Update - Masters Armies

Just a heads up on armies for the Masters:

40k

The Chaos codex being released on 8th October will be used at the 5th Annual Masters in December. Participants will have had two months to digest and play the book and that is ample time.

No other books released after 8 October will be used.

Fantasy

The last Fantasy Army Book allowable at the Masters will be the White Dwarf update of the Daemons of Chaos. Although Warriors of Chaos are rumoured for November, one month is insufficient time for everyone to come up to speed.

Hopefully GW will have released FAQs for Vampire Counts and The Empire by that date.

"We Are His Children"

More Emperor's Children info from the new Codex:

Noise Marines:

4 + Noise Champion: 95 pts
Additional Noise Marines: +17 pts

Wargear:

Power Armor
Bolter
Bolt Pistol
Frag & Krak Grenades
*Any model may take a CCW + 2 pts

Sonic Weapons:

Sonic Blasters: +3 pts
* any model may upgrade their bolter to a Sonic blaster

Doom Siren: +15 pts
* the Noise Champion may take a Doom Siren.

Blastermaster: +30 pts
* if the squad number at least 10 models one may upgrade their bolter to a Blastermaster.

Icon of Excess:

FNP +40 pts

Slaanesh Marked Units:

Chaos Marines 15 pt
Terminators 35 pts
Obliterators 74 pts
Havoks 15 pts

So from this it appears that my Noise Bikers, Noise Havoks and Noise Terminators are out - although the Termies and Havoks can be Mark of Slaanesh (as per GTBC). Obviously I'm going to have a lot of spare Blastmasters.   The question comes as to whether rather than using the Chaos Codex that I may be better using Codex:Grey Knights to construct my EC. Certainly it allows me to create both Noise Terminators and Noise Havoks with Psycannons filling the Blastmaster role and the Sonics reduced to Storm Bolters.   Alternatively I can look at running Noise Marines - dropping the Blastermaster from my 6 man squads - and allying in Daemonettes.   Only 8 days until the book comes out

Review - Sarissa Precision Movement Trays

A couple of weeks ago I decided that rather than recycle my old movement trays - mostly Back2Bas-ix and Warpuppy - I would buy new trays to fit the current army builds for Daemons, Lizards and Night Goblins.

Looking around on the net and having listened to a few reviews I started looking at the trays made by Sarissa Precision in the UK. At around the same time James brought his High Elves over and he was using the product.

I jumped on their website to check them out and found that they offer two options - basic movement trays and the same with custom cut bases included.

 Here are the trays and the custom cut bases

Firstly, the website was a joy to use. Everything is clearly laid out with different tray types having a dropdown menu where you can specifiy the exact size tray that you want. If you want horde trays for Bloodletters, you can get them; Skirmish trays for Screamers, yep again you can order them.

In the end I ordered 29 trays - from Horde to Skirmish (11 Daemons, 9 Night Goblin, 9 Lizards) - all for under NZD 200 including postage. Their prices are just about the cheapest on the market particularly when you take into account the degree of customability on offer.

Postage is very cheap GBP 2.50 flat for under GBP 50.00, free above. I made three separate orders - paying GBP 7.50 I didn't have to - but I was keen to get each order as soon as it was in stock.

I needn't have bothered. All three orders were on my doorstep four days after ordering. Given they came from the UK that speed of service is staggering.

The trays arrive with each size in its individual plastic bag

Onto the trays themselves. Three things appealed to me when I saw them. Firstly, they are complete trays with lips on all four sides. A lot of alternatives e.g. Back2Bas-ix are three sided being open to the rear. There are benefits to this however I believe four sided look "smarter". Secondly, the tray comes as two piece - top and bottom - rather than multi-part where you have to put the lip/top together. Again given these have been precision cut they look neater and have less potential for variation from square. Finally being supplied as atop and bottom you can put your steel paper as a layer between the top and bottom rather than cutting it to fit inside the lip. Again this gives a neater finish.

Overall I am very happy with the purchase. They score well on Product, Price, Service and Postage. I can't recommend them more highly.



Bad Moon Rising!!!!

So I have put together my list for the Night Goblins tomorrow:

Black Orc Warboss (General) - and Shaman's Minder!!!!!
Level 4 NG Great Shaman

NG Big Boss BSB
NG Shaman

49 Night Goblins - Full Command, Nets, 2x Fanatics
49 Night Goblins - Full Command, Nets, 2x Fanatics
20 Night Goblins - Muso, Bow, 1x Fanatic
20 Night Goblins - Muso, Bow, 1x Fanatic
20 Night Goblins - Muso, Bow, 1x Fanatic

Squig Herd - 18 Squigs, 12 Handlers
Squig Herd - 18 Squigs, 12 Handlers

Doom Diver
Doom Diver
Mangler Squig
Pump Wagon
Anarkarok Spider

I am going to get slaughtered but they should be fun.

Armies on parade will be 2x Dark Elves, High Elves, Daemons, Warriors, Beasts, Lizards and one unknown (Peter W)

Four Weeks to Skitterleap

Less than a month to Skitterleap and the field has expanded to 24 people. I'm hoping that it will push up towards 30 over the next couple of weeks to end the tournament season on a high.

It will be the fourth tournament in Wellington this year - Runefang, Horned Rat Gobbo, Call to Arms were the others - and all will have had a field of two dozen. This is encouraging and shows that we are building a base of tournament goers.

A New Warriors of Chaos?

The drums have been beating quite loudly over the past week that the November release will be an update to "Warriors of Chaos". The expectation is that this means a new book - and certainly that would be the preferred option for the Fantasy base - but GW surprised with the Daemons update. With so much time being expended on 40k and with The Hobbit to hit before year end, you can't rule out another White Dwarf fix-it.

My own feelings are that I'd be surprised if it is anything less than a full book. Though not to the same extent as with 40k, Chaos mortals are a key tenet of the Warhammer lore.

So what would we expect to see in a new Chaos book. Well a few fixes immediately spring to mind:

• A reason to take Marks other than Tzeentch. Yes, you see some Marauders and Warriors marked Khorne and Marauder Horse marked Slaanesh but Tzeentch is the predominant Mark.
• This extends to characters where the Disk Lord/Sorceror Lord is the mainstay in most armies
• A fix for Forsaken. A skirmisher troop type is a great idea and certainly in keeping with the fluff, however the Forsaken are probably the unit least seen in the whole of Warhammer Fantasy (even Razordons get more love).
• The Eye of the Gods table needs to be fixed - not the concept but the mechanics. How often before a game do you hear "You go and get a coffee while I work out what my Chosen are".
• I'd like to see Dragon Ogres get some love so they can fill the role of fast moving monsters ala Mournfang/Demigryphs rather than people papering over cracks with Knight bus solution. The knight bus is impenetratable to some armies and so consigns games to borefest from outset - especially if combined with...
• Two Warshrines. The Chaos Rare needs some love. Upgrade the Shaggoth or introduced a new monster. Chaos Rare at the moment is 2x Warshrines (usually marked Tzeentch) or two Hellcannons if the comp lets you.
• Chaos seem to be poster boys for the SPCA, they are the only people concerned when their dogs die. Animal lovers yes, but I question the need for a Panic Check.

The one thing I'd hate to see removed is the Infernal puppet. I think it is a great part of the list and a fantastic leveller in the magic stakes. Hope it is perservered with.

So what do you want to see with Chaos?

My 40k Chaos Armies

Starting with my Emperor's Children and Death Guard, it appears that the new 6th Ed codex is broadly in line with the Gav Thorpe's Bastard Child version.

Noise Marines and Plague Marines can be taken as Troops if you take Lucius (EC) or Typhus (DG) or a Marked Lord as your HQ.

Unfortunately it appears that Noise Havoks have gone and there is no capacity for sonic upgrades on anything but Noise Marines. So that Noise Biker squad I have is still a non-starter. However it does appear you can mark Oblits - Mark of nurgle looks a given.

However the saddest thing is that it appears Cult Terminators missed the cut. Yes you can take Marked Termies but that doesn't give you weapon options (EC) or FNP (DG).

Does anybody know anything specific on options around these two armies?

Skitterleap Shakeout

This weekend I have a few out of towners and a few locals coming around for some games of Warhammer Fantasy. The premise is an opportunity for people to get some practice in for Skitterleap which is little over four weeks away.


From out of town we have the Williamsons and Sam Whitt and the locals are James, Hagen, Tom and myself.

It will be interesting to see what armies are on show. By my reckoning it will be:

Neil – Brets

Peter – who knows but hopefully Tomb Kings

Sam – Dark Elves

Hagen – Lizards

James – High Elves

Tom – Daemons (new army book update)

Myself – Night Goblins

The aim is to get through a couple of games each so people can iron the kinks out of their lists.

Forgeworld in 40k

I've always been pretty permissive with Forgeworld in the tournaments that I run and to date have had no problems. At this year's "Fields of Blood" a few people brought Forgeworld models and there were no outcries.

Is there anything in the Imperial Armour books that you think you could bring to a 1500 point game and it would be completely unbeatable? I don't mean couldn't be killed, rather given missions and normal list requirements would unduly advantage you?

Want to hear people's thoughts.

The Dea(r)th of Fantasy FAQs

One area where Games Workshop improved between 2010 and 2011 was in the release of FAQs. The release of a new Army Book was followed with a comprehensive FAQ three to four months later that addressed all the points not identified in their in-house playtesting.


This was great and certainly addressed one of the previous points of contention that had been aimed at GW. People felt that the Studio had turned over a new – proactive – leaf and that this was their path for the future.

Unfortunately, winter has returned.

The Vampire Count book was released in January 2012 and The Empire book in April 2012 and to date we have had no FAQ for either tome. This isn’t because there aren’t issues, you can check out a summary of the VC ones here and The Empire here.

It is really sad that there has been a return to the old ways and I can only hope that GW see that releasing timely FAQs is not only a easy means to keep customers happy but also an integral part of their customer service premise.

Codex: CSM Tidbits

Saw this page floating onn the net. I'm assuming it is part of the fold out gate summary section. It gives some breakdown of what confers what:

Race to 40k Masters

For those that asked the 40k invites for the Masters to be run in Wellington are as follows:

1. Jack Dunn (Current Champion) and #8
2. Charlie St. Clair #1
3. Mark Buttle #2
4. Doug Sainsbury #3
5. Haydn Korach #4
6. Pascal Roggen # 5
7. Ivan Soo #6
8. David Wilson #7
9. Chris Ward #9
10. Robert Power #10
11. Simon Farrell #11
12. Adam Thornton #12

This is all predisposed on the basis that events between now and 31 October (I only know of Conquest) don't change things.

As it is unlikely that all players will accept their invite, there will be passdowns but only to provide an even number and never below #20.

Those players next in line are currently:

• Daniel Hayden #13
• David Foster #14
• Henare Akari #15
• Matthew Robinson #16
• Dean Oldham #17
• Hagen Kerr #18 (but defending Conquest points)
• James Woodward #19
• PJ Smith #20 (but defending Conquest points)

It is highly unlikely Jack will defend title (as he will be working in Sydney) so that bumps Daniel Hayden into a place.

Details of the event still to be finalised but likely:

• 1/2 December (definite)
• Khandallah (definite)
• 6 Rounds (definite)
• 1500 points (definite)
• Allies (definite)
• Fortifications
• Book Missions
• No Comp (definite)
• Forgeworld (Umpire's discretion)

Hope that helps.

*Insert Sponsor's Name Here*

Over the weekend I managed to get in quite a bit of hobby despite the hand. Warning – this post is going to have more product placement than a reality TV show.


On Friday I put together some of my new Sarissa movement trays until I ran out of steel paper. Jumped onto the Battlefront site and pleased to see you can now source Gale Force Nine hobby products from New Zealand. I ordered three packs. I am hoping they arrive in the next twenty four hours.

As noted, I received my White Dwarf on Saturday and read that through. One thing I noted was that the electronic copy is released the same day as the physical copy (as long as you don’t live in NZ or Finland). It would be very interesting to know what proportion of codexes they sell electronically compared to the physical book.

Saturday afternoon I painted up some Bloodletters for the Daemons. These are the metal axe wielders and I am very happy with the way the new GW painting scheme – Base/Layer/Wash/Layer/Drybrush/Glaze – is working. Certaintly for army painting it provides the necessary depth to give an above average result. If I’m lucky should finish this second dozen this evening.

While I’ve been painting these models and making the trays, I have been listening to the Black Library “The Primarchs” auidobook. This is a series of shorter stories acting as links to the main story line. I’ve got through the first “The Lion” which, while a good story – it features backstory on the Deathguard, reinforces what sanctimonious pricks the loyalist primarchs are. Lion El Johnson wouldn’t be the first bloke I’d invite to a party.

Fulgrim, on the other hand, is “interesting”. That’s “interesting” in the nutty as a fruitcake manner. The book “The Reflection Crack’d” picks up after Istvaan V and provides a travelogue of the Emperor’s Chidren’s descent into madness. Lucius features heavily and is such a spoilt brat that even the rest of his Legion hate him while whole sections of Fulgrim’s troops have gone over to wielding noise weapons. I’m really hoping the Forgeworld “betrayal” book picks this up. It seems that the Emperor’s Children didn’t walk down the road to the Eye of Terror, instead they skipped/cartwheeled/crowd surfed the path.

Finally, I chased down more participants for Skitterleap. It now looks like we’ll get between 25-30 people at the event.

All in all not an unproductive weekend.

Review - White Dwarf [October Relaunch]

Games Workshop have done a re-launch of White Dwarf magazine, apparently bringing in specialist magazine designers. At the same time – for everyone but NZ and Finland – they have launched an electronic version (iPad).

 

I received my UK copy on Saturday – I understand the local is just re-patched for local prices and stockists – all 150+ pages of it.

 

So how does it look?

 

Firstly, it has a much more professional feel about it. It is published on far higher quality paper with a satin rather than gloss finish. Secondly, its design and layout is far stronger than it has been in the past. It feels more like a professional magazine rather than the advertising brochure it had become (last 3-4 years) or the slightly chaotic hobbyist feel of ten years ago. As always though, the important thing is the content. Have things changed? Well, yes and no.

 

Although the issue is 150+ pages, the first 48 pages are dedicated to new releases. That’s not articles about the new releases, it’s just adverts. The adverts are more hi-brow than they have been in the past, the photo shoots are good and text seems more thoughtful – but they are adverts nonetheless.

NZ ETC Selection

Dave Grant, the NZ ETC Captain for the past three years has asked me to post the following regarding 2013:

Well, it's been 4 weeks since the ETC... time to start thinking about next year.

As previous years I think the plan is for the prior years team (at least those that can be bothered) to select a few people to pick the team. We have already agreed that if there is enough interest we would like "at least" half the team to be based in NZ - if there is 'significant' interest we may look to doing something more formal if that is wanted.

I will not be going next year (ETC is great, but quite a commitment in time during the school holidays when I have kids that I should probably see), so after 3 years as Captain the baton is being passed on to Mr Chris Wilcox (Kiwi living in Oz if you don't know him) - who has been for past 3 years. I do intend to help with the planning and preparation though.

If you are interested in going, or have any questions please let me know (post on here or PM me). It would be useful to know the likelyhood of you being able to go as well (due to planning required we need a pretty definite commitment if you are selected for the team).

Please note the location for next years event is still to be finalised, and if you want any other details the ETC section of 'The Warhammer Forum' is the place to go. I have also written a report from this year that may give you a 'feel' of what it is like.

So.... anyone interested???

The easiest way to get hold of either Dave or Chris is through The Warhammer Forum (www.warhammer.org.uk) where Dave is Dave Grant and Chris is archer

Skitterleap is Approaching

"Skitterleap" Warhammer Fantasy Tournament is just over a month away.

It is a five round 2400 point event and is the final competition in the 2012 tournament season. You can download the Players Pack here

The event caters for all skill levels but is targetted at encouraging the hobby aspect. To this end, one requirement of entry is that your army must be fully painted to a tabletop standard - three colour minimum, basing and movement trays for ranked units.

There is plenty of space available and you will be guaranteed the opportunity to compete against a great bunch of gamers on good quality tables.

If you have signed up, we'd love to see you.

More White Dwarf chaos Space Marine Pictures

There are more Chaos Space Marine pictures floating around from White Dwarf:

Dark Apostle?

The Close Combat Obliterators - Maulers?

Raptors?

CSM - look like existing sculpts

Guardcon Fantasy Results

Here are the results of Guardcon held in Auckland over the weekend:

Seven different armies in the Top 10 with only Ogres having a repeat appearance.

Amazing that there were no Skaven or Dark Elves padding the boards. Particularly pleased to see that the outbreak of Dwarfism in Auckland evident early in the year has been quelled. Beastmen and Chaos Dwarfs the other two armies missing

The Oak Tree of Failure From Small Acorns Grows

Last night James and I had another matchup of his High Elves against the Ogres. james had made substantial changes to his list after Guardcon whereas I had replaced what I regard as a redundant Crown of Command with the Earthing Rod.

I could regale you all with stories of tactical brilliance but in essence the pivotal points in the game all resulted from errors. The errors were on both sides so I hope that James won't mind me going through them.

We were playing Blood & Glory and the first of these errors came at deployment. James put his Eagles on the 15" line when in retrospect there was no need to do this. When I got the first turn I was able to declare two 18" charges on his eagles with a combination of three units. As all of these had an 8" move and average 9" charge die roll, James had to make the tough decision whether to flee or hold. He held - and two of the three rolls gave me 10" on the dice. The unit of 2 Mournfang made short work of one eagle while one Sabretusk held the other up for three rounds before winning. What this did was give me a clear advance for my units with no redirectors in the way.

The key thing is that James didn't need to deploy at the 15" line. If he had deployed at 12" in then I could charge and it wouldn't have inhibited his ability to annoy the shit out of me with his eagles.

The second mistake was my target selection. James had two bolt throwers and these were a key threat to my Mournfang. Instead of shooting one of theses with my Ironblaster first turn, I tried to snipe his Lord. Yes, I killed two reavers (due to a successful LOS) but even then he still had enough in the unit for a future LOS. Turn Two I switched to shooting the Boltthrowers.

The third "facepalm" was again one of mine. I worked out what spells I was going to stop in James' magic phase and then realised that I had incorrectly imagined the effect of one of them. Shield of Saphery provides a 5+ Ward against shooting and in combat. For some reason I thought it was only a shooting ward. I'll put it down to the fact that High Elves always run Shadow, so James using High Magic was a dirty lowdown trick. The real message is "read the card in front of you, don't just assume". The only thing that saved me was the final mistake from James.

In charging his White Lions into my Ironguts he moved the unit outside the 12" bubble for General and BSB. This meant that while he remained Stubborn he lost the re-roll and General's Ld for two rounds of combat and subsequently failed his Fear tests. He rolled up the first time but in round two his Lions were exposed for the girly-men they are. To compound matters in the second round of combat I produced a moment of wargaming genius, hitting with 15 out of 15 attacks from my Ironguts and wounding 15 out of 15 times! Sometimes I'm just on top of my game. Being ordinary James saved the expected average six out of fifteen.

The point of the post - no, it's not to show how jammy the new Ogre dice are - is to demonstrate that the small things in the game can have big consequences. The easiest way to cut these errors out is to play lots of games (and not have a failing memory).

The Race for the Masters - September Update

Here is my take on the provisional rankings post Guardcon:

I have included those players that have a ranking greater than 200 points. Without full results it is difficult to go much further.

With regard to Masters places, remember Antony Kitson (current NZ Master) gets automatic entry. Then it is the next 11 highest ranked players that can make the event. There is a floor at #20 should there be pass downs that far - and of course the requirement to maintain even numbers.

There are still three tournaments that I am aware of - Conquest (Christchurch), Archenemy (Auckland) - both on Labour Weekend - and Skitterleap (Wellington). That gives great regional opportunities for those in the mix to consolidate their place and those outside to force their way in. Six of the Top 12 above players have already signed up for Skitterleap and I am expecting a field of 25+ so lots of points on offer

White Dwarf Chaos Space Marines Pictures

Here are the pictures of the new Chaos Space Marine models from this month's White Dwarf. Hat Tip to Faeit 212

Sorry but they don't scream Chaos Space Marines to me. They are probably lovely models but they look very much like extras from a Transformers Decepticon playset.

WHITE DWARF COVER

FORGEFIEND

HELLDRAKE

MAULERFIEND

WARPSMITH

WARPTALONS

WARPTALONS

Okay.....I like the Warpsmith. I can see him getting a home in my Iron Warriors. The renamed Raptors are also very nice.

I guess I'll be in a minority here but I am going to be very interested in the fluff re the monsters/flyers. Where have they been keeping these for the past 10,000 years? And with Abaddon's 0-13 record for Black Crusades I would have thought he would have rushed them to the front earlier.

Nice models but I'm not sure I'm drinking the Koolaid. Did I miss the secret communication or something?

NEWSFLASH: FW Horus Heresy Book GBP70 plus postage. Book is full colour hardback, "leather" bound.



Chaos Codex Confirmed

The first 6th Edition is confirmed as Codex:Space Marines.

Pre-orders go live this weekend on 22 September (expect actual models at UK Games Day) with release on 6 October.

The revamped White Dwarf debuts this weekend so expect lots of Chaos CSM goodness.

Obviously for me this is a bittersweet time. Yes we see the demise of Gav Thorpe's bastard child - but I know the boat carrying my dreams is about to be dashed on the rocks of mediocrity and disappointment.

As Geogre Gregan once said "Four more years" - and it was eight!

Guest Post - The Guardcon Experience

Today we have a Guest Post from James Milner on his experience at Guardcon over the weekend. James has just returned from two years in the UK where he attended a lot of events and even found time to represent NZ twice at the ETC. He is most fondly rememberedon these shores for beating some muppet with Vampire Counts 20-0 with his Beastmen as well as the deplorable incident regarding basing of his Bloodcrushers. Here are James' thoughts:

 James Milner here, everyone’s favourite far-wandering wargamer , and television celebrity. (see what you’ve all done!!!)


So on the weekend the Cityguard club in Auckland held their annual convention, Guardcon. Having not seen any of the guys up there for quite a while now, I thought it would be good to head up and say hi, and play some toy soldiers (also, Phil Wu wouldn’t stop badgering me about it until I finally caved…).

I’ll just give you all a brief rundown of the event as a whole, rather than my mostly terrible gaming results, which I might pass to Pete when I’ve pondered my High Elf list a bit more…

Organisation:

The event was well organized and on time. There was good relatively cheap food put on, though I wish we had bars on site for tournies in NZ. Phil getting Pizzas for everyone on Saturday was a nice touch.

The Players pack only being released two months before the event despite being advertised and asking for money 6+ months out is a big fail (16 dropouts is kinda telling…)

The Warmachine/Hordes tournament being hidden away to the point I forgot there actually was one was a bit disappointing. I know space is an issue but it just felt bad, and I’d have liked to have a look in.

The Painting Competition, I know it was added on late but for a trial NZ Golden Daemon type event, I feel it deserved something a bit more than it got. It felt very tacked on and unimportant.

Comp Pack:

Bit of a debacle in my opinion. Armies comped needlessly and others allowed free reign (I honestly don’t think you could make a much stronger Ogre list in a non comp environment than what you could take at Guardcon).

But mainly, Look out sir vs. magic basically told everyone to take Deathstars, which they did and I don’t think that’s a good thing. Games basically devolve into avoid the Deathstar for 6 turns, which isn’t that fun

Ban the Crown of Command, period, and make people suffer for their poor gameplay!!! (and yes, I include all armies in this ban, seriously noone needs it at all…). Can’t believe Ogres could take it when lots of other races couldn’t…


Attitude:

I had 6 great games, but I heard tales of some heated games on the top tables, particularly one involving [redacted] vs [redacted]. I didn’t see it but based on the description it sounded like lots of fun! (Note: Noone actually got sports hit that I recall, so it wasn‘t table flipping or anything)

Painting:

From what I saw, the overall army standard was very good. NZ has amazingly high painting standards compared to what I saw regularly at UK tournies, so good work guys!

Wrap Up:

Oh and since there was an interesting debate re. scenarios on the Cityguard forums last week, I’ll just mention, that yet again I found scenarios had little effect on any of my games, mostly as they basically all devolved into “deal with the big character deathstar or lose regardless”. Though, at least they were better than the 40k ones, which from what I was told, all involved skipping to T6 and rolling a dice to see who won…

To sum up I had great weekend of drinking with some gaming in between. Unfortunately though, given the cost, my attendance next year will rely a lot on some much improved army comp…

Getting the hobby mojo back...

After a bit of burnout, I've been pretty over the hobby for the last couple of weeks. Apparently that is prettttty much over though...

Gettin' my hobby mojo back!

So, here I am, listening to podcasts, painting the Old Cripple's Rhinox Cav, and eyeing up some tasty tasty terrain I'd like to paint.

So... Why post about it? Well, firstly - I'm pretty keen to get a small group of people together for a terrain painting/building day in the next week or two, anyone else interested? Pete, you could always drybrush with your left hand, odds are it will be an improvement.

Secondly, I'm fairly sick of listening to tales of other people playing 6th ed, and I just wanna play some games with a variety of lists and start hashing out what actually works, what doesn't work, what's fun, what's not fun (flyer spam!), and get involved. If you're in wellington and you're keen, either chuck a comment in here or let me know via one of the 999999999999 various forms of contact Gen Y is plugged into.

Finally... Airbrushes. Once old man rivers brittle bones have healed as much as the effect of the significant amount of time he has been exposed to allows, I'm going to give him a bit of a session around using his airbrush and getting simple easy to achieve results from them. Given I'm not particularly great in this area myself, this would mostly be aimed at a beginner level. If anyone is keen, or just wants to check it out to decide whether they would like to invest in one themselves, let me know. If demand is low I'll likely lump a bit into the terrain session. If it's high, then we'll go with a stand alone session on its own.

Stirring in the Crypt

The other thing I did over the weekend was start work on my Vampire Counts list. The VC are a really interesting book as there is quite a divergence of opinion on what to include and what to leave out.


Here’s the list that I am looking at trying first:

Vampire Lord – General, Level 1 Vampires, Quickblood, Red Fury, Heavy Armour, Charmed Shield, Ogre Blade, Talisman of Preservation
Necromancer Lord – Level 4, Death

Necromancer – Level 2, Vampires, Book of Arkhan

Necromancer – Level 2, Death, Scroll
Cairn Wraith
Cairn Wraith
Cairn Wraith

40 Ghouls – Ghast
40 Zombies – Std, Muso
20 Zombies – Std, Muso

2 Fellbats
2 Fellbats
8 Crypt Horrors
4 Vargheists

This represents what I can get onto the table without two much painting.

Any thoughts on the list?

Hobbykiller

Grrrrrrrr!!

Up to six weeks in a hand splint!

A Foray into Night Goblins

With my finger broken on my right hand, my ability to paint models is curtailed somewhat. After a visit to the doctor then hand specialist on Friday, the hand is now in a splint to restrict its movement.


However not wanting to “waste” the weekend I got out Jack’s Night Goblin army and magnetically based them. This involved filling all the bases (GW plastics) with Polyfilla, cutting up magnetic sheeting, gluing this to the now filled bases and re-painting the edges black. I also ordered new movement trays for the whole army.

The new movement trays are from Sarissa Precision, a UK firm. James had some for his High Elves and they looked really nice with a solid 4-5mm lip. I clicked onto their website and was surprised how cheap they were – generally, and compared to their competitors. Worldwide postage is GBP2.50 and orders over GBP 50.00 are free. The other surprise was just how good their website was to use. Hopefully they will arrive in the next fortnight and I can finish the job.

Looking at what figures Jack had available here is the 2400 point army I am looking to use:

Black Orc Warboss
Level 4 Night Goblin Shaman

Night Goblin Big Boss BSB
Night Goblin Level 2 Shaman

50 Night Goblins – FC, Nets, 2x Fanatics
50 Night Goblins – FC, Nets, 2x Fanatics
20 Night Goblins – Short Bow, Muso, 2x Fanatics
5 Spider Riders – Muso, Short Bow
5 Spider Riders – Muso, Short Bow

Squig Herd – 18 Squigs, 12 Herders
Squig Herd – 18 Squigs, 12 Herders

Mangler Squig
Snotling Pump Wagon
Rock Lobba
Doom Diver
Anakarok Spider

To me it looks small. However it should be fun. Expect it will be out on table once trays arrive.

Thoughts?

Horus Heresy: Betrayal Details

Check out all the details of the new Forgeworld book here

In my mind this is the most exciting release that GW have made in years.

NZTC - Another Australian Entry

So overnight I received another Australian entry for the NZTC in February next year. This team is made up of players from ACT and Brisbane.

This brings the total to nine paid, one unpaid (Nerdymen) and one as yet unconfirmed Australian team (Hampton).

The event is limited to the first twelve paid but teams so don't dally!

Edit: And the Nerdymen are now confirmed....so two spots still open....Cmon Hampton!

Something Personal

I don't stray outside wargaming on this blog but every now and then there is something deeply personal that I wish to highlight. The events at Hillsborough in 1989 are one of those things. Cut to its quib 96 Liverpool fans went to watch a game of football and through no fault of their own, didn't come home.

After the disaster, the Police blamed the fans. But equally as bad, "The Sun" newspaper in the days after the event (and before the bodies were buried) peddled their rag with such offensive stories and headlines that the people of Liverpool instituted an embargo that has lasted to this day. In one infamous story, they used a nameless source to say that Liverpool fans urinated on the police and on the dead bodies of fans laid out on the pitch. It was a lie, and today they have finally admitted it.

Here's a newstory on the findings of the independant enquiry and The Sun's apology (23 years after the fact):

Prime Minister David Cameron revealed on Wednesday that findings from the independent review into the tragedy at the Sheffield ground - as it hosted an FA Cup semi-final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest - showed the safety of the crowd was compromised on "every level".


Cameron revealed that police officers had subsequently tampered with evidence and eye-witness accounts in a bid to deflect blame for the deaths onto the fans, evidence that The Sun relayed in an infamous article entitled 'The Truth' - which blamed Liverpool fans for the disaster.

The Prime Minister stated that the article was "clearly wrong and caused huge offence, distress and hurt", before outlining the extent of the police cover-up.

"[The] report finds that 164 statements were significantly amended - and 116 explicitly removed negative comments about the policing operation - including its lack of leadership," he added. "The report also makes important findings about particular actions taken by the police and coroner while investigating the deaths.

"There is new evidence which shows that police officers carried out police national computer checks on those who had died in an attempt - and I quote from the report - 'to impugn the reputations of the deceased'."

Liverpool fans have long boycotted The Sun as a result of their coverage of the Hillsborough tragedy. After Wednesday's findings, the newspaper - owned by Rupert Murdoch's News International - belatedly issued a full apology.

"Twenty-three years ago the Sun newspaper made a terrible mistake," current editor Dominic Moynihan said. "We published an inaccurate and offensive story about the events at Hillsborough. We said it was the truth - it wasn't.

"The Hillsborough Independent Panel has now established what really happened that day. It's an appalling story and at the heart of it are the police's attempts to smear Liverpool fans. It's a version of events that 23 years ago The Sun went along with and for that we're deeply ashamed and profoundly sorry.

"We will also reflect our deep sense of shame."

The editor of the newspaper at the time the article was published, Kelvin Mackenzie, offered his "profuse apologies to the people of Liverpool for that headline".

He added: "It has taken more than two decades, 400,000 documents and a two-year inquiry to discover to my horror that it would have far more accurate had I written the headline 'The Lies' rather than 'The Truth'. I published in good faith and I am sorry that it was so wrong."

South Yorkshire chief constable David Crompton also said he was "profoundly sorry" for the conduct of the force during the disaster and in its aftermath - promising those who doctored statements and the like will face punishment.

"I think that if people [police officers] are shown to have acted criminally then they should face prosecution," Crompton said. "In the immediate aftermath senior officers sought to change the record of events. Disgraceful lies were told which blamed the Liverpool fans for the disaster.

"I am profoundly sorry for the way the force failed on 15th April 1989 and I am doubly sorry for the injustice that followed and I apologise to the families of the 96 and Liverpool fans."

In a statement, Liverpool chose to pay tribute to those who have campaigned tirelessly for the truth surrounding the Hillsborough Disaster to finally be published.

"Over the last 23 years the families who lost loved ones and the survivors of this terrible tragedy have shown immense dignity and resilience in their tireless campaign for justice," the statement read.

"Liverpool Football Club commends the Hillsborough Independent Panel report which acknowledges the avoidable catastrophic failures before, during and after the disaster. The club also welcomes the Prime Minister's apology to the families and survivors on behalf of the Government and await the Attorney General's pending review of the report. After 23 long and painful years, our fans have finally been fully exonerated of all blame.

"The world knows what we have always known, that Liverpool fans were not just innocent on that terrible day but that there was reprehensible and hurtful misrepresentation of the truth."

Lynne and I travelled to Anfield in 1990 to visit the Hillsborough Memorial. What stuck us both were the ages of the victims - children to pensioners - and the number of families that suffered multiple tragedies.   On 12 September 2013, people can finally say with closure "Justice For The 96"   Ninety-six people went to a football game and didn't come home. R.I.P

Battle Report - High Elves vs. Ogres

Last evening I had a game with James (Kenny) Milner before he heads up north to Guardcon. Given that there are going to be four OKs armies out of the 24 participants, we thought it worthwhile for him to have a run prior.

James' army is in the spreadsheet of Guardcon armies I posted yesterday but essentially is:

Lord with Null Stone
Level 4 on Heavens

BSB with Banner of World Dragon
Level 2 with Iceshard Blizzard and Comet

18 Archers
13 Archers
10 Archers
10 Archers

5 Ellyrian Reavers
5 Ellyrian Reavers
6 Swordmasters
A Billion White Lions with Banner of Sorcery

Eagle
Eagle

My Ogres were as follows:

Slaughtermaster with Toys on Maw

BSB with some toys
Butcher with Beasts & Hellheart

9 Ironguts with FC/Std of Discipline
9 Bulls with FC

Sabretusk
Sabretusk
Sabretusk
2 Mournfang - Muso
2 Mournfang - Muso
4 Mournfang - Dragonhide Banner

Ironblaster

So James' army is a very slippery eel.....lots of redirectors, a Deathstar with hooks and shooting/magic to force the issue.

Now we decided to play Battleline - because for all my brave words re scenarios - it's the easiest and quickest to get into. You will have to excuse the poorly focused photos but they will give you an idea.

Deployment

Here is the view of the Elven lines

Archers and Eagle on extreme left with Reavers (out of picture). Swordmasters then White Lions - Lord and BSB (separated by more than 6"), big Archers and Level 4 in Building then Archers, Archers + Level 2 and Reavers on right.

And looking from behind the Ogres

On far left is a single Sabretusk.Then Mournfang in a Blood Forest, the Bulls with BSB, Guts with Slaughtermaster and Butcher with Ironblaster behind. The Dragonhide Mournfang with another unit behind (eagle eyed readers will note that these look like two Tomb king chariots - this is correct. It is also because Charlie is a lazy minger who prefers to work and win the ATC than paint my next two mournfang). On the far right out of picture are two sabretusks.

GW Models Are Like A New Car

One of the things I always find interesting are the prices that people attach to their secondhand GW models when they put them up for sale on forums.

Typically you'll see a price that is 70-80% of NZ RRP + postage for models that are poorly painted etc.

There seems to be no realisation that the informed buyer can purchase brand new from offshore for between 55-60% NZ RRP including postage.

This is generally followed with the threat "If it doesn't sell here, I'll take it to eBay, Trademe, whatever...."

There are two important points that should be grasped:

1) GW models don't hold value
2) GW models can be sourced from offshore (GW embargo notwithstanding)

There are a few exceptions to this. At present there is a bit of a premium for the metal version of the model over the Finecast equivalent. However the second hand value of neither is anything like the new price.

I have bought and sold full armies over the year and the rule of thumb I've noted is that to achieve anything like NZRRP on your models the army needs to be painted to significantly better than tabletop quality.

So coming back to the title - GW models are like a new car....as soon as you take it out of the shop you lose 25-30% value.

You break the seal....it's another 10%, put paint on it another 20%.....

Avatars of War Harpies

Some of the ugliest models in WHFB are the GW Harpies and Furies. I have always waited for these to be re-done.......and I'm still waiting.

Obviously also identifying the need, Avatars of War have released a new boxed set containing 5 "Harpies of the Apocalypse". These are made from resin and come in five separate multi-part poses. Looking at the box art they look a vast improvement on the GW Harpies. I am looking to pick up a couple of boxes to use as Furies in our burgeoning Daemon army.

I think that they look as though they will fit this role really well. They are available on AoW website and cost 15.5 Euros per set. They are not on the internet reseller sites as yet but I expect that will happen reasonably soon.

Guardcon WHFB Lists

Guardcon is on this weekend and although the field is much reduced on previous years, it should be a good stoush. Here is a copy of some of the lists that will be fighting it out.

I understand not all are in so if you haven't got yours lodged "Shame on You". Move along now there is nothing for you to see.

Sports Scoring 101

Every now and then you hear that Sports scoring at tournaments is evil, that it is open to abuse and that it only encourages sore losers.


I am strongly of the view that this is not the case.

When considering Sports scoring it is important to look at the system that is in place. There are 3-4 common systems that are used.

System 1 – Mark on Scale of 0-5.
This is usually accompanied by some basis for each score – which nobody ever reads and subsequently the score reflects the internal mechanism of the scorer. If you play the happy bunny who gives everybody “5”s then you are boosted; if you place the Russian Judge you probably get a “2”. (If you were unlucky enough to play a certain Australian 40k gamer known as “Torpedo” then you get a “0” if you beat him, which New Zealanders habitually did). So the system suffers from being too subjective and the fact people have different scales

System 2 – Yellow Card/Red Card.
This system is big in the UK/Europe and works on the same basis as soccer. The “stick” is that you can be ejected from the tournament for bad behaviour. However, the big flaw in the system is that it gives you a free pass to act like a dickhead in one game. It also relies on a player calling over the umpire and detailing the problems and then the umpire taking the not-undrastic step of warning a player and eventually expelling a player from the event. For me, this system sounds fine in theory but in practice penalties are hardly ever used and it encourages poor behaviour.

System 3 – The Checklist.
This has a serious of 5-6 questions about game etiquette that a player ticks off after the game. It has the benefit of the umpire being able to isolate recurrent problems and provide feedback to a penalised player. Its flaw is that behaviour is only crudely defined into the 5-6 categories and it is binary i.e. yes or no. Therefore the most you can lose – regardless of how much a dick you are is one point in the area. For you to be punished significantly you need to be an offender across many areas.

System 4 – Default Setting.
This system has three scores – typically 5, 3, 0 and a default setting of 5. It has two step punishment system but unlike the 0-5 no reward. The Umpire’s expectation is that all participants will score a 5 and that deviation from that score will be discussed with the player that assigns the score. Generally this results in 90%+ of players getting full Sports marks, so sports has no outcome on tournament result. However where there is a problem a mechanism exists to punish.

The GW 6e FAQ

Time for a bouquet.

I am extremely impressed with the GW FAQ for 6th Edition released on the weekend. The response to its release has been almost universally positive - apart from one internet "personality" who sees all sorts of conspiracies in the fact that it's dated July and not released until September (Apparently this was purely to undermine the Nova Open - yep, GW knew Elvis was attending so faked the Moon Landings in Area 51 - Is it a coincidence Neil Armstrong died the weekend the FAQs were released? I think not!).

The FAQ seems to have addressed virtually all the identified "issues" that the first two months play have thrown up. In particular it removed the clunky mechanism around wond allocation - I had seen a spreadsheet to work through - and the ability to abuse it. It also removed one of the more obvious Ally combos by tightening the wording.

The key thing here is that the GW resonse vindicates everything I contend about their playtesting. The Studio/Design Team/Whatever They Call Themselves At The Moment probably play 400-500 games/partial games at best in their playtesting. Release the rules and 100 times this are probably played in the first fortnight - all with a fresh pair of eyes.

It would be arrogant of GW to think that they could foresee every potential eventualitity in their playtesting - especially if they are not looking at the sharp end as a primary focus. Therefore their best course is to do what they have done - watch the net for the first month and then put out a FAQ that addresses the flaws that come out.

Kudos to them for the work. Now where are the Vampire Counts, Empire and Daemon of Chaos FAQs

Normal Service Resumed

Hopefully, normal service is now resumed for Fields of Blood.

After 5 restful days in Fiji I arrived home and trudged back into work. However during the holiday I had fallen on my hand and it was heavily swollen and bruised. On Thursday I wandered up to A&E and they took x-rays of my hand - resulted in them identifying that I had a clean break through the base of my little finger.

It's still swollen and bruised and over the weekend I have had to reconcile myself to the fact that I will never touch type nor play the concert piano.

I did however force myself to paint 12 Bloodletters over the weekend - 48 to go. Also two new Slaanesh chariots arrived in the post.

How the west was won...

Well... bit of an update to type out here, hopefully that should make up for the few and far between nature of my posts :)

As most of you are aware, last weekend, Team NZ attended the Australasian Team Challenge (or Australasian Team Championship, depending on who you ask on what day of the week).

I had left this fairly low-key building up to the event, as to both avoid building too much hype and thus further exacerbating the weight of expectation, and also a couple of people had been fairly vocal in their dissatisfaction with not being selected. Quite frankly I have 0 energy available for these people, so decided it wasn't worth the effort.

All that is of course moot now, as we have the hot little trophy in our hands!

So, first up, a summary of the event itself. The ATC was spawned in the wake of the ETC, and is very similar in many respects. Teams of 8 players, with a restriction on using each codex no more than once within a team, compete. Individuals are paired up by the captains in what is essentially an 'I go you go' set up, and their results are combined to achieve the total round score out of 160 (20 per player). 0-74 = a loss, 75-85 = a draw, and 86-160 = a win. A win was worth 2 match points, a draw 1, and a loss 0. 

The teams were as follows:

Victoria - Captained by Josh Diffey

Queensland - Captained by Stacy Dennis

New South Wales - Captained by Dennis Fung

South Australia - Captained by Alun Gallie (who showed up the first night in an all blacks jersey with a kiwi accent!)

ACT - Captained by Jeff Dunster

Tasmania - Captained by Simon Russell

Western Australia - Captained by Matt Aird

and finally New Zealand - Captained by myself.

More detail on who were in the other teams, and what exactly each list was can be found here: http://www.australasianteamchallenge.com/Teams2012.php

As for our own team, I shall go into in detail below, but here are the lads!

Those of you with keen eyes will notice the map of Australia on  Nikola's medal is suspiciously backwards.

Our results were as follows:

Round 1: Tasmania - win 120-40

Round 2: Victoria - Win 96-64

Round 3: New South Wales - Win 101-59

Round 4: Queensland - Win 96-64

Round 5: South Australia - Win 87-73

Round 6: Western Australia - Loss 65-95

The members of the team were:

The youngest on the team; Daniel Hayden brought with him a wealth of enthusiasm, a bunch of jumper blood angels, some longfang wannabe's and Mephiston to hold their hands. The primary reason for including Dan in the team was to saturate him in experience. Dan has a lot of potential but is still fairly new to the pointy end of tournaments. I felt this was a great opportunity to develop him further and inject more skill into the community.

Dan had a bit of a rough time over the weekend, scoring 4 points against Tasmania's Space Wolves, 0 points to Victoria's Dark Eldar (after losing ~1050 points in a single tank shock from a shock prow raider), a 9 point draw against NSW's IG, a 9 point draw against QLD's Blood Angels, a 15 point win against SA's Blood Angels, and a 9 point draw against WA's Deathwing. Overall I was fairly satisfied with Dans efforts over the weekend, and his win against the SA Blood Angels was absolutely critical in securing the round, given the shocker some of the rest had! Ultimately though, I'll be looking to make sure he capitilises on this experience and improves dramatically over the next tournament year.

The lazy-lover himself, Reverend Doug Sainsbury. Doug played Warhammer-on-Training-Wheels all weekend with a fairly typical Coteaz+psyfleman+purifier+razorback spam list, though it is worth noting I felt he made the strongest list out of that codex over the weekend. Doug had easily been the best Grey Knight player over the last year in NZ, and was a blank slate in that he would listen and follow instructions without question. Dougs biggest weakness historically has been giving up mentally early on, and over the weekend where this suddenly was not an option in any way shape or form, he really discovered that battling through this more often than not wound up with a fairly satisfying win! I'll be looking for this shift in attitude to continue, and see this as one of the biggest positive outcomes from this tournament.

Doug scored 16 points against Tasmanias Grey Knights, Snatched 15 points from Vic's Space Wolves, Eeked out a 13 point win against NSW's Necrons, an 11 point draw against QLD's IG, a 20 nil pasting of poor SA's Dark Eldar, but then went down with 1 point against WA's Necrons.

With the exception of South Australia (which was a move that cost them the round ultimately), Doug was always a player put forward early meaning his opponent got to pretty much pick who ever would face him. To do so well under these circumstances is a very impressive achievement.

Haydn "I Got This!" Korach, aka the man that lost the Battle of the Ditch to some Welsh chump! I had initially envisioned a different role for Haydn, but with Jack Dunn declining the offer to play Haydn was immediately the next best choice. Of my traditional "Match" players (which I will go into later), Haydn performed the best, so obviously I am very pleased with his results. With the army compositions Haydn didn't have a lot of strongly favorable match ups, but worked very well with what he had. Over the weekend Haydn scored 16 points against Tasmania's Orks, 17 points over Vic's Lash CSM, went down with 5 points against NSW's Mech BA, scored 16 against QLD's Lash CSM, went down with 5 points against SA's Necrons, and got a 19 point win against WA's Tyranids.

Henare Akari, AKA our token blackman. I had a lot of people challenge me on the inclusion of Hen in the team. In  response, Hen effectively delivered two middle fingers to all those who doubted him, and was absolutely outstanding all weekend. A fairly unorthadox twist on Black Templars, Hen  got a 10 point draw in a bad match up against Tasmanias Deathwing, scored 19 points vs Vic's Blood Angels, Scored 19 points against NSW's Space Wolves, got a 12 point draw against QLD's Tyranids (where if the game had gone to turn 6 it would have been a significant win to him), an unfortunate 2 points against SA's paladin list, and 18 points against WA's Space Wolves. Hen really stood up to the challenge over the weekend, and I am immensely proud of him. Hen is always a quiet, solid achiever who can be relied on to achieve when the going gets tough, which is why he was always an auto-inclusion for me.

Me! Charlie St Clair, or as I was known for the weekend, Le Coq... let's hope that one doesn't stick. Like Doug and Nikola, I was a "Put Forward" player, meaning that in 4-5 games my opponents got to choose the match up, and the remaining 1-2 games I was the secret "champion". Over the weekend I got a 20 point win against Tasmania's Dark Eldar, a 20 point win against Vic's Sisters of Battle, an 18 point win against NSW's Deathwing, a 19 point win against QLD's Spacewolves, 18 points against SA's Orks, and a 5 point loss against WA's Orks. Overall I was reasonably satisfied with how I went at the event, though ultimately am disappointed in myself with that last loss. While it was pretty much the one list at the entire event, I managed to set up a bit of a risk turn 2, so that if Snikrot and Ghazghull had shown up any other turn, it would have been a 20-0 win to me. A defeat is always that much more gutting when you get to taste victory for but the briefest of moments!

Dave Lewy... Hmmm. Dave will be quite disappointed with himself over the weekend, dropping quite a few games that going into the event he would be very confident in. It will be interesting to see how Dave bounces back from it, but he is a quality player and I'm sure he'll be fine. Daves help in the build up to the event, and taking on all the admin work was an absolute godsend. The only 2 flights I booked, I managed to book from the wrong damn city. If left up to me, we would be playing in the Mumbai Team Championship. Over the weekend, Dave was a dedicated "Match" player, and I managed to orchestrate fairly green match ups for him in most of his rounds. He scored an 18 point win against Tasmania's Blood Angels, a 3 point loss to Vic's Mech GK, a 4 point loss to NSW's triple landraider space marines, an 18 point win against QLD's Grey Knights, a 4 point loss against SA's Space Wolves, and a 3 point loss against WA's IG. All ribbing aside, QLD's Grey Knights were a list I had no real answer to, and Dave's win over it was crucial in securing that round. When Dave did lose, he was able to make it not an absolute pasting, and this was enough to carry it through. In fact, at the end of the round against SA, the entire round hinged on Dave being able to minimize his loss, which he did fantastically.

Nikola Jacsic. Oh my god. Going into this event, all the other Aussies thought Nikola was a girl, and were already basically arranging the order in which they would run a train in him(her). I threw him up first basically every single round, and despite logic and popular belief saying otherwise, he kept stomping face and producing mad results. After his display over the weekend, I am thankful that he is in Uni and not in High-school, otherwise I'd probably be on some registered list of offenders due to some of the thoughts I've been having. *awkward silence*. This boss crab-handed baller got an 18 point win vs Tasmania's IG, a 17 point win vs Vic's IG, an 18 point win vs NSW's Dark Eldar, an 11 point draw against QLD's Orks, an 18 point win against SA's IG, before joining me in the losers circle in round 6 going down with a 4 point loss to WA's paladins.

Brendan "Slowplay" Dee. Oh how he came to rue that nickname by the end of the event, despite only having one game called for time, and even that at least got 5 turns in I believe. Brendan was my "4th man" - meaning he would be a put up, but only in rounds I lost the roll off. I only won the roll off ~twice, which meant he wound up being put up a LOT. These days everyone inherently has multiple answers to Guard, which meant that Brendan was being thrown under a bus for almost the whole weekend. Not once did he ever complain about this, but completely understood that was the role he would be playing for the team and aimed to minimize his points bleed all weekend. He started with an 18 point win against Space Marines from Tasmania, played against Victoria's scarab farm and got a respectable 5 points (talk about one sided match up), got a handy 15 point win against NSW that was very important to the round, went down hard with a big 0 against QLD's Necrons, a 5 point loss against SA's Space Marines, and a 6 point loss against WA's Blood Angels.

Overall we also did quite impressively in the individual rankings, with me coming 1st, Nikola coming 6th, Hen coming 12th, Haydn coming 14th and Doug coming 20th. This was rounded off with Dave coming 42nd, Brendan 44th, and Dan 47th, out of the 64 people at the event.

So what did all this get us? These shiny pieces of bling, made lovingly by a very talented New Zealander over at http://lasertouch.com.au/ .

Ohhhh Shiny

You may prefer this view however. I know I certainly do. *fap fap fap fap fap*

All polished off, sterilized after Nikola got a hold of them, and put into a nice comfy home.

I was going to add some content around the match up process itself, and why/how I felt this went significantly in our favor, winning the event for us, but lets be honest, this is already a novel and none of you are still reading! As such, I will slide it in later in the week. 

Until then,

Au revoir!