Throne of Skulls March 2016 – Epilogue & moar random pics

I just worked out I’ve written 116 Battle reports over the course of this blog and although I’m really pleased about the result I am questioning how worthwhile Battle Reports are. They take a really long time to write and not an inconsiderable time to read either. I try to be brief but it never happens – the amount of pictures dictate this alongside those events that actually require more in depth coverage.

I wonder if my efforts are better spent elsewhere? The pictures were much better than usual though this time so even if folk don’t read everything there’s plenty to look at. Bottom line is if I’m ultimately doing this as a record of my games is it worth it? And if anyone else reads them that’s just a bonus…

But that’s just an observation post Thrones, I know it appears a little down but the actual event was great and the weekend away was so much fun. Not having been for two years, when Escalation had only just been introduced it was interesting to see how to open army choices faired and it did raise the issue of ‘best game votes’ in potentially a more favorable light. It was clear from Scott winning that his 4 favourite game votes were the deciding factor, this fits with the organisers view that it’s not the winning that’s important. Now I know this arbitrary measure is an issue with some people but I actually think it works now. When you open up the amry choices to abuse, with all kinds of beardy, spamalot, cheese-fests then win at all costs becomes inevitable. BUt if it’s at the cost of someone having a rubbish game, then how do you prevent that?

Well if you’re going to slaughter everyone you face then you have to find a way to do it with a smile and personality that will win over your victim. Alternatively you can bring a sensible list win some games but also behave in a way that’s going to win friends. Now I only got the one best game vote and from experience I can see that that’s often your last game, it’s the most fresh in your mind things are usually relaxed and the event is winding down. I understand how Scott got four, he’s sucvh a fun guy to hang with but it can be a fickle decision so on the one hand it’s something definitely out of your control, I mean I’m a nice guy, people like my army, I have fun when I game and play cinematically above competitively. I bring sweets and free wound markers, they’re marketing tools as well as bribes 😉 but that’s no guarantee either way But it’s definitely a tournament leveller, it means those WAAC lists don’t dominate.

So however frustrating it can be, and I’ve looking at the score sheet and how I faired over the weekend against Scott with the scouts from my third game. He scored 233 Carnage points and 49 VPs over the weekend. In comparison I did 215 and 42 VPs. Our positions were vastly different though as I got a favourite game vote meaning I finished 61st and he finished 96th. Game wise though his force was more successful. That obviously doesn;t sound right but I guess it’s not how you win but how you play that counts. Incidentally that’s why they no longer have a list of Best Army and Favorite Player plaques in Bugman’s, because it’s not about winning.

So although I get why this mechanic has issues I think on balance it’s probably for the best. You can’t have total freedom in army choice without something to balance it out. As for the rest of the event I was a little disappointed about the limitations for display of best army, I hope that’s just a temporary thing. I;ve seen more nominations in recent events so three seemed a little harsh. I definitely thought Liam deserved a shot, every time he;s been he’s taken a different army painted, converted and scratchbuilt in places to amazing standards. Honorable mention is nice but I thought it deserved more.

Given the new shops I was actually surprsed the venue still felt so big, there’s far more room than I gave it credit for, which was a relief.

My only other issues – the food wasn’t quite as good as previous years. It all looked freshly prepared on site, I had a burger and I’m sure it was ‘scratchbuilt’ but the actual patty wasn’t great. Unfortunately the other options didn’t appeal to my delicate stomach. I’m sure a lot of efffort was put in it just wasn’t up to the standard of previous trips.

We were also a little disappointed to discover that the exhibition is not included in your ticket price. Now folk said the £7.50 was worth it but given the only free time to look at it was after the event there was no way I was going to fork out for it and have to rush through. I’m sure pictures don’t do it justice but having not experienced it in the flesh I honestly can say the pictures work fine for me right now.

However, this Age of Sigmar table was awesome and goes some way to get an additional hobby fix without going to the exhibition, rushing round and failing to get my money’s worth

I loved this table, the colours and the extra details made it really good. I was little disappointed about the early closing though. I’m surprised they shut at 8, although Wednesday it’s 9 and the remainder of the week its 6pm! I think they’re missing a trick but then they know they’re customers/business model.

All that said we came away with renewed faith in the events held there. The events team put in a lot of effort and despite the time since our last visit they were extremely helpful, supportive and friendly. I even got name checked during the awards ceremony thanks to my repeated failing in being able to do simple mathematics on my scroing sheets.

Not to mention the playful banter the staff had at my expense for my army lists that had hole punches a few millimetres offset from their intended positions. I can’t thank them enough for their patience and hospitality, they make the evnt special, of course so did the beer and the company of my gaming buddies too.

It was a great weekend and we’ll be back again

Throne of Skulls March 2016 – Battle 0, Tyranids Vs Tau, Eldar and Orks

For the life of me I can’t remember anything about this game and I can;t find my notes either. We’d travelled don on the Friday and arrived to play on the Spyral Prime table, Otty and I using nids, Ben, Scott and Liam with the holy/’unholy’ alliance of Tau, Eldar and Orks! 

We were using the City Fight Maelstrom cards I’d got from a couple of White Dwarfs long time back – glad they finally got some use. We also had some sewers we could come out with and the other guys booby trapped a number of buildings. Also, because of the table I didn’t take my Skyshield but had Deathleaper instead, a bit more points but he is pants. Ultimately though we never finished the game. Warhammer World closes at 8pm so we had to pack up, which was a shame. Anyway these are just pictures to enjoy mostly, if they sparek any memories I’ll drop em in but for the most part just sit back and enjoy the pretty pictures.

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My Genestealer literally got outflanked by these Boyz and slaughtered.

Bring on the big boys!

For the most part the Tau were ignored, Otty concentrating on the Eldar while I dealt with the Orks.

My Purestrains climbed on top of this landing pad, discovered it was booby trapped and then found out it was a dud!

I loaned Otty the Hive Guard as I felt they’d be more effective against the Wave Serpents, which they were. Meanwhile my Purestrains got oblitereated by the Riptides.

‘Sons of Anorky’

I think we got beaten in the end, I recall Otty had tried to kill off a Riptide with Devourer gaunts. He had 60 shots and managed to put a few wounds on one. It was the sensible thing to do as anything else wouldn;t have allowed them to utilise they’re guns. However, that did mean the Tau held the centre objective for two turns scoring them a VP and ultimately winning the game. At the that stage though we porbably didn’t know the game was going to be so short but it was good fun and some nice pictures too

Throne of Skulls March 2016 – Battle 5, Tyranids Vs Imperial Fists and Grey Knights

Next up Liam and his Imperial Fists [plus Grey Knights] – I’ve played both a Liam and a Scott this weekend and neither are the guys I came with. Rather disconcertingly Liam has colour matched his dice to his army – yellow. So for the first time ever I’m forced to abandon my dice and switch to my reserves – a motley selection of white dice from various Editions of the game. I certainly didn’t want to corrupt his Chessex dice with my cheap ones off ebay. Still, I’d spend the game attempting to pick up the yellow ones…

Psychic Powers Winged Tyrant Tervigon Zoanthrope Broodkin Magus Dominion Dominion Dominion Psychic Shriek Psychic Scream Onslaught Warp Blast Hallucination Onslaught Paroxysm Shrouding Broodlord Dominion The Horror

The low down:

• Into The Maelstrom – Cloak and Shadows
• Warlord Trait – Reserve roll -1
• Night fighting first turn, lost deployment, Liam elected to go second.
• CARNAGE! effect:
• Rage – 2A on charge
• Counter Attack
• Furious Charge
• Re-roll wounds in assault

Liam had a really nice force that was for 30k but he was using all the Marines as Tactical squads. The only real concerns were the Grey Knights, Grav Centurions, Close Combat Centurions and the Deimos Vindicator Laser Destroyer hidden in that ruined building [not actually stationed on the roof].

As per every game the Flyrant moved up.

Getting a bead on the Tactical squad an punching a whole through their line.

Everything else followed up, the Stealers occupying the ruin out of sight.

These were my objectives for the turn.

I wasn’t able to get any VPs out of them.

Liam’s turn 1 and the Grey Knights arrive.

They flame the Rippers but somehow two survive.

The Grav Centurions Pod arrived, rather cinematically landing on top the wrecked rhino.

I think the Pod’s Storm Bolter managed to put one wound on the Carnifex, only for the Centurions to remove the other three.

My turn 2 and the Tyrannocyte landed perfectly, disgorging it’s occupant and hungrily aware of the
weaknesses in the Deimos rear armour.

Broodkin and Carnifex surround the Grav Centurions, Rippers and my 9 spawned [out] Gaunts head for the Grey Knights

The Flyrant gets behind the Fists back line, but within Psychic Scream distance of both Tacticals and Centurions. Purestrains venture forth, once again a misguided decision by me.

Shooting by the Gaunts manages to trim down the Grey Knights, only two remain by the end of the shooting phase.

The Flyrant shoots down most of the Tactical Squad, even having Jinked to avoid the Deimos. The last squad members stays resolute, alone.

The Tyrannocyte puts two glancing hull point on the Deimos, meaning I had to use the Carnifex to wreck. I;d been hoping catch the other Tactical squad with his shots. Either way I score 3 VPs from ‘strike like lightening’ – destroying a unit with a unit that arrived from reserve. I also gain another VP for destroying a unit. I’m 4:1 up.

Carnifex and Broodkin get into combat

Rending hits and the strength of the Carnifex prove too much for the Centurions.

The Rippers and Gaunts break the Grey Knights also

Meaning I get to consolidate.

The Purestrains manage to do only one wound.

And are smashed for their stupidity, with the combat Centurions setting their sights on bigger prey.

Now these are the 4 points I scored, but I can;t quite work out why I didn’t get a VP for killing a unit in assault. I have some recollection Liam pointed out nothing actually died in assault, but the pictures seem to show otherwise, unless I’ve interpreted them wrongly, which is most likely.

Liam’s Turn 2 and the Centurions advance on the Carnifex

and dispatch him with ease. They’d then wipe out the Broodkin and just as we moved into my Turn Liam was convinced he’d scored ‘A Throne of Skulls’ – to kill just 8 models in a turn [amongst many other options] and score 8 VPs. Luckily this picture was consulted and the 9 Broodkin, plus the Carnifex made 10 models killed. He did however score 2 VPs from other cards bringing it to 4:3.

The Broodlord and his attendant finally broke free of the ruins and killed the last surviving Tactical member, I may well have scored that objective too.

I also managed to capture this objective with the Rippers. But as with much of the weekend numbers were completely against me. I’d added another 3 VPs to my score but I’d unwittingly put 2 Rippers and 6 Gaunts within easy reach of the Centurions.

Who multi-charged the two units.

Killing all 8 models and securing not only the 8 VPs for ‘A Throne of Skulls’ but another 4 for various other cards in Liam’s hand.

With a last desperate push I managed to swoop the Flyrant back and and alongside the Onslaughted Carnifex kill three of the Centurions, not enough to score anymore VPs.

The game was called at this point, the Stealers had got me Line Breaker for 8 VPs but Liam had hammered it home with 16, including First Blood. I don’t think those Tactical guys are actually scoring LB, and the Captain was less than an inch and a bit from doing it. Carnage points he’d scored 54, whereas I’d managed just 35.

I can honestly say ‘A Throne of Skulls’ shifted everything, without that card Liam would have been on 4 VPs that turn which would have been a draw, or perhaps another card would have given him an extra VP to win anyways, but 8 VPs in one go, plus the 4, what can you do? It was a great game and we had quite a long chat, as I packed away. Apparently he’s going to be setting up a YouTube channel visiting and reviewing/reporting on gaming tournaments of many varieties so look out for him.

So, five games, one win, one draw and three losses, 215 Carnage points and 42 VPs. I came 61st overall, which confused me as my entry number was 60. But overall I had an absolute great time, met some cool people and renewed my faith in the Warhammer World tournaments as a fantastic experience.

Throne of Skulls March 2016 – Battle 4, Tyranids Vs Space Wolves

Chris was my opponent for game 4. Space Wolves and Wulfen so I was going to try the new furballs in the Grimdark

Psychic Powers Winged Tyrant Tervigon Zoanthrope Broodkin Magus Dominion Dominion Dominion Psychic Shriek Psychic Scream Warp Blast Warp Blast Invisibility Catalyst Catalyst Dominate Broodlord Dominion The Horror

The low down:

• Into The Maelstrom – Deadlock
• Warlord Trait – 3 enemy units must make pinning tests
• Night fighting first turn, won deployment, elected to go first.
• CARNAGE! effect:
• Rage – 2A on charge
• Counter Attack
• Furious Charge

Now that’s a compact army… [although some Termiantors are missing]

I deployed in a similar formation as last time, using the trees as cover for the Carnifex.

Chris only had three units on the battlefield at the start.

All I had in reserve were the Rippers in the pod

These were my 6 cards that would whittle down as the game went on, I hoped to achieve [I photographed them again so they would be clear] That 6VP Lord of the Dead for putting a wound on every unit in Line of Sight, seemed possible

So I swooped the Flyrant towards the Thunderwolves and advanced everything else.

I think I managed two out of the three, with the Hive Guard managing to get two wounds on the Land Raider with impressive twin 6s to hit, followed by twin 6s to glance! But it was to no avail

As suddenly I had Murderfang at my Back door and Terminators at the front.

Broodkin and Stealer took casualties.

But it was the Carnifex that would take the brunt

Chris managed to score 3 mission VPs and First Blood in his first turn, I think the lead Carnifex fell to the Terminators despite Catalyst.

In return I was able to wipe them out, thanks to all the Devourer shots and Flesheborer shots from the 11 spawned gaunts from turn 1 and 12 from turn 2. Only the Wolf Lord was left.

My Tyrranocyte managed put wounds on the Dreadnought.

While the Termagants managed to swamp the Wolf Lord, who saved out of his skin this turn.

Genestealers and Broodkin charged Murderfang

Rage and Furious Charge were just too much for it, I mean the Broodkin were doing 5 S4 Rending attacks each! The Purestrains managed to put a Hull Point on the Drop Pod.

Stealers and Broodkin scatter with my consolidation.

The Wolf Lord continued to hold off the diminishing gaunts

I manage to pull of these 5 VPs in the one turn, I’m back in the game!

The Stormwolf arrives from reserve, I’d fogrgotten about that.

I manage to save the Tervigon from the Las Cannon attack but when it comes to the Helfrost Cannon typically there’s my toughness test, anything other than a 6! It suffers the one wound and is frozen solid.

I think I was lucky with Synaptic Feedack as there doesn’t seem to be too many gaunts dead.

The Land Raider turned round and roasted the Rippers, giving Chris an easy VP

And I’m pretty sure this was good news

But infortuantely this was not as I think the Tyrannocyte got squashed by the Thunderwolves. Chris managed to go one better than me and secure 6 VPs this turn, taking him to 9 and leaving me on 5.

These were my four new missions, all achievable.

I manage to kill the Thunder Wolves, I think with the Carnifex.

The other Carnifex manages to destroy the Land Raider. Now I read that I’d get a VP for that with the ‘Self Destruct Protocols’ card but when I re-read it I only read the ‘suffers an “Explodes”‘ result, not ‘causes, or suffers an “Explodes”‘. So I may well have got a VP that I didn’t count for this. I ddi however get 3 VPs for killing it just with attacks and 2 VPs for destroying it in my assault phase. Unfortunately I couldn’t kill the drop pod to make it 4.

Meanwhile the Wolf Lord STILL won’t die!

But I did get objective 3, bringing my VP total this turn to 6 [although it was actually 7 with the Land Raider]. Current score – 11-9

The Storm Wolf deposits the Wulfen, again I’d forgotten about those.

And they Prove devastating, slaughtering the Carnifex like it wasn’t there.

The Wolf Lord STILL won;t die and manages to kill the Broodlord too!

Turn 4 and these are my missions. Objectove 2 is a done deal, there are 5 Wulfen on the board and all those Genestealers MUST be able to kill the Wolf Lord.

Just in case I send in the Purestrains, who’d finished wrecking the Drop Pod to clear my DZ of Line Breakers. The Hive Guard manage to make a 10″ charge on the Stormwolf but can’t wreck it. As the dust settled I managed to do all three of my cards but the weight of numbers still wouldn’t give up the 4 VPs, the Wolf Lord lived yet again! I was on 14 VPs [actually 15].

Chris was pretty much out of options and all that was left was to see if the Wolf Lord survived and finally he was rent asunder giving me Slay the Warlord.

Final score was 15(16)-11 but once again I’d lost on Carnage points, giving up 88 and scoring only 43. This had been a great game, with the wealth of cards it really opens up more options compared with the other Maelstrom missions where you’re stuck with one or two cards that are difficult and your opponent is racking up easier objectives. The Wulfen were pretty brutal but so were the Broodkin, of course the Rage and Furious Charge helped raise their profile.

I was desparateky unlucky with the Tervigon but credit where it’s due that Wolf Lord was insane, surviving almost 6 rounds of combat, more in part beacause I just didn’t roll any rends but he saved out of his skin for every other wound. I sugegsted to Chris he be interred in the remains of the wrecked Dreadnought, hopefully to fight another day. Now onto the last game.

Throne of Skulls March 2016 – Battle 3, Tyranids Vs Space Marine Scouts and Imperial Knights

Scott was my last game of Saturday and I had to ask him to repeat his army list when he said 80 scouts! Yep, 80 Scouts, with sniper rifles, some with Flakk, a Terminator Librarian and Knight Warden with Icarus Autocannons.

Psychic Powers Winged Tyrant Tervigon Zoanthrope Broodkin Magus Dominion Dominion Dominion Psychic Shriek The Horror Psychic Scream Warp Blast Invisibility Catalyst Psychic Scream Mental fortitude Broodlord Dominion The Horror

The low down:

• Into The Maelstrom – Cleanse and Control
• Warlord Trait – Move through Cover/Stealth Ruins
• Night fighting first turn, won deployment, elected to go first!
• CARNAGE! effect:
• Rage – 2A on charge
• Counter Attack

I set up first, although with 80 scouts infiltrating it didn’t take long for Scott to put down his Knight and Librarian. I then won the deployment to Infiltrate and positioned the Genestealers in such a way to make his Scout deployment a bit of a nightmare. Ultimately this would prove more a hindrance for me nut we’ll get to that later.

I wanted to see off the Knight as a priority, so grouped the Carnifex together to make use of the central ruins, backed up by the Zoanthrope for synapse, supported by the Hive Guard and the Broodkin. I’d had a situation with Synapse last time so I didn’t want the same issue.

At first glance I was OK withthese cards, I had the Horror on both the Flyrant and the Broodlord, shooting a unit was inevitable, only objective six seemed out of reach, being deep in Scott’s DZ, surrounded by Scouts.

I swooped the Flyrant forward first turn, got Catalyst off and the Horror but the Scouts made their Leadership. The Broodlord’s attempt was equally fruitless. I did manage to put a couple of wounds on the Knight though.

The Broodlord occupied the top of the far ruins with the Carnifex and Hive Guard advancing through the central one. I foolishly forgot to run the Broodkin to keep up.

The Knight advanced on the 9 Termagants spawned in my turn.

The weight of sniper fire managed to bring one of the Carnifex down, he may also have been hit by Psychic Shriek from the Librarian. This gave Scott First Blood, he also scored another 2 VPs, probably from killing a unit. He also destroyed the Purestrains, who’s infiltrated in Scott’s far corner, just to annoy. I must stop doing that it never ends well and is ultimately pointless.

The Zoanthrope perils while trying to get Warp Blast off, he dies again for his efforts

and again shoots the moon before hitting the intended target!

The Horror fails to cause a pinning test, this time failing to manifest enough successful Warp Charge to cast the power. In frustration the Genestealers assault the Knight [which may have taken some more damage of the Flyrant]

The Rage attacks manage to destroy the Knight, but still no VPs as I’m scoring only in the shooting phase. It was about now that we both realised that unlike the last game you can actually discard objectives in this mission, although to be fair my cards were still achievable.

The Knight scattered into the crater.

It exploded, wiped out a lot of the newly spawned 16 gaunts

and took out some of the Genestealers too, leaving the Broodlord with just two bodyguards.

The Stealers consolidated back into the Ruins.

Meanwhile, on the next table Otty was facing down Tau

With a pretty epic swarm heading to the gunline. 

Scott managed to score Objective 3 in his Turn 2 for his 4th VP, I hadn’t even got off the starting blocks with these damn cards. The Tyrannocyte arrives from reserve, hoping to score objective 6, but deviates back onto some Scouts. Luckily it goes into ongoing reserve. 

Genestealers and the Flyrant try to get the Scouts pinned, but fail yet again. The Stealers assault Scouts

But they prove beyond them when an Imperial Knight was not.

Scott manages to kill the second Carnifex for another VP and sent Scouts to support the last man standing against the Genestealers,

The last Carnifex falls to Sniper Fire and most of the Broodkin fall foul too.

The Scouts prove an effective tarpit on the Stealers and I still can kill enough of them to break free [bring on hit and run!].

My Turn 4, the Tyrannocyte arrives from reserve, the Rippers manage to get to Objective 6. The Flyrant Vector Struck the Librarian, taking his last wound off him, so much for Terminator armour and securing Slay the Warlord. The Psychic Phase and I need a rules check – the Horror is a Malediction that causes a Pinning check. You can cast those in Assault and on those in Assault. It causes the victim to go to ground, but there doesn’t seem to be any information if that is possible or not when in combat. The end ruling was I managed to cast the Power and the unit was pinned, but can’t go to ground. That got me a VP, if the Stealers can kill the Scouts then I get 2. Unfortunately they do neither and they then pass a morale check and Scott points out that there were two units of Scouts there anyway

The game comes to an end at the close of turn 4, the events team said we could play on but Scott was happy to end it there. I’d scored 4 VPs to his 5. Carnage points I’d picked up 46 and lost 71. I have to admit I’d been frustrated in this game, the cards had proved elusive, they were all easily achieved but I just couldn’t seem to get them. Additionally because I’d forced his Infiltration to be spread out I ended up in a situation where I couldn’t actually target things I needed to do to get VPs.

I’d also failed to use my Broodkin, forgetting to move them up quicker and I’d thrown away my Purestrains for nothing. I’m sure with another couple of turns I could have tipped the balance, even managed to get more Carnage points but it wasn’t to be. I also killed another Knight, which was pretty cool, although I didn’t get any points for it 😦 Anyway, two loses and a draw, what can I do on day 2?

Throne of Skulls March 2016 – Battle 2, Tyranids Vs Imperial Knights

When I’d been looking at the ToS: Carnage Facebook page I’d seen there was a 4 Knight list going, but this was not it. This was a Baronial court controlled by Sam, including a Cerastus Castigator as the Baron, Cerastus Lancer, Paladin with Icarus Autocannon and Warden. So yeah, I was bit shocked but I’ve faced three before at Blog Wars and managed to kill one and take two to half their hull points. The main concern was the Icarus

Psychic Powers Winged Tyrant Tervigon Zoanthrope Broodkin Magus Dominion Dominion Dominion Psychic Shriek Paroxysm Psychic Scream Warp Blast Hallucination Onslaught Paroxysm Mental fortitude Broodlord Dominion The Horror

The low down:

• Into The Maelstrom – Spoils of War
• Warlord Trait – Warlord and three units Infiltrate
• Night fighting first turn, won deployment, elected to go first!
• CARNAGE! effect:
• Rage – 2A on charge

Having learnt from the last game I chose to go first rather than weather the storm of shooting. I was incredibly fortunate with the ruins on the left and my warlord trait got me to position two Carnifex far forward with the Flyrant and Hive Guard [not to mention the Stealers and Broodlord]. The third would arrive in the Tyrannocyte, hopefully getting rear armour shots on the Knights when it deployed.

One point of note is that the Cerastus were not glued to their bases so will feature in later pictures ‘in repose’, but more on that later.

Broodkin supported my left flank, with the Rippers on the far right.

Carnage cards were drawn

At the end of my turn I’d managed to put three Hull Points on what I felt was my greatest threat – the Icarus toting Paladin. I was quite pleased with this as a start.

 I’d advanced everything else, using the one story ruins to screen the Stealers and Carnifex, the second MC not moving quite as quickly so remaining stuck in the ruins. In leaning across the board to move the Flyrant the whole Realm of Battle board shifted and the Cerastus Lancer tipped back off the base, it was only Sam’s quick hands that caught but even a couple of other players stopped to commend his catch while I apologised profusely – my clumsiness at these events know no bounds. The Lancer was rested in the corner for safe keeping and the Paladin moved over to that corner also. Sam was unable to achieve any Carnage missions.

My turn 2 and the Genestealers, Purestrains and Carnifex break through the back wall of the ruins and set their sights on the Paladin

The Tyrannocyte lands behind the Castigator and Warden with just enough room for the Flyrant to join them for rear armour shots. Meanwhile the Broodkin and the Carnifex follow the path made by the other Genestealers and Carnifex. I think the Hive Guard were out of Synapse and so fled back but I moved the Zoanthrope up to try and recover synapse, hopefully next turn at the latest.

The unholy brood got to grips with the Paladin

and three penetrating hits managed to end it for First Blood before he could destroy them.

Luckily only a couple of Stealers and the Purestrains suffered in the ensuing explosion. More importantly the Knight was down and I scored 4VPs for ‘under a tide of flesh’ – outnumber your opponent 3 to 1.

The Castigator managed to kill the Carnifex getting Sam 2VPs for killing something and killing it in a shooting phase.

I think the Warden focused his efforts on the Flyrant as the Carnifex somehow managed to survive this turn.

Turn 3 and the second Carnifex bursts free of the ruins and joins the Broodlord to hunt the Castigator, it looks like it’s on two wounds at this stage.

With the Flyrant on one side and Carnifex on the other I think I was able to force the Lancer to commit to shielding one side and exposing the other. It was interesting to not that the shield only changes position in the beginning of the shooting phase so positioning a shot with Warp Blast in the Psychic Phase means you can out-manoeuvre that saving throw.

With some awesome dice rolls I managed to get these three glancing blows.

And 4 Hull points in total

Unfortunately the Carnifex and Broodlord were less effective than I’d hoped this time around. The Carnifex went into the combat with three wounds so when the Baron activated his Tempest blade he was killed and the Broodlord was instakilled. So much for Paroxysm hoping to prevent him hitting!

The Baron consolidates and the Warden manages to take out the last Carnifex.

The Warden also targeted the Tyrannocyte so charges and kills it, scoring 2 VPs for ‘go for the throat’.

The Lancer manages to get into combat with the Tervigon

Unsurprisingly the brood mother is no match for the knight gaining another VP

Luckily very few Termagants pop with synapse and as they’re still within Synapse range of the Zoanthrope they all huddle beneath the Skyshield out of sight of the Lancer and out of range. Unfortunately the Venomthrope fails his move through cover rolls, getting just a 2″ move and is left on top of the pad, however that misfortune would in fact prove extremely lucky! With one of my models still on the pad it remains ‘claimed’ for the nids and with the Knight on it he was protected on all sides by the force field, but I still had the power to turn the field off.

I threw all my Warp Charge dice at the Zoanthrope, trying to Lance it to death, the zoie Perilled and ultimately died with the shock making it’s shooting attack miss completely.

The Hive Guard still managed to put shots on the side and the Lancer was taken to just 1 Hull Point and then tragedy struck. In the middle of talking Sam gestured with his hand and caught the Castigaor knocking it onto the floor chattering it into it’s constituent parts [you can see it’s remains in the background] it was utterly horrific and I felt so bad for him, even more so when immediately after the Flyrant managed to get the last Glancing shot on his exposed rear armour. Blowing it up and not even touching the Venomthrope. A moment later I realised I’d made that attack without applying his Jink Snap Shots. I re-rolled the dice, managed to get two hits and one glance, the Lancer remained destroyed. This scored me 3 VPs

With the game in it’s final turn Sam was able to bring the Flyrant down scoring a VP for killing a unit in the shooting phase, another for destroying a unit, a third for it being a Monstrous Creature and lastly Slay the Warlord.

The game was over and I thought I had it in the bag but my record keeping hadn’t taken into count some of the card’s VP values and modifiers. I thought I had 8 VPs to Sam’s 7 but when it was totted up correctly he had 9 and then I checked my own and realised I’d not included the Broodkin and their Linebreaker leading to a 9 all draw. Given the shattered Castigator I thought that was the best result all round.

More importantly I’d killed two Knights and taken the Baron to just 1 Hull Point. So not only was I not going to lose every game I actually had overcome one of the worst lists imaginable. My tactics were sound, my army was proving itself and aside from the loss of the Flyrant things had gone really well. Carnage points wise I scored 51, but gave up 96. A really great game and it’s definitely changed my attitude to Knights.

Throne of Skulls March 2016 – Battle 1, Tyranids Vs Tau

Game 1, back at Warhammer World after two years. We were starting a little later than previous visits but table numbers were on display from doors open so I was able to get a head start on unpacking while I put stuff out on the table I casually glanced at the next table where I saw a Warhound Titan being set up opposite a Tau KX139 Ta’unar Supremacy Armour but I thought ‘let them have at it’ and admired the Warhound at length, well it was red and shiny.

With my army unpacked and having had a couple of chats with people about the Skyshield I popped into Bugman’s to join the guys and have my breakfast. Halfway through my bacon and egg butty I needed to see if anyone had set up opposite and I could see what I was facing and have time to formulate a strategy while finishing breakfast. As I glanced across the tables from the other direction it was the Ta’unar Supremacy Armour that stood out and a cold dread trickled down my spine as mistakenly thought he was on my table. I quickly realised my mistake, breathed a sigh of relief as I saw my table was still empty and went and finished my butty.

Time to begin and as I’m stood waiting for my opponent there’s a small discussion going on next to me and I hear the Tau player say “well at least I don’t have far to go”… and so I got to meet Dan and his Ta’unar Supremacy Armour as he moved across one table! Oh sh…

Psychic Powers Winged Tyrant Tervigon Zoanthrope Broodkin Magus Dominion Dominion Dominion Psychic Shriek The Horror Warp Blast Warp Blast Shrouding Catalyst Paroxysm Dominate Broodlord Dominion The Horror

The low down:

• Into The Maelstrom – Contact Lost and ‘Carnage points’ for killed units. Vanguard Strike
• Warlord Trait – Warlord and three units Infiltrate
• Night fighting first turn, won deployment, elected to go second!

I needed to keep as far away from the Ta’unar as possible, which is way I gave up deployment, with hindsight that was probably a mistake.  Rippers are in the Spore Pod and Genestealer with Broodlord are outflanking [no I don’t know why either]. I’ll probably struggle to keep track of what went on as Maelstrom games are difficult to follow, moreso when I don’t have a great record of Dan’s cards.

Dan advanced forewards on my left.

The Ta’unar was opposite the Broodkin.

The Ta’unar focussed fire predominantly on the Skyshield, taking out the Venomthrope for First Blood, reducing my cover save and I became reliant on the Skyshield Invulnerable save. Unfortunately it couldn’t help the Flyrant on the ground who took 3 wounds.

That’ll teach me for having it under the Skyshield instead of on top but I feared those apocalyptic blasts on the table.

My objective for this turn.

Flyrants swoops forward and I think targets the Ghostkeel. The Devilfish gets wrecked by the Hive Guard, potentially with help from the Carnifex. Unfortunately those are Breechers who disembark so he’s about to get roasted. I manage to score my VP but the other Devilfish’s contents disembark from it meaning I don’t secure that objective for next turn, meaning I’ll only get three cards. The Tervigon spawns out first turn on 9.

The Culexus assassin does some damage

I think it gets in range of the objective to take me back down to 2 cards next turn 😦

The Ta’unar manages to destroy the Broodkin, thannks to markerlights from the Pathfinders.

Breechers put an end to the carnifex

And their colleagues do the same to the other one.

The Zoanthrope also gets killed. This turn Dan gets 1 VP for ‘supressing fire’.

The Genestealer arrive from reserve. And I pick two objective cards, which I can score with ease, if the drop pod arrives… which it does. Objective 1 is in front of the Ta’unar and although the pod deviates the Rippers get out and capture the objective.

The last of the Purestrains goes for the Culexus but it was a foolish plan.

The Culexus wipes it out with ease.

I manage to cull some of the Breechers to give me space round objective 5, meaning I now have this one too, to score 2 VPs.

Dan’s turn and the Stealth Suits get an angle ont he Hive Guard, who’d whittled them down to two.

Breechers and Devilfish advance.

Trying to kill off the last of the Carnifex, but he somehow survives.

The Ta’unar charges the Genestealers, which if it kills them in combat will secure a VP for Dan.

The Stealers attack…

and amazingly I get three rending hits on it. Unfortunately it passes one Invul save and subsequently Feel no Pains the two remainders [bloomin Gargantuans!]. They then get stomped for their troubles giving Dan the VP, plus one for holding objective 3.

I pick up this card but it’s deep in Tau territory, making it almost impossible to achieve

With nothing much else to do the Nids go on a killing spree, shooting the Breechers with abandon. The Tau can’t handle firepower of such magnitude and both squads break and run, the squad in front of the Carnifex sprinting 12″ to get away from him. The Stealth suits also break and run, the entire Tau front line melting back to their own deployment zone.

Dan pulls cards to get VPs for holding objective 1 [the Ta’unar had killed the Rippers and consolidated onto it after killing the Stealers] and objective 6 but he also gets a card that pays out 1VP for every 5 models killed [it is Carnage afterall].

Sorry, my notes are confusing here alongside the pictures. Somehow the Carnifex gets out of the ruins

setting his sights on the Breechers

making a significant charge

killing two with Hammer of Wrath

He remains on two wounds

While the spawned gaunts get to grips with the Devilfish

Wrecking it with glancing blows

The Hive Guard advance

The Ta’unar targets the Tervigon with all it’s firepower

and manages to pop it!

8 of the big brood of gaunts burst through Synaptic Feedback and so do the Gaunts that just wrecked the Devilfish killing 17 in total on top of their brood mother [that’s 3 victory points right there]

The Ta’unar also manages to kill the Tyrranocyte and secure objective 2 for another VP AND having killed 3 units that’s 3 VPs = 7VPs, but wait… just as I’m about to start my turn I realise I need to do a morale check on the big blob, they fail and bolt 7″ to my board edge and foolishly one of them is only 4 inches away. I lose the remaining models making a total model kill tally of 32, another 3 VPs scoring Dan 10 [plus I think another 2 for something else I can;t work out]

The game has tipped over, we’ve ten minutes left for my turn and I think Dan was on 17 VPs total as a lone Stealth suit on my right flank easily makes line breaker unopposed. I’m on 3 VPs with these cards

The Hive Guard manage to end the Ghostkeel, giving me Giant Slayer, just. I also manage to get Onbjective 3 with the Flyrant, but not before removing the Tau Warlord for Slay the Warlord and also gaining Line Breaker.

The Breechers flee from the Carnifex but he’s too slow to catch them. I think I finish the game on 7 VPs to 17. Totting up the Carnage points Dan has managed to kill every one of my 120 starting points but with the 9 spawned gaunts gone as well I just have 9 remaining on the table in the form three wounds on the Hive Guard, two wounds on Carnifex and one wound left on the Flyrant. I manage to dish out just 40 Carnage points in return.

So, game one is a loss and the Ta’unar was pretty much instrumental in that catastrophic collapse of my army in turn 4, but really it was the cards – delivering so many VPs in one turn. So overall I didn;t feel slaughtered, even if what was left on the board of the nids was minimal. That said the Tau had just a couple of breechers, a Stealth suit and the Ta’unar, which is worth 600pts on it’s own.

Anyway, a sound drubbing but it didn’t feel that way, whether that’s because of how quick it went down, whether it was the cards falling right for Dan or pretty much believing the Supremacy Suit was beyond my grasp anyway so what I did achieve despite was a victory in my eyes I don’t know. Suffice to say I was surprisingly bouyant, it had been a great game, and Dan had been good fun. Lunch and then game 2

Throne of Skulls update.

Just a quick update on the weekend, it’s going to take me a while to do the battle reports, which means I’ll probably forget a lot of things but what can you do? Still, this is the headline, one of my gaming buddies only went and won the whole tournament!

And unbelievably it was Scott [on the left] who was graciously trying to share the trophy with the guy who’d come second, who he’d just played, who had given him the favourite game votes that elevated him to four votes meaning he won outright! Now I understand that’s a contentious issue among visitors to Warhammer World, that it may have descended into some kind of popularity contest but knowing Scott I know he thoroughly deserves it, despite only having one game of 40k in 2 years [and that was last week].

These weekends are about having fun and with no restrictions on army lists the organisers want to reward good gameplay, not just winning. So you can bring your beardy lists but if you win at all costs you may not make any friends in the process. That said I think Liam won three games in 2 turns or under and still managed to get 3 best game votes so I guess theirs winning gracefully and beating your opponent.

All that said when the spirit of events like this and Blog Wars, where WAAC is not the primary goal it’s nice to see even the part-time gamer can come away with a top prize. And if that’s not what you think a tournament should be, I understand and luckily there are events to cater for that formalised  ‘best army and general on the day’ but for me, I’m after fun.

And I had an absolute blast, these guys were thoroughly entertaining and fun to be around, genuine friends with a shared passion in the hobby and creative talents one and all.

Painting wise, none of came away with awards this time, the competition was fierce in all categories and nominations for best army went to just three, but Liam Otty and I did get ‘honorable mentions’ alongside a number of others. The best army did win in the end, here’s Alexis Pollux from it [who also won best character], I’ll be posting more pics eventually.

There were also some interesting things in the shop 😉

Amazing scenery

BEER!

£10 burgers!

£5 chips

Good times…

…and shocking dice rolls

and one of the best trips to Warhammer World ever! I will try to make sense of it all as soon possible and hopefully get an update on the AdSense competition [still keep clicking to guarantee second prize] which with the end of the month deadline means I need to put up more info for entrants so you can know what to do.

Throne of Skulls – Prologue

Right about now I should be on my way to Warhammer World. Liam, Ben, Scott, Otty and myself will be en route in the Otty’s ‘battle wagon’. We’ve got a table booked for Friday evening so we’ll be having a 2 Vs 3 match, ‘nids Vs Orks/Eldar/Tau – now that’s an unholy alliance! Anyway, I finally settled on my list, which you can see below. I went with option 1, the twin Hive Guard and Gargoyles, [alongside the rest of my choices].

I have to print out 11 copies of these – one to give to the events staff, one for each of my five opponents to keep and then I use the other five to keep track of my games. It could probably have done to have been tweaked to better help with the Maelstrom missions but I don’t know what the cards will be as the ‘Carnage’ deck seems to have a few different ones. That said it’s a lot of work to create as I trim the pages of all the black surround so they’re all rough edged. Once they were all complete [and the typesetting was a pretty farce too] I packed them ready and then started to doubt the Gargoyles, I just don’t want to use them. They’ll slow the game down, they’re a pain to move and to transport, but what do I do?

I suddenly realised where I could save points – dump the Children of Cryptus. They’re not ob-sec, they’re overpriced and by switching to the min Stealer and Broodlord I keep the Psychic power, keep the Broodlord [which I wanted to enter as a unit in the painting comp] and I can have both the two Hive Guard and a Dakkafex! That’s my high strength Impaler guns, rule of cool, two scoring units and 12 twin linked shots on an MC… one snag I was short 5 points, so I dropped the tunnelling on the Rippers – they’re either going to start on the board or in the Tyrannocyte anyway…

So I re-jigged the list, printed, cut and finished and I’m much happier. Then I realised the Carnifex can be my unit of models in the painting comp as it can be 5 models or 3 of any on a base bigger than 50mm. The Broodlord can be the Individual and my Flyrant can be my MC entry. Anyway, all good, bring on the Carnage.

Battle Report aftermath and help with my Nid list

After my crushing defeat to Ben I have serious reservations about my 1700pt list. In fairness this was it’s absolute worst performance and Ben’s Orks are the most difficult Orks I’ve ever faced, but we all know there are other armies out their meaner and dirtier than  what Ben brings to the table. So if I can be wiped out by the Orks what hopes have I against a nastier list?

I’d tried to take as much shooting power as I could must, only S6 but weight of fire was my aim. I had loads of cover saves and two lots of Catalyst and was still not able to hold out. Ben mentioned that Otty is goign with 3 Tervigon so I didn’t know whether to ditch my second Flyrant and go for a second Tervigon instead. I definitely missed having a Tyrannocyte in play, scoring units are really important and those Flyrants only stay alive so long as they’re not scoring! So with twin Tervigons in mind I suddenly went completely off list and did this

These were from an old ebay auction, where I picked up a load of Hormagaunts that I was going to kitbash into Termagants. They’re all going to have Adrenal glands on their backs so they can join the other 20 Adrenal gaunts so I have two distinct groups of 30. Of course I have just this second realised the plan was not to have two Tervigon tax broods but I’ve started it now and they always needed doing. Having chopped off the SyTals the Fleshborers were a little fussy to glue back in place with out their ball and socket joint, hence why they’re upside down as it helped them to gluee in a better position. What’s also unclear is that there aren’t 10, erm there are 13… I had 8 Hormagaunts, one of which was headless so I used a Genestealer head and I also had 5 normal Termagants so why not do the lot?

The excitement for this is much like the decision to advance Old One Eye to the top of the queue for the last Blog Wars, only not to use him. But with a deadline, and now something to complete by it it’s definitely a Catalyst for sustained effort and progress [there goes any chance of an early night!]. 4 weeks is quite a stretch for me I think to get all these done. To speed up the process I’ve got the Army Painter Skeleton Bone Primer and will be prepping the Deathwing Knights simultaneously to at least keep progressing something Dark Angel.

So, should you feel inclined here is the list [which seems quite small now I look at it] of all my nids. If you can think of a better army list at 1700pts. I definitely want at least one Fortification in because it’s a showcase but if you can find anything slightly more competitive I’m open to ideas.

2 x Flyrant
3 x Tervigon [1 magnetised so it can be a Tyrannofex with Fleshborers]
1 x Tyranid Prime LW+BS and Deathspitter
1 x Deathleaper
1 x Lictor
4 x Hive Guard
2 x Zoanthrope
1 x Venomthrope
1 x Malanthrope

Termagants [20 Devgaunts]
Hormagaunts [not sure how many, at least 24]
4 x Rippers
4 x Warriors [3 x DS and Scytals 1 x Barbed Strangler]
3 x Broodlord
Genestealers lots of them
2 x Biovores [lots of spore mines]
3 x Carnifex [Magnetised but mainly dakka]
1 x Trygon [or use as TPrime or Mawloc]
10 x Gargoyles [but don’t like to use them]

3 x Scrathbuilt tyrannocyte

1 Bastion
1 Quad Gun
1 Aegis Defence Line
1 Skyshield landing pad
[So can run and ‘Imperial’ Strongpoint, which is a lot of points but showcases the scratchbuilt Fortifications]