Finally get a test game in with Dark Eldar & Grey Knights

This past Thursday I meet up with a good friend from Arizona that was in the Mid-West for work this week, so Thursday after work we meet up at the hotel he was staying in. After dinner that evening we went back to the hotel room and setup for a 750 point match with some options on what armies were used. At hand I had enough Grey Knights to make up three different 750 point lists I did on Army Builder, then I had a 750 point list for the Dark Eldar I had in mind, and finally I also brought what I originally was thinking was 750 points of the Toys for Tots Ultramarine army. The Grey Knights & Dark Eldar were freshly built and not painted yet other then a few old models from the past that were a poor paint job from me, the Ultra's were missing the Rhino's that were to be the transports for the Tactical Squads (my bad on not bringing them based off what Jon told me points wise on the lists).

So for the game we setup four of the Battle Board panels on the bed in the room as there really wasn't anything else that would work to hold the board other then on the floor. I gave Jon the choice on what army he wanted to use, and he decided to go with Grey Knights to test them out. I was set on taking either the Dark Eldar or the Grey Knights no matter what, I think the GK's were the better setup of the two lists we used. Jon setup the terrain while I sorted out the figures for both army lists, we rolled to see who was going first and Jon wins as normal (darn Halters and their ability to roll 6's). Setup was 1/4's of the board with one objective per army; Jon took the hill with more terrain close to it, so I received the almost blank opposite quarter of the board.

Lists:
GK: HQ-Crowe with 3x 5 man Purifier squads (2 Psycannons, Daemon hammer, Halbard KoF, & Sword) & one Psy-Rifleman Dreadnought.

DE: HQ-Baron with 5 man Hellions squad (no special weapons), one 5 man Hellion squad (Squad Leader upgrade with no special weapons), 5 man Trueborn squad with 3x Shardcarbine & 2x Splinter Cannon in a Venom (Flickerfield, Night Shields, two Splinter Cannon, Grisly Trophies), 5 man Scourge squad with 2x Splinter Cannon, and another 5 man Scourge squad with 2x Haywire Blasters.

As a note for this game, I'm sure that we messed up some of the rules & missed some of the special rules and items too in the game. Rules wise I'm sure that we played Warhammer 40k 5th ed, 4th ed, 3rd ed, FoW, and some random rules system thrown in for good measure. The main thing was that we were having fun playing a match verses each other, not really worrying about rules violations or competitive game play either. Since neither of us had used the two new codexes before the game went a little longer then normally it would of been.

Jon placed his GK on their hill with Dreadnought on his objective & the rest against what ever cover they could muster on his deployment area. I decided to put everything on the board with the Dark Eldar instead of holding most of them in reserves for Deep Strike (mistake one). Then I was able to seize initiative from Jon for going first, that was a first for all games that I've played against Jon. I start by moving the Venom & Trueborn into position to get clear shots at one of the Purifier Squads, and was able to score a kill on the Daemon Hammer guy. The Scourges with Splinter Cannons moved up to get shots on the same Purifier squad scoring another kill. The others move to cover and towards Jon's objective, leaving the 5 man Hellion squad on my objective. Jon's first turn he takes down the Venom with an Immobilized result, saved one of the other results. This is normal with any vehicle in a game I play against Jon, first turn my main skimmer or whatever goes down some how. Then his main focus was on the Scourge squads advancing towards him, taking them out one at a time.

My next turn I forgot to disembark the Trueborn from the Venom (mistake two), but my Scourges were able to take down another Daemon Hammer & some Psycannons. Splinter Cannon Scourges get stuck into combat with Purifiers but they tie with one killed on each side, Jon used the Cleansing Flame psychic power instead of Hammerhand on them (didn't produce any wounds on the Scourges that were not saved). Jon's turn started off and he blew up the Venom, causing one kill on a Shardcarbine & one Splinter Cannon. After this we traded shots and some Close Combat with to the end of the game. I was down to one Trueborn Splinter Cannon failing back off the board, so I let Jon roll to see if there was going to be a turn six. I don't think Jon was paying attention to the mission with the objectives, as when he rolled a two and the turn ended he was under the impression he had won. But it was really a tie, as the only thing on his objective was the Dreadnought that was not a scoring unit.

Like I said before, this was just a fun game to learn what these two armies can really do. And learn from my mistakes with the Dark Eldar and make changes to how I play them and what units I take for them. Main thing I would do different in this game would be holding the Baron & 5 man Hellion unit in reserve and Deep Strike them over by his objective. And hold the Scourge squad with the Haywire Blasters in reserve to Deep Strike in range of the Dreadnought.

As far as what I would change out unit wise in a 750 point DE list: well the Hellions and Baron would go away, as I think they are better suited in larger point games and in bigger groups with some save ignoring weapons to help them out. I'm thinking Wyches with save ignoring weapons in a Raider with Dark Lance would be a good replacement. Maybe take the Duke in this army to get the two die combat drug roll & put him with some Trueborn to get the 3+ poison weapon shots.

Here is parting pictures of the setup at the end of the game, mistake three not taking more pictures or notes of the game while we were playing.

Latest Project: Mega-Deff Dread

Here is some pictures of a conversion that I've been working on these past two weeks on and off, I still have some work to do to it before any primer hits it. Need to fill in a gap right above the legs, and figure out if I want to give him some foot peg extensions or let him hang there by the belt (which looks hilarious). And I still need to build an axe head for the right arm, then everything should be ready to button up and paint. So without further delay here is some of the pictures so far, and a link to the Photobucket Album for the Mega-Deff Dread.

Grey Knight Update

Well in the last post item number three in the list has had some progress made on it, the Grey Knights are coming back from a really long break from 40k for me.



After checking out all three of the new plastic kits for the Grey Knights I was hooked, so hooked that I decided to go out and try and build a new all plastic Grey Knight army. I'll still keep the old metal guys for now, and at some point maybe strip them down and redo their paint jobs. The old vehicles still need stripped down, and I need to see how difficult it will be for removing the Crusader Sponsons from the Land Raider. That way I put magnets on them & switch out the old metal Hurricane Bolters for some new plastic ones. Then I think I have another Land Raider kit laying around the house, and about three or so Rhino/Razorbacks there somewhere too.

I just received the last bunch of boxes this evening from Big Bang Game Store in Owensboro, KY. I have seven boxes of the regular Grey Knights, six boxes of Grey Knight Terminators, three boxes of Grey Knight Dreadknights, one Space Marine Venerable Dreadnought, and Lord Kaldor Draigo HQ figure. Now not all of these items are directly for the Grey Knights, as a few pieces and one kit will have a place in other armies. One of the Dreadknights is going to be converted into either a Deff Dread or Mega Dread for my Ork Army. And more then likely I'm going to use the back half of the torsos from a Grey Knight box to make some Blood Angel Libby's and one very special Salamander's Libby or two maybe based off the Salamander's Novels, and maybe one for my Toys for Tots Ultramarine's Army.



So far I've got one five man squad of Terminators complete, and expect to make one more to have a whole ten man squad. Then one ten man Paladin with one extra Apoth to split them into two separate five man squads. Then I'm still trying to figure out the way I want to go about making Ghost Knights, I would like to do clear cast Ghost Knights with maybe some light gray clouded into the castings as they are being poured. Not to bad since there since I figure I would really only need ten of them total to have a good number of regular, and a few different options to start the game with until Mordrak starts taking wounds.

Things to come:
I was able to get two of the Promethean Sun Novellas that went up for pre-order at 9AM GMT (3AM CST), took about 30 minutes to get everything worked out thanks to half asleep and the Black Library website getting bogged down from traffic. So that might be some good inspiration for a future Pre-Heresy Salamander's Army, with an eye towards future Horus Heresy era Salamander's Novels thanks to Nick Kyme.

I'm also working towards getting something done on item four from the previous post, as I've been getting a few more woodworking tools together the last few weeks. And the best friend at home bought a sanding station and scroll saw to go with the rest of our woodworking tools. And I bought a Kreg Pocket Hole jig with all the bells and whistles, and some more router bits for my routers. Next up is to get one of the Small 3D CNC Router machines from Sears Craftsman, to do some special wood work parts for the display cases. And one of the guys I work with has his own little setup of Woodworking goodness too, with a new Band Saw with power feed, and his massive trim milling machine that will crank out trim or planning boards in no time flat.