Cryx - Finding Combos

So, yes, I know that all the combos that have been found for WM are out there, around, but I like to take time to look at smaller stuff myself and see if I can figure it out for myself. So if this is redundant to you, well, sorry.

So, I love the warwitch siren, Her ability to hand off focus to a bonejack that is disrupted and un-disrupt it is very cool.

Give it to a Defiler and watch it spray to it's heart's content, or run and then arc out some fire power.

Another that I've found to be quite useful is the Night Wretch. Give it a focus and get it moving then AoE with your free focus. then arc out so it's useful again, and again, and again.


The biggest drawback of the Nightwretch is the fact that it needs Focus to have that AoE, but the Siren makes this far less of a liability as I can un-disrupt it, move, AoE, then arc out numerous venoms into a caster that can't take it. Quite fun looking to me.

Another I've found is the Nightmare, the ability to go ghostly with him lets him go hide for a turn on the oposite side of a wall from his prey, then load him up on fury, go ghostly and pounce. quite fun with his ability to hit and kill a Caster or whatever from an un-expected location. usually getting the back strike bonus as well if you do it right.

Given, I'm new and other more experienced players will likely be ready for this, but it helps to find things for yourself. Especially when learning a new game.

-Now if only I could get my gaming up to speed so I can play in a SR2010 event.

40Kon - The Ringer Army

While In a perfect world I'd have a perfect number of players show up for a tournament, I'd never need a ringer.

Alas, we don't live in a perfect world. and nobody wants to pay for an event and sit out for 2 and a half hours.

So A ringer is always a necessity.

This is the ringer army for the montana 40kon.

SM Captain
-on Bike
-Power Weapon
-Hellfire Rounds
-Artificer Armor

SM Librarian
-on Bike
-Null Zone
-Smite

Command Squad
-on Bikes
-4 Plasma Guns
-2 Lightning Claws
-2 Thunder Hammers
-2 Storm Shields

Bike Squad (4 Bikes)
 -2 Meltas
-Power Fist
-Attack Bike w. Multi-Melta

Bike Squad (4 Bikes)
-2 Meltas
-Power Fist
-Attack Bike w. Multi-Melta

Bike Squad (4 Bikes)
-2 Meltas
-Power Fist
-Attack Bike w. Multi-Melta

Devistator Squad
-4 Missile Launchers
-Lascannon/TL Plasmagun Razorback

Devistator Squad
-4 Missile Launchers
-Lascannon/TL Plasmagun Razorback

Devistator Squad
-4 Missile Launchers
-Lascannon/TL Plasmagun Razorback
 2,000 Points

Now, a Ringer is not there to beat face. It's there to fill space.
I believe that if you play against a Ringer you get a win. Period.
That's just me.

I'll likely be playing the ringer, but not necessessarily.

If you play against the ringer you get 1 thing only automgically. A Win.
Since the 40kon Will be based on Both wins and points, this just does 1 thing. gets the first round's opponent into the upper bracket. They must earn their points. If I table the army I come up against, they have a large problem because they play with the big boys with very few points. If they beat the everliving crap out of me, well, they belong with the big boys anyhow.

Every other round of the event you always place the ringer against the Lowest player in the event. it's a non-issue.

Is it fair to everyone? not always. but life is not fair, we just deal with it as best we can.

Also, First round the Ringer plays a RANDOM player. so that random player could be the person I play most often, just as likely as it could be the person from Nova Scotia that I've never met before. There is never any malice in the Ringer's Opponent.

Ever.

Composition - Or "Seriously, This has not been needed since Rogue Trader"

Composition. the worst of the worst soft score offenders. It is a hold-over form 1st edition of 40k. You know, when you could arm your space marines with Shurican Catapults. Back then you could put whatever you wanted on the table. So Comp worked then, when you could make really stupidly overpowered stuff.

Now? well now each race has it's own book. no more mixing wargear between xenos and Space Marines.

No more running Orks alongside the Eldar.

Why is this still around?

Got me.

It is by far the most restrictive and the most subjective of all the soft scores.

Because Jim the Fluff Bunny says that in White Dwarf 3 that the deathwing were only comprised of certain named characters with their individual retinues, now all deathwing players that don't adhere to that get hit with a comp facepalm.....

Just let this worthless piece of ........ die already.

It's useless and worthless.

bleh. I hate comp if you did not guess. Both as a scoreing mechanism and as anything else.

Painting Scoring - Or Why Should This Count towards a TOURNAMENT

So you may have noticed I'm doing opinion rants on Soft Scoring. I hate soft scoring. It leaves a sour taste in my mouth. Every time I see it I almost need to hold back the need to Vomit on the playing surface.


So.....

Painting.
I love seeing painted models. I love playing with painted armies. I love to paint. However, does that make me better at playing the game? nope.

Do I believe that painting should be scored on a percentage basis in a tournament against battle points? Never.

Why? precisely because no matter how well I paint it does not make me better at playing the game.

Should painting be judged? YES. because of the time and effort required to paint an army fully. there should be some reward. It should not be tied to the overall score though. it should be an appearace award.

Sportsmanship - Or What The Crap?!?

Sportsmanship. One of our least favorite topics to discuss. It has it's proponents (many) and it's opponents (just as many including me).

Sportsmanship is MEANT to work like this:

Good humor, quality opponents are encouraged.
Dicks and Assholes are Discouraged.

Simple right? Not quite.

It really works like this:

You Beat me? low score for you. I figure I'll get a higher score and our overall match will be less of a loss for me, or if it was close I'll even come out ahead because of this "Soft" score.

...... Not quite the intended result Riiiiight???

How I think Sportsmanship should be scored:

Each player gets 1 vote. only one for the entirety of the event.

You vote for your FAVORITE opponent. The score has NO BEARING on overall tournament placement.
You can ONLY vote for somebody you played against.

The player who gets the MOST votes (3 in a standard tourney or more in a GT) wins the "Players Choice" award.

Simple really. that is it.

Problems Solved.

Moving on....

Cryx - Warjack analysis

Now, given that I'm working from the WM MKII playtest rules as I have not yet gotten the Cryx 2010 Deck (on the to buy list for next week)

I have to come up with some warjacks to use.

I'm playing Deneghra/eDeneghra so I'll need a few Arc Nodes.

A few have appealed to me and in all honesty, I'm thinking that a Theme is in order. No, not a Tier.

So to start off with, lets look at the Lights (Bonejacks)



Deathripper:
Basic 4pt Jack.
Arc Node
1 Attack with Sustained Attack.
-Chicken Head. I like the look of all the Chicken Jacks.
-I failed to notice on first look that the Sustained attack needs focus to keep it going. PS 13 is not bad, but with MAT 6, I'll need a decent roll just to hit the first time....
= Probably won't use.

Defiler
5 pt Arc Node with a spray.
-I love sprays
-I really like sprays with POW 12.
=Will likely use this one the most.

Helldiver
-3pt = Cheap
- NO ARC NODE = Bad.
=a "Helldiver" screams flyer to me, but it's not a flyer, it's a burrower..... odd, and not what I'm looking for.

Nightwretch
-another Chicken. :D.
-RAT 5 Shooter = not so good at all.
= Defiler is still better.


Stalker
-Not a bad model,
- No Arc Node
- Not a bad choice if I take the Withershadow Combine, we shall see.

Canker Worm
-a Plethora of cool abilities
- No Arc Node
- Affinity for not my caster....
- at first glance while I like the model, I don't believe that it will fit my play style as it is focus intensive..... I think.

Ripjaw
-Newest of the Chickens.
-Armor Piercing :D
-Arc Node!
=Arc Node + Armor Piercing = Win!

So for Bonejacks I'm looking at

-Several Defilers (2-3)
-Ripjaw (1-2)

So, I now have my Arc Nodes to cause havoc.

On to the Helljacks.

Denny has a Character affinity Jack.... That I hate. wow, that sucks.

However I'm lucky in that I love the best Jack in the game. Death Jack.

So I have at least 1 Heavy Jack.

I also Like the Seether. very focus efficient for my Focus hungry caster. and a very cool model.

So most lists will see one making an appearance.

So My lists are already shaping up to have:

Denny/eDenny
-Deathjack
-3 Defilers
-1 Ripjaw

So I'm looking at 26-27 points of a list already spent.

If I'm going for a 15 Point list, it will likely be:

eDeneghra
-Death Jack
-Defiler
-Warwitch Siren
-Warwitch Siren

This gives me a Solid core of 2 Jacks, and 2 support solos, along with the DeathJack... never a bad thing.

next up is the Units (or unit :D)

Warmachine - Cryx, It's not steampunk. it's ..... Bonepunk?!?

So, as you may or may not know, I hate Steampunk. I always have and likely I always will. Probably some deep seeded hatred of Railroads or some such thing.


However with picking up the Warmachine & Hordes game, it is an ingrained feature of the game. This presents a minor inconvenience because I do infact think that the rules are extremely well written and fit quite well with my "Competitive" nature.

How to deal with this? well, Hordes was the immediate result, and trollbloods (and soon Circle) have been the result. However there is another probelem that I've seen. The fact that the two games are so completely interwoven, I have to know the rules for WarMachine or I'm going to be at an extreme disadvantage going into Steamroller tournaments and the like. How to rectify this? well, after looking at all of the fluff, models, rules and background, I've decided on Cryx to be my Faction of WM. Reasoning of this is simple. It's the least Steampunky of all of the Warmachine Factions.

See, that was easy. Now the hard part. Who to choose as a Caster.....

Options (Keep in mind that while I'm a competitive person, At this point in my hobbing career, I'm keeping with models that I will enjoy painting):

Asphixious - Gaspy (great name)
- Decent Pose
- Not a fan of the Mechanical/Organic Combination
- Not a fan of the Armor- Basically it's a big Space Marine with a Glaive.

=No Go for me.....

Skarre - Scary
-Bleh Posing
-Farie Horns - Not a good thing
-Pirate. -Good Thing.

= Possibility

Mortenebra
- Necron

=Pass for me.

Goreshade
-A Chaos Space Marine.
-Done enough of that
=Pass for me

Lich Lord Terminus
- A strange Draconic Abomination
- Good Posing
- Strong Detailing
= A Definite Possibility

Lich Lord Venithrax
- A Mechanical Skeleton
=No. Just no.

The Witch Coven of Gharlghast
-Not horrible Posing
-The sculpts turn me off for some reason. they just look..... unfinished. not sure why.
-I know I won't want to paint them so this is a no.

Deneghra
-Great Variety of Sculpts.
-Great Fluff.
-Great Posing.
=Win. She wins the show.

So now I've chosen my main caster. Deneghra (And eDeneghra)

And this is how I've come to chose to run an BonePunk army of Cryx for WarMachine

And because she needs some friends, I'll be running 2 of her kind (the Warwitch Sirens) though I'll be using her Plastic version for her and converting a Warwitch out of here altranate sculpt to make a diferent pose for the 2 Warwitch sirens. Now I just need to find a good sword to give her......

The greatness of Pistol Cases - Round 2

So, I picked up the next bigger size.

Brand "Plano"

so, I quite like it. bottom shelf for Beasts/ vehicles top shelf for lots of minis.

Good Stuff. Total price, $21.95  with no tax because of this state I live in.

MTM Gun Cases - Or The Cheapest Alternative I've Found...

To Actual miniature transport cases.

MTM Gun Cases

I bought a 2 Handgun case the other day. Price: $15

So I bought this thing. In in I placed:

Calandra
Troll Axer
Troll Impaler
Swamp Troll
Full Unit of Pyg Burrowers
Stone Scribe Elder
Trollkin Rune Bearer
Fell Caller Hero (Converted, pinned and un-puttied)
Swamp Gobber & Bellows Crew


All of this took up precisely... half of the case. In the other half I plan on putting in a full unit of Fennblades, a Dire Troll Bomber, my cards, and a Trollking Champion Hero.

Will likely leave me enough room to one day house eMadrak, another axer, and a unit of 5 champions and Gunbjorn. giving me 3 50 point lists to choose from. All in a single 13" x 5" x 10" case.

Great stuff.

Cheap.

also, since the models are assembled but un-painted I was rather "Rough" in the opening and closing of the case.... several times. even the fidliest bit I thnk in all of that. the Swamp Troll's tongue. which is long and thin attached by the smallest ammount of Super gule and no pin because I could not figure out how to pin it without breaking the damn thing (yet) came out un-bent, un broken and completely and securely attached to the mouth.

again, I can't recommend it enough.

Stephen

AND NOW UPDATED WITH PICTURES!

House of Painkakes....

A Blogroll for those with fewer Restrictions.

I'm a competitive player, not a fluff bunny.

I love the fluff, but I also like to win. How do I reconcile this discrepency? I build competitive lists and enjoy reading the fluff. Simple really. not sure how people get caught up in a huge arguement about how this CAN NOT BE DONE!!!! asldfja argh!

anyhow. You can do it too now.

www.houseofpaincakes.blogspot.com

Hordes - I think I'm ready....

Ok, so I've read through the RB, Read all my cards, explored the forums, listened to podcasts. and bent my experience of 40k to wraping my head around all the nuances that I can find. Some observations:

This game is not an army game. it's not a game that scales up properly. To me, anything above say...75 points that the game would become too long and unweildy.

So.... I'm sticking to the 50point mark and below. I can see the appeal of playing a 4 player game of 150 points with 3 warlocks/warcasters each over the course of a weekend, but in the end, I don't have the time or space to dedicate that much effort to this.

50 points however has a good time length, a lot of options, and a clear general to your warband.

So, as it's been recommended to me several times not to start with circle, and the fact that I've loved orks forever, I went with trollbloods to start. Bought a lot of models, did a bit of converting because that is what I do and have the following lists almost ready to play, and almost ready to paint.

Calandra, (soon to have) Gunbjorn

Dire Troll Bomber
Troll Impaler x2
Troll Axer
Swamp Troll

Fennblades (Full)
Pyg Burrowers (Full)
Fell Caller
Trollkin Champion Hero
Stone Scribe Chronicler
Trollkin Runebearer

Swamp Gobbers & Bellows Crew

Which will allow me to play in SR2010 with the following lists:
Calandra or Gunbjorn:

15 Points
Troll Impaler -5
Swamp Troll -4
Pyg Burrowers (L&9) -6
Fell Caller Hero -3
Trollblood Runebearer -2

25 Points
Troll Impaler -5
Dire Troll Bomber -10
Pyg Burrowers (L&9) -6
Fell Caller Hero -3
Trollblood Runebearer -2
Stone Scribe Chronicler -2
Troll Whelps -2

35 Points
Troll Impaler -5
Dire Troll Bomber -10
Fell Caller Hero -3
Trollblood Runebearer -2
Pyg Burrowers (L&9) -6
Trollblood Fennblades (L&9) -8
Trollkin Champion Hero -3
Stone Scribe Chronicler -2
Swamp Gobbers -1

50 Points
I'm still working on this list, but will get there eventually.

Metagaming..... Why playing the Meta is a bad Idea.

So, Having had an interesting yet frustrating conversation with somebody (yes you) about what a Meta Game is this weekend, I decided to do up a blog post about metagaming, power gaming and why neither will let you win a tournament.

First Off, what is a Metagame?

Well, a Metagame is a game within a game. How does this apply to us as gamers? well, the whole Idea of Metagaming is something along the lines of the following, no matter what game you play.

Player A, whom we'll call Jimmy, In your gaming group, is widely accepted to be the "Player to beat" each group has one, or maybe even 2 that are up there. Does not matter who they are, just that they exist. Now say in our given game Jimmy routinely plays Army/Faction/Deck X, and wins tournaments with it. So the meta is "Beat Jimmy because he's the best" so what do we build our Army/Faction/Deck to do? Well, we build to kill Jimmy of course! because if we can be the best in our area, we are the new best right? WRONG. To be the best, you need to not only be able to beat Jimmy but also you need to reliably beat Paul, the guy from 75 miles away that really only shows up for tournaments and does well with a different army every time.  Metagaming is good for a single aspect of all of our hobbies. These are Leagues. Leagues are defined by their Metagame. Simply put.

If however you are not in a League, bring a Balanced List that to the best of your ability you can play to defeat ANY ARMY TYPE that arrives and does not depend on any "Gimmick" or "One Trick Pony" because in a tournament, Murphy's Law states that you will not play against Jimmy, but you will play Paul. Even Odds.


Now.... everyones favorite. Power Gamers.

What is a Power Gamer?
A Power Gamer is "That Guy" the guy that finds the broken build of any given gaming system and abuses it to beat any and all opponents and take excessive ammounts of glee in the fact that he pissed everyone at the tournament off. He is also known for using the Rulebook as a hammer to pound the heads in of New players to a ragged pulp and also likes to complain and misdirect opponents when they find that one piece of rule that breaks their trick pony into tiny shards of what it once was. How does this translate into not winning? First and foremost, you're not the best player in the world. nobody is. Your One Trick will beat the face of almost everything.... but not everything. there is always that counter. and there are always people like me who bring counters. you may not play them (see "Jimmy's Law" above) but eventually you will. Don't take that path. Bring the balanced approach and get better and win because you are a winner, not because you can exploit some archaic form of old english to intentionally Mis-Interpret the rules to your advantage. Play the rules. Play a balanced army and you should do ok. As you progress in tactical skill, you'll get better at the game.

Oh, and People will still want to play you another game. Always an important thing.

The Fluff of Immoren

So, as with Warhammer 40k (Not warhammer because the fluff for that game is so damn regurgitated that I could replace all the world specific stuff with any world wether it be D&D, or what have you and it would fit that world) I'm really starting to like the Fluff of Privateer Press.

The Fact that I hate steampunk is really doing little to deter me from getting more and more into the fluff of the world. When I started, the world of the Iron Kingdoms seemed like a contrived stereotypical mess, half baked and worthless.

But the more I read the fluff in the Hordes! book, the more I'm loving it. The Trolls and the Circle are still my prefered armies, but the fluff of the Legion of Everblight is great. Probably the fact that I love their take on dragons and the ability to blight entire races. Maybe this is just a random ramble, but It's my view.

The one problem that I have found is the fact that while every other race is fleshed out rather realistically, the Trollbloods come off a bit thin. Maybe a bit cartoony in the fluff.

Hopefully PP is working on that.

Anyhow, anyone know if PP has put out any novels about the Iron Kingdoms?

Helena Gaming Group

Hello, and I Met one of you.....

Yesterday I had to work in Helena at the Independant Republic. The Sister newspaper of The Montana Standard, where I work.

I met a young lady there by the name of Cecily, and through a strange twist of conversation, found out that she has a group of gamers there that have no store to call home. I heartilly recommend to them they they try out both Rooks and Rocky Mountain Hobbiez in Bozeman. I've found both stores to be both friendly and well stocked. Both are great fun to play at.

I also would like to extend an Invitation to their group to the Montana 40Kon on september.

Hope to meet you guys soon!

-Stephen

SpoCon - An After Action Report

So, While my camera sits on my desk at home, I thought I'd recap my experience at SpoCon. A GT Qualifier in Spokane Washington.

1) Observations:

First off, the Tournament was held on Gonzaga University Campus. Personally while a lot of people were complaining about the venue, I thought it was great.

The People were to the best of my knowledge, amazing.

The tournament itself was extremely well run, a little delayed by "Gamer Time" but that is to be expected.

2) The Scenarios:

While I enjoyed the scenarios, there were a few things that bothered me. I enjoyed the scoring as it was close to my own style, however I did not like the fact that there were negative modifiers to your score. That is just me.

I also enjoyed the fact that while there were 4 games per player, only one was an annhilation mission. seems that others are aware of the fact that Kill Points are an unbalancing factor in the game. VPs are much better IMO.

3) My Games:
So, while playing 4 games is not my preferance, (I prefer 3,5 or 6) I understand exactly why it was 4 and agree that it was the best setup possible for this event.

Game #1: I played against a Blood Angels list, 1 Land Raider w/ TS terminators and a Reclusiarch, Seth, Assault squads and 2 Baal Predators.

While I won't go into details, Suffice it to say that I won, with a large margin. It was a capture and control mission, I held both objectives at the end, and by turn 5 had lost 1 combat squad, 1 Dreadnought, and 1 land speeder. He had 1 Baal Predator left with no TL Ass Can Turret.

Game #2: This had to be the funnest game I played all weekend. I was playing against My Personal Nemesis. Space Wolves. Wolf lord on Thunder Wolf with a lot of FenWolves in tow, 1 Vindicator, 3 Gray Hunter Squads and some other stuff. I lost, but it took the whole game to get that far.

Game #3 (Game 4 of the day for me) Both my opponent and I were both physically and mentally exhausted by this time. It was fun as hell, but to give you an idea, we played 7 turns in 45 minutes. yeah, it was one of those.

Game #4 Last game of the tournament and held on a fresh new day. Kill Points versus orks. I brought a 20 Kill point army, he brought 10. End of turn 5 I have 9 Kill Points he has 5. Win for me.

In the end I was happy with my armies performance. I went 2-2 with an army that misses usually 3/4 of it's shots even with the massive ammount of twin linking I have. I came in 11th place out of 40, and I came in 2nd place in sportsmanship.

I had a great time.

-Stephen

My Barter Bucket

Have not done this in quite a while, But away we go:

First off what I am looking for: 

Wants:

Trollbloods:
Hoarluk Doomshaper – Shaman of the Gnarls
Dire Troll Bomber x2
Dire Troll Blitzer
Swamp Troll
Fell Caller Hero
Trollkin Runebearer
Trollkin Fennblades (Full Unit)

 

Circle of Orboros:
Kromac the Ravenous
Warpwolf Stalker x2
Warpwolf Extreme Sculpt
Tharn Wolfriders (Full Unit)
Wold Wyrd


Now on to my haves:
General Warhammer 40kPlanetary Empires (NIB, Everything Still On Sprue) $38

Chaos Space Marines
Khorne Berzerkers x25 - $35 (Primed Black and need some work, lots of bits and sprues included)

Tyranids:60 OOP Genestealers – Primed Black - $15 Per 10 or $75 for ALL
1 OOP Biovore (2nd Edition Style, Painted black w/white & Red highlights) $8
20 Hormagaunts Assembled (Current Style) - $25

Space Marines:

 1 Limited Ed Black Templar Emperor's Champion - $15 (Bare Metal)
1 old style Land Raider Crusader with Forgeworld doors - $40 (Primed Gray)
1 New Style Land Raider Crusader with Converted Auto/Assault Cannon (Pre/Heresy Era, Black Templar Doors Painted, Magnetized Sponsons, Redeemer Sponsons Included.) - $45
7 Thunder Hammer/ Storm Shield Terminators – Converted to be Pre-Heresy. 5 have Forgeworld BT Shields 2 Have Sergent Storm Shields - $45 (Painted but not sealed)
1 Lysander’s Storm Shield and Thunder Hammer - $4
1 SM Commander (Metal) - $5
2 Sergent Storm Shields - $3
1 Metal SM Chaplain - $5
1 Metal SM Sergent with Power Fist - $3
1 Metal Banner Bearer - $5
2 Terminators - $5 for both (need some love)
1 Metal Terminator Chaplain (OOP, Painted, Not Sealed)- $5
25 Ultramarines Drop Pod/Vehicle Icons - $7
1 Land Speeder Assault Cannon $2
3 Drop Pods worth of harnesses (from interior) $10
1 Center Column from drop pod without top dome. $2
6 Deathwind Missile Launchers - $2 Each
Forgeworld Black Templars Dreadnought – Painted – No Banner - $40

Orks
9 OOP Bikers (Rough Shape, Missing 2 riders, conversions for 4 bikers) - $25
1 Current Bike(No Rider) - $5
1 OOP Shokk Attakk Gun - $8
1 OOP Bad Moon Nob - $2
1 OOP Grimfang - $5
2 OOP Grot Wagons from Gorkamorka (missing a few pieces) - $25 for both
 

ORK ARMY
4 Squads of 30x Slugga/Choppa Boyz, Each with a PK Nob all Painted and on Custom Resin Bases.
-$50 Per Squad
3 Deffkoptaz with TL Missiles (Black Reach) all painted with magnetized Buzzsaws - $8 Each
1 Squad of Kommandos, Painted, with Snikrot & 2 Burnas - $30 for the Squad
1 Squad of 5 Nob Bikerz – Converted Heavily! Includes Painboy Painted Well. All on custom resin Hill bases with wound/dice slot. - $40 for squad.
1 Warboss with Power Klaw – Black Reach, On custom base, Painted - $10
1 Big Mek w/ Custom Force Field – Converted Heavily! – Custom Base, Painted -$12
1 Warboss on Bike, No Base – Painted – Converted -$15
1 BattleWagon – Converted Heavily from Trukk Kit (new kit) W/ Deffrolla- $25
1 Nob squad of 10, Primed White – Parts from Black Reach & Kits – Painboy, Waaagh Banner, 2 Klaws, 3 Big Choppas, 2 Kombi-Skorchas, 1 Bosspole - $25
10 Converted Lootaz, Boyz with a Lot of converted parts. - $15

Night Goblins
SELLING AS A PACKAGE - $160 - lots of SP stuff.
5 Spider Riders
Big Boss on Giant Squig
50 Night Goblin Archer
50 Night Goblin Spearmen
4 Squig Herders
3 Cave Squigs
OOP Skarsnik & Gobbla
15 NG Banner Bearers
15 NG Musicians
5 NG Shamans
9 NG Champions
3 NG Big Boss
13 NG Fanatics ( Metal & Plastic)
2 OOP Doom Divers
30 Random Goblins
2 Stone Trolls
10 Bases of Snotlings
5 Goblin Huts from Black Reach
 

Vampire Counts
Selling as a package $25
2 Banshees
2 Spirit Host Bases
1 OOP Mummy
1 OOP Blood Knight on Nightmare
1 OOP Vampire

Various Stuffs:
Bag of OOP Horses & Riders & Infantry (From Battle Masters) - $10



PRIVATEER PRESS:

Trollblood Axer – Stripped $15
Trollblood Impaler – Stripped $15
eHoarluk Doomshaper, The Rage of Duhina – Stripped $10
Madrak Ironhide – Stripped $10

 

As always leave a comment or hit me with an email at:

stephenberenyi (AT) hotmail.com

Montana 40Kon - List Help

So, if you follow this blog, you are probably aware that I am running a Large Scale Tournament for 40k on September 18th and 19th, 2010 Called the Montana 40Kon. I am billing this tournament as a "Competitive Event" and as such, to promote that, I am also offering my services Non-Partisanly to review your list and try to make it more competitive. In truth while I am not "THE BEST" player or even close, I do win tournaments, I do make very competitive lists and I'm decent at the game.

So, if you want me to look at your army list and let you know what I think, Send it to me Via email at:

Montana40kon@gmail.com.

And consider coming to my tournament.

Spocon 2010

SpoCon

So I'm headed over to Spokane Washington this weekend, I'll be helping judge the Neophyte Tournament, and Participating in the Warhammer 40k GT Event. I'll also be looking for some gaming for my new excursion, Hordes (and for some of my opponent's War Machine).

It starts on Friday, so I'll be headed out on Friday morning and arriving at roughly 1pm. Which means I'll have roughly an hour and a half to get my affairs in order to start judging the Neophyte 40k tournament.

First off I'll offer my expectations:
The Neophyte:
This event is meant to be a "Teaching Tournament" an event to bring new people into the Hobby and expose them to the Competitive side of the game. I love the idea of this. Being a firm believer in the greatness of a competitive environment, I think that this could be the perfect way to draw people in.
it has:
-1,000 point limit
-No Painting Requirement
-Each Table (or group of tables, depending on the number of Judges that help out) has a judge. I'm thinking that it will likely be 1 judge per 4 tables as this seems like the correct ratio to me.
-3 Rounds
-1.5 hour rounds. While a normal 40k tournament I would recommend 45minutes for a round in a 1k tournament, The fact that this is aimed at a "Newer" audience, I believe that this is the correct time frame to be playing at. A lot of the games will finish beforehand, but the newest of the new may need the whole time to complete thier games, which is good.

I think this will do 2 things (for me at least)
-First off, I need the practice Judging. It's been a while since I've judged a tourney and doing this will get me back into the habit of answering questions for people during their games. I need the practice for My tournament in September.
-Secondly, I believe that it will bring more people into the hobby. which is IMO always a good thing. Support your local community!


The GT:
-This is a Primere event. 2,000 points, 2.5 hour rounds, 4 games over 2 days, With a lot of stipulations on how your army must Look to win.
-Minimum painting/basing required. I love this. While I had to bust my ass to get my army in playing condition, I am a firm believer that an army MUST be painted to a 3 color minimum to WIN an event.
   - While I am apparently in my own field as far as how this rule is implemented, as you are Allowed to play an unpainted army but not win, the Organizer knows me and told me that I am not under the "not painted may play" theory as he says he knows I will be on the top tables and he can't have me knocking the top players with painted armies out of the running so I have to bring a painted army. Dead Stop. I Have to have a painted army to participate. Thanks Chris. :D no animosity though, where I was thinking I'd relax a bit and bring an un-finished army and just play, I think his requirement on me is a good thing. As a result, I've finished off painting of 3 Drop Pods, 2 Land Speeders and a Dreadnought for it. Which is always a bonus. The models needed painting anyhow. And while I wont be winning any painting awards, I believe that I'll be running a fairly hard list which is 7 Drop Pods (5 of which have dreadnoughts) Vulkan, MoF, 3 Tac Squads and 3 Land Speeders. for a grand total of 8 Multi-Meltas, 10 Heavy Flamers, 3 Flamers, and some support. My only real bad match-up would be against an Avatar Eldar list, but well, you can't win em all, and I have 2 ML to knock that guy down. as well as a whole lot of Power Weapon/Power Fist attacks to help me out.
-Also included in this tournament are 2 Tickets to the Vegas Finals. While I don't expect that I'll be taking either of them, I do get the feeling that I will have the opportunity to at least take A prize.

These events are an amazing addition to the hobby. Competition is what makes us better players. While Sportsmanship is a scored section of the tourney, which I disagree whith, Since I believe that Sportsmanship should be required not scored. If you can't be civil to the other players and think you can browbeat your opponent into giving you the win, you should just be thrown out of the tournament completely.

I also plan on trying to find a game or two of Hordes, I need the experience in that game.

Other than that I am planning on 3 days of little sleep, lots of gaming, and lots of fun.

Guess it's a good thing that I'm staying on location to get more gaming in then eh?


Anyhow, if you have the opportunity, I hope you stop by and see both me and the event.
It should be a blast.

-Stephen

Hordes - Random Musings on Trollbloods

So, I got my 2010 Faction deck this weekend, as well as Calandra's model. Seems that they're now shipping models with both MKI and MKII cards. Interesting. now I'm uncertain that I needed to buy the faction deck. well, chock that up to $15 wasted.

Anyhow. The reason I got Calandra is because of a ridiculously overpowered looking list, which from everything I've ever read about Warmachine and Hordes is the way to build your army lists. So, without further adieu,

The Burrownomicon

This is an incredibly well written series of posts (specifically the first few, before the comments start rolling in.)

So, this is going to be the first list I build.

Army:
Type: Duel (1 caster, 35pts)
Points: 35
Calandra Truthsayer, Oracle of the Glimmerwood (*5pts)
* Troll Impaler (5pts)
* Dire Troll Bomber (10pts)
Pyg Burrowers (Leader and 9 Grunts) (6pts)
Swamp Gobber Bellows Crew (Leader and 1 Grunt) (1pts)
Trollkin Fennblades (Leader and 9 Grunts) (8pts)
Fell Caller Hero (3pts)
Stone Scibe Chronicler (2pts)
Trollkin Runebearer (2pts)
Trollkin Champion Hero (3pts)

Then it's on to the 50 point mark, which is the "Hardcore" level. which is what I really want to play at. First I have to learn the army the best I possibly can, then learn how to make all of my activations fit into 7 minutes. which I believe will be quite difficult.

I'm thinking that another Impaler and DTBomber would be the way to go to get this to 50 with the best efficiency.

Thanks to SevWall for his insight.

Make-Em Competitive: Chaos Space Marines PT2.

So, Now we move onto the meat of the army, Elites, Troops and Fast Attack. Bear with me, it could take a while.

Elites:
Chosen
-No Change

-No Change, I love these guys, though it seems people just don't know how to use them.
you put them in a rhino with 2 Melta Guns and outflank them. Perhaps give them an Icon of Chaos Undivided.
That is all.

Chaos Terminators
- No Change

-So you're getting terminators for 10 points less than Space Marines, Why are you complaining? Oh, Yeah, Because you can't get them to work right. These guys are not thunder shield termies. Chaos does not have Thunder hammers or Storm Shields, quit trying to make them that.35points to give them a 4+ Invuln seems not bad until you realize that the Icon is on 1 guy and in 5th you can't keep that guy around. don't do it. Keep them base, give them a few combi-meltas and DS them in.

Chaos Possessed
-20 Points Each

-Give them 2 CCW.
-Let you choose which mutation you get. Simple as that. They're useful again.

Chaos Dreadnought
-80 Points Each

-Drop rage OR make it ONLY apply to Opposing Models.

Troops:
Chaos Space Marines
-14 Points Each

-Upgrade costs 8 points.

 Chaos Rhino
- Drop Cost to 30 Points

Plague Marines
- Drop Cost to 20pts Each

- Flamer for 2pts
- Melta for 5pts

Noise Marines
-18pts Each

-Upgrade for 10 pts
-Sonic Blaster for 3pts Each
-Blast-Master for 20 Points

Khorn Berzerkers
-20 pts Each

-Add Fleet
-Skull Champ costs 10 pts

Thousand Sons
-No Change in PTS

-Aspiring Sorcerer should cost 40pts. Since you can't necessarily keep him alive to the end why are you paying 60 for each one? This is truly the downfall of this squad as this guy costs you at minimum 70 points and is almost NEVER worth the cost and you HAVE to include him.

Lesser Daemons
-12 pts each. just need that price drop and the're good.

Fast Attack:
Chaos Bikers
-20 pts per model

-Bike Champ costs 5points.

Chaos Raptors
-16 points each
-upgrade costs 8 points

Chaos Spawn
-25 points each
-Squad of 1-5

Heavy Support:
Havocs
-No Change

- These guys are great once you figure out that they are NOT a devistator squad. they are a special weapons rhino delivery squad. that is all.

Obliterators
-65 Points Each

-Add Feel No Pain

Predator, Vindicator, Land Raider
-Make Points Comparable to SM/SW Codex. That is all.You may say that they have the option for possession, yes, but they also pay for it. just start everyone on a level playing field.

Defiler
-130 Points

-Armor 13/13/11

 And there you have it. That is all.
-Stephen

Make-Em Competitive: Chaos Space Marines

So in the first installment in a new series, I'll be calling "Make-Em Competitive" I'll be throwing out My Personal Ideas on how to make a given codex competitive. meaning "On Par with the Space Wolves Codex" as that is the codex de-jour that I think is out there right now. First fix is an Adjusted Points cost for the model as is.
Secondly I will post the Changes I think that should be made to make the model both usable at it's points cost and turn it into an "Takable" choice.

So To start off with:

Chaos Space Marines

HQ Choices:

Special Characters:
Abbadon The Dispoiler
- 250 Points

-Does Not Suffer wounds on a 1 for Daemon Weapon and Add 1 attack
-Grants Fearless to any unit he Joins

Fabius Bile
-130 Points

-1 Squad of CSM auto upgrade to Enhanced
- Reduce points cost for upgraded marines by 2 points each
-Chirgeon counts as a Power Weapon (for his bonus attacks only)


Huron Blackheart
-130 Points

-Psychic Hood
-Know Another Power

Typhus
-200 Points

-Add Eternal Warrior
-Add Psychic Hood

Kharn
-150 Points

-He is quite usable but needs that price drop OR
-Reduce the cost of Berzerkers by 1 point per model

Ahriman
- 190 Points

- Add Eternal Warrior
- Thousand Son's Marines cost 2 point per model less (Does not effect cost of Aspiring Sorcerer)

Lucius the Eternal
- 150 Points

- Add Eternal Warrior (If ever there was an eternal warrior it is him.)

Regular HQs:
Daemon Prince
- 100 Points

-Add the Option for a Daemon Weapons to be taken

Chaos Lord
-Good As Is

Chaos Sorcerer
- 85 Points

- Add a Psychic Hood

Greater Daemon
- 90 Points

- 3+ Invulnerable Save

Well, at least that's how I'd fix the CSM HQ's.

A Change of Plans - Spocon

So, having realized that I have NO CHANCE of winning anything if everything I have is not completely painted.... I have to change the list I'll be taking.

It will hamper me a bit, but not too much I hope. So, my updated list:

Vulkan Hestean

Master of the Forge
-Thunder Hammer
-Combi-Melta
-Servo Harness
-Digital Weapons

Dreadnought
-Multi-Melta
-Heavy-Flamer
-Drop Pod
-Locator Beacon

Dreadnought
-Multi-Melta
-Heavy Flamer
-Drop Pod
-Locator Beacon

Dreadnought
-Multi-Melta
-Heavy Flamer
-Drop Pod
-Locator Beacon

Tactical Squad
-Multi-Melta
-Flamer
-Power Fist
-Drop Pod

Tactical Squad
-Missile Launcher
-Flamer
-Drop Pod

Tactical Squad
-Missile Launcher
-Flamer

Land Speeder
-Multi-Melta
-Heavy Flamer

Land Speeder
-Multi-Melta
-Heavy Flamer

Land Speeder
-Multi-Melta
-Heavy Flamer

Dreadnought
-Multi-Melta
-Heavy Flamer
-Drop Pod

Venerable Dreadnought
-Twin Linked Heavy Flamer
-Heavy Flamer
-Drop Pod

I know it's rather an odd army, but this is how it goes. in 2 forms:

Objective Missions:
- 1 Full Tac squad w/o Drop pod deploys near an objective and camps launching missiles
- 1 Combat Squad w/ ML camps near other objective
- 4 Melta-Dreds drop near enemy lines and wreck stuff

3 Drop Pods including Ven HF/HF dread in reserve w/ 3 Speeders.
Vulkan & MoF go with Full Squad in DP w/ Multi-Melta (This is a beatstick unit. when it falls, I'm dropping 3 template weapons on my opponent's squads. 1 HF and 2 Flamers along with 8 Rapid Firing Bolters, 1 TL plasma Pistol and a bolt pistol. in Combat, it's 4 Power Fist attacks, 2 MC thunder Hammer attacks, and 3 MC Relic Blade attacks, along with 9 regular marine attacks. 2+ armor saves to soak up some wounds and a 3+ Invuln to soak up some power weapon wounds. people see it and think "yay, a tactical squad" but it's a lot worse. and gets a lot worse if they don't charge me, and I get the charge on them.

The rest pretty much plays itself. if they blow up the Locator Beacons, I don't have to worry too much as the Pods have inertial guidance and the speeders can come down elsewhere.

Kill Points:
This is where i can get hurt. badly.
it's a 20 Kill point army. it can really suck for me.
So i don't combat squad and kill as much as possible so that I can hopefully pull out a victory.

I built this army to prove a point, Drop Pod armys are fun and DO win. I've won 2 tourneys with this army. Hopefully I can do pretty well at a GT event.

Thoughts?

Spocon - A GT 40K Tournament - I will be there.

So, this will be probably the ONLY Golden Ticket tourney that I will be attending this year.

Check out the rules here for more information.

From said URL:

Well Met …
The following are the rules for the SpoCon 3rd Annual
Warhammer 40K GrandTournament.
General rules …
... Players must use their current Codex for army creation.
... One standard mission Force Organization is allowed per army
... Armies must be composed of no greater than 2000 points (1998 is OK; 2002 is not)
... 5th Edition Warhammer 40K rules will be used.
... The following codexes are allowed:
5th Ed Blood Angels, Tyranids, Space Wolves, Imperial Guard, Space Marines.
4th Ed Chaos Daemons, Orks, Chaos Space Marines, Dark Angels, Eldar, Tau, Black Templars.
3rd Ed Witchhunters, Necrons, Daemonhunters, Dark Eldar.
... Imperial Armour rules are NOT allowed.
... Special Characters in current Codexes are allowed.
... Warhammer 40K FAQ http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/content/article.jsp?categoryId=1000018...
... ALL rulings by the Tournament Organizer will be final.
Schedule …
... Each Round will last two and half hours.
... Tournament Organizer will call the Last Turn after two hours and 15 minutes. Do not start that turn unless both players will be able to play their full turn.
... There will be three games on Saturday and one Sunday morning.
... The exact schedule will be available at SpoCon.
Awards …
Overall Champion …
... Player receiving the highest total points.
... Ties for this award will be broken by Sportsmanship Score, then Gameplay, then Appearance Score.
... This player receives the Overall Champion Trophy and the invitation to National Championships in Las Vegas.
Best Sportsmanship …
... Player receiving the highest Sportsmanship Score.
... Ties for this award will be broken by Favorite Opponent votes, then Gameplay Score, then total score.
... This player receives the Best Sportsmanship medal.
Best Appearance …
... Player receiving the highest Appearance Score.
... Ties for this award will be broken by Favorite Army votes, then re-judging with stricter criteria by Appearance judges.
... This player receives the Best Appearance medal.
Best General …
... Player receiving the highest Gameplay score.
... Ties for this award will be broken by Sportsmanship Score, then total score, then Favorite Opponent votes.
... This player receives the Best General medal.
Runner-Up ...
... Player receiving the second highest total score.
... Ties for this award will be broken by Sportsmanship Score, then Gameplay, then Appearance Score.
... This player receives the invitation to National Championships in Las Vegas.
Second Runner-Up ...
... Player receiving the third highest total score.
... Ties for this award will be broken by Sportsmanship Score, then Gameplay, then Appearance Score.
... This player may receive the invitation to National Championships in Las Vegas, IF the two higher ranking players can NOT attend.
Scoring …
... The tournament will be scored out of 120 points as follows:
... Gameplay 60 points (50% of total)
... Sportsmanship 40 points 4 bonus ( approximately 33% of total)
... Appearance 20 points 3 bonus ( approximately18% of total)
Gameplay 60 points …
... The tournament will consist of four games. Three scheduled on Saturday July 31st and one on Sunday August 1st.
... Players can score a maximum of 15 points per game.
... First Round pairings will be determined randomly.
... Subsequent pairings will be determined Swiss Style (the person with the most Gameplay points will be matched with the next closest ranked that they have not yet played … proceeding down in the rankings.)
... The Tournament Organizer will make every effort that players do not play on the same table twice in this tournament.
Sportsmanship 40 points …
... At the end of each Round, you will complete a Results Sheet and a Sportsmanship Score for your opponent. A maximum of 10 points can be earned in sportsmanship each game.
... At the end of the Tournament, each player will vote for their Favorite Opponent. Each vote a player receives brings them an additional point, which will be used to break ties.
Appearance 20 points …
... Appearance will be judged by the Tournament Organizer and the Appearance Judges between Rounds and at 8AM Saturday and Sunday mornings.
... Appearance will be judged using the checklist below.
... If you did not paint the army yourself, you must note this on your Appearance Score sheet. You will receive a 5 point deduction on Appearance scoring (not to be less than zero points) and NOT be eligible for Best Appearance.
... Players will have the Appearance Score sheet to fill out that explains the scoring system and gives each room to note extra conversions, detail, and effort for their army.
... In case of a tie in Appearance Scoring, ties will be settled by Favorite Army voting.
Appearance Scoring …
... Painting, potential of 12 points
… Unpainted (0 points). Models that do NOT meet the three color minimum requirement. This applies if even one model does not meet the requirement.
… Minimum (+6 points) painting, at least three colors on ALL models.
… Details (+1 point) effort has been made to add details and paint all parts of the models as appropriate throughout the army (banners, unit markings, faces, eyes) and / or extra level of detail (battle damage, weathering, etc).
… Brush work (+2 points), depth and details are tabletop standard, throughout the army. Work is neat and clean
… Expert Brush work (+3 points), depth and details are HIGH tabletop standard, throughout the army. Multiple layers of color or blending is noticeable.
? Basing, potential of 2 points
... No basing (0 points). This applies if even one model does not meet the requirement.
…Minimum (+1 point). Paint, flocking, and / or sand. Edges have been painted. Clean and neat.
… Extra Effort (+1point). Bits, rocks, layering, static grass, resin bases, and / or conversion bases throughout the entire army.
? Conversions and modeling, potential of 5 points
…Models built properly (+1 point). Mold lines and flash cleared. All limbs and parts present.
… Simple Conversions (+1point) Simple, easy bit swaps of some models.
… Extensive Conversions (+1 point) Same as above but most of the army has been converted in this manner. Can also include a handful of models requiring basic sculpting but not found throughout the army.
… Notable Conversions (+2 points) Models with extensive scratch-building or sculpting present
Or the majority of the army has sculpting or some scratch-built bits present.
... Display, potential of 2 point
… No Display (0 points)
… Display Board (+1 point)
… Quality Display (+1 point) Appearance enhancing display, extra effort.
... Judges’ Choice, potential of 3 points
… Favorite of each Appearance Judge (+3 points)
Please note the following links for schedule information and lodging …
http://spocon.org/con_schedule
http://spocon.org/hotel

Good Luck and Good Gaming!





So, here is the Run-Down of what I will be bringing to this event:

Army List:
Vulkan Hestean

Master of the Forge
-Combi-Melta
-Thunder Hammer
-Digital Weapons

Dreadnought
-Multi-Melta
-Heavy Flamer
-Drop Pod
-Locator Beacon

Dreadnought
-Multi-Melta
-Heavy Flamer
-Drop Pod
-Locator Beacon

Dreadnought
-Multi-Melta
-Heavy Flamer
-Drop Pod
-Locator Beacon

Tactical Squad

-10 Men

-Power Fist

-Melta Gun

-Multi-Melta

-Drop Pod

-Locator Beacon

Tactical Squad

-10 Men

-Power Fist

-Multi-Melta

-Flamer

-Drop Pod

-Locator Beacon

Tactical Squad

-10 Men

-Missile Launcher

-Flamer

-Melta Bombs

Land Speeder

-Multi-Melta

-Heavy Flamer

Land Speeder 

-Multi-Melta

-Heavy Flamer

Land Speeder

-Multi-Melta

-Heavy Flamer

Dreadnought

-Multi-Melta

-Heavy Flamer

-Drop Pod

-Locator Beacon

Dreadnought

-Multi-Melta

-Heavy Flamer

-Drop Pod

-Locator Beacon

Rings in at 2,000 Points.

20 Kill Points, (ouch) 

Lots of twin Linked Killy.

Will I see you there?

Trollbloods - Synergy may be hard to find sometimes

IABNSo, having aquired a fair bit of Trollblood models and having had people recommend NOT starting with circle since their play style is counter-intuitive to the rules of HORDES!, I'm starting with the not so lowly trolls.

Some things I've discovered in my reading and thinking:

pMadrak:
While he may seem quite dandy to start with Rathrok and relatively high mat (7) he is a bit on the weak side with ARM 16 and his movement rate of 6. While I see him as being a beatstick with a brick around him, this is definitely NOT my play style.

eDoomshaper
This guy has caught my attention because of a couple of things:
-Feat: Add 3" to SPD and making warbeasts not be forced to charge slam or trample makes getting into the thick of it a lot easier. makes my trolls run a lot faster and while I see this being used on the first turn to get closer to the enemy a lot more useful than not forcing to charge and slam or trample.... less of an attractive thing.
- Goad: While his feat would likely be used to run first turn, if you decide not to use this I can see this ability being used on such beasts as the Dire Troll Mauler or Mulg, simply for the added beatstick ability. moving 2" with a warbeast then forcing more attacks seems quite useful. especially for Mulg as you get to attack again with his STR 13 = dead stuff. no matter what it is. especially if you boost him.
Aggitation: Putting fury on your opponent's warbeast during your turn seems fun, though I see them frenzying and attacking Doomy for the effort. Seems useful at first, but in the end is a double edged sword.
Wild Aggression: Seems quite useful.

Calandra or "I make stuff do what you want"
I like Calandra the best of all of the Troll Warlocks. However some things need to be said first:
She will be easy to hit and easy to damage. this is bad.
She is low MAT and RAT so she can not hit anything except peons.
She has only 16 boxes of damage so can die quickly to beast/jacks with a decent str.
That being said, if you take her she gives you a LOT of benefits:
-Feat: AMAZING. I get lots of re-roll for anything in my 14" Control Area
-Fate Blessed: AMAZING. I can spend fury to give stuff in my Control Area Re-Rolls.
-Befuddle. Great for moving intervening models away from a caster for assassinations. or even puting others in the trample path of a Beatstick.
-Dodge Bullets: an amazing spell that can really help out a unit that needs to both survive and move quickly.
-Star Crossed:Great for close in stuff, but if they get too close you die. a double edged sword, but if you're this close, you have a plan already (Read Fell Caller/Dire Troll Bomber)

Synergies of Calandra:
The Dire Troll Bomber is your best friend with Calandra. As are Impalers. Adding 4" to the DTB's ROF 2 Bombs is..... well, rather stupid for your opponent. Have a RNG 12 POW16 AOE 4 blast is rather devistating. especially to single wound models that just sit there to tarpit stuff. Rather funny really when an entire unit or two disappear. Or if you really want to be an ass, you can boost his attack rolls with it and hitting a caster with 2 of those will cause a lot of damage. direct hits with re-rolls seems kinda broken, but meh. you pay for it in points.

Pyg Burrowers are also great on feat turn as you get to re-roll your 1 and 2. since they can attack with their POW 14 guns in combat, and you take 10 of them, you buff their MAT to 6 with the Fell Caller then charge in and unload a mass of firepower onto pretty much anything. lots of re-rolls + POW 14 = dead stuff. pure and simple. 10 shots with re-rolls is POWER Playing.

Fell Caller
This is your built in Auto-Take. He buffs, he's a weapon master with 2 attacks, has a nice spray, and has 8 boxes. all for 3 points. Duh.

Stone Scribe Chronicler:
Another Buffer, 5 Boxes and the ability to knock down powerful opposing models. fun to put on a tarpit unit engaged with a heavy and keep it locked down for a turn.

Troll Whelp:
Often underestimated IMO these guys help you in several different ways. 1 you get 5 for 2 points. 2, they are a fury management tool, you want to force the crap out of a warbeast? do it and comfort food them to a manageable level. 3, healing for warbeasts. D3 without forcing and 2d3 with forcing on a troll warbeast = no more crippled aspects. 4 hinderance. a little debuff to attack rolls while close to opponents. They have a lot of abilities that can come in very handy. just don't expect them to survive, ever.

So in the end I believe I will be playing with Calandra.

This is my "Idea" list at 25 points:

Calandra +5
Dire Troll Bomber -10
Impaler -5
Fell Caller -3
Fell Caller -3
Pyg Burrowers (full) -6
Troll Whelps -2
Feralgeist -1
Total: 25+5*

Why a Feralgeist? Well, mainly because i just like the idea of putting a model of the opponent's into play against them. even if it only has 3 boxes left before it dies again. I can do it a few times if I'm lucky. or I can bind to my bomber if i really want to throw a few more bombs after it has died. sure, it does not always work very well, but it can really piss someone off if they spent a lot of time killing one of my guys and i just bring him back as a minion. lols all around.

Do I expect to win the world with this army? hah. I expect the impaler to die first to deny the snipe, then the bomber. then calandra. HOWEVER, i do expect that this army MAY be able to win some stuff.

If I had to remove some stuff I'd probably drop the Feral, 1 Caller and drop the Burrowers down to Min size to gain another Impaler. I may just do that in the end, but who knows.

Some Blog Changes - You probably did not notice.

I've put my blog through some changes recently. you may or may not have noticed.

I've added a few to my blog roll:
Yes, The Truth Hurts - A Great Blog about Competitive Warhammer 40k. Language warning though.
Strictly Average - Brent's Musings and other stuff for 40k, Fun place to check out.

I've also added a few links at the bottom of my blog.
11th Company Podcast - An amazing 40k Podcast. Best one I've found
Dice Like Thunder - Another Great 40k Podcast
The Iron Agenda - So Far the best Warmachine/Hordes Podcast I've found

Enjoy the changes.

Dawn of War- Or where I learned to pull my hair out because GW can not write concisely

OK Guys, as those of you who have played against me in a Dawn Of War Mission know, I HATE THIS MISSION. No matter what the objective of mission is, the deployment rules for this mission are horribly written.

Here is how it works, I've read this thing many, many times.

You get to deploy 1 HQ UNIT not 1 slot, not 1 choice.

You get to deploy 2 Troop UNIT not 2 Slots, not 2 choices.

Units include:
Independant Characters
Units
Dedicated Transports
etc.

You don't get to put out 1 HQ and 2 Units in their transports.
You get 1 HQ (say it's an Independant character) Attached to a Unit in their dedicated transport.
THAT IS ALL YOU GET!

God sometimes GW Really needs to re-think the way they write.

Also, night fight is 2d6x3 inches. if you cant see your target you don't get to pick another target to try for.

Privateer Press Design - A Target GW Should Emulate

So, played my first game of Hordes this weekend. got a bit confused, con-fuddled, and had my caster assassinated. No bother, cant expect to win every game from scratch. anyhow, after looking back, i've come to a couple of conclusions that have rather firmly solidified my thinking on a few topics of comparasin.

First: Privateer Press goes out of their way to write COMPLETE rules sets.

GW Could only wish they had a design team that did this. It was rather simple to read through a confusing interaction to get the CORRECT RAW answer to my questions. Has this ever been the case with GW?... Thought not.

Secondly: Scaling. Privateer Press built into their game a scaling mechanism that is IMPORTANT to the game play itself. Fury Management (and I assume Focus management in WM) The ability to scale a game proportionally is something that has always frustrated me about GW. In 40k the game plays completely differently at different levels. At 2500 points, you are playing a completely different game than you are at 1500 points.
At 2500 Points you are building for 2 things: Killyness and Survivability. you have to survive your opponents uber crap while killing theirs with yours. At 1500 points the game is a lot more confined without the masses of supper doom units running amok on everything and you get the more objective oriented games. Tactics become a real part of the game.

In Hordes (and WM) you are not limited by the number of fast attack slots you need to field or how many troops are required. you are bound by the fury management abilities of your warlock/warcaster and the number of points on the field. If you get high enough in points, they've built in a mechanic to manage more fury by including another warcaster/warlock. Kudos to PP for doing this in a way that both makes sense and is functional.

And thirdly: COMPETITIVENESS
The way that Hordes/Warmacine is designed encourages competition. not ties, or half measures. their slogan says it all. Play like you've got a pair. Do you hear the WM/Hordes crowd yelling and screaming about how the eButcher has killed the game? NO. you see them building lists that hand that list it's teeth back to it though. no complaints, no crying, just playing.

And Finally: ERATTA and FAQ.
I add FAQ there because PP has their own forums set up so that people can ask questions. they don't release FAQs though. They do however release Erattas in short order. They make sure that their game is both consistant and fair to all of the different factions of their games. not just making sure that space marines or the newest prettiest thing wins everything.

There is definitely a reason that PP is taking more market share from GW year by year. their sculpts are routinely amazing, their rules are well written, balanced, fun an most of all fair. they are scalable, they support their product.

So, you have my initial thoughts, Any of your own?

Disenchantment- It's Happened Again

Thank You GW. I just have to say thank you to one of the Greatest (sic) Gaming Companies in the world.

Your constant micro-management and stifling of any army other than the Space Marines in all of their colorful and tasty flavors has made me lose my enchantment with warhammer 40k. again. I'm certain, as this has happened before, that I will return. I am running a large scale tournament in september so have to keep going on some things. but as for more purchases.... no. as for more painting... no.

Thank you oh Greatest of Great Gaming Companies for making me lose heart with you ..... again.

I'll be doing blogging still, but most likely it will be a lot of Privateer Press stuff as I learn that system. and, Knowing myself, will fall back into 40k in 6-7 months with renewed vigor.

Probably just the very sour taste I have in my mouth after investing and converting that new Tyranid Army.... Thanks again for that FAQ GW.

Thank you.

Hordes

So, with the impending release of Hordes! MKII, I've decided to take the plunge.

Circle it is with my primary warlock being... Kromac The Ravenous...

Something about having my warlock become a Warbeast in his own right just seems.... fun.

So Just learning the game, I'm starting at 15 Points.

I have never played the game, but this is my Idea of a 15 point list:

Kromac (+4)
Lord of the Feast -4
Warpwolf Stalker -10
Woldwyrd -5

I think this combination of 4 models gives me a lot of tactical opportunity and a LOT of painting practice. These models are incredibly detailed and I've wanted to paint some for a while.

So, all you PP players, what are your thoughts?

Anyone?

FAQ: Blood Angels - or when I learned to shut up and realize that GW will screw any non-Space marine army.

SO... At nearly the same time GW put out the Nid Nerf, I mean FAQ, they put out the Blood Angels FAQ, I mean "Yes, they are that stupid"

Follow along here: http://www.games-workshop.com/MEDIA_CustomProductCatalog/m1240365a_FAQ_BloodAngels_2010.pdf

- Yes, you can take a land raider for any dedicated transport

- Yes, the Sanguinary Priest gets his own effects. Why was this a question? He is an IC you know.

- Ok, so in 2 days you give 2 different rulings for how Furious Charge works. Not Consistent at all.

- Yes you can turbo-boost/move flat out to scout. This has been answered, more than once. why are we still asking this question?

- You can use smoke launchers during your scout move..... so you can move flat out, pop smoke. and go first move 6" fire EVERYTHING and during your opponent's first turn you get a 4+ cover save versus firing. Yeah, that's fair. way to go GW.

- Like jaws the Libririan must assault the first thing hit by the path of the Blood Lance. Yay.

- Yay, you get reduced scatter from jump packs, if you remove them to get into a transport, WHY WOULD YOU ASK THIS? NO. you don't get to reduce the scatter of the damn land raider.

- No tycho does not get an Extra attack from dead mans hand.

- Yes, the Librarian Dread can fire Psychic Shooting attacks if he has no weapons on the dread left..... Why is this a question? Really.

- Opponents get to choose weapons destroyed by Perils results on a Libby Dread. Unique ruling but unique to this army so.... Ok.

- Vehicles gain a cover save from Shield of Sanguinius. Note: NOWERE does it say that they become obscured. no cheating and trying to get a 4+. it's still a 5+.

- Sanguinor, Mephiston and DC Tycho are single model units. NOTE: no Independant Characters can join them. ever. they are their own unit. (look at the IC rules in the BRB.)

- Powergamers downfall. No you don't stack Descent of Angels to not scatter. Smartasses.

- Corbulo's free re-roll cant be used to affect pre-game stuff.

Go Go Power Rangers!

The Tyranid FAQ Debocle.

So, GW in it's infinite "Wisdom" has FINALLY issued an FAQ for the Tyranid Codex, one of the most necessarry FAQ's that was needed. Far more than the Codex Daemons FAQ that came out at the Nid 1 month range of time when the Nid FAQ was expected.

You can Get the Tyranid FAQ here and read along if you wish:

http://www.games-workshop.com/MEDIA_CustomProductCatalog/m1240364a_FAQ_Tyranids_2010.pdf

So, To start off with we'll look at the Erattas:

Now we include the swarmlord in the Blind Rampage. Easy enough.

A harpie's barrage now affects the whole blast marker, not the center hole to drop the spore mines. Cool, far less likely to drop mines now and for the blast to go off, though it still may hit nothing, except perhaps the harpy itself.

Spore Mine correction that does nothing.

Useage change on the Mawloc, does nothing to people who know the rules.


on to the FAQ's:

Nid Weapons now stack. though observant readers of the codex already knew this as Tyranid cc weapons were NOT special Weapons to begin with. and thus did not go by their rules to begin with.

Nids dont test for Instinctive behavior the turn they come in from reserves. Duh.

Instinctive Behavior affects those that start the turn out of Synapse. Reserves happens in your turn and not before it. Yes you have to test even if you have Zoey's in a Spore. Duh.

Hive Commander does not stack, though it does stack with the Swarmlords ability. Works for me as they've been consistant with the IG dex.

It stacks with the Pheramone Trail.... that will never get used. EVER. seriously, lictors start in reserve. So HC and Swarmy makes the lictor come in on turn 2 on a 2+. then on turn 3 everything  comes in automatically. or it does not come in and everything comes in on turn 3 with a 2+. see. never.

Tyrants with Tyrant Guard are NOT independant Characters. Never were. why is this a question? because you can JOIN as an IC? still does not make you an IC. No you can't leave, rules say you can JOIN. that is all.

Yay, tyrant guard act like they should, only going into a frenzy AFTER the tyrant dies. lol.

Harpies and Winged Tyrants can now deep strike. Yay.

Harpies spore drop acts like a multiple barrage, like it says in the codex.

Random Moving spore mines, you don't control them.

Spore Mines Can Not Assault.

Spores go boom when you assault them and then you CAN NOT Consolidate.

Spores Deep Strike AFTER objectives are placed.

Hive Guard can only shoot at stuff they can see while lurking. It's in the codex, and while covering this I should mention that the Biovore works the same way. it MAY be able to fire indirectly, but it can NOT do so while lurking. RAW.

Zoies can use different powers. YAY. why would you want to anyway?

Zoies must make a Psychic test for each zoie using a psychic power. how is this hard?

you must declare how your reserves are coming in when you place them in reserve. the added options of arrival in the nid dex are no different.

You get cover from terror from the deep.... but it's not quite explained how. From below you? so you would get cover from intervening unit... none. terrain? Possibly area terrain. Equipment? I'd give you that.


You can't put a Warrior Prime in a Spore with warriors. LAME.

If you take a spore you HAVE to use it, unlike a drop pod where you dont.... LAME.

Mycetic Spores can be moved, say by terror from the deep, some people say with tank shock, but I don't know how that would work, I can't fall back, I can't move wilingly, but if I DoG you either I die or you are immobilized...... interesting.

Tyranid SC's are just nastier versions of the base creature. so the Doom's Warp Field works. and so does the Swarmlords psychic powers.

Doom is fixed. Finally.

Psychic powers are cleaner.

Shadow of the warp is useless now. Seriously GW? sure I know they are not Space Marines, but at least be consistant with this crap. So a Psychic Hood can cancel out a power used in a transport but the enervating presence of the shadow is blocked completely by it? Screw You Too.



Lash Whips took a major hit. Seems that GW is continuing with the "Screw you if you're not SM" contingency. And eldar just happen to fall into a good benefit.

And my personal Favorite. A powergamers' dream was quashed by GW answering the Rediculous question of "Can You Regenerate Wounds That Have already been regenerated?". No you moron. you get to go back to your maximum number of wounds. That is all.

-Thoughts?

Announcement - Montana 40Kon

The Montana 40Kon Is On.

Visit the less than steller but FREE site here:

www.montana40kon.webs.com

Contained therein you will find all the informaiton you will need to know to attend and compete in this COMPETITIVE ORIENTED Event.

Hope to see most of you guys if you care to drive to the middle of Effing No-Where.

Thanks Guys!

-Stephen

The Adepticon FA-WTF??!?!

So, rant time....

This time it is about what bothers me with the prevalancy of the Adepticon FAQ- CRAP.

Ok I'm aware that IF I go to Adepticon, I'll be using the Adepticon FAQ. I'm fine with that. It's their event and they are more than welcome and encouraged by me to use it and abide by it. It works for them.

HOWEVER...

If I am going to be running an event and have a player quote to me that a rule has been "FAQ'd" and I ask when, and they quote to me the Adepticon FAQ, I'll simply rule against them. Period.

I have NO OBLIGATION to use that thing in ANY event that I run. EVER.

But Why you may ask...

Well, I Just downloaded the 3.3 FAQ.

We'll start from the begining.

Page 1: Table of COntents.... Ok that works.
Page 2:

"Rulings that clarify an issue that has no conclusive RAW answer are noted as [clarifications].
Rulings that change the RAW because we feel playing that way is absurd, unfun, or goes against the style the vast majority of people play are noted as [rules change].
Situations where we feel the issue is clearly based on a typographical error are noted as [typo]."

So, if you can't figure out what the English (which the creators of the game speak fluently) version of the rules mean, you make a change.
If you don't like the rules you change them,
and because you can't use your brain in any gramatical fasion, you change the rules...

NOT COOL GUYS!

I'm paying an exorbinate ammount of money to play a game that is moderately well designed. and you change the rules. FUN.

So, lets look at some examples:



PAGE 5:

"
RB.22A.01 – Q: When models from two or more units are intermixed together, can these units simultaneously provide cover saves for each other from a single enemy firing unit?
A: Two or more intermixed units cannot simultaneously provide cover saves for each other against a single enemy firing unit. When such a situation occurs, the intermixed unit with a model closest to the firing unit does not count as being in cover from the unit(s) they are intermixed with [rules change].
"

First, this is not a rules change. Second, Duh, you measure from the firing unit to the closest model of the target unit. if there is another intervening model between them they get cover. if not, not. How is that hard? you don't measure to the farthest model. all you have to measure is if they are in range.
intervening models make it so that if you shoot through 1 squad to another. not to the back guy. It's part of the definition of INTERVENING.


PAGE 11:
"RB.48A.02 – Q: Can an Independent Character end its move within 2” of a unit it cannot join (like a vehicle)?
A: Yes they can, as otherwise it would be impossible for an IC to disembark from a vehicle that has already moved [rules change]."

seriously, that really needed to have someboy both A) ask the question and B) you thought it was serious enough to require an answer?


Page 13:
"RB.61H.02 – Q: If a vehicle has a weapon that can only be fired a certain number of times, and that weapon has been fully expended (such as firing a Hunter-Killer Missile, for example), does it still count as a „weapon‟ that can be destroyed by a „Weapon Destroyed‟ damage result?
A: No, weapons on a vehicle that cannot possibly fire for the rest of the game no longer count as weapons in regards to „Weapon Destroyed‟ damage results [rules change]."

So because you want to kill vehicles faster, you take away the point of a lot of people taking Single Use weapons. Thanks.


Page 15:

"RB.67C.01 – Q: If a lone Independent Character is embarked on a vehicle that is within 2” of a friendly unit, is the IC considered joined to that unit?
A: No, while an IC is embarked on a vehicle he cannot be joined to a unit that is outside of the vehicle [rules change]."

So, the part of the rules where it states that a unit can not be partially embarked on a vehicle does not cover this? Seriously?

RB.67F.01 – Q: When a transport vehicle suffers a „Destroyed – explodes!‟ result its passengers must be placed “where the vehicle used to be”. What exactly does this mean?
A: Passengers must be placed wholly inside the area of the table that the vehicle‟s hull previously occupied [clarification].
Any models that cannot fit entirely within this area or are within 1” of an enemy model are removed from play as a casualty. In addition, the models count as having disembarked from a vehicle (and so cannot assault the same turn if the vehicle wasn‟t open-topped, for example) [rules change].

And here you go on to both change a rule and kill a lot of orks. Orks have enough problems. Thanks again. FAILURE






The list goes on and on, but you get the Idea.

First I have to give the guys who wrote this thing credit for trying to answer EVERY stupid question people who don't know the rules ask.
And secondly I have to sarcastically thank them for putting it out there where everyone thinks it is a Cannon document that is in effect in every tournament.

No Thank you.

- Rant Off.

Terrain and the Beginings of Painted Space Marines.

First Off I'm needing to build a lot of terrain, so I sat down last night and build some buildings. Go Go Foamcore.

And the start of my painted Desert Moguls:
Only the Razorback is nearing completion so you can get an Idea of my Color Scheme.

How Much Is Too Much, And How Much Is Not Enough (Time)

So I've Been wondering recently, How much Time is not enough, and how much is too much?

I know that The BRB gives guidelines, but i've also noticed that their guidelines for games can be.... OFF.

So How long does a 2,000 point game take you to complete?


2 Hours? 2 and a Half?


Let me know.

And the second question is, how long would you want in a 2,000 point tournament to finish your game. Reasonably.

Thanks guys.
-Stephen

A Question of Sorts

While attending a Convention a few weeks ago, I was asked how I would go about makeing a standard space marine army that has the best ability to put long range fire power down the field.

Since Space marines are notorious for short ranged weapons, I had to give it a bit of thought, but this is what I've come up with.

SLOT	Unit	Upgrades				Army Total
HQ	Master of the Forge					1980
		Conversion Beamer
Elite	Dreadnought
		Twin Linked Autocannon
		Twin Linked Autocannon
	Dreadnought
		Twin Linked Autocannon
		Twin Linked Autocannon
	Dreadnought
		Twin Linked Autocannon
		Twin Linked Autocannon
Troops	Scout Squad	Unit of 10
		Sniper Rifles - 8
		Heavy Bolter (w/Hellfire)
		Sergent Telion
Troops	Scout Squad	Unit of 10
		Sniper Rifles - 9
		Heavy Bolter (w/ Hellfire)
Fast Attack	Land Speeder Squadron	Squadron of 3
		Multi- Melta
		Heavy Bolter x2
		Typhoon x3
Fast Attack	Land Speeder Squadron	Squadron of 3
		Multi Melta
		Heavy Bolter x2
		Typhoon x3
Fast Attack	Land Speeder Squadron	Squadron of 3
		Multi-Melta
		Heavy Bolter x2
		Typhoon x3
Heavy Support	Dreadnought
		Twin Linked Autocannon
		Twin Linked Autocannon
Heavy Support	Predator
		Autocannon
		Heavy Bolter Sponsons
Heavy Support	Predator
		Autocannon
		Heavy Bolter Sponsons

Now, i know it seems dreadfully short on most of the staples of a Standard SM force, but consider.

The scouts deploy on/near a ruin that has been bolstered by the MoF (3+ cover, 4+ armor)
and put down a LOT of Sniper Fire up to 36" away.

The 4 Dreads put out 16 Twin Linked S7 shots per turn.
The Preds add another 4 S7 and if still can add another 12 S5

The Heavy Hitters are the land speeders though.
They drop out a total of 18 S8 AP3 shots AND 18 S5 AP4 Shots AND 3 S8 AP1 Melta shots PER TURN.


and the MoF sits with the Scouts (squad not Telions) and can help or just add a blast template to their fire.

What would you make to do a Long Range Firepower list with Space Marines?

What are your thoughts?