So, what next?

So, new league starts Monday...  Not sure what I'll play.  Silly loyalty, I'll play because Dave is pack...  So, IG or Fleshtearers?  Maybe Grey Knights, but with the limited nature of the 400 point games, I cannot actually field 80% of the stuff in the book, and none of the things I normally use...Deathwing is out for the same reason, no 2+ saves allowed...  Wolves would be good, but ultimately boring I think...  At least IG I can bring weird ancient things no one has seen before...  And more importantly I can fit it on the motorcycle at this level...  :-)  Rationalize it away I guess...

15mm stuff is shaping up nicely, and I do think I'll scrape together the $60 or so to pick up the 3rd ed FoW books...  Not entirely sure I'll ever actually play the game, at least locally...  But, at the very least I'll have the mental exercise of building armies and the like...  Wonder how historically accurate my builds will be?  Guessing fairly...  But then I also know that the TOE is not very accurate with respect to what the lads are actually bringing to the field with them...  For instance, I carried my M-16/203, 2 pistols, a shotgun, a LAW, and a wide variety of knives, etc...  By the TOE, it was the M-16/203...   And I was only slightly more heavily armed than the rest of the lads...  Not sure I ever saw a "Line Dog" actually JUST have the issued weapons...  Reserve guys or non- Combat Arms, yes...  And with my big collection of WWII weapons and the like, hell, I was issued some :-)...  My 1911 was manufactured in 1935, and it is the most reliable weapon I've ever used, I trust it with my life and those of my family without hesitation...  Cue the Obi Wan Kenobi voice with the line about the more elegant weapon from a more civilized time...

Looking like a good week for the bike :-)  One thing I got last year I REALLY am glad I picked up...  Might be time for me to look into getting a bigger one in the longer term...

15mm?

Mkay, dug up some more of the FoW troops...  Anyone out there know how close the points in the 2nd ed (I think) books like "D-1" are?  I think I can actually field an Airborne company...  Line platoons, Weapons platoons, loads of Bazooka Teams, an Artillery Platoon, etc...  I have a Platoon of Lees as well, but not really connected to my Airborne stuff...  My Grandfather on Dad's side commanded a unit of them during the War, wound up in Armored Cav, so I'll likely snag a few of the Greyhounds, etc...  Ironically, a Great Uncle was an Engineer...  Dad was Armored Cav, I started as an Engineer before doing the really silly "Airborne" stuff...

So, need to get some "Dark Green" if Dave has it (Vallejo) to paint the lads up in the 1943 Uniforms...  Most of the operations involving my old Divisions (82nd and 3AD) were "late war", so...   Probably some of the Army Painter sprays since I'll probably want to quickly finish my Grey Knights, some random "Barbarian" type armies for other game systems...  Who knows, maybe WFB will make a comeback some day...  That and I guess I need the 3rd ed FoW book...

But in essence, not even sure if I'll play in the upcoming league...  Maybe after the weekend I'll lighten up, but 40K is just getting really stale and boring to me at the moment...  Not a problem with Dave H's league, I'm really just bored with the same things over and over...  By now I've seen pretty much all of it, and even my quest to try to use everything in all of the Codexes I actually play has more or less been done.  And by now there really aren't many surprises.  Sadly, I can usually predict with a great deal of accuracy what the game plays out as by looking at lists and books...  So, I guess I am waiting on the next edition.

Airborne!

Yeah, after a LONG ride on the bike split by a bit of maintenance on her, digging out some of my old FOW minis...  Surprisingly a degree in Mechanical Engineering does NOT make one a Mechanic :-)...  But I really like the older, simpler bikes...  Nothing subtle, and with the manual and a decent set of tools, very little I cannot fix on her.  And it feels REALLY good to be able to fix minor things and feel the ride smooth out...

But on to the Flames of War stuff...  Looking like I have the bulk of my Airborne force (82nd :-)  I spent some time there, and in the 3rd Armored)...  Not sure how many stands of Infantry I have, but saw 5 Howitzers (the light Air transported ones...), "several" Mortar teams, etc...  Some silly things too like a Lee/Grant platoon...  I suppose I'll have to break down and order the rulebooks, etc. from the Gopher...  Not looking like the free mini 3rd ed book is still being given away, so no real need to dig up my 2nd ed stuff :-)...

Is 40K getting stale or is it just the waiting for the next edition?

So,seems locally at least it is getting stale to the point of dying...  Not sure if it is just that it is so predictable, or it it is the general feeling of " Le Roi est mort, vive le Roi! "....  I get the general feeling of a dying game system, having been here a few times before...  Confrontation, MechWarrior, Chronopia, Planetstorm, guessing I have a few armies of random crap down in the basement that I've forgotten, these I remember though :-)  I'm not really concerned that GW will kill their system, unlike all of the ones before them...  At least I HOPE they will not do so.  I have a LOT of stuff for 40K, and since I basically get one night per week for gaming and with the death of the Warmachine/Hordes group here...  Well :-)...  Yes, purely selfish reasons to hope for the the game continuing, but...  So, yes, seen the signs and they are very familiar...  Hoping inertia is enough to keep 40K going in the long run...

So, no tournament today...

Well, only two of us showed up for the tournament...  Weird, given the huge 40K group we have on Mondays.  So, didn't get to test out my Grey Knights as actual Grey Knights...  Well, we played a quick game, but deep striking in an inch away from one of his Long Fang squads allowed me to actually kill a few...  But the Stealth and cover saves kept the squad alive..  Took one casualty, and took a wound on Mordark which brought the Ghost Knight back.  Mind, I was helped immensely by REALLY poor dice on Dave's part...  of the 3 Plasma Cannons, 2 1's coming up killing one of them meant even fewer cover saves and pretty well summed up the shooting phase...  So, REALLY not a good test for the army concept...  I'll probably give it a shot in the next one, I might even have the lads all painted up by then...  'course, the whole army is 26 models, and I already have the bulk of them painted and WYSIWYG...

Next league, we'll be voting on Monday and next week...  Is looking like we'll do a Combat Patrol, similar to http://www.adepticon.org/12rules/2012cp.pdf  Should be interesting...  Grey Knights are right out...  Wolves might be interesting, Fleshtearers would probably be VERY competitive, IG seem like they'll be one of the "power" armies along with the Dark Eldar...  Eldar are out for me, but mostly because I just played out the 8 week league with them...  And at 400 points, I think they'd be a a HUGE disadvantage given the ancient codex they have...  IA11's Corsairs on the other hand...

Looking like I'll need to get a "Gun List" together as I'll be selling a few off...  Found another crate of ammo (7.62 NATO on stripper clips for either Indian Enfields or some of the odd Mauser variants), and by and large I've not used any of them in the last decade...  Keeping the IBM carbine, the Garand, my old sidearm, etc...  M1911's are still my pistol of choice, the one I learned to fire with, so the one I am most comfortable with.  Also the only one I know I shot someone with, but like I was taught "If you are expecting a gun fight and only have a pistol, you brought the wrong weapon"...  Big fan of the "I don't care" class weapons everywhere, and so the Garand with 30-06 AP ammo fits that as the most powerful standard round for a shoulder fired weapon.  Not a cop, so if I am shooting, I am not overly interested in taking prisoners.  Center of mass, high powered AP round...  But time for the collection to get pared down I think...  So, anyone looking for this sort of thing, shoot me a line :-)...

Slightly less silly GK list...

Slightly less silly GK list...  Guessing that this will fit my style a bit more...  Terminators, Deep Striking, hyper aggressive play style...

Grand Master Mordrak w/ full Ghost Knights (BH Banner)   (425)
Librarian (Might o Titan, Warp Rift, Sanctuary, 2 Servo Skulls)  (175)
Terminator Squad (9 + Thawn, BH Banner, 2 Psycannon, Psybolt ammo)  (570)
Strike Squad (Psycannon, Rhino)  (150)
Dreadknight (Teleporter, Flamer, Sword)  (260)
Dreadnaught (TLAC x 2, uber ammo)  (135)
Dreadnaught (TLAC, Assault Cannon, Uber Ammo)  (135)

So, on Kill Point missions, 8-9 points total...  Not a really hard to kill group like the Eldar Wraithguard, but I can Deep Strike, Combat Squad, the Grand Master can make me more scoring units for those missions...

Looking more like I'll run these lads this weekend over the Deathwing force...  Probably won't win as I think that there are some lists that I think will tear me apart...  Mike's Dark Eldar being one.  But the Purifiers really didn't fit in the concept I think...  The Strike Squad to be honest is just there for the required second Troops squad...  If I drop 75 points, another Terminator squad would fit better, but of course those points are a bit tight...  The Librarian powers I'm not at all sure about really...  But planning on dropping him with the GM's squad, and so I want some of the REALLY aggressive powers for a quick and powerful hit there...

Silly GK list for local tournament...

Never actually played this, but...

Grand Master Mordrak and 5 Ghost Knights(425)
Librarian w/Warp Rift, Sanctuary, Might of Titan (165)
Purifier Squad 4 Psycannon, Halberds, Rhino (335)
Terminator Squad, Psycannon (225)
Strike Squad, Psycannon, Razorback w/ TLLC (190)
2 Dreadnoughst, 2 x TLAC and uber ammo (135 x 2)
Dreadknight, Teleporter and heavy flamer (235)

Gives me a Grand Master for silliness...  Strike Squad could easily be swapped for another Terminator squad (I REALLY like Terminator armor...) as I do not really think the SS does much of anything the way I'd play it.  Mordrak's unit with the Librarian can deep strike on turn one without deviation for a REALLY aggressive backfield strike (Vortex of Doom perhaps?)...  The DN's and Dreadknight advance with the Terminator squad if they need to...  Silly list, but it might work out fairly well...  Or at least I can transport it easily on the bike :-)