Army Throwdown II #1: Core

The Legio Malaysia Army Throwdown has returneth!

The theme for the current installment if Warhammer Fantasy Battle (WFB). I'm joining again, of course, and this time with my Warriors of Tzeentch. Yesterday night was the First Throwdown session at the relocated Legio Malaysia. Pictured below is my entry for the night, Marauder Horsemen with Javelins.

Pics Courtesy of Hobby Forge and Legio Malaysia

And below are the Top 3 entries of the night, which is solely based on my humble opinion. Do checkout this link to feast your eyes on all 10 entries last night. (Note: You might probably need to have a Facebook account to access the pictures)

Pics Courtesy of Hobby Forge and Legio Malaysia

Pics Courtesy of Hobby Forge and Legio Malaysia

Pics Courtesy of Hobby Forge and Legio Malaysia

 That's all for now, adieu!

The (Not So New) Eldar Codex Review: How does it affect my army?

The biggest hit delivered by the new Eldar codex to my Craftworld was the number of Fire Dragons that I'm allowed to take. That however, was the only drawback to my army, as others relatively remained the same.

Sticking to The (self-made) Fluff

One of the direct repercussions of the Great Fall was that there are only three Aspect Shrines remaining in Craftworld Ilfirin; Fire Dragons, Dire Avengers and Warp Spiders, with Fire Dragons being the most numerous Aspect of all. There are two aspects that intrigued me in the new codex, which are the Dark Reapers and the Swooping Hawks. After thinking this through, I've decided to be consistent with my original fluff.

Craftworld Ilfirin is blessed by Cegorach, represented by the Harlequins. This explains my wild and erratic colour scheme; bright orange, dark blue, and 'midnight' stars. The Craftworld was also among the lucky ones to have a lot of Bonesingers. This concept is represented by Guardians operating various vehicles to war. If you've seen my army, War/Wasp Walkers and various skimmers dominate the table. Eldar is a dying race but they are also more technologically advanced as compared to the monkeighs. This was one of the reasons for the mechanised approach rather than going the compact and elite path.

Being blessed by Cegorach also means that my army will have very minimal 'Walking Dead' and absolutely no Avatars of Khaine. This means Wraithguards/blades, Wraithlords, Wraithknights, and Hemlock Wraithfighter are at the bottom of my consideration during army building. I do have a Wraithlord though, but it's more of a centrepiece rather than gaming purposes. And Eldrad, is simply out of the question since he is an Ulthwe. Has never played him and will never play him as a 'counts as', despite what people say.

The New Stuff

The Crimson Hunter was immediately out of the question since it's considered an Aspect, not even considering it as a centrepiece. As for the Wraithknight, I may paint one in the future since by fluff (adapted from the old Revenant Titan fluff), the construct has a Guardian pilot inside despite it also having his/her twin ghost in its circuit. This will be a future centrepiece project, but shall never be considered for gaming purposes.

Playing to My Strengths

The strengths of War Walkers and Wasp Assault Walkers are quite obvious. I do not need to elaborate on the rate of fire they bring to the table. My army's hidden strength that has been boosted by the new codex are actually the Guardian Jetbikes (also now known as the Windriders) and the Vypers. The 6th Edition rules gave them Jink and high mobility, while the new codex greatly blessed them with BS4. The latter changed my army dynamics by a huge margin.

Double Guide-seers were the backbone of my army in the old codex, and I can now field a single Farseer with Guide and Prescience instead. BUT, by having army-wide BS4 as a default, I am now less reliant on my Farseer as the rest of my army are more capable than before. The farseer's psychic abilities can be viewed as sharpening a samurai blade.

Glaring Weaknesses Observed

With the crazy torrent of lasers/shurikens in my army, flyers are not a big concern as I have glanced a number of them to death. The Wave Serpents' shield also contributed to the cause. My Achilles heel is AV14, especially when fielded in bunches. This was previously not a problem since the Fire Dragons were cheaper (and I used to play with 24 of them). As I said before, Wraithguards are not in my consideration. I've found Brightlance Vypers to be unreliable for this role. My other current options are to switch the Wave Serpents' turrets to Brightlances, or change my sole Fire Prism to a Falcon instead. I haven't decided yet, and will look through the codex again in case I missed anything.

That's all for now. I'm not going to bore you with more words, and I'm pretty sure not many enjoy this aspect of the game. My next posts after this will be all about the Warriors of Tzeentch, as I'm entering them for Legio Malaysia's 2nd Army Throwdown. A total of 15 participants have pledged to take part in this installment. The challenge for me would be figuring out on how to showcase my army and make it 'pop' since there are four Warriors of Chaos armies (including mine) participating in the event.

Reload!

It's been quite some time since I last blogged. If you want, I can tell a very lengthy story but I'd probably just bore you to death. I don't know how to describe the feeling of holding a miniature and getting back into the hobby after a long hiatus. It felt more than great!

October 8th will be the start of the 2nd Legio Malaysia Army Throwdown, and the theme is WFB. I'm taking this opportunity to (re)paint my Warriors of Tzeentch that has been patiently waiting for a proper paintjob. I'll most probably not going to have a Rare entry for the Throwdown since I'll be strictly sticking to my army fluff; no monsters and mutations.

Chaos Warhounds and Tzeentch Sorceror

I've covered Core and Hero so far, and I still have a Chariot and some cavalry models to assemble. I'm also spraying white over the Chaos Warriors' cloaks since they already had a blue basecoat. To me, participating in the Throwdown gives me the chance to start over. Since WFB is set in the Medieval Era, and Chaos Warriors are wild savage-like people; painting them in proper uniform-like fashion just doesn't click to my logic. Uniforms are okay for 40K but looks misplaced for WFB.

I've also recently discovered that Paxter will be painting Tzeentch Warriors too; currently thinking hard to distinguish my army from his. The only option that came to my mind is to paint them ala Brettonians, with personalised (disorder) heraldries and such. The obstacle for that idea; I'm not confident that I can pull that look off. Any other good ideas?

That's it for now, trying to keep it short and simple. My next post will be my (belated) review on how the (not so) new Eldar Codex affected my army build. Lastly, I'm not sure if you've seen this blog, but you MUST check it out. If that masterpiece of art do not impress you as a miniature wargamer, I don't know what will.

Small Update

Pardon the lack of updates, I've been resting a bit. And the new Eldar codex is a bit of distraction. Speaking of the Eldar codex, all I can say is that my 1750pts army now costs 1920pts in the new codex. It's fair enough, Fire Dragons was a bit too cheap for what they can do in the previous codex. Overall, I'm happy with what Phil Kelly has done. The Codex is fluffy, balanced, and captures the feel of Eldar (which translate to 'mobility' for me). Perhaps, the rules Wraithknight and Hemlock need more work but it's too early to complain about them since we don't know what the future holds. It won't surprise me if Hemlock's Mindshock Pod is the 'cheese' some time in the future.

That's all for now. I'm actually rather occupied in helping Mark for the pre-campaign preparation of the Kill Team campaign. Till next time, adieu.

Currently drooling...

Forgive me for the icky title. Those that have played against/with my Eldar army knew that Fire Dragons and Walkers are featured prominently. I've also recently added a Wraithlord to the mix via the Legio Malaysia Army Throwdown, since I really like the 'walker look'. Apparently, Craftworld Ilfirin will have a new addition in the near future.

May 10-18th, 2013 - A Very Productive Period

The local guys may have known this for some time. By pure attrition, I've earned my second Purity Seal as I was the only one who completed the 2000pts Army Throwdown challenge on May 10th, 2013.

Picture Courtesy of the Legio Malaysia Official Site

Two Purity Seals, both earned from 'painting endurance' events (the first one was from Iron Painter). I also earned the Iron Halo from the most recent Iron Painter event. Slowly, I'm beginning to figure out what my strength really is; whilst I may not be the best painter nor gamer, it seems that I might probably have something special in endurance challenge. This theory need to be tested in the next Iron Painter and Army Throwdown events.

May 18th, 2013 marked the day that Legio Malaysia organised their fifth Birthday Bash (Happy Birthday!). For the current installment, Kindred 4 (K4) and Golden Kris was held concurrently during the celebration. Rizal and I didn't do well in K4, both of us rolled too many double and triple 1s the entire tournament, but we won't fret much about it. To cut things short, the 5th Birthday Bash was another great event by Jeff and Khairul (Thanks!).

The pictures below are shots of my entry for the Duel Category; a Raven Guard marine versus a Khorne Bloodletter.

 
 
 
 

This Duel diorama earned me First Place in the Duel category; my very first First Place finish. Honestly, the marine was a hurried job of 'wet-on-dry' and the daemonsword OSL was not so good. Perhaps, my elaborate base won me the trophy. For more pictures (which is a lot) of the Birthday Bash event, please visit Legio Malaysia's Facebook site.

Yes, the trophy is humongous!

I think I had enough of painting proper WH40K and WFB miniatures for now. My next projects will be to paint up the Kill Team terrains I owed Mark and to create a Legio Cybernetica Maniple prototype. 

Army Throwdown Update: Wild Card #2

In my last post, I've promised crazy clowns. Here they are.

Picture Courtesy of the Legio Malaysia Facebook Page

I've actually painted a seventh Harlequin but couldn't finish it before the Throwdown, but you'll see it on the the final Grand Throwdown (2000points army). Speaking of which, it's time to press the Panic button. The final Throwdown is less than two weeks left, with only 1000points painted on my side. You get the picture.

Hope I can complete the challenge, wish me luck!

Army Throwdown Update: Wild Card #1

Just a quick update. Apparently my attempt at ghost flames encountered an unexpected hurdle; curved surfaces. Satisfied with the mock-up practices (on a flat surface), I miscalculated how a curved surface can be a challenge, especially when both of your hands were occupied with the airbrush and stencil. At that time, it felt like I need a third hand. Anyway, the Wave Serpent below was my entry.

Pics Courtesy of the Legio Malaysia Facebook Page

Next week, I'll unleash my clowns. If you thought my colour choices and combinations has been wild and erratic, you've seen nothing yet.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Army Throwdown WIP Update: Wild Card #1

My Plan A was to enter the Harlequins as my first Wild Card, but I got carried away in painting the Wave Serpent below. During the weekend, I was stuck in between; couldn't decide whether to finish the Harlequins or the Wave Serpent.

Browsing through the web, I stumbled upon an interesting technique. Which leads me to create my own stencil as below. We'll see whether I can pull this new technique off by this Friday.

Army Throwdown Update: Fast Attack

 

This Vyper was my entry for the Fast Attack Throwdown. It deviated a lot from my usual orange-blue primary scheme as this was painted on the 'midnight' subscheme. While this fast skimmer may be the odd one out at the moment, you'll see more of this subscheme in the future to tie in with the rest of the army. In fact, another WIP Vyper of mine had both the primary colour scheme and the subscheme on it.

Speaking of the Throwdown, the 'complete' Army Throwdown is due in 6 weeks, but I only have a measly 420 points painted up so far:

Troops #1: 5 Dire Avengers + Wave Serpent, Twin-Linked Shuriken Cannon

Troops #2: 5 Dire Avengers

HQ: Autarch, Power Weapon, Mandiblasters

Heavy Support:: Heavy Weapon Battery, D-Cannon

Fast Attack: Vyper, 2 Shuriken Cannon

With 1500 points left to paint, I have to review my plan & painting schedule. As a matter of fact, I am currently seriously contemplating painting this Brightlance Wave Serpent to eat up huge chunks of the army points, even though I'm not planning to use it anytime soon. I am even considering Fuegan since he's a 200pts single infantry model. We'll see how it goes from now.

Army Throwdown Update: Heavy Support

Another late update. Boy, I do hope that this will not be a trend in 2013. This was my entry for the Heavy Support Throwdown.

Eldar Heavy Weapon Battery, a rarely used unit in any current Eldar army. It's a nice change to look at as compared to the usual Eldar stuff. Tomorrow's entry will definitely look different from my usual entries, as I've applied the 'midnight' subscheme for my Vyper. Stay tune this weekend for the update.

So, what have I been up to since the last Throwdown? In one word: this.

The short version of the story would be, major reorganisation of all my hobby stuff.

The longer version of the story was my neighbour's mega-renovation caused my roof gutter drainage to be clogged, which leads to rainwater pooling on my room ceiling, which later gave way to the water's weight causing an internal localised flash flood in my house. All this happened while we're away, so you can imagine the feeling of entering a house ankle-deep in water, accompanied with the scent of soaked carpets and the sound of water trickling down the stairs. Afterwards, try to imagine entering a room with a drenched bed and the ceiling fan parked on it with shards of the ceiling itself, and at the corner, completely soaked boxes and army bags where you kept your miniatures and WIP projects. It was a 'challenging' experience I must say.

Special mention to Rizal for being a great friend, couldn't have chosen another person as my Kindred. Okay, I should stop whining already. I still have a pilot to paint for tomorrow's Throwdown (on hindsight, it was a good decision to paint the Vyper early).

Ciao.

Army Throwdown Update: HQ (+ 40K League 4 performance)

Greetings all, here's a quick recap of my hobbying activities for the past 1 month. I missed the Elite Throwdown due to work commitments. Taking things positively though, it gave me more time to concentrate on the HQ and Fast Attack choices. There's a slight miscalculation here, as the next throwdown is actually Heavy Support. Anyway, here's my HQ entry.

Pics Courtesy of the Legio Malaysia Facebook page

February was also a month chocked full of gaming for me. It's been quite some time since I last gamed this much in a month, and most definitely a nice change to my usual routine. However, if you noticed it took a bit of my blogging time ;)

In case you didn't know, Legio Malaysia has organised their 4th 40K League. As this is year of Elves for me, I brought my Space Elves to the battle. After Week 4 of the League, here is the current standings:

Courtesy of the Legio Malaysia official blog

Fifth place, not too shabby for someone who seldom plays. The Top 4 guys on this list are Blood Angels, Necrons, Necrons, Blood Angels. I don't think the 6th Edition rules affected my army much, but then again, my list ain't the typical Eldar army you would expect fighting against. Here's the list:

HQ (Warlord) : Farseer, Singing Spear, Guide

HQ : Farseer, Guide, Runes of Warding

Elite : 8 Fire Dragons in Wave Serpent, Twin-Linked Shuriken Cannon

Elite : 8 Fire Dragons in Wave Serpent, Twin-Linked Shuriken Cannon

Elite : 8 Fire Dragons in Wave Serpent, Twin-Linked Shuriken Cannon

Troops: 3 Guardian Jetbike, Shuriken Cannon

Troops: 3 Guardian Jetbike, Shuriken Cannon

Fast Attack: Vyper, 2 Shuriken Cannon

Fast Attack: Vyper, 2 Shuriken Cannon

Fast Attack: Wasp Assault Walkers, 6 Shuriken Cannon

Heavy Support: War Walkers, 6 Scatter Lasers

Heavy Support: War Walkers, 6 Scatter Lasers

Heavy Support:: Fire Prism Grav Tank

Yes, for the sake of achieving the goal of target saturation, I am guilty of playing a spammed list. There are four reasons why I think 6th Edition enhanced my army as a whole:

1. I've always played my Guide Farseers on foot supporting the Scatter Laser Walkers so, the new FAQ doesn't mean anything to me. Flyers needing 6s to hit is not that big of a problem, since all current flyers are AV12.

2. Wave Serpents is only a delivery system for me, having Jink and Hull Points only makes it stronger (and cheaper since Spirit Stones is not that important anymore). Plus, you may disembark up to 6" when a vehicle is wrecked. On a side note, Jink and Hull Points were also the reasons on why I played Vypers again.

3. Walkers need not take morale test, since they're a vehicle. Plus, they can now Overwatch.

4. The new Eldar Jetbike rule is awesome!

Hmm...I don't think this is a quick recap anymore. LOL.

Till next time folks, adios.

Army Throwdown: Troops #1 (Very Late Update) and Troops #2

Sorry for the delayed update, got lost while traversing the mysterious webway. This post will be divided into two parts; Troops #1 Update and Troops #2.

Troops #1 Update

I have probably mentioned that I only have 10+5 Dire Avengers in my current disposal that in need of some refurbishing. The realisation of entering only the Troops choice and not the Dedicated Transport came too late. Since I have spent too much time on the Wave Serpent, I had to use the 25% breathing space as my first entry. These were my entry.

Wave Serpent #1 - Pics Courtesy of Marvin Kho

Dire Avengers #1 - Pics Courtesy of Marvin Kho

If the Dire Avengers above looked familiar, perhaps you might remember this one below. They're the same squad.

Anyway, congratulations to Khairul for winning the first Throwdown with his Imperial Fist; the yellow marines are top notch! The official recap can be found here, while more pictures can be found here, and here. Meanwhile, these were the pictures that I took.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Troops #2

The second Throwdown was held simultaneously with the start of 40K League Season 4. It has been two (or is it three?) years since we had the League, and so the excitement was really high. It was so high that I inadvertently left my camera on my bed at home. Fortunately, Shukur was around to snap those awesome pics of the Throwdown. You can check them out here, here, and here. Kudos to Goh for winning the second Throwdown, and I must say, the level of painting has raised another bar in a mere two weeks time.

My entry was another Dire Avengers squad, but this one has a slightly inverted colour scheme to the one I entered before. Here they are.

Dire Avengers #2 - Pics Courtesy of Shukur Kamal and Legio Malaysia

So, what am I up to for the next Throwdown: Elites? I have these below, and by logic, the Plan A should be the Harlequins (at least five). Plan B will be Fire Dragons, as many as I can churn out.

Army Throwdown: Troops #1 Update

The original plan was to add some checkerboard patterns onto random sections of the Wave Serpent, then finishing them off with some airbrushing on the pattern edges to represent a 'Harlequin Energy Field'. The reality was that I was not that skilled yet and ended up with a mishap. I also kept a poor track on time, was too caught up with the skimmer.

Only the left side of the Wave Serpent is presentable at the moment.  I don't know what I'm able to do for the right side in the next two nights. Plus, the Dire Avengers still need more work. Wishing for an inspiration to pull out a miracle.

The throwdown is three days away, while I only have two nights to work on them. Wish me luck! 

Entry for the Legio Army Throwdown 1, Take 2

After digging very deep into the 'Black Library' in my house, I found even more unpainted Eldar stuff in my possession. Thus, the amendment to the previous army/painting list that I've submitted.

 

HQ: Autarch + Mandiblasters, Power Weapon

HQ: Autarch + Mandiblasters, Power Weapon, Fusion Gun, Warp Jump Generator

Troops: 5 Dire Avengers + Wave Serpent, Shuriken Cannon

Troops: 5 Dire Avengers + Wave Serpent, Shuriken Cannon

Elite: 5 Fire Dragons + Wave Serpent, Shuriken Cannon

Elite: 10 Harlequin + Shadowseer, Troupe Master, 2 Fusion Pistol, 9 Harlequin's Kiss

Elite: 7 Harlequin + Shadowseer, Troupe Master, Death Jester, 2 Fusion Pistol

Fast Attack (IA11): 3 Wasp Assault Walker + 6 Scatter Lasers

Fast Attack: Vyper + Scatter Laser, Shuriken Cannon

Fast Attack: 10 Warp Spiders, Exarch, Powerblades, 2 Death Spinners, Surprise Assault

Heavy Support: Wraithlord + Brightlance, Starcannon

Heavy Support: Support Weapon Platform, D-Cannon + Warlock, Singing Spear, Embolden

Total: 1994pts

 

 

Next post, update on one of the Wave Serpents: adding the checkerboard pattern.

Entry for the Legio Army Throwdown 1

If you've been paying attention, Legio Malaysia has posted up their plan of awesome activities for the first half of 2012. Initially, I wanted to enter two separate armies for the Army Throwdown and 40K League Season 4. Upon further consideration on the timeline, work schedule, and my marine-fatigue, I've decided to enter Eldar for both events. Same Craftworld, two different lists. By doing this, it'll allow me to (finally) have a fully painted Eldar army, with fully painted options should I decide to change lists in the future.

 

The following is my armylist for the Army Throwdown event, as these are the models that I have yet to complete the paintjob. Some are even still in sprue/blisters. Note: Painted, Basecoated (no layering nor highlights), Assembled, Unassembled.

Eldar - Craftworld Ilfirin 2000pts 

HQ: Fuegan

HQ: Autarch + Mandiblasters, Power Weapon

Troops: 5 Dire Avengers + Wave Serpent, Shuriken Cannon

Troops: 5 Dire Avengers, Exarch with 2 Shuriken Pistols + Wave Serpent, Shuriken Cannon

Troops: 3 Guardian Jetbike + Shuriken Cannon

Elite: 10 Fire Dragons, Exarch with Dragon Breath Flamer + Wave Serpent, Shuriken Cannon

Elite: 10 Harlequin + Shadowseer, Troupe Master, 9 Harlequin's Kiss, 2 Fusion Pistol

Elite: 7 Harlequin + Shadowseer, Troupe Master, Death Jester, 2 Fusion Pistol

Fast Attack (IA11): 3 Wasp Assault Walkers + 6 Scatter Lasers

Fast Attack: Vyper + Scatter Laser, Shuriken Cannon

Heavy Support: Wraithlord + Brightlance, Starcannon, 2 Flamers

Heavy Support: 1 Support Weapon Battery with D-Cannon + Warlock, Singing Spear, Destructor

Total: 2000 points, on the dot

 

This 'uncommon' armylist was made up to accomodate the event requirement and the models in my possession. However, I am considering them as my painting to-do list, as the armylist slightly deviates from my standard Eldar army list. Here's the current picture of the rag-tag army above, in various stages of painting and assembly.

There you have it; half-done Wave Serpents, pure white Dire Avengers, basecoated Fire Dragons, an assortment of bare metal and plastic, and of course, the pile of metal/plastic/resin at the far right. In the next few months, all of these (I strongly hope so) is going to be fully painted. Wish me luck!