Ravenwing Black Knights - More Plasma Talons

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Ravenwing Black Knights - More Plasma Talons

Warhammer 40,000 – I remember when bitz boxes the world over were filled with left over Space Marine Plasma Guns. It was always a weapon that would kill your own gun at the most inopportune of times, which meant any other special weapon would see more play on the table. Eight Edition made it a choice to supercharge your plasma and risk killing your own guy rather than happening every time they fire their gun. Suddenly plasma guns are all the rage and you see them on everything.

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Hide and Seek Champions - Raven Guard vs Alpha Legion

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Hide and Seek Champions - Raven Guard vs Alpha Legion

Warhammer 40,000 – Today's question is who would win in a gunfight between the two sneaky marine factions? Alpha Legion and Raven Guard mimic each other in most of their chapter tactics and abilities so this should be a fairly even match up. Maelstrom of War with Tactical Objective cards should force both forces to move about a bit. Scorched Earth is one of the more unforgiving missions out of Chapter Approved 2017, so of course that's what we rolled to play. 

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A Space Marine Chapter - How I plan to build mine

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A Space Marine Chapter - How I plan to build mine

Warhammer 40,000 – One of the things I've been working on since the early 2000's. What started as a bunch of random marines and bits a client traded me for some paint work has blossomed into nearly a full chapter. (Well at least a few companies.) Listening to the Independent Characters recently I realized the latest Space Marine Codex had completely updated how a Company is set up which might change how I lay mine out.

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My Mossburg Goes Boom - Necromunda GSC vs Orlocks

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My Mossburg Goes Boom - Necromunda GSC vs Orlocks

Necromunda – Combat shotguns are probably one of the most versatile guns available when playing Zone Mortalis style Necromunda. Knowing you're going to get up close and personal against groups of enemy fighters means the shredder rounds will put in work. Template weapons in general are nasty because they pin you without having to "hit" against a close combat orientated gang like my Genestealer Cult it's devastating. 

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Blade Runner-esque City Scape

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Blade Runner-esque City Scape

Terrain Building – Blade Runner really set the tone for me as to what a dystopian future would look like. Dirty, crowded and dark. Ultimately that's the look I'm going for with my city table. Ideally this terrain will be "useable" across several different rules sets like 40K, Necromunda and Batman as well as any other random "near-future" sci-fi games I might find myself interested in. 

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Shrouded in Secrets - More Ravenwing

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Shrouded in Secrets - More Ravenwing

Warhammer 40,000 – I just wrapped up more iconic Ravenwing models. Like most of the Space Marines Chapters the bulk of their army is made up of units that are shared with the main codex with some minor variations. Each of the chapters with their own codex then have several unique units that only they can access. The Darkshroud and Black Knights are both examples only the Dark Angels have access to.

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Necromunda: Cult of the Rusty Claw

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Necromunda: Cult of the Rusty Claw

Necromunda – Having played a few games with the gangs that came in the boxed set I decided it was time to branch out and experiment with the Genestealer Cult. I've always been a big fan and while I'm not using my Warhammer 40,000 Genestealer Cult until they get a new codex I can use the models I already own to build a pretty cool gang.

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Escalation Campaign - Finale and Deep Thoughts

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Escalation Campaign - Finale and Deep Thoughts

Warhammer 40,000 – The Escalation Campaign is over. Unsurprisingly Chaos lost. In the final battle I used a different Chaos force than I had been using to represent the Nightlords abandoning the system with the meager spoils they claimed just as Chaos re-enforcements meandered onto the scene. Given the once sided nature of the campaign it was inevitable that Chaos would turn on itself.

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It ain't easy being green ... Astra Militarum

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Warhammer 40,000 – Cadians are always a popular choice, particularly for a basic 3C + Wash paint job. Castellan Green, Agrax Earthshade and some metallics make quick work of these bad boys. 

Order Up!

Escalation League - Session Three Final Week

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Escalation League - Session Three Final Week

Warhammer 40,000 – Escalation Leagues are typically a sneaky way to get people to finish off a force or get a reasonable amount of models painted. Which is great because typically you win the war against gray plastic thorough escalation. Tying it into a campaign system is just a bonus. 

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Soup to Nuts - The joys of 8th Edition Army Construction

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Soup to Nuts - The joys of 8th Edition Army Construction

Warhammer 40,000 – One of the coolest (or most annoying) things about 8th Edition 40k is list construction. The Keyword system means you can cherry pick the units you want to build whatever force you want. From a thematic aspect this is very cool as it can represent the disparate forces abandoned to the darkness after the Great Rift ripped the galaxy in two. Which means it's feasible to have several units of marines traveling with the remnants of a guard regiment being led by some group of Imperial Heroes with a Knight backing them up. Or recreating odd pairing that you see in Black Library books all the time. For instance I'm reading Death of Antagonis right now and am tempted to pick up a Canoness to run along side my Imperial forces. It's not super strong but could make for a cool narrative.

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WIP - Iron Angels?

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WIP - Iron Angels?

Warhammer 40,000 – I don't think I can extoll the virtues of making up your own force and color scheme in 40k enough. The flexibility it affords and money you can save in the long run is really worth it. Of course you'll occasionally get somebody who gives you the side-eye every time you say successor chapter but whatever that will happen regardless of what you do.

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Escalation League – I got more points than you and didn't win?

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Escalation League – I got more points than you and didn't win?

Warhammer 40,000 – If you build a list to table an opponent in 2-3 turns you will win 90% of your games this is the sad truth with most tabletop games. Weird missions and other things to improve tactics so players play to the mission are great. But when the final score doesn't matter because you have no models left does playing to the mission matter?

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Escalation League Session 3 - Week 2

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Q1Escalation_S3WK2_04.jpg

Warhammer 40,000 – After last week I'm not sold on the Juggernaut Lords, they did ok, but I'm not sure they are my style. If the Knight wasn't there I think they would have been shot down early in the game. 

This week I'm going back to the Raptors and Tzeentch Daemons. The reality is this is the style of force I wanted to play when I started putting together Night Lords and I should have just stuck with it. Sure there's tons of stuff I could do with the Chaos keyword but thematically scary stuff dropping out of the sky to stab you is what I wanted.

This week for 74PL I'm running:

Tzeentch Vanguard
Daemon Prince w/impossible Robe and Daemonspark
Flamers (3x)
Flamers (3x)
Flamers (3x)
Screamers  (3x)
Giant Chaos Spawn
Giant Chaos Spawn

Night Lords Outrider
Sorcerer on Bike
Raptors (5x) w/Flamers and Combi-Flamer
Raptors (5x) w/Melta and Combi-Melta
Raptors (5x) w/Melta and Combi-Melta
Warp Talons (5x)
Cultists w/Autoguns (20x)

Not a whole lot of command points with this build. I'm not sure I'll be deep-striking many Daemons this time. Honestly I shouldn't have to everything moves at least 12" but the cultists so closing the gap in mass should be easier. One of the things I've noticed with trying to alpha-strike constantly is a.) my opponents expect it and b.) if things don't go perfect those few units you dumped in are unlikely to survive.

 

 

On the painting table ... Raptors

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On the painting table ... Raptors

Warhammer 40,000 – It's always weird to me when a Chapter Tactic that has been traditionally overlooked suddenly becomes really good. With the Raptors successor chapter using their special character rules combined with their parent chapters tactics you have a very potent gunline or alpha strike with the best of them.

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Escalation Campaign - Session three, Week One

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Warhammer 40,000 – I'm really happy with how my escalation league/campaign is going. For most of the last session I was play-testing a list I wanted to take to an event. Something came up however that means I won't be able to attend the event. That being the case I decided for this portion of the campaign to go another direction. 

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