Warhammer 40K Tabletop XXX: Imperium After Dark

[Eldan]

You know, every time I google Tyranid units, I come across Roman officials and it makes it more clear that they really seem to be choosing tyranid unit names at random sometimes. A lictor is a bodyguard, not an assassin. Tyrant guard should be called Lictors. Or Praetorians.

[Turalisj]

I see Eldan has mastered the multiform technique

Here's a potential 2000pt/100pwr Necron list

Spoiler

Show

++ Spearhead Detachment +1CP (Necrons) [50 PL, 995pts] ++

+ HQ +

Overlord [7 PL, 119pts]: Staff of Light

+ Heavy Support +

Annihilation Barge [7 PL, 146pts]: Tesla Cannon

Annihilation Barge [7 PL, 146pts]: Tesla Cannon

Doomsday Ark [10 PL, 203pts]

Monolith [19 PL, 381pts]

++ Battalion Detachment +3CP (Necrons) [50 PL, 1006pts] ++

+ HQ +

Cryptek [6 PL, 104pts]: Staff of Light

Overlord [7 PL, 119pts]: Staff of Light

+ Troops +

Necron Warriors [6 PL, 120pts]: 10x Necron Warrior

Necron Warriors [6 PL, 120pts]: 10x Necron Warrior

Necron Warriors [6 PL, 120pts]: 10x Necron Warrior

Necron Warriors [6 PL, 120pts]: 10x Necron Warrior

+ Elites +

Lychguard [8 PL, 150pts]: 5x Lychguard, Warscythe

+ Fast Attack +

Tomb Blades [5 PL, 153pts]
. Tomb Blade: Nebuloscope, Shieldvanes
. . Two Tesla Carbines: 2x Tesla Carbine
. Tomb Blade: Nebuloscope, Shieldvanes
. . Two Tesla Carbines: 2x Tesla Carbine
. Tomb Blade: Nebuloscope, Shieldvanes
. . Two Tesla Carbines: 2x Tesla Carbine

++ Total: [100 PL, 2001pts] ++

[Theodoric]

Stay away from superglue. Almost any superglue I've ever had not only makes a giant mess, but also has a tendency to go brittle when dry, which can lead to small parts falling off after some use. Get a modelling glue, pretty much everyone I know uses Revell.

You may need separate glues for plastic, metal and resin, though.

I second this; it's always better to get proper glue than simply to superglue everything. Back in the old days when GW still used metal models extensively I put almost everything together with super glue for expediency, and right now that decision's come back to haunt me. Especially with mixed plastic/metal models (old battlesuits and sentinels, mostly); they fall apart very easily.

Revell's indeed got excellent plastic modelling glue. With GWs move towards plastic it's been my go-to glue and it hasn't failed me yet.

[Tvtyrant]

I see Eldan has mastered the multiform technique

Here's a potential 2000pt/100pwr Necron list

Spoiler

Show

++ Spearhead Detachment +1CP (Necrons) [50 PL, 995pts] ++

+ HQ +

Overlord [7 PL, 119pts]: Staff of Light

+ Heavy Support +

Annihilation Barge [7 PL, 146pts]: Tesla Cannon

Annihilation Barge [7 PL, 146pts]: Tesla Cannon

Doomsday Ark [10 PL, 203pts]

Monolith [19 PL, 381pts]

++ Battalion Detachment +3CP (Necrons) [50 PL, 1006pts] ++

+ HQ +

Cryptek [6 PL, 104pts]: Staff of Light

Overlord [7 PL, 119pts]: Staff of Light

+ Troops +

Necron Warriors [6 PL, 120pts]: 10x Necron Warrior

Necron Warriors [6 PL, 120pts]: 10x Necron Warrior

Necron Warriors [6 PL, 120pts]: 10x Necron Warrior

Necron Warriors [6 PL, 120pts]: 10x Necron Warrior

+ Elites +

Lychguard [8 PL, 150pts]: 5x Lychguard, Warscythe

+ Fast Attack +

Tomb Blades [5 PL, 153pts]
. Tomb Blade: Nebuloscope, Shieldvanes
. . Two Tesla Carbines: 2x Tesla Carbine
. Tomb Blade: Nebuloscope, Shieldvanes
. . Two Tesla Carbines: 2x Tesla Carbine
. Tomb Blade: Nebuloscope, Shieldvanes
. . Two Tesla Carbines: 2x Tesla Carbine

++ Total: [100 PL, 2001pts] ++

I feel like in this edition you need some amount of Deathmarks to deal with special characters. Comissars hiding behind blobs, nobz with banners, and assassins all basically require precision shooting to kill.

[Closet_Skeleton]

As for brushes, Im rusty but I think you just need a 00 and a 000, with a number 4 for dry brushing. Those should only be a couple of dollars at most art stores.

Cheap brushes are worthless for anything other than drybrushing.

The current GW brush range is on par with other synthetic brushes quality wise but I'm never wasting money on a synthetic brush again.

Which is cheaper, a £8 brush that lasts a year or a £2 one that lasts three weeks at best?

Cheap brushes aren't even cheap, that's how awful they are for miniatures painting. For painting on canvas and other traditional media you can ironically use as ****ty brushes as you want even for professional work.

[druid91]

What do you think? Good first paint job? There are a few spots that need touch ups I think.

[Requizen]

Looks cool to me dude, but hard to make out the details given the setup. I like the scheme though.

[Eldan]

Seems to me you're about at the detail and skill level of me five years in. A bit much wash in a few places, but that takes some practice anyway.

[Brookshw]

What do you think? Good first paint job? There are a few spots that need touch ups I think.

Very solid first paint job. By way of constructive feedback, little light on the washes in some places (specifically some guns), but that's an personal taste thing. Could use a bit more highlighting, especially on the capes/hoods.

[Trekkin]

I'm with Eldan; the capes in particular are perhaps too thickly washed. They look greasy rather than textured (which might be what you want.) You could also consider drybrushing the plasma coils and eyes more lightly; right now they look so bright I was looking for object-source lighting on the rest of the model.

Other than that it's very well done, particularly for a first paint job. Your brush control is solid and you actually thinned your paints appropriately; all my quibbles are stylistic, really.

[druid91]

Yeah, for the first couple of Skitarii I used my largest brush, thinking I'd get a nice broad even coating without realizing how much wash the big brush can pick up.

It's​ super apparent on the alpha with the big dark spot by his knee.

As for the guns, I lacked some of the colors I needed so they're bare primer in the center. On the basic guns anyway.

[boomwolf]

I'm with Eldan; the capes in particular are perhaps too thickly washed. They look greasy rather than textured (which might be what you want.)

As someone who was in an actual army, uniforms DO tend to get all dirty and messy like that, especially when working with heavy machines (them guns and tracks are fountains for oil, grease and filth)
And that's in training regime, not even in actual war. once you hit the warzone, you are only getting messier.

"Clean" just does not exist in war.

[Trekkin]

As someone who was in an actual army, uniforms DO tend to get all dirty and messy like that, especially when working with heavy machines (them guns and tracks are fountains for oil, grease and filth)
And that's in training regime, not even in actual war. once you hit the warzone, you are only getting messier.

"Clean" just does not exist in war.

You're looking at models of the cyborg priest-technicians of a geologically-old mecha dragon star god (masquerading as the cyborg priest-techncians of an empire run by a corpse in a chair who's been keeping a lighthouse running in Hell for ten millennia), they're carrying almost literal plasma squirt guns, and to top it all off their cloaks are green, but it's the dirt or lack thereof that strikes you as unrealistic?

I'm not doubting your experience or your expertise; I'm saying druid91 can paint models however they like and the results will have about as much to do with war as I do, so maybe we should be focusing on whether they've reached the effect they like rather than worrying about whether that effect is "realistic." If they want realism, there's more than enough reference material for them to work from and people more than ready to volunteer more.

[LansXero]

Cheap brushes are worthless for anything other than drybrushing.

The current GW brush range is on par with other synthetic brushes quality wise but I'm never wasting money on a synthetic brush again.

natural bristle brushes are like 1$ around here; sorry for forgetting not everywhere is the same.

[boomwolf]

You're looking at models of the cyborg priest-technicians of a geologically-old mecha dragon star god (masquerading as the cyborg priest-techncians of an empire run by a corpse in a chair who's been keeping a lighthouse running in Hell for ten millennia), they're carrying almost literal plasma squirt guns, and to top it all off their cloaks are green, but it's the dirt or lack thereof that strikes you as unrealistic?

I'm not doubting your experience or your expertise; I'm saying druid91 can paint models however they like and the results will have about as much to do with war as I do, so maybe we should be focusing on whether they've reached the effect they like rather than worrying about whether that effect is "realistic." If they want realism, there's more than enough reference material for them to work from and people more than ready to volunteer more.

My point was that the dirt and grit looks right.
It's not quite realizem and more asthetics, and dirty and gritty fits the models as they probably are like that in setting.

[Cheesegear]

Yup. Though I've put my Grey Knight plans on hold for now, I'm glad I've got an entire Guard army to put them into; I think those complement each-other nicely.

GK used to have Inquisition in it. Then it was taken out and GKs basically died, because people can't possibly buy two Codecies, and have to play GKs by themselves.
If you put Acolyte-like units back into Grey Knights (e.g; Guard, though I'd go with MTs), and give them Snipers, Plasma and Melta. Suddenly GKs are fine.

I feel sorry for Xenos players (except Aeldari), because their options for Allies was shafted and as an indirect result, they all got worse. Except for Orks.

[lord_khaine]

Is Necrons that much worse off? They do seems like they got most things they would need in their own codex.

[snowblizz]

My point was that the dirt and grit looks right.
It's not quite realizem and more asthetics, and dirty and gritty fits the models as they probably are like that in setting.

Well, to most other miniature wargamer it looks like overapplication of washes. Specifically the exact effect you get on a large even surface that creates a tension zone collecting the pigments in all the wrong places.

Absolutely fine as a first attempt, or even last if one is so inclined. But I disagree on the looking right. It's a bit like having unpainted stones on bases and dioramas, they don't look quite real.

[Theodoric]

I feel sorry for Xenos players (except Aeldari), because their options for Allies was shafted and as an indirect result, they all got worse. Except for Orks.

Well, at least Tyranids have Genestealer Cults to back them up these days.

[Gauntlet]

GK used to have Inquisition in it. Then it was taken out and GKs basically died, because people can't possibly buy two Codecies, and have to play GKs by themselves.
If you put Acolyte-like units back into Grey Knights (e.g; Guard, though I'd go with MTs), and give them Snipers, Plasma and Melta. Suddenly GKs are fine.

I feel sorry for Xenos players (except Aeldari), because their options for Allies was shafted and as an indirect result, they all got worse. Except for Orks.

I think Tau are pretty good now still - it's just that the things that are good now (Gun Drones, Crisis Commanders with all the guns, Stormsurge) don't line up with the things that were good last edition (Riptides). Ghostkeels, Broadsides and Fire Warriors are all still solid, though. They don't have the diversity of units that some of the other factions have available, but both Tau and Necrons have good enough in-faction tools to get most needed jobs done. I don't think there is anything either faction is horribly missing, although both of them could do with some more psychic defense and Necrons' heavy weapons are a lot of points. They should both be helped by the FW Index: Xenos, too.

Tyranids at least have access to Guard units via Genestealer Cults. An army of a Tyranids detachment, a GSC detachment, and an Astra Militarum detachment seems like it would have a pretty good number of solid options, including all the flavors of ranged weapon you might need (Sniper, anti-tank, anti-horde). If you wanted to, you could just jam a hijacked Baneblade variant into any GSC list which seems like an interesting option.

[Tome]

It'd be nice if Tau got a similar option to take IG as Gue'vesa auxiliaries.

[Brookshw]

It'd be nice if Tau got a similar option to take IG as Gue'vesa auxiliaries.

Yeah. But wouldn't it be kind of strange for IG tanks not to sport some Tau weapons, or guards w/ tau rifles? They could definitely do it (perhaps w/ conversion packs), but I could see the investment not having enough of a ROI for GW. Would be cool though.

[Tome]

Yeah. But wouldn't it be kind of strange for IG tanks not to sport some Tau weapons, or guards w/ tau rifles? They could definitely do it (perhaps w/ conversion packs), but I could see the investment not having enough of a ROI for GW. Would be cool though.

The one incidence of gue'vesa we've had so far were armed with lasrifles/autorifles with the option to upgrade to tau weaponry, if I recall. So presumably they still use their old IG/PDF gear for the most part.

I wouldn't say no to a conversion kit though.

[Brookshw]

The one incidence of gue'vesa we've had so far were armed with lasrifles/autorifles with the option to upgrade to tau weaponry, if I recall. So presumably they still use their old IG/PDF gear for the most part.

I wouldn't say no to a conversion kit though.

IG heavy weapons teams manning rail guns or what have you, I could dig it. Wonder if FW will fill such a niche.

[druid91]

So I've been trying to think of a way to run a narrative campaign without having it become too complicated.

My thoughts so far are to make it risk-esque. You have a map split into regions. One of which is each factions home base in the sector.

Roll a d6, then you make up your factions secret objectives equal to the number rolled. Show Each objective to another player. Not necessarily the same one every time. Eg: Space Wolves player decides it's his objective to kill the warlord of the thousand sons warband. He shares this secret with the Ork player.

Power is 15 + VP accrued across the games.

At the start of every round everyone rolls. Highest can decide to attack a region or not. Then it moves on to the next, etc etc. Until the round is done. Everyone cashes in VP for power. Spends power on units and the next round begins.

[Cheesegear]

Is Necrons that much worse off? They do seems like they got most things they would need in their own codex.

Since I'm trying to make my Necrons work, while I wait for a Codex Space Marines to come out so I know what colours to paint my new models, I - and the other Necron player - in my meta - and confirmed by Requizen right here in this thread - that Necrons have a lot of things that they need. Unfortunately, it's just not very good, and the improvements made in the Necron army list, doesn't measure up to the improvements made in other army lists.

In short, I'm only running Necrons until the Space Marine Codex comes out.

[Gauntlet]

Since I'm trying to make my Necrons work, while I wait for a Codex Space Marines to come out so I know what colours to paint my new models, I - and the other Necron player - in my meta - and confirmed by Requizen right here in this thread - that Necrons have a lot of things that they need. Unfortunately, it's just not very good, and the improvements made in the Necron army list, doesn't measure up to the improvements made in other army lists.

In short, I'm only running Necrons until the Space Marine Codex comes out.

If any of the Necron stuff in the Forgeworld book - Night Shroud, Tesseract Ark, Canoptek Sentinel, Tomb Stalker, Acanthrites, Pylons - provides reasonably cheap anti-tank weaponry, I could see them being pretty good.

[Requizen]

Since I'm trying to make my Necrons work, while I wait for a Codex Space Marines to come out so I know what colours to paint my new models, I - and the other Necron player - in my meta - and confirmed by Requizen right here in this thread - that Necrons have a lot of things that they need. Unfortunately, it's just not very good, and the improvements made in the Necron army list, doesn't measure up to the improvements made in other army lists.

In short, I'm only running Necrons until the Space Marine Codex comes out.

Pretty much my feelings. We have a lot of good stuff, but the way points work out for it means it's not really as good as it seems. Like, Flayed Ones seem baller, until you realize you're paying a point more per model than Death Company with Jump Packs, who I would place a lot higher on the power scale.

A couple good Necron players around me are saying how good Silver Tide is, but honestly I don't see the fun in catching shooting and then hoping you can chip them down faster than they can kill 20 man units. Sure it's probably good for objective games, but I like at least having the ability to remove enemy models with reliability, and you pay out the nose for anything that does serious damage.

Gonna try Destroyerwing and keep on keeping on, but I'm eyeing up a new army in the next few months. I think Necrons are probably fine overall but I don't like the direction they've gone with them, personally.

[Requizen]

If any of the Necron stuff in the Forgeworld book - Night Shroud, Tesseract Ark, Canoptek Sentinel, Tomb Stalker, Acanthrites, Pylons - provides reasonably cheap anti-tank weaponry, I could see them being pretty good.

Truth. I don't mind buying a Pylon or Sentry Pylons (don't think my conversions are that good) if they kick butt.

[Gauntlet]

Pretty much my feelings. We have a lot of good stuff, but the way points work out for it means it's not really as good as it seems. Like, Flayed Ones seem baller, until you realize you're paying a point more per model than Death Company with Jump Packs, who I would place a lot higher on the power scale.

A couple good Necron players around me are saying how good Silver Tide is, but honestly I don't see the fun in catching shooting and then hoping you can chip them down faster than they can kill 20 man units. Sure it's probably good for objective games, but I like at least having the ability to remove enemy models with reliability, and you pay out the nose for anything that does serious damage.

Gonna try Destroyerwing and keep on keeping on, but I'm eyeing up a new army in the next few months. I think Necrons are probably fine overall but I don't like the direction they've gone with them, personally.

A couple blobs of Warriors in front of some Crypteks and Nightbringer/Deceiver/Orikan seems like it would be solid. Can't shoot the threats until you've dealt with the Warriors and that's going to take quite a while.

The Forgeworld Wraith variants in particular will probably help the army, since I'm pretty sure you can give them Meltagun equivalents, meaning you can 'Infiltrate' them with the Deciever and have pretty reliable damage output - and they're probably less points than Heavy Destroyers, at least.