Thursday, October 7, 2010

Chaos Space Marine Army for Sell

I have noticed myself has lost the motivation to play CSM after a year with them and I felt that I need a 2nd army to motivate me to play 40k again. And due to the lack of space in my room, I decided to sell them off to make space if someone interested on them. I havent really make up my mind on how much I want to sell them but feel free to put in your offer if you are interested on them.

HQ:

Abaddon the Despoiler (painted)
Kharn the Betrayer (painted)
Sorceror (painted)
Nurgle Daemon Prince (heavily converted and painted beautifully)
Slaanesh Daemon Prince (converted by myself using Deceiver)


Troops:
16x Berzerkers (two skull with fist, painted)
8x Plague Marines (two meltaguns, champ with fist)
1x Rhino in Nurgle theme (painted)
1x Rhino in WE theme (comes with Forge World door and painted above average)
1x Rhino (base coated in black)


F. Attack:
3x Chaos Bikers (base coated in black)


H. Support:

Defiler (painted beautifully, some part need repair though)
Chaos Land Raider (base coated in black)
3x Obliterators (painted)
3x Obliterators (converted by Wong via Chaos Termies, base coated in black)
4x Havocs with Autocannon, one of them come with CL backpack which act as IoCG (painted)
1x Havocs with Lascannon (base coated in black, one leg is replaced by a daemon arm)

Legend:

"painted" - When I said so, the model is painted by me. I'm not a good painter be frank, so the model painted by me is in acceptable condition.

"painted blah blah blah" - As per the description, these are not done by me.


I will try to post up some pictures, if that is the interest of anyone. I will gradually update this post as well as I have bunch of marine with special weapon (meltaguns and plasmaguns). I'll give my 40k fellow a month to offer me before I throw them on eBay.

Monday, August 16, 2010

Reporting to Fantasy



With the launching of Fantasy 8th Edition rules, I have jump into the bandwagon of playing fantasy. After playing a few games with the new rules, I noticed there's quite a significant difference between the 40k and fantasy rules,

1) Close combat are much more rewarding. There are quite a number of penalty will be incurred on the shooters in fantasy which somehow protect your unit overall. And with a couple of special close combat rules such as pursue off the table and pursue into another unit somehow prolong the survivability of the unit.

2) Maneuvering your unit is longer an easy task. In fact, maneuvering your unit is one of the most important aspect in fantasy which can proved the difference between a veteran and a freshman. Maneuvering is complicated at first sight, but once you have mastered it, your army strength shall folded twice.

3) Army are well balance. With most army sharing the same magic lore and I believe the codex of each army are better written too, compare to 40k, many have already calls that this edition is the most balance edition ever. I'm playing Bret right now, a very old yet compact codex, but still prove to be able to put up a fight.

4) Hordes rules !! With the Hordes & Steadfast rule in place, I can foresee most armies will play their cheapest unit block. I expect people to tend to throw in a few big block (30+ models per block) on the table. Phew, that's sure a lot of dices to roll.

5) Plan ahead in your next turn. 40k is simple when it comes to planning as you move, shoot and assault all on your turn. You can just plan what you want to do that particular turn and execute your plan in one turn. However, that is different from fantasy as you need to assault on the first phase of your movement turn, which forced you think what your opponent will do should you do this and that in this turn as you might out of charging distance (there is a certain risk when charging out of your movement range, treat it you always charge through difficult terrain in 40k). It's kinda tricky when comes to planning in fantasy compare to 40k, but it sure proved critical when it comes to tournament level.


That's what I have learned thus far after a few games of fantasy. I might be wrong as I only have a handful of game and yet to face any other army other than DE and Bret. Feel free to drop your comment.

Thursday, July 15, 2010

A Relook into Khornate



The 1st phase of the league is coming to an end. I'm more than happy on the result I have managed to achieved in the league table thus far. While waiting for the league finale, I have suddenly redevelop my old interest in Khorne army again. I always have a special favor towards Khorne since the day I get to know Warhammer 40k and play zerkers heavy army on my first day on TT. However, I have abandon them (sadly) due to I found that I have reached a bottleneck where I could not lead my beloved zerker into competitive scene.

After a year, I felt that I have get the hang of 40k rules than I was first introduced to this game, and I have improved overall as a player in the sense of tactic and strategy (hopefully I'm right on this!). I'm ready to look into a full khornate army again.

Here's the list that I initially drafted,

World Eaters Again v2

Abaddon

7 men Chosen, 3x melta, 2x pf, rhino

8 men PSM

20 men berzerkers, champ, pf

5 men CSM, IoCG, rhino

8 men Havocs, 4x autocannon, IoCG

1 Land Raider, EA


Yes you read it right, the 20 zerkers squad are footslogging !! Cant believe in a mech heavy meta games nowadays some marine are still travel by foot eh ?? The doctrine is simple, abby ride in LR with 8 PSM to absorb firepower while zerkers following tightly behind the LR to gain cover save. The rest are pretty much self explained. The only problem I foresee is that I might suffer against 2x LRs army as I initially plan to throw in 2 obliterators but unfortunately dont have enough points to do so. Well... I'll play test this fun list this weekend and we'll see how.

Hopefully this time around I can play them cunning and right.

PS. I was always wondering what happened if Khorne start to "think" cunningly, Fear the Khorne ?? xD

Wednesday, July 7, 2010

Analysis on Tyranids FAQ

I believe everyone are excited about this (and probably I can hear some nids players moaning). So, today I'm going to do a small analysis on the effect of Nids FAQ had on the current nids players.


1. Cover Save from Mawloc and Malantai Special Rules

Rejoice now, finally GW has did some game balance to the game itself. You are now entitled cover save from Mawloc's Terror from the Deep (TftD) and Doom of Malantai's Spirit Leech attack. Does that mean it's a nerf to Malantai, I think not, this changes has however given a glimpse of hope to survive from its aura attack. So from now we can see more footslogging army hugging into an area terrain when they see the nids are fielding in Malantai. Same goes for Mawloc, but for me, I would prefer to hide in terrain instead of letting its special rules to kick in.


2. Deepstriking Mawloc

Now, you can have that beast Mawloc DS into a clear terrain, even if there are models on top of it. Normally you cant do so but Mawloc is an exception to this rule now, as per the FAQ. I foresee people might willing to play test it after the FAQ due to str6 Ap2 that can screw any unwary footslogging army is too good to be skipped (like Malantai). For those who play trygons, then I would expect them to switch to Mawloc as the points are cheaper and they share almost identical stats.


3. Shadow No Longer Affect Psyker in Transport

The major benefactor from this clarification would be Eldar which relies heavily on their psyker. Second would be SW as they also have some pretty cool psyhic power that could dealt a considerable damage towards the nids. I dont foresee any changes for other army as they generally lack of psykic power that could pose a threat to the nids.


4. Lash Whip & Initiative Modifier

Another changes that benefit the Eldar, and also Dark Eldar. With doom, banshee still possess a great threat with their power weapon against nids warrior and other MC that could gear whip. Dark Eldar shared the same thing due to their combat drug, but I doubt their chances in cc with warrior due to lack of capability to reroll.


5. Deepstrike with Wings Model

Icing on the sugar. Never like the idea of having a winged MC ds into the heat of battle, especially an MC with no invul save. With so many meltagun in today meta game, DS winged MC is more or less equivalent to dead MC.


The rest are pretty much rules clarification which I dont foresee could influence how it would change the way Nids player would have field and play. As a summary, GW has done a good job (cant believe I said this, but credit is given to where's it due) for doing such effort to clarify and balance out the game itself.

Saturday, July 3, 2010

And the League Continues...

2 weeks past by, the league that I participated are full with bloody battles. I to, of course, not an exception.. Recorded a few wins and a loss. Although I grieved the loss and joyful over the unexpected won against the top ranked player, I have not forgotten to learn from the mistakes in every game. And I feel that I just have to share with everyone,


1. Never Underestimate Your Opponent List

It's easy to say than done.. I cant deny the fact that sometimes I underestimated my opponent due to the weird thing/combo in their list, especially the opponent himself is a new player. I strongly believe every player build their list to a certain of degree of competitive, and once you fall into their competitive element of their list, you will soon find out you are in deep trouble. We have heard alot of all this new "weird" lists lately, like foot slogging eldar, 130 footslogging orks, the return of Nidzilla etc which are deadly if you did not handle it correctly. So, proceed with caution, unless you know your opponent codex like the back of hand.


2. Never Overestimate Your List

Unless you are playing army size above 2k or 3k which allow you to basically filled everything from your codex, otherwise every list have their own weakness. Do not have the mentality of your list is the best or unbeatable, you never know when the lady of luck turn her back on you or your next opponent has just design a list just to nail you.


3. After the Game

Well.. what did you guys do after the game ?? Laughing at the funny moment that happened in the game just now ?? Or frustrated on the dice roll that screwed you big time ?? Well.. be honest, I did both of these before too. But now, I would quickly summarize what I have did well and what mistake I made while the game is still fresh in my mind and learn to it. It helps a lot to improve you as a player tactically. Of course, do not forgotten to shake and joke with your opponent.

Sunday, June 20, 2010

First Week of the League




So the league has started. And I have managed to grab 2 wins from two respected hobbyists. What I'm going to share today is about pre-match preparation, preparation before the game started.

1. Know your opponent

I cant stress this enough to myself, make sure you know your opponent list, because that would seriously affect how you going to deploy your army. Even if the opponent is an old friend that you play week in and week out, still there is no harm to just throw in a quick question, "Same list, old pal ??" You have every right to know your opponent list prior the start of the game.


2. Analyze your opponent list

Getting the list is just the starter, make sure you read / analyze your opponent list, at least you need to know what unit threatening you the most. If you are unsure about something in the list, or any special rules that come with a special named character, I always make sure I ask my opponent to explain clearly to me. Other than that, when you look into your opponent list, you can roughly predict how your opponent will do to go against your list. For example, nobz bikers will most likely charge into your army asap, and you can pretty sure an IG leafblower will just dig in and blast you to the next kingdom come. Knowing this, you should start to prepare yourself on what you might face in a short while.


3. Relax and Play

Dont fret just because it's a league/tournament. Relax yourself and have fun. You will not play full to your standard if you are nervous. Just face the game itself and love your model like you used to.


League game is a long and ongoing tournament, make sure you are well prepared and you can definitely score a good spot in the league table. And no matter how well you play or how your dice abandon you at the critical moment, just remember this is still a game and make sure you have fun.

Friday, June 18, 2010

Let the League Begin !!

Alright, I must admit I'm darn busy to update my blog. And thanks to the staff in CM for organizing such an event that does not require models to be fully painted, I present to you, CM League.

So, here's my list for the league,

1500

HQ - Lash prince with wings
HQ - Nurgle prince with warptime

Elites - 5 men chosen, 3x melta, 2x plasmagun, rhino
Elites - 5 men chosen, 3x melta, 2x plasmagun, rhino

Troop - 5 men CSM, IoCG, rhino
Troop - 5 men Plague Marine, 2x melta, champion, powerfist, p. icon, rhino

Heavy - 2x Obliterator
Heavy - 2x Obliterator
Heavy - 2x Obliterator


1750

HQ - Lash prince with wings
HQ - Nurgle prince with warptime

Elites - 5 men chosen, 3x melta, 2x plasmagun, rhino
Elites - 5 men chosen, 3x melta, 2x plasmagun, rhino

Troop - 5 men CSM, IoCG, rhino
Troop - 8 men Plague Marine, 2x melta, champion, powerfist, p. icon, rhino

Heavy - 3x Obliterator
Heavy - 3x Obliterator
Heavy - 7x Havocs, 4x autocannon, IoCG


So I have the honor to start the league by playing the first game against one of the most respected veteran in the shop and he played Blood Angel !! My first time going against BA and I must admit I was quite nervous at the start after hearing how evil BA is. My mate aint familiar with his league list therefore giving me the chance to pull off a win in this first league game of mine. So I guess it's a friendly game after all with no help from outsiders, dont fret just because it's a tournament match as it would definitely affect my decision.

More league games tomorrow, let's see how my non-evil list fair.

Monday, May 31, 2010

When Everything Seems Hopeless...


When we talk about power gaming, it's all about winning. And in order to win, you need to get ready yourself to go against all kinds of nasty army build, or better known as cheese list that your opponent might field. And whether or not you are fielding a good list (good army build, but not cheese *grin*) or also another cheese build (*evil grin*), you will sooner or later found out that your list is no match against your opponent is one or some of the aspect in the game (except you and your opponent fielding the exactly same units from the same codex).

So, that's what we are going to discuss in this article. Prior to choosing side, you request your opponent army list and notice you will be either outgun, outnumber or your opponent will crush like an ant when they get close to you, or even worse, your list stands little chance to even secure a draw, by just looking at the paper !! I had that moment on last weekend when playing a game with another friend of mine, he play the infamous lash prince + abby + 9 obby + 2 squad plague marines list - outgun most of the units out there and abby can crush anyone like a bug. And then take a look at my poor list, I have nothing that can go head to head with him !! I told myself, oh well... screw this, let's do my best and see how's the game goes. At the end, I lost the game by 8:5 in an annihilation mission. Not too shabby as I predicted myself will get my ass whooped very badly but the result aint any something that should be proud of neither. And I thought to myself, it's either I think out of a solution to go against army like his, or I can just kiss the tournament goodbye.

My friend list is just one of the many famous cheese list (sorry Peter, couldnt think any better word to describe it, but hey, I have no grudge for losing that one :P) I'm sure you heard of chaos double lash + 9 obby, IG leaf blower or Orks' nobz bikers, and these list sure outgun or outfight you one way or another. So, what would you do when you found out that your chances of winning is thin by just judging the list ??

I have thought a lot about the game I had with Peter. And I have think a way and eager to try that next round when I meet him again or face another guy with a list that could outgun me. The solution that I could think of is, put everything in reserve and avoid their gun line using terrain pieces. Just avoid is not enough to win the game, strike on the weak spot is needed !! Like against my friend list, obviously the soft spot is his rhino in a kill point mission... Let's see how I do this weekend with this concept in mind :)

And what would you do if you are in such situation ??

Tuesday, May 4, 2010

Swapping with Your Opponent

I have quite a number of games in my belly last weekend at Comic Mart, and surprisingly, I didnt play Chaos in any of these games (I bet my models are mad at me for taking them out but not playing them). I play 2 games with Sis and a game with SM. I have found myself quite fond of playing non-CSM, not for the factor of fun, but towards understanding the other codex better.

Although I must admit I was very clumsy at playing something that I have not played before, especially when it's not T4 army :P However, I found it quite fun and it really helps to understand a codex better when you play with them on the battlefield. I cant say I'm an sister expert now, however, the sister list that I think is tough to beat (3 exo, 4 squads of sob and cannoness standard sister list) are not impossible to beat, the problem is whether you understand the codex or not. What sun tzi said is correct, you cant win if you dont know yourself and your enemy, you have 50% chance of winning if you know yourself well but not enemy, and you will win if you know both yourself and enemy well.

So, next time if you think a list is unbeatable, why not request your opponent to switch list with you, and I'm sure you will know its weakness in the matter of time. :)

Monday, April 5, 2010

Weekend Summary

I had a total of 4 games over the last weekend, first 2 at Legio Malaysia and another 2 at Hobby Forge. I swap my 10x CSM squad with a 7 men fully kitted Noise Marines as I felt that I lack of anti hordes capability.

First game vs old pal Redeye on a spearhead annihilation mission. The terrain setup was pretty disadvantage to both of us as our lists relies alot on our heavy support. I decided to split my armies into two, one on flanking while the other part going through the middle of the table as there's a big ruin that provide cover for both of us. However, once I managed to lash his most killy unit, the assault termies + cassius to middle, I abandon my initial plan to focus all fire on them. At the end, I won this game with a very very small margin. I felt that I could have accomplish more should I stick to my original plan as by the end of the game, my DPs were all dead due to overkill the assault termies then get shot to death before reaching the next line, while the rest of the troops cant reach to his support line in time by the time game ended. Oh well.. lesson learnt.

Second game vs joe, 2 LRs fully filled with berzerkers and Abaddon. Mission was C&C on dawn of war. I won the roll and decided to let him go first. (not sure if this is a good decision though, you tell me) I lost this game as I lost all my troops and couldnt lash his troop far enough away from his own objective. Made a big mistake by not popping smoke on my plague marines rhino (there were sent to capture his objective while the rest of the army sitting at base to welcome Abby and gang) and his termicide DS in time and pop my rhino. Ended up my plague marine were tie down since Turn 3 by ctermies. Should have never underestimate the destruction termicide can bring next time. Roll were average.

Third game vs Jarvin, an Orks player. He fieled warboss, 60+ orks boys on foot, big meks, helikopta and tankbusta. My first hordes opponent, and we are playing annihilate/dawn of war. I TA him by turn 5 as I have some lucky roll on the lash distance combined with doom siren and plasma cannon that did major damage to his boys before I assaulted them. Roll were average on my side but poor Jarvin had below average dice roll that day.

Fourth game vs another old pal, Wong. Wong is using some alot units time wasting list. Mission were annihilate/pitch battle. I split my forces two parts again due to very little cover available from my side. I won the game by 9-5, I think. Lesson learnt, I shouldnt always try to split my troops into two as if it werent some lucky rolls, I might have been TA-ed for quite some time. Lash prince died on 1st turn without even moving 1 inch is a good example in this game. Roll were bad at the start then roll become above average after turn 2.

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

My 1st Tournament

On 20th March 2010, I headed a big first step in my tabletop experience where I participated my first Warhammer 40k tournament after playing near to 1 year.

Held by Game Forge Penang, the tournament itself is in 400pts Combat Patrol. No soft score such as sportmanship and painting score will be recorded in this tournament, solely winning point and score. Every participant will need to play 3 games and the one who score the most will win the tournament, more like a league game to me.

There are certain rules and restriction on the list itself which I will not go into details. The major restriction were no model with more than 2 wounds, more than 2+ armor sv/invul sv and at least 1 troop. And here's my list,

6 men plague marines, 2 meltagun, champ with pf
5 men havocs with 4 autocannon, IoCG
Rhino

My 3 rounds opponents were, 2 10 men Ultramarines, Runic priest + long fang SW and an Dark Eldar that field warrior with haemoculus + gang on jetbikes. I recorded 2 clear wins and a clear lost against the SW player. I was told that I was pretty close to claim the third spot, however I'm satisfied with the result seeing this is my first tournament as I dont expect myself to win anything, more towards to how I adapt to the tournament environment. I must admit I'm quite nervous on my first game, although all opponents are all friendly gentlemen. :)

Congratulations to all the winners and I must say I really enjoy the tournament itself. Sporecon NEXT !!

That's Why It Started.....

Everyone have their own definition when it comes to defining or explaining a word. Due to the experience, environment and other factors that come into play which affect a person's attitude and POV on certain thing. This theory apply to me as I am no different than you, who are reading this article and others whom we met daily. Before I start babbling, let me describe myself in a few sentences so that you know where my definition came from on this topic later on.

I am an ambitious person, in real life and I never hide my nature because that how I behaved !! And those who know me for quite some time all are aware of it, describing me as competitive, wanted to win and other similar description. My experience in tabletop are pretty short, in fact, I started somewhere mid of 2009, so I have not even have 1 full year of experience in 40k tabletop as of writing this article. But to me, all the games are the same, and cruel, sadly to say where winner/loser have to be determined at the end of the game. And due to the nature of the game itself, that where the concept of power gaming started from.

The most simple way to define the word "power gaming" is do whatever it takes to win. There's nothing wrong with it, isnt it ?? What's wrong when somebody is trying to win ?? Isnt that what we have been educated all these years ?? Our parents asked us to study hard so that we get 1st in the class (I dont know if your parents asked you this, but surely my parents and most of the parents in Malaysia do !!)

From my POV, it's absolutely nothing wrong for "wanted to win", but, how come some people do not want to admit or afraid to be labeled as power gamers ?? From my experience, it's all because some of these power gamers will do whatever it takes to win, even if it's unethical, and that's where the trouble begun. Of course, I'm not encouraging you to be an unethical power gamers but I do believe power gaming in an ethical way will make you, and me :) more than welcome in the gaming community. I believe so, and I shall insist to do so in my path of power gaming.

And, that's why this blog is started.