Demo Blog

Wychy women

by Darkenedsquire on Nov.22, 2009, under

The mainstay of my army is a solid core of whyches. I'm going to be using the following:

2 units of 9 Whyches with Hekatrix with an agonizer and a whych with Hydra gauntlets in raiders

A lot of what I have heard says whyches should use razorflails (rereoll hits and wounds) but I have decided to use hydra gauntlets (+D6 attacks on the charge) as I feel dark Eldar are the gamblers army and the hydra gauntlets play into that nicely however not statistically as reliable as the razorflails.

I tend to find math hammer is all well and good when thinking of options but sometimes you need to take risks. A typical game of 40k will not play straight to the averages you just don't throw enough dice to get a large enough sample size hence the wild statical anomalies such as space marines scouts decking a nightbringer in close combat for example. This is why I like hydra gauntlets some times they can be awful other times they can decimate, that feeling of uncertainty I find really fun in 40k but your milage may vary.



 Next the Hekatrixes/hekatrixi whatever....







The Wyches with hydra gauntlets



And lastly their rides, two raiders.



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Thoughts on Reaver Jetbikes

by Darkenedsquire on Nov.22, 2009, under

"My jetbike is my life. It is no less a part of me than an arm or a leg"


 As I paint the models I will be using for my upcoming game I would like to spend a fe moments discussing why I have chosen each and hopefully have any glaring flaws in my assessment of each unit pointed out to me.

The Reaver jetbike is a fast attack choice and that really does sum them up well "fast". Being able to turbo boost 36" a turn is really their big trick conferring a 3+ cover save on the unit when it does so. During their movement they can use their bikes as weapons slashing at their foes with bladevanes attached to the bike in a stunning display of Aeriel carnage. This attack deals D3 S4 AP - hit per jetbike on the first unit it passes over during a turbo boost this can be further upgraded to D6 S6 AP - hits for each bike who has the cluster caltrops wargear. This is one build I was considering just flying in and harassing units as I fly around the board dancing out of harms way:

9 X Reaver Jetbikes with a grav-talon and two bikes with cluster caltrops - 248 points

This is designed purely as a fly by unit get in deal damage (and thanks to the grav talon possibly pinning the unit) and then get away out of the range of rapid firing bolters which will tear Reavers apart even with the 3+ cover save from the turbo boost.

However for the upcoming game I'm playing against blood angels and that means pistols, lots of pistols and the AP - hits from  the bladevanes will bounce off most power armoured troops. So for the upcoming game I have opted for the following load out:

9 X Reaver Jetbikes with 3 Blasters - 243 points

I chose blasters over the heat lance and I don't fancy getting super close to a Land Raider with the heat lance for the melta effect, where as the higher strength blaster with the longer range appealed to me the most as I can always shoot troops and negate their armour save and at 18" I will be out of the range of most pistols.

However this does mean I won't be turbo boosting as much so will miss out on the built in 3+ cover save so will be relying on natural cover for the squad my plan is to move up into position to shoot at my enemies, fire and use the jetbikes ability to make a 6" move in the assault phase to jump back into cover, (Dark Eldar Reavers have the skilled rider ability so won't be crashing in dangerous terrain) or jumping out of line of sight. Once the enemy gets too close to me turbo boosting away and using the bladevanes then. The only fear I really have is being assaulted and jump troops seem perfect for that as my blasters are 18" range and jump troops can easily move 12" followed by a 6" assault move so I'm thinking I will have to jump backwards to cover and hope they don't get a lucky run roll.

So guys how sound is my logic? any help veteran Dark Eldar players could give someone who is just starting out preparing for my first game would be most appreciated. Also as always comments and Criticisms regarding my painting are most welcome.


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From the warp!

by Darkenedsquire on Nov.22, 2009, under

Hi guys just a quick thank you to Ron from From the warp for letting me join the team over there. I urge all my readers to join in with the great blogs and sites over there, no matter what your tastes there is bound to be something for you.

In the following weeks I shall be getting 1500 points of Dark Eldar painted and with the help of a friend of mine called Jamie I will be running a battle report between my Blood Angels and my Dark Eldar. Both the lists have been drawn up at they are both rather fluffy with a very specialised Blood angels army lead by Commander Dante and a night raid of Dark Eldar using a main force of wyches and reavers supported by a squad of Incubi and lead by Lelith Hesperax.

So I have a lot of painting to do I've just finished 9 reavers and a raider and I'm in the process of painting up 20 wyches (though my list uses only 18). I find that giving myself a reason to paint really spurs me to action as opposed to the attitude of "well I have time, I can do it whenever I want".

What gets your mind in the game when it comes to painting is it preparation for a game or tournament? or is it reading a Black library book or listening to one of their audio books (The Horus Heresy audio books are my bread and butter at the moment whilst I paint). Please let me know in the comments below if you want to share your secrets and techniques for keeping yourself from feeling the burn out of and endless sea of grey plastic.

With that I will leave you some pictures of one of my raiders (sans crew at the moment they are coming though).


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Stormraven

by Darkenedsquire on Nov.22, 2009, under

This brick shouldn't fly it's like the bumblebee of the warhammer 40000 universe the body feels too bulky and the wings don't feel wide enough and as my dad once pointed out why can the guns shoot the front VTOL thrusters?



As usual I am aware of some bits I need to touch up and finish the missles/ front melta all that is being sorted as we speak. I tend to find having and army with lots of little things needing doing much more motivational than a squad of utter perfection.

Oh and Games Workshop where is my plastic Thunderhawk? where is our super heavy option? you guys really need to get on that us space marines never get any love besides our near completely plastic product range and being the focal point for pretty much everything in the 40k universe...
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Bit more Xenos love.

by Darkenedsquire on Nov.22, 2009, under

One of the first models I decided I just had to have in my Dark Eldar army was the Razorwing Jetfighter I really like how sleek and deadly it look and how well it ties in the aesthetics with it's craftworld cousins. So here is my rendition of the Razorwing hope you like it as much as I do.




I think the most fun I've had with this miniature is the freehand on the body. I haven't done a huge amount of freehanding on my vehicles before so this was a chance to have a play and I'm quite pleased with the results.

The "glow" coming from the console is achieved in the same way that I do the glowing eyes for my warriors. I'm going to try and post a video detailing how I do this as a couple of people have asked about it and is a useful technique not just for Dark Eldar but I have seen it used to great effect on Marines and Necrons too.
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Dead men walking

by Darkenedsquire on Nov.22, 2009, under

Let me get this off my chest, I LOVE dreadnoughts with a passion I love the idea of them the look of them and their stoic unrelenting assault they provide on the tabletop. So with that in mind Blood Angels seemed perfect for me with their ability to field 11 dreadnoughts in an army (not that you would mind you but it can be done).


Whilst not quite 11 I do love my "squad" of dreadnoughts consisting of 3 furiosos (1 librarian 1 with blood talons and one with frag cannon) and 2 heavy dreads one with assault cannon and one with a multi melta from the attack on Black Reach starter (I seem to harp on about that starter set a lot but I do love what you get and the surprising quality of the clip together models).


Whilst far from finished I hope these guys give you an idea of the look I'm going for. I really do love the blue spot colour across the army as it really does contrast well against the red in my opinion and works doubly well for force/power weapons at it gives them that eerie electrical glow.

May very well pick up a death company dread when I get paid later in the month just for a sense of completion.

No I don't need an intervention I can stop whenever I want.

For now.
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New year updates

by Darkenedsquire on Nov.22, 2009, under

Here are pictures of what I have been doing over Christmas and new year whilst I was unable to clear an area to take photos.

















Attack on Black Reach Terminators.

Attack on Black Reach tactical marines

There are more pics of many others things in the works I'll be posting them as I take pics hope you enjoy ( I am aware of some details I haven't done on certain models I am getting around to it such as drilling out bolters etc.)
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