Battle Rep 12-30-2008

1250 pt Necrons vs Space Marine Scouts

Army lists:

1 Necron Lord with veil/orb/warsythe

30 Necron Warriors

3 Wraith

5 Immortals

1 Monolith

Click on the link for the Spacemarines army list.

This is not your typical battle report, I am going to list things out of order, but as long as you go with the battle itself it will all make sense. At least it did for me.

This was the first battle on the new gaming table (as seen here at archangels.) This time Matt decided on a scout army as opposed to the termies that I have come to lothe. The battle is dawn of war annaliation. On roll off Matt choses to go second, a choice that we later find would be an error as first would give his scouts their scout move and then his normal first term move. All is not lost though as his landspeeder storm, dreadnought and Razorback all attempt to assault my monolith. But as I have the inital selection of ground, I hit the middle directly. And this royaly makes his choice difficult. The inflitrate rules back up the deployment rules of 18" while in line of sight or 12" out of line of sight. I placed my troops so he would have no choice to place them 18" and even with scout moves he still had to put them 12" away. I soon fire into the closest squads, but as everyone should know, DoW's first round is night fire. Only three of my units are able to make range and only to a measly 4 model loss. I have 30, yes count them, 30 warriors and 5 immortals. Thats a devistating barrage of 70 shots fired and a lousy 4 models are killed. BAH!

As the first turn advances I find my mono set upon. Matts landspeeder is able to use multi melta to stop the mono from moving, but as this is no worry, because the pylon will work reguardless of the state of the rest of the vehicle (much to my pleasure.) I soon find myself assaulted by the command squad of normal marines against my Necron lord with his detachment of 10 warriors, which for the first time in the history of my necron gaming, I whip to the man, and only lose one in the process (Necron warsythe ftw!!!)

The battle does not fare well for an entire squad of warriors who become over run by the bike squad. I felt this was a great loss, but that was until I lost all 3 Wraith before they could even strike a single blow! I used them to freely and moved them before my warriors, and even with their +3 saves I could not bring them back from the brink. (We would later go on to proxy our troops to see what the assault phase looked like, and even fudged that up because I forgot they have the +3 inv, but I at least took the squad to 3 troops before losing my last wraith.)

As things went, I stormed my warriors forward in revenge for the wraith. Squad of 10 Necron warriors vs squad of 10 Space Marines, by the end of the game I had put that SM squad down to two, and my necrons were at 5. Thats not to say I won, far from it, for you see, I made a grave error. In an effort to be clever, I used the Veil of Darkness to transport my lord and his squad of 9 warriors into my enemies rear. But I scattered, and my choice of ground was poor. Result... I rolled off the table :( . This threw my game out the window, with the phase now being so low, it was just a battle of attration. My mono lived up to its potentional though, and even though it would eventually be immobilized, I still destroyed the Dreadnought and Razorback, both in firey explosions that damaged the scout squad that had assaulted my immortals. Soon it was last man standing and I was odd man out.

Over all it was a good battle, and I think I had a good chance if my lord had not gone. But since neither myself nor Matt concede what might have been, the result was a phase out once more from the necron forces. The battle ended with 5 warriors and the monolith still standing. We would go on to roll a 6th, imiginary round, in which his landspeeder with multi melta would destroy the mono and the remaining warriors would be crushed from a second squad of 10 scouts, but that also never happened so its a phase and nothing else.

What have I learned... SM are just strong in general. I am begninning to understand placement alot more, giving myself more options. I need to stop allowing my enemy to place his models where they can not be placed. I gave him the benifit for the bikers, but that only lead to loosing an entire squad of troops. Maybe they would have done more damage somewhere else, but the result was still crushing. I can win CC if I press the advantage. And the last thing I have learned. My table is so much better than anything in that gaming store and I am quite proud to have finished it.

Here are a few pictures, they arnt much as we got into the battle and forgot to photograph but they give you the basic idea.

Stolen Peeves List

***I stole this from Archangels after having a comment post that was just as long as his original post.***

If I could pick one, just one to get rid of, I would pick the stinky guy. I can stand the rules guy, and if someone touches my models without asking I am confident in my ability to harm them. Cheater/Fastroller is second, and its close but I can do something about that as well.

There is just something about going into a public place like a game shop and telling a person who constantly frequents there that he smells and should be drug out back and hosed down.

I would also add another person to the list,
The Hover - I don't mind when people watch when I am gaming. I actually enjoy it (espically if I am winning) but this guy, this guy wants to look right over your shoulder, or will get right up against your table, maybe even be so bold as to lean against the table (which will often result in a knocked over model when he violently shoves himself away from said table.) This guy can often go right into touchy guy.

The Immortals assemble.

This is a photo "Heavy" update and I appologize in advance but I was actually patient enough to catalog my painting and was very pleased with the models.

I was sitting around the house just three days ago and had the urge to paint. I have everything but the monolith primed and I was so frustrated with that hulking behemoth that I didn't even want to look at it. So I picked up the immortals, which I play with every game, and had one of those moments of "yes I can." The end result is cataloged below.

This first picture you will remember from a previous post. it shows the 10 immortals primed in white, quite simple.

I then added a first coat of wash. The wash has always seemed to light to me, so I moved on to a second. Below I have four photos, the first two are just one coat of wash, the second are two coats. Even in the photos I can see the difference.

Next I added the "baby blue" to the armor plates, head and chest.

I then added the metallic blue and gun-metal gray to the models. I also wanted to do something unique so I added a small stripe to the sides of the armor. You may have also noted that I did not paint the shoulders. I was on the fence about this for some time, before deciding to leave them wash. I think it helps to seperate them from my other models.

This is also the point where I found that I had lost a weapon at some point. YES, great disaster. But I hit on a inspiration. When turning a necron destroyer into a heavy destroyer, you are given a metal weapon to replace the weapon that comes with the standard destoyer. The bonus is that they still send the destoyer gun on the sprue. So I began to paint up the destoyer weapon as well, which you can see painted black in the fore ground of the second picture.

See those little blue rods, 22 freaking little blue rods. Those have to be cut, sanded flat on each end, then grinded down to fit each weapon. The only thing worse about these models is painting the armor.

So since I was a weapon short and was incorporating the destroyers weapon, I decided to make a Sergant for my immortal squad. Now if anyone knows necrons, it knows we are the most basic army in the entire 40k verse. All you have to do is look at the back of the 40k rulebook and see that we have less model options, weapon options, and almost no wargear to speak of. That also means that there is no such thing as a squad leader. But that doesnt mean I cant paint up a model like there is one. Thus I began to working on making one model just a little bit better.

In this next picture I began painting the spine in the metallic colors just to give it a bit of difference.

And now, the final show. I put in the rods, glued on the arms, and thus we have, 10 Necron Immortals.

Here is the squad leader close up. Notice that little blue lump under foot, that would be a space marine helmet, thanks to Matt from Emperors Archangels.

And there you have it. I was very pleased with the outcome of these models. Painting these has also inspired me to begin writing fluff, more on that later.

So, as with any art, I ask for your thoughts. Like, dislike, what needs work. Photo taking wise, this is what I gots so concentrate on the models.

More to come later.

Our Number is Legion

Necron Lord Arise

Welcome to another installment,

So I held a poll and had those that read the blog choose a project for me. Right from the start the majority seemed to be shooting for a necron lord. From previous posts you can see the primed lord, ala no hand. Well I finally found a better camera so here is the lord with the blue wash.

These next two pictures are a front and back of the finished model. I was going to do a work in progress type showing but I didn't think about it till was finished. This was a fun model to paint and I am quite happy with its color.

All of my miniatures in this army are going through a weathered look. I use a gun metal metallic gray on all the armor surfaces to show wear, and then go back over the whole model with a mist blue which adds a frost look to most of the edges. About the only thing I don't like about this model is his staff. The blade came out good, along with the butt plate at the bottom, but the staff itself doesn't look right. I used ultramarine blue and then used the metallic blue to highlight it, and then did my usual wear and frost. It just doesn't fit the color of the model, its almost too blue.

Last thing I wanted to show is my choice in paints. I use almost all of these at one point during the models creation, the only two things missing is an antique metallic gold that I chose just for the staff and the wash, but you can see the wash just barely in a different picture.

That is all for now, I should have a match today, the results of which should be posted at http://emperorsarchangels.blogspot.com/.

Our Number is Legion

Terrain

So when I was in college I had a great roommate who introduced me to 40k. At one point I was an Resident Assistant (see apartment manager) for the school I was attending. The best part about it was having a three bedroom apartment but only being required to have one roommate. So we turned the third room into a war room. We built our own 4' by 8' table for gaming. We then began a project of building our own 4' by 4' city board. The board was awesome and although never painted, it was just about structurally finished. The sad part is that I stopped being an RA in December and as such we weren't allowed to keep the nice apartment. We moved to another apartment and we didn't think we would be able to have the room for the city board let alone the gaming table. Little did we know that we ended up getting a third roommate who was a friend and had no trouble getting the room for a board. The problem was that we threw the board away along with the table.


Now all I have is a few pictures of the board and lately I reminisce about making the board. It was definitely a two man project but now I know alot of the short cuts that we had to learn first hand. I will get the pictures uploaded in the next day or so to show off the slight skill that I had.

Our Numbers is Legion

Build Pictures II

Welcome Back,

I finished the first 24 warriors and have finally taken photos. Mind you I couldn't find the digital camera again so they didn't do well with close ups.

But before I show off the finished product, take a look at this monolith. Now I think I should establish that I purchased alot of my models off Ebay. I am fully behind supporting my local hobby shop, but when trying to jump right into gaming and not buying piecemeal, Ebay just has the better cost. Also I want to state that I dont find fault with the seller of the monolith. His painting of the warriors was original and actually quite good. But his construction of the monolith left much to be desired. Since I am using a white base I knew before hand that I would have to re-prime it. Here is the resulting Monolith.

You may have noticed the weapon missing from the corner, that was my doing, I was checking to see how easy it would be to take the 'lith apart. It has easy points, glued much like tack welding, while others seem to have been slathered in Krazy glue. The problem that I am worried about is when I put it back together, will the pieces fit correctly or has something been done that wont allow the joints to connect fully.

Next up is the immortals primed and ready to start their paint job. As you can see I have a set of 10, which is about the maximum that I will use.

And here we have the Necron Lord, I plan on using alot more metallic colors for him, along with more darker blues, should be something cool to see.

This is a aweful close up picture but it gets the gist of the over all paint scheme. I am using a blue rod in place of the green ones, but they dont come dark enough for my tastes. I would almost prefer a solid color as opposed to transparent. Maybe I will try something else.

And here is the box set of 24 Necron Warriors (minus the scarabs which are woefully under painted.)

A little different shot, trying to show just how many models there are, necrons have only 1 troop choice so I guess we have to make the best with what we got.

Little closer, little more light.

So thats the basics right now. With so many more models to paint I am not sure when I will get it all done. No rush though, I want to do these right. You may have noticed the bases are white, and some have blue on them, thats from the wash. I plan on doing a snow base theme but that will be when all the models are finished painting. I have some bits donated from space marines, along with blue glass that looks like ice. It should all look very cool.

If you are reading this then you probably read the poll at the top. If you havn't voted then please do, I am overwhelmed by the shear number of the models.

Our Number is Legion

Build Pictures

Okay so this is the first set of Build pictures. I havn't taken any new pics in a while but these give the basic idea of what I am trying paint wise. The picuters were taken on my LG Shine phone camera so I apologize in advance about the quality.

First is the standard warrior box, 24 warriors, 6 Scarab platforms. This pic is about half a box.

Next is of my bitz, I always use to take everything off the sprue, glue, then paint. Little did I know that I would end up tearing everything apart.

So first I assembled the Legs,

Here is everything layed out, and if you look at my scarabs, yes I didn't realize that you only needed 3 per base, so I will be going back and removing one scarab from each and building new platforms for larger games.

Then I put them all together, (they arn't painted yet but my camera seemd to put a strange green wash on the ones on the right.)

I decided to paint just four first, to see what methods I would use. I primed all the models white then I used the Asurmen Blue wash from citadel paints first along with a pure black for the guns.

Thats when I realized what a pain in the ass it would be to paint with the arms and guns in place, as well as painting off the sprue. My general design requires alot more detail (yeah right) than what I use to paint. So I ripped all the gun/arms off, which means it was a pain in the ass to reassemble.

I am using Six different colors on the models, I will take a picture of the paints to show my color choice.

And thats the first set of pictures. I will post more soon, I currently have 10 immortals and a necron lord on the build table, as well as being almost finished with the first 24 warriors (just need rods put in place.)

Our Number is Legion

The Awakened Arrive

Welcome all,

I plan on making this my main blog about the new Warhammer 40,000 Necron army that I am building. The army will be based off a Flying Circus design and will be painted in an white/blue theme, giving the aspect that my Nec's have been asleep on an ice planet and have just awoken.

I hope to have many pictures up soon. They will consist of the build/painting process and the campaigns that I attempt. There currently is only two people that I know personally in my area that play, one fielding Space Marines (in various forms) and the other Chaos. The SM has a large number of models and has many years of experience, so that's where I expect my greatest challenge to come from. The Chaos player is brand new to the game, just bought the starter box and has yet to game with us but should be ready to field 500 Pt's soon if not 750 Pt's.

A little about my 40k experience:
I started playing 40k in 2003 with a Eldar army. I designed it after the Biel'tan cast using the Avatar of Kaela Mensha Khaine as the leader and a cast of Aspect warriors. I used this pretty well against Imperial Guard, Tau, and Orcs'. I ended up selling this army off the army in 2006 due to lack of use. I was not pleased to sell them but I was short on cash and since almost everyone who played graduated college there wasn't anyone to game with. Then came the new job and at with that several people who play. I decided that I didn't want to play Eldar again (although after the 5th edition rules answered all the problems that I wanted seen too,) so I picked the Necrons. Little did I know, that I picked one of the most jacked up armies to pick. The Nec's are in need of a major overhaul. They only have one troop, and their Close Combat ability is non-existent (Don't think you can tempt me with your flayed ones, they are not up to snuff.) As of right now, I have only played 500 Pt, 750 Pt, and a few 1000 Pt matches. All have been against an SM player who has tried several methods against me. What I have learned is that if he closes with me, I am screwed, the end. So I have to have enough units on the board to keep his separated and allow me to shoot into them while they move to close with other units. Basically I have to sacrifice someone at this point in time. Now some of you may read this and have several strategies, well until I get everything built, I am limited in my unit choices, so no Flying Circus just yet.

That is just the start of what I hope will be many posts yet to come. Here is a link to my friends blog where he has posted several battle reports on a couple of our encounters.
http://emperorsarchangels.blogspot.com/

Our Number is Legion