Tau!!!

I have never really liked Tau, and they never appealed to me.


 
Then 3 years ago we used them for the team tournament and I kind of found myself enjoying them. For the most part I play shooting armies, so the army would be a good fit with my play style.


 
In the past few days I have had a hankering to play them. When this feeling comes on, I make sure to lie down until it passes, but I am starting to get the urge. Maybe I will cross over to the darkside and embrace the greater good. Another thing that is drawing me to them like a moth to a flame is that everyone says that they can't win a tournament, and there is nothing I like better than a challenge.


 
On a side note, just what I need, anther army!

Death by Adepticon!!!

So I was going over my schedule and I have more than a full weekend ahead of me.


 
Thursday

I fly into Midway at 3:45pm and hitch a ride with my teammates Yackface and Jathkin to Lombard, IL.

I have a seminar that night where we will be discussing tactics, and after that I will be playing a demo game against Spacecurves who is the captain of the American ETC team.


 
Friday

I start my day with the Gladiator Tournament. Not my favorite event by any means, but there is nothing else going on during the day, and I have to play in it if I want to be a part of the ETC.

Then after that wraps up at 10:00pm I am going to Golden Demon winner Chris Borer's seminar on how to paint better. I want to get some tips on painting red and gold for my upcoming pre-heresy Thousand Sons. That seminar should get out around midnight.


 
Saturday

This is where the pain begins. I am use to going to bed at 1 or 2am Pacific Time, so when I go to Chicago I just lay in bed until my body knows it's time for sleep which is 3:00am Central Time.

Then I get up to play in the Team Tournament at 6:30am (4:30am PST). They want us down there and set up at 7:00am. Then what we do before the first game at 9:00am is go to breakfast together. Since team Dakka Dakka Detachment #1 is one of the rare teams that do not live near each other, this is our one time to go over the army, and have a brief talk about strategy. For the first time we are going to be joined by team Dakka Dakka Detachment #2 at the breakfast, and we will try to help them out as much as possible.

Then 4 more games and we get out at 10:00pm. This is the one time I have to go out to dinner with all of the tournament regulars I see around at all of major tournaments. Since GW canceled their GTs we don't have a chance to really hang out anymore and this is the one time we are together.


 
Sunday

So after a late dinner, we are up again at 6:30am (4:30 pst) and get ready for the 40K championships that start at 7:00am.

I am glad that I took Monday off and I do not have to run to the Airport like I always have to do on Sunday night, and I can relax a bit.

Then later that night they are having an after con mixer/poker tournament that I signed up for.


 
Monday

I get to sleep in and take my time heading to the airport.

I will say the same thing that I always do like "I am never going to play in all of the 40k games again".


 
I love Adepticon, but I am glad it is only once a year, because that is way too much gaming. Normally I swear off gaming for a few months afterwards, but I have to head to LA in 3 weeks to play in the Slaughter in Space.


 

 

 

 

 

Top 10 signs you own too much Warhammer:

Top 10 signs you own too much Warhammer:

#10. Selling your spare stuff might be enough for a down payment for a home.


 
#9. You don't need to buy the latest army that they released a codex for because you already own it.


 
#8. You end up buying a rune priest because you can't find the one you thought you have, and then you find it and now have one too many.


 
#7. You are trying to get down to only 5 armies


 
#6. You are slow to work on armies, and you have a complete unbuilt pre-heresy Thousand Sons army, Noise marine army, and Night Lords armies, and that is just for chaos.


 
#5. You have 3 fantasy armies and you don't play fantasy.


 
#4. You go looking for your demonhunters army and you can't find half of it.


 
#3. While thinking about building a demonhunters army you wonder how much IG you have and find out that you have 2 platoons of mech guard including heavy weapons squads, and you never tried to build or wanted an IG army.


 
#2. When you go looking for your missing Yriel figure you find your missing demonhunters army.


 
#1. It takes you 3 hours to find your Yriel figure.

Eldar Question!

 
E-mail in!


 
Phil writes-

I know you utilize the Eldrad + Avatar combo all the time. Any recommendations for my build?


 
Here is his list:

1850

Eldrad

Avatar

3 Guardian squads with Scatters

6 vypers with shuriken cannons and EML

3 vypers with Dual Cannons

6 Walkers with Scatter lasers

3 Walkers with EMLs


 
Looks like my idea for MSU (multiple small vehicles). 18 lightly armored vehicles overwhelming the opponents' ability to kill them all.


 
Let's breakdown the list:


 
1850

Eldrad

Avatar


 
One of the best HQ combinations in the game.


 

 
3 Guardian squads with Scatters


 
30 Guardians in a 1850 point game might cause you trouble. If they target them, you might be hurting in objective based games. I know at my last tournament I had 2 players (out of 5) that went after my troops. I would go with some jetbike or some pathfinders/rangers to help you out in the durability department. Also I understand why people go with the scatter lasers with their guardians (because BS 3) but you need to look at your army. Are you hurting for anti-tank, or anti-infantry? You have 12 EML and a lot of strength 6 shooting, so it would be up to you.


 
6 vypers with shuriken cannons and EML

3 vypers with Dual Cannons


 
Vypers are easy to kill, but when you take enough of them with the War Walkers, then they become harder to bring down. The problem with the dual cannons is that you have to be within 24" which means that you are in range of small arms fire, but if you keep them 20" away, and get first shot that should not be a problem. I do like EMLs on Vypers because it gives you 48" range to work with and keeps you out of range from a lot of nasty anti-Vyper weapons like heavy bolters and reaper auto-cannons to name a few.


 
6 Walkers with Scatter lasers

3 Walkers with EMLs


 
24 scatter laser shots is always a good thing. I was thinking about using a WW squad armed with EML for the range, and because you can kill tanks, squads of tanks, Tyranid MC, and horde infantry with them. I would like to know how they work out for you.


 

 
So to sum it up, the weakness of the army is in the durability of its troops, and its inability to kill AV14. I have a lot of brightlances because of this, because if you find yourself across from a Leman Russes, or Battle Wagons, you would have to try to get around to the sides to hurt them, and forget about killing a land raider (all elder struggle with monoliths).

What army should I play at Adepticon?

So the time draws neigh for Adepticon!


With only three weeks to go, I am torn about what army to play in the 40k championships. So I turn to the Dakka Dakka members for guidance.



I have the choices of 3 1850 point armies to play:



Army #1. Foot Eldar



Reecius put up an article in BoLS about how good foot Eldar is, and everyone attacked him for it.

http://www.belloflostsouls.net/2010/03/40k-tactics-winning-with-eldar-foot.html

Even though the army he posted would not be an army that I would play, the idea that you can win with any foot elder army was viciously attacked by the denizens of BoLS and YTTH. How much winning do I have to do for people to think it is a viable 5^th edition army? I do well at tournaments, and several other people like Darth Diggler, and Inquisitor Malice do as well, but still the army gets no respect. I am getting burned out of playing the army though and even if I keep winning with it, unless I play the doubters and whip them like they owed me money, then they will just remain ignorant of the strength of the foot eldar. I guess until you eat 60, strength-6 shots, you just will not know how good the army is.



HQ

Avatar



Farseer w/Spirit Stones, Stones of Warding, Stones of Witnessing, Doom, Guide, Fortune



Elites

6 Harlequins w/Kisses

1 Shadowseer w/Kiss, Fusion Pistol

1 Troupe Leader w/Power Weapon and Fusion Pistol



Troops

10 Guardians w/Brightlance

10 Guardians w/Brightlance

10 Guardians w/Brightlance



9 Dire Avengers

1 Exarch w/2 S. Catapult, Bladestorm



3 Jetbikes w/Shuriken Cannon

1 Warlock w/Singing Spear, Destructor



Fast attack

7 Warp Spyders

1 Warp Spyder Exarch w/dual spinners


Heavy Support

3 War Walkers w/Scatter Lasers



Wraithlord w/Brightlance, Missile Launcher

Wraithlord w/Brightlance, Missile Launcher



Army #2 Chaos Space Marines



I am thinking about playing this army because over the summer I am going to build a pre-heresy Thousand Sons army. Although this army will not be pre-heresy, it will mirror the build. It is also my best painted army, so in a tournament with a lot of soft scores it will do well. The downside is that I have not played it since I won a 3 game RTT in Aug, so I might be a bit rusty.



Army List



HQ

Ahriman



Demon Prince w/MoT, Warptime, Winds of Chaos, Wings



Elite

Dreadnought w/TL Autocannons



Troops

9 Chaos Space Marines w/Lascannon, Plasma Gun

Aspiring Champion



9 Chaos Space Marines w/Lascannon, Plasma Gun

Aspiring Champion w/Powerfist

Rhino



8 Thousand Sons Marines

1 Aspiring Sorcerer w/Bolt of Change

Rhino



Heavy Support

2 Obliterators

2 Obliterators



Land Raider



Army #3 Demonhunters

I am thinking about playing this army because everyone says that Demonhunters can't win in a competitive tournament. They were lumping this army in with the Tau and Necrons as being unwinnable. I think you can win a tournament with any army, and it is the player skill and not the codex that determines if you can win or not, or basically what I am saying is that you can make a winning build out of every codex. So to put my money where my mouth is, I need to step up to the challenge.



Army List



HQ

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

3 Mystics

1 Familiar

2 Sages

Gun Servitor w/Heavy Bolter

Gun Servitor w/Heavy Bolter

Gun Servitor w/Plasma Cannon

Land Raider



Troops

5 Grey Knights w/2 Psycannons

1 Grey Knight Justicar



5 Grey Knights w/2 Psycannons

1 Grey Knight Justicar



5 Stormtroopers w/2 Plasma Guns

Chimera



5 Stormtroopers w/2 Melta Guns

Chimera



Heavy Support

Land Raider



Dreadnought w/TL Lascannons

Dreadnought w/TL Lascannons, Missile Launcher