The PCRC presents: Rehab of 8 Addicts

[Lord Blood the Hungry]

Turn 5
the anihilation barges shoot at the warriors behind the wrecked raider, they go to ground, and it kills 2. the necron warriors shoot the raider wrecking it.
The necron lord charges the wracks. The acothyst challenges. Mindshackle scarabs nullify his attacks. The necron lord kills him. The haemonculis drops an immortal. Combat is drawn.

The blasters shoot the annihillation barge. One glances.
The wracks drop 2 immortals the lord kills 2 wracks.

turn 6
The annihillation barges kill 5 warriors and they run.



The necron warior shoot at the dark eldar in the ruins.
The mind shackle scarabs make the haemonculus kill a wrack.
The immortals kill 1 wrack as does the lord./
the wracks kill one immortal, flee and are cut down.

The warriors rally. And run into hiding on the objective.



Their blaster misses the annihillatiion barge.

turn 7

The annihillation barges and warriors gun down the warriors and haemonculus.

The barge jinks out of the way of the remaining warrior's blaster shot

necrons win 11 objective points to 3.

[Lord Blood the Hungry]

soooo....

how have the new rules affected the game?

well, I'm pretty sure it has been designed by marine players for marines...it has not been balanced for xenos.

the warlord bonuses are a nice touch.
and the mysterious objectives were interesting. though we both forgot to use the targetting relays

the necrons didn't take advantage of the scoring overlord,
but there were 2 turns when the haemonculus' conqueror of cities combined with the scatterfield on the objective and the ruins to give the unit a 2+ cover save!!
that seemed a bit over the top.

shooting is now vastly more potent than combat.
new rapid fire rules mean many more guns are in range.

vehicles are massively more effective and much more difficult to deal with. glancing hits are infuriationgly useless. under the old rules a glancing hit would limit the effectiveness of your opponent's vehicles by at least stopping them from shooting. now a couple of glancing hits don't even register.

combat is now not happening.
theoretically a 2D6" charge should have slightly increaced the charge distance, but it actually translated into a dramatic reduction;
wracks (with a previous charge move of 6") rolled 2" then 5",
warriors (with a previous charge move of 6") rolled 3",
the beasts (with a previous charge move of 12") rolled 4" then 6" on the fleet reroll,
the necron lord (with a previous charge move of 6") rolled 4" then 3".

overwatch proved to be super effective with the immortals shooting the front 6 models off the beastmaster unit adding 5" to the distance they needed to charge increasing it to 10" so they failed the charge.

when we did get into combat, it did make more sense. many more models get to fight due to every model moving up 3" immediately before it strikes.

no idea on challenges as mindshackle scarabs completely nullified the mechaninc and have been utterly overlooked in the FAQ.

(if you want to negate combat take tesla armed immortals, led by a criptek with lightning field and mindshackle scarabs)


the morale rules looked pretty good and fear was a nice idea....
then it was all made pointless by "fearless"
so morale is unchanged (i.e. space marines are immune as are most other armies so it is a pointless waste of rulebook space)

monsters, jump troops and psykers will have to be tested as they have had massive changes.

but it just seemed pretty similar to 5th ed.

dissappointing.

[sturguard]

I wouldnt judge 6th by your game results against Cron's as they are probably the best codex right now. Snapfire with jink and Overwatch with Immortals don't really impose any negatives to Crons with Tesla. I think you will find the marines arent faring as well as some of the other armies right now. Xenos rejoice, it isnt a SM world right now.

[Bob Hunk]

Thanks for posting the battle report Lord Blood, it looked like a very interesting game. We definitely need to get as many games of 6th in as we can to get a handle on the relative power levels of different armies. Looks like the Necrons are going to be quite scary though!

A minor update from me, here's my first Nurgle Daemon Prince, still very much WIP. He's going to be fly themed, rather than the traditional bloater.

[Apologist]

Promising start on the prince of flies, Bob_Hunk
+++


Aspiration – Escalation – Engagement
One of Commander Starblade's most promising Shas'Els had pushed his Cadre further north than the others, having 'intercepted' unusual readings detected by Imperial forces emanating from one of the larger mining centres, the romantically named Aspiration. Little was he – or indeed, I, who had ordered the false signals broadcast – to know that this would result in the catastrophic escalation of the conflict across Shale. Intended as an Imperial ambush to assassinate the promising Tau commander, the forces I had General Abacha divert to Aspiration never arrived. Later investigation found Aspiration, previously a thriving dustdock mine, absolutely deserted, and reduced to crumbling ruins.

It is fortunate that Por'ui Meggido, a Tau Water merchant attached to the Cadre, was picked up wandering the desert a few days after the events. Under duress, he was able to shed some light on what had occurred, giving me an insight into the rising threat that might otherwise have proven irresistable. Of course, as events played out... well; you know the rest.

It seems the Shas'El – whose personal designation remains a mystery as Meggido suffered a somatic stroke under the ministrations of the Interrogators – proved himself quite the hero. It is rare I admit to admiration of the Xeno, but I have no doubt that the dear price this Tau extracted from the Amarinthine Dynasty during this battle resulted in a change in Hykos' behaviours; something that prevented or delayed the Necron's ultimate withering drive on the Cursus Chamber. Perhaps this Shas'El ultimately proved himself the saviour of Shale – or at least bought the Imperial forces more time to prosecute the Polar Front.

I have learned that there are precious few certainties in this lifetime. The first is that Fate, if he or she exists, is capricious at best. A second of these certainties is that courage – whether of human or alien origin – can be called virtue. A third and, perhaps, more critical truth is that the Master of the Galaxy is a jealous master. He – and by extension, we his servants – cannot afford pity or admiration for such Xenos. Some espouse a view that human blood and toil should not be shed against such alien virtues and alien heroes, when they stand as a bulwark against other, darker, threats. The wise know that appearances can be deceptive; such sentiments must be driven from the flock, or we risk inviting the most handsome wolves within.

I salute that unknown Xeno soldier; I trust that – if he survived – he was rewarded in whatever alien fashion such beings find their satisfaction. Ultimately, however, even virtuous enemies are just that – enemies.
Extracted from the Shale Interviews – Attr. Inquisitor Unfortunus Veck.

Shas'Ka Nan Cadre forces warily explore the eerie streets of Aspiration


Amarinthine Necons emerge from the pits...


...and advance into the city


Broadside teams stake out an artery road through the remnants of the Ministorum Ceap District


Tau warriors sweep the city professionally


War erupts



Gorgeous new models from Trojan Ninja and grahamgilchrist, I'm sure you'll agree!

[Lord Blood the Hungry]

we are all well aware of just how amazing Graham's Tau are. they just look fantastic. the new highlights are beautiful. its just a joy to see them take to the field.

I'd like to draw your attention to Trojan Ninja's necrons. it is a very nice colour sceheme. the bronze on the limbs is really nice refreshing change and the carapaces are just gorgeous. the photos don't do them justice, each piece is blended from dark blue to bright green. and they are all cyclopean.
this army will look amazing when it is finished.
I am amazed at how starkly different they are from Lucifer216's necrons. 2 colour schemes that bothe work so well but couldn't be more different.

[Dannage]

Very cool stuff. I think it sufficiently rates me as sad that I was staring wistfully at some of the scenery... tch...

[Trojan Ninja]

Yeah the scenery was great fun to use as well. we had a huge open section near the Necron deployment and a huge city section for the tau. best of all was the massive street Apologist set up. He really made it feel like a proper cityscape rather than just placing structures at random. The big street also made me massively worried as it provided a great sight line for the Tau Broadsides!

What isn't mentioned is that my Necrons probably only won due to nightfall at turn 5. It meant the crisis suits couldn't get into range to shoot me to pieces! It was a cracking game though.

[Trojan Ninja]

Right then ladies and gentlemen I present to you (finally!) some of the work on my necron army: The Amaranthine Dynasty of Hy'Kos.

These two photos demonstrate my initial colour palette. I figured I'd try to go with a colour scheme that vaguely resembled that of Ancient Egypt as seen in movies and history books. However as you'll see this didnt quite stick.......

(also you'll notice the heads are regular necron and I even tried using the death mask from a WFB Cairn Wraith now removed as it looked silly!)

[Trojan Ninja]

Next up are my HQs

My Necron Overlord - Phaeron Senruset Lord and Master of all Shale. Disturbed by the planetfall of the other armies and drawn to the power residing on his planet.
I scratch built him out of parts from the Command Barge, Deathmarks, Triarch Praetorians and also Destroyer Lord kit (the scarab arm I'm using as a Tachyon arrow).

His Royal Court (again all scratch built), so far consisting of 2 Lords & 3 crypteks. One lord with warscythe and tesseract labyrinth (made using a voidblad gauntlet) one with a voidblade and a vial containing mindshackle scarabs. My crypteks are kitted out as a Harbinger of Eternity (the guy with the spiky collar, idea pinched from a guy who mimicked the codex art), a Harbinger of the Storm (with the massive lighting rod spine taken from the command barge) and a Harbinger of transmogrification. For the transmog cryptek, I've attempted to use one of the prow options from the command barge as it looked very harp-like. I imagined it being more of a deep baritone theremin style device rather than an actual harp with strings as it fits better into the high-science world of the Necrontyr.

Then we have the brother of Senruset, who has gone completely nuts and turned himself into a destroyer. I need to adapt his warscythe at some point; I'm thinking of removing the arm and having a full blade instead. I've added some extra bits to his body from various kits to make him a bit more embellished and regal despite his madness. I'm thinking i might also add some legs to his body as he'd be very effective as a destroyer "scarab lord" leading a swarm into assault!

[Trojan Ninja]

Finally just a quick couple of photos showing my updated colour scheme and some immortals who look deeply sinister with a single eye! The final colour scheme actually came about when I tried to get my necrons out of the loft and a large scarab-like beetle fell out. He had an amazing bluey/green body so I took this as a bit of a sign :P

Also back to my lord - I had to repose the legs to get him more upright and was kindly given a dying marine by Bob Hunk to allow for Bother "Zeperd" to be trodden on by the Necron Master.

The theme behind my army is "Shepherds of the Galaxy" I derived the name Hy'Kos dynasty from a very similar sounding Egyptian power called Hyksos which roughly translates as "Shepherd Kings". Those who know me personally know there is another reason for choosing this name!

I hope you like my work in progress so far and I hope to get more complete pictures up very shortly. This is my first real upload to warseer and as the newest member of the PCRC so please let me know what you think!



Apologist - I want my COOKIE!!! :P

[Trojan Ninja]

Just decided as I was on a roll with uploading stuff to the blog I'd take some "quick & dirty" photos of one of my killer units - the DOOOOOOOOOOM scythe.

I've gone for matching the main body with the blue-green theme on the carapaces of my other models but instead of doing a flat bronze over the "wings" i decided i'd try to make it look like it was stone over the top of mechanical. This is still WIP but you can hopefully see what I'm trying to achieve. This way, when I finally paint my Monoliths, they should look a little like pyramids made from stone but with tech underneath.

Also the camera on my phone seems to not pick up the subtle blend i'm going for on the Scythe's cockpit. Photography help would be appreciated!

[DapperAnarchist]

That Scythe... It's incredible. Truly incredible.

[Apologist]

Apologist - I want my COOKIE!!! :P

Trojan Ninja, for those piccies, you can have a plateful.


Really lovely stuff there – the pictures don't do justice to the transition on the Doom Scythe's cockpit, but the conversion work all looks lovely. I'm a particular fan of the Royal court, but the cycloptic style of the army as a whole is going to be really striking.

The final colour scheme actually came about when I tried to get my necrons out of the loft and a large scarab-like beetle fell out. He had an amazing bluey/green body so I took this as a bit of a sign :P

That's an awesome story!

[Bob Hunk]

Great work on everything Trojan Ninja, especially that Doom Scythe, it looks amazing! You should post a how-to guide for that stone effect when you're done. You're right about the cyclopean eye making the Immortals seem even more sinister. This massive update will shame me into doing some more on my Daemons!

[Apologist]

The Summer War
As the war dragged into the hot, breathless summer of Shale, the conflicts across the equatorial regions and dustharbours decreased; the Tau, Imperial and Eldar forces unwilling to deploy aggressively. The forces bedded down to wait out the brief summer weeks, occasional petty skirmishes the only ongoing conflict.

This pause in overt hostilities allowed the forces to retrench and consolidate their holdings. As the dust of the winter and spring offensives settled, it emerged that large portions of the planet were in Xenos hands; even First Dig remained under a protracted siege by Dark Eldar forces, made only more eerie by the besieger's apparent absence. Those civilians brave or desperate enough to emerge from the safe zone put the lie to this feeling of safety – the Eldar were present in every crumbling ruin and shadow, enslaving and carrying off the humans like carrion crows.

Discontent amongst the population had erupted into rebellion and secession across a huge area of the Meranid Steppes, and the Brightsword Confederacy was swift to spread its grasp. The first Tau colonies began to emerge, trading and inveigling themselves amongst the mining towns.

Imperial forces were in disarray across the planet, the Second and Third armies unable to deploy their strengths against the hit-and-run nature of its opponents. A sea change in Imperial strategy was coming, and redeployments saw the fronts collapse across the planet as the Third pulled back to defend the principal mining towns and population areas, abandoning the countryside, fells and deserts to the Eldar.

Meanwhile, the First army progressed towards the poles. By now it had become clear that the Necrons had emerged from their subterranean tombs, and the courageous Guardsmen were becoming enmeshed in stand-up set-piece battles against forces later identified as belonging to the Dynasty of Hy'kos. The Planetary Governor was horrified – no hint of the Xenos presence had ever been reported.

Alien Minds
As later reports confirmed, the destruction of the 'Fingerbones' early in the war was critical. This ancient piece of xenotech, suspected to be of Eldar origin, had long shrouded the world from the warp. Its destruction had revealed the planet to the greater galaxy, and drawn greedy eyes...

Anrakyr the Traveller was amongst the first to turn his gaze to the planet. Despatching his vassal Overlord, Kethla the Enduring to rouse the Amarinthine Dynasty, Anrakyr had hoped that the Hy'kos would join him. Fortunately for the inhabitants of Shale, Senruset, Overlord of the Hy'kos dynasty, had been insulted by Kethla's overtures. While initially cordial, relations broke down when Kethla explained what Hy'kos would have to surrender to him – the artefacts Senruset valued most in what remained of his cold existence. Knowing that to remove either of the artefacts would certainly doom his Throneworld, Senruset dismissed Kethla without explanation.

Coldly calculating, Kethla determined that if the artefacts were not surrendered to him, they would have to be recovered by other means. This led to the two forces engaging in combat – no less deadly for its ritual nature. Secure on his Throneworld, Senruset's resources were near infinite; but his hands were bound by the sacred pact he had made to the Silent King millennia before. He could not use his most powerful pieces in this war. Nevertheless, where Senruset and Kethla's forces engaged, primal, godlike powers tore the earth asunder with bone-shuddering force.

Had either Kethla or Senruset turned their faces to the other combatants in the war, it is unlikely any would have survived. The humans and tau of the planet were saved by the Necron's arrogance – such cattle were beneath notice while a foe of the appropriate stature remained unvanquished.

Revelation
Perhaps more crucially, the revelation of the planet's signature caused a stir in the warp. Both Gatrog Nurgle and the Daemon Prince Mhak A Veli, Scion of Tzeentch swept their ancient gaze over the planet. Gatrog's pocked face creased in what could have been amusement, and he despatched his herald to the planet while he gather his malevolent forces. The Second Gateway had been found! Sister to the Cursus of Alganar, the Synthaean Cursus was a warp artefact of near unimaginable power; capable of pouring warp energy into the subsector and causing a permanent storm.

However, it could not be opened. Mhak A Veli peered closer, the shrouding of quantum technology no barrier to his twisting mind. Broken splinters – one massive, one smaller but more vigorous – of an unimaginably puissant being were bound in significant locations, enthroned as honoured captives on the planet's poles.

It was clear to the Prince of Tzeentch that these primaeval giants were holding the Cursus shut. He steepled his feathered fingers...

[Apologist]

More Guard for the grinder
Having assembled pretty much all of the models in the list, I've been getting stuck into painting. Quite a few of them are now further along, but I thought I'd post up the ones I finished last night:

[razormasticator]

Apologist, those are some evocative guardsman you have there. They look legit and very realistic. I love the Cadian Heads with Elysians look, I want to do some of my own for sure.

[Apologist]

A couple of close-ups of faces.

Corp 'Lobo' Ynbar

I struggled a bit to paint this chap, but I'm really pleased with how he's come out. The Catachan range gets a lot of stick, and while I completely agree that the infantry squad is a bit ropey, the heavy weapons and command squad have some fantastic stuff in them.

Corp Ynbar uses arms and a head from the command sprue. The arms are untouched, but the face has had the jaw trimmed back a bit to get it to fit better with the slighter Elysian torso.

Company Commander Terentius Dresden

The events of the spring offensive left the 117th battered, with twenty per cent casualties. Numerous brevet ranks were awarded during the battles, and many of these were made official in the aftermath. Rip-sergeant Dresden, by virtue of being the most experienced member of his platoon left standing, was recommended for promotion to Lief (a rank roughly equivalent to Major) by Springsen. This decision was ratified unanimously by the comany's senior officers – a simple feat, since only one was left alive!

Dresden's tired and haggard appearance in this pict-capter is largely attributable to it being taken mere hours after an ambush by Eldar Raiders on the mining town of What, Here? as his force – a motley patchwork of Sigma Agrians, Lamb's Worlders and remnants of the Marathon armoured – was falling back to the Hatton Line.

[juicytomatoes]

Wow, those guardsmen look great!

Can I ask, why Lobo? Is it 'Left Out of Battalion Order' or something else?

He looks spiffy, regardless.