GLWL Game 1

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

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

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!

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

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!

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

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!