Vampire Raiders - Fire & Ice

Steve from Third Fate Creations just emailed me the latest WIP image of the second Vampire Raider - or twins, fire and ice. Both are around the 1/2 to 2/3rds complete mark, with detailing to go... which in itself is pretty impressive. The last of the trio is the Hunter variant, which will be the next surprise to hit the inbox (suspense indeed). On to the pretty pictures;

Updated - Purple crystalline pattern added to the wing plates;

And now at 95% complete...

And the twin... WIP

Also at 95%...

Note: both Raiders have the glow effect applied on the underside now and match closely.


Stay tuned for the third member of this trio of winged death...

Craftworld Dras'Volharr

After some back and forth design concepts with Steve, manipulation, twists and turns - A rune has been chosen to represent Craftworld Dras'Volharr. The Sun Dragon Phoenix, Eclipse and Sun combined to give meaning to the namesake - in Eldar, Dras'Volharr translates to Tempest of the Desert's Shadow.

It will be a couple of weeks before the stencils are sorted out, then the War Machines will be the first to get this new glyph added to their armour.

Planetscape progress...

Elliot from CustomTerrain.net has just updated me on the latest with the Planetscape. He has finished off most of the detailing work for the board, picked out a new colour set and completed the rune tiling - very happy indeed. So, a few happy snaps of the progress;

Jes Goodwin Jetbikes en mass

... Or "field of furious carrots", if you prefer.

Navin from PaintedFigs.com has come back with a shot of the 47/60 Jes Goodwin Jetbike resculpts. In short, that's quite a few twin linked shuriken catapults. The full compliment of Jetbikes and styles are more than I can count on both hands at this stage, from the Games Workshop variety, to custom sculpts and resculpts... of all shapes and sizes.

These new additions will certainly be quite interesting when I swing by the local GW store. The next tricky bit is finding a means of storing them all.

Note: The two shots below were WIP - gems have been coloured in etc beyond this.

Next up, Swooping Hawks!..

Vampire Raider WIP - More frightening than your Mother-in-Law

I'm not normally a Monday person, unless I have good news in my inbox. Ok, so I lie, this gem came in Sunday night, but i'm still excited about it the next day.

This is the first of two Vampire Raiders, twins of a sort, with a Vampire Hunter escort - to be flanked with a full compliment of 20 smaller aircraft (four of each type). I've included both Steve's WIP Vampire Raider and Matt's Phoenix Bomber to contrast the two styles. Good times for one and all - stay tuned as the remaining two join the fold.

UPDATED - Seriously, Steve does NOT mess about:

Steve's blog entry for this insane update can be viewed here.

Vampire Class Flyers docked at Steve's

Just had an update from Steve over at Third Fate Creations. Looks like he has been a busy lad (actually I kinda feel a little bad for him). Two of the three have undergone some heavy work build wise, with the third due to arrive at his place this week. Once the third Flyer (Vampire Raider) has been built, the painting begins. These are the first War Machines to undergo assembly and painting.

The next batch after these will be the Forge World Phantoms, followed closely by an Armorcast Warlock Battle Class Titan. Last of the batch will be the Revenants (the kids) and Towering Knight Destroyers.

Eldar Phoenix Bomber

Just had a couple of images drop into my inbox over the last 24 hours, each ramping up the excitement levels as the painting progression unfolds ;)

Matt from Above the Tabletop has been busy getting this one down right and approved before I send off the full batch of flyers (four of each type eventually - 20 total).

Stuff it, i'd normally write more, but really the picture speaks a thousand words.

The underbelly of the fuselage is all that's left, with a blue power generation glow from the wing tips and nose of the fuselage, and bone colouring etc. When these images hit the inbox, i'll append them to this post. EDIT: Underside shot now appended below;

PS: I've also had word from Steve in the US that the Super Heavy Flyers have arrived - stay tuned ;)

Rogue Trader Eldar Incoming!

Wondering what makes Dave squeal like a teenage Beatles fan? The following might just do it ;)

After hitting Bartertown, WargamerAU and CCM mailing lists, i'm slowly getting a decent sized Rogue Trader Eldar force assembled to fill in the story line for Craftworld Dras'Volharr.

Before I go any further, if anyone has batches of old Guardians to offload - please get in touch as I am actively looking to fill out these squads :)

To give you a snipet of information, the Warhost is sent to a former Maiden world, now desolate, to investigate a long lost Eldar Starport. If you're thinking "Hey, that sounds alot like the 8x6 table being built", you would be right.  An Ancient Bone Singer to repair a damaged Webway Portal, and Whiteseer of the Black Library to reactivate it, play significant roles in releasing the Rogue Trader era Eldar trapped in limbo, all due to the portal being damaged before reintegration occurs.

In short, a reunion of new and old Eldar ensues, providing a reason for all editions of Eldar to be displayed as a single unified force. You're probably saying "Screw the story, show me the goodies!", by now right? Well ok then...

 

Storing the Warhost

"The time had come, so Marvin went..." - Yep, with almost 1,800 Eldar miniatures coming back in batches, I had to seek out some foamy goodness to begin storing the buggers in. It's a good thing I waited to see Luke from The Sound of Machines before I did so.

About a month back when I began looking, Luke had flicked me a message saying "hold out on that thought, I know a guy, who knows a guy". Truly, Luke is Saul Goodman's day job alter ego. So I popped into where Luke gets his painting on, at The Combat Company.

Turns out these folks have some funky ModiFX transport cases that happened to suit my needs. Just to give them a whirl, I picked up two. These suckers are VERY rigid from a miniature shielding perspective and the outside pockets pack down well enough that you can stack 'em nicely

Given my immediate need to house a bucket load of infantry sized models, I nabbed two of the 6x1" foam tray kits, for 216 individual troop slots - although they come available in all sorts of height configurations. The packs set me back $100 each, Games Workshop's versions are respectively $165 for 240 slots.

 To give you an idea, so far i've stored the following in one case;

70x Dire Avengers (Exarchs have their banner poles - with a snip or two)
50x Warlocks (well 47, three are off being painted)
22x Jetbike Warlocks (off their bikes - they could have fit though)
30x Harlequins (all metal... mmmmmm)
12x Shadow Spectres (a little snipage required)

I can honestly say that i'll be buying more foam in the future as they pack a lot into a very small space comfortably. Note, i'm not affiliated with this lot in any way shape or form, I just believe in credit where its due for such a decent product :)

The fact that the owner has a bunch of Rogue Trader Eldar, that his significant other is painting up, just makes me like the place that much more.

A wave of new blood joins the pack...

It has been an interesting couple of weeks, with many thousands of points worth of new miniatures being discovered (they really did multiply in the boxes I had them away in), and new artists joining the team to see this Warhost completed over the next couple of years.

So who are these mysterious and talented folk? Glad you asked...

1. Matt from Above The Tabletop - Now in charge of seeing the Eldar flyers get a good seeing to. With solid airbrush skills and experience dealing with Eldar in general, i've no doubt Matt will nail it.

2. Steve from Third Fate Creations - As noted in a previous post, Steve is in charge of all eight titans, plus Towering Knight Destroyers AND Super Heavy Flyers. There are some very interesting creative ideas being mulled over, with the Flyers being sent out in the next couple of weeks.

3. Shaun Acker - Wraithknights and Wraithlords in abunance are Shaun's gig. Having seen his work with everything from Nurgle to Space Marines and 28 years of painting under his belt, keep an eye out for lumbering death dealing machine goodness.

4. Pierre Loyvet Artworks - A little deviation from the miniature front, Pierre does amazingly detailed illustrations (you may have seen his Blood Angels and Black Templar artwork - plus a kick arse Eva Unit-01). I have got in touch with the promise of sending him my book layout when the wordy stuff is done. Pierre, i've no doubt, will bring my finished miniatures to life in all their glory - tying the book, table and miniatures together in illustration.

Eldar Planetscape - Spires & Landing Platforms

Elliot from CustomTerrain.net emailed me last night with sketches based on the ones I sent him a month ago (designs that Games Workshop were originally going to make, yet didn't) for inspiration.

The lad has been brainstorming ways of forgoing too many interconnecting platforms, instead opting for integrated Webway Gates for travel between buildings. A MUCH better idea. This isn't to say there won't be a bridge or two, however this direction works very well and allows for a more dynamic table game play wise.

Interchange Spires, Landing platforms etc are on the agenda, of course with the much larger Webway Portals (both medium and almost Titan sized in nature).

For now, I will leave you with the concept sketch that is going to manifest in the coming month. There are a few surprises i've not mentioned in this post, i'll leave those for later ;)

Yes, that is a Jetbike flying into an Interchange Spire...

More of the project can be followed here.

From Forge World with Love...

Normally there is a lot of discontent out there with Games Workshop and Forge World by proxy. This post is to highlight just how bloody amazing Forge World's customer support is.

Yesterday, I was in the process of preparing an Eldar Vampire Hunter and Raider for shipping to the US (Steve has been waiting patiently to give these bad boys a coat or two). Upon opening up the Vampire Raider, after it sat in its box for almost a year, I found that bits had been broken (and missing) from the kit. So I sent off an email to Forge World to see about replacement parts - I was not disappointed.

Within a couple of hours, I had an email reply, stating the parts would be cast up and shipped out to a location of my choice (Steve of course being the obvious recipient). This act alone took a huge amount of angst out of my system. A couple of hours later I had another email reply, stating the molds are being retooled, so the parts could not be cast up - instead, they would send out a completely new kit - I almost peed myself.

THAT is customer service :)

Why am I so excited? Well, a little back history perhaps. In the first quarter of last year, Forge World underwent some management changes - whether this extended to the operations and logistics dept's i'm not sure (although it would certainly seem they're much better now). I had eight items over multiple purchases miscast, missing pieces or just broken prior to this internal change. Since then, I have had a call from the Sales Manager and every issue resolved in a manner exceeding my expectations. Don't get me wrong, i've always had the issues resolved, however the quality control now seems to be a lot better (from multiple sources).

Why do I now love Forge World long time? Let me count the ways;

1. Excellent Customer Service - I'm looking at you Simon.
2. Since Andy came on board as Games Development Manager, the rules are getting better - ACTIVELY reviewed for balance (just take the Tau XV107 and Irillyth's new rules).
3. Quality of miniatures - I mean seriously, they beat the parent company hands down.
4. Quality of product - This used to be an issue... not so any more from what I hear.

In short - Faith restored. To the staff of Forge World, thank you.

One request though... if/when IA:11 is revised... please have that snotty Imperial Guard commander smeared from here to Jupiter by the Corsairs in the fluff, no body likes an upstart Mon'Keigh ;)

Eldar Corsair Update Confirmed

Roughly a month ago, I had a chat with one of the managers at Forgeworld about the Imperial Armour 11 Corsair list - and whether they would be seeing an update to bring them in line with 6th Edition 40k. The answer was, "I've actually been hounding them to get started on it, and they did say it would begin next week!".

Fast forward a month and I decided to follow up, this time on their Facebook page. The response, as of early this morning, was as follows;

"Hi Dave, the last update I had was at the middle of last week. It was mentioned that the update was about half completed. Part of the reason it is taking a while is that it is a fairly significant update that the writers have to try and fit around their current writing schedule.

I'll try to keep you all posted if we get any more news. It is something we do get asked about frequently, both here and via email."

So there you have it, expect a decent overhaul of the Corsair army list in the very near future folks. As to what this entails, fingers crossed the good folks at Forgeworld keep us in the loop!

Just for effect, here's a shot of a mates (Nigel B, who's Void Dragon Nightwing Interceptor featured on Forgeworld's Facebook page a week ago) Void Dragon and Sunblitz Brotherhood army, which is currently fighting at Birmingham tournament as I type this. Give 'em hell son ;)

 

*Wasps, Hornets, Corsairs, converted Jetbikes, Warp Hunter and a Nightwing Interceptor... Pure Forgeworld goodness!

Unreleased Spiritseer - Iyanna Arienal

Seriously being spoiled here. Vincent has just sent me photos of the latest work of art, my original copy of Juan Diaz' unreleased test sculpt Iyanna Arienal. He has done a water manupulator theme with her, complete with clear resin raging water effect for the base - certainly not something I was anticipating, what a surprise!

More about Iyanna can be read here - http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Iyanna_Arienal

And here are the pretty pictures;

Dave's Eldar Dataslates - Part 1

With all the crazy attention that the latest LVO lists have attracted lately, Eldar are most certainly not going to be flavor of the month. Despite this, i've been messing about with the idea of some unit specific (of not Craftworld themed) Dataslates. None of the below are intended to be over powered, merely to add some synergy, bringing the lesser considered units back into the "appealing" bracket. Ideally, i'd love it if these were used to overload choice to the point where the common Serpent spam lists are a tad less common.

Feel free to have a mess about with these in friendly games, play testing as you go along. With each, i've provided a little forethought into why I believe they could be a good thing. As with any experimental fan made rules, I fully expect good and bad comments - please do comment on how the rules have gone in a game. Naturally, i'd like to hear from those who have given them a go, rather than outright "that won't work" responses :)


Star Striders - An Alaitoc themed Dataslate

Forethought: Rangers really got attention back when the Craftworld Eldar supplement was released. The reason for this was their Ranger Disruption table, which was extremely nasty when you got one roll per unit on the field. Whilst it was open to abuse, the list did add flavor. As Rangers currently stand, they make excellent backfield objective holders, yet aren't used all that often in the midfield or for true fire lane control akin to their Anti-MEQ Dark Reapers comrades.

Rules: An Eldar or Corsair list may take the following formation, consisting of 2+ units of Eldar Rangers (or Pathfinders if Illic is present)

Upon rolling a successful assault by an enemy unit/model, yet before models are moved the Ranger (or Pathfinder) unit targeted may roll 1D6. On the successful roll of 5+ (4+ for Pathfinders), the Star Striders fade into the shadows. The enemy unit does not successfully assault this turn and models remain stationary. The Star Strider formation may make this save once per game, per formation (not per individual unit in the formation).


Cosmic Serpents - A Saim Hann themed Dataslate

Forethought: Vyper Jetbikes (although the Jetbike term has been dropped and appended though editions), seem to have lost their shine since 4th Edition. Warp Spiders, Shining Spears, Crimson Hunters and even weight of fire from Swooping Hawks. Forgeworld's Hornet overshadows the Vyper in almost every way and the Wasp can outlay sickening amounts of fire, whilst using Jump-Shoot-Jump capabilities. There are literally 10 different Fast Attack options and the poor iconic Vyper is right at the bottom.

Rules: An Eldar or Corsair list may take the following formation, consisting of 1+ Vyper Jetbike squadrons with the following conditions;

A Vyper Jetbike Squadron may "pair" with a single Windrider or Corsair Jetbike unit, if present as part of a normal Troops selection. For every three (3) Jetbikes in the unit, an additional Vyper Jetbike in the Squadron may benefit from the following "pairing", or none may benefit at all. E.g.: Two Windrider units nine (9, 18 total) models in number can be "paired" with two Vyper Jetbike Squadrons of three (3, 6 total) in number.

"Paired" Vyper Jetbike Squadrons within 6" of a Windrider or Corsair Jetbike unit may use the movement rules for Eldar Jetbikes as listed on page 45 of the Core 6th Edition Rulebook. The Armoured Steed clause does not apply as Vyper Jetbikes have no toughness characteristic. Vyper Jetbikes Squadrons are treated as an individual unit, not as part of the Windrider or Corsair Jetbike unit it has "paired" with.


Khaine's Brides - A Biel Tan themed Dataslate

Forethought: Quite a few cries were heard when the Howling Banshees were left practically untouched this edition. Adding insult to injury, they've lost their ability to take down Terminators with their new found AP3 Power Swords. They are still a wonderful unit for Counter Attacks, however. As synergy is key with each unit of an Eldar army list, I felt a little flavor was needed to make them appealing in a Counter Attack sense.

Rules: An Eldar or Corsair list may take the following formation, consisting of 1+ Howling Banshee units. The unit must number ten (10) and include an Exarch with the Fear Exarch power.

When charging an enemy currently in assault with another friendly unit, a single squad in addition to the Howling Banshee unit may also treat the enemy as being under the effects of the Banshee mask, for that charge turn only.

Well, that is the first installment in a series I plan on doing. Stay tuned for the next batch, as I will be working on more than just the five major Craftworlds as this progresses :)

Most importantly, remember to have fun!

TSoM: Feng Shui your Coffee Table

Luke & Adam from The Sound of Machines have just released a fancy pants Coffee table book (or PDF/ePub if your Coffee table has its own iPad/tablet), chocked full of their larger projects over the last few years.

As they've done a good chunk of my Eldar (with still a good chunk to go), I thought it only right to plug them into the blog for a bit of exposure ;) - See what I did there... pretty picture Coffee table book... exposure...? No?... well I tried.

What I can tell you is it makes the new White Dwarf: Visions look pretty tame.

The book is 226 pages of full colour crazy - Whilst the Eldar make a solid appearance, they aren't the only pretties in this compendium of colourful commissions. What does the book contain you ask? Well let's see...

Eldar
Cang Dragon
Ogres
Zombies
Death Guard
Nurgle Daemons
Orks
Iron Man (Yep, f*&k you, he's Iron Man)
The Lost & The Damned

Below are a few samples from their new portfolio release (borrowed with permission!);