Free Drop Pods

wooooooooooooohoooooooooooo!

That is all I have to say.

Thanks.

Drop Pods in the new book are FREE when chosen as part of the formation including two Demi-Companies

Check it all out at Blood Of Kittens - Thanks Tasty! 

Super excited for the new marines..it's one of few armies that I am SUPER confident I can run without any new purchases at all!!

Or painting!!

Really pumped for the weekend to get my hands on the new book. Those psycannons will finally get use as Dev and tac Grav Cannons mwuhahahaha

Orks!

I've bought a shit load of Orks!
I am going to be fooling round with Orks for the local club - the usual tournament lists combined with my solid play are... over the top... for the local meta.
Like most clubs we have a real mix of players, competitive through to casual and as a result, it can be a little...lop-sided.

My plan then? Challenge myself to play the most underpowered and unconventional force in 40k.

I like to use math/stats/averages to balance out the fickle nature of the dice gods, I am quite fearful of doing this with Orks based on their unpredictable nature, but I think I have a few reasonably tough builds that will also be fun to play.

My "collection" is extremely extensive - it's gone from "no Orks" to about 4-5000 points in a week... Built too which is even better.

Massive sad face though - it's all unpainted! Mother. Fucker. There a load of boys!

I have lined up a game at the club for this week and have 2 lists which I want to try - I'd like your opinions on which I should run. I'll take the majority vote...

Let's examine:

Fun Drop Wolves

So following on from yesterday's post about the beauty of Drop Pods in 7e 40k (or whatever we are in now lol...) I want to talk about Space Wolves - you can see from the number of posts (right) that I love Wolves and have been taking them for donkeys years, but they are somewhat.. maligned right now on the tournament scene outside of a couple of EXTREME builds mainly focussed around crazy deathstar builds.

These are great and can be very fun to use - they also allow the use of forces that otherwise might not be seen such as Sisters and Dark Angels.

But in a more balanced sense they have dropped off (no pun intended!) the scene.
For a SEMI COMPETITIVE build though you can build some great and FUN SW builds.
Here is one example of a way to get in some of the flavour of the Sons of Russ and still be pretty decent.
This uses the Champions of Fenris list (like all of the decent Wolf builds these days) and is only using one detachment.
The idea behind this is simple - give me something to play at the club (Sons of War Cambridge - check us out on Facebook) that is not too crazy good as to piss people off!!

 

Rune Priest - Bike

Murderfang, the Curseborn - Drop Pod

6 x 5 man Wolf Guard with 4 CombiMeltas - Drop Pods

1 x 6 man Wolf Guard with 5 CombiPlasma - Drop Pod

3 x 5 man Grey Hunters with a Meltagun - Drop Pods

1 x FA Drop Pod

5 x Thunderwolf Cavalry stock

This allows me to drop in the Murderfang and a load of Melta turn one (or the plasma if I need it, situational of course) and bomb up the Thunderwolves with Rune Priest for a cool ass Turn 2 charge from a load of crazy Wolf bitches.

Murderfang is a cool model that I've literally never had the chance to drop on the tabletop - in a competitive army he simply doesn't have a place...this is a unit that is a perfect example of GW fun design philosophy - great in idea, weak in application.

I think Murderfang could be wicked fun IF, IF, IF the poor bastard survives a turn! He drops in, he heavy flames a unit, hangs out in cover near to some ground based units... as long as they are not the ubiquitous Eldar Scatter Bikes (cause they'll just leg it and he will do nothing all game lol)... the other SW kill any dedicated anti-vehicle they can to help him survive, then the first wave plus TWC charge all over the place whilst the remaining Wolf Guard and Grey Hunters drop in and take maelstrom and round up other units that are threatening.

I've found with combat squad space marines that dropping in with lots of little units mean that they get a spanking, but a lot of 1 or 2 man units running around can still be a pain in the arse!

I think this is quite a fun list - TWC are always good fun and Murderfang gives Rampage, Rage, Furious Charge, WS5 master crafted, shred AP2 lols to the list. I definitely fancy it!

What do you guys think? Sound fun to you?

Drop Pods are the future ... or are they?

Yup.
Armies these days just fuck you up.
There are so many lists out there that can really put a hammering on you first turn if they get to fire first.
I've tried a lot of armies over the years and I hate coming up against an army that just utterly spanks you turn one and then you have 1500-1400 points left to hit back.
Armies have to be Invisibile, hyper resilient with 2+/3++/FNP, out of range and then out of range themselves turn one.... Or null deploy.

At the recent tournament I attended, I always knew I had a good shot at causing damage due to my two units of drop podding Grav Cents - these were supported by Mephiston hanging out with one of them granting some funky Psychic support as well as counter assault.

So no matter what I was facing I knew I could do damage. Anecdotally, in a bad match up going second vs demons (with a gravcentric army), my grav cents dropped in and killed Fateweaver who was hidden on the ground. It got me 4 points across First Blood, Warlord, Kill a unit in the shooting phase and Kill a flier Maelstrom cards. Sweet.
(Aside: Those were the only points I scored til turn 4!)

Moving to more Centurions is of course an option - 3 units of podding Centurions would mean a significant hit on the enemy force. Serious damage without recourse.

If the game has moved to a situation where armies can put out sooo much hurt that you can't stand a round of unmolested enemy shooting, then don't let it.

11 Drop Pods are perfectly feasible with deadly payloads across a multitude of armies thanks to the Flesh Tearers Strike Force.

I have tried SM Grav Cents, Imperial Guard, Skitarri and have witnessed the effectiveness of Sisters Of Battle/Adeptus Sororitas first hand on the tournament scene..

These all work.

This was you can drop in and put a serious hit in with 6 pods in the first turn.

To be honest, the Skitarii hit the hardest - the radium carbines are insane from the Vanguard, they put ridiculous hurt on ANYTHING! The triple special weapons is also insane...need to kill a vehicle? Drop in triple Rapid Fire Haywire units! Boom! If you take the unit and are concerned with the match up that has no vehicles... well, remember these weapons are still S6.. As for the Plasma Calivers.. heh, forgedda bout it!
Awesome, awesome army.
Do NOT underestimate the Skitarii in Drop Pods. I bloody love them!

Triple Grav Cents also put in the work, naturally... these have been covered in sufficient detail before..

The real question is... I've just finished my 11th pod so I don't have to "rhino-standing-up-proxy" them anymore... BUT the news has just hit that Assault Squads do not get a free Pod as a transport if they don't take Jump Packs...making them more expensive.. Wonder what the new Space Marine Codex has in store for my current favourite method of marine delivery.

Last night I played a more chilled out version of the army with pure Space Marines from a single CAD.

Libbie

2 x 10 Man Sternguard with 3 Combi Melta, 3 Combi Grav - Drop Pods

1 x 5 Man Sternguard with 3 Combi Grav - Drop Pod

6 x 5 Man Tac squads with Melta, Combi Melta - Drop Pods

2 x 5 Man Assault Squad with 2 Flamers each - Drop Pods

Of course, in the new Codex, we know first of all that the list is now illegal lol... HOWEVER, I played against the new Eldar and they performed admirably, the Sternguard accounting for several units of Scatter Bikes and a Farseer in turn 1.. Of course, the little squads (all combat squads) all got a spanking from the remaining Bikes, the insanely fun Eldritch Storm and a Wraithknight.
But I won overall. Love Drop Pods

Please GW....Don't make me paint even more models! Saying that... I do have a secret geek-crush on Terminators and I'd bloody love it if they could be made viable in some way again and I could actually use mine...

War of the Roses - tourney report

Target: Top 10 or 3:2 ... Did both! WHOOT!

Finished 10th in this tough field of 32.

Played 3 members of the England ETC team.. 

Was great fun.

Not been to Sanctuary as a location and its a wicked venue.

Shame Mansfield itself is a little....depressing? 

Travel was good, team banter was good.

Caught up with the England boys and had a blast talking shit and good food and few beers on Saturday night. 

My list is in the last post.

It did what I wanted it to do, but I got caught out once on a seize and was given first turn after conservative deployment and scout in another game that left me out to dry...surprise to say, I lost those games. 

This army wanted to go first and hit real hard. 

Game 1 - Imperial Guard Russes and Grey Knights termies and Dreadknights. Lots of usually very tough to kill models. Unless you field an army of hyper mobile grav... Despite my opponent best tricks, it really did come down to me staying out of range, pushing to my envelope and dangling melta bait..then sweeping in the following turn with bike Grav and finishing anything the two Drop Pod Cents hadn't killed. 

Stu was a great opponent and lives relatively locally, have since been in touch and trying to organise a games day with a few buddies... But it was a bad match up.

Game 2 - old Eldar with Hornets galore, Serpents, Dcannon battery and Wraithknight. I went first and was able to remove serpents and wraithknight.. The cannons hit my cents hard and then it was cat and mouse with the Hornets who outflanked. Tough, nail biter towards the end, but I had enough maelstrom and kill points to secure a narrow victory even if I didn't get any of the Eternal War at the end...suffice to say I did and it was all good. Mike was a very good opponent, very chilled, knew his tactics well enough to kick back and enjoy a few brewskis. Top lad, tough game

Game 3 - 12 Broadside, 2 Riptide Tau gun line. Was going first, deployed and scouted aggressively... Got seized. Game. Doh. 

Was too aggressive in this one, really I should have deployed out of range for a turn or 2/3 and just grabbed some maelstroms and stayed alive. Certainly, it's bad match up, however going first and with ignores cover/Auspex on my GrAv Cents, I felt I had a chance.. Alas.. It was one of those things. 

Alex took the seize with grace and style... Or danced around with glee...if you know Alex H you can guess which it was.. ;) 

We had a good few beers that night and chatted shit and caught up, so I let him off seizing on me... 

Game 4 was full Drop Pod Melta with FT SF/ Sisters. The Fast Attack/Dantes Drop Pod Emporium allowed for a nasty wave of melta to drop in and get me... However, I had a cunning plan and deployed accordingly. It's a secret sauce plan just in case drop pods hit hard in the tourney scene (which I think they will..see tomorrows post re Skitarri in Pods) and it worked ...flawlessly. Game to me via deployment. Was a slow slog to get through all the peeps, but it worked out well. 

Game 5 was competing for third place. Grav Bikes vs..........Demons. Doh. No bloody armour. 

It's ok, I'll go first and Bolter the 3 packs of screamers to death...well 2 of them.. No. Deploying second. 

Paul deploys aggressively on the line with all screamer units. I am aware that with the multiple Divination Rending he rolled up I could lose 3/6 bikes units in a turn I go within 34-36" of him, the 

other units I could lose to Fateweaver and Tzeentchian firepower from Flickering Fire en masse. So I deployed conservatively, and then Paul gave me first turn. 

Shit. 

I dropped in and killed Fatey for first blood, warlord and 2 maelstroms...then got smashed. My error. I asked Paul if he would give me first turn no matter what..he said if I'd have deployed on about the 34-36"'.... Yes. Then I could have got long range bolter shots but nothing more. It's a bad match up for my army, we all said so...but I'll have to playtest to see if I can get points. 

Overall, finsihed 10th according to the spreadsheet and had an amazing time with 3 big wins and 2 big losses..the army truly is "go big or go home" and I've been convinced by the weekend that more pods are the way to go. I've got several builds I want to run, one using Melta Astra Militarum, one with Skitarri. I've played the Skitarri...and bloody love them!! More on that this week! 

Now...when's the next tournament! 

War of the Roses England ETC Tournament!!

Off we go!
Today is the War of the Roses - an 1850, 5 game 2 day tournament run by the England ETC team (Big Mike in particular) and has basically no comp at all.
This will, undoubtedly, lead to some horrible armies and a sneak peak at some of the playtesting/lists for the England team - always interesting.
NOTE: With a toe or two still in the camp, I do know these already, but I refer to the general tournament attendees.

It's looking reasonably well attended with around 35 players.

That'll do me - this is, shockingly, my first 2 day tournament in OVER A YEAR! Wow!
The last one was the Caledonian Uprising 2014!
Man, that was SOOO long ago!
I ended up, officially 34/35th I think after a big ol' points deduction for a list change last minute, busting me from, in Battle points, high teens (out of 110 players).. which was a real shame, but ...my own fault!
I also won Most Sporting which was nice.

More recently, I took Best General and 2nd place overall at the recent LazrBlast single day event in Norwich.

I find myself quite excited! I've not gotten a weekend of geekery in for bloody ages and the chance to see top level play again helps to keep me excited and up for this game.

I'm running a SM Bike and Centurion Pod list using Flesh Tearers Strike Force.
(Again, I'm keeping some of the blog's Blood Angel roots alive! I really like the BA book and with Pods becoming a major focus for me over the next few months... we'll see more of it! Interestingly, note Torrent of Fire and Nick Nanavanti toying with an excellent unit - the Frag-Furioso!)

The other lists have not been published as yet and the first round match ups are not out yet, I assume they are being done on the day...today... I forget I'm writing this in advance!

My list is:

Khan (Warlord)

3 x 5 Bikes with double Meltaguns and a Combi-Melta

3 x 5 Bikes with double Gravguns and a Combi-Grav

2 x 3 Centurions with Grav Cannons, Hurricane Bolters, Omniscope

 

Mephiston

5 Bolter Scouts

3 x Drop Pods

This allows me to drop Meph and both units of Cents in on the first turn with the scouting bikes to create a truly lethal Alpha Strike.

Going second, I can scout/deploy the bikes out of sight or range and try and get the first strike myself using speed and pods.

Maelstrm is in use here and although you can only score 2 tactical cards per urn, the speed and positioning of the army allows me to maximise opportunities to score.

I was going to run Adamantium Lance with Astra Militarum allies, but as there is currently a vote in play to ban/allow Ad Lance and the iKnight codex from the ETC, I thought it would be better to run something that is more likely to be seen as practice for the England boys.

So - fingers crossed. I'm hoping for a Top 10, but that means pushing someone in the England set up out of the picture... so a tough, tough nut to crack!
Given my recent lack of experience at tournament level, perhaps I should aim for something more like going 3:2 over the weekend!

Wish me luck and I'll provide feedback on the lists and the games next week!

Imperial Knights - no tournament love?

I must have more time on my hands at work these days - two posts in the same... year!

The ETC is currently voting to include or don't include super heavies. Or whether to ban entirely or make an exception for iKnights.

The UK GT is finalising its rules for 2015/16 season and a combined 400 points can be spent on Forgeworld and Superheavies combined.. So it looks like a max of 1 iKnight or Wraithknight.

The question is, do UK tournies follow suit?

The ETC has a tremendous ripple effect on tournaments and in whether the casual tournament player knows it or acknowledges it, the decisions made on this high play level influence what they see on the tabletop.

If you don't think the ETC has an impact, the UK Indy GT certainly does - dropping to 1500, no Maelstrom cards - just a select combined mission pack, and a 400 point cap on FW and Superheavies.

Wow.

I am going to try and get back on the the UK scene a bit more this year, hit the GT qualifiers and then hopefully qualify for the Final next year. I am confident that if I read the meta right I can more than qualify, but the question today is:

Is this the right direction for UK play?

Are iKnights THAT hard to kill/dominant in the game for a tournament player? In the era where GW are allowing us to play with our toy soldiers in almost any way we see fit (ASIDE: remember when you played 40k as a little kid and you just made it up as you went along, confident that your imagination would guide you right for FUN... this is it, but with rules to guide us now that we are more advanced mentally - or not!!) is it right to buck this trend, to rebel against the tide of new releases?

If this is the direction our game is heading - Epic but on a heroic scale (which I for one, am not against!) then shouldn't the UK scene be trying to roll with the punches rather than hit back against an opponent that simply can't feel the blows?

Thunderfire-Wolves? Hooooo??

I think I've used that title several times...

I was reading an article over on Frontline Gaming yesterday, from Frankie - one of their principal writers (and the world's best 40k player)

He was discussing the use of a 'smash and grab' Thunderwolves list using Champions of Fenris..

It's a great idea and something I'm sure many of us have seen attached to ether SM Bike lists, Dark Angel Ravenwing Command Squads (with scout "support" or 110 points of shite) ... I've also come across it in the UK with Sisters of Battle for Priest action and Hit N Run from Celestine.

I must say, rerolling all saves in combat is an absolute BEAST mode way of playing the Wolves.

But what I thought was a really cool way of playing them was in the comments from the post. This discussed joining all the IC's (WGBL/WL/IP) to a Deep Striking (Drop Pod) Thunderfire Cannon!

Becoming Artillery crew took the unit to Toughness 7 and of course, with easily available scouting, the TWC bomb could be in the midfield, in cover or simply in position to tank like a boss with T7 across the board!

Tournament victory! WHOOT!

Afternoon guys,
This Sunday gone (holy crap, it's actually Sunday AGAIN! I take so long to write things now!)  I attended an 1850, 3 game local tournament with 40 players at Aftermath Games in Norwich.
Ive not attended a "Lazrblast" event, this was number 7, and I have to say it was a smoothly run and well organised affair with very solid terrain and prize support.

I won all three games, the first two quite resoundingly but the third was a bloodbath - I controlled the points the whole way through, but had to do a lot of work to not get tabled! Just left with Khan in the end..

But still, walked away with Best General, the Sons of War (me, Steve/Bringer of Death and Adam B) won Best Team and I came second overall - apparently sportsmanship let me down, funny...I won Best Sportsman at the last Caledonian Uprising so I'm just viewing this as the other guy was a complete fucking legend!

Missions were all Maelstrom. So ... fast, ground based ob sec would win the day...

I designed my list around this... I think many others were just designed to "hulk smash".
I wanted to control the movement phase and therefore point scoring on Maelstrom as well as having the ranged support to clear dudes off objectives without having to go in for the kill in CC.

I ran:
White Scars
Khan
Chapter Master - eternal, bike, fist, auspex
Grav/FNP command, meltabombs
3 5 man bikes with triple melta
2 5 man bike with triple gravs
3 Grav/HBolter Centurions

BA allies (well, this is a Blood Angels blog lol)
Captain on Bike, SS, Fist
5 bolter scouts
Drop Pod

Demon Summoning - What's the deal now?

Yeah, yeah - I'm 6th month's late on this..
I didn't like the concept when it first hit.
Felt it was
a) too time consuming
b) not smashy enough (I like to smash - that's what she said! self-snowmobile whoot!)

However - I have a heavily comped tournament (only a 40+ player one day bad boy to be fair...) coming up and I am trying to create competitive lists within its constraints.
As explored the other day, this rules out new Necrons (which I love), new Harlies (love - too new) and several other highly competitive builds (Nids for example).

I tried a Demon Summoning list last night at Sons of War. Had a great game vs CentStar - wracked up 18-10 on Maelstrom (it uses Maelstrom Missions only)..

After a little tweaking after thoughts, the list is:

Lord of Change - Lvl 3, 2 Greater Rewards
2 Heralds of Tz, Disc, Lvl 3, 1 Exalted
3 x 10 Tz Horrors
2 x 3 Nurglings
2 Demon Prince of Tz, Lvl 3, Wings, Armour (one with 2 Greater, one with 1 Greater/1 Exalted
9 Screamers

The idea is to grab sacrifice on the Nurglings first turn and get another couple of Heralds for the Council.
Comp is max 2 of the same unit (outside troops/inc. however transports e.g. max 2 wave serpents) and max 15 power dice to be generated per turn... so no 4 heralds or 3 Tz Princes

In testing - I focus on Sacrifice to generate another pair of Heralds on Discs.
These can turbo boost the turn they come in which means I have a great shot at maximising Maelstrom points and of course can join them to the Screamer Council in subsequent turns.
it also gives me a shot at grabbing any of the powers I don't get during the pre-game roll off for Psychic powers.
For example, I did NOT get Cursed Earth at the start of the game, but I did when I got my 3rd summoned Herald in turn 2...
I didn't actually use it...
I used the Nurgling Swarms in the first turn to put a wound onto in order to generate a Herald.

I of course stacked a load of dice on 4++ Divination power and talked this up as the "BIG" power to be getting off each turn to protect the council.
Of course it is... BUT, with Cursed Earth and Grimoire it's quite nice anyway..

it should be noted that another element of the comp is the limit to 2++ rerollable saves. They become the 2++/4++ reroll that is used by several tournaments. So actually, 3++/3++ is not all that bad...if I fail to get the 4++ or it gets stopped.

I only used "Summoning" three times and was stopped on one occasion - GK Cent Star has plenty of power dice too...

I did however, find summoning Screamers to be useful for the objective claiming/denial I mentioned with the Heralds. Their turbo boost can be wonderful to get to objectives.
They did give up a point once when my opponent drew the "Blood and Guts" card, gaining a point from killing a unit in CC.

I was very impressed with the board control, speed, objective claiming/denial and survivability of the list.

I was not impressed with the killing power. I found Flickering Fire to be..frankly, wank. Granted, I had mainly Dreadknights and Invisible CentStar to deal with ...so I just felt like killing stuff was fruitless - just put my units at risk and what not. I did kill his Strike Squads for easy "kill a psyker"/"kill a unit" points ... And I thought I could tie up the CentStar with the Screamer star of just summoned crap for a turn and pump all my denial dice into Gate. That'd keep them locked down and inactive...

As it was - I liked the way the Summoning/Mobile Demons worked for this game... I do wonder if I needed the fliers, but they were useful for Vector Strikes on Dreadknights and for drawing fire from the CentStar - he took two turns (over the game) to kill a Demon Prince ...

So thoughts please on Summoning Mobile Demons for a Maelstrom only tournament?
Think it's probably a really good shout, but damn...it needs some painting!!

Necrons, Harlequins and Bikes...and "COMP"

Hey folks - ended up with a longer break than intended - 4 weeks since last post!
Still I remember a post from Dethtron (remember Dethtron?) years ago about good blogging - never blog unless you have something interesting to say...

I tried CentStar quite a bit. It was solid and even deadly - but erratic at times and often a trap!
Admiral Ackbar was right...

So for my next tournament - a small, comped one-dayer in early March I am NOT going to be running it.

So what's the 'comp' - only 2 of the same unit (anything including the same dedicated transports (i.e. to stop Serpent spam))... so no Trip-tide, no Serpent spam.. There is also no Formations or dataslates like Belakor.
They also allow super heavies up to 550 points but no ranged D.
However, if the unit is a TROOP unit you may spam it as much as you like.. e.g. 6 units of Space Marines tacs, but only 2 rhino's, 2 razorbacks and 2 drop pods to transport them (if desired).

Issue for me? Yeah, "themes" allow spammed units - Ravenwing, full Drop Pod army, mono-god Demon list..are to be allowed.
Oh and IG Russes can be taken in 2 units in Heavy and one in Command - 9 Russes...fun.

Imperial Knights will be seen too.

Whilst this is good as we won't be seeing 3 Hive Tyrants (only single CAD, 1 Allied max 750 points, no self-allying outside of marines) or serpent spam, there is still plenty to go on - for example, in this format - Screamer Star could do very well... "mono-god" after all...

New Necrons are allowed - but not in Decurion and not in any of the newly designed formations. So you can take 9 Russes of any sort or Screamer Council, but you can't take a Destroyer Cult?
Poor design.
But you live with what you have and work to the best of your abilities... So I came up with this:

"Savage Scars" 1850
Primary: White Scars Space Marine
Allied: Champions of Fenris

Chapter Master - Artificer, Shield Eternal, Power Fist, Auspex, Bike

Khan on Moondrakken

Command Squad - bikes, 4 Grav guns, Apothecary

2 x 5 Bikes with combi Grav, 2 Grav Guns

2 x 5 Bikes with combi Melta, 2 Melta Guns

 

Wolf Guard Battle Leader, Runic Armour, Storm Shield, Power Fist, Thunderwolf, 2 Fenrisian Wolves

2 x Iron Priests-  Thunderwolf

8 Wolf Guard in Drop Pod, 8 Combi Meltas

The Champions of Fenris detachment has, in case unfamiliar, it's own FOC and does not change when allied unlike the Allied Detachment example given in the BRB. This allows for 1 HQ, 2 Elites to be the minimum, then a further 3 HQs and 6 Elites (plus other stuff) giving me the opportunity to create a decent death star :)

The idea is that the Wolves join Master, Khan and Command Squad for a scouting deathstar of awesomeness BUT without too crazy an investment in them detracting from the rest of the army.

I find that Inquisitors have decreased in their popularity and I'm hoping the same is present here.. if not, a scout and a 12" move in turn 1 should still deliver a pretty decent alpha strike. If there is no "counter-scouting", then this army delivers an absolutely crippling alpha strike...followed by a pretty bloody lethal second turn charge.

This format - 3 games over 1 day using only Maelstrom missions encourages a very ground based, mobile army that can grab as many points as possible in order to win.

This army is, naturally, a gamble - whilst I think I can take a first turn punch as well as give it, it is harder to recover - but we know bikes, even one or two in a unit, can score and be a real pain for the rest of the game. Given MSU style armies, I can split the deathstar into several components and just go for it.. It also gives me the potential to grab crazy pointed Maelstroms like "control every objective"...

Now, I did think about lots of other horrible armies: Nids with Demons for example -

2 x Hive Tyrant - Wings, E-grubs, 2 Brainleech Devs

Lictor

Lictor

Venomthrope

Mucolid Spore

Mucolid Spore

Mucolid Spore

Mucolid Spore

2 Hive Crones

Mawloc

 

Lord of Change - Lvl 3, Exalted, Greater

Min Nurglings

Tz Demon Prince, 3+, Wings, 2 Greater

(695 allied :) - under the 700 limit just!)

This gave me 6 fliers in a very restricted format - sure I could 5 with pure Nids, but I get some crazy demon summoning in here too...
BTW, the comp also is ONLY demons and Chaos can summon, no Eldar Anathlan Farseer shite. More comp...

It also gave me a couple of Lictors to drop in and a Portal Glyph plus summoning (Tz Heralds on Discs) for objective grabbing via Summoning and the 1 WC bad boy...
The spores are an interesting distraction, the Mawloc also allows for objective grabbing..

New Necrons:

Or I wanted to try the new Necrons desperately, but this is about the best I can do with the COMP confines:

 

Mephrit Dynasty

Command Barge - Phase Shifter, Warscythe, Res Orb, Solar Thermasite

Command Barge - Phase Shifter, Res Orb, Voidreaper

2 x 5 Immortals

15 Warriors

6 Wraiths - 6 Whip Coils

6 Tomb Blades - TL Gauss Blasters, Shield Vanes, Shadowlooms

9 Scarabs

3 Spyders

2 units of 3 Heavy Destroyers

Spyders move up first turn and generate 3 more Scarabs, this enables an incredibly likely first turn charge into anything that really threatens the Wraiths and the 2 Barges - the elimination process is supported by the Heavy Destoryers combining to try and take down something or weaken it before they charge, then they sweep in and make a mess of things.
Quite a few mobile elements to try and grab objectives too... which is the name of the game!

I may still run these pending playtesting this week - lists are due at the end of the week!

New Harlies:
Not allowed for this tourney - but they are my next project! The Necrons are an army that I have built and painted so no need for work there...just fun playing! Bikes are almost totally done..so time to really work on a new army.. this is my plan:

 

Harlequin Masque:

3 x 7 Harlies, 5 Kisses, 3 Neuro Disruptors

4 Lvl 2 Shadow seers

1 Death Jester

1 Solitaire

2 x 2 Sky Weavers

1 x 3 Void Weavers, Haywire

 

2 Lvl 3 Farseers, Bikes

2 x 3 EJB

1847 of fun..
I'll explain the idea (which is simple really) in a separate article

Let me know your thoughts on all of this shite!
Peace!

CentStar - Can it cut the mustard?

It's a beast no doubt - but can it handle the current meta?
It's more popular in the States than in the UK but what does this cool ass army look like and can it handle the main contenders in the UK tourney scene?

This is an amazing looking army on the table top - it's compact but fields some truly epic Space Marine heroes.
Draigo - lost in the Warp and just displaying mad power to rip himself out of it and pimp slap peeps
Loth/Tiggy/Grey Knight lvl3 Librarian - epic psykers controlling the battlefield and levelling shit with JUST THEIR MINDS!
Then the massive Centurions, striding across the battlefield soaking fire from all directions, cloaked and shrouded (sometimes literally) in darkness so that they can deliver their payload of Righteous Anger to the enemies of Mankind.
Finally.. Dreadknights - powerful, sanctified Grey Knights smashing the living shit out of ANYTHING!

Shit doggy - it's so cool!

It's expensive - both financially and on the tabletop; if you are going to run this list, you need to run it for a while to ensure you have your money's worth! But why would you not??

There have been several articles recently detailing what the CentStar is all about.
Here is a link to one of them;
https://www.frontlinegaming.org/2015/01/20/anatomy-of-a-centurionstar/
This is an excellent article from Captain A of Frontline Gaming letting us know how the CentStar ticks and how to play against it as well. Balance is always nice.

But what does one run alongside the shooty deathstar?
Let's look:

Of Thunderwolves and Knights

It’s been awhile since I last posted.

I’ve been active, socially, but not competitively with both 40k and X – Wing.

I find that playing both games allows me to maintain my enthusiasm for both systems. Over the last year I’ve been so busy with developing my career and with developing my home that I’ve struggled to get up the will to post or to attend tournaments; I’ve been knackered.

I’m now finding that as certain responsibilities at work, certain plans, come to fruition that I am once again thinking more and more about competitive game play – whether it be 40k or X-Wing.

So let’s look at 40k – Caledonian  2014 was my last tournament – I placed OK,  16^th/17^th from 116, and won Best Sportsman/Most Sporting. A pretty good result and left me feeling pretty good with my 40k. But then I knew I had a break coming… and a break I have had.

I've been reinspired by 2 things - 1 the multiple boxes of Thunderwolves I got at Christmas and Cally 2015 - which I, of course, totally regret not getting a ticket for. To be honest, I've been too busy...but still.. it has a great buzz about it and it's the first time I've missed it in years.

Happy New Year! Whats on your table for 2015?

Happy New Year from the team here at SONS!

Its been a long time since I posted, quite possibly not posted at all in  2104, so I do plan to make a change to that in 2015. 2014 seemed to mark a move away from 40K for a lot of the SONS, 6th and 7th may well have left some players a bit burnt out.

But with that said, what are peoples gaming plans for 2015? What are you looking forward to? New releases, new games, new models?!

For me 2015 is going to bring hopefully still plenty of gaming, I recently quit World of Warcraft (again) after feeling like I've completed it (I finished off my PVP achievements, namely the Rated Battle Ground ones that I never had a chance to play due to quitting the game for a while). This just frees up so much time - though I have to say, unlike 2009 where I just didnt know where to look after having spent 10 to 12 hours a day on WoW, this time around I have a better idea.

While I was happy to quit the game, I was sad to leave behind (though I still talk to them regularly) the team that I found/made in the past year. It was in no small part thanks to them that I got to complete all the goals I had set out, and more than anything it was fun with them. In 2009 I felt like I left on top, but with a bitter taste in my mouth from the community and what "team mates" could be like, this time around, I leave happy that I could achieve somethings, but no where near the level of success as before, but somewhat disappointed that I do leave behind some great team mates that still want me to play.


TABLE TOP GAMES

Christmas saw my brother pick up X-Wing for me, so that will be my table top game of choice for this year. I'll be hitting up Atreides for sure to give me a crash course in competitive play, since I am unable to play any game without playing it "properly" (yes, to win, sue me!).

I've heard great things about this game. Whats great is for the first time my brother is actually quite hyped about a game as well. While like I say I might look at having more competitive tilted games with someone like Atreides, my bro has been looking at the collecting side of it, and having more casual based games with him is still very appealing.

As for building up to tournaments? I can't see this happening unfortunately, my "free time" is now completely gone, and I basically never have weekends to give up. More on this at the bottom! 

COMPUTER GAMES: ONLINE

While I quit WoW, and that would seem like I might be giving up online games, I just can't do it fully. A part of me needs to have some competitive online outlet. WoW is arguably going to be the game I'll be best at, but also with that comes larger expectations and I also know how much time it takes up. New games offer different challenges, and also mean I wont be so attached. Theres always going to be that itch for me, so this is what will scratch it for now:

Smash 4: Wii U -

I am adoring this game right now. I've had a thing for Smash Melee for a while now, but the new Smash game is more my street. Its a bit slower, its new so the learning curve is more reasonable (I.E less catch up).

I still have the 3DS Smash which I also enjoy.


Incidentally, one of the best documentaries on gaming/a game/players is this 8 part series on Smash Melee - its long, but so worth the watch. Melee has had a lot of drama around it with getting back on track, and this documentry had a huge part in the recent resurgence, and I'd argue it had a big factor in the reason why Smash 4 has been so successful. Melee is super fast paced and has a lot of mechanical skills which are hard to pick up, Smash 4 is a bit more accessible, a bit like Brawl was, but has been released with a lot of spot light on the Smash scene. Major teams have picked up Smash players in the past year, and this exposure has maybe had some influence as well.

I'll be hitting up Mario Kart soon on the Wii U (likely today) so if anyone here has them and fancies a hack around, just shout me here and we can sort out some games!

Counter Strike:GO

A small part of me wish I had played this more on its inception. I didn't like Source, and my first GS GO games felt a bit like that, but GO has a lot of features I really like with a better competitive method for "casual" players - with the ladder and reward system.

Its still as chock full with cheaters as it was in the original CS, but given I've been playing CS since 98 or so, its great fun to go back to something that is so deep rooted in my blood.

If they did a HD remake of Return to Castle Wolfenstein - oh lord my real life would be over.

COMPUTER GAMES: OFFLINE

One thing I've been getting better at in the past few months is single player games. From playing through the single player modes of Smash 4, to getting back into Final Fantasy. I've knocked up a bucket list of games I want to work through, both next gen and retro, and here are a few of them.


Old Games

•  Final Fantasy VI
• Final Fantasy VIII 
• Final Fantasy X + X2
• Chrono Trigger
• Zelda: Twilight Princess
• Zelda: Ocarina and Windwaker HD remakes (3DS and Wii U)

New(er) Games:
Bayonetta I and II
Xenoblade Chronicles X (when it comes out)

There is a fair few others, but those are the main focus right now.

Since Nintendo just targeted emulators and roms really hard, I get the feeling that the Wii U / Nintendo store is going to see some big name ports and remakes in the next year. Mario ports and remakes are likely going to be 3DS because its just free money (DS versions of Mario games are still clocking in at 30 quid). Nintendo just seem to know that the throw back market is there, given how their two popular games right now are Smash and Mario, both games with a long history.


Happy New Year, and whats everyones gaming plans for 2015?

X-Wing - Getting Re-Inspired with Rebels

When I started playing X-Wing nine months ago I gravitated towards rebels.  Although I bought pretty much everything, I found Rebels more inspiring, easier to get my head round, and more forgiving on the table.  I went to my first tournament with the classic Golden Daggers.  For those of you not down with the build names, this consists of 2x Gold Squadron Y-Wings with Ion Cannon Turret and 2x Dagger Squadron B-Wings with Advanced Sensors (AS).  This was very strong prior to the release of Imperial Aces and all the wave 4 shininess, and I won with four wins out of four, including an incredibly tough final against four ion cannon Y-wings.  Then Imperial Aces came out and everyone started flying Imperials, and I started to lose.  A lot.  Since then I have struggled to get back into rebels. 

However, last week I finally found something to make me adore Rebels once again, and I think it's really, really good, so I wanted to share it with you guys. 

Return of the Mac - a story of 40K and X-Wing

This is a common story, one I've seen all over the interwebz.
Old blogs are dying, new stars are rising.
40K is ever at the heart of online controversy.
And look... its the "codex release, game balance, crazy rules" shit.

So let's get this out the way so I can move on to telling you all about how much I love X Wing:

I've been away.
I'm really sorry about that.
I've been tired with competitive 40K mainly due to changes in my personal life - taking on a bigger, bolder "project house" for serious DIY and more and more responsibility at work has left me with less hobby time.

Goatboy's Sons of War art :)

Of course, I still run the single greatest gaming club in the Cambridge (UK) area - Sons of War every Wednesday..
But I struggle to fit in a second gaming night with the Bringer of Death/Steve.
Now, I know many of us would kill for a consistent, night-per-week gaming scene... but it's all relative.
I've struggled to make it to any tournaments this year, in the main due to spending up to August saving money for said bigger, bolder project house... and now I find myself spending my online browsing time looking at the structural calcs for an extension, the best brands of wood burning stoves and finding the best deals on a range of things from glue laminated beams, heat retention for various glazings .. etc etc.
A far cry from spunking my cash on a new 40K army every month.

I could of course - new DE are out and I've got a DE army - they attended the first Blog Wars tournaments, my "Kabal of the Pink Bastards", winning a couple of events... I've even played in 6th ed with them..of course with a beastpack and allied to Eldar..

But I find myself not wanting to. I see others like Big Sexy - Dave Symcox dropping away from the scene.. Last week also saw the departure of the Death or Glory boys. This was a sad day - but I can't blame them.

Don't get me wrong - I'm NOT going  to spend my time hating on GW or lamenting the poorly thought out codices.
We asked for a long time that codex releases were faster.
We asked for older armies and new ones to be reintroduced.
We now have Imperial Knights - a huge success, literally, on the table and for the financial health of the company.
Speaking of that, we could whinge about the rising price of goods... in a niche market...of a recovering western economy...when all other costs are rising... when the industry finds itself in a perpetual decline.. OR we could just accept that shit.
Man up.

Me, I still play 40K.
I find that's a big thing amongst a lot of my contemporaries.
I am currently still booked into Battlefield Birmingham at the end of October.
But I'm sad to say my excitement for 40K is at a low, low, low...ebb.

On the otherhand...

X mutha fucking Wing is a-mutha fucking-mazing.

Haha.. I'm so god damn cyclical..
Look back in the blog and every year or so you'll see it.
1 year ago - Dystopian Wars
2 years ago - Infinity
3-4 years ago - Malifaux
I do it every god damn year.

This year, I've mostly been playing X Wing.
But something is different about this one.
I am able to reflect and see my "tedium cycle" for what it is, a way of keeping 40K fresh for me.
However, with X Wing I feel a different way - perhaps it is because it has a 'real' context/backstory/universe. I grew up on a diet of "A New Hope" and "Empire Strikes Back" from my father, Big Poppa Humps, who loved Star Wars and throughout my early, post-uni career I read all the expanded universe books.. Thrawn to Yuuzhan Vong.
And loved it.
So here I am, not bothered if PanOceania is doing well in Infinity, not bothered if Lilith is still in charge of the Neverborn.. who gives a shit.
Whilst I accept that the Malifaux fluff is EPIC, it's no Star Wars.
I've even been to my first X Wing tournament!
It was awesome.
I was awful.
Meh. I had fun.

I even got the wife to play!

I'll get bloody better too!

So - the blog is alive, I hear it breathing.
My other contributing authors are spread across the country and world and are not necessarily still in the loop, but they may emerge - phoenix like - to throw some thoughts out.. but like me, they have lives and dreams and not all of those include writing shit on some blog.

But I find that Sons is an 'old horse' in the blogging world.. we've been going a while and dammit....we will not go quietly in the night, we will fight on, we will live!

So readers, thanks for your faith. Blog hits might be through the floor, but my ego no longer needs to be stroked in such ways.. X Wing ideas and discussion will be coming (I've already drafted a couple) and the Sons of Sanguinius will survive... who knows, maybe my love for 40K will return by the time BA hit the shelves... !

Here's hoping.

Peace.

ETC results

Sorry for the lack of posts lately, sure that comes from all the sons of sanguinius bloggers but life has been pretty manic and for me severe lack of 40k games, now collecting armies has been good but games with them has been lacking!.

  Quick post to say congratulations on all the British teams competing in ETC at the moment, I count many members of England, Wales Scotland and Northern Irish teams as friends and I was gutted to miss it this year (next year Iam in (if anyone will have me that is).

  The results from the horses mouth are as follows

1 Poland

2 Germany

3 England

4 USA

5 Italy

6 Russia

7 Wales

17 Scotland

25 Northern Ireland

Congrats to all involved!.

7th Ed army lists.

So I am sure a lot of you have had games now.  Personally I am really surprised at the difference a small few rules changes makes, from everything scoring to 7's to blow up vehicles are some nice changes.

  I do think there is a difference now between 6th ed and 7th ed lists, I for one will be changing my 6th ed lists and bringing them into line with 7th.  I am also thinking of a new army using the Guard I have been building them for a while now (triple blob baby!).

  What are you guys thinking of for lists going forwards?

Biggest change in 7th.....

It took a while for this to sink in, even then I had to re read it quite a few times.

  After all the internet pre release moaning about unbound armies, which lets face it it will be discussed first and if you dont want to play unbound you dont.  But this one has really gone under the rader.

  Basically, FOC is under detachments, but you can have as many detachments in your Primary detachment as you want.  FOC is still there in that 2 hq's 6 troops 3 FA Elite HS etc but as long as you meet the minimum requirement for FOC you can have mutliples.

  Lets have a example

Primary detachment Choas Space Marines

Detachment 1

Sorcerer, 65pts Warlord

10 Cultists 50pts
10 Cultists 50pts

Heldrake 170pts
Heldrake 170pts
Heldrake 170pts

Detachment 2

Sorcerer, 65pts

10 Cultists 50pts
10 Cultists 50pts

Heldrake 170pts
Heldrake 170pts
Heldrake 170pts

Detachment 3

Sorcerer, 65pts

10 Cultists 50pts
10 Cultists 50pts

Heldrake 170pts
Heldrake 170pts

Total, 1840


So under your primary you have 3 detachments, but you are using 3 FOC's, which is in the rules for Battle forged armies, who will care about unbound or not.  This is 3 sorcerers, 6 units of cultists and 8 heldrakes..... Yes vector strike has been nerfed but this is mainly for a example of what spam 7th ed can bring, this is the total opposite spectrum of balance.

  Extending that further, you can have as many allies as you want, So you can have a guard blob with Dante, Celestine, Tiggy, Dragio and their min troops requirements and still have a few hundred pts to spend, hero hammer!.



  I have spoken to someone else with the book and they agree they read it the same way I do as I was frankly in disblief at it.  I have spoken to two TO's and by the sounds they will restrict their GT's to one FOC in primary and only one Ally.

War of the Roses Batreps - Intro and Games 1 and 2 - Yes that means I finally went to a Tournament again :) - The Voice

So, yea, I fell out with 40k for a bit and fell in love with X Wing.

But with 6th on the way out and 7th incoming I thought id give the old bird one more spin on the dance floor. I have a bit more time now anyway and fancied seeing all the guys. (Love you guys :P)

This was made easier due to the "Highlander" side competition (where every troop is slightly different and you cant duplicate anything else, and no allies. Plus all the non beardy lists could only play each other.) "Perfect" I thought and signed up; figuring id get all the fun of going without the pressure or bs of playing O'vesa's or Pasks or Deathstars ETC,....

......so, yea they cancelled the highlander......