Thursday 29 November 2012

Conquest 2012 - Battle Reports



Game 1 – Bretonnians – Basil Moskivis
Scenario: Dawn Attack

Basil and I meet again. Happens any time we attend the same tourney! This time he turned up with his Bretonnians. 2 Trebuchet, 3 blocks of knights, some skirmishers, yeomen, archers and Pegasus Knights made up his field. The scenario was a variant of Dawn attack.

We rolled for deployment which resulted in me being able to make a castle on my right, and Basil on my left. My casket was left out to dry by itself, but attracted a lot of deployment attention which worked out well in the end. I formed my priority target list as usual, which was basically Pegasus knights, the chaff protecting his left flank, and the trebuchets. I could see Basil was eyeing up the casket all jelly and such.

The game started with me pushing the right flank with horse archers all the while shooting the peggys Scatterpults tried for some trebby kills accounting for 3 wounds on one. Basil pushed my left with the knights making a barrel line straight for the casket with two units! The sole unit of 10 skittles will have some work cut out for them…

The mid game consisted of skittle horse archers being charged by yeomen and the likes and ‘winning’ combat! This secured me the left flank and allowed me to roll forward and commit the Tomb Guard. The Stalkers popped up turn 3 and gave the wounded trebby a funny look. They then proceeded to GTFO so the counter fire from archers wouldn’t send them back into the ground. Basils 2 knight blocks double flanked the casket. My poor lil skittles guarding it could only redirect one of them. Big meany horse boys… It goes boom and kills a few knights for lol’s. Battlelines are drawn and the game looks like we are playing battle for the pass now.

In the closing stages of the game I try to force Basil into a combat with my Tomb Guard, but hes having none of it. Canny ol’ Basil is all learned on my rocks vs his scissors. I go on a fishing trip but can’t catch anything. I drop some knights down to 3 or 4 ponies, but to little to late.

Game ends in a draw. Again. There is 24 vp in it. Bloody Basil and his draws.


Game 2 – Chaos Warriors – Jordan Rees
Scenario: Objective

Its an odd thing. At the beginning of the year I dreaded fighting Chaos Warriors. These days I look forward to the match ups. I actually think they are a good matchup, at least with the local meta. Jordan’s got a few warrior blocks, backed up with characters, a unit of Knights, some puppies and crazy men on ponies. The scenario is a variation of battleline with a single objective in the middle which may or may not have a big nasty in it!

There’s a bloody big river of light going through the centre of the table (in fact it went through 2 or 3 tables!). I start to build Hadrian’s wall on my side, whilst Jordan does some dark rituals or whatever he does that constitutes a battleplan. I really don’t know what I am doing here. I figure I will wing it. His only real threat is the Knights and gateway.

Go. I do my pew pew thing, kill some pups and pony boys, take a chunk out of the Knights, and other such nonsense. In response, Chaos does what Chaos does. Looks at me all menacing like. Game starts well for me shutting down Gateway first turn and getting rid of chaff. Like flies to rotten meet (a distant fond memory for my fella’s) we all start converging on the objective.

The mid game was um, eventful… I continue to do what I do best, and shoot stuff. I throw 2 dice at smiting and roll a double 6. Heh. Not uncommon, but I declare to Jordan that since I rolled double 6 on only 2 dice that I will follow it up with a double 1. God damn it curse my luck I double 1 the result. Yeah. You know whats coming. I follow it up with a failed “fall in the hole roll” and my Hierophant goes off visiting his nana. S**t starts falling apart, but thanks to my super strategic plan of winging it, most is near the general and tests on Ld 9. I loose a scatterpult and some horsy archers. Some other stuff happens during the mid game but I hang in there consolidating on my general.

In the closing parts of the game Jordan is unable to capitalise on GW’s poor book writing skills. I feed him some chaff when he makes a push into my mobile fortress. I’ve made a tidy house and cleaned most of the board of all his crap. He’s got 2 blocks of infantry left. I decide to throw a hail mary and make the move into the objective to fight the possibly maybe it’s a big nasty dragon… We open the envelope and I can only laugh when it says it is empty, the only empty one out of a dozen or so tables.

Game is wrapped up with a convincing win to me despite loosing my glue stick.


Game 3 – Ogres – Graham Robb
Scenario: Castle… erm… I mean meeting engagement…

Lets get one thing clear to start with. I hate Ogres… Worst matchup ever. Between the ‘I’m immune to your killing blow crap’ to underpriced ‘look at my lil’ donkey’ riders there is nothing fun about it. Let us not even mention anything about the ‘best cannon in the game’… Stupid Ogres.

So we do the setup thing and I start pulling some shenanigans. I pull out all my lego bricks and build me a castle! Yay for tactics. Graham builds a battleline typical of ‘push em forward and bash em’ tactics Ogres play so well into to. I manage to reserve my Tomb Guard, not good. Graham looses a unit or two to reserves as well, a Giant I think, but nothing important.

Graham goes first and surges forward. He manages to break his uber cannon first turn. So a good start for me TK. I spend the first turn trying to take care of his chaff and moving my TG into a manageable position. I throw a lot of shooting into his maneaters. I am facing a block of Ogres to my right, supported by a Giant and Maneaters, firebelly + Ogres in the centre, with Ironguts BSB, General and Ironblaster to my right. There is some donkeys running around as well.

With his maneaters reduced to two, I execute a carpe diem and throw my chariots into them. They destroy the Ogres on impact and overrun into the Giant who subsequently gets annihilated in the following combat phase allowing my Chariots to reform towards the rear of the 9 Ogre Bulls. With the aid of smiting I reduce the Bulls down to 3 in one phase. Then in my next turn turn the chariots charge the remaining bulls and overrun into the firebelly unit. I still havn’t lost one wound! All the while I am refusing my left flank.

So the closing stages of the match see me break the firebelly unit on the charge, but they manage to run away and rally. On my second charge I manage to kill him and the unit and line up the rear of the next unit, a rather menacing unit of iron Guts full of hitty characters that has lined up my TG. I soften it up a little with shooting but it makes it into me near full strength. A lil magic and some fruitful rolling by Graham and my TG are below half strength. As Scooby would say, rot roll… last turns magic phase I roll low, but thanks to the casket I get about 7 dice to 2. I draw out the dispel dice and proceed to 1 and 2 dice buff the TG and regenerate the ranks by 12 or so models. The chariots have made it in the rear and I cut down the to a man(ogre). It cuts and runs, is caught and games done.

MVP are 3 bloody chariots. Who would have thought! They where responsible for about 2000 vp’s! 20-0 vs ogres and I damn well beat them in combat! Still. I hate Ogres. Silly silly Ogres…


Game 4 – Lizardmen – Mal Patel
Scenario: Battleline – Objectives 3/2

Death by a thousand paper cuts… It is Mal’s war cry. An army full of skinks, but its still a favourable matchup for me at any rate. This game proved to be amusing for all the wrong reasons.

Deployment sees us castle up in opposite corners. Mal sacrificed a couple of units on my left to gain some deployment advantage, where as I committed to one corner early knowing full well my strength vs the skink hoard was concentration of firepower. I had to make it that if Mal wanted any VP’s he had to come get them, and by doing so realise he would loose whatever unit he chose to get them. There are three objectives deployed along the centreline of the table, with one randomly disappearing mid game. Each is worth 400 vp.

The initial phases of the game consisted of me exchanging my superior ranged firepower with Mal’s magical onslaught. When I say magic onslaught I mean meteor bombardment! I clean up a razordon and a skink unit he sacrificed with chariots and shooting in the early phases.

In the middle stages I try getting the casket to chain up some units, and catapults start finding some good ranges. I am rewarded with sending a few units of terradons to their graves and pushing Mal further into the corner. It’s still raining. Raining meteors… I’m finding this match very amusing. I defiantly feel I am in control of it and Mal seams to only be reacting with the few tools he can. Both of us realise any commitment will see a bloody mess of dead skinks. We roll up to see which of the three objectives disappears and its (predictably) the one in my corner…

Not much to say really. I pick off a Saurus Scar vet and some more terradons. I’ve started pushing the centre to hold the objective. I have no chance of the one on the far side to me. Mal throws a lot of dice at final transmutation? to try and kill off my TG. I respond by pumping them to heal them back up. We end the game with one objective each and a decent victory to me by 500 odd vps. Oh yeah, Ive lost nothing. Chalk up another victory for the Tomb kings


Game 5 – Daemons – Mark Otley
Scenario: Battle for the Pass

I find myself in a familiar spot again at the top of the table, but this time playing battle for the pass! Iv’e never played this scenario in a tournament before. I hear it’s favourable. Upon seeing Marks list, a very fast Slaaneshii dominated list including a ‘my little pony!’, its about the best setup I could think of. TK match up daemons very well and the scenario gives me the range advantage I need.

So I build my castle deep inside my half, whilst mark sets up as close as he can. I figure turn 3 or 4 for combats. I aim to push it out to turn 5.

We start by Mark moving up in controlled fashion, and me letting loose with anything and everything in range. I snatch a chariot for my troubles. A skirmish war is held on my left flank between the horse archers and flamers. A little help from the chariots cleans them up. Mark has Horrors anchored on an Arcane ruin helping him generate a butt load of dice.

With the Daemonic blob within striking range now, I finally manage a good hit on the Keeper of secrets killing him with a catapult. I smite volley a unit of daemonettes into oblivion leaving me horrors and the other deamonettes to deal with. Yeah, shooty TK love to play daemons!

Moving into the late stages of the game the horrors pick off my chariots with magic missiles, whilst I clean up the other daemonettes unit with my Tomb Guard. My Stalkers finally decide to pop up and I pick a spot behind the Horrors. The stare at the Horrors but Tzeentch must have been extra tricksy that day as they managed to roll up 2 misfires and a 6. The 4+ ward save lets them shrug it off. However the last laugh is mine, as turn six I charge the horrors with the two remaining stalkers and in Marks last turn they manage to kill the Tzeentch herald.

Damn close to tabling the Daemons, and as everyone knows, that’s a damn good feeling. Only topped by tabling Skaven with all their toys… So this win secures me top step on the podium. Chalk up another Tournament victory to Tomb Kings.

What am I doing wrong? The Interwebs tells me Tomb Kings are rubbish. I must not be using them right…

So next up is the Masters in December. An invitation only event for the top 12 players in the country in a no holds barred shoot out for top spot. The one positive thing I have going into this event is there will be no bloody Ogres!

Even Hermy is coming up for a spin…

Wednesday 28 November 2012

Forgeworld New Releases

I just received a very interesting email detailing new packs from Forgeworld


30 Mk IV Power Armour with the 'late' model back packs and Tigrus Bolters. Unfortunatley they have not included any of the original poses so you will have to put up with the mismatch of shoulder pads and studded armour plates. The 30 man packs offer a saving of 20 squid, or approx $46 NZ inc shipping. This equates to a price of about $370, which is conveniently under the GST thresh hold for NZ


Mk II Crusade Armour Umbra X10 pattern Bolters and command upgrade


Mk III Iron Armour with Phobos pattern Bolters and command upgrade


Cataphracti Terminators with either Power fists or Power Axes. Nice. 176 squid also saves you  20, so $46 NZ. This comes in at $405 so may not squeeze past the customs charges...


Contemptor Dreadnought Talons! For those Marine Captains that need a little more than too much firepower! (is there such a thing?) Another 20 squid saved here, and $275 for the trio

I'm going to be so poor this summer...



Friday 23 November 2012

NZ Masters 2012


Its that time of year again. All the best nerdymen in the world (NZ) gather for the rumble down under to decide the undisputed champion for another year! Talking it up? Yeah maybe.

Last year I had earned a spot at the 2011 masters but regretfully did not attend due to the timing of the event. This year however my calendar was clear for a spot in the 12.

So I have packed my bags and bundled up my old bones for Tomb Kings to attempt to bury everyone in the sands of time! The 12 top players head to the Shire (Wellington) for a good ol' 6 rounds of beat down. Its fair to say the smack talk has been colourful. 
This years list is:

L4 Hierophant with dispel scroll and ruby ring
Tomb Prince with armour of silvered steel and great weapon
2 units of 20 skittle archers
3 units of 5 skittle horse archers
2 units of 10 skittle archers
A unit of 6 Necroknights
40 Tomb guard
2 scatterpults
A casket of souls
and Hermy! the Necroshpinx

All the list can be found here

Here is a quick rundown of my army vs theirs (and to add some more smack to the mix)... And some BIG calls made...


Beastmen (Ray) A flying bull! Pretty darn close to a flying pig if you ask me. Chop the head off the beast and the army will die. hello Hermy! I have a job for you... In all seriousness this army has to much for me to shoot, even though they have no armour. But T4 may cause some issues.

Vampires (Rory) What no Terrorgiest? I can't wait to get my TG into this Knights! Hoards of skittles with screaming b***ths in them could be interesting for my grind. This game will probably end in a draw aye Basil?

Daemons (Tom) Tom's just going to play hide the fatty behind a rock again. Grow some balls boy. Just take the hit and write off a Bloodletter unit to my archers. I even bought Hermy to play with Billy, yet Billy to scared! Interesting times...

Lizards (Mike) Snorus breeding grounds in overtime! thats alota core fighty. Hermy might actually survive a fight against the lizzys for a change. Dag nam it, now I've cursed him... If Mike can avoid tripping over himself to get into combat this will be a good showdown...


Tomb Kings (Tim) If I'm Lucky enough to draw this fight, its a shore win for me!


Orcs & Gobbos (Sam) Sorry Sam a Savage Orc and Night Goblin army just aint right without the lil un's. Hey Mr Sams forgotten to pick the runts. You know the PC brigade are gona bag you for that one. Instead we have over 9000 points in characters. I'm rather happy I took another fighty unit this time. Lots of targets for Hermy to kill and die to die to... Can Sam shake off his day two jitters!


Empire (Joel) No. Just No. Go away you big meany... To many damn chickens. The Chochobo brigade has arrived in style. THIS IS MY WORST MATCHUP! The numbers are in and I am going down 7-13 or worse


Skaven (Locky) Who is this guy? Rumours have it that he once played warhammer time a long long time ago... Numbers say he knows what hes doing! But then again he does use stink'n cheat'n rattys. This is the more favourable skaven list for me however with Locky at the helm I dont fancy my chances. To many damn toys...


High Elves (Peter) If there ever was a guy who can turn a turd into chocolate this is the guy. With only 15 White lions I don't think he has the staying power of some of the other lists, but the snobby elves have the movement to pick the fights. this will be down to the wire but no doubt Peter will find a way to kill my Hiero and crumble me to dust.


Bretonnians (Antony) Hmm. hmmmm.... hmmmmmmmmmm.... I dunno. I never like fighting brets, but they are the traditional foe. Massed attachs and killing blow is the way to go here and, oh wait! I have massed attacks and killing blow. Who would have thought...


Skaven (Pete) NO FATTIES!!!!! yay for me (I'm doing a happy dance). But then again, more stink'n no good dirty cheat'n ratties. Petes got everything to loose here. Hes had his spies out (one got caught by a cat) and bribed 'Baddice' podcast into backing him (how much warpstone did it cost you?). Pete has everything to loose and nothing to gain since everyone is picking him to be on the top. I can here ringing in my ears already. At least I bought my bellboy Hermy to assist. Don't fancy my chances here...


Warriors (Neil) The 'displeased with you card' (Pete said no wildcard) entry to round out numbers to 12. Double Hellcannon and some angry donkeys. Lots of viable targets for the archers to pick at if we every get past turn one. Time will tell (yeah there is a pun there...)


So what's my predictions?

1st is Pete "No Fatties" Dunn from skaveblight
2nd goes to Joel "Farmer Brown" from Tau Tau chicken battery
3rd is for Antony mr "No peasant" and his quest for the holy gravy

Me you ask. 5th! no pressure aye. I think I made a few list mistakes for the field. Only next weekend will tell...


Tuesday 20 November 2012

December Releases


GW have put up a teaser video and its rather easy to work out December will be the Hobbit release. 

You can find the link here if your interested.

Hopefully WD will bring us some other non Hobbit goodness...

Sunday 11 November 2012

Tale of X Gamers - The Heresy Edition

Over at Fields of Blood Pete has put out the idea of a tale of 'X' gamers based on the new Horus Heresy books from Forgeworld.

I was already interested in starting a 'Legion' army so this sounded like a perfect excuse. 

I've decided I want to do a loyalist legion, based near the beginning/before the Heresy really kicked off. The armour of choice will be MKIV Maximus type and Tigrus pattern Bolters as these are my favourite designs. I may slip in some MKV Heresy armour for good measure, and at least one squad will carry Umbra Ferrox X10 Bolters. I will build it around one company within one legion chapter so I can build a story around them and make up some characters.


My main problem is what Legion to make. Having already decided to go the loyalist route, I can already discount Blood Angels, Space Wolves, and Ultramarines. We see enough of these already. 

So that leaves me with Imperial Fists, Salamanders, Raven Guard, Iron Hands, Dark Angels, and White Scars. Unfortunately the best resource for these options will be in the books yet to be released...

Any suggestions?