First Tentative Steps Towards The ETC

This weekend I am looking to play my first games under the ETC rules. NZ ETC veteran Mal Patel will be in Wellington and a few of us are getting together to play some games with the first draft of the 2014 comp.

I'm going to run some Skaven around - probably in the guise of "Furry Dwarfs" - a list built around ranged attack but sans Bell. Looking to use two Seers and see how they work in today's meta. I expect the list runs the risk of being run over but small steps.....

The key thing is is to get my head around the rule changes - Line of Sight system, 5 Die Casting Limits, Half Points for Fleeing/Depleted Units and Multiple LOS for insta-kill spells.

Games Workshop's DLC - Data Slates & Battle Scrolls

An interesting situation is developing (or about to develop) for the NZ Gaming scene. Games Workshop is flooding the market with a whole lot of downloadable content.

This content includes new riles for both Fantasy and more prevalently 40k through the Battle Scroll and Data Slate mediums. These rules are fully official and released for inclusion in your GW games.

There is only one problem. In a lot of cases the only release mechanism is digital which means you can't walk into your local store and buy it. In fact you may not even be aware that new rules have been released. Some material eventually finds it's way to a physical release but not all. Also with automatic update available it may be that some download updates while others don't potentially creating problems where people are playing with different versions.

To complicate matters further no GW DLC is available for Apple devices here in New Zealand. Therefore a dichotomy exists between owners of various electronic devices. This arises due to Apple /GW take on NZ copyright law.

Now none of this is insurmountable, however it is something for TOs to be aware of when they are looking at what is "legal" at their events. In the past it has always been 30 days after physical release but such "conventions" may need to be revisited for DLC.

Tomorrow Belongs to Us

So an hour of patchup work with a tube of Super Glue and the Seerlord Morskitta's troops are back to normal. Approximately 20 parted bases which is staggering given the impact and subsequent tumble they had. Mr A-Bomb has his fingers back and reattached nails.

Can't recommend the Battlefoam case highly enough!

Skaven at the Masters

This weekend I attended the NZ Masters in Hamilton. This was the sixth running of the event and my fourth appearance (I qualified for the first two but ended up umpiring the event). The field for this weekend’s event was the best ranked of any of the six tournaments so far – ten of the Top 12, last year’s winner and #15.

When I saw the field I tried to work out what the make up of race selection for the field would be. The only surprises (for me) were Locky (I didn't know what he’d take), James Brown (I thought he’d take Ogres) and Rory (I thought Vampires). I was pleasantly surprised when I got these incorrect (vampires being a hard match for the two armies I was considering).

My initial selection was the Daemons I've been using recently but I shelved them when I considered the potential for cannons and poison. That proved a good choice and so I fell back on Skaven, generally my army of choice.

The list I took was modified to reflect what I thought I would be facing and I likened it to a Swiss army Knife with a tool for every job.

Seer – General, Bell, Earthing Rod, Skalm, Dragonbane Gem

Chieftain – BSB, Standard of Discipline

Engineer – Level 2, Doomrocket, Condenser

Engineer – Level 1, Ruby Ring, Dispel Scroll

Engineer – Brass Orb

Assassin – Weeping Blades, Potion of Strength

30 Clanrats – Full command

22 Stormvermin – Muso, Standard, Storm Banner

40 Slaves – Champ, Muso

40 Slaves – Muso

40 Slaves – Muso

6 Gutter Runners – Slings, Poison

6 Gutter Runners – Slings, Poison

Doomwheel

Hellpit Abomination

Warplightning Cannon

The list has more toys than I’d normally like – I've never been a big user of the Orb – but it gave me an option in most circumstances. Critically it gave points up sparingly and was risk averse in that I took the Rod over my more usual Power Scroll.

So how did it go?

NZ Masters 2013 - WHFB Results

The 6th Annual NZ Masters were run in Hamilton over the weekend. Six rounds with 2400 point armies using rulebook scenarios.

The results were as follows:

 *Unfortunately Ross was taken ill after Round 4 and did not play the final two rounds

Best Sport: Richard Barby

Best Painted: Sam Whitt

Here also is the breakdown of the highest scorers Day One and Day Two

Thanks to Rob Shirley and his team for organising the event.

The Desolation of Skavenblight

Leaving the NZ Masters yesterday, there was a skqweel from the back seat to stop.

The boot of Rory's car hadn't been properly closed and it popped open. My Skaven army - in its Battlefoam case - was seen bouncing down the road behind us. We stopped and I went back and collected it.

I wasn't brave enough to open the case until this afternoon.

So not too bad at all. The HPA lost his fingers, the Storm Banner was broken and a variety of plastic infantry de-based.

I'm glad they were in a Battlefoam case!!!

NZ Masters This Weekend

This weekend the NZ Masters will be held in Hamilton. This is the 6th Annual Masters Tournament and it is well established on the tournament scene.

For the Fantasy event this year sees what is the highest ranked field yet. Two of the Top 11 are not attending - one because he's overseas, the other because he is known as a notorious clubber of baby seals and this event has drawn a field of carnivores with multiple apex predators.  Their invitations have passed down and been snatched by the #12 and #15 ranked players.

This means whoever wins the event will have gone through a very strong field to achieve their goal.

The lists are very strong across the board. There has been some bleating from the Elf players that they are weaker than the others but closer inspection of their lists still shows them to be hard list. However some of the apologist commentators have drunk the Kool-Aid (it's always easier than analysis) and dubbed them "Lists of the People". What a crock of shit!

In fact it's funny. So many of the contenders are trying to say they have the weakest list there is now a queue at that particular bus stop. However they can't help themselves and in the next breath name themselves contenders.

I still think Locky Reid has the best all round list given the event's lineup. A half competent chimpanzee would be able to steer it onto the podium. And I haven't changed my opinion that Dan Butler and Tom Dunn are the men to beat if you want to take out the event.

What is interesting is what will be the required score to win the event. Personally I think you'll need to score 75-80 points to win the event. This is less than the normal 90-95 in an open 6 round event. Effectively you will need to ensure that if you take a big loss that you have the ability to hand one out. More likely I think people will be a little tentative in their approach so if someone turns up with an aggressive attitude then they could blow the event apart. Personally I can only see 1-2 lists that have that capacity.

We'll see how the dice fall.

Death Guard Reinforcements Roll In

With Adepticon going to 1850 and with the Phobus Land Raider perennially out of stock, I bit the bullet and purchased a Spartan Assault Tank for my Death Guard.

I arrived home from work yesterday and there was a lovely big parcel waiting on the front step containing the Spartan and also a Demios Vindicator. My copy of "Betrayal" tells me that these were the two most prevalent tracked vehicles in the Death Guard Legion. A lot of tank crews - being of Terran birth - were wiped out on Istvaan III so tanks became scarce in the years after the cleansing.

Well this certainly is a big kit. It is all resin and you can see from the pictures that there are some solid lumps.

The kit comes in three bags - one which contains the main superstructure. Those side pieces are solid resin and over six inches long.

To give an idea of the size I have placed a WIP Legion Tactical Marine in the next shot.

So this model is going to be my main focus over the Xmas break. I'll be working on construction and then painting this beastie.

The intention is that this will be the ride for my Terminator Praetor and the Deathshroud.

"RUINATION" - Warfare On Another Level

"RUINATION" is a Warhammer Fantasy event to be held in Wellington on 18/19 January 2014.

RUINATION 2014

However this is something different from the norm with 4000 point armies battling it out. Big armies, big tables, great terrain - RUINATION is a hobby event aimed at ensuring all participants have a fun weekend.

You can download the Players Pack here

Bad Dice Podcast Does the NZ Masters

Yesterday Ben Curry of Bad Dice Podcast did a daily show on the lists for the upcoming NZ Masters. You can download it from his website at www.baddice.co.uk

Ben went through each of the lists giving his thoughts on the relative power, strengths, weaknesses and how he thought it would go in the match ups.

His favourite for the event is Sam Campbell with Daemons of Chaos though he had a lot of love for Locky Reid's Empire and Sam Whitt's Dark Elves. He also felt that Hamish Gordon's Warriors could cause people trouble.

So Sam is now got the Kiss of Death of worldwide expectation and celebrity endorsement. It will be interesting to see how he copes under the inevitable pressure from his thousands of new fans plus the expectation.

A particular highlight of Ben's review was when he correctly identified Aucklander James Brown as "The Saddest Man in Warhammer".