My Games Day UK 2013

First thing to say is that GW ran no games at Games Day. There were Warhammer-related card and computer games to try, but not the core games. In downsizing from the NEC to the NIA (still in Birmingham) the participation games and make-and-takes have gone. Well over half the floor area of the main arena was taken up by sales.  To be fair, that is where most people headed first into some still fairly lengthy queues. Probably quicker than last year though.

Forge World had a few new models on show. Ferrus had been announced before, but Lorgar was also in the cabinets. I was most impressed with the new Assault pod, which also caused a bit of a stir.

I resisted the temptation of buying Ferrus, but did go for the new Iron Hands Contemptor.  I did want to get the IH Legion squad, but they had sold out by the time I got through the queue.  There was a big display board of the Iron Hands vs Emperor's Children and Iron Warriors, which was very well done.

Both the Armies on Parade and Golden Demon competitions were held in the sports hall downstairs. As always, looking at the best models there takes a lot of luck and patience amid the crowds.  I am still convinced that my parade board was better than many of the store winners. The overall parade winner featured a running waterfall and surprised many people. I would also like to see the Golden Demon winners close up too.

The highlight of the day for me was chatting to Robin Cruddace again. He is a fellow Howling Griffons player and we discussed our armies.  He even signed my Space Marines codex with a nice note for me. I am a fan!

Armies on Parade 2013 Howling Griffons

It was finally time for GW Newbury's annual competition today.  My board came fourth in a very close race.

Unfortunately,  I couldn't get any of the new models ready in time.  After spending so long on the armour, I should also have been a little more careful with the unit markings, which ended up a bit messy.  Oh well, maybe next year.

Well done to George, who won with his Iron Warriors.

My first thoughts on Space Marines 2013 codex

I grabbed my book as soon as GW Newbury opened this morning.  I also picked up a Tactical Squad and some Centurions and will try to add some new models to my Devastator Company for Armies on Parade next week.  I still have most of the scenery and the Storm Eagle to finish painting.  Both sets of sprues look vey good, although I will need a quiet few minutes to build the Centurions.

A couple of rules points I have noticed so far:

Asssult Squad sergeants can no longer take a Storm Shield, so I will either have to count mine as a Combat Shield or play them as the much cheaper elite-slot Vanguard Vetetans instead, until I get the new models.

The Centurions are Slow and Purposeful, so can't overwatch.  Not sure about using them with Grav-Cannons now, which only have 24" Salvo 3/5 range.  A shortish range defensive infantry unit that can't overwatch seems a handicap.

My recent 600pt list for Invasion now comes to 570 points, so is 5% cheaper.  A special weapon and another marine are the obvious additions and will still fit in the Razorback.  Of course I will also work out some brand new lists too!

Finally for now, I'm a little disappointed I have only found a couple of worn Howling Griffons references so far in the codex, especially when Robin Cruddace is  HG player.  I had hoped for more.

Space Marines Battle Company (and new Space Marines incoming)

Having been working on my Howling Griffons all summer I now have enough figures to field a full company.  Not only that, I can either field a standard Battle Company (6 Tacticals, 2 Assault and 2 Devastator) or a full Devastator Company (10 Devastator).

As I'm saving all the devs for Armies on Parade, I took the Battle Company formation to GW Newbury for an all-day Apocalypse game yesterday.  It was a long day but great fun.  The result was a very close 19-20 loss for my side, which was the only downer.  My partner had a Leman Russ company and one super-heavy.  Our opponents had Wolves, Eldar and Tau and 5 super-heavies.  As new players arrived during the afternoon we were allowed to recycle units to keep things balanced.  One plucky marine was all that survived from my original deployment to the end.  He will be getting a promotion soon!

Of course, as a Space Marine player, I'm also looking forward to getting my hands on the new codex.  The Tactical and Sternguard sprues look particularly promising.  I'm even impressed with the Vanguards and all their plastic Thunder Hammers.  However, as I've spent the last few weeks assembling and painting all that power armour, I'm not planning on painting much more in the near future. I may get a Stalker for my Armies on Parade board, but I already have to finish painting the board, scenery and a Storm Eagle (which has taken me a good few days just to assemble...!)

Warhammer World Invasion August 2013

Last Monday was my latest trip to Nottingham with the GW Newbury team, in a 600-pt doubles tournament against six other local stores (Reading, Swindon, Oxford, Aylesbury, High Wycombe and Maidenhead).

I took my Howling Griffons, with 5 Sniper Scouts, minimal Tactical Squad with TLAC Razorback, Master of the Forge on a bike with a conversion beamer, basic Predator and a Stormtalon with Skyhammer.  My team-mate was one of the boys from the store and his Eldar.  He took a Farseer, two units of Rangers, 5 Dark Reapers and two sets of Vaul's Weapons Batteries.

We had a practice game on Saturday against Matt, who basically took the two Dark Vengeance armies together.  Although we thrashed him with the strength of our shooting, I was under no illusions that the armies on the day would be a lot tougher.

Our first game was Scouring with Hammer and Anvil deployment against Orks and Tau.  The Tau had a Commander with a load of gun drones, a mob of Kroot snipers, another Suit, a unit of Fire Warriors, a Piranha and a Sky Ray.  The Orks had a Warboss, two mobs of Boyz, a Deffkopta, a Trukk and a Battlewagon with Deffrolla.  I was worried about the Sky Ray, but in the end the game ended up beingvery slow and we only got to the end of Turn 3 in 90 minutes, in which my Storm Talon never showed up!

We managed to get first blood on the Trukk, but the Invasion tables now have more terrain than previously, so we found ourselves with poor LoS quite often.

We were getting frustrated at the time things were taking and so made a costly mistake as the game was about to end.  We knew the Farseer's psychic power (I forget the name) could fly him 48" across the board for Linebreaker, and this succeeded, although he did have to survive a melta shot from a suit.  Had we moved him to contest the four point objective in the centre, we could have won.  Instead we lost 7-9.

The game after lunch proved to be much better, for us anyway!  This time we were playing Crusade on Dawn of War against Guard and Wolves.  The Wolves had a Rune Priest with the obligatory Jaws and Living Lightning, some Wolf Guard, a Melta-Dread in a Drop Pod and a couple of units of Grey Hunters.  The Guard had a Company Command Squad, two units of Veterans, a Chimera and a Hellhound.

All 3 games we played started with Night Fighting, but I used my Searchlight to illuminate the Hellhound, which the conversion beamer then blew up from across the board (see picture below).  The blast also caught the Chimera, which exploded as well, killing half a squad of Veterans inside it and 3 Grey Hunters next to it.  Not a bad start!

On their first turn the Dreanought came down near the Heavy Weapons, but its Multi-Melta did very little  before it was immobilised (apparently for the second game in a row) and then destroyed.  Again my Stormtalon had declined to turn up on Turn 2, but their Vendetta came on and targetted my Master of the Forge, as they had decided they did not like him.  Despite all the Lascannons, his Jink saved rescued him and he survived on one wound.  Hooray for Toughness 5!  We then managed to hit the Vendetta, putting it into locked velocity, before my Stormtalon finally joined the battle Turn 4 in the rear arc of the Vendetta and blew it up.  It too suffered locked velocity from the Veterans with an Autocannon on a Skyfire objective, although it was still able to pound their infantry afterwards.  This was a fun game against sporting opponents, who got back into the match after a dreadful start for them, although we still had a comfortable 9-4 victory.

The last game was Purge the Alien with Vanguard deployment against Tau and GK.  We faced another Commander plus drones, more Kroot and Fire Warriors, a Riptide and 3 Piranhas, as well as Coatez and 3 HB Servitors in a Chimera, a Rifleman Dread, Purifiers and some Crusaders with Dealt Cult Assassins.  We got first blood again by blowing up the Chimera, but that was about the only success.  We just couldn't kill off Coatez, the Dread or the Piranhas.  Again we were under time pressure, as the game was reduced to just an hour, as things were over-running and coaches from the other stores needed to leave.  Had we focussed fire more, we might have had more success, but it was not a pretty 9-3 loss.

It was a fun day out and with 1 win and 2 losses we came 43/68 (results here), but I really must learn to play for objectives, as this was the second time the four point objective has been crucial for me.

Apart from my spectacular shot in the second game, another highlight for me was arranging a Stormtalon fly-past with Dave's (GW Reading manager) Brazen Claw flyer.

I look forward to the new Space Marine codex, as I am keen to improve my recent record at these tournaments!

Summer madness

As the song says, 'School's Out for Summer!', so I have some decent hobby time ahead.  My wife has even suggested I take some figures away with us when we go for a week in France.  I still can't quite believe that one!

Anyway, there are a couple of events ahead for me.  The first is the next Invasion tournament at Warhammer World on the 19th August.  Matt has been running a practice league and I have updated my list as first detailed here.  The only change is that I have dropped the Landspeeder Storm.  Whilst the Outflanking and ability to move the Scouts about at speed is nice, the multi-melta proved very unreliable at only BS3. Instead I am taking a basic Predator at 60pts (and giving the Tactical sergeant melta-bombs with the spare 5pts), as AV13 should hopefully soak up a bit more fire and give my Master of the Forge something to hide behind when deploying.

Due to its value, the Predator was in my first ever list for the Howling Griffons and I have had one for a while.  Unfortunately, I built it with HB sponsons.  Luckily, I had a Whirlwind kit unmade, which I am now assembling so I can swap weapons with the Predator.  This list has done quite well with various partners, including Tau, Eldar and DA, although I am not totally sure yet who my ally will be, let alone what they will be taking.

The second event I am getting ready for is Armies on Parade on 14th September.  I had thought about dusting off my guard army and doing something involving a Skyshield and Vendetta, but I shall stick with my Howling Griffons again this year, as I'm enjoying them a lot.  Of course, with the rumoured new codex in September, I'm not abandoning them now.

With Apocalypse 2.0 just out, the Space Marine Company formation appealed to me, as I had always wanted to build a whole company, even if it requires 107 marines and 3 Dreadnoughts!  I also couldn't resist the Master of Relics model, so it looks like I'll be doing the 9th Company.  This may be somewhat over-ambitious of me, but would look really cool and put out a lot of firepower.  Not sure how much chance I will get to play them ever, but I'm not worrying about that for now.

On my desk at the moment are six more heavy weapon marines to add to the six I already had.  With bolter marines, I have about enough for three squads so far - seven to go.  I will also have to paint the Captain and another Dreadnought.

It will take quite a bit of time, especially with the quartered colours, and also cost a bit to do, but nowhere near as much as the £448 GW is advertising in their one-click collection.  Obviously, I already have a few of the units, but even if you are starting from scratch, you really don't need 10 Devastator boxes, when the Company (only?) needs 40 heavy weapons.  Four boxes is enough, as each box has five marines, but eight heavy weapons.  Eight Tactical boxes would provide the rest of the marines and eight more heavy weapons. If I have worked this out properly, that would equal three missile squads, one with multi-meltas and two each of plasma cannons, lascannons and heavy bolters.

To carry on the 'useless purchases' theme, the one-click collection includes the boxed commander, rather than the new model anyone making this formation would actually want.  I suppose this comes in at £14 instead of £15!  But, if my maths is correct, you can get the formation for £406 at GW prices, with the new captain.

I don't understand GW's marketing sometimes.  They are trying to promote their products, but making them more than 10% more expensive than they need be.  The old Apocalypse 1.0 boxed formations actually worked out cheaper than buying models separately, which was a first for GW.  It's a shame they now seem to be doing the opposite.

600 pts Space Marines - shooty list

Ever since I started my Howling Griffons, I have always included a combat-oriented jump squad with chaplain.  However, I have recently been experimenting the following list for an Invasion event at Warhammer World in August:

HQ - Master of the Forge with conversion beamer on a bike

Troops - 5 sniper Scouts with camo cloaks
Troops - basic Tactical Squad
Dedicated transport - Razorback with TL assault cannon

Fast Attack - Landspeeder Storm with MM
Fast Attack - Stormtalon with skyhammer

I have played a couple of games on 4 foot tables and either lost or drawn, but on 6 foot tables I have won both games.  This includes tabling a footslogging eldar list yesterday, with a Wraithlord, a Spiritseer, Wraithguard, 3 Jetbikes and 5 Warp Spiders.

Of course, the conversion beamer works best over 42 inches, so it needs the larger table for maximum effect.  Even so, over 18 inches the S8 AP4 blast still caused a good number of casualties.