Small Update

Just a general "not dead" update I actually have been very busy despite lack of updates. So will just do a quick breakdown on current events:

-Warseer "Tale of 40k painters": Orks-

I have been slacking off the last month and didn't accomplish the 150pts for the month, I primed a few burna boys and lootas that should keep me relatively busy though. I figure that the burna boys would be evil suns and the lootas will be well who else? Death Skulls of course!

After that is done not quite sure what else I should paint though I imagine something point heavy in order to catch up to the rest of the group. As far as the work that I have done I am pretty happy on how the orks are turning out.

-Dark Eldar-

Desert resin bases that were ordered finally shipped and I honestly cannot wait till I have them to being properly assembling my army. Color scheme wise i'm not quite sure what I would like, maybe something with bleached bone?

Gaming with the dark eldar has proven good so far, Cash and Jon played against Mike using his chimera guard. That game went downhill very quickly for the dark eldar players as they decided to get into a shooting match with guard... that obviously did not end well. Highlights include Mike only using about 1k of his 2k points to fend of BOTH dark eldar armies... ouch.

In the second match up it was Jon and I against Mike using the same list, in the second match I encouraged Jon to be more aggressive and guess what? it worked! At the end of the game it was a minor victory for the dark eldar (on objectives), units wise we beat the stuffing out of Mike. Ever the good guard player he made sure to whittle our scoring units the best he could.

-Attack of the LCG's-

Lately I have been hankering to play more card/board games than I ever have, this is at least partly attributed by the fact that board games keep going up in both content and production value. The inclusion of LCG (living card games) has also brought me back into the fold of card games, the concept of an LCG is that "packs" are not randomized but fixed. So all you have to do is go online and see i you need the cards ALL the cards you need come in a set.

This cuts down on the rush to find the power rare at the same time makes it more economical for the casual "card flopper". Games like Call of Cthulu, A Game of Thrones and Ascenion: Godslayer have all gotten a firm grip of nostalgia in me. Hopefully soon I can write an in depth review of each of the games in their own right. Till then folks enjoy the holidays!

Adventures in Real Space III

On Sunday we did another play test this time it was Me and Cash vs Jon our other team mate using his ork army. Full lists since quite a few things were changed since last play test:

Jon's Orks:

Big Mek w/ burna, kustom force field and eavy armor x2

Ork Boyz x26-28? w/ rokkits x2 Nob w/ powerklaw & bosspole x5

Killa Kanz x9 (3x3) w/ big shootas

Deffkopta x3 (1x3)

Cash's list:

Duke Slicius

Trueborn x9 packed w/ venom carbines & splinter carbines in raider w/ flickerfield

Warriors x10 w/ blaster, sybarite w/ blast pistol in raider w/ flickerfield

Warriors x10 w/ blaster, sybarite w/ blast pistol in raider w/ flickerfield

Warriors x10 w/ blaster, sybarite w/ blast pistol in raider w/ flickerfield

My list:

Succubus w/ shardnet & impaler

Wyches x10 w/ hydra gauntlets x2, hekatrix w/ venom blade in raider w/ chain snares

Wyches x10 w/ razorflails x2, hekatrix w/ venom blade in raider w/ chain snares

Wyches x9 w/ shardnet & impaler, hekatrix w/ venom blade in raider w/ chain snares

Incubi x5 in venom w/ splinter cannon x2

Reavers x3 w/ heatlance

Reavers x3 w/ heatlance

We played with 3 objectives one in the center, one just outside deployment on our left and jon put his on our right side outside of his deployment. Jon won the roll for deployment and deployed his forces evenly across the board.

Being sneaky Dark Eldar players we decided instantly to deploy our forces near our objective on our left castling up/hiding behind a LOS blocking building. I left both my reaver units in reserve as I didn't think they would be much use in the first turn anyway. Combat drugs (thanks to the Duke) was re-roll wounds and a free pain point. Both were very useful but I picked the free pain point reasoning that it would give me a benefit both in combat and versus shooting.

Pre-Game Thoughts:

I know that Jon has playing orks for quite some time so he is a competent ork general, I on the other hand have been playing orks LONGER than jon so I knew full well the capabilities of orks and their tactics. Though I am still a novice in playing Dark Eldar (about 2-3 months in 1998 and the games now) I have always been a "close combat junkie" and wyches so i've heard do that quite well.

The plan was to zip around from building to building in our deployment zone taking dark lance pot shots from our raiders to knock out the killa kanz before they got too close. Seeing as we had absolutely no one of taking them out in close combat. Cash would use his splinter rifles to thin out the hordes to manageable levels and I would counter assault/pick on weak isolated units.

Turn 1:

Jon advances whole army a few big shootas let loose on a few raiders that could not hide sufficiently stunning one of my wych raiders. Everything on our right flank ran seeing as it had little to no hope of actually getting into the fight.

Our raiders shifted slightly and let loose against the killa kanz though many of the shots were deflected by the kustom force field 1-2 kanz went down for good along with a few boyz.

Turn 2:

One ork mob sits on our right flank objective everything else on that side of the board again makes the long trudge. The death koptas are camping around some ruins on our right deployment flank I believe they stun the same wych raider as last turn. A warrior unit raider is downed near our objective.

Both of my reavers come in, I turbo boost one killing off a deff kopta and gaining another pain token, the second reaver unit rapid fires another kopta to death. Cash unleashes his army bringing down one of the units of orks to 10 models and knocking out a further kan.

One of my wych units (hydra gauntlets) picks a fight with a unit of orks in a building, after wounds/no retreat 15 or so orks are sent to meet mork/gork in the sky in exchange for 1 wych. While both reaver units use their assault move to get behind cover or limit LOS.

Turn 3:

Most of the ork unit (barring the one sitting on an objective far right) are in range so rather shoot their rokkits/big shootas than run. The foot slogging warrior squad near our objective takes the brunt of the fire bringing them down to 5 models passing their LD test with casual ease. Killa Kan/Kopta fire kills off 2 (including the heatlance) of the jetbikes on the right flank who also passes his LD test. Another warrior unit loses its raider and decide to sell their lives dearly (under threat of death by the Duke I assume) against the horde of oncoming orks...

A lone killa kan that was near the ork unit in combat with wyches is frustrated to see he can't even get into combat due to positioning of the units. In the ongoing combat my wyches show how much of a tarpit they can be killing only a handful of orks in exchange for a casualty or two.

Deciding to break out of our initial castle Cash sends the Duke's entourage and a warrior unit along with a unit of wyches (razorflails) towards the center of our deployment. A few pot shots nets another pair killa kanz (now there are units of 1,1,2 in that order across the board) though my wych raiders are infamous across the stars for missing or failing to damage ANY kanz. The full 3 man reaver unit turbo boosts over a large ork unit netting a casualty or two and going into the ork back field hoping to contest an objective late in the game or be a clever distraction.

Assault sees my Incubi charging into the ork/wych combat foolishly losing 2 of their number for lack of plasma grenades but tip combat heavily in favor of the dark eldar and running down the orks. I had to make a rough decision I knew that the lone killa kan would reach one of the units and wreck them, so I made the decision to send the unit of wyches to their doom. I used their consolidate move to surround the killa kan, he would either have to assault them or go all the way around the building to avoid them. The lone bike charged into the the last kopta to no effect (forgot about the ccw/pistol this combat lasted till turn 5 anyway..).

Turn 4:

Distraction works Jon sends a near full strength mob to deal with bikes, shooting and assault barely kills off the unit. The killa kan assaults the wyches (hydra gauntlets) and deals no wounds, for the rest of the game the killa kan only manages to kill 1 wych, I pass LD test so I won't mention them again.

Pot shots ring out along the dark eldar line but few connect against the kanz, splinter rifles/cannons take a few orks out in the center line. The mob of 10 orks goes to ground ignoring most of the fire aimed at it loses an ork or two. There will be no stopping of the two ork mobs and unit of 2 killa kanz, so I decide to be proactive and go I send the unit of wyches (razorflails) after a mob in the center.

The wyches do quite well against the mob and thanks to the free combat drug pain token come out with only a casualty or two. They easily win combat by a good margin I think only about 11-15? orks were left in the mob after "no retreat".

Turn 5:

Ork shooting manages to gun down both the Duke's raider and another raider full of warriors, resulting explosion kills a few warriors but trueborn are unaffected thanks to the Duke's combat drugs. Most raiders are this point are down with only three raiders (succubus/wych unit, warrior and incubi) staying near our objective and out of harm's way.

Jon thought for a moment if he wanted to help out the squad fighting the wyches, but the temptation of eliminating the Duke was too great and he did a double charge with his large ork unit. In combat a few models on both sides died including the Big Mek that was with the ork mob, but Jon still won by two and chased off both the warriors and the Duke who rolled horribly for leadership and ran right off the board edge.

A lone Killa Kan near our objective charged a warrior unit hiding behind their wrecked raider. Thankfully it only killed 1 warrior so they passed their leadership and got ready to stall the killa kan for a turn or two. Razorflail wyches get down to work and yet again beat the orks with minimal casualties, win combat by a good measure and run down the survivors gaining them another pain token.

Cash couldn't do much with only a unit of 2 on our objective and a squad stuck in combat dealing with the killa kan I knew I had to take a few gambles. I attempt to fire a few dark lances but apparently the crew decided to take the day off and the shots did no damage what so ever. Right onto close combat I decide to throw the wyches into the unit that just killed the Duke, combat again goes in my favor mainly due to all my Hekatrix packing venom blades. Yet again no retreat kills off a handful of orks but they are still locked in combat.

Turn 6:

Final turn of the game Jon charges the mob of 10 or so orks into the surviving warrior squad on our objective easily steam rolling the warriors and move deeper into cover. The lone Killa Kan stays locked in combat with the warriors. At one point possibly last turn the jetbike killed the deff kopta and went towards the center of the board was gunned down by pistols for his bravado.

Razorflail wyches win the combat against ork mob sustaining a casualty or two (down to 3 models both razorflails and the hekatrix) and the move towards the center of the board I was still undecided of what I would do with them.

Since it was established that my raider crew are horrible shots I decided to save the day in close combat, it involved a VERY risky plan but at this point we were going to lose so I pulled ALL of my tricks out of the bag. Succubus and her wych unit (shardnet) jumped the ork unit on our objective, easily winning combat and wiping out the orks .

My razorflail wyches take a big gamble move and fleet towards Jon's ork unit in his deployment, I took a big risk needing a 4+ to make it into combat due to difficult. Rolling exactly what I needed helped and went into combat, because Jon's mob was so large only about half of the unit was able to attack. My wyches did a good number of wounds on the orks and suffered no casualties! Including "no retreat" about 9 orks had died, but the genius of my plan came after combat was resolved. Thanks to the "piling in" rule Jon's unit was forced to move off the objective and towards combat. With that the game was over turning a defeat into a hard earned tie!

Observations:

Wych Weapons- I originally thought I would love the razorflail due to it's re-rolling hits AND wounds but for some reason every time I used them they underperformed. Maybe it was just bad luck but the hydra gauntlets did spectacular (shame about tying up a killa kan all game though..). The Shardnets made a nob down to 1 attack which he missed against the succubus I was pretty worried going into that fight but it needed to be done.

Venom Blades- In a 1,000 point games these have been pretty ace, sure everyone clamors for the agonizer since it can ignore saves and "feel no pain". But at only 5 points these have been indispensable to my army.

Reavers- Though they didn't do anything spectacular I still love these guys, the ability to turbo boost 36" followed by 6" in the assault phase to hide behind cover or in it makes these guys VERY dangerous. The only problem I had in this game is that I didn't have a safe place in the sea of green to land so I hesitated using these guys aggressively.

Incubi- WS5 rocks! Where as Wyches are the anvil in close combat being able to tarpit just about anything, the incubi are definitely the hammer. Though I wish I had the points to at least give them a squad leader I am stretching my points thin across the army as is. The venom was slightly impressive pumping out 12 shots a lot of fire does get directed at it. I learned WHY plasma grenades are so important in the games that I play they usually end up assaulting something in cover an losing a guy or two.

Other than that I think the playtest went VERY well from what I had originally expected, I knew that orks would give Dark Eldar a bit of a tough time due to the lack of template weapons. Sure you can thin down a few ork mobs but you really need a counter assault if you want your firing line to stay intact. My wyches did amazing even needing 5+s to wound, again "power from pain" saved so many wyches from an untimely demise.

Adventures in real space II

Our second test game for our Dark Eldar was against:

Demon Prince of Slannesh w/ lash of submission and wings x2

Plague Marines 4x7? w/ assorted plasma/melta throughout squads champs w/ power fist

Obliterators 2x3

Khorne Berzekers x10? champ w/ power fist in land raider

Jon's list remained largely the same I believe he switched a raider unit for wracks in a raider and mandrakes being replaced with a truborn double splinter cannon unit possibly a venom in the mix.

My list just changed three kymeras for two voidwing flocks and haywire grenades for two wych units and archon gets them also.

again the cronos, reavers and beasts stay in reserve though we win the roll for deployment our opponent manages to seize the initiative.

quick overview:

4/6 Obliterators met their end in the first turn and after that become a non issue ineffectually gunning for raiders and either doing superficial damage or stunning them. But it wasn't before they managed to down a raider and scare off the wyches inside on the first turn.

Double lash princes supported each other by making units fall into dog pile traps, but were being slowly killed off by a torrent of dark lance/splinter cannon fire.

Grand melee between two units of plague marines try and take out a unit of wyches before some help arrives. This combat lasted 6-8 rounds of assault with no clear winner till the store closed and we rolled just to see what "would of happened". At which point the wyches lost due to lack of hitting power.

Game ended due to store closing around turn 5, both armies were pretty beat up at this point though my beasts NEVER came in from reserve. We didn't roll for a mission but we agreed if it was KP the opponent would of won, quarters would of been close and VP would of been a toss up.

Observations:

-Wyches are pretty solid in combat they can tarpit just about anything not packing powered weapons. If it wasn't for toughness 5 and feel no pain even against regular MEQs they would of done a great job.

-Shardnet & Impaler- have to give this a lot of credit, at first glance I didn't think it would be as useful as razor flails but I was wrong. Denying the opponent extra attacks adds to survivability of everyone in the unit, I can imagine adding a phantasm grenade launcher for defensive grenades. Park them in cover and watch even an ork charge falter till reinforcements come.

-Webway- though I can see great potential for this, in such small point lists I cannot afford to leave my team mate down 500+ points in the first two turns of the game so I will be dropping this wargear and re doing my list.

Adventures in real space.

Sorry that I have been away for quite some time but between being laid off and Fallout: New Vegas all my "free" time turned into endless hours in front of my xbox instead of my computer/miniatures/etc. Despite this me and the crew here on Wasted Warrior were tempted by the new Dark Eldar coming out thought up of a plan. In April as you may (or not) know is Adepticon one of the bigger GW events, a few years back a few of us went as part of the team tournament and despite sleep deprivation we had TONS of fun.

Well fast forward a few years and a total redesign of the Dark Eldar line had everyone excited, so we raised the banner and decided that we should get out of retirement and participate. The road is paved with hard work, planning and may even call for an occasional update or two! After looking at the amazing models we went about creating our lists/theme and so forth.

Though we are still hammering down our "theme" and army lists are rough plan is to bring four Dark Eldar armies, two being part of a larger Kabal while one is a wych cult (mine) and the last a haemonculus cult. We are aiming for a desert/sand world theme, after all one look at the raiders and they scream Jabba the Hutt's desert skiffs!

Currently we are testing out our proposed lists before we make any final purchases, the funny thing about that is that all of the team members have had little to no experience with Dark Eldar. Aside from myself who played Dark Eldar when they first came out (1998 or so) I quickly sold them thinking that I would need to buy tons of raiders to make them effective. As it so happens I picked up Orks right after and it has been an obsession ever since.. but what can you say?

Our first test run of lists was me teamed up with Jon, though the game only got half way (we faced "That Guy") we did learn more of the rules and their subtle interactions than before. Im short we faced:

Eldrad

Avatar

Warp Spiders x6 w/ exarch

Fire Dragons x10 w/ exarch in wave serpent w/ scatter lasers

Dire Avengers x10 w/ exarch in wave serpent w/ tl bright lances

Dire Avengers x10 w/ exarch in wave serpent w/ tl bright lances

Dark Reapers x5 w/ exarch

Wraithlord w/ bright lance

Vibro Cannons x3

vs

Jon:

Haemonculus w/ ID gauntlet

Mandrakes x7 w/ champ

*Warriors x9 w/ splinter cannon and champ in raider w/ chain snares

*Warriors x10 w/ splinter cannon and champ in raider w/ chain snares

*Warriors x10 w/ splinter cannon and champ in raider w/ chain snares

Ravager x2 w/ night and flicker fields

*the warriors could have had blasters I don't recall them being used much/at all.

Myself:

Archon w/ venom blade, combat drugs, clone field and webway portal

Wych x7 w/ razorflail and champ w/ venom blade in raider

Wych x7 w/ razorflail and champ w/ venom blade in raider

Wych x8 w/ shardnet and champ w/ venom blade in raider

Beastmaster x2 Khymera x8

Reavers x6 w/ heat lance x2 and champ

Cronos w/ soul siphon

Webway: Mandrakes, Cronos, Reavers and Kymera

Combat Drugs = +1 WS

The first turn and a half we were getting hammered as we failed ALL of our reserves rolls, the Eldar player getting first also didn't help as just about all of his weapons could down Raiders. Once our reserves came in though the game started to turn very quickly, I have to admit we were plagued with some horrible case of bad luck early on. But just as we managed to turn the corner the store was about to close so we called it a tie, constant rules disputes and unclear rules (thanks GW) slowed down the game.

Observations:

-Chain Snares rock I don't care what people say about them, Jon's weaponless raider ran over countless Eldar unlucky enough to be caught outside of their transports.

-Open topped isn't so bad! We learned that wrecked/destroyed vehicles subtract 1 from the strength of getting wounded. Now this may be old news to most people but coming from people that have never used open topped vehicles in the past or 5th ed in general thats BIG news for transports that have as much armor as a paper mache statue. On top of that fact it just so happened that every +1 added to roll for damage turned out better than the original result.

-Combat Drugs/+1WS just about anything you roll on the combat drugs table isn't bad, at first I was bummed I didn't get +1 str or attack but in retrospect. Hitting enemies on 3+ (most times) isn't that bad and actually helped me greatly in combat.

-Power from Pain is a great "free" ability given to Dark Eldar with the first pain point giving units what they really need some staying power on the field.

-Cronos was very nifty to have around between having a MEQ cutting flame template and bouncing around pain tokens it seems solid enough via webway.

The Internet Isn't Real, Kids...

Cash Johnson one more time with a general malaise of updates for everyone. First, there are plans for an Adeptus Mechanicus Imperial Guard army afoot, mainly because I want a smaller guard army that still has badass looking models with lots of firepower. Second, I have been added to the roster for Team Megan's Law to travel to Adepticon in April for the 40k tournament (yay, Dark Eldar). Third, I hate younger players...

The day started off well enough with a 2,000 point game, my Flesh Tearers versus a friend's Tau. My list was fairly straight forward:

- Reclusiarch in Terminator Armour
- Furioso Dreadnought with Frag Cannon/Heavy Flamer in Drop Pod with Locator Beacon
- 8 Sternguard with Plasma Gun in Drop Pod
- 8 Sternguard with Plasma Gun in Drop Pod (again)
- 10 Assault Marines with 2 Meltaguns mounted in a Land Raider Redeemer
- 10 Assault Marines with 2 Meltaguns and Jump Packs
- 10 Tactical Marines with Missile Launcher and Plasma Gun
- 15 Death Company (8 Bolt Pistol/CC, 7 Boltgun/CC)

The mission was 4 objectives, 12" deployment. Long story short, 4 turns later I won 3-0 (called on account of not being able to dig me out in time). Sadly, it seemed one sided from the outset, as I deployed and went first, gunned everything I could towards the center objective while remaining camped on the two that were nearest to my deployment zone. While my opponent played valiantly, the three drop pods did their job of driving a spike into his front line Turn 1, then reinforcing the gap Turn 3 (murdering his Crisis Suits with rapid fire). All in all, a solid, decisive victory for Cash. I celebrated with Burger King.

Then the end of the day took a sour turn. A random kid came into the store, probably 14, and wanted a game. I decided to play him because I was the only one with 40k today, and its hard to hide an entire battle company in plain sight. He proceeded to tell me about his list: two Slaanesh Lash Princes, 3 squads of 3 Obliterators, and 3 Plague Marine squads with dual Meltagun in Possessed Rhinos, and how amazing and great his list was. I decided to teach him a lesson:

- Librarian in Terminator Armour, Blood Lance, Might of Heroes
- 5 Assault Terminators (2 Hammer/Shield)
- 2 Sanguinary Priests (1 Termie with Termies, 1 Standard in Sternguard)
- 8 Sternguard with a Plasma Gun in a Drop Pod
- 10 Tactical Marines, Plasma Cannon, Plasma Gun
- 10 Assault Marines with 2 Meltaguns on foot
- 5 Tactical Marines with Plasma Pistol
- 3 Attack Bikes with Multi-Meltas
- 2 Dreadnoughts, Lascannon/Missile Launcher
- 5 Devastators, 4 Missile Launchers

In three turns (his dad came to pick him up XD) I murdered one Oblit squad in cover, one Daemon Prince (in a single Shooting Phase), and took 2 wounds off the other prince with bolters (hooray special ammunition wounding on a 2+). I would have killed the second prince in combat with the termies, plus destroyed two of his rhinos AND the squads inside them in the next turn if we were able to go to Turn 4 - four meltas at point blank range, plus ALL my shooting at the squads inside, plus charging whatever was left. I do so love those moments where everything falls apart in a single turn and you're left shrugging as an apology for all the sodomy that ensued, but proving myself right is just as fun.

I won the game regardless, simply because in his haste to destroy everything that I owned, he failed to remember the most important rule of 40k: missions that use objectives require you to BE ON objectives (it was Capture and Control). I camped both Dreads, the Devastators and the 10 man Tac Squad on my objective, while he parked a Rhino in front of his, only too far up to actually control it.

The reason he took the list, mind you, was the Internet said it was a great list and it was unstoppable. I was able to stop it pretty cold, and with a list that wasn't even broken to begin with. Which leads me to ask, why do people build lists they see on the net without even doing research? Obviously that list worked for someone else at some other time, so why do they think it will work for them at all? This kid thought 9 Plasma Cannons would be great against my footslog marines, yet he lost 2 Obliterators' remaining wounds from Gets Hot, and the rest from insta-splat missiles. Neither of his princes did anything useful with their Lashes, and he even failed a charge through cover to get at my termies, who would have delivered savage beatings to the wounded prince that remained in the next turn. He parked his Rhinos to "block" me from getting to his objective, despite the fact I had 4 Meltas within 3" of both, plus a third squad to charge the surviving passengers with.

So if you're reading this, and you think you saw a pretty good list elsewhere on the internet and you want to build it for your own, remember this: just because someone else is Billy Badass with it, doesn't mean you are either. An idiot with a loaded gun has just as much chance of shooting himself.

- Cash

Tale of 40k Gamers Month: 1

So after years of my Rogue Trader/2nd ed Orks gathering dust in their bins I decided to join Warseer's "Tale of 40k Gamers". The rules are simple pledge any amount of points for an army you intend to start/finish over the course of a year. Every month you post 10% of your pledged total on Warseer with pictures showing your progress and completed models. You are allowed two "jokers" which are two excuses for not posting any work.

I have always admired the threads on Warseer and I thought what better motivation to get my Orks done then this? So my initial pledge is 1500pts I don't have any real plans to make a functional list as such. My army "theme" for lack of a better word is to paint up all the units as if they were different clans. Go with a very 2nd ed feel with the army certain clans belong to certain units and what not.

For my first 150 points I have painted the following:

Snakebite Kommandos x6 with Nob upgrade armed with 'Uge Choppa and Bosspole

Bad Moon Nob armed with Powerfist and Eavy Armor

Bad Moon 'Ard Boys x2

It took me awhile to get used to painting on white primer it is something I have never really given concentrated effort on. I am pleased on how the colors came out I can definitely change a few of my techniques but I am otherwise satisfied on how they came out. Not to sure what I am going to do for the next 150+pts but with an upcoming Malifaux Tournament and plenty of models to get done I will most likely start on some sort of character.

More Angry Space Knights

WIP pictures of my rhinos and two test crusaders. The crusaders are from the Assault on Black Reach set. The sculpts are beautiful. I've pledged to paint about 200 points of Black Templar a month in A Tale of 40K Painters over at Warseer. The overall goal is a 2,000pt army within a year.

Angry Space Knights

Apologies for the obnoxious size and quality of the pictures. My camera was lost in a drunken rage this past weekend, so these pictures had to be taken on my cell phone. Pictured above is a WIP Black Templar Rhino, one of two that will be in a 500 point list that I hope to have painted by the end of September.

This tank is the first model that I've painted in years. I'm not very happy with the highlights, but I am happy with the overall progress so far. I still need to finish the highlights, paint the details, and add some heraldry (crosses, scripture, etc). I would love to add some freehand design to the hull of the tank, but I'm afraid to ruin an otherwise acceptable tank with a bad attempt at art. Regardless, the second rhino will be a smoother operation.

The following is what I'll initially be playing/painting towards.


Emperor's Champion -- 140

Crusader Squad
5 initiates; 2 neophytes: 1 Meltagun, 1 Powerfist
- Rhino w/ Smoke Launchers -- 178

Crusader Squad
5 initiates; 2 neophytes: 1 Meltagun, 1 Powerfist
- Rhino w/ Smoke Launchers -- 178

Total: 496

One man crime wave... Seabolt!

Name: Seabolt

Origin: Nature

Affiliation: None

Occupation: Villain

Special Abilities:

Water: Is immune to "water" effects and takes double damage from "fire" attacks.

Annoying: The enemy does not gain a charge bonus.

Molecular Manipulation (2): Seabolt can modify his agility or strength while negatively effecting the other stat.

Immune/Difficult Terrain: Seabolt is not slowed down/effected by difficult terrain.

Exclusive Actions:

Spray: An attack that can hit multiple enemies (because of Ray rule), regardless if an enemy takes damage or not models hit by this attack suffer a -2 to their shooting attacks. Since a good amount of heroes tend to favor ranged combat this is a good ability to hamper that, the fact that it can effect multiple opponents is a plus.

Drowning: A basic strike that costs 2 AP, if the enemy is damaged all of it's actions cost an additional AP. I still haven't used this ability but that doesn't mean I do not see it's merit. With molecular manipulation Seabolt can make his strength a mighty 6! Which means he can be a beast with a strike. The only downside is that since strength is not his trump trait he cannot re-roll the result.

Flux: One of my favorite powers to use with Seabolt, it makes him spectral (making him immune to strength based attacks) and gains blitzer (2) so all his move actions gain an extra 2". Mix this with the following power and you get an idea why Seabolt is so well liked among villain players...

Go With the Flow: This action allows Seabolt to move 8" in a straight line (10" if he has Flux on) anything that was within 2" of that line is hit with an opposed roll against their agility. For every model that is damaged you gain a +1 to the next person that is hit by this attack to a max of +3. If that wasn't enough anyone damaged can be placed anywhere along the line that he traveled!

This ability is great because it can effect a good number of models and Seabolt will gain bonuses against other targets in the effected area. It also gives Seabolt a measure of control by placing models he has damaged further away from their friends or closer to your own models.

Team Power:

Smokin' Wet: Seabolt can freely leave combat without consequence and in addition the 2" area around Seabolt counts as difficult.

It's not easy being a bulwark...

Cash Johnson once again, this time with a somewhat-game-related subject, but not any game specifically. This post is more about my being a hardcore gamer, the difficulties of being non-neckbeard, and the work I put in trying to keep the local RT in business. It all started when I was about 9 or 10, and my cousin got me into AD&D - more accurately, I found out about it but wasn't allowed to play since I was a little kid and all. Not to be denied, however, I started doing research the best way I knew how at the time - I went to the electronic card catalog at the local library to find out everything I could, and wound up finding the original D&D books at another library. It was also around the same time I got into reading, having discovered there were interesting books outside of the realm of school - the Dragonlance and Ravenloft books specifically.

Then when I was in Fourth Grade, I convinced my parents to get me a copy of the Hero Quest board game, and my love of board games was further kindled. I also vaguely remember a game called Solarquest (which now goes for $168 on Amazon due to its rarity) that occupied much of my time as well. I also started getting into chess at that point, playing my dad every Sunday night at his prompting. So there I was, leaving elementary school, a nerd in training. Get to middle school and my gaming expansion changed - I learned about Rifts, Planescape, and Games Workshop (in its 2nd Edition at the time). While I couldn't afford to get into Warhammer 40,000 at the time, I was still able to follow along as best I could, while still playing in the world of AD&D to sate my gaming hunger. Years passed, games were played in earnest, and I left high school immersed in fantasy and science fiction, having read plenty of books in the meantime (none of which were ever for school).

So time advances even further now, in college, boxes of RPG books stored neatly in the back corner of my bedroom, when I finally have money to get into Warhammer 40,000 - 4th Edition, before everything became HURR SPESS MAREENS. I picked up the Battle for Macragge box set, since I needed the tiny rulebook, and decided to do Tyranids (though Orks have always been my first love) because they were way cooler looking than the Space Marines (and still are). The problem was, at the time, in-store gaming had pretty much died out at the RT I had been frequenting for eleven years by that point. People came in to buy GW, but already knew other people to play with and never came into the store to get games going anymore.

I can honestly say that I was the one to jump start in-store gaming at the RT again, and did it with a single printed flyer I had asked them to post behind the counter. I gave my e-mail address and asked other people to contact me as I wanted to play. It worked, and every weekend I could be found holding court with other gamers in a corner of the store. Then GW decided to create the 'Ard Boyz tournament, and the store was going to host it. Met more gamers, some who continued to come to the store after that for a while too. Games Workshop sales increased after the in-store gaming came back to life (thanks to my quasi-crew). We started playing during the week as well, and explaining the game to people who came in and were interested in what we were doing. We sold dozens of starter boxes to total strangers, helped new players buy models to match their styles, and continued holding court and talking shop. We enjoyed our privileged positions up until a little after the economy went to shit, and have been trying our hardest to keep the gaming community alive at the RT since.

But it's hard being a hardcore nerd in an economic climate such as this. Prices of minis have gone up. Prices of RPG books have gone up, and you can't just play with one or two books anymore either. Then there's the flooding of the gaming market - Games Workshop has a lot of competition now from other companies, and 40k has taken a backseat with a lot of people now that 8th Edition Fantasy is out and about. The biggest hurdle is trying to clean up the mess left by one of the recent ex-employees of the RT: he was a die hard Warmahordes fan and actually tried to sabotage Games Workshop sales (aka "the light bill") by converting everyone to play what he wanted (this is also the same guy who ruined Monsterpocalypse for the store).

The problem here is that GW is a collector's game - for people who enjoy building, converting, painting and playing a large scale game of total warfare. This worked great for the store over the years, as it was steady income outside of the December holiday season and kept people in the store. Now that Warmahordes is in the RT, it represents a double-edged threat to an already shaky market. First, it cuts into GW sales, which as I mentioned before has been the store's "light bill" for years. Second, The game itself is not sustainable in the long-term - once you own the minis you need, you're done buying. Because I have been going to the RT for 16 years of my life, I have grown quite attached to it, and as a CUSTOMER I think in terms of what is good for the store, not for me. I'd love to bring new games into the store, and the crew and I have tried on several occasions, but it's hard to convince a store to bring product in when they just brought another game in that has started to taper off already (they tried it with AT-43 and that was a MASSIVE failure for sales, everything went to eBay).

Right now, things are going okay at the store. The crew and I have managed to get a lot of people interested in Blood Bowl, with about 9 teams currently represented in the RT. Malifaux, Hell Dorado and Secrets of the Third Reich are next on the list, followed by Pulp City, AEWW2 and Infinity. There was a brief resurgence of Magic: The Gathering in the store as well, but that died out with the new sets that came out after M10. The main efforts at the moment are getting people in the store to play games, no matter what games they are - that's the only way to keep people buying products at the moment. We need to bring in other small, inexpensive games to offer options other than Warhammer and Warmahordes. We need to hold more in-store events and demo days. It's just hard when you're one of the few people who would actually take the initiative to do it, because you'd be all by yourself when the day is over.

- Cash

Ratty Reflections

Cash Johnson with another 8th Edition Warhammer Fantasy blog. Well, the 'Ard Boyz didn't happen at the store, mainly because of (from what I'm told) the GW Rep screwing up royal and not signing us up to host it - we made a Blood Bowl day out of it instead, but still... we wanted to play! In any case, the Island of Blood starter box went on sale this weekend, and I happened to get free minis out of a friend's purchase. I only wanted the Rat Ogre, who became #13 of Clan Xymox, but he offered me the rest of the rats as well, which brought about a single notion in my mind - I had already sold off 5,000+ points in Skaven to begin with, so do I really want more of them again?

The answer was a resounding "hell yes!"

So I now bring your attention to my original Skaven plan, which has eluded me for some time, and can now be done from scratch. I've always loved Clan Skryre, simply because in a medieval styled world, they brought about the most advanced steampunk technology, powered by magical cocaine. Chemical weapons, flamethrowers, machineguns, sniper rifles, magic-laser cannons... who WOULDN'T want to play an army like that? The problem with the previous edition of the Skaven rules was an all-Skryre list relied solely on casters and Warp Lightning Cannons to do the most damage, with Jezzails sniping cavalry and monsters and solo characters. Okay, so the all-Skryre list STILL has that as a core, but the difference NOW is new spells, better shooting rules, and awesome new support weapons (I'm looking at you, Mortar Team). To add to the fun, more named characters to throw into a list - specifically speaking, Ikit Claw. A level three caster with a 3+ Armour save is BEAUTIFUL, not to mention Strength 6 with Ignores Armour in combat, plus a one-shot Warpfire Thrower for free, AND a Bound spell that can cause 10 Strength 5 hits?! Sure, he costs 395 points, but that's a fair price to pay for a cyborg-wizard-rat that exists solely to cause damage and destruction.

So what's in the rest of my 2250 list on paper? Well, I based it on purchasing an Island of Blood for myself and repaying my friend the favor by giving him all the High Elves from it, so two starter boxes are factored in. As far as concept after that, I decided character-heavy would be the cheapest, and most powerful route for Skryre - lots of fancy gear and Magic items...

1. Ikit Claw - see above. 395 points.

2. Warlord (General) - Cleaver of Swift Slaying, Warpstone Armour, Talisman of Protection, Shield. 168 points.

3. Warlock Engineer (Lv 1) - Warplock Pistol, 2 Warpstone Tokens. 103 points.

4. Warlock Engineer - Warpmusket, Warlock Optics, Pipes of Piebald. Attached to Jezzail unit. 75 points.

5. Chieftain (BSB) - Hand Weapon, Heavy Armour, Shield, Banner of the Under-Empire. 97 points.

6. Chieftain - Ogre Blade, Seed of Rebirth, Heavy Armour, Shield. 97 points.

7. 2 Units of 30 Clanrats - Full Command, Hand Weapons, Light Armour, Shields, Poisoned Wind Mortar. 220 points each.

8. 1 Unit of 40 Clanrats - Full Command, Hand Weapons, Spears, Light Armour, Shields, Warpfire Thrower. 290 points.

9. 1 Unit of 25 Stormvermin - Full Command, Hand Weapons, Halberds, Heavy Armour, Shields, Warpfire Thrower. 295 points.

10. 1 Unit of 5 Jezzails - Sharpshooter. 110 points.

11. 2 Warp Lightning Cannons - 90 points each.

The plan is simple: shoot the living hell out of anything and everything I can. Lots of templates, maximum of five spells per turn, plus six rifles firing a turn (two at BS 4, one ignoring cover penalties) to take out larger targets quickly. The downside to a list like this is the lack of numbers. At only 111 models, plus Cannon crew, it needs to hit hard and hit fast in the first two turns to make any real difference - against swarm armies, this is INCREDIBLY vital. It will also require special dice to play - green dice for sure, with either marble or glitter finish, or else I risk insulting the Horned Rat. You may be asking why I don't take a Doomwheel at this point, and that answer is simple too: it is an uncontrollable chariot that would need to be doubled up to prevent being wasted early on, and the actual kit is a pain in the ass to build - the 'shiny toy' of the Skaven army book (as every new book has its shiny toy units).

Which brings us to the color scheme of the proposed army. When I think of any kind of magic, I think 'blue.' Perhaps it is a throwback memory to Magic: The Gathering, or maybe just the fact that I like blue, but that's how it is. At the same time, Skaven magic is 'green' because of their love of Chaos cocaine, so I went for a compromise - the cloth and uniforms will be Hawk Turquoise, but instead of using a blue wash, I plan to dirty the robes and such with Gryphonne Sepia (my ink of choice at the moment). Fur will be, for the most part, Dheneb Stone with Sepia wash over that as well (as evidenced by Clan Xymox). A lot of Dwarf Bronze will be used, with some Chainmail for accents, but primarily the Bronze color, which suits their style of mass-production better. Anything warpstone will, naturally, be Dark Angels Green with Scorpion Green drybrushing and edging. I also mixed a custom pink I call 'Rat-tail' which is perfect for Skaven, again washed in Sepia to muddy it up. I am thinking of using a yellow for the eyes with Rotting Flesh to highlight, but not sure yet - the Warlord and Engineers will definitely be using Scorpion Green for the eyes with another accent color.

Finally, what do I think of the Island of Blood models? Amazingly done (as you can see from Jonathan above in the picture). I appreciate the Warlock Engineer being all gunslinger, what with the halberd and giant backpack he's got on. The Rat Ogres are VERY nice, and the one with the blade arm would make a perfect Master-bred. I am thankful for both weapon teams, but none more than the Poisoned Wind Mortar - I love the WWI gas masks, and the fact they are plastic is even better, as much of my previous Skaven force was fragile pewter (and must always be handled with care else they break). The Warlord, however, is the best model of the Skaven half of the box (the Griffon being top prize) - the detail and pose of the Warlord is quite dynamic, and worthy of being my general. Now I just need to come up with moneys to get more rats. Probably sell my Empire. Silly man-things, thinking they can win.

- Cash

South Korean Superstar

The release of Starcraft II signals a new dawn for computer gamers all over the world. The first Starcraft is one of the best RTS strategy games ever made and is the one which all others are compared against. The sequel does it's predecessor proud.

Just as a note before I discuss the game, in South Korea the top players are like movie stars. They play in packed stadiums where they are watched by adoring fans who follow on massive jumbotron like projectors. While the game is not quite on that level here in the states it is one of the best games available on the computer. The following will be a general overview of the game and will not go into strategy which will be discussed in a different article.

For those of you that don't know starcraft features three different races. The first are the terran who draw a similar comparison to the mobile infantry from Starship Troopers or the Imperial Guard for are warhammer followers. The second group are the zerg. This ailen race is pretty much a carbon copy of the bugs from Starship Troopers, and again for are Warhammer 40k followers they would be the Tyranids. The final group are the Protoss. They are a psionic wielding race who do not have a Starship Troopers reference, but they are similar to the Eldar in Warhammer 40k.

First, the greatest thing about starcraft is that there is no monthly fee, which annoys me with games like WOW or Eve. The game is played on Blizzards Battlenet server which always has over 1 million players on which makes it nice and easy to get a match. Now a big improvement over the first Starcraft is that now you are matched against players of the same skill level. The server is broken up into 5 different player levels ranging from bronze up to platinum. This makes for a much mor enjoyable gaming experience which allows new players to learn the game while not getting brutally masacred within the first 10 mins of the game.

The University of Florida is currently offering Starcraft as an honors level course. Who said college was no fun. The point of the course is to teach students about resource management. This is an interesting concept but seems more like it should be a club and not an honors level course.

http://www.technologyreview.com/blog/mimssbits/25626/

-Mikey H

A trip down memory lane.. and survivng at the end..

The last time I really enjoyed playing card games was when I was playing Magic the Gathering and my Morphlings were still "legal" to play (1998-1999). Those were the good old days playing at the local

comic book store and the not so local game store Neutral Ground (R.I.P) in NYC. In particular I enjoyed playing in pre-release sealed deck tournaments. Where I believed things were more level among the players. It was down to luck and being a better player that would win you match.

Ever since I stopped playing Magic I swore off card games the same way someone swears off alcohol after a particularly nasty bender. It was during that time that I turned heavily towards miniature war gaming as a matter of fact. Warhammer 40k being the drug of choice at the time, it was not long after all my cards were put into shoe boxes and forgotten about just like an ex girlfriend forgotten out of mind and out of sight.

After many fruitful years of war gaming temptation struck again and I looked into card games. The first was Warlord Saga of the Storm a game that uses a d20 (always a plus!) the objective of the game was to kill the opposing Warlord all the while cutting through swathes of other characters. Though I didn't play very long in the game I do have to say I did have fun. Especially when I won a sealed deck tournament solely based on the fact that I didn't roll lower than a 17 for armor for Badu Lutalo!

Despite all of this I felt something was missing and I stopped collecting Warlord out of nowhere. I do have to admit I am quite the fickle creature but I digress. Next came VS. System which was a game about superheros not just any superheroes but those from the Marvel and DC universe.

At first just like any game it seemed fresh and innovative and like every gamer I collected obsessively. After stock piling a mess of cards I thought myself well enough to participate in one of their tournaments at Gen Con. It was right after the opposing players turn that I realized how much fun the game WASN'T. Now I understand that it was a tournament but I have never seen that many mirror matches in my life.

If you aren't familiar with the term "mirror match" it means that your opponent and/or many of the other players brought the EXACT same deck that you or someone you have faced has. Making for quite a boring/repetitive game especially if you have to face it three to four rounds of the tournament. It was right after I finished the tourney that I put my cards into my deck box and haven't touched them since.

Again maybe foolishly I swore off card games yet again and delved deeper into the realm of miniature gaming. In particular during that time I found that skirmish games were the niche where I had finally found the perfect balance of game. But I will save that for another post..

Fast forward to about a month ago where me and the group went on our annual trip to Indiana for Gen Con. It is a tradition that we usually pick up and invest in a new game to play during the year. I have to admit the salesmen are quite convincing in their sales pitch. This year while the group waded through the dealers hall (think a mix of a troll/asian market) we found two games that caught our attention.

The first was "The Spoils" a game that was part satire part fantasy/victorian/steam punk/etc yes those are quite a few parts. Having previously seen The Spoils a few years back I was relieved to see that they came back in force with a new set being released at the convention. It didn't take much convincing to split a starter with Mike along with a box of booster packs and all before knowing how to even play the game!

Once we started playing though everything went smooth the system is very intuitive and straight forward. The cards as mentioned above are hilarious and make many references to popular icons and culture. There are five factions that each play differently: Bankers, Arcanists, Rogues, Gearsmiths and Warlords. Each of the factions is trying to gain Influence over all the others in game you are trying to reduce your opponents Influence to zero.

Each faction has their certain play style and flavor in The Spoils a brief overview based on my findings are:

-Banker- Are good at card drawing and gaining influence, they also have a jack of all trades feel where they can get abilities other factions do but it comes at a high cost. Their story is that they are a bunch of cat people (for lack of a better word) that resurrect the dead to pay off their debts.

-Rogue- Uses the opponents discard pile against them, either through gaining abilities/stats on their characters or simply denying the enemy the chance to gain their cards back. They also sport loads of characters with higher speed, nifty because high speed characters resolve their damage before slower characters. They also boast cards that can take over an opponents characters.

-Warlord- Not very good at playing any "tricks" but what they do they excel in and that is beat down on their enemy. Sporting some of the higher strength characters they have one goal in mind and that is straight attack. Their items and actions support this by giving strength bonuses to their characters to end the game quick and decisively.

-Gearsmith- As their name would suggest have the most items/gear than any of the other factions, they also have the ability to spawn the most tokens (free characters). Along with the ability to look for certain cards (mainly items) which as any card player knows is an amazing ability getting the card you need when you need it. The Gearsmiths themselves are immature elves that talk in 'l33t' or 'net' speak as they say which is quite the novel idea.

-Arcanist- The faction that has the most "covert" characters (covert means the character can only be blocked by other characters with the covert skill), they excel in making the opponent discard and returning cards to its owners hand.



The second game that caught my eye was Call of Cthulhu by Fantasy Flight Games, if you are not familiar with Call of Cthulhu it is based on the short stories by a writer call H.P Lovecraft. I have always been a fan of Lovecraft and his stories so a card game revolving around the mythos had me sold. Set in roughly the 1920s Call of Cthulhu is a game of horror and survival, of crazed man men and monsters fighting against brave adventurers and archeologists all the while trying to stay sane from the sights that they have seen.

Call of Cthulhu is a "living card game" which means that unlike most card games it is not collectible, there is no randomization in the packs you receive. Every set has the exact same cards with the exact same multiples of said card. There is no blind buying, if you need a certain card just look up online what set has it and purchase just that set. Not only will you have the card you need but you also get a play set (2-3 copies of the card) also.

In Call of Cthulhu there are seven factions:

Agency - consists of government officials like police and investigators.
Miskatonic University- an academic group of researchers with great knowledge.
Syndicate- mobsters, journalists and hit men looking to further their ends.
Cthulhu- made up of cultists and monsters who follow the great Cthulu.
Hastur- followers of the "King in Yellow" made up of psychopaths and minions.
Yog Sothoth- learned scholars and cultists who summon trans dimensional beings.
Shub Niggurath- focuses on the many monsters that Shub Niggurath has spawned.

So after many years and false starts I have finally picked up two card games that I am really excited to play. Hopefully in the next coming posts I can post up some of my decks and tactics along with more in depth report on each game. Till then thanks for reading my trip along memory lane.

Xenobi, Miniature Kingpin

Name: Xenobi

Origin: Nature

Affiliation: None

Occupation: Villain

Intro:

Xenobi is one of the many genetic creations that Mysterious Man has spawned to do his bidding. Part runt part side kick Xenobi tries to emulate his maker to varying degrees of success.

Special Abilities:

Molecular Manipulation (1): This special ability allows Xenobi during his activation to move 1 point of strength to his agility or vice versa until the end of the round. Quite useful when Xenobi already has an agility score of 6! Though his strength is only 3 it is his trump trait and along with molecular manipulation it becomes a respectable 4.

Exclusive Actions:

Punching Bag: If a friendly model takes damage and is within 2" a player may move the damage to Xenobi

Taunting: Xenobi chooses an opposing model that cannot move farther away than it initially was from Xenobi. In addition if that model tries to shoot at a model that isn't Xenobi it suffers a -1 penalty. This gives Xenobi a very limited movement manipulation ability that is good to have in a pinch.

Instant Mutation: One of Xenobi's signature abilities it allows him to add 1-6 points of strength to his roll when attacking. It comes at a price though, if you roll equal to or lower to the dice roll Xenobi takes that many points of damage at the end of the activation. This ability makes Xenobi one hell of a beat stick even if he might not survive the return attack from one very angry supreme.

Ka-Boom: This action gives Xenobi a ranged attacked with a small difference, in addition to possibly injuring an enemy supreme. Xenobi is also launched back d6 inches (the number he rolled for the opposed roll) directly back. Which helps him get away from anything too dangerous or make the enemy chase after him.

Team Power:

Little Kingpin- Once per game Xenobi can execute a friendly minion to better motivate it's associates. All minions with line of sight to the executed model receive a +1 to all opposed rolls until the end of the turn. Though I haven't really used this power all that often synergies of Xenobi, Gentleman and Tangent's "Analyze" power come to mind if you run quite a few minions +3 to the roll is nothing to scoff at.

Well, I got my rat ogre...

Cash Johnson with a double Blood Bowl report once more. It was a good day for the sport all around - we may have converted two more people to play the game, plus had two boards running at once in the store, which for a non-paying league is pretty impressive in this day and age. Plus the order was put in for my official Blood Bowl Minotaur so I can stop using the oversized Beastmen variant (sans arms) who has been dubbed "Buns of Tin" due to his posterior. But, I digress...

The first game was Clan Xymox against Drew's custom-sculpted Chaos Dwarves, who I must say were incredibly well made - he green-stuffed the crazy beards, used push pins for their crazy gourd-shaped helmets, and even went so far as to kitbash two Bull Centaurs from Marauder horses and Orks, with another generous helping of green stuff (he'd better post images of them on his own blog though, since I only go so far when kissing ass). At any rate, it was expected to be a high injury game on my part, seeing as how getting hit by Dwarves of any sort is not what I want to happen.

What followed, however, was an intense and tactical matchup of speed against staying power, both sides running the clock due to an inability to break armour on either side. Drew scored the first half, I scored the second, and the casualty pile was simply #7 missing next game with a Niggling Injury (one more and he's scrapped) and one dead Lineman (Blag Warptail II), who was immediately chopped up and used to add the finishing touches on my latest addition to Clan Xymox - my #13 Rat Ogre, Jonathan Brisby (bonus points to anyone who gets the ironic reference). With the record at 3 wins, 3 losses and my first draw, the team is taking a little longer than I would have liked to develop. Perhaps next season I will just start with Jonathan on the team and keep it at an even 11 players (instead of the spare Lineman at 12).

The Reikland Wrath suffered their first loss today against Jon's Khemri team, but this was due to spectacularly poor rolls at critical moments. Goretusk failed me for the first time today, failing his Wild Animals rolls on several occasions to lay down and take a nap for 3/4 of the game (though he caused his 5th casualty before doing so). Abrax the Twisted was concussed in the first half and still managed to get the MVP for the day, as his braining was the most action my team managed to perform. All three of my Warriors kept rolling Attacker and Both Down results, forcing me to use re-rolls I would have preferred to save for better moments. By the end of the 2-0 loss, the only positive result was Abrax's second MVP got him Foul Appearance, so at least opponents may think twice before touching him in the future. On the positive side, I still got 40,000 gold for the day, and spent it on 2 Assistant Coaches and 2 Cheerleaders, leaving me with another 100,000 in the Treasury in case I decide a fourth Warrior would do me well.

In all, these days are expected to happen every now and again. On the positive side, I did manage to get a double Sideline in the first game, knocking a Bull Centaur into the crowd, followed by a Cave Slave (Drew uses human prisoners instead of Hobgoblins), both by Bulk Irontail in two consecutive turns. I look forward to seeing how Jonathan Brisby works out, and whether or not I can ever get more experience on my three Warriors. Maybe next week, I tell myself...

- Cash

Hell Dorado - First Impressions

Cash Johnson with even more gaming bloggery, this time about a new game the rest of the crew picked up from GenCon - Hell Dorado. I was introduced to this via link by Drew, and was instantly impressed with the model sculpts, both in originality and detail (pic related). After looking at everything the game had in store, I decided on the Demons, as I like demons, and these are very nicely made. Drew picked me up the Demon starter box because I wasn't going.

So first we come to the actual starter box - pocket sized, cardboard army sleeve around the actual box to keep minis inside it, plush high quality foam inside. The minis themselves were all single cast pewter with the exception of the Wrath demon, who actually came with his own arm sprue containing three variants to put on him - bonus points for that little bit, I'm going with the hammer. Next we have the cards, double-sided and meant for dry erase markers and plastic sleeves, which is fine. Each card is clearly legible, good quality printing, and flows nicely.

The quick start rules, however, took the cake. A single 11x17 sheet, double-sided contains every rule you need to know to play the game as far as I am aware. Every action you can take is clearly explained, both ranged and close combat procedures laid out, using spells and officer abilities, status effects and special rules - everything is on this single sheet of paper. Then I start reading the rules...

First, the game requires a tape measure, metric or standard, and only 6d6, plus minis and terrain - incredibly simple. Second, instead of complicated charts and tables, or having to do addition and subtraction in your head, combat goes as follows - roll number of dice equal to your ability, target's defense is the number you need, apply damage as per your card's description. That's it. If you have a 6 or more in either CBT or SHS (Combat and Shooting Skill), you get to re-roll. Even better! Then I read that ranged attacks have no maximum range, just increased difficulty at longer distances. I was instantly sold on this game. On top of that, most things do not affect the die roll required, but the number of dice you get to roll, which is incredibly similar to the White Wolf system (which I also love). Simple rules, easy system. I like.

Which brings us to the army itself - the Demons. In the starter box, you receive Asaliah (a rebel angel summoner), a Damned one of Wrath, two Damned ones of Sloth, and Harborym (a summoned demon, or lemure). The way magic works for the Demons is the summoner summons a lemure, who acts as the physical manifestation of the spell - I get to move it around and trigger it when I feel like, not instantly. That alone is very awesome. Then Asaliah has the ability to summon and control multiple lemures at once, meaning I can have 2 spell manifestations running around the field at once. Even more awesome. Unfortunately, she can only cast a maximum of three summons a game. Not as awesome, but still awesome.

Then I read what her powers do - apparently all Satanist (meaning demons) models within 6" of her automatically regenerate 1 Life Point per turn just from being around her, and she can do a single big heal where ALL allies on the table receive 8 Life Points of healing... WHA?! So my choice to play Demons inadvertently gave me an awesome army right off the bat? I'm even further sold. On top of that, even the three demons the starter comes with aren't that bad. Both Sloths get Advance Deployment 4, meaning I can setup an additional 4" when placing them, and they each have 18 Life Points, which is more than Asaliah gets. Then my Wrath gets Fury, which means he doesn't lose CBT when Charging, and has a DEF of 4, meaning only a 4+ causes a success against him in combat (considering my Sloths have DEF 2, that's badass). I haven't even played a game of this yet and already love what I have to work with.

Thursday will be an interesting day as I will play my first game of Hell Dorado... after some more Blood Bowl.

- Cash

The Meteoric Rise to Not Bad

Cash Johnson once more with even more Blood Bowl sports news.

First, we have the full story on the Reikland Wrath, who are quickly becoming a team to talk about. In a stunning week's performance, they have brought their record to an impressive 3-0 against Ogres and Orcs. The success I have achieved with them in the league thus far is due to my paying fealty to the Chaos Gods - not only did I switch names around to better suit the four sacred numbers, but I made sure that all four numbered players were suitably marked and painted first before all others. It worked. The updated Reikland Wrath lineup after three games:

#1 Blag Dahlia, Team Captain, Warrior - 2 SPP
#2 Kurgan Scalptaker, Warrior - 2 SPP
#3 The Black Duke, Warrior - 2 SPP
#4 Goretusk, Minotaur - 8 SPP, Standard Skills + Claws (dedicated Can Opener)
#5 Abrax the Twisted, Beastman - 5 SPP (MVP on the first game he didn't get KO'd)
#6 Gorruk the Wild, Beastman of Slaanesh - 9 SPP, Horns, Guard
#7 Morgen Grimtusk, Beastman of Nurgle - 5 SPP, Horns
#8 Gathak Bloodhorn, Beastman of Khorne - 8 SPP, Horns, Juggernaut (dedicated Safety)
#9 Volus Raveneye, Beastman of Tzeentch - 4 SPP, Horns
#10 Karthax Ironhoof, Beastman - 6 SPP, Guard, Horns
#11 Kursk Two-Tongue, Beastman - 5 SPP, Horns (dedicated Passer, YES I SAID PASSER)
Additional Staff: Apothecary

So I can already hear gears grinding in the collective virtual head of the readers - why didn't Cash take Block on his Beastmen?! At least, that's what I hear from the old timers every time they see my roster sheet. Sure, Block was great back in the day, but this is a younger man's game now. What good is a skill that only increases my chances of taking a hit by 17% when I could double up on Guard and deny an entire line Assists so I always get two dice my favor when he hits me (because everyone hates a Push when they NEED a Knockdown)? As for Juggernaut, I only get the bonus from Horns on a Blitz anyway, and he IS the favored of Khorne. Obviously it's worked out well for him, having gotten four Casualties, so why not? Between Goretusk, Gorruk, Gathak and Karthax, plus always putting the three warriors on the line, that gives me a seven-man brick wall that still keeps the remaining four beastmen open and on the move. Just because we're Chaos doesn't mean we have to play like it... :D

I wish I could claim the same success with Clan Xymox, who got over their injury streak yesterday. In a series of unfortunate mishaps - Ogres, Orcs, and Khemri respectively - I had a Blitzer miss a game, followed by three Linemen miss a game (resulting in the firing of two of them for optimum performance), then a horrific series of "Miss This Game" while holding off against Tomb Guard. Clan Xymox now stands as follows with a 3-3 record:

#1 Squeak Twitchfoot, Team Captain, Gutter Runner - 13 SPP, Dodge, Leap
#2 Thrak the White, Thrower - 3 SPP, Pass, Sure Hands
#3 Bulk Irontail, Blitzer - 6 SPP, Block, Mighty Blow (seems fitting given his name)
#4 Queeg Blackfur, Blitzer - 0 SPP, Block
#5 Shiv Sneakpaw, Gutter Runner - 7 SPP, Dodge, Sure Hands, MV 8 (dedicated Handoff now)
#6 Titch Redeye, Gutter Runner - 19 SPP, Dodge, Leap, Agility 5 (only fails on a 1 now)
#7 Snag Longsnout, Lineman - 10 SPP, Shadowing (best skill ever for rats)
#8 Ignatz Vilepelt, Lineman - 7 SPP, Tackle (would be better with Shadowing)
#9 Toerag Shorthair II, Lineman - 0 SPP (former Journeyman, permanent Reserve box)
#10 Snog Gnawfang, Lineman - 2 SPP
#11 Blag Warptail II, Lineman - 0 SPP
#12 Nitz Dwarfstab, Lineman - 4 SPP
Additional Staff: Apothecary

I'm not going to lie, I was crushed after I played against Orcs and took a 3 "Miss Next Game" beating, despite the win. The only clear option was to fire #'s 9 and 11 for incompetence, keep Ignatz on the bench since he has a skill, then take a Journeyman and hire a new player, which only cost me 50,000 instead of the full hundred - I decided Loner was a one-game risk I could take against Khemri, and I was right. In a stunning Tomb Guard Blitz, the new #9 was sent careening down the pitch and into the injury pile, where the Apothecary saved him from dying, though now I have the rest of the team back in play, he will only come out when needed.

Moving forward, Shadowing and Tackle will be the plan for Snag and Ignatz, as Wood Elves have now gotten into the league as well. I need to get some Casualties on Queeg since he's done practically nothing since game one. Nitz will be getting Guard at the first opportunity to make the Ratcage more effective when on defense. Right now, I have to make sure Titch doesn't have anything bad happen to him - I feel I am not paying enough homage to the Horned Rat by denying a 13th player into the fold, and he has punished me already with three muggings. Another 60k from winnings and the Rat Ogre will be purchased, I swear it.

- Cash

A Whole Different Game

Cash Johnson with the second Blood Bowl post in a row, this time all about Chaos. The pic kinda says it all about this new team and the match against Ogres - it was a struggle both ways.

This was a practice run for my team, as well as extra practice for Irvin to get better at planning his blocks, as well as running plays and the proper use of Gnoblars. What it turned into, however, was one of the best games I've played to date.

First of all, the reason I chose Chaos as a second team was because it is about as different from Skaven as I could get - it's much stronger, much tougher, and is great for stopping most advances once they hit my line. I also had plenty of Beastmen to use, so 7 Gors became the bulk of my team off the bat - I only had to proxy 3 Warriors and the Minotaur because I don't have the spare models to convert at the moment. Probably just going to pick up a 3 pack of Warriors from the store and save up for the Minotaur box, everything on 25mm bases.

Before I get into the gritty details, meet the Reikland Wrath:

#1 - Blag Dahlia, Team Captain, Warrior: Scored his first touchdown today
#2 - Kurgan Scalptaker, Warrior: 1 Casualty, Gnoblar at -1 AV
#3 - The Black Duke, Warrior
#4 - Goretusk, Minotaur: 1 Casualty, Ogre out for Remainder of Game, First Blood on First Play
#5 - Abrax the Twisted, Beastman
#6 - Gathak Bloodhorn, Beastman: 1 Casualty, Gnoblar at -1 AV
#7 - Karthax Ironhoof, Beastman
#8 - Morgen Grimtusk, Beastman
#9 - Volus Raveneye, Beastman (Chosen of Tzeentch)
#10 - Kursk Two-Tongue, Beastman
#11 - Gorruk the Wild, Beastman

I won the coin flip so I chose to Receive, had 2 FAME going in, with perfect weather, and a Quick Snap, plus the Kickoff was a Touchback, so I gave it to Blag because he was already on the line. First thing was first, and Goretusk proceeded to Blitz the Ogre tying Blag up, causing him to black out for the rest of the game - not too shabby for an opening play. While the rest of the line did their best to push the Ogres off of them, it still took the entire first half to score a single Touchdown, though four Gnoblars found out why they shouldn't have gotten in the way of Chaos (only two losing 1 Armour, but as this was exhibition, it didn't much matter, more of a pride issue for me). Five opposing players were down going into Turn 8 of the First Half (another two Gnoblars were KO'd on the last drive), which suited me fine - less Dodges to make and less Blocks to worry about.

The Second Half was where things didn't go to plan as I'd hoped. He got both Gnoblars back, who intended to show the Chaos Gods the power of the Great Maw. It was "just as planned" as the Kickoff landed just in front of his end zone AND I got an extra Re-Roll from Brilliant Coaching (yay Tzeentch). All I had to do was stop him from getting past my line, which I tried my best to do, but just not enough. His lonely Gnoblar in the backfield ran back, picked up the ball, then proceeded to run the entire length of the field while caged in formation, making two consecutive Dodges at the end of Turn 6 to score a Touchdown.

My Turn 7 saw the ball land in front of Morgen, who picked it up and ran to the line, while Blag and the Black Duke proceeded to open a hole to the right side, knocking down two Ogres. A quick blitz from Gorruk the Wild proceeded to KO another Gnoblar and open the right flank entirely and, two Go For It rolls later, was in a position to score if he could just get the ball. At the same time, Abrax and Gathak both shot through openings on the left flank, crossed the field, and made a total of three possible receivers. Meanwhile, creative blocking saw Morgen boxed in nicely by his own team, making a Blitz impossible against him. With the game-winning throw on the line, both Gnoblars and Ogres immediately fell back to flood the passing lanes with nothing but Interceptions.

Morgen snapped back and threw a Long Pass to Gorruk who jumped up, inches away from the ball... but what he didn't see was the little Gnoblar crawling up his loin cloth, kicking off his chest, and launching himself face first at the ball to make a stunning Turn 8 Interception that cost the Wrath the win (as we don't do overtime). It wasn't until the game was over that the Chaos team realized the little bastard that caught the ball was the same one who scored earlier in the half - he will be dealt with next time.

I have to say, Chaos was a completely different game. Instead of trying to engineer openings and use speed and skills to save the day, I can just plow forward when I get the ball. I don't have to worry about getting hit as much as with Skaven, since my armour is an 8 or 9 instead of a 7. Less chance of injury to me, more chance of causing damage to them. Chaos is definitely going to be added to the list of teams - now I just need a third...

- Cash

Blood Bowl Blues

Cash Johnson once more with yet another gaming post, this time about the small Blood Bowl league we happen to be running amongst ourselves. As of this moment, we are five players, two of which have yet to actually play a game because they are lazy. The three active teams, however, are my Skaven, Jon's Khemri, and (another local from my end) Irvin's Ogres. We are still waiting on Drew's Chaos Dwarves and Hoj's Dwarves.

But I digress - it's time for the Skaven breakdown: 3 Gutter Runners, 1 Thrower, 2 Blitzers and 6 Linemen. I know I should have taken 13 players, but I'm holding out for either a 4th Gutter Runner or my 0-1 Rat Ogre (plus 3 re-rolls is always nice for a starting team). As it stands now, im 1 and 2 with Fan Factor 5, and 60,000 left in winnings (would have had more, but I had to replace a dead lineman in my first game).

So how does my team stack up? Well, outside of the league, I played two games before we started to get used to the rules (since I had never played before). Against Humans, I managed a 3-2 victory. Against Orcs, I got my ass pounded into the dirt by Black Orcs. In the league, however, I am actually a victim of luck more than poor coaching. The first win was against Ogres, my Team Captain able to break away with the ball to score the only point that game, and my linemen proceeded to injure Gnoblars simply as a matter of course. My first loss was to Khemri, as Tomb Guard are just mean and their Blitzers aren't any nicer - I did, however, break one Skeleton's ankle, so it wasn't a total loss. The second loss was today, victim of three lucky plays to my two normal plays - I stacked up a lot of Star Player Points all around, though.

Meet the team of Clan Xymox:

#1 - Squeak Twitchfoot, Team Captain, Gutter Runner: Dodge, Leap, 9 SPP (3 TDs)
#2 - Thrak the White, Thrower: Pass, Sure Hands, 0 SPP
#3 - Bulk Irontail, Blitzer: Block, 2 SPP (1 Casualty)
#4 - Queeg Blackfur, Blitzer: Block, 0 SPP
#5 - Shiv Sneakpaw, Gutter Runner: Dodge, 3 SPP (1 TD)
#6 - Titch Redeye, Gutter Runner: Dodge, Leap, 6 SPP (2 TDs)
#7 - Snag Longsnout, Lineman: Shadowing, 10 SPP (2 MVP)
#8 - Ignatz Vilepelt, Lineman: Tackle, 7 SPP (1 Casualty, 1 MVP)
#9 - Toerag Shorthair, Lineman: 0 SPP
#10 - Snog Gnawfang, Lineman: 2 SPP (1 Casualty)
#11 - Blag Warptail, Lineman: 0 SPP
#12 - Nitz Dwarfstab, Lineman: 4 SPP (2 Casualties)

Now, those of you who know how Skaven play in Blood Bowl are probably wondering how rats
managed to rack up five casualties against teams who are tougher than they are. Well, seeing how squishy Gnoblars are, my strategy is simple - the moment the rat with the ball gets further than they can catch in a single turn, I gang up on Gnoblars and roll my 3 Block Dice, occasionally getting the lucky 2 Dice Block against an Ogre to put him on his ass. I would have had two more casualties to my credit, but rocks thrown by my fans unfortunately don't count (2 in the same game, one Ogre suffering a Cracked Skull).

Right now I am saving up for a tasty Rat Ogre so I can concentrate more on moving the ball instead of minimizing damage done to me. Maybe if I could rack up some casualties with him, possibly take Piling On or Multiple Block - but I'm still 100k short and down my #4 Blitzer in my next game, which will cost me precious defense. Still, three Gutter Runners and a Thrower means I will always have someone on the ball after a kickoff, so I just need to concentrate on boxing out for the meanwhile.

Also thinking of putting a Chaos team together, just to have another fun team on the back burner for another league. Maybe the store league if they get that going this year. Who knows, they may be even better for me.

- Cash

Boreas

Having just returned from Gen Con Indy I bring a wealth of updates that I will post up, I see in my stead that Cash has been taking care of the site quite well. I will start things off by introducing my Pulp City Villain Team that I had used for the tournament at Gen Con along with some tactical thoughts.

Name: Boreas

Origin: Mystery

Affiliation: The Forgotten

Occupation: Villain

Intro:

Boreas is one of the minor gods that controls the wind, in fact if you have ever seen a map with an incarnation of a cloud blowing wind on a sailboat you have actually seen Boreas! As with all "Forgotten" they are all minor gods/entities that fell into obscurity and now they have come to Pulp City in order to make the population remember them.

Special Abilities:

Air- This is more of a subtype, against "Earth" supremes Boreas will both deal and take more damage.

Blend 1 - If Boreas is near a piece of scenery he gains +1 to his agility making him harder to hit with projectile attacks.

Flight 5- With the new flight rules whoever has a higher flight value compared to their opponent gains +1 to agility, strength and defense traits.

Immovable - Boreas will not suffer from knocked down condition

Immune/Whirlwind & Shot Down - Most supremes with flight have to worry if they fail their opposed roll while in flight they take extra damage when they fall. This ability means Boreas never has to worry about being "shot down".

Exclusive Actions:

-Echoes- A situational power that lets you move non-exclusive minions and citizens 4 inches, good if you want to cut down some of the enemies minions or get after some citizens that are running away for some agenda points.

-Gale- Gives Boreas to the "throw trump action" despite not having Strength as his trump trait, alternatively it can be used to attack an enemy supreme and if you cause damage you can move the supreme 4 inches in any direction they will take additional damage if they hit into a piece of scenery.

-Blood Wind- A power hated by many an opponent, it is a blast 3 radius any supremes taking damage cannot activate this round. Needless to say if you start the round with Blood Wind doing successful damage against an enemy their model sits there for a turn. It should be noted that only the target of the attack suffers a full opposed roll. Others caught in the blast only suffer attacks at 1/2 of Boreas' attack.

-Whirlwind- A good power to screen your beaters, any attacks directed to models within the aura are at -2 to their opposed rolls. Minions and citizens cannot move into or within the aura and the aura is treated as difficult terrain for everyone else.

Team Power: Host

Boreas has to inhabit a body which means he can always be attacked in close combat regardless of how many flight counters he has on him. If he has at least one flight counter he can freely leave close combat without penalty. He is also vulnerable to the Exorcism ability.