Thanks to Dethron over at IHOP----->(those guys with the link there)---->
for allowing humble little me to join in the reindeer games.
Monday, May 30, 2011
Unit Identification- Paint vs Basing
Okay, Here is the question on my mind today..."How do I differentiate Purifiers from regular GK strike squad models?" Interceptors are easy, they have a different back pack. By GW standards Purifiers have white helmets and shoulderpads. But I am not the best painter in the world and white simply defeats me when it boils down to it. My vehicles with white sections look like I spilled white shit on them and honestly so do my attempts at making white helmets. You really need to have steadier hands and painting skills than I have.
I have mostly painted all of my GK models to the norm in the books and based on the old metal model way of black base-->silver/gun metal-->blue wash -->details for my models. The purity seals and ribbons are gold with red ribbons instead of the bone white scripture, the blades of my nemesis weapons are black with white scribbles (my attempts at lightning, which may get a make over soon as I saw a good wash over white make nifty looking lightning...forget where, I'll find it and link it).
Anyways...my hamfisted paint attempts do not allow much for differentiation by unit type. I am trying to decide if basing the purifiers differently is enough of a distinction, or if I should get more in depth. i am thinking of black washing them to nearly all black models while leaving the helmets silver may be a way to go. Old school circa 2nd ed style. But do I go that route for my purifiers or my regular GK models? Everyone has halberds, with the exception of Justicars who have swords and one model has a hammer.
Since I am lazy, how do I go about this? Do I just wash some models in black? Or strip down and start over? Possibly just go through and repaint some areas black? Maybe something else. I dunno. I tried the white helmet and shoulder pad thing and the models look like crap. The bulk of my army was painted before there was such a thing as Purifiers. Only the new plastics have been painted up as purifiers.
I'll get some pics up soon enough.
-greyen
I have mostly painted all of my GK models to the norm in the books and based on the old metal model way of black base-->silver/gun metal-->blue wash -->details for my models. The purity seals and ribbons are gold with red ribbons instead of the bone white scripture, the blades of my nemesis weapons are black with white scribbles (my attempts at lightning, which may get a make over soon as I saw a good wash over white make nifty looking lightning...forget where, I'll find it and link it).
Anyways...my hamfisted paint attempts do not allow much for differentiation by unit type. I am trying to decide if basing the purifiers differently is enough of a distinction, or if I should get more in depth. i am thinking of black washing them to nearly all black models while leaving the helmets silver may be a way to go. Old school circa 2nd ed style. But do I go that route for my purifiers or my regular GK models? Everyone has halberds, with the exception of Justicars who have swords and one model has a hammer.
Since I am lazy, how do I go about this? Do I just wash some models in black? Or strip down and start over? Possibly just go through and repaint some areas black? Maybe something else. I dunno. I tried the white helmet and shoulder pad thing and the models look like crap. The bulk of my army was painted before there was such a thing as Purifiers. Only the new plastics have been painted up as purifiers.
I'll get some pics up soon enough.
-greyen
Sunday, May 29, 2011
Battle Report - -1250 GK vs. Nids
So this weekend, in an effort to get a game in, I motored down to my LGS (see previous post) and was able to squeeze in a small 1250 pt game against a new 'Nids player.
I ran my 1250 list from the Escalation tournament, he ran something like the list below.
2 Primes
4 warriors
20 termagaunts
20 hormagaunts
and a bunch of genestealers (15 I think)
anyways, it was a wash. Now we had a good time but wiping the floor with his army list would have been more productive. In the end we talked about using 'nids against GK and what not. But it seems that he was not the only one losing their insectile Hive-ass to GKs recently. See Fritz's Game 2 for his lamentations. Not saying anything about Fritz here , as I learned more about playing Eldar from reading his stuff than I did nearly anywhere else, with the exception of playing one game against "The Major" at a great shop Gamer's Hdeout in Missouri. Which sadly is a 15 hour drive away now.
Anyways, I spent more time teaching this guy how to use and abuse his army than we did rolling dice. I guess that's another frustration of a new/small LGS. Most of the guys there are new players, I'm tired of teaching rules to the enemy as I play, or spending time afterward explaining things that they should know about the basic ruleset.
-Greyen
I ran my 1250 list from the Escalation tournament, he ran something like the list below.
2 Primes
4 warriors
20 termagaunts
20 hormagaunts
and a bunch of genestealers (15 I think)
anyways, it was a wash. Now we had a good time but wiping the floor with his army list would have been more productive. In the end we talked about using 'nids against GK and what not. But it seems that he was not the only one losing their insectile Hive-ass to GKs recently. See Fritz's Game 2 for his lamentations. Not saying anything about Fritz here , as I learned more about playing Eldar from reading his stuff than I did nearly anywhere else, with the exception of playing one game against "The Major" at a great shop Gamer's Hdeout in Missouri. Which sadly is a 15 hour drive away now.
Anyways, I spent more time teaching this guy how to use and abuse his army than we did rolling dice. I guess that's another frustration of a new/small LGS. Most of the guys there are new players, I'm tired of teaching rules to the enemy as I play, or spending time afterward explaining things that they should know about the basic ruleset.
-Greyen
Responsibilities - a Rant
So, as has been pointed out before by Duke at BoLS, there is a social contract between gamers and shop owners.
And I really am beginning to lose faith in my LGS. This guy is really beginning to violate his part. Already he has short hours 10-3 on SATURDAY!? Closed on Sunday-Monday. I can see 10-3 on Sunday and closed on Monday (that's pretty normal store hours anyways for most small mercantile businesses) by 10-3 on Saturday!? Really!? Saturday is the only day that many gamers who do have normal jobs and lives can even think to get out and abut without other prior responsibilities stopping them from happening (married with kids here so I speak from experience). But in the middle of the day and only for short hours. Urg. I understand his motivation, he still works another part time job teaching a college class or two and has a passel of rugrats to corral and usher around, wanting the weekend to be family time is cool, I get it. But - Why on earth open a small business if you do not want it to be successful?
Here is the list of my complaints - If you are local to me you will know.
1. Quit changing your hours at short notice. I really dislike waiting an hour since I plan to get to your shop on Saturday morning when it opens so I can get in a full 2500 point game in the few short hours you are open. And altering your hours from 11-4 to 10-4 to 10-3 to 12-5 to 1030-2 week to week really is beginning to bother me. Especially as there is little notice beforehand beyond when I am about to enter your ship ans see the open light is not actively flashing.
2. If you intend to go camping on a Saturday and want to close the shop early, that's cool. Just please notify me. You have my email and phone number as well as the fact that you saw me earlier in the week to pick up some stuff I ordered. I dislike leaving my house to go to a game store that is going to be open for a total of 2 hours. For that matter Why did you even open the store in he first place?
3. If you intend to run a long term campaign in your shop, one that involves 15+ players, and charge $35 to be a part of the campaign....please decide on prize support and winner tracking/scoring rules etc before it begins. Especially don't change or drop the ball every week for the first 5 weeks. I mean really. At this point I want my money back, or free entry into a elimination or scored tournament with at least $200 in prize money for first place.
This is nearly your last chance Mr. Shop-Owner, you are a cool guy but I want a place to game. I'd rather not drive out an hour each way to game but if that is a more reliable option that your currently sorry-sad-face shop, I will.
-Greyen
And I really am beginning to lose faith in my LGS. This guy is really beginning to violate his part. Already he has short hours 10-3 on SATURDAY!? Closed on Sunday-Monday. I can see 10-3 on Sunday and closed on Monday (that's pretty normal store hours anyways for most small mercantile businesses) by 10-3 on Saturday!? Really!? Saturday is the only day that many gamers who do have normal jobs and lives can even think to get out and abut without other prior responsibilities stopping them from happening (married with kids here so I speak from experience). But in the middle of the day and only for short hours. Urg. I understand his motivation, he still works another part time job teaching a college class or two and has a passel of rugrats to corral and usher around, wanting the weekend to be family time is cool, I get it. But - Why on earth open a small business if you do not want it to be successful?
Here is the list of my complaints - If you are local to me you will know.
1. Quit changing your hours at short notice. I really dislike waiting an hour since I plan to get to your shop on Saturday morning when it opens so I can get in a full 2500 point game in the few short hours you are open. And altering your hours from 11-4 to 10-4 to 10-3 to 12-5 to 1030-2 week to week really is beginning to bother me. Especially as there is little notice beforehand beyond when I am about to enter your ship ans see the open light is not actively flashing.
2. If you intend to go camping on a Saturday and want to close the shop early, that's cool. Just please notify me. You have my email and phone number as well as the fact that you saw me earlier in the week to pick up some stuff I ordered. I dislike leaving my house to go to a game store that is going to be open for a total of 2 hours. For that matter Why did you even open the store in he first place?
3. If you intend to run a long term campaign in your shop, one that involves 15+ players, and charge $35 to be a part of the campaign....please decide on prize support and winner tracking/scoring rules etc before it begins. Especially don't change or drop the ball every week for the first 5 weeks. I mean really. At this point I want my money back, or free entry into a elimination or scored tournament with at least $200 in prize money for first place.
This is nearly your last chance Mr. Shop-Owner, you are a cool guy but I want a place to game. I'd rather not drive out an hour each way to game but if that is a more reliable option that your currently sorry-sad-face shop, I will.
-Greyen
Friday, May 27, 2011
Balancing Act - Form, Fluff, and Function
List building. Something that is on many minds, be it Stelek over on YTTH, or any number of others. This is a skill that take time and experience to hone to a fine edge. To me there are three things that go into list building.
Form- First and foremost is the basic limit of "What models do I have?" You really cannot build a playable army of Tyranids if all you own is Legos. Yes, I know that "stand-in" "counts-as" armies exist, but for those to be playable you need to either be play-testing, or someone like Dan over at teninchtemplate (his stuff is awesome). If you only own 1 rhino then running a list with 3 in it isn't that viable, is it? Some folks can go out and drop a paycheck to build anything they damn well please, but in reality most of us have to build our armies piece by part by little dude. So keep in mind when you are making your list just what is available in your box of guys.
Fluff - Oh the bane of WAAC and troublemaker for internet lists everywhere. Some consider this to be a pointless apect of the game. I myself have read ZERO of the novels and find most of the fluff in the codexes to be crap. Others say that this is an all important aspect of the game and thye bend their army to fit fluff standards (Eldar players...I'm talking to you Mr. Lyanden). Whether this makes your list better or not is largely in the mind of the player, as I have seen and played fluffy lists that steamrolled my littlle army.
Function- This is where some hot debate on the internet lives. Is it an "Ard Boyz Take All Comers 2500 point" tournament list or a 500 point Kill Team/Recon Force list? Is it tuned to kill Bob at the shop's list of Thunderwolf Cavalry spam? Whatever you need to do you can do in 40k, you can accomplish with the right list build. But "can it do ______?" is the ultimate question, be is against MEQ or not, Nidzilla or otherwise. My personal preference is a blanaced list that is flexible but not overly spammy. I like to play 2 dreads with twin-link autocannons and psybolts, not "I-Net Lord GrayKniggit"'s ever vaunted trio. Why? Because I like that last slot open, for further experimentation. Possibly slotting in the Land Raider, in whatever configuration, for the mobile bunker and bullet sponge, or even shoe horning in a purgation squad to get a scout move for easy set up from a GM. Also I only own two sets of rifleman dread arms, and I prefer to play WYSIWYG as much as possible.
But over all I don’t want to be “that guy with the purifier spam list” who no one wants to play at the local shop. Already most of the guys don’t want to play my GK even if I was playing them before they even picked up a single box of figures. Why? Because everyone sees the GK right now and shit themselves with fear. Yes, the new GK ‘dex has subtly rewritten some ground level meta concepts of the 40k ideals of list building and play. No they do not warrant any more fear than any other army. A stupid general playing the most bad-ass Space Puppy list of uber –Interwebs-pwning action will still lose to a relatively intelligent Eldar player who is able to rub a couple brain cells together. Trust me. I was a new player, albeit a smart one thanks, playing Eldar. An average of 4 of the 7 regular players who frequented the shop that I played at were Space Solves players. And the one that annoyed everyone, was most often there and hunting for a game when I walked in. He annoyed everyone because he would download and play the latest net lists and get kicked square in the balls with it every-fooking-time. Even by an inexperienced Foot-dar player like me. Yes, my list had some internet built into it but not truck loads. For crying out loud the first “new” models I bought were Swooping Hawks (the most useless little dudes in the game!), they played 2 games before hitting ebay. But even then I did thing my own way and killed him 5 out of 6 times (it is foot-dar, you can only get so much out of them some days). That one win on his part? Thunderwolf cavalry spam fresh from some big tournament winner’s list. Did it eat my guys? Yes? Why? 2 reasons really, he had awesome luck with the psychic hood on Nyjal that day, and overconfidence on my part. Did I throw away the game and “lose”? No, he won fair and square.
In the end my point is no matter how hard you build a list or how fluffy, it will take some skill to use it effectively. I am a big proponent of a thinking general who plays to win, but understands the most important rule. It is a game, Have fun.
-Greyen
Monday, May 23, 2011
Running Events...Things to know and do
So here in the sweaty unwashed armpit of hell where the Army has chosen to park me for the next couple of years we have a small but aspiring new LGS. It's nearest cousins are both 45 minutes to an hour away so no real marketshare is being lost by either of these more established stores. (I'll do some store reviews later)
This store owner "J" is fairly new to the gaming scene himself, but is a big comic book fan and that was the primary basis for the store. Comics weren't supporting the store completely and so he added in another aspect of nerd bait and added in the gaming stuff. He had customers and a bunch of new players buying battle forces and what not. There were a few experienced players but not many. So he asked for help to run an event. I volunteered, out of the goodness of my heart, and want to attract/find some other players who knew the rules. Event went well but there are things that I learned and some thing I wish the shop owner knew at the time.
So there are some things that any event planner needs to do-
-Make an agreement with the store owner (if they are not the same person, obviously) about some seemingly negligible sticking points, notables are listed below.
-Communicate with your player base early. Put out the word as soon as you can about the date/time and where/how to sign up. As an addendum to this...make sign-up easy.
-Be prepared for the day of the event. Get there early and get set-up. Preferably before the player get there, especially if you want to guarantee even terrain spread or whatever. Players will often adjust terrain to better suit their army if you allow them to set up the tables.
-Have fun, but be fair. You will end up being a judge, and being a dick to some guy you don't like because he tabled you last time you played him doesn't make it more fun. It can and will riun the event for more than just you/him. Now on the flip side if someone is being a dick, warn him, punish him (take points from his score), then drop him and have the owner ask him to leave. Don't get into a screaming match, that's just ugliness that no one needs. The second and third order effects can really ruin a shop (seen it happen).
-If there are bonus points available for something not hard wired into the game (like paint quality, sportsmanship, army fluff/cohesion, etc) have an impartial judge(s) or allow all participants to vote. Ask every player after every game to rate their opponent from 1-5 on sportsmanship, have all players set up their army before /after play to be viewed and voted on for paint. Or something like that. "Because I said so" isn't fair and makes for tournament(s) that no one will want to go to.
-Try to know the rules. As the organizer, you will be the judge most often. If you don't know the rules you can't effectively be the judge, so get someone else.
With any dash of common sense, most of the above will not be anything new. But hopefully it may help you plan/run an event if you are so inclined.
-Greyen
This store owner "J" is fairly new to the gaming scene himself, but is a big comic book fan and that was the primary basis for the store. Comics weren't supporting the store completely and so he added in another aspect of nerd bait and added in the gaming stuff. He had customers and a bunch of new players buying battle forces and what not. There were a few experienced players but not many. So he asked for help to run an event. I volunteered, out of the goodness of my heart, and want to attract/find some other players who knew the rules. Event went well but there are things that I learned and some thing I wish the shop owner knew at the time.
So there are some things that any event planner needs to do-
-Make an agreement with the store owner (if they are not the same person, obviously) about some seemingly negligible sticking points, notables are listed below.
- Hours- Need to open earlier or stay later than usual hours?
- Pricing vs. prize support - how much money does the owner want to make from hosting the event? how much of the entry fee is being put toward the prizes?
- Restrictions on Space - need more tables? This can be a real big problem as a store can only filed so many tables for its size. Some stores only have a few tables to play on in the first place. This can severely limit the number of players, and put a big downer on the event.
-Communicate with your player base early. Put out the word as soon as you can about the date/time and where/how to sign up. As an addendum to this...make sign-up easy.
-Be prepared for the day of the event. Get there early and get set-up. Preferably before the player get there, especially if you want to guarantee even terrain spread or whatever. Players will often adjust terrain to better suit their army if you allow them to set up the tables.
-Have fun, but be fair. You will end up being a judge, and being a dick to some guy you don't like because he tabled you last time you played him doesn't make it more fun. It can and will riun the event for more than just you/him. Now on the flip side if someone is being a dick, warn him, punish him (take points from his score), then drop him and have the owner ask him to leave. Don't get into a screaming match, that's just ugliness that no one needs. The second and third order effects can really ruin a shop (seen it happen).
-If there are bonus points available for something not hard wired into the game (like paint quality, sportsmanship, army fluff/cohesion, etc) have an impartial judge(s) or allow all participants to vote. Ask every player after every game to rate their opponent from 1-5 on sportsmanship, have all players set up their army before /after play to be viewed and voted on for paint. Or something like that. "Because I said so" isn't fair and makes for tournament(s) that no one will want to go to.
-Try to know the rules. As the organizer, you will be the judge most often. If you don't know the rules you can't effectively be the judge, so get someone else.
With any dash of common sense, most of the above will not be anything new. But hopefully it may help you plan/run an event if you are so inclined.
-Greyen
Lessons Learned #1
All right, for those of you who aren't familiar in the military we like to conduct AAR's after every single event. Good/Bad/Ugly/Whatever events, they all end up with some form of written AAR that is intended to document how things went and how to do it better.
I am going to attempt to do AARs for most of the games I play and events that I attend. Theory and mathhammer are fine, but I far prefer actual experience to thought exercises.
So after this last little LGS Tourney (see Battle reports below) there are several things to look at and think about.
Things that went well and are worth keeping...
1. Riflemen Dreads, while these guys weren't spectacular they did their jobs nicely. With a decent price and good survivability a pair of them is well worth it.
-But is a third worth taking? Interweb consensus is yes, but I think that third and final heavy slot can be used otherwise. For later argument/testing I think.
2.Brotherhood Banner - This thing really shines in bigger groups, but even with just 5 guys in the group an additional attack per model and auto passing force weapon checks is well worth it.
3. Deep Striking 5 man GKSS squads later in the game. This allows for the small and mildly squishy nature a touch more survivability as well as other benefits. It allows that magical (for GKs) 24 inch range to be maximised and for a late game score.
Things that need to be examined further-
1. Librarian powers...really only 3 of these have impressed me as useful all the time. Sanctuary, is a must every single time. This power is a must, allowing you to control the assault better and possibly grab a free wound or two. Shrouding, really situational but very much useful in many situations and used in most if not all games I have played so far. Might of Titan, +1 str that stacks with Hammerhand, yes please, for 5 points...even better. Warp Rift netted me 1 penetrating hit, one time in three games. This could be more useful if the libby is running solo, but when attached to a group of Termies it isn't valuable.
2. Land Raider- Now only for 2000+pt games. My track record for these very awesome tanks is about 50/50. 50% of the time they get popped/wrecked in the very first turn, the other half of the time it lives for most of the game and is effectively Conan.
3. 5 man squad size for GKSS- do you combat squad 10 men squads for 2x the scoring possibilities or just run a couple (2-3) small squads? Situation/game dependent but in a tourney the list can't change. Combat squadding happens at deployment but list writing happens long before that.
Things that went poorly and won't see the light of day again.
1- My own lack of judgement. Sometimes I go for the longshot risk that may have a big pay-off. Many times it works out great, many times it fails horribly. Lesson learned here, but it will probably need to be learned a number of more times. Its a game, make it fun, more risk is more fun.
2- Lack of transports; simply put I need more Rhinos and Preds. The extra points for the TL Assault Cannon with Psybolts may or may not be worth it. But is trading 2 fire points and 4 more pax for the mounted gun worth while? Depends on the use I guess. We will see.
I am going to attempt to do AARs for most of the games I play and events that I attend. Theory and mathhammer are fine, but I far prefer actual experience to thought exercises.
So after this last little LGS Tourney (see Battle reports below) there are several things to look at and think about.
Things that went well and are worth keeping...
1. Riflemen Dreads, while these guys weren't spectacular they did their jobs nicely. With a decent price and good survivability a pair of them is well worth it.
-But is a third worth taking? Interweb consensus is yes, but I think that third and final heavy slot can be used otherwise. For later argument/testing I think.
2.Brotherhood Banner - This thing really shines in bigger groups, but even with just 5 guys in the group an additional attack per model and auto passing force weapon checks is well worth it.
3. Deep Striking 5 man GKSS squads later in the game. This allows for the small and mildly squishy nature a touch more survivability as well as other benefits. It allows that magical (for GKs) 24 inch range to be maximised and for a late game score.
Things that need to be examined further-
1. Librarian powers...really only 3 of these have impressed me as useful all the time. Sanctuary, is a must every single time. This power is a must, allowing you to control the assault better and possibly grab a free wound or two. Shrouding, really situational but very much useful in many situations and used in most if not all games I have played so far. Might of Titan, +1 str that stacks with Hammerhand, yes please, for 5 points...even better. Warp Rift netted me 1 penetrating hit, one time in three games. This could be more useful if the libby is running solo, but when attached to a group of Termies it isn't valuable.
2. Land Raider- Now only for 2000+pt games. My track record for these very awesome tanks is about 50/50. 50% of the time they get popped/wrecked in the very first turn, the other half of the time it lives for most of the game and is effectively Conan.
3. 5 man squad size for GKSS- do you combat squad 10 men squads for 2x the scoring possibilities or just run a couple (2-3) small squads? Situation/game dependent but in a tourney the list can't change. Combat squadding happens at deployment but list writing happens long before that.
Things that went poorly and won't see the light of day again.
1- My own lack of judgement. Sometimes I go for the longshot risk that may have a big pay-off. Many times it works out great, many times it fails horribly. Lesson learned here, but it will probably need to be learned a number of more times. Its a game, make it fun, more risk is more fun.
2- Lack of transports; simply put I need more Rhinos and Preds. The extra points for the TL Assault Cannon with Psybolts may or may not be worth it. But is trading 2 fire points and 4 more pax for the mounted gun worth while? Depends on the use I guess. We will see.
Escalation Game #3
Classic easy and simple. I draw a Chaos Demons player who simply looks at the GKs and nearly throws down his stuff. He had already lost before he came to the table, in his mind at least.
1750 list adds a LR and purifier squad with 2 incinerators and a staff to the list as well as a psybolt ammo TL assault cannon pred to the table.
Hes running 3 soulgrinders, 3 sets of deamonettes, 3 sets of 3 nurglings, 2 sets of 3 fiends, a fateweaver, and Scarbrand. This game is fun, a classic match-up that really is more silly than anything else. He goes first and has me deploy. I pick a corner and castle up, knowing that he has little shooty and will need to come to me. With 2 riflemen and the LR as well as 4 psycannons and the TL assault cannon, he'd have some firepower to contend with on his way to me.
Turn1- he gets his list picks and drops in the 3 soul grinders, 1 set of deamonettes and the three sets of nurglings. He intends to tarpit me with the nurglings and nuke my armor with the grinders while the rest of his army comes in. Okay, got it. His shooting is spectacular as he explodes the Raider, first turn first shot, more on this phenomena in another post. He also gets an arm off of one of the riflemen dreads. On my turn the castle opens up and the fun begins. Purifiers flame and assault a nurgling set, destroying them. The termies shoot and then assault into a set of nurglings that we poised to tarpit my dreads. Using the nurglings to catapult my self nearly an extra 12 inches due to assault range, pile in (my termies were spread out far across the back field and only one could get into true base to base), and the following consolidation (in his turn no less), gets them into prime range for the following turn. I immob one soulgrinder and disarm another. Go psycannons, and rending STR 7 assault cannon. In the following turns the game goes even more downhill for him.
He drops in the rest of his list with the exception of Scarbrand, he keeps his distance due to the Warp Quake. Shooting for him is frustrating, managing to shake or stun my dreads and kill a few others. He does kill off my purifiers, though. Running most of his ladies through cover and ready to assault me next turn.
But wait, here comes the fun part. Some moving and shooting sets up the real entertainment. I pop one of his grinders and begin trading shots with his immobilized one with a dread (this continues for the remainder of the game). I shoot a couple of his girls and then multi assault with my termies. Before he can do much due to psychostroke 'nades I completely destroy 14 or so deamonettes and fateweaver (termies have redeemed themselves).
Next turn sees some manuevering and the coming of a well made Scarbrand. He proceeds to shoot and breath at my termies killing 5 or so. Action off center has some nurglings and a squad of deamonettes battling 2 squads of GKSS and my pred. They make it into assault but get killed in the end. Power armor for the win. In the center his gunless grinder assaults but gets wrecked by 3 penetrating hits at I6/STR6 thanks to hammerhand and MoT. It explodes killing one of the termies. Next turn leaves Scarbrand assaulting and the his death. All he has left on the board is an immobilized Grinder and I have the bulk of my army. He conceeds and that is the end.
At the end of the day 2-1 and I end up taking best overall for wins, painting and sportsmanship. Cool. Many lessones learned which I will share in the next post.
1750 list adds a LR and purifier squad with 2 incinerators and a staff to the list as well as a psybolt ammo TL assault cannon pred to the table.
Hes running 3 soulgrinders, 3 sets of deamonettes, 3 sets of 3 nurglings, 2 sets of 3 fiends, a fateweaver, and Scarbrand. This game is fun, a classic match-up that really is more silly than anything else. He goes first and has me deploy. I pick a corner and castle up, knowing that he has little shooty and will need to come to me. With 2 riflemen and the LR as well as 4 psycannons and the TL assault cannon, he'd have some firepower to contend with on his way to me.
Turn1- he gets his list picks and drops in the 3 soul grinders, 1 set of deamonettes and the three sets of nurglings. He intends to tarpit me with the nurglings and nuke my armor with the grinders while the rest of his army comes in. Okay, got it. His shooting is spectacular as he explodes the Raider, first turn first shot, more on this phenomena in another post. He also gets an arm off of one of the riflemen dreads. On my turn the castle opens up and the fun begins. Purifiers flame and assault a nurgling set, destroying them. The termies shoot and then assault into a set of nurglings that we poised to tarpit my dreads. Using the nurglings to catapult my self nearly an extra 12 inches due to assault range, pile in (my termies were spread out far across the back field and only one could get into true base to base), and the following consolidation (in his turn no less), gets them into prime range for the following turn. I immob one soulgrinder and disarm another. Go psycannons, and rending STR 7 assault cannon. In the following turns the game goes even more downhill for him.
He drops in the rest of his list with the exception of Scarbrand, he keeps his distance due to the Warp Quake. Shooting for him is frustrating, managing to shake or stun my dreads and kill a few others. He does kill off my purifiers, though. Running most of his ladies through cover and ready to assault me next turn.
But wait, here comes the fun part. Some moving and shooting sets up the real entertainment. I pop one of his grinders and begin trading shots with his immobilized one with a dread (this continues for the remainder of the game). I shoot a couple of his girls and then multi assault with my termies. Before he can do much due to psychostroke 'nades I completely destroy 14 or so deamonettes and fateweaver (termies have redeemed themselves).
Next turn sees some manuevering and the coming of a well made Scarbrand. He proceeds to shoot and breath at my termies killing 5 or so. Action off center has some nurglings and a squad of deamonettes battling 2 squads of GKSS and my pred. They make it into assault but get killed in the end. Power armor for the win. In the center his gunless grinder assaults but gets wrecked by 3 penetrating hits at I6/STR6 thanks to hammerhand and MoT. It explodes killing one of the termies. Next turn leaves Scarbrand assaulting and the his death. All he has left on the board is an immobilized Grinder and I have the bulk of my army. He conceeds and that is the end.
At the end of the day 2-1 and I end up taking best overall for wins, painting and sportsmanship. Cool. Many lessones learned which I will share in the next post.
Escalation Game #2
After losing the last game I moved on with little thought of winning but a few lessons learned. The next game is against a vanilla SM player who is using Lysander in a pretty standard list. Hes running 2 rifleman dreads, a TLLas Pred with some guys and a techmarine. Lysander is in a pod with some sternguard. and a speeder.
Game is spearhead with 5 objectives. Most of the objectives are clustered on the right hand of the board circled almost directly on the 12" non-deployment ring in the center of the table.
My list adds another 5 man GKSS with psycannon, rifleman dred, and fills my termie blob out to 10 full bodies and another psycannon.
Once again I get to deploy second and choose to deepstrike my two squads of GKSS troops. The termies get some cover and spread over my corner of the table with the dreads in hard cover. 1 failed attempt to sieze and its on.
This game rotated around a large LOS Blocking ruin in the center and another in corner opposite me in the long edge which has an objective and a squad of scout snipers. Turn 1 he shoots off 7 termies ! 7!! Oh crap there goes the bulk of my army. He has a squad in cover on an objective in his area, just on the edge of table center line. There is another opposite it, I move termie remains to the building his snipers are in and start shooting stuff with the riflemen dreads. Park his pred with one of them (trying to open the thing up) and shoot a little more but nothing major.
Turn 2 proceeded the deep striking fun. He drops in his pod with Lysander and co., shoots at my termies who nearly retreated off the board last turn. He manuevers a little, fixes the Pred but fails to do much else. I on the other hand have some fun. Thrawn gets back up (love this guy!) and proceeds to go meet Lysander to hold him up. Thrawn is an awesome multitasker. Speed bump, scoring unit, fearless phoenix style termie. Like a bad toe fungus he just keeps on coming back, can't ever really get rid of him. The Libby and remaining termies run for cover and my GKSS both come in. One between the two ruins on his side of the board, both holding objectives and the other in my deployment area to hold one in mine. Thrawn and Lysander meet for a coffee break as neither of them are successful in doing anything.
Turn three sees some shooting, notably my Libby gets gibbed by lucky heavy bolter fire. Thrawn gets dropped in his turn letting Lysander wander off but gets back up to run over and contest the objective his Sterngard are sitting on. Between my squad and Thrawn's assault that set of sterngard is down to a single dude. To his side my GKSS shoots and then assaults him off the back objective, while my remaining termies move through the building to catch a third. So at the end of turn three we are low on time and I hold 3 and contest 1. Time is running short at this point, the next turn at best has him contesting 3 and holding 0, to my holding 1 and contesting 3, either way a win for me. We call it there, interesting game.
Game is spearhead with 5 objectives. Most of the objectives are clustered on the right hand of the board circled almost directly on the 12" non-deployment ring in the center of the table.
My list adds another 5 man GKSS with psycannon, rifleman dred, and fills my termie blob out to 10 full bodies and another psycannon.
Once again I get to deploy second and choose to deepstrike my two squads of GKSS troops. The termies get some cover and spread over my corner of the table with the dreads in hard cover. 1 failed attempt to sieze and its on.
This game rotated around a large LOS Blocking ruin in the center and another in corner opposite me in the long edge which has an objective and a squad of scout snipers. Turn 1 he shoots off 7 termies ! 7!! Oh crap there goes the bulk of my army. He has a squad in cover on an objective in his area, just on the edge of table center line. There is another opposite it, I move termie remains to the building his snipers are in and start shooting stuff with the riflemen dreads. Park his pred with one of them (trying to open the thing up) and shoot a little more but nothing major.
Turn 2 proceeded the deep striking fun. He drops in his pod with Lysander and co., shoots at my termies who nearly retreated off the board last turn. He manuevers a little, fixes the Pred but fails to do much else. I on the other hand have some fun. Thrawn gets back up (love this guy!) and proceeds to go meet Lysander to hold him up. Thrawn is an awesome multitasker. Speed bump, scoring unit, fearless phoenix style termie. Like a bad toe fungus he just keeps on coming back, can't ever really get rid of him. The Libby and remaining termies run for cover and my GKSS both come in. One between the two ruins on his side of the board, both holding objectives and the other in my deployment area to hold one in mine. Thrawn and Lysander meet for a coffee break as neither of them are successful in doing anything.
Turn three sees some shooting, notably my Libby gets gibbed by lucky heavy bolter fire. Thrawn gets dropped in his turn letting Lysander wander off but gets back up to run over and contest the objective his Sterngard are sitting on. Between my squad and Thrawn's assault that set of sterngard is down to a single dude. To his side my GKSS shoots and then assaults him off the back objective, while my remaining termies move through the building to catch a third. So at the end of turn three we are low on time and I hold 3 and contest 1. Time is running short at this point, the next turn at best has him contesting 3 and holding 0, to my holding 1 and contesting 3, either way a win for me. We call it there, interesting game.
Sunday, May 22, 2011
LGS Escalation Tourney - Game #1
So today I played in a little local tourney.
-Escalation
-3 rounds (750/1250/1750) respectively
-What was in your 750 had to be in your 1250, but could be upgraded, and like wise for the 1750
-Round 1: 750pts -Dawn of War, 2 objectives (4x4 board this game only)
-Round 2: 1250 - Spearhead 5 objectives
-Round 3: 1750 - Pitched Battle Annhilation
750 List:
Libby with Hammer, MoT, Sanctuary
5xGKSS w Psycannon & 3 halb
5x temies
-thrawn (important later, expensive now)
-psycannon & halb
-banner
-2x halb
Rifleman Dread w/ psybolt
Not the most optimized list but able to bring a variety of pain. Of course I draw a fist full of cheese for a first opponent. Nice guy, but playing a group of Chaos Space Marine Models and running them under the Blood Angels rules as Fallen Blood Angels. Whatever. Due to "Stoopid!" play on my part I loose this one. He had a couple of dreads in drop pods, and a couple of rhinos with troops and a libraian. As usual I get 2nd turn (I think I have gone first maybe 2 x out of the last 20 games or so). He deploys to the reserves and I pile up in my corner near my objective, thinking f walking my termies over to contest his while holding mine with the GKSS in cover, making him come to me thru TLAC and psycannon fire. He drop pods in the first dread with blood claws nearly on top of me, but also blocking my main avenue of travel through to his objective. So after he flames my termies (killing 2- this becomes a theme of the day) I proceed to immob and remove an arm from that dread. Then thinking I'd be a stud I assault his one armed dread with libby and the boys, dropping str 6 hits and the demon hammer. Well...dice and CRS (Can't Remember Shit) fail me here. I hit him a couple time and then forget to add in that extra d6 of penetration for the MoT, especially after the Libby fails to hit him with the hammer. This effectively loses the game for me. That dread could have easily been avoided as it was now harmless unless it could reach something with a flamer. It ended with Thrawn running around solo trying to whack his HQ and failing.
So termies...really dissappointed me in some ways today. You will see why in the next game. But in game three...it all comes together like it should.
-Escalation
-3 rounds (750/1250/1750) respectively
-What was in your 750 had to be in your 1250, but could be upgraded, and like wise for the 1750
-Round 1: 750pts -Dawn of War, 2 objectives (4x4 board this game only)
-Round 2: 1250 - Spearhead 5 objectives
-Round 3: 1750 - Pitched Battle Annhilation
750 List:
Libby with Hammer, MoT, Sanctuary
5xGKSS w Psycannon & 3 halb
5x temies
-thrawn (important later, expensive now)
-psycannon & halb
-banner
-2x halb
Rifleman Dread w/ psybolt
Not the most optimized list but able to bring a variety of pain. Of course I draw a fist full of cheese for a first opponent. Nice guy, but playing a group of Chaos Space Marine Models and running them under the Blood Angels rules as Fallen Blood Angels. Whatever. Due to "Stoopid!" play on my part I loose this one. He had a couple of dreads in drop pods, and a couple of rhinos with troops and a libraian. As usual I get 2nd turn (I think I have gone first maybe 2 x out of the last 20 games or so). He deploys to the reserves and I pile up in my corner near my objective, thinking f walking my termies over to contest his while holding mine with the GKSS in cover, making him come to me thru TLAC and psycannon fire. He drop pods in the first dread with blood claws nearly on top of me, but also blocking my main avenue of travel through to his objective. So after he flames my termies (killing 2- this becomes a theme of the day) I proceed to immob and remove an arm from that dread. Then thinking I'd be a stud I assault his one armed dread with libby and the boys, dropping str 6 hits and the demon hammer. Well...dice and CRS (Can't Remember Shit) fail me here. I hit him a couple time and then forget to add in that extra d6 of penetration for the MoT, especially after the Libby fails to hit him with the hammer. This effectively loses the game for me. That dread could have easily been avoided as it was now harmless unless it could reach something with a flamer. It ended with Thrawn running around solo trying to whack his HQ and failing.
So termies...really dissappointed me in some ways today. You will see why in the next game. But in game three...it all comes together like it should.
About me and why I am posting this crap.
Hello reader,
There probably isn't more than one or two bored random folks who will read this, but meh. I feel like posting it anyways.
First of all, real life stuff. I am married, 2 kids, have manatee for a dog and work in the military. Been here working around and in the industrial accident/WMD field for a few years. But enough of that.
As for the hobby side of life, I have played assorted and varied RPG's (papaer and dice type as well as electronic) for nearly 30 years. I have messed around with some miniature war games in that time. Over the last few years I have taken up playing Warhammer 40k.
I started with Eldar. Much to the chagrin f a few of the guys at my local shop at the time. They preached about losing often and painfully. But after investing a few pounds of flesh and some time in familiarizing myelf with ebay and metal models, I had an army. Footdar, and I lost with it. But not as badly as they said, and over the next few months of playing against nearly a diet that largely consisted of Tau and Space Puppies I turned that win/loss record into a winning record. Over time I grew out of playing with 3 old metal Wraithlords and their handlers. Only to fall into playing with more old metal models and an outdated codex. That's right the internet's most favorite - Daemonhunters....now known by their shiny new 'dex name of Grey Knights.
Yes I play Grey Knights, but I played them for a long while before this new book hit the shelves. You can tell just by the sheer mass of models that I own. Yes, mass as in weight. 5 in 26 termies, and 5 power armor wearing dudes out of 40 are plastic. Almost all of them carry halberds, because I am to lazy to remodel them. I am also looney compared to many of those posting about army builds, I try to stay pure GK, no inquisitors or their insane add-on units of lame-asses assistants. No thank you, no laser shooting monkey or suicide bomber psyker lists.
So far with the new Grey Knight Dex I am 6/1/0 at assorted points, with one FLGS tournament "overall winner". Nothing crazy impressive but there are a few possibly thought provoking concepts that have passed my mind that I though I's share.
-Greyen
There probably isn't more than one or two bored random folks who will read this, but meh. I feel like posting it anyways.
First of all, real life stuff. I am married, 2 kids, have manatee for a dog and work in the military. Been here working around and in the industrial accident/WMD field for a few years. But enough of that.
As for the hobby side of life, I have played assorted and varied RPG's (papaer and dice type as well as electronic) for nearly 30 years. I have messed around with some miniature war games in that time. Over the last few years I have taken up playing Warhammer 40k.
I started with Eldar. Much to the chagrin f a few of the guys at my local shop at the time. They preached about losing often and painfully. But after investing a few pounds of flesh and some time in familiarizing myelf with ebay and metal models, I had an army. Footdar, and I lost with it. But not as badly as they said, and over the next few months of playing against nearly a diet that largely consisted of Tau and Space Puppies I turned that win/loss record into a winning record. Over time I grew out of playing with 3 old metal Wraithlords and their handlers. Only to fall into playing with more old metal models and an outdated codex. That's right the internet's most favorite - Daemonhunters....now known by their shiny new 'dex name of Grey Knights.
Yes I play Grey Knights, but I played them for a long while before this new book hit the shelves. You can tell just by the sheer mass of models that I own. Yes, mass as in weight. 5 in 26 termies, and 5 power armor wearing dudes out of 40 are plastic. Almost all of them carry halberds, because I am to lazy to remodel them. I am also looney compared to many of those posting about army builds, I try to stay pure GK, no inquisitors or their insane add-on units of lame-asses assistants. No thank you, no laser shooting monkey or suicide bomber psyker lists.
So far with the new Grey Knight Dex I am 6/1/0 at assorted points, with one FLGS tournament "overall winner". Nothing crazy impressive but there are a few possibly thought provoking concepts that have passed my mind that I though I's share.
-Greyen
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