Happy with Angels ... for now.

Eureka!! I've done it, I've come up with a Blood Angels list that I'm happy with. I'm under no illusions that it's the final article but I am sure it's solid enough to for the basis of a competitive army that I'm actually going to enjoy playing. So without further ado here it is:

HQ
Librarian
Terminator Armour, Storm Shield. Shield of Sanguinius & Unleash Rage
Honour Guard
Jump Packs, 2x Meltagun, 1x Power Sword

ELITE
Terminator Assault Squad
(5) 3x Lightning Claw, 2x Thunder Hammer & Storm Shield; Land Raider Redeemer w. Multi Melta
Sanguinary Priest
(1)

TROOP
Assault Squad
Meltagun, Sgt w. Lightning Claw; Razorback w. Lascannon & TL Plasmagun
Assault Squad
Meltagun, Sgt w. Lightning Claw; Razorback w. Lascannon & TL Plasmagun
Assault Squad
Razorback w. TL Lascannon

HEAVY SUPPORT
Dreadnought
2x TL Autocannons
Dreadnought
2x TL Autocannons
Devastator Squad
4x Missile Launchers

1750pts

It's designed to operate in two sections, back-field fire support and in your face assault squads. I think you can see how it splits up just by looking at the list but the plan would be to form two fire bases, one with the TL Lascannon Razorback Assault Squad and the Devastators and the other with the Rifleman Dreads. I reckon I'll keep the Priest back in the Razorback to give the Devastators Feel No Pain and to make them much more of a tough target Wolf Scouts and the like.

Up front will be the Termies chauffeuring the Librarian. A little note on the Libby first, I've kitted him out a bit because I want him to be an assault element and if I don't give him the gear he's going to get munched in the first round of combat. Either side of the Land Raider will be a plasma-back to benefit from the Shield and hiding behind the phalanx will the Honour Guard projecting the Feel No Pain/Furious Charge bubble and ready to bounce out and join the fray.

This weekend I have mostly bee painting Plasma-Backs and Missile Launchers but I've still got a Rifleman Dread to make and 3 LC Termies to model up and paint so a little way to go to get WYSIWYG but nothing too serious.

So what do you think, am I on the right lines here. Does the Honour Guard squad stand out as being a bit out of place? How could I do it differently?

Grey Knights

I've got to say I am very excited by the increasing frequency of fairly strong Grey Knights rumours. There are lots out there and I have nothing new to add there so I won't bother to repeat them but I thought I would share why I like Chapter 666 so much. I know they aren't every one's cup of tea but I really enjoyed the Grey Knights series by Ben Counter especially the last book Hammer of Daemons. No Grey Knight has come closer to falling to Chaos than Alaric but still he stood firm.

I think the first reason is because they are shrouded in mystery. Its probably why I have latched on to Nathanial Garro's personal story in the Horus Heresy series. I believe that he is going about the task of forming the Inquisition (although of course I may be wrong, I am about a lot of things). Even the Space Marine Chapters know little about the Grey Knights.

The second is the fact that although the Space Marines are Elite the Grey Knights are more so. 1 in a 1000 may become a Space Marine, one in a million may become a Grey Knight (numbers made up). In the Killing Ground when Ventris comes up against the Grey Knight Grandmaster he is horribly over matched and I love that about them. The fact that when all things are being chucked at them the Imperium has someone else even better to throw at the depredations of the galaxy.

At the end of the day I will always be a follower of the good guys. Now I know in 40k there aren't really good guys. Even the Imperium are evil sacrificing billions to the Emperor and destroying worlds to stop their enemies from getting them and the Inquisition are certainly as bad as anyone but still there is something about the Grey Knights that just seem good and I cant wait to start a Grey Knights army.

That guy?

You hear a lot about “that guy”, he pops up in podcasts, people write blog posts about him and GW have even made reference to “that guy” in White Dwarf. However I can't say that I've ever had the displeasure of bumping into “that guy” at a tournament, maybe that's because I spend most of my time playing far away from the top tables but I don't think he's necessarily a top table fixture. Maybe I've just been lucky but I think there's more to it than that.

I think a player's own outlook can greatly affect how he perceives the person across the table from him. So perhaps “that guy” is just a reflection of certain people's perceptions and expectations? A little harsh and certainly not the whole story but I do think that there's a good chance that some people will meet “that guy” more often than others will.

This may also partly be down to the fact that I expect everyone defines “that guy” slightly differently. Someone may see a MSU Space Wolves player and immediately label him “that guy”, alternatively it may take another player to have to cheat or do something blatantly rude before his opponent would remember him as “that guy”. Is “that guy” a win at all costs gamer or someone who is just genuinely unpleasant?

For me “that guy” is just someone who I really didn't enjoy playing against, not because I lost or because he played a tough list but just because he didn't make the game any fun for me to play. I expect this is a common definition for “that guy” but what makes an opponent fun to play against is a personal thing and is going to be different for different people hence my comment above about him being a reflection of a person's own opinions.

So after all this pontificating I think I must conclude that “that guy” doesn't exist, he's literally a figment of your imagination. I'm a firm believer that you are in sole control over your own emotions so your opponent shouldn't have any effect over your enjoyment of the game. Play it how you want to and make sure you enjoy it!

Uh oh! I'm doing the BOLS “change-the-colour-and-ask-the-audience-a-question(tm)” bit. Have you ever met that guy? Do you think there is such a gamer? Tell us about your experiences and how you cope when you do face off against “that guy”.

Of Dice and Men

So yesterday I went for my first of the next phase of the First Company Vets tournament (that still none of us understand how its working).

I played Graham and his Guard, I actually played him in the league format and we drew as we do in the vast majority of our games.

My list consisted of the following

Thunder Lord - Saga of the bear, Hammer, Storm Shield, Two Fenrisian Wolves
Rune Priest - Living Lightening, Murderous Hurricane, Chooser

Scouts x 5 - Melta bombs, Melta gun and plasma pistol
2 squads of 8 grey hunters - rhino, melta gun, wolf standard and a mark of the wulfen
1 squad of 7 grey hunters - rhino, plasma gun, wolf standard and a mark of the wulfen

2 thunder wolves 1 with storm shield and 1 with wolf claw
2 squad of long fans 4 Missile Launchers and a lascannon in each.

So basically it is my open war list scaled down.

Graham won the roll off and went first and promptly tried to nail my Thunder wolves and long fangs. My Fenrisian wolves served their purpose of diving in front of their master to save him but one squad of long fangs ran off the table. I took down a couple of vendettas and once my Thunder wolves got into combat it was fairly vicious immobilising a Leman Russ destroying another and taking out one squad. Unfortunately it was then when I decided to split the squad sending the one remaining Thunderwolf after one squad and my lord with his one remaining wound after another. However to put it bluntly both died. A couple of pokes in the eye from a Guardsman's bayonet and down they went. Fast attack showed its worth when he could put his squads in my table quarters and he won on the mission I however won on kill points so the final scores tallied up as 20 to Graham and 16 to myself.

Bit of a disappointment but I didn't really do anything major wrong.

Following a bit of tea (that's our evening meal in the East Midlands) I was stood watching a few games when Andy arrived who didn't have an opponent so we decided to have a 1750 game using the open war rules which like in my earlier game came out as the table quarters mission.

I used my Open War army list that I am very familiar with and Andy sort of cobbled together a Vanilla Marines list which included Lysander, 3 drop pods, a librarian, an Ironclad and a couple of Land Speeders (which I believe has the makings of a great list)

Again I lost the roll of for deployment so with only an enemy Rhino and some scouts on the table I considered the idea of reserving everything but after seeing how badly it went for Andy a few weeks ago I decided against it.

I went for a very central deployment with the notion of my long fangs being either in or as close to cover as possible so they could leg it. Andy (perhaps he thought he had his Blood Angels hat on) came down straight with Lysander, a librarian his Sternguard and his iron clad in front of my librarian and his squad of grey hunters, another squad of grey hunters with 2 meltas in and my Thunder wolves. He proceeded to shoot everything at my Thunderwolves taking off a couple of wounds and the two dogs. Now it was my turn, everyone got out of the rhinos and proceeded to shoot everything at the contents of the 2 drop pods.
The Iron clad fell to a burst of melta fire, a couple of Sternguard went down but most importantly due to Andy's ridiculous rolling Initiative 1 Lysander was left with 1 wound. As my Thunderwolves, Grey Hunters and Rune Priest piled in the Sternguard and Lysander and they soiled their armour and down they went and at this point unfortunately the game was over for Andy. Andy will say it was down to poor placement but personally I think it was down to some good rolling on my point and some poor rolling on Andy's.

We decided to call it a day at the start of my turn 3 when Andy had his Terminators and the two land speeders left while I had had lost nothing.
It wasn't an enjoyable game really, I just felt guilty about my dice and guilty at crushing a player I know is very good.

I'm not superstitious but I am a little stitious.

Wargamers are a funny lot.

We've all seen it and probably done it. You've just rolled a pile of ones and you put those dice to one side. It makes no difference of course to the stats, dice aren't trained to roll ones. As a Scientists I know this but it still doesn't stop me and it got me on to thinking about the other crazy things we do as wargamers due to superstitions.

The first one and one that I believe although of course I have no proof that it actually occurs is new model syndrome. You have just finished painting a new tank or unit or HQ and first turn that its on the board it dies horribly normally against all the odds. Of course there may be the rationale that you don't actually know how to use the model so its far more at risk of dying. This is often occurs in January, I expect my Land Raider Achilles not to survive long.

Second one is one of my Dads observations and it is that people with big dice win more than people with little dice. Our fearless leader claims that he has seen research that this is true but I know it was from my Dad observing me getting destroyed a number of games in a row by people with big dice. It didn't seem to matter that the people that I were playing were excellent players IT WAS ALL DOWN TO THE DICE.

Another one is the use of new dice, before open war I was told don't forget your dice because you don't want to have to buy new ones! Why? Why would it ever matter but apparently it does to a number of gamers. I once came across a gamer who did roll an incredible number of sixes who claimed it was because he practised rolling them. I watched him carefully and there was no cheating but he solidly believed that it was down to the hours he put in practising rolling sixes.

So what superstitions do you follow if any?

Arena of Death - The Sanguinor vs The Swarmlord

Welcome to the Arena of Death, where we pitch named character against named character, ignoring such conventions as Mathammer and actually rolling some dice. This week, it's definitive article against definitive article. So, who is the best character that starts with "The"?

Round 1 - The Swarmlord on the charge

The Swarmlord began by summoning its psychic mastery and casting both Paroxysm and Psychic Scream at the Sanguinor. Both Psychic tests were passed which saw The Sanguinor reduced to WS1 for the rest of the turn, however, he managed to pass his Leadership test. Despite The Sanguinor's weakened state, The Swarmlord could only hit with 3 of its 5 attacks, although all 3 wounded. The Sanguinor passed two invulnerable saves and was left on 2 wounds. Striking simultaneously, The Sanguinor hit back twice. However, since he is an Avenging Angel he manged to hit again and using his Master Crafted Glave Encarmine he managed to get up to 4 hits with re-rolls (not bad for someone who is WS1!) He managed to cause 2 Wounds but The Swarmlord parried one with its Bone Sabres. In the second round of combat, The Swarmlord managed 3 hits but could only do 1 wound despite only needing 2s. Initially, The Sanguinor saved but those vicious Bone Sabres forced a re-roll of the invulnerable save and he took another wound. With a single successful re-roll, The Sanguinor struck back 3 times, causing 3 Wounds. Despite the whirl of blades from The Swarmlord, one still got through, meaning the combat was still in a deadlock. Angered by his latest wound, The Swarmlord hit The Sanguinor with all four of its attacks and managed to cause 4 Wounds! Despite his Unyielding Will, The Sanguinor still fell. With his last breath, he hit The Swarmlord with 4 attacks and while he managed to do 2 Wounds both were parried aside.

Round 2 - The Sanguinor on the charge

With a war cry from the very depths of its soul, The Sanguinor charged into the giant monstrosity. Initially hitting with 4 out of his 6 attacks, re-rolls improved that to all 6. However, despite only need 4s to Wound due to his Furious Charge he could only manage 1. Even with re-rolls that became a rather poor 2. The Swarmlord couldn't stop either of them though and so was down to 3 Wounds even before he got to strike. The Swarmlord fared even worse in riposte, hitting just once and failing to wound. Buoyed by his initial success, The Sanguinor hit The Swarmlord 4 times, causing 2 Wounds, 1 of which was saved. Swinging like a drunk in a bar room brawl, The Swarmlord missed with 3 of its attacks, although it did manage to cause an unsaved Wound with the one that did hit. Sensing his chance, The Sanguinor landed all 5 of his blows, needing just one re-roll. Initially causing 1 Wound, the Avenging Angel improved it to 2 and The Swarmlord could only parry 1. In return The Swarmlord hit twice and caused 2 Wounds. Even with the re-roll cause by the Bone Sabres, 1 was still saved. Both combatants were now down the their final wound! The end was near, it was the time for bold actions. The Sanguinor managed to hit The Swarmlord 4 times thanks to the help of his various re-rolls. He again needed his re-rolls as he caused no wounds initially but managed to improve that to 2 which was enough as The Swarmlord failed one of his saves. As it struck back simultaneously, The Swarmlord only managed 2 hits but both wounded. The Sangiounor failed one and both warriors fell at the same time.

Wow! Our first draw in the Arena of Death! I like to imagine it a bit like the end of Rocky II. I have to admit that the dicerolls for The Swarmlord were just awful in that second round. If he'd rolled anything like average he'd have won quite easily. His key advantage over The Sanguinor in a straight 1 on 1 fight like this is his higher WS and T6. Even with all those re-rolls, it's a tough ask for The Sanguinor. I think if these two ever came face to face in a real game of 40K, they'd be better off going round killing Troops rather than trying to face off to each other. The Swarmlord especially is better off against people without Eternal Warrior (which is one of the reasons that we didn't put him up against Mephiston, he'd have slaughtered him) Similarly, The Sanguinor is going to be the bane of regular HQs but I think that 5 Wounds was just a bit too much for him to handle. As we always say, a lot of these characters bring far more to the party than just their raw unadulterated killing power. The Sanguinor's Aura of Fervour makes Blood Angels even killier in combat while The Swarmlord's Alien Cunning lets you play the Reserve game and Swarm Leader makes one of you units better for a turn. The only other thing I'd say is that at 280 points, The Swarmlord is a very pricey model that has to walk everywhere. The Sanguinor may have been beaten here and he's only 5 points cheaper, but that Jump Pack makes it a lost easier to just run away from The Swarmlord.

All Apologies

Firstly, a general apology. Due to being really busy at work I've not posted much in the last couple of weeks so sorry for that. Hopefully from next week onwards, I'll have a bit more time to do some blogging. Now onto some more specific apologies. I haven't managed to write up my experiences at Freebootaz yet despite the fact that Andy and Graham both have and our new friends at From the Fang have done a brilliant write up on their experiences in the doubles. Now onto the big one. We had a lot of snow here last week which unfortunately kept me some 20 miles away from my codices and unable to post last week's Arena of Death. Yes, I know that a little bit of snow shouldn't stop a true Son of Russ but rest assured that it's scheduled for tomorrow, back in its usual slot.