#28: Finally upon us...

At last. At last, we have reached the dawn of this new age of fantasy! Age of Sigmar is less than two weeks away, and photos are online of the contents in the starter box. So, this week I wanted to focus on this starter box, and where I think it's going! 

If you haven't already seen the photos circulating of the Age of Sigmar models, Google is at your disposal. 

Let's first look at the good guys! A heavily armoured group of Sigmarite warriors with a distinctly angelic look, these guys are incredible! There are ten foot soldiers with axes/hammers and broad shields that look to be the frontline bread and butter troops of this new faction! They have the appearance of "good chaos warriors", with their plate armour and staunch poses. These are backed up by three similarly armoured foot soldiers armed with two-handed hammers, presumably adding some hitting power. The other unit in the force is probably the most striking; three angelic warriors with broad wings sprouting from their backs, modelled mid-flight, lending some speed to the small army. 

Then backing up these small units of holy Knights is their commander. There is no official title for this guy from what I have seen. He could be a generic hero, he could be a named character. But no matter who he is, he is a majestic fellow atop his monstrous mount (looking very similar to a Demigryph). 

Then there are the followers of Chaos (specifically Khorne by the looks of it). The model count is much higher, but looks to be much less elite and much more... How do I say.... Reckless rage; suitably fitting for the scions of Khorne. 

This army is jam packed with models and flavour. It includes twenty footsoldiers that look like updated Marauders, with plenty of dynamic poses and a variety of weapons. Probably the focal point of this unit is the monstrous Khornate banner leading the unit. Marauders have not aged well, and even for the most seasoned Chaos players, new moulds for these models will be very welcome. 

There are five heavily armoured chaos warriors, perhaps an elite unit similar to Chosen, but either way, they seem to be intended as a bodyguard for the hulking Chaos Lord, stomping around on his 40mm base! He's not the only character, however, as a mysterious figure lurks in the corner, presumably a sorcerer due to his imposing staff. 

Lastly, there is a massive monster that towers over his evil comrades and is accompanied by a handler of some kind that matches the marauders in appearance. 

So.

Overall, I am thrilled with these models. There has been a mixed response, but I love them! And I have a feeling that I'm only going to love them more when I get the opportunity to assemble and paint them! We have waited a long time for this release, and we have not been disappointed with the quality! This set is huge, surpassing starter kits of previous releases in both size and diversity! It screams of "Dark vengeance" in its composition. Compare the two and you will understand my meaning. The chaos side particularly is a cookie cutter of the Crimson Slaughter force. A chaos lord, twenty meat shield models, a small band of veteran warriors and a big, bad wrecking machine. Sound familiar? 

The good side is really interesting. It looks like humans are getting a serious boost in the shock troop department! These could well become the "space marines" of Fantasy, giving people a good army to love that is seriously awesome!

Things we now know to be true as well are that round bases are a done thing. There has been rumours swirling for months but it has all been put to rest with this photo. I hope there is some kind of guide on what exisiting models go on what size bases, as I will probably end up re-basing an army (not you, Skaven, with your hundreds of models) to adapt to this new format. I think models look great on round bases and there is already talk of larger scale games using movement trays (big games are being hinted at in this week's white dwarf). 

The other thing we know for sure is that units in Age of Sigmar will be small. Like, "10 models is a big unit" small. And I think this is kind of cool. We are finishing an edition of hordes. Model counts are through the roof for a lot of armies and now the "horde" army in the starter box is less than thirty models. A stark comparison. Units, particularly elite ones, appear to sit in the model size of three to five. Now, looking back, this brings some of the recent model releases into a whole new perspective. 

Think about it. Let's look at Blight Kings. When their models dropped, everyone was pretty stoked. And rightly so. This five-man unit was incredibly detailed and the options were endless. The rules didn't make sense though, for a lot of people. Infantry on 40mm bases? Madness!

But looking at it from today, it makes perfect sense. These five-man heavy infantry boxes are the ideal product for Age of Sigmar and I expect to see them a lot more on the table in coming months. 

The models in this kit also have a slightly different style that I hope doesn't make existing ranges look obsolete. I can't see these Sigmarites looking normal alongside, say, Empire State troopers, but again, it's hard to say without holding the models in my hand. 

So, where to now? Changing the game, the mechanics, the factions, pretty much everything. We are going to have to establish a new meta from scratch. What units will be good? What units will be over priced or mediocre? My plan to tackle this challenge is to pick a single army and play it for a decent amount of time to wrap my brain around not only a new way to play the game, but how the army operates in this new setting! 

What do you think about the future regarding Age of Sigmar? Are you excited? Disappointed? Share you're thoughts on the Facebook page!

Thanks for reading,

Gabriel

#27: Getting the Space Marine treatment...

Well, in true fashion, the Space Marine book has dropped and raised the bar. And while every man and his dog has been posting videos on YouTube about how much you can break the book with free transports and the likes, I decided to take it upon myself to share my two cents and add to the noise for the complete lack of anything fantasy related until Age of Sigmar. 

So. Marines have been gifted the Necron treatment, being handed a Detachment of Formations to abuse and plenty of new special rules to crush the opposers of humanity. Anywhere from a full company that gets free transports to near-unkillable Land Raiders, there are enough formations to please even the most hardened veterans. 

The formation that everyone was excited about was of course, the Demi-Company, which unlocks the Tactical Doctrine and Objective Secured, while taking two just opens up a world of pain thanks to free transports. Yes.

Free. 

Now, to be fair, unlocking those free transports can only be done by following some pretty stringent restrictions, but I think it pays off. 

Some new things of note include Tiggy, the super-librarian-jerk, being able to hand Rending out to units every turn thanks to his warlord trait (because we all need another reason to take this guy), and Lysander, Pedro and Vulkan He'Stan being gifted with Feel No Pain, which makes them some of the toughest marines out!

One thing that saddens me is that there is no bike-heavy "White-Scar-esque" formation available. I know that a lot of their special rules are built into their chapter tactics and Korsarro Khan, but it would have been cool. Bikers seemed to have been the only unit to miss out on the party! Even scouts have been given a buff at BS4 now! And yes, you can take them in a Demi-company, but free transports for a bike squad kind of loses some emphasis. 

Before I move past formations, I would be remiss if I did not discuss the Skyhammer Annhialation Force, the web exclusive bundle that literally ignores all the rules and just clubs people like baby seals. Games Workshop has been very clear that to use the formation in store, you must have the official data card (only obtained by dropping $600+ on a limited release bundle), and in that I take no solace. People are still going to use the formation. It's too good not to. Seriously, look it up and be disgusted. 

But enough of that!

As you may know, I have always been a huge fan of Salamanders. And through their highs and lows, I have stuck with them. So how does this new edition treat them? Actually, really well. Not iron hands/imperial fist well, but certainly better than Raven Guard. Poor, poor raven guard. 

So what's new for salamanders? Well, twin-linked Flamers and master crafted weapons on characters is still there, which is great! Instead of re-rolling armour saves against flamer weapons, now they just get Feel No Pain, which is a bit of a set-back, but to be fair, it's very rare to see a flamer in my community. 

Vulkan He'Stan just hit next level tough, with his new warlord trait, leaving him with 2+, 3++, FNP, which is no laughing matter! And taking Vulkan still unlocks master-crafted Meltas, Multi-meltas and Combi-meltas. Now, interestingly, the combi-melta as a whole gets master crafted, meaning any bolter rounds fired also get a re-roll to hit. Even more interestingly, you can give said master-crafted Combi-meltas to Sternguard, who can then fire special ammunition with frightening accuracy! I wouldn't say it's game breaking, but it's something I fully intend on taking advantage of. 

Now that I can unlock free drop pods, I will most likely end up running a Gladius Strike force with small units of marines geared up for short ranged fire fights as a kind of "Alpha Strike" drop pod assault list that packs some (and I apologise before I even say it) heat. Get it? Salamanders? Fire born. Ok, the joke is dead...

All in all, I think the book is a satisfying one, and marines have absolutely nothing to complain about!

This week, I have once again lavished attention upon my Necrons, being entirely uninspired to paint fantasy in these days leading up to a new way to play. And so, I have added a Destroyer Lord to lead my Destroyer Cult. Accompanying him are ten Deathmarks, who I am a big fan of! These silent, robot sniper space-hunters are quite capable of dropping any unit to its knees, and are only magnified in power when joined by the D-Lord sporting a Veil of Darkness and giving preferred enemy to his squad. On the turn they drop, they are quite capable of dishing out 16-17 wounds on the biggest, baddest thing I can find, and hopefully killing it through sheer weight of fire. Wraith knight getting you down? Having trouble with a Carnifex infestation? These guys are the answer. In my 1850 point tournament list, this combination offers me a handy answer to some of the bigger problems I might face!

Well, with any luck, these coming weeks will give us much direction on the Fantasy front, but until then, thanks so very much for reading!

Gabriel

#26: Battle Report - 1000pt Grey Knights Vs Daemons of Chaos

For all the time and effort I invest into this beloved hobby of ours, it constantly baffles me how infrequently I actually play games! I mean, tournaments aside, I play a game maybe once a fortnight. Maybe.

And there are a variety of reasons for this; most of those reasons are regarding much more important time commitments and so I'm certainly not upset about the frequency of my games. But when I do have the chance to deploy an army and throw down with a mate, I always enjoy it!

So, one afternoon that I had free last week, I seized my Grey Knight carry case and headed to the local store to play a game against a friend who has been pushing for a match for a long time. 

"Not... Not Sons of Orar?" I hear you say, dear reader. No. When I first started painting Grey Knights, the one thing I knew I didn't want to do was paint them silver. Everyone painted them silver and, if you have seen my Necrons, you know I'm not one to paint a conventional colour scheme. Besides, the models are far too impressive to tarnish with a Leadbelcher base coat and a black wash. As you can see, this mini-strike force is not fully painted, but it's an absolute pleasure to play!

Mastery Level 3 Librarian with a Staff

5 Grey Knight Terminators with four halberds, a hammer and a psycannon

5 Grey Knight Terminators with three halberds, a sword, a hammer and a psycannon

2 Nemesis Dreadknights, each with a personal teleporter, a heavy psycannon and a Gatling Psilencer

This army is small, but it does three things very, very well. 

#1: Having a static warp charge bank of 7 means in 1000 points, I can usually push through the powers I really need. To top it off, most units come with set powers, which allows me to react with surety to tough situations.

#2: 2+ armour saves everywhere. With a measly model count of 13, I have gone for quality over quantity, only choosing the most tenacious units to run in my army. 

#3: Killing daemons! These guys are after all, the best of the best at fighting all things evil, and they have a plethora of special rules and abilities to go with this title. Every model has a force weapon, and my army dumps out 20 psycannon shots a turn, which is nothing to sneeze at. A wargear choice that I get challenged on all the time is my purchase of Gatling Psilencers on my Dreadknights. 12 S4 shots isn't anything special, until you see "Force" listed under its special rules. Yes, I can, have and will continue to instant kill characters, monstrous creatures and multi-wound models from a comfortable 24" away. People only laugh at this gun once. Then it pops their precious Lord of Change on turn one and they forever fear it!

But I ramble.

My Librarian rolled on the Telepathy table, hoping for Invisibility, but instead getting Dominate, Shrouding and Hallucinate, none of which are particularly useful in this game. Luckily, all of my other units had fantastic powers. 

My opponent deployed first, dropping 11 pink horrors in the right-hand woods, a Nurgle soul grinder in the centre, and a pack of twenty flesh hounds with two Heralds of Khorne on Juggernaughts, complete with Etherblades and Instant Death gifts as chance would have it. He held a second unit of horrors in reserve. 

I deployed quite defensively, sitting back off my deployment line to avoid getting into combat too quickly. I needed to thin out that Hound pack before it hit, or I was going to have some serious problems!  

His turn was largely uneventful, rushing forward with his Khorne pack, failing to cast anything of use, and killing a single terminator from the Librarians bodyguard with the Soul Grinder's blast. 

My half painted knight shunted his full 30" behind the hounds in an effort to draw them away from the bulk of my army, casting Sanctuary on himself to better weather the coming onslaught. My librarian and his squad in the centre shuffled back to better utilise their range, while everyone else took up firing positions. The Libby's companions pushed through Banishment on the hounds, making them far easier to kill, but after all of my guns finished firing, there was still far too many hounds, and no damage on his lethal heralds. My right-most squad did manage to take a hull point off the hulking soul grinder which was some small comfort. 

In his second turn, things began to get messy. His second unit of horrors dropped right in front of me, and managed to blast away two more Terminators with Flickering Fire. The soul grinder fired upon my rightmost squad, but scattered off the board. But most importantly, my Dreadknight took the full brunt of his Khorne star, and while he managed to survive both heralds thanks in no small part to Sanctuary, the sheer volume of attacks generated by the raging dogs brought him crashing down. 

This was a huge blow. The Dreads are my heavy lifters and primary fire platforms and one had been torn to pieces with next to no effort from my opponent. Retribution must be swift! 

With the hounds isolated on the far side of the board, I had bought valuable time with the heroic sacrifice of my Dread. I wasted no time in handing out justice, with my remaining Dread and The Librarians squad unleashing a hail of death upon the recently arrived pink horrors, the Heavy Psycannon racking up a huge toll thanks to a direct hit and a well-timed Banishment. To add to the damage, my remaining squad of terminators charged into his Soul Grinder, casting Hammer Hand on the way in, boosting the strength of the Halberds in the squad to 7 and the Hammer to 10, meaning everyone could hurt the monstrosity. For all my efforts though, I stripped only one more hull point, and he ignored the damage result of Shaken with ease, killing two terminators in return. 

His horrors backed away cautiously, while his Hounds streaked across the field at breakneck speed, determined to find their next victim. His soul grinder laid another terminator low, but suffered a third hull point, leaving him with but a single one remaining. 

Realising that I was in a terrible position, I shunted my knight up the board and activated force on his Psilencer. The Librarian split from his doomed comrades and ran backward to save the Slay the Warlord point, and his two brothers cast Banishment once more upon the Hounds. At this point, I managed to swing the game back into my favour. All available guns were directed at the hounds, killing all but four and instant-popping his lead herald. A huge blow, but was it enough to save me?

My terminators in combat with his soul grinder failed to land the killing blow and were pulverised. I braced for impact. 

His turn could be summarised with two charges. His surviving hounds slammed into my terminators, killing them with ease, and consolidating even closer to my cowering librarian, now lurking in the very corner of the table. His soul grinder decided to lay the hurt on my Dreadknight, but in the single most hilarious overwatch ever, my knight raised his arm, and put a single Psycannon shot through the head of the Grinder, finding grim satisfaction as it faltered and crumbled. 

Once again, my knight activated Force, and wiped out the remaining herald and hounds with terrifying efficiency, and my librarian breathed a sigh of relief at being saved from inevitable death. 

All that was left to do was to shut down the psychic barrage of the remaining horrors and butcher them in close combat with the Dreadknight, who well and truly claimed man of the match with one herioc deed after the other!

A hilarious, and very back and forth game! Hope you enjoyed it.

Thanks for reading,

Gabriel

#25: A glimpse of the future...

What a busy time of life! I am finishing up a massive project at work these few weeks coming up and the lead up has been hectic! But somehow I have still mananged to find time for some hobby! And for some reason, despite having pressure off regarding the Necrons, my High Elves have not had the love they deserve, falling slightly behind for last week's Border Wars deadline! 

I have certainly not given up though! As we speak, I have a rather large regiment of Phoenix Guard half painted on my desk that is getting at least two coats of paint every time I sit down for some brush-time. The reason I'm not stressed about falling behind is because this regiment is almost 500pts on its own! And before you prepare for a rage-fuelled rant about me conforming to the High Elf trends of Deathstarring, this unit is a bodyguard for Caradryan, the named character I have chosen to paint as part of the next stage that requires a named character. He will be joined on the painting desk by a large block of Lothern Sea Guard for two reasons. Firstly, it would be a sin to paint a Naval High Elf army without Sea Guard. Secondly, it has recently dawned on me that a single unit of archers probably won't suffice in my Core section! Not to mention, a fully painted, fully ranked unit of Sea Guard is a striking image! 

So, how goes the other participants of Border Wars? The simple answer; better than me!

Liam, our resident Night Goblin overlord, has been a busy man, focusing on the whackier side of the Night Goblin faction, adding a Mangler Squig, two Spear Chukkas and an absolutely mammoth Squig Herd!

The Squig herd is a rarely seen unit (mostly because it's an incredibly expensive unit dollar-wise), but has so much character, and in a Horde formation, it kicks out a formidable number of Strength 5 attacks! And combining several shades of blue throughout the unit, it leaps out of the army, when deployed amongst the robed cave-dwellers that make up the majority of Liam's force! The two bolt throwers also add to his formidable, if comically unreliable, battery of war machines!

Josh has been busy, adding some stranger elements to his Legion of Chaos, choosing to paint a decent unit of monster-hunting Screamers, the Blue Scribes and the terribly overpriced Ghorgon!

I cannot get enough of this colour scheme! It has a fairly extreme contrast that just works for the already extreme Legion of Chaos! The Blue Scribes add to his arcane barrage, incorporating an element of lethal unpredictability to an already brutal magic phase! This is also the first time I have seen the Blue Scribe model in the flesh, and it is incredibly intricate! 

The Screamers are a solid and reliable choice, but the Ghorgon is what caught me by surprise. If you have ever read my thoughts on the Beastmen Rare section, you would know how I feel about the points cost of the Ghorgon. However, the model is fantastic! He towers over his Chaotic allies and just looks like a walking slaughter machine! While the rules try to convey that, he is unfortunately an overpriced monster in an edition that does not smile upon big models!

Our Skaven player, Luke, decided to add three Storm Fiends, all sporting Rattling Guns!

Due to there being a single set of each weapon in the box, Luke has cleverly converted his Fiends with a variety of 40k bits that represent the rattling guns perfectly. And I'm just going to say it. These guys terrify me. The amount of damage they can dish out each and every turn is bordering on the obscene, and they definitely add some kick to his force!

The last member of our journey is, of course, Glen, who is miles ahead of everyone and has shown his work in a previous post! The archives show plenty of his spectacular work! If you haven't seen them already, do your eyes a favour and check them out!

Now, there are two things I'd like to cover very quickly before I continue with my day! The first is Age of Sigmar!

Games Workshop yesterday released a date for Age of Sigmar, which I'm led to believe is a skirmish-type game, similar to the Hobbit, designed to make Fantasy a much more accessible game, and making the entry level cost of an army much more affordable. 

Now, as far as I know, this will not replace the game we know and love. It will simply be a new way to play. As it sounds, 9th Edition will arrive with three different game types; Age of Sigmar, the skirmish game that has generated all the "round base" nerd rage, Age of Steel, which will follow the same structure as the game currently takes, and End Times, which will be essentially the Fantasy version of Apocalypse. Now, if this is the case, I am stoked. These are of course not 100% confirmed, so take with a grain of salt, but the closer we get to release dates the more truth emerges. 

Regarding Age of Sigmar, I think that if it is a round base skirmish game, as many believe, then Games Workshop has been incredibly clever! As the Hobbit game looks to wind down and eventually go out of production as the hype of the movies dies down, Age of Sigmar offers Hobbit players an alternative game that is more integral to the main product ranges, and has the support of the company, which means there will be very little loss of customer base at the end of the Hobbit. 

And besides, I think Fantasy models look great on round bases, and a new way to play the game is never a bad thing! I feel like this is going in a really innovative and positive direction that a lot of people will enjoy after being made to wait so long after the End Times series. 

To finish off, I wanted to touch on the Rune Axe Invitational, a Fantasy tournament that I will be hosting in August! I am in the awkward position of not being able to write a player's pack just yet, due to the overhaul of editions and what type of tournament it will be, (possibly Age of Sigmar, possibly Age of Steel, depending on how the coming months unfold) but it will be a really fun day, and I encourage you to come along! More details will be posted here as I receive them. 

And to close out today's post, between painting High Elves, necrons and a super secret army for an upcoming Doubles Fantasy tournament at my local store, I found these Empire Knights in my bits box that may turn into fully fledged army (perhaps being changed to round bases) for future gaming endeavours! 

I painted them using the Talabecland colour scheme, which has always been popular. I really like the fluff behind this particular province too, being a land dependant on its thriving farmlands and winding rivers. This is enough of a reason to later add the Beast Wizard on Griffon model, to maximise that nature theme! That guy is awesome!

Oh, and the super secret army? Well, usually I would be advertising both the army book and the specific army list on this page, but I have been sworn to secrecy by my team mate. But who knows, I may sneak a photo or two up in the coming weeks of a model here and there... 

Until next time!

Gabriel 

#24: Second Strike Game 4 - Do you want to see a magic trick?

As the last game of the tournament loomed, I found myself in a fantastic position. I was at the top of the leaderboard with 60 out of a possible 60 battle points. The closest player to me was on 47. What this meant was as long as I didn't get a Major Loss, first place was mine. I was pretty confident, but at the same time, very nervous because I knew that all my hard work could be for nothing if I couldn't handle business at the finish line. And then there is the old proberb...

Don't count your chickens before they hatch. 

My final opponent was a player I have only ever played once before in fantasy, where he systematically dismantled my army with a left-of-field Wood Elf army. By running elements I was not familiar with, he was able to press small advantages into horrific and devastating game changers. And in true fashion, he did not disappoint, deploying Harlequins of all things. 

Now, while I know that Harlequins are quick, very elite and very points-heavy, I honestly did not know what I was facing. I've battled harlequins all of once and it was in a very casual and non-competitive setting. 

And while I was unable to get a copy of his list, here it is from memory. 

Shadow Seer 

Solitaire

4 Harlequin Jetbikes with Haywire Cannons

A 5-strong troupe with a power sword, Caresses, in the Venom-esque transport whose name escapes me

Again, very unfamiliar with the army. I knew not to let the Solitaire live, and I knew the Shadowseer could cause me some serious problems with his tricksy psychic abilities. Past that I was running blind, and that terrified me. This is a player who can think three turns ahead, and I think I was already in the wrong mindset. I wasn't focussed on winning this game. My goal was to make sure I didn't lose horrifically. And therein lay my first mistake. 

I will say as well, apologies but there are very few photos of this game due to the intensity of the situation. After turn two, half the tournament was gathered around our table, which only heightened my nerves, so taking images completely slipped my mind for the most part.

I deployed centrally in my usual formation, with the only objective being "KILL". If anything, I perhaps deployed too far forward, having the upper hand when it came to range, but alas, against an army that ignores terrain pretty much completely, the dense ruins on the did not play to my advantage. Perhaps I also should have spread out a little more, but hindsight is 20/20. 

As for his deployment, the Shadowseer and Troupe in their transport lurked in the ruins on the right, while his bikes and lone solitaire deployed in very open ground, taking advantage of the intervening terrain to protect them. 

I seized first turn, and wasted no time in moving to clear fire lanes with both my Blades and Destroyers. 

The Destroyers moved to the left and gunned down the lone Solitaire before gliding back into formation, claiming a tertiary objective for first blood, while the blades pushed forward to draw the troupe out and perhaps force an error. I think this was a blatant mistake and expressed my mindset in this game perfectly. I was in damage control before my opponent had picked up a dice. 

My opponent's opening gambit was swift and lethal. The troupe piggybacked out of their transport, flipping and twirling into combat with my exposed Tomb Blades, losing one of their number to Overwatch. 

 The Jetbikes advanced into range of my Stalker, unleashing their haywire weapons, which bypassed my Quantum Shielding altogether and wrecked the towering construct. This was a huge blow, stripping me of the bonuses of the target array as well as a versatile flamer weapon that would have doubtless caused catastrophic damage if applied to the right target. 

The Tomb Blades surprised me by not being slaughtered, instead slaying another Harlequin in exchange for two of their numbers. This combat dragged on until the end of my turn, when the harlequins Hit & Ran, leaping toward my Warriors. My shooting phase achieved very little, thanks to a nasty Malediction on my Destroyers and my warriors standing helplessly by as the Tomb Blades blocked any remotely useful shooting. 

Thanks to their newfound flexibility, the troupe charged headlong into the warriors and began their systematic slaughter. Not to say it was an easy fight for them! Toughness 4 with Reanimation Protocols is nothing to sneeze at for any eldar to bring low, but thanks to a well timed charge from his Jetbikes, my warriors were slaughtered to a man in the space of two combat phases. From this point onward, things were a blur of dice and panic. But, with a distinct lack of photos thanks to frantic gameplay and more than a little bit of stress, the key game changing points were as follows.

My single living (and I use that word with a pinch of salt) tomb blade successfully gunned down the skimmer lurking in the backfield, netting me some valuable points, before hiding behind a building in my opponents right backfield for the rest of the game.

The troupe was disintergrated by my destroyers before the bikes charged in and killed a single model at which point, I failed a LD9 check and was cut down as I ran. 

And lastly, despite the urgent traversing of the board, the Harlequin Jetbikes could not kill my Tomb Blade before the game ended. Everyone around the table was chanting for me to rush out guns blazing from behind the safety of the building, but I refrained. 

And so, by a whisker, I managed to land a Minor loss with an extra two points for killing his Solitaire in the first turn. If that tomb blade had died, I would have missed out on the podium altogether, so caution saved the day! This left me with a final score of 67, landing first place. My game 4 opponent, thanks to the brutal victory over me, came second with 65 battle points, while the other Necron player got 64 battle points. 

Despite the win, it was a tough and exhausting way to end the day. As I mentioned in my Tournament preparation post, I mentioned that I didn't really have an answer for elite assault armies, and Harlequins proved that to be true. I think I panicked and made some errors early on that cost me dearly later in the game, but my opponent was ever the gentleman, even allowing me to roll for Illuminor's augmentations mid-game due to my complete absent-mindedness in deployment. It had next to no outcome of the game, but it's gestures like that that go a long way towards being a fantastic sportsman! 

So, at the end of the day, I managed to tick off a New Years resolution, with this event being the second tournament this year in which I came first. The first was a similar 40k event that was held before 40k made its way onto my blog, in which grey knights performed admirably! 

But I digress.

Second Strike was an absolute joy to be a part of and was an incredibly satisfying and enjoyable day, in which community felt like the focus. 

Thanks for reading, 

Gabriel

 

#23: Second Strike Game 3 - Crash and Burn

The third game of the tournament pitted me against another regular who had chosen to run Space Marine Salamanders. It caught me by surprise to see he had chosen not to mount up in vehicles or even drop pods, but had still taken short-ranged Salamander-friendly weapons. 

His librarian rolled on Pyromancy (as every good Salamander should) and rolled up Fiery Form and a flamer template witch fire. This was a relief, because I have very little in the way of tools to stop enemy psykers... Other than an abrupt, brutal death by Guass. 

His librarian led the force, backed up by two five man marine squads and five Sternguard. Armour came in the form of a venerable Dreadnaught and a storm talon. 

The scenario was objective based. Each player placed an objective in their own deployment zone, while a third occupied the very centre of the board (in our case, the central ruins). I chose to drop my objective behind a building near my board edge, upon which I would park my Tomb Blades for the best part of the game. My opponent placed his objective in area terrain near his Dreadnaught. 

I deployed in a pretty central position. The board was pretty bare of terrain, so my goal was to cause as much damage as I could to his ground forces before the storm talon flew in and brought a hail of death to my army. 

His first turn was largely uneventful, being out of range of all of my ground troops. His Sternguard snapped off a few Kraken bolts but with no results. When I took up the tape measure, I wasted no time in advancing up the battlefield, firing as they went. Because of his drawn-back deployment, my Stalker could not reach his Dreadnaught, but my Destroyers and Warriors unleashed death upon the Marines, the Librarian and his Sternguard bodyguard falling to the heavy fire of Destroyers, while the Warriors and Szeras obliterated the right hand squad guarding his Dread thanks to some incredibly lucky rolling. 

Suffering horrendous losses so early in the game, my opponent was caught on his back foot and needed to pull some magic out of the bag. His Storm Talon arrived right on schedule and unloaded its formidable arsenal into the face of my stalker. The Assault cannon failed to achieve anything more than a glance, while the twin-linked Lascannon blasted the Heat Ray clean off the underbelly of the towering mechanical crab. With a single hull point remaining and no weapon, I was left with little choice but to skitter onto the central objective and hide in the ruins. 

Illuminor and his minions, having lost the anti-tank support they were so used to relying on, let loose a barrage of guass upon the Dreadnaught, wrecking it with ease, while the Destroyers made short work of the last five marines behind a barricade. The tomb blades crept around the building in my backfield to try and damage the Talon but to no avail. 

In the dying moments of the game, his talon flew directly toward my Blades in an attempt to drive me off an objective, but after only killing two, I passed my leadership check and returned fire with the Tomb Blades, who somehow (luck against luck) managed to score some lucky glancing hits and drop it out of the sky. In my mind, this completely justified my choice to select Guass blasters on them over the more popular but less versatile Particle Beamer. Having the ability to overwatch, snap-fire and target fliers allowed me to close out my third game with a third consecutive 20-0, putting me firmly at the top of the ladder, 13 points clear of the player in second. I was very happy with where I was, but after having three matchups that favoured my list, the fourth game was by far the toughest and most bloody. 

Or whatever leaks out of Necrons when you cut them... Motor oil?

Looking back, I honestly don't know what I would have done if I had been in my opponent's shoes. I think without the mobility offered by vehicles or the masses firepower needed to take me on in a head to head firefight, he panicked a little and froze. His marines were sitting well back off his deployment line, armed with short-ranged flame and melta weapons that never got the chance to fire. I could tell after the game that he was pretty shattered, as this loss had pushed him down into the middle of the pack and out of podium contention. But as harsh as any loss is, we were all there to win, and we've all suffered heartbreaking defeat. 

Onward to the final game.

Thanks for reading, 

Gabriel

#22: Second Strike Game 2 - Khorne's Concrete Boots

My second game put me up against the only other 20-0 player from round one, one of about eight chaos players. Speaking of which, the spread of armies attending was weirdly uncharacteristic. While there was an abundance of Chaos, there was only a single Eldar player, only two necron players (one of which is myself) and no Tau. 

Here is what I was facing down against. 

Chaos Terminator Lord with Mark of Khorne

20 Nurgle Cultists

10 Chaos Marines with Mark of Khorne, a flamer, a power fist and a plasma pistol

Rhino

Forge fiend with 3 Ectoplasm cannons

The biggest concern for me in the opening turns would be surviving the Strength 8 barrage of plasma from the Fiend. Hopefully, I could draw some heat on it with my overloaded amount of Guass! The only other thing of note from this game is that my opponent, being a little inexperienced, wasn't aware that Marks were mutually exclusive within units, and deployed his Khorne lord with his Nurgle cultists. By the time It clicked in my brain, it was the end of turn four and so I didn't bring it up until after the game, and from his reaction, it was a genuine mistake. I say this purely because I know that one of you, dear readers, will put two and two together while reading and raise the question. 

Scenario! Ok, so this scenario was the classic "table quarters" take and hold-style game, with any given unit only able to hold a single table quarter, even if they are spread out over two or more. This leant to a more aggressive playstyle, having to push my opponents units out of each quarter and then staunchly defending it against attempts to recapture. 

I deployed heavily upon my far-right side, preparing to scramble in order to bring down the forge fiend. My Tomb Blades, being by far the fastest unit in my army, would be given the role of drawing elements of my opponents army away from the bulk of my force, and I was confident that due to being jetbikes and having decent guns, that they would really shine in this match. 

The game began with Chaos pushing hard down the left side of the board, with his rhino moving up as far as it could without exposing its side armour to my Stalker. The mob of cultists marched toward the ruins in the centre of the two-tone board, being aware that cover would be one of the only saves he was going to get. 

I braced myself for the Forge Fiend's onslaught, but despite killing a handful of warriors, it was largely disappointing for my opponent, with one cannon overheating and stripping off a valuable Hull Point.

My turn consisted mostly of movement. My Blades slid smoothly out from behind the ruins and opened fire upon the Rhino, tearing two hull points off, but failing to halt it. I managed to also sneak a crafty shot between two buildings with my Heavy Destroyer (right of picture) on the Forge Fiend, penetrating it and Stunning the mechanical monstrosity. He rolled a one for his Daemonic Possesion, and the hit stuck, leaving him on a single hull point and more importantly, forced to Snap Shot. It offered me a whole turn of sweet reprieve from the crushing salvos that the Fiend could dish out. 

The crazed chaos marines continued to barrel across the board toward my Blades. One of my blades was felled by the Chaos Lord's carefully aimed combi-bolter while his crippled Fiend back-pedalled into the safety of nearby ruins. 

In my turn, the Blades shifted right into the corner. This left my opponent with a difficult choice. To claim a major victory, you had to claim three table quarters. If he ignored my Blades, that was a quarter firmly in my hands (given, of course, that I could clear the midfield). If he committed a unit (presumably the mechanised marines) to seek them out and kill them, he would have to come all the way to the corner to do so, wasting valuable game turns and resources trying to catch a unit that could quite easily boost away to another quarter in a heartbeat, relocating to another, uncontested table quarter. 

It was a basic ploy, but it payed off. My warriors moved into rapid fire range of his cultist blob, and my destroyers moves into such a position that gave them some clean shots at the wounded fiend, while still benefiting from the Stalker's targeting array. 

This turn, I dropped the hammer upon my foes. The warriors killed six cultists who were sulking within the ruins, while the Stalker's Heat Ray used its heavy flamer mode to kill another five. The Tomb blades administered the final blow to the rhino, forcing the rage-fuelled marines inside to pile out toward my warlord and his retinue. To round out the turn, the Destroyers unleashed hell upon the Forgefiend, which erupted in an eldritch explosion. 

Then came "that moment" that comes in every game where events swing deliberately in one player's direction. Declaring a charge on my stalker with the Lord and his cultists, and likewise against my warriors with his marines, I prepared to overwatch. The dispersed Heat Ray slew the three closest cultists, and Illuminor and his warriors mowed down five marines. To add absolute insult to crippling injury, he failed a four inch charge with his cultists and a five inch charge with his marines. Khorne would be ashamed. Talk about the dice going against you... 

In what I was expecting to be the end game, and showing uncharacteristic presence of mind, I shifted my destroyers wholly within the far right table quarter, but still maintaining a view of the doomed marines. The warriors marched forward to maximise their rate of fire, while the stalker skittered into the far quarter, preparing to roast some more cultists or perhaps take a shot at his lord. The Tomb blades remained where they were, prioritising the objective over unnecessary bravado. I fired off a handful of shots at the cultist unit, but to no avail, thanks to some cleverly located terminator armour. The two surviving marines met a predictably bloody end in the face of unrelenting fire power, and the stalker's flamer weapon claimed another two lives. 

In a final gambit, my opponent charged out of the building and entered combat with my towering machine. While I managed to squish two crazed heretics, it was not enough to stop the lord raising his cumbersome power fist and wrecking my walker in one brutal blow. 

Though a satisfying kill, my opponent was in no better situation. The last moments of the game saw both warriors and destroyers unleash wave upon wave of crackling death upon the hapless lord whose terminator armour held off all but the Heavy Destroyers carefully aimed shot, striking him dead instantly. 

I had a good conversation with my opponent afterward, and explained the mutually exclusive nature of marks. He sounded genuinely surprised, and it was unfortunate because with that in mind, he really had nowhere to put the lord. If he joined the Khorne marines, they would not fit in the rhino, and his army would fail to operate as he intended. I honestly can't say how his games (or his unfortunately-marked lord) faired going forward, but i hope he wasn't too disheartened by this new revelation about his army. 

This game once again displayed the synergy that makes necrons so powerful! My destroyers were invaluable in bringing priority targets to their knees, and the Tomb Blades showed off not only their speed and agility, but their flexibility in battlefield roles. Both priceless units in this tournament!

Having secured another 20-0 win, this put me well and truly on top of the leaderboard, having slain his warlord and wiping him out completely to claim secondary and tertiary objectives. And with such a tumultuous first two games, I genuinely did not know what to expect in my third game of the day. 

Thanks for reading!

Gabriel