Archive for February, 2009

Eldar Jetbike Advice

Shawn,
As you know, I am a fan of the Eldar as well. And I have to say
that Jetbikes are a viable troops choice to be certain. In fact, I
rarely ever play a game that doesn’t have some element of a “Speed is
Life” style (Dire Avengers in Serpents, or Jetbike squadrons).

As to whether or not they will fit in your army…that depends. I
will try to offer my insights and then, coupled with your own
experiences, you can make an informed decision.

In my experience, jetbikes cannot go racing up the middle of the
board. EVER. Just because they have better toughness and armor than a
regular guardian does not mean you should use them as shock troops. Be
prepared t osacrifice a turn (or two) of fire to maneuver into position.
This was a lesson that took me a while to really use. And I still fall
into the “Shoot Every Turn” trap.

At the very minimum, I take 4 Jetbikes in a squadron: 2 ‘regular’
bikers, a shuriken cannon biker, and a warlock. With the new edition,
conceal is a waste (your armor is better, and there’s turbo boosting if
you really need it). I tend to go with Embolden. This means you are
more likely to pass morale checks for casualties, and will make taking a
wound less catastrophic (You are taking a test every time someone
crashes).

As you go up in numbers, you can substitute powers for the warlock
(though Embolden is always a good default). Destructor can be a big
surprise for your opponent when you drop a heavy flamer equivalent in
their laps. And enhance can really turn the tide if you decide to
assault (Not recommended, but has been useful for me in the past. I
still think conceal is bogus on jetbikes.

I tend to go with 6 jetbikes + warlock, or 9 jetbikes + warlock,
depending on the rest of my force. I tend to bring a jetbike farseer
and either another farseer on jetbike, or an autarch on jetbike. The
Farseer allowing re-roll saves, and dooming a target squad is brutal
(could you imagine if Guide increased BS instead of re-rolls?. OUCH!).

Based on the list you have in your blog, I would keep the night
spinners hidden (obviously) Put the dire avengers in wave serpents, get
a jetbike farseer, and fill up your troops slots with jetbikes. I would
kit out my war walkers with multi-shot weapons (Scatter lasers are a
favorite, but I tend to equip mine with Scatter laser/Starcannon) and
have them outflank your opponent. (And get juicy side armor) Vypers
should have long range weapons or high rate of fire weapons (the dual
shuri-cannon load isn’t as effective anymore) So I would go with
missile launchers for range (and the blast not almost guaranteed to hit
SOMETHING) or shuriken cannon to keep em cheap. (Speaking of: I had an
idea for a vyper with an underslung turret. Take the Shuri-cannon
turret from a wave serpent/falcon and mounting it underneath the vyper
(where the normal turret goes. Would it fit?)

I hope this helped a little bit, and that I didn’t tell you
something you already know. 🙂

Very Respectfully,
–Josh

Here’s a follow up:
The 60mm base only becomes a problem in urban fights. I tend to have the bikes at various altitudes to allow them to bunch up (Thanks for the doweling btw) and it allows for a much larger spread when your opponent is ‘shooting through’ your unit. (though I’m not sure how reliable that might be with “True Line of Sight” and its interpretations). Deployment can be a problem, but after you get to move, you should be ok. Plus, under the new 5th ed rules, you can choose which units are in reserve (re-read the missions and the reserve rules and you’ll see it) So coming in from the table sides can be a devastating tactic (especially shuriken cannons into tasty side armor)

From my understanding, in 5th ed, turbo-boosting bikes give a cover save instead of invulnerable. So if you are turbo boosting, your cover save is better than conceal, if you are not your armor save is better than conceal. And if you are trying to avoid lascannons, plasma guns, and other high AP weapons, using ‘real’ cover will likely be more readily available and offer a better save than conceal. I would spend my points elsewhere.

Jetbikes in 5th edition are great for the last minute objective snatching. They are more maneuverable in avoiding assaults and putting fire on specific targets (Isolate and destroy). With outflank and their outright speed they can be pretty good at getting to softer targets. A lot of my opinions are based on theoryhammer because I have only played a small number of games since 5th ed.

Let me know what you find out.

Respectfully,
–Josh

Posted on February 5th, 2009 at 8:26am by Shawn


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Daemonhunters and Eldar

We made a Forge World order yesterday. It was a personal thing, not so much for the studio. Renn picked up some Death Korps mortars to round out his army, and I picked up a few Night Spinners.
I also ordered a Lord Hexeris, just because that model is so cool. I have a massive Grey Knights army coming in, which we are going to refurbish and upgrade, and I thought he would make a great HQ for that. Here’s what’s in it:
GKT Hero with storm bolter 1
GKT Hero with psycannon 1
GKT with psycannons 4
GKT BC with psycannons 4
GKT with incinerator 1
GKT with TH+SS 1
GKT with storm bolters 12
GK with psycannons 8
GK with incinerators 5
GK with stormbolters 55
GK Justicars 8

Inquisitor with psycannon 1
Inquisitor Cortez with retinue 1
Eversor assassin 1
death cult assassins 3

Dreadnought with various arms 3
CC Dreadnought with AC 1

As you can see this isn’t a small army. It’s a lot of Grey Knights. Anyway, you can look forward to that as a studio project. If anyone is interested, send out a line now.
OK, let’s talk about Eldar. This will be like my sixth army of Eldar since starting 40K in 1996. I am still really torn about what to field in it. Eldar have so many great units: evocative, colorful, interesting, and deadly.
I’m not so interested in what is good. I want modelling opportunities and an army that is both fun to play and a challenge to play against. Here’s what I have incoming soon:
6x grav tanks of various types
2x Night Spinner turrets
9x Vypers (got some great conversion ideas for these)
2x units of Dire Avengers
What else should I get?
Definitely going to put in a unit of three War Walkers. I’ve wanted for some time now to try fielding NINE of them in an army. Just to see how a marine army takes 36 star cannons shots in a turn.
My big problem is what to use as Troops choices. I really like Jetbikes. With a Warlock are they any good?
In other news: a rare and coveted Painter slot has opened up at the studio. I’ve interviewed about twenty people this week. It’s grueling. But that doesn’t mean I don’t like it. It’s great to meet new people and I am absolutely blown away by the level of talent that is showing up. It’s agonizing to narrow it down. I should have it settled in about a week. But you will all not meet the new artist until 3-6 months from now.
The time involved with this process is what has kept me from both blog and youtube this week.
I still have a few slots open for February.

Posted on February 5th, 2009 at 2:11am by Shawn


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Terminal Case of Ticks

When I was in South America I saw something that made my heart break.
Stray dogs would get infested with ticks. Whole carpets of them that would breed on them until they formed bulbous grey patches of them all over their bodies. I was told that eventually the dog would lay down and die.
The problem is that they creatures take and take from their host, and unless something is done to remove them, the poor dog will grow ever weaker.
The only solution is a whole body tick-removal bath.
Read more about these hideous creatures here.
You will not even believe how out of control some of this stuff is.

Posted on February 3rd, 2009 at 3:34am by Shawn


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Source for Necron Rods

http://www.allacrylics.com/index.html

Here’s an eBay auctions showing what different kinds they carry:

http://stores.ebay.com/All-Acrylics-LLC

Here’s an interesting blog:
http://gluedmyfingers.blogspot.com

Posted on February 2nd, 2009 at 9:24pm by Shawn


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Sponsor and Executive

And this is completely broken.

Posted on February 2nd, 2009 at 8:41pm by Shawn


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Drowsy Morning

Here is the song that is stuck in my head this morning.

I woke up naturally bright and early, around 7am. All right, it’s bright, but not early. As usual, I had like ten clear thoughts in my head, which I jotted down and should be the subject of a future post.

My daughter is sick today. She shambled out and announced as much then proceeded to coccoon herself on the couch with a giant bowl of generic brand Lucky Charms at hand. We’re watching Batman cartoons.

I played a few games of Magic with my son. That game is never going away now, if for no other reason that it gives bonding time for he and I. He is about 1.5 grades ahead in all his subjects. He is so smart and thoughtful. He is getting good. He beats me fairly often. Of course, half of Magic is deck building and my decks are really sub-standard.

My wife is puttering around in her pale-blue bath-robe making bacon-potato soup.

Posted on February 1st, 2009 at 5:11pm by Shawn


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Rumba

I had a huge day today, Saturday. But I am so tired my head is sagging.

There are still six slots open for February, if you would like something done.

A few items:

We went to Sarah’s house last night for dinner and we played Munchkin. Josephus and his wife were there, too. We had some kind of Indian soup (curry and potatoes) and a lot of fruits and vegetables.

Munchkin is not a good game for Mormons.
“Hey, can someone help me with this monster?”
“Sure! We can all help you!”
“Great! Thanks! OK, now that that’s done, let me give you guys the treasure. Who can use a ‘Dwarven Beard?'”
“Yay! We all win!”

I don’t think that was what the creators of the game had in mind.

But I definitely want to play it again.

This morning I had dance class with my wife, which is most enjoyable. I just wish the instructor would slow down. I hardly have time to grasp one thing and it’s on to another.

“OK, now … two, three, step, step, step!”
“Waitasecund! What the hell happened to ONE!??”

I guess it’s like painting. Just stick with it and it gets better and easier.

We had pizza tonight. With the baby Tamie isn’t cooking as much. Speaking of which, the little pod is doing ever so well. She is pink and happy.

In an additional complication, we left my car in the Wal Mart parking lot, meaning to pick it up last night; but we forgot. So, this morning when I went out to drive to work my car was gone. .

Posted on February 1st, 2009 at 5:12am by Shawn


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Black Knights

Every once in a while I get an army list idea that is so good that it absolutely must be done.

The list is Chaos Space Marines Nurgle Themed. Now, normally nurgle is done all pustulent and green and slimy. Blah blah blah. We’ve seen it all before. What if it was more like a “dark angels of death” thing?

Chaos Space Marine bodies with the halberds/lances from the new warhammer fantasy Chaos Knights (we have extras). These are mounted with chaos bolters, much like the adeptus custodes. And in the other arm a shield, again the really cool ones from the chaos knights (again, we have extras for this conversion). This is what represents the additional point of toughness.

It gets better: use bloodletter heads (and in some cases perhaps swords at the ends of the halberds?) as masks, painted a dark steel.

Now on to coloration. Their armor is charcoal grey, faded to black in the recesses; dusky gold trim highlighted to polished gold; and red and silver as accent colors.

Terminator bodies for Obliterators. More ideas forthcoming on that.

I can see it clearly in my mind.

I invite input on a good list and generally on the idea.

Posted on February 1st, 2009 at 4:07am by Shawn


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