Works in Progress: Ulthwé Ravagers and Raiders

As promised, I have taken some images of my Ravagers that I will be using for my Ulthwé army with Codex: Dark Eldar. I currently only have two of the new Fire Prism kit, but I will be grabbing another one in the not-too-distant future. We'll see what Christmas has in store before I put any more money into new models (I need a LOT more warlocks to run as Wyches as well). For now I'm cleaning up what I've got and getting it ready for some actual use.

Dusting off the Eldar: Going Dark

Having had a chance to go over most of the stuff in the upcoming Codex: Dark Eldar, I am thinking I'll be able to break out my Eldar and get them to work with the new codex. I'm gonna throw some ideas around for counts-as and start working on the conversions for the missing pieces soon.

My Eldar army is pure Ulthwé, with the heavy focus on seer councils. Support from Black Guardians and a small splash of aspect warriors makes the list super-fluffy while still being really good, at least when we look at the options we have available in Dark Eldar. Try doing that with the Eldar codex and your grand total of 7 units will get blasted off the table in no time.

Here is the list I am looking at starting with. It's really straightforward, and probably on the weaker side of what can be done with Dark Eldar. Testing with this list will give me a really good idea about the core units of the force though, and I can branch out from there. I will explain the conversions & counts as after the list.

Battle Report: RayJ vs raptor1313

Saturday I got in a game of 40k against Rob, better known to the internet community as raptor1313. As he explained over on Spite for the Dice Gods, the mission we rolled was Spearhead Annihilation (Table Quarters deployment for Killpoints).

The list I was running is the Logan-Wing list I built based off of Chumbalaya's NOVA Open list. The list is available in the Kicking Puppies thread.

Here is what Rob was running:

Hive Tyrant with pair of Twin-Linked Devourers
3 Venomthropes
2 Tervigons with Catalyst
2 Termagaunt Squads (10-strong with Devourers)
2 Harpies with twin-linked Heavy Venom Cannons
2 Tyrannofex with Rupture Cannons
1 Carnifex

Works in Progress: Ravenwing Cavalry

As you may have seen in this article I am working with a Space Wolves list based on what Chumbalaya ran at NOVA. So far this list has been pretty good. The only big problems I've seen from it have been on my end.

For the project I'm simply adding some new models to my existing army. I've built a successor chapter to the Dark Angels, and I went with an alternate color scheme specifically so I could jump from codex to codex. I'm in this game to play and I wanted to give my minis the most versatility possible with the least amount of fuss from opponents and fluff bunnies.

Below is the first model being built up for my Ravenwing Cavalry. The horses are all pure black (just like the ones the Order rode on Caliban back before the Emperor reunited with the Lion). I'm going with the same silver/platinum armor that my chapter uses with the green primary accent color. The original color scheme is based on the Disciples of Caliban but using green instead of the dark red. I've modified it a bit, but that should give you a general idea of the army until I can get some more pictures up.

I've gone with purple to highlight the black on the horse as purple is the secondary accent color in my scheme (used mostly for purity seals and weapons). Once the rider is added it should really tie in well.

This still has a good bit of work to go, but it's finally starting to take on the appearance I'm going with.

Testing Out Some DA Updates

I'm gonna play some test games with an 'updated' Dark Angels list this weekend. Here is what I'm working with. Note the list is going to be built to be fairly balanced, but isn't going to be strictly optimized for tournament winning. I am taking a look at what options are opened up with just the bare basic updates to the DA codex. For the most part units are updated to mirror Codex: Space Marines/Imperial Armor Volume II. The biggest changes appear in Ravenwing and Deathwing, but even those are extremely minor.

Project Unforgiven: Revitalizing Dark Angels for a new generation

For the past month, the Dark Angels community over at Bolter & Chainsword has been setting up the framework for a project that will bring an update to the Dark Angels codex. There are really two parts to this project.

The first, titled Project Redemption, is taking the current DA codex and updating wargear, special rules, and unit discrepancies that would at least put it on par with the fundamentals of 5th edition. The second one, titled Project Unforgiven, is taking a look at all the fluff available to 40k players currently and reworking the codex from the ground up.

The end goal is to produce a set of documents to aid Games Workshop in a timely release of a new Dark Angels codex. We are researching fluff, mechanics, design, and a myriad of other issues over the coarse of the project and plan to playtest the project extensively once we being working with the rules development. Discussion with Jervis at GamesDay UK suggests we will be uniquely positioned to influence GW's normal process as the studio members are just now starting to turn their wheels on possible DA updates.

This isn't the first time the DA community at Bolter & Chainsword have influenced the rules for the better. In 3rd edition, the FAQ update that led to the 3.5 DA codex was in fact a result of a similar set of documents sent in by this community.

I suggest you all take a look at the project, give some feedback, and participate in the discussions. Things got sidetracked recently, but are now getting back on track, and this is a great opportunity to learn just how difficult it is to make a balanced codex that feels right!

All of the appropriate threads can be found in the Unforgiven Rules Development subforum.

Kicking Puppies: Starting Over

So, I’m a horrible blogger for leaving everyone in limbo for so long. I had all these grand ideas and managed to not get very many of them off the ground. I have been doing a good bit of modeling, playing some games, and visiting other blogs, but I haven’t left time for posting here.

I’m gonna make a stronger effort to catch back up. For now I only want to guarantee one post a week. I want to do more, but I will keep myself up to that minimum.

After coming down from that tournament in June I kind of jumped away from Dark Angels and looked at Fantasy. I’m still going to be working on that army, but it’s going to be a long time in the making. Most of my close friends don’t play it, and I enjoy the mechanics of 40k a little more.

Over the past few weeks I have been working with Space Wolves, and I’ve got enough games under my belt to really like how the units are working. I’ve worked up something based on what Chumbalaya ran at the NOVA Open. Details after the jump.