A new look.

I decided to start playing 40k again and brought out the Deathwing from mothballs.  Along with attempting to repaint my army, I decided to overhaul this blog and attempt to get it going.  I dug up a suitable metal background image from google and made my own banner.  The Deathwing symbol and Terminator were shamelessly stolen from http://kristianbourdagewip.blogspot.com and http://asylumseaker.deviantart.com/ respectively.  I recolored the terminator as I wasn't a fan of the green and bone armor.

Tournament Prep.

                                                  Deathwing Logo - PogS from Relic News


My LGS, FTW Games, is having another 1850 pt. tournament on July 28th.  This leaves me with 19 days to prepare my list and will be a huge motivator to get things done.  Back in April I posted the list I used for the tournament that month.   So close after the release of 6th edition, it's hard to say how that list will hold up.  From what I have read, it seems melta will be replace by plasma and las cannons will be the anti tank weapon of choice.   This would make landraiders more survivable and my list could work well save the speeders which will die to hard wind.   I seriously considering a foot slogging list backed by 3 vindicators, since they can  run the dual role of anti infantry and anti tank especially with the change to the template rules.

Belial with dual claws
Librarian
Terminator Squad 4 TH/SS 1 LC, Banner
Terminator Squad 4 TH/SS 1 LC
Terminator Squad 4 TH/SS 1 LC
Terminator Squad 4 TH/SS 1 LC
Terminator Squad 4 TH/SS 1 LC
Vindicator
Vindicator
Vindicator


I've missed using vindicators since I stopped a few years back.  One reason was due to the abundance of glancing shaken/stunned results they would take.  Other than the first turn or so most of the time they would just sit there, unable to fire.  Since glances don't do anything other than remove hull points, I imagine we will be seeing more of them in the future.  Another bonus to the new rules is that extra armor is pretty much not needed due to the reasons above,  making taking 3 of them worlds cheaper than before.


19 days....30 models....the race is on!

6th Edition - The Golden Age of Terminators? aka. I question reality as I know it.

                                                 Deathwing Veterans - Kari Christensen




The following is just my thoughts.  I don't claim to be an expert in anything, this is basically me justifying my choices for future lists.

My current list as of late for 1850 has been a triple Land Raider list, 3 Squads, 3 Raiders, Belial, and 3 speeders.    This has worked so so for me.  In fact, the triple Raiders have given me mixed results since I started using them a while back.  I had my most success with Deathwing back when I started playing them in 2006.   Here's some useless history for those who care, if not skip over it.  I started Deathwing back in 2006 after falling in love with the performance of Terminators in my Iron Hands army the year before.   I wanted to run all Terminators so Deathwing was the obvious (and only) choice at the time.  Not feeling too keen on loosing games with so few models, I read up on as many tactica as I could.  The Way of the Water Warrior was a huge help, and still a good read even now, 2 editions later.   The tactica focus' on the old Grey Knights codex, but applies to any army in which you want to be the reactive player.  By reading this, along with remembering the Deathwing Mantra I ran a footslogging, shooty Deathwing list for about 6 months going nearly undefeated.  I lost one game, maybe 2, to a Grey Knight player.  I was running tri Vindicators then and had demolished a majority of his army when I decided to let up on him, and that was the nail in my coffin that game...well that and the unit of GK Termies that deep struck behind my guys.   

With the release of 6th edition, I have been mulling over where to take my list now.  I feel the changes to vehicles will hurt them.  Wound allocation, or the lack thereof, along with the hit to power weapons seems to make TH/SS's near obsolete.  Now the only things that can kill Terminators are massed fire (which has always been an issue), Las/plas and Melta,  and things that either strike at I1in combat or some form of Dread/MC.   Strategic placement of your models in shooting and combat means you could get away with having a single TH/SS to soak up a few ap1/2 hits and having fewer TH/SS will allow squads to be equipped for a variety of other tasks.   Slinging stormbolter shots each turn seemed to get things done in the past, perhaps it will again?

Vehicles....they just seem.....meh now.   The new hull point system along with the changes to how ap1/2 modifiers seem to make vehicles easier to kill.  Vehicles, in my opinion, were already easy to kill in 5th, now it seems even Land Raiders are made out of paper mache.  In 5th, your vehicles could shrug off countless glancing hits and take 3 or 4o Immoblized/Weapon Destroyed results before finally biting it.  Now with the new system, each glancing hit takes off a hull point.  The bright side to this is a single glance won't drop the effectiveness of your vehicle until its dead.  The change to ap1/2 weapons just makes the prevaleance of melta all the more dangerous now.  Vehicles are out for me... for the most part.

So after that tirade, I'm still confused as to what I should run.  I feel troops will be more survivable and I think the base of my list will be 6 squads of Terminators.    I plan on keeping my vehicles to a minimum and they will mostly be things that will keep as far back as possible.  Vindicators may make a return in my list, and most likely Contemptors.  At 1850, I plan on Belial, 6 squads of Termies with TH/SS(for now atleast), CMLs, Deathwing Banner, a Contemptor with Kheres Assault Cannons, CML, and a Lucius Pattern Drop Pod.  The thought of the Contemptor dropping in and tear assing through the enemy's back lines is funny to me.   I'm debating on dropping the banner for the apothecary, but there are a lot of uncertains about this list that will be hammered out with a few games of 6th.

In summary, 6th ed. sees the rise of Terminators, the fall of vehicles, and a shift in all that we have known for the past four years.

Late to the game.

I know I'm hugely late getting into Monsterpocalypse, but due to Five Below selling the boosters for the first 3 sets for only $3, I couldn't help myself.   Giant Monsters are cool.   Giant Robots are cool.   When giant monsters and robots fight, its epic.

I picked up something like 26 boosters and a starter set.  Pictured above is all but about 5 boosters, and 2 models that were broken and needed to be repaired.  Out of all that, I only received 1 duplicate monster set  and that duplicate came from the starter set.   I love the models although some of the paint jobs leave something to be desired and may get repainted in the future.

Unfortunately there isn't much of a following for the game.   Privateer press has the game on hold pending discussions regarding a movie and hasn't had any releases lately.  Locally, I know of one person that MIGHT still play.   I fully plan on enjoying this wonderful game with anyone I can get into it :D

My tournament results

I had fun today at the tournament, despite a rather small turn out.  I got 3 great games in against 3 great guys I've never played before.  The 10 players consisted of Grey Knights, 2 Ork players who ran similar lists, Necrons, Chaos Marines, Salamanders, Guard, Nids, Marines, and my Deathwing.  I didn't stick around to see who won as I had to leave as soon as my 3rd game was done.   I suck at battlereps so bare with me as I just recap what happened.

Round 1 vs. Necrons - Mission KPs

Nemesor Zhandrekh + Vargard Obyron
Royal Court
Annihiliation Barge
Doomsday Ark
2 units of about 14 or so warriors
1 Unit of about 10 Immortals
5 Lychguard armed with shields
2 Spiders
8 0r 10 Scarab Bases


I stole the initiative and dropped the Ark in my first round of shooting which I think helped out a lot vs my small numbers.  The game ended with me winning with 7 to his 5kp.  All that he had left was the named characters and the lychguard.  I had an LRC, LR, Belial, and 1 squad of terminators. 


Round 2 vs. Grey Knights - Objectives


Draigo
Coteaz
Paladin Deathstar unit, each equipped differently
2 Dreads with twin auto cannons
A unit of Interceptors
3 Razorbacks with 3 Inq. henchmen each.


This was an awesomely converted army.  The theme is an Imperial force from Star Wars, including Vader and the Emperor.  Various parts of his army can be seen here.  This game was a practice on how to avoid Paladins.  I was outclassed every way with that unit.  I also learned to take my time with my turns and deployment of models.  I misplaced a CML model with a standard TH/SS model.  The CML wasnt needed when I deployed it, but it's something I need to pay attention to in following games.   The game ended on turn 5 with us contesting 2 objectives, my opponent claiming one, and because of a stupid mistake on my part, I was just shy of claiming my own.  In my last turn, I failed to run a unit onto the objective and it cost me the draw.




Round 3 vs.  Ghazghul and the tide - Objectives


Ghazghul
Mek with KFF
3 units of 30 Boyz
1 Unit of 10 Nobs with pain boy
3 Kanz with Skorcha
3 Kanz with Grotzooka
3 Kanz with Rokkits


This was the match I was worried about the most.   I was out numbered 5 to 1 and had relatively limited fire power.  I chose to deploy my units with CMLs outside of the transports and play the gunline role to whittle away the orks and kans.  This wasn't a mission I felt I could win so my sole purpose was to take down every last ork I could.   I suffered my heaviest losses this game.   When the smoke cleared I had a single Land Raider left.  The orks had a unit at about half strength along with 2 Kanz.  I may have lost the round, but this was a personal victory.




Overall I feel this was a good day.  I have only played 2 games since I stopped playing last year about this time.   I learned that my CMLs firing the krak shots hit about as bad as my melta shots.  I'm close to writing both off as useful means to kill things.   I also need to remember to take my time and not forget key things that can swing games into draws or possible wins.  I've become a huge fan of TH/SS, but I'm still not convinced that all my models need to be equipped that way.  I think having atleast one model with claws is good.

Possible Tournament Prep

This upcoming Saturday (4/14) I plan on attending an 1850pt. tournament at FTW Games.   I of course plan on running Deathwing and even though it ultimately means I'm bring a knife to a gun fight, it will most certainly be hella fun.  I have been reading up on the current Deathwing tactica on Warseer  and the vets on there have pretty much said that foot slogging TH/SS termies with CMLs, backed by speeders and preds are the way to go.  Foot slogging has never really done it for me.  I have always preferred a somewhat fast and mobile army as well as having a low model count army.  These lists favor my A.D.D. and keep me from getting bored easily.  

The list I will be taking Saturday is a mix of the above suggested list and my favorite Tri-Land Raider list.   Normally I run units consisting of:

3x Dual Claws
1x Assault Cannon/Chainfist
1x TH/SS

I have had good luck in combat before with the above outfitting, however this time, my units will be loaded up with TH/SS.   I recently played a game against a friend who was running a genestealer list and I felt the 3++ from the Storm Shields would have benefited me greatly.

Saturday I will be running:

Belial - Dual Lightning Claws


Belial's Unit
3x TH/SS
1x TH/SS, Banner
1x TH/SS, CML



4x TH/SS
1x TH/SS, CML


4x TH/SS
1x Heavy Flamer, Chainfist


1x Land Raider Crusader - Extra Armor
2x Land Raider - Extra Armor


2x Speeder - MM, AC


1845pts.

The odd man out is due to the 1850 limit that most tournaments I've seen follow.  Making him a TH/SS with CML puts me at 5 points over and I feel happy with him as he is.  I could drop an Assault Cannon off of a speeder and make him a TH/SS, CML but I don't feel comfortable loosing the AC.  Hopefully I can get in a practice game or two before saturday and decide which way to go then.

Basing

With this project, I wanted something more than plain bases or bases with cork.  I found an excellent article by Ron over at From The Warp on basing and decided to give it a go.  Check out his article here.

Here are the bases I have completed so far.