Army Fluff: A History of the Ghostwind Corsairs

Do you have a backstory to your army? What is it? I've been thinking a lot about fluff since reading the Iyanden supplement and have endeavored to improve my own armies fluff. While it makes little difference in terms of tournament play, I do like the narrative aspect of 6th edition and having your armies background figured out helps spread that narrative and ultimately, to me at least, it makes my games more flavorful and interesting.

40k Throwback: Eldar Army Lists Part 2: The Evolved Jetbike List

A While back I made this post about the evolution of my Eldar Jetbike army as it's moved through the codex. Or at least in this case, the Eldar jetbike list I ran from the 4th Edition codex and how it would have looked from the 3rd Edition book. This time I bring you my 6th Edition Eldar Codex Jetbike Army List.

Consider this post an appetizer, An Eldar Aspect Warrior review Podcast is in the works and will be up sometime this week.

Gearing Up For Eldar Part 4

Final week. It's crunch time. Time to inventory my Shuriken Catapults and Pulse Lasers (I have 7 pulse lasers, I think) More importantly it's time to start converting models. Based on what I know, I'm going to want a Crimson Hunter or two in my list so I've begun converting my Nightwing and painting it in the Aspect Warrior colors. Here's a few pictures I threw together in a quick video. More to come when the project is complete.

Gearing up for Eldar Part 3

Eldar pre-orders are live and I'm holding the June White Dwarf. I've spent the last few hours reading it from cover to cover trying to take as much from the information inside as possible. Based solely on this White Dwarf I was able to confirm and speculate a few things that I hadn't seen elsewhere. Most of it from reviewing the mini page inserts with a magnifying glass. Also, a few of the rumors I had previously reported may not be as truthful as previously thought, such is the fate of rumors I suppose. I left my salt at home when I read them. As with my usual format facts will remain in normal text, rumors and speculation will be red.

Gearing Up For Eldar Part 2

Yesterday I gave you my reactions to some of the models coming out. Today I'd like to touch on some of the rules leaks gleaned from the Battle Report in this upcoming White Dwarf. There's a lot of info here taken from an encounter with Necrons and a lot of it looks good. As before my thoughts are in red.

Pulled from here. My compliments to the OP.

Gearing Up For Eldar Part 1

I've been refreshing the Eldar rumor thread on Dakka and BoLS all afternoon like a stock broker. I'm trying to take in all the speculative Eldar data I can whilst weeding through the now 100page long threads. It's been as intense as jamming the refresh button every 20mins can be and I gotta tell you I'm liking the look of things.

Here are the thread links for anyone interested:

• Dakka Dakka
• Bell of Lost Souls Lounge

Here's my take on some of what's going on:

Quick Update

I have been rather busy as of late without much in the way of content to post. I had gotten in the habit of posting on Wednesdays and Saturdays and if possible I'd like to continue doing so, but I don't want to call it a schedule as of yet.  Instead of anything practical I thought I'd give you some insight on a couple of things I'm working on.

Infinity
I picked up the rules and Japanese Sectoral Army starter for infinity and I'm working my way through it. The rule book is a tough read but the producers of the game were kind enough to make a number of tutorial videos as well as make the rules, wiki, and army builder available on their main website. Based on my research I have a knack for picking tough armies to play as the Japanese Sectoral Army is an army that excels in close combat in a game where you want to be shooting. Should be fun.

Warhammer Fantasy RPG
Looks like I might be getting together a group to play this game. I've been reading through the rules quite extensively in preparation. Should be fun, provided it pans out. More to come as the game develops.

Warhammer 40k
This Saturday I will be attending a gathering of friends for some 40k and BBQ. Haven't settled on what exactly I'll bring as of yet.

In addition, I've sort of begun "spring cleaning" my Eldar. I started separating my models based on how painted they are and if they need any sort of repair. The goal is to get everything sorted and possibly painted though I'm still in the habit of only painting models I plan on using.

My plans for a Tau army, or at least Tau allies is on hold pending the codex release in the next month. A lot of the new information looks promising. I like the Riptide model and will most certainly field a few in my list.

Super Dungeon Explore
I love this game. I'm looking to do at least a video or two on it as it's really cool and a lot of fun to play. Also, as a result of owning both the core set and first expansion "The Caverns of Roxor" I have a large sum of minis that I need to paint.


X-Wing Miniatures Game
As if I needed another game to play, I've purchased 2 starter sets for X-Wing. Youtube tutorial videos make this game look very cool and I'm exciting to have sort of Space Flight Minis game that looks both fun and has a decent following.

Tau Project Log: Part 1 Planning Phase

The Tau are an army I've always wanted to run since I began playing Warhammer 40k in 2003. As a big time Mecha Anime fan, the army has a solid appeal to me. Something about Giant Robots battling for justice just draws me in. Now I know the rumor mills are abuzz with a Tau Codex on the horizon, but I just couldn't help myself and bought the current Tau Codex.

With Codex in hand I quickly began to digest how the army works and what elements I'd like to bring forth. Ultimately this army is for the fun of it and it's been some years since I've been able to put a competitive army on the table so winning games is secondary to having a blast playing them. So with that in mind I decided to focus on Battlesuits. Again, my draw to Tau has always been my interest in Mecha anime, Battletech, Heavy Gear, etc. and so I've always found Battlesuits to be the most interesting part of the Tau army for me.

So piecing together my list with my penchant for Tau Battlesuits I decided to take two Crisis Suit Squads and two Broadside Squads. I have a strong interest in Stealth Suits as well, but I wanted to maximize the bigger suits first.

The second thing I wanted to bring about is the use of markerlights. I like the system and think it has more merit than a Farseer using Doom and Guide. Well, Guide. Markerlights I think bring about the same impact as Doom, but in a different way. The benefit of Doom is that any unit targeting an enemy unit under its effect can take advantage of the re-roll. Markerlights have that same advantage.

Wanting to take the upmost advantage of markerlights I decided to not only including them in several places throughout my army, but also took two pathfinder teams. In casual games I've seen Pathfinder teams dropped within Pulse carbine range and subsequently get smashed by enemy units. My plan involves keeping them at the fringes of Markerlight range to support my Firewarriors and Battlesuits. The Devilfish will also be useful in that I can use them to reroll scatter when my Crisis Suits Deepstrike onto the table. I've also included a few Rail Rifles in each squad to help with the final element of my army. Delaying Tactics.

At the end of the day I've created a gun-line list and the key to any gun-line list is getting to shoot the enemy. Therefore I've made sure that I can accomplish this as much as possible. To delay the assault I have two major elements working for me. The first is pinning tests: I've attempted to capitalize on weaponry that forces my opponent to make pinning tests. This combined with target priority and selection should help keep the enemy at bay, at least a little bit. The second element comes in the form of my Crisis Suits which should drop onto the table and give my opponent something to think about.

At any rate, these are my ideas for now. Are there any veteran Tau players have any insight on how I can improve on my proposed tactics? I'd much appreciate the input.

Adepticon Team Tournament Primer Highlights

Here's the highlights from The Game Room in Toledo's Adepticon Team Tournament Primer. I'm not proud of the video, but I just wanted to get it done and move on to better things. My microphone didn't record my voice in any quality worth adding to the video so you just get moving pictures. Think of it as a silent film with music put to it.  Anyway, enjoy! Look for more (better) videos in the future.

Eldar Rumors make the Webway

As my only 40k army I tend to pay close attention to Eldar rumors floating about the internets. I thought I'd share my thoughts on some of the rumors flying around. These are coming from Faeit 212: Warhammer 40k News and Rumors. Remember though these are only rumors and my comments on them make for a post that has roughly zero credibility. My thoughts are in bold and red so they look like this.

40k Throwback: Eldar Army Lists Part 1: Jetbikes

As I may have mentioned before I began playing Eldar in third edition. At the time my friends and I decided to get into this 40k game some people were playing and we each chose an army to get into. This was a regular habit for us, we get into a new game, it stays interesting for a little bit, then we moved on to something else leaving the old game in the dust. Knowing that was our habit and with the price of 40k models, I didn't really feel too interested in this game. It was expensive and I wasn't really interested in committing the money to something we'd be giving up in a month or two. To top it off one of my friends had already chosen the army that appealed to me the most, the Tau. (I was a big Gundam fan, but more on that later). My other friend started an Ork army and so I was left to choose my army. Most of the armies of the Imperium didn't appeal to me. I've never been a fan of the gothic style and cybernetic implant craziness that 3rd edition artwork threw at us. I also wasn't too much a fan of the Eldar as I was erroneously under the impression that they were a bunch of coneheads, like the Saturday Night Live skit/movie. Fortunately, my friend playing Orks, who was familiar with the game since 2nd edition, convinced me to try them out. I relented,  picking up a Falcon as my first model because if anything I could have this really cool tank on my shelves when this game didn't pan out. Now here we are nearly ten years later and I'm the only one of my friends that plays. In addition I've stayed with the Eldar, who after I learned about, I became totally enamored. As a big time D&D/Pathfinder player (D&D 3.0 at the time) I'm known for playing Elves who are generally roguish or wizardly. After learning more about Eldar I was sold on the notion that I could continue that same sort of style IN SPACE!

Wave Serpents in 6th Edition

 

The Eldar Wave Serpent, always a stand-up vehicle and one of the best in the game, despite it's points. Now they say 6th Edition is a Infantryman's game and the current meta supports this, at least in my area. What I'd like to discuss to day is the Wave Serpent, how it fits in with 6th Edition Eldar, and how you can capitalize on the meta with this wonderful transport.

An Update for Lack of An Update

My Eldar for Adepticon Team Primer

For lack of any real update other than I haven't updated in awhile I give you a number of random thoughts and musings on the subject of Eldar and 40k. Lately I've been getting into a whole slew of 40k games and have several more scheduled to occur in the near future. I feel like I've finally got enough 6th Edition games to start producing Battle Reports again and I've even got some footage from Toledo Game Rooms Adepticon Team Tournament Primer that I attended last weekend. My partner ran an all bikes list. My partner ran a Ravenwing and as for myself with my Eldar Jetbikes, Seer Council, and Shining Spears. Ultimately it went as well as any fluff list does in a seriously competitive tournament, but I had a good time despite some bad games. More to come when I get this battle report finished.

Major Site Reboot in the Works

I've slowly come to the realization over the past couple of months that I do not play nearly enough 40k to support this blog. Hence the general neglect. I have only gotten in two games since 6th edition released and with my work schedule more games will be few and far between.

My desire to maintain some small section of the internet to post projects, voice opinions, and share my exploits is still strong, however and I do have quite a large amount of other games that I do play. So that's what I offer here. Despite my wishes to keep this strictly an Eldar blog, I feel I can produce more posts and fuel my hobbies better by bringing in other games I play.

How 6th Edition Changed My Army

It has been awhile. With a severe lack of games I basically hung up the keys to the Wave Serpent and settled in with some other hobbies. Lack of games of course meant a lack of content and thus I had no reason to update.... until now! BAM! Look at it! It's a book with pictures and words and because of it I can continue updating this blog.

So what can I talk about? Well, you can go plenty of other places to get the skinny on how the rules have changed. Get the book, play some games! This is going to be an interesting edition for everyone! What I would like to talk about first are my thoughts on how this book will change the way I play the game. Let's breakdown the changes to each unit:

Guardian Jetbike Squads
This edition has made the Eldar jetbike a big deal. It is much faster, one of the fastest units in the game. With the ability to move 12", shoot, then move an additional 2d6" in the assault phase. This gives the squad a potential 24" move per turn, with an average of 19" Turbo-boost is where it's at though. The Eldar jetbikes can now move an additional 36" in the shooting phase for a total move of 48". Positioning will never be a problem, ever. The bikes got more durable too. The jink special rule granting them a 5+ cover save just for moving, which becomes 4+ if they move flat out. This on top of the 3+ armor save and jetbikes will be even more of  a pain to kill. It gets better though. There is no more 3(4) for toughness. The bike just flat out improves toughness by 1. This means little for the Guardians, but when the Farseer comes into play it's pretty awesome. Shooting for the jetbikes has gotten more deadly. Overwatch will give them an added volley of fire before being assaulted, but more importantly the Hull Point rules make shuriken cannons to the rear armor a lethal treat and far more reliable. Finally, in assault the jetbikes have Hammer of Wrath giving them an extra volley of attacks on the charge. Sure it's still Guardians, but it certainly helps. In all I see a lot of little tweaks to the rules that add up to a big power boost to these units. Biker armies are looking to be the big thing this edition and it's nice that I am already ahead of the curve.

Vyper Squadrons
The humble Vyper sees some improvements this edition as well. Though hull points will have a devastating effects on vehicles this edition, the Vyper has never been a vehicle known for durability. It got slightly vaster with an 18" flat-out move on top of it's normal 12" move. Though my Vypers sport brightlances the new shooting rules give you the opportunity to dakka them up with two shuriken cannons and fire both like the Dark Eldar Venoms do with their splinter cannons. This is something I'll likely explore as my lists evolve. Jink is also a boon shared by the Vyper which in some ways will assist the durability issue. I'm really looking forward to seeing what the Vyper is capable of.

Fire Prisms
My usual list runs two and I don't think the Fire Prism has lost much effectiveness. It's got 3 hull points, but no longer suffers the ill effects on a glancing hit as before. This has an additional side effect in that I no longer see the value of holo-fields. It's not that the holo-field isn't effective anymore, it is. The issue is with it's points cost. It's less needed when hull points are on the line and I can save up the points from two holo-fields to add another Vyper, or Warlock and goodies to the list. Spirit Stones on the other hand have become more useful in that a shaken vehicle may still fire snap-shots. This does nothing to help the prism cannon, but at least the shaken lets me still fire the catapults, or even better a shuriken cannon. Added in the ability jink and you've got a solid tank. I see linking shots as a less useful proposition as you can just as easily take down vehicles with volume fire as a single well placed shot.

Nightspinner
Always a favorite of mine, the Nightspinner is looking to shine this edition. It has a very similar set up to the Fire Prism. I see it shining in this edition simply because of an increased use of infantry, or at least what I expect to see an increase in the use of infantry. The lack of an ability to assault from most transports will hopefully see players compensate by bringing larger squads on foot. This will no doubt make them easy prey for the Nightspinner.

Seer Council
Benefiting from everything this edition gave to the Jetbike Guardian the Seer Council stands to gain the most from these improvements. The Witchblade is disappointing as the weapon is no longer Str 9 vs vehicles, however it is still just as potent against models with a toughness value. The Singing Spear however is under no such restriction though I don't see myself changing the number of spears I bring to the field. The changes to psychic powers I find most interesting. I enjoy the restrictions placed on the psychic hood, but am less exciting out any unit being able to stop psychic powers, fortunately only one of my powers targets enemy units. The new disciplines are very interesting and very appealing however I can discount the effect that fortune has in boosting this unit and as such will stick with my Eldar powers. I do look forward to writing up some other lists that take advantage of the new powers. The Telepathy discipline is greatly appealing. In all, this unit got much more dangerous and I greatly look forward to using it on the field of battle.

In all my list seems quite effective in this edition. Army wide use of the jink rule, extra speed, and an increase in the effectiveness of my firepower should give me quite the edge. I really look forward to seeing how my games will play out

Project Log: Display Board

 

For the past two weeks I have been up to nothing, but Skyrim and Burn Notice (Hooray for netflix!) That coupled with my inability to get into a game has made for a severe lack of content. I did however make some headway on my display board. So here is a kind of run down of what I have done....

Vlog #2: The Tournament Army

So here's my second vlog. In this video I show off my 1500pt Eldar army that I plan to take to tournaments. You get a good shot of how I paint up my units. As I state in the video I am still trying to come up with an idea on how to designate my two jetbike squads and I also need to decide what to do with the Dark Eldar jetbikes that I am using. I am open to feedback and strongly encourage everyone to comment below.

The Big Game

Between elaborate 6th edition hoaxes(?) and painting I have also found time to put together a list for the Big Game. I will be up at BC Comix in Fenton Michigan with over 10,000pts of Eldar. The list is essentially everything I own loaded up with all the goodies. The only problem is that I lack any super-heavy support or titans. Since I am bringing the rest of the Craftworld though it should be interesting. The list comes in four waves.

Imperial Armour 11: Part 2 New Eldar Units

With the Corsair List out of the way, let us take a look at the new Craftworld Eldar units. Overall I think Forgeworld did an amazing job here, both in rules and model design. They most certainly put some credence back in, "Their arrogance is only match by their firepower." With the things as they are I was starting to think the Eldar were not very arrogant at all. The major drawback is finding people that will let you use Imperial Armour though and tournaments that allow it are equally rare. That being said, how about we dive right in:

Ghostwind Corsairs 2.0 (1.5?)

From the webway I return, much like a Phoenix Lord, but far far less awesome. I have been on the Path of the Hiatus, taking a brief sabbatical from the game of 40k. I will admit that my reasons for exit were partially related to being disheartened with the state of the game. In truth, however, it may have simply been me putting my desire to win games over the love of the hobby. I may have also dabbled with the Space Marine codex a little before my departure. This of course lead to the state of mind that in order to be successful I had to fall in line and play a Marine army. I can say however, from the experience that I approached the Marine 'dex with a fresh pair of eyes and an alien style of play. Some things just look more appealing when you are used to zipping around the battlefield with toughness 3, I guess. Ultimately though I missed my Eldar and I once again felt the call of Khaine.