Titan Undercoated

One Reaver Titan, undercoated in black, and then highlighted (azimuthally) in silver.

Enough said.

Titan Stripes

One of the toughest problems in painting (beyond getting white or yellows looking magnificent) is the challenge of undertaking straight lines, or stripes, on curved surfaces. 

For my Reaver Titan, however, this is exactly what I wanted to undertake. Now, there are numerous approaches to achieving this. The best I've seen uses sticky tape designed for acrylic nail art (i.e. nail varnish / nail polish). However, all the techniques are broadly similar. Take something with straight edges that is tacky, but not too sticky that it will rip off the layer that you adhere it to. Put said sticky stuff over the model, and then paint as best you can. Remove the tack and you should have straight lines underneath. 

The image above shows a pitiful attempt at illustrating what I mean using regular masking tape which I had left over from decorating a room in the house (i.e. it goes over power sockets, or the edges where the walls meet the ceiling to avoid paint getting splodged on the ceiling). Its application here is precisely the same. However, the hard part is the raised surface of the Reaver's shoulder pad. This means that some of the paint will creep in underneath parts of the otherwise straight edge. Although there are solutions on the market to this, I have found its slightly more bother than the cost otherwise pays off. Hence slightly thicker masking tape usually does the job. 

Here, the titan shoulder pad has already been base coated in white. I'm going to add black stripes to the pad, and then fill in (and / or touch up) using a slightly brighter white. The results of this is displayed below. 

The lines are for the main part super-neat, although there are one or two slight issues that I will go back and paint over when the time comes -- or hide with the use of weathering paint / oil more likely. I am not claiming this is perfect, but it is very sufficient for curved surfaces for my purposes and the grime layer that will be added later will take care of most of the slight issues seen in the second image. 

Horus Heresy Review: Ruinstorm Daemons Rules (2)

In the second part of our review of the Daemons of the Ruinstorm core rules, we turn our attention to Aetheric Dominions.

At heart, these dominions are electives that any primary or allied detachment may take. However for allied detachments, they do not gain use of the warlord trait, or the victory point bonuses available through them (all of the dominions have the option of replacing mission objectives with special objectives should they wish). 

Resplendent Terror.

This dominion is chaos undivided for the uninitiated. It is presented here as a hunger only for destruction and the desire to end all mortal life. 

Its core benefit is being able to take any emanation (upgrades) including those of different dominions. This is really nice and hence this is a generalist option that many players might opt for to take all the tools and upgrades that they could ever wish for. 

The warlord trait here can be selected from any viable table. Meanwhile, the End of Days objective can be chosen to replace all missions objectives with 1 VP for killing a unit. Seems very fair and one that I can see many players selecting.

Crimson Fury.

Hello Khorne. This gives rage for infantry type models, and rampage for monstrous miniatures. You have to charge if enemies are within 12 inches, which means you have to watch very carefully how you position things (recall that the rules don't care if your weapons cannot hurt the enemies - beware of expensive tar pits).

The warlord traits feature a variety of upgrades that all involve close combat bonuses, except for one which denies the witch harder than anyone expects. 

The Blood Must Flow objective is what players might think: killing things in close combat, overwatch, or sweeping advances. 

Creeping Scourge.

Hello Nurgle. Feel no pain for infantry types, and It Will Not Die for monsters. The downside is to choose the lowest d6 of two when running or sweeping, thus making this a slow army. Hence this is a tougher army than most, and creeps (as per the name) in its advance.

Warlord traits feature bonuses to terrain movement, re-rolls on the core feel no pain or IWND rules, and a pestilent cloud that causes additional attacks.

The Torment Without End replacement objectives is flavourful and reminiscent of the table quarters rule that players may be familiar with. This might be a good one to take if you're able to clear the area around your Warp Rift markers and hold them. Should be fine, but who knows with a slightly slower army that struggles to sweep. 

Lurid Onslaught. 

Hello Slaanesh. Everything gains hit and run at the expense of never having cover saves except jinks. This is a huge negative for what is, arguably, a good to strong bonus. It argues for a close combat, and rapidly moving army throughout. This is not impossible with the emanations available as we will talk about in the unit analyses. 

Warlord traits here are about initiative, and movement fundamentally. This, of course, aids the army in the best way possible and I would strongly recommend their adoption for such an army. . 

A Twisted Dream objectives is all about making enemies failing morale tests. However, Insane Heroism successes count against you --- and your enemy will be sure to try to exploit this at every opportunity. Hence this is an iffy option, unless you take lots of musk upgrades probably. Fear tests on their own may not provide the victory.  

Maddening Swarms.

Hello Tzeentch. Interestingly, the upgrade here is based around the mutability of the units: they can all take an extra emanation. This allows for better tailored units, of course, but the price tag will add up here quickly, so maybe it isn't such a big bonus. We'll explore this one in the unit analyses. The cost here is to manifest psychic powers all the time, or suffer extra die for morale tests for the remainder of the battle. In effect, you are forced to cast spells with anything available. Of course, you were probably trying to do this anyway, so maybe not such a negative. The build here is psyker orientated. 

Warlord traits feature psyker bonuses, bonuses in close combat due to having psykers, and reserves bonuses. These are fluffy, but some are situational. 

Warp Conflagration objectives mean that kills or routs caused by pskyers win the game. Bonus VPs for excessive use of warp charges (4+). This, of course, calls for an army of psykers and brotherhoods of psykers. 

Mirror Of Hate.

Hello Malal. Ahem. We're not allowed to name Malal due to copyright. But oh my! This is such an amazing addition to daemons. I am absolutely stoked to see its addition here. Genuinely. It is singularly the best addition I have seen to daemons in ... simply decades. Seriously: the re-appearance of powers that represent Malal under another name is simply an inspired and awesome inclusion. My sincere congratulations to the designers here. They have gone above and beyond the call of duty. Damn it - I want an army of this, but cannot afford it right now. 

All models in this army gain hatred (daemons and psykers of all kinds) at the expense that they may never include an allied detachment if they are the primary (which I find a bit sad, but understandable -- but this doesn't stop, for instance Word Bearers, as a primary, having them as an ally). The build here could be almost anything: I can see psyker heavy, or psyker light; or multiple small units, or an army of big units here. It has plentiful types of builds. 

Warlord trait replacements centre around challenges against daemons and psykers, (entertainingly adopting the initiative or weapon skill of the opponent -- I like this!), hatred, and re-birth under a different guise. 

Victory point replacements are about elimination of daemons or psykers of the enemy. Clearly this is highly situational. Conversely, losing the same units results in negative points. This is clearly dangerous. However, a neutral VP total means a win regardless. So maybe its fair against another daemon army. Not sure I would recommend it against space marines though (maybe Thousand Sons for obvious reasons, but that's about it). 

Horus Heresy Review: Ruinstorm Daemons Rules (1)

The Daemons of the Ruinstorm play unlike other factions in 30k (or in 40k for that matter either). Today, I wanted to give a brief overview of their core three rules that all builds of the daemons army in 30k have to adhere to, regardless of whether they are

Daemons of the Ruinstorm.
This first rule of the three covers some of the basic rules for daemons. They possess fear (which my Night Lords playing friends will recognise the power of within 30k in the absence of "And They Shall Know No Fear"). In turn, they do not suffer from fear (which is nice for a mirror-match).

Their invulnerable save is standard for daemons as well.

However, when they fail a morale test, they will suffer a special "Perils" test. This is a roll on a different table that old-time players of daemons will recognise the results -- the random results -- of. Most of them are negative and involve more wounds being taken (as might be expected). On a critical fail, they drop WS, BS, and I, as well as all warp charges. However, the inverse happens on a critical success: bonuses to WS, BS, and I, as well as a gain in warp charges! The warp is fickle and this adds to the randomness of the army if it is played sub-optimally, and can really punish players for poor moves.

Parting the Veil.
This rule covers the reserves and how the daemons come in to play. If the daemons are the main army, the player gets three 5" markers to place down on the battlefield, and one if it is an ally. These markers are warp rifts, and daemons coming in from reserves use them to enter the battle. Strategic placement of these markers is therefore key to a victory for this army. Adding to this critical placement is some rules to help the daemons (such as infiltration blocking, line of sight blocking, saving throw re-rolls, and cover).

However, herein is a big negative. Given standard objective missions, I don't think daemons will have an easy time at all in a game. An opponent could readily "lock" them out of the board, and surround the 5" markers with the rules as they're currently written. I think this merits more thought from the designers, and perhaps some modification through a FAQ. Since unless one is playing a fluffy opponent (which is usually the case in 30k I have to say), then there's the possibility of never being able to deploy at all; which makes me sad. A good player can also readily force a daemons player to be far away from them with cunning objective placement and their own deployment. It might need some random movement of these objectives to solve, or maybe place one that can ignore the usual restrictions? More playtesting needed in short.

Tides of Madness.
The Tides of Madness is a really great innovation. In the first couple of turns, your daemons get a boost to strength and toughness. But over the course of the battle, the bonuses drop, and then drop again. The inference here is to go hard early and try to hold tight in the later turns. For goodness sake, don't opt to play "To the Bitter End" against the Iron Warriors when you have the option!

Daemons of the Ruinstorm, First Impressions

Daemons of the Ruinstorm is a new army that has been introduced to Warhammer 30,000 with the release of the 8th rulebook: Malevolence.

In a nut-shell then, this is codex: chaos daemons for 30k. Interestingly, it has always been the case that certain armies could take daemons as allies (i.e. Word Bearers). But now, 30k players have a formal army list for chaos daemons, and the traitors have a new list to use as allies. This is, of course, a very welcome development!

As a daemons player myself for a long time in 40k, this new list does appeal. Heck, I was playing daemons before they were cool or powerful, hence this new army list is something that I do want to tinker about with and consider how to optimise, and play flavourful lists out of.

What is most striking about the new daemons is the sheer amount of customisation that the controlling player can exert over the individual units. This is in huge contrast to the 40k army. Ten thousand years ago, the daemons were a bit more mysterious. Warp space aliens to some. Corruptors to others. They really were not as widely known about. The upshot of all this is that the army lets the controlling player use almost anything from their collection that they like. Great Unclean One? Obviously it's in. Be'Lakor? Yes, sure. How about a Dragon Ogre? Why not! If you have the miniatures, you can literally tailor the rules to suit whatever unit you like. It reminds me of tyranids codexes of years gone by.

I will go through their basic rules in another post, but for now, I'd like to state that I'm pleased to see how they play in a generic sense. It brings back memories of older days when they deep-strike on to the battlefield, and sometimes they are stronger (at the beginning of the game in this case) and weaker (later in the game), coupled with a specific type of Perils for falling back. All this is very good and characterful.

More than this, the army can also be dedicated to the four main powers we all know and love (although not named directly as such, oddly -- Aetheric Dominion is the new name), Chaos Undivided (known as Resplendent Terror), and Malal (ahem: Mirror of Hate). The latter is particularly welcome by the old-timer in me and nicely gets around the copyright issues that have prevented Malal from ever being named since the very earliest of days.

As a final passing thought before I conduct some more in-depth reviews on this army, I really do want to (one day) see playable lists for Xenos who were around in the time of the 30k story line. I think specifically here of Eldar and Orks. However, I wonder if something could be created around a "generic" Xenos army list perhaps.

More eBay items for sale

This week, I am selling off more of the Death Guard army, including the lot in the picture below. This listing can be found here, alongside some other miniatures, and assorted roleplaying game products and books.



In the Dungeons and Dragons category, I'm parting with the Atlas of Krynn (something of a collectors item); The Rod of Seven Parts (most assuredly rare and highly sought after); and the old Aliens roleplaying game sourcebook that is based on the movie franchise of the same name.

The main reason I'm selling these items is simply lack of use. The other reason is to fund some new projects..!! Hope you like the auction items and will consider helping them going to a good home.

Wargames Gallery: Alpharius vs Gal Vorbak

Revealing himself, Alpharius makes sudden and short work of the treacherous Val Gorbak element of the Word Bearers, as around him his sons surge.

Games Workshop Cardiff

It has been many years since I was last in Wales. I was more recently in New South Wales to be honest, rather than South Wales! But I finally made it back to the nation recently and, as per usual, decided to take a wander around the city and find the local Games Workshop store. This particular one, in common with the growing trend, is badged as a Warhammer store.

The picture above shows the front of the store. It is physically located on (the appropriately named) High Street in the city, toward the north west side of the pedestrianised area and near to the Castle (now a big tourist attraction). As Cardiff is the capital city of Wales, the city is spread a bit, but it is nowhere near the size of London for instance -- traversing the shopping precinct / pedestrianised area is very simple and takes only a matter of 20minutes from end to end assuming no traffic.

Transport in to the city is readily available through train, road, and even an airport, plus it has good public transport links making the store simple to get to on foot.

One thing that I did notice immediately is the lack of posters in the front window. In comparison to other stores, it did look fairly low key. However, maybe I just visited at an odd time? I don't know.

 
Regardless, inside the window was a display (pictured above) with a knight and mechanicum forces facing off against chaos. Toward the right hand side of the store were displays in cabinets (pictured below) that contained all sorts of quality miniatures and armies.

 
Physically the store is of moderate size, but not the biggest one I've ever been in at all. From the interior posters, it looked like there was plenty going on (e.g., a Shattered City: Underworld tournament in a few weeks time, and plenty of "beginner" events to boot). The staff were also great - top notch.

Overall, I would certainly complement this store, but perhaps it needs a little more in the front window?

Horus Heresy Review: Jaghatai Khan

Background.
The Great Khan was the laughing killer. The one who scouted ahead of the Great Crusade, unsung, largely un-noticed, but categorically vital to the success of the Emperor's vision for humanity at large. Like his brothers, he had his preferences (lightning swift strikes), likes (psykers / storm seers, Horus, Vulkan), and dislikes (Mortarion?). Underestimated by many, unknown to most, but far more than a berserk barbarian -- he was cultured, and knew precisely what he was doing.

Strengths.
There are two options to consider with the Khan. The first is known as "The Khan Afoot" and the second is "The Khan Mounted". They are precisely what you might expect: one version on foot, the other on a special jet bike.

The jet bike version costs more, but obviously provides bonuses in terms of speed, and heavy bolter fire. 1d3 hammer of wrath attacks with this is very nice, but whether you take him on this, or on foot depends on the build of the legion force he takes with him largely.

His bonus rules are nice overall though. He always (always!) strikes first in combat. No matter what (barring hammer of wrath and other "always strikes first" models). He has shooting that can actually take down opposing space marines and (as you might expect) is good in close combat (and won't be tar-pitted like some of his brothers thanks to permanent hit and runs, which he also grants to accompanying units). His weapon (the White Tiger Dao) is an AP2 with a bonus to strength on the charging turn. Although not unwieldy, it is not as fabulous as some of his brothers (cf. Russ).

The Khan also provides a buff to the army (not as good as Alpharius, to be clear), but giving everyone the scout rule will also provide the outflank rule which can lead to all kinds of fun for the White Scars player.

There's a few other bits and bobs here as well (move through cover, etc.) that I won't go in to detail with. Instead, I wanted to end the strengths by noting his relatively cheap points cost. He is one of the lower points value primarchs. Crazy deadly against regular marines, to be clear. Not one of the stronger primarchs though, but perfectly sufficient in his own way -- for instance he can tank very well indeed when on his bike. And no doubt the White Scars player will be positioning him very well indeed and running circles around their opponents. Play to his strengths and you will not be disappointed in my opinion.

Weaknesses.
He is a Primarch. Enough said.

Overall.
Cheap enough. Not the best Primarch in the game. Good army wide buff. Good with hit and run. Fast on his special bike if needed, and tanky to boot. Very nice indeed, and flavourful too. 

Horus Heresy Review: Tsolmon Khan

Background.
As with many other legions, there are characters who at first glance would be better suited to other legions. Tsolmon is one such person. In this case the Iron Hands would have been a better bet for him. Oddly for the White Scars, this Khan was also known more widely beyond his host legion as well.

Strengths.
In brief then, this Khan is a praetor with an extra pip in strength with access to a scimitar jet bike upgrade (worth it!) and interestingly thanks to his peculiar history, the option to take a single sister of silence oblivion knight cadre (could be worth it potentially, but is mutually exclusive with the jetbike). When with these ladies, his Ld score is intact, plus he has a nice bonus to glorious interventions involving them too.

When charging, he has a neat trick to ignore the initiative step of the thunder hammer, which is really nice, but only a single attack.

Weaknesses.
His warlord trait is fixed as inspiring presence. Not the best, but okay.

Otherwise, he is standard fare, and may only be taken by loyalist forces.

Overall.
There are two overall options here.

I'd personally take the jet bike option and build a speedy list around him.

The other option is to consider an allied Sisters of Silence force with White Scars. This could work really well if smartly constructed, but candidly: I'm yet to give this a lot of thought. 

Horus Heresy Review: Qin Xa

Background.
This is a master of the legion who knew The Khan from before the coming of the Emperor. As a youth, he fought with him on Chogoris and even back then he was formidable.

Later in the Great Crusade, he was not really known much outside the White Scars legion, but within it, they knew him to be a veritable force of nature.

Strengths. 
Oddly for the White Scars, this is a character who takes to the field in terminator armour -- in this case the Tartaros variety. Of course, this is fitting given that he is basically the lord of the Keshig and he is entitled to take a terminator bodyguard when he goes to war. This unit can even take power glaives for a cost.

His warlord trait enables the player to bring in a unit from reserves automatically (no reserves rolling). This can be very good for a deep striking style of army.

Beyond that, Qin Xa is very good in melee and can rip through enemy terminator squads given the opportunity. He is strictly better than other praetors too, with en extra wound and initiative pip.

Weaknesses.
For what Qin Xa is (a terminator praetor level character with better stat line), there are no real weaknesses here at all. Arguably others shoot better than him. But I'd wager you're not playing him to be a shooty character.

Overall.
Good. Really good. The only question is whether Qin Xa suits your army build, and whether you are playing a loyalist list (traitor White Scars cannot take him).

Horus Heresy Review: White Scars Kyzagan Assault Speeder

Background.
In demand by the White Scars since they combine being rather fast (and thus able to keep up with the rest of the legion!) with rather decent firepower. The Speeders are a blend of quality, celerity, and sheer fire power that should not be under-estimated. I think we will all be seeing these units in White Scars builds at some point.

Strengths. 
Speed (fast skimmer type). Firepower. And strictly better than a regular javelin (look to the extra pip of AV at the front for that). They come with the regular rules you might expect such as deep striking and outflanking. The sheer amount of firepower that 3 speeders in one unit can pump out would put an Ork Boy to shame quite frankly. Unlike an Ork Boy, they hit a long more reliably...

Weaknesses. 
Watch the rear.

Builds.
There is not much to talk about here since there are not too many options to contemplate. They come with a Kheres assault cannon and two reaper auto cannons each, but neither type can be replaced with anything else.

The only options are more speeders in the squad (a good thing that should be thought about!), search lights (situational), and hunter-killer missiles (to taste -- some people swear by them, others will tell you they're a waste of points. I can see it both ways). 

Horus Heresy Review: The Falcon's Claws

Background.
What do you get when you cross the Alpha Legion with the Raven Guard? No, I'm not sure either, but one possible answer is the Falcon's Claws. In brief, they are the White Scars advanced team who try to assassinate key targets before the main battle is joined. They are very skilled at this, and at laying traps. Their rules reflect this, albeit lacking infiltrate.

Strengths. 
The best way to think of these marines is as scouts with extra stuff. Or maybe as scouts that the Alpha Legion or Raven Guard turned down, but the White Scars were simply not as fussy.

Look, they have lightning claws, cameleoline, shroud bombs, hatred of characters, precision strikes, move through cover, and a special rule that let's they redeploy up to an amazing 18 inches. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think that is the best redeployment in the entire game?

To my mind, they are ideally suited for some crazy back line adventures to try to take out some of the enemy before they become a threat. They are also going to be under-rated by opponents who have never seen them in action before. Multiple units of these are going to prove a headache.

Weaknesses.
They have recon armour, rendering them as being especially vulnerable to smaller arms fire. Equally, their points cost reflect this lower survivability.

Builds.
10 Falcon's Claws (170 points).
The basic, maximum body count unit. Redeploy and press your threat across the board. Take several of these to scare your opponent. Take a 5 man squad to surprise them.

10 Falcon's Claws, all with power weapons and bolt pistols, Champion with cyber-hawk and thunder hammer and single lightning claw (200 points).
As well as being able to model these as (more or less) regular scouts, they have their pick of power weapons. Take some power axes to really surprise your opponent in the mix to provide a threat to terminators.  Strictly the cyber hawk is not needed. But when there's several of these on the board, they can add up to something rather amazing. 

Horus Heresy Review: The Ebon Keshig

Background.
The Ebon Keshig are one of the more flavourful units in 30k. Whereas most legions regard their terminators as some kind of elite units or special formation, the White Scars have the Ebon Keshig as the place where their men go to atone for perceived sins or breaches of honour. If they survive their time in the Ebon Keshig, then they go back to where they once were, or find a newer role within the legion. I really like the flavour of this immensely.

Strengths.
They come as standard with power glaives -- these are awesome melee weapons which have the versatile special rule, and when used two-handed will give these terminators AP2 at S=5. This is really rather good.

In addition, they get their choice of terminator armour from any of the types available (I think I'd recommend tartaros here simply because of the rules that go along with it). The natural feel no pain means that we're not losing out much on taking cataphractii instead, but I can see an argument for cataphractii regardless. The stubborn special rule is great here as well. Chosen warriors I can live without, but it is nice here.

Weaknesses.
Not only are these units a support unit, but they also have the Kharash special rule. This means that they do not score, but can never earn an enemy any victory points either for their destruction. I guess this is a blessing and a curse.

The most glaring weakness here is how they get in to close combat. The controlling player will have to figure out the delivery method for themselves. It might be through a rite of war (e.g., an army made from deep striking terminators would complement the Ebon Keshig nicely), or it'll have to be a transport bought separately. This is okay at lower points values, but spells trouble at higher points where one would want to take different units in those other valuable slots. How about you're actually Alpharius and you get these units via Coils of the Hydra so that they infiltrate? Problem solved.

Builds.

10 Kharash (450 points).
I like the basic build, but a max squad of them. If you can find a transport or insertion solution, they will mop up enemy infantry (including other terminators, but maybe not Salamanders ones with shields) rather nicely. Tartaros armour suggested here. I would also consider adding 2 lots of grenade harnesses here as well if charging an enemy in terrain might be an issue.

Of course, half the number of terminators is still fun and viable for the above build. I would still recommend one or two grenade harnesses, but maybe think about cataphractii armour instead.

5 Kharash, all with power fists and combi-bolters (275 points).
I regret removing the power glaives, but if these terminators are in cataphractii armour, then they demand attention from the enemy and can be employed as a distraction unit; plain and simple.

Horus Heresy Review: The Golden Keshig

Background.
Beginning our examination of specialist White Scars units in 30k, we turn to The Golden Keshig. These men are the "replacement" for terminators -- instead of massing large walls of slow moving armoured marines, the White Scars like fast moving, heavy jet bikers to ram in to their opponents. (Note: they're not actually replacements for terminators, its just stated as a fielding preference in their background). Their role is to literally ram in to the centre of the enemy. And at this task, they are good.

Strengths. 
The Kontos power lance means that this unit will be striking at an impressive S=7 and AP2 at the top initiative notch when charging in to an enemy. This should be enough to see off a smaller squad (assuming that they might break and flee). They do have hit and run as standard as well, should they get bogged down or tarpitted.

The scatterbolt launcher that they have is a template weapon that comes with a reasonable strength value, but only AP4. It does have shred and pinning though which is a nice touch to soften up an enemy before charging in.

Weaknesses.
This unit relies on getting the charge in. If they do not, then their attacks are pathetic -- only at the base strength of the user and at AP4. They can die to this if not played well. Beware! Hit and run does help out, of course, but the controlling player simply must get the charge in. No excuses here.

Watch out as well for any enemy that will reduce their initiative, otherwise they are similarly going to not make their points back.

Builds.
3 Golden Keshig (160 points).
Keeping it cheap, I rather like the base build. Add on some extra bodies to taste -- I'd suggest 4 or 5 might be around the golden number here; pun not intended. Keep it at 3 for a jetbike-cide squad.

6 Golden Keshig, all with melta bombs, 5 with power axes, champion with thunder hammer (375 points).
This is not recommended, but it is the maximum build possible here. It is a fully kitted out squad to take out big transports and then deal with the occupants. Don't use it - there are better ways for the White Scars to take out heavy transports. I include it here as a suggestion for some builds where other options might be in short supply.