Brothers Grim Warhamme 40k Tournament: Game 2

This game had an interesting twist. There were 6 objectives, we each placed 3. The catch was that in order to claim them, you had to have an infantry squad base to base. Once doing so, there was a random chart to see what was "Inside" the box. Bonus points were awarded for capturing the most boxes, killing commanders, etc. But this game was marred by a couple of... issues.

Deployment: table corners
Mission: Loot Counters

I was playing a Space Wolf army and the deployment ended up with 4 of the 6 counters near his corner. Drat. He would end up claiming all 4.

To cut to the meat of this game, I will quickly summarise.

Turn 1: My opponent claims 2 objectives, I claim 1. His two objectives turned out empty, mine was a real marker. I ended turn 1 holding 1 objective to his 0.

Turn 2: Dante moves up, and assaults a large squad with a Wolf Librarian in it. Dante is killed. He had Logan something attached to a squad with bolters. They moved up to secure the center of the table. My opponent captured two more objectives, I captured one. His turned out to be empty, mine was a real marker. End turn two, I control 2, he controls 0.

Turn 3: Realizing that his only hope to salvage the game, my opponent had to try to move Logan and his squad about 20 inches, assault a squad, claim the objective, then move another 12 inches, assault another squad, and claim that one. I assault and kill his librarian with Corbs and the Furioso, and consolidate into cover.

Turn 4: Here is where the world goes to shit. My opponent moves Logan's squad 6 and shoots at my Furioso who was about to pounce on them. The furioso is killed by Lascannon fire. On my turn, I tank shock Logans squad, and he fails his leadership and falls back 6 or so. I have squads within 6", which will force him to fall back next turn. He contests this fact. After a brief "Discussion" involving his hurried explanation of some rule in the Wolves codex, I relent in the spirit of not being a dick. I should have right there gotten a ruling, because I knew I was right no matter what he said, (It turns out he did not have the FAQ and I was right, he should have continued to fall back and off the table, I win.) So, I assaulted the squad with a measly assault squad, he wins instantly, and consolidates, leaving himself no less then 16" away from my objective. I would say closer to 18", definitely not less then 12", meaning there was NO WAY he would be able to assault my objective turn 5.

Turn 5:
The time for the game is coming short. I suggest we do a time check because I dont want to get screwed. He says we are playing the turn, so I should go check time while he moves. Being the trusting sort, I agree, and go check time, we have about 9 minutes. I return to the table, and some how his model was roughly 6" away from my objective. This is a rough estimate since we did not have an exact measurement, but I would say he moved his squad about 9"... I was away from the table though... My mistake. On his assault, he uses his tape to do a quick measurement from a weird elevated angle, then quickly moves his model without confirming the distance, crashing it into base to base with mine, knocking down or away 3 of my models in the squad.... blank stare... mouth agape... I stammer... dumbfounded...

Let me elaborate.

First of all, I am rarely one to gripe about quarters or eighths of inches. But in this case, he screwed me on the Leadership test, and flat out cheated on the move while I was not looking. You wana bet your booty I am going to bust out the micrometer to measure his assault range. It was close, I am a fairly good estimate of assault range playing an assault army, and that was over 6". So he quickly measured, putting the end of the tape at my base, and holding the other end of the tape about 8 inches over the table. Without lowering the tape down to his model to see if it was within 6 inches, or even looking over the top of the tape to get an estimate, he charges his model into mine, proceeding to hit mine, knocking it back an inch, and knocking down other models. I object, politely. Saying that the measurement warranted a close look since it was soo close and such an important stage of the game...(meaning the difference between win or loss) He smirks and says, "well I can move it back 6" and slides his model back to about where it was...(on the short side.) I was shocked. Stupified. Stunned. All I could say was "Really?" and again, he offered a half cocked smirk. I have never been so completely riveted in a game in my life, any game. It was like he reached across the table and punched me in the gutt.

He went on to massacre, then assault my other objective, taking it as well. So, in two turns, my opponent covered about 3 feet of total distance, killed 3 squads, and claimed 2 objectives, with a single squad on foot, turning a major victory for me into a loss.

I tried to be a good sport, and apologized for my poor attitude, but there was little I could say. I did call over James, our club Space Wolf expert, and asked about the Leadership test, and James confirmed that the guy was not using the proper rules. Dave came over, and also confirmed. But Dave is a nice guy, and was hesitant to force a ruling. I calmly explained the situation. I didnt mention the outrageous movement, and grotesque assault "accident". I only said that his failure to have the proper codex, and taking advantage of my good sportsmanship in not wanting to cause a scene, despite the fact that I was certain I was right, turned what should have a been a win into a loss. (Honestly why would I argue, he was so far away from my squads that there was no way he would take them away before I shot the shit out of him.) I said that every thing that happened after that tank shock should be invalid. I asked Dave to make a ruling on that, but seeing that he was hesitant, and the guy was becoming obnoxious with his defense and arguement, I let dave off the hook and suggested we leave it to chance, "in light of other circumstances". The guy threw up a small objection, but shamefully agreed to the die roll. He won.

End result, what should have been a huge victory for me sending me into first place and a chance to win the whole tournament, turned into a Migraine and a sick feeling in the gut.

Now seriously on this, do I have a reason to feel sick? Do you guys think a die roll at the end was fair? Or should Dave have simply invalidated the end of the game due to the guy not having the proper codex.

Did he smack my models on purpose in that assault? It looked so effortless that I have to say yes. He knew it was gona be close, and he knew that doing so would eliminate any chance to question it. I want to give every one the benefit of the doubt, but you never know what people that want to win tournaments are capable of.

All I can say is that this dude made my ultimate shit list. Next tournament, I will give him NOTHING. I will confirm every measurement, contest every rule, watch every die roll. Vid will post as soon as it is ready.

Brothers Grim Warhammer 40k Tournament: Feb 09 Game 1

Ok, we went to another great tournament on Saturday at Brothers Grim in Selden, NY. They are great guys and run a fantastic tournament! Here is game 1.

I drew a Tyranid player named Danielle for round one. I have had very little experience with Nids and it is all bad, so I sighed deeply when I found out I was playing them round one, but I still felt secure, my list was ready... or was it...

This tournament would showcase 3 very different missions. This first game would be plagued by erratic weather patterns, with a random die roll at the start of each turn determining what would happen with the weather and how it would affect the game.

My opponent had a jacked to craziness Hive Tyrant, full squad of Gargoyles, 2 warrior squads, 2 endless shooty gaunt squads, 1 endless assaulty gaunt squad, 2 brain bugs, a carnifex and some lobby shooty things.

Deployment: Table Halves Dawn of War
Mission: Capture the Flag (bases)

I won the die roll and elected for her to go first. She chose side and deployed her Tyrant and two runty squads, I deployed Dante, a Tactical Squad and an assault squad in their rhino.

Turn One:
She goes first, and flies her tyrant up 12" then runs. He would be in assault next turn for sure. Being DoW, the rest of her stuff came in, and she moved it all up as far as she could, using cover well and fortifieing her objectives. I was more then a little intimidated at this point... But at the same time, something struck me as odd... she knew I had 3 Baal Preds and lots of Melta/Las shots, but advanced her Nasty Hive Tyrant right into the middle of all my guns... with no squad to protect it...

On my turn, Every thing came on. I advanced all of my Baals, Dante and my Furioso. I moved a Rhino up close to the Tyrant. The Rhino made the DoW sight range, and shot with its Storm Bolter, failing to wound, but revealing the target... Well, 2 Melta Guns, a Lascannon and Baal Predator later and the Tyrant was down. I suddenly began to feel very bad...

Turn Two:
Weather pattern turned the entire playing surface into Difficult Terrain. This was very bad for her since all of her warriors, and gargoyles had wings. She chose to walk them, and moved them as far as she could... leaving cover. She advanced a shooty Gaunt squad up, again out of cover, and another shooty squad up that stayed in cover. She shot a biovore at a rhino, failing to hurt it, and shot at Dante with a shooty gaunt squad, and Dante made his saves.

On my turn, I would advance my three Baal Preds, and mow down an entire Warrior Squad and the Gargoyle Squad with 36 shots from the preds, bolter/las fire from the tacs, a melta shot from my speeder, and storm bolter shots from the Rhinos. Dante advanced and assaulted shooty gaunts, while my Rhinos moved into position for a turn 3 or 4 thrust for her base. My furioso moved on an intercept course for her Carnifex. In the assault, Dante charged and cut down 6 gaunts. They would lose another 5 due to being fearless. By the end of turn two, the game was pretty much out of contention already. She was not going to reach my base, and I had 3 Rhinos converging on hers...

Turn Three:
On her turn, she did the best she could, but lacking any real fire power to stop my tanks, she knew she was in dire straights. Dante finished off the gaunts on his turn, and she moved her Carnifex up as far as she could.

I would go on to unload the Baals on the Carnifex, but was unable to kill it...(I still roll lots of 1s) But the Furioso was lined up for a turn 4 charge supported by Corbs... The Rhinos moved on her objective. I unloaded the DC rhino and moved it up on her objective as well, tank shocking on its way. Dante charged a warrior squad next, slicing into them and taking down three! By the end of the turn, there was no doubt.

Turn Four:
On her turn she made a valiant charge. Her Carnifex moved up again, but failed to kill my tank on the charge. She charged Dante with the squad of assaulty grubs, and wounded him! But Dante's retribution was furious.

On my turn, I would move a troop rhino up onto her objective and secure it. When she saw that, she simply threw in the towel. She did not want to see her pretty models getting owned any more! :) Sorry Danielle! We talked quite a lot about the game, tournament her army. As it turns out, she does not enter tournaments to be competitive... and understood that most people do, and enter armies designed to win. I apologised for mercilessly thrashing her, and explained that I would not have been so ruthless in a fun game, but I was looking to win the tournament, so had to go for the throat. I didnt want to ruin her game experience... I thought back to my first tournament, Gamesday 08... I got run off the table by a Nid player in 4 turns. It fouled my day. But she as cool. Not knowing jack about nids, I had no knowledge to share with her about her list, and I explained that my list was built to mow down lists like hers. Sooo, great game Danielle. It was fun and your models were pretty! (she had butterfly wings on her warriors) :) I will upload video once it publishes.



Next game: Tragedy...

www.jawaballsproductions.com Here is my new list video!

And dont forget to check out my new E-store for my How to Paint videos and Scenic Resin Bases!

Baal Predator update

If you were following the progress of my new Baal Predator, here is an updated pic! Enjoy.

Tactics: Army List 1750

So, my new list is as follows:

Dante
Corbulo

Assault Squad One
Rhino
Extra armor

Assault Squad Two
Rhino
Extra Armor

Assault Squad Three
Rhino
Extra Armor

Tactical Squad
+5 marines
Lascannon

Furioso Dread
Death Company
Extra Armor
Heavy Flamer

Attack Bike
Multi Melta

Speeder
Multi Melta
Heavy Flamer

Baal Pred One
Heavy Bolters
Storm Bolter
Extra Armor

Baal Pred Two
Heavy Bolters
Storm Bolter
Extra Armor

Baal Pred Three
Heavy Bolters
Storm Bolter
Extra Armor

Death Company x4
Rhino
Extra Armor



My list works very well. I win most of my games, and rarely lose nowadays. The only real problem is that my Assault Squads have no teeth. My tactic is to rush my rhinos ahead to sit on objectives. I rarely deploy the Assault Squads inside. But it seems that the last few weeks, I have been forced to unload them and assault. The problem is that they have no teeth. Lacking a fist or power weapon really hurts them. Last game was a prime example, I was in assault against a stupid Tau Suit and couldnt kill it... A single power sword in there would have changed that. So, I have decided to drop my attack bike, and put a power sword into each of my assault squads, and add a Melta Bomb to the Sgt. in the Tactical Squad. (In my last game, he assaulted a Tau Transport, alone, and actually destroyed it with Krak Grenades!) If he is going to be doing that, he needs something stronger.

Why am I dropping the bike? Because EVERY GAME, he comes on the table, moves 12", shoots his Meltagun, and misses. He never gets to shoot it twice. People HATE attack bikes and he takes a lot of shots. BUT, not as many as I would like. Its ok if he soaks up firepower that would normally go against a Predator, but usually guys just shoot one strong gun at it and kill it. This is a free kill point, and little value to me. I think those 50 points are way better spent in power weapons for my squads. What yas think?

JB.

Battle Report: Blood Angels vs Ultramarines by James

So yesterday I finally got in a game against James and his Ultramarines. I want to begin this batrep by saying that James and I bicker over rules like elementary school girls when we play.

1750
Capture the Flag
Table Corners

Ultramarine Army:
Land Raider Redeemer with assault termies, cassius and cantor
2 razor backs with lascannons,
4 combat squads with plasma cannons
Ironclad Dread in drop pod
Sternguard Vets in drop pod

Blood Angels:
My new standard mechanized list including 3 Baal Preds.


James won the die roll to go first, and gave the honor to me. I deploy only my Tactical squad and reserve the rest. James deployed every thing.

Turn One:
On my turn, all I had on the table was my Lascannon, which I fired at his Land Raider, hoping to get lucky... I missed. He dropped his Dreadnought right next to my base and moved up his razorbacks. The dread would get out but do nothing because the pod scattered out of range of my squad, and his Lascannons would kill a marine.

Tacticly, he knew I was coming with lots of firepower that could hurt his tanks, so he was keeping them back. Wether or not this was a good tactical decision is in the air. It pretty much just forced a tie. He would be unable to contest my base because he would end up with nothing that could reach it. But keeping his stuff back would deny me from getting my fast moving stuff to his base, and kept enough fire power to completely destroy any thing that did.

Turn Two:

Not a lot of my stuff came on in reserves. My furioso, attack bike, speeder and a Baal Pred would come out, along with a rhino that I put on my base to secure my objective. But of course, I rolled a LOT of ones. It is truely sickening. I need to go to Vegas and find a game that rewards low rolling... I will clean up. I fired all my shots at his dread an merely caused a shaken. That was 2 Multimeltas at point blank range, my furioso, and my Baal Pred. Bah. I would fire my Lascannon at the ironclad as well, and fail to wound.

He would manage to get in his second pod with the vets. They combat squad and split, one takes out my attack bike, the other kills a couple marines. The Ironclad retreats from my furioso... coward. That showdown would have to wait. His lascannons stun my Baal. But he still does not move up his LR...

Turn Three:
Dante would come out to play, along with another Baal and Rhino, my DC with Corbs would fail to deploy.

I jump Dante right at one of his combat squads, and shoot at it, along with moving my Furioso into assault range on the other. They would BOTH fail morale tests to losing models, and fall back out of my assault range... grr... Now my Dread is lined up for the Ironclad to charge... I moved my new rhino up on the flank to try to get into position to contest his base... I fired my Speeder at one of his pods in an act of self preservation, those storm bolters can hurt! All I wanted to do was knock the gun off, but I exploded it instead... helping his line of sight... drat.

On his turn, he would open up on Dante with his Hellfire rounds, but did not know that Dante has Artificer armor... and fails to wound. He now charges his Ironclad at my Furioso, misses with his Melta, and moves into close combat. He moved his LR 12" and fired his Multi Melta at my Flanking Rhino, destroying it. Drat.

Time for assault and a rant!... And here is one of the problems I have with 40k tournaments. James I love ya and you are a good friend, I'm not attacking you because this is the way you and I have come to play. Between friends, we can bust each others balls like this. I am just remarking on the situation...

Models within 12" of Dante get preferred enemy. James charged my Furioso with his Ironclad. After a brief arguement that yes, I would get preferred enemy against his Ironclad (James argued that the dread was a vehicle and denies preferred enemy...a look in the book proved the truth), James questioned that the Furioso was not in range of Dante. We busted out the tape, and without disturbing the models, measured the distance, it appeared close, but I felt it was in range, james disputed... we were talking millimeters, and I was not at the edge of Dante's base yet. To get that close would mean possibly nudging the model, changing its range, blah blah... So now I try to get an exact measurement, and I put the tape exactly at the edge of Dante's base, but in the process disturb the model and James objects because it appears that I attempted to move the model closer... Guhh... In the end, I relented, and suggested a roll off which goes poorly in my favor, and my Furioso does not get the preferred enemy. This situation comes up often and is one thing I can do without.

I remember in one of my first 40k games against a stranger, the guy kept insisting that I move back a tank during deployment because a corner of its hull was over the deployment zone... we were talking an eighth of an inch... but I could not move the tank back any further due to terrain and he knew it... he kept busting out his tape and measureing the placement of my tank... and that was only the second model of deployment! I took that as an indicator of how much I would enjoy playing that game and bowed out of it. Yes, he was right, my model was 1/8" over the deployment line. Yes, he was right by the rules that I had to move the model. The question I put to you is at what point do you put away the damn tapes and enjoy the game?

In the situation with James, it was so close that we would have needed a laser sighted micrometer to get the exact distance. There was terrain in the way which made it hard to get the tapes in a straight line. Once I bumped Dante while trying to pinpoint the measurement, it was over. But this situation happened 3 or 4 times during the game... where I had to get the tape exactlly at the muzzle of a gun to prove range...

For the record, unless the guy starts out with being a total douche or has a record of being a douche, I will always give him the benefit of the doubt in close calls like that. If he needs to move his model a half an inch closer so that it stands, I am fine with that, even though moving it backwards half an inch would solve the same problem and he is getting an advantage. If a dude is a little bit short with a shot that might add some drama to the "story" we are creating, or if it might be close I will by all means say take the shot instead of busting out the laser sights and hubble space telescope to deny him his opportunity, even though by doing what I have the right to do, I could stop him from shooting and secure my win. It is called sportsmanship. Yes James, the game is about inches... or in this case, micrometers, but at some point reason should take over and the tapes should be put to rest. Maybe that is just the relative newcomer in me talking...(I have only been playing the game seriously about a year.) I see it all the time in tournaments, and breath a heavy sigh of disgust at the start of some games when I realise I am up against some uber douche and am about to spend the next 2.5 hours quietly wishing I could choke this Dilbert with his nob bikers.

But in the end, it didnt matter. Karma took over. James missed all of his attacks with his Ironclad, while my Furioso, without Dante's preferred enemy, landed 3 or 4 pens, and exploded the sucker.

Turn Four:
The rest of my stuff came on the table. I send the DC and another Rhino to flank his base. Dante and the Furioso mopped up the last of his Vets near my base, and I secured the lanes of approach for his tanks, completely securing my base. I moved up a rhino into attack position for his base and popped smoke. I imobilized one of his Razorbacks, the other was stuck on terrain. All that he could do now was defend his own base and tie the game.

On his shooting, he would destroy my DC rhino with his LR, and also wipe out most of one of my assault squads with the flamer. That of course did not matter, they were stranded and had no weapons to do any damage.

Turn Five:
The stage was set. I had to make my move. I rolled "fast vehicle" for my rhino, and sped it into his base. I tank shocked my way into his objective, and he death or gloried, failing to stop the tank. Now they had to hold. I assaulted his LR with my Death Company. I was hoping for an Imobilized result. No such luck. There was nothing else I could do!

On his turn, he turned the LR about and moved it back to his base, unloaded his Terminators and commanders, and proceeded to completely obliterate my rhino and squad. Though, they almost lasted! It came down to the last few bolter shots (he had close to 20 marines and 2 or 3 templates shooting at 5 assault marines).

At the end of turn 5, I did not have his base contested, we rolled the dice, and a result was a 3, the game went to turn 6!

Turn Six:
I failed to roll fast vehicle for the only Baal Pred that was in range to contest his base. :( I did manage to destroy his LR with an assault cannon shot! His terminators charged and killed my Death Company, and that was about it for the turn. I moved every thing I could into range hoping for the game to go to turn 7. If the game did go to 7, I would have a good chance, as Dante was able to assault some of his defenders, and I had a posibility of moving a Baal onto his objective. But alas, the game ended. A draw.

Please dont let my rant spoil what was a great game! Again, I am not cussing out James, I am cussing out a situation that happens all the time in 40k. It was fun and in the end suspenseful. I had a couple of good shots at the win! Not easy to do in this scenario. Sooo, there you go. Look for the video soon. JB.

Warhammer 40k Blood Angels: Baal Predator hand painting for Golden Daemon

Here is a Baal Predator I am painting for an addition to my army. I decided to add 2 more Baal Preds, and drop a Furioso Dread and the Vindicator. Firstly, it was rare that I actually got both dreads into close combat. Usually, one just ended up sitting back and acting as a deterrent, or getting whacked early. As far as the vindicator, 5th edition has rendered them impotent. I dropped a vindi shot square on a squad of Orks... and killed 3. That should have been 15 dead orks... Every thing getting cover saves nowadays just simply makes the Vindi a fun diversion at best... people still remember their power, and fear what MIGHT happen, but the fact is that for every awesome shot, there are 10 that fizzle. The Baal Preds on the other hand... I played 2 vs Fritz and they owned... 3??? Why the F not!

So here is one that I am painting. I decided to go crazy with the free hand. I will probably enter this into the Baltimore Golden Daemon comp this spring at Gamesday. Check it out! :)

Samples from a happy customer!

Here are some Blood Angels models painted by a brand new 40k player using my videos! He bought the Black Reach box set, and my How to Paint Blood Angels video set, and voila! Not bad man!

http://i219.photobucket.com/albums/cc121/schuurthing/CIMG1833.jpg
http://i219.photobucket.com/albums/cc121/schuurthing/CIMG1834.jpg
http://i219.photobucket.com/albums/cc121/schuurthing/CIMG1835.jpg
http://i219.photobucket.com/albums/cc121/schuurthing/CIMG1830.jpg
http://i219.photobucket.com/albums/cc121/schuurthing/CIMG1827.jpg


Keep it up and if you want me to post your stuff, send me an email! JB.

Warhammer 40k Blood Angels How to Paint Videos really work!

Here is another pic from a customer who loved my videos! He bought my "How to Paint Blood Angels" video set and painted these scouts.

Warhammer 40k: www.jawaballsproductions.com presents Mike Cho

Here is a link to a new blog by a buddy of mine Mike Cho. http://micho-bp40k.blogspot.com/ Go check him out! He is a Golden Daemon winner and down right good, and insightful painter.

Also, he will be doing some work that will appear on my new E-store, www.jawaballsproductions.com such as resin items, painted models, and movies. So go check it out!

www.JawaballsProductions.com is now live!

My apologies for not being very active on the posting the last couple weeks, but I have been working on a new E-store! Thats right, www.jawaballsproductions.com is now live and ready. On my new store you can find my How to Paint DVDs and now you can purchase them as Digital Downloads. I am still in the process of listing them all, but you will be able to purchase all of my video sets as digital downloads. It will take you about an hour and a half to download them on a highspeed connection. Also, I am pleased to introduce my new line of hand crafted resin products. In my Kustom Kastings section, you will find Scenic Resin Bases, and other fun things for 40k like the new Seismic Hammer for the Ironclad Dreadnought! So go to www.jawaballsproductions.com for "How to Paint Space marines" videos, and Scenic resin bases, and check back often as I will be adding new product daily.

Warhammer 40k Bood Angels: The Way of Sanguinius?

I just got this from Brother Captain DocRailgun... cant wait to see the results. Keep this stuff coming, and if any one else wants me to post coverage of their battles and armies, please send the content!


+++ Transmission begins +++

Brother-Captain Jawaballs,

In the next month or so my Blood Angels will join they fray in a "War
Without End" campaign, and to seed the players our new club (The Lords
of War) will be holding a tournament. This tournament will require
lists of a thousand points with no named characters (which really
helps Orks).

Though the new SM Codex could have provided me with more options for
fewer points, I decided to go with the BA Codex and try out the "Way
of Sanguinius".

My list looks like this:
http://i128.photobucket.com/albums/p186/livingflag/40K/100_0166.jpg

HQ:
Chaplain

Troops:
2 x Assault squads (sgt with power fist), in Rhinos w/ extra armor
Full Tactical squad w/ lascannon
http://i128.photobucket.com/albums/p186/livingflag/40K/100_0172.jpg
http://i128.photobucket.com/albums/p186/livingflag/40K/100_0173.jpg

Elites:
DC Furioso
3 DC in Rhino w/ extra armor
http://i128.photobucket.com/albums/p186/livingflag/40K/100_0167.jpg

Heavy Support:
Baal Predator w/ heavy bolter sponsons and storm bolter
http://i128.photobucket.com/albums/p186/livingflag/40K/100_0170.jpg

Unfortunately, I need to do some painting to get these squads up to
standards, but there is a good amount of time until the tournament
begins.
In the meantime, I will be testing my list against as many opponents
as I can... at least one very soon. I will keep you up to date with
how my battle brothers do.

+++ Transmission Ends +++

Warhammer 40k: Apocalypse!

Ok, my movie making is backlogged... but I wanted to offer up a quick battle report on this weekends Apocalypse game.

10000 points of Marine/Imperium vs 10000 points of Chaos/chaos guard/kroot

We started this game at 10ish am, and finished around 6pm. My buddy Fritz over at The Way of Saim Hann put the game on and planned out the objectives and mission. It was a great Apocalypse game, hands down the most fun I have had playing in one to date. I don't usually like playing in these games because they tend to bring out the worst in people. But I reluctantly agreed since Fritz was putting the game on. This game though, had a minimal of nastiness, with only Black Matt, The Warmaster allowing the chaos blood rage to over take him and earning negative sportsmanship points. The good guys were facing a VERY powerful Chaos force including THREE super heavies, and 3 or 4 Lash sorcerers. We had NO super heavies and really not even a lot of heavies at all. 4 or 5 land raiders, 3 basilisks and a good spattering of smaller things. I fielding my Vindicator and Baal, neither of which barely fired a shot! :( One of our partners, a Daemonhunter force, was barely a factor as well, when he finally got his LR into the game it was destroyed, and his terminators were cut down when they deep striked. His Grey Knights barely fired a shot all game while holding a ruined building with no objective inside of it.... so it was almost 10k vs 8k. But bravely we charged!

Since there were 10 guys playing, and I am just one, and only have a narrow view of the overall game, this is my vision of the game. Cutting to the meat of it, I planned a turn 2 insertion of reserves up as far as we could get them. This would cut down on losses in turn 1 and 2 of fireing, since we went second. The plan was good. On bottom of two, a large assault force entered the battle from mid way up the right side board. I sent Dante with his HG, Corbs, DC in their rhino, Speeder, attack bike, and my two Furioso dreads. My Dark Angels partner sent his dread with Melta, land raider crusader, terminator squads and a rhino with assault squad to lead the way. We intended on thrusting the tanks up as far as we could, creating cover for the dreads and assault forces. Once we were close enough, we would hopefuly charge! But the best laid plans are at best useless the minute the enemy is engaged.

We charged up the right side, right at a force of Chaos dreads, vindicator, 2 defilers, obliterators and 2 demon lords and a sorcerer... all with lash. We had some protections, but their range was limited... Dante and his HG were lashed, and here is where we get into that old discussion concerning Jump troops and that dangerous terrain test. I have decided that I will not play against lash users, or any one who tries to rule munch this issue again. To sum it up, Jump Troops, when choosing to use their jump packs to move OVER 6", leave or enter difficult terrain must make a Dangerous Terrain check. They may choose to move like normal infantry, 2 or 3d6 taking the highest, and not suffer the test. But due to one poorly worded line in the rule book, I think the line is actually missing a single word, some people seem to think this applies any time models with jump packs enter or leave terrain, argueing that HAVING the jump pack forces the test, not using it. This is the epitome of bull shit rules munching, defies logic, and frankly goes against the spirit of the game and all that 40k was intended for. Lash is already bull shit enough, but to try to pull this as well just takes the cake. In case you dont know, Lash of Submission is a chaos power that allows the Chaos Player to actually move my models around the table, so he can then fire on them. This is typically used to get infantry from out of cover and lined up for nice template shots.

Dante and his HG were lashed a total of 4 inches away from where they were. Since they moved out of cover, the lasher asked me to make dangerous terrain tests. I would not even have argued with this if they had moved them over 6... seriously, normal infantry do not need to make a dangerous terrain test when lashed out of cover, why should jump... The lasher is NOT igniting the jump packs, they are using the power of chaos to magicly move the models. (His arguement was that he "used the jump pack option" to move him 4 inches...) Guh...

Any way, I made the tests, but its the fact of the matter. Chaos losers.

After the lashing, the entire HG was killed. Dante survived and moved to join the Death Company, but then the entire squad would suffer a blast from a battle cannon... None would survive. Though I am not sure what the AP on a battle cannon is... 2 or 3. Actually if it was 3, Dante would have lived... Oh well, something to look into.

SO, this devastating blow crippled our flank. Without Dante and Corbs offering their assault support, my Dreads were merely scary. We assaulted with all that we could, and actually quagmired that side for the rest of the game... stopping their advance. So I suppose the losses were not in vain, because that quagmire allowed the Blood Angels troops to claim 2 objectives and put us in position to win or tie the game.

In the end, it came down to us holding 3 objectives and contesting 1. They held 2. But they took an Apocalypse rule that allowed them to double the value of one of their objectives, giving them a tie! Thus ended the game.

Highlights:
James taking down a super heavy by delivering the last shot with a multi melta.
My speeder exploding Black Matts Land Raider that was moving up to assault our objective, AND killing a terminator inside. This also left a bad ass squad of Chaos scum open, and they were cut down.
Bobby taking the title "Tank Hunter" by ignoring the game, objectives and strategy and going for transports instead of important units...(He fired on an empty immobilised rhino instead of an active defiler with a battle cannon just for the tank kill.)
The Chaos Combo of Lash and Battle Cannons to cut down Dante, Corbulo, Honor Guard and Death Company. This pretty much saved the game for the Chaos side... those losses took 90 percent of our assaulty teeth away on the right flank...
Culexis Assasin scaring the crap out of half the Chaos Army.

Low Lights:
Forcing dangerous terrain checks with Lash.
One of our team members basically disappering for the whole game.
James infiltrating Shreik into their back lines, and losing him on the first shot fired at him.
Bobby placing Gaunt right at the front of our lines, and losing him to the first shot fired at him...because he forgot to use his Camo Cloak.
My Baal Pred immobilizing itself turn one on terrain...

Over all, great game! And really with the exception of the issue mentioned above, and a few scattered arguements between James and every one, this was the most tame and good natured Apoc game I have played. Great job guys!

Warhammer 40k: James!

Here is your Ultramarine dude!

Warhammer 40k Blood Angels: Tourny Report Toywiz Conflict GT

Last weekend I went to a GT at Toywiz in Nanuet, NY. First off, I have to say congratulations to the staff at ToyWiz in putting on a fantastic tournament. It was well run, efficient and fun! This was a Grand Tournament, with 5 games being played over 2 days. The pairings for the first round were based on army list, which was a great feature of the GT. That would leave power gamers playing against power games in the first round instead of pounding on noobs. Another great feature about this is that it gives guys with army lists that are NOT built to destroy the world still able to have a chance at winning. So, pretty much any one has a chance to win! Finally, the tournament gave points, or penalties for army lists. At the GW GT guys can show up with their super nidzilla lists, or double ork warboss nob bike armies and table every one and win the whole thing. Here, there are 20 points up for grabs for having a good, balanced list. Of the possible 20, I scored 11. The guy who won best general only scored 1... (nidzilla) I was in contention to win the entire thing though. In addition to the army list points, there are a total of 20 possible painting points. I was the only one to score all 20 points. Between 20 points for both comp and painting, plus 20 points for sportsmanship, there are 60 points up for grabs that the GW power gamers dont usually worry about, which allowed guys like me a serious chance at placing. Now to the games.

Game 1:
The games were fast paced, and soem guys dont appreciate my making videos, so I only have a little bit if vid. I did make a nice video for game one. The mission was loot counters, and there were 3. I had the pleasure of placing 2 of the three. I placed them both near each other, and would completely ignore the third which was on the other side of the table. From the start of the game, I would be in place to control one, and challenge another.

My opponent had a drop pod ravenguard force. He ended up dropping two pods on an objective on the far side of the table, and two pods on the right side objective. So after a couple of turns, he held two pretty strongly. But I was able to come onto the table all in the middle, on top of an objective. That enabled me to focus every thing on the right side, and take that objective, then deny him the left at the end. I ran a dread, speeder, bike and dante at the right side and destroyed every thing, including his pods. Then i held it with an assault squad in a rhino. Having secured that objective, I focused on the left side.

He flanked in with Shreik and an assault squad and chaplain, but they had fist. Only shreik and krak grenades could hurt the dread. He rolled poorly and the dread would kill them all granting me an objective point for killing Shreik. Wrapping up the game, I tank shocked two rhinos through his squads... causing TWO of them to fail morale and fall back... This tank shock left one of my rhinos directly on top of the objective and his guys out of scoring range... At the end, I won maximum points. I killed his commander earning 1 point, held all of the objectives, winning the game, and beat him in kill points and table corners scoring two more bonus points. In Anthony's defense, I think that my army should probably have been in the upper tier. It is more of a sleeper army. No one really knows about the power of the Dante/Corbs/Furioso combo. Well Anthony found out! He made some serious tactical errors though. First of all, he deployed his marines out of their pods, on MY side of the table, this allowed me to come on with all of my AP2 shots, and waste them all. Also, he needs to give his jump forces a fist. Going up against my Furioso with no way to kill it except for Shreik really hurt him... especially when my dread targeted the commander first and squashed him.

Game 2:
This game would be a drastic turn around for my fortunes. The mission was to have the highest costing unit on either deployment zones. So the guy with the most expensive squad on both edges of the table won. Sadly, My army is made up to NOT surrender lots of victory points, and instead spreads points around to most efficiently use my squads. Therefore thereby meaning, my squads are cheap. My most expensive was 210 points, a tactical squad. The next was Dante at 200, then a paultry 165 and less for all the rest. My opponent had 4 squads that were more expensive then my highest, and one of them was a 3 unit speeder squad. No way in hell I was going to be able to knock that out... :( So I did what I could. I split my forces to match his deployment. I sent some rock hard forces at his right side where two of his expensive squads were, and the rest went for the other two on the left. As I thought, his speeders would escape my attack on the left... and suprisingly, he overwhelmed me on the right. I failed to knock out his point squad there and that squad would move to hold onto his table edge outscoring Dante. His speeders wheeled around to mine, and outscored my Tactical squad. That ended it! He won the game, and scored some bonus points. I got 5 points for the loss plus a bonus. Crap mission. Cool in that it gave the advantage to armies that wouldnt normally have had a chance, but sucky in that it wasnt me who had the advantage.

Game 3:
Kill Points... vehicles, tanks, monstrous creatures, commanders count for DOUBLE kill points... gulp. Basicly I had to run him off the table. I was not successful. At the end of the game he had easily double my kill points. Rhinos counting as 2 kill points, as well as my tanks and mostly every thing else really kicked me in the ass. Really though, our armies were very similar. He had transports, tanks and every thing I had. He just got the drop on me and ran over me. Good game Stephen! (A member from our brother club at Brothers Grim)

Game 4:
I came back with a vengance. After two serious losses, I would need two big wins to have a chance. In this game, I played a chaos army, and in a tight fight ended up with the win. I didnt make any video and honestly the game was so fast that I dont remember the turn by turn... But this set me up for a big finish...

Game 5:
I got to play my buddy Greg from Brothers Grim! Last time we met, I gave him a lesson on Assault. There isnt much he can do when his assaulty army comes up against a BETTER assaulty army... But this game was different! He refined his list, added some fire power and put the screws to me. It was a loot counter mission, and we ended up in a battle for one counter that I placed in the middle of the board. After a huge blood fest, the game came out tied. Shreik came on flank marching, and forced me to split Dante off to intercept him. After, of course, he took out my assault squads enroute to kill his dudes on the left side. The game came down to one last tactical marine contesting the objective in the middle of the board... that gave him the tie! Great game man. If we had to end it was best to end on that note.

The only thing I can say negatively about Greg was that he COST ME 3RD PLACE! I would have had 3rd overall if I scored 5 more battle points. His one little survivor cost me. You will pay my friend... :) I went on to finish 6th over all. Not a bad showing.


On to the rest of the tournament. LOOT! There were two painting awards. Players choice and Best Army. I was a contender for both. A word on players choice... this award is not really about which army is the favorite at the tournament. It pretty much comes down to how many friends you bring. I only brought 2. I know for a fact that I scored 8 of the 30 votes that were entered, not including guys that might have voted for me that I didnt see. Sadly though, about half of the guys in the tournament were from a single club... the local club. Not surprisingly, a member of their club won players choice. His army was great to give him props... but after seeing the numbers of guys from him club... I knew I wouldnt have a chance. He had the best army from his club. Morale of the story... bring more friends. :)

But Best Army was a different story! This award was based on both Composition points and painting points. I would beat the kid who won players choice by a single point! I beat him in painting by 3 points, but he outscored me in comp by 2. Victory Jawaballs!

Well, car is finished being worked on, so time to go. I will add more to this later.

Scenic Resin Bases by Jawaballs Productions Kustom Kastings

Announcing new Scenic Resin Bases by Jawaballs Productions! I use scenic resin bases for all of my models. They look good and I always get lots of compliments. It is quick to finish an entire army with them and they look awesome! Nothing brings unity to an army better then having a consistently themed and finished bases. These are pictures of the prototype set that I have developed. I painted 5 with a grey granite finish, and 5 with a sandstone finish.

There are many more styles of bases in production including cobblestone, brick, techno deck, crystaline, and more. They will be available in basic infantry size, large "Terminator" size bases, and huge "Dreadnought" size. Also, I am developing an e-store to make purchasing them much easier. For now, if you are interested in purchasing resin bases from Jawaballs Productions, simply email me for pricing and we will work out a package deal until I get up and running. More to come and thanks for your support!

Warhammer 40k Blood Angels: The Conflict at Toy Wiz, Nanuet NY

Ok, I just got home from the Conflict GT and my brain is fried and I have already mistyped aboout 30 times so I am not going to bother with a batrep now. I will leave you with the small token illustrated by the plaque in the pic though. My little collection grows! :) I will do videos and batrep tomorrow. JB

Warhammer 40k Blood Angels: Tactica 2, Mission: Loot Counters

Last time I briefly talked about army selection. Choosing the right army for you is a huge part of the game, and you havn't even started playing yet! So now what the heck do you do when you get on the table? As you set up, the first thing you need to do is roll the dice to see what mission and deployment you are going to play. In the 5th edition rule book there are 3 missions and 3 deployment options. I will discuss them now.



Loot Counters:
This mission is my favorite and placing those counters is the key to the game. You need to subtly set up your opponent and get him to help you arrange the loot the way you want them. You will usually have 5 counters. Ideally, you want 3 of them to be arranged in a triangle with no two being more then 24 inches apart, and the other ones to be on the other side of the board. See the illustration. If you only have 4 or 4, you still want at least a triangle shape arrangement of 3. The others dont matter. You need to roll the die to see who places first. If you win, you place counter 1, twelve inches from the edge, in a terrain piece. That is going to be your base and you need to try to get it. The first person to place will get to place 3 counters, which is actually a great advantage. This will let you create your triangle no matter where your opponent places his. Since there are sooo many variables in how they will be placed, we will focus on the fact that you were able to get your triangle set up, and the two other counters are on the other side of the table as shown. In most games, you can get something like this pretty easily. If you can, you want to take LAST TURN. Let your opponent go first.

What do you do now that you have the loot the way you want it? Here is what I do. I place my 10 man tactical squad on Loot 1 in cover. I arrange my Lascannon so that he is actually out of cover on the table with the best angle on the table. Be sure that no matter what, as this squad takes casualties, the last man standing is on that counter. From this point I set my attack. The two counters on the right are basicly out of play, and my opponent can have them. I am not going to waste resources and split my force trying to take 24 square feet of table, when I only need to take 12 square feet to win. Most opponents will usually split their forces, sending some to take the two on the right, while sending others to try to take the 3in my triangle... Let them, the ones taking the 2 will be basicly useless and out of the game. Note, I did not say forget about thsoe two for the whole game... Try to save a fast moving vehicle for later.

Now for the rest of your forces. I place my Tactical squad, then the rest of my troops around that point. I roll my Vindicator right into cover with the Tacticals. As you can see in the illustration, the vindicator will have complete fireing range on 2 and 3. Also, I placed loot 3 intentionally in open space. Let your opponents go for it! The Vindicator should make short work of them. I will deploy my Baal Pred to the right of Loot 1, with the attack bike and speeder supporting it. My troop Rhinos will be deployed to the left. They are going to make a sweeping angle to the right, fanning out into a 3 pronged formation and claiming the objectives. I will roll the rhinos right up onto the objectives, and keep the squad inside. But I dont move them out until turn 3 or so. My Rhinos are fast enough to make it where ever I want by turn 5 so no need to expose them to fire yet.

In the meantime, My DC in their Rhino, Dante and the two Dreads are going to deploy somewhere in between my Baal and my Troops, in the left corner and march. The DC Rhino is going to lead the charge and I am going to do my best to keep the dreads and Dante within 12" of it. The DC Rhino is going to roll up to Loot 2 and Dante and the dreads are going to head that way as well, sweeping over loot 3 on the way. They are the spear tip, hammer and anvil. With my hard ass assaulters moving up to clear out whatever feeble forces my opponent has put there to try to take 2 and 3, supported by the Baal, Speeder and Attack Bike, my Troop Rhinos should easily make it to their locations with at least one rhino intact.

So, all has gone well. After 4 turns of furious fighting, my assaulters have done their job and taken Loot 2 and 3. My Rhinos have moved into position and are either sitting functional on counters, or destroyed with troops using them as cover and holding objectives. I should have at least one rhino still functional... and hopefully at least one Death Company, and or Corbulo alive. By the end of turn 4, you want to plan for the game to end on 5. Get your DC and Corbs into an operational rhino, and get that rhino lined up for an 18" move to loot 5. I know I know, there is a lot that can go wrong here, but the plan is to move your Rhino with the DC to contest Loot 5, and if you are lucky, you can move your Baal and/or speeder or attack bike to contest Loot 4. If you were successful, you shouldnt have to do any of that since you should be firmly in control of 3 loot counters to your opponents 2.

On turn 5 you move out your contesters. Send whatever you have to get within range of your opponents counters. Tank Shock or Ram if you have to. Also, use whatever you have left, Dreads, Troops, Rhinos to form rings around the ones you own to stop your opponent from being able to do the same to you. It should be obvious where he will come from if at all, and you should be able to use your Rhinos and Dreads to protect the vulnerable counters. All you have to do is get them arranged so your opponent cannot get within 3 of the counter... Remember, he cannot get within 1 of you...

Hopefully at the end of turn 5, you own 3, and are contesting at least one of his. The game will be yours if it ends on a 1 or 2, AND you will be in good shape for turn 6 if it goes. He will have to not only have focus on trying to take your objectives, but now he has to try to retake his.

What happens if your opponent trys to set up and take your three just as you have? Good question... I am confident in my Blood Angels to be able to handle it. Your opponent will be gunshy from the Vindi and will get his stuff away. Rely on that to open up your 3 objectives. It is mandatory to get that Vindi within range of all 3, and use the Baal also. They both should be able to fire on Loot 1, 2, and 3 the entire game. If your Vindi gets knocked out fast, (and it probably will) no worries, it did its psychological job and helped you control the table. If it did not get destroyed and your opponent is foolish enough to try to take Loot 2 or 3... punish him.

Do these tactics work with other armies? Yes. You do need certain units though. A hard hitting and scary tank (Prism Cannon, Russ) to hold Loot 1 with a tough as nails troops squad supporting it and claiming. Fast moving troops to be able to get to the other objectives, and rock hard elite units to do the fighting, and clear out your opponents. (They dont have to survive, just win.) Finally you need something fast to contest. Obviously this works best for Eldar, Blood Angels and Drop Pods, but every army should have units that can fill these roles, though maybe not as well.

So, I hope that made some sense and you can use it to win! I will no doubt edit it once I have more time. JB

Warhammer 40k Blood Angels: The challenge has been laid.

I leveled the challenge. After battling through every army in his way, Dante has finally set his sights on Fritz's Saim-Hann. The battle will be going down at the club in two weeks... IF he chooses to accept the challenge. We meet again at last... The circle is now complete... When we last met I was but the learner, now I am the master...

Warhammer 40k Blood Angels: Battle Report Blood Angels vs Dark Angels Take Two

I played Ted again this week. Last week I played his Ravenwing and beat them quite convincingly. He revamped his list and wanted a rematch. So I obliged.

1750 points
Dawn of War
5 Loot Counters


Blood Angels: Standard Mechanized Force

Dark Angels: Librarian terminator armor, two terminator squads, Azriel, bike squad, attack bike, two dreadnoughts, two 10 man tacs in drop pods.

We deployed loot, he placed one on his side, then I placed one 12 inches from my edge, but within 24 of the one he placed. He placed another in an opposite corner, an I placed one right in between the first two making a triangle. He placed the last on the other side of the table. Those two would be ignored the whole game.

My plan was to take and hold the three counters in the triangle. Ted won the die roll and gave me the honour of going first. I deployed my tactical squad on an objective in cover, and placed Dante next to them. He resereved every thing.

Turn 1:
I reserved nothing so every thing came on. I rolled my vindicator up into the terrain that my Tac was on, defending that objective and aquireing fire lanes that cover the other two I intend to hold. I deployed my rhinos on the extreme left edge to make a flank run then slant in towards the two other objetives. Every thing else I placed fairly tight in on the left.

His dreads came on, he put one on the left side and one on the right. He also had his speeder come on. The speeder fired on and destroyed my lead rhino... I forgot to pop smoke... That assault squad would disembark and run for cover, effectively out of the fight.

Turn 2:
I move my speeder into range to fire on his, but fail to hurt it. The rest of my forces advance, the rhinos moving up with the Death Company taking the lead. Objective 3 was on the other side of some ruins guarded by a Dreadnought with Melta. I moved my DC rhino up 18" and butted up against the ruins.

On his turn, all he had come in was a Terminator squad with Librarian. He deep striked them into difficult terrain next to the bulk of my squads. He rolled two 1's for dangerous terrain! What poor luck, but it got worse for him... He shot at my Baal with the librarian template but failed to hurt it. He put a wound on my Attack Bike with his speeder.

Turn 3:
I move my DC rhino right up on top of the objective being guarded by his Dread, and keep the unit inside. I move my speeder up again to take a shot at his, and fail to hur it. I unloaded on his terminators, with Vindiator, meltas, Baal, tactical... but only kill one. They however would fail leadership and fall back... This would lead to a travesty for him.

On his turn, Azriel with his terminators came in, deep striked, and scattered on top of his the falling back terminator squad... He rolled on the mishap table... and the result was unit destroyed. They materialized mixed in with a bunch of gravel and dirt and gun casings... Sorry Ted. He shot at my DC Rhino with his dread and imobilized it on top of the objective. His attack bike came in flank march, and popped my Vindicator from behind! Dante hates seeing his armour destroyed... His dread assaulted my DC rhino but failed to damage it.

Turn 4:
Dante moved out and melted the attack bike with his Perdition Pistol. Retribution. My rhinos moved up to claim the two other objectives. The DC Disembarked, while my speeder shot at his, and missed... I shoot up his terminator squad and kill them all with ferocious melta and lascannon shots. In the assault, my DC and a Furioso charged his dread, the DC went first and that would be all I needed. One rend got through, and I destroyed it.

On his turn, his drop pods finally came in. He droped one onto a far objective, and the other next to my squads on objectives. He popped a rhino with Assault Cannon fire, then destroyed the squad inside with rapid bolter fire, taking away one of my objectives! He wanted to make a game of it!

At the end of turn 4, I held 2 objectives, he held 1. 2 were up for grabs.

Turn 5:
I would finally nail his pesky speeder which would pretty much seal the game since he could not contest any more objectives... My assault squad jumped into his imobilized DC rhino to keep the objective. The DC actually would jump into the recently vacated assault squad rhino to prep to contest his objectives if the game goes turn 6. I shoot up his tactical squad, then assault it with Dante, only 2 survive and they break, but Dante keeps them locked in.

With very little left, he does the best he can. Dante will finish up with his tactical squad and he is unable to do any thing more. The game will end on a roll of 1 or 2, and I rolled a 1. Final score Blood Angels 2 and Dark Angels 1. Had the game gone on to 6, I had a rhino ready to contest his held objective if needed, and was also moving a squad up to reclaim my third.

Summary:
His army was much stronger this time with more options, but losing his commander and a whole squad of terminators hurt very much. For my side, the MVP was probably the Death Company assaulting his Dread and taking it down. The fast moving Rhinos again did their jobs at taking and holding objectives. Had I been playing more wise, I would have moved my Baal infront of my last Rhino that got popped while it was on an objective. For loot counter missions, I feel it might be better to get every thing on the table and go for it. It is relieving to not have to worry about kill points, so I can be more aggressive with my Rhinos. Going second is still key though, unless you get the big drop on your opponent, and are able to take out his fast moving stuff, he will always have the chance to steal the game or a tie at the end by moving and contesting. Also, always prepare for game to end turn 5. Especially if you roll a 1 five out of six times like me. :)