I need help!

     I have been having a lot of trouble actually deciding what I want to work on next. So, I am leaving up to you. Please help me make the decision of whether I should paint my Imperial guard or Eldar. I don't care if you are a gamer or not. To help those who are not, the Eldar are elves in space. The  Imperial Guard are the normal rank & file human soldiers. Please! I am looking for your input. I plan on doing update on the project just as I did with my Dark Angels. The final count will be done on Sunday evening. I will have a list up for either on Monday. Thanks.

Lesson one: Mark your magnets!

         Today, I just want to start with a moment of silence for the passing of finecast....... Ok. I was going to put a picture up showing how much I appreciated finecast models. But, fortunately or unfortunately, I never bought a single one. So much for that.

       This week has not been good for finishing units. Although, I did quite a bit of progress done. First step was to magnetize my wraith knight. All arms are interchangeable for every weapon choice. It wasn't that bad of a project until my 3 year old came over and messed up my magnets on me and I glued the one arm in backwards. Uggghhh! I took me about 20 minutes to get the magnet back out and put it in the right way. Thus are the perils of working while kids are awake. Lesson learned and move on . So that sparked my interest in painting some eldar. Not yet at a point of commitment of a list to play. I just pulled some models out. So I put some paint on a squad of Fire Dragons, some Howling Banshees and an Autarch. I got the base coats and some dry brushing done.


  I did get a bunch of little projects done.  My Aegis defense line, some curved sand bag barriers, ammo stows, and a few other pieces all hit and left my hobby desk. Here are a few pictures. I hope you all had a productive week as well.

"Run for your lives!"

   

 

 

   "I felt a great disturbance in the Force, as if millions of voices suddenly cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced. I fear something terrible has happened." Or was it in the warp? No. This time it is not the Death Star destroying Alderaan. It is a planet being destroyed, but not in one final blast from the greatest station in the galaxy. More like dropped on and eaten one citizen at a time.  I believe these are the voices of Guardsman, Eldar, and Space marines. All being consumed to feed the hive mind.  This was the exact moment when I heard the Tyranid codex was being released in only a few short weeks. I feel the great devourer will certainly "bring balance to the Force." 

 

      All my hopes and fears for the future hang in the balance of this codex. I hope that this codex will prove to the community that assault is not dead, not that I believed that for a second. I have been run over by more thunder wolves and chaos marines than I would like to admit to. I also hope to see a return of genestealers. (and possibly genestealer cults.) My first fear is that there will be yet another psycher more powerful than Eldrad. Then, of course, I will be wishing I could use more than one standard of devastation in my command squads. Also  The swarm is always the way I am defeated. I never have enough bullets. But time will tell. what lies ahead. Hopefully, the swarm can be slowed before it lands at my doorstep, but I doubt it. Maybe I need to return to the Guard. They are the rival of these stinking bugs. Hopefully, they come out with a Leman Russ Ortho, or maybe replace Marbo with the Orkin man.

Question everything

    Apparently, I have been living under a rock. Either that or they are just keeping secrets from me. I just finally realized that in 3 days we will be able to pre-order Codex: Inquisition. This intrigues me greatly. When I started my Imp. Guard army, the original idea was to have a force led by a Xenos or heretic inquisitor. Then as my collection started the Grey knight codex came out.... and it was everywhere. So I dropped the idea. I didn't  want to be the next cheese player around. Besides, the grey knights are not my cup of tea. The best of the best of the best. Not exactly what I was looking for as I was building my status quo Imperial Guard army.

    Of course, sixth edition came out. Dark Angels codex came out. Eldar came out. I have been quite busy updating my armies that I already had so that they were playable. So now, I wait. Next week I will be able to see if I can go back to my original theme or just work on my Eldar until a new I.G. codex comes out. For now, I will continue with my battlefield.

From the army to the field

Not every table should be desolate.

   Since finishing my challenge, I have been putting some thought into what's next for me. Well...... I haven't quite decided yet. I'm going to give it a few days to consider. So, I have been wondering if fortifications are still worth the points. I haven't really played with one yet. My group of friends aren't really using fliers, maybe one or two. I think I have more fliers myself than everyone else combined. So, I just haven't seen the reason to add one to my force. On the other hand, I love the aesthetics of the bastion, defense lines, or even the Fortress of Redemption. Nothing stands out more on a battlefield than a nicely painted bastion or landing pad, or even some other large piece of scenery. I really enjoy that you could buy a structure for your army to hide behind or to "defend against all odds."

     My short term plan is get my fortifications painted up. As well, I have a bin full of debris that needs painting. Well, I should say, A bastion and all the weapons that come with the bastion and Aegis line. This way all my players will have availability to what ever weapon or fortification options so they can shoot down my fliers or hide or defend. This should be a great way to build the stories on my tables.  And should give me time to come up with a game plan for my next army project.

     I just wanted to add for anyone reading this to please look for and like this on face book. I have been putting more pictures and comments up there. Thanks.

Work in Progress, Fortress Defense Force Completed

Defense Force Redemption, 5th Company

Renegade Extermination Team

Fallen Requisition Team, Uriel

     This is the final pictures for my Hobby Progress Challenge. What an exciting moment to finalize this kind of project. As the painting & development of this project progressed. the list evolved. But I decided to stick to what I started with. I am going to use the Master in the list for a stand in Azreal. I just need to do the detail work as I have owned  the models for probably 10 years now, but I feel the Azreal model is a little dated at this time. The other thing I have added to my collection is a Ravenwing command squad and a librarian on a bike to open them up. Obviously, not for this list.



   I am incredibly interested if this army would work on the table. I plan on trying it the first chance I get. I think it will work great at local club and actually looks like a fun army to play.
I would start with the Devastators and a Tactical Squad with the librarian  deployed in the fortress. Veterans set as a counter assault force to anyone trying to assault the base. The other Tactical squad would be deployed for taking objectives. The Ravenwing would most likely be reserved to be brought in at the right time or as needed.

   So, that is it for now. The next project is right around the corner. The big question for me is should I get my Eldar up to snuff or start prepping my Imperial Guard for the possibility of a new codex. I think that might be a topic for next time. Off to the next one.....






White is the new Black!

    I've had some time to digest the Space Marine codex. I have read the internet reviews and built some army lists together. I came up with a conclusion. White is the new black. Well, maybe. White Scars got awesome special rules. And add Kahn into the mix only adds more to the force. No doubt! The builds that come up with the ability to ally other marine chapters gives you the flexibility to have any unit or character from this book. But, if you are going to add that to White Scars awesomeness, you should realize that. Dark Angels are also battle brothers with the space marine codex. So they too can ally in Tigurius, except that they already have divination librarians.

 

      The next thing to compare is the riders themselves. The bikes & riders are pretty much the same. They both have hit & run, combat squads, and They shall know no fear!. So now the differences. White Scars get +1 strength to their hammer of wrath attacks. Admittedly cool. And they automatically pass dangerous terrain tests. Useful, but you need to fail the test and an armor save. Not really that likely to fail anyway. Their maximum squad is 8 bikers and an attack bike. Now, Ravenwing. They only get grim resolve, which is better, in my opinion, because it is coupled with hit & run. By itself, grim resolve is better or worse depending on the situation. Ravenwing squad is 6 bikers, an attack bike and a land speeder. I love that land speeder in my units because it is separated off from the bike squad. You could possibly have 4 scoring units from 1 choice. That is a great bonus in objective missions.

 

     After that is gear. White Scars can take the grav guns in their squads. Ok, slight rant here! Why is that every space marine chapter in the galaxy has figure out this grav gun technology except for Dark Angels, Blood Angels and Space Wolves. I still feel bad for the Space Wolves. They haven't figured out how to fly yet. And why haven't Chaos marines figured out how to put a heavy weapon on a rhino! Ugghh! It just grates me! Ok. With that aside, the Scars get grav guns. Awesome! Ravenwing have the only imperial jet bike, the dark shroud (which confers stealth within 6"), black talons (twin linked plasma guns), and the Dark Angels standards.

 

     So, in my honest opinion, it really depends on what you want from your bike army. If you want to smash into the face of your enemies, the White Scars are for you. If you want to shoot the enemy and avoid damage, The Ravenwing is for you. The best thing about this really is the fact that you could ally them together and get everything you want. So, have fun and ride hard!