Xth Annual New Zealand Masters - 40K Version

The Fields of Blood NZ Rankings season ends today and all the qualifying results have been uploaded to the system (Thanks Jack).

As a result it is possible to make the invites for the Xth NZ Masters which will be held on December 2nd & 3rd.

This year invites have been extended to the Top 20 ranked players in the FOB Rankings. This is to provide reasonable time for the players to determine if they want to participate. In the past we have built to a field of 12 but this year the field will be expanded past that if we get more acceptances.

Already eight of the invitees have accepted their place which is good for the first 24 hours. I'll be keeping invites open until 7th November and then finalising the field.

A Players Pack will go out this weekend detailing the event. There will be six rounds and armies will be 1750 points.

In the next week Jack and I will be looking at collapsing the burgeoning army classifications in FOB and then announced Best in Race winners for the year.

40K - Warband of Noise Lord Challis Drant

My Emperor’s Children 1500 point list has been slightly adjusted to include some older units (Chaos Cultists) and some new additions (Warp Talons).

• Daemon Prince of Slaanesh with Wings – Intoxicating Elixir, Unholy Fortitude [Prescience]
• Sorcerer with Jump Pack – Force Sword, Combi Plasma [Warptime; Prescience]
• 8x Terminators – all with Lightning Claw and Combi Plasma
• 8x Noise Marines – 7x Chainsword; Champ with Power Sword
• Rhino – Combi Bolter
• 6x Noise Marines – 5x Sonic Blaster, Blastmaster
• 6x Noise Marines – 5x Sonic Blaster, Blastmaster
• 6x Noise Marines – 5x Sonic Blaster, Blastmaster
• 10x Chaos Cultists
• 10x Chaos Cultists
• 5x Warp Talons

All Mark of Slaanesh, all Emperor’s Children.

I have 6 points to spend (most likely Cultist plus second Combi Bolter for Rhino).

Over the various iterations it has grown from around 40 models to 60+.

From here I will look to build an extra 250/500 points into the list. I have some character models, 2x Sonic Dreads, another Noise Marine squad, Daemonettes and a second Rhino to add.

40K - Combi Plasma - Single Shot or Whole Hog?

Over the weekend I was playing around with the Mathhammer app on this site trying to determine what was the most efficient way to use a Combi Plasma.

EDIT: This is a Fake Combi Plasma. Sad!

Lucky Somebody Out There Is A Combi Scientist!

You have two options. Firstly you can shot either weapon alone or secondly you can fire them both together. If you choose the second option then if you are a MEQ you hit on a 4+ rather than a 3+.

Now I knew that one of the two options would be better than the other. My gut feel that hitting on a 3+ with the Plasma was probably better than hitting on 4+ with both the Plasma and the Bolter. And I guessed that this would also be target-dependent.

Well I was part right. I ran the maths for all combos from T3 to T8 and from 2+ Save to No Save. I also worked the numbers for things like Prescience which give you +1 to your To Hit rolls.

Rather than go through the maths, I'll jump to the useful part.....the outcome!

Normal Situation:

Unless your target has an Armour Save of  3+ or less or is T 5/6 with a 4+ Armour Save then you are better to shoot with both the Plasma and Boltgun.

Prescience:

Unless your target has an Armour Save of 2+ or is T 5/6 with a 3+ Armour Save then you are better to shoot with both the Plasma and Boltgun.

So a reliance on Plasma-alone only works best for heavily armoured targets, particularly if your To Hit roll is enhanced.

Remember this is purely in terms of D 1 shots and doesn't take into account Invulnerable Saves.

I'm pretty sure if you are looking at multiwound models and you do get Prescience off then your best option will definitely be single shooting Overcharged Plasma.

Weekly Hobby Update

Again it has been a relatively busy week regarding the hobby.

First up, I have been finishing a few figures for my KoW Goblin army. I've painted two Wizards and also a Forgeworld Colossal Squig (I picked up at Call to Arms). The Squig is a proxy for a Giant.

I'm happy with how it has come out given the investment of time.

I also spent some time re-basing more Noise Marine squads. I now have 4x 6 man Squads each with 5 Sonic Blasters and a Blastmaster. In addition I have a 9 man Noise Marine Close Combat squad.

The Emperor's Children hit the table on Saturday in a game versus Kent's Eldar. I had made a few changes to my list adding in a Sorcerer with Jump Pack and 2 squads of Chaos Cultists. The game was a lot of fun with my Daemon Prince surviving on one wound as it tried to hunt down the remaining Wave Serpent in Kent's army.

Now finishing off the Warp Talons before moving onto some Daemonettes and the two Sonic Dreads.

40k - So That's Why They Are A Dying Race

The Warhammer Community page has some early sighters of the Ulthwe rules.

At first glance they seem very underwhelming but that needs to be couched with the fact that we haven't seen points values yet or the extent of psychic powers/stratagems/artifacts.

The Ulthwe "Special Rule" is a watered-down Disgustingly Resilient.

This works against Mortal Wounds as well but I'm not sure a 16% probability boost to a save is something worth leaving home for.

The unique Ulthwe Stratagem is also not that wonderful at first glance.

A +1 to all Hit rolls is nice but I think I would prefer a constant +1 to BS or WS as per previous iteration of Black Guardians. Given the CP cost to generating the +1 to Hit I think it is a bit underwhelming.

They also showed another Stratagem but this is not Ulthwe specific so while you might take more Guardians with Ulthwe it is available to all Craftworlds. It will start to burn through CPs fast too. Where there might be some utility is where you can marry it to Fortune.

Again not Ulthwe specific, but it will work well with Eldrad. Still it carries a lot of uncertainty but think of the instance where you take those last four wounds away.

So at first glance I am not jumping out of my skin. Yes, I can see the synergies but they come with a lot of caveats and not a small cost in CPs. A lot depends on unit costs. However I'm guessing we are more likely to see Eldrad having "away days' with other craftworlds.

Time to dust of Eldrad's Alaitoc Clown Party!

40k - Return of the Thin White Dukes

Back in the day (that's how us olden folks say longer than the current solar cycle) Phil Kelly was a very young member of the GW Design Studio.

He wrote the third edition "Codex: Eldar" and then created something special. "Codex: Craftworld Eldar" was the first of the third ed mini-dexes and it contained rules for five of the Eldar Craftworlds. This was the start of a blossoming of variant lists that gave 3rd and 4th Edition, its real flavour.

In 2006 I built my first Eldar army. I had previously despised the PEGs and their stupid Starcannons, their silly Phoenix Lords that destroyed MEQs etc. But with the Ulthwe I could build a themed army that was sufficiently different to Codex Eldar.

The two unique Ulthwe units were the Black Guardians and the Seer Council. Black Guardians were the citizen army of the Craftworld and they had higher a higher Ballistic Skill or a higher Weapon Skill than regular Guardians. However unlike other Craftworlds (and indeed Eldar armies) two units were compulsory in your force. I had 80 in my army split into four units of 20.

The second unique unit was the Seer Council. Here you bought at least two Farseers and three Warlocks but you could add to the unit. My Council was made up of 3 Farseers and 8 Warlocks – dubbed by locals as the “Seer Village”. Armed with Witchblades they were the bane of any vehicle they ran into generally able to dispatch even a Land Raider in a single assault.

I used my Ulthwe at Liber Animus in Melboure in 2006 where I picked up the BloodThirster (Best General) award [I lost out on Best Overall to White Dwarf Editor Bryan Cook’s Vostroyan army by 0.5 point].

So the Ulthwe hold a special spot in my heart. I also had an Iyanden army and can honestly say I was probably the main reason why the Craftworld teetered on the edge of oblivion. Locally Wraithlords had an aura of invulnerability before I played Iyanden….afterwards not so much. I was responsible for the death of so many Wraithlords due to my general incompetence in keeping them alive.

GW has announced that Craftworld Eldar is the next codex. I couldn’t be happier. The return of the thin white dukes as the Village rides again.

NZ Masters Looming

Just a reminder that the 10th Annual New Zealand Masters will be played over the weekend of 2nd & 3rd of December at Cashmere Avenue School Hall in Khandallah, Wellington.

There will be three competitions:

Warhammer 40k 

• 1750 points
• 6 rounds
• Umpire: Pete Dunn
• 12 participants - Sean Sullivan (Current Master) plus 11 highest ranked invities
• Players Pack available 31 October

Flames of War

• Flames of War 4th Edition
• 6 Rounds
• Umpire: Russell Briant
• 12 Participants - Stephen Falconer (Current Master) plus 11 highest ranked invities
• Players Pack with all details available 31 October

Kings of War

• 2000 Points
• 7 rounds
• Umpire: Pete Dunn
• 8 participants - highest ranked invities
• Clash of Kings rules 
• Players Pack available 31 October

Weekly Hobby Update

Another week and more progress.

I've been battling cold-like symptoms now for what seems like three months - and no amount of "combat drugs" seem to be able to kill it. I've an idea that it may be really bad hayfever and so am looking forward to this week as we have a silver birch tree removed from the drive.

this is all a longwinded way of saying that I haven't played any games. I was due to play Ryan Saturday but instead did some painting.

In the last week I have finished and based a Sorcerer with Jump Pack and three out of five Warp Talons. I'm halfway through the last two Talons and then have three Noise Marine Sonic Blaster to do before my two Sonic Dreads.

I've switched out the Havocs for more Noise Marines to make it even more EC. This means my 1500 point list has six Troop choices giving me flexibility when I go to 1750/2000 points.

Last night while watching TV I started putting together my War of the Roses Infantry. These arrived Friday and look quite nice figures. I'm not expecting that they will take long to paint up.

Finally, I started reading the Horus Heresy novel "The Master of Mankind". The first three chapters have been quite hard going so hopefully it will improve from here.

Yorkist War of the Roses Army for DBA

The Warlords are looking to run a series of War of the Roses DBA events in 2018 so I have purchased figures to build an army.

Towton 1464 - The Bloodiest Battle Fought On British Soil

The DBA War of the Roses army 1455-64AD is as follows:

• 1x 3Kn or 4Bd (General)
• 1x 3Kn or 3Cav  or 4Bd
• 3x 4Bd
• 6x 4Bw
• 1x Art or 4Sp

My army is going to be based on Warwick's Yorkists at Towton.

The first is the Command element. I will build both the Foot and Mounted options. The second element are your Nobles/Men at Arms. As most of these fought on foot at Towton I'll go that route. The 4Bd are the Billmen while the 4Bw are the Longbowmen. These I'll use the plastic Perry WotR infantrymen. Finally I'll add the Art element using the Perry artillery piece.

Nice little painting project and the opportunity to use some snow basing.

Weekly Hobby Update

On Saturday I had my first two games of 8th using my Emperor's Children.

In the first game I got slaughtered as I played very poorly against the Spite and shooting of Thomas' Thousand Sons. The second was against Tau and after having a very bad first couple of turns I pulled it back to a winning draw.

I had the +1 to go first in both games and I think my set-up reflected this. In both cases I didn't win the roll-off so I went second. This really hurt me. In future I need to consider whether it is worth burning a Command Point.

During the second game, a Tau flyer was streaking away after a bombing run. It was on 2 wounds after being mauled in the air by my DPoS. Two remaining Noise Marines shot at it with their Sonic Blasters and brought it down. The numbers say that they had a 4% chance of doing that, but never underestimate the power of the Wall of Sound (tm).

Yesterday I read up on the Charge and Fight phase and now have a much clearer understanding of the nuances and tips/tricks associated with both 😈

On the painting side I finished my first Warp Talon and I am happy with the final product. I kit-bashed myself a Sorcerer with a Jump Pack using a mix of 30k plastic bits, FW Horus Heresy Emperor's Children bits, old metal EC bitz and a pair of wings from the Possessed kit (thanks Liam Miskelly 👍).

I also received my Slaaneshi Shoulder Pads from Shapeways. These give me some options to add complementary Shoulder Pads to my EC as I paint them up.

40K - Emperor's Children New Additions

Finished some Emperor's Children over the past week. Grabbed a Terminator and a Noise Marine to show the colour scheme I went with.

The Terminator was kitbashed using a variety of parts - 30k Terminator, old CSM bolter and add ons, SM plasma gun, Chaos Rhino parts, Harlequin bits, Ogre bits etc. So a real mish-mash.

Here you can see the combiplasma I built. I'm happy with glow and heat effects. The side of Eldar is there to attract Daemonettes.

He has a Harlequin head hanging from his belt plus he has decided he quite likes their face mask as a fashion accessory.

The second is a CCW Noise Marine. All my existing Noise Marines are fitted with sonic weapons so I've built a squad of close combat specialists. For these I used the Forgeworld Palatine Blades, in this case with a simple head swap from a 2nd Edition Noise Marine.

I love this head and scrounch them up whenever possible.

Still got some highlight work to do on this guy.

Really like the shoulder pads they give you with these figures. Screaming angels.....what's not to like!

Wargaming the War of the Roses

Starting in February/March 2018, my local club the Wellington Warlords is looking to wargame the WotR.

This is the dynastic battle between York and Lancaster at the end of the 15th Century. It was characterised by changing alliances between the English nobles to manoeuvre their favourite into kingship.

The idea is to use the DBA rules to run some multiplayer games. These are simple easy to use rules that battle with armies of 12 elements (3-4 figures on each base). The lists are 80% set with some customisation around the edges.

Last night I purchased my army from Perry Miniatures. It was one box of plastic billmen/archers, mounted General, artillery piece and foot knights. Cost me NZD 90 including post from UK.

Looking forward to stabbing friends and family in the back.

Weekly Hobby Update

A highly productive week, the last seven days.

I finished my EC Terminators. There is an opportunity to add more detail but they are mostly complete. What was really nice was trying some new techniques on them. They have lacquered armour while the plasma guns have both lighting effects and heat effects on them. I'm really happy with how the combi-plasmas came out both modelling wise - no two are the same - and painting wise. The unit provided me the opportunity to use some of the Secret Weapon Miniatures paints and washes. They give some great finishes.... I was also able to do some power weapons on other squads with the airbrush and got some nice transitions. So all in all a lot of new hobby techniques tried and the finished force looks pretty cool IMO.

The whole army has been based now and is ready to hit the table. 

Next unit is my Warp Talon squad....primed and I've started painting.

Finished the Lucius book and Chaos CSM Codex. Will start on the Death Guard book next.