Saturday, April 30, 2011

WIP Zenithal Grey Knights part two

Here they are all detailed out and finished (except the banner).

And some clearer shots of them.

It's gonna be airbrushing tonight after dinner. For now. Some rest!

Friday, April 29, 2011

WIP: Zenithal Grey Knights part one

After 2 days of intense painting I have finally finished painting the never ending details found in these new miniatures.

Gamesworkshop have done a phenomenal job in the sculpts of the GK. Too much maybe because I've never spent so much time painting details in my life!!!

Nonetheless they are now ready for the next and final stage of the painting.

Airbrushed power weapons and of cause the important OSL effect from the power weapons.

Greyscale washes.

To further elaborate on j-hova's previous post on using washes. This is how my mentioned greyscale washing looks like.

As you can see the two models the ghoul has been completed with asurmen blue and ogryn flesh wash.

The skeleton is simply washed with badab black after a white primer. Then drybrushed with white again to make sure the raised areas are white again to absorb and show the colors of the wash to follow.

How I did the ghoul was after achieving the "greyscale". I simply washed the skin with asurmen blue. Then again with orgyn flesh on the blue. And ogryn flesh on the cloths.

As you can see the results are quite impressive for a 5min paintjob.

Just remember to allow the washes to completely dry before adding other colors!!!

Now go get some washes and produce that army in 3 hours!!! Haha!

Thursday, April 28, 2011

20 min nids




speed paint trial model. this only took 15 minutes do joke.

Harro prease!!! WELCOMING U TO FENRIS FROM HONG KONG!!!




Old Website

Unbelievable I actually found my old site! Was talking to Joasht yesterday about my Craftworld story and then I searched online for my old website. I found two editions of it.

The first was this made in the 22nd Oct 2000: http://warpod40k.tripod.com/ It sure did suck!

This was the second one although the original source has gone down (Geocities) so this is an archived version of it: http://www.oocities.org/enrgie.rm. This was completed 5th June 2001

To prevent the loss of my fluff for my Eldar, I am replicating it here!


Terga-Dare (always on the flee)




Warp clouds swirl in a deadly dance to entice the ever-inquisitive minds of mortals, to draw upon their life essences Man call Spirit. Situated at the heart of the Eye Of Terror, sits the edifice belonging to She Who Thirsts, the bane of all Eldar. It was the Eldar who gave 'birth' to it, and it is the Eldar that will remain in a never-ending quest to elude Her grasp. Of the many Craftworlds which escaped the Great Catastrophe, Terga-Dare was but one. However, as it turned out to be, this Craftworld was not totally untouched by Her touch.

As the portents had warned the higher Seers of Terga-Dare of the imminent destruction awaiting their decadent lifestyle, the civilization had prepared for the flight from their homeworld on a vast vessel they called the Craftworld. The more wise Eldar civilizations in the perimeter sectors around Terga-Dare also embarked upon this task of preparation. As the hour approached with the completion of the Craftworld, so began the long journey from its homeworld, carrying with it, the entire civilization of Terga-Dare.

Developing the Aspect Paths was a means as to control the emotions that ran in the complex mind of an Eldar. It also served another purpose, defence against boarding troops. Peace and tranquillity was attained again aboard the Craftworld with sufficiency.

After wandering about for a few thousand light years, the Great Catastrophe struck the Eldar race as forewarned. In one swift stroke, the once large empire of the Eldar was nothing but a wisp of smoke trailing in the winds. Worlds were rendered apart; souls were consumed, as She Who Thirsts was given birth. Of the Craftworlds, many were consumed as they were still within the radius of the cataclysmic vortex blast. Terga-Dare had barely escaped. As the ripple spread outwards from what is now known as the Eye of Terror, half of the Craftworld was badly shaken as a wave of death took grasp and shook the vessel to its core. The musk of death hung in the corridors of the vessel as soulless husks fell to the ground, fuelling Her birth. As the vessel barely pulled itself away from the great vortex, those that did not die were tainted badly. Horrendous mutations of the mind as well as the body took place. Once brethren, those who were touched killed everyone around them. Painful as it was to watch an already dying world being murdered by its own people, the decision had to be made. Thus the Seers called for a culling of those tainted, as it was imperative before they murdered all those who were untouched. However, none anticipated the possibility of the taint touching the Aspects.

The temple and its occupants, the Striking Scorpions were among those going amok, pulling chainswords in swivelling arcs, bringing death to all around them including members of the Temple. Masters pitting against students, allies now turned into empty minded killing machines. The fight that ensued was long and bloody as Storm Guardian squads backed up by Howling Banshees entered into close combat with the potent hand-to-hand combatants. It was the count of numbers that finally brought the Craftworld its victory against its usurpers. Those who went berserk but manage to flee-minds barely intact-using the escape boats promised of vengeance.
As a direct result of this carnage, the Craftworld shrunk in size immeasurably. The once grand temple of Scorpions now stands erect amid the torn section of the Craftworld. It also stands today, as a reminder to the Terga-dare of their purpose. It was they who had unleashed this hellspawn and it will be them who will purge it. Hence, they have adopted the purplish-red colour scheme. A constant reminder of the suffering and death that they have ensnared upon their own beings. The Terga-Dare has also tasked themselves with the duty of bringing back the glory of what once the Eldar's. In that perspective, they share a common interest with many Craftworlds scattered all over the universe now. However, the Terga-Dare do not invoke the other races unnecessarily as the lack of numbers limit them from entering protracted fights. Swiftness backed up by heavy artillery is their key to victory hence the employment of Falcons and Wave Serpents in addition to their growing number of Dark Reapers. This is unique to Terga-Dare, as they rarely stay too long in a fight. In many ways their tactics are akin to their darker counterparts. Howling Banshees, brandishing power swords, which have played a vital role in bringing peace to the Craftworld at its infancy, play a vital role in dispensing death to their opponents. The Craftworld however, do not have a Scorpion Temple, limiting them only to the use of Banshees as close combatants. Their contempt for usurper races that mushroomed in the bleakness of the Eldar grows strong as they continue to watch their own race die while others survive to populate the stars.

Currently the Seers have been drawn to a sector heavily populated by Mon-Keigh, called Anaris. Recent recon [refer +++Recon Ambush+++ (not ready)] has revealed that there are artefacts of the past that could lead to the position of a great weapon known as the Extinguisher of Stars. This single weapon could render worlds apart and tear galaxies in but a whiff. It is this knowledge that has caused the Craftworld to gear up once more for war. It will be a long battle but its Seers have wicked plans to ensnare a local garrison of Marines, known, as the Emperor's Fury situated not too many stars away, to foolishly slaughter the local resistance of Imperial Guard. Less resistance would result in rendering the planet easy for the picking.



WIP: Tyrant

More WIP shots of my growing army. Built the Tyrant yesterday with Ethan over at my place while he worked on his Grey Knights. I actually took Alvin's advise and tried to magnetize the arms of the Tyrant but it took me close to 30 minutes just to drill out half a hole! I gave up and decided to just glue all the arms to the body. In the event that I require shooty arms in the future I reckon I will just get a new model. There are hints that there will be a plastic kit coming but I would not hold my breath for it. 



RAWR!


While I was browsing earlier I came across this mega  battle: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jontlaw/5658808549/in/pool-1606491@N21/lightbox/

Check it out!


Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Trying out Zenithal painting from Dakka Dakka

As seen in the Dakka forums very recently. I decided to give this method a try. Used the airbrush as instructed. And blasted mithril silver from the top only.

As can see from the picture at the bottom. The miniature is almost totally black when seen from the underneath.

More pics as I progress!!

WIP: Tyranids

So what have I been up to these past few weeks? For one, some anti-tank solution! As you guys know, Sporecon 2011 is fast approaching and this calls for some serious painting work to be done. I like tourneys simply because it focuses the mind and forces me to complete the units that I have been testing around with. So here are 3 more Hive Guard for all those arm 10-12 vehicles. More to come over the following days.




These are new purchases I have made to anticipate the tourney. Got myself more Genestealers to pad out the assault. The Marines and other spare bits in there belong to Ethan


Friday, April 22, 2011

Exams are over! Dreadknight is here.

Finally had time to touch my miniatures and went straight for the awesome dreadknight!

Been awhile since I did anything special for the bases for my miniatures. Since the base for the dreadknight was so large. I decided it deserved something a little more than just sand and flock. So I went through my bits and put this base together.

Now filled with miniatures instead of books and notes!

This guy is so huge and cool. I just decided that I need one more in my army. Who cares if they magnets for heavy fire? They are cool and that's all that matters!!! Will try to paint him up this weekend. Pics up as soon as I'm done!

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

WIP: Genestealers

Was on leave yesterday so I worked on my Genestealers so here area few pictures of the critters. Do bear in mind that I still have to finish the last highlights so this really is 2/3 complete. I hope to finish all 28 of them for Sporecon 2011. 

Feeder tentacles! Onnnmmmonnnmmmm

Anyone with any idea how I can make those tentacles more menacing?



Friday, April 8, 2011

Grey Knights - Not The Best Starter Army




I originally posted this on the B&C, but I figured I'd post it here as well, since it was fairly lengthy :X

I was reminded to watch the Beasts of War videos also by this thread, and starting from the very beginning, I realized that they are touting Grey Knights as the "best starter army" out there.

Now, don't get me wrong. I love the BoW guys as their videos are informative and entertaining, but I don't always agree with what they are saying and this is one of those times where I think I should just chip in, perhaps, to stop newbies from swarming this forum thinking this is an "easy mode I win" army because they are not. It is also to the benefit of the newbies to know this, so they don't go blow thousands of dollars and hundreds of hours only to realize that the GK's aren't their cup of tea.

Yes, I do agree that if you look at it from the perspective of "less models to buy" and "easy to paint" then sure, they aren't too bad, but from a playing perspective its a very different thing.

Why do I say they aren't the best starters?
1) They Really Aren't A "Close Combat Army"
For reasons I cannot understand, they have been touted as a specialist close combat army that would murder anything they lay their fingers on, and the trick is only to get them into close combat. And, apparently, they cannot play the shooting game.

Seriously? Jeez. Your basic Grey Knights fight a little better than your average Space Marine by sheer virtue of their Force Weapons, which may or may not activate, with the potential of Hammerhand, which may or may not activate (I'll talk more about psychic powers in a while). You *pay* for those weapons, and while they seem cheap for what they do, you are forced to take them and because everyone has them, you do not have "ablative wound" Grey Knights. When they die prior to striking in close combat, you lose most of those points for nothing, because a Force Weapon isn't doing anything if it isn't hitting you.

Your "Elite" choices, the Purifiers, Paladins and Terminators, have only two attacks each when not charging. Not even three, just two. Yes, Purifiers have Cleansing Flame, which works once in a while and may kill something, but it is not substitute for one extra attack. So what you end up with is what I call a low "attack saturation" - basically, model-for-model, point-for-point, you don't have very many melee attacks. They also die like Space Marines (I'll talk a little more about that later) and there are a number of good assault units out there that would kill you. Sure you may kill quite a number of them as well, but remember that your Elite choices are generally very expensive.

The most close-combat-orientated unit in the book IMO are the Death Cult Assassins, which I have mentioned several times on the forums. These Genestealler-wannabe's are the real deal - high WS, good S, and a ton of power weapon attacks for less points than your cheapest Grey Knight. Problem? They aren't exceptionally fast, and they are really squishy. Slow squishy close combat units were not designed for new players.

Assuming you are actually playing a "Grey Knight" army (i.e. not a Henchmen spam), the Grey Knights were, are, and probably always will be a mid-field army. Most of their firepower is at that 24" band, and few are higher or lower than that. You basically play them like a pseudo-shooty army, assaulting or shooting/falling back as the situation requires. If you just rush them up and try to shove them down the throat of the enemy thinking they are invincible in close combat, there is a chance that against certain armies/players you will likely fail.

2) They Lack Movement Options
Before some people go all "But you have Deep Strike, transports, Storm Ravens and shunt teleportation!", hear me out. You pay points for those Force Weapons everyone *has* to take, and if they aren't delivered into close combat (e.g. you die before getting there) then it would all have gone to waste. In addition, the great number of TDA units and characters means that you are forced to take either a Land Raider or Storm Raven (very expensive), risk Deep Striking (Mystics/Teleport Homers are rarely found and Servo Skulls only reduce the danger, although admittedly by a decent amount), or just slowly footslog. Also, unlike other Space Marine armies, you lack things like cheaper Jump Packs, bikes/cavalry (lol Space Wolves), Land Speeders and Drop Pods.

If you play a Rhino, then all armies are just as fast as that, so you aren't any faster. And your Terminators aren't going anywhere.
If you play a Razorback, you would use them for a single turn of movement before you disembark to shoot. And your Terminators aren't going anywhere.
If you play a Land Raider/Storm Raven you run the risk of shrinking your already-very-small army even further.
If you play Teleporter units (Interceptors/Dreadknight) then you pay a lot for them, further worsening your "attack saturation". Now, I love Interceptors because I can see a powerful application for them, but you have to keep in mind an Interceptor is no better at fighting than a GKSS, which is a full six points less per model, and I already do not rate the GKSS's very highly for combat capability.
If you Deep Strike, it is a risk unless you somehow work Teleport Homers and Mystics into your list. Servo Skulls are great, but aren't an absolute safety net. And even with all that, they may fail to show up when you need them, or arrive too early.
If you footslog....well it could work I guess, but it is very slow, which is in itself a big problem.


3) They Are (very expensive) Space Marines
Everyone who has ever played 40k either owns, or has played a billion times against, a Space Marine army. Every army will inevitably take enough guns and/or melee specialists to make sure Space Marines die. Now, this is a universal problem for all Space Marines, but for the GKs even more so because your cheapest GK costs 25% more than a regular Space Marine, and it just goes up from there.

Small elite armies are *not easy* to play. There is little margin for error because every loss *will* hurt you, and even your cheapest sacrificial unit is a noticeable percentage of your army list.

4) Grey Knights Are Not (necessarily) Overpowered
While I am certain many are trying to "break" the codex (and may succeed eventually), there is no clear-cut "I win" button. Nothing is really "exceptionally cheap" as even the GKSS, despite only paying a small sum over a normal Marine for all that kit, can only effectively apply that kit in certain ways. Some, including myself, have mentioned that the biggest possible cheese to come out of the codex may actually come from the non-Grey Knight side of the codex, which means two things:

a) The main attractive part of the Grey Knights, aka the Grey Knights themselves, would probably have a significantly smaller role to play in these lists.
b) Henchmen models are either expensive old metal models, or would require extensive modelling, neither of which are easy for a person who is new to gaming. Not to mention you can't just spray them silver and call it a day.

This also means that one of the stronger "plus points" for the GK's being a good beginner army (cheap to collect, easy to paint) would be nullified if the player decides to go down the Inquisition route.

5) Bling
Grey Knights have a lot of "bling" - toys that may or may not work, either because they are situational or very costly. It is difficult for even some experienced players to tell apart the "toys" and the "actual good stuff", let alone leaving newer players to make that decision. Sure, they could just follow wholesale what is preached on the internet, but then they don't really learn anything. Many good gamers actually go against the grain (so to speak), having their own unique playstyles, lists and preferences that go against the common consensus - things you cannot develop from just following what others say as gospel truth.

One more thing I'd like to mention about "bling" are the Psychic Powers. They sound great and they are great when they work, but they don't actually always work. Often I've seen people take into consideration Hammerhand into their reasoning why GKs are so far superior, how Force Weapons seem to always be "on" (without the Banner), how GK vehicles are "immune to shaken and stunned since they can easily remove it". Fact is:
a) Psychic Tests can fail, especially if your Justicar dies and you are stuck at Ld 8.
b) Perils of the Warp have a 1/18 chance of happening. Not entirely a small chance.
c) Most people play psychic defenses. I never play a Space Marine army in 5th without a Librarian of sorts, and you have to realize that things like Psychic Hoods, Shadow in the Warp etc make your Psychic tests very prone to failure.

6) Complex Army Construction
All the factors mentioned above make building a good GK army fairly difficult, and often times, means you will have to give up certain things to be effective.

Now, I am not saying that GKs are a bad starter army - they are decent and certainly a lot better than say, Dark Eldar. But IMHO, they may actually be one of the harder Space Marine armies to play because of these numerous factors.

Thoughts? Thanks!

Wednesday, April 6, 2011

Wayland free shipping order 1!

Awaiting the grey knights next!!!

Tomb Kings: Big Monstrous Creatures!

Got the latest rumours in my mailbox this morning and boy I am excited for the Tomb King players all around the globe! Look at this!

Looks fantastic and certainly seems like GW holds it's ground as best miniature producers! Rumours first appeared at Warseer [http://www.warseer.com/forums/showpost.php?p=5438538&postcount=103]. These were also found over at Beast of War [http://www.beastsofwar.com/warhammer-fantasy/sands-stirring-beware-tomb-kings/?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter]. Happy gaming people! 









More details which I found over at Khemri.co.uk [http://z4.invisionfree.com/Khemri/index.php?showtopic=7605]


Book is hardcover. 

About the new models:
Warsphinx:
- Can be used as mount for Tomb King or Tomb Prince, or Tomb Guard, with a base to mount the Tomb King on foot
- Special choice
- Can have poison attacks and/or breath weapon
- The one with the face and wings has heroic killing blow
- Theres another version called the Necrosphinx
- "Thundercrush" attack

Necropolis knights:
- Riders have killing blow
- will have an equivalent It came from below rule
- mounts have poison attacks
- monstrous cavalry

Sepulcre stalkers:
- monstrous beasts
- It came from below
- Gaze that turns enemies into sand

Tomb guard:
- remain special

Archers:
- Still dont suffer modifiers to hit.

Chariots:
- D6 impact hits.
- Each rank adds +1strength to the impact hits

Skeleton cavalry:
- Archers get scout
- Both get Vanguard

New Tomb Kings Models!







Pics from Warseer.

LinkWithin

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...