2k pt batrep - BA vs. SW

I wanted to post a batrep for my 2000 points BA army I am currently running. I love the army for what it is. One shot from a Vindicator could toast the army but Blood Angels have huge balls so I have to say what the heck! :p

Here is my current list I am working with:

Dante
Sanguinor

15x Death Company & Lemartes/jump packs + 5x power fist, infernus pistol
5x assault Marine/jump packs, meltagun, thunderhammer & stormshield

Chaplain/jump pack, infernus pistol
2x Sanguinary Priest/jump packs, infernus pistols & power weapons

Stormraven/extra armor, TL multi-melta, TL lascannon

I have had mixed results with Sanguinor but I really love to use him as he is lots & lots of fun. Enough boltguns will kill him dead but what the heck, he is very Killy & a blast to play so I will stick with him.

Here is my opponent's army:

Wolf Lord/thunderwolf mount, runic armor, wolf tooth necklace, thunderhammer & stormshield
Wolf Priest

5x Wolfguard terminator/2x thunderhammer, cyclone missile launcher, 2x wolf claws, 2x stormshield
Landraider/multi-melta

10x Grey Hunter/Wulfen, 2x plasmagun, powerfist - rhino
10x Grey Hunter/Wulfen, meltagun, plasmagun, powerfist - rhino

Long Fangs/2x plasma cannon, 3x missile launcher
Long Fangs/3x missile launcher, 2x lascannon

3x Thunderwolves/stormshields, wolf claw, meltabombs

Here is the mission:

Deployment - 18" in from long table edge, 12" from short table edges

Objective - Killpoints

I won the roll & decided to go first. I held everything in reserve with the following groupings:

Dante + Lemartes + Sanguinary Priest + Death Company

Sanguinor + Stormraven

Assault squad + Chaplain + Sanguinary Priest

My opponent deployed his entire army in a castle with the Thunderwolves & his Wolf Priest/termies in the landraider right smack dab in the middle. They can pretty much hit anything I charge as counter assault elements.

First Turn - BA
All my army is in reserves.

First Turn - SW
They spread out a bit and hold tight.

Second Turn - BA
None of my units come in except for Sanguinor in his pimp ride. The Stormraven floats in 6" outside of his ranged AT and I light up the landraider with 4 Bloodstrike missiles. One missile glances & immoblizes the landraider.

Second Turn - SW
Again my opponent holds the line.

Third Turn - BA
In comes Dante with friends plus the assault squad. Dante lands his combined unit beside the plasma toting Long Fangs while the assault squad drops in safely behind cover. Shooting sees the Long Fangs blown off the table. Sanguinor rides up in his Stormraven moving flatout. Shooting the multi-melta destroys one of the SW rhinos and the Grey Hunters take some losses from the ensuing explosion. 

3rd Turn - SW
The Thunderwolves move up in position to charge Dante & friends. The Wolf Priest & terminators disembark ready to counter charge. The remaining rhino pulls up & the Grey Hunters also disembark ready to blaze away into the huge DC. Combined shooting into the DC kills four and Lemartes takes a wound. The Thunderwolves charge in but the Wolf Priest & WG termies just fall short. Dante & Lemartes combine to drop one Thunderwolf & the other two both take a wound. Combined attacks from the DC drop the rest of the Thunderwolves then the power fists & Wolf Lord swing simo... 3 more dead DC Marines & the power fist attacks kill the Wolf Lord. Dante & friends consolidate toward the SW line.

4th Turn - BA
Sanguinor dismounts ready to charge the Grey Hunters fallen out of the destroyed rhino. Dante & friends move into position to shoot & assault Wolf Priest & termies. Assault squad moves in to shoot & assault the other Grey Hunter squad embarked in the rhino encircling it. Stormraven explodes the rhino. Dante & friends wipe out Wolf Priest & termies with shooting & assault. Sanguinor kills over half the Grey Hunter squad on the charge. Landraider & One pack of Long Fangs are still left and get toasted over the next two turns.

Win for BA.

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Bootae Call

Fresh

The Battle of Evermœr

Queen of Light took her plow, And then she turned to go,
The Prince of Peace embraced the gloom, And walked the night alone.
Oh, dance in the dark of night, Sing to the morning light.
The dark Lord rides in force tonight, And time will tell us all.
Oh, throw down your plow and hoe, Rest not to lock your homes.
Side by side we wait the might of the darkest of them all.
Oohh
I hear the horses' thunder down in the valley below,
I'm waiting for the angels of Avalon, waiting for the eastern glow.
The apples of the valley hold, The seeds of happiness,
The ground is rich from tender care, Repay, do not forget, no, no.
Oh, Dance in the dark of night, sing to the morning light.
The apples turn to brown and black, The tyrant's face is red.
Oh war is common cry, Pick up you swords and fly.
The sky is filled with good and bad that mortals never know.
Oohh
Oh, well, the night is long the beads of time pass slow,
Tired eyes on the sunrise, waiting for the eastern glow.
The pain of war cannot exceed the woe of aftermath,
The drums will shake the castle wall, the ring wraiths ride in black, Ride on.
Sing as you raise your bow,(ride on) shoot straighter than before.
No comfort has the fire at night that lights the face so cold.
Oh dance in the dark of night, Sing to the morning moon light.
The magic runes are writ in gold to bring the balance back. Bring it back.
At last the sun is shining, The clouds of blue roll by,
With flames from the dragon of darkness, the sunlight blinds his eyes.
oh oh, mmhm
aahh, oh
bring it back, bring it back,
bring it back, bring it back,
bring it back, bring it back,
bring it back, bring it back,
oh now, oh now, oh now ah
oh now, oh now, oh now
bring it back, bring it back,
bring it back, bring it back,
oh now, oh now, oh now

Bye bye Mr. Inquisitor!

Here is a link to a poll I created on a popular forum:

http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/296129.page

Basically it's asking for people's opinions on the loss of Inquisitor Mystics for IG. IG is the most broken codex right now (Bastion Breecher for 5 pts... WTF??) so I am happy to see at least one little ding coming. They need to be brought in line.

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Blood Angels best close combat units

Here are the ones I have enjoyed using the most so far:

* Death Company
Lemartes
5x Death Company Marine/jump packs, 3x power sword, power fist, infernus pistol

I put them in Stormraven (extra armor, twin linked lascannon, twin linked multi-melta) and run them straight at the enemy. Note that they typically have a Death Company dreadnaught armed with Blood Talons along for the ride. They will kill just about anything they charge but the Death Company does not last long when the opponent then focus fires upon them. It's fun to scare the crap out of my opponents with this unit.

* Terminators
Recluisarch/meltabombs
Corbulo
5x assault terminator/4x pair of lightning claws & thunderhammer/stormshield

This combined unit can either ride in an LRC (extra armor & pintle mounted multi-melta) or a Stormraven (see above configuration). They also do amazing things in close combat but the advantage of this unit is they can weather a lot of enemy shooting. I played an IG army the second mission of the Ard Boyz preliminary round and they took out a 30 man blob of guardsmen in two rounds of close combat then blew up some tanks. I use the stormshield to absorb lascannons and save Corbulo's reroll for this save. They soaked up two squads of veterans blasting at them with plasmaguns before assaulting the tanks and I only lost two of the lightning claw termies.

* Assault Marines
Sanguinary Priest/power sword & infernus pistol
9x assault Marine/meltagun, thunderhammer & stormshield

I have been running this unit either with jump packs (add one more assault Marine with a flamer) or take a landraider (extra armor) as a dedicated transport. This unit has been doing suprisingly well and it's probably my favorite of the three. It really doesn't hurt when they decide to suffer from the Red Thirst & become fearless. The thunderhammer is really great at tackling big nasties like lash princes. I plan on adding a Chaplain for the jump infantry version.

I also want to experiment with a squad of Vanguard veterans (jump packs):

Sergeant - thunderhammer & stormshield, meltabombs
4x Veteran - 4x lightning claw & stormshield, meltabombs

Expensive but probably the most durable due to all the shields. I would run them with a Priest and stick them in a Stormraven as well.

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Death Mask

This is not a tactical or strategic discussion. It is an entry on psychology. A mask is worn either to hide something you do not wish to show or present a false face. We all project masks everyday in many ways. How often is someone completely honest projecting themselves as they truly are? Often if a stranger approaches me and is very friendly I immediately feel quite wary and keep my guard up. Acting friendly is a mask we can project to influence others to do what we want. On the other hand smiling is often the sign of utter submission. Have you ever seen people wearing sunglasses indoors? Your eyes are very expressive so hiding them shuts off a lot of information and is also intimidating. We all know the stories about cops wearing their sunglasses at night.

For some the mask is necessary since they are not comfortable with whom they truly are and it can help them to better fit in with a group. To me it's very important to present yourself as you truly are. So finally we come to the original subject of the death mask. A death mask is created from a mold on a dead person's face to preserve their image. Blood Angels wear death masks to fill the enemy with fear.

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Batrep - Mike Walsh's Loganwing vs. Gareth Hunt's Fatecrusher Spam

Mike is a very good friend of mine from North Carolina. We used to play each other a lot & our playtesting helped us both to become better gamers. Our win/loss record versus each other is very tight with many draws. Mike probably has a few more wins but I was able to win our last engagement, my Khornate daemons versus his Space Wolves. I first met Mike when he was just starting the game and in a matter of weeks he was very hard to beat. I am not one of those guys who relishes easy wins clubbing baby seals so it's okay. I like to think both Mike & I learned just as much from each other over the course of our many games played together. We are both highly competitive & don't like to lose but over the course of our relationship we both learned that winning ranks a distant second to the time we spend together enjoying the hobby.

Gareth is another one of my best friends and we also have played many games together. Back in 4ed I beat him my fair share but have not been able yet to hand his patented Fatecrusher spam a solid defeat. Gareth won the 2008 Ard Boyz and unfortunately to this day is still ostracized by some of the other national veteran gamers due to a couple of rumors that surfaced immediately following his big win at Baltimore back in 2008. In my mind the two rumors are unfounded. I know Gareth extremely well. I think a lot of other veterans would have quit the hobby if they had come under the spiteful attack directed at Gareth. GW stood behind him & upheld his title, that says a lot to me as I know for a fact in the past GW has reversed decisions regarding the awarding of titles for both tournament & painting competitions. Gareth is by far the best tournament player I know and have ever met. He is never shaken & knows exactly what to do come game time.

Last night I had hte opportunity to play Mike Walsh's Loganwing (proxied) versus Gareth's Fatecrusher spam.

[b]Loganwing[/b]
Logan Grimnar
Ragnar Blackmane
3x Wolfguard terminator/2x lightning claw & stormshield, power fist & stormshield + Arjac - drop pod 
Wolf Lord/Thunderwolf mount, thunderhammer & stormshield, wolftooth necklace
3x TWC/stormshields, powerfist, meltabombs
5x Grey Hunter/meltagun + Wolfguard/combi melta - rhino
5x Grey Hunter/meltagun + Wolfguard/combi melta - rhino
9x Grey Hunter/Mark of the Wulfen, Standard + Wolfguard/power fist - drop pod
6x Long Fang/5x multi-melta - drop pod
6x Long Fang/5x missile
6x Long Fang/5x missile

[b]Fatecrusher Spam[/b]
Fateweaver
Lord of Secrets
Nurgle daemon prince/Iron Hide, Unholy Might
Nurgle daemon prince/same
Nurgle daemon prince/same
8x Blood Crusher/all wargear
8x Blood Crusher/same
8x Blood Crusher/same
5x Plague Bearer
5x Plague Bearer
5x Plague Bearer
5x Plague Bearer

I hadn't played the Loganwing before so of course I made a few mistakes. 

We decided to play the 2nd mission from the Ard Boyz 2010 preliminary round - victory points & table quarters. Gareth won the roll for deployment and opted to go second. I deployed in a castle back in the corner of my deployment zone. All three Long Fang squads were up on a hill with Logan in front of the melta squad. I deployed both rhinos with Grey Hunters embarked in front to cut off daemonic charges. Ragnar joined Arjac & the terminators to my right behind the rhinos. The mounted Wolf Lord with the Thunderwolves were placed in front of the Long Fangs and also behind the rhinos. There was a big clump of wooded terrain to my left to slow down any daemonic units advancing towards that side of my castle. I dropped the two empty pods in the far table quarters to contest. The pod full of 9 Grey Hunters was held in reserve & did not arrive until the 5th turn. :(

[b]-Daemons, 1st Turn-[/b]
Gareth got his preferred wave. Fateweaver landed first in front of my two rhinos. The three squads of Blood Crushers came in on the left, center and right to my two rhinos. The greater daemon dropped back towards the two empty drop pods. Fateweaver shot at the rhino to my left & immobilized it. My 1st mistake - should have popped smoke, not a biggie though by any means.

[b]-Loganwing, 2nd Turn-[/b]
The mobile rhino turned sideways to lengthen my screen. Grey Hunters disembarked behind the rhinos outside the daemons' charge arc. All my other units were also outside of the daemons' charge arc as well. I shot everything into the Fateweaver, he failed one save but passed his leadership test. Rune Priest fails his psychic test... What a punk he was! :(

 [b]-Fatecrusher Spam, 2nd Turn-[/b]
One unit of Plague Bearers came in along with one Nurgle Prince. The Crushers to my left advanced into the woods. Fateweaver and the central Crushers advanced towards the two rhinos. Crushers to my right also advanced towards the rhinos. Fateweaver shot at a rhino but failed to inflict any damage. Crushers charge the rhinos, destroy one & wreck the other.

[b]-Loganwing, 3rd Turn-[/b]
Logan joins the Wolf Lord & Thunderwolves. Ragnar, Arjac & terminators advance toward the Crushers on my right. Grey Hunters move up into wreckage. All Long Fangs target Fateweaver... Another wound gets through the 3++/3++ and the big sissy decides to run away! :D Everything changes. Rune Priest passes his psychic test, JAWS the Blood Crushers to my right including the prince... The prince & 2 Crushers are vaporized! Ragnar, Arjac & terminators charge the 6 remaining Crushers to my right while Logan, Wolf Lord & Thunderwolves charge the 8 Crushers in the woods. Ragnar gets 2 extra attacks for everyone & Logan yells & casts preferred enemy upon himself, the Wolf Lord & Thunderwolves. My 2nd mistake - I forgot that one of the TW models was a Wolf Lord & did not use his thunderhammer attacks (I was using bare Crushers as a proxy)... This was a big mistake, oh well. Grey Hunters charge into middle pack of Crushers. The Grey Hunters are destroyed but on my two flanks Crushers are dropping right & left. Arjac loses one wound and Thunderwolves lose a couple of wounds. At this point it looked really good for old Logan & his company. I will have to absorb a charge though from the central unit of Crushers next daemon turn.

 [b]-Fatecrusher Spam, 3rd Turn-[/b]
Both remaining princes drop as does the rest of the Plague Bearers. Greater daemon pops one of the pods. Central squad of 8 Crushers move up through wreckage to charge Logan, Wolf Lord & Thunderwolves. Other two Crusher squads are still locked in combat. 3rd mistake - I forgot that Ragnar has Saga of the Warrior... Another big mistake as he completely whiffs then fails all three 4++ saves. :( The power fist terminator dies but they reduce the right Crusher squad to only two with one wound left apiece. Arjac & his two remaining terminators fail their morale check but luckily are caught by one of the two remaining princes who joined the melée. Two thunderwolves go down in the middle but Logan fights very well, taking one wound while killing two more Crushers. Again I forgot to swing with the mounted Wolf Lord, my 4th mistake of the game.

 [b]-Loganwing, 4th Turn-[/b]
Unfortunately for old Logan & his company the battle lust is quickly starting to ebb away as is so often the case versus daemons. My Rune Priest fails yet another psychic test again! :( Like I said he was such a little punk. Long Fangs target a squad of Plague Bearers & kill two of them. So right back to close combat again... First the one prince in combat kills the mounted Wolf Lord who failed 3 3++ saves. Logan also dies along with the last of the Thunderwolves. Arjac & his terminators are swept away by the other prince and the 2 Crushers to my right. At this point is pretty much all over... All I have left are the Long Fangs, punk Rune Priest & the squad of Grey Hunters in the pod still adrift. One squad of Long Fangs were able to target & destroy the 2 wounded Crushers remaining from the squad on my right... They both tried to run back into cover but fell a bit short. The punk Rune Priest did manage to cast JAWS again, destroying another prince & 2 more Crushers but it was too little too late at that point.

So we call it a game. At best for the Wolves all that could have survived was the squad of Grey Hunters aimlessly drifting about in their drop pod.

*Daemonjc Kill Count:
Fateweaver (333)
2x Nurgle Prince (300+)
8x Blood Crusher - 1st unit (320+)
4x Blood Crushers - 2nd unit (160+)

I was lucky to pop the big sissy early in the game but my horrid dice in the last eventful melée spelled my doom. If I had remembered that Ragnar has Saga of the Warrior and swung with the mounted Wolf Lord starting with the 1st charge I think it's possible it could have gone the other way, lots of thunderhammer attacks hitting on 3+ with rerolls to hit has a way of making Crushers quickly go bye bye when the big sissy has flown the coop. Well that's one of the reasons why we playtest. While the Rune Priest did indeed rack up a very impressive kill tally, failing his psychic test twice did not help my cause at all.

Good game & this is the best by far that I have fared against Gareth's Fatecrusher spam. I'll be looking for a rematch soon with my new Blood Angels... I think the Stormravens will help a whole heck of a lot.

G

New Chalice

Winning & Losing

Are you a winner or a loser? It's all a state of mind & starts with yourself. You must believe in yourself first.

Well I failed to make it to semis today & was playing on the top table going into the 3rd round. Four landraiders & two Baals... I lost both Baals & 3 landraiders and only just managed to kill two rhinos. I know if I blame the dice you'll think sure, but they were a bitch. This was 12" deployment & I got to go first. Oh well it happens sometimes. Like I said about winning & losing. I beat Salamanders the first game and believe me they had lots of meltas. 2nd game was versus IG Mech... Great game & I managed to break through their line, it was the highlight of the day... The Recluisarch & Corbulo leading the terminators rolled through a flank shrugging several salvos of plasma. It was epic for sure.

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Blood Angels Death Star for Ard Boyz

Here is my current Blood Angels deathstar I have been messing around with lately:

Lemartes
5x Death Company/jump packs, 4x power weapon, power fist & infernus pistol
Death Company dreadnaught/heavy flamer
Stormraven/extra armor, twin linked lascannon, twin linked multi-melta

Remember that if the gunship moves 12" or less then the DC dreadnaught can disembark for 2", fleet up to 6" & then assault another 6" - that's a grant total of 26"!

This bundled unit has come about based upon playtesting & talking to others. I fondly refer to it as the BBF pattern DC unit. It can drop just about any unit including a large squad of Thunderwolves lead by a Wolf Lord with Saga of hte Bear. That's really saying something too. I am not an advocate of Blood Talons because the good old DCCW can instagib TWC & you have a huge advantage versus other walkers.

The beauty of the Stormraven is you can deliver this unit right where you want it.

My second unit is Astrorath leading a squad of Sanguinary Guard (chapter banner, 2x infernus pistol & power fist) with a Librarian Furioso. The mechanized psyker has Blood Lance & Wings of Sanguinius. The SG unfortunately don't benefit from FNP but they can also cut through just about anything. The BBF patterned DC are the heavy hitters though for sure.

I encourage others to try out these units. They are tons of fun!

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2010 Ard Boyz 3rd Turn Mission Blues • 1st Round

Seems like most everyone is really upset with the newly released 3rd turn mission... Basically any unit that can move 12+ inches in a phase is worth 3 killpoints. HQ are worth 2 killpoints & everything else is worth 1 killpoint each. People are saying it's collateral damage for the new Blood Angels. I'm going to play Blood Angels myself & to be completely honest I think the mission is pretty hot. That said hopefully my words won't come back to bite me in the arse...

* knocks on wood *

I can certainly understand why people don't like the mission and it's already starting to mess with peoples' minds in a major way. People are thinking "Should I lose my tanks & transports and totally blob up??" It's a confounded situation for treadheads across the country and I'm sure we will read a lot this weekend & following week about people crying the blues. That's just the way it is. Mech is King.

My army I am planning to bring for the 1st round will give up a maximum of 24 killpoints and this is the list I was already planning to bring prior to reading the scenarios that were released late this afternoon. If you stop & think about it what you are going to see is people switching over to IG blobs, Nid horde & ork horde... Maybe some walking Marine lists as well. Lash armies & daemons will have a field day. To me I can't help but see some dark humor in this... A lot of people will swear up & down that both Nid horde & daemons are two of the worst armies currently in 40k... Now suddenly they both have an edge.

I don't think that GW will cave & make any significant changes to the mission other than to better clarify some particular units as to do they give up 3 killpoints. Vehicles that deepstrike like the Monolith & drop pods in my mind should only be worth 1 killpoint apiece. I can even see certain people trying to make a claim that if you double lash an enemy unit 12+" that is should be worth 3 killpoints. You know how it is.

So in closing I have no problem with the mission & I think most likely it will probably end up helping me in the first two missions if people go ballistic & totally change up their armies in an attempt to over compensate.

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Ard Boyz Preliminary Round I

Well next Saturday will be the first round of Ard Boyz for 2010. I will be able to play again & will bring my Blood Angels for yet another go at it. Last year I also played Blood Angels and managed to just squeek through the 1st two rounds taking home 3rd place both times. I was running a primarily mechanized list with a small component of jump infantry. The list was tweaked through the first two rounds and I ended up with something like this:

-HQ-
Dante
Corbulo

-Elites-
* Veteran assault squad (x8) - 2x meltagun & 3x power fist/jump packs
* Death Company (x8) - rhino
* Assault terminators (x5) - 4x lightning claws & stormshield

-Troops-
* Battle Sisters (x9 + Sister Superior) - heavy flamer, flamer, eviscerator, hand flamer, Book of St. Lucius - rhino
* Grey Knights (x5 + Justicar) - psycannon, incinerator, psychic hood
* Tactical Marines (x9 + sergeant) - lascannon, meltagun, power fist - rhino
* Tactical Marines {same as above}

-Heavy Support-
Landraider - extra armor
Landraider - extra armor

The trick was to mount the Grey Knights in the Death Company rhino and they were one heck of a great unit. The assault terminators & Death Company rode in the landraiders. The landraiders & assault terminators were also great units as was Dante joined with his veterans. I didn't do so well in the finals but I have to say my first opponent in Chicago was a really shady character... towards the end of the game he practically shoved two squads of genestealers about halfway across the table when I momentarily looked away, telling me that he rolled a pair of 6s for his fleet rolls. I just shook my head in utter disbelief. I was ahead on killpoints which was the primary but you had to win by a certain margin so I ended up with a draw. I was matched up against the Nid player again in the second round but we got that sorted... My second opponent had a buddy at the table and the game slowly digressed into me having to argue with both of them time & time again, plus when I asked twice how much time was left in the match all I got was stone cold silence. I left with an unpleasant feeling about the nature of Ard Boyz in general & there was some petty stuff about me being posted on another blog, so going into the finals it just felt like a really huge uphill battle. Being somewhat of a high profile player has some perks but it also has it's downside... Especialy most I hate when noobs try to play the name game to boost their own reputation.

Anyways this year I have a new & more powerful codex & I plan to take full advantage. I will be mentally prepared for the TFGs and ready to roll some dice BBF style... Heh! I have been playtesting my new list a lot and it is basically an evolution of last year's list. It's definitely stronger, has more punch in assault plus it's got some really wicked shooting thrown in for good measure. There are going to be some good players where I intend to play the first round so I know it won't be a walk in the park but I feel confident going in. Basically in the first round if you can massacre twice that should get you through to the semi finals. I'd love to win 1st place but I will definitely be very happy to just make it through again. I'm really looking forward to the Ard Boyz this year.

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Mother's Day weekend (USA)

This weekend will be Mother's Day (5/9/2010). Do something special for your mom this weekend to let her know how much you love & appreciate her! No one will ever love you as much as your mom, no matter what. I have invited my mom down for the weekend and one of the highlights will be seeing Iron Man 2... Yes she loves those Marvel superheroes as much as I do.

So don't forget... It only happens once a year.

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40k thread of the week!!

The following thread has it all, indepth discussion on foot eldar, the power of the new Blood Angels, new eldar plastic crack & more...

http://orlando40k.3.forumer.com/index.php?showtopic=3343&st=0

It really gets going around the bottom of the 2nd page.

: )

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Tongue Tide