Friday, September 21, 2012

Tournament tomorrow...

So, last minute list changes...  Running either *Both have Aegis lines w/ Quad Guns):

CPT Tycho
Death Company (6 Jump packers, 2 w/ Power Axe)
Scout Squad (10, 9 snipers, 1 Heavy Bolter)
Assault Squad (10, Jump, Melta, Flamer, SGT w/ hand flamer/PW)
Sanguinary Priests (2,1  Terminator)
Sternguard (7, H Flamer, 6 Combi Melta, Drop Pod w/ beacon)
Death Company DN (flamer)
Baal Predator (HB sponsons, TLAC)
Whirlwind
Devastator Squad (2 HB, 2 Missile)

OR

CPT Tycho
Vanguard Vets (5 Jump packers, 1 PF, 4 PW, SGT w/ melta bombs)
Scout Squad (10, 9 snipers, 1 Heavy Bolter)
Assault Squad (10, Jump, Melta, Flamer, SGT w/ hand flamer/PW)
Sanguinary Priests (2,1  Terminator, one Jump Pack)
Sternguard (7, H Flamer, 6 Combi Melta, Drop Pod w/ beacon)
Furioso DN (flamer)
Assault Squad (5, melta, Razorback w/ TLAC)
Whirlwind
Devastator Squad (2 HB, 2 Missile)

So, with the second option I play the Death Company as Vanguard Vets.  The Furioso replacing the DC DN.  A bit more brutal, but not quite as close to the "fluff"...  Depends a bit I think who shows up to play :-)

Thursday, September 20, 2012

Medic of Doom...

Well, finished my Medic conversion...  Base coated, magnetized and looking like a Medic...




I find it amusing and ironic that the Medic has the best armor on the field... Shame he doesn't have a gun, but I can swap out the Power Weapon between Sword, Maul, and maybe Axe...  Sword for now I think, with Tycho ignoring ALL armor saves, that gives the Sternguard a decent HtH punch...  But the Maul for Str 7 on the Charge?  Maybe, I've run it that way once or twice to good effect against Guard, Necrons or DE...  Problem being against Marines? Well, I lose the Power Weapon effect....

Have to admit, the thought of running Allies in the form of Dark Angels is tempting...  CPT Belial and a squad of Deathwing for the HQ/Troop requirement, might make for an amusing defensive line...  But other than that, not sure what the DA would bring me...  Would likely replace my Death Company in terms of "what goes" to pay for it...  Eh, too many random thoughts while exhausted I think, tempted to change the Fleshtearers list a bit, but then I am thinking that might well be a mistake...  OTOH, dropping a Fearless, FnP Terminator unit right next to my Sternguard (Locator Beacon)...  A real Rock unit to park on an objective...  Dunno :-)

Conversions, just a few more things for the Tournament

Well, threw together a quick Terminator suit Medic (Sanguinary Priest) and got some color on it...  "Eh", I'm not actually a sculptor so the Green Stuff doesn't look as nice as it should, but I think it will be obvious what it is.  Well, that and the fact that it will be the ONLY Terminator suit on my side :-), so that will help I think.  I'll get the basecoat finished tomorrow and dip it...  Should look OK with the rest of the lads I think...

Finishing up the last few bases and getting the last parts painted, still have to decide whether to bring the Devastators or the Assault Squad...  Played the Dev + Attack Bike over the Assault Squad + Razorback last game...  The Devs have the range, and the Attack Bike is really powerful for the 50 points.  The Assault Squad are always scoring. t ttack bike win out...  Just SO much firepower, and parking them in cover gives me a good fire base to compliment the Scouts.  Think the Medic running with the Assault Squad (Jump) loses the jump pack to hold back with the Scouts and Devs...  Saves me 25 points, and allows me to fill out a few things I want to be sure I have like a Locator Beacon on the Drop Pod...  6" from the pod is a HUGE are when the pod is fully extended, so the lads Deep Striking have a big area to drop in without deviation...  Liking that, missing my old Vanguard Vets though :-)...  I do think that were I playing a truly cut-throat version I would find a way to put in a 5 man squad to be a second wave to rescue the CPT and his lads.  They'd likely be within 6" of the Medic granting Furious Charge...  A bit much though I think for the local scene though...

Tuesday, September 18, 2012

Tournament Prep... List choices...

Well, I finally played the Necrons with their 3 fliers..  Damn, that was a tough one :-)  Good fight, and I made it a LOT closer than it should have been by just being stubborn and staying on target.  I also made a few HUGE mistakes.  Was the first time I played the "kill point" mission in 6th, and I stupidly combat squadded my Scouts and Assault Squad, giving up 2 additional kill points.  Also, having the CPT get hit by 4 bolters (equivalent, whatever the Cron weapon is), fail 3 2+ saves and make only one FnP to just barely live...

The small Assault squad I had parked doing AA duty got killed by Necron Lords on their super chariots...  Need to protect them better, or at least have 2 bloody squads there.  He wound up killing my gun later before I could re-man it.  So, keeping that in mind for the future...  The strategy of deploying the Aegis line and the other terrain...  Must keep the AAA near the center or I give up a big portion of the board letting the fliers on...  Balancing act, and still getting the hang of it.  The TLAC on a Razorback is "eh", it actually damaged 2 fliers before being destroyed, claiming a weapon and a few hull points...  But I do not think this will be sufficient AA coverage for my army.  Doing the Wehrmacht thing, and closing with the enemy, avoiding fliers as best I can, but a patient opponent will understand what I am doing and flow away from me...  Well, if they can :-)  I like my Jump Troops...

What I fielded last night:


CPT Sariel (Tycho)
Death Company (5, Jump Packs, 2 Power Axes)
Scout Squad (10, 9 Snipers, 1 Heavy Bolter)
Sanguinary Priests (2, 1 Terminator, 1 Jump Pack)
Assault Squad (10, Melta, Flamer, SGT w/ Power Weapon)
Sternguard (7, Heavy Flamer, 6 Combi Melta, Drop Pod)
Baal Predator  (HB Sponsons, TLAC or Flamer?)
Dev Squad (3 Heavy Bolters, Missile Launcher?)
Whirlwind
Land Speeder or Attack Bike?

Aegis Line w/ Quad gun...

And it is more or less I think what I will field for Saturday.  The Attack bike with MM was what I ended up using, the Dev Squad with 2 Heavy Bolters and 2 ML...  Was "eh", but facing a fully meched up Necron force with AV 13 or in the fliers?  Not sure anything would have been better.  Though putting them near/in the Aegis line might be better...  So, a few things I NEED to finish painting for Saturday, but overall, I have a large, Infantry based Fleshtearers army ready.  Oh, yeah, I have to actually build a WYSIWYG Terminator Medic...  I have all the pieces around I think with my Deathwing force I inherited a few years ago...  So, a project to finish before Saturday...

Saturday, September 15, 2012

Revised list...


Wow, bit of a flashback there :-)  Apparently I had an older version of a post there...  So, looking like the last week for the league, and I have to get a few more things painted up before Monday...  Close.  Almost everything is painted to the 3 color standard at least, most of it is actually completely done...  

Thinking on it again, not at all sure I have the time to get used to the Storm Raven in a single week. I may well bring the Dev Squad, and maybe the Vanguard Vets, at least a 5 man squad...  Just to throw them in to dig out the CPT, hopefully on Turn 2 with the DoA rules.  Unfortunately without the Raven, my AA solution is not there.  So, probably the Aegis line with Quad gun.  Goes without saying, the Techmarine is right out.

Looking like:

CPT Sariel (Tycho)
Death Company (5, Jump Packs, 2 Power Axes)
Scout Squad (10, 9 Snipers, 1 Heavy Bolter)
Sanguinary Priests (2, 1 Terminator, 1 Jump Pack)
Assault Squad (10, Melta, Flamer, SGT w/ Power Weapon)
Sternguard (7, Heavy Falmer, 6 Combi Melta, Drop Pod)
Baal Predator  (HB Sponsons, TLAC or Flamer?)
Dev Squad (3 Heavy Bolters, Missile Launcher?)
Whirlwind
Land Speeder or Attack Bike?

Aegis Line w/ Quad gun...

Pretty simple list, but effective and VERY direct...  Hammer, and hammer again...  This time with a few Heavy options to erase Infantry at a distance...  Armor I deal with via Assault Squads, etc...  Fliers?  Well... Aegis line I guess, otherwise I have no choice but spread out, hit everything else, get into HtH and hope for the best...  Feeling a bit Wehrmacht, with the complete LACK of air superiority, having to plan for that...  We'll see what works out :-)

Friday, September 14, 2012

Random odd things, Techs and Jin Roh...

Jin Roh is one of the Anime (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jin-Roh:_The_Wolf_Brigade) that I really liked, the source of one of my favorite lines of all time: "Wolves only lose in Human fairy tales" :-)  The Infantry in this Kickstarter: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/dreamforge-games/something-wicked-this-way-comes-crusader-plastic-m?ref=card REALLY remind me of the armored troopers there.  I'm going to be kicking in to get some of the lads...  Probably use them as "Storm Troopers" for my Praetorians, or maybe my Veterans...  The APC they are going to produce looks awesome, but I still have a Chimera I have not assembled, so there is really no way I can justify the $50 for that as amazing as it looks...  Yet :-)  If the things take off and they go into distribution, I'll certainly be ordering some through Dave at the Gopher...  The main part of the Kickstarter is supposed to be the Titans ("Leviathans"), but since I HAVE an ancient Warhound class Titan (Armorcast resin), and have started making another out of card stock...  And so $90 for a plastic one, while an amazing deal...  I cannot justify the purchase as I would almost never use it...  Now, should the game Dreamforge is looking to hit with takes off...  Well, maybe :-)  It sure looks like the figures are going to be amazing...

Looking at:

CPT Sariel (Tycho)
Death Company (4, Jump Packs, 2 Power Axes)
Scout Squad (10, 9 snipers, 1 Heavy Bolter or ML)
Sang Priest (Jump Pack or Terminator Armor?)
Assault Squad (10, Melta, Flamer, Power Weapon SGT)
Sternguard (Drop Pod, 8, 6 Combi Melta, Combi Plasma, H Flamer)
Baal Predator (HB Sponsons, TLAC or Flamer?)
Storm Raven
Devastator Squad (6, 3 HB, ML?)
Techmarine (Servo Harness, Power Weapon, pistol)

DN (either DC DN or TLAC/AC firepower DN)
Vanguard Vets with Power Weapons...

So, I can bring the regular DN and the Vanguard Vets, or the Death Company and DC DN...  With the Vanguard, I assault directly from Deep Strike, have DoA and can follow the Beacon down to assist the Sternguard and their CPT.  The firepower DN really does just that.  On the other hand my Death Company is solid for me, and I've fielded them since 3rd ed...  And being Fleshtearers, it fits the fluff I think...  We'll see I guess.  I have a few days to get to painting over the weekend...  I want at least a basecoat on everything...  And the Storm Raven is not...  Eh, I really just want to see what it does in the new ruleset, thinking the DC and DC DN will be terrifying rolling out of that and if I have to, bring it onto the field in Skimmer mode...

Thursday, September 13, 2012

Bringing odd things...

Thinking about bringing a Techmarine...  Looking at the terrain we use locally, there is ALMOST always a ruin, and playing the "Dawn of War" deployment by fiat...  And my Scouts would be REALLY annoying with 2+ cover saves...  And 3+ saves for a Dev squad would be fairly nice...  Just the whole need to find the 50, 65 or better yet 90 points for the fully equipped Tech.  Pretty sure I won't bother with Servitors lacking a significant number of vehicles...  But the extra Plasma/Flamer and Power Fists might be nice for a backfield defense... Just having a hard time with the 90 points being the same as a Whirlwind for me.  For a single wound non IC model.  Yet another "GK Exclusive" as their Techs for whatever reason ARE IC.  Annoying, one of those things I want to bring, but it is one of those things I think I am playing at a disadvantage with given the clearly superior choices, in general.  Yes, I can imagine that there might be some situation where the Servo Harness Tech repairs a DN, Razorback or the like and goes on to clean up a HtH situation in my backfield...  But just don't see that happening all that often. Eh, I have several I have not played since the PDF codex days...  When the Techs were like the Tech Priest Engineers of the IG, not taking a slot, etc...  "Eh" even then, but cheap and I played a LOT of Mech as a holdover from my 3rd Ed army, so always amusing having him piece together a crippled Rhino hull to annoy the enemy...

Other than that, looking at bringing back my Vanguard Vets...  Sternguard hitting and the VGV following the Locator Beacon to assault out of Deep Strike and hopefully pull the Sternguard out alive...  Or at least avenge their sacrifice...  Though I am finding not many people are prepared for the Sternguard with CPT Tycho and a Medic...  Dropping a bunch of pissed off Assault Vets with Power Weapons, etc. into the mix just seems like overkill, but it will be VERY fast and decisive...  Something to consider...  NOT a "nice, fun" list, but damn I think it would be terrifyingly effective...  Well, against everything but a flier heavy force...