To Thunderwolf Or Not To Thunderwolf

Well, between the moving, packing, and cleaning, I somehow found time to finally get my first game in with my Space Wolves. My good friend Pariah.Stevo from over at Tainted By Xenos (which is back up and running BTW) came over to help me move and while waiting for the Storage unit we squeezed a game in. I took a very different list than i normally take, as it was a shooty list with no deathstar, as I wanted to see how certain things work. I took -


Wolf Lord
---Runic armor, Frost Axe, SS, Wolftooth Necklace


4x Wolf Guard
---Combimeltas & PFs


4x Grey Hunters Squads, 3x9, 1x8
---Plasma, Rhino w/ Hunter Killer Missile


2x Rune Priests
---Liv. Light./Jaws
---Liv. Light./Jaws, Melta Bombs


2x Long Fang Squads
---3x MLs, 2x LCs
---Razorback w/ LC/TLPG, HK Missile


Vindicator
---HK Missile


Steve took his tournament Ork list, which entails - Ed. Steve, if this is wrong correct me


Ghazghkull
Mek w/ KFF & Power Klaw
A squad of Nobz with Cybork bodies, WAAAGH Banner, Bosspole
Battlewagon w/ Deffrolla, Red Paint


17 Shoota Boys
Nob w/ Boss pole, Power klaw
Battlewagon w/ deffrolla


16 Shoota Boys

Nob w/ Boss pole, Power klaw

Battlewagon w/ deffrolla

2x15 Lootas

2x Deffcoptas w/ buzzsaws

Babysitting grot squad

What Should've Happened

Ok, so basically Murphy and his law came in and beat the ever livin crap out of me from turn one. We rolled Dawn of War, so Ghazghkull started halfway across the board and night fighting caused me to do absolutely zilch for damage. The next turn sees 6 lascannons (2 at side armor),2 Missile Launchers, 2 HK missiles (at side armor) and a Demolisher Cannon (side armor) give me one immobilized result and a Crew Shaken result on Ghazzy's wagon. Awesome. Ghazghkull then proceeds to charge me from across the board.

What Did Happen

From then till the end of turn four when we called it I watched 9 shoota shots kill 7 grey hunters in one roll, 2 lascannons bounce off AV 12, a Wolf Lord kill a whopping 2 Ork nobs (over 4 rounds of assault), a grey hunter squad shoot and charge a shoota boy squad and cause a grand total of 3 wounds, then watched Steve roll three 6s, pretty much my dice hated me. With a vengeance. over the course of the day I failed 7 of 9 vehicle 4+ covers. Not my day.

God do I love a good Beatstick...

Now, although I deployed wrong, my dice completely failed me, and Steve's were on fire, and after such a game it is a terrible idea to immediately redo your army list, I have begun to think about new units. Now, if you haven't figured this out about me by now, i like a good beatstick. I carry a .45, I hunt with a 7mm Rem. Mag., I drive a V8. I like em big and powerful. Looking back at all my armies, every build I have ever liked has a deathstar in it. My old Ultras had Hestan and TH/SS Termies in a LRR. Blood Angels have the Chappie/DC/DC Dread/Stormraven combo, Chaos has either Abaddon/Plagues/LR or 2x MoN DPs and a GD,  my Nids have the Trygons. I like beatsticks.

Which brings me to my current dilemma. How do I run an effective, shooty SW army and still have a good beatstick in there to help with the Vects and Ghazghkulls out there? I then began to read the Thunderwolf Cavalry entry. Dear. God. These dudes mean business, with a true T5 and 4 base attacks. And a not so terrible price tag. This unit could fill in that little deathstar sized hole in my heart. So I revamped the list, and came up with this - 

Wolf Lord

---Frost Axe, SS, Runic Armor, WT Necklace, Thunderwolf Mount, Saga of the Bear

5x Thunderwolf Cavalry

---BP/CCW

---BP/SS

---Plasma Pistol/CCW

---BP/CCW, Melta Bombs

---BP/TH

4x Wolf Guard

---Combi Melta, PF

4x9 Grey Hunters

---Plasma Gun, Rhino

2x Long Fang Packs

---3x ML/2x LC

Vindicator

1999pts.

That way, I am runnin a similar army that is shooty, but still has a beatstick. Now, I'll just have to proxy some TWC and see how I like em before I drop the dough for em. Still haven't found a company who's TWC I really love, but maybe y'all can help me with that :)

So what do we think? Are TWC the way to go? Is The Grizz's new plan absolute crap? Are there good lookin TWC models out there? Let us know below!

And Now Back to Your Regularly Scheduled Program

I know, I know, I haven't updated, and for that I apologize, some real life happened this week, and lots of stuff that I thought would never happen. It is official, The Grizz has been......Tainted By Xenos!!!! I know, please take a moment to pick your jaws off the floor and wipe away those tears of disbelief. It took me a little while to come to grips with it myself. 


After 13 years of wargaming and 40k, I have never owned a non power armored army save my IG, but that was still humans/imperium. I have never even thought about it till the last week or so. I sold all my stuff on eBay, bought what I needed for my Chaos/Blood Angels, and had a little extra left over. So I began lookin at the possibility of starting a new army and started goin down the list.


CSM - Already have
Chaos Daemons - too expensive, not consistent enough
Blood Angels - Already Have
Vanilla Marines - Already have
Grey Knights - Just sold them
Witch Hunters - Used to have and sold
Space Wolves - love rules, hate model range/fluff
Black Templar - too similar to BA/Vanilla
IG - too broke to do what i want to do - Death Korps of Krieg
Dark Angels - .......no.

Sounds like Dark Angels

I Then came to the realization that if I wanted to play a new army, it would have to be...dare I say it...Xenos. So then I broke down the Xenos Races. I wanted something completely different to the armies i currently play, yet at the same time having a familiar feel. I couldn't play Orks, as that is Pariah.Stevo's army, and I play against them too much to want to play them myself.

There can be only one...

 Necrons were marked off the list, with Eldar/DE/Tau never even making the list. Much like Highlander, at the end, there was only one - Tyranids. They were a horde, low armor, high tougness bugs, completely different to my current armies. Yet they felt strangely familiar, being assault based and short range. I began lookin at the model range and became as excited as a little boy who just discovered his first.....well, lets just say I was excited.


Every army I have ever owned I had some idea of how they worked. Oh ok that squad has bolters and power armor, lets put em in a transport and move em around. Not so with this new purchase. As I read through the codex, I became so lost, not knowing what any unit did or how to run them. I felt like I was starting 40k all over again. It scared the piss out of me, but at the same time, it excited me. I feel like I am looking at the game in a whole new way now. I received my first box of Gaunts yesterday, and got my first paint test done today. Tuesday, i should have sitting on my door step -


-2x Battleforces
-2x Trygons
-1x Carnifex


That gives me a pretty sizable chunk of stuff, and a lot to work on. So here comes the big question - Do you guys care about the Nids? I started this blog to talk about power armor, showcase my armies, and so on and so forth. Of course I never planned on havin a xenos army either. So, what I am asking you, the humble follower -

Do you want to see Tyranid Stuff on here, or keep it strictly SM/CSM stuff? Should I chronicle my rocky journey with this new army on IIWPA... or keep it straight Power Armor?

The Grizz Hates Ghazghkull...

just looking at him brings so many words to mind, not one of them child friendly

Played a 2500pt game against Pariah.Stevo Saturday, both of us trying to get ready for the big tournament at the Barn in mid March. I took the list I posted last week, Stevo took-

Thrakka   

 Big Mek -Kustom Force field, Power Klaw, Cybork Body 

   ELITES   

 15 Lootas

   

 15 Lootas   

 10 Nobs - Waaagh!! Banner, Painboy, Power Klaw ,Stikkbombz 

Battlewagon - deffrolla ,Red Paint ,2 X Big Shoota, Amour Plates 

TROOPS 

7 Nobs Bikers - Cybork Bodies, 4 Power Klaws,  2 Big Choppas ,Painboy 2, Combi-Skorchas,  2 bosspoles,  Waaagh!!! Banner   

18 orks nob Pk Bosspole   

18 orks nob Pk Bosspole   

11 grots   

FAST ATTACK  

2 Deffkoptas-  2 TL Rokkit Launcha, 2 Buzzsaws   

HEAVY SUPPORT   

BattleWagon- Deffrolla, 2 Big Shootas, Red Paint  

BattleWagon- Deffrolla, 2 Big Shootas, Red Paint     

Total-2499

we played 5 obj's Pitched Battle. The game was very interesting, cause for the 1st 3 turns, we kinda danced around each other, both waiting for the other to move so we could gain the charge, waiting for that one misstep to put a unit in charge range. The game had a lot of suck come my way. First, the one new unit that I wanted to try (assembled and painted on friday so I could use them Saturday), the Vanguard Vets, Deep Sruck in on turn 3, scattered into dangerous terrain, and out of charge range. They subsequently took 30 loota shots to the face. 350pts that never saw combat. Next would definitely be the straw that broke the camel's back. He drove 2 battlewagons across the board and dumped Ghazzy, Naked Nobs, and 19 boys on me. 

I guess this counts for their armor save rolls too...

The nobs killed the DC, Ghazz whomped the DC Dread, and the boys were tied in assault with an assault squad. Next turn I was going to kill Ghazghkull, I had already decided . He had WAAAGHed last turn, so his 2++ was in effect, so I knew it would take a lot of dice to lay him low. So I shot and charged him with Sanguinor, A Librarian w/ Sanguine Sword, and 20 assault marines w/ the Blessed sergeant. That is a total of 88 attacks, with Sanguinor rerolling to hit and wound. Now, Mathhammer says that just the assault squads should have caused 5 and change unsaved wounds, not counting PF's,Sang. Sword, and Sanguinor. Stevo never rolled a 1. Not one. Ghazghkull was unwounded. 


This was the beginning of the end for me, as I got charged by the nobs next turn and pretty much got chomped to little bits. We called it on turn 5, as he had 2 objectives and I had 2 models. It was one of those games where one or two events decide the entire outcome. I think I played well, just didnt have the dice go my way.


I am gonna keep trying the VVs, see if they are worth their hefty price tag or too big of a gamble. Look forward to the next one, we'll see if Ghazghkull's luck has run out...

The New GW

Sorry for the slight delay in updates, had a busy weekend (by busy I mean Monster Truck Rally) So lets get into it, shall we?

This was the way we used to react to new codexes

Having played 40k since 1998, I have become very accustomed to the way that they do things. I remember getting the 2nd C:SM for 3rd Ed and just comparing it to the previous codex, the only difference being less models and more points per. The 4th Ed Guard Codex only had 3 heavy support choices. Then came the 4th Ed. Chaos Space Marine Codex......blech. GW's greatest blunder came in the form of a 2 part article in White Dwarf that they tried to pass off as a new Blood Angel Codex. The move to cookie cutter, boring, crappy codexes had finally reached its lowest. This was the GW that I knew, the one i was accustomed to. Then came the 4th Ed Orks codex, bringing with it a glimmer of hope, followed shortly by the great 5th. edition. 


If memory serves me correctly, next was our own dear C:SM, with new units, new models, and special characters that we can actually use! The nice thing was, this wasn't a passing fad, this was their new direction. They targeted the armies that need it most (excluding necrons) with the Blood Angels and Space Wolves, and now with the Grey Knights. Armies that were unusable and the butt of jokes are now on the top tables an the tourney scene. Armies are getting new codexes and complete new ranges (Dark Eldar anyone??). This is unheard of from the GW I knew. 

What has sparked this rambling you ask? I guess it must be the new Grey Knights coming out. From all the rumors over at BOLS, they are looking to be the epitome of elite, low model count forces. The new rules are looking different, flavorful, and most of all, fun. It's just nice to know that armies/codexes are being written with fun and theme in mind, and with sweet model ranges to match. As much as we moan about GW, in my opinion, they have come a long way from the boring vehicleless gunlines of 3rd/4th.


So, what do you think of the new Codexes that have come out, or about 5th in general?

Tourney Time in Tennessee!

For no other reason than it makes me laugh every time i see it

Well, the Pariah.Stevo and myself have hurriedly decided as of yesterday that we were gonna go down to Cleveland, TN and participate in a 2400pt team tournament at one of my favorite big tournament venues, Dicehead Games & Comics. This decision came about as we were talkin about how we don't go and play in tourneys like we used to, and how much fun we used to have when we hit the circuit pretty hard. 


Stevo was all like "well lets find us a tourney to go to" and i am like "ok sounds good". So after a few strikeouts, we came across the team tournament, and got all excited about how it would be a great way to kick off the year and how much fun we were gonna have and how we were gonna redeem ourselves from our 0-1-2 finish at the last team tourney we went to and...well crap that was last weekend. We hang our heads in disappointment. 

Well, to make a long story short, i get a phone call yesterday from the Stevo, and did he have some good news there. Apparently, your favorite new blogger, yours truly, and his tournament partner ,the Stevo, are incapable of the basic concept of reading numbers. The tournament was this coming Saturday, and it is game on!


So we have been workin on trying to feverishly throw together 2 1200pt lists that can play together as one list. Last year, Steve and I just took the nastiest stuff we could think of - Warboss on a bike and Nob Bikers and Abaddon and plague marines. after a first round tie, a second round wipe, and a third round drubbing by some high school freshmen, we felt quite worthless. Tired and weak, we left that tourney a little bowlegged, but with some valuable experience. 


So this year, we are trying to build a more "balanced" list. Thus far, this is what we have come up with


Orks
Big Mek
---Kustom Force Field, Cybork Body, Boss Pole, 'eavy armor, Power Klaw


2x squads of 15 Lootas


2x squads - 19 boys, Nob w/ Boss pole & Power Klaw
2x Battlewagons - Red Paint, Extra Armor, Deffrolla, 2 Big shootas


10 Grots


Blood Angels
Librarian - Jump Pack, Shield of Sang., The Sanguine Sword
Sang. Priest - Power Weapon, Jump Pack
2x 10 man RAS - Flamer, Melta, Fisty Sarge


5x Scout Squad - 4x Sniper Rifles, 1x Heavy Bolter


2x Baal Preds - Ass. Cannons, Heavy Bolters


Predator - Autocannon, Lascannons


For a grand total of 2493 pts.


Stevo may trade out the Grots and some equip on the mek for a deff dread, but we will see. Either way, we shall see how everything goes on Saturday! List critiques, comments, or criticisms welcome!

Well there you have it. Will The Grizz and Stevo come back from Cleveland victorious? Or will they walk that familiar Road of Shame in a repeat of last year? Look for updates and a full tourney run down soon!