Tuesday, December 23, 2014

WaaaghPaca 2015: Painting Update

So Waaagh!Paca 2015 is on the horizon and I have my eyes set on finishing up a good portion of my Wood Elves army for the event (though I may lean Eternity King if I like how it plays). To that end, I have been painting (when time allows) and trying to finish up at least a few key units. Right now I am working on finishing three core units of Glade Guard and a Sisters of the Thorn bunker.

Wednesday, December 17, 2014

Waaagh!Paca 2015: Tournament Rules Overview

The next Warhammer tournament that I will be attending is Waaagh!Paca 2015. This event just gets bigger and better every year and I am really looking forward to three solid days of Warhammer and random shenanigans. This year, Waaagh!Paca will be the host of several different events including: a five-round tournament using 2,000 point armies; the annual mustache contest; hand crafted prizes; the “officially unofficial Friday night tournament;” annual raffle; and freezing cold temperatures.

Wednesday, December 10, 2014

West Coast Qualifier: Tournament Overview

The West Coast qualifier was a three round 2500 point tournament using the 2015 U.S. Master’s rule pack. In the first round, each player was paired against another player with a similar composition score. As my list was a 14, I knew I would be playing one of the other four players with a 14. Ultimately, I was paired against Southern California’s Zack Lopez.

Round #1: Zack Lopez - Warriors of Chaos
Zack’s list was a hard-hitting (for a 14) Nurgle-based warriors list. His list included a Chaos Lord mounted on Chaos Dragon, two exalted heroes on daemonic mount, a level 2 chaos sorcerer with Lore of Nurgle, a few warhound units, marauder horsemen with flails, two chariots of Nurgle, a twelve man strong unit of warriors marked Nurgle, and a flying, breath-weapon spewing Chimera.

Zack deployed in a solid battle line with his focus on the center of the board. His plan was obviously to rush forward and hit my archer blocks which were spread out at the bottom of my deployment zone. I won the roll to go first, which allowed me to rush my Wild Rider units onto Zack’s flanks and start peppering his units with bowfire. In the first turn, between combined magic and shooting I was able to kill four of the knights to take them out of the game (the last knight would run around for the remainder of the game making unbelievable saves until the game ended), and drop two units of dogs.

Zack retaliated by swinging the Chimera to the flank to take on the Wild Riders with his breath weapon, but only managed to kill a single Wild Rider, leaving the five remaining Wild Riders to cause problems in his back field. Even though Zack would eventually get the Wild Riders, the unit pulled the Chimera out of position for the rest of the game.

Despite early progress, Zack and I only managed to finish four turns in the 2 ½ time limit. Luckily, the Wood Elf shooting with Harmonic Convergence did serious work. I eventually killed off the Chaos Lord and Dragon, the level 2, and most of the unit of warriors. At the end of the game I had lost a unit of Wild Riders and an eagle, but had managed to kill everything but the two exalted heroes, the nurgle warrior unit, the Chimera, one knight, and a chariot with a single wound. Another two turns and I think I would have gotten everything.

The game ended with over 1000 victory point difference in my favor, and I was on my way with a solid 17 point win!

Round #2: Jeremy “Effing” Campbell - Ogre Kingdoms
For Round 2 I played Jeremy Campbell and his Ogre Kingdom army. Jeremy’s army also came into the tournament with a 14 with a solid list. His army included a Slaughtermaster, a BSB, a Firebelly, a Butcher, three small units of Mournfang cavalry, a large unit of Maneaters with scout and poison, a few small units of basic Ogres, and an Irongut unit.

This game came down to two of Jeremy’s Ogre units single-handedly holding up the entire left-flank of my battleline including several of my key units like Way Watchers, two Trueflight glade guard units, and a unit of Wild Riders. Do to a tremendously short overrun of 3 inches against a single Ogre, a unit of Wild Riders was caught in the flank by the other unit and killed, which put Jeremy’s Ogre unit in position after reforming to charge the flank of the Way Watchers holding them up for the rest of the game. On the opposite flank, I couldn’t bring my bow power against the Maneaters as poor rolling for the first four turns of the game allowed the Ironguts to get into my line.

By the end of the game, I was able to take out two of the Mournfang units, all the Ironguts, the Slaughtermaster, and one unit of Ogres, but was not able to take down the BSB or the Maneaters which was where a large number of Jeremy’s points were. Luckily, I was able to keep most of my units alive including the Sister bus and the Spellweaver, but I did have to sacrifice a few units during the game. In the end, I took a small 8 point loss to go into game three with 25 out of 40 points.

Round #3: Josh Fricke - Daemons of Chaos
For Round 3 I played Josh Fricke’s Daemon army. Josh’s list included a Keeper of Secrets, a herald of Slaanesh, a fifty-two man unit of daemonettes, a unit of seekers, a unit of fiends, two units of furies, and two soul grinders. His list comped a 9.1 which meant that I got to start the game 490 victory points up. This gave me a huge advantage and pushed Josh to go on the offensive very early, pulling key units out of position.

Knowing how dangerous the spell Cacophonic Choir can be, I set up all my units so that the Keeper would not be able to cast it on anything important on the first turn so all Josh could do was move up fast to get ready for Turn 2. On my first turn, I placed every shot available into the Keeper taking off two early wounds. From then on, Josh’s Keeper was on the back foot and couldn’t throw too many dice at each spell attempt for fear of taking additional wounds from my Feedback Scroll.

Eventually, I was able to take out the Keeper with more combined shooting including the Hail of Doom arrow. I threw the dryads and a Branchwraith into the face of the daemonettes to keep them from the rest of my battleline while I slowly killed off everything else with combined shooting, magic, and Wild Rider charges. At the end, I was up over 1500 points to take the solid 20 giving me 45 battle points out of 60 to end the day. A solid score for second place for the tournament and a place at the U.S. Masters.

Overall List Thoughts:
After playing three games with this list I am happy with its overall performance, but the one game where I did not get Harmonic Convergence I definitely noticed my overall shooting effectiveness decreased significantly.

The Wild Riders performed as expected. They were great in most games, but every once in awhile they did something that cost me the unit before it made its points back. I did miss having shields on the units in one game, but most things that I went into combat against had high strength attacks so that shields wouldn’t have made a difference. I think that shields may be worth it in games against other elves, but I don’t know if it is worth the additional 4 comp points simply for a +1 armor save.

The Branchwraith’s performed as expected. I ended up with The Dwellers Below in all three games, but due to the nature of my opponent’s armies I never had a reason to cast the spell. But, I was able to use the Branchwraiths as sacrifices and speed bumps to protect my archer units. For only 75 points they performed well, but I am not sure that they are also worth the 15 comp points for all three of them. Though, I do think that they will be more effective against other armies, particularly where Dwellers would be more useful.

There is still a lot of list tweaking to do before Masters, but I am confident in both the Spellweaver with Lore of Heavens and the four units of shooting core. Another unit of Starfire Arrows may be the way to go over the unit of Arcane Bodkins, but only more play testing will tell.

Friday, December 5, 2014

West Coast Qualifier: Army List

For the West Coast qualifier, I was playing my Wood Elves. Wood Elves are one of my favorite armies, but for years they had problems competing in tournament environments. With the addition of the latest book, however, Wood Elves have gained some serious muscle.

Here is the list I went with, including cost for each unit in Swedish Comp:
  • Spellweaver (General, Level 4, Lore of Heavens, Elven Steed, Feedback Scroll, Talisman of Preservation, Warrior Bane (-31 Swedish Comp))
  • Glade Captain (Battle Standard Bearer, Elven Steed, Hail of Doom Arrow, Dragon Helm, Luckstone, Great Weapon, Starfire Shafts, Shield (-17 Swedish Comp))
  • Spellsinger (Level 2, Lore of Metal, Channeling Staff, Ruby Ring of Ruin (-8 Swedish Comp))
  • Branchwraith (-5 Swedish Comp)
  • Branchwraith (-5 Swedish Comp)
  • Branchwraith (-5 Swedish Comp)
  • Glade Guard (10 models, Trueflight Arrows, Musician) (-7 Swedish Comp)
  • Glade Guard (10 models, Trueflight Arrows, Musician) (-7 Swedish Comp)
  • Glade Guard (10 models, Starfire Shafts, Musician) (-5 Swedish Comp)
  • Glade Guard (10 models, Arcane Bodkins, Musician) (-5 Swedish Comp)
  • Dryads (12 models) (-2 Swedish Comp)
  • Sisters of the Thorn (8 models, Full Command, Lichbone Pennant) (-25 Swedish Comp)
  • Wild Riders (6 models) (-7 Swedish Comp)
  • Wild Riders (6 models) (-10 Swedish Comp)
  • Great Eagle (-5 Swedish Comp)
  • Great Eagle (-5 Swedish Comp)
  • Way Watchers (7 models) (-11 Swedish Comp)
Total Army Points: 2492 pts.
Total Swedish Comp: 14

Wanting to take advantage of all the power the Wood Elf book packs, I went about trying to design a list that maximized my shooting potential while still providing some serious close combat hitting potential backed up by a solid magic base. As Swedish Comp penalizes the Lore of Death and the Lore of Shadow heavily for mounted elf mages, I decided to go with the Lore of Heavens on a Level 4 Spellweaver. My hope here was to get Harmonic Convergence to re-roll “1s” with my archer core, control my opponent’s board movement with Comet of Cassandora, and destroy my opponent’s chaff with Chain Lightning.

I went with a Level 2 of Metal so that I would have something besides the small Way Watcher unit to take on 1+ armor saves. Searing Doom is a great spell to take on Chimeras and other high toughness, multi-wound, decent armor save monsters that comp well in Swedish Comp (like ridden Dragons in particular).

I chose two units of Trueflight Arrows over Hagbane so that I could deal with other shooting units like Skinks, Way Watchers, and Shades, as well as the large number of low toughness skirmishing units that are floating around the game. Anything more than 25 models of Trueflight or Hagbane arrows is a serious composition hit, so to fill out the rest of my archers I took a unit of both Arcane Bodkins and Starfire Shafts to help drop 1+ armor saves and negate regeneration saves on Chimeras and trolls.

The Branchwraiths were a key component to making sure that I had access to The Dwellers Below in games against other elves, and choosing three of them made sure that I would be getting that spell in most of my games. I also liked the aspect of having additional cheap chaff units I could throw in front of the battle line to protect my archers. At only 75 points, these guys are awesome. They can take on most other similarly pointed chaff (especially on the charge) and can force nasty frenzied units into bad overrun positions saving my archer units for another shooting phase.

The rest of the army is fairly self-explanatory. Next time, I’ll go over my three games and show how the army performed.

Wednesday, December 3, 2014

West Coast Qualifier: Tournament Overview

The West Coast Qualifier is over and victors have been announced (see previous post). But, with this post I thought I would take the opportunity to better explain the qualifier. Next time I will describe the list that I brought to the three-game tournament and then I will provide a breakdown of my three games, along with my opponent’s army lists.

The qualifier was held on November 15, 2014 and Endgame in Oakland, CA. The rules were fairly straightforward and simple: 2500 points following the U.S. Master’s rules pack. The U.S. Master’s rule pack used Swedish Comp for army list design (we were using the October 2014 version) with a required comp band of eight (8) to fourteen (14). Any comp score above a fourteen would be reduced to a fourteen and any list with a score of less than eight was banned from the tournament. All games were standard Battleline deployment.

Swedish Comp is an interesting comp formula. If you haven’t heard of it, or played with it yet, I suggest you try. It is not an “end all, be all” composition system, and it allows for armies to still have some very nasty combinations. But the purpose is to provide a recognized level of power across all armies and allow players to design and play armies at similar strength levels. Although the system can be complicated at first, but this is the easiest way I can explain it. Every person begins list design with a score of 300 points before taking a single unit. Then you begin building your list, deducting a number of points from your starting total of 300 equal to what the unit costs. For example, a Level 4 mage might cost 28 points while a unit of core troops or a particular magic item costs 10 points. After your list is built, you then divide your total composition score by 10 (thus, if you finished score was 140 you would be a 14, but if your final score was 10 your list would comp a 1). In this manner you try and build a list that falls between an 8 (or 80) and a 14 (or 140).

The benefit of playing within a composition band, is that if players want to take particularly nasty combinations or play slightly harder lists, the “softer” lists are given a leg up in the game. For example, in the U.S. Master’s rules pack, the difference in composition scores relates to a pre-game victory points difference in favor of the softer list equal to 100 victory points per full point of composition difference. Thus, a 14 playing a 14 would not be entitled to any bonus points, but a 14 playing an 8 would start the game 600 points up before the game even begins. This type of victory point advantage can heavily influence the play style of the opponents for that particular game making one player play more conservatively or more aggressively than they would normally to overcome the points difference.

Winning at the U.S. Master’s (and thereby the West Coast qualified) is determined solely by victory points and the tournament uses the standard 20-nil system. This system provides battle points to each player based on the difference between the victory points both players earned. Both players start the game with 10 points each. For each 150 victory points a player beats another by, they gain 1 battle point and their opponent loses 1 battle point. So for example, beating someone by 500 victory points corresponds to a three point bonus for the winner for a total score of 13 and a three point loss of the lose for a total score of 7. A full 20 battle points requires a difference in victory points of over 1500.

This year, the following players came to the West Coast qualifier (also included is their army choice and final composition score):
  • Austin Morgan - WoC - 13.5
  • Dave Inman - Skaven - 10.6
  • Ed Phillips - DoC - 11.3
  • Fred Whitney - WE - 10.0
  • Ivan Jen - O&G - 13.9
  • Jacob Berry - WE - 12.6
  • Jeremy Campbell - OK - 14.0
  • Joseph Urban - Brets - 13.1
  • Josh Fricke - DoC - 9.1
  • Josh Stuart - DE - 12.2
  • Justin Rusk - WE - 14.0
  • Mike Hengl - O&G - 12.8
  • Mike Sanders - OK - 11.5
  • Mike Scaletti - WoC - 14.0
  • Que Bohn - DoC - 14.0
  • Zach Lopez - WoC - 14.0
An interesting fact drawn from above is that the most played armies were WoC and DoC (as they seem to comp fairly well in Swedish Comp) and I would expect this to be the same at U.S. Masters as well. Also of note is that the majority of players came in with “softer” composition scores and five players, myself included, had a 14.0. I am betting that this is more of a West Coast thing, and that most players at the Masters will be closer to the 10-11 bracket.

Thursday, November 20, 2014

West Coast U.S. Master's Warhammer Fantasy Qualifying Players

The West Coast Qualfier for the U.S. Masters Warhammer Fantasy Championship is over, and the West Coast has assembled a team of drunk and belligerent man-children to represent the West Coast Warhammer Fantasy scene.

If you are unclear on what the Warhammer Masters is, or have not heard of it before, I encourage you to visit wargamersusa.com which is the main forum hub for Warhammer Fantasy players in the United States. But in short, the Masters is a region and qualification-based tournament bringing together the best 50 (or is it 80 this year) Warhammer players from around the country. Each region (of which there will be eight for the 2015-2016 season) can send ten players based on whatever qualification system the region dictates.

For example, on the West Coast, the top finisher at the three largest tournaments on the West Coast (the West Coast GT, S.A.W.S., and Quake City Rumble) get an automatic invite. The remaining 7 players are determined by a separate three-round qualification tournament using the upcoming Master’s tournament pack and rules. In order to qualify for the tournament, a player must have achieved a top ten placing in a West Coast tournament with at least 40 players, or top 15 for those tournaments of at least 100 players. As the number of tournaments on the West Coast was rather limited this last year, there were only a few additional tournaments that fed into the qualifier including the Broadside Bash, Infernal Zoo, and Black Sheep Brawl.

This year saw thirty different players qualify to play for the seven open Master’s slots, but only sixteen managed to make their way Oakland, CA last weekend to vie for their chance at a spot. (I know that sixteen people competing for seven open spots doesn’t seem like much, but you have to remember that to even get to this tournament these players had to place extremely high in some of the toughest tournament rooms in the nation. And, more importantly, most of these guys qualified at several of the tournaments pulling multiple top ten spots which reduced the total number of players that could have qualified for the tournament!).

After the dust settled (which will be discussed in a separate upcoming post), the following players qualified to go to Masters:
  • Don Gillean
  • Dave Inman
  • Michael Hengl
  • Justin Rusk (me)
  • Joseph Urban
  • Ed Phillips
  • Fred Whitney
  • Quentin “Q” Bohn
  • Josh Stuart
  • Jeremy Campbell
I just want to give a big shout out to all who made it, and can’t wait to see how this group does against the rest of the nation. Especially since four of these guys (myself included) won Best Overall at the Bragging Rights team ETC-style tournament this past June. Game on!

Wednesday, November 19, 2014

Hobby Overdrive

I’m Back!!! And more importantly, refreshed and ready to play some Warhammer. And maybe a few other games along the way. Some of you may have noticed that there hasn’t been much activity on the blog in the last several months. In fact, I don’t think I managed to post to this blog since September when I was wrapping up tournaments from the Spring.

Well, if you must know, and I know you want to (you nosey little buggers), I got married this past October. And then I took two whole weeks off for a Honeymoon. But it was all the time before the wedding getting ready the “big day” that really cut into hobby time. Plus, to be truthful, I wasn’t really feeling the game for a bit. Then BANG! Nagash and the End Times come out of nowhere ramping up my hobby juices up in a big way. [Editor’s note - when I reread this sentence the concept of “hobby juices” seemed disgusting, I pictured something that would emanate from our less showered brethren after a particularly good dice roll.]

The End Times series of books and rules changes has kicked my hobby into overdrive and is making me want to paint and hobby every night, even though I sometimes have work and housework to catch up on. After a several month hiatus from even looking at my models, I am ready to climb back into the tournament scene and kick some ass. And (spoiler alert) kick some ass I did at this past weekend’s West Coast Qualifier for the U.S. Masters. Plus, I have to paint a significant portion of my new Wood Elf army for Waaaghpaca 2015. More posts on all these events will be forthcoming, but I just wanted to update the blog real quick and let you all know that I wasn’t dead, had not yet quit the hobby, and still care about the game we all love. Expect a flurry of posts for the next several months as I kick my focus back onto Warhammer in a big way.

Tuesday, September 2, 2014

SAWS 2014: Results and Games

In May, I attended the annual SAWS Challenge in Sacramento, CA. This year, over sixty players participated in the tournament and it was a great time. Though, this was one of my poorest finishes in a long, long time. Nothing seemed to go well for the Dark Elves. I blame it entirely on my list, which was designed solely for the outdated tournament composition, and my failure to even get a single game in with an infantry based list before the tournament.

Friday, August 22, 2014

Paint Blog: Sisters of Thorn (Part 1)

It's been a few months, but I have finally gotten some paint on some models. Right now I am working on the first group of five Sisters of the Thorn for my ever expanding Wood Elves army. My plan is to have a unit of ten completely finished (though I will probably only run 8 or 9 in a 2500 pt. game). This unit is going to be a mage and battle standard bunker run with the MR(1) banner giving the unit a pretty hardy 3++ against magic missiles and a 4++ against standard shooting. Anyways, rather than spend an article on tactics, let's take a look at how they are looking after a few hours of paint.

Thursday, August 14, 2014

Waaaghpaca 2015

I've just received confirmation that I am registered for WaaaghPaca 2015. Man, registration for this even has been crazy and after only a few minutes after registration opened, this tournament has the largest waiting players' list I have ever seen for a Warhammer tournament. Just glad I made it in, and am looking forward to another year of crazy fun.

For those interested in what the tournament is about, check out the website.

Tuesday, August 5, 2014

Broadside Bash 2014: Results and Games

It's been a few weeks (or maybe more like five months), but the Broadside Bash is finished and in the books. This year 28 players faced off in a series of five games and at the end of the tournament, the winner was defending champion Club Capri's Jeremy Campbell, winning his second overall champion award. I played well, gained almost all the objective points, and managed to finish 2nd place overall, earning myself some sweet prize support (including a Frontline gaming table mat) and the all important invite for the West Coast qualifier for the U.S. Masters.

Tuesday, July 29, 2014

Delayed, but not forgotten.

Hey there fellow Warhammer fanatics. Did you think I had vanished off the face of the earth? Well, that was partly true. After travelling extensively for Warhammer, I had to devote much of my recent time to work and other activities, particularly my house. I've been getting it ready for sale and have only recently finished. And boy am I glad, as I no longer need to spend hours after work each day and all day on weekends at that place anymore.

Now, I can re-devote myself to Warhammer and preparing for next year's tournament scene. Coming this August, expect more frequent updates, especially on the painting and modelling front as I try and put together about 3000 points of the new Wood Elves! Stay tuned.

Friday, June 27, 2014

Bragging Rights 2014

This blog has been on a little hiatus as of late as I have been very busy at work and working on Warhammer stuff to find time to keep up the posts. But really, I was also focused on getting in practice games for this years Bragging Rights 2014 team tournament. Bragging Rights is an ETC-style team tournament with teams of four (4) players and a captain.

This year, I was playing with Ed Phillips, Michael Hengl, and Fred Whitney (of West Coast Hammertime fame) under the Leadership 2 banner. We were also led by Derek Wiswell.

If you were wondering, we won! That's right, the west coast has emerged victorious from the team event (led by Ed Phillip's wonderful painting) and our last round defeat of Team "Kind of a Big Deal" that included the likes of Alex Schmid, Jordan Braun, and two Danish ETC players. We couldn't be happier. Now I am going to take a few week break from games and painting before the Quake City Rumble (and maybe I will catch up on my other posts).

Champions one and all!

Tuesday, June 17, 2014

Books #8

With several airplane trips behind me, plus some down time that wasn't spent painting, I have managed to finish another throng of books. This time, I flitted between more traditional fiction offerings.

Horns
Joe Hill
This book was just absolutely amazing and has cemented Joe Hill as one of my favorite horror narrative writers right after his father. His writing, although dark, is obviously written from the perspective of one who grew up in the late 1980s and 1990s and has a real grasp of both popular culture and the more important subgenre of nerd culture. His cultural references keep his writing fresh and provide levity in his tales. Horns in particular plays to several pop culture tones and, in doing so, brings the story into the real world. While reading, I felt that this story could easily have taken place despite its supernatural focus, because the lives of the characters were so well flushed our and grounded in our world. I can't help but tell people that if they enjoy good fiction, that this is a book that they need to read. Highly recommended.

Hyperion
Dan Simmons
I really loved this book. The interesting way the novel opened and closed, all revolving around a series of mini-mysteries was a great way to become invested in the characters and I saw myself reaching for this book to read the next character story with every break I had. I know that I am late to reading this book as everyone has been telling me to read it for years, and I am glad I finally got around to it. I liked the rich futuristic world that was created and how the whole galaxy, and in particular the world of Hyperion, were presented to me. I couldn't wait until I grabbed the next book in the series to answer some of the remaining questions. I fully recommend this book to the few people who have yet to read it.


The Fall of Hyperion
Dan Simmons
Compared with the previous entry in this series, Hyperion, I was rather disappointed with this sequel. This novel went to far metaphysical and philosophical for me. From the weird dream sequences to the questions about time travel and the debates between morality and humanity I didn't get the same joy out of this book as I did its predecessor. I understand the purpose behind this novel, or at least I think I do, but it was presented in such a strange way and without any of the interesting mystery bent of the the first novel that it was much more difficult for me to get through and took almost twice as long to read. The novel is still well written and I enjoyed the character progression for some of the characters from Hyperion, but this was one book that I was just not in the right head-space to read at the time. I think I was looking for something more action and sci-fi oriented than this book.

Black Wings of Cthulu
Twenty-One Tales of Lovecraftian Horror
S.T. Joshi (Editor)
This is a collection of twenty-one horror stories based on Lovecraftian lore and mythos. Most of the stories involve direct reference to Lovecraft or the subject of some of his better known works, but several are based on a similar mythology of otherworldly creatures and cosmic understanding. I enjoyed reading most of the stories, but there were several which I found daunting. Sometimes during these stories I would put the book down for days before picking it up again and plowing through to finish the story. Others, usually those written in a more traditional horror style I devoured quickly. All in all this was a fine collection, but I didn't enjoy the stories enough for me to want to buy the second anthology.


Space Wolf
William King
A friend of mine that is moving gave me all of his old Space Wolf books. These books are all written by William King and my friend knew how much I enjoyed reading William King when he was writing the Gotrek and Felix novels. So as I found myself with a few airplane trips to various tournaments, I grabbed the first couple of novels and began my descent into the character of Ragnar Blackmane. This book was good. Not great, but good. It was entertaining and provided lots of history of the Space Wolves which was interesting and it was nice to see how a warrior becomes a Space Wolf. I feel that a lot of the 40k novels miss out of this kind of background information that can really help flesh out a story and the chapter as a whole. After a lull in my reading, this was exactly what I was looking for; a quick sci-fi novel with a good plot, lots of battles, and decent storytelling.

Ragnar's Claw
William King
The sequel to Space Wolf, Ragnar's Claw picks up the main story line with Ragnar Blackmane now being a young member of the Space Wolves ready to prove himself in battle for the sake of the Imperium. And battles there will be as Ragnar and his fellow packmates are placed into a company of warriors, only to be then sent on a special mission which will surely test all his strength and skill. This was another quick but enjoyable read. The story was fast paced, adequately written, and action oriented. I would consider this a well received sequel and I was looking forward to quickly getting into the third story.



Grey Hunter
William King
The third Ragar Blackmane novel. After a weird series of events, it seems that the denizens of the Thousand Sons are back for revenge against the ancient foes. I've always liked the Thousand Sons as an army chapter and at one point had even put together a Thousand Sons army for 4th Edition 40k. It was great to see them in action in this novel, even if it was a Space Wolf novel where you knew from the beginning that the Space Wolves were going to triumph. Just with the previous novels, this one took a little under a week to read during lunches and breaks (and the occasional morning coffee). It felt that by this time, either I had become invested in Ragnar as a character and so was more concerned for the events unfolding, or William King had found a better groove in his story telling, because the battles and showdowns in the story felt like they had more at stake than the ones in the previous novel. There was more urgency in the character's actions, and yet, more uncertainty and hesitation that made Ragnar and his fellow Space Wolves behave what I feel is a more accurate representation of the characters. I am now looking forward to finding the rest of the novels and breezing through them in a quick fashion.

Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil
John Berendt
Based on a true story, and a treasure trove of unique persons, John Berendt's classic novel of Savannah, Georgia was a national bestseller for several years. I remember watching the movie made with John Cusack and Kevin Spacey and thinking at the time what a weird story this was. My mother had read it for a book club and gave me her copy when she was finished, but the book just stayed on my "to read" shelf for years until I finally got around to reading it this summer. Man, out of everything I have read this year, I can say that this book has been my favorite. The characters, based on real people Berendt encountered while living in Savannah in the 80s, are some of the best characters I have ever read. They speak with such fluidity and charm and color that you wish you had crazy people like them in your life. Berendt's story-telling is also fantastic and he has weaved such an interesting narrative covering nearly a decade that it seems like everything takes place in the span of a few short weeks. He accomplishes this feat by underlying the narrative with the nature of the city in which it takes place and as such, Savannah becomes the force that roots the entire novel. Highly recommend this book to anyone that hasn't gotten around to it yet. A fantastic summer read, light and airy with a fairy-tale feel. I wish more novels were as creative and accessible.

Thursday, May 22, 2014

BAO 2013: Round #4 - Chaos Dwarves


[Note, this battle report is way, way overdue. In fact this game took place over year ago. But I promised that I would post it, and post it I am. Enjoy, even if late and in the old battle report format. And remember, I was still playing Wood Elves.]

For the Fourth Round of the BAO, I played Henry. This guy on the left. Henry is perhaps better known by his twitter handle @Johnnycrass in which he constantly engages in various Warhammer discussions and hobby projects.








Tuesday, May 20, 2014

West Coast GT 2014: Results and Games (Part #2)

Round #3: Zak Lopez - Warriors of Chaos
For Round #3, I played Zak Lopez and his Nurgle-themed Warriors of Chaos army. His list for the event was: a Chaos Lord of Nurgle on steed, an Exalted Hero of Nurgle on Deamonic Mount, a twelve-man warrior unit marked Nurgle with Banner of Swiftness, two chariots of Nurgle, three units of warhounds, a unit of Nurgle Knights with Razor Standard, another Exalted Hero of Nurgle mounted on a Disc, a Chaos Giant, a unit of Chaos Ogres, a Nurgle Sorcerer, and a Chaos Warshrine.

Zak's list hits very hard and has lots of units with awesome armor saves. Plus, he is marked Nurgle, so it is much harder to push wounds on the units with the additional -1 to hit. Luckily for me, this game relied on having Fortitude/command models on the beach blankets at the end of the game and I had more command/banners in my army (which were all very fast) than he did. Plus, it was Round #3 and Zak was looking a little worse for wear and wouldn't be throwing his best game my way. Rather than adapt to the situation for the scenario, he came at me like it was primarily a battle for VP which allowed me to sacrifice lots of expensive units to hold up his key units throughout the game.

In the early turns of the game, Zak and I pushed right at each other hoping to make combat. I swung in as many of my units as possible in order to prevent his units from reaching the beach blankets and controlling any objectives. In the center of the board, I sent my BSB and a unit of warlocks into his general's unit of knights.

In the combat, I managed to cast Soulblight, but killed two warlocks in the process. I then challenged out the general, hoping to roll some killing blow. Unfortunately, I failed to cause a single wound to the knight. Luckily, the warlocks killed two knights and I won the combat, but Zak made his break test.




I also charged the large warrior unit with the Kharybdis, a hydra, the manticore, and the other unit of warlocks. I would eventually destroy the whole unit of warriors, but not before losing the warlocks, and both the manticore and rider (and having some severely wounded monsters left on the board).



During the middle of the game, I would focus on killing the Ogres and Giant while Zak tried to position his units to push through my combat units and make it to the center of the board.

In particular, his knights and a chariot would crush the BSB and warlock unit on the right flank after his general turned into a Daemon Prince. The newly elevated prince would then fly to one of the blankets and hold it until the end of the game.





The final turns of the game saw me trying to wipe out any unit that could claim a blanket. His newly anointed prince and his exalted hero would each take a blanket, but I would be able to swing two dark rider units, one to each blanket, to contest the objectives. On the far right objective, I would kill off the last Chaos Ogre (who happened to be the champion) and take that objective and the game. I would go on to take all the bonus points (because his general turned into a daemon prince and broke his fortitude) for this round and would end Day 1 with 44 out of 60 battle points!

Round #4: Bretonnians
To start of Day 2, I would be playing Brets. The list was a standard Bretonnian list with two trebuchets, a level four life wizard with silver chalice, a level two beast wizard, three units of knights, two Pegasus heroes, a mounted BSB, a general with heroic killing blow, and a lot of peasant bowmen with flaming shooting attacks.

The early turns of the game were spent by the DE sweeping forward toward the peasants and the trebuchets in order to wipe them off the board. The peasants would show great courage by leaving the protection of their stakes and charging the dark elves, only to be drawn into combats they could not win. Going into the third turn, all the peasants were destroyed and only a single trebuchet was left on the board (which would eventually be destroyed by game's end). The Dark Elves would then work their way around to the flanks of the knight units in order to charge the knights.

In the middle turns, the game would swing back towards the Bretonnians. In one massive combat in the center of the board, I would get a charge off with both a hydra into the front and a dragon into the flank of a night unit. The dragon would be challenged out, but kill the champion. The hydra would kill a few more knights, but the steadfast unit would hold for a turn.

In the bretonnian's next turn, the trebuchet would target the unengaged hydra, drift onto the hydra in combat, and kill it before the combat phase. This left only the dragon in combat on the flank. The Bretonnian BSB would then challenge out the dragon, die heroically, but cause the Dragon to lose by the unit's musician (flank and 1 wound on the BSB - he was already wounded - to banner, rank, and musician). The dragon would then fail his break test (twice!) and got run down by the six knights. Talk about a game changing swing.

Alas, poor Dragon. I knew him well.










The last few turns of the game saw the Dark Elves outrunning the knights, destroying the trebuchet, and setting up a final turn charge. On turn 6, the Dark Elf BSB charged the Bretonnian General's unit in the read. The general, with his heroic killing blow, challenged out the BSB but failed to roll any 6s to wound. The BSB would get lucky, and roll a 6 on his killing blow attack, killing the general outright. The knight unit would then break, but outran the BSB who was obviously too excited to follow the knights more than 4 inches.

Come on Pegasus, you are supposed to be faster than a horse. That's why you have wings.









At the end of the game, I would take a minor loss (too many big monsters dead from one lucky trebuchet) with a single bonus point (for killing an enemy spell caster). I would end the game with nine battle points (taking me out the running for any award) and putting me at 53 battle points going into the last game.

Round #5: Pete Romanowich - High Elves
For the last round of the tournament I wound up playing Pete and his High Elves. Pete's army was a pretty hard-hitting list, but Pete is a newer player in the tournament circuit and hadn't seen much of the new Dark Elves, or anything close to my list. This would prove a significant advantage and even with the plethora of bad dice I suffered through during the game, I was able to systematically disassemble Pete's army.

His list for the tournament was a mounted prince with dawn stone and giant blade, a mounted Level Four with Lore of Life, a mounted BSB with the Other Trickster's Shard, a large unit (14 strong) of Silver Helms, two units of reavers, a small ten-man unit of archers, a horde of White Lions with the Banner of the World Dragon, two Frostheart Phoenix's, and two bolt throwers.

The early turns of the game were spent showing Pete how fast the Dark Elves could be. I vanguarded up full, and pushed fast so that all of my units were in front of his archers and bolt throwers on turn 1. I would easily kill all the bolt throwers, archers, and reaver units by the end of Turn 3.

The middle turns of the game were spent trying to get the Frostheart phoenix into combat with either the BSB or the Dragon, but the phoenix would keep fleeing behind Pete's lines. I would eventually bait out the White Lions and force them to charge across the center of the board only to be surrounded by the hydras and remaining dark riders. Between two breath weapons and several turns of combined shooting, all of the White Lions would be killed without ever making it into combat.

The final turns of the game were spent trying to bring several units to bear against the helm-star. I would sacrifice several small units of dark riders to hold the unit roughly in place until it could be charged by the dragon and several remaining monsters. I would kill almost the entire unit, but the general would be alive at the end of the game. A clear victory for the Dark Elves. I would take a major win this game with two bonus points (didn't get Pete's general) and would end up with 18 battle points for Round 5, bringing my grand total of battle points to 71 and putting me in 11th place for the tournament.

Saturday, May 17, 2014

SAWS 2014: Army List

The annual SAWS tournament held at Great Escape Games in Sacramento, CA is upon us. In fact, when this entry is actually posted, it will be the first day of the tournament. SAWS is a five round, two-day GT that usually has around 60 of the best players in the California/West Coast region.

This year I am playing Dark Elves to get some more practice for Bragging Rights in June. Although my Bragging Rights list is much, much different from this one. This year, do to the crazy composition system, is based on lots of infantry rather than cavalry and is heavily reliant on magic in certain match-ups (I'm playing shadow) and shooting in others. The list is as follows:

Dreadlord (257 pts) (General, HA, SDC, Shield, Sword of Anti Heroes, Dragonhelm, Black Amulet)
Supreme Sorceress (305 pts) (Level 4, Lore of Shadow, Dispel Scroll, Talisman of Preservation, The Other Trickster's Shard)
Master (159 pts) (BSB, GW, HA, SDC, Ring of Hotek)
Darkshards (326 pts) (22 models, full command, shields, Banner of Eternal Flame)
Corsairs (320 pts) (25 models, full command, Lichebone Pennant)
Witch Elves (273 pts) (18 models, full command, Razor Standard)
Dark Riders (95 pts) (5 models, musician, shields)
Har Ganeth Executioners (405 pts) (30 models, full command, Banner of Swiftness)
Doomfire Warlocks (150 pts) (6 models)
Repeater Bolt Thrower (70 pts)
Repeater Bolt Thrower (70 pts)
Repeater Bolt Thrower (70 pts)

The premise behind this list is lots of models that put out a ton of attacks that can either push through lightly armored troops (hopefully combined with the withering) or crush armored units in protracted combats (via the executioners or a well-timed six dice mindrazor). I hope to draw out dispel scrolls early by using the withering each turn to recued toughness, thereby letting the shooting units take a large toll on my opponents. This list is more difficult for me to play because it requires me to be careful in how I move so that I don't present flanks to my opponents and it is also a little more susceptible to enemy magic like Final Transmutation and The Dwellers Below, but can handle the current trend of magic missiles and other magic quite well.

I will try for best match-ups in units with executioners going into armor, witches going into lightly armored (or no-armored) monsters and like units, and the corsairs going into other infantry units. My hope is to whittle down the main combat blocks of my opponent to allow my combat troops to really shine.

I only have two vanguarding units (the small Dark Rider unit and the Warlocks) and so will have to be careful about enemy warmachines and shooting. But because I have a Level 4, I am less concerned about sacrificing the warlocks if it means that the enemy no longer has any warmachines. I see a lot of combinations of withering followed by doombolt on turn 1 at the most dangerous warmachine my opponent brings. Hope this list works well, as I haven't had any opportunity to practice with it.

Tuesday, May 6, 2014

West Coast GT 2014: Results and Games (Part #1)

Another year has passed, and another West Coast GT is in the books. This year 53 players faced off in a series of five games and at the end of the tournament, the winner was Leadership 2's Don Gilliland. I played well, missed some key objective points, and managed to finish 11th overall. I missed a top tenth placing (and the key invite for the West Coast qualifier for the U.S. Masters) by tie-breakers.

Thursday, April 24, 2014

Broadside Bash 2014: Scenarios

This weekend is the Broadside Bash 2014 GT! A two-day battle of 40 Warhammer Fantasy players engaging in battle over five different scenarios. This is what I will be dealing with:

Tuesday, April 22, 2014

Broadside Bash 2014: Army List

For the Broadside Bash, on April 26-27, 2014, in San Diego, CA, I will be playing 2500 points of Dark Elves. This is what I will be bringing to fight all the other filthy armies at the tournament:

Friday, April 11, 2014

West Coast GT 2014: Scenarios

This weekend is the West Coast GT 2014! A two-day battle of 60 Warhammer Fantasy players. This year, all five games have updated scenarios. Let’s take a look at what I will be dealing with.

Wednesday, April 9, 2014

WaaaghPaca 2014: Armies in Review (Part #2)

Here are the last run of army pictures from WaaaghPaca. Enjoy while I paint Dark Elves for the upcoming tournaments.

Ed Phillips: Daemons of Chaos
Ed's army in all its glory. Look at all those sweet conversions.
The Nurgle "Khorne Skull Cannon" bug thing.
Epidimius on his mount.
Characters
Plaguebearer unit
Beast of Nurgle units and furies.
Solo beasts!
Flying plague drones and their skull pile. Maybe they think they are Khornish?

Chris Yu: Orcs and Goblins
A blurry photo of Chris Yu's orc madness.
Squiggy!
Characters
Goblin banner
Squig diver!

Chris Tomlin: Dark Elves
This army is just absolutely amazing! I especially loved all the hand painted banners. This was the army that won Best Painted at the tournament.
Chris' army in all its glory.
Corsairs with sad heart banner.
Executioner horde
Battle Standard Bearer with beautiful free-hand banner
Manticore rider with full scorpion tail!
Side of corsair unit
Tomlin's hydra
Dark Rider unit #1
Dark Rider unit #2
Shades
Another view of the Manticore on flying base.
Dark Pegasus Rider
Peg rider again
Executioner unit filler

Tuesday, April 8, 2014

West Coast GT 2014: Army List

For the West Coast GT, on April 12-13, 2014, in Mission Viejo, CA, I will be playing 2500 points of Dark Elves. I am playing a list similar to the one I took to WaaaghPaca in January with just a little bit more craziness and I am hoping I don't run into that many cannons. The first two rounds are based on Swedish Comp scoring, and this army comps a mighty 1.5 due to its awesomeness and monster theme. This is what I will be bringing to fight all the other filthy armies at the tournament:

Thursday, April 3, 2014

WaaaghPaca 2014: Round #5 (Tzeentch's Revenge)

For the last round of WaaaghPaca, I was sitting at a decent 3-1 record with most, but not all of the bonus points. So I was expecting a hard final game, and I was not disappointed. My final opponent for the tournament was playing a Tzeentch-heavy Daemons of Chaos army that included: three units of screamers, three units of horrors, several heralds, a Lord of Change, and - of course - two Khorne Skullcannons (because what near mono-themed army wouldn't bring two cannons to the table). This list looks like it was designed to just demolish monsters and I knew I had to keep my units away from the screamers or I was going to be in big trouble.

Tuesday, March 18, 2014

Thoughts on the Dwarf Army Book: Core Units

With the release of the new Dwarf Army book, comes new rules, units, items, etc. This post, I tackle the Dwarf Core Units. There are only four (4) units that a Dwarf player can take to fill his requisite 25% core requirement: Dwarf Warriors, Quarrelers, Thunderers, and Longbeards.

Thursday, March 13, 2014

WaaaghPaca 2014: Round #4 (The Failed Charges)

For Round 4, I played Eric West and his Beastmen army. Eric was rocking a solid army build designed to protect his points while maximizing his combat efficiency. For a Beastman build, it was pretty interesting. His army included: two units of harpies, two regular chariots, two razorgor chariots, a big horde block of Bestigor, a huge block of Gor with two hand weapons, a tricked out lord, BSB with the Beast Banner (so strength 4 gor), and two level 2s with Lore of Beasts.

Tuesday, March 4, 2014

Books #7

Gotrek & Felix: City of the Damned
David Guymer
Time travel, ghosts, a new weird cult dedicated solely to following Gotrek and Felix, and Be'lakor the First Daemon Prince; this book has it all and more. Comparing this book to the previous Gotrek and Felix collection of short stories is like trying to compare prime rib to overcooked strip steak. Sure, they are both beef, but one is lacking all juice and flavor. This book really brought me back into the gritty world of the empire that Gotrek and Felix inhabit.

Although I have been lax to recommend that last few Gotrek and Felix novels to those individuals who are not as invested in the series as I am (having read all of the books, short stories, and listened to the audio dramas), I can say this book is a good fantasy novel that is worth recommending. The story isn't earth shattering, but it is entertaining. And is a quick read that shouldn't take more than a week's worth of lunch breaks.


River of Doubt
Candice Millard
Author of the previously read and reviewed Destiny of the Republic, Millard's River of Doubt follows Theodore Roosevelt's "Darkest Journey" down the aptly named River of Doubt, a previously uncharted tributary of the Amazon. I purchased this book because I really enjoyed Destiny of the Republic. I wasn't sure what to expect with the novel and was greatly surprised. Millard has a way of weaving historical fact into a story that carries the reader through a fantastical journey. This time, the journey follows Theodore Roosevelt after his failed 1912 Presedential run on his speaking tour and exploration of South America.

The novel delves deeply into the reasons why Roosevelt's trip down the Amazon cost the lives of three of the men on the trip - from initial poor planning, lack of realistic supplies, lack of knowledge of the portion of the river they would be descending, and a general failure to understand the task at hand. This was a story that I had never head about the former President, and gives great insight into his character and the character of his companions. If you love interesting history, this is a book that you should definitely pick up.

Empire of Blue Water
Stephan Talty
Empire of Blue Water is a historical non-fiction novel about Captain Morgan in the Americas. It revolves around the rise of pirate and privateer culture in the Caribbean, focusing specifically on the rise and fall of Captain Morgan and with him, the rise and fall of Port Royal, Jamaica. Stephan Talty is the gentleman who also wrote The Illustrious Dead, the novel about Napolean's march into Russia and how Typhus (not the 40k character) helped destroy one of the largest armies the world had seen up to that point.

I found myself enjoying this book much more than The Illustrious Dead. The book was better written, I believe, and covered a much more enjoyable subject matter: privateers and pirates. I had heard some of the history of Captain Morgan's exploits in the Caribbean, but Talty does a fantastic job of following his trials and successes from initial small raids on Spanish ports to the ultimate destruction of Panama City (causing the city of be re-built several miles away as all the original buildings were burnt down). The novel also delves deeply into pirate culture examining the manner in which they were paid, how they chose missions and captains, their tactics, and general life. Pirates of the Caribbean this is not!

Assassin's Code
Jonathan Maberry
Another novel in the Joe Ledger series. This novel sees Joe and his team combating fucking vampires in the Middle East (I know, the stories are getting a little out of hand). Meanwhile, an ancient foe from the Middle Ages is looking to blow up key areas throughout the world with nuclear weapons. High tension and high drama drive this heavily action-oriented novel. The novel was an okay read, with an okay story line. I found nothing truly special about this book compared with the others in the series, and found certain parts of the story lacking. Jonathan Maberry really knows how to write fast paced action, so when the bullets and fists are flying, the novel is very engaging. However, the novel slows to almost a crawl when no one is fighting. Unless you really want to read all of the novels in the series, this is one I would suggest you skip.





The Desert Spear
Peter V. Brett
The second novel in the Demons Cycle trilogy, this novel moves the action to the far East and sees the rise of Jardir, another human warrior who seems destined to lead mankind against the Demons. This novel was a neat sequel to The Warded Man, but did not have the same ingenuity and sense of magic that the first book had. Part of the problem, I think, was that this book only addresses the main characters in the first book in passing. Instead, there are several new characters who become the focus for this novel including Jardir and his wife Inerva. The novel is interesting in the way that it creates a second society - one who still has the heart and skill to fight Demons - at the edge of the previous lands. It is obvious from reading this book, that the entire novel is a set-up for the final book in the trilogy. At no point does this novel stand on its own feet. It requires all the knowledge about magic, wards, and demons learned in the first book, but doesn't advance the overall timeline or plot, leaving us at the same point as the first novel, just from a different character perspective. For this reason, I was not as interested in the novel as I was the first one.

Princep's Fury
Jim Butcher
The fifth novel in the Codex Alera series. This novel sees Tavi, now recognized as the Grandson of the reigning leader, sailing towards Canea to try and forge a peace-treaty with the Canim after defeating some of their leaders in the previous novel. This novel sees Tavi grow more as a character and begin to learn the cost of leading men. It also sees the return of all the familiar faces, both friends and enemies, including the main evil of the series, the dreaded Vord.

The more I read these books, the more excited I get for the final confrontation between the Empire, its allies, and the Vord. Many aspects of this novel can be predictable, but I still found myself reading this novel whenever I got a chance. Its very action driven, and I think Butcher has a good grasp on how to keep a novel moving forward in an action-oriented adventure.



First Lord's Fury
Jim Butcher
The last novel in the Codex Alera series. Tavi, as first lord, must do battle against the world's greatest enemy, the Vord. This novel ends the six-book run of the Codex Alera series. This was a bittersweet novel, in that there seemed to be many questions left, particularly on the future of the characters, but I guess that is to be expected in this genre. These questions would also give Butcher the ability to revisit the series at a later point, if he desired, and easily write another series of novels focusing on how the world has changed since the ending of this book.

I was pleased with Tavi's overall, though predictable, character arc. But, I more enjoyed the character arcs of many of the other supporting characters like Tavi's uncle, the ex-cursor Fidelias, and Tavi's best-friend Max. I think it was the wonderful supporting characters of the novel that really helped develop and flesh out the world around Tavi and keep the story more grounded than it otherwise would have been. As I have stated before, this is a great little fantasy series, and one that I would suggest to readers looking for something new, but with the same familiarity of sword and magic fantasy.

Deadly Heat
Richard Castle
The latest tie-in novel to the television show Castle (quit your judging, I love this show). These little mystery novels are a delightful little pleasure when I am in the mood to read something simple, quick, and fresh. The novels are similar in tone and humor to the television show and I managed to read the entire novel on the flight from Reno to Milwaukee before WaaaghPaca this year. It was quick, interesting, and carried on with characters that I have grown to enjoy over several novels and seasons of the television show. It is not the greatest novel, or even a great mystery, but it beat looking out the window or talking to someone on the flight. And, I am sure that I will read the next on when it comes out.
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