Monday, July 30, 2012

A Touch of Golden Yellow

Had a good start to the week and did some quick painting on my Wraithguard again. I decided to add a bit of Golden Yellow into the Iyanden Darksun mix.

Here are the results:

He looks much brighter! Golden Yellow sure is bright :) I actually quite like it surprisingly. The mixture of a darker basecoat with a bright color actually gave a warmer tone to the overall mini while still retaining the organic feel.

I still stuck with Iyanden Darksun as a basecoat. The difference was adding in Golden Yellow to the Iyanden Darksun in a 40:60 ratio.

He looks like he's bending back a bit there in a bit of a strange dance haha!

Back view of the Wraithguard with more yellow added. The highlights are not done yet. But I'm thinking Golden Yellow with Bleached Bone.

I shone the light from my phone on the Wraithguard. Hopefully this makes it a bit brighter lol! A top down view. I'm going to retain the color of the previous Wraithguard I painted in the post before this one. He'll be an example of how a Wraithguard that has gone through many battles will look ;)

Below is a sample of two 1750 point lists I'll be rocking for 6th Edition 40K:


List 1

1 Farseer 175pts
Spirit stones, Mind War, Eldritch Storm, Doom, Guide, Runes of Warding (Divination)

1 Farseer 85pts             
Fortune

10 Striking Scorpions 187pts
Exarch, Scorpion's claw

10 Pathfinders 240pts

10 Wraithguard 396pts
Spiritseer w/Enhance

10 Dire Avengers 177pts
Exarch w/ Power weapon & Shimmershield, Bladestorm

3 Warwalkers 180pts
Dual Scatterlasers each

1 Wraithlord 155pts
Brightlance, EML

1 Wraithlord 155pts
Brightlance, EML

Total: 1750pts

OR



List 2

1 Farseer 175pts
Spirit stones, Mind War, Eldritch Storm, Doom, Guide, Runes of Warding (Divination)

1 Farseer 85pts             
Fortune

10 Striking Scorpions 187pts
Exarch, Scorpion's claw

6 Rangers 114pts

10 Guardians 95pts
Scatterlaser
Warlock w/ Embolden 30pts

10 Wraithguard 396pts
Spiritseer w/Enhance

10 Dire Avengers 177pts
Exarch w/ Power weapon & Shimmershield, Bladestorm

3 Warwalkers 180pts
Dual Scatterlasers each

1 Wraithlord 155pts
Brightlance, EML

1 Wraithlord 155pts
Brightlance, EML

Total: 1749pts

Analysis:
The changes to the 2nd List was mainly swopping the 10 Pathfinders is List 1 for 10 Guardians with Warlock and a couple of Rangers. I used to play Alaitoc Disruption Table (good times!) but I've found that Rangers/Pathfinders don't do very much for me in games.

Still look forward to trying out the lists :))

Game on guys!

Sunday, July 29, 2012

WIP: Wraithguard Revamp








Its been a nice weekend and I've managed to get a game in with me gaming buddies. It was really awesome seeing the guys again :) It was a 3 way battle. I played my Necrons and the Space Wolves and Blood Angels also took to the battlefield.

I'm inspired to play more Xenos races of late and have taken to revamp my Iyanden Eldar Wraithguard. I still like the bright yellow and dark blues of my previous paintjob. But I'm deciding to go for a more organic feel to the Wraithguard in celebration of 6th Edition ;)

Test Mini
I used Iyanden Darksun foundation paint as the basecoat. I decided to go for a simple easy to do scheme. Once good coverage of the basecoat is achieved, I washed the model with Gryphonne Sepia. I then layered on Iyanden Darksun again.

For the highlights, I layered on a mix of Bleached Bone and Iyanden Darksun (20:80) ratio. I worked this up to pure Bleached Bone as edge highlights.
I think the Iyanden Darksun paint provides a muted yellow-ish tinge and supplies the wraithbone-organic feel as well. 

More highlights to be done at the back area. But I'm going to allow some of the gems to be unpainted to bring out the few that are ;)

Above is my earlier Wraithguard paintjob from a year or so ago. While I liked the solid brighter yellows, I've been finding it too harsh in retrospect. Maybe I'm gettin' older and not used to bright colors lol! Am still a little undecided as a change in scheme for the Wraithguard would mean they would be different from my Warwalkers and Warithlords, whose paint scheme I am actually quite happy with..

Using Wraithguard
I usually use only 10 Wraithguard with a Seer sporting the Enhance power. They would be my objective holder. Their high toughness and good save makes them hard to shift. Together with Fortune from the Farseer, they are quite durable. Their lack of Invulnerable Save can be overcome by the new Psychic Powers from the Divination discipline..I think. Its the one that can give a unit a 4+ invuln.

I usually use them as the anvil to break my opponent's attackers and they also act as a bullet magnet. I would usually have some long range shooting with Warwalkers and Wraithlords. The counter assault units like Striking Scorpions would help out the Wraithguards in protracted combats.

The Overwatch rules are helpful and give their AP 2 guns a tiny bit more punch to would be assailants.

Looking forward to getting more games in 6th!

Have a great week ahead everyone! Press on and game on.

Saturday, July 21, 2012

Warlock & Thoughts






The weekend has been restful thus far, and a new Warlock of the Ulthwe Craftworld has been painted :)
It is always a happy occasion when hobbying is done, and a celebration when a mini is ready for the tabletop!

I present Warlock Lothandril of Ulthwe, another member of the formidable Seer Council. He is painted in the standard black and bone of the craftworld with red as the accent color. I got this classic metal mini from my gaming buddy YC when we swapped bitz and minis a while back.

Front view of the Warlock, staring intently down the barrel of his shuriken pistol.

Back view of Lothandril. His Singing Spear is shorter in length than the newer Warlocks. I'll probably treat it as a Witchblade if needed ;)

Thoughts on the Ulthwe Army for 6th Edition...


I looked through the old Eye of Terror Codex and noted the Ulthwe force composition is mostly Guardians, but it also includes Vypers, Jetbikes, Support Platforms and some Dark Reapers. Its a good place to start and I'll be mirroring my force after the Ulthwe Strike Force.

Aspect Warriors
I'll be using Dark Reapers and am assembling them as I speak. They are the metal ones and a bit of a pain to assemble and pin. Going to equip the Exarch with the Tempest Launcher and Crack Shot. He should then complement the rest of his squad nicely.

I still have my Howling Banshees and Striking Scorpions, both a favorite of mine as they have provided a reliable assault/ counter assault element to my Iyanden Eldar army in the past. However, I can only choose one for my Ulthwe force.

Howling Banshees: I think these ladies are still viable in 6th despite the AP3 power weapon ruling. I've always used them to take out regular marines and they will fulfill the same role in 6th. I think their Banshee mask is invaluable as it helps them strike first most of the time. And a wound from a Banshee's sword is fatal barring invulnerable saves. I see them being more counter assaulty in my army.

Striking Scorpions: I think they are still great for taking on horde troops who have 5+ and 6+ armor saves like Hormagaunts and even some Orks Boyz. They will likely strike first and their many attacks and higher strength are useful in whittling down enemy numbers. The Scorpion's 3+ armor save can help in their survivability for protracted combats. And their Exarch can take the Scorpion's Claw which is still great for challenging Termis...i think.

I'll probably go with the Banshees as their color scheme of Bone fits well with the craftworld colors.

Hope everyone is having a splendid weekend!

And keep on hobbying even when the days are grey and the nights are dark :))

Monday, July 16, 2012

Ulthwe

Its July and 6th edition of Warhammer 40K is out! Been real busy in but still hobbying here and there.

I've been looking at my armies and got some extra Eldar left over. With just a few add ons, I'll be able to make another 1750 point army.

Will be trying to get back into the eternal war with some Eldar. My Iyanden force stands ready :)

But I decided to also do a Ulthwe force as I've found my Eldrad model. He's kinda missing his Ghosthelm crest as I cut it off to make a mini for a friend. I did some repairs and he looks almost like new ;) I'll show him in another post.

But first, I did a test mini, also from a damaged Farseer. He's missing his Ghosthelm side crests as well haha! Just as well as I'll treat him as Warlock with Witchblade.

I chose Ulthwe as I was a huge fan of the Seer Council in the Craftworld Eldar Codex. I'm still using most of the old paints. It'll be a slow transition to the newer paints while my old stocks last hehe!

Side view of the Warlock. The sword was pillaged from the Silver Helms High Elves box set.

The sides of the Ghosthelm crest cut off were repaired with some greenstuff just slapped on to represent big gems.

The Black and Bone paint scheme would hopefully be easy and faster to paint than the Iyanden Blue and Yellow.

The bone was done using a basecoat of Khemri Brown. I then added a 70:30 mix of Khemri Brown and Bleached Bone. Then layered on pure Bleached Bone. I mixed a 80:20 mix of Bleached Bone and Skull White as the next layer. The final highlight was Skull White with a teeny bit of Bleached Bone.

Hope to get some games in soon guys!

Have a great week ahead everybody :)