Mechani-Kon 6: Army Showcase

Last month Alex and Thurston organized their sixth and final Mechani-Kon Warhammer 40k tournament. I was able to attend, and had a great time fielding a kinda retro version of my Eldar Swordwind. The TO's are not big fans of the current (7th ed.) iteration of 40k. For the event, there was no "comp" score per se. The TO's limited attendees to a single force org, so there were no allies allowed (and thus no dreaded "Tau-dar or other such ploys). The tournament was sold out, with people bringing out a lot of well-painted, themed armies.

Here follows the pictures that I was able to take of various armies. I shall post a brief batrep of my games in due course.

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Conscript Byron deservedly won the award for Best Appearance with his Chaos army (note that the roads and signs are laser cut wood from Byron's company, SG2 Creations):





Lovely converted Helldrake flyer.









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WesS won Best Overall while fielding a beautifully painted Dark Angels force:









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SteveB's beautiful Chaos army.









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CodyB's cool Tau:







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More armies:
























































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Asurmen's Academy

But for the Nightwing Interceptor aircraft, the Eldar force I brought was something I would have fielded in the early 2000's: Asurmen leading several squads of Aspect Warriors, supported by a Night Spinner artillery tank. At the time of the tournament, several of my units had not seen play for years, due to the vagaries of changes in the basic rules, and an aging codex. For example, I had not played with my Howling Banshees since maybe 2009.



Howling Banshees led by an Exarch. They were rock stars during the tournament, accompanying Asurmen as his bodyguards. With the recent release of the 7th Edition Codex Craftworlds, the Banshees don't even suck any more.



Asurmen, the Hand of Asuryen. This Phoenix Lord tanked shot after shot during the day, and got stuck into  close combat every game. The artillery tank also was a thorn in my opponents' sides, dropping clouds of mono-filament webs from across the table.



With Codex Craftworlds I shall be going back to fielding large (8-10 strong) Dire Avenger and Fire Dragon squads.



My Warp Spiders, painted by Conscript Brian. Always a part of my forces, they are now (in Codex Craftworlds) one of the best Eldar units.



The Nightwing, a Forge World resin model. During the tournament, half the time it was shut down by enemy anti-aircraft weapons, the other half  of the time it blew up stuff real good.



As for my placement in the standings, I won the highly coveted "First Loser" award! (Because winning second place overall with no other award is truly to be the first loser!)

This reminds me of my Astronom-con experiences, where I have placed 2nd overall 4 or 5 times...