1250 Doubles Practice

Getting prepped for the May 1250 doubles tournament.  I didn't have my usual Tau partner, but Frosty subbed in with his Chaos Marines nicely.  He has a smattering of things that are cool, but not very optimized (as he is wisely holding off on spending bank before the new book comes out).  I'm planning on bringing the blood angels as usual.  The list is much closer to what I brought to the last 2000 tourney than any of the mech lists I have been running before.

It is not quite descent of angels, but pretty close.  Librarian, Plasma Honor Guard with Jump packs, 2 full assault squads, and 10 assault terminators.  We had a slow paced relaxing game, which is great coming off of a tournament, so that Frosty could pick up on the rules and tactics.  I spent a good deal of time outlining what I was trying to plan out.  By the half way point he had a good understanding of where I was going and was able to go along with it, without much instruction.  Definitely got the drift of each units roll and what to do next.

Capture and Control, pitched battle with the Tau and Vanilla marines going first.  They place the objective to our right.  We place straight across on our right as well.  We don't have the guns to match them so we figured we would keep the objectives close.

They then surprise us by putting both armies completely to our left as if it was spearhead.  I think they were trying to create some really open fire lanes.  IMO this really cost them the game.  We pushed a few key units towards them, Beserkers and the big terminator squad, keeping them hemmed into their corner.  The zerkers and TDA got chewed up by the railguns, plasma and Null Zone, but there were enough bodies to keep any units from getting by and getting close to our objectives for 5 turns.

It wasn't until turn 6 when Matt was able to Gate of Infinity over to contest the objective in our deployment zone, but we were holding the other one firmly.  Point to us for playing the scenario from the get go, it felt like we were robbing one!

Definitely, making changes to the list.  Going to cut out some wargear to add another priest.  I really need some more FNP and FC.  This comes at the cost of suits for the Tau, but we'll figure that out...stupid shared force org chart!

Yesterday I finally got around to using the stain dip Brian had recommended and let me try. Pictures on the right have been dipped.  I'm thrilled with the level of shadowing.  Looking back there are only a couple things I would have done differently.  The browns need much more extreme highlights than I am used to doing.  Shouldn't be much of a surprise, but it ends up very muted.  There are also a few should pads that I wanted to do some free hand work on, which I forgot to do prior to the dip.  I'll have to see how well the varnish takes another layer of paint...then another layer of the dip.  I'm guessing it is going to look pretty thickly layered, but I'll give it a shot anyway.

 

This week I will be working on 2 projects.  First is Repentia for Simon.  They are already base coated and I started applying some wash last night.  This will be a fun quick project since the time consuming part is already done. Just needs some highlights and basing to get these ones done.

After the repentia I'll start working on my doubles list for next month.  The plan is to pair up with Gundam John as usual with his Tau.  We need a lot of practice and work on getting the list right.  We tend to get a good list in, but usually not with enough time to practice and we then tend to play two separate games rather than utilizing each others units effectively.  Getting things squared away sooner and having some practice should help.  1250 with shared force org per usual.

I did also hear rumor that they'll be doing away with the single model painting competition and only awarding for army.  I'm disappointing to hear this.  The store dropped the prize amount already and now is getting rid of the second prize.  I hope this doesn't lead to lots of barely primed or naked grey models at too many events going forward.  The store is quickly becoming THE place to play for many of the regionally competitive players. So there is much more focus on playing than the hobby in general.  I hope that this doesn't change the very friendly enjoyable atmosphere we have worked very hard in creating there.  They recently introduced a system and reward for sportsmanship, which should help balance out the competitiveness.  I'm not thrilled that the prize is about the same as first place, considering the opinion of three people are all that determines the prize.  I'm not all that convinced it even fosters a better environment.  Anyone that pleasant to play against is going to be that way whether there is a prize or not.  The win at all cost, sore losers know that they don't have a shot and aren't likely to change their style for something unobtainable.

I don't want this long rant to be the only reflection on the store since it would make it sound like an awful place to play, which couldn't be farther from the truth; amazingly well organized events, exceptionally knowledgeable staff on hand rules disputes, and they are very receptive of feed back, so you can be sure I'll be having a conversation with them about this to give them my two cents for what it is worth  in a constructive way.  I love playing there and want to help keep it a great place to play.

We'll see how the week goes.  Typically, I don't play the Thursday after a tourney, but I really want to try some of the changes I made to the list out.  I'll be posting the refined 2000 point list soon.

Great time today in RI for the 2000 I have been working ot on painting my army for this week.  I learned alot about the list and go to play 3 fun games against 3 great opponents. Major Loss, Major Win, Minor Loss on the day.

Game 1
Necrons first game.  My deployment was deplorable and I went second.  Neither of these is a good thing and that is how the rest of the game went.  Thankfully, my opponent was very pleasant to play against and didn't rub it in at all.  However, the game did have one of those fantastic WTF moments.  See the piles of scarabs below...that's half of them.

Do you know what 10 terminators and a librarian with Unleash Rage turn that into those guys and the others on the other side of the building?  92 Fearless saves.  Yeah, that was pretty awesome!

Game 2
Next game was fun.  It was also the only game of the day where I really had a good plan for the missions and stuck to them.  I was rewarded with a solid victory.  Regular marines with the captain on a bike deathstar.  Not sure what my opponent was thinking, but sending 6 bikes against 10 Assault terminators with a Librarian (Unleash Rage) is beyond me.  I re-roll to hit with claws and hammers, yes even on your turn.  The hammers don't care about your higher toughness and the claws re-roll anyway.  On problem with the game was that a lot of rules questions came up.  Rather than take my word for anything, or look up things in the book, it was off to the tourney judge.  It wasn't that it was offensive to me, more that it slowed the game down a bit and took a lot of the excitement out of it.  I maybe wouldn't complain if I was on the losing side.

Game 3
Regular marines again!  I won first and picked the side of the table that I could see the TV that had the Bruins game on.  I didn't get max points second round so we were not in a position for either of us to place.  I was in position to watch the entire third period though.

I played overly aggressive since my opponent deployed so little.  I ended up taking out the land raider and one of the tactical squads in a razorback without issue.  The main problem was that I miscounted the number of tactical squads with razorbacks.  I counted 4, but there were 6, big difference.  I was killing most everything as it came on, but by turn 4 I was too spread out.  I should have played it safe in the middle of the board.  Either way, it was a very fun game to play.  Great opponent with a very atypical list, which was a nice change.

So I also learned quite a bit about my list...

Positives
1) 3 Powerfists and 3 power weapons, instead of just 3 power weapons was fantastic.
2) Stormraven wasn't so hot, but I knew this going into the day.  If I had another or used a Land Raider, I think things would have gone better, but I don't think that is where I want to sink my points.
3) The two 10 man squads was fantastic.  Just the kind of resiliency that  I needed.
4) Death Co can work with a good player.  I consistently was slaughtering MEQ with these guys.  Proper placement and use of terrain to block LOS and I was able to point these guys to where they did great damage.  Furios Charge, FnP and WS5 can do great things.

Negatives
1) Death Co. Dread was useless, too much of a fire magnet.  I wasn't concerned with getting it to where I wanted it, but had trouble keeping it from getting immobilized every game.  Probably needed to have the librarian closer with shield to make this more worth while.  I may test further to see if keeping it with the shield libby is worthwhile or if going with a regular furioso with the claws would be better.
2) Deployment was a struggle, mostly because I hadn't actually tested the list.  Some bad mistakes in the first and second game could have been avoided if I had been less aggressive.
3) Needs more shooting either to get transports open sooner or to thin out squads.  I find that while I won almost every combat, it took too many turns to do so.  If I can soften them up with shooting, assault and finish them on their turn it would be more ideal. I found I was winning most on my next turn and was open to a lot of return fire.  I already have enough power weapons and attacks for the units I chose so getting some more guns would be a better choice.  Probably Sternguard or Honor Guard with Plasma.

To top off a wonderful day of gaming, I ended up winning the only painting prize for best single model. I was able to pick up a handful of new paints from the new line with the store credit prize.  I made sure to grab a layer, dry, base, and shade to get a feel for how they apply.  Here's the terminator below.  This is a better one of my models that has some subtle conversion and some decent free hand on the banner.

I still need to dedicate a chunk of time to getting one really amazing model done at my highest standard.  Looking ahead, I need to finish paining the Death Co. and get to work on the Sternguard.  Looks like May is going to be a doubles tournament, points and format still being determined.  Rumor is 500 teams, 1 HQ and 1 Troop each.

Here's my Assault Marine Squad Segeant.  Just needs a quick dip for some additional shading and ready to go!

Working on a new list for this weekends 2000 pointer.  This is a huge deviation from my usual Blood Angels Mech list, which now incorporates many more jump packs and termiantors.  Here's what I'm working on, assuming I can get it all painted and ready to go...If I can't the Deathwing is fully painted and ready to roll at 2000 as a fall back.

Librarian - unleash rage and shield

Assault Marines 10 Powerfist and Infernus Pistols x2 jump packs
Assault Marines 10 Powerfist and meltaguns x2 Rhino
Assault Marines 5 Power weapon, meltagun, Heavy Flamer Razorback
Assault Marines 5 Power weapon, meltagun, Assault Cannon
Death Co. 5 Powerfist, Power weaponx2, jump pacls
Death Co. Dread Blood Talons

Sanguinary Priest 2
Assault Terminators 10 hammers and shieldsx4

Stormraven Extra Armor

I have no idea if this will be good.  In fact I know it is not optimized, but it let's me bring all the models that I like in the game in a single list...except I couldn't fit in a chaplain.

While hardly optimal, the list does bring many elements that people are going to have a hard time dealing with.  10 footslogging terminators are a beast, even if it takes a while to get where they are going.  I'm hoping that the Stormraven makes that a non-factor.  If I can get the stormraven across quickly with the Death co squad/dread in my opponents face I have a feeling they'll forget the that the terminators are right behind.

The rest of the list is scoring redundancy.  Lots of marine bodies with mobility and specialized weapon.

 When I started working on this list I wanted two key In your face assault units and a lot of infantry models on the table.

Death Co. - This is a start.  I plan on incorporating the sun on the horizon theme on each plate of armor for these guys.

Typical burnout after a tournament.  I haven't done much since the 24th gaming wise, but am ready to get back into gear.  There are two events next month a 2000 and a team 500.  Given the choice I'll be going to the 2000.  However, scheduling around the family tends to make these decisions for me, so we'll see.

500 team event is definitely a switch from what I like to play.  500 points is completely out of my comfort zone, and I have yet to play a successful doubles tournament as far as placing.  If I go I'll be teaming up with Gundam John as usual with his Tau.  I may switch over to vanilla marines for this, not sure yet, but I haven't been able to build anything in the BA book that I can get excited about.

2000 is really where I love my Blood Angels list to be at.  Deathwing aren't as strong at this many points, but I can still have fun with them here.  I'm planning on working on a BA list for this that is a little different than what I have been playing.  A much more aggressive build that is less reliant on redundancy.  Stormraven and Land Raider are an inclusion this time around.

I'm currently working on Inquisitor Coteaz for painting.  I tried to do a little non-metallic metal gold, but that failed.  His armor ended up looking like a flesh tanned leather.  It wasn't what I was going for, but I think I like it anyway.

Some bits are on the way for the scouts and bikers, so I have been waiting for those to arrive before doing any additional modelling or painting with them...

So many small things going on at once, I definitely need to get the desk cleaned off and get organized. 

1. Prioritize commissions
     A. Repentia
     B. Kroot
     C. Lava Rocks Bases
     D. Coteaz

2. Prioritize my own work
     A. Whatever I need for the 2000 list for April
     B. Whatever I need for the 500 list for April
     C. Finish all the Mech