Warmachine/Hordes!!!

So, I recently got a good amount of Cygnar Warmachine models in a trade. I'd always heard that the game was really well balanced and a great system so I wanted to check it out. Thus, I traded away the Imperial portion of my Star Wars X-wing collection to get my foot in the door. While my normal gaming store Fantasy Books and Games doesn't have much of a following for Warmachine/Hordes, their sister store Heroic Adventures does. And as luck would have it, their Warmachine/Hordes night is Thursday, which is the same night that I normally play Warhammer 40k. That's nice because now I don't have to ask the wife if she minds me going out to play an extra night during the week. So I decided I would do some research, grab a few more models and the faction deck, get the army painted up, and go learn the game.

First things first. What did I all get in the trade? Here's the list:

Warcasters
Epic Haley
Caine
Stryker

Warjacks
3x Lancers
Sentinel
Charger
Iron Clad
Centurion

Units
Field Mechaniks

Solos
Squire
Professor Viktor Pendrake

After some investigation into Cygnar I have since picked up the Cygnar Faction Deck, a Journeyman Warcaster, and a box of Arcane Tempest Gun Mages with their unit attachment character. Those were the 2 most highly recommended units I could find and I need the cards from the deck to play. This should give me a functional 35 point army. Here's the list I'm going to be using:

Major Victoria Haley (*5pts)

• Lancer (6pts)
• Centurion (9pts)
• Squire (2pts)

Arcane Tempest Gun Mages (Leader and 5 Grunts) (6pts)

• Arcane Tempest Gun Mage Officer (2pts)

Field Mechaniks (Leader and 3 Grunts) (2pts)

• Sentinel (4pts)

Journeyman Warcaster (3pts)

• Charger (4pts)

Professor Victor Pendrake (2pts)

Yesterday I got almost all my stuff in the mail. Now its time for some assembly, basing, and painting. I figured I'd post up some picks of what the models looked like when I got them and do some work in progress shots over the next couple weeks. I have to say, I'm pretty excited to get these guys painted up and start playing the game.

40k: Stop Whining and Grow Up.

First off for reference:

Faiet's opinion: Tournaments, Rage, Bitterness, and of Course.... the Hysteria

Bell of Lost Souls article on the subject: 40K Deep Thought - We Can't Ignore the Problem Anymore

TL,DR: Alex Fennell, a seasoned veteran in 40k competitive play, brought an Eldar Council Bike list to the Las Vegas Open Tournament and stomped everyone's ass with it. Now everyone is butt hurt.

Seriously, what the fuck people

In case people don't remember, tournaments are competitive.
As I've said before, this isn't little league. Everyone does not get a trophy.

Second, his list isn't anything new, it's been around for months.

Hell, Capnmoe has run this list numerous times over the past few months and no one ever says a word to him about it being cheese.

Does he win every game he has played with it? Nope.
Does he win the majority of the time? Yes.

But it's a good list and well thought out, so why should he be punished for it?

I want to take a second here to remind him of the time my Daemons beat the crap out of it.

Let's say you own a professional NFL team and you have Jerry Rice on your team.
You find out that you could actually have 2 more copies of him, and every week, you could have 3 exact copies of him playing on your offense.

Would you?
Of course you would.
Why?
Because you want to win.
It's competition.

The Las Vegas Open was a tournament.
Tournaments are Competition.

Did they tell the Yankees they weren't allowed to use Derek Jeter in the playoffs?
No, because that's dumb.
They spent their own money to put together a team they wanted and then won a few World Series.

Did everyone make fun of them? Yep.

Then what happened?
Everyone started copying them.

How did they fix it?
MLB changed their rules.

And at the end of day GW makes our rules.

Are the rules currently broken?
In my opinion yes, but that is GW's fault not ours.

The product is failing because of this and over time will cause them to lose more customers and more money.

Personally, I think it is absolutely amazing that there haven't been new FAQs out to address these issues.

I mean seriously... they haven't even FAQ'd the Burning Chariot of Tzeentch yet correctly...and that codex came out a year ago.

If GW does not address these issues, then people will stop playing their game and move on to other games.

A lot of people in my area have already switched to things like X-Wing, Drop Zone Commander or Warmachine because they no longer enjoy the competitive scene of 40k.

I like competition and I believe it is not my place to tell someone else what they can and cannot bring to a tournament. If it's currently legal, bring whatever you want. Yes it may be difficult to play against, and yes it will most likely be a challenge, but the key here is to look at it as a learning opportunity for next time.

Too many people expect the game to be "fair" and by fair I mean "the odds in their favor."
People hate to have to work for something.

I've seen far to many people watch their opponent put a Riptide, Wraithknight or even something like a Land Raider on the table and you can tell they have already given up.

The question is where does it stop?
Is everyone just supposed to only use troops?
No more Monstrous Creatures?
No more ++ saves?
The everyone would complain that the game is far too boring and there is never anything new...

It's far easier to sit and complain from behind a computer screen than to actually make the effort to make a better list, work on it, practice, then beat the new "IT" list.

And maybe, here's a thought, provide some CONSTRUCTIVE criticism.

I do think GW is hurting the competitive nature of their own game, but I also believe that the whining, bitching and moaning players out there are making it worse.

So in that respect, the new League at my LGS starts for me this Thursday
In honor of all the whiners, I will be bringing this list for the next few weeks!

Commander - Puretide Engram Neurochip, Multispectrum Sensor Suite, Command and Control Node
Ethereal
6 Firewarriors
6 Firewarriors
6 Firewarriors
5 Pathfinders
5 Pathfinders
Riptide - Ion Accelerator, SMS, Early Warning Override, Stimulant Injector
Riptide - Ion Accelerator, SMS, Early Warning Override, Stimulant Injector
Riptide - Ion Accelerator, SMS, Early Warning Override, Stimulant Injector
3 Broadsides - High Yield Missile Pods, Twinlinked SMS, 6 Missile Drones
Aegis Defense Line and a Quad Cannon

X-Wing Expansion 4 Announced!

http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_news.asp?eidn=4645

40K: Tau For Tots Recap, Rants and Memories.

I have been debating as to whether or not to make this post, but I felt it was unfair to not follow up to my previous post.

Late last month CapnMoe and I had the privilege of attending a charity 40k tournament that was hosted by a few friends of ours known as Gateway Gamers.

This event consisted of 1000 point army lists and the only entry fee was to bring a toy for donation.

There were numerous door prizes for all players at no extra cost and all game boards were cut in half, so each game was on a 4'x4' area.

I believe there were about 30 people that showed up total, most of which were fellow gamers that we have had the pleasure of playing with for the past few years, so it was a very casual atmosphere.

I had only ever played Tau once before, and decided to bring them to this event to get some more practice in.

My List:
Commander - Puretide Engram Chip, Command and Control Node, Multi-Spectrum Sensor Suite
6 Firewarriors
6 Firewarriors
Riptide - Ion Accelerator, Smart Missile System, Early Warning Override, Stimulant Injector
Riptide - Ion Accelerator, Smart Missile System, Early Warning Override, Stimulant Injector
3 Broadsides - High Yield Missile Pods, Smart Missile Systems
Aegis Defense Line with a Quad Cannon

I have played in many tournaments throughout my gaming career, but this one would turn out to be different in so many ways.

It would contain both the best and worst gaming experiences of my life.

40k: Battle Report Daemons vs Orks

Hey Hey! I'm not dead! Hooray! 

Yea...Holidays, work, etc...

Real life gets in the way too much of my hobbies. 

Sorry for the long time no post but honestly...there is just SO much to talk about and I hate making posts that are only a paragraph or two long, and are mostly just complaining about the current state of the game.

Honestly with so many new things coming out like Codexes, Data Slates, Escalation, Stronghold, and on and on and on, the game has changed dramatically in the last few months. 

I'm still not sure if its for the better or for the worse, but time will tell.

(Personally I am against Escalation and Stronghold being used in regular games and tournaments, and don't get me started on things like Grimore of True Names being banned in tournaments...)

Anyways, finally had a chance to get in a game last week against so I decided to bring my Daemons for old times sake.

Game was Big Guns, Deployment was Dawn of War

My list:

Fateweaver - Prescience, Endurance, Spontaneous Combustion, Invisibility

Keeper of Secrets - Puppet Master, Hallucination, Invisibility (Dark Blessing, 4+ FnP)

10 Pink Horrors

10 Pink Horrors

15 Flesh Hounds

Slaanesh Prince - Wings, Armor, Lash - Enfeeble, Iron Arm, Warp Speed - Eternal Blade, Etherblade

Slaanesh Prince - Wings, Armor, Lash - Iron Arm, Warp Speed, Endurance - Grimore

Slaanesh Prince - Wings, Armor, Lash - Iron Arm, Warp Speed, Enfeeble - Portaglyh

His List give or take
Ghaz and 8 Nobz in Mega Armor with Power Klaws and 3 Combiflamers in a Deff Rolla
20 Shoota Boyz with some Big Shootas + Nob with a Power Klaw and a Boss Pole in a Deff Rolla
1 Trukk with 12 Shoota Boyz with a few Big Shootas + Nob with a Power Klaw and a Boss Pole
20 Shoota Boys with a Big Shoota + Nob with a Power Klaw and a Boss Pole
15 Lootas
5 Defkoptaz with Rokkits
3 Killa Kans

League Series Final Game Summary: Necrons Vs Adepta Sororitas/Inquisition

My final game of the league series ended up being against Adepta Sororitas. The game was kill points and 4 deep striking objectives that scattered 5d6 from the center at the start of the first 4 turns. Objectives would end up where the arrows are pointing in the picture below.

He had a giant unit of 20 sisters, Jacobus, and 4 Ministorum Priests that I had to take out asap. The majority of my turn one shooting was spent thinning this unit down. It would eventually fall to more gunfire in the 2nd turn.

The Wraiths took out the 8 Crusaders, Ministorum Priest, and Inquisitor in the Land Raider.

 He attempted to out flank 2 Immolators to get mass melta shots on my vehicles. Sadly for him his dice were super cold and he missed with almost everything failing to harm any of my units. In my shooting phase I would kill them both and both units that were inside.

Pushing Forward to take objectives.

I attempted to take down his flyer with one of mine but failed.

Disembarking onto objectives.

His flyers final attempt to shoot my guys off of an objective.

In the end I held 3 objectives, Line Breaker, Slay the Warlord, First Blood, and was well ahead on kill points. Victory for the Necrons. That put me at 5/5 for the league, my best finish so far. This weekend I also managed to qualify for the final game of the Titan Tournament in March. It seems all the practice with this army paid off.

40K December/January League: The Story So Far

With the next Titan Tournament qualifier being an 1850 no allies tournament, I thought Necrons would be the best choice for my personal play style. So, I decided that I would run pure Necrons for the next league to get some practice in. Here's the list:

HQ
Imotekh the Stormlord
Necron Destroyer Lord

• Warscythe 
• Sempiternal Weave
• Mind Shackle Scarabs

Royal Court
Harbinger of Despair

• Veil of Darkness

Elites

10x Deathmarks

• Night Scythe 

Troops
6x Necron Warriors

• Ghost Ark

6x Necron Warriors

• Ghost Ark

6x Necron Warriorsts

• Ghost Ark

6x Necron Warriors

• Night Scythe

Fast Attack
6x Canoptek Wraiths

• 2x Whip Coils

Heavy Support
Annihilation Barge
Annihilation Barge
Annihilation Barge

Week 1:

Opponent: Chaos Space Marines

Deployment: Dawn of War

Objectives: 3x Crusade Objectives + Purge the Alien

Abaddon was still standing at the end but not much of anything else for the Chaos Space Marines. Win for the Necrons.

Week 2:

Opponent: Tyranids

Deployment: Vanguard 

Objectives: Relic + Heavy Support Kills

Squished some bugs. Sadly this opponent has still not figured out how to make legal lists. Oh well, the evil robots still won soundly.

Week 3:

Opponent: Adepta Sororitas

Deployment: Hammer and Anvil

Objectives: 4x Crusade Objectives + Individual Line Breaker Units

Sisters have gotten SO much better. This was a close game. My opponent apparently forgot about his search lights until nearly the end of the game. With Imotekh making it night fight for the first few rounds, it could have been a game changer. I always say 40K is a game of remembering. Usually the player that remembers the most wins, and I remembered the most this game. Thats a win!

Week 4:

Opponent: Orks/Cypher and Chaos Chosen

Deployment: Dawn of War

Objectives: 4x Big Guns Never Tire Objectives + Purge the Alien (Heavy Support Worth 2)

This was only the 2nd or 3rd time I'd ever played Orks. Despite that fact, this game ended on turn 3 with a Necron victory.

So that's where I stand going into week 5. I'm currently 4/4. I don't know that I've ever had this good of a record during a league. I know I've never won a league series. Only 2 more games left. Hopefully I can keep up the momentum and bring home my first league series "W".