First Blood for the win?

Well, I have to say that Secondary Victory Conditions are becoming really important...  Squeaked out a win against a good Chaos list from Joe L...  Really it was his Warlord rolling the "I can Outflank" that allowed him to attach to a Terminator Squad in their Land Raider...  So, they wound up coming in on Turn 2 or 3, but more importantly, they were not on the table when my Sternguard hit the field.  So, my Combi-Meltas of Doom were more or less usless.  We instead dropped in, Heavy Flamer to the fore and hit a Squad of Nurgle Marines that had disembarked their Rhino to shoot up my Scouts...  The SI Ammo is REALLY nice.

Yes, I had Scouts out in front to grab the "relic" objective.  Joe seized initiative, so the lads who infiltrated, scout moved and were ready to grab the objective and flee were instead gunned down in the open...  Well 4/5 of them, the last one DID escape for a turn, moving the ball back to where my Tac Squad would take it and move it back to my lines.  Game ended after turn 6 when the Terminators and Typhus (? big named Nurgle character) killed the last member of the squad in HtH...  But since they needed to pick it up in the movement phase, no one had control of the ball as time expired...  Line Breaker was claimed by both armies as his Terminators and my sole remaining Death Company Power Axe were camped in each other's DZs...  Both of our Warlords lived, and with my Death Company charging and killing the Nurgle Rhino on turn one, my claiming "First Blood" won the game.  Normally, I get it from Sternguard dropping and Melta/Plasma firing something to death, but I'll take it...

So, it seems that paying attention to the VC, especially the Secondaries is the way to get a lot of wins without having to sweep the field :-)...  Not always possible in this game.  Also, I have yet to find any particular disadvantage for "MSU" (multiple small units?  I cannot really remember the acronym) in this edition...  The old one, 1/3 of the missions were Kill Points, so it punished an Army bringing lots of cheap kill points.  Now, really it just means you risk giving First Blood easier, and with Night Fight (assuming people forget Search Lights/don't have them), loads of terrain blocking LOS, etc...  Even that is not a guarantee for stand off armies by any means...

So, next week I'll have at least one, probably 2 actual Drop Pods ready to roll, the Predator will be done and I think all of my Infantry, bar the Tactical Squad, will be fully painted.  Still not sure they are worth it frankly.  Let me re-phrase that, I still think they suck.  The Las Cannon whiffed the whole game, the Plasma fired only once, and the guys just died...  I'd rather have another Assault Squad I think as at least I can re-position them more easily or at least get the cheaper Razorback...  So, thinking I'll have the fully painted army next week, 90% done now...  Decent army all in all, probably won't win any GT's, but fun to play and it WILL give some of the "net lists" a headache...  Others though it will simply die to :-)

This Week, and Flatcon?

Well, looking like I will be fielding something along this line:

Gabriel Seth
Sanguinary Priests (1 Terminator, 1 jump pack)
Scout Squad (9 snipers, Heavy Bolter, Power Fist on SGT)
Assault Squad (Flamer, Melta, SGT has PP/PW)
Death Company (5 Jump Packs, 2 power axes)
DC DN (Flamer, Searchlight)
Baal Predator (Flamer turret, HB Sponsons)
Sternguard (Drop Pod, 4 combi Melta, combi plasma, Heavy Flamer)
Tac Squad (10, Las Cannon, Plasma gun, SGT w/Storm Bolter, Rhino w/searchlight)

Aegid Defense Line w/ Quad gun AAA

10 points left over, so probably just a few more random things here and there...  LOTS of Troops, so I can Combat Squad and hold lots of things, even with the Death Company and Sternguard going off to run a likely suicide attack...  On the plus side, if I go first, "First Blood" is mostly assured...  Minus side, I risk my Warlord a lot the way I play...  But that is pretty much how I play...

Looking at Flatcon doubles tournament in October...  Assuming we can get a team or two together and wander over to Bloomington...  1250 each, further rules here:
http://getevengaming.wordpress.com/central-illinois-doubles-2012/

Sounds like it could be a good one, and my Fleshtearers will be all fully painted and my Drop Pods will be ready...  So I'll be able to field pretty much whatever I'd need to...

Magnets are fun :-)

Well, got one of my ancient Predator hulls magnetized...  More or less :-)...  It works, but somehow I got the polarities reversed on the magnets so the guns only work on one side...  Until I get around to tearing it apart and reversing I guess, but it works for now and moving on to finishing the paint job...  Looking like the Baal Predator will hit the field in support of my Assault elements with the Heavy Bolter sponsons  for the moment.  I was pretty happy how well it did in support of my Sternguard, and I suspect that they will do well enough against a lot of armies locally at least.  Flying circus is the one I do not think I have an answer for at the moment.  Just SO many fliers locally, and I think that is going to be the biggest problem my lists will face...

4 Wounds?

Wow, I feel silly...  Gabriel Seth has 4 Wounds...  I never realized it, and I KNOW I have pulled him off the field several times after losing his "third and final" wound...  Was playing with my ancient Armybuilder trying to compare him with CPT Tycho, and saw that...  Thought it must be a mistake, but no...  Still, the complete lack of AP on his (defined as) Str 8 HtH attacks make him not quite so good as someone with a Power Weapon I think, but...  Yes, Rending...  But counting on 6's coming up is not the way to go I think...  Besides, he spent almost an entire game kicking a small unit of Necron Warriors into scrap only to have them keep coming back...  He has also bounced against a LOT of Marine types...  Kills light vehicles nicely and is scary to a lot of folks who don't really understand his weakness...  With AP 5 or dare I saw 4 on the giant 2 handed chain-sword he has, he would be Hell on wheels against hordes of light troops at least...  Eh...

Conversion work continuing, more Troop types painted and fully WYSIWYG (Melta armed Jump Trooper, etc...)...  So, other than the Drop Pod, everything is coming together nicely.  I cut the ribs for one out of some 5mm thick wood, and need to attach it to a base to get the bulk of the frame at least in place for that... So, Pods at last I guess...

Storm Raven is a possibility, but with the price increase this year from the $50-60 range to the $90 range for a vehicle I really don't like the look of that much...  Dunno.  Maybe eventually...

Fleshtearers are a FAST army...

:-)  Playing the way I do at least...  Not fast like a lot of folks seem to think, "We'll be in contact by turn 3-4"...  I'm playing it that I drop on top of them on turn one, turn 2 I am usually in Assault either by dropping Vanguard Vets right in or my DC/Jump Troopers have made it to contact.  The 12" move and up to 12" Assault move mean that if you are OK taking risks, you can move REALLY fast...

The trouble is supporting the fast movers.  I have found the Baal Predator, especially with the Flamethrower turret and HB sponsons to be a good way to throw down a fast tank that can help root out even 3+ armor hiding in cover (Str 6, AP 3 template)...  The flame sponsons are still fairly worthless I think, still can fire 2 going fast I guess, but that means you ALWAYS have a weapon you do not fire if you move at all, no snap fire option for the templates...  Now to finish painting my ancient model and getting it fully WYSIWYG...

Debating changing out the leader of the force...  Dropping a Librarian in won't likely work as they cannot cast powers (well, the ones I want them to) coming in from Deep Strike...  Tycho looks amusing for a stand in Captain, but the "general" FAQ seems a bit short here as his attacks in HtH which "ignore armor" are now AP what?  There is no defined weapon really to say "It is a Power Sword that also grants 'armor bane'"...  Which is how I'll likely play it, and hope I don't run across anyone who really wants to argue it out :-)  Seems the most reasonable, but...  Mephiston is still a possibility, but at 250 points?  That is a LOT of my army in a single model that has no Inv save...  Yes, T6, 4 Wounds, so hard to kill, but 250 points is a Land Raider or a squadron of Land Speeders easily...

Did forget to mention I will be looking to put them in with a Sternguard drop pod :-)...  The Medic in Terminator Armor (Sanguinary Priest, but "Medic" just sounds better to an old timer like me) dropped in with a short squad and CPT Tycho would seem like a pretty formidable little package hitting the table with Meltas blazing, a few 2+  saves and FnP for the lot of them...  Gives me a few Power Weapons in the squad as well, and I have been REALLY liking the Heavy Flamer option for one of the Sternguard (converting a weapon now, waiting for the Green Stuff to cure) as a quick couple of hits and the discouragement of a risky charge in... Still a LOT of points that would be wasted against a cheap horde force, or anything without one or more big targets...

Seth and the boys drop in...

Well, I ran the army with Gabriel Seth and 2 Sternguard Squads...  And I have to say that the setup with the second squad was REALLY good...  But I am not sure that the single squad dropping in would work.  In any case, the Heavy Flamer was really quite good, and I think will be one thing I convert ASAP...  Still need to finish up the Drop Pod, but the Medic (Sanguinary Priest) in Terminator armor was HUGE there.  Fearless, Power Weapon, FnP saves for the group...  I don't think Seth was needed frankly, but having some sort of HtH beatstick would be a very good thing...  Perhaps not really necessary, but still...  Someone has to keep them alive until my Cav can get there :-)  So, one Sternguard squad for now, And the Assault squad and Death Company to jump along a flank to rush in to support them.  Hard assault, and casualties will be heavy because we will START at point blank with the enemy, and the Jump Troops will be moving at top speed to make contact with the enemy...

The Baal Predator was awesome, and did exactly what I hoped it would, wiping squads of Powered Armor lads hiding in cover, getting in shots on things with the Heavy Bolters while zooming about...  Definitely need to finish up the painting on that one...  Think it has become a standard option for me now...

The DC DN was a big fear thing, but I rolled an improbable series of 1's and 2's to hit and wound with the thing...  Wound up killing a Rhino, then tearing into the Tac Squad equivalent (Templar) only to kill 1 every round despite the number of Str 10 no armor save attacks...  Was disappointing, and lucky that they were the only Marine squad still in existence WITHOUT Krak grenades...  Still, 135 points of "You'd best not ignore this" that takes a lot of pressure off of the Jump Troops it escorts...

Still, the painting is coming along really well, I should have most of it done by next week with my 30 or so Infantry figs set, and with only a few vehicles, the only glaring thing missing is the Drop Pod at this point...

This week, 1 month til the Tournament...

Well, knocking out more of my Fleshtearers...  I think the Scouts are 99% done with the Minwax and matte sealant...  Looking pretty good, just need to pus some debris on the bases to get them to 100%.  Getting a bunch of my Assault Marines knocked out as well and the Sternguard done...  Well, one squad at least...

Looking at bringing 2 squads of them in one of my variant armies.  My first army will be:

Mephiston
Chaplain (jump pack)
Sanguinary Priest w/Jump pack
Death Company (5, JP, 2 power axes)
DC DN
Scout Squad (9 Snipers, 1 HB, SGT w/ Faust)
Assault Squad (10, Melta gun, plasma or flamer pistol, SGT w/ PW and PP or Flame pistol)
Sternguard (10, Pod, 6 combi melta, 4 combi plasma)
DN (TLAC x 2)
Baal Predator (HB sponsons, flame turret probably, maybe the TLAC...)

So, uber Psycher, drop army, etc...  Move fast, hit hard...  With Mephiston being a rank 3 Psyker he can get a decent selection of powers, and Telepathy looks amusing...  Divination works pretty well as well...

Second variant:
Gabriel Seth
Sanguinary Priests (2, 1 Jump pack, 1 Terminator Armor)
Scout Squad (as above)
Assault Squad (As above)
Death Company (As above)
DC DN
Sternguard Squad 1 (as above)
Sternguard Squad 2 (Drop Pod, 7 troopers, heavy flamer, 4 combi melta, 2 combi plasma)
Baal Predator (As above)

So, an extremely aggressive army with Seth and the Terminator Medic dropping with the Sternguard Squad 2...  Scouts sit back and camp, Assault squad w/Medic backed by the DC and the DC DN are a roving reserve or Cavalry to go forth and rescue/support the Sternguard and Seth.  With the second Sternguard squad, the Heavy Flamer is really just there to discourage charges and fry things behind Aegis lines or in buildings...  With FnP, Fearless, Flamer and of course Seth there it should at least make people think seriously about charging...  Now, I do not have the second squad converted, but this may be the way I run the lads later on if this works out....

Now, you'll probably notice the armies are remarkably similar...  Since I am riding the ancient motorcycle, the army has to fit into the saddlebags and trunk :-)...  So, "limited space" is an understatement I think...

"Dipping" minis :-)

Finishing up my Scouts (Sniper, camo cloaks) and I have to say that the Min Wax treatment is certainly looking pretty good...  So, the lads are drying now, just need to finish the Heavy Bolter and put some foliage and rocks and the like for them then seal them with a matte I think...   Starting to hit the Assault Troopers as well, and I think the Sternguard are about ready to get hit as well.  Just detail work remaining like painting the combi weapons, packs, etc...  

Keeping a few odd things like one of the Sternguard has a Tac Squad marking on his shoulder pad...  I really want to keep the fluff of a dying Chapter, and the lads getting promoted REALLY quickly and with results mattering way more than the uniforms, etc...  Not sure many people not familiar with the Fleshtearers would understand it, but I like it :-)....  Getting closer to actually having a Drop pod as well...

Looking at what to play next week...  Mephiston may make an appearance (thanks to http://40kgiveaway.blogspot.com/ again!) along with:

Scouts (full squad, snipers, heavy bolter, SGT w/ PF)

Assault Squad (full squad, Melta Gun, Plasma Pistol, SGT w/PP and PW of some sort)

Death Company (5, jump packs, 2 Power Axes)

DC DN (Flamer, grapple maybe?)

Sternguard (full squad, drop pod, 6  combi meltas, 4 plasma)

Sanguinary Priest (jump pack, ?)

Then it gets to the "maybe":

DN with either 2 TLAC or the TLAC/Assault Cannon

Baal Predator with HB sponsons and maybe the flame turret...  Seeing a LOT of 3+ armor lads camping in the backfield, so flanking...

So, a bit more long range firepower, but overall a REALLY fast army to go camp on the other side of the table...  Should be fun to play at the least...  Not sure what o do for AAA, so that is a bit of a concern depending on opponent...  Meph has access to 3 powers if I go with the book ones, and Telepathy might work...  Hallucination or Puppet Master could be REALLY awesome against certain armies, and Invisibility could well be what gets a assaul unit across the table... Divination is another one that could be really nice...  We'll see what I end up facing...

A Fully Painted Army? Wow....

I'm getting close to a fully painted 40K army for the first time since I threw the minimum "3 color" standard on my 3rd ed Fleshtearers force to have the "We're just here to kill things" army list to take to the tournaments...  It did really well on the field, looked pretty bad, but it WAS technically fully painted...  This time though, I've got a more or less completely different army, have stripped and repainted a number of things....

10 man Sniper Scout Squad, check, needs a bit  touch-up, shading and "bits" to go on the bases

10 man Sternguard Vet Squad, check, as above, but weapons all fully WYSIWYG converted

Death Company, Check.  Various weapons, Jump Packs, Chaplains, etc...  Could use some base work, but...

Assault Marines, check...  How many?  "More" as Taleni Pahulu would have put it (4 numbers, 0, 1, 2, 3 and more)...  Enough to field at least 2 full squads, one of which I have magnetized the Jump Packs for to allow them to enter "Fromage Grande" mode and get the discounted transports which are better for no apparent reason :-)...  Razorbacks are still good, Land Raiders are "eh", Melta will still everywhere and kill them easily...

What else now?  Well, I cut the patterns to make a simple Drop Ship with a wooden frame...  Foamboard is a possibility, and will probably also work, and since I have to make a few of them...  Otherwise I have some vehicles to finish up, and I have to decide what characters I'll be playing...  Mephiston, Gabriel Seth, Chaplains...  There are a few possibilities here and there.  I like the BA Librarians as well, but lacking any sort of Psychic defense...  Well, it is a bit difficult :-)...  Have to paint up my Aegis line I guess...

So, very close, just a bunch of small details...

Modeling for advantage?

Not sure how best to put this...  What are the general feelings out there regarding the rules for Power Weapons?  I had heard the term "Modelling for Advantage" somewhere, and saw it for the first time tonight...  Now, Power Lances were never a Marine weapon AFAIK, but since there are no real limits, if you build/model it, then it is... So, looking at putting Power Axes on a few of the Death Company at least in place of my traditional Power Fists...  15 points instead of the 25, and both AP 2.  The Power Axe on the Charge gives me 5 attacks at Str 6 compared with the 4 attacks at Str 9.  No real difference between 8 and 9, so the furious Charge is "eh" for this, but the Axe is 10 points cheaper...  Not sure if I will end up doing this for my other Power Weapons, but it is looking like an option for mixing in stuff...

Lost badly this evening, but I think it highlighted a major problem with my list...  The Drop Pod for the DN is I think a failure.  And since it goes out unsupported, I have nothing really to deal with the big nasty characters...  Or even really powerful HtH units...  The Las Cannon on the Aegis line is pretty good, well worth the 35 points, but I think I had a lack of long ranged AT weaponry...  So things like the Predator have to come out to play.  The Vindicator was "eh", and I know I jumped it out too quickly, but barring it coming in from reserve, it wouldn't have lived in any case...  It killed a Rhino and 2 Wolf Cav, so it almost paid for itself...  But that is just running in place really, trading chess pieces and not really winning me any battles.

Something to think about for later in the week or next week :-)

Heavy Support for the Fleshtearers...

So, debating on the Heavy Support slot...

Not really a fan of the Dev squads, even with the ability to move and snap fire most of their weapons this edition.  So, Predator or Vindicator I guess...  With the Vindicator, I can ignore terrain, have the AV 13 on the front...  Oh, and the most powerful gun in the game on a Fast platform.  So 12" move, 24" shot, coming from behind a building is a pretty devastating thing...  But it is a one shot thing, the Vindicator comes out and gets a shot off, then dies to the inevitable counter shots.  There is the danger that I come up against an army like Noah's IG with really NO high value targets for the "cruise missile" to hit...  Predator allows me to do a bit of hit and run from a MUCH greater range.  The weapon mix here is another one.  TLLC turret is expensive, but would almost always put the Str 9 AP 2 hit on target.  In general I use the AC turret though, 2 shots is almost always better...  Unless of course I run into AV 13+...  The Las Cannon Sponsen is a solid choice, but the Heavy Bolters would allow a LOT of shots....

Storm raven, well I do not currently have one, frankly looking more like an eventual purchase though...  Do wish more than BA and GK got to use it though.  Frankly that was one of the main reasons I did not get one before...  Perhaps we will see an expansion in this area though,was kind of disappointed that the 6th Ed book did not do this...  We'll see I guess...

Background for the League...

Running my Fleshtearers, and one of the requirements is having a background justification for the list...  So, here goes:

"War is delightful to those who have had no experience of it." ~ Desiderius Erasmus 

The Fleshtearers, answering the General Recall to Baal are moving quickly.  But we need to more so quickly that even our normal tactics of “Hit them fast and hard, kill them all and move on” are not sufficient.  Speed is far more important than casualties.  General tactics will be Scouts heading out to identify high value targets and call in the Assault troops.  The Schwerpunkt will involve an extremely rapid assault via Drop Pod (DN or Sternguard Vets) or Vanguard Vets assaulting out of Deep Strike.  The remaining forces will follow up the initial assault.  Holding our own objectives will be difficult, but we will take theirs instead or die trying.  An unfortunate reality of our situation is the Death Company.  As we lose more Marines to the Black Rage, we will direct them toward the enemy and let the Chaplain lead them to cause the most damage on their way out.

As we move back to Baal, we will on occasion fight with our allies.  For the current assault, our Scouts have made contact with elements of Bran Redmaw’s Great Company.  They are currently holding an Aegis Defense Line, and we will move to support them.  We cannot stop, but we will render aid to our Brothers, and by doing so may relieve some of the pressure on Baal. 

So, first draft of this one, the list I am looking at is:

 Reclusiarch (Jump Pack)
Death Company (Jump packs, 5 normal, 2 PF/Bolter)
DC DN (Drop Pod, beacon, H Flamer)
Scout Squad (9 Snipers, Heavy Bolter, SGT with P Fist)
Sternguard (6 Combi Melta, 4 Combi Plasma, Drop Pod w/ Beacon)
Vindicator (Siege Shield)

Allies:
Rune Priest
Grey Hunters (Razorback w/ TLAC, Flamer)
Long Fang Pack (3 Missile, 2 Heavy Bolter)

Aegis Line w/Laser Cannon

Thinking that the Laser Cannon will be interesting for anything but the IG horde out there...  We'll see how the lads do though...

So, on to the next week...

So, need to come up with the actual "fluff"...  But since I am playing Fleashtearers, and playing them as a Berserker drop/Fast assault force, it does seem a pretty good fit...  We are in a hurry, and speed is more important than casualties.  So, dangerous close in drops and direct assaults are the way we will be proceeding.  Scouts hit the field first and find/mark high value targets for the assault elements.  The rest drop or drive quickly to hit them and then fade away before heavier elements can pin my people down

Minus side, I NEED to get off my ass and get a Drop Pod or three built....  Templates, printed on manila folders I cut up...  One at the very least as my Sternguard seem to be a more or less permanent part of this strike force.  2 or even 3 would be better as I can get around the 50% Reserves rule with this a bit.  Scouts are deploying, but with Infiltrate and Scout, they should be able to get to higher ground and survive with Cloaks until the rest of the lads get there.  Pod hits, 1-2 Squads of Sternguard or a DC DN get out...  Furioso?  Maybe, the AV 13 is huge against Str 6...  Melta still just kills me though, and there is SO much of that out there that for the most part I can not count on a Close Assault DN surviving very long at all...  The DC DN is cheap enough and has a scary number of attacks that most people cannot simply ignore the Fleet HtH monster that is dropping into their lines, and since I am playing a "fluffy" FT force, lots of DC in any case...  Not a lot of "Regulars", pretty much the 'cruits go to Scouts, survivors hit the field as Assault Marines or get promoted directly to the Vet units...  The Specialist Ammo for the Sternguard is huge, and I can see why a lot of people really like playing any army that allows them as Troops (1 Marine Special Char IIRC).  But not a lot of long term folks in the Fleshtearers overall...  Dying out to the Black Rage as fast as they can recruit, and with the decision to hit the field early and often, well, the 4 Companies remaining will not last long at all in normal circumstances...  With the general recall to Baal, seems very likely that they will not return.  So, playing as somewhat desperate Berserkers completely unconcerned with casualties seems to fit...

So, Allies for the Fleshtearers?

So far my lads are 2-0...  First Blood being a common secondary VC, and dropping the Sternguard right into a gunline...  Well, not much survives their "special attention".  Since Jake and I killed a LOT of each other's armies, me going first and being hyper aggressive for the first kill points is the only thing that saved me...

So, with the 100 point tax on non flier armies in the form of the Aegis line with the quad gun in my armies now...  1850 league, but I am playing at 1750.  Though the Scouts rocked the gun line, killing the incoming flier and clearing some Thousand Sons off of an objective.

Thinking about bringing Eldar or Wolves as an allied detachment against some of the more Psycher heavy forces...  Jake had 4 Psychers, and the new complete lack of defense was really telling...  Though having a Demon Prince's head explode on box cars was cool, NOT something to count on...

With the Eldar, I can completely deny spells, I mean "Psychic Powers"...  For a time at least.  Thinking that if a GK force decides to off him, I am in trouble.  Pathfinders for the gun line/objective camping...  If they CAN hold objectives that is...

Wolves, being Battle Brothers can mix in a bit better...  Grey Hunters in a Razorback or Rhino, the Rune Priest, maybe a Wolf Priest?  Oh, and Long Fangs maybe :-)...

Something to think about...

Fleshtearers for today...

Well, I'll either be fielding my army that I brought last week or:

Reclusiarch (Jump Pack, PF) 170
Death Company ( Jump Packs, 2 PF/Bolter) 295
DC DN (Fists, Magna Grapple, pod w/ beacon) 185
Scout Squad (10, 8 sniper rifles, HB or ML, SGT w/PF sniper rifle) 175
Assault Squad (hand flamer or PP, SGT w PF/hand flamer) 370
  Land Raider (MM)  (225)
Sternguard (10 in Drop Pod, 6 Melta, 4 plasma combi, pod has beacon)  350
Sang Priests (1 BP/PW to run with Assault Squad, 1 basic to run with Scouts) 115
Whirlwind  90

Aegis line and AAA  100

The Whirlwind is just there because I had 90 points :-)  Could I suppose go for Speeder or a pair of Attack Bikes in the future...  Basically, going to abuse the Aegis and the Scouts with Camo Cloaks to get really good cover saves, the Sang Priest can man the AA gun for the BS 4.  WW can sit behind a building and chuck Ord...  Weak Ord, but Ord, one round that ignores cover saves....  Between that and the Sternguard's rounds that can, thinking that I can pin/destroy important things hidden away on the weaker armies like IG and...  Well, OK, IG :-)  Maybe Tyranids, but...  Sternguard can either suicide in, or set up in cover and shoot special rounds...  Land raider?  Well, mostly just to scare people who think AC/ML are going to work for AT...

:-)  Might even work, who knows...  FAST, aggressive, and fits my play style, so I think I can make it work against a fair number of things...

Next week's list....

Well, last week I brought a fairly random list, but playing against a new guy and spending more time teaching the game than worrying about the game...  Guessing this week will be against one of the regulars...

Playing around with the idea of an Infantry horde...

Librarian (jump pack, powers?)
Chaplain (jump pack, power fist?)
Death Company (7, 2 with PF/bolter, jump packs)
DC DN armed with ? The Cuisinart Claws or the DN CCW...
Scouts (10, snipers and a heavy bolter or ML, SGT with PF)
Sternguard (10 combi weapons, Drop pod w/beacon)
 Sanguinary Priests (2, 1 jump pack, 1 storm bolter)
Dev Squad ? (HB, 2 ML)

Aegis line with AA guns...

Might need a few more pods :-)  Think that this would do OK against some of the horde lists....  We'll see I guess...

So, Maggie and the girls are in the Frozen North...

So, I have a bit of time on my hands....  In some ways, kind of sad, but I got a LOT of painting done...  No parties, I don't drink anymore...  But getting a fair amount of painting done :-)

Pics follow:

So, a bit of conversion work getting the Chaplain and Scout SGT WYSIWYG...  Fair number of the assault troops as well, but those I mostly just converted to me own fighting style...  The knife in the left hand rotated and facing out, resting against the forearm to keep the blades out of the way...  Edit:  And, yes, the guy with the hand flamer IS flipping the enemy off :-)  Keeping the lads attitudes about the same as my own...  They are nae kilted, but I understand the whole Berserker thing :-)

But the lads are coming along nicely...  Now to get to work on the vehicles I guess...

More building....

Not a whole lot going on, Maggie and the girls are up North for the week...  I'm getting wild, painting toy soldiers and working on my motorcycle.

So, a little painting, but mostly working on modeling.  Chaplain swapping out a bolter for a power fist and getting ready for the jump pack magnet mount.  Not sure if I NEED to, but guessing that having at least a squads worth of the lads to field as either Jump troops or riding in a Land Raider...

Working a bit on the Death Company DN as well...  Looking like that will remain a part of the army for the 125 points. If it gets its charge off, 6 Str 10 AP 2 goodness?  Yes, thank you...  Yes, the Str 7 Cuisinart mode claws is amusing, and might even be amusing against say, a horde...

Other than that, the Scout SGT got his camo cloak, and some of the other lads got a bit of paint....  Guessing I start making combi weapons and basing...  Oh, and build the bloody Drop Pod :-)

Yes, tired and free form rambling...  Dealing with hordes, not so sure...  Against IG, I have the Sternguard dropping in...  Depending on how well hidden his Command Squads, Heavy Weapon Squads and Artillery are, well that will dictate the target selection....  The Ignore Cover rounds are still AP 5, so they should kill off IG easily, and the Melta shots should deal with vehicles...  Tyranids, I have the Hellfire rounds for the wounding on 2+, Melta, etc...  Still not sure for AAA, so I'll probably bring the Aegis line for my Scounts, or maybe be cheesy and have Gabriel Seth or the Librarian shoot the bloody gun for the BS 5 twin linked Heavy 4 shots...  Not sure I can deal with dual Storm Ravens or squadrons of Valkyries/Vendettas with the Str 7 shots, but thinking the AV 10 DE fighters or AV 11 Marine fliers are in trouble.  But, will deal with that when I have to I guess :-)

Fleshtearers starting Monday...

So, looking at taking these lads out...

Gabriel Seth (Will ride in the LR w/ his guards)
Chaplain (Jump Pack, Power Fist)
Death Company  (7, Jump Packs, 2 x Faust)
Death Company DN
Scout Squad (10, 9 Sniper Rifles, SGT w/ Faust, Heavy Bolter)
Sternguard (10, 6 Combi Melta 4 Combi Plasma)
  Drop Pod (Locator Beacon)
Vindicator (Siege Shield)
Honor Guard (Various weapons, Medic)
  Land Raider (Pintle MM)

so, since I can only reserve half of my force, I think I can customize what I drop in on turn 2...  Drop pod on turn 1 with the beacon, maybe it even survives...  Meanwhile the Sternguard can combat squad, and shoot the hell out of something they've dropped on top of...  Mind, it really works best as player 2, and hopefully against someone who brought a small number of high value targets...

Being able to pre-measure now, with the exception of the Scouts and Vindi, I CAN drop the rest of the firce in...  BA can Deep Strike their Land Raiders if I feel like being silly...  Unfortunately, I can only drop in 50%...  So, the Raider is unlikely...  Probably start it behind something, hide the Vindi behind a building, the DC DN behind one of those :-)  Scouts do their thing...  DC will probably drop in, or maybe be my backfield security if I drop the Raider in...

Not sure what to about aircraft really...  And my Psy defense consists of hoping they roll 11+, or I roll lots of 6's :-)

So, Fleshtearers it is...

Got in a bit of painting this evening...  Testing out a slightly different scheme for my new Sternguard...  So, Copper/Bronze helmets...  Now to build a bunch of combi weapons :-)  Oh, and the drop pod...  I'll actually have to finish that project...

Looking like either Gabriel Seth or a Librarian to lead out the lads...  Thinking they ride in a Land Raider with an Honor Guard or maybe an Assault Squad.

Sternguard in Drop Pod with a bunch of Combi Weapons...

Death Company led out by a Chaplain (power fist), jump packs...  A few Power Fists as well...  The mobile hammer...

Death Company DN...

Scout Squad (SGT w/PF and sniper rifle, 8 snipers 1 heavy bolter)

Vindicator w/ siege shield

So, small army...  Hyper aggressive, with the ability to drop right in on top of the enemy.  Fits the fluff I think this fits the desperate situation they find themselves in.  No choice but to hit fast, hard and decisively and win or die quickly...  Not going to hold many objectives :-)  but can kill a LOT of stuff...

Looking at the difficult cases for my armies...

So, locally at least I can look around and see a few things none of my forces at the current time can deal with effectively...  Yes, I COULD roll lots of 6's and hope they roll all 1's, but realistically...

Necrons:  Fliers and Chariots of Doom...  I guess my DA terminators would laugh at the chariot, since it seems to be something they have to be in skimmer mode to use the fly over attacks with...  Fliers, I guess my Aegis line hits the table and hope I roll 6's until I can knock through their shields....  Eldar, FT?  Well...  Frankly I am not sure what I have that will stop fliers...

Dark Eldar:  Fliers and the metric crapton of shots...  Night Fight means that only my shots are at a disadvantage, my Wraithguard, Wraithlords and Artillery are all fighting at a disadvantage until I knock the Venom(s) out...  At least one DE player uses a lot of them, not so sure what the other uses, but I know he has fliers...


Thinking seriously about my Fleshtearers...  Looking over the Sternguard, I know I can have a few Drop Pods done by the tournament 8 weeks in...  But seeing a lot of people hiding things in or around good cover like the Aegis gun line...  Dropping in and shredding light troops manning the gun might be quite useful, combi meltas could be useful to deal with vehicles or heavy troops...  I have been using Vanguard Vets for a long time, but I think most of my regular opponents have seen me use that trick before :-)  Not to say I wouldn't use them too...  Hyper aggressive Jump Infantry?  Fits the Fleshtearers pretty well I think...  Yes, we are dying out, but we will be taking a whole lot of our enemies with us when by the time the last of us falls... :-)  Reminds me of one of my favorite songs, Riot on Broad Street by the Mighty Might Bosstones

http://youtu.be/lmlvLsJxsac

Not sure I will have a Storm Raven or not, but the option is there.  Air superiority given the potential 4 shots with 2 missiles and 2 real guns for at least the first two turns, assuming it survives of course :-)...  So, Scouts camping the Aegis line with one or more objectives nearby to perform AA duty...  They can combat squad as needed...  Death Company will be jumping around doing their thing...  DC DN and probably  a Furioso... With the FAQ change eliminating all changes to the Librarian DN, I haven't taken one in ages...  Maybe now, I wonder...  But I REALLY doubt it would work out well locally...  At least 3 GK players, and "a few" Storm Ravens...  ANY hit by a mindstrike = a glance with the Perils being automatic, so a cheap kill for the GKs...  Too many things that will likely screw over Psychers, so...

In any case :-)  Looks like my Fleshtearers will be what hits the table for me...

Deathwing this week...

So, getting ready for the 1850 League...  My Deathwing army is tiny, relatively of course...  And because it was the one I intended to bring to Adepticon, etc...  Did bring it to team up with Dave's Wolves over in Bloomington...  In any case, I HAVE the banner, the Medic, etc...  Won't really be WYSIWYG the first week or two, but with the 6th edition changes, regular Terminators seem a pretty decent option...  Fearless, one squad will get FNP, loads of missiles, Melta, etc. from my Ravenwing there...

So, 4-5 Deathwing Squads, 2 Speeders, 1 bike Squadron, Vindicator, maybe a Land Raider or Aegis line and?  Concerned about a flier heavy list, but with a LOT of 2+ saves on Fearless Troops...  Ignore the fliers and just complete the mission?  Horde control is a problem as well and lack of Psy defense...  Maybe bring a cheap Farseer to say "No One Uses Psy Powers But Me" :-)...  Would have to use Pathfinders to be Troops, and they'd run my Aegis line I think...  Might work, if a bit on the fromage grande side...

Drop armies are out...

So, my drop armies are out with the new ruleset...  But I think I can play a hyper aggressive "almost drop" armies...  Dark Angels with an Aegis line, manned by a Tac squad, a Ravenwing Squadron or three for the Scout and Teleport Homers...  I still have the Deathwing Assault rule and so can have half of my DW drop in the first turn, most likely without risk of deviation or "bad things happening"...  Chances are good that on turn 2 most of the rest of my reserves come in...

Always been a fan of General Patton, found this the other day, heard most of them, but not ever all collected:

Gen. George S. Patton's Commandments:

Do everything that you ask of those you command.
Say what you mean, and mean what you say.
Do not fear failure.
Do more than is required of you.
Do not take counsel of your fears.
Always go forward.
Take calculated risks.
Give credit where it is due.
Accept full responsibility for the actions of yourself and your men.

Kind of applies to a lot of the way I play...  Well, to be fair, how I live :-)  I had an excellent Squad Leader when I was off playing Army, and he showed me how to actually be a leader.  Was kind of important with me deploying directly to a combat zone almost right out of Basic...  But back on topic :-)  40K, like a LOT of other war games, rewards aggressive play...  The DW assault combined with the Ravenwing should provide a pretty good Alpha Strike, and camp my Fearless Troops (Terminators) in the enemy DZ and/or on objectives...  Melta and missiles should allow me to claim First Blood regularly...  Locally at least hitting hard and fast has the effect of keeping a lot of the players WAY off their game.  My FT army I think could do something similar, Vanguard Vets assaulting out of Deep Strike, the rest of the army just kind of surging forward...  Not as well mind :-)  and losing the ability to hold my whole army off the field hurts a lot...  Gone are the days of the Ju Jitsu "I'll go second" and counter strike...

The other side of this coin I find the Eldar...  Everyone else seems to play them as a fast, mobile army...  Me, I use them as a slow army based on aggressive Heavy Infantry marching right up the field...  Yes, I have fast flankers, but the basis of the army is the Brick marching up the field.  Pathfinders by and large do not move, Wraithlords and War Walkers move with the Brick, but not really too rapidly honestly...  So, like a river of ice I think...  Slow, flowing with the ebb and tide of the battle, but always moving in the direction they need to...

Guess I'll be testing out a few armies over the next few weeks...  I think I will be trying the "book" Psy powers...  I do suspect that in the long term those will be the ones that the armies get as their books get released....  Best to get used to them I think.

1850 for the next league....

Well, it looks like the next league will be 1850 and more "Hobby" based...  So, points for WYSIWYG, painting, basing, fluff, etc...  So, this leaves me a hard choice, what army do I play?

Dark Angels (Consecrators)...  Terminators are pretty powerful these days, and I am guessing that the less than 900 points for 3 squads of Fearless Terminators with a variety of weapons, including cheap Cyclones... Leaving me around 1000 points for more Terminators, bike squads, Dreadnoughts and...  Well, not sure what else...  Probably need Aegis Defense line with the AA gun, so a min sized Tac squad to man the line I guess...  Being 4th edition I have some decent weapon options for the 5 man squad IIRC, but they would just be there to man the AAA really...

Fleshtearers...  Powerful I guess...  I like my jump troops.  And I suppose I could run a Storm Raven...  The Death Company and DC DN are fun...  Lacking a Storm Raven at the moment though...  I don't know, strong army, and I have a LOT of options...

Eldar...  Interesting army, I think they'll be fairly strong...  Still not sure they will match well against Grey Knights or...  Well a lot.  the Eldar Brick I run is powerful, but slow and easily avoidable...  I do not have the Wave Serpents to do the Mechdar list, so foot it is what I can do...  Not sure what other foot options they have, I know the Avatar might be amusing with his immunity to Melta, etc...  Dunno if it will work or not...

Beyond this, Grey Knights and IG I think are just too powerful for a friendly league and I frankly do not think I will have fun playing them...  And a "vanilla" Marine force would probably just be boring for me...  Leaves Wolves I guess, maybe...  Dunno if they will hold my interest long enough though.  Loganwing was amusing, but his weapon got screwed over by the new rules...  Shame, he was at least amusing...

So, 4 choices I guess...  All at least "mostly" painted, should be easy to get there for the league and tournament at the end...  Have a few weeks to figure it out I guess...  Though, the other major consideration being what fits into the luggage on the motorcycle :-)...

The Eldar Brick still works...

Played a 2000 point game this evening, used the "Eldar Brick" or "Walking Castle"...  Eldar Wraithguard maxed out with a Spirit Seer joined by Eldrad, and backed by War Walkers, Wraithlord oh, and a Wraith Seer...  Using IA rules, this gives me a Fearless Troop block with at the very worst 3 5+ saves against anything...  T 6 as well, so really hard to injure normally and the 3+ armor for a lot of shooting...  REALLY hard to stop, and I just march the block across the table.  Guide cast once or twice along with Fortune along with the casting of FnP...  Heavy weapons, D-weapons, REALLY hard to kill, and impossible to ignore...

Still need to figure out Air cover or some sort of AAA...  Thinking that the Aegis line with the quad gun manned by Pathfinders will be it for the moment...  Tried the Nightwing fighter tonight for 145 points of one turn shooting...  Pretty fragile and ineffective really...  Though the Interceptor rule for the 2 quad guns on the other side of the table  probably kept it from being effective at all...  Not wanting to use Imperial terrain for this, so I'll have to come up with something "Eldar" I guess...  It is looking like there will not be a new Eldar book for a while...

Next projects...

Going through my old files, and I found an Eldar Vampire Raider pattern...  Printed it out on letter rather than legal paper so it would be a bit smaller...  Looking at using it as a Phoenix class bomber.  Kind of a mis naming I think, the bomber does not actually have bombs, but I think it will be a heavy interceptor and awesome ground attack aircraft for me.  Now, it is a Heavy Support choice, and 225 or 235 points, and the new rules for fliers...  Well, Holofields and it coming in from reserve might do really well for a turn or three, and with those turns being critical as I "rush" my Wraithguard block across the table, hoping mostly to keep fliers and other heavy threats under control...  Of course, I left all of my foamboard at my office, so no real progress there...  Planning on doing the frame with foamboard, then using paper mache to do the aircraft's skin...  Should be light, thin and fairly strong.  Between this and my Airship to be my Praetorian IG's Vendetta/Valkyrie replacement, a bit of random model work to do...

More ancient Marines being stripped and repainted...  Found a few squads of Scouts, not sure that they'll get used, but 15-20 sniper scouts and another 10-15 HtH and Shotgun Scouts...  Shame my Wolf Scouts became almost completely worthless between the near mandatory 4 shot AP 4 Interceptor gun and the fact I can no longer Assault when I go behind enemy lines has placed them on the "eh" list for my Wolves.  After SO many years of them being in every Wolf army I played (I used to do something like this when I played Army)...  So, they went from really powerful and I almost always felt kind of bad bringing them against most people (some others, not so much so) to a unit I feel like I am handicapping myself with... So, not sure which of the various Marine forces the lads get painted up as, maybe do actual camouflage and use them for whichever (DA, Fleshtearers, Regular Marines, Shotgunners might become IG Vets in carapace armor)...  We'll see I guess, leaning toward at least one full squad of snipers for my FT force, no clue what the DA will get in their next iteration...

Fliers, Forge World and the local group...

So, the Eldar Nightwing Interceptor in IA 11 can be taken by Codes: Eldar as a Fast Attack option via the FAQ from Forgeworld...  The Phoenix Bomber is a Heavy, and not so sure it will be as good.  145 points for the Nightwing with 2 Shuriken Cannons and 2 Bright Lances...  Yes, Armor 10 all around, and the Holo fields are not so impressive now, but by an odd coincidence, 4 weapons that can all be fired by the 6th ed flier rules...  Against another flier, 8 shots at BS 4 seem like if I can line up and get the first shot off, I might well be able to achieve air superiority quickly and easily...

So, wondering how close this will be to the version in the fliers book or the next Eldar codex whenever it does come out...  But in any case, iff the IA stuff becomes legal, then we have a few options...

New toy from 40K Giveaway...

Well, he's primered up...  Mephiston will be painted up in the Fleshtearer's colors...  So, per usual but with more black trim and shoulder pads...

Just starting there of course, and as you can see the hobby table is still quite full...  Though, cleaning the basement a bit, and I am planning on expanding my hobby area a bit and clean it up quite a bit...  Never used the Vampire Lord, but with the move to 2000 points, Seth and Mephiston might make a really good team...

One of the other things I found:

:-)  LAW tube, just another random souvenir from the Army...  It will go up on my "Klingon Wall" with a lot of my other collected weapons...

First game of 6th ed Eldar for me...

Things went pretty much the way I thought they would...    Swooping hawks are still overpriced crap, Spiders are decent flankers...  Pathfinders are OK, but will not win any battles on their own.  I simply did not bring enough high STR shooting.  Flanked my War Walkers, should have just marched them behind the Wraithguard block to get Guide from Eldrad...  24 Str 6 shots with BS 3 (guided) might have done a LOT better.  Also, got sidetracked trying to take and hold objectives...  Should have simply marched my Wraithguard block and War Walkers right up the field...  I do think next time I bring a Wraith Lord...  Against DE they just die, but most other things will have a difficult choice with the WG and WL right near each other.

In terms of what next?  I think we start to field 2000 point forces, it does seem the level we are heading to.  Also, I strongly suspect that the Forge World things will be "street legal" for 40K games VERY soon.  With the new rules and new FAQ's, it does seem to be moving in that direction.  I am REALLY looking forward to converting one of my many ancient Wraith Lords (Yes, they are "Eldar Dreadnoughts", a few of the Vampire class ones) to be a Wraith Seer...  The WG backed by a Farseer and Wraith Seer (giving the WG say, "Feel No Pain" and decreasing cover saves...  Yes, please) seems to be a hugely powerful block...  Not unstoppable, but damn close...  And still lots of points left for the high Str shooting I think we need to play the current game...

So, Troops?  Dire Avengers I guess come back in a Wave Serpent...  To get dropped off on an objective and have the Light Tank do it's thing until it dies to the 3 glance rule...  A small unit or two of my Pathfinders as well...  Getting precision AP 1 shots is "neat", and since so far I've only been putting those shots into fearless units or taking the long shot to try and glance a vehicle, I suspect it will become MUCH better in the longer run.  Haven't bothered with Guardians...  "Eh" seems to be the best I can say about them.  10 man min squads of crap, overpriced troops mean they simply do not stand up well in the current environment just to have "Troops" sitting in the backfield...  Yea, they have Fleet and Assault weapons so I can rush them to their deaths in close combat after an ineffective round of shooting...  No thanks, just doesn't seem to fit the background of a dying race to have ineffective suicide troops...  Back in 3rd ed when I could bring 5 man squads with a heavy weapon, they hit the field for me a LOT, now?  Not so much...

Fast Attack, if Forge World comes into mainstream, then the Hornets are AWESOME, and will get proxied in...  I do think they might become fliers in the current edition...  Eldar getting some sort of interceptor to match the Marine one would be really nice...  Spiders are staying, and...  Well, that's really about it...  IA 11 had some amazing Eldar stuff, Shadow Specters and the like...  The Corsairs are another amazing list, maybe they'll be part of the next Eldar codex :-)...  Especially nice for me because my RT era Eldar ARE old Eldar Raiders/Corsairs and painted up like that...  we'll see I guess...  Looking forward to the 145 or so point Nightwing fighters...

More 6th ed stuff...

Mkay, got a bit more reading in...  And the more I see, the more I think the time of the Dreadnoughts and other vehicles dominating the game is past...  With grenades hitting on a straight WS roll, and normal vehicles having WS 1 if they move, 0 if not...  Even DNs get hit basically on a 4+, so Krak, Melta and Haywire grenades hit a LOT...  OK, the Krak are not nearly so much a threat, but even Guardsmen these days can hurt most DNs...  Any normal vehicles getting caught by Infantry are simply going to be wrecked I think.  Needing fliers or Infantry screens seems the way things are now...

Eldar are looking pretty good in general.  Or at least something I can work with.  Eldrad is still so much better than the regular Farseers, but I guess I'll eventually use a normal Seer, if only to try the new powers.  MOST of the book is still crap (OK, this is all just my opinion, YMMV) being written for a game 2 editions ago...  And the new rules REALLY hurt some of it.  Help some, the Ranger/Pathfinders seem like they'll do fine.  Warp Spiders are now better than they were in 5th, and since they were a staple for me there, guessing they will continue to be so for me.  Support Weapons look like they will be REALLY good.

Now the other side...  Scorpions are now completely useless for what I used them for in the past (flanking and hitting the backfield), Dark Reapers with the Str 5 weapon simply doesn't cut it as AA/AT, so despite AP 3 it really is just expensive and useless.  Especially compared to say Long Fangs...  I WANT to make them work, but I really am not seeing it.

Somewhere in the middle for me are the Swooping Hawks, Banshees and Wraithlord.  Cover saves for the Lord, he is a Character so can challenge, etc...  Banshees, I'll give them another shot with Fleet, Doom, etc...  We'll see :-)

Support weapons... Maybe?

So, now they are T 7, 2 wound "creatures" rather than the weakest possible vehicle...  Hmmm...  And the D-Cannons I have from back in the RT days...  Seems like it might be a good way to throw down some "I don't care" class shooting...  Blast, so no AA fire...  That will continue to be a problem for the Eldar I think.  But in any case for 100 points I can have a unit of 2 D Cannons behind my Ghost Warriors (Wraith Guard, but better than half of the unit IS made up of ancient Ghost Warriors)...  I think they will be my AAA should any get close enough.  Guide will be used here and on my War Walkers since I'm looking for 6's...  I like the Wraithcannon here just because 2/3 of the time it rips away a Hull point, and 1/3 have a decent chance to just kill the flier...  Scatter Lasers, just the sheer weight of shooting.  I'll see how much Str 6 shooting I can bring out...

Vibro Cannons....  Hmmm, since they auto hit and auto glance, barring FAQ, seems like they will just hit, same for Blood Lance and other powers like that....  Can you tell I am trying hard trying to figure out a way to deal with the fliers, especially the dual Storm Raven and multiple Vendetta/Valkyrie lists?  Just not 100% sure I can do it with what I have and the rules as I understand them at this point...

Getting a feel for the new rules, but there are some that just kind of make my head hurt.  No more than 50% Reserves, but Fliers do not count against this?  Well, mostly lacking fliers, I don't get anything there...  Sucks for several of my armies though, making them mostly unplayable.  At least in the form I am used to them being played at least.  We'll see, but I am guessing it will not work out well.

The other big one is no assault out of reserves.  Now this just makes certain things like my Wolf Scouts and Scorpions almost completely useless...  Wolf Scouts can jump out, maybe be shot by Interceptors or other odd rules, get their one shot off, then stand there and get shot off the board.  Scorpions are WAY worse off...  Pistols, and "Oh, look, we're here to die"...  So, completely useless.  Really disappointing for me as they were always some of my favorite units, now unplayable in the Scorpions case, Wolf Scouts are far worse off than they were as just suicide shooters...  So, maybe there will be a change via FAQ or new book for the Eldar...

One Fu@king Grenade?

You can now throw grenades in 40K...  But only one/unit?  Ouch, my head hurts...  With an 8" range, I guess I'm having a hard time believing that it would be broken, but what would I know :-)...  So much for my Swooping Hawks actually being useful as vehicle hunters...  Now, in close combat, they will wreck just about any vehicle I think just due to the number of glances they can produce at I5...  Guessing they will be my backfield defense for both turns they live...  Though I have to wonder if they will live, but the Wraithguard block out there should draw a lot of fire...

First 6th ed game in, moving on...

Well, got in my first game...  Played a Drop BA force against a REALLY well organized GK force...  In the words of CPL Hicks "We Came, We Saw, We got our Asses Kicked"...  Did not catch the only 50% can be reserved part...  So, my DoA army is really DOA.  Used to be I'd just deploy Scouts with a beacon, Drop Pods with beacons and let the rest drop in...  Now, I cannot do this at all.  So, my army was pretty sub par to start.  Fliers are obnoxious if you do not have them yourself, or some good AAA to knock them down...  My Fleshtearers do not.  Faced off against 2 heavy fliers like that, you NEED something to take them down, throwing a few random shots looking for a series of 6's is simply not going to stop them in time.  Not with them able to "zoom" around 18"-36", firing 4 weapons at full BS (5 with PotMS), knowing they are in general only hit on 6's in return...  Pretty safe all around for them at least.

So, a bit disappointing for my first run through...  But not THAT bad.  Lots of little things that we no doubt did wrong, and that will get worked out over time...  Seems pretty decent all around, with just a few annoyances.

Moving to Eldar for next week...  Simpler I think and with the new way to kill vehicles being glance them a lot, Eldar are set as the kings of Str 6 shooting I think...  The old Warp Spiders who were pretty "bad" in 5th will I think be decent, for now at least...  Gone is the "AP - penalty", and since most vehicles now die to 3 glances...  Well, if you are looking for the "I killed the vehicle" for the result, this will work I think.  Guiding a big unit might even serve as field expedient AA...  Though a guided squadron of War Walkers is looking pretty good right now...  25% cover to get a cover save, immobile no longer kills members, 24 shots at Str 6/turn?  Um, can I put then near Eldrad and Guide them?  Straight averages say I should get 18 Str 6 hits/turn at ground targets...  Might even get 6-7 hits when playing AAA shooting at fliers...  Still not good against an AV 12 flyer really, but might be the best I have for a while.

WRT psychics, I think keeping Eldrad will be the way to go.  3 powers/turn, I have access to them all...  Not sure if there is still a restriction about one shooting psy power/turn...  Might be amusing if not with Mind War sniping targets...  But in any case, Pathfinders are going to be weird with their rifles getting AP 1 for 5+ to hit and AP 2 for 6 to wound...  Oh, and on the 6 to hit they choose their target for the AP 1 shot...  So, foot armies might be in trouble...  "Look Out Sir" rolls for characters giving a 4+ save I guess if I snipe characters, but heavy weapons, etc.?  Yeah, that will be harder...  I also kind of wonder if Haywire grenades are one of the "can be thrown" types (Edit, YES, they are one that can be thrown)...  My ancient Hawks might be able to hit the field if they can just drop in, throw a few grenades and virtually guarantee destroying a Land Raider or the like...  Then hopefully leap away :-)...  Who knows, they might work until people realize what I am doing with them...  And if I am reading the FAQ correctly, the Warlock "honor guard" is a separate unit, so I could get them too...  So maybe jet biking or maybe just walking...

Dunno, but pretty sure it's Eldar next week as I can fit them more easily into my bike's luggage :-)

First 6th ed game tomorrow....

Not entirely sure what 'm bringing...  Probably NOT my Wolves or Eldar yet...  So DA or Fleshtearers (BA)...  Guessing that jump troopers or Terminators...  Now that Terminators are not as vulnerable to Power Weapons, having my Deathwing might be REALLY powerful.  And the FnP from the Medic on the Command squad gets better...

So, Fleshtearers as a Drop force....

Librarian (Jump Pack)
Death Company (9 DC, 2 w PF/Bolter, Lemartes, Jump Packs)
DC DN (Claws of Eternal CC?  Maybe)
  Drop Pod w/Beacon
Vanguard Vets (Jump Packs, 2 PF, 3 PW)
Scout Squad (10, 9 Snipers, 1 ML, SGT w/ PF)
Sangunary Priest (Jump Pack)
DN (Rifleman)
  Drop Pod w/Beacon


Not too coherent, but might be fun...

Still wrapping my head around a lot of the rules and changes, so keeping it simple.  I think I will be heading to Wolves/Eldar...  I think the Eldar will be pretty interesting...

So, 6th is almost here...

One of the best summaries I've found is here:

http://www.thehogsofwar.com/2012/06/warhammer-40k-6th-edition-rules-summary.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheHogsOfWar+%28The+Hogs+of+War%29

So far it is looking like a lot of my armies are set to get better in many ways...  For instance my Fleshtearers I have played as a Jump heavy "Berserker" force with Death Company.  Rage is now +2 attacks on the charge, Jump troopers now have the same 2d6 everyone else does for Assaults, so a huge potential threat range...   Both Eldar and Marine snipers get better, but Pathfinders are going to be insane.  The "To Hit" roll of a 6 means the sniper shoots the target of his or her choice, and the Pathfinder will be hitting at AP 1...

And that segues into my main concern.  I do think that there will be some potential issues with some of the codexes, especially the 4th edition ones.  Now, a bunch of major FAQ/Online PDF's changes could very easily mitigate this and make is a non issue.  But there are a few things that because they were written for a VERY different system that might cause problems in the current one.  Specifically the Eldar Runes/Ghost Helms and Long Rifles are the ones that I immediately thought of.  The giant "Screw You Enemy Wizard...  I mean 'Psycher'" that the runes of defense causing the 3d6 rolls for all Psy powers is going to remain really powerful, until the rules change through FAQ or a new codex.  The rules for the Rangers/Pathfinders and their interaction with the new "Sniper" rules might make it a bit overpowered in the near term...

I think my other major point of concern is the Allies stuff, combined with the potential 2nd FOC at 2000 points.  Now, I'm not going to say much about allies because I have not seen the actual rules and restrictions as of now...  My hope is that it will be "neat" but not brokenly over powered...  My fear is that it will become a crutch to make even more silly broken combos.  The FOC thing is going to be a concern for big games more, unless of course the "standard game" goes to 2000+ points...  The first major thing might be something like the GK book with the potential for lots of the cheap HQ options and IC's...  Not worried...  Yet :-)

New book incoming...

Well, pre-ordered the Warhammer 40K 6th edition book from the Gopher...  (20% off for pre-order/pay, so as good as online sites, with added bonus of supporting the store I game in...  Wasn't sure they were doing this, but Bill was quite helpful :-)  Making that last minute sale...  Guessing we'll see what really changes.  Rumors and early info are all looking pretty darn good.  Sounding like we'll be hitting 2000 points for a normal game.  My Eldar might even make a resurgence...

My fun and games with the Squats I think will be tabled for the moment.  If Mantic does the kick starter thing for their Sci Fi game, perhaps I'll kick in for some of the Space Dwarves...  Then I'll make some Airships for fighter-bombers...  May well make some of the "Space 1899" ones for my IG in any case, just too amusing to have the Praetorians on those things...

More Squat (Ork) madness...

So, not at all sure that I will be able to bring a second "Battlewagon"...  I DO have the second MK I Land Raider (Spartan) dusted off, and since it looks like I'll be trucking it in rather than riding the old Silverwing I'll certainly HAVE the room to do so...  So, maybe...

Warlord (War Boss) w/Mega Armor, Cybork, Attack Squig...  So, the ancient Exo Armor..
Exo Armor suits (5 Meganobz, Troops)
  Battlewagon (Roller, red, armor, claw, plank and riggers, 1 big shooter)

Engineer (Mek, force field)
DN (Deff Dread 2 rocket launchers, Troops)

The Boys (Boyz, 30 w/ 3 RL's one on Nob w/ PF)
Thunderers (Lootas, 12)
RT DN's (3 Killa Kans, RL's/DN CCW)
War Bikers 5, 1 Nob w/ PF)
Thunderers (Tankbustas, 5)

So, a moving "blob" kind of...  The boys will envelop the tank bustas and protect the flanks of the Battlewagon.  The Kans and DN will move with them to take advantage of the force field.  The Thunderers will occupy terrain and stand still shooting...  Maybe this time they will even get some shots in the first 3 turns...  Bikes probably reserve or run a flank as light Cav...  So, subtle :-)

The other option is a second Battlewagon, drop the Boys to 20 to let them ride...  Give up the Tankbustas, and that's about it...  Thinking the tankbustas are going to be pretty worthless, so could swap burnas in maybe for the same point cost...  Flame Throwers or Rockets at BS 2...  So, 3 options I guess...  The 2 Battlewagons with the DNs escorting could be a REALLY devastating thing to the locals who are not used to AV 14 transports...

Dunno, but it is amusing seeing the horde of Space Dwarves and RT era DNs hitting the table...

6th in 2 weeks?

Well, from the GW teaser it is looking very much like the 6th ed will be hitting/be announced officially/opened for pre-order on the 23rd of this month...  Maybe.  Seems a really shitty way to announce your flagship product, and it really hurts the independent retailers many of whom might well still have 5th ed rule books on the shelves...  Guessing they will be eating that cost, but I honestly do not know...  The AoBR boxes are probably still selling for the minis inside alone...  Maybe the 6th ed box will be something cool :-)  Who knows...  And maybe they will do a big group of FAQ's like they did for fantasy, but it looks like there will be a REALLY messed up couple of months before any codexes get released...  Hoping it doesn't kill off the local group...

Started another wee blog, mostly to keep myself honest with the diet/weight loss/exercise program...  Nothing much there at the moment...

Almost have Maggie convinced that I need a bigger bike :-)  Found a 1980 Goldwing for $400...  Doesn't look like it has the luggage, so would definitely need that...  Dunno, maybe if it is still there after the Disney trip.  In the meantime I'll be saving to the "special" account and still trying to sell off old firearms, computers and assorted "other" stuff...  Not sure if a garage sale is in the near future, or if it just goes e-bay/craigslist for the non firearms.  LONG term, I'm looking at saving up for a bigger bike, most likely a Harley Davidson cruiser, Road King, Fat Boy or Street Glide...  Something like that...  :-)  But that is a very long term thing...

Dwarf Jump Infantry?

:-)  So, thinking of running some of the "Stormboyz"...  But the Squats AFAIK never had jump infantry...  Looking at picking up a few Mantic Forge Fathers as additional infantry, but no real idea what to do to make jumpers...  Though I do have an old brand "x" jet pack or three I could replicate...  Hmmm...  Finding the Orks really don't have a lot of choice but play aggressive against Necrons at least...  Guessing this will be the case for a lot of armies...  And I REALLY like my jump troops...

Long ride on the bike today...  2 hours is apparently my upper limit.  Not thinking that it was the seat, I think it was more the lack of highway pegs...  Need to be able to stretch the legs a bit now and then, and just not happening on the old Silverwing...

Squats as Orks, Week 1 results...

Well, played it out... Ran:
Mek w/ Field
Warlord (Cybork, Mega Armor, squig, etc...)
Mega Nobs
  Loaded in a Battle wagon, tricked out...  The Boarding Plank was really amusing BTW...
Shootas (30, Nob w/ PF, 3 rockets)
Thunderers (lottas, 2 squads of 12)
Killa Kans (3 with Mega Blasters)
Bikers (Nob w/ PF)

:-)  Played Necrons...  So, the post game debriefing would go like this:

Thunderers...  When they finally got to shoot, they were amazing...  Though perhaps I had too many, given they were completely useless until turn 4...  2 turns of night fighting, one turn of rolling 1 for shots meant they really didn't DO much...  They caused a giant bottleneck as they are a huge "fear factor"...

Shootas...  "Eh", with night fighting, they wound up tying up 2 Necoon Lords and a C'Tan shard for most of the game...  In this case, the pistol/axe troops would have been WAY better for the 29 extra attacks on the first turn, and 3 attack/man rather than 2/per...  I think that the Shooters will be given another shot, but I suspect that close combat troopers should outnumber the shooters 2/1...

Kans...  Awesome, but close combat...Even BS 3 shooting didn't work much for me...

Bikers?  Yes, send more...

Battlewagon?  Made an obnoxious number of field save, forget the roller...  Awesome I think...  Might go with 2...

So, amusing...  And I think it will play well...

Squats as Orks MK II

Mkay, looking over what I actually have...

Warboss (Warlord) with Mega Armor (Exo Armor, TL Shoota/Fist), Cybork (Refractor field), Attack Squig

  Str/T 5, 3 wounds, 5 base attacks, 6 on charge, Terminator armor, and riding the wagon with loads of extras

Mek (Engineer) with Force Field, Power Fist
 
    He is really just here for the force field...  Might change the fist out for the flame thrower...

Mega Nobs (Hearth Guard) Mega Armor, power fists, 1 flamer

  Riding in a Battlewagon with Death Rolla, Red Paint, Armor plates, Grabbin Klaw and Boarding plank...  Probably WAY too much crap on the tank, but it's like a Swiss army knife :-)  So many toys....  Death Roller for the d6 Str 10 hits (2d6 if they "Death or Glory"), the plank to allow one model (Warlord) to attack a vehicle within 2" as if he charged...  Claw to have a 4+ roll to prevent an enemy vehicle moving...  Should be wrecked by the Exo suits after that...  You know, assuming any vehicles end up within 2" and survive :-)  Might be an amusing answer to a parking lot...

The Warlord (boss) makes one Nob unit a Troop section, so just one more needed...  I'm looking at a very big "bubble wrap"...  30 strong squad with one PF Nob (with one of the 3 rockets, 2 more in the squad)...  Expensive, but fearless and fairly effective...  But really just there to swarm and protect the...

Lottas (Thunderers)...  2 squads, on of 12 one of 11.  Each armed with an auto-cannon shooting d3 shots....  So, even at the mighty BS 2, there a re a LOT of potential shots hitting...

3 Killa Kans (RT Era DN's), all armed with Mega blasta...  Keep them near the Battlewagon to act as a can opener...  The squadron should get the 4++ cover save, the Str 8 AP 2 shots might even do something...  But really they're there to pull a Fencik/Plank move...  Now, for those of you who did not grow up watching the Bears in the late 70's/early 80's, this is where one of the players would make contact with say, the quarterback and just hold him in place...  Not tackling him, rather stretching him out a bit for the second lad to come in and absolutely level the target...  We used to do this back in HS when we played football (I played Safety, buddy was a Linebacker, we were REALLY good at this...)...  Figure the DN's can hold something in place for the Hearth Guard/Lord to charge in and get the kills...

War Bikers...  Nob with fist, 5 total...  Mostly just a light Cav flanker unit...  Figure they are mu Free Safety to try and run a flank or get into a backfield somewhere...  Not a lot there, mostly I suspect they'll just be a mobile reserve and something for me to try and deny a kill point...

we'll see Monday I guess...  :-)

Dwarf tank...

So, not sure if this will work for a Battle Wagon...  Looking at a WWI German tank called the A7V Sturmpanzer...

Unfortunately, the 1/35 pattern I found looks like it will be "truck" sized...  ~7" long, maybe 3" wide...  Guessing I'd need to scale it up for a Battle Wagon, but honestly not sure the "correct" dimensions...  The ancient resin kit was tiny, would probably be a truck in today's scale...  Not sure this would work...

For now I'll use an old Land Raider...  Guessing that my Squats will ride into battle on something like the above tank...  Wonder how they'll do against the Grey Knights...

More Squats

Mkay, looking over the codex (Thanks!), thinking that I will change a few things...

Bring out the "Boyz" as the Squats I have...  Call them "Shoota Boyz", so basically Assault 2 Bolter shots (18" range), bring out the max size for the 3 heavy weapons (though they are all "Assault" as well), so 3 Rockets in the squad...  Not going to hit often, but 26 x 2 for bolter shots gives me 52 shots, so "on average" I should get ~17 hits from that and one Rocket hit...  245 points, and I think it can actually kill of MEQs reliably...

I do wonder if running 20 of the shooters in a battlewagon would work well...  AV 14, open top, and with the 4+ cover save against shooting might be annoyingly difficult to deal with before I roll into range...  I'm thinking the "Death Roller" for 2 battle wagons would be a really good thing for the d6 Str 10 hits against anything I tank shock and an additional d6 if they decide to "Death or Glory"...  Just thinking that the 2 wagons rolling over most anything should put in some serious hurt...

Lootas (Thunderers for me) are amazing...  Each of them gets d3 48" range Autocannon shots?  Um, yes please...  OK, BS 2, and hey are random, but a unit of up to 15?  Yes, it would roll through the ammo, but not my problem :-)

It looks like this might be a fun way to go up against the Grey Knights, Necrons and min/maxxed other things that are set up to deal with GK...  This is just WAY different than most of the other things out there...  Something to take into the twilight of 5th ed...

Squats as Orks?

Ok, so I'm bored I guess...  And I just happen to have an ancient Squat army...  Wonder if this will be in any way effective:

Big Mek (Engineer) - Tools, Force Field, Power Fist
Warboss (Warlord) - Mega Armor, Cybork body, Attack Squig (Squat Terminator armor)
Mega Nobz (Squat Termis) - PF's, 2 Combi Rockets, 1 flamer
Truck to transport them all...

30 Slugga Boys, 3 w/ rockets and one Nob w/ PF
Lottas (10)
Lootas (5)

Killa Kan (RT era DN's) 3, w Mega Blasters
War Bikes (5 old bikes), one Nob w/ PF

Death Copters (? Dunno what to use, maybe old Imperial jetbikes) 5 w/ TL Rockets

So, loads of shooting...  Cover saves all over the place...  Probably swap the Truck for a Battle Wagon...  Plan is "subtle, like Jaegermonster" (Phil Foglio's "Girl Genius" ref :-))...  Lootas (Old Squat Thunderers) will set up behind the big mob of grunts, hopefully on a hill to just throw lead, hopefully lots of it...

Kans stay near the Wagon/Truck for the 4+ cover save and shoot/pry off anyone silly enough to assaul...  The Terminators (Exo Armor?) in the BW are in an assault vehicle, so they can drive up and open the can o whoop ass on something...  We can get Fleet for a turn, the Jet Bikes can flank, and even with BS 2, twin linked for 5 Krak missile shots to the side/rear of things might work out well...

War Bikes run a flank, throwing lots of shots, providing a cover save to themselves and things behind themselves...  These to be honest are probably the weakest link for me...  Not at all sure they fit frankly...

Probably not at all effective, but it throws LOTS of dice, and it is very different from the standard GK/anti GK I'm seeing these days...

Holy Land Raiders Batman!

WOW, $75 (ok, $74.25 + tax, so $80+ around here) retail for a Land Raider...  $90 for a Storm Raven?  Even Razorbacks/Vindicators, etc. are all up over $40/each...  I have 3 Land Raider hulls (2 are Spartan class MK I's though), so not a big deal about that really...  Kind of annoying about the Storm Raven, but having never particularly liked the look of the kit, I guess I continue on without one for the time being...  Kind of annoying, I like the rules, and new fliers coming out...  Maybe I'll pick up some...  But with the new bloody edition coming, I'll hold off purchases...

Sadly, the Orks are actually kind of interesting to me, but there is no (insert term to replace fucking here, I can't think of one at the moment :-)) way I am picking up something so insanely expensive...  I bet I could do a "shooty" Ork army...  Maybe I'll play my Squats as "Counts as Orks"...  I have bikes, trikes, troopers, even the ancient "Easter Egg" type Terminator armor equivalent they used to use...  Anyone have a used Codex out there I can look over?  :-)

Bike wise, looking at something bigger for eventual road trips...  Guess I start saving now.  Realized that I've never owned a new vehicle in my life, doubt my next bike will be it, but still something I guess to look forward to...  Eventually...  Probably getting a Harley Davidson, one of the bigger cruisers, though I do not have a particular brand loyality

Going to be selling off a few of my old firearms...  Mkay, probably most of them...  Probably keep the IBM manufactured M1 Carbine, my old sidearm (M1911A1), Garand and my '94 Winchester...  Beyond that, everything else can go...  Swedish Model 96 Mauser, Hakim, FN-49, Lugar, and assorted "other" weapons...  Know anyone looking, I'm sure I can work out a good deal :-)...

Out riding... Tournament Sat?

Looking like I might take the bike out for a longer ride Friday...  I think it is going to be a good day for it.  Just feeling the need to get away from a lot of this stuff around here for a bit...  An old friend of min calls it "wind therapy", me I'm not so much into therapy...  :-)  My ex would have called that in and of itself problematic, she was/is a Psychiatrist, good match since I've been called crazy a fair number of times, sometimes by mental health professionals...   But mostly just wanting to get out on the road...

Looking like Deathwing if I end up playing Sat...  Loads of Terminators, and a few Speeders...

Oh Dark?

:-)  Yes, 5:30 sure seems to come earlier these days...  Been getting up every day to hit the basement and get in a workout before showering and herding the kids off to school.  Elliptical machine, weights, getting closer to where I want to be in order to actually start running again, though to be honest I am still concerned about old injuries there.  Knee, shrapnel, back, etc...  For the most part they never really did heal.  In retrospect, I probably should have taken the medical out from the Army, but there was that whole "pride" thing...  I just sucked it up and convinced myself that I was "better enough".  Made it through Ranger school, so I was probably right, at least for a while...  After a while, well...  :-)  Good thing I was never really a professional level athlete, it would have been more obvious that I was never going to recover fully...  'course, that also defined a lot of what I later became, getting "no one gets left behind" reinforced and drilled into your head over and over really did not change much for me, just really amplified a lot of how I was already.  Also made me completely unsuitable for other work...  That whole silly Pack loyalty thing just doesn't translate well to people who do not have it themselves.  If it has to be explained, it is unlikely it will be understood...

:-)  Yeah, darker moods these days...  Not sure why, but just can't seem to shake it in a lasting way.  Work is stressful, money is tight, other random issues keep popping up. And it just keeps building.  Have our first "real" vacation in a decade or more coming up next month, hoping that does not turn out horribly.  We'll see.  Should be fine, but Florida in June is going to be a hot swamp...  Maggie hates it when I refer to FLA as a giant swamp, but...  Well, the last few times I went there, I was air dropped or drove through huge swaths of swamp...  Having that whole "Green Hell" experience really does color your perceptions a bit.

Gaming is just not happening much if at all these days either.  Just not really getting into the current 40K scene.  Not enough of a group for much else at the moment either, so per usual 40K is about it for miniatures gaming at the moment...  Maybe Warmachine/Hordes will come back, I don't know...  We had a REALLY solid group for a long time that just faded and dropped off...  Infinity and Confrontation are good possibilities as well but just not there yet.  And at this point knowing how many miniatures I have in the basement of doom, I can't really justify buying a lot more...  Sucks a bit, there are a LOT of things I'd like to pick up, but I have to keep that annoying "reality" in mind...  And the fact that I have shelves and a desk overflowing with random minis from dead games of course...

Not much going on in the painting/conversion thing recently...  Really just a holding pattern until I see what, if anything changes with the new edition.  I have a bunch of Scouts I'm working on...  I always use them with my Fleshtearers, but don't have much use for them in other Marine armies I play...  Wolf Scouts are different :-), and those I am further along with...  Those lads are in every Wolf army I play...  'course, it has been a long time since I played them...  Perhaps telling...

We'll have to look over the Team rules from Adepticon, looked like they allowed some silliness there, but since those rules are widely used at other tournaments...  One player taking a special character modifying the Force Org allowed all of their team to use the modified Force Org...  So, Logan Grimmar becomes a MUCH better possibility, making Wolf Guard "Troops" for the partners...  And if Dave and I end up going out to play again, I think we can coordinate the lists a LOT better...  I think his list was good, mine was the weaker (Deathwing)...  I also screwed up bringing fully painted and WYSIWYG stuff over the "mostly painted" but better stuff I could have brought...  Silly me following the published rules :-)  Ah well, lesson learned...

Moving on...

So, working out every morning...  Getting up early and hitting the basement for the home gym and elliptical...  Trying to work out a schedule where I push myself, but not TOO hard...  Hit it too hard the other day, and so Monday was a much lighter day on the machines...  On the other hand, I'm also using the stairs a LOT more at work, and between that and the machines I'm already getting back into some semblance of shape...  We'll see, I am almost doing 10 minute miles on the elliptical and it hasn't killed me yet...  Seems to work the best for my schedule getting it in first thing in the morning, hoping I can keep at it... I can see my face getting leaner, and I feel a lot better overall, no clue how much if any actual weight I am losing yet, but...  Cutting out a LOT of random "bad" stuff, not quite all the way over to the "paleo", but looking like that is where I am headed...  Seems to be working for a number of my friends, and I'm guessing I can do it again...  Saying "again" because when we did our survival silliness, we ate what we could...  So deer, rabbit, snake, basically whatever I could catch or kill and didn't move fast enough to avoid me/us...  Worked, I survived...  Did not enjoy it, I'm still a city boy when it comes down to it, or that's what my Amerindian friends would say :-)...  Still, for a white boy, I move through the woods quite well, quickly and quietly...  Scares the hell out of a lot of folks, they assume that I cannot move that quickly and that quietly, I have a habit of just appearing places where no one really expects me to be...

Kind of brings me back to 40K with my Wolf Scouts...  Guessing they'll be the unit I finish up and get fully WYSIWYG in the event we actually get into serious tournaments...  We'll see how well the Army Painter method works for painting the lads...  Now, not all GW minis, in fact most are not...  Old Warzone minis, that silly Scottish faction I plaed, Wolves banes...  And they make excellent Wolf Scouts.  Something to kill time until the 6th edition hits, probably this summer...

What shape?

So, time to get more serious about the diet and exercise program...  More and more of my friends are doing this, and even most of the lads at work...  :-)  So, good peer pressure I guess...  I'm not entirely sure how much I've lost so far, and to be honest I'm not looking for a number here.  I want to get back into the shape I was in when I considered myself to be in shape...  Basically when I was playing Army, or right when I got out...  Finding that movement is easier at a lower weight, and the pain from old injuries is not nearly so bad most of the time...  But stronger now than I have been in a very long time, and taking the stairs at work and the elliptical more often is getting me closer to being "in shape" enough to start running again I think...  Also, the motorcycle is much easier to control in higher winds when I am stronger...  Not something that really matters much with the truck of course, but...

I'm not sure I am ready to go all out like some of my friends and completely change my entire diet, going "paleo" with lots of meats, no carbs, processed stuff, etc...  But, I have cut back seriously on the "junk", no alcohol at all this year, and a lot more in the line of :healthy food...  We'll see I guess...

Grey Knights for the win... sigh...

So, looking briefly at the Adepticon results...  8 of the top 16 playing for the Championship ended up being Grey Knights, and the overall champion was one of them.  I'm shocked, simply shocked to see so many there :-)  Yes, I am a big fan of "Casablanca"...  When I do play the GK, I almost feel like I HAVE to tone them down just to be fair to the opponent...  Not that I am just that much better than the other folks playing, but that I really feel the army is just that far out of line with the rest of them out there.  Any time you get so many special rules modifying or changing basic rules of the game, there is at the very least potential for it to be unbalanced and game breaking.  :-)  Not going to go into the ones I feel are game breakingly powerful, but there are sure a lot of them.  I have heard them called the "Easy Button" of 40K, and I think  that is a fairly accurate description iff you try to build a powerful competitive army...  Building to the "fluff" or artificial background, you tend to get powerful, but balanced forces...  Expensive, elite armies that can probably go toe to toe with anything in the game and fare reasonably well.  Guessing this is what GW play-tested and accepted as "This is how the Army will play"...  Now, if you go in looking at the min/max potential, the system starts to break down quickly.  And there are several REALLY good, powerful builds available to the Knights, far more than just about any other Codex out there...  Note, this, like everything else I write is just my opinion of course, based on my experiences and such...  But I am fairly good at math ( :-)) and have a fair bit of experience playing the game to base the opinion on...

Looking back I think it really was about the time I read through the GK codex that my "40K Malaise" really started...  I was able to spot a good number of game breakingly stupid combos on my initial quick skimming of the book, and more and more kept popping up.  I thought that it just could be my interpretation of the rules/book, but after the FAQs confirming them, no...  So, back in the back of my mind I think I started thinking that I've seen this all before, this is a game ending a cycle, ripe for a "new version that will fix it all"...  So, the company either intentionally breaks their stuff or realizes that "codex creep" has gotten to a point when a complete rebuild is the only option...  Sadly, this is also about the time I started to pull way back on my model purchases...  The GK Dreadknight is a neat model, glad I snagged one, and I play it in my forces...  Just it is one of the very few over costed things in the book given how silly the standard DN's are...  So, neat model, really expensive ($ and points), and essentially worthless on the field...  The Storm Raven is a very powerful model, I just can't stand the way it looks :-)...  Personal preference thing, but given how amazing the Vendetta/Valkyrie looks, the SR just does not work for me...  That and GW going over to a fairly poor resin for a metal replacement...  Understandable, I actually have "some" experience casting in resin myself, and with that silly useless Mechanical (Industrial) Engineering degree, I know WHY it is the best, most logical thing for the company to do...  Just that the results are far less than what I would have considered acceptable...  Guessing I'm more of a perfectionist there though, and without knowing a lot of the behind the scene details, that is just a WAG on my part...  But it was a factor in my decision not to be buying more stuff until it either evened out, or I found something I REALLY wanted...  And, sadly that has not happened or appeared...  Guessing my wife is happier about it a bit as not a lot of the wee toy soldiers are appearing to haunt the shelves in the basement, but going "static"in terms of what I have is slightly limiting...  Only slightly, I have a LOT of them in various stages of painting and assembly...

I THINK our 40K group will survive the summer, but if 6th hits and is complete crap...  Maybe not.  Already looking like we'll be losing a few folks here and there with real life stuff...  Maybe Confrontation, Infinity or Warmachine/Hordes will rise up and fill that gap...  :-)  As it happens I have a few armies out there, so will probably be fine with any of them, assuming that there is a regular night to game...  Needing that stress relief more than ever these days...  We'll see I guess.  If not, I guess I pick up some vid games and spend more time riding the motorcycle to blow off steam...