What are the ODDS? Games 4-6 at the TLGT and my overall impressions

WOW!  Way overdue to finish these reports.  I have already gone to another GT and need to report on that one!  I have been way too lazy to post the pictures and everything so I apologize to my buddy Omegaprime for not posting this sooner.

Alright onto the games!

Game 4 vs Nids/Tau

Our opponents Jon Dyer and his partner had some nasty Bug/Bluemen power! 

Tyrant, wing, devourers, grubs
Command Suit, the fixins

12 Genestealers
12 Genestealers
12 Genestealers
12 Fire Warriors, Devilfish
12 Fire Warriors

8 pathfinders
Hive Crone

Malanthrope
Riptide

3 Broadsides, missiles
Dimachaeron

First Turn to us and it starts with a bang!  Wraithknight on the Malanthrope and he goes bye bye!  We then wittle down the Flyrant and the tiny bugs!  HE had infiltrated a Stealer squad too close and we first turn charge it with some Beasts!  Shooting is minimal for them as they have different guns on their units then what is said in their lists and what is WYSIWYG, so very confusing!  Regardless, tons of shooting and not much happens from them.  We continue the onslaught and push them with the Knight, Grots, Beasts, and the Mandrakes!  Everything is going down of theirs and it doesn't look pretty.

We end the game with a major victory and a complete table!  Much earned and 1st turn helped a lot!  Able to put wounds and such on multiple MCs helped seal the deal for later!

10-0 Victory for us!  Our opponents rated that I did more damage with the Beasts, Grots and Mandrakes! I am now in the Lead for the extra Marker!




Game 5 vs Ben Vaughan/Gordon Danke

Our opponents ran a massive Drop Pod list with Sternguard, meltas, Thunderwolves, and a Sicaran Battle Tank!  I am not 100% sure on their list but everything was either in a pod or on a Thunderwolf! They had about 60 marines in their list!

The game starts with them cornering us and destroying a Serpent, our Knight, and 2 Venoms.  With respond almost no damage.  They continue to wreck our face for the next couple of turns.  We slowly just erase a unit here and a unit there.  My Grotesques flee from CC with the T-Wolves and run off the board! 

My partner Ray even leaves in the middle of the game for about half an hour because we are getting our asses kicked thoroughly chill with some Wolf Brothers!!! I kept my head down and kept gaming.  Even heard Mr. Oade say that "Cody can come back and win this, he never gives up."  The guy he was talking to said he highly doubted it.

Units kept getting smaller and our maneuverability was key.  By games end, we held 1 table 3rd with my 3 Mandrakes (36pts!) who had killed some Long Fangs and the middle 3rd with our Autarch and Bike unit.

We won the game!  And by games end, they had their Sicaran, some Drop Pods, and about 3-4 Marines left!  Money in the bank!  We also achieved all 3 bonus objectives and got the Secondary!

Major victory for us!

Our opponents rated we both did the same, but Ray graciously bowed his head in shame for leaving me in the game and gave me the nod for more damage.



Game 6 vs Team Zoom Zoom

So we sit 5-0 and in control of the tournament.  Really we think only a terrible Sportsmanship score can do us in.  But we feel confident in taking this thing!  But we want to go perfect!

Zoom Zoom boasts many bikes!

Space Marines have 66 bikes with  chapter master, 5 TH/SS Termies and a storm raven!
Eldar side has Hornets, 12 jetbikes, a wraithknight and some other things, just cannot remember!

This game was very one sided.  THough I hate to say it, our dice were not here.  And Zoom Zoom's dice were hot hot HOT!  We couldn't kill 3+ saves or have them fail any of them.  It was rough and not worth mentioning.  When they looked at something it died.

A thorough beat by Team Zoom Zoom!

I hate to lose the last game of a tournament but it was meant to be!  We had a great run.  So... How did it end up?





















WE WON!!!! YEE!!!!

Frontside of our Dice Bag! 

Backside of our Dicebag!

Our lamenated Certificate!

Our winnings!  That's a lot of terrain!  Thanks!

SWAG!  12 Dice and that is the extra Objective I won!

AWESOME!!! Great SWAG and great prizes!  I love the Dice Bags and that Terrain and Fortifications will come in handy!  On top of this stuff, we got a $150 gift card to split!  WTF?!?!?!?! Tons of shit!
On top of al of this, a banner in our honor is going to be constructed to show we won the tournament!  Holy Shit!  So much cool shit!

So I will do my review of the tournament below:

Facility: B
I would give it an A but there was no bathroom in the room.  Also, it was a little tight for putting boards and armies.  So hard to place everything everywhere.  But still nice and carpeted.

Tables/Terrain: A+ 
Some of the best terrain I have seen at the tournament.  Great stuff everytime I use it!

Prize Support/SWAG: A+
The top 4 won prizes and significant amount of it!  I could not ask for more for winning the thing!  It would be cool to have an even number of objectives or having 3 each, but those things are cool as hell and we could have bought more of them if need be.  Plus I love my dice!

Amenities: A-
Solid food for solid prices.  Also, having the PA system helped with hearing Mark a lot!  Also being able to drink alcohol really helped with the atmosphere!

Missions: A-
Missions were great, and the added bonus of the objectives really added its own flare.  The deployments were a little wonky and tough to do.  Plus, being able to have a first turn charge on a couple of them poses some possible serious problems. 

Overall Thoughts: A
Great great great tournament! Really competitive, great tables, great terrain, great fun, and had a blast!  I HIGHLY recommend it for anyone who wants to come to a FUN tournament that isn't out of the book and has its own flavor!  Great price for 2 people and you get a lot for it!

Mark, thanks for a great time!  You did an awesome job and made the experience really enjoyable!  See you next year!

ODDS! Twin-Linked GT Battle Reports 1-3

10 days ago was the Twin-Linked GT ran in Sacramento, CA by my very good friend Mark Broughton aka Omegaprime.  The Twin-Linked GT is a team tournament where each player brings 1000 points and follows a strict set of Comp rules. (No duplicates, 0-2 for all slots shared by the team, point restrictions on each slot, etc.)  Last year me and my partner Big Ray Barrera took 4th and took home the 2nd Best Sportmanship Award.  This year our aspirations would be much lower as each of had not played for around 4-5 months.  We wanted to have a good time and possibly take home a Sportsmanship Award if we were lucky!  I also would be bringing the new DE codex which I had played zero games with!

Here are our lists.

Yeeman's DE

Archon, Webway Portal, Agonizer, Haywire Grenade
x6 Grotesques
x9 Mandrakes
x5 Warriors, Venom
x5 Warriors, Venom
x5 Warriors, Venom
Razorwing w/ Lances
x2 Beastmasters, x8 Khymera

Big Ray's Eldar

Autarch, Bike, Scorpion Sword, Reaper Launcher
x6 Bikes, x2 Cannons
x5 DAs, Serpent
x5 DAs, Serpent
x7 Spiders
Wraithknight

Overall pretty decent lists, especially the Eldar.  My Dark Eldar was more of me wanting to use units like the Grotesques and Mandrakes and paint them up.  Again, we did not have high hopes in winning many games and we settled on being happy with going 3-3.  So onto our game!

A side bet me and Ray had was for the 3rd Objective marker of SWAG we got in our bags.  We got only 3 Objective Markers to share for the 2 of us so we decided whoever played better throughout the 6 games, wins the last Marker.  We would let our opponents decide who played better between us and keep our record to determine the winner!

Game 1 vs Dark Zoom Zoom

This game we played against Bike heavy Orks and Ravenwing bikers. We thought we would be in good shape as we have plenty of shooting and they need to come to us to deal real damage.  Plus, we have lots of good melee units to challenge them as well.  This game would be short and be a nice refresher for us.  We became real comfortable again and nearly tabled our opponents.  They could not handle the shooting nor the melee units we brought to the table. Plus, they scouted the Ravenwing up first turn and tried to seize (which was +1 from Warlord) and they failed which allowed us to get first turn charges.

MVP of this game were the Mandrakes.  First turn they shot down a Land Speeder.  Second turn ate hella shooting and killed another speeder.  Third turn they shot and assault the Ork Warboss and killed him with Soul Blaze!  Sammael fell victim to them turn 4 and an Ork Boyz Squad 11 strong fell victim to them turn 5.  After turn 2 there was only 5 left because of Sammael's Plasma Cannon!  They lived with 2 left to tell the tale of their deeds!  They were great!

We achieved a full 20 point win.  Our opponents voted I did more damage because of the Mandrakes alone! So I'm up 1-0 on Ray and our Team is 1-0 for the tourney!

Game 2 Vs No Chance Newbies

Our opponents brought Drop Pod Marines and Nids.  Going into this game, we were worried and thought we were done for.  Their lists were not only superior but they had first turn and we would be on our backfoot from the beginning.

Not knowing the experience level of our opponents, we assumed the worst.  They podded in and took flight against the Grotesques.  Everything poured into them.  When the dust cleared I had 4 left standing all with a variety of wounds.  Everything else would be unscathed.  We took advantage of this and had the Grotesques Rampage through their army (literally!) and kill several units.  By game's end, my 1000pts were decimated and I was left with a few Mandrakes, 1 Grotesque, a few Warriors, and a few Beasts.  Big Ray had lost 3 bikes... That's it!  We would pull a 20 against our opponents.  The big downfall for our opponents was their target priority.  If they knew a little better, we would have lost.  I told Ray that if we used their lists against us, we would have won that game I feel.

MVP of this game was probably the Wraithknight.  Instagibbed a Malanthrope Turn 1, the Hive Crone Turn 2, and wiped out several Marines.  Our opponents determined that Ray won this game because he was unscathed!  I took the brunt of their forces but Ray ended up doing a lot of the damage because all my stuff kept dying!  So as a team we are 2-0 and I am 1-1 against  Ray for the Marker!

Game 3 Vs. Wolf Brother 2nd Company

Our opponents reign from Reno, NV and are hardcore players.  They play for keeps and Mike Bass was out for blood against me since the last time we played, he was wiped Turn 2 pretty much against me at BAO.  They would run 3 Serpents, and a Wraithknight with 3 Razorbacks, a Thunderfire, and Khan with a command Squad. 

Whenever you have Serpent on Serpent action, first turn is crucial.  Lucky for me and Ray we had it and they failed to seize.  We kill a serpent, another Jinks, the Thuderfire goes boom, and the Wraithknight takes a wound but makes his ID from our own Wraithknight.  They respond by killing a Venom and a Serpent of ours.  Turn 2 would be the deciding turn as our Reserves come in.  The flier knocks out several bikes and a Razorback.  The Grotesques would enter CC and crush the Command Squad.  Venoms kill the Wraithknight and the Wolf Brother would be left picking up the pieces.  We would play it out but their effort would not be enough. 

Great opponents and tons of fun.  Aside from the whistle blowing, getting drunk, taking Jell-O shots, and talking as much shit as possible between us the game was probably the most fun of the weekend!  We would get a 20 in this game as well and end Day 1 with a perfect Battle Score! 

Our MVP this game was probably the Serpents but our whole army contributed equally.  We decided to call this game a tie between me and Ray as we both did well and if it came down to it, Ray could have it if we ended up tying by tournament's end!  The cool thing is is that by day's end, we have perfect battle (only team thus far with it!) and we matched the win total we were shooting for and we still had 3 games left!

In the next couple of days I will get the rest of the games up and have my overall thoughts on the tournament!

Damn... It Has Been a LONG Time! Initial Dark Eldar Thoughts and Analysis

Wooooooo Weeeeeeee!  It sure has been awhile since I have posted on here.  Moving from Colorado, back to California then back to Colorado again has been a strain.  Have a new job now and live in Holyoke, CO.  This is in the middle of nowhere and 3 hours away from Fort Collins or Denver.  My 40k stuff is still in my moving boxes!  Between the new job (teacher) and coaching (football) I have had absolutely zero time to hobby.  However, this will all change in the coming months.  No more football and I am way ahead in lesson plans.  It has taken some work, but the dust will be off of my 40k models THIS week!



So what's the deal?  Tons of changes to 40k since I have last posted. Grey Knights, Space Wolves, and my favorite Dark Eldar all got new books.  Rumors of Blood Angels and Necrons incoming as well shortly.  I know almost nothing about the GK and SW books but I do have my fresh DE book sitting next to me, and my initial thoughts are that it is fantastic! 

There definitely some good and some bad with the book, and I will go into those as the weeks go by.  I will do an in-depth analysis of the units and rate them.  Remember these will be initial thoughts as I have played ZERO 40k for about 5 months now.  This initial thoughts will just be things I am excited about to use and some of the special rules.

Lets dive in!

The Book:  The art in the book is fantastic!  I love the new work and the fluff behind everything.  I like the new Kabals and Cults and Covens that are mentioned and the paint schemes that accompany them.  The layout is the same as the newer books (or so I'm told).  Flipping back to the Armory page is a little annoying, but I almost know all of the point costs already, so that is minor.  Overall, love the artwork, the fluff, and the general layout of the book.

Warlord Traits: All of the other books I have seen the Warlord traits seem lackluster.  The Iyanden Supplement are the only ones I actually like because they are useful.  The DE Traits are pretty good.  Some so-so ones, and then you have a couple that are straight boss.  The Table is below.

1- All DE within 12" of warlord have Fear
2- Re-roll Seize the Initiative, Night Fighting, and Reserves (Boss!)
3- Warlord has Rage
4- Warlord has Hatred
5- Warlord has +1 Weapon Skill
6- All DE within 12" of warlord are Fearless (Boss!)

So looking at them, 2 and 6 are the real winners.  6 loses effectiveness once turn 5 hits, but having that initial Fearless bubble for the first 4 turns is nice.  And rerolling all that goodness for result #2 is just straight money.  The re-roll to reserves is where its at as almost all DE players will have some sort of Reserves.  The others all have uses, and help out your CC characters.  Hatred is nice as it is to everyone and confers to the squad.  the Rage is nice, just make sure you have a sweet CC character.  Fear is lackluster, but has some use.  +1 WS is really only nice on the Succubus as it would make her WS 9 and have to be hit on 5's by normal dudes.  All in all, they are ok.  I might just roll on Strategic because there are more useful ones. 

Special Rules

Power From Pain-  Now instead of the counters it goes turn by turn.  As the game goes on, your army will get stronger and stronger.  I have heard a TON of flakk about this as people seem to think that DE should be super buff in the beginning and as the battle wages on, they diminish.  But this directly contradicts the fluff they have.  As DE kill, maim, rape, MURDER, they get stronger and feel the ecstasy that is death.  But this is usually coming from the ultra competitive, could care less about the fluff and only give me point and click units crowd.  Back on topic.... So each turn the DE get an extra benefit and continue getting stronger.  The table is below:

Turn 1- Nothing
Turn 2- FnP 6+
Turn 3- FnP 5+
Turn 4- FnP 5+, Furious Charge
Turn 5- FnP 5+, Furious Charge, Fearless
Turn 6+- FnP 5+, Furious Charge, Fearless, Rage

Wow!  This is pretty awesome!  Straight up benefits for no cost!  Only a few units do not have Power From Pain, but I'll go into that with the unit analysis.  DE can begin to have some resiliency starting Turn 2 and only get stronger and more resilient after!  I like the new table and enjoy the new mechanic.  Pain Tokens sometimes were a pain to keep track of, now there is no need!

Night Vision- Although DE had this before, I believe it is even better now.  Negating Stealth for those Jinkers and first turn hide and seekers is great.  First turn, depending on the list you bring is still paramount for DE.  It is a nice little buff to have.

Combat Drugs-  The all powerful Combat Drugs are back and hopefully here to stay!  I believe they got a major upgrade from the last batch.  for starters, you still roll once and all units with CDs get that result. The table is below.

1- +1 Attack
2- +1 Strength
3- +1 Initiative
4- +1 Toughness (CRAZY!)
5- +1 Weapon Skill
6- +1 Leadership

The thing I like most is that all of these are useful!  Unlike the last codex, 3D6 Run pick the highest, was rolled WAY too often!  And now you don't need the FnP Drug because you get it for free starting Turn 2!  I think the winner is +1 Toughness... T4 Wyches, T5 Reavers?!!?!  It can get nasty and I look forward to trying out some Wych Cult stuff, though I am traditionally a Kabal guy.  Overall the Combat Drugs are great!

Deepstrike- So all Venoms, Raiders, and Ravagers have Deepstrike!  Say what?!?! Awesome!  Tired of having all of your Venoms die first turn?  Deepstrike them!  I don't personally see myself doing this often, but the benefit is nice and think it is worth considering.

*As an aside, there is a debate online about Skimmers when they Deepstrike in.  Some are claiming that when they Deepstrike in, if they happen to land on another model, they are to be moved the minimum distance away from the models.

Pg. 89 Moving Skimmers, 3rd Paragraph- "If a Skimmer is forced to end its move over friendly or enemy models, move the Skimmer the minimum distance so that no models are left underneath it."

Then everyone can read what Deepstrike says on Pg. 162 in the BRB. 

Personally I am on the fence about it.  I do feel like Deepstriking a kind of movement and when Deepstriking that is the movement you are using during the Movement phase.  However, it seems rather powerful and I always air on the side of caution with things like this.  If a TO were to rule either way, it wouldn't effect me much and I wouldn't complain one way or the other.  If I were a TO I would actually rule in favor of being able to DS on top of another unit then moving them a minimum distance away from the models they landed on (much like a Drop Pod).  I won't bring fluff into it at all like others have, as that just complicates things and does not reflect what actually happens on the table top.

So where do we go from here?  Well, I will go section by section in the new DE book and rate each entry out of 10.  I will start with the HQ Section and go on through the book.  I will tell you, though most people don't see the potential, I do and what I love the most is that we no longer NEED Eldar to be competitive. 

Stay tuned and have fun!  Comment and let me know your initial thoughts!  I also have some exciting news I will share with everyone by week's end!

 

Bugeater 2nd Day

So going into Day 2, myself and 1 other person are 4-0.  I cannot remember my opponents name, but he had 5 Imperial Knights, and from what I heard, he had been stomping people left and right.  As the tournament was set to begin at 9:45am, I sat diligently waiting at my table.  And I waited.... and waited.... and waited.... 10:10am rolls around and my opponent is a no show.  So I get paired up against another Matt. 

Game 5 vs Matt's Astra Militarum/ Imperial Knights

So I didn't get to play 5 Knights like I was supposed to, only 1.  But he also brought around 100 Guardsmen, 2 Punishers, 2 Chimeras, a Deathstrike Missile, Defense Line, and a couple Hydras.  The list looked very formidable on the tabletop.  However, my opponent Matt was new to the game and had only started playing.  Also, he had not been performing very well at the tournament.

*NOTE*  I was very displeased with being paired up against Matt.  Not with Tim, or anyone in particular.  I was looking forward to playing 5 Knights and another player that was 4-0.  Matt was not the best player, but his opponent also did not show up and he was set to play the Ringer.  Because the round was already almost 30mins in by the time we got paired, he was the only logical choice.

This game was fairly one sided.  My first turn was fantastic and I blew up quite a bit of his vehicles and Guardsmen.  It was a very laid back game that I did not cast any Psychic Powers in and let him kill things hat would otherwise not have died.  He seemed to have fun and I pointed out some rules in his book that he was unaware of, and was very appreciative of such.  In the end, we called it Turn 3 with him killing my Beasts for a point (Scouring) and killing the Baron for 2 more.

Win for Dark Eldar 15-3

So after 5 games, I was sitting "pretty" at 5-0 even though after the last game I did not feel I earned the record.  Tim initially was planning on having me and Mat Root play again as no one else in the tournament had more points than him with 1 loss.  However, if that were to happen, then 3 other rematches would have taken place, so Tim voted against it.  To be honest I think it was the right move.  To have 4 rematches with so much on the line would have been bad.  And as you will see worked out how Tim thought it would.

Game 6 vs CJ's Imperial Knights w/ Tau and Inquistorial Allies

CJ was a member of our C-State Domination team.  He had a beautifully painted army with tons of conversions.  His army included: 3 Knights, Buffmander w/ 3 x2 Missile Pod suits w/ x2 Shield Drones, x7 Fire Warriors, Coteaz, 3 Plasma Servitors, and a Chimera w/ some Henchmen.  A very tough list on paper and on the tabletop.

This game would go badly for me at the beginning.  CJ would win the roll off for first turn and take it.  I decided to roll on Telepathy for Puppet Master, Hallucinate, or even Invisibility.  I figured 2 rolls on Telepathy, and 1 roll on Eldar for Doom.  I grabbed Hallucinate then got stuck with Dominate and Guide (as I felt Executioner was no good HA!).  I would also fail to Seize.

CJ's first turn would see him shake a Ravager, blow a Venom, and blow a Serpent.  I would respond by committing my Wraithknight to one of his Knights and my Beasts to the middle Knight to contest the objective.  I used the destroyed Venom's Warriors to contest the other objective.  I cast Hallucinate on the middle IK and he.... DENIES IT! Great...   I shoot some Venoms at Coteaz who dies and kills some of the other Henchmen.  They would fail their LD check but stay on the board.  I shoot all of my Anti-Tank at the IK in front of my Wraithknight. I do 3 HPs and charge.  My Wraithknight destroys his IK.  In the ensuing explosion, the blast doesn't scatter and the Str. D hits my Knight and CJ rolls a 6.... Killing him.... Instantly.... Awesome... In CC, my Beasts do nothing and his IK Stomps some Beasts.

His second turn sees him kill a Ravager, blow the Scatter Laser off my other Serpent, shake my other Ravager, and kill another Venom.  (His Tau contingent was bossmode.)  In CC, I do nothing with the Farseer and he proceeds to kill more Beasts.  He gets 3 Stomps.  Rolls a 6 and kills 4 Beasts, then moves the next Blast over the Farseer and the Baron, Stomps them and rolls a 6... Kills them instantly.. Awesome... and then stomps 3 more Beasts and rolls another 6 killing more of them.  So this turn pretty much sealed the deal for CJ.  My turn 2 I do very minimal damage.

I call the game my turn 3 as I have no hopes of coming back shake CJ's hand.  CJ was an awesome opponent and took beating my ass with class.  He was apologetic for how bad the game went.  I laughed and shrugged as it didnt matter.

Mega loss for Dark Eldar! (2-15?)

The thing that kills me with the game is that I had no control over what happened.  I couldnt control him getting First Turn, Denying Hallucinate, Stomping my army to death, and Str. D-ing my own Knight.  Frustrating, but again I couldnt do anything about it.  I am glad that CJ isn't one of "those guys" and is a great player.

As a result, CJ ended up winning the entire Tournament and claiming the Sweepstakes Champion title.  With my 1 loss, I earned the Tournament Champion Title and 3rd place in the tournament.  I got a gift card to the Game Shoppe and used it to buy a 2nd Wraithknight.  Matt Bess placed 13th and Omegaprime placed 12th overall but he achieved 5th for Tournament points.  Team C-State Domination also won the Bugeater Cup for the 40k side of things as well!

I have some pictures of the Bets Painted armies and of the awards everyone won!  I will also post my overall impressions of the tournament as well.

The Bugeater GT Recap Day 1

So about 10 days ago myself, Omegaprime, and Fat Ninja Hodor Matt Bess set off on our annual trek to Omaha, Nebraska for the Bugeater GT.  Unlike last year we could encounter some road conditions in the Doe variety and some vehicle problems would ensue.  However, we would persevere and make to Omaha at 2AM Friday morning.

The original plan was to have me and Omegaprime hit up the Team Tournament but we needed to take care of truck and hit up other game stores in Omaha.  We would unload our stuff in preparation for the next day or carnage.

DAY 1 Games

Game #1 vs Josh Dunn

Josh had brought an Inquisitor Primary  army with Coteaz, a bunch of Henchman squads toting Death Cultists, Crusdaers, and Priests accompanied with a Landraider and some Psybacks.  He also brought Crimson Fists allies with some Plasma Cannon Devastators, a Redeemer, and some Scouts.

Our table had a ton of terrain which made it very difficult for me to deploy, but it didnt matter as Josh would Seize on me and grab First Blood with a Venom death.  I would then kill his Redeemer with the Wraithknight who would then die to the TH/SS Termies inside.  The Baron would die and Josh would grab Linebreaker as well but it would not save him.  I would win this game 13-7. 

As an aside, Josh turned out staying in our same hotel so we all went out together and grabbed food and chilled for the weekend.  Josh is an awesome dude and really fun to chill with.

Game #2 vs Adam Pedersen

Adam was playing CSM.  Nurgle Bike Lord with 8 Burgle bikers, a Predator, Helldrake, 30 or 40 CSM, some Havocs, 3 Oblit, and some cultists with an ADL. 

This game would go rather quickly for me. I would have first turn and would pummel Adam's army with 2 turns of shooting and wipe his Bikes with the Beasts.  Highlight of the match for Adam was killing my 5 Wound Knight with Twin-Linked Plasma Guns from his Oblits.  I would win 15-2.

Game #3 vs Brad Townsend aka Hulksmash

Brad would bring Greyknights with Inquistor Allies.  Coteaz, 4 Psybacks, 2 Solodins, 2 TA Psycannon Inquisitors, 2 Storm Ravens, and 3 Dreadknight with Teleporters and Incinerators.I knew this would be a tough test simply because Brad is a great player.  Plus, he has a plethora of 2+ Armor Saves and the Storm Ravens are never fun for me.  And he had first turn.

 I would deny him a lot of his first turn shooting by deploying near my table edge so he couldnt get his choice targets with the Incinerators.  No damage from him first turn and I would return fire with dealing 3 Wounds to one Knight (he was a MFer... Seriously) and kill two of his 2 of his 4 Psybacks to get First Blood.  Over the course of the game my stuff would die and his stuff would die.  That 1 Wound Knight would live til Turn 5 until he actually failed that last save, it took a long time to finish him off.  The game would go on (much to HulkSmash's displeasure) I would also learn that a 5th objective was in the middle and Hulky was controlling it, at that I thought I had lost.  The Baron pulled through and Hit and Run out of CC to kill 1 squad of Henchmen off an objective to seal the deal.  I would win 7-6.

I would have to say, this was probably my most enjoyable tournament game I have had.  Things I have read online about Brad all had been positive.  I am glad what I read was true and this game turned out to be such fun.  Outside of him unintentionally yelling at a 16 year old kid and that kid crying and running away, he is a stand up guy!  It felt like a Beer and Pretzel game with competitive banter (Lot of this!) with someone ive known for a long time.  Appreciate the game Brad!

Game #4 vs Matt Root

Matt Root has won the Bugeater GT the last 2 years.  I figured he would be the one to bring Skyblight and I was right.  He had just gotten done handing Omegaprime his first loss of the tournament (and his only!).  He brought 3 Tyrants, 2 Crones, 2 Harpies, Venomthrope, 3 individual Biovores, a Bastions, some Warriors Gargoyles, ad some regular Gaunts. 

By was this going to be a tough match up.  This list is the reason I brought the ADL and the Wraithknight. I really hope they pull their weight!  I win the roll off and take first turn.  I deploy at my 24'' line (Hammer and Anvil Deployment) equally and ready to attack everything.  He deploys the Venomthrope in the Bastions and stacks literally) his MCs behind the Bastion and in Area Terrain to get a 3+ Cover Save.  After some bickering from him on placement we go. 

My first turn is rather devastating.  I blow his Bastion and his Venthrope along with it with one of my Ravagers.  His of his Biovores take wound from the Bastion (they were on the Battlements).  I then kill his Warlord Tyrant and a Crone.  I deal 3 wounds to another Tyrant and plink another wound off of another Tyrant.  Not too shabby!  I made sure to have all of my vehicles at the 22-24'' mark so he could Vector Strike anything of mine.  Though he tried valiantly to do so, I would not let him cheat by not passing straight over me or let him get within an inch of, both things he insistently tried to do and was rather angry he could not do.  I believe he blew up a couple Venoms and ended his turn. 

I would continue my rampage and kill anther Tyrant and the other Crone.  His lone wound Tyrant would live again and make plenty of 3+ Armors and 5+ Cover Saves which is quite annoying.  My Beasts would also massacre a Gargoyle squad.He would kill a squad of my Venom troops and call it a turn.

With time winding (yes this is Turn 3) we decided it would be last turn.  I would run clean up duty and kill his 3 Biovores, his other 2 Gargoyle Squads, his other Tyrant, and leave a Harpy with 1 wound left.  We would try to come back and grab some points which he did by getting Warlord (damn Smash Attacks!) and Linebreaker.  Counting up the Kill Points I had 11 to his 3 netting me 8 points.  I also had all 3 primaries for 14 total points.  He would get 4 with Warlord and Linebreaker.

I was very nervous for the game as having first turn pretty much clinched it for me.  Calling the Rules Judge over for every little things was annoying, but knowing the rules and actually having a Tournament FAQ to reference was nice.

Omegaprime finished the day 3-1 and Matt Bess finished 2-2 dropping his last 2 games of the day.  So at the end of the day I sat at 4-0.  Only one other player had that and he brought.... 5 KNIGHTS!  Yikes.... Stay tuned in the next couple of days to have me recap Day 2!

Sorry for the lack of pictures.  I literally have no excuse as I had my camera with me, just never remembered to take any.  Sorry!

Ready to Eat Me Some BUGS!

So this weekend is the 4th Annual Bugeater GT in Omaha, Nebraska.  This is probably the last 6th Edition GT and I am ready for it to go off with a bang!  Last year, I had the best overall tournament experience I could ask for.  I can only hope to have the same this year! 

New to the Bugeater GT this year is the Bugeater Cup.  A group can win 3 different cups.  One cup is for playing well (as a group) in he WHFB Tournament.  Another is to play well (again... as a group) in the 40k Tournament.  Then there is an Overall Cup for a group that does well in both.  You will forever have your group's name emblazoned on the trophy for glory and riches and all that jazz.  Seeing as how none of the people from Sac that are going play Fantasy, we were hoping to go for the 40k trophy.  However, talking with my buddy from Colorado, Adam Tricola from http://www.rumorsofheresy.blogspot.com/  he and some other buddies were willing to team up with us and some of them play Fantasy!  So we can now win any of the 3 cups!  Our team name?  Drum roll please.. Team C-State Domination.  Adam and his buddies reign from Colorado and my buddies and I reign from California.  Perfec name I think... We will dominate! (I hope...)

Next up, here are some pictures of finished models and my board.  Enjoy!

Up Close view of the corner piece... All glued and awaiting Drybrushing

Wood putty is painted grey... Awaiting the Wash

Washed!  First Coat

Up close of wash effect

Sanded, painted, and 1st coat of wash

Up close, needs another wash and drybrushing

Before I took it home to drybrush and add effects

1 finished spire

Finished Board!

My cart finished!  Wheels on the bottom, and two storage areas.  The bottom for my Army Transport Bags and the second level for Dice, Books, and extras.  Top is reserved for the display board.

 So obviously I missed some steps in there.  I will take some better lit pictures of my board, Omegaprime's, and Fat Ninja Hodor's.  They all look very impressive!


Finally, if you notice the models in the picture don't match my previous army connotations, you are right!   I made some changes.  No more Dragons or Batteries.  Going to to roll with the Wraithknight and the Defense Line.  I figure both fit rolls I need them to.  Defense Line kills that pesky Skyblight Formation and the Knight can dominate the Imperial Knight with shooting and CC.  Hopefully its a worthwhile change!

As an aside, me and Omegaprime will be playing in the Team Tournament they are holding on Friday.  Our team name for that will be The Walking Dead.  We will have over 60 models of Necrons with Orbs and either 29 Wraithguard with a Spiritseer or 18 Guard with a couple Wraithlords.  it will be a gametime decision what we run! 

Well wish us luck!  I will try and take pictures of all of my games!  We embark on the 22 hour drive to Omaha, Nebraska at 10:30pm tomorrow!

More Army Pics and Display Board Progression

So it has been an eventful week of hobbying to get ready for the Bugeater GT.  Non-stop painting, building, and display board making... And the tournament hasn't even come yet!

With 7th Edition just dropping, there is plenty of hoopla on the Internet that people are claiming.  I love that the book hasn't even been out for 1 week yet and people are proclaiming how broken the game is or how the new edition sucks or how nothing much changed.  I'm sure all the naysayers and Expert Hatters out there have done their own extensive play testing to ensure that everything is BROKEN  and Daemons are OMFG OP!

Anyways... Here are some updated pictures of my army and some progress pictures of my display board!

Single Guardian w/ my Eldar scheme

5 Guardians upclose

10 Guardians w/ Platform

Re-done Wraithknight... No more Buzz Lightyear!

Wraithknight!

Naked board, but with some carved terrain pieces

Close up pic of the big corner piece

Up close pic of the fallen away cliff face

One example of a hill  or rocky spire.  This one fits a Serpent and 10 guys.

Another example of hill or spire.  This one was made for a Serpent and 5 guys.

This is underneath the big corner piece.  I hollowed it out on two ends to make a cave.  In the process of getting some LEDs to put in there.  Also, would look great having some Coven units, Mandrakes (lol) or even some Striking Scorpions in there!

So there is some progress pics of my army.  Still have a bunch to do for my display board, but it is getting there! Wood putty will be coated all over the base of the board (the brown part) to give it texture and so i can paint it to reflect my Dark Eldar bases.  The Styrofoam pieces will need some wood putty and then be coated with some Elmer's Glue then have fine grained sand on them to give some texture to them as well.  I chose fine grained sand because it will give the definition to my pieces and match what I hope my Eldar bases will look like.  I then of course need to paint, wash, and drybrush the entire thing.  UGHHHH!  It will be a looooong week and weekend!  

I am looking to put some LEDs in the cave, but dont think I will have the in time, so i may get some cheap little light to throw in there right now.  The cave was not meant to be so extensive, but creative thinking on my part and Omega Prime's got me to where I am.  I know it looks like nothing now, but I think I will be able to turn this thing into something epic! 

Things to do this week:

Touch ups on models
Highlight Grey Serpent
Display Board
All my Eldar bases

Still a bunch to do, but it all has to get done, so it will, one way or the other.  Leave for Bugeater in 1 week!  Feeling very excited!  Stay tuned for updates!

YEE! YEE!