Sunday 13 November 2011

Army transport alternatives


*The products mentioned below are the intellectual property of the companies that provide them, and are copyrighted by law. I just mention them for informative purposes.*

Yesterday I was in my local GW, wanting to pre-order the limited edition army cases that are coming out for the holiday season. Luckily, the manager, who is also a personal friend of mine, said he could also keep one in the back for me on the day of release, so I didn't have to preorder it.

I'm glad I did that, cuz when I was on my way home, I thought I'd check to see what alternatives there were in that price range, and I figure I might as well share my 'research' with the blogging-community.

The reason I wanted a carrying case for my models is that I've been using a cheap DIY alternative up till now, and it's fine for tanks, but not for infantry. Yesterday, on my way to GW, three models broke. Not in a major way, all easy to fix, but still, it made me decide to get a better solution to carrying my models, since I bring them with me pretty much once a week.

At first glance, the big limited edition GW cases seemed like a good solution. They had the loadout I wanted (4" pluck foam and some infantry trays) and they're plenty sturdy. They also come with a 40k logo, which is a tiny little plus. What I didn't like was the color of liquid bowel contents, or the size. I would prefer a case that's shaped more like the monster case, where the layers or foam are all stacked. I also would prefer a space for my dice, ruler, books and templates, outside of the foam.

The limited edition GW Army Case
I usually take either the car or public transport to wherever I'm going, so I don't really need a hard shell case. What I want is something that'll keep my models apart, snug in their own little space, without pressing on eachother or chipping paint. Therefore, any carrier that has foam trays will do. In fact, a bag usually supplies the extra space for gaming accessories I want.

I knew Battlefoam did great bags, but also remembered they were expensive, because they had protective hard shells in their bags. I checked anyway for good measure, the PACK 432 seemed to carry the amount of foam I wanted, but would be a lot more expensive than the GW one.

Battlefoam P.A.C.K. 432

I then checked KR Multicases, but their site was too confusing for me to even bother with their products.

From there I went on to Feldherr, they did a nice case, their Hardcase XL, which worked out about 20% cheaper then the GW one with a similar foam loadout. They also had free shipping throughout Europe for all orders over €50, which was an added bonus. The Hardcase XL was one to consider.

Feldherr Hard Case XL
Then I checked Sabol, but they don't ship outside the US, so tough luck for me.

I still had the Battlefoam website open in another tab, and just quickly browsed through it as I was closing tabs, when I noticed a link saying 'BF Shield Bag'. Hadn't heard of it before, so I decided to check it out. What they did is take their amazing product, took out the stuff I didn't want, and dropped the price to something I could afford! I put it in my shopping basket, browsed the site some more, went back to the Shield Bag, and suddenly saw the price increased by about 20%!

Battlefoam SHIELD Bag
Luckily, I still had my shopping basket open in another tab, with the product at it's previous price in there. I hesitated no more and pre-ordered it straight away. Expected shipping date is 7 weeks away, sadly, but it still worked out 15% cheaper than the GW one. The GW case does have more spaces for infantry models, but the BF bag comes with a large infantry tray, for models with large bases, which I personally prefer. It's also not the color of diarrhea, which is good. The only thing I don't have, is the 40k logo, lol.

Hope this post helps someone else find a good army transport solution! As always, thanks for reading, comments are most welcome!

Thursday 10 November 2011

Concept 1750 Necron List

Picture 'borrowed' from here

Been a while since my last post, have been busy reading the new Necrons Codex ofcourse. Painting has taken a step back for the past week because of this, but I'm hoping to get started on the new models I bought on release day: the Command Barge and the accompanying Overlord.

I also bought Trazyn the Infinite, but now that I'm getting a bit of an idea where I want this army to go, I doubt I'll use him. Have yet to read most of the fluff, so some changes in direction might still be made, who knows.

Let's move on to the title topic. This is the first list that I've produced from the new book that I'm sorta content with. It centers around a large, slow-moving 'firebase' behind a pseudo AV13 wall, with several fast moving 'harassment' units moving on the flanks.


Phaeron Overlord   180
- Warscythe
- Sempiternal Weave
- Resurrection Orb
- Mindshackle Scarabs

Overlord   180
- Warscythe
- Catacomb Command Barge

20x Warriors   260

9x Warriors   232
- Ghost Ark

9x Warriors   232
- Ghost Ark

7 Canoptek Scarabs   105

Triarch Stalker   150

2 Canoptek Spyders   125
- 1 Fabricator Claw Array
- 1 Gloom Prism

Royal Court   105
- 3 Harbingers of Destruction

Annihilation Barge   90
- Gauss Cannon

Annihilation Barge   90

- Gauss Cannon

Total points: 1749


The Phaeron joins the 20 Warriors, making them Relentless so they get a threat range of 30". He is also been built for assaults, to help ensure the Warriors don't get sweeped too easily.

The Harbingers split up and join the 3 Warrior Groups.

The two Ghost Arks provide moving cover for the large group of footsloggers and a way to get troops to objectives reasonably quickly. They can also repair any fallen Warriors, and it serves as a gun platform for the units inside. Because they'll be moving 6" along with the large group of Warriors, the embarked unit can still shoot.

The Triarch Stalker stays close to the large group, threatening vehicles to stay away due to Melta range, and hiding behind the Ghost Arks for cover if needed.

The Command Barge and the Scarabs go around the flanks to harass some vehicles or unmoving units such as Long Fangs.

The Annihilation Barges advance alongside the large group, attempting to shoot anything that gets too close for comfort.

The Spyders add a bit more presence to the assault phase if needed, as well as psychic defense for the large firing base, and the ability to repair the vehicles or regenerate the Scarabs, provided those make it back to the large group in one piece.

I can't wait to try this out, I think killpoints will be ok, objectives might be a pain, but my Troops are quite durable with those Ghost Arks. We'll see =D

As always, thanks for reading, any comments are appreciated!

p.s. I can't wait for those Armybuilder files to come out!

Thursday 3 November 2011

"Their number is legion, their name is Death"

I present to you today, a personal first! I have my first fully painted army! (until Saturday probably)
Been busy the past few days, hence the lack of daily painting updates. I did paint a week's worth of models (in Scarabs) so my 'challenge' is still on.

Here's the pics of what is now roughly 1500pts of Necrons, I hope 1000+ of that remains with the new codex.