The Guild Got Gutted (or GGG)

Hey guys, Huron here again with a post event report.  So this weekend saw me and 7 others of my regular crew from Huzzah Hobbies, my local LGS head a hour north to play in a 35ss Malifaux Tournament in Waynesboro, PA. 

Returning to a Warhammer Fantasy.

None of the models are complete in any of the photos, all are WIP

Hey guys, Huron back again. Well today I want to talk about Warhammer Fantasy Battles. I recently returned to playing the game with the help of an escalation league being run in my local LGS Huzzah Hobbies. We started a couple of weeks ago at 500pts, then every two weeks the points are increased by 250pts capping out at 2,500pts. In addition players do not have to follow the standard army restrictions of 1 character and 3 non-character units until 1000pts and for the first 6 2 week tiers we will be progressing through the six new WFB missions in order with games after that being rolled for randomly.

I have chosen to play my Warriors of Chaos army and flesh out the infantry portion of the army and add in some new cavalry elements that I have had but that still need to be painted over time. Last week was the second week of 1000pts games and we played the third mission, Battle for the Pass. In this mission players play length wise and long table edges count as impassible terrain. Fleeing unit can still leave by the long edges but pursuing units and reinforcements may not enter or leave the table along them.

Sounded like a fun mission to me and for the most part is was, but more on how I did later.

My list at 1000pts looked like this:

1. Chaos Sorcerer Level 1 - Mark of Nurgle - 105pts
2. (15) Chaos Warriors - Mark of Khorne, Shields, Full Command - 300pts
3. (15) Chaos Warriors - Shields, Halberds, Full Command - 285pts
4. (5) Chaos Knights - Full Command - 250pts
5. (12) Marauders - Great Weapons - 60pts

I did okay with this list, going 1-1 in my games over the last two weeks. My first game was against a Skaven army that consisted of 3 characters, two units (one with a warpfire thrower team) and a Hellpit Abomination. This was not a list I was expecting. A Level 3 Grey Seer, a Lv2 Warplock Engineer, and Battle Standard Bearer. Add to that a unit of 45-50 Slaves and a 20+ unit of clan rats and a Hellpit Abomination and it was going to be a rough game. My one level 1 couldn't keep up in the magic area, though I did end up putting 2 of the 3 wounds to kill the grey seer on him with Magnificent Bubbos, the level 1 nurgle spell that ignores armor saves and does an auto wound vs whatever model I choose if they are within 24" and I get the spell off.

As far as where I am going with this list, I am not sure. For 1250pts starting this week I am adding in a Battle Standard Bearer of my own, changing the Chaos Knights unit into a Unit of Dragon Ogres with Great Weapons and adding some more Marauders. We will see how the additions and changes work out.

Well that is it for now, stay tune for more WFB Escalation progress and more updates on other games.

Prep Complete - Battle for Salvation

Hey boys and girls, Huron back again. Well this weekend is the Battle for Salvation tournament up in White Plains, NY that myself and a few of my locals will be attending. I will be on hand playing a challenge match vs Jawaballs on Friday also, so check back next week for lots of coverage.

Here is the list I will be taking.

2000pts Howling Griffons BfS Tournament Army

HQ
160pts Kar'sarro Khan
140pts Librarian w/ Terminator Armor, Storm Shield; Might of Ancients, Nullzone

TROOPS
195pts (10) Tactical Marines w/ Power Fist, Flamer, Missile Launcher
035pts Dedicated Transport: Rhino

200pts (10) Tactical Marines w/ Powerfist, Meltagun, Multimelta
035pts Dedicated Transport: Rhino

105pts (5) Tactical Marines w/ Power Weapon
075pts Dedicated Transport: Razorback w/ Twin-Lascannon

115pts (5) Tactical Marines w/ Power Fist
075pts Dedicated Transport: Razorback w/ Twin-Lascannon

ELITES
200pts (5) Assault Terminators w/ Thunder Hammers and Storm Shields
275pts Dedicated Transport: Landraider w/ Multimelta, Extra Armor

105pts Dreadnought w/ Multimelta, Dreadnought CCW w/ Storm Bolter

105pts Dreadnought w/ Multimelta, Dreadnought CCW w/ Storm Bolter

FAST ATTACK
090pts Landspeeder w/ Heavy Flamer, Cyclone Missile Launcher

090pts Landspeeder w/ Heavy Flamer, Cyclone Missile Launcher


The army totals out at exactly 2k which is nice. This is going to be the last 40K tournament for this army this year. I am going to be retiring them after BfS and starting to work on something new for next year. I have been working on this army for just over a year now and I am happy with what it has achieve. As for my next army, I am not sure what I will pick just yet. Whether that will be my already 50% done BA Army, Orks, Exodites, or something else, who knows. But more as I make the decision.

See you guys on Sunday for the 101010 Killzone madness.

NEW, New, new!

Hey guys Huron back again. Today I am going to be talking about all sorts of new things. For starters Episode 6 of Gamers Lounge has hit the shelves and is ready for download on the Gamers Lounge Blog, itunes, or over on Podcast Alley. If any of you figure out how to use Podcast Alley please tell me, that site confuses the heck out of me! Additionally Check out the new Gamers Lounge Logo on the left designed by Trevor (Thanks man!). This Logo is just the first of many updates to the Blog and Podcast we are going to be making as we begin final tweaks to the branding and add some new fun things like Gamers Lounge T-shirts and more. Lots of fun stuff planned there.

Yup, if you guessed I was going to be talking about Death Company you guessed right (Pic taken from Deviant Art - by Cabal_Art without permission). My Blood Angels got underway this week as I started paint Astorath, 5 Death Company, and 2 rhinos including one for the death company. Besides Astorath, the other stuff is all in my Pathfinder 1000 paint contest list that I need to get finished before 5/30. The full list is below.

PATHFINDER 1000 - 1K Blood Angel Army

- Librarian
- Chaplain
- (5) Assault Marines + Rhino
- (5) Death Company + Rhino
- (10) Tactical Marines
- Baal Predator
- Baal Predator

In addition to that to fill out my 1500pt list I added:

- (10) Assault Squad
- (4) Additional Death Company
- Sanguinary Priests
- Death Company Dreadnought + DP


And finally we get to one of my new favorite loves... well actual a new version of an old love... Halo Reach. On Monday the Beta test went live for all those luck souls (like me) that have an X-Box 360 and Halo: ODST (I am so glad I bought it!). I finally got the 1.15g file downloaded this morning and jumped into the game around 7AM. At 9:30AM when I stopped to head to work I have played around 15 games and already reached the first two achievements and gained ranked status (Reach will have month long seasons where players compete for rankings by gaining points as they play games, we are in the preseason now).

Needless to say my time for at least this week is going to be eaten up by Reach gaming, but not before I play Mike Johnson @ 2,500pts tonight to decide whether or not he can defend his position 1 more time and become the first top ranked player to have 4 defenses on top of the Pyramid. It should be an exciting game and I will be recording a Battle Report for all to enjoy and will have it posted this weekend.

Well folks, that is it for now, have a good rest of the week!

Using the Old to Inspire the New

Hey guys, Huron here again. Sorry about yesterday. Things got a bit nasty and I didn't mean for it to get so out of hand. So as you all know (or if this is the first time reading my blog in a while or ever) I have been beating my head against a wall trying to figure out what to do when the new Blood Angels book comes out. I have talked about playing Jump Pack heavy, playing Death Company heavy, and have resisted the urge and criticized the fluffiness of going Predator heavy.

After all of this what do I know? I want to play a decent, mid level list with a good strong theme and which has some flexibility to include a variety of the things I really like from the new codex, and not necessarily all at once.

These include things like the new Sanguinary Priest elite characters, the new Death Company and Death Company Dreadnought, the Librarian Dreadnought, and the Sanguinary Guard. I also think a 5 man Assault squad in a razorback is about one of the coolest choices around.

What I don't want to do is play a lopsided gimmick list that has a variety of cool elements but only 25 models and no real interlacing theme, which is all to possible. Step in the Howling Griffons.

For the last 5 months now I have dedicated myself to finding a regular space marine army that works, is tactically flexible, and which is effective against a variety of armies. Khan and the boys have done well by me and it is only the changing environment and a sudden realization that if I played something other then Eldar, Tyranids, Imperial Guard, or a Space Marine chapter of some kind, that my list would not hold up like I wanted it too and so I grudgingly changed up the list. However perhaps I can take that Khan list (which you can find here) and tweak it for Blood Angels. Maybe it might work better and solve all these problems I have been bashing my head over.

First I needed to find a leader to replace Khan, one with some interesting nitch special rules and that both aided the army and helps to enrich the theme. All the Blood Angels special character are pretty expensive, but the regular non-special ones are just a bit too generic.

Sanguinor, Mephiston, and DC Tycho are right out. They are not independent characters and can not join and support my squads like I want my leader to be able to do. Dante and Astoroth are both cool, but over 200pts each and Dante's fluff has him leading a jump pack army and Astoroth a DC one and my army is probably not going to specialize in either of those so they are out too. That leaves just two characters, non-DC Tycho and Seth, Chapter Master of the Flesh Tearers. I decided pretty early on I didn't want to do a Flesh Tearers list, so that just left Tycho.

Tycho is a pretty cool character, but he has suffered in previous books from being very under powered. Not anymore. Now he has Rites of Battle, a masterly crafted Combi-Meltagun which can shoot different ammo types like the Sternguard, and a gauntlet that hits like a Monstrous Creature (at str 4), rolls 2D6 for Armor Penetration, and has digital lasers... oh and he has preferred enemy vs Orks. Cool. Lots of not that unbalanced special rules, some cool fluff, and a Leader for my army.

1850pts Blood Angels 3rd Company Army

HQ - Tycho
EL - Librarian Dreadnought
EL - (5) Assault Terminators w/ 4 Thunder Hammer/Storm Shield, 1 Tw-Lightning Claw
EL - Dedicated Transport: Landraider w/ Extra Armor, Multimelta
El - Sanguinary Priest w/ Terminator Armor, Power Weapon
TR - 10 Tactical Marines w/ Power Weapon, Flamer, Lascannon + Rhino
TR - 10 Tactical Marines w/ Power Weapon, Flamer, Lascannon + Rhino
TR - 5 Assault Marines w/ Power Fist & Inferno Pistol, Meltagun + Razorback w/ H-flamer
TR - 5 Assault Marines w/ Power Fist & Inferno Pistol, Meltagun + Razorback w/ H-flamer
FA - Landspeeder Typhoon w/ Cyclone Missile Launcher, H-flamer

Now you'll notice, no DC or DC Dread, both things I wanted to include. Well one thing I realized way back and I needed to remind myself of in this list is that marines play best when you take a static core of basic Marines, character, and support (in this case 2 Tactical, 2 Assault Squads, Tycho, the Librarian Dreadnought, and the Typhoon) and then one or two big things and switch them in and out. That means I can take out the Sanguinary Priest, Terminators, and Landraider and replace them with a Chaplain, 9 Death Company in a Rhino, and a Death Company Dreadnought in a Drop Pod (for around the same cost) and still have a good solid army that will play well. This chunk, about 580pts worth of the army, gives me some breathing room and flexible variety when playing with the army.

This, if nothing else gives me a starting point so I can tweak things from here.

Embracing the DC, Black is Back

Hey guys, Huron here again. 2 posts in one day, crazy I know. Well I have been thinking over the Blood Angels and trying to decided what I want to use when the new book comes out. I am an old school BA fan and have run the army a few different times over the years and one of my favorite aspects has always been the Death Company. Add in some fantastic new plastic DC models and it is easy to want to use them.

So one of my favorite things in the new book is the DC Dreadnought. While it takes up a Troops choices and since it is a vehicle does not score, this monsters is just nasty. The DC read is a front armor 12, WS 5 Furioso that is immune to crew stunned and crew shaken rolls. Additionally you can upgrade the Blood Fist (Dreadnought Close Combat Weapons) with Blood Claws (extra cool Lightning Claws). Blood Claws are really nice as they allow you to attack again everytime you wound an enemy models, which with WS 5, Str 6 Lightning Claws is going to have very frequently.

So here is a Death Company themed 1850pts list. I included Astorath the Grim as he removes the 0-1 maximum from Death Company squads changes the Blood Frenzy rule effect BA squads on a 1-3 instead of just on a roll of a 1. I also got a Sanguinary Priest and a Dreadnought Librarian into the army which if you read my Blog last week you know I'm excited about.

Back in Black, 1850pt Blood Angels Themed Army

HQ - Astorath the Grim
HQ - (5) Honor Guard w/ Chapter Banner, Powerfist
EL - Librarian Dreadnought + Drop Pod
EL - Sanguinary Priest w/ Power Weapon
TR - (5) Death Company w/ Thunder Hammer, Power Weapon, Meltapistol + Drop Pod
TR - (5) Death Company w/ Thunder Hammer, Power Weapon, Meltapistol + Drop Pod
TR - DC Dreadnought w/ Heavy Flamer + Drop Pod
TR - DC Dreadnought w/ Heavy Flamer + Drop Pod
TR - (10) Tactical Squad w/ Powerfist, Flamer, Lascannon
TR - (10) Tactical Squad w/ Powerfist, Flamer, Lascannon

One of the first things to notice is no regular transports except 5 Drop Pods, so I am not taking advantage of the BA fast vehicles. I could replace the DCs Drop Pods with rhinos or razorbacks but would probably need to drop the Sang Priest to do so. Second, no FA Baal Preds or HS Predators or Vindicators. Most players are going to tell you, start with 5-6 Predators and go from there. While I agree this is a strong choice, how is it fluffy or thematic? What is you theme when you have 5-6 Predators in your army that are stripped down and maximized for being low point costs, expendable, and have maximum fire power? I can't figure it out, at least not a good strong theme that isn't so thin that it is trasparent, so I will be avoiding them till I come up with something.

Let me know what you think.

On Wings of Fire

Hey guys Huron here. Well to continue the topic that has been running this week, creating a strongly themed Blood Angels army list using the new codex. I have to admit, its been tough and I have had a few near break downs as I keep steering to the nasty and not the thematic.

Well I have something for you. It is not a final list, but a starting point I think. I was not able to get the Librarian Furioso Dreadnought into the list or the Terminator Assault squad led by Sanguinary Priest that I have been talking about. I have already started gathering bitz for both so either way I am going to end up with one of each eventually. But to follow along with the "Wings of Fire" jump pack themed army I mentioned in my last post I present to you:

On Wings of Fire, a 1850pt Blood Angels Army

HQ - Reclusiarch w/ jump pack
Free HQ - Honor Guard w/ jump packs, 2 meltaguns
HQ - Librarian w/ jump pack
Free HQ - Honor Guard w/ jump packs, 2 meltaguns

TR - (8) Assault Marines w/ jump packs, Power Weapon + Melta Pistol, flamer
TR - (8) Assault Marines w/ jump packs, Power Weapon + Melta Pistol, flamer
TR - (5) Assault Marines w/ Power Fist + Melta Pistol, meltagun
TR Transport - Razorback w/ Heavy Flamer, Extra Armor
TR - (5) Assault Marines w/ Power Fist + Melta Pistol, meltagun
TR Transport - Razorback w/ Heavy Flamer, Extra Armor

HS - Predator w/ Autocannon, Lascannon Sponsons, Extra Armor
HS - Predator w/ Autocannon, Lascannon Sponsons, Extra Armor
HS - Predator w/ Autocannon, Lascannon Sponsons, Extra Armor

The 2 HQ choices join the 2 jump pack Assault Squads. Each Assault Squad is followed by an Honor Guard Squad, which comes with a free Sanguiary Priest. Everything else is fast and can get where you need it quickly and is setup to taken down armor or troops. The list is a bit Spammie which I am not a fan of, but it is just a starting list.

What do you think?

Theme vs Power, plus the Nova Open

Hey guys, Huron here again, still thinking about and playing around with the new Blood Angels army list. Yesterday I went a bit nuts thinking of combos and talking out strategies with MVB from Whiskey & 40K and then mashing them around in my head. You should definitely check out MVB's blog, he is one of the stronger tournament players in my area and is known for his strong, flexible, hard hitting lists.

On a side note, he is part of the crew running the Nova Open, a 128 players GT Qualifier (64 40k and 64 Fantasy slots) happening in Chantilly,VA on Aug 14th and if you are a local or don't mind a bit of travel I think you should check this out as it is looking like it is going to be a big hit and will probably become an annual event. Checkout the Nova Open website by clicking here for all the details and to register for the event. I was the first person to sign up for the 40K tournament, which is going to be played at 2,000pts, so you are at least guaranteed one easy win.

But lets get back to the main purpose of this post, the new Blood Angels codex. As any one who has looked at the codex will have gleaned pretty quickly, you can field and an extremely large amount of armor or dreadnoughts in the new BA book. With all the Rhinos chassis vehicles being fast, and Baal Predators being seperate from regular predators and a fast attack choice. Players can easily field 5-6 Predator or 3 Baals and 2-3 Vindicators for maybe a 3rd of the lists points. Put that much fire power in, all on fast, front armor 13 tank chassis seems like a no brainor. With a core of nastiness like that you could take whatever else you wanted and do well. Or, for those that love walkers, it is possible to take as many as 11 walkers in a standard lists, provided you also take at least 25 Death company. And that doesn't mean 11 standard shootie dreads, but 3 shootie dreads which can all be upgraded to venerables, 5 Weapon Skill 5 assaulty Death Company Furiosos, and 3 Furiosos which can all be upgrade to Librarians if you choose. Not bad, Not bad at all.

However, where does theme come into all of this. The new BA book has some nasty combos and I for see spam heavy armies that decimate a variety of lists on the battlefield but which will be comprised of a Hodge Podge of nice looking and possibly nicely painted models but which will have little to no contextual theme through out the whole of the army. This leads to my dilemma.

Is having a strong theme more important than having a tweaked, powerful army. Here is a case in point; Assault Terminators vs Death Company. 5 Thunder Hammer and Storm Shield Terminator come in at just over 200pts. Same for a 10 man squad of Death Company with a few weapon upgrades. Both squads are strong on their own but need an additional character and a transport to be truly powerful. Terminators need a Sanguinary Priest that gives them Furious Charge and Feel No Pain, two abilities the DC already have. Then either a Landraider of some type or a Storm Raven to get them where they need to go. All this comes in around a whopping 500pts or more.

Death Company on the other hand either need a Chaplain or a Reclusiarch (a 3 wound HQ chaplain) which allows them to reroll both attack and damage rolls on the charge and a transport of their own as well. This again ends up in the 500+ points level. Both choices are solid and characterful, and make great center piece units (especially if you add on a couple of DC Dreads to the Death Company Unit), but upon fiddling with some lists I have found that there is no way to include both in a BA army.

Another example is assault squads. There is a very nice build that costs around 150pts for a 5 man assault squad that allows you to deal with tanks. One nice feature of the BA assault squad is that instead of being able to switch their jump packs for a rhino for free, they now can switch them for any vehicle in the list at a discounted price. So players now have the option to add some fire power with their assaults squads transport, and in the current tournament Meta, taking small units in transports with lots of meltas is better then big units outside them. However BAs have a special rule called Descent of Angels which allows models arriving from deep strike to only scatter 1D6 instead of two and I believe either reroll the dice to come in or the scatter die (it has been a few days since I looked at the rule last).

How cool would it be to see five or six squads of Blood Angels deep striking in on "Wings of Fire" (I am coining the name for this sort of themed list) lead by several character with jump packs. Tactically this is a bad plan. With MEQ armies and Inquisitors with Mystics hiding everywhere this army is going to have a rough time of it, but man... it does strike the imagination.

And that is where the Theme of your army comes in. Do you go for power or do you go for imagery and a strong linked theme to your list? If you listened to the first Gamers Lounge podcast you will know my thinking on running a power list as a theme (Theme needs to tie the models in the army together and relate to the 40k fluff in some way to be really solid in my opinion, my Howling Griffons for example have a theme of everything being name after the Arthurian Legends. It is an okay theme... but not a strong one).

This is where I am right now, trying to decide which choice to make and attempting to find a way to balance a little bit of both in an 1850 to 2,000pt list. What should I do?

BA Silliness, Working on a list...

Hey guys, Huron here again. Another day without computer access a home, sigh. But instead of sitting ideally on my hands I have been doing a number of things, including playing around with army list ideas for a new Blood Angels army (Thanks Ron for the pic). If you check out my earliest posts on this here Blog-a-ma-thing you'll notice I used to have a BA army I was working on. Actually Blood Angels (and some Khorne Warriors I was painting) were the inspiration for the name Blood and Blades, but I digress.

So I have been fooling around with list ideas, as I know many have, and I thought I would share a rather silly one I came up with (I don't know, it could be not that silly, just seems it as it starts with 2 models on the table).

HQ - Reclusiarch (3 wound Chaplain) w/ Pfist (and Power Weapon)
EL - Sanguinary Priest w/ Terminator Armor (comes with Power Weapon)
EL - (5) Terminators w/ 4 Thunder Hammer/ Storm Shields, 1 Twin Lightning Claw
TR - (10) Death Company w/ Thunder Hammer, Power Weapon (Do not score)
TR - DC Dreadnought w/ Heavy Flamer, Blood Claws
TR - DC Dreadnought w/ Heavy Flamer, Blood Claws
TR - (5) Assault Marines w/ Power Weapon, Meltabombs, & Melta-Pistol, Meltagun
TR - (5) Assault Marines w/ Power Weapon, Meltabombs, & Melta-Pistol, Meltagun
HS - Stormraven
HS - Stormraven

All this comes out to 2K on the nose.

Okay, so Reclusiarch, (10) Death Company, and DC Dread in one Stormraven; Sanguinary Priest, (5) Terminators, and DC Dread in other Raven. The 2 Assault Squads Deep Strike or are held in reserves. (Alternately you could switch the jump packs out for Drop Pods for free)

Turn 1, Stormravens move fast, use machine spirit to fire Assault Cannon (or Twin-Lascannon if you upgraded it for free) at things that can hurt the Ravens.

Turn 2, move 6, Disembark everything, unleash hell with the Ravens (4 Str 8 AP 1 Krak Missiles, 3 HB shots, 4 AC shorts).

Assault squads drop in, hopefully hit or scatter only 1D6 thanks to Decent of Angels special rule and Melta high armor threats.

Clean up whatever is left with what disembarked from the Storm Ravens.
- 43 Furious Charge Attacks from DC+Reclusiarch that reroll to hit and to wound.
- 20 Furious Charge Attacks from Terminators+Sang Priest, all at Strength 9 or Init 5.
- Dreads Flame/melta then head into combat with Blood Claws (Lightning Claws that are Str 6 (thanks to being on a dread), WS 5, that let it attack again for every wound rolled), with Furious Charge if within 6" of the Sang Priest.

Oh and did I mention it all has Feel No Pain?

Yeah, that is what I call ugly.

Rethinking the Howling Griffons

Hey guys, Huron here again. Well with my computers down and no way for me to post tidbits and battle reports from the St. Valentines Day Massacre and any of the other stuff I have been doing, I thought I would discuss something that has been weighing heavily on me lately.

Here is the current list I have been running for my Howling Griffons at 1850pts.

Kar'sarro Khan
Librarian w/ Terminator Armor, Storm Shield
(10) Tactical Squad w/ Pfist, Flamer, Missile Launcher
(10) Tactical Squad w/ Pweapon, Flamer, Missile Launcher
(10) Tactical Squad w/ Pfist, Melta, Multimelta
(5) Tactical Squad w/ Pfist & Combi-Melta
(3) Rhinos w/ Extra Armor & Razorback Extra Armor for above squads
(5) Assault Terminators with Thunder Hammer/ Storm Shields
Landraider Transport (for Termies) w/ Multimelta
(2) Landspeeder Typhoons w/ Missile Launchers and Heavy flamers (squadron)

While this list works great vs Tyranids and Eldar (without Eldrad), I have been having some trouble with it vs Orks, other marine armies, and pretty much everything else. So while this list is all nice and tweaked, I think I have gone to far and it no longer has the punch it needs. So far I have come up with a few alternate lists, with this one being the best so far in my opinion.

Librarian w/ Terminator Armor, Stormshield
(10) Tactical w/ Pfist, Flamer, Lascannon
(10) Tactical w/ Pfist, Flamer, Lascannon
(2) Razorbacks (for above squads) with Twin-Lascannon
(5) Scouts w/ Powerfist + Landspeeder Storm w/ Heavy Flamer
(5) Scouts w/ Powerfist + Landspeeder Storm w/ Heavy Flamer
Landspeeder Typhoon w/ Missiles and Heavy Flamer
(5) Assault Terminators w/ Thunder Hammer & Stormshields
Landraider Transport (for Termies) w/ Multimelta
(2) Vindicators w/ Extra Armor, Storm Bolters

That is 1850pts on the nose. The main thing I did was cut down my HQ choices to 1 (saving myself 160pts) and switched out 2 tactical squads with transports with cheaper scouts squads in storms. Then I dropped one Typhoon, upgraded the 2 remaining Tactical Squads and added in the punch of 2 Vindicators. While I am not sure how this list will play, I do think it is worth breaking out the models and trying it out. I have everything I need except for 1 Landspeeder Storm.

Please comment and let me know your thoughts. I am really struggling with making the above changes and just not sure if I am right or wrong about some of the choices I have made. I'd love to know what your thoughts.

The Howling Griffon take a trip to NY.

This weekend me and a guy from the Sugarland Gamers club are headed up to the Battle for Salvation tournament happening in White Plains, New York on Saturday. I thought, since I just finished finalizing my plans and that it has been a while since my last post I would share my list with you guys. Jawaballs, Fritz, Warmaster Black Matt, eta all watch out because we are coming for you. Oh and that snazy Eldar army is coming home with me! ;)

Some of you may remember by Howling Griffons. For those that do not go slip down the left side of my Blog here and check out the labels section. You should find a direct link to everything I have posted about them there. Originally, my Griffons list was based around Pedro Kantor and a Master of the Forge allowing me to play and infantry/ dreadnought/ drop pod heavy list. However I found this didn't really work for me and while I have not abandon the concept of the army complete I have gone in a different way for this list.

I'm trying a tactic that I have never seen used and have only recently seen people talk about here on the Blog-o-sphere. I am playing a Kor'sarro Khan outflanking army. Here is the list.

2,000pt Space Marine Army

HQ
160pts Captain Johfrit (Kor'sarro Khan)

TROOPS
115pts Squad Sagrenor - (5) Tactical Marines w/powerfist
050pts Dedicated Transport: Razorback w/ Twin-Linked Heavy Bolter, Hunter Killer Missile

115pts Squad Agravain - (5) Tactical Marines w/powerfist
050pts Dedicated Transport: Razorback w/ Twin-Linked Heavy Bolter, Hunter Killer Missile

100pts Squad Garreth - (5) Tactical Marines w/ Combi-Meltagun
075pts Dedicated Transport: Razorback w/ Lascannon and Twin-Linked Plasmaguns

100pts Squad Lanval - (5) Tactical Marines w/ Combi-Meltagun
075pts Dedicated Transport: Razorback w/ Lascannon and Twin-Linked Plasmaguns

100pts Squad Calogrenant - (5) Tactical Marines w/ Combi-Meltagun
075pts Dedicated Transport: Razorback w/ Twin-Linke Assault Cannons

100pts Squad Palamedes - (5) Tactical Marines w/ Combi-Flamer

ELITES
280pts Squad Aramand - (7) Assault Terminators w/ 5 Thunder Hammer Storm Shield, 2 Twin Lightning Claws
260pts Dedicated Transport: Landraider Crusader Llamrei w/ Multimelta

HEAVY SUPPORT
260pts Landraider Gringolet w/ Multimelta

085pts Predator Destructor Caliburn w/ Autocannon, Heavy Bolter Sponsons

TOTAL: 2,000pts

Kor'sarro Khan does 2 things for this army. First be replaces combat tactics with the ability to Outflank. All units can outflank as well as any dedicated transports they have. And secondly Khan gives whatever squad he joins the Hit and Run and Furious Charge Universal Special rules. So needless to say, Khan joins the Termies in their dedicated Landraider Crusader and along with the 5 Razorback squads outflank. The landraider, with the 6th tactical squad that does not have a transport are deployed on board (which makes it scoring, oh yeah) and the Predator start on the table or roll on early. This army is mainly designed to do well in objective missions but has done surprisingly well at Kill Point missions in the few test games I have run.

The big flaw is not having things show up till late game or having them show up piece meal. One way to counter act this is to include Tigurius in the army, but at 230pts I would have to drop the Predator, the 6th Tactical Squad, and the Multimelta on the regular Landraider, and I am not sure it is worth it but I may have a decision for you after I see how I do tomorrow.

Well that is it, see you all later. Check back late Sunday or early Monday for coverage of the event. Depending on when I get back into town I may have some coverage of the Sugarland GW Rapid Fire Tournament as well.

Until next time.

It is all in a paint scheme.

Well guys, here I am at post number 30, and 22 followers. Who would have thought 22 people would follow my ramblings and antics as I try to get stuff painted. Thank you very much to everyone who has become a follower. Now onto some content.

B&B 2.0 is not quite done being configured. I am working on a new title bar and may end up up changing the whole layout as I have just received another layout that I really like made by Akenseth of Path of the Exodite. Akenseth, thank you for sending it over for me to take a look at. While I am not quite sure how the site is going to end up looking I am relatively happy with how it looks now, though the double right column does not look quite right somehow.

Sorry, but no pics today. Instead I thought I would share something I made to help me paint my Griffons. Using Bolter & Chainswords Space Marine and Terminator Painting program and Adobe Illustrator I created at guide for me to use when painting my army. You can see it below.


It has been a big help so far. The upper left pic is of a basic marine, in the modern day Quartered scheme. The pics of the Marine in the lower left and the terminator in the lower right are done up in the original Badab War scheme for the Griffons and is how I am going to paint all the Veteran and Terminator models for my army. Recently I realized that the Terminators scheme should be reversed, as the shoulder pad with the Griffon symbol should always be the Red one. Thankfully, I have not started painting my Terminators yet. Need to rework the image and update the guide. At the same time I need to fix the white chest eagle of the lower left pic, it should be silver like the other two.

Since this is post 30 and I have been talking about the details of my Howling Griffon army I thought I would share with you the finished 2K list I am shooting for.

2000pt Howling Griffons Army

HQ
130pts Master of the Forge Galvarium Vector - w/ Thunder Hammer
175pts Captain Bercil (Pedro Kantor)

TROOPS
195pts (10) Tactical Marines "Squad Sagrenor" - w/ Power Fist, Flamer, Missile Launcher
045pts Dedicated Transport: Rhino - W/ Hunter Killer Missile
200pts (10) Tactical Marines "Squad Garreth" - w/ Power Fist, Meltagun, Missile Launcher
045pts Dedicated Transport: Rhino - w/ Hunter Killer Missile
205pts (10) Tactical Marines "Squad Calogren" - w/ Power Fist, Plasmagun, Heavy Bolter
110pts (5) Scouts "Squad Nabon" - w/ Power Fist, Combi-Meltagun

ELITES
180pts (6) Sternguard "Squad Agravain" - w/Power Fist, Combi-Meltagun
035pts Dedicated Transport: Drop Pod
200pts (5) Assault Terminators "Squad Aramand" - w/ 5 Thunder Hammers and Storm Shields

FAST ATTACK
065pts Landspeeder Storm - w/ Multimelta

HEAVY SUPPORT
145pts Ironclad Dreadnought "Marrok" - w/ Chainfist, Hunter Killer Missile
035pts Dedicated Transport: Drop Pod
115pts Dreadnought "Rion" - w/Multimelta, Hunter Killer Missile
035pts Dedicated Transport: Drop Pod
085pts Predator Destructor - w/ Autocannon, Heavy Bolter Sponsons


The Master of the Forge makes the Dreadnoughts count as either Elites or Heavy Support so I chose to make them Heavy support because when I go up to 2.5K I add in either another Terminator Squad (Shootie) or a Venerable Dreadnought. I also add in a second Scout Squad and another Landspeeder Storm for them to ride in.

So let me know what you think of the current new look of the forum, the paint scheme I am planning to paint the Griffons, and lastly the list I posted? I promise my next post will have progress pics of painted Griffons plus part 1 of the promised tutorial on how to paint them.

Till next time.

Bloodwing List for tomorrow.

Okay, so as those of you that read my Blog know, I am playing in a 4 round 1750pt 40K tournament tomorrow where all proceeds will be going to research to find a Cure for Leukemia. This will be the first outing of the Bloodwing and I wanted to share the list I will be playing tomorrow. Any critique, tips, or tactics you want to give me that might make my army perform better tomorrow would be helpful. Unfortunately these are the models I have available at the moment and until I expand the army some more really is the only combo, at least of Terminators that I have available to me to use.

Bloodwing 1750pt Tournament Army

HQ
130pts Captain Machealius Raphael, First Company Captain of the Blood Angels (Belail)

Troops
250pts (5) Terminators (Deathwing) w/ Assault Cannon, Chainfist
280pts (5) Terminators (Deathwing) w/ Assault Cannon, Chainfist, Apothecary
220pts (5) Terminators (Deathwing) w/ Heavy Flamer
215pts (5) Terminators (Deathwing) w/ 5 Twin-Lightning Claws

Fast Attack
195pts (3) Bikes (Ravenwing) w/ Meltabomb, 2 Meltaguns + Attack Bike w/ Multimelta
145pts (3) Bikes (Ravnewing) w/ Meltabomb, 2 Meltaguns
65pts Landspeeder (Ravenwing) w/ Multimelta

Heavy Support
250pts Landraider Crusader

The basic battle plan is to have Raphael (Belail) and the Twin-Lightning Claw terminators mount up in the Crusader. If I have first turn then the Bikes will all use their scout move to turbo boost towards enemy vehicles to get some early melta kills. If I do not have first turn then they will use their scout move to turbo boost towards objects. Turn one will see the Landraider heading for the most heavily guarded objective/nastiest unit the enemy has with the 2 Terminator squads with Assault Cannons deep striking near cover near objectives with the bikes laying down supporting fire. The Heavy flamer Terminator squad will deep strike in where they are needed (hopefully off a Bike squad for best placement) when it becomes available. The landspeeder is held in reservers for late game tank killing/ objective contestation. If it comes in early it will probably hide the first few turns.

Let me know what you think.