Mysterious Terrain

Picture from local tournament 8/5/2012

Wargames Con 2012

Wargames Con 2012 is in the books! and boy do I feel like shit but smiling :)

Wargames Con: DAY ONE!

Oh shit, day one of Wargames Con is in the books and I'm drunk and tired as hell... lets see what happened...

Wargames Con 2012 Mantis Warriors Army

Hey guys, Wargames Con is just one week away OMG! Here is the list I plan on taking to the two day, seven game, 2000pt GT next weekend. I have no illusions of going all the way, I just hope I get 7 good games against 7 opponents I've never played before!

HQ

Kahn

Cassius

ELITES

Assault Terminators*5; th/sh*3, lc*2

Land Raider Redeemer; ex armor, multi-melta

Sterngaurd*5; combi-plasma*2, plasma gun

Razorback; twin-plasma gun, lascannon, dozer blade

TROOPS

Tactical Squad; power fist, combi-melta, melta gun, multi-melta

Rhino

Tactical Squad; power fist, combi-melta, melta gun, multi-melta

Rhino

Scouts*10; Telion, heavy bolter

Scouts*5; combi-melta, melta bomb

FAST ATTACK

Land Speeder Storm; multi-melta

Stormtalon Gunship; twin-assault cannon, twin-heavy bolter

Attack Bike; multii-melta

So this list isn't anything too crazy, just my typical Kahn army (three Special Characters lol) with lots of units designed to Outflank and hit hard with shooting and decent combat. The Mission Format for all 7 games will be three equally weighted objectives: two from the book and one random one (table quarters, kill HQ exc.). I'm mostly looking forward to using the Stormtalon and Telion; my most recent editions to the army.

~the best part is that I only have one mode model left to paint!

Stormtalon Gunship Complete!

Likely the first ever Mantis Warrior's Stormtalon is complete! Wargames Con is less than two weeks away, but I finished the Stormtalon in plenty of time. Not much left to paint before the tournament, just lots of practice games with my Kahn list.

Dragon's Lair Tournament: June 3rd, 2012

This month's Dragon's Lair Tournament was just 1250pts, and as has been the case the last three months; no entry fee and no prize support. Oh well, it is still lots of fun to get three games in on one day! I busted out the Mantis Warriors so I could get comfortable using Telion and the Stormtalon. I plan on using both units at Wargames Con and both preformed admirably today. 

In all three games the Stormtalon escorted my Outflanking Landspeeder Storm. These two vehicles worked very well together as it meant some added reliability and strength since they both show up at the same time and on the same table edge! 

The first game they didn't do much against my SM opponent but games two and three were against Mech Dark Eldar... Game two the Stormtalon scratched three DE vehicles! Game three the Stormtalon only took out one DE vehicle but also blasted a Warrior unit off an objective (always nice). Telion's unit, using only sniper rifles, managed to kill three DE vehicles!

I ended up in third place and BullyMike got first with his Necrons. Storm Lord in a 1250pt list... tisk-tisk.

Alamo 40K Tournament 2012: Tournament Report DAY TWO

Welcome back to the conclusion of the two day Alamo 40K IGT in San Antonio, TX. Everyone had a great time, least of all me so once again I'd like to thank all the tournament organizers and all my opponents!

Alamo 40K Tournament 2012: Tournament Report DAY ONE

Hello all! The dust has settled and everyone is back home after a fantastic weekend of drinking beer, rolling dice and of course drinking more beer. I've said it once and I'll say it again, the Alamo is the most fun you can have at a tournament. This was my third year and it really just gets better each time! If I had a  WFB army I'd go the Alamo Fantasy tournament in October as well.

From a strictly competitive outlook I'd say Alamo is much more relaxed than say Wargames Con or Adepticon. With only 5 games over two days there is a lot of down time to relax and enjoy walking around, talking to people, and the wonderful armies on display. There are definitely people there to win, but on average most people just bring armies that will be fun to play with AND against. Throw in cheap beer and you have a perfect recipe for a lot of very fun games.

Alamo 40K Tournament 2012: Random Pics from the Hall

So the Alamo 40k tournament in San Antonio, TX is in the book. It was a fantastic time as always but this year was possibly the most fun yet. A huge thanks to all the tournament organizers, the location manager, and to MarkT who I asked to car pool with about 4 hours before we left! Also a big thumbs up to having a bar in the tournament with cheap beer and a big thumbs down to Minus6 for "Icing" me (if you don't know what that is, look it up on YouTube lol).

Tomorrow I will take the time to do my Game Report which had an interesting outcome to say the least... for now here are all the random pics I got from the weekend that weren't specifically from my games. Enjoy...

Plague Marine Update

Was a slow rainy Texas afternoon so I managed to paint up another handful for models... just ten days and 6 models way till Alamo!

May 6th, 2012 Dragon's Lair 1850pt Tournament

Today was the monthly 40k Tournament at Dragon's Lair; 1850pts~ three rounds, Swiss style, three equally weighted objectives per round. I've been completely focussed on Chaos at the moment getting ready for Alamo GT in two weeks so this was a good opportunity to take the Nurgle out for a test run. To be honest, I am not nearly as excited about this army as I was when I started it, and the prospect of a new and exciting codex in just a few months is only making the old stale Codex seem older and staler... but enough naysaying; ONTO THE TOURNAMENT REPORT!

ROUND ONE
Space Wolves (Brandon)
Pitched Battle
1) Seize Ground
2) Kill a Single Enemy Troop of Your Choice
3) Capture and Control (except with two diagonally opposite table quarters)

~this is going to be the format of Wargames Con so it is really nice getting used to the Mission format as well as the objectives themselves. Three equally weighted objectives each game with the possibility to split most of them. 

Brandon took a somewhat "elite" Space Wolf list; Bjorn the Fell Handed, tricked out Lord on Thunder Wolf w/ 4 Thunderwolf Friends, Run Priest w/ Living lightning w/ Longfangs; 5 missiles and wolf guard; cyclone, two 5 man Grey Hunters w/ melta and wolf guard with combi-melta in HB razorback, two units of 5 wolf scouts w/ wolf guard, and 5 grey hunters w/ flamer in drop pod.

I decided to mark one of the units of Grey Hunters w/ melta gun since I assumed it would be most likely get close enough to use his special weapon while Brandon marked the Lesser Daemons. Brandon used Bjorn to get first turn and get up Long Fangs w/ Ruin Priest and Bjorn in the center of his table edge with the Thunder Wolf Friends on an extreme flank. I hid one Rhino w/ plasma guns in a Ruin on an objective with the other three making use of cover facing the Thunder Wolves. The Oblits, and Daemons were all in reserve.

The first two turns Brandon spot all those missiles and Living Lightning fingers at my Rhinos (claiming cover) but only managed to immobilize or stun them. This meant that his Thunder Friends charged into APCs and not the juicy innards. I countercharged with my entire army into the Thunders and Killed all of them but the Lord in one round, the Lord went down two turns later after malling (but not completely wiping out) two Plague Marine Squads and the Possessed.

With the only combat unit in his army destroyed and most of my Rhinos now immobilized or destroyed the rest of the game was spend trading shots and trying to maneuver onto objectives. One unit of Wolf Scouts came in behind the Plasma Squad on objective, but with the help of the summoned daemons I was able to hold, while the other unit came on to threaten two Plague Marines sitting on another objective but a Nurgle Lord intercepted them and rolled like a boss, killing all 6 at I6 before they could swing back!

I won objectives, I killed his melta squad and we tied the table quarters.

Chaos 25VP and Space Wolves 5VPS


ROUND TWO
Nurgle Chaos Space Marines (Josiah)
Dawn of War
1) KPs
2) Single Objective in the Center
3) Get Any Unit within 6" of Enemy Board Edge

Josiah took almost the exact same list as me (not a deep pool of possible Nurgle units in the book unfortunately). Typhus in Land Raider, Summoned Greater Daemon, 4 Plague Marine units, 2*double melta and pf, double plasma, and double flamer, and 7 Nurgle Marked Terminators.

Josiah and I almost never have a hard fought game, someone always stomps the other's army into the ground and this was no different. Considering how similar our lists were, would it surprise you that I was tabled in 7 turns having only scored a single KP? Yep that's what happened, oh well.

Me 0VP Josiah 3VP


ROUND THREE
Imperial Guard (John Cook)
Dawn of War (again really?)
1) Seize Ground
2) Kill an Enemy HQ
3) Capture and Control
how similar does this look to the first mission to you?


John was really bummed cuz the lost a couple of this Pretorian models somewhere after the first round, sucks, NTM he plaid Josiah game one so this was his second match against Nurgle... in my opinion IG is the best possible match up for Nurgle ~ masses of lasguns, heavy bolters, multi-lasters, flamers and auto cannons are pretty useless against Plague Marines and he didn't have a single plasma gun.

Command HQ in Chimera w/ Lord Commissar and Officer of the Fleet, Command Squad in Chimera, two infantry Squads in Chimeras just with an Autocannon, two three man Lascannon teams near Commissar for Ld boost, melta Vets w/ demolition charge in Vendetta, 10 man unit in Valkyrie, Psychic Battle Squad in Chimera, two Hydras and Manticore.

Dawn of War meant he could still set up his entire platoon, but I deployed first with a Rhino w/ Plague Marines and Lord dead center. I moved up and popped smoke; he shot his ENTIRE ARMY at that single Rhino and unit inside. When the dust settled I had a pf champion and the Lord left (I told you PMs can soak up IG fire). Those two models moved up and each killed an infantry squad in return. Turn two John shot his ENTIRE ARMY at those two models finally killing them (good for him).

While he was focussing all that shooting at 400pts I was able to move my other units into pretty good position close to his lines unmolested. The Possessed rolled Fleet for their Possession and, despite having to come in from my board edge were able to get a multi-charge off on three units on turn three.

By the end of the game we had both done a number to each other's armies, but because my army has so little shooting both his Fliers were alive allowing him to last turn score/contest. We ended up tying Seize Ground, tying Capture and Control, and we both killed each other's HQ...

Chaos 20VP and IG 20VP 


~three games with the Chaos today and I went 1/1/1 which has been about my average the last two years at Alamo there is still room for improvement. Josiah ended up winning the tournament with his Nurgle Chaos, good for him, so there might be hope for me at Alamo with a similar list!

Remember the Alamo

The 2000pt GT in San Antonio is quickly approaching and this is the current state of my Chaos Nurgle Army. With only 17 days left I currently have 12 models and that one Rhino left to paint. 

The Alamo tournament is certainly one of the most fun events you can hope to attend and I highly recommend it. This year most of the Austin crew are bringing fun lists over power armies to reflect the laid back nature of the tournament held in a BEER HALL!

JWolf is fielding a Deathstrike Missile, BigRed is taking his "undefeated" Tau (lol), and Goatboy is taking GreyKnights (I guess he didn't get the memo).

...My List...

HQ

Chaos Lord; mark of nurgle, wings, daemon weapon, melta bomb

Chaos Lord; mark of nurgle, wings, daemon weapon, melta bomb

Summoned Greater Daemon

TROOPS

Plague Marines*7; champion, pf, melta*2, icon

Rhino

Plague Marines*7; champion, pf, melta*2, icon

Rhino

Plague Marines*7; champion, combi-melta, plasma gun*2, icon

Rhino; dozer blade

Summoned Lesser Daemons*7

ELITES
Possessed*10; champion, icon of nurgle
Rhino; ex armor, dozer blade

HEAVY SUPPORT
Obliterators*2
Obliterators*2

~comments are always appreciated. As long as I improve my overall score from the last two years I'll be happy. 

WIP Nurgle Lord

Hope to paint him up tomorrow as I get ready for the Alamo GT.

The "NEW" Infiltrating Speed Lord

I don't know about anyone else but I am very excited about a new Chaos Codex coming out sometime in the next few months. I have been hard at work swelling (bloating) the ranks of my Death Guard army lately and have been looking back at C: Chaos 3.5 for inspiration.

Does anyone else remember the Infiltrating Speed Lord? Due to the shenanigans that was the chaos wargear page you could construct a Chaos Lord with Infiltrate and "daemonic speed" which made him Cavalry (fleet and 12" charge). Every army had their flavor of Speed Lord; my Nurgle one had S5, T5 and +D6 attacks. 

This was a very silly HQ choice that by the end of the book everyone was abusing. However when the current Chaos Codex came out in 4th edition everyone quit the Lord and went back to the Daemon Prince; either with I6 and Lash or T5 and Warp Time. In what could be considered a competitive Chaos list you never saw a Chaos Lord (besides Abadon). 

Now that both Lash and Warptime have been nerfed in the most recent FAQ I think the Chaos Lord has become a much more attractive option; especially with some loopholes in the wargear section that hark back to C:Chaos 3.5...

My current Lord has Mark of Nurgle, Wings (12" move), melta bombs and Daemon weapon (+D6 attacks, poison, pw). For some reason according to the FAQ if your IC has "wings" and not a "jump pack" he can ride in a Rhino. WTF?!? So that means he rolls with a unit 12" up inside the vehicle first turn then 2nd turn can move a further 12" and still assault. 

The Infiltrating Speed Lord of old was particularly great at getting to the enemy quickly before they could do anything to stop them. I hope that in the twilight months of the 4th edition Chaos Codex we will be seeing more of this type of HQ. In the local 1850 tournament next month I plan on taking two!

~has anyone else been working on or using their Chaos lately in anticipation for the new book? What do you think about the Chaos Lord now and his validity in an army instead of a Daemon Prince?

Oh My, Works in Progress!

Eldar are on the back burner right now but the Raider is definitely WIP lol

Alamo is just around the corner, and hopefully so is the new Chaos book, so I gotz to get ready. Couple of Oblitz that I am working on. Not fully sold on the spot light on top of the gun.

 This guy is a little wild right now but he will be reigned in...

w00t plasma guns, bushido's ears are burning

This guy thinks he is pretty cool I guess.

 these guys have matching pants I know... I don't think Aventine was going to wear them again...

WIP that are a little further along...

Gearing up for Alamo

So the Texas GT season is right around to corner starting off with Alamo in San Antonio, TX. This is a great event held in a beer hall of all places. The last two years I've brought my Mantis Warriors will middle of the road success. In my opinion the Alamo tournament is not a supper competitive event so I really want to bring something fun rather that overly powerful. At the end of the game I want to drink beer with my opponent and not worry about the win loss record. As a result I'd really like to brining my Nurgle Chaos Space Marines to a proper GT before the end of 5th edition and the new Chaos Codex!

2000pts
HQ
Daemon Prince; mark of nurgle, wings
Lord; mark of nurgle, wings, daemon weapon
Summoned Greater Daemon

TROOPS
Plague Marines*7; champion, power fist, melta*2, icon
Rhino

Plague Marines*7; champion, melta*2, icon

Rhino

Summoned Lesser Daemons*6

Summoned Lesser Daemons*6

ELITES

Possessed*10; champion, icon of nurgle

Rhino; ex armor, dozer blade

HEAVY SUPPORT

Defiler

Defiler

Obliterators*3

~the nice thing about this army is that even though the tournament is still 3 months away (May) I only have to build about 10 more models and another Rhino... of course if the Chaos book comes out before then it will be a whole different story!

Hanging About; Not being Idle...

Last week Dragons Layer did something really cool; they hosted a "Mentor Tournament" to encourage new players to get into the tournament scene. To do this they paired someone who has never played in a tournament with someone who has played in a lot of them. Veteran teamed with Newbe. 

I showed up having no idea who I would be teamed with and in the spirit of the fun tournament I took a 1000 point army with a lot of scouts and no special characters. Unfortunately for our opponents my 13 year old teammate Sam took Gaz and 6 Mega Nobz who carried us to victory in every game... At the the end of the tournament Dragons Layer gave a $20 gift certificate to each of the 18 new players. 

Picture from game two: SM&Orks vs father and son team Necrons&Deathwing

Gearing up for the GT circuit means making terrain so a few weeks ago the locals gathered at Darkwyn's house to build BoLS terrain for WarGames Con. This was the first time I've made it to one of these terraing building days and I had a lot of fun and glue on my fingers.

AdamHarry blogging instead of helping... unlike me lol

Cutting foam hills... the spell of burning polystyrene traveled all the way inside.

Flames of War trees... can't have enough.

JWolf building the Wizard's Tower... over 4 hours and three different people working on it and it still wasn't done.

There was food and beer... did I mention it was fun?

Last night I went to Dragon's Layer to get my weekly game in. I really wanted to take the Eldar Corsairs but they just aren't ready yet so instead I built an interesting Chaos army using what Nurgle models I have and some old old old Legion of the Damned as Tzentch units. I played against Caldera's Dark Eldar; expect a BoLS Battle Report in a couple of weeks... 

 On the table next to us the fabled Leaf Blower faced off against BigRed's undefeated Tau army for another BoLS Battle Report... fun times.

Donorian Clawed Fiend Thoughts

Yesterday I played in a team tournament at Dragon's Layer back home in Austin with my long time gaming buddy Minus6. Minus6 played with his IG and I also used his Dark Eldar models coupled with the Exodites I've been slowly painting over the last year to make a Webway Portal list. My army included a very large Beast Master Unit with a very expensive Clawed Fiend. 

The Beast Master unit is interesting because you buy 1-5 Masters (Dark Eldar on skyboards) and then buy different beasts as wargear for them. There are three different types of beasts, Khymera, Razorwing Flock, and Clawed Fiend and you can only buy one type per Master. The Clawed Fiend is by far the most expensive beast coming in at 40pts (the second most is 15pts) and you can only buy one Fiend per Beast Master so in total you spend 52pts.

The Fiend has a pretty good statline; S5 T5 W4 A4, and for every wound he takes he gets an extra attack. His T5 and the incentive to take wounds on him means that he can soak up any Power Fist attacks directed at the unit. Probably the best thing he did in my three games yesterday was get powered up to 7 attacks and killed a Chaplain.

So are the Fiends worth 52 points? The unit as a whole is terrible against vehicles and terrible against Terminators and because they are Beasts; they don't know how to climb stairs. The unit has at best Ld8 and T3, so what's the point of being able to soak wounds if as soon as you lose combat or get shot you run? 

2000 point Hybrid SM list thought

Although I have been having success locally with my Sicarius list, it didn't preform as well as I would have hoped at the Alamo IGT. Aventine sudgested that I combine the Death Star unit from my Kahn list with the heavy shooting elements from my Sicarius list. The main issue with taking dedicated shooting units in a Kahn list is that I wont be able to outflank the whole army without leaving the Devs on their own to be shot up from the enemy's entire army.

Tomorrow is a local tournament where I can only imagine people will be testing out WarGames Con armies. Although I plan on playing narrative, I don't think I've played in a tournament since Alamo so this will be a good opportunity to try out this list. NTM I don't even remember the last time I took Kahn out...

Mantis Warriors 
HQ
(160) Kahn

(100) Chaplain

ELITES
(200) Assault Terminators*5; thunder hammers*3, lightning claws*2
(265) Landraider Redeemer; ex armor, multi-melta 

TROOPS
(215) Tactical Squad*10; power fist, combi-melta, plasma gun, multi-melta

(35) Rhino


(215) Tactical Squad*10; power fist, combi-melta, plasma gun, multi-melta

(35) Rhino

(200) Tactical Squad*10; power fist, melta gun, multi-melta
(35) Rhino


FAST ATTACK
(100) Attack Bikes*2; multi-melta*2

HEAVY SUPPORT

(170) Devastators*5; missile launcher*3, lascannon

(170) Devastators*5; missile launcher*3, lascannon


(100) Thunderfire Cannon 

Nurgle Daemon Prince (and friends)

So this guy might not be as fat as I would have liked but I gave myself one week to sculpt him and one week to paint him. Considering the time frame I am quite pleased with the results. If anything I really want to buy a second plastic Daemon Prince and take another crack at it!

This is my Nurgle army as it currently stands. I still need to build and paint one more Rhino and two more Oblits to be ready for WarGames Con Team tournament with Aventine. 

Wish me pus!