Red Thirst Markers

So a quick little video hobby tip/trick. Enjoy!

Test of Khaine Tournament Wrap-up

Yesterday my friends James, Yancy and I traveled out to Evolution Games in Lansing for the 2nd annual Test of Khaine tournament put on by Seer Karandras of Craftworld Lansing. The tournament was 3 rounds using battle points and was 1850pts.

I brought along my Knights of Blood using the list I am planning on taking to Adepticon this upcoming weekend. Here's the list I brought

Sanguinor
Mephiston
2x 10 man assault squads with 2x melta and power fist
1x 10 man assault squad with 2x melta and power weapon
5x scout squad with sniper rifles and camo cloaks
Death Company with 3x bolters, 1x bolter and power fist and 2x power swords in a
Land Raider with extra armor and multi-melta

Game one saw me paired up on table 4 with CVinton of Dark Future Games. He was playing his great looking Space Wolves (good enough to win best in show!) His list was as Follows

Bjorn the Fell Handed with Assault cannon
Wolf Lord on thunderwolf with Frost Weapon and Thunder Shield and Saga of the Bear
Thunderwolf Cavalry x4 all with strom shields 1 with a Thunder Hammer
3x  Wolfguard with Combi-meltas and power fists

3x 9man Grey Hunters Pack with Flamer, Mark of the Wulfen and Wolf Standard in a Rhino
2x Long Fang Pack with 5x missile Launcher

The first mission used Kill Points for the primary objective. The secondary objective was to have an HQ unit controlling an objective in the center of the table, and the tertiary was to have more units in your opponents deployment zone at the end of the game.

This game was really close with me winning the primary 6 kill points to 4. He got the secondary by having his Wolf Lord controlling the objective at the center of the table uncontested and we drew the tertiary by having an equal amount of units in each others deployment zones. There were a few key moments that really pushed this game in my favor. One was when Mephiston broke and ran from combat when my side lost a large multi-assault that contained Bjorn (which was still going when the game ended!) As Meph was falling back he moved his Wolf lord in position to make sure he kept running, but I was able to tank shock the Wold Lord away and used the position of the LR and some impassable terrain to keep the wolf lord from being able to get back within 6" so meph could re-group next turn getting him back in the fight and denying my opponent the kill point. The other big moment was when my last two Death Company managed to get a glancing hit on Bjorn (only stunned him, damned venerable dreads!) and his T.wolves whiffed. The wolves then having lost combat failed leadership and ran off the board.

Chris was using a Forgeworld Contemptor dreadnought to represent Bjorn and I have to say I know like the model. I never really liked the way they looked based on pics on the internet, but after seeing his all painted up and looking great I must say I have changed my mind. Not enough to get one, but I no longer dislike the model.


My second game was against a player named Matt aka BigMek SkrapKlaw and his Orks. He also had a very nice looking army. I know I've mentioned it before, but I really love playing against great looking armies, it just makes the games that much more enjoyable.

This mission had us picking one unit from either Elite, Fast Attack, or Heavy Support to be our chosen target to be killed/destroyed as our primary objective. For the secondary we needed to kill the highest point HQ and table quarters was the tertiary. In this game my dice abandoned me completely. This is not to take anything away from my opponent as he played a very solid game, but with my dice in this one I never stood much of a chance. Hopefully if I run into him again someday my dice will allow me to give him a better run for his money.

His list was as follows
Big Mek with Burna, KFF, Eavy Armor Cybork body, and boss pole
Warboss with power klaw, combi-skorcha, eavy armor, boss pole and cybork body
10 Nobz all wound allocated out in a Trukk with red paint job and reinforced ram
19 ard boyz, nob with power klaw and boss pole
2x 20 shoota boyz nob with power klaw and boss pole and 2x big shootas
2x single Deff Kopta with TL rokkit launcha
2 Deff Koptas with 2x rokkit launch and 1x buzzsaw
3x Battle Wagons with red paint job, reinforced ram, big shoota and Kannon

I chose one of his battle wagons as my target and he had to select my priest as it was the only available option. Deployment was Dawn of war. As a side note I wound up playing on the same table as game one.
In this game I made a mistake early and misjudged how big of an assault range orks in a battle wagon really have and he was able to assault the priests squad and take him out pretty early with his 'Ard boyz. Next turn I joined the assault with another unit and this combat would last until the final turn of the game when I finally won it with 2 marines left. Insanity! I did manage to get the battle wagon to tie the primary. It was a close thing. I flew Mephiston over towards the battle wagon, then ran him (luckily a full 6") after the Land Raider whifffed and attempted to assault it. It was so close that we couldn't tell and neither of us had a tac template to make sure. Matt offered to give it to me on a 4+ which sounded like a reasonable proposition to me and was shocked when 5 pips appeared. Meph managed to destroy it and then the game ended. We actually tied the tertiary as well since all quarters were contested. In the end I had two assault marines, 2 scouts, Meph with only two wounds and the Land Raider sans multi-melta.

The final round saw me draw my buddy James, again on table #4. This time I asked if I could play on a different table! The mission was a bit wonky. We placed a single objective in the center of the table which had to be captured and then taken off the table. The secondary was seize ground which we rolled 3 objectives with the tertiary being kill points. James was rocking a triple death star list that looked something like this:

Wolf Lord on Thunderwolf mount with Saga of the Bear, storm shield and frost weapon (I think)
Rune Priest with Jaws and Murderess Hurricane
Wolf guard Termies in a Land Raider Redeemer
3x Thunderwolf Cav all with storm shields, one with thunder hammer one with melta bombs
2x Grey Hunters in rhinos with Mark, Standard, melta and wolf guard with combi and p. fist
Long Fangs with 3x missile launchers and 2x lascannons

This mission used spearhead deployment. We both deployed right to the front of our deployment zones and made a mad dash to the middle of the table. We basically just fought it out in the center of the table and when the dust settled I had come out on top of the combat. I grabbed the objective and ran, managing to get it off the table edge on turn 5. That's when the game ended. I had won the primary and we drew the secondary when I only rolled a 1 for my scouts to try to capture a seize ground objective that would've given me the win. I managed to come out on top in kill points to win the tertiary as well. This was a fun battle that was really close and could have easily gone the other way.

Overall I had a really fun day and some really great games. I look forward to the next time I get the chance to get out there for some games with those guys.

Win a Battle Force or a Troop Box! (from Dark Future Games)

So the guys over at Dark Future games are running a cool little contest at Adepticon this year wherein you buy them drinks for a chance at getting free stuff. So to help get my fellow Michiganders well and truly drunk I'm spreading the word. (I also get entered into a contest for free shit by doing so, so it's not totally altruistic of me)
Anyway here's the rules, yo.

The official rules of the Adepticon Battle Force Contest: 

If you purchase a drink (we prefer alcohol, but regular drinks are welcome) for a member of the Dark Future Games Staff wearing a shirt with the image above, you will earn an entry in our raffle for a battle force of the winners choosing (or an equal value in GW merch - current stuff only).

There is no limit to the amount of times a person can enter. (yes, you can buy us a case of beer too and receive an entry for each one!)

A member of DFG may not refuse the drink and must enter your name. If he is taking part in an event, he may pass the drink to a member who is not playing.

Will will choose the winner the Monday following Adepticon and mail out the prize as soon as we get our hands on what the winner wants!

So if you see these guys go ahead and buy them a drink. I know I will!

Here's the link to their blog post for any further info...

http://darkfuturegaming.blogspot.com/2012/04/news-win-battle-force-or-troop-box-we.html#more

Hobby Update: Super Friends Unite!

So I have been hard at work this week at painting up some of the special characters in the Blood Angels codex. I now have what I consider to be the four heavy hitters of the HQ section finished up so I thought I'd share some picks.

So here they are all gathered together. Combined that's a whopping 970 points!

Anyone who's visited before has probably already seen my Astorath the Grim .

The Sanguinor, Exemplar of the Host. (and yes I really did just straight up swap his and Astorath's wings.  

Here we have Chief Librarian Mephiston. I have been using this guy lately and man is he an absolute beast!

And leading them all into battle we have Commander Dante. Small bit of coverting here in that I gave him a plastic jump pack from a Death Company box so he wouldn't be so top heavy and he got the armorcast  firing effect for his infernus pistol.

So that's all for now. I can't wait to get these guys out on the tables and kickin' some butt!

Tournament Pics

The Battle Barn hosted it's first tournament of 2012 and man was it a great time. We ended up with 16 players who all came looking for a great time, and it seemed like everyone did just that. We saw a decent mix of armies as we had 2 Blood Angels, 2 Necrons, 3 Space Marines, 2 Imperial Guard, 2 Daemon, 1 Tyranid, 1 Black Templar, 1 Space Wolves, 1 Ork, and 1 Tau.

Blood Angels ended up taking the top spot, with Necrons taking second and Tyranids coming in third. I ended up tying with one of the Daemon armies for best painted and after a re-vote between just our two armies we still ended up with an even split so we ended up sharing the prize.  

I went 1-2 on the day. I won my first game against a young guy with Imperial Guard. I don't think he had ever seen anything like my Death Company army and he just had no idea how to face it. The second game saw me paired up with my buddy Jim. Going into it I would have rather not had to face him as it meant one of us would be out of contention for the top spot, but after the game we had I'm glad we did. We tied on table quarters, kill points and objectives and he ended up edging me out in victory points 1260pts to 1062pts. Truly an epic game! Then in my third game I drew Steve and his Orks. I played Steve at the tournament I went to at Game Links in Flint awhile back and was happy to play him again. Unfortunately I was not to have my vengeance for the thumpin' he put on me last time. My powerfists just didn't seem interested in hitting his killa kanz and by the end of the game all I had left was my scouts. Funny thing, though is that if it had ended on turn 5 I would have won since my scouts were the only unit on the board on an objective and that was the primary. It went to turn 6 though and he was able to move around to take the win. 

All three of my opponents were great. The armies on the day were really good looking and I am quite honored to have mine be considered as one of the two best there! 

Also, as this was sort of the grand finale to our escalation league we had the raffle drawing for two $25 dollar gift certificates to Alpha Omega. Kyle won one and put his towards a Chimera and I won the other using mine towards a box of Devastators.

I want to thank Brian for running a great event! I also want to thank Jarvis and Alpha Omega Coffee and Games for sponsoring both the event and the League! 

Anyway, now onto the Pics. (after the break)

Battle Barn along with Alpha Omega Coffee and Games to host Tournament March 10th

The Battle Barn and Alpha Omega Coffee and Games are teaming up to put on a 1500pt tournament March 10th. Here is the rules packet

Also all GW FAQ's and the INAT FAQ will be used to resolve rules disputes.

There is a $10 entry fee and all models must be WYSIWYG and full painted/based. This is in a way the grand finale event for the escalation league we have been running, but we are opening this up to anyone regardless of participation in the league.

This is going to be held at the

Sacred Heart Club
935 Park St. SW
Grand Rapids, MI 49504

Here is a link to the official announcement thread on the Battle Barn forums. In it can be found contact information to pre-register. http://www.battlebarn.com/1500pt-40k-tournament-grand-rapids-mi-march-10th-t887.html

We haven't had a tournament in some time here in GR but the previous ones were all great times and I expect this one will be no exception. Space is limited, so sign up soon to ensure your spot!

The Death Company take the field: 1850pt Battle Report

I managed to get in four games with the Death Company this weekend. 3 of them were at 1500pts, the other (this one) was at 1850. I went two and two on the weekend and all battles were very decisive either way. All were very fun though! For this battle Christian and I agreed to play an 1850pt battle.  I only have the Death Co. built up to 1500pts so far (and may leave it there), so to fill out the list to 1850 I added in two auto-las predators and a Land Speeder Typhoon. This brought it up to 1860 so I dropped the camo cloaks on the Scouts and added a meltabomb to the sergeant putting it at a nice 1850. I think if I had the models I would have rather kept the camo cloaks, dropped the land speeder and melta bombs and just added 5 more sniper scouts. This would also come out to a tidy 1850pts and would give me a greater scoring presence for objective missions. I also gave the Blood Talons a spin on the Dreadnought. I normally feel that Blood Fists are the better bet on the Death Company Dreads because of Rage, however the Talons look better and I wanted to use 'em!

Anyway, we rolled up Annihilation with Dawn of War Deployment. Christian was running his Black Templars and Chose to go first. I don't have his exact list, but it was something like this:

Emperors Champion, accept any challenge

High Marshal with goodies

2 small crusader squads with lascannons and plasma guns

3 large crusader squads with a mix of iinitiates and neophytes with melta guns and a power fist. 

2 squads of 2 multi-melta attack bikes.

1 squad of 5 terminators with 2 cyclone missile launchers

So an all infantry list. All but a few of the crusaders and one squad of attack bikes were painted and look very nice as well. It always makes the game more fun, in my opinion, when you are facing a good looking army! 

My list was as follows:

Astorath The Grim

2x Death Company in Drop Pods, 2x Powerfist & Bolter, 1x Power Weapon, 1x Infernus, 3x Bolters

1x Death Company in a Land Raider with Extra Armor and Multi-melta, same weapons as the others

1x Death Company Dread with Magna Grapple and Blood Talons in a Pod

1x 5 sniper scouts, melta bomb

2x Auto-las predator

1x Land Speeder Typhoon

Christian chose to go first and deployed the two small crusader squads with lascannons, one in each of the ruins on his side of the board. He declared that everything else would be moving on turn one. I deployed the Land Raider with it's towards the center of the table. The bastion blocked line of sight from one of the Lascannons and the large rock formation would at least provide cover from the other. Astorath was deployed behind the Land Raider making sure he couldn't be seen at all. Don't want him getting insta-killed by a lucky lascannon shot! I declared the dread and pods squads would be podding in, the preads and speeder would move on turn 1 and the scouts would outflank.

Christians Deployment after his squads move on the board.

Turn one the Black Templar horde charges onto the battlefield. The terminators hold the center of the line while the Attack Bikes turbo-boost up my right flank. The crusaders spread out across the table. One behind the ruins on Christians right flank, the Emperors Champion joins the squad between the two ruins, while the High Marshal joins the squad near the trees on Christians Left. His shooting phase is spent mostly running his squads (where he got almost all 5's and 6's!) The Lascannon on the right failed to find range due to night fight, the other couldn't see anything and the teminators

Same thing, different angle!

My turn one was far more decisive. I dropped in one of the Death Company squads and the Dreadnought. Seeing the Attack bikes as a big threat to my Land Raider I decided to try and dispatch them first. I dropped both pods in between the two squads. The Dread took aim with his melta and magna grapple and scored two hits and wounds, but due to them turbo-boosting the previous turn one of the shots bounced harmlessly off. The other managed to strike home and one bike was insta-killed. One melta was left though and could spell disaster! On the other side The other attack bikes lost a wound to bolter fire but were otherwise unharmed. Meanwhile in the center of the table the Land Raider moved up towards the Emperors Champions squad and disgorged its contents. I wrapped the squad around the side of the LR so that Astorath could jump up within 2" join the back of the squad. I just barely managed to have charge range on the squad (we had to bust out the tac template to make sure and it was less than 1/8th of an inch!) Christians massive run rolls came back to haunt him here! Astorath didn't have enough movement to get into the combat this turn, but his re-roll buffs still applied and I wiped out all but two crusaders and the Emperors Champion who being fearless in combat held. Meanwhile I lost one or two models in the exchange. The speeder and Predators moved on up my right flank. The speeder turbo-boosted to pick up the cover save while the predators rolled in behind the building waiting for the light of dawn.
So far we were tied with no kill points on either side, but with the Emperors champions squad severely outnumbered I had definitely struck the first blow!

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In Christians second turn he moved the High Marshalls squad up a bit towards the Death company squad that just podded in. They took a couple of shots and managed to kill the model closest to them, taking them out of charge range! Meanwhile the Attack bikes took aim at their pod, going for the easy kill point and wrecked it. The other attack bike failed to hit the dreadnought, this was bad for Christian as it was still in charge range and due to his vows was forced to charge in the assault phase and was quickly dispatched by the dreads blood talons. The Dread consolidated 4" towards the High Marshall's squad. The Lascannons and Missile launchers all failed to damage the Land Raider in any significant way. In assault Astorath managed to out-duel the Emperors Champion face to face, killing him, while the Death co. easily dispatched the few remaining Crusasders. They consolidated towards the terminators.

Kill points were now 3-1

In my turn the Death Co. with Astorath Raged towards the terminators. The Land Raider, preds and Land Speeder all took shots at the Terminators killing one. Because they took a casualty they were forced to take a morale check and either fall back or charge forward. I was previously unaware of the fallback part of that. They failed and fell back off the board edge. Astoraths squad instead assaulted the crusader squad with the lascannon in the ruins and wiped them out, though they were reduced to just the two power fist members.  The other squad that had podded in assaulted the Attack Bike squad and made quick work of them. The drop pod squad made quick work of the attack bikes while the dread wiped out all the High Marshall and two of the squad with him. Blood Talons are sick when they get to do their thing!

Kill points were now 5-1 and things were looking really grim for the Black Templars.

In his turn 3 there wasn't much for him to do. The Lascannon took aim at the Land Raider failed to do any significant damage. The Dreadnought finished off the crusaders with the High Marshall, but failed to kill the Marshall himself.

Kill points now 6-1.

In my turn the last pod finally showed up. I debated about dropping far away from the action to play kill point denial, but in the end decided to be a bit sporting. He still had a big unit of crusaders and the other lascannon team on his right flank so I dropped over there giving him a chance at some kill points. I mean holding back would have been cowardly, right? The Land Raider pulled up near the ruins between the remaining crusaders squad so their rage would bring them within 2" of the assault ramp and they jumped in. Astorath jumped over behind the Land Raider. In combat the Dread finally finished off the High Marshall.

Kill Points now 7-1

In Christians turn he took aim at the drop pod going for the easy kill point, but it turns out his dice hated him and the pod was unharmed. Meanwhile the Crusader squad shot at and then assaulted the newly arrived Death company. We ended up drawing combat.

In my turn I moved the Land Raider up and the boys inside assaulted the squad inside the ruins, but those Crusaders weren't about to go down easy and managed to cause a couple of wounds. Two failed saves and feel no pain rolls later and the Crusaders won combat! Meanwhile Astorath jumped over and joined in the fracas near the drop pod. In the end he and the Death co managed to bring down the squad, but not before Astorath took a powerfist to the face and died.

Kill points now 8-3.

That's Christian in the Flannel on the left. On the right Kyle approves.

In Christians final turn the Crusaders failed to do any significant damage to my army and in the end the Death Company hit them in my turn. They didn't have another last stand in them and were wiped out. The game ended in a total wipe-out. The game was really fun and as you can see below Christian took the tabling well and laughed the whole game long!

We're all smiles around here!

I got in one more game that night against Tim and his Copper Dragons. I don't have any pics of that game, which is a shame as his army looks great. You can check his army out and a brief description of our battle here. Long story short though is he whooped up on my pretty bad! It was fun though and I look forward to my chance at redemption.

Then on Saturday I got in two games as well. Both of the games were using NOVA missions. The first was against Jeff and his Coteaz Grey Knight Build. He is still working on the army so there were a few proxies, but I was trying to help him test out the list. In this one the Land Raider was night indestructable! Unfortunately it and the Death co. Dread were the only things of mine left on the table at the end of the game :( I got a little too aggressive and he was able to assault me with Death Cult Assassins out of a Storm Raven from reserves and tie up the Death Co. Dread all game with two of his dreads. My dread managed to glance the regular one to death, but there was no chance of that against a venerable! It was a fun game, but I made a few mistakes and they cost me since he runs DCA which just flat beat Death Company in assault!

My final Game was against Kyle and his Space Marines. This one was another lopsided game, and this one, like the game against Christian, was also in my favor. My dice caught fire and it seemed I could do no wrong. We called it around turn four since he only had two squads left and I still had most of my army.

All in all it made for a fun weekend of gaming. I had hoped to make it out to a tournament but real life said 'no'. Getting in these four games sure made up for it though!

Until Next time!