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: