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

History of the Maynarkh Dynasty

Good Evening Ladies and Gentlemen,

Today we delve into the History of the Maynarkh Dynasty,  what many consider a return to the unknown eldritch horror that once defined the Necron race before the rise of the named Necron characters, specifically set down in the 3rd edition codex.

Renowned in the deep past of the Necron race, the Maynarkh Dynasty were abhorred and feared for their ruthless nature, particularly in the fight against the old ones during the War in Heaven against the Slann. The Maynarkh Dynasty were at the forefront of the battle against the C'tan at the closing of the War in Heaven when the Star God's were considered at their weakest by the Silent King.  For their part in the breaking of the C'tan and particularly Llandu'gor the Flayer, the Dynasty was cursed by the flesh hunger, with the first flayed ones arising within the ranks of the Maynarkh legions.

For there destructive nature's both in the War in Heaven,  and the the downfall of the C'tan,  many influential dynasties counselled the Silent King to damn the Maynarkh upon entering their stasis crypts, a quiet death for the horrific Dynasty. They had shamed all of the Necron race by they're actions... Yet the Silent King allowed them to endure,  they would be needed in times to come...

In the closing stages of the 41st Millennium the death of the Caracol Binary Star, erupting in a supernova would be the clarion call for the Dynasty to arise from their 60 million year slumber.  The Orphean Sector would soon bear the brunt of the horror of the Necrons. Only the forces of the Death Korps of Krieg,  and the Minotaurs Space Marine Chapter would be able to stand in there way.  Indeed at the end Lord Asterion Moloch would fight against Kutlakh the World Killer aboard the bridge of his Cairn-Class Battleship, and both would be blown out into the deep of space. But the Chapter Master of the Minotaurs has survived worse,  and Necrons are not known to die so easily....

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So I hope you all enjoyed the above and are maybe considering picking up Imperial Armour 12. The book, though out of date is still an amazing piece of background, and the effort put into it really shows. I decided not to go too far in, as its perfectly paced and is a great read and I would suggest it on these alone. Other great things with the book, is that it includes Legendary Battles for you to play as the Necrons attack the Orphean Sector and are just like time of war missions,  perfect for the hobbyist who likes to try their hand at historical battles. I had originally expected these to be designed at Apocalypse scale,  but actually are designed from 1500pt battles up, which was great to see. Also for the narrative and campaign players,  we have the usual campaign system which also looks a lot of fun especially using the legendary missions. It's great to get into the events of the universe, a trend Age of Sigmar is really embracing,  and I hope 40k continues to do the same!

Until next time
Jonathan

Unit Perusal: Canoptek Tomb Sentinel

Welcomes Back Ladies and Gents,  we're today we continue our look at the new (the book and models have been out a while - Evil Daemon-Monkey on Shoulder) units for Necrons in Imperial Armour 12.

Today we look at the little brother of the Canoptek Tomb Stalker,  no not the Canoptek Spider,  this bad boy...

The Canoptek Tomb Sentinel, is a variation on the Tomb Stalker construct,  cited as one of the final war machines designed by Toholk the Blinded (maybe this means he is also responsible for designing the Stalker as well...). With a comparable statline and special rules to the Stalker, also being a monstrous creature, the Sentinel however forego's 2 attacks to gain the Exile Cannon.

The Exile Cannon is a 12in StrX, Ap- Heavy 1, small Blast, weapon with the exile blast rule. Now this does not look good until you look at the rules for exile blast,  which state that all models under the template equate to the number of hits resolved against the unit. Randomly determined models must then pass a strength test or be removed from play,  with units with no str value auto passing. Vehicles and buildings suffer an automatic penetrating hit with no saves possible.

This works beautifully with the Tomb Sentinel's Deep Strike, outflank and fleet special rules and could be considered to be a great way to deal with enemy armour and elite units. Twinning the Sentinel and the Stalker together as well, could make a great combo for hunting super heavy vehicles and Gargantuan creatures. And with non-vehicle Lords of War,  a great way to remove pesky units that could be a major hindrance. Chapter Master with Shield Eternal, no problem,  one failed straight check and buh-buy. At 39 melta bombs I feel this unit is an absolute steal. It might not have the close combat output of the Stalker,  but I feel keeping Rampage nicely offsets this downside. Overall I think this unit might actually be slightly better over all compared to its brother. Also always make sure to have the points to take sepulchral scarabs to increase its survivability.

Of all its rules,  only the ability to take a gloom prism needs amending for use with the current codex as the way the equipment works now is different to how it was in IA:12. Just use the current codex ruling and this will slot straight into any Necron list nicely in the heavy support slot. I feel it would also work brilliantly in a themed battle where you have another mecha-bug to defend your Tomb Complex (which funnily enough is what we will be looking at next time).

What do you think of the Tomb Sentinel,  good? Bad? Meh? Let us know in the comments.

Until next time,
Jonathan

Fantasy Poster Girls in the Age of Sigmar (...Sort of... ... Mostly...)

So Ladies and Gents,

Its been a wee while since I last dipped my feet into the well of possibilities that is Age of Sigmar. So today I thought we would have a look at,  in one of my opinions,  one of the game systems strongest attributes - strong female representation.

Now I won't get into the mirky mess that is, feminism in gaming, and the lack of strong female character models in other gaming systems, as this has been covered by people more knowledgeable than myself,  though for myself I have great expectations for Warhammer 40,000 in particular with the re-release of Saint Celestine, in her beautiful new cast (I can't wait to get my hands on her model...  Wait...  That doesn't sound quite right... Swif-tly moving on...), the Geminae Twins and, what this may mean for the return of Sisters of Battle.

So getting back to the Age of Sigmar,  this foundation of representation of female characters could only be achieved by the stellar work that was put into the Old World and exhibiting it with Warhammer Fantasy Battles.

...Thrums Melodic Harp... 

If we take a trip back down memory lane (for me,  what are you doing here in my head? Wait for me to type it...), just before the End times were upon us in WHFB, I was in a hobby rut,  so I did what any heathen and Heretic would do,  and started looking at other gaming systems.  Not wanting to stray too far from the pack,  I began looking into the fantasy range of miniatures by Games workshop.

But making such a decision is always hard to make,  so I turned to the most important person in my life,  my other half Kelly. After much humming to and fro over what army to start we settled on the Dark Elves, primarily because of the amazing hairdos that the Witch elves had (you can imagine which one if us used this as the major deciding factor... Bonus hint I am going bald 😝).

That's some proper rockers hair there,  bring back memories of being able to mosh

But if we look past the hair for a moment we can see a breakthrough in the development and production of these figures. No longer was dynamic and accurately (for the time) body proportions used outside of character models,  but to showed that games workshop could design the female form for base units, without necessarily being used for titillation as many other companies were, and are won't to do even today (I'm looking at you raging heroes - yes they look amazing but they are just miniature titillation).

At this point it would be remiss of me not to mention the Bloodrack Medusa,  also produced at the same time as the Witch Elves, and the infamous breast that was brought up at the time on the Internet.  But if we look at the concept of the model, that it is aiming to show the twisting of, what is considered to be beautiful, to the horrific, we can see that showing of what maybe consider taboo has gone beyond merely physical to something more psychological and deeply troubling. Maybe I'm reading into this too much,  but I like to think these sort of considerations go a long way to making a great model,  and personally I think the medusa is.

Who says snakes can't be blue

At the start of the article I showed a picture of my WIP for Valkia the Bloody, another great model (but one I wish they had kept in metal, only because her spear Slaupnir really would benefit from pinning due to the small joint at the wrist). She is our power fantasy for females, and in my opinion the best character in the Bloodbound Battletome. Just like how she plays in the game she is aesthetically modelled to be fast,  agile and utterly deadly. A misconception I have seen previously, is that power fantasys are usually limited to the over-muscled killing machine,  and though Space Marines fill this aspect nicely nine come close as Skarr Bloodwrath. Dude is ripped, so ripped he looks like he burst out of his skin.  So I love the juxtaposition of these characters, diametrically opposed aesthetically,  but filling the same outlet as a painter and a gamer.

Games Workshop has a great opportunity coming up with the highly anticipated Aelves releases for all of the previous iterations (High,  Dark and Wood), which has been shown with the recent Mistweaver Saih for Warhammer Quest: Silver Tower,  to really make some astounding female characters. I look forward to seeing what they bring us soon.

Soon my pretty... Soon it will not be too wet to base spray you... 

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.

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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

Flash back - First foray into blogging

Good Evening Everyone,
In a little bit of self agrandisement,  I present to you my first proper blog article (not counting my introduction article) which did not even feature here on Dragons Eye! This post originally appeared on the Krakaddict.blogspot.co.uk, run by one of my best friends and gaming buddies,  I sincerely hope you pop over there and give it a look.  This is what started it all off for me,  and having jumped from barely having any page views in the first few months here on Dragons Eye up to a whopping 6269 page views just last month (not sure if I should trust bloggers counting,  but I'm still amazingly proud)! I hope you all enjoy,  and I promise to keep trying to bring you all new and exciting articles as often as I can!

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Azrael,  He doesn't deserve Eternal Warrior

Hello again, thy gorgeous unclean masses! Put away your flaming brands, and pitchforks as I regale you with my words of wisdom.

I once more stand (sit... I'm sitting...) before this pulpit of communication known as the interwebz, to tell you that the mighty Azrael, Supreme Grand Daddy of the First Legion Astartes... (Ahem... Emperor preserve me I've got a cough)... the First Chapter of Dark Angels!, does not deserve the Eternal Warrior Special Rule!

Now, before the weeping and gnashing of fanboy teeth try to oust me from my lofty perch, I entreat thee to have patience, and listen intently.

Many a Dark Angels' player has lamented the lack of Eternal Warrior in Azraels' unit profile; and having put this down to "apparent" GW ineptitude.  However I feel this not to be the case. I see the reasons deep in the churling maelstrom of that vast bloated behemoth that is, the 40k universe (...hides third eye).

Those brooding visages of manliness that are the Dark Angels, hiding under their bathrobes (I'm wearing mine too right now it's a lovely mauve col...) are but a facet of a theological idea perpetrated by the imperium - read: GW.  This is an idea that harkens to that deep seeded need of the masses to be saved; be it man, god, or angels falling from heaven upon roaring pillars of flames!

The Dark Angels shun all spurious honours, not the fancy baubles and trinkets of other chapters for them! Honour and respect are fought for! They are earned upon the altar of adversity and sacrifice! And it is this which we must focus on.

Azrael is a Hero. No doubt.  For the masses to fully appreciate the sacrifices made for them, grand heroes must make that ultimate sacrifice and die, for otherwise there is no danger, no fear of what may happen.  There must be a cost. Azrael is that example, a sacrifice waiting to happen in the face of adversity; to put his life on the line to save the day! Chapter Masters come and go... But Azrael stands as a testament to an idea that not all men are created equal, some are more important in one moment, a moment that can change the course of many.

I put it to you that Azrael does not deserve the Eternal Warrior Special Rule, he deserves much much more...

ps.I'm an actual Dark Angels player myself, and in all honesty, I think I wouldn't change Azrael for the world. He's a dude. End of.

pps. Coming soon to a blog article near you soon!

Aesthetically Inspired: Step by Step Painting guides by Ian and myself! Tau are inbound...

Armies of the End Times!: Myself and Ians current armies, the progression of a hobby addiction!

Until next time, Keep those Braziers Burning!