Go to ground!

Team Norway 40k's trip to the 2011 ETC

2012-01-08T12:30:00.001+01:00

Last year, me and the guys went to the European Team Championships (ETC) in Montreux, Switzerland to compete with the best of them. Here are some quick clips from the weekend.

Even though our results were pretty disheartening, we learned a lot and are going back this year, determined to improve our result dramatically!

Lone Wolf conversion

2011-12-24T13:09:00.004+01:00

I've never given the Lone Wolf any attention before, but recently I've felt more attracted to the idea of a single marine running across the battlefield, trying to die whatever way seems fit. In my lists, the one thing I really struggle with is AV14. Of course I have meltas spread all over my Grey Hunters squads, but I've never liked the idea to use a troop to stop a Land Raider, possibly with a death star unit inside. The 6” melta range makes this unit almost sacrificial in this aspect. So maybe a Lone Wolf in TDA with Chain fist and Storm shield could do the job? With a couple of Fenrisian Wolves he has better chance to reach the enemy. So this will be my configuration. This costs 105 pt, quite expensive for the job. But I had a cool idea for a model, so I had to give it a try.

My inspiration came from the Broodlord-model. I wanted the Lone Wolf to have his arms to the side, howling for the moon. The Wolf Guard box set should have what I need. Well, almost. All the chain fists and storm shields are left hand only. So I had to convert either a left hand shield or chain fist. I chose the latter. I couldn't find any picture of a good conversion, so I made my own, very simple one, from a power fist and the saw from a chain fist Not a smooth conversion, but good enough.

A little bit of green stuff later, and my Broodwolf came to life. Considering the amount of time I spent, and the result, I'm satisfied. The shoulder plates are not perfect, but a bit of paint should cover most of it. Also, the arms are maybe a bit to long. But, hey, Space Marines are not Homo Sapiens, so I don't care. Here's the final result:

-Norau

Oh, and Merry Christmas!

500 points doubles at Outland

2011-12-01T20:17:00.001+01:00

A few weekends back, me and Briefspite hosted a mini-tournament at Outland Kirkegata in Oslo. 20 guys showed up for the 500 points doubles tournament, much merriness were had by all (or should I say "most").

The highlight of the day was definitively when Carl Gustav realized that his immobile artillery pieces (we allowed Forge World units) couldn't be deployed in Dawn of War. To be fair, we allowed his guys to drag the artillery onto the board and then become immobile for the rest of the game.

In the end, the duo of Norau and Tawaaagh seized the victory by going undefeated through the entire day. Congratulations!

Bjorn The Fell-Handed conversion

2011-11-01T15:25:00.001+01:00

Norau have built this great Dreadnought conversion, representing the awesome Bjorn. He was the first Great Wolf, you know!

We'll try to get him a nice paint job as soon as possible. This cool dude simply can't walk around all grey for long.

A brief video report from Strategikon 6

2011-11-01T11:57:00.000+01:00

On the weekend of the 15th and 16th of October 2011, we hosted the 6th Strategikon Tournament. It was a blast, and the outcome was very surprising, as none of the usual heavy-weights won!

Ready for Strategikon 6

2011-10-14T18:48:00.001+02:00

The night before Strategikon 6, the terrain is out, the tables are ready, and a couple of players are here playing already!

Team Norway's lists at ETC 2011

2011-07-05T11:00:00.008+02:00

This year is the first time Norway sends a team of 40k players to compete at the ETC. Here are our lists:

PLAYER 1: Henning «Illumini» Lundheim
ARMY DESCRIPTION : Blood Angels

HQ 1 : Librarian (100), Shield of sanguinius (0), Unleash rage (0) [100 pts]

ELITE 1 : 5 Assault Terminators (200), 3 Thunder Hammer & Storm Shield (15), TRANSPORT 1 [215 pts]
ELITE 2 : 5 Assault Terminators (200), 3 Thunder Hammer & Storm Shield (15), TRANSPORT 2 [215 pts]
ELITE 3 : 2 Sanguinary Priests (100), 2 Power Weapons (30) [130 pts]

TROOP 1 : 10 Assault Marines (190), 2 Meltaguns (20) Power Fist (25) [235 pts]
TROOP 2 : 10 Assault Marines (190), 2 Meltaguns (20) Power Fist (25) [235 pts]
TROOP 3 : 5 Scouts (75), 5 Camo cloaks (15), Combat Blades & Bolt Pistols (0) [90 pts]

TRANSPORT 1 : Land Raider Redeemer (240), Extra Armour (15), Multi-melta (10) [265 pts]
TRANSPORT 2 : Land Raider Redeemer (240), Extra Armour (15), Multi-melta (10) [265 pts]

TOTAL [1750 pts]

PLAYER 2: Kenneth «KaldCB» Lomeland
ARMY DESCRIPTION : Space Wolves

HQ 1 : Rune Priest (100) Storm Caller (0), Jaws of the world wolf (0) [100 pts]

ELITE 1 : 3 Wolf guard (54) 2 power fist & combi melta (50), TRANSPORT 1 [104 pts]
ELITE 2 : 5 Wolf scouts (75), 1 Meltagun (10) [85 pts]
ELITE 3 : 5 Wolf scouts (75), 1 Meltagun (10) [85 pts]

TROOP 1 : 5 Grey hunters (75), 1 Meltagun (5), TRANSPORT 2 [80 pts]
TROOP 2 : 5 Grey hunters (75), 1 Meltagun (5), TRANSPORT 3 [80 pts]
TROOP 3 : 5 Grey hunters (75), Flamer (0), TRANSPORT 4 [75 pts]
TROOP 4 : 5 Grey hunters (75), Flamer (0), TRANSPORT 5 [75 pts]

FAST ATTACK 1: Land speeder (50), Multimelta (10) [60 pts]
FAST ATTACK 2: Land speeder (50), Multimelta (10) [60 pts]

HEAVY SUPPORT 1: 5 Long fangs (75), 4 Missile launchers (40), TRANSPORT 6 [115 pts]
HEAVY SUPPORT 2: 5 Long fangs (75) 4 Missile launchers (40), TRANSPORT 7 [115 pts]
HEAVY SUPPORT 3: 5 Long fangs (75) 4 Missile launchers (40), TRANSPORT 8 [115 pts]

TRANSPORT 1 : Razorback (40), Lascannon & twinlinked plasmagun (35) [75 pts]
TRANSPORT 2 : Razorback (40), Lascannon & twinlinked plasmagun (35) [75 pts]
TRANSPORT 3 : Razorback (40), Lascannon & twinlinked plasmagun (35) [75 pts]
TRANSPORT 4 : Razorback (40), Lascannon & twinlinked plasmagun (35) [75 pts]
TRANSPORT 5 : Razorback (40), Lascannon & twinlinked plasmagun (35) [75 pts]
TRANSPORT 6 : Razorback (40), Lascannon & twinlinked plasmagun (35) [75 pts]
TRANSPORT 7 : Razorback (40), Lascannon & twinlinked plasmagun (35) [75 pts]
TRANSPORT 8 : Razorback (40), Lascannon & twinlinked plasmagun (35) [75 pts]

TOTAL [1749 pts]

PLAYER 3: Knut Bjarne «ReX» Gandrud
ARMY DESCRIPTION : Eldar

HQ 1 : Autarch (70), Fusion Gun (10) [80 pts]
HQ 2 : Farseer (55), Runes of Warding (15), Doom (25) [95 pts]

ELITE 1 : 5 Fire Dragons (80), TRANSPORT 1 [80 pts]
ELITE 2 : 5 Fire Dragons (80), TRANSPORT 2 [80 pts]
ELITE 3 : 5 Fire Dragons (80), TRANSPORT 3 [80 pts]

TROOP 1 : 5 Dire Avengers (60), TRANSPORT 4 [60 pts]
TROOP 2 : 5 Dire Avengers (60), TRANSPORT 5 [60 pts]
TROOP 3 : 5 Dire Avengers (60), TRANSPORT 6 [60 pts]

FAST ATTACK 1: Vyper (45), Scatter Laser (15) [60 pts]

HEAVY SUPPORT 1: 2 War Walkers (60), 4 Scatter Lasers (60) [120 pts]
HEAVY SUPPORT 2: 2 War Walkers (60), 4 Scatter Lasers (60) [120 pts]
HEAVY SUPPORT 3: 2 War Walkers (60), 4 Scatter Lasers (60) [120 pts]

TRANSPORT 1 : Wave Serpent (90), Twin-linked Shuriken Cannon (10), Shuriken Cannon (10), Spirit Stones (10) [120 pts]
TRANSPORT 2 : Wave Serpent (90), Twin-linked Shuriken Cannon (10), Shuriken Cannon (10), Spirit Stones (10) [120 pts]
TRANSPORT 3 : Wave Serpent (90), Twin-linked Shuriken Cannon (10), Shuriken Cannon (10), Spirit Stones (10) [120 pts]
TRANSPORT 4 : Wave Serpent (90), Twin-linked Scatter Laser (25), Shuriken Cannon (10) [125 pts]
TRANSPORT 5 : Wave Serpent (90), Twin-linked Scatter Laser (25), Shuriken Cannon (10) [125 pts]
TRANSPORT 6 : Wave Serpent (90), Twin-linked Scatter Laser (25), Shuriken Cannon (10) [125 pts]

TOTAL [1750 pts]

PLAYER 4: Bjørn-Erik Hytt
ARMY DESCRIPTION: Dark Eldar

HQ 1: Haemonculus (50), Shattershard (15), Venom Blade (5), [70 pts]

ELITE 1: 4x Kabalite Trueborn (48), 4x Blasters (60), TRANSPORT 4 [108 pts]
ELITE 2: 4x Kabalite Trueborn (48), 4x Blasters (60), TRANSPORT 5 [108 pts]
ELITE 3: 4x Kabalite Trueborn (48), 4x Blasters (60), TRANSPORT 6 [108 pts]

TROOP 1: 9x Wytches (90), Haywire Grenades (18) 1x Hekatrix (10) Agoniser (20), TRANSPORT 7 [138 pts]
TROOP 2: 5x Kabalite Warriors (45) 1x Blaster (15), TRANSPORT 1 [60 pts]
TROOP 3: 5x Kabalite Warriors (45) 1x Blaster (15), TRANSPORT 2 [60 pts]
TROOP 4: 5x Kabalite Warriors 45 1x Blaster (15), TRANSPORT 3 [60 pts]
TROOP 5: 3x Wracks [30 pts]

FAST ATTACK 1: Beastmasters x4 (48), Razorwing Flock x6 (90), Khymerae x4 (48) [186 pts]

HEAVY SUPPORT 1: Ravager (105), Flickerfield (10) [115 pts]
HEAVY SUPPORT 2: Ravager (105), Flickerfield (10) [115 pts]
HEAVY SUPPORT 3: Ravager (105), Flickerfield (10) [115 pts]

TRANSPORT 1: Raider (60), Flickerfield (10) [70 pts]
TRANSPORT 2: Raider (60), Flickerfield (10) [70 pts]
TRANSPORT 3: Raider (60), Flickerfield (10) [70 pts]
TRANSPORT 4: Venom (55), Splinter cannon (10) [65 pts]
TRANSPORT 5: Venom (55), Splinter cannon (10) [65 pts]
TRANSPORT 6: Venom (55), Splinter cannon (10) [65 pts]
TRANSPORT 7: Raider (60), Flickerfield (10) [70 pts]

TOTAL: [1748 pts]

PLAYER 5: Espen «Rolig» Roligheten
ARMY DESCRIPTION: Space Marines

HQ 1 : Space Marine Librarian (100), Terminator Armour and Storm Shield (40), Null zone (0), Might of the ancients (0) [140 pts]

ELITE 1 : Ironclad Dreadnought (135), Exchange Storm Bolter for Heavy Flamer (10), TRANSPORT 1 [145 pts]
ELITE 2 : Ironclad Dreadnought (135), Exchange Storm Bolter for Heavy Flamer (10), TRANSPORT 2 [145 pts]
ELITE 3 : 6 Terminator Assault Squad (240), 4x thunderhammer and stormshield (0), 2x lightning claws (0) [240 pts]

TROOP 1 : 10 Tactical squad (170), 1x Meltagun (5), 1x Lascannon (10), 1x Power Fist (25), TRANSPORT 3 [210 pts]
TROOP 2 : 10 Tactical squad (170), 1x Meltagun (5), 1x Lascannon (10), 1x Power Fist (25), TRANSPORT 4 [210 pts]

FAST ATTACK 1: 1 Land Speeder squadron (50), 1x Typoon missile launcher (40) [90 pts]
FAST ATTACK 2: 1 Land Speeder squadron (50), 1x Typoon missile launcher (40) [90 pts]
FAST ATTACK 3: 1 Land Speeder squadron (50), 1x Typoon missile launcher (40), Multi-Melta (10) [100 pts]

HEAVY SUPPORT 1: Thunderfire cannon, TRANSPORT 5 [100 pts]
HEAVY SUPPORT 2: Thunderfire cannon [100 pts]

TRANSPORT 1 : Drop pod [35 pts]
TRANSPORT 2 : Drop pod [35 pts]
TRANSPORT 3 : Rhino [35 pts]
TRANSPORT 4 : Rhino [35 pts]
TRANSPORT 5 : Drop pod [35 pts]

TOTAL [1745 pts]

PLAYER 6: Andreas Ørlyng
ARMY DESCRIPTION: Black Templars

HQ 1 : 1 Emperor's Champion (90), Accept Any Challenge (50) [140 pts]

ELITE 1 : 1 Dreadnought (105), Venerable (20), Skill: Tank Hunter (10), Heavy Flamer (10), Extra Armor (5), Searchlight (1), Smoke Launchers (3) [154 pts]
ELITE 2 : Sword Brethren Terminator Squad: 5 Terminators (200), 5 Skill: Tank Hunter (15), 2 Cyclone Missile Launcher (50) , 1 Chain Fist (5) [270 pts]

TROOP 1 : Crusader Squad: 5 Initiates (80), 2 Bolt Pistol and CCW (0), 1 Bolter (0), 1 Meltagun (10), 1 Multimelta (10), TRANSPORT 1 [100 pts]
TROOP 2 : Crusader Squad: 5 Initiates (80), 2 Bolt Pistol and CCW (0), 1 Bolter (0) 1 Meltagun (10), 1 Multimelta (10), TRANSPORT 2 [100 pts]
TROOP 3 : Crusader Squad: 5 Initiates (80), 3 Bolter (0), 1 Plasmagun (6), 1 Lascannon (15), TRANSPORT 3 [96 pts]

FAST ATTACK 1: Land Speeder Squadron: 1 Land Speeder (50), Typhoon Missile Launcher (20) [70 pts]
FAST ATTACK 2: Land Speeder Squadron: 1 Land Speeder (50), Typhoon Missile Launcher (20) [70 pts]
FAST ATTACK 3: Land Speeder Squadron: 2 Land Speeders (100), Typhoon Missile Launcher (40) [140 pts]

HEAVY SUPPORT 1: 1 Predator Annihilator (120), Lascannon Sponsons (25) [145 pts]
HEAVY SUPPORT 2: 1 Predator Annihilator (120), Lascannon Sponsons (25) [145 pts]
HEAVY SUPPORT 3: 1 Predator Annihilator (120), Lascannon Sponsons (25) [145 pts]

TRANSPORT 1 : 1 Rhino (50), Smoke Launchers (3), Extra Armour (5) [58 pts]
TRANSPORT 2 : 1 Rhino (50), Smoke Launchers (3), Extra Armour (5) [58 pts]
TRANSPORT 3 : 1 Rhino (50), Smoke Launchers (3), Searchlight (1) [54 pts]

TOTAL [1750 pts]

PLAYER 7: Alexander «BlueRonin» Sawyer
ARMY DESCRIPTION: Imperial Guard

HQ 1: Company Command Squad (50) Power Weapon, Plasma Pistol, Medi-pack, Plasma Gun x3, Astropath (125), TRANSPORT 1 [175 pts]

ELITE 1: Psyker Battle Squad (60) +5 Sanctioned Psyker (50), TRANSPORT 2 [110 pts]

TROOP 1: Infantry Platoon
Platoon Command Squad (30) Flamer x4, Krak Grenades (25), TRANSPORT 3 [55 pts]
Infantry Squad (50) Commissar, Power Weapon x2, Autocannon (65) [115 pts]
Infantry Squad (50) Power Weapon, Autocannon (20) [70 pts]
Infantry Squad (50) Power Weapon, Autocannon (20) [70 pts]
TROOP 2: Veteran Squad (70) Power Fist, Flamer x 3, Shotgun x7, Demolitions (60) [130 pts]
TROOP 3: Veteran Squad (70) Power Fist, Flamer x 3, Shotgun x7, Demolitions (60) [130 pts]

FAST ATTACK 1: Vendetta (130) [130 pts]
FAST ATTACK 2: Vendetta (130) [130 pts]

HEAVY SUPPORT 1: Hydra Flak Tank Battery (75) + 1 Hydra Flak Tank (75) [150 pts]
HEAVY SUPPORT 2: Ordnance Battery, Medusa (135), Bastion-breacher shells (5) [140 pts]
HEAVY SUPPORT 3: Ordnance Battery, Medusa (135), Bastion-breacher shells (5) [140 pts]

TRANSPORT 1: Chimera (55), Turret Heavy Flamer, Pintle-mounted Heavy Stubber (10) [65 pts]
TRANSPORT 2: Chimera (55) Hull Heavy Flamer, Pintle-mounted Heavy Stubber (10) [65 pts]
TRANSPORT 3: Chimera (55) Turret Heavy Flamer, Dozer Blade, Pintle-mounted Heavy Stubber (20) [75 pts]

TOTAL [1750 pts]

PLAYER 8: Jonas «Xadhoom» Lepsøy
ARMY DESCRIPTION: Chaos Space Marines

HQ 1: Daemon Prince (110), Wings (20), Mark of Slaanesh (5), Lash of Submission (20) [155 pts]
HQ 2: Daemon Prince (110), Wings (20), Mark of Slaanesh (5), Lash of Submission (20) [155 pts]

TROOP 1: 10 Chaos Space Marines (150), 2 Meltaguns (20), Icon of Chaos Glory (10), TRANSPORT 1 [180 pts]
TROOP 2: 5 Plague Marines (115), 2 Meltaguns (20), TRANSPORT 2 [135 pts]
TROOP 3: 5 Plague Marines (115), 2 Meltaguns (20), TRANSPORT 3 [135 pts]
TROOP 4: 5 Plague Marines (115), 2 Meltaguns (20), TRANSPORT 4 [135 pts]

HEAVY SUPPORT 1: 3 Obliterators [225 pts]
HEAVY SUPPORT 2: 3 Obliterators [225 pts]
HEAVY SUPPORT 3: 3 Obliterators [225 pts]

TRANSPORT 1: Rhino (35), Combi-Melta (10) [45 pts]
TRANSPORT 2: Rhino (35), Combi-Melta (10) [45 pts]
TRANSPORT 3: Rhino (35), Combi-Melta (10) [45 pts]
TRANSPORT 4: Rhino (35), Combi-Melta (10) [45 pts]

TOTAL: [1750 pts]

Even more terrain!

2011-06-26T16:34:00.001+02:00

The buildings from Amera are complete and mounted on bases. They are easy to cut and build, and surprisingly sturdy.

The next step is to prime and paint them. After that, it's more hills, trenches and tank traps, and then we'll have us a big ol' city fight!

Terrain ho!

2011-06-18T18:10:00.001+02:00

One afternoon of working with knives and glue - Result!

Aftermath of Strategikon 5

2011-05-06T08:22:00.001+02:00

The last Strategikon tournament was a great success! We had 41 people this time, which is up from 27 in Strategikon 4.

Eldar Autarch by Bjørn-Erik Hytt

Ork Waaagh by Jon Bjarne Moe Gumø

The secret secondary missions worked great. People were really happy with them, even though we realized they could have needed a bit more play-testing. Some of the missions were very hard, and some were pretty easy. Well, we've tested them now, eh? Over 200 games were played at the tournament, so I guess the first round of tests have shown that the concept works.

Baal Predator by Morten Fredheim

We played like this: The tournament organizer rolls for mission and deployment, then hands out one secret secondary mission to each player. The primary is worth 3/1/0, and the secondary is worth a single point.

See this post for all the secondary missions.

Secondary missions at Strategikon 5

2011-05-02T08:07:00.000+02:00

Here are the secondary missions we used at Strategikon 5, so you guys can try them out at home. Roll for mission and deployment first, then randomly draw one of these secret missions. The primary mission (Seize Ground, Capture and Control or Annihilation) is worth 3/1/0, and the secret secondary is worth 1 point.

1: Lost gear

Your operatives had to abandon some vital equipment in this area. This is your chance to recover it!

The equipment is hidden in the center of the battlefield. You will get 1 point for controlling this location at the end of the game.

You control the location if you have a unit of Troops within 3” of the center of the battlefield, and there are no enemy units within 12”.

2: Great leader

The enemy commander is pivotal to the enemy in the ongoing conflict. You must eliminate the him/her/it!

You will get 1 point if you kill your opponent’s most expensive HQ model.

If the enemy doesn’t have a single HQ model with a points cost, you must kill the most expensive HQ unit to fulfil this objective.

If there are 2 HQs of equal cost, you have to kill both of them to get the point.

3: Winning the war

Even though winning this battle is important, winning the long term conflict is more important.

You need to preserve your forces for further engagements. You get 1 point if you have more units alive at the end of the battle than your opponent.

Note that fleeing or fled units are considered “alive” for this purpose.

4: Heavy gear

The enemy have enormous amounts of heavy forces. You must focus on silencing their big guns.

You will earn 1 point if your opponent doesn’t have any Heavy Support units left at the end of the game.

If your opponent doesn’t have any Heavy Support, then you will have to completely destroy his Elites instead. No Elites either? All his Fast Attack then!

5: Warrior elite

The enemy army consists of highly experienced elite troops. You must target their warrior elites to give your side a chance in this war.

You will earn 1 point if your opponent doesn’t have any Elite units left at the end of the game.

If your opponent’s army doesn’t have any Elites then you will have to completely destroy his Heavy Support instead.

No Heavy Support either? All his Fast Attack then!

6: Control the field

This area is of vital tactical importance in the ongoing conflict.

Split the battlefield in four quadrants. You will get 1 point if you have a unit completely within EACH quadrant at the end of the game.

Note that ANY unit can fulfil this objective, not just units from the Troops category. The enemy can’t contest the quadrants for this objective.

7: Impressive victory

After losing many battles in this war, your side desperately needs to increase morale. A slaughter of enemy forces should do the trick.

You will earn 1 point if you completely destroy three enemy units in one player turn. Show this card to your opponent when you fulfil this mission.

8: Decimation

Your forces can’t stand up to the number of enemy troops! You have to cut them down to size.

You will get 1 point if you completely destroy the enemy unit containing the most models.

Making them flee is not enough, you have to kill them all!

If there are multiple units that can be considered containing the most models, you will have to destroy all of them.

9: Hold the line!

This position is vital for the war effort. It must not fall!

You will earn 1 point if there are no enemy units within 18” of your table edge at the end of the game.

10: Breakthrough

This battle is part of a major offensive, and this is where the enemy line will break!

You will get 1 point if you have a scoring unit within 6” of your opponent’s table edge and no units within 12” of your own table edge at the end of the game.

11: Destroy them!

You must show the enemy no quarter and inflict serious damage before they realize what’s happening!

You will earn 1 point if you have destroyed or routed at least 50% of the enemy’s units at the end of the game.

12: It ends here

This battle is the last one of the war. Your two small forces is all that is left. Everyone else are dead. Make sure you win!

You will get 1 point if you are the only one that have a HQ unit alive and not fleeing at the end of the game.

Herohammer: Njal Stormcaller

2011-04-22T23:40:00.000+02:00

Njal Stormcaller in his Runic Terminator Dreadnought Armour

Last time we explored the insane Space Wolves Herohammer list. Me and Norau decided that we just have to try this list out, and of course we need the proper minis! Here's the first one, Njal Stormcaller. We simply love this classic Rune Priest mini, and with a simple gun swap it's a perfect rendition of Njal.

I painted him with a basecoat of Fenris Grey, overbrushed Shadow Grey and highlighted with Adeptus Battlegrey. The runes are Mechrite Red, followed by lighter and lighter applications of Lord Solar Macharius Orange, Blazing Orange and Golden Yellow.

I like how Njal ended up looking, especially as i really didn't spend a lot of time on him. Norau is going to the Strategikon tournament next weekend, and Njal and his buddies just needs to be painted before then.

Herohammering the Wolves

2011-04-16T23:28:00.005+02:00

Intrigued by Blog Wars over at From The Fang, where every army must include a special character, we wanted to make the ultimate Herohammer Space Wolves list. The result:

Logan Grimnar
Njal Stormcaller w/Runic Terminator Armour
Bjorn the Fell-Handed w/Plasma Cannon
Ulrik the Slayer
Blood Claws Pack

Lukas the Trickster
Blood Claws x4
Rhino

Wolf Guard Pack

Arjac Rockfist
Wolf Guard in Terminator Armour x2

All this for the small sum of 1499

This list is actually legal. Insane! And it scales really well too. At 1750, simply give the Wolf Guard, Logan and Njal a Land Raider! Obviously we have to try this out. We'll play a game with this army as soon as we are able. Stay tuned for the exciting battle report!

Eager to find an opponent we tried to do the same exercise with other codices, but the closest we got was a Space Marines list at 940. If you find anything higher, and legal, please let us know in the comments.

Haters gonna hate 2

2011-04-10T11:02:00.000+02:00

So apparently Hitler plays Daemonhunters :)

The video author brings up an interesting point. A lot of trolls on the internet seem to be talking trash over guys that are jumping to the newest Codex when it is released. At the moment, that's Grey Knights. For me, the release of a new codex is very exciting, and I want to explore the possibilities within as soon as possible. If that makes me a guy that jumps on the bandwagon of cheese, so be it.

At least I paint my armies.

Video battle report: Imperial Guard vs Eldar

2011-04-02T09:41:00.000+02:00

Mr. Sportsmanship and Knut is at it again! This time: Imperial Guard vs Eldar. The guys are testing out armies for the upcoming Strategikon 5 tournament with lists at 1500 points.

Video Battle Report: New Grey Knights vs Orks

2011-03-25T09:26:00.001+01:00

We got some visitors from another club on our thursday gaming night this time. I played versus Inger Helene from Team Stormbolter, and she had brought her Orks.

She had a pretty good list, with Lootas, a couple of Kans, two Trukks full of Boyz, a largish unit of Koptas, and the big heavy hitter: Ghazghkull Thraka with a lot of Nobs in a Battlewagon. Nice!

I have gotten hold of a copy of the new Grey Knights Codex, and what better to try than a Henchmen-heavy list lead by everyone's favourite inquisitor, Coteaz himself!

My list:
Coteaz
Eversor Assassin
5 Purifiers w/2 Psycannons, 2 Hammers, Rhino
7 Grey Knight Terminators m/Psycannon & Warding Stave
10 Henchmen (3 Crusaders, 5 DC Assassins, 2 Warriors)
10 Henchmen (3 Crusaders, 4 DC Assassins, 3 Warriors w/Meltaguns), Chimera
7 Henchmen (3 Servitors w/Heavy Bolters, Jokaero, 3 Warriors w/Plasma Guns), Chimera w/HK missile
Dreadnought w/Plasma Cannon
Dreadknight
Land Raider

We rolled for mission and deployment and got Capture & Control and Pitched Battle. My objective is on the center hill and hers is in the big grey building.

Check out the video battle report for details on the game!

750 point madness

2011-03-22T20:06:00.001+01:00

The last tournament I attended had four games at 1750 points and two games at 750 points. No comp in either meant that we saw some quite silly lists from the top guys. I have both hosted and played 500 point doubles tournaments before, and am adamant in that games under 1500 points require comp (restrictions) of some kind.

However, if there's no comp people will undoubtedly try to fit in the hardest units they can think of. Let's take a look at some of the more outrageous examples I can think of, and then you guys can post your lists in the comments! Maybe we'll create real gold here :)

I'm actually stretching the truth when I say no comp, as there was some. A modified Force Organization Chart: 1 HQ, 0-2 Elites, 1-4 Troops, 0-2 Fast Attack. 0-2 Heavy Support. This can't really be called comp, because at 750 points you'd be stretching it if you took three Heavy Support. I guess they tried to quell the urge to spam, and then gave us insufficient points to do any spam anyway.

My Chaos Space Marine list at the tournament was:

Daemon Prince with Wings
Summoned Greater Daemon
5 Chaos Space Marines with Meltagun, Champion and Rhino
5 Chaos Space Marines with Meltagun, Champion and Rhino
Defiler
Predator with Heavy Bolter Sponsons

This list can fight almost anyone in CC, has long range, high strength, multi-shot and area effect firepower, several fast meltaguns, mobility and many units.

After the tournament I did a little thinking and came up with this list:

Daemon Prince with Wings and Mark of Khorne
5 Chaos Space Marines with Meltagun
5 Chaos Space Marines with Meltagun
Land Raider
Land Raider

Yeah, that's two scoring Land Raiders in 750 points. Even against Dark Eldar with as many Dark Lances as they can fit (barring bad luck), you should be able to triumph.

750 point games at the top tables of a tournament are extremely matchup-dependent. If you have a foot list and meet an Ork horde you're screwed. However, if you have the dual Land Raider sillyness i wrote about above, you are pretty much invincible. All due to matchup, which you have no control over.

Building a "balanced" list is also rubbish, because then you'll be equally screwed no matter what you meet. Remember we're talking about the top tables here, folks. You'll see Mephiston, a Land Raider, 5 naked Assault Marines and a Librarian Dreadnought in 750 points. Beat that with a "take-all-comers" list ;)

So, what crazyness can you guys conjure up? 750 points and the modified FOC, above. Otherwise NO RESTRICTIONS!!

Haters gonna hate

2011-03-18T07:03:00.001+01:00

After last weekend's tournament, I asked on their forums whether they would send the results to Rankings HQ. Oh, the horror!

Haters gonna hate!

Rankings HQ is a website that aggregates tournament results from all over the world and ranks the players of each country. Each country have their own rules for scoring and ranking, adjusted to the size of the tournament scene of said country. For Norway, a player receives 100 points for winning a tournament of 40 people or more. The three best scores the last 12 months count, so the maximum amount of points a player can have is 300. Even if a player wins three big tournaments and finishes last in a fourth, his score is still 300.

The head honchos quickly informed me that they had discussed it, but had decided not to send in any results. They didn't give any reason as to why they had decided this.

Some local guys then protested, saying that they wanted them sent in and arguing that players from afar would have less reason to come if the tournament didn't rank. Also, by sending in the results, the community would get a lot of useful data. For example, the ETC team would have an easier time picking good players for ETC participation. It didn't take long before the protests started.

One guy argued that you'd need written consent from everyone before posting the results on RankingsHQ, which is nonsense. The results for each of these tournaments had been posted on the internet for the last 8 years, so this wasn't any different. Then, we came to the core of the problem.

"It will promote powerplay to an even greater scale. Let's be the safe haven everyone can turn to in order to relax and have a nice good tournament."
"It is an event, not a tournament. This is something some players haven't understood, as they bring ridiculously boring min/max armies."
"Ranking is anathema to what 40k should be."
"People shouldn't be completely unimaginative when it comes to army design."

Yeah, I asked them what they meant by "power play" It seems like it is unacceptable to play and win. You should play and only have fun and not win. And if you do happen to win, you'd better not be using an army consisting of more than one identical unit. If you do, you have no imagination, are boring and an bad person.

One of the guys complaining about "power play" was the guy I played in turn 1. He had a rock hard Daemon list with 2 Great Unclean Ones, 3x3 Bloodcrushers, 2x5 Plaguebearers, 4x5 Horrors w/Bolt and 3 identical Daemon Princes of Nurgle. I liked his list and he was a pleasant guy to play against, but let's not kid ourselves: His list was spammy. So what? Apparently, it doesn't matter if you don't win.

It was only the top armies that got a lot of flak, so it seems like taking a hard army is OK, as long as you don't win.

Even the guy with the Kan Wall of spam accused me of using a boring list. GG guy!

So yeah, haters gonna hate!

PS: This is not a criticism of the tournament itself. It was very well run and I enjoyed the experience. This post is about the illusion some of the players there have, that there is such a thing as "balanced armies" and that you are a better person if you don't bring what you consider best to a tournament.

Video tournament report: Winter War 8

2011-03-14T14:01:00.000+01:00

We need to obliterate the enemy!

2011-03-08T10:10:00.000+01:00

When Predators and Defilers can't deliver enough carnage with their guns, we need Obliterators. These techno-mages, previously of the Adeptus Mechanicus, can deliver this for a bargain price. They can conjure up the perfect weapon for any task, get easy cover saves and Deep Strike to the perfect spot on the battlefield.

So I need some!

However, I don't fancy the current Obliterator model, so I converted my own. Check them out!

As you can see, the paint job is pretty gritty. I'm attending a tournament this weekend, and just needed them to be done. I'll probably revisit them at a later time, touching up the mistakes and adding some highlights.

Video tournament report: Chaos Space Marines vs the World!

2011-03-04T10:05:00.003+01:00

Hi guys, I'm back with another tournament report. This was a mini-tournament we played @ the University in Oslo in March 2011.

750 points, 4 games using two of the missions from the upcoming tournament Winter War 8 in Bergen.

Missions 1 and 4:
Deployment: Dawn of War (no night fight in turn 1)
Primary: D3+1 Objectives
Secondary: Kill the most expensive Psyker (or the most expensive non-vehicle, non-HQ model if there is no Psykers in the army)
Tertiary: Kill Points

Missions 2 and 3:
Deployment: Spearhead
Primary: Kill Points
Secondary: Kill the opponent's HQ and save your own
Tertiary: Kill the opponent's HQ with your HQ.

Modified Force Organisation Chart:

1 HQ
0-2 Elites
1-4 Troops
0-2 Fast Attack
0-2 Heavy Support

My list, 750 pts Chaos Space Marines:

Daemon Prince w/Wings
Summoned Greater Daemon
5 Chaos Space Marines w/Champion and Meltagun in a Rhino
5 Chaos Space Marines w/Champion and Meltagun in a Rhino
Defiler w/2 extra Dreadnought Close Combat Weapons
Predator w/Heavy Bolter Sponsons

Watch the video to see how it went!

Game 1: Chriss' Space Marines
Cassius
10 Marines w/Flamer, Missile Launcher, Power Fist in Rhino
Land Speeder Typhoon w/Heavy Flamer
Land Speeder Typhoon w/Heavy Flamer
Predator Annihilator w/Heavy Bolter sponsons
Predator Destructor w/Heavy Bolter sponsons

Game 2: Norau's Space Wolves
Wolf Lord on Thunderwolf w/Frost Blade and Fenrisian Wolf
Thunderwolf
5 Grey Hunters w/Meltagun in Razorback w/Lascannon & Plasma Gun
5 Grey Hunters w/Meltagun in Razorback w/Lascannon & Plasma Gun
5 Long Fangs w/4 Missile Launchers

Game 3: Per Anders' Tyranids
Tervigon w/Catalyst
2 Hive Guard
10 Genestealers
5 Genestealers w/Broodlord
3 Zoanthropes
Biovore

Game 4: Hans Christian's Space Marines
Chaplain in Terminator Armour
5 Assault Terminators (3 TH+SS, 2 LC) in Land Raider Redeemer
10 Scouts w/Camo Cloaks and Sniper RIfles

Video battle report: Blood Angels vs Eldar

2011-03-01T23:00:00.001+01:00

Competitive Ulthwe revisited

2011-02-28T10:28:00.000+01:00

Two years ago, I wrote a blog post on Ulthwe Eldar being competitive. It was written before the new Space Wolves, Blood Angels and just as the Imperial Guard codex was released. Looking back at the post, I see that some of my points aren't valid anymore, and the army wouldn't be able to beat the armies I am playing against today. So let's take another look at it!

Keeping in mind my rules for Ulthwe Army Lists:

No Aspect Warriors
No Wraiths
Only Farseer as HQ
At least one unit of Warlocks as the Seer Council
Only Guardians or vehicles driven by Guardians

Currently, we are operating at 1750 points in my gaming circuit, so let's keep to that.

A Farseer is essential, as is his Seer Council. Mounting them on jetbikes gives them mobility to use their Destructors is key if you want the Seer Council to be your hammer. If you rather want it to be your anvil, they can be on foot. The Fortune psychic power is also a must, as this increases their survivability no end! Last, Runes of Warding is a no-brainer which you should always take in a take-all-comers army.

Farseer w/Jetbike, Fortune, Runes of Warding
6 Warlocks w/Jetbikes, 3 Destructors, 2 Embolden, 1 Enhance

We will also need some Troops. I have had great success with a small unit of Guardians with a Bright Lance, deployed out of harms way. They aren't quite dangerous enough to warrant many troops going after them, but can wreak havoc in the enemy's armour line. They get Embolden, so they won't run away after losing a few models.

10 Guardians w/Bright Lance, Warlock w/Embolden
10 Guardians w/Bright Lance, Warlock w/Embolden

Next, we need some mobile anti-tank. The Seer Council can take most hordes straight on, but will struggle aganst Land Raiders and the like. Ideally, this would be 5 Fire Dragons in a Wave Serpent, but because we don't like Aspect Warriors we can't take them.

10 Storm Guardians w/2 Fusion Guns, Warlock w/Singing Spear in Wave Serpent w/Twin-Linked Shuriken Cannons and Spirit Stones
10 Storm Guardians w/2 Fusion Guns, Warlock w/Singing Spear in Wave Serpent w/Twin-Linked Shuriken Cannons and Spirit Stones

We now have a lot of Troops. Let's take even more!

6 Jetbikes w/2 Shuriken Cannons, Warlock w/Destructor
6 Jetbikes w/2 Shuriken Cannons, Warlock w/Destructor

Finally, let's take some heavy support for all our Troops.

Fire Prism w/Spirit Stones
Fire Prism w/Spirit Stones

Total points cost is 1749, and we end up with a list that can be really annoying! It isn't easy to catch the Eldar on the move, and the slow elements in this list isn't really that important for the enemy to take out! You have quite a lot of firepower, high mobility, a Seer Council that can both take and dish out a lot of damage and a lot of Troops to take those vital objectives. In a pinch, you have 4 Fast Tanks that can crash enemy-held objectives and contest for that turn 5 win.

It should be noted that this list is highly inspired by my buddy Knut's Eldar list. Even though he runs Fire Dragons, an Autarch and no normal Guardians, the feel of this army is still pretty much the same.

Excel army list makers

2011-02-25T10:07:00.000+01:00

After yesterdays post about the program Army Builder, I got a tip from a reader. He calls himself fester40k, and told me to Google up Alice40k and their army list makers.

Lo and behold; Excel army list makers for all current codexes! I hadn't even heard of these, so they could do well to market them a bit more!

I decided to check them out. However, I don't own Excel. Excel is 189 € (about 260 US$), so it's way over what I think the software is worth. I use a Mac, and the spreadsheet software I have available is Google Documents, Numbers on my iPad and OpenOffice Calc.

Google Docs could open the Excel files just fine, but all macro-based functionality wasn't there anymore. Fail
Numbers on iPad couldn't even open the files, claiming they were encrypted. Fail
OpenOffice could open the files, but there were pretty much nothing that worked. Fail
Frustrated, I tried my old-old laptop from work that actually has Excel 2007 - Norwegian version. Unfortunately, the army list makers aren't compatible with non-english versions of Excel! Fail

I should note that Army Builder isn't even available for Mac, so that's another fail for me. I use an old windows laptop to run that software, as it isn't very demanding.

If you have an English version of Excel, try them out! As far as I can tell, they are great tools for making army lists a bit easier and quicker than with pen and paper.

Make army lists easy!

2011-02-24T19:05:00.000+01:00

Writing an army list by hand is a lot of work. You have to select the units you like, select all the wargear and options you want your units to have, calculate the points total. When calculating the army's total points cost, you will almost always have gone over the points limit, and you have to go back and adjust. This can be frustrating and take a lot of time. Even worse, with a lot of adding and subtracting from the points total, you often end up with a mistake somewhere. Then you have to do it all over again!

All the way back to 3rd edition I've used a brilliant program called Army Builder. It makes army list creating more about the army list and less about calculating points cost. It supports Warhammer Fantasy Battles, Warhammer 40k, Battlefleet Gothic, Blood Bowl, Warmachine and pretty much any other miniature wargame I can think of.

Every unit, wargear option, psychic power. It's all here, folks!

A trial can be downloaded for free, but to get the full experience, I fully recommend a license. It's only $39.99 for a license you can use on two computers. That means that you and a friend can split the cost and get it for one computer each!

Please note that I have no commercial interest in this product and receive nothing from the authors for writing this blog post. I just use and like it a lot, and that's why I recommend it.

If you don't want to spend money on making your list building easier, there is a free solution! At least if you have Microsoft Excel and play Necrons or Eldar. YouTube user matteo311GameMovies have made army builders for Necrons and Eldar. He's giving these away for free, and explains about them in this YouTube video. If you support him by downloading the army builders, commenting on and spreading his videos, he might just make the next one for your army.

How about them new Grey Knights?

2011-02-23T15:00:00.000+01:00

So, the Grey Knights are next. Gone will be the Daemonhunters of old, the restricting codex that required you to use the Space Marine codex and the Imperial Guard codex if you wanted to exhaust all the options within.

The Inquisitors made it into the Grey Knights codex! Who'd have thunk it!

The rumours have it that this time around mankind's most elite defenders, the Grey Knights will not be overpriced vanilla Space Marines with Storm Bolters. No, this time they will be awesome!

Two of my gaming buddies, Knut and Illumini, have done a few playtests, using the leaked dex that's floating around. They're not convinced that it's the ultimate cheesefest some people are making it out to be. Paladins with W2 Sv2+/2++ and Feel No Pain is not the way to go, though the rumours were sexy indeed!

The Grey Knights will depend on their Special Characters for most competitive builds (Coteaz comes to mind), but that taking a standard Grand Master also can be made to work pretty well. Also, the Dreadknight is an incredibly solid choice!

In fact, Illumini thinks that any all-comers Grey Knight build will include three Dreadknights. They simply are that good!

A list @ 1750 points:

Coteaz
Grand Master, psycannon, nemesis warding stave

4x Meltagun warrior, 1x Jokaero, 5 Warriors, Chimera
1x Meltagun warrior, 1x Jokaero, 3 Multi-melta Servitors, 6x warrior, Chimera
4x Plasmagun warrior, 1x Jokaero, 5 Warriors, Chimera
4x Plasmagun warrior, 1x Jokaero, 6 Warriors, Chimera

Dreadknight, teleporter, heavy psycannon
Dreadknight, teleporter, heavy psycannon
Dreadknight, teleporter, heavy psycannon

Illumini comments: The Grand Master can give the Scout ability to D3 units (Dreadknights). You then have a massive advantage in the map control department, as they will be firmly in your opponent's face. Coteaz makes it so you are almost immune to getting seized, so you can safely deploy fully forward if you get first turn. Because of the scouting Dreadknights, deploying against this army will be a dangerous prospect indeed. Many opponents will try to reserve their stuff, or find themselves in close combat with three Dreadknights by turn 2 at the latest.

If your opponent reserves his entire army or you are playing Dawn of War, the Dreadknights can get scoring status instead.

The inqisitorial retinues want to roll 2 on the Jokaero chart, making the Meltaguns 24" and the Plasma guns and Multi-meltas 36"!

After testing out this army, Knut had some thoughts about it:
Those Terratrons (Dreadknights) are a royal pain to play against! Even though Illumini had a bit of bad luck on his 4+ invulnerables, they took an incredible beating before going down. In one turn, i shot 15 Fire Dragons, 6 War Walkers with Scatter Lasers and 2 Wave Serpents with Scatter Lasers, and the bastard only lost 2 wounds!

Coteaz is a steal! His ability to shoot at outflankers more or less neutralized my War Walkers in his back field. In a Dawn of War match, where he can deploy far forward, he can pretty much deny an entire flank. And that's not even one of his best abilities!

After a little bit of consideration, Knut fashioned this list @1750:
Grand Master, Nemesis Warding Stave
Librarian, The shrouding, Warp Rift, The Summoning, Might of Titan, Teleport Homer, Nemesis Warding Stave

5 Grey Knight Strike squad, Incinerator
5 Grey Knight Strike squad, Incinerator

Storm Raven, TL-Multi-melta, TL-Lascannon
Storm Raven, TL-Multi-melta, TL-Lascannon

Dreadknight, Teleporter, Heavy Psycannon
Dreadknight, Teleporter, Heavy Psycannon
Dreadknight, Heavy Psycannon

In objective missions, you can get D3 scoring Dreadknights if you want it, so the 2 Troops isn't much of a problem. The Librarian and Grand Master takes a Storm Raven each. The Librarian can use The Summoning and his Teleport Homer to get Dreadknights out of sticky situations if needed.

The Storm Ravens can go Flat Out 24" and still shoot their twin-linked Multi-meltas at enemy armor. If either is shot at, the Librarian can use The Shrouding to give both of them a wonderful 3+ Cover Save.

There you have it, folks! Our first playtest of the leaked Grey Knights codex. It seems very interesting and fairly strong so far. I especially like the Inquisitorial Henchmen! I'm definitively going to get my guys together for this one!

Space Wolves commission and the Scorpion Defiler

2011-02-22T19:51:00.000+01:00

Here is a little runthrough of the Space Wolf army I'm painting up for my buddy Norau. As a litte bonus, at the end I'm showing off my Scorpion Defiler.

Preparations for Winter War 8

2011-02-18T22:05:00.000+01:00

Our gaming group is going to Winter War 8 in March. For preparations, we are playing a lot of games with the scenarios in the rulespack. Some of them are pretty strange, so it will be useful to have tried them out in advance.

We are also required to bring two armies. One 1750 point and one 750 point army. Army selection has been difficult, because some armies excel at 1750, but struggle at 750. Black Templars struggle very much at 750, for example.

Also, at 750 without any restrictions, it pretty much comes down to matchup. If you get a good matchup you win, if you get a bad one you lose. You can meet Mephiston, a Dreadnought, a Land Raider and a 5-man naked Tactical Squad or you can meet 120 Orks. How do you build a balanced army that can win against both of these extremes? 750 points in a competitive environment is a bad idea.

Regardless, we are looking forward to going and meeting lots of 40k players. The tournament filled all 50 spots a month ago, so it should be a blast! Expect video battle reports ;)

Strategikon 5 secondary missions sneak peek

2011-02-18T18:10:00.000+01:00

At the next Strategikon we're mixing things up a bit. Instead of simply playing the standard missions from the rulebook, we're adding secondary missions. Here's a little sneak peek of what these missions can be.

Great leader
The enemy commander is pivotal to the enemy in the ongoing conflict. You must eliminate him/her/it!

You will get 1 point if you kill your opponent’s most expensive HQ model.

If the enemy doesn’t have a single HQ model with a points cost, you must kill the most expensive HQ unit to fulfill this objective.

Control the field
This area is of vital tactical importance in the ongoing conflict.

Split the battlefield in four quadrants. You will get 1 point if you have one or more units completely within each quadrant at the end of the game. Note that ANY unit can fulfill this objective, not just units from the Troops category. The enemy can’t contest the quadrants for this objective.

More Special Characters from Imperial Armour 9

2011-02-15T22:21:00.003+01:00

They're green!
Of course they get +1 Cover Save!

Last time, we explored the possibilities Captain Tarnus Vale gives a Space Marine Army. This time, let's check out the sneaky Chapter Master of the Raptors, Lias Issodon.

Chapter Master Lias Issodon - 140 points

Issodon is the leader of the Raptors, who are apparently even more sneaky than the Night Lords and Alpha Legion combined! His special Chapter Tactics rule is that all units exchange Combat Tactics for the Stealth Univeral Special Rule.

This is insanely good! Space Marines benefit greatly from cover against low-AP weapons. Giving them all +1 to their cover save is pretty ridiculous. However, just like Tarnus Vale, only foot troops have Combat Tactics and benefit from his buff.

He also gives your opponent -1 to any reserve rolls, and 1 unit D6 wounds or a glancing hit after deployment. This is also awesome, but we won't be exploiting this today.

Let's try a list! 1500 points:

Chapter Master Lias Issodon
Space Marine Captain w/Relic Blade, Artificer Armour & Space Marine Bike

4 Space Marine Bikes w/2 Flamers, Attack Bike
4 Space Marine Bikes w/2 Flamers, Attack Bike
4 Space Marine Bikes w/2 Meltaguns, Attack Bile w/Multi-Melta

2 Attack Bikes w/Multi-Meltas
2 Attack Bikes w/Multi-Meltas
2 Attack Bikes w/Multi-Meltas

5 Devastator Squad w/4 Missile Launchers
Thunderfire Cannon
Thunderfire Cannon

No Scouts in this list, even though they would also benefit greatly from Issodon's abilities.

We exploit Issodon's Chapter Tactics twice in this list:

The Techmarines manning the Thunderfire cannons can use Bolster Defences on two ruins giving 2+ cover saves to themselves, Issodon, the Devastators and any bikes hiding behind the terrain piece at the start of the game.
The (apparently stealthy) Bikes can Turbo-boost, giving themselves 2+ cover saves until they are ready to strike (with 4 Flamers, 2 Heavy Bolters, 7 Multi-Meltas and 2 Meltaguns. Oh, and a bunch of Twin-Linked Bolters).

What do you guys think? Is it to powerful? Try it out, and let me know how it went! ;)

Missions at Strategikon 5

2011-02-13T14:32:00.001+01:00

The fifth tournament in the Strategikon series is from April 30th to May 1st. At Strategikon 3 and 4 we simply played the standard missions from the rulebook. Win, draw or loss was the name of the game, giving 3, 1 and 0,5 points each. The feedback we got from the players indicated that they were very happy with the missions being simple and familiar. However, several players also said that they wanted to mix things up a little bit.

This time, we're going to try to do just that. We're still playing the standard missions, but are also introducing our secret secondary mission cards. After matchups, each player is given a card with a secret mission objective. If they manage to fulfill this objective during or at the end of the game they get 1 point extra. The secondary mission isn't something you compete with your opponent to do, and in most cases both players can fulfill the requirements for the secondary in the same game.

Victory in the primary mission will still count much more than the secondary, so that will still be imperative to win if you want to do well in the tournament.

Another reason for including the secondary missions is that many players ended up with equal scores after five games. We did have tiebreakers to separate them, but several players voiced their discontent with this solution. We hope that the secondary mission will separate players more than before, so it will be more clear who are the top 40k players in Norway and who aren't.

Exploring Special Characters from Imperial Armour 9

2011-02-12T09:05:00.002+01:00

Last time we made a Daemons army using Blight Drones to dramatically increase firepower and block movement. This time, let's check out some of the many Special Characters from Imperial Armour 9 - The Badab War part 1, and what they can do for your army.

Captain Tarnus Vale - 175 points

This guy is the Praetor of the Fire Angels 3rd company and has a thing for armoured warfare. He is a regular Captain stats-wise, but isn't a powerhouse in close combat or shooting. He is a 175 point army buff because of his Chapter Tactics rule:

Chapter Tactics: Vale is a master of the mechanised assault and anti-armour warfare. If you include Captain Vale then all units in your army exchange the Combat Tactics special rule for the Tank Hunters USR. In addition, any Rhino or Razorback bought as a dedicated transport for squads affected by this change gains the Extra Armour upgrade for free.

In addition he has the following special rule:
Master Gunner: Any vehicle with the subtype (Tank) that transports Captain Vale gains the Tank Hunters USR.

Put him in your army, and all your Devastators' Missile Launchers are S9 versus vehicles. That's pretty hard core! Put him in a Land Raider and your Godhammers will pummel the enemy tank lines with two Twin-Linked S10 shots per turn. All the Krak Grenades in your army are S7, Power Fists S9, Plasma Guns S8 and even the humble Bolter gets bumped up to S5 as long as a vehicle is the target!

Sure, he's a liability if you expect to meet a lot of footsloggers like Footdar, Tyranids or The Green Tide, but the strength of getting Tank Hunters on all your foot troops is immense!

Let's try a list @1850 points:

Captain Tarnus Vale

5 Assault Terminators, Land Raider w/Multi-Melta

10 man Tactical Squad w/Meltagun & Lascannon, Sergeant with Combi-Melta, Razorback w/Lascannon, Twin-linked Plasma Gun & free Extra Armour
10 man Tactical Squad w/Meltagun & Lascannon, Sergeant with Combi-Melta, Razorback w/Lascannon, Twin-linked Plasma Gun & free Extra Armour

5 man Devastator Squad w/4 Missile Launchers, Razorback w/Lascannon, Twin-linked Plasma Gun & free Extra Armour
5 man Devastator Squad w/4 Missile Launchers, Razorback w/Lascannon, Twin-linked Plasma Gun & free Extra Armour
5 man Devastator Squad w/4 Missile Launchers, Razorback w/Lascannon, Twin-linked Plasma Gun & free Extra Armour

That's 75 free points of Extra Armour! 12 S9 Missile Launchers and 4 S10 Lascannons should make short work of any Razorback or Chimera spam on the other side of the table. All the Extra Armour will keep your tanks moving and your deployment zone from clogging up with stunned tanks.

If the enemy tries to rush you, the Meltaguns are S9 and should stop any vehicles coming too close for comfort. Sure, 5 Assault Termies aren't the best counter charging element there is, but they should be able to hold up most units that have weathered the storm of fire.

Next time we'll look at Chapter Master of the Raptors, Lias "The Grim" Issodon and his stealthy ways. His boys are even more stealthy than the Night Lords!

Let's try Imperial Armour!

2011-02-11T08:55:00.002+01:00

I guess most of you guys are familiar with pretty much all the codexes out there, and all the major blogs are churning out lists for Space Wolves, Blood Angels or Dark Eldar. But very few places have I seen people talk about the wealth of stuff contained in the huge tomes known as Imperial Armour. Sure, they are seldom considered "official" by hardcore gamers, and I know of only one tournament that allows them. Incidentally, this is the tournaments I and Briefspite host, called Strategikon.

I recently acquired all the Imperial Armour books released to date, and have had many good evenings in my comfy couch with a cup of gourmet coffe and a big book in my lap. Let's try to make a decent list using some stuff from IA7 The Siege of Vraks part 3. And none of that really freaky stuff like Structure Points or Flyers or anything like that. Plain 40k rules here.

Chaos Daemons: 2000 points
Bloodthirster (Might, Instrument)
Bloodthirster (Might)
5 Plaguebearers
5 Plaguebearers
5 Plaguebearers
2 Blight Drones
2 Blight Drones
2 Blight Drones
Soul Grinder (Phlegm)
Soul Grinder (Phlegm)
Soul Grinder (Phlegm)

The Blight Drones are Fast Skimmers with AV12/11/10 and the same Vomit and Phlegm attack that the Soul Grinder has, in addition to a Reaper Autocannon.

The idea behind this list is that your opponent's small arms are completely nullified. Your preferred wave can bee all six Blight Drones and all three Soul Grinders. This gives you nine S8 AP3 large blasts from wherever you want in turn 1, from a wall of AV12/13. The Blight Drones are even pretty much impervious to close combat troops, requiring sixes to hit them!

Assault Terminators in a Land Raider is a typical example of this. You can't really threaten the Raider with shooting, but the Soul Grinders and Bloodthirsters will rip it up if they can survive to the turn after the drop. The Blight Drones are perfect for this. The Land Raider can't easily Tank Shock the skimmers away (3+ dodge save), and then the Terminators won't be able to get to your Grinders.

If you get the other wave, no matter. Just sit in cover with the Plaguebearers and try to get the enemy moving, exposing their sides and rear. Then you drop the Blight Drones and Soul Grinders on the flanks or up their tailpipes.

Next time we'll take a look at two Space Marine characters from Imperial Armour 9 - The Badab War part 1.

Let's ban all Special Characters!

2011-02-10T20:51:00.001+01:00

After becoming the team captain for Team Norway at the next year's European Team Championship, I started reading both the rules pack and the discussions in the Captain's Council that lead to these rules. You see, all aspects of the ETC is decided in a democratic process, where the team captains of each nation have one vote each. The majority rules.

Most of the decisions have been excellent, and the tournament format is undoubtedly very good for this kind of event. I did however wonder why they decided to ban all Special Characters Here in Norway, we have allowed SCs for quite some time now, after GW started removing the need for "opponent's consent" whenever fielding an SC.

The discussions prior to the vote mostly dealt with some characters breaking the game. Some argued that allowing Special Characters would decrease the number of viable builds available to players. If Vulkan was allowed, for example, every Space Marine player would do a flamer/melta-heavy Salamanders list.

I don't agree with this at all. I find that by banning all SCs, you limit the possible number of high-level armies and skew the metagame into something that is easier to quantify and systemize than you would by allowing them. Sure, the SCs are powerful, but they all have drawbacks. Some are expensive which gives you less support (Logan Grimnar, Ghazkull Thraka, Abbadon), some are great in close combat but lacks firepower or are slow (Swarmlord), some act as a force multiplier but are vulnerable to shooting and assault (Eldrad).

You pay premium points for their abilities. Sure, some of them are cheaper than you'd expect, but that can easily be said about many units too! Terminators with Thunder Hammers and Storm Shields are cleary undercosted. Let's ban them. Thunderwolves are a little too god, let's ban them too. And Fire Dragons. And while we're at it, take the Vendetta, Manticore, Plague Marines, Obliterators and Hive Guard too. In fact, the best way to make sure the game is fair is if we all play Necrons!

And ban the Monolith...

Daemon Prince of Khorne

2010-12-23T21:42:00.002+01:00

When GW released the plastic Daemon Prince, I bought two immediately, and got my buddy Norau to build them. I recently got around to painting them, and here's the first one.

It was a treat to paint. The model's got great details and should be in all Chaos Space Marine and Chaos Daemons army.

Gingerbread Bolter

2010-12-17T22:53:00.001+01:00

My friend Herman sent me a pic of his latest creation, the gingerbread bolter:

Seriously, how awesome is this?

Merry christmas, folks!

New Daemon Prince

2010-09-09T08:35:00.054+02:00

Awesomesauce! When I saw the new Daemon Prince I knew I had to have two. I asked Norau to build them for me, and this is a sneak peek of the first one.

Some green stuffing remains, but I think the posture of the model is really cool. It's like he's just massacred his way through hordes of lesser foes, but now he is finally facing off against a worthy opponent. Movie moment right there.

I've used the guy on the right as a Daemon Prince until now. He's just a Possessed Chaos Space Marine with wings and a 40 mm base. He's performed well, but really is too small to act as a credible Prince.

Autocannon Dreadnoughts - First trial games

2010-09-06T09:51:00.000+02:00

This weekend we opened our new gaming venue, Briefspite's basement! For this first session, we were testing out lists for an upcoming tournament in Sweden. This particular tournament uses some quite restricting composition rules, so some of the harder choices will give you a negative score before even starting the game! This effectively means no extreme mech spam, no Terminator spam, no Land Raiders, etc...

Image courtesy of From the Warp

I have wanted to test out the viability of DakkaDreads and DakkaPreds for quite some time now, and finally got my wish. My list:

Librarian with Machine Spirit & Null Zone
3 Dreadnoughts with 2xTwin Linked Autocannons
2x10 Space Marines with Flamer, Missile Launcher and Combi-Melta in a Rhino
6 Scouts with Missile Launcher and Camo Cloaks
10 Assault Marines with 2xFlamers and Power Fist
2 Predators with Heavy Bolter Sponsons
Thunderfire Cannon

I played Illumini's Blood Angels twice. Both games was Capture & Control (one objective each) with Dawn of War deployment. His list was something like this:

Librarian with Sword Sanguine and Jump Pack
5 Sanguniary Guard with some equipment
2x5 Assault Marines in Razorback with Lascannon & Twin Linked Plasma Rifle
2x5 Assault Marines in Razorback with Twin Linked Heavy Flamer
3 Dreadnoughts with Multi Meltas
2 Baal Predators

Even though I had longer ranged firepower and all his stuff had to come on from his board edge, I didn't have enough to stop his advance at range. Add to this that I deployed stupidly, and used my resources in a less than optimal way, all he had to do was walk up and take my objective. In hindsight, I could have placed my Rhinos in front of his Baals, blocking his advance for a turn, but I still had nothing that could threaten his objective. All I could hope for was a draw. And I still lost...

It should be noted that my list is rated as being a lot weaker according to the tournament composition rules. Still, this is a weak excuse for lackluster play.

In conclusion, going all-out Autocannon isn't all that awesome when the opponent has AV12 or higher. I still think that the concept may work, but the list needs more Melta and more mobility. Melta to make it less desirable to simply drive up close, and mobility to be able to threaten objectives.

Team Norway 2011!

2010-08-26T23:15:00.000+02:00

OK, it's official! We are going to participate at the European Team Championship, the ETC, next year.

ETC 2010. Photo by dafruk of The Warhammer Forum

I have been asked to be the team captain for Team Norway, and we are currently in the process of putting out team together. Seven of the eight people that are required to participate have more or less confirmed that they are clearing their calendars for August 2011, so we really only need one more player and job's a good'un!

This will be the first time Norway participates in the 40k event at ETC, and we have much to learn in the coming year. Making lists, testing lists, adjusting lists and of course playing a lot of games! Fortunately, we have a lot of resources on hand, among other things the entire terrain collection of the Strategikon tournaments.

You've been flayed!

2010-08-26T18:31:00.009+02:00

This photo was sent to me by the youngest player at Strategikon 3. Cheers Herman! :)

I'm back, baby!

2010-08-24T13:14:00.003+02:00

Space Wolf Razorback

I spent the summer becoming a dad, which is awesome! I did take a break from wargaming for a few months, but now I'm back on full steam.

During the summer I decided to start a Warhammer Fantasy army, and landed on Tomb Kings. Halfway through assembling my first unit of Skeleton Archers, I found that I really don't enjoy assembling figures.

I sent my buddy Norau the proposition that I paint his figures if he'll assemble mine. He readily agreed, and I quickly started painting his new Space Wolf army. Here's the first of four Razorbacks.

In other news, my buddy Briefspite has started his blog @ www.briefspite.com, and the tournament we are hosting in October has gotten its own website @ www.strategikon.no. Be sure to check them out and give them some love!

Best painted @ Strategikon 3

2010-03-19T19:18:00.001+01:00

No tournament is complete without a painting competition. Here are the nominees for "Best painted army" at Strategikon 3.

Tournament video report: Strategikon 3

2010-03-19T10:40:00.001+01:00

Me and Briefspite hosted the 40k tournament Strategikon on the weekend of 13th and 14th of March, 2010. 26 players played 5 games each @ 1500 points, and the tournament was a roaring success (it´s hard to be humble!)

During the weekend, I took some video of some of the matches. Check them out here!

Tournament video report: Winter War 7

2010-03-01T19:03:00.002+01:00

I shot some video of my games at Winter War 7. Not quite enough for full battle reports, but they give you guys a good rundown of my games this weekend.

Tournament report after Winter War 7

2010-02-28T22:05:00.002+01:00

Me and Norau arrived in Bergen friday night. In true tournament tradition, we both had a few models to finalize before tournament day. A little painting session before bed is always a nice way to get in the right mindset for wargaming.

On the first day of Winter War, we arrived in good time at the premises, and discovered, unsurprisingly, that things were bit behind schedule. Chris B (Pertinax from Portent.net in the olden days), who have made a herculean effort in this and all the previous Winter Wars, was apparently abandoned by his crew, and had to do everything himself.

The seventh Winter War started half an hour after schedule. I didn´t mind one bit, because this gave us a chance to talk to the other players and get to know one another a bit better before the action started.

My list:

Daemon Prince with wings
Summoned Greater Daemon
5 Terminators with Heavy Flamer, Chainfist, Power Fist, Combi-Melta, 2 Champions
5 Chosen with Champion, Flamer, Meltagun and Icon of Chaos Glory
10 Chaos Space Marines with Lascannon, Plasma gun, Champion with Power Fist and Icon of Chaos Glory
9 Thousand Sons with Personal Icon and Champion with Bolt of Change in a Rhino with Havoc Launcher
8 Khorne Berzerkers with Personal Icon and Champion with Power Fist in a Rhino with Havoc Launcher
9 Lesser Daemons
Predator with Heavy Bolter Sponsons
Defiler with all DCCWs

Game 1: Seize ground, Pitched Battle vs Tyranids

The first game of the day saw me battling the Great Devourer, controlled by Jörg. He claimed that he weren´t too familiar with 5th edition 40k, but that was just modesty in my opinion. Jörg had a good understanding of the rules and made few mistakes in the game (except a big one at the end of the game).

His list:

Winged Hive Tyrant
Doom of Malan´Tai in a Pod
3 Zoanthropes in a Pod
6 Ymgarl Genestealers
4x8 Genestealers
Mawloc
Trygon

The objective roll saw us placing five objectives. I got to place two objectives, and placed them out in the open in the center of the table. I was gambling on him outflanking his Genestealers, and didn´t want to give them an easy time getting to and holding them.

He won the roll to choose sides and chose to go first. His winged Hive Tyrant got placed in a forest on the left flank, the Mawloc in the center. The rest of his army Deep Struck or Outflanked. I placed everything in reserve and Infiltrated the Chosen up the center of the board.

Turn 1-3

His Hive Tyrant lurked about far out of range of my reserved guns, as the Mawloc went underground. The first three turns gave him every unit held in reserve, but I just got the Predatror & Defiler (turn 2) and Daemon Prince and Greater Daemon (turn 3). I didn´t mind too much, but I was beginning to understand that I wasn´t going to get the objectives that were on his half of the board without some aggressive movement late game.

Nothing much died in the opening stages of the game. Most notably, the Ymgarl Genestealers ripped my Predator to pieces. I guess Jórg didn´t want all that AP4 firepower targeting his scoring units. Good call!

Turn 4

Finally, my troops arrived! I placed them on the left flank, well in range to take three objectives by turn 5. The Chaos Space Marines, Khorne Berzerkers and Thousand Sons almost eradicated every Genestealer on this flank, securing it for Chaos. The Greater Daemon smacked the last Ymgarl Genestealer, and the Daemon Prince took care of the Zoanthropes. This just left the Hive Tyrant and the Mawloc on the left side of the board.

On the other side, the Doom of Malan´Tai met its maker fighting the Defiler, which in turn got destroyed by the Trygon. Two units of Genestealers were holding the two objectives on the right, which was problematic for me. I had only the Terminators left in reserve, and I hand´t declared a Deep Strike with them!

Turn 5

Jörg was now counting objectives and hoping for a win. He held two objectives and contested the two closest to my troops, whereas I had no objectives yet!

In my turn, the Terminators walked on from the board edge, and flamed all the Genestealers nearby to a crisp. There was only a single one remaining, but unfortunately for Jörg, he had removed Genestealer that was within 3" of the objective as a casualty.

My Daemons ran for the far objective, and just made it. My Chaos Space Marines took another.

We rolled for game end, and the dice ruled that the game was over. I had won 2-1, and only because of a mistake on my opponent´s part! Lucky first game!

Game 2 - Seize Ground, Dawn of War vs Space Wolves

After winning a game at a tournament, you´ll be pitched against another player who won the first match. This increases the likelihood of you playing a game versus an opponent that is close to you in skill level and army strength. Morten had won his first game, and we were now paired up to fight each other.

His army was basically a Wolf Lord on Thunderwolf, four Thunder Wolves and a Rune Priest in a Drop Pod, a few units of mechanized Grey Hunters and a unit of Long Fangs with Missile Launchers. He won the roll off for first turn and chose the side with the most objectives on it.

His Wolf Lord deployed aggressively, and first turn saw the Rune Priest and a unit of Grey Hunters slam down in the center of the board, creating a wide movement-blocking barrier.

Dawn of War, and the aggressive play by Morten saw me controlling my half of the board. I could put my reserves to work from the start. The Wolf Lord (with Thunder Hammer) somehow failed to kill the Defiler, and was then ripped apart by the Berzerkers, My Terminators slammed down without scattering and managed to take out all enemy scoring troops in the area.

The game ended by time limit after turn 5, when my Thousand Sons walked deep into the enemy´s deployment zone and contested an objective for the win. The Chaos Space Marines had emerged victorious, 2-1.

Game 3 - Capture and Control, Pitched Battle vs Space Marines

After winning my two first matches, I found myself on table 1 against Espen. I knew I was in for a rough ride when I saw his army list. Vulkan, two Ironclad Dreadnoughts and a normal Dreadnought in Drop Pods, Assault Terminators, two Thunderfire cannons, the Master of the Forge on a bike and two units of Tactical Marines in Rhinos.

I have to admit, I had almost given up from the start. I didn´t have an army to contend on the top table, and I knew it. If I were going to win, I was going to need luck and playing the mission.

My plan was to put most of my units in reserve, try to contest his objective with my Terminators and hold my objective with fresh reserves after his Terminators and Dreadnoughts had had to commit.

Unfortunately, this plan could´t work because I could´t place everything in reserve. The Greater Daemon and the Daemons would be destroyed if they arrived before the other units, and that was unacceptable. Therefore, I had to place some units with Icons and Champions. Unfortunately, this meant that I had to give them some support from the start, so I also placed my Predator and Defiler in the far corner.

Long story short, his Ironclads and Thunderfire Cannons shot me to pieces. By the time the Terminators became available, I had absolutely no hope of victory. I had a little bad luck in handling them, but I won´t detract from Espen´s victory. He played very well, and had an army he knew how to play.

Game 4: Annihilation, Table Quarters vs Imperial Guard

Day two of the tournament, and I was refreshed after a good night´s sleep. My opponent was Dan, and he played Mech Guard. I knew this was going to be an exceptionally tough matchup, but I had some kind of plan.

His list:

Creed, Officer of the Fleet in a Chimera
Triple Lascannon team
Triple Missile Launcher team
A few Chimeras with Infantry
Bane Wolf
Rough Riders
Leman Russ
Leman Russ

Again, I reserved everything. The plan was to come in with overwhelming reserves from the closer flank, rolling on full speed, blowing smoke and crashing into Close Combat. Unfortunately, due to the f**king Daemons, I felt I had to place something with an Icon and Champion on the board. I placed my Chaos Space Marines and Dan took first turn.

I had never seen this trick before, so it worked very well on me: General Creed gave the Scout USR to his Banewolf, which could then move 18" towards my lines. First turn, the tank moves another 12" and is right on top of me. Two template weapons later, along with some shots from Battle Cannons, Missile Launchers and Lascannons, and the entire unit was destroyed.

Come my turn 2, and I realize that his Fleet Commander is going to wreck my plan with his -1 to reserves. I manage to get both the Terminators, Greater Daemon and Daemon Prince into his lines, but some bad rolling and the inherent difficulty of destroying vehicles in 40k, saw me only get two Kill Points.

The game ended turn 5, with him winning 4-2. I lost the Chaos Space Marines, Terminators, Greater Daemon and the Daemons got lost in the Warp.

Game 5: Capture and Control, Table quarters vs Witch Hunters

Hans Christian had came all the way from Trondheim to do battle this day. He played Sisters, which suited me just fine. I have played similar armies myself, and knew its strengths and weaknesses.

His list:

The Saint
Canoness with Jump Pack and a big sword
16 Sisters with Meltas
16 Sisters with Meltas
8 Seraphim with hand flamers
8 Seraphim with hand flamers
Exorcist
Exorcist
10 Retributors with Heavy Bolters

I took first turn and deployed aggressively. I was going to get into close combat no matter the cost! Although I lost both my Rhinos after turn 1, being Fearless and having Power Armour minimized the casualties and had me in a good forward position. I completely overwhelmed the poor Sisters and crashed through the forward defenders.

His Seraphim assaulted my Chosen and made a mess of the Khorne Berzerkers with some accurate flaming, but in the end, they were nothing more than a nuisance. My forces had arrived at his objective with enough power to completely destroy everything in the area.

The forces sent to contest my objective took a lot of fire from the Predator and Defiler, and just didn´t have enough power to punch through. Four out of ten Chaos Space Marines survived to hold my objective, and the Daemons took his for the win.

Game 6: Annihilation, Pitched Battle vs Space Wolves

The last game of the tournament, and my head was not playing along. I didn´t have a headache, but it was kind of spinning. I knew I was going to make mistakes here, and I could only hope my opponent had it the same way.

His list:

Wolf Lord
Venerable Dreadnought
Wolf scouts
10 Grey Hunters (melta)
10 Grey Hunters (plasma)
A lot of Bloodclaws
4 Swiftclaws
Land Raider
Predator Annihilator with Heavy Bolter Sponsons

I won the roll to choose sides and take first turn, and deployed everything in the center. I wanted to deny him his two cover-providing terrain pieces by softening them up with some shooting from the Rubric Marines and then charge in with Daemons, Berzerkers and the rest of the bad guys. Unfortunately, Lars Olai seized the initiative and immobilized my transports on turn 1. Crap.

I lost the game right there and then. I didn´t dare to run over the battlefield without transport and support. Stupid, I know, but my brain just wasn´t playing along.

My Lascannon-armed Chaos Marine tried to shoot his Rhino and Immobilized it. The next three turns, he missed with all his shots, and then the entire unit ran off the table.

My Defiler engaged his Wolf Scouts in close combat, but took a Melta Bomb to the face (yes, he hit on a 6) and was immobilized. It took three turns before the Scouts finally died. In the end, I tried a charge on his flank, but he tactically withdrew away from my footslogging sobs.

I lost 1-4 in Kill Points, after failing miserably to kill the Space Puppies. Lars Olai was a very nice opponent to play, and the game was enjoyable, even though I made some horrendous mistakes. I blame my brain, burning out sometime during day 2.

Conclusion

My army performed pretty well against all but the most powerful opponents at the event. I see now that my unit combos gave me several disadvantages, especially the Daemons. I also should have had more Combi-Meltas in my unit of Terminators.

The two units that impressed me the most was the Khorne Berzerkers and the Thousand Sons. Those guys can dish out the hurt! Unfortunately, the obligatory Rubric Champion makes the unit of dust buckets a little too expensive. If I could drop him, or at least the Force Weapon, or if he had some form of psychic defense.... Unfortunately he doesn´t.

I was also very impressed with the Chaos Rhinos. With the extremely accurate Havoc Launcher, it is really more of a Razorback than a Rhino, only with a large cargo compartment and a top hatch with room for two. For 50 points, this little tank is simply excellent!

All in all, Winter War 7 was a very enjoyable experience for me. Even though six games is one game too much for me, and I felt that two hours was fifteen minutes less than enough at 1750 points. I am definitively going back next year!

Best painted armies @ Winter War 7

2010-02-24T17:48:00.004+01:00

These were the nominees for the "Best painted army" award at the 40k tournament Winter War 7, held in Bergen, Norway on the weekend of 20-21. February 2010.

The Nurgle Daemons (the first army) won the award.

Why Greater Daemons and Lesser Daemons are crap in 5th dimension 40k

2010-02-24T10:24:00.010+01:00

I played a 1750 point tournament last weekend, and I brought my Chaos Space Marines. My list is by no means competitive or optimized. I have had great success in the local shop, but as we all know, that isn't saying much.

I mostly went because the tournament scene here in Norway can be described as "sporadic" at best. To emphasize this, I can point out that there hasn't been a major 40k tournament in the capital city of Oslo since August 2007 (which I won - with Necrons). (No, I don't count Arcon as a major tournament after you had me playing a Night Fight against Tau with Blacksun Filters on a board with no terrain whatsoever!)

My list:

Daemon Prince with wings
Summoned Greater Daemon
5 Terminators with Heavy Flamer, Chainfist, Power Fist, Combi-Melta, 2 Champions
5 Chosen with Champion, Flamer, Meltagun and Icon of Chaos Glory
10 Chaos Space Marines with Lascannon, Plasma gun, Champion with Power Fist and Icon of Chaos Glory
9 Thousand Sons with Personal Icon and Champion with Bolt of Change in a Rhino with Havoc Launcher
8 Khorne Berzerkers with Personal Icon and Champion with Power Fist in a Rhino with Havoc Launcher
9 Lesser Daemons
Predator with Heavy Bolter Sponsons
Defiler with all DCCWs

The idea behind the list was that the Daemons and Greater Daemon could appear in any of the infantry units on the board. They all had Icons (save for the Termies) and Champions, so at a moments notice, I could bring down some major hurt (27 S4 WS4 attacks and an MC with 6 S6 WS8 attacks is pretty hard in my book) where I needed it. I would infiltrate/outflank Chosen, establish forward beachheads and reinforce where needed.

The major flaw in this plan is the lack of control the Chaos player has on his reserves. Putting over 200 points of killy things in reserve versus a shooty opponent is asking for trouble. You depend on the enemy coming to you and not shooting you up early, because those reinforcements can be denied by killing the Icon/Champion.

In one game, the mission was Kill Points/Table Quarters. Versus Guard! In previous games, I have had great success with placing my entire force in reserve, and playing "smart". Bringing in reserves on the flanks and staying out of the majority of the enemy's guns. Not smart at all with this army! No matter where I went, enough guns could be pointed at my units to smack them around handsomely. I lost my entire 10-man CSM unit in the first round of shooting - cover and all. The reserved Daemons had nowhere to deploy and were destroyed in the warp. Great, another Kill Point for my opponent!

Units in reserve are especially crap when the enemy is playing Guard and has an Officer of the Fleet (-1 to reserve rolls). Yeah, 5+ to arrive in turn 2? Only the units you want to leave in reserve will arrive, you can count on that! Probably those daemons, so they can be shot up good.

But that isn't the whole story. Other units in reserve at least have the option to come onto the board from your table edge or outflank or deep strike. Not Daemons! They need a Champion or an Icon on the board to be able to not die when they become available. All they get in return for this is the ability to launch an assault in the same turn they arrive and no scatter. Nice, but that doesn't make up for the fact that the enemy can destroy them before they even arrive.

This brings me back to the title of this rant. 40k in the 5th dimension is an expression from Fritz over at Way of Saim-Hann. It covers both playing the mission instead of the fluff, and using reserves to win. As opposed to using just guns... Daemons just don't work here, as they're both unpredictable as to when they arrive and need support on the ground in order to not die.

Other random thoughts:
All in all, the tournament was a very pleasant experience. I won three games and lost three. I'll do a proper writeup later, but for now, I'll just lament on the suckiness of the generic Daemons of the Chaos codex and the limitations it forces you your army.

I miss the tournament scene, and we are hosting the first local big 40k tournament in over two years in just a couple of weeks. I'm really looking forward to that. Here's some of our new terrain:

New units kick older units' butts!

2010-01-24T11:59:00.008+01:00

It is very interesting to follow the codices as they evolve. Minute changes are made to existing units, while new units are added. Very rarely is a unit removed from the codex.

The Sniperfex - Almost invaluable in the previous codex, unusable in the new one

Following my last post on the codex timeline, I've been thinking about this codex evolution, especially concerning new models. Very often, at least the last few years, something that was crap gets a litte boost, and something that was a no-brainer gets nerfed. It would seem that units that get new models with the codex (Lootas, Battlewagons, TH+SS Terminators, Leman Russes, Carnifexes, Trygons, etc) gets a little edge over other units. (This is clearly not always the case , but I think my point still stands.)

A great marketing ploy, no doubt, but also one that makes it fruitful to try new things. It would be pretty boring if Assault Marines had been a no-brainer choice for the last 15 years. Making new and powerful units is really keeping the game fresh for you veterans out there!

Which race "deserves" the next codex?

2010-01-12T13:09:00.017+01:00

If you've been into the 40k hobby for a few years, you'll no doubt have come across some people crying for a new codex for their race. GW updates their codices at their own pace, and expected sales are of course a big factor in deciding which race is next in line for an update.

I have played 40k for over 10 years now. I can field 1500 points or more of any army in the game, except for Orks and Imperial Guard. I have seen three updates to the Space Marine Codex, been overwhelmed by the awesomeness of plastic Necron Warriors, Tyranid Warriors and awaiting releases such as the Land Raider, Rhino MKII and the first Wave Serpent.

When I hear people talk about Tau needing a new codex, I get a little confused. This is because in my mind, the Tau are a pretty new race! Intrigued by this, I set out to make a timeline of GW's codex releases the last 10 years. Behold! (Props to MarcusZ, Turbo_t and jwolf_bols for helping me correct errors in the timeline)

The codices in black are the current ones per April 2010. The red ones are obsolete. (Note that I have not included the Blood Angels PDF release).

As we can plainly see, the "most deserving races" are Necrons, Dark Eldar and the Inquisition (Daemon- and Witch Hunters). Fortunately for you guys, the rumors have it that all these three races will se updates in the next two years. I am really looking forward to getting a glimpse of Jes Goodwin's take on the Dark Eldar!

Scorpion style Defiler conversion - part 2

2010-01-12T08:40:00.006+01:00

In August last year, I posted a video showing the start of my most audacious conversion project to date: A scorpion style Defiler. Many of you have been asking me to show how it's coming along.

The project has taken longer than anticipated, mostly due to a brief fascination with the Chaos Daemons codex, and me building a small force of baddies in the mean time.

I've received some comments on the tail, and I will be tilting it a bit forward and replacing the pin with a magnet.

My 1750 point CSM tournament list

2010-01-07T21:11:00.003+01:00

I'm attending a tournament in February, and this is the army I'm taking.

It isn't an ultra-hard competitive army, but is very fun to play. I should be able to do fairly well against most opponents.

Warhammer 40k Battle Report: Chaos Space Marines vs Imperial Guard

2009-12-08T22:49:00.002+01:00

Making a new army from models I already own

2009-11-25T11:10:00.006+01:00

Here's a little sneak peek of my latest project: Chaos Daemons!

I realized that I had ten Flamers and five Horrors sitting around, being "lesser daemons" in my Chaos Space Marines army. Then it occurred to me: Why not build a small Daemon force?

All I really needed was some more troops, so I've bought five more Horrors. They are weak, but can dish out the pain at range like few others.

Seeing as my brother bought these Flamers for the previous editions of both Warhammer 40k and the Chaos Space Marines codex, I have no qualms in bringing this unit of pure awesome to the battlefield. If what I've read is correct, they will melt away just about any unit in the game.

This guy will be leading them, a herald of Tzeentch on disc. I originally painted him up for my Tzeentchian Blood Bowl team, but he fits perfectly in this Daemon force too. He can shoot pretty hard, and target multiple units each turn. Not too good in close combat, though.

As of now, I can field just about 500 points of painted minis. All I did was add five new models to my collection, and presto, I have a new army!

On a personal note:
Phew, having a blog can be a lot of work! I have a lot of content that just need to be edited and published, but I just can't seem to find the time. The last few weeks, I've been mostly just painting miniatures and having a good time. Ah, the simple joys in life :)

40k Tournament Report: 500 pts Doubles

2009-11-09T12:25:00.003+01:00

Yesterday I hosted a 500 points doubles tournament at Oslo Miniature Games Club.

There were no restrictions on which races that could team up, so Imperial Guard would fight alongside Tyranids and Necrons alongside Space Wolves.

Special rules:

No 2+ saves
Max 2 wounds per model
Max 33 armour (Front+Side+Rear)

We played three games from the rulebook:

Annihilation / Dawn of War
Seize Ground / Spearhead
Capture & Control / Pitched Battle

In the end, only one team had won all three games.

Warhammer 40k Video Battle Report: Space Wolves vs Necrons

2009-11-02T10:39:00.002+01:00

I'm hosting a 500 point doubles tournament next sunday, and Norau is attending. He wanted to test out a list he is considering, and I was more than happy to play him.

I hadn't fielded my Necrons in some time, so the tin cans took went forth once more. For this game, we decided that Phase Out would not apply.

New guy at the club: Sawyer

2009-10-06T22:26:00.008+02:00

This Sunday, I went to Oslo Miniature Games Club, looking for a game of Warhammer 40k. In my last post, I wrote a battle report from the game I played, but I also met a guy I hadn't met before. His name is Sawyer, and he has a great-looking Traitor Guard army! Check out these pictures I took (click the pictures for insane macro mode):

Note the empty ammo drum and the scratch-built empty casings next to the Autocannon. Awesome stuff!

Sawyer's next project for this army is a squad of Renegade Ogryns. Can't wait to see'em, can't wait to play'em! Bring it, man! ;)

Warhammer 40k battle report: Tyranids vs Orks

2009-10-05T08:23:00.014+02:00

The Hive Mind barely registered the fungus-creatures hiding in the ruined human city. This world had fallen long ago, just as all other worlds had, as hive fleet Kraken had spread its tendrils. Why were they still resisting the inevitable?

In the end, it did not matter. They would all be eaten. It was simply a matter of time.

500 points combat patrol
In a month, we're going to have a 500 point doubles tournament, using the 40k in 40 minutes rules. For those unfamiliar to these rules, they are:

No 2+ saves
Max 2 wounds per model
Max 33 in total armour on vehicles
Min 1 Troop, no other Force Organization Chart requirements

I'm one of the organizers of the tournament, and went to Oslo Miniature Gaming Club this Sunday to spread the word and possibly get more attendees.

I met a guy I haven't played in over a year, and we decided to play a 500 point game using the rules outlined above.

My list:

4 Tyranid Warriors - Wings, Adrenal Glands (+WS), Adrenal Glands (+I), Toxin Sacs (+S), Rending Claws, Scything Talons, Flesh Hooks (192)
16 Hormagaunts - Adrenal Glands (+WS), Toxin Sacs (+S), Flesh Hooks (224)
12 Gaunts - Devourers (84)

His list (from what I remember):

Weirdboy
14 Slugga Boyz - Nob w/Power Klaw, Big Shoota
14 Slugga Boyz - Nob w/Power Klaw, Big Shoota
12 Slugga Boyz - Nob w/Power Klaw, Big Shoota, Trukk w/Reinforced Ram

Wow, the Tyranids were outnumbered! Fortunately, I knew that my units were both faster and hit harder in close combat. All I had to do was hit his units one at a time, and deny him the charge. Easy!

Deployment
We rolled for mission and deployment and got Capture & Control and Dawn of war. This meant that my precious Warriors would be off-table first turn. Crap. If he managed to kill enough Gaunts, they would probably run off the table without any Synapse nearby. He took first turn and deployed in such a way that he was controlling two of the four objectives. I deployed my Gaunts and Hormagaunts far back, behind cover. Fortunately, the units were large, and Ork shooting isn't very accurate.

Turn 1
I failed seizing the initiative, and he started his turn. The Trukk boyz came up the board at full speed, and the two other boyz units shot their Big Shootas on the Devourergaunts. Only one of them hit and wounded, and I passed the cover save. Phew!

In my turn, the Hormagaunts pushed forward, ran 4" and charged the nearest Boyz, wiping them and the Weirdboy out to a man. Hormagaunts are Ace! The Gaunts and Warriors kept up, moving up the board.

Turn 2
Shocked by the carnage, the Orks were initially reluctant to engage. The Trukk Boyz drove to a better position, blasting away. A Tyranid Warrior lost a wound, and I lost a single Hormagaunt.

The Tyranids shuffled about, making sure that they were in a good position to charge next turn.

Turn 3
The Trukk Boyz drove up 13" and jumped out, perhaps hoping for a fight. They were an inch too far away, but their shooting killed a Tyranid Warrior.

The Tyranids were going for bust! The Hormagaunts charged the large unit of Ork Boyz, while the Warriors charged the Trukk Boyz, after the Gaunts had shot them up a bit. As there were only 8 Boyz left, the Warriors were confident of victory (12 attacks, hitting on 3s, wounding on 3s, 6+ save).

As expected, the Hormagaunts killed the entire unit of Boyz, taking a couple of casualties themselves. However, the Tyranid Warriors completely fluffed their charge, only killing 3 boyz! The 3 boyz and Nob still standing then wiped out the Warriors! Disaster!

Turn 4
The Trukk turned and tank shocked the Hormagaunts, which promptly fled the scene. Without synapse, the Tyranids were in complete disarray!

The four Orks left charged the Gaunts, killing a few and forcing them to flee.

Game end - Ork victory!
With no forces left, the Hive Mind had to accept defeat this time. It was the single round of combat with the Tyranid Warriors that made all the difference. On average, they would have wiped the Boyz out to a boy, but alas, It wasn't to be. Without synapse, the Tyranids were completely useless and lost very quickly.

The battlefield was suddenly blurred and distant for the Hive Mind. The Synapse creatures had perished. No matter, the planet was soon to be digested anyway. The Orks had won this battle, but the war was already decided. The fungus would be valuable bio-matter for the coming onslaught of the Imperium of Man.

5th ed compatible tournament terrain project

2009-10-03T22:56:00.005+02:00

When 5th edition hit, Norau and I were relatively unaffected by the dreaded true LOS (Line Of Sight) rules. We had always used terrain pieces that were high enough to block LOS to most things. Granted, C'Tan and Land Raiders were hard to hide, but we didn't see this as a problem.

My buddy Briefspite, however, actually dumped 40k for a period of time because of "true LOL", as he calls it. I see his arguments, but my counterpoint was always that the terrain should be used to provide not only cover, but block LOS completely. In my opinion, no 40k board has enough LOS-blocking terrrain if a unit can have complete view of the battlefield.

Norau and I were using fairly large hills to achieve this. Briefspite has a lot of city terrain, that he wants to use for tournaments (after grudgingly admitting that 40k is fun after all, even with true LOS). To achieve "5th edition compliant" ruins, LOS had to be blocked. Not only for the little guys, but also for Carnifexes, Land Raiders and Defilers.

Today, we painted up the first building to a good gaming standard. This building blocks LOS in almost every direction. If you hold this building, you can get good firing positions if you want, or hide safely inside if that's your cup of tea.

Note that all the pieces for the ground floor are completely blocking LOS. We think that this will force players to use this tactically. Gunline armies are all great fun for about five minutes, but it takes the small gribblies, the guardsmen, the Fire Warriors and similar infantry-sized models to really shine here, in an environment where tanks cannot move, and Lascannons cannot get LOS to the target.

Our first building painted up.

How much terrain do you guys normally play with? Have you changed the way you use terrain after 5th edition was released, or have you just changed your armies?

Why use a suboptimal unit build?

2009-09-25T15:28:00.006+02:00

I often discuss unit efficacy with my 40k friends. We choose a unit, and try to come up with the most optimal way to kit it out for a plethora of hypothetical situations.

This is a great way of coming up with a good loadout or role for a unit that can operate effectively while isolated and/or unsupported on the battlefield. For example Terminators, Land Speeders, Falcons, Hammerheads, Tau Battlesuits, Daemon Princes, and so on. However, when it comes to selecting an entire army, a collection of individually excellent units can be a mixed blessing. Even if these units are great at what they do, the synergy of the army may be hurt in the process.

A great example of this line of thought is the meltagun. It is widely renowned as the most cost-effective anti-tank weapon in the game. Taking all meltaguns must be the way to go, then? No. The meltagun is only effective if you can get it into range of enemy armour. If you don't have a single lascannon in your army, you're giving the enemy the freedom to move his vehicles outside the range of your meltas. Letting the enemy move freely around the board is a sure-fire way to lose the game in Warhammer 40k.

Another example is the guys in the picture up top. Thousand Sons are a peculiar bunch, and I've often seen tacticas on the web, telling everyone that the Doombolt is the only power one should give the Aspiring Champion. However, even if the power neatly matches the rest of the unit's shooting, one of the things I often lack in my Chaos armies are mid-range anti-tank. Something that fits neatly between the Lascannons on my Land Raider and the meltaguns on my Chaos Marines, is the awesome power of the Bolt of Change. Even though the unit of Thousand Sons themselves benefit more from the Doombolt, the army as a whole will benefit more from the Bolt of Change.

To emphasise my point; even if the Land Speeder with Multi-Melta is the greatest thing since Rending was on to-hit, if your army has enough mobile anti-tank, you should consider the Typhoon instead. Even if it is less cost-effective on its own, your army may benefit way more from an "inferior unit" than the optimized build.

What do you guys think? Are you always checking the internet for the latest optimized build of single units, or are you experimenting with which combinations of units works and which doesn't?

Video Battle Report: Chaos Space Marines vs Tyranids

2009-09-21T20:42:00.006+02:00

After losing to Briefspite in the last battle of the Invasion tournament, I was looking forward to a rematch. Well, not a rematch per se, because this time I would bring my Chaos Space Marines to the battlefield.

We rolled randomly for mission and deployment, and got Annihilation (Kill points) and Pitched Battle (deploy up to 12" from the board edge).

My list:
2 Khorne Daemon Princes with wings
5 Thousand Sons in a Rhino
8 Khorne Berzerkers in a Rhino
14 Lesser Daemons
10 Chaos Space Marines
Land Raider

His list:
Hive Tyrant (shooty) with 2 Tyrant Guard
Broodlord with Genestealer retinue
Dakkafex (twin devourers)
Lictor
3x8 Gaunts
2x6 Genestealers
2xSniperfex (Venom cannon & barbed strangler)

My plan
Exploit outflanking Genestealers and race up the center of the board. If I could get into close combat before the Genestealers got into the fight, I would be using my 1500 points to attack his 1100 points. Add to this that my forces were very close combat oriented, whereas his were not, I would just have to get there to get a big advantage.

Deployment
He gave me the choice of table edge, and I set up with some mobile forces on the edges. I hoped this would make him put all his stealers in outflanking reserves. Unfortunately for me, he didn't. The Broodlord and 'stealer retinue was right in the middle. Crap...

In addition to this, he seized the initiative! I had not deployed in anticipation of this, so I was expecting a pretty brutal end to my mobile infantry forces. Watch the video battle report below to see how the game progressed.

Music from www.freeplaymusic.com

Tournament video report: Invasion 2009

2009-09-16T19:12:00.001+02:00

Tournament report: Invasion 2009

2009-09-14T13:19:00.007+02:00

Invasion 2009 was a blast! 5 brilliant games against friendly and sporting opponents.

Game 1
I played last year's winner. Last year, he played Sisters of battle, and this year he was playing Space Wolves. Logan Grimnar, a Wolf Priest and a Venerable Dreadnought, combined with 20 Blood Claws, 10 Gray Hunters and a Dread made me fear a big close combat.

The deployment was Pitched Battle (table quarters). I placed everything in reserve, and he did not. Unfortunately for him, he didn't know that my reserves could enter from my entire table edge, not only the corner. This allowed me to get all my meltaguns in range of his two Dreadnoughts, killing them and immobilizing a Predator Annihilator in turn 2. From here on, it was a simple matter of shooting up the rest of his forces from a safe distance, and take objectives for the win.

Game 2

In the second game of the day, I played Trond from Team Stormbolter and his Biel-Tan Eldar. I have played Trond's Eldar twice before, and both times he's beaten me thoroughly. I was pretty sure this time would be no different, as he deployed two Fire Prisms, a Falcon (with Fire Dragons), two Wave Serpents with Brightlances one unit of Warp Spiders and two units of Pathfinders.

The mission was to control more objective markers, of which there were three on the board's center line. With this in mind, I noted that he had few Troops choices and focussed on taking his long range firepower and his mobility. This went far better than I had expected, and in just two turns I had destroyed both Fire Prisms (which had both Holo Fields and Spirit Stones) and the Dire Avenger's Wave serpent. The rest of the game was a pretty one-sided affair, and the Witch Hunters grabbed first place in the tournament.

Game 3

Enter Kenneth's Imperial Guard. Kenneth believes in mono-themed lists, having played a Necron phalanx with two or three Monoliths or all-terminator Dark Angels in previous tournaments we have both attended. This time he brought a min-maxed list that went something like this: Company Command in Chimera, Two minimal platoons with all units in Chimeras, 2 Devil Dogs, 2 Demolishers, 1 Leman Russ with Plasma Cannon sponsons. All guys that could had either a Meltagun or a Flamer.

No disrespect to Kenneth, but that is a boring list (effective, though)

We played on a board where hiding things were almost impossible. The mission was Kill Points. I decided that I was not in any shape to try to win, so I bunkered up in a corner and tried to use my Lascannons and Exorcists to snipe tanks. Unfortunately, I rolled pretty poorly and either failed to hit, penetrate or do permanent damage to his Chimeras and Devil Dogs, which were my main targets. We played to turn 6, and it was then clear that he had won with 4 KPs to my 1 KP.

Game 4

The second day of Invasion 2009 saw me a little down on the rankings, but I was still a contender for a pretty good position.

The fourth game was against Thomas' Tau Empire. His list was a mobile cadre (Shas'El, 2 Hammerheads, 2 Devilfishes, 6 Stealth Suits) with a solid firebase (3 Broadsides, Fire Warriors). The mission was 2 objective markers, which we both placed in opposite corners. The entire battle would be played at night, so the Night Fight rule would apply. "Great", I thought as I read his army list. He had Blacksun Filters on both Hammerheads, so he would be able to spot me long before I'd reach his lines.

I considered bunkering up and hiding from the Railguns and Markerlights, but decided to go for broke. I'd already lost one game, and if I kept this up, I wouldn't be able to reach my goal of placing in the top 10. I deployed aggressively, hiding as much as I could behind the Land Raider and a centrally placed building.

Fortunately for me, both his Broadsides and Pathfinders failed to spot anything first turn, and his Hammerheads either missed, or I made my cover saves. Driving forward, all my long range weaponry shot at his Hammerheads, spotting them with ease. One Hammerhead got blown up, severely reducing the strength of his flank attack.

The rest of the game, he was on the defensive, reversing towards his objective. I pushed on, but was unable to quite get to it. Those three Broadsides (all with Drone Controllers and Shield Drones) were a great deterrent to my advance, and his defence held. I had destroyed almost everything in his army, but it was not enough. The game ended in a draw. Fortunately, I made both my secondary and tertiary objective and got enough points to get me up a few places on the rankings.

Game 5

The final game of Invasion 2009 was a strange one. Our deployment zones was 24" in from the short table edges, with a 24" no mans land and six objective markers in the middle.

My opponent for this game was none other than my buddy Briefspite. Check out his 40k blog over at briefspite.blogspot.com. He was playing his balanced Tyranids, with both big bugs (4 Carnifexes and a Flyrant), medium bugs (Lictor, Warriors, Broodlord with Genestealers) and small gribblies (4 units of Gaunts with without number).

I gave him first turn, hoping for some turn 5 shenanigans, stealing some objectives at the last moment.

The game was a real nail-biter, especially because of his three units of scuttling Genestealers, which would possibly Outflank behind my tank line. I put shot after shot into his Sniperfexes, but he kept passing about 75 % of his cover saves. That's one of the few problems I have with 5th edition; stuff dies too quickly out of cover, and lives too long when in cover.

I killed only one Carnifex in the first two rounds, and failed royally in handling the single unit of Genestealers that outflanked behind my lines. Not only did they kill an Exorcist outright, they even lived through a turn of me shooting everything I had into them!

In the end, we got to turn 5, with him holding 5 of 6 objectives. I went through with my plan, even though I wouldn't gain any points from it. I raced one of my Chimeras and one Rhino up to the closest objective markers, contesting two of them. I then rolled for game end, and got a 2. Game end, and only a minor loss for me.

Closing thoughts
I finished 7th, and my buddy Briefspite got 2nd place. I had a great time and five exciting games. I'm already looking forward to next year, and have started thinking about which army I would like to play.

I shot some video, which I will post when I've finished editing it. More to come :)

First tournament in over a year!

2009-09-11T12:25:00.004+02:00

This weekend, I'm attending the tournament "Invasion" i Kristiansand, Norway.

I'm not bringing a very powerful army, and you'll not be finding this list on Warseer anytime soon, if you know what I mean. I'm a little tired of the guys bringing the latest internet list and doing well, not because they are stellar players, but because the list is very, very powerful.

This time, I thought I'd aim for the lower tables, where the not-so-powerful armies and not-so-competitive opponents are. Hopefully, I'll play someone I haven't met before.

Check out www.invasion.no for more on the tournament.

Review: Blood Bowl on the Nintendo DS

2009-08-19T21:00:00.015+02:00

Let me be perfectly clear, I love Blood Bowl. I've played this game of fantasy football for over 10 years on the tabletop, and have tried both Fumbbl and the first PC game from 1995.

When French producer Cyanide announced that they were going to make a new version of this amazing game, I was ecstatic. My eagerness to play this game reached new heights when they announced that it was going to be released on the Nintendo DS.

The game is set for a September release, but I managed to get a copy from Amazon.fr in July. When I got the game in the mail, I excitedly opened the package and popped the cartridge into my DS. The first thing that hit me was how dark and gritty the game was. From the screenshots, it looks like the graphics are crisp and clear. Unfortunately, these screenshot were taken from a DS Emulator, and are not the least bit similar to what awaits the player.

Graphics
Cyanide went for a 3D-isometric representation of the Blood Bowl pitch. The players are pre-rendered 3D-animations, similar to the horrible DS game "Treasure Planet". The problem here is the resolution on the DS. The animations seem too scaled down from the original rendering. Stray pixels here and there really puts me off and feels irritating. Couldn't they be bothered to touch up the animations more?

The screen is dark. The dark browns, greens and greys makes it almost impossible to see what's going on. I've had to play Blood Bowl on the DS at home, with the curtains closed. The problem lies in the contrast levels. The DS screen isn't very big or bright, and it doesn't do contrasts well. The game developers need to overstate graphical contrasts on the DS to make things visible in normal lighting conditions. Cyanide didn't.

UPDATE: Since writing this review, I've been told that the DS Lite and DSi screens are much brighter than my 1st generation DS. I guess the game performs better on the newer systems, but I haven't yet had the opportunity to check it out myself.

I can't help to feel that hiring some classic pixel-animators would have been a better decision than hiring 3D animators. 3D just doesn't work too well on the DS, and Blood Bowl suffers in this regard.

Gameplay
I've played Blood Bowl for many years, so I started a league on "Veteran" difficulty. The only other difficulty is "Rookie", so that was right out. After winning my first match 3-0, I wasn't very impressed with the AI. After ten matches, the AI had scored a total of 2 touchdowns, whereas I was winning with 4 or more on a regular basis. Star Player Points were coming in by the bucket load, and my Team Rating quickly passed 200.

I was wondering why the AI didn't do better. In fact, it seemed to be getting worse every game! Then it hit me: The AI wasn't selecting good skills! Every time a player got a skill increase, the AI would give it Strip Ball. The next skill was Pass Block. This was true for almost every team I played against!

Never once did I see that the AI had selected Block or Tackle or Dodge for its key players. Sure, Strip Ball can be good, but on all players on the team? No.

Sometimes, the AI gets stumped on what to do next. Several times, I've had to wait over two minutes before it starts moving. Other times, especially with few players on the pitch, it doesn't do anything! Suffice to say, it's not much of a challenge.

And then it crashed!
Several times, after scoring a touchdown, the game has frozen when I try to set up my team on the pitch. This can be acceptable for a little while on a PC release, but it's not as if I'm getting a patch for the DS any time soon, is it? No, of course it isn't.

Fumbbl-bowl would have been a much better graphical representation on the DS

How it could've been
I still don't understand why French producer Cyanide couldn't have made the graphics more basic and fitting for the DS. The graphics demonstrated on Fumbbl is, in my opinion, perfect for the DS. It is cartoon-like, the colours have a high contrast and it is easy to see what's going on.

What do you think of Blood Bowl on the DS? Have you had a different experience regarding the graphics or gameplay? Please let me know in the comment section!

In conclusion I rate Blood Bowl on the Nintendo DS, a

(yeah, you know what that means, people!)

Video Battle Report: Ulthwe vs Tau

2009-08-18T20:52:00.006+02:00

I've gotten some request for speaking English in my Battle Reports, and this is my first attempt in doing so. Please note that English is not my primary language, so be nice :)

Please let me know what you think about this Battle Report format, especially compared to my other Video Battle Reports.

For this Battle Report, I fielded my Ulthwe once more against my buddy Norau's Tau army. We played a mission from an upcoming tournament.

Alpha mission: Objectives
If both players claim an equal number of objectives, they both get 8 Battle Points
If one player claims 1 more objective, he gets 10 Battle Points, whereas his opponent gets 6
If one player claims 2 more objectives, he gets 12 Battle Points, whereas his opponent gets 4
If one player claims 3 more objective, he gets 14 Battle Points, whereas his opponent gets 2
If one player claims 4+ more objectives, he gets 16 Battle Points, whereas his opponent gets 0

Beta Mission: Quadrants
A player that has 1-3 units (scoring or otherwise) in either quadrant that were not used as Deployment Zones, that player earns 1 Battle Point
If a player has 4 or more units in these quadrants, this player gets 4 Battle Points

Gamma Mission: Enemy Leader
The player that kills or routs the enemy HQ unit with the highest points value gets 2 Battle Points.

Check out www.invasion.no for more on the Invasion tournament.

Scorpion style Defiler conversion

2009-08-17T21:12:00.007+02:00

The first time I saw the Brass Scorpion conversion, I was amazed. The Defiler kit in itself is pretty cool, but the scorpion form was just so much cooler the the original!

A few months back I surfed the net, searching for cool Defiler conversions for my army, and came over a conversion using a Dark Eldar Raider and one-and-a-half Defiler as a Scorpion style Defiler.

I thought: "I've got to have one of those!" Unfortunately, the conversion requires two kits to make one, so I went out and bought three. This gives me enough parts for two conversions, and as I've said before; two Defilers are four times better than one.

Some Ulthwe tips for a reader

2009-08-13T13:31:00.005+02:00

A while back, I met a fellow Ulthwe enthusiast at Oslo Miniature Games Club. He was in the process of fleshing out his army, and has some questions in that regard. For your reading pleasure, I've decided to post response here.

Viktor said:
Hi!

I've started painting my Eldar guys, but I haven't a clue what to give the infantry and vehicles.

Which weapons should i give my Dire Avenger Exarch? What about the weapon platforms for the Guardian squads?

I want a Seer Council with a couple of Warlocks, and one Warlock in each Guardian squad. How should I kit them out?

I've written my list below. Should I make any changes to it? DO you have any tips on which weapons I should take?

HQ:
Seer Council 388 pts
Farseer: Witchblade, Shuriken Pistol, Ghosthelm, Runes of Witnessing, Fortune
Farseer: Witchblade, Shuriken Pistol, Runes of Witnessing, Guide
Farseer: Witchblade, Shuriken Pistol, Ghosthelm, Runes of Witnessing, Guide, Mind War
Warlock: Close Combat Weapon, Shuriken Pistol, Augment, Runes of Witnessing
Warlock: Close Combat Weapon, Shuriken Pistol, Augment, Runes of Witnessing
Warlock: Close Combat Weapon, Shuriken Pistol, Embolden
Warlock: Close Combat Weapon, Shuriken Pistol, Enhance
Warlock: Close Combat Weapon, Shuriken Pistol
Warlock: Close Combat Weapon, Shuriken Pistol

Elite:
8 Warp Spiders 176 pts

Troops:
Guardian Defender Squad: 168 pts
10 Guardians
2 Crewmen and Eldar Missile Launcher
Warlock: Close Combat Weapon, Shuriken Pistol, Conceal

Guardian Defender Squad: 168 pts
10 Guardians
2 Crewmen and Eldar Missile Launcher
Warlock: Close Combat Weapon, Shuriken Pistol, Conceal

Guardian Defender Squad: 163 pts
10 Guardians
2 Crewmen and Star Cannon
Warlock: Close Combat Weapon, Shuriken Pistol, Conceal

5 Rangers 95 pts

Fast Attack:
1 Vyper with Bright Lance 65 pts
1 Vyper with Bright Lance 65 pts

Heavy Support:
Falcon: 210 pts
Pulse Laser, Star Cannon, Shuriken Cannon, Holo-field, Spirit Stones

Wraithlord: 120 pts
Bright Lance

3 War Walkers: 300 pts
2 Star Cannons each

Points total: 1998 pts

A comment from the guy I stole the list from:
What's really great with it is that everything except the Rangers can move and shoot, so when the enemy gets closer i can just go backwards and still fire att my full potential. Or if i have to claim an objective i can walk there in the last few turns and take it while still firing everything.

I appreciate any help from a fellow Ulthwe player!!
Viktor

My response:
Thanks for writing in, Viktor! I don't see myself as an expert on competitive Ulthwe, but I have played quite a few games in a friendly setting.

First of all, your list is currently illegal. The list was written using the old Craftworld Eldar codex, which is outdated now. You should get the newest codex if you haven't already, and make your list out of that book.

HQ: You can have at most two Farseers. If you're going to field them on foot, I recommend taking Eldrad Ulthran. In fact, I rarely take two farseers. They are a support unit, and Eldrad is more than capable of supporting a fairly large Eldar army.

If you have some conversion skills, I'd recommend making a jetbike council. One Farseer with Fortune, Doom and Spirit Stones, six or seven Warlocks, 1 Enhance, 1 Embolden and the rest with Destructors. This unit can deal with pretty much anything in the game, is highly mobile and very resilient

A Seer Council on foot is pretty good, but they really need a transport, preferably a Falcon grav tank. My Seer Council is often like this:

Farseer w/Spirit Stones, Runes of Warding, Fortune, Doom, Singing Spear
4 Warlocks w/Destructor and Witchblade
Warlock w/Embolden and Singing Spear

These guys can take out almost anything, and will rarely end up pinned if the Falcon crashes or if they suffer casualties.

Elites: Warp Spiders are great, but make sure they actually fulfill a role in the army. I haven't actually used them, but have played against them quite a few times. They are very effective, as long as the enemy heavy wepons have something else to shoot at. Keeping them away from assaults and small arms fire is often pretty easy, though.

Troops: Being Ulthwe, we need Guardians! Ten guys with a heavy weapon is great, but their greates weakness is morale. Lose three, and they have to take a Morale Check. As the Guardians will likely be in cover, they really don't need Conceal. They need Embolden! Cheaper and better.

Sneaky tip: If you take 12 Guardians and a Warlock, you have 13 models in the unit. A morale check from 25 % casualties is taken at 4 models lost. This is unlikely in a single round of shooting if they have sufficient cover, seeing as the Guardians often are a low-priotiry target.

I feel that the Bright Lance is the best weapon for them. With ten models, good cover and Embolden, they are a real pain for your opponent to get rid of, and a constant threat to his vehicles.

The Rangers really should be upgraded to Pathfinders. Getting that 2+ cover save is golden!

You ask about Dire Avengers, but they aren't in your list. I use them sometimes, and find that the Exarch is best kitted out with dual Shuriken Catapults and the Bladestorm power. They can be a pretty good tarpit against some enemies with Shimmershield, but far from all of the nasty gribblies out there.

Fast Attack: I really like Vypers, but they are very easy kill points. I often use two with Bright Lances myself. If you keep them in reserve, they can keep out of the worst trouble and get side shots on enemy armour.

Heavy Support: If you want a Wraithlord, take two. Also, a single Falcon will be shot out of the sky really fast. I often use a Wave Serpent tag-teaming with my Falcon, conserving my Heavy Support slots, and ensuring that at least one side of the Falcon will be safe from melta weapons. Weapon-wise, I recommend that you take only a single Shuriken Cannon on the Falcon, and use the Pulse Laser most of the time.

Three War Walkers with Star Cannons were great in 4th edition, but in this edition, each gun has one shot less, is more expensive, and because of easy cover saves . I take Scatter Lasers instead. Two shots more and much cheaper. Volume of shots are generally more important than armour piercing capabilities, especially against light transports and troops in cover.

General tips: You should consider more vehicles and Storm Guardians.

Flamers/Melta are more awesome than ever, Storm Guardians can have both. For a multi-purpose unit, take two Fusion guns and a Warlock with Destructor. Following up the shooting with a charge can be desvastation against the right foe. If you decide to let the Seer Council and Defenders do anti-tank, you can give the Storm Guardians two flamers. This will effectively eat up over 10 orks or a combat squad of Space Marines in a single round of shooting. Add in the fire from their transport and some supporting element, eliminating a full 30-ork mob in a turn is not especially difficult.

Vehicles are always good, and the Eldar ones are better than most. The Defender Guardians doesn't need transportation in my opinion, but Storm Guardians and the Seer Council do. With transports equipped with Star Engines, you can do some ridiculous objective grabs late game. Even in Kill Point missions, the Eldar vehicles are great because they can take a lot more punishment than the other races' transport vehicles.

Have you tried Blood Bowl?

2009-08-06T10:32:00.006+02:00

Blood Bowl
Originally uploaded by Xadhoom.

Blood Bowl, the game of fantasy football is easily the best game ever designed. It has everything; miniatures, clear and precise rules, a great concept and backstory, and a tried and tested campaign format.

What is Blood Bowl?
Imagine that the inhabitants of the Warhammer world put down their weapons from time to time, and met on a field to play football instead of war. Welcome to Blood Bowl!

The league I'm currently in is called Torshov Touchdown, and consists of 14 teams. These teams are divided into two divisions of 7 teams each. With matches and rematches, this gives each team 12 matches per season.

What do I need to play?
First of all, you're going to need a gaming board. You can make this yourself, but the easiest route is to buy the Blood Bowl starter set. This is a great kit! Not only do you get a high-quality gaming board, you also get two full teams; Orcs and Humans.

The rules are currently in their fifth edition, and can be downloaded for free from the Games Workshop website.

How is it played?
After you have selected a team, you decide which team is going to be the kicker. The kicking team sets up first, then the receiving team, and the ball is kicked to the receiving team's half of the pitch.

Both teams are trying to get the ball into the other team's End Zone, which is 13 squares from the middle of the board, the Line of Scrimmage. To do this you must beat up the opposition, run around them or outwit them. Orcs and Chaos are strong and like to knock around some elves. The Elves themselves are more fond of passing the ball around and running really fast.

Each player has 4 stats, Movement, Strength, Agility and Armour. Movement decides how many squares you can run each turn. A stronger player has a better chance of beating up an opponent. An agile player is better at handling the ball, dodging opponents and leaping over them. Armour is important to reduce damage.

During the match, you make a note each time a player hurts an opponent, each time the pass the ball, score a touchdown or intercept the ball. The player earns Star Player Points for these actions, and will gain skills to use in future matches when reaching certain thresholds. For me, this is what makes Blood Bowl so great. Even if you lose the match, you get some SPP that makes you team a little better for the next game.

Which team is the best one?
Every time I teach a new player the game, they ask me this question. The truth is, that this really depends on two things. The player's playstyle and the length of the league.

If the tournament is short, teams that start with a lot of useful skills are superior. Chaos doesn't start with any skills, and will have a really tough time against Amazons, which are very skilled. However, if the league goes on indefinitely, these differences fade, and most teams are pretty equal in performance.

Not to say that they don't perform differently! Oh, no! Orcs, Dwarfs and Chaos are still going to beat the crap out of your Wood Elves!

In longer leagues, the player's playstyle becomes much more important to which team is the best one (for you). Some players thrive with teams that scores at most two touchdowns per match, but hurts the opposing team greatly in the process. Other players cannot fathom how anyone would play anything less agile than an elf.

In conclusion, play what you think is cool! (Halflings and Goblins still suck, though)

What are you waiting for? Order Blood Bowl, get your friends to buy a team, and start a league. It's awesome, people! :D

Blood Bowl video report

2009-08-03T13:39:00.005+02:00

As a little experiment, my buddy Norau and I tried to video tape the first drive of our first league match this season.

I fielded my Dark Elf team, the "Brides of Khaine", while Norau played his Ork team, the "Pazvik Juggernotz". The rule set we use is a slightly modified "Living Rulebook 4". If you can read Norwegian, you can download it here (yeah, we translated it).

The tactic I want to show you here, I call "The old switcheroo". Receiving the ball, I place most of my players on the right flank. Note the Dark Elf Blitzer i place in the middle, near the Line of Scrimmage. This Blitzer has a Movement Allowance of 7 squares and has got the skill Sure Feet. This means that she can move 9 squares relatively safely. After the Orks have all moved over to the right, trying to stop the other elves, she goes for it!

The Orks are simply too slow to stop her, as she receives the ball and sprints to the End Zone for the Touchdown!

If the Ork player leaves some players on the other flank to defend against this tactic (he will need at least two), you will have less orks to plough through should you decide to fight your way through their lines. Remember to keep some skilled linemen on the Line of Scrimmage to keep the Black Orks from moving too far.

We will play the rematch in a month or so, and will try to get it on video in its entirety! Stay tuned.

How I won my last "Capture & control"

2009-07-23T21:02:00.010+02:00

I played a game of Warhammer 40k at GW Oslo last night. 1000 points on a 4' x 4' table, pitting my Red Corsairs against the loathsome Eldar. Seeing his list, I was not very confident in winning the game, especially if it would drag on to turn 7. The xenos had brought loads of firepower and even the Avatar was out for human blood.

My 1000 points of Chaos boys are pretty much what I have painted for the army right now, so I didn't have much choice with regards to army selection:

Daemon Prince with wings, mark of Tzeentch and Bolt of Change
3 Terminators with a single combi-melta
10 Chaos Space Marines with two meltaguns and a champion with a power fist
7 Thousand Sons with a sorcerer with Bolt of Change, in a Rhino
8 Khorne Berzerkers with a champion with a power fist, in a Rhino

His list was something like this:

Avatar
8 Striking Scorpions with an Exarch with Scorpion's Claw, Stalker and Shadowstrike
3 Guardian jetbikes with a shuriken cannon
3 Guardian jetbikes with a shuriken cannon
10 Storm Guardians with two flamers and a warlock with Destructor in a Wave Serpent with Star Engines and Scatter Lasers
Vyper jetbike with Eldar Missile Launcher
Fire Prism
3 Shadow weavers

We rolled for mission and deployment and got "Capture & control" and "Dawn of war". This is the one with two objective markers, one for each player. Dawn of war meant that most of our armies would be in reserve, and would become available on the first turn, walking on from the table edge.

He won the roll for choosing sides and first turn and took it. I was more than happy to be assured the last turn of the game. I firmly believe that, especially in Dawn of war missions, having the last turn is more important than having the first. The player going second can often perform more risky manoeuvres than the opponent. This often yields better results overall.

In addition, we were battling over objective markers, and having the last turn is almost always more advantageous.

He deployed his Wave Serpent full of Storm Guardians behind cover, and I did the same with my Thousand Sons. I'm not going to recite a turn-for-turn report of events, but the battle went something like this:

Turns 1-4
I did my best to move up the board, getting mixed results. The Daemon Prince managed to immobilize the Wave Serpent and get over to his objective. The Khorne Berzerkers' Rhino got wrecked halfway across the board, on turn 3. They legged it to charge the Avatar, which proved way too strong for them. They did a single wounding hit to it and then died horribly.

The Thousand Sons failed utterly to do anything. Their Rhino got immobilized on turn 2, the sorcerer failed to hit anything with his Bolt of Change all game and the two times they shot at Eldar Jetbikes they either failed to hit or failed to wound. They didn't even have to take a cover save! Disappointing, but they at least managed to hold up the Avatar for a turn.

The Daemon Prince took a fair share of punishment, but the Mark of Tzeentch saved him on several occasions. The Guardians got tired of sitting idle in their immobilized transport and ran out to shoot and charge the Daemon Prince. They had obviously not read up on the capabilities of Daemon Princes. Even if they managed to take a single wound off him, he won the combat and ran them down.

Turn 5
Up until the Guardians bought it, I had only managed to kill two jetbikes and immobilize the Wave Serpent with my shooting. All the while, the Shadow weavers were taking a toll on all my troops. They killed something like two Berzerkers, three Thousand Sons and three Chaos Space Marines in total. I had nothing to respond to this, as they had been placed the corner opposite the objective. I couldn't afford to send anyhing to deal with them, so I just had to take the pain and enjoy the ride!

My opponent started to realize my plan in turn 5. I would just hold my objective with my Chaos Space Marines, while the rest of my army killed his fragile scoring units and held up the rest of his forces. When turn 5 came to a close, I had my objective. My three Terminators had deep struck down on his.

A friend of his rolled for the game to end, but it came up a 4, and we continued.

Turn 6
At this point I had Striking Scorpions running for my objective, and the entire Eldar army gunning down my Daemon Prince and Terminators. However, it was apparent that the Scorpions had little hopes of taking out the Chaos marines on my objective without support. The Fire Prism and Shadow Weavers pumped shots into them, but some nice armour saves saw only a few casualties. They were now down to six models.

In my turn, the Chaos Space Marines shot the Striking Scorpions, felling three. They promptly failed their morale check, and legged it. No hope of a last turn assault now. The Terminators assaulted the last remaining Eldar jetbike, which died three times over. I had the only scoring models on the table, and had a winning position, 1 objective to none.

My opponent's friend rolled again, and this time it came up a 5. The game went on!

Turn 7
The Scorpions rallied, but were too far away to assault, and didn't have line of sight to shoot, the Chaos Space Marines. The Fire Prism, Shadow Weavers and Vyper shot everything they had into the cowering marines, which got pummelled to the last man. Only the Aspiring Champion remained!

On the other side of the board, the Avatar assaulted the Terminators, which were cut down by the burning monster.

And with that, the game was over. I had two models remaining: The Aspiring Champion and an immobilized Rhino with no weapons left.

Victory to the Chaos Space Marines!

The only models I killed were his scoring units. He killed my forces to a man, but couldn't contest in the final turn. Good thing I immobilized that Wave Serpent with the Star Engines!

Fortune favours the bold

2009-06-13T18:39:00.008+02:00

Hiding in cover just won't do
Originally uploaded by Xadhoom.

Everywhere on the 40k-websphere, people are talking about math. Mathhammer 40k is a roaring beast and everyone knows that 10 Space Marines will kill 6,66 Orks when rapid firing their Bolters. Every tactic is devised using the law of averages, and anyone trying to think outside the box is regarded as a noob.

The net result of this line of thought is that bold maneuvers are unthinkable. The one, daring move that will win or lose the game for you is never attempted because the focus of the game has become to reduce risks, not attempt to win.

Only 2+ with re-roll for me, thanks
This is most extremely displayed in the game of fantasy football; Blood Bowl. A regular opponent of mine never attempts a move unless the risk is minimal. Even if a move on a 5+ will be extremely beneficial to him, he never even considers it, preferring to make a less beneficial 2+-with-re-roll-move instead.

Another regular opponent often attempts moves that requires a 6 on the die. This works surprisingly well, because the opposition never even considers the possibility that anyone would be so stupid as to attempt such a risky maneuver! When it works, the opponent is caught completely flat-footed.

But what about 40k?
This doctrine can be directly translated to 40k. If you can use risky, but well-thought-out moves to surprise your opponent, you can catch him off-guard.

Everyone knows that staying in cover is the smart thing to do. If the opponent expects you to go for that single piece of cover, he has an edge over you. He knows what you will be spending the next turns doing, and where you will end up. He can then position his forces perfectly to eradicate you, 4+ cover save or not.

Instead, use this to your advantage! Use your vehicles or expendable infantry units as cover, or disregard cover altogether. The element of surprise is powerful indeed!

Taking less powerful units can be advantageous
One of the reasons that make armies like Dark Eldar and Witch Hunters win games is the opposition's lack of familiarity with them. Their play style is often surprising for opponents being used to fighting Eldar or Space Marines. Sure, a flying Seer Council is a powerful unit, but your opponent will likely have seen it before. Tactics to handle them have been devised, and incorporated into their army list.

At my local gaming club, almost no one plays Dark Eldar or the Inquisition. The result is that they don't know how to best handle them. They even sometimes have problems deciding which target is the most threatening. This often results in a comfortable victory, even with an inferior army.

This can be used in you normal armies as well. Field units that no one else does. Take Space Marines, for example. Not many people use scouts, and if they do, they give them sniper rifles and camo cloaks. Hardly an impressive sniper unit, being outmatched by even Ratlings!

Instead, take them in units of 5 and put them in a Land Speeder Storm. Give them shotguns or bolt pistol/combat blades and charge them at the enemy. Your opponent will likely be baffled of your daring move, and either try to shoot it down or ignore it. Regardless, you haven't lost much if it is destroyed, and they can be surprisingly destructive if they reach the enemy. The key to using them is either using their scout move to threaten any point on the board in turn 1, or using outflank to do basically the same, only later. Being open-topped, the Storm can move 12" and drop it's contents, still allowing for shooting and charging!

In a recent game, I took Mandrakes and Scourge. These units are widely regarded as sub-par, compared to the other units in the Dark Eldar List. My opponent wasn't familiar with the capabilities of these units, and they performed sterlingly. Four units were killed or run off the board. Not bad for units some people call "the worst units in the game"!

Red Corsairs reinforcements

2009-06-01T21:22:00.005+02:00

Red Corsairs Terminators
Originally uploaded by Xadhoom.

I have been building and painting my Red Corsairs for about a year now, and they are coming along nicely. After a slow winter, I've kicked it up a notch and finally started pumping out finished models.

These guys have been half painted for a few months, but this weekend I finished them.

Enjoy!

Khorne Rhino

2009-05-30T10:42:00.003+02:00

Khorne Rhino
Originally uploaded by Xadhoom.

I've recently painted the transport for my Khorne Berzerkers. It's the most red I've ever painted in one go, and I could never have done it without the excellent Citadel "foundation paints".

I sprayed the tank Chaos Black, coated it Mechrite Red, and then built up a solid coat of Blood Red. I believe I will highlight quite a bit with Blazing Orange, but we shall see. The most important factor is getting the army painted to a gaming standard, not to win any prizes for my not-so-great painting skills (altough they are constantly improving)

Khorne Rhino
Originally uploaded by Xadhoom.

Video Battle Report: Dark Eldar vs Tau

2009-05-24T18:36:00.003+02:00

I played this game versus my buddy Norau about three weeks ago. Always eager to play different armies, I took my brothers old Dark Eldar to the field. I took a webway portal list, complete with a Dracon with retinue, Talos, Ravager and a lot of other interesting units. I even included some Scourge, Mandrakes and Grotesques!

For those of you who are unfamiliar with Dark Eldar and the webway, the Webway Portal is a wargear item which can be deployed on the field by a character. When activated, any Dark Eldar reserves can enter from the portal, as if it was a board edge! This can be devastating, and was one of the most powerful builds in 4th edition. Watch the video to find out how the Dark Eldar fared in 5th.

Apologies for the lighting. We played late at night, and my camera isn't very good in poor light conditions.

Optimal squad size in 40k

2009-05-21T10:14:00.013+02:00

5 Necron Destroyers are braver than 4
Originally uploaded by Xadhoom.

Thinking back to the days of 4th edition, squad sizes were often dictated by the rule that said: A squad below half strength is no longer scoring. This lead to squad sizes of even numbers (4, 6, 8, 10 and so on) being favourable.

The idea was that your opponent had to kill one more model in order to get you below half strength, whereas squads with uneven number of models (3, 5, 7 and so on) was sub-optimal. Your opponent had to kill 4 members of a squad of 6 models to make it non-scoring. If you'd only taken 5 models, he would only have to kill 3.

...and then 5th edition came along
This is no longer the case in 5th, but many people seem to think even numbers are better. They are not.

Consider a unit of four models. If they are Troops, they are scoring to the last man. If they are not, then the number of models doesn't affect their scoring status at all. The only impact number of models has (other than being harder to kill and doing more damage), is whether they take morale checks from a certain amount of fire power.

A unit of four models must take a Morale Check if it loses a single model. This can be disastrous, especially if the unit type is Jump Infantry, Bike or a similar fast type which retreats 3D6". It may flee off the board due to a single casualty!

Always take 5 Necron Destroyers, never 4
Fritz over at Return of the Star Gods has an excellent Necron Destroyer tactica on his YouTube account. There is only one area where I feel he makes a mistake, and that is the squad size of his Necron Destroyer units. He takes 4 models. This unit may give away a Kill Point from a single shot, even before We'll Be Back-rolls, which makes it brittle.

Ld 10 is all good, but you will fail it from time to time. For the cost of a single model more, your opponent has to divert twice as much firepower before a Necron Destroyer unit of 5 models has to take a potentially devastating Morale Check.

It is pretty clear that 5 Destroyers are superior to 4, but considering how much firepower it takes to take out two models of a T5 Sv3+ unit, there is really no reason not to take the full compliment of 5 models.

Optimal squad sizes
To conclude this article, I'll just go ahead and list the optimal squad sizes in regards to when the unit will be taking Morale checks. The unit is as brave as possible for the least amount of points, so to speak.

Size - Tests after how many casualties?

-
1
1
1
2 <- Optimal
2
2
2
3 <- Optimal
3
3
3
4 <- Optimal
4
4
4
5 <- Optimal
5
5
5
6 <- Optimal

Will you be taking squads of 5 or 9 models instead of 4 and 10, to take advantage of this, or is the return really too small to even consider?

Video Battle Report: Necrons vs Tau

2009-05-01T21:56:00.005+02:00

The Necrons will rise again!
Originally uploaded
by Xadhoom.

I have read a lot of negative press about the Necrons in 5th edition. Determined to prove that they are still at least playable, I took them to the field once more. This time, against my buddy Norau's Tau.

The Necron army I played actually won a tournament for me in 4th edition, so I was very excited to see how they would perform in 5th.

The game was 1500 points, Seize Ground with 3 objective markers. The Tau set up first and got first turn.

Music from http://www.freeplaymusic.com

Video Battle Report: Tyranids vs Witch Hunters

2009-04-24T14:51:00.004+02:00

Inqusitor Lord Diego Dezza
knows where you live!
Originally uploaded
by Xadhoom.

My brother hasn't played Warhammer 40k since 3rd edition. Now back for 5th, he is still a pleasure to play against.

For his first game in over 5 years, he chose to play his Tyranids. I took my Witch Hunters to the battlefield. You'll note that I took quite a few Space Marine allies from the Revilers Chapter.

I have a lot of Sisters of Battle, but for this match, I wanted to try out both the semi-new Space Marines codex and show my brother my Witch Hunters. Even though I have been building this army for years, he has yet to play against it.

The mission was Seize Ground, with 5 objective markers. I got first turn, and moved rather aggressively up the board. My plan was to contest all four objectives near his deployment zone with my many tanks, and grab the one near mine with a Space Marine combat squad. Check the video to see how it went.

Video Battle Report: Tau vs Chaos Space Marines

2009-04-22T15:39:00.003+02:00

My brother came to visit me last weekend, and we played a lot of Warhammer 40k. This game is between my brother (playing Chaos Space Marines) and my buddy Norau (playing Tau).

The game is 1500 points, and the mission is Seize Ground. Both players placed a total of 4 objective markers. The player who controls the most objective markers at the end of the game is the winner.

Music
Alan Silvestri: End Credits, from the movie "Predator"
Breaking Benjamin: Firefly, from their album "We are not alone"
Photex: Ren 2, from the Animatrix soundtrack

Video Battle Report: Battlefleet Gothic

2009-04-19T22:35:00.005+02:00

My brother visited me this weekend, and suggested we'd try a game of Battlefleet Gothic. We used to play this classic game back in the days (at least 5 years ago), and we loved it.

After a few trips to the attic, I had finally found all the ships and scenery. We were ready to play!

We really didn't want to play a standard "kill more ships than your opponent"-match, so we agreed on the orks having to destroy a space station. The Orks would have half as many points to use on ships than the Imperials, so this was a 1000 points vs 2000 points game.

As you can see from the video, the game was grossly unbalanced towards one side. At the end, we discussed ways to make it a more balanced scenario. This discussion is in Norwegian only. Apologies to all you guys who don't speak Norwegian. I know there's a lot of you. Basically we were thinking on reducing the victorious fleet by 30 - 50 %, or placing more terrain to make it a bit more interesting.

The music in the video is from the soundtrack from the movie Π (Pi), by Clint Mansell.

How do you play Battlefleet Gothic at your club? Do you just line up equal points of ships, or do you focus on objective based missions?

Ulthwe Eldar is competitive!

2009-04-15T14:00:00.004+02:00

The Eldar have foreseen this
Originally uploaded by Xadhoom.

I've played my Ulthwe list a few games now, and won every single one. Granted, I've not played against the cheesiest cheddar around, but none of the games have been army selection wins.

The two latest games were against Tau and Necrons. I'm actually surprised the list works as well as it does. I was under the impression that Aspect Warriors, Harlequins or Wraiths were required to fill some requirements in the Eldar army, but I believe I was mistaken. Of course, my success could be the result of blatant luck on my part.

After playing a few games, I find that the army and my tactics cover several aspects essential to a 40k army list; speed, firepower, close combat prowess and resilience. In addition to this, it forces the opponent to react to it, rather than the other way around, due to its speed, damage potential and the outflanking War Walkers.

Ulthwe 1250 points
Farseer - Runes of Warding, Spirit Stones, Fortune, Doom
5 Warlocks - 2 Singing Spears, 3 Destructors, Embolden, Enhance
3 Guardian Jetbikes - Shuriken Cannon
10 Guardians - Warlock (Embolden), Bright Lance
10 Storm Guardians - Warlock (Destructor), 2 Flamers
Wave Serpent - Star Engines, Spirit Stone, Twin Starcannons
2 Vypers - 2 Bright Lances
Falcon - Shuriken Cannon, Spirit Stone, Holofield, Star Engines
2 War Walkers - 4 Scatter Lasers

I wrote a post about tactics for this army @ 1750 points, but the same points are still valid.

I'm mightily impressed with what a Farseer and five Warlocks can do. Dooming a unit and throwing down three Destructor Templates is incredibly killy, even against units with good saving throws!

Scaling up to the big battles: Eldrad Ulthran!
In larger games, I'll take Eldrad instead of a standard Farseer. His ability to Doom two units simultaneously is incredible! The Falcon with the Seer Council and the Wave Serpent with the Storm Guardians can destroy most anything when they jump out and start handing out the hurt. There is rarely anything left! Cleverly placing the vehicles in front of enemies offering fire support will give the Guardians Cover Saves, and the Seers already have a Fortuned 4+!

I'm thinking of taking all Destructors for the Seer Council. WS5 and I5 on the Warlocks is awesome against Space Marine armies, and the ability to re-roll Morale Checks can not be underestimated. However, I'm wondering whether it is necessary. Three Destructors is very killy, but five is borderline insanity!

Will it win against (insert "web list" of the month here)?
The army isn't dead 'ard, but that's not the point. In a club setting you often want to play an army that will win when you play it well. Not just because it has 2+/3+i saves, master-crafted Thunder Hammers and twin-linked Multi Meltas, but because you play better than your opponent.

Army selection win

When some players go to tournaments, they gamble that they won't meet that army. This is the army which you haven't optimized your army for and will make you lose, no matter what you do. A balanced approach can win you any game, an extremely optimized one can actually lose the game for you before it has even started!

I firmly believe that any good tournament army should at least be able to win against anything the opponent can bring. If the enemy deploys 150 Orks, and you concede the game immediately because you brought 12 Lascannons and 25 Space Marines, it is your own fault!

This is what I mean when I say "Army selection win". In this setting, the meta game has become more important than the actual game itself, a trend I think will kill the tournament aspect of the hobby if it is allowed to flourish. Fortunately, 5th edition's focus on objectives have mitigated this quite a bit.

The Ulthwe army can deal with tank spam, 'zilla, elite infantry, hordes, mobile and static lists alike. It may not be super effective against all opponents, but its ability to win is strong.

What do you think? Am I just rambling, or are my Seer/Guardian tactics worthwhile?

Video Battle Report: Eldar vs Necrons

2009-04-13T19:30:00.002+02:00

This week, the stalwart defenders of Craftworld Ulthwe met up with the grim forces of the Necrons.

The game was 1250 points, and the mission was "Capture and Control", from the main rulebook. In short, both players place a single objective marker in their own deployment zone. The player that controls more objective markers at the end of the game wins.

We are speaking Norwegian, but you guys should be able to understand what's going on anyway, as I've written about the action in English. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to ask questions in the comments.

The music is by Clint Mansell, from the motion picture "Doom". Check out the Varese Sarabande website for the album. The tracks used in this clip are, quite appropriately, named "Doom", "Kill' Em All" and "Go to Hell".

Did I do any blatant mistakes? Would you have done anything differently? Feel free to comment! :)

Can Stealth Teams win the game for the Greater Good?

2009-04-09T16:00:00.008+02:00

Stealth Team Leader
Photo by Will Merydith.

My buddy Norau started playing 40k Tau about six month ago. He's having mixed results in learning to play both a new game and a new army, so I've tried to think about some builds that will work well in 5th edition.

Most of the time, we play the three standard missions in the main rulebook, so both Kill Point denial and controlling and contesting objectives are important aspects of our meta game.

The army he uses is based on these principles:

Placing large amounts of the army in reserve
Using the Positional Relay to control when reserves arrive
Using the Pathfinder's Devilfish transport to increase the accuracy of Deep Striking units

He has been using a 6-man Stealth Team (one Hard Wired Target Lock and a Fusion Blaster) in the last few games, but their performance has so far been unimpressive. The standard method of delivery has been Deep Striking them next to a tank and a weak infantry unit, trying to destroy both in a single blow. Unfortunately, the odds are heavily against them, as they are often very unsupported at this stage in the game. They are always annihilated the turn after. See how they performed in our last game.

I am starting to think that they can be used better in another role: Outflanking harasser!

Using the Positional Relay, we can control which turn they arrive from reserve. Coming from the flank in the later stages of the game can be a game-winner. Let's say that the opponent have placed a relatively weak unit, for example Guardians or a combat squad of Space Marines controlling an objective far away from the action. Six Stealth Suits can unleash a torrent of fire, severely weakening the unit. They can also take out Razorbacks or Wave Serpents sitting on the objective.

Due to their Stealth Field Generators, they cannot be dealt with at long range. The opponent has to send units to deal with them at close range. This can also help at the front lines if the opponent gets confused and tries to send units back to support the defenders at home.

Get more for free
To make the unit even more dangerous, we can give every model a Drone Controller for free, even the Team Leader. This gives us the ability to take 12 Drones for 120 points, which gets Stealth Field Generators for free (see Tau Empire Codex, page 27). They can also Outflank with the Stealth Team (see Tau Empire Codex, page 35). Compared to Drone-only units, you get two nice upgrades for free.

This unit has 18 wounds, is highly mobile, and can unleash overwhelming amounts of fire power against the relatively weak defenders. In objective-based scenarios, this can win the game for the Tau. In Kill-Point missions, the unit is difficult to kill due to its size and Stealth capabilities. At 312 points, it is fairly expensive, but the offensive and defensive capabilities should mitigate this somewhat.

If they fail to take out all troops on the objective, they can even assault if needed. Yes, Tau are fairly weak, but these guys will operate far away from the thickest action. 42 attacks on the charge should be able to kill about two Space Marines. Not much, but maybe just enough. All they really have to do is get within 3" of the objective and not die.

What do you guys think? Is this a workable unit tactic? Will it perform better than Deep Striking close to the action?

Video Battle Report: Eldar vs Tau

2009-04-06T14:20:00.007+02:00

Once again, I have played against the defenders of the so-called "Greater good", the Tau.

I played a game of 40k against my buddy playing Tau at Oslo Miniature Games Club (www.2d6.no).

The game was 1250 points and the mission was Kill Points. To make things a little more interesting, we had a secondary objective at the center of the table. This objective was worth the same as having the most Kill Points.

I played my Ulthwe army, with no Wraiths and no Aspect Warriors. Seers and Guardians for the win! Fortunately, the Eldar vehicles are piloted by Guardians, or this army build would never work. The Falcon, Wave Serpent and the Vypers are essential components in the list.

We are speaking norwegian, but you guys should be able to understand what's going on anyway, as I've written about the action in english. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to ask questions in the comments.

SPOILER ALERT! Watch the video before reading any further!
As for tactics, I made a few really stupid mistakes in this game:

I lingered with my Wave Serpent, even though the Tau had a Twin-linked Fusion Blaster up its tailpipe. I should have used the Star Engines to get out of there immediately!
I deployed too wide, and left units unsupported. My War Walkers were completely stranded, and my Storm Guardians and regular Guardians should have been dead thrice over! I was lucky, really lucky. Only two of the Guardian Defenders survived, and three of the Storm Guardians. Between them, they passed five Morale Checks and one Pinning Test. Really lucky, but not well played.
I gave up the objective. Sure, the Falcon can take a lot of damage, but the Fusion Blaster-armed Battlesuit was still alive after turn 5, so he could have taken out the Falcon, and the 22 Fire Warriors would have had no problems in taking out the Seer Council! The game ended after turn 5, and I contested the objective. Lucky for me, but again, not well played.

In addition to my mistakes, the tau player made some of his own. The Hammerhead trying to tank shock the Seer Council was unwise. I don't think the he will do that mistake again.

All in all, I won, but it really could have gone either way. One more turn, and both Guardian units would have been wiped out, the Falcon and Seer Council were in serious jeopardy, and I would have been unable to reliably contest the objective.

Do you guys see any other mistakes I made? Could you have done better? Feel free to comment!! :)

Gaming day at the club

2009-04-05T23:56:00.003+02:00

I shot some video at the gaming club today. Check it out!
We're speaking norwegian, but I added closed captions for you english-speaking folks out there.

Prism Cannon

2009-04-02T21:42:00.004+02:00

Prism Cannon
Originally uploaded by Xadhoom.

I tried lightsourcing for the Prism Cannon on my Fire Prism. I'm not entirely sure about the result. If I find that I don't like it, it should be easy to both remove or improve on it.

To get the effect on the prism itself, I simply started with a white undercoat, which I washed black halfway up the front. Then I stippled on the reds from Red Gore, into Blood Red, and finally Golden Yellow. A lot of mixing inbetween these colors, of course.

What do you guys think? Any tips on the lightsourcing technique would be awesome!

Finished: 5 Eldar Rangers

2009-03-31T22:16:00.007+02:00

I bought these back in 4th edition, right when they came out. The models are amazing, both detail and design is excellent.

Their camo cloaks was painted Scorched Brown, followed by a liberal application of Graveyard Earth. Kommando Khaki for the top layer + highlights, followed by a dash of Flesh Wash in the cloak's creases. Then i applied Gryphonne Sepia over the entire cloak to smooth the rather course layering I had done, and to matt down the Flesh Wash. Finally, I touched up the highlights again, and the cloaks were done.

The undersuit was overbrushed dark grey, the face painted plainly with rather light highlights.

The blue gems are painted almost like described in the Eldar Codex: Necron Abyss, Enchanted Blue, Ice Blue (or rather something similar i mixed up).

All in all, I'm pleased with the result. They are clearly camouflaged, but at the same time interesting to behold.

New Imperial Guard Codex = Better Witch Hunters?

2009-03-29T13:54:00.006+02:00

Witch Hunters Penitent Engine
Originally uploaded by Xadhoom.

The Imperial Guard Codex is out in a few weeks, and a lot of folks have posted remarks on its high power level. How will this affect the Witch Hunter codex, when using allies from the Imperial Guard?

To include any of the juicier stuff, like Leman Russes and Sentinels, the Witch Hunters must include two Troops choices, either Imperial Guard platoons or Armored Fist squad. Seeing as the Armored Fist no longer exists, RAW (interpreting the Rule As Written) indicates that two platoons is the only way to go.

Fortunately, this can be both cheap in points and bolster your numbers quite nicely. Equip them with Autocannnons or Lascannons and place them out of harms way. The Battle Sisters should have Melta duty in Witch Hunter armies, the Guard should provide long range support.

Even though the Platoons somewhat mitigate the Witch Hunters' weaknesses, the other choices can do this even better. Sentinels, with their outflanking abilities, can give some much needed special movement options.

It is still unclear if the Witch Hunters can take the Sentinels, as their title in the codex have changed from "Sentinel Squadron" to "Recon Sentinel Squadron" and "Spearhead Sentinel Squadron".

Even more important is if the Inquisition can take the Leman Russ squadron, or only a single Russ, or whether they can take them at all. By RAW they probably can't but with some FAQ goodness, hopefully this will enable the Inquisitor to order three mighty battle tanks to fight against the witches, daemons and aliens out there.

Eldar Fire Dragons boxed set

2009-03-28T09:36:00.004+01:00

Eldar Fire Dragons boxed set
Originally uploaded by Xadhoom.

I got these from my brother and sister for my birthday. Awsomeness right there!! Love you guys! :D

I plan to put them in my Falcon grav tank. Six Fire Dragons, with an Exarch with Dragon's Breath flamer and Crack Shot are the bane of tanks, monstrous creatures and heavy infantry alike. Incidentally, this is something I have struggled with in the past.

The Seer Council i have been using for the last few games are relegated to footslogging for the time being. Fortunately, they can take it, being fortuned and able to run and cast defensive Psychic Powers at the same time.

I'll probably get another Falcon. One Falcon with Fire Dragons, one Falcon with the Seer Council, and one Wave Serpent with whatever. There isn't much the opponent can do about this group of tanks when they come storming down the weaker flank of the board.

Battle Report: Eldar vs Tau

2009-03-27T13:26:00.006+01:00

I played a game of 40k against my friend Norau a few days ago. He plays Tau, and I tried the Ulthwe list that I posted earlier.

Test video: Painting Eldar Rangers

2009-03-25T09:58:00.004+01:00

This is just a test video taken with my Fujifilm S7000 digital camera on a tripod. The quality is so-so, but considering this was taken late in the evening with poor lighting, it's not too bad.

Hopefully, I will take some video from the game of 40k I'm playing tonight.

Music: Love and Wonder Club Mix by DJ Earworm

Khorne Berzerkers almost done

2009-03-24T15:05:00.007+01:00

My 8-man strong unit of lobotomized Berzerkers only have some detail work remaining. I started with a coat of Chaos Black "primer", followed by liberal application of Mechrite Red foundation paint. On top of this I painted most areas of armour Blood Red, with a Blazing Orange highlight. The golden armour is simply Shining Gold.

The next step is final detailing and highlighting. Blazing Orange mixed with some yellow or white for the extreme highlights for the armour. A Burnished Gold and Mithril Silver mix for the gold detailing, and Mithril Silver for the metal highlights.

Finally, the eyepieces on the helmets will be painted Dark Angels Green with Snot Green and Skull White highlights.

More to come when they are finished.

Eldar :: Ulthwe

2009-03-23T13:15:00.009+01:00

No Wraithlords allowed!
Originally uploaded by Xadhoom.

In the good, old days we had special rules for each of the five largest Craftworlds: Alaitoc, Biel Tan, Iyanden, Saim Hann and Ulthwe. Today, you can build armies representing all the Craftworlds from the same Codex, but even so the best lists are often very similar. All the armies are heavily mechanized, Guardians on foot are absent and Fire Dragons are the only anti-tank unit.

Is it possible to build an Ulthwe themed list that is competitive?

To make the list truly Ulthwe, I have defined the following set of rules:

No Aspect Warriors
No Wraiths
Only Farseer as HQ
At least one unit of Warlocks as the Seer Council
Only Guardians or vehicles driven by Guardians

Here is my attempt at approximately 1750 points:
HQ
Eldrad Ulthran
5 Warlocks (Embolden, Enhance, 2 Singing Spears, 3 Destructors)
Troops
10 Storm Guardians (2 Flamers), Warlock (Destructor) in a Wave Serpent (Twin Starcannons, Spirit Stones, Star Engines)
10 Guardians (Bright Lance), Warlock (Embolden)
10 Guardians (Bright Lance), Warlock (Embolden)
6 Jetbikes (2xShuriken Cannons), Warlock (Destructor)
Fast Attack
Vyper (Bright Lance)
Vyper (Bright Lance)
Heavy Support
Falcon (Eldar Missile Launcher, Holofield, Spirit Stones, Star Engines)
3 War Walkers (6xScatter Lasers)
2 D-Cannons

Tactics :: Objective mission
Eldrad and the Seer Council sits in the Falcon, driving close to the Wave Serpent with the Storm Guardians. Their task is to take out the least defended flank, forcing the opponent to send forces to deal with them. If they are not dealt with, the Guardians can even take an objective.

Two Fortuned Eldar-transports full of models capable of dealing with hordes, tanks, walkers and elite troops should make the opponent nervous. Remind the opponent that they can move 36" per turn, and that the Guardians are scoring, and he will not ignore them. They will most of the time draw extreme amounts of attention from the opponent, and should be able to contest one objective at the end of the game.

One of the Guardian squads should park in cover close to the single objective you wish to control at the end of the game. The D-Cannons should also be placed close by, preferably out of sight. Ideally, this objective is on either flank, not in the center of your board edge.

The other Guardian squad should be placed on the other flank, about 30" away, and in hard cover. If they are in a ruin, use multiple floors to mitigate the effects of any template weapons targetting them. Remember that the enemy can only target one floor with a single template. This squad will most likely be ignored by the enemy, seeing as it doesn't control an objective, and there are always juicier targets about. Use them to shoot at enemy transports or deep-striking units trying to get to your objective. Two Bright Lances and Two D-Cannons are a big threat in 5th, with the extreme focus on mechanization.

The Jetbikes should try to delay any troops going for the objective. Destructor and Shuriken Catapults are great against hordes. Don't forget that the Catapults are Twin-Linked. Shuriken Cannons can take out or delay light transports like Trukks, Rhinos or Chimeras. Get that side or rear armour! The Shuriken Cannon's 24" range + the 6" Assault Phase move should keep them out of close combat until it is safe to charge. Don't be afraid to charge walkers. The Warlock is more than capable of taking them out.

The Vypers should zoom about like irritating insects, sniping tanks and elite units like Terminators, Plague Marines, Immortals or Zoanthropes. Their Range will keep them safe most of the time. If nessecary, they can stay next to Eldrad for some Guide goodness. Remember to stay out of range of Bolters and Meltaguns. "Feel free to shoot my Vyper with your Lascannon, just as long as you don't target the Falcon/Wave Serpent." It is often better to sacrifice a turn of shooting in order to redeploy and get that 4+ cover save, rather than gamble on that 4+ to hit. If you stay in the open, you present a juicy target to the opponent. Many Lascannon shots can be wasted on a fast-moving Vyper!

War Walkers should Outflank, either supporting the flank where Eldrad and his boys are doing their thing, or to support the Jetbikes delaying forces trying to take the "home objective".

Tactics :: Kill points mission
Try to get the opponent to take first turn. Put all units in reserve. If this happens, the opponent only has three to five turns to kill your units, while you have four to six. At the same time, you're forcing the opponent to react to your reserves, entering play where needed or right into cover/out of sight.

Use cover religiously! This is twice as important with units that are easy to kill in one shot, like Vypers or D-Cannons. Go to ground if neccesary.

If you're ahead, do a full retreat. Hide in a corner, behind buildings or behind bushes. Get those cover saves. The Vypers should fly all over the place if it can keep them alive for one more turn. Winning by a single Kill Point is enough, there is no bonus for winning by tree.

Hordes will likely not have enough anti-tank to hancle two Fortuned Grav Tanks. Keep them moving for that invaluable cover save. Tank shock and drop four Destructor Templates and two Flamer Templates if you can safely eliminate a unit. Don't get charged. War Walkers can Outflank and stay at long range.

Versus Space Marines or similar armies, Rhinos are top priority. Take out one and hide/run away. Drop Pods are also easy to deal with if the reserve rolls are in my favour.

The worst that can happen is that the opponent forces you to take first turn, and all your units enter play in turn two, with the opponent's units enter right after. If this happens, spread out so he can't bunch up on the fragile Eldar. Assault Terminators are nothing to fear, as they will only take out a single unit at most. Taking out the opponent's transports and fast-moving assaulters will win the day for Craftworld Ulthwe.

Slaughter

2009-03-21T14:04:00.005+01:00

8 Incubi versus my poor Sisters... All my nuns died, but the evil aliens felt the Emperor's fury the next turn, when Dreadnought crashed into them. Just three Incubi survived by fleeing the battlefield.

Faith in the Emperor!

After the first turn of firing

2009-03-21T13:39:00.004+01:00

We killed a bunch of Dark Eldar, but was it enough?

Intro game @ 2500 points

2009-03-21T13:38:00.005+01:00

Dark Eldar + Tau vs Space Marines + Witch Hunters. Video from my Sony Ericsson C902. Next time, I'll try to be a videocorrespondent with my Fujifilm S7000.
Hopefully, the quality will be better.

Player #6 +1 ST!!!

2009-01-31T00:20:00.004+01:00

When you roll double sixes for the next skill in Blood Bowl, the player gets +1 Strength. For Elves, this is awsome! This Dark Elf Runner is now as strong as a Chaos Warrior!

Blood Bowl trip

2009-01-30T23:13:00.002+01:00

Blood Bowl match

2009-01-28T20:11:00.002+01:00

Played two matches at our local GW tonight. At this point I was in the lead, 2-0.

Magnetized Havoc Launcher

2009-01-27T19:45:00.006+01:00

Why haven't I tried to magnetize my minis before? This really was super easy!

Inquisitorial Chimera done

2009-01-13T22:33:00.005+01:00

An evening's work resulted in a stylish ride for the Storm Troopers.