Test Figure

Here's the first test miniature! Settled on Catalan Brown (from Games Wrokshop's Foundation Paint range) for the basecoat in the end. One down, nine Dire Avengers to go in this squad.

The second unit will be a unit of eldar jetbikes and will form the core of my combat patrol army. So far, one bike is half built (they are quite heavily converted). :-)

The Void Dragon

This rune represents the ancient Void Dragon, a terrible creature that in eldar myth almost devoured their entire race. Only Asuryan was strong enough to defeat the Void Dragon, trapping it in the webway, isolated from both the warp, and the material universe.

This is the symbol of the Rath-Torhan craftworld whose name means "Sentinels of the Void", a reference to their tenacity to endure, and watch the many hidden, ancient paths of the webway.

Winds of War 2010

This weekend was Bracknell Forest Gamers Warhammer 40000 Doubles Tournament, Winds of War. This event has gone from strength to strength since it started and uses the combat patrol rules from 4th edition at 500 points, giving a total of 1000 points per team.
In my experience doubles tournaments tend to be much friendlier than classic tournament, and from my point of view (as a fairly competitive 40K player), it is a good opportunity to relax and enjoy the social side of the hobby.
This event in particular is quite casual and allows some whacky army combinations. After teaming up with Dave OJ last year (another former Chief Muppet), we were back again. This time, the Dead Presidents, would have his new Tyranids and my Tau. Obviously the Tau were a little worried about this arrangement which is why they all had Initiative 1 (this is the penalty for this option in the rules pack).

Our first game was against two great chaps using Marines and Eldar. Because of the scenario, my Tau (who were a bit lucky) took out the Eldar and Dave's Nids had the marines for breakfast. In game two we faced two Ork armies. Despite most of the bugs struggling in close combat, we just managed a win on kill points.

The third game was objective based and we faced a total of seven Typhoon Land Speeders on a relatively open board. Suffice to say we got a good kicking, however we did control the most objectives at the end of the game, so we got our third (!) win of the day.

Our final game was against a very pretty Necron army. Thankfully for Dave's ego, natural order was returned and we lost this game. However at the end of the day, we came second!

A big thanks should go the guys at BFG for running a great event, and congratulations to the (winning) muppet team, the two Christies.

WH40K Skirmish Scale (750 points)

Last club meeting, two of the guys were playing a 750 point game. As a bit of background, both chaps are building new armies and are playing a series of games of increasing size while they paint stuff.

However the 750 point format in particular struck me as a really nice, really tactical, format. As a slight tweak to the system they used, the following could work really nicely:

Army Selection

• Minimum one troops
  
• Maximum one hq
• Elite, Fast Attack or Heavy Support choices are restricted. You must have one of each (so one Elite, Fast Attack and Heavy Support choice) before selecting a second from the same category
• No units with the 'Unique' special rule may be used

Scenarios

Play as per normal, although I think this format will work slightly better on a 4 x 4 or 4 x5 board rather than a standard 6 x 4.

Please note, this is basically a one player version of the GW Doubles Tournament format. If anyone else tries this out, please let me know how (if) it works!

Rath-Torhan, version 2...

Okay, although it is unlikely I'm going to be painting lots of these guys for a bit, I have updated the background and colour scheme for the Rath-Torhan craftworld (here).

In between finishing the squad of Blood Angels I've been working on for 12 months (I'm a slow painter at the best of times), I've started a test figure. Unfortunately, I need to pop into town for some more paint. With all the browns I own, I still don't have the one I want as a basecoat. Typical.

Rath-Torhan arises... (again)

Many years ago, I built an Eldar army, and developed an entire background around it. Now I'm coming to my latest project, my Blood Angels (the Order of Sanguinius), and I had loads of spare Eldar bits left, I decided to start a second Eldar army.

After playing with various colour schemes (with the help of both of my young sons), I decided against doing a Ulthwe force and came back to my first Eldar army, the eldar of Rath-Torhan.

Of course, this army would be better painted and a slightly different colour scheme...