Cry Havoc - and let loose the Bugs of War!

We Have Moved!

2011-02-17T15:39:00.001-05:00

Please go to HTTP://EVILED209.BLOGSPOT.COM

Final Post – Blog Re-Booting!

2011-02-17T15:37:00.002-05:00

Okay, so for those of you who are reading this post you already know I have not really kept up with this little blog. Once the “This Week in 40K Podcasting” article took off and was a hit over at From the Warp, I have neglected this poor little blog in favor of working on the article. That article took up a huge amount of my time to write, as it was a massive block of text. However, with the new format of the article, thanks Ron, I now have a lot more free time on my hands and wanted to get back to blogging! So I wanted to do a reboot of the whole blog. First, when I first started this blog I knew nothing about blogging, and I am not so sure I know much more now. But, since I got started, I realize that the obscenely long URL for this blog is something I wanted to change, say to something my simpler like eviled209.blogspot.com. So I will be closing this blog down and moving everything over to http://eviled209.blogspot.com

Second, I wanted to cover all of my hobby and gaming with the blog and leave the article to strictly From the Warp. So no more post that the article is up, that’s kind of a dead post anyway, right?.

Third, I wanted to be more active, say post at least twice a week on top of the article. I think I can do this now.

So, those of you who still read this, take notice… we are moving!

Thanks to everyone for your support!

Ed

This Week in 40K Podcasting – 11/20 - 11/26

2010-11-26T15:47:00.001-05:00

Just a friendly reminder readers, that This Week in 40K Podcasting will release tomorrow morning on the blog From the Warp:

http://fromthewarp.blogspot.com/

Thanks for reading!

This Week in 40K Podcasting – 11/13 - 11/19

2010-11-19T15:55:00.001-05:00

Just a friendly reminder readers, that This Week in 40K Podcasting will release tomorrow morning on the blog From the Warp:

http://fromthewarp.blogspot.com/

Thanks for reading!

This Week in 40K Podcasting – 10/23 - 10/29

2010-10-29T20:15:00.001-04:00

Just a friendly reminder readers, that This Week in 40K Podcasting will release tomorrow morning on the blog From the Warp:

http://fromthewarp.blogspot.com/

Thanks for reading!

This Week in 40K Podcasting – 10/16 - 10/22

2010-10-22T15:52:00.003-04:00

Just a friendly reminder readers, that This Week in 40K Podcasting will release tomorrow morning on the blog From the Warp:

http://fromthewarp.blogspot.com/

Thanks for reading!

This Week in 40K Podcasting – 10/9 - 10/15

2010-10-15T16:08:00.001-04:00

Just a friendly reminder readers, that This Week in 40K Podcasting will release tomorrow morning on the blog From the Warp:

http://fromthewarp.blogspot.com/

Thanks for reading!

This Week in 40K Podcasting – 10/2 - 10/8

2010-10-08T15:28:00.002-04:00

Just a friendly reminder readers, that This Week in 40K Podcasting will release tomorrow morning on the blog From the Warp:

http://fromthewarp.blogspot.com/

Thanks for reading!

This Week in 40K Podcasting – 9/25 - 10/1

2010-10-01T14:08:00.002-04:00

Just a friendly reminder readers, that This Week in 40K Podcasting will release tomorrow morning on the blog From the Warp:

http://fromthewarp.blogspot.com/

Thanks for reading!

This Week in 40K Podcasting – 9/18 – 9/24

2010-09-24T14:20:00.002-04:00

Just a friendly reminder readers, that This Week in 40K Podcasting will release tomorrow morning on the blog From the Warp:

http://fromthewarp.blogspot.com/

Thanks for reading!

This Week in 40K Podcasting – 9/11 – 9/17

2010-09-17T21:12:00.001-04:00

Just a friendly reminder readers, that This Week in 40K Podcasting will release tomorrow morning on the blog From the Warp:

http://fromthewarp.blogspot.com/

Thanks for reading!

40K News: It's Alive, ALIVE I Tell You!

2010-09-10T16:05:00.003-04:00

Well, I am back in the blogging game! The parts have been unpacked from my friends over at Tiger Direct, and they have been put together. I applied a gentle but firm amount of electricity and swearing and the new Trippe Cored PC is up and running!

I have a few artiles I was in mid-writing of that I want to finish up and post as soon as I can. A Unit break down of the Genestealer vs. the Hormagaunt. An analysis of the phases of the game of 40K, starting with the EndGame. Some of my hobby stuff, the Painting of a Gaunt from plastic to flock. A lot of stuff is comming so stay tuned guys!

Thanks for reading!

This Week in 40K Podcasting – 9/4 – 9/10

2010-09-10T13:41:00.002-04:00

Just a friendly reminder readers, that This Week in 40K Podcasting will release tomorrow morning on the blog From the Warp:

http://fromthewarp.blogspot.com/

Thanks for reading!

This Week in 40K Podcasting – 8/28 – 9/3

2010-09-03T16:01:00.003-04:00

Just a friendly reminder readers, that This Week in 40K Podcasting will release tomorrow morning on the blog From the Warp:

http://fromthewarp.blogspot.com/

Thanks for reading!

40K News: Computer Epic Fail!

2010-08-29T17:26:00.003-04:00

We Are Experiencing Technical Difficulties!

So a lovely thing happened to me this past week. My wife and kids were gathered around the family PC, a former monster of a gaming PC back in its day six years ago, when all of a sudden, it just died. And I mean, died, as in dead, for good, and un-fixable death. After some work pull the Video Card to see if it had died, to checking each of the RAM chips to see if they had failed, to determining that the Hard Drive was still good, I came to the conclusion that either my Motherboard had Fried, or the Processor.

Now, I will start off by saying that this was not a welcomed failure. The PC, while it was 6 years old, had done a great job gaming foe me and it was not until recently that its age was beginning to show. Starcraft 2! However, since it is now dead and the wife was not to upset about building a new one, my new gaming PC components are on the way. Thanks to my friends over at Tiger Direct, I have a new PC on the way!

It will have a 450W Tower with a three core, AMD Processor, 4G of RAM, a terabyte of Hard Drive storage, and a 1G HD Video Card. If all of that is geek mumbo jumbo to you, just know that I will not be able to post as much as I wanted until my new PC arrives and is built. It will be here Tuesday, conveniently on my gaming night, so I will have no 40K this week either, which is suckish!

But, soon, I'll be back on my feet and gaming again. I'll keep you posted!

This Week in 40K Podcasting – 8/21 – 8/27

2010-08-27T14:47:00.002-04:00

Just a friendly reminder readers, that This Week in 40K Podcasting will release tomorrow morning on the blog From the Warp:

http://fromthewarp.blogspot.com/

Thanks for reading!

40K News: Working is Killing Me

2010-08-26T14:02:00.002-04:00

Hey gang, I wanted to just let you all know that my work has been kicking my butt lately. I have been keeping up with my 40K Podcasts and my weekly article on From the Warp will be posted on time. However it has killed a lot of the time that I use to think about my next posting. In fact, I have having problems thinking in English right now and not in TransAct SQL. If you get that joke, you should understand. Point being I am just super busy at work and I have a back log of articles building up that I will try to get out this weekend. So the 'ol EvilEd209 is alive and well, just grinding his gears right now.

Thanks guys!

This Week in 40K Podcasting – 8/15 – 8/20

2010-08-20T09:58:00.001-04:00

Just a friendly reminder readers, that This Week in 40K Podcasting will release tomorrow morning on the blog From the Warp:

http://fromthewarp.blogspot.com/

Thanks for reading!

Where I learned to Paint Tyranids: Beasts of War

2010-08-19T22:35:00.001-04:00

So when the new 5th Edition Tyranid Codex dropped back in January I was seeking high and low for tips, tactics, and reviews of the Codex to determine where to go with the army and what new models to buy. I soon began to realize the potential power of the Tervigon and the endless possibilities that swarms of free Termagants running amok all over the board presented. But then it quickly dawned on me that at some point, if I wanted to go to the big tournaments, that I'd have to paint swarms of gaunts! Being pretty new to the game, having only really started when 5th Edition began, I had not quite nailed down a basic painting method yet. I had one good technique which was dry brushing, which I perfected on my Necrons, but I never really thought that the first Tyranids I painted this way were very good, and I wanted to do better.

After a few searches on YouTube I managed to find a then budding YouTube Channel based out of the UK called Beasts of War. They gave me a fantastic painting method that I had not heard of before, or more correctly never seen done before, which were the GW washes! I was amazed at the quality of this simple painting method of base coats, wash, and pick out a few details and done was capable of

Here is the video that taught me how to paint my Nids:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zqOowCEJNew&p=5EC99B140583ABAB&playnext=1&index=3

I wanted to give these guys full credit for the painting technique, while i was the one putting paint and wash to brush and then model, these guys showed me a simple and effective method on how to paint.

Here are some of the models I have painted thanks to this method:

Here is my Custom made Terigon made mostly from the Carnifex kit, with some spines and mandibles from the Trygon kit and one of those infested bits from the Genestealer kit:

Here are my Hive Guard:

And here is a small units of Hormagaunts:

And for the record, I just added the Baal Red wash to a 15 man unit of Termagants tonight and all they need to be finished is Bone White on the fangs and based and they'll be done too.

I'll post my progress!

Getting Back to Working Small: Painting Hoard Nids

2010-08-18T09:57:00.010-04:00

So I have to admit it, I have gotten very lazy when it comes to painting my 'Nid. I can't help it, there are a ton of them that need painted in a 100+ model army! I do not know that I have picked up a paint brush in like 3 months. And I don't know why, I want to paint them, I just have not been motivated to paint lately. My main problem as a husband and father of three is that my hobby time usually breaks down to either play or paint, and I choose play. So, my painting time has suffered for it.

One of the things that makes me the most proud as a 40K player is not the mob of gamers that stand around my table to watch my games, or the people that say to me 'I need to learn tactics from you', it is when someone picks up my custom Tervigon or my Hive Guard and Homagaunts and look at them and say, 'WOW, what a paint job!' The problem with my army is that less then 25% of my army is painted and it is a work in progress. Well, that and I also suffer from army OCD and every month I am dreaming about a new army (This month Blood Angels) and my poor 'Nids suffer from it. While they are my primary army and the one I know the best and smash face with, I am still trying to one-up them for some reason. It is like having a super hot girlfriend at home, and looking at porn on the internet. What the hell are you doing?

I have been meaning to finish the army since 'Ard Boys. I had this sick goal of showing up to 'Ard Boys 2010 with a fully painted 2500 Point 'Nid list, which I failed miserably at. But now with Adepticon looming in a little under 8 months, I will have to have at least 1850 points+ (thanks to my duel Tervigons) fully painted if I want to play in the tournaments there.

What spurred this line of thinking for me was that last night at the game store I got to see my good friend Shawn, who I have not seen in quite some time. Shawn showed up with some of his recently built and painted Orks, and he had done some of the same techniques that I use to paint my 'Nids, base coats and washes. They looked amazing, and I found myself being quite jealous of his army. Shawn has two kids, and yet he has managed to paint a small hoard of Orks since I last saw him. Heck, I even asked him, half joking and half not, if he wanted to paint some bugs for me.

One of the things he told me that he did since he had so little hobby time to work with was work small. He said to me that most nights he only gets an hour or so to paint before wife and kids pull him away, so he works small. Pull out five guys and do skin, then do carapace, then wash, then walk away. If I were to do that, soon, I'd have a ton of models done, five at a time, and they add up fast.

For me to get where I need to be by Adepticon, I need to complete like 20 Models a month. That is not really that hard of a goal to hit. So I am going to do it. As hard as it will be, I will have to put Starcraft 2 down one or two nights a week, catch up on True Blood and Big Love in the livingroom watching and painting at the same time. If I keep up this reasonable pace, I'll be done with plenty of time to spare for Adepticon. I of course will post my progress as I go.

Thanks Shawn! You inspire me! I think we need to setup some painting nights.

Well, I will try tonight to start painting and taking some pics for you all to see.

This Week in 40K Podcasting – 8/8 – 8/14

2010-08-13T14:54:00.002-04:00

Just a friendly reminder readers, that This Week in 40K Podcasting will release tomorrow morning on the blog From the Warp:

http://fromthewarp.blogspot.com/

Thanks for reading!

40K Battle Report: Tyranid Swarm vs. Space Marines 1000 Points

2010-08-10T21:28:00.003-04:00

First I wanted to let everyone know that we had a slight medical emergency in our family that has kept me away for a bit. But things are good now, everyone is healthy, and I am back to the blog!

Well, the final game of my local gaming store's mini-tournament was held tonight, which pitted myself and the swarm versus David and his Lysander lead Imperial Fists. We played a Seize Ground Mission with four objective and a Spearhead deployment. David did exactly what I thought he would do and bottled up his entire army into one corner, holding one objective, and was going to make me run across the board to get him. I had a rather different strategy in mind however. His army was Lysander with a 10 man TAC squad, Las-Plas-Fist, two other evidential ten man TAC squads, a Devastator squad with four missile launchers, and a landspeader. I ran my stock list. I deployed so that I was hold an objective at the beginning of the game and was within striking distance of the other two rather quickly. My strategy for this mission was to not play his game and run across the board to be murdered. I would sit and hold three objectives for as long as I could, spitting out gaunts to double up on the number of units holding them.

I stole the first turn and in retrospect I probably should have left him go first. It would have been better for me in the end to have had the last turn. The Tervigon pooped like a champ all game, never rolling doubles and running me fresh out of 120 gaunts. Turns 1 - 3 basically involved me ducking into and out of cover and charging forward slowly and carefully with a 15 man unit of gargoyles and the 30 man squad of hormagaunts. These were distractions to draw fire away from the mass of gaunts holding three objectives. David moved the landspeader around to try and keep it out of range of the Hive Guard but basically sat there for three turns taking pot shots with missiles and lascannons. doing little to no damage. As it came to his turn 4 it became blatantly obvious to him that I was not falling into his trap and he would have to move out to at least contest objective if he hope to not lose. So he moved the two TAC squads out to try to move towards the nearest objective as Lysander and his TAC squad were being eating alive by the hormagaunts.

Turn 5 should have been the end. I held three objectives and contested the fourth. His TAC marines were taking shots at my gaunts but not doing enough damage to matter. He also managed to take out my gargoyles, which means that they did their job and drew fire. A HUGE disappointment for me were the Hive Guard this game, as they pummeled the landspeeder turn after turn and the best I could do was keep it from shooting. I needed it dead because I knew what he planed to do with it. Lysander died turn 5 and there were four remaining marines in his squad. If the game ended on turn 5, I win holding three and contesting one. It does not.

Turn 6 is about the same story. His four marines on his objective do enough wounds to finally break and kill the homagaunts, and were now holding an objective for him. His marines moved forward some more, failed charges and were sitting out in the open for me to kill. He moves the landsppeder flat out to contest an objective. So, if the game ended on turn 6, I hold 2, he holds 1 with one contested. I still win. The game goes to turn 7. I hate when this happenes.

In the end I charged one of his two TAC squads with a 30 man gaunt squad, killing 8, but could not do what I wanted to do which was wipe the squad. His final ten man squad, now 6 due to some shooting on my part, charge my tervigon produced gaunt squad holding an objective and he contested now two objectives, held one, with me holding the last. A TIE, A DARN TIE!

I will take my hat off to David, he took a situation that I thought was hopeless and managed to pull out a draw. Good play on his part. His tie, however, took him out of contention for placing, as he finished 3-0-2. Mike won his game, finishing 4-0-1, and another player I was not aware, another Mike, also finished 4-0-1. So in the end there were three players at the end with a 4-0-1 record. It went to Battle points, needing a 500 point different to pull ahead. Mike finished third with something like 3500 VP. Mike and I were each over 4000 with less then 200 points in difference in VPs. The owner gave us the option for a playoff game next week, but Mike was going to be out of country the next few weeks. We decided to call it a tie and split 1st place.

So, in the end, a free $25 gift card for the 'ol EvilEd209 which I turned into some paint and a Broodlord for the 'Nids. It was lots of fun and I am very happy with my performance. I do wish I had rolled better to blow up that darn landspeeded as the game would have been mine and sole possession of 1st would have been nice. I am not sure what comes next, a full tournament I would think, but I'll keep you all posted.

Thanks guys!

This Week in 40K Podcasting – 7/31 – 8/7

2010-08-06T10:11:00.003-04:00

Just a friendly reminder readers, that This Week in 40K Podcasting will release tomorrow morning on the blog From the Warp:

http://fromthewarp.blogspot.com/

Thanks for reading!

40K Battle Report: 1000 Point Tyranid Swarm vs. Blood Angels

2010-08-04T13:04:00.003-04:00

So here we are at week four of the five week mini-tournament at my FLGS. This week I played one of the top players on the leader board, Greg, who was running a real nasty Blood Angels list. I have to admit that this list concerned me a bit, as he was running a 7 man Death Company Squad with a Chaplin, a Furioso Dreadnought with Blood Talons in a drop pod, a 10 man assault squad with 2 meltas and a power fist accompanied by a Captain on a jump pack with power weapon, and a second 10 man assault squad, two meltas and a fist. While the list only consisted on 31 models vs my 120 or so after the Tervigon pooped out gaunts, his units were hard! They were geared for close combat and had a real good chance of wiping squads off of the board.

I ran my stock list (1 Tervigon HQ with TS, AG, Catalyst, 2 30 man gaunt squads, a 30 man hormagaunt squad with with TS & AG, 2 Zoeys, and 2 Two man Hive Guard Squads for the Dread) and we played Seize Ground with 4 objective and a Spearhead deployment. I desperately wanted Greg to go first to ensure that I would get the charge on turn one, however he won the roll and let me setup first. Very smart. I genuinely believe that my deployment and target priority were the key to the game. I positioned the Hive guard for maximum coverage of the board to make sure I could hit that Dread when it landed, that thing can eat gaunt squads for breakfast. I also put the Zoey up front for needed synapse support, and the Warp Lance/Warp Blast powers to hit Death Company with. I intertwined all of my units of gaunts to ensure that cover saves were a plenty on the board, and I set the Tervigon back, in cover to boost the gaunts holding two objectives.

My turn one I held back, I could have charged the hormagaunts forward, but they would have been charged by the Death Company, so I made sure I was out of his assault range and dug into cover for the saves. The Hive Guard took some pot shots at the Death Company, killing one, and the Zoeys rocked them with Warp Blast, killing two more. The Tervigon hit the hormagaunts with Catalyst and pooped out an 11 man unit that I position in cover to hold an object I already held. His turn one he moved the Death Company up and took some shoots at the homagaunt squad doing 6 wounds, all of which the cover saves/feel no pain took off of the board. He drop that dread right near an objective and hit may Hive Guard with the heavy flamer and the melta, doing a wound. He held an objective with one assault squad and moved the other up.

Turn two are glorious for the 'Nids, the Hive Guard Immobilized the Dread, the Zoeys finished him off, and the second unit of Hive guard took pot shots at Death Company, doing nothing. I charged forward with the hormagaunts, taking down all but the Chaplin and one Death Company out before they could strike. They killed off four gaunts but my two major threats on the board were all but neutralized. On his Turn two his Death Company and Chaplin bought it and he moved his second assault squad up and spread them out to hold one objective and contest another.

My Turn three the remaining homagaunts slammed in his full assault squad with the Captain in it and took out five grunts. The Zoeys and Hive Guard peppered the assault squad hold/contesting two objective and knocked them down to a 5 man squad and pushed them off of an objective. It was down hill for Greg from here. My gaunt squads, the normal Termagants, never saw combat and the homagaunts and elite choices did most of the work. Greg conceded the game by turn four.

In low point tournaments such as this, say 1250 and under, hoard armies do very well and I am very impressed with their performance over the last four games. There are simply just too many wounds out there to do for low model count armies to shoot. I have been lucky with the folks I have played as most of them are running 30 model armies or under. I usually out number them 3 or even 4 to 1. And for every model they loss, it is a much larger percentage of their army coming off of the board.

So, David my friendly rival, won his game against a noob (good job!), and Mike won his as well. So here I am, one week left in the tournament sitting all alone at 4 - 0 with 4000 Victory Points. David and Mike are both sitting a 3-0-1. Everyone else has 2 wins or less and are pretty much mathematically out of this tournament. So, even if I were to lose next week, I am still guaranteed at least third place. David, as I expected, challenged me for the final week and of course I accepted. His list and tactics do not scare me. He runs a Vanilla Marine list with Lysander as his HQ. He usually has three TAC squads with heavy weapons, which, aside from the Tervigon will do close to nothing verses my hoard, and a 10 man squad with Lysander. I think that there is a Rhino or Whirlwind in my future as well, but spreading out will cure that. Like the coward that he is, he will more then likely corner himself up and make me come to him, gunning me down in a hail of bullets as I cross the battlefield. I just hope it is a 5 objective game and if forces him out into the open.

I'll more then likely drop the Hive Guard and add in two units of Gargoyles, bolstering my numbers to over 120+ at the games start. I am taking a gamble but I just do not see him being able to do enough wounds before I get there and eat his whole army.

I'll let you know how it all ends!

40K Tactics 101: How to Get a Hive Tyrant a Cover Save

2010-08-02T10:49:00.006-04:00

So, the question came up on the podcast Life After the Cover Save (http://lifeafterthecoversave.wordpress.com/) on "how to give a Hive Tyrant a cover save". One of the guys over there was having an issue keeping his Flying Hive Tyrant alive because it is so hard to give it a cover save. And with the codex deciding to nerf this unit by not giving it an invulnerable save, the crucial Tyrant and the advantages he brings with him in Hive Commander or Old Adversary are dying before you ever get to use them.

In my years of playing Tyranids within the 5th Edition rule set I have found quite a few clever ways to get your Hive Tyrant that life saving cover save:

Method 1: Large Area Terrain (Flying or Walking)

I know that this is the most obvious way to do it, but do not be afraid to start of your Monstrous Creatures in cover, forests work just fine for me because pine trees come up to the guys chin, if you are afraid of that Alpha strike. Or, better yet, hide the big guy being a building and completely obscure him, and make it hard to even see this guy at all.

Method 2: the Tier system:

This one is a bit more complicated, but can easily protect a walking Tyrant. First, look at your army list and pull out the units of medium size, say your warriors, ravaners, hive guard and the like. Bump those models base-to-base together and right in front of your Tyrant. Then, take your smaller units, say the millions of gaunts that you have running around and throw them in front of your mid-range size bugs to give them a cover save as well. Now, you can be a real jerk (and I like being a real jerk) by then making sure that the small units are also 50% or more in area terrain or being cover themselves to provide the whole mess with at least 4+ cover saves all around!

Method 3: The Gargoyle Wall:

This one is a bit harder to pull off and could be considered modeling for advantage, or more correctly picking out the right models for your advantage, as you do not modify the standard GW model for this trick. First, remember that if running a winged Hive Tyrant, no matter how big the wings are, they can not be used for Line of Sight to the models. Read the line of sight rules!

I love the new plastic gargoyles, they are great looking models and a lot of fun to use. In each box of models comes two particular models where the gargoyle is almost completely head over tail with its wings spread out as far as possible. In this same box are two gargoyles who are flying as low as the model will permit them on the flying stand, where the very top of their wings come up tot he bottom of the wings of the previous gargoyle. If you were to line up three or four of the high flying, covering as much of the Hive Tyrants upper body as I can gargoyle right in front of the Hive Tyrant, and run about three or four of the low flying models, you can most certainly pull of a cover save with a large unit of gargoyles in front of the Hive Tyrant.

So guys over at Life After the Cover Save, there is my response, three solid, easy to use tactics to provide a Hive tyrant with a cover save. Sadly though, despite all of these tricks and tips, the Hive Tyrant with only 4 wounds and no invulnerable save it simply to fragile. It is still possible to gun down your Tyrant in one round of shoot from a strong Alpha Strike army like Leafblower IG for example.

I hope this helps, let me know!

This Week in 40K Podcasting – 7/23 – 7/30

2010-07-30T16:23:00.003-04:00

Just a reminder, "This week in 40K Podcasting" will be available over at the blog From The Warp first thing Saturday morning:

http://fromthewarp.blogspot.com/2010/07/this-week-in-40k-podcasting-723-730.html

I cover a ton of podcasts this week, so be sure to check it out!

40K Battle Report - 1000 Points Tyranid Swarm vs. Space Marines

2010-07-28T11:59:00.006-04:00

So we moved on to week three of my local games stores mini tournament this week, with my 5-year old professional dice roller in tow. First, I learned a few things last night about the tournament itself, largest piece of news being that this would be a five week tournament and not four. Also, that there is enough money in the pot to place three players, with first still having a hefty prize (well, hefty enough for a $5 entry fee loosely run tournament). This is good because I think it will help spread out some of the winners some and hopefully will have a clear cut winner in the end. And, after last night's results, I am really happy to hear that I'll have the chance to furthr increase my lead.

Now, on to the game. The way this tournament is being run is as a challenge league, in that you must accept any challenge that comes to you or suffer the loss. Weaker players (those with lower records and victory Point counts) call the challenges, to prevent stronger players from praying on the weak to win. So this week, as soon as my son and I walked into the door, Sam sees me and yells out, "I challenge EvilEd209!" There is a bit of a giggle that runs through the room, but I smiled and humbly accepted.

You see Sam is relatively new to the game, in fact I think that I was his 10th or 11th game total last night. And I do not like to brag, I really don't, but I am considered to be one of the top players in my area. So for Sam to call me out in front of my kid was pretty brave. Stupid, but brave.

The game wasn't really much of a game at all, as it was more a teaching session then anything else. Now, normally I would throw a game like this as to build the confidence of the new guy and keep him interested in the game. However, this was tournament play, with money involved and prizes. And my kid was there watching Daddy and you don't want to seem like a loser in front of your kids, now do you?

I still helped him out, I basically countered my own deployment by helping him with his. I gave him a basic strategy to go with, told him what units were his biggest threats and the best ways to handle them. I did almost everything but tell him turn by turn, shoot this, move here, do that. But once turn one began, the teaching stopped.

I am not going to give you a blow-by-blow of this game here today because, well it was a comedy of tactical errors on his part that lead to him being wiped off the board by turn 4. I did, in the interest of sportsmanship and being a nice guy, feed him a few units to murder and feel good about, but this game was never in any question.

The real news here is that the other top players in the tournament (the 2-0 players) all tied in their games. Two of the guys, Mike and Greg, Played each other and it ended in a tie and David, my friendly rival, managed to tie a game to one of the new guys. So at the end of the day, your good 'ol friend EvilEd209 was sitting on the top of the pile at 3-0 with 3000 Victory Points. Next week I got challenged by Greg, on of our better players, so I will not be newbie bashing next week. But, if I did the math right, if I manage to beat Greg and finish week 4 at 4-0, there is no way I can not place in the week 5 finale.

Thanks to Sam for a fun game that was mostly just for laughs. Sam said that he wanted to see how good I really was and why everyone up there speaks my name with fear. Why does everyone call me Evil in the first place. Well Sam, now you know. In a couple of weeks the tournament will be over and I will let Sam beat up on me and maybe earn some of that back. As long as no money is involved, I don't care about losing.

DLT: The Soul Drinkers

2010-07-26T12:10:00.006-04:00

The boys over at Dice Like Thunder (www.dicelikethunder.com) are at it again and are adding some more fun, fan generated material to help make your 40K experience just a bit more interesting. This time around is "Loyal Traitors", A Soul Drinkers Codex. Well Codex in part. This Home Brew Codex basically allows you to take selections from Codex: Chaos Space Marines and Codex: Space Marines, having the special characters and special rules located in the the "Loyal Traitors"

The Fan-Dex is really a lot of fun and there was a great amount of effort put into this 'dex to make it feel right for the Soul drinkers. Rich and Dan should be commended for their work. It is something that my local gaming club will be play-testing soon. I highly recommend it.

You can check it out here on the Dice Like Thunder website:

http://www.dicelikethunder.com/files/DLTSoulDrinkers.pdf

"This Week in 40K Podcasting" is Moving!

2010-07-26T10:38:00.007-04:00

Well, it is official folks and I can now talk about it. The very popular and sometimes controversial segment of "This Week in 40K Podcasting" is getting a new home. Starting this coming Saturday, July 31th, 2010, and each and every Saturday there after "This Week in 40K Podcasting" will be posted on the very popular blog site From The Warp (http://www.fromthewarp.blogspot.com/). I am very excited about the move, as it represents a really big opportunity for me to get the word out and have a much larger audience to hear my thoughts. Not to mention that Ron is giving me such a huge signing bonus! Wait, that was a joke... oh man!

But seriously, the segment will remain the same, just be posted to a different site. My blog will still be here and I will still post to it often. It is just this segment that is moving.

"This Week in 40K Podcasting" really has grown to mean a lot to me in the short time I have been doing it. It really is the first thing I have done in the 40K community that I feel is actually contributing to the advancement and betterment of the hobby. It is something that is completely original and something that no body out there is currently doing. I'm proud of that.

I have a few folks I'd like to thanks for all of this. First, and of course I want to that Ron, the owner of From the Warp for finding me and believing that this little weekly article was worth it to put on his blog. Second, I want to thank all of the 40K podcasters! I mean really guys, you do a good thing for the community, you entertain us, education us, and make us realize that 40K gamers are everywhere! Your podcast have opened our eyes to a much larger and greater 40K Universe. Thank You! I would also like to thanks Bill and Jay over at the podcast Gamers Lounge. I was inspired to start this blog by listening to there show and I want to give credit where credit is due. And I want to thank fellow blogger Big Jim (http://galaxyinflames.blogspot.com/) for telling me all about From the Warp on an episode of Gamers Lounge. He gave me the idea to sign up with them and look where it got me. A Weekly Article with them. Thanks Jim!

So, I will have an introduction article go up on FTW sometime this week and the this Saturday, I'm so excited, will be my first big post. Watch for it guys.

And thank you!

This Week in 40K Podcasting – 7/17 – 7/23

2010-07-23T07:51:00.003-04:00

This Week in 40K Podcasting – 7/17 – 7/23

So here we have yet another installment of This Week in 40K Podcast for the week that was, July 17th-23rd, 2010. This has quickly become my favorite this to write during the week. Something that was mention to me via email was that some of these podcast do have some harsh, adult language. So, please be advised, listen to these casts before you let your kids hear them! I have marked the podcasts with adult language Explicit.

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Dice Like Thunder Episode 95 – Rating 4/5 **Explicit Language**

You’re home for all things AWESOME started off by poking some fun at yours truly! That’s right, the ‘ol EvilEd209 got mentioned less the 30 seconds into the first segment. I am a good humored and sensible person, and I love the guys and the show. And starting a weekly article that rates 40K Podcasts I realize is opening myself up for some pokes. So thanks guys for being the first to poke me… I mean.. um… you know I what I mean.

But to be clear for the readers, I am a war gamer and enjoy all of the games that DLT mentioned, however this segment is entitled this week in 40K podcasting, focusing on the 40K part, and the points they lost last episode were for the non-40K game talk. I have to admit, that each time you guys would mention Fantasy, I would smile! I felt like the star of the first segment. Thanks Guys! Don’t change a thing!

They went on to name the winner, David, of the Horus Hersey Board Game “Theme Song” contest, of which I am eternally jealous of and wish I had some musical talent, but I don’t. They moved on by mentioning a new London based 40K Based podcast, the Overloads (www.theoverlords.co.uk) which is gaining some attention. I will be adding them to my listening list and will critic as needed. In fact I missed them last week and will be adding them to this week’s segment to make up for it, sorry guys! They made mention of some of the home-brewed material that DLT has put out there for the fans. If you have not had the chance, check it out, they are worth it. I recommend the missions book, which I use on a regular basis. They also dropped a mention of Rankings HQ (www.rankingsHQ.com), for tournament players. I have not attended a tournament yet that has used it, but the season is still early.

Next up was a discussion on “Why 5th Edition is Not Awesome”. They discussed older codices being used in the new rule set, not all of the 5th edition codices being balanced with each other (hello Tyranid Codex), laughable FAQs and some of the standard arguments of no models for units with rules in the codex. Lastly they go over the craziness of the Blood Angels FAQ.

The second segment is the real jewel of this episode, an in-depth overview of the Assault Phase, continuing with their tips and tactics of the game as a whole. As a Tyranid player, this segment got a least three re-listens as the boys went over all of the nooks and crannies of the Assault Phase. They give you a ton of tips on how to dominate in the Assault Phase, or how not to be dominated, and what to watch out for. Very well worth it! They seem to subscribe to the same theory I do, if I roll a bucket of dice at you, even if you go before me, I still win! They even give the tactics of why NOT to shoot before you assault. They end it out with a list of great Assault units and how to use them. They are starting some threads over on their forum about great and horrible Assault units. Feel free to chime in; I know my 10 point homagaunts (Adrenal Glands and Toxic Sacs) will be getting a vote.

The last segment closed out with some shout outs, some other podcasts that hit on non-40K related material, and an Under Rated (no Over Rated this week) of Abaddon. The man is a god, deal with it. There is no rating for him! They reminded us of the “Name My Army” contest for Dave, dave@dicelikethunder.com. Contest will run until the first week in August. And of course took one more jab at me before show’s end… making me smile.

Overall, a great podcast that ‘happened’ to mention me and the blog as a running gag! You would have gotten the 4 rating even with out it guys, great job, but thanks again and I hope I was fun to mess with!

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The 11th Company Episode 26 – Rating 3.5/5

The Myrtle Beach Wild Bunch started off their podcast with a conversation on Tournaments, Comp systems, and house rules is reference to fixing the broken things in 40K. One of the things I liked about this segment is why it is in Tournament Play there is a “By The Book” feel to the rules, and that House Rules, Fixes, or FAQs are not permitted. I really do believe that it is possible to have the 40K community at large help to fix the broken or older codices to get them back to the competitive level, and they hit on this a lot. Personally I’d like to see Neil’s fixes for my beloved Necrons and see if they had play-tested it.

Next, they moved on to Pat’s Corner where he had an interview with Mike Collins, a member of Team Wales in the ETC. They talked about what armies the Wales Team will be bringing and their basic strategies. I think it is interesting that two teams in the ETC are bringing Necrons, with monolith spam of course. I also think it is interesting how the Europeans seem to feel that the United States might not be prepared for this tournament, and that they will not do well their first time out. And that they were building lists as if they were under some sort of comp system, and bringing weaker lists. I strongly disagree. With the team that we have assembled, I am sorry Europe, but these guys are going to do well and will bloody you’re noses. If they are not in the top 5 teams, I’ll be strongly surprised. I loved this interview because it got me all worked up over the ETC and I wish I could attend. I feel like a World Cup fan now! USA, USA, USA!

The next segment was a short unit highlight of the Termagant from the Tyranid Codex. Personally, I can not have a Termagant without a Tervigon, and they agreed, so to look at the unit alone is not a fair comparison. As I have noted in my review of the Codex, they are many synergies that make this codex work, and the Tervigon/Termagant combo is a must for my armies at least. Overall a good review!

The next segment was an interview with James Hakola, the owner of mrdandy.com and wargamma.com, websites dedicated to alternative models for 40K and other modeling needs. Both are great sites to find models that GW has not gotten around to making just yet. James gives a brief history of his model making career and how he got to where he is now. It was an interesting interview and gave out some good information on the “Battle Wolves”, an alterative model for Thunderwolves, where there is a great need for now. He also does “Drop Pods” for space aliens. Good looking model too! He finished up with the process of how the models are made.

The last segment is the first part of a two part Codex Countdown: Orks. The first thing I will say about this segment is that I did not care for the fact that it was broken up into two segments. I know, I know, I understand the argument that people put up there for short podcast vs. long podcasts. There are two kinds of podcast listeners, the ones who have the time to listen to a 4-Hour Megasode, and those who don’t. That some people like to burn podcasts to CD and listen to them in the car and 4-Hour episodes can not be done unless you edit them yourselves. But I do not have that problem and most people I know in the podcast community do not either. Most listeners have iPhones, or MP3 players that can handle a 4-Hour long podcast without any difficulty. So overall I was not happy to learn that this segment was being broken up into two pieces.

However, on with the review as is. I happen to be one of the people that believes that the Orks still or a top tier army and it was as if Neil had read my mind as he started the segment. Again, while some people might not agree with how the gang feels Orks are most effective, I happen to be an 11th Company believer. Long before I heard of this podcast, I was advising my Ork playing friends to play them basically just like they tell in this segment. And damn me for doing so, because hoard on hoard, Orks beat Tyranids.

Overall, it was another good podcast from the 11th Company. That broken up Ork segment has left a bad taste in my mouth but other then that a great cast. I am one of those people who loved 40K Radio’s Codex Overview segments and those were broken up over several shows, so I guess I can get used to this if this is their new format. We will see.

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Imperial Vox Cast Episode 30 – Rating 3.5 /5 **Explicit Language**

Your light in the darkness of the Warp, this week the Bill, Tor, and Dawson do another one of their “Versus” podcast, Daemons vs. Space Wolves. They open up the show with their hobby and gaming talk for the last few weeks. They play-tested their 1,000 point tournament lists, and tried out the missions to tweak their armies based on the results. There is some real good Space Wolf tactical discussion in this section, so keep your ears pealed for it. This is usually my favorite part of their podcast, as you can tell these guys are hard tournament players and play each other just as hard at all times. Some of the best gems of the podcast can be found in the opening 30-minutes of the cast. This was no exception.

They move on to the next segment and the main portion of the show where they build one army to face another, in this case Chaos Daemons vs Space Wolves. Now, I would first like to say that I do not build my armies to beat any one other army; I usually build all-comers lists, tournament style, and so do most of the people I play with. So these podcasts where they take two armies and face them off and build lists to fight just each other I really do not care for. And the reason for this is: who build their armies that way, seriously? While these segments are loaded full of great tactics, and will give you a good overview of both armies, they are tactics for a very limited range vs such-and-such an army, and overall very narrow in their vision of other armies.

The guys do go into a great level of detail on both armies and if you play these armies I highly, highly recommend it. They have some great tips on what to build, how to build it and what upgrades to give each unit. Of course, if you see these armies at your local game store, I would also highly recommend that you take a listen just to get an overview of some of the big time units of each army and what you might see on the table. They even go as far to have a partnership with my man Phil Johnson (www.thebrokenforge.com) and have links to his retail site where you can buy the discussed armies at a discount. A very cool option!

So, while these “Versus” podcasts are my least favorite from an otherwise outstanding podcast, this one was still pretty good and earned a pretty high rating for me. The content on this podcast, even though on a subject that I do not agree with, is so outstanding that it makes up for my dislike of the segment. I play against both armies regularly and it was good to hear some of the things that I could be seeing in my next tournament.

They finish out the show with a great piece on Tactics vs. Strategy, and how your tactics should never supersede you strategies for victory. A really great piece and well worth the listen.

Good job guys, looking forward to your next podcast.

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The Independent Characters Episode 8 Rating 2.5/5 **Explicit Language**

Carl and Geoff start off by saying that this week’s show really didn’t have much of a theme or structure, which is always something that makes me cringe to start off a podcast. They move on to what they have accomplished in the hobby in the last two weeks. They do go over some good hobby stuff on the GW washes, which I have used, use now religiously, and absolutely love. They do give you some pretty good painting tips, but I have always had an issue with painting tips by audio only. I really think these guys should put together a few YouTube videos on painting. They did go on to a few battle reports, starting off with Geoff’s Drop Pod Salamander’s list. They took the approach where Geoff talked about his hobby stuff then his battle and then Carl talked about his hobby stuff and then battles.

I think it would be better if the both talked hobby, and then they both talked battle reports. It would be more streamlined. That being said, Carl’s recalling of games that happened two weeks ago was poor, and ended up with of lot of “I’m sorry, I don’t even remember the result of the game, let alone what units my opponents used, but here is what I remember.” I can understand not being about to remember ever detail of a game, heck I have played so many that I can’t recall a vast majority of the games I have played. But I’d never use these games as ‘content’ for my podcast. If you intend to do a battle report on your blog or in your podcast, take notes! I do!

The next segment had two special guests, “Blitz” and “The Professor” hosts of the Battlezone Podcast (http://thebattlezone.libsyn.com/) who attended a gamer-get-together tournament with the crew and friends of the Independent Characters. They go in detail on the “Escalation” style tournament that they had just completed and the scenarios that they ran. The tournament sounded like fun and it gave me a few ideas on what to run next at my LGS tournament. The whole segment was basically one big battle report with some interesting conversation.

The last segment was basically what they hoped to accomplish in the next two weeks of hobby time. This is mostly regular stuff and nothing too exciting. They finished off the show with a review of their “Deep Strike” event, a gathering of 40K gamers. A really cool idea of getting together with the local gamer who they did not know and just hang out and talk 40K. Their review was all to brief for my liking and I wish they would have gone into much more detail. They also recapped their little mini-tournament one last time, and some other projects they had in mind. They posed the question if they should be 40K game only content or 40K universe. My vote… 40K Only Guys!

Overall a content light show, it was ok, but not their best work.

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The Overlords Episode 4 – Rating 1.5/5

Okay, for starters I owe these guys an apology as their podcast was out last week and should have been reviewed in last week’s segment, but I just missed it. Sorry guys! Now, fair warning, these guys are in London so it will take you a few listen to get used to the accent if you’ve not heard it in 40K before. But it is worth it to get used to it.

Steve and Paul had a special guest in studio (or in the garden for this show) Annie on their show this week. And as we all know a female gamer is as rare as an albino unicorn, and thus, super hot! Mix in that British accent and, well, she worth a listen to at least!

They start off the show with some brief news, the guys have started a Twitter Account for the show, and so all interested parties should sign up. They posted their local gaming club’s rules on their site and they are available for download. They move on to some brief Fantasy news, which I could have done without. But they did not get into the game at all, just the templates and dice which or out which could be used for 40K. So no foul. They go on to some Forgeworld and Black Library releases, and the dry rumor mills. Everyone is waiting for Dark Eldar to be officially announced far as I am concerned. They do move on to a good topic about how GW waits until the last minute to announce their new model and army releases, while other companies have that as public knowledge well in advance. I happen to agree with the boys on this one and that GW really is running their release schedule a little too tight to the vest. They move on to a mail bag section and the first email they hit on was about their previous podcast’s sound quality. I couldn’t agree more. I know that they are just getting started so I usually cut some slack for the new guys on sound and content. That being said, I think they did a good job this week sound-wise and maybe they should tape in the garden more often!

They move on to the next segment where they talk about bringing new players to the game, and the “Fluff” or story player of 40K vs. the modeler or builder bring the player into the game. They interview Annie, an Eldar player, about how she got back into the game of 40K. She moves on to tell us why she chose Eldar over any other army in the 40K universe. The conversation moves on to their prep work for what sounded like an escalation league at their local Games Workshop store (I’m jealous BTW). They guys sound like they really have not delved into the competitive end of 40K too much, which they are aware of, and are worried about getting spanked in the league.

They move on to their last segment, the “flavors” of 40K, straight up rulebook 40K, Planetstrike, Apocalypse, Cities of Death, Spearhead and Battle Missions, or the expansion games to the base 40K. They go over their experience playing Apocalypse style games and how there has to be a lot of prep work done in order to make the game enjoyable. They mention their light contact with Cities of Death games, and how it changes the game mechanics back in 4th edition Cities of Death have made it into the 5th Edition game with line of sight and cover saves being as abundant as they are. They move on to some of the “Fluff” games that they had set up and some of the weird and fun games they had made up to play.

Overall, this show was really, really light on content. I know these guys are just getting started and are nervous when the mic gets turned on, so I am willing to see where the podcast goes. If I could offer up some advice to the hosts of the show:

“Your podcast has a great start, but you need to give us, the listeners, more reasons to want to listen to you each episode. Interviewing your buddies is okay, but how about going deeper into their armies, tactics, strategies, and fluff behind their army. You need to offer something that we want to hear. What makes a good podcast is doing something different, be original, give me some reason not to listen to something else. I wish you the best of luck!”

So, that is it for This Week in 40K podcasting.

Got a podcast all about 40K, or mostly 40K that I am not listening to? Let me know. I'll be happy to add you to my listening schedule! Disagree with my rating? Post comments for that too!

Don't Be That Guy: The 40K Coach

2010-07-21T21:44:00.008-04:00

Okay, so we can all admit it. You've done it and you know you have! You've walked by a game going on at your local game store or gaming club and seen a player who clearly needed just a little bit of help in their game. Maybe that player is new to the game, or just inexperienced, or playing against one of the better player in your area and is grossly over matched. And as an experienced player, and the friendly guy/gal that you are you offer up a quick tip. You actually open you mouth and give just a bit of advice on that game that you have nothing to do with.

"Hey, you know if you move here, he'll have to run through area terrain to get to you and you'll attack first in combat." Or, "if you shoot this instead of that, it would help you do this." It is usually just a quick nugget of knowledge that really will not change the game in any way, and his opponent really could care less because they know they have the win secured. But you helped out a fellow gamer and expanded his/her knowledge of the game just a bit more. You feel good about it, you helped someone.

But there is a time, a place, and a time limit on such interventions to a game. If the game is just a pick-up game and has no real meaning to either player, most players are open to a little advice. Heck, if his opponent is a veteran and crushing the guy anyway, a little advice to the new guy to make the game a bit more of a challenge might even be a welcomed intervention. Because how much fun could it be to beat down a guy who barley knows how to play the game. Now, of course if your "advice" turns into you playing the guys army for him, well this could be an unwelcome "butting in" on your part, and really rude to both players.

I have done coaching games myself. These games are usually for the new guys, to help him with just the bare bone basics of the game. What do you roll to hit? How many dice? What do you roll to wound. Things like that. But in this game, the opponent is fully aware that I will be there to help out the new guy (and he knows to lose), and usually my advice during the game trickles off as the game goes on so that the player can learn on their own. But these are special cases, in most games coaching can be an unwelcome interruption.

However in League, Campaign, and certainly tournament games this is a HUGE faux-Pas and in some case can be considered cheating! I recently posted an article recanting the tale of my second week mini-tournament win over my friend Andrew. The part I left out was his brother, David. David is a much better player then his brother, and David and I have a bit of a friendly rivalry going. So when he found out that Andrew and I were slated to go head-to-head that day, David was right there to over see the game. He helped Andrew with his deployment, and some of the moves he made. But at one point, David began whispering to his brother plans for the next turn. Foul!

Now I know, it is just a small, $50 in store credit prize on the line, but this was a tournament game. And coaching is real close to cheating as far as I am concerned in this situation. So when the whispering started, I in my best joking tone, was like "Hey, how many guys am I playing here?" David got the hint and backed away from the table and allowed the game to finish without further interruption. David, of course, does not want to see me in the finals as he has only beaten me once in tournament play. So I am sure he was hooping his brother could steal a win and knock me out of contention. Or maybe he was just trying to help his brother out, offering friendly advice to a weaker player. Either way, this was not the time nor the place to coach a player. David got the point that I did not appreciate his intervention in a tournament game.

The point of this story is, we all want to help, and that is okay. Some of us are just better at the game then others and feel our experience can help bring those player up a level or two. But make sure it is okay with both player to offer up that help. And in tournament play, back away from the table and keep your advice to yourself! Let the two people playing the game determine the outcome. Lets face it, we are all there for fun, but there is money and prizes on the line. I had a similar experience at 'Ard Boyz this year, where the eventual winner of that day had approached my table and started a conversation with his buddy, my opponent, during the game. At first it was innocent, but as soon as the conversation turned to the game at hand I stopped it cold. I did not know the guys, so I did not know if my joking tone would work. So I was firm but fair, "Hey man, I know he's your friend and all, but we are playing in a tournament and coaching at the table could be considered cheating. Why don't you watch the game from over there, and your friend can tell you how it turned out." He got the point and I won my game without his interference.

So, lesson of the day, advice if fine in a friendly game but try to refrain from butting your nose in where it is not wanted, or for too long. And in case you didn't know, tournaments are always off limits!

When dealing with the 40K Coach, simply point out that you are playing your opponent, not him, and that coaching could be considered cheating. Most players do not like the idea of being called a cheat and will back off. I hate to use that dreaded C word, but it is what it is. And surprisingly, most people are afraid to use that word too. Not me.

40K Battle Report - 1000 Points Tyranid Swarm vs. Space Wolves

2010-07-20T22:00:00.008-04:00

So, on to week two of the 4 week mini-tournament at my local game store. This week the swarm met with a rather broken Space Wolves army. My opponent, Andrew, had some rather bad luck in the previous week and lost one of his two Vindicators for the game which he subbed in a Grey Hunters squad for, one unit of Grey Hunters did not come on the table until turn 2 and one did not come on until turn 3. His army consisted of three units of Grey Hunters with two meltas and a Powerfist, a Dreadnought with Autocannons and heavy bolter, one Vindicator, and his HQ with the Grey Hunter Squad on the table, which was a named character I can not remember at his time, and means very little to this report. I ran my stock list, A Tervigon HQ, two, 30-man termagant squads, a 30-man Hormagaunt squad, a unit of Hive Guard, a Unit of Zoanthropes, and sitting n for the second Hive Guard squad, I went to the side bar and pulled a Gargoyle squad. We rolled Seize Ground with 5 objective with a Pitch Battle Deployment. We did a good job of scattering the objective all over the board (a mistake from my opponent) and I set up first.

With so many models I really was able to setup so that every unit in my army would get a cover save as they advanced, which turned out to be a key to the game, and was holding 3 objective to start the game to his one. He boxed up the units he deployed and put the Vindy, Dread, Grey Hunters and HQ in cover in one corner of the board, the furthest away from most of the objectives I might add. He stole first turn and his tactics went right out the window. I thought he was going to run a Marine gun-line on me and make me come to him through a hail of bullets. However on turn one he moved the Vindicator out of cover to take a pot shot at some gaunts (allowing it to be in charge range of my Gargoyles who had adrenal glands) which only manged to kill two thanks to cover, moved his HQ squad out of cover to move toward the closest objective, and moved and shot with the dread, killing a handful of Gargoyles.

My turn one consisted of a lot of maneuvering to control objectives, as I knew I'd have an easier time holding objective with that many scoring units on the table and his three total. I also moved the hormagaunts into cover but within charge range for turn two on his HQ squad, Tervigon spitting out more gaunts, and charging the naked vindicator with Gargoyles and blowing off the main gun. A huge victory for me. I figured the gargoyle for dead anyway, so to take out one of the two major threats on the board to my army on turn one was sweet.

His turn two was alright, he walked on the other Grey Hunter squad but was too far out of range to do anything with them. He moved the Vindicator in order to wipe out the gargoyle and had some really bad dice rolls that managed to leave three of them still alive. His HQ Squad hunkered down on the objective and rapid fired into the Hormagaunts, killing only 4 thanks to cover saves and Feel No Pain from the Tervigon. 75% save ratio is awesome! And the dreadnaught moved closer to my gaunts which were on an objective and backed up by the Zoanthropes. Huh? My thoughts exactly!

My turn two was brutal. Zoeys stunned the dread, Trevigon pooped more which were left behind to hold an objective, and used Catalyst on the hormagaunts, 30-man squad was left behind to hold another in cover, and the gargoyles turned to shoot and assault the HQ squad. Hive Guard were still out of position to do anything and just ran. On the assault, I cleared out all but the HQ and a melta from the squad holding his lone objective by charging with two dozen angry hormagaunts. By the end of turn two I was holding four objectives and contesting one, his HQ squad was on the verge of dying, and he was pretty much out of the game.

There was some clean up on turn three, his HQ squad bit the dust, his last Grey Hunter squad in reserve moved in too close to the hormagaunts (foolish), his out of range Hunters moved and shot the termagants holding an objective in cover to no avail, and dread just sat there drooling. My turn three the horagaunts assaulted the new Hunters and won combat, Hive Guard cleared out the dread, Zoeys dropped AP3 small blast templates on ten marines, killing 7, they broke, and my now 4 gaunt squads were holding 4 objectives soundly.

At this point, Andrew had gone through enough and wanted to forfeit the game. However, by the rules of the tournament, if he chose to do so he would yield to me all 1000 victory points and have to roll to see if all of his units would come back in for the next game. He figured the game for a total loss anyway and gave it up. His dice were kind and only one unit of Grey Hunter will not be back next week, which he would have switch out for the now repaired vindicator anyway.

So, in review, again I could not be happier with my performance. I took my 5-year old son along with me this week as these are short games and we are limited to one per week. All I can say is watch out Vegas! This kid can roll some dice, and did a good job for Daddy rolling to wound.

Standings: 2 - 0 with 2000 VP, sitting in first. Now, three other people are at 2 - 0 right now so I suspect I'll be playing one of them next week. I'll keep you posted!

To be Judged...This Week in 40K Podcasting

2010-07-19T08:30:00.005-04:00

So I received a massive response to my new weekly segment, "This Week in 40K Podcasting". It is, by far, the largest response this blog has ever received so far. By the large amount of traffic to the site, emails, hate mail, and mentions on podcasts, I think I am on to something. I am truly and greatly appreciative of all of you! Thank You so much for making this a success!

It is the first thing I have done in which I feel I can really contribute to the 40K community, something that no one else is currently doing. I love 40K podcasts, I listen to all of them and often more then once. I am not only passionate about them, but knowledgeable as well. I am a big fan of all of you and I wanted to show my gratitude for what you have done for us, the fans. I really feel like I am on to something with this segment and I am looking forward to where this could go.

The number one question I received this weekend from podcast hosts, fans of the site, family, friends, that creepy neighbor of mine, was "How are you judging these Podcasts and what is the criteria you are looking for?" So I felt that I should give you exactly what I am looking for an what tips the scales from a 3 to say a 5 podcast for the week. Clear the air, shall we say. I consider a 3.0 to be an average score, and a 5.0 to be the greatest podcast I have ever heard, and a 0.5 to be the single largest waste of my time in the history of my life. So a rating of 3.5 or 4.0 is not bad, it is good, really good in fact.

First, a weekly rating IS NOT a judgment on the podcast as a whole. It is a judgment of that individual podcast. Not everyone brings their A game each podcast, heck, even Star trek had some real crappy episodes. So do not view a week's review as an overall judgment of the cast, crew, or quality of the podcast as a whole. It is just that, a critic of that week or installment.

1) 40K is the Key ) I know that this is hard to believe, but a lot of podcasts out there billing themselves as 40K podcasts, delve into heresy by discussing other games! I know, it shocks me too. In all seriousness through, I am a gamer. 40K is not my only game. I play the F word, shh.... fantasy, and Firestorm Armada, and Dungeons and Dragons (although we converted to Pathfinder almost a year ago), and I used to play Battletech, and a whole mess of other games I am ashamed to mention on this blog. My point being, as a gamer, I love that the other games like Flames of War, and War Machine, or whatever get mentions on 40K Podcasts. But I am taking it purely from a 40K stand point. If I were looking for 40K content, how does this podcast measure up? How relevant was the materiel this week to the game of Warhammer 40,000? If you go into a 30 minute discussion on Fantasy, or Flames of War, I will enjoy it, but it's not 40K. And there for not relevant to "This Week in 40K Podcasting"

2) Content) - What does your show bring to the table this week? Does your show have a direction? A theme, segments that make sense and have something to give the listener? Do you do battle reports, overview of Codices, tactics, strategies, rumors or news? Or does your podcast sound like the average discussion around the table at any local game store or gaming club? Anybody can do a 40K podcast, and I mean it, anybody. A $3 mic and free audio software with a site to host you and you're off. Its basically that simple. But not everybody can be entertaining, can give the listener something worth the download. In the real restate world it is all about location. In podcasts, it is all about content. If your podcast is 3 hours long but is just you a your buddies talking 40K with no real direction and a collection of random thoughts, broken themes, and inside jokes, well, it has no content, despite its size. But if you have something prepared, a direction, and provide a service and entertainment to the listener, then you're golden. Content is a big factor in my scoring. 40K Content that is.

3) Audio Quality) I realize that not everyone out there has the disposable income to have a full blown recording studio in their basement dedicated to their podcast. But like it or not, audio quality is the number one factor in anything you listen too. The podcast could have the best content, amazing tactics, the cure for the common tournament loss, but if you can't hear it, or it is edited poorly with a bunch of garbled or weak voices, well, then it sucks! A few podcasts out there use the one open mic method of podcasting, which I understand, but will in the end produce a low quality product. Voices that are too far away from the mic to hear or a ton of background noise that makes it hard to listen to. Or some folks use Scype to have host come in from somewhere else. Sometimes this works, sometimes it is a horrible mistake. Point being, if you sound professional, you get professional. If you sound hobby, then you get hobby. Nothing personal, but if i have to play it back three or even four time to hear what was said... then it will get a low rating.

4) Other) This is my Wow factor. Did the podcast blow me away? Did they bring something I have never heard before or do something out there that no one else is doing? If so, they get credit for it. If not, no harm no foul. This is where the 5.0 ratings will come from.

That is about it. My goal is not to offend any of the podcasts or the hosts. I want to make friends with each and every one of you who step in front of a mic and put yourself out there, not make enemies. They are all taking brave steps to put their voices out there for our entertainment, asking nothing in return (well, almost all of them are asking for nothing). I applaud them all. I am a fanboy of each and every one of you! I would love to hang out with you, roll some dice, drink some beer, have some fun. To the Dick Like Thunder Crew, I'll be at Adepticon this and every year hence forth, I'd love to play you, hang out, be on the cast, chill at the bunker. I'd be honored to have Rich beat me down like I stole something from him! To the Independent Characters, I wish I had known about you like three weeks earlier then I did, because I was in San Fransisco and would have loved to hang out. To the 11th Company, I am planing next year's family vacation specifically to Myrtle Beach so that I can see you guys and girls!

To all of you, you are are all aces in my book. Please do not take a weekly podcast review as a judgment on you personally or professionally. Take it for what it is, a fun little segment to let the rest of the web know about you and the great work you are doing. And if you had a crappy show this week, and let's face it if you did, you already know it.

So here to to them all, I hope you all keep doing what your doing and entertaining us!

This Week in 40K Podcasting - 7/10 - 7/16

2010-07-16T08:41:00.008-04:00

So here is the week that was in the 40K Podcasting web-o-sphere for July 10th - 16th, 2010

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11th Company Episode 25 - Rating : 4/5

The Myrtle Beach Wild Bunch released a gem of a podcast for their Episode 25 this week. They open up the show with an interview with Nick Rose, AKA Darkwynn from Bell of Lost Souls, and the founder of the dreaded 'Leafblower' Imperial Guard power list. Nick is wanted in 23 States for murdering all other power lists in their local gaming areas, so this interview must have been hard to lock down, with Nick on the run now. The interview was great, save for the guys in the background that kept playing the 'Imperial March' song every time Nick spoke about his IG list. Nick is part of Team America who will be playing IG in the upcoming ETC, European Team Championship. I am not sure what the foliage will be like in Gremany in August, but I hope the leaves in Germany are ready for Nick's Leafblower, because I suspect a lot of bare trees will be in Nick's wake!!! Good luck man!

The gang then moves on to the real star of this episode, a one hour discussion of all of the 'gray area' rules in the 40K Rulebook. I found this to be the most interesting part of the podcast. It was really cool to hear how other players rule on those weird rules or situations that occur from time to time in 40K. This segment is worth at least two listens to get everything and commit it to memory! Awesome Job Guys.

They close the show with a followup interview with the Tournament Organizer (TO) of the Nova Open, Mike Brandt. They go over some rulings on their FAQ, as they will not be using the INAT FAQ from the boys over at Adepticon. It was a good interview an worth a listening, but since I can not make it to the Nova open this year (although next year looks doable) I was not nearly as interested. So, if you're planing to attend the Nove Open 2010, worth listening to.

Overall, I am a huge fan of the 11th Company Podcast. It is just the kind of Tactically minded podcast that gets my 40K juices flowing!

XXXX
Dice Like Thunder Episode 94 - Rating 3.5/5

Your home for all things AWESOME! Started off their show with complaints about the release of 8th edition Warhammer Fantasy in their Mecca of the Chicago Battle Bunker. And then move on to the release of the 8th Edition FAQs and how they were released with the new rulebook. Yawn. They managed to save the segment by making a big push for open play-testing of all GW games to try to break it before you release it with codices and the rulebook. Exactly how I feel there GW! I'd love to be a public play-tester!

They move on to the Rumor Mill and talk about the upcoming Dark Eldar coming in October and Gray Knights in December with Necrons possibly in March. Then on to an article released on BolS about the Hyper-Build 40K Armies, hearkening back to the 4th Edition min-max days of to min troops and all hammer units. They move on to a conversation about the big guys over at BOLS writing articles about and how SPAMing units is not fun. I find it interesting that the guys responsible for the SPAM lists out there are now trying to tell people, yeah, this will win but it is not fun to play against. Well then don't tell people how do to it! I complained about it, see a previous post for my rant.

They also do a brief Overrated and Under Rated and a Review of a new Black Library Book, "Way of the Warrior". They then move on to the real meat of this episode, the Second Segment is an in-depth look at the Shooting Phase of the game. A lot of great advice and tactics to be found here. Listen to it three times, totally worth it!

The third segment started off with a "Pimp my List" for a Tau army out of Japan. So good insight into an army screaming for a new codex. Maybe Next year Tau!

***Contest Alert*** Pick My New Army

Pitch a new army to Dave of DLT, send him a pitch for a new army to start and win a free blister and a DLT T-Shirt. Rules are non-Imperial army. You all know me, I am pitching Tyranids! Deadline will be for a Month from Contest Announcement.

Dave@DiceLikeThunder.com or Go To there Forums Under the Contests Section

Another Good Episode for the DLT Crew!

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The Gamers Lounge Episode 11 - Rating 3.5/5

The Gamers Lounge this week Featured Big Jim as a Special Co-Host (who, insistently had better sound quality then the hosts) from the Blog-O-Sphere. My first impressions of this cast was to turn the volume down as the sound quality was pretty poor. A warning to those listening. That being said Big Jim was pretty engaging and worth listening to.

Fair warning that there is some Non-40K related topics discussed which is why it gets the rating that I gave it. Winner was announced for the Malifaux contest, one in which I did not get the chance to submit to and now I am damned disappointed in myself for.

The main subject for this week's Podcast is fan generated material for your game (We'll go with 40K for our purposes). They go over some good sites to find fan generated material, hitting our friends over at DLT, and some of the Bell of Lost Souls material. They also hit on the fan Generated FAQs like the INAT FAQ and why the fans must generate FAQs for a game they company created.

They then moved on to fan generated Codices and Army Books, and how 40K Players have a huge dislike for fan generated Codices in tournament play but in Fantasy the Chaos Dwarves is a fan generated Army Book that is accepted in tournament play.

The last section was one that I really enjoined, as they interviewed Big Jim and why he started his blog (http://galaxyinflames.blogspot.com/). It was as if I was listening to myself, really. Why he started his blog, how frustrated he was with the net forums and getting no usable responses or flamed. He even gave me the idea to join From the Warp and get the blog's name out there.

Over all the guys put on a good show, and it was really fascinating to hear from Big Jim. When listening to the show, know that it is not a fully dedicated 40K Podcast, but it is still worth the listen.

They do mention that the host will be going into summer sessions and the both Bil and Jay will be preoccupied during this time. However, they have pre-recorded some shows that are in the can and will be released during this down time.

XXX
40K Radio - Episode 001 Rating 3/5

So 40K Radio made it's return to the podcast airwaves this week. This new iteration of 40K Radio proclaimed itself to be a high quality, new formatted and structured podcast with a new feel and new attitude. However, the very first thing I want to say is that the quality of the audio was not what we have come to expect from 40K Radio. If nothing else, Spencer knew how to put on a high quality sounding podcast (even if the content was garbage at times), maybe they should have taken some advice from him before releasing this. Not only were the mics off a bit, but at one point Romeo was talking and scype was cutting in and out and you couldn't hear him. Glad this was just the run through and I hope they iron out they issues before August when the show is supposed to start up for real.

This first episode wasn't really an episode much at all. It was basically an introduction to the new crew. George Miller in Flordia and Rick in Arizona (Battlefoam employee) with a floating third seat at this point, today filled by Romeo from, you guessed it, Battlefoam. It sounds like they are going to run this podcast via scype, with Rick dialing in from Arizona and not being directly in-studio in Flordia with George. This has a real impersonal feel to tell you the truth and the biggest change to the show's format. It feels weird to me to have a guy in one room and another guy 2500 miles away in another room talking and calling it a podcast. One of the things the the old 40K Radio got right was the three person, in the same room format. You always felt like you were right there in the room with Spencer, Scott, and Phil or Chipley. This feels a little artificial too me. The scype issues make it worse.

Overall, the show was okay. Nothing spectacular as it was a trial run with some audio quality issues and scype issues. Most of it was a tribute to the old podcast and an infomercial on how the show is going to be run and what content they are going to hit on. The new shows will release on the 1st and 15th of every month. They mentioned more then once that there would be stronger prize support and better 'Boota only content, which, if true, might make me want to buy my 'Boota membership back. They promised that if the show started to turn a profit, they would increase their prize support for their fans. They want interviews, hobby info, and everything that was 40K Radio, like the News, Codex Overviews, Hobby U and the like.

George promised to go back over some content of the previous version of 40K Radio that did not get a fair shake, and directly mention the Tyranid Codex. I am really looking forward to that. So the show did what it was supposed to do. It got me interested in the crew, excited for future episodes and looking forward to the next one. We will see if they pass or fail the internet critics.

X
40K Warcasting Episode ??? - Rating 0/5

Where are you guys? It seems to happen every year to this podcast. Summer comes and 40K Warcasting shuts down, completely. I think it is a school thing for these guys by it is hard to stay a fan of a show that bills itself as a top end 40K podcast and posts nothing for months. Or weird things about the next show is being taped in May with nothing after... in July now! Get it together guys. Post something stating on break for the summer, or something like that. I love your show guys, but get it together.

Well gang, that was the week that was in 40K Podcasting.

Got a podcast about 40K that I am not listening to? Let me know. I'll be happy to add you to my listening schedule! Disagree with my rating? Post comments for that too!

The New 40K Radio Episode 1: My Review

2010-07-15T14:34:00.004-04:00

Ok, so this will also appear on tomorrow's This Week in 40K Podcasting, but I just had to get it out there for all of you as soon as possible.

40K Radio - Episode 001 Rating 3/5

So 40K Radio made it's return to the podcast airwaves this week. This new iteration of 40K Radio proclaimed itself to be a high quality, new formatted and structured podcast with a new feel and new attitude. However, the very first thing I want to say is that the quality of the audio was not what we have come to expect from 40K Radio. If nothing else, Spencer knew how to put on a high quality sounding podcast (even if the content was garbage), maybe they should have taken some advice from him before releasing this. Not only were the mics off a bit, but at one point Romeo was talking and scype was cutting in and out and you couldn't hear him. Glad this was just the run through and I hope they iron out they issues before August when the show is supposed to start up for real.

This first episode wasn't really an episode much at all. It was basically an introduction to the new crew. George Miller in Flordia and Rick in Arizona (Battlefoam employee) with a floating third seat at this point, today filled by Romeo from, you guessed it, Battlefoam. It sounds like they are going to run this podcast via scype, with Rick dialing in from Arizona and not being directly in-studio in Flordia with George. This has a real impersonal feel to tell you the truth and the biggest change to the show's format. It feels weird to me to have a guy in one room and another guy 2500 miles away in another room talking and calling it a podcast. One of the things the the old 40K Radio got right was the three person, in the same room format. You always felt like you were right there in the room with Spencer, Scott, and Phil or Chipley. This feels a little artificial too me. The scype issues make it worse.

Overall, the show was okay. Nothing spectacular as it was a trial run with some audio quality issues and scype issues. Most of it was a tribute to the old podcast and an infomercial on how the show is going to be run and what content they are going to hit on. The new shows will release on the 1st and 15th of every month. They mentioned more then once that there would be stronger prize support and better 'Boota only content, which, if true, might make me want to buy my 'Boota membership back. They promised that if the show started to turn a profit, they would increase their prize support for their fans. They want interviews, hobby info, and everything that was 40K Radio, like the News, Codex Overviews, Hobby U and the like.

George promised to go back over some content of the previous version of 40K Radio that did not get a fair shake, and directly mention the Tyranid Codex. I am really looking forward to that. So the show did what it was supposed to do. It got me interested in the crew, excited for future episodes and looking forward to the next one. We will see if they pass or fail the internet critics.

The New 40K Radio Launches, July 15th

2010-07-13T22:44:00.003-04:00

Official word is out! The debut of the new 40K Radio will launch on July 15th according to their website. I will be listening to that new podcast and give you a full review once it is released.

So here crossing fingers and hoping for the best! Come on George, I know you can do this!

40K Battle Report: 1000 Points - Tyranid Swarm vs. Jetbike Seer Coulcil

2010-07-13T21:40:00.004-04:00

So I just got back from my Friendly Local Game Store (FLGS) where they run regular 'small' tournaments or campaigns over the course of a few weeks, with a small but respectable prize at the end for the winner (I have won this twice since he started doing it). This week started their 1000 point Side Bar Tournament. Basically you come with your favorite 1000 point list with a 250 point side bar. If you want to use a unit in your side bar, you need to swap it out for equal or lesser point value from your base list, making sure not to go over 1000 points. Your side bar can change from week to week over the 4 Weeks of the tournament, but you base list must remain the same. If a unit is wiped out during the course of the game you roll a d6. On a 6 that unit is fine for next game. 4-5 means the unit will start in reserve, 2-3 and the unit is in reserve until at least turn 3. On a 1 the unit can not be played in the following game. A really neat idea and something different for a change.

I decided that with such low points, my Tyranid Swarm list of almost 100 model at the start of the game would be just too many wound for most lists to handle and would score me a big win in the 4th week (Usually $50 of in-store credit for a $4 entry fee, not bad). The list is pretty simple, a Tervigon for an HQ, 2 huge units of Termagants, a 30 man Hormagaunt Squad with Toxic Sacs and Glands (my hammer unit), with some Hive guard an Zoanthropes to deal with light mech. My side bar is two big units of Gargoyles and another hive guard.

My first opponent this week was a good friend of my Anthony who, in his infinite wisdom, thought that a 10 man Jetbike Seer Council list would mop up the competition. His whole army consisted of 20 models, the 10 man seer council and 2 5 man Jetbike Guardian squads. Total!

I personally do not believe in 'death star' units like the Seer Council for the simple math of their Average Points Per Model, or APPM Rating. I believe I can credit Neil and the crew over at the 11th Company for this little tactical gem. Take this game for example. Antony's APPM was 50 Pints per model, 50! So for every model I killed in this game, on average, 50 points was coming off of the table. Where as mine with the termagants the Tervigon produce was in the neighborhood of 8. 8 v 50... it was no contest.

We rolled up capture and control with Dawn of War deployment. He rolled first turn and placed his Seer council right on the 24" line. His two JetBike Guardian Squads took up positions behind the Death Star.

I set up about 19" away from the council with my hormagaunt, and placed the Tervigon and the massive gaunt squad on the objective in my deployment zone (in cover of course), to insure that I would not get charged turn one. Here my guess range was a bit better then that and it turned out to be 20". So, turn one he charges forth with the Council 12", fires into my hormagaunt squad and kills 11 of them. His guardians both fail night fight rolls and can not hit the Gaunt squad they move 12" to shoot. In the assault phase he jumps back 6" with the council and guardians, placing both at minimum of 15" away. Perfect charge range for Hormagaunts! MY TURN!

My Turn one just plain brutal. I moved forward with the hormagaunt squad, move my Hive Guard and Zoanthropes in position for them to take pot shots at the council to soften them up a bit, and the Tervigon pooped out 12 more gaunts that got placed on the objective. The second gaunt squad move forward to threaten the guardians, but were just out of range to shoot, and the one from reserves made a run at the second objective. The Hormagaunts rolled 5 on the bounding leap and were clearly in assault range, and the Hive Guard/ Zoanthropes managed to Kill 2 Warlocks with shooting. ASSAULT! I charged the Council with 19 Hormagaunts at I6 and STR4 thanks to Adrenal Glands, so I went first in combat with 57 attacks, hitting on 4s and re-rolling ones thanks to Scything talons, wounding on 4s and re-rolling wounds thanks to Toxic Sacs. All-in-all, 26 wounds were done to the Seer Council. I killed 3 more Warlocks! In their attacks back poor, Anthony rolled 6 or 7 ones to hit and only managed to do 2 wounds, which, I saved! Hell yeah! So, the council lost combat by 3, rolls their Leadership and fails, re-rolls thanks to embolden and... wait for it... FAILS! In the ensuing sweeping advance I roll a 6, he rolls a 1, bye-bye 780 point Seer Council! Turn ONE Baby! The Hormagaunts are eating raw hamburger meat as we speak for a reward.

The rest of the game was mope up. In a rage Anthony deiced to charge the hormagaunts with one guardian squad and the gaunts with another. The first squad lost three models, did three wound and remained locked. Same for the second. By his half of turn three, the guardians fighting the hornagaunts lost another and did nothing back, the gaunts killed one more, broken them and they went 17" toward the table edge with no hope of coming back. My turn three killed off the remaining guardians, and that was game.

Overall, hell, I couldn't be more pleased with my performance. I never lost a unit, tabled my opponent, and had some laughs during the game.

So, moral of the story kids, death star units may look good on paper, but never really earn their points back. And when they die, the bulk of your army goes with them. So look in to that APPM ratting of your army and see where you stack up!

1-0 with 1000 Victory points for good 'ol Edvil209 and sitting pretty in 1st place. More to come on this mini-tournament.

Spaming Spam with a side of SPAM.

2010-07-13T13:37:00.005-04:00

So have you seen this article on BOLS yet?

http://www.belloflostsouls.net/2010/07/goatboy-40k-spamming-with-side-of-spam.html

Did anybody else read this article from Goatboy and go "WTF?" The article basically was a cry to the power gaming community to stop spamming (using the same unit over and over and over again to gain a powerful advantage over your opponent) as it is no fun for you opponent. Wait, this did come from the BOLS guys right? The same guys who as soon as they break a codex throw up army list after army list on how to use this broken list on their blog? The same guys that year after year find a way to break and take advantage of the Gladiator and Tournaments at Adepticon and win thousands of dollars in prizes, right? The same guys who not only published the Leafblower list, but included an instruction book on how to use this list? These same guys who SCREAM spam and cheese are now telling us how "not fun" it is for the opponent to face one of their UBER Killy you do not have a chance to be me lists? Seriously! No kidding! Really, I didn't know that Leafblowers and Razorback SPAM was no fun to play against.

Now, I have no problem with this. Really, personally I feel that spamming and uber power gaming lists really takes away from the fun of the game, for both players. I really feel that if, IF I believed in comp, I would comp armies like this out of the game. Now, I do not believe this. And I feel that I just need to play better to beat these lists, and that it is only a matter of time before a counter to these power lists are found, more then likely by the BOLS guys, and leafblowers will go the way of the Nob Biker. The problem I have is the source of a fast majority of the power gaming lists, tactics, and strategies is now telling everyone, don't do as we do, it's no fun.

So what are they trying to say. "Yeah, we play this way and will play this way at every tournament we play in, and we will crush you, your friends, your dog and your dreams of ever winning and win this without much challenge, post and brag about how we did it on our blog, but don't you do it. It's no fun." So are they getting sick of losing to their own cheesy tactics? Or army lists? Or do they want to soften up the competition so that they can continue to crush everybody? What?

I love the guys over at BOLS, I really do. And here is a friendly piece of advice for you guys: If you want the cheese and spam to stop, STOP FRIGGIN' PRINTING AND USING IT and BRAGGING ABOUT HOW TO USE IT! Yes, Power lists will pop up on Dakka, or Warseer, but no one there is publishing an article on arguably the biggest 40K website in the world that includes details instructions on how to use the list. Say like this Leafblower article:

http://www.belloflostsouls.net/2009/09/40k-ard-boys-armylist-leafblower.html

Take some responsibility for what you put out there. If you want cheese and spam to stop, try printing articles on how to beat the cheese. Find the flaws in the Leafblower and razorback Spam lists and publish that. Use you power for good, not to spread more evil!

I would love for Darkwynn to write the "How to Dismantle the Leafblower" article right on BOLS

Or Fritz to write the "How to Kill the Jetbike Seer Council lsit" Article

Or GoatBoy to Write "How to Kill Spacegoats"

But they never do. They tell you all about these killy lists and are now complaining that they have become so popular?

Ok, rant over.

New Segment: This Week in 40K Podcasting

2010-07-12T18:28:00.005-04:00

So over the last few months I have been watching my Google Analytics for this blog and it would appear that the posts I do that receive the most hits and largest reader interest are those that refer to podcasts. 40K Radio mostly, but podcasts none the less. Funny huh?

So, then it occurred to me that there really isn't a comprehensive site out there that reports on the news, reviews or goings on in the podcast world. A site where you can go to hear some reviews of the shows, analysis, comments, or just plain reporting on what is out there.

So my readers have spoken and I am answering. Starting this week, Fridays (more or less) will be my "This Week in 40K Podcasting: segment here I list what podcasts I have listened to, my thoughts on those podcast, reviews, news in the 40K Podcast world, and contest reports.

So I have to get my butt in gear and listen to some podcasts! I am looking to you, the readers to tell me about podcasts I have not heard of yet and give them a try. Right now my criteria is 40K only. I know that there are a few casts out there the do war gaming, with 40K being in the mix. For now I am going to not review them at this time. But podcast like Dice Like Thunder, 11th Company, The Independent Characters, The WarBanner, Imperial Vox Cast, 40K Warcasting are my main focus. Got another gem of a podcast out there you want reviewed... drop me a line and I'll start listening and reporting!

So, here's to the Podcasts and off with the reviews!

Thanks Guys!

Riding the Cheese Wagon...

2010-07-12T09:30:00.004-04:00

Alright, so admit it. At some point in every Codex Space Marine player's life they look at the other chapters and say, "I wish I could do that." They look at their Space Wolves or Blood Angles brothers and say, "Why can you have 5-Man squads with Melta guns in Razorback and I can't?" The look at 'Dev' Squads that can split fire with multiple Missile Launchers any say, "Hey, that's not fair"

And if you are lucky and decided to go with your own Space Marine Chapter and not a 'Codex' chapter, who is to say which Space Marine Chapter your army is a founding from... this week.

So I am at that point with my Codex Marines. So on Thursday night after debuting my Eldar on the gaming table and crushing my buddy Sean in a kill point mission to only get my skinny Eldar but handed to me in a Capture and Control mission, we did what we always do. We sat around after the games were done and shoot the bull about 40K. We talked rules, tactics, and what we could have done differently.

At some point though, he asked me if I was ever going to get back to my Marines. I started my Marines for a starter army to teach my boys how to play the game. Occasionally I get board with Tyranids and I would break out the Marines just for fun. So they have been sitting on the shelf looking at me wantingly to be painted and played. Now, I have no plans to give up my Eldar, I really want to have 1850 points built, painted, and play-tested for Adepticon this year. But I always have my next project in mind as I am working on the current one. This is why my 'Nids are only 10% painted.

But I was think about getting back to Marines after the Eldar are done, and I wanted to make a Blood Angels list. So my friend Sean was the first to offer up, "You know if you run you're own chapter you could be Blood Angels today and Space Wolves tomorrow and Codex Marines on Monday."

This brought a smile to my face. He's right! For the most part, A Rhino is a Rhino, Vindicator is a Vindicator, a Marine a Marine. Now each codex, BA and Wolves, have some units unique to them, but with some filing and a new paint job I really could make a Marine Army that could Go between Codex, BA, and Wolves. So I am going to do it!

I am going to Start my own Chapter, the Lightning Legion, who Started off as Codex marines when they lost a big part of their forces in a great battle with the Necrons. Along came two other successor chapters to the Blood Angels and Space Wolves to help out and they too also took brutal loses in the battle. Commanders killed, chapter masters mortally wounded. It was a mess. In order to win the battle and the war versus the Necrons, these three weakened chapters decided to combine their forces on the battle field and fight side by side, like a single chapter. This brave plan worked, the they were able to defeat the Necrons, together as one chapter. When the war was over, they had grown so accustomed to each other the the new command structure, they decided to stay a combined chapter. Hence, The Lightning Legion was born.

Game play-wise, you'd pick a codex for that game or tournament, but I plan to paint up this army and start interchanging which codex I am using.

I will report my progress here and show some of the custom models that will have to come from this so that I can have Thunderwolf cavalry next to models on the shelf with wings.

So, is this Cheese? Let me know gang!

Scott and Phil.... Together Again!

2010-07-09T14:16:00.004-04:00

So I have been breaking my butt at work and have been getting behind on my podcasts, I admit it. I usually hit the big ones on my list first, Dice Like Thunder, 11th Company, and the Independent Characters and Imperial Vox Cast are first on my list. But, I love my man Philip Johnson and I always check from time to time to see if the WarBanner had released a new postcast. now, I know Phil. I have spoken to him and I knew that his family had been ill over the last few months. But things on the home front are better now for him and he released a new podcast this week. With special guest, Scott Steva!

After a fast email email to my man, your man, the man Phil, it turns out that Scott might be a regular feature tot he WarBanner Podcast.

Good, Great, AWESOME! As you all know I am a Philip Fanboy, and a close second is the Sheriff of 40K, Scott. To have these two guys back together is just Epic. I can even say just having Scott there has increased the quality of the content of the Warbanner.

This is great news!

LeBron James and 40K Radio moving to Flordia!

2010-07-09T07:31:00.002-04:00

So the rumor mills have been running pretty strong about the deceased 40k Radio podcast lately and it looks like some sort of confirmation has finally come from their friends of this blog and members of their own forums.

According to sources close to 40K Radio, Romeo from Battlefoam has indeed purchased principle rights to the 40K Radio podcast show. Spencer will still have some ownership of the show (and profit sharing as well I am sure). In the lull between the show dying and being resurrected, 40K Radio has offered all of its paying members an additional 90 days to their Freebootaz forum.

Structure of the show is still in debate and I find it hard to believe that 40K radio will not turn into a full time commercial for Battlefoam. A lot of the hard core fans of the show had complained on how much of the show's content had been commercials and it looks like that will not change. "All Battlefoam, All the time"

But who will host this new 40K Radio you ask? As I reported weeks ago when this happened, 40K radio is moving to Florida, with some basketball guy named LeBron James as it turns out, and will be hosted by George Miller and his crew. No previous hosts will appear on the show. Although rumors are abound that Spencer is moving to Florida and still might be an on air presence on the show.

No indication has been given if 40K Radio will still be the name of the show, but sources believe that a name change is also forthcoming.

In the end I guess this is a good thing. George Miller is a good guy, and his crew has some pretty decent knowledge of the game. I am curious as to how the show will perform now under ownership of a company, and not a bunch of guys just shooting the breeze about 40K.

I personally will miss Scott. He had become the reason I enjoined 40K Radio and this whole mess leading up to his leaving the show and causing all of this makes me sick.

But, we will be watching, or listening, and see what will become from that little podcast from Erie.

Eldar Building Project

2010-07-08T08:52:00.005-04:00

So I have been 40K-less for almost a month now. I got to play the week before the family vacation to San Fransisco. But the week leading up to the vacation was all prep work for this massive trip. I am really upset that I did not find this great new podcast called "The Independent Characters" (http://theindependentcharacters.com/blog/) which is based out of San Fransisco that I could have visited and played while I was there.

But, vacation was awesome, we had a great time, and came home. The week after was really recovery, as jet lack sucks as an adult, but the kids took it really hard. So I did not get any hobby or gaming done that week as I was just too beat. Then, my wife went to San Diego for a conference for work and I was at home with three boys all week. No hobby - No Gaming

We come home to find out that we have a small gas leak in one of our vehicles and we needed to get that taken care of as soon as possible, which sucked up my regular gaming night of Tuesday nights. NO GAMING!!!! However, the three day 4th of July weekend did give me the chance to get some hobby done.

So with a great three day weekend, I decided to go ahead and break the rule I had established with myself and started building my Eldar army. I only own at this time about 1,000 Points of Eldar and I thought it would be fun just to get them together. The next thing I knew, I had an old school Falcon built, a unit of Fire Dragons stripped, a unit of Rangers stripped, a Wave Serpent built, a ten man Dire Avenger Squad built, a Farseer built, and the new Fire Prism built all in two nights! Yea Hobby!

But now that I am staring at these freshly built models, I want to play them. So shoot me. I plan to take out the Eldar tonight and play a game or two with the unpainted Eldar. Now, I want to paint these, but with the blistering heat wave and high humidity we have been having in western PA this week, I did not want to chance spray paint to model. Trust me, they will be painted before I built any more models. I will buy more, just not build them. I want this army to be fully painted at 1850.

However, next week looks better weather-wise and I'll be priming and painting.

I plan to film at least one of the battles tonight and throwing it up on the YouTube page. I'll let you know what I learn tonight. I expect to get my butt kicked pretty well, as my gaming group has no idea how to take it easy on a vet player starting a new player. Got I love them!

Tyranid FAQ Released!

2010-06-30T13:35:00.007-04:00

Finally, FINALLY, the Tyranid FAQ has been released for Codex Tyranids and I have to say it is by far one of the best, most straight forward FAQs I have ever read from GW. ***Applause all around for doing something right*** No ambitious rulings, no shaky or contradicting findings, simple "If this happens does this happen Questions" with a solid Yes or No answers. Now while I might disagree with a few things in here, it at least answers almost all of those crazy questions that came up when this codex launch

Some of the High Points of this FAQ as I saw it:

1) Tyranids with multiple CC Weapons do get the benefit of both of them at the same time, so Yes, lash Whip and Bone Sword are used simultaneously and work together. Duh.

2) Multiple Hive Commander Abilities DO NOT Stack! So no 2+ to Reservers from running two stock tyrants. Also, no two more outflanking troop choices either. Thus, no real reason to run two basic Tyrants.

3) Yes, even though the Main Rulebook says so, and I have no idea why this was ever in question, having Wings do permit the unit to deepstrike. DUH for those how said it didn't!

4) And a big Surprise here, Hive Guard who fall into Instinctive Behavior can not fire at things they do not have LOS of, despite the fact their gun can. Ok, I can live with that.

5) Yes the Mawloc can choose to Deep Strike onto a point occupied by an enemy model and blow them all to hell. This makes the model just a bit cooler.

6) I do not get this one at all, of all of the rulings here, this one makes the least amount of sense to me. If a Tyranid unit takes a Mycetic Spore, can it choose
to deploy normally whilst the empty Mycetic Spore deep strikes on its own? The shocking answer... No? NO! Why not? But Drop Pods and Rhinos and every other dedicated transport can? Ok... whatever. Bad call... but I'll live with it.

and of course, how could I go without commenting on this one:

7) DOOM is nerfed!!! Or clarified if you will. Yes you do get a cover save from the woundd his life leech ability inflicts and No, it does not effect units in transports! Ok, two comments. Cover saves from a special ability that does not draw LOS or targets a specific unit??? I disagree but this is how I have been playing it so no big deal. Second, I never really bought into the idea that it effected units in transports. So really wishful thinking by some power gammers if you ask me. For starters, the main rulebook states that psychic powers do not effect units in transports so to me this is a no-brainer. Too many problems would come up if it did. Like does the unit have to take a moral check if they take 25% and if they flee, where to the flee to?

Does this lessen the unit... I don't think so. Most civilized players have been playing it this way anyway.

Overall... great FAQ! Good job GW!

Codex Overview: Tyranids - The Hive Tyrant

2010-06-24T08:40:00.006-04:00

Tyranid Hive Tyrant

Overall: ******* 7/10
Assault: ***** 5/10
Shooting: ****** 6/10
Anti-Tank: ******* 7/10
Psychic: ******* 7/10

My how the mighty have fallen. Once the terror of the 4th Edition codex, you'd never see a Tyranid army without one. Normally, for me at least, a Dakka-Flyrant that would re-roll to hit and to-wound and dump an unreasonable amount of wounds into a unit. A terror on the battle field, now reduced to a secondary assault/support role if even fielded at all. If not for the Hive Commander ability, it is hard to argue one way or the other to have or not to bother with this unit.

PROS: Still a toughness 6 Monstrous Creature who, if you are willing to spend the points, can fly, bust up tanks, and rip through any troop unit without a power or force weapon in it, and make other Tyranid units around him stronger. It is a Synapse Creature and it's Psychic powers are a great asset to the army, Paroxysm being one of my personal favorites and Life Leech is much better then Regenerate. It has the ability to carry some of the strongest guns in the army, the Heavy Venom Cannon on a Flying Creature add some much needed range to this otherwise short ranged army. And, again, if your willing to spend the points, you can still have your Dakka-Flyrant spitting out 12 STR 6 shots that re-roll to hit, and that is nothing to sneeze at. It can help bring in reserve units faster, give other Tyranids Preferred Enemy, and allow you to outflank with a MC (the Troops choice Tervigon)if you choose.

CONS: This unit is extremely over pointed for what you get. Probably by about 40 Points or so. And for the point cost that you do pay, the damned thing should come with a 4+ Invulnerable save at least. Any of the good upgrades that you would want to put on it are equally over pointed and this unit can quickly become a giant point sink. Not to mention that you can not have a 2+ save and wings at the same time. The lack of an invulnerable save is by far one of the strongest weaknesses of this unit, forcing you to "be careful" when using it as opposed to jamming it down the enemy's throat. This unit is less "scary" then it was in the previous edition. Any unit that can fight its way out of a paper bag has a good chance of knocking off wounds or flat out killing this rather fragile unit. It forces you to either buy Tyrant Guard at an over pointed cost, or dedicate units to screening it, say Gargoyles or Hive Guard.

Suggested Upgrades:

Wings - Yeah, way too expensive but does gives the Tyrant much needed mobility. A walking Tyrant is a dead Tyrant IMHO

Hive Commander - If you intend to Deep Strike or Outflank Anything, take this!

Old Adversary - Short ranged but a good upgrade for hoard style armies

Suggested Weapons:

Two Sets of Scything Talons - Might as well make sure you can put as many hits on the unit you charge.

Two Sets of Twin-Linked Devourers - Good shooting for a modest cost. Short Ranged though, so be prepared to by the wings!

Heavy Venom Cannon - This army lacks good anti-tank, so adding this will help vs. heavy mech armies.

Suggested Build 1: Tyrant with 2 Sets of Talons, Paroxysm and Life Leech, and Wings - 260 Points Screen this guy with a 15 man kitted out Gargoyle Brood and he can drop the enemies WS and BS, have the Gargoyles Changes and mop them up. This is normally how I run him.

Thinking About: Warhammer Fantasy Battles 8th Edition

2010-06-23T11:52:00.011-04:00

Someone please freaking stop me. I beg of you! With all of the hype of the new Warhammer Fantasy Battles 8th Edition coming out, and how much it had changed and balanced the game, my crazy brain and OCD keeps tempting me to at least buy that new box set when it comes out and try it out. Can you stop me from doing this? Please?

Let's go back a little into EvilEd209's past. I started my miniature war gaming career with WFB way back in 1997. I believe it was under the 3rd edition of the rule set back then. Me and a friend of mine got into the game mostly for the hobby aspect of it. I think we played a grand total of 35 to 40 games of it. At this time I was graduating high school and moving on to college. So my plan was to bring my models with me to college and find folks to play at the LGS. Well, when I got there I found out what everybody already knows, 40K is much, MUCH more popular then WFB and I found it damn near impossible to find a fantasy game.

So I dropped it. Sold off all of my models and picked up 40K. I played for a year and then 40K dropped deep into the background of my life as other things of life pushed it out of the way. Hell, 40K would have been a part of my distant past forever if it had not been for a buddy of mine who only stayed in the hobby for the models, customizing of those models and the painting. If it had not been for a fateful night near Christmas 2007 when he brought his Chaos Space Marines over to show me some of the modeling and painting he had been doing, I would have never come back.

But ever since I got back into 40K, and I am happy I did and will call it my primary hobby, I have often looked back to WFB with wonder. A very small part of me missing the genre and the idea of playing a fantasy war game still appeals to me. Plus, every once in awhile it is good to have a different game to play. But WFB SUCKS right now, I mean it really SUCKS. As I started to do my research on the game I found out what a joke it has become.

The game system as it stands now is so fundamentally broken that no TO worth their salt would consider hosting a WFB tournament without some form of COMP just to help balance a severally broken game. Some of the newer armies are so grossly overpowered that older armies do not stand a chance in an un-COMPed tournament. Some units are so broken that they are either limited in tournament use or banned altogether. The system is broken, the rules are broken, and I am sorry to say the game is broken. If not for the efforts of the WFB community itself and not the publisher of the game, the game would almost be unplayable in a competitive sense.

I think my favorite story I have ever heard of the current state of WFB was recanted on the Gamer's Lounge Podcast (a great little gaming podcast BTW). They told a tale of a recent large tournament held in England. And this gamming group brought a brand new player into WFB for this tournament. The guy had never seen nor touched Warhammer before. They gave him a Chaos Deamons army to play in this tournament, a notably broken army in the current edition of the game. They gave this player a weekend boot camp, told him the basic rules, and which units in his army charged and which units shoot. This greenhorn, brand new player to the game, had never been in any kind of tournament whatsoever, took 8th in a field of over 60 players. 8th! That is how broken the game is right now.

Now, think about that in terms of 40K. Do you genuinely believe that if you or your gaming group were to bring in a new player, give him a point-and-click hard as nails army, say leafblower for example, and throw him into Adepticon after only a weekend to teach him the game, do you think that this new player would come anywhere near the top 25 players there? Or top 50 for that matter. Hell no, those guys would eat him alive. And this is why I believe the game of 40K to be much more balanced then some claim. Is there codex creep? Yes, of course, why else are Space Wolves and Blood Angles so much better then their Codex Brothers? Are there weaker armies that suffer in 5th Edition? Of course, my beloved Necrons are screaming for a new Codex. But overall, I really feel that in any given game, where each general is of relatively equal skill, any army can beat any army.

So why in the hell would a competitive player like myself even consider such a gross lack of judgment as to even consider such a fundamentally broken game as WFB? Well, this week some of the preview copies of the new rule set have filtered down to the masses lucky enough to have a GW store near them. And all of the WFB experts who have had the chance to read over these rules are calling it AWESOME. This version of the game is not so much a fix and repair of 7th Edition, but a complete and total revamp of the entire WFB system.

This intrigues me. Form the early sounds of things, it fixes a lot of the broken holes in the game, helps to balance the game without updating the army books (a complete bizarre practice I might add) and is so fundamentally different from 7th, that old cheesey tactics simply will not work in 8th anymore.

I am sure it has its holes and flaws. But come time for the new box set to release, if all that we are being told is true. I think I might give Fantasy a shot.

Someone, anyone educated in WFB that can talk me out of this, please do. My wife will thank you!

40K Rants: Why Eldar?

2010-06-22T07:51:00.007-04:00

So now that the effects of jet lag, that lovely stomach flu, and sick kids are beginning to subside and life is returning to some state of normal, I will be dedicating myself to the assembly, painting, learning and playing my new army, the Eldar. I am really looking forward to it, this being my now fourth 40K army. I can't help it, I just want to own them all some day, and to be honest, "it looks like it may actually happen" - Egon, Ghostbusters.

"But EvilEd209?" you ask, "if you are this super competitive, tournament player that you say you are, Why Eldar? Why not Space Wolves, or the new shinny Blood Angles, or the super duper tournament winning leafblower Imperial Guard. Or, why not wait a few months and go after those super scary Dark Eldar that are coming, really this time, we swear. Why Eldar?"

Well fine reader, I will answer that question. For starters, I am a competitive player, this is true. When it comes to tournament play or my gaming club, I often have a similar attitude to that clip of Herm Edwards when he coached the Jets saying, "You play to win the game". But I feel that not only do I compete with the guys at my FLGS and my Gaming club, but I compete with myself as well. I do not feel that to be competitive that you need to swap over to the newest, greatest army to smash face for a few months until people figure out how to deal with your army and then move on to the next best thing. That is not competitive to me, it is taking advantage of your opponent's lack of knowledge of your army to win. There is very little challenge in this tactics to me. The real challenge is to take your army and adapt to new armies and tactics out there. Or better yet, start and older army and try to win with it, this is what separates a good tournament player from a great one.

For example, do you remember when Nob Bikers were the scariest thing in the 40K Universe and they took advantage of that new fangled wound allocation thingy that 5th Edition introduced? I sure do, it was right when I first started playing 40K competitively. And I remember my first tournament and being crushed by those damned things and cursing them. However, I began to adapt my army to prepare for such thing. Playing Tyranids back then, the SniperFex with it's STR 8 Barbed Strangler Large Blast was more then enough to equalize that threat. Add in some Genestealers with Implant Attack and I was eating Nob Biker Lists alive. I adapted, I did not dump my bugs to go play Nob Biker Orks.

But this does not really answer the question, "Why Eldar?" Well for starters, as I was doing my research into the other 40K armies out there that were not Necrons, Tyranids, or Codex Space Marines, I was looking for something specific. I wanted start an army that was totally different then what I had been playing. At frist I was looking at the aforementioned Orks, but if I ran Orks, I would run them mob style, which is basically how I run my Tyranids now. So I moved on to Space Wolves, but these guys are only very slightly different from Marines and I did not want to cheese it up too much. I looked at Tau for a moment, but not only does the army not appeal to me at all, sorry Tau players, but I already had all shooty all the time army and it simply does not fit my play style.

So I then came across the Eldar. I know this will sound bad, but I have three sons who, gods willing, be playing 40K here in the near future. And I already have two "bad guy" armies and only one "good guy" army. So I started looking for another army who could be argued to be a "good guy". I started reading the Eldar Codex and I really started to get into the fluff. And I loved the story. That is what really made the decision for me. They were not bad guys, but god guys, from a certain point of non-Imperium view. The models look super cool, and this not being least of course, they can run Mech and are pretty good at it as well. They use a lot of Eldar Psychic powers and employ completely different tactics to play the army. It was perfect.

So keep your eyes pealed for pics of the new Eldar being built and painted with future army lists and battle reports to follow.

40K Radio to Rise From the Ashes!

2010-06-21T13:58:00.004-04:00

So, in my standard catching up on all of the goings on in the 40K world after the long vacation, I came across the old 40K Radio website site. It has changed slightly, for those who haven't been paying attention, and it looks like the show will be staging a rise from the ashes after its rather sudden and instant death.

All that Spencer has posted on the site it the following:

"Interesting Things Ahead!
By Spencer · Comments (105)

Stay Tuned….."

Once you dig into the comments you'll find out that Romeo from Battle Foam, a fantastic product by the way, posts the following in the comments:

"Hello guys,

Romeo here from Battle Foam.

I noticed my name on here so I thought I would stop in and say hi. I can not comment on any inside information except to say that 40K Radio will be back!

It will be as exciting as ever and the new show format should make everyone very happy.

I would also like to say that Spencer has really put his heart and soul into the future of 40K Radio and will always be a part of it in some way.

I can also say that the new format will feature a great cast and amazing content. We hope to bring the community of pod casts and hosts back together in a new and exciting way.

Lastly the show will be a community friendly show promoting what we all love, 40k and the warhammer hobby.

I personally have a relationship with most hosts from various pod casts across the net. Because of that they will all be part of the new format in some fashion.

Please be patient with us during this transition period and look for the show to release its new episodes very shortly.

Long live 40K Radio, and long live wargaming pod casts!

Romeo
Battle Foam
Protecting Your Army (Shameless plug, lol)"

So these revelations raise many questions. Question number 1: who will be on this new 40K Radio show? Chances are Scott and Chipley will not be associated with the show whatsoever, and I am sorry to say that unless they each get their own projects, we will no longer hear from the boys. A damn shame I might add! Spencer, however, I suspect while he may not be an "on-air" personality, will have plenty to do with this new 40K Radio show. Hell, there's still money in it! If I had to guess, and I did state this in my prior 40K Radio post, George Miller would be a good guess as to who would be on this new show. As to the rest of the cast, I can not say. My hope is that they would learn from prior mistake and keep Jar Jar a silent member of the cast.

Question Number 2: What Great Cast and Content? Even the host of the former 40K Radio had admitted that the content of their show had dropped sharply over the last dying months. This new show promises new and exciting content. We will see about that.

Question 3: "We hope to bring the community of pod casts and hosts back together in a new and exciting way." This one intrigues me the most. As some of you know, 40K Radio did not have the best reputation when it came to other 40K Based podcasts. One , the War Banner hosted by the former 40K Radio host and co-creator Phil Johnson, who left the show with no formal explanation I find it hard to believe would ever work with 40K Radio again. I am curious as to how the 40K Radio Nation will reach out its arms to a community that feels most of them are elitists, money grubbing assholes who do not deserve their respect.

We will see where this new 40K Radio goes and how it is. I will keep you all posted!

I'm Baaaaacccckkkk!

2010-06-21T08:23:00.002-04:00

Hello there 40K Fans! Well, after a nice long Southern California Vacation, the 'Ol EvilEd209 is back to blogging. The family and I had a great trip with some low points. Our type 1 Diabetic 2-year old had some really high blood glucose numbers early in the week but we go that all cleared up. Then he went and picked up a nasty cough by Thursday. But, we made a vacation out of it anyway! We went to Fisherman's Wharf, we got to ride the cable cars which my 2-year old still is calling the coo-coo's, went out into the bay on the Ducky Tour with Captain Fantastic who let my five year old drive the boat, I saw the Golden Gate Bridge, and we attended an awesome wedding at Stanford University. But I have to say, by Thursday and I was ready to come home.

So, I have about 1 Billion work related emails to deal with, catch up on two-week's worth of Blogs and Podcast, and I'll be back to writing.

Looking forward to hearing from you guys!

40K News: Stomach Flu Takes Outs Blogger!

2010-06-09T15:57:00.004-04:00

Hey gang, I wanted to give you all an update and let you know that I am not slacking on the content here at the blog. We here at the EvilEd209 Garage have been hit with a nasty stomach flu which has just wiped me out. It started with my 2 year old and it finally spread to my 5 year old and the baby, 8 months old. Shortly there after the kids were kind enough to share this lovely virus with Mom and Dad. So we here at the garage have not been of the best of health lately.

We are also planing a family vacation to the San Fransisco Bay area starting next week. So my hope is that we are all healthy and ready for the plane trip from Pittsburgh, PA to San Fransisco, CA with three kids! Yea! I will do my best to keep the content coming but it might be thin for next week.

I have more 40K Tactics 101 articles coming, more army lists, more hobby stuff as the Eldar are still screaming my name.

So be patient and be ready for some fun stuff. Off to the bathroom, again!

Thanks guys!

40K Army Lists: The Sons of Saim-Hann

2010-06-04T07:52:00.004-04:00

So a wonderful thing happened to me yesterday when I arrived home from work, aside from the normal pleasures of three smiling little faces all happy to see Mommy and Daddy come home. On the kitchen table was a box from Games Workshop, and within that box was my brand new Fire Prism/Night Spinner kit. A birthday gift from the great guys (and girl) that I work with, and it arrived a day early I might add! I also got my most recent eBay purchases of a box of Dire Avengers and a War Walker. All of these brand new modles are piling up with the Eldar Stuff I have hiding in the basement (A Wave Serpent, A Falcon, 5 Rangers, 6 Fire Dragons and the Special Order Farseer) and they are calling to me:

"Build US!" "Paint US!" "Play with US!" "Conquer with US!"

I hear these voices in my sleep now, that isn't bad is it?

So, I have deiced to put my paint project of my Tyranids on hold and will start my Eldar Army now, I do not think the voices are giving me any choice. I am adopting a new policy with this army though, one I have always told myself I would do but never did it. I will not play with a single unpainted model. So for me to unleash this new army on to my friends at the local game store, I am going to need to get to work.

The photo that is accompanying this article is an example of my new paint theme, it is sort of a reverse of the Saim-Hann paint scheme and I intend to have some similar fluff behind the army as well. I am calling them the Sons of Saim-Hann.

I do not know how everyone else builds their armies but I usually pick a point value, do a ton of home work and build a primary list, and then start buying. So here is the list I and point value I am building too initially:

1850 Points

1 Eldrad 210

1 Farseer with Spirit Stones, Guide and Doom 120

10 Dire Avengers with the Exarch Upgrade, Bladestorm Upgrade, 2 Avenger
Catapult in a Wave Serpent with T-L Eldar Missile Launcher and Spirit
Stones 282

10 Dire Avengers with the Exarch Upgrade, Bladestorm Upgrade, 2 Avenger
Catapult in a Wave Serpent with T-L Eldar Missile Launcher and Spirit
Stones 282

5 Dire Avengers in a Wave Serpent with T-L Eldar Missile Launcher and Spirit
Stones 190

3 Jet Bike Guardians 66

5 Fire Dragons in a Wave Serpent with T-L Eldar Missile Launcher and Spirit
Stones 210

1 Fire Prism with Holo-Fields 150

1 Fire Prism with Holo-Fields 150

3 War Walkers Duel Scatter Lasers 180

So that is it, that is the first draft list. Let me know what guy guys think okay?

40K Army Lists: 1500 Point Tyranids for TrickyDick

2010-05-30T09:02:00.003-04:00

So, one of the host of Dice Like Thunder, TrickyDick (aka Richard) is taking Tyranids for a spin and has posted in their forums a 1500 point list. I decided that since I have some experience with this codex to try to help him out and offer him an alternative 1500 point list that might be more playable. Remember my philosophies on Tyrnaids: Each unit has a specific purpose, use them for that. And, send big things to assault small things and small things to assault big things.

So here goes:

1 Hive Tyrant with 2 sets of Scything Talons, Life Leech and Paroxysm, and Wings – 260

As a monstrous creature, the hive tyrant doesn’t really benefit from the power weapon status of the bone sword and most things it could insta-kill are eternal warrior anyway, so why bother. And at I5 the Tyrant is normally faster then most units it is attacks, so the lash whip normally does nothing as well. However, the ability to re-roll all attacks, and unlike Preferred Enemy, the rules state re-roll all misses in combat and mentions nothing about ‘with a WS’ so you can re-roll vs tanks, is just more useful. The only time the I5 is a problem is if the Tyrant is in hand to hand with a special assault unit or an independent character. And if this has happened something has drastically gone wrong with your game, as this is not where you want your tyrant. Fly it with the unit of Gargoyles in front of it, providing a cover save and send both units after smaller, less threatening scoring units. Use the Paroxysm ability to lower the WS and BS of units you intend to hit and send in the gargoyles as well. With this combined unit, you should mow down most troop choices.

2 Units of 3 Hive Guard each – 300

No real explanation needed here. These are your transport busters, throwing out 6 STR8 shots at BS4. Remember that they do not require line of sight so you can hide them behind a building and still bust open those transports and eat the gooey insides! If there are no transports on the field, then these guys can double out any non-eternal warrior model T4 or below. Hello there Nob Bikers!

2 Tervigons with Toxin Sacs, Adrenal Glands, and Catalyst – 390

Just use carnifexes for these for now, heck, you’re not using them anymore. These guys are so good. First, these will be runs as troop choices that are T6 with W6. If you can get these guys in cover they are really hard to knock off by shooting. And if there is an assault unit on the way, poop out gaunts to slow them down. Some people like to sit back on objectives with these guys, and that is a good tactic, but I am also a fan of running them up with the boys and really using those gaunts to their full potential. Use a unit of Hive Guard in front of this guy for a cover save, surround by those gaunts to give the Hive Guard Cover, and try to keep at least on model of each Termagant Mob within 6”. All of a sudden those gaunts get pretty scarry on the charge, hitting on 4s, wounding on 4s and re-rolling wounds on the charge (vs T4 or worse), with feel no pain. Heck, with the ability to wound any model save for tanks on a 4+, this mob can take down almost anything!

Remember, in kill point missions, you do not have to use his Brood Progenitor ability. And even in objective missions it is tactically sound to hold this back for the first turn. I find that by running two of them, one will roll doubles and poop out round one, but the other will hang in there. If you are lucky, you’ll produce some where between 30 and 60 gaunts during the course of the game, which is a 150 – 300 point advantage to you!

1 15 Termagant Squad – 75
1 16 Termagant Squad - 80

Objective holders and can be objective takers. And with the tactics described above, can take down almost anything. Best used in large numbers to bog down units.

1 11 Hormagaunt Squad with Toxic Sacs – 88

A pretty mean unit if you can get them into hand-to-hand. On average they will need 4s to hit, re-rolling 1s thanks to their talons, and with the toxic sacs wounding anything on a 4+. No too shabby. I tend to run these guys in front of the Trygon in the list as a speed bump. However, they both have fleet and could really ruin someone’s day, if they get there. If nothing else, a scoring unit that will draw fire for a round or two.

1 12 Gargoyle Squad with Adrenal Glands and Toxic Sacs – 96

Used to run with the Hive Tyrant, but they are cheaper then homagaunts with a similar build with one less attack, can auto-wound on 6s in hand-to-hand, and on the charge re-roll to wound T4 or worse. One of the knocks on these guys is that they need a synapse babysitter, which the Tyrant will do just fine for. Their shooting is piss poor but they can be beasts in combat.

1 Trygon with Adrenal Glands – 210

I normally start these guys on the table. While their Deep Strike Ability is pretty cool, if you are lucky, they come in on turn 2 or 3, suffer a full round of shooting and are well on their way to being dead before you ever get to use them. Remember, these guys are fleeting monstrous creatures, so I tend to start them on the board, fleet, and really give my opponent something to think about. It is real easy to get these guys into hand-to-hand by turn two and if you are assaulting the right unit, you’ll be very happy with the results. You might also want to screen these guys with the hormagaunt squad to keep any units that might threaten it in hand-to-hand away for at least a turn. Send this thing at tanks and troop choices.

Total, 61 models to start with the potential for over 100, 1499 Points.

That's the list. Try it out and let me know what you think. Everyone out there, try it and tell me what you think! Good Luck Richard!

40K Rant: What Happened to the Tyranid Codex?

2010-05-28T22:24:00.012-04:00

What happened to the menace of the 40K universe? Why has GW filed down the teeth and claws of the new Tyranids? How could an author who brought us such power as in the Imperial Guard Codex, bring such failure to arguably one of the coolest armies in all of 40K? Can anyone tell me how a Carnifex is worth 160 points base? Anyone? Why wings on a Hive Tyrant can be justified at 60 points? Why there isn't a single HQ choice in the whole codex with an invulnerable save in the shooting phase? And what in the hell is the use of a Pyrovore?

So I have tried, I really have, to make the argument that Tyranids are as competitive as the other 5th edition codices out there, but I can't do it any more. I can't honestly say that they can stand toe-to-toe with TH&SS Marine Lists, or Thunderwolf Calvary lists, or Leafblowers, or Fast Predator/Vindicator lists, because they can't. Now, I am not whining here, I can hold my own versus these lists and have beat, each and every one. However I have done so in-spite of the codex, not because of it. I have had to learn how to screen units better, and the use unit synergies, and new tactics that one must employ if they ever dream of keeping up with these lists. But why is it so different for the Tyranid codex then the others? Why do I have to keep up?

I plan to attend Adepticon 2011 and I was hoping to take the 'Nids with me when I started painting my army for 'Ard Boyz this year. However, the more I play my beloved 'Nids the more I realize that as far as updated 5th edition codices are concerned, my bugs got the shaft. Take a look at the other 5th Edition codices that have been released so far, Space Marines, Imperial Guard, Space Wolves, and Blood Angels. All of these armies can arguable be placed at the top of the 40K power creep meter right now. All of them top-notch, chiseled armies and ready to smash face on the tournament circuit, with Guard sitting on top in my opinion.

So what happened to the Tyranids? As I will go over in my overview of the codex in coming articles, the monstrous creatures are extremely over pointed, have no invulnerable saves and hence have little to no staying power, and can't hold their own versus similarly pointed units. For the rest of the codex, anything worth fielding is either too over priced to field, too small a unit to be worth it, or T4 that can be killed outright by a S8 or better weapon. Where are our Thunderhammer and Stormshield Terminators? Warriors with bone swords are about the same price and no one in their right mind would compare the two units as in the same league. Where is our cheep transports and leaf blower units? 160 Point Carnifexs that can't shoot a lick, are down to one gun, and you wouldn't dare put into hand-to-hand as anything worth sending it after can beat its brains in. Where are our Thunderwolf Calvary? Yes, the Trygon is an awesome model, that can easily be wiped off of the board in a single round of combat or rapid fire bolter fire.

Where is the umph to this army? Where is the punch?

Why did Genestealers get nurffed? Taking an attack away from one of the only units that people were still afraid of, oh, and removing the ability to better their armor save, thereby making them bolter bait.

Why can't I buy Warp Field for my Hive Tyrants or Tyranid Primes?

Tyranids are now a pretty much a short ranged shooting army who wants to be in hand-to-hand. However, once they get to hand-to-hand, they do not have the staying power to do much of any good. The whole army is a glass cannon.

The only way I have been able to run the army and compete is to run half hoard, half 'Nidzilla, and adopt a philosophy to the army:

'Big things hit small things, small things hit big things'

With this, the MCs hit smaller units that have little to no hope of really hurting them all the while I send mass hoards of toxin sac armed gaunts and gargoyles and hormaguants to bring down the higher toughness units. Lots a tanks? Still an issue for this army, but Hive Guard help. Too band I can only field three per unit. Zoanthropes are OK, but if you pod them in, the very next turn every gun in the army will blast them off of the board and if you walk them their painfully short range makes then less then a threat on the board. The Tyranofex is just too over pointed for a unit that hits half the time and can be brought down so easily.

I am not giving up on my 'Nids. I love playing them, I love painting them, and some day, two years into 6th edition maybe, a new codex will come out. It will possibly address these issues. And help make this more competitive army.

But until then I think I am hanging up the competitive claws of my 'Nids... and moving on to Eldar! I know, they are older, and have thier issues too. But I like the fluff and I am going to make a go of it. 1850 Points, built, painted, play-tested and ready for that Mecca of table-top wargamming, Adepticon!

40K Tactics 101: The Daisy Chain

2010-05-26T16:11:00.006-04:00

So, you’ve been playing the game for awhile now, managed to win a game here and there, but the good players in your area still beating you down on a regular basis. You are beginning to look for that little edge that will help propel you into the next level of 40K domination. That is what 40K Tactics 101 is all about! These generic tactics will help you step up your game and make you a better 40K Player. A training course designed for new to mid-ranged 40K players.

This week we are going to review the Daisy Chain. This tactic was taught to me by the Great Scott Steva, formally of 40K Radio! The Daisy Chain is a simple tactic used to grant a unit a valuable cover save, all the while holding on to one or even two objectives that are out in the open. Another good used of this tactics is to give a heavy weapon a few extra inches of range and a clear line of sight, all the while holding on to that important cover save.

So, the basis for this tactics is the rule in the 40K Rulebook for how a multi-model unit receives a cover save, say a 10 man tactical squad or a 30 boy Ork mob for example. In order for that unit to receive a cover save from in-coming fire, the rule states that 50% or more of that unit must be in cover. Now, add this to the rule for cover saves provided by area terrain, which states that as long as the unit at least 50% in the terrain, then they will receive a cover save, regardless of line of sight.

So lets say that you are attempting to grab an objective that is seemingly out in the open, with a decent sized piece of area terrain about 7 inches away. In order to hold that objective, all you need is one model from that unit to be within 3 inches. The rest of the models can duck into the safety of cover. So, place one model on or near the objective. Stay in coherency and place your next model within 2 inches of that one. Continue this process until you have reached that precious area terrain. Then, place the remaining models from that unit into the area terrain. If more then 50% of the unit is in that area terrain, then the guys all the way out in the open will receive a cover save!

Take this one step further shall we. In the example above, let’s say you have a big unit of about 24 Gaunts sitting in that terrain and holding that one objective, deviously giving that little gaunt out there a cover save. Now let us say that about 8 inches away from that piece of area terrain, in another direction, there is a second, objective. As long as over 50% of the unit is still in the area terrain, you can swing that chain out to capture that second objective, in the same manner in which you grabbed the first. In a recent game, I managed to hold down three objectives with one unit of 30 gaunts, all of which were provided a cover save by a single piece of area terrain.

Now, eventually, you will be shot at. You need to selectively remove your casualties to ensure that the 50% of the unit is still in cover. If you drop below 50% at any time, the unit immediately loses all cover saves. Fair Warning!

Another use for this tactics, which does not directly relate to objectives, is placing your heavy weapon guy way out there to get a better line of sight for his shot, but still get a full cover save.

Well, that’s it. A pretty simple tactic that I use in almost every game, as my opponents have figured out to place their objective out in the open! I hope this helps, and I look forward to next week’s article, Selective Casualties!

So I will toss up a video demonstrating this tactic tonight:

http://www.youtube.com/user/TheEvilEd209

Got and idea for a 40K Tactics 101 article? Let’s hear it. Post a comment here and if your tactic is selected for a weekly article you will be given full credit for the piece!

R.I.P. 40K Radio 2007 - 2010

2010-05-24T15:37:00.022-04:00

Time of Death May 24th, 2010

Well, as I predicted about a week ago on this blog folks, 40K Radio is officially no more. Apparently the backlash of losing Scott and Chipley to an ego trip, coupled with the return of Jar Jar the Racist Hobo, and some rather disgusting personal attacks on Spencer and his family (too low guys, seriously, attacking someone's miscarriage is just disgusting and you'll all burn for it), has been too much strain for the 40K podcast that started it all. Spencer Harding has officially posted what appears to be the final post on the 40K Radio website:

What a long crazy journey this has been! I want to thank each and everyone who listened to the show. You truly made it an enjoyable experience. Meeting you all at live events or on the chat or on the phone has been amazing. It is something I will never forget. In light of recent threats to myself and my family I have decided to close down the show. I did not start this to allow people a platform to attack my family. This is a show about little toy men….moving on little toy worlds. It was supposed to be fun. Personal attacks and threats take that fun away.

I will miss all of you.

Thanks for listening.

The show and all of its contents are for sale. If you are interested please send me an email.

So now a few questions of course will arise with the death of 40K Radio. For starters, and I think most importantly of all, what about the money??? With well over 1,200 Freebootaz chipping in $25 a year (that's $30,000 BTW!) will this money be returned to those who did not get what they paid for?

What about the sponsors who put in their money for air time, will they ever see a return on that investment?

Will the forum still stay up to those who paid into it or be moved to a more public forum?

Will someone buy the show from Spencer (at an inflated cost I am sure) and continue the show and its traditions? My guess, look for George Miller and Maldus to buy the show... just a guess.

Would Spencer sell the show to Scott, Chipley, and Phil?

Or is the show that started it all (with all due respects to Jeff over at Podhammer who is the real innovator) doomed to die a quick and painful death after some swift and ill conceived decision making? Coupled with an internet coward launching disgusting threats toward Spencer and his family?

I know I have been part of the vocal fans not too please with the direction of the show has been going lately. And the loss of Phil, the first straw for me, and now Scott and Chipley's one-show suspension that lead to their leaving the show, the last straw as it would appear, have shown that the show has been on a downward spiral toward this end for some time now. I have been critical of the show, yes, but out of a love for what it used to be. I personally criticized the show's content and decisions, but never crossed the line to dig into someone's personal life. I have criticized the show, but, as a fan, not a hater of Spencer, the staff, or the show. Only in the hope that my voice would be heard and changes be made to better the show.

I want you all to know I loved 40K Radio, and this announcement brings me no matter of joy. I am saddened today by the loss and I am happy that I was able to listen to the show from beginning to end (save for the episodes I had to pay to listen to!). All of the laughs, all of the tactics in their early shows, and all of the fun of 40K, made better with Spencer, and Phil, and later Scott and lastly Chipley. It is a shame it came to this, that people couldn't be grownups and deal with their issues. That some douche had to make attacks from behind a computer screen.

I will miss 40K Radio, I will mourn it. Lucky for me though, there are several other great 40K podcasts out there on the internet, Dice Like Thunder, 11th Company, Imperial Vox Cast, the Warbanner, and the Gamers Lounge. And I am sure in the wake of this demise, others will spring up from the ashes.

I hope this is not the last we will hear from old Eire Pa. Maybe one day, Spencer and Scott and Chipley and Phil will patch things up, hold a 40K Radio reunion, get back on the air and bring the show back to us. I hope for this. I really do. I hope that the guys can work things out and be friends again, regardless of the show.

So, when you roll dice the next time, close your eyes and remember the first time you heard 40K Radio. Remember how cool it was to find out that you were not alone in your geek-dom. That there were these guys out there on the internet who have a radio show and are just as geeky as you! That there were other guys and girls all around the world, like you, rolling dice, painting minis at obscene hours of the night, and playing with little toy soldiers, just like you. Guys out there that made it cool to play 40K. And remember 40K Radio... fondly.

So long guys... thanks for all of the tactics, all of the overviews and interviews, all of the stories from the battlefield and the laughs, the fun of being on your show, and for all of the memories. I will never look at this hobby without thinking about 40K Radio. What Phil, or Spencer, or Scott, or even Chipley had to say about this unit or that. Tactics learned, friends to be had, and memories to keep. And my hobby is a little bit emptier today without 40K Radio. I wish you could have worked it out... and I wish you a very fond fare well.

Bravo Goatboy and COMP in 40K

2010-05-24T13:12:00.005-04:00

Hey gang, I wanted to let you guys know about a wonderful article over at BOLS. Goatboy over at Bell of Lost Souls put up a great article today on how not to be a gaming douche! I love it, it is a great article and I highly suggest you give it a read:

http://www.belloflostsouls.net/2010/05/goatboys-40k-thoughts-how-not-to-be.html

One of the things that he said that I especially agree with is that bringing a hard as nails list to a tournament, not a friendly game, a tournament mind you, is not being a douche, how you play that list is. I could not agree more!

Personally myself I do not feel that COMP has any place whatsoever in the game of 40K. GW, while they have made some mistakes and left a few units and rules out there that are capable of abusing holes in the 5th edition rule set, has done a fairly good job at keeping the game balanced, all things considered. If there is any kind of COMP structure that I would agree with, it would be a tiered point bump for obviously weaker armies, and not restrictions on armies that someone feels is unfair. For example, my poor beloved Necrons are far too weak in the 5th edition game to be competitive. We all know it. But what if in a 1750 tournament, they received a 200 point bonus? All of a sudden, maybe they could compete. Now, this is a loose system and I do not believe we should ever COMP 40K, but if we do, we need to bump up the weaker armies and not drag down those we deem as stronger. Those who claim that the 'Leaf-blower' lists, brought to you by BOLS, should be COMPed out of 40K are not being realistic.

I feel differently when I play for fun and when I play competitively. Fun is just that, fun. I could care less if I win, lose, or draw the game. I just want to have a good time with hopefully a friend or a new friend. Fun games is when I pull out those units I never use just to see how they do, or where I try out new tactics that I am unsure of. I do not take those games seriously at all, and neither should my opponent.

Tournaments are different, much different. It is a competition, it is meant to see on that day who is the best general, and I take that seriously. While I plan to have fun, and I hope you have fun too, I am there to smash in your face and place in the tournament. I could play my mom in a tournament and joke and laugh the whole time I am smashing her face in (my mom does not play 40K, yet...). I will not be a douche, I will have fun, I will joke around and laugh at my defeats and I will go out of my way to make sure my opponent is having as much fun as I am, but I play to win the game. So no list is to much, or too hard. If I get my head kicked in in a tournament by a list, I do not go home and cry about how unfair that list was. I develop new tactics, new strategies, and move to improve myself and my game. In the end, I am a much better player for it.

So think to yourself the next time you feel a list is 'broken'. Is it broken because it is obviously outside the rule set and not counter-able by anything anywhere, or is it that you were not prepared for it and you felt that your defeat to that list was unfair. Instead of claiming, 'we need to comp that', maybe go home, hit the lab, and build a better list to beat that list.

Codex Overview: Tyranids - Part One

2010-05-21T08:53:00.003-04:00

We hold these truths to be self-evident…About Tyranids:

For my first overview of a Warhammer 40K Codex I decided to cover the codex and army that I know best, the Tyranids. When I first started playing this game in the tail end of 4th Edition with Necrons, I took note to my local game scene that no one around me was playing Tyranids. I told myself then that I would start the army as soon as I got board with Necrons. And when 5th Edition effectively killed that army, it accelerated my want to play another army that actually had a chance to win. I have played them pretty much non-stop since, although I do have a pretty impressive Space Marine Force I am saving to teach my boys the game with and plan to begin my Eldar army very soon.

So, where to begin with Tyranids? First I will say that these are my opinions of the army and should not be taken as ‘written-in-stone’. My tactics and use of units (or lack of) are based on my play style and how effective I have found them on the table. I am sure that there are plenty of people out there in the web-o-sphere who will disagree with me on many issues. Please do, I would love to hear what everyone else thinks and maybe you can change my mind. However this is my take on the army.

First, before we get too far in I want to lay down the ground work with some “Truths” about the Tyranids that as a player or opponent of this army you simply must accept.

Truth #1 – No Invulnerable Saves!

Save for the Zoanthrope, the Doom of Malan ‘Tai, and the way too over priced Swarmlord (hand-to-hand only), the entire army lacks an invulnerable save of any kind. In fact, to the best of my ability, I believe that this army is the only army currently in 40K without an HQ unit with an invulnerable save. This complicates things, especially for all of those nifty Monstrous Creatures we all want to run so badly, because it makes them susceptible power weapon attacks in hand-to-hand and AP3 or better shots in the shooting phase. Couple that with the fact that it is really hard to get a cover saves on a Monstrous Creatures and you can end up with some dead expensive models early.

One way to help combat these issues is unit screening. Use a unit of Gargoyles to cover your Flying Hive Tyrant, get a cover save, use a big unit of warriors to cover that Carnifex, get a cover save. Sorry Trygon, no help there. The model is big and beautiful and unless you get it behind a building or run it with a Venomthrope, you’ll never see a cover saver for this guy.

Truth #2 – Shoot the Big Ones

Your Monstrous Creatures are all going to die! Accept it now. It will be better for you in the end. Yes, they are a lot of points, and yes, the models look great on paper and on the table, but in the end, every gun that can wound them will shoot at them. And by turn 3 – 4 all of your Monstrous Creatures will have been blown off of the board. This is not a bad thing. Because while all of that concentrated fire did manage to kill both of your Trygons, the Carnifex Brood, and your Hive Tyrant, it did not touch those three units of fifteen gaunts holding three objectives and winning you the game. I have a friend at my local game store who, on a weekly basis, asks me why I run two or three Trygons in my lists. “Every time I see them they end up dead, seems like a waste to me” he says. This is very true, and while my Trygons may have bit the big one, I rarely lose the game. This might be hard for some of you to read, but your Monstrous Creatures are expendable! Use them to pull units away, distract your opponent, tar pit units, and contest objectives. I have sent Trygons out to the middle of no where and seen half an army shift off of objectives to go and get it. Great, because my hoard of gaunts was right there to grab that flag and hold on for the win.

Truth #3 Send the big ones after the small ones and the small ones after the big!

Select which units you send your Monstrous Creatures into hand-to-hand with very carefully. A Trygon will make short work of a 10-man Tactical Squad without a powerfist, but will be murdered by a 5 man Thunderhammer and Stormshield Terminator Squad in one round of combat. In the beginning phases of the game, during setup is best, determine the threat level of a unit in hand to hand. I tend to score them on a 1 to 5 rating, 1’s being easy to kill, 5’s being ‘stay the hell away from that’! If the unit has a low WS, no real power weapons to speak of or is a vehicle that did not move in the previous turn, ripe targets to wipe out. Walkers are midrange targets in my opinion, more then likely, with adrenal glands to help, you’ll have a higher initiative on the charge and will score several penetrating shots before they ever get to attack. But if your dice hate you and he gets to swing back, you might be in trouble. The special assault unit loaded down with attacks and power weapons, avoid that like the plague!

Conversely, with Toxin Sacs giving small point units a 4+ Poison Weapon, this has changed the game for Tyranids in my opinion, for the better. Now, all of a sudden, a unit of 20 Hormagaunts can lay down 25 wounds onto a 5 man terminator Squad, killing them before they ever swing back. Sure, the Avatar or Greater Deamon might manager to kill a few, but with their high toughness no longer protecting them, they will die awfully fast to little guys! Couple Toxin Sacs with Adrenal Glands, and all of a sudden your units get to re-roll to wound on units with a T4 or less. I have seen wave after wave of gaunts wipe out the toughest of assault units, simply by making them roll more dice. Eventually those ones and twos come, and there are dead models in their wake for a low point cost.

So send in those little guys and watch them do amazing things!

That’s it for this week. Next Week we will look into the first HQ unit, the Hive Tyrant!

Questions? Comments? Obscene Remarks? Post them here in the comments sections and thanks for the feedback guys!

40K Tactics 101: Ring Arround the Transport

2010-05-19T14:59:00.001-04:00

So, you’ve been playing the game for awhile now, managed to win a game here and there, but the good players in your area still beating you down on a regular basis. You are beginning to look for that little extra edge that will help propel you into the next level of 40K domination. That is what 40K Tactics 101 is all about! These generic tactics will help you step up your game and make you a better 40K Player. A training course designed for new to mid-ranged 40K players.

This week we are going to review the wrap around technique. This tactic is used to kill a transport vehicle and the entire crew within the transport in a single assault phase, and without a single attack back. Now, keep in mind some transports are big, really big, and this particular tactics may not work on all transports, like a Land Raider. However I have had good results when assaulting rhinos, wave serpents, and chimeras. So here goes...

This technique has two basic forms, one where your troops are in their own transport and can use it to help block off exit points, and one where they are without and must do so themselves. We will explore the later first.

Essentially these techniques uses two basic rules from the 40K Rulebook, the emergency disembark rules and the ‘no enemy model within 1 inch’ rule, to force the unit within the transport to have no legal place to go once the transport is wrecked, and hence are destroyed outright.

Method 1 – Surrounded by Troops:

Basically all you need to do to get this trick to work is to surround the transport completely in the assault phase, having every model base to base and in contact with the transport, and completely covering every exit point. It is easier to pull off with Fleeting units, as it gives those extra few inches to reach the furthest points on the vehicle. This trick is a little hard to pull of if you run low model count armies, but is still feasible. Once the vehicle is wrecked the rules kick in to your favor:

1) The unit inside must exit immediately from the vehicles exit points, up to two inches away. By surrounding the vehicle, each exit point is cut off and hence the models inside can not exit from these points.

2) If they can not exit the vehicle in this manner, they may emergency disembark from the vehicle, anywhere within 2 inches. Here is where the kicker is, even if the model could manage to get to 2 inches away from the transport, they would still be well within 1 inch of your models and could not legally be able to place them there. 3) with no other method of escape, the models inside die.

Method 2 – The Drive Around:

This is essentially the same tactics as method one with one minor exception, using your transport to block an exit point. Basically at the beginning of the movement phase you would disembark your unit from their transport. Once this is complete, your transport is free to move its full distance in the movement phase and hence could swing around to the back or side exits and sit 1 inch away, blocking and exit point. Your troops would do the same as above, and surround the vehicle, assault it, and with any luck, kill every model inside.

Heads Up: So, you did just a bit better then you were hoping, you exploded the vehicle and the troops inside as now located inside the difficult terrain that is left behind. Maybe they took a few wounds in the explosion, maybe not. But now you can’t assault them. Now, if you were lucky and had popped the transport in the shooting phase, and I recommend you at least try this before assaulting if you can (my god what are meltaguns for anyway, you would be able to assault the unit that spills out. So be warned, if your guys are a bit over zealous, they might rob you of the kills inside. (That being said, the unit inside is still probably screwed, lets face it.)

Okay, I want to take a moment to give full credit where full credit is due, I just learned method 2 last night as my buddy DJ schooled me with this tactic. I thought it was so great that I’d write about it today. Thanks DJ!

This tactic or technique rather, is so much easier to show someone then tell them. So I will toss up a video demonstrating this tonight:

http://www.youtube.com/user/TheEvilEd209

Got and idea for a 40K Tactics 101 article? Let’s hear it. Post a comment here and if your tactic is selected for a weekly article you will be given full credit for the piece!

Situational Awareness - The 11th Company

2010-05-18T14:19:00.001-04:00

Ok, so I admit it, I am way behind on some of my 40K Podcasts. I listen to so many, dropping one real big one lately due to some major douche-bag running the best co-hosts off of his sand hill. One of the up and comers, as far as 40K podcasts are concerned, that has really grabbed my attention is a Podcast out of South Carolina called the 11th Company.

http://www.tangtwo.com/11thCompany/News.html

In their recent episode 12 (recent to me anyway, I think this was taped like 5 weeks ago) they had a fantastic conversation about Situational Awareness in 40K. Dealing with not only knowing where you are and what is around you, but where your opponent is and what he/she can do as well.

I will not attempt to try to do a better job then they did, this segment is fantastic and I highly recommend heading over to the 11th Company and taking a listen for yourself.

40K Tactics 101: YouTube Videos to Release

2010-05-18T08:18:00.002-04:00

Hey gang, I wanted to let you know about my latest YouTube project. Since I got bumped out of 'Ard Boyz early this year I decided to start a series of instructional videos on YouTube, targeted toward the new to mid-range 40K Player. These videos will demonstrate some of the basic tactics and techniques that have helped me become a better 40K Player, tactically speaking of course.

Got a suggestion for a video? Drop me an email or a comment and if your tactic is selected to be part of the series, I will give you full credit for the piece.

You will be able to find them all here real soon at my YouTube Channel:

http://www.youtube.com/user/TheEvilEd209

Dice Like Thunder and Blood of Kittens

2010-05-17T09:16:00.001-04:00

First I want to thank the boys over at Dice Like Thunder for the shout out on this week's show. I really appreciate it guys! I love your podcast, I really love your forum and I will continue to listen with enthusiasm!

Second, I wanted to point everyone (well, let's face it, his blog is more established then mine and I am a big fan!) to a fellow blogger who wrote a much more detailed and informative article on the whole 40K radio break up. The Blog is called Blood of Kittens and you can find the article here:

http://bloodofkittens.com/?p=3444&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+BloodOfKittens+%28Blood+of+Kittens%29

I was happy to be informed!

Love your blog man!

An Early Bow Out of 'Ard Boyz... Round One.

2010-05-16T15:57:00.001-04:00

Well, this did not go according to plan yesterday in round one of the 'Ard Boyz Tournament. I had loads of fun, met some good people, and some real ass-hats as well, and in the end I failed to place at 'Ard Boyz 2010.

So here is my overview of my first 'Ard Boyz Tournament!

ROUND ONE:

My fist round match up was against Chaos Space Marines running a double Lash Deamon Price list. I smiled when I got first set up and distributed my forces on to the field of battle. Because, aside from the Princes, it was an all mech list with two Land Raiders and I eat those for breakfast. Heck, even when he stole the infinitive I was not concerned.

So first turn, for whatever reason, he lined up both of his Princes in-front of my hormagaunt wall. I believe his plan was to lash them in and take them out in one round of combat. Well, toxin sacs showed him differently! He fail to lash with one Prince and the second on only pulled the squad close enough for one prince assault. No big deal, he whiffed on four attacks and only managed to kill one hormagaunt! My turn... :) My boys managed to hit him with three wounds and it quickly became apparent that he had made a drastic mistake. By the end of my turn one, the first Deamon Prince was dead and the second was at WS & BS 1 (thanks to the Hive Tyrant) and had taken two wounds to Gargoyles. By his half of round two, both Princes were dead. Score... well sort of.

You see the guy I played was good, and a hell of a nice guy to boot and he powered on. I held three of the five objectives for most of the game and on turn three he unloaded every unit from every transport and tried to gun me down in a hail of bolter fire. It almost work! But in the end he picked the wrong targets, two squads of Chaos Space Marines fired at a Trygon and did nothing (only to be charged in my turn and get wiped out), The other squad decided to not fire at my second squad of hormagaunt so that the could charge them (20 attacks at I5??? Ok, sure I'll do that) and They died almost without get in one attack... I think the powerfist survived that first round.

In the end I was killing the guy and he knew it. On the last turn, Turn 4 called due to time (2500 is just too much!), he pulls a desperation move and tank shocks his land raider on to one of the objectives I held and a busted up rhino on to another, giving him a two to one advantage. He had managed to break up my synapse base on the left side of the board and grab two objectives. I had hopes of charging the one squad with a Trygon but his fleet roll was less then spectacular and my Zoanthropes managed to perils themselves to death before dropping 2 STR 5 AP3 templates on to a juicy squad out int the open hold the other.

In the end, my hive guard failed miserably in blowing up the rhino, even when charging it, one lost objective, and my Tervigon could not manage to hit the braod side of a Land Raider and I lost that one too.

He beat be 2-1, he scored 900+ Victory points to my 1700... Totally one-sided game, save for the loss I took. But I smiled. I really liked my opponent, It was a great Tactical game ( I learned the power a tank shocking rhino on the last turn) and I knew I was still in the running at that point. So good game!

Final Result: (0-1-0) 10 Battle Points and 1721 VP

More to come...

'Twas the night before 'Ard Boyz

2010-05-14T22:20:00.001-04:00

Twas the night before 'Ard Boyz, when all through the drop pod
Not a creature was stirring, not even Todd.
Our army was all hunkered down with care,
In hopes that brutal victory would soon be there.

The genestealers were nestled all snug in their spores,
While visions of entrails tingled their pores.
And Calgar in his power armor, and I with my bolt gun,
Had just settled in and were preparing for fun.

When out in the ruins there arose such a clatter,
I sprang from my foxhole to see what was the matter.
Away to the safety of 4+ cover I went,
In hopes that not all of my rounds had been spent.

The moons on the breast of the new-fallen snow
Gave the luster of dusk to bodies below.
When, what to my watering eyes should I spy,
But a monstrous Trygon with a twinkle in his eye.

With its scything talons, so lively and spry,
I knew in a moment, 'we're all gonna die!'
More rapid than thunderbolts his murderous blows did they come,
And he hissed and he roared and slaughtered some!

"Die Space Marine! Die Blood Angel! Wolf and Templar!
Die Ork! Die Eldar, Tau, and Necron!"
Shred them, spear them, impale them all!
Now devourer them! Devourer them! big and small!"

And then in a twinkling I heard from above
The flapping of wings - surely 'twas not a dove
I drew tight my weapon and was turning around,
Down came a Tyrant with a earth shaking bound.

His chitin was all covered with blood and gore,
His lash whip and bonesword all ready to skewer.
A bulbous sac of poison venom on his back,
He looked like a nightmare, ready to attack.

His eyes-how they glared! his talons how scary!
His wings were pumping, which made us so wary!
His slobbering mouth was preparing to savor,
Our small band of troops; his favorite flavor.

With one fell swoop he barred his teeth,
I drew my powersword out from its sheath.
Our man with the powerfist was the first to die,
And quickly I realized so would I.

He tore through the squad with the greatest of ease
And impaled Brother Winston into the trees.
And I laughed when I saw him, in spite of myself!
A wink of his eye and a twist of his head,
Soon made me know I had everything to dread.

He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work,
And finished the squad, then turned with a jerk.
And lunging his bonesword into my chest,
Serenity overcame me, I'd soon be at rest!

Failing my leadership, suffering from instant death,
I looked to the sky and exhaled my last breath.
He sprang to the air and let out a shriek,
As I heard him exclaim...
"Happy 'Ard Boyz you nub, better luck next week!"

Scott and Chipley Leave 40K Radio!

2010-05-14T14:19:00.001-04:00

So it has come down through the grapevine that after some sort of 'suspension' that Spencer was trying to hand out to the boys for not playing 40K in some time that they have decided to leave the show.

I have to say that it is my firm belief that 40K radio is now dead to me, and soon on its way out the podcast door. The two major reasons I loved 40K Radio was for my man Phil, and Scott. Spencer always seemed to have that, ‘Too cool for the room’ air about him, even when I was on their show on Episode 31. I was Necron Warrior back then. I have since left my 40K Freeboota persona behind as Phil’s departure pissed me off. Oh and that I learned that the boys over at 40K Radio have started to turn a profit that is not being re-circulated back to those who are dumb enough to join their forum.

For those of you who have not had the pleasure to meet Phil Johnson, he is a man among men! He really is. And Scoot was as well. I have not had the pleasure to meet Chipley but I am sure he is a good guy too. My point is, how is 40K Radio better without these men and better with Spencer at the wheel?

I made a few comments in the show notes of Episode 78 which must have hit home with Spencer as he deleted them all and closed the comments for public viewing. So, since I too have access to the 40K Public, I am going to reiterate what I said there to him that hit that cord:

“Spencer, I understand where you want 40K Radio to go and what you want 40K Radio to be. We all want that, we all want 40K Radio to be the best damn podcast out there. But how does this help that? Yes, I get what you are saying. That the boys not playing 40K in like six months is a big deal, but, is loosing the ‘professional’ relationships, let alone the friendships worth it? While I realize you are the host, and you make the big decisions, 40K Radio is not just you. 40K Radio is you and all your hard work, AND Phil, AND Scott, AND Chipley. What does it say about you if you get your podcast to the place where you want it to be by stepping on the necks of those who helped to get you there?”

This post must have pissed him off and he closed the comments down.

I loved 40K Radio, I really did. It helped me come into my own in the game; it was fun, tactical, and educational. I even drank the cool-aid and became a freeboota. And even after Phil left (who I can now just call if I want too) I still listened. But what has it become now? One giant commercial for this product or that fitted in where Spencer’s ego is not. He pushed Phil out, now his attitude has pushed Scott and Chipley out. Now we have the Spencer and Racist Hobo show. And I do not want to listen to that.

I am done with 40K Radio. R.I.P. Time of death, just after Scoot quit, and diagnosed terminal when Phil left.

Why do you want a BLOG?

2010-05-07T16:24:00.000-04:00

Howdy gang and welcome to my blog. I will start off by saying that I am really writing all of this for me. This is a nice little place where I can collect my thoughts and get them down on paper. However, I do like the idea of networking with fellow 40K enthusiasts around the world. So I got myself a YouTube Channel, started this blog and away we go.

Over time we will discuss tips, tactics, tournament lists, painting ideas, frustrations, and much much more. This is just a quick how do you do. I will post a much more detailed intro later.

Until then, have a great one guys!