Trying new things

Hello all,
Yesterday I attended a tournament at my LGS that was a one day event of three games of 1666 pts that was limited to one special detachment, and we played maelstrom missions.
This special detachment was this.

Melton Meltdown Detachment

Compulsory:
1 HQ.
3 Troops.
1 Elites.
1 Fast Attack or 1 Heavy Support.

Optional:
1 HQ.
2 Troops.
3 Elites.
2 Fast Attack.
2 Heavy Support.
1 Fortification.
1 Flyers.
Dedicated transports as normal.

Restrictions:
All units must be from the same Faction.
Command Benefits: +1 Command Point.

After playing nothing but 2000 points and with these restrictions, I found it hard but challenging to get my head around what to take.

In the end I tried this army out.

IL-Kaithe the only true Craftworld worth taking.

Craftworld Tactic Alaitoc
Farseer- guide, doom

6x warlock conclave- quicken / restrain, protect / jinx 

3 x 5 rangers

20 guardian defenders with 2 shuriken cannon teams

5 x wraithguard with wraith cannon

2 x 6 reapers with exarch having a tempest launcher

2 x wave serpents with shuriken cannons, spirit stones and vectored engines

1 falcon with bright lance, shuriken cannon and pulse laser.

Here are some of my thoughts on why I used these units. First I wanted to add some -3 to -4 rend firepower to my list, my reapers are awesome, but sometimes their -2 rend is not enough to punch through the enemy armour.

So with this in mind, I added a falcon to my list to try out the pulsar and a bright lance. I further added a unit of wraithguard with wraith cannon again to add some punch to my army.

I further felt I needed two rune of battle powers for my army, so I added in the warlock conclave, and expecting them to take some fire I made them 6 strong.

In attendance on the day was the following armies. My Eldar and one of each of the following Deamons, Ad Mech, Dark Angels, Custodes, Death Watch, Iron Hands, Tau,  Black Templar and one withdraw for reasons.(would have been an Imperial guard amy)

With these thoughts on army design and against this diverse lot of armieshow did the list perform?

Round One.

I had a bye round one due to Imperial Guard player needing to withdraw. This happens at any tournament when the real life concerns of players need to take precedent. This gave me plenty of time to watch games and look at items I wanted to purchase in the future.

Round Two.

My opponent failed to roll first turn and then seized against me. Sigh my going second continues.
I played against a Dark Angels Azrael plasma castle list. It is not often that I am outgunned but this time I was, Azrael's 4++ bubble was enough to blunt my firepower.. I lost this game 15 to 13 vp. The game ended with only the Farseer and one reaper being left alive.

Round Three

Going into the final round and I played the Iron hands all comers list.
Again I went second after failing to seize. This was a fairly close game until turn three when I did some damage with my wraithguard that he could not come back from.


List reflection.

So how did my list go?

Well I was right to include the bright lance, I was wrong to include the falcon perhaps, I may revisit it at a later date, but for now i found it O.k. The warlock conclave was a big points sink 180 points for two powers. I would have been better to run just a spirit seer and spend the 135 points on more firepower for the list.

Likewise the falcon was lacking offensive power for its points. The bright lance was great as was the pulse laser, but there is bound to be better ways to include them. At this stage I am not sure what though.

With these two singular thoughts I have found my list to include  350 points of fat. I will look in the future to streamlining this.

I already have idea's on where to take this list and I will wait for the next LGS 1666 point event to try them out.

Stay tuned.

Cheers
Firelupus

List disection from Cancon

After thinking about the tournament and how my list performed, I decided to put my thoughts down on pseudo paper.
Do not get me wrong, placing 15th is a great result and I am very very happy with it. But each and every games was a close fought slugging match. I had to use every ounce of my skill as a general to get the wins, and in one case the dice decided the win, not my skill.

So I am going to discuss my list design and thoughts and reasons why I decided to take what I did.

Here is my list again for reference.

Brigade Detachment:  Craftworld Trait – Alaitoc 

-HQ-

Bahaleth - Autarch with Swooping Hawk Wings 

Shuriken pistol, banshee mask, power sword, force Shield 

Shimmerplume of Achillrial  Puritanical Leader

Farseer

Singing spear,shuriken pistol

Farseer 

Witch Blade, shuriken pistol, Shiftshroud of Alanssair 

Warlock

Shuriken pistol, witchblade

  

-TROOPS-

3 units of 5 Rangers

ranger long rifle and shuriken pistol

10 Dire Avengers including exarch

9 x shuriken catapults, plasma grenades, shimmer shield, power glaive.

2 units of 5 Dire Avengers including exarch

shuriken catapults, plasma grenades 

-ELITE-

3 units of 5 Striking Scorpions including exarch

Mandiblasters, shuriken pistol, plasma grenades, Scorpion chainsword, Biting Blade

-FAST ATTACK-

5 Warp Spiders including exarch

Death spinner, twin deathspinner and powerblades

2 units of 5 Swooping Hawks including exarch

Lasblasters and Hawk talon

-HEAVY SUPPORT-

2 units of 10 Dark Reapers including exarch 

Reaper launcher 

Warwalker Squadron 

1 x Warwalker with 2 x Starcannons 

Supreme Command Detachment  Craftworld Trait – Alaitoc 

-HQ-

3 Spirit Seers

shuriken pistol and witchstaff


Okay so first, the craftworld book has a lot a great stratagems that enhance the Eldar army on the battlefield, to make the best use of these, I first built my army for command points.

Decision 1. Maximise command Points.

I decided that to play how I wanted to play I needed between 12-13 cp. So a Brigade detachment for required.

This locked me into having 3 hq, 6 troops, 3 elites, 3 fast attack and 3 heavy support choices.

I also wanted to have the majority of the runes of battle powers available so that meant I needed a supreme command detachment.

So now I needed to have 6 hq, 6 troops, 3 elites, 3 fast attack and 3 heavy support choices to make my army legal.

So all this would give me 13cp to play with during deployment and the battle rounds.

So far so good.
On to my Choices to fill the slots.

Troops

Rangers 
I decided to fill my troop requirements with three units of rangers for deep strike push back and character sniping ability.

Dire Avengers
The Dire Avengers were to form my main battle line with the main unit of 10 acting as the anchor for my line. the two smaller units of five were to be harassers and objective grabbers.

Elites

Striking scoprions
I filled these slots with three units of 5 striking scorpions all equipped the same, these units with their built in deep strike allowed me to make my opponent think about their deployment and deep strike protection. 

Fast Attack

Swooping Hawks

Two units of swooping hawks were my dedicated anti horde option, with each squad putting out 20 shots, they would bring a volume of fire to my list that was needed. The also deployed on the table in my games, to allow for turn 2+ bouncing around shenanigans.

Warp spiders

I included one unit of these because of their strength 6 weapons, and I purchased the exarchs power blades, simply due to wysiwyg rule, I did not fancy cutting them off my metal model. I would have like more of these but I only own 5 models.

Heavy Support

2 units of 10 dark reapers, these guys were the ranged power to my list and did the majority of the heavy lifting each game.

A unit of 1 Warwalker with Starcannons, Originally there were two in this army , but i needed to drop one to upgrade my large unit of avengers from 5 to 10.

HQ

An Autarch
She was here to provide rerolls, immunity to moral due to puritanical leader warlord trait and reclaim some CP on a 6+. With a banshee mask, powersword and shuriken pistol, I found him to be under gunned. The shimmer plumed helped this somewhat.

2 farseers
The runes of fate are a great set of powers, during play testing, i felt i needed at least 4 of them in my army.

Warlock
He was included in my army to allow access to the stratagem seer council.

Spiritseers
These three were included to give my army another three runes of battle powers, and for ten points more than a warlock. They survive for longer and have a proper smite if I needed it. 


So that were my thoughts going into Cancon.

My after Cancon thoughts on my army was that I gave myself tunnel vision chasing those 13CP.

In virtually every game, I was looking to my army for a third threat to inflict damage on my opponents.
Whilst I did set out to achieve my goal of winning six games, they were all apart for one game hard fought, but in all of them, I felt my army needed more teeth.
This is something that I will need to develop further.

So what would I change.

I could have reduced my reapers and large dire avenger squad to 9 man size, so as to deny my opponents the choice of the reaper secondary mission.

Speaking of my large unit of dire avengers, they cost 140pts. For the same cost I could have used 17 Guardian defenders and used the 1cp strat to give them 4++ save. Again, I blame tunnel vision for this.

Making these changes would have made reaper only worth 1 point instead of three.

Going first in a few games would have helped, but the dice decide.

I would equip my Autarch with a fusion gun or reaper launcher to make use of his 2+ to hit. This was where keeping him cheap and cheerful was not the right call.

Adding the needed bite to my list. This honestly is something, I have as yet not worked out how I want to approach it.

My Scorpions and Hawks had an effect each game, the most notable was in game two when a unit of five chewed their way through a eight strong warlock conclave.

My war walker provided some support in most games, but a single walker had minimal effect on the game, will have to rethink this, as it is a good harasser, but its output in most games was minimal.

I will try out different options for the future.

Anyway that is my thoughts
Cheers Lupus.

1250 point CAD list of Dorns Wolves

In an effort to kick start myself to spend some time on hobby related goodness, I have entered a 1250 point 40K tournament at my LGS.

I thought I would share my list, with a view to having the army assembled for the event in two weeks.

My home grown chapter uses Imperial Fist chapter tactics.

HQ

Captain                                                                         Librarian
artificer armour, storm bolter, relic blade                    lv2, bones of osrak, force axe.
140pts                                                                          115pts

Troops

10 tactical marines                                                      5 scouts
rhino, flamer, combi flamer, heavy bolter                  1ccw, 4 shotguns
200pts                                                                         55pts


5 tactical marines                                                       5 tactical marines
plasma, combi plasma                                               rhino, melta, combi melta
95pts                                                                          125pts

Elite

Dreadnought                                                              Command Squad
Multimelta, powerfist, storm bolter extra armour     Sargent- power axe, boltpistol
110pts                                                                        Champion- Power weapon, combat shield

                                                                                   2 vets- Storm shield, bolt pistol, chainsword                                                                                            Apothecary

                                                                                   Rhino
                                                                                   190pts
                   

Fast Attack

5 assault marines

jumpacks, 1 flamer
90pts

Heavy support

5 devastators
4 missile launchers
130pts


So as an army i have anti tank, anti horde, but no anti air which is okay at the second.

3 rhinos.

1 dreadnought

42 sets of boots on the ground. will see how we go.

Cheers Lupus

Saying good bye to eight edition Warhammer

It is fitting i suppose that my last game of Warhammer 8th Edition will be with my Vampires, the Vamps were the army that i was using when 8th edition was released, over the course of 8th edition I have played and collected Vampires, Skaven, Warriors of Chaos, Wood elves, High Elves and Lizardmen. I have not included my dwarfs in this list as I have not yet actually played a game of 8th with them as yet.

This week i will be playing what could be my last 8th edition fantasy game as such i can think of nothing better then using this 2500 point list.

Lords
Vampire Lord- W'Sorchai
Lv4 - lore of vampires
Talisman of presrvation, Black periapt
Great weapon, Heavy Armour
Quickblood, Flying horror, Aura of Dark Majesty


Hero's
Necro - lv 1 death
Cursed book


Vampire
-bsb
-lv2 vamps
quickblood,
heavy, nightmare, lance, shield,
dragon helm
book of arkhan
Seed of rebirth
potion of full hardiness


1 Tomb Banshee


Core
50 skeletons- fc -banner of movement

20 Zombies- banner, muso

5 dire wolves

5 dire wolves

10 dire wolves inc doom

10 dire wolves inc doom

Special

1 spirit host

1 spirit host

2 fellbats

10 black knights
-barding lances
fc- banner of barrows

Rare
Mortis Engine - cursed tome

Varghulf

I am not sure how it will play, but it will be a good game.

Cheers
Lupus

1000pt Vampires counts

After playing 2400 point games for so long, it felt refreshing to attempt a 1000 point list instead, and with the imposed restrictions on army list design i feel that this is a good start.

Hero's 246pts
Vampire -W'sorchai the enslaver
Lv2 lore of vamps - general
heavy and shield
talisman of endurance

Necromancer - Helmut Jaeger
Lore of vampires

Core 310pts
25 skeleton warriors- full command banner of swiftness
spears -shield

5 dire wolves

5 dire wolves

20 zombies


Special 270pts
2 fell bats

6 Crypt horrors inc haunter


Rare 175pts
Varghulf

List design thoughts

• At the outset i felt i needed 2 invocation chances to force my oponents to actually think what spells they want to dispel, so this meant two casters were a must, factor in my general needed a ward save and that limited what else i could purchase for W'sorchai.
• I love skeletons so a block of them, a bunker of zombies for my necro to keep him off the front line and some wolf darts round out my core options.
• 2 fell bats for warmachine hunting or attempting march blocking
• The Crypt horrors and Varghulf both add speed and damage potential to my list.

First game is on Friday against Lizards so lets see how the dice favor me or not.

Cheers

Lupus

Duelling Gamers: Wood Elves the new list for the final goal.

With the release of the new army book, I have decided to revise the army list that will give my painting focus. The changes with how some units work and play (Dryads for one) has required a current list, the Old list was good for the last army book, but a new book means new toys, here is how my thoughts currently stand.

Lord 

Spellweaver lv4 dark magic foot
maybe an acorn?

Hero 

'Duer' the Branch wraith handmaiden to Aldertalon
-lore of life
 
Hero asb on foot and great weapon heavy armour(with built in ward save) and some other magic items and deployed in the wildwood rangers

Spellsinger lv2 on foot lore of metal/fire
dispel scroll maybe?

Core 

15 glade guard fc banner of flame . ( spell weaver here deploys in free forest)
inc poison arrows

5 glade riders  (Ambushers)

5 glade riders  (Ambushers)

Handmaidens of Aldertalon
15 Dryads

Special 

10 wild riders- fc shields

20 Wild wood rangers (asb here)

7 scouts-

Aldertalon guard
3 Treekin

Rare 

'Aldertalon' Treeman
Giant Eagle


I have not included any points or magic items as yet because it is too early for me to decide which way to go, but this list will at least guide my painting deadlines and monthly targets and help finish a legal army in September.

Anyway that is all from me.
Cheers
Lupus

Wood Elves: Provisional List for Duelling Gamers

The urge to paint figures can stem from several different motivations, sometimes I paint my figs because the sculpt inspire's me(my eldar firedragons for example) or when I need to get an army ready for a tournament, such as my vampire counts and chaos dwarfs. In the first instance an army list is not required and neither is a completion date, but in the second it was for both the vamps and the Dawi Zharr, and so it is with duelling gamers the wood elves need to be completed by 30th September and it is required to be a legal army.

My Wood Elves army is not designed to be a super competitive list, in it you will find some sub par choices such as the inclusion of glade riders and a larger than normal unit of dryads, but when you like the figures it is good to include them, it is after all your army that you are painting and so if you like it do it.The wood elves army is fast, and I am looking to exploit that to the extreme giant eagles, noble on eagle and fast cavalry all help with an already fast armies speed. The wood elves play a very good msu approach with only one large unit of wild riders as the real combat unit, and to be honest I would love to make a unit of 15 but that would  eat three months of the challenge as 5 wildriders comes in at $96 GW retail.

Anyway onto the list for the duel which is currently just under 2000 points, this may not be the final list they never really do stay the same, but this list gives a rough outline of what i need to paint, we will all just have to wait and see in September what I have completed.

Lord  265 points
Spellweaver
lv4 beasts
channeling staff

Hero's 261 points
Branch wraith
-A cluster of radients

Noble on giant eagle
-longbow, shield, light, spear
-hail of doom arrow, dragonhelm, potion of foolhardiness
(hail of doom dilutes the purpose of this noble, but it is a staple of the wood elves and the best place I could see to put it with my current list, it would be better on an asb.)

Core 526 points
1 unit of 5 glade riders

1 unit of 10 glade guard

1 unit of 10 glade guard standard bearer of eternal flame

1 unit of 12 dryads

Special  506 points
1 unit of 10 wild riders full command
-banner of swiftness  

1 unit of 3 treekin

Rare 425 points
2 giant eagle

Treeman



From a deployment standpoint 10 drops is reasonable I think, not a lot of chaff, but enough that the treeman, treekin and wildriders can be deployed with assurance of viable targets.


If time and GW money allows I can potentially add the following to the list to expand it to 2500 points.

Noble on elven steed to join wild riders( I plan to kit bash this guy or girl as I don't really like the existing one)
ASB Noble on foot ( Again I plan on kit bashing this fella)
16 more glade guard ( 20 archers are good, but 36 is better)
5 more wild riders
5 more glade riders

Anyway that is my over all goal of Duelling Gamers, so it is brush o'clock.

Cheers,
Lupus.

Preparing for Convic 2014

Army update: I am looking to prepare my army for Convic in June/July 2014 so I must create it using the following restrictions

2400 pts

Swiss system for comp.

Lords 524

W’Sorchai the enslaver 

Vampire Lord                                    

Level 4    lore of undeath                                                               

Redfury, Summon creatures of the night, Quickblood                                                           

Book of arkhan, Talisman of preservation, Sword of Antiheros                                            

Heavy shield                                                        

Hero 394

Wight king                                                           

Heavy, Greatweapon                                        

Dragon Helm, Iron curse icon     

Vampire (vamps)                                                  

(with ghouls)

Lv1       lore of   undeath

Flying Horror                                                    

Heavy armour                                                

Sword of swift slaying, Seed of rebirth, Enchanted Shield                                                      

  

Necromancer                                                        

Lv1 death

Cursed book                                                                        

Core 600

20 ghouls inc ghast                                                     

35 skeletons inc fc banner +1M                                

5 wolves                                                                       

10 wolves inc doom wolf                                           

5 wolves                                                                       

Special 453 

6 crypt horrors inc haunter                                               

3 vargheists inc vargoyle                                    

2 fellbats                                                               

Spirit host                                                              

Rare 415

Mortis Engine, plus tomb                   

Varghulf                                                

Comp score of 10.6
14 points left