Montana 40kon Tournament Results

So, a quick recap of my games and the results:
Round one (seeding round) vs Mechanized/Webway Dark Eldar. Victory.

Round two (first accelerated pairings round) versus Tyranids, Victory.

Round three (second accelerated pairings round) versus Hybrid Orks, Loss.

Montana 40kon Round 3 Deployment Photo

This photo is all I have time to do at the moment. This was the deployment for my third round loss versus Orks. I will be largely focusing on this loss as I feel that focussing on my relatively easy wins versus Dark Eldar and Tyranids wouldn't be as constructive in the long run.

I won the roll but gave up first turn. In retrospect I am not sure if that was correct against this particular army. I set up my Wolf Scouts in an infiltrated line as you can see. The deployment was diagonal similar to an Apocalypse deployment, except that the angle was fixed. The Wolf Scouts do a nice job of showing the deployment line, and we deployed 12" on either side of that.

Le Sigh

Well, once again I blew it in the third round.

Playing against Orks. Truk Boyz, Battlewagon Boyz, Meganobz and Gazhkul, Deffkoptas, Lootas and Snikrot.

Montana 40kon Update Post

I will use this post to put up comments with updates about the events of the day. Stay tuned.

Roadtrip Complete - Prepare For Glory!

So, yesterday morning at the crack of dawn (well, it was like eight thirty, so a little past dawn tbh), myself and three other brave souls set out on a cross state journey from Olympia, WA to Butte, Montana.
Our destination: Montana 40kon, a GW approved Grand Tournament largely unknown to us. My sole source of information prior to this was from a few postings about the event last year on Yes The Truth Hurts. I know only that the tourney organizer is a YTTH Zombye, and that this is the only large event I know of which uses a variation on Stelek's 5 x 5 system (here are the primer missions, unchanged from last year's event).

Tourney Prep Progress - Space Wolves Are Going to Montana

Yes, that's right. I'm gonna go eat me some cowboys.

In case you hadn't figured it out, I am heading to Montana this weekend for a good 'ol 40k rodeo. To that effect, I have been prepping my Wolves for the big show.

Fenrisien Wolves have been detailed and rebased (on 40mm round bases).

The Drop Pod has been completely painted and is table ready.

The display board is built and has been covered in plaster, ready for the final coat of paint tomorrow.

I need to paint one more Space Wolf to replace the dude with the Storm Bolter I am pulling out after the list change.

Other than that I am cocked, locked and ready to rock.

I will try and take some army photos tomorrow after the display board is built. I had wanted to try some water effects but there's just no time. Snow will have to do for now. I think it will still look nice.

Final army has 57 models, 2 Melta, 2 Combimelta, 4 Multimeltas, 10 Missile Shots, 4 Lascannon Shots and some angry choppy dudes. Hopefully it will be enough, lol.

Loganwing - Now with a Turbo-Blender-Matic 40,000

Yeah, so I'm going to go with a "best of both worlds approach." I'll keep the Lascannons at the suggestion of Chappy and others, and I will bring the Wolf Lord and Fenrisien Wolves at the suggestion of Chex and others.

In the list I have, I just don't see those Thunderwolves making it into combat, and the thing is, I NEED them to make it into combat. That's not a great place to be.

Seeking Feedback - More Guns or More Choppy?

Specifically kicking around the following question:

What would be best, to keep the two longfang units with their four Lascannons -

- or -

Upgrade my three TWC units to two WGBL with Artificer Armor, TWC Mounts, Storm Shields, Wolf Claws, and fifteen or so Fenrisien Wolves to accompany them.

So essentially, how worried am I of my three single model Thunderwolves getting zipped by things like Heavy Bolters, Multilasers, etc.

It's a legitimate question, IMO. Grey Knights will smoke those dudes before they leave the starting blocks. 100 points for a two wound model with a 3+ armor save is... vulnerable? Yeah, that's the word I'm looking for.

But then again, 4 Lascannons will help to destroy the things that mount those Heavy Bolters/Multilasers.

Hmmm...

Chappy has already weighed in in favor of the current list. I would appreciate your thoughts.

GT Practice - Fail. (Lol)

Ok, well I got exactly ONE practice game in today and it looks like it's probably going to be my only practice game before next week's GT.

*Shrug*

It's not like I've never played Space Wolves before, but sheesh, I was hoping to knock more of the rust off.

Tourney Prep is Ongoing

Just painting, painting, painting. Rebasing a bunch of my models on nicer resin bases, and trying to think of what I want to do with my display board (keeping time and space constraints in mind ofc).

Anyways, I'm still alive, just a little "spare time challenged."

Sigh... Yes Grey Knight Transports Can Still Scout

Just like always people, dedicated transports still benefit from Scout if their assigned unit has it (BRB Pg. 76).

"If a unit with this ability (Scouts) is deployed inside a dedicated transport vehicle, it confers the scout ability to the transport too."

And now the FAQ in question:

Loganwing - The Bulldozer

I don't think this list is really all that great, but I think it would be a lot of fun. Yes, I know you could be more efficient and get units of Thunderwolves.

Walk forward, shoot until you can thump (or chainfist, in this instance), continue thumping (fisting, heh) until dead.

Logan Grimnar
Njal Stormcaller, Terminator Armor

Lone Wolf, Terminator, Storm Shield, Chainfist, Fenrisien Wolves x 2
Lone Wolf, Terminator, Storm Shield, Chainfist, Fenrisien Wolves x 2
Lone Wolf, Terminator, Storm Shield, Chainfist, Fenrisien Wolves x 2

Wolf Guard x 5, Terminator, Cyclone, Chainfist, Storm Bolter x 2
Wolf Guard x 5, Terminator, Cyclone, Chainfist, Storm Bolter x 2
Wolf Guard x 5, Terminator, Cyclone, Chainfist, Storm Bolter x 2
Wolf Guard x 5, Terminator, Cyclone
Wolf Guard x 5, Terminator, Cyclone

Longfangs x 4, Lascannons x 4, Pack Leader
Longfangs x 4, Missile Launchers x 4, Pack Leader
Longfangs x 4, Missile Launchers x 4, Pack Leader

So Njal attaches to a Wolf Guard Squad, casts support powers as needed (probably granting 5++ cover saves to the Fenrisien Wolves with the Lone Wolves to make those units even MORE obnoxious to try and kill) and everything trods forward into midfield.


Can you stop me? Can you stop me and eat my 4 S10 Lascannons and 18 Missiles? Maybe yes, but it will be fun to find out.


This list is something I would play and really enjoy. It suits my style.

Calling Nardy... Come in NardyPoontango

Nardy, please shoot me an email if you get a chance. I don't have your email address apparently, need to talk to you about something.

Deathwatch Roleplaying - Session 2

Disclaimer: Very minimal reference to actual 40k here. Read on if interested.

So our party discovered that the Rogue Trader's crew from the Daedelus (the semi-derelict Rogue Trader vessal we had boarded during our first adventure to discover there was a Genestealer cult on board and some indications of a previous chaos infestation) had fled the ship. Or at least the officers had. Our Inquisitor wishes to understand what happened aboard the Daedelus, he feels it may be connected with the problems this sector has been having recently.

2k Loganbomb sans Runepriest

So, it's funny the kinds of things you can do with armies once you let go of certain 'safety blankets.' Now, sometimes those safety blankets exist for a reason (lol) but still, throwing preconceptions out the window is useful for trying out new ideas.

I'm planning on attending a tournament in Montana at the end of the month. It's 2000 points, and though I would dearly love to take the Nids, I'm just not comfortable with them yet at a GT level. I haven't even taken them to a "real" RTT yet, so I'm going to keep them on the shelf for now.

Nids 2k - Hold the Primes, Side of Ravener please.

Happy weekend everyone!

So I've been thinking about Nids lists quite a bit lately. Most of the proposed alterations to my standard list have involved giving up the safety net of the dual Prime/Zoanthrope star. This unit is somewhat of a safety blanket for me, to be honest. I could have gone undefeated (albeit with one draw) at the Conquest Seattle GT last year if my Space Wolves had been better equipped to handle a Dual Land Raider list. That experience has provided a near reflexive need on my part to include sufficient anti-heavy armor to deal with this possible matchup.

Fascinating Nids Discussion on Nikephoros' blog

So, Nikephoros has been doing some really interesting work over on his blog. I mean - REALLY interesting work. He is attempting to create a simple and quantifiable system for determining the "competitiveness" of a list.

Even trying to take on a project like that is really laudable. Whether it's truly possible or not is another question.

But, as a good scientist (and it's been clear to me for some time that Nikephoros IS a good scientist), he was not satisfied to simply create the system and call it a day. He started examining lists using his system and looked for correlations between the scores he got and the results those lists were getting in tournament play. I encourage you to browse through his June and July archives for some examples.

Deathwatch Roleplaying - Session 1

So, had a great weekend. No nerdiness for me except for some light reading. Just fishing, barbecue, sun and brews. Got to spend time with my folks and my dad's friend and his wife and kids. Was a really great weekend. My oldest daughter and I each brought home a nice sturgeon, and we have tons of meat in the freezer now.

Anyways, back to nerdery.

I have rallied together a really solid group of guys to play a Deathwatch campaign. Alex, our GM, is about the most solid GM I have yet encountered, and has an extremely solid knowledge of the 40k universe. In fact, our whole group has a fairly solid fluff background, which makes me have high hopes for the roleplaying aspect.

I am playing a Dark Angels Librarian. I have chosen the Smite, Avenger and Augury powers to start out. I figured I would need some solid combat abilities to start out. I also bought the Interrogation skill, upgraded my Willpower (kind of a"no duh" move for a Librarian) as well as my Weapon Skill. My intent is to eventually get the Mind Worm power and be a psyker Interrogator. Helps for hunting the Fallen (shhh... the other guys in the team don't know about that).

Anyways, I was joined by a fellow Dark Angel (non Inner Circle) Devastator, a Ultramarines Tactical Marine (see also: squad leader/codex: astartes preacher) and a Blood Angels Assault Marine. Nicely rounded combat abilities though a bit lacking in the support categories, sadly. An Apothecary and a Techmarine would be really nice, but this is what we have for now.

So, the sector around the Eye of Terror has seen a recent spike in cultist activity and insurrections. As a result, it is sort of an "all hands on deck" and the Ordo Xenos has been contributing as necessary to the eradication of chaos cults. There are also hints of Xenos involvement which has piqued the interest of our Inquisitor.

Our first mission was to board a derelict Rogue Trader ship and find a specific Xenos artifact, a sword made of the bones of a Genestealer Patriarch. Onboard the ship we discovered that the crew had likely become Chaos cultists at some point, but that the current denizens were a Genestealer Cult. Our Devastator mowed through dozens of mutated cultists with his Heavy Bolter, and eventually we came under attack from a real Genestealer. The Genestealer jumped on and did some significant damage to our Devastator, clearly targeting the greatest threat. We counter-attacked and my character took it down by connecting solidly with my Force Stave and activating its Force Weapon ability, dealing a metric butt ton of damage when I beat the Genestealer's Oppossed Willpower check by three, doing a total of 4D10 + 13 damage.

Yowza.

Interesting start of the campaign. We caught some elements of chaos cults and Tyranids. I suspect that may be a preview of things to come. I wouldn't be surprised if the chaos cults were using the Tyranids to weaken Imperial defenses in advance of a major assault in the sector we are in. We'll see.

Anyways, that was my geeky evening.