Lilith Starter crew for Malifaux

A while back I was looking for a skirmish game that was cheap to get started in, but with deep enough gameplay to sustain my interest. Enter Malifaux, a steampunk weird west skirmish game. The gameplay looks really simple to grasp but difficult to master.

Intrigued, I ordered a pair of starter packs and the rules from Meeplemart.com .

As you can see I've got a Lilith Neverborn crew starter and a Perdita starter to have their Guild nemesis.

While waiting to get a game in, I decided to start painting up Lilith and her children. First up were some Terror Tot Nephilim

Then was a Mature Nephilim

And last but certainly not least Lilith herself

Of course, a family portrait is de rigueur

Considering on how well these models painted up, I can't wait to get started on the Ortegas.

The dead will rise from the blood soaked battlefield

The new vampire counts book is out and here are links to reviews of it:

* Hero's Gaming Blog
* Bell of Lost Souls

As a skeleton kind of player, i'm ecstatic that they are now about half the points that they were. What can I say? I loves dem bones. Vamps are more badass than they were (caster lord players will get dinged in points tho)  with the ability to feed of of a defeated foe. Speaking of healing, invocation of nehek is now an area of effect spell, healing all in a certain radius. Battle attrition? What's that?

To celebrate this edition's release, I have ordered a batch of models from Mantic games (have you *seen* the price on the new GW models? That's dentist visit money) Nothing special, some Ghouls, Skeletons, and Black Knights. Yup, the old stand-bys are as reliable as ever.

Dark Eldar strike into Virtual Realspace

It's been *forever* since I played 40k. So I decided to take out my beloved Dark Eldar out for a virtual spin. (Yay Vassal!) You see, it's been so long that I haven't actually used the new DE codex yet (it's only been a year!) 

This is the endgame of an Anhihilation Dawn Assault mission vs Tau. DE win of course (6 vs 9KP). The game hasn't really changed for the DE at all: Speed is life. All but one of those craters were DE vehicles, while 90% of the red smudges are what is left of the Tau infantry after the DE were done with them.

I lucked out on the Combat Drugs so all my combat monsters were so hopped up on drugs that they Felt No Pain, which mitigated much of the Tau shooting. I really like how the game moved from one end of the table to the other (Bottom right to top left). Power from Pain took care of the rest (represented by skulls in the image).


The Dark Eldar of the new codex are just as entertaining as the previous one, with some added durability thrown in so that the late game is still to be contested. I am absolutely statisfied with it.

Quick WHFB Vampire Counts army list

This is what I do while the baby is taking her nap, I organize undead minions to take over the world. :)

• Vampire Lord [1] w/ Mage Level, Forbidden Lore, Master of the Black Arts, Helm of Commandment, Armor of Destiny, Enchanted Shield
• Wight King [2] BSB w/ Barded Skeletal Steed, Black Axe of Krell
• 10x Ghouls [1] w/ Ghast
• 21x Ghouls w/ Ghast
• 27x Skeletons w/ Full Command
• 20x Grave Guard w/ Full Command, Banner of the Barrows
• 5x Black Knights [2] w/ Full Command, Royal Standard of Strigos
• Black Coach
• Varghulf

Total: 1990 pts

The rationale behind this army is to keep the lord in his bunker and out of harm's way. The main battle line will consist of the Ghoul, Skeleton and Grave guard units. The black coach, Varghulf and Black Knights will cover the flanks, or launch to harass the opposing flank units.

A drop-in replacement for the Wight King could be a Vampire BSB w/ Waking Death and Dread Knight. Depends on my mood.

New VC book rumored for January 2012

More info can be obtained here:

http://www.vampirecounts.net/Thread-Official-Rumour-Thread-New-Vampire-Counts-Book

Dark Eldar Halloween List

A few years back, I organised a haloween game of 40k. It was imperial guardsmen vs the walking dead. Well not really the walking dead, but they *were* Grotesques , Talos and Haemonculi. It was great fun to have the Grots trot across the board while the Guard were pouring tons of ineffective fire into them.

So here's a 1500 point Dark Eldar Halloween list for the new codex:

• Haemonculi Coven
• 95pts - Haemonculi[1] w/Webway Portal, Liquifier Gun
• 95pts - Haemonculi[2] w/Webway Portal, Liquifier Gun
• Elites
• 185pts - 5x Grotesques* w/Aberration
• 185pts - 5x Grotesques* w/Aberration
• Troops
• 100pts - 9x Wracks w/ Liquifier Gun
• 70pts - Raider, Flicker Field[1]
• 100pts - 9x Wracks w/ Liquifier Gun
• 70pts - Raider, Flicker Field[2]
• 100pts - 10x Wracks w/ Liquifier Gun
• Fast Attack
• 130pts - 5x Scourges w/ 2x Splinter Cannon
• 130pts - 5x Scourges w/ 2x Splinter Cannon
• Heavy Support
• 135pts - Talos Pain Engine* w/ Chain Flails, Additional CCW, Heat Lance
• 135pts - Talos Pain Engine* w/ Chain Flails, Additional CCW, Heat Lance
• Total: 1530pts

*: These units are deployed in the Webway

Is this an effective list? Nope. With only 3 Lances and 2 Heat lances, vehicle heavy lists will be a problem. But to take objectives from infantry, especially after the portals are deployed? Oooh boy, it will mess them up. Feel no pain on most units from the start of the game is going to help immensely. Remember to attach the Haemonculi to the Grotesques after deploying the portal to prevent them going on a rampage.

Happy Halloween!

Rally round the king playtest impressions

Kicked the tires of Rally Round the King, a Fantasy Miniature Massed Battle Wargame, this evening. I was already familiar with the reaction system so a I jumped in with both feet and started running a campaign. The major players are Elves, Undead, Human, and Orc empires. The summer season of the first year of the campaign saw the Elves declaring war and invading the peaceful orcs O_o !! (This result is a good thing, displaying the unexpected results that can be generated with the system)

On the tabletop, I really enjoyed the fact that you're in control of your forces until they get into charge/missile range. Then all H-E-Double-Hockey-Sticks breaks loose. In the end, most units were routed (The superior discipline of the elves winning the day over the greenskin numbers). The Orc leader was killed in the battle.

It's an easy to learn system, and has I think the least amount of charts of all the THW games. The combat flowed smoothly and I was uncertain of the end-results of the battle even after quite a few turns of the center melee going on. This is a good thing, when you consider deployment and army lists will determine the winner of a WHFB game well before it is ended.

All in all, a very enthousiastic thumbs up on the system. Now if you'll excuse me, the Orc empire without a strong leader has fragmented into civil war, and I can't wait to see what happens next. :)