40K - Prophets of Flesh Grotesques (Kitbash)

GW has done the dirty on me.....well about 10 years ago they did anyway. Grotesque in 3rd/4th Ed have been re-named as Wracks, while actual Grotesques are now new models on 40mm bases.

With my new Dark Eldar list I needed seven Grotesques for the Prophets of Flesh Detachment. Checking the GW webstore I see the models are NZD48 so the unit would set me back the princely sum of NZD336.....ouch.

Checking out downstairs I saw I had a big unit of Crypt Horrors from my Vampire Counts army that is sitting on the shelf. So I went out to GW Lower Hutt and grabbed a Talos box (NZD87) and sat down and kitbashed.

Happy with how they have come up. They are suitably grotesque and fit in with my existing Coven figures.

They are also unique and should tick the necessary boxes for conversions.

Weekly Hobby Update

Right, let's get back in the groove.

The first thing I did in the past week was finish some chemical tanks from Promethium Forge. These work really well to block line of sight and I wanted them in time for the weekend's "The Long War" event. I got them base coated and this week I'll weather and customise them.

On Saturday we had "The Long War - Dropsite". Thanks to the Warlords for hosting this. We attracted a small but strong field (including the Top 3 from last year's Masters) and it provided some strong gaming ahead of Call to Arms. I used Dark Eldar and found that they had a really good box of tools. They are fast, surprisingly resilient and can dish out a high rate of fire with potential for good AP. They certainly felt a step up from my Emperor's Children.

One memorable moment - for me at least - was when Josh's Leman Russ shot its Battlecannon at a Ravager. He rolled double six for shots and eventually did 5 wounds (each being D3). I made 5 5++ save, emerging unscathed. He then shot lascannon and wound - another 5++. Oh how we laughed!!! This was then followed by two more 5++ saves before I finally failed one. It's great when you are on top of your game 😁. It came back to bite me in my last gme vs. Michael's Custodes where he went two turns without failing a Storm Shield 3++ save. I need to "Git Gud".

The hobby work this week is to finished the tanks and then to do some work on my Grotesques. I have grabbed my VC Crypt Horrors and put them on round bases. Yesterday I bought a Talos from Luke at GW Lower Hutt and I intend junking it for parts to pimp out the Grotesques. There seems to be a wealth of injectors, face masks, ccw etc to suitably 40k them. Urien and his "wife" will have fun times modifying them.

40K - The Long War "Dropsite" Results

Yesterday we had the three round 1750 point The Long War "Dropsite". This was the second of the Warlords 2018 40k Super Series - four events open to all gamers but especially designed to get more 40k played at the Warlords.

Event attracted 14 players but there were a couple of drop-outs giving us a field of 12. The missions used were all Eternal War from BRB and CA.

Results were as follows:

Place	Player	Army	Battle	Sports	Total
1	Pete Dunn	Dark Eldar	38	15	53
2	Dave Hodgetts	Imperial Knights	37	15	52
3	Sean Sullivan	Necrons	36	15	51
4	Michael Stewart	Imperium	34	15	49
5	Mark Ternent	Chaos Space Marines	30	15	45
6	Alastair Helm	Tau	29	15	44
6	Ross Brewster	Eldar	29	15	44
8	Josh Barton	Astra Militarum	27	15	42
9	Sam Nightingale	Space Marines	24	15	39
10	Simon Smith	Necrons	20	15	35
11	Jordan Green	Chaos Space Marines	17	15	32
12	Ryan Stuart	Tyranids	16	15	31

Best Sport - Ryan Stuart (3/3 Best Opponent Votes)

Best Army - Josh Barton (Guard)

No-one won all three of their games. You can see how tight the Battle Scores were through the field. A win was worth 12, draw 8 and loss 4 points with Bonus Points for First Strike, Linebreaker and Slay the Warlord.

From a personal point of view I found that the Dark Eldar seem a step up in table strength from my Emperor's Children. They seem to be both more resilient and harder hitting. However I've only played a handful of games with them so I'm sure there is plenty to learn.

The Long War Lists

This weekend The Long War - Dropsite is being held at the Warlords, KPC Hall in Khandallah.

You can see copies of the lists here

The breakdown of lists is as follows:

• Necrons x2
• Chaos Space Marines x2
• Imperium
• Space Marines
• Tyranids
• Tau
• Eldar
• Imperial Guard
• Imperial Knights
• Dark Eldar

Expect to see the Necrons and Imperial Knights fight it out.

40K - 1750 Point Dark Eldar

I am playing at The Long War - Dropsite on 7th July and thought I would post my list. It is Dark Eldar and as yet untested but hopefully it will get a run on the weekend.

TLW-D is 1750 points and limited to two Detachments.

Kabal of the Black Heart Battalion
Archon - Blaster, Huskblade, Relic - Writ of Living Muse, Trait - Labyrinthine Cunning [Warlord]	93
Archon – Blaster, Venom Blade	89
5 Kabalite Warriors - Blaster	47
5 Kabalite Warriors - Blaster	47
5 Kabalite Warriors - Blaster	47
7 Mandrakes	112
Ravager- 3 Disintegrators	125
Ravager- 3 Disintegrators	125
Ravager- 3 Disintegrators	125
Razorwing Jetfighter – 2 Dark Lances, Twin Splinter Rifle	145
Raider – Dark Lance	85
Venom – Twin Splinter Cannon	75
Venom – Twin Splinter Cannon	75
Prophets of Flesh Coven Battalion
Urien Rakarth	90
Haemonculus - Electrocorrosive Whip, Hex Rifle	81
6 Wracks	54
5 Wracks	45
5 Wracks	45
7 Grotesques	245

Interested in any comments.

Adepticon 2019

The dates for 2019 Adepticon have been announced and it will be held over 27-31 March at the Renaissance Schaumberg in Chicago.

I've been three times now and I'm going back again next year. It is now easier to get to as Air New Zealand flies Auckland Chicago direct.

This year I spent my time doing painting classes but next year I am looking to play some 40k. There is The Long War Doubles (one day event) and the Adepticon Team Tournament (1.5 days).

If anyone is interested in going or finding out more about it I am happy to answer questions. Jack is coming in from Boston so there may be a chance to get the von Trapp Family to have an outing in the Teams.

40K - Maelstrom 2018 Results

Hagen Kerr ran Maelstrom over the weekend attracting 40 players to CAS Hall in Khandallah.

The event was 1750 points over 5 rounds and was won by the current NZ Masters Champion, Dave Hodgetts (Who knew three Riptides was a thing? 😉).

Best Presented:

1. Glen Burfield
2. Liam Miskelly

Best Sport:  Simon Smith

Best General: Dave Hodgetts

The results have been uploaded into the FOB NZ Rankings where it qualified as a max. score event (40+ participants).

The next Wellington based event is The Long War: Dropsite on July7.

Best Photobomb Ever!!!

Today's MIT News can be found here

Click through the photos for a great antipodean photobomb!

FOB NZGT - A Hobby Event (What That Means)

Since I posted indicative scoring on the Maelstrom lists, I've received some enquiries about what sort of lists would score well for the FOB Theme/Selection criteria.

In the first instance, I think it is that I am trying to achieve with the event. Fields of Blood NZGT has from the beginning been billed as a hobby event.There are plenty of "Highest Battle Scores = Winner", indeed I pioneered them in the NZ 40k community with the NZ Masters starting in 2008. Before then pretty much all NZ events had a significant hobby proportion - including list selection.

So when I said FoB NZGT was "Bringing the Hobby Back", I meant it would be different from the current "norm".

 The Type of Pitfight I'm Looking For

The idea for FOB is to play cool games on great tables with fair armies. I don't want people being tabled Turn 2 by the latest internet beatstick so I am trying to incentivise/encourage more balanced armies than the current tournament norm.

My aim is to have people turn up and have six tightly contested games....

The two key criteria here are Theme and Balance and they go hand in hand. The armies that score well at FOB will be "in Theme" and they will be balanced. Some things that will score you well:

1. Single Book selection - dragging things from multiple books generally is done for efficiency rather than theme e.g. a CP battery to power a beatstick
2. Selection reflects theme. Read your codex e.g. if you are Ulthwe then I want to see Guardians, Warlock Conclave, not Reapers and Spears. Same with Alaiaoc - Rangers, Autarch, War Walkers not just Eldar with +1 to Hit. This works for every codex....Hivefleet is not just a trait etc
3. Leadership options - I'm going to give anything overly invested in HQs a second glance. I don't think Mortarion comes out to solve a dispute over lunch money.
4. Combined arms...Not just Characters, Troop Tax and Heavy Support for example. If you have a variety of Force Org slots then great.
5. Lack of Cliches - same relics, choosing a Army Trait so you can access a certain stratagem - Vect has stopped taking recruits for Kabal of the Black Heart

The limit on Detachments will help this somewhat. The players are the additional step.

You will be incentivised for following the above. And conversely, you don't have to but then don't moan if your score is at the lower end. I calculated that the difference between top and bottom of range is just over a "win". It is a risky strategy in a field of 64. So are you feeling "lucky"?😀

And no I am not going to put out a mathematical rubric. Books aren't even and any system can be gamed. 

So when you put your list together, rather than three Riptides you might want greater variety.

Maelstrom Lists - Putting Them Thru The FOB Lens

Maelstrom is on this week and the lists have been released. You can find them here

There are a few difference between MaElstrom and Fields of Blood NZ Grand Tournament. Firstly, no Forgeworld and secondly, only two Detachments.

Reviewing the lists I was pleasantly surprised. I was expecting the worse but got something nearer to this:

I scored them for Theme (how they fit in my view of the 40k world) and in List Selection. If you took a List that spammed the best stuff then you weren't going to do well.

Score was effectively 0-10 and the average was 6.24 out of the 42 lists. This was slightly generous as I was scoring effectively 2-10 because I was in a slightly happy mood just having departed on holiday.

The scores ranged from 3 (some people just can't help themselves 😀) to 10 on the "Pete" scale. The difference between the top score and the bottom score would equate to a "win" at Fields of Blood so there is an incentive to rein in your bloodlust if you want to win other than "Bloodthirster" for Best Gameplay score.

But that's what a hobby event is all about!

		#	High	Low	Average
	Astra Militarum	3	5	4	4.33
	Chaos Daemons	3	9	6	8.00
	Dark Eldar	4	8	5	5.75
	Death Guard	4	10	4	6.50
	Deathwatch	3	10	6	8.67
	Eldar	5	6	4	4.80
	Tau	4	10	5	8.00
	Tyranids	6	6	4	5.17

Above is the breakdown for those races that had 3 or more lists. It covers 32/40 of the lists. It gives you an "idea" of how things will be scored at FOB....but it is only a guide. In this instance it is one set of eyes and I have only been through the lists twice. Expect a more thorough interrogation at FOB with stronger focus on external and internal balance.

It's not science....but it is magic!