Blood Angels and Assault Cannons Part 3

I apologize for the brief hiatus. The digital camera I have been using got a cracked LCD and I couldn't get it switched to macro mode and the pictures I was taken looked awful. Just got a new Canon Powershot which I am loving and I'm back in business. On with the tutorial!

So I have all of my bitz together and I am going to work on creating the twin-linked assault cannon turrets for my Razorbacks.

Initially, I wanted to be able to cut off the tips of the heavy bolters and magnetize them so I could have some options available for my Razorbacks. I've done a bit of messing around and it just doesn't look right.

I can't really foresee many scenarios where I'll use the twin-linked heavy bolter, so I'm just going to create the assault cannons and go with them instead.

Below is the list of materials you'll need to get started on this:

• Twin-linked heavy bolter turret (this is the turret that comes with a Razorback or a Land Raider)
• 2 assault cannon bitz (check part 2 of these series to see where I got mine)
• Jeweler's saw (I got mine from MicroMark)
• Pin vise (Also bought this from MicroMark)
• Liquid Cement for Plastic Models (I use Testors)
• Needle Files (I use the GW ones)
• X-Acto Knife

Step 1. This isn't really a necessary step, but more of a plea to all 40K players out there. Drill out your gun barrels! Nothing kills an awesome painted miniature more than a gun with no gun barrel. All you need to do is find the center and start a hole with your x-acto knife. Once you have that in place, drill it out with your pinvise. This is a major pain (especially with an assault cannon!), but if you take the time to do it it makes a HUGE difference. If you do make the hole a bit off center, you can always correct it by slightly widening it with your x-acto knife. Pics of the gun barrels are at the end of this post.

Step 2: Here we need to the front of the assault cannon off of the housing. You can use either an x-acto or a jeweler's saw for this. I used a jeweler's saw. Once you have the two pieces, remove any flash with either an x-acto knife or a flat needle file. The non-assault cannon bit will be great to keep in your bitz box so hang on to it!

Step 3: Here we need to cut the tip off of the heavy bolter. You can use an x-acto or a jeweler's saw for this step. A jeweler's is hard to use for this step because you have to be extra careful to make your cut straight. With an x-acto you'll need a cutting mat or a piece of wood to cut against. I also cut off the ammo ejector as the assault cannons don't have one, but you can leave it on if you prefer.

Step 4. Glue the assault cannon bit to the heavy bolter. I'm not a fan of super glue especially for plastic. I use Testor's plastic cement as it create a much stronger bond, but use what works for you. You do want to be careful when you glue these bits together as you want both of your assault cannons to point straight and be the same length. Do a bit of dry fitting before you commit to gluing them together and make any adjustments with an x-acto or needle file.

Step 5. Assemble the entire turret and you are done!

Below are some comparisons pictures between the twin-linked assault cannon that comes with a Land Raider Crusader/Redeemer and this kit bash. While my version is a bit smaller, I do prefer it for the Razorback. I like the Land Raider assault cannon, but it looks a bit too bulky for my tastes.

I've been like a kid in a candy store with the new Blood Angels Codex and the awesome new models. I've been working on putting together a whole new army and I'll share some pics, my thoughts on the dex in general, and other goodness in the coming weeks.

Until then Enim Sanguinius,

-The Harrower

Bringing Eldar into the 5th Edition - HQ Choices

First, let me start off by apologizing for the length of time between this article and the first part. Shortly after writing the first one, there was a significant change in work and my schedule was thrown all out of whack, but this is a 40K blog, so on to the Eldar...

Based on my own experiences, not too many armies have their entire functionality depend on one HQ. Sure, they can have builds which revolve around a particular named HQ (for example, flamer/melta heavy Vanilla Marines list that use Vulkan), but if those HQs didn't exist or were taken away, the army wouldn't be irreversibly damaged to a point of unplayability. Of course I'm speaking generally, and not about particular army lists. After playing Eldar for as long as I have, it is in my opinion that we do have this problem. Thankfully, the truly viable HQ choices we do have are awesome and definitely makes the Eldar codex competitive.

Before my head gets taken off or I start to hear about the fluffy lists out there, my perspective is based entirely on tournament winning lists or lists built for winning a game, not to lose in style. If you're going to respond to my post and whine about how I have Eldrad in my list and no Storm Guardians, this isn't going to be a blog for you!

To keep this particular article short, I'm going to cut right to the chase: farseers win all. So many Eldar players are upset that other armies are getting psychic powers that close to being on par with Eldar powers, but we still have the best psykers in the game by a long shot! The farseer units add both army wide utility and offensive power without having to actually be on the front lines. For example, a farseer can be left inside of a wave serpent and use his fortune power on units outside, or he can doom enemy units in much the same fashion, while units like Lysander or Marneus Calgar (sorry to pick on Marines, it's just that they're the army I'm most familiar with outside of Eldar) are only fully appreciated once they get into an assault.

That being said, with farseers winning the day as far as HQ choices go, there is of course Eldrad Ulthran. Eldrad is truly a powerhouse of the 40K universe. He can cast 3 psychic powers per turn, 2 of which can be the same power (but not more than one shooting attack, remember that), and he has a stat line that makes him something to be respected in close quarters, along with his power weapon that always wounds on a 2+. The real strength behind Eldrad is definitely his ability to cast 2 of the same powers per turn. Powers like doom and fortune are nasty enough on their own, but when you can affect two units with it, there's trouble brewing for your enemy. Eldard is a must have in my opinion for any army list that is greater than 1500 points (anything 1500 points or smaller, you should really just use a regular farseer).

When building a regular farseer for your army, there are a few basics to consider: what's his purpose and what will he be attached to? The typical build I like to run is Doom, Fortune, Spirit Stones, and Runes of Warding (if Eldrad isn't the list already). Runes of Witnessing are a waste and shouldn't be bothered with (while increasing the number of successfully cast powers, they also have a nasty side effect of causing more Perils results). Just like any other specialist unit in the Eldar army, build your farseer to suit your purposes. There's a myriad of different strategies for farseers, and maybe I'll write a more specific article in the future concerning this, but for now, I'd like to discuss the second choice for Eldar HQs, Autarchs.

Autarchs are rather underwhelming as far as how much they bring to the table for the army. They're second to the farseers, and that's a pretty distant second. Despite their variety of build options, I definitely find it best to go as minimal as possible and to just use the Autarchs for their Master Strategist rule. Personally speaking, I prefer to run 2 farseers for my larger point games, but if you had a build that depends on reserving your entire army list every single match, then having an Autarch might be the choice for you, and it should be fairly apparent that I think Yriel is a waste of points by now as I prefer any Autarchs in my army to be stripped to bare essentials.

As for the other HQ choices, I'll try to sum them up fairly quick.

The Avatar is good for a fluffy build. He's a powerhouse to be feared, but only if he makes it across the board. He offers nothing else than being a monstrous creature with a melta gun and an invulnerable save. The fearless thing is neat, but not very practical as the trend of the 40K game is now all about mechanization, and the thought of foot slogging fearless guardians seems rather ridiculous to me. If I was playing against an Eldar list using an Avatar, I would just use my transports to move away from it and ignore it the whole game.

Phoenix Lords are just a big travesty right now. They offer nothing to the army in terms of utility, partially because of the aspect themes and that any utility they would provide only apply to their particular aspect, and since there are a few aspects that just bite the dust in 5^th edition, their Phoenix Lord counterparts do pretty much by default. The Phoenix Lords are essentially cut from an elfy version of a mold of the Lysander variety. Big, super-expensive power houses that only have their full potential appreciated in close quarters, but even then that's iffy. Take for example Asurmen: a true close combat contender. He can make mince meat of any target he sets his eyes on, and is almost as durable as a terminator with a storm shield, but he's a Dire Avenger aspect. I want those guys to stay as far away from close combat as possible! For as much as I want to berate every individual Phoenix Lord, I'll just close here with they need to be reworked thoroughly, are dramatically over-costed, and suck in the competitive bracket.

In closing, farseers are definitely the way to go for your army, and Autarchs if you have a build that works around their Master Strategist rule (they don't offer a whole lot else). I know some may have a love for the Phoenix Lords, but they are so flawed that in my mind, they're unplayable, and Avatars should remain in fluff lists for now.

As always, for true success with Eldar, use the units for what they're designed for.

Next up, Troops choices!

-Farseer Frank

Blood Angels and Assault Cannons Part 2

My search for the cheapest assault cannon bitz has come to an end. Several people had mentioned eBay as the best place to go. After watching several of the turrets from the Land Raider Crusader/Redeemer go for upwards of $15 a piece, I decided that wasn't the best choice. I want to try and keep my hobby spending at reasonable levels as to not incite the Black Rage in my wife.


After looking around the 'net for several days, I finally came upon the perfect bitz pack offered by Hoard O Bits on eBay. If you do a search for 40K Assault Cannon in his store (click on the link I provided above first), you'll find 40K Bit Dark Angels Master + 6 Assault Cannon. This is the one you want.


Hoard O Bits has them available as Buy It Now or in regular auctions. I watched two of the auctions end and tried to get a last minute bid in, but they still ended at higher than the Buy It Now price of $19.50. As for shipping, I won the auction Wednesday night and already had the package on Saturday morning which is much faster than I expected.


So what do you get for $19.50? Well, 6 assault cannons for starters plus 3 twin-linked heavy bolters, 6 search lights, 3 power sword arms, 3 Land Speeder antennae, and a few ammo boxes and mounting bitz for the guns. If you ask me, this is a great deal. I'll definitely find use for the power sword arms and I was thinking of making some sort of beacon/objective marker with the others (I'll save that for a future post on terrain). Here is a pic of what comes with the auction.

The assault cannon bitz themselves are a bit smaller than the one that comes with the Land Raider Crusader/Redeemer which is fine by me. In my quest to keep down costs and have a lot of options available for my army, I plan on using the turret that comes with the Razorback and cutting off the tips of the heavy bolters. From here, I plan to magnetize it so I can use either the assault cannon or the heavy bolter.

Next time I'll break out the jeweler's saw, super glue, and some magnets and start work on my first tutorial.

Until then Enim Sanguinius,

-The Harrower

Continue to Part 3 of Blood Angels and Assault Cannons

Stormraven Gunship Conversions

One of the most talked about rumors leading up to the Blood Angels release was The Stormraven Gunship, the elusive flying transport that was to be released with the latest iteration of the Blood Angels Codex. There was some impassioned discussions on the various forums whether or not this vehicle was wishlisting or if it was real and would come to pass.


Preorders went up, black boxes were shipped, and the Blood Angels Codex has been devoured by people all around the 'net on various sites such as Warseer, The Bolter and Chainsword, and Dakka Dakka. The good news was the Stormraven was in. The bad news is there wasn't a model in sight. Not even a sketch or a concept drawing in the new Codex according to numerous reports.


Why Games Workshop would have rules for such a prominent and awesome vehicle and not release a kit for the Stormraven is beyond me. This has pretty much been par for the course with other recent GW releases such as the Space Wolves (Fenrisian Wolves, Thunderwolf Cavalry), Tyranids (Swarm Lord, Tervigon), and now the Blood Angels. There was a post on this very topic over on Fort Buyaki, so I won't revisit that topic here.


What I do want to talk about are the various conversions that have been popping up on the various sites in the past week. While I feel that the lack of a an official model is a real let down, it is nice to see various interpretations of it around the 'net. Some are good and some are bad, but hopefully all of these make you inspired to go out and create your Stormraven Gunship.


If you are building your own Stormraven or have ideas on how to convert one, provide a link or add some comments below and let's get a discussion going. What do you think the gunship of the Sons of Sanguinius looks like or how would you convert one?


Without further adieu, here are the pictures.

This is the Stormeagle that was shown at one of the Forge World events. I still have my doubts that this is a future Stormraven as some claim. I love the sketches, but hate the mockup.

Here is what Jawaballs is working on. It's made from a G. I. Joe Sky Hawk. Man does that toy bring back memories...

Not intended to be a Stormraven, but this is a great example. If you beef up the wings and add some engines from the Valkyrie, you have a winner.

Romeo, the creator of Battle Foam made an amazing Stormraven. The conversion work is top notch. My only gripe is I'm not a huge fan of the shape.

This most closely matches what I envision for the Stormraven. A smaller Thunderhawk.

I have more pictures of this one than any other. I like that it's unique and the size seems right to me. Extra bonus? It's mostly made from Valkyrie parts. Cost effective and cool equals win in my book! Painted pics follow.

I'm still not sure what I want to do with the Stormraven Gunship for my own army. I don't know if I should convert my own or wait it out. I figure I'll have a better idea once I get my hands on the new Blood Angels Codex.

Next time, I'll go further into the conversion project for my cadre of Razorbacks and making twin-linked assault cannons.

Until then,

-The Harrower

Continue to Part 2 of Stormraven Conversions.

Bringing Eldar into the 5th Edition, Part 1

Now, I must assume that because of the title some of you will scoff at the timing of such an article. However, I still see many people focusing on builds that would've been completely devastating in 4th edition Warhammer 40K games but are only capable of functioning on a mediocre level in the 5th edition. Predominantly, there's a lot of builds that utilize the concept of indestructible grav tank spam which tries to transport a nominal amount of infantry with the hope that 200 point wave serpents will be capable of killing their enemy so that their fragile troop of 5 dire avengers will never even have to see the board.


Unfortunately, this just will not work anymore for various reasons. In particular, as the game evolves and with new trends developing, the previous thought of more upgrades equating to increased durability are only proving to be marginally correct. In my opinion as well, I sense a desire for versatility when looking over some Eldar lists, which contradicts the core concept of the Eldar being specialists in their chosen path.


With this series of articles, I hope to help people move away from certain concepts that made the Eldar an unstoppable force in previous editions and to understand that their precious space elves are still very viable and very competitive in the new edition.


As these articles progress I want to focus on the various Force Organization Chart choices available section by section (HQ, Troops, Elites, etc). But the very first thing I want to get on the table is the concept that Eldar are over-costed and uncompetitive due to this since we have to pay a "premium price" on all of our units. The Eldar codex is fine. Yes, I said it. The Eldar codex is FINE.


Sure it can use a bit of a face lift, but what doesn't in terms of codices that have survived into 5th edition from previous editions? I'll post my thoughts on what units are "stinkers" and which ones are winners in the follow ups to this first article but what I want to get right out there is my opinion that the Eldar codex is fine and very competitive. I have defeated many many players to prove this point, almost all of which are using codices that were recently revised or released, including many Space Marines players.


That being said, I want to start my first discussion outside of the parameters I originally mentioned because I personally feel that this is where a lot of people get stuck on the idea that Eldar cost too much to be competitive. That's our main transport unit: Wave Serpents.

Now, the most common comparison that is drawn between Wave serpents and other transports is that of the wave serpent (WS) vs the Space Marine rhino, which is roughly costed at 35 points. I continually hear complaints that our WSs cost way too much to be competitive that there should be a cost reduction because other armies can transport their troops for less than 50 points.


I also see a lot of people contradicting their own complaints by stacking on upgrade after upgrade and they end up with a transport that costs nearly 200 points! If you're going to complain about the cost of your transport, why make it more expensive? Maxed out, with a twin linked bright lance, spirit stones, additional shuriken cannon, vectored engines, and star engines, we have a 190 point transport that's only marginally more capable of surviving than the 100 point version.


For starters, get the notion out of your head that a rhino and a WS are comparable by any means. Rhinos are 11/11/10, can move 12" max, have a storm bolter and can give themselves cover once per game using smoke launchers. The rhino is little more than an iron box on wheels that can travel from point A to B, as long as B is no more than 12" away. Then of course there's the risk of running over difficult/dangerous terrain or having to worry about manipulating other units in the way.


The WS is fast skimmer that can ignore any cover in its path and eschew dangerous terrain tests so long as you don't land in it. It also has an increased armor value of 12/12/10 with energy shields that allow it to ignore additional die effects (ordinance, melta, rending, etc) from shooting attacks. On top of all of that, it also comes equipped with a S6 Heavy 3 twin linked gun making this not only one of the most effective transports in the game (if not the best already) but a gun boat as well.


To close the argument of WSs being too costly or the debate of the rhino vs the wave serpent, it is apparent that the WS is capable of out performing any transport capable of being fielded in the 40K game. As an Eldar player, ask yourself the last time you've actually felt threatened by an enemy transport aside from it delivering its cargo. The wave serpent is a transport that flies from point A, bypasses point B while rolling down the window and tossing you the bird, and lands on point C.


Next, let's take a look at upgrading a Wave Serpent. In my opinion...don't! I know, I know, I must be crazy since so many tacita writers say that items like star engines are basically required. This all goes back to the concept that taking a unit that's already well costed and adding on upgrades to make it more costly for less effectiveness is just a bad idea. First off, weapons. What weapons should you upgrade your shuriken cannons to? Well, there's Scatter Lasers, Eldar Missile Launchers, Star Cannons, and Bright Lances. Keep in mind that a WS is only BS 3, twin-linked or not, and the foremost function of the WS is to be a transport, and when you have a transport that can move 24" you better be taking advantage of that mobility. That being said, when you flat out, you obviously cannot fire your main weapons so if you're someone who just had to have those 45 point bright lances on your WS, you're now left with a very expensive gun you can't shoot. Not very practical.


This solidifies a concept with the Eldar that will always ring true: to succeed with Eldar, you must use each unit to accomplish whatever task it was specifically designed for. This piece of tactical advice comes from the core rule book, not the Eldar codex. Wave serpents are transports and should rarely be used other wise. That aside, I've killed many marines and destroyed many rhinos with my off the shelf shuriken cannons. Our increased mobility give us the ability to take advantage of an opening and get into the side arc of vehicles like vindicators and easily lock them down from shooting because of the decent volume of twin linked shots coming from your 10 point gun.


The next upgrade for me that I see very little point in is star engines. In a normal game, you're playing on a 72" x 48" board. If you can't maneuver your forces into position with a 24" range then something is just being done wrong. To be quite honest, I think most people use them incorrectly because of disinformation from articles I've read in the past. You cannot use Star Engines after you disembark/embark troops. Period. Check the FAQ. So the idea of kicking out troops on an objective and then jetting out 36" across the board to contest an objective just doesn't work. And here's some food for thought, if you spent fewer points on upgrading your transports, you may be able to afford one more WS with another squad of infantry to send after that elusive objective.


I have a very similar opinion on vectored engines. I have never, ever been in a situation where I have vehemently wished that I had either of these upgrades. Sure, I've lost WSs that have flatted-out and were immobilized, but we're talking about a 15 point upgrade that probably wouldn't even come into effect due to the cover save you have on the wave serpent. Makes little sense to me. Do you know what's cheaper than upgrading your wave serpents with all of this stuff? Put a farseer in there with fortune. Now wish your opponent good luck as he's trying to get past your fortuned cover save and 12 armor value.


Last but not least are spirit stones. I have no bias for or against this upgrade. If I happen to be left with points left over I may add spirit stones. They're not a bad upgrade but they're not exactly one that'll make or break your game. If I do take spirit stones, I make it a point to only upgrade the WSs that are most aggressive in my line up (i.e. a WS carrying fire dragons for example, or striking scorpions).


As a closing comment, don't think that you should never upgrade your wave serpents. Always adapt your lists to your own playing environment. My suggestions should only be treated as general guidelines because there are times I will put scatter lasers on a couple of my WSs for the increased range and extra shot. But if you're someone who runs pimped out wave serpents and really feel that you're not putting enough on the table, slim them down. As 5th edition progresses and armies evolve, the game is now about how much you can put on the table rather than the single strength of an individual unit.


Next up, HQ choices!


–Farseer Frank with contributions and proofreading by Alfonzo

Introducing....

Hello All! I'm the first contributor to the The Harrower's blog, Farseer Frank, and my specialty, if you haven't determined that already, is Eldar. I'm a member of the gaming group known as Ded'Ard and will be helping to provide content for this new blog.


My first series of articles, titled Bringing Eldar into the 5th Edition, will be the real introduction to myself and my approach to both the Eldar and the Warhamer 40K game in general. I'm always one to appreciate constructive criticism and I'll be watching my comments like a hawk. :)


-Farseer Frank

The New Blood Angels and Assault Cannons

I've been reviewing the rumors surrounding the new Blood Angels Codex on various forums and blogs, and I think Twin-Linked Assault Cannons might be the new hotness. Of all the accounts I've read, a 5 man Assault Squad armed with a Power Weapon, Meltagun, and Infernus Pistol in a Razorback with a Twin-Linked Assault Cannon will run you 170 points.

All of the tanks (aside from Land Raider variants) in the new Blood Angels Codex are fast. So for 170 points you get a Razorback that can move 12" and fire, transport a scoring unit, and deliver a unit that is deadly on the charge and can deal with almost any threat. In higher point games you can add a Sanguinary High Priest for 50 points plus wargear, and the unit gains Furious Charge and Feel No Pain. I really can't see not taking at least 2 or 3 Razorbacks in every game I play. Which brings me to the main point of this post.

If you want your Razorbacks to be WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get), you are going to need to do some sort of modeling to make that happen as the Twin-Linked Assault Cannon bit only comes with a Land Raider Crusader/Redeemer. Alternatively, you would need to be rich because $57.75 for a Land Raider Crusader/Redeemer for only a couple bitz is pretty insane.

I'm not rich, so I was looking into coming up with some kind of alternative. I did some pricing and this is what I came up with:

• The Land Raider Crusader Pack will run you $19.75 from the Games Workshop which is still crazy.
• You can get two Tornado Assault Cannons from Games Workshop for $6.60 which is a fair deal, but I don't like working with metal when I'm doing conversions.
• I love the War Store and buy all of my 40K stuff there, but just the Twin Assault Cannon Turret is $21.99! Ouch!
• The Bitz Barn has very fair prices, but I've never seen them sell the Twin-linked Assault Cannon. I imagine they are gone as soon as they have them in stock. :(

I'm thinking that the best bet might be the plastic assault cannons that come with the Dark Angel's Deathwing as I have seen them go for a fair price on eBay. I'm going to scour around the internet and see else I can come up with. Once I have the materials together, I plan on converting my own and posting this as my first tutorial.

Tomorrow, I'm playing a 500 point Combat Patrol game with some friends at the Unknown in Scranton, PA. I'll be trying out the new Blood Angels 'Dex. Maybe I'll post some pics and a brief Battle Report in the next few days.

Until then,

-The Harrower


Continue to Part 2 of Blood Angels and Assault Cannons.