PROJECT: Torrent of Cheese*

*: Cheese being defined as stuff people have been screaming about being 'so broken'.

One main complaint I have noticed over teh internetz is that various elements of the SW army is 'so broken'. Thunderwolves, JotWW, Rune Priests, cheap Troops, and so on. So, in search of this mythical cheese, I will be building up a large force over the next few months to test out the lengths that this hypothetical cheese actually goes to. In accordance with my strict 'plastic only' policy on SW, I will be converting as much of the stuff as possible from molten cheese... I mean, plastic.

HQ Choices
Space Wolves have 1-4 HQ choices, so for these I thought - hmm, what would fit into a Cheese based dairy army? My answer - Wolf Lord on Thunderwolf, Canis Wolfborn, and two Rune Priests on Foot.
For the purposes of Canis, I intend on using one of the various Mordheim options - either The Caller's rat thing, or the Watcher rat thing. Both are metal models, but they are damned better than the actual metal model! I will GS the fur and everything.
For the Rune Priests... a bit more simple. I will be basing the models upon my Njal in Rune Armour, and using various options available to me to help with this.

Troop Choices
Canis makes all Fenrisian Wolves into Troop Choices, so that means I have three to pick from. I will use 20 Wolves with 2 Cyberwolves as my two mandatories for now. For these wolves, I will use the direct plastics, to save time.
After I noticed I was a bit underpointed, I added two razorbacks with 10 Grey Hunters between them, as well as a Plasma Gun or two, to deal with some... new things (cough nids cough).

Fast Attack Choices
Apparently where the main regions of cheese lie. I will be purchasing 10 Thunderwolf Cavalry to serve as retinues to my two wolven HQs, and each will have a Storm Shield for added protection from damage.
I will be converting these from Sabretusks or something like that, methinks, unless I find something better to use.

The List - 1750pts
This is the list I intend on using at the moment:
HQ- Wolf Lord on Thunderwolf Mount, with Power Weapon and Bolt Pistol. Bears the Saga of the Beastslayer, a Wolf Tooth Necklace, and a Belt of Russ = 200
HQ- Canis Wolfborn, joined by two pet Fenrisian Wolves = 205
HQ- Rune Priest (Jaws of the World Wolf, Living Lightning) = 100
HQ- Rune Priest (Jaws of the World Wolf, Murderous Hurricane) = 100
Troops- 10 Fenrisian Wolves with 1 Cyberwolf = 88
Troops- 10 Fenrisian Wolves with 1 Cyberwolf = 88
Troops- 5 Grey Hunters with Plasma Gun and Razorback (Twin Linked Assault Cannon, Extra Armour) = 175
Troops- 5 Grey Hunters with Plasma Gun and Razorback (Twin Linked Assault Cannon, Extra Armour) = 175
Fast- 5 Thunderwolf Cavalry with 1 Storm Shield and Power Sword, as well as 1 Mark of the Wulfen = 300
Fast- 5 Thunderwolf Cavalry with 1 Storm Shield and Power Sword, as well as 1 Mark of the Wulfen = 300

The army is split into two flanks, if you will. Each flank is filled with the same units - 6 Thunderwolves, 10 Fenrisians, 5 Hunters, and 1 Rune Priest. Priests give Psychic protection, and their retinues give a bit of durability. That's it, really.

Now to begin building it... :P

ARMIES: The WIP Skyrar's Dark Wolves

A long time ago, back in June when Space Wolves was rumoured, I decided... I want a Dark Wolves army. Doesn't have to be a big one... just an army! It was then that I was hooked.

When I was at GD-UK 2009, I chose to bring a bunch of cash both for my Nurgle Sorcerer at FW and a load of those bloody Space Wolves which were released. A box of Terminators and three boxes of Space Wolf Packs. I pledged from then to get as close as possible to a full plastic army... This force would show the versatility of the kit, as well as allow for conversions.

This force is approximately 1/5 of the way to completion. The aim is to have every single character in the book shown in Plastic and Green Stuff, within the next 2 years. At the moment... i've got Njal (Power Armour) and Ragnar either WIP or 'complete' (as far as I like to call it). I've also pledged not to ruin this force by repainting a single model - if it goes wrong, I have to replace it fully, not just respray it.

So... the Wolves.

Army shots, of the current whole force.

Ragnar the Blackmaned, work in progress.

Njal the Stormcaller in Runic Armour, work in progress shot. The Back-banner was injured in action when a gale blew too hard :P

The Wolf Guard Power Armour family. I love how many options are in the kit!!!

The next notch I will be doing is the Thunderwolf Cavalry - using the only metal pieces in my force, from Fantasy battle - alongside Lord Skyrar the Grim (Logan) and Arjac the Rockfisted.

Design Studio: Tau Empire redux pt.1

Recently i've begun a new project - Tau. I will be rebuilding the list for 5th edition

The current version of this project can be found here...
The Codex: http://www.2shared.com/file/8718603/...gions-_v1.html
Weapon Summary: http://www.2shared.com/file/10055954/17a5f67a/Tau_Weapon_Summary.html

ARMIES: The WIP Emperor's Children

Alongside my Death Guard, i'm currently building out one of the more abusive builds in C: CSM... Lash Build. In this, I intend on having 6 Sorcerers of Slaanesh decked with large units of Terminators and etc to abuse both the charging and shooting opportunities this power gives a player. Alongside this will be large amounts of both Bikers and Possessed - who MAY need the help, y'know.

The idea of my Children are simply to kick the sh*t out of something. It doesn't matter whether the unit dies, as long as they kill at least 1 or 2 enemy units in the process. To this end, all of them are Enhanced Warriors with Marks of Slaanesh - this means they can take the punishment, and cost as much as regular Noise Marines for something FAR harder. While the force is WIP, it can still be played due to the legality of some of the units.

My Children could be classed both as being built to deal with Assault Wolves and Tyranids - Synapse is lashed out into the open, and units such as Blood Claws lose the charge and ultimately their lives against my Terminators and such. Sorcerers are no wussies when it comes to combat - they have Terminator Armour, so they take the punishment.

Note: Yes, the Space Wolf Terminator over there is just temporary. I just needed someone to replace my presently broken other terminator... Also, yes, those are Vanguard Veterans, since most of the time I CAN use Codex: Space Marines with these guys.

ARMIES: The WIP 'Nurgle'

Yesterday I took a few images of my Nurgle because I felt like actually having some pictures on this blog. Well, i'm a fairly bad painter (except when tired for some reason), and to put it simply... I paint to play with units. I like having new stuff to do and all, but conversions and nurglifying it up is my true passion if anything. These guys were the first d00ds to go through this process, after a disastrous attempt to build an effective Battle Company for Crimson Fists at 2000pts (note to self: need tanks)

In the game, this is literally just pure Death Guard. When playing with Codex: Chaos Legions, it's a nightmare for the opponent to try and beat this force with the amount of Feel No Pain and High Toughness they have, added to Blight Grenades. In a standard game, it's far more manageable to be perfectly honest.

Other guys who are being built and are not shown here are my Typhus (well, Second Typhus. The previous one died after 2 years of repainting and reposing him), approximately 49 Lesser Daemons of Nurgle made from Ghouls (soon to form the base of my Chaos Daemons force), and the Daemon Princes i'm building.

Woo! Camera!

You know, the blog has been open for a year and only now we've got a Camera...

Says something about the quality of this establishment, doesn't it?

Ode to the Tyranid Horde

Oh Tyranids, your claws of scythe.
To rend and render all to shite.
From Kraken to Leviathan, fair.
An ode to you, adapt us you might.

Tyranids are coming in January, it was announced, and I welcome their coming. The new codex is surely a breath of fresh air in this bland current universe, which needs to be consumed and remade into a stronger bio weapon. The rules are dated and overpowered, and will certainly be Codex Seeped into a more balanced version.

But it isn't just the rules! I'm pleased that the model range is being expanded. While the Raveners are overpriced (£3 less than the Trygon for just 2 more models), the Gargoyles and Trygon are welcomed additions to the range. Add a big old Plastic Tyrant which is still in the works, and everything seems to be good for our favorite Creepers from Beyond!

So, here's to Tyranids - though you may be gribbly and mean, you certainly do force whole races to adapt to a changing universe! May the Great Devourer continue to eat everyone!

Herald's Highlight: Realm of Battle Gameboard

As the Christmas season reaches it's peak, i'm beginning to look at the options of a terrain nature. It's fairly hard for someone to plan up a few games if there's no board to actually play it on, I guess.

While the Games Workshop website includes classics such as the Realm of Battle board (and new extension) and large scale terrain pieces such as the damned Fortress of Retribution... do they seem a bit too expensive? I don't like the idea of spending a Baneblade for something I can really only use for Planetstrike.

Likewise, I don't like focussing on the Fantasy or small terrain side of things too much. It's far better to have a bunch of bland hills and temples than to get the manor and struggle to have it classed as a Bastion I guess...

But anyway, i've got a budget of approx. £500 to spend, and i'd love to somehow get an incredibly awesome Nurgle-based board filled with pus and slimy goodness. I'm thinking about small 'UK School League' sized clubs for the sake of a club i'm currently joined with - so that's 4x4' boards. That would open up a load of advantageous tactical options for us all, I bet.

Any thoughts? Please, i'd like to discuss this sort of stuff.