Bringing the Hobby back

Long time no post!

What I've been doing:

In between settling in, starting a new job, etc I've been getting beaten again and again by the locals. My High Elves tend to crumble bottom turn 6 swinging a comfortable win into a big loss. oh wells.

Bringing the hobby back:

The most exciting thing recently is that now I have a job (yay!) and got paid for the first time in 3 months, I've been able to get my hobby back. In fact I EVEN HAVE A PROJECT...putting together a Seaguard themed list for Cancon.

I've bought all the kits needed, and over Xmas started painting it all up.

Le Eagles:

Very Exciting - the LOTR eagles all painted up!

For as long as I've had a High Elf army my eagles have been IoB griffons with the riders all chopped off and green stuffed up. This has worked nicely as it has allowed me to use the IoB griffon rider as a noble mounted on an Eagle...or if I actually use an Griffon = I have an option when the rider dies first.

HOWEVER...with the current Seaguard theme = I will have 3 (yes 3) Skycutters who are pulled by eagles = will look silly if my "eagles" are actually griffons + since Cancon is a Swedish comp event there is a high chance someone will actually use a griffon = I dont want to cause confusion (WYSIWYG and all that).

Le Eagle Noble:

Not the greatest pic, but here we have Gwaihir in all his failcast glory with one of the skycutter crew crudely blue tac'ed on top (if someone can suggest a more effect option that makes transport and the like easier I'm all ears).

Inspiration was the Wood Elf noble on an eagle model for those in the know, but obviously more seaguard-like.

So that's me for the moment.

On the painting tray at the moment (dont have a table anymore) is the 3 skycutters, seahelm bsb, seahelm trident guy for the seahelm riding a black dragon boom!

It's the little things

Hi All,

Thursday night is Warhammer night here in Brunswick and I rocked up with my High Elves and found myself in a pick up game with Empire that looked like THIS:

Karl Franz with the Ghul Maraz
BSB
13 Reiksguard knights with swiftness banner posse
10 Archers bunkering 2 lvl2 light mages
Luminark
Hurricanum
...and oh yeah...SIXTY HALBERDS WITH 6 ARCHERS IN A DETACHMENT

So no artillery, no 1+as brigade...no shooting of any note.

In response I unpacked my 2000pts of Elfy goodness

Lvl4 metal, book of hoeth
SeaHelm BSB: Reavorbow, shield of 4+ parry
2x10 Silverhelms: FC - shields
28 Whitelions: FC - Banner of World Dragon
5 Shadow Warriors
Frostie
3x1 RBT
Eagle

An interesting match up. The light mages rolled phas, speed of light, net, and timewarp. I rolled up searing doom, glittering robes, enchanted blades and final trans.

We deployed;

Hopefully our respective tactics are rather clear. Empire looking to own the middle...I'm looking to encircle.

Anywho the Empire stumble up carefully. I let through Timewarp on the Halberds.

I then have my turn and make my fatal mistake (pic is beginning of Empire t2 checking the mistake)

First what I did right:
- I reformed the whitelions into "Seahelm abuse" formation.
- Knights and Frostie a pushing the flanks
- Shadow Warriors push into the archer detachment to stop them getting annoying

What I did wrong:
- didn't factor in 16 inch halberd march (not a biggie)
- Eagle should have blocked the knight bus BECAUSE
- Frostie was lazily placed and scrapped into the LOS of Karl Franz
- silverhelms on my right a little too close/under appreciated luminark charge

Obviously the eagle/frostie thing is an either place frostie better, OR place it better AND block with eagle (ie frostie with more view of the centre of the board).

So magic phase...6 dice monkey Final Trans and blow up the Reiksknight and kill Karl Franz! Shooting phase kills a few more knights and we call it. I WIN!

However we play on pretending Karl Franz avoided the final trans...and this is where all my mistakes kick in..

1) luminark charges silverhelms...queue all game hold up to allow Karl and the posse to clean them out
2) hurricanum charges eagle (holds), silverhelms flank in but fail to kill it...cannot overrun as this would mean rear charging karl franz for certain death...instead hurricanum flees TOWARDS the halberd combat.
3) frostie flees karl charge and is removed from the game as it gets out of position and cannot get back to help before dying.
3) not really mistake, but a consequence of losing 3 levels the lvl2's gain magic dominance and the halberds spend the rest of the game with ws10, i10, -1 to hit...Whitelions died horribly and didnt risk combat reform as I had no chance to use them offensively :(

So there you are!

Always check your LOS archs, always check your next turn threats, and try not to turn your lvl4 into a lvl1 t1!

New post, new country...

hey hey hey,

not a big update, but big news.

FIRST; fixed the Frosties!

Trip to hardware store, cheap hacksaw, cheap garden hooks...combine the 2, add drilled base and drilled frostie =

Frostie just balances on top...lean it slightly forward and it sits in that position. Not the prettiest fix, but it works and is game functional (ie the frostie can be easily removed!)

SECOND: CRACKS CALL

So the uber monster list was great fun. I got pulled apart by more serious lists, but I did smash face a few times! Worst part was losing a frostie (twice) to a flank charge from gyro, breaking and getting run down (4 attacks sucks). Even worse part was losing Blood and Glory t1 to a similar sneaky gyro move allowing my annointed to get picked off from a line of monsters :( Best part - smashing Glen's Quadruple scream list when my frostie saved 8 from 11 scream wounds and then smashed up the bus and crumbled the evil undead.

What worked...um I was super mobile I guess and when I successfully rolled to hit, I smashed face
What didn't work: annointed is not choppy enough to beat face, but choppy enough to kill a unit champ = very vulnerable to challenges. No BSB sucked (lost last game vs Peter W's Vamps due to a failed ldship 8 test that left my general stranded in challenge with a vamplord minus the frostie who was there to beat up the black knights - he later rallied and cleaned them out and put the vamplord on 1 wound, but still!), and Dragon Mages are cool in fluff, but useless on paper and on the table. Seriously: don't even bother. There is NOTHING redeeming about them. For the cost I could have sneaked in 2+as BOWD BSB on horse, lvl2 with scroll and ring, and tweaked the core to have a massive bus of Silverhelms.

HOWEVER:

I did win the Jockey race!

Here is my Jockey "Dragon Tucker" (behave) winning:

I don't really know what my secret was...I took a lucky horseshoe (basically a free life if someone tries to gank you), a free re-roll item (great for all the crucial rolls on the fences), and an extra d6 movement OUO item (for the extra speed). I was the only one who sung "Sexual healing" at the Slaanesh wall for a shot at free health in return for giving up a turn of movement (instead of humping the wall as most people ended up getting...err "stuck" doing). This meant that once I shot out ahead (pro tip -don't stop to hurt people!) I could weather the attacks from those far enough behind to still be able to use the Nurgle wall benefit. 

Thank's Neil for a fantastic event with food, accommodation and Munch-kin.

40K stuff: Cities of Death campaign

As part of my tour-de-warhammer I played a round of Wrythhold's 40K cities of death campaign. I took Salamanders (obviously). Comp was 1000pts, no fliers or LOW/Imperial knights (unless the required tiles on the map were held), max 1 HQ, Elite, Fast, Heavy, min 1 troop.

I took:
Vulkan: command squad: 4 meltas, apocothary, droppod
Ironclad: H. flamer, Melta, assault launchers
2x5 Marines: Combi-melta, melta
2x5 Marines: Combi-melta, flamer
5 Scouts: Bolters, melta bombs, landspeeder storm - multimelta

So lots of objective capturing stuff (using 7th ed objective capture rules)

Editor's note: it was a mistake to take assault launchers on Ironclad over Combi Melta on the Scout sergeant. Always give scout sergeant melta bombs and combi melta for tank/building hunting fun :D

I was up against Glen's Nightlords Chaos Marines army. 7 objectives on the table. I won the roll for sides, but Glen seized initiative and promptly blew up the main centre building objective and my Ironclad (who I thought was hidden...found out the hard way Obliterators can move and shoot...). In return my command squad and Vulkan dropped down and along with some support shooting deleted the terminators. I made a huge mistake when doing this. I placed Vulkan to shoot his flamer, but I instead should have placed him to tank the 10 chaos tac marines with 2 plasma guns that I had aggressively placed to attack t2 (once terminators were toast). Instead his bolters magically became ap3 and gunned down the command squad along with Vulcan...I also learned what "torrent" means when his Jump pack commander burninated a few too many marines with his ap3 flamer! I got lucky as he failed the follow up charge, I shot out his raptor buddies, and murdersword face failed his charge AGAIN and got gunned down. In the end I was 1 hull point away from winning the game as my storm died t6 to some lucky snap shooting giving up the objective it was holding over the obliterators...and to make things worse Vulkan then died in the campaign! Oh well. Ryan who I was subbing in for is taking the narrative to heart and is changing the commander to a Master of the Forge (please note the very extending left field joke in that for all you 40k 6th ed BRB readers) and is looking to run a list heavy on the attack bikes and plasma cannons...

BIGGEST NEWS: I'm now in Oz

So yes, I now live in Melbourne. I managed to pack my High Elves (well most of them). I've signed up for Cancon in January (2400pts Swedish...must score between 10 and 16) and "Blood and Glory" in November (2000pts 5 game event with no comp, but TO subjective comp score). Should be fun and before Cancon and NZTC I have a wee bit of hobby to do as well, so once Ryan ships over my paints (hint hint), I'll be able to get started on that to give yous some hobby update posts as well!

Other than that there is Thursday night gaming at Shirts Off Warhammer (5 mins tram up the road boom!) for battle reports and stuff.

Crack's Call!!!! (and update on hobby life)

Yo!

LOOOOOONG time no post. Life has caught up with me. Big news is that as of 9 October I will be living in Melbourne, and the Pittsburgh Penguins 2014/2015 season will start with a win over the Ducks and a fight between Getzlaf and Downie (finger's crossed - gotta keep the animosity going).

So off to the land of obsessive comp, slabs, and sunshine to rejoin my brothers in nerdom Shirts Off Warhammer Inc.

Call to Arms has been and gone.

I took a Daemon list to see how it would go. Over all it went well coming 6th and putting me over the projected threshold for Masters qualification (that I wont be able to attend). 2 big wins (20-0, 19-0), 2 small losses to Dark Elf avoidance lists (9-11, 8-12) and 1 small loss to usual bell Skaven (9-11). It was interesting to enter an event with a list I had had maybe 2 games with beforehand. It's the little things like knowing what a beast of Nurgle can do vs what etc etc that really swing it. I could have Drawn/won the game vs Greg's list if I was a bit more familiar with the art of DOC castling. Vs Jeff's Dark Elves (who won the event) I had him on the ropes for a comfortable win, but - not knowing the limitations of the list - a few simple mistakes and it swings the other way. Loss vs Skaven was time related. We only got in 4 rounds, and I knew this early on so push waaaay harder and faster than I probably needed to to get a result...and it ended up costing me with a bottom turn 4 big points swing against me. (rolling 4 1's to wound/kill the BSB didn't help either!)

Salamanders

Are all but finished...well as finished as they can be given my very limited time! I can field the following list all painted:

Vulkan

Command squad: Apocothary, 4 combi meltas - droppod

Ironclad: Hflamer, melta - droppod

Dreadnaught: Hflamer, multimelta

5 Tac Marines: combimelta, flamer - Razorback: stormbolter, Tlinked lascannon

5 Tac Marines: combimelta, flamer - Razorback: stormbolter, Tlinked lascannon

5 Tac Marines: Combimelta, melta - Razorback: stormbolter, Tlinked lascannon

5 Tac Marines: Combimelta, melta -  droppod

5 scouts: Combimelta, meltabombs, Bolters - Landspeeder Storm: Multimelta

Landspeeder Typhoon

Landspeeder Typhoon

3 Centurions: 3xGravcannons, 3xmissile launchers

1850

I have grand designs to up the number of Droppods and stuff to be more "meta", but as a starter list I'm happy (and it is themed!).

I'll do an army parade post next week once I have time to think.

Cracks Call

Is next weekend! 2000pts in Masterton. A bit of fun and something different. I have taken the following list:

Annointed of Asuryan: Frost Phoenix, Armour of Caledor

Dragon Mage lvl2: Dragon Armour, Enchanted Shield, Golden Crown, Ring of Fury, Warriorbane

15 Archers: Musician, Standard Bearer

13 Archers: Musician, Standard Bearer

5 Reavers: Spears and bows

5 Reavers: Spears and bows

5 Shadow Warriors

Frost Phoenix

Frost Phoenix

2000pts on the dot.

Annointed and one of his pet Phoenix

Dragon Mage will Pwn you

The totally not racist KKK Shadow Warriors

So the world's most unsubtle list of all time. I wanted to submit something that was a bit out of left field and not what I would usually use.

Fluffy?

There has been a bit of twitter chatter about fluffy lists. For me a list needs to:

• be competitive
• offer a challenge to your opponent
• have a clear direction
• cover any weakness as a result of the direction chosen

So to me a "Fluffy list" still needs to do the above. A non functioning list of "soft" choices isn't fluffy - it's bad list writing. 

My Pro tip for 2000pt list design is that it is almost the perfect points value to play at in that you have JUST ENOUGH points to get the toys in, but NOT QUITE ENOUGH to take them all and round the list off = lists have glaring weakness and either do 1 thing really well, or lots of things not quite so well as the could/should to be effective. I personally take the 1st approach. I went "how many monsters can I fit in given the armies available to me" (because monsters are fun) and then tried to flesh it out.

My list has some severe weaknesses regarding the scenarios, and some hard counters. Fluffy to me is looking to provide a functioning list without resorting to the "usual"...at 2000pts I could have easily gone lvl4 death book of hoeth, Frostie, RBTS, BOWD BSB, silverhelm bus and token infantry bunker for watchtower. Filth - but the usual filth with few to no weaknesses. My list is tough and I've never seen someone monstermash to this extent because the list is usually rounded off with better counters, more magic, and other compromises that give the list an all comers approach. 

Anywho looking over the other lists that are been taken I see plenty of red flags (poison cauldron Witch Elf horde, Dwarf artillery snoozefest parks, super scream list, double warplightning cannon bell and stormbanner skaven to name a few) so it should be interesting. 

I'll remember to take lots of photos and stuff for a battle report

painting stuff update

Righty - a chance to play with the light box thanks to the sniffles.

First up - some Salamander support characters that I dont particularly see myself using in "regular" lists, but are good to have around for the big games/trying something different:

Librarian

Taken with my Ipad Mini...still a little grainy, but much better detail than ye old photo technique I don't like the fluffy approach of having all Librarian's being blue - so mine has Salamander green armour on. 

Techmarine

A case of finding a techpriest cheap instead of forking out far too much for a failcast one from GW. 

Sisters of Twilight

Some of the most fiddly models I've ever dealt with (on par with some of the stuff on the Hurricanum kit) that are also a bit of a showcase in GW's plastic casting. I'm in 2 minds about glueing the riders down...ease of transport vs ease of game play. 

And a little bit of freehand on the one command option I see myself taking on these guys. 

SO yeah that's that for now. Next on the painting table is my 3rd unit of 6 wildriders, a 3rd droppod and a Melta Dreadnaught.

Panzershreck 2014 battle reports

Hey hey hey,

Weekend just been was the annual home town tournament run by the Palmy gaming club (complete with Saturday night BBQ and all).

Last year the comp was Swedish which was lots of fun (double witch hunter FTW!), this year it was ETC complete with ETC terrain and base sizes (though confession - I didn't base my artillery and it was ok). I'm not the biggest fan of the ETC format, but it is still Warhammer and I'm not one to throw my dice out of the cot and not enjoy myself anyway.

My list:

Confession #2 I  literally had not unpacked my Empire army since Horned Rat, so I took the exact same list:

GTM: runefang, Ch shield, Pospeed, DBGem
lvl4: life, steed, stubborn, mr(3)
lvl1: steed, fire, scroll
BSB: Bsteed, 1+ as, lance, white cloak
COTE, Bsteed, 1+as, lance, OTS
13 Inner Circle Knights: FC-banner of discipline
5 Knights: M
5 Knights: M
4 Demis: M
cannon
cannon
Stank
Hurricanum

Or as I call it the "Life Lance".

I was going to take a double prince, double lvl2 High magic, calv MSU High Elf list, but I couldn't get it all finished to a standard I wanted to be comfortable using at an event due to running out of basing materials. My resupply order arrived 3 days before the event so I COULD have taken it if I had known that at list submission deadline. Oh well....

GAME 1: vs Ryan - WoC

Fantastic...I travel all the way to Palmy to play my regular gaming buddy, so I had no tricks up my sleeve and had to rely on good 'ol cannons doing their thing...or not. This happened:

Chaos Lord, BSB on daemonic mount and chariot vs Stank...

and this happened...

But thankfully Ryan forgot about the ability to reform after combat so the warriors got lance in the front and demis in the flank (hiding behind the building having "tactically withdrawn" earlier in the game).

Ryan ran away with all his points...my cannons did nothing of note (other than finishing the chariot my stank failed to grind) and given my chaff all died, picking up his chaff and the warriors brought the game to a draw...We should have slept in and just called it!

Result 10-10 Draw

Game 2: vs Dan WoC

Game 2 and my 2nd WoC list. Dan is NZ's WoC player, so I knew I was up for a cagey game. I knew that to have a chance his chaff had to die. T1 I rock out the lvl1 fire mage, 3 dice IF a 2d6 fireball..only kill 3 marauder horsemen and go down the hole (sad face). The rest of the game looked like this:

No point reforming as the fast calv would just adjust accordingly...I gave him the stank for the trolls to vomit on. This game was a huge cannon failure. I looked at his list and my mental note was "all chariots dead + 1 unit of skull crushers = I should win the game"...instead my cannons did 4 wounds IN TOTAL over the course of the game...1 measly chariot...sigh

Result: 7-13 loss

Game 3: vs Charlie "Hobby Hero" Dark Elves.

Dreadlord on dragon, no BSB, brolocks for magic and 2 manticores = Not the best match up for him. 1 cannon shot killed this:

Black Dragon, Manticore and beastmaster dead to 1 cannon shot

and the Dreadlord only had a unit of Crossbows to hide in = got the lance to the face. Lore of Life really showed its power when t8 Demis not only survived this...

but killed it all (token hurricanum charge may have helped that last little part!)

All in all, the Hobby Hero lived up to his name and took the tabling like a champ. he got my favourite opponent vote.

Result: 20-0 win

Game 4: vs Mal skinks and cowboys

After a hard night Karaoke'ing I awoke to the fact I would be taking on NZ's ETC skink cloud hobby killer.

Being out deployed by chaff doesn't help cannon placement so I was faced with this:

His BSB survived 3 cannons and a Dwellers, his Old Vet survived a cannon, a skink priest failed Dwellers LOS! (ETC rules) and then passed its strength test...if I could go wrong it did. I ALMOST got my Demis to the Slann, but I ran out of turns :(. I kill chaff, Mal kills the stank, hurrricanum, and a unit of knights.

Result: 9-11 loss

Game 5: vs Brian Dark Elves

SO what I thought was the last game of the event vs another awesome list...3 hydras, 4 RBTs, horde of witches with Cauldron and chaff! I cannoned off the peg lvl4 turn1 and then hit the chaff with hydra's looking down on me...

So I pull out my ace up the sleeve tactic and cannon off 1 of the hydras that panics the other 1 off the table (mad skillz)...to add insult I then cannoned off the 3rd hydra. This game contained a classic I "know" the ETC rules, but still play real warhammer...we discussed at length how the terrain worked. I had some ruins in my deployment zone and instead of deploying my cannons in it, I deployed them right behind it...silly me. It cost me a cannon as the RBTs took very careful...unmodified aim.

So once the monsters were dead I worked by way through the RBTs towards the witches. I baited them with the Stank, flanked in the demis and t6 my lance finally got there...

Runefang and OTS captain take out the cauldron and from there it is lots of dead elves leaving only the BSB hag who died defending her banner (or however it is described in the BRB).

Result: 20-0 win

Game 6: vs Pete Furry Dwarfs

My submarine surfaced and I was up against Pete (if this was the internetz I would talk about being on the "Top Table"...I think we were on table #5). Having given him stick all weekend about hiding behind ETC hill rules and refining the minimum sized deployment he can legally do he pulls this one on me:

Now I know the Skaven book has a "life is cheap" rule of something...but this was taking it to extremes!
This is the first game EVER where I have killed a whole unit of slaves (2 units in fact) in a single turn. As I waded my way though the bodies his greyseer did a runner:

After a thorough read of the Skaven FAQ/Errata (vol 1-25 3rd ed) I can confirm there is no rule allowing me to control the bell unit once it reaches my deployment zone.

And the only real excitement was Doomwheel vs Stank (he got the charge grrr) and Doomwheel vs vanilla knights. I made a mistake putting a last remaining knight into the flank of 1 in the hope of breaking it giving away 240pts instead of 120 from the unit that originally engaged it to let my knights and demis past unzapped.
My stank stoically held on with 2 wounds until the lance arrived when it finally gave up the ghost (even I was cheering at that point...I shouldn't have passed so many 4+ as!)

A big win was effectively written off when my lvl4 miscast t2 and lost 2 magic levels. From there I failed to cast Dwellers 3 times...21 is a hard number to roll on 5 dice with only +2 from wizard levels.

In the end we added it all up and I was 92pts up (or "3 slave units" in Skaven language). Fantastic game to end it.

Result: 10-10 draw

Overall Results

Playing out a draw I was reliant on those around me not doing too well. Greg lost his game, Mal and Dan got stuck in ETC purgatory (10-10 is a win right??)  but Mr Sam Whitt obviously paid Mike King handsomely as he catapulted himself into 2nd place with a casual 20-0 game 6 win.

For the first time is AGES I came in top 3 with a 3rd place finish. I've never seen Pete so happy. To my surprise I also picked up Best Sports.

First official use of my new light box!

Big thanks to Jeff for TO'ing (and killing Ryan's Chaos Lord with a Dragon Mage), the Palmy club and all my opponents/people who attended.

Anywho that's me. Now I have a light box (the one advertised on fieldsofblood recently) I hope to be able to do way better painting updates...now to paint stuff to update!

Salamander/40k update

Hey hey hey

Its been a wee while since an update, and a very long time since the Salamanders were mentioned (yes they are still kicking around).

So in between buying the core of the army, having a few games and getting started on the painting a new edition dropped and all of a sudden I had to change tact. No longer was I going to be tinkering with Tigerus allies for divination/telekinis shenanigans, I have opted for pure Salamanders.

Pictures for the picture gods!

Black undercoat. Directional Spray of Army Painter army green. Black wash, Warp stone glow drybrushing. repaint black parts - either drybrush or smudge runefang silver. Hashut copper on stuff. Adeptus battlegrey highlights for skin/cloth. Wash the black/silver/copper areas with nuln oil. Edge highlight with Hashut Copper. Boom!

So simple but looks great (except for ipad camera on shiny table...)

Joel's authoritative take on the new edition:

I thought the internet was at its worst when this edition dropped "ahhhh the sky is falling" blaa blaa blaa. Unbound armies cannot contest objectives and are by PERMISSION ONLY. ie - they are as optional as the allied rules in 8th ed WHFB. The psychic phase can be either heavily invested in, or ignored. It is the same as before (effectively) - there is now a good chance the power wont activate. To increase activation chance = throw more dice = less is cast (WHFB language there) = meh.

40k is an interesting game. Cool aesthetic, fluff etc - but the game of late had devolved into cookie cutter options and no brainers. In a game with few to no movement based tactics, complicated combat with no real incentive to do it, super sniping characters, easy to blow up vehicles, but no multi-wound weapons to deal with monsters (that are immune to low strength fire), there needed to be something done to shake it up.

Enter the new targeting rules, order of fire rules and jink saves. Boom! - Either/or decisions, and positioning is important. Combat still isnt that great (in fact the 1 rule that kept it around - challenges - has been nerfed...) but has uses and your special weapon guys will now make it in!

The vehicle damage chart changes have made ye ol' transports better. With better jink this has potentially made some things really good - until you see that jink is declared BEFORE rolling to hit = there is a tactic in forcing the either/or decision because even if your shooting bounces off the jink = less coming back at you (unless people are now running stripped down wave serpents with minimal shooting so they can zoom stuff onto objectives :P)

Salamander stuff

I think Salamaders are well positioned to maximise the potential impacts of the new rules. Mastercrafted Melta weapons (oooo - sternguard get mastercrafted special ammo if shot from a combi melta!) and the marine arsenal of Twinlinked Lascannons gives options.

Better transports mean the real scary short range stuff can get into range quicker (and contest objectives etc). Lascannons are scary from range.

My rundown of how to up the anti with Salamanders:

• Vulkan  - Rather self explanatory. Can tank (ish), ok in combat, has heavy flamer and mastercrafts melta. DONE.
• Command squad with melta and apocothary in a droppod. -Vulkan needs a) a posse and b) be close to the action. This option does both - oh and will wreck people's days.
• droppodding Ironclad - the biggest distraction EVA! Salamander fluffy and should be reasonably hard to kill. Either way t1 shooting is not aimed at your other stuff!
• multiple Lasback marines with combi melta and flamer/melta. Oh hi tl lascannons. Oh hi objective holders, oh hi versatile squads.
• Combi melta, melta marines in droppod - the objective capturing unit that also blows stuff up
• Combimelta scouts in MMelta storm - another threat that captures objectives - Vulkan makes them very good
• Landspeeder typhoons - only in the larger games, but effective and points efficient s8/5 shooting is nice. another good option to force jink decisions - and has the speed to get good positioning. 
• Gravturions - best unit in the book. Range is a problem - but add on missiles and they are good hullpoint strippers/anti horde while getting into range. 
• Lasturions - most points efficient heavy firepower in the book. 3 TL lascannon + 3 missiles for less than 300pts. This is a serious threat unit that can politely sit back and "force the decisions" on jinking units. I'm surprised these guys dont get more internetz time
• Knights Errant - woah! Imperial knights are now an official part of the FOC = take the melta version duh! No Tlinked from Vulkan, but still amazing!

Basically I think of list writing as adding guns. I aim for a minimum of 6 tlinked lascannons, and as much melta as possible. Attack bikes are another cheap MMelta option to consider...but look stupid!

Ok - I'm sure there is a strong argument for "adding in AEGIS defense lines", "you need to landraider redeemer up fast!", "where's your Stormraven??", "only option is to go whitescars and have unkillable chaptermaster on a bike"...but I'm purposely going down another route.

Anywho that's me. On the painting table currently are more lionhelms (sigh a 3rd unit), Wildrider unit #3 and more marines.

Woodies Update

Yo!

Woodies update: I've been busy painting away and making movement trays. In terms of "new purchases" I have only just today bought 5 Sisters of the Thorn and I have 6 more of the old school Wildriders on the way.

Anywho - my finished Glade Riders:

Looking very cool and stuff. 2x5 with Hagbane arrows seems like a good idea to me (I've got my first game on Saturday vs WoC so I'll guess I'll find out...)

Deepwood Scouts:

3x6 Scouts...a very thin 288pts when equipped with Trueflight arrows, I'm no fan of the "new" Glade Guard, especially when I have the option of deploying my shooting exactly where I need it. Scouts and Waywatchers FTW. I've now got my 20 Waywatchers ready to go...I just need to get some skirmish trays for them. I'm not convinced 2x10 Waywatchers is the best option given the price...but I can see the argument for 2x7 or 8 to keep the price down and still keep the effectiveness.

Mages:

A new paint job for the top mage, and FINALLY got around to finishing the conversion for the other mage that I bought when Storm of Magic first came out! I'm thinking 3 Mages (1 lvl4 Heavens, 2 lvl1 beasts) gives the army the tactical flexibility to do what it needs to do (and isn't relying on 6 dicing withering so the 50+ Glade Guard can kill something). Of course my mantra is to always only use what I have, so I'll be bringing the Sisters of the Thorn into action once they are painted. Not convinced that the poorman's brolock character bus is the best idea, but I see the appeal of them.

So That's that. I'll battle report up the game and hopefully I wont get smashed by t5 chariots...

Horned Rat 2014 Battle reports

Yo

Weekend just been was my first ETC event...well ETC comp (including table set up) as a singles event.

I decided to rock the Empire:

Grand Templar Master:  Runefang, Charmed Shield, Dragonbane Gem, Potion of Speed
Lvl4 life: steed, Crown of Command, mr(3)
BSB: steed, 1+ armour, lance, White Cloak
Captain of the Empire: 1+ armour, lance, Other Trickster's Shard
Lvl1 fire: steed, scroll
13 Inner Circle Knights: Full Command, banner of Discipline
5 Knights: Musician
5 Knights: Musician
Cannon
Cannon
4 Demigryph Knights: Musician
Steam Tank
Hurricanum

Very exciting list. Knight Bus, Demis and Stank hold most of the points. I got the usual Pete Prediction of Death and set about disappointing him.

Game 1 vs Mike King's Beastmen.

Very exciting first game due to the list.
choppy lord on foot with armour and the brass cleaver
Choppy Doombull
Choppy BSB
2 lvl2's - beasts and shadow
3x5 ungor bow thingies
5 million Gors with Totem of Rust
2 Pumbas
2 chariots
5 super rallying harpies
8 minotaurs: FC
Gorgon (yes, you read that right)

we deployed and stuff - and then Mike tells me that in ETC if a unit has ambush it has BRB Ambush = the 5 million Gors were coming up behind me...sigh

Anywho I moved forward and stuff...killed a couple of minos with dwellers, cannoned stuff

I then got lucky with t2 Dwellers picking off the Choppy Doombull lord character and the unit champ. This then drew them into the Demis who beat them up over 2 rounds of combat. Meanwhile...

and Amber spear picks off my Hurricanum. I turn the lance around and get charged...

Grandmaster and the Beastman General get stuck in an epic challenge which I win. Knights did not need to make use of their stubborn even though I had no static res and the gors were wildformed. In my turn it is rather obvious what happens and the Gors are taken off.

The Gorgon meanwhile spent his time beating up a unit of knights t6 I pinned down on the bus and Runefanged it to the face.

Result: 20-0 to start the event. Dwellers and Runefang FTW.

Game 2 vs' Tim Joss's Dark Elves

2 1/2 hours of stuff running around me (and forgetting to take pics). Only time my Stank died...3 RBT's doing 3 wounds each in a single round would do that! I eventually pinned down the 25 xbow guys and runefanged them to bits (the other stuff helped too). Also picked up the RBT's and got super unlucky to not get the shades (needed a 7 to run them down from a flee...rolled a 6 with swift-striding knights sigh).

Result 9-11 loss...the difference in not catching the shades

Game 3 vs Ryan Lister's WoC

Another interesting list that was going to cause me problems...
lvl4 tzeentch on disc with the defensive stuff
unkillable BSB on dmount
Babysitter exhalted on dmount
block of  slaanesh warriors
2 slaanesh chariots
3 units of vanguarding doggies
8 Trollololololololols
4 skullcrushers hellcannon

I sat back, killed the babysitter with cannons and braced myself for impact...

And the lance formation meant I was stopped from helping. I was in the flank, but could not wheel past the cannon off to its right. Meant I had to swift reform into a "normal" bus and wear another round of vomit on the stank. That awkward turn of waiting was the turn the Skullcrushers (1 had been cannoned off) charged my Demis (who had the hurricanum nearby). I take 1 wound from the riders and give 5 wounds in return and shrug of the mounts. They break and I fail to run down. repeat this THREE MORE TIMES before I eventually catch them.

So I finally get my supporting flank charge on the trolls, casually dweller off the general (like a boss) and smash up the now ldship 2 trolls and run them down. Big game swing there as my bus re-lances and goes after the hellcannon. I would say I Runefanged it off...except the grandmaster was too busy runfanging the crew leaving the heavy work to the captains and other knights. Hurricanum also saw combat charging and killing some doggies!

Result: 18-2 win. End of day 1 I'm on a comfortable 47pts

Game 4 vs Hugh Dixon's Dwarfs

First game vs the new Dwarf book and the list is as exciting as I expected it to be.

2 runesmiths with spelleaters
BSB wiht the 4+ward, all  dwarf things within 12 get 5+ ward vs shooting and magic missiles
Horde of Warriors with GW
20 Quarellers with GW
big block of hammers with the "give stubborn to units within 12" banner
2 gyros
2 cannons - runed up
Organgun - runed up
5 rangers

we deploy and I opt to deploy the knights normally because I knew I needed to maximise attacks to break through the stubborn.

I move up using the building to shield my approach. The "cannon-off" was a fluff fest. My cannons died to gyros, but I took out a dwarf cannon in the process! My target was the crossbows (stank - distracted running over a gyro and misfiring for a bit) and the warriors (bus and demis).

Rule 1 of fighting dwarfs: dont let the artillery kill too much  (used terrain to mask approach)
Rule 2 of fighting dwarfs: don't do it on their terms...

So I set up the bus to take the charge that would draw them away from the stubborn banner.Warriors charge, I win the combat, Demis flank in and I wreak face - enough to get them out of the stubborn banner range. They break and run...11 inches and pop through the Hammerers sigh. 0vps for me (cost me the OTS captain). Meanwhile I get the Stank into the crossbows (well, I miss by 1 inch and they charge me). In flank the Demis who kill them all... BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD!!!

Result: 10-10 thanks to super fleeing warriors.

Game 5 vs Pete Dunn's Skaven

Same table as the last 2 games...This game was very much mine to pick off the sneaky 11-9/12-8 and some really annoying bad luck cost me the win.

1) I was sloppy with the BSB placement at deployment because nothing could see my stuff...except the indirect firing rat-a-pult that kills 2 knights and the unit flees of the board...
2) IF dwellers on bell and Strength test passed (grrr)
3) 3rd cannon hit and the seer finally dies and bell takes 2 wounds
4) sticking my nose out to the dweller (or not) the seer gave the magic missile battery/doomrocket a chance on the bus. hopeless armoursaves and wardsaves later I need to re-grow 1 knight to get my unit above 25%. 3 magic phases of 5 dicing re-growth and I couldnt do it :( Oddly with ETC comp I was wanting fewer dice...instead Pete got 6+ dispel dice for the last 3 turns grrr.

Though the warplightning cannon did explode (allowing me to stick my nose out...) and I picked off the Hellpit with fireballs and cannons (yay!).

The Skaven "advance" t6

My (successful) "anti gutter runner" tactic

Result: 10-10

Overall

Overall I ended up on 67 battle points and got a 30 for my paint score (need to flock my movement trays and drybrush the black metal with something to give it some shape and get better at convincing TO's that my carry tray is actually a display board).

This of course gave me 4th place...0.03 overall points short of Tim in 3rd. Sigh. As usual looking over the games there were easy places for the extra points:
1) catching the shades
2) catching the dwarf warriors
3) not sticking my nose out and placing my BSB to cover everything.

As usual a well run fun event. ETC isn't that bad...though always playing battleline does get a little repetitive and some of the rule changes are annoying but not fun destroying.

Oh well...first solo event of 2014 so I'm happy with 4th. Next event is Panzershriek where I get to have some more ETC games. Hopefully I'll have my Woodies all ready for that :D

Unpacking the Woodies - stocktake and review

Hey hey hey,

So back from an Awesome Joel-con where I came 5th despite only losing 1 game (random lore meant I rolled shadow vs High Elves...) - heck I even beat my own army using Lizards (first time ever) and beat Nick Hoen (meaning next year's NZTC team name will be "The team with the guy who beat Nick Hoen by 186vps"). Event was ranked purely on the amount of VP's you claimed each game. VERY COOL way of doing it - especially for small events. Really changes the dynamic of the game as you have to keep pushing for points.

Best Moment: rolling Death game 1 vs Gregs Ogres. T2 Purple Sun his bus...BSB + 6 guts die. Panic test failed = remaining 2 and lvl4flee back through the vortex and all die! Chikka boom!

My list for the Joel-Con 
Lvl4 (random lore)
Archlector: HA, GW, 4+ ward, skavenslayer helm
BSB: 2+ armoursave, warriorbane
2x engineer
Captasus with sword of might and dragonhelm
34 Halberds: FC - 6 archer detach
2x5 knights: M
4 Demis: M, SB
Stank
Helblaster
Helblaster
2000ish points

Anywho: Wood Elves 

My first army started in the deep dark days of 2006. I have periodically used them throughout 8th - at least once every 3 months. I took them to an event, lent them out for 2 events (wrote the lists) and almost took them to the Warhammer Achievements event that was cancelled due to numbers (sadly).

What this means is that my Woodie army has been kept "up to date" and some of the painting has been refreshed...and some of it hasn't!

So my review of the Woodie book is by way of a Stock Take of my army:

Mounted Mage and BSB

By some chance of luck back in 7th I used to run 2 lvl2's on steeds and would deepwood sphere "bomb" people for fun. Now they have been dug out and will make a very nice mounted lvl4 mage and BSB - which seem to be the "obvious" way to run them given the bunker options.

Painting: needs re-basing and slight modification to new paint scheme

Waywatchers and Waystalkers

Can't see myself ever fielding less than 2x10 TBH. Digging these guys out I have 10 painted to current standards and can field another 12 (including a rank filler). The best thing about the last armybook update was the wealth of character models they released. New Armybook = look at all the Waystalkers! (rules query - if scouted they HAVE to be deployed by themselves due to the order (unless meeting engagement or dawn attack)???

Painting: 10 done, 10 to be updated, Waystalkers to be updated.

Glade Riders

The awkward stepchild of the old book. I used them when I first started playing (due to them coming in the battalion box set) and by some stroke of luck the Achievements event meant that fielding 2x5 fo these guys with full command was a really good option - meaning I have 10 ready to go! I dont love ambush, but in the context of the army I think 2x5 with poison is a solid investment.

Painting: removing the obvious command means only 2 need to be updated.

Eagle Dude and warhawks

Win the award for "survived storage the worst". Not touched since 7th. I used to run 4, but ripped the rider off one to make an eagle rider for a list I wrote for Vermintide 2012. Both options I think are "better" than the old book - warhawks especially...however the lack of dropping "something"/fly over attack really annoys me. KB on the charge is cool...but not 135pts thrown away on a chance cool.

Painting: warhawks to be updated if I ever field them.

Drycha and Orion

Yeah they are cool I guess. I really like Orion's new rules...not his cost! Dumbest thing about them is that I have the Ariel model around here and she failed to get new rules...sexism if you ask me.

Painting: Drycha to be updated, Orion needs his crown glued back on and Ariel will continue to be a shelf ornament fairy.

DRAGON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I LOVE DRAGONS!!!!!!!!!!!!! Seriously I do. Forest dragon is STILL officially on 50mmx50mm = awesome = I'll be buying the Black Dragon (mounting on 50x50mm) so I can run DOUBLE DRAGON! OMG that alone made the armybook delay worth the wait.

Painting: Sisters need to be assembled and painted...black dragon needs to be purchased and painted ASAP. Current dragon needs re-basing.

Eternal Guard

HA MY LONG TERM INVESTMENT IN 40 OF THESE GUYS PAID OFF...kinda. I absolutely love the new models...but not as much as the old metal ones. I think they are the best core choice in the new book because they offer that something that nothing else does - an anvil + they are the only unit that really takes advantage of the Forest Stalker rule. Avoidance armies only work if there is something for the opponent to focus on. It used to be the Treemen (HA!). Ws5, ASF i5 ldship 9 stubborn anvil that strikes in extra rank, re-rolling 1's to wound (poison due to venom thicket) with 5+ as for 12ppm on a core choice = amazing. 30 with full command are looking like a staple for me.

Painting: haven't really seen the table since 7th = need re-basing and the cloaks changed to new scheme + glue standard bearer back together!

Wardancers/Shadowdancer

New breath of life for these guys. s3 sucks, but remove rank bonus and ASF KB is awesome! Really "synergise" with the Eternal Guard anvil in the venom thicket "tactic"...Shadowdancer or separate unit? I prefer the unit due to cost, but I think the Shadowdancer in the Eternal Guard/Rangers could catch some people out.

Painting: Got lots of use in 8th. Only 4 models to update

Wildriders

The best hammer in the new book. 3x5 with banners seems like a given. Frenzy is meh...but keep near the BSB blaa blaa blaa.

Painting: I've got 2 unassembled horses + the headless one in gladerider pics + the 2 wildrider horse heads without bodies + some Orion hounds as rank filler I think I've easily got 3x5 with banners! CHIKKA BOOM!

GladeGuard
(no pic cos I got millions and couldnt be bothered setting them up)

I personally think these guys lost the 2nd most in the book. The arrows are cool, but s3 with move and shoot penalties = either trueflight or your mobile avoidance gunline just became a static very expensive gunline. 600pts gets you 30-38 archers with the new arrows in 3 units with musos and the odd banner. That is not much...s3 will be their downfall. Personally I would just rely on the Scouts, Waywatchers, HODA,  and Glade Riders to do the shooting.

Painting: Skirmish movement trays need to be made up

Other Characters and stuff

Branchwraiths got a huge boost. Cheaper and gained lvl1 life built in. 1 of these guys in Rangers or Eternal guard and you can buff them up nice...if you want to. Obviously that also means chucking in a GW welding guy and the BSB, and a lvl4 and a shadowdancer for luck = DEATHSTAR!!!!! ok - not an "every game" idea, but I am keen to try branchwraith + Eternal Guard.

The tokens are from the Warhammer Achievements event which required bringing some for a mission. Now they will be very convenient High/Dark magic tokens.

Painting: finish basing the tokens.

Forest Spirits

Yup...straight into storage.

STUFF I DONT OWN...yet

Sisters of Twilight: the Brolock apology. I will be looking to get 2 boxes of these ladies so I can use them as either my caster for DOUBLE DRAGON lists, or character bunkers for "normal lists". This unit will need to have glitter on it somewhere.

Eagles: Ok - I have eagles...but I want to get the Hobbit Eagles. Nothing has changed. 1 or 2 of these guys = awesome.

Rangers: Not going to bother. In the book purely because they needed a double kit for the Eternal Guard.


Conclusion: This book is the "Apology" book. 

Yay new book! I'm aiming for Panzershrek for these guys (if I can get and paint up some Sisters in time)...but my real goal is to get a Double Dragon list rocking for an event just because.

Personally I would have preferred old forest Spirits and old Glade Guard with every other new change...but alas Matt Ward needed to apologise for the High Elves and Dark Elves. Still a good book...I just dont see it changing the meta other than people taking magic missiles with their Empire armies...oh wait banishment council...