1500 Points of Dark Eldar for the Ironman GT in Vegas

On January 14^th they have having the annual Ironman GT up in Las Vegas.

http://lasvegasgamersclub.com/ironman-xvii.aspx



I have never gone to one before, but I have had friends that have gone up to Vegas for this and they say that the Las Vegas Gamers put on a good tournament.


The details are:

1500 points (Low, but fine for semi-quick games)

4 Games in one day (Not a full GT, but more time for Vegas!)

Throne of Skulls scoring (Um…what is this again? You are comparing your scores to everyone else with the same army? What if you are the only one that is playing that army?)


So I thought I might be able to get my Dark Eldar done in 2-3 weeks. Lucky for me it is only 1500 points, but DE are cheap, so that is a lot of models still.

This is what I was thinking about taking:

First match against the new DE

I played against the new DE today at one of my rare local RTTs with my foot Eldar.

Thoughts:
DE can dish out the shots.
Repeat the mantra over and over again: 3s to hit, 4s to wound.
Practice your dice counting skills, because it takes a long time to play the games when you are always counting out handfuls of dice (My foot eldar have prepared me well for quick counting, but not my opponent).
The DE army moves so fast that on turn #2 it seemed like a lot later in the game.
That move, disembark, fleet, and assault is brutal if you are not careful.
Lack of grenades hurts a high Initiative, but fragile army.
If you are playing DE, bring lots of craters to make your own terrain because your raiders are going down, and you need a place to hide.
I liked Blasters. They increased their range to 18" in this edition (up from 12") making them a lot more effective.
We only did get to about turn #3 though because all that shooting slows down the game if you are not practiced with it.
I liked Venoms: 12 shots at 36" and moving 12"
Foot Eldar are a bad match-up for DE. Strength 6 let me ignore all of their FNP, and whenever a Shadow Field dropped, their HQs were goners. I also think all eldar builds might give them trouble.
He did not take any night shields, and he sure could have used them. I was on the fence about them after reading Stelek's article saying why they suck, but I am becoming a convert with the speed of the DE vehicles I think it will greatly help them refuse-flank.

It seems like the army struggles against a few things:
MEQs
Anything with high saves.

For an example they did a number on one if my Wraithlords and killed one quickly, then after that I cast fortune on my other Wraithlord and my Avatar, and it really slowed down the damage. He also had trouble killing my Warp Spiders. Their 3+ save kept them around for a long time, and here is something else I noticed...he wounded me only on a 4+ so toughness 3 was not such a liability as it normally is. He was wounding my guardians on a 4+ and I was wounding him on a 3+. That stalled his killing a lot more than I thought it would.

I am trying to build an army for tournament play, (I got a couple of boxes with my RTT winnings) and I have a few old DE Raider hulls that I am going to add to some Vypers to make some Venoms. I like the idea of having Trueborn in Venoms and I want to see how they will play out.

Were in the world is Blackmoor?

I just had 3 wonderful weeks of vacation, and as they say, all good things must come to an end. 


During my vacation I:

I played at a GT in Las Vegas, NV

Played in a GT in Rochester, NY

Played in an RTT in Brea, CA

And another RTT was canceled in Mesa, AZ so I did not get to play in it.

So I came close to 4 tournaments in 4 states in 3 weeks. Of course the local RTT is the one that crapped out because the 40K gaming scene here sucks. Of course if I played LoTR, I would be in great shape for getting in some games. That is what I get moving to a place that has everything backwards.


I received some news recently that I will be buying and playing a Dark Eldar army. I was thinking that I was going to take a pass on them and skip on over to the Grey Knights since my specialty is small and durable armies, but just like the mafia, each time you think you are out, they pull you back in!

So know I have to build a DE army without using any raiders or ravagers so I do not know how that will go. I will try to get them ready for an RTT in LA on Dec 26^th, and depending on how my painting is going I might take them up to the Ironman GT in Vegas in January on MLK day, as well as the Sprue Posse Grand Prix in LA the following weekend.

KP vs. VPs debate

If you listened to episode 43 of The 11^th Company podcast you heard Mike Brant (MVB) and I talk about KP vs. VPs in tournaments. You can listen to it here:

http://www.tangtwo.com/11thcompany/podcasts/episodefortythreefinal.mp3



Then we continued the debate in their forums:

http://the11thcompany.freeforums.org/episode-43-discussion-t1231.html

Not much updating

I am on vacation for 3 weeks so I am traveling around a lot so no updates.

 

2 weeks ago I played at NeonCon's Slaughter on the Strip in Las Vegas and my Chaos took a beating on day #1, and since I was in Vegas, I went on do to other things on day #2 when I overslept.

I use to think that dice did not play too much of a role (pardon the pun) in who won or who lost, but lately it seems like it has been a huge factor. For example: I had 12 lascannons blasting away at another chaos army (that my army outclassed) and yet I lost a kill point mission. I shot for 5 turns at him and I killed one land raider (and most of the time I was shooting at his weak rhinos). This guy could make saves like I could not believe. I had my Demon Prince and a squad of Oblits goes after his Demon Prince and he was the one who won the combat. My Land Raider was shooting at his oblits and I failed to hit one round with 2 TL Lascannons, and the next round I rolled 2 "1"s to wound. Game #2 I did not fare much better when Abbadon rolled 2 "1"s for his number of attacks, and then he got killed by an old-school demonhunters force weapon and got insta-killed.

 

Then last week I was at Da Boyz GT in Rochester NY and I played my foot eldar. My record was:

Game #1 vs Dark Eldar (old codex)=minor win DE are normally a good match-up for me, but the game ended on turn #5. If I get one more turn I massacre him.

Game #2 vs. Hybrid Eldar= Tie/minor loss He wins the dice roll to go first and gives it to me and then steals the initiative??? If I go first I unload into him and cripple him. Instead he does the same to me giving him the game.

Game #3 vs Tyranids=Won/Massacre Tyranids are a very good match-up for me, and I nearly table him.

Game #4 vs. Orks=Loss/Massacre This is where I really needed Eldrad. I left him at home because he cost me 20 comp points, but in this game he cost me 48 BPs. My opponent took down my Wraithlords with big shootas and lootas because I could not make a 3+ save. I needed a couple of fortunes on them to keep them alive. Then I penetrated his battlewagon 4 times and I rolled 2 "1"s and 2 "2"s and from the +1 from being opened topped he only lost 2 big shootas. Then when my Wraithlords where dead and he had his burna boyz in the battlewagon, I knew that he would try for my harlequins so I screened them with my guardians, but I was only able to run 1" with the clowns so he was able to get the tip of 4 flamers on them and he did 9 wounds and I failed 8 saves. Then my warp spiders came out and shot at a boyz squad and then rolled a warp jump of only 4" so I could not get behind LOS blocking cover, so they lost 4 spiders to shoota boyz. And so the next turn I tried it again and I only ended up warp jumping 3" and got assaulted. Then to top it all off, he shot his lootas at my farseer who was with the dire avengers and the farseer took a wound and he died do to being insta killed. That is one of the big reasons why I needed eldrad, not only because I needed a lot of Dooms to slow down that army, but Eldard would have lived and I still could have put up a fight. But once I lost my Farseer, the Avatar no longer had fortune and he was not going to last long, and my army collapsed. Oh and one more thing…My jetbikes flamed a unit of grotz and there were only 3 left. I assaulted them with my 2 jetbikes and the grotz did 2 wounds to me and I failed 2 saves. That was a microcosm of my game.

Game #5 vs. White Scars=Minor Win He played the overall winner's foot eldar so he knew what to expect. I was wondering why he was going after the units he was going for (he made a point of going after my warp spiders) so he had some practice. He outflanked most of his army and I got fancy and tried to block one side completely, but that was a bad idea and made me play the whole game out of position, and on my back foot. Still a smallish army with toughness 5 is in trouble for an army with a lot of strength 6 shooting.

 

 

So Sunday I will play in an RTT at The Realm in Brea, California. I will play the Foot Eldar since it will be an 1850 point tournament and the Eldar are all packed and ready to go, even though I have been tired of them for a while now.

Demonhunters or Eldar

So for the next 2 weekends I have GT level, golden ticket issuing tournaments coming up.

 

I have Neoncon's Slaughter on the Strip in Las Vegas next weekend, and Da Boyz GT in Rochester NY the weekend after that.

 

So I was planning on playing my Foot Eldar, but I am getting tired of them. I get tired of armies really quickly and I switch them out often. I am thinking about playing my Demonhunters. Maybe it is my subconscious that has self defeating tendencies and does not want me to win a golden ticket. It makes me take armies that might not be the very best for tournament play. My very first army was a space wolf army and here I am looking at a sea of space wolves with 15 terminators, 5 rhino chassis with forge world doors, land raiders, scored of grey hunters, 20 wolf scouts etc. Do I play them? Nope! At this point I am glad that I do not own a Necron army or I might be whipping them out.

 

Here is the Demonhunters list that I am thinking about:

 

Da Boyz GT in 1850 points

 

HQ

Inquisitor Lord w/Psycannon, Psychic Hood, Melta Bombs, Emperor's tarot, Null Rod

2 Sages

3 Mystics

3 Familiars

2 Warriors w/Heavy Bolters

1 Warrior w/Plasma Cannon

 

Grey Knight Hero/Brother Captain w/Psycannon

2 Grey Knight Terminators w/Psycannon

1 Grey Knight Terminator w/Thunderhammer, Storm Shield

 

Elite

Callidus Assassin

 

Troops

3 Grey Knights

2 Grey Knights w/Psycannons

1 Justicar

 

5 Stormtroopers w/2 Melta Guns

Chimera w/Multi-laser, Hull Heavy Bolter

 

5 Stormtroopers w/2 Plasma Guns

Chimera w/Multi-laser, Hull Heavy Bolter

 

5 Stormtroopers w/2 Plasma Guns

Chimera w/Multi-laser, Hull Heavy Bolter

 

Heavy Support

Land Raider

Land Raider

1850 Points.

 

I do not like it, but I am getting squeezed for points. I want a much bigger assault presence and take a GK Grandmaster and a full 4 terminators so I have one unit that can do some damage in assault. I also want one for GKPA to fill out the squad a little.

How to beat a top tier army

Well first off, they would not be top tier armies if they were easy to beat. The top armies are tough as nails, and pack a punch like a truck, so let's try to see if there are ways to beat them. Sometimes you are not able to stop them, but you can slow them down a little bit and hope your strategy and tactics will help carry the day.

 

#1. Fight fire with fire

You can always beat top tier armies by bringing you own top tier army and this is what most people do. They are not creative and just follow the tends and fads of the latest and greatest armies. I would never do this myself since I am an originator, not an imitator but it works for a lot of people. Be warned though, there are several bad consequences to doing this. One is that you will go to tournaments and all you will see are these types of armies and that is all you will play against. Tournaments are already heading in that direction with it being just a sea of Mech Guard, Space Wolves and Blood Angels. Boring! The other problem is that these armies are alpha strike armies (Have an awesome amount of firepower to cripple their opponents on the first turn) and who wins or who loses often goes to whoever wins the dice roll to go first.

 

#2. Build a list to counter the top tier armies.

This is very hard, but it can be done. Here are some things you need to counter those armies

#1. There is a ton of missile launchers floating around so you have to make yourself immune to them. This is not as hard as you think. There are several units that Missile Launchers have trouble killing so let's go ever them:

AV 14=Land Raiders, Monoliths, Battle Wagons; Lascannons have a better shot at taking these vehicle down, but AV14 is almost immune to strength 8 shooting. That is why Ork Battle Wagon builds are some of the most common these days because they are the only thing that gets them to where they need to go. If you look at some of the winning lists at tournaments you will see that they have very few lascannons in them and those are in fragile razorbacks which you should be able to take out in a gunnery duel.

2+ Save=Oblits, Terminators, Broadsides: Any of X-wing armies can stand up to missile fire. Loganwing, Deathwing, Vulcanwing what have you. Terminators can take a ton of fire and still be ok. Oblits and Broadsides can too, but when they do roll a "1" they will get insta-killed which is not too great, but with that 2+ save they are still quite durable and can stand up to missile launchers. On average it takes about 11 missile shots to kill 1 oblit.

 

#3. Reach out and touch someone.

As they say, it is better to do unto others before the do unto you!

 

With assault armies there is a bunch of nastyness that needs to be taken out on the other side of the board and you need to get to it in a hurry and destroy it. So if you are an assault army you need to get to where you are going to in a hurry because you will not have any time to be standing around. That means that you either need to be super fast (Dark Eldar) or have some deployment rules that get you to where you need to be safely like Deep Strike, Outflank, Infiltrate etc.

 

For shooting armies you need to take down their threats at range. I myself prefer to pack a lot of Lascannons in my armies. Sure the kids these days love their melta, but in a lot of cases, it is not only hard to get that close, but you don't want to be that close. If you are able to melta a Battle Wagon you are too close. They should come with a bumper sticker that says if you are close enough to get an extra penetration dice, you are too close. Enough Lascannons can stop a battle wagon rush before it even gets started. As far as stopping the soft targets you will need something that can take them down as well because you will need to kill infantry at range. You will have to deal with long fangs and lootas and a bunch of other units so it might be nice to have answer to the question of what am I going to do about them? Since they will be in cover most of the time it is best to deal with them with a fast moving units that can flame, come in from different board edges, or throw a lot of lead down-range.

 

#4. Go against the Meta

Everyone knows that the best way to win is to Mech up. There are so many vehicles out there these days that armies are filled with nothing but tanks and Melta weaponry. So you need to go in the other direction and leave the tanks at home, and take an army without much in the way of high priority targets were Melta can hurt you. This is why my foot eldar works so well. Without wave serpents to shoot down, there is not too much in the way of high priority targets to shoot at. I have a lot of junky troops and the rest is durable wraithlords and an avatar. You can also do it with the tyranids by building a little bug horde, or a lot of Ork Boys. Since there has been a huge meta shift to mech and anti-mech weapons, if you eschew them for a horde army, you might be in good shape. I played against a Tryanid player at the So Cal Smackdown last month and when I hit him with my Warlock's Destructor he remarked that no one in his other 4 games that he played brought flamers.

Adepticon 2011

It looks like the time to register for Adepticon 2011 is here.

 

They have 256 spots for the 40K championships open and they are not going to be adding any more (which makes since in an elimination format). In a couple of days they are already down to 150 open slots, so if you are thinking about going I would jump on it. Every year they sell out earlier and earlier. Last year they sold out around the end of January and the way that they have been moving they might not make it to December (or possibly November).

It's dead Jim!

Well my hard drive died this week. It was so young, so full of life (and programs).

I had to buy a new hard drive and I have spent the last couple of days loading drivers and programs. I wonder if I have to buy Army Builder again. I also lost my pictures for, and my bat reps of the So Cal Smackdown.

How to build a winning a tournament list.

Well, there are several things that you need to keep in mind when building a winning tournament list.

 

#1. Be able to achieve the mission objectives

The first thing you need to do is pretty obvious: You need win your games.

This means not only to be able to crush your opponent, but take and hold objectives. You need to figure out on your own how to crush the armies in front of you, but for objectives you also have to pack a reasonable amount of troops. The other thing is that you have to get to where you need to go, so that means plenty of mobility. You either need to do it by having fast moving units, or a lot of transports, or durable transports.

In a lot of the larger tournaments they will have primary objectives, secondary objective and tertiary objectives so not only will your army have to be flexible enough to handle a lot of mission objectives, but you need to be able to do several at the same time.

Since TOs will generally be making up the missions, you will play in some missions that resemble the ones out of the rule book, but you will also get almost anything else that they can throw out you. You need to craft an army that can adapt…or you can just table your opponent.

 

#2. Conquer the unconquerable

The second thing you have to do is the hardest one and the most important: You need to beat the top armies. If you can't figure out how your list can win in a game against Mech Guard, Razorspam Space Wolves, and Battlewagon Orks you need to go back to the drawing board.

 

In a tournament you can get matched up against almost anything in the first couple of rounds, and if you have a good take-all-comers list you should be able to win if you are a better player than your opponent. After the first few rounds though you will start to go up against the heavy hitters and you will need to figure out a way to take them out.

 

So how do you beat the top tier armies?

 

That is a good question and it will be the subject of a latter post.

The 11th company podcast

I see Pat from the 11^th company has joined my friends list and I wanted to say a few things about his podcast.

I listen to a lot of 40K podcasts and the 11^th company podcast is my favorite. They are knowledgeable and keep the focus on 40K. When most podcasts are just gaming groups just sitting around shooting the bull about almost everything except 40k, the 11^th company stays on topic with good information, excellent interviews, and tournament talk.

The only part of the 11^th company podcast I can do without is the segment where Neal talks to that one guy for 30 minutes (Farseer Baklava?). That segment drags, is not focused, and unfortunately he is not knowledgeable to discuss some of the things that he is talking about.

I was listening to Darkwynn's interview in Pat's corner and called him the other night and I was busting his balls about his Blood Angels list. I expect to see it or a version of it at Da Boyz GT and I want to see how my mighty foot Eldar do against it.

So Cal Smackdown Batreps

I played at the So. Cal Smackdown in Anaheim CA last Labor Day and had 5 good games.

I am going to write up quickie batreps for game 1 thru 3. Then I am going to do a very detailed batrep for game #4 and depending on how I am feeling either a guickie or a regular batrep for game #5.

Where I will be

Neoncon: Las Vegas NV. Nov 5-6th

It looks like the next event for me will be Neoncon in Vegas. I am on the fence about this one though because it is the weekend before: 

Da Boyz GT: Rochester NY Nov 12-14th

I am flying out there for this event. They have over 80 people signed up and they are a lot of top players. By popular demand, (and they go weill with the comp rules) I will once again be playing my foot eldar.


Edit: 10/13/2010
Since I am going to Da Boyz GT in Buffalo, I might go to Mechanicon on Philly that weekend before and then rent a car and see some sights while I drive to Buffalo.

A quick post on VP vs. KP in response to MBrandt

 
For some reason Stelek and Mike Brandt thinks that the debate is over in the VPs over KP since they posted on their blogs why they think that Victory Points are a better way of determining wins/losses than Kill Points are.


 
I will post why I think that KP are superior to VPs at a future date, and I will look up their posts to see what there arguments are, and why they favor VPs. I will take a good look at them and break down the VPs vs. KP, but for now I will talk about Mike Brandt's post found here:

http://www.yesthetruthhurts.com/2010/09/part-i-balanced-scenarios-vs-unbalanced.html
 
Mikes comments in Green, and mine in Purple:


Mike Brandt; mvbrandt@gmail said...

I really, really don't understand WHY people feel KP, and emphasizing giant crap units that fail miserably at most missions but can in theory "cheese" KP wins, is a good thing.

   

I wonder why you think that giant units are "Crap" units? Let's take a look at Thunder Wolf Cavalry, are you trying to say that they are a crap unit? Nob Bikers? Sanguinary Guard? Seer Councils? (I could do this all night). There are a lot of expensive and small units that are anything but crap.

On the other side of the coin I could reverse this and say I wonder why you think that taking a lot of crap units that fail miserably at most missions other than Seize Ground is a good thing?

Restated, why would anyone WANT to encourage that kind of play? It sells less models, encourages (bad) list building techniques and tactics, and is generally disliked as much as liked.

I did not realize that tournament organizers are part of the marketing arm of GW to sell more models. Not only that, as I stated before you can play any MEQ army and make it another MEQ army no purchase necessary! Again, at the Nova Open you had a blue crimson fist army as blood angels, going against a red chaos army that was space wolves.

Since when does not building a MSU army constitute bad list building? There are many ways to win this game with many build of armies out of all of the codexes. Why is MSU the only acceptable build? And tactics? Are you kidding me? If you think that tactics constitutes rolling dice for your long fang missile launchers, and your razorbacks? Yes, that is some tactics! Try winning with a small elite army, and you will learn a ton of tactics. Try doing a lot more with a lot less, and you will learn to play the game much better than determining who will win the game by who wins the dice roll to go first.  

Ours can't be the ONLY part of the country where just about everyone, when rolling KP randomly for a pick-up game, shrugs and re-rolls. Every 40k rulebook edition has that shitty mission or two ... like Alpha level missions in general in the 4E book. Why the obscene angry attachment to KP?

I can ask you why the hatred of KP? There are a lot of areas that hate a lot of things. There are areas that are still playing 2^nd edition 40k, does that make it the better game? There are people out there that fear change, and refuse to do it. There are others out there that find that certain missions do not give their armies and builds an advantage and they pressure people into dropping them. There are people (like me) that hate Dawn of War, but it is part of the game and I have to adapt or lose no matter what my personal preference is.

 

By the by, MSU takes advantage of the 5x5, which reverses the aim of KP. You have a MUCH easier time "hiding" or reserve-hiding the units nominated when you've got redundancy and tons more units. Someone with a 10 KP army can't really "hide" half his force and expect not to get tabled, whereas someone with 25 KP can much more readily suppress the use of / hide / reserve 5 of the 25. It's kind of an obvious thing, and plays out in-game over and over. I'm not even saying it's bad, but it certainly does the opposite of KP (which is reward low-KP armies and punish MSU spam).

             
            I agree the 5x5 kill point model still does not even the playing field for small KP armies.

So to sum up: I am not averse to modifying the basic missions, but a lot of the alternatives reward MSU armies, and punish small elite armies. There needs to be balance in the game and you can't reward one type of build over another.

  

How balanced missions should work:

In one example someone talked dismissively about is a 4 land raider army. If you took a 4 LR army against an 8 razorback spam army (You can throw in some long fangs too) I don't see why only the LR army should be at a huge disadvantage in both the objective missions and VP missions. The 4 LRs might be able to win in a strait up shoot out with the 8 RB, but there is no way that they can play whack-a-mole to kill all of those units. So in a perfect world with both KPs and objectives, the LR player says that they need to diversify their army more to win objective based missions, and the razorback spam army says to himself that he needs to consolidate his army more to make it durable for KP missions and in the end both of their armies are not on the extremes. The way it stands now with VPs and Table Quarter missions, the impetus is only coming from one side to get the LR army to diversify and not the MSU army to consolidate.

Why do Space Wolves dominate tournaments? Becasue of tournament organizers.

Tournament Organizers are letting Space Wolves win. 

As you can see by the comments below on the other post where I wanted people's opinions on why they thought the Space Wolves are dominating tournaments there were a lot of answers why. Not only do they do MSU well with a lot of razorsbacks combined with good assault units, and then add in Logan, Thunderwolves, some of the best anti-psycher abilities, and 4 HQ units means that they and a tough army to face. Normally armies can either shoot, assault or do a little bit of both, but the Space Wolves can do everything so well that they are able to out shoot most armies, and out assault most armies at the same time.

So almost everyone is in agreement that the Space Wolves are on the top as far as powerful codexs go, so what do tournament organizer do to balance out the armies? They make the Space Wolves even better!

Instead of making minor changes to their tournaments to help balance out the codexes, they do just the opposite and play right into the Space Wolves hands. They are enabling all of these Space Wolf armies and creating a format that rewards them and punishes other armies.

For Example:

Reason #1:Missions

A) Objectives

If you look at the rulebook they have missions that have 3-5 objectives and one that has 2. Do you know how many troops you need to win one of those games? One! Tournament missions love to have 5 objectives, and they reward you with the more objectives that you can hold. Do you know what that does? It heavily favors MSU armies. They also favor armies that have a lot of small troops that can cover a lot of ground and hold multiple objectives. As any Tau player will tell you, all troops are not created equal, and those with bad troops, or fragile troops struggle when you make armies hold a lot of objectives all over the board. In theory you should average 4 objectives, and you should be able to place them where you want to. That way if you do play a small elite army, you can group the objectives together to increase the likelihood that you can control more than one with your army build. I read that one blogger suggest placing objectives in the middle of each table quarter and one in the middle of the table. If you think about it, there are several armies that would struggle with this because they have a few large troop units, but those armies that are MSU can easily take and hold multiple objectives.
 

B) leaving out kill points.

After the Nova Open there was much discussion about VPs vs. KPs. I think Redbeard on DakkaDakka summed it up this way:

Seize Ground (3-5 Objectives) favors MSU armies

Annihilation Missions (KP) favor small elite (deathstar) armies

Capture and Control (2 Objectives) favors neither.


If you use a combination of all of these missions together you balance out the game with all of the different codexes and army builds. On the other hand if you have VPs instead of KP they both favor MSU armies and they will dominate the tournament. If you look and MVBrant's breakdown of the armies at the Nova Open you will see that the worst Space Wolf player went 2-2 and Chaos went 11-21. Chaos is still a good codexs (although with limited builds), but they do not do MSU very well while Space Wolves do. Chaos has a few troop options and some other nice tricks, but they can't be everywhere and do everything like the new codexes can. 


There is no reason to handicap those armies that do not need any handicapping by hurting armies that are small and elite, while helping out the MSU armies. This is one of the reason why I think that Blood Angels did not do as well as their older MEQ cousins is because they have very expensive units and they operate as an elite force and the lack of KP missions in exchange for VP missions hurt them. For example, you shoot down one Stormraven there is 200 VPs right there. Do you know how hard it is to get 200 VPs from a Razorback spam Space Wolf army? 


War Game Con/Bolscon did not have any KP missions as well, and the upcoming Battle for Salvation has one VP missions and one KP mission. It will be interesting to see how the MSU armies do in the KP missions, but it is one of the later games and I would imagine that MSU armies will just be facing up against other MSU armies and the game will go to the player who wins the dice roll to go first.

Speaking of the dice roll to go first deciding who will win…

Reason #2: Terrain

This is one that people do not even think about anymore. Everyone thinks some terrain that obscures vehicles is ok these days, and that they play in mostly open table tops where nothing blocks LOS. The problem I think is that we have started to get use to this since 4^th edition was so long ago.


Let's go back to 4^th edition and see what terrain they had. Hills were certain levels and most where level 3 terrain that blocked LOS to anything behind it no matter how tall the hill really was. Forests completely blocked LOS to anything behind them as well. So what you had were several pieces of terrain that you could hide almost an entire army with or at least a lot of important units that you did not want to die on the first turn. Since you did not know who was going first, you had to set up both offensively and defensively so you would not get crippled on the first turn.


Now let's go to 5^th edition and we are using the same forest that we used in 4^th edition, but they no longer block LOS or rarely even obscure vehicles. We are using the same hills, but they do not block LOS to any large vehicles. I have only played on a couple of tables in all of my tournaments where you could hide a Land Raider or a Defiler but in 4^th edition all of the tables had some place where you could place them without fear of them getting shot at.


The deployment rules have changed in 5^th edition where the player who goes first sets up and then the player who goes second gets to react to that placement. That is suppose to mitigate the advantage of going first, but when you can't hide anything from your opponent's fire, there is nothing you can do to prevent them having a huge advantage. Sure you can start your army in reserve, but that is only good for a very few armies, and the fact that you do not know which units you are getting, and that you are coming on piecemeal is a recipe for disaster for most armies. 


So this gives Alpha strike armies a huge advantage. You go first you can cripple your opponent's army and almost insure a win. Go second and you are still have a good chance of winning unless you are facing another Alpha strike army. This also means that static shooting units are undercosted like Long Fangs and Lootaz. They have the inherent disadvantage of being immobile and static and you should be able to use terrain to hide behind, and to neutralize their tremendous firepower. When you are playing on a board with no LOS blocking terrain, there is no place to hide from these types of units and they dominate the game. When you have 15 missile launchers that can fire at 6 targets you can figure out how that is going to go for you.


If you use the tools available, tournaments should be much more balanced affairs, and there would be no need to have comp.  but with TOs making it even easier for the best build to win they are destroying them. If you have read some Battle Reports out of Nova Open or War Games Con everyone is playing Space Wolves and Blood Angels. I do not know about you, but I like facing a variety of armies and players, and I do not want to play the same armies again over, and over. I can stay home and do that.  


What do you think?

Why are Space Wolves dominating the tournament scene?

So why do you think Space Wolves are dominating the tournament scene?

Sure they are a newer codex and codex creep is certainly a factor, but Tyranids and Blood Angels seem to be struggling and they are the latest codexes.

Let's look at the Nova Open where they had a ton of Space Wolves and the worst one went 2-2 and they had 5 out of the 8 top finishers playing Space Wolves.

I played them at the team tournament at War Games Con and it was like playing Chaos on easy mode.

 

I am going to post a very long article on why I think they are doing so well, but what does everyone think the reason why they are doing well is?

 

 

My So. Cal. Smackdown Eldar list

After reading the missions for the So. Ca. Smackdown (found here ) I went back to the future and ran my 2007 GT list that I had a lot of success with going 9-0-1 at the Las Vegas GT and the Baltimore GT.

Well a lot of things have changed since then with going from 4^th edition to 5^th, but the new codexes so I will get to see how well the old list stacks up. 

My List

HQ

Eldrad

Avatar 

Elites

4 Harlequins w/2 Fusion Guns and 3 Kisses

Shadow Seer w/Kiss

Troupe Leader w/Power Weapon

3 Harlequins w/2 Fusion Guns and 3 Kisses

Shadow Seer w/Kiss

Troupe Leader w/Power Weapon 

Troops

10 Guardians w/Bright Lance

10 Guardians w/Bright Lance

10 Guardians w/Bright Lance

3 Eldar Jetbikes w/Cannon

Warlock w/Singing Spear, Destructor

3 Eldar Jetbikes w/Cannon

Warlock w/Singing Spear, Destructor 

Heavy Support

Falcon w/Missile Launcher, S. Cannon, and all of the upgrades

Falcon w/Missile Launcher, S. Cannon, and all of the upgrades

4 Dark Reapers

Dark Reaper Exarch w/ Missile Launcher, Fast Shot

I will be writing up my batreps this week as well as thoughts on my list and how it preformed.

Local GT Failure.

The weekend after Labor Day they were going to run a local GT level event called "The Tides of War". The only one that I can play in and sleep in my own bed and have a chance at a Golden Ticket, but it looks like it is not to be.

Well, as it turns out that they had only 2 people sign up for it and had to cancel it. 

I got some flack because I posted that I wanted to go and I did not pre-register and they wanted to know why.

And here is why:

Getting ready for the So Cal Smackdown

Well after a long hiatus it is time once again to bring forth the foot Eldar to the So Cal Smackdown on Labor Day.

 

I have only played my Eldar twice this year at the Broadside Bash and at the 'Ard Boyz prelims. I have gone 6-1-1 with them, but there are now a ton of Space Wolves and Blood Angels players and I get to see if the humble foot Eldar still have what it takes to go up against the heavy hitters in 5^th edition.

 

Because of the missions of the So Cal Smackdown I am going to modify my list just a little bit and take a couple of falcons to help out with a bit of the mobility issues the army has. Sure I feel a little dirty and like I am cheating taking them, but hey, I need a golden ticket. If it were not for the missions, I would not take them and I would take Wraithlords instead, because you end up saving a lot of points in your army that can be applied elsewhere. In these missions though, nothing is as good as taking a couple of resilient, fast moving, transports. Last time I failed to build my army around the missions, and just took whatever army I wanted to and it ended up biting me on the rear for not specializing, so I will not make the same mistake twice.

 

So now I get to work on my Jetbikes. I have been using some bad models for them in the past, and I am converting some to be Harlequin Jetbikes to also go with a future Harlequin army.

 

Took my Demonhunters to a 1750 RTT

Well, I took my Demonhunters to an RTT Saturday. 

My List was:

HQ

Inquisitor Lord w/Psycannon, Null Rod, Emperor's Tarot, Psychic Hood

3 Mystics

2 Sages

1 Familiar

3 Warriors w/2 Heavy Bolters, Plasma Cannon

Brother Captain w/Psycannon 

Elite

3 Terminators w/Thunder Hammer/Storm Shield, Psycannon

1 Brother Captain w/Psycannon

Vindicare assassin 

Troops

5 Grey Knights w/2 Psycannons

1 Justicar

5 Grey Knights w/2 Psycannons

1 Justicar

5 Imperial Storm Troopers w/2 Melta Guns

Chimera w/Multi-Laser, Heavy Bolter

5 Imperial Storm Troopers w/2 Plasma Guns

Chimera w/Multi-Laser, Heavy Bolter 

Heavy Support

Land Raider

So for those keeping track at home, that is 42 shots at strength 5 and 6.  

Game #1

I was matched up against a Tyranid player in the KP mission. He advances and I shot him up, and he made a ton of cover saves. I charge the Tyrant with his one tyrant guard with my terminators and I was cut down. The game ended after 3 turns (I hate short games) and I lost 3 KP to 2. Loss 

Game #2

I was matched up against a Mech Eldar player in a command and control mission. He kept on turning his rear to me to disembark his Fire Dragons. If it was not for that, I only have the Land Raider that can hurt him, but he took that out pretty early. I was stunning him a lot, but that was not a shooting war I can win. He ended up on my objective, andilling my contesting unit. I had another that was going to contest and kill his wave serpent, but the game ended on turn #5 : Loss 

Game #3

I get rewarded with my loss by facing Mech Guard with 3 objectives. Well this is not that army I wanted to face…ever. So I he starts by killing my Land Raider with a Medusa or a Manticore (I always get those 2 mixed up). Well that is it for my anti-tank. I end up knocking the gun off of the medusa though with a Psycannon, so that was a big break. One of my Melta gun guardsmen (who was all by himself at the end of the game) accounted for a Vendetta, 2 Chimeras, and a Devil Dog and to top it off he was trying to hold an objective at the end. That boy was a killer! But in the end Paask in a LR Executioner was mowing down my Grey Knights, and there was nothing I could do about it. He had one objective, and he was contesting mine. I screwed up because next time I need to put all of my Grey Knights on the objectives. I have one in a building on the other side of the board, and I needed them to be on the objective when the other squad got shot off of it. 

Well, I tried out the Vindicare assassin for the first time…I was not impressed. He can put a wound or 2 and then dies. Not that useful as I had thought. That Caldious is still my favorite assassin. 

It is funny going back to Demonhunters and looking what the new codexs can do. Wow is there is no comparison. The new codexs get more attacks at a cheaper price with a lot of options for re-rolls. Where their terminators use to be good are now below average at a huge cost. Oh well, I will just wait a few months until their new book comes out. Too bad too because my grey knights look great. 

They might be able to work with 2 Land Raiders and 2 Dreadnoughts, but it is not worth it at this point adding an army that will be going through a lot of changes.

Demonhunters or Space Wolves?

Here I am again with a few weeks before a couple of tournaments still waffling between two armies.

I am always struck with indecision before GTs and this paralysis is one of the reasons why I suffer with poor paint scores because I am still deciding which army to play up until nearly the last moment.

So I am down to 2 choices: Demonhunters or Space Wolves.


Demonhunters
Pros:
If you win a GT level event with pure Demonhunters, everyone is impressed.
No one plays against Demonhunters, and don't know what to expect.
Lots of unique units/tricks
I like playing armies no one plays
Better comp/sports scores? (If applicable)
Great looking models

Cons:
Way, way, way over priced
Weak codex
Loose some of the prestige of winning if you rely on allies.
In a mech environment, poor anti-tank

Space Wolves
Pros:
One of the best codexes out there.
Lots of good units to choose from.
Cool looking models.

Cons:
Be one of half of the tournament field playing Space Wolves.
Another MEQ army
If you win, it will because of the army you play.


So my question is: Should I play Demonhunters or Space Wolves?

A quick Bols/War Games Con report

Thursday

Well I hitched a ride to the Phoenix airport from my lady-friend at 12:30pm and got on the plane at 1:30pm. Then Southwest wanted to know if anyone would give up their seat because they were over booked. I agreed and ended up getting a voucher worth $450. I can resist anything be the word "Compensation". So it looks like I will be headed up to the Big Waagh in the Bay Area in Oct. and the Da Boyz GT in Rochester NY thanks to Southwest. 

So I get in at around 10:00pm, and Romeo from Battlefoam was on my flight and we took a shuttle to the hotel and we talked about 40k radio some. 

Friday

So I wake up at 8:00am and then I realize that it is 6:00am PST. I work the second shift and work from 12:30pm to 9:00pm and I normally get up around 9:00am in the morning, and this is way early, so I am pretty tired.


I team up with ETC team member Jon Willingham for the team tournament and we are playing Space Wolves.


Wow, what a difference between Chaos and Space Wolves! Space Wolves are so much better. We end up with the final game on table #1 playing against Rob Baer and Paul Murphy who are playing Mech IG. Thanks in part to my dice being on fire we ended up with a win. Lucky for us the game went 7 turns and each turn helped us a lot. They were able to keep us from getting a primary though, and so we ended up being in second place for the team tournament. .


Saturday

Wake up at some God-awful time for a person living on the west coast. Times like this makes me wish that I drank coffee!


So on to 4 games!

Upcoming items

I am still working on my post-BolsCon/War Games Con report, but looking at the score I was right in the middle of the pack. 

I hate being average. So do you know what that means? I have to resort to this:


 Training for my next game!

 

First after Bolscon thought:

I will post a lot more about BolsCon…er War Games Con and here is one thing that should have been apparent to me a long time ago…

 

Re-rolls are everything.

 

Chaos really does not get any do-over's, except for Warptime, so it was a shock to me when I played Space Wolves on Friday in the team tournament I found out it was like playing Choas on easy mode. With all of these preferred enemies and wolf claws and lot of other things they have going on, it was a hard army.

 

So is it any surprise then that Vulcan Salamanders and Space Wolves did the best this weekend?

 

 

Blackmoor’s $20 Challenge

So last weekend I posted on the local boards that I will pay $20 to anyone who beats me in a game of 40K. 

http://www.adeptusarizona.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=2311

Why would I do that?

Well I was really rusty and I needed some practice games under pressure. These games helped me out for this week's BolsCon or War Games Con or whatever it is called.

Things I learned:

Abaddon has a lightning claw.

What Berserkers can kill (not as much as I had thought) since I have never used them before.

I only have 3 troops, and I have to be very careful with them. 

The one downside to this system is that when playing for money, I play for a safe tie rather than gambling and going for the win. 

And for those that were wondering, I did not lose any money. 

I hope to do this for next month because I have the So Cal Smackdown on Labor Day and the Gathering in the Desert Tournament the weekend after that.

So why choose the list that I did for Bolscon?

Well I am a shooty kind of a guy so I always prefer to shoot than assault. I also do not have time to paint up anything to exotic so I am limited to a few armies that I have on hand.

 

There were 2 factors that went into my decision.

1. Can they play fast?
   
2. Can they match up in the current meta-game?
   

With Bolscon Format you have to be fast. You are playing in a 2000 point game in 2 hours, so there is no time to waste. That dropped some of my armies do to their size, and the fact that I am not as familiar with them as I am with the others.

 

Witch Hunters

They are out because I do not know if they can keep up in the current meta game. There are some hard hitters out there and I do not think they measure up.

 

Demonhunters

They are out because they need to take IG and they are not painted yet.

 

Tyranids

There is no way I can get in 6 turns with a horde army that I am rusty with.

 

Eldar

I was tempted to play my foot elder because everyone who has never seen them wants to see them in action, and Bolscon would be a large stage for them. Not only that, but they are good in the current anti-mech environment. The one big downside to them is there playtime. I have lost or tied so many games do to time limits than I have lost on the table top. Although the army has a lot of footsloggers I am pretty fast with the sent up, but when you shoot a ton of shots with Doom and Guide added on that is a lot of re-rolls and then they have to allocate wounds and then you do that all through the game and you are looking at running out of time.

 

Chaos

I have been playing them a lot at the last few tournaments and I have ended my games quickly. There is not much going on with the army after deployment because they generally stand and shoot, so the movement phase goes by fast, and if I do my job right the assault phase goes by fast so I only have to do the shooting phase and that is just "This lascannon shoots there, this lascannon shoots there, this lascannon shoots there, etc." That is one of the huge bonuses for them at Bolscon. Again, you need an army that plays really fast and I still am worried about being paired up against a horde 'Nids and Ork armies, but there is nothing I can do about that but play as fast as possible. I think they pair up well against razor spam, assault and shooting armies. I think they have the firepower to deal with IG. I have only lost 2 games with them, and they were both to Dark Eldar, so I am thinking that if I can dodge them I might be ok. I am not all that happy with my list. I changed some things around and I had trouble finding points for everything I wanted. I had to drop 2 oblits which I hope will not be in issue, but it is a concern with a loss of firepower, although I greatly increase my counter-assault with Khorne Berzerkers and Abaddon to deal with Blood Angels, Space Wolves and Tyranids. To talk myself into dropping the last oblits I changed my Demon Prince from Slaanesh with Lash, to Tzeentch with the Bolt. I do not know if that was a good idea because it not only makes it harder for the World Eaters and Abaddon to get into assault in case I am getting out shot and I have to close with my opponent.

I finally signed up for BolsCon or War Con or whatever it is now

Well, after putting it off for a long time I signed up for Bolscon…er War Con tonight.


I was going with Reese Robins but he had to back out and left me high and dry, but I had the plane reservation and I was thinking about canceling it but I pulled the trigger and I will go. I need a break anyways and I need to blow some of the rust off. I had no partner for the team tournament but JWolf says that he will hook me up so we shall see how that goes.

  
And I think the lists had to be turned in last week, so that will be problematic. I will send them my list which should go something like this:


HQ

Abaddon

Demon Prince w/Wings, Lash 

Elites

3 Terminators w/Autocannon

Land Raider 

Troops

10 Chaos Space Marines w/IoCG, Lascannon

9 Chaos Space Marines w/Lascannon, Melta Gun, IoCG

Aspiring Champions w/Power Weapon

Rhino

7 Khorne Berzerkers

1 Skull Champion w/Power weapon 

Heavy Support

2 Obliterators

3 Obliterators

3 Obliterators



Hopefully I can go up against the heavy hitters of 5^th edition.

40k Radio coming to a town near you (or me)!

Well, I have not been posting these last 2 weeks because I bought a house and I was moving across town. It makes me realize just how much warhammer crap I have when you have to move all of it. Moving the armies was not that bad since most of them were in sabol cases, and foam trays, but the problem was all of the books that weigh a ton. 

One of the positive effects of this move is that I am a lot closer to my FLGS Empire Games. This is nice because I have never lived closer than 30 minutes to a game store, and I am now only 5 minutes away.

The other thing about my move is that I am a couple of blocks away from Battlefoam Headquarters. As most everyone knows, Romeo at Battlefoam bought 40k Radio from Spencer so they will be moving the podcast from Erie, PA to Gilbert, AZ about a 1 mile from me. Since they are going to be broadcasting from close to home, I am going to try to see if I can contribute in some way to the broadcast. I will send my resume over to them and see if they want to use me.
 

Now I am off to see if I can find my Berzerkers for BolsCon.

Can an army win by dominating the movement phase?

We all know that most armies win by dominating one phase of the game. They either dominate the shooting phase, or the assault phase. Yes, there are armies that are well rounded, and armies that are very durable, but for the most part armies win by dominating one of those two phases of the game. 


So my question to you is can an army win by dominating the movement phase? Can you create a small and very fast moving army that can win a game? An army that can out-maneuver other armies, and hit where they want to, and then move on. Something like how a boxer can stick and move instead of throwing hay-makers, and instead of going for the knockout, just throw jabs at the enemy and win through finesse. 

I was thinking about this type of army with my harlequin army. It is small and elite, but it is also very fast. I was thinking about building it around Jetbikes that can move 18" a turn and turbo-boosting 24". Add to this Falcons with Harlequins that can move 24"+12" with Star Engines.

Against shooting armies it will try to get to them in one or two turns, and then try to get in the middle of them and try to wreak havoc. For example a leaf blower-type armies do not like to have models in the middle of it wreaking vehicles, and then using them as cover. It operates by killing at range and taking out anything before it gets close. Especially if you can kill the transports in the shooting phase and assault the contents. 

Against assault armies it will work by moving fast and hitting at the sides of the army so the other units can't support them, and taking out chunks by striking first, and striking hard, and then moving on and repeat the process. 

So my question is can this be done?

Blackmoor’s Harlequin Army

There has been a lot of talk about the Harlequins on the blogs these days and they are an army I have been thinking about playing for a while now. I like the look and the fluff (Yeah, I said it!) of the army.

 

What re-ignited my interest in them was that I found 10 harlequin jetbike face plates at a reasonable price over on E-bay. Normally they sell for around $10 each and I picked them up for around $3.50 each.

 

Since I am a big fan of Fritz over at The Way of Saim Hann and on his blog he has been running a Harlequin based army and I took a look at what he has been doing. He runs an army based around Harlequins, with Pathfinders as troops, and Wraithlords as heavy support. This army would have been great in 4^th edition as a point denial army, but in 5^th edition it is a bit fragile and lacks some punch. I would like to see some more batreps to see what this army can do. Horde armies seem like it is a big weakness as well as mech armies.

 

My Harlequin army will try to stay true to the 3^rd edition Harlequin army that was in the Citadel Journal issue #39. It was a trial list so that is why no one ever real saw it in action. Another of the reasons why you never saw it was that it was not a really good army.

 

Here are the units that were in it, and how I will try to adapt them to the new elder codex:

 

HQ

The Great Harlequin

This guy was the head of the Masque and he can could kick some rear.

4^th Edition equivalent: Autarch, Phoenix Lord

 

Shadowseer

This is the psycher of the masque

4^th Edition equivalent: Farseer

 

Elites

Solitaire

This guy is an army of one. Use to be able to take a unit on by himself.

4^th Edition equivalent: Phoenix Lord (Karendras), Autarch

 

Death Jesters

1-3 guys that are like a heavy support option and are armed with Missile Launchers and Brightlances

4^th Edition equivalent: Dark Reapers

 

Troupes

Harlequin Troupe

They don't need an explanation

4^th Edition equivalent: Harlequins of course!

 

Fast Attack

Harlequin Jetbike Squad

Harlequins on bikes!

4^th Edition equivalent: Jetbikes, Shining Spears

 

Heavy Support

Venom

A Venom was a modified Vyper that was able to navigate the webway. In the game it was able to carry 6 passengers, and had a Vyper's stats.

4^th Edition equivalent: Falcon (Up gunned, and up armored version)

 

So to sum it up these are the units I can use:

HQ

Aurtarch + (Yriel)

Farseer + (Eldrad)

Seer Council

Phoenix Lord

 

Elite

Harlequins

 

Troops

Guardian Jetbikes

 

Fast Attack

Shining Spears

 

Heavy Support

Falcons

Dark Reapers

 

That is not much to go on.

 

So in our next chapter I will come up with some lists based on those units, and how in the heck am I going to win with a small expensive army against the heavy hitters of 5^th edition.

I have been tabled!

 
So I was playing in a "Soft Boys" event that used the 'Ard Boyz scenarios for those that did not qualify for the semi-finals. The winner wins a $200 voucher for the store. So whenever there is big money on the line, I try something stupid. I am beginning to think that I like to lose. Wonder how much money in winnings I could get if I ever really tried, and what is it about me that does not want to win? Why am I not working on a Space Wolf army?


 
So it is time to try out an assault based footslogging Eldar!


The army list and more after the jump:

My Demon list

Well with the new demon models coming out, I thought I would try my hand at a demon list.

  
Since I am a Tzeentch player in Warhammer Fantasy and in Chaos Space Marines, I see no reason to stop now. So that means that I am going mono-god which everyone knows is much harder than the multi-god builds. Especially without the crutch of Bloodcrushers every other list is not going to be as good.

So here is my list...

Foot Eldar Battle Report #2

So I went and finished up the 5^th and final Broadside Bash Battle report. You can see them all here:

Game #1

Game #2

Game #3

Game #4

Game #5


 
Broadside Bash recap

So I finished 4-1 with a Minor Loss, Minor win, Major Win, 2 Massacres


 
Out of 47 players I finished 20th. I got hit hard in the soft scores. I was comped poorly (I guess they do not read the internet to know how bad foot eldar is). My Comp score was 22 which was the same as Reese's 3 Land Raider Space Wolf list. And here is the funny part, Hulksmash scored 27 points in Comp with a Razorback and Long Fang spam Space Wolf list. And people think comp is not broken?


 
Now as far as real scores goes, I got 72 battle points and finished in 7th place.

Foot Eldar battle report!

Like I have been promising, here is the 4th part of our 5 part series on the Broadside Bash.

I played in it back in Feb. 2010 and wrote up the batreps, but did not do the time consuming addition and formatting of the pictures.

Since I do not want to write it again, I will just post a link to it here:
http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/298730.page

You can go down 2 posts if you want to see the first 3 batreps.

Batreps for my Foot Eldar

Here are the batreps for major events that I took my Foot Eldar to for the past year. 

Now I am only posting events that I played in that had 20+ players. I attended some smaller RTTs and won there was well, but they are not worth the time and effort it takes to write up a report. Also I play many armies, and I did not take Foot Eldar to every event that I attended (I should have taken them to Adepticon, but I was in a chaos mood at the time).

2009 'Ard Boyz: July 2009 Mesa, AZ
http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/250049.page
I went 2-1 (In the loss I was massacring my opponent and the game ended on round 4 giving him the win). I also beat the guy who will go on to win the AZ 'Ard Boyz Semi-Finals in game #1.

Slaughter in Space: Aug 2009 Los Angeles, CA
http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/262581.page
I went 3-0 and won the event
I only wrote up a batrep for game #1. Game #2 I beat an Ork army and Game #3 I beat Tyranids.

Wild West Shootout : Oct. 2009 Mesa, AZ
http://www.40konline.com/community/index.php?topic=191410.0;topicseen
I went 5-0 and won the event

The Broadside Bash: Feb. 2010 Los Angeles, CA
http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/281069.page
http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/281688.page
http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/283230.page
I finished 4-1 and ended up 7th in Battle points out of around 50 players
Note: I might write up the final 2 batreps this weekend.

2010 'Ard Boyz: May 2010 Mesa, AZ
http://blackmoors40k.blogspot.com/
I had 2 Massacres and 1 draw

To sum it up I went 16-2-1 in the past year in big tournaments, and winning 2 out of 5 events.

Stelek is off his meds

I was going to write a long post about how Stelek is wrong on all his points and back it up with posts and proof.


I could do that, but why bother arguing with some guy who never leaves his basement? I am out there actually playing in events and winning tournaments, and seeing what goes on. 

Why respond to a guy who has not played in a real tournament in 2 years? What the heck does he know about anything that goes on outside of his house?

He can say all he wants about me, but I will be out there among the people playing the game and having fun. I don't sit around all day thinking about 40k, but I am out there playing it.

I hope so see and play against you all at a tournament soon!

That crazy Stelek!

In this post Stelek once again attacks me:

http://www.yesthetruthhurts.com/2010/06/ah-humor.html

And so I go through what he said and picked it apart and showed his hypocirsy. No personal attacks, nothing that wasn't the truth that I proved by posting links (that I did) and what did he do? He deleted it.

See, Stelek is a legend in his own mind, and he might be one in his basement, but when I showed he were he is wrong over and over he gets angry.

I have to go to work but here is just one gem:

Stelek wrote "Brian could not have beaten me.  Brian did not start in reserve.  Sorry, does a unit of outflanking War Walkers count as 'in reserve'?  Oh right, another red herring,#3."

Let's take a look at Stelek's own battle report:
http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/217737.page

This is what he had to say there:
"His Wraithlords he kept in reserve, and it cost him the game (I can't kill them easily)."   

So I repeat what he said in his own battle report and I and the one who is wrong?

Why I choose some of the units I do in my tournament lists

There are a lot of reasons why I choose the units I do in my army. I will quickly go over some of them.



#1. It is a good unit.

These are the best units in the game and most people take a lot of these units. The best armies are nothing but these units or are built around them. We all should all know what these units are already.


#2. Adding synergy to the army

Some units do not work well by themselves, but in combination they are better than the sum of their parts. An Avatar in a footslogging Eldar list is like this. In a Mech Eldar list the Avatar is a poor performer, but you put him in with a foot army and he shines. He makes the army fearless, he is an awesome counter-assault unit, and a very good fire magnet.



#3. They are the models that I own.
You can only play with them if you got them. This is generally not a problem for me, but it does come up from time to time when I am unable to finish a unit in time for a tournament, or I don't have, or can't get what I want. As Donald Rumfield said "You go to war with they army you have, not the army you want".


#4. Appearance

Here are the units that people look at the army lists on the boards and don't understand why you would take them. The answer is sometimes they look good, but may not fight very well. You know what they say "It's better to look good than to fight good!" Remember that most tournaments are not just a table top game, but a beauty pageant. You are being judged on appearance, so it may be a good idea to take a possible hit on battle points to gain some appearance points. There was one tournament where I was debating what units to take, and I took the better looking ones. I did lose that tournament, but I ended up winning best appearance, so in the end it was the right call.



#5. I like the unit

Here is another head scratcher to people who are looking at a list and wondering why certain units are included. For an example, I love the Thousand Sons. For the most part they were my first 40K army and I really like their fluff (Heresy for a competitive gamer!). So when I play chaos, I will always have them in the army. Are they are very good unit? Heck no! They are bad because with 5^th edition everyone gets 4+ cover now so that diminishes their AP3 bolters, and their 4+ inv save. Add to that that they are very, very expensive, and most of the 5^th edition codex's can cripple your psychic powers means that they are a massive waste of points. On the other hand Plague Marines are the best troop choice in the codex and I own 0 of them, and I have no plans to buy them either.


#6. I do not want to win with what everyone one else wins with. 
I could take a Seer Council or go full Mech Eldar (I own 2 Falcons, 2 Fires Prisms and 4 Wave Serpents that I have never used) or play with Plague Marines. I could play the full Space Wolf army I own or Mech IG that I have most of the parts for, but I do not wish to. If you or I win with a leaf blower list, what does that prove? That Mech IG is good? We already know that. But if you are able to win with a list that others do not think is good, then that shows that you are a good player. In the UK GT finals last year there was a guy who came in 5th or 6th with Necrons. Now that was impressive and showed that he was a very good player, rather than the guys who finished ahead of him with Chaos and the other top builds. Winning is good, but it is even better if you can do it with style, and a bit of panache!



So there are some of the reasons why I take the units that I do, and the reason my some of my lists are not totally optimized. They are my armies and I get to play with the toys that I want to, and I enjoy playing with. At the end of the day it is a game, and one that we have to have fun playing.

Blackmoor’s ‘Ard Boyz report

I had been planning on taking my Tyranids to the 'Ard Boyz but I was unable to get the big bugs and bone swords necessary to get the army together, so it was on to plan B.



So it is back to my old standby of Foot Eldar. I almost switched to Chaos the night before (and maybe I should have) but at that point it was too late.



I am playing at Empire Games in Mesa. Since there are only 4 stores running the tournament in Arizona, and the other stores are smaller, a lot of the overflow came there to play so they had 20+ players.


My list:

HQ

Eldrad

Avatar


Elites

8 Harlequins w/Kisses, 2 fusion pistol

Shadowseer

Troupe Master w/power weapon


Troops

10 Guardians w/Brightlance

10 Guardians w/Brightlance

10 Guardians w/Brightlance



9 Dire Avengers



3 Jetbikes w/Shuriken Cannon

1 Warlock w/Singing Spear, Destructor



3 Jetbikes w/Shuriken Cannon

1 Warlock w/Singing Spear, Destructor


Fast Attack

9 Warp Spiders

1 Warp Spider Exarch w/2 Spinner, Withdraw, Surprise Attack



9 Warp Spiders

1 Warp Spider Exarch w/2 Spinner, Withdraw, Surprise Attack


Heavy Support

Wraithlord w/Brightlance, Missile Launcher, 2 Flamers

Wraithlord w/Brightlance, Missile Launcher, 2 Flamers



4 Dark Reapers

1 Dark Reaper Exarch w/Fast Shot, Missile Launcher





So on to the games!

Upcoming events

Hello everyone! I am in the middle of a move, so things on the blog have crawled to a halt, so I will post some this weekend.

First up it will be my foot elder goes to the 'Ard Boyz.

Then I will finish the last 2 batreps of the Broadside Bash from last Feb.

And the last thing I will write up is a piece on obits, and why they are so darn good!



Here is a list of my upcoming events:



June 26^th and 27^th ConQuest Invasion in LA, CA
July 29^th-Aug 1^st BolsCon in Austin, TX

September 11^th and 12^th Tides of War-Desert Assault in Mesa, AZ



That will do it for summer I think.
I hope to see you all there!!!

The truth about WYSIWYG

I see a lot of people talking about WYSIWYG and wondering if it is ok to play at tournaments without being 100% WYSIWYG.



For example:

Is it ok to use spinegants for termagants?

Is it ok to use a power weapon for a powerfist?

It is ok to use X unit for Y unit?

Etc.



Here is the truth: Tournament organizers normally don't care, and most of the time neither will your opponent. The only time it will ever be an issue is if you get the wrong type of opponent and you start to beat them. Then all of a sudden WYSIWYG will be an issue because then he will start to complain about your models and might have the TO come over to do something about it.



As they say in boxing, 'you must protect yourself at all times', so just as a precaution, you should always be WSYWIG as much as you can, and when you can't, talk to the TO beforehand, and clearly explain to your opponent before the game begins what is, and what is not WYSIWYG.

What I have been up to

I have been getting ready for the 'Ard Boyz. I have a couple of weeks to get ready. Lucky for me the army does not have to be painted. I am torn between trying out the new Nid's and going with the old tried-and-true Eldar. With the new codexes that are out there we are going to have trouble with some of them but Seer Councils are the great equalizer, and I will see if I can make it work.



I may just play both of them and do the marathon 'Ard Boyz. There is a store that has the 'Ard Boyz at night so I can do like I did last year and play 2 tournaments and play for almost 20 hears strait like I did last year.



2009 'Ard Boyz #1 Space Wolves (old codex, a year too soon!)

http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/248537.page

2009 'Ard Boyz #2 Eldar

http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/250049.page

After 6 long games I was beat, that was a lot of 40k in one day.



Also this week I am I am working on some e-mails that I have received asking for Eldar advice that I will be posting shortly. I have not had the time to get to yet, but I will write the posts up at work this week.

Rise of the Swarm

Well after my last 2 outings I was disappointed with the results of my chaos army. While playing my chaos I went 3-1 at the Adepticon Gladiator, 1-0-2 at the Adepticon Championships and 1-1-3 at the Slaughter in Space. 

My 2 losses have been to Dark Eldar, but my ties have been mostly due to the missions. The TOs are writing missions that take a lot of Troops to achieve, and ones where you need to be able to move quickly. My chaos has a lot of foot slogging, and at both tournaments the lack of troops really hurt me. 

But you say that Chaos won the Slaughter in Space, well yes they did, but it was one of the only few builds that win now with chaos. He took a Mech Chaos list with Plague Marines being his troops. He has Mech for speed, and one of the most durable troops in the game. I own 0 nurgle units, and my army is based around Tzeentch which is one of the worst builds that you can do. Thousand Sons are gimped because everyone now gets a 4+ cover save which diminished both their AP 3 bolters, and their 4+ inv save. Add to this that all of the 5^th edition codexes now have anti-psycher wargear, and all of them have new psychic powers that chaos are unable to stop. I was playing against Eldar and my Aspiring Sorcerer lined up a Winds of Chaos template into a Pathfinders squad, and because of runes of warding I lost him to a perils of the warp. That is a ton of points just wasted in the dead sorcerer, and it lets the pathfinders survive, and it cripples my Thousand Sons squad. 

So I thought I would re-evaluate my prohibition on 5^th edition codexes. I looked around and I am seeing a lot of Space Marine players, Imperial Guard players, and a ton of Space Wolf and Blood Angels players. The odd thing is that I am not seeing to many Tyranid players. So I am thinking about un-retiring my 'Nids.

3^rd edition Tyranids

I started collecting my Tyranids back in 3^rd edition. I was playing Thousand Sons as my main army, and they were totally opposite to them. Instead of being slow, hard and small, they were fast, soft and a horde. I had a big jump start with the army because the GW store in Glendale had a special event each week where you bought a box of troops and each week they had a small tournament with them and at the end if you won the tournament you received a free box of models. So I won a lot and had most of my army paid for with my winnings.  

4th edition Tyranids

I did not go very far with the Tyranids in 3^rd edition, but when the 4^th edition army book came out, I built a Godzilla army and started to crush people in RTTs. I won so much in fact, that I retired that army. It got to the point where my opponents hated the army so much that I was getting killed on comp and sports that I was not winning even though I was going 3-0 with a well painted army. My Tyranids had a brief resurrection a few years ago at Adepticon. We put together a stealer-shock list and had some success with it. I liked it so much that I brought it to Games Day LA and was 2-0 and playing on the top table when I drew Greg Sparks in the last round and we fought to a tie and had Scott Simpson who was playing on table #2 leap over both of us. 

5^th Edition

Shortly after Gamesday LA 5^th edition came out, and I again retired my Tyranids. I wanted to stay away from my Tyranids and any other 5^th edition army, but with the missions that TOs are putting up, I need to play a new army. 

Tyranid play

Pros

I kind of like the Tyranids because with the demise of Orks, and the rise of Mech, people are moving away from anti-horde wargear. Now that the Space Wolves and Blood Angels are fighting it out with IG for army superiority, it seems like the Tyranids can slip in now that everyone is trying to stop MEQ/Mech armies. Tyranids also have a lot of good troop options, and specialty units that can fill a lot of rolls.  

Cons

One of my big concerns is that with the tournament points limits going up to 2000 points, in 2-2.5 hours, how difficult will it be to get full games in? The advantage that the 'Nids have is that they are an assault army for the most part. That means that shooting armies will be cowering in the back of their deployment zone. The problems I had with my Eldar is that they are a shooting army and I was lay back and then I have to move up at the end of the game, but if the game went short I could not get to any objectives. For once in my life it might be good if I slow-play ;) The other thing is that if I fight an assault army there will be a big scrum in the middle of the table and that should sort itself out in a short time. Another problem is that armies do better when they fit your play style, and I am a shooter, not an assaulter. I am not aggressive in my game play and I need to change if this army is going to work for me.

Slaughter in Space II batreps!

I brought what I thought was a harder list than what I normally play. Why I say what I thought was harder I will go into at my next post.



My List:

HQ

Demon Prince w/MoT, Wings, Doombolt, Warptime

Demon Prince w/MoS, Wings, Lash

Greater Demon



Troops

7 Thousand Sons Marines

1 Aspiring Sorcerer w/Winds of Chaos

Rhino


9 Chaos Space Marines w/Lascannon, Plasma Gun

1 Aspiring Champion w/Powerfist

Rhino



9 Chaos Space Marines w/Lascannon, Plasma Gun

1 Aspiring Champion



8 Lesser Demons


Heavy Support

3 Obliterators

3 Obliterators

3 Obliterators



More about my list later

Game #1 vs Shep's Mech Guard

His army:

Mech Guard



Mission: 3 Objective evenly placed between the deployment zones

Deployment: 12" in from the table corners with Dawn of War style w/HQ and 2 Troops start on the board.

He starts with a Chimera and it's squad on the board and I start with my 2 troops and a DP.

Turn #1 his Chimera lights up one of my CSM squad that was going to go after the left objective and it dies when he fires his whole army at it.



My turn, darkness! I am not use to using searchlights, and I need to remember to start on the board with a rhino so I can use their searchlight.



Well, time for plan B. Now that holding the objective on the left is off of the table I am going to hold the right objective, and fight it out over the center objective.

We spend the rest of the game trading shots and moving forward.

Turn #5 he rushes the center objective with 3 chimeras. I counter with 3 monstrous creatures and a Thousand Sons squad. I end up killing one chimera.



The game ends on turn #5 in a draw. Not much either one of us could do to get the primary. Maybe if the game went to turn #7 my DPs could have killed everything, or his meltas could have killed my DPs, but otherwise it was going to be a tie.

Game #2 vs. Dash of Pepper's Dark Eldar

HQ

Leilith Hexperax

8 Wytches


Elite

5 Warriors w/Dark Lance

Raider w/Dark Lance



5 Warriors w/Dark Lance

Raider w/Dark Lance



5 Warriors w/Dark Lance

Raider w/Dark Lance


Troops

4 Wytch Elves

1 Succubus w/Agonizer

Raider w/Dark Lance



4 Wytch Elves

1 Succubus w/Agonizer

Raider w/Dark Lance



4 Wytch Elves

1 Succubus w/Agonizer

Raider w/Dark Lance



4 Wytch Elves

1 Succubus w/Agonizer

Raider w/Dark Lance



4 Wytch Elves

1 Succubus w/Agonizer

Raider w/Dark Lance



4 Wytch Elves

1 Succubus w/Agonizer

Raider w/Dark Lance


Heavy Support

Ravager

Ravager

Ravager

Mission: Whoever has the most kill points alive at the end of the game (dedicated transports do not count).

Ok, let me get this straight…I need to kill 5 units that are hiding in raiders and not lose any units to 13 Dark Lances and 9 Plasma Cannons? Um yeah.



What Dash could have done is just fly around in circles, and I would not have been able to kill enough to win this missions.


The game

I am sure he will write more about it, but he made a huge mistake that made it a game. He could have stayed back and shot me off of the board, but he played aggressive and assaulted me with his wytch elves. Normally wytch elves do a number on marines, and they were doing a good job with mine. He assaulted both of my CSM squads with 2 wytch squads each.



What this did was allow himself to be exposed to assault where I can kill the units I need to kill. The weakness of wytches is monstrous creatures. They halve your WS unless you have strength 6, and they take off the extra attack for 2 CCW. Demon Princes have strength 6, and all of their attacks are base attacks, and wytches can't hurt them with their puny strength of 3.



So just when I was assaulting them I pulled a bone head mistake. Now I have never played with lesser demons, and I will go on the record as saying that I will never use them again. So I assaulted the wytches with my DPs and my lesser demons, and the Wytches butchered my lesser demons and that cause a ton of fearless saves on my Demon Prince and my Greater Demon, and that almost killed them. I killed the wytches in the next round, but I was so crippled that they were easy pickings for Dark Lances.



I was tabled on round 4 or 5 and that was all she wrote. I ended up shooting down Leliths raider and in hindsight I should not have. I can kill her and pick up the secondary mission objective and that should have been my priority since there was no chance that I was going to the primary mission objective and I should have just tried to end the round trying with what points I could get.



Game #3 vs. Blood Angels

Mission: You had 2 objectives, and your opponent had 2 objectives and you were trying to keep yours, and destroy your opponent's by being within 3" at the end of the round.



This game is easy to describe. Mepheston came down one side and my Demon Prince came up the other and they both wiped out half of their opponents army. I had a chance to kill Mephiston when my aspiring sorcerer hit him with 2 attacks and was looking to end his life with a force weapon, but I could not roll a 6 to wound.



We both killed one of our opponent's objectives for a tie.



Game #4 vs Blood Angels

Mission: You get 3 points for each force category you destroy of your opponents. (Elite, troops, fast attack, heavy support)



Since I do not have any elites or fast attack my opponent starts out with 6 points.



He has Astorath and a lot of troops. He rolled and all of them got furious charge and fearlessness.

He started by running at me. I started by running at him since I think I can take him.



We end of in a big fight in the middle of the table. It was a good fight since CSMs have more attacks than his tac squads, but he has FNP. The problem was that the Demon Princes don't care about all of the Feel No Pain, and started butchering them.



At the end of the game I wiped him and he saw the writing on the wall so he jumped his last tac squad with a sanguinary high priest into a rhino and drove across the table to hide with an attack bike that I rolled a 1 to wound with a lascannon and it lived.



So he had an elite with the SHP, a troop with the tac squad and a fast attack with the attack bike. I had lost the greater demon to the Death Company.



I nearly tabled him and it was a tie.

Game #5 vs Foot Eldar

How dare someone try to beat with my specialty!!!!

Mission: Kill points.


I nearly table him and I win the game.



The secondary objective was to get 2 points for each table quarter you hold, and I only had 2 troops left so I only got 4 points. The only ones who got max points where IG who have a ton of scoring units.