40k - The Long War "Bombardment" Results

The first of "The Long War" series was held at the Warlords today. This is an ITC based tournament for 1750 points over three rounds.

The results were as follows:

Rank	Name	Army	WDL	Points
1	Louis Thomson-Gregg	Eldar	3-0-0	97
2	Pete Dunn	Dark Eldar	3-0-0	75
3	Simon Smith	Genestealer Cult	2-0-1	78
4	Aaron Wilson	Imperium	2-0-1	72
5	Jordan Green	Chaos	2-0-1	71
6	Cody Parlato	Dark Angels	2-0-1	67
6	Sam Whitt	Chaos	2-0-1	67
8	Luke Archbold	Adeptus Custodes	2-0-1	62
9	Paul Knieriem	Imperium	2-0-1	61
10	Aidan Corlett	Genestealer Cult	1-0-2	70
11	David Hodgetts	Astra Militarum	1-0-2	67
12	Scott Paterson	Tau	1-0-2	60
13	Alastair Helm	Tau	1-0-2	59
13	Courtney Thomson	Death Guard	1-0-2	59
13	Kent Jackson	Eldar	1-0-2	59
16	David Oemcke	Harlequins	0-1-2	44
17	Chris Sims	Space Marines	0-1-2	38
18	Hawke Vermeulen	Imperium	0-1-2	24

Best Army: Luke Archbold

Best Opponent: Aaron Wilson

The next The Long War event is 4th May.

Thanks to all who attended and especially David Oemcke who filled in at late notice.

40k - Souping It Up With The Long War "Bombardment" Lists

This weekend is the first of the Warlords' The Long War series. The full series will be using ITC Missions, Scoring and Restrictions this year.

Interested to se what's on the Menu?

Soup, Soup and more Soup

Not so much "Wellington on a Plate" as "Welington in a Bowl". Where humanly possible it seems that this intrepid bunch of gastronomes have embraced exploring the nuances of multiple codexes.

My Top Three Picks for the Podium:

1. Aidan Corlett - GSC

2. Louis Thomson-Gregg - Eldar

3. Scott Paterson - Tau

40K Podcasting

Currently I am listening to a lot of audiobooks and podcasts. The podcasts I subscribe to vary from crime, football, economics through to 40k.

It seems that it is almost a rite of passage for some people to start a 40k podcast. They grab a group of mates and before you know it they are broadcasting their thoughts to the world.

Unfortunately for a lot of people (and listeners) it can be the wrong decision.

Generally, to hold my attention as a 40k podcast the hosts need to do/be one of three things:

• Be good at the game;
• Be innovative; or
• Surround yourself with people who are.

I'll generally give a podcast 4-5 episodes to find its feed but for me to continue back to it, I want to learn. So many podcast hosts are just not that good at the game. They think they are but they are not. Sure they might be the biggest mudskipper in their local rock pool but out in the ocean, they'd be nothing more a quick snack. You can generally tell somebody who is not that good. They will have a netlist but with their own spin on it. This betrays the fact that they like to club baby seals but at the end they really don't know why their list works - or importantly how to apply it in disadvantageous situations. When they run into a roadblock that they can deal with easily they moan about the tactic/stratagem/power/list being broken. In effect, they lack adaptability. This is usually coupled with tactical play - placement of characters, order of powers/stratagems etc - that is significantly lower than very good players.

This can be got around if they are either very informative or innovative. Sometimes it is just easier to hear the "news" from a podcast. The innovative side is also interesting. This is important when new rules are released. These people pull apart a book and lessen the learning curve (FUN FACT: this is actually steepening the learning curve) by looking at new stuff innovatively.

If you listen to something like Chapter Tactics you should quickly deduce that Pablo is not that good at the game. He is generally very linear in his appreciation. However that podcast works because he has surrounded himself with good contributors. For instance he has a stats man whose information is primary and fresh. He will have Geoff Robertson on who is a very good player - and excellent communicator - whose armies are generally ahead of the curve. This is backed by Abuse Puppy whose own podcast systematically unpacks a facet of the game and explores its important nuances. He then has Val Hefflefinger....etc etc 

Contrast this with the "then I rolled a six" type of podcast [This was a meme pioneered back in the day of WAU (and 3rd/4th) to describe jubbs] which is less about informing the audience and more about self-promotion.

There are a real mix of offerings out there and you can spend a lot of time listening to dross. To round out this article here are the ones that I think add something to my knowledge of the game and help me get to be a better player:

• Chapter Tactics - can be hit or miss depending on who is on
• In The Finest Hour
• The Long War (for the contributions of Sean Nayden and Steve Fore)
• TFG Radio
• The Best General

Podcasting is generally a financially free service - they may cover outgoings by advertisers - however for listeners as well it is not without cost. Generally your listening time is limited so you don't want to be wasting your time. I recommend giving any new podcast 4-5 episodes time to find their feet. However if they are not adding to your upskilling then they are really just "noise". Yes, they may entertain but I'd venture you'd be better spending your time listening to Ricky Gervais if you're looking to be amused.

40k - ITC Mission Practice

Over the weekend I managed to get in a couple of games using the ITC Missions.

In the first I played Alastair's Tau and it was a real ding-dong battle. He had to leave before we completed the game but at the end of Turn 4 he was ahead 18-17. I learned a few hard lessons in this game as my character placement was sloppy. Going into the game I had a plan but my line got disjointed and that led to some poor decisionmaking on my part. I was also rusty with my rules knowledge forgetting some critical attributes I had. As a result I went home and updated the cheat sheet I had been using previously.

My second game was against Tom who was having his second game of 8th and using Nids. We used it as a training session where we talked through our moves and what we were trying to accomplish. In this instance my character placement was much better. I was helped in no small part by Seizing the Initiative (and rolling like a 12 year old at times).  My Grotesques where able to nullify some of his heavy hitters in the centre.

One of the key learnings from the game was in relation to the selection of Secondary Missions. WE both have developed plans around what works best for each of our arms.

Character placement was much stronger for me this game and hopefully I can reinforce what I did in future games.

Next weekend I'm looking to have a gaming day here at Chez Dunn so I'll get a chance to test those learnings.

40K Event Calendar Updated

The 40k Event Calendar has been updated to reflect upcoming events. Here you can get the headline details, registration info and download a copy of the Players Pack (if available).

New events added:

• NatCon
• Battle Above The Brynderwyns
• Lakes of Blood
• Iron Monkey

If you have an event you want added just let me know.

NZ Rankings Display Update

The FOB NZ 40K Rankings Page has been updated to reflect that the NZ Masters this year will have a field of 16 participants.

The Top 15 plus the current NZ Master will receive invites and those places are marked in Blue and Yellow respectively.

Icons for the codexes that didn't have custom icons have also been added.

40K - CHARICON Results

Over the weekend Charicon was run in Upper Hutt, organised by Bede Bailey and raising $6000 for charity.

The 40K event attracted 33 players who battled over six rounds with 1500 point armies. As it was a "charity" event, I decided to emphasise all aspects of the hobby, including placing an army selection assessment element in the hands of opponents.

Here are the results:

Rank	Player	Army	Battle	Pres.	Sports	Comp	Total
1	Stuart Fields	Renegade Knights	31.33	24.00	19	12	86.33
2	Scott Paterson	Tau	32.67	22.67	18	12	85.33
3	Luke Archbold	Adeptus Custodes	27.33	24.00	20	12	83.33
4	Sean Sullivan	Adeptus Mechanicus	32.67	23.33	16	10	82.00
5	Scott Avery	Grey Knights	25.33	20.67	22	12	80.00
6	Simon Smith	Drukhari	26.00	22.00	20	10	78.00
7	Michael Stewart	Adeptus Custodes	26.00	21.33	19	11	77.33
8	Sam Whitt	Chaos Daemons	26.67	22.00	19	9	76.67
9	Ryan Stuart	Tyranids	22.67	21.33	20	12	76.00
10	Hagen Kerr	Sisters of Battle	22.00	24.00	18	12	76.00
11	Glen Burfield	Space Marines	20.67	23.33	21	11	76.00
12	Craig Stewart	Astra Militarum	22.67	22.67	19	11	75.33
13	Dave Hodgetts	Astra Militarum	24.00	20.67	18	11	73.67
14	Sam Nightingale	Space Marines	26.67	19.33	19	8	73.00
15	Paul Knieriem	Deathwatch	16.67	22.67	21	12	72.33
16	Aaron Wilson	Craftworld Eldar	25.33	21.33	18	7	71.67
17	Steve Joll	Space Wolves	17.33	23.33	19	12	71.67
18	Cody Parlato	Space Marines	18.00	23.33	18	12	71.33
19	Bob Pearce	Space Marines	16.67	22.67	20	12	71.33
20	Ryan Pike	Craftworld Eldar	20.00	22.00	18	11	71.00
21	Bruce Manning	Thousand Sons	20.00	23.33	18	9	70.33
22	Shane Rongonui	Craftworld Eldar	17.33	22.00	20	11	70.33
23	Robert Higgins	Adeptus Custodes	16.67	22.67	19	11	69.33
24	Jordan Green	Death Guard	16.67	24.00	19	9	68.67
25	Ross Brewster	Craftworld Eldar	17.33	22.00	19	10	68.33
26	Kent Jackson	Space Marines	16.00	20.00	19	12	67.00
27	Regan Ridge	Astra Militarum	19.33	21.33	18	8	66.67
28	Josh Lloyd	Necrons	15.33	20.00	19	12	66.33
29	Simon Avery	Dark Angels	11.67	21.33	18	12	63.00
30	Thomas Battersby	Chaos Space Marines	12.00	18.67	18	12	60.67
31	Nick Johnson	Tau	12.67	19.33	18	10	60.00
32	Matthew Liggett	Tyranids	13.33	16.00	19	11	59.33
33	Matthew Tansley	Orks	16.67	17.33	18	6	58.00

BEST PRESENTED ARMY - Stuart Fields

BEST OPPONENT - Scott Avery

This was Stuart's first tournament and to walk away with First Overall and Best Army was a great effort.

Interestingly, no went undefeated. Every player had at least one loss in their six games.

Only 14 out of 33 armies emerged unscathed from the player-assessed composition assessment. However, those 14 did include the Top 3 placegetters.

The results have been uploaded to the FOB NZ Rankings.

40K - 2019 FOB NZGT - Registrations & Waiting List

Last week tickets went on sale for this year's FOB NZ Grand Tournament.

The tickets sold out in under two hours 😀

Under the "Event Registrations" in the banner above, there is a list of the 72 participants.

A waiting list has also been started should there be any drop outs. Last year real life intervened and there was some attrition leaving the event with 59 starters. My intention this year is to work on the basis of 64-68 participants.

40K - Fields of Blood Warhammer 40k New Zealand Grand Tournament Tickets

Tickets for the 2019 FoB NZGT go on sale tomorrow 1 February at 8.00am

The event is limited to 64 participants due to the size of the venue.

You can download the Players Pack here

This event sold out in 48 hours last year and I expect that there will be good demand again.

40k - New Year, New Gaming Room

Just before Xmas Tom moved into a flat closer to his work. This seemingly innocent move put in place a train of events that involved some sensitive discussion as interested parties maneuvered to mutually beneficial outcomes.

As a result of these negotiations, the garage has returned to its role as a place to park a car, the outside shed a place for garden tools (rather than boxes of terrain) and my wargaming room  (off the garage) to a general storage room [95% wargaming stuff 😀). To offset that I have a room up in the main part of the house purely for gaming.

I called up Hagen one afternoon and he came around to help me move my gaming table. Easier said than done! The table sits on an old Games Workshop table and this was too large to get through our doorways (as well as weighing a tonne). So it had to be dismantled and reassembled once inside the room. The cabinet holds my armies and there is space at either end for 8x 92L boxes of terrain.

The room has built in cupboards for further wargaming storage. It is really well lit and you can get 360 degree access meaning that it is now easier to play Hammer & Anvil deployments.

The last two weeks higgins has been around and spanked tmy Harlequins both evenings.

Looking forward to have more locals over for games during the coming years.