IDICBeer 40k

Embolden is a must!

2012-02-14T07:00:00.124Z

Nick speaking,

I don't mean Embolden on your Warlock, I am talking about an up and coming Blog that I have found called Embolden 40k. Rob over at Embolden is a great guy who has been doing a lot of fantastic posts on his Blog recently, including battle reports, conversions, general Eldar, Necrons and 40k stuff. Please go and have a look at his Blog and give him some support by following...

For those of you who haven't already gone over to check out Robs Blog, here is one of his battle report posts for you to enjoy...

Battle Report: Eldar V Grey Knights (Paladins) 1750

Hey everyone,

After my recent tournament at Caledonian which I’m sure you’re all sick of hearing about! I wanted to get some play testing in against a Paladin list before the Battlefield Birmingham Tournament at the end of this month.

We were playing mission 4 from the rules pack, Supply Drop, which is a strange mission, it’s take and hold with 3 objectives, 1 goes dead centre worth 4pts, with the other 2 worth 3 each which deep strike randomly in, deployment is Dawn of War.

Grey Knights:

Draigo

Libby – quicksilver, shrouding, sanctuary, might of titan

10 Paladins – 4 psycannons, apoth, banner, stave, then a mix of halberds and hammer

1 Paladin – hammer

2 Dreads – autocannons, psybolt ammo

1 Venerable Dread – autocannons, psybolt ammo

Eldar:

Farseer – guide, warding

Autarch – fusion gun, chainsword

6 Dragons in Wave Serpent – scatter lasers, shuriken cannon

5 Avengers in Wave Serpent – scatter lasers, shuriken cannon

5 Avengers in Wave Serpent – bright lance, shuriken cannon

5 Avengers

2 Vypers – scatter laser, shuriken cannon

Falcon – bright lance, holofields

3 War Walkers – 6 scatter lasers

3 War Walkers – 6 scatter lasers

The plan is to totally ignore/hide from the dreadnoughts best I can, I don’t plan on going in reserve, I want maximum turns of shooting, walking on turn1.

We roll for first turn, the Paladins win the roll and choose to go first.

Deployment:

The Paladins roll for the Grand Strategy and make the ven dread and a normal dead scoring.

The Paladin squad and Draigo deploy in the middle, and then trail back to about 8” in from the board edge.

I choose not to deploy anything and will walk on turn1.

Early Game:

The libby walk’s on and moves into the Paladin squad, which then run further into the centre of the board, 2 deads including the ven dread walk in on the left flank, with 1 normal scoring dread in the centre behind a LOS blocking ruined 3 story building. I then move on with the walkers on either flank, everything else moves on in the centre, my shooting is fairly ineffective, I wound a couple of Paladins and take a wound off Draigo. With my army now in light, the Paladins shuffle move of the Paladins lagging behind inc the libby, while the dreads move further infield, the scoring dread moves into the ruin and up a level (still out of sight). The Ven dread opens up into the falcon in cover, stunning it, while the normal dread destroys a dragon serpent, killing 2 dragons in the explosion. I then move up with that squad of dragons and the other squad moves up and disembarks from their serpent, the walkers move infield with the vypers (now guided) shuffle out of LOS from both dreads on the left flank, both Avenger serpents move further right. My shooting is much more effective thanks to the libby failing shrouding! I then throw both dragon squads into the Paladins, wounding draigo twice more! And killed 2 paladins! I both Walker squads and the vypers open up into the Paladins but can only wound 2 more paladins.

Mid Game:

The GK objective deep strikes in, which then scatters about 2” from the central objective that the Paladins are camped on! The Paladins move further into cover in the centre, they dread in the ruin moves up to the top floor, while the dreads on the left flank move infield again, the Paladins open up and kill the 6 man dragon squad, the dread on the top floor stuns the falcon again, the dreads on the left flank kill the remaining dragons. My objective still doesn’t arrive, so I then turbo boost one avenger serpent to the far right behind a ruin, out of LOS from the dreads and paladins, the, the walkers then target the paladin squad again, torrenting the libby and killing a paladin, the Vypers then torrent off Draigo, now my opponents army starts to crumble with the rest of my shooting killing another 2 paladins (now down to about 4 paladins, inc the apoth). The lone paladin deep strikes in, my opponent tries to hide him behind the ruin the dread is in, but it scatters out into the open... then runs towards the central objectives (in cover) the Dreads open up in to the Serpents they can see, they destroy one avenger serpent with bright lance and the remaining empty dragon serpent while the Falcon loses its pulse laser, but can finally move. My objective comes down on my left flank, which I move the falcon onto, the war walkers move up to give it cover, I move the avenger serpent on my right flank to shoot the paladins, I then open up with everything I can into the Paladins I finally kill the unit to a man, then with the final shots I fire into the single paladin, but do no damage.

Late Game:

With very little left, the dreads move towards the centre of the table, shooting my Falcon, taking it’s bright lance off and stunning it, the single paladin moves onto both objectives, while the Dread in the ruin moves and runs down through the levels and into the open heading towards the objectives in the centre. I then make a dash for the central objectives, the Vypers turbo boost to contest both, the wave serpent on my right flank turbo boosts to tank shock the paladin, which passes the test, and stays contesting 1 objective (the 3 pt objective) with walkers on my right flank move infield and run towards the objectives, while the walkers on my left flank shuffle round to protect the falcon. My shooting it brief and all I can do is take a wound of the paladin.

We roll to see if the game continues and it does!

The paladin moves to punch the tank, which it does, knocking the scatter laser off, the dreads close in the central objectives, the non scoring dread destroys the vypers, the ven dread shoots the serpent, doing no damage while the other scoring dread moves and then runs to contest the objectives with the serpent. With not much I can do to stop the contesting, I jump the autarch out the back of the serpent, he fusion guns the scoring dread, destroying it, the war walkers on my left flank open up into the paladin, killing him, the walkers on my right flank move up and shoot the ven dread, getting 5 glancing hits!! Blowing both weapons of and immobilising it! Then with re-rolls it still loses a weapon and is badly shaken...

We then roll to see if the game ends and it does!

It was a close game and with the Battlefield Birmingham rules I win 16-4 by holding both 3pt objectives, while the 4pt objective is contested so worth nothing.

Overall I was happy with how the game went, ignoring the Dreads gave them free rain until I could kill the Paladins, the Farseer was a game changer, my opponent rolled a lot of 3’s when making cover saves! I still made a number of mistakes, not hiding the Falcon turn1 when it moved on, after the game I had another look and there was a space to hide it, so need to be more careful with placement, the bright lance serpent didn’t need to be so close the paladins and if the dread hadn’t destroyed it, the Paladins would have! And a number of silly mistakes that where just me being slightly lazy and wanting to get greedy with shooting turn1, I should of just played for position knowing I wouldn’t do much damage turn1.

More play testing to come!

Annihilation/Command Barges Painted (Part 2)

2012-02-12T07:00:00.052Z

Nick speaking,

OK, part two, and here are the pictures of the Command Barge versions of my magnetised minis. I also magnetised the green rod spinning top I had on one of the Barges, to indicate the Travellers Barge. I tried putting it in different places, but it only seemed to work on the front due to the size. I am still not 100% sure about it, what do you think?

Annihilation/Command Barges Painted (Part 1)

2012-02-10T07:00:00.000Z

Nick speaking,

Pictures of my finished interchangeable Necron Annihilation/Command Barges. In the end I had too many pictures for one post, so here are the Annihilation Barge pictures first. Just for reference, I painted the main guns as if they had green rods in them to try and match them up to the rest of my army. I also magnetised the main Tesla gun in addition the the other stuff as in my original tutorial. I just found it was easier to take the gun off that way rather than if it was glued onto the base section. It also gave me an opportunity to angle the gun for more dynamic poses. Hope you like them...

Command Barge pictures coming in part two...

T-Nid Battle Report Vs Blood Angels (not video)

2012-02-08T07:00:00.197Z

Nick speaking,

With all the Necron Scarab farming I had been doing lately, I started to get the itch to actually get my Nid T-list on the table. You may remember me talking about working towards the list in my Tervigon/Trygon posts, but I recently couldn't resist trying it out. It would mean a few stand in models and a majority of unpainted minis, but I really wanted to have a go with it. So, with some Carnifexes and a Hive Tyrant as Tervigons, Warriors as Hive Guard and Ravanar as Venomthropes, I was ready for my first game...

Based around Fritzilla tactica, my 1750pt T-Nid version starts with three Trygons and four Tervigons. I was up against Blood Angels and we rolled Seize ground with five objectives. I lost the roll off and was put in first, deploying my poisoned Trygons up front, two Venomthropes behind them and three troop Tervigons with catalyst behind them. HQ Tervie went on the left and the distraction unit of two Hive Guard went on the right. One unit of the obligatory Termigants went at the back with the other two on each flank. Blood Angels deploy a Crusader containing five TH/SS Termies, a Chaplain and Priest, backed up with two Preds and three Razors...

My opponent failed to seize the initiative, so I throw up FNP on the Trygons, successfully spawn all four Tervigons with just the HQ Tervie constipating. I move everything forward as a blob, and the Hive Guard nicely draw some attention by wrecking one of the Razorbacks...

BA turn one and the Assault Cannon Razor moves to my right flank to work on some Gants, and the Hive Guard get targeted by the Preds, taking them both out. My opponent then came right at me with the Crusader, dumping out the Termies ready for the assault. He seemed to have great faith in his Death Star unit and multi assaulted two Trygons and a unit of Gants! One of his guy's died on the way in from the Spore Cloud and I wipe out his Termies before they strike, leaving only his Chaplain and Priest locked in combat...

My turn two and this time all of my Tervigons constipate except for one, and the board is starting to get filled with Gants around all of the objectives. I make a push forward assaulting a Razorback with some Gants, but I end up just outside the 6" range to give them furious charge from the Tervigon, so they do nothing. My two Trygons finish up their assault and consolidate...

Turn two for the Blood Angels becomes a bad rolling turn, and all his guns either fail or I save the wounds. The Marines from the wrecked Razorback assault my Gants that were up front, and I end up with one left locked in combat...

My turn three and I start to think about the mission. The two objectives on my far left look like the obvious two for me to hold, with just the Crusader nearby to contest. I make a push to at least immobilise it with my Trygon, whilst spawning more Gants with my last Tervie to help contest the rest. I send a Gant brood into the Marines already locked in assault to hold them up further. The Trygon only manages to destroy a weapon on the Crusader...

BA turn three and the Razors move fast to my right flank to move out of range of my Trygons, and I lose four wounds on my front Trygon from some good shooting. The Crusader tries to move away from my Trygon, but in my turn four I get it back into assault and wreck it. My last spawning Tervigon continues to spawn without constipating and turn four sees my opponent concede with no hope of turning the game around.

Necron Cryptek painted by Dunk!

2012-02-05T07:00:00.147Z

Nick speaking,

In this post, I would like to introduce you to a good YouTube buddy of mine, dunk1978banker. Dunk is a wannabe painter who just loves to paint and learn all he can about this wonderful hobby of ours. Dunk started his Channel at the begining of 2011 as a visual feed of his progress, and so that he could look back and learn from his trials and errors. Dunk has been a long time follower and commenter on my own YouTube Channel, and a while back he found an old Eldar War Walker model that he decided to paint up for me in my IDIC Eldar paint scheme. He posted it out to me as a little thank you for the help I had given him with my videos/emails over the months.

Dunk is currently working on an Imperial Guard army, but even so, he very kindly, and generously, took some time out to paint me up one of the new Necron Cryptek models. He has never painted a Necron before and wanted to have a go at painting one himself. He tried to give the mini the same feel that my Necrons already had so that it would match in to the rest of my army, and what a great job of it he did too. So just as a thank you to Dunk, I thought I would spread the word and try and get him a few more subscribers for his Channel. Here are a few pic's of the Cryptek and War walker he did for me, plus some of his other work, please check out the link above and subscribe.

How to magnetise a Necron Annihilation/Command Barge

2012-02-02T07:00:00.123Z

Nick speaking,

Like most people do, I want to get the best value I can out of my models. So having all the bits in the New Necron Annihilation/Command Barge box to make both models, it was time for me to get my magnets out. This is a tutorial on how I made a fully magnetised Barge including the under slung gun. You will need sixteen 2x1mm magnets, a 2mm pin vice, super glue, clippers and a small piece of green stuff.

First you will need to cut the tabs off and drill five holes in the section pictured below. I would recommend that you drill the one at the back before you glue it together, as it is a bit tricky afterwards. The front four holes can be drill all the way through the piece, with the back hole just deep enough for the magnet. When you glue the magnets into place, put a small piece of green stuff in the hole first, as it makes it easier to get the magnets to hold, and of course, it goes without saying that you need to make sure all the magnets go in the correct way so that they will magnetise.

Next is to put three magnets into the piece picture below, you will have to drill the original holes out very slightly, so that the magnets sit flush, but be careful not to drill too deep and come out the other side.

Now for the command barge section. All you need to do is drill two holes as pictured below, you will need to be careful as there isn't much room. It is best to have the hole nearer to the inside section, so if you don't get it quite right, you won't be able to see it afterwards.

That's the top section all done, so next is the under slung gun. Luckily, the picture below speaks loader than words, but basically, I filled in the hole on the right piece with green stuff and then placed a magnet in it. I then cut the tab off and drilled a hole into the left piece and put a magnet in that.

Lastly, was to magnetise the guns themselves, again cutting the tabs off and drilling holes for the top magnets, and then putting another magnet in the holes at the back of the guns. You will notice the hole at the back of the Tesla gun is very deep, so you will need to fill it with green stuff first.

That's it really, I am sure most of you will just look at the pictures anyway, but hopefully everything all makes sense. The green bits in the pictures are just me going over the mini with some liquid green stuff. Any questions just let me know, or maybe they will be answered in this video I made of the procedure...

Necron Traveller Battle Report

2012-01-30T07:00:00.024Z

Nick speaking,

After playing my Traveller list against Grey Knights a while back and not getting a chance to see the Traveller in action, I wanted to have another go with the list. I know I really need the Traveller in a Command Barge, and I am working on that at the moment. Until them though, it's a Veil of Darkness Cryptek that has the job of getting him into position. At the very least the game gave me a chance to put down my newly painted green stuff Scarabs, and my repainted Tomb Spyder...

My list:

HQ
1 x Anrakyr the Traveller (165) (Joins Troop 1)
1 x Necron Overlord/Phaeron/Resurrection Orb (150) (Joins Troop 2)

1 x Cryptek Harbringer of Despair/Abyssal Staff/Veil of Darkness (60) (Joins Troop 1)
2 x Cryptek Harbringer of Destruction/Eldridge Lance (70) (Joins Troop 2 and 3)
2 x Cryptek Harbringer of Destruction/Eldridge Lance/Solar Pulse (110) (Joins Troops 4 and 5)

TROOPS
1) 5 x Necron Immortals/Telsa (85)
2) 10 x Pyrrhian Eternals (170)
3) 5 x Necron Warriors (65)
4) 5 x Necron Warriors (65)
5) 5 x Necron Warriors (65)

FAST
6 x Canoptek Wraiths/2x Particle Caster/6x Whip coils (290)
8 x Canoptek Scarabs (120)
3 x Necron Heavy Destroyers (180)

HEAVY
3 x Canoptek Spyders/1x Gloom Prism (165)

Points 1750

Fully interchangeable Trygon, Mawclaw and Trygon Prime

2012-01-27T07:00:00.028Z

Nick speaking,

Still working towards my Fritz styled big bug Tyranid list, I know it's coming along slowly, but all good things come to those who wait! Anyway, I had trouble with my first Trygon, in that, I wanted to make it interchangeable, but couldn't work out how to do it! I am pleased to say though, that I did manage to fully magnetise up my second and third Trygons very successfully. When I built my third Trygon, I did a video of the progress in hope to help others...

Is Finecast Fine Now?

2012-01-24T07:00:00.098Z

Nick speaking,

It has now been quite some time since Finecast was launched upon us, and up until recently, I have never actually purchased my first Finecast mini. Now with all the new Necron models coming out, I thought it would be a good time to try it out. It's been long enough that all the teething problems should have been ironed out, and the excuse of using the old metal casts being the problem, wouldn't be the case with a brand new Finecast model, would it?

So, there you have it, my first Finecast model purchased, Imotekh the Stormlord. Now I have to admit, when I opened it I was looking for issues, I have heard all that has been said about Finecast, so I started looking for imperfections! So much so, that I convinced myself that the holes on his cloak were air bubbles?

No problem, I said to myself, that's what liquid green stuff is for anyway, but then, when I took a closer look at the Lords staff, I was disappointed to see that it didn't look quite right either! I double checked with the picture on the packet, and yes, there was a massive junk missing on the staff blade...

OK, I could cut the other side off a bit to match it in, but why should I have to do that? I then started to look at the main body itself, and low and behold, I found real air bubbles...

Time for a quick trip back to GW for a replacement! I got it replaced with no trouble at all, they even opened a new one up in the shop so I could check it out for imperfections. The second one still had a few air bubbles on the body, but nothing I couldn't sort out. The replacement also had all the holes in the cloak the same as the first one did, so we assumed they are meant to be there?

Next Canoptek Spyder Done

2012-01-21T07:00:00.070Z

Nick speaking,

Like most Necron players using the old Codex, Tomb Spyders weren't a major part of my army ideals. I had a couple, and I did use them now and again, but of course, things are different now. A few weeks ago I found myself a nice cheap second had Spyder in my local hobby store, which I quickly purchased. It had a half decent paint job i.e. it was dry brushed silver, but it didn't match the rest of my army. Time for a quick strip down, repaint and a bit of extra detail to the base, including a few of my green stuff Scarabs to bring it all together...

So, that gives me three Spyders in total, not bad, but how many Spyders should I aim for? Nine sounds good, and with my green stuff scarabs working out so well, I could easily get together sixty Scarab bases, but is that over the top? What is the ideal amount of Spyders/Scarabs in a 1750/2000 point list?

Eldar Vs Daemons 500pt Picture Report

2012-01-18T07:00:00.002Z

Nick speaking,

More five hundred point fun, this time with Eldar...

My List:

1x Farseer/Jetbike/Spear/Doom/Fortune/Stones

6x Jetbikes/4x Cats/2x Cannon
1x Warlock/Jetbike/Embolden
5x Rangers
1x Warwalker/2x Cannon

500 points on the nose...

Find out more about the Dunk Walker here...

Necron FAQ Query?

2012-01-17T15:08:00.002Z

Nick speaking,

Just a quick query with the new Necron FAQ, which I have to say, overall l am very pleased with.

First it says this:

Q: Can a Veil of Darkness be used instead of moving onto the board when a unit arrives from reserve?
A: Yes.

And then it says:

Q: Can a unit of Deathmarks with an attached model from a Royal Court Deep Strike?
A: No, every model in a unit must have the Deep Strike special rule for it to do so.

Is it just me or shouldn't this say:

A: No, every model in a unit must have the Deep Strike special rule for it to do so, unless the attached model has a Veil of Darkness

Have I missed something?

Necron Spinning Top!

2012-01-15T07:00:00.000Z

Nick speaking,

OK, so i am going to throw this straight at you. I got this green plastic spinning top in my Christmas cracker, it looks just like it could fit into my Necron army somehow! I was thinking somewhere on the Travellers Command Barge or something? It's about an inch in diameter, any ideas?

Green Stuff Scarab Unit Done

2012-01-12T07:00:00.001Z

Nick speaking,

To my surprise, it didn't take me long to knock out fifty green stuff Scarabs with my home made cast. As usual with Necrons, it was even quicker to paint them, and in the end, I only had a couple of rejects. The rejects were still good enough for me to use on a base I made for my next project, re-painting a second hand Tomb Spyder that I purchased. Overall, although not perfect, I think they generally came out well. So, here are the final results of my first unit of ten Scarabs Swarms, all made out of green stuff...

Green Stuff Scarab Progress

2012-01-09T07:00:00.001Z

Nick speaking,

Continuing on with the progress I have made with my green stuff Scarab project, and I have now made about thirty seven Scarabs. Still plenty to make, but not far away from my first unit of ten bases. I ran out of green stuff, so I have continued the project on with my Gale Force Nine 'grey stuff'. Here is a picture of some of the ones I have done so far, can you spot the real Scarab?

I have my first ten bases all ready and dry brushed...

I've got all my 'Necron' rocks done and ready for the bases...

The end result should look something like this...

Now to continue with the Scarab making process...

Eldar Dire Avengers Painted with Magnetised Exarch

2012-01-06T07:00:00.002Z

Nick speaking,

Last time I posted about my Dire Avengers it was to say that I had finally worked out the paint scheme that I had planned for them. So, in this post I am please to announce that they are now all finished. The Exarch has his arms fully magnetised with the three options available to him, and I have also magnetised the banner so I can take it off and put it on his base as a Blade Storm marker. Another big thank you to Ron over on FTW for his great post on line highlighting techniques.

Here is my usual Painting project video that I did for YouTube, where you can see the process I took in getting to the end results...

How do you recommend an army?

2012-01-03T07:00:00.004Z

Nick speaking,

One great thing about this hobby, is how easy it is to get other people addicted to it! If your anything like me, 40K is always on my mind and I find that my enthusiasm for the game seems to rub off on people around me, well except for the wife, I didn't even bother showing her my Warlocks when they were finished! lol

Now I remember way back when I first started 40k, and when it was time to choose an army of my own. Up until then, I had just played a couple of small games with my buddies Tyranid and Ork armies. Everything 40k was just a minefield to me then, and the truth is, I only chose Necrons as my first army because I liked the picture on the front of the Codex.

As time went by, more and more friends joined my gaming circle, and as yet, none of us have duplicated armies. I suppose, in reality we tried our best to encourage 'new' players to go for armies we never had, after all we will be playing each other every week and although Necrons Vs Necrons, or Blood Angels Vs Blood Angels, would be a novalty, we wouldn't want to do it every week! I am not saying we forced anyone to choose certain armies, but I think as a new player you would prefer to have an army no-one else had for the unique factor alone, anyway.

The question is though, how do you recommend an army?
Lets look at it from a sales persons point of view! The first basic rule of sales is don't sell something to someone that they don't really want or need, you have to ask the correct questions so that they end up with a satisfactory purchase. So on that basis, let's ask some basic questions to get us going.

First, starting with the army itself...
What do you like the look/sound of? Humans, super humans, evil super humans, robots, drones, bugs, girls with high heels, green skin gladiators, elfs with anti grav technology etc etc

Then there's the painting side...
Make sure they know how much painting will be involved, especially if they go the horde army route, also ask what colours they would like their army to be, maybe that will swing them in a certain direction

Next is how they will play on the table...
Do you want a shooty army, assault army, a fast moving army, a big gribbly army, an all rounder army? Do you want your army to play in a certain way related to the fluff? Like Eldar Saim-Hann or Beil-Tann? Or maybe how they deploy, like random deep striking Daemons?

Then there's the 'what do you want from the game' question...
Are you in it to just win it or do you just want to have fun pushing your toys around and rolling dice with your friends? Is it mainly for the painting, or maybe for the converting side of things? etc. etc.

Don't forget the board a terrain situation as well...
Where will you play, at a club with terrain, at friends houses? Will you want your own board, if so do you have the space and/or time to make it and all the terrain

And last but not least, as a 40k player, it is your responability to let them know the gory deatails...
This hobby is going to be expensive, and take up a lot of your free time. Unless you play Space Marines of some sort, GW may leave you behind a bit (How long did I wait for my Necron Codex!) and of course, what is current and the new top tierd Codex now, won't be there for very long...

All in all it is very difficult to recommend an army, and it does come down to a lot of personal choices for someone to go for one army over another. As a 40k player, I like to give all the good and bad points of this wonderful game of ours and let them decide which direction to go for themselves.

New Year Comments

2011-12-31T07:00:00.058Z

Nick speaking,

Happy New Year to all my readers, thank you so much for staying tuned to my Blog, and for over doubling my viewing figures from the previous year. I hope you have enjoyed the content and will continue to support me in 2012. My new years resolution for the Blog is to try and increase the amount of comments I get on my posts. The problem is, I don't know how to achieve this? I have to admit that I follow many 40k Blogs myself, but only ever comment on a few of them, although I am trying to make more of an effort to comment as much as I can, even if it is just a "nice article" or "looks great" comment. So, what makes you want to post a comment?

Go on, post a comment below and lets find out...

IDIC Hann (Saim-Hann Eldar) Vs Daemons

2011-12-28T07:00:00.001Z

Nick speaking,

Now that my Dire Avengers are on my work bench ready for painting, my Eldar Guardians will have to stand in for them for a while as proxy Dire Avengers until they are ready. In this 1750pt Capture and Control battle report, my newly painted Seer Council take on some Chaos Daemons...

Necron Toys!

2011-12-25T07:00:00.043Z

Nick speaking,

Did you get your Christmas wish this morning? I did, and I already have plenty of magnets to make them interchangeable. I have promised myself I wouldn't play with any Necrons until they are painted, so I better get cracking, and get these little beauties together...

Happy Christmas and Season Greetings to all my Readers, I hope you all got the 40k toys you wanted.

Playing at 2000 Points?

2011-12-22T07:00:00.007Z

Nick speaking,

You may remember a while back, when I posted up a Poll on what point level you prefer to play at? Without a shadow of a doubt, the top two levels were 1500 and 1750 points. Some of the lower levels like 500 and 750 points, did quite well also. I was a bit surprised that 2000 points clocked in at third place, as I thought it would take top spot! Not so long ago, my buddies and I always played at 1500 points. We would occasionally have bigger games, but not very often. I personally always found making 1500 point lists quite difficult to get all the toys that I wanted. This was probably due to me playing Necrons most of the time, and with two Troops, two units of Immortals and a decent Lord coming in at just over 1100 points with the old Dex, that was probably the reason why!

I suggested that maybe we should up the points level to 1750pts, we were experienced enough to still be able to play a game in an evening and still have time for a chat. So, when we decided to up the points level to 1750 at the beginning of this year, I was really up for the challenge of upping my lists in points and having some fun. I have noticed that 1750 points seems to be a lot easier to make a list work. This is probably due to having enough points to be able to, well lets face it, spam units, or are the words I am looking for, unit redundancy! Having said that, I have also found that 1750 points also challenges me with my unit selections, as it still isn't quite enough points to have ALL the toys I want...

I am currently working on a Tyranid list that includes five Tervigons. It is coming on very slowly, as I gradually buy Carnifex bodies to convert up into Tervies, but I hope to be able to play it one day. Although I can make a list like this at 1750pts, it would be a lot better if I had 2000 to play with! So is it time to suggest 2000pts to my buddies?

Well, actually, there's no need! To my surprise, my buddy suggested it to me the other day! I suppose he is also having trouble getting all his horrible Blood Angel units into his 1750pt list as well lol! After all, two units of ten Sternguard are 500 points and that's without some sort of transport! So, we have now decided to up our points level to 2000pts starting in 2012. We are going to have ago and see how we like it. Initial thoughts, that quickly run through my head for my armies are:

Harlequins ~ Now I can take Mauggy and Eldrad in the same list, yeppy!

Saim-Hann ~ Sadly, it probably will just mean a second, much needed Farseer (Eldrad!)

Eldar Mech/Hybrid ~ More of the same!

Space Wolves ~ I think I will be able to max out on most of the FOC!

Necrons ~ Bring it on!

Nids ~ Need to finish my Tervigons and Gants!

More to come on this, but if you want to find out more about the merits of playing at different point levels, go and check out this great post over at 3++.

Real 13th Company Space Wolves - Battle Report

2011-12-19T07:00:00.003Z

Nick speaking,

With the first turn seized by my Space Wolves, it was time to put my first 'Real' 13th Company Space Wolves list into action. In this Annihilation mission against Blood Angels, I lined up my Logan lead army and let the missiles get to work...

Necron Immortals - Tesla Vs Gauss

2011-12-16T07:00:00.003Z

Nick speaking,

So how do you choose? Should your Immortals have Guass Blaster's or Tesla Carbine's? I have been messing around for a while now with both versions of the Immortal guns to find out how they perform on the battlefield. Obviously the Gauss Blaster is not what is used to be, getting the Nerf bat down to a Rapid fire weapon, but still maintaining auto Glancing hits on a roll of a six against vehicles. The alternative Tesla Carbine has a new ability of getting two additional dice that auto hit if you roll any six's to hit, but no glance on six's to wound!

My first Necron lists involved using all the models I have instead of the new toy's, which meant losts of foot Immortals and Warriors. I also experimented with lists without Crypteks, but of course now they are always in my list! In those lists where I was lacking in the anti-tank department, like Eldritch Lances, I found having the ability to glance vehicles very useful. Most of the time I was standing still for the 24" range, and having the ability to advance forward to Rapid fire anything close was a bonus. I also found in those early games Tesla didn't really offer me anything the Blaster didn't do! I suppose the other thing to consider is how many Immortals you have in a unit, as this will have an impact on the squads ability with certain guns as well!

Since then, my overall list has changed and I have found that with enough anti-tank guns/Scarabs to get those troops out of their tanks midfield, the Tesla weapons really start to come into play. Being able to move into position and shoot 24" with a few six's coming into play, they can be pretty good. Obviously, when you start to put your Immortlas into transport or have a character leading them to give them the relentless special rule, the benifits of each gun changes as well.

In reality, I think this new gun swap, which has no points difference, is a great idea for this troops choice. I have come to the conclusion that both guns have their place, depending on the build of the rest of your army, and it is difficult to pin point which gun is actually better, which is great really, as it means both guns are a useful option in there own right.

So what has your experience been? Please comment and vote on my poll, as I would love to hear your opinions...

Necrons Vs Grey Knights Battle Report

2011-12-13T07:00:00.030Z

Nick speaking,

In my game where I tried out a Monolith and a unit of Flayed Ones who both did nothing all game! I was hoping that my new Traveller list wouldn't end up the same way. I had the Traveller with a Veil of Darkness Cryptek and some Immortals ready to do their business, but would they get a chance to do it in this Annihilation game, against Grey Knights...

Monolith/Flayed Ones disaster and first Traveller list!

2011-12-10T07:00:00.007Z

Nick speaking,

Continuing on with putting my old Necron models on the table with the new Codex, meant having just the Monolith, Flayed Ones and the Destroyer Lord left to try out. My first game with a Stormlord lead list using a Monolith and Flayed Ones was a disaster. Flayed Ones flanked on the wrong side of the board and the Monolith came in with a 12" scatter for a mishap. My opponent got to put the Mono in the corner of the table, and both units did nothing all game, plus I lost my C'tan on turn one!

I still gave myself a chance to win having secured my objective with some Immortals at the end of turn five. All I had to do was Veil in a unit of Immortals to contest my enemies objective. Sadly I mishapped again, and this time lost the whole unit. Game didn't end on turn five anyway, so I would have still lost!

Here is a video of the battle if your interested...

With just the Destroyer Lord left to try, and having only ever played the Stormlord, I thought it was about time I had a go at a different HQ. The next HQ choice I was very interested in trying was the Traveller. Having played with the Stormlord and seeing how effective Nightfight can be to help keep my Scarabs alive, I am thinking I would like to get two Solor Pulses in the list. Sadly the Destroyer Lord does not count as an Overlord, so I can't have him and the Traveller, and have two Pulses. So the Destroyer Lord would have to wait a while.

So now I have my two HQ choices done, the Traveller and an Overlord. Next is two Pulse Crypteks and some extra Lance only Crypteks for obvious reasons. I have no Barges available to me yet, so the Traveller is going to have to use the Veil of Darkness trick to do what he needs to do. Having just got a third Tomb Spyder from my local hobby shop, I have them in the list with a single group of nine Scarabs. I have saved the third slot for some Heavy Destroyers, which should work well when combined with the Lances and Solar Pulse.

My initial games have showed me that generally the Troops at the back don't really get too much attention with everything else like Wraiths, Scarabs and Spyders up front, so I thought I would try out some smaller units of Warriors for the Crypteks to join. Probably not the best, as the Lances are sure to draw attention, but this is just for experience and fun purposes only anyway. Of course, I will also have a large unit of Immortals to take full advantage of the Travellers upgrade ability...

Here is my final first Traveller test list:

HQ
1 x Anrakyr the Traveller (165) (Joins Troop 1)
1 x Necron Overlord/Phaeron/Resurrection Orb (140) (Joins Troop 2)

1 x Cryptek Harbringer of Despare/Abyssal Staff/Veil of Darkness (60) (Joins Troop 1)
2 x Cryptek Harbringer of Destruction/Eldridge Lance (70) (Joins Troop 2 and 3)
2x Cryptek Harbringer of Destruction/Eldridge Lance/Solar Pulse (110) (Joins Troops 4 and 5)

TROOPS
1) 5 x Necron Immortals/Tesla (85)
2) 10 x Pyrrhian Eternals (170)
3) 5 x Necron Warriors (65)
4) 5 x Necron Warriors (65)
5) 5 x Necron Warriors (65)

FAST
6 x Canoptek Wraiths/2x Particle Caster/6x Whip coils (290)
8 x Canoptek Scarabs (120)
3 x Necron Heavy Destroyers (180)

HEAVY
3 x Canoptek Spyders/1x Gloom Prism (165)

Points 1750

Battle report to follow