Army Review: Double Trouble

The hobby continues! I'm keen to review the performances of the units within my army on the blog! Partly because I enjoy the reflective process, but I'm always interested to see what others think. Its a bit like chasing the White rabbit - it can be a deep hole to fall down!

 

Librarian on a bike (original model!) 5/5

This guy was pretty badass. In the first game he didn't do a great deal, but then tbh most of my army didn't do a great deal in the first game. Games 2&3 taught me to love the psychic power Terrify, as units left the board in both games. I'll definitely be using that more often. 

He has intrinsic value to the list in that he makes the bikes objective secured. This saves points elsewhere in the list and gives me two very fast super scoring units. Overall I would keep the librarian. 

Boltgun Scouts & Landspeeder Storm 4/5

These guys performed well, needlessly dying in the first game but in the second and third game they really put in a shift. In the second game, they helped play a part in the refused flank tactic that contributed to our successes in that game, before flying away rather swiftly.  

 

In the third game their scout and infiltrate is limited by the deployment, but they could have gone in my partners deployment zone. However! They did well, using their scout move and our first turn to "drive by" a unit of dark Eldar, rapid firing them to their doom. The objective secured landspeeder is a huge boon to the army, I would definitely take these guys again. 

 

2x Grav Gun Bikes (3 man units) 4/5

These guys are really what made my list tick. They are also objective secured thanks to the biker librarian, and have lots of grav. Whilst their shots aren't as reliable as the centurions, I really like these guys. Being able to move 24 inches in one turn is something that again really helped with securing objectives. 

The one issue for me is their size. At 3 models you only need to blink at them and the lose their effectiveness. Perhaps at next year's double trouble I'll try bigger squads, but I don't know if they then loose their points efficiency.  The funny thing is that I could broke the rules a bit by having a command squad on bikes. That would have given me three squads of bikes and been totally legit. 

 

Grav cannon Centurions in a drop pod 2/5

So these guys are badass, and i got called all sorts of things for bringing them. Spending 1/3 of my 750 points (plus the cost of the drop pod) on them is the closest I've ever come to fielding a "Deathstar" in the late 5th early 6th tradition of death stars. I was worried that I would be surrounded by fluffy, deliberately teeth less lists and look out of place, but there were some equally competitive lists, so I didn't feel bad. 

However, in the 3 games I played they didn't feel useful to a 285 point equivalent. They killed a lot less than normal, i'm not sure if that's because they are to far towards being a white elephant at 750 points. I faced a reasonable amount of armies where their grav weapons would have been useful, but they just weren't quite all that. That could be situational, we'll have to see!

Tactical Squad with missile launcher (original models!) 3/5
These guys performed reasonably, mainly just holding an objective and being in the backfield, allowing us to double up on points all the time. They were the only unit to get destroyed in the first game. In part I think that's due to them being 5 marines with a missile launcher (and therefore not a threat) but their presence meant that we always had an objective, in every turn of every game.

For me there was something very encouraging to use these models. They are "me", they're a massive part of where my hobby started. To use them where my hobby is now was a big encouragement! And I've gotta say, I got a real kick out of seeing other people's 1st time models there.

Conclusion
So there you are! my short review of something that happened 2 weeks ago. Overall, I think the army performed well, as you can see from the ratings. Nothing was that big a suprise, the faster units were really what allowed me to do so well. I'd be tempted to trade the grav cents out for maybe 2 units of something. Perhaps a bike command squad and something arriving from reserve. Maybe even wheel out the legion of the damned! Love those guys. 

The big learning point for me was how much i like terrify. I'm going to be using terrify a lot more i think! I've already fielded a librarian conclave once since. I'll be fielding it a lot more in the future! 

Battle Report Double Trouble Round 3 - Darksun Life 23

Watch out! You're playing the TO!

So, final game of the tourney and who do I end up facing but Alex Brown and Dave Weston. Their respective blogs (http://fromthefang.blogspot.co.uk/ and http://www.40kaddict.uk/) are part of the reason that I blog and I've never played either of them before, so it was a really cool suprise!

My partner Mathew had some very nicely painted Tau, and we did pretty well, executing our plans and our oppenants forces with a bit to much enthusiasm. Anyways, enjoy the vlog!

Battle Report Game 2 - Darksun Life 22

"Drop me near them, I want to hit them with my Grav Cannons!"

Yeah. The heading pretty much says it all. In a continuing theme for these Battle Reports, my Grav Cents spent most of the game in combat with Grots who repeatedly refused to break and run away. I mean, I can't be bitter because we did pretty well all things considered. But those were some mighty, mighty grots.

Missile launcher conversion: to done!

Finally! A painting update. This major project has taken months of my time and has been a real labour of love.

 

So just in time for Double Trouble, I've painted this missile launcher rack to indicate that my old school Ultramarines have a missile launcher. 

 

I've used blue stripes as a spot colour to tie it into the first founding chapter, but ive painted the base a yellow colour to tie it in with the Howling Griffons.  

 

The base, coupled with the little dots on the control panel all help to brighten this model up a bit, I was concerned that it was all just shades of mechanical gray to start with but the spot colours have worked that out nicely. In a pinch I might be tempted to use this as some form of fortification add on or something. It's generic enough.  I can't find the 2016 "40k addict" hobby stamp that indicates this is "to done", but I'm signing this little project off as completed :)

Double trouble update

 

Hello! An update of some fashion on the various 40k aspects of my hobby from this weekend. Firstly, I've submitted my list on time to Alex for Double Trouble, a 40k tourney with a twist! Basically you get randomly paired a partner each round and then fight against another partner. It's the first time he's run it, and should be great event! Stay tuned in the next week for a video run through of what I'm taking and why. 

 

Secondly, as you can see from this photo my forces were in action for a training game ahead of the aforementioned tournament on the 11th. Was obviously a training mission because we all had space marines. So at least 1 in 9 lists will be "good guys" in Power armour, though I imagine it's way more than that. Second time I've played 40k all year, went reasonably well. The dual nature of the missions as you rush to compete objectives is great fun. 

 

Thirdly, on submitting my list i realised that I do have a model to paint! This missile rack. My old ultramarines are taking a rocket launcher with them so that they aren't completely useless on the battlefield. Holding objectives and taking hull points! Yay! I used these guys in the practice game and there was something deeply satisfying about using my first painted models!

I've decided that if I enter the whole army into the painting competition, I might do a little before and after version of the tactical squad, comparing them with some extra howling griffons marines. Hopefully Alex won't mind. Now that all the lists have been submitted, Did anybody take up 

my challenge about using some of hire first painted models? I'd love to get a group photo on the day :)

Possible double trouble lists

Dear readers! I am slightly undecided on which configuration of howling griffons to take! Having pinned my colours to the mast in terms of using an old model or two, I will of course be taking space marines. Lucky for me, the howling griffons are a succesor chapter of the ultramarines, and in this case for me it has more than one level of significance. As already mentioned, the bad boys in blue represent the first models I ever painted. 

 

As you'll see, there are a couple of different configurations of army in these pictures. Basically, I probably can only afford 1 drop pod, so I'm torn between sternguard and another squad of bikes, or simply grav cannon centurions. The grav centurions and the bikes were both massive players for me at the last 2 Blog wars and I'm thinking that actually they will have proportionally more effect at 750. 

 

There is a way that I can squeeze both in, but it does leave me with not a lot of room for much else. I have to start sacrificing my speed and that is something that this force is reliant on. Lots of bikes, with a librarian on a bike making them all super scoring is sorely tempting, considering the objective nature of the missions. 

 

Another option would be to get rid of the scouts and thunderfire cannon to fit them both in, but again I think that they bring more to the table than a squad of sternguard. If I wanted to go really left field I could run the ultramarines on foot as legion of the damned. That might be quite characterful as well, something about thier unwillingness to die coupled with a 3++ save is quite appealing. 

Anyway, these were all the thoughts rolling round in my head whilst I listened to Man U secure a mighty 5th place last night. I've done some number crunching and most of these different building blocks fit together quite well, it's just the centurions. So over to you! Which unit that I've listed would you least like to see? How speedy do you think my force needs to be? Would you take legion of the damned? I look forwards to hearing your thoughts. 

Double trouble challenge

I've been thinking a lot recently about what to take for double trouble (more on that in a future post) and I wanted to throw down the gauntlet regarding models. 

 

This is supposed to be a fun tourney and having been interviewed for the better know a blogger series I decided I wanted to get back to my roots. So, I will be taking to double trouble the first models I ever put together and painted. The challenge is, are you?

 

 You might ask yourself, why should I? I'd say because in some ways, these models are like a tangible equivalent to baby photos or photos of you when you were a kid. For me, I've developed into a reasonably good hobbyist and wargamer. But more than that, I've developed as a person, and wargames have helped me to do that. Coupled with my faith, both environments have helped me develop and come out of my shell. Both have been safe places for me to learn who I am. A bit gushing I know, but totally true. The friends I've made through this hobby are real friends who value me for who I am.

 

That's why I'm going to be taking these models to double trouble. I'll be rocking the classic "I glued these boltguns on the wrong way round" look, with an added extra of airfix paint. I may even use one as my librarian on a bike!  My challenge to anybody coming is to do the same!

Double trouble: 8 weeks and counting!

Double trouble is only 8 weeks away! Have you bought your ticket yet?!  f not, why not? Of course,my  potential excuse for that would be that the last time I played 40 was February, but we can't all use that. And I have bought my ticket. 

I've been musing on what to take, and I'm torn between two armies. The first, as you can no doubt geuss by this photo, is Space Marines. Howling Griffons to be exact. I really fancy some bike based shenanigans, as you could take two full bike squads and a bike command squad before breaking any of the comp rules. 

Taking a HQ on a bike gives you interesting options as you can take bikes as troops. Combined with the combat squads rules it gives you interesting opportunities to have lots of small units. You could couple this with some scouts in a land speeder storm, and maybe even throw in a thunderfire cannon. 

It would also give me an excuse to finish painting this guy, who is one of painting goals for this hobby season. I'm not sure of how competitive the whirlwind is really (it's completely not). When you compare it to the thunderfire cannon, or imperial guard wyvern it doesn't match up favourably. 

My other choice would be humanities true protector in its hour of greatest need. The Imperial Guard. I strongly believe that they function really well at lower points values. After all, for 200 points you could get 40 of them! There is however, something that we need to discuss. 

I may have a bit of an imperial guard sized problem. Which may seem trivial to you, but it really isn't to me. I mean, in a 750 point game, which heavy weapons do you take? If we pan out on the previous photo, we can see that I really do have a conundrum.

All these heavy weapons together would work, right!?!  My main problem with Guard is that they are to squishy, and don't really hit hard. Eldar and thier darker kin are both really squishy, but both hit a lot harder. Guard are much more about being the sum of the parts. Which is why I think they could be good for double trouble. 

One of the reasons they wouldn't be good for double trouble is that it's very objective based. And sure, they can swarm around, or mount up, but my guard army isn't very speedy. Unless I break out the old X-wing vendettas. Which I could, they haven't seen play in a while. But something about the fix bayonets, and "win by having more men than they have bullets" approach really speaks to me. Plus I could take mortars!

Love these guys. They're so cheap and not really that useful. 

Overall I can't decide. I really like the guard idea, but it's more characterful than competitive. I've spent my time in the trenches with fluffy lists in the past and they are fun. But I do like the bike idea. That's one I've not tried yet. So I'll see! I don't have to paint a thing to take the guard I don't think, so that would be nice! Thanks for stopping by! Until next time, Let me finish by asking; Have you bought your ticket yet?!

Space Marine Bike HQ: Complete!

Huzzah! Knocked another little milestone on its head. I've finished what was one of my modest hobby goals for 2016. My space marine HQ choice. 

Hardcore power gamer that I am, this guy is modelled in a way that makes him ambiguous. Is he a captain? Is he a librarian? Could he be a chapter master? Or maybe even a high elf prince riding a dragon?* Who knows. 

Anyhoo, there are a couple of things with this guy I'm reasonably pleased about. The first is his cloak. I took the time to put a couple of extra layers of highlights onto his cloak. It's not amazingly different, but you can tell the difference when you see the model up close. 

The second is his elevated position. Whilst you can't tell because of my mad skillz, his front wheel isn't touching the ground. Not a lot, but enough that it raises his profile when compared to other bikers:

This has been achieved by a small clear piece of plastic, the type that are the sprue for flying base stands. I've covered it up with grass, but because it's clear plastic unless you actually know it's there it's really hard to tell. 

And finally, the sword. To indicate that it has "power" of some description (be that otherworldly or just a power sword - like i said I'm a wannabe power gamer) I painted several thin white coats in a lightning like motif across the blade. What's more, I then went back and put gloss varnish on just the lighting strike. A small detail to catch the eye, but one I'm pleased with. 

So there you have it! I'm giving myself a completed stamp for this bad boy! Hooray! Now, if only I knew people who played 40k......

*not this one

Battle Report: Howling Griffons vs Eldar

Earlier this week I played a guy called Ross at our club (Leicester sabres) for the first time. He had a lovely looking Eldar army, and I took my howling griffons. I didn't have as many bikes as I thought I would, partly because I don't own as many painted bikes as I thought I did!

My army consisted of:

Librarian: Psyker (Mastery Level 2); combi-grav; Space Marine bike 120

2 Space Marine Bikers: 2× grav-gun; + 1 Biker Sergeant (combi-grav; melta bombs) 108

4 Scouts: + 1 Scout Sergeant 55

• Land Speeder Storm: multi-melta 50

9 Tactical Marines: meltagun; lascannon; + 1 Space Marine Sergeant (combi-melta) 180

3 Space Marine Bikers: 2× grav-gun; + 1 Biker Sergeant (combi-grav; melta bombs) 129

9 Sternguard Veterans: 2× combi-melta; 2× combi-plasma; + 1 Veteran Sergeant (lightning claw) 275

• Drop Pod 35

Drop Pod 35

Drop Pod 35

2 Devastator Centurions: 2× grav-cannon and grav-amp; + 1 Centurion Sergeant (grav-cannon and grav-amp; omniscope) 250

1 Thunderfire Cannon: + 1 Techmarine Gunner 100

Inquisitor Coteaz 100

Inquisitorial Henchmen Warband

• Acolyte 4

• Acolyte 4

• Acolyte 4

• Death Cult Assassin 15

1,499 points

Not completely optimised, partly due to the lack of bikes but also due to my wanting to try the acolytes. I could even put them in a drop pod if I wanted to! Great for siezing objectives. Especially in a hammer and anvil set up. But we played kill points. And Ross had two wraightknights. So they weren't a lot of use!

A rough breakdown of Ross' list (I think) was as follows:

• Farseer on a jetbike
• 2x small squads of jet bikes each with a warlock
• 2x 3 man jetbike squad without a warlock
• 3 hornets. 
• 2 wraightknights 

So pretty min maxed. He got a bunch of psychic powers (including guide and eldritch storm) and I got psychic shriek for both, with the Coteaz getting preseince and the librarian getting forewarning (4+ inv) to round things out. I went into the game reasonably confident. It wasn't going to be easy, but at least it wasn't to difficult!

I was lucky enough to get first turn, and with a drop pod army took it!  Ross had mainly castled on to one side and I decided that I had to grab first strike, a wraithtknight and something else in the first turn.  So I went after his castle with my sternguard and centurions. And actually did reasonably well! 

All three of the units of jetbikes (including the farseer one) on this side of the Board failed thier moral check following my alpha strike. However, he rolled his flee numbers the right way around and they all stayed on the table. I killed a hornet and got this wraightknight down to one wound. 

In Ross' first turn he used the wraith knights to "D" off my grav centurions despite thier 4++ and the rest of his army took a big bite out of the sternguard  and the bikes who were with the librarian. I was also then charged by both wraightknights (one into a squad of bikes, and one into some sternguard). For the record "charged by both wraightknights" is not a experience I'm looking to repeat in the near future. However, to my glee the squad of four bikes (read, "my right flank") held a wraithtknight and that flank up for 3 successive combat phases. For thems that don't know what that looks like, here's a quick picture:

In my turn two I used what grav I had left to drop the other wraightknight and try and add further pressure onto where I was pushing in his deployment zone. I killed some more jetbikes, and thunderfire cannoned the life out of the farseer/warlock/jetbike.   My drop pod with added acolytes turned up and stayed out the way. Literally nothing for them to do. 

In his turn two Ross was beginning to consolidate and push back. My scouts got pinned down and then killed by the farseer, and the hornets continued to do nasty things. My inability to finish of the farseer and warlock was beginning to cost me dearly. 

Over turns 3&4 I didn't actually score a kill point, whilst the purple Eldar continued chipping away st my forces.  I made a bad call with my librarian, forgetting that I was withdrawing to leave the scouts to die so that I could have a go at the other wraightknight. I doubt it would have affected the result but it did mean they were in range of both hornets and able be brought down by them at the bottom of turn 3. 

Despite my thunderfire cannon being great value for money and a constant threat, my back line very quickly collapsed when the other wraightknight got in there. This a shot of the wraightknight charging into what remained of my flank:

And this one combat phase after the previous shot. 

This one tactical marine was pretty much all I had left by the bitter end :( poor guy. Oh, plus a 1 hull point left on a drop pod. The game ended as follows:

Me: 5 kill points and first strike. 

Ross: 10 kill points, slay the warlord and line breaker

After game thoughts

I didn't make a few key decisions in the early game that could have helped me in the longer term. The hornets were much nastier than I thought they'd be for example. I also probably should have put the tactical squad in a drop pod and suicided after one of the hornets on turn 1. Tbh that's all my sternguard ended up doing. 

Ross was a real pleasure to play against, I was worried I might be bringing to powerful an army but I think we were quite balanced on paper. We both hadn't played in a while and I think myself I particular was a little rusty. 

Army list changes

I think overall I'll need to go back to the drawing board and make this list a bit leaner if I'm going to use it again. Add more bikes maybe, or strip stuff out so I can put wyverns in. We will see!

Howling Griffons Bike Captain

For the first time since November I will be playing 40k this week, and I thought I'd try and tick out a space marine captain on a bike. Or he might be a librarian. I haven't quite decided. 

The main advantage for me is that my bike squads become super scoring and troops choices, meaning I can madly dash around for objectives in maelstorm games and also that I can scrimp on the force org chart. 

So I spent some time over the last couple of days painting him up. He's at the advanced colouring in stage of painting a model. The bit after basecoating, but before highlighting where I often loose the will to live. Does anybody else get that? I think It's because it still hasn't started coming together enough to see the outcome, but actually I've now put quite a bit of work into the model! Plus, he's riding a bike, which is double the surface area. 

Having said all of this, I've taken a couple of pictures to document the process :) it's a good way of keeping my eyes on the prize as it were. 

As you can see from the pictures, he's an old ravenwing biker, with a flowey cloak which denotes that he is in charge! I might have some fun with the cloak, try and to put some extra detail or something- to push my painting skills. At the moment he's nowhere near done obviously. 

 

From the front. Note the wobbly line down parting the red and yellow. Totally looks better in person. 

Side shot. The cloak really gives this model a sense of motion. Even thou it's more of a kilt (skirt) because it's only up to his waste. Perils of buying stuff off eBay, I suppose!  It can be a bargin price, but it can come pre-assembled. Maybe I'll give him/her a Scottish girls name. 

I'm wanted to do a bit more to him before my game on  Wednesday but I don't know if I'll get time now because of other commitments. Also, the more I write the more I realise he's probably a librarian, and not a captain. All those books he's been reading. I tried to find a funny meme about space marine librarians for you, and all I could find was this:

Double trouble 2: Space marines

Hello reader! Continuing our musing on what to take for double trouble l, I thought I'd address what is probably the elephant in the strike cruiser. The skyhammer formation. 

Alex has updated the page since last I posted about this, and there are a couple of interesting things that both encourage and discourage me to take it. I don't quite know how well it will work in teams, where as I am sure that in the 3rd deployment type it would be awesome. That's because each 750 starts in a different corner, allowing you and your team mate to gang up completely on one side.  In a later post I'll discuss my thoughts on the mission. 



Tickets and attendance

Happily, I've already achieved first place at this tournament! Check out the link here: http://fromthefang.blogspot.co.uk/p/double-trouble-doubles-with-difference.html?m=1 to see who got ticket number 1! At the moment only 4 of the tickets have sold, I'd really encourage people to buy tickets if they can make it, Alex's events have always been well run and the vibe is usually excellent. If you're reading this and you're a Leicester sabre, ask me about it - we can always take a couple of extra ppl in the cars. Otherwise, get on board!

Skyhammer Draft 1

As you may or may not be aware, a fully decked out skyhammer formation comes in at around 800 points, so it's not hard to reduce that to 750. Let's take a look at my first stab at it:

 

9 Assault Marines: flamer; eviscerator; + 1 Space Marine Sergeant (combat shield) 175

5 Assault Marines: flamer; eviscerator; + 1 Space Marine Sergeant (combat shield) 119

9 Devastator Marines: 4× multi-melta; + 1 Space Marine Sergeant 180

• Drop Pod 35

9 Devastator Marines: 3× missile launcher; lascannon; + 1 Space Marine Sergeant 205

• Drop Pod 35

749 points

The main thing to note here is that the assault marines aren't big enough to both combat squad, with only one being 10 men. The devastators however are, making handy use of thier 3d6 morale check rule.  To stick to the format, here and some of the brief pros and cons.

Positive 

1. The special rules that this formation gets. All turning up turn 1? Yes. Relentless devastators and assault marines charging on turn 1? Yes. 
2. Board Control. Deploying my entire force after my oppenant is almost guaranteed. Not 100%, but most of the time I will get to choose the engagements, overwhelming specific flanks or areas. 
3. Mission types. Good for objectives in the first few turns, but even better for collapsing your opponent. 
4. Other deep strike armies. This combos nicely with other deep striking units. Got some swooping Hawks? Another skyhammer even?

Negative

1. It's only 35 marines. Not a lot of men so you'd need to be careful with them. One loose battle cannon shell and you're done for!
2. Anti armour. I'm not sure how well it would do against Knights. I've got eviscerators and multimeltas I suppose, but no grav, and no plasma for terminators. 
3. Hordes. Tyrannids and orks would love you to drop right in front of them and maybe kill a unit or two. 
4. Fearless. One of the hidden strengths of the skyhammer is the pinning effect the devastators can have. If your oppenant is fearless, that strength is taken away. 
5. Other skyhammers. Or people just reserving their stuff. It's then almost the battle to go second!

I am honestly unsure as to how competitive a taking a Skyhammer would be. As you can see from the negatives, it basically fails on paper against most things. Im not convinced that it would play very well in maelstrom missions either. Part of the game here is to make your opponent do something different and make a mistake because of what you're presenting them with. It would also had much more of an impact at 1500 than 1850, especially when everything has the potential to be much more disjointed.


I think for me overall, the skyhammer will still make your oppenant sigh as they look at your army, even with 30k, knights and other things all being allowed. So do I want to be that guy? And just as importantly, can I be bothered to paint 15 assault marines (that are pretty useless apart from this formation!) Its the trap that Games Workshop try to get you with all the time. Most of the time, I'm ashamed to say, they get me hook line and sinker. We will have to see. I might start getting some practice games in my local club now Alex has released the missions!


Until next time!



Refurbishing some old classics

So, I've been clearing out my old models in search of anything that needs love. Some of the stuff I've ebayed, but these guys were way to cool to get rid of.theyve all spent most of the last month in a vat of nail polish remover and are now ready to be painted. 

 I thought I'd share with you about them and make them part of my "to paint in 2016". I'll be doing a proper post on that but this is a more detailed look at these models. 

First off, this games day model! From the early 2000s I think, this guy is not great under 40k rules as he has a powerfist. I also don't think I ever had is right hand, but that's a simple conversion. I'm looking forwards to putting this guy back to his former glory. Even if I don't really want to ever take a space marine captain on foot lol. 

Rolling out another classic, this banner bearer is a metal equivalent of my current banner bearer. I've got the cross piece for the top of the pole so I can make a banner for him but I don't know what design to go with! Do I say that the first one is the chapter banner or that this guy is? I'll have to take a look at that. 

Another grizzeled veteran here. Perhaps a drill Sargent or a the guy who trains the new recruits. I'm wondering if I should paint him up to somehow represent that. "He's normally on the fortress monestry but for this battle he's out on the front line" kind of thing. Or maybe he's just a tactical squad Sargent. 

I also found and cleaned up a culexus assassin. I never found the assassins easy to paint. It's just black after all! But hopefully that'll come out ok. 

So there we have it! What gems have you found recently? I've been at my parents this week for baby Jesus day and I've found a whole host of goodies!

Unit Reviews From Blog Wars X: Winners and Loosers

I thought I'd review the performances of my units from BWX. You can watch a vlog here that details how I got on at the tournament. 

As a whole my army performed quite well, but some units did better than others. Some of my units were probably a dead weight, at least in terms of the armies that I faced, or how they performed.

The Guys (thanks mike for taking the photo!)

Telion - loser

My "sudo vindicare" gave away first strike twice! Twice! And the other game I don't think he caused a wound. Admittedly, one of the times he died he took the chaos deamon warp storm table to the face, but he underperformed. In a practice game he earns his place by killing nurglings. I'm still tempted by Marneaus Calgar.

Librarian - loser

But in addition to Telion giving away first strike, my librarian gave away warlord in the two games I won by blowing his own head of! The second time he did that, he also took a grav centurion with him! Useful for a bit of preseince, but I'm thinking about taking him out tbh. And maybe trying a bike captain.

Scouts & landspeeder storm - winner

Easily justified their cost. Gave me speed and objective secured, as well as holding my left flank in the draw until the 4th turn. Even then they only folded because they got charged by a greater daemon. If I'd of remembered in the 3rd game I could have got more points by using them better as well.

Tactical squad, with missile launcher, melta, combi melta and drop pod - winner

I was going to say that they didn't do a lot but hen I remembered that the one guy left alive was the whole reason I drew with Dan. His contesting of that central objective meant that I didn't loose that game :). None of the armies I faced classified a melta drop pod as a threat, but creative use in all three games meant that they got me line breaker (twice) and claimed a couple of points in mission 3.

2 squads of grav gun bikes. (3 bikes per squad) - winner

One of the strong performers in every game. In the first game, One squad deleted a trygon prime in a single shooting phase. In the second game they were also instrumental in the draw, helping to clear plaguebearers from my home objective and reclaim it. They were a massive bonus in the third game, giving me speed and shooting to take out two units of obliterators. As with BW9, the bikes repaid their selection.

10 sternguard in a drop pod, with 2 combi meltas, 2 combi plasmas and a lightning claw - winner

A unit that probably overperformed in the first game, was badly used in the second and in the third hit once and hard. Overall, they justified selection. In the first game, they killed a flying give tyrant and some Gaunts. In the second game, they killed nothing. (I probably should of gone for a different target!) In the third game, they dropped down, killed typhus and then got eaten by Chaos spawn and a helldrake. A good inclusion. Predictably used, but a reliable and strong addition.

Grav centurions in a drop pod - winner

This unit again had a varied experience. In the first game, their pod scattered back towards my deployment. This meant that they couldn't shoot first turn, but did end up killing hive guard, tyrant guard and the swarmlord. They turned a refused flank into a wall of death all by themselves. In the second game, as with most of my units they didn't do a great deal. They punched some chaos spawn in combat but hat was about it.

In the third game, they were amazing. Took out a land raider, a unit of chaos terminators, a chaos librarian and a helldrake. And only the raider was before the librarian blew his own head off, taking one of them with him. They made it impossible for my opponent to come towards me.

I think having them in a drop pod is excellent. Partly because it means my opponent can't pinpoint where they are going to be as easily in the setup, and then if I loose or don't have first turn they are protected.

 
Devastators 3x missile launcher, 1x lascannon
Again, a unit that piled on well i was doing well, and didnt turn the balance when i wasnt doing well. i dont know if these guys are worth it tbh. They cement my backline, and help with anti tank, but i was never in a sitaution where i thought "man im really glad i have these devastators." tbh, even in my most recent practice games they havent been pulling thier weight. Maybe i should try without them.

Lord commissar and guard blob squad with two Flamers - unsure

Overall, these guys held a space. In the first game, they held a flank against Gaunts and in the third game they infiltrated near some obliterators and then ran against them shooting (and killed one or two). In the second game, they did a job defensively in that they absorbed a charge (and then died).  The model count in my army would be very low of it wasn't for these guys, and they have the potential to absorb firepower because there is so many of them. But they don't contribute offensively very often.

Platoon command squad with four Flamers - Winner

These guys did very little, but they are outrageously good when they work. For 50 points you get for flamer templates and you could put them in a drop pod if you wanted since the one the centurions ride in is from the fast attack slot.

Stormtroopers - looser

These guys did not a lot. They got me line breaker in the second game, but in the first and third games they didn't do an awful lot. Maybe I didn't use them well in the third game, I tried to use the to kill a helldrake after all. I'm not sure if I'll keep them in.

Squadron of 2 wyverns - winner

These guys are probably my MVP. in the first game, they killed about 30 gaunts, including most of a 20 man unit of gargoyles. In the second game, their kills got me first strike and the draw, killing a unit of plaguebearers and a unit of nurglings. In the third game, they did actually die, but not before they eliminated my opponent's objective holding units of plague zombies, and most of a unit of chaos spawn. They are a key part of the "walk through your comrades corpses to get to me" strategy. So yes, definitely my MVP. 

Conclusions
Overall, these are my top 3 units from each side. im now thinking about addressing these going forwards, shifting the focus a bit. but i need to make sure its not just done on form. as they say, form is temporary, but class is permanent.  

Winners:
1: Wyerns
2: Grav Bikes (seriously better than i expected!)
3: Grav centurions (i know they get called a bit of a crutch, but they arent a knight or a superheavy.)

Loosers:
1: Devastators
2: Telion
3: Librarian (who doesnt normally blow his own head of but was useless on the day.

Vlog 5: Blog wars X tournament report

So! Here is my vlog of our experiences at the north west gaming centre on Saturday. 10 of use went from Leicester sabres to Blog Wars X, a tournament run by Alex at From the Fang. 

He's just put the standings up, and I came 11th. Annoyingly, just outside the top 10, but I had a really great three great games, and came 2nd in one of the painting competitions. So a pretty good day! It was the last blog wars, meaning that of the 18 games I played at blog wars, I only lost the first one at blog wars 3. Since then, I've not lost! Winning 14 and drawing 3. Click today's video to find out how I did this time :)

Ill follow up with a couple of unit reviews this week - for now enjoy the video!

Blog Wars X Unit Reviews - Darksun Life Vol 4

So, in a change to the advertised vlog (I will get to the x-wing one I promise, I’m just having more difficulties putting it together than I thought I would!) I’ve decided to vlog some of the units from my army that I’m taking to Blog Wars X!

It’s difficult to fit all of my 1850 point army into a short Vlog, but in summary it hasn’t change very much since last time. So still drop pods and Sternguard. The one change is that I’ve swapped Coteaz out for some imperial guard. Gives me a few more men, allows me to bulk up my line a bit.

My personal highlight from our practice games this weekend was Telion facing off against Ezekiel and half a tactical squad. He died eventually in combat, but because he died in my turn (after sniping Ezekiel the previous turn, resisting having his mind turned to jelly and then club a Tac marine to death in combat) Toph didn’t get the maelstrom points for that card.

Press play to enjoy! Feel free to comment below as well - is there anything you’d like to see me vlog in the future?

The blog returns! With Space Marine Bikes

So, a long time no blog. In the time that I haven't blogged, the following has happened:

 - I've got married

- I got 2 new jobs (I now work for the Church of England)

- I've moved house 3 times and we have really noisy neighbours in the current place

- there have been two space marine codexes

- 7th edition happened

- I help out at my church youth group

- I now play X-wing 

- I now play bolt action

- I've been to various tournaments: Several blog wars, student nationals, X-wing tournaments, X-wing championships 

- I came third at a couple of tournaments (student nationals and an X-wing tournament)

- I came 4th at blog wars 8

Space marine bikes!

So tonight's blog is about bikes I'm painting for blog wars. Above there is pic, but below there is a video! I'm getting back into this blog partly because I want to try Vlogging. It's a good place to host the blogs & vlogs I'm hoping it will be successful. So here is the first attempt:

https://youtu.be/5jHTwGc1v54

I read quite a lol if blogs and need to give a lot of credit to Michael  (http://standwargaming.blogspot.co.uk/?m=1), Dave (http://40kaddict.blogspot.co.uk/?m=1) and Alex (http://fromthefang.blogspot.co.uk/?m=1) for giving me good blogs to read! I'm hoping to contribute to the blogosphere now as well!

Battle reports

Its half one in the morning, I have work in 8 hours. So now is the perfect time for a blog. I played two games today, and won both. The list I have has this in: Lysander 5 TH/SS terminators 5 legion of the damned, Multimelta + power fist 2 full strength tactical squads with flamer and missile launcher (which both completely sucked in both games, they killed more using the rockets as a hammer) Ironclad in a drop pod with heavy flamer and Meltagun 3 thunder fire cannons.

One against a fairly nice grey knight list (no vindicares, no paladins, no dragio, but there was a storm raven) it was against a guy called bobby, I've never played him before and actually it was a blast. I won bottom of turn 5 because he couldn’t get my objective. The main highlight was ambushing Crowe with the legion of the damned as he didn’t realise they are invulnerable, and then using the remaining 4 to hold a grey knight squad up the whole game. The second game was against Dan. If you read this from the Leicester store, its the Dan that never ever loses. I won! Second time I've ever beaten him! Kinda got my Meltagun and Multimelta mixed up. But It didn’t matter because I whiffed with the shot anyways. We played kill points, with dawn of war. I got 8 of a possible 10, he got Lysander, a tactical squad and my terminators. His army was pure Slanesh Fluff, really nicely painted possessed led by Lucius, squads of 6 marines, a squad of raptors, sonic weapons and some terminators. He ran most of his army down my throat. I stopped him. That was basically the whole game. The army I really like. Its built around having three thunderfire cannons, thou I don’t really consider it competitive. I took one rhino out across both games with shooting. I need more Lasscannons! Dan said to drop the dreadnought and legion of the damned, filling it up with more marines and lascannons etc. I'm tempted to do this, but I actually have what you could call a bit of weakness for legion of the damned I think. Yes they are really not competitive, but the fluff is awesome. So I might drop the dreadnought and see how it goes.

Little Plastic Crack

So. Here are some photos. Im very pleased with this squad. Think I'm gonna stick with howling griffons for the time being, I mean they are red and yellow! Not that im getting any games in at all at the moment, So this squad is nearly done, just got some work to do on the backpacks. But you know how it is, ever time i sit down to paint, something turns up! We are getting there, but slowly.

I also painted the nosecone on this baby. Getting that pic up on BOLS made me take them out he case, and boy oh boy did I speed paint them towards the end. Ergo, these definatley need more work. Hopefully, that is the start of this.

Finally, tomorrow is the offical 25th aniversary of my favourite pastime. So i will be outside GW nice and early, to buy one of the 16 limited ed models that GW leicester has. As well as a lot of other stuff!Havent decided if I'm gonna take him out the box and love him with paint, or lvoe him on the shelf. (think I may only be allowed one!)