It's Like Plucking the Heads Off Dandalions

Made my way out to my FLGS today for some more 'Ard Boyz practice and paired off against a fairly nasty looking Nids list. Not entirely sure what all was in the list, I just know it had 24 deep striking elite choice genestealers, a tun of termagaunts, a tervigon, and some really big bugs that shot large templates at me. Tyranofexes maybe? Not really important in the long run, they're skulls grace the throne of Khorne now. :P

Anyways, as I forget the majority of the game's details there will be no bat rep today. Just know I slipped by with a last turn objective grab and contest with my fast rhino and razerback. Highlights of course were my Death Co Dreads slaughtering termagaunts and genestealers in mass. My Lemartes Death Co also performed well, but Astaroth and his Death Co were unfortunately cut down as their transport was surrounded by two mobs of genestealers and blown up.

My Vindicator actually accomplished a bit today too as my opponant was graciouos enough to concede to my belief that the Demolisher Cannon is intended to be a Large Blast weapon. Managed to blow away a hand full of Gaunts and Warriors with it. Yay boom stick!

And that brings us to the next bit.... Rule bending power gamers. There's a discussion going on my gaming groups forum about the rules for the BA Vindicator. The big wigs of the gaming group, who come off as WAAC players to me, all side that the D Cannon is a S10 direct shot weapon. This couldn't have anything to do with them playing IG platoon mobs or Nid swarm lists could it? Very irritating. Below is my response in the forum.

I'm a late comer to this, but I gotta throw in my two cents.
It's obviously a misprint. Who in their right mind will take a 140ish point tank thats a one trick pony? Yeah its S10 and Fast, but it's just not worth it. Would it really surprise you if it was meant to be a Large Blast? Seriously, take a look at other "broken" things, Blood Talon Death Dreads and re-rolling Death Co for example.
Also, while I was at the Springfield GW yesterday they insisted on the ruling being a Large Blast and that I play it that way. Unfortunately for me, a direct shot would have benefited me greatly, but I'm definitely going to side with them on that one. Heck, even one of my friends from Wien (currently working at Germany's GW HQ) claims this is a misprint in the ruling and will be faq'd.

Essentially, to deny your opponent the Blast template when he's shooting at your blob of models is cheese. Its a load of rubbish rule bending and power gaming. Personally, I don't care what any one would think of me for doing this but if another player were to refuse me the blast template I'm going to pack up my plastic soldiers and move on. If winning is so important to you that you're going to bend the rules in your favor then I have no desire to play with you. Period.

And there you have it, my stance on the matter.
Thanks for reading.

A Steal Deal!

My 1520 (Empty) Battlefoam Pack came in today and guess what! It came with an extra little treat; pluck foam! Wooohoooo! Now I can make a foam tray that fits my Stormravens.

Now here comes the awesome sauce. I got the pack off Amazon at $154.00 including shipping and handling. Not a bad price, slightly cheaper than buying it direct from Battlefoam. The pack with pluck foam however retails at $185.00, or $212.00 including partial shipping within the US. Woah! I save close to 50 bucks! Happy Schnitzel! :D

Also, Tuesday was of course 40k night at my FLGS and I showed up with my C:BA Khorne Berserkers that I've prepped for 'Ard Boyz. Threw down dice against a Tau player who had greatly overestimated me.

"Oh noes, assault army!" -Tau
"Rawr, tastes like chicken" -Khorne Berserkers

But how did it really play out?

"Reserve everything, let them shoot at thin air and then we swoop in and remove their heads!" -Khorne Berserkers
"Ha! They reserved everything! Lets blow them to bits as the drop in piecemeal. Marklights!"

Well, foolish nooby mistake on my part. There were other mistakes I made too, but it was a valuable learning experience. The Tau player was a very good sport, gave me some advice for list building and such and pointed out some things I should not do in games (ie; reserve against gunlines). Hats off to him for sportsmanship.

And once again I received a plethora of comments on my Stormravens. They do seem to be popular.

Tomorrow its off to the FLGS once more (this time with an easier means of carrying my army) for either some 'Ard Boyz practice or a pick-up Apoc game. Should be fun.

Soul Hunter

As I'm now starting on Aaron Dembski-Bowden's novel "Helsreach", I figured I best jot down my thoughts on his previous novel "Soul Hunter" first.

Soul Hunter follows the 10th Company of the Night Lords traitor legion, primarily the character Talos whom was the former apothecary turned de-facto Sergeant of his squad. In it he is cursed with visions of the future such as his Primarch Conrad Kurze, the Night Hunter, was. We follow him and his squad of Astartes through hell and back as they battle against both Imperial and Chaos forces alike.

When I first started this novel I was timid, half expecting it to be another edition of "bolter porn" and full of senseless action scenes, fandom and little to no plot. Instead I was immediately sucked in and impressed by Mr. Debski-Bowden's writing prowess. He manages to flesh out and add a layer of depth to the members of the Night Lords legion as I never expected. And it doesn't stop there, he may also actually rival the great Mr. Abnett in  the way he spins the novel's plot. This is no point A to point B story folks, it's a fast and furious rollwer coaster that throws a few sharp turns and unexpected corkscrews at you. There were moments when the story managed to take even me for surprise. I loved every second of it.

I give it 4.5 out of 5 stars. Lovely piece of work, I highly recommend it.

Prepare for Low Altitude Insertion on My Mark...

Mark. :O

Whats this mean? I just doubled my Stormraven count! Whoop whoop!
I've also redrafted my 'Ard Boyz list and plan on testing it out Tuesday at my FLGS... Hopefully my Razerbacks and Dreadnaught get here in time. I'd hate to actually resort to... DUN DUN DUN... Proxying. Oh the shame of such thought!

Bought a long line of thin chain yesterday and more parts for my Titan scratchbuild. Yay! Unfortunately my plans on building it out of extruded foam is at a standstill... I need a hot knife to cut the darn thing to my liking!
The chain is for my dreads btw... Every time they perform well in battle I'm gonna buy some skull bits of whatever they kill and add 'em to the chains. :D

Splurge!

Cash splurge! Argh! I'm such an impulsive spender. :O

Today I finally got around to buying a battlefoam carry case. Can't wait. On the upside, I got the big on at a $30-40 discount. :)

New Valk came in today as well. I'll get started on converting it to a Stormraven tomorrow.

Did manage to start on the Warhound today.... I got two toes down. Cardstock Warhound is meh... But after this is finished I'll either reinforce it with plasticard or make a new one from scratch with plasticard.

Those Who See a Titan Shall Never Live to Tell the Tale...

First and foremost, today was a day of heavy spending. Not as painful on the wallet as it would have been if I had bought from GW, but weighty enough. Three new Razerbacks and a Valkyrie to buff my forces up to 2500 pts for a 'Ard Boyz list. While I don't particularly care for 'Ard Boyz, and highly doubt I'll even place in the prelims, I do want to be able to play prep games with my community and attend as well for the sake of just gaming.

My splurge of spending didn't stop with mere plastic tanks though... It went on to sheets of plastic board, 110lb size card stock and a bit of 1/8 x 1/8 balsa wood. What all could it be for? Well, as the post title hints, a Titan! A Warhound first as it's my initial attempt at scratch building, and later possibly a Reaver and/or a Warlord! :O

And without further ado, my 'Ard Boyz rough draft.

Total: 2498pts

HQ: 430pts
220pts Astorath the Grim
210pts Honor Guard with Chapter Banner, Melta and Razerback dedicated transport

Elites: 298pts
180pts Sanguinary Priests (x3) with Combi-Flamers (x3)
118pts Chaplain with Power Fist and Storm Bolter

Troops: 990pts
215pts Death Co (x8) with Power Weapon, Power Fist and Inferno Pistol
215pts Death Co (x8) with Power Weapon, Power Fist and Inferno Pistol
135pts Death Co Dread with Blood Talons and Heavy Flamer
135pts Death Co Dread with Blood Talons and Heavy Flamer
145pts Assault Squad with Melta, Lightning Claw and Razerback dedicated transport
145pts Assault Squad with Melta, Lightning Claw and Razerback dedicated transport

Fast Attack: 200pts
200pts Vanguard Vets with Lightning Claw (Sgt), Lightning Claw, Inferno Pistol and Razerback dedicated transport

Heavy: 430pts
215pts Stormraven with Extra Armor
215pts Stormraven with Extra Armor

The Stormravens will carry my Khorne Berserkers (Death Co) and Dreadnaughts. Astorath will accompany one squad while Lemartes of course augments the other. Both will bring a ton of hurt.

The goal of this army is to charge in fast and hard and hope that I can table my opponent. The two assault squads are there to claim any objectives possible, and the Honor Guard are around to buff them with extra attacks in lieu of Sanguinator's absence. The Vanguard Vets were selected to help fill out the points... and extra killiness.

As I said earlier, I'm not expecting much in terms of results for me but it should be fun to play regardless. :)

He Care Not the Color So Long as the Blood Flows

And tonight it flowed like rivers...

First game of my BA Codex Khorne Army went very well tonight, minus the fact it ended after four turns due to time constraints. I paired off against a Tyranid Tervigon list and faired much better than I could have possibly expected. Game type was the capture objective (5 this game) one. Dawn of War deployment. I won the roll and elected to go second. 1850 point lists.

Turn 1: I reserve everything. My opponent starts spawning masses of Termagaunts. He reserves two Trygons and Doom.

Turn 2: Opponent spawns more Termagaunts and his Trygons come in around the center of the board between three objectives. He moves some hordes up towards my edge.
My Death Co Stormraven comes in guns a blazing as Lemartes and the Death Co jump out. A few small buggers go down to the Stormravens shooting. Death Co lights up a swarm of Termagaunts on the nearest objective, downing two before rushing into assault. The annihilate the buggers.

Turn 3: Opponent's Doom lands towards the center of my territory, starts working its way towards the Death Co. Ole One Eye comes in behind a swarm of Termagaunts. Trygon and some other buggers pop off shots at the Stormraven to no avail. More bugs are spawned and begin rushing towards the Death Co as a Tervigon, Trygon and One Eye do the same.
Death Co Dread leaps out of the Stormraven and lights up 7 Termaguants with his Heavy Flamer, opponent pulls the models to prevent assault. Death Co fires at Trygon and charge! They strip it of several wounds but fail to kill it this turn.
One Heavy Bolter Razerback with Assault Squad and Sang Priest arrive on the far side of the board where only two squads of Termagaunts guard two objectives. The squad hops out and everyone opens fire. A few bugs drop.
Sanguinor also came in and aided the Death Co in their battle.

Turn 4: Trygon battles on with the Death Co and is joined by Ole One Eye. Together they drop the majority of the Death Co, but the fight rages on.
My opponent rushes my Assault Squad with his unit of Gaunts, I take one casualty but dish out a lot more. Some bugs and stuff spawn in various places as well and amble towards various congregations.
My Jump squad comes in as well as my last two Razerbacks. The two Razerbacks rush towards the center to aid the Dreadnaught in seizing the objectives there. The Heavy Flame Razerback wipes a squad of 'gaunts off the table.
Death Co finish off the Trygon and One Eye, but are downed by Doom. Two marines in the Razerbacks also die from his scream. The assault squad on the far side mop of the rest of the 'gaunts they were in battle with and seize the objective. The Jump Squad stand by to move on the next objective the following turn (that never came :( ).
Dreadnaught goes insane and charges the largest mob of 'gaunts on the table and downs four of them. His blood talons generate 4 more attacks and kill another four. Rinse, repeat, 4 more down. Another four attacks splatter more bugs and there are no more in range for the assault.

At this point I have one object, my opponent has 3. I stand ready to seize one of the center objectives and another on the far right side if we were to continue, but due to time constraints the game ended.

Pros:
- Death Dread with Blood Talons is a BEAST! Sixteen skulls for the skull throne in one fell swing.
- Lemartes and Co; 360 pt squad downs 460 points of bug, throw in the 60 pts of Termagaunts from before and they've definitely earned their keep.
- Stormraven was very pretty, got lots of compliments and made it very easy for me to get to any unit to assault safely. It also ate a ton of fire and went by relatively unharmed.

Cons:
- Time constraints. This could have easily been my first win.
- Traffic. I had to run 20 miles north to pick up a dreadnaught model before the game... 10 minutes to get there, 50 to get back. Grrrr. DC traffic blows.


Overall, great night. Easily the best game night I've ever had.
Also learned that the GW Springfied, VA is holding an Apoc event this weekend in commemoration of their third birthday. 1500 point limit per player though... I'm tempted to show up with my Obliterator Cult of Destruction. I've only got 12 Oblits at the moment, but if I had 15 it'd be a done deal. :D