Nid and Blood Angel FAQs are Up

GW has graced us with their rules wisdon after only 7 months for the Nids. So go get them and lets discuss.

First thing to note is that they are actually self contradictory. For Blind Rampage for tyrant guards, they say that if the tyrant is killed in the combat before the tyrant guard have gone they do not get the bonus from the furious charge rule they just got but for the Blood Angels they say that you check the range to the priest for the furious charge when you make the attacks. Those seem to be apply the opposite standard to the same rule. Fail.

Essentially they have also declared that while models my shoot out of vehicles with firepoints, use psychic powers out of vehicles(firepoint for LOS needing power but no firepoint for other powers), and generate area type special affects out of vehicles measured from the hull (thus increasing the range by several inches) you can essential make no affect on those models without a special rule that says you can. Pretty Lame. So you thought you had psychic defenses well I will just stay in my transport and do it out of it. Interesting does a psychic hood affect models operating out of a transport. Nothing the nids have other than Sarge is acting funny does. Fail.

And Not that Nids have many ICs but they cannot get into Spores and you cannot send in empty spores so they lack many of the nice features of normal drop pods.

Lash whips apparently take priority over other wargear and act first allowing the other wargear to have affect so Banshees are still I10 versus them.

While some of the stuff seems fine many continue GW bad rules decisions from recent years. Also still no clarity on the confusing wording of the Hive Guard and coversaves. Also they say that Doom and Mawlocs allow cover saves but do not give a good idea of what standard to use. Logic says doom is a shooting type attack but mawloc is more like a barrage.

Mk I Mars Warhound Titans

More photos of Epic scale stuff. I know that it is not really interesting reading but it is helpful to some of the new people to know what this stuff actually looks like and how many pieces they are made up off.

Today we have the original warhounds. They have a curved shape to them so they are Mars style. Very animallistic crew compartment and chaos like spikes regardless of loyalist of chaos forces. While I like the new designs from Forge World for the 28 mm scale the current GW design is just dreadful compared to these classic pieces.

Legs are 1 piece and used to have a mounting peg that got broken off so I will have to add some pins to get a good mount probably.

The standard weapons are vulcan megabolter and plasma blastgun but this set I got had 2 turbo lasers instead of the plasma blastguns so I will just have to count as for regular games with these guys. Epic does not do WYSIWYG rules so generally as long as something is not a legal choice in your list then you can count it as a something else that is a choice. This weapon configuration is legal in a Titan Legion list though.

All the parts for 2 together including little rings that help the torsos mount to the legs. Overall the only part of the look that has always been strange is that the guns mount so far back on the torso but that is probably a balance thing. I think these are the same scale weapons as found on the Reavers.

Forge World Reaver

Got this is the mail from Forge World a little while ago. Epic scale Reaver Titan. I got this model since its Lucius style matches the Forge World warhounds better than the Mars Reaver GW sells even though I ike the GW better as it still looks exactly like the Reavers of old.

This kit cost the same as the 2 Warhound kit but I think that one is the better buy. They pieces in it just seemed better. This titan comes with a volcano cannon and gatling blaster which are the same main armemant on the current GW Warlord. I wonder of FW just molded those metals to get the weapons.

I think it looks better assembled than the picture on the website appears.





I had some problems getting the feet to sit properly so I will probably have to some clean up work down by the feet.

Epic Eldar: Scorpion with Funny Hex Pattern

So I got this scorpion super heavy tank a little while ago for my very fledgling eldar force. Seems to have a funny hex pattern on it.


Some of the other Eldar stuff like the flyers have a hex pattern but I have never seen it on the super heavies. The current version does not have it and neither does the one shown on epicollector.

Anyone got any ideas if this is a legit GW mini.

Epic: Old Style Whirlwinds

I got some classic Epic whirlwinds off ebay recently. I have decided to divide my Space Marine force into Pre Heresy and 40K style components so these go with the Pre Heresy side.


Metal versions of old Rhino chassis with a very square launcher.

Launcher is pretty sizable compared to the tank body.

Back view shows the missile exhaust vents.

Here is the scale of the launcher. While the old rhino chasis are pretty common these rectangular whirlwinds are not. It you want to make a scratch built one they are about 9/32 long, 7/32 high, and 8/32 deep so you could probably make it out of a 1/4 inch plastic rod as the base with maybe 10/32 length. Then just drill in the hole pattern. The missile ports are like 1/16 in diameter with 3/32 spacing between the two rows.

Epic: Space Marine Drop Pods

So as part of my recent Epic order I also got a pack of space marine drop pods. The pack only contains 2 pods which means if you think of them in 40K terms you will need a ton of packs for an epic force but that is not how they work in Epic Armageddon. The drop pod model is only used to represent deathwind pods that have real attacks. You place the drop pod then it attacks nearby enemy units then you place the rest of its formation around it. So 2 pods will let you drop in 2 formations.


Here are the contents. Nothing really fancy but it does come with a modeled on base which is helpful. A lot of the GW images have bases pictured even though you do not get any.

Here are the assembled Epic Space Marine Drop Pods.

Epic: Space Marine Dreadnoughts

Here is the next in my series showing what you actually get with GW Epic scale purchases compared to what they show you. Today we look at my Space Marine Dreadnoughts which I picked up last month before their price increase. Epic being already overpriced on a per blister basis but not on a army basis 200 dollars gets you a solid army at the standard 3000 point level from GW direct and a real big one from ebay). These 3 dreads clock in at 150 points so like 10 points per dollar compared to 40K Dreadnoughts which are like 3 points per dollar spent.

Starting with the weapons. They come equipped with 1 assault cannon, 1 multimelta, 1 twinlinked lascannon, and 1 missile launcher total for the 3. So you can make 1 of each of these types.

The dreads themselves. Two have built in dreadnought close combat weapons while the last has the mounting points for 2 weapons. Based on the rules this guy gets the lascannon and missiles.


Quick pick of the back sides. These Dreads are probably going to go in my pod unit. Check pack later for assembled pics and pics of the current space marine drop pods.

Barter Bucket: Looking for Epic Stuff

To feed my new fascination with Epic scale warfare, I have placed a general call on the Barter Bucket for epic stuff. Specifically I am looking for Epic Space Marines, Squats, and Eldar plus everyone loves Titans. I have put up to offer some stuff I bought to start fantasy (skull pass, army books and some metal dwarves) that never quite got going plus access to my bits bins.

Here is my listing:

Generally Epic items: Space Marines, Eldar, Squats, Titans

Specifics:

• Epic Eldar Phoenix Bomber
• Epic Eldar Cobra Super Heavy Tank (Old Style)
• Epic Squat Gyrocopters (2)
• Epic Squat Leviathan

Available for trade:

• Blood Bowl Nurgle's Rotter Team (NIB)
• Blood Bowl Individuals: Chaos Beastmen, Nurgle Beastmen, Nurgle Rotter, Khemri Mummies, Khemri Skeletons, High Elf Linemen, High Elf Blitzers
• Blood Bowl 2ed Miniatures: *Lots* Just ask about what you are looking for.
• assorted Space Marine Bits (Plain, Black Templars, Dark Angels, older SW, and Chaos Marine backpacks)
• Assault on Black Reach Orcs
• WHFB Battle for Skull Pass (Whole Set): Most Models Primed Black
• WHFB Orcs and Goblin Army Book
• Dwarves Army Book
• assorted Metal WHFB Minis (year on model) as follows:
• x2 Witch Elves ('99, '00)
• x2 Metal Goblin Fanatics ('91)
• Dwarf Rune Priest ('96)
• Dwarf Engineer ('05)
• Troll Slayer Banner ('96)
• Troll Slayer Musician ('96)
• Troll Slayer Daemon Slayer ('96)
• x8 Troll Slayers
• Dwarf Character: The White Dwarf ('96)
• Deathwing assault cannon
• Terminator heavy flamer
• SM meltaguns
• Ravenwing TL assault cannons

Even if none of this stuff interests you go by the bucket (button on the upper left) to see what people are looking for.

Epic: Space Marine Razorbacks

More looks at GW's current Epic products. Today we open up an Space Marine Razorback set. I am disappointed with the contents here.



You get 4 razorbacks and 4 turrets but since the heavy bolter and lascannon turrets are different you can essential only make 2 of each.
This differs from the GW website picture where they show you 4 heavy bolter razorbacks. So if you assume you get what you need to make the picture you are wrong. For as much as they charge for these now they should include 4 turret sets.

Here they are assembled. One thing that is interesting is that the turrets are forward mounted compared to the more back position in 40K. This is interesting since the whirlwinds are back so they essentially had to do a different mold for this arrangement (might be standard predator mold I have yet to get any of those).

Some people might be wondering why anyone would be posting the contents of old blister packs on a blog. One of the reasons we can see is right here as what you might think you get and what you actually get are different. You cannot ask GW what is in these packs as the customer service people have no idea. I tried that with the space marine character pack. It took warseer like 1 hour to tell me exactly what was in it while GW via email never got the correct answer.

Help Needed: Epic Scale Painting White

I need your help. Anyone know a good way to paint epic scale white. Painting white then washing makes everything look horrible. Should I do it gray then dry brush the white on.