Topic: Aurics Pride's Projects- Corsairs, Raven Guard, Daemons and now Dark Eldar!

[Aurics Pride]

Killer stuff Auric! I love the paint job and the conversion work was spot on! Whether or not you could edge highlight... I think you could in just key areas. You don't have to do the whole thing. A really bright blue at the tips of the wings and nose, maybe a little near the "veins" or grooves in the middle. Nothing major just some subtle edge higlights. But its totally up to you. I think it looks great and if you didn't want to push it any farther I still think it'd look great. Really love this piece. It reminds me of a sea bird or something. Great stuff.

As for a new project, Raven Guard are awesome at the moment! Plus they have INSANE Forge World models that can really help them stand out from their fellow Astartes-bros.

Thanks for the kind words again Cav, The Raven Guard would be a great choice but to be honest I want someone I can use my Airbrush on and straight black isn't ideal for that! haha

A small update for my Corsairs though,
Managed to get most of my Scatbikes finished, just need a couple of little touches and need to finish the bases on them but here they are:



And then a little Family photo of what I've got done so far,
The Starweavers are my Hornet Conversions and them and the Venoms need a bit more work done on them but the Lynx, Nightwing and Corsair Reavers are all finished.

(Excuse the mess in the background!)

[Cavalier]

Absolutley awesome Auric. The bikes look fantastic, and the Hornet proxies look very nice as well. Everything has a nice smooth finish and very clean execution. Love the blue to black fade as well, very nicely done. Props on army composition as well, its the perfect place to start with Corsairs if you ask me. Fascinated to see how the Lynx performs for you. I'm VERY intrigued by them and plan on getting one ASAP.

Anyway awesome stuff and congrats on the scorching hot start to your army. Definitely inspiring stuff!

[Aurics Pride]

Absolutley awesome Auric. The bikes look fantastic, and the Hornet proxies look very nice as well. Everything has a nice smooth finish and very clean execution. Love the blue to black fade as well, very nicely done. Props on army composition as well, its the perfect place to start with Corsairs if you ask me. Fascinated to see how the Lynx performs for you. I'm VERY intrigued by them and plan on getting one ASAP.

Anyway awesome stuff and congrats on the scorching hot start to your army. Definitely inspiring stuff!

Cheers! 
I've used the Lynx twice so far and it's been a bit of a beast to be honest.
I've not used the Blast template at all, the 3 D Shots twin linked is just pure undiluted filth. It's had a couple of whiffs but also managed to one shot a couple of Dreadnoughts and a Thanatar. The big thing for me is the sheer amount of attention it draws, I think I am probably going to invest in an Eldar looking Skyshield platform to protect it a bit as people are starting to get to know how nasty it can actually be.

[Irisado]

An excellent paint job on those Jetbikes .  You've really got that blending and shading of the blue just right.  The white on the helmets also stands out for me, as it's difficult to achieve such a clean finish with white in my experience, but you've achieved it.

[Aurics Pride]

An excellent paint job on those Jetbikes .  You've really got that blending and shading of the blue just right.  The white on the helmets also stands out for me, as it's difficult to achieve such a clean finish with white in my experience, but you've achieved it.

Thanks!
I've got Cav to thank for the Helmets, I left these off and painted them before adding them onto the models and it definitely worked out better, the white was all done via Airbrush and I only used brush for the blue faceplate and the eyes.

[magenb]

Lovin the shaded blues and how you've kept the colour scheme going on the infantry. Great work!

[Cavalier]

@Auric- Hey thats great stuff man! Glad you're Lynx is doing so well for you. Also stoked my painting advice helped. You're army is looking great it'd be awesome to see both our armies fighting together. It'd be an awesome contrast, while the white would tie them together. Anyway great stuff bud, keep us posted!

[Aurics Pride]

Thanks again guys, to be honest having this as a blog has really helped me be productive. Once I get these last couple of bits done I am in a little bit of a quandry with what to start on next. I think I might do some ebay shopping for some parts to make a Balestrike band but I think I am going to start on a new project soon. Just need to decide what!

@Cavalier- I'd love to see our armies on the table together, as long as they are allies though!

[Aurics Pride]

Hey guys,
A little update, the Corsairs are all but finished for the moment (Until I get the bits to do the next couple of units!) and I have decided on my next project!
I'm not going to give it away at the moment but it's something I have wanted to do for quite a while now and I'm just going to throw myself into it.
The project is likely to involve quite a lot of modelling/sculpting which is something I am admittedly awful at, hopefully this will be a good learning project for me.
A large part of my afternoon has been spent attempting to sculpt some flames, after about 20 attempts and not finding a single one that I was happy with I have come to the conclusion that this could well be a very long project!
I've read pretty much every blog/forum post/youtube video that I can find on Google about this but if anyone has any secret tips/tricks they would certainly help my rapidly degrading sanity!

[Cavalier]

Hey Auric. Thats great about your Corsairs. Glad you've finished them so quickly! It took me forever to get my army fully operational... in fact most of 5th edition!

Very interested in your secret project. As for scultpting flames... can't really help you. Its taken me forever to get my skills up to where I can gap fill and do basic things like hair and whatnot and even that is a bit shaky. A good source of fire bits though is from the Chariot of Tzeentch and High Elf Phoenix kit... you can the flamey bits on ebay pretty cheap.

Anyway can't wait to see what you've cooked up. Keep us posted.

[Aurics Pride]

This morning I kept hearing some really strange noises in my room, weird scratching sounds coming from the side of my computer. Somewhere down in the shadows behind it the noises kept getting louder, it took me a while but I managed to just about get a glimpse of what was causing it, it was only a very quick glimpse but I believe I may have found my new project.......

[Cavalier]

Oh hell yeah! Man the Raven Guard are so awesome, and their rules are equally awesome! Get ready to shock people with those Vanguard Vets assaulting out of deep strike. Cheers man, well chosen!

[Aurics Pride]

Well thanks to borrowing a few models off a friend of mine I used the Raven Guard for the first time tonight.
To say that it didn't go well may be a bit of an understatement.
My list was:

Captain- Jump Pack, Artificer Armour, Swiftstrike and Murder (Twin Lightning claws that allow an extra attack for each hit)
10 Assault Marines- Vet Sarge with Power fist
5 Tactical Marine- Melta gun, Combi Melta (In a drop pod)
5 Tactical Marines- Plasma, Combi Plasma (In a Razorback with TL Lascannon)
5 Tactical Marines- Lascannon (In a Rhino)
5 Scouts with Sniper Rifles
5 Devastators- 4x Lascannons

His list was:
Bloodthirster
3x Bloodcrushers
1x Skullcannon
3x Units of Fleshhounds
3x Units of Cultists (or the Khorne Equivalent)

I was a bit concerned already as although I had the Devastators I've never had all that much luck dealing with big stuff while using Marines.
I won the roll off for first turn and elected to go first.

Deployment:
I deployed very defensively, Scouts and Devastators deployed on a building to the right of my deployment zone, Assault Marines and the Two non pod Tac squads in the centre.
He deployed the Cultists in ruins holding 2 objectives, Hounds in ruins ready to jump out then the Bloodthirster, Blood Crushers and Skull Cannon as far as he could away from the Devastators all out of line of sight.

First Turn:
Drop pod came in and scattered a massive 11 inches! I was hoping to take out the Skullcannon but ended up taking out a single Bloodcrusher. Devastators shot the only thing they could which was some cultists and killed two. Razorback shot at the skullcannon but he passed his invulnerable save.
He charged everything forwards, Bloodthirster Hounds and Bloodcrushers all charged my Drop pod tac squad and shredded it. Skull cannon killed two of my assault marines.

Second Turn:
My assault marines jumped forward to try and tie up his units midfield, the razorback discharged it's unit so they could shoot at the Bloodthirster and the Devastators were finally able to draw line of sight. This turn I had 6 Lascannons, two rapid firing plasma cannons and half a dozen bolters manage to cause a single wound on the Bloodthirster, he made an insane amount of jink or cover saves. Assault squad multicharged the dogs and bloodcrushers, did a couple of wounds from Hammer of Wrath attacks but then whiffed pretty heavily on their attacks and fortunately drew the combat although now being down to my Captain and Two Marines thanks to the Bloodcrushers AP3 attacks.
On his turn the Bloodthirster charged my assault marines and utterly shredded the captain and two remaining marines with his 9 attacks! Remaining blood crusher and Skull cannon combined to wipe out a tac squad.

Third Turn:
Not being able to see his Bloodthirster my Devastators managed to blow up the Skullcannon, causing an explosion which caused a wound on a nearby Khorne hounds unit. Scouts plinked a couple of wounds off a Khorne hounds unit and Lascannons again failed to damage the Bloodthirster.
Using his Blood tithe points he summoned a unit of Bloodletters in my deployment zone, the Bloodthirster charged my Rhino and exploded it, killing four of the Bloodletters. The Hounds wrecked my Razorback and my scouts were charged by a unit of hounds. The scouts failed to do any damage and lost two in return but held their morale.

Fourth Turn:
Devastators and remaining tactical squad shoot at the Bloodthirster, managed to knock one more wound off it (Still had 4 left!) but after this I called it, I was one up on the Maelstrom cards but had lost my Warlord and he had first blood and Linebreaker.

Overall it was not a good debut for the Raven guard, Sadly my chapter special rules didn't really come into effect and I just couldn't deal with the Bloodthirster/Bloodcrushers. I knew it was going to be a tough game but didn't expect it to anywhere near as one-sided. Really disappointed by the lack of damage I managed to put out.

[Cavalier]

Hey Auric thats a real tough go of it! The Ravenguard really struggle without their formations. Everyone was really puzzeled as to why they watered down their chapter tactics until the formations came out.

When using their formations they are as nasty as it gets... but still require a good deal of skill, because they aren't ultra resilient. Being able to assault out of deep strike with Vanguard Vets you could probably could have even taken out the Blood Thirster in combat.

I really suggest checking out those formations... they are very fluffy, require a lot of synergy with your Scouts and well planned movements but hit like a hammer when they pull off their maneuvers. Check them out cause it really makes them a top-tier army!

[Aurics Pride]

Yeah there were definitely a fair few mistakes involved and a lot of learning points.
I think part of my problem when using Marine armies is that I tend to get stuck between attack and defense, Marines can easily get stuck in the middle ground and when coming up against either a Melee focused or total gunline (Tau) can really struggle.
I think my next game I am going to be trying a more aggressive list and go for a strong Alpha strike. At the moment I am thinking of Drop pods for the Devs and Tacticals and a Shadowstrike Formation.
Also I managed to pick up a large bag of Space Marine bits of Ebay the other day for £5 and in it was the parts to make 9 Assault Marines and a Combat squad (plus a lot of spares!) the assault marines will all have more static poses than usual but this will help differentiate them from the Vanguards when I start on them.

[Cavalier]

I hear ya Auric. IMO Marines are not a great defensive army in todays game. There is just so much high volume firewpower out there that sheer number of armor saves will quickly bring them down. Marines work best as a rapid insertion force operating via drop pod, or just attacking in waves roaring up in their rhinos, swamping objectives with multiple combat squads and ob-sec rhinos. However if you want some back field objective grabbers just take a couple 5 man scout units and tuck them out of LOS on objectives in your DZ.

Yeah the Shadowstrike formation is absolutely awesome. Get some Lightning Claws, a couple Hammer and Shields and any opponent is in trouble against that. My brother has an absolutley BRUTAL Vanguard Vet squad that he just waiting to set against me. He plays Revilers (Ravenguard Successor chapter) and can't wait to obliterate my Wraithknight with his Hammer and Shield Vanguard units.

[Aurics Pride]

Had my 2nd game with the Raven Guard this evening, it definitely went better than the last although was still a loss
My List:

Captain- Jump Pack, Swiftstrike and Murder, Artificer Armour, Melta Bombs
5 Tacs- Melta, Combi Melta
Razorback- TL Lascannon
5 Tacs- Plasma, Combi Plasma
Drop Pod
5 Tacs- Plasma Combi Plasma
Drop Pod
5 Devastators- 2x Grav Cannon
Drop Pod
10 Assault Marines- Vet Sarge w/ Eviscerator

Ravenhawk Formation-
Storm Raven- TL Assault Cannon, TL Multi Melta
5 Sternguard- 2x Combi-Grav
Dreadnought- Assault Cannon

His List:
Farseer on bike
3x Guardian Defender Squads (One in serpent)
2x Nightspinners
1x Falcon
2x Vypers
3x Shadow-weaver Platforms
4x Warlocks
3x Warwalkers- Twin Brightlance.

I can't remember the turn by turn breakdown but it didn't start well for me, my Alpha strike came in and failed to actually destroy anything! Took a few hull points off here and there but no real significant damage.
As the turns moved on I slowly managed to get myself back into the game and in the end it finished with not much left on either side and I lost by 13 Maelstrom points to 11. A result that considering the start of the game I was very happy with!

[Cavalier]

Thats tough Auric. Were you running Skyhammer? Cause if not the Alpha Strike is not super hard hitting, with snap shooting Devastators and the Assault Marines having to hoof it up the field. Even so pretty unlucky with all that Plasma. I think the actual Shadowstrike formation is where the magic happens. You can really pack a wallop with those Vanguard Vets.

What does the Ravenhawk Formation do though? Not familiar with that one...

Anyway bud good luck! The Ravenguard are not an easy chapter to play but their formations really make them excellent. Always happy to workshop ideas so let us know what direction you want to take the army!

[Aurics Pride]

I wasn't using Skyhammer but to be honest I think I am probably going to lean more that way.
Next experiment is probably going to be a minimum CAD with a Skyhammer and then possibly a Shadowstrike formation as well.

The Ravenhawk is a formation consisting of a Storm Raven, Sternguard Squad and then a Dreadnought. It all comes in together and has a special rule allowing a slight bonus to it's units against a particular target for the rest of the game. It's not bad although certainly not one of the best formations in the book. Just one that I had the models to do so wanted to give it a try!

[Cavalier]

Thats sounds good. Honestly you could easily get away with just a Shadowstrike formation for casual games and then ramp it up to Skyhammer against more competitive players. Either way it'll be fun as a Ravenguard player to have those Assault squads getting into combat and causing havoc.

Just podding in with a normal CAD is not a big alpha strike, and playing Eldar as much as I have you are really feeding them units, especially short ranged dudes like Guardians. But don't get discouraged its always hard getting the hang of a new army, especially going from super fast moving Eldar with their fantatic range and firepower. I'm totally excepting a tough go of it as I get used to playing my Dark Angels.

Anyway sounds like a good plan Auric and I can't wait to see some models!