Journal of a Sentient Grot: Don't Get Cocky, Kid...

Curses!

The revolution is postponed!

I had developed a super weapon, a fortress hidden beneath the wastes of this planet that when finished, would fly across the galaxy and unleash awesome destructive power. With it I would free my cousins from the yoke of Orkish oppression, and maybe blow up a planet or two just for shits and giggles...

But now it's all ruined, the whole thing destroyed, because of some random dirt eating flyboy Ork...

I suppose my overconfidence was my weakness...

Who'd have thought someone would drop explosives down a small thermal exhaust port. Knew I should have put a gate on that thing...

Now at the top of Ereyous deathlist... when the revolution comes my friend...

 

Ereyou: Experiments with Gravitational Fields, Weaponised.

 



 

Or, to put things more simply, the pictures of my finished Traktor Kannons I mentioned in my last blog post.

 



Journal of a Sentient Grot: A change of scenery

*This is a narrative series of posts I've run on my other blog to accompany my last Tale of Some Gamers I did with Orks, and as I'm posting on this blog about my current tale, I've decided to transfer this across to here. If you wish to read up on the old posts, follow the link.

Greetings once again fellow travellers. So much has happened since I last had the chance to address you, so here goes a quick update.

We ploughed across the Corvus subsector for a bit, but then followed Wazzdakka as he continued his trail across the galaxy. The fuel heavy nature of our operations meant we spent a lot of time attacking ice worlds stealing promethium, and quite frankly I was getting sick of my knackers always being on the point of frostbite. So while sharing a space hulk with another tribe for a spell, I slipped across from one camp to the other during one of the inevitable fights. Bad Moons are notoriously wealthy, and therefore there will be richer pickings for me to finance my revolution. Bugrit meanwhile has continued his Promethium hunting Waagh, always in search of enough fuel to continue following Wazzdakka. As for wazzdakka, he waits for no ork... he's carried on riding, perhaps into legend.

Rode off into Legend, we hope for his eventual return.

Anyway, as for myself I've continued with my experiments trying to reproduce the effect that led to my own genesis. Thus far unsuccessfully. All I have managed to achieve was some gravity warping effects that had an unpleasant effect on some of my colleagues, but on the bright side we have been able to weaponise it into a makeshift anti aircraft battery. We've also managed to get an old truck running again, and are working on some air support for our little warband. We also have some Mega-Armour suits to fix up (an interesting prospect, I may have to see if one could be modified to be worn by one of my own kind - such a thing would be very useful come the revolution) and various vehicles in various states of readiness.

More lads are joining this Waagh by the day, all drawn to the legendary leadership of this particular warboss, one Galaktika Thrakkit. I have yet to cross this orks path, and this is something I am keen to avoid - I'm as likely to get eaten as stepped on, and not knowing whether either action was deliberate or an accident would be of little comfort. I shall keep my head down, keep tinkering, and one day, one glorious day, our time will come...

*In other news, I have completed my Traktor Kannons, and am working on the grots. That just leaves the Dakkajet for this periods allocation of the Tale. I can do this... just try not to get distracted by the shiny new Nagash stuff. Pictures to follow in another post.

A Tale of Trukin

So I recently started a Tale of Some Gamers, and have started work on my army. I've completed a squad of boyz, a mek, a runtherd... but I've painted plenty of Orks before, the only real difference is this time there is a splash of yellow instead of red for this tribe. The one I was more concerned with was my first vehicle.

One, it's my first time painting yellow. Tricky on the little patches on the infantry, but on a vehicle, with large blocks of colour, more of a challenge.
Two, I wanted to try my hand at that salt weathering technique. So, a new colour scheme AND a completely new method of painting. I think I may have a masochistic streak... should be painting Dark Eldar.
Three, I also wanted to try out a couple of the new technical paints, and some weathering dusts. Just because.

Anyway, the first truk is done. Overall I am happy with the result. The yellow took a lot longer than I anticipated, but it wasn't as bone achingly long as the line highlights on my Necron vehicles (a method that I liked the effect of, but have never bought another vehicle for that army since doing two annihilation barges and one Doomsday ark - and if I'd painted the annihilation barges first I wouldn't have painted the Doomsday Ark, cos I never use the bloody thing!)

This leaves me with a dakkajet, 3 mek guns, and about 30 gretchin/ammo runts/ grot oilers etc to do before the last Tuesday in September. That sounds achievable. Pics of the finished truk are below.

A Tale of Some Gamers

Just writing the rules down in a convenient place for future reference.

Tale of X Gamers (X - To Be Determined)

Starts Tuesday 29th July
Phase 1 lasts till last Tuesday of September
Phase 2 lasts till last Tuesday of November
Phase 3 lasts till last Tuesday of January 2015
Phase 4 lasts till last Tuesday of March 2015
Phase 5 will last an as yet undetermined time...

Expanding an Army

The rules were originally designed for painting an army fresh, however some people would prefer to expand existing armies, so to allow for that...

At the start of each period each person must submit a list of what they wish to paint, coming to 500 points. This is what they will paint, in order to score that month. If they then wish to substitute out that model for other models in order to play a game for the bonus points (no super heavies in combat patrol Rich!) they are allowed to do so. Anything that is dropped out is held in reserve for the apoc game at the end. Thus if you already have a 2k painted army and wish to just add more stuff to it, you can paint whatever you want, just swap it to the apoc reserve and bring in your already painted troopers for any games we play.

Once swapped in the models you bring in stay in your army - thus whatever you bring for the combat patrol game will be part of the 1000 point game and the 1500 point tournament. This is to try to keep a level playing field between those who have a large already painted army behind them and those who are starting fresh.

The phases are detailed below.

Phase 1 - 500 points. 5 points for on time, 3 for late (painted by first Tuesday of October) , 0 for unpainted. Bonus 1 point available for getting a combat patrol game in. (not necessarily a ToXG competitor, anyone will do.)

Phase 2 - 500 points. 5 points for on time, 3 for late (painted by first Tuesday of December), 0 for unpainted. Bonus 3 points available for getting a test game against someone (not necessarily a ToFG competitor, anyone will do.)

Phase 3 - 500 points. 5 points for on time, 3 for late (painted by first Tuesday of February), 0 for unpainted. Also, will play a mini-league with each competitor playing each other competitor. League rankings will determine bonus points. This will take place early February (date TBD) I have yet to determine if we will do it over one Sunday or perhaps over a couple of Tuesdays.

Phase 4 - 500 points. 5 points for on time, 3 points for late (painted by first Tuesday of April), 0 for unpainted. Bonus 2 points for modelling an objective marker. Further bonus 1 point for a further objective marker.

Phase 5 - As much extra as you wish for Apoc. Legendary Units, Super Heavies, whatever you like. Deadline is the day of the apoc game, probably late April or early May(date TBD). There will be no points available for painting, but simply put if it isn't painted you can't use it. Any units dropped from earlier 500 point blocks can be put back in here. All forces will join our standing 2000 point armies. The sides will be determined by the challenge organiser along the best lines he sees fit. Hopefully we’ll have some clear “goodies” and “baddies” that can team up, neutrals being assigned as needed... however if there are no clear easy sides to draw we will find another method, at random if necessary. Any difference in points will be covered by additional strategic assets for the poorer party. Scoring for this month will be 5 points for each person on the winning team. There will be an additional 5 points for the "Champion" of each team. This will be decided by completing a secret personal objective (so secret even their team mates aren't allowed to know!)

Additional Rules and Clarifications

The 500 points is the target. Give or take a few points that can be made up or dropped with wargear this is fine. Of course, in your test games you must have a legal army and the correct army value so bear that in mind when planning your forces. Your 1500 point army for the mini tournament will be made up of what you have painted thus far. *With Unbound now a thing, this is less of an issue*

If anyone chooses to paint extra throughout the challenge that is their prerogative. However you can’t hold it off against next month. If you present 650 points in phase 1 you still have to present 500 in phase 2. The advantages for doing extra are more tactical flexibility when planning for the phase 3 tournament and more forces ready for the final apocalypse game.

Imperial armour books are acceptable sources for miniatures, unit entries and army lists. Anything found within those pages shall be allowed to be entered as part of the contest and used in games therein (though obviously apoc only formations can’t be used till the apoc game) The person wishing to do this however MUST possess (or have access to) the Imperial Armour books required.

When it comes to games, weapons on models and anything that would normally be represented needs to be. Wargear that doesn't need to be represented can be varied.

If you go to the effort of making your weapons alterable, through magnets or whatever, you can make use of this flexibility. The conversion work and painting the extra guns is the price you pay. Note though that in the mini tournament you must stick to one weapon loadout throughout.

Finally, while wargear can be changed, when it comes to the mini tournament we will each submit a list. That is what we play to for ALL games.

Apocalyptic Finale

To finish our Tale of X Gamers we're having an apocalyptic showdown, and I thought I'd give fair warning ofsome rules we are using for this one.

For starters, all models MUST be painted. It is a painting challenge we've just finished after all. It doesn't matter when you painted them, or whether you're missing something you should have finished earlier, if it's painted you can use it, if it isn't then it doesn't exist as far as we're concerned.

The basic rules will be for a standard apoc game, though we will have personal missions. These will be written in advance and will be secret (even from our teammates) Revealing the mission before the end of the game means your mission is void. You will have the choice of three.

Claim most objectives in the enemy deployment zone.
Kill the highest value enemy independant character.
Destroy the highest value enemy legendary formation.

In the kill/destroy ones, the person who takes the last wound takes the prize, as keeping track of who did what damage is far too much work. If both players on a team complete their mission, whoever did the harder mission is named that sides champion.

The winning team will get 5 points each. The champion of each team will get 5 points each. Thus each player can score 0, 5, or 10. Only one player will score 10.

My target army for this challenge.

LOW - Ghaz - 225
HQ - Big Mek, Mega Armour, Kustom Mega Blasta, Power Klaw, Kustom Force Field, Da Lucky Stix, 1 Grot Oiler 1 Ammo Runt - 158
HQ - Painboy, grot orderly - 55
bonus HQ - Mek - 15
T - 20 Boyz, shootas, Nob PK Bosspole -180
ded tran truk, ram -35
T - 20 Boyz, shootas, Nob PK Bosspole -180
ded tran truk, ram -35
T - 20 Boyz shootas, Nob Bosspole - 155
T - 10 grots, runtherd - 35
E - 7 Meganobz, 3 Killsaws, 3 Kombi skorchas, 1 Bosspole - 330
ded tran - Battlewagon, ram, grot riggers, 4 big shootas, extra armour, boarding planks - 170
HS - Battlewagon, Deffrolla, 2 big shootas, grot riggers, boarding planks - 155
HS - Battlewagon, Deffrolla, 2 big shootas, grot riggers, boarding planks - 155
HS - 3 Mek guns, Traktor Kannons, each with +2 gretchin crew and an ammo runt -117

Now despite the Meganobz and their Battlewagon looking like a perfect 500 point period, I want to paint all my megaarmoured models at once... so that includes the Big Mek, Ghaz, and the spare Big Mek in Mega Armour with Tellyport Blasta I will build just in case I ever want to change thing up. Which is more than 500, which means other months will fall short. Luckily, I have some other models I can bolster my forces with, I just have to accept I shall paint more than 2000 points over the course of the challenge... oh well, at least I can use them in the finale!

So, my first months allotment is...

T - 20 Boyz, shootas, Nob PK Bosspole -180
ded tran truk, ram -35
T - 10 grots, runtherd - 35
HS - 3 Mek guns, Traktor Kannons, each with +2 gretchin crew and an ammo runt -117
HQ - Mek - 15
FA Dakkajet extra super shoota - 130

All of which takes me just over 500 points. Not sure if the Mek will be allowed in combat patrol, if not I'll stick the flyboss upgrade on the dakkajet and roll it out instead.

In other news, everything I want for this army is bought. Some of it is still to be delivered (thank you Waitlong Games, speedy service as always, even Forge World have overtaken you with this project!) but hopefully that won't crimp my project too much. I also plan to paint the grots and ammo runts and things for the rest of the army during this period, as I intend to do all the grotskins in one batch for consistency.

Da Plan

So I'm sure many of you have done this before but is kind of a first for me... I have planned an army that I want to build. Yeah, I know, to most gamers not exactly newsworthy, but I've always been a sort of absorbing hobbyist - I'll absorb any new releases into my burgeoning collection and figure out what to do with them months down the line. This can lead to some boxes I still have sat on my shelf, unloved, unused, but if I ever fancy painting something a bit different, it's there ready to go, even if I'm broke when the mood does strike me.

Anyway, as I mentioned in my last post, I am thinking of doing a Bad Moons ork army to enable me to get all the new ork toys I want that just don't fit with my Speed Freaks army (such as artillery and meganobz - and yes I know meganobz can have a transport but it's just the idea of putting a unit with the "SLOW and purposeful" rule into a SPEED freaks army has always felt wrong to me)

So, I am going to put the list, then make a few points as to what my thinking is, then note down what I have and what I need to get, and finally some notes on future development.

LOW - Ghaz - 225
HQ - Big Mek, Mega Armour, Kustom Mega Blasta, Power Klaw, Kustom Force Field, Da Lucky Stix, 3 Grot Oilers 1 Ammo Runt - 168
HQ - Painboy, cybork body, grot orderly - 60
bonus HQ - Mek - 15
T - 20 Boyz, shootas, Nob PK Bosspole -180
ded tran truk, ram -35
T - 20 Boyz, shootas, Nob PK Bosspole -180
ded tran truk, ram -35
T - 20 Boyz shootas - 140
T - 10 grots, runtherd - 35
E - 7 Meganobz, 3 Killsaws, 3 Kombi skorchas, 1 Bosspole - 330
ded tran - Battlewagon, ram, grot riggers, 4 big shootas, extra armour, boarding planks - 170
HS - Battlewagon, Deffrolla, 2 big shootas, grot riggers, boarding planks - 155
HS - Battlewagon, Deffrolla, 2 big shootas, grot riggers, boarding planks - 155
HS - 3 Mek guns, Traktor Kannons, each with +2 gretchin crew and an ammo runt -117

So, Ghaz, the meganobz, the big mek and the painboy all ride in the meganobz (well, Ghaz really) Battlewagon with a 5++ save, It Will Not Die, and a chance of fixing parts that fall off, looking to get stuck in and beat face. The unit has FNP and is a little bit hard. The Lucky Stix grant the unit +1WS as well as giving the Big Mek some rerolls (that with the downside being fail too many and he's dead, I shall only use sparingly) The two units of Boyz led by a nob will ride in support in the other Battlewagons.

The spare Mek I plan to join with the artillery to give those grots a bit of a Leadership boost. There's also a unit of Grots and a mob of boyz for looking after objectives in the backfield area.

 The traktor Kannons are the anti air for this list, though if there aren't any enemy flyers then I'll take pop-shots at ground targets too - hitting on a 6 isn't anything an ork player is generally going to cry about.

The only thing that might not be immediately obvious is the truks. Well I'll be honest, it was the local store manager that clued me in to this little trick, and as I had some points spare I decided to give it a try. Now sure, those truks won't be carrying those boyz mobs any time soon (though they could rescue the survivors if they ever take too much of a kicking!) but as they are bought for a troop that makes them also a troop, and as this army is built using the standard force org chart, this gives it objective secured. So I can tank shock an enemy off an objective and, if he doesn't have objective secured, steal it right from under his very nose. On a fast vehicle that's fairly handy!

So, what is the state of the army right now?

Well, I've got Ghaz. I've just finished converting his Battlewagon. I also have a couple deffrolla battlewagons sat around, need to do a couple bitz on them (mainly the wargear options) and they'll be good to go too. I also have all the boyz I will need for this. I've picked up one Mek Gun so far (I wanted to have a look at the kit, see how easy it is to magnetise... that aint gonna happen, though I have heard that with the spares and a truk kit you can jerry rig the other three guns in a suitably orky fashion, which I may try at some point.) I also *might* have a box of grots somewhere, but I may have used them on a conversion, so maybe not.

Needed? Well, the big mek and meganobz are required, so 3 boxes of meganobz. I also want the new painboy. I could use one I already have, but the new one is nicer. I also need a mek, I may look at the new one or just convert something. I need 2 more Mek guns. I also need two truks. Possibly one, I definitely have one spare that I got off a friend, but it's part assembled, and not very well done, so I may save that for the mek gun project and get fresh truks. I was also eyeing up the enclosed cab truk on forgeworld and thinking something snazzy like that would suit Bad Moons down to the ground.

I don't really NEED it for the above army, but I do WANT to get the new Shok Attack Gun at some point. Consider that on my shopping list for future development, when I wish to expand beyond my planned 2k list.

As for other future developments, well I still have tucked away 2 looted wagons, a dakkajet, lots of deffkoptas, lots of Nobz (including many with cybork bodies if I wanted to do a unit that looked like it had received the attentions of mad dok grotsnik) a crapton of Lootas, some stormboyz, 3 kans, 1 deffdred, 1 mega dred and 2 stompas. So plenty of room for expansion there...

Oh, and in case anyone is wondering how I have amassed such an unpainted collection of Orks, it's because when friends quit the hobby, I have a massive urge to offer their armies homes. When it's armies I have no interest in< I can usually fight the urges and let them go to a better place... when it came to pretty much doubling the size of my ork army... yeah, I caved.

Waagghhheeeeerrree do we go from here?

So, the new Ork codex is out and I've had a quick look through it, plus had plenty of time to appreciate the look of the new models that have been dribbling out over the last few weeks (whilst having no idea how they'd play and if I wanted them, so instead I spent my money on X-Wing this month, your loss GW)

Having looked at all they have on offer, I feel that my current Ork army has been mistreated somewhat. My usual warlord, Wazzdakka, gone. My using of Wazzdakka to make Bikers Troops, gone with him. The bikes being out of Fast attack to free up plenty of spots for Stormboyz, deffkoptas, dakkajets etc, gone. And the small units of boyz in truks barrelling towards the enemy, well it seems the new mob rules will encourage Ork players to take large units of orks... which won't fit in truks. Truks are now the specialists ride, Boyz are either Battlewagons or on foot. It leaves the look and feel of my entire Ork army a bit battered, and hoping for a Speed Freaks supplementary codex at some point in the future to bring them back to their glory... that is in my wishlist with a Catachan codex, so who knows when these will arrive.

In the meantime, I'll still want to play Orks. And they've got all sorts of shiny new toys that I DO like... but just don't fit into a speed freaks army. I love the new Meks guns, but we don't need Artillery pieces holding us back. I like the new Meganobz kits, but a unit with the "slow and purposeful" rule does not make an ideal bedfellow with a speed freaks army. Sure you can give them a transport, but it just doesn't feel like the big buggers would fit the theme...

So I have been thinking of taking a new direction with any future Orks I paint. I still have a job lot to do that I picked up cheaply from a friend who was quitting 40k (again, already looking to get back into it less than a year later) so perhaps they can be the core of a new, second force. From a different tribe.

The two other tribes I have looked at and liked have been the Deffskulls and the Bad Moons. I played around with some lists tonight, and with the deffskulls I picked what I wanted and got to roughly 1700 points. I normally aim for 2k. By this time I'd filled my HS and my HQ, had more than the minimum troop requirement, and had at least one of anything associated with Deffskulls... Lootas, Looted Wagon, Tankbustas, Meks. The problems? Well, for one, not enough points. Two, that looted wagon is the only vehicle in it apart from a flyer, so will be dead turn 1 guaranteed. And Three, there was an awful lot of shooting in the list. Sure, it can work for the Orks, don't get me wrong... but it didn't feel like why I wanted to play Orks. I got Speed Freaks to go rushing towards the enemy and headbutt them. If I want to sit back and shoot, well I've got my guard for that. Now admittedly half the time I send my guard rushing across the field to headbutt someone, but just because they attempt something out of their comfort zone doesn't mean these guys have to as well.

Which brings us to the Bad Moons. The list came to around the 2k mark. It's based around Ghazkull (or a Bad Moon counts as) and a big unit of MegaNobz plus meks in a pimped out Battlewagon, flanked by Battlewagons of Boyz. I've got some of the new traktor kannons in the list, as well as a dakkajet, some deffkoptas, and some boys and grots on foot to mind home side objectives.

There are some downsides to Bad Moons. For one, all that YELLOW. That is intimidating to paint. But with the new paints from Games Workshop I've heard it is easier now... I may have to do some test models to see just how easy it has become to see if this is something I could feasibly do. The other downside is that I was considering basing the second ork army in the same way as the first, so that both tribes could be part of a greater waaaaagh on the same iceworld if I wanted to. But I think the bright yellow bad moons would look better against a darker base colour, and the snow splatter effect that looks good up my bright red truks wouldn't look quite as effective on a yellow battlewagon. Dark mud sprayed up the side of a bright yellow vehicle, different story. So perhaps it may be time to give the poor Vahallens some rest, and to take my Waaagghing elsewhere for a while. Of course, only time (and a test model or two) will tell. If I can't do Bad Moons, I'm likely to return to the Deffskulls... and Blue works just fine on an ice world...

*Pictures of Deffskulls and Bad Moons borrowed from ebay, apologies if I've picked up someone elses models, as explained in the post above I haven't painted any of my own in these colours yet and wanted something illustrative.

First game of 7th: Review

Last night I played my first game of 7th edition, including the use of the new "Tactical Objectives" cards. We didn't quite do it right as we only had one deck, and technically whilst one person can't draw the same objective twice, each opponent could do so - sharing a deck meant that once an objective was gone it was gone for both. However we found simply drawing cards from the deck to be far quicker than rolling on the tables and marking down which had been used or not.

With that small modification taken into account, I have to say 7th edition looks great. This game was the most fun game I've had of 40k in ages. Now admittedly part of that was due to some random shots with a Manticore providing some entertainment, but I put more of it down to the feel of the game. Instead of simply looking to blast my opponents scoring units off the table for a few turns then get into a good position about turn 4/5 I had to react to what the tactical objectives threw up. Sure I might have a nice firebase, but if I can rush out and secure objective 4 I can earn a point. It made the game into a far more fluid affair. My opponent had started to advance his entire army towards me, but he got the chance to score on his own objective, so nipped some units back to do so. The game felt far less predictable, and because we were scoring as we went along we both felt like we were always in the game.

The psychic phase is a good mechanic. No more do you look across at your opponent throwing blessings around and feel you have no part to play. Now you can deny his power even if they don't effect you, both players are involved in the psychic phase - even if you have no psykers, you still have to choose which power to throw your dice at to try to stop. The fact that you throw more dice at a power means you're more likely to get perils, which are a lot worse, so the ability to get more powers off is tempered by the inherent risk involved in such an approach.

There were no flyers of FMCs in this game so we didn't playtest the changes to their rules, so I can't comment on that just yet.

If the rumours be true and they are bringing out race specific tactical objective cards that allow you to modify your deck to something more suitable to your army, I think that will add a fantastic dynamic to the game. I eagerly await the Ork release to confirm these rumours.

As for the game, well I was up against a tough army. Wraithknight, 2 wraithlords, 3 units of wraithguard a unit of fire dragons and a spiritseer, all in 4 wave serpents. I had brought a Manticore, a Wyvern, and a couple of 50 man blob squads. Yarrick was in the army, but as I had a Company Command too they were in charge. Nork Deddog was looking after the warlord, I also had a couple Divination level 2 Psykers and a couple priests. By blobbing the squads, I would have two 50 man blobs that the priests would make reroll to hit and possibly reroll to wound in combat whilst automatically passing all morale checks. The psykers were using their powers to give the squads reroll to hit, and one squad could also be given fire overwatch at full BS and another good power I had was ignore cover. Then when you threw in the orders that could give me tank hunter, monster hunter, or perhaps split fire, or ignore cover for the other squad if need be... those units presented quite the threat. I had the company commands loaded with flamers in chimeras, and I had a couple lascannon heavy weapon teams too. The blobs had missile launchers and flamers.

I set up aggressively but my opponent seized the initiative, and then took First Blood to take the lead. He also drew TO44, score D3 objectives for controlling any three objectives. Start of turn 1 with an Eldar army, that was very easy to do, and he scored a 3. 4-0 halfway through turn 1. In return I was already sat on objective 5 so got one for sure, and while my opponent had just taken objective 3, it was with the firedragons... they didn't have Objective Secured, whereas my infantry platoon command section did - they nipped up and stole the objective for a second point. 4-2 to Dale at the end of turn 1.

Turn 2 saw Dale with a bad draw as he moved forwards, and unable to complete any objectives this turn. He had however moved his army forwards, leaving him only holding two objectives. I was sitting on three of them, and drew TO45 giving D3 for controlling twice as many objectives as my opponent. A swift chimera advance onto an uncontested objective secured this for me, but I rolled a disappointing 1... Dale still leads 4-3. This turn also had a critical point when his wraithknight tried to assault my blob squad. Overwatch fire took it down a wound, leaving it with 2 (it had lost 3 the previous shooting phase) but it was assaulting my grav wave generator needing a 4... and rolled a 4. Half the roll, failed charge. Phew! This was a bit of a turning point, as I then shot and killed said wraithknight, and he could have locked that unit up for quite some time given neither Yarrick nor Nork was around to put anything capable of hurting the thing into the mix.

Turn 3 Dale responded by killing my Wyvern, which was a tactical objective for him that turn. I had TO53 which would give me point for killing enemy units (potentially up to D3+3, but against a small elite army like Dales that was very unlikely to happen.) I grabbed one point for killing one unit. I also scored a point for successfully manifesting a warp power, however I missed out on scoring D3 points for manifesting three as I failed to get a power off on 4 dice! Turn 3, 5-5.

Turn 4 Dale got an easy one, home objective, to retake the lead. I then took back a point for holidng the central objective. Turn 5 Dale nipped round the flank to secure his left objective, and also used his flat out moves and run moves to get three of his units within 12" of his table edge (none of my units were in the same band - TO43) I scored one for again having the central objective. I was desperately trying to get into a Linebreaker position, needing a 4 or more on my run... I got a 2. Dale was winning 8-7 at the end of turn 5...

We rolled...

There was a turn 6. During turn 6 Dale drew several attempts to grab the objectives deep in my deployment zone - no chance. So Dale scored nothing. I then drew a card that would give me one point for getting a unit into Linebreaker, and D3 if I could get three or more units into that position. That would tie the game, and potentially win it... though Linebreaker itself at game end could also win it... but there could always be a turn 7...

The psychic phase proved very useful in this turn. I cast a power that let me sacrifice a TO card and immediately activate a new one. I got TO41 - score a point if all the mysterious objectives have been revealed by the end of the turn. This late in the game, that was done long ago! Tied score even without Linebreaker.

As for the linebreaker gambit,I broke the priest off from the main horde and ran him. He made it. So did the horde. The command section that had narrowly missed out last turn moved into it this turn. That got me three units, the D3 came up with 2. End of turn 6, I'm winning 10-8.

We rolled...

The game ended. Linebreaker gives me an 11-8 win.

This was such a great game and a lot of fun for both me and my opponent. It was really close all the way through and had some fantastic cinematic moments. I am looking forward to more 7th edition.

There was one query...

Jink now says you don't have to move to claim it, however you must declare if a unit or vehicle that is targeted will jink BEFORE rolling to hit. So when I aimed my manticore at one of his wave serpents, he chose to jink. When the Storm Eagle rocket scatted 8 inches and hit another Wave serpent, my opponent and I agreed that as  the To Hit roll had already been made, he couldn't jink. The Wave Sepernt was caught off guard as it were. Luckily for him the shield downgraded it to a glance anyway.

In turn 2 I shot at the same wave serpent, that had moved forward and was now NEXT to the second wave serpent. This time he wanted to jink both. Now you could query if he could choose to jink a vehicle I wasn't actively targeting, but as I had placed my template to try to catch both of them I thought it only fair that I allow both vehicles to jink... which proved to be totally irrelevant as it scattered 7 inches and landed atop a third, non-jinking wave serpent. Again, the serpent shield rescued him. By the time turn 3 came around, it didn't matter where I fired, my opponent was jinking every serpent... "but that one is 27 inches away from the targ..." "I DON'T CARE, I'm jinking anyway" Hell even my guardsmen were ducking when that thing started it's launch sequence.

So that does beg the question, can a vehicle that is not the target of a template attack choose to jink if the template is placed so that it touches it? And can any vehicles in the vicinity choose to jink also, just to be on the safe side? Or do you have to be the actual target of the attack? Your thoughts?

Musings on Blog War 7

Well, it's all done and dusted, the smoke has cleared and the cannons have been stowed. So what happened at Blog Wars?

Well, the field was a little tougher than I had expected if I'm honest - yes, I know it's a tournament, but Blog Wars started as a hobbyists tournament. It still is for the most part, but there are a few competitive spirits about it has to be said. Then again, it had been 2 years sine my last Blog Wars, so perhaps for everyone else it has been a more gradual adjustment and was more surprising for me. I would still recommend it as a fun day and a friendly atmosphere... however I'm thinking my crazy project armies may not be taken again.

Yes, those crazy project armies like the Star Wars guard and more recently Pirates Vs Ninjas. Taking an army and deliberately working from a self restricted codex to fit a theme, picking units that may serve no particular tactical purpose other than giving you a chance to do a cool conversion (I'm looking at you Beastmaster and Razorwing flocks) and then entering it into a competitive environment, not the best. The Star Wars guard, with my years of Guard experience, I managed to overcome a lot of their inherent flaws and still finish a respectable mid-table. The Dark Eldar army, being only my second game with that army outside of four games of combat patrol, I didn't have that experience to fall back on. I didn't come last... a victory in the final game, the fight for the wooden spoon, avoided that fate. But 36 out of 38 is still rather poor. The Star Wars guard went in for the wooden spoon fight in the final game of the last Blog Wars, but I stonked my opponent so convincingly I ended up mid table. Not so this time. I kept away from the spoon and managed to put one more person in my wake, but that is it.

This taking of bad armies can best be summed up by the reaction of one of the other gamers, who I overheard admiring my army at the army judging table. Sure there were comments about the cool conversions, but what pricked my ears up was the comment "Wow he brought Mandrakes, he should get a bonus point just for that!" Now given Mandrakes are gorgeous models, I didn't think his "pity point" had anything to do with the look of the army. It's chances on the field of battle on the other hand...

So let's look at those Mandrakes. They're a cool idea, they've got a nice little shooting attack before running in to finish off the survivors. One problem... they need a pain token to use the shooting attack. Something they need to kill something to get. And chances are, by the time you've run these guys through a round of combat, there won't be many left to enjoy the shooting attack anyway. I sent one squad after an easy target in the first game, a squad of scouts. I outnumbered him 2:1, I was an assault unit, all he had in his favour was cover, meaning I'd be Initiative 1 for the first round of combat. I thought I could handle that. Several turns later my 5 surviving Mandrakes fled from the combat having killed 1 scout, and were promptly gunned down by the rest of his army, which by that point had tabled me and were waiting for me with itchy trigger fingers. Once they have a pain token they become immeasurably better, so starting them with a haemonculus would be a good idea. Except if you do that, they now can't infiltrate. Gah! About the best I could do with them was have the Cronos hurt something, toss the resultant pain token to the Mandrakes, then they could fire. That little trick was handy, and if I was going to expand the army I may repeat it... but the Cronos can't infiltrate, so is playing catch up with the mandrakes it is supposed to be supporting from the get go.

How about Khaerendahahahakkahak or whatever his name is? He starts with a pain token, is beefy in assault, and he gets to arrive Marbo esque wherever you like, preferably (according to the codex) with an evil chuckle. I can imagine him appearing, leering at his target, and whispering "I'm going to cut your head off... Next turn." At which point the target simply turns and shoots Kharendekekeheke in the head. Having a unit that is primarily designed for assault turn up and not charge is pretty useless. I mean, at least Marbo (lord rest his redacted soul) would turn up and throw a demo charge... this guy turns up and throws two str 4 ap 4 shots. Woo. If they gave this guy IC status it would make him AND Mandrakes miles better. Have a couple squads of Mandrakes advance on the enemy, when this guy becomes available he deploys and JOINS a squad. They then have a pain token. Sure they can't assault this turn because he just arrived from reserve, but they can then all bloody shoot. Two str 4 ap 4 shots isn't that impressive, but twenty two might make a dent... It would also give Kherwhatsisface some ablative wounds so that, god forbid, he may make it into combat. The only time I got him into combat this tournament was when a unit of Mandrakes tied up some marines for several turns (with pain token from Cronos to keep them in the fight) and I hid him behind a unit of Wyches that Mephiston duly slaughtered... freeing the way up for K-K to go bail the mandrakes out of the shit they were in.

So what about the actual games? Well first up I was against a Space Wolf/Space Marine list that included 7 drop pods... the marine contingent being a Stormraven and Stormtalon. This was over as a contest by turn 2. His drop assault on me took out my ravager (and 3 of only 7 strength based weapons in my entire army) and I remember looking at the situation and thinking "I could maybe just about deal with all of this... IF this was it. But no, there's more..." My overzealous scourges picked off a drop pod for some easy points, the resultant explosion killing four out of the five. Just felt like it wasn't going to be my morning. It was over as a contest by turn 2. My opponent seemed willing to accept my concession, but we had plenty of time and for tournament integrity I played on. I had a quad gun, Kharededeekeke and 5 mandrakes locked in combat with some scouts. I basically hoped I may pick off some scouts for some bonus VP. Couldn't even manage that. Tabled by turn 4.

Game 2 was against Tau/Space Marines, a squad of White Scars bikers providing some fast moving aggression that complemented the Tau gunline nicely. I hoped to get First Blood after putting 10 wounds on a 5 man pathfinder squad, but seeing him pass 8 of the 10 5+ cover saves was somewhat galling. Especially when those pathfinders, that hadn't even had the decency to go to ground, markerlighted my mandrakes and stripped cover from them, allowing them to be annihilated by the Tau firepower. I also hoped my wyches may tie up his riptide in combat (shardnets reducing it to a single attack per turn, the 4+ dodge keeping me alive as long as possible, the agoniser wounding on a 4+ hopefully picking at it... I didn't expect to win, just to stop him from shooting a few turns) but after enduring the firepower from several Tau units I then failed a 6" charge, with fleet. FFS. This was over as a contest by turn 5, but I kept playing again for tournament integrity, hoping that my solitary suriving model may kill the marines in his turn so I could charge his firewarriors and contest one objective in my turn. My opponent was hoping I'd kill the marines in my turn so that his entire army, sat on objectives and pointing their guns at my back, could finish the tabling. It was not to be... I couldn't kill the sodding marine. Was going for the instant kill on the bike commander, the sole survivor. Missed with Smash. Failed to wound with Smash. Missed with Smash. Failed to wound with Smash. Then hit... wounded... passed his bloody Iron Halo save. Which was largely irrelevant as this was turn 7 and game done anyway. So this game was an improvement... I had yet again given away maximum VP, but at least this time I was one wound from being tabled, instead of tabled.

Game 3 was the fight for the wooden spoon. Ken asked after, if I was tempted to throw the game so that I got something, and I said no. I didn't really want to finish last, and I felt it would ruin tournament integrity to deliberately throw a game... particularly just for a spoon and a £5 gift certificate. If the Imperial Knight that was the top raffle prize had been for coming last, then perhaps I may have wavered... which would have made for an interesting game as two armies tried to avoid landing near objectives whilst trying to accidentally give away FB/StW with failed dangerous terrain rolls!

Anyway, this was a good matchup for me, as I had been worried in this mission that someone could blast away my scoring units easily, then sit at their leisure and rack up Tournament points while I had bugger all I could do about it. My best hope was that my opponent would let me get into a nice protracted fight near the objectives with my scoring units. Which my assault marine blood angel opponent duly did. This was an interesting mission with objectives scoring every turn, which meant that by turn 3 I had built up enough of a lead (and reduced my opponents scoring units such) that he didn't think he could catch me. I agree he'd have struggled, though he could have done far better earlier on, when consolidating from a combat he won, he moved for his next turns charge... he should have moved to score a point off the objective, then deal with next turns charge NEXT turn. You're jump infantry, I'm not gonna outrun you! A few times I saw he could have claimed/contested objectives from consolidate moves but didn't. He also left his scouts awaiting their fate at the hands of the mandrakes for far too long... he should have run them out towards the objective. The extra distance alone would have delayed my assault, possibly even long enough for his Sternguard to chew up my Mandrakes before I reached him (they certainly chewed them up AFTER I'd killed them)

Anyway, a few mistakes from my opponent, and some careful play on my part, meant that my bedraggled force of idiots managed to claim one win before they are confined to my display shelf. Good for them. Though it has to be said, I'm glad it was a 5 turn game... he had a unit of Sternguard and half a squad of Sanguinary guard left, in control of MY quad gun. Oh, and a drop pod. I had two immobilised scratched raiders (pointing in useless directions I might add) and one ravage left alive. I think if it had been standard random game length, I might well have been tabled if it had gone to 7 turns. Maybe, maybe not. But I certainly could not have tabled my opponent... 2 turns to kill three targets (totalling 10 marines and a vehicle) with 3 shots per turn. You do the math.

As for the Pirates vs Ninjas, I was a little disappointed that I didn't get ANY votes in the best army contest... but to be fair, I have a cool theme, and am proud of my conversions, but the full title is Best PAINTED Army, and there were other works of a far higher standard than my own, so I cannot really complain. Though it was a little irksome when my opponent for game two was surprised to see my army and asked why I hadn't entered it into the contest... I told him I did and said where I'd put it... and he hadn't realised there was a second table, he'd have voted for me otherwise. Gee, thanks! I don't think this would have made much difference in the longrun, even if several people made the same mistake. It perhaps would have cost the beautiful tyranid army on the same table a critical vote or two (came second by one vote) but to me it would have made little difference. Ah well, I shall have to simply enjoy the many compliments my army got throughout the day.

As for another crazy project? Well despite this one going very long and me having to force myself to finish, the first thing I thought when I did finish was "What next?" Maybe I'm a glutton for punishment. However, I need to study 7th a bit more, there's an Ork codex round the corner, much to decide. And after the pirates dismal showing, perhaps I should design an army first and jerry rig a theme round it after this time? Or at the very least, stick to a codex I know well. Hell, I could even pick an army and just try to do a nice, high quality paintjob on it, rather than going for wacky outlandish pop culture references. All sound ideas in theory, but I know me, I'll probably do something silly at some point. I may try to postpone the crazy urges by painting some UCM Dropzone Commander forces to look like Aliens Colonial Marines, apart from the scout buggies, which will be in the desert colours of Dark Knight Rises (except one which of course comes in black...)

In the meantime, watch this space, and if you can make it to a future Blog Wars, do so. I won't be at 8, too much going on at that time of year, but I can perhaps make 9...

Yarr, weigh anchor!

We be sailin the seas at Blog Wars 7, normal service will resume when the parley be over and the rum be all gone...

Longstrike completed

The final piece of the painting for blog wars 7 is my special character, Longstrike. Now completed. This means that all i have to do is base a few models tonight and my painting is finished. This will mark the first blog wars that I have attended and will not be up until 3am the previous morning to finish off my painting.

Blog Wars 7 Army

That time of half year is upon us again. I'm looking to keep up to my trend of making every odd numbered blog wars. 1st one i took my Tau and came a respectable third place, since then I've taken my tyranids to 3 and 5. Though a couple of bad matchups left me in the mid / lower table regions.
This time I am heading back to the roots and taking my tau force. This will be my first outing in a semi competitive environment with the new codex. Ive had precious few games with the army in 6th edition, so should be interesting to see how I do.
With blog wars being one of the friendly tournaments I am avoiding using the nastier builds available, missile spam and ovesastar spring to mind, and I'm limiting myself to one riptide.
Previously i took farsight as my special character, though he doesn't really fit in with a shooting force, although he has his uses for deepstriking a killer bodyguard, and could be teamed with a space marine librarian for gating about. This strikes me as a bit of a dodgy tactic, so farsight is out for this year.
Shadowsun would have made a good commander for the army, and while i like the idea of a stealth shrouded riptide, that also strikes me as a little too competitive for blog wars. So I'm settling for longstrike and his railcannon. I think that having the tankhunter on it will help considerably with av14, of which it looks like there will be quite a few at blog wars with lots of Pasks about.
So my army will consist of the following:

Commander with iridium, puretide, missile pod and fusion.
Ethereal
Riptide with ion, velocity tracker, early warning and SMS.
3x crisis suits with 2x missile pods
3x crisis suits with missile/plasma (1 fusion)
9 firewarriors
9 firewarriors
6 firewarriors
10 kroot
10 kroot
Hammerhead, with railcannon and longstrike
Hammerhead with railcannon
Broadsides with heavy rail rifles and SMS.

Of course this isn't fully extensive and there are a few additional items scattered about. However it shows the bulk of what will be on the field.

Just got to finish painting them now. :)

I see you took my advice about theatricality a bit... literally...

Taking a few snaps of the ninja contingent of my Blog Wars force and the quote used to title this post sprang to mind...

Ten more Mandrakes and Kharakhadakakaeshashaka or whatever his name is to go. The throaght clearer is built, needs undercoating. Half the remaining Mandrakes are waiting to be built, the other half I had to take back to the shop as they'd put the wrong sprues into the box they sent me - At first glance I was like "Cool, bonus extra mandrake" until I realised the missing sprue that had a solitary mandrake also had the squads left arms with him...

 

 

Blog Wars Appears on the Horizon...

Ken and I shall be attending Blog Wars in a few short weeks, and he came down to visit for a couple of days for some practice games. We figured we'd get used to our armies and the missions and such.

Well.

I played one mission with my Blog Wars list. It was such a MASSIVELY crushing defeat that I thought it best to break out the guard so that Ken had something to actually TEST his army against, rather than just club baby seals. It's not that ken has done a power list - it's effective, don't get me wrong, but there's nothing hideous about it. It's just that my army... well... kinda sucks. Ken tried to polish a turd by saying Tau were a bad matchup for it, but I think I will really struggle in the upcoming tournament. Mission 3 I think just REALLY is not going to suit my army at all unless my opponent does something drastically stupid, and on the other two missions I am VERY reliant on going first to close the distance so that only half my units die before reaching combat, instead of all of them.

The problem? I can't change my list. I haven't designed this list with Blog Wars in mind, nor any tournament. Hell I barely put any thought into playing games with this army. I have designed it purely to theme... and it does as well as you might expect given that is the case. Now my Star Wars Guard army was also to theme, though 14 years of Guard experience carried me on that one to a mediocre record of wins/losses. Playing an army I played for the first time yesterday... I doubt this will end well.

On the bright side, there is a £5 gift voucher for coming last, and a certificate nd a spoon. So I may not leave the venue empty handed after all...

 

So, onto the list. Obviously I'm not particularly after advice or feedback here, I haven't the time or the models to change anything even if I was inclined to. I'm just putting it all out there. I'll start with the list from the codex, so you can all see what I have. I'll include details where necessary to clarify. Then I'll follow it up with the background info on the army, so that the eclectic collection of units may start to make a little more sense...

The List

HQ - Warlord. Special Character. Duke Sliscus - 150

T - 20 Kabalite Warriors, inc Sybarite and 2 Splinter Cannons - 210

T - 10 Wyches inc Hekatrix w Agoniser, and 2 wyches with Shardnets and Impalers. Squad Haywire Grenades. - 170
ded tran Raider, enhanced aethersails, grisly trophies, flickerfields - 80

T - 10 Wyches inc Hekatrix w Agoniser, and 2 wyches with Shardnets and Impalers. Squad Haywire Grenades. - 170
ded tran Raider, enhanced aethersails, grisly trophies, flickerfields, torment grenade launchers - 85

FA - Beastmaster w power weapon, 2 flocks razorwings - 52

HS - Ravager, enhanced aethersails, grisly trophies, flickerfields - 125

F - Aegis Line with Quad Gun - 100

HS - Cronos Parasite Engine, spirit vortex - 100

HQ - Kharadruakh - 140

E - 10 Mandrakes inc Nightfiend - 160

E - 10 Mandrakes inc Nightfiend - 160

FA - 5 Scourges inc Solarite and 2 heat lances - 144

Total - 1846

For clarification;

Agoniser - Power Weapon that always wounds on a 4+
Shardnet and Impaler - reduces attacks of any enemy in base contact
Enhanced Aethersails - Vehcile can move an additional 2D6" but no shooting or disembarking allowed
Grisly Trophies - A friendly unit within 6" of the vehicle can reroll LD tests
Flickerfields - 5+ inv save
Torment Grenade Launcher - Any enemy unit within 6" is at -1 morale. They must also pass an LD test to assault the vehicle.

Dark Eldar units have Power through Pain - each time they kill a unit they gain a pain token, giving them increasing bonuses (Feel No Pain, then Furious Charge, then Fearless)

So, on to the reasoning behind all this...

Several years ago, Ken and I regularly attended a doubles combat patrol tournament. We did some cool theme armies (such as xbox inspired Halo Marines) and we struck on the bright idea of doing Pirates vs Ninjas. Well I set to it with wild abandon, only for them to change the campaign pack from the previous year... my army was not legal. So we took something else, but I always had it sat on my shelf looking at me. Eventually I expanded the two combat patrol forces into the Pirates working with Ninjas list that I shall be taking to Blog Wars.

Funnily enough, these aren't really accurate Pirates... they are somewhat inspired by popular culture of Pirates/Ninjas, and therefore are rather heavily influenced by Pirates of a Caribbean nature it has to be said...

So, to flesh out the bare bones of the above list...

HQ - Warlord. Special Character. Duke Barbosa - 150
He may have taken the Kings shilling for now, but he has his own designs. He is an expert in poisons and knows how to get to the edge of the world... and back...

T - 20 Men of the Crown, including Staff Sergeant and 2 Weapon specialists - 210
 Provided to Barbosa for his quest

T - 10 Scurvy Dogs mad enough to sail into the abyss! - 170
ded tran The Pearl, full sail and full rum stores! For now... Keep a weather eye out for Elizabeth - 80
The fastest ship around, with a crew half mad according to Mr Cottons Parrot...

T - 10 Souls doomed to stalk the seas in service to Davy Jones - 170
ded tran The Dutchman, full sail, plenty of rum, and a terrifying sight to behold! - 85
Striking fear into seamen everywhere, the Dutchman will ask a question... do you fear death?

FA - Cap'n Jack. Riding a couple of roped sea turtles and surrounded by a whole menagerie of creatures. - 52
With human hair, I might add... from his back...

HS - The Dauntless - 125
Its said she's the power in these waters...

F - The old Sea Wall and Harpoon - 100
I doubt we shall see the likes of the White Whale again, but we may be able to nap something...

HS - The Grox and Maiden - 100
If this place scares you, then NEVER go to Singapore...

HQ - Ronin - 140
He lacks a master, and stalks the shadows in pursuit of his own ends...

E - The League of Shadows - 160
They seek justice... in the most violent way...

E - The Division of Darkness - 160
In much the same business as The League of Shadows and the Conference of Shady Places...

FA - BATMAN. And some friends. - 144
Don't worry, he's given them something better than hockey pads...

Total - 1846

For clarification;

Agoniser - It looks like a big whip!
Shardnet and Impaler - It's a net, looks very nautical
Full sails - They're sails, I HAD to include the upgrade...
Rum supplies - The sight of spare rum will keep the spirits of any pirate up...
Flickerfields - 5+ inv save
Torment Grenade Launcher - The Dutchman is terrifying to behold, therefore... Any enemy unit within 6" is at -1 morale. They must also pass an LD test to assault the vehicle.

Pirates(and begrudgingly Ninjas) have Power through Rum - each time they kill a unit they have a drink, making them increasingly inebriated (Deadened Pain Senses, Increased Aggression, Invincibility... hell, we've all been there)

 The Cronos/Grox and Maiden will be able to hand out Pain/Rum tokens to units if it kills anything with it's "spirit" weapons...

The Cronos/Grox is the biggest issue in the army. It is the centrepiece, and is FAR larger than a Cronos should be, in order to make it look as I wanted it to look. To represent the template weapon I have an ogre firebelly, who has clearly had too many flaming Sambucas. To represent the Spirit Vortex, we have a bartender who can choose to start lobbing Molotov Cocktails if he feels like it. The Firebelly is stood on a table, that is th size of the base the Cronos should be on. I will measure any of my weapons/area of effect powers from THAT table, so as to gain no advantage from my modelling. I will allow my enemies to target any part of the model if they wish, so as to give no possible disadvantage to them. if they wish to play to how the model "should" be, then the firebelly on the table should be a fairly accurate height/size to represent the Cronos.

The ninja contingent was the toughest part of this task. I decided early on the Mandrakes were a good choice, but how to paint something that was half skin so that it looked mostly black was a real tricky proposition for me. And if I did do them in mostly black, would I give them different bases to the Pirates? Would I then make a display board with different areas for my forces to sit on? In the end, with time running out, I won't be doing a display board, so will assume the ninjas have broken from the shadows and are running across the sand with the pirates. Besides, the contrast between the bright base and the dark model looks good...

Anyway, with only 40 infantry an aegis and a Grox and Maiden to paint in the next three and a bit weeks, I'm not sure how many posts I'll have time for between now and Blog Wars... I shall endeavour to keep you all updated, but if I have time to post I should probably be painting!