Why so serious?

With college and other things bogging me down, I've had no time to thing of something to write, nevermind actually write it, but, I got a day off so I have time to clear my head. And the first thing that came to me, was competitiveness.

Yes thats right, Draigowing, VenomSpam, Leafblower/Mech Castle lists, you guys are in the firing line today.

In all fairness, yes, they are cool. Who doesn't love throwing shed tonnes of 2+ Force Weapon wielding douchebags at your enemies pitifully thought out list. Its amazing to see a Land Raider get tore into ribbons from 3 ugly little Space Elves with Blasters. And im sure its super-fun sitting behind an AV12, smoke-popping wall of ''come at me bro'', and shelling the high hell out of your opponent.  But I ask you, is it in the spirit of good sportsmanship.

When I started playing I just got the models I liked the look of, and thought the rules were pretty cool. But a friend introduced me to ''competitive'' list making and once you know how to do it, It decends upon you like a dark mist, sucking ALL the fun out of playing. Be that using the list, or playing against it.

If i'm honest, I've only seen one guy, with a brilliant list and all of the models are pretty well painted. The rest are just thrown together, sprayed and passed off as ''good enough''. In my opinion alot of what the hobby is supposed to be, is lost with these kinda lists. The game should be, ''who is the better player'' and not ''I can counter 99% of your list, checkmate, you lose''.

This kinda thing puts me off trying to get down to some of the bigger tournaments. Im loving my local tournaments. We get one or two WAAC lists but, the majority is just people who love the hobby, frequently make movie references, such as ''Ill be back'' and ''THIS IS SPARTA'' and enjoy playing with toy soldiers in the safety of a hall full other other people who love playing with them. To these people, I commend you. To those rock/paper/scissor players, if your enjoying playing, not winning, playing, then alls well. But if not guys, maybe you oughta re-think you warhammer life.

All the Best :)

Remember the days when Dreadnoughts without Twin Autocannons were cool?

(Not much of a blog post, more of an early morning rant but, meh, I feel I needed to put it out there)

Day 2 - Local Tournament

Well, my day 2 was great on the most part. 2 Kill points games with added objectives. My objective was to eliminate 50% of my opponents Infantry models. His, as it turn out, was to eliminate 50% of my Armour.

First Game -
Ive played this guy before, he's awesome. Grey Knights, no specific list build. Land Raider, Draigo, 10 Terminators including Justicar Thawn.

Second Game -
Imperial Guard. More or less a Leaf-blower.  This guy has won the past three or four tournaments, and he knew my list. I play him on weekends to get a better grasp of competitive play. So, I knew it was a loss from the start.

Heres a run-down of my first game.

Opponents list as I recall. I'm not great with GK unit names so.

Grey Knights -
Kaldor Draigo
10 Terminators with Force Weapon Shenanigans, one guy is Justicar Thawn, Brotherhood Banner, Psycannon, Incinerator.
Land Raider with a 10man Purifier Squad inside.
10 Man Interceptor Squad
5 Man, what im assuming is a Strike Squad
Dreadknight with Hammer, Heavy Incinerator and Heavy Psycannon.

Deployment - I got first turn

Again, urban ruins, different table from my first game.
Big Ruin in the centre, causing all kinds of cover saves.
Ruined area in each corner - area terrain.

I deploy a unit of Long Fangs, Blood Claws and my Grey Hunter without Njal in the ruins on the right. Supported by my Lascannon Dreadnought and Razorback.

On the left, I deploy my Long Fangs in the ruin, Predator behind some pipes, jutting off of the building. Grey Hunters WITH Njal next to them.

Opponents Deployment -
Dreadknights gets made into a Scout unit, so, he outflanks it.
Deploys his Interceptors in the ruined area terrain on my right. Land Raider and Terminators deployed to their right. So basically, I got denied a flank. Not happy at this point. (Well, I was very happy, but still)

He fails to steal, so, I start the game.

My Turn 1 -
My Drop Pod slams down in front of the Interceptors in the ruins.
My Grey Hunters on the right, leave the terrain and start moving left toward Njal and Friends. Blood Claws leave terrain and start making towards the ruin in the centre. Njal and Friends shuffle towards my Predator, to hide and get some cover.
First shot of the shooting phase ... Predator Lascannon .... hits ... penetrates ... fails cover ... wrecks ....
At this point I have this huge, horrid, cheesy smile on my face that I just cant shift.
The Purifiers that come out, get split fired by Plasma Cannons and lose 7 of them.
My VenDread sends a Plasma Cannon shot into the Interceptors killing only 1.
Njal launches a Living Lightning into the Interceptors and they take 3 wounds, and make 3 saves.
Long Fangs on the right fire Lascannons into the Interceptors, they make a single cover save, and I end my turn.

Opponents Turn 1 -
Basically, Terminators slither up the left side, to avoid my Plasma Cannons. Purifiers move away from their former transport towards my VenDread and Drop Pod.
They fire some Incinerators into the Drop Pod, with no effect. Interceptors fire some Psycannon shots into my Dread, immobilising and stopping him from shooting next turn.

My Turn 2 -
Blood Claws move toward the centre ruin. Grey Hunters towards Njal and Friends. Right-Hand Long Fangs move towards the centre ruin, but only get a 2 for Difficult Terrain. Predator reverses out of area terrain and immobilises.
Terminators take some Plasma and Lascannon shots from my Long Fangs and 3 hit the deck, one being Thawn, and I lose a Long Fang, as his Plasma Cannon blows up and engulfs him in glowing death. Not much in turn 2.

Opponents Turn 2 -
More sly Terminator movement up the side of the board. Thawn comes back to life. Dreadknight comes on via outflank behind my LasDread and Razorback. I later find out my opponents objective was to kill 50% of my Armour.
More Incinerator fire into my Pod, no effect. More Psycannon shots into my Dread, stopping him from shooting next turn. Dreadknight fires into my Razorback with its Heavy Incinerator and and Heavy Psycannon, stunning it, and managing to hit my Dread with the Incinerator, but failing to cause a glancing hit. He then assaults my Razorback, my gut drops, its fails to do anything spectacular, my gut rises, in the end it is immobilised.

My Turn - 3
Blood Claws move towards the ruin in the middle. Grey Hunters towards Njal. On the right, my Dreadnought fires into the Dreadknight. Causing a wound. Then my Long Fangs drop 2 Plasma Cannons, 2 Lascannons and a Krak Missile into him, finishing him off. On the left, My Long Fangs fire into the 3man Purifier Squad , leaving them with one man, they fail their test, and run away.
Njal casts Jaws of the World Wolf and sucks Thawn into the planet.

Opponents Turn - 3
More Terminator snaking round out of sight of my Long Fangs. Deep Strikes a 5 Man Strike Squad into a ruin near my Razorback. Guy with the Hammer dies on landing. The single Purifier rallies, and runs in the cover by the Interceptors. Strike Squad fires into my Razorback with a Psycannon, but, it passes its cover saves and remains, relatively unscathed.. And Thawn comes back to life.

My Turn - 4
Wolf Scouts come in on the left, up near the single Purifier.
Grey Hunters meet up with Njal. Blood Claws hit the centre of the field. Njal uses Jaws of the World Wolf, and takes out a Psycannon Terminator. Left-hand Long Fangs and Predator fire into the Interceptors, killing 2. Wolf Scouts unload their Bolter clips into the Lone Purifier, killing him. My Long Fangs, Dreadnought and Razorback on the right flank, fire into the Interceptors, killing 2 more.

Opponents Turn - 4
Terminators spring out of cover and dash towards my Predator. I let out a friendly comment saying ''If you do THAT, I'm gonna fire 8 Plasma Gun Shots and 2 Plasma Cannon shots into them guys''. He fires into my Dread, stopping it from shooting next turn ... on 4 dice results ...

My Turn - 5
Njal and Friends fall back, and the other Grey Hunter Squad takes their place. Wolf Scouts move up and Rapid Fire into the Interceptors, killing two more. Morale Test, they pass. Grey Hunters fire 4 Plasma Shots into them, killing another Terminator. Long Fangs fire into them, killing another 2 with Plasma fire also, all the  Lascannon shots were saved by cover. Njal goes to cast JoTWW at Kaldor Draigo BUT, fails on an 11.

Opponents Turn - 5

At this point, my opponent realises, he's lost, so he goes for my armour to try and get his secret objective.
So, his Terminators make a mad dash towards my Drop Pod. His Interceptors fire into my VenDread, hoping to get a wreck, but, with it being a Venerable, I make him re-roll all the fatal results, in the end, he has no guns, and cant move. He then assaults the Drop Pod, blowing it up, and losing Justicar Thawn.

We roll for turn 6, i roll a 2, game ends, we shake and comment on how it was a fairly one sided game, but, I've played this guy a few times, and he HATES playing Space Wolves.

I win 6 - 1

We both get our secret objectives, I get 2 points for mine, he gets one. My Objective was to slay 50% or more of my opponents infantry, which I did, with utmost ease.

I only ended up coming 8th or something, which is weird, with a 3 - 0 - 2 record ... but, I guess everybody was going hell for leather trying to get their secret objectives. All in All, had a great weekend, next one is in February, and I cant wait.

Day 1 - Local Tournament

We should really get a name for this tournament shouldnt we ... hmmm

Anyhoo, 3 games, first game was Kill Points with an added secret objective. My objective was to assassinate my opponents main HQ, I nearly did to, but we'll get to that. Played a great friendly Nilla Marines player, he had a beautiful rogue trader Dreadnought, +5 style points my friend :)

2nd game was more or less King of the Hill, I won that one too. My Long Fangs played a huuuuuge part in me winning that game, his army was mainly comprised of 3 Rhinos with Tactical Squads in two of them and a Command Squad in one, then a Tactical Squad in a Razorback. So he was easily more mobile than I was,  but, I got to bring more fire power to the table, rendering his tin cans useless.

My 3rd game was awesome, one objective in the middle, we place one each, I played against my best friend who was fielding a Foot Eldar List. 2 20Man Guardian Blobs, 2 Dire Avenger squads, Eldrad, Avatar, 2 Dakka Wraithlords and 3 D-Cannon platforms. no matter which way I went towards it, the D-Cannons had the centre objective covered. 2+ to wound, AP 2, I was screwed. and the board was set so that everything my Long Fangs sniped at, got cover. But, I had great fun so...

This Battle Report is from sheer memory, so bear with me :)

Game 1 - Ultramarines

Opponents List -
Captain w/Relic Blade, Meltabombs, Iron Halo
Command Squad w/ Apothecary, Champion and Plasma Gunners - in a Razorback

Dreadnought w/ Twin-linked Autocannon and Assault Cannon

3 Tactical Squads w/ Lascannon in 1, Missile Launcher in another, Multimelta in the 3rd and Meltaguns - One was in a Land Raider

 Devastator Squad w/ 4 or 5 Missile Launchers

Devastator Squad w/ 3 Heavy Bolters and 2 Missile Launchers

Scout Squad w/ Snipers and Missile Launcher in a Speeder w/ Heavy Bolter

Deployment -
Urban Ruined City
I deployed evenly along my table edge, Troops supported by atleast one unit with a Lascannon. One unit of Long Fangs in cover, in each corner building.

His deployment -
He didn't really have any building for his Devastators to sit in, so, one deployed inside a large three sectioned building and the other in the centre of his deployment zone in a ruin. Land Raider on my Left with his Razorback, by my Predator, Grey Hunters and 3 Plasma - 2 Lascannon Long Fangs. His Dreadnought on my right, almost totally unsupported.

I got turn one.

Turn 1 was more or less just moving things up into cover, spinning my Razorback round a ruin to block LoS to Njal and Friends, and take some pot shots at vehicles. Got a Shaken Result on the Dreadnought and shot a few guys out of the Tac Squads.

His turn didn't really amount to much, moving Tac Squads so the Heavy guns couldn't fire,  moving his Land Raider 12" forward towards my Grey Hunters entrenched behind a wall. Moved his Dreadnought towards my Blood Claws in a ruin. Shuffled his Devastators around in their respective hidey holes.

Turn 2 was alot better for me. Started dropping Plasma Cannon templates on his units, killing Tac Squads in droves. Wrecking his Land Raider with amassed Lascannon fire. Then Plasma'ing the Tac Squad to come out. Moved my Blood Claws up to the exit of the ruin, Njal and Friends moved up safely behind the Razorback, Njal launching Living Lightningbolts towards the Dreadnought, accomplishing sweet diddly, so as you can tell, I'm ready to launch a mass frontal assault on his positions on the flanks and his Dreadnought sitting defiant, dead in the centre of the field.

His turn, again, didn't accomplish much. A few Lascannons that missed. Some Assault Cannon shots bouncing off my Blood Claws. And some Heavy Bolters missing, 9 shots, and not one hit ...

Turn 3 - Wolf Scouts came in on his table edge, running and bombing the Razorback, only managing to destroy its Heavy Bolter. I finished off the guys out of the Land Raider with massed Grey Hunter bolter fire. My Blood Claws leave the ruins and make a mad dash towards the Dreadnought, only to be stopped by a ''for the LULZ'' Dreadnought Lascannon shot into its side, making it explode. VERY anticlimactic. Got more Tactical Marines getting eaten in droves of bolter and plasma fire. Njal and Crew slink up the right side, poised to hit the small number of Tactical Marines sitting behind a barricade, sending Lascannon shots screaming towards my Razorback. And Njal takes it upon himself to call upon the planet to eat the Lascannon Marine ... and luckily for me, it does - YAY!

His turn, his Command Squad get out and assault my Wolf Scouts (thinking back, he couldn't have done that but, meh.) Land Speeder arrives on my left, lets some Snipers out, and they assault my Long Fangs, if only to keep them tied up, and they do, drawn combat. Tons of bolter fire cut my Grey Hunter Squad down to a man, he passes Morale and stands, like a boss.

Turn 4 - Dreadnought, Njal and his Grey Hunters move up the side towards a Devastator Squad and the two remaining Tac Marines. The two lonely Tac marines get eradicated by Njal's psychic prowess. The Devastator Squad in the ruin gets assaulted by my Dreadnought, to keep the sneaky buggers tied up. My Long Fangs win their combat by one, but the Scouts stand. Blood Claws run into a ruin ready to assault the Devastator Squad inside there. I fire my Long Fangs into the Squad, to soften them up, and end up killing the last Missile Launcher and Heavy Bolter gunner. Again, my Blood Claws are left with nothing to kill, they pull sad faces, and I end my turn.

His Turn - His Command Squad jumps back in the Razorback and it zooms along his deployment zone towards my Blood Claws. His Scouts get tore apart. His Devastators get smashed into a pulp. My turn.

Turn 5 - This ended up being the last turn of a fairly one sided game. Blood Claws move up the ruin towards the Razorback, Power Fist crackling at the ready. Njal and Friends hook round towards the Blood Claws, my Dreadnought moves up, but is just out of sight of the Razorback. Blood Claws roll difficult terrain to assault the Razorback .... 1 and a 2 ... they just sorta ... fall over ....

His turn 5 - Lets his Command Squad out and assaults my Blood Claws (again this shouldn't have happened BUT, the game was mine anyway so I just let it slip) He loses his Champion and two Veterans. I lose 4 unworthy initiates. My guys stay thanks to Njal being just close enough to allow a re-roll on their Morale Check with his Saga of Majesty.

At this point, my friend Bede waltzes over and says, ''with me being the 'neutral party', shall I roll to see if the game continues?'', we both agree and let him, and OF-COURSE, he rolls a two ... One more turn and Njal would have joined the fray and I would have gained my Secret objective .... damn  ...

Final Score, 6 - 1 to me, my opponent killed 50 % of my infantry some how .... and got his secret objective ....

All in all, brilliant game to start the day :) .