Archive for January, 2010

Tournament To-Do List Progress

Posted by NockerGeek in Warhammer 40K on January 19, 2010

Tournament preparations continue this week. How have I been doing on my to-do list?

  • Finish Deathrains. Detail work is completed, and I started painting the bases last night. They should be finished up this evening.
  • Finish Piranhas. I’m on the detail stage now. Lenses and edge highlighting are complete, and now I’m on painting the cockpit and pilots. I’m hoping to have these finished up Wednesday night.
  • Assemble Devilfishes. Mission accomplished. Sadly, the weather was far too damp to allow priming – we’ve had dense fog for the past several days – so I’ll have to run bare plastic on these.
  • Get in practice games. I managed to get in one game against my friend Dennis’s Eldar tournament list. The list performed pretty much as I hoped it would. My Piranhas harried his armor, my Crisis Suits and Hammerheads worked on picking off infantry, and my Fire Warriors came in later to sweep up objectives. I managed to keep his assault unit (Howling Banshees led by Jain Zar) ineffective by denying it any targets. I’ve got a feel now for how the army plays, and I like it.
  • Make any final changes to the list. My earlier list tweaks have been tested and found successful. I think this list is as ready as I’m going to get it.

Tonight and Wednesday are my last painting nights this week, so it’s a bit of crunch time here. Fortunately, it’s just detail work for the most part, which goes very quickly. I think I should have no problem finishing up my work before Saturday afternoon.

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Tournament List, Revision 1

Posted by NockerGeek in Army Lists on January 14, 2010

I haven’t had any test games yet, but after having some discussions online, I’ve tweaked my tournament list a bit. Here’s the revised version:

HQ: Commander Shas’el (274 pts)
1 Commander Shas’el(Cyclic Ion Blaster; Hard-wired Multi-tracker; Plasma Rifle; Targeting Array)
2 Crisis Bodyguards (Hard-wired Drone Controller; Hard-wired Multi-tracker; Plasma Rifle; Twin Linked Burst Cannon)
2 Shield Drones

Elite: Crisis Battlesuit (186 pts)
3 Crisis Battlesuits (Missile Pod; Plasma Rifle; Multi-Tracker)

Elite: Crisis Battlesuit (94 pts)
2 Crisis Battlesuit (Flamer; Twin Linked Missile Pod)

Troops: Fire Warrior (155 pts)
6 Fire Warriors (Pulse Rifle x6)
1 Devilfish (Gun Drones; Disruption Pod; Multi-Tracker)

Troops: Fire Warrior (155 pts)
6 Fire Warriors (Pulse Rifle x6)
1 Devilfish (Gun Drones; Disruption Pod; Multi-Tracker)

Troops: Fire Warrior (155 pts)
6 Fire Warriors (Pulse Rifle x6)
1 Devilfish (Gun Drones; Disruption Pod; Multi-Tracker)

Fast Attack: Piranha Light Skimmer Squadron (150 pts)
2 Piranha Light Skimmers (Fusion Blaster; Gun Drones x2; Disruption Pod, Targeting Array)

Heavy Support: Hammerhead Gunship (165 pts)
1 Hammerhead Gunship (Railgun; Two Burst Cannons; Disruption Pod; Multi-Tracker)

Heavy Support: Hammerhead Gunship (165 pts)
1 Hammerhead Gunship (Railgun; Two Burst Cannons; Disruption Pod; Multi-Tracker)

Total Roster Cost: 1499

Changes include:

  • Trading Gun Drones for Shield Drones. The HQ unit’s drones have been switched out. More survivability will allow that unit to keep doing what it does longer, and to absorb fire that could otherwise one-shot the Crisis Suits.
  • Merging the Piranhas into one squadron. I lose the ability to split them off, but this keeps their firepower concentrated, meaning they’re more likely to kill their targets. It also cuts two kill points from the list.
  • Targeting arrays on the Piranhas. These are going to be my seek-and-destroy vehicle hunters. I want their shots to count as much as possible.
  • Streamlining the Hammerheads. These changes are all paid for by trimming points off of the Hammerheads. I’ve switched both to using twin burst cannons, and I’ve removed the target locks. Sholto brought up a good point; I’m going to be moving these things 12″ whenever I can; a target lock does no good when I’m only going to be firing the railgun each turn.

One point of contention seems to be the Crisis Suit bodyguards in the HQ unit. Let me explain why I have them the way I do. This is an infantry-hunting unit, and I want to keep it between 12 and 18″ away from its targets at all times. The command suit is well-equipped for this thanks to the CIB’s 18″ range and the plasma’s 24″/12″ rapid fire range. I wanted to run other suits that would compliment it, so I went with burst cannons and plasma rifles, which have the same ranges. I twin-linked the burst cannons because it’s cheaper than a targeting array; no, it doesn’t help the plasma, but I couldn’t afford to help the plasma. Now, if I could figure out a different loadout that could accomplish the same goal for the same cost or less, I’d love to try it. If nothing else, I could switch out one suit for the new loadout, which would help with wound allocation. Suggestions are welcome!

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Tournament To-Do List

Posted by NockerGeek in Warhammer 40K on January 10, 2010

I have two weeks remaining until the tournament. Here’s what remains to be done.

  • Finish Deathrains. The flats are done. Either tomorrow or Tuesday, I’ll start on the detail work, which should only take an hour or so per suit. Edge highlighting, lenses, some dry brushing, and then painting the base.
  • Finish Piranhas. I finished the flats on these this morning, save for the pilots, who just need some minor work. Then they too move to the detail stage. They have the extra step of having the pilots (or at least their upper halves) glued in place.
  • Assemble Devilfishes. My two Devilfishes shipped on Friday, so I should have them no later than the 12th. I’ll have them assembled that night. I do need to pick up some fresh glue, which I’ll probably do tomorrow on my lunch break – thank God for gaming shops a few blocks from my workplace.
  • Get in practice games. I need to test my list against some other armies. Fortunately, I can run them against Dennis’s Eldar and Richard’s Orks, both of whom are going to the tourney as well. It’ll help me see if there are any weak spots.
  • Make any final changes to the list. There are a couple of minor changes that I’m contemplating thanks to the feedback the list has been getting from various sources. I’m holding off until the practice games, but I’ll have a couple of alternate models (mostly different drones and vehicle weapon layouts) ready just in case.

I think I can get that done in two weeks, no sweat.

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WIP: 2 Piranhas

Posted by NockerGeek in Painting on January 9, 2010

wip_piranhas

Since I decided to put two Piranhas into my tournament list, I decided that it would behoove me to get some painted and ready. Fortunately, I just happened to have two of them assembled, primed, and already sprayed Knarloc Green. I put in a couple of hours last night in my spare time and got working on the flats and inking. So far, so good. It’s my first attempt at painting something that’s in more than one piece, but I’m looking forward to the extra detail I’ll be able to get by painting the pilots and the skimmer separately.

Meanwhile, my Deathrains are in the background, patiently awaiting detail work, which I’ll work on this weekend. I have two weeks to the tournament; I don’t think I should have any problem getting these guys painted and getting my two new Devilfish assembled in time.

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Prepping for the Tournament

Posted by NockerGeek in Army Lists on January 7, 2010

While I’ve been working on my Deathrain suits, I’ve been contemplating my army list for the tournament, and whether I wanted to make any changes to it. Then the other day Old Shatter Hands posted this video breakdown of his 1850-point army. His approach to his army, especially in regards to how he handles troops, got me thinking. I have to agree with his assessment that Fire Warriors just aren’t currently worth their points as-is, but since we have to take them, we might as well make the best of them. That means keeping them mobile and off the table as long as possible. I’ve tried the static gunline thing, and as much as I like the idea of it, it just doesn’t work in 5th Edition as well as it did in the past. Assault happens too quickly, and their shooting is too unreliable thanks to a mid-range BS and plentiful cover saves. (As an aside, I find Markerlights to be too expensive a fix for Fire Warriors.) I think I’m going to follow OSH’s advice and keep small units of Fire Warriors in ‘fish, instead of large ones. I’m also freeing up the Helios suits and replacing them with a pair of Piranhas; I’ve had good luck with the increased mobility, and it’s a source of more gun drones that can contest objectives as needed.

So, I’ve made a hybrid of his list and mine, which I can hopefully try out in a few practice games before the tournament itself:

HQ: Commander Shas’el (264 pts)
1 Commander Shas’el(Cyclic Ion Blaster; Hard-wired Multi-tracker; Plasma Rifle; Targeting Array)
2 Crisis Bodyguards (Hard-wired Drone Controller; Hard-wired Multi-tracker; Plasma Rifle; Twin Linked Burst Cannon)
2 Gun Drones

Elite: Crisis Battlesuit (186 pts)
3 Crisis Battlesuits (Missile Pod; Plasma Rifle; Multi-Tracker)

Elite: Crisis Battlesuit (94 pts)
2 Crisis Battlesuit (Flamer; Twin Linked Missile Pod)

Troops: Fire Warrior (155 pts)
6 Fire Warriors (Pulse Rifle x6)
1 Devilfish (Gun Drones; Disruption Pod; Multi-Tracker)

Troops: Fire Warrior (155 pts)
6 Fire Warriors (Pulse Rifle x6)
1 Devilfish (Gun Drones; Disruption Pod; Multi-Tracker)

Troops: Fire Warrior (155 pts)
6 Fire Warriors (Pulse Rifle x6)
1 Devilfish (Gun Drones; Disruption Pod; Multi-Tracker)

Fast Attack: Piranha Light Skimmer (70 pts)
1 Piranha Light Skimmer (Fusion Blaster; Gun Drones x2; Disruption Pod)

Fast Attack: Piranha Light Skimmer (70 pts)
1 Piranha Light Skimmer (Fusion Blaster; Gun Drones x2; Disruption Pod)

Heavy Support: Hammerhead Gunship (170 pts)
1 Hammerhead Gunship (Railgun; Two Burst Cannons; Disruption Pod; Multi-Tracker; Target Lock)

Heavy Support: Hammerhead Gunship (180 pts)
1 Hammerhead Gunship (Railgun; Smart Missile System; Disruption Pod; Multi-Tracker; Target Lock)

Total Roster Cost: 1499

On a side note, I ordered two Devilfish sprues from The War Store, so I should have three ‘fish available for my Fire Warriors by the 23rd. Everything’s falling into place for the tournament! I may not have everything painted, or even primed (curse you, winter temperatures!), but since it’s not a requirement for this tournament, I think I’ll manage.

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