So as the title says the Battle Barn will (finally) be hosting another tournament. It's been over a year since the last one (which was won by yours truly btw!) and I can't wait to get back at it. All the details can be found here.
Sorry its been awhile since I have posted anything. I have been on a small sabbatical from gaming lately. I was just feeling a bit of hobby burn-out and needed to clear my head. But I'm back and ready to rock!
So what am I taking to the tournament you ask. I am planning on taking the Knights of Blood. I have actually played my Eldar the last two games I've played, but lets be real here, they just don't really do it for the tourney scene right now. With that said, I have been working on a new list for the KoB as I have been finding that they just haven't been up to the task against some of the competition that I've been seeing lately. The chief problem I've been having is that they just don't cut it in assault against some of the newer things I've seen hitting the tables. Namely Death Cult Assassins and DE Wyches. My only real anti-infantry to this point has been to punch things in the face, but that's just not realistic with these units. So I have been looking to upgrade some of my anti-infantry shooting capabilities. So with that in mind here is the list I have crafted.
HQ: Librarian with Shield of Sanguinius and Fear of the Darkness
Elites: 5x Sternguard Veterans, 2x Combi-meltas, Razorback with Twin-linked assault cannons
5x Sternguard Veterans, 2x Combi-meltas, Razorback with Twin-linked assault cannons
Troops: 10 Tactical Squad with Melta, Lascannon and, Combi-melta in a Razorback with Twin-linked Lascannons
10 Tactical Squad with Melta, Lascannon and, Combi-Melta in a Razorback with twin-linked Lascannons
5x Assault marines with Melta and infernus pistol in Las/plas Razorback
5x Assault marines with Melta and infernus pistol in Las/plas Razorback
5x Assault marines with Flamer and Hand Flamer in a Las/plas Razorback
5x Assault marines with Flamer and Hand Flamer in a Las/plas Razorback
Fast Attack: Land Speeder with Typhoon Missile Launcher and Heavy Bolter
Land Speeder with Typhoon Missile Launcher and Heavy Bolter
I think this list has a good mix of ranged and up close anti-tank while also having some good anti-infantry capabilities. Almost all of the shooting is mobile, with the exception of the Tactical squads lascannons which will make for some decent 'deck chair' units to squat on objectives and lay down some suppression fire. With up to 8 scoring units it should have no problems in objective based missions. We'll see how it goes. I've got a month to playtest it and make whatever tweaks are necessary.
Anyway if you're in Michigan you should try and come out to the tournament. I look forward to seeing some new faces! We have room for 20 in the hall we have and are already about half full so don't delay!
Sunday, November 6, 2011
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
Twin-linked Heavy Flamer Razorbacks
So I was listening to the 11th Company podcast recently and they were talking about a Blood Angels army that featured Twin-Linked Heavy Flamer Razorbacks. This sounded like an incredibly fun idea so I started playing around with my own versions of the list. I also started playing around with conversion ideas for the models. In the end I chose to go with the heavy flamer sponson bits from the Baal Predator kit and here are some of the pics of what I came up with.
These are still all work in progress pics, but I thought I would share them anyway. I will throw up some pics when I get the fleet done.
These are still all work in progress pics, but I thought I would share them anyway. I will throw up some pics when I get the fleet done.
Monday, August 29, 2011
New Blog launch: The Battlebarn
So as anyone who reads this blog should know I play at a place affectionately known as 'The Battle Barn'. We are a group of gamers in West Michigan who gather weekly to play in one of our members barn. Well we now have a new blog. You can check it out here
http://battlebarn.blogspot.com/
Look for a wide variety of articles in the future as we are fortunate enough to have a wide variety of gamers with different focuses in the hobby.
I will be one of the authors for the blog and am looking forward to the opportunity to help share our little community with the interwebz!
http://battlebarn.blogspot.com/
Look for a wide variety of articles in the future as we are fortunate enough to have a wide variety of gamers with different focuses in the hobby.
I will be one of the authors for the blog and am looking forward to the opportunity to help share our little community with the interwebz!
Give me a pound, dawg!
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| Yeah, they're just that cool! |
So after my final round at 'Ard boyz I was showing Sarah some of my conversions and paint jobs and she took these two and set them up this way. I had to snap the photo!
Sunday, August 28, 2011
And finally some pics from 'Ard Boyz
So since I left my memory card at the store I wasn't able to post pics right away. Since I have gotten it back I've been lazy :) So anyway, here they are...
First up some pics of a Mawloc with an awesome custom base. Some of the pics it was still in the stores display case so have some reflections. They then took it out so I could get some better ones.
These next two are from early in my first game against Rodney's Space Wolves.
This next one is against John and his Imperial Guard. This was a really close game and was one by his Rough Riders. Who says they suck? ;)
These are from my game against 'Classic' John and his Haemonculi coven Dark Eldar.
The rest are some pics the TO took since he forgot batteries for his camera. I let him pull the pics off my memory card and forgot to get it back which is why all these pics are so late in coming (that and my laziness!) [Please note: I try to make sure there are no faces in any of the pics I take. Since I didn't take these I had no control over it. If anyone in these pics doesn't want their pics on here let me know in the comments and I'll take the pic down]
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| Hey, there's me packing up my Knights of Blood after my loss to 'Classic John' |
Sunday, August 14, 2011
'Ard Boyz Results
So things did not go so well for me yesterday at 'Ard Boyz. The list actually performed as I had hoped it would. My dice were actually fairly hot, but glory was simply not in the cards for me on this particular day.
Sorry, no pics today. I brought my camera and took a few, but the game store owner forgot his and asked if he could use my memory card to use the ones I took. I lent it to him but I think I forgot to get it back. It's not in the camera, and I can't find it anywhere in the house or car. Unfortunately the store isn't open on Sundays so I won't know for sure if he has it till tomorrow at the earliest. Anyway, onto the Games.
My first game was against a Space Wolves player named Rodney. Let me just say the Rodney was a great guy to play against. His dice were horrible. Every time he needed to allocate a wound onto a model with special wargear they inevitably rolled a one. It seemed only regularly armed Grey Hunters were the only ones in his armor actually wearing armor! Things in this game went very well for me. The Death Company Dreadnought came in turn one and wrecked a Razorback carrying a squad of Long Fangs. The Death Company came in and exploded a whirlwind. They then managed to take out the Grey Hunter squad that the traitor was in before finally succumbing to the might of his Thunderwolves and Lord on T.wolf mount. Meanwhile my Assault squad that contained the traitor sat in their drop pod and waited till late game to show up. As planned I dropped them into a corner of his deployment zone well away from any of the action. This action set me up for a big win, but with my opponent getting the last turn he managed to kill a couple of Razorbacks and both of my land speeders to pull it close again. In the end I got a minor win and 5 bonus battle points for a total of 18.
This was actually enough to set me up on the top table against a player named Jon (one of 4 in the tourney of 10 people!) Jon was playing Imperial Guard. He won the roll for first turn and gave it to me. Doh! I almost always prefer to go second, but especially in objective missions. Throughout the course of this game I managed to take his army apart. He did a fair job of destroying mine as well. In the end this one came down to my ability to take out a squad of Rough Riders. (Yes, Rough Riders!) I had one of the objectives in the non-deployment zones and was sitting on the one in the center. He meanwhile had one in his deployment zone and the one in the other non-deployment zones. When I was unable to wipe out or break his unit of Rough Riders in the last turn they had the movement to come in and contest the center objective giving him the minor win. I had been Eldar'd by Rough Riders. Argh!
So despite only a minor win and a minor loss it turned out I was still in contention by being in fourth place going into the final round. This game saw me pitted up against one of the other Jon's in the field. 'Classic' Jon. He was running a Dark Eldar Haemonculi coven. It had Urien and Lady Malice and a squad of 10 Grotesques. With Urien being named as his General and both characters joining that squad I pumped everything I could into it trying to kill it. I came close getting all but one Grotesque and Urien himself. Had I gotten them all it would have been worth a total of 945 victory points. I had planned on avoiding them as much as possible but when he immobilized a couple of my Razorbacks early on it not only put that plan to bed, but also jammed up some of my firing lanes. We had an epic battle between my Death Company and his Incubi. Not really a plan of mine, but unfortunately that can happen with the DC. The Death Co. was eventually wiped out, and so was the Reclusiarch, but not before they killed all but the Klaivex. The turn after he landed the Dreadnought was immobilized. He did manage to wreck a Raider containing a squad of Wracks, but then spent the rest of the game howling in frustration. In the end I lost this game by about 600 victory points, taking another minor loss. It was a fun game. And Jon's wife (or girlfriend, I didn't ask the extent of their relationship) wasn't playing, but she paints and Jon's army was very well painted. There were still a few models left unfinished, but hey it's 'Ard boyz. This is not a usual points level. I had never faced a full on Haemonculi coven before and let me say it is tough. That army is unbelievably resilient for Dark Eldar.
In the end I finished up in a paltry 6th place, so no Semi-finals for me. Rodney, my first opponent did well for himself the rest of the way and managed to just sneak into 3rd place. 'Classic Jon used his victory over me to put himself into second and Jon from my second game came in first overall. So in the end I somehow managed to square off against the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place players in the tournament. All of my games were very close and very enjoyable. I had never been to that store before. But despite it being nearly an hour away I think I will make it a point to make it out there occasionally for some Saturday gaming.
Looks like Glory will have to wait for next year.
Sorry, no pics today. I brought my camera and took a few, but the game store owner forgot his and asked if he could use my memory card to use the ones I took. I lent it to him but I think I forgot to get it back. It's not in the camera, and I can't find it anywhere in the house or car. Unfortunately the store isn't open on Sundays so I won't know for sure if he has it till tomorrow at the earliest. Anyway, onto the Games.
My first game was against a Space Wolves player named Rodney. Let me just say the Rodney was a great guy to play against. His dice were horrible. Every time he needed to allocate a wound onto a model with special wargear they inevitably rolled a one. It seemed only regularly armed Grey Hunters were the only ones in his armor actually wearing armor! Things in this game went very well for me. The Death Company Dreadnought came in turn one and wrecked a Razorback carrying a squad of Long Fangs. The Death Company came in and exploded a whirlwind. They then managed to take out the Grey Hunter squad that the traitor was in before finally succumbing to the might of his Thunderwolves and Lord on T.wolf mount. Meanwhile my Assault squad that contained the traitor sat in their drop pod and waited till late game to show up. As planned I dropped them into a corner of his deployment zone well away from any of the action. This action set me up for a big win, but with my opponent getting the last turn he managed to kill a couple of Razorbacks and both of my land speeders to pull it close again. In the end I got a minor win and 5 bonus battle points for a total of 18.
This was actually enough to set me up on the top table against a player named Jon (one of 4 in the tourney of 10 people!) Jon was playing Imperial Guard. He won the roll for first turn and gave it to me. Doh! I almost always prefer to go second, but especially in objective missions. Throughout the course of this game I managed to take his army apart. He did a fair job of destroying mine as well. In the end this one came down to my ability to take out a squad of Rough Riders. (Yes, Rough Riders!) I had one of the objectives in the non-deployment zones and was sitting on the one in the center. He meanwhile had one in his deployment zone and the one in the other non-deployment zones. When I was unable to wipe out or break his unit of Rough Riders in the last turn they had the movement to come in and contest the center objective giving him the minor win. I had been Eldar'd by Rough Riders. Argh!
So despite only a minor win and a minor loss it turned out I was still in contention by being in fourth place going into the final round. This game saw me pitted up against one of the other Jon's in the field. 'Classic' Jon. He was running a Dark Eldar Haemonculi coven. It had Urien and Lady Malice and a squad of 10 Grotesques. With Urien being named as his General and both characters joining that squad I pumped everything I could into it trying to kill it. I came close getting all but one Grotesque and Urien himself. Had I gotten them all it would have been worth a total of 945 victory points. I had planned on avoiding them as much as possible but when he immobilized a couple of my Razorbacks early on it not only put that plan to bed, but also jammed up some of my firing lanes. We had an epic battle between my Death Company and his Incubi. Not really a plan of mine, but unfortunately that can happen with the DC. The Death Co. was eventually wiped out, and so was the Reclusiarch, but not before they killed all but the Klaivex. The turn after he landed the Dreadnought was immobilized. He did manage to wreck a Raider containing a squad of Wracks, but then spent the rest of the game howling in frustration. In the end I lost this game by about 600 victory points, taking another minor loss. It was a fun game. And Jon's wife (or girlfriend, I didn't ask the extent of their relationship) wasn't playing, but she paints and Jon's army was very well painted. There were still a few models left unfinished, but hey it's 'Ard boyz. This is not a usual points level. I had never faced a full on Haemonculi coven before and let me say it is tough. That army is unbelievably resilient for Dark Eldar.
In the end I finished up in a paltry 6th place, so no Semi-finals for me. Rodney, my first opponent did well for himself the rest of the way and managed to just sneak into 3rd place. 'Classic Jon used his victory over me to put himself into second and Jon from my second game came in first overall. So in the end I somehow managed to square off against the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place players in the tournament. All of my games were very close and very enjoyable. I had never been to that store before. But despite it being nearly an hour away I think I will make it a point to make it out there occasionally for some Saturday gaming.
Looks like Glory will have to wait for next year.
Monday, August 8, 2011
Hey look, another 'Ard Boyz list!
So it's that time of year again when we trudge off to our local game stores to do battle in GW's annual slugfest known as 'Ard Boyz. Last year was my first time playing in it, and despite all the hype of it being loaded with douchebags and WAAC players I had a blast in both the preliminaries and the semi's. So I have really been looking forward to this years.
This year I will be taking my Knights of Blood. After looking at the preliminary scenarios I came up with a list that is, I think, uniquely suited to both my play-style and the missions at hand. Two of the three missions are all about killing things. The first one uses kill points, but with one twist. You trade one troop model from your army with one from your opponents. This is known as the Traitor. Instead of being worth a kill point though it's worth five! So along with killing your opponents forces you must keep the survival of the Traitor in mind. The other downright kill shit mission uses victory points with a selected HQ choice being worth double VP's. The middle mission uses objective markers. One in the center of the table and then one in the middle of each table quarter. All three missions use the Night Fight rules at some point. The first and third during turn 1 and the second mission uses it late in the game.
So with these things in mind I built this list.
HQ:
Reclusiarch with infernus pistol.
Elites:
2x Sanguinary Priest with Jump Pack and Power Weapon
1x Sanguinary Priest with Lightning Claw
Troops:
2x 10 man Assault Squad with 2x Melta and Power Fist
1x 5 man Assault Squad with 1x Flamer and Hand Flamer in Las/plas Razorback with Dozer Blade
searchlight
1x 8 man Assault Squad with 1x Melta and Infernus pistol in a Drop Pod
1x 9 man Death Company with 2x Power Fist, 1x infernus pistol, 1x power weapons in
in a Drop Pod
1x Death Company Dreadnought with Magna-Grapple and searchlight in a Drop Pod
Fast Attack:
2x Land Speeders with Multi-meltas. (Taken as separate Squadrons)
Heavy Support:
2x Devastator Squad with 2x missile launchers and 1x Lascannon in a las/plas Razorback
with Dozer Blade and searchlight
1x Devastator Squad with 3x plasma cannons in a las/plas Razorback with a Dozer Blade
searchlight.
So all the Razorbacks and the Dreadnought have searchlights to help out with nightfight in all three missions.
The Death Company and the DC Dreadnought are there for pure killy-ness. The reclusiarch goes in the pod with the Death company making them even more killy. I have two ten man squads with jump packs and priests, 1 mechanized assault squad and the drop pod squad for my scoring element for mission two. The Razorbacks and Devs provide long range fire support, and the plasma cannons just add some more killy. As far as the Traitor in mission one goes, we have room in the drop pod for both him and the Lightning Claw priest. This allows me to keep the traitor off the board for awhile, then when he comes in he has a decent sized body guard with Feel no Pain to help keep hime alive. As a bonus there are bonus battle points if you get the traitor into your opponents deployment zone, with the pod I can pretty much just put him there if I have cleared a 'safe' area for them to land in by then.
I played a couple of practice games with it on Friday night and was quite pleased with how it worked. It beat out a Dark Eldar list and just lost to a Tyranid list. In the game against the Tyranids though I was able to see where with just a few minor tactical changes I could have turned things in my favor.
All in all I can't wait to see how it performs this weekend.
So what do you think? Also, what plans do you have for 'Ard Boyz? Have you made any changes to your normal lists (aside from adding 500pts or so) to account for the various missions or are you just kind of adding in 500 points of the same?
This year I will be taking my Knights of Blood. After looking at the preliminary scenarios I came up with a list that is, I think, uniquely suited to both my play-style and the missions at hand. Two of the three missions are all about killing things. The first one uses kill points, but with one twist. You trade one troop model from your army with one from your opponents. This is known as the Traitor. Instead of being worth a kill point though it's worth five! So along with killing your opponents forces you must keep the survival of the Traitor in mind. The other downright kill shit mission uses victory points with a selected HQ choice being worth double VP's. The middle mission uses objective markers. One in the center of the table and then one in the middle of each table quarter. All three missions use the Night Fight rules at some point. The first and third during turn 1 and the second mission uses it late in the game.
So with these things in mind I built this list.
HQ:
Reclusiarch with infernus pistol.
Elites:
2x Sanguinary Priest with Jump Pack and Power Weapon
1x Sanguinary Priest with Lightning Claw
Troops:
2x 10 man Assault Squad with 2x Melta and Power Fist
1x 5 man Assault Squad with 1x Flamer and Hand Flamer in Las/plas Razorback with Dozer Blade
searchlight
1x 8 man Assault Squad with 1x Melta and Infernus pistol in a Drop Pod
1x 9 man Death Company with 2x Power Fist, 1x infernus pistol, 1x power weapons in
in a Drop Pod
1x Death Company Dreadnought with Magna-Grapple and searchlight in a Drop Pod
Fast Attack:
2x Land Speeders with Multi-meltas. (Taken as separate Squadrons)
Heavy Support:
2x Devastator Squad with 2x missile launchers and 1x Lascannon in a las/plas Razorback
with Dozer Blade and searchlight
1x Devastator Squad with 3x plasma cannons in a las/plas Razorback with a Dozer Blade
searchlight.
So all the Razorbacks and the Dreadnought have searchlights to help out with nightfight in all three missions.
The Death Company and the DC Dreadnought are there for pure killy-ness. The reclusiarch goes in the pod with the Death company making them even more killy. I have two ten man squads with jump packs and priests, 1 mechanized assault squad and the drop pod squad for my scoring element for mission two. The Razorbacks and Devs provide long range fire support, and the plasma cannons just add some more killy. As far as the Traitor in mission one goes, we have room in the drop pod for both him and the Lightning Claw priest. This allows me to keep the traitor off the board for awhile, then when he comes in he has a decent sized body guard with Feel no Pain to help keep hime alive. As a bonus there are bonus battle points if you get the traitor into your opponents deployment zone, with the pod I can pretty much just put him there if I have cleared a 'safe' area for them to land in by then.
I played a couple of practice games with it on Friday night and was quite pleased with how it worked. It beat out a Dark Eldar list and just lost to a Tyranid list. In the game against the Tyranids though I was able to see where with just a few minor tactical changes I could have turned things in my favor.
All in all I can't wait to see how it performs this weekend.
So what do you think? Also, what plans do you have for 'Ard Boyz? Have you made any changes to your normal lists (aside from adding 500pts or so) to account for the various missions or are you just kind of adding in 500 points of the same?
Sunday, July 24, 2011
The Eldar Return!
So I have finally gotten my Eldar out on the tabletops for a few games again recently. I don't have any battle reports, but I do have some pics! So far in their return the Eldar have won one game while losing one and drawing a third.
The first game back was a 2000pt game against the Imperial Guard. We were playing a kill point mission with dawn of war deployment. This game overall did not go well for me, though it had an interesting dynamic to it. The guard player was running Al'rahem and a whole bunch of other stuff that could outflank. My basic strategy was to line up one board edge with grav tanks to destroy any of his units that came on that side. Unfortunately for me with an Astropath providing re-rolls for him he managed to avoid having a single unit come on from that board edge! Then by the time Al'rahem's squad showed up in turn 4 (the last thing to arrive btw) it was too late for me to cover the distance and do any real damage to him. Meanwhile his Lascannons and a Leman Russ were able to take out a couple of my tanks and I lost a squad or two of Jetbikes. The game ended on turn 5 with the guard up 4 kill points to 1.
The next game I got in with them was an 1850pt game against the Dark Eldar. This game served to remind me of a couple of things about using the craftworlders. First is that BS3 really sucks! I have gotten so used to having BS4 with the Knights of Blood that it was quite the system shock. The other thing I had pretty much forgotten is that in objective missions if the Eldar aren't tabled then they have a chance to draw at the very least. That's just what happened in this game. I got my ass kicked for a full 7 turns. Brightlanced let me down like they always have. I forgot psychic powers (doh!) but managed to contest enough objectives in the end to draw the game despite only have 6 models left on the table.
My opponent in this game is a fellow blogger and he has a full write up of all the action on his blog. I highly reccomend you check it out here http://naughtybadfun40k.blogspot.com/
My third game was against the might of the Grey Knights. The game was a 1500pt battle with 5 objectives and spearhead deployment. My opponent was running both Draigo and Coteaz. He had a 5 man squad of Paladins in a Land Raider Crusader, some Death Cult assassins with Crusaders in Razorbacks and a couple of squads of psykers. In this game the mobility of the Eldar really shined, and Runes of Warding was just invaluable. One of the psyker squads was wiped out when RoW forced them into a perils of the Warp. I was able to take out both razorbacks fairly early and with fortune up and running I mostly ignored the LR. In the end I managed to kill all of his scoring units but the Paladins who had one left with Draigo and Coteaz attached. He also had the Land Raider left but it just wasn't enough to contest enough objectives.
I have really been missing my Eldar so it was good to get them back out on the tables, but it's also frustrating. They really are showing their age. Their firepower is just not up to snuff compared to the 5th edition codex's. I could easily be 1-0-2 with them if it weren't for the Dark Eldar firepower kind of fizzling out late in the game. That said they will remain in play. My plan is to d6 off every week about which army I will be playing that week. So expect to see them around more often.
The first game back was a 2000pt game against the Imperial Guard. We were playing a kill point mission with dawn of war deployment. This game overall did not go well for me, though it had an interesting dynamic to it. The guard player was running Al'rahem and a whole bunch of other stuff that could outflank. My basic strategy was to line up one board edge with grav tanks to destroy any of his units that came on that side. Unfortunately for me with an Astropath providing re-rolls for him he managed to avoid having a single unit come on from that board edge! Then by the time Al'rahem's squad showed up in turn 4 (the last thing to arrive btw) it was too late for me to cover the distance and do any real damage to him. Meanwhile his Lascannons and a Leman Russ were able to take out a couple of my tanks and I lost a squad or two of Jetbikes. The game ended on turn 5 with the guard up 4 kill points to 1.
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| Here's me trying to be a clever douchebag. It didn't work out so well! |
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| And here's me not being so clever and throwing some jetbikes to the slaughter giving my opponent a couple of easy kill points. |
The next game I got in with them was an 1850pt game against the Dark Eldar. This game served to remind me of a couple of things about using the craftworlders. First is that BS3 really sucks! I have gotten so used to having BS4 with the Knights of Blood that it was quite the system shock. The other thing I had pretty much forgotten is that in objective missions if the Eldar aren't tabled then they have a chance to draw at the very least. That's just what happened in this game. I got my ass kicked for a full 7 turns. Brightlanced let me down like they always have. I forgot psychic powers (doh!) but managed to contest enough objectives in the end to draw the game despite only have 6 models left on the table.
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| Here a squad of Jetbikes is feeling pretty good about themselves after wiping out a squad of Dark Eldar Reaver Jetbikes, unaware of the horrible fate that awaits them. |
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| Gulp! The Wyches prepare to enact some vengeance on their craftworld cousins. |
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| Some reinforcements arrive from reserves. |
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| The amount of movement in this matchup is truly amazing! |
My opponent in this game is a fellow blogger and he has a full write up of all the action on his blog. I highly reccomend you check it out here http://naughtybadfun40k.blogspot.com/
My third game was against the might of the Grey Knights. The game was a 1500pt battle with 5 objectives and spearhead deployment. My opponent was running both Draigo and Coteaz. He had a 5 man squad of Paladins in a Land Raider Crusader, some Death Cult assassins with Crusaders in Razorbacks and a couple of squads of psykers. In this game the mobility of the Eldar really shined, and Runes of Warding was just invaluable. One of the psyker squads was wiped out when RoW forced them into a perils of the Warp. I was able to take out both razorbacks fairly early and with fortune up and running I mostly ignored the LR. In the end I managed to kill all of his scoring units but the Paladins who had one left with Draigo and Coteaz attached. He also had the Land Raider left but it just wasn't enough to contest enough objectives.
I have really been missing my Eldar so it was good to get them back out on the tables, but it's also frustrating. They really are showing their age. Their firepower is just not up to snuff compared to the 5th edition codex's. I could easily be 1-0-2 with them if it weren't for the Dark Eldar firepower kind of fizzling out late in the game. That said they will remain in play. My plan is to d6 off every week about which army I will be playing that week. So expect to see them around more often.
Thursday, June 30, 2011
And So Begins My Foray Into Dark Eldar
I have been wanting to build a Dark Eldar army since the release of the Codex, but have been so focused on my Knights of Blood that I haven't had time for anything else. However at Adepticon I picked up several kits to get me started and they've been sitting in the basement collecting dust ever since. I was at the local hobby shop the other day and on a whim I grabbed this bad boy off the shelf. I hadn't even been planning on running one in all of the army lists I had been toying with, but the model is just so sweet looking I had to have one! Since I am planning on running two Ravagers, some Reavers with heat lances and a bunch of Raiders I figure I have enough anti-tank so I have equipped this with a full anti-infantry load out. I have chosen to go with Disintegrator Cannons in favor of Dark Lances (both options have been magnetized in case I change my mind later.) The Splinter Rifles have been upgraded to a Splinter Cannon and I have given it a full load of four Shattershard Missiles.
I will be posting plenty of WIP pics and army updates as I go.
Should be fun!
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Video Battle Report: Orks vs. Knights of Blood (Blood Angels)
I'm back this week with another video battle report. Sorry I missed last week but I didn't get in any games last week :(
Anyway, this week saw my Knights of Blood pitted against my buddy Mark's Orks. We played a 2000pt Annihilation mission using Spearhead deployment. So without further ado, Enjoy!
Anyway, this week saw my Knights of Blood pitted against my buddy Mark's Orks. We played a 2000pt Annihilation mission using Spearhead deployment. So without further ado, Enjoy!
Monday, June 13, 2011
Weekly Video Battle Report: Knights of Blood vs. Eldar
So this weeks battle report is a bit different. I had a game scheduled with my friend Mark, but he didn't feel like lugging his Orks across town so he asked me to whip up an Eldar list for him. We agreed on 1000 points and I did my best to make him a pretty strong list. I decided to give him a full Mech Eldar list with as many Grav Tanks as I could fit. Meanwhile I decided to also take a fully mechanized list with my Knights of Blood to make it a full on tank battle.
Enjoy!
Enjoy!
Sunday, June 12, 2011
After Action Report: Game Links Tournament part III
Ok, so finally on to game three from the Game Links tournament I attended last Saturday.
If you haven't already read parts I & II you can check them out here http://thewildriderhost.blogspot.com/2011/06/after-action-report-games-links.html
and here
http://thewildriderhost.blogspot.com/2011/06/after-action-report-game-links.html
Okay, now lets get down to business.
If you haven't already read parts I & II you can check them out here http://thewildriderhost.blogspot.com/2011/06/after-action-report-games-links.html
and here
http://thewildriderhost.blogspot.com/2011/06/after-action-report-game-links.html
Okay, now lets get down to business.
Wednesday, June 8, 2011
After Action Report: Game Links Tournament part II
Alright, so this is part two of my recap of the tournament I attended this past weekend at Game Links in Fowlerville, MI. If you haven't read part one yet you can check it out here http://thewildriderhost.blogspot.com/2011/06/after-action-report-games-links.html.
Now lets dive into game two. This game was once again against Space Wolves. I feel terrible, but I can't remember my opponents name. I think it was Luke, but could easily be wrong, (if you read this and I do have your name wrong please forgive and correct me and I'll fix it!)
More after the jump...
Now lets dive into game two. This game was once again against Space Wolves. I feel terrible, but I can't remember my opponents name. I think it was Luke, but could easily be wrong, (if you read this and I do have your name wrong please forgive and correct me and I'll fix it!)
More after the jump...
Monday, June 6, 2011
After Action Report: Games Links Tournament part I
So this week instead of a Video Battle report I am going to break down the tournament I attended over the weekend. Don't worry if you're a fan of the video batreps, they'll be back next week!
So anyway, myself and my two friends Nate and Jim took a little road trip this weekend to Game Links in Fowlerville, MI to attend their grand opening tournament. The guys from Dark Future Games teamed up with Michigan 40k to put on the event. It was a three round tournament set for 1850 points. It used a Primary, Secondary, and Tertiary battle points system. I am not really a fan of this system, but see few better ways to produce a single winner in the span of a single day tournament without having to limit the number of entrants. In total there were 22 entrants. Not bad for their first tournament!
More after the jump...
So anyway, myself and my two friends Nate and Jim took a little road trip this weekend to Game Links in Fowlerville, MI to attend their grand opening tournament. The guys from Dark Future Games teamed up with Michigan 40k to put on the event. It was a three round tournament set for 1850 points. It used a Primary, Secondary, and Tertiary battle points system. I am not really a fan of this system, but see few better ways to produce a single winner in the span of a single day tournament without having to limit the number of entrants. In total there were 22 entrants. Not bad for their first tournament!
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| A quick pick of the game room. Thanks to Game Links for hosting the event! |
Saturday, June 4, 2011
An Open (Video) Letter to Games Workshop
Ok, so when I first started to watch this and they mentioned re-posting it I had no intention of doing so. However, uponn watching it I think that what he had to say makes a lot of sense, is not ranty (though he does ramble a bit in parts) and really should probably be spread around.
Despite the recent price hikes, the embargo (which has no effect on me, but still rubs me the wrong way!) and the switch to resin I still love Warhammer 40k. I have zero interest in leaving the hobby or in switching to a new game/company, and I really want to love Games Workshop. They just make too many bad decisions for me to do so. This video simply offers constructive criticism to Games Workshop and hopefully if enough of us spread this around it will catch their attention.
So please take a few minutes to watch and if you agree with what he has to say like I do then go ahead and re-post it yourself.
Despite the recent price hikes, the embargo (which has no effect on me, but still rubs me the wrong way!) and the switch to resin I still love Warhammer 40k. I have zero interest in leaving the hobby or in switching to a new game/company, and I really want to love Games Workshop. They just make too many bad decisions for me to do so. This video simply offers constructive criticism to Games Workshop and hopefully if enough of us spread this around it will catch their attention.
So please take a few minutes to watch and if you agree with what he has to say like I do then go ahead and re-post it yourself.
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
Thinking about Eldar
So I have really been starting to miss playing my Eldar. They were my first army in 40k and are still my favorite. Unfortunately they have just fallen so far behind the competetive curve in 5th edition. With most of my focus over the past few months being on tournament play I have pretty much shelved them in favor of my Knights of Blood. This wasn't really my intention, it just kind of worked out that way.
So, anyway that brings us to today. I am planning on attending a small tournament this weekend. I have been planning on bringing my Knights of Blood. I don't know that the hybrid list I have been running lately is fully tweaked in and ready for tournament play yet. And I don't think I have enough practice games in with it, but it's close. It's a fun list for sure and I think I stand a decent chance of winning some games with it. But I don't think I could really get to the top tables with it and really compete for the prizes.
I could always run my DoA list. I am well versed in how that works and am quite comfortable with how it plays. The problem with this was that I feel that DoA was a barely competitve list before the release of the Grey Knights Codex. They had some matchup problems, but with clever tactics and a bit of luck they could be overcome. The very same things that help Grey Knights against Daemons hurt DoA armies, in many ways they are even worse. Warp Quake is an absolute killer! Daemons at least have a chance of going first so they get their first wave in before the Grey Knights can get it up and running. Force weapons mean a whole lot more to Assualt Marines than they do to Daemons with their invulnerable saves. Anyway, I don't want to rant about Grey Knights so I'll stop there, but suffice it to say that I think they really hurt the DoA style of army sufficiently enough, and will be in attendance in most/all tournaments from here on out (especially since painting isn't required for this tourney!) that the DoA needs to be reserved for 'just for fun' games from here on out. Much like the Eldar.
So that brings me back to the original point of the post. My Eldar. I am really thinking about pulling them out of mothballs for a run at this tournament. It kind of makes sense. I don't have a build currently that I feel is competitive, and I want to get them out and onto the table top anyway. So why not? Well other than the fact I won't even be able to get in one practice game with them before Saturday, and I haven't played them since around the semi-finals of 'Ard Boys last year.
I think maybe I'll play around with some lists for both the Eldar and my Knights of Blood and just see what I like most the morning of the tournament!
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Video Battle Report: Knights of Blood vs. Orks
So here is this weeks video battle report. This week sees me squaring off in a re-match against Jesse's Orks.
Enjoy!
Enjoy!
Monday, May 23, 2011
Video Battle Report: Knights of Blood vs. Daemons of Chaos
For this weeks battle report I took my Knights of Blood again to square off against Jeff and his Daemons of Chaos. We rolled randomly for mission and got Capture and Control with Dawn of War deployment.
Enjoy!
and just in case there are any problems with playback on the embedded video this week here is a direct link to my youtube page.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZYgpWbSA75o
Enjoy!
and just in case there are any problems with playback on the embedded video this week here is a direct link to my youtube page.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZYgpWbSA75o
Monday, May 16, 2011
Monday Battle Report: Knights of Blood vs. Imperial Guard
So I am going to try to make these Battle Reports a weekly thing. I am going to try and post one every Monday. I have managed to post one for the last two Mondays running and this one makes three in a row. I have one more already recorded as well.
In this weeks battle report I square off against Dale and his mostly foot Imperial Guard. The battle was a Capture and Control mission with Spearhead Deployment. We played at 1850pts (sort of).
Spoilers after the jump.
In this weeks battle report I square off against Dale and his mostly foot Imperial Guard. The battle was a Capture and Control mission with Spearhead Deployment. We played at 1850pts (sort of).
Spoilers after the jump.
Monday, May 9, 2011
Video Battle Report: Knights of Blood vs. Bling Wing
So this week I bring you a video of my Knights of Blood taking on Dave and his Bling Wing, Commander Dante led jumper army with Sanguinary Guard as troops. Anyway, without further ado, enjoy!
Edit: So I have had people tell me they are having trouble viewing this video (and I can't seem to from my Droid either) so I have re-embedded it. Also, here is a link to it on Youtube in case anyone still has problems.
Battle Report: Knights of Blood vs. Bling Wing
Edit: So I have had people tell me they are having trouble viewing this video (and I can't seem to from my Droid either) so I have re-embedded it. Also, here is a link to it on Youtube in case anyone still has problems.
Battle Report: Knights of Blood vs. Bling Wing
Monday, May 2, 2011
Video Battle Report: Knights of Blood vs. Orks
So I got in a few games this past Friday night at the Battlebarn and was able to get them recorded for some battle reports. This first one is against Jesse and his Orks. Now I know that all of my batreps thus far have been against Orks, but this one is different. My friend Mark is my usual Ork opponent. Jesse runs a very different style of Ork army than Mark. Lots of Battle Wagons is the name of the game here.
Caution: Spoilers after the break!
Caution: Spoilers after the break!
Sunday, April 17, 2011
The future of the Knights of Blood
For the last severaly months leading up to Adepticon I have been playing my Knights of Blood army as an almost exclusively Jumppack/Descent of Angels list. It has been a fun time as the list is very fun to play. However, playing the same basic list for such a long time can get a bit stale. So what does this mean for the future of my Knights of Blood?
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| The Knight of Blood as they were for Adepticon |
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
Just some random pics from Adepticon
So Adepticon was crazy busy and between how busy I was and the fact that I forgot my camera in the hotel room on Saturday I didn't get too many pics, but here are a few that I snapped on Friday night.
More after the break...
Saturday, April 2, 2011
Game Four
This game saw my Knights of Blood pitted against the gribblies of the great devourer. |
Friday, April 1, 2011
Game Three: Tabled Again
Yep, Space Wolves, played by a real nice guy named Patrick. He deployed, I dropped in, he killed me. I think that sums things up nicely. The Vanguard managed to drop in and kill his 'marked for death' unit, then spent the rest of the game slowly being wittled away by Grey Hunters. His Wolflord with a bunch of Fenrisian wolves just wrecked about half my army. I just couldn't seem to kill those darn puppies! Oh well, still having fun. Sent from Yahoo! Mail on Android |
Game Two
So my in game pic was lost but I have this pic of his army. Mech Blood Angels played by a guy named John. This was the matchup I thought I wanted... Guess I was wrong as he tabled me in turn five. He was a good sport, though and only rubbed it in a bit. Just kidding! It was still a fun game, I just had too many squads fall off the board and his flamestorm cannon wrecked my face. Sent from Yahoo! Mail on Android |
Adepticon Game One
| Space Wolves with lots of Thunderwolves, ugh! Pic is from shortly after my initial drop. More to come... Sent from Yahoo! Mail on Android |
Adepticon!
Just got in to Chicago for Adepticon tonight. Got myself all checked in, got my swag bag (anyone looking for some Khador Warmachine shit btw?) So now I am hanging out in the hotel room helping my buddy/teammate finish painting the remainder of his 1850 list for the championship event. Fun stuff, but at least the PBR is cold!
Adepticon is to be my first major convention and after seeing the main hall during registration I have to say I am already a bit overwhelmed. It's gonna be nuts when that room is filled! I'm pretty excited though. For my first convention I have given myself a fairly busy schedule. I am playing in the 40k championships tomorrow, and then the team tournament on Saturday. As of yet I have no plans on Sunday, (unless I am fortunate enough to be playing in the finals!) I'm hoping to just get in a couple of pickup games, maybe meet some of the bloggers and podcasters I follow and just generally relax.
Adepticon is to be my first major convention and after seeing the main hall during registration I have to say I am already a bit overwhelmed. It's gonna be nuts when that room is filled! I'm pretty excited though. For my first convention I have given myself a fairly busy schedule. I am playing in the 40k championships tomorrow, and then the team tournament on Saturday. As of yet I have no plans on Sunday, (unless I am fortunate enough to be playing in the finals!) I'm hoping to just get in a couple of pickup games, maybe meet some of the bloggers and podcasters I follow and just generally relax.
So my path here to Adepticon has not been without its perils and rough spots. About a month before the convention one of my teammates broke his hand. This left him unable to paint his army, so he decided to back out of the whole thing. So we were left scrambling to find a new teammate. Fortunately, one of the other gamers at the Barn stepped up and joined the team. As a bonus he has a fully painted Space Marine army. Since we were originally going to do a combo of Space Wolves and Blood Angel successors going with a different chapter wasn't too much of a stretch theme-wise.
Anyway with that crisis averted I had a momentary lapse of reason. After getting my ass handed to me by the new Grey Knights I freaked and decided that my army wasn't good and that I needed to re-write it. At the time I only had about 7 bolt pistol/chainsword Vanguard left to paint to finish the army. Instead I ended up writing a list that included some Death Company, Devastators, and Razorbacks. For this list I would need to finish and re-base the Death Company, assemble and paint a new Dev squad, redo the chapter symbol and paint the turret on one of my Razorbacks and paint up a Chaplain. Absolutely convinced this was the way to go I set to work on all of it. I actually got it all done Tuesday night, but then reconsidered my decision because I would be playing a list I had absolutely zero practice with. So now I was left with one day to finish up those Vanguard and thats on top of all the other stuff I was planning on doing for the team.
In the end I did manage to finish up the Vanguard last night and clear coated them. I have an army I am comfortable with and that I have been playing for months. Here's a quick pic of them with the army list to follow...
1850pts Knights of Blood
Reclusiarch with Jump Pack
Librarian with Jump Pack, Unleash Rage and Fear of the Darkness powers
3x Sanguinary Priests with Jump Packs and Power Weapons
3x 10 man Assualt Squads with 2x melta guns and Sgt. with Power Weapon
1x 10 man Assualt Squad with 2x melta guns and Sgt. with Power Fist
10 man Vanguard Veteran squad with 1x Power Weapon, 2x Storm Shield and Lightning Claw, 1x Bolt Pistol, Chainsword and Melta Bombs, 6x Bolt Pistol and Chainswords
Anyway, it's late and there's still a little work left on my teammates army. For anyone who is attending, Good Luck and I'll see ya at the tables!
Sunday, February 13, 2011
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
A Close Shave: Tournament Report Game 3
Sorry it's taken so long to get around to it, but here is the batrep for the third game in my recent tournament win. This game saw me matched up against another Eric. He was running Blood Angels as well, but he was using the vaunted Razorback spam variant that seems so popular on the interwebs these days. So here we go, Eric vs. Eric. Blood Angels vs. Blood Angels. Time to determine once and for all which is superior Descent of Angels or Razorback spam! (ok, so probably not :-D)
His list was as follows:
2x Librarian with Shield of Sanguinius and Fear of the Darkness
2x Assault Marines with Flamer and Razorback with Lascannon and twin linked Plasma Gun
2x Assault Marines with Razorback with Lascannon and twin linked Plasma Gun
3x Baal Predator with Assault Cannon and Heavy Bolter sponsons
1x Predator with Auto Cannon and Lascannon sponsons
1x Predator with Auto Cannon and Heavy Bolter sponsons
My list once again, (since it's been so long!) was as flollows:
Librarian with Shield of Sanguinius and Blood Lance
2x 10 Assault Marines with 2x meltaguns and power weapon
1x 10 Assault Marines with 1x flamer and power weapon
2x Sanguinary Guard with 1x infernus pistol and 1x power fist
3x Sanguinary Priests with jump packs and power weapons
The mission was a simple kill point mission using the pitched battle deployment. In addition, if you had captured any of the servitors in mission 2 you were allowed to assign them to scoring units in your army. It was an option and noone was required to do so. If you chose to they counted as being whatever type the unit they joined were (ie. infantry, jump infantry, bikes etc.) They had their own statline and came with a weapon with the following profile. 24"range, Str5 AP5 Assualt 2.
Eric won the roll to go first and deployed his entire force keeping. I of course reserved everything to come in via deepstrike. A priest with each assualt squad and the Librarian with the flamer unit. Turn one saw little happen. In turn two he moved his vehicles out spreading out a bit and popping smoke on all of his vehicles.
Turn two saw me getting in both of the Sanguinary guard units and the flamer unit. Not exactly what I would have liked to be sure! I dropped in the 1st of the Sanguinary guard unit behind his Autocannon/Lascannon Predator. This was a nice juicy and dangerous target and was near a building that would provide some nice cover from the rest of his shooting but they scattered big time and landed right on the Predator! The roll on the mishap table was kind though and they were only put back into reserves. Undaunted by that I tried the 2nd Sanguinary Guard in the same spot and got a 'hit'. Then the Libby and flamer squad deep struck nearby one of his Razorbacks containing a librarian and trying to line up a couple of vehicles for Blood Lance. I scattered poorly here too and moved 6" straight back from where I wanted to be. The shooting phase saw the Sanguinary guards infernus pistol miss and the infernus boltguns, despite having rear arc, failed to get a single glance on the predator. The librarian managed to get Blood Lance off past his psychic hoods and managed to stun one of the Razorbacks containing one of his Librarians.
In his turn 3 he maneuvered to get some line of sight to the Sanguinary guard and managed to wipe them out. He also moved up to shoot at the Librarians squad, I passed my psychic test for shield, but he managed to shut it down with his psychic hood. The rest of his force managed to wipe the squad out though and I was now sitting in a 4-0 hole in kill points.
In my 3rd turn I saw both of my remaining Assualt squads show up. I put one of the Assualt Squads over on his left flank. I dropped the other assualt squad out in front of his force. With one of the squads I managed to only destroy a weapon on one of the Razorbacks and chose the twin-linked plasma gun. I also managed to destroy another Razorback.
His turn 4 turned out to be fairly innefectual. He only managed to kill a few assault marines from the assualt squad in front of his force. With most of his Plasma destroyed or shut down he was unable to do much damage to the other Assualt Squad. He disembarked both of his Librarians and attemped to use Fear of the Darkness, but I passed both of those tests and then passed my regular morale test for 25% casualties.
In my 4th turn I got the other Sanguinary Guard unit back. They dropped in behind his lines near my assault squad. When they scattered out of infernus pistol range of a Razorback they instead chose to shoot at the Librarian. When the infernus pistol both hit and wounded the Librarian Eric decided to go to ground and actually made the 6+ cover save, saving the libby's life! If he couldn't take out the Sang guard though the libby was sure to fall to mass power weapon attacks in my next turn. Meanwhile the assualt squad out in front of his force moved up and shot at the Razorback that the other librarian had disembarked from but missed with both meltaguns. I did manage to set up the multi-charge with his librarian though and managed to immobilize the Razorback and failed to kill the librarian, getting stuck in safe from his guns for his next turn.
The other assault squad moved up and popped one of his Baal Predators.
In his turn 5 he turned a Razorback on the Sanguinary Guard shooting the lascannon and double-tapping with the plasma gun. Unfortunately for him he managed to roll three ones! With the plasma being twin linked though he picked them up and rolled again... getting 2 more ones! Five dice and five ones. The only other guns he had with line of sight and range to them were auto-cannons, heavy bolters and assault cannons. These proved no match for the artificer armor of the squad. In the assault phase I managed to finish off his librarian and consolidated towards the bulk of his force.
In my turn 5 The Sanguinary guard moved up and spread out to set up the multi-charge on his Librarian, it's immobilized Razorback and the assualt squad that had spilled out of the Razorback I had already destroyed. I managed to kill the Librarian, some of the assault squad and wiffed against the razorback despite auto-hitting with a power fist. His assault squad managed to kill one of the sang guard, lost combat but passed morale and we were stuck in. The assault squad in the the back of his force moved up behind a hill but was out of range to do much of anything that turn. Meanwhile the other one moved up and shot at and charged his last working Razorback, but only managed to stun it. With both of his Librarians dead, a Razorback destroyed and a Baal Predator down the game was now tied 4-4.
In his 6th turn he turned his guns on my already weakened assault squad and managed to wipe it out, taking the Sanguinary priest out with them. I managed to completely wiff again in the assault phase and he passed the turn to me once again in the lead with the score 6 kill points to 4.
In my turn the assualt squad moved up and finished of the immobilized Razroback while the Sanguinary Guard (finally) finished off the assualt squad in the close combat. With the game now tied 6-6 we were drawn, but the game continued to turn 7.
In his turn he did his best to take out the assualt squad since it was already weakened but all of his good ap weapons either failed to hit, wound or find the range and they survived. Now all I needed to do in my turn was secure at least one kill point and the win would be mine. In my turn I moved up and destroyed one of the remaining Razorbacks and then just in case of a miscount I assualted and wiped out the assault squad that spilled out of it. This put me up in kill points and the game ended with me winning 8 kill points to 6. Neither of us had secured any of the secondary or tertiary objectives though and I only secured 10 battle points for the win.
This was a very close game the whole way. Having one of the Sang guard squads bounce back into reserves and not getting the melta-gun assualt squads in early really slowed me down to begin with, allowing him to jump out to a nice lead. Once I was able to shut his plasma guns down though I was able to start rolling and once I got going there was simply no stopping me. Assualt Cannons, Auto-cannons, and heaby bolters are just no match for Feel No Pain marines and stray lascannon shots will kill marines, but do little to units.
In the end the 10 points I got for this victory was enough to secure me the tournament. In fact, after seeing the final scores a draw would have been enough and would have actually gotten Eric 2nd place. I think he knew this too as he seemed really dissapointed. Brent, my 2nd round opponent instead ended up finishing in 2nd place.
All in all a pretty good tournament. The missions were fun and worked together for a fun little overarching story. They need some tweaking and clarifying before Adepticon, but that's what we held this tournament for. To test them under fire.
For my efforts I got a $60 gift certificate to the Warstore.com. It's actually over a month since the tournament and I still have not spent it. With the new Furioso dreadnought kit coming out soon it won't last much longer!
His list was as follows:
2x Librarian with Shield of Sanguinius and Fear of the Darkness
2x Assault Marines with Flamer and Razorback with Lascannon and twin linked Plasma Gun
2x Assault Marines with Razorback with Lascannon and twin linked Plasma Gun
3x Baal Predator with Assault Cannon and Heavy Bolter sponsons
1x Predator with Auto Cannon and Lascannon sponsons
1x Predator with Auto Cannon and Heavy Bolter sponsons
My list once again, (since it's been so long!) was as flollows:
Librarian with Shield of Sanguinius and Blood Lance
2x 10 Assault Marines with 2x meltaguns and power weapon
1x 10 Assault Marines with 1x flamer and power weapon
2x Sanguinary Guard with 1x infernus pistol and 1x power fist
3x Sanguinary Priests with jump packs and power weapons
The mission was a simple kill point mission using the pitched battle deployment. In addition, if you had captured any of the servitors in mission 2 you were allowed to assign them to scoring units in your army. It was an option and noone was required to do so. If you chose to they counted as being whatever type the unit they joined were (ie. infantry, jump infantry, bikes etc.) They had their own statline and came with a weapon with the following profile. 24"range, Str5 AP5 Assualt 2.
Eric won the roll to go first and deployed his entire force keeping. I of course reserved everything to come in via deepstrike. A priest with each assualt squad and the Librarian with the flamer unit. Turn one saw little happen. In turn two he moved his vehicles out spreading out a bit and popping smoke on all of his vehicles.
Turn two saw me getting in both of the Sanguinary guard units and the flamer unit. Not exactly what I would have liked to be sure! I dropped in the 1st of the Sanguinary guard unit behind his Autocannon/Lascannon Predator. This was a nice juicy and dangerous target and was near a building that would provide some nice cover from the rest of his shooting but they scattered big time and landed right on the Predator! The roll on the mishap table was kind though and they were only put back into reserves. Undaunted by that I tried the 2nd Sanguinary Guard in the same spot and got a 'hit'. Then the Libby and flamer squad deep struck nearby one of his Razorbacks containing a librarian and trying to line up a couple of vehicles for Blood Lance. I scattered poorly here too and moved 6" straight back from where I wanted to be. The shooting phase saw the Sanguinary guards infernus pistol miss and the infernus boltguns, despite having rear arc, failed to get a single glance on the predator. The librarian managed to get Blood Lance off past his psychic hoods and managed to stun one of the Razorbacks containing one of his Librarians.
In his turn 3 he maneuvered to get some line of sight to the Sanguinary guard and managed to wipe them out. He also moved up to shoot at the Librarians squad, I passed my psychic test for shield, but he managed to shut it down with his psychic hood. The rest of his force managed to wipe the squad out though and I was now sitting in a 4-0 hole in kill points.
In my 3rd turn I saw both of my remaining Assualt squads show up. I put one of the Assualt Squads over on his left flank. I dropped the other assualt squad out in front of his force. With one of the squads I managed to only destroy a weapon on one of the Razorbacks and chose the twin-linked plasma gun. I also managed to destroy another Razorback.
His turn 4 turned out to be fairly innefectual. He only managed to kill a few assault marines from the assualt squad in front of his force. With most of his Plasma destroyed or shut down he was unable to do much damage to the other Assualt Squad. He disembarked both of his Librarians and attemped to use Fear of the Darkness, but I passed both of those tests and then passed my regular morale test for 25% casualties.
In my 4th turn I got the other Sanguinary Guard unit back. They dropped in behind his lines near my assault squad. When they scattered out of infernus pistol range of a Razorback they instead chose to shoot at the Librarian. When the infernus pistol both hit and wounded the Librarian Eric decided to go to ground and actually made the 6+ cover save, saving the libby's life! If he couldn't take out the Sang guard though the libby was sure to fall to mass power weapon attacks in my next turn. Meanwhile the assualt squad out in front of his force moved up and shot at the Razorback that the other librarian had disembarked from but missed with both meltaguns. I did manage to set up the multi-charge with his librarian though and managed to immobilize the Razorback and failed to kill the librarian, getting stuck in safe from his guns for his next turn.
The other assault squad moved up and popped one of his Baal Predators.
In his turn 5 he turned a Razorback on the Sanguinary Guard shooting the lascannon and double-tapping with the plasma gun. Unfortunately for him he managed to roll three ones! With the plasma being twin linked though he picked them up and rolled again... getting 2 more ones! Five dice and five ones. The only other guns he had with line of sight and range to them were auto-cannons, heavy bolters and assault cannons. These proved no match for the artificer armor of the squad. In the assault phase I managed to finish off his librarian and consolidated towards the bulk of his force.
In my turn 5 The Sanguinary guard moved up and spread out to set up the multi-charge on his Librarian, it's immobilized Razorback and the assualt squad that had spilled out of the Razorback I had already destroyed. I managed to kill the Librarian, some of the assault squad and wiffed against the razorback despite auto-hitting with a power fist. His assault squad managed to kill one of the sang guard, lost combat but passed morale and we were stuck in. The assault squad in the the back of his force moved up behind a hill but was out of range to do much of anything that turn. Meanwhile the other one moved up and shot at and charged his last working Razorback, but only managed to stun it. With both of his Librarians dead, a Razorback destroyed and a Baal Predator down the game was now tied 4-4.
In his 6th turn he turned his guns on my already weakened assault squad and managed to wipe it out, taking the Sanguinary priest out with them. I managed to completely wiff again in the assault phase and he passed the turn to me once again in the lead with the score 6 kill points to 4.
In my turn the assualt squad moved up and finished of the immobilized Razroback while the Sanguinary Guard (finally) finished off the assualt squad in the close combat. With the game now tied 6-6 we were drawn, but the game continued to turn 7.
In his turn he did his best to take out the assualt squad since it was already weakened but all of his good ap weapons either failed to hit, wound or find the range and they survived. Now all I needed to do in my turn was secure at least one kill point and the win would be mine. In my turn I moved up and destroyed one of the remaining Razorbacks and then just in case of a miscount I assualted and wiped out the assault squad that spilled out of it. This put me up in kill points and the game ended with me winning 8 kill points to 6. Neither of us had secured any of the secondary or tertiary objectives though and I only secured 10 battle points for the win.
This was a very close game the whole way. Having one of the Sang guard squads bounce back into reserves and not getting the melta-gun assualt squads in early really slowed me down to begin with, allowing him to jump out to a nice lead. Once I was able to shut his plasma guns down though I was able to start rolling and once I got going there was simply no stopping me. Assualt Cannons, Auto-cannons, and heaby bolters are just no match for Feel No Pain marines and stray lascannon shots will kill marines, but do little to units.
In the end the 10 points I got for this victory was enough to secure me the tournament. In fact, after seeing the final scores a draw would have been enough and would have actually gotten Eric 2nd place. I think he knew this too as he seemed really dissapointed. Brent, my 2nd round opponent instead ended up finishing in 2nd place.
All in all a pretty good tournament. The missions were fun and worked together for a fun little overarching story. They need some tweaking and clarifying before Adepticon, but that's what we held this tournament for. To test them under fire.
For my efforts I got a $60 gift certificate to the Warstore.com. It's actually over a month since the tournament and I still have not spent it. With the new Furioso dreadnought kit coming out soon it won't last much longer!
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
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