Warmachine?!?

 Yes, Mr. GW has finally caved and tasted the forbidden fruit that is Warmahordes.  (and he liked it...)

My brother and I have been playing quite a bit of Warmachine lately, him with Menoth and me with Khador.  W're up to 35 points and are just starting to get a full picture of what you can do with this game.  I love all the shenanigans you can pull and really look forward to getting into organized play.

On that note, in a couple weeks after indoor soccer ends, I have the OK from the Mrs. to go hit up game nights at the DSM Mayhem.  Hopefully the community is full of good dudes.

The world, it is a changin'

My last post was almost 10 months ago.  Needless to say, a lot has happened since then.  In order to keep this post shorter than a novel, I will just hit the high points in both my personal life and my hobby life.

Hobby Stuff
I played in three 40k tournaments between my last post and now.  They were biggies.

Adepticon 40k Championship
I took my Space Wolves to the 1850pt singles tournament.  I don't remember a ton of details but I remember using a full unit of Thunderwolf Cavalry for the first time (I don't think I got a playtest game in with my final list) and liking them a lot.  I remember playing against Space Wolves, Grey Knights, Imperial Guard and Space Wolves again.  After the dust settled, I was shocked to see that I finished with the title of Best Sportsman and 12th best overall.  Unbelievable when you consider the field started with 246 players (humble brag).  I have come to the conclusion that I am the luckiest schmuck around.  Lucky or not, I now have hardware from my first Adepticon! (proof)

Adepticon 40k Team Tournament
I remember my list this time.  It was easy because there were only a couple models in it.  Kharn, Land Raider, 8 Berserkers, 3 Obliterators, 3 Terminators.  I'm pretty sure that was it.  Each member of the team brought a similar list with a Chaos character, a Land Raider and cult warriors.  Just remember kids, this was the old boring vanilla Chaos book, not the fancy schmancy new 6th ed. one.  We got smoked, 108th out of 116 teams.  This is undoubtably the Holy Grail of tournaments here at Adepticon and we went into it with a gimicky, poorly thought out plan and paid for it with a 10 hour beating.  proof :(

BugeaterGT 40k Tournament
My brother and I went to this tournament in Omaha, Nebraska and had a great time.  I remember at one point saying this was the most enjoyable tournament I had played in all year.  Unfortunately this was the only tournament I wasn't able to weasel any prizes from.  I ended up getting 13th out of 55 participants.  I would highly recommend this tournament to anyone within driving distance.  If I get into 6th edition, I would love to go again.  My brother was the only player to bring Tyranids so everyone was really excited to play him.  We also met another guy who lived in Ankeny but haven't kept in contact with him like we should have because I've been busy...

Life Stuff
I bought a house and made a miniature of my own!

I don't intend to take another 10 months to make another post but trying to fit hobby time into the family schedule is a challenge to say the least.  I do have some projects in the works and I'll try to get something posted about them.  In the meantime, I'm glad to be back.

Mayhem Results mk.I

I went 2-1 and got 5th place out of 16 people.  It was a really fun tournament and I enjoyed playing all of my opponents.  I was very impressed by the sportsmanship on display and I hope that it was indicative of the mood of the community here.  The TO did a good job running the event and I have zero complaints about how it was run.

The Missions:  The scenarios used the original Nova format that the BugeaterGT will be using this summer and the event was intended to give us practice with that style.

Terrain:  The terrain was a mixed bag.  The tables were set up with theme in mind rather than a balanced mix of LOS blocking and area.  Most of the tables had the requisite 25% coverage but it was a bit uneven across the ten tables.  Overall, there was a clear effort made by the TO to prepare enjoyable and balanced tables given the limitations of the available terrain.

Miscellaneous Notes:
 -I am now 0-3 in my last three tournament opening games.  This is probably testament to the lack of games I play in between events.  I don't think I'm in the correct frame of mind at the start and seem to make significant mistakes with the first couple turns.  I'm not sure how to correct this other than getting more games in against competitive opponents with a variety of armies (easier said than done).

-I'm not sure if my hybrid type lists are going to be effective against the current meta.  In order to out shoot Imperial Guard, Grey Knights and Razorspam, I would have to adopt a much more shooting oriented  list.  I am not a fan of this.  I honestly don't know the answer to this problem for me, especially with the limited time/models I have before Adepticon.

-You can't rely on Wolf Scouts.  They're great and add a lot of utility to the army, but they can't be a critical piece that you base your game plan on.  I had mine not show up until turn 4 and they came in on the wrong side when I desperately needed them.

-Missile launchers just don't get it done.  I think I've said this before but I haven't done anything to adjust to this realization.  Strength 8 doesn't cut it against AV12.  I would like to throw some lascannons into the army somewhere.  Either in the Long Fangs or on the Land Raider or something...

Despite fielding a far from optimized list last weekend, I was able to test out a couple ideas I had with mixed results.  I would like to say that the fog is clearing with my list problems but I'm afraid I'm still unclear how to resolve my issues.  Back to the drawing board.

Mayhem Tournament

I'm heading up to Ames in a few minutes to play in my first tournament here in Iowa.  I tried getting my Thunderwolves done in time to take but alas, it was not to be.  I did manage to throw a couple Fenrisian Wolves together so my Thunder Lord won't be going it alone today.  As usual, I thought bringing painted models was more important than bringing a more optimized list.  On a whim, I also threw in the Great Wolf himself, Logan Grimnar!  I think I've used him once since painting him and I thought it would be fun.  Here's what I'm taking.

Where: Mayhem Comics, Ames, IA
When: Saturday March 17, 2012
What: 1850pt, 3 round tournament
Attendance: ~20 signed up

HQ
Logan Grimnar

Wolf Lord
-frost blade
-storm shield
-thunderwolf
-ruinic armour
-fenrisian wolf

Runepriest
-jaws of the world wolf
-living lightning

Elites
(5)Wolf Scouts
-meltagun
-melta bombs

(3)Wolf Guard
-pf/combi melta
-pf/combi plasma
-termi w/chainfist/stormshield

Troops
(8)Grey Hunters
-plasma gun
-wolf standard

Rhino
-dozer blade

(8)Grey Hunters
-melta gun
-wolf standard

(10)Grey Hunters
-melta gun x2

Drop Pod

Heavy Support
(5)Long Fangs
-4xmissiles

(5)Long Fangs
-4xmissiles

Land Raider Redeemer

Adepticon pt. I

Since my last post, a new year has begun and the blog's first anniversary has come and gone.  I meant to do a year in review like everybody else and I probably still will, but for now I'm going to write what's on my mind instead.  What's on my mind you ask?  Adepticon.  I'm up to 6th on the 40k singles tournament wait list and 4th on the team tournament list so I'm confident that I will get into both events.

When we last left off, I was working on getting a Necron army with the intention of playing it in the 1000pt team tournament.  Since then, after talking with my teammates, we have decided that trying to build/paint/learn that army in time to be decent with it in April was going to be a chore.  After some deliberation, we have decided to play Orks instead.

Switching to Orks is going to be helpful in several ways.  The biggest one is familiarity.  Two of the guys on our team either have or had an Ork army that they have played quite a bit.  The codex has been around long enough that Alpha and I shouldn't have a problem with the Ork play style either.  Secondly, I helped build and playtest an Adepticon Ork team last year so I have been through the process.  I also think the mentality of playing Orks meshes with our attitude going into the contest.  They're like the comic relief of the grim dark future and we hope to be the comic relief of the tournament, at least to the opponents we go up against.

For singles I'm going with the Space Wolves.  I intend for this to be the last GT I take the pups to, making it a year of tournaments that I've played them in.  That is somewhat dependent on when 6th ed. drops of course.  I am planning on making some changes to the list I took to the Gentlemen's GT.  More lascannons, less rockets I think would be nice.

Yay, first post of 2012!

-Noah

First Necron Model

Ok, the title is a lie.  The first Necron I painted took a little bath in Simple Green, this is the first model I saw fit to photograph and share.  What's really interesting is that the metalic primer I bought from The Army Painter doesn't break down in Simple Green.  It must bond with the plastic, I am curious how it sticks to metal. 

This paint scheme was inspired by Tim over at The Vanus Temple.  The glow is something new to me as I've never used powder weathering pigments before.  I think it turned out ok, I'm sure I'll get better at applying it as I go.  The base was just a spare that I had sitting around from my Space Wolves and is probably not what I'm going to ultimately go with.  I got the pigment and base from Secret Weapon Miniatures.  Sidenote: Justin does a great job over there getting shipments out quickly, I've ordered from him half a dozen times and always been satisfied with the quality of the product and the customer service.

Ork Sidetrack

 Fish, here are your Ork pics, only four weeks after I said I'd post them.

1. Prime
Black

2. Basecoat
Skin: Gretchin Green
Clothes: Any color you want, I chose Mechrite Red because red is neat.
Boots: I left them black.
Metal: Boltgun Metal
Pants/Straps: Bestial Brown maybe?  If I were doing it today I'd use Calthan Brown.
Wristbands/Bandages/Horns: Dheneb Stone (best paint in the world)

3. Wash
Everywhere: Devlan Mud (use it liberally and then stick it in front of a fan on low or a space heater, this prevents a lot of pooling that is common when using this much wash)

4. Highlight with the original colors on any raised edges if you want it brighter.  I only went up one step but you could easily get a better result with a third color.  Then again, you could have a decent looking tabletop model by just throwing on the table after washing it.

There you go, if you want more detailed instructions, ask away.