The Silent King cont...

Small post today! Too busy building and painting this guy!

Blood Bowl: Champions Of Death

 It's Halloween!

Seemed like a good reason to show off my Blood Bowl Champions of Death Team!

Haven't lost a game with them yet!

9th Edition Necrons - The Silent King

The Silent King is here! Aside from the fact this mini looks amazing, he looks like he will be a bad ass on the battle field as well. Can't wait to get my hands on this one, even if I am a little daunted by the task of painting him up lol. He's not cheap at £95 straight from GW but there are plenty of online stores offering up to 20% off (some with free delivery).

His characteristics change as he suffers damage so lets look at his stats (and his floating companions):

No	Name	M	WS	BS	S	T	W	A	Ld	Sv
1	Szarekh (9+ Wounds remaining)	8"	2+	2+	5	7	16	6	10	3+
1	Szarekh (5-8 Wounds remaining)	6"	2+	2+	5	7	N/A	4	10	3+
1	Szarekh (1-4 Wounds remaining)	4"	2+	2+	5	7	N/A	2	10	3+
1	Triarchal Menhir	8"	6+	2+	5	7	5	1	10	3+

Wounds are little lower than some big bads (Mortarion comes to mind) but he's still bad ass, hitting on 2+ (as expected) and his actual weapons/attacks seem to make up for his strength of 5. Talking of which:

WEAPON	RAMGE	TYPE	S	AP	D	ABILITIES
Annihilator Beam	36"	Heavy 1	12	-4	6	-
Sceptre of Eternal Glory (shooting)	24"	Assault 3	8	-3	2	-
Staff Of Stars (shooting)	24"	Assault 9	6	-2	1	-
Sceptre of Eternal Glory (melee)	melee	melee	+4	-3	2	-
Scythe Of Dust	melee	melee	+3	-4	3	Each time the bearer fights, it makes 4 additional attacks with this weapon and no more than 4 attacks can be made with this weapon.
Staff Of Stars (melee)	melee	melee	12	-4	6	Each time the bearer fights, it makes 3 additional attacks with this weapon and no more than 3 attacks can be made with this weapon.

His melee attacks have me admittedly a little confused at the moment (will have to do some research). Scythe of Dust for example says Each time the bearer fights, it makes 4 additional attacks with this weapon and no more than 4 attacks can be made with this weapon. So is this 4 free attacks or 4 off your 6 total plus the 4 additional attacks for a total of 8? Gut tells me the latter lol The 2 damage shots and melee should prove useful to pick off the Space Marines.

His two floaty companions come with an Annihilator Beam each, which I'm glad are a 2+ to hit as my heavy 1 rolls never land well lol With a strength 12 at 36" range should do some good damage with there -4 AP and 6 flat damage.

As you would expect, he has the Living Metal and Command Protocols abilities and many more:

Noctilith Beacons:

In your opponent's Psychic phase, Szarekh can attempt to deny one psychic power as if he were a Psyker.

Obeisance Generators:

At the start of the fight phase, if there any enemy units within engagement range of Szarekh, then until the end of the phase, those units cannot fight until  after all other eligible units from your army have done so.

Phaeron of the Stars [Aura]:

While a friendly Necrons Core unit or Triarch Praetorians unit is within 6" of Szarekh, each time a ranged attack is made by a model in that unit, you can re-roll the hit roll.

Phaeron of the Blades[Aura]:

While a friendly Necrons Core unit or Triarch Praetorians unit is within 6" of Szarekh, each time a melee attack is made by a model in that unit, you can re-roll the wound roll.

Relentless March [Aura]:

While a friendly Necrons Core unit or Triarch Praetorians unit is within 6" of Szarekh, each time that unit is selected to make a normal move or Advance, until the end of the phase, add 1" to the move characteristic of models in that unit.

My Will be done:

In your command phase, you can select one friendly Necrons Core unit or Triarch Praetorians unit within 9" of Szarekh. Until the start of your next command phase, each time a model in that unit makes an attack, add 1 to that attacks hit roll. Each unit can only be selected for this ability once per turn.

Phaeron:

This model can use its My Will be Done one additional time per turn.

Voice of  the Triarch:

Once per battle, at the start of any battle round, if Szarekh is on the battle field he can alter your command protocols. If he does, the command protocol that you did not assign to any battle rounds before the battle becomes active for our army for that battle round, instead of the one that you assigned to it.

Triarchal Menhir:

While this unit contains any Triarchal Menhirs models, it does not count as a character for the purposes of the Look Out, Sir rule and each time an attack successfully wounds this unit, that attack must be allocated to one of those models. The destruction of Triarchal Menhirs is ignored for the purposes of Morale tests. If Szarekh is ever destroyed, any remaining Triarchal Menhirs in this unit are also destroyed.

The Silent King:

if your army is battle-forged, Szarekh must be your army's Warlord. You receive 3 additional Command points if Szarekh is your Warlord.

Transtemporal Force Field:

Models in this unit have a 4+ invulnerability save.

Preservative Auto-torpor:

If Szarekh has 8 or fewer wounds remaining, it cannot make attacks with it's Staff of Stars and loses the Phaeron of the Stars ability. If Szarekh has 4 or fewer wounds remaining, it cannot make attacks with it's Scythe of Dust and loses the Phaeron of Blades ability.

Vengence of the Enchained:

When Szarekh is destroyed, roll one D6 before removing it from play. On a 4+ it explodes, and each unit within 2D6" suffers D6 mortal wounds.

Wow that's a lot lol +1 to hit on two units, floaty body guards and hit/wound re-rolls to name a few but the last act of defiance with a 4+ to explode doing D6 mortal wounds in 2D6" is a great (and often humorous) final blow lol.

So the Phaeron of the Stars and the Phaeron of the Blades are the two additional Necrons on the platform with Szarekh.The only question remaining is if that of the trapped C'tan shard as the Codex doesn't mention anything around it or why it's there? I can only assume he is there solely to power up The Silent King!

It's nearly November (already!)

 With Halloween coming up, it means it's nearly November. A lot of us are saying that 2020 is a year to forget, it certainly is that, the pandemic is taking it's toll on everyone. Will 2021 be much different though? I hope so!

November see's the release of more codices, namely the Space Wolves and Death Watch, along with their data cards, new units, dice and combat patrol starter boxes.

Spaces Wolves is the main concern for me with the other twin having them as their main army lol The brand-new unit, the Hounds of Morkai is a dedicated psyker-hunting pack equipped with runic totems to protect them from psykers from what I can see. Whilst this shouldn't be an issue for my Necrons, they could prove a thorn in my Blood Angels side.

The combat patrol boxes look great though, 17 & 15 miniatures (Space Wolves & Death Watch respectively) that all look to be Primaris scale and one of which is a baby carrier for Space Wolves and Aggressors for the Death Watch. Hopefully the Blood Angel version will be pretty much the same! As each box comes with 500 points (much like the current starter boxes) these are great way to begin a collection or even start playing Warhammer 40,000 and great value when you consider buying the units individually would cost considerably more. The Space Wolves one does seem to be better value with two additional miniatures whilst the Death Watch one appears to have more character models.

 

Loving the new dice sets as well, such a shame they go out of stock so quickly as I've never been able to find anyone who can make custom dice. Messages to the one's I have contacted come back with nothing and those that do respond seem way to pricey for what you are asking for (Comment below if you know of any place that does custom dice in the UK for a decent price and let me know your experiences).

Also glad that Ragnar Blackmane and Ghazghkull Thraka are making a come back. My Orks need a leader and I was worried I would have to miss out as I wasn't going to pay the silly prices on ebay for the recent box set that contained them both lol

9th Edition Necrons - Command Protocols

Command Protocols are to Necrons what doctrines are to Space Marines. Essentially, if your playing the same Dynasty and your Warlord is a noble, those with the command protocols keyword can benefit from these additional mods. The unit must be within 6" of a character model (excluding a C'tan) in order to benefit and your Warlord must be on the field at the start of the battle round. Once your warlord is gone though, you can no longer benefit from the protocols.

There are six in total, selecting five and assigning each to a battle round, you have to select the order of your protocols after deployment but you don't tell your opponent. When the battle round starts you tell your opponent which protocol you are using. Each protocol has two directives, you choose one for that battle round and let your opponent know which one it is.

At the moment I usually take a Overlord (Indomitus) as he is Noble and can be my warlord for my army which is Sautekh. To get used to things, I'm playing the list as ordered in the example in the Codex, this will definitely change as I get used to them but it's fine starting point:

• Battle Round 1 = 2 (Sudden Storm)
• Battle Round 2 = 3 (Vengeful Stars)
• Battle Round 3 = 5 (Undying Legions)
• Battle Round 4 = 4 (Hungry Void)
• Battle Round 5+ = 1 (Eternal Guardian)

The Silent King does have a one shot ability that lets you swap out your current protocol for the one you haven't selected to use in the 5 rounds.

So lets break down the Protocols:

1. Protocol of the Eternal Guardian

Directive 1: Each time an attack is made against this unit, if it did not make a normal move, Advance or fall back this battle round, this unit receives the benefit of light cover, as described in the Warhammer 40,000 Core Book.

Directive 2: Each time an enemy unit declares a charge against this unit, if this unit is not in engagement range of any enemy units, it can Hold Steady or Set to Defend.

• If it Holds Steady, then until the end of the phase, any overwatch attacks made by models in that unit score hits on unmodified rolls of 5+, instead of a 6.
• If it Sets to Defend, then until the end of the phase, to cannot fire Overwatch, but until the end of the next fight phase, each time a model in that unit makes a melee attack, add 1 to that attack's hit roll.

2. Protocol of the Sudden Storm

Directive 1: Add 1" to the move characteristic of models in this unit.

Directive 2: If this unit is performing an action, it can still make attacks with ranged weapons without that action failing.

3. Protocol of the Vengeful Stars

Directive 1: Each time a model in this unit makes a ranged attack, on an unmodified wound roll of 6, improve the Armour Penetration characteristic of that attack by 1.

Directive 2: Each time a model in this unit makes a ranged attack that targets a unit within half range, the target does not receive the benefits of cover to it's saving throw against that attack.

4. Protocol of the Hungry Void

Directive 1: Each time a model in this unit makes a melee attack, on an unmodified wound roll of 6, improve the armour penetration characteristic of that attack by 1.

Directive 2: Each time a model in this unit makes a melee attack, if this unit made a charge move, was charged or performed an Heroic Intervention this turn, add 1 to that attack's strength characteristic.

5. Protocol of the Undying Legions

Directive 1: Each time this unit uses it's Living Metal ability, each model in this unit regains 1 additional lost wound.

Directive 2: Each time you make Reanimation Protocol rolls for this unit, you can re-roll on the dice.

6. Protocol of the Conquering Tyrant

Directive 1: Add 3" to the range of this unit's aura abilities (to a maximum of 12") and increase the range of the following abilities this unit has by 3" (to a maximum of 12"): Lord's Will; My Will Be Done; Rites Of Reanimation.

Directive 2: This unit is eligible to shoot in a turn in which it Fell Back, but if it does, then until the end of the turn, each time a model in this unit makes a ranged attack, subtract 1 from that attack's hit roll.

Noble Units:

The Silent King, Imotekh The Stormlord, Anrayr The Traveller, Vargard Obyron,  Nemesor, Trazyn The Infinite, Overlord, Lord, Catacomb Command Barge

The only units that don't benefit from the command protocols seem to be the C'tan shards including the Tesseract Vault and the Transcendent C'tan.

Reference Steps:

• Command Protocols only applies if every unit in your army is from the same dynasty (excluding DYNASTIC AGENT,  C'TAN SHARD and Unaligned units) and your Warlord is a noble.
• Before the battle, secretly assign one command protocol to each of first five battle rounds (no repeat).
• Start of each battle round, reveal command protocol and select one of its directives.
• Units with this ability benefit from selected directive if within 6" of friendly  NECRONS CHARACTER  unit (excluding C'tan Shards) and friendly Noble is on the battlefield.

Space Wolves

 Well can't show off my mini's without showing off some of the other twin's stuff! He recently decided to play with something other than his Death Guard and with Indomitus' release he went full on Space Wolves. Much of his army started off with the Space Marines half of the Indomitus set but he has since expanded his army with a drop pod, Wolf Guard, Terminators, Inceptors and more.

Blood Angels

 Well after displaying my Necrons, it's only fitting that I put up my blood angels too. This is where it started for me, back in the late 80's. When I first started playing I only knew of the Blood Angels chapter, how things have changed! Some of these are old but I like to think my painting quality has progressed lol For full disclosure I was in and out of the hobby over the years and back full time on it in the last 12 months

My Aggressors, probably the first unit I considered I had painted "neat" and without having the codex at the time, I did them all as Sergeants lol I know better now, like how I have also done the actual Sergeant as a flamer rather bolter. This doesn't work in 9th (not sure it was strictly valid in 8th lol) as they all need to have the same weapon type. At some point I will get another unit so I can have a unit of each weapon type, at which point I'll probably paint over the shoulders of two of them lol

My first tank. This Baal Predator came with the starter box for Blood Angels and when I painted it I wanted the "fresh out of the factory" look lol This is another of my 'go back to' models which at some point I will do more work on to make it look battle scarred.

The Sanguinary Guard, enjoyed painting these, simple because they wasn't overly difficult to paint after a base coat of gold. Enjoy playing them as well, they are a nice break from the normal BAs.

My Terminators are a mix of Space Marine Heroes and those (I think) I got from the Battle of Macragge box set back in the day.

Match Day: Necrons Vs Space Wolves - Incursion - Objective Game

 So this morning was game day! I took my Necron army (1125 points) for an Incursion game against the other twin's Space Wolves army (1110 points).

He's learning fast to take out my C'tan Shard of the Nightbringer early, taking advantage of the max 3 wounds lost per phase by utilising the psychic phase, shooting phase and the fight phase!

Fortunately it finished on a draw!

He brought along the new Primaris FireStrike Servo-Turret and the new Hammerfall Bunker, proving to be a thorn in my side at range.

Necrons

 I bought the starter set for Necrons before Indomitus and glad I did now. Initially, I was loosing every game I played with them. Now with the new codex, that's changed, the C'tan Shard of the Nightbringer is now a must have in any game for me, even at 350 points.

There's still a few units that I need (want!) to bolster my army but as it stands I'm pretty happy with what I have:

Illuminor Szeras had to be the most challenging to build and paint (fiddley mini!), whereas the Nightbringer had to be the easiest lol Granted, the warriors can get boring repeating the same old again and again but I'm up to 50 of them so don't think I'll need anymore.

It's not all of them, hopefully once my Armies on Parade is finished I'll have some better images of them all!