The Tale of the Bloody Baron - A bit of lore behind my list

/
The Tale of the Bloody Baron - A bit of lore behind my list

Warhammer 40,000 – While building competitive lists and winning is fun; I find the most rewarding part of this hobby is coming up with a backstory for your army and seeing it grow and mature over time. While I’ve dedicated the first part of the year to painting and learning my Blood Angels list, I still have several other armies that I continue to think about which inevitably leads to me going off on a tangent and another year of unfinished armies but that’s neither here nor there.

Read More

Is a Leadership Based List Viable? - Chaos in 8th

/
Is a Leadership Based List Viable? - Chaos in 8th

Warhammer 40,000 - Early in 8th edition I decided to do a Night Lords list, my idea was to do a ton of Raptors that messed with leadership to force my opponents to run away. Sadly with the rule of three spamming a ton of minimal Raptor units isn’t really viable. Another issue is that “assault troops” with a single base attack don’t really do well in assault, nor do small specialized units. While they’re vicious and great in combat in the lore and other background; in reality Raptors are a mobile firebase that can max out on special weapons.

Read More

Furies or Furries ... Proxying a Conversion

/
Furies or Furries ... Proxying a Conversion

Warhammer 40,000 – For the Escalation Event I plan on attending later this month I needed to add five Chaos Furies. The metal models are just gross, I never cared for them and used to use Dark Elf Harpies with my old Word Bearers force back in the 3.5/4th edition days. While the models weren't much better they fit the rest of my army. Sadly I sold that force off ages ago and haven't stopped kicking myself since. The problem at hand is I need five Furies to fill out my force for this event because Screamers don't fit when playing points (power level is just fine which is my preference at the moment ... but its not my event and 90% of tournaments will use points so whatever).

Read More

Escalation League - Session Three Final Week

/
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. 

Read More

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

/
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?

Read More

Escalation League Session 3 - Week 2

/
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.

 

 

Escalation Campaign - Session three, Week One

/

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. 

Read More

Escalation League - Week 5

/
Escalation League - Week 5

Warhammer 40,000 – For the fifth week of the Agrax Campaign I decided to modify my list a bit. Same models just trying different traits to see what works best. This time around I'm putting Daemon Spark on my Princess to bump up the damage potential from my Flamers. This force might still be to small to take best advantage of the alpha strike. What I've been seeing it while I can hit hard on the first turn I've generally loosing them to return fire, when I am able to put more threats on the table it should help this detachment survive a bit longer. Last week I tried out bulking this out with a battalion, this week I'm trying the same thing but keeping the cultists back as objective grabbers.

Read More

Escalation League - Week 4

/
Escalation League - Week 4

Warhammer 40,000 – This week I'm going to try out a list I plan on taking to RIW Hobbies Escalation Event. It's an interesting format as you start with 500 points and then add another each round. Essrntially playing a slow grow league in the course of a day. Several other local groups just did escalation leagues so it makes sense to give players a chance to test their mettle in a single day event. 

Read More

Escalation League – Week 3

/
Escalation League – Week 3

Warhammer 40,000 – This week I played another 2v1 game. Which meant I was running two complete 50PL armies, double what I had prepared for. Luckily with power level its super fast to build a list, I grabbed a Chaos Knight 24PL, a terminator sorcerer 6PL, a dark apostle 6PL and 4 units of cultists 3PL each. Quick and easier. whatever they're carrying is what they're armed with and I'm ready to play.

Read More

Escalation League/Campaign - Session Two

/
Escalation League/Campaign - Session Two

Warhammer 40,000 – The first session of my clubs escalation league saw me get throughly trounced. I feel like my Raptors never could effectively alpha strike and when I tried they would get wiped off the board in the following turn. If they could have ever took out their points worth that would have been fine, but unfortunately that wasn't the case. 

Read More

Escalation League - Week 2

/
Escalation League - Week 2

Warhammer 40,000 – Life finds a way ... to change your plans. This week due to unforeseen events what was going to be a full house gaming session turned into a 2v1 battle. I had to had my group for the next session of this league to fight against a combined Imperial Guard/Space Marine force. 

Read More

Night Lords – Nightmarish List 100PL/2000Pts

/
Night Lords – Nightmarish List 100PL/2000Pts

Warhammer 40,000 – As part of my resolutions for the new year I decided to pick a solid list for each of the factions I own and stick with it until I get the hang of what the list can do. At the end of seventh edition I dipped my toe back into the Chaos soup and started a Night Lords force that was supposed to be very focused on a few formations. While it did very well in the new edition those formations didn't translate so well. You can get a similar effect spending command points on stratagems and building your core force as an Outrider Detachment but it's not exactly the same. 

Read More

How to Make a Monster ... Chaos Spawn

/
How to Make a Monster ... Chaos Spawn

Warhammer 40,000 – Chaos Spawn are one of the creepier units in the Chaos Marine army. One two many "gifts" or disappointing your patron can result in becoming a gibbering monster. Of course it also can be the fate of anyone who attracts the Ire of a sorcerer so its important to have a few around.

Read More

Going Berserk ... Night Lords Shock Troops

/
Going Berserk ... Night Lords Shock Troops

Warhammer 40,000 – Khorne Berserkers and excellent shock troops, if you can get them into combat they tear through infantry with ease. Which means they're an excellent addition to my Night Lords force. In order to force sweet leadership checks casualties need to occur, these guys will deliver.

Read More