... which I am buried beneath the Ice Queen's wrath.

 

This is the view out my front door. Just for reference, the fence you see back left is about a four foot fence, and the snow is easily over 2' deep there. Winds have ceased blowing as hard as last night, where we had gusts anywhere from 30-40mph. Now, it's just dumping snow on us. We are expected to get another 4-6" of snowfall throughout the day. Needless to say, everything is closed for the day.

I can't even open the door, as snow has piled up against the house.  Looks like I got my wish to stay in and do some painting!

I did take pictures of my recent paintings, and here they are:

Monolith #2 I kept simple, and experimented more with weathering powders. I used a good rust color around the base of the Monolith, and a grimy black to simulate blast marks.

 I may have gone overboard with the weathering powder on this side, but hey, I'm experimenting here! I do like having the rust around the exhaust vents at the bottom of the Monolith.









 Heh. Double trouble. I hope I can make them as effective as I want them to be.

 I know painting up a Necron Lord is no humungous feat, but I do like the detail I put into his cape.

 Unfortunately, I don't think the camera caught the detail too well. From this view, you do get to see a good shot of the Resurrection Orb, and its glowy goodness.

 Ah, the Temple of Skulls. I really used a lot of paint on this one. I drybrushed a 3 tone color on the rocks, and added a layer of green on some of the facings to simulate moss. My favorite part was probably the easiest. I mixed up some red paint, flo-aid and just a touch of 'ard coat, put it in a medicine dropper, and pumped it out onto the base of the Chaos symbol. I had previously propped up the base slightly on some rolled up paper towels, so that the "blood" would flow down the steps. Couldn't have turned out better.

Lots of flock on this too. I used static grass, and multiple colors to really layer out the feel of the terrain.
I would really like to find an altar and a victim to put on top of this piece. I may have to just rig one up myself, but I think that would really complete the effect of the Temple.






Well, I think the heater has finally had enough time to warm up around my desk, so the paint can flow freely. I hope to have a really productive "snow day". LOL

...in which I have defeated hobby lethargy!

Ha Ha! Victory!!!

Not really, but to an extent. After my last post I finally got off my butt and got some work done. I painted up the Warhammer FB terrain of the "Temple of Skulls", my 2nd Monolith, and a Necron Lord. I'll go back and post pictures later, as I am at school right now, and do not have my camera on me.

I am particulary pleased with the Temple, I got to use a lot of techniques on a larger scale, and I really hammed it up with the effects of grass, moss, and blood. Somebody had a really bad day there...

In other news...
A blizzard is moving into my realm of the country, which really is no surprise, I live in Michigan after all... I think the only place colder than here is Siberia. Over the next 12 hours, we are supposed to get betweeen 14-16" of snow accumulation, winds in excess of 6omph, and mass power outages. We shall see... I never believe what comes out of the meteorologists, they are very inaccurate here. But, if what they say is true, I am going to have the next few days off of school, work, and life in general while we dig ourselves out. Sounds like some excellent time to get some painting done!!

I picked up some of the Discworld Miniatures from the Warstore, and I am anxious to get to painting these. It will be a welcome break from all of the GW stuff I've been doing lately, getting back to painting for the sheer joy of painting.

Photos to come! (and snow too!!!)

Two Battle Reports for the price of one!

Despite it being a busy post-holiday week, I did manage to find time to squeak out to the hobby store to get in a game. Surprisingly, I was able to get in two, as I brought both my Armies with me, and people were out playing WFB as well.

We will start with 40K, as that was the first game I got in of the night.
My Necron Force at 1850:
2 Units of 12 Warriors
Monolith
Tomb Stalker
Tomb Spider
The Nightbringer
6 Pariahs
Lord (Destroyer Body, Res Orb, Phylactery, Gaze of Flame) with a unit of 5 Immortals

 My opponents force (as well as I know it...)
Chaos Marines
1 Unit of Bikes with a Chaos Sorcerer
4 Terminators
2 Rhinos
1 Vindicator

 Turn 1 did NOT go well for me at all. I had lost first turn, so the Chaos Marines sped in on their bikes and started laying into the Warriors and the Las Cannoning the Nightbringer. The Nightbringer took a wound and the warriors suffered a few casualties. Thankfully, my Lord w/Res Orb was right there, so I did get my WBB. My Pariahs took some heat from the Terminators and Rhino, but no wounds. The Vindicator fired on the Monolith, with no effect. On my turn 1, My warriors, Lord, and Immortals opened fire on the bike squad, peeling off only one. My Monolith fired on the Vindicator, glancing it. The Nightbringer fired on the rhino, destroying a twin linked bolter. The Tomb Stalker and Tomb Spider fired on the bike squad, then assaulted.
Here's where it got painful. The Chaos Sorcerer had the best initiative, and got to strike first. He landed only 1 wound on the tomb stalker, but that was all he needed, as he was equipped with a Force weapon. He used his psychic power and inflicted the rest of the wound on the Tomb Stalker, taking it down. The Tomb Spider wasn't able to do anything, and was forced to take 5 fearless tests after I failed the leadership roll... So much for those two units....

 The bike squad continued its sweep into my warriors, annihilating one whole squad. The las cannons kept pounding the Nightbringer, and the Pariahs had their hands full on the other side of the Monolith.

 When the bike squad got closer to the bulk of my force, his champion summoned a greater Daemon... At least THIS time I had the Nightbringer. As you can see from the pic, the Daemon and the Sorcerer broke off to attack the Nightbringer, while the rest of the squad slams into the second unit of Warriors.

 The Nightbringer was able to cut right thru the Daemon and the Sorcerer. (Yay C'Tan!) And the bike squad started taking casualties from all the fire it took. I pulled the Warriors thru the Monolith to get them out of hand to hand with the bikes.

 More Daemons were summoned, and the bikes swooped around to assault the Lord and Immortals. By this time I am really nervous, as my Phase out number is looming. On my turn, I pulled the Lord & Immortals thru the Monolith to get them out of Hand to Hand. At least this way they could open fire the bikes. 2 out of my 3 warriors fell, and if I lost one one more, I would phase out. 5 of my Pariahs fell to a good artillery hit, and the lone one began to move in with the rest of my force.

 My Warriors were able to get back up, staving off the phase out for another turn. Unfortunately, I forgot to move the Nightbringer, and he was just outside of assault range on the bikes. So, he stood there, chesse in the wind, and fell beneath the repeated Las Cannon fire........

The group of Lesser Daemons kept on the Warriors, and dropped the last 3, which was enough to make me phase out.


Sorry if this one read kinda funny, lots was going on all at the same time, and I really felt on the ropes after my Tomb Stalker got gutted back on turn 1. The bike unit with the Mark of Nurgle was a total pain. Looking at my own army, I felt that if I would have deployed slightly different, I would have fared way better. I should have swapped the unit of Pariahs and the Tomb Stalker. The Tomb Stalker would have fared better against the Terminators and Rhino, as it would have been able to shrug off most of the hits, and its multiple wounds most likely would have let it get in close enough to do some damage. The Pariahs would have been the Ace in the hole against the Sorcerer, being a Psychic abomination, soulless, and all equipped with Warscythes. Those bikes would have fell faster underneath the warscythes... Oh well, you learn from your mistakes. All in all, a fantastic game against Tony's Chaos Marines.


FOR BRETTONIA!!!!

My next game pitted my Brettonians against a swarm of Skaven. Now, this was not Mr. O's skaven, so it wasn't grudge match round 2, but I feel I fought a bit harder this time. This was a 1500 point game.

My Force:

Lord-Mounted on Hippogriff, w/Armor of Agilulf (Grants WS 10), Lance of Artois (+2 S & Killing Blow) and a Luck Stone (Re-Roll one failed Armor save).

16 Archers

Damsel of the Lany, Lvl 2, Lore of Life

6 Grail Knights w/ Wailing Banner (Unit Causes Terror)

9 Knights of the Realm wBanner of Chalons (Units may NOT use Stand and Fire when this unit charges it.)

9 Knights Errant w/ Banner of War (+1 Combat Resolution)

Paladin Battle Standard Bearer w/Sword of Strife (+2 Attacks) and Seed of Regrowth. (6+ Regeneration).

My Opponent:
3 Units of 20 Clan rats
5 Rat Ogres & Packmaster
3 Warlocks
3Warpfire Cannons

 As normal with my Bretonnians, they spent the first turn in Prayer, to get the blessing of the Lady. The Skaven advanced. Warp Lightning and Warp Fire started to rain in on the Knights, dropping a few of the Knights Errant.
Turn 2, saw the Lord advance, the Grail Knights fail a long-shot charge against the Rat Ogres, and the Knights of the Realm and Knights Errant advance.

 Unfortunately for my Knights, the Skaven then charged. Nothing takes the wind out of a Bretonnian Army's sails like denying them their charge. The Knights of the Realm held their own, however, the inexperienced Knights Errant took enough losses to break. They fled off of the board after failing to reform.
The Lord was uncontested on the Flank of the Skaven, and he launched a devestating charge on the Rat Ogre unit. After the unit suffering 5 wounds to my 0, they broke, and were cut down by the Lord.

 The Grail Knights hit the flank of the Unit of Clan Rats that was engaged with the Knights of the Realm. Being caught between the two units of Knights, the frenzied rats were cut down.
The Archers lobbed volley after volley at the warp fire cannons, as they were damaging the knights severely. One cannon went down.
The left most unit of clan rats then charged the rear of the Grail Knights, with the Lord following shortly behind, charging their rear. The Lord challenged the Skaven Warlord, and they went toe-to-toe.

The Knights of the Realm broke free and charged the second warp fire thrower, crushing it with their charge. The Lord fell in his challenge, but the Hippogriff kept fighting in his place.

When the smoke cleared on the battle field (No turn 6...) Only the unit of clan rats that run off the Knights Errant were unhurt, and the bulk of the clan rat unit was destroyed by the Knights.

We figured out the Kill points, he had 4 of his 10 units left. So, 6 Kill points for me.
I had only lost 2 units, but my lord as well, so a total of 3 Kill points for him.

 Overall, a fantastic game against Matt's Skaven. Though a decisive Bretonnian victory, I have to give Matt mad props for this battle. It was only his 3rd game of WFB, and he did exactly what he needed to do to nerf a Bretonnian Army, take away their charge. Leaving his flank open to the Lord was his undoing... I think he thought his unit of Rat Ogres would have fared better against him, but the Lord is a beast.

I look forward to seeing how this Skaven army progresses, as he builds up his army to higher point value games, it will get a lot nastier with the swarm increasing in size.

Well, that wraps it up. My last blog post of the year. Probably my last battle report for a while too, as the new semester starts up and life will be thrown into chaos. Don't fret tho, the blog will continue, as I plan on focusing more on painting and modeling for a while. I have quite the backlog of mini's to paint, terrain to build, and armies to ponder.

See you all next year!

...in which I discuss 40K ideas, and review a local store.

So the other Necron player in the area that I know loves to go heavy on the Necron Destoryers to basically out flank and riddle his opponents with gauss fire. It is pretty effective, as I have been on the recieving end of that fire myself. I also hear it's a really popular tactic, so that makes me want to steer clear of using it. I like to be more innovative with my armies, and definitely make my opponent second guess his tactics against me.

So, after much thought, I've come up with an army list I'd like to try.




It may or may not be a new idea, but tactically I think it will catch a lot of local players off guard. It will be a while before I can field this army, mostly due to having to buy a lot of these pieces yet. Here's the concept:

2 Units of 12 Warriors
2 Monoliths
2 Units with Necron Lords
        - One Unit 5 Pariahs, and a Necron Lord with a Warscythe, Veil of Darkness, and a Destroyer Body
        - One Unit 6 Immortals and a Necron Lord with a Staff of Light, Veil of Darkness and a Res Orb.
1 Necron Tomb Stalker

When I originally did this list, I had some Heavy Destroyers in place of the Tomb Stalker, but I'm jonesing to try that unit out, so as long as my opponent is cool with Forge World, I'm running it!

The tactics are fairly simple. Use the two Monoliths to block line of sight to my lords and their units, and face the portals away from my opponent. If any of my units get into trouble, I pull them thru. With the Lords, last game I used the Veil of darkness/Immortal concept to move and shoot, and it worked really well. I want to use that same idea for the Pariahs. Now, I do not think I can assault on the turn I teleport, but teleporting them behind enemy lines for them to fire will still be effective. Any psychers on the field will have a really bad day. The gauss flayers will wreak their own havoc, and next turn having 6 warscythes in assault range will easily tear down any heavy artillery or Terminators. Warscythes do not allow saves of any kind, including invulnerable, and when they strike a vehicle they roll 2d6+str for their pen. Add to this mix 48 shots a round from my 2 squads of warriors, 2 particle whips from the monoliths, and a Tomb stalker running wild... I think it will be pretty gruesome.

So, SeerKarandras sealed my fate with the Imperial Guard. He gave me three boxes of Greatcoat troopers. These are not "GW" models in anyway, but they do look almost identical to the Death Korp of Kreig models. 52 troops are already in the works.

The kits are really neat, as they come with enough spare parts to completely trick out and mod other mini's. After looking at some of the heavy weapons teams, I am confident I can just buy the basic GW ones, and cut off the heads and swap them for some of the spares I have. Vehicles are the same, I'll just have to adjust the paint scheme. Aquillas and Iron Crosses. Of course, I'll probably splurge on the forgeworld command group and a Gorgon... but we shall see....


On to the store review!!!
21st Century Comics and Games
515 E Grand River
East Lansing, Mi 48823
http://21stcenturycomics.com/

Alright, I'll admit it. I'm, a little biased here. This is one of my favorite stores in Michigan. They have a wide selection of games, GW product, Reaper Mini's, and comics. They also have Battletech Mini's (One of only two stores in the entire state of Michigan that I've found!), and hobby supplies. They carry not only the Gale Force 9 stuff, but Woodland scenics as well. The staff is really cool, and if they don't have what you're looking for in stock, they will order it. They also have a used RPG section, so you can buy RPG books cheap, or sell the ones you are no longer using. Plenty of gaming space too.

The 2 big advantages here are the customer loyalty program and the Battletech pods.
-For the customer loyalty program, you get a stamp on your card for every $20 you spend. On anything. After 10 stamps, you get a 20% discount on your next purchase. Their stuff does run MSRP, but if you are like me, you will pick up a few odds and ends here and there (comics, brushes, paints,books, RPG aids, etc.) , and accumulate your stamps quickly. I turn around and then do a massive purchase (usually of GW stuff) at 20% off. So cool.
- Battletech pods. Yeah. Exactly the same as the ones at Virtual World. A huge cockpit that you climb into, strap in, and are immersed in a full simulation of a mech battle. They have 4 pods, so it's always a great way to spend an afternoon with some friends.

Now the draw back. And it's a doozie. The only reason this place is not my FLGS and my store of choice is that it is right across the street from Michigan State University's campus. You have to pay for parking, and that can get expensive, especially on days that their are big football or basketball games. The traffic that also comes with the sports is pretty heinous too, so I steer clear of East Lansing on those days whenever possible.

Still, the store itself is pretty damn awesome. It's not their fault MSU is a Big 10 school.

5 Stars

 

 

Till next time.....

When I will hopefully have another battle report, and maybe even an evaluation of the Tomb Stalker's capabilities!

Battle Report 11.21.2010

Whew. That one didn't go how I planned.

Seer Karandras' Dark Eldar concept was a solid one, but my Necrons ran much more smoothly this time. He led in kill points the first half of the game, but I was able to keep on trudging from behind and over come him in the end.

Initial Deploy

Initial Deploy

I figured since he started with only 3 skimmers, that I'd be able to tear them apart and get heavy casualties. The big flaw with his list was that he couldn't hurt the monolith.

That aside, I had a huge fight on my hands. First turn, those skimmers made it over to my half of the board, and got right up in my grill. I moved a squad of warriors up the mountain to intercept, and my monolith out and the rest of my army following. I left my Flayed Ones in reserve, so that they could outflank, a mistake against this army. They were so fast, by the time they came in (turn 3) I had to run them to get them remotely close to the combat. In hindsight, I should have had them infiltrate. Against a slower army, the outflank would have been fine, but I was too slow for the Flayed Ones to be any use at all.

They're on us!

My squad of warriors went to open up on his skimmer, and I *should* have had 24 shots raining into it, but the shadow shields on it made it so none of my guys could rapid fire and only 3 guys were in range for a single shot. Losing 6" off your range is a PAIN.


His troops all start piling out of his skimmers, and one of his Homonculi opens a webway portal right in the middle of the map to let a unit of Grotesques onto the board.
I'll give it to the Necrons here, they are resilient little buggers. SK kept knocking them down, but they kept getting back up. My Necron Lord had a squad of Immortals paired with him, and he was equipped with a Staff of Light and a Veil of Darkness. Every time SK got a squad to charge into hand to hand, the Lord would simply teleport them away, and the immortals would open fire when they reappeared. The Monolith kept the Grotesques at bay, and was the most effective piece in the game I'd say. The Nightbringer went into hand to hand with a squad of Wracks, and was very effective in cutting them down. The sad part they were just as effective against him. I HATE POISON WEAPONS! I find it hard to believe on a logical level that poison could affect a soulless machine. I'll give it against the C'Tan, but not the Necrons.... Either way, two squads of Wracks took out the Nightbringer, but they took heavy casualties. The Monolith and the Lord/Immortal Squad mopped up the rest, which is what put me up on kill points.

Since I had a squad of Flayed Ones (doing nothing, granted) out in the boonies, I never reached my phase out number, despite having the bulk of my troops obliterated. I lost a heavy amount of troops because of "powered" weapons that denied me my "We'll be back" roll, poisoned weapons that were wounding me too easily IMO, and not getting any armor saves for it at all. That part was pretty frustrating. When I was able to make my WBB rolls, I had a good ratio of success, so I probably lasted longer against this army than most others would have. I believe it was the staying power of the Necrons that let me edge out a victory here.

Overall, I was pretty satisfied with my list and how it played. I definitely learned to watch out for Dark Eldar, and what nasty tricks they have.