40k: All About Eldar

Almost 20 years ago, when I first started by Dark Templar space marines, Games Workshop revamped the Eldar model range. Naturally, being a twentysomething with lots of cash and few responsibilities I decided to start an Eldar army as well – my Drassan Craftworld Eldar. They had a background, a funky purple colour scheme and I spent a long time painting up 20 Guardians. Many of the other models I purchased never got to see paint and in the end I donated many of them to our resident Eldar player. I kept hold of a few key models though and vowed one day to complete my Eldar army. A familiar story on this blog I think you'll agree and one that is often accompanied by a rolling of the eyes and a wry smile.

Fast forward to present day. I've just dusted off the paints and invested some time and money in resurrecting my Dark Templar marines – so what happens next? That's right! I rediscovered my Eldar models in their (rather dusty) case and thought "They'd be great for our 40k in 40 minutes revival games".

Having decided during the intervening years that my Dark Templar would be represented by a purple colour scheme, the Eldar were looking like sad copycats (despite being the originators of this rather funky colour palette) and in need of a refresh. After lots of contemplation I thought I would test my Blood Angel red recipe and go for a Saim-Hann look.

The test models

All went well and the excitement grew (as it invariably does). I recalled that Bull had acquired the aforementioned Eldar army from our former gaming pal and had resided in his garage for many years - including two house moves – since it last saw the gaming table. Never one to lower himself to using the pointy ears, I asked Bull if he needed to clear some garage space, explaining my readiness to aid his Eldar infestation. He was very receptive and proceeded to catalogue the collection, as indeed it turned out to be an entire collection of Eldar models - many, many more than I had remembered.

The newly acquired Eldar Host…

Last Friday I dropped by on my way home from work and collected the entire lot, much to my wife's disappointment. I spent the evening going through everything. So many memories of past battles held in one cardboard box - the number of models I considered nemesis at one time or another was quite unbelievable. There was something strangely satisfying having them laid out on the table in front of me, knowing their future was in my hands - hahahahaaaa!

Five dusty, falling apart Vypers

I picked out the key models that I wanted to include in my own collection and spent some time fixing, rebuilding and undercoating, ready for their new red colour scheme.

Two solid, undercoated Vyper chassis

No promises here as, already, available hobby time has evaporated in favour of essential chores and family time, but the enthusiasm is still there so I'm hoping to get a few more models painted before they hit the hobby cupboard again. I also have quite a few models to put up on Ebay, some of them quite old and no longer available. However, I'm determined that the Eldar will see the light of day again and face the Orks once more in battle.


To be continued...

My Zombicide: Black Plague Dream Team

Over the last couple of weeks I've been highlighting my choices for a Black Plague Dream Team - the characters that I think make up an elite team for running your average ZBP scenario.

Here's the recap...

THE ATTACKERS:

Xuxa is my main melee choice for the simple reason that she can take down an Abomination from the opening turn. Once tooled up with a couple of decent melee weapons, she's the one you can rely on to take down the big bad guys with ease. She's also pretty nifty with a bow if there is an abundance of gear.

Morgan is my main magic choice. He quickly accumulates additional dice to his magic actions and is the magic equivalent of an assault cannon. He's not suited to take down the bigger foes but when it comes time to clear entire zones, and there's no dragon bile in sight, Morgan is your man. Be warned though he will level up very quickly once let loose.

Cadence is my main ranged choice. She is built to be a sniper thanks to starting with the Marksman skill. Her main role is to take down Necromancers as they roam through the zombie hordes. Give her a Longbow and she can do this from 3 zones away. Because the Longbow won't take up a hand slot she can arm herself with other gear to expand her contributions.

THE SUPPORTERS:

James was added as the main Searcher of the group. His abilities allow him to pick up multiple cards when performing a search action, which will in turn speed up the process of gearing up the survivors. He also has ranged and magic skill available later on so will support in combat as the game progresses.

Theo is my runner. He starts the game with the Sprint ability, allowing him to move faster than anyone else. His main role will be to run about the place, opening doors early on and grabbing objectives before the zombies numbers start to tell. He is also decent in a fight which will help him achieve his goal when out on his own, as well as when supporting the rest of the team.

Gowan is my tank, plain and simple. His ability to regenerate lost wounds means that he can be thrown into the thick of things and make sure other key members of the team don't die. He needs to be given a shield and armour as soon as possible to enhance his wound-taking ability. Once he's levelled to max he becomes immune to certain zombie types, making him untouchable... almost.

So there you go. That's my Dream Team. It's been fun doing the theory-crafting but the real test will coming on the gaming table. Some of these characters have already proved themselves, some yet to be tested.

I'd be interested to see if anyone has alternative characters in their Dream Team, and why.

Black Plague: The Dream Team – part 6

This penultimate post in the Dream Team series is a day later than anticipated - I thought I'd ramp up the drama! Earlier this week I inducted character number 5 into the team, who gets the final spot and why?

All best laid plans can go awry, even if you're running an elite team (have you seen Predator?), so it helps to have someone around who can mitigate any problems should your team have a round of shooting blanks or hitting like a schoolgirl. Basically you need either a tank (someone who can take the hits for the team) or a healer (someone who can recover any lost wounds). The ideal would of course be someone who can do both.

There is a healing spell floating around in the gear deck but you're probably better off giving that to someone with the Spellcaster skill should it appear, in effect making it a free heal. Spellcasting and tanking don't tend to go hand in hand so we may need to look elsewhere for an individual to take one for the team.

Another mitigation skill that I discovered is Lifesaver. This allows the character to be able to pull another survivor in an adjacent zone into his zone, pulling them out of danger. That sounds good, but costs an action when there might be better solutions to a situation. Shove has the opposite effect, pushing zombies out of the character's zone into an adjacent one. Another very useful skill, but needs to be tested first I think. Neither of these will be of much use if the zombies get a bonus turn and your character is lying in a pool of his own snot before he can take an action.

The ultimate tanking skill surely has to be Ironclad:X which makes the character immune to attacks from zombie type X. Only one character has this at the beginning - Gregoire - and his immunity is against Zombie Wolfz, which is pretty good. Is it Dream Team quality though? Is it enough?

The only other character that I can see with the Ironclad skill is Gowan, who gets to choose between being immune to Fatties, Walkers or Runners once he reaches red level. That is awesome, the only negative being that he has a lot of levelling up to do before he gets there. The thing that gets him into my Zombicide: Black Plague Dream Team is his opening ability, which is Regeneration.

As we discovered in our Black Plague game day at the beginning of the month, taking a couple of wounds on behalf of your teammates and be able to heal them automatically at the end of the turn is a superb ability to have from the start. Throw in some armour and a shield to negate some of those wounds before they land and you have a true tank! Should things get nasty and Gowan levels into the red, he is now immune to your zombie flavour of choice! Stunning!

So by my reckoning that's my Dream Team complete. Just to be sure all the bases are covered I'll do a recap and a look at the team as a group.