Overwhelmed Workbench: Dark Eldar Edition

Greetings C&C Readers,

I've been playing 40k since '99 and have gone through a good number of armies since then, trading in and buying a new army every few years as new and more interesting stuff came out. As I got older and more responsible (aka Married) my hobby spending became more limited, and thus my army turn-over became less frequent. For years I have been building and adding to my Ultramarines as I have found that for each edition of 40k and the Vanilla marine codex my marines style of play and reliability doesn't change much. So I became a one army man, trapped within the confines of a single codex. As much as I enjoyed my boys in blue there was just so much I could modify my army before it became to get stagnant and a tad boring to play all the time, and longingly looked and hoped to add an additional army.

Choose this Not That - Part II, As Friendly as the Day is Long

Nyello, here is part 2 in the series, building a list for friendly play. This time we're going a little more broad; less about specific unit choices and more about mindset. But first, a bit more about me: I like to win when I play. I love me some 40k and I’d rather play 40k than do a lot of other activities I can think of, but the game is noticeably more fun when I win (or should I say much less fun when I lose?). And to my credit I win significantly more than I lose/tie. Thus if it seems like I’m looking down my nose while preaching from my high horse perched on a soap box, please try to look past that and apply the theory I’m spewing to the aspects of the game you enjoy.

E-mail write in: Sky Claws?

OW, I have been wanting to start a Space Wolf army for a little while now but am not interested in TWC, although the conversion guides on CnC are great, since there aren't any models for them and everyone uses them.  Like wise I don't want to run Wolf Guard Terminators because a friend of mine does the Logan Wing list already.  I know as a SW player you probably need a "deathstar" unit off some sort in support of the Long Fangs.  I like Blood Claws in a LRC and Swiftclaws but I know you have used Sky Claws to great effect before so could you give me some advice onthem?  I would actually really like to use them but if they are just way too terrible then I might just go with Swiftclaws instead.
Bryan 40k Man My answer after the page break!

Choose This, Not That - Part I, Competition

Hey everyone, Dis here introducing our newest contributor, Tuff Love! TL has been a fixture on the 40k tournament scene in my neck of the woods for nearly as long as I've been running events, and he's had his share of time in the winner's circle. He's well-suited to the topic of building armies, so without anything more from me...

Dear readers, this is part one of a three part-series on army list composition. There are three basic approaches to constructing a list – competition, friendly play, and fluff. This article focuses on competition, because after all what fun is playing if you don’t win?

The Warmaster Cup: Finals format finalized!

I know some of you following this on Dakka and on previous articles here on CnC have been wondering about the final round and I am glad to announce we have it finalized.  The document in the previous section of the site has been revised to reflect changes and after the break you will find another embedded version for viewing/download.

Warmachine 101 – The Factions: Cryx

Hello everyone!

After much hooplah and generally crossed wires in the grand communications tool that is the internets, we've finally gotten the next installment of the Warmachine 101 series ready to go, written by long-time commenter / first-time contributor, Von! Despite the capricious machinations of gravity and fragile technology, Von put together an amazing look at the evil zombie pirates of Warmachine, the Cryx! So, without further ado...

(Author's Note: this is actually the second time I've written this article, the first one being eaten in an embarrassing accident involving a portable hard drive that apparently couldn't stand up to a four inch drop onto a soft carpet. The delay in replacing it is entirely down to my current obsession with actually gaming instead of blogging about it, but I've managed to guilt-trip myself into a rewrite. Here goes nothing...)

Warmachine Steamroller Tournament Wrap-up

Hello everyone!

The first Warmachine tournament of 2011 is in the books and it was a great event! We had a field of fourteen players representing almost every faction and everyone was there looking to win. It was our first official taste of the new 2011 format and there were some bumps along the way as everyone tried to wrap their heads around some of the scenarios. It didn’t help that the randomly-rolled scenarios were some of the crazier ones!

Hordes Tactics 102: Epic Lylyth, Shadow of Everblight

Hello everyone!

Sand is back from the far wilds of the pacific rim and has put together a rundown of that most brutal of Legion Warlocks, Epic Lylyth, Shadow of Everblight! 

Overview
Epic Lylyth (ELylyth) serves as leader of reconnaissance, using Striders and Raptors because she moves quickly. Having died once, Lylyth finally understands her position under Everblight: important until she fails to fulfill her role. Fear of being disposed has lead Lylyth to transform herself into a killing machine - an automaton that efficiently isolates enemy forces and annihilates them through overwhelming ranged prowess.

New Blood Angels Dreads Built and Reviewed.

Well Dis took a crack at the new Storm Raven and I must say he did a fantastic job!  It certainly was a far more daunting task than I would want to have taken on even with some faxed over instructions!  Having seen the model first hand I now know I want at least 2 for my Blood Angel army, which means I will need a dread or two as well!  Seeing as Dis built the Storm Raven he asked if I wanted to build the new Furioso Dread preview we got.  After the break you'll find pics and a review of the model.

New Poll - To Fluff or not to Fluff

Hello everyone!

We've taken a look over the last few polls at what level of painting you're comfortable with before the models hit the table, how you like your tournaments, and what you think of GWs recent eyebrow-raising FAQ. On the whole, it looks like most people out there are in the same boat with painting - getting a lot of models done to a pretty good standard but never quite achieving full completion, with a good chunk in the "3-colors-covers" category, and the smallest groups being polar opposites of the fully painted masterpiece armies and bare plastic camps. Most of you preferred tournaments with few or no soft scores like painting and comp, and most people were in agreement that the new FAQ was a big help to Dark Angels and Black Templars, but it's not going to change the game significantly.

Now, we're looking to find out how much fluff factors into your list building. Regardless of whether you're building a tournament or casual list, do you keep the fluff in mind and take models that 'make sense' with the storyline, or is it all about the best, theme be damned?

-Dis.

Time for Techmarines: Part 1

Greetings C&C readers,

I've recently pulled my Ultramarine army of the shelf, dusted them off, and put them back into action. However I have noticed that with the onset of Space Wolves, Blood Angels, the New Imperial Guard, and Dark Eldar codices my Vanilla Marine army is at a huge disadvantage on the battlefield. To add to the handicap I have been playing Space Wolves just long enough to forget all my tactics to win with my Vanilla Marines.

The Stormraven - Built and Reviewed!

Hey Everyone!

It's been debated since the Blood Angels codex dropped, photos were leaked, polls were taken, and confirmations of release were made. Finally, it is here. I got my grubby mitts on the thing and cobbled it together over the course of the evening, documenting all the way, so let's get to it!

E-mail write in: Salamanders v. Thunderwolf Cavalry

Hey Overwatch,  I know you have a lot of experience with Salamanders.  I have seen your comments on Dakka and your articles on here and you obviously know what you're talking about when it come to the 12th legion. and was wondering if you could give me some advice.  At my FLGS we have a Space Wolve player who is currently running roughshod over our group.  I turned to some of the other Warhammer 40k blogs and couldn't find too much.  He is winning simply through tabling all of us.  He runs 3 Thunderwolf Lords/Canis 3 squads of TWC and 3 squads of Fenrisian wolves as troops at 2k.  He con't control any objective but he doesn't need to because we always are tabled.  I want really bad to beat him can you give me some advice? -Brad My advice after the break.

Warmachine Mark 2 first Impressions

For anyone who doesn't know I have had a rather love/hate, well really just hate, relationship with Warmachine.  I started playing in the last year or two of Mark I; I built Khador because I liked the models, idea of having tons of heavy Warjacks to choose from, and Karchev.  What I didn't like was after playing for a while still winning, or losing, on the second turn because either I, or my opponent, had some "trick" up their sleeve.  I don't really like tricks that much, I prefer to know how I am getting my ass handed to me.  I had loaned Dis several of my Khador models after deciding it wasn't for me and recently I acquired pretty much every Khador model I could ever need, almost fully painted, in a very lucrative deal.  I had been kicking around the idea of trying out Mark II since I heard how good it was and decided I needed to just throw down and get the army so I could jump in with pretty much everything I needed.  I have been really busy lately getting ready for my son who will be arriving any day now and because of the time crunch I had just stayed focused on my main game of 40k.  But tonight I had the chance to play my first game of WM Mark II and I was happily surprised!

40k Battle Report - Orks vs. Blood Angels

Hello everyone!

Overwatch and I took advantage of some mutual freedom over this last weekend and finally put together our table for home games, and inaugurated it with a 1500 point skirmish between my Orks and his Blood Angels. It was a post-Christmas red v. green smash, and it was a nail-biter all the way through.

Work in Progress: Nurgle Guard Part 1

A while back Dis inherited an extensive Imperial Guard Army from a mutual friend of ours.  It was built with some partially painted models but needed a bit of work.  Dis had the idea of doing a Traitor Imperial Guard Army with Nurgle as the god who corrupted them.  I loved this idea and helped Dis out a little with a few small conversions.  The project ended up being a bit more than Dis wanted to deal with and I HATED my Ork army.  While talking about both our malcontent with these two armies we had a brilliant idea, I would trade my painted Ork army I hated to Dis for his somewhat worked on Nurgle Guard!  Many of you are probably wondering why I would take on a huge un-painted project in exchange for a fully painted army and the answer is simple.  Passion.  I was not passionate at all about my Ork army, I had slogged through it to finish it for a Battle Report (found here).  I think I may have actually been slightly more passionate about the Nurgle Guard project than Dis had been so we swapped.  In this first article I will outline what I got as part of the deal and what's up first for finishing (or starting in some cases...)

Stormraven Gunship

Greetings 40k Fans,

The Stormraven (and other 2nd wave Blood Angels Stuff) is finally up in the pre-order section.

Check it out

So what do you guys think?

Flying dumpster or Deadly Assault craft?

Comp Scores and 40k Tournaments: Wargaming for Wusses?

I was recently looking through various comments on Warhammer 40k Blogs, Warhammer Fantasy Blogs, Warmachine Blogs, and communities to read up on what people are doing with composition, and comp in 40k in particular. For the most part, comp in 40k tournaments is, thankfully, dying.  Most tournaments are either throwing comp out all together or have streamlined it so it has minimal impact upon the overall scores of players but still allows for a T.O. to jump in if there are any major grievances (which have become very rare in 5th).  There are a few hold outs though, and this is what I want to discuss. Have comp-heavy events in competitive 40k become the playground of competitive wusses, or is the comp heavy environment just another thing to meta-game and break to your advantage? Read on after the break!

For the Love of the Game

I am aware that this article being written by me is a bit ironic. I am known as a super competitive player who prefers tournaments and play off situations to just playing for fun.  This is a bit of a misconception since I love playing in story driven campaigns/leagues and Apocalypse games, but I know where you are coming from with your perceptions of me.  I spam, a lot, and I play in a lot of tournaments and often finish high on the list of competitors.  Also, a quick list of my armies will show you I lean towards playing what is "good."  Space Wolves, Imperial Guard, Blood Angels, Salamanders, Chaos Space Marines (double lash, but of course), I also play Khador (Vlad ftw!) and I used to own a meta-busting Ork army that is now in the hands of Disdainful.  So why am I writing an article about playing "for the love of the game"?  Simple, I do love the game, and often times I will play sub par lists or super fluff driven lists in order to just have a good time.  I don't write much about it, in fact most of the blogosphere doesn't; so I wanted to take some time and talk about how playing just for the love of the game can be awesome.

The New GW FAQ and You

If you haven't already seen GW released a new round of FAQs today for Dark Eldar, Space Marines, Space Wolves, Blood Angels, Dark Angels, and Black Templars.  While there are some notable changes in there for everyone the most telling tale set by these FAQs are the signal they send about the shift in GW's position on old codices and what it means about future codex releases.  Not following me? Read on after the break!

Khador Battle Engine is Coming Soon!

Hey everyone!

Privateer Press has officially put up the first of the new Battle Engines up on the "Upcoming Releases" section, so it looks like we'll be seeing them all sooner than expected.

Here's the link:

http://privateerpress.com/warmachine/gallery/khador/battle-engines-/gun-carriage

I'm reserving judgment on these, as many of you know; It's a pretty bizarre addition to the game, in my initial assessment. Finally... $85? That's a lot of scratch for one model, especially in the Iron Kingdoms...

-Dis.

What do you guys think? Are you stoked for Battle Engines, or taking a wait-and-see-approach?

Warhammer 40k Tournament Wrap-up

Hello Everyone!

Our First Rogue Trader Tournament day is in the books, and it was a great event! We had a good turnout with 14 players for 40k and even a four-man Warhammer Fantasy tournament, despite a general dearth of WHFB play in our area. I took some pictures during the event of the armies and games in progress, and are presented here throughout the wrap-up in no particular order.

So let's get to it!

Campaigns: The Galactic South Campaign, Phase I - Segmentum Tempestus

New Year, New Campaign Series!  We had fantastic success with out Avellorn Campaign series where two leagues in a row were linked via the story line of the planet of Avellorn and then the story of the fight for the Capital Hive.  Although the Salamanders, Space Wolves, Blood Angels, and Imperial Fists beat back the tides of Chaos, the Dark Kin, and Hive Mind they could not overcome the Ork Hordes who overran the hive and expelled Imperial control from Vanaheim Hive and Avellorn.  Hot on the heels of that wonderful linked set of campaigns we are going to begin a 3 part series of campaigns, starting at the Segmentum level, then boiling down to the most hotly contested System, and finally down to the most hotly contested planet.  This should be an excellent campaign just like the last.  The specifics of the Campaign, including the missions, come after the break.

The Warmaster Cup: Current Standings 1/12/11

As promised I have the current standings for the Warmaster Cup.  These standings only reflect one tournament from Game Empire Pasadena but will soon be joined by the results of the Iron Man Tournament being held Feb 5th at Game Empire in San Diego.  You can see specifics for that event at http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/337507.page if you are aching to get onto the Warmaster Cup standings board before Game Empire Pasadena's February RT then head down San Diego way!  With out further ado you'll find the current standings after the break.

The Warmaster Cup: Announcing the Inaugural Season!

The Warmaster Cup is a year long event culminating in a final showdown of the top ranked 40k players who participated. At its core, the Warmaster Cup is a ranking system with an invitational event at the end of the year to crown a victor and name him/her the Warmaster Cup Champion.  More info after the break!

Dark Eldar from the Ground Up - First Impressions

Hello everyone!

New year, new army. Last year around this time I started a Tyranid army; they were the new bugs on the block and I levied myself the challenge of building and painting a force of close to 3000 points in a month. I almost pulled it off; it took about 45 days in the end, and in the process of building, painting, and playing, I got a lot of games on the books, and a lot of great experience with the list, as well as busting a particularly mean painting slump! So, I've decided to keep with the tradition and go it again with a new January project, the Dark Eldar! Over the next eight weeks, I'll be building and painting a brand-new Dark Eldar army from square one, playing them in the new escalation campaign starting at the store, and recording my experiences with them.

Lists: Is Razorback spam really that good? Part 3

A few months ago I started this series of articles for several reasons.  1. I had seen 3+Razorbacks in almost every SW and BA army list on the net.  2. I wasn't buying the hype, even though my Salamanders normally have 2 Razorbacks.  3.  I saw it used to great effect at a tournament at our FLGS by Lee who has posted on the first article found here and who I played two games against which was the focus of part 2 found here.  I had 2 Razorbacks sitting around in boxes for my Space Wolf army, plus the ability to field 3 Assault Cannon Razorbacks already so I decided to get 2 more RBs and give those 2 and the 2 I already had NiB (New in Box) LasPlas turrets.  You can see my Las/Plas conversions here.  Let's take a look at what I found out while using Razorback Spam.

40k Battle Report: Ultramarines Vs Space Wolves

Hello 40k Aficionados (and Detractors alike)!

We have had a lot of positive feedback about our battle report series, especially from those of you supporting us locally, and the offers from our friends to help contribute by doing battle reports continue to come flooding in. We have had a lot of debate in our store and on the net about how viable shooting Marine armies are versus assault based armies like Space Wolves and Blood Angels. PythNutD and Overwatch decided to give it a go and put Pyth’s Sternguard and Kantor list of doom up against OW’s best assault based Wolf list.

Painting - Retribution of Scyrah, Phoenix Myrmidon

Painting models with large, smooth surfaces can be a challenge, especially when those surfaces are convex, concave or otherwise curved. Whereas flat surfaces with defined edges will generally look good with a solid, even basecoat and a few edge highlights, rolling or undulating surfaces require a bit more work to look good.

This article aims to illustrate some techniques for dealing with this type of model, and what better example than a Retribution of Scyrah Myrmidon?

Next Level Gaming: Manipulation of Factors Outside the Game

Yo.

Now some of you may be wondering what I mean by the “Next Level” or factors outside the game. But first thing’s first – a quick introduction is due on my part.

I’m Sand. I’ve been a gamer for around 7 years, playing everything ranging from Warhammer 40k to Hordes, with Magic the Gathering and Dungeons and Dragons to fill out the in-between. Most of my experience has been playing Warhammer 40k (3^rd Ed, 4^th Ed, and some 5^th Ed), Warhammer Fantasy (7^th Ed and 8^th Ed), and Warmachine/Hordes (MK I, II). Out of those three, I’ve played WHFB the most. More recently I’ve been playing Warmachine. A lot.

New GW Advanced Orders!

Alright, GW's advanced order section has some killer miniatures up including: Bjorn, Njal Classic (non-terminator armor).  Personally I like the Bjorn model but not the Njal.  The models while not new, are still cool.  Check them out at http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/catalog/armySubUnitCats.jsp?catId=cat440160a&rootCatGameStyle=wh40k

So, what's your opinion of these models?

Review: Forces of Hordes - Minions

The final "Forces of" book from Privateer Press is upon us and I have delved into its contents. The first thing you will notice about the book is that it’s EXTREMELY thin compared to all the other Privateer Press books. This isn’t very shocking; the Minions aspect of the game is not nearly as developed as the Mercenaries over in Warmachine and that’s ok, they will develop in time. As we continue with this review, keep in mind that these are my initial impressions and that more detailed analysis will come in time as models are released and games are played. I will be dividing up this review into sections, let’s get on with the first!

New Poll: What type of tournaments do you like?

With the a New Year and new tournament season beginning I wanted to gauge people's take on Tournament design.  A lot of the "major" tournaments, especially 40k, have begun to eschew "soft scores" such as comp for a more "Ard Boyz" or Warmachine style system.  Warmaching/Hordes philosophy has been the "play like you've got a pair" attitude of no comp or painting scores for forever.  Is this a good thing?  I think so, but then again I don't mind playing in tournaments with comp scores either.  I guess I am one of those ever pesky "swing voters" politicians are clambering to get votes from every two years...

So, what's your take?  Comp, no comp, somewhere in between?

Warmachine 102 - Tactics - Khador: Vladimir Tzepesci, Dark Prince of Umbrey

"The blood is the life!"- Bram Stoker, Dracula

First son of the Motherland, Vladimir Tzepesci is the last of an ancient bloodline sworn to serve the nation of Khador. Known as the Dark Prince, sinister rumors surround the Umbrian and his affairs. At best, Vladimir is considered a patriotic defender of his people; at worst he is condemned as a relic of a bygone era, tainted by infernal sorcery and doomed to fall to darkness.

Warmachine 101 - The Factions: Cygnar

Hey Everyone!

Dis here, introducing Techcasualty, the newest addition to the family here at C&C!

Techcasualty has been playing minis games as long as I've known him, and is a formidable competitor on the Warmachine battlefield (including taking the first place crown from yours truly at our local tournament!). Lately he's been very heavily focused on all aspects of the boys in blue of Immoren, Cygnar! He's tried just about every army build they've got and been getting it painted well, too, so it was only natural that I asked him to weigh in on his experiences with the men and women who wear the Cygnus, and without further preamble, here we go!

A Touch of Tabletop Quality

A Party on the Prowl

Greetings C&C readers,

I recently took a commission to paint a few miniatures for somebody running a Dark Heresy game and was asked to paint them in different degrees of "Tabletop Quality."

Blood Angels: Only 2 ways to play BA?

The 5th edition Blood Angels codex has been out for a few months now and despite all the "sky is falling!", "what is GW thinking?!", "guess there are going to be a lot of green Blood Angels now..." hullabaloo, I don't see that many variations of BA lists or nearly as many BA players as Space Wolves.  In fact four units people were crying foul over, namely: Sanguinary Guard, Stormravens, Death Company, and Dread Spam, don't even make appearances in most lists.  With the exception of including Sanguinary Guard in a few Dante builds I don't see these at all; on the net or in person.  Let's take a look at the two most common build types and see why these are seen as the "only way to play BA."

Warmachine - Steamroller 2011 First Impressions

Hey Everyone!

The 2011 Steamroller draft has been floating around for a while now, and we've been playing some test games with it for the past couple weeks. There will probably be some changes before it hits the streets officially, but until then it's what we've got so here's a quick rundown of what to expect on the Steamroller battlefields of the next year.

Warmachine Tech - General Listbuilding

Army construction in Warmachine is a complex activity, which plays a big factor in the success or failure of a list. While player skill is the most paramount factor in winning games, you can still put yourself at a disadvantage due to your list construction.

The purpose of the article is to talk about some fundamental tenets of list-building, things to think about in your efforts to build a well-rounded, take all comers list that you can throw down with on any given game night, or take to the arena of a tournament. Things to note before we delve in: this article isn’t going to focus on specific synergies or on building lists specifically for the Steam Roller tournament format, but is instead focused on general listbuilding strategies for all games.

And They Shall Know No Fear: Fast Attack

The Fast Attack slot on the FoC has taken a bit of a back seat with C:SM.  While Elites in C:SM are your heavy hitters and point sinks and the Heavy Support choices provide just that, heavy support, the Fast Attack slot has become the haven of the "throw away" units for Vanilla Marine players.  Speeders and Attack Bikes make it into many lists and are used primarily as move, pop a transport, then die units.  There are other units in the Fast Attack slot to choose from but are they any good?

Happy New Year from C&C!

Hello everyone!

We made it! 2010 is in the books and today starts the first day of what promises to be a great year. Thanks to everyone who's dropped by our corner of the interwebs over the last months. On behalf of everyone here at C&C, I'd like to wish you all plenty of Destroyed: Explodes results on the Vehicle Damage Chart and/or boosted attack rolls in 2011! We've got a lot of cool stuff in the works for this space over the course of the next year, so stay tuned!

-Dis.