WIP: Yriel's Flagship

There's a new line of miniatures coming out for Battlefleet Gothic, a game of naval-style combat in deep space. "BFG", as it's known, shares the same cosmology with Warhammer 40,000 and so in the same way there are Eldar, Imperial, Orks, etc. armies for the latter game, there are fleets that can be purchased and painted for the former. What's nice about building a BFG fleet is that it costs about 1/6th or less of building a respectable Warhammer army and takes about 1/10th of the time to paint (in general).

This new line of minis is the Craftworld Eldar fleet which, instead of being a raiding force like the older Eldar ships, is an actual battle fleet. This is a new direction for Eldar in the game, and the new ships look quite different than the old ones. You can get a decent look at them here.

I've acquired Yriel's Flagship; a very lovely model which is about as long as my hand and filled with lovely detail. To be honest I found this thing somewhat unappealing until I saw it in person, but now that I have done so I think it's an absolutely beautiful piece of work. As one only takes a handful of ships for one's fleet (rather than the dozens or even hundreds of models needed for a Warhammer army), I decided to work rather hard on making this thing look great. I very carefully spent the night last night filing, sanding and buffing (with a dremel) and, while I wouldn't say the job was done to perfection, I can definitely say I'm ready to put primer on this model and start with the process of getting it painted. Here are some pics of the Flagship before it goes under the spray.

Bill Gets A Beatdown

I played a game today against my friend Bill at a store called Megapower Games (in Kanata). Megapower, like Games Workshop, invites gamers to come play at the tables in the store, but Megapower doesn't have rules about how well your models have to be painted (whereas Games Workshop does), and because Bill and I both have models that aren't quite done yet we sometimes take our games there. Nice guy owns the place, too.

Bill plays Chaos Undivided and calls his army The Black Storm (in the same way I call mine Deiminn-Sinn). We played a 2000 point game, and I liked that; Bill is an experienced player with a sharp mind, so a 2000 point game flies by pretty fast. I won this game, but like most of the games I play with Bill it was a real squeaker. See, Bill plays a really balanced army; a bit of fast attack in the form of Attack Bikes, a bit of heavy support in the form of Predators and Havoc squads, and the occasional bit of flavor in the form of Quint'Aan - the blue Demon thingie you'll see in the pics below. Unfortunately, Quint'Aan contracted a case of Bright-Lance-Holes-In-The-Cranium in turn one and had to lie down and take a little nap.

I changed my list a little from what I usually use: I took some more vehicles than usual and tried to rely on their firepower and speed to give me the drop on Bill. Here's a quick summary of my list:
- Farseer on a Jet Bike with Fortune, Guide, Spirit Stones, Runes of Witnessing, Witchblade.
- Farseer with Fortune, Guide, Spirit Stones, Runes of Witnessing, Shuriken Pistol, Witchblade.
- Three Vypers in separate squad, each with Star Cannon, Shuriken Cannon, Holo-Field and Spirit Stone.
- Three units of three Rangers each.
- 8 Striking Scorpions plus one Exarch equipped with Scorpion's Claw in a Wave Serpent kitted out with twin-linked Star Cannons, Shuriken Cannon and Holo-Field.
- Four Howling Banshees plus one Exarch equipped with Acrobatics and Executioner. They were stuffed in a Falcon with the Farseer on foot.
- Two Falcons, each with Starcannon, Shuriken Cannon, Holo-Field, Shuriken Cannon and Spirit Stone.
- Three War Walkers, each with two Bright Lances.

I really enjoy playing agianst Bill. It's usually a nail biter until the last minute, and sometimes beyond.

Incidentally, Bill must have really liked my War Walkers, because even though he pretended to be shooting at them, he didn't seem to actually want to hurt them.

p.s. Hi Bill. :)

And Then There Was Marlon...

After I played Bill I played Marlon over at GW. It was 2000 points as well, except that Marlon only had about 1500 at best. As a Games Workshop employee he thought he could just grab store models off the display shelves and use those, but the two staff who were working at the time informed him differently. He wasn't pleased. So we tried a variation of the old style "Sustained Assault" mission. I think it used to be called Meat Grinder. Not sure. Anyhow, his Dark Angels got pasted so bad that he conceded in turn 4. He lost a Whirlwind, a full Tactical Squad, a Dreadnaught, a Razorback, a Rhino, two Land Speeders and assorted infantry. I had lost one Vyper. Maybe next time will be Marlon's day. Today wasn't.

And Then There Was Marlon...

After I played Bill I played Marlon over at GW. It was 2000 points as well, except that Marlon only had about 1500 at best. As a Games Workshop employee he thought he could just grab store models off the display shelves and use those, but the two staff who were working at the time informed him differently. He wasn't pleased. So we tried a variation of the old style "Sustained Assault" mission. I think it used to be called Meat Grinder. Not sure. Anyhow, his Dark Angels got pasted so bad that he conceded in turn 4. He lost a Whirlwind, a full Tactical Squad, a Dreadnaught, a Razorback, a Rhino, two Land Speeders and assorted infantry. I had lost one Vyper. Maybe next time will be Marlon's day. Today wasn't.

WIP: A Bit More Falcon

Just some more pics before I finish for tonight.

WIP: The New Falcon

I decided that I need another couple tanks in my list.

I'm working now on a Falcon. I wanted to do something a little different and try to get outside the box a bit. See, a lot of people paint Falcons up so they look like military jets or tanks, complete with warning symbols, symmetrical trim and other sorts of accoutrements. I wanted to make the Falcon look a little less "Terran", and try to get it looking like it was created by an alien race. Now, I realize that we have no idea what that should look like, but even something a little out of the ordinary can have a very fresh, unique look.

(BTW, how empty would that paragraph have been without the word "look"?)

I primed the upper body of the Falcon black, did my gems and then decided to create one long stripe along the wing. To do this I started by putting cello tape down to define the line. You can see how that looked here:


After that I laid down a couple coats of Mithril Silver to provide a contrasting undercoat for the red that was to come. I wanted a really opaque and light-colored base because the red I use (a mixture of Blood Red, Scab Red and a bit of Brown Ink) isn't thick enough to cover black adequately.


Slap on some of that red I was just talking about, and there you go.


I've got more plans. I'll post as I move along.

p.s. Hi Bill. :)