Akira Dark Eldar Reaver diorama

Just like the title says, I started work on a diorama based of the poster for Akira, here is the poster as a reference:


And here is the diorama after the base coat has been applied:

Dark Eldar Venom conversion

To round out my army to a balanced 500 points, I built myself a Venom transport for my Archon and a handful of Kabalite True born, using the chassis of an Eldar Vyper, sails from the Raider kit, and bits from the Reaver Jetbikes kit.



The riders will represent the standard twin linked splinter rifle, and it has an under slung splinter cannon if I choose to take it as an upgrade. . Plenty of room in the back to place or remove a mini to represent if a unit is mounted in it or not.

Assault on Cathagon Majoris, Dark Eldar vs. Imperial Guard

Lists:
DE:
Homunculus
Homunculus
9 Wyches, Hekatrix, phantasm grenade launcher, one wych has a hydra gauntlet
Raider, nightfields
9 Wyches, Hekatrix, phantasm grenade launcher, one wych has a hydra gauntlet
Raider, nightfields
480 Points
IG:
Company Commmand Squad,Commander with Bolt Pistol and Power Sword, naked vets, Chimera (multilaser)
Veteran Squad, Grendiers, 3x Plasma Guns
Veteran Squad, Grenadiers, 3x Grenade launchers
Veteran Squad, Grenadiers, 2x Meltaguns
497 points
Scenario: Annihilation

Deployment:Played on a 4by4 table, standard Dawn of War Deplyoment,DE deplyosvfirst, IG get first turn
>Dark Eldar: Predictably, i put the wych squads (from now on Squads A and B) in raiders, each is joined by a Homunculus for the Pain Token. I placed my raiders behind cover, to protect them from Plasma and Multilas fire.


>Imperial Guard
Taking advantage of the substantial cover provided by the large fortress piece on his side of the table, DJ (new guard dude, used to play Fantasy O&G) places Plasma and Grenad Lunacher squads on the battlements of the fortress, the Company Command Squad (inside the command Chimera) goes outside of the wall, supported by the Melta Guard squad. NOTE: We didn't bother to check the requirements for Orders, so the commander was giving orders while embarked in a vehicle, which is illegal. Mistake on my part, I should have remembered.



Turn One:
IG
Thanks to my Eldar trickery, all my raiders are in cover or too far to be shoot. As such, DJ rolls his chimera forward to get a better view of the open space of the battlefield, and that is it.
DE:
Move both raiders forward. Squad A's raider plants itself behind a tower, keeping it safe from most fire, and the Wyches dis-embark (This proves to be a bad idea, I misjudged the distance from the Tower to the Chimera, more on it in a second.)Squad B's raider parks itself atop a wall, and those wyches take cover behind the wall, keeping them safe from fire (but that leaves my raider open to fire, bad move on my part.) Going into the shooting phase, I run Squad A behind the cover of the tower, and Raider B shoots the Command Chimera, but fails to penetrate it's armor.

Turn 2:
IG
The Chimera opens fire with its Multilaser, and wrecks Raider B, while the Grenade Launcher squad launches frag rounds into the clumped together Squad B. Luckily, all shoots miss. However, Melta Squad's las-fire isn't as in-accurate,and three wyches of Squad B are killed.
DE
Wych squad B moves into assault range of the Demo Squad, but takes aim with their pistols at the Grenade Launcher squad, killing a single guardsmen. Squad A re-embarks Raider A, as it fires a dark lance into the rear of the Chimera, stunning the crew. Squad B assault the Demo Guard, however, they only innflict one wound, and recieve one in turn.


Turn 3:
IG
With the Demo squad in combat, the Chimera stunnded, and my raider safely hidden, all the guard can do is to continue the combat with Squad B, which they lose, but hold fast.
DE:Raider A cruises forward, dropping Squad A, who run up the ramparts and assault the Plasma veterans, killing 3. Squad B slaughters the melta veterans, and consolidate into cover.

Turn 4:
IG:
The Command Chimera opens fire on my exposed raider, but its paper thin armor holds fast. However, the commanding officer's fire holds true, and the raider explodes, killing two of the command squad veterans. The Plasma veterans lose one man to the wych assault.
DE: Wych squad A kills two more plasma vets, losing one Wych themselves. Squad B rushes under cover.

Turn 5:
IG:
The Chimera moves forward and unleashes a fusillade of fire into wych Squad B, killing 3 wyches. The Grenade vets hop from their position on the walls, and open fire on wych Squad B, killing all but one and the Homunculus. The Plasma vets are killed to a man.

DE: Both wych squads launch an assault on the Grenade vets, but only manage to kill two, but take no casualties.

Turn 6:
The Plasma Vets continue the Combat, but the wyches go first, inflicting 18 wounds.
NOTE: We called it here (a tie), as I had to get home, and there wasn't much left to do. Using kill points, I got a win, having killed 3 units, while DJ killed two, so a minor victory to me.

Dose O' Hobby 1/11/2011

Here are some greens I have been working on:




And here are my two converted Dark Eldar homunuculi. The torso and legs are from the Empire Flaggelants kit. Filling down the neck, I used heads taken from the Kabalite Warriors and Reaver kits. The gun wielding arms are taken from the Wyche kit,and th claw arms are filed down and green stuff'd Ghoul arms.

The Road to Korbsliebe, part 3

The Goblins encircle Rankar, as Illiaster notches an arrow. Letting it fly, he misses his shot, and quickly lets loose another arrow, which hits a goblin through the chest, knocking it to the ground. Growing even more infuriated throughout the encounter, Rankar smash another greenskin in a earth shattering blow, pulverizing its arm beneath the spiked iron ball of his flail. Delila manages to hang on to life for another round, as both Ozard and Hans charge the nearest greenskins to them, Ozard cutting into a goblin's kneecap with his sword as Hans crushes a knocked-out gobbo with a mighty chop of his great axe.With all the goblins knocked out cold, Illiaster and Hans go to the work of finishing off the greenskins that are still breathing.

Rankar lifts Delila's unconscious body over his shoulder as Hans checks his compass and points the party down a path in the woods, which leads to the nearest town, 50 miles away. On the path, Delila almost dies, but spends a fortune point, and lives. They reach a crossroads where they encounter a caravan of merchants. "Halt, who goes there?" Yells a pox stricken guard, waving a torch in their direction. Rankar, using his public speaking skill, manages to convince the caravaner to allow the part to ride with them to Altdorf, in the back of the cart with the pigs. "Except for the elf" spits the guard "He can walk."

Two hours into the night, the caravan comes under assault by a band of highwaymen. "Load a cart with your finest goods" yells the bandit's fierce looking leader "Leave it with us, and you may be on your way, or else come under fire from our guns."
While the caravaners debate over what to do, Illiaster attempts to sneak behind a bandit, only to be caught and held prisoner. After waking Ozard, Rankar focuses on the bandit leader, and notices the 8-pointed Star of Chaos branded into his bare chest. Before his battle-rage can come to a froth, Illiaster attempts to attack his capturer with his quarter staff, only to be blocked and struck in the face with a cudgel, dazing him and leaving a nasty black eye.

"ATTACK" yells the bandit chief, and a volley of fire comes form a cluster of bandits with handguns. A lead ball manages to find its way to Ozard's chest, but his natural dwarfish toughness absorbs most of the force of the poor quality bullet. Several knife wielding bandits engage Illaiaster and Hans, as a caravan guard bursts from behind a cart, and with a cry of "have at you!" joins the fray. The Champion calls out to Rankar in a learing voice, and Rankar, driven into his battle-rage by the sight of Chaos taint, accepts the challenge, charging into combat without a though of self preservation.

He swings his flail in a mighty arch, but it the bandit leader's armor absorbs the blow. Up close, the warrior is a hulking brute of a man, towering over Rankar, a blood frenzied look in his eyes.

The chaos dwarf and DE stuff is on hold till tomorrow, as I am still working on some of it.

Unboxing: Protectorate of Menoth Battlebox

I'm going to start doing a series of "un-boxings", from various ranges of miniatures.
First unboxing: Unboxing a "battlebox" set for the Warmachines faction "The Protectorate of Menoth."

The box comes packed with one "Warcaster" (for those who play 40k, think of him as the HQ, but a really powerful HQ, and one that your army relies on to function well), one "Heavy Warjack" (big, tough combat unit) and two "Light Warjacks" (weaker, still designed to kill stuff), all in little plastic bags, as opposed to a sprue. Along with that, comes a fold out poster, with the basic rules of the game, and stats for basic units:

along with that comes a set of cards with the stats and special rules for each unit in the box, seen here:

Now, because I have no foresight, I torn into the models and built them all without taking pictures of the kits pre-assembly. However, I do have some words to say about the models. Most of the pieces fit together very nicely, and they are made of decent quality plastic, with few mold lines or imperfections on them, which is always a plus. I don't know if this is exclusive to just the battleboxes, but the kits are lacking in modelling potential. No extra bits or pieces are provided, and the models fit together in very specific ways, so kit-bashing is a no, unless you also want to do additional sculpting. The quality of the miniatures are also a step down form GW, Perry, or AoW standards, though this is to be expected from a cheap ($50) starter box. Some pictures of the built models:



Overall, the low quality sculpting is more than made up for by th value the box presents. Full rules, for both the main game and the models, plus a small starting force, and the cards for each model, all wrapped up in a $50 package.

The next update for Road to Korbslieb is going to be up tomorrow around,as is some Dark Eldar stuff, and maybe some of my Chaos Dwarf stuff.

Battlereport: The Empire vs. Tyranids

You read that right. After breifly discussing it, Mike and I disided to try mixing the two more poplular GW systems, and running a 40k vs. Fantasy game. He used a 1750 point Tyrannid list, and I used my tourney list:
LORDS:
Arch Lector, AoMI, War Altar, Hammer of Judgment, Van Horstrum's Speculum: 305
Wizard Lord, Lvl4,Armor of Taurnus , Dispell Scroll: 270
HEROES:
Warrior Priest, Heavy Armor, Shield: 96
Warrior Priest, Heavy Armor, Greatweapon, 98
Captain, BSB, Full Plate, Enchanted Shield, Dragon Bow.113
CORE:
30 Swordsmen, Full Command, 205
30 Halberdiers, Full Command, 170
30 Halberdiers, Full Command, 170
30 Flaggalents, Prophet of Doom: 310
SPECIAL:
2x Cannons: 200
2xMortar:150
Rare:
Helblaster, 110
Steam Tank: 300
His list (approximatively)
Swarmlord
Tyranid Prime w/ 2x bone swords
~accompanied by 5 warriors

20 "Devil"gaunts{with devourers)
20 Termagants
20 Hormagaunts
2x Zoanthropes
1x Tervigon w/ Cluster spines, AG,TS
1x Biovore
1x Trygon
Setu/deployment:
We played on a 6by4 standard table, with a fence dividing it in two parts, and several buildings on my side. Mike deploys first, moving his bug horde as close as possible to my lines. I respond by deploying right on the table edge, with my cannons and mortars in buildings.

His deployment, with a trygon and a pack of genestealers in reserve.

Turn 1 (Tyranids)
The gaunt packs rush forward over the fences, along with the Swarmlord and Warriors. The Tervigon launches its cluster spines into my 30 man Swordsmen unit, killing. In one turn, though the Swordsmen hold. The devilgaunts turn their attention to my Middenheim Halberdiers (the blue ones) and kill 3 with shooting.

Turn 1 (Empire)
Having lost a massive chunk of troops, I begin by attempting to cast Pit of Shades on the Tervigon, and fail casting it by one. Having spent all my spell dice on attempting to cast PoS, I begin my shooting phase by unleashing a fusillade of cannon balls at the Tervigon, causing 3 wounds, and blast a pack of Guants with mortars, killing 6.
Here is how things are looking by the end of turn one:

Turn 2 (Tyranids)
The Tervigon spawns more 6 Gaunts, while another pack of the bugs move forward, near my Steam Tank and Swordsmen, while the genestealers outflank into the side of my lines. My middenhiem Halberdiers come under fire again,and all but the Standard Bearer, Champion and attached Warrior Priest and BSB survive. The genestealers charged into the rear of the Talebecland Halberdiers, scything through them, an causing them to flee, but they do not escape, and are consumed by the genestealers, who consolidate near my War Altar.

Turn 2 (Empire) Taking the initiative, I charge into a pack of gaunts with my * remaining Swordsmen, as well as my Steam Tank. Magic is uneventful, as Pit Of Shades scatters and kills all of one gaunt. I unleash a fusillade of fire from my artillery batteries, blasting apart several gaunts under continued fire from mortars,cannons and my hellblaster, but its not enough. My Steam Tank crushes several Gaunts under its immense bulk, and combined with my few swordsmen, I manage to win the combat with the gaunts, but they do not break, and the fighting continues.


Turn 3 (nids)
The Trygon deep strikes behind my Steam Tank, and the genestealers assault my War Altar, while the Swarmlord engages my Arch Lector in single combat. A pack of Gaunts charge the Middenheim Command group.

and kill the Standard Bearer and Unit Champion, leaving my BSB and Warrior Priest to stem the tide of bugs with their 2+ and 5+ saves, respectively.
The Swarmlord manages to land a hit on my War Altar, causing a wound, while my Arch Lector hits the Swarmlord, but his hammer blow bounces of the beast's carapace. The pack of gaunts attacking my Steam Tank/Swordsmen turn all their attention to the swordsmen, as the T10 +1 Save Tank proves to difficult to kill. The Swordsmen prove a match for the Gaunts and the combat is tied, though both sides take loses.

Turn 3 (Empire)
Magic fails me again, so I switch to shooting. I target the Tervigon with a cannon, and finally bring the huge beats down, while focusing the rest of my shooting on killing gaunts with Mortars. In Combat, my BSB fails a save, and is killed, leaving my Warrior Priest to hold my left flank single handedly.

My Swordsmen fail to hold off the gaunts for long, and almost the whole of them are slain, leaving the Unit Champion to flee the field, and the Steam Tank to endure more blows. I use Van Horstrum's Speculum to swap Stats with the Swamrlord, and my Arch Lector begins to lay down the hurt on the now weakened Swarmlord, while easily ignoring the hits from the swarm of genestealers attacking the War Altar.

Intermission: At this point, the food we ordered earleir arrives, and i deploy my secret weapon: Food. I attempt to lure the nid hordes to the large boxes of chicken lo mien and sesame chicken.

To no avail.


Turn 4 (Tyrnaids)
The tyranid warriors launch a barrage of living bullets into my flagellant horde, killing 18, following after with an assault, and wiping out the remaining flagellants. The Trygon attempts to kill my Stank, but it makes all its saves. My Arch Lector goes first in the Swarmlord/Stealer combat, and kills the Swarmlord, seen here:

And with that we called it, as only my Steam Tank and War Altar remained, along with a few War Machines. This was a pretty odd game. Originally I had though that the cross system balance was fairly good. i was wrong, the sheer fire power available from a 40k army is absurd. Its almost like as was playing against dwarfs.