WAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!!!!!!

I've hit a bit of a slump painting-wise ... but I'm getting back into the groove of things, while wrestling with some personal-life stuff.  'nuff of da BORING stuff, we's got ORKS ta talk about!

Dat link dere will take yous to da 40k website where dere's new info about da boyz.  New pics, new info.  This Christmas season iz lookin' green an' orky, which iz a good thing.  Da boyz 'ave been lookin' fer a bit o' an upgrade, an' da 'umies betta beware, 'cauze da Weirdboyz are makin' a comeback!

Also, dey shuld check out our new shooty Trukk.  It's extra orky, an' dat's a good fing.

Dawn of War: Soulstorm

I know this may not be "news" to some of you, but it's new to me so I'm going to post it.

The third expansion of THQ's Dawn of War has released some information.  Mainly, that the new armies included are going to be Dark Eldar and Witch Hunters (Sisters of Battle).

I'm still waiting for them to implement Tyranids, but I'll take what I can get.  

The game is scheduled to be released in June of '08 and will allow for flying units and a third resource only available to Dark Eldar: Souls.  The Dark Eldar will be able to collect the souls of their fallen enemies to fuel some special effects driven by this resource.  It all sounds cool to me, and I can't wait.  The Witch Hunters will have a new 'Faith' system which is still being tweaked so there's not much information on that other than that it's there.

Just thought I'd share the love a bit.

Diary of a Chaos Space Marine

So the other day a friend linked me to an interesting fan-fiction that I thought you all might appreciate.  You can find it here.  It's very long, but a very good read.

Ravenwing Attack Squad

This last weekend I finished painting up a Ravenwing Attack Squad. That's 6 bikes, one attack bike and one Landspeeder Tornado.

While you will see the bikers swinging chainswords, their main role will not be melee. I just like the image of them swinging chainswords like a roudy post-apocalyptic biker-gang and really, who doesn't? The option given was to equip them with EITHER a bolt pistol OR a chainsword. In game terms they're virtually identical, since I'd be using the twinlinked boltguns on the front of the bike for any kind of shooting. Given this, they only get one attack. Two if they charge. If they're in combat, however, they cannot leave at their own discretion. They are not considered "vehicles." Due to this, their role is going to be more mobility and shooting. I have equipped my Sergeant with a Power Sword just incase things get hairy, though. Twin-linked bolters are nothing to sneeze at, especially considering that due to them being mounted on the bike, I do not count as having moved when I fire. This means I can fire once up to 24" despite moving. Not bad at all. Add to that a Heavy Bolter on the Attack Bike, and a Heavy Bolter/Assault Cannon combo on the Landspeeder ... and I have a lot of anti-infantry firepower that is extremely mobile.

Oh, there is one added benefit to Ravenwing. All bikes count as having a built-in Teleport Homer. Didja hear that? That means no rolling to scatter when I teleport my Deathwing Terminators in (as long as they come within 6" of a bike). Of course, I plan on taking advantage of this rule. I'd be a fool not to.

Saim Hann

This is a quick plug for a fellow blogger who shares the 40k passion.

You can find his blog here:  saimhann.blogspot.com

His area of expertise centers around a Saim Hann craftworld themed Eldar army.  What does this mean?  Jetbikes.  Lots of jetbikes.  Warlocks on jetbikes, Farseers on jetbikes, Vipers, Holo Fields, Spirit Stones, etc.  Everthing jetbikes.

In contrast to the army I'm attempting to assemble (which draws its strength from its variety of unit selection), Fritz's army focuses on using mobility to win the day.  He recently won a 'Headhunters' award at a tournament, which means he got the most HQ kills in the tourny, thanks to his jetbiked Farseer with Mindwar.  That's no small feat.

Go check him out if you're interested in a different perspective on Eldar. 

Tyranid Warriors

Enter the first brood of Tyranid Warriors:

What you see here is 3 Warriors. One with a Barbed Strangler, the other two with Deathspitters. This team, when their shots land, are built to devastate with blast templates. But that's the most minor of their uses. The guns were given to them so they had something to do on the advance.

Their real strength lies in close combat. they are equipped with Scything Talons, Adrenal Glands (WS), Flesh Hooks, Toxin Sacs, and Leaping. Leaping will help them reach their opponent in that final 12" assault, but it doesn't help their initial 6" move. Being synapse creatures, they're slow. They're too slow for my needs, really. I plan on having Raveners, Gargoyles and many many Hormagaunts. All of these will easily outpace the Warriors, Tyrant, and Zoanthropes early on.

As we saw in the first Battle Report, this is exactly what happened. I was lucky to actually make that leadership roll for the Hormagaunts. I cannot count on that good luck to continue.

Currently, my plan to alleviate this was to have a Broodlord infiltrated. He would act as a waypoint for the rest of the Swarm. ... but am I leaving all my eggs in one basket? What happens if he's taken out early on?

To answer this, I plan on replacing one of my two Ravener broods with a brood of Winged Tyranid Warriors. Now I will have a total of 3 Warrior broods, but I'm ok with that. The Winged Warriors will easily keep up with the swarm. Also, since morphed up warriors with wings are cheaper than a 6-man Ravener brood, this left me with a little extra points ... enough to get a second Carnifex. woot.