Warhammer 40k tournament report: Invasion 2012

This weekend me and the boys went to Kristiansand, to our first tournament of 6th edition 40k: Invasion. It was 1750 points with minimal restrictions.

5 missions pretty much straight from the book, and tournament scoring was Victory Points. This meant that if you won a battle 4-2 in Victory Points, you got 4 tournament points. However, if you lost a battle 6-20, you got 6 tournament points. Yeah, losing could be better than winning. Kinda strange, but it was the same for everyone.

Anyhow, here's the tournament report. I reported in Norwegian this time, so if you don't understand what I'm saying, just look at the video and listen to the tone of my voice to figure out if I did well or badly ;-)

Blight Drones

Blight Drones

Long time no blogging! This September, I'm going to Invasion in Kristiansand. It's a 1750 point 40k tournament, and my first of 6th edition.

They've pretty much copied Strategikon's rules from previous years, and allow everyone to select units from the Imperial Armour Books. I think this is great, because that allows me to get some sorely needed anti-air without resorting to allies.

Two Blight Drones and a Hell Blade should be enough for most engagements, I think. When Forge World changed the Blight Drone's type from Fast Skimmer to Flyer, they suddenly became awesome!

They have a Battle Cannon or S6 Heavy Flamer to annoy all groundwalkers, and a Reaper Autocannon versus aerial targets. Sure, they are just BS2, but as fliers, they can fire everything and still keep zooming. Add to this that they have a bit of armor and are pretty cheap, and you have a very good little unit that's really a tier 1 unit in the CSM list.

As long as your community allows Imperial Armour, that is.

750 point madness

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!!

Video tournament report: Winter War 8

We need to obliterate the enemy!

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!

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

Space Wolves commission and the Scorpion Defiler

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.

Daemon Prince of Khorne

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.

New Daemon Prince

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.

Tournament video report: Winter War 7

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

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!

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

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:

Scorpion style Defiler conversion - part 2

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.

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

Video Battle Report: Chaos Space Marines vs Tyranids

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

Scorpion style Defiler conversion

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.

How I won my last "Capture & control"

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!

Red Corsairs reinforcements

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

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: Tau vs Chaos Space Marines

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