - but the Serpent survived the lascannons with 1 hull-point remaining).

We played a second game, with the same xenos army taking on Ahriman and my Thousand Sons. This game was much closer, the xenos winning 13-11. I hadn't played the Thousand Sons in awhile, and it was pretty refreshing to play Chaos after weeks of siding with the Imperium.

A quick update on my Denerair Highland regiment project. I started on the first Wyvern, and you can see some of the progress below. I really don't like the original kit because it looks too much like a Hydra without the long autocannon barrels (which it is). So I swapped the barrel mountings left to right, and the result is something that I like much better than the original kit. I've added some stowage, and the vehicle is ready for painting - hopefully tomorrow.

Keep them dice rolling.

 

1st Denerair Highlanders - 1st Squad Done!

Finally got first squad done for my Denerair Highlanders. It was fun painting these guys up, and it really didn't take that long - just had to find the time to sit and paint.

I'm happy with these guys, and they were assembled rather straight up. The next squad's sergeant will have some arm swaps to get different poses. And the challenge is to find enough bayonets for everyone. The kind people of the 6th Brandenbergers have agreed to donate their bayonets (snip, snip, paint, paint), but I still need to shave off the bayonet hilts from their sheathes before I glue them onto the guys' belts.

But next up will be a Denerair-pattern Wyvern. Denarair-pattern Wyverns were not officially sanctioned war machines from any forgeworld. Rather, they were all battlefield modifications of the Griffon self-propelled heavy mortar. The Denerair Highlanders were never issued with Wyverns, but that didn't stop the hardy mountainmen from fashioning their own versions, which were rather effective on the battlefield.

The agri-world Denerair itself is of little consequence with only 5 million inhabitants, emerging in Imperial records only because of the ravages of the Gothic War, due to its location in the Bhein Morr Subsector of the Gothic Sector. The agri-world did not have a military tithe, but has for thousands of years maintained a militia made up of its onlhy warrior class - mountain tribesmen known as Highlandsmen, or more popularly, Highlanders. Over time, the militia gained formal organization, funding and equipment along the lines of the Imperial Guard.

Durng the Gothic War, the Denerair Highland Militia fought off the predations of Chaos with such ferocity and stoicism that Imperial Guard commanders in the sector found it fit to equip them with and train them in heavy war machines and artillery. In the aftermath of the war, the Militia was renamed the Denerair Imperial Guard, and today fields around 98,000 men organized in 8 infantry, 3 artillery, 3 armored, 3 support, 1 engineer, 1 signals and 1 air defence regiments, plus an additional 8 reserve regiments. While Denerair itself still has no military tithe requirement, about a third of its regiments voluntarily serve off-world in many Imperial Guard armies, and are often found in the thickest and bloodiest of battlefields. On the battlefield, the Highland Regiments march fearlessly into battle with bayonets fixed and the sounds of their holy bagpipes filling the air, driving fear into the enemies of the Imperium.

Stalemate!

The veteran 6th Mechanized Infantry encountered stiff resistance from Eldar xenos forces. Led by Captain Wentz aboard his Leman Russ Vanquisher, the 6th arrayed for battle in extended line, and managed to steal the initiative from the xenos.

Unfortunately for the 6th, while the initial push achieved all of their initial objectives, much of their shooting proved ineffective, as xenos magicks and trickery protected them from the worst of Imperial firepower. The Eldar response was deadly, drawing the battle's first blood when they destroyed 5th Squad's Chimera on the right flank.

Still, the 6th pressed on. While the entire force barreled in from the left, Hellhound no.8 under Sergeant Happe outflanked the enemy from the far right, engulfing the rear of a xenos tank and some jetbike riders in deadly flame. His attack was joined by a Navy Vendetta, further damaging the tank, which somehow survived the onslought. Concentrated firepower also destroyed a squadron of War Walkers, while 5th Squad's meltagunners immobilized and stunned another xenos tank.

The incensed xenos struck back with much fury. Dire Avenger and Fire Dragon warriors emerged from the bowels of their graceful machines and fell upon 5th Squad with intense firepower, who went to ground and stood firm despite suffering horrendous losses. Both of the detachment's Hellhounds were destroyed - one by heavy fire from xenos tanks, the other from a spirited assault by jetbike-borne xenos witches. A sleek Eldar flyer streaked onto the battlefield, and with some impossibly nimble manouvers, got onto the tail of the Navy gunship. Despite the Imperial pilot's wild manouvers, the xenos craft's weapons easily found their mark, turning the mighty Vendetta into a fireball.

Pressing on regardless, more calamities struck the 6th, as the left flank attack, already held up by the lead Hellhound's demise, was stalled again when 3rd Squad's Chimera threw a track when it tried to drive through a rough patch of woods. 1st Squad drove brazenly up the middle of the battlefield to seize an objective, Chimera popping smoke to cover their advance. Captain Wentz' command squad focused fire on a xenos tank and turned it into a smouldering wreck, while a battle cannon shell from Sergeant Gerstacker's Leman Russ managed to immobilize another enemy tank.

Again, the xenos responded with untamed fury, its flyer swooping in low and severely damaging Captain Wentz' Vanquisher. Aspect Warriors charged the survivors of 5th Squad, cutting down all but Veteran Sergeant Hennig, who fought on bravely cutting down xenos with pistol and sword. 1st Squad's Chimera was blown up by a xenos tank, leaving the survivors pinned down.

By this time, both sides were low on men and materiel, and one could sense a final push coming on as human and xenos warriors closed in on each other. Close firefights ensued, which saw the destruction of 1st and 2nd Squads, while an Eldar Guardian squad got cut to ribbons and fled. Fire Dragons were also shot up, but their leader survived the deluge. The Eldar also lost 2 more tanks, and a witch mysteriously fell (no one knows how this witch died - he was seen casting his magick when he suddenly convulsed and collapsed). Unfortunately for the 6th, Captain Wentz' Vanquisher was repeatedly struck by accurate heavy las fire from the xenos flyer, and exploded. Sergeant Gerstacker was lost too, as a Fire Prism lance cut through his Leman Russ front armor and turning the tank into a fiery wreck.

And as the night mercifully descended to mask the carnage, save for the cries and whimpers of the wounded and dying, it remained unclear if one side or the other carried the day.

This was an awesome fun game against Hakim's Eldar. We played Maelstrom Mission #1, and after all the furious manouver and dice-rolling, emerged with a 6-6 score. The Eldar got First Blood, Slay the Warlord, Linebreaker, and 3 more objective VPs. IG scored Linebreaker and 5 objective VPs. I think if the Eldar player was a bit more experienced, he would have easily won the game, but I guess bloodlust and shooting up my army distracted him from achieving objectives. We both had a blast anyways. Anyways, the army lists:

IG: the indomitable 6th Brandenberg Mechanized Infantry Regiment
Tank Commander in Vanquisher, with Exterminator escort
6 Veteran Squads: 4 equipped with 2 plasma guns each, 1 with 2 meltaguns, and 1 with 2 meltaguns and a flamer
The vets were riding Chimeras, all with multilasers and hull heavy bolter, except for 1 with hull heavy flamer
2 Hellhounds in 2 units
1 Navy Vendetta
1 Leman Russ

Eldar xenos scum
Farseer on jetbike, with 6 warlocks on jetbikes
5 Fire Dragons, with Exarch in a Wave Serpent
Guardians in a Wave Serpent
Dire Avengers in a Wave Serpent
Crimson Hunter with Exarch
Squadron of 3 War Walkers
2 Fire Prisms

That was simply an amazing game. Pity I couldn't stick around for another one.

Anyways, next update I hope to have the first squad of Denerair Highlanders done.

Til then, keep them dice rolling ...

Highlander Test Model

 

Finally finished the first test model. It was actually pretty fast to paint, and that is one of the requirements for modeling the infantry for this army - it must be quick AND look good. This is why I settled with the simple conversion for the gun, by just snipping off the magazine, and making sure all guns have fixed bayonets. It was my first time using Nulm Oil, and I think I went overboard with that.

The pallete:

• English Uniform - shirt & kilt
• Brown Olive - helmet, armor, water bottle (this will also be used for flamers & vox)
• Green Ochre - webbing, gas mask, ammo pouches (nothing green about green ochre, I discovered)
• Chocolate Brown - boots, bayonet sheath
• Beige Brown - rifle
• Dark Flesh - wood grain on rifle
• Gunmetal Grey/Leadbelcher - metal parts on rifle, bayonet, metal parts on gas mask, buttons, bits of barbed wire on base (I used Gunmetal Grey on the rifle, but switched to Leadbelcher for the bayonet and other stuff, which I find works better for 28mm models. I'll be using Leadbelcher moving forward)
• Burnished Gold - aquila on chest, belt buckle, badge on kilt, winged skull on rifle
• XV-88 - highlight for leather parts
• Agrax Nightshade - shading for rifle
• Nuln Oil - shading for everything else
• The Fang - first layer drybrush on base
• Fenrisian Grey - second layer drybrush on base
• White Scar - final layer drybrush on base
• Bestial Brown - base rim

Anyways, I'm happy with it so far, and your thoughts on this would be great. I do have 90 infantry to paint, so keeping it simple and quick is a priority. In the meantime, I'll start batch painting by squad the base English Uniform and Brown Olive colors, as those are pretty much confirmed.

Keep them dice rolling ...