Welcome

This is my first post in a blog which is dedicated to keeping track of my work and play as a Warhammer 40,000 enthusiast. I am not a professional-level painter, I don't win any awards for my modeling skills and I am not affiliated with Games Workshop in any way. I'm just a guy who really enjoys this game and wants to share the best of what I get out of it with anyone who wants to read.

I play Eldar, and though my Eldar army wears the Ulthwe rune I tend to play a basic Codex-style (i.e. no Craftworld variants). I am working on the fluff behind my army right now, but the basic idea is this: They are an Ulthwe army called "Deimhinn Sinn" that has disbanded the Seer Councils due to corruption and warmongering. What's more, they are comprised of royalty from all the various Craftworlds and exist to bring order and reunion to the Eldar as a race (the only Eldar they fight against are the ones they perceive as Eldar separatists). As royalty, they wear rich colors such as Shining Gold, Black and my own mixed red color. They are accented with white and have Hawk Turqouise gems studding their clothes, armor and vehicles.

I used to play Biel Tan, but I found it limiting; it was tough to get a lot of variety into that list. I would often just pack a bunch of transports with aspect warriors, piledrive them into enemy lines, blast the crap out of everything and - when their ranks were softened up - dump out all my aspect warriors on them and wipe them out. It was also kind of stupid in that I almost never lost: I had a 18 game 15:3 win:loss ratio. That's just not right, especially considering I was playing against some really seasoned players with some really hardened armies (like Iron Legion... no one should win as easily as I did against them).

I spent some time with this new army playing a very heavy Guardian-based force. I'd often drop 20 Defenders and 20 Storm Guardians on the table and play few or no aspect warriors. I just wanted to play with more of an army and less of an elite killing force. Few vehicles, if any, and lots and lots of troops. That didn't work out for me either, really... I lost *way* too much. If you get the drop on Guardians it's like running a lawn mower over a goldfish. In other words, not much of a challenge.

I've sort of hit my stride with my current setup. I think less about what kind of force I want to play and more about meeting the challenges the enemy will likely foist upon me. I normally take a Wave Serpent and a Falcon, but I lean more towards DIre Avengers now as they sort of hit that sweet spot between Biel Tan and regular Vanilla Eldar (they're aspects, yet troops as well). I've also seen them accomplish some awesome stuff out there on the table.

I'm going to be working on some experimental lists as well. Right now I'm working on a very Jetbike-heavy list that isn't quite Saim Hann, but still very mobile and deadly to slow-moving opponents (Imperial Guard will die like dogs). I am also considering a slow-moving "Iron Legion"-style list that puts War Walkers, a Wraithlord and a full squad of Dark Reapers into the Heavey Support area, with Heavy Weapons platforms in Defender Guardian teams and a couple Farseers casting Guide and Fortune all over the place (possibly some Vypers as well).

Anyhow, as you can see it's a growing army and I change things a lot. This blog isn't meant to suggest that I'm an awesome player and you should learn from my style. It isn't meant to suggest that I'm a brilliant painter and you should copy my technique. Neither do I seek to hint that I'm some kind of genius converter and have something to teach there. It's really just one guy showing off his successes and failures for you to hopefully enjoy (and comment on) and to really let the Nerd Flag Fly, roll up the sleeves, and get deep into Warhammer 40,000 talk.

Here's hoping it works out nicely.