A Note to My Great Unclean One

Dear Sir:

If you are to continue your current practice of arriving late to the battle field on all occasions, then I shall be forced to downgrade you to a Middling Untidy One.

Showing up on turn five does not count as timely attendance.

Sincerely,
The Management.

Double Valkyrie all the way!

Well, technichally, a double vendetta.

This was a photo that I took at Adepticon 2010. It happened during a game between my friend Erich and the well-known Dave Taylor. Yes, that Dave Taylor. It was a great table to watch, as both opponents have exquisite armies, Erich's being a stunning Vostroyan force, and Dave's being, well, Dave's Blood Pact.



As for Team Banzai team is already gearing up for another visit this year, and we're hoping to field two teams, a spirit/theme team, and a more competative team for the face smashing. I'm team captain of the face smashers.

There is a possibility of us making an assassin team, and hoping to take most in the way of HQ points from our foe, while making highly survivable HQ's capable of doing some very nasty work. The peril is that I will need to make a mixed team, and if I do that, as per last year's rules, only one "named" character can be used. It will be an interesting challenge, one that I hope we can rise to. I still need two more members to round it out. We have time, but the more we practice, the better.

Individually, I'm also looking to enter the championships, if for nothing else than adding to my RankingsHQ standings.

Board Games.

I told you I was a board gamer.

I've played it twice since this video, and I've lost both times. I still want to play it. I'm doing a full write up later on about it, but I just want to give you all this initial introduction.

Fantasy? 40k?

The answer is yes to both. I taking a break from my list making blues and I'm building my 40k/Fantasy Daemonettes. My 40k daemon army is my "fun" army. I bring it out when I just want to play a game. It's a one trick pony, but it's a trick that it does well: kill infantry. Of course, no-one runs an infantry army, so it's a dog's breakfast now-a-days, but it's still a neat looking thing to break out. Daemonettes are really fun in the 8th environment, what with Always Strikes First. I take a prince that uses Lore of Shadows, and I love the idea of ASF-Mind Razored Daemonettes. Let me personally say that cutting the tiles fit the board was hell on toast, but it will be worth it once they're all assembled and painted.

List block

I'm playing in an 1850 point tourney on the 31st, and I'm blanking on a decent list for Blood Angels at the point level.

2000? I've got a list I consider decent. 2500, I have my 'ard Boys list. 1850? I've got nothing.

Army Builder lists have been pounded out, and they all seem wanting. I'm looking at a 90% of the current opponent roster being mechanized, and what I have painted for my BA just can't hack it. I'm lacking a decent punch at a decent range. 24-12 inches? I'm set. Any thing beyond that, and I'm found wanting.

It's wracking my brain. I have a mental block that I just can't seem to get rid of.

I might have to switch to my guard.

Another 1500 point game

I went to 'orkridge to hang out and talk to the people there, and I ended up playing another 1500 point game.

I used the same list, against a young gent's Lizard list. 3 skink priests, so he had all the Heavens spells, a big block of Sarus cav, and a big block of Sarus. I don't know what he was thinking.

We played meeting engagement, and it ended up with most of my stuff being on the board, except for the nurglings. So no worries. Up until I read that fliers take extra hits from all Heaven spells. Those skinks had to go. The lizards got the first turn, and the cav got in there quick. His foot Sarus were stuck in reserve, and walked on. It was the start of his bad luck with the winds of magic, a remarkable three dice. His charging Sarus on Cold Ones killed two whole Plague Bearers, and I ended up killing three. His Sarus held due to some magic item making them stubborn. My Prince moved to kill the priests, and to get out of the charge arc of the foot sarus.

My second PB unit flanked the Cold One Riders, and we cut them down. I didn't fail a single regen save. He couldn't hit anything. It was horrible. He finally got his Foot Sarus in, and his hero rolled 5 misses for his five attacks. I just couldn't lose. I straight up murdered him. I kind of felt badly. It was as if my dice were in opposite land. I will never, ever have this good a game in a tournament. His Sarus, despite charging and being in 4+ ranks with spears, ended up running, and moved a bold three inches away, right in the charge arc of the Prince. At that point, my opponent shook my hand and called it a night.

What did I learn?

Position is everything, and the charge doesn't mean a thing when you can't hit. Also, complex combats suck to figure out.

1500 Escalation League part 2

Same list as the last post.

I ended up facing a Brettonian list with two large lance formations, a Duke, a BSB, a prophetess on foot, a damsel on horseback, peasants with fire arrows, and a stone thrower.

We played mission 4, which stated that once your army was down to two remaining banners/general points, they lost the game.

We rolled off for terrain, and I placed a manor house centrally to block LOS for some of his units, and a tower opposite it to funnel the action to a narrow choke point. I set up favoring the choke point, and set my Prince up behind the manor house to keep from the archer's line of sight. My nurglings flanked to the right of his heavy unit with the Duke, BSB and assorted knights.

His Duke unit was stationed near the choke point, and his other unit was to the right of the manor, near the stone thrower. The peasants were at the choke point opposite the Duke/BSB unit, and the Prophetess was between the two, as bait.

Fairly soon, I got myself in trouble. My nurglings tried to get out of his charge arc, but the didn't quite get there. The Duke's unit stomped them into the ground in one combat with the nurglings doing nothing.

I charged my Prince into the duke's unit unsupported, hoping to kill them fairly easily, but their armor held well. I had a chance of breaking him that first turn, but the valorus standard (accompanied by his uncanny knack of making ward saves) saved his bacon. Over a few rounds of combat, the rpince was seen off. To support him, I charged the units in after him, and we ended up with a bizzare combat tetris. Please marvel at my MS Paint skills:



Eventually, even the peasants joined the party, flanking my plaguebearers on the side, but it was too late for the Prince, as he was killed shortly after, but not before the prophetess died. The peasants were flanked themselves by the other Plaguebearers. The peasants died horribly, and I failed to restrain my victorious Plaguebearer's pursuit. They took themselves out of the cover the manor provided, and allowed themselves to get smashed between two brettonian units of knights. After that, it was game over. Two rolls determined the game: his passed leadership after my Prince charged him, and my failed pursuit retraint. If either of those had gone the other way, it would have been a much different game.

What did I learn?

My list is vulnerable to heavy armor. I need magic or high strength models to get past it. Or I need to cause more wounds. I have to learn not to be baited by seemingly vulnerable units alone. I have to learn better positioning, and that monsters unsupported are not in a favorable position. Had my nurglings survived and been able to flank him, I might have broken him, and then the game would have swung a different way.

Good lessons, I say.

1500 Point Escalation League WHFB

Making a Daemons of Chaos army fit 1500 points with the models I've got is more difficult than I thought. I was supremely outnumbered by both my opponents, but that's to be expected with daemons, I suppose.

Lords:
Daemon Prince
Winged Horror, Soul Hunger, Unnatural Swiftness

Heros:
Herald of Nurgle, BSB with Banner of Sundering, Noxious Vapors, Slime Trail

Herald of Nurgle, Noxious Vapors

Core:
20 Plague-bearers, MSC, Banner of re-roll wounds

20 Plague-bearers, MSC, Banner of re-roll wounds

Special:
5 Nurgling bases

1500 even

I lucked out with my first opponent taking the Lore of Light, so my banner was in full effect against the Empire.

We played meeting engagement, and my prince and my non-bsb plague bearers ended up in reserve. I won the roll to set up first and positioned lone PB unit where I could claim some cover from a watchtower midfield. I held my scouting nurglings back. He ended up with just two units in reserve, some swordsmen with their detachments being in reserve, and some handgunners. He placed his remaining swordsmen to the left of my unit, and his flagellents right in front of my BSB unit. His wizard was midfield, and his priest was with his swordsmen. There was a mortar and a cannon on my far right, and a cannon just behind the midfield wizard. I placed my nurglings where I could threaten the warmachines and prayed he didn't roll a six to get first turn.

My prince and the missing PBs came on from the board edge, and the nurglings marched toward the mortar. The charge against the flagellents failed, and the PBs stumbled forward. Things did not look good for our intrepid non-heros. On his turn, his flagellents crashed into the BSB's unit, full of hate and such, but the PB's gave as good as they got, and ground them down after two turns. The prince ended up being shot up, and in the next turn, was Van Horstmaned to death by the priest. The priest's swordsmen and attached spears smashed into the fresh PB squad, and the two units slowly ground each other down, with the advantage on the side of Nurgle. In the meantime, the BSB's unit killed the handgunners attached on the priest, while the underestimated nurglings slaughtered the mortar crew, overran into the nearby cannon crew, killed them, and panicked a unit of handgunners off the board, and then survived a fulisade from another handgunner unit, only to kill them off as well. Don't underestimate the power of 15 poisoned attacks!

Meanwhile, the BSB's unit circled around to the rear of the now decimated swordmen, and were in a position to charge them. The priests bound spells had all been dispelled, and now the unbreakable swordsmen with the priest with a 5+ ward save was down to just the priest. The spearmen had long fled, and the priest decided to leg it. The nonBSB plaguebearers ran him down. From there, it was simply consolidating my victory.