On Saturday the 19th, the FLGS ran a single-day campaign-style event instead of the standard monthly tourney. I think folks were burned out on competitive gaming after such a long period of monthlies, culminating in the Standish Standoff last month. I know I was, and it was nice to just throw dice and not worry about winning.
The basic format was that at the end of each game, the winner awarded his warlord and one Troops unit a stat bonus from a provided list. The loser awarded a Troop unit, and on a 4+, his warlord as well. Missions were Maelstrom, but with some alternate secondaries (Second Blood or Last Blood instead of First Blood, Kill Points, etc). No map taking or anything like that.
For the day, I wanted to start phasing out Ultramarines from my list as much as I could and still play. The only thing I have that isn't Ultramarines and actually playable is a full set of Assassins. I took the full Assassinorum Execution Force formation (one of each assassin). Then I took a small Ultramarines CAD with a ML 1 Librarian, Scout Squad, and Tactical Squad. I finished it off with a First Company Strike Force made of two Terminator Squads, each with a chainfist and assault cannon, an Assault Terminator squad with two hammers, and a five-man Sternguard squad (just bolters). Originally, I'd had an Allied Detachment made of Telion, six Scouts, and a Landspeeder instead of the CAD, but I realized that if I did so, I'd have no eligible warlord under the campaign rules, which required you to have a non-special character as your warlord. I was just going to select an assassin, but they don't get any warlord benefits, so I rewrote the list. This also allowed me to get my Librarian model onto the table for the first time ever.
Anyhow, because it was a campaign day, I decided my army's mission was to kill as many of the enemy army's characters as possible in every game, to the exclusion of all other mission rules as far as the Assassins were concerned.
My first game was against Thor, since the tournament software he wrote really likes to pair us up. The story of the game were the Assassins. Their ability to infiltrate really threw a bag of wrenches into the gears of his force. He had to dedicate some inordinate amounts of fire and effort into clearing them out. In the end, I won by just a few points.
Assassinorum Report, Engagement One:
Terminator Sorceror - Target Eliminated, Vindicare Kill
Power Armored Chaos Champion - Target Eliminated, Culexus Kill
Power Armored Chaos Champion - Target Eliminated, Vindicare Kill
Chaos Champion on Traitor Pattern Bike - Target Eliminated, Callidus Kill
Terminator Armored Chaos Champion - Target Elimited - Adeptus Astartes Kill
Callidus Operative - KIA
Vindicare Operative - Recovered
Culexus Operative - Recovered
Eversor Operative - KIA
Game Two was against my last-round opponent from the Standoff, who was feeling much better this time round. He brought his Krieg and their Baneblade again, and he won by a few points. The highlight of this game was having my Vindicare, who'd camped out on the roof of a building at the far edge of the field, take his final shot of the game at three surviving members of an infantry squad. They were lined up along a wall, and I opted to use a turbo penetrator round. After the dice were rolled, I put all three squaddies down with a single shot. We agreed that he'd probably headshotted all three in succession. FYI, Turbo Pen rounds against non-vehicles produce d3 wounds instead of just one on a successful to-wound roll.
Assassinorum Report, Engagement Two:
Company Commander - Target Escaped, Mission Failure
Inquisitor Coteaz - Target Escaped, Mission Failure
Various Guard Unit Leadership - Three Targets Escaped - Mission Failure
Various Guard Unit Leadership - Four Targets Eliminated - Culexus Kill, Vindicare Kill, Vindicare Kill, Adeptus Astartes Force Kill
Callidus Operative - KIA
Vindicare Operative - Recovered
Culexus Operative - KIA
Eversor Operative - KIA
The last game of the day was against a Chaos Marines force with very few models. Just a couple Cultist squads, two Maulerfields, two Daemon Princes with wings and Tzeentch powers, a Hellblade flyer (which was really cool to play against), a Chaos Fire raptor, and a Helldrake. We beat the hell out of one another, and tied for primary points, but he took more secondaries. As usual, Assassins have a really hard time with Daemon Princes. I had no anti-air capability, but that was mitigated by his flyers' refusal to show up until turn four.
Assassinorum Report: Engagement Three:
Daemon Prince - Target Escaped, Mission Failure
Daemon Prince - Target Escaped, Mission Failure
Mortal Cultist Champion - Target Eliminated, Vindicare Kill
Mortal Cultist Champion - Target Escaped, Mission Failure
Callidus Operative - Recovered
Vindicare Operative - KIA
Culexus Operative - Recovered
Eversor Operative - KIA
So the total for the day was five character kills for the Vindicare, two for the Culexus, one for the Callidus, and two for various Astartes units. The Eversor had no character kills for the day.
The Callidus died 2 of 3 games, the Vindicare and Culexus 1 of 3, and the Eversor 3 of 3. About what you'd expect considering their roles of the table. The Eversor, despite being my favorite of the Assassin types, was very hard to get into combat due to the infiltrate rules for line of sight and distance. Perhaps next time I should simply deploy him during setup. The Callidus might benefit from outflanking or arriving from the opponent's table edge as well.
It was nice, relaxed, and fun day. My list was enjoyable to play. I really liked running the First Company Strike Force with Terminators, and I think I'll be creating some Raven Guard Terminators as soon as I can. The list I ran Saturday helped me solidify my army play style for my Raven Guard, as well as the load out for my Captain. What I want my Raven Guard options to personify is a "blade and mailed fist" option. My Captain will be armed with a power sword and a power fist. His method of combat is to present both a fast, agile attack on one hand (the blade), while holding a crushing, mailed fist as a threat. His army around him will be composed of Scouts, Speeders, and Jump units as the blade, while Terminators and Centurions will be the fist.
My thoughts are that if you are engaged in a duel with a swordsman with a long blade in one hand, and a heavy gauntlet in the other, you might try to deny the strengths of his blade by getting inside his guard. But the punches from the gauntlet force you back out, or knock you down entirely. If you stay at arm's length to avoid the punches, the blade takes you apart with stabs and cuts. I know nothing about actual melee combat, but it sounds neat, right?
I'm even more excited about painting up my Raven Guard now, which is great. Previously, I was very focused on formations and being able to use units in multiple formation roles from game to game, but this revised way of thinking about my army is even better. Yes, I'll use formations, but all of them should revolve around the previously-described combat doctrine.
It was a real struggle to decide how to arm my Captain as well. I originally wanted to capitalize on the new Raven Guard relics from Kauyon, with the new bolter or lightning claws as a priority, but I will instead go with non-weapon relics like the jump pack or armor, if any at all. I'm bu8ilding to model to fit the character, not the character to fit the model. I'd complained about people forming their fluff to the army list before, and I feel ashamed I'd fallen into that same pit!
The farewell I mentioned in the post title is for my Ultramarine bikes. I handed them over to their new owner on Saturday. I've sold every painted bike model I have (I kept all the unbuilt models and bitz). I sold them for a price I considered fair, but won't reveal the exact amount. The new owner can tell people if he'd like, but it's not really about the money for me as much as it is seeing them run by someone who'll enjoy them. Dave actually sought me out to inquire about buying all of my Ultras when he heard I was retiring them. It was pretty flattering. Eventually, I'll sell off all of my Ultramarines as I manage to get more and more points of Raven Guard onto the table.
On the Raven Guard model front, I've got my Landspeeder ready for decals, so I'll get some pictures as soon as it's all marked and sealed. Once that's done, it's on to the Captain.
Showing posts with label Bikes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bikes. Show all posts
12.21.2015
7.17.2014
Picking Those Last Few Units
I'm drafting up an army list for the monthly tourney at the FLGS. It's a 1600 point format, and we'll be using the Maelstrom of War missions.
I've decided to go back to my bike army for a while, so will be running a list that uses White Scars Chapter tactics.
I have the core of the army lined out:
Captain on bike, artificer armor, power sword
Command Squad on bikes, various upgrades and weapons
Four 5-man Bike Squads (one melta, one plasma, one flamer, one naked) with a couple of attack bikes sprinkled in
One full squadron of multimelta Attack Bikes
One squadron of two Landspeeder Typhoons
Once I hit this core, I have about 245 points left. I can't decide exactly what to take to close out the list.
I have some options I've put together:
The Librarian would add some psychic powers, probably Telepathy. The 5-man ASM squad would be his escort. But that's two fragile units combined into one equally fragile unit.
The full ASM squad is large enough to be durable and can be split into combat squads if necessary. The Burning Blade isn't necessary, but would be very impressive in chopping up damned near anything I run into with my Captain. I'm not overly worried about the single S4, AP2 hit he could take at the end of an assault phase. He'll be T5 and have a 4++ from his Iron Halo.
Right now, I'm leaning toward the 10-man ASM and the Blade, because we're playing Maelstrom missions with Tactical Objectives. The 12" move is very valuable for shifting around and maneuvering for objectives and also for keeping up with the bikes.
I've decided to go back to my bike army for a while, so will be running a list that uses White Scars Chapter tactics.
I have the core of the army lined out:
Captain on bike, artificer armor, power sword
Command Squad on bikes, various upgrades and weapons
Four 5-man Bike Squads (one melta, one plasma, one flamer, one naked) with a couple of attack bikes sprinkled in
One full squadron of multimelta Attack Bikes
One squadron of two Landspeeder Typhoons
Once I hit this core, I have about 245 points left. I can't decide exactly what to take to close out the list.
I have some options I've put together:
- Techmarine on bike (servo arm, signum) and a Tri-las Predator.
- ML2 Librarian with Jump Pack and a 5-man Assault Marine squad with two flamers and a powerfist
- 10-man Assault Squad with vet sergeant and powerfist, and two flamers plus upgrade the power sword on the Captain to The Burning Blade.
The Librarian would add some psychic powers, probably Telepathy. The 5-man ASM squad would be his escort. But that's two fragile units combined into one equally fragile unit.
The full ASM squad is large enough to be durable and can be split into combat squads if necessary. The Burning Blade isn't necessary, but would be very impressive in chopping up damned near anything I run into with my Captain. I'm not overly worried about the single S4, AP2 hit he could take at the end of an assault phase. He'll be T5 and have a 4++ from his Iron Halo.
Right now, I'm leaning toward the 10-man ASM and the Blade, because we're playing Maelstrom missions with Tactical Objectives. The 12" move is very valuable for shifting around and maneuvering for objectives and also for keeping up with the bikes.
12.11.2013
Sergeant Series: The Biker Sergeant
I run a Space Marine bike army very often. In fact, it's sort of my specialty. Writing about the Biker Sergeant is less theory and more practice for me (yes, some of the previous Sergeant Series articles were based somewhat in theory).
The basic Biker Sergeant doesn't fill much of a unique role any more, not that he ever really did. You see, Bike Squads are defined not by their leader, but by their special weapon troopers. For the most part, the Sergeant is just along for the ride. In Fifth Edition, he came stock with Ld9, so keeping him around helped on Morale tests.
The first upgrade to look at for the Sixth Edition Biker Sergeant is Veteran status. Its most obvious benefit to a Bike Squad is Ld9 over Ld8. Just like an Assault Squad, a failed Morale test is incredibly dangerous for a Bike Squad in the early going. 3d6 fall back moves when in your own deployment zone can quite often see an entire squad off the board in the first turn.
Less useful is the +1 attack provided by Veteran status. Biker Sergeants don't really need more attacks.
Why don't Biker Sergeants need attacks? Because Bike Squads, no matter how you slice it, are NOT melee units. Ever.
Your Biker Sergeant has access to all of the same melee options as the rest of the sergeants in the book: power weapon, lightning claw, power fist, and thunder hammer. You know what they all do by now, and none of them are worth taking on a Biker Sergeant due to points costs. You can argue that a power sword is good insurance, or that a powerfist serves well against walkers. Bikes are nimble and fast enough to avoid these units and situations. This is doubly true when you use the White Scars Chapter Tactic in order to gain Hit and Run. You should not be stuck in a hopeless combat with a walker for a whole game any more.
One situation of note is the challenge. Biker Sergeants can save their entire squad from a big monster or face-crushing character by issuing or accepting a challenge. On the charge, you will ALWAYS get your Hammer of Wrath attack, because once the challenge is accepted, you move the two combatants into base contact, triggering the Hammer of Wrath attack! You get one free hit at S4 and I10. Against small fry like Guard sergeants and Tau Shas-whatevers, it can end the challenge before it really begins, and mitigates the need to take that insurance power sword or maul.
Bike Squads are designed for delivery of shooting systems like meltaguns, plasma, and grav guns. Biker Sergeants have access to pistols, combi bolters, and storm bolters.
I'll tell you early to skip the storm bolter. It serves no purpose on a Biker Sergeant whose bike already provides a twin-linked bolter. The one additional bolt shot at >12" range will rarely be of use.
Pistols are of greater utility on a speedy unit like Bikes than they are on Marine infantry units. A plasma or grav pistol can be maneuvered into firing range by a Biker Sergeant quite well. The trick is finding the points for that pistol when compared to other options. It's important to remember that a Biker Sergeant will never get bonus attacks for having a pistol, as he lacks the capacity to have both a pistol and a close combat weapon.
Biker Sergeants can select from any of the four combi bolter types: plasma, flamer, melta, and grav. They're all useful, and my recommendation is to select the one that matches the special weapon in the squad. taking two plasma guns? Arm the sergeant with a combi-plasma. Grav guns? Combi-grav. It's a pretty simple formula.
Biker Sergeants can also access meltabombs. If you have the points, take them. You won't regret it.
I personally run all of my Biker Sergeants with a combi of some sort (though my plasma squad's sergeant carries a plasma pistol, because I like the look on folks' faces when I say I paid for a plasma pistol). I leave the melee upgrades to the Command Squad. You cannot buy both a shooting and a melee upgrade for Biker Sergeants due to his base wargear only including a bolt pistol. You can't do the "best of both worlds" stuff with this guy, like you can with a Tactical Squad Sergeant. Stick to shooting and grenades/HoW hits for bikes.
The basic Biker Sergeant doesn't fill much of a unique role any more, not that he ever really did. You see, Bike Squads are defined not by their leader, but by their special weapon troopers. For the most part, the Sergeant is just along for the ride. In Fifth Edition, he came stock with Ld9, so keeping him around helped on Morale tests.
The first upgrade to look at for the Sixth Edition Biker Sergeant is Veteran status. Its most obvious benefit to a Bike Squad is Ld9 over Ld8. Just like an Assault Squad, a failed Morale test is incredibly dangerous for a Bike Squad in the early going. 3d6 fall back moves when in your own deployment zone can quite often see an entire squad off the board in the first turn.
Less useful is the +1 attack provided by Veteran status. Biker Sergeants don't really need more attacks.
Why don't Biker Sergeants need attacks? Because Bike Squads, no matter how you slice it, are NOT melee units. Ever.
Your Biker Sergeant has access to all of the same melee options as the rest of the sergeants in the book: power weapon, lightning claw, power fist, and thunder hammer. You know what they all do by now, and none of them are worth taking on a Biker Sergeant due to points costs. You can argue that a power sword is good insurance, or that a powerfist serves well against walkers. Bikes are nimble and fast enough to avoid these units and situations. This is doubly true when you use the White Scars Chapter Tactic in order to gain Hit and Run. You should not be stuck in a hopeless combat with a walker for a whole game any more.
One situation of note is the challenge. Biker Sergeants can save their entire squad from a big monster or face-crushing character by issuing or accepting a challenge. On the charge, you will ALWAYS get your Hammer of Wrath attack, because once the challenge is accepted, you move the two combatants into base contact, triggering the Hammer of Wrath attack! You get one free hit at S4 and I10. Against small fry like Guard sergeants and Tau Shas-whatevers, it can end the challenge before it really begins, and mitigates the need to take that insurance power sword or maul.
Bike Squads are designed for delivery of shooting systems like meltaguns, plasma, and grav guns. Biker Sergeants have access to pistols, combi bolters, and storm bolters.
I'll tell you early to skip the storm bolter. It serves no purpose on a Biker Sergeant whose bike already provides a twin-linked bolter. The one additional bolt shot at >12" range will rarely be of use.
Pistols are of greater utility on a speedy unit like Bikes than they are on Marine infantry units. A plasma or grav pistol can be maneuvered into firing range by a Biker Sergeant quite well. The trick is finding the points for that pistol when compared to other options. It's important to remember that a Biker Sergeant will never get bonus attacks for having a pistol, as he lacks the capacity to have both a pistol and a close combat weapon.
Biker Sergeants can select from any of the four combi bolter types: plasma, flamer, melta, and grav. They're all useful, and my recommendation is to select the one that matches the special weapon in the squad. taking two plasma guns? Arm the sergeant with a combi-plasma. Grav guns? Combi-grav. It's a pretty simple formula.
Biker Sergeants can also access meltabombs. If you have the points, take them. You won't regret it.
I personally run all of my Biker Sergeants with a combi of some sort (though my plasma squad's sergeant carries a plasma pistol, because I like the look on folks' faces when I say I paid for a plasma pistol). I leave the melee upgrades to the Command Squad. You cannot buy both a shooting and a melee upgrade for Biker Sergeants due to his base wargear only including a bolt pistol. You can't do the "best of both worlds" stuff with this guy, like you can with a Tactical Squad Sergeant. Stick to shooting and grenades/HoW hits for bikes.
9.26.2013
How to Sell an Army?
I think the subtitle of this post should be 'What the Hell is Wrong with Me?"
Of late, I've had this itch to sell all of the Space Marine bike models and parts from my collection. Hilariously, during the previous selloff I did of Marine models and kits, I intended to keep ONLY bike units. I'm not sure why, but I'm restless with this new codex.
I have long been "The Bike Guy" at my FLGS. Folks from other shops have actually recognised my army from this or that event without me being at the table. "Oh, it's that Bike Guy!" Got a question about how to use/kit/build/paint bikes? I was the guy to ask.
I enjoyed being that guy, and having that experience and expertise. But with the new book, I'm less in love with my bikes.
The reason for this eludes me. The White Scars chapter tactics are great. Khan is much improved. Bikes overall are far better and slightly cheaper on points. Folks are flocking to bike armies, and maybe that's why I'm less impressed by them lately. They're the new "power build," at least in the early going. I've never been the "power build" sort of player, and I think the situation feels a lot like what Necron and Eldar players, and to a lesser extent Grey Knights, players feel. You can have the original metal models for Necrons, but when you show up at the table and hand over a Necron list, you get that "broken codex" or "bandwagoneer" stigma. I have a minor fear of that stigma being applied to my bike army. It's an irrational fear, as my play group is tight knit and we all know each others' histories, but it's still there.
I also fancy myself as an opportunist and a bit of a 40K "flipper." I've bought and traded for things in the past, and then turned around and resold or retraded them at a profit. It's how I amassed some of my bike army, in fact. I'm seeing bikes being bought and sold online, and feel like I might be able to mkae a little money by selling what is a pretty complete bike army (though it lacks the min/max weapon loadouts). I've never sold a model I've painted before though, and I'm curious if I'll regret it in the long run, and a bit lost on how much to ask for.
If I were to sell the force, it would contain:
1 Captain (armed as a counts-as Khan)
1 Techmarine with power axe and servo arm
1 Apothecary
1 Company Champion with sword and shield
1 Banner Bearer, with magnetized banner arm
1 Storm Shield Bearer
10 basic bolter bikes
2 plasmagunners
2 meltagunners
2 flamers
1 Sergeant with power axe
1 Sergeant with power fist
2 Sergeants with holstered bolters (used as combiweapons)
1 Sergeant with plasma pistol
5 magnetized, metal attack bikes, each with heavy bolter and multimelta parts
3-4 new Scout bikes in box or on sprue
4-5 old scout bikes, unassembled and off sprue
3-4 additional metal attack bike sidecars with heavy bolter and multimelta options for each
A "remaining bike bitz" pile.
All of this is painted to a solid tabletop standard. Not "pro" level, but not "quick dip" level. No decals in the army, all freehand.
Retail, the completed models pan out just shy of $500, then add in the other kits and parts. But retail is a poor gauge of value for a complete, painted army. Of course, it only shakes out to about 1500 points, so it's not 100% "complete."
Anyone sold an army they've painted and built themselves over time? It's easy enough to flip models you never invested time into, but how hard is it to send away something you've put years into?
I wouldn't be divesting myself of all my Marines, obviously. I still have plenty of non-bike Marines to play with, build, and paint. I have several directions I could go in.
What do you folks think?
Of late, I've had this itch to sell all of the Space Marine bike models and parts from my collection. Hilariously, during the previous selloff I did of Marine models and kits, I intended to keep ONLY bike units. I'm not sure why, but I'm restless with this new codex.
I have long been "The Bike Guy" at my FLGS. Folks from other shops have actually recognised my army from this or that event without me being at the table. "Oh, it's that Bike Guy!" Got a question about how to use/kit/build/paint bikes? I was the guy to ask.
I enjoyed being that guy, and having that experience and expertise. But with the new book, I'm less in love with my bikes.
The reason for this eludes me. The White Scars chapter tactics are great. Khan is much improved. Bikes overall are far better and slightly cheaper on points. Folks are flocking to bike armies, and maybe that's why I'm less impressed by them lately. They're the new "power build," at least in the early going. I've never been the "power build" sort of player, and I think the situation feels a lot like what Necron and Eldar players, and to a lesser extent Grey Knights, players feel. You can have the original metal models for Necrons, but when you show up at the table and hand over a Necron list, you get that "broken codex" or "bandwagoneer" stigma. I have a minor fear of that stigma being applied to my bike army. It's an irrational fear, as my play group is tight knit and we all know each others' histories, but it's still there.
I also fancy myself as an opportunist and a bit of a 40K "flipper." I've bought and traded for things in the past, and then turned around and resold or retraded them at a profit. It's how I amassed some of my bike army, in fact. I'm seeing bikes being bought and sold online, and feel like I might be able to mkae a little money by selling what is a pretty complete bike army (though it lacks the min/max weapon loadouts). I've never sold a model I've painted before though, and I'm curious if I'll regret it in the long run, and a bit lost on how much to ask for.
If I were to sell the force, it would contain:
1 Captain (armed as a counts-as Khan)
1 Techmarine with power axe and servo arm
1 Apothecary
1 Company Champion with sword and shield
1 Banner Bearer, with magnetized banner arm
1 Storm Shield Bearer
10 basic bolter bikes
2 plasmagunners
2 meltagunners
2 flamers
1 Sergeant with power axe
1 Sergeant with power fist
2 Sergeants with holstered bolters (used as combiweapons)
1 Sergeant with plasma pistol
5 magnetized, metal attack bikes, each with heavy bolter and multimelta parts
3-4 new Scout bikes in box or on sprue
4-5 old scout bikes, unassembled and off sprue
3-4 additional metal attack bike sidecars with heavy bolter and multimelta options for each
A "remaining bike bitz" pile.
All of this is painted to a solid tabletop standard. Not "pro" level, but not "quick dip" level. No decals in the army, all freehand.
Retail, the completed models pan out just shy of $500, then add in the other kits and parts. But retail is a poor gauge of value for a complete, painted army. Of course, it only shakes out to about 1500 points, so it's not 100% "complete."
Anyone sold an army they've painted and built themselves over time? It's easy enough to flip models you never invested time into, but how hard is it to send away something you've put years into?
I wouldn't be divesting myself of all my Marines, obviously. I still have plenty of non-bike Marines to play with, build, and paint. I have several directions I could go in.
What do you folks think?
9.16.2013
Three Games with the New Marine Codex
My FLGS had its monthly 40K event this past Saturday, and I was able to attend using the new Space Marine Codex.
I'd debated with myself about what type of list to bring, and under which Chapter Tactics. I was debating between a classic Ultramarines list with Tacs and such led by Sicarius or my Biker list. I opted to go with the bike list, led by Khan, running White Scars Chapter Tactics.
Here's a general breakdown of the list:
HQ
Khan on Moondrakkan
Command Squad (apothecary, champion, powerfist veteran, standard bearer, storm shield veteran)
Techmarine on Bike
Librarian (ML2, Jump Pack, Force Staff)
Troops
Bikes 1 (5 strong, 2 plasmaguns, plasma pistol vet sergeant, multimelta attack bike)
Bikes 2 (5 strong, 2 meltaguns, combimelta vet sergeant)
Bikes 3 (5 strong, 2 flamers, combiflamer vet sergeant, heavy bolter attack bike)
Bikes 4 (5 strong, power axe vet sergeant)
Fast
Multimelta Attack Bike Squadron (3 strong)
Landspeeder Squadron (2 strong, Typhoons, heavy bolters)
Assault Marines (10 strong, 2 flamers, powerfist vet sergeant)
It's a pretty straightforward "fast" list that I have played a lot in the past, and that is reasonably fluffy for a "White Scars" build.
Unfortunately, attendance for the event was only 5 paying players and a fill-in swing player.
My first game was against a Tzeentch/Slaanesh Daemons list. I won't bother with turn-by-turn batreps, as I can barely remember the games 10 minutes afterward, let alone two days. I like to just hit the highlights, results, and some lessons learned.
It was a pretty even game, and one of those that comes down to single models or inches deciding points. I gained 11 points in the loss. It took me a while to remember how toplaythe damned game, being so rusty and out of it. I actually forgot how to roll for charge ranges! No major highlights, other than blasting a MASSIVE unit of Seekers off the table with combined shooting from half my army.
Second game was against a blanced Necron army led by Zahdrekh and Obyron and a Destroyrer Lord. We played a mission that used the short board edges as deployment (Hammer and Anvil?). Primary was kill points, if I remember right. My dice rolled well, and the Necron dice did not. I tabled the Necron force except for Zandrekh, who was on his way to slowly whittling down Khan in a challenge, but the game ended before the deed could be completed. Highlight was the D-Lord getting up three separate times and menacing my surviving troops bikes before being repeatedly being put down by multimeltas. 30 points to me.
Final game was against Imperial Guard Gunline, painted as traitors. This one was a "hold the center" mission played on a board with several ruined buildings and some small forests. The Guard army contained a couple Russes in a squadron, a Vendetta, an ADL with quad gun, PBS, Chimera Vets, some Armored Sentinels, a Lord Commissar, and a unit of three Quad Gun Launchers (Thudd Guns?). I ended up taking a victory here, but not until the game had gone a full six turns and we were down to five models or less, each. There were some big swings in momentum in both directions. I took a hammering for three turns from the Thudd Guns before I manged to engage them in melee and run them off the board with my Librarian. Mobility was key on this one, as I was able to hold a bike troop unit (the meltagunner squad) in my own deployment area for a while and keep enough alive to take the objective. The Guard troops were bottled up behind that ADL in Chimeras with everything else blocking their access route to the center objective. It was largely uncontested for the entire game, and I played towards that end. The whole game was a highlight, being a massive killfest that was massively entertaining. I am not a fan of the Thudd Gun unit in terms of balance. Twelve small blasts in a single volley is too many. I was regularly seeing upwards of 20 hits per volley on my well-spread bike units. No other unit in the enemy army came anywhere close to the kill tally those guns had. Now, I could have reached them sooner if I'd deepstruck the Assault Marines with the flamers in some crazy maneuver, but by conventional means of reachign them, I was fighitng a major uphill battle. They dohave their weaknesses, like opposing artifllery units, Mawlocs, or what have you, butoverall they're a tad bit underpointed for what they do. I know it sounds silly to complain about a unit when you win a game, so I'll stop here, lol.
At the end of the day I took first place with 66 battle points! Hurrah! I banked the store cedit towards either a Stormraven or a Stormtalon, or maybe another drop pod.
Throughout the day, folks asked me how I liked the new Marines. My response is that they're good, but not crushingly so.
The White Scars Chapter Tactics are nice, but you have to read them carefully. Only bikes units get the +1 to Hammer of Wrath hit strength, auto-pass Dangerous Terrain tests, and +1 Jink saves. So my Speeders only had a 5+ Jink, and my Assault Marines didn't have stronger HoW or auto-pass DT tests.
All units get Hit and Run, though. Khan only grants Scout to Bikes and units with a dedicated transport (though the rules don't say they have to be IN said transport). So, my ASM and Speeders couldn't Scout. This was important in Game Two, as I ended up blocking several bike units from using a Scout move by placing the ASM in front of them. Oops!
The bonus strength to HoW was pretty significant when I managed to get a lot of bikes into base contact. The trick is getting a lot of bikes into base contact. I ran units of 5-6 models, so you're maxxing out at 5-6 HoW hits. Nothing overpowering, but the bump from S4 to S5 is definitely a difference maker. You end up being able to penetrate AV10 rear armor, or actually glance AV11.
The automatic passing of Dangerous Terrain tests was very nice. Since 6th dropped, I'd been ignoring terrain and making the rolls anyways, since I could take an armor save against it. But to completely ignore it removed any and all doubt about terrain. it also sped up my games by that tiny bit because I wasn't rolling for each individual bike as I moved them (which is how you're supposed to do it, you don't just roll them all together and allocate the wounds as you see fit, so cut that out!).
+1 to Jink saves is a beautiful thing for bikes. Boosting gives you the old-school 3+ cover save. It's great when you're trying to cross open ground, since it's even better than any terrain-based cover you'll get. However, it doesn't work if you go second, Scout move or not. Jink is only applied if you moved in your Movement phase, NOT if you moved at all. A Scout move is not done in your Movement phase!
Hit and Run is also nice. Bikes aren't a melee unit, unless you're taking a Command Squad. Hit and Run allows bike units to either risk the charge to get stuck in versus a shooty opponent, or get out of town when engaged (and not obliterated) with a melee opponent. You have a 66% chance that you'll get away, but I managed to fail two Hit and Run tests during my games. One was during an important turn.
Khan's Scout ability is tricky to use. If you go first and Scout, you can't charge in your first turn (unless the opponent Seizes the Initiative). If you go second, you won't get your Jink saves when the enemy shoots at you during that first turn. But, the Scout rule does allow you to outflank with almost any non-vehicle unit in your army. You're able to attack from all three directions if you set things up right. Just remember that you can't charge after arriving from reserves!
Ideally, I'd use the army-wide ability to Scout by going first in order to make a glorious attempt at getting stuck in to a very shooty army, like the Guard gunline from my final game. I'd have taken first turn, Scouted 12" forward, then moved another 12". I could either blast away from there, or boost for the 3+ cover save.
I also kitted my Librarian and my Techmarine with auspexes. They only cost a handful of points, and performed to that level. -1 to cover saves isn't exactly brutal, but it is helpful. Knock an ADL down to a 5+ save versus a 4+ save. A unit Gone to Ground in a forest is 4+ instead of 3+, etc. The trick is the 12" range. Slice the cover save from an intervening unit from 5+ to 6+. It worked nicely for my Assault Marines (via the Librarian) and bikes (via the Techmarine), but probably won't work so well with something like a Tactical Squad. It was nice that you can use the auspex on one unit and target an entirely different unit, though. Be careful using it with a shooting-centered unit, as you have to give up the model's shooting to do so. Hopefully, I did that in my games.
All in all, the book is nice but hardly overpowered. It's following in the "balanced, useful, Codex" trend GW has been on since the 6th Edition hardbacks started being published.
I'm likely going to skip the October event, as it's a team tourney, and I'm not a fan of those. Plus, with the abyssmal turnout we've had in the last few months, the last thing I want to do is clear my schedule for a tournament and have six people show up.
I'm looking ahead to the Standish Standoff now, and am hoping to line out some preliminary army lists. I'd love to run the list I ran this weekend, but the composition system won't allow it. I need some Elite and Heavy slots filled, and the four HQ slots I used would be illegal under the rubric. I may have to go to the traditional Tactical Marine list to play with anything resembling a useful composition score. It's a ways off, so who knows?
I'd debated with myself about what type of list to bring, and under which Chapter Tactics. I was debating between a classic Ultramarines list with Tacs and such led by Sicarius or my Biker list. I opted to go with the bike list, led by Khan, running White Scars Chapter Tactics.
Here's a general breakdown of the list:
HQ
Khan on Moondrakkan
Command Squad (apothecary, champion, powerfist veteran, standard bearer, storm shield veteran)
Techmarine on Bike
Librarian (ML2, Jump Pack, Force Staff)
Troops
Bikes 1 (5 strong, 2 plasmaguns, plasma pistol vet sergeant, multimelta attack bike)
Bikes 2 (5 strong, 2 meltaguns, combimelta vet sergeant)
Bikes 3 (5 strong, 2 flamers, combiflamer vet sergeant, heavy bolter attack bike)
Bikes 4 (5 strong, power axe vet sergeant)
Fast
Multimelta Attack Bike Squadron (3 strong)
Landspeeder Squadron (2 strong, Typhoons, heavy bolters)
Assault Marines (10 strong, 2 flamers, powerfist vet sergeant)
It's a pretty straightforward "fast" list that I have played a lot in the past, and that is reasonably fluffy for a "White Scars" build.
Unfortunately, attendance for the event was only 5 paying players and a fill-in swing player.
My first game was against a Tzeentch/Slaanesh Daemons list. I won't bother with turn-by-turn batreps, as I can barely remember the games 10 minutes afterward, let alone two days. I like to just hit the highlights, results, and some lessons learned.
It was a pretty even game, and one of those that comes down to single models or inches deciding points. I gained 11 points in the loss. It took me a while to remember how toplaythe damned game, being so rusty and out of it. I actually forgot how to roll for charge ranges! No major highlights, other than blasting a MASSIVE unit of Seekers off the table with combined shooting from half my army.
Second game was against a blanced Necron army led by Zahdrekh and Obyron and a Destroyrer Lord. We played a mission that used the short board edges as deployment (Hammer and Anvil?). Primary was kill points, if I remember right. My dice rolled well, and the Necron dice did not. I tabled the Necron force except for Zandrekh, who was on his way to slowly whittling down Khan in a challenge, but the game ended before the deed could be completed. Highlight was the D-Lord getting up three separate times and menacing my surviving troops bikes before being repeatedly being put down by multimeltas. 30 points to me.
Final game was against Imperial Guard Gunline, painted as traitors. This one was a "hold the center" mission played on a board with several ruined buildings and some small forests. The Guard army contained a couple Russes in a squadron, a Vendetta, an ADL with quad gun, PBS, Chimera Vets, some Armored Sentinels, a Lord Commissar, and a unit of three Quad Gun Launchers (Thudd Guns?). I ended up taking a victory here, but not until the game had gone a full six turns and we were down to five models or less, each. There were some big swings in momentum in both directions. I took a hammering for three turns from the Thudd Guns before I manged to engage them in melee and run them off the board with my Librarian. Mobility was key on this one, as I was able to hold a bike troop unit (the meltagunner squad) in my own deployment area for a while and keep enough alive to take the objective. The Guard troops were bottled up behind that ADL in Chimeras with everything else blocking their access route to the center objective. It was largely uncontested for the entire game, and I played towards that end. The whole game was a highlight, being a massive killfest that was massively entertaining. I am not a fan of the Thudd Gun unit in terms of balance. Twelve small blasts in a single volley is too many. I was regularly seeing upwards of 20 hits per volley on my well-spread bike units. No other unit in the enemy army came anywhere close to the kill tally those guns had. Now, I could have reached them sooner if I'd deepstruck the Assault Marines with the flamers in some crazy maneuver, but by conventional means of reachign them, I was fighitng a major uphill battle. They dohave their weaknesses, like opposing artifllery units, Mawlocs, or what have you, butoverall they're a tad bit underpointed for what they do. I know it sounds silly to complain about a unit when you win a game, so I'll stop here, lol.
At the end of the day I took first place with 66 battle points! Hurrah! I banked the store cedit towards either a Stormraven or a Stormtalon, or maybe another drop pod.
Throughout the day, folks asked me how I liked the new Marines. My response is that they're good, but not crushingly so.
The White Scars Chapter Tactics are nice, but you have to read them carefully. Only bikes units get the +1 to Hammer of Wrath hit strength, auto-pass Dangerous Terrain tests, and +1 Jink saves. So my Speeders only had a 5+ Jink, and my Assault Marines didn't have stronger HoW or auto-pass DT tests.
All units get Hit and Run, though. Khan only grants Scout to Bikes and units with a dedicated transport (though the rules don't say they have to be IN said transport). So, my ASM and Speeders couldn't Scout. This was important in Game Two, as I ended up blocking several bike units from using a Scout move by placing the ASM in front of them. Oops!
The bonus strength to HoW was pretty significant when I managed to get a lot of bikes into base contact. The trick is getting a lot of bikes into base contact. I ran units of 5-6 models, so you're maxxing out at 5-6 HoW hits. Nothing overpowering, but the bump from S4 to S5 is definitely a difference maker. You end up being able to penetrate AV10 rear armor, or actually glance AV11.
The automatic passing of Dangerous Terrain tests was very nice. Since 6th dropped, I'd been ignoring terrain and making the rolls anyways, since I could take an armor save against it. But to completely ignore it removed any and all doubt about terrain. it also sped up my games by that tiny bit because I wasn't rolling for each individual bike as I moved them (which is how you're supposed to do it, you don't just roll them all together and allocate the wounds as you see fit, so cut that out!).
+1 to Jink saves is a beautiful thing for bikes. Boosting gives you the old-school 3+ cover save. It's great when you're trying to cross open ground, since it's even better than any terrain-based cover you'll get. However, it doesn't work if you go second, Scout move or not. Jink is only applied if you moved in your Movement phase, NOT if you moved at all. A Scout move is not done in your Movement phase!
Hit and Run is also nice. Bikes aren't a melee unit, unless you're taking a Command Squad. Hit and Run allows bike units to either risk the charge to get stuck in versus a shooty opponent, or get out of town when engaged (and not obliterated) with a melee opponent. You have a 66% chance that you'll get away, but I managed to fail two Hit and Run tests during my games. One was during an important turn.
Khan's Scout ability is tricky to use. If you go first and Scout, you can't charge in your first turn (unless the opponent Seizes the Initiative). If you go second, you won't get your Jink saves when the enemy shoots at you during that first turn. But, the Scout rule does allow you to outflank with almost any non-vehicle unit in your army. You're able to attack from all three directions if you set things up right. Just remember that you can't charge after arriving from reserves!
Ideally, I'd use the army-wide ability to Scout by going first in order to make a glorious attempt at getting stuck in to a very shooty army, like the Guard gunline from my final game. I'd have taken first turn, Scouted 12" forward, then moved another 12". I could either blast away from there, or boost for the 3+ cover save.
I also kitted my Librarian and my Techmarine with auspexes. They only cost a handful of points, and performed to that level. -1 to cover saves isn't exactly brutal, but it is helpful. Knock an ADL down to a 5+ save versus a 4+ save. A unit Gone to Ground in a forest is 4+ instead of 3+, etc. The trick is the 12" range. Slice the cover save from an intervening unit from 5+ to 6+. It worked nicely for my Assault Marines (via the Librarian) and bikes (via the Techmarine), but probably won't work so well with something like a Tactical Squad. It was nice that you can use the auspex on one unit and target an entirely different unit, though. Be careful using it with a shooting-centered unit, as you have to give up the model's shooting to do so. Hopefully, I did that in my games.
All in all, the book is nice but hardly overpowered. It's following in the "balanced, useful, Codex" trend GW has been on since the 6th Edition hardbacks started being published.
I'm likely going to skip the October event, as it's a team tourney, and I'm not a fan of those. Plus, with the abyssmal turnout we've had in the last few months, the last thing I want to do is clear my schedule for a tournament and have six people show up.
I'm looking ahead to the Standish Standoff now, and am hoping to line out some preliminary army lists. I'd love to run the list I ran this weekend, but the composition system won't allow it. I need some Elite and Heavy slots filled, and the four HQ slots I used would be illegal under the rubric. I may have to go to the traditional Tactical Marine list to play with anything resembling a useful composition score. It's a ways off, so who knows?
9.10.2013
Hit the Brakes!
Immediately leading up to the release of the new Marine codex, I was planning on switching over to a full Drop Pod-borne force. This was due to the improvements to Tigurius making the force reliable from reserve, my interest in Forgeworld Deathstorm Drop Pods, and a general sense of boredom with my bike force. I was even pondering selling off all my bikers to finance the additional drop pods I'd need.
I've hit the brakes on that plan, and I think I'm going to stick with bikers for a while.
The reasons for this are several. At first, I was adamant that I would only ever use Ultramarines Chapter Tactics, as that is what I have my Marines painted as. I called codex-hoppers cheese dicks, and burned some bridges. Then I realized that my fellow Ultramarine players were taking non-Ultra CTs, and that even in prior editions, I was using non-Ultra characters like Lysander from time to time. I was being a hypocrite! So, instead of being a hypocrite and an elitist, I'm embracing the mechanic and the options it presents. (Part of this was also inspired by reading an article over at House of Paincakes about archetypes at an FLGS, and realizing I was one of those fluff guys who was acting better than others based on army choices).
So, I am going to use White Scars Chapter tactics for my bikers. I've spent YEARS building the force, and now it's finally "good." Why not play it like it's designed to be played? It's all the things I always wanted my bikers to be!
I'll also be using my Khan model, which I've used for ages as my Biker Captain. Khan is cheaper now, and the only major change to his stats is the switch from "everyone can outflank" to "everyone has Scout (which allows outflank).
The change from bikers was also based in part on the frustrations of the Fast Attack slot. ALL of my solid supporting units were crammed into the FA slot. Attack bikes, speeders, Assault Marines, scout bikes, etc. Add in the Stormtalon, and it was one crowded slot.
However, the new book adds some speedy choices to different slots, freeing up some FA roles to be filled by those other units. Vanguard Vets moved to Elites from FA, which is AWESOME. They're still an expensive unit points-wise, but the fact that they use an Elite slot makes them the best and only speedy Elite I can take in my themed forced.
Techmarines moved from Elite to non-slot HQ. I can now take my Techmarine Biker as a non-slot choice. Nice. Of course, he doesn't fill the Elite slot for composition scoring like he used to, but oh well.
The Stormraven is officially added, and it is in the Heavy slot. That slot was always a bitch to fill for my bikes, and I often ended up taking a lone Predator which was promptly blown up by all of the antitank in my opponent's army. I can also use the Stormraven to deliver Vanguard Vets or Assault Marines. Dreads don't fit the theme, so I'll leave the grapple empty.
Command Squads also got cheaper on bikes. They used to cost 90 points for bikes. Now, just 35! Of course, I have to pay for an Apothecary, but bitching about that while still saving 40 points would be foolish.
This decision alters the to-do list quite a bit. It ends up looking like this:
- 5 Vanguard Vets with jump packs. No upgrades.
- 1 Jump Pack Librarian. Replaces my current JP Lib who's looking a little underwhelming next to my current models.
- 1-4 Biker Command Squad veterans armed with power lances. I've had the bits to do this since 6th came out, now I have reason to bother with them.
- 1 Stormraven Gunship. Fully magnetized and interior painted.
I'll still be working on the Nids and non-bike Marines for variety's sake, but I think I have my immediate queue lined out for a while.
I've hit the brakes on that plan, and I think I'm going to stick with bikers for a while.
The reasons for this are several. At first, I was adamant that I would only ever use Ultramarines Chapter Tactics, as that is what I have my Marines painted as. I called codex-hoppers cheese dicks, and burned some bridges. Then I realized that my fellow Ultramarine players were taking non-Ultra CTs, and that even in prior editions, I was using non-Ultra characters like Lysander from time to time. I was being a hypocrite! So, instead of being a hypocrite and an elitist, I'm embracing the mechanic and the options it presents. (Part of this was also inspired by reading an article over at House of Paincakes about archetypes at an FLGS, and realizing I was one of those fluff guys who was acting better than others based on army choices).
So, I am going to use White Scars Chapter tactics for my bikers. I've spent YEARS building the force, and now it's finally "good." Why not play it like it's designed to be played? It's all the things I always wanted my bikers to be!
I'll also be using my Khan model, which I've used for ages as my Biker Captain. Khan is cheaper now, and the only major change to his stats is the switch from "everyone can outflank" to "everyone has Scout (which allows outflank).
The change from bikers was also based in part on the frustrations of the Fast Attack slot. ALL of my solid supporting units were crammed into the FA slot. Attack bikes, speeders, Assault Marines, scout bikes, etc. Add in the Stormtalon, and it was one crowded slot.
However, the new book adds some speedy choices to different slots, freeing up some FA roles to be filled by those other units. Vanguard Vets moved to Elites from FA, which is AWESOME. They're still an expensive unit points-wise, but the fact that they use an Elite slot makes them the best and only speedy Elite I can take in my themed forced.
Techmarines moved from Elite to non-slot HQ. I can now take my Techmarine Biker as a non-slot choice. Nice. Of course, he doesn't fill the Elite slot for composition scoring like he used to, but oh well.
The Stormraven is officially added, and it is in the Heavy slot. That slot was always a bitch to fill for my bikes, and I often ended up taking a lone Predator which was promptly blown up by all of the antitank in my opponent's army. I can also use the Stormraven to deliver Vanguard Vets or Assault Marines. Dreads don't fit the theme, so I'll leave the grapple empty.
Command Squads also got cheaper on bikes. They used to cost 90 points for bikes. Now, just 35! Of course, I have to pay for an Apothecary, but bitching about that while still saving 40 points would be foolish.
This decision alters the to-do list quite a bit. It ends up looking like this:
- 5 Vanguard Vets with jump packs. No upgrades.
- 1 Jump Pack Librarian. Replaces my current JP Lib who's looking a little underwhelming next to my current models.
- 1-4 Biker Command Squad veterans armed with power lances. I've had the bits to do this since 6th came out, now I have reason to bother with them.
- 1 Stormraven Gunship. Fully magnetized and interior painted.
I'll still be working on the Nids and non-bike Marines for variety's sake, but I think I have my immediate queue lined out for a while.
6.03.2013
Stunned!
Remember the story event/tourney at my FLGS that I was originally not going to, then going to, then not, and then finally, actually attending? It was this past Saturday. I did indeed go, and brought a stripped down version of my old Bikes and Bombs list:
Captain on bike with artificer armor, power sword, storm shield
5-man bike squad with two meltaguns, combimelta, meltabombs
6-man bike squad with two plasmaguns, plasma pistol
6-man bike squad with two flamers, combiflamer
Squadron of two Landspeeder Typhoons
Squadron of three multimelta attack bikes
10-man Assault Squad with two plasma pistols, sergeant with dual plasma pistols
Two Whirlwinds
I didn't get a chance to write the short story that supported the list, like I normally do for large events. In short, it was designed as a rapid strike force (bikes, duh) supported by artillery assets. The Whirlwinds pound the enemy while the bikes close in for the kill. The artillery stops right before the bikes hit enemy lines, but if things go awry, they keep firing and the Marines weather the storm while in amongst the bad guys.
As I said, the event was not a traditional tournament. The players were divided into two teams: Imperials and Chaos/Destruction. Some armies started out Neutral, but were sorted into either side as needed to fill gaps. I do not believe this was done arbitrarily, either. For example, we had Tau supporting Chaos, but also had Necron players on both sides. My guess is that the Crons were split evenly between sides so that everyone had a little bit of everything.
The missions were simple in their design, but there were table-based "call outs." These were terrain-based objectives that when held, provided a small bonus to the entire team. For example, capturing the Medicae Facility on Table Z granted a single unit in your teams' armies a 6+ Feel No Pain roll. If you grabbed that facility, you immediately shouted out that your team had it. If you lost it, you'd shout that as well (and listen to the cries of "Noooooo!" from your team). I wasn't lucky enough to play on any of those boards, but it was still great fun hoping and waiting for them to be taken by my teammates.
My first game was a simple capture of table quarters mission. I faced a Tau army, and it was the first time I'd seen new Tau. It was a pretty standard Tau list. Lots of Fire Warriors, an Ethereal, suits, suit HQ guy, Hammerhead with Ion and the named tank commander guy, Skyray, and a pair of Forgeworld Sensor Towers. Those let a single unit within 6" become twin-linked for a turn. So, two units per turn because of two towers.
I took the table corner with better cover and LOS-blockers, and lined up for a cavalry charge. The Whirlwinds were parked firmly out of LOS, and I used a mission special rule to swap the melta bikers out as a scoring unit, and swapped in the Assault Marines. I combat squadded those and left 5 basic guys out of LOS in my deployment corner to claim it.
I hauled ass forward, knowing that the key against Tau was to hit their lines and weather as much fire as possible. I lost my attack bikes early, and several bikers as well, but I managed to get in close. However, I used the Whirlwinds to murder the Ethereal first turn by barrage sniping him. With his death, a lot of the bite was taken out of the grunts.
I was very wary of the Supporting Fire rule, but eventually charged in anyways with my Captain. His 2+ armor save from the artificer armor and 3++ from the storm shield made him tough to kill. He ran two entire Fire Warrior squads off the board by himself.
I ended up winning 3-1, and leaned that Supporting Fire sounds scary, but is largely a puppy if the Tau do not have the ability to boost their shooting reliably on Overwatch. Markerlights fired in overwatch help, but aren't reliable. It's probably scarier with lots of Crisis Suits nearby, who pack harder-hitting weaponry. Pulse rifles just didn't bother bikes much, especially not when most of the wounds were soaked onto a 3-wound HQ with a 2+/3++.
Second game was objectives, but with a twist. In order to grab objectives, you had to defuse them with a d6 roll. The Imperium was the attacking force in this one due to our performance in round one. The defenders got to place all three objectives, but they had to be in the no man's land between deployment zones in a Dawn of War setup. Ours were spaced evenly in the middle, but close to the defending zone. I was facing Orks: Forgeworld Biker Boss guy, generic Warboss on Bike, max size Nob Bikerz with all powerklaws and invulnerable saves and a Painboy, max size Ork Bikers, and a Dakkajet.
This one was a 1-1 tie. I made a few tactical errors as a result of bloodlust and desperation. Twin-linked dakkaguns are stupid good (S5, Assault 3 is like every bike in your army having a heavy bolter). Dakkajet is ok, but not all that threatening to power armored armies.
The final game was pure kill points with some small mechanics that could boost or degrade your KP total. I faced a MSU Venom Dark Eldar force. All Warriors and Trueborn in Venoms backed up by Ravagers, led by the Duke. I was a little frosty when I started this game, as I was concentrating really hard on how I'd approach it. I probably came off as a little stand-offish. In the end, I just resolved to go all-out into the enemy in a cavalry charge. It worked, and I rolled through 13-5.
At the end of the day, I took home Best Imperial Overall (and had the points or best overall of the whole field, after tiebreakers). I was stunned. I've never won overall in anything before. Neat!
I didn't enter anything into the painting competition, as I hadn't painted anything specifically for it, and I just don't like my Marines anymore from a painting stand point.
On Sunday night, I glued the Hive Tyrant's body section to a 40mm base. I used a small amount of glue under the tail mounting point in order to make it so I could remove the 40mm base after he was all done, and then mount him on his proper 60mm base. I just needed something to hold him by while painting, and paperclip mounts just weren't going to cut it. I have a couple small gaps to fill tonight, and then it's primer time!
I also picked away at a Sternguard model, finishing the blue parts. I also selected the parts for another and bagged them for when I finish the current one.
Captain on bike with artificer armor, power sword, storm shield
5-man bike squad with two meltaguns, combimelta, meltabombs
6-man bike squad with two plasmaguns, plasma pistol
6-man bike squad with two flamers, combiflamer
Squadron of two Landspeeder Typhoons
Squadron of three multimelta attack bikes
10-man Assault Squad with two plasma pistols, sergeant with dual plasma pistols
Two Whirlwinds
I didn't get a chance to write the short story that supported the list, like I normally do for large events. In short, it was designed as a rapid strike force (bikes, duh) supported by artillery assets. The Whirlwinds pound the enemy while the bikes close in for the kill. The artillery stops right before the bikes hit enemy lines, but if things go awry, they keep firing and the Marines weather the storm while in amongst the bad guys.
As I said, the event was not a traditional tournament. The players were divided into two teams: Imperials and Chaos/Destruction. Some armies started out Neutral, but were sorted into either side as needed to fill gaps. I do not believe this was done arbitrarily, either. For example, we had Tau supporting Chaos, but also had Necron players on both sides. My guess is that the Crons were split evenly between sides so that everyone had a little bit of everything.
The missions were simple in their design, but there were table-based "call outs." These were terrain-based objectives that when held, provided a small bonus to the entire team. For example, capturing the Medicae Facility on Table Z granted a single unit in your teams' armies a 6+ Feel No Pain roll. If you grabbed that facility, you immediately shouted out that your team had it. If you lost it, you'd shout that as well (and listen to the cries of "Noooooo!" from your team). I wasn't lucky enough to play on any of those boards, but it was still great fun hoping and waiting for them to be taken by my teammates.
My first game was a simple capture of table quarters mission. I faced a Tau army, and it was the first time I'd seen new Tau. It was a pretty standard Tau list. Lots of Fire Warriors, an Ethereal, suits, suit HQ guy, Hammerhead with Ion and the named tank commander guy, Skyray, and a pair of Forgeworld Sensor Towers. Those let a single unit within 6" become twin-linked for a turn. So, two units per turn because of two towers.
I took the table corner with better cover and LOS-blockers, and lined up for a cavalry charge. The Whirlwinds were parked firmly out of LOS, and I used a mission special rule to swap the melta bikers out as a scoring unit, and swapped in the Assault Marines. I combat squadded those and left 5 basic guys out of LOS in my deployment corner to claim it.
I hauled ass forward, knowing that the key against Tau was to hit their lines and weather as much fire as possible. I lost my attack bikes early, and several bikers as well, but I managed to get in close. However, I used the Whirlwinds to murder the Ethereal first turn by barrage sniping him. With his death, a lot of the bite was taken out of the grunts.
I was very wary of the Supporting Fire rule, but eventually charged in anyways with my Captain. His 2+ armor save from the artificer armor and 3++ from the storm shield made him tough to kill. He ran two entire Fire Warrior squads off the board by himself.
I ended up winning 3-1, and leaned that Supporting Fire sounds scary, but is largely a puppy if the Tau do not have the ability to boost their shooting reliably on Overwatch. Markerlights fired in overwatch help, but aren't reliable. It's probably scarier with lots of Crisis Suits nearby, who pack harder-hitting weaponry. Pulse rifles just didn't bother bikes much, especially not when most of the wounds were soaked onto a 3-wound HQ with a 2+/3++.
Second game was objectives, but with a twist. In order to grab objectives, you had to defuse them with a d6 roll. The Imperium was the attacking force in this one due to our performance in round one. The defenders got to place all three objectives, but they had to be in the no man's land between deployment zones in a Dawn of War setup. Ours were spaced evenly in the middle, but close to the defending zone. I was facing Orks: Forgeworld Biker Boss guy, generic Warboss on Bike, max size Nob Bikerz with all powerklaws and invulnerable saves and a Painboy, max size Ork Bikers, and a Dakkajet.
This one was a 1-1 tie. I made a few tactical errors as a result of bloodlust and desperation. Twin-linked dakkaguns are stupid good (S5, Assault 3 is like every bike in your army having a heavy bolter). Dakkajet is ok, but not all that threatening to power armored armies.
The final game was pure kill points with some small mechanics that could boost or degrade your KP total. I faced a MSU Venom Dark Eldar force. All Warriors and Trueborn in Venoms backed up by Ravagers, led by the Duke. I was a little frosty when I started this game, as I was concentrating really hard on how I'd approach it. I probably came off as a little stand-offish. In the end, I just resolved to go all-out into the enemy in a cavalry charge. It worked, and I rolled through 13-5.
At the end of the day, I took home Best Imperial Overall (and had the points or best overall of the whole field, after tiebreakers). I was stunned. I've never won overall in anything before. Neat!
I didn't enter anything into the painting competition, as I hadn't painted anything specifically for it, and I just don't like my Marines anymore from a painting stand point.
On Sunday night, I glued the Hive Tyrant's body section to a 40mm base. I used a small amount of glue under the tail mounting point in order to make it so I could remove the 40mm base after he was all done, and then mount him on his proper 60mm base. I just needed something to hold him by while painting, and paperclip mounts just weren't going to cut it. I have a couple small gaps to fill tonight, and then it's primer time!
I also picked away at a Sternguard model, finishing the blue parts. I also selected the parts for another and bagged them for when I finish the current one.
5.15.2013
Brainstorming: The Ugly Army Makeover Project
I used to be a big fan of buying Space Marines cheap on eBay, stripping their often terrible paint jobs, and repainting them as part of my growing army. In fact, a good majority of my models were acquired and completed this way. For example, these pictures show before and after for some of my bikers:
Simple Green and Easy Off Oven Cleaner were my tools of the trade, with acetone joining in later. The sink in the guest bathroom/laundry room was often licorice scented (from Simple Green) and paint-spattered. These days, however, I'm a total model snob. I have amassed enough parts and kits that I've not built a totally refurbished model in quite a while.
Today I was brainstorming some fun ideas for the hobby, and wondered how interesting it would be to see a full army go from junk to jewel in a photo timeline. The loose plan would be to buy an army secondhand, with a fixed layout. Take a single combined army photo, as well as individual unit photos as a baseline. Then, using a single new box set, slowly rotate the old models into and out of the paint stripping bath. You'd build one brand new model from your box set, and pull one old model from the first unit. Strip the old model while painting your "seed" model. When the seed model is done, put it into the unit and take a picture. Begin painting the stripped model while stripping a second. It's a little cycle that would allow you to document the whole process.
The rest of the box set is there to use for repairs, spares, and embellishments. For example, some models simply cannot be saved from their paint jobs. I found a whole batch of Marines I'd bought secondhand had scarring and bubbling under a super thick coat of glossy spray paint. I managed to save some, but several had had complete sections of detail burned away. I salvaged the non-burned parts, but had to replace bits to get full models.
It might also be interesting to document your costs. Get a baseline cost of the army when you buy it, plus the cost of your "seed" box, a gallon of Simple Green, and a can of oven cleaner. Keep a running tally each time you buy parts, paint, and supplies. When the project is done, it would be neat to compare the retail cost of that army to what you've spent.
I think a Warhammer Fantasy army might be easiest to document. The block layout of units facilitates nice photos and a "start to finish" progression. There are also a lot of very simple WHFB models, like the single-piece Dwarfs from the old Skull Pass box, Orcs from the Empire/Orc starter, etc. Alternatively, a 40K Ork army might work well here, as it is both an army that can be acquired cheaply, as well as an army that typically has some scary beginner paint jobs and the ability to facilitate conversions and kitbashes in order to salvage as much of the old models as possible.
Of course, I definitely don't have time for such a project any more. With a new excitement for my Marines' focus of fast attack, the glacial pace of my Nids, and life in general, I don't think an Ugly Army project would progress at anything but a complete snail's pace, making it hard for readers to follow.
Maybe in the far off future...
Simple Green and Easy Off Oven Cleaner were my tools of the trade, with acetone joining in later. The sink in the guest bathroom/laundry room was often licorice scented (from Simple Green) and paint-spattered. These days, however, I'm a total model snob. I have amassed enough parts and kits that I've not built a totally refurbished model in quite a while.
Today I was brainstorming some fun ideas for the hobby, and wondered how interesting it would be to see a full army go from junk to jewel in a photo timeline. The loose plan would be to buy an army secondhand, with a fixed layout. Take a single combined army photo, as well as individual unit photos as a baseline. Then, using a single new box set, slowly rotate the old models into and out of the paint stripping bath. You'd build one brand new model from your box set, and pull one old model from the first unit. Strip the old model while painting your "seed" model. When the seed model is done, put it into the unit and take a picture. Begin painting the stripped model while stripping a second. It's a little cycle that would allow you to document the whole process.
The rest of the box set is there to use for repairs, spares, and embellishments. For example, some models simply cannot be saved from their paint jobs. I found a whole batch of Marines I'd bought secondhand had scarring and bubbling under a super thick coat of glossy spray paint. I managed to save some, but several had had complete sections of detail burned away. I salvaged the non-burned parts, but had to replace bits to get full models.
It might also be interesting to document your costs. Get a baseline cost of the army when you buy it, plus the cost of your "seed" box, a gallon of Simple Green, and a can of oven cleaner. Keep a running tally each time you buy parts, paint, and supplies. When the project is done, it would be neat to compare the retail cost of that army to what you've spent.
I think a Warhammer Fantasy army might be easiest to document. The block layout of units facilitates nice photos and a "start to finish" progression. There are also a lot of very simple WHFB models, like the single-piece Dwarfs from the old Skull Pass box, Orcs from the Empire/Orc starter, etc. Alternatively, a 40K Ork army might work well here, as it is both an army that can be acquired cheaply, as well as an army that typically has some scary beginner paint jobs and the ability to facilitate conversions and kitbashes in order to salvage as much of the old models as possible.
Of course, I definitely don't have time for such a project any more. With a new excitement for my Marines' focus of fast attack, the glacial pace of my Nids, and life in general, I don't think an Ugly Army project would progress at anything but a complete snail's pace, making it hard for readers to follow.
Maybe in the far off future...
5.09.2013
Let's Go Back to Bikes
Yes, I'm still working on my Tyrant. I have made some small steps forward (base coating his talons and claws in a golden tan color), but I wanted to jump back over to Marines for a day.
My wife is awesome and switched some shifts around at work to allow me to attend the FLGS's Big Spring Event, the Fratris Salutem. When the date was first announced, I couldn't go, then I could, then it got moved to June 1st and I couldn't, and now I can. It's all very confusing.
It's a 1500 point event, and I obviously don't have a Nid army of any points value done yet. My Tyrant won't even be done for the painting competition (I'll have it for the Standish Standoff 3 instead). So, I'm bringing Marines.
The exact list I'll take is still rattling around in my head, but I'm leaning towards bikes, as that is the easiest for me to run as a "themed" list. My evolving back story for the force is that it's an Ultramarine rapid response and recon strike force. When I run it at events, I like to write up a little one-page short story as a lead-in to the list. The list is always focused on speed: bikes, jumpers, and speeders. My Biker Captain has always been this guy, Captain Equos.
I built this model back int he dawn of 5th Edition, and you can tell. Not only is he not up to my current painting standards and abilities, but he's armed in 5th Edition style.
In 5th Edition, the relic blade was king. S6 power weapon ate most everything for lunch, and at full initiative value. Because bikers were T4(5), you wanted that Captain swinging early to keep power fists from one-shotting him. Storm shields were popular for the same reason, helping the Captain survive those S8 hits a little better than his basic iron halo save. But due to personal preferences, I never ran with a storm shield.
Now that the relic blade has been changed (not nerfed, changed), I'm seeing a need for a new Captain Equon model. In many of the recent tourneys, I've replaced the above model with the one I've used as a Company Champion on a bike. That one has a sword and shield, and I tend to give him artificer armor, a storm shield, and the relic blade. The load out makes him a house in melee against anything that's not a Terminator or monstrous creature.
But now that sixth edition is here, the relic blade is not the best option any more. It's still serviceable, but there are better options: a lightning claw or a power fist.
All three options result in the same number of attacks on the charge (four), but they differ in stat line.
The claw is nice because it's AP3, and rerolls wounds at S4 and I5. Against basic unit leaders like Marine Sergeants or Chaos Aspiring Champions, it does the job admirably for the fewest points. But, it won't scratch artificer armor, Terminator armor, or high-toughness monsters.
The relic blade is double the points, wounds more reliably, but at the same AP value. This wasn't a problem when power weapons simply ignored armor, but nowadays the AP3 is a liability for such an expensive investment in points.
The power fist runs at S8, AP2, but is Unwieldy and swings at I1. As I mentioned before, this was a death sentence in 5th Edition. But the change to biker toughness to a flat T5 makes it far less risky in 6th. It's not as expensive as the relic blade, but more expensive than the lightning claw. The nice kick here is that it can cause instant death to T4 models, like generic Marine HQs.
If you want to go back down to lightning claw points levels, you can go with a generic power weapon.
A sword is ok, but the single extra attack it'll get you from having a pistol alongside really isn't worth the swap from rerolling wounds with a lightning claw.
The axe is S5, gets the extra attack for a pistol, but attacks at I1. Not bad against something like Tactical Terminators, but it really requires investment in a storm shield and a bucket of luck to make sure you don't get punched down in return by the Terminators.
Staves and mauls are for Librarians and Chaplains. It's got the same strength attacks as the relic blade, can get a bonus for a pistol, but is a lowly AP4. MEQ models are going to laugh at you. You don't even get the chance to cause instant death from Force like a Librarian, or Fearlessness and rerolls to hit like a Chaplain.
Lances attack at I5, S5, and AP3...on the charge. After that, they drop to S4 and AP4. The only people who should be carrying power lances in a bike army are Command Squad members attached to Kor'sarro Khan, and only because he has Furious Charge and Hit and Run.
After all that, I feel like the power fist is my best bet. The lightning claw is a close second, but is intended for cutting down large numbers of chump models or basic unit leaders. It tapers off fast when faced with better armor saves or higher toughness. A Bike Captain in artificer armor can weather the attacks of those types of units by virtue of his 2+ armor and Toughness 5. Marine Bikers have no real problems dealing with the chaff of enemy armies. It's the leaders and monsters they struggle against, and the power fist is the answer in my opinion.
So after all that rambling, I think I want to build a new model to represent Captain Equon. He needs new armament and some of the fancy, new Marine bitz that have become available since I built the original. He'll end up on a bike with more decorative and stowage bitz courtesy of the new Ravenwing Command box, a powerfist, and artificer armor. I'll skip the storm shield, as the number of S10 melee attacks available on characters is small, and the mobility of bike armies can help to simply avoid those tough fights.
Time to get shopping!
My wife is awesome and switched some shifts around at work to allow me to attend the FLGS's Big Spring Event, the Fratris Salutem. When the date was first announced, I couldn't go, then I could, then it got moved to June 1st and I couldn't, and now I can. It's all very confusing.
It's a 1500 point event, and I obviously don't have a Nid army of any points value done yet. My Tyrant won't even be done for the painting competition (I'll have it for the Standish Standoff 3 instead). So, I'm bringing Marines.
The exact list I'll take is still rattling around in my head, but I'm leaning towards bikes, as that is the easiest for me to run as a "themed" list. My evolving back story for the force is that it's an Ultramarine rapid response and recon strike force. When I run it at events, I like to write up a little one-page short story as a lead-in to the list. The list is always focused on speed: bikes, jumpers, and speeders. My Biker Captain has always been this guy, Captain Equos.
I built this model back int he dawn of 5th Edition, and you can tell. Not only is he not up to my current painting standards and abilities, but he's armed in 5th Edition style.
In 5th Edition, the relic blade was king. S6 power weapon ate most everything for lunch, and at full initiative value. Because bikers were T4(5), you wanted that Captain swinging early to keep power fists from one-shotting him. Storm shields were popular for the same reason, helping the Captain survive those S8 hits a little better than his basic iron halo save. But due to personal preferences, I never ran with a storm shield.
Now that the relic blade has been changed (not nerfed, changed), I'm seeing a need for a new Captain Equon model. In many of the recent tourneys, I've replaced the above model with the one I've used as a Company Champion on a bike. That one has a sword and shield, and I tend to give him artificer armor, a storm shield, and the relic blade. The load out makes him a house in melee against anything that's not a Terminator or monstrous creature.
But now that sixth edition is here, the relic blade is not the best option any more. It's still serviceable, but there are better options: a lightning claw or a power fist.
All three options result in the same number of attacks on the charge (four), but they differ in stat line.
The claw is nice because it's AP3, and rerolls wounds at S4 and I5. Against basic unit leaders like Marine Sergeants or Chaos Aspiring Champions, it does the job admirably for the fewest points. But, it won't scratch artificer armor, Terminator armor, or high-toughness monsters.
The relic blade is double the points, wounds more reliably, but at the same AP value. This wasn't a problem when power weapons simply ignored armor, but nowadays the AP3 is a liability for such an expensive investment in points.
The power fist runs at S8, AP2, but is Unwieldy and swings at I1. As I mentioned before, this was a death sentence in 5th Edition. But the change to biker toughness to a flat T5 makes it far less risky in 6th. It's not as expensive as the relic blade, but more expensive than the lightning claw. The nice kick here is that it can cause instant death to T4 models, like generic Marine HQs.
If you want to go back down to lightning claw points levels, you can go with a generic power weapon.
A sword is ok, but the single extra attack it'll get you from having a pistol alongside really isn't worth the swap from rerolling wounds with a lightning claw.
The axe is S5, gets the extra attack for a pistol, but attacks at I1. Not bad against something like Tactical Terminators, but it really requires investment in a storm shield and a bucket of luck to make sure you don't get punched down in return by the Terminators.
Staves and mauls are for Librarians and Chaplains. It's got the same strength attacks as the relic blade, can get a bonus for a pistol, but is a lowly AP4. MEQ models are going to laugh at you. You don't even get the chance to cause instant death from Force like a Librarian, or Fearlessness and rerolls to hit like a Chaplain.
Lances attack at I5, S5, and AP3...on the charge. After that, they drop to S4 and AP4. The only people who should be carrying power lances in a bike army are Command Squad members attached to Kor'sarro Khan, and only because he has Furious Charge and Hit and Run.
After all that, I feel like the power fist is my best bet. The lightning claw is a close second, but is intended for cutting down large numbers of chump models or basic unit leaders. It tapers off fast when faced with better armor saves or higher toughness. A Bike Captain in artificer armor can weather the attacks of those types of units by virtue of his 2+ armor and Toughness 5. Marine Bikers have no real problems dealing with the chaff of enemy armies. It's the leaders and monsters they struggle against, and the power fist is the answer in my opinion.
So after all that rambling, I think I want to build a new model to represent Captain Equon. He needs new armament and some of the fancy, new Marine bitz that have become available since I built the original. He'll end up on a bike with more decorative and stowage bitz courtesy of the new Ravenwing Command box, a powerfist, and artificer armor. I'll skip the storm shield, as the number of S10 melee attacks available on characters is small, and the mobility of bike armies can help to simply avoid those tough fights.
Time to get shopping!
4.22.2013
April Tourney Report
Saturday I attended the FLGS's monthly 40K tourney. This one was at 1750 points, and I ran this list.
It is basically the list I ran in March, minus the Hyperios Whirlwinds, and with an Assault Marine Squad and Jump Librarian added, with some shuffling of attack bikes. I've really enjoyed my bikes in Sixth Edition, and since I'm paring down my Marines to a fast-only style, I figured I'd keep going with them.
My first game was against Thor, from Creative Twilight. He was running Chaos Marines. We played Search and Destroy.
Things started out very slow due to Night Fight on turn one, and both of us playing pretty speedy armies. The first turn was mostly maneuvering and rearrangement. On Turn Two, I committed to the fight. I sent my Assault Marines into his Spawn with attached Lord. You see, I really love Assault Marines. I'm a White Scar/Raven Guard player at heart, but wear Ultramarine clothing. Whenever I field Assault Marines, I tend to hover around the edges with them, or hold them back a little too long. This tends to lead to them being shot down to ineffectiveness, or on the receiving end of a charge. Either way, they die without having accomplished much. I decided that this month they'd be bold, and be the first to the fray.
They slammed into the Spawn after a short volley of pistol shots, and actually managed to kill all of the Spawn in one go. A major factor was the ability to soak the Chaos Lord's challenge onto my sergeant, so the Librarian could use his force staff to take down two entire Spawn.
After that, things degenerated for me. My army has no answer to Chaos Marine characters and their nasty melee upgrades. None. Once those Lords got into my units, I didn't have much chance of survival.
In the end, I lost 33-1. Despite the loss, the game was enjoyable and challenging.
My second game was against Kamui and his Ork/Grot army. This one was Target Priority, on the shop's lava board. It's a board with a lot of 1"-2" wide lava streams, with some LOS-blocking rocks, impassable volcanoes, and some burned out tree area terrain. Most people at the shop love playing on this board both because it looks great, and because of all the lava. The cowards play the lava as difficult terrain. Others like myself play it as both difficult and dangerous. The crazies play it as lethal, though that's really tough to do due to the limited approaches amongst the spiderweb of lava.
My speed won me this one. I was able to roll a flank and reach the objective in Kamui's deployment zone, while using my own shattered units to claim my own objective and push onto the center marker.
Trukk Orks have it rough in 6th Edition. Once the trukks were down, I was able to charge my bike squads into the 12-strong Mobs. I'd challenge with a sergeant, and them immediately smack a wound onto a Nob with a Hammer of Wrath attack. The three remaining attacks would typically land twice, and wound once or twice. Nobs with a 6+ armor save and one remaining wound just never got to swing back. The game would have been a LOT closer if I'd not managed to use Terrify with my Librarian on the Warboss and his Nobz. They failed the immediate Morale test, ran, and were bogged down for the rest of the game. I also managed to Terrify the combined GrotGuard platoon in the last turn and send them packing, leaving the back objective open for the taking.
I ended up winning 30-3, but it was still a close game. I think another big factor int he game was the slowness at which we were forced to play due to the lava. We were rolling a LOT of dangerous terrain tests, which added several minutes to each of our turns.
The final game was against a Chaos Marine/Daemon list loosely themed around Typhus and Zombies. Typhus, three huge zombie squads, Huron, two units of Nurgle Spawn, some Chaos Hounds, Plaguebearers, and a Herald on Nurgle.
The mission was Defensive Onslaught.
This game was close til the last turn or two, and I lost 31-3. Again, I had no answer to Chaos characters. My Captain went toe-to-toe with Huron and did ok, but he was at one wound when he went in and wasn't able to do much before dying. I think if he'd had full wounds, it would have been closer.
All in all, a good day. I manged to win the "Master Class" side of the painting competition with one of mu Honour Guard models. The two divisions were one for entrants who'd never won a painting award, and one for anyone who had won a competition before.
I won't have the chance to play a game again til probably late June. The May event was pushed to June 1st, and I can't make that day. I might be lucky enough to sneak in on a Wednesday, but I doubt it.
I'll have to content myself with painting and clearing out Marine kits. My Hive Tyrant's limbs are coming along, and I hope to have a WIP shot soon. I assembled the three major parts of my next Sternguard model (body, backpack, bolter) and will prime and paint him in the coming week or two. Two more after that and I can stop with the Sternguard and switch to either my final Landspeeder or some Scout Bikers.
It is basically the list I ran in March, minus the Hyperios Whirlwinds, and with an Assault Marine Squad and Jump Librarian added, with some shuffling of attack bikes. I've really enjoyed my bikes in Sixth Edition, and since I'm paring down my Marines to a fast-only style, I figured I'd keep going with them.
My first game was against Thor, from Creative Twilight. He was running Chaos Marines. We played Search and Destroy.
Things started out very slow due to Night Fight on turn one, and both of us playing pretty speedy armies. The first turn was mostly maneuvering and rearrangement. On Turn Two, I committed to the fight. I sent my Assault Marines into his Spawn with attached Lord. You see, I really love Assault Marines. I'm a White Scar/Raven Guard player at heart, but wear Ultramarine clothing. Whenever I field Assault Marines, I tend to hover around the edges with them, or hold them back a little too long. This tends to lead to them being shot down to ineffectiveness, or on the receiving end of a charge. Either way, they die without having accomplished much. I decided that this month they'd be bold, and be the first to the fray.
They slammed into the Spawn after a short volley of pistol shots, and actually managed to kill all of the Spawn in one go. A major factor was the ability to soak the Chaos Lord's challenge onto my sergeant, so the Librarian could use his force staff to take down two entire Spawn.
After that, things degenerated for me. My army has no answer to Chaos Marine characters and their nasty melee upgrades. None. Once those Lords got into my units, I didn't have much chance of survival.
In the end, I lost 33-1. Despite the loss, the game was enjoyable and challenging.
My second game was against Kamui and his Ork/Grot army. This one was Target Priority, on the shop's lava board. It's a board with a lot of 1"-2" wide lava streams, with some LOS-blocking rocks, impassable volcanoes, and some burned out tree area terrain. Most people at the shop love playing on this board both because it looks great, and because of all the lava. The cowards play the lava as difficult terrain. Others like myself play it as both difficult and dangerous. The crazies play it as lethal, though that's really tough to do due to the limited approaches amongst the spiderweb of lava.
My speed won me this one. I was able to roll a flank and reach the objective in Kamui's deployment zone, while using my own shattered units to claim my own objective and push onto the center marker.
Trukk Orks have it rough in 6th Edition. Once the trukks were down, I was able to charge my bike squads into the 12-strong Mobs. I'd challenge with a sergeant, and them immediately smack a wound onto a Nob with a Hammer of Wrath attack. The three remaining attacks would typically land twice, and wound once or twice. Nobs with a 6+ armor save and one remaining wound just never got to swing back. The game would have been a LOT closer if I'd not managed to use Terrify with my Librarian on the Warboss and his Nobz. They failed the immediate Morale test, ran, and were bogged down for the rest of the game. I also managed to Terrify the combined GrotGuard platoon in the last turn and send them packing, leaving the back objective open for the taking.
I ended up winning 30-3, but it was still a close game. I think another big factor int he game was the slowness at which we were forced to play due to the lava. We were rolling a LOT of dangerous terrain tests, which added several minutes to each of our turns.
The final game was against a Chaos Marine/Daemon list loosely themed around Typhus and Zombies. Typhus, three huge zombie squads, Huron, two units of Nurgle Spawn, some Chaos Hounds, Plaguebearers, and a Herald on Nurgle.
The mission was Defensive Onslaught.
This game was close til the last turn or two, and I lost 31-3. Again, I had no answer to Chaos characters. My Captain went toe-to-toe with Huron and did ok, but he was at one wound when he went in and wasn't able to do much before dying. I think if he'd had full wounds, it would have been closer.
All in all, a good day. I manged to win the "Master Class" side of the painting competition with one of mu Honour Guard models. The two divisions were one for entrants who'd never won a painting award, and one for anyone who had won a competition before.
I won't have the chance to play a game again til probably late June. The May event was pushed to June 1st, and I can't make that day. I might be lucky enough to sneak in on a Wednesday, but I doubt it.
I'll have to content myself with painting and clearing out Marine kits. My Hive Tyrant's limbs are coming along, and I hope to have a WIP shot soon. I assembled the three major parts of my next Sternguard model (body, backpack, bolter) and will prime and paint him in the coming week or two. Two more after that and I can stop with the Sternguard and switch to either my final Landspeeder or some Scout Bikers.
3.18.2013
Post Tourney Report
So Saturday was the FLGS's monthly 40K tourney. 1500 points, and I brought the list I mentioned two posts ago. I elected to go with Typhoon Speeders.
My first game was against a Mechanized Guard/Space Wolves consortium. Lots of melta/plasma Guard vets in Rhinos, two Vendettas, a couple Grey Hunter units in Rhinos with double special weapons, a Rune Priest, Missile Fangs, Primaris Psyker (It's "pry-MARE-us" folks, not "Primus". He doesn't have a big brown beaver, nor is he goin' on down to South Park), and a Psyker Battle squad.
We played Special Ops on the Mars board I'd built last year. Several large sections of area terrain (pipes and pumps), and some LOS-blocking fuel towers. Then a railroad track down the middle with the cars scattered along the center line. Very little cover once you left your deployment zone.
I was pushing for four units in the enemy deployment zone as my primary objective, and I forget what I elected for my secondary and tertiary. I think one was table quarters with a scoring unit, and the other was...kill points?
I placed my Hyperii one in each corner of my deployment zone. The fields of fire were huge, and I made sure I could cover good sections of the board with each. The rest of my units were ranged across my zone, with the attack bikes dead center. The enemy deployed pretty much the same, everything buttoned up in a transport except the Missile Fangs.
We proceeded to shoot the hell out of one another, with my bikes hurtling forward, and the enemy holding a mechanized gun line.
When the smoke cleared, we drew on every objective, I scored one bonus point, and my opponent scored two.
Game Two was against Chaos Marines in a kill point mission with objectives as secondary and table quarters as tertiary. I think. I'm always fuzzy on that stuff after the fact.
The Chaos list was a Lord in TDA, a fistful of Traitor Terminators in a Land Raider, a Helldrake, two CSM squads in Rhinos with double plasma, and a 5 or 6 strong bike squad.
I started out with a pretty good advantage, taking out his Rhinos early and the bike squad shortly after. I shot his Helldrake out of the sky with a Hyperios as soon as it arrived (though it did Vector Strike some attack bikes). Things bogged down as we circled each other for the center of the board, and his Terminators wiped out my melta squad. I'd lost all the attack bikes early from lascannon and vector strike damage. The Land Raider was free to rampage around, but it never did. My opponent backed up with hit, instead of pressing the advantage.
In the end we split the points almost down the middle, 16-15. I had the 15.
We finished the game in an hour and 15 minutes, so I had an hour to wait. I roped Lukas into playing a game of Death Angel with me, which was awesome. I've owned the game since it was released, but have only ever gotten to play solitaire mode. It is infinitely more entertaining with other people. I'm thinking with 6 it would be a total blast. We ended up winning over the Genestealers with a hail mary roll. Success!
Game Three was against Ultramarines in an objective tagging mission. Instead of parking on objectives, you can move around and "tag" them. If the tagged unit dies, all the objectives revert to neutral. If the enemy gets to your tagged objectives and you don't have a claiming or contesting unit around, the enemy steals the tag.
The Ultramarines brought a Librarian, jump Chaplain, one 10-man Tac squad in a Rhino, one 5-man in a Lasback, five or six Hammernators in a Crusader, 5 Sternguard with combis in a pod, and a 10-man Assault Squad.
We beat the crap out of one another in this game, and I came up short. I think I landed three points in the end.
All in all, it was a good day. I had fun in all three games, and don't have a single gripe or bitch to air. I really enjoyed having 4 troops squads in my biker list, and I think I may keep it that way for a while. I'm sad that Typhoons are still the best and only-est Landspeeder option that makes sense. I really want Tornado pattern assault cannons to work, but I think I'd have lost every game without the fire from the Typhoons.
The Hyperii really didn't do much. In game one, I got a shot off on each Vendetta as it arrived, but they just bounced off. The S8 vs AV12 is a total crapshoot. Of course, I lucked out in Game Two when one failed to bother the Helldrake, but the other took it out of the sky. They spent the rest of the game potshotting at Rhinos, same as they did in Game One. With no flyers in Game Three, I used them to splatter a Sternguard model when they podded in, and then potshot at Rhinos.
I think they'd be far more useful against lower-AV flyers, but only Orks really have those. They'll likely also be good against flying or deepstriking monsters like Hive Tyrants. Twin-linking was nice on the missiles, and i didn't miss a single shot all game, IIRC.
I'm not sure what I'd replace the Hyperii with though. I've been wanting to try out some Scout Bikes for a while, so maybe I'll try that out once I'm done with the slow-as-molasses Sternguard squad. Of course, they need a drop pod, so the Scout Bikes might end up pushed even further out.
No progress on Tyranids this weekend.
My first game was against a Mechanized Guard/Space Wolves consortium. Lots of melta/plasma Guard vets in Rhinos, two Vendettas, a couple Grey Hunter units in Rhinos with double special weapons, a Rune Priest, Missile Fangs, Primaris Psyker (It's "pry-MARE-us" folks, not "Primus". He doesn't have a big brown beaver, nor is he goin' on down to South Park), and a Psyker Battle squad.
We played Special Ops on the Mars board I'd built last year. Several large sections of area terrain (pipes and pumps), and some LOS-blocking fuel towers. Then a railroad track down the middle with the cars scattered along the center line. Very little cover once you left your deployment zone.
I was pushing for four units in the enemy deployment zone as my primary objective, and I forget what I elected for my secondary and tertiary. I think one was table quarters with a scoring unit, and the other was...kill points?
I placed my Hyperii one in each corner of my deployment zone. The fields of fire were huge, and I made sure I could cover good sections of the board with each. The rest of my units were ranged across my zone, with the attack bikes dead center. The enemy deployed pretty much the same, everything buttoned up in a transport except the Missile Fangs.
We proceeded to shoot the hell out of one another, with my bikes hurtling forward, and the enemy holding a mechanized gun line.
When the smoke cleared, we drew on every objective, I scored one bonus point, and my opponent scored two.
Game Two was against Chaos Marines in a kill point mission with objectives as secondary and table quarters as tertiary. I think. I'm always fuzzy on that stuff after the fact.
The Chaos list was a Lord in TDA, a fistful of Traitor Terminators in a Land Raider, a Helldrake, two CSM squads in Rhinos with double plasma, and a 5 or 6 strong bike squad.
I started out with a pretty good advantage, taking out his Rhinos early and the bike squad shortly after. I shot his Helldrake out of the sky with a Hyperios as soon as it arrived (though it did Vector Strike some attack bikes). Things bogged down as we circled each other for the center of the board, and his Terminators wiped out my melta squad. I'd lost all the attack bikes early from lascannon and vector strike damage. The Land Raider was free to rampage around, but it never did. My opponent backed up with hit, instead of pressing the advantage.
In the end we split the points almost down the middle, 16-15. I had the 15.
We finished the game in an hour and 15 minutes, so I had an hour to wait. I roped Lukas into playing a game of Death Angel with me, which was awesome. I've owned the game since it was released, but have only ever gotten to play solitaire mode. It is infinitely more entertaining with other people. I'm thinking with 6 it would be a total blast. We ended up winning over the Genestealers with a hail mary roll. Success!
Game Three was against Ultramarines in an objective tagging mission. Instead of parking on objectives, you can move around and "tag" them. If the tagged unit dies, all the objectives revert to neutral. If the enemy gets to your tagged objectives and you don't have a claiming or contesting unit around, the enemy steals the tag.
The Ultramarines brought a Librarian, jump Chaplain, one 10-man Tac squad in a Rhino, one 5-man in a Lasback, five or six Hammernators in a Crusader, 5 Sternguard with combis in a pod, and a 10-man Assault Squad.
We beat the crap out of one another in this game, and I came up short. I think I landed three points in the end.
All in all, it was a good day. I had fun in all three games, and don't have a single gripe or bitch to air. I really enjoyed having 4 troops squads in my biker list, and I think I may keep it that way for a while. I'm sad that Typhoons are still the best and only-est Landspeeder option that makes sense. I really want Tornado pattern assault cannons to work, but I think I'd have lost every game without the fire from the Typhoons.
The Hyperii really didn't do much. In game one, I got a shot off on each Vendetta as it arrived, but they just bounced off. The S8 vs AV12 is a total crapshoot. Of course, I lucked out in Game Two when one failed to bother the Helldrake, but the other took it out of the sky. They spent the rest of the game potshotting at Rhinos, same as they did in Game One. With no flyers in Game Three, I used them to splatter a Sternguard model when they podded in, and then potshot at Rhinos.
I think they'd be far more useful against lower-AV flyers, but only Orks really have those. They'll likely also be good against flying or deepstriking monsters like Hive Tyrants. Twin-linking was nice on the missiles, and i didn't miss a single shot all game, IIRC.
I'm not sure what I'd replace the Hyperii with though. I've been wanting to try out some Scout Bikes for a while, so maybe I'll try that out once I'm done with the slow-as-molasses Sternguard squad. Of course, they need a drop pod, so the Scout Bikes might end up pushed even further out.
No progress on Tyranids this weekend.
3.11.2013
Hoofin' It
My Hive Tyrant is slowly progressing. I put in an hour working on his feet this weekend, but forgot to take anything more than very preliminary shots. Here's some photos of the underside of his hooves:
Yes, they look pretty rough in these shots. I took them right after I got the Brown Stuff in place. Yesterday afternoon, after it has cured, I took a file to the surfaces and smoothed them out. The hooves are now flush with the outsides, and the interior has been cleaned up and smoothed out.
Tonight I plan to add the fleshy 'sole' area, as well as the 'frog'. That's the hard little bony area that will extend from the back to the interior. (It pays to have a wife who used to own a horse.)
I also fiddled with army lists for the FLGS tournament this weekend. I struggled a bit with deciding what type of a list I wanted to run. I thought about a Dreadnought list, led by a Master of the Forge, but I haven't figured out a good way to run that yet. I own four Dreads (one an Ironclad) with a mess of arm options, but just haven't ever had any success with running that many. I think I need to either run a full six (after I build and paint the two I have waiting), or get some drop pods into the mix. Dreads simply cannot walk across the board, and don't have the volume of shots needed to be reliable fire bases. I've tried in the past to do a mini phalanx formation with two Dreads with assault cannons and heavy flamers marching forward led by the Ironclad, and a Venerable standing overwatch behind them with a lascannon and missile launcher. It works ok, but not well enough to be a threat that takes heat off my Troops lots.
I then thought about taking a very vanilla list with a Librarian, a couple Tactical Squads, a Thunderfire, and two five-man units of Devestators: one with heavy bolters, one with missiles. This was the "let's kill the new Daemons" list, but I found it boring. Plus, there are only two reliable Daemons players at our shop, and tailoring a build to give those two players a run when the field is typically 12-16 is stupid.
I decided to go back to my area of expertise, and run bikes. I was inspired by a post over at Apostates Anonymous regarding bikes. At the end of the post, the author talks about how he's underwhelmed by his Bike Command Squad that is tooled for melee. Too many points for limited return, essentially. I thought about my own Command Squad, and realized that it lands in about the same place. Too many points for what it does, and I run an even gimpier version (Champion, Apothecary, Banner Bearer, Powerfist, Power Axe). So, I decided that I'm going to run bikes this month (at 1500 points, btw), and do so without my Command Squad.
Here's a general outline of what I came up with:
Captain in artificer armor, relic blade, storm shield, bike
Bikes One, 5x, combimelta, 2 meltaguns
Bikes Two, 5x, combiflamer, 2 flamers
Bikes Three, 5x, plasma pistol, 2 plasmaguns
Bikes Four, 5x, powerfist
2x Attack Bikes, multimeltas
3x Attack Bikes, multimeltas
Hyperios Whirlwind
Hyperios Whirlwind
2x Landspeeders (see blow)
It's a fast list with some semi-mobile anti-air fire. I largely put the Hyperii in because I just got the book for them and want to see how they work. Couple hundred points for a gamble.
This is the first time I'll have ever run four small bike Troops. Normally I run three six-man squads. I wanted to see how having one wild-card unit would work out, where I can just let them sit out of LOS or something. That's what the fourth squad is for, with its powerfist and no other upgrades.
The only decision I have left is how to arm the land speeders. I typically run them as Typhoons for four missiles per turn. It's reliable, flexible, and has range. But I'm also thinking about alternative loadouts. First is assault cannons and heavy bolters for some serious small arms fire. Half the range of a Typhoon, but double the main gun shots. Assault cannons are a funny creature in that they're very generalist. Not high enough strength to be brutal, but with enough shots to get the job done against light AV and small units of troopers. Same points cost as Typhoons as well.
I also thought about a cheaper version that replaces the heavy bolters with multimeltas. With the change to AP1 in 6th Edition, melta is spectacular against anything with an AV. Of course, they have half the range of a Typhoon, and a quarter when going for melta range. They do match assault cannons though.
The range bands of assault cannons and multimeltas aren't as much of a problem for speeders, though, as they can move rapidly, or even deep strike. With the changes to the mishap table, deep striking a couple land speeders isn't a huge risk. The real risk comes from enemy interceptor units.
So, with the above list, which would you run?
1.02.2013
I Hate Cats, and I Dislike Dark Angels
Warning: there is cursing ahead!
Yes, I hate cats. There's nothing worse than a pet that barfs on your floor, sits on your kitchen counters, and shits in a box that you have to empty daily. Unless it's a pet that decides to dump half of your 40K collection on the floor for fun. Such was the case on Saturday. I was playing on the floor with my son in the nursery when I heard a massive crash from my office. The source? Aforementioned cat tearing three full Battlefoam trays of models off of the shelf they were stored on, and down onto the floor. About a four foot drop.
So, one full tray of bikes, one full tray of Terminators and Assault Marines, and a tray of Dreadnoughts and Landspeeders on the floor. Smashed into pieces.
I resisted the temptation to throw the cat out into traffic, and the pile sat there for a few hours while I waited for the wife to wake up from her post-work sleep.
I eventually sorted through the carnage and the result was:
Yes, I hate cats. There's nothing worse than a pet that barfs on your floor, sits on your kitchen counters, and shits in a box that you have to empty daily. Unless it's a pet that decides to dump half of your 40K collection on the floor for fun. Such was the case on Saturday. I was playing on the floor with my son in the nursery when I heard a massive crash from my office. The source? Aforementioned cat tearing three full Battlefoam trays of models off of the shelf they were stored on, and down onto the floor. About a four foot drop.
So, one full tray of bikes, one full tray of Terminators and Assault Marines, and a tray of Dreadnoughts and Landspeeders on the floor. Smashed into pieces.
I resisted the temptation to throw the cat out into traffic, and the pile sat there for a few hours while I waited for the wife to wake up from her post-work sleep.
I eventually sorted through the carnage and the result was:
That's one Terminator loosened from his base, a Terminator Chaplain with his Iron Halo bashed off, a dozen bikers in various states of destruction, two metal Dreads smashed off their bases and feet, a Landspeeder with broken gun rails, a Landspeeder gunner with his gun broken from his hands, and two Assault Marines with jump packs broken off.
Anyone who knows my paint process and speed knows that this pile represents about 6-9 months of work. These days painting all these models would take me over a year. I was seeing red, and was tempted to throw it all in the trash and quit (it had been a very tiring and frustrating holiday week-plus).
Thankfully, when I was able to get the boy to bed later that night and take a deep breath, I looked over all the models under my OttLite with my glasses on. There was a minimum of damaged paint, with only a few smudges or streaks here and there. My multiple coats of Dullcote paid off. Anything that exploded tended to do so at a pinned point (Dread feet, jump packs) or a glueable area. After two full hours of work, I'd reassembled everything. The hardest part was figuring out which backpack went to which Biker. I had to closely inspect the broken joints and match up glue distortion patterns in the plastic. Tedious.
In the end, I was able to recover all of the models. The cat lives, for now.
I'm sure most folks have already seen the leaked photos of the upcoming Dark Angels model kits. If not, search around the 40K blogosphere.
All I can say is "what the fuck?" That's my first impression of what I've seen of the new models. The new Landspeeder is a unanimous failure. Straight out terrible. How does the pilot fly that thing with his gunner blocking 50% of his field of view? And where is the best place to be when firing a huge double plasma cannon turret? Why, with your head right between the plasma coils, of course! I'm not sure who designed this kit, but they need to be fired. Twice.
The new flyer is nice. It's essentially a redesign of the Stormtalon kit that everyone cried about. I never had a major problem with it. The new wings are boss, though.
People are pissing their pants over the new Ravenwing kits. I'll have to get hold of the sprues to decide if there are any good stowage or decorative bitz for my Ultramarines bikers. Folks are up in arms, good or bad, over twin-linked plasma guns on bikes. I run plasma on bikes a lot folks, and twin-linking isn't a huge deal. Fewer overheats, sure, but it's not all-powerful. You don't get extra shots from twin-linking, extra range, or anything of that sort. Marines were already reliable in shooting plasmaguns.
The new Terminator kits are "meh" to me. The posing of the models is purely uninspired. Most are standing there in some awkward "I've got an itch" pose. The dual-claw model is in a Wolverine-esque pose, but his legs lack any motion, so the end result is floppy.
Overall, I'm not impressed with the amount of decoration on the new models. I feel it's overdone. Some decoration is acceptable, especially for veterans and characters. The design team did well with the Blood Angel and Grey Knight kits. Those are detailed without being too busy. These DA kits simply have too much going on. Every possible surface is covered in something. A design philosophy like that essentially shoehorns modellers into one specific style. Yes, you could mix with the basic Marine kits like Space Wolves kits are designed to do, but then you ask "Why does that Terminator have legs encrusted in designs and decoration, but the rest of him is not?"
I have to reserve final judgement for when I see the sprues in person, but right now I'm not impressed.
11.12.2012
Standoff After-Action Report
The dust has settled, and I've had some time to rest and reflect on my attendance at the Standish Standoff 2 on Saturday.
I woke up at a typical 6am for the day as I'd been up til 10pm Friday night finishing off my final two models for my army. I packed up my gear and hit the road around 8am. Stopped for a coffee and a pastry, and arrived at the shop just before 9am.
My first task was to unpack and get my marines ranked up on my display board. One thing i find aweseom is that whenever I run my Biker Army, I typically get a couple "Man, that's a LOT of bikes!" comments by passers-by. Saturday was no exception. I got at least two comments on the biker volume, lol.
Here's the list I played:
Captain on Bike (artificer armor, relic blade)
Bike Command Squad (Champion, Banner Bearer, Apothecary, Storm Shield Vet, Power Axe Vet)
Techmarine on Bike
Bikes One (5 bikes, 2 flamers, combiflamer, meltabombs, heavy bolter attack bike)
Bikes Two (6 bikes, 2 meltaguns, combimelta, meltabombs)
Bikes Three (6 bikes, 2 plasmaguns, plasma pistol, meltabombs)
Attack Bike Squadron (3 bikes, multimeltas)
Landspeeder Squadron (2 Typhoons with heavy bolters)
Assault Squad (10 strong, 2 plasma pistols, sergeant with 2 plasma pistols)
It's my standard Go Fast syle list. I've got running fluff for the army that I add to every time I run it in a GT-style setting.
I ended up with a 36/40 for painting, which was good enough for 6th of 32 (three points behind 1st).
My first game was against a Necron army. I've known the player for a while now, as he ispart of a great club down in Massachusetts. It was a throwback style Necron Phalanx list, with some toys thrown in, like a Tomb Stalker. We were playing Special Ops. I selected Blitzkrieg as my primary, Battlefield Cnotrol as Secondary, and Domination as Tertiary.
The Necrons deployed with obscured LOS behind a big building, in a solid block. I was spread across my zone, and maneuvered myself to execute a textbook pincer movement. I ended up winning by jamming up the Necron movement in the center of the baord, preventing them from taking the central objective as their primary goal. I had 5 units in the Necron Zone as a result of my wide flanking maneuver. We tied on secondary (I didn't hold a majority of quarters) and tertiary (same KPs).
Game two was against a heavily converted/self-built/sculpted Chaos Daemons army run by another great player from the same club. We played Vengeance.
I'm not a huge fan of the mission format, but you play what you play. I know how to deploy versus Daemons pretty well, and filled my deployment zne with my models, and then pressed forward a bit during Turn One.
There were just too many monsters in the Daemon army for me to take down, though my opponent's save rolls were crazy good. I'd sink 4-5 wounds on a monster, and he'd save all but one. I'd then remond him about his Feel No Pain roll, and he'd make that too. That happened three times!
I ended up losing primary, winning secondary (due to a sacrificial Sergeant challenge keeping me on an objective on the final turn), and splitting tertiary.
I was near top-of-the-middle after the game.
Game Three was against a Blood Angels/Guard force. Very much a 5th Edition list with lots of Razorbacks and Predators and two Flyers (Storm Raven and Vendetta). We played Battlefield Superiorty.
I originally had first turn, but the initiative was seized, and I lost a couple random models and my Predator to a Manticore shot on the first turn. Halfmy heavy guns were gone in one shot. Damn.
I retaliated by running my Captain, Command, and Techmarine right up the gut. Bikers can murder transports handily these days with krak grenades. An IG Chimera went up in smoke from the Captain's blade and a random krak grenade or two.
The game ground on and on, with me losing bikes a few at a time, and then assaulting transports with grenades over and over. I had the game with 17 minutes left, but we determined that because we had both had so few models left, we could fit in another turn. That final turn saw the arrival of the enemy Storm Raven carying a small Troops squad and a Dread. The troops landed fine, but the Dread mishapped back into Ongoing Reserve (scattered back onto the Raven when dropping out via Skies of Blood). That swung the primary to my opponent, but tied the secondary and tertiary.
Good, close game that saw me make a crazy number of Jink saves when it mattered!
I ended the day in 16th for raw Battle Points, which is exactly what I expected to do.
I took second place for the pub quiz with a 6 (I think that was 12 correct answers?).
I'd designed my list to be solid on composition, and had an 80 there (-5 points for the third Fast slot).
All told, I ended up in second place for People's Champion (soft scores only) by 2.5 points. The irony was that the winner was my second round opponent, who'd gotten my Favorite Opponent vote for another 5 points. Damn him for being so cool! lol.
I landed at 7th place of 32 for Overall. Not too bad!
Overall, it was a great day. My knee held up to standing for the whole day, which was nice.
My army performed as I thought it would, being very good against some opponents and less useful against others. But for a few rolls here and there and things might have gone more in my favor than they already did.
The one, glaring lesson I took from the day is that I need to improve my painting again. I'm a "clean and smooth" painter. My Ultramarines are always sharp, but I don't do blended highlights, weathering, etc. Clean and smooth doesn't stack up against other folks' styles and armies.
I need more.
To that end, I am either going to attempt to start painting using zenithal highlighting and my airbrush, or start painting another Chapter. I keep gravitating toward Howling Griffons for some reason. I showed my wife the lineup of Marine schemes in the last few pages of How To Paint Space Marines and she liked the look of the Dark Sons. I also thought about doing Subjugators in the past, but if I change, I'm going with a quarter or halved scheme to up the challenge value of painting.
I woke up at a typical 6am for the day as I'd been up til 10pm Friday night finishing off my final two models for my army. I packed up my gear and hit the road around 8am. Stopped for a coffee and a pastry, and arrived at the shop just before 9am.
My first task was to unpack and get my marines ranked up on my display board. One thing i find aweseom is that whenever I run my Biker Army, I typically get a couple "Man, that's a LOT of bikes!" comments by passers-by. Saturday was no exception. I got at least two comments on the biker volume, lol.
Here's the list I played:
Captain on Bike (artificer armor, relic blade)
Bike Command Squad (Champion, Banner Bearer, Apothecary, Storm Shield Vet, Power Axe Vet)
Techmarine on Bike
Bikes One (5 bikes, 2 flamers, combiflamer, meltabombs, heavy bolter attack bike)
Bikes Two (6 bikes, 2 meltaguns, combimelta, meltabombs)
Bikes Three (6 bikes, 2 plasmaguns, plasma pistol, meltabombs)
Attack Bike Squadron (3 bikes, multimeltas)
Landspeeder Squadron (2 Typhoons with heavy bolters)
Assault Squad (10 strong, 2 plasma pistols, sergeant with 2 plasma pistols)
It's my standard Go Fast syle list. I've got running fluff for the army that I add to every time I run it in a GT-style setting.
I ended up with a 36/40 for painting, which was good enough for 6th of 32 (three points behind 1st).
My first game was against a Necron army. I've known the player for a while now, as he ispart of a great club down in Massachusetts. It was a throwback style Necron Phalanx list, with some toys thrown in, like a Tomb Stalker. We were playing Special Ops. I selected Blitzkrieg as my primary, Battlefield Cnotrol as Secondary, and Domination as Tertiary.
The Necrons deployed with obscured LOS behind a big building, in a solid block. I was spread across my zone, and maneuvered myself to execute a textbook pincer movement. I ended up winning by jamming up the Necron movement in the center of the baord, preventing them from taking the central objective as their primary goal. I had 5 units in the Necron Zone as a result of my wide flanking maneuver. We tied on secondary (I didn't hold a majority of quarters) and tertiary (same KPs).
Game two was against a heavily converted/self-built/sculpted Chaos Daemons army run by another great player from the same club. We played Vengeance.
I'm not a huge fan of the mission format, but you play what you play. I know how to deploy versus Daemons pretty well, and filled my deployment zne with my models, and then pressed forward a bit during Turn One.
There were just too many monsters in the Daemon army for me to take down, though my opponent's save rolls were crazy good. I'd sink 4-5 wounds on a monster, and he'd save all but one. I'd then remond him about his Feel No Pain roll, and he'd make that too. That happened three times!
I ended up losing primary, winning secondary (due to a sacrificial Sergeant challenge keeping me on an objective on the final turn), and splitting tertiary.
I was near top-of-the-middle after the game.
Game Three was against a Blood Angels/Guard force. Very much a 5th Edition list with lots of Razorbacks and Predators and two Flyers (Storm Raven and Vendetta). We played Battlefield Superiorty.
I originally had first turn, but the initiative was seized, and I lost a couple random models and my Predator to a Manticore shot on the first turn. Halfmy heavy guns were gone in one shot. Damn.
I retaliated by running my Captain, Command, and Techmarine right up the gut. Bikers can murder transports handily these days with krak grenades. An IG Chimera went up in smoke from the Captain's blade and a random krak grenade or two.
The game ground on and on, with me losing bikes a few at a time, and then assaulting transports with grenades over and over. I had the game with 17 minutes left, but we determined that because we had both had so few models left, we could fit in another turn. That final turn saw the arrival of the enemy Storm Raven carying a small Troops squad and a Dread. The troops landed fine, but the Dread mishapped back into Ongoing Reserve (scattered back onto the Raven when dropping out via Skies of Blood). That swung the primary to my opponent, but tied the secondary and tertiary.
Good, close game that saw me make a crazy number of Jink saves when it mattered!
I ended the day in 16th for raw Battle Points, which is exactly what I expected to do.
I took second place for the pub quiz with a 6 (I think that was 12 correct answers?).
I'd designed my list to be solid on composition, and had an 80 there (-5 points for the third Fast slot).
All told, I ended up in second place for People's Champion (soft scores only) by 2.5 points. The irony was that the winner was my second round opponent, who'd gotten my Favorite Opponent vote for another 5 points. Damn him for being so cool! lol.
I landed at 7th place of 32 for Overall. Not too bad!
Overall, it was a great day. My knee held up to standing for the whole day, which was nice.
My army performed as I thought it would, being very good against some opponents and less useful against others. But for a few rolls here and there and things might have gone more in my favor than they already did.
The one, glaring lesson I took from the day is that I need to improve my painting again. I'm a "clean and smooth" painter. My Ultramarines are always sharp, but I don't do blended highlights, weathering, etc. Clean and smooth doesn't stack up against other folks' styles and armies.
I need more.
To that end, I am either going to attempt to start painting using zenithal highlighting and my airbrush, or start painting another Chapter. I keep gravitating toward Howling Griffons for some reason. I showed my wife the lineup of Marine schemes in the last few pages of How To Paint Space Marines and she liked the look of the Dark Sons. I also thought about doing Subjugators in the past, but if I change, I'm going with a quarter or halved scheme to up the challenge value of painting.
11.05.2012
Sweat the Small Stuff
In looking back over some of my past work and comparing it to my more recent work, I realized just how crucially important small details on your models are. It's the tiny details that really make a model stand out from its peers.
Let's look at some of my past Space Marine Bikes as examples, and then compare them to my most recent work.
Here's my Biker Apothecary:
He's "ok, not great." He uses my old gold painting method, which was very flat, and some subdued edge highlights. The white is ok, and I'm sort of proud of the fact that the liquid levels in the narthecium match the gravity of the model. The purity seals lack depth in the red. Keep an eye on that box magazine for the bolters, as well...
Here's the first biker I ever painted:
Again, gold is super flat, highlights are thin and pale. The metals are dirty and lack any sort of depth.
My biker Captain model:
More of the same problems. That tarp on the back is just terrible. The bolters on his bike aren't even squared to the front. They point downward!
Finally, my first Attack Bike:
Same as the other bikes, but look closely at the tire on the sidecar. Nice mold line, man! Sheesh!
Now compare those to my recent Attack Bike:
Highlights are brighter and more crisp, the gold has actual levels and depth, as do the metal parts. Remember the box magazine? I actually painted the exposed rounds! Go back and look at all the older bikes. Does the contrast of the loaded brass look better or worse than the all-silver box mags?
I don't have a photo to help illustrate this one, but on the recent attack bike I painted all of the console and handlebar buttons one color, red. I attempted some lens effects on them, and they look pretty good. On all my old bikes, I painted each set of buttons a different color. Yellow, green, red, blue. The consoles look like a Christmas tree. No lens effects, just flat paint. When I first painted those old bikes, I figured the Marines would want different colors for what each button does. The effect is just too busy. It doesn't provide contrast or crispness, it creates visual confusion. Besides, Marines are psycho-indoctrinated and battle hardened. They don't need multicolored buttons!
I'm rapidly learning to take my time and examine the small details of my models, like exposed brass casings in a magazine or the purpose of using colors on different objects. I'd have to say it improves the end result quite a bit. Would you agree? Do you have any small details you always make sure to paint? Any favorite little bits to touch with paint?
Let's look at some of my past Space Marine Bikes as examples, and then compare them to my most recent work.
Here's my Biker Apothecary:
He's "ok, not great." He uses my old gold painting method, which was very flat, and some subdued edge highlights. The white is ok, and I'm sort of proud of the fact that the liquid levels in the narthecium match the gravity of the model. The purity seals lack depth in the red. Keep an eye on that box magazine for the bolters, as well...
Here's the first biker I ever painted:
Again, gold is super flat, highlights are thin and pale. The metals are dirty and lack any sort of depth.
My biker Captain model:
More of the same problems. That tarp on the back is just terrible. The bolters on his bike aren't even squared to the front. They point downward!
Finally, my first Attack Bike:
Same as the other bikes, but look closely at the tire on the sidecar. Nice mold line, man! Sheesh!
Now compare those to my recent Attack Bike:
Highlights are brighter and more crisp, the gold has actual levels and depth, as do the metal parts. Remember the box magazine? I actually painted the exposed rounds! Go back and look at all the older bikes. Does the contrast of the loaded brass look better or worse than the all-silver box mags?
I don't have a photo to help illustrate this one, but on the recent attack bike I painted all of the console and handlebar buttons one color, red. I attempted some lens effects on them, and they look pretty good. On all my old bikes, I painted each set of buttons a different color. Yellow, green, red, blue. The consoles look like a Christmas tree. No lens effects, just flat paint. When I first painted those old bikes, I figured the Marines would want different colors for what each button does. The effect is just too busy. It doesn't provide contrast or crispness, it creates visual confusion. Besides, Marines are psycho-indoctrinated and battle hardened. They don't need multicolored buttons!
I'm rapidly learning to take my time and examine the small details of my models, like exposed brass casings in a magazine or the purpose of using colors on different objects. I'd have to say it improves the end result quite a bit. Would you agree? Do you have any small details you always make sure to paint? Any favorite little bits to touch with paint?
11.01.2012
Finished Attack Bike
Remember that attack bike I've been going on about in my last few posts? It's done!
Iron Halo base, magnetized heavy weapon, metal sidecar and gunner. Simple stuff. That's Ultramarine brass etch on the front wheel well, and the sidecar. The squadron number was a major pain to paint. Something about trying to paint a perfect circle eludes me, even if it's a premade brass circle.
Just one more of these to go for my Standoff army.
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