Had a Ren Faire in town and I had a bit more to do than usual today, so no luck getting a game together in the time I had.  Maybe next week.

An earlier venture.  After having some whining with the guys I was playing with, I let them tell me the dimensions a Rhino occupied and I built to them.  So, it is a bit higher and wider than a GW model, but they could be lived with although if I make any more, I'll be leaving one thickness of posterboard off each side.  Also, I haven't pasted any printed bits on yet, so they are a bit bland.  I also have some turrets to do counts as for Whirlwind, Immolator, Exorcist (FW version) and Predator, but they are over at someone's house.
Without any of the added artwork, it is a little hard to see the slope on the front.

As per a request, here is how I put together the pods. 

NOTE: These were done to be fairly simple and serviceable.  They have room for improvement as they are (see below), but I was not trying for uber precision cuts or lines, so if you want to mention I cannot cut or draw straight, I'll just agree with you.

Starting off is my bit of posterboard with everything there: 5x Door Bottom, 3x Pod Base and 5x Upright.  This method would be doable with a Forgeworld Dreadnought Pod if I had one available.  The patterns were nothing more than my laying the appropriate parts of a GW Pod kit and drawing what I needed.

Why white board?  Because if I want it colored I can spray paint it whatever I want   White makes it easy to see the marks for cutting.  Oh, it also would cost me more to buy black posterboard than to spritz some paint...

As you can see, I use glue stick for the base.  Quick and easy, nice for flat surfaces.  Just use a bit of wait and let it set for a while.  For me, a few hours, especially since I do this just after I finish cutting out a pod...

While I wait, I trim the doors, about a 45 cut with the wide side being the outside of the door.  Precision isn't real important since I can always back fill with hot glue.

Here we go with the assembly.  Simply glue on two of the doors with some hot glue (or Elmers if you want).  I use hot glue because despite its annoying features, it flows easily when warm to fill cracks, sets quickly and holds well.

Next, a touch of glue on the upright where it will bond to the top and side of the base, hold it in place, then fill in to provide support for the door and the upright.  Like I said, I like hot glue for this.

Next, just add another door and another upright until you get all the way around.

Notice the uneven spacing around the top (the top itself is level).  Mainly caused by low precision on the drawing of the pattern and cutting it later.  However, with the flexibility in posterboard, I can probably straighten most of that up when I add in the top part of the door, especially if I trim each one individually.  Yes, if you look close, there is a small puddle of glue down there.  Not only helps with the support, it also gives it a little more bottom weight for stability....(well, that's a good excuse for being an autofire hot gluer...)

I still thought it was funny when I asked if anyone minded me using proxy pods, got a hand wave & "sure, whatever" type response and then "wow" when I didn't pull up a soda can for a pod.

Played on 4'x6' field with ~25% terrain.  No buildings on this one, just scattered trees and hills for cover, again a default to Annihilation, which I prefer for now as it is the scenario the list is weakest at.

The lists:
EC-AACNMTO
Castellan (Terminator Armor, Storm Bolter, PW, Tank Hunter)
Terminator Retinue (1x SB/PW, 1x CML/SB/PF, 1x CML/SB/CF, 1x SB/PF, Tank Hunters)
Crusader (5/1, BP/CCW, 1x Bolter, Melta, Pod/SB)
Crusader (5/2, BP/CCW, 1x Bolter, Melta, Pod/SB)
2x Crusader (5/1, BP/CCW, 1x Bolter, Melta, BP/PF, Pod/SB)
2x DN (MM/HF, EA, Pod/SB)
2x LS-Typhoon (HB/Ty ML)

Demon Prince (Winds of Change, Warp Time, wings)
3x Chaos Terminators
3x 1K Son Tactical squad with Aspiring Sorcerer in Rhinos
Chaos DN
Predator (Autocannon w/ Lascannon sponsons)

Some commentary on my list.  Since the local players seem to be stuck on 1850 and 2000 point lists, the first for tournaments and the second for fun, I was trying to upgrade based on the models I had on hand.  Proxies were the EC, the AoBR Captain for the Castellan, the AoBR Heavy Flamer Marine as a Melta Marine and using yellow and orange painted strips on the base of the Terminators to show the CML and CF models.  To make the fourth squad I used some AoBR bolter Marines and dropped one in each squad which gave me enough spare BP/CCW models.  Then drop in Neophytes to round out the points.  I'll point out that I paid a bit higher price than normal (340 vs 275) for the Terminators, mainly to eat up points, but also to provide myself with power weapons at I5 and I4 in case of assaults.  Not the most cost effective move ever, but interesting.

NOTE: There was a mix of rolls in here, and I didn't keep quite as good a set of notes, so if I don't get into details of firing or don't mention a unit's shooting, it may be because we missed horribly and made the save or two required, or we hammered in a great volley, but all the saves got made.  For the missile launchers, they did a lot of frag blast work and a bit of it scattered away, for example, one shooting phase I dropped six blasts on the same model in the same unit.  Two hit, the rest scattered away.  I just don't mention it.

I won the roll, figured that he would only have one turn of movement so I decided to reserve everything for the drop.  Considering last week's issue over enemy mobility I figured that since I was going first, they would only have one turn of movement, nothing moved faster than 12" max and it was a full size board.  My opponent surprised me by simply telling me he was putting everything in reserve.  So, here is the great story of Turn 1: <crickets chirping while the roar of vehicle engines and scream of pods falling begins to sound>.

Turn 2 BT: All the Crusaders come up for deployment.  I grab the opponent's center, shading a bit to my left (it is a bit more open on the left side towards my opponent).  I drop the pods in pairs and they land with little scatter.  The troops deploy into cover.

Turn2 1K: 2x Rhinos, Pred, Terminators come in.  He comes in the left corner in a compact formation  with one Rhino going almost to the left side in a 12" move and popped smoke, the second Rhino forming up in Rhino rush formation, the Predator setting up in the corner, the short Terminator squad coming up alongside the first Rhino in a run.  No firing.

Turn 3 BT: DN, the Castellan/Terminators and 1 LS-Ty drop in.  The DN drops in his face, the Terminators a bit back and to the center (they had to teleport in) and the Speeder in the left rear.  The DN scattered but reset to the landing point with inertial guidance, the Terminators pegged and the Speeder ended up behind some impassable terrain.  I forgot to move the Crusaders, but they were in a strong position.  Fire was fairly inconclusive with misses and obscured vehicle saves all around.  The DN did get to shoot the lead Rhino and used its Heavy Flamer to overlay the Terminators along the way.  End results were the lead Rhino immobilized and one Terminator dead.

Turn 3 1K:  Everything else (Prince, Chaos DN, Rhino) came in.  The Rhino immobilized itself on some terrain, the Chaos DN walked on behind its cover and the Prince moved up on my DN.  The still mobile Rhino from last turn bailed out and swept to my right to restore some mobility to that flank.  The 1k Sons deployed from the Rhino immobilized on the first turn.  My DN got exploded, putting a wound on the Prince and killing one 1K Marine.  DN Pod also got exploded to no extra effect and fire on the Terminators killed the plain SB/PF Terminator and the SB/PW Sgt.

Turn 4 BT:  The second DN and Speeder dropped in.  The DN dropped in the deployment area and the Speeder on my far right to add fire support from range.  Started moving my squads forward and shifted the Speeder that had dropped last turn for a clear shot into the ruck.  Fire killed 6x 1k Sons Marines from the deployed squad (including some Storm Bolter fire from a pod, wheee) and blew the turret off the Predator.  Sweeping into the assault, the Castellan kills the last three 1k Sons Marines, the Aspiring Sorcerer's attacks have no effect and he is killed by the rest of the squad.  The first Crusader squad (with PF) slams into the two Chaos Terminators, losing the Neophyte and Bolter Initiate while killing one Terminator.

Turn 4 1K:  The Prince sweeps out, using Winds of Change and CC to wipe out one Crusader squad coming up in support of the fight.  The squad from the other disabled Rhino deploys and marches forward and the last mobile Rhino moves 12" to deploy its squad after my other two squads.  The EC's squad dies to AP3 fire (the EC saves), the other squad is reduced to the melta Initiate and a Neophyte after missing cover saves.  My DN dies to massed fire from the Chaos DN and the Predator's sponson lascannons.  The last Chaos Terminator is brought down but takes a BP/CCW initiate down with him, leaving that squad with BP/PF, melta and BP/CCW models.

Turn 5 BT:  Moved the remnant Crusader squad back to get in range of the Prince, shifted the first (left side) Speeder to take shots at the Prince, shifted the second (right) Speeder to hit the two 1k Son Marine squads.  Moved the EC back and to the left to engage the Prince.  Terminators stand and miss.  The remnant Crusaders and Speeder finish off the Prince in shooting.  The right Speeder kills two 1k Sons Marines with frags and heavy bolter fire.  The EC misses but then charges the same 1k Sons squad, killing two and then dying to return attacks.  The last Rhino got immobilized this turn, but I didn't note who did it, I'm thinking scatter from the one Speeder.

Turn 5 1K:  Predator kills one Terminator with lascannon fire,  the Chaos DN misses and charges the Terminators to no effect then dies to a PF.  The full strength 1k Son squad moves up to the center of the field into assault range, then decides to have the fun off assaulting my melta Initiate and Neophyte in cover and saved vs all wounds then killed them.  The last four of the other remaining squad start crossing a hill to engage the remnant squad that had killed the Prince.

Turn 6 BT: The right hand Speeder held and killed two more 1k Sons from the full strength squad.  The left Speeder tried to nail the Predator and failed.  The Terminators tried to nail the Predator and failed.  The remnant Crusaders came back and shot the Rhino immobilized on turn 3, destroying its weapon and then assaulted it with the PF and managed to wreck it.

Turn 6 1k:  Quiet.  The 1k Sons squads moved into cover trying to get into position on the Speeders and the Predator shot the Terminators, killing the last one and the Castellan.  Game ends.



Lessons Learned:
A)  Yes, I'm a broken record on this one, but I think for my 1850 build for the next fight, it is going to be adding another DN, another Speeder and then putting Deathwind MLs on the seven pods (losing two Neophytes to fund it).  That assault by the two 1k Sons squads would have been potentially savaged by the fire from at least three pods.  Pods with Storm Bolters are just terrain and since we do have the special rule allowing pods to fire on the turn they drop, it is just too potentially useful.

B)  I really shouldn't have charged with the Terminators, but I wanted to....  If I hadn't, they would have been back with some LOS blocking terrain and been able to savage stuff with their Cyclones and Storm Bolters.

C) I "wasted" too many shots at the Predator.  Yes, it would have been nice to kill it and given the situation at the end of the game, if it had continued into infinity I'd have probably scored an Annihilation if I'd killed it because he no longer had the mobility to deal with my Speeders.  It ended up being a waste because there are only so many turns in the game and with the layout of the board I could have effortlessly killed all the Rhinos with shots that went after the Predator for more KPs.

D) Don't forget to move your units early in the game.  It would have cost me one of the squads the next turn if I had moved them on time, with them being caught in the open, but I'd have gotten the other PF squad and the EC's squad into cover and then CC by the next turn. 

E) Again, know thy enemy.  Part of this was me not remembering the 1k Sons' bolters are AP3.  I've faced them before, but with Sisters and when I've come under fire, I've used an act of faith to make my 3+ AS into a 3++ IS so it slipped my mind.

Found my camera, so here are the actual state of the minis I played with.

The Overview

The Headless Speeders and Dreadnoughts close up.  I have to redo a few magnets on the Speeders and I'm not happy with the detail on the DN I did detail, the other DN is just primed.

The Neophytes, Blue squad (PF), Red squad(PF) and Green/Gold squad.  It was going to be Gold, but I was reliably informed by my 6 year old that the "green guys" were cool and I needed some guys with green.  Also, my stand in EC.

Also posted on Bolter & Chainsword forums

Played on a 4x4 board with ~25% terrain.
The lists:

EC-AACNMTO
Crusader (5/1, BP/CCW, melta, Pod)
Crusader (5/0, BP/CCW, melta, PF, Pod)
Crusader (5/0, BP/CCW, melta, PF, Pod)
Dreadnought (MM/HF, EA, Pod)
Dreadnought (MM/HF, EA, Pod)
Land Speeder Typhoon w/ Heavy Bolter
Land Speeder Typhoon w/ Heavy Bolter

Forgive me, I don't know Dark Eldar, but here is what he had:
2x Triple Lance Gunships (Ravagers)
4x Single Lance Transports (Raider)
Archon + Incubi_
Wyches
Pair of Kabalite squads
3x Jet Bikes with the blade thing and S6 melta equivalent. (Reavers)

He won the role and deployed first. All I knew about the Dark Eldar is that they move fast, have lots of lances and some fun special rules of some sort with Pain Tokens. I made my first mistake, even though I knew I should deploy the Speeders in cover to do some sniping and inhibit his movement, I chose to go ahead and do a full drop since it was the first time I was playing a drop army. Which meant he had two full turns of fast movement to deploy around the board, covering the back armor of his gunships, deploying into cover and moving flat out on the second turn so that he got the 4+ save no matter what. Not skirmishing with my Speeders pretty much cost me the game.

Turn 2BT: One DN and the Crusader squad I'd attached the EC to dropped in (EC was with the wrong squad, one of the PF ones). Dropped them by the Ravagers to eliminate the biggest AT threat. Scatter was irrelevant. The DN melta took a weapon off one Ravager and its HF glanced to shake the crew. The Crusaders exploded the other Ravager with their melta (one Initiate dies in the explosion). Storm bolter fire from the pods was ineffective.

Turn 3DE: The Reavers do some kind of flyby slashing attacks on the Crusader squad (1 Initiate lost), several of the transports lance the DN, exploding it. One pod loses its Storm Bolter. Archon and Incubi deploy to assault the EC led Crusaders. The Archon kills the EC in a flurry of hits with some kind of instakill weapon, although I failed two invulnerable saves anyway. The Incubi finish off the last three Initiates.

Turn 3BT: The other two Crusaders and both Speeders deep strike in, leaving one DN in reserve. Scatter was a bit fun, but the range on the Heavy Bolters and Typhoons made it irrelevant for the Speeders (although one did peg the chosen spot), one Crusader scattered right across their target and some dangerous terrain so it ended up back where it started, the other Crusader scattered away from the Reavers towards the Archon's Raider. Storm Bolter fire was again irrelevant. The Speeders managed to explode the Wyches' Raider (all make saves and no pinning), the scattered Crusaders exploded the Archon's Raider (costing him an Incubi after all the saves) and the other Crusaders managed to shake the last Ravager again.

Turn 4DE: Various moving around, the Reavers' blade thing costs me a pair of Initiates and the Neophyte and that squad is finished off by the Archon and Incubi. One Speeder wrecked and the other shaken. The Wyches boil down the slope and assault the third Crusader Squad ending up with two surviving Initiates (whatever that insane bonus attack rule is, he only scored something like 1 in 3 hits) who took down a pair of Wyches.

Turn 4BT: The last DN drops in, scatters across the board, from its original target (Ravager) to another one (Raider with Kabalites). It misses with MM and doesn't glance with the HF. Storm Bolter fire ineffective. Last Speeder flat outs across the board. The Wyches kill the last of the Initiates in CC.

Turn 5DE: The last four lance weapons unload into the back of the DN, finally getting an explosion on the last hit. The Reavers shoot the last Speeder with their melta=type weapons and do nothing. Being down to a Speeder and four Pods with BS2 Storm Bolters, I called it at this point. Yeah I probably could have gotten a couple of models, but it was over.

Lessons Learned:
A: Especially against fast & mobile forces, the Typhoons need to start on the board to at least provide a distraction by maneuvering around flat out until the pods start falling. I'd already considered this tactic as one to follow most of the time, but was swayed by my desire to let them all drop the first time (maybe I shouldn't have reread Starship Troopers the week before last: "Everyone drops," must have been on my mind). IMO, this should be followed for almost all games with the pod army if you are using LS-Typhoons.

B: Other than the initial drop of two units, I should have dropped into more mutually supporting positions, my units were too isolated to support each other which allowed my opponent to swarm with his much faster units. This was complicated by A above because I didn't limit his mobility.

C: Pods with Storm Bolters suX0rz to the max. I don't think even the new effectiveness of the Land Speeder Typhoon helps that much. The only time a shot was taken at one was when a unit had nothing else to shoot at. I know the Deathwinds took a hit on their light armor killing capability but in both a swirling fight like this one or a straight up battle, besides the anti-infantry effectiveness, there is the exact same ability to shake or stun a vehicle. Okay, I lose the kill potential (except vs. AV10 vehicles, but it was only good to AV11 anyway, if they were open top), but denying the ability to shoot and/or move also has its uses. I'm going to play this list a few more times against different armies, but I'm getting the feeling that the Pods are pretty much just cover with only Storm Bolters. Yeah, I might get a lucky shot or three off, but they really aren't any threat. Just terrain.

Hello?  Is this thing on?

Greetings, by order of the Inquisition, the STC for the Land Speeder is being reviewed for the taint of Chaos, especially the ones equipped for multiple weapon layouts...

I can say that I'll think long and hard about my four and six Speeder lists before I assemble any more.  In truth, if I hadn't decided to magnetize them to carry all possible weapons, they really would have been fairly easy to simply glue together in a fixed configuration (especially as I somehow reversed one magnet on each Speeder for the Typhoons).  The crew compartment is way too crowded and without the nice torso and arm notches you find for the Marines in the AoBR set, the easy way to do them (assemble the torso, head and arms, then glue them intact into the Speeder), they have to be assembled bit by bit inside the tight confines of the cockpit to make sure the arms all go where you want.

As it is, all of my Marines are finished for tomorrow, although I'll be using my proxy EC since the Speeders have eaten up far too much of my time and still need a bit more work.  The last DN is going together now.  I'm not going to be 100% happy with the paint jobs the vehicles, but since my clear coat is a thin matte acrylic layer instead of a gloss hard coat, I can go back and finish up some of the fine details later.  The only "real" Drop Pod will probably end up unpainted.  It has been wet and cold all week long, so my target of spray priming the exterior and interior with a bit of detail work on the exterior isn't going to happen.  It wouldn't take long to do, but I don't have an inside place to spray it.  A little clear coat in my shower I can get away with...

On the Speeder subject, I've got a few ideas I want to try on the magnet front for the last one I put together.  The main trick being to do all the magnetizing before you glue the first piece on.  Well, actually, gluing some scrap in a few places to allow for better magnetizing.

Pretty models, but these things are really a pain to put together.  At least if you want them painted properly.  Stopped putting them together and did a little more detail painting that it going to be covered as I assemble the models.  I've figured out how to do some of the magnetizing, have the torsos, arms, shoulder pads and heads ready to go on sticks to be painted for assembly inside the Speeders.  As soon as that is done, I should hopefully be ready to finish the rest of the speeder.

And I really need to find my camera.  I know I packed it when I went to my Dad's funeral and I cannot find it now.

Anyway, there is a big issue with having done models in the past and trying to relearn the tricks you used to know.  This isn't a bicycle here, well, maybe it is in a way.  Marines all now have their stickers, although some are a bit off center (relearning curve).  I played with some extra highlighting and washing, but the way I've been semi-washing/drybrushing a lot of stuff as I'm painting means I've already got some of those effects and the trouble to do that, on the Marines at least, isn't worth the time.  I'm setting up for LGS, not Nova Open where I have to fight for points in painting and conversion in the GW mandated meta-hobby silliness.

Down to parchment markings (I'm waiting on my paint pen delivery) and clear coat finish.  The following is planned for today:
1) Mix up some more parchment color to get the four bits I missed, touch up oopsies with black as required.
2) As paint is drying, start slapping the various shoulder bits and backpacks onto the Initiates.
3) Finish doing the glued down bits on the two Speeders, start magnetizing and prime them.

Not sure if all of #3 will get done, but they should be assembled anyway.

Also, updating front page to reflect the change in list composition as well as current progress.

Early PM Status update: 1) and 2) above are done!  Huzzah!  Now just to wait on the superfine pen to arrive, although it might not make it.  In which case, a thin clear coat will go on Friday and I'll fix it later.  I also just remembered I need to put a few white crosses on the finished DN to put it in the same status as the Initiates and Neophytes.