Back from the dead (well not quite)

Very little gaming this year unfortunately, been busy with exams and such. Did manage to attend chiswick gaming club properly again as can be seen below and also performed woefully in a doubles tournament with my bro where we just took whatever we had painted. Before 6th came to an end I also managed to make a start on building some artillery that I won from IDIC's laser cut card giveaway as well as some pain tokens/objective markers.

Was going to try to attend an 1650 pt tournament in London called clash of the titans towards the end of 6th but in the end did not have time to spend two days of study leave to play 40k. I even managed to start painting/quick shading my tau contingent but sadly that is now useless as a result of the change to the allies system... Classic...

Honestly I don't think the posting is going to become any less sporadic any time soon due to a combination of 7th edition coming out and me not having a viable army as well as more exams and uni applications coming in September. 

Hopefully dark eldar will come out at about Christmas and I'll be able to get back into this hobby properly again.

Workbench WIP - Baron, LR and Chapter Master on Bike

Just a quick update on what I built about a week ago now. First of all I got inspired to try and make a baron conversion. All he needs is a greenstuff cloak and I might kitbash his weapon to make it more menacing.  I quite like the bat-like look of his skyboard. It's a conversion based on a mix of a hellion skyboard, a reaver jetbike spare part and lots of spikey bits. I need to tidy up some of the joints though as they're a bit messy at the moment.

I also dug up an old captain and biker sergeant that Paul made probably about 5-6 years ago now. I swapped their backpacks, gave him a shield, cleaned him up and magnetised a powerfist so he can eventually get a thunderhammer/burning blade if I feel like it at some point. Also in the background is my old landraider which I continued fixing, this time by removing the assault cannons which shouldn't be there by tearing them off. I found some heavy bolters which were meant to be predator side sponsons and tried them but they look a little chunky so we'll see. In any case it's not crucial anymore since I'm not going to a 750pts tournament as planned for which I would have needed to have gotten this done.

Digital weapons v1 game 3

Game 3 - vs Necrons:

(Apparently this is a copy and paste of his list)

HQ - Imotekh the Stormlord(Royal Court: - Cryptek + chronometron (40 pts) - Cryptek + voltaic staff (25 pts) - Cryptek + abyssal staff + veil of darkness (60 its)) [350pt] 
HQ - Overlord(warscythe, sempiternal weave, resurrection orb, mindshackle scarabs, phase shifter) [205pt] 
Troops - Immortals x7(gauss blasters) [119pt] 
Troops - Warriors x 6(Night Scythe (Dedicated Transport)) [178pt] 
Troops - Warriors x5(Night Scythe (dedicated transport)) [165pt] 
Heavy support - Annihilation Barge(tesla cannon) [90pt] 
Heavy support - Annihilation Barge(tesla cannon) [90pt] 
Heavy support - Annihilation Barge(tesla cannon) [90pt] 
Fast attack - Canoptek Wraiths x6() [210pt] 

Mission is 6 objectives, fast attack scores, but doesn't give up points. Each player places a 3, 2 and 1 - pointer, the values of which are revealed upon a unit coming within 3" of them. Deployment is vanguard strike. I'm not sure who gets to pick sides, may have been me. I try to keep my objectives close together around the landing pad. He wins the roll-off for first turn and takes it, claiming that he's already been nearly wiped by one tau player in round 1 and that this will be a quick game... I'm not so sure. He redeploys his barges several times, finally settling on placing them as far forward as possible. His massive immortal squad with all the lords and crypteks is behind the main ruin in his dz.

Digital Weapons Game 1 - on video

Courtesy of Spaceman/The False Emperor Youtube channel, you now have the chance to view game 1 as seen here on video! It's all in russian but nonetheless. In other words, I guess I can now say I'm internet famous...

Digital weapons v1: Game 2

Game 2 - relic, dawn of war deployment. I get the pleasure of versing a seer council of doom for the first time:

Farseer, bike, spear (doom, executioner, guide)
Farseer, bike spear (eldritch storm, death mission, guide)
8 warlocks on bike (2x guide, 3x executioner, doom, enhance/drain, quicken/restrain)
5 dire avengers, wave serpent, scatter laser, holo-fields
5 dire avengers, wave serpent, scatter laser, holo-fields
Wraithknight with D-cannons or whatever they're called

Baron Sathonyx

5 warriors, blaster, venom with extra cannon, maybe some grisly trophies or something.

My opponent somehow didn't get fortune so I guess I wasn't even versing this army at it's full potential. The special rule for this table was night-fight happens automatically on both turn 1 and turn 5, which was great considering I rolled night attacker for my warlord trait...

I win the roll of to choose sides and give my opponent the side with minimal los-blocking terrain so he hasn't got anywhere to hide the council should I get turn 1. I place the skyshield accordingly to negate the one los-blocker that my opponent could potentially use.

I then lose the roll of for first turn, courtesy of the baron...

Digital weapons v1: Game 1

Just a quick intro to start off with. This was an 1500 pt tournament with all of the new dataslates, etc allowed. IA on the otherhand was not. Proxies and unpainted models were also not placed under any restrictions which meant it was the perfect place to test the list I came up with following the 1850 doubles tournament. In effect I took that but obviously trimmed down. Also there was a funky rule where something special happened on each table.

Primary - Tau:

Commander, CnC node, MSSS, PEN-chip, Iridium armour
Riptide, ion accelerator, fusion blaster, EWO, Velocity tracker
10 kroot, hound
10 kroot, hound
5 pathfinders
5 pathfinders
3 broadsides, 2x EWO
Skyray, twin-linked SMS
Skyray twin-linked SMS

Secondary - Iron Hands:

Chapter Master, bike, artificer armour, shield eternal, power fist
5 bikes, 2x grav-gun

Skyshield Landing pad

Game 1 vs CSM + Necrons:

Sorceror, couple of mastery levels, force axe (?)
Cultists
Cultists
Heldrake
Heldrake
2x Oblits
2x Oblits
Havocs with Lascannons

Necron Lord, 2+ armour, res orb, scythe
Cryptek, (orb?), special flamer and/or haywire staff thing (voltaic staff?)
5 warriors
5 warriors
Night Scythe
Night Scythe

Bastion with Comms-relay

The table we got was wintery and so no weapons would overheat... Decent for my opponent kinda meh for me with my one twin-linked riptide... Mission was Big Guns Never Tire 2 objectives and Hammer and Anvil deployment - heavy support doesn't give up any points... I manage to win the roll off for first turn I think actually my opponent went first and to pick sides. I try to give my opponent the side with relatively little terrain to hide behind. Chapter Master, Commander and Riptide join up to deliver a turn 1 alpha strike that will definitely get first blood, broadsides sit nearby so the commander can flit between them. The rest of the army is as far away from the heldrakes as possible or behind/in between the legs of the skyshield which were ruled as giving 3+ cover, as opposed to the top of the landing pad which only gave a 4+ invuln...

750 point tournament: Christened in Battle

This past weekend I attended two tournaments, the second of which was 750 pts full wysiwyg and full paint. There was limited space but a lot of people turned up so games were played on a half table. This benefitted so up armies in some situations a lot more than others...

My list 750 pts Iron Hands:

Master of the forge

5 scouts,heavy bolter

5 tactical marines, meltagun, melta bombs

Land raider redeemer, multi-melta, extra armour

Land raider

The idea was that heldrakes don't scare me and I bring something no one expects to see, and two of them at that. For people who had not come prepared this was likely to be a shock. I was also aware that at the same time I could come up with some very bad match-ups for me to the extent where I am hoping for the best shooting with two lascannons while being torn apart by a stromraven.

Also of note is the fact that I finally dug up my half-built land raider that I had lying around from what? 6 years ago now? So I fixed it up and got 3 colours on it...

Game 1 vs Necrons

Double Blow - Game 3

Game 3 - vs Space marines and Dark Angels

Tigurius - scrier's gaze, prescience and the malediction that makes us re-roll successful saves
Techmarine on bike with conversion beamer ( i think)
3x devastator centurions in land raider with multi-melta
5x scouts with snipers and camo cloaks
5x scouts with combat weapons and pistols in land speeder storm with heavy flamer
Land raider redeemer
Stormraven with multi-melta and lascannon

DA librarian ML 2, 4+ invuln thing - precognition and something else,
5 deathwing knights
5 scouts
Stormraven with multi-melta and lascannon

Mission: Relic, Deployment: vanguard strike.

Our opponents got to choose sides and I think they made a mistake here. If they had picked the diagonal to give us and themselves very little terrain, we would still be ignoring cover against their land raiders no matter what, meanwhile we wouldn't have had a massive ruin to fortify and sit everyone in. For warlord traits we got night attacker and promptly put it to use.

Double blow - Game 2

Army list can be found in previous post.

Game 2 vs chaos allied with black legion.

Abaddon - got shrouded on boon of mutation

2 oblits mon

2 oblits mon

2 oblits mon

10 cultists

10 cultists

5 spawn mon

Helldrake 

Helldrake

Sorcerer ml 3, bike, boon of mutation (?)

10 cultists

10 cultists

Helldrake

2 oblits mon

His sorcerer got puppet master, fearless and some other thing. Yes I say his because I've played this guy before, he's a very good player, all the models were his own and he told me that his friend was there only because he needed a team-mate for the purposes of doubles.

Mission - big guns never tire, deployment - hammer and anvil.

We win the roll of to choose sides and straight away make a mistake as Paul persuades me that there's a nice ruin where we can place everyone. Unfortunately this turns out not to be the case as it means for the most part no one would get cover. We get to go and deploy first. They plonk their aegis right in the middle of the board. We fortify the far left ruin and put broadsides in it. Riptide, pathfinders and bikes in the middle and thunderfire and two rhinos with tacticals behind the building as well. Everything else in reserve, kroot outflank.

Double blow - Game 1

2000 pts doubles, single foc one player is the "allied detachment" hence why we tried to make the two halves as equal as possible while remaining semi-competitive and using as many painted marine models as possible. My team-mate was my brother Paul.

Took the following list:

Chapter Master, shield eternal, burning blade, bike, artificer armour, auspex
5 bikers, 2x grav-gun
Tactical Squad, plasmagun, combi-plasma, multi-melta, rhino
Tactical Squad, plasmagun, combi-plasma, multi-melta, rhino
Stormtalon, twin-linked lascannon
Stormtalon, twin-linked lascannon
Thunderfire Cannon

Allied Tau (under Paul's control):
Commander with Iridium armour, PEN chip, MSSS, 4+ invuln, stimulant injectors
Riptide, ion, fusion blaster, EWO, velocity tracker
6 Firewarriors
10 kroot, hound
6 pathfinders
3 broadsides with missiles, 2 with target locks

Game 1 vs Raven guard plus some other space marine chapter

They had roughly:

2000 points doubles list + army painting update

Updated painting on lots of my marines. Close-ups following the tournament. Format will be single foc, one player counts as the allied detachment. Interesting to see how much my painting has improved over the last 5-6 years (these bikers were some of my first models). Also tried a bit of quite unsuccessful freehand on my second rhino and got it painted up.

For those interested, the list can be found here: http://hq-builder.com/shared/526586bd028dbb14c131cbb6

1850, Purge, Marines vs Orks

1850 pts marines:

Ultras: 

Librarian ml 2

Master of the forge

6-8 (can't remember) sternguard with powerfist and 3x combi-melta

Tactical squad, plasma, combi-plasma, multi-melta, rhino

Tactical squad, plasma, combi-plasma, multi-melta, rhino

5 scouts, snipers, camo cloaks

Stormtalon with lascannon

Stormtalon with lascannon

Thundefire

White scars:

Chapter master, bike, shield eternal, burning blade, articifier

5 bikers 2x grav-guns

 Orks:

Wazdakka

War boss, eavy armour, big choppa

5 bikers

30 boys, 3 rokkit launchers, nob power klaw

Gretchin

6 nobs, power claws big choppas, eavy armour, combi skorcha, trukk

10 lootas

10 lootas 

3 deffkoptas

Battlewagon, zapp gun, dethrolla

Battlewagon, zapp gun, dethrolla

Purge the alien, dawn of war. We placed terrain using the rule book method, hence why it looks so retarded. Paul had first turn, an deployed the battlewagons full of lootas and the nob truck on the skyshield. Bikes went into hiding with wax dakka behind the fort, deffkoptas central and gretchin in a small ruin on my left flank. The mob of 30 orks was left in reserve.

In response I set up my thundefire as far away from the lootas as possible with good line of sight on top of a tower (bottom left). Scouts went into a fortified ruin behind the aegis with the quad gun, bikes were central to attract attention and because I couldn't hide both them and the rhinos in the central ruin.

For psychic powers I got flame breath and invisibility. Warlord trait was -1 to enemy reserves. Can't remember what Paul got.

ReUnion first run (tournament report)

Went to another tournament, also ETC format this past weekend (full wysiwyg and full paint). Took my guard which I just finished painting. So here's a quick rundown.

I took the following list:

CCS 2x plasmagun, lascannon

Marbo

Veterans, 3x meltas, shotguns, chimera

Veterans, 3x plasma, power sword, chimera

PCS 3x flamer, meltabomb

2x infantry squad (one with commissar power sword and plasma pistol) each with autocannon

2x infantry squad (one with commissar with power sword) each with missile launcher

Special weapons squad 2x melta, demo charge

Vendetta

Vendetta

Hellhound

Vanquisher, flamer

Executioner, plasma sponsons 

Aegis with quad gun

1850 pts Emperor's Will: SM vs Daemons

Played a game against Paul's Daemons with an experimental list for my ultras. While I'm not going to buy any new sternguard I'm just trying out what it would be like if my ones all had combi-meltas. The lists:

Lysander

Librarian (avenger, null zone)

Sternguard (5) with combi-meltas, one power fist, drop pod

Assault terminators (th/ss) in lr redeemer with multi-melta

Tactical Squad multi-melta, combi-melta, meltagun, power fist

Sniper scouts (7) with camo cloaks

2x Stormtalon with skyhammers

Storm raven with assault cannons and multi-melta

Paul ran the same list as at the last tournament (this past weekend - report is about 50% finished atm):

Fateweaver

Herald of tzeentch locus of conjuration, exalted reward

2x 3 flamers

2x 10 plagues

20 horrors

7 screamers

Burning chariot

Soul grinder

Dp, wings, ml 3, exalted and lesser reward

Bastion with icarus

Into the Breach Game 3 + wrap up

Last game and I come up against csm. Army list looked something like this:

Abbadon

Lord of slaanesh on steed with some thing that gives him and unit outflank

2x 5 noisemarines with blastmaster

3x 10 cultists

2 heldrakes

3 obliterators

3 obliterators

2 obliterators

Aegis with comms relay

Not many pics from this game. Was actually quite tired by this point and I think the two hours of sleep started to affect me :/ hence lots of stupid mistakes and to cut a long story short a 20-0 loss for me.

Into the breach Game 2

Having won 20-0 first round, I knew I would be in for some tough opposition in the second one. As predicted, this game was against a member of the Russian ETC team, Wonden, and his tau. His list looked very good and I'll probably be stealing parts of it in the future hehe.

Farsight

Shadowsun

Farsight bomb with lots of missiles, plasma, fusion blasters and a guy with multi-sensor spectrum suite and command and control node as well as PEN chip in there somewhere and lots of marker drones

Riptide, ion accelerator and fusion blaster

3x 6 firewarriors

6(?) pathfinders

2x 3 broadsides with missiles

Space marine librarian with force axe and gate of infinity (epistolary)

5 sniper scouts with camo cloaks

Into the breach: Game 1 vs Tyranids

His list looked something like:

Swarmlord with tyrant guard 

Winged hive tyrant with twin devourers

3 hive guard

A bunch of genestealers with broodlord

2x 10 hormagaunts (maybe devil gaunts?) in spore pods

Tervigon

Doom of Malantai with spore pod

Mission was relic (worth 6 points) and kill points (using the difference to count as up to 6 points). Deployment was vanguard strike.

(Pictures at the bottom of the post)

I decided to keep my powers, my opponent rolled a lot and got psychic shriek, hallucination, puppet master and others... Opponent got to choose the sides and we both got conqueror of cities as our warlord trait.

I won the roll off to deploy and chose to go second, knowing the importance of being able to drop onto the relic in the end game. The tyranids decided to hide and seemed quite surprised at being given first turn. I tried to make sure that my side armours of tanks were out of range of the hive guard but I somehow made a mistake with my vindicator and so it died on turn one. Night fight was on by the way. 

Also the genestealers infiltrated into the place where my scouts were going to go, so I just placed them in a way that would help them reinforce the blob and help kill the stealers. The winged tyrant flew forwards and the rest of the bid force shuffled around a bit.

In my first turn the tactical marines dropped in, and split into a melta squad and a bolter squad with accompanying librarian. Chimeras moved forwards. Everything basically went into the flying mc, killing him, the tyrant guard took a wound and I think I killed a few genestealers.

Turn 2 a squad of guants come in and wreck the one of my chimeras by stripping how from back armour. Soothing sees the melta squad charged by the hive tyrant and I lose two guys I think. Another chimera is damaged by the hive guard.

In return I get Marbo in and take out a significant chunk out of the hiding genestealers with a nice demo charge. I also wipe all the gaunts with combined shooting from blob and thunderfire.

Over the next few turns my melta marines lose a combat and flee then auto regroup to get the relic. This then let's me shoot down the hive tyrant. Genestealers kill the scouts. Doom kills the cannon and eventually the whole blob gaining 10 wounds and camping out in the middle of my army. My company command squad kills the hive guard (helped by the two talons which came on together. Another giant pod lands in my backfield and kills the dreadnought. Then my vendetta brings on my pcs which flames the guants and my flamer dread drops in and kills the stealers. My Libby and 2 remaining marines remember that they have combat tactics, flee the combat don't get caught and I then shoot dead the tervigon. 

A this stage all he has left is the doom loitering up near the relic. I'm ahead about 12-9 on kps but really need to get a last minute grab and all my traps consist of is the pcs which is back in the vendetta dn the 2 marines. I then remember that my Libby has null zone, and nice Marbo has scarpered around the back into linebreaker, this frees up my Libby to reach into the middle and cats his power. Everything then goes into the doom and I manage to kill him with my very last shot, gaining a 20-0 massacre.

Into the Breach Tournament

So I arrived in Russia at 5 am today and already I'm off to a tournament. Went by a night flight so I've had about 2 hours sleep and haven't played 40k in 2 months... So we'll see how it goes lol. It's ETC style and fully painted only so I'm using Space Marines with guard allies. Should hopefully be able to post updates throughout the day. Also haven't got my good camera with me so it'll be iPhone photos this time around. 

In any case here's my list:

Space Marines (1850/1850pt.) Into the breach final list

http://hq-builder.com/shared/51c86864028dbb3937617fa3

@HQ [ 1 ]

Space Marine Librarian (100pt.) Force weapon; Psychic hood; Frag grenades; Krak grenades; Power armour; Bolt pistol; 

@Elites [ 2 ]

Dreadnought (160pt.) Smoke launchers; Searchlight; Assault cannon; Dreadnought close combat weapon; Built-in Heavy flamer; 

> 1x - Drop pod (35pt.); Storm bolter; 

Dreadnought (125pt.) Smoke launchers; Searchlight; Twin-linked autocannon (x2); 

@Troops [ 2 ]

10x - Tactical Squad (245pt.) Power armor (x9); Bolt pistol (x9); Frag grenades (x9); Krak grenades (x9); Meltagun; Multi-melta; Boltgun (x7); 

> 1x - Space Marine Sergeant (61pt.); Power armor; Frag grenades; Krak grenades; Power fist; Combi-melta; 

> 1x - Drop pod (35pt.); Storm bolter; 

5x - Scout Squad (85pt.) 

> 3x - Scout (13pt.); Scout armour; Frag grenades; Krak grenades; Bolt pistol; Boltgun; 

> 1x - Scout (23pt.); Scout armour; Frag grenades; Krak grenades; Bolt pistol; Missile Launcher; 

> 1x - Scout Sergeant (23pt.); Scout armour; Frag grenades; Krak grenades; Boltgun; Bolt pistol; 

@Fast attack [ 2 ]

Stormtalon Gunship (110pt.) Ceramite plating; Twin-linked assault cannon; Twin-linked heavy bolter; 

Stormtalon Gunship (110pt.) Ceramite plating; Twin-linked assault cannon; Twin-linked heavy bolter; 

@Heavy support [ 2 ]

Thunderfire cannon (100pt.) 

> 1x - Techmarine gunner ; Artificer armour; Bolt pistol; Frag grenades; Krak grenades; Servo-harness; 

Vindicator (125pt.) Demolisher cannon; Storm bolter; Smoke launchers; Searchlight; Siege shield; 

@Secondary Detachment [ 1 ]

@HQ [ 1 ]

Company Command Squad (165pt.) 

> 1x - Company Commander ; Frag grenades; Refractor field; Flak armour; Laspistol; Close combat weapon; 

> 1x - Guardsman (15pt.); Frag grenades; Close combat weapon; Flak armour; Plasma gun; 

> 1x - Guardsman (15pt.); Frag grenades; Close combat weapon; Flak armour; Plasma gun; 

> 1x - Guardsman (15pt.); Frag grenades; Close combat weapon; Flak armour; Plasma gun; 

> 1x - Guardsman (15pt.); Frag grenades; Close combat weapon; Flak armour; Plasma gun; 

> 1x - Chimera armored transport (55pt.); Search light; Smoker launchers; Multi-laser; Heavy flamer; 

@Elites [ 1 ]

Guardsman Marbo (65pt.) Flak armour; Ripper pistol; Envenomed blade; Frag grenades; Melta bombs; Demolition charge; 

@Troops [ 2 ]

10x - Veteran Squad (155pt.) 

> 1x - Veteran Sergeant ; Frag grenades; Flak armour; Laspistol; Close combat weapon; 

> 6x - Veteran ; Frag grenades; Close combat weapon; Flak armour; Lasgun; 

> 3x - Veteran (10pt.); Frag grenades; Close combat weapon; Flak armour; Meltagun; 

> 1x - Chimera armored transport (55pt.); Search light; Smoker launchers; Multi-laser; Heavy flamer; 

Infantry Platoon (165pt.) 

# Platoon Command Squad (45pt.)  

> 1x - Platoon Commander ; Flak armour; Frag grenades; Laspistol; Close combat weapon; 

> 1x - Guardsman (5pt.); Flak armour; Frag grenades; Close combat weapon; Flamer; 

> 1x - Guardsman (5pt.); Flak armour; Frag grenades; Close combat weapon; Flamer; 

> 1x - Guardsman (5pt.); Flak armour; Frag grenades; Close combat weapon; Flamer; 

> 1x - Guardsman ; Flak armour; Frag grenades; Close combat weapon; Lasgun; 

# 2x - Infantry Squad (120pt.)  

> 1x - Sergeant ; Flak armour; Frag grenades; Laspistol; Close combat weapon; 

> 1x - Heavy Weapon Team (10pt.); Flak armour; Frag grenades; Close combat weapon; Lasgun; Autocannon; 

> 8x - Guardsman ; Close combat weapon; Flak armour; Frag grenades; Lasgun; 

@Fast attack [ 1 ]

Vendetta Gunship Squadron (140pt.) 

> 1x - Vendetta (140pt.); Searchlight; Extra armour; Twin-linked lascannon (x3); Heavy bolter (x2); 

@Created by Head Quarters - online roster builder

Tournament Report: Spring Storm

I know this is from a while back, but I've only just got round to writing this up. So last Sunday we went to a 2000 pt single FOC tournament. Wanting to do something fresh and take a break from guard I took these guys (click here for army list):

Note: this is going to be less indepth than I usually do mostly because I'm lazy and also because can't remember all the detail. Honestly, I wasn't expecting much and wanted to find out what worked and what didn't in 6th considering I've only played one game with the smurfs in this edition, and the one before that was sometime in the first half of 5th. Here's some of the other armies.

Paul, persuaded by me, took a break from daemons and took Blood Angels (well and also he wanted to try out new Tau and couldn't be bothered to finish a soul grinder and another squad of pink horrors he'd bought)

Ultramarines Army-Wide painting update and 2k list

2000 point tournament coming up on Sunday (single FOC), decided to break out my marines and give them a go. Am going to play a list of what I have painted plus one or two things that I knew I'd be excited about painting. So with that in mind no more tactical squads and so I had to take scouts. Was originally going to take tau allies, but between the new codex and not being able to fit in a worthwhile detachment I decided to stick to pure marines.

Before (minus the second half-painted pod and unfinished talon)

 Borrowed a drop pod off of Paul and the above was what I was likely to use.