40k vs Life

A slightly different tangent

noreply@blogger.com (GrandMaster Raziel) — Wed, 27 Aug 2014 16:35:00 +0100

Hi Folks

Just posting some pics of some new additions to my Eldar force... a Steampunk themed Dark Eldar force. It's only about 2000 pts, but when added to my main force, they will add a new threat for my army lists. And now with 7th edition unbound lists, this could be epic...

Cheers and thanks for any comments!


I am particularly happy with the Talos!

Has it been worth the wait.....

noreply@blogger.com (GrandMaster Raziel) — Mon, 20 Jan 2014 13:39:00 GMT

Hi folks

Been quiet here for quite awhile. Truth is life has taken priority, with kids, home, and my lovely wife getting more of me. But for the past 4-5 months, I have been quietly working away at my Eldar army and finally they are more or less finished. I spent a lot of time doing special work like magnetic bases, and magnatizing weapons for certain units.

I am going to now post pics of the finished units. And will now start posting detailed pics of each unit and the work done to it. The first round of pics are not great (taken on an Iphone 4 which I am not good with) but the later pics will be with a proper camera.

So here is the first pics and hope to get some feedback. Also note that each pic represents a seperate unit and is made up of individual models.

Cheers and enjoy!

Elite Dangerous, the game to get!!!

noreply@blogger.com (GrandMaster Raziel) — Sat, 20 Apr 2013 15:48:00 +0100

This is a must for every 40ish retro gamer alive!!!! Yippee!!!!

#EliteDangerous

Christmas conversion results....

noreply@blogger.com (GrandMaster Raziel) — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 00:58:00 GMT

Hi folks

My son got me a Dark Eldar Razorwing and I have converted it to be part of my Saim Hann Eldar. I have tried to remain true to the looks of the FW model while keeping work to a minimum.

With the exception of the brightlance bits, I used only what came with the model and it is also the first time I've used GW's new liquid green stuff (along the sides of the body where I had to cut away some of the model to achieve the eldar look.)

All I have left to do is add some plasticard to the tail fins to make them look more like the original model, but that won't be too hard. And once that's done, I shall basecoat and paint it to match the rest of the army. One DE feature I am keeping is the cutouts along the trailing edge of the wing, I plan to paint it so that area looks like wraithbone and should make it stand out abit more :)

As always comment are most welcome :)

Post "Throne of Skulls pt 2" Report

noreply@blogger.com (GrandMaster Raziel) — Sat, 29 Oct 2011 20:31:00 +0100

Okay,

I have been back a week now and had time to digest the events of last weekend. I had a great time, lots of bad luck, and scored some real bargains from Forge World in the process.

My son and I (He took his Dark Eldar) arrived in Nottingham on the friday night about 11pm and were up till 4:30am doing last minute painting and repairs.

I was up again at 6:30am (couldn't sleep) and put finishing touches on my army. I went with 26 thunderhammers and a force weapon. The 3 speeders provided long range missle support for a mere 225 pts. I had alot of trouble securing 26 sets of thunderhammers and stormshields and if not for several bits sites, I would never of made it.

Now I had high hopes for this army, and in all fairness, it is a spam list to take advantage of the recent update to the Dark Angels. With a total of 16 Krak shots each turn, it was not exactly a push over. And 2+/3+(i) saves are pretty good too. We arrived late (I blame the son, he's a lightweight when it comes to sleep deprivation) and had about 15 mins to have a look around before registration started and tables assigned.

For my first battle, I was pitted against a beautiful Imperial Fists army belonging to Kevin Chin, a GW artist responsible for work in the Dark Eldar and Ogre Kingdoms codex's. Here is a link to a pic... Warhammer World on Facebook!

In the coming days, I'll post some battle reports and more lovely pics....

Cheers and Happy Hunting!

A pat on the back for Andy!

noreply@blogger.com (GrandMaster Raziel) — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 15:14:00 +0100

Hello everyone

I thought I would share with the community the good news of the moment. I wish to congradulate my best friend Andy Blozinski with an outstanding showing at the 2011 Late War US Nationals Tournamentheld in Austin Texas. Please follow the link below for more details of what looked like a really good tournament with plenty to see and learn.

2011 Late War US Nationals Tournament

A project log worth following.....

noreply@blogger.com (GrandMaster Raziel) — Wed, 15 Jun 2011 19:36:00 +0100

Hi Folks

Just thought I would share a cool looking project log just started by someone worth following.

Here is the linky: click me!

Leave some feedback and enjoy!

Cheers and Happy Hunting

Look out Nottingham, here we come!

noreply@blogger.com (GrandMaster Raziel) — Thu, 9 Jun 2011 13:20:00 +0100

Road trip is on for attending the 2011 Throne of Skulls 40k 2 Day tournament!

After some wheeling and dealing, I can confirm that both my son and myself will be going to the October GT in Nottingham. We will be going to the full 2 day event and I am now going to have too focus on army selection and painting.

I am leaning toward taking my Deathwing, with perhaps some Ravenwing support. But I have to say the idea of Sammael and a full attack squadron with feel no pain sounds awesome.

My son will most likely be fielding his new Imperial Guard army he's been working on. But I wouldn't rule out him switching to his Dark Eldar if he's not happy with his painting.

I look forward to meeting some of the people active in the tournament scene and hopefully will make a good showing.

So look forward to more pics of my Deathwing/Ravenwing force as I prepare them for battle!

Cheers and Happy Hunting

A gift well recieved....

noreply@blogger.com (GrandMaster Raziel) — Sun, 5 Jun 2011 00:02:00 +0100

Hi folks

I thought I would share this with everyone. My son gave me one of the new finecast Eldar Avatars on thursday and here are my thoughts about it.

First off, it comes in a small blister pack and is really quite light. As you can see from the pictures, there's not much to it.

I was hoping to get a free decal sheet or some instructions on how to put it together, but thats all you get. I guess the tree-huggers will be happy no excess packageing here.

Now looking at the sprue, there are no extras' with this model. It's kind of like the Assault on Black Reach terminators or the new Space Hulk figures, the bare bits and nothing else.

The parts were a bit difficult to cut loose, as I was scared of breaking anything, but it cleared the sprue alright in the end and there were no mold lines to speak off, so not bad overall.

Now you have to use super glue to fix this together which could become an issue if there are alot of models or pieces, but with this it was okay (only 5 parts) and went together really easy. I've worked with Forge World resins and this was easier to deal with than those, but I'll have to watch how well it travels as the FW stuff always gets bent out of shape and has to be fixed.

But the real joy of this model (and the other finecast models) is the detail. I have to put my hands up and say I am very happy with the model and believe that even though it uses the same parts as the metal avatar, I think the pose I achieved looks more dynamic than the original and the small details (like the teeth) make all the difference in the world.

So in closing, I know there are more models coming in the finecast range (Like Sammael for the Dark Angels) and I can't wait :)

Cheers and Happy Hunting

Whisperings on the wind....

noreply@blogger.com (GrandMaster Raziel) — Tue, 24 May 2011 16:34:00 +0100

Hi Folks

Just thought I would share a few tidbits of information I've come across. I can't say where from, but the news is good.

First of all, Necrons are for Nov'11 followed closely by the Black Templars for Xmas '11. And with the withdrawl of the metal blisters by GW, there will be new resins for the complete line very very soon... and I've been assured that my Dark Angels will recieve some love as well next year with a realignment to the new rules which will come out next year... :)

I have other bits of info that I may be able to share soon, will keep you posted :)

Cheers and Happy Hunting!

It gets better and better.....

noreply@blogger.com (GrandMaster Raziel) — Fri, 15 Apr 2011 17:46:00 +0100

Hi folks

I just got my handy FW newsletter in! The Wraithseer is available for preorder and the experimental rules for it are sweet!!!

Like I thought, it counts as a spiritseer and makes having a wraithlord / wraithguard unit very hard to pass up. I have already penciled one into my army and hopefully will get one in the near future.

I think all this love thats been showered down on the Eldar is a good thing and perhaps FW (and maybe GW too) have realised if you give the masses lots of goodies, they will buy them.

Check it out here, and the rules are here!

So lets here it for Forge World!!!!

Cheers and Happy Hunting

March of the Phantoms....

noreply@blogger.com (GrandMaster Raziel) — Fri, 8 Apr 2011 18:20:00 +0100

Hi there folks

Well, the Eldar Phantom is now available to pre-order for everyone now! But at 350 pounds stirling!, only those die-hard eldar players will get them I suspect. They are an amazing bit of kit, but would rarely get used. You can also get the experimental rules here!

I would like to know how many people would actually like to get one of these, I would if I had the cash :)

Cheers!

New Eldar Goodies.... Update on the Wraithseer

noreply@blogger.com (GrandMaster Raziel) — Wed, 6 Apr 2011 15:10:00 +0100

Hi Folks

Just came across this on Bell of Lost Souls ( thanks BigRed)....

"The Wraithseer is a HQ wraithlord, his physic powers include one which force an enemy unit to take a moral check at -1 or fall back immediatly. Another gives one wraithlord or wraithguard near him fleet (!). And the other, if a friendly wriath unit within 6" dies roll a D6. On a 6 its still alive, with one wound left. It also has a 4+ invulnerable"

Wow, this is a must have IMO for any Eldar army. This makes my unit of 2 wraithlords much more attractive and a potential uber unit....

Cheers Folks

New Eldar Goodies....

noreply@blogger.com (GrandMaster Raziel) — Tue, 5 Apr 2011 16:26:00 +0100

Hi there folks

I've been doing the rounds of the gaming boards to get feedback on the recent crop of Eldar units to be released by Forge World. Overall the reactions range from good to excellent, and I have to say I agree. When Imperial Armour 11 ships, I can see alot of people buying it just for the rules. I've listed the units that I personally intend to get with my opinion of it.

First of all there is the Warp Hunter. I have one on order already, after all it's a falcon with a D-Cannon. 'Nuff said .

Then there are the Wasps. Deep striking, scoring, super jumping walkers. These things made the standard war walkers obsolete overnight. And at just 15pts more on average they are a no brainer, get some!

Also there is the Lynx. This is a super heavy skimmer that can fly as well. The model looks lovely and it can mount a sonic lance or pulsar cannon, sweet!

And just a couple days ago, FW showed off the new Wraithseer. Another amazing model, but no rules yet so we can only hold our breath and hope for some good abilities (Personnally I want one anyway, no matter what the rules are)

Now they have also released the Shadow specter aspect warriors and the Hornet, but even though they look cool, I feel that the costs of the models makes them not really that economical, especially the hornet.

I think in the next few months as these units make their presence known, the Eldar may be able to withstand the recent bashings that have come as a result of the metagame dex's out there.

Cheers and Happy Hunting

Not dead, just lurking....

noreply@blogger.com (GrandMaster Raziel) — Sat, 2 Apr 2011 18:03:00 +0100

Hi there folks

I haven't fallen off the edge of the world just yet. Real life decieded to take a bigger chunk of time and any of you with kids can understand that. With that said, I recently returned from a 2 week holiday back to my home of Texas for the first time in 15 yrs. I mention this because it has got me to thinking about the changes that have come to pass both here in the UK and back home in the wargaming community as a whole.

I met up with friends and family that had changed alot, along with my hometown (Galveston, which had survived Huricane Ike a couple years ago but still has the scars...) that almost seemed alien to me now. I found myself musing over the state of gaming today and how I think it has shifted from when I moved to the UK all those years ago.

When I left the states, the university/college scene was a big part of the tournament scene as well as a meeting place for everyone. In my area alone, there were 4 good tournaments a year minimum, and many smaller groups at local level. But now I think there may be a shift toward corporate sponsored events and the like, as my friend demonstrated with a FoW 1 day event he was booked for and has another one this coming weekend. I asked myself if I would be able to adapted to the new scene over there and I was surprised to find I would be coming back almost like a newbie...

Well, in closing, My family have decieded that we are going to make the move back to the states in the near future, so I guess I am going to find out by jumping in the deep end again :)

Cheers and Happy Hunting

Not a good day in the Highlands......

noreply@blogger.com (GrandMaster Raziel) — Wed, 26 Jan 2011 20:51:00 GMT

Hiya Folks

I have just been reliably informed that due to the current economic climate, staffing issues, and general apathy, Conflict Scotland (GW's only sponsored event in Scotland) has been cancelled.

I for one am deeply saddened as I was looking forward to using my new(ish) eldar for the tournament and all the prep work I've been doing was for naught. I find myself at a loose end in gaming terms as almost all of the games I've been able to get were in build up to the tourny.

I think in areas where there are conventions or tournaments every other week, the impact of loosing one might not be as severe. But as it was the only show in town so to speak means there are hundreds of gamers in Scotland now not having anything to look forward too....

And it's only january..... what else can go wrong......

Cheers folks..

Everyone put your hands in the air!!!!

noreply@blogger.com (GrandMaster Raziel) — Fri, 14 Jan 2011 21:32:00 GMT

What excellent news!

By now everyone must know about the FAQ's posted on the GW site today. All the Dark Angel and Black Templar players are rejoicing tonight! But why has it taken so long for GW to bring the older codex marines in line with CSM?

Could it be the upcoming Grey Knight update? If what the current buzz says is correct, than this correcting of the older dex's could only to soften the blow of future disappointment. I guess you have to take the good with the bad, so I will be happy that at least my beloved Deathwing can kick some serious smurf butt now ;)

Cheers and Happy Hunting

So I can now reveal.......

noreply@blogger.com (GrandMaster Raziel) — Sat, 1 Jan 2011 22:30:00 GMT

Hi All that see this!

First of all, Happy New year and all that. I hope Santa brought everyone plenty of shiny new war machines to play with. In my last post, I said I would soon reveal something of significant importance to me. To cut a long story short, my son has secured a full time job at our "local" Games Workshop store and has been enrolled in their management training program! I couple months back he made the trip down to Warhammer HQ in Nottingham and even though he didn't make the cut then, he impressed enough people that when a spot openned up at the store, they sought him out and offered him the job.

I just want to say congrats and I look forward to any snippets of info he can get me from the inside!!!

Cheers and Happy Hunting

Merry Christmas and Happy.... oh you know the rest....

noreply@blogger.com (GrandMaster Raziel) — Sat, 25 Dec 2010 01:40:00 GMT

Hi Folks

It has been way too long since my last post! What a great time of year to make a resolution to motivate myself and others (hopefully) through what I post. On my list of projects currently is....

- Complete my OOP Dark Reapers, these guys have waited many long years for some TLC and they need it bad.

- I am planning to scratchbuild 2 waveserpent turrets, so I will be posting some tutorials into the process....

- One project that has derailed my train of thought lately was the converting of 9 jetbikers into a seer-council (Will post pics soon). I will post pics of my scultping and conversion work and then painting of the council.

- And hopefully to get in some more games before Conflict Scotland and report back....

And in not the to distant future, I am looking at securing my first Titan! It will be for my Saim Hann of course and I haven't yet decieded on the pulsars or sonic lances, so feedback would be much appreciated....

Plus in the next few days I'll be making an announcement that has someone close to me very VERY happy, more soon!

Cheers, Merry Christmas, and a safe and Happy New Year!!!

1K Eldar Tournament List Vs 'Nids Batrep

noreply@blogger.com (GrandMaster Raziel) — Fri, 19 Nov 2010 15:40:00 GMT

Okay, I got in a game last night vs some 'nids and with a tweak to my list did very well indeed. Instead of taking scatter lasers, I dropped them in favor of shuriken cannons and that freed up enough points to increase the size of each jetbike sqd by 1 and gave the farseer "guide"

This is the list I ran with....
Farseer Seer Council
   1 Farseer - TL Shuriken Catapults; Ghosthelm; Rune Armour; Eldar Jetbike; Shuriken Pistol; Witchblade
         Farseer spells - Doom, Fortune, Guide 4 Warlock - TL Shuriken Catapults; Rune Armour; Eldar Jetbike; Shuriken Pistol; Witchblade          Warlock spells - Embolden, Enhance, 2 x Destructor

Guardian Jetbike Squadron 1
    5 Guardian Jetbikes - TL Shuriken Catapults; Eldar Jetbike
    2 Guardian Jetbikes - Shuriken Cannon; Eldar Jetbike     1 Warlock - TL Shuriken Catapults; Rune Armour; Eldar Jetbike; Shuriken Pistol; Witchblade
Guardian Jetbike Squadron 2
    5 Guardian Jetbikes - TL Shuriken Catapults; Eldar Jetbike
    2 Guardian Jetbikes - Shuriken Cannon; Eldar Jetbike     1 Warlock - TL Shuriken Catapults; Rune Armour; Eldar Jetbike; Shuriken Pistol; Witchblade    War Walker Squadron
   3 War Walkers - Spirit Stones; Shuriken Cannon , Shuriken Cannon

My Eldar set up as far forward as possible

Here are some of the 'nids. The list included...
1 broodlord and 11 genesteelers, 2 lictors, 1 Tyranid Prime and 5 Warriors, and 2 groups of 20 Hormoguants. I think the list came up to 1075 or so.

Now the mission was annialation and the set-up was pitched battle. I won the toss and elected to go first. My aim was to do an alpha strike and mop up game. I started my war walkers as far forward as possible and used their scout move to get into a good firing position. I ensured that my farseer was within 6" of at least 1 walker as on the first turn I guided up the walkers and fortuned the council.

I moved jetbike sqd 1 into a covering possition to keep the walkers from getting over-run and I set the 2nd jetbike sqd out to do a flanking run by turbo boosting them to the other side of the board near the burnt trees, I was now that I figured I had to get rid of his tyranid prime and so the walkers concentrated on it and the warriors. My rolls were amazing and at the end of my 1st turn (with an assist from the jetbikes) the warriors and tyranid prime were mauled with only 3 warriors remaining and the prime each on 1 wound.

When the nids got their first turn, the prime and warriors sat back to let the guants through and that proved fatal. Since he had no shooting and access routes across the board covered, he was walking into a killing zone.

My turn 2 saw my farseer fortune up the council and guide the walkers again. This time the walkers were able to mop up the Tyranid prime and his buddies on their own leaving the jetbikes to decimate the gaunts leaving only 4 standing. The second jetbike squad in the meantime got inot firing position behind the 2nd group of homoguants and killed 2 with long range cannon shots. This left my council to finish off the 4 guants in close combat, I took 2 wounds but easily saved.

Well 'Nids turn 2 brought in the lictors and 'Steelers from the opposite side of the board (my starting corner) and seeing the threat of the hormoguants waining I turned my jetbikers and council to meet them leaving the walkers to finish off the last of the 'guants. With a combo of long range cannon shots and good positioning of my council, over the last 2 turns I first killed of the lictors and then the steelers having my council close in on the last steeler to finish him off in style.

Now this was the best result I could of gotten, no losses and everything dead. I am sure alot of it came down to some great rolling on my part early in the game and good use of the terrain (It is a very hard board to play on if your on foot ;) )

I am hoing to get a few more games in soon so I will keep you posted...

Cheers!

1k Saim Hann Tournament List

noreply@blogger.com (GrandMaster Raziel) — Thu, 4 Nov 2010 09:15:00 GMT

Hi Folks,

Tonight my local club is meeting and I am going with the following list for testing. I have been trying out several variations to mixed results. All this is prep work for Conflict Scotland in the new year (I am starting early so I both know what models to paint first and I get few chances to play lately). I know that by the time the tourney rolls around the Dark Eldar spam lists will be floating about as well as the current marine armies and as a newish Eldar player (first time taking my Eldar to tournament) it will be a real challenge to pull off a win.

Farseer Seer Council
   1 Farseer - TL Shuriken Catapults; Ghosthelm; Rune Armour; Eldar Jetbike; Shuriken Pistol; Witchblade
         Farseer spells - Doom, Fortune
4 Warlock - TL Shuriken Catapults; Rune Armour; Eldar Jetbike; Shuriken Pistol; Witchblade
         Warlock spells - Embolden, Enhance, 2 x Destructor

Guardian Jetbike Squadron 1
    4 Guardian Jetbikes - TL Shuriken Catapults; Eldar Jetbike
    2 Guardian Jetbikes - Shuriken Cannon; Eldar Jetbike
    1 Warlock - TL Shuriken Catapults; Rune Armour; Eldar Jetbike; Shuriken Pistol; Witchblade

Guardian Jetbike Squadron 2
    4 Guardian Jetbikes - TL Shuriken Catapults; Eldar Jetbike
    2 Guardian Jetbikes - Shuriken Cannon; Eldar Jetbike
    1 Warlock - TL Shuriken Catapults; Rune Armour; Eldar Jetbike; Shuriken Pistol; Witchblade

War Walker Squadron
   3 War Walkers - Spirit Stones; Scatter Laser; Scatter Laser

Now the list is at the 1k level because the tournament is a Doubles tourney of 2 500pt armies to make up a combined 1000pts. To further challenge myself, my partner is none other that my own daughter, Jessica, and she is a novice player and will be in charge of the Jetbike troops while I handle the Seer council and war walkers.
Now local players currently play a mix of IG, Space Marine, Tau, and Chaos Daemons and Marines. Getting a chance to play against other armies will be difficult. So any orks or other races not mentioned feel free to comment on my list.
I will post a batrep tonight and hopefully have some good news to report :)

Cheers and Happy Hunting

Total Points - 1004

Coming out of the closet....

noreply@blogger.com (GrandMaster Raziel) — Thu, 21 Oct 2010 23:18:00 +0100

Hi there folks,

I was recently reminded of some boardgames I had lurking in a closet. My kids had found them and, by all accounts, had a smashing time. After they had gone( I dare not show them all my games) I had a look at the collection and came across some real gems. There was the 2nd ed. Spacehulk along side the newer version. Also there was Car Wars, by Steve Jackson Games with the original pocket ruleset. The hours I spent playing some of these games I guess is about the same kids today spend on their mobile phones, PSP's or DS's. But I wonder which (if either) is better. I know I spent alot of time playing old board games, even to the point of spending an entire summer recreating the battle of the bulge in Squad Leader!

So I have to think to myself, do I have to accept my kids attraction to the latest techno-gizmo console since I was also given to playing any number of games. Or is it right to steer them clear of a path of wasted afternoons and fresh air. After all, I imagine had I been born in these times I too would have much better thumb response times and not been so pasty when I was younger...

Cheers!

Going 'ol school for this one...

noreply@blogger.com (GrandMaster Raziel) — Thu, 14 Oct 2010 15:19:00 +0100

Hiya Folks

Here are the 10 Dark Reapers I am working on next. They are all old models so the detail will be harder to get to (the newer models are easier to paint imo).

I hope to have these done in a few days, hopefully all will go to plan ;)

Cheers

The Banshees' have landed

noreply@blogger.com (GrandMaster Raziel) — Tue, 12 Oct 2010 11:23:00 +0100

So here are a couple pics of my Banshees finally finished!

Next is.....

Dark Reapers!!!

Keeping up momentum...

noreply@blogger.com (GrandMaster Raziel) — Thu, 7 Oct 2010 14:18:00 +0100

Hello Folks

Having just finished my wraithlords, I figured I would also work on finishing some howling banshees that I've been neglecting for too long. Here's a (bad) pic...

The pic is a bit blurry sorry for that, but I'll get better finished pics.

I had started them months ago, but one thing led to another and they got shelved. So far I've only done a base coat and 1st color. I'm keen to get into the detailing of them to make them look truly menacing.

I'll keep you posted :)

Cheers