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

1850 - Marines + Tau

Just been thinking of a list something along these lines... not sure what chapter tactics to use though, and perhaps it might be better to swap tau to primary... but then we'd be looking at a very different list so...

Nicely formatted version of the list can be found here.

Farsight PIP

Just a quick one (from about what 2 weeks ago now?) Got some work done on mr Farsight, blocked out the red and started the highlighting, got half a mind to repaint all my tau as Farsight enclaves now, haha.

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.

Force requisition is here

Don't know if anyone noticed but GW have updated the enhanced edition of the digital marine codex and here's some screenshots from my ipad...

Two 1000 point games vs Orks

From ages ago as well, really have to stop putting it off so late that I don't remember anything except vague details.

My experimental 1000 pts Tau list:

Shadowsun

Riptide ion accelerator, early wanting override and velocity tracker 

Riptide ion accelerator, early wanting override and velocity tracker 

10 kroot, 1 hound

10 kroot, 1 hound

4 pathfinders

4 pathfinders

3 broadsides, 1 velocity tracker, 2 target locks
Paul's Orks idea:

Big mek shock attack gun, and several grots

10 lootas

10 lootas

10 gretchin with runtherd

12 boys, with nob with power klaw

Battlewagon death roller, kill cannon, zapp gun

Battlewagon death roller, kill cannon, zapp gun

Game 1: Big Gunz, Vanguard Strike  one objective behind the building in my dz, one on the roof of the hunker next to shadowsun, one under the skyshield.

1500 pts IG mirror-match

Was challenged to an IG vs IG match by the guy who runs this blog... I'd already lost to him with my Ultramarines so it was time to bring a good list. I brought what I at the time thought was the best guard list I could run at 1500 pts considering the models I own... I have since slightly revised my opinions but I'm slightly less disappointed in my guard than when I posted this...


Imperial Guard (1500/1500pt.)
http://hq-builder.com/shared/521510b9028dbb04769fe6f2


@HQ [ 1 ]

Company Command Squad (130pt.)
> 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 - Heavy Weapon Team (20pt.); Frag grenades; Close combat weapon; Lasgun; Flak armour; Lascannon;
> 1x - Astropath (30pt.); Close combat weapon; Flak armour; Frag grenades; Laspistol;

@Elites [ 1 ]

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

@Troops [ 3 ]

Infantry Platoon (445pt.)
# Platoon Command Squad (55pt.)
> 1x - Platoon Commander (5pt.); Krak grenades; Flak armour; Frag grenades; Laspistol; Close combat weapon; Melta bombs;
> 1x - Guardsman (5pt.); Krak grenades; Flak armour; Frag grenades; Close combat weapon; Flamer;
> 1x - Guardsman (5pt.); Krak grenades; Flak armour; Frag grenades; Close combat weapon; Flamer;
> 1x - Guardsman (5pt.); Krak grenades; Flak armour; Frag grenades; Close combat weapon; Flamer;
> 1x - Guardsman ; Krak grenades; Flak armour; Frag grenades; Close combat weapon; Lasgun;
# 2x - Infantry Squad (200pt.)
> 1x - Sergeant (5pt.); Flak armour; Frag grenades; Laspistol; Close combat weapon; Melta bombs;
> 1x - Commissar (35pt.); Flak armour; Frag grenades; Bolt pistol; 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;
# 2x - Infantry Squad (130pt.)
> 1x - Sergeant (5pt.); Flak armour; Frag grenades; Laspistol; Close combat weapon; Melta bombs;
> 1x - Heavy Weapon Team (10pt.); Flak armour; Frag grenades; Close combat weapon; Lasgun; Autocannon;
> 8x - Guardsman ; Close combat weapon; Flak armour; Frag grenades; Lasgun;
# Special Weapon Squad (55pt.)
> 1x - Guardsman (10pt.); Close combat weapon; Flak armour; Meltagun;
> 1x - Guardsman (10pt.); Close combat weapon; Flak armour; Meltagun;
> 4x - Guardsman ; Close combat weapon; Flak armour; Lasgun;

10x - Veteran Squad (170pt.)
> 1x - Veteran Sergeant ; Frag grenades; Flak armour; Laspistol; Close combat weapon;
> 6x - Veteran ; Frag grenades; Close combat weapon; Flak armour; Lasgun;
> 3x - Veteran (15pt.); Frag grenades; Close combat weapon; Flak armour; Plasma gun;
> 1x - Chimera armored transport (55pt.); Search light; Smoker launchers; Multi-laser; Heavy flamer;

10x - Veteran Squad (185pt.) Demolitions;
> 1x - Veteran Sergeant ; Frag grenades; Flak armour; Melta bombs; Laspistol; Close combat weapon;
> 5x - Veteran ; Frag grenades; Close combat weapon; Flak armour; Melta bombs; Shotgun;
> 1x - Veteran ; Frag grenades; Close combat weapon; Flak armour; Melta bombs; Shotgun; Demolition charger;
> 3x - Veteran (10pt.); Frag grenades; Close combat weapon; Flak armour; Melta bombs; Meltagun;
> 1x - Chimera armored transport (55pt.); Search light; Smoker launchers; Multi-laser; Heavy flamer;

@Fast attack [ 3 ]

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

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

Hellhound Squadron (130pt.)
> 1x - Hellhound (130pt.); Inferno cannon; Heavy bolter;

@Fortification [ 1 ]

Aegis Defense Line (100pt.) Gun emplacement with quad-gun;

@Created by Head Quarters - online roster builder


Opponent's list: DESERT CORPS Imperial Guard Army

CCS: lascannon, astropath, camo cloaks
CCS: 4x plasmagun, 2x plasma pistol, carapace armour, chimera

Veterans 3x meltagun (in vendetta)
PCS, 4x flamer (vendetta)
3x infantry squad, with flamer, autocannon, power axe sergeant and a single commissar to go with the whole blob

Vendetta
Vendetta

Leman Russ Battle Tank, heavy bolter
Leman Russ Punisher, all three hbs and a storm bolter, pask

Aegis with Quad Gun

There were a lot of people at the shop so there wasn't much terrain left available so we made do. Mission was Relic with Dawn of War deployment. I forgot to take my aegis with me, and that's why there's a bunch of random barricades and dice and an objective marker instead. I managed to seize the iniative and off we went. Night was on.

Kill team tournament report

From ages (aka 2-3 weeks) ago... My list:

Update: Dark Eldar bases, venoms and IG advisors update

Started paintwork on my bases and they are actually coming out pretty good. The one on the right is finished, and I was actually worried that it was too colourful, but when I put a venom on it I think it actually looks very nice! Apologies for the first blurry pic...

Also found a nice gold colour (finally), really didn't like the GW Metallics. Thanks to tale of painters (Stole it from their tutorial) it's vgc brassy brass if anyone's interested...

Also finished my two advisors... Just need to paint the bases at a later stage, but pretty good for a quick job I think. Tried to practice some blending on the astropath, but gave up after the first two layers/settled back into an undiluted line highlight.

Also I somehow managed to win the IDIC giveaway! Just can't decide what I want, but I have my eyes set on what looks like a trio of earthshaker battery stand-ins! 

1850 pts Tau vs Daemons

Post from ages ago... Very quick because I barely remember anything... Played a game against Paul before I went away. Mission was Emperor's Will with dawn of war deployment. Happened a while ago so apologies for missed details (really need to stop doing this as my reports are becoming very vague :/ )

Basically was trying to put together a decent tau list without farsight and try out marker drones and crisis suits.

Tau:

Tau (1850/1850pt.) 

http://hq-builder.com/shared/51f10352028dbb4eace5968d

New GW army builder

Take a look at this screenshot... Unless I'm missing something that's what force requisition is going to be... 

Venoms and IG advisors

Quick update to show what I've been working on. Two more venoms in the works and the advisors I was going to enter into a painting competition but don't think I have time now and cba to finish them to be honest. Played a game against guard with my marines, gave my assault termies a run before the new codex. Was actually a very fun game, narrowly lost it on turn 5 8-6 due to a storm talon being off the table and my termies failing 3 Charges in a row through terrain and then failing 4 invulns out of 5 against some plasma guns. 

Also got a tau vs daemons batrep to write up from ages ago and a kill team tournament report from last weekend. 

Dark Eldar Painting update

Not very good photos but just to give a general idea. I think I've got the green how I want it for the most apart (although I was aiming for a more turquoise colour originally). Also my freehand is improving with the drawings on the venoms being a lot better than my first attempts on the razorwing.

IDIC Giveaway!

Head over to http://idicbeer.blogspot.com/2013/08/500th-post-giveaway.html who's holding a giveaway worth $$$$ on his blog 

all information can be found by following the link. 

So? What are you waiting for!???

1000 pt tournament dark eldar

Trying to catch up with posts as I've had very little Internet access recently. I'm now 5 games in with dark eldar and I really like them. For my first three I went to a tournament which was meant to be a beginner's tournament with no paint requirements hence the rapid scramble to get everything ready. In the end though they did score painting, but oh well. I didn't want to take tau anyway and I couldn't come up with anything scary with marines or guard.

My list (made of the mish-mash of stuff that I managed to assemble the night before the event):

Baron

4 trueborn with blasters, venom

5 wyches, haywire, venom

5 wyches, haywire, venom

5 kabalites, blaster, venom

5 hellions

6 reavers, 2x blaster

Ravager 

The tournament started on a downer as we arrived well on time but were told that somehow we were late, so I had to play against Paul's daemons. Then it turned out that for some reason they hadn't registered Ilya who had payed for entry and been there from the start and almost kicked him out of the event. It later also turned out that they let people who hadn't pre-registered play but turned away those who had who managed to arrive slightly later than us. Just really badly organised overall.

So Paul's list looked something like:

Fatey

2x 10 plagues

Soul grinder mon

Daemon prince mark of tzeentch

Apologies, no pictures because I only took 2 off my iPad and they are terrible.

I got first turn and perhaps too conservatively behind a wall and then spent turn 1 moving into range. Mission was kps and hammer and anvil. I managed to won his daemon prince early which took away his grimoire and a lot of his psychic powers. However he managed to snag an early lead in kill points and despite killing the soul grinder and leaving fatey on wound, on the penultimate turn fate just hid off the table so I couldn't target him and since I didn't really want to charge his plaguebearers I only managed to kill 4 of them over the course of the game. Ended up 5-4 mission-wise to Paul with vps more or less tied so 11-9 to Paul.

Game two was against Tau. Vanguard strike, big guns never tire

Farsight

Riptide with skyfire, stims, ion and fusion blaster 

10 firewarriors

20 kroot

8 pathfinders

Hammerhead with long strike

Aegis with quad-gun

I've played with this opponent before and so I anticipated a lot of rules arguments, and there were rules arguments galore. From the order of deployment/objective placing, to him doubting my reserves coming in from my long table edge, to him saying some random crap about heavy support only counting as points if you kill them while they're holding objectives... The list goes on. Whatever. So I manage to get first turn and get to place 2/3 objectives. I put one behind a Los blocker in my zone and  one on my left flank near his deployment zone so I can come in with baron and hellions to get it late game. I'm not sure if I went first or second but I think first. Basically everything went forwards and reavers bladevane his pathfinders killing most of them with the help of some venoms even though they eventually go to ground but do not flee.

He kills the reavers and manages to mop up the hellions and baron with a combination of shooting and over watch. I end up rolling over his army killing everything except 3 firewarriors who are stuck in combat with two wyches and some 10 kroot who outflanked onto an objective. Game ends turn 5 though unfortunately so we're holding one each, both have warlord, I have linebreaker he has first blood, and I have a heavy support point. Also I have a lot more vps score than him but due to the bad scoring system it's only 12-8 to me. 

Game 3 against chaos marines. It actually turned out that by this point there had been a lot of close games and if I had won this I would have come 2/3rd place.

Apostle with a mace

2x 10 cultists

2x helldrake

2x 5 obliterators with autocannons

Predator wit triple lascannons

Aegis with comms-link

So a really mean list. Mission was emperors will and vanguard strike. I had first turn and it was night so I deployed most of my stuff out in the open as far forward as possible with the plan being to kill his army before the helldrakes come in. Unfortunately he deployed in such a way that I couldn't reach most of his units and also seized the initiative with autocannons tearing into a venom and the reavers for first blood. When the helldrakes both came in turn 2 it was really game over for me. I had one shot at killing a helldrake but despite a lance penning it I only managed to stun it on the damage result. From then I focused on killing cultists but it wasn't enough and in the end I was left with the baron and hellions trying to survive in the corner out of range of everything but the helldrakes and planning to make a last turn objective grab to turn the game into a draw. Alas two turns of two helldrakes flaming away only left the baron alive, however I avoided a wipeout and lost 15-5 despite having only one model remaining.

Afterthoughts:

Really like dark eldar, they are probably the most fun I've had playing 40k in a while, tau are just plain boring. Need more venoms though. That's all for now

Oh and Ilya is now playing eldar again but became a bit discouraged after two losses and a draw at this event lol. He did beat Paul's daemons at home though

Doubles tournament: torks

Another tournament has come and gone. This report is going to be a very short one, because basically all that there is to be learnt is that I have a very hard time squaring up to Daemons. I was in a team with Ilya and this is the list we settled on after a lot of discussion and beating Paul's daemons in a 2500 point practice match. Paul was also present, playing solo and he placed 7th out of 14.

Torks:

This tournament used the allies template so one player was the captain with the warlord and the other the ally. All rules of allies applied.

Why I'm retiring my guard army

Warning: long wall of text with no pictures

Prologue:

The context of this comes after getting my worst tournament result ever with my supposedly best tournament guard army yet. So what went wrong?

The Problem

It's the same problem every time. Models and the fact that I don't own the right ones. I'm handicapping myself because when I need to play full wysiwyg and full paint I'm effectively forced to make choices I would not otherwise. 

All the extra powerswords, plasma pistols, etc add up. And added to this I don't have all the best models. Looking at the judge's list who had to step in to play ringer at the last second, he managed to squeeze in 6 vendettas, 6 chimeras and also 2-3 pieces of artillery, as well as the full array of plasma and melts vets to fill those up.

Why can't I do the same? Well I only have 2 vendettas... And 2 chimeras. I'm not planning to buy any new tanks because I already have spent my money on 3 russes... I'm not going to suddenly buy 4 vendettas or 4 chimeras in one go... I mean it's not like I'm meant to be starting a whole new army here. And while I could take the same number of veterans, it's kind of pointless if they don have anything to transport them.

The death of the blob

Perhaps power weapon blobs are not, but since I don't run them this isn't about them in particular. Guardsmen have a dilemma. Heavy weapons are good, but easily killed. Stick them in a squad of 10 expendable bodies and you've got the protection but are paying at least 60 points for just 1 useful shot. This is too expensive. 

Also when you blob up there is another problem. I opposed this idea for a long time but now I see its merit. In order to maximise the utility of these one gun squads you combine them to gain the benefit of orders for all of them in one go. The problem is that a mephiston, daemon prince or anything else that can kill 5+ guardsmen in combat comes along and then you're leadership 5 or less, get caught and have just lost 20-40 men in one assault phase. Commissars do not really help actually as canny opponents can kill off a sergeant or two before assault so then the commissar helps to delay the combat for one turn, then is killed in a challenge and the enemy is free again in their own turn.

The good news

Well there is a new guard codex rumoured to be on the horizon and because I've been motivated to paint my guard I'll have a whole army of already painted models to use when the new book hits. Perhaps if I'm still into 40k by then I may be tempted to pick up some new models.

For now it's back to tau and space marines, as well as starting my dark eldar.

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

Guardsmen PIP

Just a quick update to how where I've got to. Not sure about marbo's missile, but I want it to stand out without being too bright or introducing too many new colours... So in sort of semi happy with it so far. Still got to do skin and faces, imperial eagles and the off bits and bobs. Oh and stripes on some of the bases.

New recruits

In preparation for the tournament next weekend which will also be ETC style, but has full wysiwyg regulations as well as full paint, I've been adding some new guardsmen that ill also be painting over the week.

Basically it's 2 vanilla sergeants, 9 regular guardsmen, a meltagunner and a new marbo (old one has been demoted to back to a veteran).

Managed to make this using one box of guardsmen and bits including the spare crew from my vendettas. 

Went pretty overboard with marbo, but I think he looks cool and is definitely wysiwyg unlike the old one (who has no knife and has a shotgun on his back).

Haven't had time to post reports but look forward to games 2 and 3 from yesterday soon.

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

Tau 1500pts

Finally have a 1500 pt tau list that I'm happy with, that doesn't include a costly farsight bomb. Note that two squads of pathfinders + a few extra bits may be replaced by two tetras, should I feel like it.

http://hq-builder.com/shared/51b0c458028dbb274ecc02b8

Some lists...

Hi guys, been really busy lately unfortunately. Was actually planning to go to either clash of the titans or war of the roses, but due to certain circumstances I will almost certainly not be able to. The good thing is that I get to concentrate on exams and don't have to worry about painting anything, so the next proper content will in fact be as expecting in july... long time off that.

Meanwhile, here are some ideas that I've been mulling over. I'll just put up a few lists and give my thoughts, so feel free to skip this lol.

Just for reference here are brief descriptions of the lists below:
List 1: 1500 pts Vanilla skies
List 2: Competitive DE 1500 pts
List 3: IG 1500 pts (evolution of my list)
List 4: Farsight blob tau 2000 pts

Chiswick Gaming Club

So Chiswick warGaming club has finally been properly started at the following address:

18 Stamford Brook Avenue, (London - obviously)

Here's the link to the fb page. So anyone planning to go there? I don't have my army with me yet, but am planning on getting it flown over hopefully by this weekend and I may be able to get some games in between exams since I'm on study leave.

Update: new fb page https://www.facebook.com/ChiswickWargamingClub?ref=stream&hc_location=stream

New website: http://gamingchiswick.ucoz.com/

Tau Troops: Breakdown

Despite almost abandoning my tau, I've seen the light and perhaps will even be joining the greater good and not getting rid of my existing tau. To this end I have even now bolstered my forces with not one, but two riptides.

Today, I want to look at troop choices for tau. You have two: kroot and firewarriors.

Firewarriors:

Relatively cheap for what they do, however that's when you have squads of six, go up to 12 and you can have the same number of kroot for almost half the points. Also these guys either want to be hiding somewhere, in which case you're probably investing in a defence line, or in a devilfish so they can come out of reserve, which brings up the costs. They do have supporting fire, and can take a markerlight though.

Kroot:

Cheaper than firewarriors, and have a lot more options about how to deploy/appear on the board. Infiltrating is always good even if to just keep your enemy guessing. Outflank coupled with the xv8 special system for auto-coming from a board edge within 6 and you can give your opponent a nasty surprise. Also kroot benefit greatly from forests, and actually can still act as an effective sacrifice unit and even hold their own in combat against some enemies (especially orks and guard). The problem is that they have shorter range, but given how close they can pop up to the enemy, this isn't always going to be a problem.

Conclusion:

So which is better? I'm not sure really, sort of leaning towards the kroot, but it seems like it would be a good idea to have at least one maxed out squad of firewarriors in a tau army or two min sized ones, especially in a gun-line type army. However kroot, may see more action with my tau in the future.

As side note... Why am I planning to play tau again?? I mean I hate gunline armies... Oh well, at least the riptides will be fun, as will the farsight/shadowsun deathstar that I may have to invest in for larger point games... Euurrghh - too much new shiny stuff.