My original plan was to unwrap my pre-ordered codex, live in seclusion for one or two days and then write a large DE review. Sadly both my real life and the depth of the codex screwed my time schedule a bit. As a consequence of this I will scrap the original plan and do something else.
With a lot in-depth reviews hosted on well known blogs, I don't see a reason to write a complete review myself and thus compete with them. So instead of that I intend to stay true to my original CWE/DE hybrid idea and focus on those choices, who offer some decent "count as" options.
Let me give you a short example: I intend to skip scourges right now in favor of reaver jetbikes. While I think that both are good choices, scourges don't have a good "count as" equivalent in the Eldar codex. I could run them as swooping hawks, but why should I do that? There are no new plastic models for scourges right now and hawks are not that great anyway. The new Reaver jetbikes on the other hand are already on sale and with some bits from the CWE range mixed in and magnetized weapons, I could run them as Eldar Guardian Jetbikes quite easily.
Those who search for a quick way to exploit may end up wasting their time reading my blog, but that's something I can live with. But what about all those fellow Eldar players, who always envied the "Power Armor" faction? I may not undercut the price a SM player pays for his "one chapter, 3+ codices" army, but it surely beats buying a whole other army (like the ork project I canceled). So even if only one single person thinks that my idea is worth enough borrowing, I'm satisfied. At least for me that beats getting credited for finding the most broken combination in the DE codex.
So what's in store for the future?
I hope to get my hands on a borrowed camera this weekend, so if that works out you will see some decent WIP and workspace related pictures, which are not taken with a crappy 1.2 MP mobile phone camera.
After that I start the series in earnest, writing an article for my choices from each section and then ending the series with a time schedule for the next month. I'm not sure if I want to host some army lists in the near future. I intend to run some test games, but force composition will be most likely dictated sorely by my model stock.
Cheers, Karnstein
3.11.10
My road to leather and latex Eldar
With most of my orks and spare eldar tanks being sold off, I plunged wholeheartedly into a small DE shopping spree. Spend some time reading the codex at the German GW HQ store and sketched up some rough army and shopping lists.
10.10.10
My first thoughts on the new Dark Eldar codex ...
... without having read it.
So my knowledge is based on the stuff I read on warseer (before the warseer inquisition cleaned and locked the topic) and what I saw on the mobile phone pictures someone took from a couple of codex pages. This isn't enough to sketch up an actual army-list, because I lack the points and exact wording for war-gear. Nonetheless I think that after reading the codex most of my first impressions won't change at all.
So my knowledge is based on the stuff I read on warseer (before the warseer inquisition cleaned and locked the topic) and what I saw on the mobile phone pictures someone took from a couple of codex pages. This isn't enough to sketch up an actual army-list, because I lack the points and exact wording for war-gear. Nonetheless I think that after reading the codex most of my first impressions won't change at all.
29.9.10
bye bye Orks
Okay, GW really did it! Last Sunday I came back from work, switched on my PC and checked the web for news from the GD UK. What did I see? A whole bunch of amazing Dark Eldar models.
I'm sold! I'm not sure if GW ever managed to impress me that much in the past, at least not for a long time. I even went to the office of my part-time job and applied for a workload increase from 60 to 80 for the next two months.
I'm sold! I'm not sure if GW ever managed to impress me that much in the past, at least not for a long time. I even went to the office of my part-time job and applied for a workload increase from 60 to 80 for the next two months.
14.9.10
My army projects and the upcoming DE codex
After years of rumors and frustrated hobbyists joking about DE being the "Duke Nukem of 40k" GW finally put and end to all of this and made of official statement on their homepage.
Now I don't want to bore the hell out of you with repeated rumors you can read on a couple of sites like warseer, dakka and even Bols. I only want to talk about the consequences of the GW announcement in regard to my army projects.
Now I don't want to bore the hell out of you with repeated rumors you can read on a couple of sites like warseer, dakka and even Bols. I only want to talk about the consequences of the GW announcement in regard to my army projects.
22.8.10
Status of the eldar army II
Okay, it's time to talk about those things I learned from playing IG and a non-seer eldar, both in regard to my view on Eldar as a tournament army and some few shortcomings I repeat too often for my own liking.
I spend a lot of time with a theoretical approach to gaming, ranging from simple mathhammer to digging through the web for data, or just talking with fellow 40k players through instant messaging services like gmail-chat. Which is fine if you don't find enough time to play or can't field an army thanks to paint&assembly related reasons.
But for someone who puts such an effort in the theoretical side of the game, I'm getting kind of sloppy when it comes to tournament playing. So what errors do I like to make? Let's just name those two, which will hurt you the most.
The game starts with the roll off
1. Let's start with my own errors:
I spend a lot of time with a theoretical approach to gaming, ranging from simple mathhammer to digging through the web for data, or just talking with fellow 40k players through instant messaging services like gmail-chat. Which is fine if you don't find enough time to play or can't field an army thanks to paint&assembly related reasons.
But for someone who puts such an effort in the theoretical side of the game, I'm getting kind of sloppy when it comes to tournament playing. So what errors do I like to make? Let's just name those two, which will hurt you the most.
The game starts with the roll off
13.8.10
Short intermission
I'm back folks for a short intermission. The second part of "status of the Eldar army" will be finished either today or over the course of the weekend.
As you may remember, I talked a lot about my scheme in the past, but never showed some pictures. That changes now, because I just finished my first practice session. I used that old 1:35 howitzer I talked about, primed it with the new vallejo primer and then applied two shades of violet today.
As you may remember, I talked a lot about my scheme in the past, but never showed some pictures. That changes now, because I just finished my first practice session. I used that old 1:35 howitzer I talked about, primed it with the new vallejo primer and then applied two shades of violet today.
3.8.10
Status of the eldar army I
Okay, with all those short battle reports done, let me tell you about the state of my eldar army:
Basically in pieces. I stripped all the tanks from the cheap primer I used and scraped the new flying bases I build.
Basically in pieces. I stripped all the tanks from the cheap primer I used and scraped the new flying bases I build.
31.7.10
Tournament reports Part III B
Game 3
Special mission with special deployment rules. Let me explain it: Both player own 3 objectives worth 1,2 and 3 points. All of them must be placed inside terrain, you can't place them in the open field, and you can't stack more than one of yours in a single piece of terrain. So you can have one objective of yours and one from your opponent in the same piece of terrain, but never two of yours. Deployment zones were opposing triangles with a ~25" neutral zone.
Special mission with special deployment rules. Let me explain it: Both player own 3 objectives worth 1,2 and 3 points. All of them must be placed inside terrain, you can't place them in the open field, and you can't stack more than one of yours in a single piece of terrain. So you can have one objective of yours and one from your opponent in the same piece of terrain, but never two of yours. Deployment zones were opposing triangles with a ~25" neutral zone.
26.7.10
Tournament reports Part III A
Some weeks after playing at the TOS in my home town, I went to the W.E:T tournament, which is annually hosted by the Wertheimer Exterminatus Club (short WEC). Those guys have friendly relationship with our gaming club, some of them showing up at our club-honchos birthday parties on a regular basis, killing all the tasty booze. I played against some of them before and they are all real nice fellas, but I hadn't found the time so far to visit their tournament. Which is a sad thing, because it really is a premium tournament in terms of location, size and tables. They really own a lot of beautiful and well build tables, which are on par with those the german GW HQ uses for the german TOS, and with a size of 60 players I would call it a major tournament. The german TOS only allows up to 50 players, thanks to size of the playrooms of the flagstore.
This time I decided to bring my eldar army on the table again. No borrowed IG or Eldar army for extra softscore/paining points.
This time I decided to bring my eldar army on the table again. No borrowed IG or Eldar army for extra softscore/paining points.
25.7.10
Tournament reports Part II
Second tournament I went to this year was the german Throne of Skulls. Missed the ticket deadline first, but a friend of mine ordered 4 tickets and they send him 5, so I was back in the game. I will keep the tourament reports short again, because I got no pictures and I didn't play my beloved eldar. You ask why? Last year they used 1750 points and this year it was cut down to 1500. I had some major problems building a competitive eldar force for that size, esp. one which favored my gaming style. So instead of borrowing the Sam Hain Eldar I used 2009, I went for a boring IG build.
19.6.10
Tournament reports Part I
Well, as I mentioned in a couple of postings before, I went to two tournaments in the last 5 months. I hope that number will increase a bit over the course of the year, the next one is on the pentecost weekend this month. Don't anticipate much from the reports, since I don't intend to write full battle-reps anyway. My reason to host them is mainly to create a background for the changes my eldar force will go through in the next weeks.
First tournament this year was the 1. Ratisbona 2days tournament. The guys from the local club - called TTCR- stay at my home every year for the german Throne of Skulls, which is hosted in my hometown. Regensburg, or Ratisbona as the romans called it, lies in Bavaria (the beer and bretzel state of Germany) and the distance between it and my home is ~350miles.
First tournament this year was the 1. Ratisbona 2days tournament. The guys from the local club - called TTCR- stay at my home every year for the german Throne of Skulls, which is hosted in my hometown. Regensburg, or Ratisbona as the romans called it, lies in Bavaria (the beer and bretzel state of Germany) and the distance between it and my home is ~350miles.
4.5.10
...back from the dead part II
Talk about the devil... while writing part one of the article and rambling, that my airbrush set hasn't arrived yet, my doorbell rang. And guess who was standing in front of my door? The guy from the DPD courier service. Hoorah! Now I only need to buy a travel AC adapter, since the UK and Germany don't use the same power plugs.
Now let's move to the remaining subjects:
Now let's move to the remaining subjects:
6.1.10
..back from the dead (part I)
The blog went into kind of deep slumber, but I'm not dead/married/on a world-tour (thanks dverning for the caring email, asking if everything is okay on my side of the planet).
After playing that tournament in bavaria back in january I fell into kind of a 40k depression. The huge amount of unpainted or even unassembled models was dragging my motivation down. And the fact, that each new armybook GW launched in the last year showed how outdated/overpriced some parts of my eldar force are, didn't help much either.
But I'm back with a couple of news and a streamlined schedule. Let's divide those into the following sections: "Things I bought", "Tournaments?", "damn, start painting" and "New Dex please?"
After playing that tournament in bavaria back in january I fell into kind of a 40k depression. The huge amount of unpainted or even unassembled models was dragging my motivation down. And the fact, that each new armybook GW launched in the last year showed how outdated/overpriced some parts of my eldar force are, didn't help much either.
But I'm back with a couple of news and a streamlined schedule. Let's divide those into the following sections: "Things I bought", "Tournaments?", "damn, start painting" and "New Dex please?"
2.1.10
My 2010 list of goals
New year, new goals...got some...
Non-hobby goals:
1. Getting all those few certifications at the U I still miss, which should clear me for the remaining exams and the diploma thesis
2. Using the free time (no coursed to attend anymore) for a second internship, one that hopefully helps me getting that diploma thesis done.
3. Finishing the U before 2011 rises his head on the horizon and getting a real job
Hobby goals:
1. Buying myself a midrange airbrush set as a birthday present.
Going on a big second-hand shopping spree didn't help to improve my painting motivation. Painting 6 Serpents, 2 Falcon/Prism tanks, 2 Night Spinner and one Firestorm tank with a large tankbrush gives me the creep. Not to mention those walkers and lords. Not only should that cut down the amount of time, doing only the details, highlights and shadows with a brush sounds like a great motivator to me.
2. Finishing my eldar army before the leaves are falling down.
With the airbrush getting the tanks done should be rather easy. The only challenge I need to overcome, is finding a way to airbrush most parts of my infantery units too.
3. Playing one game per week.
Met up with the folks from the local gaming club last month. With their gaming sunday twice a month and the veterans day in the local GW store, I should get ~4-5 games each month.
4. Starting with customizing my second army.
I got my hands on some BR orks, ordered 3 grot sponsons from FW and have some rather well-thought out plans for a small ork force. It's kind of a pun theme, running a WW2 ork army making fun of that edi1-2 ork design and those blockheaded folks, who preach political correctness like a second religion. So the focus lies on making a "waaghmacht" themed army looking kind of silly and not creating a historical correct & serious one. Just think about a "castle wulfenstein meets Dust meets Secret weapons" cocktail going green. Ork Tank bustas with "panzerschreck", StugIII styled battlewagons, "uberork" meganobs...
The assembly of those guys is planned for 2010, scheduled after I finish converting my eldar. So when the last customized warp spider or warlock has seen the light (or rather the primer can), I will start going ork... maybe do some testmodels first but the real building process has to wait until my eldar are ready for airbrushing them.
And what are your 2010 goals?
Happy new year to all of you btw...
Non-hobby goals:
1. Getting all those few certifications at the U I still miss, which should clear me for the remaining exams and the diploma thesis
2. Using the free time (no coursed to attend anymore) for a second internship, one that hopefully helps me getting that diploma thesis done.
3. Finishing the U before 2011 rises his head on the horizon and getting a real job
Hobby goals:
1. Buying myself a midrange airbrush set as a birthday present.
Going on a big second-hand shopping spree didn't help to improve my painting motivation. Painting 6 Serpents, 2 Falcon/Prism tanks, 2 Night Spinner and one Firestorm tank with a large tankbrush gives me the creep. Not to mention those walkers and lords. Not only should that cut down the amount of time, doing only the details, highlights and shadows with a brush sounds like a great motivator to me.
2. Finishing my eldar army before the leaves are falling down.
With the airbrush getting the tanks done should be rather easy. The only challenge I need to overcome, is finding a way to airbrush most parts of my infantery units too.
3. Playing one game per week.
Met up with the folks from the local gaming club last month. With their gaming sunday twice a month and the veterans day in the local GW store, I should get ~4-5 games each month.
4. Starting with customizing my second army.
I got my hands on some BR orks, ordered 3 grot sponsons from FW and have some rather well-thought out plans for a small ork force. It's kind of a pun theme, running a WW2 ork army making fun of that edi1-2 ork design and those blockheaded folks, who preach political correctness like a second religion. So the focus lies on making a "waaghmacht" themed army looking kind of silly and not creating a historical correct & serious one. Just think about a "castle wulfenstein meets Dust meets Secret weapons" cocktail going green. Ork Tank bustas with "panzerschreck", StugIII styled battlewagons, "uberork" meganobs...
The assembly of those guys is planned for 2010, scheduled after I finish converting my eldar. So when the last customized warp spider or warlock has seen the light (or rather the primer can), I will start going ork... maybe do some testmodels first but the real building process has to wait until my eldar are ready for airbrushing them.
And what are your 2010 goals?
Happy new year to all of you btw...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)