GW Store opening and starting on a new army

A Games Workshop store opened up in my city and I went to go check it out yesterday. It's a really small shop, but well stocked with lots of 40K, WFB and Hobbit models. They had 2 Realm of Battle boards and a 500pt 40K skirmish challenge. 500pts of Chaos Space Marines doesn't go very far and we had to use the force org chart. So I made due with Molitor, my Chaos Lord on a bike with the Mark of Nurgle, Power Maul, Blight Grenades, Sigil of Corruption and Burning Brand of Skalathrax. He brought along a 16 man Chaos Cultist squad with a flamer and 4 autoguns as well as a 15 man Cultist squad similarly decked out. Finally, the big guns were a Heldrake with Baleflamer. I played 3 rounds and got the following accolade for my efforts.

While it's nice for my Chaos Space Marines to have defeated a small Eldar and Space Marine force and to have tied an Ork force, there was no actual prize support. A percentage off a single purchase or $10 gift card would have resulted in me spending more than my time at the opening. But so it goes, I suppose. If I ever need to get something from GW that any of the other 3 independent game stores don't carry, I'll have an option other than the website.

And now, the big reveal. I've decided to roll with a Dark Angels army for the coming year. While I've had a blast learning the game and playing in a ton of tournaments with Chaos Space Marines, I have often felt the lists I've made to be too random (how many times in Feast of Blades did I lose my Daemon Prince in the first turn of Assault due to rolling a 1 on a Daemon Weapon, TOO MANY), as well as not fast enough. I'm an aggressive player and need an aggressive army CSM hasn't felt like its been that great a match. I always seemed to do best when I held to my side of the board, ideally with more points of objectives and my opponent has had to come to me. So with that in mind, as well as a lot of models from 2 boxes of Dark Vengeance, I'm rolling out with a Ravenwing-heavy force.

I'm in the assembly stage so far, but have constructed 2 6-man bike squads with attack bikes sporting multi-meltas.

In addition, I've constructed 2 10-man Tactical squads, from those same DV boxes as well as 4 models from the 40K paint set.

I'm in the process of constructing a Predator, as well as a Sammael models as well. Lots, and lots of hobbying to do before I can unleash this force onto the world!

Just returned from Feast of Blades

Got back into town from Feast of Blades early this morning and what a great trip! Had an absolute blast in Denver moving models, chucking dice and drinking some awesome micro-brew beers. But, since I haven't updated this blog in months, I should probably start from the beginning.

 

The road paved with luck and paint

I had been interested in attending Feast of Blades since I first heard about it in March. I was tempted to buy a ticket as soon as they became available, but with real life creeping in I initially decided to pass. Then, out of the blue one of the local judges said he had a free ticket to Feast and I jumped on it. I was entered in the Open GT which read as:

The 40k Open harkens back to the "Golden Age," of Games Workshop GT's. This event is 60% battle points and fully 40% soft scores (including points for army theme). If you are the kind of person who just wants to have fun meeting new people with beautiful armies while getting in a good game then the open GT is for you. Just to be clear, this event isn't for win-at-all-cost-competitive-play it is about the hobby and having a great weekend enjoying the game, the 'winner,' of this tournament will be a very well-rounded hobbyist. (You must purchase a "40k Open GT pass," to play in this event)

which sounded perfect for me. So I wrangled up a 2,000 point list to take, no surprise it was a Nurgle-themed Chaos Space Marine list.

Molitor's Marauders

HQ

185 pts Chaos Lord Mark of Nurgle, Blight Grenades, Melta Bombs, Chaos Bike, The Burning Brand of Skalathrax, Power Maul, Sigil of Corruption, Ichor Blood

340 pts Daemon Prince Daemon of Nurgle, Power Armour, Wings, Psyker lvl 3, The Black Mace

Troops

177 pts Plague Marines x5, Flamer x2, Rhino with Havoc Launcher

187 pts Plague Marines x5, Meltagun x2, Rhino with Havoc Launcher

197 pts Plague Marines x5, Plasma gun x2, Rhino with Havoc Launcher

Fast Attack

201 pts Chaos Bikers x6 Mark of Nurgle, Meltagun x2, Power Sword on Champion

170 pts Heldrake Baleflamer

170 pts Heldrake Baleflamer


Heavy

237 pts Obliterators x3, Mark of Nurgle, Veterans of the Long War

135 pts Maulerfiend Lasher Tendrils

And so, though I'd had some Plasma gun carrying Plague Marines painted, I wasn't planning on using the champion with the Power Fist for this event and wasn't happy with the rough paint jobs I had previously done on my Rhinos. I got busy painting on the days leading up to the event, and got the Rhinos to match the Predator tanks I had been using pretty closely. Likewise the Plague Marines all looked like they belonged with the previously painted Plasma gun wielders. I sprayed the matte coat on the Rhinos a scant 4 hours before I'd have to leave for the airport to Denver.

 

Game 1 Taudar Shenanigans

So I'd looked at the mobi site Feast of Blades put out with the missions they were using, and was a bit disappointed they were using missions straight out of the book for the Open GT. I'd cased the hall set-up when I arrived Friday night and knew there were going to be some tables with very little line-of-sight blocking terrain, which would be awful when faced against shooty armies. Well, as luck had it, I had to play Purge the Alien against an Eldar/Tau WAAC list. My opponent was a nice, friendly guy (heck he even let me borrow some gel superglue to fix my only travel casualty to Denver, which was one of my Heldrake's necks that had come off) but the list he was running was mean as hell. He won the roll to go first and wrecked a Rhino, killed 3 bikes, and put a wound on an Obliterator in Turn 1. When time was called on this game, my Nurgle forces were all but decimated. Both Heldrakes downed from his Aegis' Quad-gun, the Daemon Prince taken out by volume of fire, and the bikes wiped after destroying a wave serpent. He won by more than 4 kill points so that counted as a massacre for him giving him top points for the round and me 0. Of course, I later learned he was doubling the amount of shots his missile drones were firing in all his games on Day 1. I doubt he was intentionally cheating, but I know I would have done more damage to him had he been firing only the 12 shots he should have had with those drones and not the 24 shots he was doing. Oh well, live and learn.

 

Game 2 Angry Robots with Angry Traitors

This time, Nurgle's forces were facing a Necron force with a contingent of Khorne Chaos Marines. I didn't get any photos of this match as it was a slug-fest from the get-go and was the game I had the most fun in on Day 1. We were playing the Relic with Vanguard Strike deployment. I had first Turn and went in hot with my Plague Marines. I had possession of the Relic by Turn 2 and the Necrons had sent their scarabs to lock-down my Flamer Plague Marines. My Daemon Prince handily destroyed the Khorne lord on a steed in close combat, but was shot to pieces the following turn and my Meltagun Plague Marines responded by blowing up an Annihilation Barge. The battle raged on my side of the field as I did everything I could to get the Relic holder away from the Necron onslaught. In the end, time was called not more than 5 seconds after the Necrons wiped the Plague Marine squad holding the Relic. With nobody controlling the ancient artifact, time was called and an incredible game was determined a draw.

 

Game 3 Daemon Hunters Hunt Some Daemons

The next game was the Scouring with Hammer and Anvil deployment. I was faced with an awesomely painted Grey Knights army and when we revealed the points of the Objectives it was obvious I was going to have to push my opponent's side of the board. But with the number of Daemons in my army against Grey knights, that wasn't going to be easy. And indeed it wasn's. I rolled the Chaos Space Marine Warlord trait which allowed 1 of my Plague Marine units to have the Infiltrate rule and I got my Flamer unit to start in jogging distance of my opponent's 3 point Objective. The Bolters and flames did their job wiping a small squad off the Objecive, netting me First Blood. But the Grey Knight monstrous creature behind them quickly rolled down and got in close combat with the Plague Marines, wiping out all but one. I wasn't too worried as I had my Daemon Prince a short distance away and my next turn got him into close combat. Unfortunately, I rolled a 1 with my Daemon weapon and even with the re-rolls given by Veterans of the Long War I only caused 2 wounds and he passed his Toughness test. He then quickly ended the Princes unnatural existence. He had enough Skyfire to take down one of my Heldrakes quickly and a Pen caused the other to lose its Baleflamer. His Terminators Outflanked next to my Plasma gun Plague Marines and even with my Bikes close by I couldn't wipe the Terminators. In the end I only controlled one 3 point Objective while my opponent had the 4 point Objective and a 2 point Objective, and Day 1 ended with 2 losses.

 

Purity Seals & Paint Scores

All was not lost in the day, however, as I had managed to get the Purity Seal achievement of wiping an entire enemy Unit in a single turn (really, really easy to do when Heldrakes Vector Strike and burninate 3-man squads of Eldar jetbikes) as well as the achievement for having a close combat last 4 player turns. Feast of Blades is the first tournament I've attended with an achievement system, and they award some incredible looking ribbons with them. More tournaments should have a system like this in place as it allows you to try for goals beyond just winning the book missions. I was awarded 34 points out 40 for my armies' paint-job. Not bad for having painted half the army a few days before game day. The points I didn't get were for not having a decorated display board and not having extreme conversions on my models.

Game 4 Robots vs. Rust

The first game on Sunday started against a pure Necron force. We were playing Emperor's Will with Vanguard Strike Deployment on a board with likely the most line-of-sight blocking terrain in the whole GT. My opponent and I both placed our single Objective markers deep into our respective deployment zones. The Necrons infiltrated some guys on my side of the board, but they mostly just hung out. I didn't Deep Strike my Obiliterators this game, and I really should have, as they spent several turns just trudging along the field trying to get a view of something to shoot at. The major battles were in the middle of the board where my Daemon Prince intercepted some Canoptic Wraiths in a combat that lasted for more than half the game and where my Meltagun Plague Marines and Bikes tried for many turns to destroy the Necron Monolith. Eventually, both those skirmishes ended in my favor, but the losses for Chaos were heavy. All my bikes were destroyed, all but 2 of my Meltagun Plagure Marine squad (including the Meltaguns) were toast, my Heldrakes were both down as was the Maulerfiend (he just loves to get focused and exploded in Turn 1). But I still had control of my Objective as did my opponent. In the end I couldn't make the charge I needed with the Daemon Prince to try and pull off the warriors holding his Objective and my Plasma gun Plague Marines were just in range for Linebreaker. Another Draw game ended for the mission known for Draw games.

Game 5 Bugs, Bugs, Everywhere

I ended up playing Game 5 on the exact table I'd played Game 4 on, so lots of buildings blocking line-of-sight. This game was Crusade with Hammer & Anvil deployment. It took my opponent quite a bit of time to deploy as he had a large model count to get on the board with his Tyranids. We both had 2 Objectives on our side of the board and 1 in the middle. I was planning to attack aggressively so didn't leave any of my 3 Troop Units holding my 2 back Objectives. Instead the entire army pushed towards the waves of bugs. The Maulerfiend was quickly made a wreck and my Daemon Prince once again rolled a 1 on his Daemon weapon and fell to a large horde of biting, clawing, xenos. The Doom of Malan'tai showed up and killed a few bikes (including both Meltaguns) but was quickly shot down with Bolter fire and plasma. My Flamer Plague Marines held the middle Objective for many turns, and it was lucky when they controlled the Objective it was found to be a Grav Wave Generator. Combined with the wrecked Rhino and Maulerfiend around the Objective none of the Trygon Primes could make the charge distance. I was really sweating it as the time was counting down and I had lost all but 2 Bikes and my Chaos Lord. The Plasma gun Plague Marines bit it quickly after and the Obliterators were taken down in close combat. The Flamers were able to burn enough Hormagaunts to keep them from the lone Objective I had. And in the last 2 minutes of the game my Heldrakes went into Hover mode and cleared the 2 broods of Termagants off my opponent's controlled Objectives, giving me my first and only win of the weekend and one of the most fun games of the weekend for me.

Game 6 The Imperial Guard and their Big Guns

Game 6 was Big Guns Never Tire with Dawn of War deployment. I won the roll for table sides so got to place 3 Objectives to my opponent's 2. I placed the Objectives conservatively as close to my board edge as I could, all a foot away from each other. Not the most honorable placement, but who said Chaos was honorable? I chose to Deep Strike my Obliterators and kept the majority of my Units close to my Objectives. The Bikes, however, were deployed away from the rest. My opponent went first and fired all he had range to at the Maulerfiend, which between cover and Invuln saves didn't take a scratch, he did however cause a pen on one of the Rhinos and scored First Blood. My Daemon Prince rolled for Iron Arm and became extremely powerful with +3 Strength and Toughness. Only 1 Heldrake came in on Turn 2 but was intercepted by the IG Quad-gun and driven into the dust before it could do anything. My Obliterators mis-happed on the Deep Strike and my opponent placed him on the right corner of my table edge. I sent the Maulerfiend out to one of the IG tanks and had the Obliterators fire their Lascannons at another, penning and blowing it up. The Maulerfiend charged another tank and drove its Power Fists straight through it, resulting in metal shards littering the battlefield. The Maulerfiend was blown to pieces in Turn 3 and more of my Bikes were brought low. I had my Warlord close to my enemies' line and roasted 9 of the 10 with the Burning Brand of Skalathrax, finishing them with the last 2 Bikers. The 2nd Heldrake had come on and roasted all but 2 of the IG Warlord's unit. The Daemon Prince charged a Unit of Sentinels and destroyed 2, leaving the third out of range to retaliate. On the Guard's turn their Quad-gun penned the Heldrake, destroying the Baleflamer. 2 Vendettas had arrived earlier and riddled my Warlord with shots. In revenge the Heldrake flew off the board, Vector Striking the IG Warlord and carrying him into the abyss. The Daemon Prince finished the last Sentinel and moved on towards one of the Objectives my opponent held. The IG cleared off the Meltagun marines from one of my Objectives, while the Daemon Prince cast Nurgle's Rot on the infantry holding an Objective, then finished them off in close combat. When time ran out, both armies controlled 2 Objectives resulting in my third draw of the tournament.

Closing Thoughts

Well, it was a lot of fun playing at Feast of Blades. I placed 29th out of 46 (and would have placed higher if I'd not suffered that massacre in Game 1). My SoS score was the highest in the Open GT (126 while the next highest was 109, so I had the luck of playing some mean lists) and I got a few cool Purity Seals as well as a commendable paint score. I bought some exploded vehicle markers from Spikey Bits and got some Chaos markers handed to me from another vendor (sorry, I can't remember which one). It was a weekend of pure fun. I don't know if I'll make the trip to Denver again, but I'm glad I made it this year, now I've just got to repair the 2 tanks, and 6 infantry that suffered damage from the return trip. Until next time.

What the Army looks like these days

Realized I hadn't posted the new paint scheme my army's been rolling with these last few months, and now is the time to fix that! The only guys missing are the Cultists, but they're not really the stars anyhow. Enjoy.

 

Reflections on Alamo con 2013

Last weekend I was in San Antonio spending the weekend playing 5 games of Warhammer 40K. The local painter I'd hired to finish my army had done an amazing job, with every unit fully painted and based! He even had time to finish off the Nurgle Daemon Prince and 2 Spawn, which weren't part of my list, but could show up if one of my Champions won a challenge.

Game 1

My first game was a classic match-up of Ultramarines vs. my minions of Chaos. The Objectives were laid out on the table with 2 each in both our deployment zones and 1 in the middle of the board. My opponent went first and his Vindicator put a huge whole in my Cultists with his heavy-weapon carrying Space Marines pinging my Predator tanks. I responded with one Predator blowing up a Rhino, netting me First Blood, and pinging the Vindicator while marching my Plague Marines towards the middle Objective. My opponent's drop-pod, carrying his Warlord, landed near one of my smaller units of Cultists, with plans of clearing them off the Objective. In response I sent my Nurgle Bikes, with my Warlord and the Maulerfiend to cement my hold on the Objective. My Heldrakes came in and roasted many Space Marines as well as putting some more holes in the Vindicator. The Maulerfiend and Bikes were able to slay his Warlord and the Plague Marines were able to keep from being pushed off the middle Objective, despite taking major losses. In the end, the Chaos army took the day!

Game 2

This was a Chaos Space Marine vs. Chaos Space Marine match. Black Maces were present in both armies, with my Biker Chaos Lord carrying one and a Nurgle Daemon Prince carrying a cheap knock-off. My opponent's army was lead by Ahriman, and he had an impressive number of Cultists following him. He marched his Maulerfiend into cover after using Psychic abilities to further shroud it and confuse any fire that would be coming its way. Some of his Cultists advanced along my flank to push out a small group of Cultists I had camped in Area Terrain on an Objective. My opponent's Obliterators made good on their name and Lascannoned a Power Fist off my Maulerfiend. It was destroyed shortly after in Close Combat with Ahriman's Maulerfiend. Both my opponent's Heldrakes came in on Turn 2, and like me he was running 1 Baleflamer and 1 Autocannon Heldrake. Only my Autocannon Heldrake came in for me, with the Baleflamer not entering the scene until Turn 4. My opponent successfully used his Psychic powers to cause my Plague Marines and Cultists to hurt themselves, turn after turn. I got my Bikes into Close Combat with the Maulerfiend, not realizing it would still get Invisibility in Close Combat. After my Warlord was killed it was a foregone conclusion I would not be able to turn the tide. Time was called and my opponent's army carried the day.

Game 3

My Chaos army was facing off against a Grey Knights army. Now, I was in a really bad mood before this game started as when I was transporting my large display board holding 117 gorgeous models, an inebriated player jumped out of his chair without realizing I was behind him. He knocked over my display board and my 2 Heldrakes shattered into multiple pieces. I spent the first 15 minutes of Game 3 gluing together the Heldrakes as best I could. While the Autocannon Heldrake was salvaged 100%, the Baleflamer Heldrake is now missing his tail and part of one of his rear claws. Having just gotten these freshly painted models back, I was not happy.

Now onto the game. This was a difficult match-up for me as my opponent had a ton of heavy support that was just decimating everything that charged up the field. There was a lack of ruins and area terrain on my side of the board and all I could do was push forward and remove models off the board. Once again my Baleflamer Heldrake did not enter the field until Turn 4, which meant a considerable amount of Troop removal was denied to me for the majority of the game. In the end, while I had removed many of my opponent's models from the board, he was clearly ahead in a Kill Point game. Time was called and all I had left were both Heldrakes, and 1 Unit of Cultists.

Stay tuned for my next post in which I'll go over the last 2 games of Alamo con. Plus pictures of how the army I took looks!

Getting ready for Alamo con

Been neglecting this blog for awhile now, but with good reason, I've had 114 models to paint for Alamo con! That plus playing 40K at the local club on Thursdays has made me very, very busy. So let's break it down.

Hobby

I have been on a major painting spree and had thrown down ink on all but my Biker Warlord. Things seemed to be going well for awhile as I was making progress, even if it was only painting a single color on a large swathe of Cultists. I got to the point though, where it became painfully obvious I was not going to have enough time to get the models table ready by the tournament on May 18th. And so a decision was made, I hired a very talented, and fast, local painter to finish the job. The bad news was there were 114 models to paint. The good news was that they were most of the way there. I got to take a look at what my friend had accomplished in just a single night of painting and he had added an awesome looking rust effect to the Maulerfiend, as well as having cleaned up and detail washing on both Heldrakes. His goal is to have those three models completely painted and based by the end of this week. My fingers are crossed!

Gaming

So I finally had the opportunity to play against a couple Tau armies, and wow, those guys are brutal with the new Codex. The first game I played was also the first time my opponent had run his new Tau list. Despite some major achievements on my end, including wiping out his Warlord and all the suits grouped with him with a single Baleflamer pass, in the end, they get too many cheap units that can fire way farther than my Cultists. While the body count was pretty epic on both sides, my opponent controlled more Objectives and had Linebreaker on me. It was a fun game, but I knew that Tau armies were going to be a problem for me. And that was reinforced in my second game against another Tau opponent. This fellow had brought an Aegis Defence Line with a Quad-gun and tons of abilities specifically to down Heldrakes. While he couldn't do that as quickly as he was hoping to, he did eventually bring both demon chickens down and the marker-light ability of denying Cover meant my Cultists had no chance. The Maulerfiend was destroyed in Turn 1 and Night Fighting didn't matter to that army. In hindsight, I should have done what I've been trying to break myself from doing, aggressively charging. I should have sent both Heldrakes (was using 2 Baleflamer Heldrakes for this game) at the Defence Line and at least had a single turn of roasting a bunch of fishmen. Mmm, fried fish. Ah well, lesson learned. Cover means little against a Tau opponent who knows how to use marker-lights, so the ravening Chaos horde has to push with no care of the losses.

That's it for now. I'll be posting pics of the finished army as soon as I get the models back. Until next time, see you on the battlefield!

April Tournament breakdown

Played 3 1250 point games today with an altered version of Molitor's army. No Hades Heldrake, minus a Lascannon Predator tank, and only 89 Cultists. The first game was against a horde Tyranid army. I was a bit too aggressive with the Maulerfiend and Bikers and the troop monstrous creature my opponent had too many wounds to take care of. That plus my Heldrakes didn't come in until Turn 4.  After 2 spawnings of more troops in a single turn and my line collapsing, I was done for in Turn 7. When the game ended I had a single small unit of Cultists and Heldrake left. While I had killed his flying Hive Tyrant Warlord and a couple of units, he was spawning more than I could burn. In the end, the bugs devoured the chaos.

Game 2 was against Necrons. My opponent deployed second and wisely positioned himself in a manner which completely blocked line of sight from my lone Predator tank. However, after deployment it was obvious I had a much larger force. He had 2 Night Scythes which came in on Turn 2 and increased the count, but my Chaos Lord and Maulerfiend brought his Warlord down in Turn 1. My Heldrake came in on Turn 2 and that thing didn't disappoint between Vector Striking and its Baleflamer. The biggest hurdle was my opponent's ability to resurrect his models, but when my Cultists are in Rapid Fire range and firing 41 shots I'll be delivering wounds. My Warlord was blinked out of existence in a challenge and I lost all but 2 Bikers. In the end though, the sacrifices served papa Nurgle as the Cultists held onto many more objectives than my opponent's dwindling numbers of Necrons.

Game 3 was against Space Wolves with an Aegis Defence Line. We were deploying in the corners with objectives on the board and a relic in the center of the table. My opponent had 2 tanks behind the defence line with a Quad-gun, I knew what my Predator's first target was going to be. A couple of Lascannon hits later and the biggest threat to my Heldrake was eliminated in the first turn. My Heldrake thankfully came in on Turn 2 again and destroyed a loyalist Rhino, netting me First Blood.  I was again too aggressive with the Maulerfiend and it died from the tanks. After losing 2 Bikers I was nervous about assaulting but they were in range and I decided to press my luck. A roll of 1 for the Black Mace meant I was in serious trouble as my opponent had a model with a Power Axe that devastated my Warlord. One of my Cultist units was wiped out and my opponent had Outflanked with a Rhino carrying his Warlord. My Predator wrecked the Rhino and the elite unit of Space Wolves cleared the Cultists holding a nearby objective. The Predator fired again and a beam of supercharged light burst from the Wolf's Warlord. The game was called and our points were totaled, with both the Chaos Marines and Space Wolves equaling in the tally. The tie breaker was down to kill points, which because of the 2 Rhinos & tanks downed, led to a Chaos victory by a single point.

Today had a very fun run of games, in which I encountered a version of Tyranids that has me scratching my head on how to defeat, and had close games with turn after turn of enjoyable engagements. I'm seeing where the weaknesses in my list are, but on the whole I think it played very well. As always though, the dice rolls determine the outcomes. Until I next see you on the battlefield, happy wargaming!

Adding some Daemon allies

So, one thing that was bugging me with the list I took into the March tournament was how expensive the Plague Marines are. While I like just how tough they are, their Poisoned close combat weapons, Fearless and Feel No Pain simply comes at too high a price for what I want to do. Since the Daemon codex recently came out, I wanted to play with some of those guys in the list. A kind person sent me 2 bases of metal Nurglings and I thought I'd give them a shot. So I bought a pack of Nurglings to accompany them and a Herald of Nurgle as well.

Doing this will provide double the wounds as the Plague Marines and if I take the Greater Locus of Fecundity will give the Herald and Nurglings Feel No Pain as well. The Daemon invulnerable save combined with Feel No Pain and 4 wounds per Nurgling base will make that unit a great tar-pit/objective holding unit, and much more efficient use of points than Plague Marines. I will be giving the Herald Psychic Powers as well as Exalted Rewards and will still have plenty of points left over (for 2,000 point games) to either get more Nurglings or perhaps a Palanquin (though I can't find where they sell such things). We'll see how they do, my main concern is that while they'll hold an objective, they won't be able to kill as well as the Plague Marines. Until next time, see you on the battlefield.