Just some random pictures of my new bike...

:-)  Just throwing out a few pictures of the new bike...  Just need to complete the title transfer/license the bike and make sure the Insurance is good through State Farm....

What’s next?

So… Team Tournament, not sure what will happen there, but we'll see what comes next… Joe will be running the next league, so it'll be interesting at least… Not sure where I go next, pretty sure I'll have my bike by then, so IG might be a "definite 'no'"… Even my Wolves tend to run with lots of bodies… Deathwing and Grey Knights then it is… Chatting with Mike last night, I do agree with him and think that most of us could easily get a 1750/1850 list and game in during the regular time slot, exceptions being perhaps new players and/or people playing Horde type armies… Especially if they keep their stuff spread out and move their toys very slowly… Even then, especially when playing against someone running a fast/compact list, the games tend to move along quickly…



So, Bin Laden is dead… Mkay. Not really a reason to celebrate as far as I'm concerned. Necessary, yes… And he was found in a large compound right next to Pakistani government installations… I'm sure they were "Shocked, simply shocked" to find him there… Kind of an "Untouchables" moment where Sean Connery's character lets "Dances with Gangsters" (Kevin Costner) know that of course everyone in Chicago knows where the booze is, but what are you going to do about it and are you willing to pay the price of doing something… Weird feeling, I knew people on the SEAL teams, 'course that was a while ago… The group of guys I used to go out shooting with included SEAL, Force Recon and Army snipers, along with the rest of us Grunts… I was about average in terms of shooting accuracy for the group, but that group was pretty far outside the "norm" for the human population… And my shooting tends to involve a lot more firing on the move or "combat shooting" than setting up and going for extreme accuracy at long distances… Besides, I can move quickly and quietly through pretty much any terrain, kind of scary for some of the folks around me, I know it annoys the hell out of my wife with me just appearing places… Longer range shooting was something I honestly picked up AFTER my combat deployments with my driver teaching me the finer points… He's still in, last I heard he was still a sniper, instructor mostly these days… "neat" skill to have I guess, but since I'm more of a "Ron White" hunter ("It's too damn early, too damn cold and I just don't want to go hunting"), the last time I actually "hunted" was during survival exercises when it was really necessary… These days, cows are easier to catch at Schnucks, Wal Mart or at the butcher's (Thanks Fay!)… But then we used to go to Garand competitions for a while back when some of us were living here in Illinois and hitting the 600m targets with a stock Garand pretty well showed who the "trained riflemen" were… One of my favorite Heinlein quotes was always:

"A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects."

And over the course of my life I've certainly tried to prove my ability to do most of those things :-)…



Right, back to game stuff… More of my ancient Grey Knights are coming together, and some of my Deathwing lads will be re-purposed to GK terminators I think… Somehow I ended up with more than 40 Deathwatch lads, and there are still some on the sprues not as yet assembled… Still trying to get the TLAC arm for the DN to look "right" so that I can begin casting several… REALLY powerful unit that one is for 135 points, and I will want to field several I am sure… Still not 100% happy with my Purifier paint scheme, but I'll get at least one full squad's worth of them before deciding I guess… Really do not want just another metallic silver army just like all the other ones coming to the tables, and I REALLY want them to be different from my Wolves with their Grey/yellow trim from my RT days… So, setting up more stuff on the "to be painted" table, and I might even get it painted soonish…

Thus Ends the League… :-)

Well, Loq and I did fairly well in the league by my reckoning at least… Playing the first few weeks with a very outdated/just plain bad codex (if you were playing Grey Knights at least) really threw off our results I think. Still, we wound up positive in the standings, setting us up for the Tournament ranked in the middle, more or less… The Tournament will follow the same format, 1000 points/player, fixed lists for the whole event… The Tournament will be run over the course of 2 Monday nights, with us skipping next week to set up the teams, etc…

Last night's game wound up a win on the "automatic draw" mission… Seizing the imitative while they were lining up for their first round of shooting meant we splashed the Vendetta and destroyed their Artillery before they did anything. Over the next turn or so, concentrating on the closer IG we were able to remove them before Tom's Eldar could do more than harass our flank… Loq's troops in cover did make a good number of saves against the Star Cannons and the like, allowing a few of them to survive to get into HtH with some IG Vets… And her EC actually survived the whole game :-)… My big Terminator squad backed by the Xenos Inquisitor for the "Oh, you thought you'd bring Plasma… I'm sorry" wargear (Actually I think of it as "Fuck Plasma", but the first sounds nicer) sat in the building with the objective choosing Duty over Glory to guarantee at the least a draw for us… ~600 points of "Come and Take Them" to really discourage anyone thinking they could actually come force us off of our objective… The Psycannon are REALLY quite powerful, especially if your dice are a bit hot… Justicar Thawn was leading out that squad and never really did anything, so I'll have to run him again at some point to get a more successful test of his abilities. I think he's going to be really useful, but based on the performance last night, I cannot really say…



Does bring up a question… I didn't buy the Psy Ammo for the squad with the points being as tight as they were, but if I had, would he get the effect, and would he keep it if he were killed and subsequently resurrected? I'd say he should, but he is also a named character, and you normally cannot buy upgrades or alter them in any way…



Purifiers in a full squad of 10 with 4 Psycannon were an unholy terror. I combat squadded them, half with 2 Psycannon in the squad's Rhino and the other half deployed into cover at the front of our DZ… Between them, they accounted for several Chimeras (Chimerii? :-) not sure the Latin plural, not one of the languages I speak well), some Wave Serpents and other casualties… Not sure how much better they really were than just getting a few "line squads" of the Strike Squads, but the ability to throw down the mini Devastator squad with 4 Psycannon backed by the other 5 lads to be a real anti horde/fast attacker threat should at least cause folks to think seriously about trying to take them down…



Tom's Eldar did fairly well, though I still think his Pathfinders would have been a better choice, at least against us… Since we brought 1 Rhino, the squad of Melta Doom was really not going to do a lot (Our Terminators were in cover pretty much the whole game)… Though his killing one of Black Templar Sword Brethren and forcing a morale check to have the 500 point squad run off of the board was an excellent shot, but not something I'd count on happening often :-)… The War Walkers, I might have had them flank and come in from reserves, but even that with our army being so tiny (lots of those expensive Terminators) I'm not sure it would have helped… The Walkers actually did quite well all things considered… His Doom Seer really did a number on the BTs out on the front line, pretty sure I'd have run Guardians over Dire Avengers in the Wave Serpents just for the heavy weapons, but I've been on a "bring lots of HWs" kick for a while. The Shuriken Catapult, while a decent Infantry weapon is not really enough to take down heavy infantry, and I'd consider Marines as the lower end of "Heavy Infantry", Terminators being probably the upper end of the scale… Just too many things that shrug off the Str 4, or cannot be affected by it, like AV11+… But just my opinions as always, they did fairly well as they were…




 

More GK questions…

Just a few things I was curious about…



Rending and multiple dice, specifically the Vindicare Assassin… If the current FAQ remains consistent, there is an entry (and therefore precedent) relating to Monstrous Creatures and Rending, it states that EACH 6 grants an additional d3, so your sniper rifle of doom can get some stupid high armor penetration if that holds true here…



Justicar Thawn… I am assuming that he is a "Troop" should he die and subsequently resurrect… And he would therefore count as a "scoring" unit of one Terminator… Might be amusing, and the more I look it over, the more I am liking this one… But then I'm guessing my liking to play Terminators does color that for me… Also, he is Fearless, does he transmit that to his squad? Or does it only take effect when he dies and is resurrected?



A Teleport Homer and the Librarian's Summoning power? Does the TH allow me to simply place the "deep striking" squad within 6" of the Librarian who remembered to bring one out to play? Seems silly to have it as an option for the Librarian if this does not work, but "silly" and "GW rules" do at times fit the "silly" and "WTF were they thinking?" descriptions...



I'm thinking the basis of my "real" army when we get to 1500 points and above will be:

Full Purifier squad, 4 Psycannon, maybe one hammer and the rest halberds in a Rhino… Comes to ~320 or so points, gives me the option to have a mini Dev squad/Long Fang pack and an "assault element" that can screen, run a flank, whatever… Or, they can deploy via Rhino en masse if I am concerned about giving up kill points… I suspect that the Grand Master will hit the field more often for me than Castellan Crowe… Break for small rant…



Crowe is OK(ish), but I suspect the figure will hit the table as a BHC more often for me… I do not like the recent rash of "non IC" characters that GW has sent out… The Vampire Lord Mephiston I can see, I guess… Hiding him in a squad, especially a squad of say, TH/SS Terminators would simply be impossible to kill off for most armies. But Crowe? He does not have fleet, the Psy powers giving him Str 10, extra attacks, jump pack move, etc… He has… Um… Let's see, he GIVES the enemy furious charge and re-rolls when they charge him? I suppose something HAD to balance the Purifiers becoming Troops, but for a few points more than Crowe you can field the Grand Master who can make the Purifiers Scoring… Not Troops, but good enough for Government work… /rant off :-)



Terminator squad… Full squad, 2 Psycannon, I'm liking the Brotherhood Banner… I've had Excellent success fielding them with a Librarian. Expensive, almost a "Deathstar" I guess, but really not my intention. They go forth and take objectives. If they happen to kill off a bunch of the enemy, that's great. But to be honest, they allow the Knights to win by simply existing on the field. I do think in the long term I will need a Land Raider or Storm Raven to field them successfully in general. Scouting Terminators via GM is a nifty trick, but really, that is all it is. Once people see it, I think it will lose it's effectiveness against most forces… IG parking lots and Tau gun lines are going to be in trouble I think, but anything Eldar and most Marine forces will be able to outmaneuver it. Now, on "Hold until relieved" missions, setting them up in cover especially if I bring a Techmarine and/or a Librarian they'll be almost as hard to dig out as my Deathwing… The lack of Fearless is telling there, and I admit I got spoiled there…

The next week…

Right, so the last week of our league coming up? As much as I'm enjoying it, I'm getting a bit itchy to play a different army or at least a more complete one :-)…

 

Probably bringing something like this:

 

Terminators, full squad, 2 Psycannon, Brotherhood banner, mix of weapons, Justicar Thawn… Comes to 550 points.

Land Raider? Probably…

Brotherhood Champion perhaps?

Random Inquisitor, maybe?

 

Something subtle, load up a raider with Terminators (a combat squad) and support, drive forth directly at the enemy… Thawn is the "Highlander" of the Codex… He literally can't die, at least not in any permanent sense… 4+ roll every turn to come back, should be amusing…

 

Read a web posting about "what your army choice says about you"… Amusingly, my ex was/is a Psychiatrist and she thought it would be fun to do up a "profile" for what sort of RPG character each of the folks in our group. We were playing "Fantasy Hero" I think, it was a LONG time ago… It was pretty scary how accurate her predictions were. I do wonder if the same might be said of our 40K forces… Mine do tend to a common theme, though I think there is a big difference between the IG Company I have kitted out as Praetorian Light Infantry at least to me are VERY different than Fleshtearers Death Company heavy berserkers… In turn each of those are different from my Wolves, Eldar and Grey Knights… :-) Guessing there really are enough similarities, I just can't see them…

GK so far…

Craptastic, wrote out a whole long thing and it was apparently lost in the warp…

 

Mkay, here it goes again…

 

Ran our lists against a Wolf Drop Pod force… It did not go well for the Wolves. The Brotherhood Champion was awesome, the Xenos Inquisitor was "OK", would have been much better if I had remembered to use his Psytropic Grenades the one time the Purifiers assaulted… The BHC is just Hell on Wheels against enemy IC's if he gets the charge off… I remembered to reroll the attacks, forgot to re-roll the "to wound" roll (Anointed Blade), and forgot to roll for either Hammerhands or the Grenades from the Inquisitor… Didn't matter, the Rune Priest that had the unfortunate luck to be in the way had no INV save, so 2 wounds finished him. The Purifiers made short work of the remaining Long Fangs. Did bring up an interesting one, and as much as I've played Force Weapons, I have never tried to use them activated to Instant Death (ID) anything… Is that a Psychic Power, vulnerable to Rune Weapon/Librarian Hoods nullification? It's never come up for me since either the Power Weapon effect was sufficient or the Librarian was fighting a hopeless battle trying to hold until I could bring TH/SS reinforcements or time ran out :-)…

 

So far, what have I learned?

 

The Strike Squad is actually not bad at all… 110 points for the 5 lads and one Psycannon, the Razorback was more, but still, it fought as an ICV, dropping them in cover over the objective and wandered off to be a light tank. We won the game the way we did due to the 12" Warp Quake bubble keeping the Deep Strikers far enough away to completely neutralize them. The squad them was able to open up on a Grey hunter squad and decimate it (in concert with other shooting), but the giant "Interdiction Zone" they present is game changing.

 

Purifiers are awesome. Mkay, that's a given, and were they Troops, doubt anyone would take anything else. I can see Crowe or a GM making these guys troop equivalents a big deal, and at least with Crowe, there is a limit to the other support you can give them with only one HQ slot still open there. Balance, so that's good I guess… Still, I can see taking a squad of 10, 4 Psycannon and Combat Squadding them to give myself a "Devastator Squad" and an assault element. That this comes to the same point cost as the Purgation Squad is a bit confusing to me, and I guess it is a good thing I don't plan on taking the "Dev squad" for my GK ever… I think these lads will be awesome coming out of a Storm Raven to assault… Team Tournament at Adepticon next year, BA/GK team will be pretty rough to stop… Still, I'll likely bring my DA as part of the team…

 

Terminators… I missed them, will probably go back to them as my Troops selection, or at least one of them next week. Rock solid, and only really lacking the 3++ that I got spoiled on with my Deathwing force. Forgot to pick up more magnets at the Gopher last night, will have to remember next week… And decide which plastic kit I snag, the PA or Terminators… Probably PA since I doubt I'll field more than 15-20 Terminators in a GK force…

 

Have a few ideas for next week, only a few more things I can test at this point level I think, so good that the league is winding down I guess… Probably Terminators, Strike Squad and… "more" I guess..

 

Finally got my tax return, so I can actually start my bike purchase in earnest… Really looking forward to that.

 

Oh, and if anyone is looking for ancient C&R firearms or the like, let me know, I have a few spares to get rid of…

Let’s see what happens…

Well, let's see what I can bring to the table here… If Loq brings Land Raiders of Doom, and I bring a light supporting force…

 

Castellan Crowe 150

 

Ordo Xenos Inquisitor 25

 

Plasma Syphon 10

 

Rad or Psytrope grenades 15

 

Purifiers (2*Psycannon, 3 Halberds) 146

 

Rhino 40

 

Purifiers (2*Psycannon, 3 Halberds) 146

 

Rhino 40

 

Dreadknight (Tele,Incinerator,) 235

 

DN (Assault Cannon/TLAC, Psy ammo)135

 

This leaves me 67 points… But then I thought, what does Crowe actually bring to the table in this list? Changing the Purifiers to troops, sure, but really at 1000 points and only 2 min size squads… And I think that a Strike Squad in a Rhino to project the 12" bubble of "No Deep Strikers" might be better for the team… So perhaps a Brotherhood Champion substituting for Crowe to ride with Purifiers and the Inquisitors in a Rhino. Strike Squad to sub in for one Purifier squad mostly just for more "troops" and give the 12" protection for the critical few turns to get the whole army across the field…

 

Brotherhood Champion             100

Xenos Inquisitor                50

Purifier Squad (2 Psycannon, 3 Halb)    146

    Rhino                40

Strike Squad (Psycannon)        110

    Razorback (TLLC)        80

Dreadknight (Teleporter, H Incinirator)    235

Dreadnaught (Ass Cannon, TLAC, Psy)    135

 

So, ~100 points left over… And perhaps a second Heavy weapon for the DK, more Grenades for the Inq and another Purifier or two? Might need a hammer in the squad too… Also, this would be the first "Terminator free" list I've played in 2 Leagues… But we'll see how well it works out I guess…