Friday 27 May 2011

Tournaments & Space Wolves...What A Combo!


Lots to update you all on this week. I’ve been extremely busy building & painting my force up for a fairly large tournament up north next month. Whilst most of the guys here at SOS are building their forces for a bit of fun at Blog Wars, I’ll be heading over to Maelstrom the week after to play at Warpstorm 3. I’ve heard it had received great success last year so was itching to go along this year. It’s a fairly standard tournament with a few additional soft scores to promote the hobby side of it.

So for those interested, its 1750pts force selection, and a few nifty missions. Soft scores are painting and sportsmanship. Its fairly easy to get 4 our of the 5 possible points for painting. As long as your army is fully painted and cohesive with objective markers, you’ll get the 4pts. If it’s extra special and catches the judges eyes, you’ll get the extra point. I think this is a nice touch to promote the painting standards we all love to see at tournaments. Then there’s the Sportsmanship points. This is again fairly simple; mark your opponent 1-5, with 1 and 5 only being given out once. Most games you’ll probably leave with a 3-4 if you’re a good boy. I think its also a subtle way to mark down assholes who may ruin a game for you. This may be rare and far between, but does turn up unfortunately.

So with the Tournament only a few weeks away, I’ve had my hands full building the rest of my Space wolf army and painting it up. Deadlines for the Army lists are also looming over the horizon, so I’ve thought long and hard on what I want to use. With the nature of the tournament and the release of the new GK codex, I’m sure I will also be seeing some interesting builds there, along with the usual nasty Guard, BA & Wolves. For those very reasons, I’m taking a slightly different list to what I took to the UK Indy GT.

Here’s the list I am thinking of:

Rune Priest:110pts
Living lightning, Jaws & Chooser.

5 Wolf Scouts:85pts
meltagun
5 Wolf scouts: 85pts
meltagun

6 Wolf Guard:238pts
2 w/ Combi meltas, 3 w/ power fist & combi meltas1 w/ Terminator armour, cyclone and p.wep.

7 Grey Hunters: 160pts
Meltagun, Banner and Rhino with Dozer Blades.
7 Grey Hunters: 160pts
Meltagun, Banner and Rhino with Dozer Blades
7 Grey Hunters: 160pts
Meltagun, Banner and Rhino with Dozer Blades

5 Grey Hunters: 75pts
Flamer.

6 Long Fangs: 225pts
5 Rockets, Las/plas Razorback with Hunter Killer.
6 Long Fangs: 225pts
5 Rockets, Las/plas Razorback with Hunter Killer.
6 Long Fangs: 225pts
5 Rockets, Las/plas Razorback with Hunter Killer.

So as you can tell, its fairly long range, but still packs a punch midfield. I’m fairly confident in this all comers approach and enjoy the reliability in my firepower. The lose of my Lone wolves is a bit of a hit, but I feel with 3 large squads of Grey Hunters over 2, It’s not too much to worry about.

So with that, my list was set, but then I came across another issue. I don’t have enough razorbacks or any Scouts. Yep, you guessed it, I still don’t have them. I don’t get paid till the end of the week so they will have to be last minute which is a shame. I was hoping that by the tournament, my army would have that “wow” factor, but never mind. So far I have completed around 20 Grey Hunters and 4 Rhino chassis. For those interested, here are a few photos:







I’ve gone for quite a Black templar look. I love the black amour and the white shoulder pad combination, and using the Scibor bases and shoulder pads have made my marines look the part. I have always thought that the models never did a space marine justice, but with these fairly abnormal sized shoulder pads, the Marines look tough and lean…bad-ass is another word for it ;) Slowly getting there, still have a fair bit of work to do but I'm enjoying it.

I am a slow painter. As you can see, I believe my painting to be pretty decent, not amazing, but above table-top standard. This is the aim of my painting and probably always will be. I won’t win any awards, but I love the cohesive look. T took me a while to decide on a colour scheme for my own Marine chapter, and in the end I think I made the right choice in these colours.

The red robes go really nicely with the black, and the White shoulder pads brighten the top half of the model greatly. I decided that, with the robed nature of the marines and symbolic icons, I thought of a name which would best suit the chapter. Celestial Knights. Sounds quirky…and so the Celestial Knights were born. Don’t mess they can change codex whenever they please lol. Yes the reason for this chapter’s creation was so I can use any Codex I like. Why? Because its cheaper. Funny really how after I finish buying and building most of the army, GW raises their prices…guess I got lucky. I like to change my army quite a bit in friendly games, so this gives me great diversity.

On that note, I’ll move onto my Grey Knights army. How are they coming along? Mighty fine. I’ve decided to also paint them black, as then I can use the Rhino chassis from my Marine army..clever huh? Yes I know..I deserve a Gold star J!!
I’ve decided to go with a Coteaz list. Yes everyone’s doing it, but are they doing it right? Who knows and who cares, I write my own lists from scratch and learn by play testing, something which I urge you all to do. Even if you see a nice looking list, it may or may not work depending on your play style. For example, I cannot for the life of me play an army with no combat. I tried Guard, and couldn’t play them right, nor did I enjoy them. For that reason, my Coteaz list will have some nasty combat just for kicks to keep me interested. My list you ask? Well that’s a secret ;) I’m still fine tuning it myself, so I’d rather not post it, only to see a replica of it at the next tournament (yes it has happened before). Not that I discourage it, but I’d rather use it myself first lol. I have been play testing since the codex came out and have found some interesting results which I would love to share you guys in the future so stay tuned :)

So that’s what Killswitch is doing. Just to let everyone know, expect to see some Bat reps of my Wolf army from next month’s event. Ill be doing in depth reports from each game this time rather than an overall view.

Just a quick shout out to all attending Blog Wars. Hope you al have a fantastic time, and I hope the SOS boys don't whoop you all too bad *Cough* Brolo's goin down *Cough

Cheers,
Killswitch

7 comments:

  1. First off really like the models - might sound odd but how have you done that white? White base, wash with badab black (or maybe blue/black wash? I am tired and my eyes dont seem to function right) then up to white again? Whatever it is looks really good.

    That is a great tabletop standard.

    As for the "keeping colours the same" - I am doing the exact same thing - my GK's are the same colour as my Deathwing, my tanks are a marbled version of that same colour set up - and my blood angels are the ghost dry brushing that I'll do for Mordraks Ghost Knights (my old GK Rogue trader models, except the GK's will actually be done properly, not 30 mins per squad dry brush lol). Easier? Check! Cheaper? Check!

    My only concern with this - and part of the reason I am going to vary some units / special chars etc.. is that its hard to improve your painting while doing it as your using the same colour combo's over and over again. But I really dont like the idea of having a Lamenters army, then wanting to use one of the units in another force and having to go and buy / build / paint!

    The SW list - looks nice and balanced - that CML/GH unit is a nice touch - it has no confusion over its job and your not "wasting" any resources on it - sits at the back of the table on an objective and plinks out 2xS8 shots, better than a combat squaded tactical - oh and it can move! So its not screwed by say DoW or LOS (if find with my CML's that 6" is more than enough to create good fire lanes).

    Email me your GK list - interested to see it now - I am looking at Coteaz now as the HQ - he's cheap and really useful imo, sucks I cant get skulls in this force, but I like the dynamic of the rest of the list.

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  2. Hey mate, glad you like the models. Since taking those pics my painting has improved. I have done further highlights and layering so they are coming out really nicely :)

    The white is very simple. I use a layering method which is slightly time consuming at fire bust after a few goes its quick.

    First I base with Astronomican grey, then I layer ontop with 40/60 Astro grey & white, leaving the resseses grey. Then I do the same with a 20/80 Astro & white then a final layer of white. Comes out cleaner the more I do it :) If any areas are a little scruffy, a 50/50 mix of water and astro grey covers it nicely then go over it again.

    Oh don't worry about my GK list, you'll see it at plenty of tournaments to come haha ;) Wont be selling it out yet. Its not even that special. Utilising what you see on the internet atm with a few relatively important changes. Works really well so far.

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  3. White works really well, working up from base colours like that is pretty much my method - for white I use this old old old old old old space wolves grey (sort of thing) its really blue/grey type effort. I think the pot is about 20 years old, its a circular pot w/ no label (yup back when GW didnt label paints kids). Infact KS I think its older than you.

    Just making some of my GK's atm also worked out how I might be able to "speed" paint them but actually have them good tabletop/above table top (for the justicar).

    Is the dude with the power weapon and the arm up your Rune Priest? Looks pretty bad ass.

    Also the Dark Angels kit is probably one of the best kits outside the GK one, I think if I ever buy a new SM army I'll use that (and the BT one) extensively.

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  4. like the list, plain and simple with some good fire support.

    great idea on the 'multiple armies in one' - think someone else does the same on SoS...great minds think alike hey...

    Cheers for the BWars wishes , good luck for Warpstorm or whatever it is called. Lt us know how you get on..

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  5. Bare in mind brother, It was I who has built this army since I sold my wolves months ago ;)

    Will do, I hope to get some Bat reps with pics done in time :)

    Agreed on the dark angel kit, its a fantastic buy, and lucky I got them whilst they were of relative price, now with the price hike and all!

    Btw Ven, not keen on this new layout :( Also the title could do with a change, I think its beyond just a blood angel blog right :D

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  6. re Layout - the other one just keeps frakkin'up... I just want to use a template...work better than my own code written one (i.e. the black one)

    Title...Sons of .....? SoS branding and Sons' is building a decent brand and reputation, but I think you are right about the line below...

    Sons' - what are your thoughts?

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  7. Re: Layout - Ven I'll chat to a couple of my mates, they do this shit for a living, few of them are great at design so I'll have a quick word and see if I can get anything (www.livenation.co.uk - he codes that) - I know he tinkers with wordpress/blogspot for fun so might have a decent template - if not my best mate is a great designer - I'll see if he's had any joy with blogspot templates etc...

    As for the name - I think we might be a bit beyond BA's (I think you and me might be the only ones that'll play them ...) but SoS? Initials are fine imo - like you say - brand.

    Actually - just had a thought though ... to the batcave .. emails.

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