New Year's Eve with the Dead Kennedys State Theatre (St. Pete, FL)

I will be spending my new year's eve watching the Dead Kennedys live over in St. Pete.

How about you ?

Hi / I’m your video DJ - I always talk like I’m wigged out on Quaaludes - I wear a stained baseball jacket everywhere I go - My job is to help destroy - What’s left of your imagination - By feeding you endless doses - Of sugar coated mindless garbage - So don’t create - Be sedate - Be a vegetable at home !!

G

Best Vulcan Ever ...

BloodStrike * Refined (2k)

Here ya go...

2000 Pts BloodStrike Angels Roster

HQ

Reclusiarch (135)

* Melta Bombs

Reclusiarch (155)

* Jump Pack 25

Elites

Brother Corbulo (105)

Sanguinary Priest (90)

* Jump Pack, Power Sword

Terminator Assault Squad (215)

* 2x Lightning Claws

* 2x Thunder Hammer & Storm Shield

 Sergeant/Thunder Hammer & Storm Shield

Furioso Dreadnought (150)

* Extra Armor, Heavy Flamer

Troops

Death Company (170)

* 2x Power Fist & Bolter

 * 4x Bolt Pistol & Chainsword

Death Company Dreadnought (135)

* Blood Talons & Heavy Flamer

Assault Squad (245) [10]

* Meltagun & flamer

Sergeant/Infernus Pistol + Power Fist

Assault Squad (168) [5]

* Meltagun

Sergeant/Infernus Pistol + Power Fist

Heavy Support

Stormraven Gunship (215)

* Extra Armor, Twin linked lascannon & twin linked multi-melta

Stormraven Gunship (215)

* Extra Armor, Twin linked lascannon & twin linked multi-melta

Black Math

Don't you think that I'm bound to react now?
Well, my fingers are definitely turning to BLACK now
Yeah, well maybe I'll put my love on ice
Teach myself, maybe that'll be nice
Yeah

My books are sitting at the top of the stack now
The longer words are really breaking my back now
Maybe I'll learn to understand
Drawing a square with a pencil in hand, yeah


Mathematically turning the page
Unequivocally showing my age
I'm practically center stage
Undeniably earning your wage
Well maybe I'll put my love on ice
And teach myself, maybe that'll be nice, yeah


Listen master, can you answer a question?

Is it the fingers, or the brain
that you're teaching A lesson?
I can't tell you how proud I am
I'm writing down things that I don't understand
Well, maybe I'll put my love on ice
And teach myself, maybe that'll be nice

Yeah

2nd Draft * Blood Angels Strike Force

Here is my second draft for the Blood Angels Strike Force (2000 points):

HQ
Reclusiarch
Reclusiarch/jump pack

Elites
Corbulo
Sanguinary Priest/jump pack, power sword

5x assault terminator/2x pair of lightning claws, 3x thunderhammer & stormshield

Furioso dreadnaught/extra armor, pair of DCCWs & heavy flamer

Troops
10x Death Company/10x bolters & 2x power fist

Death Company dreadnaught/pair of Blood Talons & heavy flamer

10x assault Marine/flamer, meltagun, power fist & infernus pistol
5x assault Marine/meltagun, power fist & infernus pistol & meltabombs

Heavy Support
Stormraven/extra armor, twin linked lascannon & twin linked multi-melta
Stormraven/extra armor, twin linked lascannon & twin linked multi-melta

I've swapped the Chaplain out for a second Reclusiarch with a jump pack. This frees up an Elite slot and he can either join the Death Company in the second Stormraven or join the full assault squad along with the generic Sanguinary Priest. The Death Company dreadnaught runs with the Death Company in the second Stormraven.

The original Reclusiarch runs with Corbulo and they are attached to terminators riding in the first Stormraven along with the Furioso.

The full assault squad runs with the generic Sanguinary Priest as noted above while the dreadnaught in a drop pod was swapped for a five man squad and is there primarily to tank hunt and hold an objective. I also have the option to run the jump pack Reclusiarch along with the generic Sanguinary Priest attached to the five man assault squad, splitting the full assault squad into combat squads for a total of three scoring units.

* Very flexible how I can combine units.
* Small elite force that is very hard hitting in close combat.
* The two Stormravens shuttle the two most potent assault units (terminarors and Death Company.
* The Stormravens also provide some much needed long range fire suppression when needed.

G

Blood Angels Strike Force - assault terminators & dreadnaughts

Here is a conceptual list I've been toying around with lately. Basically you've got a squad of assault terminators with some dreadnaughts thrown in for support:






HQ
Recluisarch

Elites
Chaplain
Corbulo
Sanguinary Priest/jump pack, power sword

5x assault terminator/2x pair of lightning claws, 3x thunderhammer & stormshield

Troops
10x Death Company/10x bolters & 2x power fist
Death Company dreadnaught/pair of Blood Talons & heavy flamer
Death Company dreadnaught/Heavy flamer
10x assault Marine/flamer, meltagun, power fist & infernus pistol

Heavy Support
Stormraven/extra armor, twin linked lascannon & twin linked multi-melta
Stormraven/extra armor, twin linked lascannon & twin linked multi-melta

Dreadnaught/extra armor, multi-melta - drop pod

Recluisarch and Corbulo ride with the terminators in the first Stormraven along with one DC dreadnaught(Blood Talons). Chaplain and Death Company run in the second Stormraven along with the other DC dreadnaught(DCCWs). Jump pack Priest runs with the assault squad.

Death Company unlock the DC dreads.

Aggressive style in your face army with high mobility due to the two Stormraven.

G

40k iRoster

This is an app for Apple products like the iPad and iPhone. It costs $4 US. I went ahead and loaded it a few weeks ago. The more I use it the better I like it. I have used it at a couple tourneys for my army lists and everyone was cool with it. It's not an Army Builder by any means but if you carry an iPhone or iPad it's very convenient. Basically it let's you choose which army you're playing. You enter each unit by FOC category (HQ, Elites, Troops, etc.). You then enter the basic cost for each unit along with the options and iRoster adds it all up. Like I said I really like it a lot and plan to use it more often. It's really cool.

G

How to Take Down a Tyranid Deathstar with your DoA Army

Tyranids can be a tough matchup versus DoA when your facing a Tyranid deathstar bubble wrapped with gaunts. A typical Tyranid deathstar is as follows:

Hive Tyrant:
Lash whip and bone sword, scything talons, armored shell, paroxysm, regeneration and old adversary (preferred enemy)

3x Tyrant Guard:
Lash whips

Tyranid Prime:
2x bone sword, regeneration

The deathstar is screened by gaunts and/or genestealers. If you charge the gaunts then you'll be counter charged by the deathstar the following turn. The Tyrant Guard and Prime both have a 3+ armor save while the Tyrant has a 2+ armor save. They are majority T6 as well. The deathstar can also draw cover from their gaunt screen since the Guard and Prime are infantry. This combination causes lots of problems for DoA armies since the vast majority of our shooting is at 12" range. Basically when you go in for the kill you get one turn of shooting then the bug juice is going to start flying everywhere.

This deathstar reduces your models in base contact with the lash whips to I1. The Tyrant cannot be picked out either since the Guard effectively form a retinue. This unit has eight attacks that ignore armor saves (ten if they charge) at I5 and all can cause instant death. There are also nine S5 rending attacks (12 if they charge) at I4. You must not let the deathstar charge! They also reroll all missed hits all due to preferred enemy. The Tyrant can cast paroxysm reducing you to WS1 and if you don't wipe out the Tyrant and Prime on the charge then both can regenerate lost wounds.

It's epic.

Batrep - Dark Eldar vs. Imperial Guard [2000 points]

Dark Eldar vs. Imperial Guard

2000 points

Deployment:
Pitched Battle

Mission:
Annihilation

Kabal of Khaine's Blood Army List:

Archon/shadowfield, ghost plate armor, phantasm grenade launcher, combat drugs, haywire grenades, husk blade, soul trap

x Haemonculus/webway portal, flesh gauntlet

x 8x Incubi incl. Klaivex/onslaught, bloodstone
x Raider/flickerfield & nightshield

9x Bloodbrides incl. Syren/3x shardnets, haywire grenades, phantasm grenade launcher, agonizer, blast pistol
Raider/flickerfield & nightshield

10x Warriors incl. Squad leader/dark lance & blaster
Raider/flickerfield & nightshield

x 20x Warriors incl. Squad leader/2x dark lance & blaster, venom blade

Voidraven/flickerfield & nightshield

Voidraven/flickerfield & nightshield


Imperial Guard Army List:
  
x Company Command Squad - 4x plasmagun
Chimera - multi laser & HF

Company Command Squad - 4x plasmagun
x Chimera - multi laser & HF

1. Veterans - 3x flamer
x Chimera - multi laser & HF

2. Veterans - 3x flamer
x Chimera - multi-laser & HF

3. Veterans - 3x plasmagun
x Chimera - multi-laser & HF

4. Veterans
x Chimera - 3 x plasma guns

5. Veterans - 3x plasmagun
Chimera - multi-laser & HF

Vendetta

Vendetta

x Hellhound

Leman Russ Battle Tank

s Leman Russ Executioner

x Manticore Rocket Launcher


I won the roll to go first and took it! My plan was to use the Haemonculus flying solo in the Incubi's raider to drop off the WWP on the first, basically sacrificing him and the raider. All infantry units were placed in reserve with the skimmers starting on the table as my paper plane air force. If you take a look at the IG list you'll easily see it's a parking lot, can crack my skimmers and kill my infantry in droves... Lots of red hot plasma and lots of flamers. The table was sparse on terrain - pretty much a wet dream dream for the parking lot. My opponent setup with the chimeras screening his big tanks and he held the pair of vendettas in reserve outflanking. I was very happy there was no Master of the Fleet and decided to go balls to the wall - it's the dark eldar way after all. Heh!

I rolled for combat drugs and got +1S... Nice, very nice indeed.

1st Turn - Dark Eldar
My opponent attempted to seize but failed. I immediately ran up the Incubi skimmer with the Haemonculus, he jumped out and dropped the portal. Voidravens lined up for some shots on the Manticore and wrecked it.

DE - 1 & IG - 0

1st Turn - Parking Lot
Chimeras roll up to box off the webway portal along with the Hellhound. Shooting sees the Haemonculus and Incubi raider blown away. Pieplates scatter off the Voidravens.

DE - 1 & IG - 2

2nd Turn - Dark Eldar
A crucial turn in the game... Chimeras are lined up around the webway portal but there is plenty of room on my side for infantry to spill out. I roll for rerserves and get the Archon with his Incubi and the squad of 20 Warriors. Warriors scoot into a clump of trees for cover. Voidravens wreck hellhound and stun Executioner with shots into side armor. Warriors' blaster wrecks a veteran chimera. Raider shots bounce off. Archon leads his Incubi on a multi charge hitting three chimeras. Haywire grenades go off destroying one chimera (flamer vets) and stunning another (CCS). Squad of vets with flamers fail pen check. Incubi are spread out. 

DE - 4 & IG - 2

2nd Turn - Parking Lot
Neither Vendetta come in from reserve. Mobile chimeras pull up to flame Warriors and Incubi. Both CCS squads dismount for backup. Flamers crisp the Warriors plus some Incubi then plasma take out the rest of the Incubi. Archon passes leadership with flying colors.

DE - 4 & IG - 4

3rd Turn - DE
Out pop the Wyches. The Wyches and the Archon move in the assault the two command squads. Raiders pop a veteran chimera and Voidravens pop another veteran chimera (more shots on side armor). Assault sees both command squads destroyed.

DE - 8 & IG - 4

My opponent is a bit miffed with the results so we call the game. Oh well, I was ahead.

G

Deftones

They are a rock band. Some songs sound a lot like Smashing Pumpkins to me, some are very metal. Very interesting band for sure!

G

How to win objective based games with DoA armies (by DV8)

I saw this posted by DV8 over on the B&C BA forum today and thought I'd share it...


DoA stands for Descent of Angels. That is to say, the special rule that Blood Angels Jump Infantry get to take advantage of.


A DoA list is an army built PURELY of units that have the Descent of Angels rule.

• Characters with Jump Packs (Dante, Sanguinary, Astorath, anything generic with a Jump Pack):
• Priests with Jump Packs
• Chaplains with Jump Packs
• Death Company with Jump Packs
• Assault Marines with Jump Packs
• Vanguard Veterans with Jump Packs

You get the picture. Not to put too fine a point on it, a DoA list has NOTHING that is not equipped with a jump pack. Which means you have no vehicles, and nothing stationary holding down the fort in your deployment zone. The army is pure aggression, and diluting it with "mechanized" units or stationary fire support or with armored support reduces that aggression, as already mentioned before.

So to answer your question of how one takes objectives, especially one in your deployment/rear zone, with a DoA army? Well I've already answered in regards to rear objectives. I'll explain why.

A unit in a DoA army that is held back to "secure" an objective is a unit that isn't being played aggressively to harass/waylay/disrupt/kill the enemy. It's a jump infantry unit that you're paying a premium in points for to simply sit back and do nothing. Blood Angels DoA units have no long range (certainly almost nothing beyond 12"...heck half of my army has nothing more than a 6" range! Oh Nipple Wing), and lack numbers to weather and survive torrents of incoming fire. And again, splitting your army up to this degree dilutes the aggression of the army.

So what do you do? You either put your own objective as far forward as possible, or you ignore it, and take the enemy's objective. It's not about how many objectives you control at the end of the game. It's all about controlling just one more than your opponent. By blitzing forward and taking your opponent's objective, while at the same time denying him the opportunity and the ability to take yours (by any number of ways, all situational and impossible to postulate at this point), means that at the end of the game, you win because you control one objective (the one in your enemy's end zone) to your opponent's zero (because they were unable to score or contest theirs or yours).

If, in some situations you are unable to "not" focus on objectives (meaning a scenario where you pretty much HAVE to take and hold an objective), then what you can do is to bunch all the objectives close together. So doing means you don't need to spread your forces thin to contest multiple objectives to guarantee you have that "one-up" on your opponent. By grouping them all together you can keep your army close and hammer the opponent with everything, without fear of having to waste precious turns trying to contest distant objectives.

Remember: Annihilation is ALWAYS an objective.

DV8




Note that while I agree with 99 percent of what DV8 has said I will say that Stormravens can and should be fielded in DoA armies.

More thoughts on the Stormraven plus

I have been playing my DoA list a lot in competitive tourney play. I'm happy to say it seems like there is a fair number of players that agree with my thoughts now that the Stormraven is quite viable. One of the hard knocks I've often seen put out on the Internet is that the Stormraven can only survive one to two turns versus a shooty army and is blasted off the table. I've always said you've got to protect the Stormraven...

- Identify it's major threats, focus on eliminating them.

- Most shooty armies aren't packing lots of long ranged AT firepower. Space Wolves are an exception with their cheap Long Fangs. Again going back to my first point you've got to identify the threats and apply the pressure. For example Vanguard veterans are an excellent counter to Long Fangs and other similar type units.

- Hold the Stormraven in reserve. This will help you to first neutralize the main threats. This is how I always play the Stormraven.

In regards to the third point what I've learned is that there are going to be times when it's better to simply use the Stormraven as a mobile weapons (AT) platform. If you are playing a pure DoA army then you can simply opt to deep strike all your jump infantry units. Placing an uber assault unit in the Stormraven means there is the chance they'll arrive late and you'll be playing a large segment of your army without your best assault unit for a significant portion of the game. Sure the Stormraven is an excellent means of protecting a unit and delivering them into the heart of the enemy line, but because of the DoA rules this is acceptable in the right set of circumstances. As your opponents become more familiar with playing versus the Stormraven they will find ways to counter it. Over time against good opponents you'll not be able to as easily exploit this skimmer. Simply used as a mobile weapons platform the Stormraven is still very powerful, no other Space Marine army has anything comparable. The only other army currently that comes close is IG.

G

Why girls rock !!!

SUCKER PUNCH

All you need to know about dark eldar - O Rly ??

I have seen lately a plethora of blog articles on building competitive dark eldar list - typically they all have a title something along the line of being all you need to know about dark eldar. I read them and find that most delve into fielding min/maxed spammed lists that follow along the line of list building originally proposed by Thor665 over on Dakka Dakka... That is lots of five man squads of Warriors with a blaster riding in raiders, two assault units (take your pick - typically Incubi) and three Ravagers. It's the same old thing repackaged as something new. Here is a link to one of Thor's tactica articles on dark eldar, it's really good stuff:

http://www.dakkadakka.com/wiki/en/Dark_Eldar_Tactica

One thing I want to point out is that I have yet to see any of the blogosphere gurus claiming to have won a tournament with dark eldar. When I see this then I'll be the first to tip my hat. Honestly and by no means meaning to come across as rude I think we would all be better served if the gurus would wait until they win a tournament. Then there would certainly be a ton of useful information to share. Another thing I'd like to point out is that there seems to be a prevalent sentiment that mech IG is the bane of dark eldar. People just seem to throw in the towel and say they give up versus IG. Sure it's possible you could attend a tourney with your new dark eldar list and not draw a match versus IG. Is that a sound strategy? No it's not. You've got to bring an army that can beat any other army. I have plenty of experience beating IG. I'd go so far to say I always look forward to playing against IG. I always feel confident I can beat IG. Nope, I'm not by any means suggesting it's an auto win but I do win a lot of the time.

Apocalypse Event - January 2011 * Apex, NC

Biggest Warhammer 40,000 Apocalypse Battle EVER !!!

When:
Saturday, January 22nd, 2011

Where:
All Fun & Games in Apex, NC

The Apoc-Eclipse North Carolina mega battle gaming club will be joining forces with all of the North American Games Workshop Battle Bunkers and other locations across the globe to coordinate a single, massive, record-breaking battle.  All objectives will be totaled and tabulated into a single result.  Come, join in the fun!

Information:
•    No point limit!  You may bring any number of points as long as the total is a multiple of 2500 points.  (You can bring 2500 points, 5000 points, or 7500 points, for example, but not 6000 points.)
•    All units must be from the same “force.” The forces available will be:
a.      Imperial (Imperial Guard, Space Marines, Inquisition, Titan Legions)
b.     Chaos (Chaos Daemons, Chaos Space Marines, Traitor IG, Traitor Space Marines, Titan Legions)
c.     Eldar
d.     Tau
e.     Necrons
f.     Tyranids
g.     Dark Eldar
h.     Orks. 
•    All models must be either Games Workshop licensed or scratch-built.  Everything must be WYSIWYG and painted to a table-top standard.  We’re letting you take whatever you want, but we need some way of being able to identify what you’ve brought!
•    Movement trays for large infantry forces are encouraged.

It is not necessary to pre-register, but it would be helpful.

For all other house rules, please check our web page (www.apoc-eclipse.com) or send e-mail to info@apoc-eclipse.com.

Global battle organized through www.apocalypse40k.com

One wound away from the big win !!

Played in the team tourney yesterday with my good buddy and fellow 40k Wrecking Crew member, the Hod. We were running Team Twilight, BA (BBF) and SW (Hod). My 1250 point list can be found in my previous article here... I brought an electronic copy of my army list in iRoster 40k on my iPad - everyone was cool with that (of course I had my codex but never had to break it out).

The Hod was running a drop pod list - Rune Priest (JAWS), 3x Grey Hunter in pods with terminator Wolfguard pack leaders, and two squads of Long Fangs (mix of missile launchers and lascannons). There was definitely some good synergy between our two armies. I've always known that jump infantry and drop pods work quite well together. The pods full of Grey Hunters are an excellent shock troop. They come in, blow things up and the enemy must react... Or you can land on an objective and force the enemy to come to you. Hod had one Wolfguard in terminator armor (combi melta and chainfist) in each squad of Grey Hunters, the Rune Priest ran with one of these squads.

Blood Angels DoA 1250 point list for team tourney

I'll be attending a team tournament tomorrow. I'll be teaming up with my fellow 40k Wrecking Crew member, the Hod. I'm running Blood Angels (no surprise there) and the Hod will be running with his Space Wolves. First I'll post my list and supply some thoughts behind it's strengths...

The Sanguinor (275)
* Our most expensive HQ, I've been running since I first started playing DoA. Yes he is expensive but you get a lot of bang for your buck. The Sanguinor provides two big buffs to DoA armies -

1st any unit within 6" of him get +1 attack. This is very powerful when you can cast this buff on two or more units. Think of it this way - if you had two full assault squads inside the Sanguinor's area of effect that equate to a total of 20 additional attacks so it's just as if you had another assault squad. This works very well with power fists.

2nd one of your sergeant's receives the Sanguinor's Blessing:

+1WS, +1A, +1I, +1W

I arm my sergeants with either power fists or thunder hammers so the +1I is wasted for me but the other three really help - typically hitting on 3+ versus MEQ and squashing another Marine. I arm all my sergeants with a thunder hammer and stormshield now so they are little wrecking crews. The sergeant who receives the blessing still counts as a squad member so he can't be picked out in melee - basically it's like having an HQ with a retinue. The extra wound combined with the stormshield makes them quite resilient too.

The Sanguinor himself is also another little wrecking crew...

WS8, I6, S5, master crafted power glaive, Sv 2+/3++ (jump pack, Furious Charge)
Plus you can select one enemy HQ he rerolls all failed to hits and wounds - he is the ultimate big head hunter.

(If your new to Blood Angels then DoA stands for Descent of Angels - jump infantry only scatters 1d6 and you can reroll failed reserves. DoA has made a Blood Angels jump infantry list quite viable as a competitive army.)

2x Chaplain/2x jump pack & 2x infernus pistol
* I will attach one each to both assault squads. They make these units fearless plus these units can reroll failed hits the turn they charge.

2x Sanguinary Priest/2x jump pack & 2x power sword
* There is some debate as to whether or not to arm priests with a power sword - I always look at it this way - with jump infantry army you can't keep them embarked in a transport so you might as well take advantage of their WS5. Sanguinary Priest buff your army as they provide both Furious Charge and Feel No Pain to any squad within 6" of them. Again I'll attach one to each assault squad.

I have an identical build for both of two assault squads:

10x Assault Marine/jump packs, flamer, meltagun, thunderhammer & stormshield

So each squad has a Chaplain and Priest attached - so they become very strong in melee! Sanguinor gives each squad the potential for the +1A.

So basically I opted to build the list around my troops and buff them as much as possible.

G

2nd time perma banned from Dakka Dakka

I am excited to announce I've been perma banned from Dakka again. Two times now in the last month or so. My latest username was BloodThirSTAR. I have a couple more accounts active so it's all good.

G

Colors

Tonight at dinner someone told me that some colors are evil. This person knew lots about colors and how they affect people. My thought is that there are no evil colors only some evil people. I think if you think about any color you will remember some good things attribute to that color. Take brown for instance - we can attribute earth to that color. Pink is often linked to peace. Not much else to say here, just thought I'd mention it.

G

Learning from our losses

I had the opportunity to play several games this weekend with my Blood Angels DoA list. Out of the four games (versus dark eldar, Space Marines, Salamander and Tau) I only managed to win one game (versus Space Marines). The rules for the mission objectives were not followed correctly during the game versus Salamanders which made it a fairly easy win for my opponent but that was an honest oversight on both of us so no foul called there - I still wasn't happy with the performance of my army regardless and felt I could have played better. Today the loss versus Tau - they are considered by many to be an easy win against with jump heavy Blood Angels - my opponent played a great game though and barely won using some very shrewd movement in the sixth turn. I don't feel that bad against the dark eldar (old codex) - it's a tough matchup and I think I played it the best I could and my dice that game were generally very kind to me.

So here is my standard list:

The Sanguinor
Librarian/Epistolary (Sanguine Sword & Unleash Rage), jump pack, hand flamer
Honor Guard/Chapter Banner, jump packs - pair of lightning claws, thunderhammer & Stormshield, 2x lightning claw & Stormshield

Sanguinary Priest/jump pack, power sword
Furioso dreadnaught/pair of Blood Talons, heavy flamer, extra armor

10x Assault Marine/meltagun & flamer, power fist & infernus pistol
10x Assault Marine/meltagun & flamer, thunderhammer & stormshield

Stormraven/twin-linked lascannon, twin-linked multi-melta, extra armor

5x Vanguard Veterans/jump packs, 4x bolt pistol & power sword, power fist & stormshield (sergeant)

I have been playing this list a lot and have won two RTTS and a Best General award locally so I know it's a solid list. Even with this weekend's poor performance I don't feel it's a matter of going back to the drawing board to re-design my army.

Status report - Bolter Beach II and other things

Okay so it's been a bit quiet here this week. I was abroad and just got back home this afternoon. Definitely a very busy week and looks like I just made it back to Florida ahead of a major snowstorm rolling up on the east coast. Gotta love Florida for that! : )

I found out this week Games Workshop will be providing a healthy amount of prize support for Bolter Beach II. I'm sure we will have lots of nice battle forces to hand out as door prizes again. I also spoke with Battle Foam this afternoon - looks like there is a good chance they will be supporting us as well this time. My partner Yuri Devilbiss and I did a short podcast interview with the 11th Company a couple of weeks ago so a big shout out to those fine folks! Possibly they will be there at BB II to run a broadcast. The 11th Company is very excited about our new format:

*W/L scoring system with Strength of Schedule
*2nd day the field will be split into two brackets so everyone has the opportunity to win an award! Note that anyone in either bracket can win best army, player's choice and best sport.
*No Best Overall anymore! Best General, Best Army, Player's Choice and Best Sport will receive an equal amount of prize support - they are all equal now (more on that below)
*Missions are being play tested at local RTTs across central Florida for player feedback.

Locally there has been some concern that we are running an Ard Boyz style event. In fact nothing could be farther from the truth. We have eliminated composition and I think most people are happy about that too. There are still soft scores for sportsmanship and appearance but with the new format these scores along with your W/L record are kept separated from each other. Because there is no longer an award for Best Overall this just makes good sense to me. I think it will also help to entice everyone to score sportsmanship more honestly since your soft scores do not affect your overall W/L record.

So basically what we have done is take what we thought was best from other big successful events like the NOVA Open and WarGamesCon (formerly known as BoLScon). And we kept true to our original mission by providing you with challenging fun missions. Our sample missions have been modified based upon the feedback we've received from players at our RTTs - we even went so far as to drop one altogether since it was pretty much universally panned.

So it's looking pretty darn good again this time around plus we already have more people registered as now than the total number of people who attended Bolter Beach I. I'm trying my best to entice more clubs to come down and play. It's going to be a good time for sure.

G

Update on Priest Modelling Project...

Again no pix. I hate to post WIP shots because of inane comments. I remember when posting work on my converted Mephiston somebody had serious issues with the placement of one purity seal. >.<

Anyways I was up into the wee hours sculpting like a madman and I'm happy with the results. I ended up with a very dynamic pose and robe with a serious cowl. The Clint Eastwood effect was simply not meant to be but I was able to incorporate some subtle imagery from the pictures I posted in the last article. So like I said I'm happy. I'm not a golden daemon level painter or Michel Angelo but I find people tend to like my stuff. The Epistolary is the final edition to my Blood Angels DoA list then I'll start in earnest on dark eldar. As soon as the Librarian is painted I'll have some pictures posted. It's nice to have a model I want to use... I tried two other attempts at a Librarian but was unhappy with how they turned out. One was a conversion using a Dark Angels robed miniature from the DA veteran sprue - turns out lots of people are using this idea and I'd like something a bit different. The second attempt was a classic pewter Librarian miniature - definitely an awesome model but not what I wanted.

Cheers,
G

PS -@ Brent:
The picture was randomly chosen from the Internet. It shows just how awesome a death mask looks for a Librarian conversion. Just snip off the halo and then file it down. Looks like there was a lil green stuff sculpting to affect a hood.

BBF = Trolle ??

[quote=insaniak]Hello,

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Thanks,

The Dakka moderation team[/quote]

Next modeling project -> Priest

I recently learned about a new movie that will be released next May. The title of the film is Priest. The story takes place on an alternate earth far in the future. The world has been ravaged by a great war between the humans and an evil race of vampires. The vampires are lead by a group of fallen angels. The setting of the movie has a dystonian city protected from the vampires and is ruled by the Church. There is an order of warrior priests within the Church who are highly trained fighters, some gifted with supernatural powers. A niece of one of these priests is kidnapped at the start of the movie, so begins the epic tale based upon a Manga series of graphic novels from South Korea. The priest who has lost his niece decides to go find her and must step down from the Church. The priest then leaves the city with a small posse of super fighters who will help him in his quest. Along the way while traveling through the desert they run across a small town of humans who are protected by a sheriff. The sheriff is also a super fighter gifted with some supernatural power of his own.

This I got from repeatedly watching the trailer for the movie and also conducting a bit of research on the Internet. I am fascinated by the movie and the character of the sheriff. The sheriff looks like a direct throwback to the old Clint Eastwood sphagetti westerns. Now at the same time I've been working on creating a miniature to represent the Librarian who just happens to be the chapter master for my new Blood Angels successor chapter, the Blood Saints. I have built and painted several models to represent my Librarian but was never quite satisfied with the final results. I really want something different that will stand out and look quite striking. So we come to this character, the sheriff, from the upcoming film. I have decided to use this image to base my Librarian. He will have an appropriate hat and a shawl/pancho and be modeled in such a manner to depict him as using an Angelus wrist mounted bolter attached to one arm and a hand flamer held in his other gauntlet. He will have a small sheathed combat blade rather than a large ornate force weapon. So while this is quite a departure from what you'd expect for a Space Marine Librarian I think I can pull off a stunning conversion that will both depict the essence of the gunfighter as well as the Librarian. His hat will be both a focal point for the miniature and must fit in with the image of a Space Marine Librarian. The pancho should be easy enough and fits right in with the image of robes we sometimes see worn by high ranking members of Space Marine chapter.

I think this is a fairly aggressive project and will require some sculpting using good old greenstuff. I'm curious as to what others think and would love some constructive feedback. If you find yourself also intrigued by this film then I suggest you google search the terms "Priest + movie". You can find the trailer and have a look.

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The Melvins

The Melvins were a highly influential grunge rock band from Washington back in the 1980s. They were a huge influence for bands diverse as Nirvana to Metallic. Kurt Cobain actually auditioned for the band but was turned down. Later The Melvins introduced Kurt to Dave Grohl. I saw them in Montana at a biker bar and was just blown away.

Today is a salute to this super band!

Saw this on the Internet today...

"I'm really torn in general. On one hand, I despise comp as it has always punsihed me in the past but also hate tournaments that do not have it. Sportsmanship should be required even though that too has hurt me."

So what do you think about as statement like that one? Yes I love you! Yes I hate you!


:  (


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Epic

Can you feel it ,see it, hear it today ? 
If you can't, then it doesn't matter anyway 
You will never understand it 'cause it happens too fast 
And it feels so good, it's like walking on glass 
It's so cool, it's so hip, it's alright 
It's so groovy, it's outta sight 
You can touch it, smell it, taste it so sweet 
But it makes no difference 'cause it knocks you off your feet

You want it all but you can't have it 

It's cryin', bleedin', lying on the floor 
So you lay down on it and you do it some more 
You've got to share it, so you dare it 
Then you bare it and you tear it 
You want it all but you can't have it 
It's in your face but you can't grab it 
It's alive, afraid, a lie, a sin 
It's magit, it's tragic, it's a loss, it's a win 
It's dark, it's moist, it's a bitter pain 
It's sad it happened and it's a shame

You want it all but you can't have it

It's in your face but you can't grab it 
What is it ? 
It's it 
What is it ?

Landraider Achilles

Originating in the closing years of the Great Crusade, the Achilles is perhaps the rarest and most venerable Land Raider variant still used on the battlefields of the 41st Millenium. It was originally created by the Imperial Fists Legion in response to a dire xenos threat now lost to the mists of history, and fittingly rare outside the noble Imperial Fists, their successors and the Ordo Reductor of the Adeptus Mechanus. The Achilles is perhaps most vaunted for its legendary durability - each stage of the hull’s construction incorporates layer upon layer of ancient electromagnetic algorithms and ferromantic incantations. This arcane lore is etched into the very structure of the Land Raider Achilles at a molecular level, and is one the most secret and ancient rites of the Cult Mechanicus.

Some new thoughts on designing a competitive dark eldar list

Okay so I have had some more time to think about dark eldar. I have been perusing the Internet on this subject the past couple of weeks and saw some really good ideas I'd like to share so let's start first with some potential staple units:

Quote of the week (on dark eldar)

I saw this by w7west over on Darkwynn's blog:

"Spam might work with marines but what a boring army. You will need to think in more than one dimension with your dark eldar. You can't spam since every unit excels in a specific area."

This makes a lot of sense to me. Dark eldar are a lot like their cousins, the eldar. I'd never really thought of this before until I read it there. In reality it's not completely true, for instance some players love to spam mechdar lists with Dire Avengers in wave serpents with three Fire Prisms. I've even had people tell me they take three Prisms because that is the maximum allowed... Hee! Anyways going back to the quote I think it has a lot of merit and I'm going to start approach building lists for dark eldar using that as a central tenet. I have noticed that you are going to need some specific units such as an Archon and probably Haemonculi to create competitive armies.

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The Wall performed live in Tampa

I was at the Roger Waters show last night and filmed a few short clips. Enjoy teh bootlegs!

:  )

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New tactical articles in the works...

Well I have completed my articles on Stormravens. Funny I was just ahead of the rumored pictures released late last week. Now that there is supposedly a model lots of people are saying the Stormraven is the bomb. Isn't that silly though? Oh well wadda ya gonna do ??

I have presented a brief comparison of razorspam versus DoA. If you follow my blog then you know I am an advocate of DoA style lists. Razorspam just leaves me with that old meh taste... boring for me.

You are soon going to see some tactical articles here about Dark Eldar! This is one of those armies that people dont really know what to expect yet. With Tyranids it was fairly obvious right out the gate they would not be top tiered.

So that is it for now.

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DoA versus Razorspam

Two types of lists have evolved out of the new codex – razorspam and the beautiful DoA.

Razorspam basically consists of five to six predators (maybe a Vindi) and the rest of the army is small five man assaults squads carrying meltaguns riding in razorbacks. There will be a Librarian or two with Shield of Sanguinius and possibly even a Sanguinary Priest. The predators screen the razorbacks for cover saves and the Librarian casts Shield for extra protection. All vehicles in the army can move 12 inches and still shoot. The army has no assault element whatsoever and can generate a moderate level of shooting.

DoA stands for Descent of Angels. This army consists entirely of jump infantry and possibly Stormravens transporting dreadnaughts. Everything starts in reserve. The jump infantry units are typically bristling with meltaguns and infernus pistols… these units can reroll a failed reserve roll and only scatter d6 inches. This army is one of the strongest in assault, has excellent short range firepower and is highly mobile. These armies tend to be small and don’t have any long range firepower unless Stormravens are fielded for much needed heavy support.

In my opinion DoA is much stronger than razorspam, however razorspam is more popular because it is an EZ Win Button army. That said DoA is still popular and could become more so with the coming release of the Stormraven model from Games Workshop. I have played my DoA army versus BA razorspam… have not lost a game against them yet.

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Early Christmas present

New GW Stormraven model ??

Helicopter lift

Blood Angels DoA tactica for horde control

I recently posted a tactical article on how to play BA DoA style lists versus mechanized armies such as Space Wolves. Basically you have to play aggressively to win. The longer you sit back the more turns they can shoot you with their Long Fangs missile spam. So does this style of play work well versus hordes (Nidz & orks)? No not really... I don't see much of an advantage deep striking your army versus hordes. First hordes typically don't have much low AP shooting so you don't have to worry about either army dropping big pieplates on your head that ignore your basic army saves. If the orks have SAG then you can take out the Big Mekk with your Vanguard veterans. Second you don't want your units coming in from reserve and then having to wait a turn before they can assault. Fast units such as trukk boyz can jump on you, denying you the charge.  So how do you fight hordes with a DoA style army?

Does Blood Angels mechanized lists need Sanguinary Priests • by tpm

This Blood Angels article is from my good friend and fellow member of the 40k Wrecking Crew gaming club. Paul won a GW GT with his Blood Angels a few years ago and is well known for his Blood Angels tactics.


Does a Blood Angel mechanized list need Priests?

Before you sit down and build an army list you should have a plan.  What do you want the list to be able to do?  How do you plan to win the game?  What sorts of other lists will your list have trouble with?

If you are playing a heavily meched up BA list then you are likely taking advantage of the discount on transport vehicles for assault squads and you’re going to spam them.  Meaning you are going to have five or six minimum sized assault squads, each with a melta gun and possibly with or without a power fist/weapon on the veteran sergeant.

You’re going to have this backed up by anywhere from four to six predators. (Baals from the fast attack org slots and regular space marine predators from the heavy support org slots)  Another school of thought here is that you could use Vindicators in the heavy support slots.  With all these tanks you are going to have the ability to do TONS of tank shocking and while it might be risky you’ll have the ability to bunch up enemy troops and drop pie plates on them.  That tactic is not for the feint of heart though as you can scatter on to your own tanks.  Still might be worth it, especially if it isn’t a kill point mission and your transport is already empty.

That leads me to the main question and point of the article.  This type of list should never step foot on the ground.  Your squads should be nicely buttoned up in their razorbacks all game long, never exposing themselves to small arms fire that would give them a reason to use their feel no pain.

If there ‘should’ be no reason to use feel no pain, and you won’t be on the table to execute any charges, then you don’t need a priest.  Or do you?

Is one of the greatest strengths of the Blood Angel codex ever worth not fielding?  It is 50 points for naked priest. If he is near even 10 marines you are basically paying 5 points each for feel no pain and furious charge.  If he is around 20 marines then that effective cost is halved.

The priest helps keep everyone around him live longer.  So while you intend to never be on the table top with your troops we all know that playing against the higher end lists that your AV 11 transport vehicles will be turned into slag at some point during the game.  You will find yourself trying to hold an objective later in the game with a handful of Assault Marines doing their best to crouch behind cover.

While feel no pain won’t work on everything, having the 50/50 chance of not failing those crucial armor saves to multi laser and heavy bolter fire is amazing.  It can be the difference between tying a close game and losing it completely.

Think of a priest like an insurance policy. You might never need it, but when you do you’ll be thanking your lucky stars that you have it.

To answer the question: Does a Blood Angel mechanized list need Priests?  I say yes.  The list needs them as much as any list ever needs anything.  There are ways to win with many different combinations but in any way you look at it the priest is always a smart buy.

Bolter Beach Apocalypse Springfest

My good partner Yuri and I have been talking about running an Apocalypse Springfest next year. Basically it would be a three day campaign. You can bring all your toys and roll them out down here in Florida. The weather is still most awesome in early spring too. The one caveat is Yuri and I can play too as this would be a non competitive event. No I'm not talking about composition and sportsmanship, I'm talking about an event purely design for fun with nothing else on the side. As always there would be awesome tables with our patented terrain and a very interesting set style for a three day campaign. I'm interested to see who would like to join in the mayhem. All armies would be allowed. So let me know if this sounds like fun.

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Stormraven Tactica * Part III - Menage

So far we have discussed how to keep the Stormraven afloat and the best choice for weapons of mass destruction. Now we come to the main subject. Blood Angels are currently one of the best assault armies in the game and they will continue to be so with the release of the new dark eldar. The Stormraven is basically a flying landraider in that it has an assault ramp. You can deliver not one but two wrecking balls into the very heart of the enemy line... an uber assault squad like an Epistolary leading a choppy Honor Guard and a Furioso dreadnaught armed with Blood Talons.

This is what I refer to commonly as a BEAT FACE tactic. It is hard to counter, even Tau and IG with all their bristly guns. Sometimes I fly the Stormraven up and dont charge that turn... you can bet your life every enemy gun will be blazing it... okay so they manage to pop it but my uber death squad has jump packs so I am still in your face next turn and now the rest of my army is in position. Its fun.

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Stormraven Tactica * Part II - Arms

There are lots of options to select from when arming the Stormraven. You can make it a flying Crusader with hurricane bolters and twin linked assault cannon... how cool is that? Well it might be cool but let's remember Part I of this series... don't take weapons that require you to get close for optimal use such as hurricane bolters. I much prefer the twin linked lascannon and twin linked multi-melta with extra armor and that is it. The Stormraven is an expensive vehicle so no need to pour more points into it. Its primary purpose is to deliver your wrecking ball, its secondary purpose is to wreck vehicles at range with its deadly twin linked guns. The lascannon and multi-melta are free... now how cool is that ?? Oh yeah and it comes with four Bloodstrike missiles... 60" range S8 AP1... not bad for an over-glorified Vendetta! :P  This is what I refer to as the basic configuration and it works very well for me.