Tournament Report: June 4th, 2011 40K Tournament at Sci Fi Genre

This past Saturday, I attended a 40K tournament at Sci Fi Genre.  Not having played 40K in a good long while (about six months), I didn't know what to expect going in.  Overall, it ended up being a lot of fun.  I don't have any pictures, but I thought I'd give a quick run down of my games. 

I took some Blood Angels, who I have been slowly painting, as I hadn't tried the new book.  I didn't really have an interest in running a tough net list or anything, and wanted to run the more punchy version of the BA, along with some fast vehicles.  It was an 1850 tournament, and I had:

A No Upgrade Librarian with the 5+ Cover Save and Fear of the Darkness Power
Two Sanguinary Priests, one with a Jump Pack
Two Ten Man Tactical Squads with Missile Launcher and Flamer
A Ten Man Assault Squad with Jump Packs, Power Fist, and Two Flamers
A Ten Man Assault Squad with Jump Packs, Power Fist, and Two Plasma Pistols
An Eight Man Assault Squad with No Jump Packs, Power Fist, and Melta Gun
A Vindicator
A Predator with Lascannons on the Sides and an Autocannon up top.
A Whirlwind
Three Rhinos

All the vehicles had extra armor.

Game One

I played Bart and his Eldar in the first game.  He had:

Eldrad
Maugun Ra
Dark Reapers
2 Units of Fire Dragons, both in Transports
2 Units of Dire Avengers in Transports
Rangers
Striking Scorpions

His tanks all had holofields or the like, which made them hard to kill.  The scenario was kill points, but there were also two objectives to hold.  Bart got first turn and shot forward with Ra and the Fire Dragons.  We had deployed relatively closely on one side of the board.  His first shots all did nothing to me (phew!), and I killed his tanks that had come forward.  He did pop my Vindicator by turn two or three with the Fire Dragons, but the Assault Squad killed Ra, the Fire Dragons, and the Striking Scorpions.  My stuff retreated, and he couldn't get the job done with Eldrad and the Reapers from a distance.  I won the kill points, but he got the secondary objective by contesting one objective and holding the other.  So a pretty good win to me for the start. 

Game Two

My opponent in my second game had a Space Wolf list that I think is a pretty basic internet Razorback spam list.  He had a couple Rune Priests, Long Fangs with Missile Launchers, and Razorbacks with Las/Plas turrets.  Our objectives involved getting things to the middle of the board.  Sadly for my opponent, I made my smoke cover saves and managed to get all my stuff to the ruins in the middle of the table, where there was plenty of cover.  The high point of the game for me was when, in succession, I had an assault Marine's pistol blow up a Land Speeder, which cleared a shot for my Predator to blow up his one Rhino, which contained a Wolf Priest and Wolf Guard.  Fear of the Darkness then made that unit run off the board.  The long and short of the game is that I controlled the middle of the board while he had to shoot ineffectively from a distance, and I ended up taking all the points in the game. 

Game Three

The objectives in my third game involved holding four strategic points.  I played an Imperial Guard player who I think again had a pretty typical internet tank list.  I had let him choose our table, and with a sinking heart noticed that he chose the one table in the store that had zero terrain in the middle of the board.  He had:

A Manticore
3 Valkyrie / Vendetta (the kind with the Twin Linked Lascannons)
Three or Four Lemans
A Couple Chimeras with minimum troops.

The deployment was in opposite corners of the board.  I was in the cover of some buildings, but had absolutely no ability to cross the board and get to him.  Fortunately, I had two objectives in my buildings, and a third was nearby. 

This ended up being a really weird game of 40K.  I'm not sure that my opponent had a grasp on the scenario (grab objectives), or perhaps he was just used to ignoring scenarios and blowing his opponent off the table completely.  Apparently, this is what had happened in his first two games, and in several games before.  He was really surprised that I wasn't dead after the second turn.  Our game was pretty much him sitting still and dropping template after template on me, and my guys hugging cover like crazy and controlling the objectives.  The game had a random length, and could go 5, 6, or 7 turns.  On turn five, I controlled two objectives to his zero, but the game didn't end.  On turn six, I controlled three objectives to his one, and the game didn't end.  On turn seven, I finally failed a bunch of 3+ cover saves and was tabled.  I was happy with the result, as I think I outplayed him in what was a terrible set up for my army, but sometimes the dice give out on you.

Anyway, I had a ton of fun playing some 40K.  I was really impressed by the resilience of the Blood Angels army.  The game as always felt a lot less aggressive than playing Fantasy, but I enjoyed it all the same!

Weekend Update: June 6th, 2011

It's my belief that a great many of us manage to get some hobby and gaming time in over the weekend more than any other time.  Assuming that to be true, I thought I'd start using Mondays to catch up on the blog with the things that I did over the weekend in terms of hobby and gaming, and hopefully hear from a few of you as well.  I figured I'd try this out as a regular Monday fixture, and see how it goes.

So this past weekend, I went to a 40K tournament on Saturday, which was a lot of fun.  I hadn't gotten to go to a 40K event in about six months, so I was a bit rusty, but went 2-1 with the Blood Angels.  I beat an Eldrad Eldar and Razorback spam Space Wolf army, but lost a tight game to an Imperial Guard list.  I also lost my voice! I was pleasantly surprised with my 40K performance, and will hopefully have some battle reports up tomorrow or Wednesday.

On Sunday, I finished up some Chaos Warhounds that I've had kicking around, and came that much closer to finishing up my Beastmen.  I really dislike the Warhound models, and they were slowing me down considerably.  I have ten Centigor and thirteen Minotaur left to do, as well as a Giant and some Character models.

So what'd you crazy kids get up to?

1,000 Point Mini GT - A Quick Report

This past Saturday, I had the opportunity to play in a 1,000 point Mini GT, with five games over one day.  I got to the store just around 10 a.m., and left at about 9 p.m.  The event was a blast, with 22 participants and a ton of fun to be had!  I had five good games, which I'll run through briefly.

My list:

Lysander
10 Man Tactical Squad with Heavy Bolter, Flamer
5 Man Tactical Squad
5 Man Terminator Assault Squad (3 Lightning Claws, 2 Thunder Hammer / Storm Shields)
1 Land Raider
2 Rhinos

Game One

My first opponent of the day was Spencer, who was playing Imperial Guard.  At 1,000 points, he wasn't messing around, and was there to beat face.  He had over 100 models, including two 40+ blobs with Commissars and Stracken, two Vendettas with three TL Lascannons each, and two other Lascannons.  So there were basically two giant stubborn or fearless blobs of troops, and (with orders) eight twin linked lascannons.  Frankly, my list didn't have the punch to take care of his, and although the game took some time, it was only because it took him thirty minutes to move his troops each turn.  I lost hard, and went down to the bottom of the pack.  Spencer would go on to win the entire tournament. 

Game Two

I felt better going into my second game.  My opponent, Jon, was a great guy, and brought a Tyranid list with a Trygon Prime, and Tervigon, the Doom of Malan'tal, and a Tyrant.  He also had some Gaunts, and could make more with the Tervigon.  The mission was objective based, but I felt good with my ability to crush the big bugs and cripple his army early.  In turn two, I charged his Trygon prime with my Terminators and Lysander, thinking he'd be easy money.  Sadly, I whiffed all my attacks, and then proceeded to fail my stubborn leadership ten and run away.  Whoops!  At the same time, I put twelve or so strength eight or nine wounds into the Doom, who made 3+ saves every time.  I did eventually rally, and come back to kill off two of the four big bugs, but because of the early loss of momentum ended up crashing hard.  Jon would go on to play Spencer at the top table in the final round, and would finish fifth overall.  My 0-2 start was not looking pretty.

Game Three

I ended up playing Bart, the TO, in round three, due to another play dropping out.  He had a Seer Council Elder list with some Prisms and Fire Dragons and Jetbikes.  Luckily, my dice got hot, dropping his transports early and knocking out his big guns.  There were two objectives, and at the end of the day I held one with the other contested, and ended up with a minor victory.

Game Four

I played Sean and his Tau in Game Four.  He had a ton of Fire Warriors, five Mech Suits of various types, and a Skyray.  We deployed in opposite corners, and were playing Kill Points.  I holed up my tactical squads in my corner building, and rushed my Land Raider at him, popping smoke.  He used Markerlights from his Fire Warriors to tap my Land Raider, and then blew it up.  The Terminators got out, but since the Fire Warriors had already shot, he couldn't take advantage.  In the next turn, the Terminators and Lysander split up, and got into his army, chewing them up.  While I couldn't pursue him after close combat, he was close to the board edge, and his units just ran off.  I ended up with a massacre.

Game Five

In the final game, I faced Todd and his Tyranids.  Todd was a fun opponent, and brought a Tyrant with two Tyrant Guard, three Hive Guard with Impaler Cannons, and four units of Genestealers with Broodlords.  I was a bit worried, but Todd didn't have much to deal with my Land Raider except in close combat.  Our mission had three objectives, all near the middle of the board.  The board had a ton of impassable terrain.  I moved my army up, and claimed one objective early.  At the beginning of the game, Todd moved his Tyrant and both Guard sets back, preferring to shoot.  He did manage to immobilize the Land Raider near the middle of the board, and Lysander and the Terminators got out to kill some Genestealers in the middle.  They killed the 'stealers, but unfortunately failed a lot of 2+ saves from shooting, causing Lysander to take one wound and the Terminators to die to a man. 

I still felt good going into close combat with his Tyrant, but the Tyrant did three wounds to Lysander, which the big yellow Terminator promptly failed, dying an wimpy death.  Fortunately for me, Todd had backed up so much to avoid combat with Lysander that he couldn't make it to the objectives that my Tactical Squads held, and had to settle for trying to beat my Land Raider to death instead.  I ended up with two of the three objectives, but had less Kill Points than Todd, and took a minor win.

Overall

This was a great tournament, and a ton of fun.  I ended up 3-2, and had fun the entire time.  Kudos to Bart for putting on such an innovative, fun tournament.

Death Company Rhino

I painted this Rhino right after the first regular Blood Angels one.  I like it and all, but I get the feeling that something as scary as the Death Company should come charging out of a Land Raider, or Storm Raven...perhaps just pop out of something terrifying like a real live rhino.  A Rhino tank just seems a bit small to deliver such a mean bunch of dudes. 

Then again, I guess the A-Team van wasn't that intimidating compared to the meanness it delivered to bad guys...

I wanted the guy on top to look like he's busting out of the top hatch of the Rhino, eager to get to the enemy and hit them with some swords.  Seems like a DC kind of thing.

Blood Angels First Rhino (with a bit of Freehand)

I finished this Rhino a couple weeks back.  I want to make my Blood Angels Rhinos a bit more "arty", with more than just red paint and the Chapter symbol.  What I came up with was the half blood drop with one wing covering the top.  I've never done any larger freehand before, so it was a bit scary going over the reds that I had just been shading and highlighting.  Nevertheless, it came out pretty well.  I plan on working on another Rhino to finish the other half of the blood drop and wing. 

Space Hulk's Sergeant Lorenzo

I've started the project of painting the Terminators from the board game Space Hulk.  Eventually, I will add these models into my Blood Angels army, but have not yet determined a method by which I will make the bases detachable so that I can use them for 40K and Space Hulk. 

So far, I'm using a unique system to determine what order to paint these models in.  I have decided that whichever model performs particularly well in each game played will get painted first.  This is Sergeant Lorenzo, who in our first (recent) game of Space Hulk held off waves of bad guys with only his sword and some very lucky dice rolls.  He earned his paint.

I am particularly pleased with the face of the model, where I managed highlighting, a decent eye, and some sharp teeth.  I also remembered to drill out the gun, which I always forget, and I think the greens came out really nicely.  The red armor is a bit flatter than usual, because I forgot to highlight in my usual way before working on details, and thus had to fix it in small batches as I went. 

More Space Hulk models will be incoming, so stay tuned!

Space Hulk!

Tonight, I'm hopefully playing a little Space Hulk at my FLGS.  I have the latest edition of the game, but only got to play it briefly once or twice when I first got it.  So when I got the opportunity to try a big game of it this evening, that seemed like a good plan. 

Eventually, I'd like to get my set painted up.  I know the Blood Angels will go to good use on the game table as part of an army, but I'm don't foresee Tyranids anywhere in my future.  On the other hand, a very nicely painted Space Hulk set would be a great accomplishment.  

Monday Catch Up - November 29, 2010

Having a little time off for Thanksgiving was fun, and I've gotten quite a few things done in the past week or so. 

*  Assembled and painted two Rhinos for the Blood Angels.  One is the regular red, the other a Death Company black.  These have some of my first attempts at free hand, and I'll have them up soon.

*  Assembled the rest of my Beastman army, which consisted of six chariots, ten war hounds, ten Bestigor, and several characters. 

*  Scrubbed the paint off of the rest of the Beastmen that were in Simple Green, and then reprimed them.

*  Started painting fifty ungor.  I did the base flesh and orange on all fifty, and then finished twenty last night.  I'll do the rest in another couple batches.

Blood Angels Death Company Painted, Part Two

I cranked in a few more unmanageable power weapons for the second half of the squad.  I couldn't leave any of the cool stuff on the sprue.  I made the thunder hammer one handed, and there are a couple power weapons as well.  A couple melta guns and the like round things out.  Sure, we'll have a little counts as going to pull the squad below four hundred points, but right now I figure it could take down just about anything that gets in its way, so that's fun.  I figure it'll be nice to pick and choose with smaller DC squads out of the ten options, and then pack them in with a Chaplain type friend.

Blood Angels Death Company Painted, Part One

Painting the Death Company has been amazing.  After painting one hundred Gors, being able to really focus on detail work and high quality has been a ton of fun.  The models are incredibly detailed.  My first five DC are armed with two power fists, a power weapon, a plasma gun and two hand flamers.  Optimally equipped?  Not so much, but I wanted to use all the bits and bobs on the sprue, and I a) won't use all ten of the DC regularly and b) am not worried about WYSIWYG for things like the hand flamers. 

Also, check out the photo...as me taking pictures goes, it's not too terrible.  Maybe I'm finally getting the hang of things.

Death Company Painting

After painting the one hundred Gors, I got a little tired.  It's always nice to have some characterful models to paint after working on a big batch, so I started with Charles Sharkley from a couple posts back.  He was still a bit Gor-like, and I really wasn't feeling up to doing a squad of something, but I knew I had to get some Blood Angels done.

Enter the Death Company.

I put together ten models, with parts mixed between the Death Company box and an Assault Squad box.  Every single model is like painting a character.  They have details upon details upon details, with cool weapons to spare.  What an awesome kit.  I've base coated them all, and am now painting them one at  a time.  Thanks to GW and the designers for an awesome  painting and modeling experience!

Tabbris, Blood Angels Sergeant

I am both proud of this model, and a bit sad with him. 

I made the banner out of green stuff.  Rolled it up with a small pen, cut it out, etc.  It was really neat stuff.  But then I can't freehand to save my life.  I ended up putting the green tear over a fiery background because I'd made a mess of a simple grail about five times (note:  I've cleaned up the extra green streak on the bottom of the tear). 

Still, this was a great one to paint.  He was one of the original models I bought when I got back in to 40K years ago, and had just never been painted, so taking a spot as a decorated Sergeant seemed appropriate.  He'll fill out his squad of ten assault marines, giving them a combination of two meltas and a power fist.  I hope to get a companion squad or two painted, followed by Rhinos.   

Blood Angels First Tactical Squad: Meltas

I've always been a fan of the melta gun, and nobody will tell you these days that they aren't great for 40K, what with the Mega Mech Madness (patent pending) going down on every table.  I ordered up some of the melta bits packs from ol' GW a while back, so I can promise that the Blood Angels won't lack in this department.

The temptation with an army like the Blood Angels or Space Wolves is to name every model, to give each one a saga or story.  I like that a lot.  They're a little more flavorful, at least to my mind, than my Imperial Fists (an exercise in painting yellow) and my Raven Guard (my first army...okay, I like them a lot too).  I was initially attracted to Space Marines way back when because of the idea of big giant armored guys crashing into the enemy lines, guns blazing and swords hacking, and because of variations like the Wolves and Angels I've never been tempted to leave.  Sure, some people will say that's a bad thing, but I've know what armies I liked in 40K for years and years.

Blood Angels First Tactical Squad Painted

Okay, so I have a new plan.  Get some posts up on Sunday night so that they're prepped for the week, when I won't have time to post.  As plans go, it's a good 'un.  Execution will be the key.

As I noted earlier, I've started painting Blood Angels.  The army won't hit the table until it's painted (or at least that's what I'm telling myself).  The idea is just to roll up (in about a year or so) with a fully painted Blood Angels army and plop them down. 

Right now, we're at a squad.  Blood Angels Assault Squad Tabbris to be exact (Rhino not yet included).  These are the rank and file.  I stuck with the green metallic shoulder trim, and personal heraldry on the knee pads. Fourth Company all the way!

The thing that scares me right now is the temptation of the new, gorgeous Dark Eldar.  I have a nicely painted 8,000 points of Dark Elves, and I think it'd be kind of neat to paint some Dark Eldar in a similar scheme.  Nothing like having too much on your plate and piling on. 

New Project: Blood Angels

What do you do when you have two huge Space Marine armies, and still have models to paint and put together?  A little bit of Blood Angels and Space Wolves will hopefully be coming down pipes from me to you in the next few months, as I stick to a decidedly Marine trend while trying out some new books and paint schemes.

This is my first Blood Angel model, and a decent test subject.  You'll notice some differences from the official paint job.  I wanted to differentiate a bit.   I'm going to be painting up the Fourth Company, known as the "Knights of Baal".  I'm going to use an emerald paint on the shoulder pad to fancy things up a bit, and the knee pad will show individual "heraldry" for each marine, rather than a squad marking.

I hand painted the Company and Chapter symbols on each shoulder pad rather than using transfers, which was a new challenge for me, and I think it turned out well.  The sword blades have also been highlighted with mithril silver since I took the picture.  I look forward to cranking out some of his battle brothers!  Any suggestions for improvement or ideas on how to spice him up?

Last of the Trollbloods: Dire Troll Bomber Painted!

Like my Khador and Imperial Fists, who have all wrapped up in the last month or so, my Trollbloods are finished now with this fantastic model, who brings the entire collection up around 110 points.  concept and pose of the Bomber, and wanted to add him in.

Unlike my Khador, my Trolls aren't going up for sale.  For now, they'll sit in the cabinet while old projects (Dark Elves and Beastmen) get upgraded for Eighth Edition and new projects (Blood Angels, Space Wolves, High Elves and Skaven) get started.  In the long run, I think this fella has a great gaming future...as a Hellcannon in a Warriors of Chaos Troll army. 

Pedro Kantor, Now in Imperial Fist Flavor

What would Imperial Fist be, if it was a flavor?  Something sour, I think, and probably smokey.

Anyway, I know that there's always going to be a great debate out there as to Space Marine special characters and whether or not you should use them in armies that are not their own Chapter.  While I love the 40K fluff, I'm perfectly willing to blur the special character line a bit.  Vulcan in the Ultramarines is a little tricky, but I figure ol' Pedro here is a Imperial Fist successor, and fits their shooty playstyle.  I'm also going to get around to painting a Telion for my Raven Guard sometime, since they are the super scout chapter and he's the super scout guy.  And Chronus...if he ever gets into my army, it's going to be as an Iron Hand.

Pedro actually marks a big day for me, however.  He's my last Imperial Fist Space Marine.  The army, which pushes around 2,500 points, is finished up, and will now sit in the cabinet between friendlies and tournaments.  Now that my Raven Guard and Imperial Fists are finished, it's time to head for Wolf and Angel country.

Slow Down and Smell the Roses!

In the past month, I've painted around 1500 points of Beastmen, an Imperial Fists Tactical Squad, Rorsch for Trollbloods, and around ten Khador models.  I've been efficient and organized, and I've enjoyed the experience.  I haven't had to sacrifice quality, because I've gotten to the point where I'm happily painting up to my optimal standard very quickly. 

And therein lies the problem.

Just as in every other aspect of the hobby, it is my belief that when everything is going incredibly smoothly with your painting, things have to change.  It's not my life goal to become some sort of sweat shop model painter, churning out good models at high speeds.  Instead, it's always been my goal to continually improve my painting.  While the work I'm doing makes me happy, I've stopped improving in the name of speed.

So here's the plan:

I'm going to finish my Beastmen, Khador, Imperial Fists, and Trollbloods for Libriarium Online's Tale of Painters.  Most of these are down to a few models, except for the Beastmen, which will involve painting a lot of Gors and some Chariots.

After that, I won't have more Privateer Press to paint.  As much as I love the models, I've come to the realization that I am not going to play Hordes or Warmachine.  I don't dislike the games, but I have limited free time, and as it stands, I like WFB a lot more than anything else.

What I will have is a) more Space Marine models than I can shake a stick at and b) a new Warhammer Fantasy army to start working on.

So I'll start painting the new Space Marines (Blood Angels?  Space Wolves?  Salamanders?) and probably what will be a joint High Elf / Wood Elf Avelorn themed army.  Instead of rushing them through, I'd like to make each of these armies an army of individual, detailed models where I push myself to paint and model my best work.

That's the plan anyway.  Here's hoping!

The Temptation of Blood Angels

The internet is ablaze with rumors of Blood Angels being the next big release for Warhammer 40,000 from Games Workshop.  I love rumors, and have unfortunately been sucked in by the sheer awesomeness that I hear about the Blood Angels.  The question becomes whether I should start a Blood Angels army, and I've attempted to list some pros and cons to help answer the question.

Pros:

1.  I have a ton of Marine models.  I easily have enough unpainted marines to handle the Tactical, Assault, and Devastator Squads, as well as the Rhinos. 

2.  They sound like they hit hard and fast, which is the kind of army that I was looking for in 40K.  I haven't been playing 40K for a while, because my marines, even the Raven Guard, seem plodding and sadly ineffectual in close combat.  Blood Angels have rumors of Furious Charge, flying transports, and all sorts of fun things like that.  So I think they could respark my affection for 40K.   

3.  I do like the color scheme. 

4.  The fluff appears to be moving from the unappealing "Space Vampires" theme to a much more interesting theme of schism within the Chapter between those who want to harness the violence inherent to their genes and those who want to try to rise above it. 

Cons:

1.  I'm in the middle of painting 2,000 points of Imperial Fists, and have Dark Elves (almost done), Beastmen, Trollbloods, and Khador on my plate.  The painting docket is thus very full for an army that I'm not sure I'll get to play much.

2.  There will be some investment in new models, especially the very cool ones that always come out.  So that's some of my potential tournament winnings or spending money invested there instead of Beasts, which is also going to have some minor costs. 
3.  I already have a red and bronze/gold Dark Elf army.  So this won't be new painting territory. 

I have no idea what to do here.  Any comments or suggestions would be much appreciated.