Adepticon 2010

Here is my schedule for Adepticon 2010:

Thursday's Schedule

I plan on getting to the hotel around 6:00pm. I will socialize with people and perhaps help them set up.

I want to try to sneak in to the 40k Tactics Boot Camp Level 1 on Thursday from 8:00pm to 9:30pm. The 2 instructors are Shawn Kemp and Jay Woodcock. I don't think I ever played Shawn before, but I beat Jay in Baltimore GT in 2007. I will not say anything, I just want to sit in the back of the room.

Friday

Adepticon Gladiator 9:00 am to 10:00 pm. I am not a big fan of the Gladiator, but nothing else is going on then.

Then from 10:00 pm to 12:00 am I am taking Chris Borer's seminar "Stepping up your game: Painting to a Competition Level". I have always wanted to take a seminar (normally I am playing in tournaments, but this year they have a few seminars after the games). My painting scores are in the middle of the road, and that is one aspect of the hobby I really want to improve on. Especially when I have a project like the Pre-Heresy Thousand Son's coming up.

Saturday

Set up our Team Tournament army and check in at 7:00 am. Then go with my fellow Dakka Dakka 1 teammates to breakfast. This is the first time we will all be together since last year, and the first time we discuss strategy and tactics for an army that we have never played before. Then we play from 9:00 am to 9:30 pm. Then it is off to the swap shop and try to see if I can get a deal on some stuff. Then I hope dinner with the tournament regulars.

 

Sunday

Time for the Adepticon Championships from 7:00 am to 4:30 pm. Then I just signed up for the poker tournament from 9:00 pm to ?

 

Monday

I hope to go to one last breakfast with the boys, then a flight at noon to take me home.

 

That is a lot of stuff this time. I am normally wiped out by Saturday night, and Sunday is like the Bataan Death March. I am very happy that I am not rushing out of there to get to a plane on Sunday night like I normally do, and I can take my time and leave Monday.

 

One of my big problems is that my normal schedule is that I go to bed late, and sleep in (I am typing this at 3:12 am), so when I go to Adepticon, not only do I have to wake up very, very early, but with the time zone difference means that I am really jet lagged. Last year I did not socialize much because I was so tired, I just went to my room, but I could not fall asleep because it was too early.

 

This year I will try a couple of things. I need to exercise a bit to get in shape for a 4-day, 11 game marathon, and I will try to go to bed early and wake up early so my internal clock will be on Adepticon time.

 

 

My preliminary Adepticon Gladiator list

2250 Pts - Eldar Roster - Adepticon Gladiator 2010

 

HQ: Eldrad Ulthran

HQ: Avatar

 

Elite: 5 Fire Dragons

Wave Serpent w/Spirit Stones; TL Shuriken Catapults; TL Missile Launchers

 

Troops: 3 Guardian Jetbike Squadron, Shuriken Cannon (x1)

Warlock w/Destructor, Singing Spear

 

Troops: 3 Guardian Jetbike Squadron, Shuriken Cannon (x1)

Warlock w/Destructor, Singing Spear

 

Troops: 10 Guardians w/Bright Lance

1 Wave Serpent w/ Spirit Stones; TL Shuriken Catapults; TL Missile Launchers

 

Troops: 10 Storm Guardians w/ Flamer (x2)

1 Warlock w/Destructor, Singing Spear

1 Wave Serpent w/Spirit Stones; TL Shuriken Catapults; TL Bright Lances

 

Fast Attack: Vyper Squadron

1 Vyper Squadron w/Scatter Laser; Shuriken Cannon

1 Vyper Squadron w/Scatter Laser; Shuriken Cannon

 

Fast Attack: Vyper Squadron

1 Vyper w/Bright Lance; TL Shuriken Catapults

1 Vyper w/Bright Lance; TL Shuriken Catapults

 

Fast Attack: Vyper Squadron

1 Vyper Squadron w/Shuriken Cannon; Shuriken Cannon

1 Vyper Squadron w/Shuriken Cannon; Shuriken Cannon

 

Heavy Support: War Walker Squadron

1 War Walker w/Scatter Laser; Scatter Laser

1 War Walker w/Scatter Laser; Scatter Laser

1 War Walker w/Scatter Laser; Scatter Laser

 

 

Heavy Support: War Walker Squadron

1 War Walker w/Scatter Laser; Scatter Laser

1 War Walker w/Scatter Laser; Scatter Laser

1 War Walker w/Scatter Laser; Scatter Laser

 

Heavy Support: War Walker Squadron (3#, 120 Pts)

1 War Walker w/ Shuriken Cannon; Shuriken Cannon

1 War Walker w/ Shuriken Cannon; Shuriken Cannon

1 War Walker w/ Shuriken Cannon; Shuriken Cannon

 

Total Roster Cost: 2248

 

 

Sill working on the details of my list. I need to kill things like Titans and those gigantic creatures An'ggorath and Hierophant. I need a lot of Strength 8, AP 2 weaponry, and right now I do not have enough. I need to be able to do 8 wounds to a toughness 8 creature with a 2+/4+ save, and 10 Wounds to a toughness 9, 2+/6+ save.

 

Wow, that is going to be hard. Not only that, but they are not affected by Doom.

What happened to my Pre-Heresy Thousand Sons?

From this thread

http://blackmoors40k.blogspot.com/2010/02/my-updated-tournament-schedule.html#comments

Age of Ego's asked: "What happened to the Heresy TS? You saving them for the Adepticon...or did you nail down a list yet? Any pics of the conversions?"

 

Well, a couple of things happened... I took a 2 month break, and now I am getting ready for the Broadside Bash.

This is what I have 2 weeks to paint:

16 Warp Spiders

3 War Walkers

2 Wraithlords

4 Jetbikes

Fix and repair 8 Harlequins

 

Then the next month for Adepticon:

4 Wave Serpents

Assemble and paint 9 vypers

Finish my other 6 War Walkers

I am lucky that my fellow teammates are going to do my Adepticon team tournament army this year and I can take this one off.

 

For the So Cal Slaughter and the next month after that I have to work on a few big bugs to round out my Tyranid army.

 

No painting for the 'Ard Boys *whew!*

 

I am playing my Eldar right now because I am enjoying them the most right now, and they give me the best chance for winning an invite to Vegas, and in Adepticon for the European Team tournament.

 

After that I will have time to work on an army. So there is a good chance that I will finally get to work on my Thousand Sons. I bought all of the bitz for them during all of the Thanksgiving sales, so they are ready to go when I clear up some time for them.

 

My Updated Tournament Schedule

It looks like I will be really busy this spring. Here are the events that I will be at:

The Broadside Bash

Los Angeles, CA

February 13^th - 14^th

http://www.broadsidebash.com/

Adepticon

Chicago, IL

March 26^th-28th

http://www.adepticon.org/

Slaughter In Space 2

Ontario, CA

April 16^th-18^th

http://scgwl.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=33&t=583

'Ard Boyz Tournament

Mesa, AZ?

May 15^th

Unknown if I will attend:

ConQuest Invasion

Los Angeles, CA

June 26^th -27^th

http://conquestgt.avalongamecon.com/LAInvasion.html

I have no idea about this convention because I have never heard of them before. Not only that, but they are the ones that put on the Seattle Tournament that did not go well. It would have been better if they had it on Memorial Day weekend instead of the week before. It is only $50 if I sign up before Feb 28^th.

BoLSCon

Austin, TX

June 29^th-1^st

Austin, TX

http://www.bolscon.com/

The heat of Texas in July? Even though it does not seem that far from me here in AZ, it is far away. I am on the fence about it, and I need to see more info before I commit to going all the way out there.

So over all it seems like a busy spring for me with a major event every month. I hope to buy a house by April or May, and then I can take it easy in the soul crushing heat and stay indoors and work on a new army (either Nids, Space Wolves, Chaos, or Eldar).

The funny thing is that I have a full Space Wolf army and a Tyranid army and I want to play my old 4^th edition Eldar. I just like them, and unlike the flavor of the month, they are not that common anymore, but I am glad to show up to prove people wrong if they think they can't compete.

Eldar vs. Tyranids

Well, I was so close to running Tyranids that I started work on a Tervigon. It looks like there are going to be a lot of other Tyranids there, and I hate to be a front runner and join the crowd, so I will play my Eldar.

 

It looks like it will be tough going. The reason why is that the new Tyranid lists are brutal. Lots of cheap little bugs and a boatload of T6 creatures with 4 or 6 wounds.

I am going to show you what I do before big events like the Broadside Bash. I take a moment and I take a quick look around the boards and look at the armies that others are planning on bringing, and I wonder what I would do against them. It keeps me in practice since I do not play that much (my last game was at the Wild West Shootout several months ago) and even though I may not face the armies that are posted on the boards, I will face armies that are very similar.

Last year it actually helped me because Hulksmash posted his list online and so when I played against him I knew exactly what to do. He ran a list of little bugs with a little synapse and I had a shooty SoB army, so I knew going into that game that all I needed to do was to destroy his synapse and I should be able to win it, and that is exactly what I did.

http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/231405.page

 

On Dakka here are a couple of the lists that are going to be there:

Army #1 http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/276490.page

swarmlord
2x tyrant guard lash whips
3x hive guard
3x hive guard
2x venomthropes
21x termagants
21x termagants
tervigon with catalyst toxin sacs adrenal glands and crushing claws
tervigon with catalyst toxin sacs adrenal glands and crushing claws
tyrannofex with rupture cannon
tyrannofex with rupture cannon

 

Against army #1

He has a lot of shooting but they are not a threat with the Hive Guard and the Tyrannofex. The Hive Guard has an effective range of 24" and the only thing that I have the really needs to worry about them is the War Walkers since their shooting is only AP4. So I need to place My War Walkers at the back of the board and it will give me a turn or 2 of shooting at them, but I expect my Walker Walkers to be the first to die. Tyannofex is a different story with their 48" range. They are a crap load of points, but they do shoot a mean strength 10 shot, but they hit once per turn on average, and with their AP4, they can't hurt anything else in my army. Killing the Tyrannofexs is not an option with a T6, W6 and 2+ save means that I can't afford to waste the firepower that it would take to kill them because there is so much in the army that is a bigger threat. The only choice I have to kill them is to hit them with the Harlies, Wraithlords, and the Avatar at the end of the game when they are moved forward to contest the objectives.

The first to die!

Without a doubt it is the Terigons.

There are 2 reasons for this, the first is that every turn they are going to crapping out a ton of termagants, and the second is that if you kill them, they will blow up all of the gants around them. Good times! I think I can kill one a turn with the Wraithlords, and War Walkers shooting. As he advances, I will have my Warp Spiders move up and try to stay at their maximum range for shooting (12") and then warping back so I do not stay within charge range, and the same goes with my Jetbikes. I will hit and run a lot. 2-3 turns of this should whittle him down to more manageable numbers. Especially in the Broadside Bash missions that are so objective heavy I think I can wipe out all of his troops pretty fast, and then at the end of the game I can move up the Avatar, the Wraithlords, and Harliquins to finish off his MCs.

 

 

 

Army #2 http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/276247.page

HQ
Parasite-160

Elite
3 Hive Guard-150
3 Hive Guard-150

Troop
Tervigon-195
Adrenal Glands, Toxin Sac, Catalyst

Tervigon-195
Adrenal Glands, Toxin Sac, Catalyst

20 Spine Gaunts-120
20 Hormagaunts-160
14 Devourer Gaunts-140

Fast Attack

10 Gargoyles-70
Toxin Sacs

Heavy Support

Mawloc-170
Mawloc-170

2 Carnifex-320
2 Twin Scything Talons

 

Against army #2

The strategies against them will be similar to the first list. I am going to hammer the Tervigons hard so they will blow up and take a bunch of termagants out with them. Their shooting is also rather short range, but they have added Devourer Gants that have to be respected. I imagine on the first turn one warp spider unit will go after the D. Gants, and the other Warp Spider unit will go after the Gargoyles because I do not like a very fast unit bothering me and my plans. The one thing that really concerns me is the Mawlocs. Not so much for their close combat ability, but for the Strength 6, AP 2 pie plate they lay down when they come on the board. Just like against a deep strike army I will have to keep my army spread out to minimize the damage of that pie plate, yet close enough so that I can hit them with my whole army including the guardians shuriken catapults, the harlies, and the Avatar, since I will only have one turn to take them down before they burrow and do it again. I hate that because it will keep me busy while a bunch of other stuff is running at me.

 

Note:

I know that the 'Nid players will try to counter my moves, but I have back up plans, and other tricks up my sleeve.

 

Rise of the Tyranids

I am thinking about selling my Tyranid army on e-bay for several months now, but I just have never gotten around to it. I have not played the army in about 3 years. The reason why I quit was that I was winning a lot of games with the Godzilla list including the KublaCon 5-game RTT up in San Francisco. I ended up winning so much that I was getting hammered on my soft scores like comp and sports, so I was winning all of my games, but I was not winning the tournaments. Also it was just a little too easy to win, and by that time the whole Godzilla craze was sweeping the nation and so I just hung it up.

 

With the new codex hitting the ground, I am thinking of blowing the dust off of them to play one last time before they get sold.

 

Here is my models that I have for my 4^th edition Tyranids:

2 Hive Tyrants with magnetized upgrades

3 Tyrant Guards

3 Zoanthropes

1 Lictor

32 Hormagants

16 Hormagants w/Toxin Sacks and Adrenal Gland

32 Termagants w/Spinefists

16 Termagants w/Devourerer

28 Genestealers

Ripper Swarms

16 Gargoyles

5 Tyranid Shrikes

3 Biovores

6 Carnifexes

 

So I have to make an army out of that. I was tempted to buy a Mawloc or some other pieces, but since they are going on e-bay, I see no point in buying anything more.

I made a few armies out of it, and I was not happy with them, so I still might bring my Eldar.

Broadside Bash II

I am thinking about playing my Tyranids for the Broadside Bash. I am thinking about a little bug horde, but I can't make a list I am happy with yet.

The problem is that I am not happy with the amount of anti-tank the army has in case I am up against a Mech Army.