The Jawaballs Report: Bolscon 2009 part 2

I know, it's old news, but I needed to get up more video and reviews of Bolscon! Sorry I've had a busy week with school starting up.

I got an interview with Jwolf, Bigred and Adam from Bols, and that will be posted here once it loads. Well, it was mostly Fritz and myself blabbing while the camera was on the guys, but whatever, its content! Here is my summary of Bolscon:

First of all, Jwolf emailed Fritz and Myself an invitation to go down to Bolscon, along with some other bloggers and internet idententies. We decided instantly to take him up on the offer! First of all, it would be good blog content, but also, we wanted a chance to get Jwolf on the table after a recent Bols article talking about how the Blood Angels suck. So we bought our tickets and put it in the books!

I would like to say that the guys were nothing but gracious and accomodating. Jwolf even bought us breakfast and gave us a ride to the airport! All of the Bols guys were nothing but friendly and helpful. They welcomed us into their ranks and that is extremely appreciated. There is nothing like traveling three thousand miles and being treated like friends by complete strangers. Thanks guys!

Friday Night:
The room was set up around 5pm, and open gaming began. Fritz got a game in against Jwolf, while I played another guy who was hanging around. Batrep to come. I would say about 25 to 30 guys were there taking advantage of the open gaming tables. But the highlight of the night was a massive appocalypse game! At about 9pm, Bigred called the game to start and we got it going. I had the chance to team up with Fritz and some other boys to take on some Chaos scum. I have been involved with a few appocalypse games, and they have been mostly bleh. Around here they tend to be 10 hour marathons of needless tactical bickering. But we played a game with 15 thousand points+ PER SIDE in about 2 hours. Yup, you read right! Those Bols boys know their shit! The secret was a strict 10 minute limit per turn. You will be surprised how fast guys get in all their shots when they are forced to. This eliminates all the piehole shooting and crap. Guys just roll dice and do damage! The game ended with a good guy victory with the Blood Angels and Saim Hann saving the game. Fritz manipulated the main battle so that at the end he was contesting multiple objectives, while I flank marched onto the table behind a reaver titan, and destroyed it with two dreadnoughts and 5 death company models! Then my troops went on to secure two objectives! Giving us the victory, 3-2. Well run boys.

Saturday:
4 two thousand point games, starting at 9ish, and ending at 5! In about 8 hours, we got in the entire first round of the tournament. I have never been to a 3 game 1750 tournament that took less time. I ended up 1-1-2 on the day. My first game was a blow out victory over one of the Bols boys, and game two was a draw. Game three had me up against 40 plague marines, and saw me only score 3 points though. Just wasnt my game! Then game four was a half hearted draw. I could have maybe gotten a win, but the difference in points was only 10 points and had no effect in my overall standings.

The day was efficient and well run. If you had a question, the guys were attentive and answered it instantly. They all knew what they were doing, and what was going on at all times. The best part, was that about every half an hour or so, some loot was being given out! Guys were winning random drawings, loot from Battlefoam.com for pulling off certain requirements in game, loot from Battleforge Games for doing nothing, and loot from Jwolf for just being cool dudes! If he saw pleasent guys who were always smiling and having a good time, he gave them prizes... and not just little blisters, one such prize was a top quality painted Forgeworld model that was graciously donated by Blue Table Painting! Nice job BTP. They donated a few prizes.

And speaking of Prize Support... I did manage to get some video of the loot haul. It was amazing! However,Jwolf learned a valuable lesson... he should have had the loot off limits to the public. Instead, gamers could enter the area freely and walk right up to the table, that was being unmonitored. In a perfect world, this would be ok, but of course, some of the loot walked away. Oh well.

Later on Saturday, after my headache went away... I made it back into the game room for Pod Racing. It was cool! You picked a fast moving vehicle, I chose a Blood Angels speeder, and played by some established GW rules and raced them around a track. I came in dead last of course... but it was still a fun time!

Sunday:

By 4pm, I was sitting in the hotel restaurant eating dinner and drinking a beer. The entire Bolscon was over! The boys managed to get in 3 more 2k point games, plus an awards ceremony in under 8 hours. Amazing. I pulled three draws on the day myself, but played some great players including another Bols boy named Chris. His Lamenters made off with some loot counters due to some whacky special mission rules and saved him the tie. I managed to take down Lysander... with bolter fire! :) At the end of the day, Jwolf quickly and efficiently handed out the prizes with little pomp and circumstance and unnecessary drama. It was a nice, refreshing change... especially to some of the other GTs based in Baltimore... hint hint... who keep you corraled for an hour waiting for them to get organized, then make you sit through some annoying product pushing before handing out meager prizes. Guys were literally walking away with armloads of loot! I myself scored a Land Raier Crusader for winning Best Painted 40k Vehicle with my blood angels Baal Pred. I also won a DoWII for being the farthest traveler to Bolscon, and a Daemonette box set because my team did well. They randomly assigned people to teams, mine was slanesh. During the games, they pulled names from those teams who were doing well, and gave them prizes... my name was drawn and Monty from Bols threw a box set on the table in front of me and I didnt even know it was happening!

In the end, it was an absolute fantastic success. The games ran fast and fun. There were a minimal of douchebags. Loot was flowing like beer, and beer was flowing like water since there was a cash bar right outside the game hall and we could have a few while we played. While it was a challenge to get in some of the games for some of the larger horde armies, for the most part, I think the 2 hour time limit was a great thing. So there you go! I cant wait for Bolscon 2010, and am psyched that Bols plans on doing sometig in the NYC area. Ok, enough, my fingers hurt. Watch the video!

Brothers Grim 40k Tournament for Charity Sept. 12




Not long ago Battle for Salvation ran a charity tournament to support the Salvation Army, who graciously allows us to play in their hall. We raised about a thousand dollars for them! Many of the guys from Brothers Grim came out from Long Island to help make our charity a great success. Well, on September 12th, Brothers Grim in Selden,NY will be having a charity 40k tournament of their own! I will be there, along with Fritz, Black Matt, Brother Captain James, Ultrabob and the rest of Battle For Salvation. The Brothers Grim boys runs great tournaments with plenty of prize support and fun, so put this one in your schedule! Maybe YOU will be the one to take home a Golden Squig ths time!

Jawaballs

Battle for Armageddon: Which armies fought?


I am playing around wiht some army theme ideas, and I was wondering which IG armies fought in the battle for Armageddon... This is your chance to shine 40k nerds! From what I have gathered so far, elements of Armageddon Steel Legion, Cadian 8th, Death Corps of Krieg were all involved. Were there any more notable forces? Which Space Marine chapters were there? I know Blood Angels, Sallies and Black Templars were there...

I am more concerned about battles 2 and 3 for this one, since all guardsmen who fought in the 1st war were sterilized and sent to slave labor. So please share your insight, or point out the offical 40k fluff gods of your favorite forum to this blog so he can come share his knowledge!

Jawaballs

A word on football.

"I think that will be the toughest thing for me, you know, being away from my family and my son," said Burress, who broke down in tears talking about his wife and son. "I want to be with my wife. She's pregnant; she's due on Thanksgiving Day. I'm having a baby girl. And I won't even be there for that."

Plaxico Burress on his two year jail term.

Boo Hoo. It is one thing to be stupid enough to shoot yourself in the leg. But if you are too stupid to know that it is illegal to carry an unliscensed glock concealed on your person into a New York City night club, you deserve to be in jail. To say you did not know there is a penalty is a bold faced lie, and deserves you an even longer jail term. If you ask me, his kids would probably be better off without him as a role model...

Jawaballs

Jawaballs will be in Tampa, Florida September 13-16

Yup, I will be traveling to Tampa, Florida for training for work, but I think I should be free in the evenings! Any one live in the area and want to get a game in?

The Jawaballs Report: BOLSCON 20009 Part 1



Adam, Jwolf, Bigred, Jawaballs, Fritz and Goatboy in the front.



I have a LOT to go over. I am currently copying over 10 gigs of video and pictures taken from Bolscon 2009. Where should I begin? I think I will start with the end since Fritz is already covering the beginning. To put it quick and easy, Bolscon was the best 40k event I have attended any where since I got into the game 2.5 years ago. I've been to GW Gamesdays and GTs, Conflicts, many tournaments, apocalypse events... but this one has been tops. Jwolf and company ran the most efficient and effective tournament I have seen. On saturday, we got in four 2k point games faster then any other 1750 three game tournament I have been to. That says every thing. It was well run and fun! I have a lot to say about all of it and will be making videos for the next two weeks on youtube covering it all. Here is a taste of whats to come:

Exclusive interviews with Jwolf, Bigred, Goatboy and the crew from Bols.
Batrep of my Jwolf challenge game.
Batreps of the 40k tourament. (limited...sorry... it went fast!)
Behind the scenes video of the event.
Friday night apocalypse. JB takes down a Reaver Titan with 2 furioso dreads and 5 Death Co,
Saturday night pod racing.
And most importantly, a special interview with jwolf announcing another upcoming event...

I will start with the big news first, so be looking for the interviews with Bols and Jwolf as soon as I get them uploaded to Youtube!

Jawaballs

Hi from Bolscon!

I don't have time to report much, but I have to say Bolscon has been an outstanding success so far! I will give plenty of details later, but so far Fritz and I played in an appocalypse game on Friday where we owned some Chaos scum and we got in some open gaming. I played a cool dude and Fritz played Jwolf... Sadly Fritz failed to represent and got crushed. But never fear! Jawaballs and Dante will step up and take him down tonight after the festivities are over. On day one of the tournament, I did not fare so well. I all but rolled a Flylord off the table in game one, then drew against a Space wolf player in game two. Game three found me against 40 plague marines, a defiler, a winged prince and more in a kill point mission... I did not do well at all and got slaughtered... In game 4 I had a strong draw... against Eldar! He used Fritz tactics on me... Any way, the tournament is now going to be divided into two seperate brackets, based on battle points. The top half go into the winner's tournament, and the bottom half... well they are losers so who cares. :) I am ranked 17th out of 70 or so with three games to play today. I am not too optimistic about my chances to win... I have to make up 68 points and can only score a max of about 120... But it is all about fun any way so it's all good!

Time to go get ready to rock round two. Much more to come!

Jawaballs

Fritz causes problems at the airport!

Well, we almost did not make it through security. My bags went through fine, but Fritz got stopped and they searched his scum Eldar bag. It turns out even airport security guys have issues with Eldar and their Fire Prism tanks. Next time I am just going to shout something obnoxious and run through the terminal scream "For the Emperor!".

A little taste of something different: A blog full of humor by my Fiance Debra!

My Fiance, who fancies herself a writer, has finally taken the plunge and started her own blog. I am posting here to give her a head start and I hope all of you will stop over and check her out! She will be writing about our quest for parenthood and other relavent issues having to do with life that I am sure we can all relate to. So for all of you who want to see the other side of Jawaballs, here you go! GO check her out at her new blog address! Read and enjoy, oh and tell your wives/girlfriends/others. I'm sure if they don't like 40k, they will still appreciate reading about Deb's funny point of view on life. Enjoy!

Jawaballs

The Time is Upon Us! Bolscon is here...

So, Tomorrow morning Fritz and I fly out to Texas for what should prove to be an awesome weekend of gaming! To start it off, we have the blogger challenge... Fritz and I have games lined up against Jwolf and any one else from the Flylords who want a piece of us. On top of that, it would be great if any one else from the area that will be at the hotel on Friday night could drop in and say hi! On Saturday, I have decided to thwrow in my lot with the 2k point 7 game tournament. I am not delusional about my chances, but with a little luck, I could do well. Fritz has decided to enter the big game apocalypse event in search of personal glory. He will be zooming around with his farseer army subtly manipulating events from afar...

On saturday night, we plan on hitting the tables again for more open gaming. We will be there to take on any challengers who might want to see what the 5th Dimension is all about.

Sunday will see the convention wrapping up. I am not sure if there are open gaming tables available, but we will still be there! Our flight leaves on Monday afternoon, so if we can get in any more challlenge games on Sunday night, it will be great.

Or goals for the weekend? Fun. I am looking forward to hanging with Fritz and meeting lots of great people... and hopefully placing some faces on the names like at Gamesday. It would be great to win some games, but if I go down there, and get beat down 10 times in a row, it matters not. It would be great to beat Jwolf, but if he slaps me around, I will still be a better player for it, we both win.

Since I am a painter first, player second, that is where I have placed my eggs. I would be a liar if I said I was not optimistic and hopeful about my chances to score in the painting competition. Just this week alone I have poured about 40 hours into my army... Instead of practicing games, I spent my time before this weekend painting. I replaced half of my tired old assault marines, and added a speeder, attack bike and rhino. As I write this, I am staring at my Blood Knights who need a couple hours of love themselves... and am trying to muster up the motivation... My back is cramping and my fingers are giving out from holding brushes... But it is Jawalove!

So there you have it! 24 hours from now I will be some where over Tennessee. Shortly thereafter, I will be starting 48 hours of 40k joy. Come on out and say hi!

Jawaballs

Hard Boys Semifinals Battle Report from


I have a nice little Gem here for you today. Lance Cooper, who has started a new blog about his 40k exploits and his winning of a place at the Chicago Hard Boys Finals by winning round two, has send me his battle report so far. Here is the link! And yes, I mean to say Hard Boys,not 'ard Boys. I'm not a stinking xenos.

He thanked Fritz and I directly for our posts on 40k in the 5th dimension and "Thinking out side the 40k box". I am personally flattered that I inspired his great achievement! Though, I would say that Fritz deserves most of the credit. Any way, I asked Lance to write up a nice report on his list, his tactics and what he won... so without further ado...

From Lance Cooper:

Hey Jawa here is the batte report I promised you. Thnx alot for all your help...


For this years 2009 Ard Boyz Semi-Finals I went to kitchener waterloo. I heard some rumors of a massive cheese cloud raining down over this area so I was a little worried. I knew that the cheese would be in full force today. I knew that I was prepared though. I did my research on the missions. I practiced each mission at least 20-30 times and I had a solid game plan for anything that could be thrown at me.




My List:




HQ 1 - Farseer Total = 185
Runes of Warding, Runes of Witnessing, Spirit Stonee, Eldar Jetbike, Fortune, Doom

HQ 1 - 7 Warlocks Total = 380
Eldar Jetbikes, 4x Destructor, 2x Embolden, 1x Enchance

HQ 2 - Farseer Total = 170
Runes of Witnessing, Spirit Stones, Eldar Jetbike, Fortune, Doom

HQ 1 - 7 Warlocks Total = 380
Eldar Jetbikes, 4x Destructor, 2x Embolden, 1x Enchance

Elite 1 - 10 Howling Banshee's Total = 297
Exarch W/ Executioner, Acrobatic
- Transport Wave Serpent
Twin-Linked Shuriken cannons, Spirit Stones

Elite 2 - 5 Fire Dragons Total = 190
- Transport Wave Serpent
Twin-Linked Shuriken cannons, Spirit Stones

Elite 3 - 5 Fire Dragons Total = 190
- Transport Wave Serpent
Twin-Linked Shuriken cannons, Spirit Stones

Troop 1 - 5 Dire Avengers Total = 60
- Transport (See Heavy Support 1)

Troop 2 - 5 Dire Avengers Total = 60
- Transport (See Heavy Support 2)

Troop 3 - 5 Dire Avengers Total = 60
- Transport (See Heavy Support 3)

Heavy Support 1 - Falcon Total = 175
Scatter Laser, Holo-Fields, Spirit Stones

Heavy Support 2 - Falcon Total = 175
Scatter Laser, Holo-Fields, Spirit Stones

Heavy Support 3 - Falcon Total = 175
Scatter Laser, Holo-Fields, Spirit Stones




Round 1: Marines




Cassius
Librarian W/ Avenger and infinity Gate
10 man tac squad W/ Power Fist, Plasma Cannon, Flamer in a razorback
10 man tac squad W/ Power Fist, M Launcher, Flamer in Rhino
10 man tac squad W/ Power Fist, M launcher, flamer in Rhino
5 sniper scouts
5 sniper scouts
5 scouts W/ melta bomb
5 assault termies in land raider
techmarine
dreadnought W Multi-melta and storm bolter
5 assault marines W/ Storm Shield in drop pod
land speeder storm W multi-melta

2 land speeders W/ 2 heavy bolters each
vindicator
vndicator
predator annihilator W/ T-L lascannon and las cannon sponses



When I first seen this list I gave my head a shake. I could get my head around it. On paper it's not very scary, and it was about the same on the board. The person playing it was new to the game so I understand. He was a great guy though, and we had a fun game. When he seen I was playing a double council list I he told me he knew it was over, but he still fought the good fight and we had a great game because of it.




Mission: This was a kill point mission with a few things being changed.. HQ = 1 Troops = 3 Elite/fast/heavy = 2.




Dice off: I won the roll and let him go first.




His Deployment: He deployed using most of his side of the table. He left the drop pod, in reserve with the assault squad both his Hqs and the techmarine in it.




My Deployment: I threw both my councils on the board and my three wave serpents. I made sure I deployed on his weak flank because he made the mistake of spreading out against a fast army, because of this I knew how this game would end.




Turn 1: He dropped his Drop Pod in front of one of my seer councils. He also moved his land speeder storm W/ 5 scouts up to help back up the drop pod. He used his scout move to get the Land Speeder a little closer so he was in charge range turn 1. He Targeted my council ( no fortune up yet ) with everything in the drop pod and manged to kill 5 of them. He had two flamers and also avengers his AP3 flamer. I will admit it hurt. He then charged me with his scout hoping to tie me up for one turn so that the drop pod marines can charge me, but I wiped out the Scouts with my witch blades. He took some pot shots at my skimmers but was unable to do anything.




My turn 1: I fortuned up both my squads and moved into charge ranged of his drop pod. I sent the Wave serpent with the Fire dragons closer to his Land Raider. I moved the full 24' and got right in front of it so that next turn he would be unable to get the distance to back up Cassius with his assault marines. I then moved the wave serpent with the banshees 24” and it was right behind that. My goal was to use the dragons to pop the raider then use the banshess to kill the termie goodness inside. I used the other wave serpent to go after his lone predator annihilator. I also went flat out with this Wave Serpent. In the assault phase I charged into the marines that came out of the drop pod. I also charged the land speeder storm and drop pod in a triple assault because everything was close enough to do so. I managed to pop both the Land Speeder and the drop pod. I killed all 5 assault marines and the libraian but Cassius was still standing there laughing at me with his FNP. He took his Fearless wound and still held. I was happy with this out come though because now my seers could not be shot at next turn.




Turn 2: He knew his Termies would not get into range to back up Cassius so he made the choice to get out of his Land Raider and charge the two Wave Serpents in front of him. I put them there for that exact reason so I did not mind. He did very little moving other then that. During his shooting he put everything he had into my 3 wave serpents but the luck of the Dice gods would not let me fail a 4+ cover save. After charging with his Hammer Termies He blew up my Fire Dragons Wave Serpent. I was not to worried because better he kill a wave serpent then tie up my seers all game. Also in the assault I managed to finish off Cassius.




My turn 2: I fortuned both my seers and doomed his termi squad. The banshee's smiled with delight. I made the choice to just go flat out with my small seer squad because it was missing 5 warlocks already. Its new job was to keep going flat out till I got close to a tank. The full seer squad went 24' towards his scouts to cook them up with some ap4 flamers. The banshee's got out of the Wave Serpent and ran towards the doomed termies. I then moved the Wave Serpent behind the termies so if I wipe them out this turn I wont get sniped by his scouts or have a plasma cannon shot on my head. The Fire Dragons moved up to the Land Raider and the other fire dragon squad got out of the wave serpent to blow up his predator annihilator. The Land Raider got blown up as well as the predator annihilator. The banshees managed to kill one of his termies in shooting so I was feeling better about my odds against his massive 3+ inv. Them being doomed helped a lot though because I managed to get in just enough wounds that I wiped the squad. I used my D6 to get close behind the wave serpent I placed there so I would get a cover save from his vindicators and plasma.




Turn 3: He was running out of choices. He shot his Vindicators and scatters off. His plasma could not see the banshees and did nothing to the serpent. His scouts could not see the banshees so he kill the Fire dragons that killed his Land Raider.




My Turn 3: I fortuned up and doomed both his scout squad. All 3 of my Falcons come on the board. I move them each on 12' and shoot the Pulse Lasers at the dreadnought managing to pop it. The banshee's got back in the Wave Serpent and the fire Dragons followed suit. The big seer council went after the scouts to flame them to death. The small seers went after the vindicators. I made the choice to detatch my Farseer so I can go after both at the same time. 1 did not move at all so I made the choice to put the farseer on him because I would be auto hitting and glancing on a 1+. The other one I would need 4+s to hit so I figured having 2 warlocks would give me 6 attacks on the charge. Not bad odds. I moved my wave serpents behind cover best I can and make my charges on the vindicators blowing both of them up I killed both of his scout squads using my destructors

After turn 3 he soot my hand and said good game. He figured there was no point on going any further. I got 24 points from this Round.




Round 2: Marines

Lysadner
Libraian W/ Null Zone and gate of infinity in termi armour W/ storm Shield
10 man tax squad W/ meltagun, muli-melta, power first, combi-flamer in a rhino
10 man scout squad W/ power fist camo cloaks and combi melta
8 man scout squad W/ power first camo claks and combi melta
7 man assault squad in Land raider crusader
7 man assault squad in Land raider crusader
venerable dreadnought W/ heavy Flamer, Multa Melta in a drop pod
7 man devisator squad W/ 3 missile launcher 1 lascannon




I felt bad this round because this was a friend of mine from my Local Club. He managed to come in 2nd at the first Round of Ard Boyz and I was hoping he did well again. We practiced this mission a few times together and we both knew how it would end. He was upset that he drew me for this Mission.




Mission: 6 Objectives are placed on the board. On turn 2 , 4 , 6 you roll a D6 whatever number the D6 is that is one of the REAL objectives for the end of the game. The secondary is Kill Points. The Deployment is also Dawn of War with Night Fight the whole game.




Objective Placement: I placed the first Objective in the right side of the table in the far back. He placed one on his side pretty close to the middle of the board 12” out. I then placed the next one 24” to the left of my first one. He placed his next one 12” away from his first. I then placed my last one 24' away from the middle objective on my side and he placed his 12” away from his 2nd. I commented on his nice placement being a slower army. My goal for my objectives was simple. If I keep two Falcons on the middle objective most of the game they will be able to reach either objective in a single turn of moving but the objectives would be to far away for him to have any chance of making it to two of mine if two happen to be the real ones.




Dice Off: He won the roll and forced me to take first turn knowing how much I love 2nd turn.




My Deployment: I place nothing on the board and reserve everything in Dawn of War Reserve.




His deployment: He also places nothing on the board places his 2 scout squads in normal reserve and then the rest in Dawn of War Reserve His Drop pod would come down on turn 1.




My Turn 1: I knew I had to split up his land raider some how. I had to pull off some sneaky tricks for sure. I places a fire dragon Wave Serpent on each flank both moving up 18” to get the cover save. I moved my Banshee's Wave Serpent 24' right in the middle. I put a falcon on each side of the banshee's about 8' away from the banshee's Wave Serpent. I then put a seer council spread out one on the left and one on the right. I used the other falcon to fill in a random cap so it looks like I would be using most of the table to attack. My goal here was that he would see a seer on each side and place a Land Raider on each side to tie them up a good 4-5 turns with his termis. I also knew that with Null Zone up I was going to have a hard time if those Raiders stayed together.




His turn 1: He dropped his pod on one of his objectives and got out. He moved his devistators into cover and brought the land raiders on one on each side just as I hoped he would. To make it worse for him he managed to immobilize The Land Raider with Lysander in it. A huge Smile came on my face because that single dice changed the whole game. For the rest of the game I knew I would ignore that Land Raider. He took some shots but was out of range because of the Night Fight.




Dice Roll for objective: It was a 6. The bottom Right objective on my side. This made me very happy.




My turn 2: I fortune up and doom and start to move everyone to the right side where the Libraian's Land Raider is. The goal was to Swarm his squad with both seers and the banshees to try to wipe them out before any of them can attack and then I can get rid of Null Zone once and for all. I moved up 24” with all my skimmers placing them in a line so I can put my seers behind it and not get assault by his termies. Passed the turn




his turn 2: His reserves did not come on the board. He moved up his Raider and got out to assault. He was hoping to pop one of the skimmers to make a whole big enough to charge threw. He used his raider to spot light the Wave Serpent with Fire Dragons in it, but after shooting almost everything he had into it he could just not get past the 4+ cover. He said screw it and charged the skimmers having nothing else to do. He also made the choice to Lysander and his termies out of his Land Raider and started heading towards my objective. He failed to get his Null Zone up thnx to WOW.




My turn 3: I managed to get both my fortunes off but both doom's got denied by his Hood. Now with no Doom I figured my banshee's might not be worth going into that squad. He would just use them to tie or win combat and try to run me down. I made the choice to go 24' towards his dev squad with my wave serpent instead. My Fire Dragons got out and went move toward the Land Raider and popped it.. I then moved my Wave Serpent out of the way so both my seers can double team his termies. I moved my councils in a line so that my Farseers where in the very back of the pack about 8” away from his models but 2” away from mine so that they would be in my warlocks unit still but be unable to make the assault. This way I would not have to worry about failing a unlucky save and get insta killed. I used my 3 falcons to try to pop his Rhino but no luck. I managed to bring his Termi squad to just the Libraian and one termi. He is stubborn from Lysander though so makes his test with a 3. He was unable to kill any of my warlocks.




His turn 3: Both his scouts come in and try to pop my Wave Serpent the banshee's with there melta + charge but failed to do so. He moved his Lysadner and friends closer to my objective. At this Rate he would be there by turn 6. He then tried to use gate of infinity to get out of close combat with my Council. After a short convo I said lets just let the judge make the choice because ½ the people in the world say you can and ½ the people in the world say you cant. I'm one of the you cant people simply because other ability's like that “ you can use this to leave combat “. The Judge said ya you can so I left it at that and was not to worried. He used his gate to start going toward the objective just like Lyander and friends did. Lucky for me he got a 9 inch scatter coming back at my units. I use my consolidate to move closer to his termies again. He used his dead to move a little closer to my banshee Wave Serpent. I knew that if the banshee's got out he would tie them up with his dead for the rest of the game. He moved his rhino up closer to my seers and was going to rapid fire next turn. Null Zone fails again.




Turn 4 Dice off. A 4. This was the far left objective on my side. This was going perfect for me.




My turn 4: Fortune goes off one one council ( the full one ), but not the other one. Doom goes off on the termi squad. I got out of my Wave Serpent with my with my banshee's and start moving in for an assault on the dev squad. My Dragons get out close to his Dreadnought. I knew I had to pop this Dreadnought or I would be tied up with my S3 the whole game. Lucky for me I popped it and was a happy camper. I moved two of my Falcons in front of the Lysander Squad so they would either have to charge them or go around them. At this rate they would not make it to the objective by turn 6. I used my other falcon to hold the objective on the far left. I moved the other fire dragon wave serpent to try get in the way next turn. I circled his Rhino with my non full seers and use my other seers to go after the pesky libraian and friends. In the assault I charge the dev squad leaving one behind and he makes his Leadership because of stubborn. I managed to kill the Librarian I also popped the Rhino with a 5 and his troops had no where to go. So they got destroyed.




His turn 4: He used one of his scouts squads to kill the fire dragons and brought the other scout squad In to help against the banshees. With the luck of the dice he managed to kill the banshee's off but I finished off the last dev squad member and a couple scouts. Lysander and friends popped a Falcon and stunned the other one ( thank you spirit stones ) My 5 Dire Avengers got out of the Falcon.




My turn 5: I brought the seer council that popped the Land Raider closer to his 3 objectives ( with 4 objectives being able to be the real one there was a 75% chance that one of them would be one of his ) I wanted to make sure that he was unable to get it just in case he ended up getting Lysadner to that other objective to contest and try to tie it. I moved the Wave Serpent one inch in front of lysander and friends and I did the same with the other Falcon. My Mighty 5 Dire Avengers moved and ran to the objective being about 1 inch away from it now. I use the full Seer council to go after Lysadner and would be on him next turn.




His turn 5: he spread his scout out enough that maybe he could get lucky and grab one of the objectives I was now about 19' away from both so would not get the assault. I was planning on just sitting on whatever objective it was on turn 6 if it was on his side.




Turn 6 Dice off: A 2 comes up. It was on his side but with my seers in contest range we called it because he would be unable to make it to the objective that my 5 Dire Avengers held or the far left one that my Falcon held.




I ended this with 22 Points.




Round 3: Dark Eldar




I was not looking forward to this Mission. I practiced it at least 30 times and about ½ of those it ended up in a tie or a minor win. I was pretty upset about this mission to say the least.




Archon
Dracite W/ 8 wyches in a raider W/ dark lance Night Shield
9 wyches in a raider W/ dark lance Night shield
9 wyches in a raider W/ dark lance Night shield
10 warriors W/ 2 dark lances
10 warriors W/ 2 dark lances
10 warriors W/ 2 dark lances
9 warriors W/ 1 dark lance in Raider W/ Dark lance Night Shield
9 warriors W/ 1 dark lance in Raider W/ Dark lance Night Shield
9 warriors W/ 1 dark lance in Raider W/ Dark lance Night Shield
3 Reavers W/ 2 blasters
5 Reavers W/ 2 blasters succubus
Raveager W/ 3x disintegrators, night shield
Raveager W/ 3x disintegrators, night shield
Raveager W/ 3x Dark Lances, night shield




Mission: There is a single Objective in the middle. The Deployment is Spear head and the secondary is Table Quarters.




Dice Off: he wont he Dice off and forced me to go first.




My deployment: I placed all my skimmers as far up as I could. This is one of the few times that my skimmers would be able to pop tanks like no Armor 10 open topped does not last long against a lot of str 6 and 8 shots. I placed my seers behind the skimmers and waited to see what he would do.




His deployment: He put his all his foot slogging troop choices and his bikes on the board. He also put his 3 heavy support skimmers and1 wyche raider on the board. He reserved 3 skimmers total.




My turn 1. I moved up 12 with all my skimmers to shoot one gun each. I fortuned up with my seers and moved 24” towards his warriors ( 4+ save vs AP 4 flamers = BBQ ). In the shooting phase I managed to take down Two Raveagers and one Raider. All in all I was happy with the resault.




His turn 1: He had Dark lances of Doom coming at me. I was pretty scared but he was getting all 1s 2s and 3s. I was a lucky camper for sure. His shooting phase ended with killing nothing.




My turn 2: my seers where both in range to kill warrior squads. I managed to flame one of the squads to death with Doom up on them but the funny part is I also killed the Raider behind them with my flamers. First time for everything I guess. The other seer council managed to wipe out a warrior squad also. This council was 1 inch in cover ( funny story for later ) I also moved up all 6 of my skimmers to the middle making a wall of skimmers in the middle so he would have to go threw them before he had a chance of getting to them. I managed to shoot down the rest of his skimmers and also his 3 man reaver squad.




His turn 2: All his reserves came on and he was planning on assaulting me with both his witch squads. He was about 2 inchs away with both squads after his fleet so I figured I should get ready for an assault on my seers. He uses his Bright Lances to stun two of my Wave Serpents and goes flat out with two of his Raiders far enough away that I was unable to do anything. His Larger squad of bikes shot at the seer council killing 2 of them. During his assault he rolls DT for both squads and comes up with double ones on each leaving him 1 inch out of assault range. Today the dice gods where on my side.




My turn 3: I doom up both of the wyches and move in with my flamers. I wipe them both out as well as the other bike squad and shoot into his new Raiders that came on the board with my pulse lasers but do nothing. He now has 1 wych squad, one warrior squad and two full warrior squads in Raiders left on the board.




His turn 3: he manages to get his Wytch squad into combat with my seers council ( they have the always go first power ). He goes and managed to bring me down to the farseer and 2 warlocks. I hit back and killed ½ of them. My farseer only having one wound left on him after this combat I knew something had to be done.




My turn 4: I back up the seer council in combat with my other seer council managing to wipe them out. I used all my skimmers to finish of his foot slogging Warrior Squad.




The rest of the game he just kept going flat out with his other Two Raiders. I managed to kill one but not both...




I got 23 Points for this round










After all 3 round I had 69 points. I took 1st place.




2nd Place had 68 points. He was playing Battle Wagon Orcs. 3rd Place had 57 Points and was playing Double Lash Chaos.




Final Thoughts: I had a great day of gaming, and managed to sneak out of there with a free 2.5k Army of my choice from GW Thanks to my 1st place win. Im looking forward to the Finals in Chicago and will have Videos and pic next time ( Camera was orderedlast week. )




Respect: I would like to say thank you to my friends Jon and Mike. I don't think I would have done as well as I did with out there help. Mike sat down with me countless nights practicing each mission with me so I would be ready for this Round of Ard Boyz. Jon is a math wiz and went over alot of the what ifs with me. Spitting out % and everything so I would have a good idea of what I should stay away from. For this I thank both of you.




GW will be sending me my Free 2.5k Army in the mail and im hoping to get it in a few weeks. Sadly they only allow you to pick the Race and a Theme though. I cant complain though Free is Free. I told them I wanted Flying IG so im hoping to get few valks.




Thnx for reading and I hope you enjoyed my coverage of This years Semi-finals.


Image source: http://api.ning.com/

Jawaballs Painting Marathon!



To prepare for BoLScon, I had to give my army some very much needed attention. First order of business was to build and paint a new Rhino, then I had to build and paint an attack bike, then I had to build and paint a Land Speeder because my second one is actually a Black Templar one that I have been using. THEN I had to convert and paint 6 Veteran models to fill out my assault squads. I decided to replace most of my old marines, who have been in my army since I started it, 2 years ago. IT was time for an upgrade. I went through the 15 assault marines I am currently using, and weeded out the must goes and must stays, then picked from the last few, decided which would be good entough, and which I needed to replace. I had originally had 10 to replace, but narrowed that number down to 6.(I only had a few days to do all of this painting!)

So, I managed to get the Rhino and bike completed over the weekend. Yesterday, I took on and finished the Land Speeder... but man my fingers are getting sore! To top it all off, my little studio has an industrial strength AC unit that blows directly onto my back... it feels like my muscles are being frozen into a hunched over shap... But I press on! In the process of all this painting, I have been taking advantage of the opportunity to produce nice content for the blog and youtube. :)

Where am I now? I need only to complete the 6 veterans, which are about half done. I hope to have them done Wednesday... Then I plan on touching up my WHFB Blood Knight squad to enter into the fantasy squad competition... and finally I want to rebase all of my remaining models on Jawabases to lower their profile from the scenic bases they are currently on... RUNNING OUT OF TIME!

Painting Techniques: Power Weapons and Wet Blending

Wet Blending Speeder:


Power Weapon:




Here are a couple of painting tips I thought I would share with you all. The first is what I call "Wet Blending". I call it this because the paint is very wet on my model as I work with it. This is a very different approach from what I usually so. Normally I use so little paint at a time that it almost dries instantly and by that process it almost blends itself. This way, I am dipping from one pot into another, and quickly applying paint and mixing it right on the model. Check it out! Here is the youtube video.

Wet Blending:


The other pictures are of my newest power weapon attempt. This one I got from The Wraithlord over at Heresy Online. Here is the link He presents a step by step tutorial with very clear pictures. I tried something like this not long ago using green, and I think this red looks better. Nice Job Wraithlord! I'm gonna have to check out his stuff more often. So there you go. Some quick painting love from Jawaballs!

Shout out to Battlefoam.com!




After seeing a youtube video by Romeo at Battlefoam, I knew I had to have one. So, after a quick phonecall out to Phoenix, I had one on the way!

First of all, why? Why did I need Battlefoam? Well, if you ever saw my Army Sabol Division case, you would instantly know why. The thing was a loose fitting miss match of ill looking pluck foam trays. Half the trays were falling apart and I rarely got them all to fit correctly in the bag twice in a row. Worse yet, the trays bounced inside the tray, sometimes standing up the models, then getting them broken under the other trays. When I saw Romeo's movie on youtube, I knew he had the answer.

Battlefoam 1520 Case with custom space marine loadout:

He has a couple of different ways to help you. The most simple way, and the way that helped me, was to give me a pretty much custom load of trays in my new case for my large space marine army. He asked me in particular if I had any major needs, then filled my case with trays that would meet my needs. He did not actually have to cut any trays for me, but he could have! That is what is fantastic about Battlefoam.com.

You read right! If you have a weird shaped model, they will custom cut your trays to fit it! No more need to pluck foam and have your tray fall apart. Instead, you will get a sturdy tray with a hole cut in it that is perfect to fit any model you want.

That was not a huge deal for me, but the coolest part was the branding for my trays. They laser inscribed Blood Angels into most of my trays, and also gave me some thin foam dividers with my Jawaballs! logo and Blood Angels on them. You can see them in the video.

The first video I am posting is of me receiving my new transport and opening the box. I will also be uploading a video about how my army fits into my new case in a couple of days. I am finishing my army up for my trip to Bolscon and will show a tray by tray breakdown.

I only have two cons to the transport. It would not be a fair review without expressing them. The first is that the slots in the trays were pretty tight for my marines. If you have standard bolter marines on GW bases, they will fit fine, but my marines are mostly assault marines, with their arms flailing about holding swords and guns, on thick Scenic Resin Bases and in short, did not fit into any of the standard trays I received. But this was easily solved with a quick phone call to Romeo! I should have explained to him the girth of my models and he would have suggested thicker trays with "Assault Marine" slots cut into them. So I make that suggestion to you! Be sure to ask for larger slots to fit your assault marines. In fact, I suggest you go to his website and print out his "Custom Tray" form and make sure you have filled it out for ANY and all models in your army. The pro to my con is that if you have a model problem, Romeo has a solution. Just take the time to fill out your investment and communicate what you need!

The other con I have is minor. The 1520 is a huge, modular pack. It can be divided into two parts if you choose to only play with a smaller part of your army, or carried as a whole if you need to bring it all! The bottom and larger of the two parts has backpack straps, which are a nice touch... but the "backpack" feature is a little clunky and tight, especially for larger dudes like me. Once I had it on my back I needed help to get it off! It was actually sorta claustrophobic, and I would hate to have to travel and walk across a huge airport carrying it on my back. I would suggest the addition of shoulder straps to both parts of the case, or at least connector parts that shoulder straps can be snapped onto if the user desires. The actual straps can be put on as desired, and removed and stored inside the case when not in use.

So there you go! Over all, the Battlefoam.com 1520 army transport gets a huge Jawa-nod. If you have been eyeballing them, I suggest you go ahead and take the plunge. You will be 100% satisfied. It is a sturdy and attractive army transport solution, and will definitely stand out in that boring sea of black.

Oh, in addition, Romeo made the statement that the transports meet airline regulations for carry on luggage. This was important to me since a major reason I bought this transport was to take it to Bolscon! I called jetblue, my airline, and gave them the exact dimensions of the transport to make sure I would have no problem bringing them on the plane, and Romeo was right! A+

This review is only partial since I think that in this case, the videos will do all the talking. Be looking soon for part two of this review, once my army is finished and the transport is packed up.

Go buy a Battlefoam transport!

Don't forget to tell them Jawaballs sent you! Hey may even throw you a little bone.

Jawaballs

More Blood Angels Hand Painting! Warhammer 40k




Here is a WIP pic of my latest Rhino for my own Blood Angels army! I got the image from DoWII, it showed up on one of the loading screens, and I thought it would look great on a rhino. The original image had just an empty circle, but I put a skull in there. Here is some video too, there will be 3 parts. At the end of the second video is a series of pics showing the steps to paint the skull. Wait for the end!

Jawaballs

Part 1:


Part 2:

Why the hell!

Why would a company that sells a product not include with said product the wires you need to hook it the hell up. I just bought an All-in-one HP Deskjet, and went to plug the damn thing into my computer, and low and behold... I do not have the fricken USB cord that attaches the back of the printer to my computer. I mean, WTF? What does this cord cost them to make... 30 cents? Maybe? Instead of just popping one into the box they would rather aggravate the crap out of people, and make them go back to the store and pay 10 bucks for a stupid 30cent cable. Jesus Christ what a nuisance. If it were not for the fact that I purchased this thing off Amazon I would return the mother flunker from whence it came and after rubbing my ass all over it. Screw You HP. Now I have to dig through all my computer crap looking for a compatible cord. If I do not find one, I will take this thing out to the road and smash it to shit just for the fun of doing it. Screw it...

If any one is thinking of buying an HP Deskjet F4280, pass. Splurge and buy a model that includes the god damned USB cable.

Warhammer 40k Tactics: Assault Revisited, Assaulting Multiple Units

Today I will answer a request to open up a discussion on assaulting multiple units with a single unit. My single unit is going to be a 10 Blood Angels Veteran Assault Squad equipped with 2 power swords, a Power Fist, and a guy with Melta Bombs. My VAS will be assaulting some pesky Guardsmen. They are assaulting a squad of guardsmen hiding in cover with a Lascannon, the cover being ruins. They are also going to assault a Chimera that was immobilized previously by Lascannon fire, and a squad of 10 Veteran Guardsmen with a Power Sword, and 3 meltaguns. I do not have the IG codex so we will set the Guardsmen leaderships at 8 for this discussion, and the VAS at 10 since Dante is on the table elsewhere.

To set the stage, our VAS has managed to get very close to the Guard due to lots of terrain blocking LoS. They are able to jump right into their midst and assault away! Let us begin. It is top of turn 3 shooting. Oh, and the Chimera did NOT move the previous turn.

Turn 3:
BA VAS shoots at the squad in cover. Why? Because by shooting 10 bolt pistols at the other squad, they will probably kill over half of them in the shooting phase, and you really dont want that to happen. Your opponent can pull off enough guys to render you not close enough to assault, or they can break and run! You don't want them to break until you assault them. The guys in cover will at least get a 4+ save. You want to thin them a bit, not slaughter them.

10 shots, 8 hit, 4 wound. 2 Fail save. Perfect. It is not enough to force a leadership, but you have 2 less to slaughter in the assault.

Now time for assault. We have to roll Difficult Terrain since we are assaulting a squad in terrain. We will say a 6 was he result.

The first step is to move the closest model of mine, in to Base to Base (B2B) with the closest model of his. The cool part here is that you can ignore any thing you are not attacking. You MAY MOVE within 1" of enemy models. Absolutely. Don't let dudes bully you. The rule is on page 34 in the second paragraph. You just cannot move THROUGH models, so you have to allow extra movement space around them. In this case, it was the S BA attacking the Closest model. This choice should be well planned before you finish moving. You have to make sure you can keep the rest of your models in coherency as you move them.

Now, the rest of your models can move and assault whomever they choose. There are some restrictions though. Some guys are loose on them, some can be dicks. The way I do it is that so long as all models are in coherency at the end of my assault move, then they are fine. BUT, the rule says in the first rule bullet:

"The most important one is that each model must end it's assault move in coherency with another model in it's own unit that has already moved."

Be prepared to deal with dudes that will measure 2" between each and every model you move as you take your fingers off them. In that case, smile nicely and curse him under your breath, then nail him on his next measurement.

We will do this by the rules though, for rules sake!

Next two models are going to attack the Chimera. There was a good amount of space between the two squads, so I decided to send two models at the Chimera to bridge the gap. The next two models will move so that they end their assault move exactlly 2" away from the previous model moved. Now My power fist and melta bomb are in B2B with the transport. Now the last crucial move is for the guys getting into the 2nd squad. I have ensured that I can assault both squads and I can pretty much place these guys where I want... almost.

The next bullet stats that:

If Possible, the model must move into base contact with any enemy model within reach that is not already in base contact with an assaulting model. Just to be safe and protect yourself from your opponent's meddling, move the rest of the guys who will be assaulting the squad in cover, into B2B. This will stop him from saying you have to move the other guys into B2B with unengaged models in range... Now you cannot run through engaged models... So you are free to assault the guys on the left. You will see that one model was left and he cannot reach an unengaged model, but there is a nice space for him next to the S guy. I will move him there.

So, I have successfully, and by the rules, engaged 3 units with 1 squad. I first moved my closest model to the squad I shot at. I second moved two guys creating an "Assault Bridge" to the next model. I third moved the rest of the right side models into B2B with all models in their range, to engage any models my other guys may be forced to assault. I fourth moved the rest of my models into engage models if possible, then double engaged what was left. At the end of each models assault move, they were in coherency with another model that moved previously.

Lets move on!

Now it is time for Defenders to React!

Now that I have moved my models into B2B contact, the defender must move all of his in to B2B as well, up to 6" away. If not they can get within 2" of an engaged friend.

Time to roll dice! All models are engaged. The way assault works is that all models who start the assault engaged will get to attack, UNLESS they are killed by a model who gets to attack before them based on a better initiative. What this means is that, unlike in 4th edition, if your opponent removes casualties from models engaged with your power fist guy, leaving him "Out of Combat" he will still get his attacks when his turn finally comes up... no matter what. Remember that for when guys try to claim that some of your models cannot attack since they are not B2B any more.

Now to figure out who goes first. My Assault Marines are initiative 4, higher then the Guardsmen 3. So the space marines will go first. All except for the Fist, who goes last. Since my marines have Frag Grenades, they may go at initiative value. Other models who do not have frag grenades, like Terminators, do not get this benefit and will go after the defenders. So the order is 9 marines first, then all surviving Guard, then the Power Fist.

We will resolve the Meltabomb first... this is actually very interesting.

The meltabomb will auto hit because the Chimera has not moved. It is Str 8 plus 2d6. I roll a 1 and 2 as customary, but that is still enough to penetrate the Chimeras back armor. (when assaulting vehicles, you use the back armor value) Remember, Melta Bombs are NOT Ap 1. So you do not get a bonus to the damage chart... BUT I just rolled a 6! The chimera explodes out, and crap, 6"... I am actually rolling these dice by the way... Some damage is about to happen... Actually, to make this easier, we will say I rolled a 5, and destroyed it... no need to get into messy explosion casualties.

The reason why I said this was interesting was that the chimera is now destroyed, and the power fist, who was initially B2B with it, has not gone yet... Well sadly, on page 35 it says that workign out which models are engaged in combat is done at the start of the fight and cannot change. Since the Fist was engaged with the tank at the start of the fight, he cannot attack any thing else.

Now to resolve the rest of the models. We will start with the 4 marines assaulting on the right. Assault Veterans get 2 attacks base, 1 for charging, and 1 for two weapons. That will be 16 attacks, 4 of which are power weapons.

The marines need a 3 to hit and a 3 to wound since they are stronger and better fighters then the guard. 3 Power Weapon shots hit, and 7 chain sword shots hit. Now to wound, 2 power weapon hits wound, and 3 chainsword hits wound. The guard player allocates these wounds... he has to place one on each model that he can before stacking them, so he will place the 5 wounds on 5 normal guardsmen. 2 die from the power shots, and 3 fail to save. The guard player removes 5 men. He takes off the Lascannon tea and 3 others, leaving the Sgt and two more.

ON the other side, 6 chainsword wounds are dealt, and 2 power sword. Like the right side, he has to place each wound on a different model. He places the 2 power sword shots and 4 of the chain swords on the 6 normal guardsmen, and the remaining two chainsword shots on two of the melta guns. Five of the normal Guardsmen die, and 2 of the melta gunners die. Leaving 1 Guardsman, 1 meltagunner, and 1 sgt.

Now for the Guard to hit back! First squad. Sgt has a power sword and gets 2 attacks. The guard get 1 each. They will hit on 4 and wound on 5. Sadly, none of them wound. On the other side, none of them even hit!

Getting towards the end!

Now both of the squads must make a leadership test. On page 63 it says to ignore the vehicles in a multiple combat for determining attack results. So we need to total up the number of Guard killed, which was substantial! 13 total! Egads. They need snake eyes... snakes always mean a success. (Page 43)

Neither makes it.

They will both now fall back, and the marines must do a sweeping advance. Squad 1 rolls a d6 vs the marines. Then add their initiative. Guard 1 rolls a 4, marines roll a 3... this result is a tie, which means the marines catch the guard in a Sweeping Advance and slaughter them all. On the other side, guard roll a 3 and marines roll a 2, another tie... dead marines.

Now all the guard are dead, and the marines get to make a consolidate check... (a six is the result...) and they can now move into the cover that was once being occupied by the guard... having successfully assaulted and killed 3 units. :)

If one of the guard squads had made their leadership test, then the marines would not have been able to sweeping advance the other since they would have been locked in combat. The guard would have rolled 2d6 and run away.

So there you go Sabb! I hope that makes sense. I will now illustrate this and pop in the pics!




FOR THE LOVE OF GOD! The guard in my illustrations turn up as white and you cannot see them. I need to remake them. I will do it later and add them to the post. Enjoy!

Faces of Death. How to take advantage of "Facing."



Want to see your opponent's face turn green, blue, then explode? Try this!

First of all, as Flekkso pointed out in my last post, and I agree, you should at least offer to explain "Facing" before the game starts. It will help to bring a photo copy of page 60, or even try to print out my illustrations if you can. At least offering will let you off the hook for sportsmanship points. "Dude, I know you want to kill me, but I'm not being a dick! I tried to go over this before the game started..."

Now. A Jawaballs post would not be complete without me saying how I use rules to win games. Want to take advantage of "Facing"? Here is a quick tip or two.

Butt the front of your tank up against low walls. Your opponent will try to get angles to take shots at your sides, but will probably, for at least one of his shots, still be in your front facing. He will attempt to minimize his exposure, while getting a side shot on you. It happens all the time. You can still fire your turret over the wall, but you will get a 3+ save because he is in your front facing. If he starts to come around the wall and you have room, slide over a bit and draw him out more. If you can, rotate your tank a little, keeping the front hidden but side exposed. He will try to get the shot, but hopefully still be in front facing. This will only work for a turn or two fellas, and will not work all the time. Remember, this is not an instant win tactic, it is just a way to get an extra round of survivability out of your tanks. That can make all the difference.

What about boards that have very little cover? Luckily for me I bring my own. This is not so great in Kill Point missions, but in capture and control, this is effective. Lets look at my illustration. Forgive the colors, they were Yellow Blue and Red, but something happened when I brought them over. Blood Angels have a sweet advantage in that their tanks have Over Charged Engines. They can sometimes move up to 18". This is great because it allows nice flexibility for moving your tanks.

At the start of movement, my opponent had a Rhino and Predator tank in the open. There is very little terrain on the board. I moved my rhino into its current position and popped smoke. I then moved my Baal Pred right up behind the rhino, perfectly hiding its front facing behind the transport, BUT leaving the turret and sponsons exposed! With my Lascannon Tactical marines about 2 feet off the edge of the illustration, I popped the rhino. (The marines conveniently got out in front of my tanks for illustration purposes.) Now, I have options! I can bring all of my Preds guns to bear on the poor tactical marines. The right sponson may have a hard time targeting, but I can certainly fire the left, and the turret as well as Storm Bolter. This will be 12 shots raining down on those marines. Substitute a Chimera and Guardsmen and they will get no saves at all! Or I can take my assault cannon shots at the front armor of the enemy predator. Knowing how I play, I will probably take the shots at the infantry and at least force a leadership, while my other preds take care of the tank.

Here is the kicker! On my opponents next turn. He will be shooting at my front facing if he attempts to shoot my Predator. (Unless of course if he moves... I made this a tight illustration for well... illustration purposes... most of the time the enemy tanks will be further away and not as close to the "facing" line, leaving them in the front facing after they move 6".) Remember, most tanks cannot move and fire all their guns. A marine predator tank with Lascannon sponsons will probably just rotate and fire all of its guns.

If he shoots my predator, I will get a 3+ save because the rhino is completely blocking the front facing! I will at least get 4+ save if he tries to shoot the rhino instead... But then that is like giving my Predator a wound!

How can you apply this to your tactics? With a little thought I'm sure you can work it in. I have created a moving Rhino line. 3 Rhinos lined up next to each other, with a few inches in between, and butted my 3 predators right behind them. Now the rhinos move up, and angle themselves taking "Facing" into account, and the preds move up and take their positions behind them. Some can pop smoke, and using fast vehicle movement switch out with fresh rhinos that are coming in from behind. Be sure to leave "bail out" room if you have troops inside your rhinos. :)

Is this cheating? Well, in World War II the American Sherman Tank was fast and thinly armored like a Baal Predator. German Tigers were like Land Raiders. The Americans were NOT going to win a gun fight with Tiger tanks. So they had to use their speed and movement to give each other cover! I am willing to bet that they may have even run less important vehicles up in front of their tanks and fired over the top of them in an effort to give themselves more cover from those German 88s.

Were either side cheating? Hell no! It's war. So is 40k.

Jawaballs

Battle Report: Blood Angels vs IG 2k points

Sorry, I had issues with my new digi video cam and Video is not available for this one yet...

Mission: Bases
Deployment: Table Corners

I played a BFS Battle Brother Ed. He is a good sound player with hard killer lists. I have had a lot of great games against him and love playing him.

He won the die roll and gave me first turn.

So, I dropped my base and deployed my Tactical squad with their Rino and a dread defending it, and two Preds near by behind cover. The rest I reserved. He deployed a similar set up, almost identical, but he had two tanks that had some sick 72 inch range Str 7 heavy four guns on them... They would prove to be the MVP for him in my opinion!

Turn 1:
I go first, and shoot at a Firedog he had behind some cover, he failed cover save, and I blew it up! Nice Lascannon shot, they usually fail me. That wrapped up my shooting since I rolled 1's on my two Baal Peds OCE and they stalled... they were out of range of his Russ tanks.

On his turn, he moved his two Russ tanks up and another Devil dog... He light up my tacitcal squads with his big guns from far... but only killed 2. The rest of his shooting would do nothing. Quick turn!

Turn 2:
Not a lot came on for me, my 3rd pred, 2 rhinos and 2 attack bikes. I needed Dante on the table and wish I had deployed him! I have to remember that from now on... However, My guns were on fire! I stunned his Devildog, and exploded both Russ tanks! What a turn of luck. Assault cannon fire and my Lascannon again did the trick... this game seemed like it was going to take a drastic turn for the worse for poor ole ed. I thought I had it wrapped up right then.

On his turn, some of his troop Chimeras came on and another Devildog. Smartly, he deployed them close to his base to support. This would lead to a clogging of the battle field, which formed nice protective walls for his base, stopping me from getting to it.

Turn 3:
Still no Dante or Corbs. I however was pushing for his objective pretty early. We were playing a 2 hour time limit ala BOLSCON and I had to hurry! As it turns out, the game would have expired at the end of my turn here... resulting in a draw. We played on of course! I moved up my transports early attempting to claim his base for the early win... but failed to reach it. Lots of shots were exchanged, and he moved up chimeras and deployed vets with Meltaguns... not good. He popped my rhinos and slaughtered my troops inside.

Turn 4:
Now the game was entrenched in a major defensive for him, while trying to leave himself squads to get to my base. He was fighting to hold off wave after wave of my vehicles pushing for his base. Dante came in but was out of reach to have an effect, corbulo failed to come in again.

Turn 5:
He was not close to my base with his transports, and he had taken out my 2 defending predators. Only a Rhino, tac and Dread were holding my base. His base became a quagmire of destroyed vehicles and dead bodies. Dante jumped up and exploded a Devildog with his meltagun. I managed to get into assault against his troop squad holding his base, they broke, but escaped me and managed not to run off the table. He would bring on his commander on his turn and rally them... crap. Now my marines were left in the open... dead ducks.

At the end of 5, it turned out that he got too aggressive with his defense, and was not actually holding his objective! Had the game ended now, Victory Jawaballs! Sadly, my dice failed me. I rolled a 6... then 3 consecutive 2s... Bah.

Turn 6:
Things took a turn for the worse for me. I was planning on a turn 4 win, not a turn 6 slugfest... I had over extended myself to win the game early... now I was going to pay. Dante was cut down, in turn 5, and corbulo came in with the DC. They charged up on turn 6, and were almost wiped out themselves. He had a LOT of plasma/melta guns and I could not hold. He was also pressing for my base... geting closer, and had only a few guns to stop him.

Turn 6 ended, we were drawn, but Ed rolled for the game to continue... drat.

Turn 7:
It was over for me. Almost all of my forces attacking his base were knocked out, or having to go around the huge mess of tanks that they could not reach his objective. It came down to him trying to tank shock me off my base. He charged the tank, made his terrain test, I passed my leadership, and he ran into my Lascannon, so I death or Gloried. I tried to get my meltagun into his path too, but only rolled a 4 on the terrain test and could not get over far enough. The Las penetrated, but rolled a 3.. weapon destroyed... Dead Lasgunner. His tank stopped within 3" of my objective, contesting it, and winning the game for him!

Great game Ed! Lots of fun and tacticly enlightening. Mostly because I learned that 2 hours to play a 2k game is NOTHING. My usual reserving may help shorten the games, but may leave me out of position to take objectives...

His MVP? Those damn guns... they were the ones that shoot down skimmers who try to move fast and get cover saves. They had range to the entire table, and I could not reach them at all. While my speeders managed to sustain 4 turns of shooting against them... in the end, they knocked my speeders down, and opened the lane for Eds transport to contest my objective. Stupid guns.

Tonight! James. Muahaha.

Just Face It: The impact of "Facing" on mechanized warfare.

Illustration A


Illustration B






As I understand the rules, when a target vehicles armor value is being decided, that is, when you are trying to figure out just which of the vehicles armor values you have to penetrate, it is decided by "Facing". Huh? Whatsits? Yes, "Facing". I've pulled "Facing" out in tournaments to cockeyed looks of suspicion at best and in pick up games resulting in rule books being thrown! People don't get it. Players sometimes simply refuse to understand why they have a full view of the side armor, yet they have to target the front of my Baal Predator. To me it makes sense. Lets see if we can make sense of this together shall we?

Page 60 of the rulebook covers "Facing". From here on out known as fc.

Every one has been in this position. They have a Predator tank in open space at a funny angle. They can see both the front and the side of the tank. OF COURSE the shooter would rather shoot at the side armor value of 11 then the front armor value of 13. Well sadly shooter, you do not get to choose. Which armor value you are going to attempt to is decided for you by a vector drawn out from the tank, not by you. To decide which armor value you get to shoot, consult the chart on page 60.

The last sentence of the paragraph below "Vehicle Facing and Armor Values" states "Armor Values for individual vehicles also vary depending on which facing of the vehicle the shot comes from- it's front, sides, or rear, as explained in the diagram."

What this is saying folks is that when you shoot at a tank, you again, do not get to choose which of the sides of the tank you get to hit. A "Vector" is drawn from the sides of the tank out in all directions. The diagram on page 60 is a perfect example of this. A straight line is drawn from one corner, to its opposite corner, and out towards you. Which ever side of that line you fall on is the facing you are in, and that is the armor value you have to contend with.

Confused? Probably. It gets worse.

What happens if you are a large tank, or a squad, and you fall right on that "Vector" line. Well to answer, you resolve the individual shots against the armor value of the facing they are in. Some may be shooting at the front, while some may be shooting at the side.

Lets consult my crudely drawn diagram Illustration A. In it you see a Blood Angels Baal Predator (drawn larger of course) fighting 3 enemy Predator Tanks. Tank A is obviously in the front facing, while tank C is obviously in the right side facing. But tank B is the problem. It has a shot at both the front and side of the BA tank. Which armor value are its shots resolved against? By looking at the vector you can see that it goes right through the tank. (The line did not translate from photoshop to my diagram, look at the line on the BA tank and extend it out towards tank B.) In this case, the turret and its Right Side sponson are in the FRONT facing of the BA tank, while the left sponson, if it were able to draw a bead, is on the SIDE facing.

Still confused? Don't worry, you should have seen the look on my buddy Ed's face today when I tried to explain that yes his Russ could fire on my Predator, but not only would I get a cover save despite the fact that he could see all of the right side, I will get a 3+ cover save because he cannot see ANY of the front...(He was in the front's facing but it was blocked by terrain.)

Head smack...

We all know how cover saves work. If you are shooting at a vehicle, and it is more then 50% obscured it gets a cover save, and if less then 50% is obscured, it does not. Right? Not exactly. If you look at the first bullet on page 62 you will see that word FACING again. "At least 50% of the FACING of the vehicle that is being targeted needs to be hidden by intervening terrain or models from the point of view of the firer for the vehicle to claim to be in cover." I bet most of you gloss right over that word completely.

Now here is the kicker! At the bottom of the page it says this: "It may rarely happen that hte firing unit cannot see any part of the facing they are in, but they can still see another facingof the target vehicle. In this case they can take the shot against the facing they can see, but to represent such an extremely angled shot, the vehicle receives a 3+ cover save." Gulp...

Yes, that is correct sir! Please don't jack my sportsmanship points! You CAN fire at my tank, I will get a 3+ save!

Look at Illustration B. Tank A has pulled its front armor up against a large black wall. It completely blocks LoS to the front of the tank. Tank B is at a good enough angle to see the side armor, but if you extend the vector you can see that it is in the FRONT facing! It may take that side shot, but due to the angle tank A will get a 3+ cover save.

Bullshit? Hell no. Rule Munching? No Way. These are the rules as intended by GW. This gets rid of the "Which side can you shoot?" arguement. If you are a mechanized player, you MUST master this concept.

It is late, and I have no idea how the illustrations will translate to the blog, so I will just post this now and make edits. Feel free to offer ways to make this more clear if you understand, and feel free to ask for clarification if you do not!

I updated the images and put them in order and added lines today.

MAJOR EDIT:

Please read all of the comments since this is a great discussion!

I left the contents of the original post so you could follow the discussion.

After reconsidering, it is impossible for a tank to fire over terrain, and claim a 3+ cover save on it's side, if a "front faced" shooter can see the turret FROM THE FRONT FACE. However, If the shooter cannot see the front of the tank or the turret from the front, but it can from the side, the tank will still get a 3+ save.

So, it is possible for a tank to have it's "Front Facing" completely blocked by terrain as well as the turret, yet still fire... depending on where it's target is.

Looking at Illustration B, which has not changed, you can see that tank B cannot draw LoS at all to the "Front Facing" of tank A since it is completely blocked by a large wall. It CAN fire at the 11 armor value "Side Facing" but it will get a 3+ save. Also, due to the placement of the turret on tank A, it can fire on Tank B! In this case, Tank A can collect a 3+ save, and still fire it's main gun. Depending on how much of the "Front Face" of tank B can bee seen while looking down the barrel of Tank A's turret, Tank B may or may not get a 4+ cover save.

Lol, this is fun!

Jawaballs

Some more fan love!

A lot of people focus on the nasty things others do to them, well, I wanted to share a little more love today! Recently I received a little package in the mail and inside was two pots of Mechrite Red. Well, it turns out that a follower who had purchased some stuff from my estore was given the two pots as a gift, and had no use for them, so he decided to give them to me! It is nice to see that there is some good in the world instead of just all the hate. Thanks Mike S. (wyzardking on youtube) for your generosity! :) Jawaballs

Vampire Counts Relaunch!


Last year I started a Vampire Counts army, and it was eventually shelved for other projects. I have decided to reload them and finally get that army finished! The idea here is time and effort, and lack thereof. I have little time to put in the effort it takes to make this VC army look good! So you will see in my VC blog my efforts to minimalize both of those factors but still put a Jawaballs Army on the table. A nice change from the hours and hours of exhausting work I put into some of my Blood Angels models such as my Golden Daemon Honor Guard. Of course, some of the models will get the most love I can lavish upon them, my Blood Knights for example, but I intend on pumping out these hundreds of Zombies and Skeletons in record time. So take some time to check out my Vampire Counts Blog In the next few weeks you will see me trying new techniques for pumping out my Zombie and Skeleton hordes. Enjoy! Jawaballs

First Jawaballs Commission is finished!



So I finished my first commission. A 1750ish Blood Angels army. I'm pretty happy with the results! A lot of guys have been asking me about prices. Well, I don't have a set price. A good starting point is 25 dollars for basic troops, 40 dollars for Sergeants, 60+ for extremely detailed models, characters, top quality etc. Large models and tanks are 100ish plus. Those are ESTIMATES and minimums. If you are not prepared to shell out those kind of prices there are a lot of guys who paint great armies for less. Blue Table Painting has a price scale for any budget and there are a couple of guys out there in between. When I look at a commission request, I go mostly by the time I think I will invest on each model. A beautiful top quality model will take me 2-4 hours to paint, and I charge at least 25 bucks an hour for my time... Get it?

But what do you get from me? Well, I guaranteed this guy a beautiful army. Every model got shading, 2-3 levels of highlights, details, eyes etc. The complete treatment! I hand varnished them, and put them on Jawabases for free. With the exception of my hand painted stuff, which this guy did not want and I will do for extra cost, I think this army is better then my own, and mine has won awards! I am confident that I could play this army at any local tournament and be a contender for best painted.

You also get very personal attention from me. I will answer indepth any questions you have about your army, tactics etc. I will also post up progress of your army on my Commission Blog jawaballs.blogspot.com and you will be able to follow my progress! So, if you are looking to commission a Jawa-army of your own, hit me up and lets start talking price. Jawaballs

Here is video of the finished army.

Back from Vacation!

Ok, so I just got back from Maine. I went to have a little baby shower at my Fiances moms house, then went to Acadia State Park! ASP is a 1 day drive from 25% of the countries population, so if you are in that lucky 25%, you need to find time to get there. It is truely beautiful and worth your vacation time.

Now I have to start digging through 6 days worth of email and posts... You wouldnt believe how hard it is to get on the internet in Maine with a good connection. When that is done, I have to plow through my first commission, I promised to have it in the mail Thursday!

I did manage to listen to some of the recording of the Jwolf interview on 40k radio. I wanted to try to call in, but by 9pm I was embroiled in a thrilling Scrabble game with my fiance, her 14 year old cousin, and the mother in law... Shiver...

Jwolf set a new standard of smack! He smack talked through not smack talking! That brings the game to a whole new level. It definitely needs further investigation in another post. :) Maybe we can get 40kradio guys to cover our game Jwolf? People on youtube and on the blog are screaming for live feed!

Any way, all that driving left me with time to think of some stuff for discussion. So I will be posting up some new blog stuff the next few days. More to come!

Jawaballs