Pre-Tournament Update (The final last gasp)

Good Morning Ladies and Gents,

Apologies for the delay in getting something up but as always the joy of personal life impacts, such as work, and health have impacted myself in writing for the past 2 weeks. But we shan't dwell on such matters, let's get down to the nitty-gritty of why we are here - to see the shoddy state that is my army for the Birthday bash tournament!!!

This will be a short post as I'm pretty bushed even without painting a whole new army for the event (like some people Ian...), but see! I have actually been busy...

Night time painting without appropriate lighting... Excellent... 

There was a few painting aspects of my Necron models such as the carapaces that I wasn't very happy with, so in desperate mad dash, I've recoloured all of them in Caliban Green (this not a nice paint to work with,  it has a tendency to streak badly even after watering down). Not having as much time as I would like, I would edge highlight all of these areas for the event, but alas I had a lot of basing to complete as well.

I feel that the force looks much better than it was,  however the warriors definitely need stripping or replacing as they have been over painted several times in the last 8 years.

Right now I just have some minor repairs to do on the Canoptek Tomb Stalker as I managed to knock an arm off (would just happen wouldn't it...).

Otherwise have a wee look at the Force I'm taking to the Birthday Bash Tournament! Next time hopefully I'll have something up that is more up to my current standard of painting, and as always apologies for the shoddy camera work!

The event is this Saturday,  and I'll get as many photos of the armies attending and how I faired in the event (for good or for ill!). If you want to follow the post event run down from Dave Weston,  pop over to 40kaddict.uk

Also I have been working on St Celestine and the Geminae Superia, and I'll hopefully have these completed soon! 

Until next time, 

Jonathan 

Tournament Prep: I feel like I'm forgetting something...

Hello Ladies and Gents,

Welcome back, today we're talking about how my tournament prep is going for the upcoming Birthday Bash 2.0 event at the end of February. Things should really be starting to be pick up for myself at the moment, particularly in getting my army ready, unfortunately new shinies always seem to get in the way of actual progress...

So what's been happening? Well first off, I have only managed to rebase paint the carapace on my Necron Doom Scythe. I really should at least get the edge highlighting done soon,  but I've been distracted by both the Mistweaver Saih, and Canoness Veridyan (this all stemmed from my recent article on Female models in wargames... It happens sometimes).

Progress by baby steps

First up we have the Mistweaver Saih,  and I've been watching some YouTube videos on how to improve my painting. Unfortunately I feel that I have spent an inordinate amount of time on her skirt, but damn I think it looks fine!

As you can see I have started to work a bit on the staff,  but the next major point to work on is reapplying Abaddon Black to the legs, and start adding Celestra Grey to the smoke she is held aloft on.

Next up, is my version of Canoness Veridyan. A beautiful sculpt, but one I felt would have benefited more from being in plastic. I had some issues with getting her glued together (Yes I did wash the model first), and may have caused some major rage on my part. The only other major issue is the wiring attached to the skull on her power armour,  power plant.  This is a ridiculously small component,  which unfortunately did not survive the model getting accidentally knocked off my work station by the mother in law (and back to the gluing we went...), which resulted in the part going missing. For now I'm happy to just not look for it and get the model done.

Painting wise,  I have gone for a slightly different tone with the Canoness. Similar to the colour scheme of the Order of the Argent Shroud, I have started with a base of Celestra Grey, wash with Coelia Greenshade,  then progressive light dry brushing of Celestra again before a glaze of Ceramite White. There is some more glazing to do, so I haven't decided whether extreme highlighting will be required or not. I am very pleased with how her face came out it's just a shame I can't get a decent photo! Still a lot of work to do but I'm very happy with it so far.

Post the slightly failed, attempted trip to Warhammer World, myself and Ian from over at krakaddict.blogspot.co.uk will be heading up to Element Games to get a test game in with each of our forces for the Birthday Bash, all being well I can try and get some sort of battle report from this up and we can see how the Maynarkh Dynasty fares against the Space Wolves! Pray to the Omnissiah that overzealous tech priests don't delete the "scrap code" from my equipment again hahaha!

How is your hobbying progressing? Have you a deadline that you are looking likely to miss,  have you got a plan? Let us know in the comments.

Until next time
Jonathan

Unit perusal: Canoptek Acanthrites

Good Evening Everyone!

Following on from me looking at some of the units from Imperial Armour 12, I have decided to look at the rest of the units presented for the Necrons as part of the Dark Harvest list for the Maynarkh Dynasty.

Today we will look at the Canoptek Acanthrites. A new addition to the mecha-bug aesthetic for Canoptek Constructs we have a locust-styled unit, comparable to a space marine captain statline, with standard power armour and an additional point of toughness, rounded out with the standard slow initiative that follows the fluff of the Necron race.

Starting as a unit of 3 at the cost of 30 melta bombs you gain a jump infantry unit,  with fearless, stealth, a void blade (this has the entropic strike special rule so follow the current codex ruling on this), and a cutting beam per model.  Cutting beams are s6 ap2 assault 1 and have the melta rule, so they do have a good chance to pop some vehicles, but your going to want to get up close and personal with max range the same as max charge range. You can also take a further 6 Acanthrites per fast attack slot past the first 3, though this would be an epic point sink for a single unit (almost a 3rd of your available points in a 1500pt game. Maybe a unit like this would definitely be suited more to either Unbound or Apocalypse. These units really want to be hugging the scenery,  running back field disruption.

As always with Canoptek Constructs they do not have re-an so their durability versus standard Necrons is slightly less. These units are fighting for the same slots as other strong units such as destroyers in the Necron Codex m,  where they can be taken,  and with the Maynarkh Dynasty. . I feel they would play great in a fluffy themed game for a Tomb raid,  where Scarabs,  Spiders,  Wraith, Stalkers and Sentinels are a protection force led by a Cryptek. Hmmm... I might just throw something like that together once I get a few of these in the future.

©Games Workshop 2017 

Model wise they look absolutely gorgeous,  as is the standard with Forgeworld, though I really hope the flying bases are pin mounted and not ball mounted as I have had some serious issues with these in the past,  otherwise there looks to be little fiddly bits past the levitation orbs and stalks on its back. You get a unit of 3 Canoptek Acanthrites for £42.00 plus shipping or your regional equivalent,  just stop by forgeworld.co.uk.

Next time we'll look at the brother of the Canoptek Tomb Stalker,  the Canoptek Tomb Sentinel!

Until next time
Jonathan

Update: Awaken The Dolmen Gates... We we make for Warhammer World!!!

Update: looks like Warhammer World won't be happening quite yet,  Ian called up for some tables and the events team had the gall to be running an event... How dare they do their jobs 😝

Anyways playtesting will still be completed just not in the hallowed halls of nerd heaven,  I'll update again once we know where we're headed. 

The Antechamber whistled with the cold brush of air on metal and stone. The occasional dripping of what could possibly be water punctuated the silence. This was a dead place.

No.  This was a place of the dead.

Soft, sickening lights shimmered from the recessed pillars on the floors, glyphs of magma-level complexity and mathematical impossibilities shone to life upon their surfaces. One by one, the procession of pillars lit up with the light of dying suns in the wake of a giant. The heavy clanking of footfalls echoed dolorously, as they lead up to a fresco at the back of the room.

Silvered motifs of the Dead Necrontyr race adornrd the fresco facing. Depictions of the triumphs of the Dynasty in its heyday of power. Framed in the centre, what could be considered to be a humanoid female, sat resplendent upon a throne of cold metal, the bodies of her enemies under her boot heels. Her face belied her inhuman nature, eyes dispassionate and dead, compared to the life in the imagery of the rest of the fresco.

As the giant approached the wall,  the soft hissing of mechanical limbs came from the deep corners hidden in shadow as the wall began to run like mercury.  Slowly but surely the females form pulsed outwards as the rest of the metal flowed with her, until a goddess of death was all that remained. Sitting upon her throne.

Like the chiming of soft bells, she said, "It is time,  summon Toholk to awaken the gates".

None would have thought the chiming of soft bells would herald the death of a world.

*  *  *

Good Evening (or Good Morning/Day depending on where you are in the world)!

So, the Legions of The Maynarkh Dynasty (along with me), are headed to Warhammer World in Nottingham on the 28th of this month! The plan for the visit for myself, is to get a game or two in with my current list for Dave Westons Birthday Bash 2.0 Tournament (it looks like I'll be good to bring this to the event! 😁 WOOOO!!!!!!). I'll be up with my friend Ian from Krakaddict.blogspot.co.uk,  so if you're there say Hi! Other items include having a refreshing tipple in Bugman's Bar, torturing myself in the forgeworld store, and the standard trip around the Hobby Museum.

I've been once before, just after the release of the Warlord Titan,  so I am looking forward to seeing what else in new in the exhibits whilst in there.  That should give me roughly 3 and a half weeks to post about the visit and how the list played (not that I will be changing it!).

There is a good amount of fixing up to complete for the army in relation to being table top ready but a week off prior to the tourney should be more than enough time (fingers crossed).

I'll update on the progress of each unit as the weeks progress,  and I hope you pop by to see!

Until next time
Jonathan

40k Birthday Bash 2.0 Update: Faction Decision! (...Possibly...) Part 4 - The Finale

Hello Again Ladies and Gents!

Today we see the home stretch for me looking at the Maynarkh Dynasty and trying to see if anything needs amending for using the Force in 7th Ed,  and the current codex.  And to finish out this little exercise for now we will look at the MacDaddy of the Maynarkh Dynasty, Kutlakh the World Killer!

But before we get into the meat of Kutlakh's rules I think it would be good to have a wee look at this mechanical bad-ass.

Kutlakh to start is, not the leader of his Dynasty,  he is the highest ranking general of their armies,  and in his own right,  as powerful as some phaeron's of lesser dynasties. The leader of the Maynarkh Dynasty has only ever been referred to as the Mother of Oblivion,  and has been hinted to have been either romantically or physically connected with the Silent King.

Kutlakh has never been focused on the political trappings of the Dynasty structure,  preferring to put his efforts into his martial might. At the close of the war in heaven,  the Silent King ordered the most powerful of weapons to be turned on the C'tan after he realised their insipid betrayal. The Maynarkh Dynasty was at the front of unleashing these cosmically destructive weapons on the Star Vampires,  with many being shattered into the shards they are in the 41st Millennium. Of all the C'tan attacked and defeated by the Necrons,  none was so utterly obliterated as Llandu'gor the flayer,  personally falling to Kutlakhs hand. With this act all of the Necron race was doomed to the possibility of the flayer curse. None more so than the Maynarkh themselves. But of Kutlakh, devolution to a flayer has yet to happen, he still maintains the majority of his sanity... For now...

Ooooooohhh Drama!!! 😝
I hope that all got you tingling,  as now we move on to look at this bad-ass on the tabletop!

Statline wise the S, T, and WS all rock in at a Melta bomb with,  W3 standard Necron initiative,  and A of a melta bomb -1. He comes equipped with a staff of light and the Obsidax.  Special rules include, Independent Character,  Adamantium Will, Re-An,  Splinter of Madness, Phaeron,  and Ever-living; these last two in the vien of the articles so far will just be straight dropped. Kutlakh comes with the Death Incarnate Warlord trait as standard,  so refer to my thoughts on this from the first article in the series.  He also is rocking a 2+sv.

The staff of light does not have the specialist weapon rule,  which conflicts with the obsidax,  which does. I can't remember if the previous iteration of the staff had this rule, but currently it doesn't,  so we'll stick to the current profile.

The Obsidax is a beefed up Hyperphase blade. It's S user,  Ap2,  Melee,  Instant Death,  and as previously shown a specialist weapon.  Pretty tasty.

Coming back to the Splinter of Madness Rule,  this confers,  Fear and Fearless to Kutlakh and any unit he is attached to.

It also gives a little interesting aside as well...

First off Kutlakh must always fight in a challenge if possible both declaring and accepting.  Next at the start of the sub fight stage both Kutlakh and his opponent roll a d6 and add it to their ld value. If Kutlakhs total is greater,  the opponent has their WS reduced by the difference for that assault phase 😱! Such it Imhotekh and your hand removal fetish! 😝

Kutlakh is nothing short of a beast in combat. He wants to chase your chapter masters,  your chaos Lords,  your big hitters and mess up their day. I think he is a good character,  and is reasonably priced at 44 melta bombs. High shooting and blob squads may cause him lots of issues though.  Protecting him with the Charnal Lychguard is key.

What do you all think? Is Kutlakh worth it? Is he too OP? Would you change anything about him,  let me know in the comments!

Hopefully I will hear soon on whether I can run this list,  and I will follow up soon,  if not I'll be feverishly looking at something else soon...

Until next time
Jonathan

40k Birthday Bash 2.0 Update: Faction Decision! (...Possibly...) Part 3

Good Morning Ladies and Gents!
I hope you all got an excellent night sleep as we return to the horror of the Maynarkh Dynasty,  and the dread legions at they're disposal!

First things first,  Fast Attack and Heavy Support Choices. If you have read the previous posts we are looking at the choices as per my list for the Birthday Bash 2.0 Tournament, so once I've finished this set of rereviews I'll come back and visit the other units in these respective slots.

So I having selected to use X2 Heavy Necron Destroyers,  a Doom Scythe and a Doomsday Ark,  with the Imperial Armour book you are instructed to use the entry from Codex: Necrons,  so these will be the same as you all know and love.  Which leads us to...

The Elites
This is a fun section and presents units that may seem new to some:

Charnal Lychguard
Just like with the current codex,  Overlords can have their fluffy body guard unit.  A Maynarkh Overlord can take a single unit of these deadly close combat bots.  Rocking the same stat line as their codex counterparts,  Charnal Lychguard,  gain the rage and fear special rules.  Now I hear you cry out how can these be reasonable versus their counterparts? I'll tell you.  They cost an extra 22 melta bombs on top for basically rage and fear... In any other life I'd say drop that points value down to maybe another 5 melta bombs on top of the unit and you'd be grand,  but for now,  I think superceding the re-an special rule and leaving them as is,  is an excellent compromise for the tourney without being OP.

Canoptek Tomb Stalker
OMG A GIANT MECHA CENTIPEDE OF DOOM!!! 😝 The first ever Forgeworld model produced for the cash strapped customer (kudos if you have a Necron Pylon,  I secretly hate you lol) this is the beefed up cousin of the Canoptek Tomb Spider.  Rocking the Deep Strike,  Outflank,  Hit and Run,  Night Vision,  Rampage, Fearless,  Fleet,  Acute Senses, and War Construct special rules,  this beastie stat line comparable to a Carnifex,  hits just as hard,  but from many different directions. You can also purchase Sepulchral Scarabs for 4 melta bombs that give it IWND and it's a monstrous creature with X2 glass flayers.

So what is the War Construct Rule I hear you ask,  well it basically means any weapon that wounds on a flat value will only ever wound on a 6. This is a unit that can't be guaranteed to be poisoned to death. Now a lot of these rules really make it seem scary,  but like nid players know deep striking big gribblies into a tabletop can be very hazardous,  and as it draws a lot of fire,  getting isolated is a death sentence for the model with only the wounds of +1 over a base of Necron Scarabs. It's big it's scary,  but it can die very quickly and at the cost of 45 melta bombs.

I feel the unit is fine as it is.  Just like all Canoptek constructs this beastie does not have the re-an rule either so no need to worry about that here.

As I feel the unit is actually well balanced for its points,  and is more of a psychological terror unit for your opponent I don't think this needs amending and worst well within the bounds of the current codex,  but please,  please let me know if you think this unit is overpowered,  and if so what would you change? It's an amazingly sexy model and I think would be a great addition to the upcoming event.

Next time we will be looking at the final entry,  on Kutlakh the World Killer!

Until next time...  Game with the lights on...
Jonathan

40k Birthday Bash 2.0 Update: Faction Decision! (...Possibly...) Part 2

Welcomes Back Ladies and Gents to my random waffling on how to amend Imperial Armour 12, specifically in relation to the Necrons of the Maynarkh Dynasty,  for use with the current Necron Codex!

So today we are going first look at the list I am currently using,  the the following articles will look in depth at each section of the Force Org,  and what needs changing if necessary.

The List
1500pts CAD, No Allies, No Lords of War. Total Army Cist:1500pts

HQ
Kutlakh the World Killer

Elites
X1 Canoptek Tomb Stalker
X5 Charnal Lychguard with flensing scarabs

Troops
X5 Maynarkh Immortals with flensing scarabs
X10 Maynarkh Warriors
X10 Maynarkh Warriors

Fast Attack
X2 Heavy Destroyers

Heavy Support
X1 Doom Scythe
X1 Doomsday Ark

The List is quite elite and could be blown off the board by a lot of shooting.  The Maynarkh list really favours aggressive close combat armies, which isn't what you would normally expect from a Necron army! So with that out of the way,  let's start looking at these units,  first off today, the troops!

Maynarkh Warriors
Maynarkh Warriors are comparable to their Codex counterparts in every respect but one: they can take fencing scarabs. I won't be taking them as I do not have the points,  however as a unit they will be grand for tarpit purposes,  and hopefully some occasional tank hunting. The only amendment would be that the unit must use the re-an rule from the main codex.

Maynarkh Immortals
Again another unit which is comparable to its counterpart in the Necron Codex. The differences here is that you can only ever take one unit of Immortals (for fluff reasons) and the unit gains access to flensing scarabs.  I have taken the scarabs here as gaining shred for the first turn of combat should help improve the units killy ability. Again this only happens for the first combat phase not every combat phase. As with the Maynarkh Warriors the only amendment would be that the unit must use the re-an rule from the main codex.

Neither unit has access to any other rules, so not a lot to really reconsider here. Points wise there also is no difference between Imperial Armour 12 and the Necron Codex as it stands.

Otherwise the list can take Flayers as a troop choice, however they are distinctly inferior to their codex counterparts,  not having inherent shred,  less attacks and having to be taken in units of ten. For me I would have considered the Flaybers but I only have 5 so I'm happy to leave them for this time.

Let me know what you all think I the comments,  are these units reasonable? We'll next look at Fast Attack and Heavy Support,  and if there is time possibly the Elites as well,  before finishing up with MacDaddy cray-ray himself kutlakh the world killer!

Until next time
Jonathan