Two hours of painting: Kroot

Hi guys,

Only two words: Foundation. Washes.
Those colours are absolutely amazing and are a great and easy way of getting your miniatures painted quickly with a nice outcome. I never saw a possibility for using the washes with my marines or the fire warriors as I think the best way to use is with more organic structures like Trotzki had that with his daemons. And at the moment I don't want to start a completely new army and so I decided to get myself some kroot mercenaries for the Tau and I wanted to paint something really quickly and get the finished models as soon as possible without compromising the quality of the paintjob.

I used Knarloc green as base colour, graveyard earth for the "clothes", snakebite leather, scorched brown and bleached bone for the other brown parts and of course boltgun metal for the gun. I painted all that first and then washed the green and brown parts with devlan mud und the metal parts with badab black. And thats it. Nice methinks.

Land Raider WIP....finished

Here it is, my 2nd Land Raider. Not much to say about it except that I am pleased with it and the forge world doors are really great.
Let's see when the 3rd one will arrive....the doors are already here ;-)





Foul xenos, heretics and mutants beware!

Tons of Bits ... (WIP Jetbike Autarch)

Hi guys,

after doing a little check list on all my Eldar bits lying around, I stumbled over an old Jetbike I didn´t use for my Spears Of Khaine (GW´s only selling those in three-bike boxes with a maximum squad size of the being 5... nice thing is you also get the whole equipment for 3 Guardian Jetbikes). First idea was a jetbike farseer but those really need a seer council of expensiveness to be any effective, so I decieded to add a second autarch to my army. In addition to the bike I used bits from several boxes : Head and torso are both from a Dire Avenger exarch ( I especially like the head from this box more than the "omg-screaming"-one from GW´s autarch on bike box), while legs and arms are from the shining spears exarch (with the niffty one-hand control I didn´t use for my Spears because I had already glued the bike handles ...). The pseudomandiblasters at the side of the autarchs head are the spiky tops of the "flag mast" that was supposed to be added to the backward part of the Guardian Jetbikes. The two banners at the bikes backside are the alternative backpack for the Warpjump-Autarch. First coloring of the model is now finished but still needs a little trimming, especially at the bike, and a fitting base...

Land Raider WIP

Good evening,

I found some time to continue my Land Raider this evening and just finished painting the doors and glued the lascannon turrets in place. Here's how it turned out:


It is still work to do here. Painting accents, details, lights and so on. And I think I am going to make some banners and the like from the Black Templar upgrade sprue on it.
So that's it for tonight.

Family Photo

With the first batch of demons painted I think its time for a little family photo ...

The finished Soul Grinder

Hi folks,

just want to post some pics of the finished soul grinder. Hard to take nice photos of such a big model - it looks a lot darker in reality ... anyway - have a look :

Front

Back

Size Comparison

Soulgrinder WIP

Hi folks,

so here is the first little upgrade on my unfinished Tzeentch-Soulgrinder. Starting with the boring part : the legs. Not much of special interest here. I mainly used Boltgun Metal with Brazen Brass for the legs, while the body is drybrushed with Boltgun Metal and Codex Grey. What still needs to be done is some further darkening down the boltgun metal (still a little to shiny) and I still have no idea for the leg armor plates on the last pairs. First idea was some Tzeentch-Symbol... but due to the ultimate lack of any freehand painting skill I´m still stuck with black plates. As I said otherwise there is not much special here...

Now the more interesting upper part: Here you have the very detailed and organic part of the Grinder. Starting with thin layer of Mordian blue I painted the whole skinny partof the model. Next another thin layer of Space Wolves Grey + Mordian Blue was added. At last pure Space Wolves Grey was used as on the GW studio model. To give it a tzeentchy blue-purple look I now first washed the model with Asurmen Blue and after drying with Baal Red. As you can see this lead to some nice blending effects with wich I´m really pleased. I also started with the details on the model but this is still almost 99% work in progress.

You just have to love this model .... I really think this is one of the best GW has ever done ....

Land Raider, a work in progress

With the new Codex: Space Marines lurking behind the next corner, I decided to start painting a new Land Raider for my Marines. Obviously.
Alright, that's the best moment to start a little WIP report and I try to capture the most steps with my camera. I will give a few explanations on which colours I use, which technique and so on.
So let's dive right into it.
After I cleaned everything up, primed all interior parts and painted said interior, I assembled most of the tank. Sadly I didn't make pictures of the inside. But as I think no one will take a too good look into the tank, this is only done superficially. I painted it with a dark grey, darker than cold grey (Vallejo Game Color), then drybrushed it with a lighter tone of grey and painted the screens of the monitors and cogitators with mostly red and blue (scab red from vallejo with parts in blood red from GW, enchanted blue with parts in ice blue, both GW). The mechanical parts in the back I simply drybrushed with boltgun metal and brazen brass (sadly GW took that color out of the program, I don't know why, but that color was great)

Ok, now to the parts you can actually see. The first thing I did was painting the tracks with boltgun metal. After that I used my ink mix of chaos black with a huge portion of water and the Vallejo Color Thinner. I think that comes next to the new washes from GW.
The next step was cleaning up the mess I did with the boltgun metal, so I overpainted the parts I wanted black with, you can imagine, chaos black.
After that I drybrushed the whole tank with a mix of chaos black and cold grey. That's the colour mix I use for all accents on my marines.
I drybrushed it again with bestial brown, but only on the lower parts. Followed by another drybrushing step with snakebite leather. But beware this colour is very bright and so I just used it on a few parts and only a little bit.
Last step was drybrushing with cold grey for a more dusty look and to soften up the brown.

The picture shows everything very bright but in reality it is a bit darker. But I wanted the impression of a tank rolling through a war torn environment, through ruined cities and the like and I guess there is a lot of dust and dirt...
A few sprinkles of boltgun metal for little damages and I think I am done with the first round of wheathering for now.


Next I am going to paint the doors. I am still undecided whether to paint it in NMM style or not. At the moment I am tending to metallics.
Ok that's it for this time.
To be continued soon.

Tau Devilfish: Straight from the painting table...

Just a little update from my Tau. The second Devilfish for my slowly expanding Tau army just left the production halls...ahem my painting table.
More (and nicer) pics are due to follow when I am done with the passengers. Just two to go.
That's it. Hope they see some action soon.

Something small from poland

Hi guys,

anyone ever noticed the small company Micro Art Studios ? They are making gorgeous resin bases for Warhammer and Warhammer 40k.

www.microartstudio.com/en/

With my shiny new Avatar en route, I decieded to base him on one of their temple line.

As you can see the two 60mm temple bases are really detailled and one of them will make a great addition to the big Forgeworld model. I also added two 40mm skull bases. One of them will serve as base for the humble skulltaker while the other one may serve as a Khorne demon prince resting place. With this shipment I also ordered some ruined building bases for Managarm. Check them out :

Here you can see the really nice wanna be terminator 40mm bases. Six of them were in the order and none of them looks like another. I think this is quite remarking as other bought bases quickly work against the uniquness of the models.

The detail on the big 60mm base is also remarkable and will make great ground for a dreadnought.

...of things to come...

Hey folks,

I wanted to give a short preview of those things to come in near future. Trotzki and I ordered a few things from Forge World to "embellish" our armies.
This stuff is really really awesome and even with the neat price it is worth the money. Especially with the strong Euro at the moment :-) it is more affordable.
So here we go:
The Eldar Avatar of Kaela Mensha Khaine.
Absolutely amazing! As you can imagine, definitely no comparison to the GW model. This guy is an appropriate representation of his rules! The wip firewarrior is for size comparison...

As promised some time ago the FW pimped Terminators are going to hit my shelf and hopefully the battlefield. And with the rumoured new rules for storm shields that´s going to be a viable unit. Let´s see if I can do it this year. But that´s definitely getting a WIP paint log! The shields are really great and finely detailled and in addition with the shoulder pads I am looking forward to painting this terminator assault squad.

And last but not least two sets of Land Raider doors. As I am planning to paint at least two more Land Raiders I thought it would be great to get those nice doors to make them look even better. At the moment I am planning doing a Land Raider after I completed my first chunk of the Tau army. Maybe I will make a paint log as well.

Something big is coming ...

A little update on my painted models. This week I finished my 3 Screamers of Tzeentch or as many people call them "Flying Meltabombs". I was a little disappointed with the lack of detail on the models so I tried some new techniques with blending colours into each other. It may not be perfect but I´m pleased with the outcome. Gamewise I´m still not really convinced of their usefulness. They may cost not much but killing 3 T4 models isn´t that much of a task. I really think they can bring down any slow moving tank with one warp powered bite, but getting them near the tank will prove complicated. In the only 5th Ed. testgame I had until now (vs. Eldar) they really had problems catching Serpents and even if they managed they where outmanouvered (cursed 6s to hit).

Screamers of Tzeentch
Warpborne Tankwreckers

With my Screamers finished I now feel free to start the "big guy" of any well organized chaos demon army. My sweet little soul grinder is ready to be started and after 2 hours of cleaning the parts up, I started to glue together the first bits. You really have to be impressed with the size of this thing.... poor little guardian... The upper body won´t be glued to the legs, because the modles parts fit really well (shiny new GW models) and it will be easy to take the body up and leave the legs as wrecked Soul Grinder. More pics while I´m painting ....

One bad day for a whiny little space elf ...

Take cover !

With the 5th edition take off the GW craters are back in the stores. For only 15€ you can get yourself a whole lot of terrain. Check the pictures below for some size comparison. You can easily fit whole squads inside and they are pretty detailed for the price. After priming and some drybrushing they will really make nice and detailed terrain.

More Warpstuff...

Hi guys,

after some technical problem with my digicam I´m back to post the arrivals in my demon army now. As I told you my army is supposed to be mainly focused on Tzeentch-shooty-goodness. So I decieded to treat myself with the ultimate shooty chicken - the Greater Demon of Tzeentch. This unit comes with an really hefty price tag and it will explode to over 300 points when gifted with We Are Legion, Master of Sorcery and Breath of Chaos. The first testgames will show if these little upgrades are really necessary. With build in Demonic Gaze, Bolt of Tzeentch, Wings and an uber-invulnerable save this should be a flexible Jack-of-all-trades that can shoot the hell out of everything and then mop it up after charging. I know that most people favour the cheaper herolds but if not only for fluff reasons a greater demon should be part of any demonic army.

Lord of Change
Xitzu´Bitantzel

On the lower picture you can see my first tries with the new GW-washes. The chickens tabard was just painted with one thin layer of space wolves grey and then washed with Asurmen Blue. I think the soft shading is really impressing and I am looking forward to paint more models with them.

As a true follower of Tzeentch I also got myself some horrors. 2x5 with bolt is really a lot of firepower for such a small unit. I also equipped one unit with an icon because knowing exactly where you deep strike is really something when you are dealling with flamers (the Tzeentchy ones). 10 more and will be pleased with my troop selection.

The Pinkmob
Giggeling minions of Tzeentch

If it comes to suicide units the flamers really are one hell of a "deepstrike and flame away" unit. Aggressive deppstriking is the way to go with those and in the first games it worked quiet well. And 3 are inexpensive enough to don´t really care about the lose. On the picture below you can also see my model for the changeling (of course he is normally with his horrors) which I also used as a herold of Tzeentch in some games.

The Changeling and Flamers
Cohorts of Tzeentch

The last point is a little heretical act against my master Tzeentch... because I like the model and a little more headbashing competence for my army would be great. I aquired myself the Skulltaker of Khorne. He hasn´t seen any games until now, because he is missing his bloodletter company. Hopefully he can lend the poor minions of Tzeentch a hand when they are getting there tentacles bashed in melee.

Uzul the Skulltaker

Herold of Khorne

ARMY SHOWCASE: Sons of Sigismund

Master of Sanctity Torvald

Torvald is the spiritual leader of the Sons. His undying dedication to his office and his martial prowess is always a great inspiration for all battle brothers as he crushes the Emperors and mankinds foes mercilessly under his mastercrafted thunderhammer. His relentless faith and iron will let him survive against the vilest enemies the Sons encountered and he survived badly wounded a desperate fight against the Avatar of Kaela Mensha Khaine.

Ok, so much to the fluff for him...
That is one of my favorite models in the range of citadel miniatures. I just replaced the storm bolter with a thunder hammer from the assault terminator sprue and gave him a shoulder pad from forgeworld.
This model is my second approach to non-metallic-metal (golden parts and chains, not the crozius and the hammer) and I am very pleased with it. It takes a little bit more time to paint it that way, but the outcome justifies the effort.
I am not always a fan of NMM as it often looks very much like comic-style but I wanted to try it out and so far I like it with this model. The models I painted after this were painted with metallics (e.g. Hermann) but it is likely I will do NMM again.

ARMY SHOWCASE: Sons of Sigismund

Since I am not painting at the moment, I decided to start a litle showcase of my most favourite models and units. I am planning to post a few pics under this headline from time to time.

So to begin with, here is my fluff-wise most beloved unit in the game: The Terminators.

Squad of

Brother Sergeant Lucien

Brother Sergeant Lucien carries a Stormbolter and a power axe (slight and simple conversion of the ordinary sword). (And since he forgot his helmet in the locker, he sometimes catches the bullet first...) This squad usually accompanies Grand Marshall Hermann into battle.
To distinguish them from my other terminator squads, they have their right shoulder guard in white with a black cross and all have a white cross on their left leg.
Personally I am very pleased with my paintjob here and I think they catch some eye on the table.

Squad of

Brother Sergeant Vikar

This is the first Squad, where I tried another paint scheme different to the one displayed in Codex:Black Templar. I had seen the white cross on the helmets in a white dwarf some time ago and I really liked it. As common theme for this squad I let the right shoulder pad black with a white cross on it. And, as you can see, I put a lot of purity seals, devotional text passages and other embellishments on them to show the very pious attitude of this elite squad.
They are usually tank hunters when fielded as the two assault cannons can really put a dent into enemy tanks. (But let me say this: this is my one and only squad with two assault cannons!)

Squad of

Brother Sergeant Wolfram

This is the first squad of terminators I painted. Plainly "inspired" by the terminators in C:BT. Nothing important to say about them. Maybe only the posing of the assault cannon wielding one, as I like this pose.

and last but not least...

Squad of

Brother Sergeant Guntrecht

Assault Terminators, as you can see. That was my second squad and I got a little bit more creative... At least they have the shoulder pads in their squad-specific heraldry and that is repeated on their little shields. Actually they have been repainted several times, as I wasn't so sure how to do them and as my paint skill improved I decided to add some more details to them.
Sadly they don't see much battle. I think the only way they can be used, is in a Crusader with attached Chaplain. And this is, as sad as it is, a juicy target for opponents and a point sink for me. I like the idea and it is really cool, but to win with such a list is virtually impossible.
But I had some interesting moments with them and I hope I can use them more frequently when the new edition codex comes out.

So that's it with my terminators (and I really pray that they won't feel the nerf hammer too badly so that I can paint some more squads without screwing up every list!) A command squad embellished with Forge World stuff and robes and maybe an apothecary is still on my mind. But I think something like that will run under "stylehammer".

Spotlight on Chaos

Well well being late again. Freakin workload is just too much atm. But i still got time to finish this weeks version of Spotlight on Chaos. Lets Roll!

Spotlight on Havocs:

Well since im playing Black Legion means im pushing myself to use as many normal CSM`s as possible and therefore i never leave home without at least one unit of Havocs. Since Trotzki plays mostly Eldar and Emperor plays Imperial Guard. I normaly equip them with four heavy bolters. And i found them quite effective against Sigismunds Space Marines as well. They tend to kill their share of Space Marines by volume of fire. I can imagine them doing quite well against Trotzkis upcoming Demon army. Too bad you cant give them the Tank Hunter Ability anymore.

Heavy Bolter Havocteam:

4 Havocs with heavy bolters
5 Havocs with bolters
1 Havoc with Icon of Chaos Glory

Well here they are 10 man armed with the ability to put out 12 anti-infantry shots out on a distant of 36”. If the enemy closes in on them on 24” or less you can add another 6 bolter rounds. And with the reroll on moral tests from the Icon and a moral value of 9, they normaly dont run away. With each CSM having two attacks even when they got engaged in hand to hand combat, they normaly hold out till helps arrvies. And they only cost you like 220 points.
If been toying with the idea of giving them 4 autocannons to add some light AT fire to my army but since i got others units on AT duty i keep em that way. And i dont wanna loose too many anti-infantry shoots.
These guys have been quite remarkably and have an amazing kill count. Tons of grunts from all armies and occasionally they kill something big. Trotzki really hates them for killing his Avatar a few times.

With the upcoming 5th. Edition and the change in blast weapon mechanics, i will equip at least one troop with 4 rocket launchers. I bet they will prove quite usefull against hardend targets and normal infantry as well. When we get our first 5th Edition games going i will see if this theory holds true.

So this is it for this week. Well see hoy much longer i can still keep myself from writing something about Terminators. Im afraid it will become a quite long Spotlight then.

Cheers,
Clausewitz

Spreading some Chaos ...

After countless weeks of sacrificing and chanting the first two models of my new Chaos Daemon army have finally appeared from the warp. As I´ve already told you I´d like to do a mono Tzeentch list at the beginning that later maybe will see some additions of other god forces (mostly Khorne - got to love those models). So without further delay here are my first two choices and some tactical thoughts on both.

First my Herald of Tzeentch Narolkrell on his trusty charoit Gyz Zelleh (once a proud member of the Astropathic chor she looked a little to deep into things that weren´t her buisness).

Herald of Tzeentch
Narolkrell

When I first glanced through the Daemon Codex I really tripped over the point cost of all those heralds. They are all reasonable cheap and have quite nice abilities. Especially on chariots the also add a lot of durability on themselves and can put out a big punch. If the lose of the IC status really hurts the unit (that still has a whole lot of wounds), the first games will prove. As jetbike the herald can go quickly from one side of the board to the other (turboboosting will make him one fast bastard) and with some cover to fly behind, he really can flame, gaze or bolt the hell out of enemy models next round. And with Master of sorcery and We are legion he can unleash hell on different units. One thing I´m still unsure about is his close combat ability : he may have a lot of attacks and furious charge but his taulike melee skills will hinder him against anything tough. Thats why I really have to ask myself if the expensive soul devourer pays off at the end.

The next addiotion to my forces a big tzeentchy Demon Prince Orgonath. I always wanted to have the model and really wasn´t disappointed with it. To give him some look worthy to the Lord of Lies I swapped the head and the free hand against some deformed bits from the chaos spawn set. Even though the price is tremendous I also decieded to give him wings, because I really like to see him flying around and burning whole units to ashes with Breath of chaos or destroy some tanks with Bolt of Tzeentch.

Demon Prince of Tzeentch
Prince Orgonath

Demon Princes in the Daemon Codex are real pointburner, so I´m quite concerned that I will really carry away with him. The Mark of Tzeentch is a must of course while I think the Iron Hide my be a little redundant - but +3 is always better then +4....
Another thing I´m thinking about is if there is really a need for another tank hunter in the list. Bolt and Breath together seem to be a little to expensive for my taste and the Prince can really put a dent into tanks just by being monstrous. Playtesting will show which one of them is needed.

So this end my first little summoning... I still have 10 Horrors, 2 Flamer and a Lord of Change waiting to be done and hopefully they will be painted and ready for action soon, to have a first battle (and of course a battle report).

Spotlight on Chaos

Welcome to another episode of Spotlight on Chaos! I nearly missed the "weekly" part, but i still got time till 2400 today so were in good shape. Lets get started.

Spotlight the Chaos Sorcerer

Right now while im still working on my Chaoslord, my Black Legion Army is lead by a Chaos Sorcerer. In fact most of the time i use two. But before i hear the cries of "Lashcheddar", let me clearly state that i use a maximum of one lash. While i personally dont feel that the Lash is overpowered, i normaly just play my pals and therefor i prefer to use unmaxed armies.
So while one of my Sorceres comes with the Mark of Slaanesh and Lash of Submission. The other one uses Mark of Tzeentch and Chaoswind, or Warptime or both if i have too much points.
I use wings on both of them, while you could always use a bike for similar effect, T 5 and turboboost, i prefer the batish look of the wings from the possessed sprue. And to be honest, sorceres do not ride on bikes! Were not the Hells Angels, were Chaos Marines!

So my prefered Sorcerer loadout would be:

The Golden One:

Chaos Sorcerer with Wings, Mark of Slaanesh and Lash of Submission


This dude cost only 145 points and you get a whole lot of utility for it. The fun moments i had with Lash of Submission are just to numerous to recall.
You can move enemies out of cover to rid them of their cover save. Trotzkis Pathfinders come to mind, those dirty treehuggers!
You can move enemies behind area terrain. To prevent them from shooting.
You can move enemies towards of away from you. Letting you assault one round earlier of denying them the opportunity for it.
You can reform enemy units and just do all kinds of kinky stuff with them, just like the Prince of Pleasure would do. ;)

The Ugly One:

Chaos Sorcerer with Wings, Mark of Tzeentch and Chaoswind (sometimes with added Warptime)


This dude is quite amazing, in his own right. While he isnt as much utility as the Golden One, hes double as killy. Using Chaoswind on disembarked or deep striking troops is just pure fun. They die like flies and useing warptime you get like 5 power weapon attacks on the charge, with rerollable to hit and to wound rolls. More then enough to finish of most squads.

Alot of people use a Demon Prince instead of the Sorcerer and while he costs only 10 points more. I feel that the Prince has a big fat "Hit me right here" sign painted on his forehead. They quite amazing if you can hide them long enough. But i just prefer my Sorcerers, like with most units its a matter of personal preference and getting the unit work with your style of play.

So thats our Spotlight for Chaos for this week.

Cheers,
Clausewitz

Some thoughts on Tau

Hey.

We had the "first" game with my wip Tau this week and I was pretty pleased with the outcome. As I just wanted to test the few units I already have, we played with no restricted FOC and I was out for a lot of points to get as near as I can get to 500 points.
I fielded:

Shas'O (cyclic ion blaster, plasma rifle, missile pod, hw multitracker)
12 firewarriors (including a Shas'ui with bonding knife)
Warfish (SMS, targetting array, multitracker, decoy launcher, disruption pods),
Sniper drone team

First game was against Eldar. Basically Trotzki put a squad of guardians with star cannon, dire avengers (don't remember how many), 3 dark reapers and as HQ an autarch with jump pack and fusion pistol on the field.

We played on a 48"x48" table with two LOS blocking buildings and several 5+ cover ruins. Mission: Kill'em all!!!

That game ended with a draw, me only having the the warfish left and all Eldar killed.

Second game against Space Marines.
A Reclusiarch with jump pack, pfist, frag grenades, terminator honours.
6 SM with missile launcher and flamer
10 SM with heavy bolter, flamer in rhino with extra armour and smoke.

The Marines suffered yet again another defeat. The Tau could outmaneuver them completely. On turn 2 and 3 I really thought the chaplain would get the commander and he was on the run, but he could escape him and meanwhile shoot on the tactical marines. In the end I had 5 firewarriors, the devilfish and the commander left, the marines entirely wiped out (*sigh* for me marines...)

Ok, let's come to my musings :-)
The winner of the game or MVP or whatever you wanna call it was definitely the Shas'O! This guy rocks! The cyclic ion blaster is really worth the points and combined with either 2 missiles or 1 to 2 plasma shots is really devastating against everything. And with a bs of 5 he nearly hits everything he points his guns to. I often read that the 'O is not worth the points and one should rather take the 'El and spent the 25 points elsewhere but I must say that I really appreciate the advantages this guy brings with him and I think he is worth it and he suits my style of gaming (with 4 wounds I willingly risk jumping him into difficult terrain...). A little drawback is the missing invulsave (the autarch melted him straight into oblivion), but I think with more models on the field and his IC status will make him more survivable.

Firewarriors in warfish: I wanted to test the famous Fish of Fury so I kept them back until 3rd or 4th turn. But I am really satisfied with the warfish. The SMS is really useful and the addition of a targetting array further enhances that.
But I must confess that I still have to learn to guess 12" correctly. After I FoFed a SM squad I got charged the next round...sadly. But oh dear, the little firewarriors managed to kill 2 marines! Yeehaaw!
Ok, I think with 2 fishes it will perform better and when I am able to place them exactly in 12" distance to the enemy it will be pretty nice. (but to be honest, I really really fear the whirlwinds my marines will definitely field! Two units of 12 FWs bunched up base to base and a 5" pieplate with ap4 wounding on 2s....kiss your *** goodbye!)

Ok the gundrones: CRAP! Really, I like the style of them, but game-wise crap. Not being able to move, only hitting on 4s or sometimes on 3s with 3 shots is ridiculous. And as I understand it, as they have to keep unit coherency with the spotter they can't even use their jump capability in the close combat phase to move away from their position. Maybe they are more useful when fielding 3 teams but a single one is crap. And at higher point games the HS slots will be filled with far more versatile units. Sorry guys, you will stay at home the next games.

Conclusion: Shas'O is great, skimmers are great, JSJ is really funny and I am looking forward to the next games with hopefully more models.
And let's see what 5th editions brings concerning the warfish and LOS for the suits.

Spotlight on Chaos

Welcome to our weekly Spotlight on Chaos. Lets dive right into it.

Spotlight on the humble Chaos Space Marine:

Since im playing Black Legion these guys form the backbone of my army. Alot of people prefer the Cult Marines over the CSM and there are alot of good reasons for this. In my opinion the main reasons for using Cult Marines over CSM is the fearlessness of the Cult Marines. So while i understand most of the reasons for using Cults Marines over CSM, my choice is mainly based on fluff and personal preference.
Perhaps although the good results i had with my Salamanders back in 3rd Edition. Good old Rhino Rush!

Most of the time i use 3 troops of 10 CSM, all equiped with a flamer, a melter, an icon of chaos glory and a champion to lead them on the field. They are all tighly packed together in the incredible cheap rhino.

CSM FRT:

6 Chaos Space Marines
1 Chaos Space Marine with Icon of Chaos Glory
1 Chaos Space Marine with Flamer
1 Chaos Space Marine with Melter
1 Champion with Power Fist
1 Rhino

So these guys come at 255 points and have barely ever let me down. They are capable of dealing with almost everything.
They have a decent chance to kill vehicles/montrous creatures with the melter and the power fist of the Champion.
They can put a dent in troops with weak armor, by using their bolter and the flamer.
They can hold themselves in close combat, by sheer number of attacks and the Champion.
And dont forget about Rhino, its cheap, it speeds the them up and increases their threat range and provides mobile cover. It can be used for shielding other units as well.
So for a measly 255 points you get a unit which can be used for almost everything. While some may call it "jack of all trades, master of none" i prefer to call it "tactical flexibility".

So thats it for this week, tune in again next week for another episode of Spotlight on Chaos!

Cheers,
Clausewitz

Eternal Glory to Chaos ! - Praise the Changer of All Ways

Hi Guys,

so as promised I got a little more in love with my dark side and - with the new codex finally out - started a Demon army. And because I really like the fluff and background of Tzeentch I decieded to follow him for greater glory. As those of you that already have read the codex may know, there are a lot of choices that have no model in the GW range. But there are a lot of descriptions in the codex for all people that like to play with these models. So my first descision was to do a herald on a chariot. The description in the codex says something about screamers and a flying disc of Tzeentch... well not what I think about when it comes to works of the great mutator. So I got myself two Chaos Spawn kits and a whole lot of green stuff and created something awful...

Front
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So I still have to clean the model up a little, but after all I am quiet pleased with the outcome. Now to start the little guy riding my precious baby...

So what do you think ?

Trotzki

Project Log: Tau Sa`cea

Hi,

I had the idea to start a project log for my relatively new army, the Tau of the Sa'cea Sept.

When my Marines had reached a comfortable level (pointswise....ahem) and I always thought of a second army, ranging from Chaos to Necrons to Imperial Guard including considerations espacially on the Tank Company (the Baneblade is still on my mind) I finally thought of the Tau. Clausewitz once bought some of them the days the last codex was released but never really started painting them. I never thought well of them since fluff-wise I don't like them at all. But as time went by I changed my opinion about them and started to rethink that whole thing again, read the codex, was impressed by their weapons and nice rules (JSJ ftw!) and most of all the oh so beautiful tanks made me change my mind. In the meantime Emperor (our friend, not Him on Earth ;-) ) became the owner of the little still unassembled and unpainted guys (he was as excited as me about their weapon loadout especially when comparing flashlights with pulse rifles *lol*) but as he didn't started them as well, the boxes changed the owner again and they found their new home with me. Namely I aquired 2 boxes of firewarriors, an XV8 commander and a sniper drone team. So basically all one needs to start the first 500 points.

And here is what I have already painted: 12 firewarriors and a XV8 Crisis suit in the famous Fireknife configuration:

I decided to paint them in the Sa'cea colours, I like the blue and it matches the cityfight scheme of my Marines.
At the moment I am painting a devilfish/hammerhead (still undecided). But as I think a project log or pics about painting a mere transport isn't that exciting I will post a pic in the overall project log here when it's done.

Spotlight on Chaos!

Hoi,

welcome everybody to our (hopefully) weekly spotlight on Units from Codex:Chaos Space Marines. In this Spotlight i will try and bring to  your attention units which i like using in my Black Legion army.
Perhaps sometimes its an odd choice supported by my style of play and personal preferences, but nevertheless i hope that you may find some usefull hints.
Allright lets dive right into it:


Spotlight on: The Chosen

I highly recommend these guys. I normaly use em in the simple shoot em up configuration and to give my army some much needed AT potential. Their ability to infiltrate enables me to place them where i need them to be. May it be on the enemy side of the board, holding a strongpoint in the middle or on my own side facing excatly the thread i need them to take care off.

Chosen of Shootiness:

3 Chosen with Bolters
1 Chosen with Lascannon
1Chosen with Plasmagun
1 Chosen with Icon of Chaos Glory

These guys come at 168 points. While you could always drop em down to 5 with just a Lascannon, this will make em hit 125 points. I for my part prefer the 6 man loadout, since it gives me more punch. 
Its really a unit which you have to get used too, since when you compare it to the the loyalist ubiquitous 6 man las/plas troop (seen in extensive action in our Battle Report), youll pay 53 points more. Less if they use Veterans or Traits to get Infiltration. But to be honest, who does?

Recently ive been toying with a more melee/shortrange shooty configuration. 10 man armed with Melters and Powerfists. These guys of course become quite expensive. But i find it hard to do the theorycrafting on their usefullness. And since i dont get to play as much as i would like recently, i will have to wait till i get to try them out.

This concludes our first weekly spotlight on Chaos.

Cheers,
Clausewitz

Trotzkis Starwanderers of Alaitoc (part 2)

So here you have the second part of my Alaitoc army. Troops and Heavy Support - the most powerful sections of an eldar army (in my opinion).

Troops :

The Guardians of Alaitoc

Guardians ... what to say about them ... Got most of them from Ebay (notice the second edition starcannon) and they were they first models I have painted. Learned the hard way that it´s really better to keep them back and as cheap as possible cause they die like flies and run whenever the avatar doesn´t back them up. The starcannon is nice for termie busting but against anything else it´s just expensive overkill.

The Pathfinders of Alaitoc

So fluffwise these models are the most important of any Alaitoc force. As you can see I only have five finished until now - but aanother five are almost done. When upgraded to pathfinders and put into +4 cover these guys are really a pain. Without the upgrade they are a little to expensive for my taste.

Exarch Motri´Archel and his Dire Avengers

More Dakka ... thats my first thought on these guys ... I´m not used playing with other "volume of fire" armies, but it is very satisfying to unleash over 30 shots from one unit. They really earn my respect in every game (in contrast to the guardians). Especially when going "Serpent of Fury" they really wrack havoc. The Exarch is also equipped with two catapults to get most of the humble bladestorm.

Wavesperpent "Eldaneshs fury"

A falcon without holofield ... omg. I know that most people in forums tell you not to take them (especially not with the lances) but the serpent almost always takes it freight at least near the enemy (please ignore that the battle report in this regard). A second one is in production to give my Dire Avengers and the Banshees a confortable ride.

Heavy Support:

Exarch Quar´Astacil and his Dark Reapers

I have read an article on bolter and chainswords some weeks ago were a marine player proclaimed he wouldn´t play an eldar player that is using this unit. While I also have to say that this unit is every marines worst nighmare, I also really like to point out, that a troup of five with exarch costs as much as a terminator unit with assault cannons and that with less armour and toughness. On the other side they very often tend to completly rule one half of the map - unless they are hit by a stray lasercannon shot and run of the field (I´m really good at failing morale tests with them - as with my Spears). When the rumored rules for scattering of blast weapons in the fitth edition are true you will soon see the exarch with an tempest launcher and crack shot.

Wraithlord Taranorth

Tankbuster No.1 in my army and always good for some endgame (he is always around) IC crushing (again - don´t look at the battle report ... stupid Hermann...). The only drawback on him is that he and my Farsser have some unhealthy relationship regarding perils of the warp. It seems that poor Ald´Rhun has some bad headache when getting to near to Mr. FancyWarroirSpirit and always sends his mind for little warpwalk. That is why Taranorth often suddenly lacks wraithsight ... and the old guy rather throws curses on all the young folk running around his feet instead of busting land raiders und ripping Company Masters to shreds.

Falcon "Ishas Avenger"

I know that, as a good eldar player, it would be my responsibiliy to tell you that holofields are fine and that there are a lot cheesier units in the game ... But after the experience of 5 Heavy Bolters (Tank Hunter), 2 Missle launchers (Tank Hunter), 2 Lascannons and 2 Plasmaguns shooting on this flying wonder without having it destroyed I also got the strong feeling something might be fishy. Paired with the odd six harelquins of cheesiness you have a "point-and-click" unit that is winnig games on its own. I´m really exited if you will see a difference in his durability in the next edition.

Support Weapon Platforms

I know what you think ! ... I like them ... Once they destroyed a whirlwind in round one ... and once they killed some guardsmen and they were pinned. They also are really good at standing around and holding quarters ! Well other there is not much to say about them. Inexpensive but in most cases almost useless against anything with good armour. I´ve I ever finish my warwalker squad they will take there place in my footslogger army.

So this is all - hope you enjoyed this little showcase... hopfully you will see this guys in action again soon...

TrotzkiHatesMe