Rhellion's Tabletop

GLWL Game 1

2012-01-16T08:38:00.000-05:00

The Great Lakes Warhammer League is under way, and I have won my first game of the season. It was a familiar battle against Warriors of Chaos, which is usually a good match up for the Skaven. Here was my list:

Grey Seer
Grey Seer
Plague Priest on Furnace
BSB
Warlock w/ Doomrocket
Warlock w/ Dispel Scroll
30 Stormvermin
30 Clan Rats
30 Clan Rats
40 Slaves
40 Slaves
35 Plague Monks
5 Gutter Runners
Warp Lightning Cannon
Hell Pit Abomination

My opponents brought a Marauder heavy Warriors of Chaos list, and tried to throw in Death Magic to surprise me:

Chaos Lord, runesword, charmed shield, 4+ ward, bloodcurdling roar
L2 Tzeentch sorc
L2 Death sorc
35 Marauders of Nurgle
35 Marauders of Nurgle
24 Warriors of Tzeentch w/ blasted standard
18 Chosen of Nurgle
3 Chaos Trolls
Chaos Warshrine
Chaos Spawn

Things started off slow for the Skaven, as my long range fire was ineffective and I started out of range of the majority of my spells. My opponent was able to chip away fast at my first Slave block as Treason of Tzeentch killed 16 Slaves fast. His Trolls marching forward a fast 12" immediately up the center made me redirect my attention to them fast.

On the second turn the Skaven power wheel got going and I was able to do some serious damage. Starting off, I only had 3 power dice with the winds of magic showing a 2 and 1. I used my forbidden rod to get another 2 dice and had warpstone tokens to cause an imbalance in resources early. My opponent burned his dispel scroll immediately agaionst Plague, fearing the devastating rip through his lines. I was then able to use my powerscroll to drop 13th down to a required 14 to cast (GLWL rules puts 13th Spell up to 28 to cast) and I got it off without a hitch against the Chas Chosen, dropping them from 18 to 3 models! In the shooting phase, the Doomrocket gets a direct hit, crippling the Marauders on the left flank by killing 25 out of 35 models.

The Choas turn 2 begins with the Chaos Trolls charging my Hell Pit Abomination. I am slightly worried about the matchup, but the Trolls in front are now holding up the rest of the Chaos Warriors behind them with nowhere to maneuver. I burned my Scroll early in the game as well against a Purple Sun aimed for the Plague Furnace.

Turn three, and I'm charging my Furnace into he remaining Chosen to finish them. Slaves joined the HPA in combat with the Trolls to add some static resolution (only 2 slaves in contact), and the Stormvermin charged to finish off the Marauders. Magic was fickle and I was only able to kill 4 Warriors with Plague.

Combat was bloody, as the Marauders and Chosen were wiped out. The Chaos Trolls were taking no damage though, passing 6/6 regen saves. The furnace overran into the Chaos Warriors, which would turn out to be terrible as the Warriors now had a 2+ armor save with the Eye of the Gods roll from the Warshrine.

The Skaven Slaves get flanked by the Marauders next turn because I didn't expect the Trolls to be still around. This turn though I activate my Plague banner, and my Furnace and Monks kill the enemy Warshrine before the Furnace is taken out by the Chaos Lord on the next turn. The Warriors are able to gring down the Monks and cause them to flee, but do not catch them and are blocked by the still surviving Trolls from maneuvering, again! The miraculous Skave Slaves roll double 1's for Insane Courage TWO turns in a row to save the flank of my army, as I now decide to sit back and try to magic the remaining Warriors to death.

I was able to finish up and stay away from the Warriors the last turns. My Storm Vermin had wrapped behind the Warriors, threatening a rear charge and forcing him to play a reforming game rather than committing. This was able to keep them off my lines to finish out. My Plague Monks then rallied near my board edge saving me 300 points! The damn Chaos Trolls still held up my HPA and Slaves with the Maruaders in the flank and eventually my tropps there get wiped out, but not before I was able to 13th Spell the Chaos Warriors away, leaving the Chaos Lord and remaining L2 Tzeentch Sorcerer all by their lonesome to finish out the battle.

In the end it was a solid victory for the Skaven to open up the 2012 GLWL, and I chalked up the 2 points for the win (2 win, 1 draw, 0 loss). For qualifying for the season end tournament, total points scored are important, so I was happy with my 1909 points in the game. Skaven win 1909 - 517.

2012 GLWL Pre Season

2012-01-04T08:31:00.001-05:00

The 2012 Great Lakes Warhammer League is about ready to start, and I am running the Skaven again for the 3rd year. This is the second year 8th Edition rules have been in effect, so I expect a much better rules knowledge and overall stronger competition!

The GLWL is a Michigan-based Warhammer league that runs yearly starting in January. All across the state there are divisions of players that play 5 games for W/L/D points and victory point tiebreakers. The top 8 Division winners then meet up at the Season End Championship tournament in a special championship bracket and fight it out for the League Championship. This year there are 77 participants in the GLWL!!! I bet that number goes up even higher when the Lansing crew that is doing the Warhammer start-up league is more seasoned, next year.

This being my third season in the GLWL, I think it's time to really keep my eye on the prize. The first year, I won the Wayne Division but didn't make it into the championship bracket. The second year I fell short of qualifying for the League Championship, but won the Season End Tournament Championship. This year the goal is to win it all!

Here is the lineup for me this year in the Wayne Division:

Week 1: Warriors of Chaos

Week 2: Ogre Kingdoms

Week 3: Empire

Week 4: Dark Elves

Week 5: Lizardmen

A tough lineup indeed. Good luck to everyone participating in the 2012 GLWL!

Rhellion's 2011 Wrap-up

2012-01-03T14:57:00.001-05:00

2011 has come to a close, and it was a great hobby year. My first serious year of Grand Tournaments and lots and lots of smaller tournaments has really allowed me to hone my Warhammer skills and set my sights on bigger things for 2012.

I made it to my first Adepticon and traveled to my first 2 day GT with Blood in the Sun. Next year I am hoping to make it to a third large multi-day event, maybe even 4 if I can make both Core Comp (in its new incarnation) and Buckeye Battles. I did decent at Adepticon almost breaking the top 20 in both large events, and had an undefeated 5-0 record at BitS but failed to place.

I didn't do as well this year in 'Ard Boyz, getting knocked out of Finals contention on table 2 of the semi's round 3. I'll be better prepared next time! Though I played in a LOT of smaller 1 day events and won most of them, keeping my tournament skills as sharp as possible between large events.

Hobby-wise I 'finished' my Skaven tournament army and picked up a giant Battlefoam 1520XL case to carry them around in to tournaments. Now I find myself adding more and more, wanting to fill the giant case with Skaven reinforcements... and I am close! I also went through a couple secondary armies without settling on a single one. Currently I have a Wood Elf army on the shelf, waiting for some hobby time.

I also picked up a new game in Malifaux! My wife has joined me in starting up her own crews (she has more painted than I do), and we actually have enough space to play in our small home on our 3x3 Terraclips modular 3d terrain. I am mainly a Guild player, and she is mainly Arcanist.

In the coming year I have bigger plans for entering the Skaven in tournaments and becoming an even BETTER player. Practice is the name of the game this year, and I played a LOT last year. Also, I just ordered my Skaven reinforcements to begin preparing for Adepticon 2012 in Chicago. In addition to all of my Skaven projects I really would like to get started on the Wood Elves, if not some other army.

Happy New Year!

New Skaven FAQ is released!

2011-12-12T08:35:00.000-05:00

Big news today as the Ogres get their FAQ. But in even bigger news, the Skaven get a large FAQ update! Lets take a look.

Page 43 – Ringing the Bell, result 11-12
Change the second sentence to “All models on the battlefield
with Toughness 7 or more immediately take a Wound with the
Multiple Wounds (D3) special rule.”

Q: If a unit has its Toughness increased to 7 or more, does the
Deafening Peals hit every model in the unit? Are saves allowed
against Wounds caused by these hits? (p43)
A: Yes to both questions.

Interesting clarification so that now every model buffed by Stoneskin to T7 will take a wound within the unit, and it will single out characters with as single wound that multiplies to D3 after saves.

Page 59 – Life is Cheap
Change to “Poisoned Wind Globadiers and Bombadiers are
allowed to fire into combat. Providing they are not in base
contact with a foe, they can target any enemy unit within range
and line of sight, even if that unit is engaged in close combat.
All successful hits from poison wind globes must be
randomised between the fighting units (1-3 friend, 4-6 foe). If
there are multiple friendly or enemy units, further randomise to
determine exactly which one is struck. When throwing a death
globe do not randomise hits, the models underneath the
template are hit.”

They brought back randomization for shooting into combat for Globadiers that I never use. But more importantly, will they now bring it back for Slaves? I say no, but I guess we will wait and see.

Q: Does a disrupted unit with the Strength In Numbers special
rule get to add its rank bonus to its Leadership? (p33)
A: No.
Q: Is the Leadership bonus from Strength in Numbers limited to
a maximum of 3? (p33)
A: Yes.

I didn't know that we needed an FAQ for this, but clarification is always good.

Q: If a character joins a unit of Skavenslaves, can you still shoot at
enemy units in combat with the Skavenslave unit? (p36)
A: No.

This is a big clarification, as I was on the other side of the argument.

Q: If a template hits a Screaming Bell or Plague Furnace being
ridden by a character, how is this resolved? (p42 & p48)
A: It is resolved as per the template rules in the Shooting at
Ridden Monsters section on page 105 in the Warhammer
rulebook.
For example: a Rock Lobber hits A Screaming Bell ridden by
a Grey Seer. The central hole is over the base. As such a D6 is
rolled to determine who takes the Strength 9 hit. A 4 is rolled
and so the Screaming Bell takes the Strength 9 hit while the
Grey Seer takes the Strength 3 hit.

Another big change I was on the other side of. Will definitely lower the chances I bring a Screaming Bell to the table.

Q: Is the 4D6” line from Crack’s Call a template? (p78)
A: Yes.

Crack's Call wasn't, then was, then wasn't and now is a template again. Characters will get Look Out Sir, but ridden monsters will also be testing on each part, rather than a low initiative monster using his high initiative character's initiative.

Q: If a shot from a Warp Lightning Cannon does not kill a
Monstrous Infantry/Beast/Cavalry or Monster model does that shot
stop? (p68)
A: No. All models are still hit.

This is a huge clarification that I argued based on wording, and feels good to get after the other changes that make the Skaven a bit weaker.

Those are the main points that effect the way I play my Skaven! Go read up on the other changes and get ready for your next tournament!!!

Tournament update, December @ GS

2011-12-08T08:47:00.001-05:00

Another Gamers Sanctuary tournament attended, and another victory. This time I faced off against 3 new opponents (to me) with some of the tougher armies you would expect to face at an event. I brought a similar list to last month, though I removed one clan rat unit and buffed the other to 40 rats, and added more bodies to the Plague Monk unit as I felt it didn't have enough.

Game 1 vs Vampire Counts was against a fairly standard list for VC, but no Terrorgheists this time. Ghouls charging forward with my units having to deal with them were compounded by the table terrain. Half the board was very hard to manuever around because of graveyard terrain full of fences and impassable crypts. It almost forced us to play on a 4x4 section. I magic'd it up first turn and got lucky enough to continually bounce Plague around and roll high for casualties. The first two turns of magical onslought allowed me to finish them off handily when they eventually reached my lines. 19-1 win.

Game 2 vs a Warriors army that can be very difficult to deal with if you don't have the correct tools, but I did. 30 Tzeentch Chosen can give any army a bad day. Fortunately for me this was the game where my 13th Spell dice got HOT, casting it 4 times during the game and not losing any Seer's to miscasts. First turn Plague then 13th wiped out the Nurgle unit, and then I was able to focus on shooting and magicking the giant Chosen block while redirecting with Slaves.Game was a big 20-0 win after I tabled him thanks to a great first turn.

Game 3 was another 13th Spell to start the game. I can take no credit for the victory tactically, but that's alright with me. 13th Spell on the Temple Guard (in range of unit but out of range of the Slaan) to eliminate it. I was able to tie up the horde of Saurus on my flank and eventually lose my Furnace unit to it. I finished them off last turn, but not until after my Hell Pit Abomination got a hold of the lone Slaan who was unable to flee from him. I won solidly 18-2 to wrap up the tournament victory. I also won the award for most objective points, scoring 17 / 20 over the course of the event.

I will be back next month to Gamers Sanctuary with the Wood Elves if they are still in my possession! I didn't take them this month because I am short 2 Treemen for my possible list. Next month after Christmas I should have what I need. Though if you are interested in a Wood Elf army unpainted, EMAIL ME! I am looking to get back into 40K and don't have the funds to start again from scratch.

Also, here is you Skyrim interlude. My bad ass Daedric Bow that I crafted last night with 100 Smithing and Enchanting, and high Alchemy to make crafting bonus potions. Hehe, yes I even power game in 1 player RPG's on XBox.

Universal Battles!

2011-11-22T15:13:00.000-05:00

Today I was introduced to a very cool, online way of playing Warhammer. It's called Universal Battles, and is basically an online map of the battlefield with chat options that allows you to position your models in real-time. Because it updates so quickly with your opponents, you are able to chat and discuss what you are doing, roll dice through the program, and play complete games of Warhammer. It's sooo cool!

Check out a screenshot of the game I just set up with Mr. Grant Fetter. We saved the game to finish on a later date.

Playing games are free, but with a membership you are able to create your own models / units. It also supports a very cool site. I paid $5 for a 3 month membership, or a $29 lifetime membership is also available.

Check it out!

http://www.universalbattle.com/

Skaven review on Ohiohammer

2011-11-14T09:14:00.001-05:00

I was a special guest on episode 10 of Ohiohammer, and spent a good 2 hours talking about Skaven! Check out episode 10 of Ohiohammer by downloading it on iTunes, or their website http://www.ohiohammer.com.

I feel pretty special to have been able to be a guest on 3 different podcasts now. In addition to Ohiohammer you can hear me on Garagehammer episode 28 and The Bad Dice Podcast episode 59.

That's it for hobby new for now, as I have become addicted to SKYRIM!

Gamers Sanctuary 2500 Tournament

2011-11-10T21:14:00.002-05:00

The Gamers Sanctuary in Flint, MI has started running regular Fantasy tournaments every month. I attended their first with the Skaven to see how I could do against a new field of opponents. Here is what I took and how well I did:

My list

Grey Seer, dispel scroll, foul pendant
Grey Seer, power scroll
Plague Priest, plague furnace, forbidden rod
Chieftain, BSB
Warlock Engineer, doomrocket
25 Storm Vermin, storm banner
30 Clan Rats
30 Clan Rats
40 Slaves
39 Slaves
5 Giant Rats
5 Gutter Runners, poison slings
30 Plague Monks, plague banner
Hell Pit Abomination, warp spikes
Warp Lightning Cannon
Warp Lightning Cannon

Game 1 vs Tomb Kings

Lich High Priest
Prince on chariot
Prince
Herald, BSB
Liche Priest
4 Chariots
10 Skeletal Horsemen
6 Skeletal Horse Archers
10 Archers
38 Warriors
38 Tomb Guard
War Sphynx
Hierotitan

The scenario was Dawn Attack, and I had the first turn. To start off, my Gutter Runners were deployed up the middle, and for the first time I utilized Bless With Filth on them. As they were already poisoned, the unloaded a volley of 5+ poison sling shots at the Hierotitan, but cam one wound short of killing him. My cannons unloaded on the chariot block, killing one.

Turn 2 I went on the offensive with my second Grey Seer, Skitterleaping him towards the chariots and titan. After arriving though, he miscast and lost a level, along with Skitterleap. My Storm Vermin slammed into the flank of the Skeletal Horsemen and wiped them out, eliminating the TK vanguard.

Turn 3 the Storm Vermin were able to get into the flank of the King as the Plague Furnace charged the front of the chariot block. In combat the Hell Pit Abomination died to a flurry of Tomb Guard, but not until after killing all by 6 of the unit over two turns. The Skitterleaping Grey Seer while short on mobility, was able to Crack's Call the Hierotitan, a Prince on foot, and a row of Tomb Guard. After the Furnace finished off the chaiots, BSB, and General, my opponent conceded on turn 3.

Game 2 vs Vampire Counts

Game 2 against David's Vampires who I have played preparing for the GLWL Team Challenge, and who I plan on seeing in this year's GLWL League. Here was his list, with TWO Terror Gheists.

Vampire Lord, L4
Vampire
Cairn Wraith
Cairn Wraith
Cairn Wraith
Cairn Wraith
19 Skeletons
30 Ghouls
27 Ghouls
22 Grave Guard, banner of the barrows
Varghulf
Terror Gheist
Terror Gheist

Game 2 being a Battleline, I was able to deploy how I wanted against David's monster mash. I was able to get my army in the left corner and have plenty of time to try and shoot down the monsters while I flanked his forces. It started out well on the first turn when I was able to shoot down the first Terror Gheist with poison Gutter Runners and a Cannon shot.

Turn 2 was filled with magic influencing the battle. David cast Van Hels with his Vampire Lord irresistibly, slamming his remaining Grave Guard into my second Grey Seer's Clan Rat unit, but losing both Van Hels and Invocation when he was drained of 2 magic levels. The Grey Seer survived so that on the next turn he could unleash his own magical flurry, but he also miscast and Dimensional Cascaded! With a lucky roll I survived, and blasted the Grave Guard with the large strength 10 template, finishing the unit off with an unintended explosion.

The same turn, I was able to charge the Vampire Lord who had been left in a small remaining Skeleton unit that had been decimated by the Doomrocket. Able to kill off the last 2 skeletons and defeat the Vampire Lord through crumbling combat resolution, David's army started to crumble around him. On turn 3 I was able to shoot down the Vargulf and 2 more Cairn Wraiths and force a concession from the Vampires.

Game 3 vs Dark Elves

Game 3 vs Adam's Dark Elves was an interesting match. Adam was a new player but handily earned a spot at the final table being the only other 2-0 player at the event. He had a tough Dark Elf list that I had seen the likes of before, but is never an "easy" game.

Dreadlord, pendant of khaleth, hydra blade
High Sorceress, shadow, dagger
Noble, cold one, death piercer, BSB
10 Black Guard, asf banner
9 Cold One Knights
17 Witch Elves
9 Shades
10 Crossbowmen
10 Crossbowmen
20 Corsairs
24 Warriors
War Hydra
War Hydra

I started things of strong on the first turn with a torrent of magic. For starters, I only rolled 3 dice for the winds of magic, but I used the Forbidden Rod to score a full 6 more power dice, and also channeled a die for a full 10 power dice while Adam only had 2. Plague first decimated multiple units of elves, bouncing between units and leaving the Blackguard and the General in a vulnerable unit size. Which then left the opening for my second Grey Seer to use his Power Scroll to cast the 13th Spell on only a 13 to wipe out the Blackguard and the DE General.

Turn 2 was more of the same for me with magic, able to take down the Cold One Knights to 1 model. Turn 2 the tables started to turn as the Dark Elves hit the Skaven lines. A mindrazored, poisoned up Witch Elf unit tore through the Plague Monks and Plague Furnace, killing them all in 2 turns. The Abom and the Storm Vermin got into the Corsairs and a Hydra then next turn, but were routed and the Abom killed while the SV were run down as they fled. Things swung back in my favor as the Abomination stood back up after death with 4 wounds, but more importantly did not give up its points.

Finally I was able to come back strong on the final two turns with more magical onslaught. The Hydras had been tearing through my lines, but on turn 5 and 6 I took out 1 Hydra then another with Crack's call to finish the Dark Elves off. The game ended a solid victory 2100 to 1500 as I secured the tournament championship.

The Skaven win another, and I got some solid games in to prepare for this season's Great Lakes Warhammer League. Until next time!

Adepticon!

2011-11-02T08:55:00.000-04:00

I have signed up for my weekend full of gaming at Adepticon 2012! This yeah my wife is traveling with for her first Adepticon to play in 2 Malifaux tournaments and to take a couple painting seminars. Here is my schedule for the weekend. LOTS of Warhammer!

Thursday: Malifaux CAKE Event

Friday: Warhammer Fantasy Big Brawl (3000 points, 3 games)

Saturday: Warhammer Fantasy Championships (2200 points, 4 games)

Sunday: Warhammer Fantasy Team Tournament (1000 points x2, 3 games)

This year will be my first year playing in the Team Tournament, and I will be joined by fellow GLWL division winner Nik Rodorigo and his Dark Elves.

Sign up fast! I know the Warhammer 40k Championships and the Team Tournament are already sold out! The Warhammer events sold out last year as well, though it usually takes a lot longer.

See you at Adepticon!

Hobby Town tournament report

2011-11-01T08:30:00.001-04:00

I drove down to Holland, Ohio this past weekend to face off against the Ohiohammer podcast crew in a small 1600 point tournament at Hobby Town USA. Things went well for the Skaven, and I am slowly getting back into the swing of things as I start to prepare for more local tournaments, Waaagh Paca, the GLWL kickoff, and the main event: Adepticon 2012! Here was my army at 1600:

Grey Seer
Plague Priest, plague furnace, ironcurse icon
Chieftain, BSB
Warlock, doomrocket
28 Storm Vermin, standard, mus, Storm Banner
37 Slaves, mus
36 Slaves, mus
28 Plague Monks, standard, mus
Hell Pit Abomination
Warp Lightning Cannon

I was running everything with bare bones upgrades to fit it all in, and it worked out in the end after I got over game 1!

Game 1 vs Tomb Kings, I was facing off against 2 Warsphynx's, a NecroSphynx, and a Hierotitan all at 1600 points. I figured it would be an easy task if I rolled up Crack's Call... then didn't roll Crack's Call! From that point I was playing "not to lose" and was able to take out all of his core units (the stuff I was able to kill). I think I made one mistake not going after the flank of a Warsphynx and trying to kill it with combat res with my Furnace, but ity led to combat with the chariot unit and more guaranteed points. His L3 Caster General abandoned his unit and was running around solo at the end of the game, and I failed on 3 chances to shoot/magic him down. Unable to kill all the giant monsters at 1600 points I fall 6-4 in a very tight loss.

Game 2 vs Dwarfs I was able to get off a quick win. Across the table I was facing an Anvil Runelord, Warriors w greatweapon, Longbeards with shields, a large unit of Rangers w great weapons, and 2 cannons and a grudge thrower. First rule of facing Skaven? Never let the Grey Seer use Skitterleap. I then set up Crack's Call with my Warpstone Tokens and took out all of the warmachines except for the surviving final Cannon (that didn't have the flamin Rune). A combo charge of Slaves and the Abom next turn take out the Rangers completely, and I was able to mop up from there to win big 15-0.

Game 3 vs Lizardmen, playing the remaining undefeated player. An ethereal Slaan in a horde of Saurus, some Saurus cav, loads of Skink units, and 2 single Salamanders. I was able to focus on the Saurus unit with shooting and magic over the first 2 turns and get it down to about 20 models from 30-something. On top of three I charged into a skink unit close by with my plague furnace horde, popped them and had set up to overrun into the Saurus so the next turn in combat when I counted as charging. Next turn rolls around and I defeat the horde, they fail their re-rollable insane courage, and I pop the Slaan and run down the horde for a huge 15-1 victory and win the tournament by 2 points.

It was a fun time driving down to see the Ohiohammer boys. After the tournament I recorded a Skaven army book review with them. Be sure to listen to Ohiohammer episode 10 to check it out!

Next weekend I have another tournament up in Flint, MI! Three in a row! Look for a battle report next week sometime.

Team Challenge Results

2011-10-24T14:23:00.001-04:00

After the dust settled and the Michigan team made their way back home, the final standings were 32 points IWFB and 20 points GLWL. Unfortunately we lost the club challenge, but I hope I can speak for everyone in saying I had a great time and the Chicago guys were a great group to play against.

I do think lots of late changes to our team roster and not having a full team hurt us (we had a ringer from IWFB join our team with Brettonians, though I don't know how well he did for us). But in the end there was only a 3 game swing between is and the Illinois boys. I have to take the blame, as I fell with a dissapointed 1-2 record losing to Daemons and Empire games 1 (Dawn Attack) and 3 (Blood and Glory), only defeating Skaven in game 2 (Watchtower). I changed my list the night before, and as usual that was a grave mistake.

I already talked to Chris, the IWFB Captain, and there is interest in them coming over to our neighborhood next year. There was also talk of possibly having smaller teams but doing a full 6 State team challenge similar to the Six Nations European event that is a primer for the ETC. So keep an eye out for upcoming announcements!

Thanks again everyone who came out. It was really a good time.

Here was my final list @ 2000 points:

Grey Seer - 5+ ward, dispel scroll
Plague Priest - furnace, forbidden rod
Chieftain - BSB
Warlock - doomrocket
30 Clan Rats - full command, shields, poisoned wind mortar
30 Clan Rats - full command, shields, poisoned wind mortar
40 Slaves - musician
40 Slaves - musician
30 Plague Monks - plague banner
Hell Pit Abomination
Warp Lightning Cannon
Warp Lightning Cannon

Below I grabbed some snaps of some of the cool armies that were present!

Wood Elves emerging as my next project.

2011-10-17T10:45:00.001-04:00

Yes I do have the army attention span of a gold fish if something doesn't "stick" right away. Lets just get that out of the way. Lately I have been looking around for another army, and with the help of browsing miniatures and listening to a few podcasts I have decided on the Wood Elves. I wanted to build a "good" army to oppose my love for the Skaven, and the tactics and underestimated nature of the Wood Elves appealed to my idea of an interesting army.

The modeling aspect is not lost on me either. I am looking forward to possibly converting my Treemen and Treekin from scratch (er, well from GW Forest sets) and coming up with a paint scheme I enjoy. Right now I am really digging a Fall / Autumn theme with browns, tans, oranges, and reds. Take a look at the models from the GW Glade Guard Gallery that I am using as inspiration.

Painted by Dave Taylor

Painted by David Robinson

As far as a list, I really want to try out massed Glade Guard for a bit before a delve into loads of Treemen and Treekin. The hit and run and massed shooting really interests me. Here is the list.

Spellweaver, lvl 4 Life, wand of wych elm

Noble, BSB, asyendi's bane, hail of doom arrow, dragonhelm
Spellsinger, lvl 1 AL, dispel scroll, ruby ring

18 Glade Guard, full command, banner of eternal flame
10 Glade Guard
10 Glade Guard
10 Glade Guard
10 Glade Guard
10 Glade Guard
10 Glade Guard
8 Dryads
8 Dryads
8 Dryads
8 Dryads

5 Wild Riders, mus

5 Waywatchers
5 Waywatchers
Great Eagle
Great Eagle

2399

What do you think about the color scheme? The army?

Blood Bowl Skaven

2011-10-12T08:20:00.001-04:00

I played a demo a few months back and I really liked Blood Bowl. After that I modeled up my team from plastic Skaven sets but then let them sit. Coming up at my local GW Hobby Center is their first Blood Bowl Campaign, so I decided to stop being lazy and finish my team. I played 1 more game and did well, and the only real problem I am having is deciding whether or not to include a Rat Ogre in my starting lineup for my League Team. If you have any input, or any other Skaven related Blood Bowl advice, I would love to hear it!

The current starting lineup of the yet unnamed Skaven team is:

4 Gutter Runners
2 Blitzers
1 Thrower
4 Linemen
3 Rerolls
1 Apothecary

WAAAGH! PACA planning

2011-10-06T08:31:00.004-04:00

I am planning on a trip (499.6 miles and 8 hours) to Wisconsin in January for the 3rd annual WAAAGH!PACA tournament. More details coming soon, but the GLWL v IWFB is a great start to my list building as it is also 2000 points. Right now the plan is to bring the dirty Skaven.

Here is the new website for this year's event

And here is the tournament pack!

Doomwheel rehabilitation

2011-10-05T19:22:00.000-04:00

After not having use my Doomwheel more than a couple games since 8th Edition came out, I have been writing a few lists lately that include it. Arachnaroks, Sphynxes, Stonehorns and all the rest of the Ogre Kingdoms are a great reason for me to give the model another look in my lists for upcoming events that are limited to lower points values (2000 points).

And to make my Doomwheel playable again I would have to fix some battle damage from my pre-Battlefoam transfering of the Skaven. The banner top snapped off on a cold winter day, and the side attachments were both removed after a failed magnetizing attempt for easier storage. I know have a Battlefoam 1520 XL and a tray designed to hold 2 upright Doomwheels. One space is holding a Hell Pit Abomination, and now the other can hold the Doomwheel again.

This weekend will probably be my first test drive since after the Skaven FAQ that removed its chariot movement and made it move like the HPA again. We'll see how things go!

Comp restrictions that suck.

2011-10-05T13:06:00.002-04:00

The Gamer's Sanctuary in Flint, MI is hosting one of the only local tournaments in the area next month (or any time recently other than one's I have run myself). That would be great news, if their comp pack wasn't garbage. They have a lot of the GLWL system restrictions, but then throw in specific anti Skaven restrictions that they don't also hit any other army with. "You may only take 1 Hell Pit Abomination, Plague Furnace, OR Screaming Bell". Really? Did you get beaten by Skaven that badly that you have to specifically target them, without also taking a look at Lizardmen, Warriors of Chaos, or Dark Elves? It's ok, for Dark Elves to take a Hydra, Cauldron, and Stubborn Pegasus Lord though... we wouldn't want to make it too hard for the Dark Elves to beat the Skaven.

Thanks but no thanks, GS.

http://thegamerssanctuary.com/_PDF/Warhammer%20Fantasy%20Tournament%20Rules.pdf

GLWL vs IWFB is coming!

2011-10-03T15:00:00.004-04:00

Coming up this month is our club grudge match! We are driving to the Chicago Battle Bunker to take on the Illinois Warhammer Fantasy Battles club in a 10 on 10 no comp slugfest. I have had a very off month for hobby work missing out on two tournaments I would have loved to attend, including the final Core Comp. I can only make so many trips from Detroit to Chicago on my weekends. Hopefully next year I can make some more! Stay tuned for a battle report of the day's events later in October, as well as some new additions I have been trying to work on for my Skaven.

In my other limited hobby time I have been building my Gen Con Malifaux models and playing some games with my wife on our Terraclips terrain. After playing some games on it I would definitely IMPROVE my rating to 9/10, the stuff is almost perfect for my needs at home. I have lots of Guild models primed and I am hoping to have a fully painted faction by the next tournament coming up at Pandemonium. I am planning on doing a full battle report of a Malifaux game soon, just in case you were interested in the game but haven't seen Malifaux in action yet!

Keep looking for updates. I'm not dead yet! Actually, let me correct that. My new D&D character died before reaching level 2. I'm now playing a Gnome Bard. Awesome.

-Rhellion

Terraclips Have Arrived

2011-08-17T23:00:00.001-04:00

Today, my sets of Terraclips arrived. Terraclips are a new 3D card terrain made in conjunction with Wyrd for Malifaux and other miniatures games. I picked up the Streets of Malifaux and Buildings of Malifaux sets along with 2 boxes of clips (which are sold separately). After unpacking and punching out all of my pieces, I was unsure where to start!

Then I pieced together the frames of my first buildings, and it started to get easier.

After the buildings were complete(ish) I started to try and get an overall layout setup.

After I had a blueprint of my city setup, I started clipping them together, and added a few more elevated features.

I didn't think I wanted to work on second story buildings at first, but once I started I couldn't stop.

The only thing that stopped me was running out of clips!

My initial thoughts are to rate Terraclips 8/10, they are a VERY nice product that I look forward to playing Malifaux on. Be sure to order extra clips. Lots of people online are thinking they will need fewer... but my setup was pretty simple and skipped a lot of possible connections and I still ran out early. I need another box! I would almost recommend 3 boxes of clips to anyone looking to build streets and buildings. If I had two sets of streets (or sewers) and only tried making elevations and not complex buildings, I may not need a third set.

The only real negatives are that some of the ladders are pretty flimsy, and I don't see holding out for the long haul. Also, I need to figure out a way to best transport this. Any ideas?

Gen Con Malifaux releases

2011-08-04T09:47:00.004-04:00

It's my birthday today, and to celebrate I am spending 4.5 hours pulling my hair out trying to buy all of the Gen Con exclusive and pre-order minis on Wyrd's terrible online store. I finally finished my first order of the new Malifaux expansion and Avatar miniatures, and I am placing a second order of Terraclips Streets and Terraclips Buildings terrain. The reason for 2 orders is a special edition Female Convict Gunslinger model included with every order over $100. Lets just say I could have placed 4 orders, but I would have gone crazy trying to. Here is all of the stuff!

New Twisting Fates book!

Alternate Sculpt Seamus and Avatar Seamus

Alternate Sculpt Lady Justice

Avatar Lady Justice

Alternate Sculpt Sonnia

Avatar Sonnia

Alternate Sculpt Perdita

Alternate Sculpt Rasputina

Female Convict Gunslinger limited model

Nightmare Edition Teddy - Gen Con Exclusive

It's tournament list writing day!

2011-08-03T09:53:00.000-04:00

I have heard the criticism of blogs... "all they do is post lists and call it writing"! It's funny, because that is exactly what I am doing today. In preparation for Core Comp, I have been writing army lists and deciding what direction my dirty, dirty Skaven will be going in for the 2-day 5-game GT. There are no restrictions and special characters ARE allowed, and Composition scoring is a minimal 5 points (1 for each game, yes or no). SO to put it mildly, I am not worried about bringing a soft list. Also, I should expect to face Teclis, maybe Kairos, Skulltaker, Masque, Grimgore, or other nasty special characters. Almost a 2400 point Ard Boyz with painting and Sportsmanship scoring. My kind of event!

Now, to get things started, I have written 4 Skaven lists I think would compete in that environment. I wanted to post them up and see what others thought or even just to start a platform of discussion for Core Comp. The first list is a solid "balanced" list, the second is double Grey Seer, the third has a Bell, and the fourth is double Hell Pit. Have a look:

Grey Seer (G), lvl 4 Plague and Ruin, earthing rod, talisman of preservation
Plague Priest, plague furnace, lvl 2 Plague, dispel scroll, ironcurse icon
Warlock-Engineer, lvl 1 Ruin, doomrocket, warp energy condenser
Chieftain, BSB, shield, storm banner
30 Storm Vermin, full command, banner of eternal flame
30 Clan Rats, full command, shields
30 Clan Rats, full command, shields
39 Skavenslaves, musician
39 Skavenslaves, musician
35 Plague Monks, full command, plague banner
6 Gutter Runners, poison, slings
Hell Pit Abomination
Warp Lightning Cannon
Warp Lightning Cannon

2400 - 216 models

Grey Seer (G), lvl 4 Plague and Ruin, earthing rod, talisman of preservation
Grey Seer, lvl 4 Plague and Ruin, warp energy condenser, dragonbane gem
Plague Priest, lvl 1 Plague, plague furnace, dispel scroll
Chieftain, BSB, storm banner
Warlock Engineer, doomrocket
30 Storm Vermin, full command, banner of eternal flame
40 Clan Rats, full command, shields
39 Skavenslaves, musician
39 Skavenslaves, musician
5 Giant Rats, 1 packmaster
5 Giant Rats, 1 packmaster
35 Plague Monks, full command, plague banner
6 Gutter Runners, poison, slings
Hell Pit Abomination
Warp Lightning Cannon

2399 - 208 models

Grey Seer (G), lvl 4 Plague and Ruin, screaming bell, earthing rod
Plague Priest, lvl 1 Plague, plague furnace, dispel scroll, ironcurse icon
Chieftain, BSB, storm banner
Warlock Engineer, doomrocket
50 Clan Rats, full command, shields
30 Storm Vermin, full command, banner of eternal flame
39 Skavenslaves, musician
39 Skavenslaves, musician
40 Plague Monks, full command, plague banner
5 Gutter Runners, poison, slings
Hell Pit Abomination
Warp Lightning Cannon
Warp Lightning Cannon

2400 - 210 models

Grey Seer (G), lvl 4 Plague and Ruin, earthing rod, talisman of preservation
Plague Priest, lvl 1 Plague, plague furnace, dispel scroll, ironcurse icon
Chieftain, BSB, storm banner
Warlock Engineer, doomrocket
30 Storm Vermin, full command, banner of eternal flame
30 Clan Rats, full command, shields
30 Clan Rats, full command, shields
39 Skavenslaves, musician
39 Skavenslaves, musician
5 Giant Rats, 1 packmaster
5 Giant Rats, 1 packmaster
5 Giant Rats, 1 packmaster
35 Plague Monks, full command, plague banner
5 Gutter Runners, poison, slings
Hell Pit Abomination
Hell Pit Abomination

2399 - 232 models

1500 point tournament report

2011-08-02T08:49:00.003-04:00

I made a trip down to the Toledo Game Room this past Sunday to play in a 1500 point Warhammer Fantasy tournament. The only restrictions were no Lords and no Special Characters. I had planned on bringing Tomb Kings to this event, but since I no longer have Tomb Kings (but have a lot more Malifaux!) I brought the tried and true Skaven for a tournament romp. This list I brought was very solid, as you will see...

Plague Priest, General, lvl 1 plague lore, plague furnace, dragonbane gem
Chieftain, BSB
Warlock Engineer, doomrocket

30 Stormvermin, standard, musician
30 Clanrats, standard, musician
30 Skavenslaves, musician
30 Skavenslaves, musician

30 Plague Monks, standard, musician
5 Gutter Runners, slings

Hell Pit Abomination
Warp Lightning Cannon

The list was built around having the two heavy hitters, lots of possible Steadfast troops, and support from the 3 ranged threats.

Game 1 vs Warriors of Chaos. The Warriors brought 2 blocks of Tzeenth Warriors, a Warshrine, and 2 Heroes including a BSB. Unfortunately for Robert I was easily able to use my vastly higher numbers to overcome his small list. Early on the HPA rolled triple 6's to move at an angle but still towards the WoC, opening him up for a charge. He stayed Stubborn, only to again get charged by the Warshrine. Again he stayed Stubborn, with 1 wound left, in time for the Plague Furnace horde to charge in and break through. The Warrior block with characters and the Warshrine were eventually both run down.

win 18-8

Game 2 vs Orcs and Goblins. Game 2 was vs a full Goblin list that had a lvl 2 Night Goblin, lvl 1 Goblin, and 3 Goblin Heroes (inc BSB). There were 2 50 night goblin blocks, 2 20 night goblin archers, 8 total fanatics, 2 bolt throwers, a rock lobba, and an Arachnarok. I had the lick of rolling Plague for my Priest this game, and it would greatly effect the outcome. First turn my Gutter Runners were able to kill the Lobba with 10 non-poisoned shots, which was lucky. The Cannon put 3 wounds on the Arachnarok... but my opponent held back as I advanced. Turn 2 I got off Plague and killed about 70 Night Goblins across both units. Lots of failed panic tests later (the scenario rules also gave both armies -1 LD this turn so I knew to press the action) I was soundly in control, and by the third turn my opponent conceded. I was able to avoid the majority of the fanatics and take apart the rest.

win 20-5

Game 3 vs Orcs and Goblins. A more varied list, this game had both Orcs and Goblins. Orc Heroes, inc BSB, 30 Orc Horde, 40-50 Goblins with fanatics, 3 Trolls, 6 Trolls, Single Orc Chariot x3, Rock Lobba, 2 Doom Divers, 2 Mangler Squigs. I thought it was a solid list, and I knew I wanted to get my Plague Monk horde in against the Orc horde. Their lack of serious army meant I knew i could perform well against them. The scenario rules were to pick up tokens, and not about any victory points, though, so I focused on the objective first. I set up on the line in Meeting Engagement deployment and started gathering tokens. Early on I charged my HPA into the trolls, and lost the HPA quickly. After that I was able to survive artillery bombardments, panic off the trolls with cannon fire, and run down the orc horde with the furnace after lowering it's numbers through shooting. I kept my units alive and used low O&G leadership to my advantage again for the win, and the Overall 1st place in the tournament.

Win 20-7

I thought the event was a lot of fun, and an interesting change of pace. It makes you focus on different tools when you can't take a Lord for high magic support. While I did have 2 giant threats, I still outnumbered every army at the event except the Goblin list I fought in the second game. It was a good break from cutthroat 2400 point tournaments to play in a fun, smaller scale event.

Coming up, I have a 2000 point tournament on September 3rd I am running at Pandemonium Games in Garden City, MI. After that, Core Comp in Chicago on September 24/25th!

My new D&D character.

2011-07-29T13:58:00.000-04:00

It has been a little quiet on the blog front, but I have been doing some gaming, if you follow my Twitter feed. A short break from some Warhammer playing comes to an end this weekend when I travel to Toledo, Ohio for a 1500 point tournament at the Toledo Game Room. The rules are simple, no Lords and no Special Characters. I am taking what I think to be a strong Skaven list at that point level, though it is hard to build what I think is a strong Skaven list at sub-2000 points with no Lords.

In my absence from blogging I have been putting time in with my new game, Malifaux. My wife and I started new crews and are waiting for our bases to arrive from Dragonforge. Her Rasputina crew are to be based on ice bases, and my Seamus crew on cobblestone bases. I have also been working on my new character for my upcoming D&D campaign, a Dwarf 'Slayer' (actually the Ranger class) with dual battle axes. I love the character, and he will of course be played like I envision any good Slayer to be, as Gotrek from Gotrek and Felix. Here are some shots of the model.

Malifaux Tournament

2011-07-18T07:29:00.001-04:00

Saturday I played in my first ever Malifaux event, a 35ss Scrap with shared strategies. It was meant to be the League season end event, though out of the 16 or so players that participated in the League in some form, only 2 showed up. In the end we had 9 players in the tournament for a disappointing turnout, but a good time regardless. I brought my Perdita crew even though I had only ever finished 2 complete games of Malifaux. I went 0-2 in two games that were both close to going wither way, against 2 crews I hadn't played before. I didn't get to play a third opponent because of a third round bye.

I did win best painted though. There were 3 fully painted armies done at about equal levels. I was the only one with a display board and fully painted / flocked bases. The details gave me the edge in the end, I believe.

My Perdita crew, ready for the tournament.

Amazing display tables provided by twilightemporium.net

My first game on the Bayou.

My first opponent. Against me he played The Dreamer.

The other painted army at the tournament.

After the tournament I won a Dead Rider, and started a Seamus crew as my next crew.

Blood in the Sun Tournament report

2011-07-12T14:28:00.002-04:00

I am back with Blood in the Sun with tales of triumph and pictures of the carnage that was my first 2 day GT. Over 50 players were at the event and when the dust settled I scored 3rd place on Battle points and 7th place in the Overall Standings. Lets take a look at how things went down.

Starting off Friday night, I decided to play a practice game with Jake Murphy who I met at Adepticon and frequently hit up on Twitter. Jake was playing his Brettonians and we decided to have a tune-up game and a few beers.

This was a great game for me in the grand scheme of things, because I tried a few risks and tactics that almost led to utter catastrophe. My 2 Grey Seers and BSB had both moved into a Slave unit late in the game to avoid a Knight unit, then were caught with an 11" needed roll charge and popped... destroying all 3 characters. The Skaven squeeked by in the end because of the amount of damage my magic had done throughout the game but I definitely would say my success on the weekend was helped by the little scare I had Friday night.

To start off the Tournament itself, I was told by Grant (the organizer) I had drawn his pick to win the entire tournament! As it turns out he could have been right. Alex Nikitenko was a great opponent. He was on table 1 during round 4 of the Adepticon Championships and lost to the Daemon player who won overall. In our game he was playing Orcs and Goblins.

The first scenario was a straight pitched battle. The game was hard fought and the shooting advantage was going his way early. A failed charge by my Abom on my second turn let him get flanked and killed when he was run down, and things were looking grim for the rats. The Foot of Gork had also stomped me into the dust 3 times on the first turn.

Poor maneuvering led my Plague Furnace through the woods after that, reducing it to only 1 wound... but the Orc war machines could never finish it off. Then, a well targeted 13th spell finished off the Savage Orcs holding his army general to put me well ahead. Late in the game another savage beating by the Foot of Gork killed off another unit as well as my second Grey Seer, and I limped to a 11-9 victory.

Game 2 I moved up to table 10 to face Michael Groth's Beastmen. He had a very foot troop heavy list that relied on boosting his hordes and winning through attrition. Our second scenario was more or less a pitched battle as well.

I moved forward and was aggressive with magic early, using Plague and Scorch to hurt his units and panic the ones on the outside edge. The Plague furnace smashed into his 40 man Gor herd and eventually destroyed though unit though I lost almost all of my Monks. It was worth it in the end and as I finished off all of his characters, I kept mine away from trouble to take the big 19-1 win.

IRL Beastman!

Game 3 I played Jeff Heck and Beastmen again, but a much different list. The Gor horde was there, but also included instead of Bestigor were a large Minotaur unit led by a Doombull and Mino BSB, as well as a nice Ghorgon represented by the huge model from Banebeasts.

The scenario was Blood and Glory, and the Beastmen went first, RUSHING across the board. This was definitely a great strategy because I could barely hold him off. He also used a magic item that forced me to roll a 4+ to shoot my cannon, saving his minotaurs. Even when I got my furnace horde into his Gor horde, his Great Shaman irresistably cast Transformation of Khadon and turned into a Great Fire Dragon, eating a good majority of Plague Monks, also rolling double 6 for his breath attack.

I did my best to hold up units and use magic on others, but in the end I kept it close enough that on his 5th turn the game turned for me. The Great Shaman, another Shaman, and a Hero were all that were left of the horde vs a few plague monks and my furnace. Attempting Transformation again, Jeff rolled irresistably and Dimensional Cascaded his Great Shaman and the resulting explosion killed the Shaman and Hero as well, scoring me about 600 points and the victory in my final game of day 1 with 11-9 points.

That night was a blast as I relaxed and did some recording with the Garagehammer crew. I assume it will be on their next episode along with their BitS coverage. The Pointhammered guys were there as well and did some "Cross-Podcast" banter for the show.

Day 2 came after a night of much drinking and Warhammer debauchery. I found out the night before that I would be facing a mostly mono-Khorne Daemon player named Dan Ruud on table 4 again. He also had a Loremaster Tzeentch caster with Haevens magic.

With the scenario being a Meeting Engagement type deployment, I knew I would have 2 hordes of Bloodletters, a Bloodthirster, and a big unit of Flesh Hounds in my face EARLY. LUCKILY I got the first turn. Because he was so eager and deployed on the front line, my opponent left his rear completely open and his lone heavens loremaster hiding behind a building. My Gutter Runners took advantage of this and Scouted behind him and killed him with poison slings on the first turn.

I attacked the right flank hard with my magic, Abomination, and Plague Monks. The Plague Banner is an amazing item and, while they do serious damage back, kills a lot of Bloodletters. A failed 7 inch charge on 3d6 left my HPA to be flanked by the Flesh Hounds, but it smashed them over the course of the game. Early on I sniped the Bloodthirster with my WLC, but my opponent used his BitS re-roll token to pass his ward save and save his life. He was mostly hiding him from then on, but he killed a lone Grey Seer at the end. I was able to pull out a solid victory after killing averything on the table other than his Bloodthister and Bloodcrusher unit. 16-4.

The final game of the tournament I was yet again on table 4 vs Kevin Bruins' High Elves.

Kevin made a fatal error in deployment by leaving his level 4 General and Shadow mage outside of any units, hoping to use 4+ 'Look Out Sir' rolls on them and keep them mobile. I moved forward immediatly with the first turn and vaporized him with the Dreaded 13th spell and left a single Clan Rat in his midst. From there on I moved the furnace forward and controlled the board. He came on late to earn a few points back and held me off from finishing a couple large point units in the end earning me a 15-5 victory and an undefeated record at Blood in the Sun.

It was a great experience but in reflection I think I could have played much better. I didn't pay enough attention to objective points and it cost me dearly. I scored third place on battle points, and if I had payed more attention and scored 5 more objectives throughout the other 4 games of the tournament, I would have won Best General! I did finish 7th overall with poor composition scores, but very good sportsmanship scores. My painting scores were good but nowhere near the top scores. There were some amazing armies.

Final tournament results were Brettonians as Overall Champions, and Beastmen as Best General.

I had a blast and I am looking forward to my next GT: Core Comp in September!

Blood in the Sun quick results

2011-07-10T23:57:00.001-04:00

I am back from my weekend in the "Sun" and I have returned undefeated! I went 5-0 this weekend at Blood in the Sun, but too few points were earned to take home the title. More on my games and opponents, as well as the event as a whole later on the blog. I just walked in the door and I need sleep! One thing I will mention is my "strength of schedule" was pretty decent. After each game I will also list my opponents final placing. I played some tough players. I scored 7th overall in the final tally.

Game 1 - Alex Nikitenko (Orcs and Goblins) 11-9 win (8th)

Game 2 - Michael Groth (Beastmen) 19-1 win (30th)

Game 3 - Jeff Heck (Beastmen) 11-9 win (6th)

Game 4 - Dan Ruud (Daemons) 16-4 win (41st)

Game 5 - Kevin Bruins (High Elves) 15-5 win (13th)

Another interesting note... Best Overall was won by Brettonians, Best General was won by Beastmen, and third place was Wood Elves!!!

Blood in the Sun Lineup

2011-07-06T16:31:00.000-04:00

Blood in the Sun is THIS WEEKEND. I have been finishing up my movement trays and painting my terrain piece. I have played loads of practice games, and even won a tournament at 2500 points with my Blood in the Sun list (with an extra cannon). But all the prep comes to an end this weekend when I travel to Lake County, IL for the 2 day GT. Lets recap just exactly what is going on this weekend.

Blood in the Sun is a 2 day, 2400 point GT. There are no comp restrictions other than no special characters, but there is comp scoring by players. Battle points are 50% of your score, painting is 20%, comp and sports are both 15%. BITS has been completely sold out for weeks (months?) now. I have been able to view the other participants and scheme for a while... EVERY army will be represented at BITS.

Here is the lineup:

Lizardmen - 6 players
Orcs and Goblins - 6 players
Dark Elves - 5 players
Warriors of Chaos - 5 players
Beastmen - 5 players
Dwarfs - 3 players
Empire - 3 players
Daemons - 2 players
Skaven - 2 players
Brettonians - 2 players
Tomb Kings - 2 players
High Elves - 2 players
Wood Elves - 2 players
Chaos Dwarfs - 2 players
Vampire Counts - 1 player
Ogre Kingdoms - 1 player
Dogs of War - 1 player

WHFB Tournament Sept 3

2011-07-06T14:38:00.002-04:00

GLWL Team Challenge Trials !

Overview
The GLWL has challenged IWFB to a club challenge, and to prepare we are throwing a tournament open to everyone! This is a 2000 point Warhammer Fantasy Battles tournament. The tournament will consist of THREE rounds of gaming. Tournament scoring will be based on battle points earned during your games, with victory points used as final tie breakers.

Date
September 3, 2011

Location
Pandemonium, Garden City, Michigan. Pandemonium is located at 1858 Middlebelt, which is 2 blocks south of Ford Road, on the east side of the street. Pandemonium's phone number is (734) 427-2451.

Organizer
Brad Schwandt
rhellion.wh@gmail.com

Tournament Registration / Fee
The maximum size of the event is 30 players. Registration is $10 due on the day of the event. To register for the tournament, email the tournament organizer at rhellion.wh@gmail.com, or sign up at Pandemonium.

Prizes
Awards and/or prizes will be awarded for the top 3 places, as well as for Best Army (painting). All entry fees will be returned as prize support, as well as prize support from the venue!

Materials
Players must bring all materials needed to play including: Dice, measuring device, templates, models, rule books, army books, FAQs, etc. Bring a pen or pencil and a calculator to figure out victory points.

Schedule
(Saturday)
10:30am to 11:00am Registration
11:00am to 1:30pm Round 1
1:30pm to 2:00pm Lunch break, Appearance Judging
2:00pm to 4:30pm Round 2
4:45pm to 7:15pm Round 3
7:15pm to 7:30pm Calculate Final Scores
7:30pm to 7:45pm Awards

Army Lists
You must bring at least FIVE copies of your army list that are clearly legible and lists out all the details of your characters and units. Players must hand one copy into the judges and provide a copy of their list to their opponents at the conclusion of each round. Army Builder printouts are acceptable (but players are responsible for double checking points costs there are sometimes errors in the files especially for newer armies!).

The default in regards to army lists for this tournament is that army lists will be exchanged for review with your opponent after each game (e.g. this is a closed list tournament). If you are using hidden models (e.g. assassins, fanatics, etc) you must include them on your army list, but do not have to assign them to a specific unit on the army list. Prior to the start of each game you must write down which unit the hidden models are assigned to and hand it in to the judges.

Army Requirements and Restrictions
(A) You must use the same army list for each game.
(B) Players may field an army of up to 2,000 points and not a point more! Regardless of size, the armies will use the requirements and allowances for 2,000 point armies (i.e. 25% Core Choices, no more than 25% Lords allowed, etc.)
(C) Armies do not have to be painted (but players are highly encouraged to do so as painting / appearance is an award!)
(D) WYSIWYG (What you see is what you get) is in effect. For characters all weapons and armour should be modeled. Units must have a majority of the models making up a unit armed correctly (it is permissible per the main rules to have a minority of the models armed differently).
(E) Remember that for wizards with a choice of magic lores, you must indicate which lore each wizard will be using for the entire tournament on your army list.
(F) Special, Named, or Unique characters ARE allowed.
(G) No other army list composition restrictions. We are playing BY THE BOOK.

Battles
Each participant in the tournament will play three battles. These scenarios will be based out of the 8th Edition rulebook and it is encouraged that players create lists that will be able to run operate within those scenarios. Players may earn up to 20 points each battle, based on a 20-0 scoring system. Scenarios will be rolled for RANDOMLY before each round of play.

Only the following armies are permitted at this tournament. Note that players may only field armies from the current version of each of the Warhammer Army Supplements.

Beastmen
- Warhammer Armies: Beastmen
Bretonnia
- Warhammer Armies: Bretonnia
Daemons of Chaos
- Warhammer Armies: Daemons of Chaos
Dark Elves
- Warhammer Armies: Dark Elves
Dwarfs
- Warhammer Armies: Dwarfs
Empire
- Warhammer Armies: Empire
High Elves
- Warhammer Armies: High Elves
Lizardmen
- Warhammer Armies: Lizardmen
Ogre Kingdoms
- Warhammer Armies: Ogre Kingdoms
Orcs & Goblins
- Warhammer Armies: Orcs & Goblins
Skaven
- Warhammer Armies: Skaven
Tomb Kings
- Warhammer Armies: Tomb Kings
Vampire Counts
- Warhammer Armies: Vampire Counts
Warriors of Chaos
- Warhammer Armies: Warriors of Chaos
Wood Elves
- Warhammer Armies: Wood Elves

Arcane Ruins

2011-07-04T07:48:00.000-04:00

My Blood in the Sun terrain piece is complete. It is more of a quick fill-in to enter into the terrain contest and earn me a re-roll token at the event, but ultimately it is meant to match my Tomb Kings army with an entire Arcane Ruins setup throughout the army. I will probably use it on the display board for the Tomb Kings far down the road.

I ended up going with some advice from Twitter and using a Vermin Brown basecoat, overbrush Tausept Ochre, then drybrush Bleached Bone.

GLWL vs IWFB club challenge

2011-07-01T07:39:00.004-04:00

Twitter is a great gaming tool. You can post battle updates, hobby progress, muse about rules, and read everyone else post about the same. Every once and a while you find a game, and this time I found a whole CLUB to challenge. IWFB (Illinois Warhammer Fantasy Battles) had a club challenge fall through against Wisconsin, and posted on Twitter looking for other challengers. I took up the challenge and now we have the GLWL vs IWFB Team Challenge set for October 22, 2011 at the Chicago Battle Bunker.

The rules are: 10 players per team, no duplicate armies, 2000 points. Armies must be painted, but there is no comp in effect. We will be playing the game as written. Matchups and scenarios will be random and not duplicated. Wins are 2 points and ties are 1, and at the end of the day the team with the most points is declared the winner.

We are still filling up team slots, so if you are in the GLWL and you are reading this, send me an email to secure your place on team GLWL. So far this is what we have and what we are facing!

TEAM GLWL
1 Brad Schwandt - Skaven
2 John Williams - Beastmen
3 Eric Stephens - Dark Elves
4 Nik Rodorigo - Vampire Counts
5 Eric Hanson - Bretonians
6 Donnie Goerlitz - Daemons of Chaos
7 Dustin Daman - Dwarfs
8 Mike Hernandez - Lizardmen
9 Michael Warren - Empire
10 Al Zielke - Warriors of Chaos

TEAM IWFB
1. Christopher Walker - whatever is left
2. Jeff Florido - Demons
3. Dennis Gunia - High Elves
4. Alex Gonzalez - Goblins
5. Grant Fetter - Skaven
6. Eduardo Rodriquez - Warriors
7. James Hyde - Lizardmen
8. Robert Klemic - Empire
9. Mike Lagger - Dark Elves
10. Aaron Claessens - Vampire Counts

Tomb Kings terrain / filler

2011-06-28T09:58:00.000-04:00

With Blood in the Sun coming up, I have a few more things to finish up. The first and most important is my last horde movement tray for the Plague Monks. I need it for my army to be complete. But, next up is my terrain piece for the Terrain Contest at BITS. I picked up an Arcane Ruins set from GW with the intention of not only making a matching piece of terrain for my Tomb Kings army, but also use the smaller pieces as unit fillers throughout. So lets have a look. I need to get this thing painted soon, so hopefully I will have updated pictures or WIP pics soon:

Smaller and without a "base" I would normally put on my terrain pieces. I am hoping this makes the piece easier to fit onto different themed tables.

And here are the pieces I really like. 2 Necro Knights with ruin pieces. One is burrowing under and coming up from under a pillar. A Khemrian Warsphynx climbing over a ruin piece. 3 Skeletons on pillar pieces as inner unit fillers. And finally just a ruined pillar I could use as a filler somewhere if I choose.

Year 1: 8th Edition Tournaments

2011-06-27T15:15:00.001-04:00

Blood in the Sun is my next tournament, and will mark the 1 year anniversary of Warhammer 8th Edition. The new edition has treated me well with 10 tournaments, and 5 tournament victories! I truly believe the new edition is the best one I have played (I have played during 3 editions). In the next year I really want to ramp up my Warhammer travels and tournament attendance. I already have 3 planned for July, including Blood in the Sun which will be my very first 2-day GT. So lets look at last year.

2010 Ard Boyz Prelims, 3-0 (1st Place)
2010 Ard Boyz Semis, 2-0-1 (3rd Place)
2010 Ard Boyz Finals, 2-1 (3rd Place)
GLWL Fall Classic, 3-0 (1st Place)
Adepticon Primer, 3-0 (1st Place)
Adepticon Big Brawl, 2-1 (22nd Place)
Adepticon Fantasy Championships, 3-1 (23rd Place)
GLWL Season End Tournament, 3-0 (1st Place)
2011 Ard Boys Prelims, 3-0 (1st Place)
2011 Ard Boyz Semis, 2-1 (5th Place)

To check out upcoming tournaments, I have found the Ohiohammer website to be FANTASTIC. They have a Calendar of events. I am hoping to make it to as many as possible as the year progresses! Next GT after BITS I am hoping to attend is Core Competency in Chicago at the GW Bunker.

See you on the battlefield!

More BITS prep vs WoC

2011-06-27T13:06:00.002-04:00

I have claimed in the past that Warriors are a good match up for me to face with my Skaven. This weekend my claim was definitely put to the test. I had a quality game vs a Warriors of Chaos opponent up at the Hampton Village (Rochester) GW Hobby Center. His list was a definite "Chosen Star" list. 2 weeks from Blood in the Sun, I needed to crank out the practice games vs some tough lists!

Chosen Star:
L4 Tzeentch, power die familiar
L2 Death, spell familiar
BSB, banner of rage
18 Warriors of Tzeentch, hw/sh
50 Marauders of Khorne, flails
38 Chosen of Tzeentch, halberds, terror banner
Warshrine of Tzeentch

The scenario was Blood and Glory. We decided breaking your opponent first would yield 500 additional victory points. As expected, the Chosen were pretty much set up in the middle of the board with the Marauders and pushed forward. I set up my Monks opposite of the Marauders, and all the Slaves opposite of the Chosen. I spent the first 2 turns maneuvering the Slaves to keep the Chosen busy for as long as possible. The Chosen rolled +1 Toughness for their starting ability.

After his Marauders moved up, I attempted to charge first turn and failed. My Abom advanced on his Tzeentch Warriors in the building, not liking the level 2 Death Mage looming over my entire army. Second turn the Marauders charged into the Plague Monks, and the Chosen went into the first Slave speed bump. Not sure why, but this just bought me some more time. The Death mage cast a small Purple Sun towards my Hell Pit that misfired and killed a couple Warriors before scattering away.

Activating the Plague Banner, the Plague Monks took a lot of damage but still won the overall combat by an impressive 11 combat resolution. They ran down the Marauder horde and opened up the flank. The Hell Pit Abomination smashed through the Tzeenth Warriors and forced them to flee from the building. The Slaves did a good job of not losing enough to lose Steadfast, so they stuck around.

I thought things were going pretty well at this point, until the next turn when my opponent rolled the dreaded 11 on his Chosen roll, then modified it to be a 12 for a 3+ ward save with Stubborn. My Plague Furnace broke the War Shrine in combat and failed to catch it, but it ran through the now rallied Tzeenth Warriors... causing them to flee off the board. I eventual did catch and destroy it, all the while the unkillable Chosen with the L4 Tz caster and BSB inside were grinding through rats.

I fed all of my slaves to the unit and maneuvered my Storm Vermin around the rear of the Chosen. Not to charge, but for my Grey Seers and BSB to bail out on my turn 5, and then align my remaining 'heroic' Clan Rats in front of the Chosen. They held out until the end of the game, and the giant Chosen point sink was all that remained (it cost 817 points without the characters!).

I won by a solid 620 points or so and felt confident that my game plan vs such a unit worked out to my own satisfaction. All I lost in the mass carnage were 2 Slave units and a Warlock Engineer. Looking back the only thing I would have charged was having the Engineer hop out of his unit early to be an additional speed bump for the Chosen. I didn't post any real magic updates, as it was a nonfactor for almost the entire game. Also, neither of us broke from the scenario rules.

Games this week.

2011-06-24T11:37:00.000-04:00

This week has been pretty busy with Warhammer and Warhammer 40k action, as it was my first week back from vacation. First up we had 2 Fantasy games on Tuesday night at Pandemonium. I brought the Skaven and the Tomb Kings out to learn a little about the TK's and hopefully get some practice with the Skaven before Blood in the Sun.

Game 1 I decided to try out a few new models and the Tomb Kings rather than the Skaven against Ramon's Lizardmen at 2400 points. He brought what I consider to be a pretty standard list with a couple interesting units I don't see as often. Life Slaan, temple guard, 3 smallish saurus blocks, 2 skink/krox blocks, 2 units of salamanders. I brought a character light list. Hierophant, Prince, 40 warriors, 20 archers, 3 chariots, 30 tomb guard, 3 stalkers, 3 knights, hierotitan (proxy), casket, and a screaming skull catapult.

The game went well for me as I pretty much had magic dominance. The casket's +d3 dice and the titan's +d3 to cast is pretty great. The Necropolis Knights performed well and ground out an entire unit of Saurus. So well in fact that I am currently taking apart my 3 other Stalkers to make into Knights. The Tomb Guard were the MVP. I ran 30 in horde formation with Halberds, and they walked through 2 units of Saurus and a unit of Skink / Krox. They are so expensive, but they really perform. I think I got 2-4 spells off almost every turn, usually attempting 6 (with bound items). In the end, all that was left was the Slaan and his TG.

Next up I faced mi_whplayers and his Tomb Kings with my Skaven. We dropped down to 2200 to give Brian some practice for Buckeye Battles which is the same weekend as BITS. His list was a lot like what I like in my first Tomb King list, but without the Knights and Stalkers.

Starting the game, I won the first turn and took a shot at the big Sphynx, and sniped it for 4 wounds. He returned by unloading his spell boosted archers and his catapults at the Plague Furnace, killing it in the first turn. While I was worried at this point so early in the game, my Hell Pit was straight away from his Tomb Guard and King. I spent the next turn magic/shooting and weakening this unit in order to hit it hard the next turn. My Grey Seer was able to Skitterleap and take out a catapult and the casket second turn, but then was left out in the open. Luckily I made it a point and was able to stop smiting next turn, so the 30 archers that turned to shoot the lone Seer were unable to kill him. On my third turn I smashed my HPA into the Tomb Guard, killed them and the King, and overran into the Hierophant and his bunker... ending the game early.

On Thursday I played in the final game of the Pandemonium / 40K Fight Club League. I made it through to the finals after the 4 game preliminary round and 2 game playoff. In the end I lost a brutal game to a tough mechanized Steel Legion IG list, where my dice refused to be any help all game. We played the Chaos mission from the Battle Missions book where all area terrain blocks all line of sight, and the terrain is either dangerous terrain, or adds +1 to cover saves. I had all of the dangerous terrain on my side of the board, and lost a LOT of wounds to DT moving forward. Congrats on 40k Armageddon on the league win.

Back to the BITS practice this weekend. I am going to hit GW to look for 2400 point games and work on my BITS terrain. Blood in the Sun is in 2 weeks!

Preparing for a Warhammer Tournament

2011-06-22T07:40:00.002-04:00

Blood in the Sun is less than a month away, and I am busy preparing for my first GT of the Summer. BITS will have 50 players, as well as 5 games over 2 days, so I can expect to face a variety of opponents as well as a variety of armies. Every army other than Ogre Kingdoms will be represented, according to sign-ups. So how do you prepare for an 8th Edition Warhammer Fantasy tournament like this with so many variables? Well lets take a look at what you need in a successful Warhammer tournament army.

Know the scoring system. Know the restrictions and composition system. Paint your models. Yes these are all important and effect how you will build your list. They will dictate how large your units may or may not be or even units that are left at home. Those are the basics. Lets get into list specifics:

Battle Standard. This may seem like a no-brainer to veterans, but in 8th Edition the BSB allows you to re-roll ALL Leadership tests. This is very important to all units within 12" of the BSB. This model is as important as your General, more so for a few armies. Some armies that are completely immune to psychology can drop this completely, but otherwise it is too good to leave at home.

Wizard Lord. It is an argued point, but I believe a level 4 is mandatory for tournaments starting at about 2200 points and above. Not only is it the best possible way to do damage in the magic phase, but it is also your best magic defense. The difference between a level 2 and a level 4 when you are able to add your wizard level to the cast and dispel rolls can win games when some spells effect the entire game every time they are cast.

Dispel Scroll. I see people leave the dispel scrolls at home, and regret it usually at least once a tournament where a game changing spell is out of reach of the dice. A dispel scroll is a saving grace once per game that I would never leave home without when I am hoping to challenge for the championship.

War Machine Hunters. You need some way to deal with war machines. There may be a devastating full gunline, or just a Skaven army with horrible Warp Lightning Cannons. Scouts, fast cavalry, specific bound spells, or anything else that can be dedicated to killing war machines. The more variable use the better. Allowing those cannons and stone throwers to lob fiery death unchallenged the entire game is to great a mistake.

Banners. Most tournaments are random scenarios or scenarios based on the ones out of the book. You NEED banners in your army for Fortitude points. At Adepticon this year I saw a game next to me end before the first turn even started. The top table game the final round ended first turn when a Bloodthirster died to a Rock Lobba. Make sure you know the breaking point and make sure your army has enough Fortitude points (the banner/standard count plus 2 for your General) to be competitive.

Flaming Attacks. There are monsters out there that are so devastating, you HAVE to prepare for them. Hell Pit Abominations and Hydras have regeneration, and are vulnerable to flaming attacks. It is worth taking the 10 point Banner of Eternal Flame on unit that can be dedicated to fighting these monsters.

Monster Killers. Also adding on the above, not all monsters are vulnerable to flaming attacks, and you need a way to deal with them. War machines of your own are the first choice, but poison attacks are another great choice. Magic Lores are part of list building now as well, so maybe you can fall back on a specific spell... but only do this with more than one Wizard and can garauntee a certain spell that you need. Examples include Crack's Call, Gateway, Dweller's Below, or Mindrazor. Depending on your build, mass shooting may work. Just plan for them.

Chaff and/or tar pits. When facing off against a giant "Death Star" unit of 40 Chosen or 50 Ghouls or some other giant unit of very killy troops you need to deal with them. A large, expendable unit that can hold them up with Steadfast is great. Another option is many small, expendable, cheap units that can redirect and keep in the large unit's way for most of the game. Maybe fast cavalry, lone beasts, etc. These small and expendable units are also good for extra deployments.

A 20 man core unit. For some armies this is easy. Almost automatic. But for large horde armies it may be worth bringing one Core unit of a max 20 men to be placed in the Watchtower for the 6th BRB Pitched Battle scenario: "Watchtower". You may not feel this is necessary if you want to attempt to take the tower with a much larger unit later, but it is worth considering for a tournament list with variable scenarios.

And there we have it. I think these are some of the basics that need to be in EVERY tournament army. That's not to say I think all armies should be the same. Not at all. But you need to be able to deal with all of the terrible things out there you will see at the top tables of a quality tournament. Some units may fill more than one of these rolls. The more versatile the better!

Are there any other must have elements to a tournament list I may have forgotten? Post them below. See you on the battlefield!!!

Back from vacation

2011-06-20T11:15:00.001-04:00

I am back from my NYC vacation, and have less than a month before the big event of my Summer schedule: Blood in the Sun! So far Blood in the Sun is totally sold out with a 6 person waiting list. Almost every army will be represented at the tournament (no Ogres) and it looks like I will be one of only 2 Skaven players in the field. There will even be Chaos Dwarfs and Dogs of War. Where are all the Skaven players if the internet says they are the best / cheesiest 8th edition army? Hmmmmm?

Between now and then I am hoping to do minimal modeling so that I can really focus on getting practice games in, but I haven't seen much interest in GLWL members wanting to play games after the season ended. I am thinking I am going to have to travel up to the GW Hampton Village Hobby Center for games, as their store has mostly converted to Fantasy as their main game (or so I am told). Skaven-wise my list has been sent to Grant at BITS, and I have had my models finished for a while now. I need to paint a new horde formation movement tray for my Plague Monks and their Plague Furnace, but that is about it.

Tomb Kings wise, I am waiting until after BITS to really focus on them as my next army, even though they are mostly assembled. I am picking up a new Finecast Casket of Souls tomorrow at the 40K Fightclub League night, where I am in the League Finals against 40K Armageddon's Imperial Guard list with my Space Wolves. I am hoping to build more archers for my list and pick up more rare choices before the list is finished (Hiero and SCC). My list right now is going to be playtested with 2 options for special choices: construct heavy with snakes and sphynxes; or infantry heavy with LOTS of Tomb Guard. I will try both, and while constructs may be better I am heavily leaning towards liking the Tomb Guard.

There is my hobby update, hopefully some battle reports soon as I get ready for BITS!

40K at Gamelinks

2011-06-09T08:09:00.000-04:00

Last weekend I participated in my first Warhammer 40,000 tournament in a LONG time at Gamelinks in Fowlerville, MI. I had a lot of fun and really enjoyed my games against 3 new opponents. As you can see, I was rusty to start off and played against an army I have never seen before twice, but in the end I felt like I still was competitive through the event.

My list was a Wolf Lord on TWC, 2 Rune Priests, 3 squads of Grey Hunters in drop pods, Scouts, Lone Wolf in terminator armor with a chainfist and storm shield, Wofl Guard with fists in squads, 3 TWC, and 1 squad of missile launcher Long Fangs.

Game 1 : Grey Knights

2 Dreadknights, 2 units of Troops with lots of Psycannons on foot, fast attack jump troops, and the Character with the Ghost Terminators attached along with a Librarian in terminator armor. The mission main objective was to control terrain pieces. I didn't know the rules for the Ghost Knight special character, so apparently he can deep strike turn 1 without scattering, and appeared right next to my Long Fangs. Next time I will know to definitely protect my units through deployment! This was what really hurt me early on, but I still was able to fight back. My TWC charged the fast attack jump troops, and the Lord hit, wounded, and killed on all 6 attacks. The TWC wiped the squad but took a few wounds. Their next assault, though weakened from shooting, the Lord again hit, wounded, and killed 6 on hit way to winning the combat but the squad fell back leaving my TWC to be finished off by shooting the next turn. That squad not being wiped, along with a last turn 30" jumping Dreadknight (wtf, lol) allowed my opponent to grasp 1 more terrain objective and win 30-1. I wasn't as close on the secondary objectives.

Game 2 : Grey Knights

A very different game than game 1. The mission objective was to hold table quarters as well as a point on the center of the board with an HQ as a secondary objective. The Grey Knights this time has Draigo, a squad of 10 Paladins (combat squaded), a squad of 5 Paladins, and 2 squads of fast attack jump troops. Things went poorly early for my opponent. I was able to Jaws the Banner Bearer in Draigo's squad first turn, though Draigo survived. Then I assaulted second turn with the TWC, broke Draigo and what was left of his unit and follow him off the board. Then the TWC were shot and assaulted by the next Paladin squad, and I broke them and ran them off the board as well! Things were well in hand from there as I controlled the board and all of the secondary objectives for a 33-0 win.

Game 3 : Space Wolves

My final game was against The Judge from Dark Future Games, and he brought a full drop pod Space Wolf list. 2 Rune Priests, 4 squads of Grey Hunters, and 2 Venerable Dreads. The game had 5 total objectives on the board, and I went first. I put most of the objectives towards one corner / half of the board so that I could focus everything in one area with my limited mobility. I had less reserves than my opponent, so the plan was to pick him off as he came in, if possible. It did end up working, even as my units took shots as the pods fell, they were the superior close combat force. My opponent and I both had Wulfen and Power Weapons in my squads, but he opted for larger squads and special weapons, or room for his terminator Rune Priests. I instead took Wolf Standards and Power Fist Wolf Guard, which made the difference in squad vs squad close up combat. That and the Thunder Wolves running everything down on one flank. I win 33-0 and have to wonder how the day would be different if I had read the Grey Knights Codex before game 1.

I had a great time overall. 40k is definitely not my strong suit, but I can still appreciate the game. I didn't take pictures of my games, but I do have some great shots of the beautiful armies on the day. have a look...

Excellent Tzeentch Chariots

Round 1 : Dreadknight

Round 2 : "Green Knites" counts-as Grey Knights, lol

Overall Winner : MEAN Daemons of Chaos

2 more great looking armies

Coming up soon will be Blood in the Sun preparation. The 2 day GT is July 9 / 10. Until then I will be taking a couple weeks off from hobbying as I am on vacation, but I will be back playtesting for BITS asap! Tomb Kings will also be back on the table AFTER BITS.

Ard Boyz 2011 wrapup

2011-05-25T07:42:00.000-04:00

Ard Boyz ended early for me this year, with a non-podium finish in the Semi Final round after a hard fought day against Daemons and Dark Elves. When the dust settled, Pandemonium's Ard Boyz semi final champion was Daemons of Chaos, and not my mean green Skaven.

My list:
Grey Seer, Bell, dispel scroll
Grey Seer, power scroll
Plague Priest, Furnace, warp scroll, ironcurse icon
Warlock, doomrocket
Chieftain, BSB, storm banner
40 Clan Rats, command
30 Storm Vermin, command, flaming banner
51 Slaves, musician
51 Slaves, musician
38 Slaves, musician, shields
40 Plague Monks, command, plague banner
Hell Pit Abomination, spikes
Hell Pit Abomination
Hell Pit Abomination

Game 1 I beat my opponent's Kairos / Skulltaker Daemons by 2200 victory points but only 17-10 battle points. He only killed 1 Abom and a Warlock Engineer. My Furnace Horde popped the entire 40 man Bloodletter Horde in a single charge. His list was Core heavy with Heralds (and Kairos) so I just couldn't get battle points.

Game 2 I trounced Dark Elves with the Furnace Horde getting charged by 30 Corsairs and 20 Blackguard, beating them, and running them down. Skitterleaping Grey Seer took out one Hydra and the other was misdirected on the flank the whole game. I panicked a Cold One bus off the board as well, my opponent forgetting that they were Stupid the whole game. All he had left in the end was an unkillable Lord, and the Hydra hiding on the board edge.

Game 3 I got cocky and pushed the Furnace forward against Blue Scribes, Masque, Thirster Daemons. The Bloodthirster charged the furnace and the Pink Horrors made a LONG charge to get in contact and steal the Furnace's stats just in time for the Thirster to pulp it on one swing. I actually held one turn, but then the Thirster got into my bell unit. I 13th'd one unit of flamers, and eventually the second, but they were able to at least put wounds on my Hell Pit Abominations. I was broken badly, and ended up dropping to 5th place. My opponent won after the Quad Hyrda list on table 1 only got a draw vs Vampire Counts.

It was a stacked field in Detroit. 3/4 top finishers from Chicago last year were there, and only 1 of them placed (and he got 3rd). It is a little disappointing I didn't place this year to move on, but now I have more time to focus on my new army for a little while. I will still be looking for a couple small tournaments this summer, but now my main focus is Blood in the Sun in July!

Working on Tomb Kings

2011-05-23T12:22:00.001-04:00

I decided an army of another 250 models painted green was not in my future, and sold the lot to buy a brand spanking new Tomb King army. First off, I think the book is a solid choice, but definitely not the top in the power rankings. The models and theme of the army are really what draw me in. I have started modeling them up and got my first game in with them, so here they are. I am trying to create a slab / tile ruins with the bases and unit fillers. There are more to come soon.

Some examples of the unit fillers in my first horde of Skeletons.

I used Empire Wizards with minor conversions and Tomb Guard heads as my Liche Priests.

Assembled for the inaugural battle vs High Elves.

In their first game against the High Elves, I faced off against a Book of Hoeth list with Life and Dwellers. Also perfectly wrong was the scenario: Battle for the Pass. My opponent was content to move in range to cast Dwellers and kill my Heirophant on turn 3, then continue to move backwards and shoot me as I advanced. Unable to move in the magic phase any longer, it was a snail pace.

The Casket was able to do some serious damage to his war machines mid game, and I was able to kill the Fire mage off the dragon in time for the Sepulchral Stalkers to come from below and finish the dragon off by gazing him to dust. My strong unit of Tomb Guard spent the whole game moving but also not losing any models with the help of their Banner of the Undying Legion. On the last turn the 2 Warsphynx's got into combat and wracked up heavy casualties, but were unable to break their opponents. Charging Chariots killed the High Elf Mage Lord, and a Sphynx killed another level 2 mage. My opponent was unable to completely hold me off and I earned the Draw in the end (losing by only 20 victory points).

I was pretty satisfied that I was able to pull the Draw with SO MUCH stacked against me in the game. I think there may be some life in these corpses yet, unlike what the internet says is inevitably a terrible book.

I am going to get to work on this guys very soon. I need to come up with a paint scheme. I am thinking red and black, with gold accents (well lots and lots of gold).

Tournament Update

2011-05-21T07:18:00.001-04:00

A few weeks ago I played int he GLWL Invitational. It is the season-ending tournament for the Great Lakes Warhammer League. I was in the tournament rather than the division winner's bracket, so I was playing for the Tournament Championship instead of the League Championship. The tournament used the GLWL Comp set, which included MR ward saves vs all spells, 12 die power cap on magic phases, no special characters, no power scroll, no double rare, etc. When the dust cleared I had won the overall award with the Tournament Championship sword.

I had three great and tough opponents. My first was Eric Stephens and his Dark Elves. Cauldron, Hydra, L4 Shadow, L1 Fire, and the rest. An early Crack's Call put me ahead and I ground out his army that was without their Cauldron for the rest of the game.

My second game was against Darrel Brown's tough Warriors of Chaos. I heavily disrupted Darrel's strategy the first turn with my hail of fire and magic that nearly wiped out a full squad of 40 Marauders on turn 1 with focused fire. The Doomrocket massacred a lot of Marauders. From there I was able to focus on smaller units one at a time as they advanced towards my horde.

In the final game I faced off again vs Mike Hernadez's Lizardmen. I played a very defensive game vs the Lizardmen and tried to do as much damage as I could before they got to me. A combination of target selection and luck allowed me to take out the Skink / Krox unit early (choosing to use Crack's Call vs the dangerous Krox in the unit), and a serious pounding of the Plague Monk horde through a unit of Saurus in a single turn led me to the minor victory.

Overall I was undefeated in the tournament, had solid painting scores, and very good sports scores, and took home another excellent sword trophy for Overall Champion. Next up is Ard Boyz TODAY. Look for my tweets on Twitter @Rhellion and come back for a battle report in the coming week.

PS: Another tournament without using the 13th Spell. I think I will have to change that today at Ard Boyz.

Rhellion's WHF Power Rankings

2011-05-18T12:47:00.001-04:00

A few new books have come out, and I have played in and viewed the results of a bunch of tournaments. With all of the "data" I have been looking at, I have generated my own opinion on the current power rankings in the Warhammer World. I did not include Chaos Dwarfs or Dogs of War, as they do not have Games Workshop army books. Here we go, starting from the top. Just pretend this is ESPN for Warhammer!

1. Daemons
2. Dark Elves
3. Lizardmen
4. Vampire Counts
5. Skaven
6. Warriors of Chaos
7. High Elves
8. Empire
9. Dwarfs
10. Orcs and Goblins
11. Tomb Kings
12. Brettonians
13. Ogre Kingdoms
14. Beastmen
15. Wood Elves

First and foremost, 8th edition has done a lot to bring most of the armies closer together in competitiveness. But that being said, armies ARE better than others when it comes to competitive play. Lets break it down.

Daemons - big nasty monsters, amazing infantry core, small elite support units that HAVE to be dealt with, easy access to Loremaster and multiple dispel scrolls, unbreakable army, and an army wide ward save. They are still the top dog.

Dark Elves - still great synergies with very good magic items and limitless magic, mindrazor spam on multi attack models seriously hurts, hydras are very powerful and undercosted, some of the most damaging shooting in the game.

Lizardmen - some of the best infantry in Saurus, the very best non special character magic user in the Slaan, versatile poison skirmishers, and the option for good monsters. The Slaan really takes advantage of 8th edition and just wins.

Vampire Counts - the people who said Vampires took the biggest hit in 8th were wrong. They have huge hordes of multi attack poison core Ghouls, Large units of Grave Guard, and Van Hels to demolish opponents. There is really only the one build that works, but it still wins lots of tournaments.

Skaven - I honestly think Skaven can be the strongest army out there... when everything goes right. The Abomination, Warp Lightning Cannon, and Plague Furnace are the strongest elements of the Skaven army... and can be completely random. Same with the Doomrocket. Steadfast did more for Skaven than any other army when you add in Strength in Numbers , making them easily top 5.

Warriors of Chaos - more excellent infantry, some of the best magic, and excellent artillery in the form of Hell Cannons that aren't even war machines. There are some match ups where their elite nature steamrolls, but others where it hinders them (vs horde armies, especially Skaven). I am beginning to see loads and loads of Marauders in the successful builds.

High Elves - another elite army that does very well in close combat, and is bunched up with the top tier armies very closely. ASF as an army wide rule is very powerful now that it allows rerolls to hit, but it is less effective than before in that enemies get to strike back. Another elite magic army, but the magic phase can be fickle. They are still one army I would never be surprised to see on the podium.

Empire - Empire are definitely jack-of-all trades but I don't consider them a top army. They can definitely build a good defensive army with loads of war machines and serious magic defense with war priests. Army wide I just don't think they have the raw power for destruction of the top armies.

Dwarfs - similar to empire but with the powerful troops in great weapon warriors and hammerers, but without any magic threat. Yes they can attempt to shut down the magic phase as defense, but without even thee option of using magic that is so powerful in 8th it is definitely a downside. Load up on great weapons more than war machines for better success. 8th edition is won in combat.

Orcs and Goblins - Their power curve is better with their 8th edition rules, and they probably deserve to be higher on the list but to me they are right in the middle blob of armies. I don't think the Arachnarok is powerful enough compared to other armies big gribblies, but it may be the point where future monsters are balanced around. Lots of little support units and excellent Savage Orc option for Core makes them solid middle tier.

Tomb Kings - loads better than their previous incarnation, I still think they suffer from being slow, relying too heavily on random magic, and crumbling too much. What they do have going for them is a great new lore, excellent special choices that can really be game changers or a solid plan to strategize around, and the ability to try and make your magic phase a more sure thing with the casket and hierotitan.

Brettonians - while I think they are stronger in 8th than people give them credit for, they are still near the end of the line. I am interested to see what options they have in the new book and how much cheaper their Knights will become, right now we are seeing lists of double Treb minimum. Relying on that to be competitive can be costly with all the anti war machine out there.

Ogres - while they can be very good in some situations, I still think they are too vulnerable with such a small model count. I think monstrous infantry is overrated in most cases in 8th, and it hurts an army full of them. There are more war machines doing multi wounds, more spells that remove models (rather than wounds), and more grinding through steadfast that just beat Ogres.

Beastmen - I think the beasts got the shaft with a poor lore and lackluster core for the most part. There are successful builds out there but overall I don't think their power level is competitive. They need better rare choices than their manly ineffective and overcosted monsters. Skilled players will rise above this and be successful, but that is more player than army.

Wood Elves - bottom of the barrel until they get their revision, steadfast is hard for a mostly skirmishing army. Add in the fact that the meta loads many armies with flaming attacks that are just that much worse for some of the best elite units in your army (Treekin). Shooting is harder because armies are in combat even faster with longer charge ranges.

Agree? Disagree? Give me your thoughts and let me know what your list is.

Ard Boyz semi finals this weekend!

2011-05-16T12:19:00.000-04:00

Coming up this weekend is the Ard Boyz semi final round.3 more games of smashing filth against filth at 3000 points, with grand army rules, and no restrictions. I won 1st place at the prelim I attended and the semi final round will be held at the same store (Pandemonium in Garden City, MI). The only problem I am having is which army to take! If I can get them assembled in time, I will be taking the new Tomb Kings army I bought after selling my Orcs. So far since I bought them I have already assembled 40 Skeletons and 30 Tomb Guard. A lot of Chariots and big guys left to go.

Moving on to the event itself lets have a look at the scenarios:

Scenario 1, The Changer Of Ways

The mission is kill points based on Unit type, as well as some difficult magic rules. For kill points, your general is worth 5, characters are worth 2, core units worth 2, special units worth 4, and rare units worth 8. A minor win is 4 kill points, major win is 8 kill points, and massacre is winning by 12 kill points. The Changer of Ways rule forces a spell caster to roll another d6 after every spell cast. On a roll of a 1, the caster must roll on the miscast table and apply the results. Even if he already rolled because of irresistible force. I think this scenario more than any other this time will effect army composition. Large blocks and possibly lower magic in the armies that will show up. My possibly Skaven list has 51 kill points. My possible Tomb King list has 41 kill points.

Scenario 2, The Crazed Fanatic

This scenario is the most quirky in the lot. In the center of the table you place a crazed fanatic marker. It moves randomly and hits units for d6 strength 6 hits. You can try to "catch" it by moving into contact and making a strength check AFTER taking 2d6 strength 6 hits! If you catch him you can hold onto him. If you fail you will get hit by him again next turn as he moves off you. That is A LOT of damage. You can't ignore him either, or he will mow through your army, and he is worth a whopping 5 battle points as part of the scenario.

Scenario 3, Wez Is Betas Dan Yuz

Blood and Glory makes its appearance again this year, but you do not lose automatically for breaking. The first army to break gains 500 victory points and an extra battle point. It will be hard to break armies full of large units meant for the kill point and fanatic scenario. Interesting to see how it turns out.

I am still deciding what army to take. I just got a brand new army, so I am not crazy about having to win this year. That is why I am thinking about taking the Tomb Kings and just having fun. I have to get them put together in time though, and borrow a Casket of Souls. See you Saturday!

Games Workshop Goes Resin

2011-05-16T11:14:00.001-04:00

Taken from Here.

This is a price increase of 5-25%

Games Workshop Go Resin

Starting from the 28th of May 120 products that were Games Workshop direct only items will be coming back on the shelves as resin or resin Hybrids. This new range “Citadel Fine Cast” range will be limited in number for the first few months, so we will be taking advance orders for them.

Here are the new recast products at the full RRP;
41-60 COMMANDER DANTE £10.50
53-60 LOGAN GRIMNAR £14.50
55-61 THE EMPERORS CHAMPION £9.50
48-63 SPACE MARINE CHAPLAIN WITH JUMP PACK £10.50
44-60 DARK ANGELS COMPANY MASTER £10.50
48-61 SM LIBRARIAN IN TERMINATOR ARMOUR £14.50
53-61 NJAL STORMCALLER £14.50
41-61 ASTORATH THE GRIM £12.50
43-60 ABADDON THE DESPOILER £14.50
43-61 HURON BLACKHEART £10.50
50-61 ORK WARBOSS WITH ATTACK SQUIG £14.50
50-63 ORK BIG MEK £14.50
50-65 ORK PAINBOY WITH GROT ORDERLY £10.50
46-61 ELDAR AUTARCH WITH POWER WEAPON £10.50
46-62 THE AVATAR OF KHAINE £22.50
46-63 HARLEQUIN DEATH JESTER £10.50
46-64 HARLEQUIN SHADOWSEER £10.50
47-61 COMMISSAR YARRICK £10.50
47-63 IMPERIAL GUARD LORD COMMISSAR £9.50
51-61 TYRANID ZOANTHROPE £15.50
51-63 TYRANID TYRANT GUARD £15.50
51-64 TYRANID HIVE GUARD £15.50
51-65 TYRANID BROODLORD £15.50
57-61 BROTHER CAPTAIN STERN £14.50
57-60 LORD KALDOR DRAIGO £14.50
57-62 CASTELLAN CROWE £10.50
57-63 INQUISITOR COTEAZ £10.50
45-60 DARK ELDAR ARCHON £9.50
45-64 LELITH HESPERAX £10.50
45-63 URIEN RAKARTH £10.50
45-61 DARK ELDAR SUCCUBUS £9.50
56-60 TAU ETHEREAL WITH HONOUR BLADE £9.50
83-62 CHAOS EXALTED HERO £9.50
83-63 CHAOS KHORNE EXALTED HERO £10.50
86-60 EMPIRE CAPTAIN WITH HAMMER & PISTOL £9.50
92-60 WOOD ELF HIGHBORN WITH GREAT WEAPON £9.50
84-60 DWARF LORD WITH HAMMER & SHIELD £9.50
84-61 DWARF RUNELORD WITH GREAT WEAPON £9.50
90-60 SKAVEN WARLORD £9.50
90-61 QUEEK HEADTAKER £10.50
90-62 DEATHMASTER SNIKCH £10.50
91-61 VAMPIRE LORD £9.50
89-60 GRIMGOR IRONHIDE £10.50
89-62 BLACK ORC BIG BOSS £10.50
87-60 CARADRYAN £10.50
85-61 DARK ELF ASSASSIN WITH TWO HAND WEAPONS £9.50
81-60 MALAGOR THE DARK OMEN £12.50
10-61 URUK-HAI WITH CROSSBOWS £14.00
10-62 URUK-HAI BERSERKERS £14.00
08-61 GOTHMOG (PELENNOR) £20.50
05-60 ELROND AND GIL-GALAD £15.00
10-60 SARUMAN AND GRIMA £15.00
02-60 GANDALF THE WHITE £20.50
04-60 ARAGORN (THE BLACK GATE) £20.50
04-62 THEODEN (HELM’S DEEP) £20.50
04-61 BOROMIR (ITHILIEN) £20.50
09-60 SULADAN THE SERPENT LORD £20.50
08-62 THE DARK MARSHAL (RINGWRAITH) £20.50
05-61 DAIN AND BALIN £15.00
97-60 SKULLTAKER £14.50
48-40 MARNEUS CALGAR AND HONOUR GUARD £36.00
48-41 SPACE MARINE TECHMARINE WITH SERVITORS £25.50
55-40 BLACK TEMPLARS SWORD BRETHREN SQUAD £25.50
48-42 SPACE MARINE STERNGUARD VETERAN SQUAD £25.50
48-43 SPACE MARINE VANGUARD VETERAN SQUAD £25.50
53-40 CANIS WOLFBORN £30.00
43-40 NURGLE DAEMON PRINCE £21.50
43-41 CHAOS SPACE MARINE RAPTORS £25.50
43-42 DEATH GUARD PLAGUE MARINES £25.50
50-43 BOSS ZAGSTRUK £14.50
50-40 GHAZGHKULL THRAKA £22.50
50-41 ORK TANKBUSTAS £25.50
50-42 ORK BIG MEK WITH SHOKK ATTACK GUN £23.00
46-41 ELDAR RANGERS £20.50
46-42 ELDAR DARK REAPERS £23.00
46-44 ELDAR STRIKING SCORPIONS £23.00
46-40 ELDAR FARSEER AND WARLOCKS £20.50
51-42 TYRANID LICTOR £15.50
51-40 TYRANID HIVE TYRANT £36.00
51-41 TYRANID PYROVORE £21.50
45-40 DARK ELDAR INCUBI £23.00
45-41 DARK ELDAR MANDRAKES £20.50
56-40 TAU SNIPER DRONE TEAM £23.00
83-42 ARCHAON THE EVERCHOSEN £30.00
83-43 CHAOS LORD ON DAEMONIC MOUNT £22.50
83-41 CHAOS DRAGON OGRE SHAGGOTH £36.00
86-41 LUDWIG SCHWARZHELM £22.50
86-40 KURT HELBORG £22.50
82-41 THE GREEN KNIGHT £22.50
82-40 KING LOUEN LEONCOEUR £30.00
92-42 WOOD ELVES TREE KIN £30.00
92-40 ORION KING IN THE WOODS £22.50
92-41 WOOD ELVES TREEMAN £36.00
84-40 THOREK IRONBROW £36.00
84-41 DWARF GYROCOPTER £23.00
84-42 DWARF BOLT THROWER £23.00
90-40 SKAVEN WARPLOCK JEZZAILS £30.00
91-40 VAMPIRE COUNTS VARGHULF £21.50
91-42 COUNT MANNFRED £22.50
91-41 VAMPIRE COUNTS BLOOD KNIGHTS £61.50
88-41 KROQ GAR £40.00
89-44 GOBLIN SPEAR CHUKKA £18.50
89-43 SAVAGE ORC GREAT SHAMAN ON WAR BOAR £15.50
89-41 ORC WARBOSS ON WYVERN £40.00
89-42 GOBLIN ROCK LOBBER £23.00
89-45 GORBAD IRONCLAW £30.00
89-40 AZHAG THE SLAUGHTERER £55.00
85-41 DARK ELVES REAPER BOLT THROWER £18.50
08-40 THE DARK LORD SAURON £25.50
08-42 GULAHVAR THE TERROR OF ARNOR £30.00
08-43 MORDOR TROLL CHIEFTAIN £25.50
02-40 THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING £37.00
97-42 FLAMERS OF TZEENTCH £15.50

Starting Malifaux

2011-05-16T11:07:00.000-04:00

My Wife decided to fall in love with the models of Malifaux, which quickly led us to start collecting, painting, and playing the game. As a small scale skirmish game that uses cards, rather than dice, it is REALLY fun to play. I have played a few practice turns and half games against her Colette crew and my first real game in my new Malifaux league against the Gremlins, and I am now really into the game. I am playing the Ortega's because I really, really like the Wild West theme. I could watch Tombstone every day, so long as I didn't already have Deadwood on. And of course, I have already bought tons more models than I need to play with to give myself the option of out thinking myself with choices. My main Crew is the Guild with Perdita, Santiago, Nino, Enslaved Nephilim, and Executioner. I have also have Fransisco, Papa Loco, Abuela, and recently picked up Ryle and the Death Marshals. I also found a sweet deal on a used crew with Sonia Criid, Judge, and 3 Witchling Stalkers all for only $15.

I will post updates as I paint more and as the league progresses, but for now here is a look at the main crew I finished painting for the start of the league. Weeks 1+2 are 25ss, 3+4 are 30ss, and 5+6 are 35ss... so after next week I will need to paint up more models.

PS... thanks everyone. I hit 100 followers! I am glad more and more people are finding my ramblings interesting and decided to follow my blog. There are plenty who email me that aren't necessarily followers, and I appreciated you reading as well. Thanks!

WIP Thunderwolves

2011-05-13T16:40:00.001-04:00

I picked up the Thunderwolf Cavalry from Paulson Games this year during bits trade at Adepticon. I put off doing on work on them for weeks until my current 40k League started and now have a decent start on them. I have a little left to do on the wolves and then the riders themselves. Here we go:

I am hoping to put the work in on the Space Wolves to have my army painted before an upcoming DFG tournament. Not sure how realistic that is if I pick up a load of Tomb Kings this weekend, but we will see.

New WHFB FAQ's released

2011-05-09T07:50:00.001-04:00

There have been new answers to our Frequently Asked Questions. Everyone should be sure to read them before this month's Ard Boyz semi final round... but let's go through the changes in the BRB FAQ:

Page 107 – The General, Inspiring Presence
Change “within 12" use his Leadership instead” to “within 12"
may use his Leadership instead”

*MAY is a big difference to my Skaven when the General has a lower leadership than my Hell Pit Abomination.

Reference Section – The Lore of Shadow, Okkam’s
Mindrazor
Change “[...]Models in the target unit use their Leadership
instead of Strength when rolling To Wound with[...]” to
“[...]Models in the target unit use the Leadership characteristic
written on their profile, instead of their Strength, for[...]”

*HUGE change. Only a couple points of strength won't matter in many cases, but for some of the new Tomb Kings monsters it matters. For LD6 Beastmen it really, really matters.

Q: Is a model considered to be in base contact with himself? (var)
A: No.

*The fact that they had to put this in is sad.

Q: Can a unit near or on the board edge pivot (or wheel) so that
part of the unit (or its base) is temporarily off of the board? (p27)
A: Yes, though it is not allowed to end its movement with part
of the unit (or its base) off the board.

*Interesting change. I don't understand why they did it but I will run with it.

Q: Do bonus power dice, which are added to those taken from the
power pool when a Wizard casts a spell, count when working out if
a spell fails due to the Not Enough Power rule? (p32)
A: Yes, regardless of when these dice are added. The
exception to this rule is that it does not include any dice that
are secially stated as not being power dice (such as Night
Goblin’s Magic Mushroom dice).

* So a Power Dice is a power dice, unless it is not a power dice? Where would this take into effect?

Q: Do ranged direct damage spells that use a template have to
target an enemy unit? (p31)
A: Yes, the template must be placed over the target enemy
unit.

*I assume this clarification is for Scorch... which can be placed anywhere withing 24".

Q: Does a To Wound roll of a 1 always fail to Wound? (p42, 51)
A: No. Though it is very rare for a model to be able to Wound
on a 1+.

*Interesting.

Q: Can characters change position inside a unit as part of a normal
move?(p97)
A: Yes, as long as they end up in the rank closest to the front
of the unit that has a space in. It is also worth remembering
that even if only the character moves the whole unit will count
as moving that turn. Having a belligerent officer barge his way
through the unit is not conducive to a good round of shooting!

Q: Must a character be moved to the front rank of a unit as soon
as a space becomes available? (p100)
A: Yes.

*Huge changes to the current practice of BSB's in the second rank. I will now have to have another bunker unit for the BSB hiding in the back, or no longer give the BSB a magic banner (which I have been doing a lot).

Q: Certain spells, most notably Regrowth from the Lore of Life,
allow you to resurrect models that have been killed or even add
extra models to a unit. What happens if some or all of the models
added to a unit do not fit at the back? (ref)
A: Any models that do not have space to be placed at the back
of the unit are lost. If, for example, your unit has been charged
in its rear facing then you would be able to complete the back
rank and any excess models are lost.

*Big change for Undead players. Or any Life players who gets rear charged with more than the current rank of models missing.

Lots of interesting changed that will make an impact on upcoming tournaments. Be sure to study up and write your army lists accordingly! I know I will be.

Twitter and gaming!

2011-05-05T13:09:00.000-04:00

Twitter has become huge in the gaming community more recently than ever. Every day you can find regular hobby posts by bloggers, podcasters, and regular joe shmoes who just enjoy the hobby and are looking for a public "forum" without all the drama. And the great thing is you can follow exactly who you want. I have been guilty myself of not posting blog posts as much as I could, but I post on Twitter all throughout the day almost every day.

For me it is great to post hobby updates and battle reports. As I play a tournament it is great to post spectacular moments in game or final scores after each round for people who are interested in seeing how the tournament is going... even from another country. Have a good laugh as the Doomrocket kills 30 Witch Elves one game, but the next a Warp Lightning Cannon blows up and forces a unit of Storm Vermin off the table first turn in another. Browse through current projects as well as stage by stage advances of units from other Twitter users.

If you're not on the Twitter bandwagon, you should be. You don't need to post updates regularly, or even EVER. It is worth signing up to be able to follow the active Twitter posters to get a steady influx of Warhammer in your face while you are anywhere, on your phone.

Here is a list of my favorite Twitter posters you should definitely follow:

@Rhellion - ME! This is my very active Twitter account
@Heelanhammer - Dan Heelan, major Twitter poster from the Heelanhammer podcast
@Baddice_podcast - Ben Curry and Ben Johnson of Bad Dice
@ginger_buddha - Domus's Rule of the Day
@Garagehammer - The Garage Hammer podcast
@Voxcaster - Games Workshop on Twitter
@FBroundup - Fantasy Battle Roundup, great blog and regular Twitter poster
@bluntforcegamer - another great Twitter poster, blogger, and podcaster

And many more I follow. Check them all out on my Twitter page. If you post regularly on Twitter and follow me, I will most likely follow you as well. I like to read about Warhammer projects of all kinds.

My battle report from last weekend's tournament will be up SOON!

Ard Boyz 2011 Prelim Report

2011-04-17T09:28:00.002-04:00

It's that time of year again when everyone brings the filth and fights the worst of the worst composition. For those that don't know, Ard Boyz is a 3000 point tournament with no comp, Grand Armies, and special characters allowed. The format is 3 separate tournaments, over 3 months, with 3 rounds each. To be invited to the next round, you must place top 3 at a Prelim and then Semi final to move on. Last year I fought through all 9 games to get a tie for 3rd place at the Chicago Battle Bunker Final for Ard Boyz 2010. This year was a much harder Prelim, at least army composition wise...

First, lets start with my list. I discussed my army build on the BAd Dice Podcast, but I ended up changing at the last minute to to some interest in getting another hard hitting unit, but not sacrificing any I already had :

Grey Seer, talisman of preservation
Grey Seer, power scroll
Plague Priest, plague furnace, dispel scroll
Chieftain, bsb, storm banner
Warlock Engineer, doomrocket
47 Clanrats, full command, shields
30 Storm Vermin, full command, banner of eternal flame
40 Slaves, musician
40 Slaves, musician
43 Slaves, musician, shields
24 Plague Monks, musician, standard bearer
6 Rat Ogres, 4 packmasters
5 Gutter Runners, poison, slings
Hell Pit Abomination
Hell Pit Abomination
Hell Pit Abomination

As you can see, I dropped the Screaming Bell and tweaked some other points in favor of adding a 6 strong Rat Ogre unit I was hoping to count on to harass the flanks.

We ended up having a very poor turnout for our Prelim location, but that is to be expected with SO MANY prelim locations now available. The second round will have only 1 location per state or so, so I expect much larger turnouts. I still got in 3 quality games against 3 very tough lists. So lets get right into it...

Game 1, Dark Elves

Crone Hellbron
High Sorceress, lvl 4, lore of Fire, sacrificial dagger, pendant of khaeleth, ironcurse icon
Haq Queen, bsb, banner of hag graef (ASF banner)
Haq Queen, cauldron of blood
Sorceress, lvl 2, lore of dark magic, dispel scroll, guiding eye
45 Witch Elves, manbane, banner of murder
33 Warriors, standard of discipline
20 Repeater Crossbowmen
1 Assassin
1 War Hydra
Repeater Bolt Thrower
Repeater Bolt Thrower
Repeater Bolt Thrower
Repeater Bolt Thrower

Scenario 1 was Meeting Engagement with random sight distance. My opponent was hindered in many of his attempts to shoot by rolling low, but I don't think it effected the outcome of the game at all. I set up first and deployed my Slaves and one Hell Pit up front ready to take on the Witch Elf horde. I was planning on stalling with Slaves all game, but ended up not having to! My opponent did not take initiative by rolling a 6, so I went first.

I moved forward ready to take charges and getting into the witch elves with sacrificial slaves, I manuevered my doomrocket 14 inches from the center of the Witch Elves who had also set up on his own deployment line. The winds of magic were kind, and after launching a scorch on the witch elves that failed, I skitterleaped my second Grey Seer into the dark elf lines next to the Cauldron. Power Scroll and crack's call lead to a dead cauldron and 2 of 3 dead bolt throwers in his lines.

After this turn of events, I crippled his plans to continue to buff up the witch elves and run through my army. Shortly after, I fired a perfect 14 inch doomrocket shot into the center of the witchelves and killed 25 in a single go! My Gutter Runners had managed to put 2 wounds on the hydra as well on the far flank. Another turning point in the game was when the Furnace unit was able to charge the witch elves that remained after their slaying of many slaves that continued to hold them with Steadfast leadership. Crone Hellbron challenged the Plague Priest on his furnace, put all of her attacks onto the furnace, and with 7 hate-filled strength 10 attacks only did 5 wounds, so that when everything attacked back I hit her in the face with the wrecking ball (on my own turn) 10 times fr max combat res.

After wiping the Witch Elves I was able to finish off the Dark Elfs easily and complete the game with perfect battle points 24-0. My opponent conceded after 4 turns so I also scored 3250 victory points vs his 400.

Game 2, Lizardmen

Slaan, general, bsb, lore of shadow, cupped hands, rumination, mystery, cogitation, standard of discipline
Old Blood, burning blade, armor of fortune, dawnstone, other trickster's shard
Skink Priest, lore of heavens, cube of darkness
Scar Vet, armor of destiny, great weapon
10 Skinks, blowpipes
24 Saurus, hw/s
24 Saurus, hw/s
24 Saurus, spears
25 Temple Guard, banner of eternal flame
8 Chameleon Skinks
8 Chameleon Skinks
2 Salamanders
2 Salamanders
2 Salamanders

Game 2 was against Mike Hernandez, who I have posted before as some of my main compestition and one of my toughest opponents that I regularly play against. During setup, I deployed using the same strategy that I used against him on a smaller scale in the pre-Adepticon Primer where I beat him on the final table. I loaded up my troops on my right flank away from the side where he deployed his first 2 units of Salmanders, content to let him flame my Slaves.

Mike went first and moved forward. His Blood Soaked Choppa unit to get +1 strength and attack were the Saurus with spears. Mine were my Storm Vermin. He moved his Chameleons on the right to attempt to slow down my hell pits that filled that side, and had ineffective magic. I was able to get my Storm Vermin into one unit first turn, one Hell pit into another, break through both units into that side's alamander pack, and really disrupt the entire flank on the first turn.

I took the charge from Mike's Blood Soaked choppa unit with my Slaves and held them to be magic'd and doomrocketed before eventually getting a Hell Pit into them to finish them off. My Storm Vermin finished off the Salamander pack and overran out of charge range, leaving my Furnace able to charge the Saurus with the Old Blood. The Temple Guard got into my flank the next turn, leaving them open for a triple abom charge combat!

The Abominations worked through the Oldblood, Saurus, and Temple Guard over 2 turns. Over those 2 turns I used my Power Scroll to cast Wither on the Slaan unit, and the next turn also got it on irresistable force. At minus 2 toughness vs Hell Pits, you are in a tough spot even as Saurus with a flaming banner. The far Hell pit finished off the Old Blood and the second turn got into the rear of the Slaan, killing him on our last turn time allowed and getting me the maximum victory 24-0 with about 2900 vps vs 400 or so again.

Game 3, Lizardmen

Slaan, general, bsb, lore of heavens, rumination
Old Blood, carnosaur, burning blade, armor of fortune, other trickster's shard
Skink Priest, engine of the gods, lore of heaves, dispel scroll
Skink Priest, engine of the gods, lore of heavens
28 Saurus, hw/s
30 Saurus, hw/s
12 Skinks
Stegadon
Ancient Stegadon
1 Salamander
1 Salamander
1 Salamander

Wow, this was definitely a monster mash list. I was quite nervous sitting across the table at first, because I had dropped all of my cannons in favor of the hell pits because of the scenarios. 4 stegadons and a Carnosaur should be very rough against my army if supported right with Saurus. BUT, we would never find out...

I deployed first for the Meeting Engagement rules and the Chaos Portal scenario. My opponent loaded up my left flank with all of his stegadons in a row and put his Slaan and 30 Saurus in a building next to them. He went first but we ruled Tsunami for the scenario chart, halving all movement. He left all of his Stegadons in a row, and with an inneffective magic phase due to low dice, I went and unleashed the Skaven.

I positioned my Plague Furnace on the Chaos Portal in the center of the board, because the scenario was such that if you controlled it you got +500vp's, but if no one controlled it the game was an auto Draw. It didn't matter though as my second Grey Seer was Skitterleaped next to the line of Stegadons and the Slaan in the building. Power Scroll, Cracks's Call, and a phenominal distance roll of 18" on the 4d6 hit all 4 Stegadons and the building with the 30 man Saurus unit and Slaan. Unfortunately for me I only killed one ancient stegadon, but unfortunately for my opponent I rolled a 6 and destroyed the building. According to Crack's Call, if you hit a building you destroy it on a 5+ and then EVERY MODEL inside must take an Initiative test or be removes. After the dice rolling, he had 5 of 30 Saurus left and his Slaan had fallen into the cracks of the Under Empire. My opponent shook my hand and said good game, and I won the third game of my Ard Boyz prelim.

Last year was a better turn out by far for the prelim, but I do believe this year the limited armies were tougher competition and composition. I will be attending the Michigan location for the Ard Boyz semi finals, held at the same store as my prelim (Pandemonium in Garden City, MI). I expect a much larger turn out, and a very different Skaven list now that I have already peaked at the round 2 scenarios. I will of course be updating my game when the time comes, so follow me on Twitter @Rhellion, and keep an eye on this space!

P.S. I didn't get the 13th Spell off the entire tournament. I cast it once vs Dark Elves and got scrolled.

Bad Dice Interview

2011-04-15T09:10:00.001-04:00

Hey cool news! Episode 59 of The Bad Dice Podcast is out and I have a nice long interview about Adepticon, Skaven, Tournaments, and 'Ard Boyz. Please have a listen to support the Ben's if you're not already a listener!

I had a great time and appreciate the guys inviting me onto their show. Check them out HERE or on my Podcast list on the right margin further down the page!

Blood in the Sun

2011-04-14T09:19:00.000-04:00

Blood in the Sun is a 2 day GT in Hainesville, IL on July 8-10. I will be attending with the Skaven with 2400 points of ratty goodness. The tournament is already full, but they are starting a waiting list, and if you pay up front I believe you go straight to the front of the line ahead of people already registered, but who have not paid. Another interesting aspect to BITS is the Re-Roll token. There are 4 possible re-rolls to earn that can be used once per game during the first 4 games of the tournament for any single six-sided die including artillery dice. They are earned by paying on time, having your list in on time, participating in the terrain contest, and one for just showing up! Here is more info on the terrain contest:

Terrain Contest
Participants should create one piece of terrain no larger than 8”x8”x6” (Length, Width, Height). It should be Fully Painted and should represent one of the following from pages 118-131 of the Big Red Book. Please use the word “represent” loosely and feel free to be as creative as you would like.
Anvil of Vaul
Temple of Skulls
Necrotic Ooze
Blazing Barricade
Blessed Bulwark
Ghost Fence
Plain Ol' Fence
Altar of Khaine
Arcane Ruins
Bane Stone
Idol of Gork
Magic Circle
Plain Ol' House
Dwarf Brewhouse (High Elf Nightclub?)
Haunted Mansion
Wizard's Tower
Terrain Pieces will be used during the event and will be placed on a randomly allocated gaming table. Winners for the Terrain Awards will be chosen by the tournament organizers as well as peers. Entries must show craftsmanship or it will be rejected from the competition (No Pre-made and Pre-Painted Terrain or random object that you attempt to justify ie no handing us a Snickers Bar and stating it's a Ghost Fence). Prefab houses, etc. are fine as long as it took some effort on your part to assemble and paint it.

Scoring is 50% battle, 15% comp (opponent scored), 15% sports, and 20% painting. There are no item or army restrictions other than no special characters and your comp score. Dogs of War and Dwarfs of Chaos are allowed.

I will be playtesting lists at 2400 points over the next few months, in between other events! BITS is definitely the big event of the summer for me, so I am looking forward to it.

Find more info about BITS on their WEBSITE.

'Ard Boyz 2011!

2011-04-13T17:58:00.002-04:00

Just got off Skype with the Ben's of the Bad Dice Podcast, and we had a nice chat about Adepticon, 'Ard Boyz, and the sort of tournaments I attend. With that said, 'Ard Boyz 2011 is in THREE days. What are you bringing? I am showing up to Pandemonium with these bad boys...

Some more pics of each here, here, and here.

Warhammer Fantasy Championships 1-2

2011-04-13T08:23:00.002-04:00

And now for the Main Event at Adepticon 2011: the Warhammer Fantasy Championships. 4 games in one day of Warhammer at 2200 points with very little restriction other than no special characters. To start, my list was similar to something I would normally run, but I risked my General by giving him a Power Scroll and guaranteeing one miscast per game if I used it. Here is the list

The list:
Grey Seer, Level 4 (3 Ruin, 1 Plague), Talisman of Preservation, Power Scroll
Plague Priest, Level 1 Plague, Plague Furnace, Dispel Scroll, Ironcurse Icon
Chieftain, BSB, Shield, Dragonhelm, Opal Amulet
Warlock Engineer, Doomrocket
30 Storm Vermin, Fang Leader, Musician, Standard, Storm Banner
30 Clan Rats, Claw Leader, Musician, Standard
40 Slaves, Musician
39 Slaves, Musician
30 Plague Monks, Bringer, Musician, Standard, Banner of Eternal Flame
5 Gutter Runners, Slings, Poisoned Attacks
5 Gutter Runners, Slings, Poisoned Attacks
Hell Pit Abomination, Warp Spikes
Warp Lightning Cannon
Warp Lightning Cannon

2199

As I walked around the room, I saw a lot of nasty looking lists (not that mine was a fluffy bunny). The only thing that really worried me righ off the bat was all of the double Hydra Dark Elf lists. The I sat down to my first table to find a double Hydra Dark Elf list!

Game 1: Dark Elves

My opponent had 2 Hydras, a Cauldron, General on pegasus, Cold Ones, block of spears, block of corsairs, repeater crossbowmen, and 2 units of shades. My opponent set up first with Dawn Attack with most of his army on my left. I set up with my entire army split, and only 1 unit deployed in the center.

I rolled and stole the initiative! It was now or never so I decided to do something rash to take the game early. Skaven plans NEVER fail...right? My Grey Seer cast Skitterleap and my opponent let it go off. What damage can a Grey Seer on his own do? I decided to place my Seer right in the middle of my opponent's lines, next to 2 Hydras. I then cast a Power Scrolled Crack's Call through both Hydras, all 6 Cold Ones, and his level 4. The first Hydra rolled a 1. The second Hydra rolled a 2. Heartbreak. Laughter. Lamenting the imminent death of my Grey Seer. But he survived! Ever with the Dark Elf Shades on his tail, the scenario rules were basically a Storm Banner, and on the Dark Elf turn I activated my own Storm Banner to stack with the effect.

Because my Grey Seer was in his lines, I actually marched blocked his Hydras. The were in a nice line, so on the second turn I shot my Warp Lightning Cannons. The first shot misfired and did nothing. The second shot went through both Hydras, doing 5 wounds to the first and 4 wounds to the second! A sigh of relief as the Grey Seer's failure did not cost me too much. With the Storm Banner active, my opponent could also not move his General into position to effect the game much until the third turn. By that time he had moved out into the open, baiting my Hell Pit Abomination. On my third turn I took a shot at him and the Cold Ones with my WLC, destroying the Cold Ones and revealing the reverse ward save pendant. Next turn I charged my Hell Pit into him and did ZERO wounds. But he did no wounds back, and I won the fight on combat res. My opponent then rolled and failed his leadership, and was run down by the Hell Pit's 3d6 random movement!

That was pretty much the game as my opponent had lost both Hydras, his General, has my HPA in his midst, and my Plague Furnace was mopping up archers and coming down his flank. Great game, crazy dice, and big win for the Skaven in round 1.

Game 2: High Elves

More Elves! Game 2 was against Chris Yu and his beautiful High Elf display that was Player's Choice. The Elves had a level 4 Life mage, Swordmasters, White Lions, Dragon Princes, a spearmen bunker, large unit of archers, a bolt thrower, and 3 eagles.

With my deployment I set up to take control of the center of the board, guard my flank from Dragon Princes with Slaves and a building, and move my Hell Pit and Furnace in from the flank. This game was almost entirely tactical movement, as we didn't get into any serious combat until the bottom of the third turn. My Storm Banner combined with Skaven magic kept his Eagles out of the majority of the game and I believe was a large factor to my winning. I saved spell dice each turn to keep the birds grounded.

Early on I tried to soften his small but elite numbers up with cannon fire and magic. I even ran my Hell Pit backwards rather than towards him on one turn in order to delay combat for another turn, and it worked out perfectly. My Gutter Runners nuetralized the Eagle and Bolt Thrower in the center of the board late in the game, and I made my moves.

He charged his Swordmasters into my Slaves that had moved up to protect my Grey Seer's unit. The Dragon Princes were into the Slaves that were hugging the building. The Archers had fled from a charge from the Storm Vermin and Furnace, and were out of play (but not out of the game). To counter, I finally unleashed the 13th Spell on his White Lions, that I had waited to use. They were taken down to manageable numbers, but then fled and were caught by my Gutter Runners. I fired Warp Lightning into the Slaves and Dragon Princes, recuding them to 1 knight eventually. The Hell Pit Abomination crashed into the flank of the Swordmasters and decimated them. His two main fighting units gone, the High Elves were effectively crippled.

Throughout the game, my strategy was to dispel Throne of Vines first and foremost. My opponent was very hesitant afterwards to throw 6 dice at Dweller's, knowing his Lord was unprotected. Finally he did decide to go for it, without Throne. 3 times he got Dweller's Below off on my Grey Seer's Clanrat unit. 3 times I passed the test with both my Grey Seer AND Chieftain BSB. This luck, combined with my wiping out the Swordmasters and White Lions, led to another big Skaven victory.

I was 2-0 going into game 3 against what turned out to be my nemesis of Adepticon: Vampire Counts! Next report with cover games 3 and 4, and my final standing.

WIP Arachnarok

2011-04-11T07:36:00.000-04:00

Here is the post where I apologize for not having my Championships report up yet by posting why I didn't write my report this weekend. I was painting the Arachnarok! Here are the progress pictures I have from my weekend of spider painting.

Adepticon Results

2011-04-07T13:35:00.001-04:00

I still have to post up my Championships review, but in the mean time the results have been posted on Adepticon's website!

Big Brawl (2-1)
22/73 Place, 36/60 Battle, 19/25 Paint, 30/32 Sports

Warhammer Championships (3-1)
23/143 Place, 65/100 Battle, 25/25 Paint, 31/32 Sports

Next year I think I may play all three days!

Adepticon Big Brawl Report

2011-04-06T08:19:00.000-04:00

Here is my first event report from this year's Adepticon. The Big Brawl was a 3000 point, no comp tournament with only two restrictions: no special characters, and no Grand Armies. So not quite 'Ard Boyz, but close. I am having trouble finding my notes, so I will do the best I can. I did very well throughout the tournament, so lets get right into it!

Game 1 and my opponent is playing Orcs! What's that? He has Mangler Squigs? I thought Adepticon restricted the armies by a certain cut off date? My opponent didn't get the memo (or read the rules) and after conferring with a judge, anyone who was playing Orcs and Goblins were allowed to use either 7th OR 8th Edition Orcs, so long as they told their opponent which army they would be using. No problem, I started an O&G army just weeks prior, so I no what to kill (Mangler Squigs, lol).

Starting off, my opponent had a Warboss, lvl 4 Orc Great Shaman, lvl 4 Goblin Shaman, and Orc BSB. He had a large unit of Savage Orcs, a couple units of Night Goblins full of Fanatics, Black Orcs, 2 Orc Chariots, some Goblin Wolf Riders, 2 Rock Lobbas, a Doomdiver, a Giant, 2 pump wagons, and 2 Mangler Squigs.

I got hit early, and I got hit hard by magic. The scenario special rules stated whatever turn it was, if you rolled doubles of that number your spells would be irresistible force and miscasts just as if you had rolled double 6's!. First turn, Foot of Gork was cast on my Screaming Bell, then again, then again, and again, and again... EIGHT TIMES. Then he proceeded to hit the Bell with a rock lobba, and roll six wounds when I failed my ward save. Outstanding start to the day.

I deployed my Abominations to my right flank, and wanted to use them in combination with my Slaves. But my opponent had about 6 more deployments than I did, so his Mangler Squigs were screaming down the middle of the table. I was able to take both out with a single Slave unit, then once the coast was clear, take out his Giant with an Abomination.

My Plague Furnace was working over time on the opposite flank, fighting its way through the chaff to try and get to the Orc bunker of Savages. Things were looking dire all throughout, and an irresistible force Curse of the Bad Moon didn't help! I was really getting beat up by magic. Things turned full circle when we were running out of time, and I got my last turn. All game I had saved my power scroll, and slowly taken out a few Savage Orcs here, and a few there. On my turn 4 my patients payed off, and his bunker unit was down to only 15 models, including his Warboss, BSB, and Great Shaman. Irresistable (power scrolled) Curse of the Horned Rat warped his entire leadership core to turn the game from a 7-13 loss to a 13-7 win.

Game 2 came against a solid Warriors of Chaos list. It has a level 4 on a disc, a level 2 with Lore of Fire, 2 hell cannons, 2 units of hounds, 6 chaos trolls, chaos warriors of khorne with halbers, tzeentch with hw/shield, a unit of khorne chosen with great weapons, and 2 war shrines. There may have bee a couple other units in there, because again I was beaten on deployments. My strategy of large blocks worked this games as well, though. It also helped my opponent didn't roll Gateway.

From the start, I again new what my strategy would be against the Warriors. Lower their numbers with my tough items and spells that aren't effected by armor, then use the 13th Spell to finish them off. As the Warriors pushed forward through the center of the board, I deployed my Plague Furnace on the far right flank with the idea that as the rest of my army waited for the Warriors, it would have time to flank. The Hell Cannons were effectively neutralized the entire game by the Storm Banner and Gutter Runners harassing them.

Combat came and was bloody, but it was in the form of 2 Hell Pit Abominations smashing through the Warriors. Normally I try to combo charge HPA's with Slaves. Especially against Warriors, they can't often get the job done against steadfast unit. But also with Warriors, there is the danger of mass attacks just killing you. I initiated a frontal charge with my center-most Hell Pit into the Tzeentch Warriors, because I was much less worried about their killing power. Surprisingly, I smashed through the entire unit in two turns, including the level 2 Fire Mage. He died too early and was not able to do any damage to either Hell Pit, because I shut him down in the preceding magic phases. On the left, a poor roll by me and a good roll by my opponent left my HPA open for a flank charge by 7-wide Warriors of Khorne with Halberds. I thought I was in trouble, but miraculously survived with 1 wound after 2 turns of pounding them to dust to wipe them out. 7-wide hurts when every model touching the Hell Pit takes an auto S6 hit with no armor (roll of a 1-2 on the HPA chart).

The Plague Furnace was able to get in to the Warshrine on the right, and I was able to 13th the Chosen to weaken them before it hit the Furnace unit. It was sooner than planned, but I didn't want a full strength unit chopping away at it, Unbreakable or not. It stayed around long enough to let the first Hell Pit finish off the Tzeentch Warriors, reposition, and rear charge to wipe the Chosen. As the game wound down, we could see the writing on the wall. All three main blocks were destroyed, though my opponent still had his Trolls around. The game finished up as a 20-0 Skaven win.

Game 3 I was on table 5 against an interesting Vampire Counts list. He was using a Lord on a Zombie Dragon! He also had 2 Varghulfs, a Black Coach, Grave Guard, lots of Ghouls, and a few Vampires, one with the lore of Death. We set up, and the zombie dragon and a varghulf were on my right flank, with a varghulf on my left flank. I was content to hold the middle and push my Furnace, Slaves, and Aboms forward well supporting with my Bell and Grey Seers.

Turn 1 was a disaster. He pushed his Ghouls with a Vampire forward. Announcing Purple Sun, large version, Power Scrolled, I expected some damage... but not for my entire left flank to be demolished. Hell Pit Abomination has initiative 4, roll a 5. Plague Furnace has initiative 5 (Priest), roll a 6. Wow. I was definitely put on my heels from then on, rather than being aggressive. Still puching the advantage, the zombie dragon and varghulf were marching down the right flank (as I had activated the Storm Banner to stop him from flying). 2 misfires on the first turn meant I had lost my chance to take out the zombie dragon and Vampire Lord before he came crashing into my lines.

He was able to get his flying charge off on my Screaming Bell by turn 3. From there I was able to challenge and win combat by static res for anough turns that I did finally kill the Vampire Lord AND Dragon, but it was too late by turn 5. The rest of the Vampire army was able to get to my lines and the Bell was eventually taken out. It was disappointing to lose my toys so early when I knew it was horrid dice rolling by me that led to their demise. BUT, that is 8th edition, and I have certainly have taken advantage of the same strategies with the 13th Spell. To cry foul would be hypocritical. The game ended with some anti-climatic crumbling rolls that came too late to make a difference, and the Vampires won the match 17-3.

I have to say, for being a large Ard Boyz style event I had some excellent opponents. The games were all light hearted and fun, even when I was getting Purple Sunned off the 5th table! I can't wait until next year, where I think I will be taking my Orcs for the Big Brawl to switch it up and split the events. As far as results, I got high sports and painting scores to carry me to 23rd place (or so). I really take pride in high Sportsmanship scores, so I was glad to see I was at least a pleasure to play with. Until next year, though, I will just have to keep visions of Purple Suns in my memory before getting another shot at The Big Brawl.

Coming up soon, another battle report from the Adepticon Warhammer Fantasy Championships! 140 Players!!!

RHQ TV

2011-04-05T07:45:00.000-04:00

Day 2 of Adepticon has been posted by Rankings HQ TV. Check the video out and see if there is a certain Skaven army you recognize (at 8:25 haha)!

Resin everywhere!

2011-04-04T13:02:00.000-04:00

One of the great things about Adepticon are the great vendors I would normally have to view online. You can get a real "feel" for a rare-ish product when you can actually see it in person. I took advantage of the vendors about bought myself some Space Wolf reinforcements in the form of Scibor miniatures and Paulson Games.

If you have already seen my swag bag photos, you'll know I got a Khador Warmachine box set in mine. I hit up the CoolMiniOrNot booth to find some resin bases for when I painted them up. I did not make it very far, because I got hit in the face by some GREAT resin Space Wolf "counts as" models. I picked up a box of the 3 characters, and then enough more to fill out a full squad of 10 with matching shoulder pads, total.

Next up are the real gem. I have posted time and time again about different Thunderwolf options out there. I had originally planned on waiting on GW... but the deal in front of me this weekend was too good to pass up. I picked up a set of 3 Paulson games Thunderwolves. I am hoping to get them assembled this week and try them at Ordo Fraternitas' Chapter Night next Tuesday.

I also picked up a Forgeworld limited Chaos Dwarf that I am decided what I want to do with. He really is a beautiful model. I got a 40k Boarding Captain, but he is already spoken for. They WERE limiting them so that the first person couldn't walk up to the counter and buy every one to resell on EBay.

Resin!!!!!!

Adepticon 2011

2011-04-03T23:48:00.003-04:00

Adepticon is OVER! I had an amazing weekend with lots of new and old friends. I appreciate everyone who recognized me and said hello, it was mind blowing. I was glad I was able to meet all of my favorite podcasters from Podhammer, Garagehammer, Point Hammered, Waaagh! Cast, and Bro Hammer. Especially Garage Hammer because I had a great time hanging out with them during the weekend. I was glad I got to meet so many names I see on forums every day. I spent most of my other non-gaming time starting trouble with the Dark Future Games crew after trying to win their battle force contest... and somehow I was offered a spot on their contributing roster of blogger. I must have gotten someone very inebriated. Look for me on their blog roll soon.

As far as games went, I will be posting tournament reports for both days of marathon Warhammering asap (probably Tuesday). Until then, take a look at my Twitter feed for all kinds of Adepticon coverage, and head over to Rankings HQ TV to watch their day 2 video (when they post it), where I was interviewed at the Warhammer Championships on camera!

Battlefoam!

2011-03-30T16:56:00.000-04:00

I am packing my army up for Adepticon tonight, in my new Battlefoam P.A.C.K. 1520 XL! I picked it up last month from my FLGS, but had to order the Fantasy specific foam to put inside it from BF directly. I just wanted to put up a couple of photos and give my impressions.

Packed and ready to go! I got some GREAT advice before buying my foam. DON'T buy the Skaven set from Battlefoam. The 92 Troop pice will not hold models well. I went with the 72 Troop trays and they were perfect. They hold a TON of models. The Skaven special tray to hold the Bell, Furnace, and 2 Doomwheels (mine holds 2 Abominations) is an excellent buy. Well worth it. I also picked up one Dark Elf Spearmen tray to hold my 1 unit of Clanrats with spears, a Weapon Team tray that actually holds my Stormvermin and only a couple teams instead of its intended use, and a Clan Moulder tray that I use for my Rat Ogres and Characters.

It is a very pricey system, but it is well worth it after I have the finished product in my posession, ready to be loaded into the car for Adepticon. I also bought a Battlefoam XBoard Display Board with the foam. I have it painted up and it fits perfectly into the 1520 XL too, in the side pouches! I will post pictures with my army at Adepticon.

I will be at Adepticon Thursday to hang out and register. Friday I am playing in the Big Brawl, Saturday in the Fantasy Championships, and Sunday I am possibly playing in the Fantasy Team Tournament. If anyone is looking for a last minute partner, I am bringing a 1000 point list!

For updates at the convention live, follow me on Twitter @Rhellion

If you see me there, I will be wearing my Winter Classic Detroit Red Wings hat!

Road to Adepticon - Primer BatRep

2011-03-23T08:50:00.001-04:00

Adepticon is quickly approaching, my army is painted, and my Battlefoam will be here this week! I will be all set when I get my XBoard display board painted up. I have one last practice game against Dark Elves scheduled for this weekend against the player who won my Cold War tournament. I promised pics and a battle report of the weekend's Adepticon Primer, so here it is.

My Army:

Game 1 vs Dwarfs. Meeting Engagement.

My opponent set up first, and rolled poorly for reserve troops, and left his Hammerers, Anvil of Doom, and Organ Gun off the table. He also had a large unit of Longbeard Rangers, so his only deployment was in a small area of the board. I was able to aggressively deploy and get to him quickly.

I stole the initiative and moved up quickly. On the second turn I had the Gutter Runners charge the closest catapult, and the Organ Gun after it moved on the board. My Slaves came on from my board to block the Longbeards, but it was unnecessary as shooting and magic decimated them down to two troops. Once the Hellpit got into the lines, and the Gutter Runners took out all of the war machines, all that was left standing was the Anvil of Doom. The Hellpit was MVP after wiping out thew Warriors and overrunning into the Hammerers with my Storm Vermin, also wiping them out.

Win 20-6

Game 2 Beastmen. Dawn Attack.

My deployment was horrible as my entire army was split into the left and right flanks. My opponent had almost all of his in the center with his Herd Stone and level 4 Death Shaman, and three level 1 Shadow Shaman with the signature spell to debuff me. I maneuvered my Grey Seer and Clan Rats around the right with the Plague furnace, as my Hellpit and Slaves moved from the left towards the main beastmen line.

After taking out the enemy BSB with a single round of WLC firing, I focused on redirecting minotaurs. It was unsuccessful as they did eventually hit my lines, but the Hellpit and Furnace had been doing good work behind them. Late in the game my opponent fled his Bestigors from a Slave charge that he was sure would also bring the Hellpit into combat. His flee move brought him within range and sight of my Grey Seer, who finished the unit with the 13th spell. His General and BSB now gone, it was left to the cleanup... though my Grey Seer died in the end to minotaurs. MVP goes to the Power Scroll, and 13th Spell.

Win 20-5

Game 3 Lizardmen. Blood and Glory.

Game 3 was against my driving buddy for a few tournaments now, and the winner of Best General at the Fall Classic, Mike H. Mike had a Shadow Slaan, Engine of the Gods, Temple Guard, 2 blocks of Saurus, double Salamanders, and double chameleon skinks. After he set his first unit I decided to castle on the opposite corner and make him come to me. Hopefully I could focus on one Saurus unit at a time this way and get some good shots on his Steg.

And that I did, when the first turn my WLC put two wounds on his steg and shot the Priest and engine off. Also first turn I rolled TWO separate 4's on the miscast table. One was a cupped hands miscast, graciously given to me by my opponent. The second was a 3 dice cast of Warp Lightning. My Grey Seer survived his 50% chance of vaporization on both rolls. Then my army went on a tear. The Warp Lightning Cannons finished off the Stegadon and took out Mike's Temple Guard, with the help of a natural 29 on the 13th Spell (no IF). The next turns had more Warp Lightning and the 13th spell (this time with power scroll) dropping the SLaan's new bunker to 5 Saurus. I finally shot the doom rocket into it, finished the last 5, and my opponent's army broke at 3 fortitude. MVP was the Warp Lightning Cannons.

Win 19-6.

Solid performance. I had at least one great game in each of the three phases to really give me some confidence going into Adepticon. I am not 100% sure on the survivability of my Grey Seer, but that is the risk I have to take at 2200 points with only a Grey Seer as General guaranteed to explode at least once per game.

Road to Adepticon - Primer Victory

2011-03-21T07:23:00.000-04:00

Yesterday was the Adepticon Primer Tournament for the Warhammer Fantasy Championships. The Fantasy Championships is a 4 game, single day tournament set at 2200 points with little to no restrictions, the only main restriction being no special characters. At the event I had three good games against Dwarfs, then Beastmen, and finally Lizardmen to take home the 1st place Overall win and really give me some confidence in my list going into Adepticon. If you are interested, have a look at the list, and please leave feedback. I will try to get battle reports of the days games up asap.

Grey Seer, Level 4 (3 Ruin, 1 Plague), Talisman of Preservation, Power Scroll

Plague Priest, Level 1 Plague, Plague Furnace, Dispel Scroll
Chieftain, BSB, Shield, Dragon Helm, Opal Amulet
Warlock Engineer, Doomrocket

30 Storm Vermin, Fang Leader, Musician, Standard, Storm Banner
30 Clan Rats, Claw Leader, Musician, Standard
40 Slaves, Musician
39 Slaves, Musician

30 Plague Monks, Bringer, Musician, Standard, Banner of Eternal Flame
5 Gutter Runners, Slings, Poisoned Attacks
5 Gutter Runners, Slings, Poisoned Attacks

Hell Pit Abomination, Warp Spikes
Warp Lightning Cannon
Warp Lightning Cannon

2011 'Ard Boyz scenarios

2011-03-19T07:49:00.000-04:00

This year's 'Ard Boyz scenarios have been released, and I have to say, this one is going to be bloody. With 2 of the 3 scenarios being Meeting Engagements, I am REALLY thinking about taking the Orcs and getting stuck into it FAST.

http://www.games-workshop.com/MEDIA_CustomProductCatalog/m1730396a_Fantasy_Ard_Boyz_2011_Prelim_Scenarios.pdf

Scenario 1. "Eyz Don't See So Good!" Meeting Engagement. The scenario special rules limit all range to the distance rolled on an artillery die x3.

Scenario 2. "Da Blood Soaked Choppa". Battle line. One unit gets buffed with +1 Strength and Attack, but gives up extra battle points.

Scenario 3. "The End Times". Meeting Engagement. A table is rolled on every turn that can decimate units by dealing d6 wounds to every unit on the table. Other results include game-wide frenzy, movement restriction, shooting restriction, automatic channeling, and buffed generals.

All three scenarios really look to be great for Orcs and Goblins, though I would probably have to limit my Rare choices and really maximize on blocks of troops. The third scenario would hurt Mangler Squigs and Pump Wagons, but bith Meeting Engagements mean for fast and bloody combat. A large unit of Black Orcs buffed with the Blood Soaked Choppa? Yes please.

On the contrary, if I choose Skaven I see myself taking 3 Hell Pit Abominations. Meeting Engagements mean getting them stuck in quickly, and penalties to shooting and gun lines all over the place increase survivability. I am only worried about them taking wounds in the third scenario, but that would happen to the Orc monsters as well.

This is going to be fun!

Road to Adepticon - Big Brawl list

2011-03-17T07:57:00.001-04:00

Friday night is the face-smashing tune-up for Saturday's Warhammer Fantasy Championships, in the form of the Big Brawl. I had plenty of 'Ard Boyz experience with 8th Edition rules in all three rounds last year. The Big Brawl is basically 'Ard Boyz, although now there are no Grand Army rules or Special Characters for me to worry about. I think that is definitely an advantage for my list that is very similar to my 'Ard Boyz lists from last year that faced off against a lot of special characters. Here is the list, let me know what you think.

As always, critiques welcome.

Grey Seer (G), lvl 4 ruin, d3 warpstone, screaming bell, dispel scroll
Grey Seer, lvl 4 plague, d3 warpstone, power scroll
740 Lord

Plague Priest, lvl 1 plague, plague furnace, ironcurse icon
Chieftain, bsb, shield, halberd, standard of discipline
Warlock Engineer, doomrocket
409 Hero

25 Storm Vermin, musician, standard, storm banner
40 Clan Rats, command, shields
30 Clan Rats, command, shields
40 Slaves, musician
40 Slaves, musician
759 Core

30 Plague Monks, command, banner of eternal flame
5 Gutter Runners, poison, slings
5 Gutter Runners, poison, slings
425 Special

Hell Pit Abomination, warp spikes
Hell Pit Abomination
Warp Lightning Cannon
Warp Lightning Cannon
665 Rare

2998 Total

Road to Adepticon - Hobby Update

2011-03-16T22:27:00.000-04:00

Adepticon is closing in, and I need to finish my army! Well, it's not too far off but does need to be finished for this weekend's Adepticon Primer Tournament at J&L Games in St. Johns. Really all that is left is finishing my Warp Lightning Cannons and my display board. The WLC's were minimally painted previously. Tonight I worked on washing them, getting some detail and highlighting, and painting the crew separately. I have a Battlefoam XBoard display board coming with the rest of the foam for my new 1520 XL Battlefoam case. BUT, I am pretty sure it won't arrive in time for this weekend's tourney. So I went out and bought a cork board at Target, and picked up some textured "stone" spray paint. It actually matches my bases quite well. I will be adding a lot of static grass.

On the Ork and Goblin front I have been stripping Orcs, assembling some more Black Orcs, working on my Arachnarok, and getting my Mangler Squig pieces together. I used a Great Cave Squig mount and Gobblo for the Mangler Squigs. The Arachnarok BASE is horribly warped. I am going to try and fix it myself so I don't have to wait on one getting shipped to me.

Here we are with some pics... Adepticon is in 16 days!

WIP Skaven WLC's. Need some highlights to be finished.

Display board's textured paint drying. Simple board while I wait on the XBoard.

Terrible Arachnarok base.

Incoming Mangler Squigs!

2500 point NEW Orc and Goblin list

2011-03-10T11:55:00.000-05:00

I picked up the new Orc and Goblin book last week and I must be going insane, because I am starting another horde army. We'll see how long this new obsession lasts but for right now I am loving the idea of painting up an O&G force! Take a look at my preliminary incarnation and let me know what you think.

Black Orc Warboss, talisman of preservation, dragonhelm, crown of command
Night Goblin Great Shaman, talisman of endurance, dispel scroll
Black Orc Big Boss, bsb, armor of destiny
30 Orc Boy Big'Uns, full command, additional hand weapons, banner of eternal flame
30 Night Goblins, full command, netters, spears, 3 fanatics
25 Black Orcs, full command, banner of discipline
10 Forest Goblin Spider Riders, standard, musician, shortbows
Spear Chukka
Spear Chukka
Pump Wagon, spikey roller
Pump Wagon, spikey roller
Mangler Squigs
Mangler Squigs
Doom Diver
Arachnarok

Hell Pit Abomination (# 3)

2011-03-08T07:58:00.001-05:00

So here we go. I picked up a new Hell Pit Abomination kit at my own tournament in January, and I decided I wanted to use THAT model at Adepticon. So last night I painted it. Here are some of the WIP and final shots. It is heavy on the wash, but the majority of my army is. That is the way I like my Skaven!

Adepticon WFB Primer

2011-03-03T08:25:00.000-05:00

With the support of J&L Miniatures, everyone is invited to a Warhammer Fantasy Tournament.

It will match the format for Adepticon as closely as possible to help prepare those of us wanting to practice for the big one in Chicago.

Below are the details:

WHERE: J&L Miniatures in St. Johns, MI.

WHEN: Sunday, March 20th

COST: $10 entry Fee, payable to J&L Miniatures at sign-up. Tim, owner of J&L, is providing generous prize support for this event.

FORMAT: I will run 3 rounds (not 4 like adepticon), with 2.5 hours per round to match adepticon.

SCHEDULE:
8:30 to 9:30 Check-in, Table Assignments.
Game 1: 9:30 to 12 Noon
Lunch and paint judging: Noon to 1PM
Game 2: 1PM to 3:30PM
Break: 3:30 to 3:45PM
Game 3: 3:45 to 6:15PM
6:30 Awards

RULES:
Here is the Adepticon ruleset and scoring format:
http://www.adepticon.org/11rules/2011wfbchamp.pdf

I'll prepare a draft of the scenarios and gently revise the rules linked above to reflect scoring for 3 rounds rather than the 4 scheduled for Adepticon. Brad has gotten good info on the scenarios to get me started preparing this week. I will likely revise the prizes awarded also as compared to the larger scale event, with details TBD shortly.

ORGANIZER: John Williams Cell: 248-622-0186 johnphilipw@live.com.

SIGN-UPS:
Please e-mail me at johnphilipw@live.com to reserve your spot.
only 16 slots are available, so reserve your spot soon.

FURTHER DETAILS:
I'll follow up with further details by Wednesday, March 2nd.

Thanks, John

Footslogging Space Wolves in action.

2011-02-28T12:17:00.000-05:00

I haven't played too much 40k lately, but my last 5 games or so over a few months have been focusing on footslogging with no transports. I have won or done at least decent in most of them so the idea for me is at least viable. Obviously lots of troops will do well in objective games, and no transports takes away kill points or even targets of all the anti tank weapons everyone puts in their lists. This is what I ran on Saturday vs Dark Eldar. Obviously my firepower is in the form of Long Fangs, but the Grey Hunters do very well for themselves with lots of wound allocation potential and being good (enough) in close combat.

2000 points

1 Rune Priest, chooser of the slain, living lightning, tempest's wrath

9 Wolf Guard, 6 with fists, 2 with combi plasmas, 1 with a cyclone

10 Grey Hunters, power weapon, meltagun, flamer, mark of wulfen, wolf standard

10 Grey Hunters, power weapon, meltagun, flamer, mark of wulfen, wolf standard

10 Grey Hunters, power weapon, meltagun, flamer, mark of wulfen, wolf standard

10 Grey Hunters, power weapon, meltagun, plasmagun, wolf standard

10 Grey Hunters, power weapon, meltagun, plasmagun, wolf standard

10 Grey Hunters, power weapon, meltagun, plasmagun, wolf standard

6 Long Fangs, 5 missile launchers

6 Long Fangs, 5 missile launchers

6 Long Fangs, 5 missile launchers

Each GH squad gets a powerfist Wolf Guard, 2 LF squads get a combi plasma, and one gets a Cyclone. I spread out, moved on objectives, won combat where necessary in large part to the Wolf Standards I include in EVERY list I make, and relied on my Long Fangs to do the heavy lifting.

For my Spearhead setup I held 2 units of GH's in reserve.

Thoughts? It did well against the DEldar, but I also had the first turn and knocked out 2 heavy Raiders and 1 transport in the first round. The GH's did their job and smothered the objectives and held off the pointy ears. We called it only at turn three with much DEldar carnage and Wolves holding 3 of 3 objectives.

Skaven Slave Tactics

2011-02-24T09:06:00.000-05:00

Slaves are the best unit in the Skaven army book. There is a catchy first line to a blog post! I am writing this little one off because I have been visiting Under Empire and seeing Skaven played lately with little or no Skaven Slave units in the army! For a mere 2 points per model you can build the cornerstone unit(s) of your enemy crushing Skaven army.

So Skaven Slaves are 2 points per model. That's because they suck, right? Wrong! Well... not exactly wrong but it's all in how you use it. 2 points per model, because I never upgrade my Slaves. Shields offer longevity and survivability, but I don't care to add points to an expendable unit. Same reason I don't use spears or slings, as well as the fact that Slaves are not there to kill anything (and rarely will). They have some of the poorest stats in the Warhammer world other than an excellent Initiative 4 which will sometimes beat an opponent to the punch and take away a few attacks.

So how do I use my Slaves? As giant tarpit units. Combined with the amazing Strength-in-Numbers Skaven army rule, if your Slaves are within range of your LD7 General they turn into LD10 Slaves with at least 3 ranks. I run my Slaves generally in 2 units of 40 models, ranked 5 wide and 8 deep. This will keep me Steadfast for longer at LD10 and hopefully with a BSB reroll. BTW that unit of 40 models with a Musician (only) is 82 points. It is a STEAL.

The Slaves are at the front of my army, ready to be sacrificed as any good Skaven Slave would do. I run them towards my enemy and either slam into elite units hoping to hold them in place, or park in front hoping to GET charged and save a round of combat. Many of my opponents know what the plan is and charge them anyways with nowhere to go. Otherwise they waste valuable game time trying to maneuver around my large blocks and may end up getting charged themselves later (in the flank).

As you set this up it is important to protect their flanks to keep their Steadfast LD10 intact. They remain Steadfast if flank charged, but it is the +3LD from Strength-in-Numbers I am interested in retaining. This is why I often deploy my Slaves near the center of the board with my support around them. Often in the form of Storm Vermin, Clan Rats, and General / BSB. I am particularly a fan of getting the Slaves stuck in, and then next turn charging my Hell Pit Abomination into the fray. The Slaves remove enemy Steadfast and the normal problem a HPA faces. The same with a Plague Furnace.

Slaves hold up a unit of Grave Guard with a HPA looming in the flank.

Also, I often field my Skaven Slaves with a 15 point Warlock or even one of my item carrying Warlocks parked in the unit. This will keep them at LD8 with SiN at the very start of the game if they are out of range of the General (which they should never be, but oh well). It also acts as a delivery unit of your Doomrocket or Brass Orb, and then as a further redirector if you use that lone Warlock correctly... but that is another tactics article.

So remember my fellow Skaven Warlords, it is worth it to bring the large units of weaklings. Spent your Warpstone on as many Slaves as you can get!

GLWL 4

2011-02-23T07:28:00.000-05:00

After setting up the Skaven battle line in the corner, there was apparently one unit of Clan Rats in reserve pushing a Warp Lightning Cannon to make it into the battle. The Vampire Counts deployed on the front line, ready to charge forward. Their Vampire Lord General on her Nightmare in the back of their line, avoiding the fight.

Early on all of the Skaven shooting failed to do any serious damage. Cannons were misfiring on the bounce and mortars and catapult were scattering off target. Jockeying for position, we then got stuck in on turn 2 when the Grave Guard charged into Slaves and cast flaming attacks on themselves anticipating a Hell Pit Abomination charge in the flank.

The Abomination didn't take the bait and altered its course right into a unit of Ghouls with the Vampire Fire Mage. It was a combination charge with a lone Warlock Engineer who charged to make room for a Storm Vermin charge onto the Grave Guard (which ultimately failed). The Hell Pit Abomination killed 17 Ghouls, and the rest, along with the Vampire, crumbled!

While this was happening the Grave Guard were smashing through the Slaves and Storm Vermin (and my Warlord) with the help of the powered up Black Coach. The Abomination eventually falls to a last die ASF bound roll and some Wraiths, and does not return to life. On turn 5, the flying Vampire Lord surged forward to help his shambling horde finish off the Skaven and was met with a Warp Lightning Cannon to the face, killing her. The GG smash through the fleeing Storm Vermin and cause 2 of 3 war machines to flee and kill the last on turn 6. The Clan Rats and Grey Seer survive to combat res kill the Black Coach.

The battle ended a Draw with only Grave Guard and a Corpse Cart "alive" for the Vampires, and 2 units Clan Rats, a Grey Seer, Gutter Runners, and a mortar alive for Skaven. Nice game Nik!

GLWL - Round 3

2011-02-22T12:20:00.002-05:00

Round 3 of the 2011 GLWL had me facing Mike Hernandez and his very tough Lizardmen army. Mike got Best General at the Fall Classic that I won last year, he and I traveled to 'Ard Boyz in 2010, and we will be meeting at Adepticon this year for the Fantasy Championships. This was definitely a friendly rivalry game.

Mike brought a Slaan with Light, Temple Guard, 3 more units of Saurus, Engine of the Gods, Terradons, 1 unit of Salamanders, and 2 units of Chameleon Skinks. For my list I added a Grey Seer, Hell Pit, another WLC, a PCC, and 2 rat dart units to my fixed list.

At the start of the game, I felt I had deployed perfectly. Even though we rolled Watchtower (I HATE WATCHTOWER) he had most of his forces deployed on his right flank, so I countered by deploying on MY right flank. It looked like I would be able to spend much of the game shooting at his advanced Saurus blocks with my cannons and catapult. How wrong I was.

I had first turn and a mortar and WLC exploded immediately. The Lizardmen were able to buff up at first, but I was able to get the Hell Pit into their line and cause heavy damage by destroying a unit of Chameleon Skinks and damaging the Saurus inside the Watchtower. The HPA got flanked off of the tower and cut down, but then came back to life in a position to flank charge the unit that killed it!

Through out the game my shooting was ineffective, and my magic was more or less just tame. Although the same can be said for Mike's magic. It really was a game that was fought in the trenches. A battle that was basically a draw going into the 5th round. In the 4th turn I drew a charge from the Temple Guard unit into my Slaves. Then I counter charged with my Clan Rats, Chieftain BSB, and Warlord and did heavy casualties to the Temple Guard, forcing the Slaan to accept a challenge from my Warlord on the bottom of 5. The Engine flanked the Slaves for combat resolution but I knew my goal was to kill the Toad. My Warlord couldn't kill him with the first chance... and there wouldn't be a second.

GLWL rules state that the Watchtower scenario must last at least 5 turns. So after turn 5 we rolled and the game ended. With 3 Saurus left alive in the Watchtower and 4 Temple Guard a long side his Slaan, surrounded by about 20 Slaves and 20 Clan Rats with my Warlord and Chieftain BSB. If the game had gone on even one more turn I would have wiped the Slaan and TG out, as well as taking control of the Watchtower! Also, GLWL rules award 500 bonus points for the Watchtower rather than auto winning.

Final score (about) 1100-700 : Lizardmen win. Curse you, Slaan!

GLWL 1 + 2

2011-01-31T09:56:00.000-05:00

I was able to get in two games this weekend for the GLWL, completing my first and second periods. Game 1 was against Darrell's Warriors of Chaos, and Game 2 against Jason's Skaven horde.

Game 1, Watchtower.

The Warriors of Chaos controlled the Watchtower but chose not to deploy inside of it, leaving it open for a massive Skaven Slave unit to occupy it on the second turn movement. There they stayed while Marauders of Nurgle smashed into the tower turn after turn, unable to move the steadfast, yet expandable Slaves.

All around them Skaven firepower and magic crackled. Warp Lightning Cannons vaporized Chaos Chosen of Khorne, and Chaos Warriors of Tzeentch were twisted and warped into Skaven Clan Rats all around their vile General. The Hell Pit Abomination smashed through the Warshrine of Tzeentch as on the last turn a squad of Gutter Runners and unit of Clan Rats charge into the Marauders just in time to hold them away from the tower, and for the game to end.

Skaven Win, 1561 - 293

Game 2, Battleline.

Two rival Warlords meeting on a pitched field, with no Grey Seers to be found. My Clan was superior through firepower, as on the first turn my Warp Lightning Cannons torched nearly the entire right flank squad of Rat Ogres with a single shot. My Abomination's hunger was too much for its own good, as it's charge destroyed many enemy Plague Monks, but the counter charge felled it. My Plague furnace charge into enemy lines and the Priest unleashed a devastating cast of Cloud of Corruption. The Furnace smashed through the second squad of Rat Ogres and into the enemy lines, as my Cannons continued to rain warp lightning on the enemy rats. A late surge by the Giant Rat horde caused my lines trouble, but there was too much damage done, as the enemy Skaven General alone tried to destroy the last cannon remaining near him for vengeance... as he fled from the masses of my Plague Monks.

Skaven Win, 1924 - 892

Incoming Dwarfs!

2011-01-30T15:45:00.000-05:00

I made a trade this weekend, getting rid of my Blood Angels for a full 3000 points of Dwarfs! I then picked up 2 boxes of Dwarf Warriors and I am very close to having the army I want. I need to get a bunch of Hammerers and I think I will be set. Have a look at what I picked up:

Lord w/Greatweapon
Lord w/HW & shield
Runelord
Daemonslayer
Runesmith
Master Engineer w/greatweapon
20 Warriors w/HW - 185
15 Rangers w/full command - 190
17 Thunderers w/full command - 263
20 Quarrellers
11 Warriors w/HW & Shield - 124
10 Thunderers w/full command
15 Miners w/full command
15 Ironbreakers w/full command
16 Slayers w/SB & Mu
3 Cannon
2 Bolt Throwers
Flamecannon
Organ Gun
Gyrocopter
Total points: 3209

And here is the list I have been kicking around today:

Rune Lord; talisman: spite, spellbreaker x2; armor: resistance, stone
Thane; BSB; armor: gromril, resistance
30 Warriors, command, great weapons
30 Long Beards, command, shields
30 Rangers, command, quarrellers, great weapons
30 Hammerers, command
20 Miners, command
Cannon, forging, burning
Grudge Thrower, accuracy, penetrating
Bolt Thrower, engineer
Organ Gun
2499

It is very boots-on-the-ground and combat oriented. After reading battle reports and some Dwarf forum strategizing, I am liking this idea. We'll have to wait and see until after the GLWL!

GLWL Fixed List

2011-01-27T12:52:00.000-05:00

Part of the rules system for the Great Lakes Warhammer League is that you must turn in a "Fixed List". You must provide a subset of your army list to the League Office prior to the first gaming round that consists of at least 1,500 points. The point difference between the size of your fixed portion and 2,500 points are your variable points (e.g. the maximum amount of variable points you will have available is 1000). You cannot modify this fixed portion by adding or subtracting models in units, wargear or magic items on characters, etc. Your wizards listed must also list their Lore, and may not change them through the season.

This means that you build your army's core, and can change the rest to tailor based on your opponent's Fixed List and what you think they may bring with the rest of their list. The Fixed Lists are available for ALL league participants to view.

Lets have a look at my Fixed List for this year's GLWL:

1 Warlord @ 228.0 Pts, General; Heavy Armour; Shield; Warlitter, Blade of Corruption, Talisman of Preservation, Potion of Strength

1 Warlock Engineer @ 150.0 Pts, Magic Level 2, Doom Rocket, Warp-Energy Condenser

1 Chieftain @ 122.0 Pts, Shield; Battle Standard, Armour of Destiny

30 Stormvermin @ 245.0 Pts, Halberd; Heavy Armour; Fangleader; Standard; Musician, Banner of the Eternal Flame

30 Clanrats @ 220.0 Pts, Light Armour; Clawleader; Shields; Standard; Musician, Poisoned Wind Mortar

30 Clanrats @ 220.0 Pts, Light Armour; Clawleader; Shields; Standard; Musician, Poisoned Wind Mortar

40 Skavenslaves @ 82.0 Pts, Slave Musician

40 Skavenslaves @ 82.0 Pts, Slave Musician

5 Gutter Runners @ 90.0 Pts, 2ndWeapon; Poisoned Attacks; Sling; Throwing Stars

5 Gutter Runners @ 90.0 Pts, 2ndWeapon; Poisoned Attacks; Sling; Throwing Stars

1 Warp Lightning Cannon @ 90.0 Pts

1619

My fixed list is 1619 rather than closer to 1500, because my math was wrong on my initial list turned in. So my list remains the same, but the points were corrected.

I went with the Warlord General. I figured it would be best to leave it as an OPTION for each opponent whether I wanted the Grey Seer in there. I know they will be assuming it will be there, so I have that advantage because I already know 1 opponent this season where I will be leaving him in my case in favor of other options. The Warlord is more durable with the two Lizardmen players in my division with Cupped Hands as well.

What I have been doing lately for all my tournaments is just massive amounts of Core. I am keeping up the trend and choosing what I support it with carefully. This time I get to choose based on each individual game. Lots of people shy away from the Storm Vermin, but they are one of my favorites. Halberds and initiative 5 really give them the punch I don't have in any other Skaven unit I use, other than just the mass of attacks that Plague Monks offer.... but Plague Monks aren't Core.

My support portion of my fixed list is 2 units of Gutter Runners, and a Warp Lightning Cannon. These are cheaper and always included in my army. It also makes opponents think twice when they KNOW they will be facing the poison slinging, infiltrating Gutter Runners. If I had done my math correctly I would have dropped the Warp Lightning Cannon from my fixed list, but as it stands it would have been in every list.

Games 1 and 2 are coming up this Saturday. I will be painting all tonight and hopefully not too much tomorrow to finish my Warp Lightning Cannon in time to get my fully painted army (which is worth 100 bonus Victory Points).

2011 GLWL kickoff

2011-01-25T08:40:00.000-05:00

The 2011 GLWL has officially started, and I am already behind because of my tournament. I am hoping to get in 2 games this weekend. This year, I am in the Wayne division that has shrunk to 6 players from last year. I get to play 5 all new players I didn't face last year. I know most from either previous tournaments or meeting them at COLD WAR this year, so I am looking forward for the match ups. Here is what I have lined up this season:

Period 1: Warriors of Chaos. Darrell's fixed list has a fighty Lord, 20 Chosen, and 2 Chaos Warshrines.

Week 2: Skaven. I must prove my ratty dominance. Jason uses Warpfire Throwers to my usual Poison Wind Mortars. He has no Slaves listed in his fixed list, and Plaguemonks with no Furnace listed. It is a small unit so I am unsure if I will be seeing one. Warlord on foot leading the charge.

Week 3: Lizardmen. Lore of Light Slaan. I know Mike brings a tough list every game. He was Best General when I won the Fall Classic at Pandemonium, and we are meeting up at Adepticon this year. Rivalry match! BTW I hate Lizardmen.

Week 4: Vampire Counts. Ghoul swarm army. I saw Jason's list at COLD WAR. For his sake he needs to add banners to his list somehow, or hope we don't roll Blood and Glory.

Week 5: Lizardmen. Like I have said, Lizardmen are my toughest army to face, and I will see them twice this year. Interesting that Steve's Slaan is using Lore of Heavens. Small units here, with 3x 20 Saurus and 3x 10 Skink skirmishers. Just what the 13th Spell ordered.

I will keep up with the games and post results. Next up I will be posting some modeling projects. I just bought 2 new Warp Lightning Cannons that I need to get painted before my first game sometime this week!!!

COLD WAR results

2011-01-25T08:21:00.000-05:00

Thanks to everyone who came out! We had 18 players who all stayed for every game. I was also able to give out 4 door prizes, so there was lots of prize support to go around. Overall I was impressed by all of the winners. Very nice armies and well fought games.

Tournament Champion - Eric Stephens, Dark Elves

Best General - Kyle Western, High Elves

Best Sportsman - Brian Focarelli, High Elves

Best Army - Jason Nobel, Daemons of Chaos

Infantry Wolves

2010-11-24T07:42:00.000-05:00

I am playing in my first singles 40K tournament in over a year (recently won a doubles tournament), and I am a little rusty. The last two weeks I changed my strategy to infantry-based Space Wolves, and have gotten good results in my practice games. I am hoping to get some in progress shots of my army up as well in the next few days, as I have a week to finish the army to tabletop standard. I have about 35 models to paint.

I tried out Njal for the first time last night. My reason for using what I think could be an overpriced character is points denial and his Storm Caller chart. The chart was a very nice bonus last night vs the Orks. Also the tournament has a kill point scenario where HQ choices are worth 3 kill points. My original list had 2 Rune Priests in it and I replaced them with Njal to knock another 3 kill points from the list. Here is what I playtested last night and I am finalizing for the tournament, keep in mind it is a comp scored tournament:

Njal
Wolf Lord, thunderwolf, saga of the wolfkin, storm shield, frost blade

5 Wolf Scouts, power weapon, melta gun
5 Wolf Guard, 5 power fists
Lone Wolf, terminator, chainfist, storm shield, 2 fenrisian wolves

10 Grey Hunters, melta gun, flamer, power weapon, motw, standard
10 Grey Hunters, melta gun, flamer, power weapon, motw, standard
10 Grey Hunters, melta gun, flamer, power weapon, motw, standard
10 Grey Hunters, melta gun, flamer, power weapon, motw, standard

10 Fenrisian Wolves

6 Long Fangs, 5 missile launchers
6 Long Fangs, 5 missile launchers

Tournament Report

2010-11-14T09:56:00.001-05:00

The 2010 Fall Classic is over, and my Skaven stand on the top of the pile. I won the Tournament Championship, and received a sweet sword and plaque! But you don't care what I won, so lets get into my army and my games...

My Skaven

Grey Seer, screaming bell, dispel scroll

Plague Priest, lvl 2, plague furnace, foul pendant, ironcurse icon, biting blade
Warlock Engineer, lvl 2, doomrocket, warp energy condenser
Chieftain, bsb, standard of discipline
30 Storm Vermin, command, razor standard, poison wind mortar
40 Clan Rats, command, poison wind mortar
40 Slaves, musician
40 Slaves, musician
40 Plague Monks, full command, banner of eternal flame
5 Gutter Runners, poison, slings
5 Gutter Runners, poison, slings

Plagueclaw Catapult
Warp Lightning Cannon

Game 1 vs Warriors of Chaos, table 11

Chaos Lord, tzeentch, berserker sword, talisman of preservation, potion of speed
Chaos Lord, tzeentch, sword of swift slaying, talisman of endurance
Exalted Hero, bsb, axe of khorne, favour of the gods
Sorcerer, lvl 2 tzeentch, infernal puppet (rolled Gateway and Call to Glory)
16 Chaos Warriors, khorne, halberd, shield, command
17 Chaos Warriors, khorne, halberd, shield, command
18 Chosen, khorne, helberd, shield, command (rolled double 6!)

5 Chaos Hounds

Chaos Chariot
Chaos Warshrine
Chaos Spawn
Chaos Spawn

I decided to sit back right from the start of this game and pepper my opponent with magic and shooting before trying to engage. I definitely had the advantage in that department. The Blood and Glory scenario was modified so that you did not break and end the game, but if you broke you gave up an extra 500 victory points. Plague on the first 2 turns bounced and killed 15 and 8 armored Chaos Warriors. My opponent deployed his Chosen on my flank and I avoided them, and redirected and fled from their charges, so that late in the game I could flank charge them with the full strength Plague Furnace unit. On the opposite flank I used my Gutter Runners to protect my war machines and to set up in front of the Hounds, Spawn, and Chariot on that flank. The chariot broke through and eventually took out the WLC at the very end of the game, but the Gutter Runners took out all the rest.

In the middle of the board, shooting and magic ruled the game. The Plagueclaw didn't do much, but the mortars were on fire, and decimated units so that I finally cast the 13th spell on the 4th turn and took out a full (remainder) unit of Warriors that included the BSB and broke my opponent for the bonus points. It was another unit he had rolled double 6's on a second time, so he had 2 stubborn 4+ ward units... so I was glad to see it transformed into Clan Rats. I scored a perfect 20 points.

Game 2 vs Warriors of Chaos, table 2

I played Brandon AGAIN in a tournament. He and I have played a few times against each other, and I have had his army's number every time. His army:

Tzeentch Lord
Mounted BSB
Level 1 Fire Sorcerer with Third Eye
20 Tzeentch Warriors
20 Nurgle Warriors
10 Slaanesh Marauders
9 Khorne Knights
Tzeentch Warshrine
Hellcannon

The game was pretty brutal for Brandon. My dice were on fire and his were crap. Again I scouted my Gutter Runners to protect my war machines on the flank, but I also used them to deny the Marauder's vanguard move by deploying in front of them. The 3 units kept each other busy all game. Otherwise, the Dawn Attack mission deployed the majority of my army in the center, and the majority of his army other than his Hellcannon to my right.

Because his army was far away, I sent my Slaves forward to intercept them, and starting shooting! First turn, first shot, dead Hellcannon as it takes 6 wounds from the WLC. After my Slaves took the charge from the Knights and Nurgle Warriors, they held steadfast long enough for my Plague Furnace to flank into the Knights, and continue to mow through the Warriors of Chaos.

Game 3 vs Wood Elves, table 2

Table 1 was also two players with undefeated records, so I was on table two vs Kevin who had also played 2 perfect games with his Wood Elves vs Empire and Orcs. His list was thus:

Spellweaver, lvl 4 life, dispel scroll, ruby ring
Highborn, alter kindred, rageth's wildfire blades, glittering scales, potion of strength
Branchwraith, an annoyance of netlings, a cluster of radiants
Noble, bsb, asyendi's bane, hail of doom arrow
Noble, wardancer kindred, amber pendant, other trickster's shard
15 Dryads, branch nymph
15 Dryads, branch nymph
10 Glade Guard, banner of eternal flame
10 Glade Guard
5 Glade Riders
4 Tree Kin
10 Wardancers, bladesinger
10 Wardancers, bladesinger
Great Eagle

The final mission was Battleline, but had a special rule that any instant kill spell allowed the magic resistance ward save to be taken if one was available... but if an entire unit was detroyed (gateway, 13th) then no save could be taken.

I set up right away in front of his Great Eagle with my scouting Gutter Runners. Great Eagles are always high target priority for me. Otherwise I stayed mainly in the center with my Bell and Slaves, and waited to set up my Furnace opposite of the Treekin.

First turn, I was able to plink down the Eagle with the two units of Gutter Runners. Also first turn, Plague bounces FOUR TIMES through five units of the Wood Elves. HOT dice. I strafed back on further turns and peppered the Wood Elves with Gutter Runners and war machines, waiting until the last second to engage. Later my Bell unit got hit by Dwellers, but the Grey Seer passed and the scenario rule saved about 8 of 18 possible casualties. I did lose my BSB to the accursed spell. But that also meant the same caster would be in range of the Dreaded 13th Spell the next turn, and I rolled Irresistible Force on 6 dice to cast and morph the Spellweaver into a Clan Rat along with her remaining 7 Glade Guard.

The perfect games along with decent comp (9/15), good painting (10/15), and I assume good sports scores combined with my 60/60 battle points for the Tournament Championship win. Thanks to Jason and Brian for a great tournament!

Fall Classic army pictures.

2010-11-14T08:50:00.001-05:00

I didn't get pictures of everyone (and some weren't painted), but I tried to get as much as I could. Here are a lot of the armies from yesterday's Fall Classic.

My Skaven!

My favorite army - Dark Elves

Best Army Winner - Beastmen

Second favorite, but definitely best character models - Wood Elves

Fall Classic Results

2010-11-13T22:32:00.002-05:00

I had 3 perfect games at today's Fall Classic. Combined with my decent comp score (9/15), my good painting score (10/15), and what I assume was good sports scores, I won first overall. Thanks for Jason and Brian for running the tournament. I will have a full report up soon with pictures and game results. Game 1 was vs Warriors of Chaos, game 2 also Warriors of Chaos, and game three was against Wood Elves who had also had 2 perfect games going into the final table. I had a perfect 60/60 battle points.

I am now 10-1-0 vs Warriors in 8th edition, and will be happy to play them in any and every tournament! J/K Warriors players (not really).The only game I've lost was against a Kholek full monster list, lol.

Procrastination FTW

2010-11-12T22:13:00.001-05:00

So I am chugging Monster Energy drinks, listening to Heelanhammer, and painting 50 models the night before the tournament. I just finished up the base coat on the bases of the Clan Rats after washing them, and I am about to wash the Plague Monks. I've only come close to drinking my rinse cup rather than my energy drink once, but I'm sure I'll nail it before the marathon is over. If you're interested (and who wouldn't be!?) in my progress, check out my Twitter periodically. I know, I know, but don't rush too fast to sit and wait for me to update.

And yes, those are (25) fully painted Clan Rats armed with spears in the background that I have no use for!

Revisiting Fenris...

2010-11-11T15:34:00.000-05:00

It's been a while since I've written any lists and done some modeling for my Space Wolves. I'm diving back in head first with new projects, right after this weekend's Warhammer Fantasy Fall Classic. I picked up 3 Land Speeders, and a Space Marine Battle Force for more Wolf Scouts and to assemble the missile launchers I am missing, along with some new Wolf Guard. I also picked up 3 Space Wolf Accessory Sprues when ordering most of this from GW Online with my winnings from the 'Ard Boyz finals that finally came through ($100 for 3rd place).

So lets have a look. The idea of the list is a foot slogging army! Each large squad will have their own Wolf Guard and Rune Priest attached. The plan is to use the one Rune Priest with Storm Caller to cover the troop advance. The support comes in the form of 3 squads of 5 missile launcher Long Fangs, and the Typhoons and Wolf Scouts who will normally be held in reserve. Have a look:

110 Rune Priest, chooser, living lightning, murderous hurricane
105 Rune Priest, melta bombs, murderous hurricane, tempest's wrath
100 Rune Priest, living lightning, storm caller

100 5 Wolf Scouts, mark of the wulfen, meltagun
100 5 Wolf Scouts, mark of the wulfen, meltagun
225 5 Wolf Guard, (4 in power armor) 4 power fists, 2 combi meltas, (1 terminator) 1 cyclone

190 10 Grey Hunters, flamer, melta gun, power weapon, mark of the wulfen, wolf standard
190 10 Grey Hunters, flamer, melta gun, power weapon, mark of the wulfen, wolf standard
190 10 Grey Hunters, flamer, melta gun, power weapon, mark of the wulfen, wolf standard

090 Land Speeder, typhoon missile launcher
090 Land Speeder, typhoon missile launcher
090 Land Speeder, typhoon missile launcher

140 6 Long Fangs, 5 missile launchers
140 6 Long Fangs, 5 missile launchers
140 6 Long Fangs, 5 missile launchers

2000

Painting Day

2010-11-07T11:35:00.001-05:00

I'm done with my internship with school, and still have to write a paper about it. But, for today, I am dedicating myself to painting (and maybe an hour at the gym.

So far I have already finished my Doomrocket Warlock Engineer, and base coated my Plagueclaw Catapult. I finished up the bases on 40 Slaves earlier this week and completed 10 Gutter Runners. Pics of everything posted later tonight.

One week until the Fall Classic! My tournament list has been entered and now for the final week of scrambling to paint the last models (and some extra models for the 13th Spell).

Update:

Cold War

2010-10-27T13:04:00.001-04:00

I am running my very first Warhammer Fantasy tournament in January, at Pandemonium in Garden City MI. The tournament package is posted at Pandemonium Game Store and at Shenanigans Hobby and Game Center, but here it is as well:

Overview
We've all had some time to get used to the new edition of Warhammer, now lets get to bashin! This is a 2500 point Warhammer Fantasy Battles tournament. The tournament will consist of THREE rounds of gaming. Tournament scoring will be based on battle points earned during your games, as well as scoring for your army composition, painting and appearance, and sportsmanship during games.

Date
January 22, 2011

Location
Pandemonium, Garden City, Michigan. Pandemonium is located at 1858 Middlebelt, which is 2 blocks south of Ford Road, on the east side of the street. Pandemonium's phone number is (734) 427-2451.

Organizer
Brad Schwandt
rhellion.wh@gmail.com

Tournament Registration / Fee
The maximum size of the event is 30 players. Registration is $15 due on the day of the event. Army lists MUST be preregistered with the organizer by 11:59PM January 15th. Event sign-up and list registration may be done by emailing rhellion.wh@gmail.com

Prizes
Awards and/or prizes will be awarded for the following categories:
Best Overall (Tournament Champion)
Best General (Combined Battle Points and Composition)
Best Sportsman
Best Army (Combined Appearance and Composition)

Materials
Players must bring all materials needed to play including: Dice, measuring device, templates, models, rule books, army books, FAQs, etc. Bring a pen or pencil and a calculator to figure out victory points.

Schedule
(Saturday)
10:00am to 10:45am Registration
11:00am to 1:30pm Round 1
1:30pm to 2:30pm Lunch break, Appearance Judging
2:30pm to 5:00pm Round 2
5:15pm to 7:45pm Round 3
7:45pm to 8:00pm Calculate Final Scores
8:00pm to 8:15pm Awards

Army Lists
You must bring at least FIVE copies of your army list that are clearly legible and lists out all the details of your characters and units. Players must hand one copy into the judges and provide a copy of their list to their opponents at the conclusion of each round. Army Builder printouts are acceptable (but players are responsible for double checking points costs there are sometimes errors in the files especially for newer armies!).

The default in regards to army lists for this tournament is that army lists will be exchanged for review with your opponent before each game (e.g. this is a open list tournament). If you are using hidden models (e.g. assassins, fanatics, etc) you must include them on your army list, but do not have to assign them to a specific unit on the army list. Prior to the start of each game you must write down which unit the hidden models are assigned to and hand it in to the judges. Alternatively, if both players agree, games may be played using closed army lists.

Army Requirements and Restrictions
(A) You must use the same army list for each game.
(B) Players may field an army of up to 2,500 points and not a point more! Regardless of size, the armies will use the requirements and allowances for 2,500 point armies (i.e. 25% Core Choices, no more than 25% Lords allowed, etc.)
(C) Armies do not have to be painted (but players are highly encouraged to do so as painting / appearance is part of the tournament scoring!)
(D) WYSIWYG (What you see is what you get) is in effect. For characters all weapons and armour should be modeled. Units must have a majority of the models making up a unit armed correctly (it is permissible per the main rules to have a minority of the models armed differently).
(E) Remember that for wizards with a choice of magic lores, you must indicate which lore each wizard will be using for the entire tournament on your army list.
(F) No Special, Named, or Unique characters are allowed (Teclis, Queek, Archaon, etc). If you have any questions about specific characters, contact the tournament organizer.
(G) There are 2 banned items: Power Scroll and Book of Hoeth

Battles
Each participant in the tournament will play three battles. These scenarios will be based out of the 8th Edition rulebook and it is encouraged that players create lists that will be able to run operate within those scenarios. Players may earn up to 20 points each battle, based on a 20-0 scoring system. There will also be bonus points based on scenario modifiers worth up to 4 points each round.

Sportsmanship
Nobody likes to participate in Warhammer events with people who behave (or smell!) like River Trolls. To encourage everyone who participates in the tournament to act in an appropriate manner, each participant may earn up to 15 points for good sportsmanship. Your opponents will be scoring you in this category.

Appearance
Armies do not have to be painted, however, each participant may earn up to 15 points for the appearance and completion of their army. The points are awarded by the judges and may include the following criteria: Is your entire army painted? Is your entire army based? How much conversion work is done in the army? Are there details in the army that bring it together as a cohesive force? Was extra time and effort put into the character models? Is the army on a display board?

Composition
Each player will also be rated on his army composition after each match by his opponent. This will earn up to 10 points towards your tournament score, based on the criteria: Is this a well balanced and enjoyable list? Is this an average list that I would play against regularly? Is this list utter cheese / filth / beardiness?

Only the following armies are permitted at this tournament. Note that players may only field armies from the current version of each of the Warhammer Army Supplements.

Beastmen
- Warhammer Armies: Beastmen
Bretonnia
- Warhammer Armies: Bretonnia
Daemons of Chaos
- Warhammer Armies: Daemons of Chaos
Dark Elves
- Warhammer Armies: Dark Elves
Dwarfs
- Warhammer Armies: Dwarfs
Empire
- Warhammer Armies: Empire
High Elves
- Warhammer Armies: High Elves
Lizardmen
- Warhammer Armies: Lizardmen
Ogre Kingdoms
- Warhammer Armies: Ogre Kingdoms
Orcs & Goblins
- Warhammer Armies: Orcs & Goblins
Skaven
- Warhammer Armies: Skaven
Tomb Kings
- Warhammer Armies: Tomb Kings
Vampire Counts
- Warhammer Armies: Vampire Counts
Warriors of Chaos
- Warhammer Armies: Warriors of Chaos
Wood Elves
- Warhammer Armies: Wood Elves

Adepticon 2011

2010-10-26T07:22:00.001-04:00

Have you signed up for Adepticon yet? Because I have. AdeptiCon 2011 will take place on April 1st through the 3rd at the Westin Lombard Yorktown Center in Lombard, IL. I will be playing in Friday's 3000 point 'Ard Boyz style Big Brawl, as well as the Saturday 4-game 2200 point Warhammer Championships. I am very interested in both tournaments, because last year there were huge comp restrictions, and this year with the new edition there are almost none. I will be playing Skaven in both tournaments. I have already slowly started my High Elves, but I don't know if I will have a completed and competitive army before next April.

I am also hoping to put together a team for Sunday's Warhammer Team Tournament as well to keep me busy all weekend, but if not I may look into some modeling and painting workshops. This will be my first Adepticon ever after having to cancel plans last year.

If any other Skaven players are interested in teaming up for the Tournament, let me know.

Results are in, 2010 Ard Boyz

2010-10-25T14:33:00.001-04:00

Chicago

1st - Skaven + Dark Elves (tie)
2nd - Dark Elves
3rd - Skaven

California

1st - Dark Elves
2nd - Dwarfs
3rd - Skaven

Pennsylvania

1st - Daemons of Chaos
2nd - ???
3rd - Daemons of Chaos

2010 Ard Boyz Finals Chicago

2010-10-24T18:15:00.001-04:00

3 days and 650 miles later, Ard Boyz 2010 is over. Thank you to anyone who helped me playtest against specific match ups, character combos, offered to let me borrow miniatures, and hooked me up on short notice so everything went smoothly for me. To say that the tournament went off without a hitch would be a lie, so I will get into that later, but first the results. I got third place overall, and the placings for the tournament were 1st (tie) Skaven and Dark Elves, 2nd Dark Elves, and 3rd Skaven (me). I got a nifty dagger trophy, zero prize support (for anyone at the tournament), and I guess a ticket/invitation to the Las Vegas GT in 2011.

The third place trophy dagger.

To start, let me explain the battle points. The TO stated he hadn't gotten the rules pack for 'Ard Boyz until the morning of, and he had already printed out all the scoring sheets, so we were going to be using his scoring for the 'Ard Boyz Finals. 5 points for a Massacre, 4 points for a Major, 3 points for a Minor, and 2 for a Draw or something similar. There were the normal 4 points bonus per scenario. There were also no Victory Points scored, so there was no tie breaker.

The Bunker and the Tournament hall.

Game 1, table 14.

None of his Marauders were wysiwyg, but I didn't complain.

Game 1 I drew a Warriors of Chaos player from Georgia. In his list was 2 Sorcerer Lords (one on a disc with tzeentch and one on foot with shadow magic), 2 blocks of 50 marauders of khorne with great weapons, 2 blocks of 18 Warriors (nurgle and tzeentch), and 2 warshrines of tzeentch. My deployment was fine enough. I set my cannons back far enough but with line of sight. My Bell had clan rats, storm vermin, and both hell pits around it on the right side of the board. On the other side of a watchtower that was directly in the center of the board I place my other slaves and plague furnace unit. I forgot to scout my night runners, and then forgot to infiltrate them until turn 3 (one unit never came in).

I made sure to even post in my pregame post I wanted to remember the Screaming Bell ringing. I forgot the entire game until the last 2 turns! On top of that, it was probably the worst game of magic I have played in 8th edition, though I didn't lose any casters to the warp. Major props to my opponent for using his Infernal Puppet FLAWLESSLY. First turn, miscast Plague, and my foot Grey Seer loses 1 magic level. Second turn, miscast warp lightning with the bell seer on TWO DICE, lose THREE magic levels and I am left only with crack's call. Turn three, miscast with the foot seer again with the thirteenth spell, and lose his remaining 3 magic levels! Amazing. Amazingly bad.

The rest of the army sure picked up the slack though. I charged a large unit of slaves (to deny steadfast) and both Hell Pit Abominations to the right side horde of Marauders. I annihilated them and one abomination overruns into the Tzeentch Warriors. Next turn the second Abom charges the Tzeentch Warriors and the two finish the unit and the foot lord. They later kill a warshrine, though one dies.

On the other side of the board, the Plague Furnace cut through the other Marauders before getting smashed my the Nurgle Warriors. I then use Slaves and multiple Warlock Engineer speedbumps to keep the unit from doing anymore damage to my army.

The game ends and I lost the Furnace unit, an Abomination, and a couple Warlock Engineers. Major Win with two bonus battle points.

Game 2, Table 4.

Half the army was not wysiwyg, but again, no complaints.

For this game, I played a cool kid who brought his Daemons of Chaos led by a Bloodthirster, with 40 Bloodletters with a Herald, 30 Horrors with a Herald and The Changeling, 26 Plaguebearers with a palanquin herald bsb, 5 hounds, 3 flamers, and The Masque.

I set up first and the majority of my army was deployed in the center, with a building splitting my deployement zone. I had a WLC in the building, a WLC on the far right flank, and everything else in the center. My opponent rolled and placed his horde of Bloodletters on the right flank and the Bloodthirster on the left. Most other units were in the center.

I used slaves and Warlock speedbumps again to slow and angle the Bloodletters until the final 2 turns of the game. They were the biggest threat to me. The Bloodthirster was similarly slowed with the Storm Banner, and then by sacrificing units of Storm Vermin and Clan Rats to it, keeping it away from my important unit. My opponents biggest mistake was charging his Plaguebearers into my Plague Monks and Plague Furnace... who had the Banner of Eternal Flame. They smashed through the unit and his bsb in 2 rounds, and things fell apart from there. Though I will say he vaporized one Hell Pit Abomination because we forgot to roll the sight distance as per the scenario both first turns! All the forgetting was hurting me. Though I did remember to ring the bell every time this game, and rolled Scorch ever single turn after the first!

After I cut through the Plaguebearers and BSB, my Abomination, a giant unit of Slaves, and the Plague Monks were able to multi charge the Horrors to destroy them. MNore magic and the amazing Doomrocket was able to waste away Bloodletters until a Slave/Hell Pit multi charge finished them off and finished the game.

I had lost Storm Vermin, some Warlocks, one WLC, and a Hell Pit again, but Massacred my opponent and recieved full bonus points.

Game 3, Table 1!

This game was marred for me because of a few things. My opponent and I had an argument for about 30 minutes when he cast Dwellers Below. PAGE 10 of the rulebook states: where a model has more than one value for the same characteristic, a characteristic test is always taken at the highest value. He cast Dwellers on my Bell unit. I lost 20 of 40 Clan Rats, but when I rolled a 5 for the Bell (the Strength of the Rat Ogres), he claimed the Grey Seer should be killed because he is only Strength three (which is incorrect). The judge would not rule in either players favor because he didn't want to effect the outcome of the tournament (WHAT?!), and after arguing for over 25 minutes, we diced off for it and I won.

In addition to this the rounds were cut short to 2 hours and 30 minutes, because the TO wanted to leave early. Combined with the argument, we only played THREE TURNS on table one of the 'Ard Boyz finals final game.

My opponent set up and left his flank exposed to my Gutter Runner scouts, and I set up all 10 at exactly 12" away from his war machine gunline. He placed a unit of 10 Flagellants in the building that represented our tower. I flanked the tower in my own deployment zone with each Abom and Slave unit, with my Bell in the dead center. It was honestly the best deployment I could have asked for, as the Aboms and SLaves multi charge through his units, taking out the large unit of halberdiers, and the other Abom on his own flank charging the Greatswords and wiping them out. At the end of the game, my opponent had 6 knights on the board, 2 cannons, his popemobile, and the unit in the tower. I had lost a unit of Gutter Runners and 2 Cannons, no other full units lost.

Where I lost the game was the first turn magic phase. I cast the 13th Spell on the tower, killed all 10 flagellants, and placed my own Clan Rats in the tower. I should have set up to cast Crack's Call and just destroy the building from the get go like I had designed my list around!!! After that, I was unable to ring the bell or cast Crack's call in the rest of the limited game. A giant unit of swordsmen overtook the Clan Rats in the tower, and won the game as the rest of the Empire army was massacred around them.

I still scored all 4 bonus points for the final scenario. After the results were tabulated, there was a THREE WAY TIE FOR FIRST. The judge then went back after the tournament was over, and we had been playing one way all day, and redid the battle points according to the original rules. There was still a tie for first, but I guess that is better than a three way tie. The results were:

1st- Skaven
1st- Dark Elves
2nd- Dark ELves
3rd- Skaven

On a lighter note, results and the final game aside, I had a great trip and met a lot of great people. I played games with fellow Warhammer nerds from across the country, went drinking with new friends from Minnesota and Louisiana, and got to play at an amazing venue. Next time hopefully they actually run an event as advertised... with correct battle points, tie breakers, correct game time limits, and judges who will actually rule on something to prevent the loss of game turns to a rules disagreement.

Here are some more Skaven-related pictures. I would have liked to get more of everything, but was busy.

Awesome Abomination custom build.

Great custom display board for some Skaven. They are under ground!

Pregame

2010-10-23T08:28:00.000-04:00

What better to do when you wake up at 7am the day of the tournament, than to blog in your hotel room! Here is the final list for today. I was able to get a practice game in yesterday to get a feel for the location and what I have on the table. I have to say, the Chicago Battle Bunker is COOL. I already met a few guys I "know" from different forums on the internet and went drinking with a guy who flew in from New Orleans, so before even playing a single torunament game I am having a great time. There were a few things I need to correct for today's games, like forgetting to ring the Screaming Bell, but I am confident in my list and ready to go. Good luck to anyone else playing in the 'Ard Boyz finals today.

Hotel Room Skaven!

The List:

Grey Seer, screaming bell, dispel scroll
Grey Seer, power scroll

Plague Priest, plague furnace, ironcurse icon
Chieftain, bsb, halberd, shield, standard of discipline
Warlock Engineer, doomrocket
Warlock Engineer
Warlock Engineer
Warlock Engineer

20 Storm Vermin, full command, storm banner
40 Clan Rats, full command
30 Clan Rats, full command
45 Slaves
45 Slaves

30 Plague Monks, full command, banner of eternal flame
5 Gutter Runners, poison, slings
5 Gutter Runners, poison, slings

Hell Pit Abomination
Hell Pit Abomination
Warp Lightning Cannon
Warp Lightning Cannon

Tournament Rankings for 8th edition so far

2010-10-20T10:34:00.000-04:00

I browsed through all of the 8th edition tournaments posted by Rankings HQ on Twitter and their site that I could find. That is 22 total tournament results posted using 8th edition rules. I awarded 5 points for first place, 3 points for second place, and 1 point for a third place finish. This is of course limited to the results I am presented with, and doesn't include every 8th edition tournament across the world, but gives us a look at the general field. Lets have a look at how 8th edition is treating our armies:

40: Daemons of Chaos
34: Dark Elves
32: Lizardmen
27: Vampire Counts
20: Warriors of Chaos
11: Skaven
11: Empire
7: High Elves
6: Dwarfs
6: Beastmen
3: Orcs and Goblins
3: Wood Elves
1: Dogs of War

Starting High Elves

2010-10-20T07:42:00.000-04:00

I picked up a box of the new and amazing looking White Lions this weekend, and used my 'Ard Boyz round 2 prize support for more White Lions and Dragon Princes... so High Elves are my next Fantasy army! I like the idea of an elite army to be a break from the massive Skaven hordes. There seem to be a good amount of High Elf players in my area lately after the new edition and Island of Blood, but with the new miniatures I couldn't resist.

The plan is for a White Lion heavy list. They really are my favorite unit. And today there is a great new article on Games Workshop's website with the Color's of Ulthuan. I was already thinking about a nice red and gold color scheme for my army. But the article makes it perfect to run them as Aryth Pass Guard! The Aryth Pass is one of the secret pathways through the mountains of Chrace, and the 4th Company of the Aryth Pass Guard's color's are red!

As for a preliminary army, take a look at this and please critique. This is to fit with the Chrace and the 4th Company Aryth Pass Guard.

290 Archmage, level 4 Shadow, seerstaff of saphery (mindrazor, pit of shades, miasma, withering)
184 Noble, bsb, dragon armor, great weapon, banner of the world dragon
145 Noble, barded steed, dragon armor, great weapon, potion of strength, dragonhelm
335 25 Lothern Sea Guard, full command, banner of eternal flame
295 30 Spearmen, full command
480 30 White Lions, full command
380 20 Phoenix Guard, full command, banner of sorcery
200 5 Dragon Princes, full command
140 Lion Chariot
050 Great Eagle

2499