What I'll be bringing tonight...

:-)  Yeah, subtle...  But riding the motorcycle, I have a VERY limited amount of space to bring out my toys, so I've already chosen my list for the league, more or less...  Changed it up quite a bit for tonight, dropped the Terminators for a regular Assault Squad...  Don't get me wrong, the Terminators are REALLY powerful, especially backed with a Sanguinary Priest (Medic for us old timers), Librarian, etc...  But having the scoring unit sitting back in the Land Raider is almost as good, and doesn't expose my lone LR to  all that annoying Melta fire while they babysit an objective...  That and I'm wanting to try something a bit "less min/max" for my Fleshtearers.  The Death Company I bring are almost always well worth it, especially with the Chaplain to give them loads of re-rolls...  The Predator (AC/Las sponsons) is perhaps a bit too good being "Fast", but at 135, a staple item for the list.  My Vanguard Vets with 2 power fists pulling a heroic intervention are another REALLY solid choice.  Especially since the one GK player this league is not actually playing Knights, just an Inquisition list really...  So, no worries about deep striking right on top of the target...  Mind, I like to use my locator beacons from the Scouts and the Drop Pods to not HAVE any scatter, but with only 1d6, I'll usually risk it in any case. 

5 Death Company, 2 w/ power fists, all with Jump Packs...  Considered Lemartes, but I still dislike using "named" characters if I can avoid it (Warmachine/Hordes was one I did not jump into originally because of that), so I have a Chaplain kitted out with a power fist of his own to accompany them...  Might have Dave order Lemartes though since he would be just a few more points, and he is NOT an IC to be singles out, etc...  Something to think about at least..

Other than that, 2 Dreadnaughts, one Death Company with the Talons, Fleet, effectively Extra Armor, etc...  It runs behind the Land Raider or wherever...  The other DN is a Furioso, pretty much "stock" with the fists, I like to throw in the Heavy Flamer and Magna Grapple, and it deploys via Drop Pod (with Beacon)... 

My Scouts, full 10 man squad trying Heavy Bolter this time to accompany the Snipers...  Mostly because I HAVE 3-4 of the old Scout w/ Heavy Bolters and I just want to see what the weight of fire actually does, maybe I'll actually hit something with the lad this time...  Can't really complain about the Missile, it did get me a win a few weeks ago by offing a random IC that ventured out in a kill point mission...  Still, just testing the theories at this point...

Anyway, we'll see :-)  Still thinking that I should have simply kept to my Deathwing, but I'd get bored I think...

Just a quick post...

Just throwing out a quick post...  Days seem to get longer and longer with the new job of doom :-)...  Doing a lot, but still so much yet to do, just hoping to not completely drop anything.  Not really looking forward to the UC conversion, it's becoming a classic "charlie foxtrot"from my view in the cheap seats at least...

Painting up my Fleshtearers...  Getting the bulk of the 1800-2000 point force up and ready...  Still have to decide which one I'll use if we end up going to Adepticon next year...  Deathwing was my first choice, and I still think they will be a very powerful one.  The Fleshtearers might be fun, and I bet I could come up with a decent 1000 point "half"...  Grey Knights I think are a bit more difficult, 1000 points really is not enough to field a cohesive force, but it might be fun...

St Louis...

Yup, we're off in St. Louis with the wee ones...  I have loads of pictures up on facebook, I'll see if I can link, but if not they're up there...  Tiring, and loads of fun...  So, 2 more days here.  Maggie is happy, this is the first "real"vacation we've taken in a LONG time.  Mostly I'm tired, but I am glad the girls will have some fun and interesting memories...

Motorcycle, REALLY glad I picked it up.  Yes, it's not the fastest or the prettiest bike, but it is a fairly large bike and both reliable and efficient as hell... Just a few more tweaks before I really think of it as "my" bike...  Slight leak still with the rear tire, stereo/MP3 player and re-cover the seat...  Mostly minor things, a few hundred dollars worth...  Still have to sell off a bunch of my ancient firearms to pay for it, but that isn't as easy as it sounds...  But, the bike itself is going nicely :-)

Gaming:  I saw the Forgeworld "Heresy Era" DN's...  Now, since I actually HAVE 6+ ancient RT era DN's in my armies, I actually really like them.  Rules are a bit wonky, but I'd certainly play it...  Not the most overpowered DN, I think I already have a few of them in my Fleshtearer and GK armies...  These would just be fun...  More later, off to snag some Pizza with the girls...

Illinois Governor Guilty… Who Knew? :-)

Well, we as a State are now batting .500 with our last 8 Governors…  4 of them are in, have been in or are on their way to prison…  If you aren’t from Chicago, this might come as something of a surprise, but…  The Outfit and/or the Machine ran pretty much everything up there when I was growing up, and it does seem at least on the surface that the current Mayor and Governor are working hard on keeping that tradition rolling…  While the candor displayed by the open corruption at the State level with respect to the health care for us peons was somewhat refreshing, the message that seemed to be coming through was that it just did not matter.  They were going to do what they were going to do, the law doesn’t matter, the voters do not matter, etc…  Weird feeling, thought that it would stay the same, etc., but apparently this is the new reality in Illinois…

Motorcycle is going along well…  Weather seems like it has finally stabilized and looks like I’ll be able to ride in most days now…

Headed to St Louis this weekend with Maggie and the wee ones…  Should be interesting at least, and it’s the first actual vacation we’ve been on in years…

Gaming…  The Fleshtearers seem to be a VERY powerful force the way I am playing them.  The Fury DN dropping in, the Vanguard Vets all loaded out with Power Weapons (and furious charge if I am lucky) drop in directly to HtH with 4 attacks each…  My Death Company loaded into the Land Raider Crusader and the DC Dreadnaught followed along in the shadow…  Turns out that the first missile shot at the LRC immobilized it, and the DN was immobilized the next turn…  I think if I keep the same list next week, I bring it as a normal Land Raider…  The Las Cannons might be nice to have for a long range threat…   My Scouts anchored the line and camped on my objective to guarantee the draw at least…  Not sure they killed a single thing, but they DID win me the game…  Well they helped at least :-)…

Scouts… Just random thoughts….

Yeah, I used to work with them when I played Army, so they have always held a special place in my armies…  Another one of those things I like to MAKE work, especially since so many others write them off…  They are not the best and most effective “Troops” in 40K for the armies I play…  OK, Wolves are an exception, but their Scouts are not Troops, they are Elites who are tasked with sneaking about, kicking asses and taking names…  They are probably one of the more under-costed units in the game against armies that want to sit still and shoot (Tau, IG, etc…  Gun lines)…  I’ve been using mine in my Fleshtearers army, and they have been surprisingly solid for me.  I use a 10 man squad with one missile launcher, 5-6 sniper rifles and the SGT gets one along with a Power fist if I have the points, I usually do for this…  Worst case, the lads use the power fist as a hibachi while they camp out on an objective…  Best case, the power fist is a deterrent for deep strikers like Dreadnaughts and the like to at least make them think seriously about prying my objective campers off of the objective… 

Now, in the past I might have tried combat squadding them and running a flank, or even flanking to bring the lads in at a later turn…  And against some forces (All reserve types, drop lists), it isn’t a bad thing necessarily…  These days, with a “somewhat more aggressive” force like the Fleshtearers, having a small Troop or two to camp and provide some harassing fire…  Who knows, it might even pin something important :-)…  I’ve seen it happen…  Not something to count on, but a really nice bonus when it happens.

Kill point missions, I have on occasionally kept them as the full squad and simply reserved or flanked them just to play keep away with the easy kill point…  A BA drop force, or a mixed one like I run does not HAVE that many kill points to give up, so it is much to my advantage to keep them out of the way while the Death company berserkers go forth and do their work…

Just the start really, I don’t really have hard and fast “tactics”, more general guidelines that I follow and react to the situation as it presents itself…

Lot of this going around I guess…

Not really a whole lot for me to look forward to in 40K…. It is apparently a cyclical thing for me, but really it does seem like I'm playing the same game over and over. I've apparently gone through all 6 of my armies and figured out the "best" lists for me to play… Admittedly, 2 of the armies I have I have a very "limited" selection to field (Deathwing and Grey Knights), but the problem is that both of them are REALLY powerful, at least the way I field them… My Eldar are "fun", but badly outdated in a lot of ways, especially with the last 2 Codices that have been released… The Dark Eldar do most of what the Eldar and do it better with the notable exception of not having Psychers at all… Ironically, they now apparently HAVE demons though via the Grey Knight FAQ… And of course the Grey Knights and their giant "FU" to all other Psychers out there… Oh, and a LOT of things are considered Demons and Plasma weapons these days, so keep that in mind… Loads of min/max potential in both of those codices…

 

I guess what I am getting at is that I'm just getting a bit bored with the game… There is really nothing overly exciting there for me at the moment. I know that several other folks have expressed similar opinions, and in a much better way I think like the Back 40K here: http://theback40k.blogspot.com/2011/06/when-blase-hits.html... I have to admit I am sort of looking forward to Mantic's sci-fi game, especially since I had inherited Brent's ancient Squat force when Sword and Crown went away… Not sure, I've played a LOT of "alternate" games, "Planetstorm" being one of the best IMO… We played on a BIG table and so broke the system a bit, but it was a really fun game to kill an afternoon or evening… I guess my point is that while I hope Mantic, Privateer Press, or "whoever" comes up with a viable "40K killer", I doubt they will… Still, alternate minis are most welcome if they are reasonable priced, and I'll probably at least play whatever comes out if it catches my interest… Malifaux didn't for the longest time, but they might have released a group I could actually play, might have to look into it if I ever get time and a bit of spare cash :-)…

 

On the time front… Job is still kicking my ass, but is calming down a bit after a particularly hellish couple of weeks there. Lots to pick up and run with, no time to waste really… My injury over the weekend is healing, but very slowly, and the antibiotics are really doing a number on me. I don't remember minor injuries like this taking me out in the past, but so it goes…

 

And speaking of "going"… The bike is running great, so naturally, the weather has gone to Craptastic… Shame, getting 52 MPG at "highway" speeds (55 MPH or so), and I REALLY like just parking a block away from my building and being able to leave whenever I really want to…

 

'k, LONG day and I'm in a bit darker mood than normal, so perhaps time to get to sleep…

Wow, this was a long week...

Well, good and bad things…  Bad, Altgeld Hall got hit by lightning and a bunch of computers and other things got messed up.  The handicapped access door had its motor melted, locking that door pretty effectively…  But so far 10-15 machines known to have lost as little as the Ethernet card to frying the whole system.  No doubt there will be more popping up over the next few months as folks wander back and find that for whatever reason they cannot log in, etc…  And with most of the machines now off warranty, well…  This is going to be a bit painful. So, that ate up the last half of my week at work.

Bike is still running along quite nicely…  Started riding it to work Thursday after I got my parking tag…  Maybe the weather will remain clear for a bit for me to keep riding in to work.  I have to admit it is absolutely awesome just walking a block to the bike and riding home rather than hoping to catch a crowded bus to another parking lot and then driving from there…  Down side being that there is construction on the main road between the University and Tolono, and they seem to be in “less of a hurry” to resurface than they were to tear up several miles worth of it…  So, back roads it is for now at least as I get used to the bike again.  Trying to avoid the “rough pavement” that is left before resurfacing the road…

Gaming, I’m paring down last week’s list to fit them in the lockable luggage on the Silverwing…  So, the Scouts are in, The Death Company are keepers, the Attack Bikes are keepers, and…?  Not sure what else to keep really…  I figure I can fit 2 trays full of troops in one of my old camera bags and then I’ll bring along some Rhino hulls…  The BA Rhinos are just better than all the rest for whatever reason… Apparently there is a deep seated belief in England that the red ones do in fact go faster…  So, another box for those to ride in and that leaves just a bit for the books, dice, etc…  Should be no problem… :-)