7/30 Battle Report for Armada Games

Took up arms this past weekend to attend a local tournament at one of the LGS. It was a straight up event with 14 players with many people I knew attending. I towed along the Space Wolves with a hope of bringing a balanced army to give some stiff competition.

 

The store had a wide range of armies there: 2 Space Wolves, 1 IG, 3 Tau, 1 Ork, 2 Grey Knights, 1 Vanilla Marine, 1 Blood Angel and 1 Eldar. Forgot 2 but they was more than likely MEQs. Oddly, I don't recall Dark Eldar, Necrons or Templars among the mix.

 

My list was:

2 Rune Priests (Living Lighting x2, 1 with Storm and 1 with Murderous Hurricane)

3 Rhinos

2 Razorbacks (Heavy Bolters)

3 Long Fang squads with 5 Missiles each.

2 Grey Hunter packs of 5, with melta and power weapon

1 Grey Hunter pack of 9 with melta, power weapon and banner

2 Grey Hunter packs with 8 with melta, power weapon and banner

1 Scout unit of 6 with melta and power weapon.

6 Wolf Guard with Combi Meltas and Power fists (attached to each Grey Hunter squad and Scouts)

 

Game 1 vs Orks

 

I let out a sigh as my first game was against Lee. Oddly, at any store I go, if I know others there I seem to be bound to play them more than new faces. Not that I minded this, Lee is a great guy, a good friend and player. He had a list that told me I had my work cut out for me.

 

Warboss on bike

Mek with KFF

4 Large 30 blocks of orks with rockets, Nob with Klaw and Bosspole

2 Cannons (separate)

1 Unit of Gretchin

1 Large unit of Kommandos with Snikrot and 2 burnas

1 Large Unit of Lootas

 

We was assigned to a city table with lots of cover. Between that and the KFF it was going to be tough. The mission was from Adepticon where there are three objectives all worth the same value. A basic free form format that allows each army to adapt to the mission objectives that are reasonable for their army to achieve. Our deployment zone was spearhead! Oh what I would give for ordance!

 

This mission was:

1.      Take the Center of the Table with an HQ

2.      Kill Points

3.      Table Quarters

 

Lee won first turn, deployed in a heavy cover side of the table with a tall building. He held his gretchin, one unit of boyz and Snikrot with the Warboss in reserve. I deployed in a cluster using the skyshield building to block much of his LOS and give me as much cover as possible.

 

We had a game of cat and mouse, though I was the mouse this time. A little grey one being chased by a green cat! Once I started to make a few mistakes Lee was able to take advantage and push to his objectives. He just would not fail a cover save and his shooting for Orks was dead on.

 

The only two highlights for me was:

Scouts entered on turn 2, shot a few Lootas, then assaulted them in 2 other turns. Also, they drew tons of fire from 2 kannons and a unit of Orks that Lee had to dispatch to deal with them. They died but well earned their own Saga.

 

Snikrot with the Warboss was a bust for Lee. He was clever and swung in on two of my Long Fang squads. The fight went poorly for Snikrots boyz and was beaten soundly. They broke and ran with the Long Fangs showing they could handle their own in a scrap.

 

Took a major loss for the game with 1 point only. Lee claimed 2 table quarters uncontested, 1 contested and I had one. Then, he had me on kill points, almost double. He also just barely had the mek just inside the 6” to claim the center.

 

What went wrong:

• Not aggressive enough. I think if I pushed forward this would have pushed him back.
• Bad Dice Luck
• Thinking I had artificer armor on my Rune Priest. Ugh! When I took two missiles among other shots.
• Lee passed cover saves in his sleep and is ugly when he shoots with his Orks, weight of fire works.

Game 2 vs Space Wolves

 

Again my luck would have it out of 14 players, I end up playing the second round against the only other person that I tend to get matched against other tournaments at various LGS in the area Adam! ARG! Again, he is a great guy and player.  He also had a unique list of Loganwing he was toying around with.

 

He had:
Logan
Rune Priest
5 Pods
1 Razorback with TL Lascannon
1 Long Fang squad with 5 missiles
1 Long Fang squad with 2 meltas, 3 missiles, flamer on the pack leader.
4 Squads of Wolf Guard with assorted weapons, storm bolters, power weapons and shields, some fists, chainfists, etc…

 

Again we had a long empty street down the middle with two sides full of buildings. This time we had pitched battle deployment.

 

Objectives:

1.      Kill Points (kill at least 50% of the enemy army)

2.      Get more units into the enemy deployment zone.

3.      3 Objectives.

 

I won the dice off and gave him first turn. It was my hope to throw off his game by giving him first turn. This was an epic fail.

 

Adam put 3 squads on the table, with the Long Fangs and Razorback. I deployed the Long Fangs only.  His first turn was Logan, a Wolf Guard, Rune Priest and Long Fangs in one pod. The second pod held the last terminator squad and an empty one.

 

At this point it was a duck shoot for Adam. He pounded the Long Fangs with shooting on two squads, another was charged on turn two and mauled by Logan and his boys. Along with poor reserves on turn 2 and getting one unit every turn wasn’t good for me. By the end of turn 2 I had one Long Fang left that was running away. He rallied and died promptly on turn 3.

 

At this point it was a downhill fight for me. He had the weight, the luck, the superior armor and characters. My best effort was to make as many goals as I could despite the arse beating I was taking.

 

My reserve breakdown was this:
Turn 2: Rhino with Rune Priest and Grey Hunters, Razorback with GH and scouts.
Turn 3: Another Rhino with Grey Hunters
Turn 4: Another Razorback with Grey Hunters
Turn 5: The last Rhino with Grey Hunters

 

 

Another bad loss for me with 11 KP for him and 9 for me. He didn’t get in my deployment zone. I had one objective and he had 2. I only got points for the 50% in kill points.

 

What went wrong:

• Should have deployed instead of holding most in reserves. I gave him one turn to punish my Long Fangs and when I had weak reserve rolls he was able to remove their threat quickly.
• Leaving my scouts bundled together, didn’t think his Fangs could see them. They took over a dozen wounds from frag.
•  Bad dice luck. There was a point Logan should have died, but he didn’t.
•  Adam would not fail some dice rolls for me despite me asking nicely!

 

Game 3 vs Chaos

 

This time I drew Theo, one of the guys that came up with Lee and I know from Necronomicon as he played on our team last year. While I knew him, we had never played so no complains. He didn’t bring the Ultra smurfs in favor of trying out Chaos this go round.

 

He had:
Land Raider
Lord with Undivided Demon Weapon in Terminator Armor
4 Terminators with mixed weapons, lighting claws, fists, power weapons, combi meltas and heavy flamer.
3 Rhinos with full squads with icon of glory, 2 melta guns, and champion with fists or power weapons
1 unit of 2 Obliterators
2 units of 5 Lesser Demons
1 Greater Demon (Lesser)
Dreadnought

 

Mixed woods, hills and ruins was our scenery for this round. Another game with pitched battle deployment.

 

Objectives:

1.      VPs with “destroy the targeted unit”. In my case I picked one of his small lesser demons. He picked one of my Long Fangs. VP was doubled for the target unit.

2.      5 Objectives

3.      Head of the Snake: kill the highest point HQ.

 

 

Theo won the roll off and picked his table edge. Deployed for the most part in the center with the Obliterators in the trees and the Dreadnought to his right. The Demons was put in reserves.

 

He races up the middle full speed, blows smoke. Misses two plasma shots and the Dreadnought runs forward bezerk. I blow up one rhino, two more are immobile.

 

Then next turn the Land Raider rips forward another 12”, tosses out the Termiantors and Lord. Dread freaks and runs forward again. Squads get out of rhinos, move to my line.

 

From turn 3 and onward Theo and I was just bashing the hell out of one another either in shooting matches or assults. Almost 90% of our fights was resolved by close combat. The dreadnought takes a missile hit and blows up on 3. By the end of the last turn it was a mop up for me as Theo saw how the game was going to end. He was bogged down in combats, I was winning slowly by attrition and a bit more luck.

 

A full sweep for me on this game. I was able to kill his demon unit, he was trying to run it behind a tall bit of scenery away from my Long Fangs but he was sniped by a krak missile. I had 3 objectives at the end. VPs went to me for the final objective.

 

 Theo was too aggressive and I was able to wait him out and took advantage of the opening.

 

Two beatings and one win, three good games despite some bad moves on my part and luck from the dice as well as the players I ended up with for opponents.

 

It is amusing this was a "swiss style" like other events and I seem to get matched always to certain people no matter the store or number of players. For later games I can buy into this as if I am doing well and they are, this is an honest match usually. The first round was just amusing with Lee. Second round my points and Adams points was both low but he had a few more than I there must have been a gap in the points for us to get matched that way. The Fates had a good laugh at my expense.

 

Oh well, all eyes towards Ard Boyz in two weeks and a Team Tourney in September!

 

Deployment for both of us.

 

Lee Coleman, Da Warboss!

 

My deployment formation.

 

Orks on the move. Turn 1

 

Rocket takes out one of the Razorbacks!

 

Orks swing around!

 

POV from the table.

 

Kommandos, Snikrot and Boss rumble with two Long Fangs!

Long Fangs win!

 

Wolf Scouts suprise the Orks!

 

Another Rhino bites the dust!

 

Meet Adam, Round 2 Space Wolf Player.

 

My deployment.

 

First turn Drop Pods land!

 

Close Ups of the Pods and Terminators.

 

Turn 1 battle unfolds!

 

Logan and crew wipe out the Long Fangs!

 

Send in the second wave!

 

Theo, the Evil Warlord of Chaos!

 

Land Raider deploys the Lord and Terminators to face off against the Long Fangs!

 

Immobile Rhinos and Chaos Warriors deploying!

 

Take cover! This is after he wiped out my scouts.

 

The fight continues in the Space Wolf lines! Rapid fire takes out a few of the enemy!

 

Demons arrive! The fight gets ugly.

 

Demon Prince looking for trouble!

 

Close up on the Demon Prince! Very Cool!

Skaven vs Vampire Counts Battle Report

VS

 

Met up with Mark (a local Warhammer player) at one of the LGS, Skull'N'Bones for what was my second offical game of Fantasy facing off against his Skaven.

My first game was against Empire with a friend of mine by the name of Chris that haunts another LGS, Anthem Games. As I was new as he was this was more of a fun game than anything and was intended to allow me to try the new rules out. We had the weird mission of  “Dawn Attack” that randomly puts your army out on the table which really twisted the game around to my favor. We made several mistakes all through the game but we had fun all the way through to the end.

Mark and I rolled up some scenery for the table getting about 7 of them. Two swamps, one Khemri, one Shrouded mists, a hill, another hill that was the Anvil of Vaul, a building, a wood and Alter of Khaine. We scattered the scenery about and rolled to see who deploys first. Selected my side and placed first. My goal was to put him on the cluttered side of the table to slow down his ability to counter my moves.

My list was a mix of this and that just to try out some new things:

Vampire Lord <4+ ward save, helm of the trickster, +1 magic level (Vampire, not the upgrade) and Loremaster (knows all of a single lore, I picked Vampire>

Necromancer: Black Pierapt, Dispel Scroll and had Danse and Invocation spells.

Cairn Wraith (from the White Dwarf)

Skeletons with full command and spears x30

Ghouls x25

4 Fell Bats

8 Black Knights with Barding and Full Command

Varghul (proxiy)

Terrorgheist (proxiy)

Corpse Cart

He had:

Engineeer

Skaven Seerer Lord

Battle Standard Bearer (one that rerolls)

Doomwheel

Warpfire Cannon

Skaven burst gun

Skaven Flame thrower

Block of Plague Monks with frenzy (30)

Skaven Slaves Block (50)

Stormvermin Block with Halberds (50)

Skaven Warriors large block (50)

He had all with banners and commands, a few banners to help his list and some magic items on the characters. Mark played a semi-soft list as usual. In a 2k points game, I did not take a H-Pit Abom, nor did I take a Screaming Bell, nor did I take a plague furnace. The only thing that I took with any teeth was the Doom Wheel.

The game was over by turn 2, called it on 3 once the Vampire Lord was dead and the army was turning to powder.

First round was good for me, went to setup some charges. The Gheist flew to the edge of the woods ready to engage the Doomwheel or a Skaven Flank. The Knights, Varghul, Skeles and Ghouls marched forward to the Skaven. The Fell bats landed to his left flank.

Then I had a great magic phase (all spells went off). Picked up a few spirit Hosts including killing his ratling gun, putting a wound on the warp cannon and taking a few random skaven along the way for 5 wounds worth in total. Raised a few skeles to the bunker unit. Nailed a few more Skaven with magic missile. Then my luck ended.

Mark pushed the Skaven forward, had one failed charge. Well, maybe not all my luck was gone yet!  Then he started to take some shots at me with a rocket, the cannon and the flamer. His magic phase was a bit bland and uneventful, I think he got one or two spells off on his turn. His shooting phase was the nail in the coffin with the Hamster wheel of doom wounding the Terrorgheist for 3, the Black Knights lost a few, lost a row of ghouls among other stuff.

Second round was the deadlock for me. I charged with the Gheist, Varghul and Black Knights. I hoped that the Varghul and BKs could punch through a unit and then cause further havoc later in the game. Magic phase was up, I rolled really bad for magic…only able to toss three dice for a spell but got a 6-6-6. I got off the spell that allowed me to restore 3d6 wounds to multiple units. The Unit took a large STR 10 blast, the vampire avoided harm by using the Helm of the Trickster to reroll the wound and I got a 1!

I added a wound back to the Gheist, Black Knight and loaded the Ghouls back up.  Then the close combat phase, I rolled like poo on this one, we had a draw. The Wheel took a hen the wheel shot bolts and the hamsters attacked killing the Terrorgheist in close combat before he could wreck it. He got something like 10 hits and wounded several times. Enough to kill it in all, I passed maybe 1 6+ save for Regen.

Mark got of a series of charges. Hit the Vargul on the side, Slaves into the Ghouls, Plague Monks into my Skeletons. He got some magic off in this phase after I burned the dispel scroll the round before that added insult to injury. The Varguhl , Vampire and Skeletons was mauled to death when he used a banner on his Plague Monks and the Varghul was dragged down screaming.

At the top of 3 for laughs I rolled. Most of the army went poof. A good general knows when to admit defeat. Good game there man! Rematch at some point!

The Terrorgheist is new and untested as it just appeared in White Dwarf this month. I was not impressed but I know if it was able to hit the Doomwheel it would have ripped it to toothpicks in seconds. The Cairn Wraith was meh for this game also, didn’t hit a situation to frustrate my opponent with an Ethereal character.

Lowpoint for Mark was:
His magic phases was meh (slang for no so good) during the game. He did get scorch off one time on the ghouls to the tune of 7 ghouls or so. I also got frenzy off on the storm vermin which only added 5 attacks (very deep ranks for steadfast on 10 with reroll). For the most part magic didn't do nearly what I thought it would do.

For me my first turn spells ALL  went off like 4 of them in a row.. He tried to stop one with 6 dice and failed with a 1,1,1,2,2, and a 4 I think. It went off on a 20 or something. It was the Wind of of Undeath. It killed my Ratling gun! first turn.

Highlights for the Skaven - the Doomrocket hit and killed the corpse cart - d6 wounds is a bit much for the one shot 30 point item - but that's what the rules say.

The Plague Monks were the kings this game with the Plague Banner (rerolls hits and wounds in ONE combat). Very good against low armor, medium toughness units such as skellies. With 3 attacks each in horde formation they eneded up with 42 attacks. In the end after saves and multiple rolling a total of 17 skellies bit it. After combat resolution, the entire unit crumbled and Vampire Lord too.

Highlights for the Vampire Counts - The wind of undeath getting off, the skaven player unable to charge their storm vermin into the Black Knights (thus allowing the lances to get their +2S on their charge next turn), destroying the rat gun first turn before any use!
Irresistible force of summoning to heal 9 wounds across the board on his weakest magic phase (he had only 3 dice but made very good use of them). In fact, I  got all of my magic spells off the entire game. I'm not absolute on that.

In the future, I will have to make a comeback against these rat bastards! Skaven always been a thorn in my side no matter what edition!

Pictures of the game:

Meet Mark, that Rat Bastard! (just kidding!)

First Turn movements.

Hamster Wheel of DOOM!

My summoned spirit host and Fell Bats eyes his cannon and flanks for openings.

Best proxiy every! My Terrorgheist. Epic battle!

Doomwheel swings around behind the knights!

Skaven move to finish off the undead!

The Future of Fantasy and 40k. Where we are going. Part 2

40k making way for the Future…..

With the rumors flying around about 6^th for next year has given some hints to new directions GW is taking this next edition. For the most part they are following a developmental pat that is taking them in the right direction.

Clearly they are looking at taking some elements from other games to work into the missions as an effort to balance them. By this I mean the rumors of statagems and bidding for first turn. Based on what I read, only a handful of the statagems are really good and worthwhile, so this means that while this will be a fresh idea it will get redundant quickly.

Also, decisions on combat will be more dynamic, to shoot or assult, no longer is there a middle ground with rumors the sequence being changed about. I feel also mechanized units will be taking the foreground even more so than ever.

Looking at the past trends of Codex books and the future Necron rumors. We see that the Necrons are getting vehicles, flyers, transports and new units. Almost a total facelift to where they started before. Making them a viable and no doubt with new toys a deadly army. The Grey Knights facelift saw a reduction in Inquisition feel and more to a core army of Grey Knights with allies on a smaller scale. Again, their impact in the game has been felt many times over.

Points are also shrinking for all current books, making games larger and creating a demand for more models for an army. I am sure this is by no means an accident but a method to push sales by adding more units to your army.

Characters in 40k also will be getting several boosts in 6^th when it hits. Namely being able to claim 2 saves, being able to single out models in units among other nasty aspects. This is falling in line more like Fantasy.

Some armies will take a kick that was once king and unique like Death Guard and Blood Angels taking advantage of the only double save, Feel No Pain and their 3+ saves with some rare cases of Inv saves on characters and wargear. Now being able to take cover and armor saves will be a boon making armies tougher than before. Just at a recent tournament my Long Fangs was shot apart and that second save would have made the shift in my favor.

The Future of Fantasy and 40k. Where we are going. Part 1

Think about the Future! Jacknickelson as the Joker

So, where are we going with trends and development for Fantasy and 40k?

Starting with Fantasy, I have just stepped back into the game about 2 weeks ago, so I have a refreshed perspective as I avoided 7^th and was an avoid fan from 6^th edition on back for many moons. I have noted some unique trends and changes that GW is doing to steer Fantasy forward into a new direction.

The basic rules is where I will start. For the most part they are just about right, much like how it was back in 5^th and 6^th. In 8^th they did manage to speed the game up slightly and added some new dimensions to the game with hordes, ranks able to fight, stomp/thunderstomp, etc….

Magic has become more powerful in many ways, but a tad more balanced. One thing that pushed me out of 7^th was the stupidity of the mounds of power/dispel dice you could horde in a list and use. Many of the new spells are game changers and perhaps need to be balanced a bit more with some updates.

Psychology is still the big disappointment. It isn’t what it was, when you fought Vampire Counts you was AFRAID to lose a fight, because you would run. While VCs had crappy troops, a clever player could crush other units with the right combo of characters, flanking and magic. Starting in 6^th LD values started to rise, more units was getting strubbron or flearless. Thus taking away from the power of psychology, which to me is a big thing in both modern and ancient warfare. Now, the basis for fear is yea, it will be harder to hit, but how often does your opponents fail those LD tests? To me this is the area that needs the most love in Fantasy by game designers.

Missions/Games have become interesting with the advent of 8^th. Unique deployment zones, mission objectives and of course scenery that has random elements making a game more flavorful and interesting. A good push from the daily grind of the same basic mission format of line up and beat one another to a pulp.

Monsters is building up to be a key focus. Every army is getting some mega looking monster with each book and with the Vampire Counts getting the Terrorgheist in the White Dwarf as an official unit, I think we are going to see more and more going into other army books. The kits are fantastic but are starting to become a bit more common as in the past they was rare and unusual things to see on a battlefield.

Storm of Magic, this is what I call the Apocalypse of Fantasy. Excuses to mix armies into one another, toss out some big monsters and play games using crazy elements of magic. The concept is solid like Apocalypse but I think this expansion will short of GW’s goals for profit. Playing more elaborate and complex games of Fantasy will be the shortfall of the game and will not be a main standard. What is nice is all the scenery and cool miniatures introduced to work into the standard games thus making their miniature investments worthwhile.

Waking the Dead: Revival of the Vampire Counts and Playing Warhammer Fantasy

That’s right! I purchased my first copy of White Dwarf (#379) this weekend in what may be almost 2 years. I have broken my person boycott of the magazine as the content clearly sucked. It was little more than a large, elaborate catalog that was expensive at $9 a pop designed to sell goodies to the kiddies. It was little more than Tofu of hobby magazines, filling but no real taste.

It warmed my undead heart to see the Vampire Counts get some love in this issue with a new unit, new models and updates to their Army Books.

GW may finally have seen the value again in their magazine as a means to update rules, add new things to old books and to maintain the hobby. This was how the White Dwarf was long ago: alternate rules, updates, changes and great hobby articles that was worth reading. You was afraid not to subscribe or buy an issue at your local store as you may have missed some great articles.

They managed to finally pack an issue with painted bitz from the Terrorgheist and Zombie Dragon sprue. Rules for the Garden of Moor, a new unit the Terrogheist, added new heroes (going back to the old codex before) and included a good battle report to help cement it all together with some hobby articles also.

Then they printed the first part of two of the Sister’s of Battle Codex. For the most part, it has some concepts that are interesting but the army is unplayable as Faith is really nerfed at least until they get their official Codex. We all remember the Blood Angels one done in White Dwarf. It turned out nothing like they published really. I am sure the Sister’s will get lots of goodies just like the Blood Angels.

I encourage everyone to write to Games Workshop and compliment their work in this issue and encourage they continue down this path to make their hobby magazine better!

White Dwarf Going Old School!

That’s right! I purchased my first copy of White Dwarf (#379) this weekend in what may be almost 2 years. I have broken my personal boycott of the magazine as the content clearly sucked. It was little more than a large, elaborate catalog that was expensive at $9 a pop designed to sell goodies to the kiddies. It was little more than Tofu of hobby magazines, filling but no real taste.

It warmed my undead heart to see the Vampire Counts get some love in this issue with a new unit, new models and updates to their Army Books.

GW may finally have seen the value again in their magazine as a means to update rules, add new things to old books and to maintain the hobby. This was how the White Dwarf was long ago: alternate rules, updates, changes and great hobby articles that was worth reading. You was afraid not to subscribe or buy an issue at your local store as you may have missed some great articles.

They managed to finally pack an issue with painted bitz from the Terrorgheist and Zombie Dragon sprue. Rules for the Garden of Moor, a new unit the Terrogheist, added new heroes (going back to the old codex before) and included a good battle report to help cement it all together with some hobby articles also.

Then they printed the first part of two of the Sister’s of Battle Codex. For the most part, it has some concepts that are interesting but the army is unplayable as Faith is really nerfed at least until they get their official Codex. We all remember the Blood Angels one done in White Dwarf. It turned out nothing like they published really. I am sure the Sister’s will get lots of goodies just like the Blood Angels.

I encourage everyone to write to Games Workshop and compliment their work in this issue and encourage they continue down this path to make their hobby magazine better!

Book Review (Legacy) (Second book in the Enforcer Series)

Just finished the second of 3 books of the Enforcer series titled “Legacy” a few days ago and wanted to let this book sit for a moment before posting my thoughts about it. The book itself was good, yet lacked some of the feel of the first book. This story has a similar format as the other but with a different story arc of a rogue trader that dies and there is a race for his only heir to claim the charter as the masters of the flotilla make their own power claim to the charter with their own puppet heir as well as the shadows of religion looming to threaten to steal the charter claiming it as a holy relic. What you will get from this book is insight into again more of the judicial system and how the Enforcers work as well a splash of the world of a Free Trader with all the intrigue that lies within their own micro society. A worthwhile read and I am looking forward to picking up the last book after I finish “Cardinal Crimson” the last of the Kal Jerico and Necromunda books. A true shame Black Library gave up the ghost on these! I think still this was some of their best stuff!