New Recruits: Black Templars

The days of painting Salamanders for Adepticon have waned. In the immortal words of Alice C., "School's out for Summer!" And, for the moment, I'm still unemployed. Throw in a much-appreciated invitation to participate in an Apocalyptic reprisal of the 3rd Battle for Armageddon, and it's time to do some painting!

I've owned Grimaldus and Retinue since I got back into the hobby (oh, going on mid-fourth edition now). Sadly, because he's a bit cumbersome compared to much cheaper units, he's been languishing in his box all these many years.

Now, with Helsreach being so key to his fluff, and me having a bit of free time, I just had to drag him out, dust him off, and slap on some paint.

I tried some new techniques with this squad. The main difference is I used Vallejo Air grey primer, applied with my Grex airbrush, instead of Chaos Black. I wanted to see how it would work, one, and I also wanted to start experimenting with alternatives since the Chaos Black spray will be hard to come by from now on (I have no idea what the current GW Black will look like so it's best to find an alternate route to get where I need to go).

Here are some before and after pics of the models.

Grimmy sprayed with Vallejo Air grey primer mixed with VGC Black

Retinue primed with a mix of VA Grey primer and one with the Grimmy mix leftovers.

The whole gang.

Backside. Cause it's smexy.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 It felt good to paint some Templars after such a long time. It was strange, though. I kept blending and building the highlights on the blacks and it just kept looking wrong. It was only after about 12 hours that I realized it was the absence of color that was messing with me.

I plan to add High Marshal Helbrecht next. I've also ordered some more Assault termies and I'm building some new neophytes (although I seem to be missing their heads. Guess it's time to give Genocide a call to see what WFB junk he's got laying around).

Oh, and as an added bonus, here's an updated (and much better) picture of my TH/SS Terminator Marshal. He's been done for a while, but it's one of my favorite conversion pieces.

STOP! Hammer time! (Yeah, I went there)

Thoughts on Black Templar Rumors

The following has been blatantly stolen from BOLS, who got it from Warseer
 
Begin quote:

ghost21 says:-relic dreadnaughts, like a mobile requiary bearer... is what i had heard

-expect bt to be the landraider spam army

via Marshal Laeroth
-there's going to be a named emperors champion, who's old by BT standards, and has been EC for a while. long enough to be better than the standard one.

-initiates will be cheaper, around 11 points, and neotyphes around 6pts. still, expect some drawbacks to this.

-there'll be a new named character on a bike with eternal warrior, and also eternal warrior killer.

-and possibly some dreadnought/knight style thing that fits with the rest of the army, in line with the big stuff from GK and BA.

-oh, last thing, possibly some upgrade that lets land raiders be destroyed by the enemy, but still 'live' for a turn. final shoot and move, the explode in a last ditch suicide run or someut.

via BloodCrusade

1)Helbrecht(Cheaper with rules to make Sword Brethren either Scoring or Troops)
2)Grimaldus(Rules update)
3)Special Champion
4)Draco(Will be making the transfer from White Dwarf to Codex with rule amendments)

These are the *guaranteed* Special Characters with rumors of:

1) Marshal/Castellan for drop pod armies(Reminiscent of one of our own's Custom Codex, believe it was Sigismund Himself?)
2)Terminator HQ(Allows for termies as scoring or as Troops for 'BlackWing')

Haven't heard anything of being allowed to bring Bikes as Troops if your 'Captain' rides one, which I'm thankful for. There's a Chapter for that and it's White Scars.

Special Units being brought to the Codex:

1)Chaplain Dreadnought(Same reroll hits on charge, probably fealess to all units with-in 6" like Grimaldus)
2)Durandal Dreadnought(Being brought from White Dwarf into the Codex, haven't heard the rules will change- maybe one more base attack?)
3)Assault Rhino Chassis(Been rumored/hoped for a long time, whether from the Rhino or a new vehicle on it's chassis)

End Quote.



Now, it's a well known fact that I've played Black Templars since I got back into the hobby. My regular opponents also know that I have been dreading a new codex. Why? Mainly because I don't trust GW to keep any of the rules I've become accustomed to, nor do I expect them to keep any of the BT flavor that I adore. My fears were reinforced recently with the Sisters of Battle WD codex. The way they stripped any and all association with the Inquisition rankled me to no end.

But I digress.

When it comes to my Templars I'm very possessive. I don't win with them very often (or with any other army for that matter), but I LIKE the way they play. I like the idea of a bunch of borderline heretics ("Codex? We don't need your stupid codex!") plying the space lanes in unfathomable numbers doing right by the Emperor in spite of his "loyal" servants wishes. I love that they hate psykers and want to rip their aberrant heads from their shoulders on sight (unless they're wearing shiny silver armor. Then they're okay.) I like the idea of a power armor wearing horde running screaming with pistols and chain swords while an impressive wall of Land Raider variants come rolling along carrying unlimited troops in Tactical Dreadnought Armor. If it sounds like I revel in the spam side of things, that's no accident. I should be allowed to wallow in greasy spam since my W/L/D record proves that it's not really all that spammy (at least in my hands).

So, what do I think of the above rumors? First, they're rumors. I concede that and, more importantly, I am not holding any semblance of breath regarding them. I am, however, hopeful that they are at least in part semi-accurate. Do they sound a little spammy? Of course. More so than, say, Space Wolves or Blood Angels? Nope. Not even close.

I hope the Land Raider rumor is true. It fits the flavor of Templars and it gives me the chance to build and paint more of the glorious tanks. They are my favorite because they are massive slabs of plastic, offering large tracts of flat surface upon which I can work my creativity. With a new air brush on the way (more on that once it arrives) I am imagining some serious murals and other gaudy bits of imagery.

I also find the idea of an "assault Rhino" intriguing. Hell, they can even charge me the extra points I've been spending on bare-bones Rhinos since the SM Codex came out. I'll even pony up the 3 points for the same smoke launchers every other army gets standard.

The hint that my currently useless and overpriced character models might actually find a place in my army makes me happy. Helbrecht is a model that I have both in metal and Finecast. Neither are painted. If these rumors are true that may change. If not, they may continue to collect dust on my "someday" shelf. The addition of other characters will please me, too. I love painting center pieces and that aspect has been lacking in the BT codex of editions past.

The cheaper infantry aspect works for me, too. The idea of those raving hordes of enhanced humanity screaming across the battlefield just does it for me. Throwing the lightly armored fodder in front appeases the Darwinist in me, too. Survive to the end of the game and you get power armor, Jimbo!

In closing, I freely admit that I'm anxious about a new codex. This latest batch of rumors, though, has soothed my nerves a tad. At the very least it tells me that someone somewhere is giving the ambiance of the army some consideration. That, in a nutshell, gives me hope.

Battle Report: Black Templars 1500 Point

And the killing was glorious.

Chaplain Aerion reporting for duty. I participated in a 1500 point tournament at Miniature Market in St. Louis today. They host an event every second Saturday and with finals and the Spring semester just finishing, and with the St. Louis Grand Tournament on the horizon, I thought I'd drag the Howard Crusade out and knock off some of the rust.

My List:

HQ: Emperor's Champion w/ Accept Any Challenge, No Matter the Odds

Elites:
Sword Brethren Assault Terminators- 3x Lightning Claws, 4x TH/SS w/Furious Charge
Transport: Land Raider Crusader w/ Extra Armor, Blessed Hull

Sword Brethren squad- CCW/Bolt Pistol x3, Power Weapon/Bolt Pistol, (Pair) Lighting Claws w/Furious Charge
Transport: Drop Pod

Troops:
Crusader Squad Damoclese- 8 CCW/BP, 1 Meltagun, 1 Power Fist/BP
Plus 9 Neophytes- CCW/BP

Crusader Squad Torrence- 8 CCW/BP, 1 Flamer, 1 Power Fist/BP

Heavy Support:
Vindicator w/ Dozer Blade, Extra Armor



Tournament was 3 rounds. Players would get 10 points for a win, 5 for a draw, and 2 for a loss (plus any bonus points awarded) for each round.




Round 1: "RUN AWAAAAY!!!!!!"

My opponent was none other than a fellow Team Snake Eyes conscript, Josh. Josh played with TSE Black at Adepticon. I had never had the opportunity to play against Josh so this was a nice surprise.

Josh brought Imperial Guard, consisting of a Valkire full of Veterans, 2 Leman Russ tanks, a Manticore launcher, one Chimera full of 8 psykers, and the some other Chimeras full of veterans (Meltas, flamers, and flashlights), and of course a Command Squad toting lots of plasma in a final Chimera. (Apologies if I missed anything. I did not get a copy of his list).

Mission 1 was Pitched Battle deployment, and the center of the table was the sole objective. The player with the most scoring units within 6" of the objective at game's end would get 5 points toward victory, plus 1 point for every enemy unit destroyed.

I deployed as far forward as possible after Josh spread out a nice mechanized gun line. He held his Valkire in reserve and my Drop Pod loaded with Sword Brethren would be waiting on the ship as well.

My famous luck failed me right off the bat and I managed to steal the initiative. Little did I know that this would be a major factor in the end results.

My games against Guard have been fairly limited, and against Guard toting psykers even more so. So I was completely unfamiliar with the power Weaken Resolve. Let me tell you, if you play Guard and fight Black Templars frequently, take this power!

I had moved everything up and managed a few hits but did no real damage on Turn 1. I ended up running both Crusader squads, with the 10 man squad covering 9 inches. On Josh's turn, he inflicted a handful of casualties on my troops. Before he finished his shooting, though, his psykers waggled their fingers and went "Boogity-BOO!". With my 8 Leadership thusly shaken down to a 1, I prayed for the spirit of Team Snake Eyes to save me. It wasn't happening. So Crusader squad Torrence proceeded to run 10 inches back toward my table edge. This is when the true impact of stealing initiative was revealed, because with this 36" power I would have lost one of my troops to a board edge right off.

The game played on, with my troops moving forward and Cha-Cha'ing back for the first 3 turns. Finally I manged to knock the Command Squad and the Psykers out of their cute little boxes and the Templars got to do some of what they do best (next to dying in droves, anyway).

Not to take anything away from Josh, though. The battle truly was back and forth, and I wasn't sure how it would play out. My Vindicator and my LR had been immobilized and my Termies were huddled in trees waiting for a chance to rush out and smash something.

Long story short, Josh never could get his Valkirie to come in from reserve, and the time ran out, giving me 2 additional kill points and the win. I kindly pointed out to Josh that his model had no pilots and that was obviously the cause of the delay.

Round 1 result: Me- Win with 14 points





Round 2: Templar on Templar Violence


As long as I've been playing I have never faced another Templar force. That changed today when I was paired with Kirk. While my Crusade is habitually stabby, Kirk was rolling with a mechanized list. He had the obligatory Emperor's Champion, but he had taken the vow that lowers everyone's Initative and raises their Strength by 1. The Champion was paired with some shooty Termies (Squad of 5 including 1 Assault Cannon, Missle Launcher, and 1 Chain Fist) riding in a Land Raider Crusader. In addition there was a 5 man Crusader squad in a Rhino, another 5 man squad in a Razorback (TL LC), two Predator Destructors, and an Assault Cannon/CCW Venerable Dread awaiting arrival in a Drop Pod.

Mission 2 was Spearhead deployment. The objectives would be table quarters, but there was a twist that was decidedly in my favor. In this mission all troop AND elite choices would count as scoring, and only troops and elites could contest table quarters.

After deployment I once again tried to steal the Initiative (in case you haven't noticed, I rarely win the roll to choose and stealing is customarily the only way I get to go first), but this time the roll failed.

Kirk did some shimmy-shimmy with his vehicles, moved the LR 12" toward the table center, shot the daylights out of me with Predators, and ended his turn spread across his side of the board quite nicely.

On my turn I pretty much did the exact same thing, so our LR Crusaders were mirror images facing off at table center. I moved a squad to the left, and the other to the right toward one of his Predators. I did some shooting myself, and Kirk and I both decided that we buy our Multi-meltas at the same forge world (many misses and failures to glance were rolled in this round).

Kirk's Champion and Termies assaulted my Land Raider on his turn, and succeded in immobilizing it. My troops continued to take Predator fire but they were getting close enough to use their melta and assault with the power fist. My squad on the left took fire and failed Righteous Zeal, so they ran backward.

I disembarked my termies (on the sides since my front end was crowded by his guys) and they assaulted his termies. After a couple of losses to the Black Sword (HEY! How many of these things ARE there, anyway?), my termies managed to eliminate his but left the Emperor's Champion with a wound.

On Kirks' turn his Drop Pod fell right behind my Land Raider (and smack dab in front of my unnerved Crusader squad remnant), and my termies sanctioned the doppelganger Champion after taking another loss. I consolidated them back toward the Dreadnaught.

My Vindicator took his LR out of commission and the Multi-melta on mine FINALLY managed to score a hit and immobilize the Dreadnaught. I moved my troops into cover to hold the left table quarter, and the squad on the right managed to immobilize his Predator. The termies finished off his Dread (again, taking losses), and my Drop Pod (which had arrived in his backfield on my right) took possession of a second table quarter.

His Rhino moved to table center on the right side to contest, and my guys managed to withstand his shooting. On my turn I moved my squad on the right behind his Predator and wrecked it, making him have to choose which table quarter he would contest with the Rhino.

At the end of the game I held 2 table Quarters and contested the other two, giving me the win. I got bonus points for keeping my HQ alive, and a couple more for killing his termies and Dread. Oh, my most embarassing moment in my 40K career: I assaulted an empty Drop Pod with assault terminators. Ugh!

That was great fun, and Kirk was a blast to play against. I really hope to repeat it sometime.

Round 2 Result: Win- me with 18 points (for a total of 32)

So far so good (and WAY better than I'm accustomed to).
I was in 3rd place going into round 3. As they say, all good things....

Round 3: Dey SHOOTIN!


Since the BatRep has been so long, I'll keep this one short. Trust me, it won't be hard.

I was paired with Jeff and his Eldar. Since I got a copy of his list, here it is:

Avatar
Eldrad Ulthran
5 Fire Dragons in a Wave Serpent w/ Spirit Stones, TL Shuriken Catapults, TL Bright Lance
9 Striking Scorpions w/ Exarch
9 Dire Avengers w/ Exarch in Wave Serpent w/Spirit Stones, TL Catapults, TL Bright Lance
12 Guardians w/Warlock and Scatter Laser platform
5 Pathfinders (Rangers) w/ Ranger Long Rifles
1 War Walker w/ Spirit Stones and 2 Scatter Lasers
1 War Walker w/ 2 Scatter Lasers


Mission 3 we deployed 12" from a line drawn diagonally across the center of the table (corner t0 corner). An objective marker would be placed at table center, and each player would place 2 additional markers in their deployment zone (not within 12" of another marker or 6" of a board edge). The player controlling the most objectives would win. I actually managed to win the roll to start, but I let Jeff choose since it was an objective based game and I wanted to see where he was going to be.

I failed once again to steal the Initiative, so Jeff started shooting. His dice were hot. I mean so hot that he never failed a psychic test, and with Fortune on constant replay he rarely missed his shooting. Oh, and with Doom also going he rarely failed to wound. I, on the other hand, had burned up every ounce of luck during the first 2 rounds and failed just about every save. By the bottom of turn 3 I had 5 Terminators huddled in the crater my Land Raider had left behind (cursed Fire Dragons) a lonely Power Fist weilding Crusader, and the wreck of my Vindicator. I phrase things this way because Jeff had managed to either kill or explode every other model in my army by then. He held 2 objectives, was a move away from the center objective, and I had one single troop model at least 2 turns away from any objectives (and facing 4 Scatter Lasers and his remaining Dire Avengers, plus his immobilised but facing the right way Bright Lance). I saw no point in dragging things out so I conceded. BUT, when tallying the points I realized there were bonus points for killing the opponent's most expensive unit. My Terminators beat out my Land Raider by 11 points, so I suggested Jeff take 2 rounds worth of shooting at them to see if he could kill them. I didn't want to screw him out of a tournament win because I had thrown in the towel. He accepted and killed 2 more termies but didn't eliminate the squad.

So, points tallied we shook hands and turned in our score sheets.

Turn 3 result: Loss- Me. Points- 2 (Total of 34 for the tourney)

Jeff ended up winning the tourney and great fun was had by at least everyone I talked to. There were about 12 of us there, so it was a nice, relaxed atmosphere. Scott, the guy who handles their monthly tourney at Miniature Market, is a great friend of TSE and it is always a pleasure to play in his events. If you want, head over to their website and check out their store. They do some great discounts and their service is top notch. If you're in the St. Louis area, swing by. You won't be disappointed.

Thoughts on the day: This is the second time I've run with a bare minimum HQ (Emperor's Champion) and for the second time I've won more games than I've lost. That being said, I also failed more Righteous Zeal rolls today than ever (and not only because of Weaken Resolve). I'm likely going to re-inlist my Lightning Claw Marshall for the Grand Tournament, both for the Leadership aspect and for the CC monster he'll be. The rest of the list seems to be working great except for me missing having any Fast Attack. It's an adjustment and it's growing on me. Time will tell.

I'll be heading to the Battle Bunker in Memphis in 2 weeks to play in a 1000 point event (the kickoff to their Summer escalation league), and to hang out with my God Son who I haven't seen in a few years (Air Force brat that he is). Then it's June and time for the big Grand Tournament at DieCon.
Again, if you're in the area, check this out. It's going to be HUGE! $300 first prize!

Until next time, The Emperor protects!

The Nature of the Beast

Last Saturday Castle Perilous in Carbondale, Il hosted an RTT. It was 1750pts and you were to have a minimum of 40% of those total points (700) as troops, and no more than 25% of them in any other force organization type. Now I'm not a fan of further restrictions on the rules unless special circumstances apply. The tournament organizer believing that "math-hammer" is the root of all evil and needs to be regulated from the local tournament scene does not qualify in my book. I love this game, however, and I love getting together with my lads and rolling some dice and talking some smack. My reservations about the set up were overcome and Aerion (Black Templars), Partho (Orks), Da Goffer (Orks), and me (Salamanders) showed up to represent Team Snake Eyes come hell or high water.

There were 11 players at the event with the following army list breakdown: (4) Orks, (4) Space Marines, (1) Black Templars, (1) Dark Eldar, & (1) Tau. Aerion's Templar list can be found here. The orks were mainly mechanized or hybrid foot/mech lists as were the Tau...I think. The Tau were all based white, so it was hard for me to tell what they truly were since I never played that guy. The marines were: Drop Vulkan, Bikes, "mish-mash" (not really sure what that kid had in mind), and my Salamander list which was: Vulkan, Tac Squad w/ MM, F, CM, PF & Rhino x2, Tac Squad w/LC, F, PF & Assault Cannon Razorback, Dread w/MM & HF x3, Land Speeder w/HF & MM x2, Dakka Predator x2, & Vindicator.

I ended up as overall winner going 2-0-1. Partho & Aerion went 2-1-0 and Da Goffer went 0-1-1 with a bye. I played Partho's Speed Freak Orks in the 1st round (win), a local guy's Hybrid Orks in the 2nd (win), and the Drop Pod Vulkan list in the 3rd (draw). Sportsmanship and painting were also scored and I'm certain that they helped push me into first place, but I don't believe anyone went 3-0 on the day.

Here's the deployment of my first game. It was one of the goofy diagonal ones and Partho's Speed Freaks went first.

It didn't take long for his boyz to get up close and personal but I stayed buttoned up in my tanks. When he hit my lines he did an number on them, but then the Salamanders came out to play...

Point blank flamers & bolt pistols followed up by Vulkan He'Stan's assault and the powerfist armed squads turned the tide. He put a powerful hurt on me, but at the end of turn six, I had tabled him.

Here is my deployment from the second game. I didn't take any pictures since there were 3 battlewagons full of boyz, 2 full mobs on the table, and 2 full mobs in reserve. Not only that, but it was an old school mission with the "traitor" rules...you know the ones where you have to swap an elite model for one of your opponents. Take a look at my list above, and you'll see it has three dreadnoughts in my elite slots. I traded a 115 point dreadnought for a 15 point burna boy. I was not happy. That essentially meant that I was operating a 1650 list vs. an 1850 list. I killed everything but the dregs of his last two mobs in that game, but it was a never ending shootout. I moved up a bit to get good shots and then backed up to my edge with my finger on the trigger the whole time. I assaulted when absolutely necessary (to kill off his two warbosses) but only then.

My last game was boring. No really, it was boring. Don't get me wrong, my opponent was awesome, but he got intimidated by my Vindicator. He made me go first and I knew he had five drop pods in his army. I castled up in a corner and waited for him. He saw my wall of steel and fire and said "Hell no". He dropped his entire army on the opposite corner. He had Telion shoot missles at me for six turns while I shot him up (barely) with autocannons. We went through 6 turns in about 45 minutes and killed a couple hundred points of each other's stuff. No surprise, game ended in a draw.

Aside from some minor issues with the organization of the event, we had a lot of fun. We met some really cool guys who came up from Kentucky and had some good games overall. The next tournament in C'dale is September 25th. Still thinking about that one...

A tip of the hat for my favorite tank movie (see above photo) as well as to honor the passing of Clyde. He kept us all safe from the Chaos Squirrels in Aerion's back yard for many years, and we'll miss him dearly. RIP buddy.

Mental Expansion: An ode to odd tourney rules.

On August 28 the Team will (mostly) be participating in a Rogue Trader in Carbondale, IL. Normally this would not be blog-worthy, but the tournament rules set us back on our collective heels and I thought I'd share my ponderings on the situation at hand.

The abnormal rules are as follows (edited and cleaned up for spelling and grammar):

'Old school' force comp is what the RT turnies used ten years ago. It stated that you had a minimum of 40% troops so at 1750 points you need to spend at least 700 points on selections from the troops section. That includes any transports and upgrades. You cannot spend any more than 25% on HQ, Elite, Fast Attack, OR Heavy support, so you can spend up to 437 in any one of those catigories.

Now, at first reading I was like "Huh?" Then I re-read and re-re-read and finally it clicked. At this point a couple team members opted out due to not having enough models or just plain not wanting to deal with it. And that's fine. I refuse to play Champions for the same reason.

I was about to join them until it hit me that a) I'd be passing up a chance to hang with my bros, b) I'd miss out on much needed play experience before Adepticon MkII, and c) I might just learn something. So I reluctantly stepped outside my little box and started banging away at an army list.

Submitted for your edification, it is thus:

HQ: Marshall with Thunder Hammer/Storm Shield, Crusader Seals

Elite: Sword Brethren Assault Termies- 3 Lightning claws, 2 TH/SH Furious Charge

Heavy: Land Raider Crusader- Extra Armor

Elite: Emperor's Champion w/ Accept Any Challenge

Troops: Crusader Squad- Bolt Pistol/CCW x8, Flamer, Pistol and Power Fist

Neophytes- Bolt Pistol/CCW x9

Troops: Crusader Squad- Bolt Pistol/CCW x8, Meltagun, Pistol and Power Fist

Troops: Crusader Squad- Bolter x3, Plasmagun, Plasma Cannon

Troops: Crusader Squad- Bolter x7, Meltagun, Pistol and Power Fist, Frag Grenades

Transport- Drop Pod

Fast Attack: Land Speeder- Assault Cannon and Heavy Bolter

Heavy Support- Vindicator- Dozer Blade, Extra Armor

Total: 1750

Elites: 12.3%

Fast: 4.6%

Heavy: 22.9%

HQ: 8.3%

Troops: 44 %

It works and it might actually work on the table. Guess we'll know in a few weeks.

Because Chosen1 is a whiney (bleeep!)

In Hoc Signo Vinces

Today the Howard Crusade christens a new vehicle to wreak exploding wrath upon the enemies of mankind. Whether those explosions are delivered via a huge shell or by the tank itself blowing up remains to be seen, but considering the track record of the Crusade's mechanized assets I know where my money's going.

This is the list I'm taking. It's a beefed-up version of the list that performed well at DieCon and I'm hoping the addition of a Chaplain and a Vindicator will get things swinging to the side of the Sons of Dorn.

HQ: Marshal Gundaker in Terminator armor w/ TT&SS.

Elite: Sword Brethren Terminator Assault Squad- Lightning Claws x3, TT/SS x2

Transport: Land Raider Crusader w/ Extra Armor

Emperor's Champion w/ Accept Any Challenge No Matter the Odds

Troops: Crusade Squad Bolt Pistol/CCW x8, Melta Gun, Bold Pistol/Power Fist

Neophytes x10 w/ Bolt Pistol & CCW

Troops: Crusader Squad Bolter x5, Plasma Cannon

Troops: Crusader Squad Bolter x5, Plasma Gun, Heavy Bolter

Troops: Crusader Squad Bolt Pistol/CCW x8, Flamer, Bolt Pistol & Power Fist

Fast Attack: Land Speeder w/ Heavy Bolter & Assault Cannon

HQ: Reclusiarch w/ Jump Pack, Artificer Armor, and Melta Bombs.

Fast Attack: Assault Squad Bolt Pistol/CCW x3, Flamer x2, Bolt Pistol & Power Fist.

Heavy Support: Vindicator w/ Smoke Launchers, Dozer Blade, Extra Armor.

This is the first list in a very long time that has included at least one of every force org choice and I'm hoping that means it's well-rounded. As this will be the second tourney for this type of list I'll see how the performance compares to Diecon and see if this, finally, is THE list.

Chaplain Aerion signing off from the Battlebarge Shield of Pending Redemption.

1850 Templars Rogue Trader (Die Con) The Redux

After the thorough sheelak...schelaqu...uh, prison raping my previous list suffered at the hands of the cowardly, 30 point rhino-dwelling Salamanders at the Team tournafeast (see Chosen1's previous blog) I realized I lacked enough beef to handle silly things like armor and things that carry big guns (like Predators and Land Raiders).

I really liked that list and against some opponents it can be effective (namely inexperienced players who refuse to evolve to 5th edition). So I took that list, shaved an Initiate, remembered to give my Sword Brethren Furious Charge instead of Infiltrate, and squeezed (squoze? Squidged?) in a couple more power fists.

Here, then, is the final (if it kills me and probably will) list for the Die Con Rogue Trader (ConCarne).

HQ: Marshal in Terminator Armor w/ Thunder Hammer & Storm Shield, Crusader Seals

Elite: Sword Brethren Termy Assault Squad Lightning Claws x3, Thunder Hammers & Storm Shields x2

Land Raider Crusader

HQ: Emperor's Champion w/ Accept Any Challenge, No matter the Odds

Troop: 10 Initiates (Bolt Pistol/ccw x 8, Power fist, Melta Gun)

10 Neophytes w/ bolt pistol/ccw

Elite: Sword Brethren (bolt pistol/ccw x3, bolt pistol/power weapon, lightning claws) Furious Charge

Troop: Initiates Bolter x4, plasma cannon

Troop: Initiates Bolter x7, Plasma Gun, Heavy Bolter

Troop: Initiates Bolt Pistol/ccw x 8, Flamer, Power Fist

Land Speeder w/ Assault Cannon & Heavy Bolter

Black Templars Assault Squad Bolt Pistol/ccw x3, Flamer x2, Power fist, Melta Bombs, Jump Packs

Team Snake Eyes Tournafeast Battle Reports

As mentioned here, the Despoiler hosted a game day picnic this weekend and myself, Genoside, Aerion, Ol Seth, & Warlock were in attendance. I got in three games: game 1 vs. Aerion's Black Templars, game 2 vs. Genoside's Tyranids, and finally game 3 vs. the Despoiler's Chaos Space Marines. The lads were preparing for DieCon's 1850 tournament, so that's the army size they wanted to play. I had a stock list for that point level (I keep a 1000, 1500, 1750, 1850, 2000, 2250, & 2500 point list handy in my Pack 1520 just in case...) and here is what that entailed:

130 Terminator Chaplain w/Melta Bombs
190 Vulkan
460 (5) TH/SS Terminators w/Land Raider Crusdader & Multi-Melta
410 (2) Tactical Squads with Flamer, Multi-Melta, & Rhino
230 (2) Dreadnoughts with Heavy Flamers & Multi-Meltas
140 (2) Land Speeders with Heavy Flamers & Multi-Meltas (individual units)
120 Vindicator
170 (2) Predators with Autocannons and Heavy Bolter Sponsons

Game 1 was an Annihilation mission with Pitched Battle deployment. Aerion won the roll to go first, but made me deploy. I set up everything, and he kept everything in reserve. Aerion's list can be found here. I moved everything up to midfield on my first two turns and waited for him to come on the board. He got about half his units on the first turn with most of the remainder on the second. His assault squad was his last unit to arrive on turn 3.



I stopped taking pictures by turn three. Things were going badly for Aerion since I had only to wait for his units to arrive on the table edge with ~24" between us and I shot him to pieces. This was a new list for Aerion, and not in a "Oh I'm not used to playing at this points level" sort of way. It was a dramatic departure from some of his other lists, and he wasn't used to playing it. It lacked the anti tank necessary to crack a mechanized list like mine, and his choice of deployment gave me the upper hand from the start and he just couldn't get anything going.

Game 2 was against Genoside's Tyranids. Genoside and I have joked that while we've known each other for years we've never really played a game together outside of Apocalypse. Added to that, if there's anything I know less about than the new Space Wolves, it's the new Tyranids. Going off of memory, he had 4 squads of Genestealers, 2 Zoanthropes, some kind of Hive Tyrant with 2 bodyguards, 2 assault oriented Carnifexes, a lictor, a Mawlock, and a Tyrgon Prime (sp?). Whatever the heck it was, it had an assault 12 electric attack!


Genoside kept the two big bugs in reserve along with his lictor. The two big bugs came in immediately, but the lictor hadn't arrived by turn four when Genoside conceeded the game because it was clear he had lost at that point and he needed to leave the party. I lost the roll to go first, but Genoside made me do it anyway. :-) Because I didn't know where the Genestealers were coming from or where those big bugs were going to go, I set up in the middle.


Genoside deployed and walked/ran everything but his deepstrikers from his 12" line. That gave me no other targets to worry about immediately when his Mawlock and buddy arrived, one on each side of my army. I fired every Mult-Melta in my army at those two creatures and killed them both in 2 turns. My other guns targeted two of the Genestealer squads (the other 2 were so far away from me that I never had to worry about them). With the big guys gone, I focused on the carnifexes. I killed one with shooting, and Vulkan took the other one out in assault.


He had a wounded Tyrant with two body guards and two Zoanthropes + 2 stealer squads (who were horribly out of position) when he conceeded. It was a good game, but Genoside doesn't get to play much, and needs a bit more practice with his beloved bugs (It's creepy really, how much this guy likes his Tyranids). The Tyranid book is a strong one, and I'm intimidated by the big bugs and their potent psychic powers.

Game three was against the host, Marvin the Despoiler and his Chaos Space Marines. By this point in the evening, Marvin had sampled quite a bit of his Yucca and while I enjoyed the game against him, his decision making clearly wasn't that crisp. :-)



This was another Kill Point mission (three? seriously?) but I thankfully didn't have pitched battle deployment since we managed to roll spearhead for this one. The long and short of this game was that we both pushed towards the center of the board, I made an insane amount of saves against Abaddon and two Khorne Berserker squads (I should have been destroyed 3 times over in that assault) and then cut the heart out of his army with the return attacks from my Thunderhammers. The rest of his stuff got shot out from under him by my Multi-meltas. This game was a fluke in my mind. I should have been crushed in that assault, but instead the near-impossible happened. His army is tough and getting tougher.

We all enjoyed ourselves, and next time I'll be getting in a game against Ol' Seth and his Eldar hopefully.

The Howard Crusade is back (Nyuk, nyuk, nyuk!)

Game 1: Deployment

Well, in the spirit of participation I'll share my experience during this years first round of 'Ard Boyz (now that my posterior has stopped bleeding. Mostly.)

I went into the tournament with high expectations. I've been playing better recently and I felt I had finally (after years) started to crack the code that is the Black Templar codex.

My army list, I felt, was solid, and had a good chance to wreak some havoc on unsuspecting xenos and heretic scum.

Alas, the havoc was received rather than dispensed.

Game 1 paired me against the Space Wolves army that played Chosen 1 in the third game. There were a few rules questions and the young player was introduced to the concept of WYSIWYG when he tried to counter-assault me with his 3 attack Wolves wielding pistols and chain swords represented by models carrying only bolters. The judge (who I was impressed with throughout the day) assured the player that if the models didn't have it, they didn't have it no matter what the codex said. I was iffy on this as I could understand the guy's aggravation with GW's "here's a new codex now buy more stuff" tactics. As it turned out WYSIWYG didn't save me and I was utterly pounded by an army that had way too many "fresh codex" tricks to my stale old 4th edition flavor. That is the fourth game I have played against the new Space Wolves since their premier and I am utterly disgusted at their brokeness. But then any player struggling to keep up with a codex more than a year old will likely agree.

Game 1: Mixin it up.

Game1 biggest pain: Chaplain Moe and the Termies decided to sit this one out and stayed on the battle barge playing Halo.

Game 2 deployment: Me
Game 2 deployment: filthy turncoats.

Game 2 saw Dorn's great-great grand nephew's twice removed facing down a nicely rendered Chaos Marines army . My opponent was new to the game with only a few months under his belt. It didn't show. Despite a few rookie mistakes he did a smashing job of handing me the most even and, as a result, most enjoyable game of the tournament. No insult intended to my other opponents, but Phil's army and personality blended with mine in a way that just forced us both to have copious amounts of fun. As I watched my scoring units evaporate under the battle cannon fire of two hated Defilers I couldn't help but grin. The back and forth was equal as my drop pod full of termies (led by Chaplain Moe) landed JUST short of the table edge in Phil's deployment zone right behind his carefully arrayed fortress of loaded rhinos, Defilers, Devastators, and, lest I forget, a winged Daemon Prince (seriously, do they REALLY need wings, people?).

Ballsiest deep strike ever on my part.

The highlight of the game for me was watching my lone surviving initiate, flamer in hand, unload on a full squad of Nurgle marines. Runner-up was my OTHER lone gunman (literally the only survivor of my 5 man tac squad) raising his fist in defiance and declaring my own deployment zone secure. I adored this game and can't wait to take some good-natured revenge on Phil (you have been warned).

Game 2: nearly over.

Game 2 biggest pain: The Emperor's Champion bravely led my 20 man squad of initiates and neophytes to check out something back at HQ and they all went zipping off the board on turn 2 after I dropped an 11 on the Righteous Zeal test.

Game 3: Deployment

The final game was against the aforementioned mechanized Tau. I think by this time Nick and I were both pretty worn down and ready to finish the tourney. When I saw just how much dice rolling he'd be doing I understood his fatigue. Each battle-suit unit (and there were several) dropped somewhere in the neighborhood of 30 shots each round (with a BS of 5 in most cases and half of the shots being AP3 plasma). Under such withering fire my guys could do nothing but throw neophytes out front to be disintegrated while they desperately tried to get close enough to engage. My land raiders went up like cheap fireworks and the units inside soon followed. I did manage to get my Marshall and his thunder hammer boys on one end of Nick's line and start plowing through his tanks (Hammerhead first, of course).

Game 3: Lookin down the barrel of a .45
Once the immediate enemy was dispensed with I got to show Nick how all storm shields are NOT created equal. As he unloaded heavy plasma and missiles on my termies he casually offered "They've got a 4+ invuln, right?" Well, if they had bothered to visit a forge world in the last 10,000 years they might, but nope. Unless you want to assault me, in which case I'm golden. It was touching to watch Nick cringe as I continued to fail my 5+ saves and pick up Termies by the handful. All in all I think we both found the game wanting as I really only offered him easy target practice and very little in the way of excitement. Still he was a good and empathetic opponent and I'd love to try again on a board that maybe has some cover.

Game 3: Plasma. WTF did all my models go?

Game 3 pain: A solar system's worth of plasma on the least terrain-heavy board of the tourney.

Summary: I had a blast, and even though I ran out of grape jelly around the middle of game 2 I'm glad I went. It gives me some motivation to get back on the road to improvement and I made a couple new friends. The atmosphere was friendly but competitive, which is perfect for a national Tournament, and the judge did a bang-up job of keeping things on track despite some late arrivals (yours-truly included). Kudos to Castle Perilous for hosting and to the Lords of Egypt for putting on a good event.

Templars for 'Ard Boyz 2010

Here's my final list:

Emperor's Champion w/ Accept any challenge no matter the odds

Marshall in Termy armor w/ TH &SS

Sword Brethren Termy Assault Squad x5 TH&SS

Land Raider Crusader transport

Master of Sanctity in Termy armor w/Storm Bolter and Crozius

Sword Brethren Terminator Command Squad x4 (storm bolter x2, assault cannon x2)

Drop Pod

Assault Squad x7 (ccw x4, flamer x2, power fist, melta bombs)

Crusader squad x10 (ccw x 8, Meltagun, power weapon)

Neophytes x10 (ccw)

Sword Brethren x5 (ccw x3, pw, twin lightning claws, furious charge)

Crusader Squad x5 (bolter x4, plasma cannon)

Crusader Squad x10 (ccw x8, flamer, power fist)

Venerable Dreadnought w/ assault cannon and DCCW, storm bolter

Land Speeder w/ Heavy Bolter & Assault Cannon

Land Raider

2500 points

Let's do this!