Beginning the road to GenghisCon

Well, with league now over, and the year drawing to a close, its time to start really thinking about GhengisCon. For the next month and a half its going to be painting, building, testing, and gearing up for the event. Honestly, the whole league was practice for it, but now its only Genghis. I have plenty to do, and not a lot of time to do it in.

In th end...

Well, the slow grow league is ended. I managed to finish in the top 5. Thats not saying much though, started with 8 players, 2 dropped, and the other is not playing an army suited to him. He may not be playing a system suited to him. The real highlight was the final tournament, in which I finished third. I played the first place player in the final round, and lost, but since it was battle points, and I didn't get all of my bonus points in the second round, I was bumped to third by a player I beat. I enjoyed the whole experience, it really helped me to get my head around 8th and my army. I also now have a completely painted army and then some. The elements I had previously are all painted, including my priestess, a scorpion, and 2 swarms, plus the elements I added, like the (much) larger unit of bowmen, and I fleshed out my Tomb Guard. My list is now ready for a tournament, though dropping back to 2250 is somewhat problematic, and I am having trouble sticking it in and keeping the flow. Mainly in the Heroes section. I'm back in a position where I don't have any real anti-magic boost, but also don't see how to get that and keep my own magic superiority. My current list is going to take a bit of play testing to get up to snuff. Unfortunately, I think most of the other players are a little burnt out on Fantasy.
Only time will tell....
In the grim darkness of the far, far future....
Oops

And a Psion dies.

Well, technically not dead, but the campaign is. I was really enjoying my Shardmind Psion. His telekinetic powers let him control the battle field, while his damage powers were able to take down any foe. The Dark Sun module was very difficult, with several losing scenarios that pushed the story. I liked the challenge, and the not always going to win feel was nice. However, Josh didn't like it, and he is a baby. He totally sabotaged the campaign. It was a low move. Greg tried to bring it back, and I'm sure he could have, but Josh would have just done something else.
So, now we are starting a new one, in which I am looking at being an elemental Shaman. Unfortunately, the races that fit the stats I need aren't really ones I want to play. I could play another Shardmind, but I was getting really tired of the genital jokes my character seemed to invoke. I don't know.
Time to do some primal chanting.

Whats this? A win?

That's right folks! Tomb Kings have scored a win. And not just a win, but a Solid Victory. I managed to take down some Dwarves. A week before I even tied some High Elves, which sucked, because I pulled that from at least a Solid Victory, hoping for a Major one *sigh*. But not this time, this time I assessed my chips, and just went for a win, any win. It was a near perfect match up, I was running Khalida and her giant unit of archers, he was running artillery Dwarves. They just set back and let me poison them to death.
I had tried a combat heavy list against the High Elves, and it worked out well, but I think part of that was due to my opponent splitting his forces to much. This Khalida list, with its single huge Archer unit, 2 Screaming Skulls(that's right, 2. Thank you Jack Hand), and a Casket, will do better for me, especially in the league, as I am facing an Empire army(other empire player dropped), a Dwarf army, Saurus, and a Dark Elf Hydra(likely 2). I plan on taking something similar to Ghengiscon.
A few more wins, and I will have a few wins.

Trick or Treat

Week 5 of the grow leagues sees the first non-book scenario: Trick or Treat. Very similar to watch tower, but changed in that you can charge the building and get a Trick or a Treat. I was only able to get a single charge off, before my opponent occupied it. The result was an Ironcurse Icon for me and a lose for my record. I still have to play my second game this coming weekend, and plan to go for the win, instead of the loot. While of all the available items, the Ironcurse Icon is the best for me, I think a win would be better.

Consistancy is the mother of depression.

Hmmm... And I thought I was doing so well. First game against Chuck's Empire list, and I failed.

Finding Strength

In my cunning plan, I continue to lose, so as to throw the rest of the League off guard. Actually, if I could remember my rules, I think I would be doing better.

Growing League

So, its been a couple weeks since my last post, and let me tell you things have changed. OK, thats a lie, I'm ranked last. Finished the first tournament last Saturday, came in 8th.... of 8. That was a wopping 1 point, but I did get 3 points for painting(thats max), though it wasn't hard. A point for primed, a point for 3 colors, and a point for based. I was the only one with a finished army, and got kudos for that, but not much else. I also caught flak for my stellar record. Afterwards, I was able to get my week 3 games in, which bumped up to 1250.

Better...

Well, not really. A couple 40K and a couple Grow League games. Good on one, less so the other.

OK, I may need a new army book

Last weekend, I started in a Grow League. Starting is 750 points, then 1500, finally 2500. Each set will have a few weeks of games(3 I think), and then a tournament. The idea is to get people building armies for the new edition, and having prize support to aide everyone. I don't think I'm going to get any. I tried several lists, facing the same High Elf player each time, and got slaughtered each time, the worst, of course, being the time we played for the league game. 900 victory points to zip. I killed damn near nothing, and definately not whole units. He had Sword Masters, which just ate my squad of Tomb Guard, with combat res killing the King AND Heirophant Liche Priest. This left a yet unseen swarm in his back field. Needless to say, it arrived, then left. I just don't have the staying power that I need to be able to have troops to res next turn. I have since remade my list, going more along the lines of what I plan to take to Ghengiscon next spring. That list will be a Khalida bow line list. My 750 point can't take her, neither will my 1500 point, but till then I plan to run a core of archers, flanked by 2 units of light horse, led by my obligatory King and Liche Priest, with 0 equipment save a 5 point 6+ ward save versus war machines icon on the King, all backed up by a Screaming Skull Catapult. Hopefully this list will give me some punch, without be hamstrung by 40% of my army being tied in my 2 characters. We shall see, second games start today.
May the dust from my powdered bones get in my enemy's eyes.

Mental powers RULE!!!

So, I started into a D&D 4e game yesterday. I have a character for the PHB 3, thanks to a friends D&D Insider account. I'm a Shardmind Psion. He(it) is sweet. I am made of crystal, a living construct, and I don't need to eat or sleep or breathe. My powers lend towards the Telekinetic side of things. In the final encounter I was able to basically control an entire side of the combat, keeping just ahead of the enemies, and taking out the minions who were killing hostages. I guess its the second time the rest of the group had done the encounter, and the first time they wiped. They seemed impressed by my character, since apparently another player also had a psion, but was kinda sporadic in how he played. We made it through a dust storm hiding the entrance and took a midday extended rest. I can already see that I am going to rub a bit. Though it does explain why they used their Dailies in the first encounter. And against less than brutal opponents. It might have been fear of a rewipe, but we'll see.

After the DM Greg and Chad left, the rest of us, Josh, Mike(Josh's cousin?), and myself threw down a little 500pt game. Mike is just starting his 'Nids, so this is what he had. I ran 2 standard Chaos Space Marine squads of 5, a close combat Defiler, and a Tzeentch Daemon Prince with wings, Warptime, and Bolt of Change, 500 even. Josh ran Orks, 1 squad Boys and Mek in Warwagon, with a Def Dred that just set in the back guarding his objective. Mike ran 5 Genestealers, a Hive Tyrant, 2 squads of 3 Warriors, 1 close combat, one ranged.
Rolled Capture and Control and we tied, shocker. All in all in went pretty well. I managed to hold on to my objective, even when it went basically 2 vs me.

Next Sunday looks to be either more D&D or paint and play 40k.
Either way, I will crush them with my mind!

Tacticon Day 2 - Warhammer Fantasy

This tournament could have gone better. I finished 10th, but there were only 18 players. Still middle of the field, which was my goal, and saying 10th sounds nice. I should have done better, finishing painting would have given me at least 9th. Having played my first game to completion would likely have given me many more, but more on that later.

Tacticon Day 1- Warhammer 40k

Day 1 is here. I got to throw down some fun games of 40K, and managed to take 31st with a win and two loses. There were 44 players, so I didn't make my midfield goal. It was a load of fun, and depending on how they change things for next year, I am definitely going.

PreTacticon

Its the night before Tacticon, and I am totally stoked. Though, even without taking time to post, I didn't get my armies painted. Should be painting now, but I, of course, forgot my paints.
Well, I guess its off to bed for some very much needed sleep.

No Fear!

So, I faced them. I have faced the army I feared the most, and the army type I was worried about. And I fear them no more. Though, I of course forgot to take any pictures.

So, I threw down against two armies this last Saturday. The first was a heavily mechanised Salamander Army. I lost, but I think I would have done better had he dropped one of his pods first turn, because on the second turn my Terms had nothing to do and just kinda hid in my back field, which didn't matter, because they got hit and fled off the board. With my sorceror. My DP managed to bring some hurt, Wind of Chaos is pretty awesome. In the end, I placed my objectives to far foward, thinking I would invade. Just couldn't get in there.

The second game was also a lose, but was against IG Leafblower wannabe. His heavies were all Leman Rus Exterminators(I think, plasmas). Held everything in reserve, and had second turn. This meant I survived 2 turns with 0 loses. Which made me able to turn to the peanut gallery and say "Told ya I would last past first turn. And then I screwed up. BIG! Almost everything dropped in second turn, save pne unit of Sons in their Rhino. My DP dropped beside the Russes, all lined up perfect for two Winds of Chaos on two of the Russes. Resulting in only them being shaken, but no shooting from these... SWEET. My Obliterators dropped in behind, and my Terms dropped behind his circled Chimeras and some troops. A couple blams and I would be rolling. Except, I forgot. With both. I had it in the bag, could have popped the last Rus with my Oblits in twin linked melta range, cutting the Russes to two that couldn't fire, and continued to wreak havoc next turn. I could have fired on the unit(though in hind sight a chimera may be a better target, don't know) maybe even sending them off the board. Instead, both units then took heavy fire and damage, and put me back on the back foot.
My setup and strategy were sound, I just failed to pay attention, and payed heavily.

Though I lost both games, I learned plenty. I did drop Bolt of Change on my Sorceror for Winds of Chaos. The multiple shots, and ability to at least glance bigger vehicles, possibley multiple bigger vehicles, is just to good to pass up. I feel that my list is pretty strong. Not uber, garuanteed win strong, but fun not getting blown off the table strong.

My biggest worry is my Tomb Kings. I am well on my way to no games with a new list AND a new system. I think I am just going to have to play games with my self. Awesome.

Tacticon update

I've been making pretty steady progress, having started rivets on my rhino, brought my Dread up to greenstuffing, and started and almost finished my new Defiler. Today its greenstuff, hopefully a game or two, preferably fantasy, and I still need to start skinning my last Rhino.

Next weekend, some of the guys and I are getting together to paint, and I would really like to have my army built by then. I'm still waiting on to EBay orders that will finish off my Obliterators and give me my claws for all my terms.

Week in review

I plan to throw up some weekly updates, in hopes of keeping my self on task and on target. I have already signed up for Tacticon in both Fantasy and 40K, so I need to get cracking with only a month left to go.

I finished painting the base coat of my Thousand Sons Acolytes, and started in on the terminators, getting most of the blue painted, but thats about it. Sounds kinda pitiful, and with the dark color of the blue and the black primer, it looks even more so. So, no picture for those, just have to take my word for it.

I was able to get in 2 games with me list on Sunday. Both 3 ways against 'Nids and Sisters. The first was sieze and control with standard set up. Went pretty well. I marshalled my forces, advancing out of my deployment to engage the Sisters, then pulling back my Sons to control my objective, and fend of the encroaching 'Nids. In the Nid deployment zone, he only left some Warriors, but since nobody was really headed that way, they were in prime position to hold that objective. That just wouldn't do! So, my Daemon Prince stepped up, deep striking in and drawing both the Warriors and a unit of Hive Guard into a protracted combat, which saw the Guard dead early, and the Warriors hurting when the end came and only the Prince was in range of the objective. Across the board the Sisters held their objective, some of my Sons held mine. Sisters and Acolytes draw, Nids lose.

The second game was kill points. I toasted this one. The Sisters became mostly fodder for the other two armies. I did plenty of mopping up after the Nids, finishing off squads and taking points. I also took down plenty of Nids along the way as well. The next round would have seen the Nids doing some catch up, but to Calvin's dismay, there was no next turn.

Iron Man Paint Competition

So, I competed in an Iron Man paint competition over the weekend, taking second for best painted. Here is what I was able to get done:

11 Acolytes(Thousand Sons) armour painted blue, inked purple, robes painted khemri brown, guns and shoulders painted gold, guns painted boltgun silver. Here is a close up of one of them.

No, I just need to keep going, flowing through the whole army. I have a WIP Daemon Prince that I will have pictures up for someday. I also just won an auction for 5 more Black Reach, which will finish off my terminator squad and give me a sergeant to use for my Chaos Sorcerer Lord conversion. I am trying to get another set, so I can do my Obliterators.
I recently tore the legs off my Dreadnought, deciding a more bird/mech warrior style set of legs would work better. My defiler I will likely totally scrap, keeping it for my second while I build a new one with similar legs to the dread. My first rhino is on the verge of being completely built if I would just sit down and finish it. Other than that, I am well on my way to my 1850 list for Tacticon, which I have already signed up for, so I had better get working.
On the topic of Tacticon, my Tomb Kings army will use mostly models I already have, with only my converted Priestess, Tomb Scorpion, and swarms being added. They do need painted, so that will need done as well.
I also think that I will be able to get in several games at least with both armies, as I think I will be joining the Saturday group, the ones who put on the Iron Man Challenge.
Well, time to roll some dice.

I'M ALIVE!

With Goreswirl rolling, I have mostly beeen doing my thing over there, listing Bat Reps and such. It does mean that I am getting in WAY more games, with last weekend(Father's Day) being the first week in 6 I didn't game. Which I am not sure that counts, I should technically say that it is the first weekend I haven't 40ked, as I did get to play the new Death Watch RPG(technically also 40k, I am just a liar everywhere). I must say that come August I am buying this. It is an AWESOME game. Which means, that in July I am buying Warhammer Fantasy, August is Death Watch, and September is Tacticon. WEEEE!!!! Broke.
I am not sure about Tacticon, I pry should just go for the fun, which is all I ever really was going for anyway. I know I am not good enough to take any places, but it would be fun to know that I could. My Tzeentch army isn't strong enough, as it is seriously missing the pow needed to take out armour, specifically IG. Its does however have plenty of AP 3 weaponry for the Blood Angels and Space Wolves. I guess it all depends on the draw. Who knows I may just end up facing Nids and Crons, or Eldar, with who I have ZERO experience. But thn its all about facing new armies anyway. I would however like to NOT finish dead last, but then somebody has to. It might not even matter, as I still have a lot of work left to do on my Acolytes before they are ready, but I did manage to pick up a larger pack of green stuff, so I plan to really start diving in this weekend.
I did manage to pls a Slaanesh list this last Goreswirl(2 weekends ago) and would have won, too. But the problem was, I didn't enjoy the list. At the end of the game, I ended up pulling off the hill, just so I wouldn't have to play it again. Alternate objectives turned out to be fun(for me anyway) I don't know what everyone else thought, I was the only one to really complete mine, and I did that relatively early.
I hope to post pictures of my Daemon Prince son, as I have started painting him. I actually couldn't take it anymore, having an army with entirely no paint on it was driving me insane, so now I will have 1 guy, and can go back building robes, which is basically my Saturday, I think.
My Defilers may be scrapped, I am starting to not like what I did with them. The constant Tinker Toy comments don't help either.
Anywho, that should be enough rambling for now, catchya later.

Almost king

So game 1 of Gore Swirl is done. I didn't win.
BUT, nobody else did either. Battle report over at Goreswirl, so I won't go into the details. This game was mine, well probably, but of course when I need a game to end, it doesn't, and(as in this case) when I need it not to, it does.
At games end, the forces were as follows:
Tyranids: whiped, excepting a single spore pod.
Sisters: A land raider still in thier corner, a unit of sisters partially on the objective, and an HQ something dead center.
Tau: ~Half strength firewarriors on objective, a lot of crap back in own deployment zone.
CSM(me): 2 1k sons and Asp Sorc in immobilizes rhino on objective edge. Another 1k sons well within range of the objective and an obliterator and some terms also in range. I had also failed to use my replacements asset.

My plan for the following turn was to spawn the firewarriors, hopefully leading to a flee. Shoot the sisters with my 1k sons and obliterator, also hoping for flee and maybe whipe. The terms job was the HQ. Barring the FWs in the Tau zone making the objective, and the troops surviving my fireing and assaults, it should have left me the dominant force on the table. I doubt the FWs would have moved foward, though they would have unloaded on my rhino, it had been a recent theme.
But alas, all of this is idle speculation, as we will never know what turn 6 would have brought.
Likely a turn 7 which would have ended up with the Tau moving foward and contesting again *sigh*

Chaos forever!!!

Or at least a while. So, I'm back in 40K. CSMs have changed my melancholy back to joy. I might have been able to sell my Tau today, but since that will never happen...
The game went well. I don't think I can find any fault with my current list. At least not yet. Thousand Sons do go down just as fast as White Dwarf says. The saves are awesome, but they still go down. Nurgles might help with extra toughness, but that ain't gonna happen, so. Marines seem to fall more frequently on this side, then the did on the other, but I think that's a point of view issue. They did take a lot to go down.
Today's game was a three way, CSMs(me), Dark Angels, and Sisters. The Sisters deployed, then me, then the Raven Wing Dark Angels didn't. It was quadrants, with Sisters in the north west, myself in the south west, and the Dark Angels not in the South East. I managed to seize the initiative, sweet.
First turn I rolled blood rage on my dread and he goes tearing forward. I move 1 thousand sons rhino eastward, the other 2 head north with a defiler between them. My other defiler, that was pointed due east at the empty DA deployment, turns north, and heads to cross a hill. My Daemon Prince follows the single rhino and heads toward the hill in the center, which is the only objective. I drop a battle cannon on a unit of flagellants and another on a large soritas(?) unit. I killed 3 flages, and a couple sisters.
The DAs do nothing.
The sisters promptly blew up my dread, officially making him do nothing all game. Still have no idea if I like this guy.(Though thanks to the TEG staffer who let me use his model) The rest was moving foward trying to pick a fight. My northbound defiler also eats it this turn.
My second defiler goes on to cross the hill take a rhino chassis something, lose its gun, get immobilized in combat with 2 penitents, who is eventually kills. Then it just sits there making noise till destroyed on 5th turn.
One rhino got popped by some flagellents, who were beat down by my shooting and lesser deamons. The deamons went on to do some serious damage more than earning their points and place in my army. At just 13 points each and 78 for the squad, I think they doubled their points.
My sorceror died to a sniper shot and me accidentally reading the ASPIRING sorceror line and crying '1 wound, what the hell?' Turns out 3 wounds and should have cause more havoc. *sigh*
My Daemon Prince gets killed on the hill from combined DA and Sister shooting.
My Term squad takes down 2 term squads(1 to shooting on deep strike, another to CC), some sisters, and finally dies to his HQ squad. I think I may switch to dual lightning claws, but I don't know where to get the points. Perhaps the dread...
My Obliterators didn't do a whole lot. 1 did death or glory and Immolater, managing to immobilize it. However, forgot to shoot the next turn, and missed the turn after. Some Thousand Sons were able to finish it off in assault in the end though.
The Thousand Sons were pretty awesome. I love the fluff, and I think the invul and especially the AP 3 bolters are fantastic. I didn't keep track, but I am pretty sure they made their points, if not in kills, in what they held up. I am definately sticking with them. Noise marines keep calling, but I don't think I will like them as much.
The game came out a draw end of turn 6. We would have had a turn 7, but the store was closed. I only had a few sons left and a rhino. He had a good chunk. The main thing for me was that the DAs laid into me pretty heavily, so that at the end of 4, when the DA player left, I was missing a chunk of my force already, where as the Sisters hadn't lost much I hadn't killed. After that it was pretty even, with me mostly holding my own. I think turn 7 would have seen me load the last remnants in the rhino and bunker it out until the end. I believe I was in range to Gift of Chaos his HQ jumper, which would have been my first spawn, and a hell of a prize. I don't think he could have gotten troops on the hill, as they were towards the west edge where they had taken one of my sons squads down. He would have contested, but still a draw.
All in all a good game. Things I would change, nothing. I would have liked to see my dread in action, but its dieing didn't hurt me that much. My first defiler making combat, and my second doing a little more destroying would have been nice as well. Also getting my sorc right would have really helped. Maybe I do need army builder.The Daemon Prince in actual combat, I wish I could have.
Things I liked: my squad of lesser daemons, a definite keeper. I don't see more being added, either to this squad, or more squads, but one is very nice. My defiler(it was my scratch built, too) was awesome in combat, I still like them. I don't miss the pred, the obliterators seem more than capable of doing the job. I do, however, think that they need to be deployed, not deep struck. The lascannon gives them plenty of range, and slow and purposeful means they can mostly keep pace with the rest of my army. The term squad was awesome, even though they aren't relentless and thus can't shoot and assault(need to check this), did some awesome damage. Being 9 strong definitely helps. I was wondering if the rhinos are a waste, but I think I will stick with them, they help keep my sons alive into rapid fire range.
I won't be changing this list much before next game.
On a side note, I found the perfect dice for my army, both in looks and the fact that they seems to roll awesome!

Chaos Space Marines

Well, I am firmly within the thrall of Tzeentch. I have a good start on my first defiler, I have offered to by another players CSM models, and am discussing what I am to do with the Orks from the Black Reach box.
I have already revised my list a bit, dropping the pred and moving to 9 man squads. The predator I think is a bit of over kill that I don't need. I have my obliterators if I am facing strong armour, I also have my defilers' battle cannon should I need more range, and a dread with a pair of claws and two defilers with quad claws if I need it up close. Also, the 4+ invul of most of my army should help against heavy weapons, with my rhinos being the most vulnerable.
As for the squads of 9, I just found an old White Dwarf(circa 2002) with a chapter approved on Thousand Sons, stating that the number 9 is sacred to Tzeentch, which I had forgotten. Thus, 9.
I should have pictures of my defiler up soon. I don't want to WIP this one, because the process is kinda ugly, and iffy the whole way.

Chaos Space Marines?

Well, in a turn from the greater good, I have decided to watch the galaxy burn. I was able to give the CSM a try, and I liked it. Mind you I only got in 2 turns before we had to break, as we spent most of the morning working on Gore Swirl. The turns are almost lightning quick, almost as fast as Tau turns are later in the game. Nobody got trounced, even though there was a Tau player. The only real damage I did was a couple piranhas and a sniper drone, but I had my Defiler and Daeman Prince on the objective, lesser daemons with in reach, a rhino close behind, with another circling around the right side, and a third destroyed(wait thats not good), but the Thousand Sons inside on the move into Tau territory. I did learn that I will pry be dropping the predator, as a single static tank in my back field seems sort of a waste when I am rushing foward with monstrous creatures who can do the same thing vehicles in person, and will be able to do more against infantry. Also, the drop will let me add another defiler.
I am currently working on getting templates for building the rhinos. I might end up scratch building all the vehicles, though originally I had planned to only use the rhinos for proxies until I had decided on a list. I might look at making a pre-heresy style force, but I do like the Black Reach space marine helms.
I guess we shall see.

Annihilate the 'crons!

So, we finally threw down the 2 'cron vs 2 Tau game. Apocalypse, no FOC, 2500 per player(5k per team). I was running late, so they rolled mission and such with out me. Annihilate! Damn! Each side had 2 assets. We took the marker field(everything marked within 24") and a Icestorm warhead(10" blast vs vehicles, all 'crons hit take a pinning test). They took some tech snag thing, single use, grabbed one of my area denial nodes. Other asset was a unit gets up on 2+, instead of 4+.
Started the game by making a destroyer squad run off the table, its becoming a theme. Took out swarm after swarm with rail rifles, killing 4 3 base swarms and 2 bases of the 5th by the end of turn 2. Almost everything else got back up. At end of turn 2 we had to barely scratched them. Supposed to finish weekend after next, but there is already talk about calling that one.
Likely next time will be objectives, with us holding a fortification on one end, going the long way. Basically a pro Tau setup, with the exception of no phase out for the 'crons. Not sure I like it, but whatever.
Biggest thing I need to do is look long and hard at that third mission. It has filled me with a undue sense of dread, and I need to face it down. I think I need to just set up my gun line and go all out for the kill. Kill a unit, move to the next. When placing on the long edge, instead of spreading across table to maximise fire lanes, and cutting off support from different elements, I should place everything in a cluster along the flank, forcing the enemy into my fire lanes. I think setting up second may not be disadvantageous. Then I can pick the weak flank and force them to move their strength to me, moving as far as possible.
For this next game, knowing my opponent and knowing my terrain setup before hand, I think I will place all my guns on the wall, plugging the hole in the center and the ends with my nodes. Likely place my HHs behind the wall, so they can move forward over the wall, landing in front, to unleash death first turn. Top of the walls will be loaded with markers, snipers, and broadside. Mind you, I will have to set up with a partner and space is limited, but it should work out, table is 5' wide. Pathfinder Devilfishes will find a place behind the nodes giving LoS for deep strike across the board. If the monoliths land in the back field, I hope to use my teammates FWs with EMPs to take them out.

Down with green!

So my Space Wolf friend and I finally got to play a game side by side, instead of against each other. And got torched. It was against the two newest players in our group. The newest played his orks, while the other played dark angels. We drew annihilate(DAMN!). Set up mostly along the back, the Space Wolves player set out a land raider crusader and a few terms(pure term army). Orks and Dark Angels deployed everywhere 18" away(accidentally bastardised dawn deploy). We held onto first turn. Opens with tons of shooting, biker nobs are just as brutal as everyone says. Usual comments about my shooting taking forever. Spend most of the game not killing Nobs, though we do eventually take them out. The angel bikers behind the fair better though, but still get taken. Kept the angel dread stunned until we could do get rid of all its range and immobilise it. Orks take a beating, I take a beating, Space Wolves get beat a little, Dark Angels come out almost unscathed. Now, that's how you use a meat shield. I'm not sure it was intentional, but they did an excellent job using the orks to tie us down, and then mop up with the space marines. Kudos to them. Sadly I think my partner and I sort of writ this one off from the start, but I don't feel either us played for the lose, it was more "Annihilate? Well damn. Geh, lets get to it then."
I need to get the killing power in my army. A side note, I recently set my list up so that I can use my broadside or a sniper squad interchangeably, this time using the squad. I take a tar getting array on the broadside, so they have always been the same points, I just list it now so I can change on the fly. I like it, little more fun I think.

Tabled turn 1

Not me actually, the guy I was playing. I felt terrible. I recently started playing with a new group, and one of their members also plays Tau. I hadn't gotten a chance to see him play, as he has been unable to make our game days. However, some of the other guys thought that I should get together with this guy and give him tips, seeming as I can almost win, and he gets trashed. So we kinda set up this thing where he and I would play a couple of other guys in a large Tau vs Necron game. Well, that's still a week away, but we(Tau players) decided to get together and do a practice 500pt game and talk strategy. My list consisted of a commander(tooled to use my new template), 1 FW squad, 1 Kroot, 1 Pathfinder, and a Railhead. I held my commander in reserve to deep strike with his flamer, airburst. I deployed my Hammer head forward, the pathfinders in a building, the firewarriors in the back on the right flank by the PF devilfish, the kroot infiltrated onto a central objective. He deployed a single, large firewarrior squad with drones and a commander(~fire knife) also with drones. I pie plated his firewarrior, killing a shield drone and 8 firewarriors, by far my best shot ever(no I know why SMs tear through me). The rolled 10 for Ld and ran. In shock I turn the turn to him. The firewarriors rolled another 10 and continue to flee. This is when I asked if he had any reserve and find out no, that's his entire force. I think I know why he has trouble bringing it on. He only had 450 pts, 250 for the commander, the other 200 for the Firewarriors. He had tooled them up with everything, plus a shield drone and a marker drone. The commander had a shield drone and marker drone as well. His plan was to shield my army with his as a sort of meat shield. I didn't like the plan before and after seeing what we would be throwing away points wise, I hated it. I pointed out what he could do if he toned down the points. More squads a definite plus, also a dropped marker light drone alone would have given him points for a broadside at least. I honestly expected him to have vehicles, I tried to plan around taking them out, they didn't exist. I wish I had scattered a little actually, just so I could have seen how he plays, but I hope it helped him with army creation a bit. Maybe different styles, I don't know.

Streak over?

So I got 3 games in last weekend *gasp*. All in all a good weekend. However my playing was less good. 2 massacres and a win.
First game was Saturday morning against orcs. I was deploying high apparently. I set my chariots straight across from his Black Orcs, crunch. He played savage orcs, which ignore my fear. My scorp misfired, so he moved him to a distant corner. Top of the 6th, just had my heiro and scorp left, and he stomped 'em both, massacre. I did screw up by not making him roll dispel dice for double 1s.
First game Sunday, Ogres and Dwarves, three way. I did a fair amount of damage here, but still got toasted here. I might have had troops @ end had I remembered liche and casket guard in the giants pouch when he died. Managed some nice flank charges with ushabti, including the giant. Held my own, but 2 forces just turned out to be to much.
Second Sunday game, Ogres only. Deployed with a pincer attack in mind, chariots on left, ushabti on right, lt horse on far right. Much better. Ushabti were blocked by some terrain, didn't support my guard so well, but they were useful later. Horse drew the manhunters off, keeping them from flanking guard. Chariots didn't do awesome, but they died for the cause, slowing one of his big units. Casket and SSC deployed on a hill far left, good plan for SSC, bad one for casket. With the SSC's range, this set it up to cover most of the board, while leaving the short range gap empty. The casket however was out of line of sight for most of the army just by being in the flank. I controlled half the board @ end, likely marginal victory, but didn't fully add points.
Of note, I used a King/prince/2lp list against the orcs, with my prince on a chariot. Since I still don't know how to use chariots, didn't go well. Also the short dispel sucked. Switched to King/3 lps for Sunday, much better. Not looking back.

HLP Khalida Part 2

I have gotten a dress for my HLP. I think she is turning out very well. I have surprised myself at every stage. I also got the bandages of one sleeve covered, and removed the belt buckle and scarabs crawling on her clothes. I still have the other sleeve, the mask, a new belt buckle, and a symbol for the staff.

And the light dims.

In the last 24 I realised that I pry should have been sent home on Sunday from the tourney. Not because I was a terrible player, or because I was a bad sportsman, but because I needed to go read my army book.
Tomb Kings get 2 spells per turn! Only ever tried to cast one. Not sure it would have mattered in first came, could have definately helped in second.
Tomb Guard heal d6, not d3, and skelies heal highest 2d6. This wouldn't have mattered in the first game, nearly untouched, but the second game would have been dramatically different. Might not have lost my guard and my king. Though if I had still lost them, maybe I would have remembered the curse. Had they failed their Ld test, I would have done d6 wounds, no save(not even WARD saves). That would have hurt some deamons, I might not have gone home. *sigh*

Go home, you suck!

Not the exact words used, but I got the idea.
So, I went to Ghengis Con this weekend. Freakin' awesome! Hit the exhibitors and auction on Friday, Warhammer Fantasy on Sunday. Snagged a Game Zone standard bearer on horse, a couple books and a dinosaur game for my son.
The tournament was my first, and I will be back. Even though it ended poorly for me.
Game 1: Vampire Counts
Result: loss(massacre)
Undead vs undead = no fear. Literally. 1 asset gone. Doesn't help that their heal is better AND can straight summon. Opponents measuring wasn't exact, but whatever. Manage to take out spirit host with Tomb Gaurd. TG performed very well, I think I will be taking a king more often. Could a king/prince list be in my future?
Magic didn't really go either way, so the balance was good. He killed my chariots straight out of the gate with his dragon knights. The knights went on to mop up my back field. I don't think I could have set up better over runs had I tried.
In the end my Tomb Guard and King were all that remained.
I lost by some 2000+ points.
Game 2: Deamons
Result: lose(massacre)
This game actually went better, though the result was the same, just with a significantly smaller margin. Magic here was definately in the favor of Chaos. 2 Tzeentch sorcs, one for nurgle with a nasty continuation spell. This game, he wanted my general. He tore into my TG with magical abandon. It didn't help I kept getting the T wrong. 1st turn, half gone, then back to 15. Managed to keep 'em going through the barrage and into charge. But they eventually died after Ushabti quit and Khorne hounds turned. Chariots didn't make much of a showing, but did get charge, killing hound and wounding another. Not sure I know how to use chariots ;-)
This guy was a true pleasure to play. To start kinda tight lipped, had me worried, but after a turn or so, it was a great game.
Round 3: Nobody
Result: draw
This is where it turned to shit. Calling tables... "Allan come see me." WTH? Walk up, give him my name, turns out a player dropped due to family emergency, I have no opponent, and since I apparently suck the most, I 'get' a concilation prize(GW starter paint kit). I entered the tournament knowing I was going to get trounced, big deal, I wanted the games, I can't beg them around here. The worst possible out come for me. Asked me what I wanted for my prize, told him I didn't care. I truly didn't, I wasn't getting what I wanted.
He did take the time to go over my paint score with me, so that was nice. I need to do more highlights(like silver blade edges), a board would help, some markings(free hand or not), and custom banners. Running my craptacular swarms didn't help, I'm sure. But that's what happens when you arrive with a illegal list and realise right before start(only 2 of 3 core choices).

All in all a good day, but that end really ruined it for me.

High Liche Priestess Khalida

The Tomb Kings army has a grand total of 3 liche priest models. 2 come in 1 blister, the other comes with the casket of souls. I don't particularly like the casket, thus have made my own. The LP can be bought separately, but direct from GW only, so will cost me $22 with shipping. I don't fancy converting the other 2 LPs into my third LP, as those models aren't really all that stunning to begin with. Then I had an idea, while looking at my favorite model in the TK range, Khalida.

I love this model. Could I convert it into a priestess? Could I do it, and make it look like something besides Khalida?
The first thing I had to do was remove the crown. LPs don't have crowns, queens do. I also removed the snake from the top of the staff. Its a very Khalida mark, and I didn't want another asp LP, one of those comes in the blister.

Now came the first challenge: Green stuff the hair back on. Now, this won't be hair, but part of a head dress that will give the semblance of hair, the same as the 'hair' left on Khalida.

At the same time, I started putting more clothes on the model, this will cover the bandages of Khalida and give the model a LP look, losing the mummy look.

A word of warning, if you are going to do front modeling, right after modeling something on the opposite side, watch where you put your fingers. I actually had to do the hair twice, as I finished the shirt and saw that the back of the head was a bowl roughly the size of my finger.
I plan to make the model a priestess of the goddess of beauty. As such, I will be finishing the mask to cover the whole face. I also left the breasts so that the can be shown as a sort of bronze bra. The idea behind the bra, mask, and hair is to give the impression that, even though she has lived for hundreds of years, she is still showing radiant beauty, as a tribute to her goddess.
Next will likely be dress, and possibly sleeves. I am also using left over GS to fashion a lotus for the staff top(I think). The mask will have to wait till I get my jeweler's visor, the work will be just to minute(and hopefully, not beyond my skill).

Some nids and wolves and some necrons

So, yesterday, I had the chance to get some 40k in. Played a couple games. Didn't do so well.
First game: Space Wolves, 'Nids, and me(Tau).
Different space wolf player than I usually play. Game came to a draw, but I definately lost.
First 3 turns were a lot of terrible dice rolls. by turn 4 I was so decimated that I couldn't do much. I did have a squad of firewarriors hidden in a devilfish. Unfortunately, the nid player knew enough of me to take this out. I sneaked my warriors by, but his Trygon Prime was able to circle around and take them out. The space wolf player lost his troops, leaving the nids with a single genestealer squad to take the objective. Luckily, the SW Land Raider took them out, leaving nobody to claim the 3 objectives, giving me a draw. It was rather pitiful. It seems that my tricks are all learned, and that I can no longer play an all comers list. Need to change it up, seems to be the problem with playing the same guys all the time.
Second game was even worse(believe it or not). Forfiet on turn 5. This one was capture and control as well. Using corners, I started with the same dismal rolling. My problem here was more of ignorance than anything else. Against 'crons, I have to change my play style considerably. My standard starters out with about half in reserve, including my plasma suits. Against necrons this setup needs to be reversed. I need to keep my hammerhead in reserve(*gasp*) and put my plasma, vespids, and other low AP weapons out. Even though I was playing the SW player, I think I could have done better by having my HHs show up later, leaving them alive and in better shape when the monoliths arrive. Not having the rail support to hit those monstosities when they come out left me in a bad spot(stupid no melta).
Some changes I made recently:
Drop the FW Devilfish for more FWs
Kept the Piranha, but thinking should go for a Carbine squad. Melta isn't doing it anymore.
Cutting out seeker missiles, been using lights for targeting.

Oops

So, I tried to switch my blog to my gmail account, but it didn't take. Now, I can't remember my password, and my email account is gone. So.... This is my new blog.
Looking for old stuff? Its here: http://crimsonwraith.blogspot.com