Battle Report: Salamanders vs. Necrons @ 1850

Had another Thursday night game at Fantasy Games tonight. I played Matt, a Necron player. We rolled for a Capture and Conrol mission with Spearhead deployment. Matt, who was a fantastic player and an even better sport considering some of the horrific rolling he had this evening, won the roll to go first and picked his table quarter and I failed to win the initiative. Our objective placement wasn't all that exciting with each of us placing it in the corner about 12" in. I used my standard 1850 list discussed here, keeping both of my tactical squads in reserve.


Matt's list consisted of (2) 20 Necron Warrior squads, a Monolith, some Heavy Destroyers, Flayed Ones, Scarab Swarms, and a lord on foot with the requisite Res. Orb.

Matt's first turn wasn't very productive. He moved everthing forward as fast as it would go and he managed to stun a dreadnought. I moved my Land Raider forward and unloaded my terminators - who were able to make their 6" difficult terrain roll and assault through cover, destroying the scarabs. That was the story of the night. I made more rolls than I had a right to, and poor Matt managed to capture the low end of the bell curve all night long. Between my Assault Terminators (backed up with Vulkan & a Chaplain), my Vindicator, and the Predator twins, the necrons were phased at the bottom of turn five. I had my objective & contested his for the win.

I had another terrific opponent, played a brilliantly painted army on a table filled with superb terrain. A great game at, what is turning out to be, a great store for me. Special thanks go out to Chambers who has served as resident rules guru for both of my matches.

New man-hole & future projects

Here's my new workspace. I've got a bit more area than my previous place, but the lighting's not the best. I've bought a few new lamps tough, so we'll see how it works out.


The move gave me the opportunity to dig out my Imperial Guard army as well. This army was built (back when I didn't care about mold lines apparently) with the old codex, and they were primarily drop troopers. As such, they're now pretty worthless. I just don't have the money or time to give them the vehicle options the new codex offers. I can't get rid of them just yet though. They were a labor of love even if my modeling and painting techniques leave a bit to be desired. You see the cool commander and vehicle models? Aerion painted those. By now you should see a trend. I can do bulk work on troops, and while Aerion says I am improving, the more complex techniques are still beyond my reach in my mind. I hope you enjoy the Something something something something guard (I never gave them a Regimental home). I hope to devote some more work on them in the future. ;)











Speaking of practicing some more advanced painting techniques...Team Snake Eyes is gearing up for Adepticon 2011 in April. We need to work up our lists and develop a strategy for fine tuning the paint jobs we skimped on during last year's work up. Work continues...

Genoside throws down some Warhammer Fantasy

Genoside is a quiet, but key member of the team. One of his many qualities is that he is the only member that plays Warhammer Fantasy. Go figure right? Most of us get our fantasy fix from D&D (Pathfinder now actually) and our Sci Fi fix from 40k. Despite Genoside's best efforts, neither our wives or our limited paychecks will allow us to get into that game full time. In the spirit of full disclosure, however, I must say the Genoside has offered us all the use of one of his many armies. Anyway, here's Genoside:

Hello - Genoside here and I am kind of the ghost player of the group...always buried with work and if I get free time it is usually spend with the wife. After receiving the new 8th edition of Warhammer, however, I forced myself to get a game of it the other night. This is a great start for the new edition since I only played a handful of games of the previous edition. My opponent was a new guy to our group that happens to be a local dentist.

Battle set up was standard mission with no special terrain rules. In the new rules there is all types of terrain rules that effect the game such as rivers becoming blood rivers and that alone can completely change the game. We were going to have enough trouble stumbling through the rules, we didn't need anymore stuff to remember.

For the 2000 point battle I was taking my standard Empire army. Luckily for me having played since 3rd edition I have learned not to build an army around the cheese of the month items because they tend to go away quickly. I went with my stock build that I have used since 5th edition.

My opponent for this game took Dark Elves. This really troubled me because in the new rules close combat order is determined by initiative rating and the Dark Elves have a rather high one. As planned, the game started slowly having not to confuse rules from previous editions and ended early due to the fact that we are old men now and can't stay up late anymore. Anyway, I'm not going to bore anyone with the battle report since most members of Team Snake Eyes refuse to play Warhammer; I will only list the Pros and Cons of my first game.

EDIT: Check out the comments for Genoside's stock Empire list

Cons
Magic was a big shocker. It was quite deadly now...you either do very well with it or nothing at all. No real in between. So mages now are a big gamble in my eyes. Random Charge: My heavy knights were only like 12" away from his heavy knight unit and with the new rules of charging, you roll a number of D6's and add your movement. Mine was 3d6 (pick the two highest) plus my movement of seven. In true Team Snake Eyes fashion I rolled two ones and a two for a total of three which left me two inches short of finishing the charge. Next turn he was nice enough to roll right in and charge me with his higher initiative.

Pros
The rules seem a lot cleaner. Bolt weapons still need line of sight but stone thrower type weapons (artillery) can now shoot indirectly, following rules close to the current ones in 40k. I couldn't hit anything to save my life, but I really liked this rule. Support Attacks. Now, not only does your front rank attack the second rank gets to attack also. Plus, with the new horde rule (units that are 10 wide) a third rank can attack. This makes combat a lot nastier and seems to speed up the game a lot. One thing I know I need to get more games in, so I am not so rusty and make simple novice mistakes.

The drought is over!

Well, the wife and I have moved into our new apartment in Fairview Heights. It's had it's ups and downs as I'm sure anyone who's ever moved can attest. I loath moving and all that it entails. It was easy when I was in the Corps...if it didn't fit into my sea bag, I didn't own it. Now, however, I've a large baggage train (wife), a nine year old daughter, and a 40k hobby. None of those things keep me connected to my former life as a gypsy bachelor, but I think I'm better off in the long run. ;)

Speaking of 40k, I lost my Internet during the move and that has (obviously) been restored. Access to my 40k and Pathfinder content via the web has been restored, and it has done wonders for my grouchiness. I also managed to get in a game of 40k tonight at my new FLGS: Fantasy Games in O'Fallon, Il. This will be the worst battle report from me to date as I forgot my camera, but I'll do my best.

First off, I played a great guy, Tom, who fielded a fun yet effective Chaos Space Marine list. From memory his list was: vanilla lord with a chosen squad with a mix of plasma, melta, and flamers as their special weapons all riding in a land raider. There was a 10 man squad of marines on foot with a lascannon, a mounted plague marine squad, a mounted squad of thousand sons, a 5 man lesser daemon squad, a triple lascannon predator, and a plasma cannon dreadnought. There were meltas, fists, and plasma pistols sprinkled here and there throughout his list. My current 1850 list can be found here. It's been a while since I've played a chaos list without Abaddon or a Daemon Prince (and I've never played against Thousand Sons) so that was something new.

We played annihilation and dawn of war. I won the roll for side and neither of us deployed anything having all of our forces roll on at the start of turn one. We completely forgot about nightfighting which might have dramatically changed how the game was played, but I can't remember a single dawn of war game where I have remembered that rule, so I have only myself to blame (again).

Our deployments weren't at all fancy: we set up in a line in the middle of our deployment zones. I moved forward as far as I could while he held back fairly close to his table edge. Turn one saw him blast my landraider and a dreadnought right off the bat and I was working uphill from there. Remembering nighfighting might have kept them alive that turn, but that stuff happens.

I think I can say that neither one of us were too focused on kill points until the end game, and it was a slug fest till the end of turn 6. Without pictures, I won't get into too much detail but I managed to hold off his advances early on and had a very productive 5th turn. At the end of the game we calculated that it was a 7 - 7 draw, but Tom neglected to count his unit of lesser daemons and declared me the winner 8 - 7. I was previously happy with a draw since the game was so close, so a win was awesome.

The guys from the store seemed very cool, and my game with Tom was amazingly awesome with storybook moments of H.Q. dramatically battling H.Q., and sole survivors hanging on against the odds. In a way I'm almost ok with not having my camera because I got a chance to just B.S. with the guys and enjoy the game without having to worry about getting "a good shot for my blog". I also met up with Chambers from The Back 40k fame, and it looks like Tom may be spearheading an effort for us to get together and play a bit of Apocalypse in the near future. Perhaps I might get some use out of my Imperial Guard? You all have seen a lot of my Salamanders, but nothing of my guard as of yet.

All in all, it was a fantastic night, and I look forward to getting in some more games with the locals (in which group I am now included I suppose). Just remember: No matter how close to St. Louis, Mo. I live, I will always be a Cubs, Bears, & Blackhawks fan. :)

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.

Army Showcase - Ol' Seth's Biel Tan Eldar Host

Something I've wanted to do for a while is show you folks what some of the other members of Team Snake Eyes bring to the table. I finally got some pictures of my good buddy Ol' Seth's Biel Tan eldar. These are so good that I just had to post them before my internet gets disconnected due to my move (headed from Carbondale, IL to Fairview Heights, IL). In the interests of full disclosure, Ol' Seth wanted me to say that he painted everything but Baharroth and the swooping hawks (painted by Mrs. Ol' Seth) and the Super Heavy Tank, wave serpents and vipers (painted by Rachel of Iron Halo painting). I'd love to tell you which is what on these pics, but I know crap-all about eldar (or any army other than I.G. or Codex Space Marines). I've asked for close up pictures of specific units and characters, so hopefully those will be forthcoming. This is a gorgeous army, and it is always a pleasure to play against it. Enjoy