Ellyrian Reavers - Step by Step

Greetings!

I decided to take some WIP photos and write down how I painted Ellyrian Reaver in step-by-step fashion (in a way, I didn't take a photo for each of them :)). I wanted to do so because of 2 reasons:

1. I would like to share what I have learned in terms of painting so far. Almost all I learned comes from observing better painters works and reading their advices and then practicing it on my own miniatures. Some of them I got by asking them directly.

2. I want to improve my skills further. So if you have any suggestions as to the way of painting, colors used, anything, please share your thoughts. I promise I will consider all of them no matter if they come from a beginner or Golden Daemon winner :)

Game 15 - Daemons of Chaos - 2012/02/26

Greetings!

I had another opportunity to play with my MSU army upgraded to 2500 points. I played against my usual opponent Wardancer (from warhammer.org.uk or Eastern Barbarian for those who visit UB). Wardancer is testing his army in the preparation for a tournament and I was more than happy to step in and help him. Especially that he did exactly that when I needed some sparring partner for CanCon :)

Army lists and pre-battle considerations

Daemons of Chaos still followed slaaneshi theme with some bizarre addition of rotting plague bearers (at least from the background point of view for those who still remember the time of animosity between different gods :)).

Daemons of Chaos - Army List

Keeper of Secrets, Level 4, Siren Song, Torment Blade - Lore of Slaanesh
Herald of Nurgle, BSB, Great Icon of Despair, Stream of Bile
Herald of Slaanesh, Siren Song, Torment Blade 

Herald of Slaanesh, Torment Blade
Herald of Tzeentch, Level 2, Master of Sorcery - Lore of Beasts

26 Daemonetess of Slaanesh, Full Command, Siren Standard
25 Daemonetess of Slaanesh, Full Command
2 Fiends of Slaanesh
1 Fiend of Slaanesh
5 Furies
25 Plaguebearers, Full Command, Standard of Seeping Decay

More compact army than last time, with an obvious strength lying in LD modification due to Icon and possible Phantasmagoria. Daemonettes are dangerous too with herlads but the main problem for me lies in dealing with Keeper and Plaguebearers. Keeper does not need any explanation :) while T4 Plaguebearers with Regeneration and very annoying icons can proove too tough. The advantage I could use is the fact I have more deployment drops and with fewer units I might be able to set up good combinations for charges.

High Elves MSU - Observations - v.1.2

1. Introduction

I really like the concept of the MSU (Multiple Small Units) army and I enjoy playing with it a lot. In fact, I have never enjoyed Warhammer as I am enjoying it now! What you are going to find below is an ever growing summary of my experience earned while playing with High Elves MSU.

Bear in mind I am simply sharing my observations. I do not aim to prove that this is the best way to play with High Elves. I do believe it can be very successful and rewarding style of play even if it is risky and with low margin of error. What is more, even with more than 100 games there are still armies out there I haven't played against. Which is good as I can always add something new! I am sure I will learn a lot with more battles and with more different opponents and armies I am going to meet.

You are more than welcome to add your thoughts and share your own experiences. I am writing this with particular army and style of play in mind but there are elements which can be used elsewhere. 

Game 14 - Tomb Kings - (2012/02/12)

CanCon 2012 - Battle 8 - Battleline

There might be many things that you want from the good tournament. One of these for me is to meet great opponents leading armies I do not usually have a chance to fight against. So far I had a lot of luck in that department. Even the games against HE armies were very interesting as I have never played "civil wars" and also the armies were very different too. I faced Lizardmen for the first time, WoC too (at least in 8th edition) and now I was about to play against Nick and his Tomb Kings. Nick had a fantastic army with incredibly converted models. He borrowed it from his friend as he has just started collecting TK and didn't have enough models on his own. I must also say that Nick was a true gentleman and it was a great pleasure to meet him and play against him. What is more he forbid anybody to vote for the army he brought in the "best painted" competition since he didn't paint it himself and even put a huge sign in front of it so that people didn't vote for it "by mistake". I know that if I didn't find out I would fall into that trap for sure :)

Tomb Kings - Army List

Liche High Priest - Lore of Nehekara (I really don't remember what he had, possibly Talisman of Preservation as it was quite popular item)
10 Archers
13 Archers
14 Archers
3 Chariots
4 Chariots, Banner of Eternal Flame
7 Skeleton Horsemen
3 Necropolis Knights
3 Necropolis Knights
3 Stalkers
6 Carrion
Warsphinx
Hierotitan
Casket of Souls

As you can see a little bit of everything which makes this army very interesting. 3 unit beneath the sands only added to the game as they can be very dangerous in my opinion. It is hard to predict where they appear but rushing forward might not be the best option either as you leave your back unprotected. Big constructs form a fantastic centerpieces of the army but are also, well, tough :) The titan can be defeated but Warsphinx is a bigger problem. I was not sure if I could really harm it, although with many attacks it should be possible to overcome its ability to do a lot of damage to infantry units with its speciall attack, breath and thunderstomp.

Tomb Kings have also a very interesting magic and with special abilities granted by Casket and Titan I was sure I would face some difficulties in the magic phase. I must admit I was very excited to have a chance to play against TK which, in my opinion, might be a very interesting army to play with despite general opinion of it being weak.

Game 13 - Skaven - (2012/02/11)

CanCon 2012 - Battle 7 - Watchtower

The modification organizers added was that the player who controlled the tower got additional 1000VP points instead of automatically winning the battle. Of course such a huge bonus usually meant that the player who controlled the tower won anyway. But, as I have learned too, every point counts in the overall placing during the tournament.

Because of the system organizers had for drawing armies for each turn even if I lost games I still was paired with armies with lower composition score than mine. This battle was not an exception where I faced Matt and his tough Skaven army with composition score of 2 (the lowest in the tournament). Here is why :)

Skaven - Army List

Grey Seer, Warpstone Tokens, Screaming Bell, Fencer's Blades, Dispel Scroll, Skalm - Lore of Ruin

Plague Priest, Level 2, Flail, Plague Furnace, Talisman of Preservation, Potion of Speed - Plague Lore

Chieftain, Halberd, Heavy Armour, Shield, Battle Standard Bearer, Banner of the Under-Empire

25 Clanrats, Musician, Standard, Poisoned Wind Mortar Weapon Team

25 Clanrats, Musician, Standard, Poisoned Wind Mortar Weapon Team

30 Clanrats, Full Command, Poisoned Wind Mortar Weapon Team

6 Gutter Runners, Slings

6 Gutter Runners, Slings

22 Plague Monks, Standard, Plague Banner

Hell Pit Abomination

Warp Lightning Cannon

Warp Lightning Cannon

Game 12 - Warriors of Chaos - (2012/02/07)

CanCon 2012 - Battle 6 - Battle Line

Tournament battle number 6, the last battle of day 2. In this game I faced yet another Warriors of Chaos army. This time, however, it was MSU force and it was a fantastic display of "300" theme incorporated into fantasy army. Sean (aka Nasher) who led this magnificent force to battle is a very experienced player and ETC veteran so I knew it was going to be a great game and a challenge for me! Funny enough I talked to Sean before when I noticed his Slaaneshi Spartans and commented I would like to face his army on the battlefield very much! Here we go then! A wish came true! :)

Battle line has been my favorite scenario so far (although I have fun with other too!) as it gave me an opportunity to use deployment advantage and I had space to outflank and outpace my enemy. This time this advantage was canceled out for me. It was very difficult to predict which unit would go where and although in theory there were some favorable targets it didn't mean it would be easy to get to them and even then it might not be that easy to defeat these regiments. Let's have a look at the Warriors of Chaos army list then

Warriors of Chaos - Army List

Sorcerer Lord, Level 4, Chaos Armour, Barded Chaos Steed, Infernal Puppet, Necrotic Phylactery, Charmed Shield, Biting Blade - Lore of Death
Exalted Hero BSB, Mark of Slaanesh, Halberd, Chaos Armour, Barded Chaos Steed, Dragonhelm

16 Chaos Warriors, Mark of Slaanesh, Halberd, Standard, Musician, Banner of the Eternal Flame
38 Chaos Marauders, Mark of Slaanesh, Great Weapon, Standard, Musician
38 Chaos Marauders, Mark of Slaanesh, Great Weapon, Standard, Musician
5 Chaos Warhounds
5 Chaos Warhounds
5 Chaos Warhounds
5 Marauder Horsemen, Musician
6 Marauder Horsemen, Mark of Slaanesh, Musician, shields
5 Chaos Knights, Mark of Slaanesh,Musician
5 Chaos Knights, Mark of Slaanesh,Musician
5 Chaos Knights, Mark of Slaanesh,Musician
Chaos Chariot
Chaos Chariot

To be honest I didn't have a good plan how to put up a proper fight against this army but I remembered that in general Sean might need more space to deploy it so I wanted to use it and put more units on one flank. It still will require some exchange, bait and flee or even straight brutal fight but I thought this approach might give me a chance to break through the flank and get some breathing space. I had a slight advantage in magic (or so I thought) and if I rolled good spells I might actually have an additional tool to deal with marauder hordes.

Game 11 - Warriors of Chaos - (2012/02/05)

CanCon 2012 - Battle 5 - Meeting Engagement

Time for Battle 5, this time I faced Peter with Warriors of Chaos in Meeting Engagement scenario.

Meeting engagement is a difficult scenario for my army as the enemy is very close to my lines and with so many units I can have few of them in reserves which might but as well might not be a good thing. What is more I was about to fight against tough army with composition rating of 4. Check the list below and you will see why :) (I do not remember all the items as I don't have a copy of that army list so forgive me any mistakes or omissions.)

Warriors of Chaos - Army List

Sorcerer Lord, Level 4, Mark of Tzeentch, Disk of Tzeentch, Talisman of Preservation, Enchanted Shield, Infernal Puppet - Lore of Tzeentch
BSB, Book of Secrets
Chaos Sorcerer, Level 1, Dispel Scroll - Lore of Fire

30+ Marauders of Chaos, Flails, Standard, Musician, Mark of Khorne
30+ Marauders of Chaos, Flails, Standard, Musician, Mark of Khorne
28 Chaos Warriors, Full Command, [i]Banner of Rage[/i], Mark of Nurgle
5 Chaos Warhounds
Chariot
Chariot
Warshrine
3 Chaos Ogres, Great Weapons

 

Game 10 - Ogre Kingdoms - (2012/02/04)

CanCon 2012 - Battle 4 - Blood and Glory

There were many Ogre armies around and I was not surprised to face one eventually. David, my opponent, told me he used to play with Wood Elves (and won a few tournaments with them too!) but in this tournament season he chose new Ogre Kingdoms. So in battle 4 I faced a very experienced player with an army I had problems with in my previous games.

Ogre Kingdoms - Army List

Slaughtermaster, General, Great Weapon, Level 4, Talisman of Preservation, Grut's Sickle - Lore of The Great Maw
Bruiser BSB, Lookout Gnoblar, Great Weapon, Light Armour, Dragonbane Gem, Armour of Silvered Steel
Firebelly, Great Weapon, Level 2, Hellheart - Lore of Fire

12 Ogres, Handweapon & Ironfist, Full Command
9 Ironguts, Full Command, Standard of Discipline
1 Sabretusk
1 Sabretusk
1 Sabretusk
4 Mournfang Cavalry, Heavy Armour, Ironfist, Musician, Standardbearer, Dragonhide Banner

Ironblaster
Ironblaster

Very tough army list although with no typical Irongut Deathstar (they operated with Firebelly, while other two characters joined Ogres). Still 3 very dangerous units with hard to kill characters in the scenario where killing them can break the army. What is more, the armies are only 18" apart initially instead of typical 24".

Game 9 - High Elves - (2012/02/03)

CanCon 2012 - Battle 3 - Battle Line

Battle number 3, the last battle of the day and who am I going to face? Another HE army! :) This time I had a great pleasure to meet a member of Ulthuan.net, Darth Sabre himself! :)

Mr. Darth Sabre for you! :P

DarthSabre had yet another version of HE army. While Purple HE were more defensive or counter-attacking force, his was more aggressive. He wanted to get to combat as soon as possible and had the right tools for the job!

Red High Elves - Army List

Archmage, Level 4, Silver Wand, Folariath's Robe, Talisman of Saphery - Lore of Life
Mage, Level 2 - Lore of Shadow
BSB, Great Weapon, Armor of Caledor, Dawnstone

35 Spearelves, Full Command, Lion Standard
10 Archers, Musician
10 Archers, Musician

14 Swordmasters, Musician, Razor Banner
14 Swordmasters, Full Command, The Amulet of Light, Banner of Eternal Flame
5 Dragon Princes

18 Phoenix Guard, Full Command, Banner of Sorcery
2 Great Eagles

Better equipped, with strong magic and unkillable Archmage, Darth Sabre had a very good force to carry the fight towards the enemy. Life spells could ensure that his units survive more combats, while Shadow support can be always handy. However, his army was also smaller in numbers and in units (especially cavalry) so I wanted to exploit my advantages in that department.

Game 8 - Lizardmen - (2012/02/01)

CanCon 2012 - Battle 2 - Battle for the Pass

In the second game I met Adam with nicely painted Lizardmen army. Adam had a classical force, led by Slann protected by his Temple Guard and with a nice variety of the regiments. Unfortunately for Adam that army list was not that much liked by the judges who gave him score of 4. :( Also apologies for not complete list of items but I really don't remember all of them as they didn't come into play.

Lizardmen - Army List

Slann Mage-Priest, BSB, Level 4, The Focused Ruminations, The Becalming Cogitation - Lore of Life
Skink Priest on Engine of Gods - Lore of Heavens

20 Temple Guards, Full Command
24 Saurus with Spears, Musician, Standard
24 Saurus, Musician, Standard

10 Skink Kohort, Javelins
10 Skink Skirmishers
10 Cameleon Skinks
10 Cameleon Skinks
3 Terradons
2 Salamander Packs

Tough Lizardmen army, with solid battle line, nasty shooters and good support from the engine. As we played battle for the pass I had less space for flanking moves. I also had to deploy carefully not to give chameleons an opportunity to sneak behind my lines. And I tried to keep my mage 24" away from the Slann too :)

Game 7 - High Elves - (2012/01/30)

CanCon 2012 - Battle 1 - Dawn Attack

It was quite a surprise for me and my opponent Nick to find out we are going to play against our own armies. Fortunately our forces were also much different from each other and that ensured a very interesting game for both of us. :)

High Elves - Army List

Archmage, Level 4, Dispel Scroll, Foliarath's Robe - Lore of Light
BSB, Barded Steed, Dragon Armour, Great Weapon, Helm of Fortune, Guardian Phoenix

30 Archers, Standard, Musician, Banner of Eternal Flame
10 Archers, Standard, Musician
10 Archers, Standard, Musician

21 Swordmasters, Full Command, Ironcurse Icon
30 White Lions, Full Command, Banner of Sorcery
8 Dragon Princes, Musician

3 Great Eagles