League Winnings!

So I took some time to think about what I wanted to pick up with my FLGS winnings (provided by Games Workshop) and settled on something finally. I thought about more Dark Angels for Honor Guard or grab Devastators for my support choices. Also thought about some Vanguard, but found they were metal with certain load outs modeled and that's just not how I roll, haha. I even toyed with the idea of a Fantasy Army, but realized that I have friends with 40k armies that don't even play me much, let alone the fact that none of them have a Fantasy army, so I'd have to rely on the FLGS for any play whatsoever. So, it came down to one thing, I need more boots on the ground, so I went with another set of Death Company, which will be broken down basically to hand out icons and weapons to stuff like the HG and my Sgts. They were nice enough to just call it even on my choices because the winning were for $45, but the total for my stuff is $50. I guess basically whatever the person chooses in winnings, GW will ship an equal replacement to the store to make up for the items, so I didn't have to pay the difference! Anyway, the box is just near perfect, except I don't like all the body molds that much. But it has jump packs, power packs, melee weapons, bolters, and 20 should pads! Just the stuff I need to turn my vanilla and DA marines into BA marines. I also picked up the new Lemartes blister as the old Lemartes one is so god awful in comparison. He'll stand in for my Reclusiarch in my lists for now or actually get used if I ever play a fun game of an all DC, non-scoring army list. :-)

(League loot!)

Battle Report - 2000pt BA vs Tyranid - League Play 4

Well, tonight wrapped up the local escalation league game in a 2000pt pitched battle where Victory Points were king. Normal VP rules, plus objectives, table quarters, and ICs were all additional VPs. The difference between VPs per side would determine the scale of the win. I had to play the Nid guy as we were both in the running for first place, so we set up quick and got to it. My list was:

• 2x 10-man ASM (PF; 2x MG)
• 1x 10-man ASM (PW; 1x Fm)
• 2x 5-man Honor Guard (Blood Champ; 3x MG)
• 2x 10-man Devastators (4x ML)
• 2x Priest (JP)
• 1x Libby (JP; Shield, S10)
• 1x Reclusiarch (JP)

My opponent's army was 5 Tervigons (2 of which were HQs) and 3 Tyrannofexes and a whole table of termagants, so basically it was a Nid gunline. Here's some pics!

It was short and sweet really as he didn't want to get torn up and give up easy points, and I didn't want to be meat for the grinder (the grinder being tons of MCs). I had my Devastators lined up the whole time and aimed for the Tervigons most of the time, taking out 2 and then getting a 'fex down. My strat was really to play the game of extras and aimed to take table quarters and objectives mostly instead of committing to slugging it out. I used my HGs and ICs as a screen, eating up 'gants and tying up MCs in CC. The game ended up in a Minor victory for me, as he got a good number of points for taking 2 squads to half, and holding 2 objectives. I held 3 objectives and 1 table quarter (all the others were contested), and killed the MCs and some 'gants, but they were such little point value it didn't help get me that far ahead.

After the points were tallied, it looks like I was the clear winner for the League! Other games were still going, but it was to determine 2nd/3rd at that point as I had some 60-some points and I know the Nid player had about 49. I had a draw, a minor victory, and 2 massacres, plus some bonus points for bringing in my own terrain and extra game objectives. My reward? GW provided 45 bucks of in-game credit (for any GW product)! Not bad for a free league and it forcing me to go to my LGS, which I never did before this. All the guys were good players and sports, no discrepancies or rules lawyering went down. I might stop by again for little pick up games in the future. And I think there is a Apoc game next week where each player can bring up to 2000pts and it will be team game.

Anyway, thanks for following me thru my first league play and I will probably get back to painting and other hobby work for awhile so my men look better for the next tourny.

»Now... what to do with that 45 bucks? More marines for my BA? Get a box set and drum up some readership with a free give-a-way like all the other blogs? Start a fantasy army? Lemme know what you think.

Battle Report: 1000pt BA vs Guard - League Play 3

Last night was Game 3 of the local League here in town. Showed up on time like usual, but we had to wait for people to trickle in so we could make pairings. A different Plague player than the first one I fought was there, and I was not looking forward to fighting that again. Then the regular Nid player showed up, also not thrilling me on the prospect of battle. When a Imp Guard player showed up we figured it was time to pair up and start the fun. I guess technically I was supposed to fight the Guard at the last game but he wasn't there, so we decided to match up this time, which I was actually okay with. My list was:

• 2x 10-man ASM (PF; 2x MG)
• 1x 5-man ASM (PW; Fm)
• 1x 5-man HG (JP; PW; 3x MG)
• 1x Priest (JP)
• 1x Libby (JP; S10, Shield)

1000pts even and the plan was to DS everything. His list was:

• 2x Leman Russ (Battle Cannon; Las-cannon; Heavy Bolters)
• 1x Leman Russ (Plasma Cannon and sponsons)
• Command Squad with Medic
• Platoon with PF Commisar
• 3x Las-cannon HW Team

He won the roll off and deployed first, and we had 3 objectives to take.I held back and DS on turn 2, but the dice pointed at laughed at me when only my HG rolled in...

There you have it; ending in a massacre with max bonus league points. The guy was a good opponent and very nice about things. Some highlights were my kamikaze HG that used their 3 meltas to explode a tank and on the next turn weathering about 14 wounds from the main plasma cannon via cover, but then die from 4 wounds from the side sponson since I got no cover from it. The rest worked like clockwork, with my meltas popping tanks and transports and wiping units with assault. I gotta say, I toootally love the S10 sword now. Auto pens on rear armor, 4 attacks on the charge and still causes instant death on most things w/o the need to cast his force sword ability. Plus since my other power is used on the ENEMY turn, I can use the shield to save my butt and then charge in and take stuff out without having to be an Epistolary.

Right now I have about 1500pts as is, unless I change to units like Mephiston or Dante to eat up points, or go Mech, but I don't wanna do that. To plan for a 2000pt game I may need to think about expanding my list for more support and the whispers I hear about JP list support is Devastators, but I will investigate some more and build an updated list. Otherwise, happy with my guys today and my list in general. Other than that, the next two weeks will be filled with time spent magnetizing everything and ordering some Battlefoam to transport more guys? Jury is still out on that one.

»Any comments on my list? I know I shouldn't have let my HG die like that, but it worked out in the end. Devastators for support, or just add more killy in my 2000pt list? Battlefoam or save my money to spend on more models?

Expanding my ranks

Just a little update to keep the blog moving. I have the 1500pt League game this Friday at the local store. What I'm thinking right now for my army is to use the Honor Guard for my semi-beat-stick. Not as tough as say, Termies or Sang Guard, but still have access to good weapons and is a force multiplier. Their biggest asset, to me, is the Priest that can't be singled out. In the last few games, my IC priests have been getting sniped in CC at every attempt. I won't drop the one I have in my list, but I just need more redundancy and will include two units of HG in my 1500pt list. This also gives me a more interesting modeling prospect. Right now I'm using my Death Company box set to be my veteran Sgts and sprinkling BA icons into other units as well as Dark Angel icons. If I could have a custom icon for my chapter, it would be simply the BA angelic wings with the DA sword, instead of the blood drop BA use or the sharp DA wings.

Anyway, I see Honor Guard being draped in robes, being a bit more mysterious and demanding of respect, as they are captains-in-training. In comes the DA Veterans box set. I like their robes and hooded heads, plus their add ons are pretty cool like their differently shaped daggers and swords. I also purchased a DA Company Master model to represent a Blood Champion if needed. With his tall winged helm and robes draped over his shoulder, he's an impressive sight. As for the Sang Priest model, I took anything from the DC set that has a grail on it (including the helm, pistol, and JP/Power Pack) so that he would easily be seen as the Priest amongst his brethren. Since he technically can't be upgraded with weapons, I glued him in place and is pretty much ready to be painted. The others will be fully magnetized to accomodate either meltaguns if I want to make a shooty drop unit of doom or maybe Storm Shields and power weapons for an assault beat-stick. I also used my Priest as a test bed for my massive initiative of magnetizing all my assault marines to accept either power pack or JP. The hole on the JP and PP are slightly less than 1/8th inch, and putting the drill bit to them only shaved out a bit of plastic, but that's all that was necessary to fit in a 1/8th inch disc magnet in snuggly, with a dab of glue to keep it more in place. I lopped off the nub on the model's back and drilled into the back with the bit til the magnet was flush with the back. Worked like a charm, but I only had 2 1/8th magnets, haha! So once I confirmed this worked, I ordered a ton more magnets and hope they arrive soon. I will also be using these for the arms, as I was using 3/16th sized discs (in my previous blog posts) and they have proven to work, but be a pain to get right. I'll post pics and updates after I get these magnets in the mail.

Thankfully, the DA box set was only like 21 dollars and the Master was 11 at the local store, since DA aren't that popular (the DC box is 33, and stuff like the Sanguinor was 19) and for being in the league I get double the customer points. Ya know, for like every so many points you get a dollar off your next purchase sort of thing. Since I didn't have to pay shipping and I got it in my hands right then and there, plus more points, I couldn't resist.

Battle Report: 500pt BA vs Tau - League Round 2

Last night saw round 2 of the Escalation League at my local store. I showed up on time like usual, but a lot of people couldn't play that day and will have to reschedule. There were an odd number of players so one would have to sit out til someone showed up. The more seasoned Space Wolf player I faced off with in round 1 said he would wait and let me face the other person waiting to play. He said this was his first time playing 40k and he pulled out a Tau army... Well what are the odds? I already felt bad for the kid before deployment. I had to re-do my list since it was built for 1000pts, so this was what I came up with at an even 500pt:

• 1x Libby (JP; Shield, S10 Sword)
• 3x 5-man ASM (1x MG; PW)

His army was approximately: 

• 1x Ethereal
• 1x 12-man FW Squad with Team Leader
• 1x ~20-man Kroot Squad with Shaper
• 1x Hammerhead (Rail; SMS; MT)

You all read my rant in the post below right? Well, I didn't want it to happen, but the dice gods were bowing down to me. I chose to go second and DS everything so he got 2 free turns of movement, as he spread out to take other table quarters. I decided to DS everything right behind his HH to melta it... and it happened. All 3 units and the Libby (all on his own) all made it in from reserves and either hit or scattered 1". This lined up 3 meltas with one taking down his HH in an explosion and the other popping the Ethereal. This lead his FW to take a leadership and they failed. This led them to fall back into me within 6" and they couldn't regroup and ran off the table without firing a shot. The Kroot turned around to charge at me but were outside of assault range so just fired and killed off 2 marines. I shot into the Kroot to weaken 'em and then the Libby and two units charged, with the 3rd waiting in the back to hold that table quarter. By the end of the turn the Kroot were wiped, ending the game on bottom turn 3.

The Organizer gave me the Massacre and points for assuming I could continue the game to hold 3 quarters and ones other than my deployment zone and this would could as my round 2. So, I'll have to make a 1500pt list for two weeks from now. I told the guy I fought that I felt bad for doing it, but really, I didn't think I'd pull off all units in on turn 2 like that and still get in all my shots in. We talked a bit about how he could improve some of his list, but really, not much can be done against my entire force starting withing 12" of his. He could use the Kroot as bubble wrap so I had to deal with them first, but this was his first game, so it's not like he knew that meta-game technique. Some of the other games going on were Plague Marines vs Eldar and Ork vs Space Wolves. Since they were in transports and the models were on the side table, I thought I'd take another pic of the Wolves:

Battle Report 1000pt: BA vs Tau - League Practice

Fit in a quick game to practice for Friday's League game. Here's a repeat of the scenario: "The game will play out that there is an attacker and the other is defender (determined by dice roll). The defender will hold a central bunker with the rest of his army coming from the deployment zone (a sort of reinforcement scenario). Winner is determined by Victory Points, but you get bonus League Points for either eliminating the defenders in the building and then holding it (if attacker) or having those troops survive (if defender). Both sides can get bonus points for holding more table quarters than the other as well."

So, I rolled higher and took the Attack role. If I should be a defender in the League game, I have a plan in mind already. Since everything of mine was deep striking, he got a free turn to set up his heavy weapons and he was planning on taking his troops from the building and falling back instead of making it a meat grinder. His list was:

• Shas'O (Plasma; Ion Blaster; MT)
• 2x Bodyguards (Plasma; Flamer; MT)
• 2x 6-man Fire Warrior
• 1x 4-man Pathfinder (1-Rail Rifle; mandatory DF)
• 2x Hammerhead (Ion; SMS; MT)
• 1x 3-man Broadside Team (TL-Rail; SMS; MT)

I'll let the pictures speak for themselves:

With that, I was able to wipe out everything except the DF was still immobile, a suit, and a single gun drone. That would basically chalk up to a Massacre of 17pts holding probably 2 table quarters and the center building, plus 1 for killing the troop choice from the center for the max 20pts. My VV squad of two L. Claws failed me and never came on until turn 5 and never assaulted because they scattered 4" away from the XV8 suits (plus the built in distance I gave them so they wouldn't scatter onto the suits). All my troops got shot to pieces with the XVs taking out one whole unit of 5 on their DS turn. The Libby did very little in the role I thought he'd play, but he did kill off the two suits, getting the Shas'O with his Force Sword sapping all its wounds at once. The priest also was outside of helping range most of the game, but that was just poor placement and reserves rolling.

So, there it is. It went well, but could have gone better if my VV came in soon, so the ASM had to pick up the slack. They did alright, but my goal is to not commit them if I don't have to to combat. I didn't adhear to that rule this time and it got me shot to pieces. I need to be more focused on a game plan instead of just reacting to what I see on the board and throwing it out the window.

»Side note, how do you guys play the Blood Chalice FC bubble? Do the units just have to start in range of it in the start of the Assault Phase to benefit from it (4th Ed PDF method) or check for FC after the assault move is completed when you need to determine what everyone's Initiative value is?

Army List: 1000pt Jump Pack - League Play

 (GW ©)

(Happy 50th Blog Post to me!)

Just a quick update today with a new army list for my next League game, which is slated for 1000pts. The game will play out that there is an attacker and the other is defender (determined by dice roll). The defender will hold a central bunker with the rest of his army coming from the deployment zone (a sort of reinforcement scenario). Winner is determined by Victory Points, but you get bonus League Points for either eliminating the defenders in the building and then holding it (if attacker) or having those troops survive (if defender). Both sides can get bonus points for holding more table quarters than the other as well. Here is what I came up with as a possible list:

• 1x 10-man ASM (2x MG; PF)
• 1x 5-man ASM (1x MG; PW)
• 1x Libby (JP; Shield, Lance)
• 1x Priest (JP)
• 1x 10-man Vanguard Veteran
• Squad 1 (Sgt with L. Claw & SS; second L. Claw & SS)
• Sqaud 2 (Thunder Hammer & SS; second SS)

This comes out to 1000pts even. My main concern is the few troops, with either just 2, or combat squad the first unit to have 3 weak squads. The Libby and Priest will travel with the 5-man ASM to provide their powers, but be behind the 10-man for cover and try to stay out of CC as long as possible. The VV will be squadded down so I have two "beat-sticks" that will DS in and one will go for squishy infantry support like Long Fangs, Broadsides, Rangers, etc. The other will try to take out MCs or a tank. They will be there to do the damage while the ASM are there to take on easy targets like other troop choices and then fall back to take table quarters or the center objective. I don't want to commit them to the grinder of combat unless my VV are struggling.

I will be play testing this on Monday to see how viable it is with Jason. I have to submit my army list by Wednesday, so I'll have a day or so to tweak this should it not do well in testing. As for caveats, yes, I'd like to maybe get another weapon in the Squad 2 of the VV, but this is still only 1000pts so it was hard when you need the basics like troops and a libby with pack. And I'm using a TH instead of a PF cause I had 5 points swimming around and hey, I've never fielded one before so let's try it out! In my first game I didn't even have any power weapons or invul saves at all and I took out a draw by playing the objectives and not trying to slaughter the enemy, so this should be a bit more effective.

»Anyone have experience with VV and how to field them? Some people suggested I go Glaive instead of Claw, but not sure about it. Re-roll any failed wounds or re-roll a single failed to-hit? Or just go with the extra attack with the simple power-sword?

Battle Report: 500pt BA vs Space Wolves - League Round 1

As I mentioned, there is a League game going on at the local store starting at 500pt and ending at 2000pt with an extra Apocalypse game at the end to round it out. The first round match up was random match ups, but after that it will be more structured. So far about 8 people are in it as far as I can remember. I remember 2 Chaos Marines, one Imp Guard, Space Wolves, Orks, Eldar, and Tyranid, with me as BA. The organizer had Space Marines, but would only play if there were an odd number of people, so he didn't have to pull them out. I drew up against the Space Wolves player, the first time I've seen them in person. He said it was his third army he's painted and they were amazingly done. He had two Rhinos with some Grey Hunters in them and a 5-man unit of Long Fangs with Missile Launchers. He had a Mark of the Wulfen and a Priest that could cast some good magic including JotWW (not sure exactly what the model is called). I used my 3x ASM JP army kitted to take out some sneak Guard player or min-max marine with a Dreadnaught, so they weren't really that well kitted out to fight power armor. Mission was Spearhead deployment with the goal to hold table quarters. Equal hold was a draw, +1 a minor victory, +2 a major, and +3 a massacre. Bonus points for holding zones other than the one you deployed from. I drew first player and held all in reserves. He fans out to hold his zone. I deep strike into his lines to try and pop the Rhinos and hold them in that zone, then jump away and claim the other zones for a win. The pictures below are of mid-turn 2 and 3 and the end of the game, showing how it all turned out.

(Click for details)

 

In the first pic the x'd out Rhino was on the table when I took the pic but it was where the crater and GH stand and then after that he switched out the models so the painted one was still on the board. Counter-attack is a pain in the butt, that's for sure. I was able to get my squads together and used each other for cover or FNP and piled on the shots to take out two squads of Grey Hunters down to 3 guys. Unfortunately he took out one of my units, so I only had two to jump around to take table quarters. His Long Fangs piled on the ML templates but most missed or didn't cause wounds. In the end, I could either pull back to the closest quarter or jump to one on his side of the board, but either way, that Rhino would either contest or even tank shock my men. The most we could do was draw, and we both held our own deployment zones, so no bonus points to either. It was fun to fight something new and balanced and he gave me a run for my money. We both got 10 points towards the League for the draw. 

As part of the League you can challenge others for a win of +5 points or if you challenge and they decline you get +3 points. A guy challenged me to play his Plague Marines and I should have declined, but I just wanted to play some more. No pics, but obviously, I didn't do so well. We had 2 objective markers and by the end of turn 5, he had both and my marines were wiped out by his Chaos Lord wielding some Plague weapon that was 3 base attacks +d6, power weapon, poisoned. :-\ Next time it will be 1000pts so I am working on retooling my list and playing smarter. I need to stop dropping my DS'ers into melta range of units that can charge into CC for one. And I need to make power-weapons mandatory, even if it messes up other things, because fighting power armored dudes with none is not fun.

Battle Report: 500pt BA vs Tau - Skirmish

I got word of an Escalation League at the LGS where it starts at 500 then goes to up every two weeks to 1000, 1500, and ends at 2000. I'll detail it out in my next post which will cover the first game I played of the League. I built a list, mostly in fear of a mech enemy. Someone sneaky trying to field minimum troops and fit in a tank or walkers. The list was:

• 1x Libby (Shield, Lace)
• 1x Priest (Meltabombs)
• 3x 5-man ASM (Sgt has MBs; 1x Meltagun)

This comes out to 500 even. Covers vehicles well, but no power weapons or fists and that is the weakness here. The Tau list was:

• 1x Shas'el (Flamer; TL-MP)
• 2x 6-man FireWarriors
• 2x Hammerhead (Ion Cannon; SMS; MT; D-pods; Sensor Spines)

Basically my plan was to drop down first chance I got and melta the tanks and then do mop up. My Priest drops in first just fine but my Libby squad fails, even with DoA and the normal squad makes it in. I place my Priest near his HH on his flag but since I only have the 1 squad now, I take the shot on his HQ suit instead. Melta fails and one pistol wounds him, woo... The other normal squad drops near my flag to keep his units from just piling on it and holding it all game. In retrospect, I might have done better dropping it on the HH as well to try and pop it, or the suit. It boiled down to my two special squads working together on his point, and my loner squad holding the home base and him having two teams of a HH and 6 FW (one at his flag, one at my flag) with his HQ in the center, lending missile pods where needed. I only ever shot down a HH and nothing else, proving to be quite ineffective. However, I was able to weather dozens and dozens of wounds from missions and pulse rifles, winning the game by just surviving.

I'll soon do a write up of the actual League game I participated in and details on how it is structured.

Battle Report: 750pt BA vs Tau - Retaliation

The scouting party of marines that were dispatched were left bloodied and crawling back, past their smoking Rhinos as the second squad arrived on the battlefield. This battle report covers the rematch Jason and I declared at the start of the previous game where he stole the initiative. We deployed exactly in the pics as the first battle report. The follow are what happened with me zooming up to the center.

I skipped pics of turn 1 and 2 as I only get to the center and use cover and no shots were landed on me that did damage. The pics are tops of turn 3 and 4 and bottom of 4 and 5. The game ended at the bottom of 5. While I wasn't crushing him, I did a ton better as I had the mobility to get into range of disembarking and assaulting. Even with melta guns and bombs, I only managed to wreck one HH and take off an Ion Cannon and Burst Cannon the whole game. But, it was enough to keep the wounds from piling up. He was able to hold me off until turns 4-5 before I accumulated any real KPs, which ended in a 5 - 2 win for me. It goes to show that the littlest thing like having first turn can turn the tide. The scary thing is that Jason is refining his list as I type this, which means it will only get tougher for me as he becomes more points efficient and picks deadlier weapons.

Battle Report: 750pt BA vs Tau - Alpha Strike

Fit in a game last night and had a hell of a time of it. This will actually break down into two post to make sure I cover both the battles in detail and the lessons learned. My army was basically half of what I fielded against the Daemons in the report earlier.

• 10-man ASM (PW/MB; 2xMG; Rhino)
• 5-man ASM (PW/MB; 1xMG; Rhino)
• Librarian (Shield; Lance)
• Priest (Meltabomb)
• 5-man Sternguard (2xCombi-Melta; Rhino with HK Missile)

The Tau forces fielded by my enemy (Jason) was built around Hammerheads as they really appealed to him. He built it on his own and then I went over it to ensure it was legal and had the proper allotment of weapons/support systems and that upgrades like Team Leader were applied so he could use certain items. Sure, some of the selections are not the best, but this is his first list and we all have to learn the game via trial and error. We don't always accept other people's suggestions as the best without knowing how things really perform first.

• Shas'el (Flamer; Missile Pod; Multi-tracker; Shield Drone)
• 2x 6-man FireWarriors
• 1-Shas'vre (Cyclic Ion Blaster; Flamer; MT)
• 1-Shas'vre (TL Fusion Blaster; Flamer; MT; Shield Drone; Stim-Injector)
• 3x Hammerhead (Ion Cannon; Burst Cannons; MT; D-pod)

Now, for the twist in this report. I got first turn and kept it, to deny the Tau an Alpha Strike so I can go Flat Out, pop smoke, go FO again, then unload into his lines. What happens, Jason rolls his magical 6 for like the 3rd game in a row and steals the initiative! As I fume, he lines up his shots and explodes the Sternguard and wreck the utility Rhino with the special characters. Well... there goes the game in my head. I can no longer zip in with Meltas to take out the tanks and have to hoof it around to get into assault. We agree right then to play a rematch with the exact same deployment but I get first turn, to see how it would be different. Pictures follow with the play by play.

Basically, that alpha strike ended the game. There was no way to take out his tanks anymore and they just picked me apart with AP3 weapons, eventho I normally had 4+ or 5+ cover saves, it wasn't enough. It was my first loss in a while and only with the new BA, but it's all good. I learned a few things about BA, but makes me confident in the Tau being viable still. The list can be refined more and be even more deadly. My only counter would be to switch to Jump Packs under the cover of a Libby Shield to fore go the Rhinos getting popped. The rematch will be posted tomorrow with pics to show you how important deployment and first turn can be!

Battle Report: 1500pt BA vs Chaos Daemons - Purgatus

I managed to fit in a 1500pt game vs my friend and fraternity brother Darrin and his Chaos Daemons. He's mostly still learning the game but has a ton of models. He's more of a Magic/D&D guy, but will play just about any game with people. As per usual, I took some pictures and added some captions for you all to see, plus it's easier for me to go back to and go over my strategy that way. I can take video with my phone, but I hate my voice on recordings, so that's out for now, lol. Anyway my list was a tweaked version of the Mech list I just posted yesterday. Also note, this list has 0 invul saves and is basically like a horde marine list. Didn't set out to be that way, but what I'm doing is avoiding point sinks and going with a more is more approach. Too many awesome models die from a hail of bolter fire to suck up like 250 or more points. Running a lot of cheap, redundant models just seems smart in a game of dice. Plus, it breaks that psychological hold of an HQ. When my old PDF Dante would get murdered by a single Melta, it would throw me off as a general, as I dwelled on the loss. If I lose my 100pt HQ, I shrug it off and have another to take his place.

• 2x (10-man ASM: PF, 2-MG in a Rhino with Extra Armor) 530
• 2x (5-man ASM: PW/MB; 1-MG in a Rhino with extra Storm Bolter) 310
• 2x Priest 100
• 2x Librarian (S10 Sword, Preferred Enemy, Epistolary) 300
• 1x 10-man Sternguard 250

This got me to 1490 points. I believe Darrin's list was also 1490pts so we were even in points,  but not even in codexes as the battle will reveal. His list was approximately the below. They had a number of weapon upgrades but I don't remember them all like Phlegm and Breath of Chaos.

• Blood Thirster
• Skulltaker
• 2x Soul Grinders
• 2x Plague Bearers with Icon
• 2x 3-unit Flamer with Bolt of Tzeentch
• Nurgle Prince

(Click for larger pic)

So there you have it, another BA victory before turn 5. I guess I'm only friends with people playing old codexes and the books show their age. I'd say the single biggest let down seeing these Daemons in action is they mostly have 5+ saves. Sure, they're invul so they always get it against my shooting, but 5+ still fails a lot, as evident by the Nurgle Prince suffering a wound from 2 successful storm bolter shots. Also looking at their stat lines, nothing is really impressive save the Blood-Thirster, which he fielded, but failed to DS in. His best looking unit is actually the Flamer, since I guess each model gets a template over your units, and this can lead to a ton of wounds. You still have to roll a 4+ to wound with their weapon, but you're looking at a lot more than 1-2 wounds like a normal weapon at close range, plus each one auto-glances armor and the unit is Jump Infantry with a 4+ invul save. He was definitely let down by his first Soul Grinder as well, one of which he nicknamed "Lucky" for consistently dying on the first turn of his games. I chalk it up to it being such a threat that people throw whatever they can at it first. In this case, I zoomed up 2 Meltas and got a rear arc shot to take it down. I gave him some tips and we had a good after-battle talk to hopefully get him to think more about his army. Hope we get to play again soon!

Army List: 1500pt Mech (v1.1.0)

After fiiiinally getting in some games with the new Blood Angel Codex, I have a better idea of how they handle. These have been 500-750pt games, but it's a start. I thought I'd start gearing up for 1500pt games again, once Jason gets up to speed on an updated codex, as the Necron are starting to show their age for him. I decided to drop Razorbacks for Rhinos for their versatility, and frankly, because they are cheap. Armor 11 was no match for even his need to roll 6s to at most glance. With a Rhino you're not losing a 35pt weapon in a single hit and if they become immobilized, Rhinos can repair themselves and RZBs cannot.  My shuffle also allows me to field full 10-man squads so I can get more special weapons on the board (normally Meltas). Currently, in this draft state, I have the below army plus 140pts remaining for either more Sternguard or upgrades to my Rhinos like Extra Armor to keep them moving up the board.

2x 10-man ASM: PF, 2x Melta, Rhino 500
2x 5-man ASM: PW/MB, 1x Melta, Rhino 290
2x Librarian (Shield, Lance) 200
2x Priest 100
1x 10-man Sternguard: 2x Missile Launcher (Combat Squads) 270

The 5-man squads ride with the Priest and Libby and are basically utility vehicles providing cover and FC/FP bubbles. Others like kitting these guys out for CC awesomeness, but that whole "single out ICs" in close combat is dangerous, especially as neither have a invul save and cost 50-100pts each. The forward Rhinos will blaze away with their Meltas and the support Rhinos will blaze away with another one plus Blood Lances all while shielded a bit. I can always disembark the Priest and Libby, say if needed for their insta-kill sword or leave the priests to provide FNP while my 5-men retreat to a flag point. More to come...

Battle Report - 750pt BA vs Necron - DC Smash!

Well, I thought I'd get in a quick game last night and boy was it ever. I played Jason using my Necron again and I used a new BA list at 750pts. His list was the Lord, 20x Warriors, and 5x Destroyers. I basically brought half of my Death Company list I made when the codex hit. Mine was:

• Reclusiarch
• 5x Death Company with 1 PW
• 1x Death Company Dread with HF and Talons
• 1x Stormraven with PC, HB and Extra Armor
• 5x ASM with PW and Flamer
• 1x Rhino with extra Storm Bolter

He passed first turn to me on a spear-head KP mission. I ran the Stormraven (proxied by a Tau Devilfish on the tallest post I could find) up 24" and used PotMS to fire the PC for a hit and a handful of dead Warriors. The Rhino was hiding since it would just give up a KP and the troops wouldn't hurt the warriors much w/o a priest for FC. On his turn he fired two fists full of gauss shots, but only 1 glanced and I saved with my flat out cover. I warned him this might be the end of the game, as my dread assaulted one group and my DC assaulted the other. The Dread used the talons to wipe the whole squad. The DC with re-rolling hits and wounds decimated the other group. Since the all that was left was 5 Destroyers, he would phase.

So, it was a quick game indeed, and as with a lot of wins, not much was learned. The raven with DC is pretty much the biggest whackin' stick you can find in terms of assaulting power. The Necron were outclassed from the start. But, I suggested now that he knows the ropes of the game like rolling, saves, cover, etc, that we get him to use an updated codex, or at least just not Necron. I still have Tau laying around from another friend, or I could have him learn an army I've never fought before, like Guard or Eldar. I'll see what I can talk him into. ;-) Back to painting!

Magnetizing Assault Marines

As I mentioned before I finally got some new magnets to customize my marines. I plan that each squad's Sgt and Special Weapon guy (and Heavy Weapon in the tac squads) will be magnetized to switch up options. More cost effective than building multiple marines, given the current economy and rumored GW price hikes. For this I'm using the 3/16" x 1/32" disc magnets, which fit perfectly in the shoulder area of a marine. Anything smaller and I don't think there would be enough pull to hold up all the weapon types and anything bigger or thicker just won't work on such a small model. Drilling seemed to be out for such a large hole on a little model as well. The problem with simple drilling is it leaves a dimple, not a hole, so it's not always the correct shape, or you'd need a specialized bit that would leave the cut flat, but that's just more money out.

Instead I simply just cut down the shoulder area on the torso, then I cut away a lot of plastic off the arm itself. This can negate the size of at least one of the magnets if you cut deep enough, and no one will be the wiser because of the shoulder pad. I don't cut away any of the rounded shoulder as this is what the armor pad has to attach to, I just take the part that makes contact with the torso down. Now, with this method, you won't really be able to get both hands on a rifle like the Melta-gun, or a Bolter for the Tac squads. For ASM, they ditch the pistol for the new weapon and always retain their Chainsword for CC. So, I just modeled my guys to dual-wield the rifle in one hand, and the sword in the other. My guys just can't wait to get into CC they already have their swords drawn, plus, this would account for my abilities to roll 2- a lot, haha. Since half of the special pistol options are left handed, but none of the rifle arms are, I just took a generic left-handed pistol arm and cut off the pistol, filed it down, and popped the flamer on it in this case. I'll do the same for another Melta when I buy more special weapons. Here are some images (click for larger detail) of what it looks like at this point.

As you can see in some of the pics, it's not that noticeable when painted over and the magnets fit perfectly into the should pad areas. The first pic shows off some of the new Death Company sprue weapons that my Sgts will be using. This is a seriously easy process, just repetitive for so many options, but will save a ton of money, makes WYSIWYG quick, and gives your guys a bit of style with the moving parts. Plus it's fun to give him dual-pistols and dream. :-)

Painting My Rhinos

Woo! I got my paint brushes (and magnets) in the mail on Saturday from miniwargaming.com. I bought their Taklon brush set which has varying sizes from detail to large tank. I got a free tank brush months ago from one of their sales and been using it for my Rhinos and it's been awesome. I'm no artist, but I know I'm not a fan of the horse hair brushes so far, and these taklon bristles have been a lot more smooth and clean, so I bought a bunch more. I painted 3 of my Rhinos with the old mechrite base scheme already before I got my Ruddy Brown, but I based my new Baal Pred with the new spray paint to give the updated scheme a try. The process is now: Ruddy Brown Primer, Devlan Mud wash, Red Gore, and highlighting is actually on hold. I'm not a fan of the Blood Red paint; sorry, it's not a red, it's an orange and I need to mix it darker or find something else for my highlights. I added a ton of icons to my Rhinos for some character, but this has set me back as I really need to learn how to paint wings. So all my winged icons are on hold for a bit, but I also had a bunch of purity seals added. Since my armor is red, I decided to go for a green seal to contrast the armor. I basically did Knarloc Green foundation with a Thraka Green wash for the seal and Dheneb Stone foundation and Bleached Bone for the parchment.

All I gotta say is I'm really happy with the way they turned out. Even with the different basing the color ended up looking all the same. The pic has one painted the old way and the one with the Baal front armor was done with RB primer. The only difference was the texture of the RB primer vs mechrite. It felt rough and it absorbed the wash and Red Gore, in a good way. There was no pooling or streaking; it just held the paint where I put it. You'll notice the Angel Icon on the Baal pred is lighter; that's what the primer looks like vs the end result with the Red Gore. I just need to finish the icons with wings, add some boltgun metal to the tracks and smoke stacks, paint the head lamps and the Rhinos will be done. I have a pile of vehicle accessories like more doors, hatches, gun mounts, etc based and washed, but I needed sleep before I could finish painting them. I also started 3 more tac marines with the new scheme. I based 'em red, then painted anything black I wanted next (like joints and tubes), then washed 'em down. I'll do the Red Gore today and finish them up and post pics.

All in all, totally psyched to have new brushes to get the job done right. Oh, one thing I did start doing was a tip from Jawaballs. For the detail work, I started doing the thing where you put the detail brush in your mouth to lick the brush and twist it to a point. I thought it would be weird and taste bad, but it's really a great way to get the bristles moist without overdoing it by dipping in water, plus it keeps the point. For detail work it's great, anything more and yeah, you're just eating paint, lol.

Let me know what ya think so far! I'll update as soon as I can.

New Base Coat Painting

I've been starting up my painting blitz these past couple weeks to finally finish some models and get that satisfaction of having a painted army on the board. My Necron have been painted for a long time now, they just don't have any arms/guns because that assembly is made up of about 8 pieces per model (and I have 48 Warriors...) and that is just too daunting of a task when I don't like playing as them on the board. As for my Angels, I have about 15 assault troops, 10 tacticals, and 5 Rhinos, and a Land Speeder ready to go, including each of the PDF HQ-choice models.

My original painting scheme was basing them in Primer Gray and then layering Mechrite Red, Devlan Mud wash, Red Gore, and highlighting with Blood Red. The first thing I found a problem is was the gray base. It works fine for soaking up the paint and giving it a smooth feel, but any place I couldn't paint (like arm pits, necks, etc) stood out against the dark red of the armor. Minor details, but distracting for me, so I decided I'd go get a black primer spray and redo my guys. I couldn't find a black primer in all my searching, but then I stumbled across something... Krylon Ruddy Brown Primer. Ruddy Brown for a red army, you ask? Only it comes out to be a perfect stand in for a dry Mechrite Red, with all the benefits of a primer and a spray and it was only $2.97 a can. Now, I looked around online for pictures of this in use and found a 40k article on the subject. They said it would be 5-6 bucks and not any better than the store brand 99 cent can of spray. I disagree because 1) it was only 3 bucks and 2) directional nozzle for sweeping passes instead of directed blast of paint and 3) it's actually a primer and not just a base paint. It leaves the model a little rough to the touch, so paint will stick and get soaked up instead of just pushed around and pool up. This addresses the inaccessible areas as well, while not a dark black shadow, it is at least in the same ballpark red and not contrasted gray. Also it's not a heavy black that will need many coats of white/light paint to do chest eagles or eyes. And for the lazy man in all of us, even after basing them in Ruddy Brown, if you can't get to painting all you stuff, it still LOOKS NICE on the board. It's not a wall of gray or black (which I guess would be okay for Wolf and Templar players, lol) but actually looks passable. Below are some pics to show what I mean. 

(Click for bigger pics)

Everything in those are just a few minutes of time with the Ruddy Brown except the Rhino top that holds the turret, because I painted it before I found the spray paint, but it's still not a final product. For those that haven't seen the new BA models, that is the new Baal Pred turret with one of the new included icons attached to the Rhino door. The front has the icon shown in most official pictures of it. The doors and the turret are fully magnetized, as I blogged about earlier. Also, the two guys next to it are the new Death Company models that I will be using as veteran Sgts. Anyway, some professional painters might cry fowl and say I'm doing it wrong, but I like the results so far. Still waiting on my new brushes, so work will be on hold for awhile, but for whatever reason, I'm way more happy to play with these guys than my Gray Angels that have been in my battle reports before.

Battle Report: 750pt BA vs Necron

I finally got a chance to play some more small points games with Jason this weekend. We've moved up from Kill Team to normal games, but moved up to 500/750pts. We fit in a quick 500pt game that he won, but upon review in the after-action talk, I totally forgot to roll for Red Thirst and adding +1 attacks to everyone for having two CC-weapons. Suffice it to say, I couldn't kill much when I was rolling 1 attack per guy, two for the Sgt against WS 4 T4. Basically we just rolled looking for 4+'s all game and it was quite boring. We regrouped for a 750pt game last night with a firmer grasp on my rules, lol. Army lists are captioned in the pics and pretty much sums everything up, no real need to get into a long winded description. I rolled no red thirst for either assault squad and then that glorious 1 landed when I rolled for the Vanguard! That helped since it's hard wounding Necron, plus at one point I did lose combat, but being fearless kept me in and I saved my No Retreat! wound, so all was well. He got first turn, deployed first and then I went, not stealing the initiative. From the pictures, my guys are at the bottom, nearest the 10-Warriors by the huge P painted on the gaming board.

(Click for larger images)

Basically Jason is going through the same learning curve I did when I started playing Necrons. Mass of fire works, but basically Warriors are meat shields and he needs a bigger punch. He's interested in the Destroyers and we might move up to 1000pts where they start becoming viable for the points. He's mostly been fine just learning the ropes and having fun and not being overly competitive. This is also a good test bed for me and my units. The 500pt game saw 5-man teams with a special IC and RZBs with a weapon. For the points, it just wasn't worth it. He can still glance the crap off my RZBs and just one result can remove a 35pt weapon (unless I go LC/PG option). Plus if they are immobilized they can't repair themselves. And 5-men weren't impressive, except as I said in the first game, I did screw up and wasn't giving them +1 attacks for CC weapons, so that skews the results. But with my 10-man units (1 being an IC), they were devastating. The Rhinos were still glanced and lost a gun, but it's just a bolter, and I can still fire out with my Meltas or Blood Lance if my Libbies carry it plus cover myself with a 5+ from said Libby. Plus the rare chance I can still repair an immobilized result in addition to everything I already mentioned just makes them more versatile I think. The melta guns/Blood Lance plus some Sgts with Melta Bombs should be enough for anti-tank (sans a full mech Guard list).

Oh, other note is that this was the first time I ever fielded Vanguard and a Sgt with a power fist. VVs are nice, being able to pick and choose who to attack plus only 1d6 scatter makes them actually viable. The fist was invaluable only because rolling 4+ to hit and then 4+ to wound is a chore and usually leaves lots of guys standing. I only seeing this being good against weak CC units because I never had a fear of getting wiped out before I got to use it. I can weaken them with my 4 normal guys, then fewer Necron attack back with 0 power weapons, then I get my fist. Against a fist full of CC dice or a couple power/rending weapons, I rather strike first and kill as many as I can. Plus I only get 2 attacks after the first assault, since I don't have dual-fists. Not sure if a Lightning Claw would be better to just get the chance to reroll my wounds at higher I than going last, but getting almost guaranteed wounds. Food for thought.

Finally, I'm basing my tanks as you can tell from the pics. One is just primed with a single coat of Mechrite Red and the other has a layer of Red Gore on it which is pretty noticeable. I've ordered more paint brushes and will be going to town on these guys as soon as they show up plus churn out some more dudes so stay tuned.

Tac Marine / ASM Painting Update

I decided to get another model off the painting line, this time an Assault Marine. He doesn't have either pack in the picture because I will magnetize all of them to be either Jump or Mech troops, so that is for later. I also took a new pic of my first Tac Marine. The painting process was mostly the same, only this time I painted the soft armor parts Chaos Black before my base coat. Last time I just painted the whole thing red and used Badab Black wash in those areas. I like the more solid black of straight paint instead of the wash, so I'll do it that way from now on. I added a Dark Angels icon to the ASM's boot that I painted with Shining Gold on the blade and Dheneb Stone on the wing and the helm is all black. I'll tell you, the models look fine in your hand, but looking at these pictures, there's just so much detail up close, I can see a lot of places I messed up. I'll have to go back and touch these up, but basically, this is what most of my army would look like. You'll also see my Tac Marine has more highlights and the pack looks like the right color this time compared to the first post. But yeah, my highlights are crazy wide and I'm using a Reaper 10/0 detail brush. Apparently I need to do this with a pin needle or something to get such smaller lines.