Starting again after 14 years

[Vindicta_mickey]

Hi all,

A few days ago I decided to pick up the hobby again after a 14 year hiatus mostly filled with Blood Bowl. Of course, many re-locations (including emigration), a mod-eager sibling and general callousness (yes, the DE always were a perfect fit for me...) has kinda left my army in shambles. Basically, I need to strip and repaint the lot, find bits (crossbow bits, shields and horse tails, mostly) and add new core stuff.

The thing is that almost all minis are older edition DE's from the mid-90's (4th-5th ed.), and since I am strapped for cash I would like to recycle them. That does however pose me for some problems. Any suggestions on what to add to make it a workable, okay army again (I'll have to relearn the rules...) would be very appreciated.

So here's what I got now:

3 CoK (one old edition General, you know, the one with the barding, one old ed. standard bearer and one newer edition CoK, you know, the first ones where the CO's were made of plastic..)

17 Witch Elves (5th ed, the ones whose swords would tangle up when you try to put them in a regiment)

10 5th ed. corsairs (metal), no command group

8 Dark Riders (9 if I can find an extra horse), only 2 crossbows though...

19 crossbowmen (4 missing crossbow bit)

2 complete repeater bolt throwers

6 spearmen from when City Guards were still an option

1 regiment commander (sword)
1 sorceress
1 harpy (the rest is lost, I'm afraid)

1 severely damaged but salvagable cauldron of blood

I have already bought 6 CoK on Ebay, with some bids on a hydra and a unit of Executioners up.

So there's my core so far. What to spend my hard earned money on next? (except, of course, painting utils and the like) One plus is that most new stuff is made out of plastic nowadays, so I can look into that.

[Calisson]

Hi, Vindicta_Mickey, welcome to D.net.


3 CoK + 6 CoK => 1 unit of 9, FC, magic banner
17 Witch Elves => either 3 small units of 5-6, no command, or increase to 25, FC.
10 corsairs, no command group => Increase to 25, FC, SSS.
8 Dark Riders (9 if I can find an extra horse), only 2 crossbows though... => one unit of 5 is a must. 2 such units will be very handy.
19 crossbowmen (4 missing crossbow bit) 1 unit with shields, FC. Or 2 units of 10, just musician, no shield.
2 repeater bolt throwers => playable.
6 spearmen => no use at all. Increase to 30 or use as spare part.
1 regiment commander (sword) => make him the RXBmen champion.
1 sorceress => must-have.
1 harpy => increase to 5. Must have.
1 cauldron of blood => must have, esp with corsairs and WE.
a unit of Executioners => only if you have 30 of them and a Death Hag BSB.

[Trax]

About the executioners since I'm about to start my own executioner conversion and I'm still not sure about their numbers:

What makes 30 Execs + DH BSB better than say 40 Execs? Sure, the latter will take more losses - but they can and will most likely end up with more bodies in melee. Any experience/opinions here?

I can see how I can charge my the DH/Execs into the enemy without him touching the DH, but as soon as anything gets in contact with her and doesn't strike after the Exec (and even then it might not be enough), she might end up dead - and with her the all important Battle Standard. That's my one major concern.

Sadly, Vindicta, I won't be of much help to you since my first game with DE is just coming up, though I like to point out that in your position I would try to get some shades. I'm building mine from Dark Eldar Hagashîn with Wood Elf Glade Guard cloaks and probably the Repeater Hand Crossbows from some Corsairs (for the looks of it, haven't decided yet though). Guess there are many more viable options withough buying into the expensive GW shades. Good luck.

[Rork]

I'm building mine from Dark Eldar Hagashîn with Wood Elf Glade Guard cloaks and probably the Repeater Hand Crossbows from some Corsairs (for the looks of it, haven't decided yet though).

I'd be intrigued to see pictures of how that turns out.

[Trax]

Yeah, I figured I could make a few pictures of some of the conversions, I planned/made. I myself really enjoy looking at other guys' conversions just to get some ideas (and got a load of inspiration myself so far), so it would be fair to share some, I guess.

[Vindicta_mickey]

Hi, Vindicta_Mickey, welcome to D.net.


3 CoK + 6 CoK => 1 unit of 9, FC, magic banner
17 Witch Elves => either 3 small units of 5-6, no command, or increase to 25, FC.
10 corsairs, no command group => Increase to 25, FC, SSS.
8 Dark Riders (9 if I can find an extra horse), only 2 crossbows though... => one unit of 5 is a must. 2 such units will be very handy.
19 crossbowmen (4 missing crossbow bit) 1 unit with shields, FC. Or 2 units of 10, just musician, no shield.
2 repeater bolt throwers => playable.
6 spearmen => no use at all. Increase to 30 or use as spare part.
1 regiment commander (sword) => make him the RXBmen champion.
1 sorceress => must-have.
1 harpy => increase to 5. Must have.
1 cauldron of blood => must have, esp with corsairs and WE.
a unit of Executioners => only if you have 30 of them and a Death Hag BSB.

Wow, thanks! That was exactly the kind of advice I was looking for. The only use I can think of the spearmen is to just mix them with the current Warrior minis (which, if I read all the boards correctly should be BIG units but are sold in 16's...)

I am looking into buying a WE command group (to make it 'complete'), so I guess I can double the standard-bearing witch if I can get the additional Execs (those minis are hard to come by, so that will be a sloooow expansion)

@trax: yeah, I was looking to acquire some shades, but got outbid. O well, maybe even for the best as I will have to strip-repair-paint what I have already first. But I would be very interested in how your conversion work turns out!

[L1qw1d]

Welcome

[Calisson]

What makes 30 Execs + DH BSB better than say 40 Execs?

The difference is €52 / £41 / $66.
Tactically, 40 is probably better.
My point was that less than 30 was worthless.

[Trax]

Okay, that's some reasoning I can get behind.

If anybody else can think of a situation where 30+BSB are better than 40, let me know, I'm still unsure. I know that many lists contain the former one and don't think it's always about the difference in money.

[Vindicta_mickey]

Well, after some frantic eBaying, time for an update

- the executioners didn't come through, (outbid) perhaps for the best
- I now have a warrior count of 30, and two command groups to boot (can potentially join my xbowmen). Should be workable, no?
- I bought 6 extra witch elves, raising the count to 23. I am planning to get some kind of command group, not sure if I am going to mod or just buy it.
- the corsairs now number 30; my 10 original 5e batch, 10 assembled current ed. incl. command group, 10 unassembled. The unit will be a mix of 5ed and current plastic batch, but so be it . Question: is it worth it to assemble an extra command group? Or are corsairs rather used in large blocks?
- I can make 10 cold one knights now, again a beautiful mix of different editions Full command, and one of them can act as a dreadlord/bsb
-I am now working on getting a Dark Peg and some scouts. Getting the harpies for a reasonable price turns out to be a challenge...
- my wife started complaining that our home smells of aceton (even though I am paint stripping by an open window)

[van Awful]

i wouldnt bother with the 2nd command groups. Especially not on the corsairs, but maybe someone here does have good experience with them in small groups.
For the warriors i would just build an extra musician for your crossbows, that's all i ever use with them.

[van Awful]

btw a bit cheaper then GW's harpies, and imho a lot nicer, are those of Avatar of War.
i quite like em and they're 18,50 instead of 26,00 for 5
http://www.avatars-of-war.com/eng/web/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&prodcode=pl04&prodname=Harpies+of+Apocalypse&id=118&Itemid=120
You'll have to be a bit patient though as i understand they're experiencing some logistical problems or something. i've been waiting on mine for some time now.

[Kalisthenes]

btw a bit cheaper then GW's harpies, and imho a lot nicer, are those of Avatar of War.
i quite like em and they're 18,50 instead of 26,00 for 5
http://www.avatars-of-war.com/eng/web/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&prodcode=pl04&prodname=Harpies+of+Apocalypse&id=118&Itemid=120
You'll have to be a bit patient though as i understand they're experiencing some logistical problems or something. i've been waiting on mine for some time now.

I ordered some of those on the 23rd Jan. I am still waiting. When I e-mailed them after a month the response I recieved from customer support was that she had been sick. Like how is one person being sick going to delay the despatch by a month? They state that these things ship in 24-48 hours. I am starting to wonder if these guys are not going the way of Maelstrom. (although there are some obvious diferences between a mail order reseller with a miniatures manufacturing sideline and a business that is solely a miniatures company I suppose) That said I still havnt recieved any shipping confimation as yet. So my advice is shop with these guys at your own peril. Caveat emptor.