5/17/2005

Phoenix Lords

I've converted and modeled ten Dark Eldar warriors: Two Sibarites, three heavy weapon guys (with Splinter Cannons... can Warriors carry Splinter Cannons? I probably should have checked on that) and the rest are just basic Warriors. There's lots of painting left to do, but.. I'll be getting around to it.

Before I do, however, I may want to take a quick trip back to Regular Old Eldar and paint up some Phoenix Lords I bought today. I got Asurmen, Maugen Ra and Fuegan (and I already have Karandras). Though that's a fair amount of pewter to buy in one day, I sort of felt like I should do it ASAP, as the Phoenix Lords are now leaving the GW shelves and I want to make sure I have the models I want before they vanish altogether. While a lot of the older models in the 40k range don't do much for me, I really love those old Phoenix Lord models.

I chose Karandras because, when he's joined with a squad of Striking Scorpions, he is absolutely brutally dangerous to the enemy (he's also quite awesome when joined with a squad of Howling Banshees, by the way). Between his Suprise Assault ability (lending an extra attack on the charge) and his high leadership, he's a real monster.

Asurmen is an excellent choice because he's incredibly tough. When you're in base with him you can only hit him on a 6 and he has a 3+ invulnerable save and 3 wounds. In return he swings a mean Dire Sword and can tie up even the toughest units for a very long time.

I chose Fuegan because I have about 40 Fire Dragons that I will, in time, assemble into a single Biel Tan force and use him as the HQ. Seems like a logical choice, no?

Maugen Ra is also picked for his fluff, as I often play an Ulthwe Strike Force. As you may or may not know, an USF player can take Maugen Ra without his opponent's permission, and the Reaper-centric fluff makes that a good idea (fluff-wise). Thing is... Maugen Ra is one of the most useless HQ choices a guy can make. He fires a crappy gun with short range (even the base Dark Reaper has a much better chance of taking out power armor than this guy) and he's not so awesome in hand-to-hand that you'd want him around for that, either. He's definitely the scariest-looking model of the Phoenix Lords, but... the only reason I'd put him on the table is for the fluff.

Anyhow, here's hoping I get some good paint jobs out of these little buggers.

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