Razorwings...

So, it was my birthday the other day...

Which meant Cake!

Oh, and also some nice people sent me birthday money, including my fellow blogger Firewasp. Muchly appreciated, as it has allowed me to order the stuff I need to make a start on this pirate project I've been itching to get going on. I've ordered two boxes of wyches and two raiders. I already had my sea turtles, which I've started working on (I need to lash them together with human hair... from my back...) and have also got my razorwing flocks. I wasn't too keen on the GW model (the price was rather off putting, and peoples suggestion of breaking it down into several bases to get your monies worth... well, as the ducks in Open Season state, you can't flock with only two. So anyway, for the razorwing flocks I've picked up the models below from Reaper miniatures.

Sadly no more to say just yet, just gotta wait on the bloody postman now... c'mon, c'mon! :oP

Sea Turtles, matey...

The answer to any pirates riddle.

With these arrived, my bitz also, I'm just waiting on my razorwing flocks... and the cash to buy the two boxes of wyches and two raiders I need, then I can start this project. Itching to make a start on it...

Setting Sail for Winds of War 13...

Those of you who have come to read Insane Heroism having read either Ignatum or Need More Tanks will have seen in the past that Firewasp and I have attended events run by Bracknell Forest Gamers. This event was something our friends went to and reported back favourably on, and so we went along. We too enjoyed our experience, and the pleasant atmosphere combined with it being roughly halfway between where we live has made it into our most regular tournament spot for the past few years.

Now personally I like to do theme armies for Winds of War - it's combat patrol, so 500 points let's me play with things outside my usual comfort zone without committing to an entirely new army. It also lends itself well to small, themed forces. Now in one instance, my Star Wars Guard, I ended up having more theme ideas than 500 points could contain... that army currently sitting pretty at a 2k list, but for the most part 500 points is a fun thing to work with, and if you want a reminder of the crazy stuff I've done check back over this fifth edition review...

Of course, one of our best was the team effort one we did for Halohammer, in 2011. That year we picked up the much coveted Fergus Award, and had a cracking time with a fantastically themed force. Well, we want our trophy back...

Now various ideas had been passed back and forth between us, and some of these may get done in the future... from formula one race teams to classic cartoons to other popular films. But it was something someone said in passing down the local GW that finally clicked into place. They said they'd love to see Dark Eldar, being piratical raiders, converted into something more nautically themed. I was itching to get working on this, being a well known pirate fan. But could we do this for Winds? We'd need something to compliment it, and I didn't think Firewasp was particularly interested in pirates... and then the flash of inspiration occurred...

Ninjas

Ninjas and Pirates, natural enemies, thrust together on the field of battle and forced to work together! Needless to say, Firewasp saw the potential in the idea so we set to planning lists. At first we thought that Death Cult assassins would make great ninjas, but sadly there was no way to get them into the list as scoring in a combat patrol, and we couldn't think of a good way to get the Troops of Grey Knights into the list. We toyed with the idea of samurai but felt that we'd have a very small scoring unit, and no transportation for the army at all. As much as we like a theme, we'd still like it to be playable. Which is a shame as the distrsutful allies of Dark Eldar and Grey Knights would have perfectly suited the relationship between Ninjas and Pirates.

In the end we found that the best bet was a dual Dark Eldar force. We'd just use modelling and painting to define the differences, though using different transports in each list would also help. So, the army lists.

Ninjas

5 wyches (1 hydra gauntlet) inc hekatrix with Blaster Pistol and Power Weapon
ded tran Dual splinter cannon venom with night shields (sneaky ninjas)

5 wyches (1 hydra gauntlet) inc hekatrix with Blaster Pistol and Power Weapon
ded tran Dual splinter cannon venom with night shields (more sneaky ninjas)

10 mandrakes lead by nightfiend - because these guys look very manga and kinda fit the feel of the army

Pirates

10 wyches (2 with shardnets and impalers - they look so nautical!) hekatrix with agoniser
ded tran Raider Shock Prow, Enhanced Aethersails (we're pirates, we NEED sails) Grisly Trophies


10 wyches (2 with shardnets and impalers - they look so nautical!) hekatrix with agoniser
ded tran Raider Shock Prow, Enhanced Aethersails, Grisly Trophies and Torment Grenade Launcher

Beastmaster with two flocks of razorwings


I had ideas for how my army works the moment someone raised the idea of pirate dark eldar back in the workshop... my guys wouldn't use power from pain, they'd get power from RUM! Win a fight, have a drink! As they get more sozzled they feel pain less, gain drunken strength and eventually get so bladdered they feel immortal and become fearless. In my army, Grisly Trophies will be renamed Spare Rum Supplies! THere'll be rum everywhere!

The flocks of razorwings are because someone suggested painting them up as parrots. I did at first struggle with the idea of getting a Beastmaster on a skyboard into the theme, but eventually I struck upon some inspiration. Hell, if the pirate ships are represented by raiders, there's no reason other modes of transport can't move with the times too.

The torment grenade launcher is to represent the terror one of the vessels will inspire in the enemy. For I will of course be going with popular culture for inspiration for my pirates, and one of my raiders will be black, the other more ghostly and rotten.

Yes, I plan to go into battle with both the Black Pearl AND the Flying Dutchman!

Anyway, I've started getting supplies from ebay and checking my bitzboxes... just waiting on some money to come through from one of several overdue directions and I'll pick up the necessary Dark Eldar boxsets and make a start.

I'll leave it to Firewasp to explain what he wants to do with his force. I imagine some ninja/pirate banter will develop over the coming months. Hey, we're working together, no one ever said these two would be friends.

But for now, just for a short while, they may not be the absolute worst of enemies. Ninjas are merely rivals to Pirates... much like Acrington Stanley are rivals to Manchester United... ;oP

Sixth Edition Initiation Game

About 4 months after the rest of the internets I have finally got round to playing my first game of sixth edition. Unfortunately it was at rather short notice. So I rocked up at Ginges house today and borrowed his Ork army for my first game of sixth against his necrons. Essentially playing Orks for the first time against an army I have never played against using a game system I haven't yet played.... so didn't expect to win, however I wasn't expecting things to go quite as badly as it did. So I'm going to use this more of a run down on my feelings of sixth rather then a battle report.

Mission and Deployment
We ended up playing Big guns never Tire with Vanguard deployment type. Not necessarily my ideal deployment type for this game but no matter. I won the roll for deployment and decided to go first. I was hoping to be able to hit Ginges' lines without having to take too many turns of shooting. Didn't quite work out that way though.

Charging:
I think that charging has become a far bigger risk now in 6th edition. With random charge length and overwatch shooting. Frankly, charging large squads in cover with a squad of Orks is more or less pointless. I lost so many models from overwatch fire, by the time I had struck last in combat, the orks were causing less casualties then the crons. Removal of the nearest models doesn't help this either, as trying to thin a squad out prior to charging with shooting just means you have to charge further, making reaching combat less likely, while still having to face a round of overwatch shooting (even if you don't roll high enough to reach combat!?!). This is made even worse in the case of necrons with the nearest models dying, then making their ressurection rolls and resurfacing further away from the assaulting squad, while still being close enough to provide rapid fire overwatch shots.

Challenges:
Frankly, probably the worst army to face challenges against, mind shackle scarabs vs a low leadership army are brutal. Meaning you have a choice between not participating in a combat with your hard as nails Ork, or killing yourself in the second round of combat. Though even if you challenge in the first round of combat (negating the MSS) chances are the lord will just stand back up and either kill you or get you to kill yourself the following combat. Not exactly the cinematic effect GW were aiming for in this case.

Hull Points:
Necrons strip hull points from tanks with grim efficiency, half a squad of shooting would have been slagging land raiders with Ginges rolling in this game. No vehicle survived past the first thing to shoot at it. Frankly it's pointless even talking about it.

Aircraft:
Proved to be entirely ineffective this game, with two dakka jets putting about 18 wounds on a squad of necrons (though Ginge had cleverly placed his lord with 2+ save closest to where they would enter play) meaning he lost about 2 necrons and a single wound on his lord (which the 2 crons just resurrected). When shot at by Ginges annihilation barges they just dropped out the sky. Although needing sixes to hit, with twin linked weapons that score 3 hits for every six rolled, and me failing all the jink saves, well they didn't last long. Against armies that don't have such efficient AA weapons, I can see flyers being hugely effective. Though my inexperience proved to be there downfall more then anything though.

Overall:
I quite enjoyed my first game of sixth, frankly given the circumstances of this game (and Ginges' insanely lucky rolling, I think he probably won't roll another 6 for a good few months) despite it being a complete whitewash I still had a fun time.

I think the game overall has shifted to more of a shooting game, even more then 5th. Which is going to be a pain for my Tyranids (though the loss of no retreat wounds, means they should last twice as long in combat).

I think I will have to try out my Tyranids and Tau next.

The List, The Dreaded List...

In my post yesterday I mentioned that I was doing the Baneblades as I wanted to cross a couple of big items off the To Do list. Of course that is big as in model size, sadly not big in proportion to the rest of the list. Out of a sense of morbid curiosity I made a note of all the things I could think of that I own that need painting. Worryingly, this may not even be a complete list, but here goes...

Key

P - needs painting
B - needs building and painting
RP - bought second hand, needs a repaint to fit my colour scheme
C - needs converting/building and painting

Guard

Baneblade - P
2 x Shadowsword - P
Stormlord - P
Banehammer - P
Avenger Fighter - B
Valkyrie - P
Vulture - P
3 Sentinals - P
Hellhound - P
Hellhound - B
2 x Demolisher - P
4 x Hydra - RP
Leman Russ - RP
Demolisher - RP
Chimera - RP
Basilisk - RP
2 x Chimera - P
4 x Jetbike - B
1 x Landspeeder - B
10 Rough Riders - C
100ish Guardsmen - P
100ish Guardsmen - RP
10 Ogryns - P
30 Kasrkin Stormtroopers - P
Manticore - RP
Several Character Models - P

Orks

Looted Wagon - P
Blitza Bommer - P
10 Stormboyz - P
5 Nobz - P
15-20 Boyz - P
Mega Dredd - B
26 Deffkoptas - B
Land Raider Battle Wagon Conversion - C
5 Tankbustas and Bomb squigs - B
Several Character Models - B

Necrons

Doomsday Ark - B

Empire

5 Pistoliers - B
5 Knights - P
24 Handgunners - P
20 Halberdiers - P
Steam Tank - B
30ish Militia - P
10 Crossbowmen - P
5 Huntsmen - P
Celestial Hurricanum - P
Hellstorm Rocket Battery - B
20 Swordsmen - P
Cannon - P
Hellblaster - P
Several Character Models - P

Tomb Kings

20 Skeleton Archers - P
2 Screaming Skull Catapult Conversions - P
3 Ushabti - P
Bone Giant - B
10 Skeleton Cavalry - P
Casket of Souls - P
Battle Standard Bearer - P

Dark Elves

40 Corsairs - P
2 Reaper Bolt Throwers - P
20 Spearmen - P
Several Character Models

Miscellaneous

Model Contents of Space Hulk - P
Model Contents of DreadFleet - B
30 Fallen Angels from a long shelved project - P
15 Space Marine Bikers from a dead project - P
24 Dogs of War Pikemen that are currently unusable in my Empire Army - B
9 Pink Horrors from a "some day a tzeentch daemon army" project - P
Wrecked Land Raider Scenery Conversion - C
10 Boombunnies of Khorne for an apoc scenario - P
1 large box of second hand chaos space marines that I use for conversions which includes still about 10 terminators, a lord, 30 beserkers, 10 chosen, 5 possessed and a predator... I have NO idea what to do with that lot :oP

So there's my list... what should I do next? I know what I want to do most... make a start on my Winds of War 13 project! For which I don't even have the models yet. THIS is why this list grew so long. Every time I sit down to make a crack at it I see somethi... OOOOH SHINY! *leaves blog post unfinished*

Arrogance is a Virtue

At least, it is when it's tank shaped, and the Orksies have one just as big!

Decided to get a couple of big jobs off my painting "To Do" list

The Fortress of Arrogance, Yarricks personal transport, is a minor conversion - a little plasticard and some pieces from the city buildings sprue created his pulpit, and the paint job was simplicity itself. Hard to tell here but there is a red line around the pulpit, the turret housing and the top of the guns.

The skullhammer took somewhat longer, with having SO much red to paint. Some extras from the Stompa kit and a spare cannon from one of the variants in the shadowsword box went into this, plus a few spare grots and a couple of bits from the Ork Truk sprue.

And finally, if an Ork is smiling at you, be worried....

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