NWG Update 5 - Descend the Shades of Night

So it is only another 34hrs until the NWG tournament, and I am glad to say, the army is all finished. Painting wrapped up Wednesday afternoon, just in time for my last practice game. I will post pictures of all I've finished since the last update, as well as some of some older models that are also part of the army, but haven't been posted before.

First I want to talk about the army itself. Over the past few weeks I've managed to get in several practice games, in particular, I've gotten a game a week for the past three.

Game 1 was against Blood Angels in Big Guns Never Tire with a Hammer and Anvil deployment and 3 objectives. Astorath made every eligible unit Fearless unfortunately, and I lost Coteaz in turn 2 to some unfortunate armour save rolls. From turn 3 onward Draigo and co' were also bogged down by some Terminators for the rest of the game. His Raven managed to last quite awhile thanks to jinks despite facing two of mine, however I dominated the rest of his ground forces soundly. However he managed to nullify a lot of my scoring units to make me struggle. In the end we tied the primary objectives, however I pulled ahead on secondary and getting more VPs for killing Heavies than he did, for an overall 7-3 victory.

Game 2 was against a foot semi-horde Space Wolves army led by Logan. This game was Dawn of War deployment with the Scouring scenario. Things started bad early with a poor Grand Strategy roll, and some mistakes for me in deployment. I also made the mistake of Outflanking one Dreadknight; this was my first time getting to play standard deployment, so I didn't fully appreciate the effect a longer flank would have on the Knight. After deployment we flipped the objectives and I also got shafted there, getting a 1 and a 2, and he got two 3's. There was another 2 far out away from everyone, and while I had the 4, he greatly outmanned me on that part of the board (those deployment mistakes I mentioned), and was easily going to take it. Come turn 2 the Dreadknight came on the wrong board edge away from the action, and adding all of that together with a lot of poor rolling on my part and good rolling (for once) on Gearoid's part, saw me lose 11-6. In this game however the Paladins took out Logan and his TH/SS Wolf Guard while Draigo gave the assist and then went solo to wipe a whole Grey Hunter squad on his own.

Game 3 was against Blood Angels again and once again I was playing the Scouring with Dawn of War. I made the Dreadknights scoring in this game and deployed everything bar the Ravens, the first time I had ever done so, and the results spoke for themselves. This time the objectives turned up even, with the 4 and a 3 in no man's land, while Tony had the other 3 and the 1, and I had both 2's. The long and the short of it was with my full army to bear, and some reserve manipulation for the dogfight (double Raven vs double Raven), I annihilated him. At the end of the game, he had taken out Draigo,Coteaz and two half squads, whereas he only had a single Terminator left standing. I took this one home big with a 12-1 massacre.

Ending practice games the army came out 4-0-2, which is a good record, and definitely satisfactory going into the tournament. However some of the top brass from the country are playing so it's going to be a much tougher affair, with things like Dark Harlistars running around. Wish me luck.

Anyhow, I'll leave you with some nice pictures to look. Comments welcome.

NWG Update 4 - Ten Ton Hammer

Well it's not really the Ten Ton Hammer (my Land Raider), just another update on NWG. Lists have to be in in two days, so I am getting one final test run tonight before sending it in. Meanwhile, I've been doing a lot of painting, though I still reckon it will be a tight squeez getting it all finished on time. The Aegis Defence Line and Storm Raven arrived Monday, and they have been assembled and undercoated. Painting on those will start tomorrow.

But for now, I've finished a few things with 2+ saves; below we have Draigo, a Paladin and a Dreadknight (who technically isn't finished as I still need to paint all the rivets silver, but that's all).

NWG Update 3 - Crashing Around You

Got some new updates after getting some more play time and painting done. Firstly my list. Played another game against Blood Angels, and while it went very well and ended in victory, I've noticed once again the pressure to keep Troops alive and moving. While the importance of sturdy Troop choices was always apparent in this edition, it just feels like 20 MEQ Troops with 2 tin cans don't cut it. As such I have decided that Draigo makes a better fit than the Grand Master in this list so as to make the Paladins Troops for some even sturdier, mobile Troops.

Lord Kaldor Draigo

Inquisitor Coteaz


5x Paladins
1x Master-crafted Halberd, 2x Swords, 2x Hammers + Master-crafted Psycannons

10x Strikes
2x Psycannons, 1x Hammer, in Transport 1

9x Strikes
1x Psycannon, 1x Hammer, in Transport 2


Stormraven
Twin-linked Multi-Melta, Searchlight

Stormraven
Twin-linked Multi-Melta, Searchlight


Dreadknight
Heavy Incinerator, Greatsword

Dreadknight
Heavy Incinerator, Greatsword


Transport 1: Rhino with Searchlight
Transport 2: Rhino with Searchlight

In order to make the points I lost a little bit of firepower in downgrading to Rhinos, and dropping a Psycannon Strike, but I reckon the added ability in playing the scenario might make up for that. Any opinions are welcome.

On the painting front, I have the second Dreadknight almost finished; I just have to paint the rivets silver. The display board is coming along nicely and is sanded and based, I just need to get some more paint to highlight it. I've also managed to finish the Stormraven, and have posted some pictures below for your amusement.

NWG update - Desire to Fire

For once I will keep my promises and update regularly. Seems I'm improving somewhat, as indeed I have an update.

I've been painting non-stop the last week with some good results. I got a Storm Raven almost fully done in one night, but stopped to continue on the Dreadknights. I had both finished however one went back to the painting table for more work as I wasn't happy with it.

I also went and bought a 4x2 board in the Atlantic Homecare closing down sale the other day, cut it in half, and start building my display board. I've laid down the foam sheet on top of it, inserted magnets so I don't have to stick the building down (and so my Ravens don't fall over), and have put down some debree, and spackle on the road.

Unrelated but I also just ordered the first bits and pieces for a White Scars army I am going to start. More on that another time.

For now though, I give you pics of the first Dreadknight, finished and ready to smash all the things.

NWG 3 - Enter the Phoenix

Last time I posted I talked about the Irish 40k Masters. Well as it turns out not playing 40k for a long time does in fact make you shit all over again, and I only managed to obtain 12th place, after a weekend of overly cautious play and horrible dice; I forget sometimes that Grey Knights in 5th edition are kind of like a whole army of little Liam Neeson's. Of course Liam Neeson didn't roll 1's and 2's for damage after ounching the shit out of those wolves.

Anyway, that's all in the past now and 6th edition is the hot topic on everyone's minds. This post isn't about 6th edition in general however, but about my next tournament endeavour which just happens to be my first 6th edition tournament; NWG 3 (cue free plugs from Paul 'Mandragoran' Quigley). It's an interesting tournament pack, with 1999pts a side (to keep double FOC at bay) but with all other rules in play (including 40k FW). Altered scenarios are in (not sure why the rulebook ones don't suffice for this one), and a NOVA style paint scoring system, with a massive 50 painting points available. This is the first thing I will talk about.

As many might have seen on this blog in the past, cramming painting deadlines for tournaments is familiar to me; meeting them is not. However, here is a tournament where in order to do well you have to play some decent games and have put in a decent amount of effort into painting your army. Things like having 5 colours, some snazzy conversions, and consistent scenic bases are some of the main attractions, but that ride nobody wants to touch is the 10 points going for having a display board. Now while this is common elsewhere, this is new for Irish tournaments, and so for me, it is a must do, despite the logistical issues it raises travelling on a train at 5 in the morning with two army cases and terrain (despite rumours, I do only have two arms). HowI am going to achieve this is beyond me at this moment, but for now I know I have to paint, and paint fast; 26 models in 30 days is painful to my mind, and will present a challenge, especially with those 20+ force weapons I have to get right.

That is ahead of me, and of course playing the games is far ahead of me, but the one thing I can do now is make a list. After playing some games of 6th and watching many others many things have become apparent; 2+ saves are boss, flyers are awesome, high toughness is tough, the old vehicles are crap unless they have a purpose of necessity. I've ran a few lists so far, and unforunately it seems my Razorbacks and Dreadnoughts will be spending plenty of time on the shelf for now. Their replacements; Paladins, Storm Ravens, and Dreadknights. The latter in particular has impressed me n the games I've played so far. They can be fast with a Grand Master giving them outflank, they can counter your regular cover hugging pains-in-the-ass, they can smash almost anything in combat, and msot importantly they scare the shit out of people. Now the interwebs is still telling me Dreadnoughts are the way to go, but so far all they've done is die without getting any points back. They can't take down flyers reliably, there are very few light vehicles on the scene anymore, and they can't deal with heavy vehicles. Yet they are still better than Dreadknights apparently; we'll see. Haters gonna hate.

Ravens have been equally impressive, usually taking out quite a few units on thier own as well as drawing shit tonnes of firepower. I haven't lost one yet, and so far they are winning the dogfights. However one thing that has become apparent; timing is everything. If they come on too early they are dead, if they come on too late everything else is dead. MM and AC combo seems to be best at the moment, giving it viable options for all enemy flyers as well as ground troops. It's gonna take some practice to make proper use of them tough, especially given their limited movement.

And then there's Paladins. Anyone who has played 6th edition doesn't need it explained to them; 2+ saves, 2 wounds, Look Out Sir, profit. Add in a Libby with some Divination goodness and you are set. I also have a Grand Master for Grand Strategy and general 2+ save-ness. Anyway, I'm kind of sick of typing at the point so I reckon I'm going to just post the list and leave it at that. More updates to come over the coming month.

Grand Master
Rad Grenades, Psychotroke Grenades

Librarian


5x Paladins
1x Halberd, 1x Sword, 1x Stave, 2x Hammer and MC Psycannon


10x Strikes
Justicar with Halberd, 1x Hammer, 2x Psycannons, 6x Swords, PsyAmmo

10x Strikes
Justicar with Halberd, 1x Hammer, 2x Psycannons, 6x Swords, PsyAmmo


Storm Raven
TL MM, TL AC, Searchlight

Storm Raven
TL MM, TL AC, Searchlight


Dreadknight
Heavy Incinerator, Greatsword

Dreadknight
Heavy Incinerator, Greatsword