The Great Hunt vs. The Brazen Legion

Tonight I took on Tom's Khorne/Tzeentch Warriors of Chaos army.  I got absolutely flattened.  It was awesome!  I instantly saw exactly what I should have done differently but by turn 3 there was no way I would have been able to recoup the amount of victory points I had lost.  Tom was awesome to play against.  He had a nicely painted army and really is one of the nicest guys to play against.  He decided to take on my Wood Elves since I have a predominantly ranged army with a lot of specialist archers that can negate his heavy army.  After 3 turns I was unfortunately not able to do much against him however.  I was able to take out 2 units of marauders, 1 unit of marauder horsemen, 1 unit of mounted chaos knights, a chaos spawn and 2 units of chaos hounds.  Tom managed to wipe out 2 units of glade guard, 3/4th a unit of waywatchers (by making me kill my own troops with one of his tzeentch spells!), my wild riders, wardancers, treekin and all my dryads.  It was a high casualty battle but in the end Tom was ahead of me in victory points 2 to 1. 
Jeremy and Larry also were playing Brettonia vs. Ogre Kingdoms and I believe their game also ended on turn 3 due to time constraints. 
Tonight was a very educational game, I need to learn to not line up my archers like a gun line because that really does them a severe disservice when it comes to maneuvering them on the field.  Once again I managed to also not use multiple unit assaults which proved to be the downfall of several of my units. 
As we approach 8th edition I am steadily seeing how I am going to have to change my army list slightly to be more maneuverable and much more efficient.  I foresee adding a Spellweaver and dropping the amount of melee units I have to 3 instead of 5.  I also see me taking less characters and more archers.  That however is a topic for another post =).

Here are the images of tonight's games.  Enjoy!

Wargames Wednesday at Ancient Wonders

This Wednesday proved to be a great day for Warhammer and Warhammer 40k.  A lot of great games were going on and I was able to capture some battle reports and pictures of some of the games.
Games for Wednesday:
John's Ulthwe` Eldar vs. DJ's Ultramarine 7th Company Bike Army
Shawn's Orks vs. Jeremy's Chaos Space Marines
Tom's Khorne and Tzeentch Warriors of Chaos army vs. Eric's Dwarves
Chuck's Tomb Kings vs. Josh's Empire
Aubrey's Nightbringer Necrons vs. Jimmie's Deciever Necrons

I pitted my Ulthwe` Eldar Company of the Damned against DJ's Ultramarine Bike army.  I liked DJ's army and what he wanted to do with it.  He used the points denial strategy in that he held everything in reserves the entire game which I felt probably was a huge disadvantage for him against my Eldar. 

We played Spearhead deployment with Kill Points for mission.  Here is my deployment while DJ was in reserves.

Here is DJ's Ultramarine 7th Company.  He had multiple bike squads with Attack bikes and a captain and librarian mixed in.

Here is Turn 2 where he had 3/4th's his army come in.  Sadly he turbo-boosted everything and that proved to be his undoing when I was able to swing into position and unload with everything.

Here is the bottom of turn 3.
As you can see he doesn't have much left of his army due to extremely good rolls on my part and terrible rolls on his.

Bottom of Turn 4.

Top of Turn 5 ended up with my Storm Guardians removing the remaining unit of bikes on the board along with my Seer Council and Dark Reapers batting clean up and removing what was left of his army. 

End of game at Turn 5:
Ulthwe` Eldar 8
7th Company Ultramarines: 1

Here is Shawn and Jeremy's game.  As you can see Shawn was ready to rock and Roy was for lack of a better term "Super excited!"

Here is the bottom of turn 5 for Shawn and Jeremy's game.  Shawn's dice were not his friend this game, that and how in the hell does a Chaos Space Marine Raptor squad of 8 survive 44 flamer wounds and then 34 flamer wounds and only lose 4 guys?  Seriously, wtf??

At the end of the game Jeremy held 2 Objectives to Shawn's 1.

Here is a picture of Tom and Eric's game.  I sadly forgot to take more pictures of his army due to my game going on.  I also didn't get to photograph the other 2 games in the other room. 
I've got a game against Tom's Warriors of Chaos in 2 weeks and man...my Wood Elves are awesome but his army is so damn tough. 






So... if you are bored on a Wednesday come on down to Ancient Wonders and grab a game.  We always have a LOT going on. 

Eldar Tactica - Sylvos's Art of War for the Eldar

I was sitting at the game shop a few days ago and someone started to ask me how I used unit X and unit Y in my Eldar army.  This gave me the idea that I could provide my perception of the Eldar army in the form of a tactical journal so that others can maybe read it and also provide their own experiences with the unit.
I will be posting a series of tactics and descriptions of every unit in the current Eldar codex over the next few weeks.  Each article will present you with a outline of every unit's strengths and weaknesses as well as how I have used them in the past.  Now keep in mind this is how I use them and not how every other player uses each unit.  Hopefully by giving a full accounting of each type of Eldar unit I will be able to provide some helpful information and maybe alternate options of how you can use these units in your army.
I will be starting with HQ selections then moving on down the list in the codex.
I will also be including some snazzy fluff and background for each unit and what craftworlds utilize that unit the most in case you do not wish to run with the Ulthwe` theme.
With the exception of 3 Phoenix Lords, I have used every unit in the Eldar codex and even the Phoenix Lords that I have not used their tactics do not vary much from the ones that I have.
The first article will concern the Autarch and go from there.
Good reading!

Eldar D-Cannon Weapon Support Batteries WIP

I recently obtained two of the new Support Weapon Battery kits from GW.  I know I'm an odd duck for voluntarily choosing to use the Support Batteries but I really, really dig them.  I've used every type of Heavy Selection in the Eldar Codex (not the Night Spinner since it's a. not in the codex and b. just came out) and I made the decision to put away my Fire Prisms and go back to basics.  i.e.  Dark Reapers, War Walkers and Heavy Weapon Support Batteries. 
The Heavy Weapon Support Batteries I will detail in another post when I go into tactics for the Eldar army and their unit choices.  In the meantime enjoy the WIP images for my new D-Cannons!

Wild Riders WIP Update

Thought I'd update my blog with the progress on my super-expensive (in $ that is) unit of Wild Riders.  These Wild Riders use the Wild Rider torsos from the GW kit and the Reindeer/Elk mounts from the PP Raptor sets.
I decided to do a few different things this go around for painting these guys.
I first wanted a metallic looking green armor but was not really sure how to do it.  So I experimented and used a shining gold base then washed it heavily with Thrakia Green.  I was pleased with how it looked and I think when I do the bottom halves of the models the green wash will look a lot better since there is more surface area to cover rather than the small arm vambraces of the Wild Riders.  While this is no where near Golden Daemon level I am very pleased with my painting on these guys and I came to a revelation the other day while painting.  My models look great, I needed to get the idea that I'm not going to have the "Pro-painted" look to them unless I heavily invest in some serious magnifying materials and the .0000001 brushes.  Also, I kinda get bored after doing 3-4 thinned layers on multiple models.  Anyway, the more I paint the better it gets and I really like how my Wood elf army is looking. 

Here are the pics of the WIP for the Wild Riders:

Here is the front view of the six Wild Riders.  I don't know if you can see the green wash on their gold vambraces very well but oh well. 

Here is the back view.  I was able to dry-brush Goblin green over Dark Angels green to get the highilghts on all that damn foliage they wear.  Sadly, after I did all that I realized that bronzed leaves on the weapons would have looked better but it's too late now!

Here are some hopefully better pictures of the gold/green armor on their forearms.  I also had a little fun freehand painting the runes on the standard bearer's standard.  Took me forever to figure out what the Wild Rider and Kurnous symbols were since the Wood Elf Army book doesn't say.






I also washed the mithril silver painted weapons with Asurman blue and I have to say I'm rather pleased with the results.











In other news - I picked up 2 of the new plastic kits for the Eldar Support Weapon Batteries today and they are NEAT!
Here is the sprue - expect them to be assembled and ready to go by Wednesday (painted probably by July)

Also, I finally got my Battle Standard Bearers ready to be primed and based.  We'll just call this setting the standard for the rest of the armies... ho ho ho.
I don't think I'll actually be using the Wood Elf Battle Standard Bearer unless 8th edition makes it to where I really need to include one.  If so then I will be doing a little swapping around of my Lords/Heroes which sadly will really affect the effectiveness of some units.
The Beastman Battle Standard Bearer is such an awesome model.  I am so pleased I was able to pick it up.  This guy will definately be the center piece if not one of the main focuses of my Beastman army.

Battle Foam Review - part 1

I received my Battle Foam order today from Ancient Wonders and I have to say I was very excited.  Ever since I started playing Warhammer and Warhammer 40k I have been desiring a method of transporting my armies that did not involve a huge amount of worry or space.  I started out by buying a Games Workshop Army Case and after a while was rather dissatisfied with the amount of troops I could store with each foam tray as well as the inability to fit my tanks and larger models into a tray without having to cut up the already expensive GW trays to make them work.  I experimented with cutting my own foam to put my Wave Serpents and Fire Prisms into my GW cases (of which I now own 4 large and 1 small) and the results were marginally satisfactory at best.  So when I had the opportunity to obtain the "Mercedes" of army carriers I jumped at the chance.
I ordered the Battle Foam Pack 1520 as well as a couple pre-cut Eldar trays as well as a lot of extra 1",2" and 3" pluck foam trays.  On the Battle Foam website they show you images with dimensions listed of their pre-cut trays.  So after a lot of pre-measuring and guessing as well as a lot of hoping, I wrote down my order and had it sent off.

The pluck foam trays I am very, very pleased with.  They are sturdy with small foam squares allowing for a LOT of customization to make sure your miniatures fit perfectly.  These trays I give a 4.5 out of 5 stars on.  I will be using these trays primarily for my Warhammer armies - namely my Wood Elves.  The plan is to use the 3" pluck foam trays and pluck out an area that will fit a movement tray with the miniatures magnetized to it.  I want it to work out this way so that I can simply lift the movement tray and place a unit on the table without having to spend 10 minutes pulling each miniature out and making sure it fits correctly on the tray.  I feel this will also give me peace of mind since the Battle Foam Packs are very sturdy and the models will be kept upright at all times.
So Pluck Foam Rating:
Very Satisfied

The Battle Foam Pack 1520 is next on my list to rate.  The Battle Foam Pack 1520 is a nice large rectangular cube that comes in 2 pieces.  The upper half holds 8" of foam and has pockets on the side to store templates and dice.  The foam is removed from the top and the fact that the entire upper part is detachable is awesome because that means if I only want to bring a single army I don't have to lug around the entire pack.  The lower half is larger in that it holds 14" of foam and has a zipper compartment in the front that can store army books or codices.  This portion is the rockstar since the bottom half unzips from the front allowing you to remove your foam directly instead of lifting it out from the top.  The Pack 1520 is well made and very spacious.  I chose the largest pack they had, they also have smaller packs available but I wanted to be able to take 2-3 armies at a time with me.  In the future after I have put ALL my armies into pluck foam the goal is to make a choice what army I am playing and just grab the foam trays and insert them into the pack and go without lugging around 4-5 army cases.
Battle Foam Pack 1520 Rating:
Extremely Satisfied

The pre-cut trays are were the magic died for me.  I ordered 3 custom pre-cut trays; 2 Eldar Troop trays and 1 Eldar Grav Tank tray.  The Grav tank tray is not bad, I can not stack my Wave Serpents and Fire Prisms without the tops hanging out 1/2" inch above the foam line.  I was hoping that they would all fit but alas, I can only fit 3 Grav tanks in a single 3" tray.  The item that upset me however were the Eldar Troop trays.  My initial measurements and guesses were not correct at all.  The models do not lie down on their side, instead the foam tray is designed so that you can stand the models up and slide them in.  In theory this is a great idea.  I even ordered the taller 1.5" trays so that I wouldn't have to worry about my Aspect Warriors being too tall.  If your entire army is composed of Guardians, not Storm Guardians but Guardian Defenders, then the tray works out great.  If you have anything else the troops do not fit properly in their slots.  Which makes me think that the designers only used Guardians as their standard since you have a snowballs chance in hell of making a Howling Banshee, Harlequinn or Swooping Hawk fit into one of those slots.  I can make it work but I was sadly disappointed with the results.  I will include a few images below showing what I am describing.
Custom Pre-cut Tray Rating:
Dissatisfied, almost Very Dissatisfied

All in all I have to say I am pleased with my decision to go with Battle Foam and my challenge will be threefold moving forward.
1.  I will have to remeasure and plot out all my non-guardian Eldar into pluck foam trays and not go over 14" so that they will fit in the bottom compartment.
2.  I will have to decide if I want to be able to bring ALL my Eldar/Black Templars/Wood Elves/Beastmen  with me or just the units I have in my army list and if so then I will have to decide how I will be plucking out foam to match the lists I'm bringing without ruining a 19.00 foam tray.  If I decide to go with only the units I will be fielding rather than the entire army then I may need to continue to use my GW army transports to store those units without using pluck foam trays to store them since they will just be on a shelf.
3.  I will have to wait til 8th edition Warhammer Fantasy to figure out what I am going to do about plotting the pluck foam trays for my Wood Elves and soon Beastman armies.

Battle Foam Overall Rating:
Satisfied

I'm certain that after I have plucked out all my necessary cubes and have everything situated my opinion will change so I will post a Part 2 after 8th edition has come out and I have used all my foam.

Pictures of the Foamy Invasion:

As you can see here I managed to fill up both the pre-cut troop trays with some Aspect Warriors but if you look at the next images you will see that a lot of the heads stick up above the top of the tray.  You can also see how haphazardly some of the models are having to stick in those trays in order to ensure they do not have a sword or a gun or even a head sticking up into space.

Sigh.  And this is just one angle.












Last but not least I want to introduce the first model in my Beastman army!  It took me forever to finally win this bastard on auction since he hasn't been made in years.  I really wanted a Battle Standard Bearer for the Beastman army since rerolling break tests is super important in Fantasy.  I also really, really liked the model when I saw it in the Beastman army book but was unable to find it on the GW website.  I finally found out that it was a Gamesday 2000something Limited edition release.  Anyway, the model is incredible and I am very pleased with my purchase.

Behold!  The Limited Edition Beasts of Chaos Standard Bearer!

Later!