BREAKING NEWS: Eldar Spotted

Information is coming in from every where. Eldar incoming. Looks like a robot wars is becoming real.

I really love the Eldar vehicles and have loved the Wave Serpents, Falcons and Fire Prisms for a long time. The recent models are no different. Beautiful sculpts. Looking forward to seeing them in the flesh. I will be getting the books. 

I am not too sure about the Iyanden Codex Supplement though. Really love hate since they could have easily bundled this ruleset with the main Codex but keeping it separate meant that other Craftworld users don't have to look at Iyanden stuff all the time. It also would mean that there is scope for other Craftworld supplements and possibly Space Marine type Supplements.  

The Riptide now has a friend

Gotta love the flyer in the corner

Maybe time for me to break out the Eldar again. 

Batrep: Border Patrol High Elves and Orcs & Goblins vs Dark Elves and Tomb Kings

It has been a long while since the members of Anything But Ones got together to play a game. Since the launch of the High Elf book I have been dying to get a game in. So to refresh our minds, we decided to have a 500 point Border Patrol between 4. My wife was playing my High Elves and I was controlling the Orcs and Goblins. YouCai was playing Tomb Kings and Defeng was playing the Dark Elves. Simple Pitched Battle. 

Deployment had our centre shored up, YC's Ushabti on my right flank

Orcs and Elves, strange alliance but this is Fantasy!

Put these Wolf Riders on the flank hoping to get his RBT early game

YC and DF moved up in their first turn. We respond in kind. Silver Helms failed their charge

Skeleton unit fail the charge on 4, leaving the Dark Elves to fight the Night Goblins. Fanatic killed a few Spearmen

Silver Helms got into combat this turn but failed to do enough damage. Lost 2 Elves in return

Rolling a 5 for the Break Test Goblins stay in the fight, allowing the Savages to charge

We missed a few photos here but the Savages destroyed the Dark Elves and had to pursue. The Skeletons then charged me in the rear. The High Elves Spearmen then got charged by the Cold One Chariot

YC's Ushabti destroyed the Silver Helms and moved midfield

Archers on the hill sent as many bolts as possible into YC's Skeleton unit with his Liche Priest

DE Chariot broke through the Spearmen and proceeded to charge the Night Goblins in the flank. Savages failed to combat reform and had to slowly grind the skeletons down

After a heavy crumbling roll, the Skeletons opened up a path to allow the Ushabti to charge in. This time my Savages could not pass the Break Test and opted to flee and was destroyed by a lone skeleton. 

Victory to the Dark Elves and Tomb King alliance. Well played. I have to redesign both lists to capitalize on each army's strength rather than to build a super flexi list. At 500 points, I realised that you really have to bring your army's character to the fore. For example, High Elves should have brought a Mage and not a fighty Noble. Back to the drawing board.

WIP: Border Patrol

Work continues on the Savage Orc Warboss. I have invested quite a lot of time on his skin and I hope the camera captures the work I have done. 

I have gone back in with Knarloc Green to highlight the muscles again. I then start work using Goblin Green in streaks to create the illusion of tightly strung muscles. I used a brush with a really sharp bristle (0 and 1 grades work well, choose sharp bristle) to create almost streaks. 

For all the bones on his body I have gone back in with Dheneb Stone to highlight it back up. I have also used Blood Red for his top knot washed with Baal Red. 

Goblin Green for skin. I will be further highlighting this with a mix of yellow and Goblin Green as a final stage

Waaaaaagh! Better angle to catch the light

You can see the muscles and bone bits

GET OVER THERE AND WAAAAGH

Rebased all the Night Goblins to match the army

Took me about 20 minutes but their bases are all done up now!

More Goblinssesss

500 point game this Saturday. Let's see how this tiny force works.

WIP: Painting the Savage Orc Warboss

So I got around to painting my Savage Orc Warboss and thought I would expand on my tips from my post yesterday. 

Bear in mind that this miniature will get the full treatment, going up to Level 4 (Hero Level). I have defined this to include full shading, multiple levels of highlights (minimum 3 layers). However, I intend to use it also to show you how you can get an army ready to Level 2 quite quickly and put the miniature to the table fast. 

Here are the quick steps: 

Glue up the model and stick sand to the base. Prime model black

Work in the base coats. Always start bottom up, i.e. dirty work like drybrushing of the base and then skin. I used Knarloc Green for the skin, Scorched Brown for wood/bone/straps and Codex Grey for stone

Pick out bone with a layer of Dheneb Stone but leave some of the Scorched Brown showing near the joints

Wash the entire mini with Devlan Mud to organic parts and Badab Black wash to stone

Leave your miniature to dry. We are effectively at Level 1 now. You can actually start gaming with this miniature. With the base done and the mini looking like it has shading, this is all you need to get a game in. This took me about 15 minutes minus waiting time for paint to dry.

Stay tuned for more and as always Follow to get regular updates!

WIP: Border Patrol

With the release of the High Elf book, I have fallen back in love with Fantasy. There is an element of Fantasy that I really enjoy, and that is deploying a full army painted and nicely ranked up in their formations. It takes me back to those days when I first spotted through the glass panel of a store in Bangsar Shopping Centre, Malaysia a full Empire Army with the original steam tank.

Saw a unit very similar to this fully ranked up. I was 14 years old and that seed stuck in my head

A fully painted steam tank of the 90's

This idea stuck in my head for the longest time so I started Warhammer Fantasy in 1994 with a few friends. My first army was of course the High Elves which was part of the starter. In my mind I wanted to collect an army that I could lay out similar to this picture:

Ranks and ranks of men, fighting for their lives

When I first played the High Elves I realised that I could never really get a horde going at the 2000 point level. Thankfully, Fantasy has escalated to 2700 points these days. With the starter that Sam generously gave me back in 2004, the Orcs and Goblins were assembled. If you have been a follower of this blog, you would have seen other previous posts getting my army ready for the Blood for the Badlands campaign last year. Unfortunately that campaign suffered the same commitment issues most game groups encounter and was not able to go beyond 2 turns.

Nonetheless, the recent High Elf release has brought me back to Fantasy in a long about way. My wife loves them. The High Elves are beautiful and some say a little girly. I was more than happy to share them with her and take the ugly Orcs to battle once more!

To start, I wanted her to learn the basics so have built two 500 point armies. Coincidentally, our gaming group is keen to get back into Fantasy so have all agreed to build 500 point armies to clash.

I am using the blog to again keep track of my progress and serve me targets and reminders to get me to finish this army up.

This is the full 500 points, assembled and in various stages of completion. 

I went with 3 main units, one to distract, one to hold and one to hit.

Have just started base coating the Savage Orc Big Boss

Distraction unit ready to go. Just completed their rebasing

Working on this unit in tandem with the Warboss. I have completed majority of the miniatures to Level 1 while I work to get them to Level 3 for the front ranks. I have loads to do but I love the detailing bit, working in the colours to the raised muscles and teeth.

On the subject of time and effort, I believe many of us are busy adults with children and work. I find that I work best when I allot myself a fix amount of time, say 1 hour to hobby. I called it Hobby Hour. In this hour I make the best of the time and never procrastinate since I know I only have one hour. As I paint the first guy, I ask myself, what is the next step and what is the step after that - ensuring I never waste one precious moment. It also helps that you build the army list as that becomes your target.

Remember, you want to get the army on the table. Here are my top tips to get them ready fast:

1. Base all your minis with sand BEFORE you basecoat your minis
2. Basecoat your mini black - it will save you a lot of time shading
3. Go in with the a lighter colour and then use WASHES. They are every gamer's dream come true. These washes save time and make you look pro fast. 
4. Paint in batches of 3 to 5, depending on how much you can finish before the first mini dries out - this is important so that you can feel the sense of completion
5. Break down your levels of painting - tabletop quality (Level 1), detailed (Level 2), full highlights (Level 3)
6. Reward yourself with characters and unit champions, musicians and standards to break the monotony of painting 30 men. Every 5 men rewards you with the right to paint a unit champion. 

Hope the tips above help. That's how I got through the unit below! 

Remember to come up with a simple scheme that you can work quickly to raise the army of your dreams

Sam's Corner: WIP: Patlabor Themed Tau

Sam's been busy! Here's an update from our prolific modeller.

Its been a good restful weekend. A bit lonely cos the missus is out of town. She will be home next Tuesday. Can't wait :))

I've managed to do some assembly and painting as well with the spare time. Finally got the Riptide kit and also bought white paint to cover the remaining basecoat of my Sky Ray.

Its a bit hilarious I used such a huge test model haha! Should have tested something smaller...

But I do like the starkness of the white. Its a color of an entire army which my other armies do not have. I'm gonna add more black to some areas to give it more 'police' look.

Riptide WIP: Designation Alphonse
I managed to do some light conversion work on the Riptide. I wanted to do a more complicated one involving a driver poking out of the top hatch below the head. But that would involve creating a 'neck' for the head. I do not forsee having the time to do this with work and stuff.

So here it is. A WIP, mostly blue tacked so I can make some changes. Comments and critique most welcome :))

I selected the Fusion Blaster as its free weapon to be its 'revolver' proxy. Given that the revolver has a short range but deals good damage, i thought it a suitable choice. Also mounted the Burst Cannon on the shoulder for a bit of the anime OTT look.

Lock and Load! I sawed the hands of the Gundam kit. Its still available at Metro, at $9.94 for the entire robot. Lots of parts to use for conversions.

The head is from the same kit, a G-Bouncer. Its got the closest look to the Patlabor robot. Shoulder stuff added from another Gundam kit I got long ago. If I'm not mistaken its the 1/144 GN-X.

Its always been a temptation to add some Gundam to GW minis. The opportunity finally arrived lol!

Have a great week ahead everyone!

And to all mothers, a very Blessed Mother's Day ;)

Dust Warfare Batrep: 400AP Axis vs Allies

400AP aside, I was playing against Fauzi with his truly mobile Allies force. All his units were in jump-packs and he brought 3 heroes to the game. Tough, full of surprises, this was going to be a long night.

Mission: Kill Points
Deployment: Close Engagement (6" in, 12" apart)
Conditions: None

I brought a slightly modified list which included the dreaded Der Schwarm.

Dust Warfare - Force Builder

Faction: Axis ( 400 / 400 )

--- Sturmgrenadiere Platoon (249)

Upgrade: Der Schwarm (20)

Command Section: Kommandotrupp (25)

1st Section: Heavy Flak Grenadiers (26)

2nd Section: Battle Grenadiers (17)

3rd Section: Recon Grenadiers (17)

4th Section: Recon Grenadiers (17)

Support: HPW VI-A "Königsluther" (95)

Support: LPW I-A "Heinrich" (20)

Support: Sniper Grenadier Team (12)

--- Blutkreuz Platoon (151)

Upgrade: Improved Command (5)

Command Section: Sturmpioniere (25)

1st Section: Axis Zombies (19)

+ Rat Fighters (1)

2nd Section: Battle Grenadiers (17)

+ Replace one StG47 with Panzerschreck (3)

3rd Section: Axis Gorillas (24)

Support: Horten HO-347.III "Fledermaus III" (45)

Support: Sniper Grenadier Team (12)

Plan was to sit back, bomb the hell out of them and then mop up. Also, I am happy to let you guys know that I managed to paint up most of the units to easily distinguish them!

The deployment forced me to put my Heavy 4 in the middle which could dominate firing lanes and take out his tanks. Fledermaus would advance and take out the light walkers. Infantry to hold back and let his Inf3 come up to me.

My left flank

Sniper roost. Fauzi used that tank to make their life really tough

Right flank. I planned to use the 2nd Platoon to flank and envelop his army. In hindsight I didn't really have to

Kept the Heinrich as far back as I could to suppress his units and allow the Apes to kill in melee

Opening shot managed to pip off some HP from the walker

Targeted that other walker too

Fauzi wasted no time to get to grips with my men. 

Opening salvo had my entire army suppressed. Fauzi then poured a lot of fire into the sniper roost.

The number of suppression counters were impressive. 

After his tank hunters fled, I moved my apes back to the building to help out my HQ

This unit was under heavy fire from me now

Things at Turn 2

On my right flank I advanced my flanking units

The fight in this building continues

Rhino and gang plinking away at my units. The combination of the initial bombardment and jetpack got me on the receiving end. 

Fauzi was clustering his units together to stay out of sniper fire

I kept focussing all unit fire into that unit with Rhino

While the apes kept up the good fight, removing HP from his other hero-can't remember the name

Fled my HQ back to keep away from his 12" Fusion guns

So Fauzi advanced his anti tank squad to take out the Heinrich

Rhino and gang targets my Heavy Flak Grenadiere now, killing 2

The Zombies finally get into the action

Fledermaus and Konigsluter removes the 2 walkers

Battle grenadiers removes the other one

Fauzi advanced his unit of tank hunters into the ruins on my right to threaten the Konighsluter

I backed my Konig up and opened into them

While my right flank deals with his remaining men

Fauzi moves up the stairs to take out the poor snipers

Fauzi jumps them out

And I unleashed everything at the unit in the open, wiping them out to a man

Zombies now moved in to assist

Both sides were losing men fast

By Turn 4 I was really thin on the ground

Most of his units were suppressed and I needed to kill more to win

Finally Fauzi managed to kill my last Zombie who was tough as nails. 

From the back my HQ unit of platoon 2 advances to torch the Frech men! Alas, they survived. 

Threw everything I had at the unit in the open but they survived. 

We tallied our Kill Points and dum dum dum! It is a draw!!! LOL after a long fight it was a draw. Most intense!

Der Schwarm did not hit once in this game. Then again, I did lose my HQ unit in Turn 3 so I can't really judge its potency. Another spin is likely before I make a conclusion.