Summer Holidays

Well, the Summer is finally here (if you're in the Southern Hemisphere that is) and holidays beckon.  So I'm taking my annual break from blogging until the New Year; just like I have in previous years.  Don't worry -- I will return with new postings in the New Year.  I'd just like to say a heartfelt "Thanks" to all the good folks who have commented on my blog this year -- your input makes a world of difference.

Best wishes for the festive season from Warpstone Flux.

Winner of the December 2010 Army List Challenge

The winner of the December 2010 Army List Challenge is ... DimmyK!

Congratulations mate -- the Tau Empire hunter cadre army list was excellent.

Although, it has to be said that the voting was incredibly close.  Thanks to all the entrants -- there were plenty of cool lists in there.  I was personally torn how to cast my vote.

Until next time, good hunting!

1000 points of Daemons

So, I'm considering entering a 1000 point tournament just after New Year and was weighing up whether to take my Death Guard forces, or my Mixed Daemon forces.  I eventually thought that Mixed Daemons would be plenty of fun to play with on the basis that I suspect not many local folks have faced such a force before.  The tournament is not a pure win/lose affair -- there are "soft" points to be earned for force construction, being a good competitor, and painting (etc).  So, does anyone have any suggestions what a 1000 points daemon army should contain?  There are some restrictions though: only 1 HQ and must have more troops than other force organization slots (total) and less than 300 points in FA, HS or Elites (each).  Here's my initial list:

Herald of Tzeentch, Chariot, Bolt (95 points)
Herald of Khorne, Jugger, Might (120 points)
Daemon Prince, Mark of Tzeentch, Bolt (140 points)
10 Bloodletters (160 points)
7 Plaguebearers, instrument (110 points)

...from there, maybe the soul grinder (yeah, I know, its the only armoured thing) and some horrors for extra fire support.  Perhaps some fiends or bloodcrushers (perhaps even dropping the Khorne Herald?) for extra combat support.  Opinions anyone?

Hot Orange Horror

Another day, another horror of Tzeentch in a variant colour scheme.  This chap is a bright combination of reds, oranges and slightly yellow highlights, with some blue eyes and accessories to match. 

He was largely painted in a dry brush method.  The only novel thing I decided to do was combine some dheneb stone colour to the yellow and orange to help with the better coating him and to subdue the sunburst yellow somewhat.  This has largely worked well I think.

The base is one of my pre-prepared and painted resin bases. Not quite sure what colour the next horror will be painted in.  I'm leaning towards purple!

Tertiary Missions and Sub-Plots

Whether they're used as bonus points, or neat additions to the narrative campaign, tertiary mission objectives can be used to add flavour to a battle.

Below is a selection of some of the Flux Battle Tertiary Objectives that I'm in the middle of writing up.  Comments welcome.

Capture the flag.

Imagine what glory you will receive if you take the enemy standard.  Imagine how humiliated the enemy will be at their standard being captured!

Set-up: After viewing the opponent’s miniatures, secretly note down which miniature has the most impressive looking flag, icon or standard.  If no enemy miniatures are holding a flag, discard this objective.

Success: If you kill (not rout!) the miniature holding the designated standard, you succeed.

Close combat promotion.

In order to get promoted, Private Xenon must prove her close combat ability on the field of battle. 

Set-up: Choose one miniature armed with a close combat weapon that isn’t special (i.e. is not a squad sergeant, just a regular troops) and secretly note down which miniature this is.  The miniature should preferably have some distinguishing feature from her companions. Keep a tally of what kills this miniature has made in close combat over the course of the game.

Success: To succeed, this miniature must kill in close combat more points value worth of enemy than they cost.  Shooting doesn’t count: it must be in melee!

Marksmanship promotion.

In order to get promoted, Private Wednesday must prove his marksmanship on the field of battle. 

Set-up: Choose one miniature in your army armed with a ranged weapon that isn’t special (i.e. is not a squad sergeant, just a regular troops) and secretly note down which miniature this is.  The miniature should preferably have some distinguishing feature from her companions. Keep a tally of what kills this miniature has made over the course of the game.

Success: To succeed, this miniature must shoot more points value worth of enemy than they cost.  Close combat doesn’t count: it must be by ranged shooting!

Quarantine.

Squad Gamma hasn’t been feeling well of late.  Your medical advisor has told you that they should be kept quarantined for at least 2 weeks to avoid spreading germs.  But you need them on the battlefield today, even if they are contagious.

Set-up: Reveal this objective to your opponent and then choose one of your squads.  The squad must number 6 or more individuals in total.  Otherwise, choose a high-ranking army official (e.g. the most expensive character).

Success: If you manage to keep this squad at least 6 inches away from any other miniature in your army for the entire battle, you succeed.  Your opponent should check this fact every game turn.

Treasure trove.

Somewhere on the battlefield is buried treasure that only Corporal Kane knows the location of.  It wouldn’t hurt the war effort to be a bit richer would it?

Set-up: Secretly write down the location of the treasure.  It should be designated in an easy to locate fashion such as the centre of a particular terrain feature.  Then, secretly select a unit from your forces. 

Success: The chosen unit must spend an entire turn inactive (they’re occupied with digging and metal-detecting) at the specified location to succeed.

Secondary Missions

As part of my development of the Flux Battle Objectives, I wanted to create some mission objectives beyond the primary ones.  These can help determine the winner if the primary ones do not, or can be used as added points in a larger campaign or tournament, as tastes dictate.

Here's a small sampling of the secondary mission objectives that have been developed thus far.

Demolition job.

The holographic transmission centre is one of only two locations capable of broadcasting information and propaganda across the entire surface of the planet almost instantaneously.  Given you control the other location, taking it out will mean that you control the sole location on the planet capable of planet-wide broadcast.  Sadly, the centre is under enemy control.

Set-up: Reveal this objective to your opponent.  Place a building inside the enemies deployment zone – this is the holographic transmission centre.  The enemy may place the remainder of all terrain features.  They must be a minimum of 3 inches away from the centre.

Success: Treat the building as a vehicle for the duration of the game (AV=12).  If the building is wrecked, you gain half points.  A destroyed building results in full points. 

Head of the serpent.

A very high ranking commanding officer of the opposing army is taking to the field herself this time.  This is a golden opportunity.  Take the head of the serpent off and it should throw the enemy in to disarray for long enough to disrupt their war effort significantly.

Set-up: Note down which enemy model is the highest ranked officer (if there are two equally ranked officers, choose the model costing the highest points value, or the model wearing the most black, etc.).

Success: If this model is killed, the mission is a success (NB: routing this model off the board results in a mission failure – they must be slain).

King of the hill.

The highest point on this battlefield is also the highest point for kilometers around.  Capturing it will give you terrific lines of sight and make it incredibly tough for the enemy to launch attacks against your positions.

Set-up: Secretly note down which terrain feature is the highest.  If there is more than one tied for height, decide which one it is.

Success: You succeed if you manage to control this highest building (i.e. no enemy models within 3 inches of the building and one of your scoring units inside it).

Rout.

Some of them must live to tell the tale of how deadly brilliant we are.  Their stories will scare their other comrades in to submission without us even having to lift a finger.

Set-up: This objective can only be achieved if some of your opponent’s models are able to rout (i.e. they’re not fearless, or they’re not trees rooted to the ground).  If all of your opponent’s army is fearless (or firmly rooted trees), then this objective must be discarded.

Success: If you rout at least one enemy model off the board, the objective is met.

Suppress their fire support.

The relative success of the enemy is in large part due to their mechanized detachments.  The tanks and walkers have done incredible damage to our war effort.  If we have the chance, we should take down their main vehicles.

Set-up: After reviewing your opponent’s army list, choose the three most expensive vehicles and note them down secretly.  If your opponent features large monsters instead of vehicles, select the three most fearsome creatures.

Success: If the three designated vehicles are immobilized or better, you succeed.  In the case of monsters, they must be killed outright.

Technology transfer.

The engineering guild has sent a communication to your army: they’re highly interested in a particular weapon that intelligence has seen the enemy use.  Perhaps it is due to a subtle upgrade of a standard weapon, new software, or it is simply a brand new weapon of unknown origin.  Whatever it is, the engineers have made it clear that their future funding of your war effort depends on you returning the technology to their laboratories.

Set-up: After reviewing your opponent’s army list, secretly note down the heaviest, most unique (appearance wise and / or frequency wise) and most deadly looking weapon that your opponent has.  In Warhammer 40,000 games, this should be chosen from the Heavy Support section of the force organization chart (if possible). 

Success: This mission is successful if you remove the model carrying the heavy weapon.  If the weapon is mounted on a vehicle, then the vehicle must be immobilized or wrecked to achieve success.  Vaporizing the vehicle on which it is mounted results in failure, as the engineers want the technology intact!

Poll Open for the December 2010 Army List Challenge

This month, there are 5 entries to the army list challenge.  The challenge was to design a themed 1500 point army list that on the surface looked quite weak, but in reality could pack a decent punch in order to lull the enemy forces in to a trap.

A poll has been set up to vote for which list Warpstone Flux readers consider to be the most effective army list that also best articulates the theme (whatever you interpret that to mean).  So, have a browse through the lists (below) and vote for the winner.

This is something I've decided to work on as a small army at 1500 points. a total of 19 figures and tanks to be exact.



Lord Shaper (Death Wing)
I've been putting together a Deathwing force after the constant viewing of Ron's over at From the Warp.

HQ
Belial - LC - 130
Interrogator-Chaplain Terminator Armour SB - 145

Troops
Deathwing Terminators CML 5x TH/SS - 235
Deathwing Terminators 3x SB 4x PF and 1 AC. Sarge has PW/SB - 245
Deathwing Terminators 3x SB 2x PF and 1 AC. Sarge has PW/SB 1x LC - 245

Heavy Support
Land Raider - 250
Land Raider Crusader - 250

Total being 1500
This has potential but only as long as I can hold an objective and fight off the hordes.
I haven't tested it yet but it should be fun!


Suneokun (Tyranids)
Spawning Ambush!


***Imperial High Command CODE GAMMA***
We have a confirmed report that a Tervigon nest has been located in sector 3, dispatch an assault force for locate and destroy.
He sees all.
***
The bait, based in the centre of the board in a bunker, the Tervigon effectively hides and spawns for all its worth. With little Line of sight, Regen and catalyst it's survival chances are good:

1 Tervigon with regeneration and catalyst @ 205pts
The Ambushers, these boys are all designed to either hits from the flanks or deep strike, after some playing around, I decided against monstrous creatures - after all the MC's the bait:

Parasite of Mortrex 160pts
13 Genestealers with Toxin Sacs 221pts
13 Genestealers with Toxin Sacs 221pts
13 Genestealers with Toxin Sacs 221pts

30 UberGargs (toxin sac and Adrenal Gland Gargoyles)240pts
30 UberGargs @ 240pts

Simple, but not wildly effective. These ambushers are designed to swarm the enemy very very quickly indeed. The Gargoyle units either arrive together, under the aegis of the Parasite or if the 'dumb' unit arrives first, they deepstrike in support of the Tervigon.

The Gargoyles can lay out a whopping 32.5 wounds on T4 opponents and then the Parasite rolls in with his S6 rending hits and ripper making.

The toxin sacs enable the Genestealers a reroll on their to wound on T4 and below models ... giving them double the chance of rolling a 6 to rend. They flank for maximum impact, their number selected for maximum damage taking without a leadership test.

On the charge they 'could' land 26 hits, rolling an average of 8 rends against T4 opponents.
The weakness ... well tanks obviously. I could use the parasite and genestealers and hope for a rend ... but it's not good.

But it would look, well - awesome!

d6 (Dark Eldar)
instructions:

Deploy the serpent, reavers and a squad of kabalites. Move the reavers around in front of them hugging cover and their turbo speed screens. slowly move back your reavers as the enemy advances then WHAM! use low orbit raid and use all of your really expensive heavy weaponry. After only some hardcore tanks are left disembark your kabalites and use the vehicles shock prow to send them to the ground.

Hq
Duke Sliscus The Serpent…………………………………………….150

Elites
5 incubi……………………………………………………………………....195 Raider w/ flickerfield, Shock Prow, Torment grenade launchers, Enhanced athersails & Chain snares.

Troops
10 Kabalite warriors…………………………………………………...210
1 blaster & a splinter cannon. Raider w/ flickerfield, Shock Prow, Torment grenade launchers, Enhanced athersails & Chain snares.
10 Kabalite Warriors…………………………………………………..215
1 shredder & a dark lance. Raider w/ flickerfield, Shock Prow, Torment grenade launchers, Enhanced athersails & Chain snares.
10 kabalite warriors……………………………………………………210 blaster & splinter cannon. Raider w/ flickerfield, Shock Prow, Torment grenade launchers, Enhanced athersails & Chain snares.

Fast Attack
5 reavers…………………………………………………………...……….142 Heat lance, Arena Champion
5 Scourges……………………………………………………………...…..152 Heat lance, Blaster. Solarite w/ venom blade

Heavy support
Ravager……………………………………………...……………………...130 1 Disintegrator cannon, Night shields, Flickerfield & Enhanced athersails

total: 1,404


DimmyK (Tau)
Tau hunter cadre

Transmission begins
--------------------
"Engaging some of those enemy stealth hints sir!"
Kaboom!
"They've destroyed our transport sir!"
"Attack em boys..."
Ten seconds later...
"they're all around us sir! What shall we do? They appeared from nowhere honestly!"
---------------
Last transmission from sgt peters

HQ:
Shas'o with bodyguard team, shas'o with cyclic ion blaster plasma rifle shield generator, crisis suits fire knife configuration with multi-trackers 244 pts

Elites
stealth team with fusion blaster, marker light drone 112pts
Crisis team, fire knife config with multi trackers exept team leader with fusion gun, flamer and target lock 165pts

Troops
6 fire warriors 60pts
10 Kroot 2 hounds 82 pts
10 Kroot 2 hounds 82 pts

Fast attack
3 vespids with strain leader 70pts
Piranha burst cannon 60pts
Pathfinders 6 two with rail rifles with devilfish 158 pts

Heavy support
2 broadsides 140 pts
Ion head with smart missiles 125pts
Hammerhead with smart missiles 170pts

1468 pts- so there's room for tailoring

How I see it is the stealth suits infiltrating (possibly with kroot), fire base set up at the back (hammerheads and broadsides) and also set up pathfinders in their fish in place with good line of sight-more on that later. A space marine column coming in or any other army of course, transports are quickly shot down so they try to footslog it into assault with the closest target (stealth suits) and then everything pounces on them from all sides- outflanking deep striking etc... This is where the pathfinders come in. They not only markerlighht but also reroll deep strikes that are in their line of sight, something I haven't seen anyone do yet. Now some of you are probably wondering at the vespids, but to pop in and kill a few marines, ESP devastators/long fangs their gr8, strike where the enemy is least expecting!

schuelerliu (Imperial Guard)
HQ:

(1) CCS (150pts)
HW Team(AC), 2xSniper, Astropath,Master of Ordnance, Camo Cloak

Troops
(2) Infantry Platoon (180pts)
PCS w/ 4xFlamer, BoltPistol (point filler)
2xInfantry Squad w/ HW Team(AC) & GL
(3) Veteran Squad (155pts)
3xMelta, Chimera (ML & HF)
(4) Veteran Squad (155pts)
3xMelta, Chimera (ML & HF)

That was the sitting duck part of my IG Company. The CCS / Infantry Platoon is just hiding on the objective and putting down fire on the enemy. The PCS is there for some close combat / counter assault capability.

The Veteran squads keep back a bit and waits for the "fish" to come for the bait.

Elites:
(5) Storm Trooper Squad (179pts)
Sgt w/ PW + 8xStormies w/ 2xMelta
(6) Storm Trooper Squad (179pts)
Sgt w/ PW + 8xStormies w/ 2xMelta

Fast Attack:
(7) Scout Sentinel Squadron (120pts)
3xAC
(8) Scout Sentinel Squadron (120pts)
3xAC
(9) Vendetta Gunship Squadron (260pts)
2xVendetta w/ TL LasCannon

Total: 1,500pts

These units stay in reserve or can use their scout move the come into position. While the Veteran Squads are the "Welcome Commitee" for this party and give the right "Melta Accommodation". The Stormies (...I just love the models and the HE laserguns), Vendettas and Sentinels are responsible for the BBQ.

While this list is quite low on tanks and the CCS+Platoon is going to stay static, the rest of the force is quite mobile and will hit quite hard when they go into combat. I guess it isn't much fun anymore to come into range of 11xAC/ML, 10xMeltas, 4xFlamer and some decent small arms fire by 61 reckless soldiers.

Apocalypse Homebrew: Blood Icon

The Blood Icon of Khorne is an upgraded regular chaos icon.  Its effects are the same as a collar of Khorne, as well as extra melee attacks and furious charge.

Battle Frame 5000

Back 2 Basix, an Australian based company, has just released the battle frame 5000 range for sale through their web site.

Basically, it is a set of magnetically connecting board segments, each 1sq ft and 33mm high.  They can be assembled in a modular sense and the expansions enable multiple height levels to be created (i.e. mountains and valleys).  It rivals the citadel realms of battle boards, but it comes "naked" -- meaning you will have to dress the surfaces of the battle frames to create a board.  In terms of playability, it looks ideal for a cities of death board that could be endlessly re-arranged.

A video of the system is available on You Tube for viewing and evaluation.  What do other people think?  I am a little bit tempted to be honest!

Dec 2010 Army List Challenge Still Open

There's still time to submit an entry to this month's army list challenge.
Can you beat Lord Shaper's Death Wing army list?
Or Suneokun's spawning ambush tyranids?

Mini-Manufactorum Painted

In painting my mini-manufactorum, I wanted to go for a colour-set that satisfied a number of criteria.  Firstly, I wanted something that was at least two toned.  Secondly, I wanted a manufactorum that was worn.  And finally, one that looked like it had sustained significant damage from both war and fire.

I achieved my first goal by painting the main segments of the building in purple, with the supporting beams in brown and the raised metallic areas drybrushed with boltgun metal.  Following these base colours, a good wash of black was applied (unevenly) across the entire structure.  Highlighting consisted of applying dheneb stone in a hap-hazard drybrush everywhere.  This created the worn appearance that I wanted.

To make the building look more like it has seem some war-time action, I wanted to create a few burnt looking locales.  To achieve this, I dappled chaos black in select areas of the building such as above the window on the left hand side of the image, and around the edges of the upper platform. 

I like the overall tone that this building sets and am pleased with the outcome here.  

(Also in the image: Sons of Malice terminators).

How Many Furies of Chaos do you play?

For me, the short answer is zero at the moment.

I don't like to disillusion those players who like to field them, but Furies of Chaos are worse than many (probably all) other choices in the daemons codex.  For the same price as (e.g.) a Flesh Hound of Khorne, we get one less WS point, one less I point, and jump infantry instead of being beasts.  Furies used to be cool in the 3rd edition chaos space marine codex.  But here in the chaos daemons codex: don't play them unless you want to be fluffy.  And since building a non-aligned chaos daemons army is near impossible, I don't think we'll be seeing Furies of Chaos on the table top in high end competitions.

So, my question is does anyone have experience using them, and like them?  I certainly used to, but I just can't bring myself to field them recently.  I strongly prefer to invest points in screamers (which are also fast, slightly more durable and pose significant problems to tanks!).

Statistics: How Many Screamers of Tzeentch?

Screamers of Tzeentch are rightly thought of as flying melta bombs.  Hence the role that I have for screamers in my daemons army is to target enemy tanks, zoom quickly toward them and blow them in to scrap metal.  I don't intend for the screamers to survive this attempt in general for two reasons: they readily die to small arms fire, and even if they get to complete their task successfully, my experience is that they get caught up in the subsequent explosion of the tank they've just busted!  Hence they're something of a glass hammer in the same way that the flamers of Tzeentch are.

Tank Busting.

Let's suppose that they fly in to contact with a target vehicle.  They then use their warp jaws to plant a melta bomb.  In the case of a stationary vehicle, each screamer will plant one melta each.  For a moving vehicle, 2 screamers will be needed to statistically guarantee one melta bomb being planted.  And for a flat out vehicle, six will be needed.

For many vehicles, even a single melta bomb means a lot of trouble.  This is especially true for rear armour = 10 or 11 tanks like rhinos and similar.  I typically need about three successful meltas being planted to ensure a reasonably good chance of wrecking vehicles like rhinos (or better).  Hence, that's 3 screamers for stationary vehicles, or six for moving vehicles.  I won't even bother thinking about flat out vehicles from here on in as I reckon that would be a desperation move to try to target them with screamers.

Now let's add in a bit of jeopardy.  Consider 10 standard bolter shots coming in at the screamers, fired by BS=4 troops (i.e. space marines).  Of them, 6.67 hit, and 3.33 wound.  Half will be saved, resulting in 1.67 unsaved wounds.  Hence if the screamers are going to be taking incoming fire, we need to add and extra one or two to the squad to compensate.

Overall, I'd therefore suggest about 5 screamers for targeting stationary rhino-like vehicles, and about 7 or 8 for moving rhino-like vehicles.  Land raiders and necron monoliths are a different matter entirely!  I'd probably suggest up to doubling the number of recommended screamers for taking down land raiders.  But with the price for each screamer being somewhat above the average ork, I think the daemons player should think about alternative methods to down land raiders (e.g. through Heralds of Tzeentch, soul grinders, or greater daemons).

In the unlikely scenario the screamers survive, I will then use them to swoop in on objectives (depending on the game) to contest them.  Clearly this is a late turn gambit as they will readily fall to moderate close combat squads.  I recall a game against some Guard in a tournament some two years ago where Ogryns shot them up and ripped them to bits in the mid-game.  It wasn't pretty!

Statistics: How Many Flesh Hounds of Khorne?

Flesh hounds of Khorne are typically used to rapidly hunt down opposing troops.  They're not vehicle killers and they're not monstrous creature slayers if we're being honest.  But they could do both of these roles (e.g. rhino killing) if other daemon troops have already been wiped away and one is desperate.  But there should be superior daemons choices for either of these roles.  I regard their primary role as to engage opposing units rapidly, and tie them up.  Hopefully they might score a few wounds as well.  But how many should be used?

Against Space Marines.

Let's put some flesh hounds up against space marines and see how they perform.  An experienced daemons player should be able to take advantage of the flesh hounds and ensure that they take few (zero?) shots on their way in to combat and that they get the all-important charge in.

If they get the charge in, then they will strike first due to the furious charge special rule.  They will get three attacks each, hitting on 4+, wounding on 3+ and killing when the marines fail their 3+ armour save.  Hence each flesh hound will cause a statistical average of 0.33 wounds on the charge.  Therefore three flesh hounds will be required to take down a space marine.  

At this point, we can see that we're going to need a lot of flesh hounds to take care of the space marines, even with Karanak coming along to help.  At 15 points each, I think that the points spent on flesh hounds will only tie up opponents rather than deliver a killing blow.  I therefore think the points would be better spent elsewhere, unless you're playing a mono-Khorne army.  And even in a mono-Khorne army, I think I'd only have a unit of flesh hounds in it for their speed to tie opposing units up.  And their fluffiness.  They're simply not that good in my opinion otherwise!  (Sorry to sound so negative!)

Reminder: December 2010 Army List Challenge

Just a brief reminder that the December 2010 Army List Challenge is still open for entries.
Can you design a weak and pitiful looking army list that is actually a big winner?

Mighty Empires: Swamp Tile

The swamp tile is one of the more unique and unusual tiles contained in the Mighty Empires expansion. It features multiple (flat) small puddle areas combined with low-rise texture. For this tile, I used a combination of greens and browns to suggest a soggy, peat laden area with some green bits possibly floating on sub-surface water. The blue puddles are probably a little more vibrant blue than I was originally gunning for, but I can live with that. The highlight of this tile for me is the blending of the greens and browns which I think contribute greatly to the overall vibe of the tile.

Daemons Army on Red Planet Drop Zone

On a long forgotten red planet, my daemons army comes forth, ready to unleash ruination on the survivors of the drop pods...

Representing the Changeling

A question for those of you have played against daemons recently, or who play with them.  If you've seen the Changeling on the tabletop (a pink horror upgrade / minor character), has it been represented with the Games Workshop model or something else?

My readers will know that I like to use a variety of models to represent the Changeling myself, as evidenced in my earlier discussion on the Glamour of Tzeentch and pictured in my Mixed Daemons army group photo.  The photo above pictures a warhammer fantasy chaos champion in bone armour in the guise of the Changeling -- he's probably my favourite model to represent the Changeling.

Should I bother upgrading to the "official" model?  Would using my bone armour chaos champion be frowned upon in competitive tournaments now?

Painted Quantum Gothic Comm Dish

 This is my painted version of the Quantum Gothic comm dish. 

The dish has been undercoated in black and then highlighted in a variety of pseudo-rusty co lours that included oranges, reds, and what I initially thought of as an odd combination of blue and green.  This gives the strong suggestion of an aging piece of kit that has seen many years of service and may yet still be usable!  It makes a grand piece of (gothic) scenery for an objective, or simply to place in the upper levels of some ruined manufactorum.

The inset shot show the image of the rear of the comm dish where the power supply is located.  To me, it looked very much like a plasma power supply -- the coils immediately evoked a comparison to plasma weapons in Warhammer 40,000 for me.  Hence I painted it as such using an electric blue highlight over an inked blue base coat.  This power supply is very much alive and ready to go.

The only question for the protagonists on the table-top is whether the dish will still function due to its age?  I could imagine a whole scenario constructed around this scenery piece.  

December 2010 Army List Challenge

It's back after an absence of several months: the Warpstone Flux Army List Challenge!

Can you create an effective and well-themed army list to take on the challenge?


Overview
You need to lull the enemy in to a trap! To do so, you deploy a strike team that looks like it is weak and pitiful.  In reality, your force is actually quite strong due to the cleaver tactics / deployment / reckless good looks that you intend to employ, but the enemy commander needs to assume that they will easily overcome it.


The army list challenge is to design a themed 1500 points army list that appears weak, but in reality can take on the enemy force and stand a good chance to win.

Rules

(1) Design a 1500 points army list from any codex to take on this mission.

(2) Post your army lists as a comment to this posting and suggest why they're well suited to this mission. 

(3) Entries close at 01:00 GMT on December 14th. 

(4) On that same day, I'll open a poll for Warpstone Flux readers to judge which army list they consider to be the "most effective army list that also best articulates the theme" (whatever readers interpret that to mean) out of all entrants.

(5) Winner will be tallied and announced on December 21st (and entered in to the hall of fame!).

(6) One entry per person please.


Remember that there are no prizes for these contests, beyond kudos, honour and entry in to the hall of fame.
Good Luck!