Pics of works in progress and a bit more...

So, just a few pics of the things I am working on...  Nothing too extensive, but getting some ancient models ready to hit the table...

So, building a Land Speeder Storm, Bastions, Centurion Devastator stand ins, Swooping Hawks, Storm Talon stand-in, some ancient Scouts with Bolters and  the Marine w/ Shuriken Catapult to stand in as a Grav Gun I think...

Looking at my armies and current projects in the Basement of Doom © I have way too much on that wee painting table.  And frankly finding less and less motivation to actually paint them to maybe play them…

1.      Still stripping and repainting my Praetorian IG, but that is a LONG term project with several hundred models.  And riding the motorcycle, not a practical army to be transporting.  Rumor has them getting a new Codex early next year.  I think they are still way too good in this edition, though I know I do not be any means have an “optimized” force playing mine as a Light Rifles Company.  Still, while they are NOT unbeaten while I play them, I think I have only lost to gimmick setups for a LONG time.  By Gimmick I mean the Scenario allowed say, an Assault based horde army to set up at the mid-point, something like 12” away from my line as I was packed into a corner.  If I had more than a single turn to actually fire before getting overrun…  But that was 5^th edition.  In 6^th I think they still do an amazingly powerful gun line.  Only real struggles are keeping something like Daemons at bay.  But I have Aegis lines, Hydras, Vendettas, etc…  Sadly, running them with Wolves as allies for Psychic Defenses and effectively unbreakable blobs is not a bad thing.  Silly tricks like DA or GK allied in give things like 4++ Fearless blobs or other things really outside of  balance…  NOT really suitable for fast paced Tournament games, so unlikely to see them there…  And frankly, the modern gun lines like Eldar Serpent Spam can throw out a LOT of firepower.  More below…
2.        DA…  Yes, I have a BUNCH of them still in various stages of painting.  Picked up one of the new Terminator Squad boxes…  And repainting/finishing up a bunch of my old models.  I CAN play a pretty good Dual Wing or Deathwing force…  Just such a low model count for overpriced things and the new gun lines put out SO MUCH fire that I’ll roll enough 1’s to just die.  Oh, and the bikes just evaporate to the Heldrakes.  No saves, wound on a 2 or 3 depending if it is the fly-by or flamer…  No defenses possible, unless you somehow get them Invulnerable saves…  Possible, but NOT cheap and that bunches you or slows you down so much…   And overall, the DA book still leaves a bitter taste as it had SUCH potential but ended up just being really bad all around.  Niche allies at best, sadly…
3.        Eldar…  Yes, I stopped painting and playing them for pretty much the opposite reason.  They are just way too good.  The Wave Serpent is insane, and since GW is “somewhat lax” doing things like writing, clarifying or providing FAQs for their rules you get some insane but completely legal combos.  Skyshield with Wave Serpents being the one that comes to mind here.  2+ cover save for a bunch of Vehicles that depending on how the TO rules might be immune to “ignores cover”.  And good luck getting up there to deal with them in HtH.  MOST tournaments do not have giant pieces of blocking terrain at the center of every table, and those are the only ones that I am seeing things like Chaos/Tyranids coming out on top with.  Alpha Strike or no, SO much shooting that it gets silly and they are immune to so much counter fire.  Kind of irking, I was really enjoying playing them in a non “optimized” fashion with Spiritseer and Wraiths as Troops, etc…  There are just SO many good things in the book, and it was interesting to play until this.  I felt it was overpowered before this and I felt pretty bad bringing them to play against folks bringing “fluffy” Chaos Marines, GK or the like, but this just put it way over the top.  Point and click for the win at the events, boring to play and boring to play against. 
4.      And finally the Crimson Fists I am working on now...  So far they are pretty good.  I am enjoying playing the Army and they are doing fairly well...  OK, strike that, they are kicking much ass.  But I have yet to face one of the forces I think will be a hard counter to them.  And unfortunately there are some armies that are simply hard counters to EVERYTHING.  Based on some very poorly written rules and their interaction with some very unclear things, it has led to a situation where I fear the game itself is just broken.  The problem is that until some of the stupidity is sorted out, not sure ANY Army will work.  Frankly, at this point barring local house rulings or a LOT of the major TOs  getting together and making an effectively universal ruling it is simply not worth playing in Tournaments I think...  Locally I think we'll avoid this, but...

 OK, that wound up more of a rant than I was thinking of...  And I haven't even touched all of my armies.  Fleshtearers are still "eh" at best, GK's have been passed I think.  Though ironically they would work very well against the Demons that have apparently been doing well in some of the Tournaments the way I play them at least...  I'm odd I guess as I actually play the GK with actual Knights as the focus and in fact the main part of the force...  But they lose easily I think to too many other things...  Fleshtearers are a Shock army.  I will be able to surprise some people attacking immediately and with everything, holding nothing back and taking chances not many others would...  Works once against most people, but once they have seen this thing, it will not work again, or not often...