Saturday 28 April 2012

Wife

The wife has said I need to create a label for my blog for posts that would interest her.

Well, actually, what she said was "I don't read your blog much, because it's mostly boring shit".

I refused to create a "Stuff my wife finds boring" label, because that would be most of the gaming discussion, which is a high proportion of what the blog is right now.

In other news, it feels weird to type after using a Dremel. Its like all pins and needles, but without the prickling.

Death World Battle Mission vs Space Wolves

So, when Paul came over to do some 40K, we had time after the first game to fit in another - so I suggested we used the same army lists to play a Death World Battle Mission from April's White Dwarf.

We rolled up "Search and Rescue", and I got first deployment. Here was where we came across the first challenge. The scenario uses alternate deployment, with each side getting to deploy within their own table half but at least 18" away from an enemy...

Unfortunately, we don't have a gaming board, and the dining room table is 6' x 3' - so I very quickly denied most of the battlefield to Paul, and he got a horrid clumped deployment that he just didn't recover from. My squads ran forward, grabbed all the objectives and ran away with them while the rest of my army shot his advancing Space Wolves off the board...

The Death World random events were pretty fun and random. They did disadvantage one side or another at completely random, which meant that there was an additional element of complete chance in the game. This might not be to some people's taste, but it was genuinely good fun. I'd certainly recommend people try them out.

I think I also need to think about the thin table. Sim is adamant I shouldn't invest in some table boards right now, so I think introducing a house rule about the narrower table and the distance units are from each other may be worthwhile. They still need to be out of assault range of each other, but perhaps, where Fleet isn't involved, something under 18" may be worthwhile for "distance deployed apart"?

Thursday 26 April 2012

Another hard fought draw

I seem to have this habit of drawing against other Imperial Guard!

I had a 1,500 point game against Richard (Jangalak) from the Dark Sphere forums today at the London Plaza Veteran's Night. Dawn of War, Annihilation, and drew five kill points apiece.

I was using my January ToS list, which I won't repeat here as its only a few blog posts back.

We both failed to fully engage our forces - with a number of his mechanised squads ending up too far from anywhere to get fully engaged, and my big blob squad did nothing but sit in a corner firing Autocannons all game.

This was, I think, partially due to the my flank being very low on cover, which with two guard armies facing each other, leads to a lot of ineffective, cautious sniping, with neither side wanting to risk breaking cover. A brutal close ranged fire fight, followed by a cavalry charge, took place on my right flank in among a few small buildings, resulting in the majority of the kill points.

Learning points:
* Psyker Battle Squads are horrific. They really help you ensure units are going to flee.
* Two Command HQs with less equipment may be an interesting build, to give you a second "Get Back in the Fight" option and more orders.
* A heavily equipped, multi use combined infantry squad is a waste of points if all it is doing is firing two autocannons.
* Work out routes of advance sooner. I had a log jam on the right flank which meant the Rough Riders did not get an opportunity to assault as early as they could have.

While I had a slight lead in kill points for much of the game, Richard did a very good job of pulling back to a draw, and there were several close points where it could have tipped to either of us on the final turn of the game (I passed some leadership rolls, he passed some cover saves)...

I got the impression that my long range firepower was a bit more effective than his, while his short range firepower had an edge on me - but in turn, the Rough Riders gave me a genuine edge in the assault phase.

Also, his army was gorgeous. Am now bullying him privately to give me a link to his painting blog so Sim can see, as I totally forgot to take photos at the time!

Wednesday 25 April 2012

Some passing thoughts: Stats, News and Grey Knights

I am a little addicted to my blog statistics.

People who know me are already aware that I am the sort of person who likes my numbers, my spreadsheets and probabilities. I like having data, and reading it, and interpreting it, and working things out from it.

For those of you who don't have a Blogger, you get all sorts of shiny little tools you won't be used to if you only have Facebook or Livejournal or G+... You get a graph showing you pageviews by a variety of times, how many views your most popular posts have got, some common traffic sources and so on... I find myself enthused to post about different topics _just_ to see how many people read it, and from what source.

This has led, however, to my first mistake. Some spambots seem to read everything on the internet, giving a referral page as some wierd link which tries to get you to download all sorts of nasty things that want to do mean things to my computer. Fortunately, my various virus thingummies and firewalls said "no" loudly, and no harm was done.


I've also been looking at a lot of blogs recently in my lunch breaks and computer time, and I've noticed that a lot of the smaller blogs seem to mirror announcements and so on from the bigger blogs. I won't be doing that, because really, I just regard it as annoying filler.

I read the news forums on Bell of Lost Souls and sometimes Warseer for my 40K rumours, and maybe a dedicated news blog. Seeing six other minor blogs I read to get a feel for local hobby all repeating the same rumour over and over? It gets old. Maybe it provides a service to a particular local group of readers, and if so, fair play to the writers in question. However, if I do end up writing stuff up here about a recent release, it will be about my reaction to the news, in true gonzo style, rather than the news itself. You can get that anywhere.


So, I move on to my final topic of the evening: Grey Knights. It appears that the internet community as a whole is on a huge whine-fest following Adepticon (a big US convention with a large tournament) about how the Grey Knights codex is so "OP".

Firstly, emotive unsupportive statements make you sound like a petulant child. It's infuriating, dull and I have no interest on it. The only thing worse is reading the comments page of some of our more partisan newspapers, or more unfortunate sections of the BBC website.

Secondly, Grey Knights are popular because low model count reduces the barrier to entry for the army and are easy to transport - not just because they are a particularly effective army, or because they are easy to learn.

Small and elite forces in most wargames I've played have a tendency to be hard to plan to defeat. The Grey Knight Codex is very well written and has some beautiful sneaky tactics, flexibility and variation to change what used to be (in my opinion) a very dull, samey army into something you can do multiple successful builds with.

I also think that they are given a significant advantage by the US tournament scene. The US tournament scene has taken to running pre-written custom missions with a mix of objectives, kill points and victory points which the Grey Knight Codex is incredibly well suited to face. How can you really complain about game balance if you're playing with a bunch of what are essentially house rules which aren't actively supported by the games designers in the first place? Of course armies are not going to be playtested and balanced against those houserules, but the book published missions and deployments.

Finally, looking at the US metagame in particular, I think a lot of people are relying on safe army builds that were developed before the advent of Grey Knights. Going off the published 'high end' lists that aren't Grey Knights, they rely on a few tried and tested combinations, and while there is a lot of talk when a 'non standard' build or Codex wins, and people constantly deride 'netlists', they are still used as the basis of an awful lot of the lists I see published from the US game in particular.

I don't pretend to know or understand every current Codex - I'm still getting back into the hobby, you understand, and I'm not spending my money on buying every new Codex as its released to better study it and understand how to beat it. But if your local metagame is heavily favouring a particular build, army or similar - have you considered working more on beating it?

In my local GW, the veteran's night main challengers are Imperial Guard, Blood Angels and (my personal nemesis) a Tau list. I am constantly evolving and trying out new builds for my Guard to try and do something about these pesky Tau - but I won't expect to see that happen on the UK or US national tournament scene.

I think the two major considerations at the moment when dealing with Grey Knights is considering whether or not any local house rules (such as mission variations) are unreasonably favouring them, and secondly, whether your army is well tailored to address the unique issues fighting Grey Knights brings. They may have a game advantage, they may not, but perhaps rethinking how you're playing might give you some insight in how to improve your win loss record in future.

Monday 23 April 2012

The coming week

As noted in my previous post, I've completed the Demolisher. I have managed to paint a little more, but nowhere near as much as I'd like. Routine is the answer! I need to work out how to fit it in around work, housework, and some rather essential house tidying which needs to happen before my wife kills me...

I have done the preparation work on the Tech Priest's main body, but not all his fiddily little attachments. I need to get down to that at the least.

I now need to pick up some things to work on in between the Tech Priest. Looking at it, I think the things that could be quick wins are;

- Ratling Squad 1
- Ratling Squad 2
- Leman Russ turret
- Full Leman Russ
- Storm Trooper Squad 1
- Storm Trooper Squad 2

I think for sanity's sake, I should probably prioritise those somehow, and work out what order to do them in!

The intention would then be to always have a "quick win" project going on at the same time as an awkward or more detailed project, to act as a distraction / something to do while paint dries. I already have a Lascannon Weapons Squad rebasing and painting queued up for once I'm done with the Tech Priest, but I expect he will keep me busy for a while yet...

Last week: A success!

I've completed my Leman Russ Demolisher hull!

It isn't a painting masterpiece, but it is a completed, tabletop standard job that I'm happy with.



Sunday 22 April 2012

Throne of Skulls, January 2012 - Game 1

So, I've decided to start work on writing up the games I had at Throne of Skulls in January, due to a disastrous shortage of Badab Black and the weather not being suitable for undercoating.

My first opponent was Simon Harris, playing an Eldar list. He, and all my opponents, were kind enough to give me a copy to keep:

1500 Pts - Eldar Roster

HQ: Farseer (1#, 150 pts)
   1 Farseer, 150 pts = (base cost 55 + Spirit Stones 20 + Eldar Jetbike 30) +  Doom  25 +  Guide  20

HQ: Avatar (1#, 155 pts)
   1 Avatar, 155 pts

Elite: Fire Dragons (7#, 231 pts)
   5 Fire Dragons, 80 pts = 5 * 16
      1 Fire Dragon Exarch, 36 pts = (base cost 28 + Firepike 8)
      1 Wave Serpent, 115 pts = (base cost 90) + TL Scatter Lasers 25

Elite: Howling Banshees (9#, 290 pts)
   7 Howling Banshees, 112 pts = 7 * 16
      1 Howling Banshee Exarch, 43 pts = (base cost 28 +  Acrobatic 5 + Executioner 10)
      1 Wave Serpent, 135 pts = (base cost 90) + TL Bright Lances 45

Troops: Dire Avengers (8#, 128 pts)
   7 Dire Avengers, 84 pts = 7 * 12
      1 Dire Avenger Exarch, 44 pts = (base cost 24 +  Bladestorm  15 + 2 Avenger SC 5)

Troops: Dire Avengers (8#, 138 pts)
   7 Dire Avengers, 84 pts = 7 * 12
      1 Dire Avenger Exarch, 54 pts = (base cost 24 +  Bladestorm  15 + DireEx PW & Shimmershield 15)

Troops: Pathfinders (Rangers) (5#, 120 pts)
   5 Pathfinders (Rangers), 120 pts = 5 * 24 (base cost 19 + Pathfinders 5)

Heavy Support: War Walker Squadron (2#, 140 pts)
   1 War Walker Squadron, 0 pts
      1 War Walker, 70 pts = (base cost 30 + Missile Launcher 20 + Missile Launcher 20)
      1 War Walker, 70 pts = (base cost 30 + Missile Launcher 20 + Missile Launcher 20)

Heavy Support: Wraithlord (1#, 150 pts)
   1 Wraithlord, 150 pts = (base cost 90) + Bright Lance 40 + Scatter Laser 20

Shouild any of you be dull enough to add this up, it will show up as 2 points over - I think this is because of failing to take into account the second Avenger shuriken catapult on the first Dire Avenger Exarch, but I may be misreading his list and it is no issue whatsoever. I know the staff at the Tournament were checking lists as the day went on, and it was just a case of updating your list to fix any issues.

Anyhow, we got Capture and Control with Pitched Battle deployment. The table was pretty open, with a smattering of cover across it. This was never going to go well with a not fully mechanised Eldar list.

I put my objective out in the open on a hill on the right flank of my deployment zone, and smacked my combined squad down on top of it - he put his in a wood in the centre of his which he filled with Rangers. He made a spirited attempt to take the objective, throwing both Dire Avengers Squads and the Howling Banshees at my right flank, while the Fire Dragons took the left flank to stop my veterans making his objective.

I managed to successfully and gleefully careen by Rough Riders into one of his Dire Avengers squad, which was brutally mauled as a result, before the second Dire Avenger squad charged in to take out the survivors once their lances had been used up.

The Howling Banshee Wave Serpent got the priority love, and was swiftly turned into a smoking wreck, leaving the Eldar on a walk to their objective. That prioritisation meant my Vet's Chimera took a pasting from the Fire Dragon melta, and they were out of the contention for getting to his objective, but neatly took out the Fire Dragon Wave Serpent and contents with some help from nearby units.

From that point on, it was a case of pouring fire into the Wraithlord and Avatar in the desperate hope that they would both just die (they did). The Valkyrie screamed onto the table, shot holes in the Pathfinders, and then dropped the Penal Legion off to finish the job. The last Ranger died just before I was going to have to assault in, gaining me the objective.

Meanwhile, I came under a sustained threat from a single surviving Howling Banshee (don't laugh) and two outflanking War Walkers putting a major dent into my combined squad and drawing them off the objective, but lucky positioning meant I was still holding both at the end of the game.

It was close that we finished at all - there were less than five minutes left as the final turn rolled by! All in all, I was happy with how the game went and pleased to play a gentleman like Simon. It was his first tournament too, and he went on to only draw one game, but picked up two "best game" votes from other players, so was clearly a fun guy to play for folks other than me.

Having not played for some months I was glad of a first game where I hadn't felt too pressured, and wasn't taken completely apart. Ben Salmon, on the table to my right, was playing a Dark Eldar venom spam list and had reached turn three by the time I'd finished deploying, and had completely wiped his young Space Wolf opponent off the board by the end of our turn one. I think I might have gone into shock if I'd hit something like that game one!

Ben went on to be undefeated in the tournament, and while he didn't win the tournament due to the Dark Eldar average being high and a lack of 'best game' votes (he said himself that he wasn't expecting any sportsmanship nods, and it would be kind of counter to the feel of the Dark Eldar to have gotten any), was still cheerful as a result and is planning to hit more Throne of Skulls events with perhaps slightly less cheesy lists in future. Also, to give him full credit, he also took the time to then play the Space Wolf lad again more casually, giving him a few pointers for the future, chatting about improvements to both tactics and list.

Saturday 21 April 2012

Sa-lewt

So, how did I decide to spend my hard earned cash at Salute?

I picked up the Imperial Armour Apocalypse 2 book from Forgeworld.

Counter to my terrain buying plan, I found a good deal on a bunch of Imperial Guard from Lesley's Bits Box. I've picked up a whole bunch of Storm Troopers in a really good deal, and also got hold of the limited edition female Commissar, which I believe is going to be stolen by Sim to paint...

I managed to regain my willpower in order to pick up a whole bunch of terrain from Sarissa Precision. I went with their new infinity Sci-Fi range, although their Wild West stuff is looking like an absolute, 100% must buy for when I start playing Malifaux. I can easily see myself dropping hundreds of pounds to build an awesome Western style town that will fit Malifaux's look and feel.

My final purchase was my wife's anniversary present, which is now safely hidden, as I've found out she reads this blog now and again, and I don't want to ruin the surprise...

Meanwhile, there were a few companies who were definite "future buy" people who I really liked the look of.

The first mention absolutely has to go to Tablescape, who have a really interesting way of making their scenery. It is stunningly light, and very intelligently constructed - it's been carefully done so that it is either barricade level or completely blocking line of sight to a typical 40K miniature. As such, it should be very easy to sort out almost any usual line of sight disputes. I even forgave them their jibes about typical 40K players!

I am also very impressed by the Sci Fi interior detail work done by Antenocitis Workshop. If I played Infinity, I'd have been buying from them immediately...

Well, I got my wedding topper from Hasslefree Miniatures last year, and got to show it to them this year, so what more of a recommendation could you want?

I absolutely must, at some point, buy something from Oshiro, although they primarily focus on Japanese style buildings and I have _no_ idea what I would use them for right now!

There is no question I have to start playing Eden by Taban Miniatures at some point soon. None whatsoever. The only reason I haven't already bought some is the desire to finish some existing projects first!

There are also definitely a bunch of things I'd like to pick up from Ainsty Castings in the way of scenery - their boxed sets of scenery definitely look worthwhile... Both for Wargaming and D&D.

For miniatures I am awaiting a mere flimsy excuse to buy, I would offer honourable mentions to Black Scorpion, almost everything Crooked Dice Studios do, Heresy, Scheltrum and all the scenery Micro Art Studio do (they're also my first choice for bases)...

So, a productive day! I also have a Mayan with a decapitated head to paint at some point, which was the show miniature. I am also considering a later post based on the stuff my wife loved at the show, depending on whether I can pin her down on it or not!

Friday 20 April 2012

Looking back, looking forward

Well, it seems that work beat hobby again today, and I didn't manage to get home in time to get any painting done. It is more than a little frustrating, but at least it was for good professional reasons today.

Tomorrow is Salute, so I will definitely not be getting any painting done. I will, in fact, be adding to my painting backlog, without a doubt.

There are a few people I'm definitely planning on saying hello to. First and foremost is Hasslefree, who sold me the figure who became my wedding topper last May! I'm hoping to bully the wife into taking the wedding topper along, even if she doesn't like the paint job on her part of it...

Since last year's Salute, I've gotten a little less enthused about non GW conversion parts for my Imperial Guard, primarily because a lot of my play in the past year has turned out to be in GW stores and a GW run tournament - I don't want to be investing extra money into models I can't use most of the times I play! I've not even used most of the parts I got last year as a result.

While I do want to get a lot of different conversion parts from Forgeworld or the various "bitz" suppliers around the web, I don't really need them right now - I have enough projects to be getting on with regarding my Guard, and I'm not yet starting on the Demons for Fantasy just yet.

So, what to do with my Salute money? Well, the answer would seem to be terrain. There are a lot of very good non GW bits of terrain out there, and, well, its not like I'm going to be taking terrain to a tournament.

There are so many terrain makers already advertised to be at Salute I have no idea where to start; Antenocitis Workshop, Amera, Micro Art Studios, Sarissa Precision, Tablescape, Urban Construct... There's probably even more I've forgotten!

I was also quite surprised yesterday to find someone new following my twitter account! It seems a company called "Tactical Terrain" in Germany has started following my account. I'm not sure how they found me, or why, but their site looks interesting, and it seems that the German I haven't really used since I was 16 was still enough to navigate their site. I may even buy one of their ruins to see if they are worth recommending!

One thing I have been pleasantly surprised at on this blog is that more things are happening that I think are interesting and I can talk about than I have time to write about. I still want to write something about blog stats, which I'm finding strangely fascinating and addictive. I also had an interesting game using the Death World rules from April's White Dwarf against Paul's Space Wolves, which I'd like to say a few things about. And yet I've not managed to fit those posts in around my current "two posts a week" routine...

They are for the future, but if anyone has a particular preference, do shout, as I've got Monday off and may find some time for a spare article!

Thursday 19 April 2012

Oops (stalled progress)

So, I didn't achieve anything at all yesterday from a painting point of view. I sat and watched some television with my wife.

Tonight, my wife got a whole bunch of painting done. I did not. In my defence I've worked late yesterday and today to make up for leaving work early on Tuesday!

My "achievement" for the day has been to set up my painting stuff at home so that I can come home tomorrow and be ready to paint something. However, my Guard audit is in the way a teensy bit, so I may need to put some of that away so I can properly paint.

So, in a rare attempt to actually solicit comments: How do other people manage to set themselves manageable goals for painting or other crafts projects? How do you keep your momentum up? Any useful hints, tips or tricks?

Tuesday 17 April 2012

A small victory of sorts

Well, it seems the day at Darksphere today was productive!

I've cleaned up the main body of the Forgeworld Titan Tech Priest for undercoating (I'm intending on painting the parts separately for the sake of sanity), and finished base coating the Demolisher hull so all it needs is a heavy black wash to meet the painting standards of the rest of my rank and file Guard.

Now I just need to keep this rate of productivity up!

Monday 16 April 2012

This coming week

Since last week's post, I've not managed to get any painting in. I'm really quite disappointed in this as I was hoping to get a good regular routine going.

GW have a painting competition right now for a "Hero or Villain" and I've not started anything. I got to the point on Tuesday of buying a full set of reds from the new GW paint range to use on the Forge World Titan Tech Priest I have. I thought that the "workers are the real heroes" twist would be kind of cool. Despite this, one thing or another has distracted me and I've not even cleaned the model up!

Despite that, I've made good progress on my Imperial Guard audit. I've not fully written it up but I do seem to have found most of my models. It looks like I have 3 infantry platoons, all the heavy weapons squads in the world, plus my tanks, which are mostly assembled and queued up to be painted now - so it looks like infantry is going to be the name of the game. Rebasing the heavy weapon squads in particular is going to be hellish, but I suppose I've been needing to learn how to use a Dremel for a while.

So, as for the coming week;
I'm going to leave the Demolisher Hull as "in progress" as something to come back to in between working on the Tech Priest, but the Tech Priest is now going to become the main goal. It is Salute on Saturday and I really want to have gotten some serious progress done with him before then! I'm not expecting to enter any of the Salute painting competitions - I'm not going to have anything done to a high standard by then - but I need to see progress. I am mulling over daily painting updates for this week to try and motivate me, but I'm not certain about that.

Monday 9 April 2012

Battles against Space Wolves

So, the first time I faced Paul's Space Wolves, we had a straight up pitched battle kill points game, wherein I got an absolute kicking. I was using my Throne of Skulls list from January, and it just didn't have the ability to put a hole in the number of power armoured bodies running across the field at me, or rather, being driven in Rhinos.

I was looking down the wrong end of a Wolf Priest, a bunch of Grey Hunter squads in Rhinos, two squads of Long Fangs, some Wolf Scouts and a Whirlwind. (The last being a bit of an experiment on Paul's part.) I was unable to stop them getting across the board, and they ripped me to bits.

So, I resolved to take something a bit more suited to dealing with power armour and transports...

1500 Pts - Imperial Guard Roster - April game vs Paul

HQ: Company Command Squad (8#, 197 pts)
2 Company Command Squad, 197 pts (Unit Type: Infantry; Flak Armour; Frag Grenades; Close Combat Weapon x2; Lasgun x2; Camo Cloak; Medi-pack; Regimental Standard)
1 Veteran Heavy Weapon Team (Lascannon; Frag Grenades; Close Combat Weapon x1; Flak Armour; Lasgun x1)
1 Company Commander (Flak Armour; Frag Grenades; Refractor Field; Close Combat Weapon; Camo Cloak; Bolter; Senior Officer)
1 Astropath (Flak Armour; Frag Grenades; Close Combat Weapon; Laspistol; Camo Cloak; Telepathic Relay)
1 Bodyguard (Flak Armour; Frag Grenades; Close Combat Weapon; Laspistol; Camo Cloak; Look out - Arghh!)
1 Bodyguard (Flak Armour; Frag Grenades; Close Combat Weapon; Laspistol; Camo Cloak; Look out - Arghh!)

Troops: Infantry Platoon (28#, 402 pts)
1 Infantry Platoon, 402 pts
4 Platoon Command Squad (Unit Type: Infantry; Flak Armour; Frag Grenades; Close Combat Weapon x4; Meltagun x4)
1 Platoon Commander (Flak Armour; Frag Grenades; Bolter; Power Fist; Junior Officer)
1 Chimera (Unit Type: Vehicle (Tank); Searchlight; Smoke Launchers; Turret Multi-Laser; Heavy Flamer; Hunter-killer Missile; Amphibious; Mobile Command Vehicle)
7 Infantry Squad (Unit Type: Infantry; Frag Grenades; Close Combat Weapon x7; Flak Armour; Lasgun x6; Meltagun x1; Combined Squad)
1 Heavy Weapons Team (Autocannon; Frag Grenades; Close Combat Weapon x1; Flak Armour; Lasgun x1)
1 Commissar (Flak Armour; Frag Grenades; Bolt Pistol; Power Weapon; Summary Execution; Stubborn)
1 Sergeant (Flak Armour; Frag Grenades; Laspistol; Power Weapon)
7 Infantry Squad (Unit Type: Infantry; Frag Grenades; Close Combat Weapon x7; Flak Armour; Lasgun x6; Meltagun x1; Combined Squad)
1 Heavy Weapons Team (Autocannon; Frag Grenades; Close Combat Weapon x1; Flak Armour; Lasgun x1)
1 Commissar (Flak Armour; Frag Grenades; Bolt Pistol; Power Weapon; Summary Execution; Stubborn)
1 Sergeant (Flak Armour; Frag Grenades; Laspistol; Power Weapon)

Troops: Veteran Squad (10#, 115 pts)
9 Veteran Squad, 115 pts (Unit Type: Infantry; Flak Armour; Frag Grenades; Krak Grenades; Close Combat Weapon x9; Lasgun x6; Demolition Charge; Melta Bombs; Flamer x2; Grenade Launcher x1; Demolitions)
1 Veteran Sergeant (Flak Armour; Frag Grenades; Krak Grenades; Laspistol; Close Combat Weapon; Melta Bombs)

Fast Attack: Hellhound Squadron (1#, 145 pts)
1 Hellhound Squadron, 145 pts
1 Bane Wolf (Unit Type: Vehicle (Tank, Fast); Chem Cannon; Multi-melta)

Fast Attack: Vendetta Gunship Squadron (1#, 130 pts)
1 Vendetta Gunship Squadron, 130 pts (Deep Strike; Grav Chute Insertion; Scouts)
1 Vendetta (Extra Armor; Searchlight; Twin-linked Lascannon x3)

Heavy Support: Leman Russ Squadron (1#, 165 pts)
1 Leman Russ Squadron, 165 pts
1 Leman Russ Battle Tank (Unit Type: Vehicle (Tank); Battle Cannon; Searchlight; Smoke Launchers; Lascannon; Lumbering Behemoth)

Heavy Support: Leman Russ Squadron (1#, 165 pts)
1 Leman Russ Squadron, 165 pts
1 Leman Russ Battle Tank (Unit Type: Vehicle (Tank); Battle Cannon; Searchlight; Smoke Launchers; Lascannon; Lumbering Behemoth)

Heavy Support: Leman Russ Squadron (1#, 180 pts)
1 Leman Russ Squadron, 180 pts
1 Leman Russ Demolisher (Unit Type: Vehicle (Tank); Demolisher Siege Cannon; Searchlight; Smoke Launchers; Lascannon; Lumbering Behemoth)

Total Roster Cost: 1499

--

This did a lot better - Paul changed his list to drop a Long Fang squad and the Wolf Scouts, gaining an unpleasant unit of Wolf Guard Terminators and a Land Raider Redeemer, then still three Rhinos full of Grey Hunters with a good provision of melta and a Wolf Guard leader each.

This time, it was Capture and Control, which made me a little nervous, due to the lack of troops choices in the new list. It was pitched battle again, and I (for once) won the roll to set up first and go first. This almost never happens and I've found myself getting quite reactive to how people deploy. Having to put down models first left me a little nervous, but I'm pretty happy with how the deployment went.

I'm not going to bother with a blow by blow, but it went pretty well. I managed to take out the Land Raider Redeemer first turn, which was a huge relief. I then put a reliable number of holes into his Rhinos as they crossed the field, and the unfortunate Wolf Guard who were now having to foot slog across the field.

In the end, it came down to one squad holding an objective on the left flank, a command squad (and fortunate troops choice) cowering with two models left alive behind a Chimera (after a desperate run of hitting the deck had resulted in some very lucky saves, before I got them to "get back in the fight" to run for cover.

Meanwhile, Paul had a Grey Hunter squad in the open on an objective, bruised but not dead - I only had one Leman Russ in working order by that point, but there were no troops nearby to have a chance of contesting it.

I think the list still needs tweaking - it doesn't have enough troops units to hold objectives - I was relying on putting enough holes in Paul's tougher, more dangerous troops choices rather than being able to do much with mine.

The coming week

So, it's a Bank Holiday Monday! Yesterday's games went well (two victories) and I'll be writing them up in more detail later. The Demolisher Hull is not finished yet, but does now have foundation down and all the main areas of metallics done (metallic details still to go).

I'm painting it slightly differently to how I did the army for Throne of Skulls - putting down a foundation paint layer first - and it is really helping with getting a smooth, clean layer of paint on. I'm really pleased with how its going so far.

In progress:
Leman Russ Demolisher Hull
Audit Imperial Guard

To do:
Paint Leman Russ Battle Tank Turret
Paint second Leman Russ Battle Tank (all of it)

I'll be at Darksphere tomorrow as usual after work. I started auditing my Imperial Guard last night after Paul left, and I hope to get that all done today. I'm wondering if I should start taking work in progress shots of the stuff I'm doing to try and motivate me to get more done...

Wednesday 4 April 2012

Kirby's Feedback on my Throne of Skulls January 2012 list

I wrote to Kirby, of 3++ is the new black (http://www.3plusplus.net/) for some feedback on the list. I asked him to prioritise changes for the gamer on a budget, and here's what he gave me! He didn't post them on his blog (he has a lot of more challenging and useful requests for feedback, I guess), so I'm posting it here instead.


"Hey Timothy,

It looks like you've got a bit of everything in there, so I'd be looking to double up with your purchases. Firstly, your CCS is way too expensive, drop all the upgrades and only keep the Astropath. Ordance is too innacruate and expensive, Fleet often helps your opponent as they simply get jack all in and are better able to counter alpha strike you and bodyguards are just a waste of points. Let you ropponent shoot at them rather than the other stuff that's killing them.

I'd be looking to add another Valk in but make both of them Vendettas for ranged shooting plus another Veteran in Chimera but with meltaguns - you don't really need the Penal Legion btw though they are a nice, cheap harassment force, they aren't reliable enough to do so every game.

Heavy Support is okay but spread thin - pick two of them and leave the 3rd at home to free up more points for Chimeras/Veterans/Infantry Platoons, etc. I'd personally go withthe Manticore and Hydra and potentially look to buy a 2nd Hydra (either in squad or not).

Hope that helps and sorry for delay!

Kirby."

Imperial Guard Throne of Skulls Jan 2012

Below is my roster from Throne of Skulls in January. The Penal Legion deployed in the Valkyrie for seizing objectives.

I'm not going to comment too much on the list right now - I've got five battle reports to put up, plus some feedback from another blogger. Once I've done all that, I'll add a lessons learnt post.

1500 Pts - Imperial Guard Roster - Imperial Guard Throne
of Skulls Jan 2012

HQ: Company Command Squad (10#, 237 pts)
Medi-pack; Regimental Standard; Lascannon; Bolter; Astropath; 2
Bodyguards; Master of Ordnance; Officer of the Fleet

Troops: Infantry Platoon (27#, 337 pts)
1 Infantry Platoon, 337 pts
Platoon Command Squad
Meltagun x4; Bolter; Power Fist
Infantry Squad
Meltagun; Autocannon; Sergeant with Power Weapon; Commissar with Power Weapon
Infantry Squad
Meltagun; Autocannon; Sergeant with Power Weapon; Commissar with Power Weapon

Veteran Squad (11#, 195 pts)
Veteran Squad
Demolitions; Flamer x2; Grenade Launcher;
Chimera
Turret Multi-Laser; Heavy Flamer; Extra Armor; Hunter-killer Missile

Penal Legion Squad (10#, 80 pts)

Fast Attack: Rough Rider Squad (10#, 105 pts)

Fast Attack: Valkyrie Assault Carrier (1#, 130 pts)
Multiple Rocket Pods

Heavy Support: Hydra Flak Tank Battery (1#, 75 pts)

Heavy Support: Manticore Rocket Launcher (1#, 160 pts)

Heavy Support: Leman Russ Demolisher (1#, 180 pts)
Lascannon

Total Roster Cost: 1499

Monday 2 April 2012

This week

I am currently painting the hull of my Leman Russ Demolisher. Due to time constraints on Throne of Skulls, I ended up using an already assembled old Leman Russ Battle Tank hull for the Demolisher and blu-taccing the turret on. The old and new turret sockets aren't compatible, so my now assembled Demolisher hull is getting painted up to match the turret - I should also sort out the Leman Russ turret for its hull!

In progress:
Leman Russ Demolisher Hull

To do:
Paint Leman Russ Battle Tank Turret
Paint second Leman Russ Battle Tank (all of it)
Audit Imperial Guard

Tomorrow is Dark Sphere, as usual. I've no strong plans for the rest of the week (but the evenings do look busy and I'm not expecting to get much painting done) until Sunday, when Paul is coming over to play me with his Space Wolves again. Hopefully he won't brutally slaughter me again this time like he did last time!

The armies I collect

My current main army is my Imperial Guard for 40K. It's a Tallarn force that has about 1,500 points fully painted, with a few more projects underway.

For Fantasy, I currently own a Skaven army, but it is mostly in boxes. I've played with it a bit, don't really like it, and am now considering another army. My attentions and affection are fickle, but the current preferred candidate is Daemons of Chaos, although Warriors of Chaos and Empire have both been considered recently, with the Tomb Kings having been a passing fancy lately.

I am considering playing Malifaux and Warmachine, with Zoraida and Menoth currently being my main considerations at this point, but I need to complete some current projects first.

Sunday 1 April 2012

A start

I'm starting to get a bit more involved in my wargaming and painting, so I've decided to start up a dedicated blog for it. I hope to be painting some regular updates about my painting progress, gaming victories and defeats and so on...