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CRUSADE INTRODUCTION & GAME 1 Mêlée à Two-V-Two Aaaah, it's been too long! Truly, Crusade is the only way to play modern 40K. 10th may not be perfect - far from it - but for largely casual, theme-focused Crusade games? It's a lot of fun. After ending my last Crusade early - you can find how that all ended over on my WIP Thread Post Here - we all took a break to paint something other than Space Marines and Tyranids (and, in one case, to have a child!) before finally getting our act together in January this year to start something fresh. The line up this time is a little more diverse, which is always a good thing. Man cannot live on Marine-Nid matches alone, after all. Here's what everyone is bringing to the party - which may change, we have a few armies that are being tried out, and may be swapped for other options as the Crusade rolls on. - @Agnostic Doggo - The Treachery of Twilight, a Death Guard warband, currently infantry with some vehicle support. - Andrew - Balhaut 23rd Armoured Recon, Imperial Guard with plenty of vehicles. - Heath - The Blood Masons, World Eaters Warband, who may transform into Emperor's Children once those kits get downunder. - James - Craftworld Ulthwé, Infantry with bikes and more to come. - Kieran - WAAAAAAGH Grot-Snicker, a veritable horde of Grot Tanks. - Your Humble Blogsmith - The Ky'Vash Recon Cadre - Disorganised T'au stuff in camo. We're running Pariah Nexus, though I don't believe any of us are that interested in Blackstone, just after a different set of missions to flail at! We're also starting with more evenly painted forces, too! That extra time between Crusades has paid dividends, and we have a minimum of bare plastic, which I just LOVE to see. GAME 1 - TAU & ELDAR VS IMPERIAL GUARD The Engines of Balhaut. The Guns of Ky'Vash. Game one was lightly derailed by a positive COVID test, so we did a mix of 1v1 and 2v1 games, 500+500 against 1,000. Andrew's Guard was most ready to play at that size, so we started with James and I having a team-up. We won, too, with some casualties. My Hammerhead put in some real work, the first casualty of the game - if not for the Crusade as a whole, because by the time we started playing the 1v1 was in full swing - was the unfortunate Chimera it obliterated. It then proceeded to put holes in tanks, and be weirdly hard to hit until finally exploding on turn 4, having sat on top of a building soaked up the attention of both of Andrew's tanks. Poor bugger wasn't lucky with those hit rolls. It was other wise pretty standard. Rough Bikers taking down my Ghostkeel, James' Windriders taking out the other wing, and all our infantry scuffling over the middle objective. My Firewarriors didn't move all game, they just sat on the home objective and blasted away. Love that Fireblade, though he put in WAY more work in game 2. What really matters is that I got to shoot my railgun. Felt good. Balhaut 23rd Armoured Recon - 1,000 points. Craftworld Ulthwé - 500 points.

YTHIRIL WILD HUNTER HOST SILVER SPEARS & FIRE PRISM Three Spears of The Wild Hunt. Iyanneth's mount snarled in her mind, and bucked beneath her with every searing blast she let off with her laser lance. The bike wanted those kills for itself, or better yet to feel the hot wash of Mon-keigh blood against its hull. She soothed it - for a moment - with a gentle push through their psychic link, calming the blood crazed jetbike's proto-soul long enough to allow her next blast to strike through, and tear the leg from the crude, but dangerous walker, which crumpled to the ground as she and her hunt-mates fired past. A bad sign. That her mouth - Athrin - was so lost to The Path, what did that say of her? Too long, perhaps, among the wild and deadly Spears. It was long past the time where a more careful warrior would have stepped from The Path, and engaged oneself elsewhere, but where? What could she do but war, and what war could ever match the joy of swift death, and the searing burn of her lance? To ride the wind among the simple warriors, once-joyous seemed to flat now, so bloodless. Perhaps it would be good to give in, to be an Exarch. To give in as Athrin had, her loyal steed of wraithbone and speed, so fine beneath a gleaming, silver skin. Perhaps it would be good. Iyanneth, Shining Spear Exarch. Two updates today, only one of which I'm terribly happy with. The Shining Spears were a massive pain to assemble, even compared to the other jetbikes, as the wrist-connection made them very awkward to assemble after painting. Those open hands are much more forgiving. Also, I swear these bikes are slightly wider at the ankles. If I end up doing more Shining Spears I'll probably just assemble them on the bike and be done with it. I'll also try a different scheme, because all the silver isn't really working for me. I miss the gradient hull, and while the Exarch's spear tip looks good in red, there isn't enough outside of the green and silver going on. I'll experiment a bit, see what works next time. Illum Zar - Fire Prism. Killing light, a scouring beam that leaps from the crystal tip, and tears apart the dull and lifeless bodies of lesser warmachines. No more fearsome a weapon can be found amongst the Wild Hunt, for no greater weapon can be brought to battle at the speed the Hunt demands, but it is mighty enough. A bonded pair of pilots work in perfect unison as gunner and conveyer, bringing the heat to bear against foes of Ythiril, a weapon of such intricate perfection that any comparison to Imperial Las weaponry is laughable. True, of course, for they ultimately work on similar principals, but it is the difference between an animal swinging a held rock, and a master swordsman swinging a carbon-steel blade. Swift, scouring death. This, on the other hand, I've very happy with. The colour mix feels right, and I'm quite proud of how the cockpits came out. The freehanding isn't my best work, but it's suitable. The crystal may need to be brightened a little, it looks a little too red, but other than that this came together well. Still a pain to assemble, of course. For one thing, the bloody stand doesn't work. The balance is way off, so I can't just plug it in, it seems to require gluing, which I'm not really willing to do here. Needs to be transported somehow, and I know how much flying stands crave death. I'll probably make some other arrangement, possible via magnets. Beyond that, it was also not a perfectly fitted kit. I had to really force the halves together, and didn't quite manage, as you can see with the read of the main chassis. Not quite aligned with the rearmost fins. Oh well. I need to get a mounted hero for the army, and it'll be good for 500 point games. Probably just a Warlock on Jetbike. We'll see. I'm going to hold off on getting a bike Autarch till I know what the new version of that model - when it comes - will have access to.

YTHIRIL WILD HUNTER HOST SHROUD RUNNERS Those who roam beyond the Cold Iron Stars. Precise and true. Bound as it is to a slow, languid procession around the spior- ad a' bhàis - The Doom Spiral - Craftworld Ythiril must send its children out far afield to watch for threats to the long watch. More integrated into the Craftworld than most who walk the Path of the Outcast these rangers often choose to go to war in the style of Ythiril, joining the Wild Hunts on seeds fit for their purpose as harassers, scouts, and sharp-shooters. Rider pairs are often lovers, siblings, or bond-mates, all the better to act as one. - At 80 points a unit I'm going to be working on this little force for a while. Still, it's a fun scheme, nice and methodical, and I think it's coming together nicely with the very grounded, earthy tones and pops of warm spot colours. Need to work on my gems, though. They're a bit naff. These kits were a nightmare to put together. I do everything in assemblies, which meant assembly riders and bikes separately. Easy enough to get away with that on the Windriders, but the cloaks on these elves made it... Less fun. Ah well. Not like I'm likely to do a second squad on these. They're nice to have, but not really the focus. I have a box of Shining Spears ready to go next, and a possible Fire Prism in my immediate future. I was tempted to go with JUST bikes, but no, I think adding in a tank or two works. Eldar tanks are all so zippy anyway, they fit. Just need to decide if I want to grab a Hornet or two... Decisions, decisions.

Here is my first attempt at painting nebulas on models. The 1st pic is an airbrushed painting on a plastic card. After are my stages of completion. Thoughts are always welcome.

Started Eldar this edition. What I have isn’t really optimized, just the units I wanted to paint.

YTHIRIL WILD HUNTER HOST WINDRIDER Riding out in close formation. I've finished the first squad, and had a delightful time. I really liked this kit, even if I ran into some... Problems with my magnetisation. The weapon hole is an awkward size for the magnets I have left over from basing all my Tau, and even more awkwardly my drill bit doesn't fit my hand drill, so I had to do it manually. As such, the guns aren't quite level, with one of them unfortunately droopy. Oh well. Ultimately, I shouldn't have bothered. I've checked the rules and in 10th there's little reason not to take the Shuriken Cannon, especially because it's also the best looking option. I suppose I'll be good to go if they bring points back in 11th. The gradient is pretty close, though looking now I think I used a slightly different paint mix for the test rider. I'm not likely to do more of these until next year, but when I do I'm planning to grab some Shroud Runners. I plan to take one of every bike unit - well, every modern-ish bike unit, I think I'll wait on that Autarch - including the Harlequins, who I'm currently trying to source some alternate heads for. I like the idea of having them be more wild hunt themed, get some deerskull masks in there, some antlers. We'll see what I can dig up.

YTHIRIL WILD HUNTER HOST WINDRIDER Windrider Jetbike with Shuriken Cannon. The core of the Wild Hunt, warrior-bond teams of Windriders scour the battlefield of the enemies of Ythiril, and its charge to guard the Cold Iron Stars. The Craftworld, militaristic and dedicated, blurs the lines between citizen soldiers and the Holy Aspects, especially amongst the main body of the Host, mounted on Jetbikes that will, in time, be coaxed into becoming steeds for their riders through many paths. Note clan-marks on shoulder and wing. - Good lord, it's been a minute! I've actually painted a whole lot of things since my last update back in September, mostly T'au and additional marines for my little Badab project, but haven't really had the drive to photograph and write up blog posts. As good as the Call to Arms was, it did drain my posting energies. I've got like 700 points worth of models that only exist on the site over in the CtA. I'll have to do something about that. Meanwhile, here's an early attempt at my plan for 2025! I'm still on a xenos kick, and will be building an all jetbike (plus some grav tanks) Eldar force! That's the plan, anyway. Craftworld Ythiril is, at this stage, a minor craftworld running a lazy orbit around the ancient and mysterious 'Cold Iron Stars', some standard Weird Space Cuss for the sector I set my armies in. It's been a good year for painting green, for me, after 2023 was all about red. God help us all when I enter by blue period...

This is where I'll post stuff for my Aeldari of all persuasions. I've been working on the Anger & Arrogance event, so let's start this thread with my latest vow (#5 for those keeping track). Vow 5 I'm also considering how to paint future craft world models. I've extended my galaxy pattern to wave serpents so think new craft world faction is in the works. I'm leaning towards gray with teal accents. I tried purple and daemonette hide, but didn't get the look I wanted. I've got a bunch of stuff including: the new combat patrol a guardians box a rangers box 2 boxes of banshees an autarch box On the drukhari side, I've got one and a half combat patrols to paint. I am not pleased with my prior custodes color scheme, so am looking to use a complement to the craftworld colors - possibly teal with orange or light blue highlights.

16 Guardians done for my pirate force. I might touch up some spots, but no hurry.

https://www.warhammer-community.com/2023/12/13/mix-and-match-aspect-warriors-to-create-the-deadliest-blades-of-khaine-kill-team/ This is one of the Asuryani kill teams that I've been waiting for. Short description (for those that haven't read the Warhammer Community article - link above) - you can mix and match Dire Avengers, Howling Banshees, and Striking Scorpions, with one Exarch from one of those shrines, into a single kill team. This is the Craftworlders' "veteran" kill team (I don't count the Anhrathe/Corsairs as "Craftworlders"). All I need now is a Black Guardians kill team and I'll have my Aeldari trifecta.

Seems like Auspex has seen a new Asurman model https://youtu.be/MfXsgB7Ynb8?si=KvLnDkZXhjHsS9xu