Feeling craptastic... Prep for the weekend I guess...

Well, no gaming this evening....  Picked up a few quad auto-cannon emplacements for DN's and Hydra Flak tanks...  Was a LONG weekend and today pretty thoroughly sucked.

So, gearing up for a local tournament this weekend, last chance to get out for a while I think...  Back to the UC transition after this...  1850 is a weird point level after so long at 1500 for me...  Playing around with my Fleshtearers (BA), Grey Knights, Deathwing and Wolves...  No clue where I'll end up at this point, but building a few lists here and there...  Trying hard to avoid the obvious point sinks while staying away from min/maxed silly lists...  So, the FT Terminators in a LRC is a bad idea...  Likewise the Wolf Guard in the same and likely the Deathwing...  Of them the DW is probably the strongest as a Terminator Squad in a LRC, but 250+ points sunk into a single vehicle is a LOT of points that might well do nothing but die.  We'll see what I end up with I guess...

Lists... And life in general :-)

Probably list....  Round one at least...

Master of the Deathwing (TH/SS)
Deathwing Squad (Apothicary/Banner, 4 TH/SS 1 LC and CML) 290
3 Deathwing Squads (4 TH/SS, 1 LC/CML) 235 each
2 Ravenwing Typhoon class speeders (MM/TML) 75 each
Ravenwing Squadron (Melta, Plasma, Attack Bike w/MM) 195
Vindicator (Dozer Blade) 130
Land Raider Crusader (Ancient MK I model I have) 250

So, 1850 for 4 Troops sections, one transport, assault gun, 2 Speeders and the bikes with Teleport Homers for placement shenanigans...  Should be interesting for missions, but I think I cannot beat a true horde force like Kevin's Nids or Orks...  IG are in trouble against me, I feel like it is a decent one against Mike's DE...  Good overall, assuming I stay focused on the mission, and only the mission...

Grey Knights I have a few options, Terminators, loads of Purifiers/PAGK, etc...  I DO like the Dreadknight, so that would have to make an appearance...  I also lack Storm Ravens, so those are out...  Not as sure about them as I've only played them in one league...  Could also bring out my "Logan Wing"...  Kind of an all stars list, and the "Wolf Claws" on the lads in Logan's squad give me re-rolls on the to his and to wound with Power Weapons, so really effective in HtH...

Busy building "Green Stuff" weapons for weapon swaps...  But sick for the last few days, and so all work on toys has stopped...  About ready to collapse now.  Overall liking my job, but it is a LOT more stress and work than I had to do in the past...  And now they're talking about removing the employee children's tuition waivers...  This after a few decades of the State not paying into the retirement fund like they were required to...  'course, the fact that the State does not pay SS taxes on us, they are supposed to pay an equivalent amount into those pension funds...  'course the rules are different for the State, especially Illinois...  Less and less reason to work at the University these days....

Tournament coming up...

But what to play?  Did pick up some heavy weapon sprues from the Gopher, so in theory I can have a few Eldar vehicles WYSIWYG with the correct heavy weapons...  Just thinking that knowing the local competition, I'd just lose too many :-)

Dark Angels, Grey Knights or Wolves I guess...

My poor Eldar got absolutely tabled in my first league game this evening :-)  Stupid mistake on my part and well played my Mike (playing his DE)...  Dawn of war sucks in so many ways, and facing one of the better modern codexes with a seriously outdated one...  Tried flanking with my War Walkers, Scorpions, etc...  But of course with the DE having enough vehicles to completely block off a flank meant that anything having to deploy there was destroyed...  Ah well :-)  Well played on his part, learning experience for me...  But really convincing me that the Eldar really are hopeless in the current environment...

Think I'll break out the Dark Angels for the Tournament...  At 1850 I can actually break out a LOT of stuff...  And at least they'll have a chance against almost anything out there...

Back to building... Soon :-)

So, still not sure what army I move to next, might well stay with Eldar if I wind up coming up with a good way to make Wave Serpents or their equivalent...  Or I may end up with IG and Half Tracks of doom?  Hydras as AA mounts on the halftracks (M16/T15 type for the American ones, the German equivalent  SdKfz 251)...  Not to mention the Chimeras that I'd need :-)...  Might be amusing, especially with the Vendetta/Valkyrie as the Space 1899 style Airships...  We'll see how the test model turns out for that one...

The point of boredom...

Ah, yes...  The cycle continues :-)  I seem to have painted myself into another corner with my Eldar build.  It's good.  Really good in the local environment at least...  I suspect it would get stomped against a top tier army elsewhere, depending on the match-up at least...  Playing the out of the book missions, it breaks the Annihilation (kill points) mission by simply being ridiculously hard to get a lot of kill points from, assuming I play it right.  OTOH, I think it would almost automatically lose in a "Take and Hold" mission with lots of objectives with only 2-3 "Troops" out there...  So, if I got a good draw in a Tournament and "favorable" missions, I could go far...  But depending on external luck to win is not a good idea, and frankly the army is getting fairly automatic for me and therefore more than a bit boring.

I did play it a bit different this week with the War Walkers deployed behind the Wraithguard for the Guide and I subbed in a Wraithlord for the Fire Prism for even more HtH deterrent...  Turned out I played against a Tyranid list, Dawn of War and I seized the imitative dooming his Hive Tyrant and guaranteeing that my Eldar Castle deployed as FAR away from the Genestealers as they could...  For the record, Guided War Walkers loaded out with Scatter Lasers are a REALLY good way to deal with a horde...  Turn one, 24 shots, 24 hits at Str 6...  I'm ALMOST kicking myself for trading off my other 3 War Walkers as I suspect that 2 squadrons of them, one with AT weapons (ML or BL?) would be brutal against a lot of things...

'course that brings me to the "But the new (to me :-)) models are REALLY nice..." part...  I really like the new War Walkers and Wave Serpents, but with money being as tight as it is these days I'd have to sell off a rifle or two to afford a major upgrade to an army that is barely competitive in the current edition of the rules...  :-)  Mind, I'd do it in a heartbeat just to have to toys, so if anyone is looking for some older firearms I'm sure we can work out a deal...  Just it wouldn't be a short term thing for me...

So, the cycle of boredom continues, where to go next?  Made my first green stuff combi weapon, and it turned out "OK"...  Glad the "Instant Mold" stuff is reusable :-)  I will be remaking the model for the next version and we'll see how it works...  Seems a good way to make smaller pieces for the armies, guessing I'll be making shoulder pads/icons for some of my forces ASAP, weapon swaps, etc...  Simple things at first...

Painted armies...

Well, getting better over the years in terms of fielding mostly painted forces...  My Eldar for instance are almost fully painted, or at least "base coated"...  Need to get some Wave Serpents or to make some more of the ancient Falcon class tanks (the wedge type) to field more than the "Brick of doom".  Foot Eldar are a bad choice overall...  While I CAN do it, fielding large units of troops weaker than IG (Lack of Special/Heavy weapons, good cheap transports, etc...) just doesn't work well in the local "modern" 5th ed environment.  Kevin's Tyranids would feast on them as I would not be able to throw out enough firepower to even slow them down, nor could I fight off even the weakest bugs with my basic troops...  Even the best of the best for my poor Eldar, Scorpions or Harlequins, would be little more than a speed bump for them... So, Brick or Mech...  Mech I think is quite strong, Dave does an excellent one...  Unfortunately lacking the Falcon hulls, I can't really field it...  Besides, I tend to play a bit more aggressively and waiting patiently to try a last turn or two rush just not really fit my style at all...  Not to say it doesn't work :-)...  It does, but that's why I was a REALLY good Wolfen/Kelt player in Confrontation, and had a really hard time playing some of the other forces


My Wolves are the same way, but I have a LOT more rhino hulls ready for them.  My Dark Angels are completed, but then Deathwing is fairly simple...  IG?  Yeah...  Time to get serious about the vehicles there too...

So, Wave serpents are the order of the day it seems...  Wonder if I have a template for this one?  Rhino hulls, Titans, and Land Raiders I KNOW I have...  Guess I'll see what I can come up with...

Karandras, have I played it wrong?

So, Karandras gives the squad he is with Infiltrate and Move Through Cover?  Stealth I knew...  Damn, if this is right, the Wraithguard brick o' doom being able to Infiltrate and therefore flank?  Over 800 points of really bad news hitting the table hopefully up close and personally...  Maybe an Autarch to mess with the reserve rolls and put even more eggs in that basket...  Course, that would mean no Farseer... Hmmm...