Tuesday, June 25, 2013

40k: More Space Marine Stuff!



More rumors are coming through the webs, mostly about Apocalypse but a lot of it is also related to Space Marines as well.

The pictures of the new Company Masters has been leaked and most people have already seen them considering they are everywhere on the interwebs!

Had Pics, they got removed.

The Master of Relics
Is the commander of the Devastator Company and an expert at long range engagements

Master of Rites
Records and Keeps charge of the traditions of the Chapter

Lord Executioner
Commander of the Assault Companies

Master of Marches
Is in charge of the Deployment of the chapters marines as well as leading the company into battle

These models are fine cast resin and are new to be released alongside the Apocalypse release coming out in July. I think they look pretty standard as far as Company Masters go, and I may pick up a Lord Executioner for my Blood Angels, as I's sure most people will, but over all, they are company masters, simple and to the point.

Then this was released:

via an anonymous source from the Faeit 212 inbox (very reliable source)
As I told you about a year ago, there are going to be more supplements for pretty much all the codexes, even Chaos Space Marines and Tau: though no work has really been done on the latter.

There is not going to be another Eldar one in 2013.

White Scars is one of the supplement codexes, and it is also complete (borderline printed) so logic dictates it'll be released a few weeks after the SM codex, but I don't have a street date for you.

Space marines will be getting 2 supplement codexes though by the end of 2013, so again... chances are white scars will be one of them.

For the Blood Angels and Space Wolves players, fear not you will be getting full codex support and not just supplements. Read between those lines.


Couple things here. If this is true, I'm excited to hear some kind of conformation that GW will still be giving a full codex to the ones that already have them, such as Blood Angels and Space Wolves. In all honesty, they deserve their own codex anyways. However this begs the question again about the Black Templar. Will they get an entire new codex or a supplement? My money unfortunately is on a supplement...

The rumors are that the 2 supplements due for the Space Marine Codex will be White Scars and Iron Fists. I'm okay with this if its done right, but that's a "wish in one hand...." type scenario. I can see a valid argument being made for Salamanders, Raven Guard and GW's biggest Bro-crush, Ultramarines.

Also a lot has been confirmed that Ultramarines will not dominate the new codex, which I am glad to hear because they did dominate the previous codexes.

But referencing to the first part of that statement makes me wonder...Everyone is getting a Supplement?

For the life of me I have absolutely no idea what it will be for Daemons...maybe he was just speaking in generalities...

DIECON Results Updated


The final standings were as follows:

Overall Winner: Tim Gorham
Best General: Me
2nd: Eric Darrais
3rd: 5x Land Raider Blood Angel list (Didn't catch his name and I never played against him)
Sportsmanship: Alex Nauman
Painting: Rob Ford (He had an amazing looking CSM/Daemons army)

Tim Gorham's winning army is pictured above. My god it was devastating. Three units or three Forgeworld Thudd Guns, a Vulture, and four units of twin-linked lascannon Sabre Platforms which have skyfire and interceptor. Three of the platform units had three guns and one unit had only two. All the platforms and Thudd Guns made the majority of his army T7 and very hard to kill, because artillery units always use the guns toughness before the gunners toughness.

I was running the Necron/Grey Knights list that you've seen me post in the past.


Eric Darrais was running his Tau. Which are amazing. I had played them a few times before and they were brutal to say the least. The five Landraider guy didn't have a display board so I didn't get a pic of his army.

The games were played with 3 missions running simultaneously. Two objectives for Emperor's Will, Three for Crusade, and Purge the Alien as well as secondary objectives First Blood, Line Breaker, and Kill the Warlord. Winning a primary mission was worth 8 points and a tie worth 4. Secondary objectives were worth 2 points a piece.


Quick Summary of Games:
Game 1: Eric Darrais and his Tau
What are the odds of me getting paired against Eric for my first game. The one guy at the tournament I know that can beat my army on a regular basis, and this game was no exception. He kept me completely on the ropes the entire game taking a perfect 30/30 to my 0/30. Even with a loss, it's always fun to play against Eric. He's a great competitor and the more I play him the more my tactics against Tau begin to get better.

After this game I was really bummed and thought I was pretty much out of the running for the tournament. But I was gonna give it my best shot and hope that my next couple games for the day would be better pairings. 



Game 2: Rob Ford and his Nurgle CSM/Daemons
Rob was a really nice guy with amazing looking army. I only wish the pictures I took of it weren't blurry beyond use. He had the most awesome Nurgle lord on palanquin conversion I've ever seen. As nice as Rob was, he wasn't a very good player. Our game ended with me taking 28/30 to Robs 0/30


Game 3: Brent Nauman and his Tzeentch/Nurgle CSMs
Brent was having a really rough day with the dice. Despite giving it his best, there wasn't much he could do to stop me and I would go on to beat him 30/30 to 0/30

At the end of day one even after taking a 0 in the first game I managed to have 2 near perfect games and brought myself back into the 5th overall seat. Needless to say I was very, very pleased.

Day 2 Game 4: Robert (Can't remember his last name) and his CSM/Daemons
This game proved to be a lot like my previous two. I have a lot of experience against CSM/Daemon builds and pulled out another 30/30 to 0/30. 

That win put me in 2nd place going into the last game. So I had gone from a 0 point first game to the top table at the end of the tournament. I almost couldn't believe it.

Game 5: Tim Gorham and his Forgeworld Imperial Guard 
Tim hadn't lost a game for the entire tournament so I knew going into this that I was going to need to get a near perfect score to win best overall. I had also watched Tim play before on the live Adepticon feeds from a few years past so I had an idea of what his play style might be like. I also realized that there was a good chance that if I didn't score high enough I could be pushed out of 2nd or 3rd if I lost. This was probably one of the most challenging games I've ever played. Thudd Gun's are nothing to be messed with, and Sabre Platforms are devastating. If I ever buy Forgeworld item's these things are gonna be on the top of my list. The final mission mixed it up and instead of Crusade the 3rd primary mission was Big Guns Never Tire. That made all of his Thudd Gun units scoring. Womp Womp. I still managed to tie on the Big Guns mission and Emperors Will mission, but lost kill points by a pretty large margin. I also managed to take line breaker. MVP for me was an Annihilation Barge that contested a Big Guns objective for the tie and got line breaker in my last turn. In the end Tim won 18/30 to 10/30. 

Sadly the loss would bump me to 4th place overall after the 3rd and 4th seats both went on to score very high in their last games.

After the scores were tallied I still managed to pull off the win for Best General which is awesome. This was my first experience at DieCon and with any kind of Grand Tournament. I was very proud of how well I did and I can't wait for next year. 

Here's a few other shots I took. Next year I will be sure to bring a good camera.










Monday, June 24, 2013

DIECON Results


I managed to take the title of Best General this year! I was very pleased with my overall performance, aside from the trouncing I took in the first game of day one. I still managed to go into the final game seated in second place after staging a massive comeback. I'll get more details up soon along with a couple pics.

Friday, June 21, 2013

DIECON!!!


DieCon is tomorrow. Hooray!!! Hopefully the dice gods will be kind. I have one last model to finish painting and I'll be ready. I'll try and get a summary and some pics up at the end of the first day and let you know where I stand going in to the second portion of the tournament.

Tuesday, June 18, 2013

40k: My 6th Edition Eldar List



When a new codex comes out, I usually read it from cover to cover at least once. I do this for 2 reasons.
1. To get a better idea of what I will be up against.
2. To make myself familiar with their rules, so that I don't get cheated. (Yes this happens...alot...for some reason)

I also make a list, close to something that I would play. In the unlikely event that I were to build an Eldar Army, here is what I would field.

Farseer - Jetbike, Singing Spear
Farseer - Jetbike, Singing Spear
Dire Avengers x 5 
Dire Avengers x 5 - Wave Serpent - Shuriken Cannon, Scatter Laser, Holo-Fields
Dire Avengers x 5 - Wave Serpent - Shuriken Cannon, Scatter Laser, Holo-Fields
Dire Avengers x 5 - Wave Serpent - Shuriken Cannon, Scatter Laser, Holo-Fields
Jetbike Squad x 6 - Shuriken Cannon, Shuriken Cannon
Jetbike Squad x 6 - Shuriken Cannon, Shuriken Cannon
Warp Spiders x 10
Warp Spiders x 10
Fire Prism
Fire Prism
Falcon - Pulse Laser, Bright Lance, Shuriken Catapult
Aegis Defense Line - Quad Cannon

Eldar Mech all the way.
Farseers with the Jetbikes.
5 Avengers in the Falcon behind the wall on the Quad Cannon between 2 prisms.

Thursday, June 13, 2013

First 6th Edition Eldar List


Time for my Eldar to evolve. With the last codex, I ran a Footdar list. It was a challenging army to play and thats why I loved it. This codex decided to make Waveserpents amazeballs, so I can't continue to leave them out of my lists. I haven't had a chance to pick up any of the new models yet so this list is made using what I have. I think it's gonna do well enough on the table. Questions, comments, suggestions?

HQ
Farseer (With Harlequins)
  • Singing Spear
  • Jetbike
Spiritseer (With Guardians behind the aegis line)

Elites
7x Harlequins
  • 7x Kisses 
  • Troupe Master 
  • Shadowseer
Troops
5x Wraith-guard
  • Wave Serpent
    • Holo-fields
    • Twin Linked Scatter Lasers Cannons
    • Shuriken Cannon
5x Wraith-guard
  • Wave Serpent
    • Holo-fields
    • Twin Linked Scatter Lasers Cannons
    • Shuriken Cannon
20x Guardians
  • 2x Scatter Laser 
10x Dire Avengers
  • Exarch with TL Shuriken Catapults
3x Guardian Jetbikes
  • Shuriken Cannon
Heavy Support
Wraithlord
  • 2x Flamers 
  • Ghostglaive  
  • Scatter Laser 
  • Bright Lance
Wraithlord
  • 2x Flamers 
  • Ghostglaive  
  • Scatter Laser 
  • Bright Lance
2x War Walkers
  • 4x Scatter Lasers 
Fortification
Aegis Defense Line
  • Twin-Linked Quad Gun

TOTAL – 1996


40k: Space Marine Rumors!


Eldar, schmeldar. Bring on the Power Armor! 

Every since I first heard about 40k, I have always had a thing for the space marines. 

Yes I have owned more Xenos armies, but I always come back to my Space Marines  over time. 

If you are looking for rumors , I will be posting every single one worthy of being posted....so be prepared.

Here is the latest rumors from Faeit's site.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

via Puscifer
I haven't seen this posted anywhere else, so I thought I'd give you all a treat...

Some stuff regarding the new Space Marines Codex:

It is the next one to be released, but I was not told about the release date.

The codex is not Ultramarines heavy. There will be a much broader spectrum of Chapters.

There will be supplements for the more famous chapters: Ultramarines, Imperial Fists and White Scars were the ones mentioned. White Scars are the first out the gate.

The cover of the new dex has apparently got Sicarius on the front, while the White Scar Codex has a bike squadron racing towards the enemy.

No clue on authors. Rumour is Ward, but hell, he's rumoured for all of them right?

No rules that I can give you, but you can expect to see loads of new weapons and squads. Possible inclusions are the Land Raider Terminus (I think that's what it's called - it's festooned with Lascannons), a bigger form of Terminator and a rather large Dreadnought that is similar to a Contemptor - only bigger.

That's all I got.

Enjoy.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Good, I'm tired of the Ultramarines dominating the C:SM codex.

Adding in a Land Raider Terminus to the Codex would almost guarantee that that the Baneblade would have to be added into the Imperial Guard Codex. Which would also keep with the rumors that GW is trying to merge Apocalypse into the standard games.

For those unfamiliar with the Land Raider Terminus, it looks like this.



I am also a huge fan of supplements for the other chapters that have received little, to no respect from GamesWorkshop for too long. White Scars, Imperial Fists, Raven Guard, and Salamanders all deserve to have their own "book" for their own rules. 

Black Templar, as much as I would love to see them get their own codex (Their fluff is amazing by the way, and one of my favorites of all the chapters) I imagine they will be in a supplement as well, as it makes the most sense.

Matt Ward is rumored to be making every codex...so take that with a grain of salt.

A "bigger" terminator. Sounds like a dread knight.
Running a "squad" of Dread Knights seems like it might be a BIT overpowered...maybe Matt Ward is writing the codex...

A Larger Dreadnought could also be a Dread Knight, but I would be happy with Contemptors. 

Tuesday, June 11, 2013

40K Battle Report: Necrons/Grey Knights Vs Dark Angles



Deployment: Vanguard Strike
Mission: Crusade

My List (Necron/GKs):

HQ
Inquisitor Coteaz (Prescience, Perfect Timing)
Necron Overlord
  • Warscythe 
  • Sempiternal Weave 
  • Phase Shifter
Royal Court
Harbinger of Despair
  • Veil of Darkness 
Harbinger of Destruction
  • Solar Pulse 
Elites
5x Deathmarks
Troops
2x Jokaero Weaponsmith, 3x Servitors, 5x Warrior Acolytes
  • 3x Plasma Cannons 
  • Bolters 
5x Warrior Acolytes
  • 5x Bolters 
7x Necron Warriors
  • Ghost Ark 
7x Necron Warriors
  • Ghost Ark 
6x Necron Warriors
  • Ghost Ark
Fast Attack
6x Canoptek Wraiths
Heavy Support
Dreadknight
  • Heavy Incinerator
Annihilation Barge
Annihilation Barge
Annihilation Barge
Fortification
Aegis Defense Line
  • Twin-Linked Quad Gun
Opponents List:
HQ 
Belial
Librarian (Prescience, Perfect Timing)
Command Squad

  • Apoth
  • Salvo Banner
Elites
5x Deathwing Knights
Dreadnought

  • Multimelta
Troops 
5x Deathwing Terminators

  • Plasma Cannon
10x Tactical Squad

  • Lascannon
10x Tactical Squad

  • Plasma Cannon
5x Sniper Scouts
Fast Attack
3x Ravenwing Bikers

  • 2x Melta Guns
Heavy Support 
Vindicator
Predator

  • Autocannon
  • 2x Las Sponsons
5x Devastators

  • 2x Missile Launchers with Flakk Missiles
Fortification 
Aegis Defense Line

  • Quad Gun


I got to pick my side and and I chose the side with a nice large piece of LoS blocking terrain.

We rolled to see who would deploy first and he won. (Yes we did this out of sequence)

We rolled up 5 objectives and placed them on the board. He placed 3 and I placed 2. They're circled in yellow in the above pic. (Looking back, it should've been me who placed 3 objectives since I won the roll to pick sides. This would put me at huge disadvantage for this game since he would place all 3 of his objectives behind his line. Against a salvo banner DA list, that's a major downer. But I needed practice for DieCon against worst case scenarios, and this would prove to be good for that.)

I rolled Princeps of Deciet for my warlord trait for what I believe was the 3rd time out of the 5 games during this league run. Again it would prove to be totally worthless. My opponent was using Belial as his warlord so he was using The Hunt which gives an extra victory point if Belial or his unit slay my warlord. 

My jokaero rolled and got rending for the unit. 

Our psyker powers are shown in the list above.

No night fight turn one.

He set up his entire force behind the aegis line on the hill and in the forest. He reserved the Deathwing, Deathwing Knights, and Ravenwing Bikes.
I ran my aegis through the LoS terrain down to my far board edge. I had Perfect Timing so firing through the forest in front of Coteaz's unit on the quad-gun would be a non-issue. Annihilation Barges deployed on the right supported by Wraiths. My warlord was in the Ghost Ark in the center.

I rolled twice to steal the initiative and failed. Womp Womp! 

Dark Angels Turn 1:
Scouts moved up behind the trees

Shots were taken at the Wraiths with no wounds.
3 warrior acolytes were killed. 
The Ghost Arc in the center with my warlord was immobilized.

Necrons/Grey Knights Turn 1:
Prescience and Perfect Timing go off without any problems.

Both Ghost Arks on the left move forward 12". 
2 of the Annihilation barges move forward 6" and one moves 12"
The Wraiths move 12"over the hills.

After my shooting, the Vindcator had 1 hull point and the Predator had 2. One of the tac squads was reduced to a single man.

Dark Angels Turn 2:
The bikes outflank near my Wraiths and both Deathwing units drop in near them as well.

This was a great turn for the DA. They whittled the Wraiths down to a single man and managed to destroy a Ghost Ark and an Annihilation Barge taking first blood. Warriors from the Ghost Ark were placed behind LoS blocking terrain on an objective.


Necrons/Grey Knights Turn 2:
Prescience failed and I took a perils. Perfect Timing goes off.
Reserves failed me and instead of getting the 2 things that I really needed, the Warrior Acolytes decided to show up instead. They walked on the board and headed for the objective in the back behind LoS terrain.

The only Ghost Ark that was still mobile moved forward 6"
The 2 Annihilation barges turned to shoot at the Terminators.
The Warlords unit disembarked from its Ghost Ark and moved to help with the Terminators and bikes.
The single surviving Wraith moved up to assault the Predator.

By the end of the turn 1 Terminator still remained and the Wraith only managed to take 1 hull point from the Predator. Shooting from the Ghost Ark failed to take the last hull point from the Vindicator. It seems like I keep getting close to killing things off and then just fall flat. Sad times.


Dark Angels Turn 3:
His Scouts start to move over the hill to the objective near his Predator. The bikes and single terminator move towards the Annihilation barges.

Deathwing Knights move back to the objective near his Predator.

Bikes destroy one Annihilation Barge while the Terminator assaults in and destroys the other.

The single Wraith dies to what seemed like a billion salvo banner shots.

Necrons/Grey Knights Turn 3:
Prescience goes off but I perils on Perfect Timing...robble.
The Deathmarks make their reserve roll and the Dreadknight fails to come on.

Deathmarks attempt to make a surgical strike to kill the salvo banner command unit only to scatter off the board. I roll a 1 for the mishap table and they die horribly...this put a major damper on things. At this point I just say, screw it, I'm gonna play the rest of this dangerously and see how it pays off. Maybe try some things I would've normally been too conservative to do. I figure he's already taken out the major power base of my army (Annihilation Barges and Deathmarks) why not. 

The Ghost Ark moves forward up to his line.
The 4 remaining Necron Warriors on the objective move up the hill to fire at the Vindicator.

Warrior Acolytes manage to kill the remaining Terminator.
He looses one melta bike from the Warriors and Ghost Ark in the back.
Warriors managed to take the last hull point from the Vindicator.
And the Ghost Ark and Warriors inside remove 2 hull points from the Dreadnought.

Dark Angels Turn 4:
The Command Squad gets Prescience and they move up the hill to see the Necron Warriors on the objective. Belial leaves the Deathwing Knights and joins the scouts on the objective near his Predator. This would turn out to be a huge move. Bikes move back to the trees his Scouts started near.

He salvoed the poor Warriors unit to death. 
He fired everything else that could hurt it at the Ghost Arc. My jink saves went turbo and I managed to come out of it unscathed. 

Necrons/Grey Knights Turn 4:
Prescience and Perfect timing go off, but I'm a just out of range. I move Coteaz's unit forward past the aegis line into the forest in front of it. The Dreadknight finally auto-came-in from reserves. I tried to deep strike him right on top of the hill to support the Warriors that were going to attempt to take the objective there, but instead he scattered down the hill 12". The Ghost Ark moved up to his aegis line. The Warriors jumped out to attempt to shoot the Command Squad and the Libby/single tac squad guy off of an objective on the hill. The Warriors with my warlord started their slow trek across the board to attempt to get within range of his line.

Snap shots from Jokaero managed to finish off the dreadnought.
Shots from the Warriors and Ghost Ark only managed to kill 2 from the Command Squad but at least they took out his apothecary.
Belial kept me from flaming the Scouts off of his objective so instead I targeted the command squad which failed to do any wounds. 

Turn 5:
With the banner still intact all of this units moved to position themselves to take out the Warriors on his hill which they did. The Dreadknight took wounds and was dropped to 1. He moved his Deathwing Knights out to get him but failed his charge. I tried firing back in retaliation but at this point my spirit was crushed. We rolled to go to turn 6 but I decided to throw in the towel.

Final Score. Dark Angels 10. Necrons/GKs 4

So I ended the league 3-2. Not bad, but I must admit, I expected to do better. Still I think the practice was good and I worked out my final list for DieCon's Gateway Grand Tournament. Now I just need to finish some painting and get my display board in order and I'll be ready. 

40k: WarGamesCon: Daemon List Review.


WarGamesCon ended recently and 2 of the top lists players were Daemons! It's refreshing to me to see things like this, and makes me think back to all the whiners out there when the new codex came out. Everyone was complaining about how bad it was, but it was mostly just "QQ'ing" because Flamers of Tzeentch and Screamers weren't what they still were from the White Dwarf update. People just like to complain about things...

Yet another reason why I believe all these people crying about the new Eldar codex is a waste of breath, especially this early since it's release...but you'll have to ask the co-author about that...

Anyways here are the lists...

4th Place
For those not familiar, this is a FMC(Flying Monstrous Creature) Spam List. If you play in tournaments, you will see this list, so be prepared.

3 Daemon Princes, Fateweaver, and....a Great Unclean One? Interesting. I was just considering removing him from my list. It appears as if he loaded him up on Biomancy, and gave him the Grimore or the Portaglyph, depending on the game. I personally would have ran a Lord of Change or another Daemon Prince for those points.

He also chose not to run any flesh hounds, which is interesting.

He also chose to add in the CSM allies for the Prince, but not the Helldrake.

I would be interested to find out more about how he ran his army, as I find the Black Mace a waste of points, and better spent on Psychic Powers.

2nd Place
Not Something I would have expected to come in 2nd place, but look at it...It's balanced.
1 Herald per unit of hounds with a Locus for both.
4 units of Plaguebearers to hold objectives, and an aegis to hide behind if he has no cover.
Slaanesh Soul Grinders for support behind the hounds...with no upgrades...no Phlegm, no Torrent....

This list is all about synergy, and redundancy. 2 of everything. 
Too many people try to cram too many things into one list sometimes, and thereby over complicate things. 

Overall things to notice.
1. Plaguebearers, Plaguebearers, Plaguebearers....so difficult to remove from terrain. Apparently the majority of the lists at WGC were almost all Plaguebearers for troop choices. I can attest to their durability, as I still have never lost an entire unit of them
2. Half of the lists were mostly flyers, but Gareth finished 2nd with Zero flyers...maybe he had weak opponents, or maybe he got lucky....or maybe...just maybe, the codex is better than people think it is and has a lot more combinations than previously thought...time will tell.
3. There were ZERO Helldrakes in the top 5. None. Not one.
4. The Winner was a Necron list, but not what you think. I'll add it in here for discussion...


Friday, June 7, 2013

40k Battle Report: Daemons vs Tyranids

Sometimes...it's just not your day. Yesterday was one of those days. Starting off I was placed on the same exact table I played last week, with almost the same exact terrain setup, playing Tyranids...again. However, this time I was lucky enough to play a great player who goes by Grenn Dal, and has his own blog over at Xeno For the Win. He has been playing for much longer than I have and is a far more seasoned veteran than most of the guys in the league. I know his list, I read about it all time, and I know what his style is and goals are, so going into the game I have a good feeling about it. The Dice didn't agree.

DiceCon is coming up in a few weeks, and one of the rules is that all models must be completely painted, and since the Helldrake isn't even base coated yet and neither are the cultists, I figured I would try to make something out of the models that I do already have painted.

Game: Crusade
Deployment: Vanguard Strike

Well apparently we can't read or follow direction, and somehow we ended up playing Emperor's Will instead...no idea how this happened, but we're good friends so it really didn't matter in the long run.

No night fight.
He placed an objective on his side in a forest, and I placed one on my side in a forest. He won the roll to deploy and chose to go first, I did not steal the initiative.

My List: 
Fateweaver: (Flame Breath, Prescience, Psy Shriek, Hemorrhage)
Great Unclean One: ML3(Iron Arm, Enfeeble, Endurance), Daemonic Resilience, Dark Blessing
Herald of Khorne: Juggernaut, Locus of Wrath, Touch of Uncreation
10 Plaguebearers - Icon
10 Plaguebearers
10 Pink Horrors
10 Daemonettes
15 Flesh Hounds
Daemon Prince - Tzeentch, Wings, Armor, ML3(Dominate, Hallucination, Psy Shriek) Portaglyph
Daemon Prince - Tzeentch, Wings, Armor, ML3(Puppet Master, Invisibility, Terrify) Grimore, Staff of Change

Psychic powers were pretty ok, Fateweaver's were horrible but manageable, the Great Unclean One turned into an Unkillable God. Glyph Prince would be used mainly as a debuff machine, while the Grimore prince would provide the support. All in all, not too bad...or so I thought...

His List:
Swarmlord

Tyrant Guard Brood
Doom of Malan'tai: Mycetic Spore
Venomthrope Brood
11 Genestealers with a Broodlord
12 Termagants in a Mycetic Spore
11 Termagants in a Mycetic Spore
Tervigon
Tervigon
15 Gargoyles
5 Ravener Brood
5 Ravener Brood


He basically deployed everything he had on the line, coming straight at me. Gargoyle wall in the front, with Raveners and Genestealers behind them. I put the hounds and the herald right up on my line as well, with Fateweaver and the princes out of range behind the forests.

He had the 2 spore pods in reserve.
I had the Great Unclean One, 10 Plaguebearers with the Icon, and 10 daemonettes in reserve.

I knew he would move up to me to assault, so I elected to use my scout move to better position my hounds, so that I could charge him on the bottom of turn 1. My plan was to let him move up into the middle of the board, then Deep strike in behind him, start taking out his stuff with vector strikes and then making his stuff all fall back due to the low LD once the Tervigons were gone. But a few things didn't agree with my strategy, more on that later...

Tyranid Turn 1
He starts off the game by moving everything up closer to me, except for the back Tervigon which move onto his objective.
I think one Tervigon made 7 gants and the other one made 11...
He fires off a few shots, killing 2 hounds in the process since they have not been grimore'd yet. (Bad part about going 2nd.) but other than that no real losses.
Few other units run, he casts some powers, that't about it.



Daemons Turn 1
Invisibility is successful on the Grimore Prince.
Hounds move up with a few inches of the gargoyles. Grimore Prince swoops over and the Grimore is successful on the hounds. Glyph prince drops the glyph a few inches from the objective, doesn't scatter, and immediately spawns 6 bloodletters who move toward the hounds to support them, should they get tar pitted in close combat. The prince then flies up toward the top of the board within range of the Raveners for some psychic goodness.
Horrors move up behind the "wall"
Fateweaver jumps out a bit to support, but just trying to keep him out of range as there is no LoS blocking terrain at all in my area.

Warp Storm is calm.
Then the fun begins...
Fateweaver tries to cast prescience on the horrors, and fails on an 11.
Horrors cast and take out a few gargoyles, but they pass the Toughness test and get FnP on 6+.
Glyph prince at the top on the left tries to cast Dominate on the Raveners, and perils on 6's
He cast Hallucination on them with is successful and manages to cause 2 wounds...on one model.
Grimore prince tries to cast Terrify on the Raveners and perils on 6's.
Then tries to cast puppet master on the Raveners, and he denies it.

Hounds Assault in, and wipe the gargoyles off the table for first blood!
They can't get out of range of another assault so I move them back, hoping he fails the charge roll. (Which would prove to be fruitless, as I have never seen someone roll so many 6's before when he needed them)


Tyranids Turn 2
1 Spore full of gants comes in.
All of his powers were successful if I remember.

One Tervigon makes 8, the other makes 3, however the one on the left rolls doubles.
The one on the left moves over towards the Glyph prince,creating a very large bubble for "Shadows from the Warp" and he fills the empty space with gants, basically making it impossible for me to vector strike or fly anywhere near him on my turn with my princes. (Well played sir)
Swarmlord and tyrant guard move up with 5 Raveners.
Other raveners move up toward my glyph prince.
Genestealers and Brood move to middle of the field.

Raveners shoot at the prince and do nothing, he passes the grounding test.
Pod shoots at the prince and does nothing, he passes the grounding test.
Gants shoot at the prince and do nothing....but I fail a grounding test on a one.

Raveners assault in, and decimate the prince, I think he managed to take out one in the process.

Swarmlord and his "unit" assault in and take out the Herald and a few hounds, but the Herald manages to put 2 wounds on the Swarmlord as well.


Daemons Turn 2
Everything makes the reserve rolls and comes in.
Plaguebearers come in with the icon and scatter a few inches into some woods, losing 1 model in the process.
The Great Unclean One Comes in directly in front of them near the Tervigon.
The Daemonettes come in just behind the Tervigon near his table edge.

Grimore is successful again.
Invisibility is successful as well.

Horrors move back a big out of range of the gants, to line up some shots. (this was a bad idea)
Grimore Prince moves back out of range of the Shadows from the Warp on the swarmlord.
Fateweaver backs up a little bit.

Warp Storm roll is a 5, but I let him roll for his units, and he rolls seven 1's in a row...
Pink Horrors shoot at the gants and take out an extremely large chunk of them, forcing them to test which they fail and will fall back.
Fateweaver tries to cast Shriek on the Raveners and fails again on 11.
Grimore prince manages to cast Terrify on the Raveners on doubles 1's, so he takes a wound, but they still have to test, and they fail the morale test and fall back within 1" of the table edge...
Bloodletters move out a bit farter.
It is at this point I realize that I don't have anymore models for the portaglyph with me...

Hounds manage to take out the Tyrant Guard in assault, and lose another model.

Tyranids Turn 3
Both his other pods come in directly in my face, basically blocking me in.
His remaining Tervigon that can makes another 12 gants.
The termagants on the left side, fail their test and go off the table.
The Raveners are within range of the Tervigon by an inch or two and regroup.

The left Tervigon moves toward the Great Unclean One, and the genestealers move backward toward the daemonettes.
Termagants in the right, shuffle around and position for their assault on the Great Unclean One as well.

The termagants from the spore shoot the Plaguebearers on the objective and manage to take out 3.
The Pods shoot them as well and manage to take out 1.
The Doom of Malan'ti goes off and takes out 2 more Plaguebearers, as well as putting a wound on Fateweaver putting him at 7 wounds...

The genestealers decimate the daemonettes before they even get to attack back, then consolidate towards the plaguebearers.
The termagants move up and assault the Great Unclean One who manages to take a wound...some how...(think about that for a second...then cry a little like I did)
Hounds combat remains the same, I put another wound on the swarmlord, and more wounds on the ravners, but make all my saves.

Daemons Turn 3
Portaglyph spawns 6 more Plaguebearers.
Great Unclean One fails all of his powers, except for Enfeeble, which he casts on the Tervigon.
Grimore Prince tries to cast Invisibility and perils...again
Fateweaver tries to cast Prescience on the horrors and fails...again.
Horrors move back away from the Doom of Malan'ti towards the raveners.
Fateweaver and the Grimore Prince fly over towards the hounds and vector strike the termagants, killing half the models.
Grimore is successful on the hounds.

Warp Table is a 7.
Pink horrors shoot at the Doom, causing 1-2 wounds, I don't remember.
Fatewaver casted Bolt of change against the unit of Raveners in CC with the hounds but rolled a 1 for the S, and was only able to really hurt 2 of them, which of course made their saves.

The hounds assault is a stalemate.
Great Unclean one kills 5 more termagants and somehow takes another wound...

At this point in the night, I had to call the game unfortunately.
I really wanted to keep playing as I feel that I could have pulled out the win.
The current score was 5-4 in favor of the daemons.

I would have assaulted the Doom with the plaguebearers and the bloodletters, no doubt killing it to get my objective back, I would have then moved the plaguebearers up to make a shield bubbling him from getting to my objective.
He would have killed my plaguebearers on his side of the board, but I think it would have taken awhile for him to take down the Great Unclean One....there's no way dice rolls can be that bad for that long....right?
I had no way to get him off his objective however.
I would have just moved Fateweaver to the back and kept him alive, there by giving me the win by 1 victory point.
It would have all come down to the hound assault in the end. I would have assaulted in the Grimore Prince to the combat, put the Grimore on himself, sacrificed the hounds, and challenged the Swarmlord. With the Staff of Change and a 3++, He should be able to finish him off giving me Warlord and First blood, linebreaker, and my objective. He would have had 1 objective, and line breaker making it 6-4.

I gave Grenn the victory, because as it stood he did have the upper hand and it was my fault for having to leave so soon, but other wise it was a fun game.

So in the end it was a loss for daemons, but like I've said time and time again, it's not about the win for me, its about learning things to make my list better.



What I Learned:
1. As much as people think its about the list, or luck of the dice, I still say its about the player. Grenn made a lot of great moves, and played very well strategically. He knew what to assault and when to do it. (Granted he did have 60 termagants on the table at point point but who's counting right?)
2. Shadows in the Warp is bad, but now that I now more about it, I think it can be managed, just have to have careful placement.
3. Doom of Malan'ti is amazing for the points. I want a Slaanesh one.
4. Hounds are impressing me more and more every week. The amount of punishment they can take with some good rolls in amazing. Really starting to think about running 2 units.
5. Speaking of hounds, I think the Locus isn't worth it. It only works on the charge, and they are going to kill whatever they assault anyways.
6. Same thing with the Herald. The amount of attacks that unit brings to the table is just overwhelming, and not many units can stand up to it, which leaves them out in the open to be assaulted next turn...which is what we don't want.
7. The Great Unclean One...I just don't know...He sucks up a ton of punishment, and comes right back with it, but I don't think he's worth the points in my list. He great to contest objectives, but odds are he'll be tied up in combat long before that happens.
8. Daemonettes are amazing...if used right. I have to get better at placing them to get the assault on things. Being burned on this too much lately.
9. You can cast beam powers against a unit that is locked in CC if you place it right, since the power targets the ground, not the unit.
10. a Unit is unable to assault a vehicle or walker that it cannot damage.
11. Some nights the dice just hate you for some reason. It happens to everyone. I probably QQ'd a little too much last night, but it happens. Luckily enough I was able to play against someone like Grenn, who didn't make it seems so bad, and he didn't gloat either with his amazing rolls all night like other people, always a pleasure to play against.
12. I need a way to deal with Horde armies. Without something like a Helldrake or a Soul Grinder, its going to be really difficult, and make the game alot harder, and this list I used last night needs work.
13. I still say I could have won this if I had time, but it was just a friendly league game and I hope to get revenge sometime in the future!!

Final League Results 2-2.

Wednesday, June 5, 2013

Eldar Codex Review: My Initial Thoughts

Welcome to the wonderful world of 6th edition Eldar everyone. I must say, when I first got my hands on the new codex and took a look, my initial reaction was a big WTF. A quick list of things that I thought were not cool at the time and some I still think aren't.

  1. No guaranteed Fortune. This was huge.
  2. Runes of Warding and Witnessing are terrible compared to what they used to be.
  3. Increased points on War Walkers, Guardians, Wraithlords, Fire Dragons, and others. 
  4. No more casting the same power for Eldrad. (My 5th edition list was based on 2x fortune for Harlequins and Wraithguard)
  5. No more 4+ invuln on the Avatar. 
  6. No ghost helms on Warlocks and Spiritseers. 
  7. Harlequins can fail their psychic test for Veil of Tears and has reverted to its old rules.
  8. Shuriken Catapults are still 12"
  9. Why the hell do Wraithlords still not have some kind of invuln save.
  10. Why do Banshees still suck balls? I mean no grenades...come on man.
SHENANIGANS!!! Thats right I called immediate shenanigans. Come on Phil Kelly what the hell's going on here. And those were just the things that caught my eye at a cursory glance. On the flip side, after I spent a little more time with the codex, I found there were some things that really stood out that I loved.

  1. Battle Focus. That's awesome.
  2. No more Wraith Sight. Hooray!
  3. Shuriken weapons have rending against everything other than vehicles.
  4. Monofilament weapons are the bee's knees.
  5. OMG Wave Serpents with Holofields and Scatterlasers give me a huge nerd boner.
  6. Scatterlasers and laser lock give twin-linked to your other weapons.
  7. Wraithknight...not much to say...this guy is rad
  8. Fire Prisms got even better with 3 modes of fire and holofields
  9. Guardian Jetbikes got a points reduction. Why? I don't know, but I love it.
  10. Farseers on bikes all the time. There is no reason a Farseer should be seen without one. It's only 15 points and it makes him so much better.
  11. Biker Councils that get Protect/Jinx are gonna be amazeballs.
  12. Many units are now BS4
So obviously I'm pretty split on this codex. Did the new additions outweigh the nerfs and changes? Time will tell the story. I for one can't play the same list I did in 5th. The changes to Eldrad and Fortune, both of which were relied on heavily for my footdar, have put an axe in that. More to come as I get deeper into the codex and into testing. Hopefully we can get a batrep up before too long.

Monday, June 3, 2013

40k: Battle Report - Necrons/Grey Knights Vs Tau/Eldar


Deployment: Dawn of War
Mission: Crusade

My List (Necron/GKs):

HQ
Inquisitor Coteaz (Prescience, Scrier's Gaze)
Necron Overlord
  • Warscythe 
  • Sempiternal Weave 
  • Phase Shifter
Royal Court
Harbinger of Despair
  • Veil of Darkness 
Harbinger of Destruction
  • Solar Pulse 
Elites
5x Deathmarks
Troops
2x Jokaero Weaponsmith, 3x Servitors, 5x Warrior Acolytes
  • 3x Plasma Cannons 
  • Bolters 
5x Warrior Acolytes
  • 5x Bolters 
7x Necron Warriors
  • Ghost Ark 
7x Necron Warriors
  • Ghost Ark 
6x Necron Warriors
  • Ghost Ark
Fast Attack
6x Canoptek Wraiths
Heavy Support
Dreadknight
  • Heavy Incinerator
Annihilation Barge
Annihilation Barge
Annihilation Barge
Fortification
Aegis Defense Line
  • Twin-Linked Quad Gun
Opponents List (As Best As I Can Remember):
HQ 
Commander
  • 2x Markerlight Drones
  • Missile Pod
  • Missile Pod
  • Drone Controler
  • Neuroweb System Jammer
  • Puretide Engram Neurochip
Darkstrider
Eldrad (Prescience, Puppet Master, Psychic Shriek, Foreboding)
Elites
2x Crisis Suits
  • 2x Plasma Rifles each
Riptide
  • Heavy Burst Cannon
  • Counter Defense System
  • Twin-Linked Fusion Blaster
Stealth Team
  • Fusion Blaster
  • Shas'ui
Troops 
10x Fire Warriors
10x Fire Warriors
10x Dire Avengers
  • Exarch with Diresword/Shuriken Pistol and Defend
Fast Attack
Razorshark Strike Fighter
7x Pathfinders
  • Recon Drone
  • 2x Rail Rifles
Heavy Support 
Hammerhead
  • Longstrike
Broadside
  • 2x Shield Drones
  • Railrifle
  • TL SMS
Fortification 
Aegis Defense Line


I got to pick my side and since the terrain was pretty even just decided to stay on the side I was standing on.

We rolled up 4 objectives and placed them on the board. They're circled in yellow in the above pic. 

I rolled Princeps of Deciet for my warlord trait which was utterly useless. Not sure what my opponent rolled. 

My jokaero rolled and got 2 upgrades: Extra 12" range and 5+ invuln for their unit. 
(Our psyker powers are shown in the list above.)

We rolled and turn one would be Night Fight. He won the toss and chose to deploy first. 

As you can see he set up his entire force behind the aegis line and in the ruins on his table edge. He reserved the Stealth Suits, Crisis Suits, and the Razorshark Fighter. 
I tried to do something similar with my deployment placing my barges on the same side of the table as his Riptide and my Wraiths near the Elven castle to push up the side and hopefully sweep down his flank. 

I rolled to steal the initiative and failed. 
Thanks to Coteaz, I got to roll again and managed to pull out a 6 for the steal!

Necrons/Grey Knights Turn 1:
I lit off my one Solar Pulse so I wouldn't have to deal with night fighting. Prescience on Coteaz's unit. 

I moved all of my vehicles forward 6" and the Wraiths moved 12" up behind the castle. 

I shot all of my annihilation barges at the Riptide and managed a few wounds. The jumps from all the tesla shots would end up killing a couple Fire Warriors he had in the ruins and amazingly the Broadside and its drones. That netted me first blood. The Ghost Arc in the ruins fired at the Fire Warriors in the ruins and killed a couple. The 2 Ghost Arcs and Coteaz's unit behind the aegis line, fired at his Pathfinders nearly wiping them out. 

At the end of the turn his Fire Warriors failed their moral test and fell back a few inches but they didn't leave the board.

Tau/Edlar Turn 1:
His breaking Fire Warriors rallied and moved back into position into the ruins and onto the objective.
His Riptide moved forward, looking for some payback.
Longstrike's Hammerhead moved down to support the Fire Warriors in the trees.

The few Pathfinders still alive fired marker lights on the Ghost Arc near the castle, which had my warlord in it, and got a couple hits. The Riptide blew up the Ghost Arc near the building with TL-Fusion/Overcharged rending burst cannons, and killed 3 of the guys inside. Longstrike blew away the Ghost Arc near the castle killing 2 inside. Eldrad Puppet Mastered a single warrior and caused no wounds.



Necrons/Grey Knights Turn 2:
Rolled my reserves and everything was coming in. My Dreadknight deep striked just in front of his Dire Avengers. The Death Marks came in just in front of the Fire Warriors.

Death Marks marked the Fire Warriors. 5 Warrior Acolytes walked on the back near the objective in the ruins. The Wraith's continued to move up through the castle. The Ghost Arc in the ruins pushed forward to the Fire Warriors in the ruins, killing a few more. The Annihilation Barges all moved slightly to pick up a jink save and shot the Riptide down to 1 wound. Deathmarks killed a hand full of Fire Warriors in the woods. Dreadknight killed nearly all of the Dire Avengers.

The Wraiths would fail their charge attempt.


Tau/Edlar Turn 2:
Crisis Suits, Stealth Suits, and his Razorshark all come in.

Stealth suits came in near the ruins and took some shots at an Annihilation Barge, removing a hull point.
The Crisis suits dropped in near the objective by the castle, on my side, and attempted to shoot the unit of Warriors, killing only a couple. One would get back up.

Darkstrider and his Suit Commander joined the unit of Fire Warriors in the trees. The flyer attempted to pie plate the Wraiths but rolled "gets hot".

The Riptide and a puppet mastered Annihilation barge killed the Dreadknight.
The Firewarriors and Longstrike killed the Deathmarks.


Necrons/Grey Knights Turn 3:
Warriors disembarked from the Ghost Arc in the ruins, and together cleaned off the objective which they now held.

Warriors from the exploded Ghost Arc near the house moved towards the objective in the ruins to help the Warrior Acolytes.  They would end up killing off the stealth suits with help from an Annihilation barge.

The Annihilation barge near the house finished off the Riptide.
The Warriros on the castle objective and another Ghost Arc would take out the 2 Crisis Suits.
Coteaz's unit would finish of the last couple Dire Avengers and Eldrad.

The Wraiths multi-charged into Longstrike's Hammerhead and the Fire Warriors in the trees with his 2 HQs. The Wraiths took out the Hammerhead and all the Fire Warriors and Dark Strider.


Tau/Edlar Turn 3:
With nothing left but the flyer he moved forward in a last ditch attempt to snuff out Coteaz and crew but couldn't pull it off.
The Wraiths would drop the his Suit Commander during the assault phase.

At this point we ended the game.

Win goes to Necron/Grey Knights!

This puts my record for this league at 3-1. The one loss was to a very strong Tau list. There was also a really good game against Noise Marines. The lesson I've learned so far is that I strongly fear armies that have ways to remove my cover saves. Looking forward to this weeks game. Would love to get paired against Makers since I need practice against new Daemons.