40k - NatCon Results

Over Easter weekend Natcon has been run in New Zealand for the past 40+ years. Traditionally this was the biggest event of the year but since 2005, the rise of a plethora of other tournaments and conventions has reduced its size. This year it was held in Kapiti - about 40 miles north of Wellington - and used the ITC Missions and scoring (WDL). Armies were 1500 points with no comp restrictions.

The results were:

Rank	Player	Army	W-D-L	VPs
1	Simon Smith	Imperium	4-1-0	135
2	Pete Dunn	Dark Eldar	4-0-1	133
3	Sam Whitt	Chaos Daemons	4-0-1	105
4	Dave Hodgetts	Astra Militarum	3-1-1	133
5	Sean Sullivan	Dark Eldar	3-0-2	144
6	Luke Archbold	Custodes	3-0-2	133
7	Aaron Wilson	Adeptus Mechanicus	3-0-2	108
8	Jordan Green	Death Guard	3-0-2	102
9	Bede Bailey	Eldar	3-0-2	98
10	Kim Styles	Eldar	3-0-2	76
11	Scott Paterson	Tau	2-0-3	130
12	John Murrie	Astra Militarum	2-0-3	102
13	Kent Jackson	Eldar	2-0-3	88
14	Ryan Stuart	Tyranids	2-0-3	75
15	Tom Dunn	Tyranids	2-0-3	75
16	Jeremy Martin-Smith	Necrons	2-0-3	61
17	Paul Knieriem	Imperium	1-0-4	101
18	Ross Brewster	Eldar	1-0-4	61
19	Simon Avery	Tyranids	1-0-4	60

Best Sport - Tom Dunn

Best Presented Army - Sam Whitt

Congratulations to Simon on his win.

The results have been uploaded to the FOB NZ Rankings

Great to see that everybody had at least one win. The lists were very hard. All the Eldar were Alaiatoc while all the Tyranids were STC Kraken. Both Dark Eldar lists ran base of Black Heart Ravagers and Prophets of Flesh Grots/Talos, Seans having Wych Cult while mine had an Ulthwe Doomrunner.

My list was as follows:

++ Battalion Detachment +5CP (Aeldari - Drukhari) [49 PL, 805pts] ++

Detachment Attribute: Prophets of Flesh

Haemonculus [5 PL, 76pts]: Electrocorrosive whip, Splinter Pistol, The Vexator Mask

Urien Rakarth [5 PL, 90pts]: Diabolical Soothsayer

3x Wracks [3 PL, 45pts] - Acothyst + 4x Wracks

Grotesques [12 PL, 210pts] - 6x Grotesque with Monstrous Cleaver: Flesh Gauntlet

3x Talos [6 PL, 98pts] - Chain-Flails, Macro-Scalpel; 2x Haywire blaster

++ Spearhead Detachment +1CP (Aeldari - Drukhari) [31 PL, 560pts] ++

Detachment Attribute: Kabal of the Black Heart

Alliance of Agony [-1CP]
Prizes from the Dark City (1 Relic) [-1CP]

Archon [4 PL, 72pts]: Labyrinthine Cunning, Splinter pistol, Venom Blade, Warlord (Archon), Writ of the Living Muse

Kabalite Warriors [2 PL, 38pts] - 3x Kabalite Warrior; Kabalite Warrior with Shredder; Sybarite

3x Ravager [7 PL, 125pts]: 3x Disintegrator cannon

Venom [4 PL, 75pts]: 2x Splinter Cannon

++ Auxiliary Support Detachment -1CP (Aeldari - Craftworlds) [7 PL, 132pts] ++

Craftworld Attribute: Ulthwe: Foresight of the Damned

Farseer Skyrunner [7 PL, 132pts]: 2. Doom, 4. Executioner, Shuriken Pistol, Twin Shuriken Catapult, Witchblade

I had five challenging games:

Rd 1 - 14-15 loss vs Bede’s Alaiatoc
Rd 2 - 29-16 win vs Ryan’s Kraken
Rd 3 - 25-15 win vs Paul’s Imperium
Rd 4 - 33-14 win vs Kent’s Alaiatoc
Rd 5 - 32-28 win vs Sean’s Dark Eldar

The dice were fickle all weekend. I generally didn’t see a lot of good luck on either side but saw plenty of bad. Sean’s dice in a couple of our turns were horrific. He must have failed 4 8-9” charges on one turn where he had rerolls. Gave a great demonstration on maximizing his points despite adversity.

My stars were my Grotesques. They were decisive vs Paul, Kent and to a lesser extent versus Sean and Ryan. Bede reduced them to a single model Turn 1. The Doomseer helped me immeasurably vs Sean - being able to put unimpeded Doom and Smite was huge.

40K - Hivefleet Cerebane Update

Back in 2002, during 3rd Edition, I built my Tyranid army, Hivefleet Cerebane. The models of this era were an update on the 2nd Edition "goofy" nids but for the big critters, generally still metal rather than plastic.

In 2007, Jack pulled out the army and updated it for the Nidzilla era. More Rippers, the obligatory Dakkafexes and flying Tyrant with Devourers all made appearances. Jack repositioned and repainted the Genestealers but still in the Cerebane colour scheme.

Jump forward a dozen years and Tom has picked the game again and is using a STC Kraken army. This has required some new additions to the Hivefleet and the painting/re-equipping of some old models.

Six Hive Guard provide the long range firepower for Cerebane. Their ability to shoot indirectly helps keep the enemy honest.

 A second unit of Genestealers has been added, sporting scything talons and rending claws.

 Another "new" unit are the Venomtropes, providing protection for the chittering horde.

 I bought the Old One Eye model when it was first released but never got around to building or painting it. Earlier this year Matt Liggett provided me with the crushing claws I had lost in the intervening years and "Carl" was painted.

Finally my old metal Tyrant has been re-purposed as Swarmlord. He has had his Venom Cannon replaced with Bone Sword and Lash Whip. I've kept is "pet" Blood Claw, reminiscent of a time when all the wannabes played Space Wolves 😊 

Great to get an old army updated and ready for the table again.

Hobby - CK Studios' "Terrain Class" at Adepticon

While I was at Adepticon, Jack and I took an airbrushing terrain class with CK Studios. This was the first time that they had run the course and it focused on three key techniques:

1. Marbling of Wall Surfaces
2. Another Marbling technique for floors
3. Fast way to do metals using drybrushing

Here are the results:

The marbling technique on the walls involves using a laundry dryer sheet and a strange mix of colours.

Metals are all drybrushed over black primer. I used purple and blue inks through airbrush to provide interest.

The marbling on the floor section was painted using a torn piece of paper and the airbrush. It was done in flesh colours before applying GW Camoshade wash through airbrush and a final GW Waywatcher glaze through airbrush.

Spent three hours at the course and learned techniques that will save me literally days of work going forward. 

Hobby - Salt Chipping & Weathering

At Adepticon I picked up a Gale Force Nine Power Generator that was 30% off. These come pre-painted but I decided to repaint it to match my Gamemat.eu Industrial Terrain.

Here is the finished article:

I wanted something that looked like it had had a hard life. The kit comes in a box already assembled and painted.

The GF9 generator is very clean. It looks like it is constructed of some type of concrete.

The first thing I did was prime it metallic brown and give it some underlying rust modulation.

This took about 5-10 minutes total with the airbrush spraying first Badger Brown Primer (Adepticon giveaway) then GW paints.

Aim was to get a mottled finish that I could chip back to.

Next a mix of rock and sea salt - wet the surface and sprinkle.

I let it dry overnight.....it turns opaque.

I then sprayed it with a Chalky Finish Lime Wash rattlecan and went out for a coffee.

It dries reacting with the salt mask.

The next stage is to brush the salt off which exposes the underlying paint.

The rougher you are the more you can chip away.

The finish is quite natural and approximates real world weathering.

The final stage is to prime (black) and drybrush (Boltgun) the core. I then sprayed the joins and random patches with Burnt Umber ink.

Very happy with the finished result. Great match for existing terrain. Total project time 30 minutes over a 12 hour period.

AOS - The Notorious GT

Shaun Bates is running the Notorious Grand Tournament for the Age of Sigmar community at the end of May in Upper Hutt.

This is the inaugural running of the GT and I have every confidence that it will be a memorable event.

This is a 50 person event and they have already sold 45 of the tickets. Three of those signed up are coming from Australia for the event.

The key attributes of this event are:

An event for all gamers

Expanded painting competition - with A-list celebrity judges

Narrative achievements

Social pub quiz 

Superior trophies 

A premium venue - clean toilets, food and drink on site 

The Players' Pack is available here

There is extensive coverage on the Notorious AOS podcast which you can hear here

So if you are an AOS player or even just a little AOS-curious then do yourself a favour and check it out.

Adepticon 40k Armies

Here is a selection of shots I took on Day 1 of the Warhammer 40k Champs. Tried to capture some of the better armies on show.

With 3 Vindicare Assassins