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.
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!
 |
| 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]
 |
| 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.
 |
| Here's me trying to be a clever douchebag. It didn't work out so well! |
 |
| 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.
 |
| 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. |
 |
| Gulp! The Wyches prepare to enact some vengeance on their craftworld cousins. |
 |
| Some reinforcements arrive from reserves. |
 |
| 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.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)