Making the meaner Daemons...Success?

But at what cost?

A few weeks ago I posted my rambling thoughts on shedding all inhibition and making Daemons as mean as I could. I then used one of the two list ideas I came up with, and did very well in a decent-sized tourney against some tournament veterans.

And felt dirty doing it.

Yes, even beating up Brother Captain James I felt a bit dirty!

Guns didn't kill the kids in Sandy Hook...

I had a couple entries in mind to write this weekend...something about Daemons and plans for Templecon; something about Historical Gaming including a short battle report and pics of unpainted 15mm American Civil War gaming...but I can't stop thinking about those kids and families at Sandy Hook Elementary.

40k RTT: Gaming, Etc...Daemons in Action!

Gaming, Etc in Stratford, CT hosted another 40k Tournament on Dec 8th. Since my birthday was the 7th, I talked the wife in to letting me go (putting her on soccer-mom hell with 3 kids going to 5 different activities at the same time...), and she even helped me get things painted late Friday night! She does good eyes :)

WFB: Vampires versus Beasts!

I was lucky enough to get a fantasy game in this past weekend against...I have to be honest, I'm not sure his real name. Either Dan or Ben, but I suck with names! He's Alaric Ironaxe on the Ordo message board, and I'm very sorry that I'm too scatter-brained to remember his name! :P

It's been a very long time, and I was very excited to get a chance to play Fantasy again...my first gaming love...and with my still unpainted Vampire army that I've been painting for about 5 years now!

Ordo Inpeuts 40k Doubles Tournament

On Nov 24th Ordo Ineptus hosted a 40k doubles tournament! While we can normally get up to 6 tables going at an event, due to the expected 'Black Friday' weekend crowd and due the horrible pinball machine the store owner has placed in our room, I was only able to get 4 tables set up for this. We probably could have done 5, but the game room would have been VERY packed (and VERY smelly!).

Help me be "that guy"...making Daemons as mean as possible!

There was an article on BOLS not long ago that I thought was a cut above the norm there, which discussed how people tend to impose artificial limits on themselves when they build lists, almost always unconsciously, that forces them to make lists that are not as "powerful" as they could be.

I want to evaluate how I've been limiting myself with the Daemons, and how to get around it to make the meanest Deamon list I could want to play.

BFS Game 6: The Smoking Man and his Airforce

After a short break it was off to the final game, where I found I was against Neil of 11th Company and his Necron Airforce!

BFS Game 5: This Planet Crawls!

Having lost that heartbreaking game 4 took the wind out of my sails. On the other hand, and many of you will know what I mean, once you've taken that loss and are "out of the running", things are a lot more relaxed and the games are quite probably more fun.

This was a great example of that, as I got paired with someone I've played many times now and consider a friend, James Mahood and his very solid Tyranid list!

RTT: Gaming Etc. in Stratford, CT

I took Bobby with me to a 1500 point tournament at Gaming Etc in Straford, CT this last weekend...I wanted to try some different Daemon stuff, wanted Bobby to see what a tournament is like, and above all wanted to get some fun time in with my boy!

BFS Game 4: READ THE F'ING MISSION!

I'm sorry for the long interlude there. Real life and all.

Football season is over (but wrestling is just starting...), so hopefully the schedule is a bit less crammed. More game and blog time for me!

On the other hand, the wife is starting a real job, and I'm sure that means that what little housework she had been doing will fall on me now...so, I'm hiring a housekeeper. Anyone remember Alice from the Brady Bunch? I need someone just like that! She must have a sarcastic quip for any situation!

So, game four!

BFS 2012 Game 3: The Warp Rift Widens

After a mentally exhausting chess-match in round 2, I was 2-0 and ready to fall over...adrenalin and coffee was wearing off, so I started pounding Mt. Dew and Gatorade (it's important to stay hydrated).

My round 3 opponent was Jorge Ruiz...I think this is our 3rd time going at each other in tournaments, both other games were hard-fought games that came down to the wire, and this one was no exception. Unfortunately for Jorge, I have a small Bladder, and had to run to the toilet every other turn :)

BFS Game 2 - Daemon on Daemon action (Not as sexy as it sounds...)

After a happy round 1 win, I had some lunch (Subway...eat fresh!) and went on to game 2 vs. Daemons!

The army was Nick Nanavanti's from The Brown Paintbrush, runner-up in the 2012 Nova Open, but it was being run by his friend Dan. His army was a bit different from mine, but not by much:

Fateweaver
2 Daemon Princes of Slaanesh - Wings, Hide, Might, Breath, Aura, Musk
4 units of 5 Plaguebearers (2 with Icons)
3 units of 5 Screamers
3 units of 6 Flamers with Pyrocasters

Battle for Salvation - Opening Hoopla and Game 1!

This weekend past (Oct 5-7th) was the third Battle for Salvation Grand Tournament hosted by the BFS gaming club based in White Plains, New York at the Palisades Mall in Nyack, NY.




Bob Sinnot, TO, judging paint on one of the MANY Tyranid armies!



BFS Preps: nearly complete...and a battle report!

I've nearly completed preparations for the Battle for Salvation Grand Tournament this weekend. Everything is based and ready to go, the display board is made, and I just need to do some touch-up to fix chips and scratches from the poor Daemons having lived in a shoe box for so long!

Skulls, skulls, and more skulls!

The Skull Bases I ordered from Micro Art Studios arrived this Wednesday! I immediately got them washed and primed, and have the painting done!

I want to say a few words about Micro Art Studios...

I'm boring, and lazy...but going to Mechanicon!

I've not done much of the prep-work for BFS I'd intended to do this last week. I could blame the time spent football coaching, or working, or a million other things, but really I've just been lazy!

But, I did do a LITTLE bit! I even got a Vassal game!

Second tournament with Daemons: thoughts on the list

Back here I discussed my thoughts for this list, and how I expected stuff to work.

Now I want to talk about what did/didn't work, what I might consider changing (though not much time to do so!), and hopefully get some feedback!

BFS RTT- Round 3: Pain for the Pain God!

I've been to several tournaments, big and small, and it's become almost a given that any time Sean and I attend a tournament together, we end up paired against each other at some point.

This tournament was no exception.

After beating up the Space Marines, I got a coffee and an ice cream from McDonalds (literally steps away from the tables!) and sat with Sean to rest my feet and discuss our games. He'd just had a fun-sounding game vs. CSM with Lash Princes that inexplicably gave up Lash for book powers...

BFS RTT: Game 2!

After a stout butt-kicking by Ryan Sinnot's Orks, I drowned my sorrows in a diet lemonade and a $5 footlong from Subway, and got ready for Round 2! I learned some lessons in the first game, and of course had a great time, so despite feeling that my pitiful score (I think I got 3 out of 27 possible?) knocked me out of contention for any kind of showing, I really wanted to push my list versus some other tough opponents!

Battle for Salvation mini-RTT: Game 1

I attended a small tournament this weekend, a "test" run of the BFS missions, rules, and terrain for Bob and Ed (the guys that run the BFS GT) to make sure they're happy with the results of their hard work.

There were only 10 participants, but most of them were very competitive players: Simon Leen, Sean Nayden, Danny Internets to name a few. I was really curious to see what the "meta" would be, and to see if my all-Tzeentch force could compete!




The Secrets of Tzeentch!



Look Out Sir! Changes = Army Change

It may seem like a knee-jerk over-reaction, but I very strongly believe that the Ork list I'd been working on becomes FAR less functional without the ability to pass wounds around to the Nobs so massive damage could be absorbed without losing any models...

Vassal Battle Report: Shadowklan vs. Hive Fleet Negajoule

This weekend past I got brave and tried a Vassal 40k "pick-up game". Normally I try to stick to playing people I know...you know how some folks are on the internet! I was very pleased to play an extremely nice guy that was a very skilled player with a really fun Tyrannid army...those bugs always give me a hard time!

New FAQs are up on GW site - LOS! Nerfed

Look Out Sir is nerfed as expected, bouncing FMC are fixed, and Paladins and Nobz are no longer Characters!

http://www.games-workshop.com/MEDIA_CustomProductCatalog/m1490286a_40K_Rulebook_v1.pdf

Let the Orkiness Begin! Waaagh Shadowklan!

So I've got my worklist all made up and ready to actually start working...something I'm working very hard to avoid doing. Such mighty distractions...coaching football, getting beat by my son at Madden 13, having to google how to get thru stupid puzzles in Arkham City, eating, sleeping, going to work where I avoid working...it's a lot of work!

But, I'm less than a month out, so time to really buckle down and get things going!

6e Armies: Making a Choice!

I've been thinking long and hard, and Vassaling long and hard, and doing anything else I can as long and hard as I can (I do love a bad double entendre!)...trying to decide between three choices for the army I want to commit to building and playing in 6th.

My choices? Dark Eldar, Daemons, or Orks!

Random Thoughts...

Why do people think twin-linking is so great against Fliers? Hint: it's not. 4 Twin-Linked shots gets you 1 hit. If you're S8, yeah, maybe an AV11 flier will care...but probably not. If your plan for dealing with enemy Fliers is a few twin-linked Autocannons, your plan is bad. Another hint: most armies don't have a good plan.

Why do some people give army list advice for armies they not only don't know the rules for, but don't even play? If you fancy yourself an internet personality, and someone asks you for list advice on an army you're not that familiar with, politely decline. It's far better than giving out bad information, and may prevent you from looking foolish!

Am I crazy, or does an Aegis Line really excel when protecting vehicles? I mean, doesn't that really kind of double their hull points? Yeah, melta in your face can still get that explode, but only half as often! What if you add in Camo Nets?

Any reason a vehicle can't fire a Quadgun?

How many troops is enough? I mean, sometimes you want to just take the absolute minimum, and actually take the useful things in your book (I'm looking at you, Space Marine!). Is doing that still viable in 6e, where EVERYTHING dies faster?

Non-gaming related:

My heart goes out to the folks being battered by Hurricane Isaac...but those folks that are in need of "rescue" now: why didn't you leave three days ago when they told you to?

Why is some group that has nothign at all to do with the Tour de France threatening to strip Lance Armstrong of his titles? I mean, isn't that about the same as me saying I'm going to take away his titles? I hope he's innocent, but shouldn't the organization that governs the event that he's accused of cheating in be the one to investigate this? If they think he's innocent, why should anyone else care?

My son is starting Linebacker for his 8-9 year old team this year. Go Bobby! 5 tackles his first "game" (scrimmage vs. another team)...awesome!!

My daughter is cheerleading for the same time this year! Go Laura!!

Welcome back to school, everyone!


I'm desperate for Vassal games! If you see Ordo Bob on Vassal, ask me for a game! I really need to nail down if I want to focus on Daemons or Orks for the next few months!

Fliers...more discussion

Last week I wrote a bit about fliers, and I want to revisit that a bit to discuss which flyers I'm more worried about, what effect I think they have on the game, and why I want to have fliers.

But first, and English lesson!

Too many toys...so many choices...too little time!

6th edition 40k has really sunk its talons in to me! I had been down on 40k for awhile, but the "new shiny" has me completely engaged now! So much so that I've got far more armies not-quite-done on the "paint bench" than I've ever had at one time before...which is both good and bad!

So what am I working on? Read on!

Teaching Bobby: Doubles Game!

My 8-year old son has really been wanting to play more 40k, so I've been happy to oblige him. He's getting a good grip on the basic rules, but there are so many different kinds of armies with their own rules that he's kind of overwelmed: information overload.

Still, he's making some decent decisions, and those he plays with and against are more than helpful. This past weekend we were lucky enough to have a Doubles Game, with Bobby and Rodrigo using Ultramarines against Arlin and me using Orks!

What to do about Fliers...

Having spent my time at work this week dutifully scouring the Internet for reports of tournaments since 6e has been out, I have come to a very unsurprising conclusion that most people already know: fliers are f'ing mean!

Feast of Blades Qualifier: Round 3

After the second game, we had a short break...time for a coke, a few war stories (I enjoyed bragging about the Dreadknight-Spawn!), and the final round pairings! My opponent was to be Todd with his Vulkan-led Space Marines!

Feast of Blades Qualifier: Round Two

So after a surprise win against Alex Fennel's Blood Angels, we had a quick lunch break (pulled chicken & onion grilled panini with a large iced coffee...), and back to see myself paired against a VERY evil Grey Knights list...




Free whining with your cheese!

Wound Allocation...no LOS! required!

You can’t open a 40k blog these days without reading about how Look Out Sir! allows you to allocate wounds amongst multi-wound models in the same unit. But really, according to how I read things, you don’t need a character of any kind to do this, you just need an opponent who obliges you with units with different initiatives!

Battle Report: Feast of Blades Qualifier Tournament

I went to a Feast of Blades qualifier at The Battle Standard in Manchester, CT this past weekend (August 4th). This was my first time attending a tournament at this store, though it's only an hour away. I'd always heard good things, and they're all true! Tommy, the store owner, has a great place, with wonderful terrain, tables (with cup holders!) and a group of great people that I had a super good time with!



Tommy runs a great place!



"Farseer Tax" & Evolution Of My Kabal

One of the first ideas I had when 6^th came out was that everyone would be bringing a Farseer with Runes of Warding. This guy can be had pretty cheap, and since Eldar will team up with nearly anyone (sorry, Nids!) I see the Farseer on a jetbike with jetbike guardians to be a staple of “net lists”.

That's life!

Just a quick note to say hey, sorry things dried up and disappeared here at BS&F. Real life got in the way this spring. I have three kids, all getting to ages where they had sports activities that go on all the time. Every night and weekend had something going on. I hadn't touched a miniature since I got back from my last business trip in April until two nights ago!

But, Flag Football and 5-year-old Soccer is finished, 40k 6th edition is out, my Confederates are lined up for painting, and I even have a PC game I'd like to talk about!

So, while real-life keeps interfering, I'm hoping to get a post every now and then going. I really enjoy blogging, and really enjoy interacting with you readers...I won't give up if you don't!

First Confederates Done

Well...mostly done. I'm still trying to decide how I want to do flags for the army...paper or metal? Not to mention researching the right flag for each unit...which, I might add, is a lot of fun!

Anyway, I have the first regiment of Law's Alabama Brigade done...this will be the 4th Alabama.

Pre-painting teaser...

WW2 and ACW weekend with Rodrigo!

I got two great games in with Rod this weekend...the first a 900 point Flames of War "Infantry Aces" battle for our Cassino campaign, and another 'learning' game for 'Guns at Gettysburg'!

*Warning: if you're offended by unpainted models, or empty bases representing companies of infantry or batteries of cannon, please don't read anymore!*


My first attempt at ACW! Charge!

   

15mm Historical Gaming: Jumping in with both feet!

Since I started miniature wargaming a million years ago (my first Warhammer game was in 1989 or 90 with my friend Brad in Austin, TX!), I've always wanted to do some historical.

I do some Flames of War, which is great, but for me lacks the panache of the 19th century warfare...flags, ranked up units, cavalry charging, cannon booming. That's what I've always wanted to do!

It took just a single post on the Ordo Ineptus message board for me to jump in with both feet!




Onward! To new games and new minis and empty wallets!



Battle for Thanatos Battle Report: Dark Eldar vs Tyranid!

This week I got another game in with Sean in our continuing Planetary Empires campaign, The Battle for Thanatos.

We met at 2000 points, each of us using our "tournament" lists...



Thanatos!



WFB Battle Report: Half a game Vampires versus Orcs!

My friend Rodrigo and I got a little time last night to play some fantasy! We only had 2 hours for setup, gaming, and putting the table away, which didn't give us time to finish, but we had fun anyway and learned a lot about how our armies work!



Rodrigo deploys the Greenskins!



Flames of War - Panzer Lehr 1750

I'm jumping on the 3rd Edition Flames of War bandwagon! Flames has been "the other game" for me for awhile now, though I really enjoy the game it's somehow become the one I play less frequently than others.

I'd put together a pretty fun Afrika Korps Auflkarung Company awhile back, but since the club has kind of moved in to "Late War" I felt kind of left behind as my Panzer IIIs and Pak 38s weren't up to Late War standards!

Now that the Third Edition rules are coming out, I'm going to make a sincere effort to upgrade my army to "Late War" standards and try to participate in more FOW games.

Battlefront has done something very cool...on the release of this latest rules edition, if you take your 2nd edition (old) hardback book to your FLGS, it can be exchanged free of cost for a soft-cover new (3rd Edition) rule book! Isn't that great? I mean, the new book is tiny, the binding is coming apart already, but they're left me feeling like they're not releasing a new rule version just to suck more money from my wallet!

So here's my first attempt at a "real" Late War 3rd Edition army, re-using as much of my already painted stuff as possible (though my desert look will look a little funny in France):



They have scrub brush and tumbleweeds in France, right?



Mortis Engine and Hexwraiths WIP

A little more work done the last few evenings, though Eric and Rod keep distracting me with World of Tanks!

Vampire Counts Work in Progress

I've not been able to dedicate the time I'd like to painting this army up, but I'm making slow progress!



Zombies! A mix of Mantic and GW.


Here's a few pics of what I worked on this weekend!

Vampire Infantry Meta-analysis

When the new book came out, a good friend of mine did a unit meta analysis to calculate the cost of each point of Combat Resolution for the different Vampire Count infantry units. Today I was thinking about it some more, and wanted to expand on what he'd found...

warning: wall of text incoming!

WFB Battle Report(s): Vampire Counts

I was lucky enough this weekend to get two games in on Saturday at the store, and started another at Universal Battle!

Here's a recap of the two "real" games, and my thoughts on how my Vampire army works as a whole and my likely upcoming changes!



Hexwraiths ready for painting!



Not gaming related at all, but good food!

I spent a lot of time in Korea last year, and got really hooked on some of their food. Not the still writhing octopus tentacles, but I do enjoy Bibimbap, Bulgogi, Juk, and many other things that I can't pronounce, let alone spell!

A co-worker found a place here in Danbury that features Korean food, so we all went there today to try it out!

40k Battle Report: Dark Eldar vs. Tyrannid

As part of our continuing Battle for Thanatos campaign, I challenged Sean Nayden (our local champion!) to a battle. If he wins, he has the required 10 territories to win the campaign. If I win, I go up to 9 and take the lead!

He's been using the Nids for a few months now, has done a lot of Theory-hammer, and likes to use a lot of unexpected Nid tricks that you don't read about on the internet very often...and above all, is an incredible player that thinks things through far better than I do. I was not very confident going in to this game!

WFB Battle Report: Vampires versus Orcs!

My good friend Rodrigo and I got a game in this weekend. Like me, Rod hasn't played Fantasy in a LONG time...I've had a few recent games but I think it's been since 8th came out that Rod has really played. This was his first time with the new Orc book as well, so we got to have a game where we both got to fiddle with our new army books, and relax and read rules as they came up and do some learning, have some fun, and eat some GREAT food!

 And baby Ian got to come with Daddy and hang out with Arlin! He was SO excited and had so much fun! :)

40k Battle Report: Dark Eldar vs. Eldar!

As part of our continuing Battle for Thanatos campaign at the store, I was lucky enough to get in another great game vs. my good friend Eric and his Eldar force led by Eldrad and Yriel!

And dice shall be rolled...

Ordo Ineptus Flames of War Tournament!

We had one of our monthly tournaments last weekend, this time a 1750 Flames of War three-game event!

Despite some really horrific driving conditions from a winter-storm, 5 people (plus myself) came in to play, and we got our three games with pizza in with good times had by all!

Pics from Conflict

I had to get a new cable from IT to get the Blackberry to work. Sadly, most of my pictures are absolute crap. I don't know what setting I screwed up, but they suck.

Still, I'll share a few tidbits here to prove that I really was there, with Mt. Dew and everything!

New VC Army: A first draft

Not unsurprsingly I'm struggling to come up with a list that will play how I want and actually work...moreover I'm really wanting to use some of the new super-pretty models, even if they aren't the most optimal choices...

Vampire Counts: New Army Book thoughts, list ideas, and more!

I picked up the new book Monday night.

I'm embittered about the new hard back books, by the way. I would rather have a more portable less potentially-damaging-when-dropped-on-models softbound book like before that doesn't cost $42. Yeah, that's silly.

Anyway, I think the changes from the previous edition are all appropriate. Some of the new stuff is really nice. Some of it is really meh.

On to some details!

The Confict GT 2012: mini-reports and thoughts!

Posts have been few and far between here, eh? Sorry...holidays, real life, work, kids, etc...not to mention a healthy case of Skyrim addiction.

I'm fresh back from attending The Conflict GT with my good friend Sean Nayden. I had a good time, though I was pretty sick on the first day and am really feeling far more wiped out than I've felt after other tournaments. Maybe I'm getting too old for this leaning over tables for 2 days thing!

Bull$hit!

The Holidays are finally over!

I sincerely apologize for being so scarce during the holidays. I seldom made it to Ordo events, and in fact seldom did anything but homebody Daddy stuff! I enjoyed the time with my family very much, and I hope all of you had as blessed a time as I did!

Now, back to the gaming!

A few weeks back Ordo held a small Warmachine Steamroller-style event. (Note I'm not allowed to call it a Steamroller event because I've been too lazy to paint up my Legion starter set to get qualified as a Pressganger!). The short summary: 1st place went to Sean Nayden with his Harbinger Menoth; I took second place with Skorne (Zaal and pMorghoul); and 3rd went to Brian Fox with pIrusk Khador.

Brian wrote up his thoughts on the tournament and his army right after the event, and I'm finally getting unlazy enough to post them...read on!