Monday, August 31, 2009

Taking a beating

So I've managed to get three different play sessions in the past week with my 1k orks. I've played IG 3 times, Marines once, Eldar once, Nids once, and Chaos once. I'd say they've been competitive in all but the IG games which they all lost, but I've made some modifications since those first few games. They've basically gone 1-1-5 which is not a big confidence builder. Usually my practice lists have a few solid wins in tough practice games prior to the tournaments, so this is a bit troubling.

Of course the flip side to that is for the last 1k tournament I had 1k Tau list that had been doing awesome. It must have won all 4-5 practice games, but I still went 1-2 in the tournament.

Is it the list? Is it poor generalship? Is it just dumb luck of the missions and opponents? I want to believe it is the latter, but maybe that's just an easy excuse.

Since the tournament is supposedly having it's own 4 unique missions I don't know that I can really do much anyway. Any change I make is just as likely to hurt me as help me.

So I'll likely just take the list I have and see what I can do taking what few lessons I've picked up on over these last few game.

1) For orks be wary of attacking vehicles with Klaws, and if there are other boys squads around do that assault last. Nearly every game that my opponent had vehicles I ended up exploding them and wiping out tons of my own boys. It is bad enough to lose half your trukk squad, but worse when your 20 boy squad loses half too before they even started THEIR own combat phase. So I REALLY REALLY REALLY need to keep that in mind.

2) Trukk boys squad may not even get out of the trukk. I need to run some more mathhammer for these guys. At least two games I thought the trukk boys could handle weakened assaulty type units and they did not hold up well. I wonder if just skirting the fringe of the board for a last trun blast to objectives would be better. Seems a little like a waste of 162 points though...

3) Stay in the KFF. That thing has saved so many vehicles it is ridiculous. I have been herding around the BW and keeping things alive much longer than they rightfully should. This has made my tank killing better than the first three losses to IG.

So who knows. I definitely have felt heavy on KP. I can't deal with uber units like the Avatar or even DPs horribly well. I'm missing my lootas badly, but don't think I'm ready to trade in the kans. I have not mastered the trukk squad.

Hopefully it will be fun, and hey maybe I'll win a raffle, but this is probably the least confident I've felt since the first tournament appearance.

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Noise Marines

Snapped a quick pick (crappy iphone quality) of the Noise Marines I put together for Dave before I walked out the door this morning. I've now been reminded how crappy gluing metal to plastic is. Getting those guns and arms on is a major pain the ass. If you get one arm on right the other arm is to far back/forward. In the end the shoulder pads seem to hide the offsets well enough but man... what a pain!

I took great care to clean up the models and take my time. Only the last guy glued I was impatient with and will need to get some 'glue finger prints' scrapped off of him tonight. Otherwise it was good practice for the abundance of metal/plastic 1ksons I have to put together soon enough.

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

More Thousand Son's Planning

So I've acquired the two sets of 1ksons from Dave. I also talked to Liam about borrowing his squad of 1ksons and a sorcerer. My game plan is to be able to eventually field the following army.

HQ: Daemon Prince, Wings, MoT, Warptime, WoC
HQ: Ahriman
Troop: 8x Thousand Sons, Aspiring Sorc, Doombolt, Meltabomb, Rhino
Troop: 8x Thousand Sons, Aspiring Sorc, Doombolt, Meltabomb, Rhino, Combi Melta
Heavy: 3x Obliterators
Heavy: Predator, Las Sponsoons
Heavy: Predator, Las Sponsoons

So I'm doing good so far on the troops. I could proxy the sorcerer for Ahriman for now.

Obliterators are clearly the next choice and I'll pick them up in Sept. I've got a budget set per month so that will be all I pick up.

The next logical thing would be the Daemon Prince. The problem is I don't really like the current model (and it is wingless), GW is supposed to be releasing a new plastic model, and the rumor is Forgeworld will have a Tzeentch specific DP at some point. So this makes me want to hold off on that purchase. If a game were to go down before I have the DP I could make a more obscure proxy (well Ghaz is roughly the size of a DP) or borrow someones DP they might not be using.

Or just for giggles I might try and run two chaos dreads with EA and Multimeltas. I can proxy them with templar dreads, and they are sure to provide some ammount of comic releif.

The rest of the army (3 rhinos, 2 preds) can all be proxied with Templar vehicles. I'll probably figure out how to pick those up before/after the prince release and just hit them all up with the airbrush in one sitting.

After that I'll pick up the last 1ksons squad and Ahriman so I can return Liam's models and have the army all painted by myself.

Oh and at some point I'll need to figure out some Spawn models. Ahriman may occasionally try to pop someone with Gift of Chaos so it would be nice to have a few models around. Hopefully I can score some cheap on ebay. :)

Monday, August 24, 2009

Practice Games w Orks

So Anthony came over Sunday afternoon for some 40k goodness. First we did a little painting for his IG where we sat down and streamlined a process for him to get his remaining gaurdsmen looking like the guys he already has. I think we were both pretty happy with the results we were able to get with a nicely streamlined process.

Then we sat down for a few practice games. He had concerns about hordes and I had concerns about mech so it was a good matchup to knock out. I used my 'Ard Center list I posted last Wed. He used: HQ squad in Chimera, 2x Vets in Chimeras, Vets in Valk, LRBT.

We rolled multiple objective and placed 3 on the table and Anthony went first. We had joked the game would go quick and basically after his turn of shooting we called it. He had whittled my shoota squad to 8, blew up a buggie which ended up destroying near 1/2 my large mob of boys and further whittled that squad down to 10.

So we sat down and revamped the ork list to something that might be able to handle vehicles a little better.

Troops: 17 Shoota boys, 2 Big Shootas, Nob, PK, Bosspole
Troops:18 boys, Nob, PK, Bosspole
Troops: 29 Slugga w/ 3 Rokkits, Nob, PK, Bosspole
Fast: Rokkit Buggie
Fast: Rokkit Buggie
Heavy: 2x Kans w/ Kustom Mega Blasta
Heavy: Kan w/ Rokkits
Heavy: BW, Armor, Ram, Big Shoota

This list certainly faired a little better. We played a few turns before calling it for Anthony again. The overall problem in both games for me was exploding vehicles. Every time a vehicle was destroyed near my boys it would explode, and oddly go out 6" just killing everything. Nothing sucks more than to watch your 30 boys squad pop a vehicle and get reduced to 10 boys. So we started thinking what I really needed was a throw away CC squad that if it did destroy a vehicle and get wiped it would matter less.

Since the shoota squad had been fairly useless we decided maybe running a trukk squad would be a good fit. So here is what the list looks like now after a few games and discussion.

Troops: 11 Slugga boys, Nob, PK, Bosspole, Trukk w/ EA, Ram
Troops:18 Slugga boys, Nob, PK, Bosspole
Troops: 29 Slugga boys w/ 3 Rokkits, Nob, PK, Bosspole
Fast: Rokkit Buggie
Fast: Rokkit Buggie
Heavy: 2x Kans w/ Kustom Mega Blasta
Heavy: Kan w/ Kustom Mega Blasta
Heavy: BW, Armor, Ram, Big Shoota

The upside is I have a lot more things to deal with vehicles. The downside is I've gained a KP from my first list and am up to 10 not so hard to kill things. 3 of my vehicles are FA 10 and open topped. Still looking across at 7 pieces of armor that should hopefully all be obscured or out of LOS on turn 1 may overwhelm some people.

The next best part of this list is it is 100% painted already, hehe.

Aside from the afternoon of 40k Dave C basically gave/loaned me indefinitely the two 1000 Sons boxes he had so that is really cool. I ordered the resin bases for the army so that is all under way now. I figure I'll put the army together slowly over the next few month prioritizing on things that can't be an easy proxy from my templar (ie oblits, DP). My goal is to have the army done by Kublacon next year, even if I don't run them... but hey that might just be the case too.

Friday, August 21, 2009

Other 1000 pt options

So I looked at some other possibilities for 1000 point lists for the Sept 5th Tournament.

Black Templar
HQ: Emperors Champ, AACNMTO 140
HQ: Marshal, Iron Halo, Pair Lightning Claws 135
Troop: 6 Initiates, PF, Melta, 2 Neophytes, Rhino, EA 199
Troop: 5 Initiates, Lascannon, Plasma 101
Troop: 5 Initiates, MultiMelta, Plasma 96
Fast: Speeder, MultiMelta 65
Fast: Speeder, MultiMelta 65

So you get some static troops to lay down some fire, decent mobility, anti tank, and a little CC pop. It doesn't look bad, it probably just comes down to hoping you don't play against another beastly list.

HQ: Shas'El, Plamsa, Missile, TA, HWMT 97
Elite: 2x Crisis Plasma, Missile, HWMT 124
Elite: 2x Crisis Plasma, Missile, HWMT 124
Troop: 6x Firewarriors, Devilfish, DP, TA, HWMT, SMS, Flechette, 192
Troop: 12x Kroot, 8x Kroot hounds 132
Heavy: Hammerhead, Railgun, DP, BC, MT 165
Heavy: Hammerhead, Railgun, DP, BC, MT, BSF 168

I'm less happy with this list. The HQ could join up one of the crisis teams but since there is no markerlight support he could just go hopping off on his own. The FWs are mandatory and will basically just make the Warfish a scoring unit. Kroot do what kroot do. Ditto for Hammerheads as my main anti tank and anti horde.

Looking over the list I think my preference right now is still orks, then Templar, then Tau. Since Templar have played the last two tournaments and Tau the 1k trournament just before those. Orks are still looking like the army of choice.

So a day and a half and the water effect is still getting clear, but now I think it may actually clear up entirely in a few more days.

Thursday, August 20, 2009

Ice Board terrain work

So my wife was gone last night so it became "Geeky Craft Night" out in my garage.

I started out looking at my Deffkoptas and realized it would be a hell of lot easier to start with a metallic base coat from the airbrush. I had already magnetized the bitz and made the Buzzsaws, so this means I'll just need to paint over the metal on the orks, but that should be ok.

Since that was going to need a few turns with the airbrush after the sides dried I figured I'd bust out my new foam cutter and see how it worked.
Not so bad it turns out! The foam is not the 'good' foam but I figured for this small test project we could see how it would do. I'm wondering if I should have actually hit is with some paint at this step. It may have been easier, but in the end I'll probably flocking the whole thing with snow so maybe it wont matter.This is a very thin piece of plasticard that is to be attached under the foam.

I built up a pipe section for the terrain.

Here are the three pieces all put together. Once they dried I was ready to add in the Vallejo Water mix.
Uh, so, it was not what I was expecting. First off it was thick and second it was white. I imagined just pooring it in and getting a clear flat glossy like water. Instead this doesn't really go on smooth, so it is going to be really textured.

Here is a look at it this morning. The texture remains (it didn't flatten out like I kinda had hoped) but the 'thin' parts are now transparent. I think after a day or so maybe the whole thing will be transparent. I'll have to see what it looks like with the water mix and the paint. Still it is a good experiment.

Speaking of experiments I figured while I had the airbrush out I would hit up one of my sample pieces from Zuzzy to see how well my tundra board would work out.
First I hit the whole thing with a really light grey. Then I used a ultramarine blue on the 'patch' of ground that I'll try to make look like an iced over section. The piece next to it is my other sample piece for reference.
Then I hit the whole thing with a white/light blue mix. It did not come out very blue. I think I might have to mix in ice to get the overall effect I want. I will probably only use it sparingly on the big mat just to help break it up and give the texture some depth.
After the two coats with the airbrush I just dabbed some white on, I think they call that effect Stippling. It helped to also break up the ground a bit by highlighting a few areas. Overall looking at it next to my other sample piece at least I know the white can go on well enough on that black texture.This morning I did a little more work on the details. I used some more ice blue and white/ice blue is to get that patch looking a little more like I invisioned. I hit the log up with khemeri brown and a brown wash and am happy with that. The rocks I wasn't sure what to do. I had originally thought I wanted them to be Blue like the gems on the Tau bases but I'm not so sure. I might just reserve the gem pieces for the terrain bits I make and just make the rocks, uh, rocks. So I tried a few other colors, Granite, Brown, and grey.
Here's the piece with a Crisis suit. The Blue stone on the mat isn't that convincing. Plus it may ending up looking too much like the water. I think the grey rock is how I'll end up going. You can see in the snow of the Tau base how the ice blue comes through a little, and I want to still get that on the mat. So I'm hoping adding in a little ice blue before the stippling step will help.

I'm not sure when I'll get back to this project, but I now know I'm not trying to do the impossible. I just need to do a little more testing and hopefully it will all look good in the end.

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Two 1000 pt Ork lists

So sat around with Army Builder last night and penned out two possible Ork lists for the 1k Tournament.

List 1- One 'Ard Center

HQ- Mega Armored Warboss, Cybork, Bosspole, Attack Squig- 130
HQ- KFF Mek- 85
Troops- 3 Manz, Combi-Flamer, Combi-Rokkit 130
Troops-29 Boyz, 1 Nob, PK, Bosspole-220
Troops-19 Boyz w/ Shootas, 2 big shootas, 1 Nob, Pk, Bosspole- 170
Fast- Buggie w/ Rokkits- 35
Fast- Buggie w/ Rokkits- 35
Fast- Kopta w/ Rokkits, Buzzsaw- 70
Heavy- Battlewagon, Big Shoota, Ram, Grot Riggers, Extra Armor- 115

So this is probably a pretty balanced list. The tough killy part is the Manz and warboss rolling up in the KFF protected BW. Two other good squad sizes of boys to run around and cause problems. I'm still light on anti tank, but that seems to be a problem for all the ork lists I make at 1k. I don't think I could get in more anti tank without pulling out the 'hammer' of the list, or sacrificing numbers on the boys.

List 2- Luck and Crazy Required
HQ- Warphead- 85
HQ- Mek w/ Shokk Attack Gun, Ammo Runt- 98
Troops-25 Boyz, 1 Nob, PK, Bosspole-220
Troops- 11 Gretchin, 1 Runtherder- 43
Fast- 2x Buggies w/ Rokkits - 70
Fast- Kopta w/ Rokkits, Buzzsaw- 70
Fast- Kopta w/ Rokkits, Buzzsaw- 70

So... this list was kind of a remnant of the 'hey this could be wild and fun' from a few weeks ago trimmed down. The 'plan' would be to have the koptas and buggies going to pop transports while the SAG (attached to Gretchin) is laying down templates over deployed passengers. The Warphead attaches to Shootas and hopes for some good rolls to lay down more firepower or get extra Waaghs for the Boyz.

Now keeping that in mind both those HQs have nearly always failed me. They have huge potential but plenty of risk. The SAG can not only just miss with the scatter and crap BS, but has launched himself into combat a number of times. I've had the warphead Deepstrike his squad on horrible terrain laden tables to lose a bunch of boys and sit in 'please pie plate me' formation a number of times also. BUT... it could be really fun.

So the next thing is the painting. The first list only needs one Kopta to be painted. The second list needs 2 Koptas, 11 Gretchin, 1 Runtherder, SAG Mek, and Warphead all to be painted. That's like a month worth of painting for me and I have 17 days. 10% of the score is based on painting, so it would be a shame to walk in with unpainted models when I have nearly every army painted.

Maybe there is a middle point for these two lists and converge into one list that is not so risky, still a tough list, and would trim down on the painting I would need to do. :)

I guess I'll start on the koptas and see about getting a practice game or two in and go from there. I'll also sit down again and pen out lists for Templar and Tau to have as options.

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Planning for 1k Tournament

So I've got the green light to attend the 1k tournament on Sept 5th. I'll probably swing by the shop at lunch to put my name down.

Now to think about a list and what to play. There was a 1k tourny back in June that I took Tau and went 1-2. There were a few things I learned there as far as dealing with the fact you only have a relatively small army. I saw a number of different approaches to how people built lists. Some went for the 'This is my hammer... there is nothing else' while others built some more balanced list.

Now I know I'm becoming biased but I've had to play against chaos 5 out of 9 of my last tournament games at this place. So the first thing I'm looking at is what kind of nasty lash list am I going to look at across the board.

HQ: Demon Prince, Wings, MoS, Lash 155
HQ: Demon Prince, Wings, MoS, Lash 155
Troop: 5 Plague Marines, 2 Plasma, Rhino, EA, Combi Melta 185
Heavy: 2 Oblits 150
Heavy: 2 Oblits 150

Yes it is not a lot of models but it is still a pain. The DP lash and oblit combo is the main killing force here. The plague marines are tucked in mobile bunkers and are already hard to kill. Add in the plasma for some extra fire power and it is not to be taken lightly. Of course a good eldar list or even sisters list can clean this chaos players clock.

The other list to still be thinking about is the Nob biker list. This list won the last 1k tournament if I recall.

HQ: Warboss, Bike, Cybork, PK, Attack Squig 150
Troop: 4 Nob bikers, 1 Painboy, Bikes, Waagh Banner, Cybork for all, 2x PK, bosspole, 350

So you have two roving bands of crazy bikes with bosses. This list basically needs to kill everything on the board since it likely isn't able to hold a bunch of objectives. Of course with mobility, survivability and killing power it CAN clear everything off a board. You quickly find out a 4x4 board doesn't leave a lot of room to run.

So what can we do to counter these lists?
1) Mech will help. Avoiding the lash and needing to be popped out of vehicles before being charged by the bikers will help. The biker army falls down against SOME mech since it's CC power is it's only really way to pop vehicles. Of course it is good at popping vehicles in CC, and then you still need to kill them so... it isn't instant win.
2) High Str guns. Str 8 is the magic number. Good for insta killing nob bikers, plague marines and oblits, but you still have to get through cover and invul. Str 7 is still nice for the Princes, but Str 8 is where it counts.

There are of course other things you can try to do. Anti Psych, loads of AP2, tough bastard units, etc.

But here is the kicker: since we know those two lists are out there everybody else ends up building lists against them also. So you either run into the two list mentioned, or you run into the list ready to play against them. These are the lists loaded with vehicles and tons of high str weapons. Enter stage left Mech Eldar, Mech IG, Mech marines, etc.

Now those lists can ALSO be dealt with by taking lots of vehicles and high str guns.

Or is there another trick to pull out? Can a huge horde upset these lists? Do you have a tough enough unit to push back against the killing hammer blows?

Or is this simply a matter of 'if you can't beat 'em join 'em'?

Time to start penning out lists...

Monday, August 17, 2009

Catching up

So I was away last week for work so the blog has been not updated with the no 40k time I had anyway.

I did play 3 games with that 1000 sons list before I left and had a good time. I can barely remember how the games went in detail now, but I remember going 1-1 with sisters and losing to another chaos list.

I only recall a few key points for future list building of 1ksons.
1) More 1ksons. I think they fall into the 'if you use them use lots.' I only used one and while my troops did well I think more 1ksons would have been better.
2) Don't be a pussy. So I kept charging out with my CSMs and leaving my 1ksons behind. In reality I should have been advancing the very durable 1ksons, but more of them will help.
3) Dump the vinid, take another pred. I need the vehicle killing power. The ap2 while nice is not going to be your 'anti terminator' piece regardless. Stick to the mass firepower of the 1ksons.

The prince, oblits, termies and pred all did well enough. I think some tweaking will help the list. I think the mechanized sisters is a really hard match up for these guys. There is so much tank killing he had, not enough tank killing on my side, and a psy hood. Basically take the the three curve balls I want to dodge and put them in one army. Ouch. Sadly things like mech eldar are going to be right up there, so this army (if it gets put together) will probably never win at Friday night games, haha.

Aside from that my Zuzzy mat arrived and I'm looking forward to starting to paint that. I picked up some 'bulk' acrylics to do the work, and while at the craft store picked up some cheapo styrofoam and a foam cutter. I figured I'll do some playing around there and see what happens.

Aside from that it looks like we're targeting another 1850 game night, and there is a 1k tourny at the game store. I'll chat with the wife to see if I can do both and then work on lists. I'll probably just default to orks for both since they haven't gotten much love, plus I can use what time I have to work on terrain.

Friday, August 7, 2009

Themed Tzeentch Chaos Marines 1850 List

So for the game tonight I am going to borrow Liam's chaos and play a themed list based around Tzeentch. I will try to make it a fun list that is competitive but not over the top. Either tonight will help me 'purge' the thoughts of buying another army... or it may put me over the top.

1850 Tzeentch Chaos Marines

HQ: Demon Prince- Wings, MoT, BoC, Warptime- 200
Elite: 5 Terminators- Chainfist, 1xCombi Melta, 4 x Combi Plasma, MoT- 225
Troop: 9 CSM-2 melta, MoT, 1 Champ-fist, CombiMelta, Rhino-EA, CombiMelta- 310
Troop: 8 1ksons, icon, 1 Asp Sorc, Doombolt, Rhino- 294
Heavy: Vindi, Daemonic Possession, CombiPlasma- 155
Heavy: Preadator, AC, 2 Las Sponsons- 130
Heavy: 3 Oblits- 225
1849 Total

Rough plans:
DP is capable of popping tanks at range, but will likely go for poping transports and charging the meaty goodness.
Terminators DS and unload combi on best targets, hopefully survive a round of shooting and try to get charging.
CSMs are moving forward to go for objectives and take out appropriate targets
1ksons I use more like an elite to find where AP3 bolters will be best served
The heavys are all pretty explanatory, laying down fire support, going for tanks or high toughness low armor targets

We'll see if this 'cures' my current bout of needing another army.

Wednesday, August 5, 2009

40k is my illness

I don't know why but sometimes 40k is like the plague.

I mean, I know that I'm the personality that gets behind something and is 110% into it, but that other things end up suffering.

All hobbies of course require a certain amount of time you put in to it. Are you logging in every night to play a game? Do you spend every waking moment at home painting models? Or do you need 6 hours a week to get together with the buds and throw dice to get your fix?

I can't really have more than one obsessive hobby at a time, there just aren't enough hours in the day. Maybe it's WoW for while, then it's AD&D, then it's Neverwinter Nights... at the moment I'm on the Blood Bowl kick. I don't necessarily have to stop entirely doing other things, but my devotion and attention span between my various hobbies are always quite disproportionate and, further more, ever shifting.

So for awhile now I've been hooked on 40k and the problem is the astronomical cost of 40k.

Ok, sure, WoW is not cheap when you add it all up. I paid for two accounts for what, 3 or 4 years? That's a lot of coin... but it feels spread out. 40k has a lot of upfront costs, and one could argue continuation costs as well.

I suppose with 40k you do have something in the end that is tangible... so maybe that counts for something. Not that I could ever imagine selling my armies... but things like say, Blood Bowl, are a buy it once for $50 and get hundreds of hours of (questionably enjoyable) play time. :)

Anyway the point to this rant is from time to time I feel like getting another army. The last time I bought an army was my Templar and it was very much on a whim. I didn't do a lot of research, I didn't think of how I would put it together. I saw a lot on ebay for a good price and, bang, new army. I do enjoy playing them and have had a lot of fun working on them so it isn't all bad. Of course since I bought that first assortment I probably have dropped another $300 on more models to get the army I want.

Plus paint.

Plus a bag to carry them of course.

Not long ago I was feeling the illness to buy a 4th army and was thinking Daemons, focusing on the Tzeentch flavor. It is one of the two armies our small gaming group doesn't have yet (DE being the other). I actually put a serious bid on a non assembled Tzeentch lot but the price got too high for my liking. Somehow going through that bidding war was like a catharsis of sorts and my 'fever' broke.

Well my illness is back: I want another army. It started this time when our group was talking about making a non 'standard' but competitive Chaos army. In other words trim down the lash/plaguemarine/oblit in your chaos lists.

So again I'm thinking Tzeentch themed chaos army. There are of course Pros and Cons to leaping into this.

-Cool minis and low model count. The 4th army should really try to be my showcase army. My tau are not so good looking, my Templar have come out nice but are all repainted over someone elses crap job, and my orks look good...but aren't anything special. I want to really try to step up my painting and modeling with the next army and that means buying the minis new and not rushing through it.
-Nobody in our area plays a Tzeentch themed chaos.
-Nobody in our area plays a Tzeentch themed chaos because they are not nearly as good as the typical chaos list. I'm not sure I can put something together that will really be as flexible to take on nob bikers, TH/SS Termies, and seer councils (not to mention uber chaos).
-We already have two chaos armies in our small group, and a metric asston of people play chaos at the local tournaments.
-I already have one meq army, but I have 2 xenos armies so... at least this would be a shooty meq...
-Money. I can try to squeeze out a $300 army but that is still a good chunk of coin. Plus I'll probably need more paint. Plus a bag, or at the least foam. Plus I really want stand out bases this time, so that is probably going to tack on a ton of money too.

So the cons outweigh the pros for sure. I know I should just keep plugging away with my other armies, and I want to work on this board project.

But the illness, it's got a hold of me, and I don't know if I can shake it.

Tuesday, August 4, 2009

What to play, what to play...

So still debating what to bring Friday, Tau or Orks. Since I'm non committal I'm not motivated to move to fast on any modeling/painting, which is its own blessing (for the rest) and curse (for not getting much done).

I did quickly put together/trim up the two new pathfinders I would need for my Tau.These are using the 'Tank' guy that you have the option of using with the Tau vehicles. Most people, myself included, do not. But he is not that different from a pathfinder with a little trimming. I'll get them primered/painted, and figure out how to affix the pulse carbine to the back.

In the meantime I've been messing with the orks. I mentioned making a 'fun' list to run over my killer list. So I was thinking of dropping the named guys (Ghaz and Snik) and modifying the list to try some units I never use at Tournament play.

HQ: Big Mek, Shokk Attack Gun
HQ: Big Mek, KFF
Elite: 13 Lootas
Elite: 14 Kommandos w/ 2 Rokkits, Nob, PK, Bosspole
Troop: 19 Shoota boyz w/ 2 Big Shootas, Nob, PK, Bosspole
Troop: 29 Slugga boyz w/ 3 Rokkits, Nob, PK, Bosspole
Troop: 14 Gretchin, 1 Runtherder
Fast: 3x Buggies w/ Rokkits
Heavy: 3x KillaKans w/ Kustom Mega Blasta
Heavy: 3 Kannons, 2 Ammo Runts
Heavy: Battlewagon, Ram, Big Shoota, Armor Plates, Grot Riggers

So the Shokk attack gun is really only a fun piece to play. It is random and for me rarely does anything good. It is a cool model, and I'd like to paint it up as it probably would look really nice. He would sit with the gretchin in a distant corner. The gretchin are disposable scoring unit if needed, and if someone really wants to commit to killing off the 50 points of them (and they aren't on an objective) by all means.

I've dropped snikky and pulled out the normal kommando nob. The unit is nowhere near as mean, and two rokkits infaltrating sounds great until you remember that ork BS2. :P

Since there is no Ghaz/warboss I've dropped that Manz. This means there is no more hammer in the list. Instead the lootas will take the Battlewagon as a bunker.

What I have added is a lot more rokkits. 2 in the Kommandos, 6 between the sluggas, an additonal buggie for 3 Twin Linked Rokkits, 2 Scouting Koptas with Twin Linked Rokkits, Ammo runts for the 2 Kannons, and while not rokkits I still have the 3 Kan's KMB. In theory that should be 8-10 Str 8 hits a turn if everything is in range. Of course their are diminishing returns since orks start getting wiped right from the start.

It could be fun. It is probably horribly dependent on good rolling, and it is probably more unpainted minis than I care to look at on the table (SAG Mek, 2 Rokkit boys, the Gretchin and runtherder, 1 Buggie, both Koptas). Armor 14 will be a bitch, but when is it not for orks. Still it is tempting lob out a crazy army for my friends to have fun playing.

Monday, August 3, 2009

Another 1850 Game night

So I played a lot of Blood Bowl this weekend, but didn't do crap for 40k.

I'm not really complaining. It has been a few solid week/weekends of work. I spent nearly 6 weeks getting my Templar done up for 'Ard boyz. Then I turned around and did some work on the Tau. A little break is not a bad thing.

We are having another get together this Friday for 1850 again. I'm debating whether I bring the Tau out again and work on refining the list, or do I bring out my orks.

Here's the refinements to the Tau list. It is slightly different than the modified list I put up last week.
HQ: Shas'El Missile/Plasma, HWMT
HQ: Shas'El- Missile/Plasma, HWMT
Elite: 2x Crisis- Missile/Plasma, HWMT
Elite: 2x Crisis- Missile/Plasma, HWMT
Troop: 6x Firewarriors
Troop: 6x Firewarriors
Troop: 11x Firewarriors, Shas'Ui, Bonding Knife
Troop: 10x Kroot w/ 8x Kroot Hounds
Fast: 6x Pathfinders, Devilfish, MT, TA, SMS, DP, Flecchette
Fast: 2x Piranha Fusion, TA
Heavy: Hammerhead, Railgun, BC, DP, MT, BSF
Heavy: Hammerhead, Railgun, BC, DP, MT
Heavy: 2x Broadsides, A.S.S., 1 Team leader w/ Drone Controller, 2 Shield Drones, Target Lock, BK

The list last week is probably better, but I don't have the hound models and I do have the FWs. It probably isn't quite as 'tight' but is probably still ok if I don't try to hope to get much out of a single static troop choice. It would be nice to see if I can keep a win streak going with these guys or, if nothing else, find where they break down. I'd need to get two more pathfinders put together. I probably still wont paint the hounds until I eventually pick up another 6 and then paint them all together.

On the other hand I could always run my orks. My 1850 ork list is tweaked pretty well and I've played it enough to know the ins and outs. They haven't played since new gaurd had been out, and I think IG could make a nasty ork killing list. However I'm not sure the 'normal' IG mech lists out there are tuned up for an ork army of this nature. I haven't run them since Kublacon in May, but the list is pretty much 6-0 in tournaments (one overall win, and 2nd overall at Kublacon), and i think 10-1-2 in practice games.

HQ: Ghaz
HQ: Big Mek, KFF
Elite: 13 Lootas
Elite: 8 Kommandos w/ 2 Burnas, Snikrot
Troop: 3 Meganobs, 1 w/ CombiBurna, 1 w/ Combi Rokkit, Battlewagon, Ram, Big Shoota, Armor Plates, Grot Riggers
Troop: 29 Slugga boyz, Nob, PK, Bosspole
Troop: 29 Slugga boyz, Nob, PK, Bosspole
Fast: 2x Buggies w/ Rokkits
Heavy: 3x KillaKans w/ Kustom Mega Blasta
Heavy: 3 Kannons

There isn't a lot of dead weight in the list: it is only 12 kp as opposed to the Tau list above 17 kp. The kannons and buggies are the real soft spots and they are a solid bit of my anti armor. However most of the time people are (rightfully) freaking out about all the boys, Ghaz, lootas, and Snikrot so they can sometimes slide under the radar.

I may want to break out this list just to see/remember how it works. Or I could get crazy and mix it up with some different unpainted units like grots and stormboys just to give them a try.