Black Knights build done

Finished putting the black knight riders on the old horses. No complaints, works perfectly. 

I have 2 more of the horses so when I break out the next box I'll finish them up.

Now to make a list..

6th edition FAQ's up, and Vampire Counts?

The 6th edition FAQ's are now available.  My take on the Orks:



Not bad. Still confused on how Profit of the Waggh! works now, but I guess I actually need the rulebook, eh?

So while waiting on the FAQ to post I dug out some Vampire Counts to work on. Betcha forgot I have a good-sized VC army?  I spent a lot on it when the book dropped, so I have a lot in boxes. Still need 1-2 boxes of the monstrous infantry guys and a mortis engine.

I might try to get a 1500pt game in tomorrow. I put together 5 hexwraiths and my finecast Varghulf.  I remembered how much I do love the finecast material, it's so easy to work with.

I really wanted to get the hexwraiths out of the way so I can try to put the plastic black knight riders on the old plastic horses. I hate the metal hybrid black knights. I'll give that  go later.

For now, bedtime and then a run to get my book!

I think I figured it out..

Vampire Counts, that is. I got in another game of Fantasy last night, playing 2000pts of my Vampire Counts vs Warriors of Chaos. Sure, WoC is one of the best armies and the troops are just crazy good so I might have simply been outmatched from the start. Grave Guard vs Khorne-marked guys isn't something I want to happen again.

So there are two things I learned. First, I need to use my magic to take down opponent's units with Wind of Undeath and Curse of Years instead of relying on close combat and Nehek. Second, I learned I can't rely on magic. Which is a big problem for VC it seems to me. Nothing in the army book is that strong, able to go toe-to-toe with tough CC units, so nehek and vanhel's are must-haves..but due to the 8th magic rules, magic isn't strong enough to support these needs.

I am finally understanding why VC are not as powerful as they once were.

That leaves me with my fledgling O&G army, which from what I've read isn't very strong either. It's not like I'm looking to smash face every time I play, but I don't want to lose before even putting the models on the table either..

On the project front I did finish my XV-9, got a good idea for a terrain piece for another youtube challenge, and I'll be moving forward with both the razorback and stormraven. I've decided to at least try doing the interior, and I can always glue it shut if it does not work out.

I had a great day..

Saturday May 7th, I got a few hours off. Off life, off reality, off from everything. I didn't intend it to be that way, but it worked out for me.

Real life is sucking big right now, mainly due to cars and money. well cars sucking money. I'm sure everyone knows what I mean.

Saturday my cousin was going into my FLGS to buy and futz with new Tomb Kings stuff. He has a substantial army already but needed new toys. I got to get away from the family and hang out with him. It was awesome.

First, I brought my vampire counts and went through and fixed all the broken models I had and made a few bases of fillers for my skellies and crypt ghouls.

After that I played my cousin's Deathwing in a game vs Blood Angels. It was a fun game, I can really see the appeal of Deathwing...it is a LOT of fun to play. This is the list I ran @1750:

HQ: Belial; TH/SS
HQ: Interrogator Chaplain, Terminator armor, combi-melta

Troop: Upgraded Deathwing, Banner w/TH/SS, apothecary w/TH/SS, Cyclone w/TH/SS, 1 guy with LC and another TH/SS guy.
Troop: Deathwing; Cyclone, 3xTH/SS, 1xLC, 1xChainfist/SB
Troop: Deathwing; Cyclone, 3xTH/SS, 2xLC

Fast: Speeder; Typhoon, MM
Fast: Speeder; Typhoon, MM
Fast: Speeder; Typhoon, MM

Heavy: Predator AC/HB
Heavy: Devastators 4xML, TL-Las Razorback.
Heavy: Vindicator

Mission was roll dice and tie with dawn of war. He placed scouts on his objective and I placed the dual-lc unit on my objective in opposite corners. I then dropped the non-command squad next to his objective and turbo-boosted the speeders there as well. The idea was to bait in his LRC full of assault termies, priest and libby to kill off my deathwing sqaud leaving them open to MM the LR and vindicator the squad.

He took the bait, but I made so many saves the combat lasted 3 turns before the last guy died. I did end up killing the land raider though. Then the command squad didn't show up until turn 4, but was able to wipe out his termies. I was about to assault the scouts when the game ended on a roll of 1 at the end of 5. 1 good turn of shooting took out almost everything I had (including a sniper scout improbably exploding a speeder).

In the end I only had 1 immobilized speeder and 5 termies left. My objective was contested and I was out of range of his, giving him the win. It was a great game that went back and fourth from turn to turn with dice luck playing a huge factor!

After the game I sat down and started assembling my second stormraven. My biggest decision is to paint the interior or not. I have not fully glued it together yet for that reason. But it was great sitting there without any kids bugging me to play barbies or mario party 8 and just talking warhammer and sniffing plastic glue..

I would like a 4th 40k army sometime. I am waiting patiently for Tau - which could be even before the end of the year - before I decide. I am considering deathwing and the henchmen-heavy Coteaz hybrid list posted earlier.

Anyway long post with a wall of text. I finished assembling my XV-9 with phased ion guns and will probably be painting that over the next week for the Freebootaz challenge. I love these models, so easy to pose!

Yay I got in a game of Fantasy!

Went over to Western Oregon Wargamers Sunday for Ordo's fantasy game night. I have not been there in a while, but I felt like dusting off the Vampire Counts.

Only played 1250, which is a strange point level for WFB but it was still a lot of fun.

I got to watch a couple games going on before I played.

My list was:

Lord: Vampire Lord; Lord of the dead; Flayed Hauberk, tomb blade, helm of commandment

Hero: Necromancer, +1 spell, nightmare shroud, dispel scroll (Nehek, vanhel's)

Core: 15 Crypt Ghouls; crypt ghast
Core: 15 Crypt Ghouls; crypt ghast
Core: 19 Skeleton warriors, full command, banner of hellfire
Core: 3xBat swarm bases

Special: 18 grave guard, full command, banner of barrows

I played vs a goblin list with 2 big blocks of goblins, a combat lord, a shaman, and a hero BSB, and one of the new spiders.

I continue to forget about my banner of barrows. For like 3 or 4 combat rounds I forgot not only to use it (I would have been hitting on 2's with re-rolls) but also forgot about the re-rolls from vanhels! lol. By then it was too late as 1 unit of ghouls and my grave guard had been ground down by the spider.

One epic fail was near the end. I had just the ghast left against the spider and one unit of goblins. I got off 3 neheks and rolled a 1 for all 3! sigh.

In the end I was able to charge and wipe out the unit of goblins with the lord and bsb, giving me a narrow 800-675pt win.

It was a great game. I really, really like the VC magic phase able to cast over and over again. Having the 2nd caster was a huge benefit.

The next project and more Vampire Counts

My Tau are done. I really, really want to be done with my Blood Angels, but I keep not being able to do that. The problem is I didn't build a competitive list, but a comp list. To make it more competitive I need more models. Sigh. The first unit is done, but now I need to make an entire new 5-man assault squad. At least it's assembled and primed now, and I hope to get it painted by the tournament I have on the 20th along with another las-plas turret.



After that I am going to make that unit it's own Razorback, in addition I need: 1 more ML devastator and a AC/LC predator...both of which are assembled already. Finally I need a new sergeant for my remaining Tactical squad. If there is any ambition left I'll make an assault weapon guy to round out my rhino-based 9 man assault squad. THEN I'll be done with Blood Angels.



Also finished assembly on the 2k VC list. made a small change, dropping 1 grave guard and hatred on the lord to give the lord Forbidden Lore, which gives me access to the normal lores (except life). I'm thinking light. I10 WS10 crypt ghouls sounds like fun :)

After everything was done, I had a stack of boxes and sprues to deal with. Cut off all the bits.


Yay fun!

Marathon Vampire Counts assembly and 2k list

Long weekend. Not only did I do a bunch of Halloween stuff, but I put together a 2ooopt Vampire Counts list and assembled 65 infantry for it. Phew. A lot of it was done during football games, but still a lot of work. Only 31 models and 2 blisters of Bat swarms left!

Go Ducks!

So here is the list I came up with. Any comments welcome.

Vampire Lord (420); +1 level
Powers: Dark Acolyte, infinite hatred, lord of the dead
Items: Tomb Blade, Flayed Hauberk, helm of commandment, talisman of protection

Vampire (165)
Powers: Hunter in the Dark
Items: Armor of night, enchanted shield, Talisman of the Lynci

Wight King (145)
BSB, razor standard

Skeletonsx40 (350), Full command, banner of helfire

Crypt Ghoulsx20 (168), crypt ghast

Bat swarmx3 (105)

Grave Guardx33 (471), full command, banner of barrows

Cairn Wraithsx3 (175) including tomb banshee

I am considering giving the lord Forbidden lore instead of hatred, so I can have better options for spellcasting.

Also, which is better swarms or dire wolves?

The idea is to have the grave guard the hammer unit, with the skellies in support. The Lord will stay in range to use the helm and nehek the guard to keep them alive, raising zombies to deny flank charges if needed. Then the swarms and wraiths will be out tarpitting stuff while the scouting vamp raises zombies in the opponent's front yard..just for fun.