40K - "Hammerhead Down" Table

As part of the prep for FOB NZGT I am working through my terrain collection and getting them ready for the event.

Each of my terrain sets has its own gamemat and comes in its own plastic storage crate. This means I can have a tailored table which has its own narrative. I'm trying to ensure a certain level of terrain coverage which includes LOS-blocking pieces in each set. The final set will be to add matching scatter terrain.

Here is my "Hammerhead Down" table which goes on Gamemat.eu's Sands of Time Mat. I've had these mdf building from CNC Workshop for 10+ years but decided to revamp them to give them more character. A few hours with the airbrush has achieved this.

40k - Blooding the Field Base

Blooded the Field Base today in a Maelstrom Mission down at the Warlords. My Dark Eldar took on Alastair's Tau in a rematch from Call to Arms.

The Tau went first and inflicted some damage on the DE forward units. However the DE were able to gain the initiative by focusing on the elimination of Fire Warrior units. The game went into Turn 7 and the Dark Eldar were able to score a lot of late game objectives for a clear victory.

However all did not go their way. The Black Heart #2 Archon was brought down in combat by a combination of Fire Warriors and Darkblade. Oh, the ignominy.

40k - ITC Field Base Terrain Finished

Finished another table of terrain for the Fields of Blood NZ Grand Tournament. This time it is the Frontline Gaming ITC terrain I built last week.

Here is a table set up - just needs some scatter terrain to break it up. It is sitting on a Gamemat.eu battlemat.

Pretty happy with the finished result - both attractive and functional.

Weekly Hobby Update

The weekend saw me working on getting the ITC Field Base tabletop-ready.

I use Rustoleum x2 Primer to seal and base coat my MDF buildings. The next stage was an airbrush session where I used one of my old "Master" airbrushes to detail the buildings. I was pretty happy with the colour modulation I achieved. Then yesterday it was onto brush work to do the detailing. I'm at the stage whereby I think I can finish the full set over the next two evenings.

The other thing I have been doing is watching video battle reports. "Tabletop Tactics" and "The Long War" are my two favourites and I'm a supporter of both these channels. I've also bought a subscription to "Deployment Zone" but have a backlog of videos to watch.

Over the next month terrain building will be a key task for me as I seek to get material ready for Fields of Blood NZGT. The key is to build on "a table basis" rather than piece by piece. This allows me to ensure that a table can be themed and that there is sufficient LOS blocking material on each battlefield.

40K - ITC Terrain Constructed

Earlier this year I purchased a table of Frontline Gaming's Field Base terrain.

This is flat-packed MDF terrain that you construct with PVA glue.

Here is a picture of the full set. It is constructed from 3mm MDF following instructions posted on their website. At the rear is a GW Harlequin Starweaver box by way of size comparison. You can see that they do provide some line of sight blocking cover for all but the largest models.

Here we have the main Field Base Strongholds, Barracks and containers. I have glued the roofs down, mainly for resilience reasons but also for functionality.

The Bunkers and Communication Towers. There is plenty of opportunity to place models in firing positions, cover.

This weekend I intend to paint them. I will use a mix of rattle cans and airbrush with brush for detail work.

This full table worth of very functional 8th Edition terrain cost approximately $300 NZD. I think this is very good value and it should look great on a neoprene mat.

40k - A Weekend With Drew Carey

Last weekend I played at Call To Arms, a 1750 point event of 5 rounds over two days.

Game One - Alick Harris (Astra Militarum)

This could go one of two ways. Alick had 9 Catachan Hellhounds, a Tank Commander and three units of Scions. I was lucky in that I manage to split the squadrons up and have them attack piecemeal. As in a lot of my games my MVP was Khloe the Haemonculus with her Vexator Mask. She managed to get off 3 charges during the game which saved a lot of dead Eldar. My Archon got into combat for the only time of the weekend, failing his Shadowfield at first attempt.

Win 31 - 9

Game Two - JJ Economu (Custodes)

On paper, Custodes are one of my two worst matchup ups - their silly 3++ Shield Captains and Storm Shield saves. JJ came forward and I removed two Bikes to shooting. He only charged one unit in exploding a Venom. I was able to reduce the second bike unit to one while five units charged the second unit of three, killing them. The next few turns I removed the 3 Custode infantry squads leaving him with only the two Shield Captains.

Win 40-0

Game Three - Alistair Helm (Tau)

My other awful matchup, Tau. And we were playing long ways and he went first. I put four units into the Webway and hid the rest. I didn't come out until Turn 2 and then managed to remove a Ghostkeel. Initially behind on progressive points I attacked the two centre objectives while laying down covering fire. On Turn 5 I went ahead and was able to push on and get Tertiary Objectives.

Win 25-15

So overnight I was lying 5th with three wins and fate smiled kindly on me.

Game Four - Louis Thomson-Gregg (Dark Angels)

Marines! Two wound Marines! T6 Flyers! I was pretty happy going into this. I even won the roll to go first. Louis did STI but I rolled 4++ saves like a 12 year old. I lost a Talos Turn One having but anything mildly unresilient in the Webway or similar dark space. When it came down it did what Dark Eldar do to Marines....Awful match up for Louis.

Win 40-0

Game Five - Dave Hodgetts (Tau)

Great I'm on the Top Table with a chance to win. But I'm playing the NZ Masters' Champion and he's playing Tau. He gave me first turn, it took 40 seconds then back to him. I weathered the storm then brought down the DE Webway force. This combined by Khloe + Grotesque assault put Dave on back foot. I pushed him to his baseline but we ran out of time. Came down to a fight for the centre objective where (with last battle round) Dave could throw everything forward with no Turns 5 or 6. I got a little unlucky with my saves and we contested the objective. However Dave had 4 models to my 3. I had been slack moving my Archon forward thinking I'd survive the storm. Great game. Nice when a tournament comes down to the last die roll and one model. Unfortunately for Dave I did enough damage to him to push him into 2nd Overall.

Loss 10-30

Overall I came 4th. If I could have been bothered to get my display board out of the wardrobe I would have squeaked into 3rd. I was happy with my play as I thought I only had one advantageous matchup.The list is good.....really good. It is very forgiving. Given more practice I reckon I can squeeze a lot more out of it. My biggest gap is the number of games I play. Important to play the full breadth of armies so I know where the threats lie. At the moment I'm still strategising on the fly.

MVP - Khloe the Haemonculus with Electrocorrosive Whip, Hexrifle and Mask

Warhammer 40k - Call to Arms Results

Call to Arms was held over the weekend in Wellington, hosted by the Warlords.

Craig and Carson did a great job running the event.

The results were as follows:

Congrats to all the prizewinners. The results have been uploaded to the rankings.

Weekly Hobby Update

The lists for Call to Arms were released and almost half the field are Imperium. Strangely out of 42 people I'm the only person bringing Dark Eldar....."No time For Fluff Bunnies". It sad as I think the Drukhari have a lot to offer the game.

I have almost finished my Talos with just the last few details and basing to do. Great to get the old metal models done....must nicer than the plastic version.

Did manage to get a game in to try one of the CTA missions. Played Mark's Black Legion. Game hinged on his Daemon Prince making a charge which he failed the first time. When he did make it "Khloe" my Haemonculus added another notch to her belt. She tends to be under estimated as people focus on Uncle Urien.

This week I hope to finally get to the ITC MDF terrain.

40K - Call to Arms Dark Eldar List

So we have the Warlords annual convention Call to Arms coming up the first weekend in August. At it there is a five round 1750 point 40k tournament sponsored by Mighty Ape.

It has attracted 42 players and I am looking to take Dark Eldar along. I rarely get to attend two day events (my last was CTA in 2017) so I am looking forward to it.

There is a restriction to two Detachments - as per the FOB NZGT - and I am using that to take one each of Kabal and Coven. I am surprised I'm the only Dark Eldar player in the field as I'd heard that they were belle du jour.

Here's my list:

Kabal of the Black Heart Battalion
Archon - Blaster, Huskblade, Relic - Writ of Living Muse, Trait - Labyrinthine Cunning [Warlord]	93
Archon – Blaster, Venom Blade	89
5 Kabalite Warriors - Blaster	47
5 Kabalite Warriors - Blaster	47
5 Kabalite Warriors - Blaster	47
Ravager- 3 Disintegrators	125
Ravager- 3 Disintegrators	125
Ravager- 3 Disintegrators	125
Raider – Dark Lance	85
Venom – Twin Splinter Cannon	75
Venom – Twin Splinter Cannon	75
Prophets of Flesh Coven Battalion
Urien Rakarth	90
Haemonculus - Eletrocorrosive Whip, Hex Rifle	81
5 Wracks - Ossefactor	52
5 Wracks	45
5 Wracks	45
6 Grotesques	210
Talos – Haywire Blasters x2, Chain Flail, Scalpel	98
Talos – Haywire Blasters x2, Chain Flail, Scalpel	98
Talos – Haywire Blasters x2, Chain Flail, Scalpel	98

It competes in three of the four phases in the game. Last year I finished 6th out of 24 so I'm aiming to see if I can make top 25% again this year.

Weekly Hobby Update

The Grotesques got finished and their bases polyfilled ready for battle.

I managed to pick up a metal Talos from John which has now been put together and will be painted to match the rest of my Prophets of Flesh. It has been primed and this morning before work got a very dark charcoal base coat.

Over the week I got two games in, the first versus Sean's Necrons and the second versus John's Knights + Guard. In the first game, I was outplayed by Sean but learned a lot about what the Necrons could do. My ignorance of some of their attributes (Wraiths falling back and charging; need to kill all Destroyers or they come back over subsequent turns - rather than just one) didn't help my cause but I'm wiser now. I almost pulled it back with 11" charge by my Talosi but forgot some rules at a vital time (some of Urien's special rules) that would have made it more interesting. Good fun!

Against John, the game was heavily influenced by the roll to go first. I think I had insulated myself quite well from an alpha strike but was set up well if I did win the roll, which I did. Disintegrators are mathematically superior to Dark Lances against all but T7 and the ability to re-roll 1s to hit and wound on all my Kabal stuff within 6" of the Archon really helps. When this is backed up by a trio of Talos their is some nice anti-vehicle firepower. By end of Turn 2 John had one Knight on 7 wounds left plus his Armiger. The final Knight fell at start of T3 where we called it before the Armiger received 4 Blaster shots. In this game I think John underestimated the Dark Eldar's punch and overestimated the Knights resilience. He deployed on the basis he went first but even if he had deployed further back my mobility still creates a threat to his Knights T1. Again I learned a lot in this game and it was fun and relaxed.

During the week I picked up a lot of a Harlequin army off Facebook. I've subsequently purchased 4 Transports, the codex and cards. Looking forward to this as an airbrush project.

Yesterday I cleaned up my hobby area. I've recently bought two sets of drawers which allowed me to seriously declutter the desktop and cupboards.