Team Norway's lists at ETC 2011

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]

Aftermath of Strategikon 5

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

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.

Haters gonna hate

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

Preparations for Winter War 8

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 ;)

Exploring Special Characters from Imperial Armour 9

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!

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!

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...

Autocannon Dreadnoughts - First trial games

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.

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:

My 1750 point CSM tournament list

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.

40k Tournament Report: 500 pts Doubles

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:

1. Annihilation / Dawn of War
2. Seize Ground / Spearhead
3. Capture & Control / Pitched Battle

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

Warhammer 40k battle report: Tyranids vs Orks

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.

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

Tournament video report: Invasion 2009

Tournament report: Invasion 2009

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!

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

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: Eldar vs Necrons

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! :)