Testing

Went to a more or less fun tournament last Saturday and tried my list for the first and approximately last time before the AGT tournament. I won't give much details on the battles here and just do a short rundown of the games. Also there were only 6 players. Army lists may or may not be correct. ;)

1. Game vs Imperial Guard:
List: 3 vendettas, lots of lascannon heavy weapon teams and troops with lascannons in chimeras, manticore, demolisher and a normal leman russ, some command stuff.
Mission: killpoints
First turn: him

Can't make cover saves for the life of me (I guess I made 4/20) and 3 terminators died their first lasgun(!) hits. Still, utter annihilation as the game ends, he had his manticore, a crippled vendetta, a crippled chimera, a gone to ground troop squad and a three man command squad in close combat left. Epic fail for one of my tactical squads, couldn't kill these 3 imps in close combat even when charging. Also my lone terminator sergeant killed a lascannon squad, a chimera and a vendetta after deep striking and would have killed the last troop squad if the game hadn't ended. Killpoints: Me: many, him: less. ;)

2. Game vs Dark Angels:
List: Belial, terminators with flamer, banner, chainfist and apothecary, 2x multimelta trikes, 2x 3 bikers with 2 meltaguns, 2x 5 man tactical squad with flamer, meltabombs and lascannon razorback, land raider crusader, vindicator, predator with lascannon sponsons and a land speeder with missiles
Mission: 5 objectives
First turn: him

First turn melta shots and charges at two of my rhinos crippled my movement and I only have one objective in my deployment zone. Return fire wiped out the ravenwing, downed his speeder and shook his vindicator. Pushed for his table edge then and my terminators got rid of his vindicator and scared off one of his scoring units. Couldn't kill his terminators even with meltaguns but managed to kill almost everything else. He had his predator and a tactical squad left too. Game ended 1:0 in objectives for me.

3. Game vs Chaos Space Marines:
List: 8 man raptors with 2 meltaguns and power fist, 2x 8 thousand sons with bolt of Tzeentch, daemonprince with mark of Tzeentch, wings and warp time, 10 man troop squad with power fist, plasmagun, lascannon, 3x 2 man obliterator and sorcerer with wings, mark of Slaanesh and lash
First turn: him
Mission: hold table quarters

Wiped out the raptors on my first turn. And then it went downhill for him: wipe out! Still, lost a lot of units but these were mostly my transports. My Terminators ate 2 obliterator squads and made his normal troop squad run of the board. Daemonprince didn't like Nullzone and meltaguns. Got 2 quarters as I didn't run far enough with my troops.

Conclusion:
Assault terminators are awesome. ;)
Got first place, now to wait and see what the AGT brings.

Also:
Won first prize in painting. Yay!

... ok, I didn't get why but what's new there? Got almost last place with the same army at another tournament. :D

AGT followup

So, it's going to be the Shade Bearers. Had no time to even start painting the Blood Angels. Afer my list revision I got some more models to paint up for the tournament:

2 Multimelta Trikes
5 Assault Terminators
3 Sternguard with combi weapons

New list:
*************** 1 HQ ***************
Space Marine Librarian, Null Zone, The Gate of Infinity
- - - > 100 points

*************** 3 Elites ***************
Dreadnought, dreadnought close combat weapon, stormbolter, plasma cannon
- - - > 115 points

Sternguard Veteran Squad
4 Veterans, 4x combi-melta
+ 1 Sergeant, meltabombs
+ Razorback, lascannon and twin-linked plasma gun
- - - > 225 points

Assault Terminator Squad
3x Thunder Hammers/Stormshields, 1x Lightning Claws,
+ 1 Sergeant, Thunder Hammer/Stormshield
- - - > 200 points

*************** 3 Troops ***************
Tactical Squad
9 Space Marines, meltagun, multi-melta
+ 1 Sergeant, 1x combi-melta
+ Rhino
- - - > 220 points

Tactical Squad
9 Space Marines, meltagun, multi-melta
+ 1 Sergeant, 1x combi-melta
+ Rhino
- - - > 220 points

Tactical Squad
9 Space Marines, meltagun, missile launcher
+ 1 Sergeant, 1x combi-melta
+ Rhino
- - - > 220 points

*************** 3 Fast attack ***************
1 Land Speeder, 1 x heavy bolter, 1 x Typhoon missile launcher
- - - > 90 points

1 Land Speeder, 1 x heavy bolter, 1 x Typhoon missile launcher
- - - > 90 points

2 Trikes, 2 x multi-melta
 - - - > 100 points

*************** 2 Support ***************
Predator, autocannon, 2 heavy bolters - - - > 85 points

Predator, autocannon, 2 heavy bolters - - - > 85 points

Total points Space Marines : 1750

The old solid list with more close combat punch. Worked out pretty well in my testgames so far, but that was mostly against Grey Knights and Imperial Guard and 26/51 will be MEQ according to t³, so we will see how that works out.

I guess pretty good, as the list is geared to kill MEQs. ;)

First Austrian Grand Tournament

First Austrian Grand Tournament

5 games, 1750 points, up to 60(?) players, NO ARMYCHOICE!

Competition is a bit dimished though, as the European Team Championships take place on the same date and some (in)famous Austrian players are not present. Still, no army restrictions should see some ... interesting... army builds fielded. I'm not sure how to feel about that but it's worth a try, as some armies are clearly intended to field their special characters as regular HQs, but that imho that means they aren't... well, special. I dread the games where Dante and Mephiston meet Mephiston and Dante and duke it out on six different tables to see who's the imposter in that little skirmish. Also, army strengh balance may be a problem, as some are clearly superior in this regard (BA, Guard, SW,...).

Well, as I still got some months to prepare I'm not quite sold on which army I'm going to field. Options: Black Templars (again), Shade Bearers and Blood Angels. Ok, I still need to finish painting the BA, but I always complete my armies in time.

... and by that I mean about two hours before I we start playing ;)

Paint it black

I finally made some pictures of my Black Templars:

Black Templars Chaplain


Black Templars Marshal


Black Templars Terminator Marshal


Black Templars Venerable Dreadnought


Black Templars Crusader Squad


Black Templars Crusader Squad


Black Templars Rhino

For more go to the Gallery.

Because we (still) can('t)!

Tournament report with pictures! Yay! ... Ok, they aren't mine again, but the organizers posted them so I'm being mean and am stealing them. Need to buy a camera again too, the old one broke and didn't even make it to a tournament.

Game 1:
Opponent: Jan "Cannonfodder" Peters
Army: Black Templars
List: Emperor's Champion "Riddick" with Accept any challange, 5 Terminators with 2 cyclone missile launchers and tank hunters, 7 Assault Terminators with 4 Thunder hammers/storm shields in Landraider Crusader, 2 Predator Destructors with lascannons, 1 Predator Annihilator with lascannons, 2 Landspeeder Typhoons, 3 Crusader Squads with plasmagun
Mission: 5 objectives
Deployment: Dawn of War
First turn: me

Well, as someone who plays Black Templars more or less successful, I wanted to do to him what is always done to me: Shoot a guy and wait for them to run like pussies. And mine do that. Ok, that or die to a man. Jan's guys definitely don't know the meaning of failed morale check or how to lay down. But that didn't matter much up to turn five. Leading 2:0 in objectives, one of his Terminator still standing and he got one of his troops in close combat so he can't win without having 2 more turns. Roll for turn six: 4. "Riddick" with one wound remaining went nuts and slaughtered his way through half my army on his own. Things he killed: Librarian, Sternguard Squad and 2 combat squads. And all that with only one wound remaining: NOOOOOO!. Other highlights: He tank shocked my Multimelta combat squad with his Land Raider Crusader. Failed Morale check and ran off the board: NOOOOO! Combi-meltas fail to kill the Land Raider: Again. Roll for turn 7: 4. And again. Got 3/4 of my whole 1750 point army shot up in the last two turns until I only got a immobilized Rhino and a Razorback left: And again. Shouldn't have made combat squads and rushed more Rhinos at him and didn't play angry enough, so to sum it up:

;D
Result: 6:34

Game 2:
Opponent: Gerald Brunner
Army: Chaos Space Marines
List: 1 Demonprince of Slaanesh with wings and Lash of submission, 1 Chaos Lord of Slaanesh with Daemonweapon and wings, 1 Dreadnought with twin-linked lascannon, 1 Dreadnought with twin-linked autocannon, 2x 8 Plaque Marines with flamer, meltagun, personal icon and champion with power fist and combi-melta in Rhino with daemonic possession, 1x 7 Plaque Marines with flamer, meltagun, personal icon and champion with power fist and combi-melta in Rhino with daemonic possession, 2x 1 Obliterator, 1 Defiler
Mission: Annihilation
Deployment: Spearhead
First turn: him

He put everything on the board, I reserved everything. He started driving and flying forward to get close as possible as he didn't have much long ranged firepower. On turn two his Dreadnoughts went all this on his Demonprince (pretty fitting too, when you think about it ;) ), wounding him two times. On my turn I simply drove on the field and obliterated his army. With scarce cover single model units and units in rapid fire range didn't stand a chance. Sternguard bolted the Demonprince with hellfire ammo, Obliterators ate lascannon shots, Rhinos got wrecked by hunterkiller missiles. He killed a unit of Sternguard in close combat but is then caught by my dreadnought who then squished his chaos lord. Other casualties on my side were 2 Predators and a Land Speeder. Game ends 9:4 in killpoints and he had an immobilized weaponless dreadnought, a unit of Plaque Marines hiding and a unit of two soon to be dead Plaque Marines in close combat with my dreadnought left. All in all it was an issue of cover. There simply was nowhere to hide from my superior firepower for him.
Result: 36:4

Game 3:
Opponent: Markus"Graf_M_v_T" Tilli
Army: Blood Angels
List: Reclusiarch, 8 Assault Terminators with 4 Thunderhammers/Storm shield, 1 Terminator Sanguinary Priest, 2x 5 man Assault Squad with meltagun in Razorback, 1x 5 man Assault Squad with flamer, 2x Predator with lascannon, 9 man Death Company with power fist in droppod, 1 Furioso Librarian with Blood Lance and Blood Boil, 1 5 man Devastator Squad with 3 missile launchers and 1 lascannon
Mission: 2 objectives
Deployment: pitched battle
First turn: him

He rolled Red Thirst for his flamer jumppack squad and deployed everything, me too. I failed to seize and he starts with dropping his Death Company on his own objective. I try to push for his objective with most of my army and lure his Terminator blob to mine and contesting it on turn 5 with Landspeeders or tank shocking in. Well, luring worked pretty well. Knocking out his Razorbacks didn't. He kept running his Terminators forward, drove his Razorback on my objective and stayed there, shrugging off fire from half my army. The other half shot up the infantry protecting his objective, but didn't manage to wreck his Dreadnought. In the end I had 2 Tactical Squads on his objective with the Dreadnought contesting it, he claimed my objective with one of my speeders failing to contest by 1-2 inches. In the end I didn't push forward fast enough, should have forgone a shooting phase for more ground covered. Well,...
Result: 6:34

Final place was 10/16.

Conclusion:
Do NOT combat squad. Just gets them killed faster in most cases.
Play more aggressively. Get the mobile bunkers 12" forward on first turn, maybe lose the hunter killer missiles for Trikes with multimeltas.
And venerable on the Dreadnought was crap as always.

Got to play two players from the Austrian team for the European Team Championships, so I don't feel that bad. Terrain was an issue as always. Some tables had plenty LOS blockers, on others you couldn't hide an infantry squad. Players were fun as always there. Well, except Jan because he was keeping me from getting LUNCH! So..:

;D

Grey stuff

Well, they are here. Another chapter of His glorious Adeptus Astartes... and guess who wants to have them now. ;)

Also, the sky is falling. Again. Just read the comments on BoLS (also go there if you want to know the new rules. I won't repeat everything here). Tyranids and Demons go to the shelf, CSM fear for their Demonprinces and OMG, Dark Eldar won't be flavor of the month anymore. We are doomed! Again.

That said, let's look at the models:
Well, who doesn't like the Grey Knight look? Ok, they should have used belt fed storm bolters or at least ammo boxes instead of the sickle-magazines on power armour but you can't get everything right, right? Oh, yeah, Marines... For me it's Marines all the way, no inquisition. For now at least. ;)


On the rules (as far as the leaked codex and the internet are concerned):
Vindicare Assassin:
A 4d6 armor penetration AP1 sniper with 91.67% chance to hit with infiltrate, 4+ ward save, 6+ FNP and stealth for ~150? Well, sign me up. Ok, he is no Grey Knight, sue me. :P

Terminators:
Troop choices, hm? And with frag grenades? Ok..., but do you need them? Strike squads do the same much cheaper and get the same options. They lose the 2+/4++ saves though.

Strike Squads:
24" S5 AP5 Assault 2 psibolt storm bolters with force weapons and psicannons. Hammerhand gives some CC boost. Warp Quake kills my Blood Angel list outright. Mishap within 12"? If you really want to you can cover the whole board with this. First turn, Grand Master with d3 scouting units, spread out and done. Ok, Droppods aren't an option, so I walk on and get shot. Or deploy on the board... and get shot. Demons? Yeah, good luck, maybe someone fails their LD 9 test.

Purifiers:
Your crowdcontrol: multicharge, wound on 4+ before combat, then hit with I6 because of Nemesis force halberds and see if something is still standing. Need a transport though, so:

Stormraven:
Transport for the Purifiers and antitank unit. Always get your cover save with flat out because you have a...

Librarian:
The Shrouding: Stealth within 6" and 3+ cover saves for stormravens moving flat out. Who can still fire one weapon. Yay.
Might of Titan: close combat boost vs vehicles and walkers.
Warp Rift: JotWW without sniping and as a flamer template. Situational I suppose and more to put the fear in the opponent. For the auto penetration on vehicles its a bit to short ranged I wager.
The Summoning: If you really need a unit fast.
Sanctuary: Force dangerous terrain tests, it helps, ask Nightspinner players.

Grand Master:
Get d3 units with scouts or scoring, 3+ Wardsave, powerhouse in close combat. Thank you, next.

Rhinos:
The faithful imperial mobile bunker. Put some power armour guys in or use as LOS blocker.


Let's see a hypothetical list:
Grand Master
Librarian, Warp Rift, Might of Titan, Shrouding, Summoning
2x 10 man Grey Knight Strike Squad, 2 Psicannons, Psibolts
1x 10 man Grey Knight Purifier Squad, 6 Nemesis force halberds, 2 Incinerators, 2 Psicannons
Vindicare Assassin
2 Rhinos
2 Stormravens

Well, that's it. I wonder how that list holds up when I get the final codex with all the options.

Blood Angels still remain the next army to finish. ;)

Because we (still) can!

GILEAD hosts the 40k Gilead Turnier Nr1 2011 (German) tournament in Carinthia.

Same restrictions as last time I played there and again with (hopefully this time) fully painted armies.

List to be unleashed:
*************** 1 HQ ***************
Space Marine Librarian, Null Zone, The Gate of Infinity
- - - > 100 points

*************** 3 Elites ***************
Venerable Dreadnought, dreadnought close combat weapon, stormbolter, plasma cannon
- - - > 175 points

Sternguard Veteran Squad
4 Veterans, 1 x combi-melta, 1 x combi-plasma, 1 x heavy flamer
+ 1 Sergeant, 1 x combi-melta
+ Razorback, lascannon and twin-linked plasma gun
- - - > 225 points

Sternguard Veteran Squad
4 Veterans, 1 x combi-melta, 1 x combi-plasma, 1 x heavy flamer
+ 1 Sergeant, 1 x combi-melta
+ Razorback, lascannon and twin-linked plasma gun
- - - > 225 points

*************** 3 Troops ***************
Tactical Squad
9 Space Marines, flamer, multi-melta
+ 1 Sergeant
+ Rhino, hunter-killer missile
- - - > 210 points

Tactical Squad
9 Space Marines, flamer, multi-melta
+ 1 Sergeant
+ Rhino, hunter-killer missile
- - - > 210 points

Tactical Squad
9 Space Marines, flamer, missile launcher
+ 1 Sergeant, 1x combi-melta
+ Rhino, hunter-killer missile
- - - > 225 points

*************** 2 Fast attack ***************
1 Land Speeder, 1 x heavy bolter, 1 x Typhoon missile launcher
- - - > 90 points

1 Land Speeder, 1 x heavy bolter, 1 x Typhoon missile launcher
- - - > 90 points

*************** 2 Support ***************
Predator, autocannon, 2 heavy bolters, hunter-killer missile
- - - > 95 points

Predator, autocannon, 2 heavy bolters, hunter-killer missile
- - - > 95 points

Total points Space Marines : 1750

So, no new army and/or armylist. I'm still working on my Blood Angels and Space Wolves, but hardly time to get working on them... or money to buy the missing models. Next army to be finished will be Blood Angels.