Dark Art Miniatures Lava Bases Review

Hey guys, now that my girlfriend is back to her country I can focus on the Hobby. For my ongoing Necrons army I decided to go for some resin bases. It's the first time I'm using some of them. I ordered quite a lot of the Lava Bases from Dark Art Miniatures. Let's have a look on them.

Two things made me chooses them. They have a lot of different cuts and doesn't look to much like each other (one of the problem I found in other companies) and the price which is really attractive for resin bases. They propose a bundle which make them even cheaper.

Something like two weeks later I received my order at my place and was really excited to open the bag.

So far I'm really pleased with this product. There are really few amount of mold flash. There are some small casting issues like air bubbles but when I see the overall quality of this product I can't complain. I'm currently painting some of them to have an idea of how it's turn out. The pictures will follow really soon.

So once again I can just recommend you to have a try for resin bases and this particular company. It's really looks better than just some sand and tufts on a base. For sure there are some really nice DIY bases but if you're like me and your modeling skills are quite limited just go for it, you won't be disappointed.

Now a question for you guys. I got those 60mm bases that I want to use for my flyers and my Destroyer Lord but I don't know how to drill the base. What tool should I use for the drilling part? Should I wait before painting them? Or I can just paint them and drill afterward? 

Please share your experience with me!

Battle Report 1750 pts : Necrons vs Khorne Daemons

So here once again a battle report for my next tournament. Today will be an other mission so test out and an other army both for my opponent and myself.
So first thing first the mission : 3 objectives on the middle line, one in the center and two at 18" from the center one on each sides. Any unit which is not vehicle can pick up an objective if it touch it during its movement phase. Embarked unit should disembark to pick it up. Each objective held is worth 1 point and 2 points if it has been brought back to our deployment zone. A unit can only grab one object. Special rule : Night Fight starting at the 5th turn. Deployment : Pitched Battle
Pretty interesting mission from my point of view. I decided to change a little bit my list because my tournament being in april I want to be sure to have all the model ready before it. I've been proxying my Wraiths until now. I'm not sure if GW will release them before april and I don't want to convert six of them so I have to do with what I got. So I came up with the Destroyer Lord + Triarch Praetorian combo.
Here my list :
HQ :
Overlord : Catacomb Command Barge, Warscythe 180 pts
Royal court : 4 Cryptek of Destruction with one solar pulse 160 its
Destroyer Lord : Mindshackle Scarabs, Resurection Orb 175 pts

Elite :
5 Flayed Ones 65 pts
5 Triarch Praetorians 200 pts
C'Tan : Lord of Fire, Pyreshards 210 its

Troops :
5 Warriors + Ghost Ark : 180 pts
5 Warriors + Ghost Ark : 180 pts
5 Warriors : 65 pts
5 Warriors : 65 pts

Fast Attack :
6 Canoptek Scarabs : 90 pts

Heavy Support :
Annihilation Barge : 90 pts
Annihilation Barge : 90 pts

My opponent brought a Khorne Daemon list because I know that two people are bringing Daemon lists (one full Khorne and on other one full Slaneesh) so I can see how its fare and give me more experience against Daemons in general.
His list :
HQ :
Bloodthirster : Unholy Might 170 pts
Skulltaker : Juggernaut 175 pts

Elite :
4 Bloodcrushers : Fury of Khorne, Chaos Icon, Instrument of Chaos 200 pts
3 Bloodcrushers : Chaos Icon 145 pts

Troops :
15 Bloodletters : 240 pts
15 Bloodletters : 240 pts
15 Bloodletters : 240 pts
15 Bloodletters : 240 pts

I won the roll off and decided to go second so it will give more option end game and give me one more turn of shooting against the red horde.
Deployment : D-Lord, Overlord, C'tan deployed behing a big piece of terrain in the center part of my deployment zone. Ghost Ark and Annihilation Barge on each side of them. One unit of Warriors went on the left close to my D-Lord. The other went to the very right side in a piece of terrain. And the Scarabs on the very left side ready to go in cover.

Daemons Turn 1 :
Movement : He rolled for his wave and got a 2 so it's gonna be his second wave. Bloodcrushers + Skulltaker wanted to land just behind the terrain in front of my center line but scatter 7" backward. The Bloodletters landed right were the BC+Skull wanted to land. The other Bloodletters unit landed in the middle of the board on the right flank behind terrain but scattered 6" inside and he lost 4 BL due to dangerous terrain.
Shooting : He just ran forward

Necrons Turn 1 :
Movement : On the right side my Ghost Ark move 12" to have a clear shot on each of the BL. Everything move 6" forward to have LoS except for the right Warriors who stayed put to shoot. The Scarabs on the left move in cover.
Shooting : Right Ghost Ark open fire on both units of BL killing 5 and 3 of them. Warriors on the right and C'tan kill three of the right BL. The left Ghost Ark + embarked Warriors kill 4 of the center BL. The left Warriors, and both Annihilations barge succeed to put down to one wound all the BC and Skulltaker include. I felt really bad for my opponent at that moment because despite the fact that he had a cover save he just couldn't pass them.

Daemons Turn 2 :
Movement : Two units of BL and the last unit of BC land center with the Skulltaker unit Chaos Icon to put a lot of pressure on my line. The rest move forward. One of the BL pick up the right objective.
Shooting : One of the BL run in cover. An other ran forward but keep enough place for the Skulltaker unit to charge the right Ghost Ark. The rest just run forward.
Assault : One of the BL charge the D-Lord and Praetorian (I really made a mistake letting them here) wiping them out even if the Mindshackle kill two of them. They consolidate forward and the D-Lord pass his Reanimation Protocol. The Skulltaker unit assault the right Ghost Ark and only succeed to glance it once destroying on of its gauss flayer.

Necrons Turn 2 :
Movement : The Flayed Ones stayed in reserve. The Overlord fly flat out over the BC unit putting 2 wounds on them. On the left part everything move 6" backward. In the center, the D-Lord move to charge the BC unit, the C'tan ready to shoot and charge the remaining BL. On the right, the Annihilation Barge move 6" Backward and the Ghost Ark 12". The Scarabs spread out to make a wall in front of the left flank.
Shooting : The C'tan shoot at the BL and my opponent did 4 six for his saves. On the left, Ghost Ark + 2 Warriors unit rapid fire a BL unit killing only 4 of them. The left Annihilation barge put one more wound on the BC and kill one. The right one kill two BC from the Skulltaker unit.
Assault : I charge the BC just to use hist Mindshackle and kill one or two of them. Mindshackle passed putting one wound and killing an other one. The BC don't hurt him and he finished them off. That was a big surprise. The C'tan assaulted the BL killing 2 of them and getting one wound back. One more dead due to fearless. Only one BL remain.

Daemons Turn 3 :
Movement : Bloodthirster landed on the center right thanks to the Icon. The Skulltaker unit grab the center objective. One unit of BL move in cover close to the D-Lord. The other unit move to assault the Scarabs wall. The right BL move forward.
Shooting : The right BL run 5" forward to put pressure on the warriors. BT and Skulltaker run in cover.
Assault : Multi assault from the BL on the C'tan and D-Lord. Mindshackle passed : 1 dead. C'tan kill one and D-Lord two. Then the BL killed the D-Lord and the C'tan passed all his saves. 2 more dead due to fearless. The D-Lord got back up.
The BL wipe out the scarabs and consolidate forward.

Necrons Turn 3 :
Movement : Flayed ones stays in reserve. D-Lord flys toward the Bloodthirster. The Overlord fly over the Skulltaker unit killing one BC, only the Skulltaker with one wound remains. The right Annihilation Barge move to get LoS on the Skulltaker. The right Warriors move forward to rapid fire some BL. On the left flank everybody move to rapid fire the BL.
Shooting : On the left the combination of two units of Warriors, Annihilation Barge and the Ghost Ark finish off the BL unit. On the right, the Ghost Ark and its Warriors finish off the BL. The right Warriors kill the Skulltaker. The Annihilation Barge put a wound on the Bloodthirster.
Assault : D-Lord assault the Bloodthirster but the Mindshackle doesn't succeed so the Bloodthirster kill him and consolidate on the center. The D-Lord got back up. The C'tan kills 3 BL got no wound back and 3 more died due to fearless.

Daemons Turn 4:
Movement : Bloodthirster move to engage the C'tan.
Assault : Bloodthirster put two wounds on the C'tan. The C'tan kill 2 BL but loosed his last wound. Both BT and BL consolidate in cover.

Necrons Turn 4 :
Movement : Flayed ones arrive on the left flank. Everybody move to shoot at the last units.
Shooting : I finished them off and wipe out his all army.

Interesting game : the Daemons can put a lot of pressure and I think the game would have been completely different if I wasn't that lucky with my D-Lord. So I will continue practicing with this army to get more used to the Praetorians+D-Lord combo.
Keep tuned

Triarch Praetorian

Hey guys, been a while, like everybody I got an excuse for not getting post in time, this time it's my girlfriend who came to visit me. But back to the main subject : Triarch Praetorian. When I first saw the model I was like wow they look so nice with their special jump pack. But as soon as I rode their stats line I just though that I will never use them. I mean when we see their point cost and what they do the normal reaction would be why this guys do even exist when the Wraiths can do everything they do and better? So point for point it's pretty obvious but the last few days I just came back with an idea I had for a while : using Praetorians with Destroyer lord.
So yes this unit is expensive at 390 pts a pop but it really impressed me so far. I use Void Blade and Particle Caster on my Praetorians and I put Mindshackle Scarabs, Weave and Res orb on the D-Lord. This unit is really a good answer to pretty much everything. I mean it can take after vehicles and infantry. Yes I said infantry. Everybody says that they suck, and by themselves I agree but with the D-Lord they become much scarier.
This unit can use the pistol so soften if lucky the unit they want to assault. I will usually got my full squad to the opponent face thanks to the high mobility they got (here avoiding landing on terrain is important because at 40 pts a pop you don't want to lose a guy for a miserable roll of one). I don't care if I assault through cover or no because anyway they will hit last. They will probably loose a couple of guys before striking back and they can kill a couple of guys as well with their attacks.
But it's not where they are interesting, it's because they bring along the D-Lord. He's the one who's gonna make the damage with his 4 attacks on charge with preferred enemy (everything) you are sure to land at least 3 attacks and with strength 7 it's most likely to be 3 dead guys. Then you have Mindshackle which can wreck havoc for you opponent because a main force of his unit is used against him adding more damage.
What I've been reading is the Praetorian sucks because they can't assault energy weapon units and I say why not?! Sure if it's a unit of 10 I wouldn't try but a normal unit of 5 I'm not afraid. With the mindshackle of the D-Lord and the toughness 5 of the Praetorian it's unlikely that the whole squad will get slaughtered. Even if I loose combat the Fearless come in handy. And then I got the Reanimation protocol on 4+ thanks to the D-Lord.
This unit became really useful for me because my Necrons army being pretty shooty sometimes I have to buy myself a turn or two when something is closing the distance between both battle lines. And this combination just fill that roll perfectly for me. Sure it's expensive but it's can really surprise my opponent and it's more of a swiss knife.
It takes an Elite slot which free up a Fast Attack one. I think (like a lot of people out there) that the Fast Attack slot is the more interesting one of the codex so having one more of there is still welcomed.
The only thing that I need to be careful is the casualty this unit can take, I mean if I feel that they can kill the 5 of my praetorian in the same phase I won't bet them. Because I need at least one of the guy standing up to use my Reanimation Protocol, other than that I'm really pleased by this surprising unit.
What do you guys think about that? Still not worth Wraiths? Or just too expensive? Just leave a comment on your thoughts
Keep tuned