Sunday, April 26, 2009

The Shadow Host of Karandras

Here's my pride and joy: The Shadow Host of Karandras. It's a scorpion based eldar army that I used throughout the 2008 tournament year. I picked up two 2nd and a 3rd best painted with it, my first foray into painting awards.

Here's the fluff to go with the army:

This army represents the Shadowhost led by the Striking Scorpion Phoenix Lord, Karandras. The force is his personal speartip that Karandras uses to continue his endless hunt for his predecessor, Arhra the Father of Scorpions, who now burns with the dark light of chaos. Karandras knows that he must eventually bring this traitor to justice. As a result of this mission, the army must be mobile, hence the mechanised theme. 

I loved the new Scorpion models when I first saw them, and knew that I would want to include them in a future army. When I started to design the army, it was suggested to me that I should make the army a Scorpion Cult. I also did never really like the green of the GW Scorpions, and knew that I wanted to do my own take on the models. 

Rules when selecting the Army:

• All models must have the ability to move 24” a turn (through Jetbikes or Transports)
• The Elites Category must have the highest percentage of points spent in it to ensure a solid core of Scorpions

This presents a real tactical challenge in the game, as at 1500pts it is really only viable to take two troops choices, which is in my mind sub-optimal, but it definitely makes it more of a game for both players!


And the pics:

> Karandras, the obvious leader of his own spearhead. He has assembled this force in order to continue his pursuit of his former master, and leads it from the front. He focuses primarily on the fighting, and leaves organisation to others.

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> The Second-in-Command: Farseer Al-Ruith Oth. He carries out the usual responsibilities of a leader, and makes the battle plans for the army, based off his psychic readings and premonitions. This is reflected by his Fortune power.

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> The Master of Logistics: Autarch with Fusion Gun, Power Weapon and Mandiblasters

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> Three Squads of Striking Scorpions: All Exarchs have Scorpion’s Claws. The two squads of ten ride in Wave Serpents, while the other squad rides in the Falcon. These squads provide the punch behind the army, and are usually the units that dish out the most damage.

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> Five Scorpions on Jetbikes (Guardian Jetbikes) including an Exarch with a Claw and Meltagun (Warlock with Singing Spear). This unit provided a great oppurtunity for conversion, and they have become one of my favourite units, both in and out of the game.

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> Two Squads of Scorpions in light body suits (Storm Guardians) including two Meltaguns, and an Exarch with Claw and Meltagun (Warlock with Singing Spear). They are mounted in Wave Serpents. These suits are less protective and lighter than the normal suit, representing the 5+ Save and Fleet. The models are the 2nd Edition Scorpions, which sit nicely next to their modern counterparts, but I am still awaiting the day that these units do any damage!

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> A Falcon Gunship. This provides a transport vehicle for the smaller Scorpion squad and some much needed firepower.

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Saturday, April 25, 2009

Dark Elves Done!

Hi all,

Here are some pics of my latest army. They were started as part of the NZ tale of x gamers thread (http://www.wargamerau.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=60427), which was quickly derailed. However, I was one of the few of us who actually kept working on my army, and now it is finished.

Without further ado:

Supreme Sorceress on Dark Pegasus

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BSB on Dark Steed

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Sorceress on foot

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Cauldron

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Spearmen

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Repeater Xbowmen

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Dark Riders

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Harpies

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Chariot

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Black Guard

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RBTs

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Hydra

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The army will be having its first tournament outing in 3 weeks at Runefang II.

Enjoy!

Saturday, April 18, 2009

Progress (perhaps!)

Okay, I managed to get all of the legion shoulder pads finished, as well as starting on some shields

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Also, thanks to Hagen and his leftover possessed bits, I put together the Chosen yesterday. I really like the way they came out.

Naked guys

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Flamers

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Meltaguns

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Icon and pseudo champ

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I don't have a champ in the squad for the FOB list, but this guy can be a regular pleb until I managed to fit a champ in there.

More shields will be done today, and then who knows. I might make the zerkers, paint some chosen, paint a tank, or maybe just paint some backpacks.

More stuff

A set of Spaced Armour got a lick of paint last night, and I was really pleased with how it turned out. The scheme transferred without any problems.

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I also blutacked together a bezerker to try out some ideas I had. I really do like how the shield has come out, and they will be used as unit markings. 8 of these guys in close formation should look pretty impressive methinks.

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As usual, comments welcome etc.

World Eaters Begin

For Fields of Blood 2009, I am going back to my favourite army, the World Eaters. My previous version that I painted 4 or 5 years ago now was made up of some pro-painted models that were then fleshed out by models that I painted. However, these were the first models that I had ever painted, so there was quite a difference in paintjobs across the army.

The old army, which I used to win Conflict 2005 here in Wellington, was made up of footslogging berzerkers, with bloodletter and fleshhound support. Now, in the days of 5th ed, an massive overhaul of playing style is needed, including adding many rhinos, so what better time to start the army from scratch!

Having been something of a painting machine in the last year (2000pts of Eldar, 2250 of Lizardmen and Dark Elves, and around 3500pts of Goblins) the deadline of September for the army seems more than managable. Last year, my eldar placed second in the beauty pageant to Charlie's (Proximity) Pre Heresy EC's, and I would like this army to achieve around the same level. No pressure then... tongue.gif 

Anyway, that's enough boring waffle, time for some pics.

First up, we have the bloodletters, which I assembled and painted before even taking the rest of the army of the sprue for some reason. Who knows? Maybe I like the models biggrin.gif 

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And some closeups

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Also, in the process of making the army fit for 5th edition, I obviosly needed to make some rhinos. Now, I am a big sucker for Forgeworld stuff (can't wait for the new Daemon Prince and Blood Slaughterer!), and I think I managed to double the cost (and weight) of these rhinos by loading them with resin. I don't know if I did or not, as I did the usual trick of progressing through the Forgeworld checkout page with my eyes shut armata_PDT_11.gif 

Here's one for the chosen squad

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And a closeup of the work needed to make the icon fit

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Here's one for a zerker squad. The only difference is the guy in the hatch

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Finally, I had found a great example of a Khorne Prince online, and saved it to use later. Just after I make it, I pick up the latest White Dwarf, and lo and behold, the model's in the army showcase. What are the chances?

Here then is my incredibly unoriginal Daemon Prince

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Luckily for all, I'm on holiday at the moment, so updates should be quite frequent. I'll put together a mock up of a zerker soon, as well as maybe seeing how the paint scheme transfers to tanks and power armour.

Let me know what you think. Any comments, suggestions, criticism are welcome!