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!

I'm Back!!

So the last two months have been busy...really busy.

Work has been crazy busy with me taking over the responsibilities for assurance and governance as well as risk. Of course they didn't fill my role but, hey, that's what stale, male and pale is good for...getting shit done!

We've also get work done on the house....started in December, 6 week job....finished yet? No.

Fields of Blood NZ Grand Tournament coming up in September and I've been building terrain for the event. Still have lots to do but I'll get there.

So something had to give and that was the blog.

But, no worries....

I have three weeks leave. Currently in Boston for Jack's graduation. So lot's of downtime to post.

40K - FOB NZ Rankings updated for Tempest

Received the results for Tempest from Scott Clough this morning. These have now been uploaded into the Rankings.

The four round event attracted 42 people and was won by Julien Lestat with Tau. Two Eldar, a Chaos Daemon and a Tyranid rounded out the Top 5.

Four people - Dave Hodgetts, Simon Smith, Aidan Corlett and Scott Paterson - have broken the 200 point barrier which I expect is the minimum that will get you a Masters invite.

Are These The Most Annoying Dice Ever?

Just saying!

Even worse than Deathwatch dice

Hobby Update

The last two weeks have seen me try to get the two unfinished units in my Emperor's Children done.

I have managed to finish the unit of Oblits in a pink and black scheme that complements the rest of the army. I'm now working on six metal Witch Elves to fill out the third Cultist unit. Previously I had been playing a Cultist horde but recently stepped back to three smaller units. They should be finished in the next couple of evenings and then it is onto WotR and some terrain.

Last weekend I got a game in against Tau and was able to isolate their units and remove them systematically. The Warp Talons proved fantastic in that they were able to contact 5 units when they charged. This allowed me to cut off the Ghost Keels and Commanders from the rest of the army and deal with them.

Yesterday I played Death Guard for the first time in 8th. We were playing Relic. After a poor first turn shooting Plague Burst Crawlers I concentrated on removing infantry and got rid of my opponent's Pox Walker units. This left just 10 Plague Marines and Typhus who could claim the Relic. I continued to remove Plague Marines while Cultists ran off with the Relic. This was then picked up by my Sorcerer who could not be targeted.

Been watching more Battle Reports and also listening to podcasts. Really keen on trying out the Dark Eldar Homuclueli Coven at some stage. I have Troy Forster's army that featured in a 4 page article in White Dwarf around 15 years ago. Might be time to get it out.

Weekly Hobby Update

Made it back from Adepticon after a whistlestop 5 days in the US. I think I'm getting better at international travel as I survived the two 23 hour journeys without jet lag.

Of those five days in Chicago, 40 hours were spent doing hobby courses and I came away with a lot of learnings:

• I was holding my airbrush wrong
• I wasn't getting close enough to models when I was spraying
• Now have a much more efficient airbrush cleaning process
• Learned a new alcohol/paint technique for Nurgle
• Discovered how to do NMN properly but prefer real metallics
• Learned great realistic stone weathering process
• Know how to use my smartphone to take better photos
• Compared "salt" weathering with "hairspray" and prefer salt
• Learned the technical requirements for making Youtube videos - and decided that it is too much effort
• Decided I really want to paint more Death Guard

I did manage to pick up some loot will I was there:

• Magna Tray system from Battlefoam
• More Secret Weapon paints
• Some P3 paints
• Airbrush stand and spare needle/noozle
• Game Gear brushes
• New dice tray
• Some MDF terrain plus other scatter terrain
• 40k Measuring Template
• Airbrush Stencils 

So another great Adepticon. I'm already looking to go next year and I'll probably look to play something like the Long War Doubles (single day) and look for further classes. Air New Zealand is starting an Auckland-Chicago flight soon which will cut 6-7 hours off the journey.

Unfortunately the Frontline Gaming terrain I ordered arrived at Jack's the day after we arrived at Adepticon so I need to wait until later this month to get it. However when I got home I had a big parcel of mdf terrain from 4Ground waiting for me. There is enough to built a new industrial plant table. I have spent the weekend evenings putting it together and it is a dream. The fact that it comes prepainted is fantastic.

Finally I spent Saturday down at the Warlords and managed to get two games in. The first was against the new Tau and it was certainly hardfought. While I managed to win 8-6, the undoubted highlight was me losing both Daemon Princes to the same Ghost Keel in Overwatch. In the end that Ghost Keel and a Broadside were the only Tau models left allowing me to claim two objectives to one.

In the second game I played Thousand Sons and was able to launch an Alpha Strike that removed a Defiler, Ahriman, a Rhino and most of a Rubric Marine Squad first turn. From there I was able to dictate the battle and by Turn 4 the Thousand Sons were reduced to a Rhino and an Exalted Sorcerer. 

Both games were characterised by "Seize the Initiative". This is always interesting as it can be a two edged sword in my experience (especially if the player who is "Seized On" has a lot of units off the table. The player now going first needs to be absolutely sure that they don't set up a crippling beta strike by showing their hand. 

40k - Six Spots Left for The Long War #1

There are only six spots left for the first of the Long War events being held at the Warlords on 19 May.

If you are keen to play in a three round one day event then you can download the Players Pack from the Event Calendar under the banner.

Gives a chance to run your army in a "safe space"