Defending Humanity

New Digs: Rules Manufactorum

2011-11-01T09:00:00.000-05:00

Hi guys!

You may have noticed that it's been a bit quite around here of late. While part of it has to do with work, that's not all! You can now find me doing a weekly article over at rulesmanufactorum.com! I'm aiming to post every Wednesday with new ways that we can subtly tweak our current rules system to either make it better, more interesting, or just closer to the fluff.

You can find my first article on reworking the Sniper rules right here!

But, I can't leave without posting a picture, as it hasn't all been work, work, and more work (though it mostly has). Here's a sneak preview of what the Circus has been getting up to:

Adventuring into Arctura: Matthias the Grey Shepherd

2011-09-23T12:00:00.000-05:00

Recently I've been invited to join a local roleplaying group. They apparently play a loose variation on D&D 3.5 rules using a fairly amazing and well thought out campaign setting created by the GM called Arctura.

Essentially the world is for the most part covered by either ocean, jungle or savannah, with only small areas devoted to farming and cities. Humanity constantly needs to fight the jungle and its monstrous beasts back or be overrun. There is also only one god in this setting, Pelor, the god of Good and Light, though there are many lesser deities such as the great animal spirits of the tribesmen that are worshipped by some.

Over the next couple of posts I'm going to post up different possible character ideas that I have, and I'd like you to take a look at them and tell me what you think. It doesn't matter if the character can't easily fit into a class, as it sounds like the GM is very flexible when it comes to assigning mechanical abilities and it's more focused on roleplaying than dice. Since I like to play weird, out of the box characters, this plays to my tastes.

To start off with, though, here's a character that could probably pretty easily be created using character classes, Matthias the Grey Shepherd:

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Necromancer by m00nlight101

Matthias comes from a parish in the Founts [largest amount of consecutive farmland on Arctura and one of humanity's great strongholds]. The teachings ofPelor hold strong there, but they have been a bit… corrupted over time. Y’see, theproblem that Matthias’ corner of the Founts has is the dead. When you die, youeither get to join the Sun God in his paradise in the heavens above or you getcast down into the earth, never to be heard from again. Where most priestswould just call it then and there, Matthias’ flock are a bit more… forgiving.After all, doesn’t Pelor love those who return to him after succumbing todarkness and doesn't he cherish those who labor in his name?

So Matthias and other priests of his peculiar brand ofPelorism, called Grey Shepherds, give the dead a second chance. They use “sanctified”rituals of necromancy to reach down into the earth, pluck a damned soul fromthere and intern him in a corpse (preferably his own, but any will do) to earn his place in the heavenly kingdom. Forsmall time offenders this might mean something like tirelessly tilling fieldsor performing other manual labor for a few years or decades after death. Someeven volunteer if they know that they have sinned and join a quick responsedefense force for decades or centuries beyond death, animated when needed. Forothers, they might be called on crusade to push back the hellish jungle andconvert the heathen by force if necessary. For if the heathen won’t beconverted by speeches, punishment or even the threat of death, there is alwaysan eternity of service that they can be called to perform…

Matthias, of course, hates unsanctioned necromancy, as it isa vile and evil sin to manipulate the dead into serving any aim but the furtheranceand protection of Pelor’s realm. He is currently wandering as a missionary,using his undead servants to further Pelor’s cause and help push back thejungle.

Personality: Matthias is very out going and genuinely happy to be alive and doing the lord's work. He honestly thinks that raising sinners and unbelievers is the right thing to do, and even believes that by doing so he is bringing them closure and eternal happiness. While he has had some exposure to outside cultures and the threats of the wild, this adventure will probably be his first real encounter with the Jungle and the predatory outside world. His naive faith will keep him strong for a time, but I do not know if he will have the strength to persevere. He often knows what the "right" thing is that his faith has taught him, but exposure to the real world might change or at least challenge a lot of those beliefs.

Possible conflict: Matthias' belief system is, frankly, based on a lie. Now that he's outside of the Founts he'll likely come in contact with those that see Necromancy as an evil art, and Pelor forbid that he should wander into temple, undead manservant in tow. How Matthias will deal with this will define his character. I currently see him as soldiering on, seeing this crisis of faith as a new test but feeling inexplicably guilty each time he raises the dead, but who knows what role playing will bring.

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So that's what I have for Matthias so far. He could probably be easily made into a cleric/wizard or cleric/sorceror. Comments and critiques are very welcome, as well as any cool insights that I could have on his personality and outlook on the world.

Thanks for reading!

Ogre Circus: Expanding the Troupe

2011-09-07T00:00:00.000-05:00

Well, I managed to pick up the new Ogre army book this weekend and I have to say that I am very pleased with it. It looks like they've managed to make the majority of units much more viable and give the army the tools to really win in 8th edition.

However, with all of the lowering prices I've found that I really need to add more models to my army to get back up to 2k. Brilliant marketing move GW! Fortunately I really like the look of the new models, especially the Mournfang Cavalry and the Stonehorn/Thundertusk, though the Mournfang might need a bit of conversion work (i.e. lippizaner!) before they are fit for my army.

Anyway, I'm a bit of a noob when it comes to Fantasy lists, but here's what I've drawn up for 2k:

Slaughtermaster, Armour of Destiny, lvl 4, fencer’s blades 370
Bruiser, BSB, Runemaw, HA, Ironfist 193
Firebelly, Dispel scroll, additional hand weapon 157
3 Leadbelchers, Bellower 139
3 Leadbelchers, Bellower 139
2 Mournfang Cavalry, HA, Ironfists, Bellower 150
2 Mournfang Cavalry, HA, Ironfists, Bellower 150
10 Ogres, Ironfists, Crusher and Bellower 350
7 Ironguts, standard bearer, Dragonhide Banner, bellower 328

The command section I figure is pretty solid, and I wouldn't be too surprised if the trifecta of SM, Bruiser and FB don't become the default for Ogres at this points level. My Tyrant, while awesome, just doesn't do enough and now that I don't need to take him choosing the SM for my Lords slot is a no brainer.

Both he and the Bruiser/Firebelly will drop into the block of Ogres and form the center of the line, ready to mash up anything that comes their way. Off to the sides are the Leadbelchers and Mournfangs. The Leadbelchers pick off quick harassing units/add a bit of ranged punch while the Mournfangs go around the sides and either try to take out enemy war machines or get flank charges on the enemy.

Meanwhile the Irongut block moves to engage any heavy enemy infantry. The Dragonhide banner will let them absolutely murder people in assault, as rerolling 1s for everything plus the second turn simultaneous round thanks to the ice breath should make sure that they have an impact on the game.

Alternatively, I could replace the IGs with another Ogre block and/or swap out the Leadbelchers for a Thundertusk/pair of Cannons, or I could swap out the Mournfangs for a Stonehorn. I'll probably start with the above as it's very close to what I have in my collection currently, but I'm curious to see what regular Fantasy players think about the above list.

Thanks for reading!

Army List: Wall of Russ

2011-09-04T22:00:00.000-05:00

On the flight home from a business trip I accidentally trapped my travel popcorn book in the overhead compartment. Not wanting to disturb the gentleman seated next to me, I decided to whip out my phone and type up a possible list that has been brewing in my head.

One of the problems that I've been having with my Guard is that they often seem fairly schizophrenic and fragile to me. AV 12 boxes carrying meltaguns is definitely a powerful strategy, but those meltaguns just never seemed to add enough to the army's overall strategy to be supremely worth it. Sure they're scoring, well armored and deadly, but they do nothing at range and get torn up when they get close.

Meanwhile my long range heavy hitters, the Vendettas, Manticores and Hydras depended on getting in first dibs on shooting so that they could take out enemy AT. Any return fire quickly shut them down either temporarily or permanently, so going second depended a lot on waiting in hard cover or starting off the board. And I HATE starting off the board. Plus in order to protect them I needed to devote additional melta squads which meant that they weren't getting in my opponent's face.

So here are the factors that are in my brain:

-resilience to first turn/long range firepower
-unified purpose for the army
-strong emphasis on utilizing the Vet squads in midfield

I'm an avid follower of The Back 40k and, despite Mr. Sandwyrm's recent success rate at NOVA I really like the way his army plays, midfield and aggressive with plenty of Russ backup.

So, with the ideas of midfield, unified purpose, and resilience to firepower in my brain, here's what I thought up at 1850:

Company Command Squad, 3 meltaguns, Astropath, Chimera
Veteran Squad, 3 meltaguns, Chimera
Veteran Squad, 3 meltaguns, Chimera
Veteran Squad, 3 meltaguns, Chimera
Veteran Squad, 3 flamers, Chimera
Veteran Squad, 3 plasmaguns, Chimera
Devil Dog, hull hvy flamer
Devil Dog, hull hvy flamer
Leman Russ Demolisher, hull hvy flamer
Leman Russ Demolisher, hull hvy flamer
Leman Russ Squadron, one Executioner and one Exterminator, both with hull hvy bolters

Yep, 4 Russes. Enough to blanket most of my line from enemy fire or at least afford them a healthy cover save, while at the same time enjoying their lovely AV 14 against ranged attacks. Long Fangs? Don't care. Vendettas? Have fun. Eldar? Hope you brought enough Bright Lances. Grey Knights? Yeah, have fun with that str 7 rending. Autocannons? Hah!

There are also no Vendettas in the list. Sure they put out a lot of firepower, but everything can see them and therefore shoot them down. Devil Dogs, on the other hand, can bookmark my Chimera line and offer them AV 12 on the sides while also grabbing cover and offering a serious threat to vehicles and infantry alike.

Tactics with the list depend on the enemy. Standard deployment is Russes up front, Chimeras behind them and Devil Dogs taking the sides. Russes are mostly there to help the army weather the first two turns of shooting. After that the Vets can be loosed on the enemy, melting enemy tanks and troops while the Russes continue to assist as needed while (hopefully) staying out of melta range.

Against drop lists deploy a small group including the CC to lure the drop troops into a trap when reserves start coming in turn 2.

Now, this isn't some perfect, win all list. It shores up one weakness of Guard (lack of resiliance) but opens up a few others. MCs are difficult to deal with at range with no Vendettas. Drop armies can cause merry hob by bringing meltas into close range right away. It also has little option in the early game beyond driving pell mell and a few 24" shots if I'm lucky.

But I think that might be worth it to not worry about the long range firepower that dominates the game again.

Let me know what you think, and thanks for reading!

Ogre Circus: Loading the Wagons...

2011-08-08T12:00:00.003-05:00

Tyrant Burnam is getting antsy. His circus, the Biggest Show on Earth, has been in storage for far too long. With the Ogres set to receive a new army book fairly soon, plus my general lack of motivation to work on anything for 40k has got me breaking out the big guys and thinking about what I need to do with them.

An easy project that I think I'll start with to ease my way back into doing hobby related activities is finally painting up this fellow, my second Butcher/Slaughtermaster. I built him for my hilariously-fated Fantasy tourney back in December but didn't have enough time/willpower to get him table top ready at the time.

Another project that I can do with my current stock of bits is put together a Slavegiant. With the current book I think I really need two to be particularly effective but I'm hoping that at smaller point levels one will be able to cut it. I already have conversion ideas ready for both of the big guys when I get them, but I think I'll keep that part a secret until I start getting work done on them.

Again, thanks for reading, and let me know what you think!

Invasion Kenosha, part 3

2011-08-05T12:00:00.001-05:00

Before we get to the pics some words about the tourney in general. I had a great time there. Prize support was generous and consisted entirely of actual product rather than store gift cards, a very nice idea for a tourney that drew in players from across the state. While I didn't win anything with my record I did manage to get a cool Ogre/Cyclops mini from an independent company that I think will look great with my Ogres. We also got lots of cool bits in our welcome bags, including cool Pre-Heresy ish heads and some lipped bases which I'm excited to use. Plus, food was plentiful and included in the base price, always a plus for me!

More pics from Invasion Kenosha. These were pics of armies that I found to be the best of those there and showed off some pretty cool techniques.

I really enjoyed the color scheme on the Space Wolf army. The darker hues and use of more red and bone really sold me on the whole "Space Viking" concept much more than their traditional garb.

This IG army had some rather impressive weathering effects- check it out!

And speaking of rust effects...

That's it for now- hope you enjoyed!

Invasion Kenosha, part 2

2011-08-03T12:00:00.001-05:00

Hi all, back to Kenosha for me. First some pics, then we'll get into the games.

All right, game time. First game was against an older gentleman named Eddie who also brought an Imperial Guard list. I learned following the game that all of the IG players bar one had been "randomly" paired up with another IG army. Interesting, but possibly legit as there were a LOT of IG players playing scarily similar lists.

Eddie's Army (love the sky/ground camo on the Valks!)

Eddie was not one of these, piloting a list with, at least in my opinion, a few too many upgrades and less efficient choices (Valks with hellstrikes?). Still, Eddie was a great opponent and we had a lot of fun. I got pretty lucky on most of my rolls, such as having my Demolisher destroy 4 vehicles in as many turns, including a Leman Russ through front armor. I ended up cleaning up all of the battle points, completely forgetting the idea of playing it safe when on the last turn Eddie encouraged me to charge in guns and bayonets ablazing to make it an appropriately epic ending.

End game

My mistake was soon laid to bare in my second game against Razor Spam Blood Angels. 5 Razors, 2 AC/HB Baal Preds and 2 AC/LC Preds and to top it off he won first turn on a board with very little LOS blocking cover in a pure KP scenario. This game really showed off my lack of long range firepower, as right from turn one I was desperately trying to knock anything out and get my tanks into position without exposing my side armor, a near impossibility due to the speed of the Blood Angels tanks.

I debated doing the all reserve but without an Astropath I didn't want to rely on the risky strategy, so I instead opted to reserve the combined platoon and the Vendettas to make sure I had some kind of punch after turn 1. Unfortunately I didn't end up getting my reserves until turn 4, at which point it was far too late to do anything. I was actually tied on kill points up to turn 5, but after that the Blood Angels got in close and tore my lines apart, earning him a Massacre. I have to say that my opponent was a gentleman and a very good player. None of his moves were wasted and all were focused on maximizing the most out of every single shot and charge possible.

Finally I played a really close game against a Nid player who played a list with no Hive Guard or Tervigons. This was a really great game that went back and forth on nearly every turn, especially turns 5, 6 and 7. There was some confusion over how the mission worked, and I may have been able to pull out a Major Victory in the end instead of the tie that we ended up with if I had read the missions more clearly, but even so it was very fun and got me to use a lot of the tools that I had brought in my army list. Favorite moments were probably charging twice with my platoon into both the Doom of Malantai and a squad of Stealers. They probably would have won the second battle if a second squad of Stealers hadn't outflanked on that edge the turn after they charged in.

So, at the end of the day I ended up near the middle of the pack, probably a fair assessment of my current level of rustiness as well as the very real limitations that my list possessed. The second and third game were very educational and I'll definitely try to remember the lessons that I learned.

Next time, some more pics from the tourney. Till then, thanks for reading!

Invasion Kenosha, pt 1

2011-08-01T12:00:00.001-05:00

Hi all! This past weekend I got back into the 40k groove by checking out Invasion Kenosha, a tourney put on near my home town that was put on by fellow Warhammer blogger Equinox.

When I put together the list that I was taking I had a couple of thoughts in mind:

One, it was a 1500 pts tourney and so I couldn't bring the normal set of tools that I consider to be indispensable. So no ridiculous Heavy Support choices and certainly not the plurality of units that I'm used to in my Mech Guard lists.

Two, at least when I started originally putting my list together ForgeWorld units were set to be allowed. Because of this my list needed to be able to deal with some of the nastier Forge World options that were out there, such as Lucius Drop Pods, Land Raider Achilles and Hades Breaching Drills.

Three, I of course still wanted to go mostly mech. I likes my tanks and I have a lot of them, so being able to get my Vets out there was a given. However I wanted to try something that was more of a mixed mech army, so including some foot element in the army to help screen my tanks and overwhelm other infantry would be key.

So here's the list I put together. I'm using a lot of acronyms here, so if you're confused check out my IG vocabulary reference page.

CCS with 3 meltaguns in a Chimera, ML/HF
2 Veteran squads, 3 meltaguns in a Chimera, ML/HF
Veteran squad, 3 plasmaguns in a Chimera, ML/HF
PCS, 4 flamers in a Chimera, ML/HF
3 Infantry squads with power weapon sgts., one with a Commissar with power weapon
2 Vendettas
Hellhound with hull heavy flamer
Leman Russ Demolisher with hull heavy flamer

A couple of key points here:

- I don't like doing triple Vendettas in lists anymore. Vendettas continue to be awesome and incredibly efficient, but they are such high value targets that they are shot down almost instantly or are forced to turboboost the entire game due to shaking. I also really like the other Fast Attack choices and choosing one to throw in in their place sounded like a good plan. Plus, it's much easier to transport 2 Vs than 3.

-The infantry squads were included to help deal with what I consider to be the bane of Mech IG, drop armies. They can easily provide a 6 inch area of safe space between them and my tanks to help reduce the chance that a deep striking unit will blow something up. They also provide a nice buffer against assaulting armies, tying up big death star units until I can devote enough resources to blow them up. I wish I could have found the points for some special weapons for these squads, but at least at the time I thought that power weapons were more important.

-The Demolisher was chosen for two reasons: strength 10 and mobility. Strength 10 Ordnance gives me an out against a Land Raider Achilles (stupid immunity to melta) and can help blow up TWolf Cavalry and give nearly every unit in the game a hard time. I chose it over other Str 10 choices like the Manticore and Medusa because it's very mobile and well armored. Putting it at the forefront of my spearhead provides some protection for the rest of my AV 12 tanks or on the side to protect their AV 10.

-The Hellhound was a last minute choice. I was debating either it or a Devil Dog, and I'm still not sure if I made the right choice. On the one hand my Chimeras are all equipped with heavy flamers making it somewhat redundant. But, on the other hand, I often want to set guys that are over there on fire, and the Hellhound with its speed and long range super flamer excels at this task. Again, if I could have had more points a hull multimelta would have been a nice addition, but we do what we can do.

-Over all I was a bit worried at my lack of long range firepower. I have the Vendettas... and that's about it. Granted I feel that I made my army pretty effective in mid field, but not having more ability to reach out and touch people at 48" or more was a little worrying for me. Replacing the Hellhound with either a Devil Dog or some Heavy Weapon teams/Hydras (along with creative points reallocation) might have been enough to fix this problem, but even then I'd be a bit worried.

I played a pair of test games with the list against some people from my FLGS. First was against a double Raider/jumper Blood Angels list and the second was against Nids. Both ended in pretty strong wins for my list, but then again both played pretty well to my strengths (dealing with small groupings of well armored units, using speed bumps effectively and burning gribblies and MCs), but neither had the sheer weight of light mech that I knew would be popular at the tourney. Still, it showed that my list could function well against some pretty good players.

We'll get into the games next post, plus some pretty pics. As always thanks for reading, and it's good to be back!

Enter the Raptors!

2011-04-27T12:00:00.002-05:00

Sorry for the lack of posting lately- it's been a bit of a whirlwind around here lately. I've been out on work trips for most of the past few weekends and those that I wasn't I was either at Adepticon or furiously painting and modeling for the campaign that I've joined at the club.

Even though I have plenty of pics and stories, Adepticon will have to wait as I have more pressing matters to discuss. The aforementioned campaign at my club is set during the Badab War, so I figured that it would be a great chance to build one of my favorite Space Marine chapters, the Raptors.

The Raptors strike a deep chord with me. I've never understood the mentality behind Marines, standing out in the open and charging forward to kill the enemy with chainsword and power fist. It's a cool image, but not a terribly practical one. The Raptors as of Imperial Armour 9 actually use camouflage and focus on shooting to eliminate their enemies. But above all they are practical- if there is an easier way to accomplish a goal, they will do so, no matter what it is.

So here's my work in progress for the army. I'm using Chapter Master Lias Issodon from IA 9 as my primary HQ and I'm trying to make the most of his Stealth chapter tactics ability by using a foot based build made up of Scouts and Terminators. Yeah, not the most effective in the entire world, but I'm sick of painting metal boxes for right now. Plus it lets me pursue a force based on Operation Sedna, the Raptors' crowning achievement during the war. All of my marines will be in tundra camo with snow basing, something I've wanted to do for a long time.

And here's a close up of one of my CML termies. I figured that I'm not using Typhoons on the speeders that I've built so far, so the missile launchers will easily fill out my ranks.

More updates will be following soon, and thanks for reading!

p.s. Thanks to mi40k.com for posting about my blog! Once I've finished the Raptors the Guard will have their refit. Also look forward to my introspective on my past year in the hobby!

Psyker Psolitaire: Done!

2011-03-22T12:00:00.001-05:00

They're fairly quick and dirty, but that's what kind of time I have before Adepticon. I finished these guys up over the weekend, leaving me with a few tanks to finish painting (damn you faulty spray primer!). I'm using my Psyker Primaris as the Overseer of the squad.

I'm debating whether or not to do a display base. I was going to do one with all of the troops on different cards, but I don't think I'll have the time or inclination to make one between now and Adepticon. Plus it would need to be rather large to get everyone on, especially the Valkyries, and it's only worth 5 points at most (which I certainly won't be getting for my idea).

We'll see if I feel like it, but chances are that I won't. Besides, there's tanks to paint first!

Sunday Shout Out: The Magnet Pro

2011-03-20T12:00:00.001-05:00

Welcome to the Sunday Shout Out, where I feature different blogs that I read and talk about why I read them. As you may have noticed I don't have a blog roll, as I figure that other sites probably have the linking craziness down much more pat than I ever could. But I want to make sure that the blogs that I follow get the praise they deserve, especially those blogs that really deserve more followers than they currently have. This week's shout out is dedicated to the Magnet Pro.

I've always liked fan generated material for game systems. Back in my White Wolf days I was a frequent visitor of sites like Sanguinus Curae that offered cool new bloodlines and powers for my vamps to play around with. Sometimes they were outright broken (I'm looking at YOU runic armored Gangrel!) and some were... interesting, but overall they added a lot of flavor and cool new ideas to the game. Same goes for fan made sets for Magic which I always tried to create but got burned out on commons.

In 40k there is a growing movement towards fan-dexes spearheaded by places like Galaxy in Flames and The Codex Project, but the fan-dex that I've enjoyed the most has been The Magnet Pro's Adeptus Mechanicus codex. There's something about it that makes it feel more "real" to me than a lot of the other fandexes out there. Nothing in the book (well, except for maybe the Warhound Titan) screams "broken" and everything feels like it's a natural extension of the 5th edition 40k mind set. There's plenty of troop swapping, crazy rules for cool units, heck there's even a walking transport!

He's also taken the codex through several iterations, fixing power imbalances and making sure that the book functions well with the other 5th ed codices. Plus he's started actually collecting the models for his fan-dex, which I for one can't wait to see. In addition to the fan-dexedness the blog's title is not just a throw away- the man has plenty of how-tos for magnetizing various Space Marine and other models and vehicles. This extends into plenty of other conversions, like this light up Monolith for one. I mean, did you SEE the Necron warrior walking through the portal? Cool stuff!

So, if you're interested in the progress of this dex or learning about how magnets can help you in Warhammer, check out the Magnet Pro!

Psyker Test Fig and New Valkyrie Bases

2011-03-15T12:00:00.001-05:00

This weekend I managed to do two things:

1. Enjoy an awesome surprise birthday party thrown by my girlfriend! Note: beer fests make the BEST surprises
2. Get some hobby work done!

The above and below are pics of my first test model for the Psyker Battle Squad. The cards could use some more detail work, but I'm reaching the end of my freehand abilities here. Making three dots near one another is about the best that I'm gonna do for suits.

I also managed to finally spruce up the bases for my Valkyries. I've had these bases in my mind for a while but the good weather this weekend finally let me make them a reality. Plus, I got to light things on fire... whee!

Apparently if you light playing cards on fire you might get light headed afterwards... pro tip right there.

I might do something similar for my display board which... dagnabbit, I need to build that too, don't I?

Now I need to finish painting up the PBS, find an out of commission spray primer for my tanks and build a display board. Fun couple of weeks left!

Sunday Shout Out: Flashlights of Fury

2011-03-13T12:00:00.000-05:00

I'm going to start a new series on this blog called the Sunday Shout Out, where I feature different blogs that I read and talk about why I read them. As you may have noticed I don't have a blog roll, as I figure that other sites probably have the linking craziness down much more pat than I ever could. But I want to make sure that the blogs that I follow get the praise they deserve. So join me as we explore one of the newest additions to my Reader, Flashlights of Fury.

They're a pretty darn new blog on the web, only starting posts in February, but the quality of posting has been top notch right form the beginning. I forget exactly how I found out about these guys, but one thing that I DO know is that after reading one post I kept on reading until I had read them all.

I don't think I've ever done that with a blog before, with the possible exception being Musings of a Metal Mind (congrats on the 100th post, btw!). The style and quality of writing found at FoF is consistently good and they've taken some very good looks not just at current 40k news and modeling projects but also have a series of Warhammer history lessons where they explore the origins of some of our favorite models.

They're also primarily Imperial Guard focused, and Tallarn on top of that, so that might be another reason that I like them.

Here are some of my favorites from their short collection of posts so far:

The 5 Minute Histories, each detailing how a particular model (like Baneblades and Titans) have been produced and modeled throughout GW history
The Lowrider Medusa conversion
Modelling: Choose, but Choose Wisely, all about making sure that you're using the correct bitz for your next conversion.

So please, if you're looking for some quality writing from some new faces in the blogosphere, give Flashlights of Fury a look!

Dark Angels: Price Comparisons with 5th Ed Marines

2011-03-09T12:00:00.000-06:00

I'm apparently still on a Dark Angels kick... probably because I don't want to work on my Guard anymore but still need to sit down and do some painting soon in order to be ready for Adepticon. Not to mention a display board...

Anyway. One thing that has really grabbed hold of my mind is comparing the Dark Angels and 5th Edition Marine codices and seeing exactly what the Dark Angels do better. We all know the differences between Space Wolves, Blood Angels and Codex Marines, but what special things beyond the Deathwing do Dark Angels have?

Let's start with a unit by unit analysis and then move on into play styles that these model choices lead to. I'll only be going over Dark Angels units that are at least potentially better than the 5th ed equivalents, so if I don't cover something it's worse than the 5th ed equivalent.

HQ

Belial: the big bad himself. Sure his stats are worse than a standard Captain but he comes at a price that can't be beat. A Captain with TH/SS would cost 40 pts more and only get +1 WS and Combat Tactics out of the deal, while Belial also gets to take Termies as Troops. Clear win for the big B here.

Chaplains: much better than their C:SM equivalent thanks to +1 BS, +1 A, cheaper combi-weapons and a cheaper bike. They do lose the ability to take terminator armor unless upgraded to an Interrogator-Chaplain, but he gets a third wound out of the deal. Speaking of which the Interrogator-Chaplain beats up his Blood Angels counter part the Reclusiarch by being at least 5 pts cheaper.

Sammael:in my opinion not as good as a biker boss from C:SM. Sure his bike can fly and has an underslung plasma cannon but neither ability plays very well with Ravenwing bike squads, not to mention the fact that he doesn’t have Scout. The other bikes can’t fly and they are generally armed with melta weaponry, which the PC doesn’t help out with a ton and is much more suited to shooting at 36” than 12. Adamantine mantle will protect him on his own for a bit but taking out 3 3+/4++ wounds on a T5 body shouldn’t be a problem.

His landspeeder form is a bit more palatable as it can use its AV 14 to good effect but needing to be within 24” to shoot brings him dangerously close to melta range which will end his day. I guess take him if you want biker troops, but otherwise he can stay on the shelf.

Elite

Deathwing Terminators: no surprise here, are awesome. They have the ability to be assault and shooty at the same time, plus scoring ability and 10 pts cheaper Cyclones. Take the CML and they only cost 5 more than the SM squad, though can’t upgrade to more than 5 terminators.

Dreadnoughts: normal ones compare poorly (more expensive, no TLAC build) but Venerable dreads might have a shot. They are 20 pts cheaper than the C:SM equivalent, but I'm not sure if that makes them worth it, especially since DA ven dreads aren’t WS/BS 5, so it’s purely a survivability upgrade. It could make sense on a podding/walking MM dread just to try to make sure it survives longer, but other than that Dreads are probably done better in the newer codexes. Still, if anyone needs a mobile multimelta it's the Dark Angels, so they might still have a shot depending on the build.

Troops

Tactical Squad: 5 man squads actually come out ahead of Codex Marines thanks to their ability to take a special weapon. It doesn't get the same discount as Codex tacticals but the chance to take a genuine flamer or meltagun rather than a combi version is gold. Their razorbacks are also only 5 pts more expensive with the TL Lascannon turret. Blood Angels assault squads still probably do this size better, as the cheaper, faster transports and ability to double up with a pistol sized special probably put them on top, not to mention Grey Hunters, but for a respectable Razor squad the Dark Angels can pull it off.

Fast Attack

Ravenwing Bike Squads: They are in an interesting position as they differ so radically from C:SM. Scout plus teleport homer plus fearless really adds on the points though. They do offer one of the few melta outlets in the army, so taking them as suicide anti-tank is an option. I don't really like them as Troops as they are rather difficult to keep alive due to their small squad size, especially with their intended role as melta-jockeys.

Fearless is a huge boon for the bikes given their fragile nature. Losing your bullet shield bike (if you could afford to take them) would normally get you zooming off the field, but Ravenwing melta bikers are good to the last drop. If your game plan doesn't involve them surviving long they can bring some much needed melta to the list. I still like vanilla bikers better, but scouting meltas make for one sweet alpha strike!

Landspeeders: the Typhoon is incredibly much better than any 5th ed equivalent. It does suffer from not being able to double up in a slot but when do you ever see Marine players do that? The MM speeders take the back seat here but can be added on as ablative wounds for your Typhoonsand/or a way to up the melta count in your army. Multimelta/Typhoon is probably the way to go here just to cram mo' melta into the list but the tried and true HB/Typhoon can also work.

Heavy Support

Whirlwinds: surprisingly cost the same for Dark Angels. Still probably not worth it (which is a shame, as I love the aesthetic), but at least they are not worse.

Devastators: Cost the same as Codex Devastators except for missile launchers which cost 5 pts more. If you like the other options they are just as viable, but especially in comparison to Blood Angel devs these guys take back seat.

Predators: Lascannon predators cost the same as their Codex equivalents, so are still pretty good buys. Autocannon preds, however, suffer as they cost 10 pts more.

Land Raiders: The Crusader is cheaper than any other marine book thanks to the free multimelta upgrade. Phobos (i.e. Godhammer lasers) is on par with other marine books.

Dedicated Transports

Rhinos cost the same, TL lascannon Razorbacks cost only 5 pts more. Drop pods are overcosted by 15 pts but don't have Drop Pod Assault, which could be seen as an advantage by some.

So, some themes that I'm seeing:

Awesome terminators. They don't even need to score to be worth the cost as thunder hammer wielding bubble wrap that can fire missiles is pretty frikkin' awesome in my opinion. Of course scoring is always nice and the fact that you can field 45 terminators in a maxed out list is silly. Redundancy and resiliancy are your watch words here.
Razorspam. Sure Dark Angels don't get the Lascannon-TWL Plasma Gun razors that everyone is cruising with these days but they can crank them out almost as easily as anyone else with better Troops options than Codex Marines. The Thunderbubble from above is very nice in this kind of list...
Fast Attack is for melta. Chain fists help somewhat but nothing replaces the good ol' meltagun. Whether Ravenwing or Land Speeder, it's either here, Crusaders, combi-meltas or Tac squads. I still can't get over how expensive Ravenwing are but it's a toss up as to whether they are more valuable/survivable than Land Speeders point for point. Since melta is almost a necessity expect your Fast Attack slots to be filled each and every game.
Quality Chaplains. These guys can seriously amp up the effectiveness of any squad in combat and are very cost effective to boot.

Well, that's what I got. What do you think of my assessments, and also do you think I'm right to focus only on the cost effective choices? As always, thanks for reading!

*The above image used without permission (but much love!) from Games-Workshop

Psyker Psolitaire!

2011-03-08T12:00:00.000-06:00

First, some great news... I have 100 followers! Best birthday present EVER! Thanks all for reading... we'll try to get some more regular posting going on here to accommodate you fine people.

And speaking of posting, I happened to finish modelling up my Psyker Battle Squad yesterday... enjoy!

All of the psykers are blindfolded and have "purity cards" placed on their uniforms and over their soulbound eyes. The cards were made out of pieces of old Magic cards... one hobby feeds another I guess!

The above guy is my favorite :)

I wanted to have a few soldiers with levitating cards, so pieces of gauge wire and cardstock did the trick. I'll paint up the gauge to look electric, and hopefully everything will turn out well...

I also needed a levitating guy, though I cut out the warding cards just to make him possible to transport.

I hope you enjoyed, and thanks again for following!

Old Stuff Day: Analysis of a Competitive-Casual Player

2011-03-02T12:00:00.007-06:00

For Old Stuff Day I'll be taking a look back at a piece that wrote about a year ago. I was in the middle of an Escalation League. I had been infatuated with Valkyries and decided to go Air Cav for the League, but my decision led to me feeling uncomfortable going against the majority of other lists.

I think my opinion on competitive play has changed a bit in the past year, but I still think that making sure that both parties are geared up for the same level of game is important to both parties having fun.

Enjoy the article, and let me know what you think about the competitive/casual debate.

The past couple of weeks have not been terribly good ones for the hobby. My latest round of Escalation Leaguing left me with no need to model anything new and not a whole lot of enjoyment tactically either. It got to the point where I actually began to dread coming to the store as I simply disliked the list that I was stuck with. When this lead to me losing a game simply based on mental fatigue, I knew that a change was in store.

I had been trying to do "competitive" lists based on the most competitive things in my collection- my Valkyries, Chimeras and other tanks. But this MechVets approach didn't work with the things that I find most enjoyable about the game- namely, reserving everything and striking at you from all sides. And the lack of any modeling work to do sucked any impetus that I had built up to sit down with my supplies and create something.

Image used without permission from Wizards of the Coast

This necessitated a bit of self reflection as to why I play games at all. I'm what you might call a "casual-competitive" type of gamer. Back when I played Magic my friends and I actually believed that buying singles (or buying individual cards as opposed to simply buying packs of random cards) was a heinous sin- your collection, like it or not, was filled with all of the random things that you opened. This, combined with a healthy amount of trading, allowed us to have an artificial limitation on how good a deck could be, as we all had the same problem, namely limited selection. You might have a couple of copies of the super broken rare but having four of them (the maximum number of a single card in a deck) was almost unheard of. These powerful cards became legends in their own right, and we would dread the moment that the Super Card would rise to the top of the opponent's deck. And if you did somehow have four of them, you likely traded other equally powerful cards to get them, keeping the balance.

Now while these decks weren't as good as the decks being played in competitive magic, we were still trying our damnedest to beat the competition. The limited card pool forced us to adapt, find cool new synergies between cards of radically different sets and find the one broken combo that would grant us victory... at least until the other players cottoned on and adapted. Much like the trials of Hive Fleet Gorgon we had to adapt regularly to get around opponent's familiarity with our decks and pull out a win.

During college I received four of a kind of a powerful Soldier Lord (a card that benefits other Soldier creatures in my deck) as a birthday present and quickly added it into my Soldier deck. It wasn't the best deck in the world before, but I managed to pull out a regular win with it thanks to the rampant, at times tenuous synergy between the individually underpowered cards. With the addition of the Lords it became unbeatable- I smashed face with it again and again and again. Soon after I retired the Lords and went back to the old deck.

The reason I did that was because I now had an unfair advantage- a significant part of my deck was no longer out of the randomized chaos of packs and that, combined with the power of the Lords with the rest of my soldiers made it too good. Now of course if I had somehow managed to pull these Lords out of packs the same thing could have happened, but it would have felt different. I probably would have had to trade cards of similar power to get all four, ensuring that we all had relatively similar power levels in our card pools. And, because I wasn't having fun with this advantage, I decided to take out the cards that I had been pining over for months to restore balance and tactical enjoyment to the game

As you might have guessed, my feelings about the Air Cav style lists are similar. While I won't say that they were unbeatable super lists (I went 1-4 last round and 2-1-1 the round before) I felt terrible playing them. When I won, I felt like I was beating up on a little kid with all of my lascannons and cheaty super-fast transports. And when I lost, I felt like the dice gods had cheated me out of victory or that I was too wool-headed to see the obvious way that I could have won.

Now, I don't want to turn this into a listhammer rant or a decrying of the competitive sphere- I fully appreciate what those guys are doing and I can definitely see myself gearing up for something like that in the next couple of years. After all, I didn't have anything against netdeckers when I played Magic or against the tourney scene- that's just another arena with fewer unspoken rules. I just know that for me the joy in playing this or any other game is to take a step off the beaten path and play in a style that has me coming from an unexpected corner... which in the case of my Al'Rahem list is rather literal half the time :) I think that I kind of have the feel that the stalwart Silent Requiem over on B&C has for his Grey Knights- it's not the "best" list but it plays to what I know and love to do.

That's my idea of "competitive casual"- willing to throw plenty of tactical acumen into the field while still holding to the unspoken gentlemen's agreement of a fair chance at victory. Now, this is not to say that I will intentionally make bad lists- I'll just try to stay away from dark avenues of unfun power. I'm sure there will be a time when I head off to tourneys and have to tool up to do so, but for now I am fine with my friendly local metagame.

So, for round 3, it's back to my roots with a slight new twist thanks to some new toys that I have. There'll be a fair bit of conversion work for this round, but thankfully they've extended it to a third week, meaning that I'll hopefully have time to finish it all.

Until next time, take a look at your recent games and think about what makes it fun for you.

Thanks for reading, and check out the other old posts today!

How To: Mk II "Drax" Pattern Hydra

2011-02-28T12:00:00.003-06:00

This tutorial is based off of the wonderful Hydra conversion created by Admiral Drax. I loved the look of the conversion as well as the price at which it could be acquired, but I wanted a bit more adaptability to my design. So, drawing on the pictures at his blog as well as my work with the "SandWyrm" pattern Chimeras I came up with the following conversion.

What you'll need:
1 Chimera kit
1 Aegis Defense Kit
At least 8" of 1/8" diameter wooden rod (obtainable at most hardware stores)
Plasticard
Possibly some modeling putty if you are as poor at crafts as I am.

Step 1: Form the basis of the turret
This part is pretty much straight out of the Aegis Defense kit instructions. Take the four sides of the turret base and put them together, then put the top of the turret (with the circular opening) on top. See the picture below for an example.

Step 2: Prepare the autocannons

The autocannons are not long enough, so we'll need to saw these apart after gluing the ammo barrels to the turrets. Make the incision just in front of the small targeting vane on the bottom of the autocanon barrels, then file down the newly formed edges. See the picture above for reference

Next we need to saw the wooden rod apart into 2" segments. File down the ends of the rods.

Now using a small dremel tool drill into the center of both ends of each wooden rod and into the interior surfaces of the autocannon barrels. Put small pieces of paper clips, gauge wire, etc. to act as pins, then super glue the three segments together as below.

Step 3: Attach the autocannons to the turret

Look on the sides of the paired autocannons for a circular knob. One of them has an additional cube jutting out from it, which you should saw off and file smooth.

Then, attach the autocannons to the sides of the turret like below. Make sure that the slanted side of the turret (the one with the tiny little window) is towards the front. I like to make mine slanted upwards a bit, but orient to your own taste

Step 4: Turret base and top

We're going to close off the top and bottom of the turret and make it so that it can rotate on top of our Chimera. Cut off a rectangular piece of plasticard that is [NUMBER] by [NUMBER] inches, then cut a circular hole in it that is [NUMBER] inches in diameter. It should fit snugly around the circular piece from the Aegis Defense kit pictured below. Make sure to save the circular piece that you cut out.

Superglue the piece of plasticard around the disc:

Next, attach that completed piece to the bottom of the turret.

Now take the circular piece of plasticard that you cut out from before and glue it on to the top of the turret.

Step 4: Start building the Chimera

Begin by building the base of the Chimera just as you would normally do so, but stop before gluing on the top of the Chimera.

Next, take the top part of the Chimera and saw it in three like below. The front part is along the line of rivets just behind the turret and the back part should be cut right where the bottom angles off of the straight line. This is a bit farther back than in the "SandWyrm" Chimeras but I think the extra bit of movement towards the rear of the vehicle makes the Hydra turret look more believable.

You can discard the middle section. Attach the front and rear sections to your Chimera hull, making sure to sand the edges of the rear and front edges to match cleanly with one another. I failed at this task, so be careful :)

You will need to cut out a few pieces of plasticard to cover up the rear hatch, forward hold and the tiny hole in the front, as seen below:

The small yellow piece is a small piece of metal ruler tape; I'll use it to swap in and out magnetized hull weapons.

Step 5: Done!

The Hydra turrets can be placed on top of the Chimera chassis and will fit snugly around where the normal Chimera turret would go. This way they can rotate freely and be easily swapped out with a normal Chimera turret if you so desire.

I've added a few bits from the Aegis defense kit onto the turrets to spruce them up, specifically the vox caster on the rear and the targeting sight on the front.

I hope you've enjoyed this tutorial, and many thanks of course go out to Drax and SandWyrm for giving me the basis of this conversion.

40k Twitter Accounts?

2011-02-24T11:57:00.000-06:00

I've recently started a Twitter account that will focus mostly on my hobby and gaming activities. You can find it at @MaxterMynd, and I'll be linking my feed to the blog sometime today.

But this led me to wonder, does anyone know of some good 40k Twitter feeds that I can follow? I've heard of a group referred to as "warmongers" but have been unable to track them down, and my searches on Twitter have been less than useful.

Any information anyone could bring to the table would be great!

Army List: Eldar Wasp Assault Walker

2011-02-23T12:00:00.004-06:00

Dangit... I couldn't stop myself. I went into complete army list building mode with the lovely Wasp as my target. Since I want to capitalize on those sexy legs we need to look at what the Wasp brings to the table once again.

1. Multitudes of accurate high strength shots.
Since quantity has a quality all of its own, Shuriken Cannons or Scatter Lasers doubled up on the Wasps, combined with their BS 4, will torrent down infantry and give us a good chance to affect light vehicles as well. Heavier weapons could go here, but like it's papa the War Walker the frame is simply too fragile to spend more points on. Plus, 8 Str 6 shots at 36" range is just awesome.

2. Sneaky Deployment Strategies
With Deep Strike and Jump Jets it's very easy for the Wasp to get into position for side or rear armor shots on enemy vehicles, particularly if they're going for the midfield. This plays in with our Shuriken Cannon/Scatter Laser strategy from above which I like.

3. Free up Heavy Support Slots
The biggest thing going against War Walkers was their use of a HS slot. With Wasps in Troops we can now have our cake and eat it too... and I LIKE cake.

4. Objective Contestor Extraordinaire
If these babies survive till late game a 30" assault is a GREAT way to contest troops off of an objective. Sure, they might not last terribly long against anything but GEQ but you can always hope for the Fritz classic 5th turn win if necessary, so sticking around more than a turn won't be needed.

So, given the above let's see what we can do. I have a bit of experience with Eldar as they were the army I played before I started buying my own units but definitely take the following with a hefty grain of salt as I'm no Space Elf master.

We'll start with 3 groups of 2 Wasps armed with dual Scatter Lasers, giving us 48 BS 4 Str 6 shots right from the get go.

We'll expand from there by looking at our vacant Heavy Support slots. Eldar LOVE their HS and we have four ways to go here- Wraithlords, Falcons, Fire Prisms and Nightspinners. I want to say here that I love the look of Wraithlords and love that they are immune to anything below strength 5. But the missile spam going around these days will make mincemeat of one lickety split, leaving these overcosted giants on the shelf. Maybe next codex...

Falcons are pretty cool but have consistently failed to impress me. DAVU (Dire Avenger Upgraded, i.e. small 5 man scoring unit) Falcons have their uses but I want something that will bring out the pain in our Heavy Support slot. Falcons do have quite a few shots but we could easily replace them with twice their number in Wasps and still maintain equivalent firepower.

Fire Prisms and Nightspinners both conveniently come in the same kit, but I think the Prism is going to win out here for me as we have enough high AP high strength shots from the Wasps already. The Prisms will give us pretty good anti-tank and great anti-infantry, particularly if we link the blasts for some Str 10 AP 1 or Str 6 AP 3 twin linked goodness. Having duality in a tank is always a good thing, and Lord knows we need something to take out those GK Terminators that are going to start showing up soon... We'll also throw Holo Fields and Shuriken Cannons on these babies to help us deal with One Gun Syndrome. The Holo-Fields might not be a good upgrade but I have a strange habit of trying to make sure my expensive tanks survive...

Next let's look at scoring. We may have taken up 3 Troops slots but we have nothing to score with yet. Enter the Storm Guardian. I've always like the aesthetic of Guardians and these boys seem to me to be the only Eldar troop choice worth taking, except perhaps for min sized Dire Avenger squads. Storm Guardians can at least theoretically do something given the correct support, plus they can take ~~meltaguns~~ fusion guns! Crappy BS 3 fusion guns, but fusion guns nonetheless. Flamers might be the better option here, but since they cost the same for some reason we'll stick with the fusion for now. Squads of 11 with a Warlock (either Enhance or Destructor, take your pick) plus a Wave Serpent with Shuriken Cannon and TWL Bright Lance sound nice, so let's fill out the other 3 troops slots with these boys.

Finally we need an HQ. Since Farseers are great we'll take one of those with Runes of Warding for psychic defense and Fortune and Doom to help our guys stay alive and our enemies become dead. We don't really need Guide because the majority of our force is BS 4 or twin linked. We'll have to take out a Storm Guardian so that he can ride in style.

This leaves us with the following:

Farseer, runes of warding, fortune, doom: 125
11 Storm Guardians, 2 fusion, warlock (125), wave serpent, TWL bright lance (135)
11 Storm Guardians, 2 fusion, warlock (125), wave serpent, TWL bright lance, shuriken cannon (145)
10 Storm Guardians, 2 fusion, warlock (117), wave serpent, TWL bright lance, shuriken cannon (145)
2 Wasp Assault Walkers, each with 2 scatter lasers (150)
2 Wasp Assault Walkers, each with 2 scatter lasers (150)
2 Wasp Assault Walkers, each with 2 scatter lasers (150)
Fire Prism, shuriken cannon, holofields (160)
Fire Prism, shuriken cannon, holofields (160)
Fire Prism, shuriken cannon, holofields (160)
Total: 1847

Having the ability to have 3 Fire Prisms alongside 6 war walkers is an impressive amount of firepower to say the least. And in this list we have every kind of firepower taken care of- big blasts and tons of high strength for hordes, anti-tank Lance and blast shots, and we even have 6 janky assault elements for late game objective grabbing/contesting and horde control. Again I'm not sure what powers to give the Warlocks, or if the fusion guns are the right buy for the Storm Guardians given their low BS. Flamers + Destructor might be better to help them succeed at their chosen mission.

Tactics are shoot, shoot, then late game objective grab/contest. You have the option of deep striking the Wasps to get the side/rear shots or you can start them on the board and Jump Jet into position.

Alternatively we can replace the Storm Guardians with min sized Dire Avengers, cutting the price of our Troops in half and freeing up 187 pts. Taking the Holo fields off of our Fire Prisms will save an additional 105 pts giving us 292 to play around with. We can put in a squad of Dragons with a Shuriken Cannon Wave Serpent for 190. We can also save another 120 pts by downgrading our Wasps' Scatter Lasers to Shuriken Cannons, giving us another 222 to play with. That's enough for another Dragon squad and to give both Dragon squads an exarch with a heavy flamer for some more duality.

This gives us the following list:

Farseer, runes of warding, fortune, doom: 125
5 Fire Dragons (80), exarch with Dragon's Breath Flamer (12), wave serpent, TWL shuriken cannon, shuriken cannon (110)
5 Fire Dragons (80), exarch with Dragon's Breath Flamer (12), wave serpent, TWL shuriken cannon, shuriken cannon (110)
5 Dire Avengers (60), wave serpent, TWL bright lance, shuriken cannon (145)
5 Dire Avengers (60), wave serpent, TWL bright lance, shuriken cannon (145)
5 Dire Avengers (60), wave serpent, TWL bright lance, shuriken cannon (145)
2 Wasp Assault Walkers, each with 2 shuriken cannons (110)
2 Wasp Assault Walkers, each with 2 shuriken cannons (110)
2 Wasp Assault Walkers, each with 2 shuriken cannons (110)
Fire Prism, shuriken cannon (125)
Fire Prism, shuriken cannon (125)
Fire Prism, shuriken cannon (125)
Total: 1849

2 more tanks than before and two much better Land Raider hunters. The Wasps should still have plenty of range to reach out and touch things at 24" and our overall Str 6 firepower hasn't decreased at all. I'm not sure which of the lists I like more- Storm Guardians just sound cooler than DAVU Wave Serpents, but I can't argue with the increased weight of tanks in the second list.

So what are your thoughts? How would you build around the elegant Wasp?

*Image property of Forge World

BATTLE REPORT: 1850 Guard vs Daemons

2011-02-22T12:00:00.000-06:00

Another video battle report for you all featuring my latest Adepticon list vs Chaos Daemons. Will I overcome my chowder headed deployment or will the Gods of Chaos have their fill? Watch and see!

Eldar Wasp: Love Takes Flight

2011-02-21T12:00:00.004-06:00

I've always loved walkers. I played a lot of MechWarrior back in the day and stomping around a virtual battlefield with my force-feedback joystick occupied a lot of my hours in high school.

In 40k there is no shortage of walkers. Dreadnoughts look pretty cool, but Sentinels look a whole lot better to me. There's something about the longer, chicken walker legs and the simple fact that a pilot is driving the robot that make it hit home for me.

Along this same vein is the Eldar War Walker, which edges out the Sentinel to not only be my favorite 40k walker but probably my favorite 40k model period. Those graceful lines, the fluidity of motion and the posability of the model all really speak to me.

Of course now there is the Wasp, and I have fallen in love again. Why? The enclosed cockpit is part of it, but what seals the deal is what's on its lovely rear end:

JUMP JETS!

I. FREAKIN. LOVE. JUMP JETS. What makes the Drop Sentinel better than the normal Sentinel? Well, besides the sweet roll bars, ROCKETS ON A MECH. In MechWarrior I almost universally chose mechs that could take off in a stream of fire, looking for nothing more than to land near/ on top of my opponent while shoving a 30 foot long shotgun in somebody's face. Here is finally a unit in 40k that can make my dreams of DFA come alive... and in a very attractive package too! Heck, it even looks like a Firefly/Raven... Anyway, with the jump jets they can move 24" in the movement phase and assault (but not shoot) afterwards. While they aren't the best assault troops a 30" charge against Guardsmen isn't a half bad way to go about things, and at the very least they can leap out of danger or to contest an objective late game.

But that's not all! These guys finally have the BS 4 that the Eldar so rightly deserve, so they don't have to rely so heavily on Guidance from Farseers to their job. This is great not only for their crazy jumping abilities but also the chance to deep strike away from your forces. But that's not the greatest thing- these fools are a TROOPS CHOICE, meaning that they don't compete for Heavy Support slots. Hot. Damn.

I see these guys sticking in the backfield while throwing out str 6 firepower, then jump jetting to late game objective contest or just to get out of trouble. They also have the option to jump down, shoot up some vehicles in their rear arc then jump away before the retaliation can get to them. They're not the best despite what some early cries of cheese might say, but their play style sounds really interesting to me and can at the very least help make War Walkers a viable choice.

This model almost single handedly wants me to start playing Eldar. They aren't THAT expensive from Forge World, and if somebody doesn't want to play by their actual rules I can always proxy them as War Walkers. And I could finally paint up an orange and grey Yme-Loc craftworld force, which I've been meaning to do for some time...

Dammit Forge World. Damn you and your pretty things that I must have!

So what do you think about this new long-legged vixen? Does function follow form or is it just a great pair of legs?

*All images of the Wasp above belong to Forge World and are used without permission (but much love!). The image of the War Walker above belongs to Games Workshop and is also used without permission (but again, much love!)

Psyker Psketches

2011-02-18T12:00:00.001-06:00

I'd like to start out by thanking Berks Warhammer 40k for including my Battleforce Tactica as part of their 40k News, Rumors and Stuff You Should Read segment- it's an honor!

Now for the sketches. I may have been... distracted in a few meetings of late so I took the time to doodle out what I'm planning for my Psyker Battle Squad conversions. Take a gander:

If you can't read my chicken scratch at this size, please click to embiggen!

As you can see I'll be using standard Guardsmen for the basis of my conversions. I see my psykers as part of the regular army, soldiers that just happen to be gifted with psychic ability. I really like making blindfolds for my figs, as can be seen from my Gorger conversion- something about the blind warrior trope really hits it for me.

I'll be making the playing cards out of plasticard (though I may have to purchase some thinner stuff than what I use on my vehicle conversions). It'll be a pain but I think the overall effect will be awesome. Tiny pieces of paper that are coated to keep them stiff like in some banner conversions that I've seen might also work.

The tricky part will be making the levitating cards and soldiers. I think I'll be using more of my thin gauge wire that I'll paint up to look like electrical currents racing out and warping around the cards.

And then there's the solitaire... sometimes I just love my theme. Can anyone else think of any playing card game tropes that I should include in this squad?

I also managed to convert up another set back Chimera:

I'm slowly getting to a more uniform look for these gents, but there's still a few hiccups in the ol' STC to work through.

I hope to have some time to get to those conversions this weekend, but that'll really depend on what my psycho governor has to say about axing all of the public employees' unions. If it's looking bad I may be out on the street campaigning for our teachers, social workers and other public servants of Wisconsin, not to mention my girlfriend's healthcare. Yay!

Politics aside, thanks for reading and see you on Monday.

Hobby: Beginning Hydra Conversion

2011-02-15T12:00:00.004-06:00

Despite what I may or may not have said in earlier posts I'm pursuing Hydras and a Psyker Battle Squad as part of my Adepticon army list. I like the concept of Medusae but they just seem a bit too fragile to me, especially since two of them together would be a significant weakness in the very first game of the tourney. Two AV 12 chassis just don't have a lot of staying power, especially since the have to shoot straight. Better to leave the most expensive unit award to the Executioner, as apart from melta he's a pretty survivable gent.

I came to my decision, like many of my hobby decisions, by going to the game store. I hadn't been down to the Last Square in some time due to a combination of family and work concerns, so it was nice to chat around with the guys even if I didn't have time to play a full game.

I know that I fully intended on walking away with just a pot of paint and a new flamer template, but discussions with the one of the guys who happens to work there added a few items to that list. And I mean, I can hardly be blamed that they just happened to have an Aegis defense kit just sitting there, right?

I'll be pursuing Admiral Drax's fine Hydra conversion with my own personal twist. I'd like to see if I can alter his plans such that I can switch the Hydra back and forth between awesome anti-aircraft gun and troop transport. The set-back Chimera design almost works, so I think with a few minor tweaks and maybe a few magnets I'll be able to better justify the two new Chimeras that I just ordered... man, I'm glad I make actual money rather than a living stipend now... :P

I'll be able to finish up painting my infantry this week and maybe put the final touches on assembling my final Vet Chimera. After that I have 8 psykers, an overseer and two Hydras to complete before April. I have some ideas for the psykers that I might be able to scribble down during the lunch hour tomorrow at work if we're lucky. Think of a cross between daemonhosts and psychic indian poker and you'll have a basic idea of what I'm going for :)

Hobby Ennui: First Painting of 2011

2011-02-14T12:00:00.000-06:00

The title of this post kind of caught me by surprise, as I was sure that I had painted something before this. But no- looking back through my posts so far this year I haven't had a chance to paint anything beyond putting a primer coat on a tank or two.

I can blame it on being busy at work and on some family crises that have sprung up, but I think the real source of my hobby ennui is just that I'm not excited to be painting Guard anymore. I've been playing only this army for the past almost two years and it's starting to get a bit stale. I had hoped that my Ogre Kingdoms army would have changed that attitude but finding a Fantasy game in Madison is proving much more difficult than I had first expected.

So now when I am trying to paint and model all of the remaining choices for my Adepticon list I find that I just don't have the drive. I still like the Guard, but I want to be done building them and I want the option of playing something else. Something like Deathwing, Dark Eldar or Tyranids...

But I have priorities, and getting my army tournament ready is the top one right now. After I finish basing and squad marking the gentlemen above I will have a Chimera and my mystery 300 pts of Heavy Support to complete before Adepticon. Hopefully that won't be too much of a problem.

What kind of ways have you all found to combat hobby ennui?

A Beginner's Guide to the Guard: Tactica Collection

2011-02-10T19:11:00.008-06:00

Now that you have your army assembled and painted, how do you win? Hopefully the tactica below will help out.

First, two from my very own site:
Tactica: Armored Sentinel
The Emperor's Scalpel, Tactica Stormtrooper (part 1, part 2)

From Warseer:
Tactica Imperium

From From The Warp:
Imperial Guard, Sledgehammer of the Imperium

From His Pinkness, Kirby:
Hybrid Blast Spam Army List
Ride of the Valkyries, part 1, part 2, part 3
How to Run a Platoon

There's definitely more out there- I'll add to this page as I find them. Thanks for reading!

A Beginner's Guide to the Guard: Painting ye Average Guardsman

2011-02-09T12:00:00.001-06:00

Now, this won't be some kind of super-fancy guide to painting super awesome looking Guardsmen, as even I can't do that quite yet. This is just for those of us who want something that looks respectable two feet away but want to get through them as quickly as possible.

There are six main parts: the cloth of his uniform, his armor, any exposed skin, his gun, exposed metal and boots. For any metal parts I would recommend using Boltgun Metal for things like bayonets and Mithril Silver for any decorational pieces, like Aquilae. The rest, however, is up to you.

For my guardsmen I chose Bleached Bone armor, Mechrite Red cloth, bronzed/elf/tallarn flesh for skin (I like multiethnicity in my ranks) and bleached bone again for his boots.

As always we start by priming our figure. I tend to cheat a bit these days and use one of the color primers that Army Painter makes (in my case it's Skeleton Bone). This way I have already done half of my basecoating right from the get go.

The Unwashed Hordes

Next we need to basecoat any areas that are a different color than his armor. Use foundation paints for this part, as they go on opaque and can therefore easily cover up whatever color you primed with. Don't worry if you make mistakes- you can always clean up at the end.

Once you've cleaned up your base coating you can move on to washes. For the skin I use Ogryn Flesh, for everything else Devlan Mud. Devlan is a great wash that pretty much works on everything and makes it look more "real," and you can probably get away with Mud washing the entire model. You can also try using complimentary colors for the wash, such as Thraka Green on a red color.

After the wash has dried we need to highlight and drybrush using a lighter color. For drybrushing make sure to use a... well, dry brush. Be a bit more careful here but as always mistakes can be corrected.

Right: Washed and drybrushed but not highlighted. Left: washed, drybrushed and highlighted.

Once you've finished that step, you've finished your Guardsman! I would recommend doing each step for a squad at a time. That way you can keep on using the same paint for a period of time and get table-ready units all prepared at the same time.

For more info on painting Guard check out the painting section of the Imperial Guard archive on From The Warp or the Imperial Guard articles from Games-Workshop... just stay away from the tactica for the latter, as that's coming tomorrow!

A Beginner's Guide to the Guard: Battleforce Tactics

2011-02-08T12:00:00.003-06:00

For reasons to Go Guard, check out the first post in this series.

If you have decided to Go Guard the first question is "What should I buy?" If you want new in box models you can't go wrong with a few battle force boxes.

Each of these forces contains a command squad, two Infantry Squads, three Heavy Weapons Teams and a Sentinel. The command sprue is an especially awesome inclusion as it contains one of every special weapon as well as power sword and fist upgrades. You end up saving approximately $40 US as opposed to buying them individually. Some don't like the inclusion of the Sentinel but you're still saving $15 even if you don't use it, making this an amazing buy.

The Battle force box also has the curious honor of containing all of the models required for a legal list, a feat that I believe was only challenged by the old school Tyranid boxed set. Granted it's not a very good list, but if you want the minimum of effort you can squeeze out almost 500 pts from this box alone if my math is right.

Two of these boxes will give us a good starting point for the army... in fact, good enough that our first two lists will contain ONLY what is inside those boxes. We now have plenty of bodies and a couple of command squads so we can create a small foot-based force. Here's what I would go for at 500 pts:

Company Command Squad, standard, lascannon: 85
Platoon Command Squad, 4 flamers: 50
2 Infantry Squads, grenade launcher/autocannon: 130
Autocannon Heavy Weapon Squad: 75
Veteran squad, 3 grenade launchers, missile launcher: 100
Scout sentinel, autocannon: 40
Scout sentinel, autocannon, Hunter-Killer Missile: 50
Total: 500 pts.

The Co. Cmd Squad helps anchor the line by allowing your infantry to re-roll failed tests thanks to the standard and can hand out orders to make your squads shoot better. There are tons of autocannons in the list to break light armor and mow down infantry at range, and the Pl. Cmd Squad can rush in with its flamers to clear out any infantry that get too close. The vets especially contribute a large amount of firepower at any target. Finally the Scout Sentinels can outflank to get side shots on armor and contest far flung objectives. I would recommend magnetizing at least the weapons mounts so you can switch them out later. For those who want a challenge, you can magnetize the sentinel such that you can use it as either a Scout or Armored sentinel by following the directions here.

You are well situated to defend home objectives with up to 5 scoring units and can Move, Move, Move! a squad or two plus the SS to take/contest far flung objectives.

We can also move up to 750 points just by adding to this list from our current purchases. We still have 20 infantry and 2 of most of the special weapons left to play with.

Company Command Squad, standard, lascannon: 85
Platoon Command Squad, 4 flamers: 50
2 Infantry Squads, grenade launcher/autocannon: 130
Autocannon Heavy Weapon Squad: 75
Veteran squad, 2 meltaguns: 90
Veteran squad, 2 plasmaguns, Grenadiers doctrine: 130
Veteran squad, 3 grenade launchers, missile launcher: 100
Armored Sentinel, autocannon: 60
Armored Sentinel, autocannon: 60
Total: 750 pts.

I'd love to get some more melta/plasma in those vet squads but we just don't have the tools with two battleforces. Tactics are the same as before, but now we have some low AP shooting from the Melta and Plasma vets and have upgraded our Sentinels to Armored. These boys love charging into combat as few things have a chance of destroying them. Try to avoid power fists if possible, but even then they need a 4 on the penetration roll to even scratch the paint. Check here for my tactica on Armored Sentinels.

The Grenadiers doctrine might require some easy conversion work to make. A few blobs of Greenstuff on their elbows and knees should convey what you want to go for.

Alternatively if you want to keep the scout sentinels from before we could go with this setup:

Company Command Squad, standard, lascannon: 85
Platoon Command Squad, 4 flamers: 50
2 Infantry Squads, grenade launcher/autocannon: 130
Autocannon Heavy Weapon Squad: 75
Veteran squad, 3 grenade launchers, missile launcher: 100
Veteran squad, 2 meltaguns, Grenadiers doctrine: 120
Veteran squad, 2 plasmaguns, plasma pistol, Grenadiers doctrine: 140
Scout sentinel, autocannon: 40
Scout sentinel, autocannon: 40

Our melta vet squad is a bit more survivable now with a 4+ armor save and the plasma squad gets an extra shot with the sarge's plasma pistol.

Expanding from here depends on where you want to take the army. Let's see what we can do to easily take this up to 1k with a few extra purchases. Three Chimeras (1 for the PCS, 2 for the melta/plas vets) while taking out Grenadiers will cost us only 105 points. Getting a Commissar for our blob and giving the sergeants power weapons will cost another 65 bring us to 170. Our last 80 points can either go towards another Autocannon HWS or another squad for the blob. The former leaves us 5 points which is enough to upgrade the plasma pistol to a plasmagun on our vets while the latter, if we leave out an autocannon, gives us 10 which means a third meltagun on the other vets. Purcheses in this phase will run somewhere around $130.

Expanding further depends on what your preference is. If you like mechanized troops, Chimeras are amazing at only 55 pts and Vendettas are one of the most points efficient units in the game. Leman Russes love large infantry bubblewraps which you should have the tools for at this point. If you just want more infantry battleforce boxes are probably the way to go. If you need more special weapons try finding the Marine melta and plasmagun blister packs. At only $6 US for 5 guns they are a steal.

Thanks for reading, and we continue our Beginner's Guide tomorrow.

A Beginner's Guide to the Guard: Why Go Guard?

2011-02-07T12:00:00.001-06:00

Over the weekend I had a follower comment on my YouTube profile saying that he was getting started in 40k and wanted my opinion on which army to choose to have a Dakka-filled list. He also mentioned that he had heard that Imperial Guard were a poor choice for starting out.

Naturally I took offense to this last part. Imperial Guard are my first and only 40k army and I believe that they bring a lot of advantages to the table for newcomers to 40k. So, this week I thought that I'd do a few articles on starting out with IG.

First let's talk about the possible reasons that a new player might choose the Imperial Guard for their first army.

1. The Imperial Guard is one of the strongest armies in the game
I know this is not just my opinion- ask any player what they think of Imperial Guard and talk of the dreaded Leafblower, Mech IG and autocannon spam will dominate the conversation. IG has a strong book with relatively few weak options, and even those options can make it into a halfway decent list simply thanks to the efficiency and power of the other choices.

Having more power in a list means that a new player can make a few more mistakes and still manage to put up a good fight. This is opposed to an older/less powerful book like Eldar or Tau that have a few good builds that require consummate player skill to use and master. IG's raw power level enables them to be a sledgehammer in the command of a newer player, grinding out victories simply through sheer mass.

2. The Imperial Guard have a lot of flexibility

This is along the same lines as point 1. Because so many of the options in the book are good the Guard is capable of a frightening array of options that can cater to pretty much any player.

Like huge gunlines? Play with platoons backed up by heavy weapon teams, tanks and artillery.

Like tank companies? Imperial Guard has TONS of tanks, and their mechanized forces are second to none thanks to the awesomeness that are Veterans.

Want to play Air Cav? Guard invented the term, and Valkyries look damn cool to boot. You can even branch out into Elysians if this is your particular cup of tea.

Enjoy the reserves game? With options like the Astropath, Master of the Fleet, Al'Rahem and CREEEEED! you can boost your reserves, hurt the enemy's and outflank with the best of them.

Even if you like having some close combat Guard can make a halfway-decent build with Straken backing up platoons and plenty of firepower backing him up. While they might not deal a ton of damage hidden nigh-unbreakable power weapons in platoons will take down any opponent given enough time.

If there is a type of force that you want to play, Imperial Guard can almost certainly build it.

3. Through sheer numbers the army is very forgiving

The Guard has always been known for its quantity rather than its quality (though it certainly has both!). With a force like Space Marines losing a unit can be a huge deal, simply because you don't have that many of them. With the Guard you fully expect certain members of your force to die, as you will have plenty more where they came from.

More than any other army the Guard can abuse the Force Organization Chart. Whether it's through bloated platoons that can easily encompass over 50 men or entire squadrons of tanks and planes the Guard will usually simply have more and tougher threats than an opposing army. Platoons don't care if you annihilate 20 of their number- as long as the Commissar holds they aren't going anywhere. Squadrons of tanks are hard to shut down and can enable staggering amounts of firepower to be brought to bear.

This also applies to simple probability. There is a wargaming truism that goes "if you throw enough dice at a problem it will go away." This is the Guard maxim in a nutshell. You will almost always have enough guns or attacks that you can accurately predict how a given unit will perform simply because they have so much redundancy. Where one battle cannon won't do the job three probably will.

Just remember the Imperial Guard motto- bring three to do a job as one will miss and one will be dead.

4. Assembling lots of models builds skills quickly

Because the Guard has so many models it can be a bit daunting at first. However after building and painting a few squads of infantry you will build your skills quickly, making the rest a breeze to do. Plus most of the models in the Guard range are easy to paint and assemble- even with three colors and a wash your average Guardsmen will be looking pretty snazzy indeed.

5. The Guard are not Space Marines

I'm going to catch a bit of flak for this one, but it's true. Some people have a stigma with going for Space Marines for a couple of reasons. I know that I was one of those when I first started out. Marines have all of the advantages going for them- multiple codices, fancy power armor, genetic engineering... pshaw! Who needs it?

The Guard appealed to me because they were just mere mortals standing in front of all of the horrors of the universe, ordinary people tasked with fighting and dying to protect peoples and planets that they have never seen let alone heard of. While your average Guardsman doesn't match up to a Space Marine they have plenty of friends to back them up and see victory in the face of even the greatest odds.

6. The Imperial Guard are Fun!

This last point might be a bit biased, but IG are fun to use! Do you like throwing buckets of dice at things? Making *vroom* *VROOM!* noises as you maneuver tanks around the battle field? Placing huge explosion markers that wreck the competition? Enjoy the fact that your gun is bigger than theirs? Then you'll like the Guard!

Strangely, one of the reasons I like the Guard is how unlikely making a save is or hitting with certain units. Unlike power armor where you are crushed when you don't make that crucial save with the Guard you are ecstatic when that 5+ miraculously comes around. Likewise when firing with a whole platoon at a hard target like Terminators seeing sheer weight of numbers force failed saves on 2+ armor is a brilliant feeling.

The same goes for winning or only narrowly losing close combat. I'll never forget the day that an old school Hive Tyrant charged a squad of Veterans and they held combat. Next turn a squad of Marines charged in, flailed about but failed to do anything. My Sergeant, chainsword in hand, spat on the ground and leapt onto the giant beast and felled it. The Dark Angels tried not to look too ashamed...

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Those are my top reasons to start with a Guard army. Throughout the rest of the week we'll be looking at where to start when building a Guard army, good places to look for Guard Tactics, tips on painting your average Guardsman, and some good pics. For you experienced generals out there, what are some of YOUR favorite reasons to GO GUARD?

STC in Real Life!

2011-02-04T12:00:00.001-06:00

Before we get on to the topic of this post I just wanted to add to the pimping of Sons of Taurus' awesome sarcastic HyperBowl 2011. Have a unit you love to hate? Try to write the most ridiculous paragraph or two promoting that God-forsaken set of rules and you may win something!

Anyway, I was on Gizmodo and came across this video:

GVCS in 2 Minutes from Adam Mitchell on Vimeo.

Is it just me, or does thing remind you of an STC? Available to everyone, able to construct modern civilization from just a few parts... man, I didn't know we were living in the Dark Age of Technology already!

So now that we have bolters, STCs, and cybernetics and power armor research are going full bore, who has bets on when the first Space Marines will start coming off the line?

40k Thought: Counts As

2011-02-03T12:00:00.001-06:00

It seems that this particular debate has been making its rounds about the blogosphere of late, with Old Shatter Hands throwing out some particularly good insights on the matter. Still, my ire has been roused by what I perceive to be people being wrong on the Internet, so I thought that I'd throw my hat into the ring. Whether it changes anyone's mind, I don't know, but at least I'll feel better for having spoken my part.

To start us off on an argumentative note I am in favor of counts-as armies. I believe that they add three things to the hobbyist's arsenal: amazing creative opportunities for army construction, a longer lifespan for a given army and much more varied lists to choose from. However in order to tap in to these benefits there need to be some rules in place.

1. Counts As Adds Creativity to the Hobby

Image stolen from Musings of a Metal Mind

Doing something crazy like Tyracrons, Dark Mechanicus or Skaven Dark Eldar is awesome. The imagination and skill that these gentlemen have used to pull off their model designs is simply amazing and something that I aspire to approach with my future armies. Sure, they might not exactly have the correct weapons shapes but their design leaves nothing to the imagination as to what they are standing for.

Image stolen from Path of the Outcast

That rat over there with the crossbow, drug pumps and dagger? It has a pistol and CCW so it must be a Wych! That floating processor unit in the opposite corner? It's got the spine and macroencepholapy so it must be a Zoanthrope! That menacing dude with a glowing staff surrounded by warped creatures of the abyss? Must be a chaos sorceror! Could they do this without counts-as? No. This alone should validate it.

2. Counts-As Enables Older Collections to Still Be Competitive

My second point should also be easy to grasp. Given GW's notoriously slow codex release cycle it may be years or even a decade or more before a given army is updated. Ask any player whether an older codex is more powerful than a 5th edition one and they'll just laugh in your face. The combination of this fact, plus the amount of money and time that one must put in to crafting an army will lead the typical gamer to look for alternative, more competitive ways to field their forces. I know some people will cry out that "you need to stand by your colors" or some such but let's face it- do you LIKE giving yourself a handicap? I know that there are certain players who do, and more power to them, but for the rest of us who just want a fair chance at victory the opportunity to use their old models and still compete can be a godsend. You can still play your Dark Angels like Dark Angels, but except for a few excellent builds C:SM plays it better.

3. Counts-As Lets Players Add Variety to Their Gaming Without Adding Cost

As long as they are modeled appropriately I see nothing wrong with switching up the codex every so often. "But wait!", you might cry, "how can you use Dark Angels/Chaos Marines/Rainbow Warriors to represent Blood Angels?" Easy. It's just a paint scheme.

Image stolen from DakkaDakka

Let's say I create my own chapter. We'll call it the Angels Excelsior (motto: "We're better than you"). I'll paint them white, black and gold with all of the standard squad markings. If I brought this army to the table and had appropriately modeled figures and said that they were Blood Angels, would you believe me? Look, I even have Baal Preds and Sanguinary Guard.

Now let's say I take my same chapter, switch around a few assault squads for tacticals and take out the Baals and Guard and say they are Codex Space Marines and show up to play. Would this convincingly look like a C:SM army?

Next week I throw down with a bunch of terminators led by a terminator captain. Same scheme, and let's even say that I used the same land speeders in each game. I say they are Dark Angels and roll up against another player. Would they believe me?

I believe that the answer to each of these things is "yes." Even if I went to go so far as say Space Wolves I'm sure that, if I had appropriately modeled everything, my opponent would believe me. So, if I can do this with a generic chapter (which, as OSH mentioned, has been condoned by GW), what's to stop me from doing it with, say, Dark Angels? In the end even with all of their monkish habits (which have been stolen by plenty of legitimately intentioned C:SM and Blood Angels successors because they look frikkin' awesome) they are still just a paint scheme. A paint scheme with history no doubt, but still just a paint scheme.

Being able to play as different codexes doesn't just bump power levels but also lets you switch tactics completely without spending huge amounts of money on models. Want to play Jumpers? BA! Want to go all shooty? C:SM or Space Wolves! Terminators galore? Space Wolves or Dark Angels! All in the same paint scheme? Sweet!

4. Form Must Follow Function

But of course, there must be rules to govern this madness. We fortunately already have this widely followed rule in the form of WYSIWYG. Does your model have power armor, a bolter and bolt pistol? Congratulations tactical marine! Does it have armored plates and a lasgun? Looks like a Grenadier or Stormtrooper to me. Does it have a thunder hammer, storm shield and TDA? Assault termy FTW! Vehicles are a bit tougher, but if it has the same profile and the same weapons a Rhino is a Rhino by any other name.

EQUALS

Now, as mentioned in my first point, there can be a bit of leeway for some more exotic conversions. I certainly don't know what all of the different Tyranid/DEldar special weapons look like but if you make something that looks convincing (i.e. splinter rifle shoots darts, venom cannons are big guns built into the body, etc.) I'm cool with it. Some might not be, in which case the actual gun should be used, and I can understand that too. But as long as it conveys exactly what it's going for there should be no problem. That thin open topped boarding skimmer? Raider. The Guardsman on a Segway on a cavalry base? Rough Rider.

But ESPECIALLY for Marines (and to some extent the other Imperial armies) the code of WYSIWYG should be followed. This is because the weapons are so well known and nigh universal that to get them wrong is just to invite confusion and resentment. A Meltagun MUST be a Meltagun and ONLY a meltagun, a lascannon MUST be a lascannon and ONLY a lascannon.

5. Wolf Pelts Do Not Grant You Counter-Attack

Now, of all of the Marines, Space Wolves are the ones earning the most ire. Maybe it's because their book is awesome and has that "power gamer" aura, but every time Counts As comes up Space Wolves take the hit. To an extent, this is fair. They have a lot of visual cues that are built into their army that tend to set them apart like the spikes on Chaos Marines. But, in the end, does this go against the rules? No. Nowhere in the BRB or codex does it say that Space Wolves, Chaos Marines or Space Marines have to look a particular way. Nowhere does it say that their wolfy trappings give them any kind of rules benefits. There are certain upgrades that deserve special attention (Mark of the Wulfen, Wolf Tail Talisman, etc.) but beyond that there's maybe a CCW (and, to be honest, how many of the ACTUAL Space Wolves or Chaos Marines models are actually equipped with the correct wargear... not to mention grenades and the like, particularly on Guardsmen) to set them apart.

In the end, your army is your army is your army. Paint it red, green, blue or grey, but at the end of the day if it has power armor and the correct load out a Space Marine can earn his right as a 7 foot tall god of war to be whatever color he damn well wants.

Finally, some closing remarks to answer some challenges that I have heard all to often:

"Why do marines get to do it but not my [insert army here]?"
Because GW loves marines and gave them the gift of six army books while sharing the majority of their wargear. If another group of books could pull off that feat I'm sure that we would be swimming in them as well, and if you want to make sure that happens go check out the Codex Project. If you model your conversions appropriately you can also do crazy things like Necron/Tyranid or Dark Eldar/Tyranid armies. It just takes imagination.

"It makes it hard to remember what is/does what."
If the weapons/wargear are a bit more exotic, I can understand this. But if a meltagun is a meltagun where's the confusion in holding the single fact that your opponent is playing Blood Angels, not Chaos Marines? If you're doing your job as a player you know the rules and at least know your book's rules. The argument that the counts-as will make remember their rules more difficult just doesn't cut the mustard. Think of it in the context of playing an army that you've never faced before. If I haven't faced off against Blood Angels (and... actually, I haven't. Huh.) I certainly might be expected to not know their particular rules. Just go through each unit with the opponent and learn what they can do. It will be the same level of misapprehension as if I had been playing against C:SM the entire time and blamed not remembering that the appropriately modeled Sanguinary Priest gives FNP and FC to his buddies for losing the game- unacceptable.

"They're all modeling for advantage!"
If this is happening they are breaking the game. Tiny mk. 1 Rhinos are one thing but purposefully modeling your counts-as to be dramatically larger/smaller can have a very large impact in TLoS games, especially where vehicles are concerned. While to some extent this can't be stopped (legal crouching armies can easily be made with smart bitz shopping) except by local policy/fist to the face feel free to explain to your opponent that a certain model seems to be taking advantage of the rules through construction. Most of us are nice guys and if we aren't feel free to not play.

I think that's most of them. Hope you enjoyed the article, and I'll be back here tomorrow. Some apologies are in order for the lack of posting this past week and a half. Work and family matters have been stressful of late and I haven't had much opportunity to sit down and do a post or do any modeling in some time. Add in the fact that my computer has decided that it will no longer upload to YouTube and you have one unhappy Max. We may see a drop in posting to three days a week, but we'll see how I can string this out. Again, thanks for reading and comments are always appreciated.

Product Review: Dystopian Wars Prussian Battle Group

2011-01-21T12:00:00.005-06:00

With winnings from my last tournament I decided to branch out from GW products and pick up some product from the Dystopian Wars line. I've always liked my punk steamed and with Dystopian Wars' focus on a sci-fi Victorian era involving zeppelins I had to check it out. Being an immense Germanophile I decided to start my acquisitions with the Prussian Battle Group, hearkening back to a nicer, kinder version of world conquest than we are used to today.

The battle group, like the rest of the battle groups, comes in some very snazzy packaging and includes one battleship, three cruisers, 9 corvettes, two large aircraft and 10 fighter plane markers. They also all include four sheets of full-colored game markers and templates PLUS stats for the different ships printed on high quality glossy cardstock- a very nice addition in this day and age.

The ships themselves are made of highly detailed resin and for the most part consist of a single solid piece. Each of the larger ships have small indentations where you can place some of the small metal add on pieces that come in the box. These represent cannons and power generators that can be used to upgrade your craft. This is a nice change of pace to the comparatively complicated GW kits and definitely leaves no excuse to getting these things assembled and painted.

The Prussian ships are all very sleek and low to the water. They resemble more modern craft in their design, though the large cannons and Tesla coils (yes- Tesla coils!) manage to break up this image a fair bit. Did I mention that they can have Tesla coils?

I love the design on the aircraft especially. I was a bit worried how they were going to work such decidedly non-Victorian vehicles, but I shouldn't have worried. The thing looks like a steam powered submarine that got wings strapped to it- something so utterly impractical and heavy that it could exist nowhere but in Steampunk. Each of the aircraft comes with a clear flying stand and base. The smaller aircraft are on resin bases that rest on the clear stands during play.

There are a few problems with the casting along the waterline. One of my cruisers was flaking a bit along the bottom, pulling away from the smooth base. Other than that, though, the models seem to be fine after carefully clipping away the extra resin.

My overall opinion? For just over $50.00 American this is a great buy. You get a full navy group that with only a few seconds of assembly you can start painting and playing. I still don't have the rules so can't give my opinion on those, but these ships look great and like they'll be fun and easy to paint up.

Of course, for me to fully fall in love with the Prussians I'm going to have to pick up the zeppelin... :)

Army List: Medusae vs Psychic Hydras

2011-01-20T12:00:00.002-06:00

First of all, thanks to the HoP are in order for placing me on the Top X once again. It seems that people like these army list posts from the amount of comments that I've received so it may have to become a regular feature. Not to fear, though, for those of you who like hobby content, it's a comin', especially if I want to have a fully painted army by Adepticon...

So. Adepticon. I need to decide on a final list relatively soon so I can actually have it completely built by the time April rolls around. Last week I posted about the various options that I was considering to replace my Battle Tanks, and I think I've narrowed it down to two configurations: two Medusas either with closed compartments or throw in an Astropath; or a Psyker Battle Squad and a pair of Hydras. I've contemplated just running a single Medusa but the ease with which one can get knocked out leads me to believe that two would be the better bet.

To answer this question let's do a list of pros and cons for each.

Picture shamefully stolen from Admiral Drax's awesome blog

Medusae Pros:
-str 10 ap 2 ordnance blasts are AWESOME, especially the part where they insta-gib Thunderwolves
-have great range
-leaves the option of an Astropath available
-great at taking down both infantry and vehicles up to and including Land Raiders and Terminators
-relatively easy to convert (thanks again Adm. Drax!)
-I already own the building blocks for one
Medusae Cons:
-fragile
-one of the Adepticon missions has a win condition of destroying the most expensive enemy unit, which would be these. Combined with fragility and bulkiness they could be a liability
-single gun syndrome

Image shamefully stolen from Sons of Sanguinius... check out Atreides' Vendetta scratchbuild too!

PBS and Hydra Pros:
-PBS has great conversion potential
-PBS deals with infantry very well while the Hydras deal with light armor and infantry to an extent
-Adds 3 Av 12 targets to the list, making up a bit for the loss of 2 Av 14 targets
-Dark Eldar are scared of both
-I own the models to make the PBS and their ride
PBS and Hydra Cons:
-Hydras can't deal with heavily armored targets
-3 more chassis take up quite a bit of room
-PBS and the Hydras will take a fair bit of conversion work to do
-PBS can be shut down by Psychic Hoods rather easily

So, given the above, which will fit better in my army? Let's see what holes I already have covered:
Anti-heavy infantry: Executioner (long range) and plasma CCS (short range)
Anti-heavy vehicle: Manticore (long range), Vet squads (short range)
Anti-light vehicle: See above, plus Vendettas Exectioner and Chimera Multilasers (long range)
Anti-Horde: Executioner, Manticore (long range), Chimeras (mid-short range), Vets [to some extent] (short range)

It looks like my anti-light vehicle resources are pretty good but I am lacking in ways of dealing with heavy infantry, hordes and heavy tanks. Both of my choices deal rather well with hordes but only one gives me the firepower necessary to crack Terminators and Land Raiders.

So... I guess if those are the criteria that I am looking at, a pair of Medusae would be the answer. I am still a bit worried about their fragility, but I think that I will be putting them in the list to try out. I'll try play testing them starting next week.

Thanks for reading this rather rambling post. Tomorrow, it's time for something completely different.

Army List: DA ThunderRazor

2011-01-19T12:00:00.003-06:00

Man, I am stuck with Dark Angels fever right now! To maybe help me get it out of my system, or possibly convince myself to start a DA army, army lists have been jumping into my head like crazy.

The thing that got me started on this list was looking at what parts of the DA codex are costed appropriately in comparison to the 5th ed Marine books. Super cheap Typhoons already popped out to me in my last list, but what shocked me to see was that DA razorbacks are actually fairly competitively priced, the twin-linked lascannon version only costing 5 pts more than the 5th ed version. What DA get out of the deal is the chance to take a 5-man tactical squad armed with an honest-to-God meltagun or flamer instead of the combi version that Codex marines have to deal with.

So let's see what we can do with this concept as a base. A Razorback with 5 tactical marines and a flamer costs 175 points, which is the exact same cost for a Codex Marine razor squad with a combi-flamer. 6 of them will set us back 1050. We’ll build on this by adding in 3 land speeders with a multimelta and incredibly cheap and awesome Typhoon launcher for 75 a piece, setting us back another 225 and taking us to 1275.

We’ve got another… 575 to go before we hit 1850. We still need an HQ, but unfortunately most of them are not as good as the Codex Marine equivalents. The one exception is the Chaplain which is actually better than the standard chaplain thanks to possessing an additional attack for the same price. He can throw on a combi-weapon (we’ll say a Flamer) for a total of 110.

We now have 465 left. That is almost enough for two Deathwing squads with CMLs and TH/SS, just 5 points over. We can make room for them by dropping the combi-weapon from the Chaplain and use the remaining 5 points to upgrade one of our CML termies to chainfist duty.

This gives us the following:

Chaplain- 100
Deathwing squad with 5 TH/SS Terminators, 1 with CML- 235
Deathwing squad with 4 TH/SS Terminators, 1 with CML, stormbolter and chain fist- 240
6 Tactical squads with flamer and TWL Lascannon Razorback- 175*6=1050
3 squads of 1 land speeder with MM and Typhoon launcher- 75*3=225

I'd love to give the Tac squads meltaguns but a) can't find the points and b) don't want this list to instantly crumble against horde. 6 flamers and 30 tactical marines should hopefully help a bit with that at close range, while three multimeltas and the chain fist will just have to do against any Land Raiders that show up.

Let’s take this concept to 2k as well. Dropping a tactical squad would give us 330 points, more enough to get a third CML Deathwing squad. We lose a lascannon but gain a rock hard unit with 2 missile shots- worth it in my opinion. We can use the remaining 95 pts to upgrade the Chaplain to Belial with TH/SS and give one of our Deathwing squads the Deathwing Standard (+1 attack), an Apothecary (FNP) and an assault cannon. And finally we can make one of our non-rock Deathwing squads into a troop choice as Belial allows Deathwing to be both elites and troops.

Belial with TH/SS- 130
2 Deathwing squads with 5 TH/SS Terminators, each with 1 CML- 235*2=470 (one of which is a troop choice)
Deathwing squad with 2 TH/SS Terminators, 1 TH/SS Apothecary, 1 TH/SS standard bearer and 1 assault cannon/power fist terminator- 270
5 Tactical squads with flamer and TWL Lascannon Razorback- 175*5=875
3 squads of 1 land speeder with MM and Typhoon launcher- 75*3=225

I'd love to squeeze in another assault cannon but I'd hate to take 10 points off of anything. Tactics are DW assault with the Apothecary's squad and another DW squad (your choice of troop or no troop) with Belial attached while blasting apart anything you can reach... which is everything. The other DW squad teleports in or walks on the board later to either contest or hold objectives, depending if it's a Troop choice or not.

With just a few changes to the FAQ suddenly Dark Angels are an army that has actual benefits over the other Marine codexes. I'll be back to determine some more cool tricks that this old dog has, but for now I wouldn't want my Guard army to feel lonely before Adepticon...

*Image above property of Games-Workshop

BATTLE REPORT: Adepticon Practice vs Hammernators

2011-01-18T12:00:00.000-06:00

Another video battle report featuring my latest round of Adepticon practice. Enjoy!

Army List: FLOURISH THE DEATHWING!

2011-01-17T12:00:00.007-06:00

So, as everyone must have heard by now, the Dark Angels and Black Templars finally got their contracts with the Adeptus Mechanicus renewed and their shiny new shipments of 5th ed thunder hammers, storm shields and cyclone missile launchers have just arrived.

The Deathwing, of course, probably benefited the most from this change, as now they can run around with scoring, 2+/3++ thunder hammer wielding maniacs! This fact, along with the news that apparently the Dark Angels terminators can get greedy and wield TH/SS alongside their Cyclone Missile Launcher (CML) (Thanks DaveHowitzer for cluing me onto this!) immediately put me into list building mode.

From my perusal of the Dark Angels Codex it seems like there are a few key parts to a Deathwing list: Belial, Terminators, and Heavy Anti-Armor weapons.

Let's make an 1850 list as that's the most popular points limit in my area. I want my Deathwing to foot it as 2+/3++ is pretty darn reliable and buying expensive Land Raiders that die as soon as they get near the enemy is not exactly my idea of a good time.

We'll start with the man himself. Belial costs 130, so we'll add him in with the TH/SS load out as somebody forgot to give the master of the Deathwing a frikkin' Iron Halo and I hear invulnerable saves are the shiznit right now.

Next, an assortment of scoring hammernators. A squad with CML costs 235, so we'll take 6 of those. Since we're taking Belial one lucky squad can be upgraded with an Apothecary. Since the Dark Angels' medicae facilities ALSO got visited by the friendly neighborhood FAQ fairy he now grants FNP to his squad, making them, for all intents and purposes, INVINCIBLE. Finally 25 points buys us the Deathwing Standard which adds +1 attack to the unit carrying it.

Lessee... 130+235*6+30+25=1595, leaving us with 255 points to spend. Terminators hate Null Zone so a Librarian is unfortunately a necessary buy. He may only be leadership 9 and get pretty underwhelming powers but a full-board psychic hood is still pretty good. 150 points buys us a Libby with a combi-melta and Terminator armor, the latter so that he can join the teleport party and employ the former.

So, now that we have all of our Terminators in a row we need to talk about the elephant in the room, heavy anti-tank. While CMLs are nice at cracking tanks when it comes to Land Raiders and even Predators they don't do so hot. And, unfortunately, the Dark Angels aren't exactly spoiled for exciting ways to get melta in their list. Our options include:
-Ravenwing Attack Squadrons (scouting bikers)
-Ravenwing Support Squadrons (land speeders)
-Dreadnoughts
-Assault Cannon Terminators

Let's talk about the last option for a minute. Upgrading a Terminator to carry an Assault cannon costs 10 points more than for a CML but grants the possibility of Rending its way through 2+ saves and Land Raiders. Unfortunately it also comes at the cost of halved range and no TH/SS as it needs to replace a stormbolter. It still has the powerfist and plenty of buddies to take wounds but it is something to consider.

We currently have 105 points to play with, which means that we need to drop something. Dropping the Banner would get us enough for two speeders or three bikes with a meltagun or a Dreadnought with a multimelta. I'm not liking those options so let's try dropping a Terminator squad instead, bumping us up to 340 pts. Now we can afford:

3 land speeders with Multimelta/Typhoon launcher, 1 land speeder with Multimelta/Heavy Flamer, switch two CMLs to Assault Cannons/Chain Fists, two CML termies switch to Chain Fists
Two Ravenwing Attack Squads each with 3 bikers and a MM Attack Bike

The choice between these two is a tough one. The Land Speeders bring incredibly cheap Typhoon launchers and 4 melta shots at 3 targets, plus the option of Heavy Flamers for anti-infantry. The bikes are easier to hide and can offer great first strike potential thanks to their teleport homers. Just drop some termies off for side shots and next turn assaults and then try to smash tanks while staying alive. In the end I think the cheap Typhoons will win me over but for more accurate Deathwing assaults the bikes might be the better option.

So- what do we have?
Belial with TH/SS
Librarian in Terminator Armor with combi-melta
1*5 Deathwing Terminators with TH/SS and 1 CML
2*4 Deathwing Terminators with TH/SS, 1 with CML, stormbolter and chain fist
1*5 Deathwing Terminators with TH/SS and the Deathwing banner, Apothecary, 1 Terminator with Assault Cannon/Chain Fist
1*4 Deathwing Terminators with TH/SS, 1 Terminator with Assault Cannon/Chain Fist
2 Ravenwing Support Squadrons with 1 Typhoon/MM speeder
Ravenwing Support Squadron with 1 Hvy Flamer/MM speeder and 1 Typhoon/MM speeder

10 CML/Typhoon shots at 5 different targets, 8 Assault cannon shots at 2 different targets, 4 MM shots at 3 different targets, 2 heavy flamers plus a single-shot meltagun.

For taking the list to 2k I'd go for something like this:

Belial with TH/SS
Librarian in Terminator Armor with combi-melta
1*5 Deathwing Terminators with TH/SS, CML
2*4 Deathwing Terminators with TH/SS, 1 with CML, stormbolter and chain fist
4 Deathwing Terminators with TH/SS (one is the Apothecary, one has banner), 1 Terminator with Chain Fist and Assault Cannon
4 Deathwing Terminators with TH/SS, 1 Terminator with Chain Fist and Assault Cannon- 280
3*2 Land Speeders, 3 with MM/HF and 3 with MM/Typhoon (one of each per squad)

Tactics with the list are simple. Got first turn? Deploy 2 squads, Assault with 3 squads (2 assault cannon squads, 1 chain fist/CML squad) making sure that Belial goes with the non-banner and the Libby with the Banner (both of which enter first turn). Have speeders run around and melt/missile things while trying to stay hidden.

Alternatively we could strip the "ablative" MM/HF speeders, take out the non-Assault Cannon squad chain fists and throw in a 6th CML Deathwing squad, but I think this makes our speeders a little bit too fragile.

Not sure if it's the most competitive list, but what do you all think about the list? Good, bad, almost there? Any way, this looks like a very fun list to run and is definitely VERY different from my current force. Who knows- maybe Defending Humanity will start flourishing the Deathwing soon...

*All images are owned by Games-Workshop

Army List: The Battle Tank Dilemma

2011-01-14T12:00:00.042-06:00

Now that I've gotten a few games under my belt against some stiff competition with the list I think it's time for a few changes. Overall it's humming pretty well, but especially after last night's game (coming soon to a blog near you!) it's time for a change.

The main underperformers in the list are the Russ twins. Anybody who knows me knows I love me some str 8 AP 3 large blasts, but I'm not sure I need two of them. While very efficient FOC slot-wise, 300 points for the pair is just a bit too much for something that is still very much up to luck to see if it will do any damage or not. Plus they take up quite a bit of real estate as they need to stick together.

On the other hand, they provide a good deal of protection to the rest of my force. Few things can reliably deal with AV 14 at range so placing them as LOS blockers to my other tanks is often crucial to success. Plus, when they hit, they kill marines like nobody's business.

But if I am determined to replace the Queens of the battlefield, what would I use to fill the void? Let's look at some options:

1. Astropath

My list, like many IGuard lists likes going first. Some of my heaviest hitters are rather fragile with only AV 12 standing between them and total annihilation. Being able to play the reserve game if I go 2nd would be a great ability to have. The more reliable outflank could also potentially come in handy to help the Vendettas show up where they need to. The trouble with him is fitting him in, as a lot of the potential options cost exactly or very close to the price of a Russ, and I have little that I would want to take out from the rest of my list to afford him.

2. Psyker Battle Squad

I've tried resisting this particular piece of Camembert for a while but it has me hooked on several levels. First it can provide another high strength, potentially low AP blast, thereby replacing the Russ with little difference. Second, the Weaken Resolve power would, as in many Guard armies, help me knock squads easily off the table with only a minimum of casualties. I can already see TH/SS termies running for their lives because some scrawny little dudes wrapped in chains went BOOGA BOOGA... Third, the conversion opportunities are pretty fantastic.Since I've envisioned my force with a bit of a radical Inquisitorial bent these charming folks would blend right in. Not to mention my ideas on how to integrate playing cards into their design...

3. Close Combat Upgrades

I can't tell you the number of times that a power fist or even a sword would have turned the tide just enough. This isn't a really high priority, but a pfist on a vet squad or my CCS could have helped against even lone marines rushing in and slaughtering the entire squad. Again, like the Astropath, the problem is finding room for upgrades, especially since these can be seen as even lower priority.

4. MOAR MELTA!

Couple of ways we could go with this. With some upgrades we can sneak a couple of extra meltaguns onto my Vets as points filler. They do all right with just two meltaguns but three's just better. I could also spring for something like a suicide melta-Stormtrooper squad, or even afford another Chimera vet squad. I'm not sure how I like this version; if anything my list needs more long range shooting and melta's preferred enemies already fear the Manticore. Still, adding another Vet squad would give me another mobile scoring unit which is always useful.

These options so far have only dealt with giving up one Russ... the option remains to give up both, freeing up another 150 pts and a Heavy Support slot. With this, we have the following options:

1. Manticore

Manticores are awesome. I think I might miss the AP 3 of the blast but two Manticores is a truly impressive amount of firepower. I'd probably choose this option if I wanted more antitank, as nothing cracks a Land Raider at 300 paces like str 10 rockets of doom. Plus, PRETTY.

2. Hydras

Hydras would provide a fair bit of light anti-tank at range. Plus, as the photo above attests, fellow blogger and hero to Guard generals everywhere (despite his nautical title) Drax has a pretty cool way to convert them up, saving me money and helping me scratch that DIY itch that I wrestle with. I would probably spring for two as one just doesn't seem like enough. As my girlfriend mentioned, "Can you ever have too many Hydras? They're like potato chips." Special dear... special.

So let's look at a few possible combinations to replace one or both Russ.

Psyker Battle Squad with 4 additional members, Chimera, and take a melta from my triple melta squad: 150 pts
Veteran squad with 2 meltaguns, flamer, Chimera: 150 pts
Three additional meltaguns, one to each vet squad, 5 stormtroopers with two meltaguns, Astropath: 150 pts
Manticore plus one of the above options, plus take out 10 pts somewhere: 300 pts
2 Hydras, plus one of the 150 pt options: 300 pts
Just keep the Russ!

So those are the options that I can think of for 150 and 300-odd points... which one do you favor, or have I forgotten something?

Last Square 1850 Tourney: Game Three and Wrap Up

2011-01-13T12:00:00.002-06:00

So, we come to the final part of my tale. Before that though... ORKSES!

Back to our story...

I knew that game three was going to be a bit special even before I read the mission as rampant accusations of "dumb", "stupid", and other less savory terms were being bandied about the club. None of these were more heartfelt than my opponent, who I mistook for a sailor.

Here's the mission:
Deployment: Dawn of War
Each player places 1 objective in his/her deployment zone, then places two in the opponent's.
Objective 1: Destroy at least half of the opponent's army (judged by victory points)
Objective 2: Capture all three objectives in your deployment zone
Objective 3: Capture two objectives in your opponent's deployment zone.

This mission... is a bit misguided. It seriously upgrades pretty much all of the advantages of a 5th ed army while hampering those of a 4th ed. Gone are the tactics of own one, contest the rest. You NEED to hold at least two, possibly even 5 to get a chance at victory. Seeing as quite a few of the players brought minimum Troops choices or only three they saw this as being quite unfair.

My army, on the other hand, was unfairly sitting pretty. I had easily enough firepower to earn the destroy objective and had four troops choices, giving me enough room to play around with the idea of taking ground.

My opponent's army was the beautifully painted and converted Nurgle Chaos Marine army seen below:

Did you SEE that awesome Leman Russ-Defiler? Sweet!

His approximate list:
2 Daemon Princes of Nurgle with wings
5? Chosen with 4 plasma guns
10? Plague Marines with 2 melta in a Rhino x 2
10? Plague Marines with 2 plasma in a Rhino
2 Defilers with Reaper Autocannon and close combat arm
Greater Daemon
2x9? Lesser Daemons

My opponent seemed a bit... off when I started setting up against him. I blame this on the mission and the fact that I was playing Mech Guard which he greeted with spicy language.

This attitude continued throughout the game which, compounded with several rules disputes on core concepts that I knew I was in the right on, made for an unpleasantly tense experience.

We both deployed our objectives towards midfield, seeing as it was the prime operating zone for both of our armies. For the third time in a row I won the roll to go first and decided to deploy a single Vet squad in their Chimera at midfield. My opponent deployed a melta squad in their Rhino in cover alongside a Daemon Prince, both just outside of 18". He then proceeded to place infiltrating Chosen near one of the objectives despite my insistence that Infiltrators counted against the 1 HQ, 2 Troops limit. I decided not to press the point, seeing as I already had had to convince him that in Dawn of War LOS did not matter for the 18" no-deployment zone.

First turn my army rolled on. The vet's Chimera lit up the Daemon Prince and my Vendettas started blasting. It wasn't until the second Vendetta that I realized that my opponent was keeping 4's for his invulnerable saves. He claimed that his Prince was in area terrain and therefore got a cover save. I had to call over the TO to convince him that MCs and vehicles needed 50% coverage to gain a cover save, which his Prince did not have. The Prince survived the first round of shooting, though I wonder if he really should have... In addition my Command Chimera lit up the Chosen who were summarily blasted off the map by my Leman Russ.

That first turn's arguments set the scene for the rest of the game. I tried to engage my opponent in small talk but he remained quiet and combative, questioning a lot of my moves throughout the game. The game boiled down to pure mechanics and no fun, me just blasting his units off the table while he desperately grabbed for cover and tried to claim all of the objectives on his side of the field.

It was a close game down to turn 5. I had easily done more damage but with his troops in cover and crawling over his three objectives I needed to make a move or risk a draw. I turboboosted a Vendetta on to his center objective and started moving my Chimeras to take my three on turn 6. Since I went first he had a turn to bring down the contesting Vendetta, but cover saves plus 6s to hit and a bad pen roll saved my bird.

Good thing too as the game ended on turn 5. It ended up that I had killed just 17 points over half of his army's total value, making me the only player with a satisfied victory condition.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

I finished the day 3-0 and combined with my painting and apparently good Sportsmanship scores... I got first place overall!

This, especially given the disastrous performance that I did in my first "tournament" and the shellacking I received at the Fantasy tournament, was completely unexpected and VERY welcome... especially since it seems that I got in off the waitlist for the 1850 40k Championship at Adepticon. My list really hummed for being only my second time running it and most of the tactics that I had thought about when building the list actually worked to my surprise.

MVP of the day was definitely the Manticore, which never let me down. I was a bit nervous putting it in my otherwise mobile list but it's first turn barrages quickly shut me up, almost single-handedly turning each game in my favor. Even in the last mission it managed to take a squad of disembarked Plague Marines from full to 1 with a single strength 10 barrage that managed to hit twice dead on target. With most of a Land Raider, a Leman Russ, and two transports killed it is a great tank cracker and amazing infantry slaughterer.

So why did I do so well?

Win factor #1 was the fact that I got to go first every single game. Vendettas are fragile if you have any dedicated antitank and getting to go first plus the lack of infantry anti-tank like Long Fangs let me snipe that out quickly.

Another big factor in my win was the lack of any drop armies, as those look like they should ruin my day as I have little to no defense against them. As it was I faced either other shooty armies or relatively slow builds that needed to cross the battlefield in order to get to grips with my army, which only one unit managed to do over the course of the game (and even then only at the lost of his Terminator brethren).

Finally, my dice were rolling hot. I got insanely lucky on my first turn barrages and subsequent rolls like taking out a full tactical squad in cover were completely off the scale. This just means that I'll have to play smarter next time, as I can't rely on staying lucky forever... or can I?

I had a lot of fun at the tourney and can't wait for the next one. Thanks for following along with me, and see you tomorrow.

Adepticon Practice: vs Necrons

2011-01-12T00:00:00.000-06:00

Game three of the tournament will have to wait for tomorrow, as I seem to have forgotten to upload the pretty pictures which really make it worth your while. So, for today I'll show a different report from a week ago where I first tried out my tourney list against Necrons. Be prepared for a knock-down, drag out fight featuring the Little Pariah That Could.

Last Square 1850 Tourney: Game Two

2011-01-11T12:00:00.004-06:00

Back to the tourney! You can find a link to the first game here.

Before we get into the second game, NIDSES!

The setup for the second game was as follows:

Spearhead deployment
Victory condition one: Control uncontested table quarters with Troops
Killpoints for any non-Troops units killed (Troops include their dedicated transports)
Have an HQ unit within 3" of the center of the board with no enemy HQs also within 3".

I got paired with a gentleman who introduced army as "Vulkan and his Angels." I feared what I was about to face (but was delighted by the Mk 1 Land Raider below!)

His list was as follows:
Vulkan He'Stan
Librarian with Avenger and Null Zone, Terminator Armor
Tactical Squad with Multimelta, Meltagun, Rhino
Tactical Squad with Plasma cannon, meltagun, Razorback with TWL Hvy Bolter
Tactical Squad with Razorback, TWL Lascannon
5(?) Assault Terminators, 2 with Lightning Claws, 3 with Thunderhammer/Storm Shield
Phobos-Pattern Land Raider (i.e. Standard)
2 Vindicators
Venerable Dreadnaught with MM, Hvy Flamer, Drop Pod

I once again won the roll to go first and deployed in the bottom right corner of the map pictured above. I deployed my tanks such that my Leman Russ' and the Manticore were protected by the Chimeras from scary drop pods, two Vendettas on the wings and one in the backfield. He deployed everything but the Podding Dread and his Libby who was set to teleport. The Plasma cannon tac squad combat squadded with one half in the Razor and the other on an outcropping overlooking my base.

Turn 1a:
I once again get off to a good start. The Vendettas on the wings Scouted out to get better shots on targets. One got a side shot on a Vindie and blew it up, the other got a shot at the Rhino and wrecked it while the third wrecked the Heavy Bolter Razorback which was hiding the other Razor. The Manticore continued its awesome streak by immobilizing the Land Raider on it's first shot. The Russ squadron began a trend of not both seeing the same target, one of them managing to take out a single member of the wrecked Razor squad... try saying THAT five times fast!

Turn 1b:
With the majority of his Marine's mobility marginalized... man, I better cut down on the alliteration before people start thinking that I'm Loquacious... my opponent was in a bit of a pickle. The Dread came in near my rightmost Vendetta and blew it out of the sky. The Land Raider shook a Vets' Chimera and blew off the Multilaser of my CCS' Chimera. The remaining Vindicator snarled, fired and managed to knock a lascannon off of my leftmost Vendetta. The Laserback finished the job.

Turn 2a:
Two of my birds were out of the sky leaving me down in KP. I tried some halfhearted shots at the Vindicator but cover or lack of penetration saved the little bulldog. The Manticore fired again, this time dropping three warheads, two of which I was able to chain onto the Land Raider, knocking off its Godhammer lascannons while also hitting the Plasmacannon combat squad. My Meltavet squad and my CCS drove over to the Dread and Pod and bade them both a fond farewell while another Vet squad started sneaking around the hill in the center of the field, hoping to catch the Vindie unawares.

Turn 2b:
Unfortunately for my opponent his Librarian came in early, deepstriking onto the center hill and hoping to stand for 3 turns. The Vindicator turned around and started heading over towards my right flank going behind the hill. His large tac squad also started picking up speed, charging slowly across his long board edge to try and grab another table quarter. His Terminators stayed ominously silent, however.

Turn 3a:
My tanks looked at the Librarian and sneezed. Just because they happen to be down with a plasma infection is not my fault. My Meltavets tried to take a shot at the Vindicator but were just out of range. My Manticore and Vendetta tried to seal the deal but merely managed to shake the beast through its smoke. My other tanks eliminated the Plasmacannon combat squad while my CCS started getting in position to make a move on the center of the board.

Turn 3b:
The Vindicator was fed up with all of the Chimeras yapping about and charged one... but unfortunately did not manage to penetrate. Vulkan and his Terminators finally charged out of the Land Raider, surely with blood or at least mangled tank bits on their minds. His Tac squad tried to fire a meltagun at my Meltavets but were also unfortunately out of range. The Laserback also immobilized a Vet Chimera.

Turn 4a:
Currently I was winning on kill points and held my table quarter securely. My opponent did likewise with his quarter. One of the other quarters contained the shot up remnants of a combat squad and a fully functional Vet squad while the other had a Vet squad, my CCS, the Vindicator and a butt load of Terminators. Nobody had gone for the center objective... yet. The Terminators needed to be dealt with, and my CCS and Plasma tank delivered. All but one of the Terminators were destroyed and Vulkan was reduced to one wound. I also managed to blow the Demolisher cannon off of the Vindicator rendering it toothless.

Turn 4b:
Things were getting desperate now. Vulkan left his Terminator bodyguard and joined the Tac squad and started charging up the hill. The Vindicator ran away to hide in the table quarter, diverting my focus. The lone remaining Hammernator walked up to my command Chimera and smashed it to pieces in a fit of righteous fury, killing one of the two remaining Veterans that hadn't burned themselves to death in the resulting explosion.

Turn 5a:
Despite killing most of his army I was now in serious danger of losing the game. If Vulkan managed to get to the top of the hill and survive while standing in my home table quarter it would leave him holding the only uncontested quarter. To stop this and secure a win I needed to accomplish four out of five tasks:
-kill Vulkan
-kill the escorting Tac squad
-kill the remaining Hammernator
-destroy the Vindicator while keeping my Vet squad alive and in that table quarter OR take out the remaining stragglers from the combat squad in the other contested table quarter.

I accomplished the second task with a bit of luck. I disembarked my vet squad from the immobilized Chimera and moved them into position to shoot the Tac squad, but failed to do anything. My CCS and a veritable hail of Multilaser fire failed to take out the Hammernator. My plasma tank, Vendetta and Meltavets on the other hand somehow managed to eliminate all of the Tactical marines even in cover, leaving Vulkan alone but untouchable by my forces. This meant that I left the Vindicator to its own devices, so I was relying on my Battle Tanks to destroy the contesting combat squad. Unfortunately they failed me.

Turn 5b:
Vulkan ascended to the top of the hill and waited for his Angels to take him to safety. The Hammernator assaulted my CCS and got stuck in thanks to a lucky Refractor Field save. Even so, my opponent for the first time was in place to win if the game ended here.

Turn 6a:
Fortunately the game did not end and the screaming began. Vulkan disappeared under a fusillade of plasma fire, the Vindicator was destroyed by meltaguns, the Land Raider by a Vendetta and the combat squad was removed by the Battle Tank twins. The Hammernator won his combat with my commander, but even so I controlled at least two uncontested table quarters.

Turns 6b through the end of turn 7 were simply filled with the last marines dying.

All in all this was the most fun game I had all day. Even though my opponent got started on a bad foot he made quite the come back and almost pulled off a turn 5 victory. It was very tense and hard fought the entire way, exactly what I wanted from a tournament game.

The final game, wrap up and more pics tomorrow.

Last Square 1850 Tourney: Game One

2011-01-10T12:00:00.026-06:00

This past weekend I went to my second tournament at my FLGS and... man, I am pumped right now. :) I ran the following list:

Co. Cmd with 4 plasma guns, plasma pistol, Chimera with Hvy Flamer and Multilaser
3 Veteran squads with 2 meltaguns, flamer, shotguns, in a Chimera with Hvy Flamer and Multilaser
Veteran squad, 3 meltaguns, shotguns, Chimera with Hvy Flamer and Multilaser
3 Vendettas
2 Squadroned Leman Russ Battle Tanks, Hull Heavy Bolters
Leman Russ Executioner, Plasma Cannon Sponsons, Hull Heavy Flamer
Manticore with hull heavy flamer

All of the missions were from the upcoming 1850 Adepticon Championship, which made it great practice for those of us who are going to the tourney in Chicago come April. Some of the missions were great, others were... interesting, to say the least. All of them have three win conditions- whoever wins the most wins the mission, with ties decided by Victory Points. It's a pretty cool system that allows a lot of disparate ways to win and work when they are as different as possible. For the most part it worked...

What was definitely interesting was the spread of armies present across the 14 players. Specifically, the lack of Marines (only two from my recollection) and the presence of a lot of more unorthodox armies, like these beautifully painted (and best painted winning!) Necrons:

So it was a bit of a surprise when I drew against the only other Guard player at the tourney for my first game. He was a young gentleman who had some very nicely painted models.

His list was approximately as follows, and scarily similar to mine:

CCS with astropath, Master of the Fleet, 2 GLs, Commander with Power Sword, grenadiers
4 Vet Squads, 1 with flamers, 1 with plasma, 2 with meltas, all except the flamer vet in Chimeras and with Grenadiers
Vendetta
Leman Russ Executioner with Pask, plasma cannons
Manticore
Psyker Battle Squad with Chimera
Penal Legionnaire Squad

Deployment: Pitched Battle

For this one, the three were:
-destroy the enemy's most expensive unit
-Kill points
-3 objectives, one in the center, one placed by each player in the opposing player's deployment zone.

I won the roll to deploy first and spread out across the board deploying everything. The Manticore was stuck in a far corner away from my objective behind some LOS blocking cover.

He deployed everything except for the Penal Legionnaires.

My first turn was a bit of a blow out. The Executioner eliminated his Vendetta, two of my Vendettas took out his Manticore and, in the first of many moments of brilliance that day, my Manticore exploded his Pask-enabled Executioner (his most expensive model) AND wrecked a meltavet Chimera thanks to a lucky pie plate flip.

After taking out the majority of his antitank I knew that the game was pretty much mine. My Leman Russ' provided effective cover to my Chimeras while my Executioner tried to stay out of meltagun range. Getting the early lead also allowed me to suggest better plays to my opponent. He seemed to be doing fairly well for his age, but the difference in list power plus my lucky first turn sealed the deal. It eventually ended up with me winning the KP and most expensive unit conditions while he secured the most objectives. The only KP he secured were a Vendetta and my Manticore, the latter after it had fired all of its rockets.

Second game plus some more pretty army pics coming up tomorrow.

Tourney Prep: Deployment Strategies, Take 1

2011-01-07T12:00:00.000-06:00

The past couple of nights I've been doing two things:

Building another set back Chimera to complete the mechanization of my army
Practicing deployment strategies

Something that I've mentioned repeatedly here and on my battle reports is that my deployment strategies need work. I've focused on target priority and on worked on my list design but deployment continues to elude me.

So, I measured out a 6 by 4 foot section of carpet, got down on my knees and started playing with my boxy toys. I am not too proud to admit that I made the occasional *wooooosh* *vroooom!* noise while setting up my very serious war games.

I figure that there are three basic army types that I need to prep for- gunline, melee, and drop, as well as getting 1st vs 2nd turn.

Shooty is the match up where 1st vs 2nd matters the most. My goal is to nullify their shooting by placing my nice, fat, AV 14 Leman Russ' right in the front while my Chimeras cower behind them as we move towards midfield. Most armies' long range AT fire is str 9 or lower which, while the upper limit will break through AV 14 on occasion it's definitely a long shot. Plus since I'm squadroning two Leman Russ to fit in a Manticore (I can't help it- it's too pretty!) they will have extra armor which will help them keep moving forward... at least until the inevitable immobilized result ruins my day.

If I go first in a Pitched Battle deployment I'll use a deployment like the one above. Hopefully there will be some LoS blocking terrain that the Manticore can hide behind while the rest of the army moves up. If I go second the Vendettas will probably hit reserve to possibly outflank and at least make sure that they get one good shot off before being shredded by enemy autocannons.

If in more of a Table Corners setup we'll the use the deployment above instead. Again, Vendettas can go into reserve, this time possibly along with a Chimera or two for the quasi outflank and objective grab.

Against melee armies... it depends. Hordes I'll try to go second against and use the refused flank strategy while deploying everything (except maybe a Vendetta or three, depending on the build). I've never faced TWC beat down yet, but depending on their Long Fang support I might split the army in two, hopefully distracting the big beasts with the majority of my armor busting in one group while the other goes for objectives. Nids, stay out of the way of Hive Guard and try to blast the damn gribblies from across the board.

Drop armies are where I think my army has the greatest weakness. I refuse to use the DH mystic trick as that's a little too cheesy (and short lived with the GK book coming out soon) for me to go for. Which leaves me with this deployment, two meltavet squads and my plasma bedecked CCS:

The plan is to stick this out in the open and put everything else in reserve. The CCS can really chew up firepower while the Vets provide anti-Dread defense and scoring potential. Then the big tanks roll on and use their low AP blast templates to clear the ground of those bloodthirsty angels and Loganwings.

Of course, this has all been without any terrain being taken into consideration or even objective placement. Add in my previously admitted lack of expertise with deployment makes taking what I've said only doable with a fair bit of salt. Still, the practice of actually getting your models out and seeing how much space they take up and how you can block sight lines most effectively is great practice and even more fun... if very open to mocking from those significant others in your life. *Vroom* *Vroom* indeed.

BATTLE REPORT: Sneaky Claws

2011-01-05T12:00:00.000-06:00

Another battle report for you fine ladies and gentlemen featuring my Fortunan 24th vs a local Hive Fleet.

Text version below!

So, we rolled up 1850 and Annihilation.

My list:
Blob squad with 3 ACs, 3 GLs, 2 power weapons, Commissar with power weapon
Plasma loaded cmd squad in Chimera
3 Meltavet squads in Chimeras
PCS with 4 flamers in a Chimera
AC HWS
LRBT with Lascannon
LRBT with Hvy Bolter
LR Executioner with Plasma cannons and Hvy Bolter
2 Vendettas

His list:
Hive Tyrant with Lash whip Bonesword, TL Devourers, Hive Commander, Leech Essence, Paroxysm
2 Tyrant Guard
Tyranid Prime wtih Deathspitter and Boneswords
Doom of Malantai in pod
2 Hive Guard
6 Ymgarl Genestealers
2*8 Genestealers with Scything Talons and Broodlord
Tervigon with Catalyst
Trygon Prime
10 Gants
Screamer-Killer Carnifex

Turns 1 and 2: I deploy everything, he reserves everything. I moved out, grabbed cover and turboboosted as possible. I used Incoming! on the blob squad to protect them from deep strikers.

Tyranid Turn 2: Doom, Ymgarls, Hive Guard, Tyrant and one brood of Genestealers came in. Doom failed to do much thanks to Incoming! but the Ymgarls and the Genestealer brood charged into my Blob and HWT respectively. Since the Ymgarls were doing so well against the Blob I decided to sacrifice the entire command structure. The men were summarily cut to ribbons after they turned on their Commissar. His other shooting fails to do anything as my Vendettas jink very well.

My turn 3: My Chimeras wreaked fiery vengeance on the Ymgarls on the left flank while my flamer PCS tried to do the same to the Stealer Brood on the right. Unfortunately the latter was not nearly so effective as 2 stealers and the Broodlord survived my onslaught, and I had made the error of jumping my boys out of their crunchy metal box. I foresee snacking in the future... I also made the key tactical error in forgetting to move my Vendetta, which was sitting pretty right in front of the Tyrant and the Hive Guard. I tried to rectify this error by smashing the Hive Tyrant but only managed to kill one of his retinue. The Doom and his pod were summarily put down by lascannon and melta fire.

His turn 3: The rest of the Nid reserves enter the field. The Tyrant, using his brilliant strategic acumen, ordered the Hive Guard to drop the stalled Vendetta and smash it to ribbons in assault. The second Brood arrives and eats the PCS. The first brood makes a run for one of my Leman Russ but fails to do anything about it. A Trygon and a Tervigon suddenly appear on my left flank and proceed to break my commander's ride and scare him off the board. I am certain that he will be executed upon his recapture, the gutless bastard. The Screamer Killer quietly starts making his way up the right flank.

My turn 4: Seeing the Trygon as my greatest threat my two Meltavet squads and the remaining Vendetta try to down him but only manage to do 5 wounds, leaving him plenty ready to crash into my lines. The small Genestealer brood is wiped out while the larger one is reduced to two models. It's not looking good...

His turn 4: My left flank is unhorsed by the Tervigon and Trygon and one meltavet squad starts attempting to flee the board. The rest of his army advances menacingly... especially the Screamer-Killer.

My turn 5: The falling back squad does not leave the board and leaves a parting gift of melta fire to the Trygon while the other squad wipes out the Termagants. The final Genestealers are eliminated and the Tyrant is left Guardless and with three wounds left.

His turn 5: The Screamer-Killer closes the gap and is almost in range! In other news, my Guardsmen hold off a Tervigon in assault and in a key outcome my Vendetta is shaken. The Tyrant is just barely out of assault range of my LRBT, letting it scoot away to safety in my next turn.

My turn 6: In this turn I needed a couple of things to happen. Without the Vendetta's firepower I can't take out his Tyrant without the help of my Leman Russ Executioner. Unfortunately that tank has an angry Screamer-Killer standing in front of it. So I need to take it out as well as I can't afford to lose any more kill points. Meltavets start out well, taking out 3 wounds from the Fex. I pray for the Chimeras to finish off the job but to no avail. Sighing I turn the Executioner's guns on the Fex, blowing it out of the water but leaving the Tyrant with only a single Battle Tank to deal with it. It deals a single wound, but it's not enough.

His turn 6: Game over. Hive Guard smash a Chimera and the Tyrant manages to smash through the barricades and explode my Executioner. Tyranids win 11-9.

Key points: forgetting to move the Vendetta, jumping the PCS out of their tank, muddled deployment. Things to work on indeed...

Happy New Year!

2011-01-04T12:00:00.000-06:00

A bit belated maybe, but happy holidays! Apologies for the lack of posting in the last month- Christmas, plus a general burnout from the Ogres and work didn't leave me with much time do much hobby related activities over the past month. While I didn't receive any hobby related gifts this year I did have several opportunities to reward myself over the past month, including:

Battlefoam! Man, I have been waiting to say good bye to my egg cartons for a while now. They're a great and cheap way to move your infantry around but boy do they take up space! The Ogres didn't quite fit in their boxes as a few of my conversions don't even play nicely with ranks, but still, anything is an improvement over a box with some Easter grass.
Baneblade!
I discovered my first super-heavy on the consignment shelf at my LFGS assembled, primed in my army colors and half off. Ding!
Flip video camera! While my camera has done OK in the video department I've never been overly impressed with the quality of the film. So far I've been satisfied by the Flip, and you'll have to let me know what you think about tomorrow's video battle report.

But of course, as the title of this post says, it is a new year, and with a new year comes New Year's Resolutions. Last year I made a few related to this blog, so let's see how I did:

Finish painting the models that I own and use.... hah. Hahahahahahahheee.... *degenerates into weeping*. Suffice it to say that I still have plenty of sprues scattered about the apartment, not to mention jumped into an entirely different game system's army with the Ogres. Still, I managed to get tons of painting done this past year so I'm satisfied on this account.
My blogs will update three times per week. Miserable failure for my personal blog, but what about Defending Humanity? I did 95 posts this past year, which only averages out to a bit less than 2 posts per week. Looking back I was strong for all but three months (including this past one... oy...) where my posting dropped off as my interest in painting and playing dropped to zil. Not much to do about it- it's how I go about things.

So what to do for this year? How about these:

Create a tournament army for 40k. I have a lot of Guard, but nothing that I would say is an optimal tourney build. As a way to put a capstone on my Guard buying frenzy I'd like to build and hone a tournament ready list, redoing and improving paint jobs on those models to go for the maximum scores possible. I like competition, I've gotten used to mechanized infantry, and I've got a pretty cool idea of where to start...
Expand into a second 40k army. This has been a big one on my mind for a while. I'll occasionally start scribbling army lists for other codexes or fantasize about awesome conversions that I could make if I only used some different rules/models. This is a thing to do especially this year as it's the first that I can legitimately afford to do this hobby rather than sacrificing something else to do so.
Fill out the choices for my Ogre army. The Ogres... hopefully they'll get a new army book soon so I can feel excited about them again. I have some cool conversion ideas for the big fatties but a combination of lack of players and lack of power is holding me back. Hopefully this resolution will power me through and get me to finish up an army that I can be proud of.
Get over a hundred followers. By hook or... well, pretty much by hook, I'd like to make this blog take off a bit more. Breaking a 100 followers seems like a good milestone to shoot for.
Increase my YouTube presence. I have a few devoted followers for my videos but, like the blog, I'd like to increase this by offering additional and more regular video content.

Well, that's probably enough to keep me busy for this year. There will be a battle report tomorrow, but for now I'd like to offer a general thanks to everyone who reads this silly blog and an even greater thanks to those who've managed to read their way through this wall of text. Take care, and the Emperor protects.

Merry Mayhem: Aftermath

2010-12-10T12:00:00.001-06:00

So I finished the tourney with 0 wins and a grand total of 6 battle points won from only my first game. Yay! Still, I think I put up a respectable showing for someone with a grand total of about 5 games of Fantasy under his belt, only 1 of which was at the 2k points level.

As a "reward" for my performance I was awarded the Wooden Spoon and a set of dice:

I was not allowed to pick out the dice, probably a good thing seeing how they treated me at the tourney...

The tourney was fun and I definitely learned a lot about the nuances of how this game is played. Going to a tourney is probably not the best way to do it, but it is definitely one of the quickest. Key points that I took away from the day include:

Gorgers- they just weren't useful at all the entire day. Granted I didn't go against any armies that fielded war machines in any of my matches, but each game they just kind of floundered on to the board late and eventually died.
Charging- it's vital that you only charge the right targets! Be aware of units breaking away or baiting you, and watch out for other units that might be looking for a flank or rear charge.
The above goes doubly for pursuing. While you might not get points until you completely smash an enemy, you don't want to expose yourself too much to enemy charges.
Magic- the lack of a lvl 4 really hurt me, especially in the last game. Ogres just can't spam the casters like other races can, so getting that lvl 4 for casting and dispel means I don't get a second caster most of the time.
Heroes- these really make or break Fantasy armies. I think I'll try building around them rather than doing my usual 40k thing of building the army first and shoehorning a HQ choice into the mix. In Fantasy the army delivers the heroes, not the other way around.

Thanks for hanging with me this week, and next week we're going to take a look at some non-Fantasy projects that I have lined up. Thanks for reading!

Merry Mayhem: Circus vs Circus!

2010-12-09T12:00:00.000-06:00

My last game of the day was by request, as while I was walking around I noticed this army:

CIRCUS GOBLINS!

The army was run by a very charming fellow from Chicago named Alex. When he saw my army walking up towards the table his face lit up and he let out a loud "YEEESSSS!" Seems he wanted this battle as much as me...

Our battle was called the Isle of Misfit Toys. Toy tokens spawned from the center of the board and scattered around. Only champions, the General and the BSB can pick up the tokens.

The rules for our battlefield:

His General is wearing the top hat, his BSB is the pogo stick of DOOM.

And here's our battle lines after deployment:

He won the roll to go first, and the comedy of errors progressed from there. We both moved up a bit, my movements were rather... cautious, based on the beatings that I had received earlier in the day. Perhaps too cautious, as my opponent quickly gobbled up two tokens.

My Ironguts on the left flank quickly chopped apart the two Trolls. My Trappers and my Leadbelchers were quickly blown away by a combination of crazed pump wagons and Goblin magic. The first casting of the dreaded "6's become 1's" spell was made around here.

Eventually my large blocks got into combat, grabbing a token on the way. Unfortunately I appear to be easily bated, as two pump wagons crashed into the side of my BSB's block. After fighting them off I chased down one, only to open my lines to the three way charge that you see below. Ouchies.

Meanwhile the Ironguts carved through the enemy General but steadily gained losses. My other block of Bulls beat off a squad of Goblins, then smashed through the Squig herders after they mauled my BSB's block of Bulls. I had a chance to catch up on the game if I could have broken the Squig herders in one round of combat, potentially grabbing two more tokens to give me the win. Alas it was not to be, and in a stunning upset the dreaded "6's become 1's" spell caused me to deal 0 wounds to an assaulting goblin block and causing it to be run down. Ouchies.

Still, the game was enjoyable and it was amazing to find a fellow circus general. We chatted for a while about conversions afterwards and I learned a few cool tips for sprucing up my display table. Turns out that he is one of the people in charge of the Fantasy section of Adepticon, so he promised to get me some good match ups at the 1k non-tournament. Hopefully I will have improved my game by then...

Oh, and the background to our little circus match was amazing:

Amazing what you can find in the back of a game store! Next time, some overall thoughts on the tournament and some wrap up. Thanks for reading!

Merry Mayhem: Battles 1 and 2

2010-12-08T12:00:00.001-06:00

So, some battles! One of the cool features of the tournament was that each table had special terrain rules. Most of the rules were choices from the BRB but a few were more unique. Here's the rules for my first table:

Our mission, "You're a Mean One Mr. Grinch," can be found here. Basically it centered around sending units into the various buildings on the map to grab "toys," symbolized by little pieces of candy taken from a cup. The mission ended at wipeout, turn 6 or if all of the candies were taken from the cup. Our map is below:

My opponent was a Daemon player called Jeff. His list was something like this:
Herald of Nurgle with a breath weapon
Herald of Tzeentch
BSB
Unit of Hounds
Unit of Beasts of Nurgle
Unit of Furies
Unit of Bloodletters
Unit of Pink Horrors
Two units of Flamers

I deployed the majority of my forces on the right flank, with my two units of Leadbelchers on the left. Trappers scouted near a building on the right flank, hoping to run in and run out before they could get eaten.

Turn 1 I moved a squad of leadbelchers into the left building, the Trappers into the right and a squad of Bulls into the middle. My opponent countered by sending the Furies against the Belchers and the Letters against the Trappers. The two Leadbelchers managed to fight off the Furies without taking any casualties but the Trappers were cut down to a man.

My BSB's Bull squad managed to beat off the Bloodletters and steal their candy over the next few turns while my other Leadbelcher squad got another piece. My two Gorgers also came in and stole candy. Unfortunately one was gunned down by Horrors and, in a fatal turn six twist, one unit of Leadbelchers and a Gorger were defeated in close combat by the two Flamers squads. MAN those things can put out a beating!

So, I was winning 4-2 until the very last turn, ended up losing 2-4. Still, it was a very close game that was only decided by some luck and betters stats on my opponent's part.

Game two was on a very normal map and involved fighting over the Perfect Tree in the center of the board. Whoever had the most models within 8" (Monstrous Infantry counting as 3) won. This was pretty short as I deployed first, then my VC opponent (Robert, or SwissDictator on the forums) countered with some ethereal units far away from my magic weapons. That, plus his unstoppable block of Grave Guard made it his game very quickly. Still, he was a very pleasant opponent... I just need to learn how to play this game at some point.

Next time, battle three. See you then!

Merry Mayhem: The Armies, Part 2

2010-12-07T12:00:00.001-06:00

More cool looking armies for you all from the Merry Mayhem tournament- enjoy!

There is one more army that I haven't shown yet, and I think you'll understand why when I do a write up on it. Tomorrow, looks at a few of my games there. Thanks for reading!

Merry Mayhem: The Armies, Part 1

2010-12-06T12:00:00.004-06:00

This past weekend I attended the Merry Mayhem tournament here in Madison. I stayed up half the night beforehand finishing up the remaining models in my army. You can see my late night ramblings in parts 1, 2, 3 and 4 as I tempted to blog live and complete my army. And to those of you following along, particularly Loquacious (thanks for the encouraging replies!), apologies for not being able to blog anything on Saturday. My phone just didn't want to do the whole blogging thing at the store.

I didn't quite get everything finished, but I did get the most important parts of my army finished up before the tournament. Behold:

Everyone except for the Butcher that I assembled, greenstuffed and primed on Friday night was painted and based.

The tournament was a charity raising money for Toys for Tots. In addition to the entry fee we could drop off toys for raffle tickets and buy food. Among them, awesome ginger bread men like this one:

Overall the tournament raised over $700 for Toys for Tots, including the toys below:

There were a number of pretty armies at the tournament, so I thought I'd take a bit to show you some of them. Enjoy!

More armies tomorrow!

Live Blogging 1.4: Morer progresser

2010-12-04T00:47:00.000-06:00

Finally got the Gnoblars done except for their signs. Also started work on the Kottun Kandy stand.

Beer count: 2

Live Blogging 1.3: Continuing Progress

2010-12-03T22:02:00.001-06:00

Still need to do some work on this board, but the sand is dry.

Assembled and primed the butcher... painting him might have to wait.

Base coated the Gnoblars... man I hate painting these buggers...

Beers consumed: 1. And it was DELICIOUS.

And for those of you reading, the pizza from before was from a little place called Ian's. Delicious.

Live Blogging 1.2: More progress

2010-12-03T20:11:00.000-06:00

Got the leadbelchers almost finished...

Have the butcher almost made...

And started getting my display board ready.

Plus, steak and fries pizza and taco pizza!

Live Blogging 1.1: It begins!

2010-12-03T18:03:00.000-06:00

So begins the live blogging extravaganza! Things to do tonight:
make another Butcher
paint Gnoblars
finish painting Leadbelchers
make display board

Wish me luck, and keep on watching!

Announcment: Live Blogging Weekend!

2010-12-02T12:00:00.001-06:00

Defending Humanity would like to announce its first Live Blogging Event! To document my heroic battle to finish my army and display board in time for the Merry Mayhem Tournament I will be doing live updates throughout the night on Friday (but hopefully not early morning Saturday...) showing off my progress, works in progress and maybe even a How-To or two.

This will all culminate with the Merry Mayhem Tournament on Saturday, where I will hopefully be able harness the power of the Internet and my Android phone to post pictures of the event STRAIGHT TO THIS VERY BLOG.

So, if you've ever wondered what a crazed hobbyist will be willing to do in one night to ready himself for a tournament for a game that he has BARELY PLAYED, this blog is the place, Friday night is the time, and we're coming to a browser, blog roll or Reader near you.

Tourney Prep- the Final Steps

2010-12-01T12:24:00.001-06:00

Alright! Made the Top X again! Thanks Lauby! And for those of you who might have been worried- she loved the minis. Not surprising giving she also loved The Absolute Death and calls me in to the other room whenever Daleks, Cylons or Star Trek are mentioned... I do love geeky girls... :)

Last night I headed over to the club to get a game of Fantasy in under the idea that, y'know, actually PLAYING the game a bit before the tournament might lead to me doing relatively OK at it. Unfortunately the crowd was almost entirely 40k oriented so I didn't end up getting a game in. So, instead I tinkered with my list with the help of some Ogre players masquerading as Tau commanders and picked up some supplies.

First was a selection of metal bases. I hope to attach these to... something... a piece of wood or plastic perhaps? Anyway, I also got some magnetic strips on Black Friday which I hope to attach to the bases of my Ogres, all in the hopes of having some cool movement trays by Saturday.

Crap... today is Wednesday isn't it? Oyveh Maria... so much work to do.

If were to do it all over again I probably would have gone with Gale Force 9's magnetic basing kits... which they even have in special Ogre sized offerings... man, I'm really kicking myself over that one.

Anyway, to cut a rambling post short, here's what I still need to do by Saturday morning:

finish painting the Leadbelchers
prime and paint the Trappers
Model, prime and paint another Butcher (I decided to go with 2 Butchers instead of using a Slaughtermaster)
Create a display board, on which I hope to include two food vendor stands, a bigtop background, and a cage for my Gorgers
Maybe find time to build some movement trays. Maybe.

Oh, and study for a huge certification test on Friday... funfunfun!

Minis for My Girl

2010-11-30T12:17:00.000-06:00

Two weekends ago was an anniversary with my girlfriend and, her being awesome and all, I had to make her something. My gift, continuing a theme from last year, was making her some Dr Who miniatures, this time the 11th doctor (Matt Smith) and his companion Amy Pond.

And the complete group for full measure. You can find close ups of Mr. Tennant and the Master by clicking here. All of the miniatures (except for the TARDIS) come from Heresy Miniatures, a real quality independent miniatures maker.

So, when special days for your loved ones come calling, have you brought your hobby skills to bear? I'm interested to hear how!

Ogre Circus: T-Giving Weekend Work

2010-11-29T12:00:00.004-06:00

Even though I traveled up to the wilds of Superior, WI I was still able to get quite a bit of hobby work done over the weekend. Mostly it was painting these fools:

The Ogre Champion painted up pretty well- I hope I added enough circusy elements to him to appease y'all, though let me know if I should add something more circusy- maybe a candy apple on his helmet spike?

My girlfriend came up with the color scheme for the fur on his helmet- business in the front, party in the back.

The ones that required a bit more work were the Gorgers:

I had a lot of fun with Yellow's eyes, which were made with a black wash, followed by Mechrite then Blood red with a dot of Fiery Orange for the pupils.

I also think I finally got my rust recipe right. It's pretty much straight from the Ogre Kingdoms army book painting section with a slight shift in browns to accomodate my collection. Click on the picture to make it look bigger to see the effect better.

And the bones. I was really afraid that they wouldn't show up next to the light grey skin, but I think they have enough contrast. I just really, really like painting bone. Ever since I came up with the recipe for my Guard army (Bleached bone, black wash, drybrush Skull White) I've been looking to use it on more things. Gorgers happily obliged me, the gentleogres.

Red, though, is probably still my favorite of the two. Something about the blind fold really sets the mood for him. Also his positioning reminds me of a scene from Lord of the Rings when they are in the Mines of Moria. Apparently I'm not alone in this as one gentleman last Sunday asked if they were from the LoTR Troll model. Either way, I'm happy with how he turned out.

And finally I did some modeling work on these guys:

Hopefully we'll see some paint on them in the near future. Thanks for reading, and hope you had a good turkey-filled weekend!

BATTLE REPORT: 1850 Tourney Prep vs Space Wolves

2010-11-26T12:00:00.001-06:00

Another video battle report for you all. This was another battle down at the Last Square in Madison against a fellow looking for some tourney prep with his Space Wolves. Be sure to watch the after battle report for my critique on the mission.

And apologies to you text battle report lovers- no time for it this week. Have a good holiday weekend!

Happy Tanksgiving!

2010-11-25T12:00:00.001-06:00

Since right now I'm hopefully arriving in Duluth, MN (weather permitting!) all I have time for is a Happy Tanksgiving to all of you in this US of A.

To my international subscribers (and domestic, but really, eat some turkey instead of reading a blog why dontcha!), what about our hobby are you tankful for this day?

Tournament: Merry Mayhem Prep

2010-11-24T12:41:00.000-06:00

First, thanks are needed to both Loquacious and Brent for getting me on the HoP Top X once again! My Internet fame continues to grow... and this also probably means that I should, like, alphabetize/reorder the IG Terminology link THAT IS RIGHT ABOVE THIS POST! How cool is that?

Anyway, I digress.

As I must have mentioned previously the reason for all of the Ogre Circus craziness is to prep for a tournament going down here in Madison called Merry Mayhem. As far as I understand this tourney goes a bit more on the "silly" side, partially because its a charity tournament and partially because it's all Christmas themed.

Some examples of the holiday silliness:

the missions. The ones that I have heard have such interesting titles as The Grinch (break into different buildings and grab "presents"), the Isle of Misfit Toys (run around chasing the toys) and The Perfect Tree (whoever has more models within 12" of the Perfect Tree wins [Ogres and monsters count as 3])
get a free reroll for donating a toy
get prizes for having your wizard sucked into the warp the first, be the first to roll insane courage, etc.

So I finally got some actual practice this past Sunday... and was stomped. Not because I played poorly, but because I neglected to have any unit champions in my list which was apparently the only way to grab misfit toys. I smashed a lot of stuff but just couldn't get any points.

Fortunately the missions are now posted so I can determine victory conditions (which often involve champs collecting tokens) so I can retool my army list, but MAN was that disturbing.

Changing my list to accomodate this development has also had the pleasant side effect of making my hobby related tasks easier to do. I'm probably going to cut the Scrappies because a) to look upon the Scraplauncher set is to look into the face of FEAR ITSELF and b) they just don't help very much with my objectives. It's not so much about smashing (except for the Perfect Tree) and more about grabbing.

So, with that in mind, here's a sketchy version of my revised list that I was helped with thanks to a kind poster on the Ogre Stronghold:

Tyrant
Slaughtermaster

BSB

6 Bulls, Champ, Bellower
3 Bulls, Champ, Bellower
3 Bulls, Champ, Bellower
6 Irongunts, Standard, Bellower
11+ Gnoblar Trappers, Champ

4 Leadbelchers, Champ, Bellower

2 Gorgers

Game plan is have the Ironguts and possibly the large Bull squad play defense, smashing into the enemy so they can't grab tokens. Meanwhile the other Bulls, the Trappers and the Leadbelchers will run around grabbing tokens wherever they can. The Gorgers come on late to either take out warmachines or delay squads from grabbing tokens.

It's probably the characters that I'm having the most trouble with. Definitely need to include Tyrant and BSB but I'm debating replacing the Slaughtermaster with two Butchers. I'm not sure if I'd even have the points to do it, but it would add a bit of flexibility to my magic phase, enabling me to deal with two far flung groups at once.

Finally, we have the To Do list for hobby, which includes:
Finish painting Gorger 1 and BSB
Paint Gorger 2
Clean and paint the Trappers
Convert, clean and paint the Leadbelchers
Create movement trays
Create a display board

I think this is doable with some work over the weekend.. either way, wish me luck!

Ogre Circus: Gorgers and Bruiser

2010-11-23T12:00:00.001-06:00

Over the weekend I managed to convert up my BSB and a pair of Gorgers.

As you can see I have followed your demands and included the Ogre Champion as my BSB. I'm still undecided about adding some more circusy elements to him (HINT: POLL ON RIGHT). The banner is from the Minotaur kit, and I decided to fill it out a bit more with green stuff.

There were a ton of thick sprue lines on this fellow, as well as a few gaps that I had to fill with green stuff. Still, with the pin the banner seems to be staying in place fairly well.

As you can tell I rethought how I was going to do the Gorgers. Instead of Strongmen I went with the suggestion of feral beasts, locked up in cages and on display. Their bases will have broken cage elements strewn about. They are created from a mix of Minotaur body and arms and Giant head and hands.

I tried to evoke more of the feel of the traditional Gorger by sticking various horn and bone pieces on them and evoke skin stretched around them with greenstuff.

Hope you enjoyed these- there's lots more hobby work to do over the next couple of weeks, so I gotta git er done!

Ogre Circus: Ringmasta Burnam, Dressed to Kill

2010-11-22T12:00:00.001-06:00

Da Ringmasta Burnam of da BIGGEST SHOW on EARTH is ready ta GET DA SHOW ON DA ROAD!

Yes, that's right ladies and gentlemen, Ringmasta Burnam is all painted up and ready to whip some Thinlings' pants off. For my first major greenstuffing project I think he turned out pretty well, and any odd inconsistencies in his clothing I'll just put down to shoddy Ogre craftsmanship. Stupid Ogres, learn ta sew why dontcha?

Originally his coat was just Blood Red but my girlfriend convinced me that adding a gloss shine would really help it stand out. I think it does the job well, making it seem like polished leather... though the idea of it creaking when Burnam moves around is now in my head. Euugghh...

Also, I like stripey pants, and Burnam seemed to be a good place to have some.

And, as always, since I am a magnet fiend both of his hands are removable. I don't have any replacements made up quite yet, but in the future if I want to switch him over to having a shield/ironfist and/or a great weapon I can do it.

Thanks for reading, and see you all tomorrow.

BATTLE REPORT: 1850 Nid Annihilation

2010-11-20T12:00:00.006-06:00

So, since I skipped posting on Thursday all of you lucky, beautiful Internet people get a special Saturday post of Humanity Defending goodness! Today I have a battle report for you all available in both video and text forms (after the jump) detailing one of the first games that I had at my new club here in Madison, WI. Hope you enjoy!

p.s. don't forget to vote on my Ogre Champion poll on the right!

For those of you who prefer the textiness, here you go:

Mission: Annihilation
Deployment: Spearhead (i.e. table quarters)

My list:
CCS with 4 plasmaguns, plasma pistol in a Chimera (HF/ML)
PCS with 2 flamers and an AC in a Chimera (HF/ML)
IS with AC/GL, commissar and sgt with power weapons
IS with AC/GL, sgt with power weapon and meltabomb
IS with AC/GL
IS with no upgrades
HWS with 3 AC
SWS with 3 flamers
2 Veteran squads with 3 meltaguns, AC and Chimera (HF/ML)
2 Vendettas
Leman Russ Executioner with PC sponsons and hull HB
LRBT with hull HB
Manticore with hull HF

His list:
Hive Tyrant with wings, lash whip and bonesword, lots of upgrades
Alphawarrior with paired bone swords, regen
2 Hive Guard
1 Zoanthrope
4 Warriors with lash whip/bonesword, deathspitters and one venom cannon
22 Hormagaunts
2 squads of 14 devourer Gants
8 Ymgarl Genestealers
4 Raveners with spinefists
Carnifex with adrenal glands and regen

He won the roll to deploy first and did so thusly:

Raveners and Tyrant chose to deep strike while the Hormagaunts outflanked.

I on the other hand castled up. Since the game was kill points I decided to combine all of my infantry squads rather than leave one in a Vendetta. The SWS also started on foot to lend some flamery counter attack to any outflanking Hormagaunts.

Turn 1a: Not much happens. His forces move up a bit, and I think 3 guardsmen die to Hive Guard guns.
Turn 1b: It begins raining steel and lasers. Approximately half of his forces are wiped out as his Carnifex, Zoanthrope, Hive Guard, half a Gant squad and the Warriors are felled by the combined fire of my army. The Warriors were all slaughtered by a SINGLE MANTICORE ROUND. Strength 10 for the win I guess.

Turn 2a: his hormagaunts and Ymgarls come in from reserve, the former assaulting my wall of Guardsmen...

... while the Ymgarls pop up among my lines and blow up my LRBT.
Turn 2b: retributive fire from my Chimeras eliminate the Ymgarls. One squad of Gants is eliminated single handedly by the Leman Russ Executioner and the other squad is cut down to a single Gant plus the now attached Prime.

Turn 3a: Hive Tyrant and Raveners arrive from reserve, deep striking near my lines. Hormagaunts whittle down my blob squad to just the Commissar and half a heavy weapons team, the former despite my best efforts to get him killed.
Turn 3b: Again, firepower wipes the board clean as the Raveners are burned, the Tyrant melta'ed and Plasma'd. The Hormagaunts break free at last.

Turn 4a: The Hormies wipe out a SWS
Turn 4b: see below

I wipe out the Hormagaunts and eliminate the Prime and his single Gant bodyguard. Game ends with wipe out.

Afterthoughts:

On my end I did great. The army worked well together and nearly every element contributed to success. Some things I'm not sure about continue to be the autocannons in the Vet squads. While lending some long range punch in theory I'm not sure if I'll ever actually use them as they tend to be moving most of the time.

As to my opponent, if he had started up closer to the center line and deployed more things at the start I think he would have done better. Why his close combat warriors were deployed towards the back of his deployment zone I do not know, as I have plenty of guns that can reach that far back. If the Tyrant, Raveners, Warriors and Carnifex all charged me at once there'd be a very good chance that at least one would manage to break through my lines and cause some havoc, especially once the Ymgarls and Hormagaunts got involved. There were also lots of seemingly unnecessary upgrades, like the copious amounts of regeneration, guns on the Raveners, and seeming need to deck everything out like a Christmas tree. Finally, more anti-tank is needed; if you aren't maxing out your Elites slot as Tyranids then you are doing something wrong.

Still, the game was a good example of exactly how much firepower my list can throw out as well as the effectiveness of castling up in KP games. I hope you enjoyed the report, and I'll be chatting at you again soon.

Poll: Battle Masters Ogre Champion?

2010-11-19T12:00:00.000-06:00

I was going through my games before moving out to Madison this summer and came across this board game in my family's collection. I remembered playing it a lot as a kid, but only when I looked at it again this summer did I realize that it was a Games-Workshop product.

Happy at my new rediscovery, I decided to bring the game along with me to possibly use the figures in the Ogre army... thanks to this guy:

The Ogre Champion of Grimorg. And now that I'm cruising for a Bruiser I thought that maybe he would make a good one for the Circus, perhaps as a Strongman or representative "savage" Ogre leading the parade. Some weapon swaps and giving him a banner somehow.

His size also lends itself well to the role, as even though the models are generally smaller the Champion still stands a little bit above his fellows.

So, what do you all think? Should I use him for my Bruiser or should I shop somewhere else? Polls on the right- go and vote!

Imperial Guard Terminology

2010-11-17T12:00:00.006-06:00

've realized that a lot of the slang that is being thrown around can be confusing to new players. So, as an Imp Guard player I decided to wrack my brain for all of the wonderful slang and acronyms that apply to His Imperial Majesty's Most Glorious Imperial Guard, as well as some universal nomenclature that the Imperial Guard has access to. Here's what I've got- feel free to let me know if I missed something!

Weapons and upgrade acronyms:

AC- Autocannon

BP- Bolt Pistol

EA- Extra Armor

HB- Heavy Bolter

HF- Heavy Flamer

HK- Hunter-Killer Missile

LC- Lascannon

ML- either Multilaser or Missile Launcher

MM- MultiMelta

MRP- Multiple Rocket Pod [weapon option for a Valkyrie]

PC- plasma cannon

PS/PF- Power Sword/Power Fist

TWL or TL- TWin Linked

Vox/VC- vox caster [allows a unit a better chance to obey an order]

Unit acronyms:

AS- armoured sentinel [closed top AT-ST]

CCS- company command squad [HQ, with BS 4]

HH/DD/BW- Hell Hound/Devil Dog/BaneWolf [fast flame/melta/poison tanks]

HWS- heavy weapon squad

IS- infantry squad [the ones with BS 3]

LR- Leman Russ [the big tanks]

LRBT- LR Battle Tank [the one with the Battle Cannon]

MoF- Master of the Fleet [upgrade to the CCS that hampers enemy reserves]

MoO- Master of Ordnance [upgrade to the CCS that allows very inaccurate ordnance blasts to appear on the battle field]

PBS- psyker battle squad [can lower your leadership or blast your squad]

PCS- platoon command squad [comes with the IS]

PP- either plasma pistol or Psyker Primaris [can shoot force lightning

ST- Storm Trooper

SS- scout sentinel [open top AT-ST]

SWS- special weapon squad

V- is for Vendetta normally, occasionally Valkyrie [the big planes]

Orders: a unique feature of the IG that allows commanders to grant special abilities to nearby infantry

FRFSRF- First Rank Fire! Second Rank Fire! An order that allows all Lasguns from the ordered squad to fire an additional shot.

BID- Bring It Down! An order that allows an ordered squad to twin link its weapons vs. a Monstrous Creature or vehicle

FoMT- Fire on My Target! An order that forces the target of the ordered squad to reroll any successful cover saves

Factions: the various model groups that you can play with using the Imperial Guard codex

Cadians- the most common IG models. Look vaguely like modern day soldiers and are reputed to be among the best Guardsmen in the galaxy.

Catachans- extras from the movie Predator. Big muscly men literally wearing t-shirts as armor. Come from a Deathworld where only the strong survive.

Tallarn- extras from Lawrence of Arabia. Desert fighters that love their tanks and outflanking.

Mordians- the guys marching around in dress uniform. Stern, uncompromising, and surprisingly effective.

Praetorians- extras from Zulu! Plenty of pith helmets and colonial British flair.

Death Korps of Krieg- skull masks, prussian helmets and general World War I attire. Love their ceaseless trench warfare.

Armageddon Steel Legion- gas masks and trench coats, heavily focused on mechanized and anti-Ork warfare.

Elysians/Harakoni Warhawks- actually have their own armylist in Imperial Armour VIII but can be played using the normal Codex as well. Futuristic drop troopers who love aerial combat.

Renegades/Blood Pact/Vraks- Chaos inspired guardsmen; just add spikes!

Tanith First and Only- stealthy badass snipers and scouts. The pinnacle of light infantry tactics.

Vostroyan First Born- heavily armored elite Guardsmen with heirloom weaponry and gear. Have quite a bit of Imperial Russian and bionic flair.

Valhallan Ice Warriors- more great coats and Russian stylings with a Soviet accent.

Epithets hurled at the Imperial Guard:
PINK SKINS!- by the Orks. See also: Humies!

Mon'Keigh- by the Eldar

Biomass- by the Tyranids

The Harvest- by the Necrons

The Weak- by the Chaos Marines

The Emperor's Sledgehammer- by the Imperium

Cheese- by those facing the Guard on the field of battle

General Terminology:

Infantry Platoon- a rather unique feature of the Guard, it allows them to place multiple squads within one Force Org. slot. Includes 1 PCS, 2-5 IS, 0-5 HWS and 0-2 SWS. All are rolled for reserves as a single entity.

Blob squad- Infantry squads can be combined together into one super unit at deployment that can't be broken up. Enables 50 man units filled with special and heavy weapons as well as the inevitable power weapon wielding Commissar to keep them in line.

Bubble wrap- the practice of wrapping infantry units (usually a blob squad for the Guard) around the tanks to protect them from meltaguns, deep strikers, assault, etc. Can also be used to protect infantry and provide them cover though not as often.

Melta vets- squad of Veterans [the BS 4 ones] packing three meltaguns. Note that this name can be changed to cover whatever special weapon that they are spamming, i.e. plasma vets.

Mech IG- an Imperial Guard army comprised mostly or entire of mechanized elements. There is a great degree of variety within this categorization for different army types. Basically consists of a lot of transports (mostly Chimeras with a few Valks/Vendettas) occasionally backed up by heavy support firepower.

MechVets- The most common variant of Mech IG focuses almost solely on Vendettas and melta vets riding in Chimeras or Vendettas, often maxing out each choice.

Leafblower- an overused term denoting a Mech IG variant that has enough firepower to "blow" opponents off the table, normally with ordnance templates. Generally characterized by Manticores and/or Medusas in the heavy support section though other heavy damage dealers such as the Hydra, Colossus and Leman Russ can also apply. This type of army generally relies heavily on getting at least one turn to unleash hell and often turns to Inquisitorial allies to do so thanks to the Emperor's Tarot. The allies also often allow Mystic fun, granting nearby units the chance to blow away any foolish enemies that deep strike near you.

Horde IG- a mostly or entirely foot based list focusing on quantity rather than quality. Expect lots of fully decked out infantry platoons and lots of use of orders.

Mixed Mech- combines the best part Mech IG with Horde IG. The most general elements are a platoon or two paired with some faster mechanized elements with pretty much anything under the Emperor's sun as back up. Blob squads are used to bubble wrap the tanks, protecting them from enemy meltaguns and possibly providing them cover. As the saying goes, "The Tanks kill the Infantry and the Infantry kill the Tanks."

Air Cav- what happens when you try to play 6-9 Valks/Vendettas in a single list. Much more effective using the Elysians army list but can be done with standard IG.

Treadhead- IG player who loves his tanks

CREEEEEEEEEEED!!!!- common cry when something unexpected happens to the enemy. Comes from Usarkar Creed's ability to grant any unit Scout before deployment.

Marboed- verb meaning a crazy Vietnam reject just appeared out of no where and chucked a Demo Charge at your stuff. Example: "I was doing pretty well until my Terminators were Marboed." "So then he was about to assault my stuff but I Marboed his Warriors- take that Hive Mind!"

GG- what smiling IG players say when you've finished packing up your models :)

If there's anything that you feel I got wrong or should add let me know and I'll do it. Thanks for reading!

Hobby: A Look Forward

2010-11-16T12:31:00.000-06:00

Today's going to be a bit of a look forward at some of the projects and other hobby related activities that I'm going to be working on in the next month or so. With plenty of big gift-giving opportunities on the horizon I figured that a few painted models might be just the ticket to both save me some money and give people something hand made.

But that's for December- right now there's the Ogre Circus, which needs to be completed up to 2k points by December 4th for Merry Mayhem here in Madison, which is a charity Fantasy tournament. Right now I'd say that I'm just a bit over halfway to that goal, with a few big pieces (Tyrant, Bruiser, two Scraplaunchers, two Gorgers) and a mess of Gnoblars still to go. This will be... interesting to get finished with Thanksgiving taking out 4 days to spend with the girl's family up in Duluth and some big events going on this weekend... leaving me with 11 evenings to try to get the work done. This is made even more interesting thanks to my Scraplauncher that I ordered two weeks ago still not in appearance and my need to convert something for my second. And of course three of those evenings may be lost due to 40k. And I might need to sacrifice the majority of a couple Sundays to actually, y'know, learn to use the army. And Magic is on every other Tuesday. Hrrm. Something has to give.

Fortunately I've gotten to know the organizer of Merry Mayhem and he may be able to arrange for some Scraplaunchers to make their way to me if necessary. They won't be Circus themed but they'll do the job. But still... mayhaps I need to spend less time reading Imperial Armour (IX was SOOO good!) and more time doing hobby work.

Having said that, and in an effort to really get my rear in gear with regards to my projects here's a checklist of everything I need to get done as well as tentative due dates:

Complete Project Paired Pentagon (coming soon!)
Finish painting Tyrant (by Thursday)
Re-model Bruiser (Thursday)
Re-model Gorgers (Saturday)
Prime and base coat Bruiser (Saturday)
Prime and base coat Gorgers (Sunday)
Finish painting Bruiser and Gorgers (Monday next week)
Clean Gnoblar sprues (Thanksgiving weekend- what joy!)
Prime and basecoat Gnoblars (11/29)
Finish painting Gnoblars (11/30)
Assemble Scraplauncher #1 (11/30)
Assemble Scraplauncher #2 (12/2)
Prime and basecoat Scraplaunchers (12/3)
At some point base the army and get some movement trays... ?

And if needed, a few 40k nights can be thrown away to prep. Phew. This month is going to be busy- wish me luck!

Ogre Circus: More clowns!

2010-11-15T12:00:00.002-06:00

That's right- I finally found some time to whip up six more fat, jolly clowns for the Circus!

Jester (on the left) and Jangles (on the right) are probably my favorites from the new batch, though Pierre's (center) smirk is certainly not without merit.

Osman (on the left) is certainly intimidating with his freakishly huge hand while Gonzo (center) just likes giving people the finger. Ronald (on the right) just likes his Happy Meals.

How many Ogres can you fit into a clown car? Probably not that many...

And finally, the circus so far.

Hope you've enjoyed the pics!

Dark Eldar: Thinking about an army

2010-11-12T12:00:00.001-06:00

As mentioned previously I picked up my copy of the Dark Eldar codex over the past weekend and have been greedily devouring it cover to cover like a starving jackal looking for marrow. A couple of list ideas have been flying around my head as well as cool hobbytastic ways that I could implement them. Since right now I'm forcing myself to think before leaping out and purchasing some models, I though that I'd talk a bit about some of them.

1. Jetbikes!

Like it says, jetbikes! The Reavers look incredibly awesome and offer anti-infantry and anti-tank all in one sleek package. Turboboosting to snipe some Long Fangs, then slowing down to pop a Land Raider... they just sound awesome. I'm a bit concerned with how fragile they are, but hopefully use of Blasters plus the Eldar jetbike move will keep them safe from small arms fire while tank popping and turboboosting to good locations should cover the rest. I'd probably fill out the rest of this list with Hellion troops and possibly a Ravager or three, giving me a good mix of anti-infantry and anti-tank.

Cool modelling idea: Ghost rider themed. Replace any open helmets with flaming skulls, give the Reavers flaming chains and have the Hellions either riding their standard boards or mod them to look more like Screamers of Tzeentch. Bonus points for making it compatible with the Chaos Daemons codex.

Alternatively I could just go with the standard models and take it as a painting skills builder, and probably throw in some mechanized support to go with it.

2. Dark Tyranids

Again with the multiple codices! This idea has some serious inspiration from Musing of a Metal Mind's Tyracrons (which you should totally check out!) Idea would be that some Haemonculi have captured some Tyranid specimens and are now loaning out their reprogrammed weapon-beasts to the highest bidder. Would probably be a Webway Portal army with Beastmasters, Talos and Chronos Parasites coming out to devour people. Throw in an Archon's Kabal mates as the shooty element/troops/webway portal deployers and you've got it. There's also an image in my head of a Tyranid Harpy as one of the Dark Eldar jetfighters that won't let go... And of course the icing on the cake would be being able to use it as a Tyranid codex army as well.

Cool modelling idea: pretty obvious, take Tyranid beasties and convert them into Haemonculus monsters. Probably throw some Nid bits onto Wracks to show off some experimentation. This would probably take a TON of modelling time, though, which I might not be able to do. I love me some crazy modeling projects, but since even my Ogres are taking tons of time to come to fruition I just dunno if I have it in me to do this admittedly AWESOME sounding project.

3. Standard Dark Eldar Raiding Party

Hey, the kits are already ridiculously pretty... why bother changing them? It would definitely offer me the fast, assault based army that I've always wanted to try and nothing is scarier than literal boat loads of Wyches in your face while Warriors and Trueborn smash you to pieces from range. I could probably also get to use Incubi here, which would mean some of the most badass models in the game would be MINE.

Cool modelling idea: this would probably be more as a painting skills builder army... which admittedly I would like to have. My painting techniques are ok, but I'd like to improve and working on challenging models would probably help me do that.

------------

So those are my potential ideas. I could probably combine numbers 2 and 3 together to some extent, which would let me practice my painting skills AND have a usable army while I work on my Tyranid beasties. But, I'll wait a bit first- still have to actually build my last 1000 points of Ogres, not to mention get started on some Christmas modelling projects...

What kind of ideas (crazy or not) do YOU have for a Dark Eldar army?

*images above are from Games-Workshop (except for the Tyracrons, which are from Musing of a Metal Mind but inspired by Games-Workshop)

AFTERTHOUGHT: Bringing a Gun to a Knife Fight

2010-11-11T12:00:00.009-06:00

I'll be trying to do these afterthought segments after any battle reports that I run, both to help me learn from any mistakes I made as well as provide some feedback on the battle. For this afterthought you can turn to this battle report for reference. Also for reference, the battle map:

I believe overall that my tactics were sound for this mission. I'm not used to so much LOS blocking terrain which really screwed with my firing lanes. I basically had a choice of where to concentrate my fire, either directly in front of my objective or the rest of the field.

Fortunately for me my opponent obliged me in these matters as with the amount of deployment room that I required he really had nowhere to run. The long range shooters took the wide open battle field while my shorter ranged mechanized infantry chose to defend the objective with help from its limited sight lines.

I believe this battle would have gone very differently if my opponent had simply chosen to rush my objective. Two land raiders filled with Berzerkers would have easily sliced through the combined squad as well as pretty much anything else that they wanted, as the Executioner wouldn't have been able to lend its firepower terribly readily to a massed assault on my right flank. Since he came at me piecemeal and advanced all along the right half of the table I was able to deal with each part with the necessary tools one at a time. Keeping the rhino back at his objective would also have been a decent idea, as with the LOS blocking building I wouldn't have been able to hit him without some drastic repositioning of my units. Still, I can understand the wish to come to grips with my boys as quickly as possible.

MVPs for the match were definitely the meltavets and the Executioner. While my Hearts vet squad failed miserably the Diamond squad more than made up for their shortcomings, adding two land raiders and a Rhino to their kill tally. The Executioner, on the other hand, cleared out heavy infantry like no other, almost single handedly eliminating two Berzerker squads.

Still, even with their stellar records there are parts of them about which I am unsure. The meltavets both had autocannons as part of their wargear, which I'm not certain was necessary. They were mostly added to grant the squad some duality to their tank-hunting career, but I'm not sure how often I'll be holding them still. With the Executioner I've debated taking off their PC sponsons. While undeniably effective I can't help but wonder if I could spend the 40 points better elsewhere.

The other three elements that I have concerns about are the Heavy Weapon Squad, the Platoon Command Squad and the LRBT. The HWS just doesn't seem to do enough for me, rarely doing much damage against the light transports it's supposed to be king against and being rather fragile to boot. The PCS I've never been able to figure out- perhaps equipping it with meltaguns as a psuedo-meltavet would be the best option, as I have anti-horde all over the place already. Finally the LRBT just never seems to hold up its weight. I love large pie plates, and when it hits its magic, but he is still taking up quite a bit of room for his points. Strangely I think adding a second LRBT to its squadron would fix the problem, as at least one of those pie plates has to hit every time, right?

Finally, there's the matter of the combined platoon. AC/GL doesn't seem to be doing enough against Marine armies so I'm debating upgrading to AC/Meltagun to give it some low AP weaponry as well as an anti-Land Raider out.

But, overall I'm happy with the list and I'll probably run it a few more times before making any serious changes. Thanks for reading, and I'll see you all tomorrow.

BATTLE REPORT: Bringing a Gun to a Knife Fight

2010-11-10T12:00:00.002-06:00

I finally got a full sized game of 40k in last night down at the Last Square in Madison. My opponent, Brian, was geared up for a 2k battle but I unfortunately just did not have the models to get up to that points range. Fortunately he was very understanding and edited his list to be 1850.

My list:

CCS with 4 plasma, plasma pistol in a Chimera (ML/HF)

PCS with 2 flamer, autocannon in a Chimera (ML/HF)

Inf. Squad with commissar with power weapon, sgt. with power weapon and meltabombs, AC/GL

Inf. Squad with sgt with power weapon, AC/GL

Inf. Squad with AC/GL

Inf. Squad with no upgrades (in a Vendetta)

SWS with three flamers (in a Vendetta)

HWS with three ACs

Two vet squads with three meltaguns, AC and a Chimera (ML/HF)

Two Vendettas

Leman Russ Battle tank w/HB

Leman Russ Executioner w/HB

Manticore w/ HF

His list:

Two Daemon Princes, Mark of Tzeentch, Bolt of Change

Three 10-man squads of Berzerkers with champ armed with power weapon and meltabomb, one of which had a rhino with Daemonic Possession

Two Land Raiders with Daemonic Possession

Three Obliterators

We rolled up Capture and Control on Dawn of War and he won the roll to go first. The board looked like so:

He naturally wanted to close with me as soon as possible so deployed his ‘zerker Rhino in the center of the board behind the building and one Daemon Prince lurking amidst the central blue rock outcropping. In return I deployed my combined infantry squad on the right flank with good fire lanes on his Rhino and mirrored the move with the HWS on my left flank, also in view of his Rhino. I figured that that singular tank was the only thing the AC HWS would be able to target, and their placement would mostly be to annoy and distract.

The rest of our battle lines, eager to get stuck in, elected to roll on first turn, he hoping that the cover of night would be enough to save his traitorous skin while I hoped that my searchlights would be able to pierce the gloom. My commander tried to rouse his troops into seizing the initiative but failed as the Berzerkers burst out of the gates…

Turn 1:

The Chaos armada moves on. Both land raiders ran pell mell forwards, one towards my objective the other towards the middle of my lines, their cargo roaring with anticipation. The Rhino also made a desperate bid for glory, going full out in the hopes of sinking their chain axes into my armor. The forward Daemon prince continued to emulate his patron and hid behind another piece of terrain, hoping that it would be enough to protect him from Imperial retribution.

In short, it wasn’t. My army rolled one with guns a blazing. The Daemon Prince was picked out by my Executioner and was summarily pummeled by plasma and lascannon fire. The prince’s wards tried to shrug off the atomic fire to no avail, crumbling to dust after the third salvo. My Battle tank, which had been hold its gun quiet until the Prince had been dealt with, attempted to light up the still rather far away Rhino… and somehow managed to succeed, allowing my autocannons to target it. The few scrapes that my shells caused the rhino only made the daemon possessed engine angrier. Meanwhile on my right flank the Manticore rolled into position and readied its missiles while my mechanized infantry arrived on the left flank to support their entrenched comrades.

Turn 2:

With the veil of night lifted the Chaos war engines blazed forward yet again towards my lines, their possessed machine spirits cackling with glee. The ponderous Obliterators moved into a firing position and found a target in one of my Vendettas, immobilizing the bird and bringing it crashing to the ground. While still able to fire its guns were now locked in fairly useless arcs, effectively knocking it out of the game.

The imperial guns made several attempts to counteract the impending chainaxe wielding madmen. First the possessed Rhino was opened up by precision melta fire from my Diamond vets, earning their first kill of the game. This early success was followed up by the cannon of the Leman Russ, pouring plasma and battle cannon fire into the cowering berzerkers, eliminating all but four of the foul beasts. My commander decided to finish the job with plasma fire of his own, eliminating a further three Berzerkers and making a miraculous armor save to avoid a gun exploding. Meanwhile my Hearts vets attempted to surpass their Diamond brethren, disembarking from their vehicle and aiming their meltaguns at the charging Land Raider. Unfortunately they must have underestimated its speed as all three failed to hit the large target. Finally the Manticore attempted to crack the other Land Raider to no avail, merely annoying the Daemon Prince with its explosions.

Meanwhile my heavy weapons squad quietly packed up their guns and started running towards the Chaos objective. Would they be able to do anything? Of that I was not sure, especially if the Berzerkers decided to hang around. But then again, what else were they to do?

Turn 3:

The Berzerkers were finally in charging range and couldn’t hold themselves back any longer. One squad disembarked from their land raider and smashed into the Hearts vets, cutting them down and collecting their skulls in one fluid motion, their charge taking them right in front of a veritable of sea of targets. Surely those puny flashlights and knives couldn’t harm the Sons of Khorne! Their ride meanwhile took aim and dismantled the vets former transport, adding insult to injury. The other land raider, still out of position, moved full to be ready to disgorge its cargo on the following turn while closely followed by the remaining Daemon Prince (who still wisely hid from my infantry). Meanwhile the Skull Champion emerged from the wreckage of the Rhino, meltabomb in hand and dashed after the Leman Russ. The pilot desperately tried to jink out of the way but was still shaken by the large explosion that occurred on his side hatch. Finally the Obliterators only managed to graze the airborne Vendetta.

I have to admit, staring down those ravenous Khorne worshippers I was beginning to be afraid. Fortunately for me my commander wasn't. Furious at the loss of a squad of prized Veterans he commander ordered the combined squad to fire in ranks, eliminating a full half of the charging Berzerkers by blinding them with lasgun shots. His command squad added to the weight of fire, pouring plasma fire into the heretics and killing a further two.

The Imperial counterattack continued with the Diamond vets, fresh off their victory over the Rhino, pop the e-brake on their Chimera to line up shots on the second Land Raider, blowing it up with a single meltagun hit. The Manticore strike that had been called in just before to crack the tank happily found its contents packed in a nice formation and detonated right on target. This, plus the murderous fire from the Executioner reduced the proud Berzerker squad to the Skull Champion.

Amid the clash and furor on the right flank the heavy weapon squad continued its quiet run for the Chaos objective, now joined by the crew of the downed Vendetta. Only the Obliterators stood between them and potential glory, and surely they had better things to shoot at?

Turn 4:

The tide had been turned. The three remaining Berzerkers on my right flank charged into the sea of infantry only to lose two of their own members to power sword and bayonet. While the casualties they inflicted were much greater my Guardsmen did not even need the cocked bolt pistol of the Commissar taking up the rear to fight on.

The Daemon Prince and the Rhino Skull Champion leapt into the middle of my ranks causing what havoc they could among my lines. The Champion’s meltabomb struck the Diamond veteran’s Chimera, forcing the squad to bail out or be choked by the fumes while the Daemon Prince, incensed that his magics had been put to waste, sliced deep gouging holes in the tracks of my Leman Russ.

But even this was not enough to forstall Imperial victory. My commissar finished off a Skull Champion in close combat with his power blade while the Command Squad defeated the Prince with remarkably uncoordinated plasma fire. The other Skull Champions were cut down by fire from my tanks while my Diamond squad unsuccessfully tried to add a third tank kill to their record, their weapons only warming the twisted metal of the Chaos land raider.

The pace of my runners on the left flank picked up, closing to within striking distance of the objective. The was was open, the Obliterators far too distracted by the remaining Vendetta to pay them much heed.

Turn 5:

It was all over but the screaming. The Land Raider tried to tank shock its way onto my objective but had to charge through the Diamond veteran squad. Unwilling to let their failure undo them one brave Guardsmen stood in front of the tank, meltagun in hand, and put the snarling beast out of its misery.

The Aftermath

At this point I held my home objective firmly and the Chaos objective would have fallen on the next turn thanks to my handicapable heavy weapon and bog standard infantry squads, so with only the three Obliterators left my opponent conceded.

Thanks for reading the report, and apologies that there were not more pictures to go along with it- me and my camera are having a hissy fit right now. Tomorrow there will be a post-battle review which will hopefully prove enjoyable.