The Indy Open 2013

Interested?  You should be.  Go here and redeem my faith in humanity.

P.S.  I'm not dead or out of the hobby, just been in a serious funk lately.

Adepticon 2012: T.S.E. is on the march!

I signed up the team at 5:15 pm CST and I was the 25th person in line to do so.  As of 7:30 pm CST, there were 61 of 110 slots filled.  You want a chance to kick the crap out of us or witness some spectacularly bad tactics/dice rolling?  You better get a move on folks.

Ard Boyz Permission Slip

Would you let this count as a MotF w/Conversion Beamer on a Bike?

So I recently learned that I have permission from Holy Terra (Mrs. Chosen1) to participate in the Ard Boyz tournament at my FLGS, Fantasy Games in Fairview Heights, IL.  Having never considered this possibility, I don't really have an army list prepared, so I'm digging out one of my "stock" lists that I keep on hand to prevent the folks who play me on a regular basis from seeing the same army  list twice.  While I have a lot of models, I don't generally have enough stuff to field any "niche" lists or anything like that.  I have, however, recently acquired a 2nd Land Raider Crusader/Redeemer, but it won't be ready for this coming weekend.  "But your Land Raider looks awesome Chosen1, and it's Ard Boyz so it doesn't need to be fully painted."  Bite your filthy tongue heretic, no member of the XVIII sets foot "...unto the anvil of war" without being fully painted.  I give all praise to CVinton, though he has recently fallen prey to the wicked wiles of Chaos, he can convert the heck out of a model.  It just won't see battle until Aerion has had his way with it.

Is it really a Chapel on Wheels?

Anywho, here's my proposed list-in-progress:

Master of the Forge w/Conversion Beamer
Forgefather Vulkan He'Stan
Tactical Squad w/Powerfist, Combi-Melta, Multi-Melta, Flamer, & Rhino
Tactical Squad w/Powerfist, Combi-Melta, Multi-Melta, Flamer, & Rhino
Tactical Squad w/Lascannon, Flamer, & T.L.L.C. Razorback
Tactical Squad w/Lascannon, Flamer, & T.L.L.C. Razorback
(5) Scouts w/Sniper Rifles & Cammo Cloaks
Dreadnought w/Multi-Melta & Heavy Flamer
Dreadnought w/Multi-Melta & Heavy Flamer
Dreadnought w/Multi-Melta & Heavy Flamer
Land Speeder w/Multi-Melta & Heavy Flamer
Land Speeder w/Multi-Melta & Heavy Flamer
(2) Land Speeders w/Multi-Meltas & Heavy Flamers
Ironclad Dreadnought w/Heavy Flamer, Assault Launchers, & Drop Pod
Vindicator w/Siege Shield & Extra Armor
Vindicator w/Siege Shield & Extra Armor

Yeah, it's a Vulkan list.  I play Salamanders...get over it.  There's a lot of flamer & melta, but I'm living proof that those lists aren't all that tough.  My win-loss ratio of late is awful heavy on the L, and light on the W.  It only works out to 2490 points, but I'll be honest 2500 points is a bit much for me.  I wonder about the best use of points on 1500 point lists, so when I get up to this level, my army lists start looking like Ricky Bobby's hands during his first television interview: "...what do I do with these?"

Gateway Grand Tournament Thoughts and Results (sort of)

Well the weekend is over, and I managed to survive my first Grand Tournament.  It was a 5 round tournament held over two days, and  while I didn't perform nearly as well as I liked, after an objective analysis of my games, I performed much better than I originally thought I did.  All of my opponents were fantastic to play against and I wouldn't hesitate to play any of them again.  I did hear of a few individuals that had personality conflicts, but the judges were called over to settle disputes and nothing got too hairy.

What does that mean exactly?  The missions included Primary (15/7/3 pts), Secondary (10/5/2 pts), and Tertiary objectives (5/3/1) with two additional battle point modifiers worth one point each.  Most secondary objectives were table quarters while tertiary were typically old school victory points.  While I only earned a "win" on the primary objective on one game, I managed to win out on battle points on a few games and get soundly beaten twice for a final record of 3 wins and 2 losses.

My 2000 pt GT list

My list wasn't too special.  I brought Vulkan, 5 TH/SS Assault Terminators, 2 HF/MM Dreads, 2 Vindicators, 2 MM/HF Landspeeders, 2 Tactical Squads with Flamers, Lascannons, & TL LC Razorbacks, and 1 Tactical Squad in a Rhino with Flamer, Multi-Melta, Rhino, Powerfist, & Combi-melta.

Before...

...and after.

Game 1 was Capture & Control with Spearhead deployment.  My opponent played an Air Cavalry Imperial Guard list with 9 Vendettas loaded with melta vets and plasma command squads.  Seriously.  I had heard of speculation or theory-hammer, but this cat actually put nine of those bad boys down on the table...or at least 6.  He literally didn't have the room to deploy them all on the first turn so they came in on reserve.  With 27 twin linked lascannons, scout moves and all those extra plasma/melta weapons I thought I was doomed.  While I included a bit of long range shooting (4 total lascannons) in my list, I didn't have enough for this list.  I hunkered down like a scared little boy and wonder of wonders, my opponent came after me!  He brought his skimmers to within melta range and Vulkan was an absolute rock star, slinging guardsmen around like it was his job.  After the dust settled, I had downed all his Vendettas and most of their contents.  While we each controlled our own objective, I won on points 18 to 13.  I had killed 1900 points of his army to 730 of mine.  Take home lesson?  Do not get intimidated by the Vendetta swarm.  Yes, they would have been much, much more effective if he shot the snot out of me at range, but they are still guardsmen on the inside.  This guy finished 27th out of 37.

Ravenwing Assault!

I don't believe I need much more than this picture to describe my first loss of the weekend.  What you see is my opponent's Ravenguard force after his scout moves and first turn movement phase.  This mission was pitched battle deployment with a primary objective of killing your opponent's HQ choice.  His army contained a good deal of melta on bikes, and attack bikes.  After his first turn of shooting the left side of my army simply didn't exist anymore.  He used his superior movement to great advantage and his target selection was inspired.  He was rolling out of his mind for this game, and most of my destroyed vehicles were killed with a 7 on the vehicle damage chart.  While I wasn't tabled, this guy killed more of my army (1575 pts) than any other opponent on the day.  This game tied for my favorite of the tournament, and I had more fun with this one than I did with the win in the previous round.  This guy finished 22nd out of 37.

Eldar Seer Council on Jetbikes?  No thank you.

My final game on Saturday was against a buddy from Carbondale.  While I had known him (he's a member of the Lords of Egypt gaming club that plays out of Castle Perilous) for a few years, I had never gotten the chance to play him.  That was probably for the best.  This guy handed me my worst beating of the tournament.  He earned the maximum points (32) while I got the consolation amount (6) given to guys who just show up and let the other guys beat on them.  The mission was Annihilation with Dawn of War deployment.  Objectively, this was a great game.  He knew his rules, he knew his mission, and the game flowed very smoothly.  I got a bit emotional (something I aspire not to do...the other players don't deserve that sort of thing) because I just couldn't do anything against a 10 man Eldar Seer Council.  I don't care to hear calls about how big of a point sink that unit is.  700 some odd points?  Big deal, it easily had a bigger impact on my list.  The rest of his list included 3 fire prisms and some other transports.  There were some 5 man squads of Dire Avengers (who never fired a shot) and Fire Dragons (who blew up all sorts of stuff).  No two ways about it, I got crushed by a better list, and very likely a better player.  This guy finished 18th out of 37.

  

I looked at my first game on Saturday as a fresh start.  It was against an ultramarine list with a dakka pred, heavy bolter speeder, auto-cannon/missile launcher dread, vindicator, sniper scout squad, missile launcher/lascannon dev squad, two tac squads, and a command squad.  He had a squad of terminators and an assault squad in reserve.  The mission was to capture a flag at midfield and control it with an infantry squad for the remainder of the game.  The scouts infiltrated near the objective, took their scout move to control it, and used their turn one movement to move it to his deployment zone.  In essence, I was fighting for a draw the entire game.  I pummeled this guy's army (1710 victory points to 715) but he controlled the objective till the very end of the game.  Only Vulkan going on a rampage through his troops and killing the last scout in assault earned me a draw on the primary object and a win on battle points.  The frustration of the previous day reared its ugly head in this game as well.  I was more disappointed in my behavior (amounted to pouting essentially) during this game than at any other moment  during the tournament.  It really bothers me to act this way, especially during what amounts to a weak win, but I suppose it's my dirty secret.  I apologized to him about it, and I hope it didn't color my opponent's experience of the tournament.  This guy finished 29th out of 37.

My final game was against a gorgeous Ork army and a player who came into town from Lincoln, Nebraska.  He had a tricked out warboss, weirdboy, a mob of burna boyz on foot, some nobs in a battle wagon, two mobs of boys in trukks, some flash gits, and two Deff dreads.  The mission gave us the opportunity to secretly pick our mission objectives and we both picked kill points.  I figured he'd come at me like...well, like an Ork, so I turtled up and waited for him.  Turns out that I didn't have to wait too long as his weirdboy teleported his flashgits behind my lines.  This was a fun game for the both of us with some good shooting (got my first AV 14 kill with a rending assault cannon shot) and his nob unit assaulted its way across the field before falling to Vulkan.  I beat him on kill points in the end, because there was just too many templates in my army for his to withstand.  This game was the other winner of my "favorite game" award, and it's just too bad this guy lives so far away, but I am glad he made it to the St. Louis metro area for the tournament.  This guy finished 25th out of 37 and earned Best Sportsman.

I came away with a load of experiences, some positive some not so much, at my inaugural Grand Tournament.  My first negative is the fact that more of my club wasn't able to attend.  This event was a big deal for our area and we should have been able to support it with more players.  Overall, the tournament was a success in my mind.  The organization was there, the tables were beautiful, and the judges attentive and available.  I had a minor issue with the soft scoring (I didn't get points for conversions...yeah, not much to say about that one), but nothing earth shattering, and nothing that would prevent me from returning.  The final tally sheets can be found here.  Overall winner played a Deathwing Dark Angels list with 36 Terminators and three Land Speeders.  Imperial Guard, Space Wolves, and Chaos Space Marines rounded out the top 4.  A beautifully converted and painted Ork army won Best Appearance.  We had a pretty good mix of armies with the following attendees:(1) Tau, (1) Dark Eldar, (2) Eldar, (6) Space Marines, (2) Dark Angels, (5) Imperial Guard, (5) Space Wolves, (1) Chaos Space Marines, (3) Grey Knights, (3) Blood Angels, (5) Orks, (1) Tyranid, and (2) Black Templar.

Battle Points = 80 / 160 (not good here, not good at all and a main reason for my frustration)

Victory Points = 7071 / 10000 (not bad, but does it really matter if you let this trump your missions?)

The army got 47 points (Best Painted earned 52) for painting, and I somehow (in spite of my pouting) earned 51 sportsmanship points (Best Sportsman earned 53).  My overall score was 183 (Overall winner earned 224).  Those results were good enough to get me 13th place out of 37, which was the highest finish for a Codex: Space Marines army on the weekend.

I also apologize for the blurry pictures.  Here is a link to some photos of the event.  Apparently the iPhone 4 is not that great a platform for 40k tournament pictures...that or I don't know what I'm doing with it AND my army.  :) 

 

Adepticon 2011: There and Back Again...A Salamander's Tale

Team Snake Eyes' Adepticon 2011 Display Board

This year's results are in.  Last year's results can be found here, but I'll summarize quickly:  In 2010 we finished 92 out of 110.  Hardly a confidence booster.  This year, however, we brought two teams (I'll discuss the 2nd team below) and finished 37th out of 106 teams.  Here's the breakdown:

247 total points out of 444 (37th overall)
109 battle points out of 240 (45th)
14 commander's head points out of 32 (66th)
18 command token points out of 32 (26th)
54 theme points out of 60 (10th)
44 painting points out of 60 (15th)
8 quiz points out of 20 (86th)
14 sportsmanship points out of 16
6 spirit points

Overall we had a blast.  There was a bit of stress involved as I wanted us to perform better on the table top and Aerion wanted to improve our scores in the theme and appearance categories.  I think we managed both, while still having something to strive for at subsequent events.  I saw some very impressive armies out there Saturday, so I am humbled to have gotten the scores we did on theme and painting, and I have to credit to Aerion's talent and the handful of folks who pitched in to help us get the Salamanders ready for Chicago this year.

Aerion's freehand banner design for my 2nd Company...beyond awesome.

While I won't be doing battle reports for this year (I concentrate too much on the game at these things so I never remember to take pictures) I can break it down a little:

On the day we went 5-3-0.  Round 1 we played "Team Rock Heads - Dances with Wolves" (placed 52nd).  They beat our faces in.  They brought two Space Wolf armies and two Blood Angels armies.  Mephiston and a Furioso w/Blood Talons in a Storm Raven?  Yes please.  We had both objectives and the middle of the board at the bottom of turn 4.  Turn 5 that unit showed up and ruined our day.  Head over to Dark Future Games to see a picture of the "Dexter Dread".  All of that gore belongs to my Salamanders.

Round 2 we played "Dragonfire" (placed 100th).  They had 3 Eldar armies and 1 Dark Eldar army.  It was my first opportunity to play against the new Dark Eldar.  There were some nice conversions in this army, but one of the players had recently injured himself and was drugged up pretty good.  That meant he played a bit slow and we weren't made aware of that until after the game.  Still, it was fun, and we ended up with two wins from this round.

Round 3 we played the "Emperor's Grease Monkeys" (placed 79th).  I believe they were all Blood Angels armies.  We also came away with two wins this round, although those wins were bitter in my mind.  At my table, the other team clearly kicked us up one side and down the other.  They won the primary objective, but our winning of the secondary as well as some tactical points gave us a higher total.  The other game was played by two coalitions that were unfamiliar with their respective armies.  My inexperienced guy told the other inexperienced guy some bogus armor values for one of our tanks a few times during the game.  I have no idea what kind of impact that had, but I still feel quite badly about it.  I did, however, get some great tactical advice on my Salamanders, and Space Marines in general, from this team.  It was also probably the most fun I had all day.

Chosen1 playing on table #1 "So you're saying there's a chance..."

Round 4 saw us playing the "Ironfist League" (placed 67th) on table one.  No kidding.  If seeing a 3-3-0 team on table one on round 4 of the Adepticon Team Tournament doesn't tell you they randomize tables, then nothing will.  We knew we weren't playing for a chance at the big prize, but it felt good to play there anyway.  Stop laughing, at least my mom was proud of me.  These guys were an all Chaos Space Marine team and it too was a fun game.  We split the games here, and the take away message for me was to stay away from IA Blood Slaughterers of Khorne.  Yeah, they're that bad.  The second bit that upset me occurred here.  The army lists we handed to our opponents are hand typed.  I loath Army Builder with a passion typically reserved for bullies and exercise.  While I spent a lot of time on a lot of things, I did not review them enough to catch a few omissions.  I did not spell out that the tactical squads (which were nearly identical throughout the army - and were correct on the individual player's army lists) contained flamers and multi-meltas.  This came as a surprise to our opponents, and I am sorry for that.  The fault lies with me.

As you can imagine, this ended badly for us.

Despite the two mistakes, the tournament was a success.  I saw some great armies, and met some great guys...including meeting up with the Michigan crew from Dark Future Games and Seer Karandras from Craftworld Lansing.  My big regret was not introducing myself to the Back 40k crowd, but when I was free, they were playing, etc.  I'll have to have Chambers work something out.  It was a blast fellas and I hope to see you all again soon.

Team Snake Eyes - Iron Hands Adepticon 2011 Display Board.

Team Snake Eyes - Iron Hands also attended the Big Show.  They finished 82nd out of 106.  I believe they went 2-6-0 on the day which is fantastic considering they were using two different armies than they originally planned and playing with two alternates.  Yeah, all that mess, and they still finished better on their first year than we did.  Great job guys, I'm glad you came and enjoyed yourselves.

Team Snake Eyes - Iron Hands engaged in something terribly important.

Gateway Grand Tournament, June 3-5, 2011

HOST:
DieCon 11, June 3-5, 2011 @ Gateway Center Collinsville, IL

Tournament length:
5 rounds: 3 rounds Sat June 5th and 2 rounds on Sunday June 6th.

Tournament :
Begins at 10am (1000 hrs) on Sat June 5th and Sunday June 6th. Please be on time.

Army Size:
Warhammer 40K 2000 pts

BONUS:

Five battle points will be awarded to early army submissions. Submit your army list to armies@Omegahobbies.com This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it until May 20, 2011.
DieCon 11 pre-registration required to receive bonus.  Bring 5 copies of your army list to the tournament for your opponents.

Painting:

While it is not required to have your army completely painted to participate in this event, it is highly encouraged, and recommended. If you choose to participate in this tournament with an unpainted army, just keep in mind, you will NOT be eligible to win the "Overall Champion" award, nor "Best Appearance".  You will however, still be eligible for "Best General", and "Best Sportsman". So, if at all possible, get that army painted, and help us make this tournament not only fun to play in, but amazing to see as well.

Prize Support:

1st Place : $300.00 **
2nd Place : $200.00 **
3rd Place : $100.00 **

Best Appearance, Best General and Sportsmanship awards will be handed out, as well as random prizes on Friday during open gaming of any GW game being played.
See omegahobbies.com for details.

Gateway Grand Tournament Registration:

$30.00 from now - March 1, 2011 *
$35.00 March 2 - April 17, 2011  *
$40.00 April 18, 2011 - June 5, 2011 *

Pre-Registration

New Year's Sneak Peeks for 2011

Happy New Year from the Team Snake Eyes crew and assorted minions, servitors, lackeys, and attendants. The bulk of the team gathered at Fort Aerion to ring in the New Year and there was much carnage (Absinthe: It's no joke!). Somehow between Band Hero, Rock Band 3, and Mario Kart (not to mention eating, drinking, and generally making merry) we managed to take some pics of some of the upcoming hotness we'll be fielding at Adepticon in April. To all our friends, a very happy and prosperous New Year, and to all our adversaries, may you leave the table feeling bad that you beat us so soundly. Enjoy!

Salamander Command Squad conversions:

Adepticon Team Tournament Players Take Note!

For anyone thinking of playing in the Adepticon Team Tournament (April 2, 2011) please review the draft rules up on their site. They have made significant changes to the format and rules that will likely impact how army lists are created. I'm not too worried about things on the whole, as Team Snake Eyes is not likely to finish that high in the standings to begin with, but do head over and review things like:

INAT FAQ V4.1
2011 Team Tournament Draft Rules
2011 Model Policy

Event Wrap-up: Little Egypt Wars

Team Snake Eyes was out in force this past weekend. There were 13 players at this Rogue Trader event, and 8 of those represented TSE! There were several players new to the area because of school and, for some reason; many of the traditional local players didn’t show up. We could easily expect an attendance level approaching 20 if all the stars align. Of the 13 armies, here is the breakdown:

2 Orks
4 Chaos Space Marines
1 Dark Eldar
1 Eldar
1 Tau
1 Tyranid
1 Black Templar Space Marine
2 Codex Space Marines (Ultramarines & Salamanders)

The Team Snake Eyes Results are as follows:

Marvin the Despoiler (Chaos SM) = 1 W / 1 L / 2nd turn bye
Ol’Seth (Eldar) = 1 L / 2 D’s
Guyver Blue (Ultramarines) = 2 L’s / 3rd turn bye
Chaplain Aerion (Black Templars) = 1 W / 1 L / 1 D – winner of best painted army & 2nd place overall
Chosen 1(Salamanders) = 1 D / 2 W’s = 1st place overall
Zephyr (Dark Eldar) = 1 draw / 2 wins
P.G. (Chaos SM) = 3 draws – winner of best sportsmanship
Genoside (Chaos SM) = 1st turn bye / 1 D / 1 L

As you can see, the odd number of players required the “bye” system of one player sitting out per round. I’m not sure how the bye’s were selected, but we were disappointed that only TSE members got byes. Numerically speaking, there were more of us, so this isn’t a veiled attempt at suggesting a shady deal. We just hate to spend money to attend an event and drive (1, 1, and 2 hours) to get to an event only to be told that we’ll be sitting out for a round. I’m not sure why the organizers don’t use a ringer to take care of this issue since the last few tournaments have had an odd number of players, but I’ll be putting that in my suggestions to the tournament organizer.

Also unusual at this tournament was the scoring. There were the traditional battle points with additional modifiers at the end which meant, for example, that you could earn a draw worth 7 points and a win worth 7 or 8. So the W/L/D doesn’t mean nearly as much as how BIG the W/L/D was in relation to the others. In addition to that, I think the two or three results were averaged to adjust the results so that the folks who received byes were on similar footing with those who did not. Again, this madness could be avoided with a ringer so total points could be calculated. Don’t get me wrong these comments are in the “suggestions for improvement” category, not criticisms. To my knowledge, all in attendance had a fantastic time and we’re all looking forward to returning.

I enjoyed all of my games, especially the rude wakeup call I received on behalf of Zephyr’s Dark Eldar army in the first turn. This was only my second game overall against the DE, and they were as bad as I remember. SO MUCH SHOOTING! It seemed like every other pointy eared freak had a dark lance or whatever their version of the plasma cannon was. Zephyr was an outstanding opponent, however, and he made sure I knew exactly what his army could do before he did it. He doesn’t know it yet, but Zephyr is going to be writing some Dark Eldar Codex review articles when the new book comes out. :)

Game 1 for me vs. Dark Eldar. I was told that Zephyr took a "fluffy" list. He would have won this game but a plasma cannon (whatever those things are called) scattered over his lord and insta-killed him. That lord was about to own Vulkan and a combat squad. That point swing (killed lord + my saved HQ) was enough for a draw. I didn't earn that draw, but I'm sure as heck glad I got it.

My game two against Chaos. I used those buildings to hide my speeders and dreads and effectively pulled his teeth (killed defiler + predators, popped troops out of transports) by the top of turn three. He was an awesome player who came to Carbondale, IL from Indiana. Quite the drive, we hope to see him again.

Game three against the Despoiler's Chaos Marines. Long story short, I went first and some productive shooting from my early turns. Highlight of this game is Marvin's Chaos Dreadnought surviving four turns of assault from not one, not two, but all three of my Dreadnoughts. Picuture above is of Vulkan about to give those Chaos Terminators a warm welcome.

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.

Upcoming area 40K events

40K Tourney

Where: St. Charles Fantasy Shop
When: Saturday July 31st at 11:00
Points needed: 1500 Points ***Plus a 200 point unit that take up one slot on the force org chart*** So a total of 1700 points
Cost: $10 (Fantasy Shop will provide additional prize support)

This single 200 point unit will be used in each game for bonus points and mission specific tasks.

Sign up starts at 11:00
We will be judging painting from 11:15 to 11:45
First Round will start at 12:00 ***Each ROund will last 2 hours with one break after Game 1

Prizes:

1st, 2nd, and 3rd
Favorite Oppenent (ties broken using total points earned)
Favorite Painted Army (voted on by all contestants, tie is broken by me)

http://www.gamestlouis.com/viewtopic.php?f=54&t=6053

Siegeworld 2010

On August 14th, 2010 Siegeworld Productions presents SIEGEWORLD 2010, a Warhammer 40K Apocalypse game on a mega scale! Come and be a part of a world record attempt as we attempt to hold the largest point value for WH40K Apocalypse Game EVER!

Field your entire collection (every race no matter how many points). Field custom models, unique conversions, home built titans and war machines, as well as custom apocalypse formations. All armies, races and sizes, are welcome. Smaller armies will be facing off against similar sized foes and will have objectives suited for the size of their force. Likewise, larger forces will square off against larger foes with multiple objectives suited for a larger occupying force.

Visit siegeworld.com; follow the forum as more details develop and visit the photo gallery for pics of past events. If you have any questions or concerns please post here or on seigeworld.com or PM me.

Be there on August 14th or miss being a part of Warhammer 40K history!

Big Kahuna

Edit: Also on July 31st there is a tournament at Fantasy Games in O'Fallon Il. It's an 1850 tournament, but I don't know any more details. They can, however, be contacted at (618)632-3026 or fantasygames1@att.net

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.

DieCon initial debriefing: I gots STUFF!

Battle reports to follow after I've slept.

In summary: Team Snake Eyes (3 members representing- Aerion, Ol Seth, and Marvin) each tallied a record of 2 and 1. Marvin brought home 2nd place overall ($50), Ol Seth earned Best Appearance ($60), and your's truly managed the Sportsmanship award ($60). Before the tourney we all agreed to play as a team and pool any winnings for a 3/way split. The idiot that came up with that idea obviously didn't think he had a shot at winning anything (points to Self) but the combination left each of us with $56 to spend at the sponsoring store (Adventure Games in Collinsville, IL). I replaced my Vindicator which was donated to the Salamander cause and added some cash to enlist a new Land Speeder for the Templars.

In the spirit of being unusually full of it today ("it" being crap-tons of WIN!) I also garnered the Best of Show and 2nd place in the Masters Open category for my Circle of Orboros battlegroup (Kromac beast form, Gnarlhorn Satyr, and Pureblood Warpwolf). In addition to a box of miniatures for a game I've never heard of (hey, they're bits, right?) I got actual engraved and hung on patriotic ribbons MEDALS! WOOT! FTW indeed!

Condensed version: The Team rocked the joint, made some new friends (and found a new gaming home for Chosen1 if he's interested), played some great games on some nice tournament quality tables, won some stuff, caught up with a few old friends from the STL area, made tons of sport of Ol Seth's "retired man" shirt and questionable sexual orientation (no details but trust me there were many tears shed and my abs feel like I've done marathon crunches from laughing so hard), and ended the day with a fabulous meal of Mexican (food, not people) and esprit de corps (I'm too tired to check spelling and I know our resident former Marine will take care of it).

Pics and batreps coming in the next few days. This is Chaplain Aerion signing off from the Battlebarge Shield of Suckage.

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

1850 Black Templar Rogue Trader list

Here is the list I'm planning to take to DieCon on June 5.

HQ: Marshall in Terminator armor w/ Thunder Hammer & Storm Shield

Elite: Sword Brethren Assault Terminators (3x lightning claws, 2x TH&SS. Furious Charge)

Transport: Land Raider Crusader

HQ: Emperor's Champion w/ Accept Any Challenge

Troops: Initiates x 10 (CCW & BP, 1x power weapon, 1x melta)

Neophytes x 10 w/ CCW & BP

Troops: Initiates x 6 (Bolter x 5, Plasma Cannon)

Troops: Initiates x 7 (Bolter x 5, Plasma Gun, Heavy Bolter)

Troops: Initiates x 10 (CCW & BP x9, Flamer)

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

Fast Attack: Assault Squad x 6 (Flamer x2, Power Fist)

It looks like a fun list and just might perform as long as I don't face any Tau, Space Wolves, Necrons, Chaos, Orks, Tyrranids, Imperial Guard, Blood Angels, Codex Space Marines, or Inquisition.

Ard Boyz Battle Reports

Well now that I've had some time to recover, I'll post some brief battle reports of my games. Before I get to that, however, I'll go over the atmosphere at Castle Perilous. Of the 8 players who participated, 7 were local, and the last (who won the event btw) has family in town and plans his visits around local events. Seems pretty smart to me. Of all the armies present, only three were painted. The remainder had a few colors splashed on or primer. I know this is Ard Boyz and it's not required, but I'm sorry, I enjoy my games more where there are two painted armies on the table. I'm not an expert painter...I have friends who are and I ask for their help. :-)

Game #1 I staggered into a Major Loss against a Drop Pod heavy Black Templars list. I have never played against more than one drop pod at a time, and I've never been too impressed. In this game, however, I was simply out-classed. This guy only killed about 260 points of my army to the 1300 or so of his that I killed, but while I was busy killing the units that he dropped in my face, he kept me bottled up in my deployment zone and dropped a few scoring units on the objectives I couldn't reach. I castled in my corner to prevent him podding into my guys, but that just meant he had me behind a steel curtain by the end of turn 6. He had three objectives at the end, and I had none. His list wasn't obscene, but he did take a grey knight hero for the psychic hood. It was Ard Boyz after all. More on that later. Here are some pictures of the first and last turns of that game. This was my second game against this opponent (he beat the snot out of me a few years back at a RTT. I think he shows up at our store to play us because there's no one to give him any real competition). He's a great guy though, and I welcome his presence at any event.



Game #2 was against a local Tau player that I hadn't had the priviledge of playing yet, but I'm glad I got the opportunity to do so. He was another fantastic guy with a solid Tau list. I'll be honest here. I have played Tau a handful of times, and I've handled them soundly every time...every time but this one. This guy knew his Tau, had a solid list, and good rolls going for him. This mission was victory points with table quarters a secondary objective. You want to know how I played it? Backwards that's how. Dumbass. The whole game I was gunning to own the four quarters, and never even considered going after his expensive units. He poured ridiculous amounts of fire into my land raider and terminators (duh, because they're expensive...) and his battle suits worked me over good. I killed off all his scoring units, and did some damage to his suits. We ended up with a draw, but I got four extra points because I owned all the table quarters. This kid was a great player, and I look forward to playing him again. He's got my ticket to the next round of Ard Boyz and I'm rooting for him. Here are some shots of his deployment and what my guys looked like after my first turn of movement.



Game #3 was against a local Space Wolf player. He had four drop pods, some speeders, the wolf version of assault marines, Canis Wolfborne with a crap-ton of wolves and some long fangs. This was the dreaded "screw you mechanized army players" mission. I had 42 kill points available, but at the end of the game, I had earned 29 kp from my opponent, and he had 20 kp from me, giving me the massacre. I didn't take any pictures because this game was pretty intense and I felt like I was behind in the kp tally pretty much the whole game. That may not have been true, but I earned 5 or 6 kp in turn 6 alone so it was close either way.

Final thoughts? Regular viewers may remember a blog post I made about my internal debate about taking a Daemon Hunter's Inquisitor with mystics to defend against deep striking. I decided against it since I was looking for practice with my Space Marines without relying on the "crutch" of one trick pony units from other armies. Turns out that was a lousy idea. The moral high road rewarded my conservative stance with a total of 14 drop pods over three games. I don't really regret my decision, but I do think it's kind of funny.

I feel a little bit "dirty" about how "uncool" I was about certain rules questions and with my opponents forgetting certain things during their turn. It was Ard Boyz, and it's kind of the point, but at heart I'm a friendly player who has only recently gotten the tournament bug. I'm still looking for a happy medium.

Finally, I realize that I have no idea how some guys do it, but I can't "see" into a game's future very well. I thought like I was doing well in my first game, and I lost it...badly. I felt like I was suffering from some seriously bad dice rolls in game two (I was, my opponent spent a great deal of our game apologizing for MY bad rolls...) but I ended up with a draw. I thought I was either loosing or playing towards a draw in my final game, but I ended up with a massacre against the guy. I don't feel like I was pouting, but I know I need to work on that aspect of my game play. So much more to do.

Ard Boyz results from Castle Perilous in Carbondale, Illinois

It's over and done here in Carbondale after a long day of beat downs and miraculous saves. There were eight players at this tournament, and the results are as follows:

1) Black Templars - 52 pts. (10 drop pods and all sorts of other madness)
2) Space Marines - 45 pts. (Focused on Bikes and Devastators)
3) Salamanders - 41 pts. (me, list found here)
4) Tau 40 pts. (Lots of battle suits)
5) Orks 30 pts. (3 battle wagons, 2 bike bosses, etc.)
6) Space Wolves 27 pts. (4 drop pods, Canis, shooty rune priest powers)
7) Chaos Space Marines 19 pts. (Khorne/Nurgle/Undivided list)
8) Black Templars 16 pts. (Aeron's list found here)

My games were as follows:

1st turn: Major Loss vs. the Black Templars that came in 1st
2nd turn: Draw vs. the Tau that came in 4th
3rd turn: Massacre vs. the Space Wolves that came in 6th

Incidentally, the fact that the guy who won did...didn't surprise anyone, the Space Wolf player was tied for 1st with the Ork player after the second round, and I was tied for 4th with about 3 or 4 guys after the same. Don't count your gretchen before they're spawned I suppose.

I played three great guys, and I was very proud to hand my "golden ticket" to the next round to the Tau player. At the end of the third round, a math error (mine) had me two points behind that guy. He pointed out my error which put me ahead of him by one point. He really wanted to advance and effectively pointed something out that would have kept him from going. Seriously, that's some honor right there. I salute you Nick, and wish you the best. You earned your ticket.

I'm bushed and the wife is looking at me like I need to pay attention to her and lay off the 40k for a bit, and I think I'm going to take her up on that. I'll post battle reports later.

If you have not entered into my Super Blog Chain Give-Away, please do so. I'm excited for all the entries, and welcome any more. The more participants we get, the more success we have in our goal of developing our community.

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!