Sunday 10 July 2016

Wednesday night gaming - how to I cheated my way to victory


Yup. That's right. On reflection I'm pretty sure I unintentionally cheated at game club this week. We'll get to that, see if you can spot it on the way through. 
 
Nom nom nom
So on Wednesday I played topher at 40k, and in a habit that happens after every 40k tourney I played with my salamanders, because I like them, but they just aren't as competitive. Here's the list I ran:

Vulkan He'stan 190
Librarian 65

4 Tactical Marines: flamer; + 1 Space Marine Sergeant (power weapon) 90
Drop Pod 35
4 Tactical Marines: flamer; + 1 Space Marine Sergeant (combi-flamer) 85
Drop Pod 35

4 Assault Terminators: 4× thunder hammer and storm shield; + 1 Terminator Sergeant (thunder hammer and storm shield) 225
Venerable Dreadnoughts
Venerable Dreadnought: power fist (built-in heavy flamer) 135
Drop Pod 35

1 Thunderfire Cannon: + 1 Techmarine Gunner 100
Land Raider Redeemer: multi-melta 250

Inquisitor Coteaz 100

Callidus Assassin 145

1,490 points

So a pretty fun, pretty non competitive list. Toph had lots of big tyranids, 2 flyrants, a tervigon, a big squad of zoanthropes, some squads of gaunts and squads of gargoyles. 

The mission
We played an interesting mission which I've never played before but thouroughly enjoyed. Basically, there are 6 objectives evenly spaced on the board. 3 on each side, with them 16 inches on and 18 inches apart. They also 18 inches in from the sides. You score one point for each you control in your turns only but right before scoring them you roll a d6. The number objective that this corresponds to moves 2d6 plus scatter. If it's a bt symbol you choose the direction. If they go off the table, tough. It's really fun! And also means you can't camp your shoot stuff on them turn 1. 

The game
I got first turn, and deployed basically nothing. Just the land raider (with terminators and vulkan) and the thunderfire cannon. Chris deployed evenly opposite me, with lots of horde everywhere, supported by bigger scarier things. 

In my first turn I burnt some gargoyles (scoring me first blood) with my drop pod marines and moved the rhino up. Then Chris basically charged me with everything. I was surprised not to loose everything, although I think this was in part because i was invisible on one of my squads. Because Chris had charged his gaunts into both small squads it was one massive combat that involved a flyrant, tervigon, and a big squad of gaunts. 
 
They were picking on Coteaz and the one remaining marine so I duly obliged and charged in the assassin and thunder hammer terminators. This combat lasted for a good long while, probly 2-3 game turns. It was eventually won by me, with the Eversor using his fleshbane&shred&power weapons to basically kill everything. 

Whilst his was going on Vulkan had tried to kill the 2nd flyrant and got stomped on. In return im used my multimeltas to fry the big bug before it got away. By the time the combat had finished there wasn't a whole lot left on either side. My thunderfire cannon was chasing objectives unsuccessfully and the zoanthropes had zapped my land raider. 
 
The assassin, Coteaz and two thunderhammer terminators proceeded to slog through the cornfields towards the zoanthropes, and reached them locking them in combat (Although coated blew his own head off on the way in). The mawlocs contained to try to Sarlec pit my poor marines and assassin, but failed miserably. One of them did charge the assassin who over two combat ohases efficiently sliced all his wounds away using power sword+fleshbane+shred. 

The game ended with the 2 remaining zoanthropes locked in combat with an assassin and thunder hammer terminator whilst my dreadnought claimed objectives. I think one of the mawlocs may have been burrowing around somewhere. I rolled out a 12-8 victory on the evening. 
The mission
I actually really enjoyed the mission, it's a lot of fun without being to much hassle. I might reccomend it to Alex if he's looking at new style of game for double trouble. 
Where did I cheat?
Where did I cheat? Well, if you've read all the way through you may have figured it out. The Eversor has a power sword, and a weapon that's fleshbane with shred. But not a weapon that's both! So I'm pretty sure I should have been choosing one or the other. Instead I was wounding, with a re roll and not allowing a save! Rematch needed. Sorry toph! 



Monday 4 July 2016

Jumpmaster repaints - Finished!

I've started, so I'll finish
Good day to you dear readers! Whilst the nerf bat has in some small way fallen on the Jumpmaster 5000 combo, I was in fact half way through finishing my third repaint. So in the best mastermind tradition I decided I was going to finish what I'd started and get my third Jumpmaster finished. 
 
Here it is, in all its glory! I'm a really big fan of the chequerboard, it gives it a retro feel. It's mostly down with my new bff, masking tape. But the smaller pattern is all free hand. So it's a nice mix of both. It's definately very striking compared to the previous 2 jumpmasters. The effects on the other 2 are much more muted than this. Ironically it's probably the easiest of the 3 (because of the masking tape) and the one that will catch the eye from a distance because of the colour contrast.
 
I highlighted the black as best I could (hopefully it shows up in this photo) as it draws your eye to the squares and tricks it into thinking the paint job is super good. At least, that's the idea!
 
The engines came out well again.  I think I've got this down, which sounds simple but actually isn't because of the 3 different planes on which the engine glow needs to appear the same. The first time I was constantly putting the paint in the wrong place because I couldn't get my forth perception right!
 
The hull is my trademark foam dusted paint effect, which has turned out quite nicely. Pick and pluck foam has been a revelation with these guys. I've used it on all three and it ties in really well. Here they are flying in formation:
 
And again, u-boating off into the distance. 
 
So there we are! If you wanna see how to magnetise like this, go here! Otherwise, tune in soon for more hobby related shenanigans! 

Sunday 3 July 2016

YV-666 Repaint - Darksun 25

Screw your meta

So, in less than 12 months this ship has gone from being the laughing stock of the meta to something that many Scum players value. It's a pretty tough ship, with many options that have certainly seen play in our local area. Thanks in no small part to Shane :) I've repainted mine, and completed the following vlog for all to see :) I hope you enjoy it!

Friday 1 July 2016

Blog hits! A June record!

A nice little side note - June was the third most highly visited month I've ever had! At nearly 2,500 hits it was only a few hundred behind the time my army got featured on bell of lost souls in 2012! My most successful month is still the month in which I posted my jumpmaster magnetisation article. 

I honk in part it's due to better self promotion, but also with double trouble there has been a lot of linking from other people's blogs, so thanks for that :) very much appreciated! I'm hopeful that I can keep up this momentum and break 50,000 hits before the end of the year. 

Sanctuary Games Tournament Battle Report - Darksun 24

Watch Out - Imperial Veterans is out!


Another weekend goes by, another vlog of me moving toy spaceships around a 3x3 mat. Back at Sanctuary Games in Sutton-in-Ashfield for this one, great fun as ever. Thanks to all my opponents, and to Richard for hosting us. Looking forwards to going back there soon!