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…

All Your Base…

:-)



http://youtu.be/8fvTxv46ano


Yes, getting back to manufacturing bases for the lads… Nothing particularly special, just a bunch of random bits like helmets and that sort of thing on the base, but they do look fairly nice and at the least unique…



Got the Dreadknight mostly built and am getting more of the PA troopers broken out of deep storage, stripped and repainted… Getting ready to build a twin linked Autocannon arm for the DN's… Guessing I'll make it, and cast a bunch of them since I'll be fielding 2-3 of them in the Mortis configuration in each of the "DN capable" armies I have… I'll probably pass them along as well to the locals if Dave is OK with it since it will just be the cost of resin at that point…

Off the wall lists?

Sometimes I think that I can just try something silly in 40K and maybe it will work… At a thousand points, I'm extremely limited, but a thought had occurred to me, what about 2 Storm Ravens with a squad of Terminators (or Purifiers) in each? The Terminators biggest weakness has been that they are slow and therefore vulnerable slogging across the board… Also it is REALLY hard not to telegraph precisely what I am doing several turns in advance) without a transport and/or 3++ saves.

 

So, 2 Ravens at 205/each (load out with TLMM and TLLC probably) loaded out with a squad of Terminators each, probably Psycannon, mix of weapons coming in at 225 each… Brings me to 860… So, maybe one gets der Flamwerfer, and I bring a Brotherhood Champion and Xenos Inquisitor? Would make for one really good assault squad of Terminators backed with the characters giving bonuses to charge, rad/Psytrope grenades, etc…. And the other one can run a flank or be a mobile reserve perhaps… Stupidly aggressive and mobile… Could be quite a shock to the locals certainly the first time at least… Instead of the BHC and Inquisitor, I could drop the 2^nd Terminator squad down to a Purifier squad and bring out the Librarian again… 3+ cover save to the Raven moving all out to deliver the squad o doom out there? Yes please… And Psy defense is always a good thing to have…

Crowe and Company…

Well, just picked up the Crowe mini last night, so I hope to get it cleaned, primed and assembled along with a group of the ancient Power Armored (PA) Knights that I'm trying out different paint schemes on as I strip and re-deploy them… Thinking a grey armor with the red trim and left shoulder pad, keeping the helmet and right pad white to denote "Purifier" status… We'll see how they turn out… Just want them different enough from the "standard" silver/chrome look that most people use while keeping it different enough from my ancient RT Wolves in Grey… I did consider the ancient black armor with the silver/grey trim/forearm, but that looks a LOT like my ancient Dark Angels ("Consecrators" now, though I may just do the old DA symbol… I'll get to that eventually… Hoping to get them to Adepticon, so…)… Not wanting to have even more identical Marines haunting my basement…

 

Castellan Crowe                     150

Ordo Xenos Inquisitor                    25

    Plasma Syphon                    10

    Rad grenades                    15

Purifiers (2*Psycannon, 3 Halberds)    146

    Rhino                            40

Purifiers (2*Psycannon, 3 Halberds)    146

    Rhino                            40

Dreadknight (Tele,Incinerator, HPsy)    265

DN (Assault Cannon/TLAC, Psy ammo)135

For ~972ish of my 1000

 

So likely swap out the Rad for Psytrope or just add that grenade, Demon Hammer for the Purifier squads, maybe keep the DN a "Rifleman" with the 2*TLAC… Add another Purifier? Swap the Rhinos for Razors and plan for a dismounted Infantry (Dragoons :-)… Mkay, moving the ancient BT novels was probably a bad idea, "Wolf's Dragoons" keep coming up as a recurring theme for me these days) battle… I AM finding that I do miss a LOT of the aspects of the Deathwing, further convincing me that the DW list is a far stronger one especially for a 1000 point team event… 3++ saves everywhere mean no worries about cover, loads of Str 8 AP 3 shots everywhere made a mockery of light/medium Mech lists, and there WAS fast Melta there for the odd Land Raider that ventured too close, and anywhere on the field was too close with scouting Ravenwing :-)… Ah well, the Knights are generally fun armies, I think that at 1500 points and over they will really shine, but low points really hamper their effectiveness… 'course, just my opinions as always, YMMV…

Next iteration :-)

Well, we played against an army pretty much built specifically to destroy ones like ours… And damn near pulled it off. The weight of fire tore up our Terminators though, and that pretty much doomed us. So, I picked up Castellan Crowe, and I will be breaking out Purifiers. And probably one of the Xenos Inquisitors with the Plasma Siphons in one of the squads… The Librarian is solid, but walking Terminators in this local environment are not going to work :-)… So, I'll have to figure something out there… The DNs and DK are both solid choices, but still basically Medium vehicles that will die easily to the heavy AT firepower we see here a lot… More tomorrow I guess when I'm back up and about…

Bring out the GM?

Thinking of bringing the following next week…



Grand Master (Psytrope, Rad Grenades)    205



Purifier Squad (120, 2 Psycan 20, 2 halberd 4)    144

    Rhino                    40

Terminator Squad (10, 2 Psycan, Banner)    475

DN (Assault Cannon, TLAC, Psy Ammo)        135



999 points



Not sure though… The Grand Strategy will be great, but the loss of the Psychic powers, especially the stealth one… Against the Eldar, not a big deal, I would not likely cast it in any case. The Grenades the GM carries would be devastating against them, and scouting the Terminator squad right out into the center and hoping to weather the one turn it would likely take to reach the line… Probably have Loq bring a Crusader full of HtH troopers and the EC. Just overwhelm whatever is in front of us with lots of really dangerous targets. LR/LRC full of BT's, my lads on foot daring them to close, the DN providing cover fire and the Reinforced Aegis… We'll have to play this somewhat more aggressive , but it should work out well…

Loyalty :-)

Was reminded today that loyalty is always a two way street...  And that once a person or a group proves over and over that they do not see things in the same way, perhaps it is time to simply move on.  :-)  To me at least it completely validates my recent decisions, so there is a certain freedom in that once you let go... Kind of like hooking up to a static line, not sure exactly where you are going to land, but it is far too late to change your course once you get to the door :-)

Ah well, back to gaming stuff :-)

Next week I think I bring something completely different for the GK's...  We've played the one army in the league I did not feel our armies had an answer for, so let's try some of the other weird stuff...  Things like a Grand Master with the Psytrope grenades (thanks to Mike at http://whiskey40k.blogspot.com/2011/04/busy-gk-and-addendums.html for pointing out something I completely missed)...  I'm really liking the 10 man Terminator squad with the banner, so they'll likely be a staple unit...  Haven't tried the Purifiers yet, so they'll likely come out to play in a Rhino...  Strike squad in Razor/Rhino to run next to Loq's Land Raider and make deep strikers pay dearly for daring to drop in on us...  AC/TLAC DN w/ Psy ammo for an aggressive Dread and rolling in with the Terminators and other vehicles...  Probably not the biggest threat, so it might even live :-)  For a while at least...  Ironically, I might have the Dreadknight mostly assembled, but might have it sit out to free up a mess of points...Or bring it, he is an unholy terror against things like the IG masses and most Marine stuff...  Dunno...  Too many toys I want to bring, not enough points...  Not many teams left to play in the league, so pretty darn good idea what we'll be facing at this point I think...

Projects…

So… I guess I'm on to rebuilding some of the ancient toys for a more modern version of 40K. The Grey Knights I have are a mix of things from the very early 90's I think… Maybe late 80's, I can't remember, there was "a bit" of alcohol consumed over the years and that whole Army thing in there somewhere…. I remember the squad of five of them costing a LOT…1200 points since I'm looking at the Compilation :-) The Heroes were up to 600 points on their own, but insanely powerful… The new lads are powerful, but few… And they are nowhere near the obscene level of power seen in the RT era… Still, it will be fun fielding 3 full armies of RT era stuff with my Wolves (lead original Assault troops everywhere), Consecrators with the plastic "Beakie" marines and Terminators, though not all of them being the old ones… And my Grey Knights now with their mix of the ancient lads alongside the newish metal ones… I'll probably get some of the new plastic ones soon, but right now with money being tight and me really just starting to strip and repaint the Power Armored lads, I think it will have to wait.

 

Assembling the Dreadknight now, it is a really nice kit. Coming together nicely, but I'm moving slowly as I really want to magnetize the weapon options on it… Not completely sure how that will work out, and I'm seeing good uses for all 3 of the heavy weapons… Not so much for the Daemon hammer, the Sword is a "maybe", but 25 points for re-rolling at Str 6 and losing an attack? "Eh" is the best I can say here…

 

Getting ready to start selling off a few of my nicer firearms, so anyone out there looking for a nice FN-49, Lugar, Hakim, etc… Probably half a dozen handguns and a bunch of rifles up, going to be getting that elusive motorcycle… Just ask, I may well have one… Loads of ammo and accessories as well :-), I know Maggie is happy seeing some of the firearms leaving, perhaps not so thrilled about the bike, but… The bike will be a whole hell of a lot cheaper to commute to work and zip about town… That and it has been a LONG time since I had one, and I do kind of miss that…

First win!

Well, Loq and I got or first solid victory…

 

She brought Her Templars:

EC

Terminator Squad w/ 2 CML and Tank Hunter

Large squad of CCW/Pistol Marines

2 Line Squads, 1 ML, 1 Las Cannon

Vindicator

 

I brought the list I played last week, more or less..

Librarian

10 man Terminator squad w/ 2 Psycannon, Banner

DN w/ 2 TLAC and Psybolt ammo

Dreadknight w/ Teleporter and Heavy Inferno

 

Facing IG/Eldar with (from memory, so probably not accurate)

Seer Council on Jetbikes

Autarch on Jetbike

3 Squads of Jetbike Guardians w/ 2 Shuriken Cannon/squad

2 of the Hellhound variants with the Multi Meltas, forget the name…

3 Leman Russ Demolishers with LC and Plasma Sponsons

 

Setup was Spearhead, kill points… They had turn one, so after they set up, I set up my Terminator squad w/ Librarian in cover strung out along our front… Her line squads set up in cover along with the Tank Hunter Terminators… The poor HtH squad set up in the open, and they died early on, but they bought the rest of the army time, absorbing a LOT of fire allowing my Terminators the opportunity to set themselves up in cover at the center of the board… From here, over the course of 4 turns, their Psycannon accounted for a number of vehicle kills while the Librarian was finally able, on turn 4 to defeat the Farseer and prevent the Fortune power… The Seer Council got stuck in HtH with one of the Line Squads, they held and the Terminators she had with Power Fists came in to swat them out of existence. The Dreadknight jumped about and killed a few things, despite whiffing against one of the Hellhound… Still impressed, though I think I will have to run the Heavy Psycannon to test them…

 

I think that I will have to run the Knights at 1500 or 1850 to get a true feel for the army… 1000 is just too small to really field much. My DA force was much better at this level I think… I think if I end up going to the team tournament at Adepticon next year, it will be my Consecrators that hit the field…

Another week :-)

Well, it is looking like I'll be moving offices and jobs… 'course, I'll still be in a basement at first… Just a bigger building I guess. We'll see, there is still time for the plan to transition over to a "Gone To Hell" plan. I've been hesitant to mention anything because there were too many things that could go wrong, especially if certain "interested" parties got wind of it :-) Negotiations continue, long since out of my hands or control, but things look like they are going quite well for me at least. Not everything I had hoped for, but far better than I had feared. I surprised a whole lot of folks be being simple, direct and right out in the open once I made my move… Actually, I think the move itself shocked a lot of folks, but that's OK too. I would rather people underestimate me, it makes beating them a lot easier. Not many people know just how many languages I speak/understand, how quick my reflexes are or how strong I really am :-)… Same thing at work, I have a lot of random seeming skills and certifications, etc… People forget I can really do a lot more than fix laptops and the like. That's OK, I can do that too, just that when I get bored bad things happen…

 

Gaming tomorrow I hope :-) Not 100% sure what to bring, but it will be mostly or all Grey Knights… The Librarian, I think is a very powerful choice… I think the Brotherhood Champion will be a very rude shock to some folks here. The Dread Knight I really want to field again, I think it has a lot of potential, especially in our local scene… I do look forward to crashing it into a blob and seeing how much havoc it causes… The Terminators are solid, I am looking forward to testing the Purifiers. Stripping and starting to paint the messy old school PA Knights I have, will likely be picking up another box of the new ones to mix and match to make a whole mess of PA troops. I think the Strike Squads are going to be key to the way the army plays out… Preventing deep strikers is going to be huge. I see the Knights having a sweet spot 18-30" away, and they will play to dare the opponent to come in and fight HtH against troops all armed with Force Weapons (Power Weapons in almost all cases, I don't see the "Force" part being activated all that often) and some really devastating powers in CC… Grenades and Psychics are both going to be huge, but with such a small force, I'll still have to play cautious and be aware that I can always just lose by rolling poorly… We'll see how they play out, I think I am going to enjoy the challenge…

Back to gaming stuff :-)

Mkay, still in the 1000 point league, thinking about running the following:

1000 GK

Brotherhood Champion         100

Ordo Xenos Inquisitor            25

    Plasma Syphon            10

    Rad grenades            15

Warband

    Jokaero                35

    2 * Warrior (C arm, SB)        22

Chimera            55

Terminators (Psycannon)        225

Purifiers (2*Psycannon, 3 Halberds)    146

    Rhino                40

Dreadknight (Tele,Incinerator, HPsy)    265

 

2 more Purifiers (w/ Halbs) and 10 more points somewhere? Or flesh out the Inq's band… Plan is to run the Champion, the Inquisitor and the Terminator squad in the Chimera. The Purifiers roll in the Rhino.. DK has the teleporter too, so basically, the Inq warband just sits back and cheers them on while the armored spearhead moves upfield. When the lads get out of their rides, hopefully they're close enough to the enemy lines… The Plasma Syphon making ALL plasma within 12" shoot at BS 1 might protect the Terminators and Purifiers a bit… The Rad Grenades making the enemy -1T should help clear out HtH a bit, and the Purifiers are an unholy terror to hordes, like the IG… 'course, I'll have to keep any Plasma my partner has away from the front a bit :- )

 

Grumbles from the Dark…

Well, things are getting a bit darker here…

 

State is looking to dump the Health Alliance contract… Since the health benefits are one of the few things left keeping a lot of us at the University, seems a bad decision to a lot of us down here in Champaign, but what would we know of such things…

 

Got another mail from el Presidente of the University letting us know that we'll be getting the same level of funding this year from the State as last year, and that is the best case scenario. State is already talking about reducing funding levels for this year… Of course, that doesn't even begin to get to the $470 million that the State owes the University from last year… So, despite no pay increases since 2008… Well, we can hope that we don't repeat last years pay cuts…

 

Motorcycle trade is looking like it isn't going to happen… Big part of the blame being mine for not getting good pictures out there quickly, but to be honest my heart really isn't in to this trade much at this point… So, anyone out there (Dave :-) ) know of any decent lower end "cruiser" type bikes like the Honda Silverwing, Rebel, etc… I'll probably end up selling ot trading off a few of the nicer weapons like the Lugar and FN-49 to finance it… I do have quite a few nice ones to let go for this particular cause… It's been 20+ years since last I owned a bike, would rather start with something more "beginner friendly" and fuel efficient…

 

Grey Knights :-) well, coming along slowly… Several Psycannon troopers stripped/primed and ready for painting… Librarian (ancient Inquisitor in Terminator Armor) getting magnetized and painted… He'll serve in my Consecrators army as well… There's not really been as much time this week to get down there and work on stuff, but really wanting to get my LRC up and running, should be amusing running it against people who weren't even born when I first assembled the tank…

Yeah, too many toys :-)

Just doing a bit of random conversion work in the basement… Gearing up to make a few Twin Linked Autocannon arms for my Dreadnaughts, continuing to work on the Spartan class Land Raider Crusader for my Consecrators… And I came to the conclusion that I have WAY too many Terminator suits here… In my Consecrators alone I have something like 40, so perhaps not quite the whole first company for them. My Wolves have maybe 10 ancient suits, my Fleshtearers about the same, a mix of the original lead RT era suits and some modern plastics… And now my Grey Knights… Another mix of the ancient RT suits and some of the 3^rd ed era stuff…. But all told another 15 or so that I've found so far… I'll probably end up picking up at least one box of them and another box of the powered armored lads as well finances permitting :-) Right now I'm stripping and repainting a handful I do already have… I'll have to break a few Rhino hulls out of deep storage as well now that they can actually use them… I'll have to get some random pics of the basement o' doom up soon… Finally getting more of it cleared, still finding surprising "stuff" here and there…

First battle with the new Codex…

 

 

So, just a quick battle report of sorts… Partners league, but my partner was under the weather, so I paired up with Greg's Eldar Jetbike army against the Chaos/Necron team I played last week. Given the combo of our armies, it was a fairly unfair matchup for them really… The Eldar runes, the Aegis and then the Librarian's Hood meant the Chaos powers were simply not going to happen. All in all, I'd say the big Terminator squad and the Dreadknight were the stars, accounting for a LOT of the kills during the fight.

 

Librarian    150

    Sanctuary, Might of Titan 10

 

Termi Squad     400

    2xpsycannon    50

    Psybolt ammo    20

Nemisis DK    130

    Incinirator,    30

    Teleporter    75

DN    2xTLAC, Psy ammo    135

 

Rough draft of the list… Biggest mistake I made was forgetting the Hammerhand/Might of Titan once I got the lads into HtH… I was thinking that the Str 4 power weapon would be enough after I forgot to cast the bloody power… :-) Yeah, I was wrong of course… But the Dreadknight was really quite impressive, accounting for a full squad of Nurgle Bikers and a Necron Monolith. The Teleporter was REALLY helpful, and since the Knight would otherwise be walking… Unlike a Wraithlord, the heavy weapons are really not the main reason to bring it I think… The Nemisis Fists were impressive on their own really… Looking forward to more playtests…

 

Knights deploy…

:-) Picking up the Codex tomorrow, so Monday I'll be fielding the new lads… Debating on a few different builds…

 

So, either a full 10 man Terminator squad with 2 Psycannon and maybe Psybolt ammo coming in at 470 points or Power armored squads… The Terminators can either deploy en masse to be a "deathstar" sort of thing with say, a Librarian to camp objectives or spearhead an assault or Combat Squad in non kill point missions… So, not nearly as outright "hard" as my Deathwing with the 3++ saves, but quite a bit more effective shooting within 24" than most things in the game currently…

 

PA troops, I think Rhinos or Razorbacks with the lads… We see WAY too much AP 3 or better here locally, so walking is not an option. Deep strike? Maybe… I think I got way too spoiled with my Flesh Tearers Vanguard Vets and Consecrators Deathwing/Ravenwing combo for insanely accurate, safe and effective drop armies… Knights don't seem to have access to either the long ranged AT firepower the Deathwing have or the "We're just here to kill them all" feel the FT have… So, they'll probably play the way my Wolves with what I consider a light Mech force… Since I run my Razorbacks as light tanks, I think the Fortitude power will make them a bit more effective… But in the end, they're still just AV 11 metal boxes (having lived in an aluminum box just like that for a few years, I can say with some confidence they are in fact just that)…

 

So, probably a Librarian, Infantry of doom and then what else? Thinking the 135 point "Rifleman" DN and/or a Dreadknight… Both of course would be what I prefer, but a minimum of 265 points, and of course "more" since I'd probably not field the DK without a heavy weapon and/or the Teleporter for the jump pack moves and 30" "I want to be over there NOW"…

 

So, now just to get the book and read it I'm guessing… We'll see what I can make work…

GK/GW thoughts…

While steadily drinking the tea that keeps me moving here at the office, a random thought occurred to me…

 

"Does GW have some sort of design imperative that requires them to put at least one named character in each codex that makes absolutely no sense under the current rule set, knowing that the rule sets will change? And that the changes may or may not greatly benefit the random character?" It certainly does seem so, but that is of course just my opinion as always :-) I could easily be wrong or just thinking about it too much… Or just be American in my thinking rather than English, as we do appear to be far more competitive and demanding in terms of clear rules and the like…

 

First case in point, my Wolves have a Blood Claw upgrade character "Lukas the Trickster" ("Loki" since apparently creativity is somewhat lacking for their staff writers…)… He has a "Pelt of the Doppelganger" which forces the opponent to re-roll all hits allocated to him in HtH. Problem being, he is not an independent character, and so HE never gets "allocated" hits until he is the last one standing in the squad… So, to balance his very real disadvantages and cost, he has special rules that do not work and a weapons loadout that makes absolutely NO sense whatever. A shame really, I bought the figure because I really liked it… But I do not like the Blood Claws in the current (and 3^rd ed) codex, so he'll join the Rackham Wolfen I have on shelves in the basement of doom…

 

The second case would be Castellan Crowe of the Grey Knights. Interesting concept, I'll probably end up playing him, but his rules really make no sense other than "balance". Specifically, he becomes in effect an additional tax to force players to actually think before simply taking the arguably superior Purifiers as "Troops" over the standard Strike Squads. I have not seen the model yet, but there is a pretty good chance I'll snag it if it is decent, as I think I can make Crowe actually work well enough in my lists, but there are serious disadvantages to him over a lot of the "normal" options. Not being an independent character I think is probably the worst one… No putting him in a squad to hide him or transport him easily means he'll likely get shot out of existence early on before he can showcase his exceptional melee abilities…

 

Anyway, those are just the ones that occurred to me this morning, I am sure there are others, but in codexes (codii? My Latin is not THAT good) that I am "less familiar" with…

GK 1000 point Teams…

Ok, we're doing a fairly non standard league here at the Armored Gopher (www.armored-copher.com), it's teams that share a Force Org chart but rules for one army do not transfer over to the other (ie: teleport homers and the like only work for one army)… Neat, and paired with Black Templars (good since the Knights are the specific exemption to the "no psychers" rule they have)… So, her tank hunting CML armed Terminators are a big portion of our AT firepower with me using the old DH codex… So, this will be a first draft with the new Codex…

 

Librarian (Might of Titan, Sanctuary, Shrouding)     165

Purifier Squad (2 Psycannon, 3 Halberd)        146

    Rhino    (Extra Storm Bolter, PBolt Ammo)    55

Terminators (Psycannon)                225

Dreadknight (Teleporter, H Incinerator, H Psilencer)    265

Dreadnaught (2 TLAC, PBolt Ammo)            125

 

Right, 19 points left :-) I'm sure I can spend them some place… Or free up some here and there since I'm not sure on some of the things I picked up…

 

The DK? Pretty sure it will be a lot like a Wraithlord, Demon (prince or greater) or an Avatar in terms of effectiveness… Big, scary and it will be shot to pieces before it does a lot. Yes, it costs more than double what the DN costs, but… :-) It should be fun to play and a horrifying "crowd control" piece. "One Riot, One Ranger" sort of thing (looking at the "power blobs" and the like), and I suspect with mobility through the jump pack move, the Hellhound template and 12 Str 4 shots backed by the pair of DN CCW's on a Monstrous Creature should make it fairly feared out there… Maybe even allowing the rest of the force to survive and get into firing position a bit better… :-) Who know, it might even work…

 

March Ends…

Mostly just random thoughts at this point…


Yeah, that was random and confusing...  Rewrite maybe...




Did get to play an excellent game this evening, so that was good, and it is the last week with the ancient Codex. Partner played it pretty much as well as she could have, and we nearly pulled off the draw, but I think I made a few tactical errors in shooting and committing my Terminators too quickly and it cost us the win… Dave @ the Gopher ordered the few things like Codex and Dreadknight to get me started with the new army… I'll probably end up playing my Cygnar Storm Guard/Knights as stand-ins for the first few weeks until I get more Power Armor lads up and running. Terminators, at 1000 points, I probably have about enough, but of course going back to 1500… Well a few more lads are going to be needed I think… Making the "Rifleman" DN arms, so I should have a few of them up and running soon as well… Not 100% sure what I'll be fielding at 1500+ points, but at 1K it's going to be tight… I have one of the "Emperor's Champion" figs to convert to a Brotherhood Champion, changing the "LE" fig over to this should at least be interesting…

Grey Knights beginning…

Last week with the old codex… So, I'll probably run something like this as my part of the 1000 point teams league (2 of us, so 2k/side, and one force org chart…)



Grey Knight Brother Captain (Terminator armor, Psycannon)    91

Grey Knight Terminator squad (4 troopers, 1 Psycannon, CPT has Psycannon and Psychic Hood)    320

Grey Knight Land Raider (Extra Armor)    255

Grey Knight Squad (2 Psycannon, Justicar has Teleport Homer)    210

Grey Knight DN (Assault Cannon, Flamer)    120

996  



So, more troops on the table, lots of Psycannon out there… Oh, so ready for the new codex…



Speaking of which… I think the biggest thing will be the mobility and (for basic infantry) long ranged basic weapons. Yes, 24" ranged Storm Bolters are pretty much the same range as every other Infantry weapon in the game, but the ability to fire with them on the move gives me the tools I need. I tend to think a lot more in terms of mobile elements and having the ability to move my basic squads and fire with almost full effect (Psycannon are 2 shot on the move vs 4 shots standing still… TANSTAAFL). Other armies give me some of this, my Wolves have excellent basic Infantry in their Grey Hunters, and I've played them since… Um, well 89 or so? I can play mobile, aggressive and when I keep my eye on the mission, one that I can take against just about any other force in the game with confidence. My Fleshtearers are aggressive. And… Yup, aggressive pretty well sums it up. The only way I tend to win with them is by tabeling the opponent. Powerful, but pretty much one dimensional. My Guard? Set them up, shoot like you're voting in Chicago… Early and Often… Yes, they do move some times, and I use things like Air Cav (Vendetta for 130 points? Um, ok…) and Scout Sentinels to flank and cause a bit of havoc in the backfield, but by and large it is just standing still and shooting… Poor Praetorians are a bit bored…



But back to the Knights… Assault weapons everywhere, so I'm thinking that we'll be able to run and gun to be able to play the fluid style that I am most comfortable with. The Troops, both the Terminators and the Powered Armored lads will be able to at the very least compete with any army out there. Their psychic powers are absolutely awesome, and woe to the armies out there without any psychic defenses. A lot of the "easy button" solutions just won't work against the Knights, and I think some of the more common builds will be a hard counter for a lot of the "harder" armies, at least in our local scene.



Building and painting is going to be "time consuming" :-) Mike has a fairly large GK force already, I have "some"… Ordered a few new things, and hopefully the Dreadknight will be easy to put together and magnetize… Weapon options being what they are and all, I'll want to have all of those options to swap out. The more I look at them, the more I'm liking all of the options, so this should be interesting at least… I'll probably use the "teleporter" option because I REALLY like jump troops, I have flashbacks to falling out of aircraft myself, so am familiar with and very comfortable with the tactical options opened up by these lads…



Well, a bit of a ramble, but just getting some of my thoughts about these things in order for the next few weeks…

More hobby stuff…

Just a few more rifle pictures… Model Swedish Model 96 Mauser… The most accurate rifle I currently own, I was able to outshoot SWAT snipers with tricked out "uber" rifles with this off the rack GI (not really sure what the Swedes call their soldiers…) rifle at 3-500m with iron sights… Up for trade for the motorcycle of doom…

Getting some of the ancient Wolfen painted… So, kilted werewolves from a dead game :-) But they're coming along nicely, probably because there's no pressure to get them done whatever… Working a bit on my Grey Knights as well… Those lads at least will be used in an actual game soon…

Random stuff…

So, looking over the stuff in the Grey Knights codex… Thinking that I'm probably going to be running a number of things that "most" other people do not bother with… In other words, probably not the "Internet Approved" stuff overall, so no "Dakka" stuff for me… For instance, I'm looking at the "Brotherhood Champion" for a HQ choice. 100 points for a WS 7 2+/4++ (3++ in close combat) guy armed with a Nemesis Force Sword that also allows re-rolls on the "to wounds"… Down side, his "attacks" are much like the Menoth Paladin, or at least the 1^st edition version I remember… He gets a "stance", one where he gets re-rolled armor saves (Hello Seer Council level of survivability), one attack against everything in BtB, or an I 10 d3 (+1 for charging) attacks against a Monstrous Creature or IC that he's in combat with… Yeah, he's one wound and his "I won't die alone" power is kind of "eh" against a lot of armies, but still :-) Plan on sticking him with Purifiers and using the Land Raider or Storm Raven to roll them directly into combat… The Librarian looks good, the Grand Master is solid… The special characters seem hit or miss, all of them are powerful but expensive… An all of them pretty well define what your army setup will be. 'course, I'm just running the Knights, so not even really looking at the Inquisitors…



Job? Ah, Limbo is so much fun… Amusing hearing what other people are saying here and there, and the dawning realization on their parts that I am NOT subtle, I do mean pretty much exactly what I say, and politics can be played by those who talk, and those who do… I think of it more like "Klingon" politics, and apparently I can do that fairly well after all… Maybe next week something will actually break loose and be resolved…

Spring Break?

Well, apparently it is spring break here at the U of I…. Having never actually gone anywhere for any of mine when I was a student here, it wasn't ever really a big deal… Was an Engineering student, so it just meant that the computer labs were slightly less crowded, and the other "campus town" things were pretty much deserted for a week or so… Staff seems to be MIA this week as well by and large… A tad annoying since I was really hoping to get some moves made on my current job situation/move, but a lot of the "principle players" are out for the week as well.



On the gaming front, the new league started, and I'll be running my Grey Knights with my partner (http://aychplace.blogspot.com/) running her Black Templars… So, her fanatics and my Daemon hunters… Pretty well gimped the first two weeks having to use the ancient "Daemonhunter" codex before the GK one releases the 2^nd of April (ish… Supposed to be the official street date). I have some plans for the last 6 weeks of course, and have ordered a few of the new toys from the FLGS (www.armored-gopher.com) like the Codex and Dreadknight and… Well, I'll probably pick up some more Terminators and "powered armored" Knights, but that $ limit thing being what it is… Should be another army I can fit into a pistol case, and I'm REALLY looking forward to that since I hope to be riding a motorcycle in the near future… :-) Amusing since I've never actually carried/stored a pistol in a "pistol case", but they do make excellent cases for my wargame toys…

Yet another army…

Mkay, time to expand my Grey Knights from the dozen or so terminators and another dozen or so Powered Armor troops for them into an actual army… For the first bit I have Cygnar Halberdiers to stand in for the regular lads, and I do have a "few" extra Terminators here and there… In terms of extra purchases, I'll likely have to buy or trade for some regulars, some Terminators, maybe a Storm Raven and definitely a Dread Knight.



The DK is one of those things that I think has potential. It is not nearly as broken as it's "playtest" incarnation, and it will take some actual planning and skill to use them properly… Bloody huge model, so cover saves will not be likely, T6 and 4 wounds puts them a bit worse off than the Eldar Wraithlord's current incarnation… The weapon loadout I think is a bit better for the DK, and they do have an inv save, though only a 5+… The Heavy Incinerator is more or less the IG's Hellhound for 30 points, the Gatling Psilencer is a Str 4 Heavy 12 AP- weapon costing 35… Not really liking the Heavy Psycannon at 40 points.. Str 7, large blast, AP 4 and rending… 24" range though, frankly I'd rather have the normal Psycannon's 4 shots (same specs, no blast of course) since we play with so much area terrain giving the 4+ cover saves to everything. Maybe I'm just missing something obvious, but it just doesn't seem worth it overall. The flamer and Psilencer are good horde control/just throw out mass fire weapons to go along with the Monstrous creature's Str 10 +2d6 AP vs. vehicles…



Other than that, the DNs are going to be beasts… Specifically, the "Rifleman" Dreadnaughts are going to be quite useful. 'course, GW does not make twin linked auto cannon arms for the DNs, so I'll be using green stuff and resin I think to make the 6+ I'll be using over the course of my armies… Green stuff for the first "master" for the right and left arms, then make the molds and cast away… Should be good for a dozen or so arms at least, not a "high capacity" industrial operation in any sense of the word, but it'll work for my purposes I guess…



Locally, the cats are getting more and more clingy by the hour…. Maggie has been gone for a few days, and the cats have been getting more and more nervous about the possibility of her not returning, and so they are lurking about keeping a watch over the girls and I… Even with me running the vacuum cleaner and doing laundry they're still all about here, at least the current "shift"… There are usually 2-3 of them right in view while the rest are off resting… Advantages of the Pack training and mindset I guess…



Fixed a few random computers yesterday :-) 2/3 are back up and working now, need parts for the 3^rd, so we'll see about that last one next week. Good practice, hoping that things work out and I start the new job next week…



Dug out some ancient boxes of Army stuff and firearm parts… And ammo, lots and lots of ammo… Apparently I was set up for a "rougher" Y2K than we experienced… Or whatever random invasion might have occurred up to and including Alien invasions :-P The old 30-06 AP ammo was useful when I shot in the Garand competitions, but it can also defeat any body armor worn today at 100m or so… That and shoot chunks out of things like engine blocks should the need arise…

St Pat’s Day :-)

Ah, St. Pat's day…. So different than when I was younger… I was pretty much in the bar, either drinking or working (yeah, ok, both in that case)… These days though? :-) Here at home with the giant dog and pack of guard cats watching over the little girls… Instead of drinking, lifted weights, a bit of time on the elliptical, some minor "hobby" stuff and cleaning some of my old weapons… Specifically, my old 1935 M1911A1 Colt… The .45 I was "issued" during my first combat deployment… It was a fairly chaotic thing, we really just wandered through a big warehouse with a shopping cart and took pretty much whatever we wanted… "Combat Loss" is a good thing, and I had it rebuilt after I got out… It's the only gun I KNOW I ever shot someone with, and so it's the one I trust for "emergency use"… Amusingly, it was also the one I started my wife out on, and it's the kind of pistol she is able to chamber a round in and fire more accurately than me… At targets at least :-)


Back to gaming next week… Think I'll be breaking out my Grey Knights… 1000 points each with my partner bringing Black Templars. One force org chart though, so this will require a bit of planning for the first week or two… The new codex comes out early April, and having seen pretty much all of the details by now, it looks like a pretty fun one with more Terminators as troops, a power armored option that is a GIANT FU for horde forces, Purifiers. They have a Psychic power that causes a wound on a 4+ to every enemy model in the HtH with them? Um, yes please… Sure, they get saves, but just doing the math every single IG figure has a 1 in 3 chance of dying, so SGTs with the Power weapons, Commissars to keep them from running… Every one of them has to roll the dice, and those numbers count for the close combat resolution… So, "Green Tide" and IG "Power Blobs" are in a LOT of trouble, having a hard counter now. So, for next years Adepticon, the teaming of a DA Deathwing (insert BT, BA or SW here as well) and Grey Knights is going to be really hard to beat…

Just some WIP shots…

Just throwing out a few pictures of some of the lads I'm working on… For the record, the magnets that close together (3 in each Terminator) make it a pain in the ass to get the 2^nd and third ones in place… But this way it won't be painted Monday, but I can put out a truly WYSIWYG force… Might even be painted for the next League…. Now, I just have to decide if I'm playing DA or Grey Knights…

Next League and “stuff”

So, from what we discussed last week, it is looking like a good bet that we'll be playing a team league, 1000 points/each so 2000/side. Assuming that the same side can share things like teleport homers and the like, my DA are in an excellent position to "assist" and quite frankly I think they're about the strongest in this sort of a setup. I'll be bringing 2 squads of Terminators with Cyclone Missile Launchers (CML), 3 Thunder Hammer/Storm Shield and 2 Lightning Claw (CML with the LC) and CPT Bezaliel (CPT Belial) as the basis of any force I bring. From here I can bring Whirlwinds, Vindicators, Typhoon class Speeders, Ravenwing Squadrons (bikes) and even a Land Raider Crusader… That will motivate me to get back to work on that conversion I guess… But in any case, a good "general" list with the "Deathwing base", Whirlwind, Vindicator and 2 Typhoon Speeders is just a bit short for the 1000 points, so one squad will get an Apothecary since the biggest disadvantage I've found so far for the DA is that there really is not much customization you can do, especially with Deathwing. In any case, I'll be fielding a fully WYSIWYG and mostly painted force by the end of the league I'd bet…



With the guns of doom, found one of my old CZ-52's that I'm cleaning up… It's more or less somewhere between an AK-47 and one of the SKS type rifles… 10 round removable magazine, integrated bayonet, semi-automatic rifle chambered in 7.62x45 rather than the 7.62x39. I do have a conversion kit for it to make it "sort of" 7.62x39, but never used it since I wound up with a few thousand rounds of the x45… Once again more random stuff found in the basement of doom… I suppose I should stop being surprised what I find in there at this point :-)

So, it’s March…

So, March already…

 

Big moves on the job front, breaking out the resume to "tailor" it to the upcoming position I found out about. Since it appears I'll not be merged into Atlas like I had hoped, this appears the way to move over there on my own. Not at all sure how fierce the competition will be for the job, but since it's my way out/up I'm gearing up to move. The guy in charge over at Atlas will be moving out to ASU, and looks like he'll be helping move me over there to Department "X" … Anyway, gearing up for that and hoping that it works out. A raise would be nice, but even more important I think will be the working for an IT department and actually doing something I enjoy and not quite so mind numbing. Also gearing up for a move within my current Department to make the transition away from me easier, whether it is an internal "promotion" for the #3 guy here taking over for me or if they actually go out and hire some poor schmuck to fill this slot…

 

On the guns front, getting pictures, but the more I do with this, the less enthused I am… Would far rather have gone with the early 80's Honda Silverwing, but that would involve selling a gun or three with the family finances being what they are… :-\ Yeah, it would probably be selling half a dozen or more, and the market for that is tricky. Can't reasonably just take them to a street corner and sell them like that, too great a chance they go to an undercover cop trying to entrap me in something stupid or to someone who may well use them in criminal activity themselves. So, selling a few guns during an "economic downturn" is not really the best option. Ah well, maybe the motorcycle will actually work… And I AM looking forward to riding again after so long…

 

Gaming, we're between leagues, should be discussing what to do for the next one. I am still putting together my Dark Angels stuff, so lots of Terminator class armor for my Deathwing Squads and bikes for the Ravenwing squads being assembled/painted. 1500 points is a bit tight for all of the options I'd LIKE to have, but it's what we can do at the Gopher, so that's what I'll build…

What Next?

Well, ran through a League and Tournament with my Consecrator's Deathwing contingent ending with a Tournament win and placing fairly well in the League… Was REALLY trying not to let my more competitive nature take over and just win there as well. The main reason I started up my DA Legion force was to get away from the "more competitive" armies almost all of my other armies became after the current run of codices. So, naturally, right after I start building it, GW releases a FAQ that instantly brings the DA right up to a "Very Competitive" level… Only army I have that is not in my opinion overpowered at the moment is my Grey Knights detachment, and they're the next codex… Detachment I say because I have probably 15-20 Terminators, most of them the older RT ones that we could bring in as allies if we felt it necessary to blow a metric crapton of points on a single 5 man squad to go with maybe 10-15 Power Armored Knights… And being the last gamer to move out of several shared "gamer" houses, I wound up inheriting a LOT of random crap, including these lads… Not really playable at the moment, but next month… From the looks of things, they're going to be on the higher end of the "power" scale… Not unbeatable by any means, but REALLY powerful. 'course, I could be wrong…

 

My Dark Angels are being painted as Consecrators I guess, not sure if I am going to actually paint the Consecrators symbol or just use the RT era/DA Legion markings… They're REALLY quite powerful, but they do struggle against horde forces primarily. Not much else can stand against them. Now, my "Horde" definition includes the standard IG or Ork Infantry hordes as well as Vehicle swarms like the DE and… Well, pretty much the DE I guess, maybe IG or Sisters but not as much so I think. Not many other forces can bring a combination of so many of low AP and high volume shooting attacks against my small force in a mess of vehicles that can on occasion simply ignore my AT missiles. In any case, busy converting and painting the lads up in the basic colors, will worry about the Legion/Chapter marking later… Reminds me, I have to get more magnets from Dave…

 

So, my current project(s) are going to be:

 

1. Getting pictures of the various C&R weapons for Mr. Woolsey so that I can get that trade off… Maggie isn't thrilled, but since I'm willing to give up a crapton of my old rifles and pistols for an old motorcycle, she's "mostly ok" with it… 'course, it's been 20 years since I owned a bike, this time I'll even own it legally… In any case, it's an older "cruiser" type bike… Not exactly what I had in mind (an early 80's Honda Silverwing would have been perfect), but the price is right and my options here are somewhat limited…
   
2. MK I Land Raider conversion to a Spartan class raider… It's annoying to me how nice my old Spartan looks, not sure I'll be able to replicate that after 20+ years, but this time I'll have it magnetized in hopes of running it at next year's Adepticon either in a team tournament or just on my own… I think that a team consisting of DA, GK, BA and "other Marines" would be pretty hard to beat if it is put together right…
   
3. Related to that, I have a few Jet Bikes or similar things to convert over for a Sammael (or whoever I choose to be the Master of the Ravenwing)… I like the idea of bringing just Troops out there, and he unlocks the Ravenwing as Troops for the DA like Belial does for the Deathwing… So, a bunch of Scouting, Teleport Homer equipped bikes being the advance force for Teleporting Deathwing, half of whom I CAN bring down on turn one… Yes, please… Death to Mech lists, and the annoying Hordes I can just play "keep away" from sniping with bikes as light Cavalry and my Deathwing as Heavy Infantry sitting in cover (hopefully) and slowly retreating, firing as they do so…

Just a random WIP :-)

Just throwing up a few pictures of a random work in progress… In the ancient times, I bought my first Land Raiders in 88 or 89… It was the original MK I that came 2 in a box… Neat, but since they were 750 points EACH, it wasn't really practical to actually field them… Ever, really… By second edition I actually COULD field them in games other than what would have been "Apocalypse" games. We played some stupid big games back then at my buddies houses, usually a whole weekend… 40K (RT) did NOT scale well above a few squads per sides if you were wanting a quick game. Anyway, I converted one over to a Spartan class Land Raider. Back then the White Dwarf magazine actually had things like this that actually helped the gamers, it had templates to make Whirlwinds, Vindicators and the like out of the Rhinos. And this was a conversion using parts of a Rhino and the whole LR to make a larger Raider that could actually carry a squad of Terminators. And I have always liked the Terminator armor, and have a BUNCH of them nowadays with my Deathwing army and all those other armies I have… Grey Knights, Wolves, and Fleshtearers all have at least a squad or two's worth of them. The Deathwing on the other hand has something like 40 of them so far… So, to that end, I'll be converting my second LR over to a Spartan class and magnetizing the weapon loadouts so I can use it as an ancient Land Raider Crusader in my army… Hopefully it will work out ok… Pics to follow if I can get Word and Blogger to play nicely that is…

Pics from the tournament...

From the Armored Gopher Tournament 19 Feb 2011...

From my first game against the IG :-) Initiative seized, Deathwing dropped in to say "Hi"...  Game ended before they could all be killed, I'd like to think the Teleporters extracted the lads...

This was against Mike's chaos force...  First shot was of my Ravenwing just before they died :-)

Yes, found the camera too... 

Getting into playing "strange" lists...  I figure that some of the things not normally seen on the field like Techmarines, Whirlwinds, etc...  The DNs are solid, and I think that I might field at least a pair of them...  It'll be interesting at least, but will probably lose.  Not a problem, the best lessons I think come from analyzing a defeat.  Wins do not tell you as much I think...

Tournament…

Well, we had our store's league tournament… Played:

 

Belial (TH/SS)

4 Deathwing squads (2 TH/SS, 1 LC, CML w/SP/PF, SB/PF), one w/Apothecary

Land Speeder Typhoon

Ravenwing Squadron (2 Melta, Attack bike w/MM)

DN (TLAC)

 

We played "Rules of Engagement" stuff, so weird missions…

Game one against a good IG Blob/Mech mix. I wound up seizing imitative, with Deathwing assault and my own deployment I was able to pretty thoroughly wreck a flank, deep strike another squad on one of his objectives (mission was to get BtB with objective during movement, and spend the Assault phase blowing it up)… Later my flanking Ravenwing zipped in and got the second one. The sheer number of missiles the army throws downrange makes life hell for a Mech army. So, wound up winning that one on the tiebreaker of kill points as we both ended up achieving our primary and secondary objectives (mine was hold one of my own objectives, and Deathwing in cover are REALLY hard to dig out)…

 

Second game was against Mike's new Chaos army… My mission involved "recovering information" from one of his objective points… Have to spend the whole Movement phase in contact with the point, then that's it… Secondary objective was hold one of my own points. Took a chance, moved the Ravenwing into BtB with his in my Scout move, miscalculated and his Daemon Prince was able to reach me on the first turn… Oops. Well, long story short the Deathwing were able to kill off pretty much everything in HtH or my shooting it with missiles… So, another one where we both got our objectives (his was "Assassinate", he killed Belial with a Daemon Prince before it was hammered out of existence), but I got more kill points so the win…

 

Third game was against an Iron Hands (Salamanders)… Pretty good list, excellent player… It came down to him missing my Speeder, and the Speeder killing the LRC. Vulkan and his TH/SS squad had to get out and walk. We both saw how many 1's we could roll as we each lost a Terminator squad or so to random normally saved shots… A Deathwing squad met Vulkan and his much reduced escort, and was victorious. So, once again Deathwing sitting on objectives in cover win it out…

 

Last game was against a very large IG blob army… My mission was "Annihilation", basically I had to take ALL of his units to less than 50% starting strength… Yeah, not going to happen in a timed game, or frankly with Deathwing. Prevented him from his mission, so won the tournament on win/loss record… Will post pics in a few days, think I left my camera at the store though…

Another week…

    

Updating my resume yet again… Prepping for a few jobs I know are coming up, and having a few folks look it over… I'll be tailoring the resume to try to fit the job description, shouldn't be too hard. I've had more than a few jobs over the years, so I could put a LOT of random stuff on paper, at least what I could either remember or admit to… Yes, this is shaping up to be a bit more intensive than I anticipated, but I think it will be worth it…

 

On the gaming front, tournament this weekend… Biggest choice will be Whirlwind or just stick to the "standard" list as follows:

 

"The Number Shall Be Three…"

Belaziel (Belial) w/ TH/SS or LC

3 Deathwing squads with 2 TH/SS, 1 LC and Cyclone Missile Launcher in each, one of them with the Apothecary upgrade

3 Ravenwing Typhoons (MM/TML)

3 DNs, Mortis (2 TL AC), 2 others… All in gunboat configurations…

 

Whirlwind would be useful against one or two lists really… So probably a "no" for the tournament…

For the Tournament :-)

Well, gearing up for the Tournament next weekend… I think I've narrowed my choice down to one of two lists:

 

Belial (TH/SS or LC)

4 Deathwing Squads, 2 TH/SS, 1 LC and Cyclone Missile Launcher in each. One squad w/Apothecary

DN (TLAC or Plasma/ML)

Land Speeder Typhoon (MM/TML)

Ravenwing Squadron (Attack bike w/MM, 2 Melta)

 

 

Belial (TH/SS)

3 Deathwing Squads each w/ 2 TH/SS, LC, CML, etc…

3 DNs (TLACx2, Plasma/ML, ?)

3 Land Speeder Typhoons (Multi Melta, TML)

 

Well, the first one has 4 troops, the Ravenwing scout, flank and have teleport homers allowing me to deep strike in with no deviation. And the Deathwing have their "Deathwing Assault" rule allowing me to bring up to half of them in on turn one like the Drop Pod Assault, but I "May" bring up to half, I do NOT have to bring them in early. So, mobile(ish) and more troops allowing me to set up in cover and hold a bit longer…

 

Second one is more spamish, LOTS of heavy weapons (21 so far, plus whatever the last DN brings) each turn… So, I think it can take on pretty much whatever I face… Sadly I do actually have pretty much all of it ready to roll, either way really. This second list I think really wins more by killing lots of things than by playing for the objectives, etc… But still it might be the better one for a tournament… I could also change out one of the DNs for a Whirlwind and random upgrades all around…

 

I'll have to look at the Escalation scenarios a bit more to see which one looks like it works better…

Let’s try this again :-)

Bloody magnets are REALLY powerful… Trying to get too fancy I think with some of them since they are resisting my efforts to have the same pole face outward on either side of the bodies, especially some of the truly ancient lead RT Termis… There is a very real size difference there, but with my Consecrators it just feels right to use the ancient metals.

The lads did well at 1250 points, fielded:

Belial (TH/SS)

4 Deathwing squads each with a Cyclone Missile launcher, 2 TH/SS, 1 LC, one squad with the Medic

2 Typhoon Speeders with MM/TML

 

So, a crapton of Str 8 low(ish) AP shots… 14, 12 missiles and 2 Multi Melta… Not bad, especially at 1250 points. Not the most mobile, especially when I roll 1's and 2's for moving through difficult terrain and fail to assault almost every turn with one squad, but I could Deep Strike if I need to. I do REALLY prefer to do so in concert with a beacon like on the Ravenwing, but still, "Who Dares Wins". One of the things I'm really looking at for next year's Adepticon is whether they keep the allied beacons usable by all of the people on that side. Scouting bikes and attack bikes with built in beacons could be a huge advantage for some of the weird missions, especially with me fielding a bunch of Fearless Terminators who can very reliably just appear more or less anywhere on the field. Especially if my partner can back my play with heavy weapons and/or dedicated assault troops. Blood Angels, Wolves and the Dark Angles will all make excellent "team players" in the context of this type of tournament.

 

1250 Level

Ah :-) Finally… Well, the dice were not friendly as my Deathwing died to a BA list last night… Dedicated Assault Terminators with Lightning Claws and a CPT with Thunderhammer getting a grand total of 2 hits and one kill over the course of 3-4 turns of HtH? Yes, the list was solid and the plan was sound, just was not a good night to be a Consecrator Deathwing member apparently…



Anyway up to 1250 and I'm thrilled…



So:

Belial (Bezaliel for my chapter) probably TH/SS or Claws 130

Deathwing "Command" Squad: Apothecary, CML, 2 TH/SS, LC 270

(might swap out the CML for the Standard if I just want to sell out for an assault squad)

Deathwing Squad: CML, mix of weapons 235

Deathwing Squad: CML, Mix o' weapons 235

Mortis class DN (2 x TLAC) 125

Land Raider Crusader (+ storm bolter) 255



Nothing at all subtle here, Land Raider rolls forward with Bezaliel and his squad loaded out with HtH weapons covered by the other two squads and the DN… The Ravenwing might do the same job, but I REALLY like the DNs…



The other major option would just be 4 Deathwing squads, one of the w/ Apothecary option, all with the CML and 2 Typhoon class speeders (breaking out some of the ancient metal ones I have)… I do not think I could deal well with another Terminator based force, but Marines are in trouble with 12 Str 8 AP 3 missiles each turn… Horde forces? Well, against the IG, I'd just be saturating the heavy weapon teams with fire for the first few turns, hoping for even average rolls on the cover saves for him since each missile kills the entire team it hits (more than double the T value). Then more or less choose one blob and just pour all of my fire into it until it goes away or reaches me. Since I am also able to fire on the move, I'll likely be backing up as I fire… Orks? Um, yes… Just choose the nearest blob, fire like we're voting in Chicago… Early, often and targeted…



Power and Internet blipping in and out here, so I'll post as it comes back :-)