122nd Cadian

Its that time of the year...

2012-02-08T17:00:00.001+02:00

With the tournaments going wild worldwide, we should not be surprised that Greece, has too been creeping up in the player base of wargaming. Where as several years ago you might of have never heard of Genocide Chronicles or the ICT, now its a decently common referance among fellow Greek wargamers.

And as it happens to be Genocide Chronicles (equivalent of ATC or ETC) is creeping up! As if this was not enough, Game Corps. is having a 2k point tournament with IA rules as acceptable, and Games Corps tournaments is the place where youre most likely to find the more competitive lists. In fact il even go so far as to say that the overall champion of this years ICT was the store owner himself, and the previous ICT was a person that is often found practising in Game Corps. his art of war!

So to sum up, we got 2 majot events coming up!

And i have been sweating my ass off, making lists for the Games Corps. Tourny as well as the Genocide. The hard part is that for the Genocide i have to co-ordinate with my fellow team mates, who happen to be playing : Imperial Guard, Space Puppies, Eldar and Nids.

Anyhow up to date it looks like i will have to take my Dark Angel Deathwing to the Games Corps tourney and my Ravenwing (Counts as white scars from C: SM) for the Genocide. With the latter having been inspired by Stillfrosty , whos blog can be found here , and an interview with him can be found here.

So for the Genocide we have a fast moving list that relies on guile and firepower more then any form of close combat :

Khan on Moondrakka
Liby on Bike (Nullzone and Vortex)
Command (Champ, Storm shields, PW, PF, LC)
Full bike squad , 2 plasma , ABHB , and PW Sgt.
4+1 Bike squad, 2 melta 1 ABMM and 1 PF sgt.
4+1 Bike squad, 2 melta 1 ABMM and 1 PF sgt.
Scouts with HellBolter and Snipers wearing Camo
2 Typhoons with HF
1 Typhoon with HF

Thats 5 Potential troops, Highly Mobile list that has anti psyker defence, a decent CC unit and alot of short range fire power.

Next we have a 2k list for the Games Corps Tourny using Dark Angel Deathwing:

Belial
Damocles Rhino (Gives Orbital Bomb, reroll 1 resrve per turn, and reroll scatter on deep strikes)
6 Squads of Deathwing (all have Cyclones, 4 Chainfists and a mixture of LC/TH)
Ravenwing Attack (2 melta, 1 ABMM and MeltaBomb sgt.)
Ravenwing support (Typhoon/MM)
Ravenwing Support (Typhoon/MM)

And that leaves us at 2k points exactly. The Idea is turbo boost the Ravenwing in scout phase and deep strike 3 of my Termies next to him. The Typhoons will be sitting back and poping low AV vehicles, while 1 squad of DW will be chilling in my zone guarding an objective. The Rhino will be hidden somewhere. The idea is to blow open something on turn 1 with the bikes whos main purpose is to deliver the Deathwing into enemy territory and blow open some vehicle with their meltas then assault turn 2. The Rhino acts as support, helping ur remaining termies come on turn 2 and if bikes are dead, let you reroll the scatter.

Let me Know what you guys think...any criticism is welcome!

They are stealing our...individuality!

2012-01-21T19:36:00.002+02:00

Hey guys and gals, id like toi wish you all a happy new year! Havent had any posts here due to vacations and work. But now that everything is back in place, things should get back to rolling and rocking soon enough!

What id like to talk about today is the Dark Angel codex as a whole, now and then.

Everyone knows the DA codex was released during the 4th edition, back when things were so much simpler than they are now. With the rumors of the 6th Ed running rampant through the inter web , its hard not to think that thr days of the 4th edition were much "simpler".

Anyhow , il try to not get carried away and stick to the topic at hand. Now this post is not supposed to osund offensive or anything like that, so i apologize in advance if it does. This post is simply here to state a fact and convey the opinion that GW has been going wrong about that specific policy.

So lets talk Angels!

When the angels came out, they were exquisitely unique in the fact that they were the only marines, that could field and army of all out Terminators (ala Deathwing) as well as a full army of Bikes (aka Ravenwing). Were talking about scoring/troops here gentlemen. So dont get smug and tell me that marines could jst get all 3 slots of elites with terminators and be the same.

This gave the Dark Angels somnething unique, jst like the Blood Angels get Furious Charge and Feel No Pain almost everywhere, or like Space Wolves get Counter Attack, or even Grey Knights Getting Psykers (im focusing ont he recent GK codex here, not the daemon hunter one)all around or even Black Templats having prefered enemy!

Each Codex has their unique thing, where as most got it as a very nice special rule, we simply got it in form of FoC modification.

For a while there we were pricy but performed well over all against the other Codices, never top notch, as you saw the SW when they came out, or the GK when they did. But we were unique and special. And at the end of the day its what mattered the most to DA players.

Then came the 5th edition and it changed the scenery. That didnt affect us too a game changing degree, youd still see Dark Angels going on about their business ! However then came the 5th Ed space marine codex and in it, there was a special Character that was called Korsarro Khan, and he made bikes troops. You could even take a normal Hq and put him on a bike and ud get bikes as troops.

Dont get me wrong here, this is a great thing for the SM players, and they deserve it, but where as it gave something new and interesting to one set of players it took away from another.

Would the blood angel players like it if another codex got the Red Fury special rule? or perhaps DoA? I dont think so.

So now the Dark Angel players had a competing bike army out there, that could do everything they could (this is before the FAQ that you can turbo boost in the scout phase) and do it for cheaper and with more models!

But clearly GW thought that we were still to unique and decided to give 2 other codices the ability to make Terminators troops/scoring: ther GK and the SW. Granted the SW pay alot more for theor wolf guard terminators then we do, but they also get much better wargear.

So what did that leave the Dark Angel codex with? Nothing unique, thats what. There is nothing in the DA codex that cant be approximated by another. Our devastators cost as much as a land raider if given las cannons. Our Ven Dreads cost less but still have 12 FA. We really have lost the ability to field something unique.

Oh wait i just remembered that we had 3 wound Interegator Chaplains, but the Blood Angels got a Reclusiarch with the same stats!

So yeah, GW is either planning to release a DA codex soon to repair the "damage" or they simply dont care about the "DA player base" as much as they do about profits. Which again is understandable but not encouraged.

Closing thoughts: Dark Angel players are happy for their cousin space marines, they just wish that when the time comes for them to shine again (propably in the 6th ed) they will trully be unique again.

Internet Strike against SOPA

2012-01-18T20:38:00.000+02:00

Yeah, that's why I haven't posted for so long! Because I am on strike! Well not really, I was just procrastinating. That's doesn't mean I can't support the strike against SOPA going on right now. I would suggest to all people to visit the site above and make sure to sign the petition so our internet can remain free of censorship.

Thankfully it's petition signing and general internet freedom awareness. I thought it was a strike against SOAP and my wife informed my that I started getting a bit stinky!

Reverse Painting Contest from For Holy Terra blog.

2011-12-12T18:07:00.000+02:00

I got a request from Mr. Paul Bagosy to plug his contest on this here blog. It's a painting contest with a twist from the For Holy Terra blog, scroll down for more details but also make sore to visit the blog to get all the additional details. As a sidenote, you don't need to have a blog to participate in the contest.

Contest Details

What you have to do: Create a Space Marine chapter! And when I say “create,” I mean from the ground up. Name, Colors and Herladry are the absolute minimum requirements, but this contest isn’t going to be judged on looks alone – you need to flesh out the character of the chapter. If you want a good example of what I’m looking for, take a look at the Lexicanum entries on Doom Eagles, Mantis Warriors and Red Scorpions.

Note that this has to be an original work. Do not submit fluff for your version of the Ultramarines’ 5th Company.

You don’t need to provide every last detail about your chapter, but a good range of information is advisable. You’ll also need to provide an image of a marine from your chapter – I highly recommend the Bolter & Chainsword Space Marine Painter.

If you’ve previously created a chapter and you think it’s already pretty good, that’s cool! Feel free to submit it.

So what’s likely to win? I can’t really say until I start seeing entries, but I’m looking for something that really carves itself out as original while still remaining true to the 40k/Space Marine essence.

PRIZES!

So I said this was a “reverse painting contest,” right? Well, here’s how the prizes work: Once I’ve chosen the winning entries, I will assemble and paint the stuff out of the Battle Force box in the colors and heraldry of the winners!

1st Place: Magnetized Rhino*
2nd Place: 10-man Tactical Squad
3rd Place: 5-man Assault Squad and 5-man Scout Squad

Just to be clear:

The prizes will come fully assembled and painted in the colors and heraldry of the winner of that prize!

And believe you me, I will be dipping deep into my bitz boxes to round these out. It’s not going to be just the stuff I find in the Battleforce box. I’ve already grabbed a bunch of stuff to make everything look great.

I will keep as true to your created fluff as possible in regards to assembling and painting, but the customization will be all mine. Also, please let me know which Codex I should work from: Space Marines, Blood Angels, Space Wolves, Black Templars or Dark Angels. It shouldn’t really matter, but you never know what crazy ideas I might get.

* When I say magnetized, I mean ready to turn into a Razorback/Whirlwind/Predator if you’ve got the bitz, and containing almost every option. It’ll have a removable Storm Bolter and Hunter/Killer missile with option turret hatches, removable doors, etc.

Particulars

The contest runs from right now until December 31st, 2011.

Entries must be emailed to me, and must contain separate images of your marine and chapter symbol. Text should be in any format readable by Microsoft Word 2007 (copied into the body of your email is fine).

When you email me your entry, leave a post here letting me know, just in case my spam filter eats it.

If you’ve happened upon my site because of this contest, please join me on Google Friend Connect (right there on the left-hand side under Tags).

I will be judging the entries myself, and all of them will be posted on this site around one per day after I get done with the judging, runners-up first, then 3rd, 2nd, and 1st place winner. I will then begin posting WIP shots of the prizes. I will make every effort to ship them to their respective winners on or before February 29th, 2012.

One entry per person, please!

Good luck! If you’ve got questions, ask Mr. Bagosy here.

And make sure you check the original post over here.

Fact or Fiction: Lion El'Johnson

2011-11-28T16:32:00.001+02:00

So i finally managed to find a day that i am not working 15 hour shifts and getting under paid , and can write up one of my favorite if not THE favorite characters of the 40k universe.

Ladies and gentlemen i present to you, the one and only: Lionel El'Johnson , Primarch to the 1st Legion of the Emperors finest Astartes!

Those of us who are familiar with antiquated books, have probably noticed that games workshop and the black library dont base their stories on completely new ideas. We have so far seen how they are inspired by other sourced throughout the world and religion. They then change these ideas as they see fit, they mold them into whats needed.

One thing we can be sure of is that even though the character of the Lion may have been based after the English poet, essayist and critic. He has lived a polar opposite life in fiction, then in real life.

You see, the original Lionel Johnson was born on the 15th of March in 1867, and died in October of 1902. A very accomplished man, he graduated oxford , New College and Winchester college. Much like his Fictional counterpart he was a man of great intelligence. The death of Lionel Johnson was tragic and ignominious, he died of a stroke while sitting at a bar. Keep in mind that although the Lion in fiction is still alive, supposedly in a coma like sleep, he is located within the deepest chamber of the Rock, the Dark Angels space fortress, watched over by the watchers in the dark.

The life of the poet in some ways mirrors that of that primarch. Throughout his entire life he struggled with Alcoholism and his repressed homosexuality. We can see this in the fictional personal of the lion, in the form of him struggling with his lack of humanity and lack of compassion towards others, while seeing his significantly superior tactical acumen to all others , including his fellow primarch brothers.

An interesting fact about the poet is that he was cousin to the Shakespeare family.

We know that the lion in fiction had the most victories throughout the great crusade , alongside with Horus and Leman Russ. This shows to us that compassion is not needed to lead, only logic. We can see this idea explored in the poets work called "The Precept Of Silence".

I KNOW you: solitary griefs
Desolate passions, aching hours!
I know you: tremulous beliefs,
Agonized hopes, and ashen flowers!
The winds are sometimes sad to me,
The starry spaces, full of fear;
Mine is the sorrow on the sea,
And mine the sigh of places drear.
Some players upon plaintive strings
Publish their wistfulness abroad;
I have not spoken of these things,

Save to one man, and unto God.

A rather sad poem that may reflect the complicated and solitary life of the fictional counterpart. As we all know the lion like his brother primarchs was scattered across the galaxy in his infancy and was brought to the death world of Caliban (supposed to be 4 times as deadly as Catachan) and survived the first years of his life alone in the wilderness, among corrupt beasts. It is since then that his sour and lonely demeanor has been appearing. Throughout the black library series we see the lion struggling to understand the concept of humanity and compassion, and even though he succeeds as one of the best generals humanity has ever known, he fails to be human. Perhaps it is this flaw that makes him one of the greatest primarchs to have ever lived.

Verdict: Fact

Reason: It is quite obvious that the Lion was based on this great poem. All the evidence is here. The name may appear to be the biggest clue, but it is the subtle nuances of life that both these tragic personas share that trully unite them.

As a closing to this article i just wanted to add this. The reason why the first legion was named Dark Angels , is because one of the poets greatest works, was a poem called "Dark Angel" and i am proud to present it to you!

DARK Angel, with thine aching lust
To rid the world of penitence:
Malicious Angel, who still dost
My soul such subtile violence!

Because of thee, no thought, no thing,
Abides for me undesecrate:
Dark Angel, ever on the wing,
Who never reachest me too late!

When music sounds, then changest thou
Its silvery to a sultry fire:
Nor will thine envious heart allow
Delight untortured by desire.

Through thee, the gracious Muses turn,
To Furies, O mine Enemy!
And all the things of beauty burn
With flames of evil ecstasy.

Because of thee, the land of dreams
Becomes a gathering place of fears:
Until tormented slumber seems
One vehemence of useless tears.

When sunlight glows upon the flowers,
Or ripples down the dancing sea:
Thou, with thy troop of passionate powers,
Beleaguerest, bewilderest, me.

Within the breath of autumn woods,
Within the winter silences:
Thy venomous spirit stirs and broods,
O Master of impieties!

The ardour of red flame is thine,
And thine the steely soul of ice:
Thou poisonest the fair design
Of nature, with unfair device.

Apples of ashes, golden bright;
Waters of bitterness, how sweet!
O banquet of a foul delight,
Prepared by thee, dark Paraclete!

Thou art the whisper in the gloom,
The hinting tone, the haunting laugh:
Thou art the adorner of my tomb,
The minstrel of mine epitaph.

I fight thee, in the Holy Name!
Yet, what thou dost, is what God saith:
Tempter! should I escape thy flame,
Thou wilt have helped my soul from Death:

The second Death, that never dies,
That cannot die, when time is dead:
Live Death, wherein the lost soul cries,
Eternally uncomforted.

Dark Angel, with thine aching lust!
Of two defeats, of two despairs:
Less dread, a change to drifting dust,
Than thine eternity of cares.

Do what thou wilt, thou shalt not so,
Dark Angel! triumph over me:
Lonely, unto the Lone I go;
Divine, to the Divinity.

Lionel Johnson

Bad Journalism

2011-11-28T15:36:00.006+02:00

Edit: If you scroll down to the bottom of the page I have included a full English translation of the text for all you Greek challenged out there. I think the article somewhat lost it's very sarcastic tone over the translation but that's not a big deal I guess.

Initially, I didn't know how to feel, seeing my face printed in a huge two page spread photograph in one very famous Sunday edition Greek newspaper ("Καθημερινή K magazine" issue 443 printed on 27/11/2011) . Since I was with my gaming buddies at the time when I saw this, everybody was making jest and japes at how I got another shot to fame.

After reading the article however I wish I wasn't even near that place when they were taking the pictures. I guess I could be angry at the fact that they took my mug shot without me even knowing (doesn't help that I kinda look like a drooling idiot) but that's not the point. I am mad because the article presents Warhammer 40K and gamers in general in the worst way possible.

First of all the journalist's tone and style comes across as extremely sarcastic and mean spirited. She is constantly making fun of gamers. Most of the times she is claiming that gamers aren't using their brains and aren't really thinking. She then writes that gamers that attend tournaments are "educated" but puts a lot of emphasis on the quotation marks. She refers to us as playing with "little toy soldiers" and generally the text is dripping with bile and irony.

She even makes some very intelligent people I know (that unfortunately gave her an interview) sound like idiots. I am pretty sure she was guiding them with sneaky questions and misquoted them to achieve the effect she wanted.

In a nutshell, gamers for her are introvert and lonely guys that doesn't like to go out and prefer to play with little toy soldiers instead. Great way to stereotype us! I consider this extremely insulting for myself and also everybody I know in the gaming community.

Most importantly for me, she is trying to connect 40K with extreme right wing politics (fascism and even nazism) based on the superficial knowledge she had acquired (probably by reading a pamphlet). She claims that 5 of of the 15 interviewees (wow, great population sample you got there) had some racist and xenophobic (and we are not talking about 40K xenos here) ideologies.

She constantly questioned the gamers if they know people in the extreme right wing that play the game. One gamer actually says : "I've seen in America (US) the ideologies of the army and the player become one. I've even seen a player with swastikas tattooed all over his body". Is that true my American brothers? Is there a secret nazi militia that plays 40k in the US? Bunch of rubbish I'd say.

From another gamer:"Black Templars, that have the Iron Cross as a sign and their colours are black, red and white, are purely nazi.". Hmmm , and I always thought that Black Templars where based on...the Templar Knights? Space Crusades and everything? Anyway...

I won't deny that there are some people like that in the hobby. After all it's a game about war and it could draw these elements. However judging the whole community by a few bad apples and trying to create a sensastion out of nothing is at the top in my list of bad journalism.

It's obvious that she had an agenda to present an inherent danger in wargaming. Without it the article might have been very boring for the average Joe. This is typical of the "leftist' culture in most major Greek media (for all the wrong reasons by the way).

What the journalist didn't get from her superficial knowledge of the game is that basically the 40K universe is a critique of our own world. The fluff was written in the eighties by a bunch of English guys while the Soviet Union was still in power so they drew their influences by it's monolithic and totalitarian state. The inexorably beaurochratic Imperium that relies on taxes, tithes and military drafts is basically Communism. The vast Imperial Guard is based in the Red Army. The hatred that the Imperium has against all the alien races is a projection of the woes of nationalism.

40K doesn't glorify war. It constantly reminds us how futile, brutal and endless it can be. In the future, there is only war and I bet you won't like it if you lived at that time. That's why the background could come across as bleak and pessimistic. Being an Imperial citizen would totally sucκ. All these allusion went over the journalist's head since she obviously didn't invest much time to understand the game's background.

In a nutshell, it's a critique of a totalitarian state. Saying that's it's pro extreme right wing is like saying that George Orwell's "1984" is so too.

I bet you are thinking that I am nerd-raging so much because I am such a huge GW fanboy. Well I met with some friends last night (one of them works in the media business and none of them plays any wargames) and asked their opinions about the article. They all shared the same feelings as me. They thought that the text was very negative and presented gamers in a very bad way. The sarcastic tone didn't help much either. Even my wife was pretty pissed off and she doesn't even like 40K!

I would like my fellow Greek bloggers and forumites to touch on the subject and bring their judgment upon it. Every other gamer that would like to help could visit the newspaper's website (you can sent a complaint email to the editor here: kmag@kathimerini.gr or here: syntaxi@kathimerini.gr and here: epistoles@kathimerini.gr if the first one isn't working and also contact GW and let them know about this)and address their concerns about that certain article. It's okay even if it's in English.Our voice has to be heard. We shouldn't be the easy target to be picked on.

I think that it's about time that tabletop gamers (and nerd culture in general) are acceptable in our society (like video gamers have recently) since we are no different than most other people. Having such negative publicity by a major newspaper can destroy all the effort that the community makes in order to expand. Can you imagine what some parents would have to say to their kids after reading this article? You think they would allow them to play the game?

Also Games Workshop should know about this. This article is an extreme prejudiced libel and defamation to the company and it could certainly cause the loss of sales.

Appendix A: The article from the newspaper translated in English.

War on a table

A plunge into the dark, bizarre and militaristic world of the game that combines modeling and strategy, and holds as "prisoners" thousands of players in Greece and all over the World.

"Blood for the Blood God, Skulls for the Skull Throne". This is the motto and war-cry of the servants of the God of Chaos, Khorne (The Antipope: she translates if phonetically to Greek as "Horn"...). If you think that this sentence was "strange" enough as a magazine's article opening line, wait and see what's to come. This started as a report for one of the most popular miniature tabletop games of the last 30 years and I still don't know how I ended up fighting against "Daemons of Chaos" in 40000 AD and hang out with creatures with names such as Necrons, Dark Eldar, Black Angels (not sure what army that is...)and much more like them...undead and badass.

(Caption under my picture): Dedication. Studying the rules needs time, building requires effort, the creation of a decent army...money- up to 500 euros for the starter "set". During the game all this is forgotten though.

(Caption under next picture): Precise calculations. Before any move the player must contemplate on it's consequences. "Somehow like chess..." like they told us, but much bloodier.

Dozens of horrible creatures, together with an Emperor-God (of the earthlings) and four Gods of Chaos, live in the blackest, obscurantist, religionist, militaristic, fundamentalist, authoritarian, racist, abominable and repulsive world ever conceived by the human mind. In fact, by the British mind, since the game was coined and released in England at the beginning of the eighties.

The game, that for the last 30 years has been played by millions of people all over the world, is called "Warhammer:40000 or "40K" for it's friends. With many of these friends (Greeks) we talked about the multifarious 40K and it's exceptional miniatures, modeling, hobby, required intelligence, strategic ability, men (that play), women (that don't) and daemons that eat souls (soul-eating is the pop corn of the future).

In the same future that, as the general motto of the game states, "There is no time for peace. Neither for forgiveness. There is only war. Endless War."

Little "toy soldiers" for men? And beyond...

As an intro into the world of this "joyful" game, we watched ,during a tournament, around forty males (between 18 and 39 years old), with tape measures and dice on hand, planning assaults against the military units that were placed on top of special dioramas (model battlefields with obstacles, buildings, trees etc.). 40K is a game of strategy (or tactics rather) and requires thought, a lot time studying the rules and a certain degree of intelligence of the mathematically skilled type. The toy soldier miniatures-designed with a lot of imagination and incredible details by the company of Games Workshop-have to be assembled and painted by the hobbyists-players. Painting the "armies" is a form of art on it's own accord, to which modelers dedicated hours or even days. Considering all this, when questioned "why do you play" everybody gave the same answer:" Because it's a hobby that gives me the opportunity to do miniature modeling, to think strategically and, mainly, get together with friends at least twice a week, for gaming, talking, painting...". That's great!

At this point it could be the end of this discussion, if there wasn't for the fluff to be considered, i.e. if there was no ideological-mythical environment of 40K. The world "fluff" ,that is the creation of tabletop or non tabletop role playing gamers and it has to do with everything else but the rule set of the game, is the key to open the...darkness of 40K. Because the fictions, facts and characteristics of the bloodthirsty and soul-hungering soldiers are so outrageous that the question "but, why do you want to play?" was coming back to our conversation almost automatically.

To think or not to think?

What does someone need furthermost in order to be able to play 40K? "Brains", most of them think, claiming at the same time that "nobody takes fluff seriously" but also..."I chose the game based on the fluff" or "real life is a different thing to the game" but also..."I have seen in the US the ideology of the army and the player matching to a dangerous degree. I've even seen a player with swastikas tattooed all over his body". So many contradictions they could win a Guinness world record.

Generally speaking, when having to choose the game, but also the army, fluff is always there to play a role. As a 38 old professor of biotechnology told us "I also chose an army based on the fluff - I play with dark eldar..."(he stops to think)"in the end they are psychic vampires..." (pausing and saying out very loud)... "I don't even care about my army's fluff!". Perhaps a mind with mathematical skills is necessary but it also seems necessary that the same mind needs the ability not to be able to...think!

The first thing we found out about the 40 participants of the tournament, is that most of them is what we would call "educated" (higher degree level) and working (you need a lot of money to be able to play 40K seriously for many years). Amongst them we found a manager of marketing in a multinational company, a university professor, a gold smith, a 23 year old business man, many civil engineers and many students (chemists, engineers, mathematicians).

Most of them started off as fans of science or heroic fiction, mythology, history and comic books. Many of them have read the low literary value novels based on the game's fluff, for which 30 year old Thanos said: "If I had a child, I wouldn't let him read these novels before he develops his character". We can summarize the profile of the average 40K player as follows: a rather "introvert", lonely guy that doesn't like to go out, doesn't like to watch the TV or football(!), but he likes listening to music (foreign, and mainly classic rock) and he prefers when going out to talk with friends in cafes or houses. Many of them claimed that they "believe in God", whom they defined as the "beginning" of everything or "the power" of the universe etc. but they don't like his "fan club". Couple of them claimed to be pronounced atheists.

Lastly, we found out that all of them are ready to talk about politics, expressing extreme ideas more or less with words that are somewhat muddled inside their heads. We only found one person who deals with the understanding of human relationships, while most of the other are ignorant even of the word "psychology".

Heil, Emperor?

A large percentage of their population compared with their average number (5 out of the 15 interviewees) had some racist and xenophobic ideas and had been involved with the study of Nazi texts, including "Mein Kampf" by Adolf Hitler. George, a mulatto (from a Greek father and a mother from impoverished Louisiana), one of the most intelligent and sincere kids we met, following the question if the game is "a bit" racist he replied: "It's very racist and in America (US) many gamers identify themselves with that racism. Moreover, Black Templars, that have the Iron Cross as a sign and their colours are black, white and red, are clearly Nazis"

"Have you noticed that a percentage of the players belong to the extreme right wing?" we asked 35 year old Takis, a middle school teacher who claims to be "left wing". "Yes, but I don't know why. Maybe they are fascinated by the epic, heroic or even the racist elements of 40K. Because there is a lot of racism in the game." The next question that came up naturally is if 40K makes you feel superior compared to other people :"Yes, it's a bit elitist. It requires a lot of thought so it makes you feel..."somehow". Somehow superior" said Markos laughing. One of the most extreme statements we heard was :"It's been proved throughout the history of Greece that we can only go forward with a fascist government" said John. "And I am going to be the one executing them", added his friend Fotis.

Playing with your soul?

I would also add, playing with your sword. But why would someone fight with a sword in the technologically super advanced 40000 AD? And why does it's system has to be so authoritarian and obscurantist? And why does the "trophy" have to be the most valuable thing humans have, i.e. their souls?

"Because 40K combines elements that fascinate men, like chivalry, heroism, power, ability, speed etc" said 38 year old widely educated Kostas with his well structured speech. "Probably because we want to look better in comparison. Maybe I would never go to real war, but in the game you can be an awesome hero or a general without having to pay the price in return. For it's system now, the wider the network of planets that human inhabit becomes, the more we will keep losing our humanity. In the minds of the creators of science fiction, there is always a strong central authority necessary, which through cutting down our freedoms and though fear can create a structure in order for that new world to function. In 40K there is a mixture of western imperialism and eastern fundamentalism."

And why does the future has to seem so bleak I wonder: "Because", as 39 year old Giannis is saying "this sells. This game has the best marketing." "Furthermore because reality sucks and progress is even worse" adds the younger Minas. "Everything in the fluff is derived from human history, to an excessive extend maybe, but historically".

Why aren't women playing the game, I ask them: "Now you are delving into a touchy subject", Fotis told me, who is married and has one child. "Women don't go for mentally committing stuff. In order to be able to commit in something so that you can disengage from the everyday life, you have to be a man." Fotis was the same person who told me when I asked him why the ideology of the game is crazy: "Are there any ideological obstacles in fantasy?".

Epilogue

In the interview we did with 23 year old Markos, who describes the game as a "struggle for the survival of the human race" and as the "absolute decline", after he told us that "Warhammer is not a comedy but a tragedy with the classical sense, in a dystopian future" he also express the optimistic thought that "Man has the awesome capacity to conquer everything, even himself." When I asked what does he do to ...conquer himself he answered :"I am reading thousands of books, I am writing down stories and poetry, I work, talk, travel and do thousands of different things. Why? Because I have an enormous stress that I will stay mediocre"

Another Orcs & Goblins list

2011-11-26T00:36:00.000+02:00

I send my newest O&G list to warhammeister-extraordinaire Mr. Νικηφόρος for a review. Please check it out and chime in with your own ideas. Cheers!

Cryptek with Eldritch Lance Ideas

2011-11-25T17:51:00.000+02:00

Photoshop job by Leah Kim

Obviously, a lot of people will want Crypteks with Eldritch Lances. I think this is the easier way to convert them. Just chop up a dark lance (so many of them around these days with the plethora of Dark Eldar players) and stick it on the end of his staff.

However these guys are expensive to buy. Four of them will set you back almost 40 pounds and that's a lot of money for a few models. I think that the best way to kitbash them is from the Immortal kit. Just use the Deathmark head and a combination of the two spines. The little "hat" can be made very easily with a little plastic card (same with his "skirt") and the arms look like they can be repositioned very easily with a bit of chopping. Then used a plastic rod and the Dark Lance as the example above. I think I will give it a go?

So what ideas do you guys have for cheaper Crypteks? You think that convertion will work? Let me know what you think.

Orcs and Goblins Mangler Squig

2011-11-21T20:11:00.000+02:00

Looks like my prayers have been answered. Pictures of the Mangler Squig have appeared in the forums today. I have designed a new list that is going to feature two Mangler Squigs since I think it's a very potent unit. I can convert one using Gobbla and the Night Goblin Warboss on Great Cave Squig (since I never, ever use them) but the second one would be a problem. Now with the new awesome kit I will be able to field two.A bit on the expensive side I am afraid (something like 50 euros) but since this is the last O&G model I will ever have to buy I am going to go for it.

Doubles tournament FS Victoria 05/11/11 report

2011-11-19T01:26:00.000+02:00

Yet another tournament for me this month. This time it was Doubles, so slightly different though. Check here to see the conditions for building the list since it was identical to the one I recently won. This time I would be playing together with my friend Manos. He has an awesome collection of Tyranids (complete with a Hierophant Bio-Titan and more than a dozen Monstrous Creatures) but he was never big on playing 40K. We have recently started some practice games though and I thought a Doubles tournament with a more experienced player (me!) would be an ideal introduction to tournaments.

Unfortunately, no report from the Invulnerable Blog this time round to steal some picture from, so this article is going to be a bit barren I am afraid.

I thought this time we should go for a shooty list. This is what I came up with:

HQ
Tervigon (Catalyst, Cluster Spines)
Company Command Squad, 4 Melta, Chimera (Multilaser, Hull Heavy Flamer)

Elites
3 Hive Guard
3 Hive Guard

Troops
Tervigon (Catalyst, Cluster Spines)
10 Termagants
10 Termagants
10 Veterans, 3 Meltaguns, Demolitions

Fast Attack
Vendetta

Heavy Support
Hydra (Hull Heavy Bolter)
2 Medusas (Hull Heavy Flamer)

The idea was that I would provide the melta cannon fodder and he would provide resilience (8 T6 models) and scoring units. In retrospect, I was really lacking mobile units, because having the T6 advancing towards the enemy every turn and shooting is not a realistic option when going against armies like Blood Angels or Grey Knights. I will remember that next time!

First game was against George and Stavros, the dynamic duo from the Red Corsairs team, who I've met on the battlefield a few times before. They were fielding Blood Angels with a Librarian, Death Company, Storm Raven and an Assault Squad plus Chaos Space Marines with a Daemon Prince of Tzeentch (Warptime), Khorne Berserkers in a Land Raider and 5 Plague Marines with 2 Meltas in a Rhino. We were playing Capture and Control with Dawn of War.

We lost the die roll but our opponent gave us the first turn .I knew I had to take that Land Raider out as early as possible so I zoomed the Vendetta with the veterans very fast towards the opponents table edge. Rest of our stuff took their position close to our table edge and the Chimer with the CCS started closing in with the Plague Rhino that was parked in his objective.

On his first turn he zoomed the Storm Raven as well, close to the middle of the board. He had some abysmal night fight spotting rolls so not even the Land Raider that was very close to the Vendetta could find it's target.

On our second turn, Vendetta moved close to the Chaos Land Raider and the Veterans made short work of it. The CCS were lucky and managed to destroy the Plague Rhino from inside their Chimera with their meltaguns on long range. The combined efforts of the Hydra and the Hive Guards destroyed the Storm Raven but unfortunately the Medusas couldn't draw line of sight to the Death Company that emerged from inside. They had to shoot at the Assault Squad and unfortunately they missed wildly.

On their second turn Stavros got very unlucky with the Daemon Prince assaulting the Vendetta and he didn't do anything at all. The Khorne Berserkers slaughtered the Veterans of course. Death Company were fairly lucky and managed to destroy the Chimera and assault and kill the Company Command Squad inside. Even luckier was the half depleted Assault Squad that charged my Medusas, destroyed one and blew up the main weapon off the other.

Having not much use of it now, I zoomed the Medusa forward to kite the Death Company. Vendetta flew away to safety (it was my only way to deny his objective so I had to protect it). We threw a lot of shoots on the Assault Squad and managed to kill it but the Death Company went mostly unscathed (3+ save and Feel no Pain and we didn't have any low AP weapons left).

For the rest of the game, the Death Company was chasing away after my vehicles while the Hive Guards were shooting at them. Khorne Berserkers were too far away to do anything so they didn't even reach their own objective by the end of the game. Tzeentch Daemon Prince spent almost 5 close combat rounds swarmed by fearless termagants so he didn't even come close to our objective and also went down to one wound!

On the fifth turn we moved the Vendetta in order to deny his objective. It was held by the 3 remaining plague marines though and they had 2 meltaguns. Fortunately he only managed to kill one of the weapons and the game ended there with us getting the win. It was a close call but I think we played well enough. Maybe I risked too much (we were actually behind in victory points) in order to take away my opponents mobility but it kinda worked out.

Second game was against double orks. I knew one of the guys who works at the FLGS and he is a very cool person. They had Gutzmek, Zogwart, big unit of Warbikers as Troops, 10 pimped out Nobz in a Battlewagon, 25 shoota boys, some grot artillery units and Stormboys with Zagstruck. We were playing Seize Ground with Spearhead.

We went first we I deployed fairly aggressively. He didn't screen his Battlewagon or anything so the field was open for a first turn charge. I move the Vendetta during the scout phase 12'' away from his BW. On the first turn the Veterans disembarked and the Vendetta flew back to safety. Manos rolled to hit with the meltaguns and he managed to fail all of them. Fortunately we were in charge range so 10 meltabombs on auto hit did the trick. Hive Guards shot at the artillery unit since it was the only thing in range but due to cover saves and randomising hits they didn't suffer much.

On his turn everything moved towards me of course to get into close combat. Wazdakka broke off his squad in order to chase (and shoot at) the Vendetta and all the bikes turbo boosted. Nobz charged the Veterns and I was quick to remove them before even any blows were struck since the outcome of that battle was pretty obvious.

Our next turn was quite comical. I threw everything but the kitchen sink at Wazdakka but still didn't manage to kill him. For a start, the CCS disembarked in front of him to bring some meltagun justice. I failed to order Fire On My Target though so I only caused one wound. After shooing all the Hive Guard and the Vendetta he still remained alive. The ork was on fire. Some more comedy rolls ensued like the Medusas causing 5 hits on the Warbikes and then rolling three "1"s. Fortunately I managed to kill them with some more shooting from the Hydra, Tervigons and a lot of Termagants (Manos was doing very good with his spawn rolls) before they had the chance to kill me.

On our opponents next turn, Wazdakka charged the Hive Guard and the big unit of shootas almost charged the Termagants. That was too close for comfort. We were running late again so we had to finish our game early but again it was obvious we would have won since we had more objectives and were doing very well with victory points as well.

Last game was against a team with Space Marines (10 Sternguard! with combi-meltas and Libby in a drop pod, Tactical in a Rhino and a bunch of Scouts) and Grey Knights (Crowe, 10 purifiers in a Rhino, Dreadknight). They told us they didn't know the rules very well so we should give them some slack (wonder how we got to play against them though since we had two wins). We were playing Annihilation with Pitched Battle.

The game was not something special unless you consider our very bad luck/our opponents very good luck. I usually don't complain about this stuff but this time it was obscene! Okay first of all I did a mistake in the deployment. We were playing first so I deployed very defensively with everything in the centre of the board and the Termagants around to protect our vehicles. However I moved the Vendetta flat out in the scout move to get a 4+ and didn't protect it like the rest of the vehicles. That was a big mistake since it was my best bet to kill the Dreadknight. Anyway I thought a +4 cover would protect it somehow.

How wrong was I! His drop pod landed exactly on the spot and he combat squaded his Sternguard (they had 8 combi meltas in total). He fired 4 of them on the Vendetta, hit with all 4 and then I botched all the cover saves as a result the Vendetta was destroyed. The veterans shot with 3 Meltaguns, a demo charge and the lasguns against the Sternguard combat squad but only 3 of the guys died. In their turn they charged the veterans and cut them down in combat.

Other highlights include: Command squad firing 4 meltas with "Bring it Down!" on the Dreadknight and only causing one wound, Hive Guards pouring dozens of shots on Crowe without managing to do anything and in turn got charged by him and died, a singe hunter-killer missile fired on the Hydra and destroyed it, Tervigon charging the librarian and one sternguard and slowly dying while the libby survived (he didn't even used the force weapon).

Dice was so bad that if our opponets didn't do a lot of glaring mistakes (i.e. leaving the Purifiers in the open to get shot from the Medusas) we would probably have lost the game. At the end one of our opponents mentioned to me that we were very lucky to have won but I don't think he knows the game well enough to realise what had happened.

Anyway, at least we barely made it. We had three wins but not enough Victory Points so we ended up second. Can't complain though, it was Manos first proper tournament so he was very happy with the result. You can find the table with the official results here. Thanks for reading.

Did You Know?

2011-11-18T15:07:00.001+02:00

Did you know that Marbo of the imperial guard codex was based on the character of John Rambo that was portrayed by Sylvestre Stalone int he movies "Rambo".

If you look carefully you will see that Marbo, is an anagram of Rambo!

What Does Your Army Say About You?

2011-11-17T17:35:00.000+02:00

I was walking to my local net cafe today , thinking about the short story of Dark Angels i read in the Imperial Armor 5 book, siege of Vraks. When it struck me that, the army that i play and love (Dark Angels) actualy in a way represents me. So i found some time to make a compilation of what each army may say about its owner, from a fluff point of view!

Space Marines- The people that play space marines are the majority of people that you know. They are sick and tired of every day, seeing humans and their flaws, they realize that even though they too are in a way connected to humanity , they are just a tid bit better than the others, or at least, don't suffer from the common short comings as they perceive others do. These people associate themselves with a certain aspect of personality, be it discipline, walking the thin line or any other like it. However they know that just because they associate themselves with it, they are in no way constricted by it alone.

Chaos Space Marines- These folks come in many different flavors, just like normal space marine players they associate themselves with a certain aspect of their personality. These aspects however can be limited to several categories. The people that play chaos space marines are usualy firm in their belief , and as stubborn as goats, its nigh impossible to convince them that they are wrong. Some are prone to anger bursts (funny enough its usually not the Khorne players) when the dice betray them. They are rather arrogant at times, and see themselves a step above the rest, they dont always talk about it, but once again they dont have any reservations, they dont openly claim to be the best not because they think they will be shunned, but because deep inside, they have compasion and dont want to hurt others by telling them that they are inferior.

Demons- These folks are usualy extremists, they either want it all the way or not at all. Middle ground has never been their thing, and where as they sometimes have been found standing there, it was most definately not to their preferance or choosing. For them a firm belief is only worthy if it is upheld in them most strict sense, otherwise its a waste of their time and effort.

Black Templars- These guys are something else, not only do they think that theyre always right, they think that theyre right in most things, but they will argue about one topic specificaly and they will argue it untill the sun grows cold, its not that theyre incapable of seeing logic, its just that theyve had several examples of where they were proven right and they cling on to this stubborness no matter what. This is also a good thing as it is usualy long and arduous argueing that will prove a point, rather then a hasty back downing defeat.

Space Wolves- These folks can be seen as drunks or as people who take the world at a feathers weight. If youve seen watch man, then youre the comedian. Nothing is really serious around you, and where as you can get as serious as the situation requires, at the end of the day you really do prefer to sit back and enjoy yourself, doing what you do best and get most fun out of.

Blood Angels- These guys seem to have taken their armies personality and taken it a step further. I might be the only one here, but it seems to me that blood angel players are always grumpy, and easy to anger, and most of the time its over details. These guy seem to sway from overgrown cry babies, to the best of friends one can ask for. If i didnt know better id say these guys suffer from PMS.

Grey Knights- Interesting breed these players. Quite resolute in their way of living life. Theyre usualy fun to be around, fun to play with. Most have some personaly code of honour which they would rather not share. These guys are usualy the ones that will help you out in time of need and ask nothing in return.

Dark Angels- Well, these guys are more complex then youre average onion in layer structure! They are always watching out for themselves, they know that its the only way that they can survive. When theyre unlucky enough to make a bond with another beeing, they will propably do everything they can untill their last breathe to preserve it. The sad truth is, they will never let anyone know this. In fact they will never open up truthfully to anyone. They will forever be haunted by their own inner selves, and in some cases it will make them great leaders, while in others, great thinkers.

Imperial Guard- Besides having some sort of mazochistic tendancy to pain hundreds of models or buy immense ammounts of tanks, these guy usualy come with deep personal problems. I really dont think i ever met an IG player that had a perfect life. The thing about IG players, is that they sometimes let these problems take over and in this they portray a piece of their army. Its quite interesting actually, if you have a friend who plays IG, go uo to him one day and ask him : "Is everything ok buddy?"

Tau- These guys most propably not only have tau but other armies, so refer to them. However keep in mind that it takes a great strength of character to stick to something you believe in, especialy when others reject those ideas or ideals. If anything, you are very stoic and righteous in youre ideals.

Tyranids- These guys had the best upbringing anyone could have wished. No matter how they got where they are in life, they learned lessons, and those lessons have stuck well with them. Just like Grey Knight players, these guys are very helpfull and will go out of theur way t help friends. Emperor forbid they ever get pissed off at you though, you sure as hell would like that!

Eldar- These players are the mature ones of the hobby. Sure there are some black sheep, but for the most part, they understand that there are important things in life and then there are the not so important. When they play a game, they play a game, when they do surgery in an eye clinic, they do surgery in an eye clinic. There is a big thick wall seperating these categories.

Dark Eldar- These dudes are either too cocky, or not cocky enough. They come in all sizes, flavors and colors. You can have a chubby, metal head , mohawk wearing dude play DE, or you can have a quiete slim "Study alot at home" guy playing them. Obviously theres no comparison between the two usually. However both believe they have hidden potential, and if life wasnt treating them like its little bitch, they could unlock it.

Necrons- Precise, would be the best way to describe you. You dont believe in lying, you dont believe in harming people. However you do believe that some things must be done regardless of what cost, you have impartial clarity, you can be unbiased even when others wouldnt.

Orks- So much to say about these guys ! First of, they are usualy friendly in appearence, however deep inside they already know who they will stand up for and who they wont. Sometimes they are quick to judge and at other times slow, one thing is sure however. Once you gain their trust, it stays. Ork players are some of the most loyal people you will meet. They are easy going, and dont really make a fuss about something they see as un-important, however dont mistake this easy going for inability. An ork player can propably beat the living crap out of anyone he wants. I wouldnt be surprised if all Ork players secretly or openly listen to metal!

Stupid Spammers

2011-11-16T23:40:00.004+02:00

Seriously, what the heck is going on here? Only four hits from the legit Google and more than a hundread from these jokers? Why are they doing this to me? They make any money from this? Please, could anyone that knows about SEO or something explain it to me? It's not a big deal, I know, it just makes me feel so...dirty...

Genocide Chronicles V Report

2011-11-16T16:02:00.002+02:00

Main organiser of the event, Mr. Chronomancer being silly.

Before I start with the report let me explain what GC is all about and why I wanted to participate in it. To put it simply, it’s a team tournament competition similar to the European Team Championship (ETC).

Teams consisting of four players (you can have as many substitutes as you want but only four people can play at each round) compete against each other and gain points depending on how well each individual player does. In the end the team with the most points win.

Simple enough, right? The trick here is that in every round, the pairing between the opposing players is not random but has to be determined by the Captain of each team. This bring an element of “rock-paper-scissors” to the game that I personally don’t like. I don’t think 40K was meant to be played like that. There is no point in making a balanced, good list if you get picked to play with an opponent that specifically made his list to counter yours. Furthermore, edit: in the ETC Special Characters are not allowed which is a folly in my opinion (will have to elaborate more about this on a different post or this one will become too long).

However none of this matters. The tournament was conceived as a means to bring different players together from all over Greece (there were teams from Patra and Larissa that had to travel from very far away to make it) and expand the 40K community. Competition takes a backseat here. Getting to know new people and celebrating the game is the main goal. So even if I didn’t agree with the format, I decided to give it a go.

Once more, go to the Invulnerable blog for a very nice and extensive review (plus some awesome pictures) of the event. It’s definitely going to be more objective and all around than my post.

Our team consisted of Moskitokiller (Lewnidas, the Captain with his trusty Dark Eldar), Khorne (Odusseas with Imperial Guard), Doomsday (Charis with Eldar) and me with my “balanced” ork list (since I had to have a fully painted army). The name of our team was Imperial Seals the same as our Guild of course. Both Khorne and Doomsday were bring armies and lists very new to them and I had a bad feeling about it since they had very little experience with them.

First game we went against the team of Space Meraklides (there is a pun here but it’s very hard to explain to the Greek challenged amongst you!). Not really sure what happened during the pairing process but I ended up playing against IG (I told beforehand to Leonidas that I’d rather play against BA and DE from the lists I’ve seen). Imperial Guard against Orks can be scary at times but his list didn’t seem too bad for me.

My first opponent, Mr. Manthos. All pictures courtesy of the Invulnerable Blog.

He had a company command with plasma guns in a Chimera, Marbo, various infantry squads on foot and a platoon command squad with four flamers, two veteran squads that were obviously going to get inside 2 Valkyries, 2 vanilla Russes and one Demolisher and two heavy weapon squads with lascannons. Nothing too scary actually. We were playing Spearhead with Capture and Control.

We rolled for first turn and I lost the roll. I was already thinking of deploying very defensively since I didn't want them Meltavets with Demolitions anywhere near my Battlewagons in the first turn. However he kept his flyers in reserve. "Interesting" I thought and pushed my vehicles as far as possible to the middle of the board.

On his first turn he managed a lucky penetrating hit with one of the Lascannon teams. Fortunately the Battlewagon was only immobilised and not destroyed (something that actually helped me in the course of the game). When my turn came I realised I had forgotten to deploy my Lootas. However my opponent was a gentleman and let me deploy them as I would have done in the deployment phase. What a good sport. Didn't do much on the first turn just rushed everything forward and managed to fix the immobilised result on the BW.

On his second turn he moved the command squad near the Biker Nobs and opened fire. With a 3+ cover save they weren’t hurt that much. The other two Battlewagons remained intact as well. On my second turn the Nobs really shined. They multi-charged an infantry squad, the platoon command squad and the Demolisher and made short work of them. The boys on the left assaulted the command squad and their chimera and wiped them both out. Unfortunately the other boyz squad failed their charge due to a bad difficult terrain roll. I also managed to destroy the battlecannon off one of the Russes with a lucky glancing side armour shot from the Lootas.

On his third turn the he focused most of his fire on the failed-charge boys and kill all but the nob and a single boy (in my next turn they charged a vanilla Russ and destroyed it, dying in the ensuing explosion!). My nobs advanced towards his lines and multi-charged the infantry squads holding his objective. The now functioning battlewagon that had stayed behind rammed the Vendetta and he failed his dodge roll so the Deff Rolla flattened it to the ground. The boyz hoped outside and assaulted the meltavets. The other battlewagon tanked shocked the Lascannon heavy weapon team squad and killed all of them with the Deff Rolla hits. All of the Lootas focused their fire on the remaining Vendetta and managed to bring it down.

We had to stop the game at that point. It was obvious that I would have won even if it was just the third turn. Even if Marbo arrived on the fourth turn and killed the Grots holding my own objective, the boyz of the repaired BW would have enough time to go back and destroy him. If we played five or six turns I would have probably tabled him. He was a slow player I must admit and that probably cost me a few points but he was such a good sport regarding everything else that I cannot hold that against him.

Here is the table with the results from the first round:

I did well but unfortunately the rest of the team didn’t (we had a penalty for an unpainted army as well) so we lost the first round. One the second round we were playing against a very good team and I got to play against Mandragoras. He has brutalised my Blood Angels more than a couple of times in other tournaments so I know this was going to be a tough match to win. We were playing Pitched Battle with Kill Points.

He had the Baron riding with a bunch of Helions, Trueborns in Venoms, 3 Ravagers and Wyches in Raiders. He went first thanks to the Baron (such an awesome character, I think he is a must have for every DE list) so I had to deploy very offensively with my Biker Nobs hiding behind a wall of Battlewagons. On his first turn he didn’t manage to kill any of my vehicles but totally killed a unit of Lootas.

On my first turn I simply moved everything forward, with the Bikers turbo boosting. Lootas managed to immobilise one Venom and Stun another. Not much but I didn’t have that many options really. Second turn he moved his Helions and one Raider with Wyches towards my Lootas. He shot most of his dark light weapons on the Biker Nobs and that’s when his dice rolls started to go downhill. After a plethora of S8 hits he didn’t even manage to kill a single nob. My Lootas took a lot of wounds so I was forced to get them to the ground.

My second turn and the Nobs did a very potent multi-charge and managed to destroy 2 Venoms and also decimate a Trueborn Squad. To add insult to injury, a single Trueborn remained and passed his Leadership check so on my opponents turn the nobs and biker boss would still remain in close combat and not get shot. I wasn’t sure if I should charge 20 boys headlong into 15 Helions plus the Baron but I did so anyway. It didn’t go very well obviously so I only had 5 boyz and the Nob by the end of the battle. I did managed to destroy the Wyche’s raider though (multi-charged the nob into it). He used hit and run and detached the Helions from combat moving towards my poor Grots.

On his turn he did a grave mistake. He charged the Helions into the Grots. He made short work of them of course but in doing so he called the wrath of the Dice Gods on him. Such hubris would not go unpunished. The result? He charged 10 Wyches into the remaining 6 orks and didn’t kill a single one of them. Not even one wound. I killed a few in return and made them break and run away. His other Wych squad didn’t reach my other Boyz squad because of a bad difficult terrain roll (and me interpreting the rules of Grabbin’ Klaw wrongly unfortunately) so they would receive the charge next turn. That’s the price you have to pay when slaughtering innocent Gretchin.

I think he really hates my Orks now. All pictures courtesy of the Invulnerable Blog.

On my turn I charged the remaining boyz squad on Helions straight out of their Battlewagons and wiped the pointy eared buggers out. The other boyz charged the remaining Wyches and broke them pretty easily. Nobz multi-charged a few vehicles and killed a couple. At this point we had to finish our game but it was clear that I had won. Again, if we went on for five or six turn I could have tabled him but to be fair his rolls were abysmal at many instances (don’t invoke the wrath of the Dice Gods, that’s the Aesop’s fable here).

The other guys from the team didn’t do very well on this round so we tied with the last team. We had the option to forfeit the last game in our favour (there were 7 teams so every round one went without an opponent) and get 60 points out of the maximum of 80 possible. Leonidas wanted to continue though and so we did.

My last game was against the excellent dude from Spain, Ignii. We have played before in tournaments and I know he is a good sport and an all around nice guy. He had a somewhat unfocused Eldar list with a couple of jetbike troop squads, Falcon with 5 Fire Dragons, 2 Warlocks, Wave Serpent with Banshees, 2 x 5 Dark Reapers and a full squad of Dire Avengers in another Wave Serpent. We were playing Seize Ground with Dawn of War.

Mr. Ignii, a truly cool guy.All pictures courtesy of the Invulnerable Blog.

I went first and pretty much zoomed everything as far as possible in the middle of the board. He then moved flat out his vehicles and turbo boosted his jetbikes very close to my nobz leaving them vulnerable to a multi-charge next turn. On my second turn I charged one of the boyz squads to the dire avengers killing them on the spot (even though the attached warlock managed to escape). The Biker Nobz did yet another multi-charge and killed the jetbikes and did some damage to the vehicle.

On his turn I got lucky again. He shot the Fire Dragons at the Nobs but managed to roll three “1”s to wound! They also survived the charged from the Banshees (at that point everyone in the unit had 1 wound left) and also managed to break the girls and go after them (so they couldn’t regroup). In my turn I multi-charged the Fire Dragons and their vehicle destroying it and still staying in combat with the one remaining Fire Dragon. The other boyz in their battlewagons had reached the Dark Reapers on the other side of the board and were ready to assault on the first chance.

At that point I had almost tabled him by turn four and we agreed to wrap up the game as the outcome was obvious. It was a very good game, it’s always a pleasure to see Ignii. He also gave me some collectible Bloodbowl dice and I thank him very much for it. He is definitely a top class gentleman in my eyes!

These are the final scores from the tournament:

I did very well, finished second overall in Battle Points and third in Victory Points. To be honest, I played two easy games (no disrespect to my opponents who were excellent sports but this is how I see it) and was very lucky on my second game. Despite my good performance it feels somewhat empty for me.

The team didn’t go very well though. My fears were realised since playing with new armies is a recipe for disaster at a tournament. At the end of the day, it was a great event and I personally had a good time. I just hope we do better as a team next time. I’d like to thank Manos for helping us once more. These is the final rankings:

162 - The Berks

147 - Failed Chargers
130 - Knights of Saint Andrew
124 - Ταρατατζούμ
113 - Space Μερακλήδες
111 - Imperial Seals
096 - Red Corsairs

Congratulations to all the winners and I will see them next time.

Berks, the winning team. Their captain really looks like my friend Richardo from Portugal.

Appendix A: Our Lists

Player 1: Λεωνίδας Φράγκος (Moskitokiller) - Captain

ARMY DESCRIPTION: Dark Eldar

1750 Pts - Dark Eldar Roster - DE_1750_Bar_3trbn_5wr_3rav_bst_2

HQ: Baron Sathonyx (1#, 105 pts)

1 Baron Sathonyx @ 105 pts ((C:DE, pg. 48); Unit Type: Jump Infantry; Fleet; Night Vision; Power from Pain; Independent Character; Hit & Run; Master of the Skies; Hellglaive; Splinter Pistol; Wychsuit; Bones of the Seer; Custom Skyboard; Twilight Shroud; Phantasm Grenade Launcher; Shadow Field; Splinter Pod x1)

Troops: Kabalite Warriors (6#, 120 pts)

5 Kabalite Warriors @ 120 pts ((C:DE, pg. 89); Unit Type: Infantry; Fleet; Night Vision; Power from Pain; Splinter Rifle x4; Kabalite Armour; Blaster x1)

1 Raider ((C:DE, pg. 91); Unit Type: Vehicle (Skimmer, Fast, Open-topped); Transport Capacity: 10 models; Night Vision; Dark Lance x1)

Troops: Kabalite Warriors (6#, 130 pts)

5 Kabalite Warriors @ 130 pts ((C:DE, pg. 89); Unit Type: Infantry; Fleet; Night Vision; Power from Pain; Splinter Rifle x4; Kabalite Armour; Blaster x1)

1 Raider ((C:DE, pg. 91); Unit Type: Vehicle (Skimmer, Fast, Open-topped); Transport Capacity: 10 models; Night Vision; Dark Lance x1; Flickerfield)

Troops: Kabalite Warriors (6#, 130 pts)

5 Kabalite Warriors @ 130 pts ((C:DE, pg. 89); Unit Type: Infantry; Fleet; Night Vision; Power from Pain; Splinter Rifle x4; Kabalite Armour; Blaster x1)

1 Raider ((C:DE, pg. 91); Unit Type: Vehicle (Skimmer, Fast, Open-topped); Transport Capacity: 10 models; Night Vision; Dark Lance x1; Flickerfield)

Troops: Kabalite Warriors (6#, 130 pts)

5 Kabalite Warriors @ 130 pts ((C:DE, pg. 89); Unit Type: Infantry; Fleet; Night Vision; Power from Pain; Splinter Rifle x4; Kabalite Armour; Blaster x1)

1 Raider ((C:DE, pg. 91); Unit Type: Vehicle (Skimmer, Fast, Open-topped); Transport Capacity: 10 models; Night Vision; Dark Lance x1; Flickerfield)

Troops: Kabalite Warriors (6#, 130 pts)

5 Kabalite Warriors @ 130 pts ((C:DE, pg. 89); Unit Type: Infantry; Fleet; Night Vision; Power from Pain; Splinter Rifle x4; Kabalite Armour; Blaster x1)

1 Raider ((C:DE, pg. 91); Unit Type: Vehicle (Skimmer, Fast, Open-topped); Transport Capacity: 10 models; Night Vision; Dark Lance x1; Flickerfield)

Elite: Kabalite Trueborn (4#, 146 pts)

3 Kabalite Trueborn @ 146 pts ((C:DE, pg. 88); Unit Type: Infantry; Fleet; Night Vision; Power from Pain; Kabalite Armour; Blaster x3)

1 Venom ((C:DE, pg. 91); Unit Type: Vehicle (Skimmer, Fast, Open-topped); Transport Capacity: 5 models; Night Vision; Flickerfield; Splinter Cannon x2)

Elite: Kabalite Trueborn (4#, 146 pts)

3 Kabalite Trueborn @ 146 pts ((C:DE, pg. 88); Unit Type: Infantry; Fleet; Night Vision; Power from Pain; Kabalite Armour; Blaster x3)

1 Venom ((C:DE, pg. 91); Unit Type: Vehicle (Skimmer, Fast, Open-topped); Transport Capacity: 5 models; Night Vision; Flickerfield; Splinter Cannon x2)

Elite: Kabalite Trueborn (4#, 146 pts)

3 Kabalite Trueborn @ 146 pts ((C:DE, pg. 88); Unit Type: Infantry; Fleet; Night Vision; Power from Pain; Kabalite Armour; Blaster x3)

1 Venom ((C:DE, pg. 91); Unit Type: Vehicle (Skimmer, Fast, Open-topped); Transport Capacity: 5 models; Night Vision; Flickerfield; Splinter Cannon x2)

Heavy Support: Ravager (1#, 120 pts)

1 Ravager @ 120 pts ((C:DE, pg. 92); Unit Type: Vehicle (Skimmer, Fast, Open-topped); Night Vision; Aerial Assault; Dark Lance x3; Grisly Trophies; Flickerfield)

Heavy Support: Ravager (1#, 115 pts)

1 Ravager @ 115 pts ((C:DE, pg. 92); Unit Type: Vehicle (Skimmer, Fast, Open-topped); Night Vision; Aerial Assault; Dark Lance x3; Flickerfield)

Heavy Support: Ravager (1#, 115 pts)

1 Ravager @ 115 pts ((C:DE, pg. 92); Unit Type: Vehicle (Skimmer, Fast, Open-topped); Night Vision; Aerial Assault; Dark Lance x3; Flickerfield)

Fast Attack: Beastmasters (17#, 216 pts)

4 Beastmasters @ 216 pts ((C:DE, pg. 90); Unit Type: Beasts; Night Vision; Power from Pain; Wychsuit; Skyboard; Close Combat Weapon x4; Splinter Pod x4)

9 Khymerae (Night Vision; Invulnerable Save (4+))

4 Razorwing Flocks (Night Vision; Whirlwind of Blades)

Total Roster Cost: 1749

PLAYER 2: Οδυσσέας Χαραλαμπόπουλος (Khorne)

ARMY DESCRIPTION: Imperial Guard

HQ 1: Company Command Squad (50), 2 Melta guns (20) [70]

HQ 2: Lord Commissar (70), Power Weapon (10) [80]

HQ 3: Ministorum Priest (45), Eviscerator (15) [60]

Troop 1.1: Platoon Command Squad [30]

Troop 1.2: Infantry Squad (50), Power Weapon (10) [60]

Troop 1.3: Infantry Squad (50), Power Weapon (10), Flamer (5) [65]

Troop 1.4: Infantry Squad (50), Power Weapon (10), Flamer (5) [65]

Troop 1.5: Heavy Weapon Squad (60), 3 Lascannons (45) [105]

Troop 2: 10 Veterans (70), 3 Melta guns (30), 7 Shotguns (0) [100] in transport 1

Fast Attack 1: Devil Dog (120), Heavy Flamer (0) [120]

Fast Attack 2: Devil Dog (120), Heavy Flamer (0) [120]

Fast Attack 3: Devil Dog (120), Heavy Flamer (0) [120]

Heavy Support 1: Leman Russ Battle Tank [150]

Heavy Support 2: 2 Medusa (135), Enclosed Crew Compartment (15) [300]

Heavy Support 3: 2 Basilisks (125) [250]

Transport 1: Chimera (55), Heavy Flamer (0) [55]

Total Points: [1750pts]

PLAYER 3: Χάρης Πιτσίνης ( Doomsday)

ARMY DESCRIPTION : Eldar

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

HQ 1 Eldrad [210pts]

HQ 2 Farseer (55) / spirit stone (20) / doom (25) / guide (20) [120pts]

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

ELITE 8x howling banshees (128) / exarch (12) / executioner (10) / war shout (5) / acrobatic (5) [160pts]

TRANSPORT

wave serpent (90) / spirit stone (10) / t.l. scatter laser (25) [125pts]

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

TROOP 1 6x dire avengers (72) / exarch (12) / bladestorm (15) [99pts]

TRANSPORT

wave serpent (90) / spirit stone (10) / t.l. bright lance (45) [145pts]

TROOP 2 6x dire avengers (72) / exarch (12) / bladestorm (15) [99pts]

TRANSPORT

wave serpent (90) / spirit stone (10) / t.l. bright lance (45) [145pts]

TROOP 3 6x dire avengers [72pts]

TRANSPORT

wave serpent (90) / spirit stone (10) / t.l. scatter laser (45) [125pts]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

HEAVY SUPPORT 1 wraithlord (90) / 2x flamers / scatter laser (20) / bright lance (40) [150pts]

HEAVY SUPPORT 2 wraithlord (90) / 2x flamers / scatter laser (20) / bright lance (40) [150pts]

HEAVY SUPPORT 3 wraithlord (90) / 2x flamers / scatter laser (20) / bright lance (40) [150pts]

--------------

PLAYER 4: Λευτέρης Γαβαλάς (the Antipope)

ARMY DESCRIPTION : Orks

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

HQ1: Big Mek (35), Kustom Force Field (50) [85]

HQ2: Warboss (60), Power Klaw (25), Cybork Body (10), Attack Squig (15), Warbike (40) [150]

Elite1: 5 Lootas [75]

Elite2: 5 Lootas [75]

Elite3: 5 Lootas [75]

Troops1: 5 Nobz (100), Warbikes (125), Bosspole (5), Waaagh! Banner (15), Power Klaw (25), Big Choppa (5), Painboy (30) [305]

Troops2: 20 Ork Boys (120), Nob (10), Power Klaw (25), Boss Pole (5) [160]

Troops3: 20 Ork Boys (120), Nob (10), Power Klaw (25), Boss Pole (5) [160]

Troops4: 19 Ork Boys (114), Nob (10), Power Klaw (25), Boss Pole (5) [154]

Troops5: 10 Gretchin, Runtherd [40]

Fast Attack1: Warbuggy (30), TL Rokkit (5) [35]

Heavy Support1: Battlewagon (90), Big Shoota (5), Boardin' Plank (5), Grabbin' Klaw (5), Red Paint Job (5), Armour Plates (10), Deff Rolla (10), Grot Riggers (5) [145]

Heavy Support2: Battlewagon (90), Big Shoota (5), Boardin' Plank (5), Grabbin' Klaw (5), Red Paint Job (5), Armour Plates (10), Deff Rolla (10), Grot Riggers (5) [145]

Heavy Support3: Battlewagon (90), Big Shoota (5), Boardin' Plank (5), Grabbin' Klaw (5), Red Paint Job (5), Armour Plates (10), Deff Rolla (10), Grot Riggers (5) [145]

Total : 1749

PLAYER 5: Πάιζάκης Σπύρος (Spirus_The_Fenrisian)

ARMY DESCRIPTION: Space Wolves

HQ1: Logan Grimnar [275]

HQ2: Ragnar Blackmane [240]

Troops 1: Wolf Guards Pack x 6 (108); Terminator Armor x5 (75); Frost Blades x4 (40); Storm Shield x3 (45); Cyclone Missile Launcher x1 (30) in transport 1 [298]

Troops 2: Wolf Guards Pack x 6 (108); Combi-melta x5 (25); Cyclone missile Launcher x1 (30); Power weapon x3 (30) in transport 3 [193]

Troops 3: Grey Hunters x 5 (75); Flamer x1 (free) in transport 2 [75]

Heavy support 1: Long Fangs x6 (90) Missile Launcher x5 (50) [140]

Heavy support 2: Long Fangs x6 (90) Missile Launcher x5 (50) [140]

Transport 1: Land Raider Crusader (250) Extra Armor (15) Multi Melta (10) [275].

Transport 2: Razorback (40) Twin-Linked Lascannon (35) [75].

Transport 3: Drop Pod [35]

Appendix B:

The "No Special Characters" bit on the into was meant for the ETC and not for GC.

Did You Know?

2011-11-15T03:16:00.001+02:00

That the Dark Angel Space Marine Chapter, has a selected pool of names, that gets recycled as new Brothers join their ranks. Ezekiel, Gabriel, Belial and Naaman are just some of the famous names you may have heard!

In other words, no new name ever enters the rosters of the Dark Angels, that way they can remain loyal to the neames of the heroic brothers who lived during the time of the Heresy!

Necron Wraithstar

2011-11-15T01:11:00.000+02:00

It's true, Necrons lack a close combat monster unit, a true Deathstar. You won't find any TH/SS, Nob Bikers or Paladins here. Sure, Lychguards can be very expensive but could they go toe to toe with any of the aforementioned units? You can do the maths for me, be my guest.

However, there is a unit in the codex that doesn't have all the crippling weaknesses the other Necron close combat units have. The Wraiths! They might not be as powerful as some units from other books but they can still be quite effective. Let's make them into a Deathstar, shall we?

Destroyer Lord, Mindshackle Scarabs [145]

6 Canoptek Wraiths, 4 Whip Coils, 2 Particle Caster [260]

For 405 we have a fairly good close combat unit that could beat some face. It's is fairly mobile to start with and we don't need to buy a vehicle for them (very big plus). They don't count as jetbikes any more unfortunately but thanks to their special rules they can go from cover to cover without suffering any delays or harm. A possible second turn charge in most cases.

They are quite survivable too. The unit has 4 different equipment groups (one Wraith will have a Particle Caster and a Whip Coil) so they will soak up a few wounds before one of them dies. The Lord will always get a double strength hits from shooting allocated to him and 3++ for the rest of them is pretty neat.

Most importantly, they don't suffer from that I2 that all other Necrons do. Well, they do actually but Whip Coils will mend that. They have 24 attacks on the charge so we should be looking for 10 wounds before saves (2 of them rending) against MEQ units and another 2-3 power weapon wounds from the Destoyer Lord. The latter is not a close combat monster like some characters from other codices (especially that WS4 really hurts) but with rerolls to hit and S7 he can do some damage.

Don't forget the Mindshackle Scarabs either. Always charge the Lord on the model with the special close combat weapon in the opposing squad or a killy IC. Failing a Ld 9 check on 3 dice is done very easily. A Space Marine Sergeant hitting his own men with a powerfist must be a very comical sight (and up to 3 hits can be nasty). I wonder how it works against single model units (ie Monstrous Creatures).That's not just an offensive ability though. It will help your Lord stay alive too. Make sure he only makes contact with that model and in most cases nothing will hit him back.

This unit can also be very effective against vehicles as well. A good number of attacks plus high strength and Rending/Warscythe will do the work. Especially if you have managed to immobilised the vehicle with your Gauss Weapons, the Wraithstar will make short work of even a Land Raider.

In conclusion, the Wraithstar unit is quite mobile, very high on the survivability scale and will do enough damage against all units including vehicles and it's not too expensive. What's not to like?

Footcron Fun

2011-11-14T17:01:00.000+02:00

Since I don't have any relevant pictures to post, here are some from my weekend 's expedition because...why not?

The list I posted recently was more of a mechanised affair. I was wondering how Necrons would look on the other side of the spectrum. A pure Infantry list AKA Footcrons. Let's take a look of what I figured out:

Imotekh [225]

Overlord, Tachyon Arrow, Ressurection Orb, Phaeron, Sempiternal Weave [185]

Cryptek, HoD [35]

Cryptek, HoD, Solar Pulse [55]

Cryptek, HoE, Chronometron [35]

10 Immortals, Gauss Blasters [170]

6 Warriors [78]

4 Scarab Swarms [60]

3 Spyder, Gloom Prism, TL Particle Beamer [180]

3 Spyder , Gloom Prism ,TL Particle Beamer [180]

3 Spyder, Gloom Prism , TL Particle Beamer [180]

First of all, I know I told you to stay away from Imotekh but in this case he actually works. Why? Because the premise of the list is a first turn scarab swarm charge. Let me try to explain.

Greece is not only sandy beaches you know, we have our share of grimdark frozen forests as well.

I don't know if the Scarab Hive special rule is going to change in a future FAQ or something but at the time being you can use it this way. Let's say you are deploying in Pitched Battle or Spearhead. Presuming that your opponent parks his vehicles as close as possible to you, you can deploy your scarabs 24'' inches away from them in both cases.

If you start first (that's where Imotekh helps a lot here) you can use the Spyders on each scarab unit to create more scarab swarms. The first Spyder creates a Scarab base in one of the units. Place it on the unit within 2'' of coherency of course but towards the vehicle you want to assault. When the next Spyder creates one more base now put that in coherency with the base that was previously created, again as close as possible to the vehicle you want to assault. And so on.

This way, in our list, each Spyder unit can give each Scarab unit an extra 10,5'' (6'' for coherency and 4,5'' for base size) range for charging. Now add the 6'' for movement, D6'' for running and 12'' for assault and you have a potential 34'' charge range!

Think of the implications now. You are charging before the opponent had a chance to move so you auto hit them. Seven Scarab bases will destroy a Land Raider or you could kill easily up to six or seven vehicles with AV10 on the back. If your opponent has an uber tough and expensive Deathstar inside a Land Raider or a Storm Raven, you can add more than 3 bases on one of the Scarab units. You will then have enough range and bases to encircle the said vehicle. Wreck it with Entropic Strikes (guaranteed) and the unit inside dies. Game Over!

If your opponent realised what you are going to do then he will be forced to deploy very defensively with his vehicles as far away as possible from you. In this case you are still quite safe, since his close combat unit will be far away from you too charge and his shooty units will probably be out of reach because of the Night Fight. You can then take your time to produce a lot of bases in each scarab unit so you can kill his vehicles even when hitting them on a 6.

The rest of the stuff are shooty. The Immortals with 2 Phaerons can shoot up to 30''. The Cryptek with the Chronometron will help the generic Overloard with his Tachyon Arrow (I don't trust that BS4 for a 30 point item). Other than that , Spyders are there to protect your troops from assault units and the two small necron squads are there for scoring purposes.

What do you guys think?

iWin

2011-11-11T21:31:00.000+02:00

My wife just stopped me jumping around after 30 minutes of doing so. Some nonsense about "ruining the wooden floor" or something. But why was I so happy to begin with. Well check this out. Yep, that's right, I won a big, fat GW Gift Certificate courtesy of Mr. HOTPanda from the Chaos Manifesto Blog. Yipee!!!

This month has been really good for me 40K wise. My models where featured in GW's website and I did pretty well in tournaments (came second twice in two tournaments I attended and won some prizes, I will do battle reports soon, I promise). But this must be the highlight! I never won something like that and that makes me even more excited. I would like to thank Mr. HOTPanda again for his generosity. I guess it's good karma since I watched Kung Fu Panda 2 the other day and really liked it and also expressed my desire to play as a Monk Pandaren. Woohoo!!!

First Independent Club Tournament Report

2011-11-11T17:00:00.000+02:00

Picture stolen withought any courtesy from the Invulnerable blog

We interrupt the Necron frenzy program to present you with a long overdue report of a tournament I attended on the 25th of September. Don't know why it took me so long to write, I guess I wasn't in the mood. There is an excellent report also from the Invulnerable blog. Get your butts over there and read Markador's excellent overview and then come back to read my bitter, bitter ramblings.Withought further ado, here we go:

You remember when I asked for help with my tournament list a while back? Well I decided to throw all caution to the wind and go with a Green Tide army. My friend George (the owner of the now defunct FLGS) is to blame though, he gave me the idea. I ended up with this list (had to borrow 80 boys from him):

Ghazgkhull Thraka, Ammo Runt...228
5 Lootas...75

5 Lootas...75

30 Ork Boyz, Nob (Power Klaw, Bosspole)...220

29 Ork Boyz, Nob (Power Klaw, Bosspole)...214

Yeah, madness, I know. George helped me a lot though. He gave me a lift with his car to the venue and also helped me with deployment/movement (just moving the little guys). I don't know if I could have made it without it so I would like to thank George, Manos and all my opponents for helping me in the my movement phases. I managed to play 4 turns in my first game and 6 on the second and third game. That's pretty good if you think I had to push 190 plus models around every time. Moral victory to me then!

My first game was against Nikos and his Salamanders. I was a bit anxious about it since he got a few twin linked flamers and heavy flamers (also Vulkan, 5 TH/SS Termies in a Redeemer, 3 Drop Pod with Tacticals and Dread and a few land speeders) in his list (and that's bad news for orks if you didn't know) but at least I got the first turn. We played Capture and Control in Pitched Battle. I placed Thraka and 60 boyz on the left of the board to walk slowly towards his objective. Joining thraka with the boyz squad was obviously a bad idea since it really slowed them down.

I think my opponent panicked a little bit seeing all those models on the board so he rushed in for the kill a little bit too quickly. He deep striked his drop pods very close to my units. He inflicted a lot of casualties with all these twin linked heavy flamers of course but after a few brutal multicharging counter attacks from the orks he lost his most important (and scoring) units. I thought he would have played more aggressively with his Land Raider but he only charged me on Turn 4 in an awkward position for him, leaving the Termies ripe for a counter charge. I really wondered why he didn't defend his own objective (which I never reached by the way) and opted to attack mine instead. By the end of Turn 4 have cleared everything (except the LR) on my side of the board so I got the one objective and won. I don't think I played particularly well and I own my win to Niko's bad strategy.

Second game was against a young fellow with Imperial Guard. From the top of my head, he had Straken with a pimped out Command Squad in a Chimera, Manticore, Chimeras with Veterans, Sentinels and a Ventetta. We played Dawn of War with Seize Ground. I went first and deployed 2 of my big units and Thraka as close to his side as possible. The rest of the battle basically was me trying to get to his stuff and him trying to shoot me off the board. Nothing exciting tactically and I must admit I played really bad. Pushing 190 models every turn (with some help admittedly) was starting to take it's toll, tiring me mentally. Bad deployment choices (should have started my units inside terrain), calling Waaagh! on the wrong turn and many more mistakes. I've kept a unit of boys in reserves and it arrived on the fifth turn (lazy bastards). It was a large enough unit to be able to capture both the objectives in my deployment zone but I didn't see that at the time so I only went for one. On his last turn he moved his Vendetta to capture it. I charged with my boys and rolled enough sixes to hit and then another six to immobilized it. I told him that it's wrecked now.

My opponent then claimed that the Vendetta hadn't moved more than 12'' although it was obvious to me it had. We tried to figure it out but there was no time for it so I told him we should roll it off and proceed to lose the said roll. I then got ready to auto hit it with the nob since it was now immobilized but he told me that's not the case. He called the judge who also said that it had to be immobilized since the last turn in order to be able to auto hit it. This is wrong of course but it was the judges call so I couldn't do anything about it. So I lost. When I later confronted the judge after the game he admitted he was wrong but it was too late. At least I know that even playing so badly I could have gotten a draw if the judge had made the right call and if I wasn't braindead at the time my unit came from reserve I could have even won it.

With a slightly bitter taste in my mouth I went to play my last game. There was no chance to win the tournament now so I went with a very relaxed approach to it. I played against a bubbly chap with Black Templars. He had a Terminator deathstar with the Emperor inside a Land Raider, some Tactical squads in Razorbacks, a Predator and a Vindicator. Something like that. We played spearhead with kill points. Again, it was a matter of running across the board and catching his units in close combat. I was lucky enough to pull off a Waaagh! on the second turn and charged his Land Raider with Thraka and a unit of Boys which they easily destroyed. Then they got charged by the Terminators and died of course but it was good fun. We ended up with a draw but it was a very pleasant game.

I ended up 17th out of 38 people for victory points which is not too bad I guess. However there was also a separate rankings list with some added points for sportsmanship. I didn't get any so I did much worse in that one. I think I am a nice and fair enough opponent but I never try to be too nice if you get my meaning. I usually am myself and I am no pushover also, I guess that's not sportsmanship award material.

If I drew on that second game (which was just a bad judge call away if nothing else) I don't know how I would have fair. Maybe I'd have lost my last game so it would be the same. I think I'd be a bit more driven to win in this case though but who knows.

Overall impression of the tournament was good. It was in a nice hotel, pretty close to my place and in a lively part of Athens so there were no issues with finding food etc. The hall we played in was spacious and well lit, probably the most comfortable place I've ever played a tournament into.

The organisers put a lot of work into making the terrain. There were some impressive themed tables:

Picture courtesy of the Invulnerable blog (I guess...)

While some others were cringeworthingly thin on terrain:

Imagive playing here second with Dark Eldar!

My biggest criticism though is the way opponent pairing worked. There were a few conditions when opponents were drawn. They couldn't be from the same team, have the same army and play in the same table as before. I can understand that these conditions were used in order to maximize the participants enjoyment and I can see how this is a good thing for the first turn.

However the same conditions were used on the same turn as well. The result was that the people that had two wins in the previous turns played with opponents that had one win/one draw or even one win/one loss. Even the people who turned up in the first few spots on the ranking list. You can see the problem there. This really compromised the credibility of the event and more than a few people complained about it.

Bottom line is that I liked the tournament. There is room for improvement of course. More useful terrain on some of the tables, better opponent drawing system and a bit more diligence from the judges and it's going to be in a very good path to success.

Adressing some of the comments concerning Necrons

2011-11-11T01:00:00.000+02:00

I got a plethora (Greek word, look it up) of comments regarding my last few posts regarding my thoughts on the new Necrons, especially my initial list. They will require some extensive answers so I'd better do a new post and try to answer them. Here it goes then:

Anonymous: you got like 15guys for troops total?!!! -.- auto lose in 2 of 3 missions

Warflake: The only I would do differently is increase the size of the Warrior squads

I know, troops look cringeworthingly thin. However keep in mind that they will never, ever, ever, EVER, disembark from their dedicated vehicles. Let me tell you an ~~anecdotal~~ little story. One of my favourite units in my Ork list is my 10 grots. They have won me more games than I care to remember (i.e. two or three). How? They just stay in reserves and when they eventually arrive they claim an objective for me or stay safe and sound behind some LoS blocking terrain.

That's how the Warriors going to function in my list. They are going to fly around in their Night Scythes and when (and if) these get destroyed they will go back to reserves. When they arrive they are going to hug terrain near my board edge and claim objectives. Safe and sound.

Is there any reason to buff up the squads? What's the real difference between 10 warriors and 5 warriors when it comes to offensive capability. One more glancing hit on a vehicle? One more dead MEQ? Not much really. There are much better and cost effective ways to increase their survivability than buying more of them and the Night Scythe is the answer. I will elaborate more in a future post.

Anonymous (I feel that my comments section is starting to resemble a certain image board): I don't have the feeling that you are making the most of the triarch stalker because all your shooting is already TL or so. I've tried triarch stalker with 3 units of 10 immortals, the result was fairly impressive.

Fair enough question. My knee jerk reaction would be that this is irrelevant since the targets of Stalkers and Immortals don't really overlap.But let try to further examine the case.

Let's say we have 10 Immortals with Gauss Blasters. On the move the have 20 S5 gauss shots at 18''. Now, the Stalker has 2 S8 AP1 at 30''. What kind of targets should we be shooting at the first few turns (out of melta and flamer range)? Definitely not infantry, that would be a waste (so not such a good synergy with the Immortals as far as this goes). Maybe low armour vehicles? Well, thats where all our S6 and S7 weapons will be shooting at and they are more than enough to stun lock most vehicles until out heavy hitters (Command Barges and Stalkers) close in for the kill.

Ideally we should be shooting at AV12 and AV13 vehicles on the first few turn. Even with a glancing hit, the AP1 means we could do some damage (i.e. immobilising a Stormraven or destroying a weapon off a Vindicator). Gauss Blasters are not too bad for this job since a few glancing hits (around 3 if you consider that the weapons will be twin linked) are always welcomed. However as we are still in the first few turns they will definitely be out of range.

As the game progresses their synergy might get stronger. We could use the Stalker on heavy flamer mode followed by 20 TL S5 weapons on some infantry guys. That would hurt most units. However I wouldn't want my Troops even near 18'' of an enemy scary infantry unit. They don't really belong to the midfield anyway. Even a Tactical Marine squad could beat them up in close combat.Better have warriors safe inside their Night Scythes than this. And 10 Immortals have almost the same cost as 2 Annihilation Barges, don't forget that.

If we equipment with Tesla Carbines then they will fall more in range of the Stalker but then their targets will completely not overlap. 30'' range is good and they will stay at a safe enough distance but losing the gauss weapons will mean that they will be almost useless against vehicles. They can still target light armour but that's not where the Stalker should be shooting and we still have loads of S7 and S6 ranged weapons for that job. Stalkers and Immortals don't work well together in a nutshell.

Terrible T: "You've gone very shooty with your army. What happens when the enemy charge? You may remember I put wraiths or triarch praetorians behind some Necron units to jump over the combat and charge into the enemy from behind. I do feel you need some anti-combat units. My advice being the wraiths."

Mr.T has left a lot of comments lately and I thank him for that. Even though I don't agree with everything he says, he at least tries to back his claims with logical arguments each time (how fitting for a Necron Overlord that is). Let's see this one.

I've gone very shooty with this army because Necrons are basically a shooting army. They do have a few token close combat units and I love the new Wraiths (gonna write an article about the Wraithstar of my dreams one of these days) but they tend to be on the expensive side points wise. Also necron hybrid lists (infantry + mech together) don't seem to work too well for the Necrons.

The main problem is that the Night Scythe is a pretty poor transport for close combat unit. I know, I just said it rocks for Warriors but for the same reason it will be awful for Lychguard and close combat oriented characters (they should stay inside their barges them). What's the use of zooming across half of the board when you're going straight back to reserves after your transport pops?

I generally have a beef with "counter charge" units. There are many problems with this concept. First of all, what will they do if you are against a very shooty opponent with no close combat units? Go forward and die to small arms fire? Unless they are very, very resilient (talking about ork biker nobs here) or have an awesome transport (Land Raiders) close combat units won't cut it. Can you imagine a bunch of Praetorians in the midfield? Everything with less than strength 6 will shoot at them, probably blowing them up to little pieces.

In your best case scenario, if the opponent has some assault units so you keep them close by for a counter attack, consider the following points. First of all you won't get to use them until later in the game (probably turn 3 or 4) so you are wasting resources. With the same points you could have a shooty unit that you could put in use from turn 1. And most importantly, counter charging will probably come after whatever your opponent was planning to do with their close combat unit, i.e. killing your troops or assaulting your tanks. Hope this gives an insight of how I am thinking.

Necrons and Night Fight

2011-11-10T16:21:00.000+02:00

Curses, foiled again! I was going to write about Solar Pulses, Night Fight and Imotekh today but I got ninjaed by Kirby.Go read his article over here. It's very good as always and I share all his views (albeit a bit more strongly). I wanted to say this since I first read the codex (I call Leonidas for a witness) and I guess it doesn't really matter sincer anyone with half a brain would come to the same conclusion.Stay here for mine now, my comical broken English are much more fun to read anyway (read in a voice somewhere between Super Mario and Christopher Walken in "The Continental").

As you may know, Necrons have the unique ability to manipulate the Night Fight rules. That can be done by either including a Cryptek with a Solar Pulse in your army or Imotekh. One is a good choice, the other one is bad. Let me elaborate.

Imotekh has the unique privilege of being the only unit in the game (from the top of my head at least) to have two special abilities that don't work with each other (even cancel it's other in a way). That's Hyperlogical Strategy and the other is Lord of The Storm. The first lets you seize the Initiative on a 4+ and the other puts the 1st turn under Night Fight rules with the potential to continue it for further turns. Oh, and some random lightning strikes.

Everyone who's been using Vect or even Coteaz and Sicarius will tell you that they are very helpful during deployment. Even if you lose the 1st turn roll you will force your opponent into a more defensive deployment, denying him the confidence of a potent Alpha Strike or if he is careless you could Alpha Stike him instead. Good times. So Imotekh must be good right? Well not really, since his other ability cancels the benefit out. Your opponent can now deploy the way he wants knowing that he will be protected by Night Fight. Necrons don't have Acute Senses or Searchlights so it buggers them worse than almost any other army out there.

That's my first and most important point against Imotekh. But let's see what we are buying with this guy. He is a whooping 225 points, in par with the most expensive Special Characters in the game. Hyperlogical Strategy and Lord of The Storm cancel each other so we shouldn't count them in the bargain. The lightning stike part of the latter can be somewhat useful but it's way too random to be relied upon. Bloodswarm Nanoscarabs is a cruel joke I think. If the Flayed Ones could assault after Derp Striking it could work but right now it doesn't.

Guy doesn't even have a warscythe and Staff of Destroyer is only S6 with a very limited range. That means his drive-bys, if you put him in a Barge, against vehicles won't be very effective. He is not even good in regular close combat so you are paying for a useless Gauntlet of Fire, Phase Shifter and Sempiternal Weave. That's a lot of points down the drain. Bottom line is, stay away from him.

For 10 points more you can get an Overlord with a Warscythe riding a Barge and a Harbringer of Destruction Crypter with Solar Pulse. The first is a very annoying (for your opponent) unit that could kill 2 vehicles every turn and the second gives you a reliable item to induce Night Fight.

Since the Solar Pulse will stay on for just a player turn, you can use it on your opponent's turn and leave him in the dark. This means that you don't care if you start first or second. Having said that it will actually be better to start second in many cases (where there are objectives involved). If your opponent deploys very defensively (far back on the board or in reserves) then you still have the option to use the Solar Pulse on a different turn of your liking and delay your Alpha Strike to the point it will be most potent.

That's why the Cryptek is so important in my list (and generally in every other Necron list out there). Saturation of AV13 vehicles plus Night Fight will make you endure most of the enemy shooting for the first few turn until you are in range (with your relative close range weapons) to shoot him. There is enough fire power to neutralize a lot of enemy vehicles (stun locking/destroying them) so they won't pose a threat. In later turns you will start popping transports with the Stalkers/Overlords in Barges and access the juicy content for even more shooting. I think it will work well.

Necron List

2011-11-10T02:00:00.001+02:00

This is the list I am thinking for 1750 points:

Overlord, Warscythe...100

Overlord, Warscythe...100

Cryptek, HoD, Solar Pulse...55

Catacomb Command Barge...80

Catacomb Command Barge...80

Triarch Stalker...150

Triarch Stalker...150

Triarch Stalker...150

5 Necron Warriors, Night Scythe...165

5 Necron Warriors, Night Scythe...165

5 Necron Warriors, Night Scythe...165

4 Scarab Swarms...60

4 Scarab Swarms...60

Annihilation Barge...90

Annihilation Barge...90

Annihilation Barge...90

This is generally the kind of lists I am comfortable playing with. A lot of redundancy, no deathstars (they make me nervous) and symmetry. The list includes:

8 AV13 (quantum shielding) open topped vehicles
3 AV11 vehicles
36 S7 Twin Linked Tesla shots at 24''
10 S6 Tesla shots at 24''
6 Multimelta shots

There is also Cryptek's weapon (S8 36''), 15 Glauss Flayers (3-4 glancing hits in rapidfire range) and of course the Overlord's and Scarab's close combat attack for anti-tank. Most of the above double up nicely for anti infantry as well.

There are many elements that make the list work in my opinion. Actually a bit too many so I will explain them in later posts.

My initial thoughts on the new Necrons

2011-11-09T16:52:00.001+02:00

Great, I hear you saying, another guy eager to give his opinion on the new Necrons. Well, opinions are like belly buttons, everyone has one I guess (except from Adam and Eve maybe) and I think there might be a couple of people out there that would like to hear mine. I've been waiting for this release for far too long not to be excited anyway.

Let me start with the fluff. I've seen many people hatin' on the new Necron back story. I think one mistake my fellow hobbyist are doing is to presume that GW's fluff is written in stone by the hand of God (I'm feeling very pious today) for us mortal to behold. Well, it isn't. It could change anytime, in anyway possible. And that's not a bad thing.

To be honest all this knee jerk reactions of negativity invokes images in my mind of the worst nerdery possible, something reserved for hard core Star War fans maybe. Hissy-fitting over some fictional story is just...unappealing (and definitely not sexy). I, for once, liked the new direction the fluff is going. Even though I loved the old necrons, I couldn't connect in any level with them. Their back story was cold, empty and kinda boring. The fresh approach of honourable yet driven aliens is much more to my liking. This is something the other "evil" races lacked until now, they were always too brutal I think.

As far as the list goes, I think they are a pretty strong codex. As with every other single army that exists, there is going to be a unit that dominates each FoC slot. What's important in my opinion, and makes a codex great, is how the second best option compares to the first. If it's very close to the optimal choice across all the FoC, then we are talking about a good and balanced codex.

I think that is the case with Necrons. For HQ we are spoilt for choice. So many interesting Special Characters, and the Crypteks are also very neat. Maybe not so much in Troops though to be honest. The Night Scythe is much better than the Ghost Arc so I can't see anyone choosing the latter (except that there is a model for it). I think Warriors are better than Immortals, they are scoring and form a meat shield for the Crypteks cheaper than Immortals, and that's pretty much the use of both unit.

Stalkers are awesome but Lychguard and Praetorians have their uses (if someone wants to focus on a more close combat oriented list) and also Deathmarks can be useful (even though you'd have to use a lot of them to be effective). Flayed one and Shard (too expensive for what they deliver) are pretty bad though.

Fast Attack is actually my favourite. Scarabs and Wraiths are pure awesomesauce. Even Heavy Destroyers can be used now fairly effectively in a way. Not sure about the jetbikes yet.

In Heavy Support I can see the Annihilation Barge dominating the field. Cheap as chips and very effective for what it does (killing small vehicles and also doubling up for anti infantry). Doom Scythes have a lot of potential too against certain list but they are a bit on the expensive side. Also Spyders are awesome if you use them in conjuction with some Scarab Swarms.

All is not so nice and dandy though. I have my complains too. For a start, GW didn't make models for the most useful units again. No Night/Doom Scythe kit and instead we got the fugly (rules wise) Ghost Arc. Why? No model for the Stalker too which is a bummer.

Secondly, a lot of the units (well, two to be precise) that I used a lot with the previous codex are now almost useless. I am talking about Destroyers and Monoliths. They got hit pretty bad with the nerf stick and also there are much more cost effective units in their relative FoC slots. I guess I could sell them to someone before they realise how bad they've become. Have to be quick though!

In The Spotlight: Stillfrosty

2011-11-04T17:00:00.000+02:00

Welcome to a new segment of this blog. In The Spotlight will be taking experienced, veteran, ambitious, under glorified and over glorified people and putting them under the microscopic glass. Will they be broken under the pressure of popularity or be reborn as a phoenix, lets find out!

Today we will be reviewing one of my favorite online personas: Brandon Vallee or as most people know him, Stillfrosty. He has for a fairly long time been trying to show the world that the White Scars armies based around Khan/Captain on a bike are a formidable force that has what it takes to be the very best. For more info i highly recommend that you visit his blog here!

So why now you may ask, i have chosen to poke and prod Stillfrosty into the spotlight? The answer is rather simple. You see where as hes been winning local tournaments for ages, we needed a major event to prove once and for all, undeniably that the White Scars are the Champs. This event came in the form and shape of "Da Boyz".

Brandon and his team, the Toledo Tools came in 1st place. And he scored the most points overall in the event. This is why id like to talk a bit about his list and then hear what he , himself has to say about the whole ordeal.

Brandons White Scars Army List

Khan on Moondrakkan

Command Squad
Veteran with lightning claw, melta gun, storm shield
Veteran with powerfist and melta gun
Veteran with power fist and storm shield
Champion
Apothecary

Bike Squad (8+1)
2x melta guns
Powerfist
Attack Bike with multi-melta

Bike Squad (4+1)
2x plasma guns
combi-plasma
Attack Bike with multi-melta

Bike Squad (4+1)
2x plasma guns
combi-plasma
Attack Bike with multi-melta

Scouts (5)
Sniper rifles
1x heavy bolter
Camo

Speeder Squadron (2)
2x Heavy Bolters and 2x Typhoon Missile Launchers

Speeder Squadron (2)
2x Heavy Bolters and 2x Typhoon Missile Launchers

Speeder Squadron (2)
2x Heavy Flamers and 2x Typhoon Missile Launchers

Thunderfire cannon

2000 Points

Like Clockwork

So then , lets bisect this list. We begin with Khan, who the list is in a way built around. Its not that he only only gives everyone the ability to outflank, he also confers 1 squad that he is with, furious charge and hit and run special rule.

Its no surprise then that Stillfrosty chooses to attack him to his command squad. At first look you might think that furious charge is wasted on the power fists as they still strike at I1, but despite this setback in the rules, these fists becomes S9 and that gives them the ability to even destroy Land Raiders. Lets not forget that the champion whos got WS5 gets pimped up to S5 and I5 as well, along side with 1 of the veterans that can re-roll wounds due to the LC. Even the apothecary will submit his 4 standard attacks at S5/I5. Needless to say, this isn't much good against say a squad of wyches who will just laugh at these snails they now see before them, but that's where other factors come in. All the squad is T5 and has FNP, which makes them pretty tough, and if you're worried about power weapons, 2 of these lads carry a SS , 1 of them a combat shield and 1 an iron halo. This unit is the "Chuck Norris" of this speedy list. Its there to sucker punch things in the face and then tactically relocate to a safe distance.

Next we have a 9 model squad of bikes. The Sgt carries a powerfist, and we have 3 melts weapons in there. We can safely assume that this squad is the Tank Hunting squad of the list, that will try to manouvre into position to blow up those armor 13/14 vehicles. Hell, you could even split the squad to have 2 meltas in 1 combat squad and a MM and a PF in another , and go after 2 different targets. But even if they're not hunting , they can still dish out a pretty mean 17 S4 attacks at I4 and 3 S8 attacks at I1, this combined with the fact that they're toughness 5 and are relentless (can rapid fire and still assault) means that they can thin out a squad and handle themselves nicely in close combat, assuming that its not against TH/SS terminators!

Next we have 2 squads which are loaded with the energy of the sun itself: plasma. 2 squads that can pump out 6 S7 AP2 shots each per round is something that even a squad of termies should fear. Add to that a lovely S8 melta and were looking at the ultimate skimmer hunting unit. Land speeders, raiders and anything else with AV11, can say goodbye. These lads could probably hold out a turn or 2 in close combat as well, while the command squad comes in and finishes the job.

Next we have the scouts. A 5 man unit of them in cover would normally get a 3+ cover save due to their camo cloaks, but combined with bolstered defences , these lads now have a 2+ cover save without even going to ground. These guys chill back and hold objectives while, absorbing incoming fire. An interesting addition to this is that the Heavy Bolter may make a special attack with a blast, that wounds on a 2+ regardless of toughness.

This brings me to the Thunderfire canon itself. The thunderfire canon comes with its own inbuilt techmarine. Whos got a 2+ save. So were looking at a model that has 2+/3+++ save if deployed near the scouts. Besides that the cannon offers us another 4 blasts with different perks. The one stillfrosty used quite well in the tournament was the Tremor blasts, which make youre enemy roll for moving through difficult terrain, and if they're IN difficult terrain (aka exploded vehicle) they roll only one D6. So you exploded a land raider and inside are a bunch of THSS termies. Just shoot them some blasts, and theyre going to be at a serious disadvantage of even reaching you to assault next turn. Thats when you turbo boost away from them.

Last but not least we have 3 squads of 2 land speeders. Each one has a cyclone missile launcher, which gives us yet another 12 blasts at S4 AP6 or 12 shots of S8 AP3. Once again i fear for the life of skimmers, and perhaps even AV 13. Add to this the fact that theyre also equipped with 6 Heavy Bolters and 2 Heavy flamers. Were looking at some serious anti horde capabilities.

Interview with Brandon

The Toledo Tools Celebrating their win (and Brandons Fiancee)

1) You're pretty much famous around the web for being the foremost authority on White Scar/Bike armies. Care to tell us what made you play them in the first place?

Famous? Not really ;p

Anyways, when I first started this game eleven years ago, I picked up a few marine units here and there and started collecting a small squad of bikes. After playing the game a few times, I noticed how much I liked the idea of a fast moving unit to zip around the table. Still being new, I did not know much about other codices or chapter approved articles until one of the gamers suggested that if I keep using bikes that I should probably play a White Scars army from a White Dwarf article. Ever since that day I have used a bike based Space Marine army. As an aside, mongols are awesome and I love the imagery, tactics, and strategies which they employ on the battle field.

2) You have on occasions said that playing a Khan army and a Captain on bike armies are 2 completely different things, can you please elaborate on that?

You would think that this wouldn't be true but it is! The devil is in the details as I like to put it. If I am using a Captain based bike list, I lose out on the coolness of the command squad (I can still take one, but not having hit and run and furious charge really hampers the unit). I am also going to be relying on combat tactics more which to me never seems to work out in my favor (IE rolling high and running off of the table...) Generally this army deploys everything on the table in an aggressive stance and charges forward fires meltas... and dies. The way it probably should be played I never see it but the army should be a defensive one but Khan can do it better!

The khan on the other hand allows for flexibility in deployment and boosts what ever squad he joins. He also gives my army the ability to outflank so then the idea of a melta gun unit coming off a short table edge scares the hell out of most players so they change their game plan. The ability to control where people deploy and choose where I come in turns my bike army into a counter active army. I can counter whatever moves my opponent makes frustrating him and picking off his units at my leisure.

Their are so many other differences besides these two, but it deserves a post all on its own to give it justice!

3) In youre opinion, a balanced bike list, how many models of bikes should it include? What is too little and what is too much when fielding warriors of the Khan?

You are not making it easy are you? ;p

Well it comes down to a variety of factors, mainly being points and play style. On my blog we have 3 different gamers who use 3 completely different styles of bike lists. They would all tell you something different and that is awesome. Instead of giving exact numbers or builds, I'll leave you with a suggestion. Bike armies are a combination of hard hitting, fast moving units which can dish out the pain from both long range and short range. Therefore, in building and designing an army it is important to factor in maneuverability of units, utility, flexibility, and survivability. Finally, don't forget about the long range firepower!

4)You say that bike lists have the ability to be good in close combat, as well as at shooting, would you care to give us an example of this?

Everyone should keep in mind that regular bikes in assault are space marines with toughness five. This does mean they are harder to kill but they aren't particularly amazing in assault. But if I am facing down some orks and I need to tie them up for a turn or two, I have no problem throwing a bike unit into them as gamble on them not being able to deal with toughness five. However there are two ways in order to improve the effectiveness of these units in assault. My fellow blog mate, Eric has been using Pedro Kantor so that every unit within 12 inches gets +1 attack. Now it might not seem like much, but a 9 man bike squad (7 regular dudes, a sergeant, and an attack bike) is now pumping out 29 attacks, 4 of which are a power fist (at least when I take this kind of unit) on the charge. But this also applies to any accompanying terminators or a command squad. A second way to mitigate the assault ability is by using the bikes in tandem with the command squad in assault. With two bike units, a command squad and a regular squad you can get multiple units into one assault. The command squad hammers one unit causing maximum possible damage while the weaker bike squad absorbs some return hits. what this does is cause a massive negative combat resolution for multiple for multiple enemy units and you can either auto break certain squads or cause a ton of fearless wounds. Ultimately, with speed and firepower you should be able to thin down most squads. Assaulting should be used to finish off enemy units.

5) You have recently emerged victorious from Da Boyz, in a nutshell could you tell us how each unit you have performed or did not perform its designed job, as well as which was the MVP unit throughout youre games?

Actually each unit preformed just like I thought it would. The unit which still keeps not impressing me (but I don't expect it to) is a five man unit of sniper scouts. They don't die, but they don't kill anything either. But for 90 points the ability to have a "cheap" survivable unit with long range firepower (all be it piss poor firepower) that can be used to block assaults to my thunderfire cannon, hold the home objective, provide me with a bait squad, or push back infiltrators and preventing scout moves it is a steal. Likewise, the Thunderfire cannon continues to impress me in its flexibility, damage output, protecting my speeders, and general havoc that it creates. You never realize how awesome it is to immobilize a land raider from a 60 inch range shot until it happens!

6) As someone who has played loads of games with youre bike lists, what kind of armies would you say you perform well/poorly against, on average (excluding player capabilities)?

You know I hate to answer questions like these ;p Personally it comes down to the person who is behind the army, not the army its self. But generally against marine armies or mech armies I usually come out ahead. Against hoard armies, other fast moving armies, armies with a ton of Monstrous Creatures, tons of fire power, or rock hard assault units then I begin to sweat a bit. It is not that they are amazing lists, but if I get caught in a bad position I can pay dearly as weight in numbers will wear down my elite force.

7) When going to major events, what are some of the concerns/questions that go through youre mind?

Well I honestly try to focus on the game and have fun. Ultimately tournaments are my vacation so if I am not having a good time then I am wasting my money. Being able to play games of 40k and potentially win a prize is just a side benefit. Recently I have been chasing after an ETC spot on the American team, but I have came up just short two times now. With that being said, I need to stop worrying about it and if it happens, awesome, if it does not, then that would be great too!

8) Alot of people in the hobby start playing as space marines, yet very few people choose to start bike armies, why do you think this is so?

I think it is two factors really. Foremost is the perceived nature of the army being expensive to build. Yes we play an expensive hobby, but realistically this army is significantly cheaper then a guard army or an ork army. 4 ravenwing battle forces, a small unit of scouts, and a few weapon bitz is all you need for a 1500 point army.

Second is the perceived nature of it being a weak army. This is where the internet comes into play. If a new person reads about how awesome Space Wolves are and reads nothing about White Scars then they are going to lean towards Space Wolves. Likewise, White Scars are not an "easy" army to use as it does take a lot of practice to use to be effective and mistakes hurt big time. Using a "hard to use army" or a "weak list" goes against common thought as most net armies that are "amazing" are relatively easy armies to play, ie if you make a mistake you can still win. But they fail to mention is that those same armies that are amazing are really quite boring to play as they are one-dimensional in play style. I have never had a boring game with White Scars as they are by far the most tactical army I have ever used.... except a 7 kill point draigo wing.... man was that a boring game ;)

9) Are there any upcoming events that you would like to/are going to attend?

As far as major events, the next tournament I plan on playing is at Adepticon. In between now and then I will most likely be playing in various local tournaments practicing my army and trying out new units to incorporate into my army. I am also sure between now and then there will be some "hardcore" training sessions with my ETC friends as we all prepare to dominate at Adepticon!!!!

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

(Eric and Brandon)

We all wish Brandon the best, and hope that he keeps educating the masses that, only because something is perceived as weak, does not mean that it is.

Thank you very much Brandon!

Magnetising Stonehorn/Thundertusk

2011-11-03T20:46:00.000+02:00

I got this beast of a kit just yesterday and I knew it in my heart that I had to built it ASAP. Problem is, I am still not sure which is better for my Ogre army yet, the Stonehorn or the Thundertusk. Well, why do I even have to choose between the two? Why can't I have both? Fortunately with a few magnets, green stuff, super glue and a little bit of magic you too could have the best of both worlds!

The two main differences between the beasties are their heads and backs. After assembling the main body, I assembled the two heads separately and also left the big piece on the back unglued. Every time I had to install a magnet I started with a small guiding hole with my pin drill. Then a larger hole with a larger drill. After that I took my trusty Dremmel with the grinding stone tip and enlarged the hole enough so it could fit the magnet. I covered the magnet in green stuff and shoved it in the hole and also added some super glue on top for good measure. This is the torso:

Not the neatest thing in the world but no one needs to see it.

Stonehorn head.

Thundertask Head. Also had to trim it a bit to fit properly.

I couldn't glue a magnet directly inside the back of the beast so I used a piece of sprue that could hold the magnet near the top.

Also I had to use some green stuff to elevate the magnet a bit from the other side of the back in order for the two magnets to be close enough together and stay in place.

So, after all this hard work I can now assemble the Thundertusk as well:

Voila!

Had to compromise in a few things though. I have to use Stonehorns tail for the both models, the other one is just too stumpy. And also I couldn't use the magnificent saddle for the Stonehorn since then the rider on the back wouldn't fit in the Thundertusk. Ah, well, I can't have everything. There are also a lot of wonderful bits (shoulder plates, skinned poultry, severed hands) that I will glue on the model after painting it (they are just going to be in the way now).

I just don't know how to paint it though. Should I go for a white, dark brown or reddish (Vering) brown colour scheme? Suggestions in the comments would really help. Thanks!

Games Corps Battle Report 2/2

2011-11-01T17:52:00.000+02:00

So, i believe that we had left off our story at the part where the glorious Deathwing had purged the filthy dark eldar from the Cthonic Sector. Our Next story takes us to a little piece of intelligence that showed us that the Ultramarines had recently assaulted a chaos held world near the eastern fringes, and as a result had captured an old warrior clad in black who spewed heresies about the noble Dark Angels. The Ultramarines had called for the inquisitions aid. But when the Ravenwing arrived to reason with the sons of Guilliman, they opened fire on the second company of the Dark Angels, wounding Sammael and wiping out 3 squads as well as 12 Land Speeders. This was not to be taken lightly by Belial, who immediately departed upon his battle barge "Sword Of Caliban" to the east.

So lets get tactical!

Game 2

The second game was played against the ultramarines who interestingly enough had won with 1200 kill points in their previous game, killing off pretty much most of the raven wing. His list was as follows:

Marneus "Papasmurf" Calgar
Terminator Liby with SS, Null zone and avenger, epistolary
5 Man Assault Termies (3 ssth 2 lc) in a Redeemer (with calgar)
5 Man Assault Termies (3ss 2 lc) in a crusader (with liby)
Vindicator
10 Man Tact with Plasma canon and plasma gun in a rhino
10 Man tact with Las and plasma gun in a rhino

So the game was 1 objective each, dawn of war. I won to deploy first and chose a side with some trenches, i deployed belial with his squad in there and another unit of termies near them. My objective was in that same trench. My opponent decided to go toe to toe with me and he deployed his objective exactly opposite of mine, but on the other side of the board. It was at this moment that i realized he had only 2 options: either attack me and go for a win or stay back defending and hope to draw me, such is the outcome of games with 1 objective each usually. So he kept everything in reserve and said its gona come in on turn one. And so the game Begun.

Turn 1

So , everything came in from my side of the board, and moved 6 inches, taking defensive positions around the trenches, once again i had clustered my termies around the middle of my side of the table. I knew that it was dangerous, as a vindicator with null zone can be a wicked combo. I hoped that night fight would save me in turn 1. I moved the Land Raider from the right flank and the dread from the left, mirroring my previous games tactical outlook. After some bad rolls, only 1 missile could see ....well nothing, because he had deployed nothing.
In his turn 1 he brought everything on the board, the vindi, and 2 land raiders moved max speed and the rhinos moved as close to his objective as he could. He has some great terrain from his side, so his rhinos would always get either a 4+ or 3+ cover save. He tried so shoot with anything, but could see , due to it beeing dark!

Turn 2

This was it, it was the turn i had to believe in the Lion and the Emperor the most to bless my brave warriors. If u did nothing, id get blasted with a vindicator blast, plasma cannons, and everything else his army had. Put in null zone and wed be looking at serious damage. And this was before he disembarked 10 terminators with a liby and marneus. I shot everything at the vindicator, and as nothing would penetrate or he made his 3+ cover saves (i could hardly see the vindi due to his tactical positioning of the land raiders in front of it) my last missile launches managed to penetrate and blew off its demolisher canon. I dont think i can explain the Euphoria that moment when you LAST missile launches penetrates and does something that a bunch of other shots could not do. How ever that did not mean i was out of the woods yet. I had clustered my forces around the trenches, but belial and his squad stood defiantly in front on them, they were to be my shield against the might of the 1st company of the Ultramarines. As i expected he moved up with both his raiders and disembarked all his units, he did his null zone, and the first shots started. His Tacticals las canon saw my dread shaken. His Multimelta from the redeemer saw my Land Raider Blown up, while his assault cannon killed 2 of belials squads termies (yes he had 3 rendings). While the plasma cannon took out 2 termies from one of my back squads. (god i hate null zone). He would then go on to assault Belials squad with Marneus and termies, and assault another of my squads with the Liby and termies. The combat was vicious. He managed to wound belial once, and kill another of belials squad, leaving only the standard bearer and apothecary alive. However we managed to kill one of his lightning claws. While the librarians and his termies took out 3 terminators from the squad they assaulted, leaving only 2 TH SS termies fighting them.

Turn 3

With 4 major threats in front of me i had to think. I decided to ignore the 2 land raiders which could easily camp on my objective and try to wipe out his 2 termie squads. I assaulted Marneus and squad with 2 additional Deathwing squads from 2 sides. While a the dread and 1 more squad assaulted the libby. I still had 1 squad sitting on the objective with a chainfist in the case he chose to tank shock them. I shot his plasma rhino with this missile launcher and stunned it! Yay no plasma this turn. We went on in combat with his focusing calgars attacks with his power weapon rather then fists on a newly arrived unit from the right, he killed 4 of them. While his squad focus on belial and his squad but didnt do anything.
His turn saw him shoot both Raiders at the single un-engaged termie squad and his lascannon from the rhino, ultimately killing 1 SSTH termie. I had only 2 more left in that squad. I was growing weary of this annoying shooting that made me re-roll succesfull invulnerable saves. Close combat saw him lose 1 THSS termie and 1 LC termie from marneus squad, and me lose 3 termies from my left squad that was engaged with marneus.
The Librarian had killed of the initial unit he assaulted but lost 1 wound and 2 LC termies from the 2nd squad and the dreadnaught. It was impossible for me to believe that 10 Termies , 1 Marneus and 1 Libby were taking such a toll against 25 Deathwing. I guess thats how it is playing with a codex where youre librarians know more then 1 psychic power, and where those psychic powers are usefull for something other then making you laugh in misery.

Turn 4

So shooting saw me shoot at his rhino again but he made his cover save. Combat saw me kill his termies off with marneus and leave marneus with 1 wound and strike after me, due to the fact that our Thunder Hammers are way better then the generic marines ones. The Libbys squad finaly lost its thunder hammers and was left with 1 THSS and the Libby.
In his Turn i finaly killed of marneus , out of 16 Termies that entered that fight, only 7 survived. And i won the libby by killing the last THSS, he rolled 12 and fled from the field. I consolidated towards him. At this point i had only 2 chainfist, one was on my objective, the other was in the squad that had won marneus.

Turn 5

I move up the dread, the remaining 3 man squad that won the libby. Belial and his 2 reaming solders and what ever is left of the squad that attacked Marneus from the left (viva la chainfist). I shoot some cyclones at his land raider but do squat. Then i run the dread and the termies from the left towards his rhinos. While belial and the chainfist squad assault the redeemer, sadly my opponent know how to play and had moved the land raider 12 inches. I hit on 6's and immobilise the redeemer. With Many thunder hammerhits and only 1 penetrating from the chainfist which blew off the multi melta.
In his turn his libby runs back even more, but since null zone can still be cast while falling back (according to the TO) he casts it and wipes the left 3 man squad with shooting from both his rhinos tacticals. One of which had disembarked. Once again i curse at Null zone.

Turn 6

This turn sees me loose 4 termies that are guarding my objective from the crusaders 12 shots from the crusader, its 4 assault cannon shots and its Multi melta. Funny thing is, the null zone rached only one of them and it was on the 24" mark. I could believe that after such a fierce fight i could lose it all due to null zone. This action made me split belial from his 2 remaining termies. They moved 6 inches back and ran another 6 inches towards the objective. But i could tell that it still wasnt within 3 inches to claim it. I assaulted the dread into the tactical that had disembarked. And after 2 combat phases made them run off the board. The Redeemer that was immobilized got wrecked this turn and his failed attempt to tank shock me with the vindicator saw it blown up. This was it, the roll of the century. If he rolled and it ended it would be maybe a draw if the dread was within 3 inches of his objective, if not id would be a loss for me. He rolled....and it was a side-cocked die of 5....i argued that we should keep it, but after what i believe was the fair call, the judge made us re-roll it. And it rolled a 6!!! The lion was truly smiling upon me this day.

Turn 7

The remainder of the turn saw me get into the trenches with the last 2 termies of belials squad and greedily claim it. The dread vent on to stand on the enemies objective. And stun the rhino. I would then assault his cruasader with the chainfist and immobilise it in my turn, about 6 inches from my objective. Belial ran up to the dreadnaught, and i believe he was within 3 inches of the the enemy objective. Regardless in his turn, he disembarked his last squad and blew up the dread, however he could do nothing to belial who was contesting his objective. Game ended 1-0 in my favor with only a 160 victory point difference in my favor.

There was a famous reporter that attended the tournament who posted his own battrep with pictures and some interesting remarks and interviews, who i highly suggest you check out here:
http://invulnerable40k.blogspot.com/2011/10/23-10-2011-games-corps-tournament.html

PS: Im the guy in the red bandana :P please dont laugh!

Aftermath

Once again we finished first. So the long wait proved to be a pain. Id go around looking at other games. I saw the tyranids lose from the 2nd ork player (one with nobs on bikes) , saw the blood angels win the imperial guard in a very close game. The 2nd dark player (not the one from my st game) lost to the ork player that played the nids (think he had 3 battle wagons filed with boys). I dont remember if the ravenwing won the Dark Eldar that i played or not, but id like to think that he did :) Dark Angels one and all kinda thing!

Game 3

So game 3 had finnaly come and i was faced off with the only other player who had 2 wins with significant Victory point. It was the blood angel. The mission that we were gonna play was Kill points and spearhead.
My opponents list looked something like this:

Libby
3 Dreads
3 Drop Pods
5 MSU tacticals
5 Rhinos/Razorbacks
1 Land raider (i think)
2 or 3 vindis
and Perhaps a Storm Raven

Il be honest with you, i dont quite know the list by heart because after some miscalculation by the blood angel players part it turned out he was playing with 10 or so more points then the limit allowed. Due to this fact his points were halved and he decided to concede his last game, giving me 2000 victory points.

Regardless of conceding though, the scenario greatly put him at a disadvantage, were talking about an army with 22 kill points that faced an elite army with mostly S8 shooting and close combat of 9 kill points. Im not saying that he could not have won, only that it put him at a disadvantage.

Aftermath

After finding out that i was not gona play, me and friend of mine decided to have a few beers, which half of have been put into the battle report i mentioned in the link :D
I had won this even with 3 wins, and near to 4000 victory points. The second place belonged to the Ork player with biked who i believe had claimed 2 wins and a draw? Or perhaps 3 wins but less victory points. While 3rd place went to the tyranid player who had 2 win and either a draw or a loss. It was a very fun event, with players that were polite and kind to each other, the shop was amazing, spacious and had its own bar! The TO was as fair as he could given the circumstances and did a great job. If i had a complaint it was that ... wait, i actually dont have one...thats odd !

Closing Words

Belial looked down on his mud encrusted gauntlets. How long ago had it been since he was entrusted with the leadership of the Deathwing? He remembered the exact number of days, due to his eidetic space marine memory, but he dared not mouth it aloud.
"The Angels Gather on the other side of the ridge" Came Bellerophons voice from behind, his Standard Bearer.
Belial smiled at this. The Angels he though, ironic how 2 of the greatest Legions, and he put emphasis on Legions, had come to this. After the retreat of the Ultramarines and the securing of the prisoner, the angels in red had come seeking answers. When they saw 2 loyal armies fighting, they immediately sided with the Ultramarines. It was no great surprise to Belial. He knew that few chapters trusted the Dark Angels explicitly, and even then they never showed it in public.
"Our Red Brothers will lose no men this day Bellerophon" came a silent and authoritative voice from under Belials hood. "Word had reached me from orbit that, chapter master Azrael, explained the situation to the ancient leader of the Blood Angels. He has promised to withdraw his forces to avoid any more imperial lives beeing lost."
This came as a relative surprise to Bellerophon. "He explained the situation to them?"
To this Belial had no answer other then the one that he had given many times in his life.
"He told them when they needed to hear"

Breaking News: My Necrons on the GW website

2011-11-01T01:43:00.000+02:00

I think I am running out of ways to say "Necrons", "GW" and "website" on a post title but I had to share it with you guys. I am really excited to say that GW put up some pictures of my Necrons on their main website (and few days before linked my Sanguinary Guard gallery on Flickr on their Facebook page). I am chuffed to be honest. This is exactly the same pictures that I posted on Friday by the way. Take a closer look though:

The pictures look kinda different to my original ones, don't they? Actually, they look much better. Any idea what they might have done? Maybe cropping the model and pasting it to a white background? Or somehow brightening the background of the picture without it affecting the actual model? I wish I could do the same thing for my pictures because I think they look much better this way. Anyway, thanks for watching!

Games Corps Batrep 2000 Points Part 1/2

2011-10-31T15:29:00.000+02:00

As Another weekend passses by, we hoarde the expirience gained from games so recently played. I would like to share such an expirience with you.

Last weekend , there was a 2000 point tournament at Games Corps. There were 3 games with standard missions. There was a total of 10 players, if memory serves the armies present were as follows:

- 2 Dark Angels
- 1 Blood Angel
- 2 Dark Eldar
- 2 Orks
- 1 Imperial Guard
- 1 Tyranid
- 1 Space Marine

To be honest i was at a loss of what list to play, at 1st i thought that i should of prolly went with a Khan army, since the Deathwing, despite having done very well , seem to be sub-par with shooty armies, regardless, at the last moment i decided to field the First Company of thr First Legion. Aterro Dominatus: the Deathwing was to be deployed.

The list i used was a fairly basic one:
Belial with TH/SS
6 Squads of Deathwing with Different wargear for allocation purposes
1 Landraider Godhammer
1 Dread with CCW and a plasma cannon (think i made him venerable)

Game 1

I played against a fairly expirienced Dark Eldar player that was using an experimental list which if memory serves looked something like this:

- Asrubael
- Incubi in a Venom
- Harlequins
- Trueborn in a venom
- 3 Kabalite Warriors in raiders
- 2 Reapers
- Voidraven Bomber

The game was pitched battle with 4 objectives. He dployed his objectives in his side, 12 inches away fron the edge. The 1st dead centre of the board in some wood terrain, and the 2nd one of the furthest right side of the table on the 2nd floor of a ruin. I deployed my objective as close to each other as i possibly could and as near the centre of the board as rules permitted. We rolled of to go 1st and i won, decided to go 1st was key because if i could shoot down something it would leave me in a seat of advantage. I deployed all 6 squads in the centre within 12 inches, and the land raider on their right, while the dread was flanking the termies on the left. My opponent deployed one of his warrior squads in the middle around his objective in the forest, another squad in the ruins on the far right near his 2nd objective, he then deployed the bomber and reapers behind the ruin to give them a very nice cover save, assuming i could even reach them. Then he went to deploy the Harlies, incubi with vect in a venom, truborn in a venom on the left side of the board. He had split his forces in half, i think thats when things started going downhill for him. Im pretty sure he expected to seize the initiative with a 4+ and shoot me to death before i could do anything, however slaneesh was unhappy with the Dark Kin for he rolled a "1".

Turn 1

I move up all my squads 6" forward, while putting my shooty terminator squad in forest terrain. My 1st target is the trueborns venom, one shot hits and penetrates from one of my cyclones and wrecks the vehicle. The Trueborn get out into some area terrain that the venom was next to. 3 of my other squads shoot at the raider behind his middle objective, ultimately wrecking it. The shooty squad and 1 of my melee squads shoot at the Warriors guarding the middle objective (and the plasma dread) they go to ground but still loose 4 , fortunately they pass their test and stay grounded. The land raider tried to shoot the bomber but wasnt within 42".
In his turn 1 he moved up his venom 12 inches, disembarked Vect and the incubi. He moved his reapers and bomber from behind the ruin and tried to shoot the Land Raider with everything he had, but only shook it.
He then shot Vects venom at ome of the termie squads, but they passed their saves, he then assaulted with vect and the incubi at belials squad. Asrubael directed all his attacks on belial and scored 2 wounds, while the incubi killed a terminator. Belial would go on to hot asrubael in turn but only 1 wound passed, surprisingly vect rolled a "1" for his save and got squished, the terminators killed off the incubi to a man.

Turn 2

The Land Raider moves 12 inches toward his bomber, the squads spread out around my 2 objectives, i send 1 of my squads after his middle objective, but theres still quite some distance to cross. The LR shoots a las at the bomber and misses. Belials squad had lost the missile holding termie so moved 6" towards the harlies, i had no idea how good they were in close combat so i ran towards them and left them 1" away from them. Id then go onto a horrid turn of shooting where id either miss all missiles or hed pass his cover/invu saves. Only 1 reaper was stunned.
He came towards belial with his harlies, encircling me while the trueborn moved upo as well. The trueborn shot those str8/9 weapons at me , but i passed all my saves. Vects remaining venom shot at belials squad, out of 3 shots that hit, none of them wounded. His raiders stunned my dread and his working reaper destroyed one of my LR's las canons. He then assaulted belials squad with the harlies, he killed a termie and i killed a harlie, draw combat.

Turn 3

I move my dread 6 inches towards the center and run him another 2. One of my termie squads moves closer to his mid objective. My shooting sees his raiders go kaboom, one of the raiders had 10 warriors inside, they take 6 wounds, he fails all the saves, fails the leadership and runs of the table. I also blew up asrubaels venom that turn and destroyed one of the reapers main weapons. The LR shot at the bomber but failed to penetrate.
His bomber shot the LR and stunned it (again -.-'). One reaper shot the dread and stunned it. Hed then assault his trueborn into Belials squad to help out the harlies, ultimately killing my apothecary but losing alot of models and falling back with both the trueborn and the harlies never to pester me again. Belial and his 2 remaining squad memebers were so far to the left at this point that wdnt have any effect on the game from this point onwards.

Turn 4

I move my dread to the middle, my forward termie stop about 10" away from his middle objective, i kill 2 more of his warriors guarding the middle objective, blow up 1 reaper and immobilise the bomber.
Hes running out of tactical manouvres at this point, however manages to immobilise my raider with a dark lance, and wipes out my entire shooty squad with those wound test rockets. Never have i seen a more cheesy weapon that that wound test rocket.

Turn 5

I finally move/run up to his objective in the mid, he turbo boosts his reaper to contest one of my objectives. Land Raider shooting proves ineffective vs the bomber. If hed rolled a 1 or 2, the game would have ended as a draw, unfortunately for him he now started to roll numbers above a 2.

Turn 6

I shoot everything at his reaper, but he passes his covers. I move my termies next to his warriors guarding the mid objective. He finally blows up my land raider with his cursed bomber. I assault the reaper with 15 termies and the dread, wrecking it from existance. Assault his warriors guarding his middle objective and wipe them out, the game ends with me controling 3 objectives and him 1, i also have about 1600 more victory point. He had only killed a LR and a shooty termie squad, he only had a warrior squad and a immobilized bomber left.

Conclusion

It was an interesting game, and although i dont envy his rolls, i believe that it would of been hard for him to overcome any terminator list out there, because he simply did not have enough special weapons to fire, vect and the incubi and the harlequins performed poorly in close combat too, i think after he lost those units, the game was decided.

I walked around the other tables at that point as we finished 1st. The tyranids had cornered the orks. The blood angels were winning the dark eldar. The imperial guard was drawing another ork army. And the space marines were winning the other Dark Angel player, who fielded the Ravenwing, i believe there were around 12 land speeders in Dark Angel Heraldry on that table.

As it turned out in Game 2 i would be given the chance to Avenge the Fallen brothers of the 2nd company as i was to play the Space Marines.

Ork Lootas completed

2011-10-29T17:57:00.001+03:00

Nothing too special for today. I needed these guys for the tournament tomorrow. I generally don't like to linger too much on ork units since there are so many of them to paint. No way I could spent as much time on them as for my Blood Angels or even my Imperial Guard or I'd never finish the army. So, another quicky paintjob for this unit, took me around an afternoon's worth of time to finish.

I mainly focused on weathering as it's befitting all orks. Lots of armour chipping and washes and I also tried to put some pigments on the Deffguns. Problem is, since these models are for playing and not for display I need to seal them somehow. I use MIG's pigment fixer or turpentine but unfortunately these products tend to eat most of the pigments and not much is left on the model. I then need to add another coat of varnish and do the same process over and over again. It can be very time consuming and even annoying sometimes. Does everyone else faced the same problem or maybe has a solution for it? Comments and feedback are welcomed as always.

New Necron Stuff on the GW website

2011-10-29T04:13:00.000+03:00

I know it's way past my bedtime but I had to share this with everyone. I thought we wouldn't see the preorders before Saturday afternoon but here they are already in the Games Workshop website. Models looks very very sweet, I just need to find a large amount of money now!

Necrons Showcase

2011-10-28T17:20:00.000+03:00

My Necron (Over)lord, had so much fun with this guy and his veil of darkness.

All this talk about the new Necrons got me really really excited. Can't wait to see some proper pictures of the new units with the preorders tomorrow. I've been playing with 'crons for quite a long time now you see (2003) and I've been waiting for a new codex for years. Here is a little showcase of the Necron models I've already fully painted.

Okay, this one isn't even painted and it lacks the portal but I got it for free so I shouldn't complain.

Not much variety, I know. It's hard to give each Necron unit a distinct flavour though while trying to keep the paint scheme coherent all over the army at the same time. These guys were painted a a few years back. They may not seem too good however it was the first army I painted with full edge highlights. I was quite proud of it back then but now it looks a bit sub par. Well, I'll have the chance to paint the new units with the painting skills I've acquired over the intervening years.

I was kinda afraid that the units I already have would become obsolete with the new codex. This is partly true if you consider the current rumours. Immortals have now become Troops (so maybe better than Warriors for this role) and Destroyers don't look that good. Who knows, I'll have to wait for a couple of weeks to get the codex in my hands to be certain. I would probably have to buy some of the new vehicles though.

So, what do you guys think of my ol'necron army? Are you as excited as I am for the new release?

Ogre Pirate Maneater Completed

2011-10-28T00:08:00.000+03:00

That's the first guy I've painted for my new army and I must say that I am thrilled. Most of the Ogre model range is awesome and this particular guy was a joy to paint. Quite addictive actually. The large surfaces of the models are very convenient for blending. I followed the 'Eavy Metal paint scheme quite closely since I really liked the original colours (especially the rusted weapons) with a few changes here and there. The main difference is that I painted most of the cloths quite darker so that the flesh and red tones would be more prominent. I also painted the gnoblar parrot differently since I wanted him to have a yellow beak. Speaking of the little fellor

Say 'ello to my little friend, indeed!

What a great little addition to an already awesome model. Can't wait to paint more Ogres now. So let me know what you guys think, comments and feedback are always welcomed.

And then, suddenly...OGRES!

2011-10-26T18:46:00.000+03:00

What's going on in this picture? Why is the gnoblar so excited? Why is does the rhinox look so upset (and slightly constipated)? Is this even legal in the Old World? Anyway I hope all this exist only in my morbid imagination.

First of all let me say something. I really like my Orcs and Goblins army. But I also want to play more games (I have probably played less than 20 games under 8th edition). The O&Gs is a very personable army but it is also very unruly and especially large. I don't enjoy playing with large armies these days, my stamina seems to have diminished. An army with fewer models would be ideal for me. Enter the Ogres (not literally).

I always had a soft spot for the Ogre Kingdoms army (big guys with dubious facial hair, what's not to like?) but its dismal performance (from what I've been hearing other people saying) on the tabletop always deterred me from getting into it. The Ogres improved with 8th edition and especially with their shiny new army book so it was high time for me to delve into their list.

Unfortunately, I am a Fantasy noob. Thankfully I got internets so I've been paying close attention to Mr. Νικηφόρος Ogre articles. With the advice given on his blog and some feedback from him I came up with the following list based on what I think could be effective and what models I'd like to purchase and paint:

Slaughtermaster, Level 4, Grut Sicke, Ironfist 338

Bruiser, BSB, Heavy Armour,Ironfist, Banner of Swiftness, Lookout Gnoblar, 163

Butcher, Lv2, Dispel Scroll, Great Weapon, 169

7 Ogres, Standard, Lookout Gnoblar, Ironfists, 239

6 Ogres, Ironfists, 192r

6 Ironguts, Standard Bearer, Lookout Gnoblar, Standard of Discipline, 288

2 Mournfang Cavalry, Heavy Armour, Ironfists, 140

2 Mournfang Cavalry, Heavy Armour, Ironfists, 140

5 Maneaters,Brace of Pistols,Sniper, Scouts 310

Iron Blaster, 170

Stonehorn, Harpoon Launcher, 250

Pretty much all the units in the army are quite hard hitting (even the "warmachine"!) but it's only defense is to hope that I can pull off the boosted Trollgut spell and give the units Regenation (Toothcracked is not bad either). The Maneaters is a sneaky, little unit (well as subtle and small Ogres can be) with Sniper + Scout they could potentially kill a Lv4 in the 1st turn (if he is T3 and no ward save that is). That could be potentially game changing.

Can't afford to buy many models at the time unfortunately. I've already ordered the Stonehorn/Thundertask and also bough the Pirate Maneater (almost finished painting him, photos will follow soon). In the meantime I'll try to gather as much info as possible in order to build a decently competitive list so all the feedback is very much appreciated.

2000 Point Tournament at Games Corps. 23/10/2011

2011-10-22T01:39:00.001+03:00

Dear Readers,

I would like to remind you all that this Sunday, there is a 2000 point tournament happening in Halandri. The entrance fee is 10 euros and there are many spots available.

So if youre feeling lonely this sunday and the usual glass or shot of whiskey just wont cut it, feel free to join us either as a spectator or a participator!

Adress:
Games Corps

Agiou Georgiou 28

Halandri

Time:

11:00 the 1st out of 3 games will begin

If youre an old grizzled veteran or a new player , you are most welcome to visit!

Fact or Fiction: Mephiston

2011-10-05T17:00:00.001+03:00

(http://castleage.wikia.com/wiki/Alpha_Mephistopheles)

We once again find ourselves amongst the servants of Darkness, however this time it is not the Dark Angels that we shall talk about, but the Blood Angels!

Needless to say , we all have read the story about how brother Calistarius was crushed beneath the rubble of an ecclisarium building on the hive world of Hades during the war for Armagedon. It is then said that for 6 days he fought off the black rage while fighting for his life under the debris of the rubble, and on the 7th day he burst our from that rubble, fully reborn.

Clearly the word Mephiston stems from a variation of Mephistopheles, who happens to be none other then the Devil himself! Hell, hes even seen as a demon in the Germanic faust stories.

Let us keep in mind that Mephistopheles comes from a greek derived name of Mephstophilis who would be broken up into 3 words: Me (me) phosto (Light) philis (friend), hence i am a friend of the light, which seems to innuate the fact that a creature of darkness and power claims to be a friend of the light, hence a force for good. It is no surprise that the codex: BA on page 47 states that according to the fluff, there is a possibility that the price paid by brother Calisatius was possibly demonic possesion or something else that replaced the black rage. Hence Mephiston could be a puppet for the powers of darkness pretending to be fighting for the imperium.

In hebrew mephiz means "Liar" while tophel means "destroyer". This once again seems to portray the possibility of Mephiston beeing a deceiver to his chapter while at the same time beeing a force of destruction that is to be reckoned with.

Now what is the most interesting is the fact that the Faust legend of Germanic folklore tells us of a story how a man (Faust) wagers his soul against the devil for power. The link is made clear when we find out that faust would have died anyway had he not made the deal, and that after the deal hes quite not the same. Which according to Mephiston entry also applies, as it clearly states that ever since his ascension to "lord of death" he has been polar opposites with his former self.

In the Faust legend, Mephistopheles warns the Summoner (Faust) of the mistake hes making, as he regrets serving Satan, and claims that heaven is better. This could be a hint to us that Mephiston could not possibly be possesed by a demon of chaos but a more human aspect, perhaps its his own darker ego, or that of his gene-father Sanguinious.

It should also be noted that there is a time limit before Mephistopheles will come to claim the soul he so un-enthusiasticaly bought. Hence it stands to reason that Mephiston too has a time limit if there is something dark festering within him.

(http://warhammer40k.wikia.com/wiki/Mephiston)

It should also be noted that variations of the name Mephistopheles are used Games (Diablo2 and Dungeons and Dragons) Television (Digimon) and Music (Moonspell as well as Epica).

Verdict: Leaning towards a Fact

Reason: GW has done a fair job with attempting to severe ties with the original lore accounting the stories and name of Mephistopheles, how ever if you have the resources and the ability to think logicaly, youlre be able to connect the dots, that Mephistopheles is Mephiston, where as Calistarius is the germanic character Faust.

Troops: A talk of Bikes

2011-09-19T16:45:00.002+03:00

A long awaited sequel has finally arrived!

Today we will be discussing the 3 bike troops choices available (imperials of course).

The 3 Codexes that have the ability to field bike troop armies are as follows:

-The Dark Angels, The First Legion, The Sons of the Lion

-The White Scars, The Hunters of the Wicked, The Riders of the Hunt

-The Space Wolves, The Wolves of Fenris, Children of Russ

So lets start by looking at the stat line:

WS/BS/T/W

These 4 are common to all 3 codexes, with the usual 4 Weapon skill and Ballistic skil

l. The toughness is 4(5) which means that for intensive purposes the marines on bikes are a bit tougher then their foot slogging counter parts. This however does not apply to instant death special rule, as a S8 weapon will still instantaneously take you out of the game. The wounds for all bikes are a steady 1, and a steady 2 for attack bikes.

Strength

All 3 codexes are limited to the base Strength 4 of a space marine, which as we will see later in this post can be changed through war gear and special rules.

Initiative

Same as above , but only special rules may help the space marine bikers, no equipment in any codex increases their initiative beyond a 4.

Attacks

-The Angels come with a classic 1 attack, 2 attacks on a Sgt. and 2 attacks on an attack bike. Their equipment is single pistol or chainsword.

-The White scars mimic their Angelic Brothers in this aspect.

-The Wolves of Fenris are quite special in this aspect as each Wolf Guard riding a bike receives 2 attacks base which is improved by him carrying 2 CC weapons giving them a 3 attack base on a turn that they did not charge.

Leadership

-The Angels have a base LD of 8 and 9 on a Sgt, however they are not affected by LD checks so much as theyre all Fearless.

-The White Scars are also LD 8 and 9 on a Sgt. However they are not fearless and are subject to LD checks as normal

-Wolves are all LD 9 due to the fact that they are the veterans of the Space Wolf chapter.

Save

Each bike has a 3+ save, which means that anything with an AP of 3 or lower is a very real threat. They however make up for their relevantly low Armour save, with the ability to turbo boost and claim a 3+ cover save.

Unit Composition

-The Angels start out with 1 Sgt and 2 bikes, this however can be upgraded to +3 bikes, as well as an attack bike and a land speeder. Keep in mind that due to Sammael being the HQ of your army, the land speeder counts as scoring if taken this way.

-The Scars may start the same as the Angels, however they differ in the way that they may take up to extra 5 bikes AND and attack bike, giving the squad a maximum size of 9 models with 10 wounds. Add to this the fact that every one is T5 and you have very powerful and survivable unit.

- The Wolves are unique in their own way, due to the fact that they may take 10 bikes, but no attack bikes or speeders in that unit. A 10 man unit of bikes with wolves will throw out 40 attacks on the turn they charge.

Wargear

-The Angels suffer greatly here , as the only wargear that they may take is a single power weapon or fist for the Sgt. and up to 2 meltas or plasmas or flamers in the squad. The AB may choose either a M.Melta or a H.Bolter where as the speeder must have a HBolter and an assault cannon.

-The White Scars are limited to 2 special weapons in the squad, however they have the ability to give their Sgt. a combi weapon increasing the shootiness of their squads singnificantly. Imagine having 6 Plasma shots, 1 multi melta shot and 14 twin linked bolter shots in a 12 inch range, oh and you can ssault anything that survives that!

-The Wolves are the winners of the wargear segment im afraid, as each wolf guard has the ability to take absolutely anything he wants. The wolfguard may take Frost Weapons that will increase their Strength to 5, or they may each take a combi weapon, or even a storm shield. Were looking at a potential 10 man unit of doom here. Imagine a 10 man guard squad with 4 storm shields, 4-5 power weapons and maybe 2 combi meltas while wielding 4-5 Frost Axes. Wound allocation will definitely be able to help you out here.

Special Rules

-The Angels rely on their second company "Ravenwing" to act as scouts. Hence each unit has the Scout and fearless special rules. Now things get tricky here, as the codex states that units may not turbo boost in their scout move, however the recent FAQ rectifies this issue and says that they can, so depending on your local scene, were talking turn 1 assaults with a full biker army. Or even a 3+ save in the rare case that you dont go first but want to get close to the enemy.

-The White Scars if taken with the Khan have the ability to outflank, this means they come from reserves and may either come from the right or the left, with a 33% chance of you choosing which side they come in, this is acceptable. Theres a 66% chance that they come in exactly where you want them. Keep in mind that should you stick the Khan in a unit with bikes, you will be giving them Furious Charge and Hit and Run, S5 and I5 attacks all around ladies and gentlemen! As well as the ability to get out of combat as your opponents turn is ending so that you may charge him in your own turn.

-The Wolves have 2 special rules, acute sense and counter attack. The former lets them actually ignore night fighting rules, this is useful but will only be available 33% of the time in games. The Latter is where all the moneys at. Counter Attack means that if they pass a LD test they will receive the bonus of charging, even if they did not charge that turn.

Cost

Legally i cant state point costs for each piece of wargear, so il just give you a fully loaded out squad from each codex and show you how much it costs. This build is by no means the most optimal or viable game wise, it simply exists to show you the cost of a fully kitted bike troop unit

- Ravenwing Squad with 6 bikes, 1 AB/MM ,Landspeeder, 2 Meltas and 1 Power weapon 405

-Space Marine Squad with 8 bikes, 1 AB/MM, 2 Melta and 1 Power Weapon 300

-Wolf Guard 10 strong with Bikes, 2 Combi Meltas, 3 Storm Shields, 3 Frost Axes 645

As we can see from the above, currently the white scars are the most point efficient and game wise viable army. This of course is at the 1750-2000 point bracket, because as the point limit increases so does the viability of the other 2 troop choices. How ever we must remember the Ravenwing are an Alpha Strike army that can launch multiple Turn 1 assaults if played correctly

Fact or Fiction: Belial

2011-09-13T17:00:00.004+03:00

Welcome to a new segment of the blog, where we shall be analyzing different personal from the 40k universe and comparing them to their real life counter parts.

Todays special guest is : Belial

As we all know Belial is a member of the Dark Angel chapter, or even legion as one might say. He is currently the Grand Master of the Deathwing, which is the equivalent of 1st company captain in any other codex.

Belial was promoted to the Master during the Black crusade of Furion, a Khorne chaos lord. Belial was able to defeat the lord in single combat and for that was awarded the sword of silence by none other than Azrael himself. This was to be his first step on rising through the ranks.

The final challenge to Belial came in the shape of the green tide on the world of Piscina. It is here that Belials greatest triumph shone through the darkness. With only a handful of forces, Belial was able to hold Piscina from an ork Waaaagh! However this was no ordinary Waaaaagh! as it was led by 2 insidious orks : Ghazghul and Nazdreg.

Belial managed to beat back Ghazghul in single combat after sustaining tremendous injuries, and outsmarted the warboss at all turns after that. If not for Belials stubborn and tactical nature , Piscina would have fallen long before, any aid would have arrived. It is said that Ghazghuls hatred for Belial burns as much as it does for Yarrick, and that Ghzaghul is plotting his revenge for the humiliating defeat at Piscina at the hands of Belial.

In Reality

Belial is one of the 4 Princes of Hell and a Demon in many different religious cultures. The name itself has a negative connotation as it would roughly translate into "worthless" or "without price". This would seem to coincide with the belief that Belial is the weakest of all the 1st company captains out there (game wise).

In one of the dead sea scrolls, the name of Belial is mentioned.

"But for corruption thou hast made Belial, an angel of hostility. All his dominions are in darkness, and his purpose is to bring about wickedness and guilt. All the spirits that are associated with him are but angels of destruction."

This would seem to indicate that there is a connection between the religious aspect and that of the 40k universe. As seen above all his dominions are darkness , one could say that this refers to the mission of the Deathwing, and the fact that none beside the inner circle are aware of it, it is not an evil darkness of malice, but that of secrecy.

Next we see mention of Guilt, yet another theme that is no newcomer to the Unforgiven. As the Dark Angels feel guilty for what happened on Caliban 10000 years ago they still seek absolution, and Belial as the leader of the company whose sole purpose is to absolve, is shown in the Dead Sea Scrolls as the persona whose job it is to instill Guilt.

"Also in The Dead Sea Scrolls is a recounting of a dream of Amram, the father of Moses, who finds two 'watchers' contesting over him. One is Belial who is described as the King of Evil and Prince of Darkness."

Its interesting how there is mention of watchers in this religious work, and how there is comparison to the actual "Watchers in the Dark" from the Dark Angel fluff.

Finally there is mention of angels of Destruction, another ironic coincidence as in most Black Library novels, that include space marines, this term is use to describe them

In the testament of twelve patriarchs , Belial is shown as an anarchic force, so potent that it is compared to that of God. In this work humans are given a choice to either follow the Laws of God of the Works of Belial, it may perhaps be another form of representing the contrast between Good and Evil, Guilt and Absolution, Law and Chaos.

In another work "Ascension of Isiah" we see that Belial is mentioned as the Angel of lawlessness. This once again is portrayed in the concept of the Dark Angels, and the Grand Master of their first company. It is no secret that the Dark Angels will tolerate any cost to retrieve the fallen, and so on many occasions have broken ethical and moral conducts of imperial law. Once again we see similarity in the character of Belial and his supposedly patriarchal figure of the real world.

Finally after a relatively long time of digging up, i was surprised to find that Belial also appears in some of the current frowned upon religions of today. In the Satanic bible Belial is prince of the north crown of hell. In this interpretation his name translates to "Without a master" and as we know the Deathwing are a fully self sufficient unit that has been known to operate without any commands of the inner circle. Belial is supposedly the champion of Humanity and represents true self individualization and base urges of humans as shown to us by his will to be absolved of sin as an unforgiven. As with all Angels and Demons, Belial seems to have his own agendas, but always these are coinciding with the self’s of men.

Verdict: Fact

Reason: There are many Elements of scripture and multiple religions found within the concept of Belial, however they all point to either an Angelic beeing, or a beeing that has fallen. It is no doubt that belial was based on this concept

Battle reports from Montreux, ETC 2011 - DAY 2 - ROUND 6

2011-09-12T13:08:00.011+03:00

And we reached the final match. Greece against Belgium. For uknown reasons I was nominated again by my captain and – what a surprise!- I was picked again by the Imperial Guard player. I chose a table with heavy terrain. My opponent was Maarten Vanderkrieken. My first impression for Maarten was that he was extremelly tired, even more than I was. He confessed that six matches in 2 days were too many. This did not affect his performance though, unfortunatelly for me.

Maarten Vanderkrieken. He seems glad with the pairing...

Deployment: Spearhead. Primary objective: Seize Ground (3 fixed counters). Positioning the objectives: one objective is in the center of the table. The other 2 objectives are in the center of both unoccupied table quarters.
Secondary objective: Capture & control.

He had 2 company command squads in chimeras with 4 plasmas, 5 veteran squads with meltas or plasmas in chimeras, 2 vendettas, a medusa and 4 hydras. The ultimate anti-list for any DE army. And on the worst deployment for a fast assaulting force like mine. Straight from the beginning we both knew the outcome.

He won the rol (what a surprise!) and chose his quarter. Mine had some LoS blocking near the middle and a rock hill on the centre of the quarter. Not a bad one. He placed all the 7 chimeras around the centre at 12’’. 5 in front and 2 on a second row. One vendetta on each side, flanking his force. Medusa right after the chimeras, hydras on the corner, at the rear of the formation. A tight formation with chimeras used for screening. I placed the beasts near the centre, hide most of the raiders as best as I could. The two ravagers were behind the large ruin near the centre and the third closer to his long table edge, screening a raider. I managed to seize the initiative. For some reason I was certain I would and told him so. I have forgotten the 1st game where I did it again and concidering my statistics before the ETC I felt certain that I would steal it. I moved three raiders towards the upper side, his lon-table edge flat out and get close to the screening vendetta. The beasts moved into the central piece of terrain and run , getting near the centre of the table. The 4th raider stayed in cover behind that rock. Shooting. Weapon destroyed on one vendetta, stun a chimera and immobilise another. Not bad. His turn, he gets the vendetta closer to my table edge to have a clear view on the lone ravager. Two raiders down by the hydras. Medusa did nothing, one ravagers stunned. No wounds on the beasts.

Turn 2. The girls from the fallen raiders and those from the third go for the vendetta and the closest chimera. One fails to reach and stays in the open. Shooting. Another immobilised chimera and some damage to the Vendetta near my force. I had forgotten the immobile ravager, and Maarten reminded it to me, showing real sportcmanship. Some damage on a central chimera. The two assaulting wych units stun the vendetta and wreck a chimera. His turn. Onbe ravager down two wounds on the beasts, one unit of wyches eradicated by the medusa and flamers.

Turn 3. I reach the front line of his formation near the centre with the beasts. The lone vendetta explodes, the Medusa is shaken. On the assault phase I fail to do more damage on the stunned vendetta. Crusial failure. The other unit engage the troopers from the chimera. The beats immobilise 2 more chimeras and destroy one flamer and shake a third. Maarten has now only one intact chimera and one that can move out of 7. I had managed to cause a blocade on his force. Maarten called it traffic jam. He brings the remaind chimera with the company commander and the plasmas at range and shoots my beasts. The same with the flamer and multilaser of the two chimeras and the hydras. I take morale and hold! 13 beasts are still alive. On the northern front he wipes out a second unit of wyches. The loss are so heavy that I cannot hold.

Turn 3. My raiders and the apparent ravager are down. The superior fire power of the Emperor’s lackeys did its job.

End of round 3. Blocade near the centre. The four chimeras on the front are already immobilised, some even shaken or with destroyed weapons. The two on the second row will be the next turn. At least that part of the plan went well. But it was not enough...

Turn 4. Only one ravager can shoot. The vendetta is shaken. The beasts assault the command squad and kill them. The wyches are on the open and cannot do much. Maarten’s turn. In his attempt to turn the last functioning chimera to face my beasts he failed the dangerous terrain test, all chimeras are now wrecked or immobilised! He move some vets from a wrecked chimera to the shaken vendetta. He shoots the beast with everything. They all die, along with my last hope of holdning the centre.

Turn 5. All I had on the table was a single heamy, hiding in terrain, an immobilised ravager on my right, a raider without lance near the centre of my quarter and a unit of wyches + heamy hiding behind a rock. Knowing that I cannot run to the base I stay hiding and waiting the only mobile carrier in his army, the vendetta with the vets. My shooting from the ravager destroyed a weapon somewhere. His turn. He destroys the ravager with the hydras, the raider with a multilaser shoot and moves the vendetta next to my last wych unitthe vets disembark and shoot but they do not cause serious damage to the girls due to cover. He rolls a 2 and the game stops here. He got his base, I do not. He got one objective, I have none. All I was left with was a wych squad and 2 heamies. He got 1482, I got 466. +1016 for him. 19-1. Initially, I have forgotten the second heamy and the final result was given as 20-0. But then I asked the Belgium captain and Maarten and it was corrected to 19-1. The final results sheet that were published are incorect, having the VPs wrong (who wrote that one? These are not the points I gave. It makes you wonder). The final battle points are correct thought.

Thoughts. Maarten has done his homework. He knew my codex by heart. He even knew my drug table! A much more experienced player than I was. He was extremely honest and very good general. Not that he need it with his list. As for my performance, even thought 19-1 is a crushing defeat I dare to say that my game was flawless. Huge contrast with the tactical mistakes I did on previous games. I had a goal to block him and I did it. Should I was a bit luckier and he was unlucky and got the first assault on all 3 wyches and the beasts he would have no moving vehicle and we would fight on foot. His immence fire power would have crushed me anyway but a stallmate near the centre would have allowed me to catch the objective of my base and get 2 more points. I asked him what else should I have done and he said that he could not think of any other way. My list could not win his in this scenario. It was as simple as that. So I am pleased with my performance.

Maarten's game style reminded me the Antipop. And their lists are similar, with some notable differencies ofcaurse. I appreciated his sportsmanship when he reminded me to shoot with the ravager. The only objervation I made to him is that he had to speak when rolling so that the opponent knows what he is rolling for, because most of the times he was silent or he was talking really low, as talking to himself, and then was giving me the dice for that saves.

Epilogue

That was the 2011 ETC. Hellas ranked last on the 24th position. We had a great time. My personal harvest was only 27 points. I am quite disappointed by my performance. With minor changes on the tactics, I could have at least 10 more points. With some luck, more than 20+. Games 2,3 and 4 could have gone my waywith minot alterations. The fontamental weakness though, was the general strategy and the list. ETC is dominated by powerfull spam and shooting and for a good reason.

I learned a lot. I am certain that I became a better player from that experience. And I am sure all my co-players of the National team feel the same.

Finally, I want to thank al my opponents for their feedback and I hope that we’ll keep in touch.

HQ: A Talk of Bikes and Jetbikes

2011-09-08T11:00:00.012+03:00

On todays roster we have bikes, bikes and maybe some jetbikes...oh, who am i kidding?

Currently there are only 3 imperial codexes that allow bikes to be used as troops, these would be the Dark Angels, Space Wolves and Space Marines. As this article is about the HQ's we wont go into the actual bike squads and what they may take and how to use them nor will we discuss Logan as he is an HQ that may make bike riding units into troops, but he himself does not ride one, we will instead compare good ol'e Sammy boy and the Mongol.

At first we must understand that the theme of the White Scare and the Dark Angels is completely different. Where the White Scares represent untamed wilderness and manuverability in battle, the Dark Angels represent a knightly band of brothers that ride out in reconnaissance to locate threats and harass the opponent.

Is this ideology represented in the codex? Lets take a look.

The Stat Line

The great Kor'Sarro khan who comes at 160 points is youre average chapter master stat liner. He has WS 6 which ensures that most of his enemies will be hit on a 3+ , so far were not seeing something unusual.

BS5 means that he will hit on 2+ with his twin linked bolter, but it is most likely that those babies will be unused int he shooting phase.

Moving on to his strength we have the usual space marine punch in the face with S4, once again as expected.

The wounds on this model sum up to 3, meaning that it will take a few hits to bring him down, as his save is 3+ and 4++.

Initiative 5 means hel be hitting before any other classical marine, but most likely after any pointy eared alien or 4 armed tyranid.

Normaly he has T4, however as we want a mounted leader we will take Moondrakkan which will increase his toughness to 5, oh and it makes squads of bikes of at least 5 models into troops!

Special Rules

The majesty of this Khan comes mainly in his special rules that he bestows upon himself and others.

The unit he joins has the Furious Charge special rule as well as hit and run. This alone improves his Strength and Initiative to 5 , put him in a command squad, give em all power weapons and youre looking at 16 power weapon, 4 normal attacks at initiative 5 with strength 5. Not to mention 5 attacks from the khan himself at I6. It is hioghly unlikely that any but the toughest opponents will survive.

The Khan has the fleet special rule given to him from his bike, which means that should you be just out of reach for those pesky pathfinders, you can detach the khan in the movement phase and run a D6 in any direction during the shooting phase.

If this dosent satisfy youre appetite, all to wound rolls of a 6 cause instant death regardless of toughness.

Finnaly the cherry of the pie comes in the shape of h

is chapter tactics, all units including dedicated transports (im looking at the redeemer with termies in it) have the ability to outflank. Tell me which army will be bold or foolish enough to place anything near a table edge when they know that at any moment a land raider with S6 and AP3 can ride out from the side, spit out some termies and flame you to death!

At the total cost of 205 points the Khan is a great buffer as well as fighter that represents the savegery of the wild east (or Chogoris as is known in the fluff).

Moving on to our Dark Knight of the Rock.

The Statline

At the exactly the same cost of 205 points we have a WS of 5, clearly the Dark Angels have lower standards when they designate "Grand Masters" then the white scars.

A BS of 5 which comes in handy as Sammael posseses a rather large plasma cannon incorporated into his jetbike...yes i said jetbike, apparently the only functional jetbike in the entire imperium according to fluff.

Every other stat is identical to the Khans, including the 3+/4++ save.

The Special Rules

This is where Sammy truly falls behind. The only usefull rule he has is "Master of the Ravenwing" this means that bikes count as troops.

He also gives you the ability to purchase a standard bearer (1+ attack) and an apothecary (FNP) for 1 unit in the army at the cost of 40 pts combined. This means that we could even say that the cost of Sammael is increased to 245. Now this is debatable as it is a bike and not Sammael that buys the upgrade, however it is only available through Sammael.

Next in line we have Fearless, which for most part is useless for Sammael as he is NOT an independant character, he cannot join other units and should he fall victim to a roll of 1 in a dangerous terrain test he does not get to reroll thanks to the skilled rider which is incorporated into the independant character special rule.

The fact that he has Rites of Battle, is rather redundant as if you are played a bike or terminator army, all youre units are fearless anyway.

However we should accredit Sammael with having immunity to instand death thanks to the adamantium mantle and having the raven sword (master crafted power weapon). Clearly that one reroll at S4 and I5 will make a difference when he is single handedly fighting a unit of pretty much anything.

Now looking back at these points we see that yes the ideas and themes are indeed represented in the unit, how ever where this whole thing falls apart is on the table. It all well and nice having a lone night fly around with his fancy sword, how ever he simply wont love very long on the table. Where as the Khan can join a unit, while buffing it.

Final Verdict:

The Khan is a more viable option game wise, where as Sammael is more appealing to the players who prefer to play games with story line concepts rather then viability of an easy victory.

Dont get me wrong here, Sammael can kick ass, i have seen him do it. All im saying is that it is more likely for Khan to kick as easier and faster then Sammael.

Battle reports from Montreux, ETC 2011 - DAY 2 - ROUND 5

2011-09-07T02:36:00.002+03:00

We were facing Northern Ireland. Both teams near the bottom of the rank. My captain had the marvellous idea to nominate me second and without hesitation the Irish pitched me against the Imperial Guard. Another captain for me, Jonny Fisher or Jonny65.

Jonny Fisher, aka Jonny65, the captain of team Northern Iron.

Jonny had the anti-list for my list. He had a company command Squad with 4 palsmaguns, astropath and Officer of the fleet in chimera. 9 psykers in chimera, 2 veteran units with meltas, one platton wth command squad and two infantry squads with autocannon, meltagun, one with commissar. 3 vendettas, 2+2 hydras and a Manticore.

Deployment: Pitched battle. Primary objective: Capture & control. Secondary objective: Annihilation.

I won the roll and go first! That was the only game out of six I won the dice. Later, Jony told me that he managed to loose all the initial dice rolls. 6 out of 6! Even worse than me! I would like to meet one of the lucky ones who wone the dice roll six times.

I place the base objective on my right, behind a rock, not visible to him.

He placed his on the opposite corner. I later realised that the whole NI team placed the marker on the corner.

I deploy away of my base, on my left. I used a huge LoS blocking ruin to hide two ravagers near the right side. I left one unit of wyches on my base. Their raider was deployed separately and empty on the left giving cover to the others. I had no strategy for doing that just wanted to mess up his deployement. I think it worked. He did exactly the same. He deployed on his left- my right! Leaving his base empty. On a different not, Jonny did the longest deployment I have ever seen, almost 20 minutes.

The same dilemma as always in these cases: should I go with all the wyches on his face or split the force and go for the base. I choose the second, I do not know why. It just seemed right at that point. I am sure Jonny thought I had a secret plan. There was none.

Turn 1.

Movement and shooting. I break a weapon on a vendetta, stun a second and stun a chimera. The beasts had serious trouble moving with all that terrain near the centre. Two raiders wth wyches flat out to the opponent’s front, one goes to the opponents base.

Jonny moves a little and shoot. Down goes the two raiders, the empty one stays immobilised. One ravager down or immobilised (can’t remember)

Turn 2

Move the raider on the left to his base. Shoot down a Vendetta, stun the other. Assault the other vendetta and stun it as well. The beast get real close to the two chimeras.

His shooting on that turn was bellow expectation. The Manticore fail to do anything (thank God), one ravager gets weapon destroyed and the other nothing. One unit of wyches gets decimated, with only 3 left. The hydras shoot the beast, two dead.

I move on, wreck the second vendetta. The remaining raider, on the left, the one on his base, empty the squad and move 12 closer to shoot the chimera that screen the hydras.

Turn 3

The beasts get to the closest chimera and wreck it. The wyches assault again the vendetta and wreck it. His front is blocked and he has only one vendetta still flying. I go for her with the two ravagers, nothing. The left raider wrecks a hydra. He shoots the beasts with the manticore and everything else (hydras, flamers etc). They had weaken resolve and they break, never to return. That was the crusial blow, loosing the beasts so early. One heamy somewhere on middle of the field gets it from a heavy weapon and dies.

Turn 4

I assault and kill the vets from the fallen vendetta, my second wych unit near the centre goes for the last remaining chimera they do nothing. The ravagers destroy a weapon – a multilaser on a chimera. The heroic raider on the left shakes the closest hydra. There was not much I could do at that point. His turn. He moves the last vendetta a bit and place it so that he can shoot my ravager on the right. The Manticore wrecks a unit of wyches, leaving only two. Another one dies from shooting from the platoon command squad. The hekatrix stands its ground and stays defiant in front of the last mobile chimera. The other wych unit is weaken resolved and breaks from shooting. Now both beasts and wyches run. He blown up the immobile raider near the centre. I have nothing left on the centre. Rearrange the two units of wyches holding the two bases so that I would get minimal damage from the manticore. He shots the one on his deployement and they get 6 wounds, they break (with 10) and fall back.

Turn 5

I move the ravager to block my base. Some shooting from the other ravager does nothing. The remaining raider missed. He tank shocked the last hekatrix with the chimera. I pass morale, death or glory, weapon destroyed but the heroic hecatrix is mashed under his chimera. The last raider goes down from the hydras. The ravagers stay!

At this point I am winning the primary.

I seriously rearenge the last wych unit and the heamy to hold the base. The ravager blocking the path to my base shoots down the last Vendetta 8’’ away!! The Vets pass their morale and pinning (That is the point I wanted some help from the Dice Gods. I got none).

His turn. The manticore gets 4 rounds on my wyches on my base. Yet he misses them horribly! The ravager near my objective gets a weapon destroyed from the platoon autocannons with ‘bring it down’ . The Vets shoot and assault it. They cannot harm it but they get 2.5’’ from my base. Jonny steals my primary. 4-4. He has the secondary 4-0. we split the vps. 12 – 8.

(Jonny remembers we played 4 rounds but my notes say there were at least 5. Maybe he is right but the sequence of events is as I describe it here, so what is a turn more or less?)

Thoughts. I almost believed I could pull this one through, even against an IG list. Jonny believes I was wrong, splitting my forces. Maybe he is right. However it is possible that, should I have thrown all the force on his front, they would have been eradicated and there would have been no-one holding the bases. I do not know...

Jonny wrote me that he placed his force as far away as he could to avoid fast contact with the beasts and the girls (chicken!). I agree on that. But I cannot see why not holding his base. It would have been impossible for me to smash my way thought all those vehicles and bodies. He was more than pleased with the match up and it is logical, sporting the anti-list for my list. He said he would have an easier go on a venom spam. I believe that. My list is quite resilient against IG. Skimmers do not play the first role. It is all about assault. Jonny said that my captain should have never put me in front especially with the IG still at large. He was absolutely right, we all know that. But it happened.

There was an instance that momentarily – but only momentarily- clouded the atmosphere of the game.At round 4, Jonny asked me if I was playing slower on purpose. He even told off the famous Woody when he came along to ask me how I am doing! That was really strange, since from the 2 hours and 40 minutes of game I spend around 45 minutes and he got the lion’s share with almost 2 hours.

After the game we discussed about it and he said that he felt he should say that cause I was looking the clock and that he met players doing that. I explained that I was looking the clock to determine how many rounds were left. Explanations were given and I was satisfied to see that it was the pressure of the tournament that caused that incident. We both reconed that an assaulting army with 7-8 units left cannot stall against a massive IG force that had 70+ rounds of shooting per turn... Jonny gave me 2 lucky dice and recognised that I was very honest when measuring distances and rolling the dice, not ‘accidentally’ picking up twos and aces (as all my opponents pointed out, I am proud to admit). And I can say that he was as honest as any. All in all, I enjoyed the game and I am looking forward seeing Jonny and his mates next year.

Game Corps. 2000 Point Tournament Report

2011-09-06T16:13:00.023+03:00

Another week passes , and we find ourselves reflecting the battles that we expirienced in the past few days. Personaly i have to say that my weekend was filled with battles of warhammer 40k against tough and intelligent opponents.

On Sunday 4th, i attended a 2000 point tournament, where 12 players participated. I would call it local, but i would be lying as the players that attended came from far and wide to hone their skills of strategy and perception. These players are not newcomes to the competitive scene in Greece, as many of them have attended a great many other tournaments that are considered as "national".

So enough blabberjabber from this humble servant of the Emperor, with the battle report!

As Dark Angel player i could not even conceive of playing anything but a Ravenwing or Deathwing themed army, so with some help from my mentor, i managed to devise a Ravenwing themed army that used the new C:SM.

The List

Kor'Saro Khan

Librarian (Vortex, Null Zone)

Command Squad (All stormshields, Powerweapons, Fist, Champion)

Assault Termies with a Landraider Redeemer

2 x Land Speeder with MM/HF as seperate units

2 x 10 Man Bike squads (PW, 2 Melta, 1 AB with MM)

5 man Bike squad with 2 flamers

Game 1

The Dark Eldar were to be the 1st enemy. Deployment was DoW and we had 3 objectives. We placed the objectives 12 inches from each other around the centre of the map, they formed a triangle. As a dark eldar with 4 venoms , 2 raiders, 2 ravagers and 1 jetfighter he clearly expected to use speed to his advantage, so you can see how surprised he was when he saw that he faced an army that could exceed him in speed and manouverability.

I won the roll to go 1st. Thinking it more suitable for mission purposes, i combat squaded my 2 squads of bikes into 5 man each, this gave me 5 troops of 5 models each with the ability to turbo boost. I deployed 2 of these squads areound the middle of the board and keeping everything else in reserve to deepstrike/outflank. He chose to deploy Baron Sathonyx an

d 17 of his Hobgoblin buddies in a ruin near his left side, well over 18 inches away from me. After his failure trying to seize the initiative i began my Turn 1.

A rather Disappoing turn that saw me move back my forces about 18 inches to get that 3+ cover save. He brought everything onto the table and fell in a defensive formation in the middle of his side of the table, some pot shots at my bikes, but thanks to night fighting

and 3+ cover saves, not a single Angel of Death was lost.

Turn 2 saw my command squad some from the left, my flamer bikes to come from the right, 1 of the land speeders to deep strike and immobilise itself 8 inches from his "defensive bubble" and my melta squad to come in right behind the command squad. I turbo boosted everything i had on the table in his direction, hoping that T5 will win the day against S3 models. He in turn moved everything 12 inches up , disembarked all his wyches from the raiders and moved the baron and his hobgoblins to engage my 2 squads that had been deployed from the start of the game. He then proceded to shoot me with all his splinter cannons and lances. Effectively wipping out my flamer squad from the right, killing 2 command squad vets, as well as 1 bike from the squad that the baron was about to assault. He assaults his witches onto my command squad, a whole unit of wyches engage the Khan while the other unit of wyches engages the librarian and the squad. The baron and his squad multi charge my 2 squads of bikes. Korsaro not only survives a bucket load of attakcs, he manages to kill 1 wych, while the other squad of wyches kill the librarian but lose 5 units to the champion and the remainder of the vets. He loses combat by 4, and after rolling twice (trophies were near) he flees with both units off the table. The baron surprisingly manages not to do anything to the bikes other then lose 2 of his goblin friends, but passes leadership and stays tied up.

Turn 3 i move up splitting the Khan from his squad, he will later engage a unit of 5 trueborn who disembarked the previous turn but could not help the baron in his assault against the bikes, while the veterans would multi charge the baron and a lone Haemonculi that was sitting on an objective. The trueborn are wiped out by the Khan, the haemonoculi is squashed by a powerfist, and the baron losses combat and flees, but not before killing an impressive 6 bikes with his squad. His turn 3 sees my vets and Khan wiped out due to lance fire and a ridiculus amount of splinter cannons and large blasts from the fighter.

Turn 4 my land raider outflanks from the left but it would prove to be useless as it would need 2 turns to reach the closest objective, it tries to shoot a raider but it cant reach. my remaining forces are 2 bikes from 1 squad, 2 from another and 1 attack bike from a 3rd, i turbo boost to claim 3 objectives, at the moment he is contesting only 1. My opponents tries to shoot everything at 1 of my remaining bike squads, but his bad rolls combined with my luck for that turn see 6 splinter cannons and 6 dark lances do nothing to my 2 bikes, the baron flies off the table. At this point my opponent was saying that theres no point to play on as hes have no chance to win, i argues that he never knew what would happen and we continioued to round 5.

My last land speeder deepstrikes and blows up a venom, my other land speeder manages to stun the fighter. The landraider moves forward another 12 inches and spews out 5 bored terminators that try make a cordron around 1 of the objectives, then i switch the positions of my bikes to get a 3+ save. He shoots my land raider with his dark lances but dosent do anything other then stun, he then moves 1 of his venoms with the wracks to 1 of the objectives, his other venom to another objective and contests my 3rd objective with a raider that carries a single Haemonoculi. If the game ends here, its a draw, he rolls and we continiou.

Turn 6 i switch my bike positions again. And my termies in concert with the mobile Land Speeder take out the Raider and the Haemonoculi. Sadly His wracks assault my remaining 2 bikes giving him his 1st objective, his 2 reamining venoms then kill the 2 bikes that the terminators were guarding , effectively making me lose the 1 objective i held all game, he then turbo boosts his jetfighter to contest my 3rd objective. Game Ends Dark Eldar win with 1-0.

Thoughts Was a very intense game with great movement and lots of close combat and shooting, had i chosen to be unfair and end the game on turn 6 as was my right due to tie limit i would have won, but i honestly believe that a game should be played for games sake and not for winning. My opponent would go on and win 2nd place overall!

Game 2

2 Objectives, pitched battle. I was facing a tau army, and i knew that if i ddnt get in close combat fast enough it would be over for me. I win the roll to go 1st and deploy everything on the table except the land raider. He reserves 3 units of battle suits and 2 fire warrior squads.

Turn 1 sees me Turbo boost all my forces towards him, having deployed as close as i could and adding 24 more inches im effectively around 14-15 inches away from him (damn terrain!). He shoots with his railguns at my land speeders, immobilises 1, and it dies due to turbo boosting, he then takes out a whole 5 man squad with missiles and pathfinders after removing their 3+ cover save.

Turn 2 sees me reach him and bring my land raider from the left side, right where i wanted it. I multi assault a unit of 6 pathfinders and 2 battlesuits with 5 bikes. Blow up 2 of his vehicles (the ones with the missiles) and stun and immobilise both his sky rays. Korsaro assaults 6 pathsfinders and wipes them out, 3 bikes die due to difficult terrain counting as dangerous but manage to assault the last 6 man pathfinder squad, while the vets blow up the last hammer head. The 5 man bike squad does nothing to the pathfinder and the suits, their combat would draw on until the end of the game, where no one would hit the other for 3 turns. His fire warriors come on and kill one squad of bikes that killed the pathfinders. His 2 last battle suit squads arrive and blow the hell out of my 3rd bike squad. Currently im left with 1 squad thats engaged with pathfinders and 1 attack bike thats chilling in difficlut terrain, as well as a landraider , termies and my full command squad.

Turn 3 sees me use my land speeder to flame 2 units of lined up fire warriors and scare them off the table, my land raider to move up to his battle suits, my vets to race their way towards his suits, my termies do absolutely nothing to his vehicles and my librarian scare the fire warriors off the table. In this turn he tried to shoot some plasmas at mmy vets but their 3++ shields saved em.

Turn 4 sees me wipe out both his battlesuits squads with my vets and Khan, while the termies finaly blow up the sky rays. The 5 man bike squad manage to kill 3 pathsfinders and in return lose 3 bikes, another draw.

Turn 5 the only thing left on the table are the 3 remaining pathfinders and 2 suits that have been engaged in combat since turn 2, they eventualy lose combat due to help from the librarian. Game Ends with the Ravenwing claiming a massacre.

Thoughts I believe this was the most fun game i had that day, as both me and my opponent were rather relaxed about the whole affair, i believe he was also rather new to the hobby. We joked around alot, but at the end of the day theres not much he could of done against an army that can assault him on turn 2.

Game 3

Mech blood angels were gna be my opponents for the last game. Kill points, pitch battle. He had around 15/16 kill points against my 10. He won the roll to go 1st. And i decided to keep everything in reserve.

Turn 1 he moves everything to the middle of the table. Vindicator parks right in the middle of his preds , baal preds, rhinos with lasplas and land raider redeemer. I do nothing but sip my coke!

Turn 2 He orders half his army to be obscured by smoke. My Land Raider, 10 man squad and land speeder arrive from reserve. I place the land speeder in front of the Vindicator as it does not have smoke, my land raider moves 12 inches from the right and so do my bikes, they hide behind ruins for a 4+ cover save, how ever my 3 multi meltas are well withing range of their targets, too bad that all 3 miss.

Turn 3 he moves his forces towards me, disembarks a 5 man squad with melta from a rhino, moves his jump pack squad with liby and priest up towards my 10 man bikes. He then unleashes all his shooting at my land raider and bikes. Besides immobilising and stunning my by land speeder 5 times, he manages to shake the land raider with the vindicator and kills 2 bikes with 3 assault cannons, 4 lascannons and 2 autocannons. Abyssmal shooting turn for both of us. All i do is flame his 5 man squad to oblivion with flamestorm cannons and blow up their rhino with a multi melta.

Turn 4 i bring my command squad from the side where the land raider is, as well as a 5 man flamer squad, while the last 10 man squa arrives from the left and turbo boosts in hopes or reaching 2 rhinos filled with 5 man assault troops. Our forces clash with me assaulting his librarian and 10 assault marines, from both sides (terminators and 10 man bikes) and him assaulting the terminators with a chaplain and deathcompany. The combat leaves me a victor by killing most of the squad but failling to hit the librarian with my thunder hammer. My bikes stun 1 predators and immobilise another. Thankfully he stay in combat, i am safe from the vindicator whos cannon is in my terminators face.

Turn 5 he blows up the landspeeder, kills the flamer 5 man bike squad and assaults me with his 2 units of assault marines on the left flank, the both had red thirst. He tries to shoot my land raider with the vindicator but only blows off its assault cannon. not much shooting here, i move up my command squad and send the librarian after the landraider while the khan and his vets try reach the terminators before it is too late. The librarians fails to penetrate and then fails to hit the raider with his melta bombs. The termies die out but not before killing all of his assaults, librarian and priest. The bikers who are now down to 2 lose combat and flee back behind the ruins. The big fight of 10 assault marines vs 10 bikes sees me victorious thanks to a power weapon but he does not fall back so we stay locked.

Turn 6 sees his death company assault my land raider (go Rage!) his vindicator lands a hit on my vets and Korsaro and kills 1, his rhino is blown up by my last land speeder which i forgot to bring in on turn 5, so i had to do it now, he shoots my last 2 bikes with his preds and kills 1 out of 2. He then disembarks 5 assault marines and assaults this lonely bike, which survives an impressive amount of 16 attacks. The Khan wipes out the Death company and the chaplain, while the librarian is finaly killed by Flamestorm cannons and a melta shot. The fight on the left flank sees me victorious again but i cant seem to get the kill point as his Sgt, makes every single armor save i throw at him!

Turn 7 Sees him kill my last bike with his 5 assault marines but in return die to the Khan and his remaining vets. I finaly manage to kill that Sgt and claim a kill point. Game Ends 8-5 with the Ravenwing beeing victorious.

Thoughts This was a very hard game for my opponents as he had way too many KP's the only way he could have won was if he wiped me out.

Conclusion

The tournament lasted 8 hours in total and we had a measly 10 minutes break between each battle, it was a fun and tiring day. I came 4th out of 12 and am pleased with the result considering the tier of gamesmanship that was present. Overall bike lists have potential to win, but they are extremely unforgiving if you make the slightest mistake.

Warhammer comic book from Invulnerable Blog

2011-09-03T18:51:00.000+03:00

This is the first part of Markador's excellent work. Head over to his blog to read the second part now.

Battle reports from Montreux, ETC 2011 - DAY 2 - ROUND 4

2011-09-02T17:00:00.001+03:00

Here is the second instalment of my battle reports from ETC 2011. I decided to publish the battle reports of the second day separately, in thee separate posts, to make it more convenient for the reader.

The first game on Sunday was against Austria. I was placed against Space Wolves! Imperial Guard and Space Wolves with Long Fangs and razor spam are anti-lists for my list. Yet, on the 2nd day I would be facing only these opponents, as it would turn out.

Deployment: Dawn of War. Primary objective: Annihilation. Secondary objective: Seize Ground (3 fixed counters). Positioning the objectives : one objective is in the center of the table. The other 2 objectives are 24" from player's table edge and 6" of lateral table edges.

My opponent was Georg "Firstruleoffightclub" Auenhammer, the Austrian Captain. Another Captain for me. He had two Runepriests, 2 units of wolfscouts, 5 wolfguards with combi-meltas, 3 wolf riders, 4 units of grey hunters, two in rhinos and two in Las-Plas razorbacks, and (surprise!) 3 units of Long fangs – 14 missile launchers in total.

Georg "Firstruleoffightclub" Auenhammer, the Austrian Captain.
He pleasantly surprised me by knowing the meaning of his Greek-deriving first name!

I lost again the rol and he goes first. The table has very little cover. No line of sight blocking. Georg spread his force around the table in a more or less symmetric way. One unit of long fangs to the left, one at the centre, one to the right. One razor to the left, one to the right. The rhinos with the Runepriests somewhere to the middle- closer to his right. Little movement. My turn. I had a dilemma: stay back and shoot or do the classic Leon’s frontal assault. I had an eye contact with my friend Bilap who was playing on the table next to me and decide: I’ll go for the assault! All raiders flat out + eather sails, into his face, on my right. Ravagers 12 and placed for shooting the closest vehicles. I placed only one ravager on my left just to lure his infiltrating scouts. Two of the ravagers shoot and stun a razor and shaken the other.

The table after the end of Turn 1. I have pushed forward on the right side of my front.

Turn2

Minimum move and force rearengment from Georg. Shooting. One unit of scouts arrive on my left and go for the single ravager. He was rolling really bad. And my saves were amazing that first turn. I had 7 saves on flickerfield and 2 from cover! The luckiest turn I had on the tournament. Georg had split his shooting and he did not manage to bring a single skimmer down. My turn. I move the two right-side raiders on his table edge and place them side-wise, to block the entrance of the wolf riders (they were in reserve). He did not expect that. My wyches disembark and go for the left-side Long fangs and the razor. The other two are closing near the centre, but they run slow. The beasts are slow too. Shooting. One razor wrecked, one rhino shaken. Two long fangs dead. Double assault on his left side Long fangs. One is left! Georg says ‘I am having a bad dream’.

Turn 3.

2nd wolf scout squad comes on my left, same as the other one. Bad dice from Georg again. Back there they were useless. He tank shock the wyches that assaulted the razor but they stay. The wolf cavalry arrives. They move against the two closest raiders who stand on the edge of his deployment zone. Shooting and a ravager goew down, the other is stunned. Not good news. A raider gets immobilised and weapon destroyed. It has grisly trophies thought. On the assault phase I kill the last long fang and go for the centre. The other wych squad walks near the closest objective. My centre wyches get serious shooting – only 5 remain but they hold. He wrecks one of the raiders and does nothing to the second with the riders.

I move near the centre of his formation with 3 wyche squads and the closing beasts. The beasts were dissapointigly slow – something that will prove crusial at the end. I stunned the razor on his right. That razor shoot only once the whole game. Kill a long fang. Assault goes all wrong. The 5 wyches fail to reach the two remaining long fangs, another crusial costly point for me. Should I have got that kill point I would have draw the primary and draw the game.

At the begining of Turn 3.

Georg is very concentrated in marshalling his force.

At the end of Georg's turn of Turn 3. The alighned wyches have avoided a tank shock whereaw those on the right get stuck with two remaining Long fangs! Should I have cleared that assault, on my turn I could engage the riders with 9 Furious charge wyches, saving the 2 vehicles that went down by the wolf riders...

Turn 4

He does something with the scouts on the ravager, and he gets some wounds on the girls. He has no moving vehicle anymore, so he cannot reach any objective. The wolf riders assault the immobilised raider, wrecking it.

Beasts are forced to pass thought terrain and consequently loose the assault on the 7-man grey hunters squad! That judged the match. The wyches who walked from his left- side, those that killed the long fangs engage some grey hunters. They will stay entagled to the end. The last unit of wyches is walking to the objective but roll 2 on difficult terrain and 1 on the run!!

Turn 5

Not much to move for Georg.

The wolf riders herd the beasts further away.

I wreck the rhino that tank shocked my wyches and stun the one on the right. My centre wyches finally assault the long fangs killing one but the other stays. No kp on this one.

My walking wyches finally get the furthest objective, giving me 4 points on the secondary objective of the mission.

I finished my turn in 5,5 minutes. The game ended due to time restriction.

When we finished we were unsure who won, cause we lost count on the KP. Georg thought that he lost. When we measured the KP though, he got 7 and I got 6! 8 pts to Georg. I had one objective he had 0. 4 points to me. And he had +369 points of difference – 5 to him, 3 to me. Total 13-7 to Georg. And he was really happy about it.

Georg was by far the most unlucky of my opponents, at least for the first two rounds. He could have drop at least 4 of my skimmers on round 2 and 3. Yet he had done only minor damage and wrecked one. He went for the ravagers, and split his fire power, giving my raiders the chance to deploy easily at the whole length of the table. Yet he reassemble his strength and fight back like a real Space Wolf on round 4 and 5, on the 5th he was seriously lucky when he made two wounds on the assaulting beasts with his hunters against 0 of mine! That assault sealed his victory. His victory was narrow: 7 kp to 6. Those damned beast were skinned and roasted later on in Gommorah. For one kp, 8 points... But these are the rules, what can I say...

The final score does not reflect the climat of the game. The game was for the most part in my favour and I would describe it balanced. With another more turn I bet I would have drawn at least. At a certain point Georg ‘accused’ me for great fortune with the dice. He stopped when he saw my assault rolls. My aim was to mop his left wing and I did it for most part. His aim was to shoot me down early in the game.He did not manage mainly dew to his bad rolls and my saves on rounds 2 and 3. He did it at the end however. He brought down 6 out of 7 vehicles and the beast squad.

My opponent, Georg, was really composed and extremely accurate with his movement. He was explaining all his dice rolls. No grey points anywhere on the game. At one point I questioned the range on the move of the scouts and he showed me his point in a very convincing way. He is definatelly the player I would like to face again, not only on a tournament but on a friendly match.

That was the first match on Sunday 21 / 8 /2011 at Montreux. Two more to come...

New tournament in town, need help with the lists

2011-08-31T16:38:00.000+03:00

So apparently there is a new tournament 40K tournament in Athens. The press release states:

"Με μεγάλη μας χαρά σας ανακοινώνουμε την διοργάνωση του 1ου IC (Independent Club) Tournament.

Ημερομηνία: Κυριακή, 25/9/11
Τόπος: Ξενοδοχείο Στράτος Βασιλικός
Ώρα: 10:00
Συμμετοχή: 10 ευρώ
Θέσεις: 32
Επικοινωνία: Τάσος Γρηγοριάδης, 6974877886 (anastasiosst@yahoo.com)

Κανόνες συμμετοχής:
1. Πρέπει να έχετε μαζί σας έναν πλήρως βαμμένο στρατό (ο στρατός πρέπει να έχει τουλάχιστον 3 χρώματα και «μοντελισμένη» βάση).
2. Ο στρατός σας πρέπει να είναι μέχρι 1750 πόντους από οποιοδήποτε «τρέχον» WARHAMMER 40k Codex (ή White Dwarf Codex) , και να τον έχετε καταγράψει σε μια λίστα με ακρίβεια για το τι περιέχει (εάν χρησιμοποιηθεί εκτύπωση από κάποιο πρόγραμμα που βοηθάει στην δημιουργία λιστών παρακαλούμε όπως βεβαιωθείτε για την ορθότητα αυτής. Σε περίπτωση σφάλματος τιμωρείται ο χρήστης και όχι το πρόγραμμα). Η λίστα αυτή πρέπει να ετοιμαστεί εις διπλούν. Το αντίγραφο θα δοθεί στους διοργανωτές.
3. Όλες σας οι μινιατούρες ΕΠΙΒΑΛΛΕΤΕ να είναι «μοντελισμένες» με τον εξοπλισμό που αναφέρεται στη λίστα σας. Οποιοδήποτε “Count as” μοντέλο, unit ή στρατός θα πρέπει να εγκριθεί πρώτα από τους διοργανωτές πριν χρησιμοποιηθεί στο τουρνουά. Παρακαλώ όπως έρθετε σε επικοινωνία μαζί μας νωρίτερα από τις 20/9/11 προκειμένου να δοθούν οι απαραίτητες διευκρινήσεις.
4. Επίσης, θα χρειαστεί να έχετε μαζί σας, μεζούρες, ζάρια, «templates», το Codex του στρατού σας μαζί με το τελευταίο FAQ του, το Rulebook της 5ης έκδοσης μαζί με το τελευταίο FAQ του και ένα στυλό.
5. Δήλωση συμμετοχής μέχρι 20/9/11.

Διοργανωτές:
• Συλλογίδης Άρης
• Κρομήδας Γιάννης
• Γρηγοριάδης Τάσος

Συνδιοργάνωση: ΕΣΠΑΙΡΟΣ & Battle Bunker Club Χορηγός: Τραχιώτης Μανώλης"

For you poor, Greek-challenged people out there, it says that there is going to be a 40K tournament on the 25th of September, 1750 points and there's 32 places for it. That's as big as it gets for Greece so this is shaping up to be a major event. I've enquired them for what the missions and the terrain is going to be like but I haven't got an answer yet. I am guessing it's going to be the usual stuff though. I'd like to go there but I am not sure which army I should take. My options are:

Imperial Guard

Check the list over here.

Pros: I've done better with my IG than any other army I got. Still very competitive.

Cons: Lots of painting needs to be done before I can field them. Have grown a bit rusty since I haven't used them for a while. Will be hard to transport. My games going to take longer time and maybe I won't be able to finish some of them.

Blood Angels

Check the list over here.

Pros: I've been using them a lot lately. Easy to transport and used for some fun, quick games. Some painting to be done but not as much as IG.

Cons: I did REALLY badly with them in the past. This is a different list but how much difference can it make?

Da Orks

Big Mek, Kustom Force Field

Warboss, Cybork Body, Attack Squig, Power Klaw, Warbike

3 x 5 Lootas

2 x 20 Ork Boyz, Nob (Bosspole, Power Klaw)

10 Gretchin, Runtherd

19 Ork Boyz, Nob (Bosspole, Power Klaw)

Nob Bikers, Big Choppa, Power Klaw, Waaagh! Banner, Boss Pole, Paiboy

Warbuggy, Twin-linked Rokkit Launcha

3 x Battlewagon, Boarding Plank, Grabbin' Klaw, Red Paint Job, Armour Plates, Deff Rolla,Big Shoota

Pros: I've done pretty good with Orks in past "big" tournaments. Most experience with them than any other army. Not much to paint to have them ready.

Cons: Bit rusty playing them. Older codex with obvious problems.

So these are my options at the moment. Help me out people. What do you think it's the best army to bring to the tournament. Not looking for list tweaking at the moment, just what to choose from those three. Or I could just go with Necrons and have a laugh! Cheers!