130,000 pt Eldar vs. The Imperium Battle Report

On Saturday, Sept. 24th, the L.A. Games Workshop Battle Bunker and SoCal Apocalypse hosted a 130,000 point Apocalypse battle.  It was a blast and was very close in the end.

The Bunker has a loyal and dedicated group of Eldar players, and, combined with some newer Eldar players put together a team of 7 to take on the Imperial regulars who have played a few times together.  

The Imperial side was an even mix of IG and Marines (Blood Angels and Red Scorpions). The Eldar had 3 Phantom Titans and about 8 Revenants.  The Imperium had a Warlord Titan, 4 Reavers and 4 Warhounds.

Here are some photos from the Imperial side of things.

The Eldar team surveying Table # 1

Table # 2 Imperial Titans and Artillery

Table # 3 The Imperial artillery park

Table # 4, More Imperial artillery!

Eldar had first turn due to a roll off and the Imperium choosing to go second. The Eldar team wanted to use objective scoring out of the book, so objectives would only be counted at the end of the game.  This changed strategy, as usually going first is a benefit if you are using the modified objective rules.  But if you only count them at the end, then you want last licks to get to the objectives last.

The Bunker staff did a video battle report and I will get that up tomorrow.

Alec

Imperial Armor Apocalypse Second Edition contents released

Here is the table of contents from the new book.  As you can see, there are a lot of datasheets that have been revised.  My question is what about units that are in Imperial Armor Apoaclypse I & II that are not in this book?  Do we need to bring all three books to a game now?

Forgeworld previews from Games Day UK

Pics posted on Warseer from Games Day UK.

Forgeworld New Releases - Imperial Armor Apocalypse Second Edition

Hot on the heels of yesterday's releases, Forgeworld has released two more new products!

Imperial Armor Apocalypse Second Edition

This book substantially updates and expands the first edition of Imperial Armour Apocalypse with 32 entirely new entries, and is packed with over 90 Apocalypse datasheets for Legendary units such as the mighty Crassus to the Daemon Lords of Chaos. Also included are new Forge World units for Warhammer 40,000 including the Contemptor Pattern Dreadnought and its variants, and the Dark Eldar Tantalus. 

This 128 page, full-colour hardback book provides comprehensive and updated descriptions and rules for using Forge World’s recent additions to its model range in your games of Warhammer 40,000 and Warhammer 40,000 Apocalypse. Written by Alan Bligh.

The Imperial Emplacement is under-whelming in my book.  And no way it gives cover to a Super Heavy.  Oh well.  Here is the description:

Adding to our new range of hollow resin scenery is the Imperial Emplacement, designed by Blake Spence. This is a detailed free-standing terrain piece that will be on sale at Games Day UK in limited numbers, well in advance of its scheduled release date.

Designed as an emplacement for almost any size of Warhammer 40,000 vehicle, from Chimeras and Leman Russ to Macharius and Malcador-based super heavy tanks, and even the mighty Baneblade, the Imperial Emplacement features a wealth of detail such as ammunition stowage, unexploded munitions, a targeting cogitator and an observer’s position. The base of the Imperial Emplacement has been reinforced with trench plates to act as duckboards, and the scenery piece also features plenty of space for crew models as well as vehicles.

Forgeworld New Releases - Relic Contemptor and MkIc Deimos Rhino

The velocity of releases from Forgeworld lately is truly amazing.  We keep getting new product every month, which is very exciting (and bank-breaking).  The first is a Relic Contemptor:

Given the rarity of the Contemptor-pattern chassis, it is not uncommon for those Chapters blessed enough to count these ancient war machines amongst their arsenal to embellish their armoured sarcophagus with scripture, honour scrolls and additional details to commemorate the heroism and indomitable valour of the Ancient enshrined within.

Fully compatible with the rest of our Contemptor weapons, the Relic Contemptor has been sculpted with a high level of detail, making the perfect painting project and a fantastic centrepiece to any Space Marine force.

The ubiquitous Rhino Armoured Personnel Carrier is a mainstay of the Space Marine Chapters, and has been in continuous use for ten thousand years. Its true origins are more distant still, and ancient records mention the RH1-N-0 Tracked Exploration and Multi-Purpose Defence Vehicle STC accompanying explorator missions during Mankind’s Golden Age. Re-armed and re-purposed for military use, the Rhino has remained a mainstay of the Imperium’s might over the millennia since.

There are many known patterns and designs of this robust vehicle, and the MkIc Deimos Pattern Rhino is among the oldest variants, first issued en-masse to the Astartes Legions of the Great Crusade. This pattern is armed with two turret-mounted bolters, slaved to the target-logis systems of the Rhino’s machine spirit rather than the more common pintle-mounted storm bolter seen on both the earlier MkIb Mars Pattern vehicle and the later MkIIc design that became more common after the Horus Heresy.

The MkIc Deimos Pattern Rhino, designed by Daren Parrwood, is a complete resin and plastic kit, containing a standard Games Workshop Rhino kit as well as sufficient resin conversion components to construct the MkIc Deimos Pattern variant. Priced at £33, this fantastic kit will be on sale in limited quantities at Games Day UK, well in advance of its general release date.

Eldar Pegasus Super-Heavy Flyer Scratchbuild - Part 1

Andy Hicks has a great blog where he has a project log on his Pegasus Eldar super-heavy flyer.  I am going to reprint the highlights of his build.  But I urge you to check out his  website here for more details.

Andy's project log:

By far my most ambitious project to date, the Eldar Pegasus is a scratchbuilt superheavy transport. Its design is based on a tiny image of a vehicle from a piece of artwork of the Lugganath craftworld, seen in the 5th edition Warhammer 40,000 main rulebook. The concept for it had been floating in the back of my head since the rulebook was first released, but I only recently came up with a design that I was happy with. This is intended to be my last project before I concentrate on completing my other half-finished conversions and start actually painting my collection...

components: Parts from 4x Eldar Falcon kits, 1x Wave Serpent kit, 1x Forge World Type II Falcon conversion kit, 1x Forge World Phantom Titan D-cannon, Forge World Firestorm targeter, plasticard, Green Stuff, white Milliput, sytrene tubing (various diameters), 6mm diameter clear acrylic rod, neodymium rare earth magnets (various sizes), brass rod.

 This is a close-up of the artwork that inspired this project. Though it is not particularly detailed, the (unnamed) vehicle has some distinctive features, namely the triple engine intakes and the low, wide profile. The design I came up with uses this as inspiration rather than trying to recreate it exactly.

My first rough concepts and notes (the proportions in the sketch are very, very wrong!). I originally based the design around a double-width access ramp, however I quickly realised that in order to carry signficantly more units than a Wave Serpent, the Pegasus would need a much larger troop compartment and, correspondingly, a larger access ramp. The ramp on the Pegasus ended up three times the width of a standard Falcon/Wave Serpent ramp and almost twice the height.

More detailed design concepts and sketches. At this point I incorporated a large fin at the rear of the vehicle, mimicking the "Type II" vehicle designs of the Forge World Eldar range. All of my grav tanks have Type II hull extensions and I wanted the look of the Pegasus to share similarities with the other tanks.

When dealing with a conversion of this scale, I find it helpful to lay out the various components to get an idea of the rough shape and size. It's also useful for experimenting with different combinations of bits.

A later, more developed layout of the pieces, once I'd started work on some of the individual components. Note the ruler, giving a rough idea of the anticipated size of the Pegasus.

Further design sketches. At this stage the proportions and details of the Pegasus were becoming more defined.

More to come from Andy soon.

Ork Bomma Project Log - Painted and ready to fly!

The final, painted model from Orc scratchbuilder extraordinaire, Greg Teeuwen.

Dreamforge Leviathan Crusader arrives!

 

Dreamforge Games is a great little one man operation that acts like a bigger company.  I interviewed owner Mark Mondragon a few months ago and you can read the story here and  here. 

I bought one of their new Leviathan Crusader models (they also make a Leviathan Mortis) and the box arrived last week.

I borrowed the below photos from Jon Paulson at paulsongames.com, an impressive model maker himself.  Check out his site here.  

 And a size comparison with a Warhound and Reaver:

Look for a build report in the future.

Alec

Fellblades - The Dark Angels

Tom McBride is my favorite custom accessory maker in the hobby.  He really is an artist extraordinaire and his work is both beautiful and practical.  The fit of any of his pieces is nothing short of amazing, better even than Forgeworld. His Fellblades are now legendary in the Apocalypse world and I own two of them.  Both based on Tom's plans and using his bitz.  You can buy his bitz here.

Joey, an Apocalypse40K.com forum member took Tom's Fellblade parts and made a couple of Fellblades for his loyalist and traitor forces.  Here is his Dark Angels version.

Forgeworld Previews - Land Raider Proteus and Dark Eldar Tantalus

Forgeworld has released photos of two new models including my favorite, the Land Raider Proteus!  I love the old Land Raider and have one as my command tank that I converted earlier this year.  Well, now you can get one of those classic kits from Forgeworld totally re-worked!

Both kits are listed for sale at GamesDay UK.

Ork Bomma Project Log - Part 4 - The Finished Project

Another amazing project by Greg Teeuwen. 

Ork Bomma Project Log - Part 3

From Greg Teeuwen:

I managed to get a few hours of work done. All told, I think I'm about 50-60 hours into the project.

I worked on the flight krew today. Rather than put them side by side (like I did last time), I decided to put them front seat/back seat. I like that configuration better, and as I'm going all out on this model, I didn't want this to look like a B24 at all. The cockpit/canopy/upper body are getting extensive work...

Anyway, as with all my characters, I gave these two names- Kap'n Krunch and his co-pilot, Ziggy.

I painted them up and inserted them into the body. I plan on putting the canopy together next.

I built up the canopy area. I ended up wasting about 3 hours trying something out, then reverted back to a good roll-bar look.

I decided to pose everything for a progress report. I'm mostly done with the front half, and will start the back half soon.