Doubles tourney results!

I'm sure you, my 13 loyal followers will rejoice at the news that me and my partner finished in second out of 7 teams, not bad I think :) I won a box of Seekers for my troubles. The list was entirely different from the oneposted here. The day before the tourney Steve had a brain wave that we should turn up with Nids and Eldar. This meant I didn't get to use ay of my own models but this was such an awesome combo I went with it.

Farseer with fortune.

6 Warlocks
-1 Spear
-1 Embolden
-1 Enhance
-1 Destructor

10 Termigants

Tervigon with Catalyst

5 Fire Dragon in Wave Serpent

2 Hive Gaurd

2 War Warwalkers

In the end we went 4-1. The winners were an IG and Nid comb with 2 Tevigons and a boat load of tanks. They were the least fun to play against ever. We coulod have probaly won the game if it werent for the staff member being so strict with time limits. Me and Steve only got to play 2 turns and they got to play 3 ut hey ho, we still placed after all :)

Upcoming doubles Tournament

My local GW is holding a doubles tourney in two weeks and me and Steve have decided to team up, his flegling Tyranid army with my Tau. Its 500 points per player with 1 Force Chart between us. Given that Steve will have the HQ and 2 troops covered with a Tervigon and lots of Termigants, this leaves me with 500 points for pure Tau killyness with an option for up to 20% of my team mates unused points.

My plan is this:

1 Broadside with ASS + Team Leader + Shield Drone 80

1 Broadside with ASS + Team Leader + Shield Drone 80

Hammerhead with Railgun, Burst Cannons, Disruption Pod and Multitracker 165

3 Deathrains 156
Twin-linked Missile Pods
Flamers
1 Team Leader with Gun Drone

Total: 521

The idea is for me to sit back and open tanks so that Steve's gribblies to eat the squishy innnards.

This should come in handy practise for the regional Doubles tourney at Warhammer World in Febuary.

More Tau list changes

I've had my Tau for a few months now and I've some some success with them. I've tweaked the list a few times though. As people were telling me, I used Kroot for a bit but they never seemed to do much more than dieing so they were back out of the list. I did drop a devilfish and give the Pathfinders' fish to a Fire Warrior squad and I'm now running a Warfish set up and it seems to be working better, the extra shots and BS turn these guys into suprisingly nasty tanks. Wether or not I keep them that way remains to be seen becase this development is fairly new.

Its just a shame that the Kroot didn't work out for me, because I love thier fluff :(

The cunning plan...

After reading up on my Tau knowledge I had a good idea of what I wanted to do with the army. I read about how Kroot make good bubble wrap and then immedialtley disregarded it (which, when you see my list might have been a bad idea). So, for a 1500 point army that will be fighting alot of Mechdar and Marines of assorted flavours.

This leaves me with something of a problem. Tau can run shooty rings around marines thanks to Jump-Shoot-Jump and Multitrackers. However, Eldar can do it better, probably to my detriment. With this in mind I went with Pathfinders to reduce cover saves and Deathrains to pop the Wave Serpents. After lots of tinkering around with ideas and several versions in my head I have finally come up with a plan:

HQ

Shas'el 122
TA
PR
MP
MT
2 Shield drones

Elites

Fire Knives 231
3 Models
PR,MP,MT
Bonded
1 Gun Drone

Deathrains 156
3 Models
TL-MP, Flamers
Bonded
1 Gun Drone

Troops

Fire Warriors 155
6 Models
Devilfish with Disruption Pod and Multi-tracker

Fire Warriors 155
6 Models
Devilfish with Disruption Pod and Multitracker

Fast Attack

Pathfinders 191
8Models
Devilfish with Disruption Pod and Multitracker

Heavy Support

Broadside Team 180
2 Models
2 Shield Drones
Bonded

Railhead 155
Disruption Pod
Multitracker

Railhead 155
Disruption Pod
Multitracker

Total: 1500

This list takes a hue amount of inspiration from Old Shatter Hands from Tau of War. I'm going for a fully mobile, target saturation, tricksy-contesty army. I believe I have weapons, in sufficient amounts to deal with anything. There are alot of mid armoured tanks to confuse enemy AT and a fair few battlesuits to help spread out anti meq fire.

There are some weaknesses that stand out at me though. Even in cover, the Broadsides are going to have a tough time, however, there isn't going to be a huge amount of targets for them and so as long as they kill their prime target they are more or less expendable. They could hopefully soak up fire meant for the rest of the army.

Problem number two: the pathfinders, they are going to spend almost the entire game out on the board and being such a potential threat, they are going to be on the receiving end of alot of hate and the fact that they are the only light infantry on the board only makes that worse.

Thirdly, the Broadsides and Pathfinders are going to be a hugely tempting target for outflankers and assault units.

Thats the main problems I can see. I know people are going to tell me to give the Pathfinders' fish to a FW squad but I like having it around, it helps with target saturation and means that I can keep the FW in reserve inside the transport.

Whaddya think?

New begginings

After a huge chunk of life falling on me I have neglected this blog a bit. Not to worry though I'm back on the air and with some surprising news, I'm selling all my old stuff! Its up on ebay if you would like to buy, for example my Space Marine army: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/WARHAMMER-40-000-SPACE-MARINE-ARMY-CASE-/290443833816?cmd=ViewItem&pt=UK_Toys_Wargames_RL&hash=item439fcd31d8

But enough of me shamelessly plugging my own poor models and on to the good news! I'm starting afresh and joining the greater good. I have a few models but I'm working my way up to 1500pts before my magpie-esque shiney syndrome kicks in and I start a new army (a habit I'm trying to break, hence the ebaying...)

To start with, here is my Shas'el, I painted him for a speed painting competion and I'm quite pleased with the result, I think the bit of pressure helped me paint him fast and well, I've got the process in my head so the other suits will get done alot quicker. Anywho, here are the pictures:



I'll post list ideas and such later on.

Bat reps 2

Battle numero dos last night was against Paul, a Salamander player. I have to say they are soon becoming the new Ultramarines *shudder*.

Anywho, Paul has a very nice looking army and a great converted Vulkan that I dont have pictures because I FORGOT THE CAMERA! His army like this:

Vulkan

Terminator Libby with Gate of Infinity and Vortex

3 Drop Pods

2 HF/MM Land Speeders

3 Tactical Squads all melta's up

2 Rhinos

TH/SS Termies.

Vindicator

Iron Clad

Thunderfire Cannon with 1 Servitor

We rolled pitched battle and Annihlate. Nice and simple.

He won the roll off and went first, he set up in the centre of the board with the Vindicator and Thunderfire in a small ruin on to one side of the board that he reinforced with the techmarine. I was a bit wary of the Drop Pods so I chose to deploy nothing but my Tactical Squad in their Rhino on a hill on my far right. A nice tempting target for his army to go after. I wasn't sure if he would go for it but the plan worked, his Iron Clad and Tactical Squad came down close enough to the Rhino to put the hurt on it but all he managed to do was take off the Storm Bolter.

On My turn 2 I got both of my Predators which I brought on in the middle of my deployment zone, a lonely Typhoon, my Terminators and my Bikes, a good result.

At this point I'd like to point we had to rush the game because the store was closing so here are is the edited version: A very messy game, The bikes got through the Thunderfire, Servitor, Vindicator and Tactical Squad before dying, the Termies got really shot up and didn't do much apart from killing the Librarian. The game ended 7-6 to me, it was a close run thing and very messy.

Still I'm loving this new list :)

...the bat reps.

I forgot the feckin camera. I have a brain like a sieve some times. I only put it down to grab a drink gah!

Anyway I did take the time to remember the games in a bit more detail so I can give you a written summary. Boring I know but I haven't had much to write about recently. My list for both the following games was this:

Khan on Moondrakken

Terminator Squad with Cyclone

3 x Typhoons

Tactical Squad
Missile Launcher
Flamer
Teleport Homer
Rhino w/EA

Bike Squad
Full Squad
2 x Flamer
Power Weapon
MM Attack Bike

2x Predator w/lascannon sponsons.

A strange list I know but its gone 4 games undefeated so far (now that I have said that loosing streak can start...)

Game 1 VS Matt's Eldar

My old adversary. He normally kicks my arse with his mech list which is like this:

Eldrad
Jetarch

2 Waveserpents

Falcon

2 Prisms

Fire Dragons

Banshees

Avengers

and a small Jetbike squad for the Autarch

We rolled Capture and Control and Dawn of War, joy...

I won the roll off and opted to go second. He set most of his stuff on the board. I put down the Tactical Squad in two squads with the combat half in the rhino that camped on the objective, the ML half sat in the ruins right next to it. After a fairly dismall round of shooting Matt ended the turn with everything on the table, the Grav Tanks were lined up at the centre of the board ready to meet my reserves with the Fire Prisms a bit further back. On my turn I brought everything on apart from the bikes and termies and over the next two turns took apart most of his tanks and the occupants.

Turn two saw the arrival of my terminators, they deepstriked at the back of the Eldar, a risky move that almost saw them fly off the board but they landed and put a rocket into a Prism. They did get charged by the Aurtarch and co and they were wiped out (I couldn't roll a 2 to save my life :( ). Next turn however Khan and his boyz show up via outflank, they then promptly eat up the the squad over the next two turns.

From turn three onwards the stranded passengers of the wrecked wave serpents make a move on my objective (Matts was unclaimed for the whole game) but are promptly seen off by half a Tactical Squad and the Typhoons. The Bikes finish off the Jetarch and drive to Matts objective (yay for bikes as troops!) on the way they melta another Prism. Then everything seemed to go wrong! Eldrad and his posse of Dire Avengers come sashaying out of their Wave Serpent, cue guide, doom and Bladestorm. I watched Matt stack all those wounds together and I start to allocate out these wounds. Quite a crowd had gathered at the table by now (we were the only game going at the time) and they all watched in suspence as I rolled each model's saves. I passed the saves for Khan, the Sargent, the Attack Bike and a flamer but I lost 6 bikes!

The rest of the game was me basically mopping up but the game ended 1-0 to me and a crushing blow to Matt's ego. It was a fun game but I'm in no hurry to give him a rematch, I'm going to savour the win.

I'll give my thoughts on the game and the second Bat Rep tomo, right now I'm tired so it will have to wait. More to come!

Bat reps tonight!

Ok I have "bring the feckin camera!" ingrained into my head so expect some awesome battle reports or failing that some blurry pics of stuff you had to be there to understand...

A new direction?

As much as I love my huge raider bomb I have tried out a replacement at the shop today and so far the results are promising. Instead of Termies+LRC+Cassius+Libby I'm now trying out Khan and a full bike squad with 2 flamers, Attack bike and a power weapon. This comes in at slightly less points but allows me to re-jig my list quite a bit.

Because I know have another troop choice I have dropped a tactical squad (I'm not a fan of these guys, they just seem like point filler to me) and got myself a Terminator squad with a cyclone launcher that can either Depp Strike or Outflank as the situation demands as well as another Auto/Las Predator.

I have only used this in a couple of games but the combination of a massive bike squad and deep striking terminators has caught people off gaurd. A game against a Suit heavy Tau list was a close run thing. My reserves came in late meaning that the rest of my army was blown to bits and couldn't really help out my fresh squads. Such is the gamble of reserves, I'll have to see if it pays off...

A new army...

I have been working on a new IG army after watching the film We Were Soldiers. Besides being an awesome folm it gave me an idea for an air cav style list. Here is what I've come up with:

HQ

CCS 130
MoO
Camo Cloaks
Medic

Troops

Veterans 150
Sergeant Harker
3 Sniper Rifles
Heavy Bolter

Veterans 140
Shotguns
Power Weapon
Heavy Flamer
2 x Flamer
Grenadiers

Veterans 115
Forward Sentries
Missile Launcher

Veterans 115
Forward Sentries
Missile Launcher

Fast Attack

Vendetta 130

Vendetta 130

Vendetta 130

Heavy Support

Basilisk 155
Camo nets

Basilisk 155
Camo Nets

Basilisk 155
Camo Nets

Total: 1505

I know this isn't as air cav as it could be but I think it still does justice to the theme. I already have the 3 Vendettas but I'm not too sure about the rest of the army, on paper it looks great but I could use a fresh pair of eyes.

The Angels on My Shoulders

Image used without permision from Gamesworkshop.

OK its content time again so I thought I would share with you my thoughts on what I think is a little gem in Codex: Space Marines, the Landspeeder Typhoon. This is essentialy a Landspeeder with some Missile Launchers bolted on and comes with the option of a Heavy Bolter (for the price of a basic 5 man Tactical Squad) or a Multimelta (for the same price as a MM on a tactical squad). I have three of these guys in my list and they have yet to let me down.

I arm mine with Heavy Bolters so that they can sit near or on my back line and snipe transports and massed infantry. Using their maximum range keeps them safe from the all too common S4 Rapid Firing bolters that are the bane of AV10 vehicles, this means they tend to survive longer than the suicide MM/HF Speeders. Being Fast means that when their guns are shot off, which happens to me alot for some reason :), they can still be used to contest objectives.

There are a few things to be wary of though. Never squadron them, the silly hit allocation rules mean that its relativley easy to shut down the squadron with Stunned and Shaken results. Remember to use the full 36" effective range to stay out of harms way where possible. Lastly, remember that they are still very flimsy so cover saves and LOS blocking is your friend.

Typhoons are a very versatile unit, which is what is needed in a good SM unit. The good news is that there isn't much competition for FA slots in most Marine armies, the only real challengers are MM Attack bikes. Even so a squad of 2 Attack Bikes seem like a nice complement to 2 Typhoons.

To summarise, keep your distance and your Typhoons willbe a massive headache for your opponent.

More to come!

I know I haven't posted anything for a few days but don't worry, content is on the way, when I get back off of holiday (should be Thursday) I'll get some posts up and some more rants. Bat reps will follow next week.

Fluff nuts Vs WAACs

I took a plunge into the rather iffy depths of BOLS a moment ago and came across this article: http://www.belloflostsouls.net/2010/04/wargaming-askew-will-original.html

I consider myself to be a rather middle of the road player when it comes to fluff and gaming. I have an interest in the fluff and background to the universe but I also like to push my skills as a player. I get upset when people treat both of these things as mutually exclusive. Thats not to say that I don't like people who prefer one over the other, its just not neccassary to wail on others that don't agree with you.

I have seen on some forums that people get taken to pieces because they have included a unit just because they like it, despite being considered crap, Pariahs spring to mind here. This is the whole argument that the fluff nuts bring up which can be summarised as "Take what you like, play for fun". Define fun. Fun is different things to different people. However there is something to be said for taking a "crap" unit and making it work. Just like some people can do with Rubrics and Vipers. Arguments of this nature though lead to the so called meta-game of 40k where absolute efficiency is king. Why take Vipers when Fire Dragons and the like can do more for less points.

Fluff nuts are not with out blame though. The author of the linked article is just as bad as the Win At All Cost players (for more discussion on that look up Danny Internets, he has an awesome series of articles on the subject of competativeness). The above author, who is not alone and is just serving as my example here, is suggesting that optimising your list to win makes you a bad person and no fun to play to play against. This isn't true. Just because I have no historically themed IG or I'm not wearing a wolf teeth necklace while my SW on the board does not mean that I am ignorant of what happened during the Horus Heresy. Seriously, I make a list for my army and then build fluff around it, this way I get something that is both competative and has history for when I need it.

All in all both camps need to stop this holier than thou attitude and remember that there are different kinds of fun.

My Space Marine Army Rundown

Seeing as I have no Batreps or pictures to give you I thought that I could do a run down of my SM army for you guys to take apart. Here is the list:

Chaplain Cassius

Librarian w/ Null Zone and Smite

Assault Terminators (2 THSS/ 3 LC)

Land Raider Crusader w/ Multimelta and EA

2x Tactical Squad w/ ML MG Rhino + EA

3x Land Speeder Typhoons

Predator w/ Lascannon Sponsons
I think the idea is pretty clear, Libby, Cassius and Termies ride in the the LRC, Typhoons and Pred sit back and pop tanks, I tend to reserve my Tactical Squads so that they don't get killed early on.

My army has evolved quite a bit over the last year and a half that I've been back into the hobby and this version was built with Fritz' attack/support/defend idea for list building.

Attack:

The massive hammer unit running up the field (LRC+TERMIES+CASSIUS)is a scary unit to face for lots of people. It is a do or die unit like Fire Dragons, if you don't kill the unit they will give you lots of grief. I chose Cassius over a normal Chaplain because he is point for point the best character in the book. If you are going to take a non-Terminator Chaplain take this guy. This unit can chew up most things and has enough survivability (if not speed) to walk across the table if needed.

Support:

I love my Typhoons, they rarely let me down. I found the best way to use them was to keep them separate, I know its more KPs but they really do work better this way. One Typhoon can blow up a Chimera or Wave Serpent and the other two can eat the squishy troops inside. Just remember that these guys are long range units, keep them as far from the enemy as possible or you might end up loosing the to rapid fire Bolters and such. The predator fills a similar role to the Land Speeders. It sits at the back and snipes transports and light armour, he can do a slightly better job because of the Lascannons but his LOS is usually more restricted. Finally the Librarian, he rarely gets out of the Land Raider, he sits inside popping off Null Zone to help the Terminators out and using his Psychic Hood to mess up the other player. If there aren't many Power Weapons about and I have a unit to hide him in, he might get out and start busting heads if he needs to.

Defend:

Everybody knows that the Troops section of the codex is hardly the most exciting part of a codex. Still you have to take two troops and that's what I have done. I reserve these guys to make them last a bit longer. The first rhino to come in from reserves will normally make a b-line for a far away objective, the second will camp on mine and throw missiles out of the top hatch if needed. If its a kill point game then the squads go into reserve and sit at the back of the board shooting missiles at people. As you can tell, I'm not a fan of Tacticals.

That's my list and how I use it. It does well in most games but I do feel the the 1500 point standard in my shop does hurt this list but I am trying to change it for 1750 so I can squeeze more stuff in, probably another Predator and a Rifleman Dread.

DFW is back on the air!

After a long break from this blog I've decided to get back into it but I'm going to shift focus from just Orks to all my wargaming shenanigans. Be prepared for some new content within the next few days and I'll get the camera back on.

I need to give a bit of credit to TKE for giving me a kick up the arse to get going again :D