More paint! Hive Guard, Misc.

Very nearly done. Just need to come up with a finish for the spikey bits at the end, but otherwise good to go. From this angle you can see the bulking up I've done on this side.His gun looked a little weedy, and I felt like there could be some more blue over on that side.

Genestealers. The swarm grows...

I've had a chance to squeeze in a few games the past few days, and so far my genes have performed admirably. They haven't really "Blown up" so to say, and run amok across the table, but they've achieved their goals with ease. Wreck a truck, eat the boys, pop into some fire support, etc.

Genestealers x12
-Toxin
=204

I've usually outflanked them, and made sure to play the mind game with the opponent about that fact. Can't hurt, might help. It can cause them to bunch up in the middle, which leaves them praying for a good fleet roll. At the same time, they can't split deploy or refuse a flank (and seeing as how I like to go second, that rarely happens). Further, it can cut the range that my other bugs have to walk to get into cc. I'm digging em.

Tervigon Painted

Wow... I got in a groove yesterday, put in at least 10 hours on my Tervigon. I'm pleased by the results; I saw a tiny camera phone shot of the back spiked tervs and fell in love. The chopped thumbs got moved to the front as mandibles, along with that Y shaped doodad so that the poor carnifex can cast powers and we're well on the way there. Looking at it with paint, I might go back and add in some GS sacs of some sort, but that's for another day. I wanted it playable for the league. Definitely satisfactory, even though there is still a little work left to go. Without further ado, the eye-candy

Back from the dead!

Well... That was an interesting month, but let me assure you; Rumors of my death have been greatly exaggerated. Seriously though, "Real Life" has seen fit to disrupt my hobby plans pretty thoroughly. Between the hospital, the lawyers, and being sick, I'm glad that it's finally turning around. Just a lingering cough and some paperwork, and it'll be done and dusted.

That being said, I'm so ready to bust out these bugs. The league is just around the corner, and I haven't really started yet. Expect this place to be hobby central this weekend; my painting block is overfull, and I'm gearing up to knock 'em out.

Hive guard

Pretty easy conversion. Weapon bash with some cocktail straws, carni back-plate, and the armor doodad instead of the typical warrior head-plate. Add in some greenstuff, and there ya go.






And a few detail shots of the head




The real bummer is that the warrior box only comes with one rending claw, so my other HG will undoubtedly look different. C'est la vie.

Tfex 98% done

Just need to finish the tail and hit up a few more spots with wash. Very nearly there.





There are a few gribblies already painted, some just testers, others first drafts. I've got another 15 on the painting block, as well as a few bashed together Hive guard. Pics forthcoming.

Tfex Painted!

Well, 90% finished. There's still some detailing to do, the mouth, claws and some more washes, but it's damn close.


And some more shots






And the one view I'll see a lot of


Aimed at the enemy.

I definitely need to finish the spore stacks as well as some other bits. I'm leaning towards painting the scytals something other than bone, but bone is looking like the way to go.

New and improved Tfex, Plus nids with paint

I kept looking at the tfex, and just couldn't get happy with it. I broke out the pinning equipment and GS, got the lift kit I wanted.


Compared to the height of a standard carnifex, one can really tell the difference



Cover save? Don't mind if I do!



This bad boy's drying off right now. Hope to have paint on by tomorrow. Can't wait. Here's another shot of the carnifex, highlighting my old paint.



and my new paint scheme

2 Coats of devlan mud for the flesh, and 1 of astronomicon grey followed by 2 of asurmen blue for the armor.

Question for comment: What color should I paint the guns/hooves on this scheme? I'm leaning towards bone or red for the hooves, and maybe just flesh on the guns? Haven't painted a non marine in ages...

Tyrannofex complete

The Stelek Pattern Tyrannofex conversion was pretty easy, but next time I'm going to make a better cut on the waist, get him to stand up straighter. I might make my next Carnifex into a Tfex and repurpose this one. In the meantime, Boom Tyrannofex









Now to figure out what paint scheme I'm going to go with.

The Economy of Wargaming: Part 1 (Points)

Sir_Mike here again.  Something has been on my mind for awhile when it comes to wargaming.  Many credit themselves with being master tacticians or extraordinary list builders, but cannot give an explanation as to why other than "I win. A lot."  Ok, cool so you win a lot, but you can't explain why?  UNACCEPTABLE.  Strategy is more than being able to pull off a victory, and there is a place you have to start first.  Economics.

This has more to do with the planning period of a game than it does with Gamesworkshop increasing the cost of models.  Though we can wish we could effect that with out planning.

1. The Economy of Points: Spending.
So you got yourself a cool new army, wargamer?  Awesome. What did you buy?  Why did you buy it?

What gamers fail to realize is that points rule everything around them.  Look at chess, while not a hard indicator of how you are doing, pieces are rated by a point system that is based on their perceived effectiveness (minus the king, though he is rated by importance).  Did your queen get removed?  You are at a distinct disadvantage now showing in your points.

A better example of an actual wargame is Axis and Allies.  You spend points per round to buy units based on the point values of territory you control.  My dad and I play every time I head home, and we have a pretty even win/loss record.  He is a much better tactician than I am.  We are talking a guy who has been wargaming since they used lead to make minis, who makes military maneuvers that leave your jaw dropped.   The way I win these wars of attrition? Economics.  I look at the amount of points I can spend, look at the board and decide what unit composition would give me the most bang for my buck.  Not the standard "I'll take one of those, and a few of those maybe?" I look at exactly what he has been building and where, has he been massing large battleships and aircraft carriers with few destroyers in the area?  Submarines are cheap and attack strong, planes can't attack them.  The key idea in point spending is knowing what you are going to do with the unit before you get it on the board.

And hopefully economics will sink their battle ship.

Spending points is something that players think about, though not on the level they should perhaps.  First consider the unit and what it can do, and what you will use it for.  Will it sit back and claim objectives?  Go forth and destroy?  Fulfill some deeper purpose?  How much is that really worth to me?  Let's talk about this in the realm of 40k.

For this reason scouts and the half of the combat squad with the long range weapon are great for protecting upfield objectives.  They cost little, and add effectiveness (long range weapons that don't seem like much threat and scouts have a natural advantage in cover).

This is one of the reasons that "Best of Marines" works well.  Massed cheap units that are all good at why they do per point.  Sure rifleman dreads could have been loaded up more, made venerable or even eschewed for a terminator squad with a chainfist and cyclone missile launcher. However, for the amount of points you are spending you are getting a very reliable unit.

For 5 points less on those Wolf Guard you could have gotten a power fist vs. a thunder hammer (are the hammers that much better? only situationally) and saved points add up.   Jalil posted a little about this in reference to HQ's and I couldn't agree more.

Though I will say the name of the game isn't completely about being spendthrift.  Sometimes an HQ will have something you need to make your list work (which is often why they are a good place to start shopping before building your list).

Let's say I'm looking for a HQ for an aggressive CC army.  Should I pick the cheap generic HQ or go with the special character?  Depends on point level played at and how much that HQ is.  If you are playing at less than 1.5k I wouldn't even look at a Special Character that is more than a little over 150 (Ko'Khan is often a good choice for this reason, loaded up with a few good special rules and only 65? points more than a naked captain).  Around 1/10th isn't too bad a ratio for your HQ slot, I wouldn't apply this logic further and take 2 HQs being 1/5th of my army though.

I used to run around my local store shouting Sanguinor!
After finding out about the mini, but before looking at the point cost.

A lot of times as war gamers we seem to gravitate towards what is cool vs. what is effective.  Certain badass units are "goodish" but over-costed with points that could be spent in other places.  This is also why we see a rise in mech: transports got both cheaper and safer because of the revised vehicle damage table in 5th (no longer steel coffins, but unstoppable steel trucks).


2. The Economy of Points: Denying
While spending points is mostly what people think of when discussing the matter, denying your opponent points is equally as important.  I'm not advocating telling them the wrong point value to play at while you bring a much bigger army...though that would probably work.

When looking at the board notice where they place their units, do they have their expensive units guarded?  Are their units spread out to ensure board control?  How do they deploy?

As a wargamer, I'm sure you know what units cost what points, and often they are a good indicator of how much you should worry about a particular unit.  You should also keep in mind how hard they are to get rid of (or render ineffective) and concentrate on targets of opportunity.  For every unit you destroy that is that many less points for him to play with, try to keep this ratio in your favor.

Monoliths are a classic example of this conundrum.  They are expensive but very difficult to render ineffective, most will say that you should ignore them and concentrate on the phase out.  It's a tough call often, what gets your anti tank fire power?  Goon #28 or a big floating pyramid?  I can't answer that question, however the monolith is extra effective in preventing phase outs by giving a unit a chance to re-roll we'll be backs and teleporting them away from harm.

Everything is an opportunity cost, which will lead us to my next article: The Economy of Time

Hive fleet om nom nom

Just got a new carnifex box, let see how it ends up. Pictures forthcoming.

Tervigon Initial Thoughts

I've seen a lot of theoryhammer on Tervigons with the forums saying not a chance, and blogs saying they're the best thing since sliced bread. I fall into the latter category, but perhaps not enough to run 5. I can see running at least 2 as troops, and perhaps one more as HQ. The reasons stack heavily in their favor.

3 words: Scoring toughness 6. Many people get hung up on the gant pooping ability, but I think that this is their real asset. The only other example of that in the game is full sized wraithguard, which isn't cost effective, considering that for their price, one can get 2 Tervigons. 12 T6 wounds is hard enough to shift, let alone the fact that said Tervigons will be pooping out gants. Which brings me to point 2

Gants, 3d6 of them a turn. Not bad. You should get 10 (+0.5), but even a tiny unit of 3-5 is perfect for going to ground on an objective. Do they shoot a whole dakkapred at 3 gants in cover? or the MC's, the other little bugs, or the flying bugs? The more choices you can force an opponent to make, the more likely it is that they'll fail one. Speaking of failing, many say that the chances of crapping out are too high to make up for their points. Not necessarily so. The odds of rolling doubles on 3d6 is 96/216 or 4/9. 44.4% chance per roll to crap out. Not bad, but certainly worse than I had initially thought. I think the key to tervigon is going to be knowing when to crap out and when to hold back. If you start to poop T1, you won't have 'reserve' gants in later turns. Hold back until you can spawn the gants into action. Being able to move and assault after a 6" 'deploy' can leave your opponets wrong-footed. When my league gets up in points, I'll have 2 Tervs, and roll just one poop per turn, hopefully getting some gants into the midfield to make a nuisance of themselves.

Powers. The fact that you can get a scoring psyker should rate these bugs higher on other's lists. FnP on a T6W6 beastie in cover means that it'll be there for turn after turn, and who doesn't like rolling FnP against krak missiles? The other powers are less noteworthy, but still have applictions. Dominion is alright if you need that squad just out of synapse to rally, or want your frontline to be fearless in assault, before you have time to move up. Onslaught is more use impaired. I guess your hive guard like it, and any bugs you want to keep moving and shooting, but out of the three, I like Catalyst most.

I suppose that for 200 points, people want a Face-smasher, but the tervigon is not such a unit. It has claws, and with the ag/ts upgrades you give it to share around, it can do alright against other troops, but elite CC units will make a mockery of your support unit. Once one gets it in their head that the Tervigon isn't a close combat unit, I think they'll fare better. You just need to work with it, not against it.

Of course, these are my initial thoughts. Once they get some time on the table, my opinion, especially about how many to run and when to spawn is liable to change.

Warmachine?

Sir_Mike has begun a Warmachine escapade, and after playing through a few test games, I think I might follow suit. What remains to be decided is: Which faction? My first games were with Cryx, but I'm not necessarily sold on them. When I get down for a few more test games, I might try a different faction. Since he's Menoth, and his roomie is looking at Khador, I suppose I should try Cygnar.

I'll toss up my WM thoughts here from time to time, I suppose

Grey knight pictures up on Dark future gaming

Boy howdy, those kits look nice. I wish vanilla got dreadknights...

Using Gamer Culture Against the Gamer

My name is Mike.  I've been playing 40k for about 4 years, though less so for the last 2.  I remember the hay days of 6-man las/plas of 4th edition and remember fondly the advent of mech in 5th.  However, I'm here to give you some guidance that can greatly increase your likelihood of winning.  It may not make you super popular, but hey! we play 40k! none of us are popular!* Best part. Cheese free.

One thing gamers tend to neglect is psychology.  We are good at psychology on the small scale, terrifying our opponents from charging into an objective, or making them think twice about whatever action.  That is well and good, but there is a meta-psychology most gamers are not aware of, and that is the psychology of the local game store.

Gamers have commonly held beliefs and habits, like so many wild animals.  This article will hopefully show you how to take advantage of gamer culture and use it like a device of destruction (cue heavy metal music).

1. ALL GAMERS ARE SUPERSTITIOUS
At least when it comes to games.  Hell, even though I don't believe in the "dice gods" you better believe I will still switch d20's mid DnD session if I feel one going cold on me.  It's just habit.  Here are some fun things that take advantage of this.

-Everything is either blessed or cursed to a gamer.  I almost had a favorite pipe of mine thrown out of tournament use, because I would make above average roll sets. Of course I was also pointing to the dice with my "damned pipe."  While this seems foolish (and maybe you think they wanted to throw my pipe out for me being a jackass) this was not the case.  You can ask Jalil-my opponent had a very real fear of my pipe. As such, he would think twice before any risky action due to my "good rolling, damn pipe."

-Next is to wreck one of their units they constantly brag about (more on this later), with a hard counter (if you have one handy, which you should).  When this happens, claim they must be cursed.  This one can take awhile to sink in properly.  Eventually your opponents will take other units even though that was the one you were afraid of.

-Use this to your advantage.  Look at your own statistics, try not to get sucked into the superstition, but if a unit is fizzling on offense, repurpose it.  Make them chase it.

2. Gamers are notorious for overestimating and underestimating things.
Yeah, I know you laughed when your friend bought Necrons.

-Rhinos are invisible after you launch an attack with their cargo.  They might as well be, opponents typically "save them for last." Make them regret it, tank shock everything.  I once removed Lysander and a full squad of HB devastators by tank shocking them over and over. Also ram them.  Make them rue the day they let this box on treads break into their lines.

-Death stars. What are they good for?  Distractions, distractions and killing things.  Make them chase the Death star or put it on a soft flank, even though there are less targets, there are even less reasons to worry, and it may also cause them to shift their forces. Outflanking Death stars will scare the crap out of an opponent who sees them on the side of the table...waiting...menacingly.

-If something "works" in a gamers mind, it will always work.  Exploit this.  Look at their strategy, what do they always do?  Why is it flawed?  I had an IG player who parked his tanks in the back giving fire support to his troops.  I outflanked a bunch of angry assault terminators with a little known man named Ko'Khan in a land raider and multi-charged the tank (hammers auto-glances from FC).  This happened on several occasions.  He never moved his tanks because everyone else let him get away with it.

-3 way games.  Stay out of that mess if possible.  I took second in a tournament Jalil mentioned in his first post because, instead of getting gutsy, I made sure that I held onto just more than enough points to clinch second.  Had I gone to first, I would have had to separate my forces against Black Templars and Imperial Guard on either side of me.

-Speaking of Black Templars.  Look at old codexes for rules that didn't transfer correctly to 5th Ed, (preferred enemy going from hitting on a +3 to being a reroll in cc).  Also they get 2x special weapons per Terminator Squad and can buy tank hunters (or FC).  Even before the update, I was wrecking with these guys.  However, I had one advantage.   We had a Black Templar player.  After the tournament I described above, he swore them off, saying they couldn't work in Fifth Ed. He switched to IG. I played Black Templars the next tournament I played in. People laughed.  Final placing: first was Dark Angels (veteran), then New IG (not the player mentioned), then me.  Laugh at codex creep while you exploit codices getting better because of how rules work.

3.Many gamers are arrogant.
I couldn't tell you why this is.  Something about little plastic army men make people badasses overnight.  However, use this to your advantage yet again.

-Listen to your friends brag about what unit rules, or this strategy or that strategy.  Keep it in mind.  Think about how you can wreck their collective day.  Are you seeing a lot of local push towards mech? horde?  Make your list around the local meta.  Net-lists?  Don't get me started, my Black Templars have a handy winning record (ARROGANCE)  against "best of marines." Net-lists just give you more time to prepare, with more information available.

-Gamers are willing to adopt strategies without knowing how they work.  Learn how they work.  Why does redundancy work?  Because every time you kill a unit, another one replaces it?  Or is it because of concentrated strengths.  Armies can typically be broken down into Back-Field, Up-Field and Hybrid (not to be confused with shooty, choppy and both).  It is important to be able to take a unit out of it's comfort zone (why assault works on guard or shooting works on wyches).

-This arrogance leads to 2 behaviors typically.  Bragging and pouting.  If a rival player brags about decimating your terminators on a lucky go, let him have his day.  Don't react.  Better yet, laugh and make a joke about yourself.  Watch his face, not letting him have power over you will hurt his confidence.  Soon he will be doing whatever he can to break your stride, including making risky (costly) mistakes.  Next is pouting, players who take themselves too seriously pout after alpha strikes or losing their ultimate unit instead of trying to salvage the game.  The best thing you can do is encourage them.  Tell them they still have got a shot, or that "I just got lucky." With luck this will make them pout further and cloud their judgement.  (Another way to use this in your advantage is after you have clearly lost an objective game by fighting power, avoid fighting and race to contest objectives at game end, it will take luck, but can scrape out victories.)

-When everyone is bragging about what they are taking to next tournament, and they ask you, be vague as possible.  Out and out lying is something I won't agree with, but when people asked me about my BT list, I just responded with "Templars." I'm sure they had visions of crusader squads running around and hitting things with their BP/CCW.  Not massed Terminator tank hunting AC's (Though I did end up with a huge crusader squad, as the league escalated and I didn't have the models).

4.Final Advice
Don't go native. The hard part is you are among friends, and their bad habits quickly become yours.  I've fallen into all the above categories multiple times, and it's only when I pull myself out and start playing my game that I get results.  Resist the urge to brag.  Keep your head cool.  Resist temptation.


Mike, out.


*Did that hurt your feelings or did you get defensive?  Read the article war-gamer. I am here to help.

Army Shots

I packed all my stuff away for the weekend and realized just how much I'd collected over the 10 years I've been playing. Unpacked it all down at the FLGS to see it all laid out, and snagged a camera to document it. Individual shots could be put up on request. First off, my Crimson Fist tourney list.


More different shot


Then the rest of marines, sans my one Land Raider (like it gets used, lol)


Point totals will be posted later, but the head count is as follows:
HQ: Librarian, Vulkan, Pedro, Shrike, Inquisitor, Gideon Lorr, Captain(AoBR), Plasma command squad, MotF x2 w/ conversion beamer and without
Elite: 7 TH/SS Terms, 5 Tactical Terms, 3 MM Dreads, 2 Riflemen
Troops: 24 Bolters, 2 melta, 2 flamer, 8 sargents and a few heavy weapons(They got lost in the crowd, I suppose)in 3+, 5 Grey Knights, 5 scout snipers
Dedicated: 2 Rhinos, 2 Plasbacks
Fast: 2 Typhoons, 2 with MM/HF
Heavy: 3 Dakkapreds, Land Raider
There's also a squad of tacs in that count being "Promoted" into sternguard. There'll be pics later.

Working backwards, my CSM.


My defiler, locked in CC with the land raider in my hobby corner, didn't make it on the bus, and felt left out. Overall, these guys have been a real back burner army. After I read Stelek's "Best of" Marines list, I was hooked, and my CSM languished. I'm thinking about giving in and counting as SW or BA, but there'll be a post about that in the future as well.



Tyranids!


Won a battleforce back when they had carnifexes in 'em, and played a few games. Wasn't too impressed, but I was winning with Necrons, if that tells you anything. They're my next project, complete with painting progress and escalating batreps. Can't wait!

And the army that started it all, my poor, poor Necrons



1080 points of warriors. Might bring that to a 1500 game some time. I hope the new codex comes out soon, but I've only been saying that since '08.

So there you have it, my collection laid out in full. Comment away

When to hold em...

One of the gripes I've more frequently about 5th ed is wound allocation. Nob bikers, TWC, wolf guard, etc. There's not much you can do about it in CC (usually where these guys end up) but you do have options in the shooting phase to counter-act their advantage.

Say there's a 5 man(?) Warrior unit with VC and a Prime holding an objective in cover and a sternguard squad with 3 combiflamers and 2 heavy flamers toasts them with all they've got. depending on how the wounds turn out(of course) the Tyranid player could allocate the ap 4 shots alternately to the VC, who would die, and to the prime, who saves on 3+, while taking the AP5 shots on the warriors 4+. Had he only fired the heavy flamers, only the prime would've made saves; everyone else touched would've been wounded. Alternately, had he fired the combi's first, and the nid player took saves before the heavy flamers went off, he would seriously short-change himself in terms of saves. It's therefore very important to
a)not take saves as he makes wounds
b)expect the same.
Maybe its only a local problem but it could change your game.

Which brings me to the title. Sometimes you have to hold back. If you want those ap2 shots to do damage, then think twice before firing your bolters. It seems counter-intuitive, but it becomes almost second nature after one gets used to the system.

HQ Tax

HQ's are an easy place to overload on points. They have such extensive wargear lists, its easy to pop on 5 point upgrades, or otherwise "just in case" wargear. Consider, say

Captain - 175
-Relic Blade
-Artificer Armor
-Digital Weapons
-combimelta
-Hellfire rounds

"Makes him a pretty dastardly character"

or does it? If you instead look at a Librarian, for a lot less, you get a boost to your whole army, depending on the powers. (I'm looking at you null zone) It's certainly less 'killy', and in toe to toe, my money is on the captain. But then consider that with the points saved, that the libby could buy a plasback to ride around in (well, hijack one)and that null zone plus 3 ap2 shots makes for a dead character real quick. This goes double for taking multiple HQ's. Say you decide to toss in Cassius (admittedly a steal) at 125 points. Does he really do more for your army than a rifleman? Do you need to tack a ~200 point character into a CC squad? What are you charging that needs (Or is worth) throwing another couple hundred points at?

It's all about efficiency. By spending less on your characters, you have more points to go around the rest of your army. Which brings me back to the title, HQ Tax. Consider your mandatory HQ slot as a 100 point 'tax' on your army, and build the rest of it from there. I can't imagine an army that can't get a par HQ choice for around 100-130 points, at least for those unfortunate enough to not get 100 point psykers with hoods and 2 powers.

Later this week I'll post my thoughts about overall army efficiency, and tomorrow (with luck) I'll have my full collection dusted off for a photo shoot.

Escalating Tyranids

Within the next month, the FLGS will begin a painted only escalation league. I figure that its the perfect opportunity to get my nids off the ground. I've got a carnifex box in the mail(a tfex waiting to happen), and I'm about to score first in our current tourney, which will net me another carni and a warrior box, another Tervigon and hive guard, more like. Here's my first 500 points

Prime
-Lash whip, Bonesword, Scything Talons, Adrenal glands, Toxin sacs
=115

Hive Guardx1
=50

Termagantsx10
=50

Tervigon
-Adrenal Glands, Toxin sacs, Catalyst, scytals
=200

Stealersx6
=84

==500

I figure the prime will join the hive guard to benefit from his T6, and to soak some AP3. They're also a good target for FnP, right after the tervigon himself.

A painting handle

"What's this?" you might say.


A low res picture of two pots of paint stuck together? What's that good for?



Good for holding models with one un-cramped hand, that's what. It also helps to paint the undersides of hard to reach places. Yup, it stays in my paintbox, and the sticky-tac holds like a boss. Highly recommended.

My Marine List

My take on Kirb'y thunderbubble. So far has gone 4 for 4 in our local tourney, and previous variations have done nearly as well. The only thing lacking from earlier permutations was a cc element, what with 3 riflemen. Without further ado:


Lib - Null, Gate
Terminators x7 TH/SS
Rifleman
Rifleman
Tacx10 m, mm, pf, cm
tacx5 cm plasback
tacx5 cm plasback
typhoon
typhoon
typhoon
Dakkapred
Dakkapred
Dakkapred


!750 on the dot. Lets do the round-up:
31 dudes in 3+
7 in 2+/3++
11 Tanks
7 Autocannons (4TL)
4 Missile launchers
2 Lascannons
9 Heavy Bolters
1 Multimelta
2 Plasmaguns(TL)
4 meltas (3 are combi)


I lose a lot of ranged at from the pred las and the extra razors but I started meching up late, and only have 2 razors, though both have converted turrets and paint already. Honestly though, seeing how they are performing I really should scrounge up the dough to buy a few more upgrades. I don't like auto/las preds for the points, but a weapon destroyed results make for more difficult choices.Seeing as the dirt cheap dakkapreds have the anti-infantry bundled up, i opted for typhoons. 12" move and 4' range means s8 side shots, or s4 blasts and HB fire. For a turn or 2 at least.


Hammernators! Boy howdy them guys. Nothing like rolling a handful of dice, looking down, looking up and saying, "Pass". most recently, charged into some burna boys, took 6 saves at 3+, and 2 more from the claw. the game before that, into a huge straken blob. 5 sarges and a commissar, plus 45 dudes. 6 power wounds and 11 regular. *rattle* "pass". I'm normally pretty reserved, but I admit I let out a triple sky punch, and perhaps a hoot, and a clap. Someone better at math than I should come up with the odds for that one. I opted for seven, knowing that some would die, but I'm tempted to drop a claw or two in there. Something to swing at I4, maybe thin down incoming dice.


As I'm playing Fists, I'm a sucker for a full tac with Sgt. Beaky McPointyfist leading the way. Last game he got to smite a battlewagon to death before being burned and charged. They also provide the MM fire, though in the form of the bunker, rather than on the speeders. These guys are great. Unless the dice gods betray me and roll two 3's on 2d6, of hit every other melta shot.


Battle reports in brief:
annihilation vs raider/wwp DE
-Massacre
Seize Groundl vs straken blob guard
-Minor win (contested his objective last turn with a turbo speeder)
Capture and Control vs mech Black Templar
-minor win (contested his objective with my librarian vs one crusader in a lr)
Annihilation vs Speed freaks
-Major victory( all he had left on t6 was a trukk full of boys that he hid out of los. T7 woud've been a massacre)


And a question for comment, 0-2claws in assault terms? why or why not?

In the Begining..

A little bit about me before i dive into my blogging escapades. I've been playing 40 for the past decade, but only seriously the past 3-4 years. My brother picked up an emperor's champion a tactical and a rhino, and I got a pariah and warriors, and thought we were ready to go. Calling those an army and going for it doesn't make for a terrribly fun game. So we swapped. It went even worse for him. Fed up, he quit. Seeing as the FLGS was across town, and i didn't have any money really to get more boys, so went my last opponent. Years passed, and I got the itch, right around the Dawn of war release. I played on, building and painting a decent Necron army. My brother bought some tau, kept losing and was never heard from again...

But then, college. I had disposable time and money, and the game was on! I picked up some more cheap Necrons, ebay'd some Tyranids and Eldar and started to teach. I've taught no less than a dozen people from the ground up. of course, of those, only one has really caught on. But that one... He proved a rival for a while, and more or less trained his successor, as his scheduled filled up shortly thereafter. But still, to make war against the student of your student feels kinda cool. However explaining the entire game gets old quick, let me tell you. I taught myself the game, from just the book (not tactics mind you,but all the basics) but I guess reading comprehension is a dying art.

I won my first tourney as Necrons (GASP!) at my FLGS (friendly local game store) and got a CSM battleforce. Then I had the marines in me. Sergent upgrades? special weapons? whats all this? My first time out was a nail biter. At the end of my last game I was only leading by a hair, and my buddy was playing against my competition. He played an ace game, going for the draw to secure me a win. Had he gone all out, he might have lost, and so would've I. Playing in tourneys with your students does have its advantages.

After a narrow win with the CSM, and the limited scope of the codex, I began working on my current army, the Crimson Fists. Its been a long hard road, but when you snap up discount rhinos and split a few AoBR boxes, it adds up. In fact, 2 years later, i have a minimally painted 1750 Mech gunline, with extra toys to bulk up for larger games. Additionally, I have around 2000 points of Necrons, 1750 CSM counts as Wolves (WiP), and I'm beginning a fledgling Tyranid army. These will all get their own posts over the next week. How would it look if I posted 5 times a day, once a week? :)

Speaking of, it's up to you guys(my imaginary friends at this point) to decide what you want you  want to see here. I plan for it to be a home for links to people being stupid about 40k, posting batreps and possibly pictures of my (barely) painted models. If I'm feeling frisky, I might even try my hand at tactics. Who coined the phrase, It's like tactics"? I wanna be his friend. :3