Solomon Kane US Release

Hey guys, sorry I've been down and out for a while. I started up school again and I'm just drained.

I'm going to try my best to get some games in this weekend, and I am signed up for both a 1750 NOVA style RTT and a Flames of War tournament in the next month or so.

In the meanwhile, I strongly encourage you to check out the U.S. theatrical release of Solomon Kane, a film which was actually completed in 2009 but which is only now being released on this side of the Atlantic.

Solmon Kane, for those who don't know, is the origins of our "Witchhunter" archetype (which is one of my favorite archetypes). Puritan hat, cutlass, pistols, etc. He was written by Robert E. Howard, who also created the Conan character. If you've never had a chance to read Conan or Solomon Kane, I can't recommend them enough. They are the origins of so much of what inhabits our modern fantasy worlds, but there is something very primal and raw about Howard's writings, that I really dig.

While I was in Iraq, we received a BOX full of old Robert E. Howard books. An old World War II veteran, a former Marine, had passed away with his epic collection of Howard paperbacks. His widow, bless her heart, figured they could find a home with some Marines in Iraq. Well, I was the first to get my hands on them, and read every. single. one. I'm sure others have read them since then.

Here's a link to a list of US venues where Kane is playing. I've heard REALLY good things about this movie, it supposedly stays very true to the book. If you can check it out, you should, because we need to support good, serious fantasy and sci-fi film when it's made.

Possible 1750 Nids List for October Tourney

This is mostly built and painted, but I discovered today that I don't have NEARLY enough gants to support three Tervigons... which is kind of a good/bad thing. Oh, and one of my Hive Tyrant wings has mysteriously gone missing...

Hive Tyrant, Wings, Devourers x 2, Hive Commander
Hive Tyrant, Wings, Devourers x 2

Hive Guard x 3
Hive Guard x 3
Zoanthrope x 2

Tervigon, Catalyst, Onslaught, Adrenals, Toxins
Tervigon, Catalyst, Onslaught, Adrenals, Toxins
Tervigon, Catalyst, Onslaught, Adrenals, Toxins
Termagants x 10
Termagants x 10
Termagants x 10

Tried this out today and it did well. Everything seems to work better at 1750 for Tyranids.

I Remember

Somehow this sneaks up on me every year, then hits like a ton of bricks.

I woke up on that morning, with a sense of confusion. It was late. Normally we would have been woken up at 6 am, Pacific, but we groggily rolled out of our racks at around 6:15, exhausted from the previous day's training.

I was seventeen years old, a Marine Recruit at Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego.

Our drill instructors were nowhere to be found. We didn't know what to do, so we got dressed in our cammies and sat at the feet of our beds. There was an odd feeling in the air, a kind of silence that we couldn't put our fingers on.

After maybe 15 minutes, a drill instructor we didn't know came running through the barracks. He was obviously going through every squad bay. He quickly told us that our drill instructors had reported for security duty, that we were under attack, and that we were to remain where we were. He was wearing a flack jacket and a helmet over his neatly pressed button-up uniform shirt. He was carrying a loaded M-16.

After perhaps an hour, our Senior Drill Instructor returned. He too was wearing body armor and carrying a rifle over his immaculate uniform. He explained that the country was under attack. At first, most of us didn't believe him. The Marine Corps has been known to perform fake simulated attacks, to get recruits to think they were "going to war."

Without us saying anything about it, he acknowledged that this probably seemed like a joke, or a drill. He said it wasn't a joke. He asked us, "when is the last time you heard a plane taking off or landing at San Diego International (right next door to  the Depot)?" It was then that we identified the strange silence - the airport was dead silent.

"Gents, we can't shut down San Diego International just to fuck with you. This is for real."

The rest of the day is a bit of a blur. I remember seeing our drill instructors putting up crash barriers at the gates of the depot. I remember how confused everyone was, as rumors flew around about a missile launch, about Afghanistan, about war. Yes, even on that first day I remember we were talking about Afghanistan.

Later that night, our Senior brought in a tiny, 12" television set, and a VCR. He put in a tape, the news from that morning, recorded by his wife. 116 of us, mostly kids really, sat around, in cross legged silence, and watched our world change. It felt like the beginning of something, and we knew most of us in that room would be getting involved long before it was over.

I remember.

Tony Kopac wins the NOVA... AGAIN!

Man this guy just can't be stopped.

In the final round, Tony was able to clear out the middle objective which was being contested by Nick Nanavati's Plaguebearers. Each player controlled two quarters (primary) and with Tony claiming the middle objective he won on secondaries.

So let's talk about all of the awesomeness flowing out of the NOVA:

-Flyerwing is defeated by an infantry army.
-An all infantry army versus and all infantry army at the top table in the final round.
-Chaos Daemons (!?!) at the top table in the final round.
-Xenos everywhere, as primaries or as allies.
-Still lots of mechanized lists, and they don't seem to be falling down failing either.

Wow, talk about some changes that 6th has brought to us.

So the goal of any good tournament design is to bring two incredibly skilled teams/players together in the final round, and face them off in a format that provides no advantages to either side, and produce the best possible fight possible, with the most skilled player taking the win.

Well Mike: Mission Accomplished.

What an incredible game.

Rough recaps of Tony and Nick's lists (VERY rough):

Tony (via Imperius Dominatus):
Njal
5x Grey Hunter squads, 3x10 w/ 2x Plasma, 1x10 w/ 2x Melta. All wolf standard and each lead by a PF
Wolf Guard Terminator, and 1x5 with just flamer
2x Lone Wolves w/ Chainfist & storm shield
Primaris Psyker
5 man PCS w/ no upgrades
50 man Blob Squad w/ 5x Power Axes & meltabombs
2x5 Long Fangs with 4 missiles each

Nick's Daemons (confirmed by his opponent Nathan):

Fateweaver

6 Flamers w/ pyrocaster
6 Flamers w/ pyrocaster
6 Flamers w/ pyrocaster

5 Plaguebearers w/ Icon
5 Plaguebearers w/ Icon
5 Plaguebearers
5 Plaguebearers

5 Screamers
5 Screamers
5 Screamers

Daemon Prince
w/ Wings, Iron Hide, Unholy Might, Breath of Chaos, Slaanesh, Aura of Acquiesece, Soporific Musk.
Daemon Prince
w/ Wings, Iron Hide, Unholy Might, Breath of Chaos, Slaanesh, Aura of Acquiesece, Soporific Musk.
Again... this is REALLY rough, could be off by a lot but gives you a general outline of the armies. I didn't get to watch the seventh round this morning, and I missed the first few rounds of the 8th so that would have let me get a better idea for exactly what was in each army.

In the final game, Tony rolled on Divination and was able to apply 4++ invuls to his blob squad, and his Primaris also rolled endurance. This allowed his 5 point trooper ablative wounds to withstand the full fury of a double Screamer and Daemon Prince assault and actually wear down the Screamers over time. The blob eventually died, but you talk about the epitome of a tarpit. 5 point models with a 4++/5+... ridiculous.

Anyways, what a great game to watch. Hope you guys get a chance to as well. The 11th company has done an incredible job of covering the entire event.

Watching the NOVA, and thinking

Watching Tony hammer Neil Gilstrap today on the 11th Company Livecast just made me giggle. For the first few turns Neil's flyerwing was just HAMMERING Tony's army, with very little done in return, as Tony slowly moved across the board with his horde of infantry including... Njal.

Seeing it from above, it was really, really clear that if Njal rolled well on his Stormcaller powers it was going to wreak havoc with the Flyers. I had to step away for a few turns but when I came back, 3/4 of the Scythes were gone. Wow.

Anyways, Njal is and always has been a boss. I hammered several Dark Eldar Raiders out of the sky in a turn with him as well. He's a handy dude, albeit an expensive one.

Anyways, been thinking about army lists as always, and bought a bunch of terrain building supplies as well. Would like to have two full tables of terrain built and stored so that I can both play at home with some variety and contribute for tournaments. I think the next terrain set will be something desert/Egyptian themed, as I saw at the NOVA and it just caught my fancy.

I had been screwing around with several combinations of Wolves and Knights, including my Mech list that I took to a RTT recently. I have also gotten a few games in with my Loganwolves in a foot configuration with Strike Squads allied in for extra anti-infantry and scoring.

 Here's where I have landed so far with Logan and friends:

Logan Grimnar
Rune Priest, Meltabombs

Wolf Guard x 5, Terminator w/Cyclone, 4 w/Bolters, Bolt Pistols
Wolf Guard x 5, Terminator w/Cyclone, 4 w/Bolters, Bolt Pistols
Wolf Guard x 5, Terminator w/Cyclone, 4 w/Bolters, Bolt Pistols
Wolf Guard x 5, Terminator w/Cyclone, 4 w/Bolters, Bolt Pistols
Wolf Guard x 5, Terminator w/Cyclone, 4 w/Bolters, Bolt Pistols
Wolf Guard x 5, Terminator w/Cyclone, 4 w/Bolters, Bolt Pistols

Longfangs x 4, Multimelta x 4, Pack Leader
Longfangs x 4, Missile Launcher x 4, Pack Leader
Longfangs x 4, Missile Launcher x 4, Pack Leader

Inquisitor
Strike Squad, Extra Strike Marines x 5, Psycannon x 2
Strike Squad, Extra Strike Marines x 5, Psycannon x 2

So that's 68 models, and a fair bit of firepower. Not convinced that this is the way to go, but it certainly doesn't look terrible either.

Tourney Recap - 4 Round RTT, Grey Knight/Space Wolves Hybrid

Attended a book mission RTT yesterday, which was set up to go four rounds.

I did some pretty frantic work getting my Grey Knights army up and running, and in the end had a list that was a bit sub-optimal but still decent. Here's my list:

Inquisitor, Terminator Armor, Psycannon
Warrior Henchmen x 6, Bolters

Inquisitor, Terminator Armor, Psycannon
Warrior Henchmen x 6, Bolters

Strike Squad, Psycannon, Razorback, TL Assault Cannon, Psybolt, Searchlight
Strike Squad, Psycannon, Razorback, TL Assault Cannon, Psybolt, Searchlight
Strike Squad, Psycannon, Razorback, TL Assault Cannon, Psybolt
Strike Squad, Psycannon, Razorback, TL Assault Cannon, Psybolt

Dreadnought, TL Autocannon x 2, Psybolt
Dreadnought, TL Autocannon x 2, Psybolt

Wolf Lord, Thunderwolf, Runic Armor, Storm Shield, Power Fist, Wolf Tail Talisman

Grey Hunters x 10, Plasmagun x 2, Rhino
Grey Hunters x 10, Plasmagun x 2, Rhino

Fenrisien Wolves x 10

So, it turns out I was actually only running a 1967 army. Who knew. That's what you get for finalizing a list at two in the morning the night before a tournament, eh?

First round was against Dark Angels.

Belial
3 x Deathwing Squads (one with Banner and Apoth)

3 Land Raiders

3 Dreadnoughts, 2 with MM/CCW and Drop Pods, one with Plasma Cannon and Missile Launcher

So this was an extreme low model count army. I was a bit worried about the AV 14 with my list.

Vanguard Deployment, Relic Mission.

My Rhinos were deployed in the center forward, and the Razorbacks were either hiding behind ruins or Rhinos. My Dreadnoughts were deployed pretty much in the open on my far right table edge, ready to take advantage of spotlights.

His first turn saw no effective shooting, but he did move up a bit and into range of my guns next turn. My first turn I moved my Rhinos up, spotlighted one of his Land Raiders an popped smoke on the other Rhino. My Dreadnoughts opened up and knocked off some hull points. The Psycannons proceeded to finish wrecking that Land Raider. My Grey Hunter Rhinos were now very much on top of the relic, but stayed embarked for now.

His second turn two Multimelta Dreads dropped in on my Psyflemen and immobilized one. I think this was a mistake, they should have gone into midfield where they could help with the Relic, but really there were few good options here for him. His Plasma Dread moved up and tossed a few blasts at my Strike squad to little effect.

My return fire destroyed both of his Dreadnoughts and finished off his disembarked Deathwing unit (with help from eight plasma shots from my Rhinos) and destroyed his other closest Land Raider.

One of his Deathwing units managed to get a charge against my left flank and wrecked a Rhino and a Razorback. My Grey Hunters disembarked and prepared to shoot the piss out of him.

My Wolf Lord, who had been working his way around the flank, charged and Wrecked his last Land Raider. 20 Grey Hunters and a bunch of other shots went into destroying his last Dreadnought and Deathwing squad. Belial had decided to run and hide so I did not table him or get Warlord, but Belial was his only active model.

Round 2 was against an Mechdarstar list. Eldrad, The Fire Dragon Phoenix Lord, 2 units of Storm Guardians in Serpents, 2 units of Fire Dragons in Serpents, 2 Fire Prisms, unit of Warlocks in a Serpent, hmmm... I must be missing something because I thought he had eight vehicles.

Dawn of War deployment, 4 Objectives (Crusade). This table had lots of line of sight blocking ice hills.

Anyways. I had no Rune Priest so there was literally nothing I could do to stop his Lock star. He had rerollable 2+ armor saves in the Lord, and rerollable 3++ and/or 4++ saves from Eldrad and the Warlocks.

I deployed my Psyflemen on each of my flanks, ensuring that he would not be able to keep all of his vehicles out of line of sight of them. My Rhinos again went up front, ready to push into the corridor between two hills which led to my two home objectives. He deployed centrally, with some of his tanks out of LOS but mostly just in cover and a few in the open.

We got night fighting on the first turn, and I pushed my Rhinos forward again creating a wall in the center corridor, spotlighting his first Fire Dragon Wave Serpent and downing it with Autocannons. Everything else moved up and I think I may have downed another serpent this turn too (I think the Storm Guardians).

He moved and disembarked Eldrad's unit directly in front of my Rhinos. I think he killed both Rhinos, and I disembarked behind them. On my turn I moved on unit of Grey Hunters up into his face, but shot past them with Plasmaguns at the vehicles. The other Grey Hunters moved up too but stayed back a bit, and controlled the center objective, which happened to be a Grav Wave generator. The rest of my stuff continued to shoot up his other vehicles, my Wolf Lord charged and exploded his left flank Wave Serpent and killed a few Storm Guardians in the explosion. I remounted three of my Strike Squads and started to book around the flanks towards his home field objectives, as I couldn't be certain of stopping the Eldrad star in time.

He charged my Grey Hunters, but managed not to slaughter them all in one turn. I think I even hit him with a few Overwatch shots but of course he saved them all. This turn he also flamed the Wolf Lord's attending Fenrisien Wolves but managed not to kill them all.

I moved a Razorback up into his path and moved my Grey Hunters back a bit but still in control of the central objective. Behind the Grey Hunters was my fourth Strike Squad as well as an Inquisitor Retinue which I could throw in their face next.

He detached his Fire Lord from the Deathstar, sending them to my right to attach to his Fire Dragons, and then Eldrad and Co. charged my Grey Hunters, but because of the Grav Wave and terrain, he was only able to engage a few models. My Grey Hunters counter-attacked and actually won combat, and Eldrad's unit broke and ran (no longer Fearless without the Phoenix Lord).

My Wolf Lord on my left flank charged and wiped out his Storm Guardians. He now had only one unit on my right flank left, as well as a unit of Fire Dragons over there with the Phoenix Lord. I tank shocked Eldrad's already-broken unit and it ran some more.

I shot the bejeezus out of the Fire Lord, and some failed Look Out Sirs combined with Rends saw him go down. I now had two strike squads and two razorbacks threatening his backfield objective on the right, and one Strike Squad flat-outing towards his objective on my left.

The next turn Eldrad rallied, and his fire dragons shot up something, maybe a Razorback.

I think I assaulted his fire dragons, the Storm Guarians getting wiped out by shooting. Eldrad's unit got shot to pieces by everything in my army, and the game ended after I wiped out his last model in close combat on the right side (again, I think a Fire Dragon).

I scored all four objectives.

Third Round was against Epidemius and Plague Marines. He had Epidemius and a unit of Plague-Bearers, 2 medium sized squads of Plague-marked Terminators, 4 Plague Marines squads, one in a Rhino, 2 Vindicators, one 3 man Obliterator, a Plague Prince with wings (from C:SM). This was long-table deployment.

I chose to go second IIRC. I deployed outside of his 30" Vindi move and shoot range, but so that if he moved forward, I could move and shoot back at him. We played the Scouring, and I ended up with 8 points of objectives on my side (3, 3, 2), and seven on his side (4, 2, 1).

This was mostly just a slug fest as I shot up his Vindicators at range to start. I was really stupid in this match, I set up my Strike Squads to extend Warp Quake bubbles across my lines but forgot to cast it on my first turn. He deep struck in right on top of me and did some damage but not as much as he could/should have. I shot up then charged and destroyed one unit of Terminators. I put some shots into the other as well. This was the turn where I completely forgot to shoot about 1/3 of my army which was on the far table side, since I forgot they were there after I moved them. I hate long table deployments. ><

His Terminators were able to charge and wipe out my Dreadnought with a Chainfist, and destroyed one of my Strike squads as well in a combi-charge. I kepty plinking away at his Obliterators with

Plasmaguns and Psycannons and wore them down over time. His Daemon Prince stayed out of LoS behind a hill, I think hoping for a good opportunity to come out and eat something. This wasn't a bad play, as the moment he came out I blasted him down. I also ended up killing the other unit of Terminators mostly with shooting.

So he ended up with 2 points to my 10 at the end.


I went into the fourth round against my buddy Kingpin who is basically my Kryptonite. He's just a plain better player than I am, and I really have a tough time against him. He was playing his Imperial Guard with allied Space Wolves.

Command Squad with 4 Plasmaguns, Chimera
Platoom Command with Meltaguns, Chimera
Veterans with Meltaguns, Chimera
4 Infantry Squads, Lascannon, Power Axe

Vendetta
Griffon Siege Mortar
Leman Russ Demolisher, Lascannon
Leman Russ Lascannon

Rune Priest (takes reroll power)

Grey Hunters, 2 Meltaguns, Rhino
Grey Hunters, 2 Meltaguns, Rhino

Might be missing something but I think that's most of it.

This was kill points with Dawn of War deployment. The TO decided it would be a good idea to use the War Zone trait that adds an extra 6" to all weapon ranges, indicating that he thought this was the least unbalanced trait and wanted to try it for fun.

...

Anyways, this actually encouraged me to deploy kind of silly with my army and to go first. Under normal circumstances I would have chosen to deploy second.

So that was dumb, and even with the funky weapons rules really worked against me. The funky weapons rules just meant it was not an auto-loss.

So of course Kingpin sets up in an extreme refused flank castle, with his Griffon, his Russes, his blob, his Rhinos and his company command (there was another Chimera back there too... not sure who they were).

So we just proceed to shoot the crap out of each other, with almost 100% of the shots both directions going through 4+ ruins to provide lots of cover saves. I managed to immobilize THREE of my Razorbacks out of range of his army, which was just phenominal.

Except for his Demolisher, which hucked shot after shot into my Psyfledread in the right corner, standing in the open, and just couldn't do a damned thing to it. That was kind of ridiculous.

Anyways, I think I was in the lead kill points wise through most of the game. Time was called in the fifth, and Kingpin had the lead, I believe 10-8. A sixth round might have changed things, but it's hard to say. We did play through the sixth round, and at the end of the sixth I had a 5 point swing that took me into the lead, HOWEVER he had been playing his 5th round as if it were his last so he had exposed his warlord unnecessarily. It's hard to say. In the end, Kingpin won (AGAIN!) lol. Jerk.

Lesson learned by me was, get my last two Razorbacks built and painted so I can run the list properly, and always go second against armies that will try to castle unless there is no terrain. Oh, and buy Dozer blades. They might not look efficient on paper, but I find out over and over and over again that with limited range guns you can't afford to go around terrain, and having an 85 point Razorback taken out of the fight because you rolled a "1" really sucks.

SO I came in second, got no prize support but ended up buying the new edition of Descent anyways because, well, I was in the mood to spend some of my accumulated store credit.

Feels good to be back in the hobby, and I'm excited to get this army "truly" finished, painted and ready to go. And I hope that ultimately Dark Angels will end up being better allies than Space Wolves, since my stuff is all painted up as a Dark Angels successor chapter anyways.

Fuck it Robin Cruddace... I Give Up

I can't do it. I tried and tried, but I cannot win consistently with Tyranids against any kind of decent armies or players. I'm giving up on them for a bit. I thought my love for the models could sustain me, but it just can't. No range, no survivability, no hitting power, no nothing. Just a waste of a slot in the release schedule of 2010, and a waste of dozens of hours of my time and energy.

GW, if you want me to ever spend another dollar on these broken pieces of shit you call Tyranids, you'd better give them a White Dwarf treatment or something. I'm done trying to bang my head against that fucking wall.

Loganwing with Grey Knights Test List

Logan Grimnar
Wolf Guard x 4 w/Bolters, 1 WG Terminator w/Power Axe, Cyclone
Wolf Guard x 4 w/Bolters, 1 WG Terminator w/Power Axe, Cyclone
Wolf Guard x 4 w/Bolters, 1 WG Terminator w/Power Axe, Cyclone
Wolf Guard x 4 w/Bolters, 1 WG Terminator w/Power Axe, Cyclone
Wolf Guard x 4 w/Bolters, 1 WG Terminator w/Power Axe, Cyclone
Wolf Guard x 4 w/Bolters, 1 WG Terminator w/Power Axe, Cyclone
Land Speeder, Multimelta x 2
Land Speeder, Multimelta x 2
Longfangs x 4, Multimelta x 4, Pack Leader, Drop Pod

Inquisitor
Strike Squad, Extra Strike Squad x 5, Psycannon x 2, Psybolt
Strike Squad, Extra Strike Squad x 5, Psycannon x 2, Psybolt
Interceptors, Extra Interceptors x 5, Psycannon x 2, Psybolt

67 Infantry, 3 disposable vehicles

Thoughts welcome. 

Why Are People Still Liking Fex Stars?

I've been wrong before. In my mind, it goes without saying that when I say something, anything really, it's prefaced by an imaginary "in my opinion."

It's hard to argue about maths, because you can be either absolutely right, or absolutely wrong. Sometimes I've made mistakes, and in those instances I'm absolutely wrong. More often than not, I get the maths right, and then I'm right.

But saying that something has X probability of Y occurring, is not the same as saying that X is best. There is no magical "mathematical formula" for creating lists. Math can inform decisionmaking, but it cannot make decisions. Never has, never will. You can try and incorporate as many different variables in as many different ways as you can, but you will never capture the subtleties of threat ranges, movement options, hell, base sizes, footprints, etc. It's almost impossible.

But sometimes you can find a truly "apples to apples" comparison.

The Fex Star versus the Tyrant Star.

So... this is a debate that went on and on between SinSynn and I back in the day. One of my favorite ever internet debates.

And at the end of the day, we left neither of us having convinced the other. But now it's a new edition, and a new debate.

So, let's clearly define our terms:

Contender A, the Tyrant Star:

Hive Tyrant, Devourers x 2, Tyrant Guard, 260 points.

Contender B, the Fex Star:

Carnifex, Devourers x 2, Tyranid Prime, LW/BS, 285 points.

As I understand it, Kirby has used the Fex Stars, and seems to think that the Fex Stars transfer well to 6th. I, too, have suggested that Fexes with Devourers make a great tool, once your HQ slot is used up.

But I would offer that if you are going to be using your HQ slots for Primes and attaching them to Fexes, that the Hive Tyrant with a Tyrant Guard is a superior option.

Firepower: Identical.
Combat Ability: Fex Star is the winner.
Durability: On its face, the Fex Star is the winner (one extra wound).
Heavy Armor Killing: When smashing, identical. If Smashing is not needed, the Fex wins. Usually. (See below).
Psyker support: Ohhhh wait. Guess the Tyrant wins this one.
Army support: I keep looking in the dex, I don't see any options for Preferred Enemy Bubbles on the Carnifex. Heh.
Vulnerability to Jaws: Tyrant wins hands down.

So for 25 points cheaper, I'm thinking I will be sticking with the Tyrants. The addition of the psyker abilities is huge. If I want to, I can splurge and grab a 2+ save, or get a Preferred Enemy bubble. *shrug* I like those options.

NOVA Open DRAFT FAQ's Released

Here is the link.

A few things that affect Tyranids directly.

A Flying Monstrous Creature which fails a Grounded test must still be hit only by snap fire, and can be Grounded again that same turn (thus suffering an additional hit). As is mentioned in the FAQ, I think GW will ultimately change this, but for now NOVA is going with the RAW which helps FMC quite a bit.

Multiple applications of Enfeeble from different sources are "different" and thus stack. This is a big one.

I would encourage you to give them a thorough read-through, and if after reading Mike's post on the topic you have further questions or challenges to the rulings, post them up in the appropriate place (detailed in the FAQ).

Thanks again to Mike and his crew for all their hard work under such short time constraints.

Here's to You, Nikephoros - Making Sense of the New Hull Points Maths

Ok, so Nike has made a rather interesting tool and posted it up on his website. He essentially is performing what is called a "Monte Carlo" or resampling approach to attempting to determine what the odds of killing a vehicle target are. It's a fine approach, and in fact Monte Carlo methods are the cutting edge in statistics right now, and allow you to do lots of things without having to make messy assumptions about the data you are working with.

But it's not my preferred method for Warhammer, for the simple reason that I feel like I 'own' the data more if I actually calculate these probabilities myself. To be clear, I'm not saying that you 'need' to know any of these things to be good at Warhammer. At all. But I enjoy working with numbers, and find that it actually makes me a smarter person to go through what are essentially uber cool word problems.

I mean imagine if you were sitting in 5th grade math class and your teacher reads you the following problem:

Quick And Dirty Batrep Nids vs Necrons

Got a game in today against a foot-heavy Necron army. Just a friendly game, he doesn't have many vehicles for his army yet. He did have one Command Barge which was a pain in the butt for exactly one turn.

Lessons learned: Stay out of close combat with Lords with Mindshackle Scarabs. Those things are stupid. Lol. It doesn't help that I can't seem to roll ten or lower on 3D6 to save my life. It does result in nice spawning rolls though!

The army list functioned exactly as intended. At the end of the game I had a Tervigon, a Dakkafex and a Hive Tyrant and would have tabled him the next turn but we called it. He had 20 Immortals, a Lord, three units of Scarabs, and the rest were Warriors. And the Overlord on Barge of Obnoxiousness.

I eliminated all three units of Scarabs on the first two turns, by debuffing them to Toughness two and shooting them with lots and lots of devourer shots. He grounded my Hive Tyrant and managed to assault it with a Mindshackle Lord and killed it in one round. I hit myself three times, wounded myself three times, and he finished me off with a Warscythe. Ridiculous!

But after that it was just a matter of shooting and assaulting down his hordes of foot sloggers.

This game proved nothing in terms of the effectiveness of the army as a whole, but it did show the validity of some of the individual tools in the toolbag, and gave me more experiencing with the Psyker powers, maneuvering the Flyers, debuffing things, etc.

So a nice little game, and now I'm home for more painting. I want the Nids to be FINISHED before Dark Angels come out, because they are one of my main armies (I play Guardians of the Covenant, a successor chapter) and I'm sure I'm going to go bananas when they drop).

Bugz For a New Age

Well... I've got about a hundred different ways I could throw this together but I think my basic build so far is going to be twin Flyrants, twin Tervigons for midfield holding, twin Devilgaunts for dakka, two units of Hive Guard, one unit of Zoanthropes, plus... X.

I can run the Hive guard in two's or threes. I can take Gargoyles or no, and have played around a bit with Genestealers (once on the board, but mostly just thinking about them).

Here seems to be a fairly solid configuration which I will hope to test soon:

Hive Tyrant, Wings, Devourers x 2
Hive Tyrant, Wings, Devourers x 2

Hive Guard x 2
Hive Guard x 2
Zoanthrope x 2 (Almost always will swap powers for Biomancy for support)

Tervigon, Catalyst, Onslaught, Adrenals, Toxins, Crushing Claws
Tervigon, Catalyst, Onslaught, Adrenals, Toxins, Crushing Claws
Termagants x 10, Devourers
Termagants x 10, Devourers
Termagants x 11
Termagants x 11

Carnifex, Devourers x 2
Carnifex, Devourers x 2

So there's really nothing super radically different from several 5th edition lists I had posted, but what I feel has changed is that the Hive Tyrants now add a new dynamic to the army, helping with Jaws, buffing/debuffing, and absorbing shots that otherwise would take down the Tervigons/Carnifexes too early.

I see this army trading shots with the enemy, losing the Tyrants, the Fexes, and possibly even the Hive Guard, but ultimately dominating the midfield and winning the game with both Tervigons alive (which can bat cleanup much more effectively in this edition).

Unlike in 5th, I am not overly concerned with light armor spam, nor am I greatly concerned about Land Raiders. What I WILL struggle greatly against will be flyers, but I have six units in the army that, with some luck, can at least try and address them, and possibly more depending upon what psychic discipline I decide on pre-game.


The most obvious switch up for this list would be dropping the Crushing Claws and Scything Talons off the Tervigons and changing the naked Termagants into Gargoyles with Adrenals and Toxins. Both have their advantages.

Thoughts?

Quick and Dirty Batrep - Nids Versus Chaos Daemons (Plague Flavored!)

So I had the great pleasure of getting an abbreviated game in with my buddy ChappyDBC last night when I arrived. He was already embroiled in a game against Necrons, so I was forced, kicking and screaming, against my will, to go grab a beer with some Warhammer nerds after being at school and work for 12 hours on a Saturday.

Ok, so the beer was actually a really nice break. Heh.

But the unfortunate consequence was that we started our game with about an hour left till the store closed, which didn’t bode well.

I was playing the following, typed up based on the models I had grabbed from the house:

Hive Tyrant, Wings, Devourers x 2
Hive Tyrant, Wings, Devourers x 2

Hive Guard x 3
Hive Guard x 3
Zoanthrope x 2

Tervigon, Catalyst, Onslaught, Adrenals, Toxins, Crushing Claws
Tervigon, Catalyst, Onslaught, Adrenals, Toxins, Crushing Claws
Termagants x 10, Devourers
Termagants x 10, Devourers
Genestealers x 13, Broodlord w/Scything Talons, Toxins for Everybody!

Gargoyles x 15, Adrenals, Toxins

1999 Points

So, just shy of the dreaded “DOUBLE FORCE ORGOMGPANIC!!” lol.

He was playing an Epidemius Plague Daemons army. Let me see if I can recall the general elements:

Epidemius
The big shit Daemon (Kugach or something?)
Herald of Nurgle

A bunch of units of Plaguebearers

3 Spawn of Nurgle

3 Daemon Princes
Everything that could take Breath had it. Icons were sprinkled throughout.
So, my setup took a while, as I have not yet had the chance to make myself lots of sets of Psychic Power cards, so I was reduced to rolling dice and typing up my powers on my laptop. Needless to say, if I take a Nids army to a tournament, I will need to have some system for quickly and easily keeping track of my powers and probably some tokens for keeping track of buffs/debuffs.

So now we have like 45 minutes to go, and we roll into the Daemon player’s drop (skipping me standing around staring).

Princes came in and killed a few Genestealers with templates. Some Plaguebearers run around.

I start my turn, and Enfeeble Kugach I think.

So, since I decided I didn’t want to just swoop around with my Hive Tyrants, I decided to glide with one of them and aim him at Kugach. The Genestealers also moved in towards Kugach.

I shot the Daemon Prince to death after Enfeebling him, and then shot about half of one of the Plaguebearer units away.

The big mistake play on my part was in accepting when Kugach issued a challenge. I should have declined, and allowed him to send my Hive Tyrant to the back. This would have allowed my Broodlord and Genestealers to beat the piss out of him with their Toxin Sacs. I was pretty confident that the Tyrant, which had gotten Warp Speed off for plus two attacks, (7 attacks hitting on 3’s) would take him down. But unfortunately I just totally blew the attack roll, only hitting twice. Even with my ten dudes cheering on the Hive Tyrant (or... something? Hissing in support? Whatever), he only hit three times. A few good saves later, and Kugach stood there chuckling. Now, on the other hand, he hit and wounded me three times, and I my Hive Tyrant was... no more.

Ah well, lessons learned.

So the next turn, Chappy’s reserves arrived (most of them). He flamed some of my Devilgaunts that I have foolishly clustered into a ruin (silly really, no reason to be in cover against his army... ever really).

His Plaguebearers charged my Genestealers, and he got another two Daemon Princes in, and some more Plaguebearers, and two Plague Spawn. I was suddenly nervous as I had not managed to eliminate his first elements and his second wave was almost fully in my face. During the assault phase, I finished killing off Kugach, and several of the Plaguebearers who had charged me. Meanwhile, his tally was steadily climbing as he chewed apart gants and genestealers.

Now, in a tournament, I almost certainly would have backed off, screened, and just shot shot shot until I could assault and wipe him.

But that sounded pretty boring.

So I moved my Tervigons forward, spawned gaunts, and prepared to get “stuck in.”

I shot apart one of his princes, took down a few Plaguebearers, etc.

Charge!!

And then the game ended. Lol.

It would have been a pretty epic combat as we all dumped into each other. Neither of my Tervigons had spawned out yet, but he was also about to get “wounds on 2+” power weapons, so that would have been a bitch.

It would have been hilarious.

In general, it was a stupidly funny matchup. High toughness with poison versus high toughness with poison... Hurrah!

Anyways, it was good to see my buddy, and just getting the models on the table keeps me motivated to keep modeling and painting. Plus he makes fun of my when I have to proxy winged hive tyrants, etc. Harrassment: the best kind of motivation. And it also helped me to get my head around exactly how I want to create my game aids for tournament play

Wings... Glorious Wings!!

So I got two sets of Balrog wings and one set of Dragon wings into my FLGS today (direct order). I have a few of the large oval bases coming in next week for my Tervigons.

Hurray! 6th Edition army in progress!

SO after looking at the wings, I think I'm going to need to actually replace the top arms with the wings, and then make each of the lower arms into a separate twin linked Devourer. This seems to be the way others have done it, and I can see why. It's just hard to squeeze wings and two arms into that tiny mounting space... plus Tyranids are only ever supposed to have six limbs. *shrug*

I'm fucking around with my unpainted Hive Tyrant first, for obvious reasons. Once I figure out how I want everything mounted, I will do the same to my painted Hive Tyrant, trying to avoid damaging the paint job as best I can.

I have shitloads of reading to do for class tonight and tomorrow, but hopefully after this weekend I can dive back into working on the army and maybe take some WIP pictures.

Till next time... stay classy, Warham nerds.

Bug Factory

SO I have assembled 20 Devourer Gants, several Gargoyles (I have ten to go) and finally got around to chopping apart a 40mm base and putting my Space Hulk Broodlord into it with Epoxy.

I also assembled one of my Hive Tyrants with Devourers, and my wings should be in later this week. I'm experimenting with the unpainted Tyrant first so that I can figure out how I want to attach the wings without risking fucking up my paint scheme.

I think I'm going to try this out next game, just because I want to see whether a unit of infiltrating Genestealers can put some more pressure on my opponent, combined with the Tyrants and the Gargoyles coming upfield.

Hive Tyrant, Devourers, Wings
Hive Tyrant, Devourers, Wings

Hive Guard x 3
Hive Guard x 3
Zoanthrope x 2

Tervigon, Catalyst, Onslaught, Adrenals, Toxins, Crushing Claws
Tervigon, Catalyst, Onslaught, Adrenals, Toxins, Crushing Claws
Termagants x 10, Devourers
Termagants x 10, Devourers
Genestealers x 5, Broodlord, Scything Talons
Genestealers x 5, Broodlord, Scything Talons

Gargoyles x 19, Adrenals, Toxins

We'll see how this plays. 8 Psykers should be a kick.

Ta ta for now!

Tyranids Tactics in 6th... This is Going to Be Fun

So as I'm sure any of my long time readers know, I am a Tyranids fanatic. One of the main reasons I was excited for the edition change was to see whether my beloved bugs could benefit from the new ruleset to breath some new life into them.

Well, first impressions: the answer is yes.

I now have four full 2000 point games of 6th Edition under my belt, and the learning process is ongoing. Every game there is an "aha!" moment or two, and the new rules are gradually getting cemented into place. Games have been on the long side, but I think that will change as everyone gets the hang of the new rules, especially wound allocation.

Tonight I had the pleasure of playing my first game with my Bugs. I had to do a bit of "counts as" because my wings for my Hive Tyrants haven't come in yet, and I don't have 30 Devourer Termagants built (yet), but for the most part I was able to throw together the following:

Best Overall Proudly Supports Stiffneck Studio

Hey, as some of you may be aware, I had a debacle regarding my AdSense account last year. A few of you well meaning chaps decided to go a bit click happy for my birthday, and turns out it was a violation of the terms of service. Well, about $500 in lost ad revenue later, I was without ads and didn't intend for that to change.

Well, I recently decided that I would place a few links on my blog. These are not ads in the traditional sense, in that I am not getting any revenue from them. Instead, they are a way for me to show my support for businesses or endeavors which I believe in, run by people I trust and support.

You will notice a new banner up near the top of my page, for Stiffneck Studio. This is a commission painting outfit that is run by a good friend of mine, and for whom another of my good friends paints. This is a really top quality group of guys that do outstanding work. I heartily recommend and endorse them for anyone that has any interest in getting a commission done, small or large.

If nothing else, click on the banner and check out their gallery, there is some amazing stuff there. I especially enjoy the Necrons.

Why Allies Are Good for the Hobby

I’m going to go ahead and say, that Allies are by far my favorite element of 6^th Edition. When this was confirmed, I just about went bananas. Allies tickle my awesome bone for a few reasons, mostly having to do with the exponentially expanded possibilities for list construction which comes along with them. I am a list-building fanatic. I actually enjoy writing armies, JUST for the sake of writing armies. Some people have actually chided me for posting up lists for discussion about armies I don’t own nor intend to own. Really? Come on, talking about army lists is fun! Not for everyone, but for me, I really do enjoy it.
 

So that’s a great, great aspect of allies, for those of us who can’t get enough of theoryhammer/listhammer.

But I’m not here to talk about why *I* like allies, but instead why allies are good for The Hobby, and bring it closer to the vision that I think Games Workshop has always desired, without ruining it for those of us that actually enjoy going to tournaments (competitive, well-designed tournaments).

So allies are good for competitive players, I will argue. I believe they are a poor-man’s fix to codex creep and balance issues, with a nod to fluff thrown in. Armies can shore up weaknesses in their own unit selection by borrowing from other’s repertoire’s. Tau seem to me to be the stand-out winners here. With the ability to work with anyone, and firepower units but a paucity of good troops and screening, they have gained a LOT. Personally, I would be looking at Orks if I was playing Tau as a kick-ass supplement, but that’s just me.

But I also indicated that allies are good for less competitive gamers, and help to realize the vision for The Hobby that Games Workshop has always had (I think).

When you are a competitive player, you build armies. You don’t collect armies, you build them. There may be some exceptions to this rule, but I think they are few and far between. You start with theory, you come up with a concept, you probably proxy and playtest, you discuss with fellow gamers, then you buy the units you need and, if you are also a painter, you build and paint them to a tournament standard. You may have some flexibility within that army. Maybe you have some Wolf Scouts and Lone Wolves and swap them out interchangeably. But probably for the most part your army is your army.

When we talk about building an army, we are talking hundreds of dollars. We are talking 2000 points. We are talking hours and hours of invested time.

Games Workshop wants you to collect units, not armies.

I distinctly remember reading old White Dwarfs, and I’m sure it hasn’t changed too much. The basic premise is: Buy a unit. Build the unit. Paint the unit. Throw it into your army and try it out.

For casual gamers and collectors, this works quite well I imagine. Say you are an Ultramarine player. The new honour guard models come out. Oh neat, I think I’m going to go buy that box. You buy the models, build them, paint them. For your next game, in they go!

Bully for them.

But this tends to lead to mono-army-itis. 10000 points of boyz in blue.

Allies allow for a blending of these two approaches, opening the door for both casual and competitive gamers to become collectors.

Now, if you find Necrons or Dark Eldar interesting, but aren’t sure you want to dump 600-700 bucks into an army, you can still play them. Buy your HQ, and a unit of troops, and you are off to the races. Add a unit of Fast Attack, and into your army they go.

This will also alleviate, to some extent, the “Lots O’ Marines” epidemic. I think most people start playing the latest Marine codex because they already have a bunch of the models they need, and it gives them a chance to try something new. If you already have 12 Rhino hulls you can use them in any Marine army you want. There is relatively little incentive to try a Xenos army, because Xenos armies require a totally new investment in a complete, new army.

Now, if a Xenos codex releases, you don’t have to buy a full 2000 point army. Again, HQ and a Troop, and you are ready to integrate into your existing forces. Tau are positioned to sell like hotcakes to… EVERYBODY once their new codex drops. Anyone can use them, and you don’t have to dump the better portion of a grand to do it.

I will say, army paint judging may have to flex a bit. I can imagine it will be hard to have a visually “cohesive” force if you are running Ultramarines and Necrons together… 

At the end of the day, I think this is a really good thing for everyone, including Games Workshops. They will more easily sell models, we will more easily try out different things... it's a win win. 

Three Games In... Still Loving 6th

Allies: Love 'em. Mix and match, baby!


2 x FoC at 2k: Not sure yet how I feel, I have yet to actually try this. My... gut sense is that this isn't that big of a deal, that it will help weaker codices more than the stronger codices, and that if you've ever played at a doubles tournament with 2 x 1000 point allied armies... you've already played with this.


Hull Points: Makes us change our game, but I love em (makes heavy armor more meaningful, which is a good thing).

Flyers: Very cool concept, very solid rules... NO DAMNED WAY TO KILL THEM! I mean, you CAN kill a couple of them, with weight of fire. But facing 6 of them... no fucking way without flyers of your own. I have downed Vendettas with twin linked Psycannons and Twin Linked Psyflemen, but it takes the entire army focussing to take down one per turn. Simply not a good balance of ways to take them down other than other flyers BUT if they go too far and give everything Skyfire it makes them worthless. A tough thing to balance. My sense is to give purchasable Skyfire upgrades for things like vehicles and Missiles but for a significant cost... The FAQs were dissapointing in this regard.

Close Combat: Two biggest changes are challenges and the wide disparity between AP2 and AP3. Lots of AP2 weapons that strike at I1, and lots of AP3 weapons that strike at initiative. This creates a very, very interesting dynamic. Challenges are a mini-game that is very interesting to play. 2+ armor feels very powerful now, appropriately so. In general close combat seems much more satisfying and fun.

Highlight of the last game:

Mephiston charged my biker squad which had my Biker Captain with a Relic Blade and Artificer armor. The Biker Captain accepted Meph's challenge and tanked him with his 2+ save. This held Meph in place while I moved up my Land Raider and the next turn charged him with my five Thunder Hammer Storm Shield terminators. Meph challenged, I declined and he sent my Terminator Sargeant to the rear, but my Powerfist bike Sarge and the other four Terminators beat on him (but did not kill him after he made a few 5+ Feel No Pain saves). Next turn he challenged again, I declined, he sent my Termie Sarge to the rear again. He caused multiple wounds on the bike squad, I took them on the Captain again. One got through, he activated his force weapon, and fried my captain. In revenge, Mephiston got beat to a pulp with Thunderhammers.

Epic.

Armies I'm Going to Run:

I'm thinking of the various army/ally combinations that I would like to run. I think my Loganwing is going to get some Deathwing allies, because TH/SS Terminators with a few more cyclone launchers - that score - would make a STRONG addition to a Footslogging Loganwing. Oh and they can deep strike. Nothing but net. Unfortunately that combo might not last too long as the Dark Angel codex is coming out soonish, but that's fine.

And I have been enjoying the heck out of allying vanilla biker marines with my Grey Knights. Gives them TH/SS Terminators, and fast troops with melta and plasma, which they kind of like.

Tyranids... well double flying Tyrants is a must. The flying Hive Tyrant is my all time favorite 40k model, and one of the reasons I like Tyranids to begin with. It was a shitty choice before, but a better one now. How to support an army around them though... still thinking about it.

6th Edition Lone Wolf Tactic: "Sick Em Boy!"

So, I have been right there with all of you reading through the 6th Edition rulebook. I have to admit that the twilight of 5th had me really bummed out, for several reasons. But all of that is behind us now, it's a brave new world, and the fun of exploring and discovering a new edition has me excited along with the rest of you.

Now, I have had the opportunity to get in two games so far. I played a mixed Vanilla Marines/Grey Knights force using a variety of my model collection including my Space Marine bikes. I have to say, I absolutely LOVE the ally rules. They add so many options, and honestly resolve so many of the dilemmas faced by a competitive hobbyist like myself. I enjoy exploring multiple codices, but I also enjoy having my shit painted. Unless I paint every single unit in the same scheme (not a bad route, really), I have to make tough decisions about which armies my models go into.

Now, I can use my Space Wolves with my Grey Knights. My Grey Knights with my Biker Marines. The sky is the limit.

If you an Imperial, that is.

Even in 6th Edition, the Imperial bias is pretty obvious. The range of options available to the Boyz in Blue in terms of alliances, psyker options, Flyers and anti-Flyers is pretty obvious. I was dissapointed in the FAQs, to be frank, didn't provide the level of modification to the codices that I expected.

But, we adjust. I'm still thinking about how I want to run my Nids, but in the meanwhile I have been giving some thought to my Loganwing.

Now, Lone Wolves were always one of my favorite units. They are a unit who's rules fit their fluff and character in a truly elegant and awesome way. They are, in a word, badass.

Their main weaknesses have ALWAYS been their difficulty in hitting fast-moving vehicles, and their slow speed/low threat range.

Well, boys and girls (heh, did anyone else notice the unicorn on page ix... who does GW think we are, chumps? Unicorns aren't real!), 6th edition has brought us some changes that I think we are going to like.

One: Feel No Pain is a little lower, but probably better for Lone Wolves. Yes, you are slightly more vulnerable to small arms fire. But you have Eternal Warrior and as I read it will get to make a 3++ followed by a 5+++ all day long. That should inconvenience Power Fists, Dreadnoughts and the like.

You hit vehicles now. Easily.

No more hoping your shooting gets an immobilized result so your Lone Wolves can get the kill. Now that we're hitting moving vehicles on a 3+, anything should be afraid to get close.

But how close should they be afraid to get, anyways?

This is where we get a bit tricky. I'm PRETTY sure that Fenrisien Wolves will dramatically extend the Lone Wolves threat range and make them generally a devastating mid-field controller.

So, the new Movement rules have changed since 5th edition. Now, instead of moving at the speed of the slowest model in the unit, each model can move up to their full movement so long as they remain in unit coherency. This is a BIG change. I was chatting with Stelek about this earlier today, and he mistakenly believed it was still "slowest model in the unit," so I went home and double checked (Page 10) and it's not. He should be very excited about exploring this method for slingshotting IC's using Jump Pack Marines, or vice versa. Interesting stuff.

So, the Lone Wolf buys his two Fenrisien Wolf pets. He runs directly towards the enemy (duh). His wolves stay tucked in closely behind him, to avoid their getting shot up by small arms fire. Beefcake takes the hits for the team (this is a situation specific thing, ofc. If you think it's better for your wolves to suck up some Lascannon shots... let them lead the way, but just know that anyone with a brain will just gun them down with bolters first).

So there you are, running forward with your wolves behind you. You identify a target, let's say a vehicle. You move your Terminator directly towards the target, then move the next wolf up, 2 inches in front of the Terminator, directly towards the target. Now, I was going to say to move the NEXT wolf up 2" in front of that, citing the codex rule that the 2" from characters only apply to characters... but I thought to check the rule book and indeed in 6th Lone Wolves are characters, so we can't stretch that Conga line out TOO far...

Anyways, that also means you can still shrug off Lascannons onto your wolves even if they are behind you on a LoS roll. The more you know...

Anyways, declare your charge, roll your distance, and go! You are within 2" of your Fenrisien Wolves, so you can swing as long as they don't die. But the good news is, even if they die, you still get your 3" pile in move which will likely bring you into contact (because the enemy has probably counter-attacked towards you at initiative... higher than 1). And now you are stuck in, because... you are awesome and probably won't die.

Against vehicles, you aren't going to lose the wolf. So you basically get a free 4" of charge range, with no risk, giving you 6 plus 4 plus 2d6 = 12 - 22 inches charge threat (edited: I double counted the movement before).

Conceptually, I think of this as your Lone Wolf having his wolves "sick" the target, slowing it down while he comes up to beat its ass. Pretty awesome.

If I've missed something basic, feel free to point it out. But this seems legit, and adding extra range is a very good thing.

This can also be used to ensure that you can charge into terrain without having to roll for it. By leaving your Terminator JUST outside of 6" from the target, and letting the dogs lead the way (they ignore terrain, so the unit will not have to roll for it). 

Yeah. Welcome to the new edition baby.

Why Mech is King and Purgatus Sucks at Warhams

Hello fellow bloggers.

I am back from the TSHFT Invitational. I had two good wins, two good losses, and two... I don't know, bad losses?

I must admit I didn't really devote any time to studying the format of the event, or the scoring system. For those interesting in the format, you can find out more here.

Suffice to say I am not a huge fan, which is probably to be expected.

I'm not a fan of Battlepoint tournaments. I'm not a fan of crazy missions or whacky "bonus" objectives. I didn't carefully select pairings of secondary and tertiary objectives for each of several different types of opponent armies.

I basically focused on the main mission, and tried my darndest to win it come hell or high water. Many players simply played for draws, and focused on the bonus missions, which were actually worth more than a win.

When you are diving full strength for a win, and your opponent is holding back conservatively and not taking risks to also try to win, sometimes you basically  hand your army to them.

This is doubly true when the "win" condition for two out of six games requires you to take objectives in your opponent's deployment zone, with a foot slogging army. Doubly especially with out any line of sight blocking terrain against a Grey Knight army with 100+ anti-infantry shots that you have to walk into in order to take objectives which are all on your opponent's half of the board.

Ugh.

Now, it didn't help that I didn't sleep very well before or during the weekend.

It didn't help that I basically haven't been playing the game for the better part of the year.

And it certainly didn't help that I was basically playing a whacky battlepoints tournament as if it was a win/loss tournament. So there is certainly plenty of blame for myself.

But the reality is that I didn't have fun. And I get frustrated when I play in settings that are like that. It's not my "schtick." So I won't play in those types of tournaments anymore.

And I'm not going to try and play "unique" armies anymore, either. I'm not going to play footsloggers just to be different. I'm going to mech up, play my Grey Knights like everyone else, and not give a fuck what anyone says about how common, overpowered, or cheesy they are.

But for the record, Psychotrope grenades are complete and utter horseshit. Just sayin'.

So, expect Razorbacks, Psyflemen Dreads, and lots of Psycannons. It's just the way this edition works. Sixth edition might be different but for now I'm just going to play my Knights.

Anyways.

I hope you all had a great weekend, and for the record, all my opponents were completely pleasant and probably putting up with a really bitchy and cranky Purgatus, so I apologize to them.

Heading to TSHFT Invitational

My bags are packed... I'm ready to go... Leaving... in a Hyundai... I'm pretty sure that I'll be back by Sunday...

Yeah, I'm pretty poetic. Anyways, I've earned a spot at this year's The Seattle Heart of Fire Tournament (TSHFT) Invitational. So I'm throwing caution to the wind and going to a GT instead of studying for my midterms. Hooray!

To show just how "unplugged" from gaming I have become, I spent the evening today gathering my crap for the tournament. I couldn't find my codex for like 45 minutes, I was missing several minis, and... I can't find my dice.

Like, at all.

I got so desperate that I had to raid my old RPG dice bag for all the odd colored, mismatched D6's I could find.

How embarrassing.

I also can't find my Tac Template, which is just really really shitty. Playing a foot army without a Tac Template is just asking for trouble. Ugh.

Anyways, I'm heading out early tomorrow morning. I'll try to post the results up here for you guys, along with some photos if I can.

My army list tomorrow, for those who care:

 Logan Grimnar

Rune Priest, Living Lightning, Murderous Hurricane

Lone Wolf, Terminator, Storm Shield, Chainfist
 Lone Wolf, Terminator, Storm Shield, Chainfist
Wolf Scouts x 5, Meltagun

Wolf Guard x 10, Terminator x 2 w/Cyclones and Chainfists, Arjac Rockfist, Power Armor w/Combimelta and Wolf Claw
Wolf Guard x 5, Terminator x 1 w/Cyclone
Wolf Guard x 5, Terminator x 1 w/Cyclone
Wolf Guard x 5, Terminator x 1 w/Cyclone
Wolf Guard x 5, Terminator x 1 w/Cyclone

Longfangs x 2 w/Lascannons, Packleader
Longfangs x 2 w/Lascannons, Packleader
Longfangs x 4 w/Multimeltas, Packleader, Drop Pod

2000 Points

Doesn't look like much, but... well maybe it's just not much. Lol.

 There's a few ways it could be improved, but it's painted perty and that's important. I'm waiting till sixth to do anything new. Arjac rides with the Loganbomb Longfangs in the Drop Pod, and the Combimelta/Wolf Claw goes with the scouts. The remaining eight man unit along with the Rune Priest are my midfielders, supported by two smaller five man units and the Lone Wolves. The two units in the backfield give up a Wolf Guard each to the Longfang units (which should be missiles but I have Lascannons painted so bite me) to make them not totally die to a gentle breeze. And then Logan's unit comes in and hopefully just causes a ruckus. They usually do.

I'm excited to try out Arjac for the first time (giggle).

Later gents.

Best General RTT

Took Best General at a RTT today, a small one with only ten players, but I was the only undefeated at the end and played some tough opponents. I brought a 1500 point version of my Loganwing, and it did very well. I was tied for Best Overall as well, but the other player had a higher sports score and so got the nod. There were some flaws in the paint scoring, but life goes on. In any case, I had a great time in all three of my games, though my last two were very high tension. Onwards and upwards!

GREAT Flames Gaming Day

So DylanGould and I paired up against 3000 points of Soviet armor. Historically accurate? No. Fun? Hell yes! We played on an eight foot table, Hasty Attack, which meant that we started with half our forces in reserve, had Delayed Reserves which meant they didn't come on for a long time, and had Scattered Reserves which meant that they didn't come on where we wanted to. Yikes! To add insult to injury, Dylan and I were both playing 5 Platoon armies, which meant that only 2 of our armies got to start on the board from each army. Yeck. So I started with an eight gun battery of 25 pounder arty, which I set up around our two objectives on the forward edge of some woods. I figured they could fire bombardments and shoot direct fire at anything which tried to get close. Dylan deployed a full Armored Rifle Platoon around the same objective. I took one platoon of Cromwells + Firefly, attached my CO and 2ic, and sent them up the right flank. Dylan deployed a battery of Priests (armored arty) on the right flank too. So facing us... 3000 points of Soviet armor. Two T-34 Platoons with Tank Escorts on one, two units of honkin' huge Assault Guns (one with Tank Escorts), an eight gun arty battery, a mechanized infantry platoon, and some other peripherals. Now, he had the same reserve status as we did, so we didn't face the full might of his army all at once. But he deployed his arty and his assault guns and some 85 mm Heavy Anti-aircraft (really anti-tank) guns, and basically moved up and started pounding on us. I spent most of the game trying to turn his right flank and roll up his arty park, but he was able to stop me with some assault guns which had a hard time killing my Cromwells, but which also refused to die due to ridiculous armor values. His first assault gun platoon rolled up and parked in front of our defensive positions and volley fired us turn after turn. They had breakthrough guns (ignore saves) and 2+ firepower, so every turn they picked off defending troops and guns. His arty kept my arty well surpressed (my guns are Reluctant, so had a hard time unpinning), but at the same time our defensive position was too tough for him to just assault into without weakening it. His reserves came on and he rolled his two large T-34/85 Platoons up the center headed for our gut. Our turn came, and we got a platoon of Cromwells and a Firefly. The Firefly scooted over to a hedge to the right of the objective, with a clear field of fire onto the front side of the objective. The Cromwells double moved to the left and stayed concealed behind the woods that the objective was in. We were able to start popping a few of his T-34s with the Firefly, some direct fire from the Priests and some long-range Cromwell fire (the order this stuff happened in might be a little off but the general idea is there). We got a platoon of Sherman 76's and sent them running up the left flank towards our objective, and put some pressure on him, causing one of the T-34 platoons to divert off to the left. Finally, he committed to trying to take the objective, and killed a few infantry men in assault, moving up to claim. On our turn we got another Cromwell Platoon in, and shot his Assault Guns with 3 Firefly shots from close range, blew up a bunch of his T-34's by combining fire from 2 Cromwell platoons shooting into his flanks, etc. We bailed out or destroyed all the Assault Guns, and then assaulted them with Infantry auto-killing them all. His T-34 Platoon was destroyed, his assault guns were destroyed, and our opponent conceded. It was a great game, and really felt like a battle. We struggled and struggled to turn his flank, our arty batteries were duking it out we came out on top with a vicious counter-attack from flanking reserves. It was a good Sunday. Dylan can correct any errors in my memory, but I think I got the gist of it.

Flames Photos

Ok, so here are some photos of my recent games and my assembled Tank Company. You will see that I'm missing one CS tank, and two Crusaders to bring myself up to the 1750 mark, and of course my AOP plane, my Recce Stuarts, and my 8 gun Arty battery. So still a ways to go actually. Still!

Cromwells... ASSEMBLE!

So, I just got done assembling 11 Cromwells, 1 Cromwell CS, and 3 Sherman Firefly VCs.

Yikes.

Getting the tanks ready to hit the table by throwing on the tracks is easy. Getting all the little 'fiddly bits' like the fenders, the hatches, the crew, the guns, etc. well... it takes some time.

I have to say I am a bit dissapointed by the quality of some of the stuff. The tracks don't have any really clear "line me up here" points, which is strange. Only one of the tanks is actually "screwed up" but, meh.

The fenders don't really want to go on straight, either.

All fixable/ignorable stuff, but it wasn't fantastic.

But at that scale, I can forgive a few sins. These are pretty darned small models.

I will try and take some photos before I prime them all.

And I need to get ahold of an entire 8 gun 25 pounder battery still... so lots to do.

Flames of War - British 7th Armoured vs German Infantry, Quick Recaps

So, I had some excellent learning opportunities provided to me by DylanGould.

I brought out my 1575 list, which is:

2 HQ Cromwells
3 Cromwells, Firefly VC
3 Cromwells, Firefly VC
3 Cromwells, Firefly VC
3 Recce Stuarts
8 x 25 Pound Artillery and the fixin's.
Aerial Observation Post (AoP)

I did take some photos, which I will try to post up at some point. Suffice to say I put my hand into the wood chipper on the first game, and on the second game I almost couldn't have lost because of the mission and his army, and I did in fact "win." Both games were great learning experiences with my army and taught me to respect Pioneers in a serious way. Seriously, these guys in buildings are just ridiculous.

I learned that my army is a hammer, but it's a small hammer which must be applied precisely onto a previously stressed and prepared position in order to win. It's not a "smash your enemy's army to bits" type of a hammer. And that's ok.

It also makes me want to try my hand at infantry. It's always a good sign when playing the game makes you want to try new things, get new armies, etc.

Flames of War: British 7th Armoured, Late War, 1575 Points

This is what I think I am going to work towards. I like the fact that the Cromwell is a “Light Tank” but really is a Sherman. The Cromwell (and Challenger) are a bit strange because their speed combines strangely with their special rule, semi-indirect fire (which requires them to be stationary and long range), but I suppose there will be some situations to stand still and shoot and some situations to use the speed to zip up and get flank shots… and still other situations when you use your speed to move into position to sit back and pound on things the next turn. *Shrug* time will tell.

Here’s the list. 1575 for an upcoming tournament.

Headquarters Platoon, Cromwell Tanks x 2

Armored Platoon, Cromwell Tanks x 3, Firefly VC x 1
Armored Platoon, Cromwell Tanks x 3, Firefly VC x 1
Armored Platoon, Cromwell Tanks x 3, Firefly VC x 1
Recce Patrol, Stuart Tanks x 3 (Reconnaissance)

Corps Field Battery, Royal Artillary, 8 x OQF 25 pound guns, tractors, 2 Sherman Observer tanks.
Aerial Observation Post

FoW - Late War British Armor

So.

I finally bit the bullet. I just ordered a Cromwell Armored Platoon.

Comes with 4 Cromwells and Firefly VC.

I'm thinking the Turning Tide Armored Squadron is my best bet.

Building for 1575 because that's what the upcoming tournament is going to be played at.

Trying to decide whether Air Support is worthwhile in that list. Open to suggestions...

HQ 2 Cromwells
Combat 3 Cromwells, 1 Firefly VC
Combat 3 Cromwells, 1 Firefly VC
Combat 3 Cromwells, 1 Firefly VC
3 Recon Stuarts
AOP
2 OQF 25 Pounder


That leaves me 195 points. Thoughts? Suggestions on tactics? I'm assuming the best uses of the Fireflys will often be to leave them sitting and shooting with Semi-indirect fire while the Cromwells move forward...?

How to deal with dug-in infantry?

The Plan...?

I really like my Tyranids. Call me crazy. Call me stupid. Call me an truly incorrigible asshole (thanks Nurglitch...lol).

I just picked up my SEVENTH Hive Guard in metal, and I was on the lookout for two more.

I have 40 Gargoyles. 40 Genestealers. A Gallon ziplock baggie of Termagants.

I have converted 2 T-Fexes and 2 Tervigons. I made them as big as possible with the pieces I had. I never actually "finished" the Tervigons though, because I just didn't feel up to the challenge of sculpting the egg sac. I kept thinking about it, but never did it.

Well, my initial rage/irritation/dismay aside, this situation might be salvagable. It's really going to take an in-person look at the new kits to see if it's feasible, but at this point it seems possible.

Purchase TWO of the new T-Fex/Tervigon kits. Strip them down to the hubcaps. Rebuild/Upscale all four of my MCs.

It's possible, I think.

Worse... it kind of sounds like fun.

Argh.

New Nid Models... Why Do I Have to Be So Right...?

SO, a little over a year ago, I heard a little rumor that there was going to be a new wave of Tyranid models coming out.

Tervigons, Tyrannofexes, Harpies.

Well, the rumor mill had the basics right, but the timing was WAY off.

But back then, I talked a bit about my concerns about the "official" models being released. I was specifically worried that they would be SUPERGIGANTOHUMONGOUS. Because that would immediately invalidate all Tyranid players who had been playing the game for, oh, the last two years.

I had hoped, nay, prayed, that the models would be of a similar size to the Carnifexes, which were the only kits that players could reasonably base their conversions on for, again, over two years (less at the time, but you get the point).

TWO FUCKING YEARS.

So now we are supposed to cheerfully trot out and spend $200.00 to make our armies legal again, for a codex that for anyone still playing is a labor of love anyways?

Even if the models were being given out free, their increased size just makes them even more fucktartedly difficult to play with. Oops, no more Hive Guard cover wall for you, m'boy.

You want to put me on an Apocalypse base? Fine, give me 8 wounds, +3 to saves versus Jaws of the World Wolf, and Regen for free. Then we'll talk.

I mean, honestly, the idea that Jaws of the World Wolf could swallow a Tervigon when it's bigger than a fucking Land Raider is just stupid. 

Christ on a cracker. Just stupid.

The Nids community, in all honesty, would have been much better off if they hadn't released this kit AT ALL. Just let us have our conversions. We spent enough fucking time on them.

Assholes.

I'm now going to go back to my corner, where I will not be playing, not be painting, and in general not be excited about 40k.

Purgatus Goes to a Tourney... WIth Bugs... Egads! (Abbreviated Batreps)

So, in a VERY last minute change of plans, my wife gave me "the nod" to go to a rogue trader tournament this weekend. I had thought last weekend I might be able to go, then quickly realized I couldn't, then found out Friday night I could... it was crazy, yo.

So anyways, this was a "doubles" tournament, which I really enjoy in general. One can argue about how well the format works at the top levels of competition in terms of balance and fair play (often not well), but it is great fun.

Taking a Break/Taking a Breath

I am succumbing to the temptation to just "wait and see" what the near future brings.

I have been aware of the 6th edition rumors, and the latest release schedule scuttlebutt indicates that Dark Angels may be just around the corner.

I have been playing with my Dark Angels successor chapter (Guardians of the Covenant) for several years now. They have hit the field as Vanilla Marines (Bikes and Terminators/Land Raiders... probably still my favorite army), and as Grey Knights, but sadly never as actual Dark Angels. Largely this is because I just found the codex to be extremely uninteresting, but the fluff and feel, the "theme" of the Dark Angels has always been EXTREMELY interesting.

So instead of committing a bunch of time and effort into building my dudes into Grey Knight wannabes, I'm probably just going to focus any hobby time I get on my Nids, and see how the new codex looks if/when it comes.

And then of course everyone can say what a bandwagoner I am. And I will tell them to fuck off. ;D

Anyways, I understand why GW keeps their release schedule a secret, especially big releases like an edition change. It has a huge impact on people's enthusiasm for the game. Everyone seems to have gone into a holding pattern (online anyways).

We'll just have to see how it all goes.

Just so... tired...

So much going on. First we had the Storm of the Century here in Washington (literally, the once in a hundred year snowstorm), during which I had to take my family to shelter with my parents, then catching up on all the work that needs doing (this is the busiest time of the quarter for me, the three weeks after the end of the fiscal quarter), then also dealing with grad school.

And so it goes.

I was planning on my "big return" to 40k with a doubles tourney coming up next Saturday, but alas my wife has vetoed that in favor of her needing a day off from the kids. Which is fine, but no 40k for me for a while. I do have a Twilight Imperium date set up with some buds next Sunday, so we'll see what comes of that.

Working on my candidacy paper for grad school too. Just... a lot going on.

Anyways, I'm still out here. Somewhere.

LOLOLOLOL

"Q: When working out which targets are visible to a
Chaos Dreadnought suffering from a Fire Frenzy result,
are you limited to those units within the 45 degree line
of sight of its weapons? (p40)
A: Yes."

Oh my god FINALLY.

But how many years did we get to argue about that one before they finally made the (correct) call?

Tyranid FAQ Updated - Shadow in the Warp Fixed

So Tyranids no longer officially have the worst psychic defense in the game (I'm not counting those that have "no" psychic defense).

Shadow in the Warp affects units in transports.

Hurray. How long did it take you to figure that out geniuses?

Lol.

Anyways, I appreciate that they changed it, and that they were willing to reverse a previously made decision. It's a good sign for the hobby.

Also, Primes attached to a unit of Termagants can benefit from the Counter-attack, Toxin Sacs and Adrenal glands from a Tervigon. They can also still die if the Tervigon blows up.

Tyrant Guard attached to a Hive Tyrant count as one kill point. I think most played it that way anyways.

A Halberd in contact with Lashwhips strikes at I3. Again, pretty obvious.

Smoke launchers don't grant cover against Hive Guard (I always gave my opponent cover if they popped smoke, figured it was the gentlemanly thing to do, but no longer).

Assaulting a Venomthrope unit without grenades does NOT make you strike at I1. This is a wonky ruling really, but meh.

Automatic regroup on falling back units in synapse range, nice clarification.

Necrons got their FAQ too, but I haven't looked at them yet. Does it say something that I was more excited to see if they had fixed Nids than to look at the Crons?

>Insert guest author here< Chappy wants to learn Xenos!!

Good day to you all,

My name is ChappyDBC, and Purgatus has been kind enough to relinquish the helm of this mighty beast of a Blog in order for me to get my tactic on! Today's topic will be how to build up a competitive Eldar force. But there is a slight twitch to it. I want you, the reader, to tell me what YOU think of MY list. So let us begin.

Updating my Loganwing

Hi.

Not dead.

Gotten some gaming in (mostly Flames of War). Gotten some painting done. Most of my day today was spent working with my dad on building our new baby room. Staying busy, basically.

But I was inspired to write something up. I feel like I really owe you guys some photos. I have painted a lot since I last put up any photos. But now is not the time.

Anyways.

Stelek's been doing a series on "Rocketwings" (I know Stelek has come up with some good "industry standard" terms in the past, but I have to say... I don't like this phrase).

Anyways, it did get me thinking about my own "foot mobile" Space Wolves army. Given my experience in playing it, and having been playing my Tyranids almost exclusively for a long time (even before I took my long break I was mostly playing my nids, and I've played them several times in the last few weeks again), I think I have a bit better insight into the Puppies and would tweak them a bit if I were to pull them out again for serious play.

Grey Knights list... with a bit of flavor?

So, I just can't seem to get excited about the Grey Knights list I wrote. I played it once and lost badly, but HONESTLY that's not why. I could see even as I started the game that I simply had "done it wrong" and that I was going to struggle as a result.

But it's just so... blah.

Now, don't get me wrong, this isn't going to be some hate-fest on "spammy" armies. You can do what you like. What I'm saying is that, for me, I don't think I could get excited about painting up that army and putting it on the table.

Now, I started from scratch, and just kind of thought about getting something that would be simultaneously effective and would be visually interesting and interesting to play.

Some of the elements came back in, of course (in some cases due to the models that I have and want to use).

Coteaz

Venerable Dread (Multimelta, CCW)
Venerable Dread (Multimelta, CCW)
Purifiers x 10, Psycannon x 4, Hammers x 2

Warrior Acolytes x 5, Meltagun x 3, Razorback w/TL Assault Cannon, Psybolt
Warrior Acolytes x 5, Meltagun x 3, Razorback w/TL Assault Cannon, Psybolt
Warrior Acolytes x 5, Meltagun x 3, Razorback w/TL Assault Cannon, Psybolt
Warrior Acolytes x 5, Meltagun x 3, Razorback w/TL Assault Cannon, Psybolt
Warrior Acolytes x 7, Psykers x 5
Warrior Acolytes x 7, Psykers x 5

Dreadnought, TL Autocannon, Psybolt
Dreadnought, TL Autocannon, Psybolt
Purgation Squad x 10, Psycannon x 4

That puts me at 1958.

My hypocrisy shone through by putting some extra Psykers in to hit the AP 2 mark, lol. I have points to play around with, and I'm not sold on this build, but I think that this will be visually much more interesting to build and play.

I had an army written around a few Stormravens. But while I love the unit, a closer look and some deep thinking have revealed that I really, truly hate the model.

C&C welcome.

Happy New Year!

Need to paint more and play more this year.